|
Perched on a
rise overlooking Route 202 in Raritan Township, the Flemington
Assembly of God is a church in the Pentecostal tradition, which
stresses the need for a direct experience of the Holy Spirit.
The church believes that glossolalia - speaking in tongues - physical
healings, prophesying and even fainting spells are expressions
of that ecstatic faith.
Shortly after they arrived in America, the three Russian boys
began going to church with their new parents and brothers. The
Rev. K.M. Szierer said the Mattheys were at services every Sunday
and came to Family Night every Wednesday. Family life is important
to the church, which teaches that disciplining children when they're
young is preferable to dealing with more serious problems when
they're older.
Sunday services begin at 10 a.m. with an elaborate music presentation
that includes words to hymns projected on a giant screen. Electric
and acoustic guitars, an electronic keyboard and drums accompany
the singing, a popular style of worship known as contemporary
Christian.
Some members of the congregation wave large, colorful banners,
others sway gently from side to side as the music fills the sanctuary.
Others jump up and down to the music. Szierer joins in the music,
sometimes speaking in tongues, and then, as things quiet down,
offers prayers for those who have come up to the front of the
church. He lays hands on those who are ill or injured, and a few
collapse as they are prayed over.
On Sunday, Oct. 29, 2000, Pastor Szierer was finishing up after
church, talking to the last few members of his congregation and
getting ready to leave for his own Sunday dinner, when word reached
him that Viktor Matthey had been taken to the hospital. The news
hit hard. Szierer had been watching the Russian children adjust
to their new lives and was especially fond of Viktor.
Just two weeks earlier, at a Tuesday night prayer meeting, according
to Szierer, Viktor told the church that he had accepted Christ
into his life.
"Out of all of them, all three of them, if I had to make
a choice - which is a terrible thing to say - my heart was for
Viktor," he said. "I loved this little guy."
Szierer went directly to the emergency room at Hunterdon Medical
Center.
"I came into that room and I see Brenda there just broken,
crying away," he said. "Bob is trying to stabilize her,
hold her."
He went to the gurney where Viktor lay motionless, nurses and
doctors working to revive him. Szierer said that while he was
with the boy, Viktor never regained consciousness.
"I just put my hand on his head and just began to pray for
him," Szierer said. "I was just holding his left hand,
just praying for him. What happened is, one time, his fingers
curled around my finger. Right there I said, 'Oh!' I was just
talking to him, 'Viktor, can you hear me, it's Pastor, we're praying
for you, we want life to come back to you.'"
Asked if he ever questioned the Mattheys about what had happened
to Viktor, Szierer said:
"Yeah, I did ask, I said, 'What's going on, what's happening?'
And they said, 'We don't know, he's just gone cold.' I remember
there was some breathing difficulties and that his body was getting
cold. They were trying to .?.?. Bob was here (at the church),
Brenda was at home at the time, trying to warm him up with blankets
and the like. I remember her saying she had him in the rocking
chair, just rocking him, holding him, just trying to get him warm."
Two days later, Tuesday, Oct. 31, Viktor's heart again stopped
beating. He was pronounced dead at 1:24 p.m.
|
|
