Tag Archive | addiction

Double Miracle: The Testimony of Bro. Jao Apostol Part 1

Oct17

Brother Jao Apostol testifying in the pulpit on a JMCIM Sunday service at Amoranto Stadium, Q.C.

One would listen to Bro. Jao Apostol’s testimony and one would marvel at the abundance of miracles in his life. I heard his testimony again last October 7 when the Church gathered to worship and celebrate the 12th anniversary of the victorious Mindanao Peace Mission and I knew I had to write it.

Bro. Jao grew up in the Visayas where he was a sacristan (altar boy) in one of the big Catholic churches there. Though he worked in church every Sunday, this didn’t shape or train him into a godly person, but rather the exact opposite. He grew up learning all kinds of vices until the time came that he was accused in a double murder. Bro. Jao was so afraid he fled to Manila.

In Manila, he allied with other ruffians and got involved in transport robberies, hold-up robberies, drug pushing, and other crimes. He would loiter in Luneta Park together with his friends waiting for someone to victimize. In one of these instances, since the crusades of the JESUS MIRACLE CRUSADE INTERNATIONAL MINISTRY were often held at the Quirino Grandstand in those days, a brother in Christ approached him and shared with him the Gospel. According to Bro. Jao’s testimony, this brother shared his testimony, how he was changed by the Lord and delivered him from all his vices and addictions, as tears streamed down his face. Bro. Jao’s hard heart was pried open and he went with the brother who invited him.

Bro. Jao received the Lord Jesus Christ, was baptized in water in His name, and began to serve Him faithfully. He was completely changed by God. He started to work decently. He became a pedicab driver along Agham Road in Quezon City. But the police apparently didn’t know that Bro. Jao was a changed man. He had been closely monitored by them and one day, he and one of his companions were picked up by the police and brought to a deserted place somewhere in Fairview. When they had walked a far distance from the road, being obliterated by tall talahib grass, they were told to get down on their knees. They were to be annihilated.

The two men aimed at Bro. Jao’s companion and without much fuss, they shot him in the head and he was killed instantly. While this was happening, Bro. Jao abandoned himself to the mercy of God. He had prayed silently and when it was his turn, the guns of the two men didn’t fire. They did it again and again to no avail. Suddenly, they were gripped with so much terror that they fled, running in great fear. And thus, Bro. Jao was delivered from their hands.

Another one of his testimonies was about the healing of his child. His child got sick of pneumonia. It became so serious that he brought him to the hospital, to East Avenue Medical Center, upon the urging of his unsaved loved ones. But while his child was in the hospital, Bro. Jao needed to attend Friday overnight worship service. After the service, he went back to the hospital. He was met by his sister-in-law who was so fraught, accusing him of leaving his dying child.

Then the doctors also approached him, informing him that his child had been dead for 10 hours. But Bro. Jao told them his child was only asleep and he would be raised up by the Lord Jesus. He ran to his child, prayed agonizingly, then laid his hand on him and cast out the demon of death. His child breathed and came to life again, and recovered from his illness.

These are just two of Bro. Jao’s amazing testimonies. I hope to be able to write more of them in the coming days.

Halleluaih! To God be all the glory!

~ Sis. Rina Peru

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God Raised Her Son

Feb23

Sis. Alona Giducos testifying at the pulpit during the JMCIM 36th Church Anniversary, Feb. 13, 2011

In 1995, Sis. Alona Giducos was desperate. She had separated from her husband and she and her husband had divided their four children equally between them. She didn’t want it to end up like that, but there wasn’t anything she could do to save their marriage. Her husband was a drug addict and a drunkard.

She was so unhappy with her life, terribly missing her two children that were with her husband. Together with her two children that were with her, she decided to go home to Olongapo City to her mother’s house.

There she learned that her mother had been saved. Her mother had accepted the Lord Jesus Christ in her life and was faithfully serving Him. She shared the Gospel to Sis. Alona and invited her to the worship service of the JESUS MIRACLE CRUSADE INTERNATIONAL MINISTRY.

Sis. Alona was desperately looking for peace in her life, she hoped that this would be the answer to her prayers. She accepted the Lord Jesus Christ in her life as her Lord and Savior and later on, was baptized in water in His name.

Immediately, Sis. Alona received the precious peace that she had been desiring. After a month of fervently attending worship services, she and her husband reconciled and their family was restored. Her husband’s life was changed completely and their whole family began to serve the Lord faithfully.

The following year, Sis. Alona conceived and gave birth to their fifth child, a son she named Isaac. She didn’t know then that God would use this child to show her His great miracles.

A month after baby Isaac turned one-year-old, he got sick of measles. Having had no vaccine, the baby suffered from the illness greatly. For three weeks he had fever and convulsions. Sis. Alona prayed hard everyday, laying her hands on him every after praise and prayer, but the child wasn’t getting better.

One day after prayer, Sis. Alona decided to bring her child to the Philippine Children’s Medical Center. The doctors there acted quickly to save Isaac, for his eyes had rolled back in his head and he was unmoving. They tried hard to revive him, but he didn’t make any movement or showed any reaction.

Sis. Alona prayed and surendered everything to the Lord. She vowed that she would continue to serve Him faithfully no matter what happens to her son. It was then that her child made a movement and began to breathe normally.

Because of this, the doctors in the hospital, and even the janitors, called Isaac a “miracle baby”, for so he really was.

But after several neurological tests, the doctors found out that Isaac had sustained severe brain damage due to his prolonged fever. Because of this, he became blind (totally no vision), deaf (and mute because of this) and lame. He became a vegetable. He also forgot how to suck his milk bottle. He was fed in the hospital via a feeding tube.

Sis. Alona didn’t know what to do, she was crying in helplessness. (During all this time, her beloved husband and their other four grown children continued to serve the Lord, diligently attending services and praying and begging Him to heal Isaac).

Sis. Alona remembered all the teachings of the beloved Honorable Pastor, Evangelist Wilde E. Almeda, to have FULL FAITH in the Lord and never doubt. The following mid-week service, she attended service and brought with her a picture of Isaac. She approached the beloved Hon. Pastor Wilde E. Almeda and he prayed over Isaac’s picture.

The next day, while she was praying beside Isaac’s bed in the hospital, she heard a voice say, “Your sons’ brain damage has been healed.”

And so it was, that Isaac began to respond and to feed on his milk bottle. When they left the hospital, he was still blind, deaf and lame, but it didn’t take long and he gradually turned back to normal and fully recovered – his vision, speech, hearing and walking.

When Isaac was a little older, he joined the Children’s Choir and sang for the Lord for many years. Now he’s fifteen-years-old and has no traces of his childhood illness whatsoever.

Sis. Alona and her whole family continue to serve the Lord faithfully to this day.

Halleluia! To God be the glory!

– Sis. Rina R. Peru

Healing and Restoration

Feb16

Sis. Anna Marie de Luna at Amoranto Stadium, February 2011.

Sister Anna Marie de Luna had no other desire in life but to have a happy family. Hers was everything but. She married a man her loved ones were strongly against. Her husband, a few years her junior, was involved in many vices, two of which were drugs and women. In Sis. Anna’s words, “If one would drape a skirt around an electric post, he would chase it and desire it (the skirted post!).”

Indeed, Sis. Anna suffered greatly emotionally. Even when their first baby was born, her husband, Bro. Bob, didn’t change. He continued to indulge in his vices, taking drugs and chasing women, while Sis. Anna worked for a living. She tried hard to hide her situation from her parents, showing a facade that all was well.

During the days that Bro. Bob was out for long hours or many days, Sis. Anna would cry out to the Lord, asking Him why her life was so miserable. She would pray and cry and beg the Lord to change her husband and grant her a happy family.

But Sis. Anna’s problem wasn’t just her husband during those days. She was also suffering from diabetes. One day her leg was bitten by a mosquito. She scratched it and it became an open wound. The wound grew bigger until her leg became gangrened. It was so for many months. The doctor advised her that it might be amputated.

Sis. Anna became hopeless. Her husband with another woman and her leg to be amputated, she felt like the world was crumbling down on her.  She didn’t want her leg to be amputated, for then, she believed that her husband would leave her completely.

But one day, Bro. Bob came home and Sis. Anna noticed that he seemed quiet and in deep thought. He started playing a tape with the Tagalog Christian song “Tupang Ligaw” (Lost Sheep). He would listen to it intently everyday.

One day, Bro. Bob asked Sis. Anna to accompany him to the worship service of the JESUS MIRACLE CRUSADE INTERNATIONAL MINISTRY. (It turned out that Bro. Bob had met somebody, a born-again Christian, who had been diligently sharing to him the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ). Sis. Anna didn’t hesitate. She and Bro. Bob went to the worship service together.

When they arrived, Sis. Anna was amazed at the sight she saw – brethren decently dressed in mostly-white, intently and fervently worshiping the Lord. She wept. She felt like she was coming home – to the waiting arms of her Savior. Slowly, she felt the heaviness in her heart lifted. She prayed and made a vow, that she would serve the Lord all her life if only the Lord Jesus would change her husband and restore their marriage and family. She didn’t even ask to be healed of her diabetes and her gangrened leg.

Sis. Anna and Bro. Bob received the Lord Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior and were baptized in water in His name.

Miraculously, Bro. Bob’s life was changed instantly. He became a good, loving and faithful husband and a responsible father.

One day, he tried smoking dope, but it made him nauseous and he threw up. It was then that he proved that the Lord had removed it from him for good.

Gradually, Sis. Anna received healing of her leg and of her diabetes. It’s been over 20 years now that she is free from the disease.

She and Bro. Bob, together with their children, continue to serve the Lord faithfully to this day. Sis. Anna is a leader of Adults Choir, Bro. Bob is a preacher, while their children sing in different choirs. Ever since they came to know and serve the Lord, joy resided in their hearts and in their home.

Halleluia! To God be the glory!

– Sis. Rina Peru

Out of the Depths of Alcohol and Drug Addiction

Nov9

Bro. Romulo Barrozo at our home, Nov. 2, 2010.

Before Bro. Romulo Barrozo came to know the Lord, he was a hopeless drunkard and drug addict. He came from a broken family and grew up without someone to guide him and his siblings. He was very young when he started his abuse with substance like sniffing rugby, until he grew older and became addicted to drugs and alcohol. According to his testimony, he was a “salot sa lipunan” (pest in the society).

Soon, Bro. Romulo had his own family, but this never changed him. The little money they had for food he wasted on his addictions. He loved his drinking and drug-abusing buddies more than his family. He spent more time with his friends, and the little time that he spent at home, he hit his wife and his three children. When his sleep was disturbed by the crying of his youngest child, he would carry him and drop him out the window.

During the times that he was “high” on drugs, he would line up his three children and strike them with his ice pick, like a dart on a dartboard. (These innocent victims were always saved by their angels for they never got struck by the ice pick).

Each night, his family cried in hunger and great fear.

During the few times that he was sober, he would gaze at his sleeping wife, bruised (by him) and thin from lack o

f food. These were the times that he felt tormented, but he had no power over the devil that had enslaved him for so long.

One night, after spending a week with his friends, he came home very “high” on drugs and alcohol. His family was sleeping. The devil whispered to him to kill his whole family to remove all obstacles to his vices and addictions. He readily agreed, and when he raised his arm to stab his wife who was then five months pregnant, he heard a voice say, “Don’t do it! I love you. Switch on the TV.”

The voice in his other ear shouted, “Do it! Kill them!” So, Bro. Romulo raised his arm again to stab his wife, but the voice stopped him again, saying the same thing. This happened three times until Bro. Romulo heeded the voice and switched on the TV.

The program of the JESUS MIRACLE CRUSADE INTERNATIONAL MINISTRY came into view and the beloved Hon. Pastor Evangelist Wilde E. Almeda was preaching. At that point, the beloved evangelist pointed right at him saying, “You! If you’re a drug addict or alcoholic, you come to the Jesus Miracle Crusade Ministry and accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. Jesus loves you and He will change your life…”  

Bro. Romulo’s attention was instantly caught, his whole body trembled and he felt cold. Slowly, he sobered down.

He watched the whole program. Afterwards, already sober and thinking rationally, he looked at his sleeping family and saw how they had become so thin. He checked their pots in the kitchen but there was no food in them, only molds. It was then that Bro. Romulo fell down on his knees and begged the Lord to change him. He vowed to serve the Lord all his life.  

Bro. Romulo and his whole family received Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior and were baptized in water in His name. The Lord Jesus delivered him from all his vices and addictions, and changed him completely. He made him into a loving, caring, and responsible husband and father. 

That was 13 years ago and Bro. Romulo and his whole family continue to serve the Lord faithfully to this day.

Halleluia! To God be the glory!

Endnotes: For more information on Jesus Miracle Crusade International Ministry, prayer and counseling, schedule of services, and addresses of outreaches all over the world, please go to http://www.jmcim.org.

– Sis. Rina R. Peru