Good morning, Bishop!

Last Wednesday (7/17/13), during the children of God meeting, I was able to say “Oh what a day”. It was wonderful! An unbelievable joy came over me. I have been seeking the Holy Spirit for years, but I knew that I continued making the same mistakes, and I couldn’t stop.

When I finally used an intelligent faith and started using reason, that was when I said “no” to my will and I humbled myself before the Lord. And thank God, He answered me. Today I am sure that I am not part of a church or denomination, but of the Kingdom of God.

I thank God for the Israel Challenge. I gave my all! My prayer request was to have an encounter with God, a new birth.

May GOD continue to bless you, in Jesus’ name.

Junior

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I came to the Universal Church when I was 11 years old. My mother brought me to Church after serving evil spirits for over 30 years. She had so many health problems that she practically lived at the hospital. She took lots of pills: about 20 per day.

After attending a meeting with Pastor Renato Maduro, in Fortaleza – Brazil, she was healed and led us to have an encounter with God.

I kept going to Church, joined the Youth Group, then the evangelization group, then I became an assistant and finally a pastor, but I wanted to return to the world, which I hadn’t actually experienced yet.

That’s when I began leading a profane life. I became a prostitute, then I solicited young men to become prostitutes too and make money for me. I organized swinger parties (couples swap partners) and I dove deeper into the underworld of drugs and prostitution.

Over time, I found myself alone, oppressed. There were several instances where I thought about putting an end to my life, and I almost did, but God still had a plan for me.

Then, on a Sunday, after consuming a lot of cocaine, I had a respiratory arrest followed by a cardiac arrest, and in the hospital, after the doctors called my family and told them that there was nothing else they could do, I asked God, right there in the ICU, for one last chance, and He heard me.

The doctors said that something happened because my lungs returned to normal; in other words, they were no longer black and my breathing became normal again.

So I went home and the next day I went to Church. While I was still on the steps of the cathedral in Fortaleza, after being away for 15 years, I returned to the arms of the Lord Jesus. The truth is that I had an encounter with Him that day, because I had seen His works in my mother’s life and in my family, but not in my life.

Today I am a man of God. At the age of 37, I am now a businessman and attend two colleges. I believe the Lord Jesus is my close friend, because we have many plans together, and my name is now ISRAEL, “prince of God”.

This is why I thank the Lord Jesus and the Universal Church, who provided this transformation in my life.

One day, I will return to His altar, if He allows, in the name of Jesus. Amen!

Edy Monteiro