The Words of the Ferrari Family
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The Words of the Ferrari Family |
A few months ago I began to visit ministers in the Spanish churches of Manhattan. One of these churches was negative towards the Unification movement yet it was there that I experienced something very spiritual. The minister was young, but he thought we were working for the anti- Christ. Every time we visited his church, he would just ignore us, and he even advised any guest speaker to make the topic of his sermon "Today's New Religions and the Anti-Christ." During such services we prayed hard in order to protect True Parents and ourselves.
The second time I went there, the guest minister again spoke about the anti- Christ. However, this time he warned the head minister that he, too, could be serving the anti-Christ if he made his own ideas appear to be God's will.
The third time I went by myself. Upon my arrival, a young lady made a note of my name and the church I belonged to. She was shocked to hear that I was a "Moonie." The pastor received the guest card but did not announce me, even though I was the only guest.
This time there was also a guest speaker. The topic of the sermon was Ezekiel's being called by God to preach to Israel. The speaker said that God told Ezekiel that he had learned many heavenly things through his suffering experiences and thereby became qualified to preach.
One of the visions of the great prophet that the guest speaker described was that of a stream of water which issued from the restored temple of Jerusalem. The river cleansed and freshened the waters of the sea to which it flowed, and everywhere the river went the land was renewed with life (Ezek 47:1-12). Ezekiel was led into the river until it became too deep for him to wade across. He was told to declare all that he had seen unto the house of Israel (Ezek 40:4).
Just as the sermon was coming to a close, the guest minister had a vision of a mountain with the sun shining brightly upon it and clear water running down from it. He said the aisles of the church were turning into a river and he saw me right in the middle of it. He looked straight at me and asked me to come to the front. "Do you know why I called you?" he said. Internally I knew why, but externally I said, "No."
Then he explained his vision to everyone, saying that there was a very bright spirit upon me and that God was asking me to preach to many churches like Ezekiel, because the water from the river was up to my knees.
"Where do you come from?"
"I come from Brazil," I answered.
"You did not come here just to visit this church. You came here because you have something we do not have. How long have you known Christ as your Lord and Savior?"
"A few years," I answered.
Then he turned to the head minister and said clearly and in a loud voice: "This young man does not come from the anti-Christ; he comes from the real Christ. He is working for the real Christ."
Then he asked me to raise my hand and repeat three times in front of the whole congregation, in my own language (Portuguese), "Christ is my Lord and Savior." Then he held my hands and asked the congregation to pray together.
At that moment I felt a great victory for God because at last we were all melted together as one Christian family. The guest speaker placed his hand on my forehead and I began to pray aloud, strongly, and in the name of True Parents. When I finished, he asked me to stand right next to him, this time facing the whole congregation so that everyone could see me.
After the service, I saw the other minister and went to explain about our programs and literature. I could see that he felt confused and rather ashamed. Since that time, however, I have been visiting his church and he has been opening up more and more to learning something about the Principle.
Through this experience I could honestly see that spiritual world is very desperate and intense at this time and how powerfully God is working to testify to our True Parents even in the midst of negativity.