All the Days of My Life

How God works when we pray in His will: I am going to transcribe a paragraph from our field prayer letter of February 28th, 1963. Don't forget that this was the time when Vatican II was taking place in Rome, Italy under Pope John XXIII. The Cardinal from Portugal, Manuel Cerejeira, who made it difficult for all of us evangelicals for years, was absent in Rome!

"Where to meet? We were perplexed by this at first. Theaters and stadiums had been off limits to religious or political gatherings in Portugal. We decided to plan fifteen days of meetings using the bigger churches in the city. In the meantime, we would trust God to open up a larger hall of some kind. Meetings were to begin in the Episcopal Cathedral (for three days), then to the Presbyterian church, the Assemblies of God church, and the Brethren and Baptist churches. Pastors agreed, and plans were set. Brother Doctorian arrived on January 31st, 1963. Still, our three-man subcommittee had no sure place beyond February 15th. Then God worked! A leading business firm (Volkswagon) in Lisbon made the ground floor, an automobile showroom of their huge new building, available to us with no charge for 11 days! (a $1,000.00 gift). The Mayor of Lisbon authorized our use, free of charge, of 2000 folding chairs and a platform belonging to the city government (a $1,200.00 gift)! The RCA, for the first time, broke a company rule and loaned us the complete sound amplification equipment (new) including mikes, speakers, wiring, etc.! An appliance store loaned lights and wiring. A music firm gave us a 75% discount on the rental of a fine electronic organ. Can you see the hand of God in this Roman Catholic land? Amazing!"

This all took place in Lisbon where the campaign was extended another ten days with the permission of all mentioned above! The campaign then passed on to the Algarve in southern Portugal for five days. Then to the north to Portugal's second city, Porto for 13 glorious days.

A summary of what happened in the campaign: Here I am forced to record only the highlights of what God did in and through these meetings. In Lisbon, about 3,500 people jammed the isles and all available space! Hundreds responded to the invitation. Our office in Parede experienced an overflow of follow-up replies, letters and testimonies of conversions. I must tell you of one outstanding experience that still brings tears of joy to my eyes. Our letter to our churches of February 28th records:

"Last night after 130 had come forward and the counselors were almost all out of the hall (1:00 a.m.), a man came up to me begging money for a return ticket on the ferry boat. Questioning him, I found him to be a Roman Catholic, divorced, out of work, disillusioned and unanswered in his life's problems. He was interested in going forward when the invitation was given, recognizing that he was a lost sinner, but 'something held me to my seat,' he said. I told him Satan would hold him back. From the Word of God, I pointed out to him that God loved him so much that Jesus had died for him. This touched him deeply and he began to weep. He said that he wanted to change his mind and stay in Lisbon for the next meeting. I showed him, however, that he had better settle the question of his personal salvation right now. Why not now? Did he want to be saved? He said he certainly did. Would he like to sit down and pray with me immediately? He said that he would. So, we walked up to the front of the empty hall and sat down near the big sign which is 16 yards long, 'I AM THE WAY, THE TRUTH, AND THE LIFE.' He had never seen a New Testament. I offered him one, together with a follow-up Bible study packet. We looked up some passages together. I could see that he understood the plan of salvation. His reading was very intelligent, and he was hungry to read the Bible. Before we finally knelt to pray together, he turned to me and said, 'I have something I must give you.' I was puzzled as he dug down deep into his pockets and took out two packages: I thought it must be a rosary or a religious object of some kind. As he quickly put the packages into my right hand, he said, 'Here is a piece of cake, and here is the package of rat poison I bought this afternoon - I planned to kill myself tonight.' He wept again and said, 'Take them, I don't need them now.' I was stunned for a moment and then could only marvel at God's leading me to this man. We knelt down together and this man, George, a desperate man at the end of his rope, confessed his sin to God and asked Jesus to come into his heart and make of him a new creature!"

In the middle of the Lisbon meetings an urgent appeal was received from evangelicals in Porto. They had 95% of the evangelicals in cooperation to bring the campaign to that city. I was asked by our Lisbon committee to go to Porto to meet with the pastors. When I walked into the room, I was amazed to find thirty men present from the Methodists, Episcopalians, Baptists, Brethren, Pentecostals and Independents, plus representatives of various organizations. There was a spirit of unity never seen before. I gave them instructions as to how to organize themselves for the campaign.