Personal testimony from January 1981 in the Full Gospel magazine
Power from On High
Testimony of Wim van Putten
In the early 1980s, as a young believer, I was asked to share my testimony in a prominent evangelical magazine. The writing style and ideas might seem a bit dated now, but I still stand by the content of that testimony.
It’s absolutely wonderful to have this opportunity to share something. I really wanted to respond to the request to talk about the beautiful life I’ve been given – a life that is truly wonderful, thanks to our faith in Jesus Christ and because I said ‘yes’ to the message of God’s Kingdom.
Looking back at myself, I can honestly say I’ve never been completely non-believing. After all, I had a solid Reformed upbringing. But to be fair, that in itself didn’t make me a different person. When I was around sixteen, I was really involved in ’the world’. That was quite normal back then, you know. At the Reformed youth group, we’d have dances and things on Saturday nights, just good fun. In those days, I was totally crazy about pop music. The walls of my bedroom? They were plastered with posters! The Beatles, Rolling Stones, you name it. You could hardly see the wallpaper anymore, it was absolutely crammed. That was just my little world, and I definitely had to show something of that.
“God’s humor”
Was it a deeply sinful life? No, not necessarily, but I certainly wasn’t living in harmony with God. And yet… deep down, that yearning was there. For a different, happier, purer life. But where on earth was I supposed to find that?
And this is where God’s humor comes into play! He used someone from my class to open my eyes. And not just anyone! Of all people, a guy I found annoying and who I was always irritated by. But God thought differently! He had mercy on that boy and revealed Himself to him. Shortly after his brothers had come to faith, this classmate of mine also bowed his knees before Jesus. And he wasn’t quiet about it! Not even at school. I listened with amazement to everything he had to say. He spoke so boldly about conversion, healing, and even about deliverance from bondages. These were things I really didn’t know yet. I soaked up his words! The hunger for peace and true joy, which had been present beneath the surface all that time, resurfaced completely within me.
That evening, in my room, I suddenly saw it so clearly: I too needed to repent. The Savior had been waiting for me for so long. I knelt down, confessed my sins, and asked the Lord, ‘Come and live in my heart!’ And you know, I couldn’t see Him with my eyes, but I experienced His presence very real. An enormous joy welled up within me. I knew for sure: now I was a child of God, righteous in His eyes. Now a different life could begin. I was seventeen when that decision was made. And the certainty of my eternal salvation, of being a child of God? That has never left me.
The next day, I immediately told that ‘annoying’ boy. He had suddenly become my ‘brother in arms’! We talked so much together in the time that followed. Much to the displeasure of the teachers, by the way, who noticed that our interest in lessons had significantly decreased. Well, we had more important things on our minds!”
The Baptism in the Holy Spirit
Because I knew my parents wouldn’t be happy about it, I initially didn’t tell them everything that had happened to me. But they definitely saw that I had changed. And from then on, an issue of ‘Kracht van Omhoog’ (Power from Above) regularly arrived in the mail. I had subscribed to it immediately. I read so many beautiful things in it, including about the baptism in the Holy Spirit. And that booklet ‘Pinksteren is geen luxe’ (Pentecost is not a luxury)… I devoured it! I talked about it a lot with people who had more experience with it than I did. Less than a month after my conversion, I knew for sure: this was for me too! Boldly, I prayed to the Lord, “Baptize me also in the Holy Spirit!”
To be honest, I had little knowledge of the matter, so after that prayer, I opened my mouth and just sat there waiting. As if God’s Spirit would literally move my mouth! Nothing happened. Suddenly, I understood: I myself had to begin praising and worshiping the Lord in faith, and focus on that tongue-speaking that would then come. And sure enough, suddenly words flowed from my lips that were from the Spirit of God. The Lord had filled me with His Spirit too! I was so happy because of it.
I started reading more and more booklets and books, and of course: the Bible itself! Although I read a lot of evangelical and Pentecostal literature, I continued to go to our own church. But to be honest, it didn’t really satisfy me anymore. I regularly read about deliverance, and I increasingly realized that I still needed it in certain areas. For example, I had often resolved to quit smoking, but it never worked permanently. I was addicted to it. So deliverance was necessary. One evening, I was very preoccupied with this. After my homework, I decided to go to a fellow believer to talk about it. When I rang his doorbell, it turned out that the Lord had already let him know I was coming! So I didn’t have to explain much. “We’re going to pray for it right away and cast out that power,” he said. And we did! He laid his hands on me and, in Jesus’ name, cast out the evil power that held me bound to nicotine.
Living in Freedom!
After that ministry, I asked, “Is that it?” I had actually expected some kind of special experience, but nothing of the sort happened. And yet… yet it would turn out that the Lord had powerfully touched me. Because since that evening, I haven’t smoked at all anymore! I haven’t had any trouble with it whatsoever! Gradually, I’ve become free from more things that don’t suit a child of God. In Jesus, you find redemption and liberation. He wants us to live in freedom!
A while later, I was allowed to experience that in a completely different area. Because I had read quite a bit about flying saucers (UFOs) with beings from other planets, I had developed a huge anxiety complex. I was, as it were, overwhelmed by evil spirits that began to enslave me more and more. Eventually, I didn’t even dare to look at the sky at night anymore, I was so afraid of seeing a UFO approaching. This was actually an attack on my faith. Because if it were true that there is life on other planets, the Bible wouldn’t be true. And then… then my whole world of faith would collapse. All of this put such a pressure on me, my inner joy disappeared.
One evening, someone from the Lucas Order came to speak in Rotterdam. It was mainly about faith healing. Afterward, I went up to the speaker and told him about my problem. He asked if he could pray for me about it. Of course, I wanted that! In the name of Jesus, the great Overcomer, those terrifying spirits were driven out. And I became free! A huge weight fell off me.
Gradually, I became more active in evangelism. With a number of other young people from the Reformed youth group who had also come to faith, we started a Bible study group. Other people joined us too, including Pentecostal believers. Some of those Reformed young people had also received the baptism in the Holy Spirit and saw it as their task to bring revival to the church. Only… that turned out to be an unattainable ideal.
Meanwhile, I was engaged to Ingrid (my wife), whom I knew from the youth group. She also wanted to serve the Lord and continued to grow on the path He has for us. Like so many others, we also started to search further and visited various gatherings. For three years, we did our best for the Lord with that youth group in the church, but then it became clear: we had to ‘move out’.
We ended up at a Pentecostal church. They adhered to the ‘Jesus Only’ doctrine. Because we thought the Lord had led us there, we accepted that doctrine as well. In the beginning, it was a really warm, loving community. It was very nice there. Together with many others, we were baptized there – something we hadn’t been able to do in our old church all those years because the pastor didn’t want it. In this church, we could fully immerse ourselves in evangelism. There was practically something to do every day. On Saturday evenings, for example, we worked among addicts – and there turn out to be quite a few of them in Rotterdam! That was very difficult work. We learned the power of Satan there more than ever before.
Experiencing and sharing together!
Partly as a result of this, we noticed after a while that we were hitting a ceiling with the message as it was being proclaimed there. The sermons focused more on breaking down the ‘self’ than on living a victorious life through the Holy Spirit. And the emphasis on apostleship gave one person far too much control over the lives of others. Eventually, a significant group concluded: this could no longer continue. So, we left this church together after peacefully saying our goodbyes.
With this group, we began to hold our own gatherings. One of the elders who had come with us took the lead. Especially through ‘Power from on High’ (likely a reference to a specific teaching or book), he had gained clearer insights. The gospel of Jesus Christ had more to offer, and this ‘more’ we wanted to experience and share together!
After completing my MTS (secondary technical school) education, I found work at a shipyard. But my heart lay elsewhere. Over time, I came into contact with social work. Because I was genuinely interested in people, I decided to develop my skills in that area. I went to the Social Academy and completed that training. In 1972, I started working as a social worker in child protection. You experience so much then! You see how the devil has lives in his grip! And how much you want to help those people! Yet, I was only allowed to suggest the ‘natural’ means, as I had been taught. I saw once again: only through an inner renewal can lives and relationships truly be restored.
About six years ago, Ingrid and I left the Rotterdam area. I was able to find work as a social worker in Alphen aan den Rijn. That’s how we ended up here in the full-gospel church. We immediately felt at home! After a while, we were fully involved in the church work again, including leading the youth. Our lives are strongly centered on the church. We truly live out the message that is preached. Like many others here, we are gaining increasing insight into the workings of the unseen world. And we are learning more and more to gain victories in that realm, in the power of the Holy Spirit.
One consequence of this development was that it became increasingly difficult in my daily work. I had to think and speak along very different lines than I had come to know and value in my personal faith life. A year ago, I made the decision: I’m stopping that social work. From then on, I began to delve deeper into Bible teaching. I started studying to become a religious education teacher. Since last August (1980), I have been working as a teacher of social studies and religious education in secondary education.
Looking back over the past few years, I see how the Lord has been working all that time to bring me to a ‘higher level’. Not so much in the natural life, but especially in the spiritual. That conversion back then was wonderful. The baptism in the Holy Spirit an almost even more glorious experience. And when I was baptized in water, I knew: with this, an important part of my faith foundation was complete. All those activities, especially in the beginning – youth work, street evangelism – through which others also came to conversion, gave a wonderful sense of fulfillment.
But… for many years, I still lacked real insight into the backgrounds of many problems. Problems that others, and sometimes I myself, struggled with. Through the message of the Kingdom of Heaven, we learned to see: there is a spiritual world. And from that world, our lives are directed, for good or for ill. We began to see the true backgrounds of all kinds of situations in daily life and learned how we should position ourselves spiritually in them.
Proclaiming Victory
One of the most important things we’ve learned is to no longer hate any human being. We can now endure so much more because we separate the person from the power behind them. That distinction is truly crucial. And you need it first and foremost in your own family life! That became clear just a few days ago. Our little Jiska was taken from her bed crying by Ingrid. She just kept crying, even though there was actually nothing wrong. In the past, Ingrid might have become anxious in such a situation. But now it went very differently. She realized that an evil power was frightening the child. She rebuked that power in the name of Jesus, the Lord. A few more sobs from the little girl, and then it was over! A little later, she was happily playing again. Perhaps a small incident, but so characteristic of the life we now lead. The evil one now has less and less chance to get a hold on us. We recognize his ‘schemes and deceptions’ and proclaim the victory of Jesus!
An important part of the ‘full message’ is that you will be completely restored inwardly. You become the person God intended: good and whole. That’s the beauty of the message we hear and proclaim ourselves: it doesn’t remain in pious theories. It works in practice! Not perfectly yet, of course. We’re not there yet. But there is definitely movement! In this way, by holding fast to the truth, we grow in love towards Him who is the head, Christ (Ephesians 4:15).
I am so grateful for this life in Christ!
@wimvanputten