Brother Ray

Testimony of ray

Ray LeRoux is a 70 year old born again follower of Yeshua ha Messhiach who lives in St. Cloud Florida and Varna Bulgaria.

He was born in 1939 in Saratoga Springs NY, halfway between New York City and Montreal, Canada. He was raised in a Catholic home of first generation Americans. His paternal grandparents were from County Cork Ireland and St. Remy aux Bois in France. His maternal grandparents emigrated from a small rural village halfway between Bratislava, Slovakia, and Auschwitz, the site of the notorious Nazi extermination camp.

Ray attended parochial schools and then attended and was graduated from the Mater Christi Seminary after which he attended Our Lady of Angels major seminary at Niagara University. He left his studies for the Roman Catholic priesthood.

Following studies at St. Michael's College and the graduate school of the University of Louisville (and various other colleges and universities” Ray spent the majority of his working life in America working for The National Conference of Christians and Jews, the Big Brothers/Big Sisters of America, as a working journalist, in government as a senior state welfare administrator in Kentucky and as chief aide to a United State senator. For his last 20 years of work, he was administrator of The Sebastian Inlet Taxing District, a Florida port just south of Port Canaveral Florida.

Although he spent a lifetime working for religious, social service and government agencies, he, by his own admission, never went to church or read the bible.

At age 21, he suffered first, second and third degree burns over 65 per cent of his body in a horrendous accident while working as a a photo-journalist. It was one of several times he came close to death. At age 64, he suffered a series of strokes and heart attacks while on a cruise off Panama and spent months in the Miami Heart Institute where he lay in a coma suffering from “multiple organ failure” (heart, liver, kidneys). He was not expected to live and the doctors asked his wife permission to take him off various life supports.

Still, after a lifetime of ostensible good works, he had not accepted Jesus Christ as his personal saviour. His Christian friends told him they had prayed for him and while thanking them, he tossed off these messages as mere social pleasantries.

Surviving, Ray's working career was abruptly ended. His income ended, along with it his so called friends. Despairing, Ray actively began to contemplate and prepare to commit suicide.

Then suddenly, one day, a strange letter appeared in his mailbox. It was from a woman with a strange name. It turned out to be from a long lost daughter he had not seen or heard from in over 25 years. In her letter, Ray's daughter told him she was a “born again” Christian. He asked her what that meant. She said I will send you an email. She did. It was three full pages long. Ray took the email to his porch to read it. Before he had read the very first line, he was suddenly and completely filled with the Spirit and immediately accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as his personal saviour. It was as instantaneous a conversion, he says, as Paul on the road to Damascus.

Ray has spent the last 6 ½ years immersing himself in God's word, giving his testimony, and teaching the Word of God

“I read a book a day for over 30,000 years. I was a college professor I was considered a wise man But I was not. I didn't own a bible, much less read one. But having accepted Jesus Christ and being filled with his spirit, the word of the Lord has become abundantly clear. All of the years and reading and studying were put into focus for me – by God's hand – and just as surely to be put to His use.”

Ray's teaching of scripture has a heavy Jewish flavor. It is as heavily focused on the Old Testament as the New Testament. It focuses upon the Jewish roots of Christianity, the original Hebrew and Greek texts (he had studied both languages in his Catholic seminary days).

“While I was engaged in 'works', I consider my 40 working years as having been in bondage to 'the world' and its prince, the adversary,” he says. “As a newborn follower of Yeshua, I was once in a bible study, given questions about Catholicism by the study leader. I told him I didn't mind but that my frame of reference was 40 years old, a time I had spent more with the devil and I might feel more comfortable answering questions about the adversary.”

“My mother's family was very near the Auschwitz concentration camp. I grew up in a Jewish community. I knew many holocaust survivors. For my 40 years before accepting Yeshua, I had studied the holocaust, its roots in Europe over centuries. Now this lifetime of research is being put to fruitful use in helping me discern – with the help of the Spirit – God's promises of blessings and curses to those of us who have eyes to see and ears to here.”

“During my 40 years in the wilderness, I came close to death on more occasions than I can remember. I was close to hell and literally planning to commit suicide. Yeshua stood at my door so many times and finally one time I was allowed to open it. I was not saved by a church or a pastor or a teacher or a denomination, by by the direct intervention of the Lord. As sure as there is a heaven above, it was He who inspired my long lost daughter to give her testimony to me. I was saved from a death I was preparing for, a hell I had one foot in, and given life – life not only here for for eternity.”

“I have a brother who tells people that I have 'found peace' – I always correct him to say I didn't find peace, peace found me.”

“Before I finally accepted Yeshua, I broke all or most of God's commandments. I was truly in the devil's prison. The evil one would ask me if I wanted a drink and I answered 'how many can I have'. He told me as many as you want. And I became addicted to alcohol. The same with women. I was angry and abusive. Outwardly I was a respected worker for causes and the public good. Inwardly I was a mess, simply a bad guy. I was given the world's rewards and like everything coming from Satan, they meant nothing. They were literally a trap, getting worse and worse.”

“I worked for 'religious' organizations and thought I was doing good. Now I understand that there is a world of difference between believing in a 'religion' and truly accepting Yeshua.

11/11/2010
Had major, major cardiac event a week ago and just returned from hospital last evening. my systems began to shut down, organ by organ. my pacemaker went into default. i began to build up bodily fluids in my lungs and literally was drowning to death. they were able to void over 15 liters of water from my lungs. there is a chemical signal called BNT which manages flow of liquids. it should not be higher than 100. when i arrived in emergency room this number was 1,600 and climbling, a sure sign of major heart failure. for the first time,valentina got very very afraid i was leaving this life. as usual,god has HIS will. i was able to witness to so many people, particularly a doctor who is a seventh day adventist with many many issues. the lord surely called her to me and we spent many hours in deepest conversation about God, His Will, His working. an accident we were brought together? most assuredly not.i amconvinced the Lord sent me to the hospitalspecifically to work with this lovely soul. God is so good. i am very,very weak right now. major heart surgery is scheduled on wednesday dec 1. the surgeon/electrician is going to attempt to put thre new wires from my devices into what little of the heart remains operable. it cant hurt,it might help. rita/tony - it is amazing. many people were drawn tome as an agent of the lord thru this experience. surely HE wanted me to bring his message of joy and salvation to confused people,busy people,questioning people. how wonderful(in hebrew it means incomprehensible) He hs any use for such a poor pitiful reprobate sinner such as myself. it is very much like He used me as a teacher to so many of His followers such as you all, who are among his special called out saints. theres more to the medical stuff,but that is as nothing compared with how He still wants to use me before He calls me home. sorry for the delay in communictions and hope this email answers some of your questions. i was able to tell many peopl of how HE uses sinners sss like us. can you pass along this disjointed report to the rest of our group? God is good. God is great.pray that each of us can bear some little fruit for Him and so that our barren branches will not tossed into the fire. love and prayers to and for all from our creator.

"Patient is very cheerful"

by Ray LeRoux

Several weeks ago, we made a rather swift Run to the local hospital emergency room suffering with what turned out to be "congestive heart failure". We were literally drowning in our own fluids and the docs removed 17 litres of fluids before deeming us fit to return home. What was however truly interesting in this journey was the "discharge notes" of the attending physician. Observed for"depression", the doctor noted that not only were we not evidently suffering from symptoms of depression but in fact "were very cheerful".Paul admitted a lifelong burden and we all are commanded to put down our life and pick up our cross in following Yeshua. How many of us pick up our crosses cheerfully to embrace our versions of the trials and tribulations of our lord,the lord of lord sand king of kings.Week after week we go to our assembly of called out ones to praise our creator, to fall on our knees to the one who is worthy of all praise and adoration - only to have our ears besieged with endless requests for things the lord is to do for us."Lord, I have a distant cousin whose name I have forgotten who lives many states away, who is not saved but who has a medical test Thursday afternoon at 2 p.m. Lord,heal her and while you are at it, she and her family need jobs, a new mortgage and car, financial abundance in this world, the dominion of the evil one."We are, it seems, here in this world, albeit temporarily, to pester God instead of praise Him. How infrequently do we hear Lord, THY will be done on earth as it is in heaven.All of us are prone to pride and we admit to a touch of good feelings when we read the doctor's note of being cheerful about our condition. We all are given our bouts of trial and tribulation. How do we handle them? The Lord tests us, desiring us to persevere and overcome. The evil one, on the other hand, tempts us,longing us to fall and join him in fiery and lonely eternity.Life has chosen to give us a short supply of both oxygen and bloods to most of our bodily parts, to the brain as well as the heart, to the eyes that see and ears that hear. We are commanded in the "she ma" to love the Lord with ALL our hearts,with ALL our souls and with ALL our power. Now that these vital supplies show our tank is empty, how precious it is to know that these supplies come from GOD and not from us. HIS supply is endless and sufficient. The best that we cold ever have hoped for on our own is,as scripture tells us, no better than filthy rags. We are now blessed to spend our days in dizziness, as our discernment fails, as memory deceives, attention span comes and goes. We pray for those who entered life in this manner, who are beset with conditions so much worse than ours, the millions aborted before life here even began. We mourn for billions of muslims entrapped in a satanic religion. We beg for mercy for those "Christians" who expend less than two per cent of our evangelistic efforts on so many billions of people who so desperately need the Word. God has already decided His program for this sinful one He plucked from life's scrapheap. We are in His hands. We were so blessed ,we believe, to have been given a very very brief glimpse to the place where believers who persevere will spend with Our Father. How "wonderful". Did you know the root Hebrew for the word wonderful means INCOMPREHENSIBLE. We just can not imagine how wonderful God IS. Sometimes now we can only place a loving hand on the Word of the Lord as our eyes fail. When we lack the sufficient skills to parse commentaries and languages, there is sufficient memory to remember and visualize Brother Frank in Vladislovovo with the children, Sister Carol and her work in Dobrich, the brothers and sisters in Varna who have so little and who give so much, for Ani Ben Ari and Rita and Tony who God has used to give to me more than I could ever had given to them.In our last hospital stay, the Lord sent a Seventh Day Adventist doctor to my room there hour after hour we were asked questions on God's Word. An accident? Surely not. This week we are back into hospital for some attempted rewiring. Will there be one or more we will meet along the way who yearn for the seeds of salvation we can plant? Is there more the Lord wants done? The answer to this is surely a definition of the word cheerful mentioned so long ago in this message to fellow believers.This is more of an interim report than a valedictory. May there be one of more seeds yet to be sown. When John gave his last three short messages, the message was LOVE ONE ANOTHER.Is the Word true? More than we know or can imagine. Does God love us and wish us to be with HIM? We surely prefer HIS love, More to follow. Love to All. Amen, even so, COME LORD YESHUA.

Dear brothers and sisters-December 18th

Had two heart surgeries, total 7 hours. they were not able to put in a new device focusing upon the third and failing portion of my heart.they did replace the implanted machines with new ones.the old ones worked only as needed. the new onesoperate all the time, 24 hours a day 7 days a week, without which i would almost certainly be with the lord in short order. now they want to have open heart surgery to put in the third new external device, probably at the end of january or early february when my body heals from the recent two surgeries. the new surgery may or may not help but i am told my heart failure is now so bad i dont really have any choices left. i was told yesterday that my current state of fraility is not going to improve and that i will be weak permanently, basically homebound. valentina is doing all the driving and chores. when we went to the heart folks yesterday, it is finally dawning on her that i will not be getting better. she is bearing up very well and is very helpful. but i can tell she is very sad. i am facing meeting my maker who will sit in judgment. it is so blessed to know it is not by my own works or deeds but in my faith and trust that i will see yeshua. this first life is but an audition for what role we will have if any in the 1,000 year reign. i am so looking forward to having only one language, to finally knowing and understanding the word as it was given. how little we know now and how much we will know so very soon. it gives one a totally different view of the word to read it and ponder it from the viewpoint to judgment and the judge. how little each of has done, how much more we might have done. More to follow as energy permits. praise god. there is much i want to share with you. i have written notes and outlines. know this: we love you,think of and pray for you daily.?