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The Invisible Army
"Out of the car! Out of the car!"
Three men with guns surrounded Missionary DeLonn Rance. They wanted to steal his Speed the Light jeep. Missionary Rance had been on his way to teach at the university in El Salvador when the three men appeared and shouted at him to get out of the car.
Very slowly, Missionary Rance started taking things out of the car. He tried to stall for time while he prayed to Jesus. All the while, he held onto the car keys.
He started talking to the gunmen, hoping to stop them from taking his car. He also hoped someone would come along and save him.
"You can't steal this car," the missionary said. "This is God's car. God owns it. God has brought me here to tell the people of El Salvador about Jesus."
While he talked, he continued to take things out of the car, moving very slowly. One of the gunmen thought this was taking too much time. He grabbed hold of the missionary and said, "Give me the keys now or I will shoot you!"
Missionary Rance took a deep breath to calm himself while he prayed to Jesus. The one gunman still had ahold of him and was threatening him with a gun.
Suddenly the other two gunmen looked up the street and yelled, "Let him go! Let him go! We must hurry! Run!" They waved wildly as they pointed down the street. "The military is coming! The military is coming!"
The first gunman looked down the street. The missionary could see fear in the gunman's eyes. All three gunmen quickly put their guns in their pockets and ran away.
Missionary Rance heaved a sigh of relief, thankful that God had sent the military at just the right time. He turned around to look down the street. But he saw nobody. He looked again. No one was there. The street was empty as far as the eye could see. There were no military soldiers. There was no one in the street. The street was completely deserted.
What had the robbers seen that scared them off? Could it have been the army of God? Missionary Rance would never know for sure, but one thing he did know. God had caused the three gunmen to see a military. God answered Missionary Rance's prayers and saved him from the gunmen.
The information for this story was supplied and is being used with permission from the Assemblies of God World Missions.
©2002 The General Council of the Assemblies of God. All rights reserved. Permission granted to reproduce and adapt lesson components for exclusive use in the local church. Any other use requires written permission.
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