PATMOS, Greece — John, the Apostle of the Lord, the Apostle of Love. Two thousand years ago, he was in exile, in this Island of Patmos.
By the grace of God and the guidance of the Holy Spirit, here I am in Patmos after two thousand years, having a wonderful time with the Lord.
I felt led and prompted by the Spirit to write this letter from Patmos to all my precious brothers and sisters in Christ, to all those in fellowship of Bible Land Mission, to those who are praying for us and for the ministry that the Lord has given us.
John the Apostle was called the "Apostle of Love", "John the Beloved". And the greatest verse that more preachers have preached from that verse than any other verse in the Bible is John 3:16, "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
John, at his later years, after exile, when he was taken back to Ephesus, wrote these epistles of his, full of verses of love.
The greatest need of the world today in every nation that I have traveled and what I have seen, is LOVE. John the Apostle wrote in his Epistles, "God is love", "God is power, love is power, love is God."
1 John 2:5, "But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him." In the same chapter verse 10 we read, "He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him."
The message I like to send from Patmos to all the churches all over the world is, "Brethren, love one another." When we love each other there is no stumbling block. There is no division. There is no hatred. The anointing of the Lord will be in every service, singing, and preaching. The teaching of the Word will have great effect when the Body of Christ is full of love.
John the Apostle shows us the tremendous measure that God showed his love. In 1 John 3:1, "Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not." Jesus said in John 15:9-10, "As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love. If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love." And verse 12-13, "This is my commandment, that ye love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."
How do we know a person has passed from death to life, from darkness to light? How do we know a person is truly born again with the mighty power of the Holy Spirit? Again we find out in the Word of God, in 1 John 3:14, "We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death." The Apostle makes it very clear about the greatest message that we have to the world in 1 John 3:11, "For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another." And verse 16, "Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren." And verse 17 to show our love in a practical way, "But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?" And verse 18 is very clear and very strong, "My little children," John in his old age is writing this in Ephesus, "let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth."
This is the greatest commandment, verse 23, "That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment."
As I’m writing this message, this letter from the Island of Patmos, my heart is touched by the Lord. I’ve been spending time fasting and praying, and the Spirit of the Lord has moved upon me to write this letter to all my friends all over the world, I pray you will read it prayerfully.
I said God is love, love is God. When God is in you, love is in you. But in 1 John 4:4 we read, "Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world." In verse 8, John the Apostle makes it very clear, "He that loveth not, knoweth not God; for God is love." John continues the next verse, "In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins."
What a great consolation and comfort and strengths to our hearts when we read verse 16-18 of chapter 4, " And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love."
As I was studying these verses from the Epistle of John, here in Patmos, searching my heart, I felt that I fell short in my own life and heart. I have not been loving as I should. All the years that I have been serving the Lord, I’ve tried my utmost to love God, to love my fellow men, to love the souls of men, to love the brethren, but as I’ve been studying these verses, I feel there’s much room for improvement. I want to leave the Island of Patmos full of love.
1 John 4:20, "If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also."
Last chapter of the 1 Epistle of John, "Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous. For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?"
I want to thank all those brothers and sisters that made it possible to take my sabbatical and come to Patmos. All those who have sent prayer requests to our offices in Holland, Scotland, USA, and the Far East, I have received them. Every day I bring them to the Lord in prayer. This time of fasting and prayer has been a great blessing for me here is Patmos. I pray to God when I leave this island, I will leave charged and fresh with the power of the Holy Spirit, with the gifts of the Holy Ghost, with the anointing for the ministry, ONLY FOR HIS GLORY.
Thank you also for sharing the financial burden of the mission in my absence, so I do not have monetary cares here in the island. A big thank you again. Please continue your support to the mission. God richly bless you and my last words from the Island of Patmos to all of you, "love one another, with the love of God."
Servant of the Lord,
Samuel Doctorian
PATMOS, Greece — John, the beloved, the great Apostle of the Lord.
I am not far from the cave where John the Apostle had the great revelation by the mighty Spirit of God. Angels showed him great and mighty things that no other man had ever seen. God, through the mighty angels and the Holy Spirit revealed to John the future of the nations of the world. Truly this was the greatest revelation ever been revealed to any human being.
The life of John has been a great inspiration to me. I have been ministering for fifty two years in the church, in the body of Christ. Since I was sixteen years old, God called me from the city of Jerusalem. I am sixty-eight years old now by the grace of God. And the Holy Spirit has led me to come to this Island of Patmos to spend few months of relaxation, rest, prayer, fasting, and studying. I would also write certain books that the Lord was leading me to write.
All the lives of the Apostles are a blessing to me, particularly the life of John. The Bible calls him John the Beloved. He has also been known as John, the Apostle of Love.
John was a fisherman like his brother James, sons of Zebedee, from the province of Galilee. While they were mending their nets the Lord came and called them. And the Bible says they left the nets and they left their father and they followed Jesus. In Matthew 4: 19, the Lord Jesus had called Peter and Andrew, two brothers who had left their nets and followed Jesus. In verse 21, "And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and he called them." And Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed Him.
Before John the Apostle had that great experience of the vision on the Island of Patmos, that he wrote in the book of Revelation, he had already had some very marvelous experiences with the Lord Jesus.
He was one of the inner circle that the Lord Jesus would choose. In Mark 5:37-39, 41-42 we read, "And he suffered no man to follow him, save Peter, and James, and John the brother of James. And he cometh to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and seeth the tumult, and them that wept and wailed greatly. And when he was come in, he saith unto them, why make ye this ado, and weep? the damsel is not dead, but sleepeth. And he took the damsel by the hand, and said unto her, Talitha cumi; which is, being interpreted, Damsel, I say unto thee, arise. And straightway the damsel arose, and walked; for she was of the age of twelve years. And they were astonished with a great astonishment."
John was witness of that tremendous miracle of the little girl rising from the dead.
In Mark 3:17, the Lord calls John and his brother sons of thunder, "And James the son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James; and he surnamed them Boanerges, which is, The sons of thunder:" John must have been a young man full of energy and power.
John the Beloved, the Apostle of love, when he was a disciple of Christ, he also was very ambitious, very desirous to be important in the kingdom of God. You read that in Mark 10:35-40, "And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, come unto him, saying, Master, we would that thou shouldest do for us whatsoever we shall desire. And he said unto them, What would ye that I should do for you? They said unto him, Grant unto us that we may sit, one on thy right hand, and the other on thy left hand, in thy glory. But Jesus said unto them, Ye Know not what ye ask: can ye drink of the cup that I drink of? and be baptized with the baptism that that I am baptized with? And they said unto him, We can. And Jesus said unto them, Ye shall indeed drink of the cup that I drink of; and with the baptism that I am baptized withal shall ye be baptized: But to sit on my right hand and on my left hand is not mine to give; but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared." Of course that created tremendous jealousy and anger in the other ten disciples.
A tremendous experience occurred on the Mount of Transfiguration.
The Lord chose John again along with Peter and James in Matthew 17:1-10. John had the tremendous experience of witnessing the transfiguration — how the Lord Jesus was totally transfigured. John, along with the other two, entered in that tremendous spiritual realm where they saw Jesus speaking with Moses and Elijah. This was a great revelation for John. He was a witness that Christ was the fulfillment of the law and prophets. Moses was representing the Law and Elijah was representing the prophets. This was an experience John would never forget.
He was so close to Christ that on the night that Jesus was betrayed, at the Last Supper, the Bible says that John was sitting at the right hand of Jesus, laying his head on His shoulder, and he heard the voice of the Lord saying, "One of you shall betray me." Certainly John was thinking and asking the question, "Is it I?" How could John betray the Lord Jesus; he had become John the Beloved now.
In the Garden of Gethsemane, again John was with Peter and James, the three in that inner circle, who came closer to Christ while Jesus was agonizing and praying under the heavy burden. They witnessed all of that, but they could not stay awake. When Judas came with the mob and kissed the Master, John was there. When they took Jesus away, John witnessed all that.
When all the disciples left and were hiding everywhere, John the Beloved, the only disciple present, was witnessing the crucifixion at Calvary. In John nineteen you read that John was there seeing the agony, the torture, the shed blood, and the tremendous cry of Jesus from the cross. Suddenly turning to John in verse 25-27, "Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son! Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home."
After Pentecost, and the great revival in Jerusalem, the mighty church was growing by the thousands. Christianity was spreading from Jerusalem to Judea, Samaria, and the whole Roman Empire. In 70 AD, the persecution was so severe that Titus, the Roman Emperor, came and destroyed the whole of Jerusalem. The disciples were dispersed everywhere. Later, John the Apostle was in the city of Ephesus and had taken Mary, the mother of Jesus, with him. We have her burial place in Ephesus until this day.
God used John mightily in Ephesus and the persecution was so severe that the governor of that whole province was against John and sent him to exile on the Island of Patmos; a small island only about fifteen kilometers long. John in that island had some measure of freedom where he was able to turn many to Christ and baptize them into Christianity in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit — all on this Island of Patmos...
It’s been a great inspiration to me to go to that sea shore and see some of the stones from the time of John the Apostle. Exactly the spots where John practiced baptism.
It was on this island that on the day of the Lord, John the Apostle at his old age after many experiences in his life, was in that cave having spent many hours in prayer, in the Spirit, saw that vision and wrote the tremendous book of Revelation.
John was an Apostle and a teacher. He was an evangelist and now a mighty prophet. His prophecies were concerning all the nations of the world even in these last days. He was able to see with his spiritual eyes all that would happen in these last days right in the cave here in Patmos.
I’m so inspired just to look up to the sky, the same sky that John looked at; to look at the sea, the same sea; to be on the same island, and to be in the same cave. Although John died twenty centuries ago, at the age of ninety four in the city of Ephesus and is buried there and is with the Lord right now, but the same Lord who brought me to this island is blessing me abundantly each day. And I pray to God that this letter from Patmos will bless and warm your heart as you read these lines. Miracles will happen.
The Lord Jesus who raised a fisherman from Galilee and made him such a mighty man, the same Lord can touch your life, call you, sanctify you, fill you with His mighty Spirit and use you for His glory.
I pray to God that after this time of fasting and praying with the Lord, I will leave this island with the fullness of love. That I will be filled with divine love, just like John was filled with love, and God will use me the rest of the years of my life only for His glory.
John the Apostle believed, taught and wrote that Jesus Christ was not only for the Jews but also for the whole world. In 1 John 2:2, he wrote, "And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for our’s only, but also for the sins of the whole world."
Dear friend of Bible Land Mission, continue to pray for our mission ministry. Pray for me while I am still in Patmos. Pray for all the needs of the mission and I’m sure you will do what the Holy Spirit will guide you in a time like this to help us, so that all the needs of the mission will be supplied in the abundance of the Lord. God bless you.
Yours in the love of Jesus,
Samuel Doctorian
PATMOS, Greece — The time I spent in Patmos was really unusual and I would say miraculous. Only
The grace of God could keep me here for so long, after fifty two years traveling all over the world.
In the last fifty two years of my ministry for Christ I’ve had the most marvelous privilege and blessing of experiencing nine angelic visitations. I have seen angels. I have spoken with them. They have spoken to me. It has been a tremendous time in my life just to think that God would ordain that I would see angelic beings, those wonderful ministering spirits. To God be the glory.
I always wanted to find out if angels had wings. So many had asked me, "When you saw angels did you see wings?" My answer was, "I was so shocked, trembling, and afraid when I saw angels, that I didn’t have the courage and boldness to ask them if they had wings." But I decided that next time, my tenth experience, if God willed it to happen and I would see and angel, I would ask the angel, "Do you have wings? I’d love to see them. So many are asking about them!"
I never thought that God would do something so marvelous on the morning of the 20th of June, at 3:50 a.m. My room was full of light. I was afraid. I knew the sun would rise at 6:30 in the morning but this was not the sunrise. It was a beautiful white light filling my room. When I looked I saw five wonderful angels. Two of them towards my right side. They had no wings. The other three were standing on my left side, all in a circle in front of me. The three had wonderful wings. There was no need for me to ask the question if they had wings. I saw them clearly. They all had hands. Their faces looked beautiful, bright. They smiled at me. The tremendous revelation and vision that they showed me about the five continents of the world was an experience, a super highlight in my life.
I shall be sharing what the angels said concerning the five continents of the world. I shall be printing those messages so that thousands could read what the Lord has planned for the nations of the world in the coming short time.
The angel of Asia had a long trumpet. The angel of Israel and the whole Middle East had a sickle in his hand. The angel of Europe had a scale. The angel of Africa had a sword. And the angel of North and South America had a tremendous bowl. After I received the messages from the five angels, for more than an hour I could not move. For a moment I thought that I was paralyzed. I was lost in the presence of God. I did not know if I should cry or not. I was trembling from head to feet. By the grace of God, I will share in detail what the angels told me about the five continents of the world.
For many years I have been taught, have read, and heard many preachers speak about the seven churches in the book of Revelation. That these churches were in the last two thousand years in different dispensations and that now we are living in the last church called Laodicea.
The Laodicean Church had no commendation from the Holy Spirit. She was totally an indifferent church, so terrible. She was neither cold nor hot. The Spirit of the Lord had said, "If you don’t repent I will spew you out of my mouth." That message is to the whole church.
As I sought the Lord and I prayed about these seven churches, the Lord showed me that the seven churches were in all the generations of the history of the church and in all the nations. Today we have the characteristics of those seven churches in our dispensation now.
We have those who are like Ephesus, they reject evil, they persevere. They have patience but the Holy Spirit says, "You have lost your first love. So do the works as you did at first and the promise is you will share from the tree of life."
The Smyrna Church gracefully bearing all sufferings. We have many believers today in different parts of the world who are going through that same experience. The Holy Spirit had no criticism at all against the Church of Smyrna. Then the Holy Spirit says, "Be faithful onto death and you will receive the crown of life."
The church of Pergamos was a tremendous church which kept the faith of Christ. But the Holy Spirit had strong criticism against Pergamos, tolerating immorality. Like many churches today, tolerating idolatry and heresies. We call them modernists in many parts of the churches in the world today. The Holy Spirit is saying strongly to the Church of Pergamos, "Repent, and if you do then there’s a hidden manna and a stone with a new name."
The church of Thyatira, tremendous commendation by the Holy Spirit of love, service, faith, patience that is greater than at first. Wonderful characteristics in the Church of Thyatira but the Holy Spirit has a strong criticism. They have been tolerating cult of idolatry and immorality. We have churches like that in many parts of the world. I have been preaching in all denominations in the five continents of the world. In the one hundred twenty countries that I have ministered in, I’m afraid I’ve seen many churches like the church in Thyatira. The Holy Spirit is saying, "Judgment is coming, keep your faith otherwise there will be great sufferings. And if you keep the faith you will rule over nations and you will receive the morning star."
To the church of Sardis, the Holy Spirit says, "Some have kept the faith." But the criticism from the Spirit of God against Sardis is, "You are a dead church." I don’t need to mention names and denominations but I have been so burdened with many churches, with many denominations. They have the formality, they have the outward appearance, the traditions, but they are dead. There is no Spirit of God moving amongst them. And so the Spirit of the Lord is instructing to the church of Sardis, "Repent." Repentance means to come to your senses. See where you are. Confess your sins. Return from where you have fallen. The Holy Spirit says, "Strengthen what’s remaining in you." And then the wonderful promise if the Church of Sardis will repent, that they will be faithful and honored and they will be clothed in white.
The church of Philadelphia, the Holy Spirit says they have been persevering in the faith. Thank God we have many churches like that today, in spite of difficult circumstances, great persecution, and imprisonment. So many have been martyred for the sake of Christ. They have been persevering in the faith and not wavering. The Holy Spirit has no criticism whatsoever to the Philadelphia church. Praise God we have many churches obeying the Holy Spirit. God’s Spirit is very pleased with the churches of Philadelphia. And the Spirit of the Lord says, "Keep the faith, continue in persevering." The promise to the Philadelphia Church is, "There will be a place in God’s presence, a new name and the new Jerusalem."
For the church of Laodicea there are no commendations whatsoever from the Holy Spirit but strong criticism. This is what the Spirit of the Lord says to the church of Laodicea, "Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked."
Very sad. I’m afraid there are thousands and thousands of members in the body of Christ in different churches, different denominations just like the church of Laodicea — wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked.
The Holy Spirit says, "I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see."
The Holy Spirit says, "Be zealous," to the church of the Laodicea, "and repent." In verse twenty of Revelations 3, many times I’ve preached from that verse and many other evangelists have preached messages to repentance, "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me." We try to relate the message that the Holy Ghost is knocking at the door of the hearts of people so Jesus will come in. But the fact here in this verse, the church of Laodicea have put Christ outside the church and now Christ is knocking at the door of the church of Laodicea and asking, "May I come in? Those who hear my voice and open the door, I will come in." And then the Spirit of the Lord says, "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne."
"He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches."
Beloved, reader of this letter, I send you this letter from Patmos full of love, full of prayer that the Holy Spirit will touch every heart. Remember Matthew twenty four — Signs of the Last Days. We are living in those days where the Lord Jesus prophesied two thousand years ago that these days shall come upon us just like the days of Noah, and like the days of Sodom and Gomorra. We are living in those days.
Remember 2 Timothy 3:1 "This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come." We are living in those perilous days right now.
You also read in 2 Peter chapter three where Peter the Apostle is warning all of us about the last days and things that are going to happen. This world shall be burned. Peter the Apostle says that the first world was destroyed with flood but now this world is preserved to be burned with fire.
Verses 10-12, "But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness. Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?"
Dear reader, the coming of the Lord is near. Let us double and triple what we are doing for the Master for the time will come we will not be able to work anymore.
As I will be leaving Patmos in few days these are the three special prayers for my life as I continue the ministry.
First, that I will leave Patmos full of the love of God, like John the Apostle. Second, that I will have tremendous anointing of the Holy Spirit of God. That at my age of sixty eight, the Lord will continue to use me for His glory with great anointing. And third, that my whole life, my being — body, soul, and spirit will be totally on the altar — sanctified through and through. That my heart will be pure and cleansed in the blood of the Lamb. That my mind will be the mind of Christ, and my body the temple of the Holy Ghost.
I’m praying that God will move with the nine gifts of the Holy Ghost in all the meetings wherever I go.
The King is coming — Maranatha, the Lord is returning! Do everything to be ready and let others hear about the wonderful love of Jesus.
God richly bless you. Thank you again for all that you have meant to me while I was in Patmos. Thank you for helping the Bible Land Mission ministry so that our mission would not suffer. God’s faithful children have helped us in many ways, and I give God the glory.
Yours in the love of Jesus, in the service of the King of kings,
Samuel Doctorian