Praise his blessed name. We are the most joyful people on earth. Amen. Glory be to the Lord. At this time, I am going to share a brief testimony of what the Lord has done in my life. Brothers and sisters, in 2015, something happened to me. Perhaps the Lord was calling me. It was a Sunday. I had gone out with my husband and suddenly I began to feel unwell. I started feeling a chill that I couldn't understand.
So, I told my husband, "I'm going back." I took a motorcycle taxi and started heading home. And while I was on my way, perhaps halfway there, I heard a voice, a very loud voice, saying to me, "Today you are going to die." I was frightened. I was traveling alone and the young man driving me, he was probably about 12 or 13 years old. I turned around to see who was speaking to me, but there was no one there.
Then I heard it again, "Today you are going to die." And I thought, "Maybe this is just the fever coming on." I heard it again for the third time, someone telling me, "Today you are going to die." At that moment, I didn't understand what was happening. You see, I had been a Christian before, but when we are young, when we are young women, we often say, "Christianity is for old people. I want to enjoy my life."
I was one of those young women who felt that way, even though I knew the word of God, since my mother had been a Christian for a long time, because I wanted to do things my own way. Suddenly, I began to feel even worse. When I arrived home, my mother, I don't know how she noticed, helped me out of the motorized rickshaw. I couldn't utter a word. I was saying, "Lord, what is happening to me?" That was the moment I turned my thoughts to the Lord.
My mother helped me inside and sat me down in the living room. I wanted a drink. I could feel the thirst in my throat. I wanted to drink water, but I couldn't speak. I don't know how, but my mother brought me a glass of water, yet I could barely manage a single sip. So, my dad picked me up, seeing that I couldn't even get up on my own, and carried me to the bed. And it was at that moment that I began to feel a deep anguish.
It was at that moment that I felt I was dying. Let me tell you, a person who is dying is fully conscious and knows perfectly well that they are dying, because that is how I felt. Suddenly, I began saying to my dad and mom, "Mom, please forgive me, because I have often offended you by disobeying you." I started telling my mom, "Mom, I'm dying." And then I began to feel coldness at the tips of my toes, and that coldness started creeping further and further up my body.
I kept telling my mom and dad, "Pray for me. Dad, pray for me." I had a child who was barely a year old. I told my mom, "Mom, I don't want to die." I would grab her hand and say, "Mom, pray for me. Mommy, I don't want to die." So, my mom began to pray. She started weeping, too, saying, "Lord, forgive my daughter." I told my dad, "Forgive me, because I often offended and hurt you." I am dying. I don't want to die.
Let me tell you, beloved brother, beloved sister, friend listening right now, a person becomes a coward when facing death. I kept telling my mother, "Mom, pray for me. Tell the Lord I don't want to die." That coldness began to overtake me more and more. My heart was beating slower and slower. I knew that, at that moment, I was dying. I heard a sound in my hip, like something snapping, and I clearly felt my legs stretching out.
I knew that meant death. Suddenly, I began to hear my parents less and less. They sounded as if they were far away. I could hear them weeping, sobbing. Then, all at once, everything turned to darkness. At that moment, I was already dead. But then, in an instant, and I cannot explain how, I rose from that bed, looking at my parents as they wept and held each other before me. I stood up, went over to them, and asked, "Why are you crying?"
I heard my mother say, "Daughter, don't leave me." And I replied, "Mom, I am right here in front of you." But when I turned to look behind me, there was my body lying on the bed, and my parents were weeping and embracing, saying, "Father, why have you taken her from me?" I didn't understand what was happening. My body was right there, and I kept thinking, "But how can I see my body on the bed?" "And how can I be standing here?"
I didn't understand what was happening. I tried to speak to my parents. I tried to approach them and wanted to touch them, but my arms passed right through their bodies. Then suddenly, I said, "Lord, I don't want to die." That was when I said to the Lord, "Lord, I want a chance." People were coming in and out of my house saying, "She's dead. She's already dead." But how could that be when I was looking right at them?
"Yes, she's dead." I heard each of them as they came and went, saying that I had died. So, at that moment, I ran out of the house and into the street. I raised my arms, fell to my knees, and said, "Lord, if I am dead, where am I going to go?" Then suddenly, in the distance, I heard a sound like thunder. And when I heard that thunder, the whole earth shook and began to split open, moving right toward me.
The earth reached me, and I began to fall into deep darkness. I kept saying, "Lord, this can't be happening. Give me a chance. Lord, I will serve you. Give me a chance." I screamed. I never tired of asking the Lord for a chance because I didn't want to die. I screamed desperately trying to grab onto something, but there was nothing there. Everything was dark. Wherever I was falling, there was nothing but darkness.
I couldn't even see my own hands. No matter how close I held them to my face. Suddenly, I began to look down. I saw my feet starting to burn. And that fire began to rise up over my whole body. I screamed desperately. "Lord, give me a chance. I don't want to die. Please, give me a chance and I will serve you. I will serve you. But I don't want to be in this place because I knew the place I was falling into."
Then, suddenly, I landed in a deep, dark place and looked down. I saw the people there, how they were screaming desperately saying, "Lord." They were begging for a chance, too. Others over there were saying, "Lord, give me a drop, just a drop of water." Others said, "Lord, a second, just a second. Get me out of this place." Seeing that filled me with despair. And suddenly, I cried out, "Lord, get me out of this place.
I don't want to be here." I could hear the wailing of those people. And the place where I was, there was a smell of sulfur, a horrible stench. Then, suddenly, I heard someone calling me in that place saying, "Amparo, Amparo, get out of this place. Live." I recognized that man. I recognized that young man. When I turned to look, I couldn't believe who I was seeing. It was a cousin of mine, someone I knew who had died by hanging.
And he was in that place. I couldn't do anything as I looked at him. I was overcome with despair. He told me, "Come on, get out of this place. Go, flee. Go and tell my family, my parents, my siblings that I am in this place because of my disobedience. They used to preach to me. I used to hear the word of God. The brothers would come to preach to me, but I had never received the Lord into my heart.
And he would say to me, look at where I am now." I would fall into despair and say, "Lord, get me out of here. I don't want to be here." I was desperate. And I would say to the Lord, "Give me a chance." Then suddenly, I heard a voice say to me, "You want a chance. I will give you a chance, but you must see even more so that you can go and bear witness." Suddenly, I began to walk out of that place. I thought I was heading somewhere beautiful, but instead, I entered darkness and I could hear people screaming.
I knew those people, too. They were my brothers-in-law. Relatives of mine who were also in that place, but I didn't understand. So I said, "Lord, they are dead, too." Then the Lord said to me, "No, their spirits are like this. For the word of God says, neither the cowardly nor the unbelieving, nor the abominable, nor murderers, nor the sexually immoral, nor sorcerers shall inherit the kingdom of heaven.
My brothers-in-law, those who were there, my relatives who were in that place, they did not have the Lord in their hearts and lived however they pleased." I began to walk and said, "Lord, but why are they here?" I heard a sound like thunder, as if it were about to rain. I began to see rain falling, but they were screaming. They were saying, "No, no." But I wondered, why are they screaming like that if it's just rain?
Then suddenly, the thing wasn't rain, but worms falling upon them and tormenting them. They were entering their bodies, entering their faces, and coming out the other side, entering their arms and coming out the other side, and they were being tormented in that place. And so, I said, "Lord, I don't want to be here. Lord, I want you to take me out of here. I will bear witness. I don't want to be here. Take me out of this place. Give me a chance." I kept asking for a chance.
Suddenly, the Lord said to me, "Come and see." I began to walk. Then, when I arrived at that place, there was a path filled with many people all moving in a line. They all wore white garments, but they were dirty, torn, and old. And as I drew closer, I recognized many Christians there as well, among them my parents. When I saw them in that place, I said, "Lord, are my parents dead, too?"
And the Lord replied, "No, they are not dead. Their spirits are like this." And then I said to him, "My mother, my father praises you. My mother goes to church, but how can she be in this place?" And the Lord said to me, "She has no love. They do not know how to love. They do not know how to forgive. They still harbor anger in their hearts, because the word of God says, 'Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my father.'"
And then I said to the Lord, "Give me a chance. I will go and bear witness to what you are showing me, but get me out of this place." And then the Lord said to me, "No, you must look further." And I kept looking at those people. Each of them wore chains on their arms and feet. They were dragging those chains. And in that place, I also saw my brothers and sisters who, when they were young, had been Christians, but had turned away from God.
They had drifted from God and forgotten their first love. So, I said, "Lord, are my brothers and sisters also dead?" And the Lord answered, "No." I heard great sadness in his voice as he pointed to one of my sisters. One day she praised me, sought me, and praised me with all her heart, but she turned away from me. She was my child, but go and speak to them. Testify about what they can do. The Lord is still waiting for us.
The Lord is still waiting for each one of you." Then suddenly, I said to the Lord, "I do not want to be in this place. Allow me, Lord, to leave this place. I will go and testify about what you are showing me, but give me a chance." And then the Lord said to me, "Come." I began to walk along a narrow path, but that path was beautiful and filled with a fragrant scent, a perfume the likes of which I have never smelled since.
I began walking through the place, and when I arrived, I saw very green grass. It was a truly beautiful place. I started to run. I wanted to reach that place faster. When I finally arrived, it was a beautiful place, and I said to the Lord, "Allow me to stay here. Allow me, Lord, to stay here." There were beautiful flowers, fragrant ones, the likes of which I have never seen on this earth. And then, in the distance, I saw some children saying, "My mom, my dear mom is here."
And when I suddenly turned around to look back and see who those children were talking to, there was no one there. It was just me. I was a woman who couldn't bear children. I could barely carry them for 3 months, 2 months, before losing them. The doctors told me I had a weak womb, and there were the children I had lost. And when I saw them, I said, "Lord." And the Lord told me, "They are the children you lost back on earth."
And I ran toward them. They ran toward me, and I hugged them. I kissed them. I could feel it. I could feel their hands caressing my face. And I said to the Lord, "Let me stay in this place. I don't want to go back." The Lord said to me, "No, you have to go and testify to what you are seeing. You asked me for an opportunity, and I am giving you that opportunity." Then suddenly I heard him say to me again, "Amparo, it is time. You have to go."
I said to him, "No, I don't want to leave. Let me stay in this place." And then he said to me, "If you stay in this place, you know this isn't where you belong." And then the Lord told me, "You have to leave to go and bear witness to what you have seen. Go and tell my people to praise me, to glorify me, for I am a god of love. Let them learn to love. Let them learn to forgive."
Then he said to me, "Do you see that river? Walk toward that river." I began to walk, and suddenly I heard him say again, "Go and bear witness." Then he said, "If your husband has faith, you will live. But if your husband does not have faith, you know where you belong." And I said, "Lord, I know my husband will have faith. I know it." As I began to walk, the water rose to my shoulders. I managed to wake up as if from a dream.
I gasped desperately for air, and the people who were there fled in terror, frightened. Then I said, "I told my husband, you have to have faith. You have to have faith because the Lord is giving me one last chance." And he said, "Yes, I have faith." But I heard a voice saying, "He has no faith." And my heart began to beat more faintly. So I said to him again, "You have no faith. You just have to believe. You just have to believe."
I told him, and he said to me again, "Yes, I have faith." But that voice said to me once more, "He has no faith." And I was running out of air. My heart was beating weaker and weaker. Then I grabbed his shirt and said, "You just have to have faith. I'm dying. Please, you just have to have faith." And then I saw him. He got down on his knees and raised his hands and wept and said to me, "Lord, Lord, I have faith. I have faith. I have faith."
I knew at that moment that I was beginning to feel better again. I was dead for approximately 2 hours. But the Lord brought me from death to life to bear witness at this time. And you, listening to me, today could be your last chance. The Lord wants to work wonders in each of us. He is calling us. We simply have to open our hearts. That concludes this brief testimony. May the Lord bless each and every one of you.
Amen. To the God who lives forever and ever. To his name. To his name. To his name. Glory be to the Lord.
