HEBREWS 13:2 - Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.
It was a rainy morning in February of 2004, in Lubumbashe, Democratic Republic Of Congo (DRC). Salém had a lot of time those days, and most of it was taken up trying to figure out what to do next. Hours turned to days, as he sat alone his apartment, reflecting upon recent events and some of the scars from years past. His father was shot and killed when his mother was pregnant, and his mother died giving birth to him. His uncle took him in, raising him as his own in a Muslim family. He bought the apartment for him while he was studying medicine at a local university, with the agreement that Salém would continue in his studies. Now, he was disappointing his uncle. He recently failed two subjects and gave up on his studies. He just didn’t feel like continuing on.
Suddenly, a knock on the door disturbed his thoughts. “Who could be out and about in such weather?” In the doorway stood a tall, athletically built man. The dark-complected stranger in the doorway asked if he could talk to him a while. His car had run out of fuel in the street, and he was wondering if Salém would help him with $10, just to buy some fuel. He was willing to trade his watch, if Salém would lend him the money. Salém was a strict Muslim, but he remembered that he had exactly that amount of money in a Bible that a Christian student gave to him about six months earlier, while trying to steer him away from his Muslims roots.
He invited his visitor inside, and went to get the Bible. He had been reading the Bible out of boredom during those days, but understood very little about it, making question marks throughout its pages. To him it was just another book. He knew the way Christians made a mockery of their Holy Book through their unclean living and lack of belief. He could remember how he and his uncle, a fellow strict Muslim, laughed at the poor moral standards these Christians have. To them, Muslims live far better than Christians. Why would he ever become a Christian?
When he came back with the Bible in hand, he opened it to pull the money out. The stranger asked, “I see you have a Bible. Do you understand what is written in it?” “No,” he answered and explained that he is actually a Muslim, who received the Bible from a Christian friend. “Can I make you some coffee before you go?” Salém asked. The visitor agreed, and when Salém returned with the coffee, he opened the Bible to the Book of Isaiah 61, where the prophet wrote about the ministry of the coming Jesus.
His visitor spoke with such authority that Salém was spellbound. Hours passed, and when Salém looked at the clock, it was already three in the afternoon. Every place a question was marked, the man answered it. By four o’clock, Salém made them some food, not willing to let his visitor go. He had never heard these things like this, and was hungering to hear more. Soon night fell, and he asked the visitor to stay over. The next day, their amazing relationship continued and the visitor never failed to answer his questions. The car in the street outside was long forgotten. It was as if the man never came for that purpose, but was sent to teach him the Scriptures.
His mysterious visitor stayed a remarkable five days, teaching the Bible from one book to another. On Saturday morning, his visitor baptized him in the Name of the Lord Jesus right there in his apartment bathtub. After the baptism, the stranger started telling him about the end time Message. Unlike other ministers of the Message he later heard, his visitor started in Matthew 24: 27 to tell him about the end time messenger, connecting that coming of the Lord to the end time. Before he left that Saturday morning, he wrote down several Message book titles (An Exposition Of The Church Ages, The Revelation Of The Seven Seals, Seventy Weeks of Daniel, and so forth) and told him where to go to get them. His visitor said: “If you want to know the perfect will of God: Listen to the tapes”.
From the moment of his baptism, Salém took the name: Mordecai. When he asked his visitor which church to go to, he gave him a sermon, God’s Provided Place Of Worship. Before his visitor left, Brother Mordecai wanted to know the name of his visitor, who told him that his name was Mr. Le Pasteur Lys, which means “Mr. Pastor Lily.” When the visitor left, he did not take the $10 he asked for. Come to think of it, Brother Mordecai never saw the car the visitor spoke about. The man was simply, “about the Father’s business.” Brother Mordecai has looked for the mysterious stranger all over Congo, and has not found him yet. Since becoming a Christian, his Muslim uncle rejected him, but God found him and took him in. Today, Brother Mordecai lives in Namibia and loves the Message with all his heart. He spends hours upon hours at the office here in Windhoek, listening to the prophet and reading his books.
Thank you very much to all the believers for your hard work, dedication to the Message of the Lord for this age, financial support, and eagerness to see souls saved. The fruits of your labors are clearly evident here in Namibia.
Brothers Arthur and Marius
Office Manager and Assistant
VGR, Windhoek, Namibia
Brother Mordecai was once called Salém, before he met the mysterious stranger. He recently moved to Denmark with his family. He continues to work spreading the Message wherever he goes.
No wonder Jesus said, "Consider the lilies of the field, how they toil, neither do they spin. And yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all of his glory was not arrayed like that."
Then the lily was revealing Christ. He was called "the Lily of the Valley, the Rose of Sharon." See it?
How Mr. Lily, pastor Lily, he's a wonderful school--a wonderful Bible teacher, Mr. Lily is; he gets down into the dark, the dark place; he pushed hisself up through the darkness of the earth. So what to do, to glorify himself? To glorify everything that comes in contact with him.
56-0617 Revelation, Book Of Symbols