On Thursday, February 10th, we were invited to teach a lecture on the topic “Creation or Evolution? What does science confirm?” in the “Sofia Kovalevskaya” lyceum, in Cupcini.

The presentation was taught by Svetlana Sanduleac. Students of the twelfth grade attended the lesson. The lecture was held in a friendly and warm atmosphere, contrary to the view that ‘young people do not want to listen’. The students listened and reflected on the provided information. Despite the fact that there are are many parts to this debate, we talked only about three:

1) Origin of the Universe. Evolution (Big Bang): “About 13-15 billion years ago, a burning point occurred…”. Where did the matter that formed this point come from? Where did the space for the point come from? Where did the energy for the explosion come from? Remember, evolution teaches that there is no supernatural, there are no miracles, there is no God. However, can we call it  natural process when ‘something comes from nothing’ ? Some evolutionists honestly admit that they have a theory without a beginning.

2) Origin of life. The chance for a random occurrence of single living cells is 1 in 10 to the 40 000th power. For scientists, that is almost impossible. This supports Romans 1:20: For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.

3) Observed changes in living organisms do not prove evolution from a protozoa to man, on the contrary, the evidence leads to a deterioration of the genes from generation to generation.
Natural selection of genetic information leads to loss of genetic diversity. Mutations are mistakes in the process of copying information from generation to generation, and they is occurring to the detriment of a biological organism. Mutations can not lead to an increase of information and functional complexity.

At the end of the lesson, we concluded that natural selection and mutation do not add information necessary for the emergence of more complex organisms. We hope and plan to do more lessons of this type in schools, so please pray for God to give us the opportunity to do so.

Special Teacher’s Day is celebrated every year in Moldova on the first Sunday of October. It is the day when many students and even grownups thank their present or even former teachers.

Usually, people give a nice bucket of flowers and a small present, like a small box of candy or chocolate. Many people in churches thank their Bible teachers and pastors for the effort and sacrifice of teaching and training others.

Another tradition on this holiday in public high schools is to ask 12th graders to teach the whole day to smaller kids in school, and teachers get a day off to rest or just assist the lesson, but they do not have to teach.

Our youth are using this opportunity to teach the Word of God in public schools. When they are given a class to teach, they do a Precept Bible Study lesson with the whole class. Depending on the subject, they are supposed to teach the lesson that is chosen.

Alexander Cocetov

Alexander Cocetov from Briceni, a member of our Word of Life Christian Church, was given an opportunity to teach to the fourth grade. He prayed for this opportunity and was so glad to find out he could share the Word of God with 25 other children. The Bible study he chose was from the Gospel of John, chapter one, verses 1-18.

There are more than 200 Jehovah’s Witnesses in the city who do not believe Jesus is God. They claim He was just an angel, created by God the Father, so this text clearly shows that Jesus is God. So, it was a very good lesson to study with children.

Everybody enjoyed the lesson so much that they asked Alexander to come back and to do more Bible study with them.  After hearing how well the Bible study was received, a teacher came to Alexander during a break and asked for his notes to teach the Bible in his class as well.

Ruslan at the church service in Cupcini

Ruslan, a 17-years-old young man, was saved at the Franklin Graham Festival that we partnered in organizing in Chisinau, the capital of Moldova, in 2006. Since then, Ruslan has joined our church in Cupcini and brought his mother and grandmother to the Lord.

We could not imagine how the Lord was going to use this young man for His glory! Now he sings on our worship team, and his whole family is very active in church ministries.

Every summer Ruslan joins Moldova for Christ English Camp as a team leader. This gave him the opportunity to share Christ not only with the kids who come to the camp but also after the camp when he wears the English Camp t-shirt with Acts 16:31 printed on the back.

At school, his teacher had Ruslan sit in the front desk, so the whole class could read the Bible verse on his back. The scripture says, Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved – you and your household. Several students approached Ruslan and asked him what those words meant. It was an answer to Ruslan’s prayer for the opportunity to share the Gospel with his classmates! Ruslan shared the Word of God with his classmates, and many were amazed by his answers. Even teachers asked how he knew the Bible so well.

Ruslan continued to pray for his classmates and for another opportunity to present the Word of God. Every day, he took his Bible and Precept study book waiting to see how the Lord would answer his prayer and ready to give an account of his faith at any time.

God heard his prayer – a teacher let someone from the class lead a lesson. Ruslan was the first to take this offer. He said, “This is my time and opportunity!” And for 45 minutes, he preached the Gospel and presented the Bible Study book to the whole class and answered their questions about God!

Last week during the history lesson, the teacher gave Ruslan an interesting assignment – to present a lesson on the Ten Commandments from the Old Testament. As he was preparing this presentation, his concern was how to present the Ten Commandments and present the Gospel by explaining how to be saved.

The books of Romans and Galatians were used to lay a foundation for regarding the Ten Commandments from a New Testament point of view. Ruslan had enough materials and Bible verses to speak for more than 40 minutes in from of the whole class! The teacher was very pleased, and when some of the students were not paying attention, the teacher called everyone to listen to the lecture since it was a very valuable lesson for life.

This generated dozens of questions from his classmates. As a result, Ruslan began a Bible study for his classmates to come once a week to his home and study “Having real relationship with God,” a Bible study course by Kay Arthur.

We praise God for the power of the Gospel to save people and to equip them for ministry, as we have observed it at work again and again all over Moldova!