“The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’ And let him who hears say, ‘Come!’ Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.” Rev 22:17
The Bible says that whoever wants can receive the water of life that the Spirit and the Bride freely give; however, we had never thought of the natives living deep in the Amazon rainforest; we had such a narrow perspective. In actuality, they were definitely among the 7.8 billion people, and the news of salvation was preached even to indigenous people in Brazil according to God’s prearranged plan.
It started with what Brother Ivanildon said. The brother lived with indigenous people and taught them Portuguese. Whenever he came to worship, he always took a boat. One day, he asked us to go with him and preach God’s word to the chief of the village where he lived.
Hearing his suggestion, we wondered if the indigenous people, whose cultures and beliefs were completely different from ours, would listen to God’s word or convert even though they listened. However, thinking that those indigenous people were also among the 7.8 billion people, we planned to preach the gospel to them and formed a mission team to their village.
It took one hour by car and another hour by ship to reach the village. When we arrived there by boat, the chief gladly welcomed us as if he had been waiting for us. He looked so nice that we felt like he was our heavenly family member, as soon as we saw him.
We went into the village and had a conversation and then started studying God’s word. We showed him who the Savior of this age is through the Bible, and we asked him to receive the blessing of salvation from God. At first he refused to receive it, but as he continued studying the Bible, he said, “We can be saved through God the Mother,” and received the blessing of a new life with his wife.
After he was reborn as God’s child, it became easy for us to meet other chiefs. Among them, there was a chief in the executive position of overseeing forty-two other chiefs. He invited us to the place where they were going to appoint a new chief. It was an opportunity for us to meet many chiefs.
After driving on a paved road for two hours and an unpaved road for an hour, we arrived at the entrance to the forest. Following the brother chief’s guidance, we walked in the rain for about an hour. The forest was so dense that we couldn’t even see the sky, and there was no path. It was such a remote forest that we had to make a path as we walked.
When we managed to arrive at the village, the chief in the executive position and many other chiefs welcomed us. They said in one voice, “No church has ever come all the way to this deep forest and preached God’s word.” They seemed surprised by our coming.
The chief in the executive position, who was more deeply moved than any other chiefs, took off his necklace which he had been wearing for forty years and gave it to us as a gift. They said that it was a symbolic necklace with which we could be treated like a chief wherever we went in the jungle.
He said that he would come to church even if no one else could come with him. True to his word, he visited Zion to study God’s word and was reborn as a child of God. He wanted the truth to be preached to his tribe as well. So the Manaus Centro Zion in Brazil prepared a Bible seminar and an event for them.
Although it was raining outside, over 150 indigenous people, including newborn babies and a 93-year-old man, came to Zion one after another; they had arrived by ship and by bus, under the guidance of the brother. They all smiled brightly as they entered Zion; they were definitely our heavenly family members. Whether they were in ordinary clothes or in tribal clothes with ornaments and feathers of all different kinds and colors, they were all dressed up the best way they could.
We shouted, “We love you,” to each and every one of them, and put our handmade candy necklaces around their necks. We were all choked up when we saw them. We could imagine how Mother must have felt when She embraced Her lost children’s souls one by one.
They expressed their gratitude for our invitation by playing various musical instruments and performing tribal dances. Other chiefs, who came with the brother and his tribal members, showed their overwhelming feelings by saying, “Thank you for inviting us to the church of Mother. All living beings in nature have mothers. We need to come to Mother. She will help us.”
Throughout the event, the male adults and the female adults and even the students were all busy. In the sanctuary, some members explained the truth to each and every one of them after the Bible seminar, so that they could understand it better; in the education rooms, some took care of the kids, so that the event could go smoothly; and in the kitchen, some cooked about three hundred fish from early in the morning, shedding beads of sweat. It must have been so hot because they cooked with the kitchen door closed so that the heat wouldn’t go to the sanctuary, but all of them joyfully carried out their duties, saying, “We are thankful that we can be used as gospel instruments.”
Our unity resulted in them lining up for baptism. Until they had to leave because of the boat schedule, after promising to come back next time, thirty-three precious children of God were born.
A place to worship God is now being built in the Amazon rainforest. The chiefs of other tribes, who came to the event, are also asking us to come to their villages to teach them the Bible and establish Zion. They’ve followed the customs handed down from their ancestors and believed in their folk religion. Now, however, they give glory to God the Mother and acknowledge that the Church of God is the true church. It is just amazing.
As it is prophesied in the Bible, all the gospel work is done by God’s will, not by our thoughts. We come to realize once again that the gospel will spread everywhere in the world because God has already mapped out everything for us to preach the gospel to 7.8 billion people.