Hey everybody, Pastor Steven Anderson here from Faithful Word Baptist Church in Tempe, Arizona.
I'm here with a couple friends from Slovakia. This is Iveta and this is Ivan.
Hi.
And we're just going to talk a little bit about the spiritual state of the nation in Slovakia.
Now Slovakia is a pretty small country in Eastern Europe.
It's about the size of West Virginia and it has five and a half million people in it.
Well, two-thirds of them are Catholic and about 9% of the population is Protestant.
Baptists aren't even a blip on the radar, okay?
Now the country that most people would associate with Slovakia is the Czech Republic.
In fact, most people know it as Czechoslovakia, but they split in what, 1993?
Yeah.
Is that right?
So in 1993, they split into Czech Republic and Slovak Republic.
The Czech Republic is known as like one of the most non-religious, atheistic countries in the world.
They're like 80% of the people there are either atheist or have no religion, agnostic, whatever.
So that's a very non-Christian place.
And then you got Slovakia, which is like two-thirds Roman Catholic and less than 10% Protestant and just no Baptist or whatever.
So, you know, you guys actually live there and you guys are saved, Bible-leaving Christians.
What's it like trying to find a church there?
It's pretty hard.
We haven't really tried, we haven't found anything yet.
We tried, but no good results.
At least we were trying to find a church that would be at least right on the gospel.
So we obviously went to Baptist churches first, the Baptist churches that had Baptists in the name.
But then we found out that they're Protestant, that they said it on their website, right?
In their statement of faith or whatever, that they believe apostles greed and that they are part of Protestantism.
So when you say that they're like Protestants, you're basically saying that they're trying to mimic the Lutherans.
Or they believe and preach like Lutherans.
And when you say that these churches didn't have the right gospel, I mean the right gospel you're looking for is what?
We asked people when we went there, like, what do you believe that we have to do to be saved?
We asked them, what must we do to be saved? Act 16.
But they told us, yeah, it's just by faith.
And then we asked them, okay, great, yeah.
That sounded great at first.
But then when you asked them about internal security, like, can we ever do anything to lose the gift of eternal life?
They said, yeah.
If you don't go to church, if you die with the unconfessed sin, you will go to hell.
Yeah, so basically they gave lip service that it's by faith.
But then they said, you know, if you quit going to church, you're going to hell.
And then what you said about the unconfessed sin, that's the thing where they think you have to, like, every time you sin you have to ask forgiveness again.
Yeah.
And if you don't do that, you're doomed, right?
Yeah.
What were you going to say?
Yeah, even in the church they have this mass confession where everybody stands up and confess their sins to the Lord.
Is this a Baptist church?
Yeah, it's a Baptist church.
We were there.
Wow.
So you felt like, is this Catholic or are you sure that this is Baptist?
It's worse than Catholic.
At least the Catholics do it, like, in a little private booth.
You know, you guys just publicly get up and confess.
So basically they're Baptist, but it's not...
I mean, not out loud.
I'm sorry.
Not out loud.
You don't...
Oh, I thought it was out loud.
They do it like Lutherans because we were raised with it.
Oh, okay.
And you just stand up.
So you do it in your heart.
Yeah.
You don't say anything.
But they say, hey, if you don't go through this, you're not safe.
Yeah.
Because you've got to keep doing this.
Kind of.
Yeah.
What do you mean kind of?
We didn't tell us specifically that we have to go through this process.
We weren't even supposed to participate in that because we weren't baptized by them.
Oh, okay.
So we weren't supposed to take a sip of the cup with wine.
Yeah.
So didn't you tell me that they were also using an alcoholic beverage?
Yeah.
It was alcoholic because we...
In the Baptist community?
Yeah.
It was alcoholic.
We drank of it.
And we're like, oh, okay.
Because we didn't know what to do.
Yeah.
We didn't know anyone was driving.
Yeah.
So we only pretended to.
Because, you know.
The usher comes with the communion, it's like, sorry, I'm driving.
I'm the designated driver.
So yeah.
But then when they asked them, it was clear that they do this to have their sins forgiven.
Yeah.
You know.
And that it basically, they said, if you have unconfessed sin.
Yeah.
If you died in hard or heavy, unconfessed sin.
Yeah.
You're going to go to hell.
Wow.
So that's not salvation by grace.
Yeah.
That's what church members told us.
Yeah.
So we didn't talk to the pastor, but.
Yeah.
Well, you know, it's always, it's better to talk to the church members anyway, to figure
out what they actually believe, you know, see what the people believe and so forth.
But we were there when they were doing this mass confession.
Yeah.
We're not sure whether they're doing it like every Sunday.
But when you showed up.
Yeah.
Because we only won their one.
What?
Why didn't you go back?
No, I'm just kidding.
Well, yeah.
Yeah.
So it's not even what we think.
So when you went to the ones that are Baptist, it's not even what we think of as Baptist.
Yeah.
And you were raised in the Lutheran church.
Yeah.
And did you guys ever hear the plan of salvation presented there or anything like that?
No.
Because they kind of teach that you have to.
It is lifetime process.
Yeah.
It's a lifetime process and you can never know.
That's what I thought.
Yeah.
That you have to be baptized to have your original sin.
Washed.
Washed away.
And that's sprinkling as a baby.
Yeah.
Sprinkling.
And we were sprinkled.
And then you have to live a good life.
That's what I always thought.
Okay.
But, you know, you guys got saved.
I know you guys got saved, you know, through just preaching that was on YouTube and stuff
like that.
But, you know, now that you guys are saved, you guys have tried doing some soul winning,
right?
Yeah.
You guys have gone to work on soul winning.
What was that like?
It was hard because we didn't know how to do it.
It was, you know, we were both talkers, but without being silent partners before that.
Yeah.
You just had to jump right in.
Yeah.
We watched a couple of your videos, how to do it.
How to do it.
Yeah.
How to present the gospel.
How to explain the gospel clearly so that they can understand.
Also, not to take like an hour or two hours to do it quickly.
Right.
No.
As much time as they need, obviously.
But to, yeah, to make sure they understand it.
To make sure they understand.
To get to the point.
Yeah.
Basically those four points.
Right.
Yeah.
We have to realize that we're sinner.
We deserve to go to hell.
So that, you know, then because everybody knows that Jesus died on the cross and was
buried on Rosie.
I knew it, but I didn't know, like, how does it apply to me?
Like, yeah.
So you have to preach them that they're on the, on their way to hell for their sin.
So that for, for the rest of the gospel or for the gospel to make sense to them, and
then they can understand that here it's already paid for and the only thing they have to do
is to receive a free gift that will last forever.
So they, so, so how many, how many people have you guys successfully been able to win
to Christ?
Me too.
Three, around 10.
Okay.
I'm not sure.
That's great.
Yeah.
I mean, that's, that's awesome.
Yeah.
So we, you remember our deal, right?
What deal?
You have to win 300 people in the Lord before I come and preach in Slovakia.
So anyway, so you guys have had 10 people saved.
Yeah.
That's, that's amazing.
Well, we only went four times and one of those times nobody wanted to listen to us.
Oh, so you, yeah.
So, so you've been out four times, one of them was a complete bust, but the other three
times you were at least able to preach the gospel.
And then, um, did, did you, you guys took a sidekick one time with you?
Someone else?
Didn't you?
One other guy.
So you got one other guy to go with you guys soul winning one time?
That's cool.
That's awesome.
But you know, you think about a lot of these missionaries go to Europe and in the first
couple of years they don't win 10 people Lord, even in two years.
And they're getting a full time paycheck from the United States, you know, they're in language
school or whatever, you know?
So at least, you know, I commend you for the 10 people that you guys were able to win to
Christ.
I mean, that's great.
That's amazing.
So, and you're gonna keep soul winning?
Absolutely.
Yeah.
Eventually you can find more fellowship, more friends and eventually we can get a real church
established.
Yeah.
Right.
So you guys are on the border with Hungary, right?
Yeah.
And so, so how far is that from the capital Bratislava?
200 kilometers.
Yeah.
200.
So how long does it take to get there?
200 kilometers.
Three hours.
Depends on the means of transport.
Yeah.
Well, anyway, you know, as you can hear from the story here, it's a pretty bleak situation
over there in Slovakia.
It's probably even worse in Czech Republic.
So in Czech Republic and Slovakia, it's pretty much the same language, right?
Yeah.
Kind of like dialects, the same language.
Your Slovakians aren't going to get offended by me saying that?
No.
All right.
And the language is similar to Polish.
I know that.
It's different, but it's kind of similar.
Yeah.
It's roughly connected.
So anyway, we've got a lot of stuff online.
Actually, Yvette here has done a lot of subtitles on my sermons and some of my movies.
She's done a lot of work.
And then there's some other people from the Czech Republic that have done a lot of work.
So what we've got on YouTube right now in the Slovakian languages, I know that you've
got the Orthodoxy in light of the Bible, the Orthodox Church in light of the Bible, God's
word versus vague tradition.
And then you did the subtitles for marching design, right?
No.
Or was that someone else?
Yeah.
Those are only in Czech.
But the Slovakians, you were telling me that like even Hollywood movies, sometimes they'll
watch the Czech version of Slovakia, right?
Because Czech Republic has like 10 and a half million people, Slovakia has five and a half.
So a lot of the movies go into Czech, but you guys still watch it.
So it's interchangeable.
The Czech and the Slovakian stuff is interchangeable.
So somebody else did Czech subtitles for marching design and AIDS, the judgment of God.
And then what other movies did you do Slovak stuff for?
New World Order Bible versions.
Oh, you did New World Order Bible versions.
We made four videos in...
Yeah, they're in Slovak.
Oh, right, right.
You guys made some original videos.
So what are those about?
I know one of them is the plan of salvation.
Yeah.
What else?
Another one is about eternal security.
Eternal security.
And then there's another one that talks about what does believe in Jesus even mean?
Some people think that believe in Jesus means that believe that he existed, but it's not.
You have to trust him.
Trust him, rely on him to be dead.
And then...
And what does it mean to be saved?
Yeah.
What does it mean to be saved?
Saved from what?
Yeah.
Exactly.
And the fourth one, that's the longest one, about an hour, about faith and works.
Like what are those two about?
Like faith is...
You're saved by faith without works, but what do you do after that?
What do you do after salvation?
You choose every day whether you serve God or do whatever else.
Yeah.
But either way, you're still saved.
Yeah.
Exactly.
But whether you're blessed or cursed.
Yeah.
And then all these videos are on...
You guys built a really great website.
The...
Are you the one who built the website?
Or was he the one who built the website?
I put the engine and Iveta made the content.
Okay.
All right.
And she did the skeleton and then she put the flesh and sinew on the bone.
So it's slovoprofty.sk.
Is that right?
Yeah.
So slovoprofty.sk.
So I'll put the link in the description for this video.
So if you know anybody who's Slovak or if you know a way to share these videos or if
you're from Slovakia, you can find a lot of great material on Bible preaching, salvation,
marching to Zion, and then coming soon, Babylon USA, right?
So it's all on slovoprofty.sk.
God bless you.
Have a great day.