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Brazil – February 20, 2010. When God rebuked Elijah concerning his supposed “ministry of one”, a unique fact was revealed: God has much more than meets the eye! He has a vibrant Church folded away in the bowels of this wicked world! Meaning…
If we ONLY use our myopic microscopic “church eyeglasses,” we often miss the wide angle picture of God’s Kingdom! When that happens it is easy to become despondent in our souls and think that our God is too small for our BIG problems.
To illustrate, allow me to tell you about two Brazilian Apostolic saints you NEVER heard about:
Lilia was a young lady married to a heel. A church heel. Her husband was always marching to worldly tune. According to him, everything was wrong with the church and the pastor was an imposter (“he shows no Christian love!”). Yet, in spite the storm of discontent manifested by her husband against God and church… she remained faithful!
Earlier this month, after a pre-dawn prayer meeting at the church, her moped motorcycle was hit by a drunk driver and Lilia began dying right there on the cobblestone street.
Her death did not shake the Pentecostal world. As a matter a fact, she was not even a recognized face outside her little sector of her Brazilian town. However, she was, I can assure you, counted among the 7,000 that never bowed a knee to Satan (I Kings 19:18)! Lilia’s faithfulness stood her tall among the giants of God’s Kingdom.
The other unknown hero that impacted my life is José, otherwise known as ZÉ. Zé is still alive… but barely. At this very moment, he lingers on this side of eternity because of a ventilator tube down past his holy vocal cords Holy vocal cords Yes, I wish you could have heard him pray LONG shifts on his knees with a moist pool of sweat and tears on the pew.
But there was more to Zé than his prayer life. He was a church builder. He would latch on to Missionary Cleve Lambeth’s vision and go build buildings to match the dreams of his pastor! Almost by himself he built, from the ground up, six church buildings. Wow! Have you ever heard of Brother Zé? Very unlikely! Yet, people like Zé are those that God’s counts among the 7,000!
Zé was an orphan from childhood and as a result never learned to read and write. He was illiterate, but not in prayer!
The night Zé got hit by a motorbike he was by a highway, coming home from church. The night was dark and wet. The biker was high on cocaine. It was to be a “happy” night for Zé… he was coming off a 10 day fast and had invited his pastor to his home (after church) to break the fast. I guess you could say he is still on that fast… in the ICU… awaiting his call Home.
Are there others among those 7,000? Oh yes, and some of them can be found around you!
Did I hear you ask about joining this special group? Yes, you can.
There are at least two vacancies; but the job description DOES NOT INCLUDE LIMELIGHT SHOWMANSHIP SUNGLASSES.
Please sign here… on the dotted line of blood and tears.
John Bradley Lambeth
May God make all His likened to Hermano Ze, and give us a heart of prayer, fasting, sacrifice, and dedication to the Lord. Thank you for telling us of this brother.