I am pleased to publish this guest post from my friend Brenda Purcell

During the civil war in Guatemala, Pastor Miguel Cojti was preaching in his church. In the middle of the service, three soldiers came through the doors and pulled Pastor Miguel out of his pulpit.

They proceeded to take him out to a field and said they were going to kill him. They said that it was because he preached that there was a Heaven and a Hell and only by trusting in Jesus would a person be able to live at peace with God.

One of the solders protested and said that there was no Hell, that Hell was here living on this earth and experiencing all that was happening in Guatemala.

They asked Pastor Miguel to lay flat on his face on the ground and they would carry out their task. Pastor Miguel said that he would not lay on the ground, and if this was to be his last day in this life he wanted to be on his knees, in the same position that he normally spent in prayer.

Before the officer ordered one of the soldiers to shoot, Pastor Miguel took the opportunity to say that God was in control of his life and in fact they couldn’t kill him if it was outside of God’s will.

This angered the commanding officer and he gave the order to shoot.

The solder’s gun jammed and would not fire. The officer than gave the order to the other soldier to fire. Again his gun jammed and would not fire.

The Officer then decided to carry out the deed himself, and enraged he pulled his side arm and tried to fire but his pistol also jammed and would not function.

Pastor Miguel again said to the three solders that God was in control and that the Lord was the one that would not allow their mission to be successful.

The solders ran off in fear as Pastor Miguel returned to his church.

On a later outreach trip Pastor Miguel met once again the commanding officer that had pulled him out of the pulpit on that day. The officer confessed that he had been sent by his authorities to kill him.

The officer then went on to say that because of the happenings of that day he and the other two soldiers had trusted in Christ. Pastor Miguel then had the privilege to baptize them later that day.

Brenda Widman Purcell and her husband Randy have served as missionaries in Guatemala for over 20 years. Follow them on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/brenda.purcell.56