Below are excerpts from the biography of a man named Raul:
I remember this whole experience, him [Raul's father] hitting me and beating me when I was growing up...By the time I was 8 or 9 years old, my goal was to kill my dad. That was my life.
At the time I was eighteen...I was given a choice, either go to prison or go into the military. Well, at that time, Vietnam was going on, I said, “I’ll just go to Vietnam. It’s a license to kill..."
I spent the next six months of my life under psychiatric care, group therapy counseling, because I was so violent.
The first thing I did was start pushing Sharon [Raul's wife] around, kicking her and punching her. Pretty soon, I was choking her...When I realized she was going to leave me, I decided that nobody would ever have her or my kids. The best way to do that was to execute her and my kids, and kill myself.
When I got home, she had already gone to church...I got my rifle and loaded it with eighteen rounds....I began to destroy my whole house...I went next to the TV and I was just standing there. I was so angry and so mad inside; I took the butt of the rifle and hit the TV. When I hit it, it came on. And when the TV came on, there was this bald headed guy talking about Jesus...
I was listening and I wanted to shoot him with my gun, but I couldn’t pull the trigger. It seemed as ...he was talking directly to me...All of a sudden, I found myself on my knees, listening to him...I just began to cry out to God, “God if you’re really real, and you are a God that can save people, as you saved my wife, I want you tonight, right know, to come into my life.” And you know what blew me away? I didn’t see lightening or hear a voice, I just, by faith, prayed a prayer. And I felt a complete change in my life. As I got up from my knees, I wiped off my tears and put away my rifle. I got in my car and went looking for my wife, to tell her what had happened to me. I couldn’t find her. As I entered the church that she attended, they were giving the altar call. So I just went up to the altar, and when they got done counseling me, I went home.
Raul not only gave his life to Christ, but he now serves as the senior pastor of a church in Golden Springs, CA.
INTERCESSIONS:
- There are people in your city that need your prayer. They may be people you don't even know and, if you did know them, in all honesty you might not like them. Addicts, abusers, those angry enough to kill. But God loves them. May His love for them fill your heart as you pray...even though they may remain nameless and faceless to you. In humbleness before the God who brings beauty from ashes, please pray for the lost in your city this week. May He bring new life to those for whom we pray just as He did for Pastor Raul. And may He be glorified!
No comments:
Post a Comment