From the Pastor’s Desk – September 2019

It has been 6 months since I set foot in this place called East Alton Illinois. Frankly, God has been good to me in terms of New Ministry, New Friends, New Places and other New things including the road and weather conditions. Thanks to all the advice from friends and families, they gave me the heads-up of mid-America, but it was different when you are here. This place turned out to be exciting and encouraging. I am indeed looking forward to more exciting work for the Church and God.

We are in our challenging times my dear friends in Christ. This 2019 we’ve had too many tragic events. Just to mention a couple, 1 in El Paso, Texas Aug 3, 2019, 22 died and 1 in Dayton, Ohio Aug 4, 2019, 10 people died. Cause of death… deadly shootings.  I mean, people all over, not only here in America but the world is getting tired of these senseless killings.  Innocent men, women, and children, caught in the crossfire have nowhere to run. Even if they were all in hiding, it seemed evil has its way of locating there targets like a bloodhound. Don’t we have the capability to prevent these catastrophic events? Billions and billions of dollars are spent just to make this so-called US of A a place of security and stability. Right? Unfortunately, water always finds a way to flow. A dripping pipe left unfix will certainly cause big problems in the future. Now is that future. Unless we find a way to destroy evil with good. Fighting fire with water, create a defensive shield and strike with an offensive attack that will rattle and shake evil from its feet and run like hell! I know, I may sound impossible but let me share with you King Jehoshaphat’s story in 2 Chronicles 5:1-30. Upon hearing that Judah and Jerusalem will be attacked by the strong Army of Moabites, Ammonites, and Meunites from all points, King Jehoshaphat was in fear of Israel’s enemies. What did he do? He called on all the people to fast and to pray to Yahweh. The King prayed like he never prayed before for he feared for his people. But somehow, his campaign brought the people to its knees and joined their King to plead for deliverance before the might of GOD. The following verses 20-30 was the result:

20 And they rose up early in the morning and went out to the desert of Tekoa. And when they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Hear me, O Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem! Believe in Yahweh your God, and you shall be established! Believe in his prophets, and you shall succeed!” 21 And when he had taken counsel with the people, he appointed singers to Yahweh who were giving praise to the splendor of his holiness when they went out before the army. And they said, “Give thanks to Yahweh, for his loyal love is everlasting!” 22 And when[m] they began with singing and praise, Yahweh set ambushes against the people[n] of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir who were coming against Judah. And they were defeated 23 when the people[o] of Ammon and Moab rose up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir to destroy and demolish them. And when the inhabitants of Seir had made an end of them, each helped to destroy his comrade.24 And Judah came against the watchtower of the wilderness. And they looked at the crowd, and behold, corpses were lying on the ground. There was none who had escaped. 25 When Jehoshaphat came with his people to plunder their booty, they found among them in abundance possessions, corpses, and precious items. And they took plunder for themselves until they could carry no more.[p] And they were three days in plundering the booty, for it was abundant. 26 And on the fourth day, they assembled in the Valley of Berakah, for there they blessed Yahweh. Therefore the name of that place is called the Valley of Berakah up to this day. 27 And all the men of Judah and Jerusalem returned, and Jehoshaphat was at their head in returning to Jerusalem with joy, for Yahweh caused them to rejoice over their enemies. 28 And they came to Jerusalem with harps, stringed instruments, and trumpets to the house of Yahweh. 29 And the fear of God came upon all the kingdoms of the earth when they heard that Yahweh had fought against the enemies of Israel. 30 So the kingdom of Jehoshaphat was at rest, since his God gave rest to him all around.

You know, we may believe this story or not, but I have faith in God. We say we believe, we say we have faith. These are 2 powerful weapons that we never looked into seriously because we think we have better ways. We cry for immediate justice, we call on the gov’t to do something and make it stop, mass protests, riots, angry mobs causing more chaos. What if the entire Christendom, we included, will get down on our knees. What are our weapons? Pray, praise, sing, worship and declare our faith in God’s power to the world like what King Jehoshaphat did? I believe there will be great results and for sure, the wickedness will be dealt with a swift. We will never win this on-going war unless all our prayers and faith combined in the name of Jesus Christ our savior. Indeed, we have already won the battle. Just sharing folks, just sharing with my FAITH IN GOD. AMEN. By Pastor Ed Granadosin