Tip to prosperity

Once upon a time in a faraway land, there lived a Chinese wise man and his disciple. One day in their travels, they saw a hut in the distance. As they approached they realized that it was occupied in spite of its extremely poor appearance.

In that desolate place where there were no crops and no trees, a man lived with his wife, three young children and a thin, tired cow. Since they were hungry and thirsty, the wise man and his disciple stopped for a few hours and were well received. At one point, the wise man asked:

“This is a very poor place, far away from anything. How do you survive?”

“You see that cow? That’s what keeps us going,” said the head of the family. “She gives us milk, some of it we drink and some were make into cheese. When there is extra, we go into the city and exchange the milk and cheese for other types of food. That’s how we survive.”

The wise man thanked them for their hospitality and left. When he reached the first bend in the road, he said to his disciple:
“Go back, get the cow, take her to the cliff in front of us, and push her off.”

The disciple could not believe what he was hearing.

“I cannot do that, master! How can you be so ungrateful? The cow is all they have. If I throw it on the cliff, they’ll have no way to survive. Without the cow, they’ll all die!”

The wise man, an elderly Chinese man, took a deep breath and repeated the order: “Go ahead. Push the cow off the cliff.”

Though outraged at what he was being asked to do, the student was resigned to obey his master. He returned to the hut and quietly led the animal to the edge of the cliff and pushed. The cow fell down the cliff and died.

As the years passed by, remorse for what he had done never left the disciple. One spring day, the guilt became too much to bear and he left the wise man and returned to that little shack. He wanted to find out what had happened to that family, to help them out, apologize, or somehow make amends.

Upon rounding a turn in the road, he could not believe what his eyes were showing him. In place of the poor shack there was a beautiful house with trees all around, a swimming pool, several cars in the garage, a satellite dish, and on and on. Three good-looking teenagers and their parents were celebrating their first million dollars.

The heart of the disciple froze. What could have happened to the family? Without a doubt, they must have been starving to death and forced to sell their land and leave. At that moment, the student thought they must all be begging on the street corners of some city. He approached the house and asked a man that was passing by about the whereabouts of the family that had lived there several years before.

“You’re looking at it,” said the man, pointing to the people gathered around the barbecue. Unable to believe what he was hearing, the disciple walked through the gate and took a few steps closer to the pool where he recognized the man from several years before, only now he was strong and confident, the woman was happy, and the children were now nice-looking teenagers. He was dumbfounded, and went over to the man and asked:
“What happened? I was here with my teacher a few years ago and this was a miserable place. There was nothing. What did you do to improve your lives in such a short time?”

The man looked at the disciple, and replied with a smile:
“We had a cow that kept us alive. She was all we had. But one day she fell down the cliff and died. To survive, we had to start doing other things, develop skills we didn’t even know we had. And so, because we were forced to come up with new ways of doing things, we are now much better off than before.”

Moral of the story: Sometimes our dependency on something small and limited is the biggest obstacle to our growth. Perhaps the best thing that could happen to you is to push your “cow” down the cliff. Once you free yourself of the thought “it’s little but it’s certain,” or of that idea “I am not doing great but there are people who are much worse than me” — then your life will really change.

Is there a cow in your life that is keeping you miserable?

Pr Julio Da Silva

Sep 14th

The Anti-holy spirits

We have heard so much about the Antichrist. We know that the Antichrist will come after the Rapture of the Church. Christians have been very aware of this, yet they’ve forgotten other things.

However, there has been a hellish danger unobtrusively lurking about, reaping millions of unsuspecting believers. It is the ministry of the anti-holy spirits.

The anti-holy spirits have disguised themselves by using the Name of God's Spirit to operate freely within the churches and they have been very well accepted among evangelical leaders throughout the world.

The devil has been rolling around laughing because of these deceitful spirits. The spinning around and falling to the ground moves that they roused in witchcraft, are commonly being reproduced among many evangelical believers. For those who would like proof, just take a look at this video: What's the difference?

Just like the Antichrist wears a mask of deceit, the anti-holy spirits do the same and with greater success.

The difference between the way the spirit of the antichrist acts and the way the anti-holy spirits act is that they do it openly, without any concern of being exposed because their victims have become so disturbed and spiritually blind.

Their victims feel cornered and are afraid of resisting, because they think they’ll be sinning against the Holy Spirit.

But I am here to confirm that all of the slain in the spirit, spinning out of control, etc… come from the same place as the Antichrist. And to prove what I’m saying, just take a look at the life of those who subject themselves to the spinning and falling.

If you are of God run in the other direction while there is time.

10th Sep

Put the ring on your finger!

“So…is everything ok?” I ask.

“Well, more or less” she replies.

Through her answer I can tell that she needs and wants to talk and let off some steam. I keep on asking, until she opens up…

“Look, I get the things I need but my life does not change. I come to the church and I pray for my family and my financial life and see results but there is still something missing….”

I just came from a blessed service in one of our branches and towards the end I was talking to a lady and I decided to write about what happened.

As she talked, I was paying attention while looking at my wedding ring on my finger and that’s when I found the words for her….

“Can you see this ring? Do you know what it means? She looks at me puzzled, she must have thought that I was crazy because it had nothing to do with the subject of our conversation however now I had caught all her attention.

My husband was on the altar giving advices and I pointed to him and said…

“When I married him I made a covenant to take care of him, be faithful, be his companion, make him happy and love him with all my heart” I then remove my ring from my finger and place it on hers. She looks at me confused…

“What is missing in your life is exactly this! Not a commitment with your husband but with God. Come to church to seek the One who blesses which is far more important than the blessings themselves” I say calmly.

Marry Him and make a covenant to take care that His Spirit may abound in you, be faithful, be a companion, make Him happy by doing His will and above all love Him with all your heart”.

Think with me, if by doing this for my husband he rewards me, imagine God?!!

I wanted to share this with you because the mistake most people make is exactly this.

Where is the covenant? Where is the ring on your finger?

Nanda Bezerra

9th Sep

What is the diference?

8th Sep

For All the single people

I hope that my testimony can serve as an example to other young women, who, like me, always get asked by people at church and at home why they are still single.

I first came to the Universal Church with my mother to fight for our family because we were going through some tough times at home. We were delivered, baptized and everything changed.
Time passed and when I turned 30, being single began bothering me, especially because everyone was asking me about it. I felt like an old maid. I’d pray and do my purposes, but nothing happened.

I started participating in the Therapy of Love services at church, but I thought God was taking too long, so I decided to give Him a "helping hand" (as if the Almighty needs any help). This thought kept popping into my head because I was anxious to get married and felt a strong need for affection.

So, I had the "brilliant" idea to post my profile in the “Cantinho do Coração” (a singles column in the Folha Universal newspaper). I received many invites but I chose one that, in my eyes, was the best. He was everything I always wanted, all he needed was a halo to be an angel; I was head over heals.

We started dating and I never really asked him about his past. Everything seemed to be going wonderfully. As time went by, he began showing signs that there was something wrong, but I refused to see it, I didn’t think it mattered. The Holy Spirit was warning me that this was a trap, but I didn’t want to hear it.

Three years later, I found out what I never would’ve imagined; he was married. I was floored, my world fell apart, I felt like a harlot; I ended it all, right there and then.

That’s when I finally understood what the Holy Spirit had been warning me all along. It was extremely difficult to turn my life around after all that, because I was very ashamed and disgusted with myself, but I managed.

I decided to lock up my heart and throw away the key; I wasn’t going to believe in anyone anymore. Whenever someone approached me, I would be rude to them because I was still very hurt. It took about six months for my heart to heal and only then did things change. The whole time, my other half had been right there next to me. Today, I am happily married.

However, this was only possible after I allowed the Holy Spirit to guide me. Although I’d known him for many years, I did things differently this time. I ran a fine-toothed comb through his life; I investigated his and his family’s background. I tested him every way possible and only after he passed all of those tests, we started dating. Now, we are married and happy.

I hope this can serve as an example for all of the single women. I’m not saying that the Folha Universal and the people who chose to post their profiles there are not of God. No, I’m not saying that at all.
The Folha Universal isn’t responsible for the veracity of the information that is announced in their column; the truth is that, anyone can publish their profile. What I’m saying is, that you should be careful not to fall for other people’s lies, like I did one day.

I hope this has served as an example.

Thanks!

Tiane - Rio de Janeiro

7th Sep

What kind of eyes do you have?

Tell me who your friends are and I’ll tell you who you are. This is a popular and very true saying.

It is no different when it comes to our eyes. Because they are the lamp of the body, they have an enormous responsibility when it comes to our salvation.

How many "Christians" have ill feelings and thoughts towards others, on account of having bad eyes?

Often, hurtful and harmful comments have led people straight to hell because of their bad eyes.

If they weren’t extremely dangerous, Jesus wouldn’t have used the body's health to get His point across.

And there is more:

Therefore take heed that the light which is in you is not darkness. If then your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, the whole body will be full of light, as when the bright shining of a lamp gives you light.” Luke 11:35-36

Many Christians have part of their body in the light and part in the dark. That’s why many aren’t living the life they should be. Their faith is constantly going up and down, while they’re chasing after promises and dreams.

Take a long hard look at your life, my dear reader.

Maybe this has been the root of your problem?

The eyes may be the cause of a measly life and/or a sick body.

Glasses and the best ophthalmologist aren’t enough to make your whole body be full of light, this can only happen when you put the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ into practice.

6th Sep

What do I need to change? Should I move? Or?

When someone finds themselves at a crossroads, or walking in endless circles, like the water that finds its way through the path of least resistance, their flesh will also opt for the path that is less stressful and requires less effort.

That's exactly what happened to Isaac, who almost lost his blessing when he decided to move to Egypt, because there, he’d have everything he wanted and in abundance.

However, we’ve had plenty of examples show us that places can’t change people; people are the ones who have the power to change or not that place, depending on what they carry within themselves (mind, intellect) and the actions they take when using their Faith.

So, God was determined to have Isaac stay there and invest in HIM, His power and His promise. If he did, he’d surely overcome that situation and that’s what happened because:
"Then Isaac sowed in that land and reaped in the same year a hundredfold; and the LORD blessed him." Genesis 26:12

Why did HE clearly make it evident that it happened in the same year?

Certainly, Isaac planted something that would normally take more than a year to bear fruit, but because of the faith and trust that he manifested in God, by obeying His command and staying in Egypt, he made the impossible, possible and completely changed the story of his life.

We can learn from all this that people need to change their mindset and the direction they’re going, by listening to God’s Voice and not their heart.

May God bless you abundantly!
Bishop Guaracy Santos