Testimoney from El Salvador
I was born and brought up under Catholic teaching: my parents were faithful Catholics and would practice their religion with devotion in the house. I also remember seeing my mom visit a spiritualist center on Sundays with her bottle of water and money to give to a medium so that my brother, who was mentally disabled, could be healed. On one of those visits, I went with my mother, and although I was little, I did not like what I saw.
Coming from a large family which had few resources, I put all my heart into studying efficiently with a firm goal of excelling in my studies, which was something I really liked to do. While studying in the ninth grade, some young Christians began to meet for prayer and they began
to speak to me about God. They invited me to their meetings and gave me tracts. The next year I went to another school, and to my surprise, there was a group of Christian youth from different denominations that met during the lunch hour to sing, testify, and preach the Word of God.
These youth were very enthusiastic and very daring to do the work of an evangelist. One of them caught me in the hallway of the school and began to witness to me about Jesus Christ. His words dug deeply into my heart, and I wanted to cry, but my pride did not permit me because
I was a very timid and reserved person. I was invited to attend a church, but knowing that I did not want to promise something that I wasn’t going to keep, I did not give an answer. At this time, my little sister and a good friend of the family had accepted Jesus Christ. Both began
to invite me to church, but I was not interested in attending. These Christians had an evangelistic outreach for a week and that got my attention. It felt like there was an invisible force attracting me towards that place in such a way that I said to my friends that I was going to stay and listen. For the whole week I attended every meeting, but sadly, every time they would make an altar call something inside of me told me not to go because I would have to stop doing many things I liked.
During the vacation time, I was interested in reading the Bible. Some stories like Joseph and Moses moved me, but when I got to Revelation and read of the judgements and that all liars would go to the lake of fire—that put some fear into me. Once I had a dream where I saw nothing, but heard a strong firm, voice with authority that said, “Repent, repent, repent.” When I woke up, I spent the whole day thinking about it and I knew I had to do something.
Meanwhile, my sister continued speaking to me about the Lord, and something that caught my attention was the change in behavior that I saw in her. She had been really converted. How can I explain what happened to me after? I can only say that it was a supernatural and sovereign act
of the love of God in my life: I woke up one morning with a firm conviction that I should go to church and yield my life to Jesus. As always, my sister invited me to church, but this time I went with her. I listened closely to all that the pastor said, but I waited for something specific: the altar call. I immediately responded by raising both my hands and almost running to the altar and crying, unable to contain myself any longer. I don’t know how long I was kneeling, but when I rose from there, there was only the pastor with his family, and the people that took me home.
When I got to my room, I reflected and asked myself, “what have I done?” Not in a sad voice, but rather recognizing the great value of the decision that I had taken. From then on, the presence of God was real in my life. A great need to read the Bible, pray, go to church, testify to others about what God had done in my life rose up in me. For months, my soul was so thankful to God that the only thing I could do was pour out my soul before Him. Immediately the Lord gave me a revelation that the people in the church were my spiritual family and that the young
Christians in the school were my brothers and sisters in Christ. Eleven months later, I received the baptism of the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues. This happened one beautiful, unforgettable morning, when one of the young girls in the group prayed for me and I was filled with a joy so great that I began to dance and speak in other tongues. From then on, I only had one desire: to serve God.
Because of various circumstances that I could attribute to the divine plan of God for my life, I went to the New Testament Church in Lares (my native city in Puerto Rico) four years after being converted. There God showed me through a dream of the need for water baptism. In the
dream I could see a very beautiful house, which signified my life. I saw myself walking toward the basement. Once there, I knew that the first wall had been finished completely but the second was still lacking. I went outside the house, and immediately I heard the Lord telling me that I had to confess my sins. After this, I found myself in the faith home, in a room where I could hear some people saying, “Milagros has to die.” Later, I found myself in the faith home kitchen. Someone opened the refrigerator and it was full of delicious fruits, and invited me to eat them.
Then I woke up.Immediately I knew that it was necessary to open my heart, confess those things which were bothering my soul, and be baptized in water by immersion. I knew that if I
obeyed, God was going to bless me greatly. When I was baptized, I received deliverance, and God gave me a conscience free of guilt. At once, God began to speak to me of serving Him. There was a prophecy, in which I could feel that God was going to demand something that would cost a lot. While in University, I visited a church with a group of youth. The pastor was speaking about the calling of Jeremiah and gave an invitation for all those who felt a call to serve God. I did not go up as I was not a member of that church, and I didn’t want to make a promise. But when the pastor finished praying for the people who went up, with authority he made a call for someone who had stayed back. I could not resist any more. I knew that God was calling me. Finally God captured and won the battle for my heart. God spoke directly to my heart from John 21:15-17: “Do you love me more than your studies, more than your own family?” My response was, “Lord, I love you more than everything.” I experienced a great peace that words cannot describe. A great celestial and inexplicable joy flooded my heart entirely. Definitely, this was the perfect will of God for my life. In that year, 1981, I was taken into the full-time ministry. Since then, my desire and determination has been to serve and love God until the end.
Missionaries in haiti Jail
A team of 10 Baptist volunteers representing churches in Idaho, Texas and Kansas remains imprisoned in Port-au-Prince, arrested by authorities for attempting to move 33 children into the Dominican Republic without proper documentation. Though the group maintains they are innocent, Haitian government officials have used the situation to stress the need for clamping down on child trafficking, particularly following the devastating earthquake. Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive even angrily denounced the group as "kidnappers" who "knew what they were doing was wrong."
For those associated with the churches, it's a completely different story.
"I know the hearts of those folks that went to Haiti, and their heart was to help combat the problem of human trafficking," said Drew Ham, assistant pastor of Central Valley Baptist Church in Meridian, Idaho, where five of the 10 arrested are members. "And so certainly this would never be something that they would be a part of, at least those things that they're charged in doing in. … This is something we've been talking about doing for a long time so it wasn't specific to this earthquake."
At least four churches were involved with nonprofit ministry New Life Children's Refuge's plans to move up to 200 children from Haiti and the Dominican Republic into a beachfront orphanage in the Dominican Republic town of Magante. New Life Children's Refuge founder Laura Silsby, who is one of the 10 being detained, says the organization was in the process of creating a "loving Christian homelike environment" that included a beach-area school, chapel, villas and café.
"We intended to raise those children and be with them their entire lives, if necessary," Silsby said, denying the Haitian authorities' charges that the group was intending to offer the children for adoption. "These kind of children are sold across the border for the price of a chicken. We wanted to give them lives of joy and dignity in God’s love."
Silsby acknowledged, however, that she did not have legal documentation to either prove the children were orphans or that their parents have given permission to remove them from the country. Reporters from various media outlets have also verified Silsby's claim that many of the children's parents willingly signed their children over so they could have a higher standard of living.
Nonetheless, the Haitian government is using the Baptist group as an example of its tightened regulations on adoption, which includes Bellerive requiring his personal approval on every child sent out of the country.
"If people want to help children of Haiti, this is not the way to do it," said a government spokeswoman. "There can be no questions about taking our children off the streets. It is wrong. And those who do so will be judged."
From Fame to Eternal Gain - Testimony of Hugo Perez
Growing up in El Salvador, I always dreamt of being a professional soccer player. My dream finally became a reality, and I began playing professional soccer in different countries around the world. Although I had money, fame, travel privileges, a precious family, and everything else I ever wanted, something was missing deep inside my heart. Every morning when I woke up, my first thought was, “I have to play soccer I have to be the best.” But I praise my God that even when I was far from Him, He drew near and saved me.
When my family and I were living in France, God began to deal with me. By this time, I had decided that I didn't want to have anything to do with God. I told my wife that all religions were the same and they only wanted money from me. Sometime later, my mother came to visit us and she brought with the address of a church. She attended that church frequently, and one day, my wife and I decided to go with her just to see how they acted and whether they would ask us for money. As we walked into the church, both of us were impressed with the simpleness of the church and its members. During the service, however, our second child began to have a nosebleed. He had this problem every night, and I thought to leave the meeting. The pastor saw us and approached us with an offer to pray for the child. We didn't believe in divine healing, but we though it couldn't do any harm. After the pastor prayed, we went home and, to our joy, our son did not have a nosebleed that night or any night after that. We continued attend¬ing the services and God began to work mightily in our lives. Nevertheless, I still resisted, because I didn't want to give myself wholly to the Lord. God mercifully brought me to the place of full surrender when I had a near brush with death. When I saw how God preserved my life, I could only give all my life to Him in gratitude.
Some time later, we moved to Los Angeles. After I contacted the brethren there, the Lord led me to take water baptism. Although by this time, my wife had received the Holy Spirit, I had still not received. While being baptized in water at a local beach, although I was quite conscious of the fact that people were watching me, I came up out of the water praising the Lord, and He baptized me with the Holy Spirit. I can truly say that there is nothing as beautiful as being filled with the Spirit. Praise Him!
After a time in Los Angeles, I was offered a place on the Saudi Arabian soccer team. We prayed about it and decided to move there. In Saudi Arabia, it's illegal to talk about Christ or carry a Bible; but, during those few months in Saudi, we grew by leaps and bounds. When we would meet to worship Jesus there, we experienced His presence in a mighty way each time. Since Christian meetings are against the law in Saudi Arabia, everyone that attended the services came with an earnest desire to seek God. I praise God for the time He gave me in Saudi Arabia.
Since Jesus saved me some months ago, He has brought me from death to life. I realize that I am just beginning my walk with the Lord, but it's my desire to follow Him all the way and glorif
