All around the world, the Lord is using His word and His workers to bring the saving message of salvation to lost sinners.
When a trained man is shepherding his church—teaching them sound doctrine and living out this truth in his own life and ministry—it transforms communities. The truth of the gospel preached causes churches to mature, saints to be equipped, and sinners to be saved. This is the efficacy of the gospel message and a trained pastor with a shepherd’s heart.
By the providence and grace of God, transformation happens in any nation, in any circumstance, and in any season of life.
Such is the case in the life of a grandmother in South America.
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In Colombia, a 73-year-old woman named Elizabeth was just baptized. But her path to salvation was anything but straight.
“I studied in schools run by nuns. At the age of 14 I entered the convent of Mother Laura but by the age of 22, I decided it was better to leave the community and return to family life.”
By the providence and grace of God, transformation happens in any nation, in any circumstance, and in any season of life.
After her return from the convent, Elizabeth took a job as a teacher. However, her choice of that profession was for the sake of “evangelizing” the students, parents, and fellow teachers with what she had learned in the Catholic church.
Later, she would start attending university and her ideology would become radical. She shares:
“I had militant professors of the guerrilla group M19 who would indoctrinate students with their revolutionary philosophy. That cause captivated my attention, and I became so involved that I joined a union to fight for the rights of students, parents, and teachers. I participated in protest marches and taught my students to defend their rights.”
This adherence and struggle with revolutionary ideals would continue in Elizabeth’s life for the next 40 years.
When she turned 28, she was married in the Catholic church. This too would lead to her to struggle and contention.
“Because of my matriarchal and revolutionary ideas, my husband—who was a chauvinist—could not stand the situation and this destroyed the relationship. From this marriage there remained a daughter to whom I gave all my love. But I led her on the same path I was walking.”
Elizabeth would seek other ideologies and “spirituality” for her fulfillment, yet nothing would satisfy her. In an effort to find this satisfaction, she became bitter and searched even more desperately, “I came to feel hatred, disgust, and indifference for men. I even thought of being a lesbian.”
The work of this ministry cannot be done without your faithful prayers and stewardship.
After her retirement at 65, she offered to volunteer at a parish. But her motives were not pure, but rather to inject her revolutionary ideas about Jesus and Mary into the congregation. Elizabeth admits, “I was going through a dark time in my mind, heart, and spirit.”
It was then that Elizabeth’s formerly atheist—now Christian—granddaughter invited her to church pastored by a graduate of The Master’s Seminary and where there is a developing TMAI training center.
“I came more out of curiosity than out of belief. I would listen to the sermons very attentively and then I would do my own analysis. I started to study the Fundamentals of the Faith and I began to be more committed to the reading of the Bible and doing the class assignments.
During the Easter Week, I listened to the series of teachings that Pastor Santiago Armel has on YouTube for that occasion. On the teaching for Good Friday, the Pastor said, ‘Jesus was nailed to the cross and died for you.’ It was like the Lord was saying, ‘Elizabeth, you are in my heart.’ This shook me deeply and from that moment on I began to listen to the teachings with acceptance, humility, and faith.”
It was from the gospel faithfully preached that Elizabeth was brought to repentance and saving faith. Her love for and desire to study God’s word grew. She later attended a conference and shares,
“During those days, Jesus Christ took me completely and I was able to understand how I could find forgiveness for my sins — for so many years of sinful living. Particularly, it was a sermon by Luis Contreras that touched me and opened my eyes…The verses were like darts that killed in my heart all desire to continue to sin and opened the way to change my life —from a life of sin to a different life in which my beloved Christ Jesus did His work of mercy by forgiving my sin and giving me eternal salvation.”
As faithful pastors boldly preach the gospel, God’s word does its remarkable work, and hardened lifelong sinners are transformed into worshippers of Christ Jesus.
The work of this ministry cannot be done without your faithful prayers and stewardship. We praise the Lord and thank you for your partnership with the work of TMAI for the Great Commission.
As we praise the Lord for the work He is doing around the world, we pray with Elizabeth, “I humbly beseech the Father to give me the strength not to stray from His hands and to fulfill His will.”
