Saturday, July 14, 2012
Dear Brethren in Christ,
Last night we held an evangelistic healing service at Bible Christian Community. To help you better understand the significance of what happened, we want to share with you what happened here three weeks ago.
According
to our host Pastor Horacio, a well-known Brazilian evangelist had held
an evangelistic healing Crusade for the area churches. But it was a huge
disappointment. The preacher spoke mostly about himself. He also
promised that people would be miraculously healed, but no one was
healed. When it came time to receive the offering, he would not allow
anyone else to touch it---the entire offering belonged to him and to him
alone.
This
was especially disappointing to one of the host pastors of the
event---Pastor Horacio himself---whose ministry due to circumstances
completely beyond his control had suffered from a recent financial
setback and left the ministry about $3,000 in debt.
After
such an experience the people came last night with some reservations,
not quite knowing to expect at another evangelistic healing service. But
the Lord was gracious and did not disappoint them. He enabled us to
preach the gospel with power. After the preaching the many trained
disciples fanned out against all four walls of the sanctuary ready to
heal the sick to demonstrate that Jesus Christ had authority to forgive
sin and save from condemnation in hell through His atoning death on the
cross.
The
Lord used them powerfully as they ministered with great perseverance as
they had been trained to do. There were perhaps twenty testimonies, and
some of them involved powerful healings that we do not often see. One
young man climbed up to the stage to testify that since the age of
twelve he suffered from a debilitating disorder which for all practical
purposes had paralyzed him. He could not ascend or descend stairs
unassisted. But in front of the crowd he was able to climb up to the
stage and down again by himself. (See his photo below.) Ladies who had
been delivered from incurable conditions like the woman with the
bleeding in Mark 5 testified through tears that Jesus had healed them.
It was an unusually powerful evening for us who have held many such
meetings.
Afterwards Pastor Horacio invited people to accept Christ as Lord and Savior, and sinners responded.
The offering
At the end
of the service an offering was taken. Recall the people's disappointment
with the evangelist who had ministered there three weeks earlier and
had insisted on taking the entire offering for himself. How would the
people give this time?
Let us put it into context for you. The typical offering for an entire month received
by Bible Christian Community totals about US$2,000. Last night in a
single service God's people gave US$3,000---the largest offering they
had ever received in their history! And this was the amount their
ministry needed to cover their debt! (We are delighted that this
offering went entirely to the church.)
Praise
the Lord for His wonderful grace. We rejoice that we can be a blessing
in this way. Thank you for interceding for us, dear brethren ~
Tomorrow
on Sunday evening, USA teammate Kurt Simms will minister at the Bible
Christian Community, while we will minister at Hope is Jesus Church
located elsewhere in Sao Paulo.
-William & Lucille
Pastor Horacio's elderly mother who had been healed of heart disease on the first evening
On
Tuesday evening at the first Training session, one of the several
people who came forward for healing of heart disease was Senior Pastor
Horacio's elderly mother. Every evening for years she had suffered from
uncomfortably cold feet and hands because of poor blood circulation. But
after that Tuesday evening she discovered that every evening her feet
and hands felt fine!
