today...
Saturday, 12 July 2008
Resurrection
While we cannot authenticate the story below where the original article can be found here, I believe God is working miracles the world over!
Testimony from Abby:
"My name is Abby. I am 14 years old. I live in western North Carolina. During the summer of 2008, I went on a ministry trip to Guatemala. During part of the trip, we divided up into small ministry teams (5 to 7 people) and visited different villages in the San Pedro La Laguna area. We traveled from village to village telling the Indian people about Jesus. On one particular day, we were visiting in the home of a young woman. She lived in a small village of about 14 or 15 houses. We were trying to lead the young lady to Christ, but it was not going very well. After awhile, we decided to move on. Before leaving, we asked the woman if we could pray with her about anything in her life. She told us that just the day before, she had given birth to a stillborn baby and that we could pray with her about that.
"In Guatemalan culture, there is great shame and condemnation on mothers who give birth to deformed or stillborn children. We prayed a simple prayer that everything would go well with the funeral and burial of the baby and that the mother would be spared the shame and condemnation associated with having given birth to a stillborn child. As we were praying this simple prayer, my friend and fellow ministry team member, Julia (age 17), told me that we needed to pray over the baby's body. I thought she was crazy to suggest this and that it was not a good idea. Julia was persistent. She said again that we really needed to pray over the baby's body. She told me to ask the mother if she still had the baby's body. When I asked, the mother told us the baby's body was wrapped up in a burial cloth in the back room. I asked her if we could pray over the body. The mother hesitantly said, yes. We went into the backroom and saw the baby's body wrapped up in a bundle on the bed. Julia poked her head out of the back room and asked if she could unwrap the baby's head. The mother said, yes, if we wrapped it back correctly when we were done. Julia picked up the body and unwrapped the head. The baby's head was tiny and pale. The baby was stillborn and had been dead outside the womb for 27 hours. Her skin had turned shades of purple. Our entire ministry team, five of us, began crying and praying over this baby.
"We prayed for thirty to forty minutes. At the end of that time, Julia screamed out to God, telling Him that she believed with all of her heart that this baby could be raised from the dead. After Julia screamed out, everyone was silent. We were quietly interceding and praying. Within a few minutes, the baby started moving. Then the baby coughed and began crying. The mother came rushing into the room. She was screaming, what is going on? No one could answer her. We were just staring at the baby, who had come back to life. The mother asked us again, what is going on? She began crying as she saw that her baby was alive. She ran out of the house and banged on every door in the village, telling all of the people that God is real because her baby was alive. Within about thirty minutes, the baby's skin tone and movements had become completely normal.
"The other villagers came to the house to see this amazing miracle. They asked us which of the Indian gods we had prayed to for such a miracle to happen. We told them we had prayed to the biggest God ever and we began to explain to them about Jesus. Soon, we realized we would not have time to minister salvation to each person individually. So, we gathered all the villagers together, turned on our little sound system and explained the way of salvation. Everyone in the village, 80 to 90 people, prayed to receive Jesus. Each of them was baptized in the Holy Spirit and began speaking in tongues. Many would fall to the ground as the power of the Holy Spirit came on them.
"Five days later, we returned to the village to check in on the mother and the baby. The village had prepared a big dinner in honor of our team. We enjoyed a wonderful time of fellowship together. The baby, whom they named Julia, was perfectly healthy and had gained weight. Even after five days, the mother was still shaking from the impact of God on her life through the resurrection of her child. Two days after our follow-up visit, the mother brought baby Julia to church. The mother was still shaking from the power of God on her life following this astounding miracle."
-Abby
Here's another which I decided to share from Ps. Emmanuel Tuwagiraimana who visited our church a while back. I read his book 7 Days in Heaven and it was really encouraging =) It's an easy read. Although the testimony written below alters slightly to the book, you'll get the jist of what happened to him.
I request to send you this testimony of this wonderful man of God who usually visits our house in Kampala, Uganda. Emmanuel Tuwagiraimana is from Rwanda, central Africa. Before 1994, he had been living as a Christian but he was not faithful in his walk with God. During the Rwandan genocide of 1994, Emmanuel and his friends were trapped in Kabwai School, Gitarama town, about 45km from Kigali, the capital of Rwanda. Emmanuel could not walk as he had suffered severe bomb sharpenels that had left him with severe wounds all over the body. They could not move out of the school because it was risky and very dangerous. Due to lack of medical attention, one morning Emmanuel was found dead by his friends. They wrapped his swollen and smelling body in a bed cover and pushed it in a far corner in the room. By now, smelling fluids were oozing out of Emmanuels dead body.
Emmanuel says he did not know how suddenly he went out of his body. He found himself at a big gate. Two men stood at that gate and intoduced themselves. They said: "We are angels. Now you are standing at the gate of the heaven" When Emmanuel looked upon himself, he realised that he was putting on a very beautiful body, unlike the earthly one. The two men took him through sweet smelling garden of flowers. They took him to a man who introduced himself as Christ. Jesus presented himself to Emmanuel in two forms. First he presented himself with a body of scars. He showed Emmanuel the scars made by nails at the cross. After Jesus knew that Emmanuel had no more doubts, He (Jesus) started moving with Emmanuel while he put on a very beautiful body with no scars. Jesus told Emmanuel many things. Then they came together back to earth. They went to Rwanda and stood in the very room where Emmanuel's body lay. They stood in the air and morever, no one could see them. Jesus showed Emmanuel his dead body. Emmanuel says it looked terrible. "It looked like a dead cow!" Emmanuel says. They could hear the voices of people in the room. They were saing:"Oh, the saved man had died!"
Jesus told Emmanuel that one day he would go back into that rotten body.
Jesus took Emmanuel back to heaven and showed him a city of very beautiful houses. Emmanuel says he has never seen such houses. Then he was shown a lake. Jesus told him that his time had not come yet so he coulkd not cross that lake. Accross the lake he could see living persons. When he looked closely, he saw a Moslem man he had known in Rwanda. Also, he could recognise some Christians he had worked with. He asked Jesus how these people could be there. Christ told him that these people succeeded to make it to heaven to be with God. Emmanuel asked how a Moslem could be among them. Jesus told him: "As he was dying, that man called upon my name and I saved him from eternal fire". Then Emmanuel asked about a certain dead Sister in the Lord with whom they had been ministering to in Rwanda. Jesus told him that she could not come to heaven because she died with a lot of unforgiveness and bitterness in her heart.
She had refused to forgive her fellow Christians who did not visit her in a Rwandan hospital. Then Emmanuel asked about a certain dead man with whom they were praying. Jesus told him that man could not go to heaven because he kept on stealing money collected by Christians to help the sick in hospitals.
Emmanuel was taken to hell. Hell is filthy and people are made to work day and night. There is no rest. All beings there are naked.
Then Jesus brought something that looked like a chocolate bar. Jesus told Emmanuel to eat it. He ate it and true, it tated like chocolate. He ate the whole of it. Jesus told him: "You have eaten the Bible. Now it is in your head, you will be able to memorise it every where you go" [This is true. Emmanuel has all the scriptures in his head].
Seven days after he had died on earth, Jesus told Emmanuel it was time to go back in his body. At first Emmanuel refused leaving heaven. But Jesus just touched him with the tip of his finger. Emmnuesl found himself in a dead rotten body. He says he struggled with one arm to keep the maggots out of his mouth. His friends in the room could not believe their eyes when they saw Emmanuels moving body. The straps got loose and Emmanuel sat down. His friends run out of the school shouting that they had seen a ghost! But Emmanuel also shouted calling them and assuring them he was not a ghost. He aws given food and taken to the hospital.
One of Emmanuel's arms had rotten to the extent of almost falling off. Doctors in Rwanda decided to amputate it but God told Emmanuel not to accept. In God's supernatural working ways, God appeared to a white doctor in Australia. He told him to go to Rwanda to do surgery on Emmanuel's arm so that it is not amputated. In a strange vision, God gave this doctor a picture of Emmanuel and the address of the Rwandan hospital. This Doctor obeyed and saved Emmanuels right arm in Rwanda! [note: from 1994 to 1999 Emanuel had a supporting metallic support structure on his arm fixed by this doctor. Now he had removed it].
After healing, Emmanuel started his ministry of testifying what happened to him and his visit to heaven.
These are indeed awesome living testimonies of God's power, grace and mercy! They are on-going affirmations of the truth of our faith and what is waiting for us at the end of the road. Isn't it amazing?
today...
@9:11 pm
bye bye~