In Luke 15:1-6, we read about our Lord Jesus, and His wonderful love, “Then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him. And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them. And he spake this parable unto them, saying, What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it? And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends, and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost.” In this scripture we read about a true example of a “Good Shepherd” -- the ninety-nine were in safety in the fold, but one strayed off and now was lost.
THE GOOD SHEPHERD was so concerned about the one that strayed and was NOW lost. His hope was that he would find the lost sheep; therefore, he kept looking, never giving up hope until He found the “lost one”. Later with great rejoicings He called his friends and neighbors to share the wonderful news-THE LOST SHEEP HAS BEEN FOUND! Just recently, you and I and the whole world watched on TV as 33 Chilean Miners were pulled up “one by one” out of an “earthen coffin” where they had been buried alive for 70 days. This could have turned out to be a terrible disaster leaving 33 families or loved ones to deal with the terrible heartache of losing a husband, father, or a brother. Yet, God in His mercy intervened and every one of them were spared. In the last ten years we have seen our share of disasters here in the U.S. and we have not been as successful as Chili was. Why? Was that luck? No I don’t believe in luck, so what was it? It was their genuine love in action for their fellowman and trust in God that made them successful.
PRAYER IS THE KEY
First of all, a humble people gathered round the mine’s site and kept vigils of prayer round the clock and never stopped crying out to God till the victory came. There were no outside organizations that came to say, “You can’t pray here on these public grounds or some person that said, “If you have a right to pray here to your God, so do we.” No, none of that--THEY WERE IN UNITY ABOUT WHOM THEY WERE PRAYING TO - THE ONE GOD OF THE BIBLE. Many times we are in disunity here in America - with all our Gods and religions and who can pray, where, and who can’t. You see they understood that only the ONE GOD could help them—Yes God the Father, God the Son (Jesus) and God the Holy Spirit. They demonstrated as a country united, “There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.” Ephesians 4:4:-6.
LOVE THY NEIGHBOR
Secondarily, their President Sebastian Pinera, a man of faith in the One God of the Bible, was quoted in Internet News: “Chilean President Sebastian Pinera expressed his gratefulness and said…God is great and the help of my God is going to make it possible to…may God bless and save the miners trapped and bring them back to safety…” He never went away on a long holiday to vacation, or to enjoy pleasures while he had precious men who were bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh down in a mine buried beneath the earth. He was in constant care of those men and was on that site as much as his schedule would allow during those seventy days. He surely was a friend that stuck closer than a brother. (Proverbs 18:24) and exercised God’s word, “For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Galatians 5:14. He put his best heads of leadership together in looking for a solution and in humility sought out "world class experts" and together came up with a brilliant idea the “metal capsule”, then had it built as quickly as possible, no bills to be passed slowing up the process, just did what needed to be done, because 33 lives were at stake! The Bible tells us that in the multitude of counselors there is safety! (Proverbs 11:14). He was not too proud to consult others. Yes, they were successful the first time as they went down into the shaft to get the first man out. Chili’s President can be compared to the shepherd who lost the one sheep, leaving the others because he knew they were safe, and went after the 33 who were in danger and did not rest until he seen the last man out and united with their families in great rejoicings. He loved his men and in GREAT LEADERSHIP of love led HIS COUNTRY with CONFIDENCE COMFORTING all of them during this time of almost a DISASTER “WAITING TO HAPPEN.”He was diligent like the shepherd in Luke 15, and went after those men until he pulled every last one out of that mine.
COMPASSION IN ACTION
As soon as he pulled them out there was no lengthy pages of bills to be passed on how to compensate these men, but immediately each man was given $10,000 dollars and a monthly pay check of $1,600.00. Church, Sebastian Pinera did not say in 30, 60 or 90 days you will get a check, but they the (miners) were immediately compensated. He did not want them to have any more anxiety than they had experienced by being concerned about how they were going to take care of their families and catch up on their bills. This President could trade shoes with those miners in their needs. He acted like a shepherd who had mercy and compassion--he could identify. Although he is a billionaire President, we could think He doesn’t know what those men are feeling. I believe if we look back in his life, we can find a time that he didn’t have the riches of this life, but rather demonstrated a virtue that every good leader should have, HE NEVER FORGOT WHERE HE CAME FROM!!
FULFILL THE LAW OF CHRIST
Where has the mercy and compassion of America gone? Still today there are people from as far back as Katrina to the present Gulf disaster who have received none or very little compensation-still waiting for help. Some of our leaders, here in America, can sit in their ivory tower homes warm/cool in comfort with absolutely no need, while others do without and it doesn’t bother them! Oh, America how you've lost your love for your fellowman? President Sebastian Pinera demonstrated Galatians 6:2, “ Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.” He did the best for his neighbor! The last man out of that mine who was a supervisor to the group of men down in the mine waited till all others had gone up and then was ready to come up. This man also had a real love for his fellowman. He knew his responsibility and was willing to lay down his life for the rest of those men. “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. John 15:13” Anything could have happened to him while being the last one out, but rather he chose to trust in His God and we could say, “If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, now may Israel say;” Psalms 124:1 or we could say, if it had not been the Lord who was on President Sebastian Pinera or Chili side. Chili can now say, “Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers: the snare is broken, and we are escaped. Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.” Psalm 124: 7 -8.
MESSAGE TO ALL THE WORLD
The whole world watched this event, but there was a message that our God sent to the whole world, yes, the God who made HEAVEN AND EARTH. Chili is not a proud country, but rather a country populated with humble people that knew they needed God’s help and when that time came God raised up a President with a true shepherd qualities who went after 33 lost sheep and was successful because of their unity in the one God of the Bible. We can ask - Why have we not been as successful? Because the majority of our leaders and most of America have forgotten God. As the UNITED STATES WE NEED THE ONE GOD TO BE WITH US ONCE AGAIN. “For the kingdom is the Lord’s: and he is the governor among the nations.” Psalms 22:28
The above scriptures that I used in this newsletter were never quoted publicly by the Chileans nor were they hung out for the world to see. As I prayed over the 70 days, the Lord revealed to me that THEY LIVED THEIR FAITH . Just as Christ said that men should be read as epistles, the Chileans lived their faith and were read as epistles for the world to see.
My dear praying friends, thank you so much for your part in helping Chili with prayer. I know there were many of you who showed the love of God, bent your knees and prayed for Chili. I know Chili is so very grateful. To God be the Glory!
Thank you so much for reading this message. If you would like to make a copy or copies of this newsletter, you are welcome to do so. Make sure your copy is in its entirety and the message should not be changed. Judgment messages are very serious and those declaring them carry a big responsibility.
Hilda Arredondo's name and her website http://ndcprayer.com/ and e-mail address uipwc@bellsouth.net should accompany this message as you print it. If you have any questions or comments please e-mail us. At this point we have no representatives outside this ministry and all business for the ministry is handled by hilda arredondo, 195 El Shaddai Rd, Opelousas, La. 70570
