"Who will go for us?"


The following was received from Costa Rica:  

"Greetings to everyone,  may our good Lord continue blessing you,  my name is Aldron Castillo,   married with 5 children.  I'm an ex prisoner who was in jail for 11 years,  although originally sentenced to 55 years.  While in prison I received Christ as my saviour,   and saw him doing mighty works to secure my release,  but his greatest miracle was my salvation.    

Today I serve the Lord seeking to prevent crime.  My wife and I travel 8-9 hours by bus in order to testify to others of the way Christ saves spiritually and physically and can be their savour too.    We get no external help for this work either in literature or economically.  In my  country ex-prisoners carry on as before and no one believes that God could make such a great change.    A lot of time is spent in preparing materials to give to people.     I have tracts and some  Bibles to use with a group of 40-60.     God is helping us,  but I need to prepare plenty of studies because we can't be with the group all the time,  only once every 2 weeks.

In Costa Rica no one wants to sacrifice for others.    Although many have heard my testimony,   they don't want to help.  I can't support my ministry through secular work because after being in prison you have to wait 10 years until your criminal record is removed from computer records.       

I hope in Christ's name that someone will help us.  We grow as a family with the Bible.  May God greatly bless,  continue to give you wisdom,  that all might be for the glory of our Lord and Saviour."

After writing saying sorry I couldn't help either,  Aldron replies:

"The truth is I didn't expect help from yourselves.    I wrote to you,  perhaps I'm mistaken,  but to explain that the reality is there is little love for souls that are lost and on their way to hell.   No one wants to dirty their shoes,  but just be in a pulpit in suit and tie.    Who will reach out to the lost?"

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A wonky couple of days

Only two weeks to go before semester finishes. Students are pretty stressed out. They cheered on Friday when class finished. Had a visit last night from an ex-evangelical pastor who's joined the Catholic church and now teaches religion in a an upmarket monks' school. He was keen to justify his actions so feel he's not at peace with the move. It made me think how poor the care of pastors is when things get difficult for them. And how astute Catholic clergy are, more so than their evangelical counterparts. Reading New Testament Theology by Philip Esler, who's trying to justify praying to the saints. Feel it's been a wonky couple of days.
Read more

Dangerous ground in Parliament Hall

It was like taking part in a Harry Potter episode.    The location was Parliament Hall where the Scots Parliament met in 1645-46.   You enter it by pushing open an unmarked door at 66 South Street,  St Andrews.     Bright panelled walls and enormous portraits look down upon you in a friendly manner. We were warned by the Divinity Dean,  Ivor Davidson,  that we were on dangerous ground.   What we were embarking on "involves confession,  petition,  doxology and wonder.   We are at the edges of what we can say".       This was a conference on the Doctrine of the Trinity. The first to speak,  Tom McCall,   had flown in (by aeroplane) from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School,  Chicago.    Since arriving he had spent a night in a tent on Ben Nevis,  and now he spoke at breakneck speed on the biblical data. The second speaker looked as if he had flown in on a broom stick.   Your archetypical kindly wizard,   white bearded  Professor Paul Fiddes of Oxford University
Read more

God's providence is my inheritance

Image
"God's providence is my inheritance":   the old wing of Ballygally  Castle  Hotel Today is the first day of my new job.  I'm now an Online Editor with the IMB, still involved in the Spanish speaking world,   but based in Lenzie.   It was a pleasant morning:  published a sermon in Spanish on building your house on the rock/sand (Mat 7:24-29),  and started writing an evaluation of   Textos fuente y contextuales de la narrativa evangélica .     This is a Jewish background commentary on Mark from the Qumran texts and the like,    written by a Catholic professor in Granada,   and is a challenging read. Hanging over me is a series for From the Frontiers .    Offering to do them for Charlie a couple of months ago was easy enough.  So also was signing up for a 10k race in aid of missions in Strathclyde Country Park.   I definitely need some kind of make-you-go-faster socks.
Read more