The “Reformation” Message Spreads to Portugal

We have often likened the AiG ministry to that of one calling for a new Reformation in the church (to get back to the authority of the Word of God) that will affect the culture. We praise the Lord for the way in which we see the AiG ministry affecting lives around the world. One of the professors in AiG’s online course Dr. Georgia Purdom sent me this thrilling testimony from one of the students as to how the AiG ministry is being used to impact people in Portugal:

She writes: “This comes from a student in the online Foundations in Creation Apologetics Course. His name is Rui Pereira and he resides in Portugal. English is not his first language. I also put their insignia below which he provided me with. I thought this was a really neat and exciting story of what God is doing worldwide through the help of AiG.”

“A new church (a Baptist Church) has opened close by where I’m living and also a Genesis Center called GABí (Genesis Atelier Bíblico), which, as you can see, is going to be mainly on the topic of the creation. As it is a topic not much known here where I live (Portugal), this idea of opening a center seems a God-sized task.

“It is nice place, small but very cozy and has good conditions for what we need now. The church is located in an urban setting, more like a dormitory to the capital, Lisbon. I am member of this church, one of the first members, saved some months ago through the understandings of the creation when the Holy Spirit really opening my eyes to this question. I was trapped . . . and because of the growing of complexity it takes to understand its picture, I wasn’t grasping all and saw some inconsistencies in it too.

“This church is mainly the idea (or the call) of my Pastor, but he also could see that it is very important to study creation (or to start from there). And so, this idea of the Genesis center [came about].

“The name of it is ‘GABí,’ which is ‘Genesis Atelier Bíblico’ in Portuguese. It is a way of giving the understandings of creation to the people here. We were sent materials from you (AiG), and now we are in the process of translating them so that people can read them in their language.

“The first book is going to be The Lie and other leaflets are on the way too (the 7 C’s of History, the dinosaurs, the days or millions).”

“Seminars, literature . . . discussions . . . what God calls us to do. We have the materials; we can translate them as people would require . . . we just started by [translating] the most-wanted books and leaflets, and then we will see what goes from there. I translated some books . . . and now I’m having other people reviewing them, correcting.

“In Portugal, this issue [creation/evolution] is just in the beginning of being [discussed]. Only some days ago, there was a debate on the television about it. . . . I guess the first of its kind. So, there [weren’t many] attracted to this church. Mainly the people that come are immigrants [non-Portuguese]. And the people that attended the opening were the people from the church from which my Pastor came . . . just [a few] kilometres away. I think they [Portuguese] will [come] once we start giving some mind boggling questions concerning this issue of the creation.

“It was some years ago that the country had slowly came out of the darkness of the dictatorship, and with the Internet rising so fast, all different kinds of lifestyles and beliefs are showing up everywhere. What has been happening for decades in America, it is rising as if it is something new just now here. I know that America has many problems, and sometimes it is difficult because of that. We need to offer something that is written [concerning] the Bible and that many people from all around the world (and in this case of the AiG, Americans) are making great efforts to have it clear for people to understand. Please, keep praying for the next times to see what could be offered to people here.”

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying.

Ken