The story of my life 5: “The first day I arrived at The Universal Church”

One day during a conversation with my mother, a neighbor who worked in the street where they had opened a Universal church, told my mother: “There is a new church located in the street of Cedofeita. They say that many miracles happen there, and I see that it’s always full.” This neighbor never set foot in the church, but because she walked nearby every day, she saw the movement and listened to the comments. When my mother listened to those words, she immediately thought, “A miracle is what we need.”

The church had just opened in Portugal, in a city called Porto; which by the way is where I’m from. There was only the church on the street of Cedofeita, but later many more opened. Today it has a beautiful Cathedral in Porto in addition to several other temples scattered throughout the country. The first time we went with my mother, in July 1991, it was a Thursday, and I was 16 at the time. The pastor of the church was the now bishop Marcelo Brayner. From that day on we never stopped going.

It was amazing how God used that neighbor to invite us, after all she had never even stepped foot inside of the church. But she was used to tell us about it’s existence. At that time it was very rare to hear of evangelical churches in Portugal. They existed but were not expressive or known. What really prevailed were the traditional religion of the country. It was as if people were not aware of other options. They all followed the same thing without even asking why. However the Universal church has come to change that picture! We arrived in church like most people: with problems in the family, my sister was scared, I was sick, full of internal conflicts, and had the great emptiness that invaded my soul. My mother went to speak with the pastor, and the pastor told her what to do and the days we should go to church.

I remember that I was very frightened when I saw a person manifesting for the first time with an unclean spirit. I had never seen such a thing. What was it that stirred the body of the person strongly and with only the prayer of the pastor in the Name of Jesus that evil came out and the person, and she became free. I could see the difference in her face after her deliverance. Her face became serene and relieved.

The pastor explained that it was the act of evil in people's lives, the cause of all the problems. These people were possessed by evil spirits, and only God had the power to deliver them. Now I had an explanation for everything that was going on in our lives. I knew where it came from and how to fight them. For me this was already a revelation; no one had ever told me such a thing. The pastors preached with authority, without fear. Although everything they said was very different from what people were used to, they were not frightened, and this gave us assurance. Now I know it's the power of God's Word, but at the time I had no idea!

Do you remember that in the previous post I told you that I had been diagnosed with diabetes? Well, I was healed! There was nothing left! It was wonderful, I was so new in church that I did not understand many things. But I believed in God. I knew He existed and God healed me to reveal Himself to me, and to show me His power. Every time I went to church I felt better. Everything changed. It seemed that in that simple and crowded room I had found what I had been looking for my whole life.

However I had a long way to go. Many things inside of me needed to change, this was just the beginning of a long walk.

Let’s continue in the next post!

How about you, how did you arrive in the Universal Church?

Read the previous posts.