Messengers Of god

                                   By

                              Phil Scovell





                          Copyright (C) 1997/2003

                            By Phil Scovell

                          All Rights Reserved



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          Phil Scovell
          840 South Sheridan Boulevard
          Denver, Colorado  80226-8017
          Toll Free:  888-936-0001
          Voice:  303-936-2188
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          Web:  WWW.RedWhiteAndBlue.ORG






                            GOD'S MESSENGERS


                                   By

                              Phil Scovell



               In the mid 1970's my wife and I were preaching on the indian
          reservation.   We stayed  with the pastor  and his  wife in  Fort
          Defiance, Arizona  for a week;  preaching and ministering  in his
          church of perhaps  seventy members; mostly Navajo indians.   Each
          night following the  meeting the pastor,  himself a full  Navajo,
          and  I sat  up and  talked  about indian  heritage, history,  and
          culture.  He  even invited,   because of my interest,  an elderly
          woman to visit one evening for supper who had been an early white
          missionary on the reservation.  I was fascinated with all she had
          to say  about the pioneer mission  work she and her  late husband
          had done  on the  reservation.   They   invited me  to speak  one
          evening  to a  small  Navaho church  in a  nearby town  where the
          pastor had to translate my sermon.  

               One night the pastor told me  a very unusual story.  An  old
          indian man in his church often  told of his father reminiscing of
          a stranger on the reservation.   He was white, preached the  same
          Gospel, wore a  robe, carried a book,  and walked bear foot.   He
          said that  often when indians  on the reservation were  ill, this
          strange shoeless  man would  suddenly come walking  up out  of no
          where and  request to see  the sick one.   He would lay  hands on
          them and they  would recover.  The  pastor said he would  take my
          wife and I up  in the mountains, about a ninety  minute drive, to
          visit this old indian man in his eighties.  We did so and the old
          man confirmed this story to be true in my hearing.  Although this
          old indian man was  too young to recall  seeing the stranger  for
          himself, his family  spoke of him often and his  father even once
          asked if he could touch the strangers bear feet.  He reported his
          father saying the skin  was as soft as baby's skin  and there was
          no  evidence those feet had  ever tread the  rough terrain of the
          reservation.

               Perhaps some will question the  validity of this story since
          indian  culture offers many  such experiences in  their heritage.
          This, however,   I found highly unusual because  the stranger was
          preaching the  Gospel we preach  today.  All the  other accounts,
          which I have read,   of such manifestations were always strangely
          void of any such  Gospel message.  I believe this  was, without a
          doubt, a messenger  of God.  We  know that angels appear  in many
          forms and  we are even  instructed to be hospitable  because some
          have entertained angels unawares (Heb. 13:2).  I believe God sent
          this messenger to preach and minister His Word until a missionary
          was sent.  In fact, the  elderly indian in the mountains reported
          exactly that.   He said when the  first white missionary came  to
          the reservation,  no one ever  reported seeing the  strange robed
          man again.   Many today tell of stories where unusual and strange
          people have crossed  their paths at times of  danger or calamity.
          I think this  is similar.  I find it strangely comforting to know
          that God  will always provide a way for  His Word to be preached.
          I also find this story interesting because of the absence  of the
          messenger as  soon as a  missionary appeared.  God  has commanded
          we, His disciples, to go into all the world and preach the Gospel
          to every creature (Mark  16:15).  After all, we -  the redeemed -
          are the true messengers of God.


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