The new book is here!
HOSANNA IN THE HIGHEST is an 80 page anthology featuring stories from the Bible, history, and modern day testimonies, illustrated in sequential art (comics) form which include:
"The Gadarene" (from Luke's Gospel) - drawn by Alec Stevens
"Dr. Marcus Whitman" - drawn by Edwin B. Wallace
"Kawla Kuma: Man of the Mizo Hills" - drawn by Harold Johns
"Great is Thy Faithfulness" (the story behind the hymn) - drawn by Alec Stevens
"Arthur Lock: the 'Mayor' of Capital Avenue" - drawn by Charles L. Ramsay
"The Widow's Prophecy" (an account of Scandinavian evangelist Emanuel Minos and a powerful warning of God's impending judgment upon the nations, and the blessed hope found only in Christ) - drawn by Alec Stevens
and many superb single illustrations by U. S. Abell, Jack Hamm, John G. Lambrides, E. J. Pace, Henry Ossawa Tanner, and Edwin B. Wallace -- all men of like precious faith in Jesus Christ.
- carefully researched, richly edifying, and inspirational -
For more information visit the Calvary Comics site.
Replies
"The Widow's Prophecy" is the closing story of this volume, and it may be one of the most serious - and perhaps most urgent - I have illustrated in my entire professional career (which began in 1985). The story begins and ends as a biography of Sudanese-born evangelist Emanuel Minos whose adoptive parents brought him to Norway at an early age.
In 1968 he was conducting revival meetings in the Valdres valley region of southern Norway when Berte Gunhilda Smelhus, a Christian woman in her eighties with a good reputation, shared with him a powerful vision of things to come.
She said:
"I saw the time just before the coming of Jesus and the outbreak of the Third World War. I saw the events with my natural eyes. I saw the world like a kind of a globe and saw Europe, nation by nation. I saw Scandinavia. I saw Norway. I saw certain things that would take place just before the return of Jesus, and just before the last calamity happens, a calamity the likes of which we have never before experienced.
"First, before Jesus comes and before the Third World War breaks out, there will be a 'détente' like we have never had before. There will be peace between the super powers in the east and the west, and there will be a long peace. {Note by Minos: Remember, that this was in 1968 when the cold war was at its highest.} In this period of peace, there will be disarmament in many countries, including in Norway and we will not be prepared when it (the war) comes. The Third World War will begin in such a way no one would have anticipated - and from an unexpected place.
"A lukewarmness without parallel will take hold of Christians, causing a falling away from true, living Christianity. Christians will not be open to penetrating preaching. They will not, like in earlier times, want to hear of sin and grace, law and gospel, repentance and restoration. There will come a substitute instead: prosperity (happiness) Christianity.
"The important thing will be to have success, to be someone; to have material things, things that God never promised us in this way. Churches and prayer houses will be emptier and emptier. Instead of the preaching we have been used to for generations (i.e. to take up your cross and follow Jesus), entertainment, art and culture will invade the churches where there instead should have been gatherings for repentance and revival. This will increase markedly just before the return of Jesus.
"There will be a moral disintegration that old Norway has never experienced the likes of. People will live together like they were married without being married. {Note by Minos: I do not believe the concept of “co-habitation” existed in 1968} Much uncleanness before marriage, and much infidelity in marriage will become the natural or common and it will be justified from every angle. It will even enter Christian circles and be accepted – even sin against nature. Just before Jesus returns there will be TV programs like we have never experienced. {Note by Minos: TV had just arrived in southern Norway in 1968.}
"TV will be filled with such horrible violence that it teaches people to murder and destroy each other, and it will be unsafe in our streets. People will copy what they see. There will not be only one “station” on TV, it will be filled with “stations.” {Note by Minos: She did not know the word “channel” which we use today. Therefore she called them stations.} TV will be just like the radio where we have many “stations,” and it will be filled with violence. People will use it for entertainment. We will see terrible scenes of murder and destruction one of the other and this will spread in society. Sex scenes will also be shown on the screen, the most intimate things that takes place in a marriage. {Note by Minos: I protested and said, “We have a law that forbids this kind of thing.”}
“It will happen, and you will see it. All morals we have had before will be broken down and the most indecent things will pass before our eyes.
"People from poor countries will stream to Europe. {Note by Minos: In 1968 there was no such thing as immigration.} They will also come to Scandinavia - and Norway. There will be so many of them that people will begin to dislike them and become hard with them. They will be treated like the Jews before the Second World War. Then the full measure of our sins will have been reached. {Note by Minos: I protested at the issue of immigration. I did not understand it at the time. She wept as she continued to speak.}
“I will not see it, but you will. This will happen shortly before Jesus is coming back and World War III begins.
"It will be a very short war. All that I have seen of war before is only child’s play compared to this one, and it will be ended with nuclear atomic bombs. The air will be so polluted that one cannot draw one’s breath. It will cover several continents; America, Japan, Australia and the wealthy nations. The water will be contaminated. The soil in these places can no longer be used for growing food. The result will be that only small areas will remain that can be used to grow food. The remnant who survived in the wealthy countries will try to flee to the poor countries, but they will be as hard on us as we were on them, and will refuse to accept the people seeking refuge.
"I am so glad that I will not live to see it, but when the time draws near, you must take courage and tell this vision that I have seen to people.
"I have received it from God and nothing of it goes against what the Bible tells.
"The one who has his sin forgiven and has Jesus as Saviour and Lord, is safe."
Emanuel Minos lived to see three out of four of the "waves" occur:
the détente, a long-lasting peace between the western and eastern super powers; a lukewarmness in the churches where the prosperity gospel and entertainment takes hold; and a moral disintegration in society and on televisions.
Minos died in November, 2014, so he didn't see the flood of immigrants from Syria and north Africa pouring into Europe. That is the fourth "wave" the widow spoke of. Prior to his passing, Minos was awarded the Order of the Northern Star by the king of Sweden for his "Christian, cultural, and social involvement" in that nation.
The story in its entirety is ten pages long.
Kevin Collier of Creative Motion Online kindly reached out for a few interview quotes for a review of the new book. You can read it here, or online (scroll down a bit): http://creativemotiononline.com
Orders for Hosanna in the Highest are presently coming in from all over the US (and orders for other books outside the US).
This book looks very inspirational! I'm definitely going to try to save a bit and get a copy. I anticipate not only being blessed by the true stories and artwork, but to learn some precious Christian history about the legacy of faith these men gifted us with.
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