Two months ago I was praying and considering whether or not I should return to Central America this December. Everything is on the table, and I’ve been considering what my ministry is and what the Lord is calling me to, because I have no idea what the Lord has for me in the years to come.
The Lord made two things clear though – 1. I should return to Central America at least in December, and 2. I should return to Africa in January.
That’s all I have to run off of at the moment. Sometimes I think it would be nice to know, but I trust God.
A week or two before the trip, I got a call from one of our translators in Central America – a man God saved out of a murderous lifestyle in the gangs. I was walking up to my workplace and almost considered ignoring the call because I’d be seeing him soon enough, but I took it anyway.
I picked up – he sounded shaken. Through the conversation I quickly learned that men from one of the gangs near his village had raped his daughter and that she was now pregnant. He continued, telling me that his family was shaken up – his wife and daughter were losing faith, and he was at least a little tempted to pick up his old ways and get revenge.
“Pray for me Paul. I know what I once was and I don’t want to go back.”
At a loss for words, I struggled through the conversation. After I hung up, my next phone calls and texts were to tell members of the team who loved him to be praying, and plans were set in motion to visit him and his family in his village.
This man, this former gang member used to murder people to make a living. Now he’s praying and begging God not to let him take any revenge, but to help him forgive. There is no doubt in my mind that he is a new creation. He used to bring death everywhere he went, now he goes into gang territories and preaches the gospel of life even at great risk to himself.
Obviously, Satan hates this and would do anything to stop it, and our friend and his family have already paid a terrible cost for living in the place God has called them to live. Pray for them.
Meeting with Death’s Messenger
Two weeks later when we arrived in our friend’s village, our entire group was marching toward his humble house when I saw them – six men standing out in front of his house to greet us. Our friend ran up to me and said, “Paul, they’re from the gangs. Don’t be afraid, they’re here to hear the gospel!”
At their center stood the leader – “Juan”. His ball cap and tattoos covered his entire head, surrounding his care-lined face. He looked tired and worn out; I’ve seldom seen a man look so weary. Yet we knew he was a murderer – a cold-blooded killer.
Men from the team went behind our friend’s house to meet with Juan and his men – to preach the gospel to them while the rest of us set about putting together a Christmas program for the children and people of the village. Several of the women spent the entire time ministering to our friend’s wife and daughter.
Around the same time that the program started, Juan and his crew came out from the meeting and watched the gospel vividly presented through a drama, and the preaching of the Gospel from the Bible.
As we dispersed afterwards, I was with several of the young men from the team speaking to Juan – most of whom grew up in Christian households, like some bizarre contrast between light and darkness. Yet we are all the same as Juan – we all face the same plight.
Juan acted on the thoughts we only had, and God graciously kept us from carrying them out or from growing up in the same violent environment. Juan has the same problem we have – our sins have separated us from a holy God and without salvation, we are destined for the place of our own choosing – the wrath of God and eternal separation from Him.
Yet that day we offered him the hope that yes, Christ died so that he too could have life. Yes, even Juan’s horrific crimes against God can be forgiven, and even better still, like our friend the translator, he who once brought death could become a messenger of life.
We gave Juan a Bible and prayed over him, and tears shone in his eyes as he reverently held the scriptures. Before we prayed, he asked us to pray for his son – that he would grow up differently than he did.
Our friend the translator said that after we left, Juan and his men were standing around the open Bible in reverent awe. We have not heard from him in the short weeks since that day, but I pray that the Lord saves him.
God called us to go preach the gospel to the lost, simply to invite them to the banquet of God’s grace and mercy freely offered through Christ’s death on the cross to ALL, with no concern as to their former lives. Matthew 22:10 says that the servants of the king “went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with guests.”
Christ is able to transform all kinds of people, both the “good” and the bad, realizing this, that only God is truly good, and He has provided a Way for us to be like Him through Jesus His Son.
Please pray for Juan and his men.
The Frowning Hand of Providence
Providentially, I just read the story of Joseph. His brothers sold him into slavery in Egypt, he was thrown into prison because he’d been falsely accused of rape, and he spent years forgotten as he waited for release.
But because Joseph was stuck in prison, he was right where he needed to be when Pharaoh wanted his dream interpreted, an act of providence that saved the lives of countless people in the end.
Everything that happened to Joseph--everything man intended for evil, God used for good.
Wicked men raped our friend’s daughter, and that is something she will have to live with for the rest of her life, but our friend told us that since the trip, God has used this as an opportunity for her to know Christ in a more real way. Furthermore, God turned the situation into a chance for us to minister the gospel to a small crowd in our friend’s village, including several gang members who heard the gospel in many different ways. Perhaps God will use this to save their souls as well.
God works out everything for good for those who love Him, and one day, He will wipe away every tear from our eyes. It is from this hope that we operate – we base all our confidence on the fact that this life is not all we have. Our reward – our home is not here but in heaven, where the former things, no matter how great or terrible, will never be remembered again. All of this life will fade except the Lord – yes, even this horror.
Please take some time right now to pray for our friend, his wife, and most importantly, his daughter. Pray that they find comfort and healing in the Lord, pray that they are able to forgive the wicked men who did this, and pray that God will continue to use this for good in their lives.
