KARL FISCHER
PART 1 of 2 parts
"I can look back and see God's hand of protection in every single accident in my life. Miraculous escapes with split second timing and provision. God is not done with me yet, and I believe He is teaching me and training me up for His purpose. Hallelujah!"
Karl talks of the beauty of Cape Town, South Africa, his birthplace. With fond memories of camping with a brother and sister in the family Kombi "wherever the sun went down". Karl grew up speaking English, German, and Afrikaans and can trace his ancestry back to 1600 on both sides of his family, with German French origin, and English on his Mother's side. When his grandparents met, one being Afrikaans and the other English, their relationship was frowned on. It was a no no even though both were white skinned, Afrikaans and English did not mix. Great Grandfather said to his son, here's $10 you are not part of the family anymore, go seek your fortune. Grandpa was ousted from the family. He died a successful apple farmer after years of hard work and toil.
As kids, my brother and our mates went to Pathfinders (Boy Scouts in NZ) and learned basic skills for survival. "One summer when I was aged 7, we all went to the beach for a day's outing, My Mum was with us as a parent help and driver. We had quite a walk down the beach in the hot sun, and I spied a big sand bank. I stopped and made a little hole and discovered when I put my arm inside, how cool it was in there. As I dug a bit deeper it was even cooler, and I could make a place for my body out of the hot sun. My brother came along and liked my idea, so he also dug a hole, then his mate followed his idea, and we wriggled into our freshly dug refreshing sand havens. Next thing, the whole sand bank collapsed on top of the three of us. We were totally buried in sand. It all happened so quickly but I remember clearly, I was on my stomach with my hands up by my face, and unable to move. I couldn't even move a finger as the sand was packed so tightly around me. I started choking and couldn't get breath. I said to myself, what's the point of breathing, just relax. How does a 7-year-old say that to himself? Just relax, this is the end. Where does that come from? I just lay there; aware I had no breath in my body and was gagging. Next thing I felt my head being grabbed and lifted up. I took one breath of fresh air and woosh I was buried a second time. The sand bank collapsed again. I thought it was the end of my life. My brother happened to get out first and tried to tell the rescuers where I was and where his mate was. They couldn't see me or the other guy, but Mum was frantically digging with her hands and this time she got my head out and pulled me free. There was still no sign of the friend, and little did we know he was further down the sand dune, and they were walking over him in desperation to reach any of us. He was found alive but he wasn't in good shape. I remember seeing someone running with him in their arms down to the car to take him for medical help. Sadly, I learnt some time later, he never fully recovered. Buried twice within half an hour". Miracles of survival. Deuteronomy 10:21 "He is the one you praise; He is your God, who performed for you those great and awesome wonders you saw with your own eyes".
"I believed in following family tradition, we went to church at Christmas and sometimes at Easter. My family didn't believe and I carried that on, although at Christmas I would always find a church for a Christmas service. Back in 1977 I did give my heart to the Lord but for me this was more about being with the girls at church than any true commitment. There was no connection afterwards. Mum gave me a Bible at some point but reading the King James was beyond me and made no sense so I never really read it or engaged".
"In one of my last years at high school, I borrowed a friends motorbike a to take a girlfriend for a ride. We rode around a long sweeping corner and the back tyre blew out". The 2 of us skidded across the sealed road towards the cliff protecting the sheer drop on the other side. Had the fence not saved us, we would not have survived. Jeremiah 1:5 "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations".
KARL FISCHER
Part 2 of 2 parts
"A few years later after leaving school, I was studying up in Johannesburg and had the gumption to ask a gorgeous girl to a sports dinner. The arrangement was, I would ride my motorcycle a Honda CB400, to her Mum' place, then take her in her Mums' car to the dinner. Well that never happened, cause on the way in the absence of a road working sign or road cone, I fell into a pot hole, came off my bike and broke my hip. My bike, my pride and joy, was a right off. I ended up in hospital and in those days without cell phones I had no way of getting in contact with my date. I was too embarrassed to ever make contact with her again".
"Another time I was driving my car a Datsun 1200 GX home for the holidays from Johannesburg to Cape Town as a student. Many poor students shared rides, petrol and expenses and this was one of those trips. The 14-hour drive was broken only for fuel or toilet stops. We left on the Friday after the last lecture set to and drive through the night until we arrived the following morning. In the early hours of the morning I moved into the passenger's seat, put my seat down and fell off to sleep, letting the other guy drive. Next thing I woke up and saw the air, ground, air, ground. I thought this wasn't right, what's going on and realised we were tumbling. He had fallen asleep and jerked the car steering wheel hard one way causing the car to first dive headfirst into the ditch, then the car spun on its side, and we rolled over and over sideways. One of the Policemen later confirmed we had spun further than he had ever seen before. 'You must have been travelling at one heck of a speed' he said. I didn't know as I was sound asleep, but I think when the driver fell asleep, he planted his foot on the accelerator, and we took off. We climbed out of my totally wrecked car. I walked away from my demolished car, with a scratch on my nose. The driver had to go to hospital with broken bones but also survived. My 4th brush with death, but once again saved by God’s miraculous hand.
!984/85 found me in compulsory military training. I trained as medic for my unit, and we were to be sent to patrol the ANC on the border of South Africa, a huge and dangerous area. Much to my surprise I was told by my Captain, I would not be going to the border. Three other medics were given the same order to stand down. Many went, and many did not return but looking back I feel God had another plan for my life and blessed me by keeping me safe. Again saved from potential death.
After many years of travel, study, marriage and a divorce, I moved to New Zealand and remarried. I was travelling between New Zealand and Australia with work commitments and trying to gain NZ accreditation in optometry. "My wife was walking with the Lord and tried to encourage me to join her or find a church to attend in Australia. I was never keen, and if I did go I couldn't wait to get out, and found the experience boring. My wife was insistent I find a church in Sydney and to keep the peace I agreed to walk to one for the Sunday service. The spirit of God fell upon me in a powerful way that day and I loved it. I wanted to be Baptised, I felt strongly in my heart I wanted to be Baptised. First at a Freedom prayer weekend we went through a check list of worldly things I had encountered and needed to repent of. It was a long session but I was determined to deal with my past and be free of sin for my Baptism. In the following days, my life began to change. I started seeing things, looking at things differently, feeling things, hearing things. I was curious, how does this work? God showed me clearly, if I was prepared to listen He would talk to me. I discovered one of the fruits of the spirit gifted to me was the prophetic. I was given visions and found even though I was new in the faith, they were accurate and brought the other person breakthrough, deliverance and repentance. On one occasion I was with a group of others praying for a guy and there seemed to be no breakthrough moment. God gave me a vision of old muddy cart tracks. In and out of this murky puddle came a name. In and out. I wasn't sure it had any relevance but gave the man the description of what I was seeing and he immediately said 'that's my Fathers name. I just spoke to him today and he's in and out of a coma and about to pass away'.
Since then, I've experienced many dreams, visions, words, feelings, impressions all God given. My intro into the prophetic world.
Back in New Zealand in rush hour traffic a car driving inside and parallel to me suddenly decided to do a U turn. The driver hadn't seen me but I rammed into him and my vehicle was thrown across the road into the busy morning work traffic. I saw a truck coming straight towards me, but by some miracle the driver managed to avoid hitting me and potentially wiping me out. Once again I was saved from death by the hand of God.
Another day off to work on my 1600cc motorbike I approached a roundabout to make a right turn and at the last moment saw a Ford Ranger coming towards me. It was obvious he not seen me although I had right of way. He hit me on my back left side, catapaulted me off the bike, the bike went skidding in the middle of the road and was a right off. I walked away with just a scratch. If I was 1 second slower, he would have hit me side on and crushed my leg and with the weight of the motorcycle, my other leg would also have been crushed. I can look back and see God's hand of protection in every single accident in my life. Miraculous escapes with split second timing and provision. God is not done with me yet, and I believe He is teaching me and training me up for His purpose”. Hallelujah.
God has a purpose and plan for each of our lives. If we commit our lives to Him, He will protect and provide in every way .