A
BRAZILIAN WOMAN SNATCHED FROM THE DEPTHS OF WITCHCRAFT BY THE LORD JESUS
PART
4
I hadn't yet
received any teaching about the Word, nothing about God, Jesus, the
Gospel. So I started to live like I saw other people do. I gave alms,
I helped the poor, I looked for ways to be pleasing to God. I knew
that God was contemplating this heart that had become sincere. Still
He had better plans for me. I learned to respect and love God through
Jesus Christ.
Just like a newborn
in the faith, I fed on all of my own discoveries. I started a new
lifestyle. I had found my reason for living. My goal was to be
pleasing to God. I wanted to thank Him for His immense love, I needed
to serve Him, I felt the need to serve Him in whatever I did or
whatever I owned. It was a necessity for me to show Him my gratitude.
After all, I had finally found the peace and love that I lacked. I
had found a faithful, trustworthy Friend.
But, for lack of
knowledge, I thought that the best way to serve God was to enter a
convent. After several attempts, I was received by a Mother Superior.
I told her about my experience and my desire to dedicate my whole life to
God. The Mother Superior told me that no convent would accept me
because I had been married and "defiled" by a man.
The answer
frustrated me. But my enthusiasm was still there, I asked her if
there was another possibility for me to serve God. She asked me to
volunteer in an orphanage because by helping the children, I would
be serving God.
I found an orphanage
where I was welcomed by a nun who coldly told me that she didn't need
anyone. I tried to argue, but she refused my help. My frustration
increased as I found it difficult to serve God. Despite everything,
in my heart, my desire to serve God was great. Although I was often
discouraged, something encouraged me to continue. I always gave alms,
I helped everyone I could. This included offering songs that people
liked, popular songs, or classical songs.
One day, while
entering the refectory of my work, I was singing. A colleague said to
me, "You are very happy eh?!”
When I told her the
reasons for my joy, she laughed, "You don't think God will
accept something from people like you? He has His own songs.”
I was very hurt. I
was even more disappointed later when I learned that this girl was
Protestant. She could have been an instrument of God, to guide me in
the knowledge of the truth, because I was a new Christian. But on the
contrary, her lack of understanding almost destroyed me. She never
spoke to me about Jesus, the few words she spoke to me entered like
poison into my heart.
In this weakness,
Satan provoked me, "Stupid! Do you really believe that after
wallowing so much in sin, you can sing anything and believe that God
is going to give you His attention?”
My mind, stimulated
by the Accuser, remembered all my sins. I was ashamed and bitter for
having sinned so much that I was despised by God. After all, this
young Protestant made it clear to me, that she and not me, served
God, that she knew what God loved, and that it could not be the song
of this "worldly singer."
The black hole of
depression came back to me devastatingly because I had put all my hope and faith in Jesus. I was rejected from the convent, rejected
from the orphanage, and now my way of singing to God has been
scorned. It has been a very long afternoon. I had this impression
that people were passing near me thinking, "Look at this sinner
who is trying to sing for God.”
On the way home,
passing near a bar, Satan advised me, "Come in, have a drink,
buy some cigarettes since you are so unhappy!”
I refused these
thoughts, because ever since Jesus condescended to me to change my
life, I had developed an aversion to these things.
I ran home, walked
into my room, and sat on my bed. Consciously, I felt my body slide. I
tried to hold on to something, but I couldn't grab anything. I was
slipping into a dark abyss, I didn't want it, I struggled so hard not
to go that I felt deep fatigue.
I then moaned, "O
my God, I can't stand the darkness anymore… I don't want… show me
your light!”
The fall ceased and
once again I was able to contemplate this strong light that came from
above. This light enveloped me in a pleasant temperature. I tried to
stare at this light without success, but a wonderfully sweet and firm
voice came out, "Come to Me, you who are tired of carrying your
burdens and I will give you rest.”
I did not know the
meaning of these words, so I told myself that I had a guide of light
in front of me communicating with me. So I said to Him, "What is
your name?”
"I am the Way,
the Truth and the Life.”
I still did not
understand, I repeated the question and received the same answer.
I changed the
question, "In which center (spiritualist) can I meet you?”
"Examine the
scriptures. You will find me there.”
"The writings?
What is that?”
"You'll find
them at church. You will find Me there. I have a great work to do
with you.”
"An artwork?
But I never did that. My father was a bricklayer once, but I don't
know anything about it.”
The voice left
insisting, "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. Look for Me at
the Christian church. I'll talk to you there.”
I was thinking,
trying to find the spirit that had spoken to me. In the morning,
quite early in the morning, I asked my mother, if she knew of a guide
called "the Way, the Truth and the Life," because I wanted
to serve Him. But she had never heard of someone called "Chemin (Portuguese for Way)."
I went to work with several questions in my mind and had my doubts.
“I am the Way, the
Truth and the Life. I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.. ”
Throughout the week,
those words hammered in my head until I remembered an old fact, when
I was a teenager hanging out with disreputable people. We knocked on
house doors, rang doorbells, and threw stones at people's roofs. One
day we went to a poor house, the door was open. There were people on
their knees screaming out loud. So we also came in to shout with
them. This made them all run away.
So a man approached
our group, all my friends fled but I was caught. I thought he was
going to beat me, but he kindly invited me to attend the meeting. It
was actually a church and the man was its pastor. So although I was still a
witch then, the attitude of this man towards me, made me ashamed of my
behavior. There were only 4 walls and one of them had caught my
attention because it was written "I am the Way, the Truth and
the Life.”
At that moment, God
made me remember this episode in my life. Nothing happens for
nothing. I decided to return to this place because they would have
an explanation of this sentence and the pastor could give me the name of the
author. I went there, the church was closed but I was told it would
be open at night, for a meeting to which I was invited.
I spent hours
choosing an outfit, ended up arriving late wearing extravagant clothes. When I saw everyone dressed in plain clothes, without
makeup, I wondered if these people were disgusted with life.
But looking at their faces closely, I observed an inner peace in them. I really liked seeing this. I
was trying to understand the place, the clothes and the customs of
these people.
The same man who had
held my arms years before, took the black book and announced that he
was going to read the Bible in Matthew 11: 28, “Come to Me, all of
you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest."
I almost passed out
with fear. Then the pastor asked that everyone open the Bible in John
14:6, “Jesus said to him, I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No
one comes to the Father except through Me."
I couldn't contain
my tears. It was Jesus who communicated with me! The eyes of my
intelligence were starting to open, and some things were starting to
make sense. These were the words of Jesus; the fireball, the force
that did not allow Satan to destroy me the other night,… the gaze
of Jesus… what joy!
During the service,
some women began to speak in another language and called out,
"Gloria Gloria!"
I thought they were calling a woman "Gloria," but without me realizing it, they were expressing glory to God.
But since I didn't understand this, I looked towards the door,
thinking that a woman named Gloria would come in and I thought that
this Gloria was very important. But no one entered.
Nobody noticed me, although I was wearing a miniskirt, not even the men. But
all were crying, calling this Gloria of God.
During this time,
the preacher was talking about deep things from my past, things that
no one knew. I was alarmed. I had never been to such a place. Tears
rolled down my face when I realized that it was really Jesus who had
spoken to me in my room. I looked around, but they all had their eyes
closed and prayed as the pastor made my past public.
He was talking about
the infidelity of the human being living without God. But Satan
didn't waste his time. He sat down next to me.
"Stop being
naive, this man is telling your story in public, can't you see that
he's trying to shame you? What about those awful good women? This
atmosphere is not yours. Get out, get up, insult everyone and go!”
I waited for the
opportunity to get out of there and run away. But God resisted me.
The words came back in my head "I am the Way, the Truth and the
Life.” I told myself that the Son of the Most High spoke personally
to the sinner that I am. I stayed… I cried again. Peace has
returned again.
The pastor whose
first name I knew later, Milton Bengaly again opened the black book
and read, "Today I call heaven and earth to witness against you.
I have placed before you the life and death, the blessing and the
curse. Choose life, that you may live, you and your seed, to love the
Lord your God, to obey His voice, and to cling to Him, for on this
depends your life and the prolongation of your days, and thus you may
dwell in the land which the LORD swore to give to your fathers,
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." (Deut 30:19-20)
After the reading,
the pastor introduced the book as “The Scriptures.” It was the
book that Jesus had for me to find and discover. The pastor told me
that the Scriptures were the Word of God and that He had to give it
to me tonight. Rivers of tears flowed down my cheeks, I finally
understood everything.
The Almighty loved
me. He accepted me as He found me. He gave me a proposal for life when I
had worked so much for death. The pastor's words came out of his
mouth like a fire that came to burn my body. He described my whole
spiritual life.
He told me about
Satan's plan to destroy me and God's perfect plan to save me. All of
these words were like bombs in my heart. New horizons of
understanding opened up to me. I began to manifest a desire to love
God more than anything. The pastor stopped speaking.
He asked that all
pray that Satan does not prevent the operation that God was producing
in the life of someone present in the church.
They began to pray
speaking in a language that I did not understand.
Yet I still heard
Satan saying to me, "Get out of there, quickly. Otherwise, you'll
look like those women who make you cry. You are not meant to be here, it is not
your place!”
I tried to tell him,
on the contrary, I feel good, the atmosphere is healthy, beneficial to my soul.
But he insisted, "Go
away!”
I started to get up
to go out when a young woman, her eyes totally closed, speaking in
this strange dialect walked towards the door, extended her hands
blocking the passage.
I quit without
knowing what to do. The Devil asked me to hit her. I clenched my
fists willing to attack, but my hands couldn't touch this youngster.
There was like an invisible wall between us. I tried a second time, with the same result. Suddenly I heard everyone say, AMEN!
The one who was
leading the worship turned to me with authority, "The Lord Jesus
Christ brought you here tonight, for He has a great work to do
through your life.”
Artwork? I still did
not understand the meaning of this word.
"God will make
you a fisher of men, you will pray for the sick and the oppressed.
You won't get out of here until you make a public decision for Jesus.
Accept Him as your Savior, otherwise, Satan will still have a hold on
you. He is waiting for you outside to destroy you.”
I looked outside,
and indeed I saw the Devil Lucio there, standing in the middle of the
street, all dressed in black, looking desperate. He was waving me to
go out. Inside me was a great battle.
The congregation
began to sing a hymn,
…. At the end of
the work of this life
When death will be
by your side
Towards what destiny
will your soul go
What will be your
future home?
My friend today you
have a choice
Life, death, which
one will you choose
Tomorrow will be too
late
Today Christ wants
to set you free
I wondered why I
still had to raise my hands and make a public profession of faith
when I had already accepted Christ. I tried to raise my hands to make
a profession of faith, my hands were heavy as lead. They all
continued to pray. The young person who had blocked the road
approached me to help me raise my hands. Embarrassed, I accepted.
No sooner did she
touch my hands, they were free. I raised both hands, my tired and
oppressed soul, finally fully surrendered publicly to the One and
True God creator of heaven and earth. I felt it was not enough, I
knelt down, I bowed to the ground before God. From that moment it was
Jesus who totally dominated my life.
The women of the
church made a special prayer for me. Then they came to kiss me, I
felt great love coming from them.
They all said to me,
“Welcome to the Kingdom of Heaven!”
One of them, the
pastor's wife, gave me a Bible. A little awkward, I told her that I
would have liked to receive the "Scriptures." She smiled
and replied that that was the Scriptures, The Holy Bible where I
will find the Gospels which tell the life of Jesus.
I left radiant and
happy. I felt like I was holding several diamonds in my hands. I
laughed, I cried at the same time on the road. I was a new creature
when I came home that night.
