It was the month of December 2002. Two young men, Juan Marin and Fernando Gutierrez, were canvassing in the city of San Javier, in the Republic of Chile. Both were in their 4th year of Theological training at the Chile Adventist University. Of course, they were intent upon earning enough scholarship funds to cover their tuition, but they had a higher goal in mind. They wanted to make arrangements so that the interests they created while canvassing during school vacation would have follow-up contacts by the local church members. They had real soul winning on their hearts.
San Javier being a relatively small city, it was not uncommon for these two student literature evangelists to run into their clinets when walking on the downtown streets. It was in this way that they met Guillermo, an intelligent man who had numerous questions to ask and quite a few doubts about God. One of Guillermo's questions was the one that troubles many a person - "Where is God when there is so much suffering in the world?"
From this point, let us now let Guillermo relate his own story, and let's allow him to tell what influence these two literature evangelists had upon him.
Guillermo writes as follows:
"My name is Guillermo Fuentes. I was born in 1964 in the city of San Javier, in the province of Talca, Chile.
I had very happy childhood. My father was a politician, and he attained the position of mayor and President of the San Javier City Council. Since I was young I was in contact with the Marxist philosophy. I grew up in a political environment where religion was looked upon in a suspicious way. During the period of General Pinochet my father was detained and he simply disappeared because he was the political leader of an institution. This occurred at a time of many violations of human rights in Chile. Because of this loss of my father, an even greater rejection of God settled over my life.
During my youth, I studied several books on communism that were written by Karl Marx and others. My father was a communist I also read books on the laws of metaphysics such as "The Witches Speak," by John Baine and "The Third Eye," by Lobsa Dobson. The philosophies state that the mind can dominate everything around it and I believed a great deal in these energies. I believed that the individual is the same as the gods. The human being is born, develops, and dies and that this sms up the sense of life. The human being does things by himself. Influenced by these philosophies along with the things happening in my life, I still did not find adequate answers to my doubts and ponderings. I studied politics, and I did not find answers there either. During this time, I began to drink, smoke and to lead a rather vagabound sort of lifestyle. This led to the loss of my wife, my son, and even my own family rejected me. I questioned, "Does God really exist?" Then, in my despair I reasoned that since The Kingdom of God seems intangible, it does not really exist.
Nevertheless, God was alive and working to reach my heart. During the summer of 2002, on four different occasions, I happened to meet Christian youth on the streets of San Javier. They were beautiful coincidences. My first impressions of them were that they were people who would not waste their time. Whenever we met, we talked about religion. Being an atheist, I expressed my questions to them. Later, the Holy Spirit allowed them to reach my home when they were out selling books from house to house. In this manner they were led, without knowing it, to the house of this atheist who argued so much with them. They were Juan Marin and Fernando Gutierrez.
Because I was curious (and because of our new friendship) I purchased the book "Passporte para la Vida" (Passport to Life). Later these literature evangelists continued visiting me, and they offered me the Bible course, "Faith of Jesus".
At the end of their vacation period Juan and Fernando left San Javier in order to resume their classes. Then the Bible instructor, Elizabeth Vivanco, took over, and she continued to visit me.
When Elizabeth arrived at my home, she seemed to realize that no one cared anything about me. My sister even told her not to waste her time studying with me, because I drank too much and was too raucous. I am glad she had the insight to see that I was a very lonely and confused person who was definitely in need of help. I waited anxiously for the visits of Sister Elizabeth; to talk, to listen and to absorb the things she had to say. From what she said, I came to understand that God really loves me. The time spent in studying with her always passed too swiftly.
To me, her method of teaching was most interesting because she used experiences from life within the Bible study. She drew upon factual life experiences that demonstrated that God does exist, His acts are seen in history, and she explained how these things relate to the Bible.
In spite of her clarity in teaching, however, I was quite obstinate. Besides, I had vices that were difficult to give up; alcohol, cigarettes and carousing at night. But what I learned from Pastor Bullon (in the book, "Passport to Life") was that God knew everything that He listened to me and cared for me, and He cured my mind. The hope that the words in the book produced within me gave faith to my unbelieving heart, nd I found in Christ the answers to my questions. I received forgiveness for my sins and immediately my faith began to grow day by day.
On April 17, 2003, I was baptized and began a new life in Christ. I participated in the church missionary activities and in evangelistic compaigns with Pastor Werner Gonzalez. I was a new man, Christ had settled all of my doubts, and He gave new meaning to my life.
Now I was a man that was spiritually happy, but I was having difficulty finding a job that would let me rest on the Sabbath. I received job offers, but in each offer was the requirement of working on Saturday. I desired in my heart to be faithful to God, and I asked the Lord for a place where I could serve Him and keep His commandments. God then answered my prayer, and I am now employed as an Assistant at the San Javier Hospital. Additionally, I am a deacon in my church.
Two years have passed since I consecrated my life to God and was baptized. Because of the dramatic changes that came into my life, my mother has also accepted the Lord, and she has also become a baptized member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Now, besides being my mother, she is also my sister in Christ.
Although Satan utilized books to plant and strengthen the seeds of atheism in Guillermo's mind, God used on of our sacred books to counteract the evil and reveal the eternal reality of Jesus Christ to Hm. This is an exmaple of "integrated evangelism." The literature evangelist, the Bible instructor, the minister, and a soul that has been rescued from the hands of the enemy - who today stands as a living witness of the power of the blood of Jesus.
We thank Guillermo for sharing his beautiful experience with us, and we praise God for the satisfying and productive life he has found with Jesus Christ as his Lord.
There are many Guillermo's in the world, and we pray God will send workers in abundance to do the special work of finding and encouraging them in the faith.