One evening, JMC member Brother Melchor Jarina, 28, of Cagayan de Oro City, encountered a drunken security guard who shot him in his chest at close range with a shotgun. The motive for the shooting was that Brother Jarina failed to lend the security guard 70 pesos because he only had 50 pesos in his wallet.
As in slow motion, his life passed before his very eyes, Brother Melchor remembered a powerful message that the Beloved Evangelist Wilde Almeda had once preached: “If you are a true child of God and when you face danger, you must first ask for the forgiveness of your sins from God and rebuke the enemy in the name of Jesus! Cry out ‘Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!’ And the Lord will help you!”
When the intoxicated security guard pulled the trigger of his 12-gauge shotgun and the blast exploded into Brother Melchor’s chest, he shouted: “Hallelujah… Praise the Lord!”
He took the full blunt of the shotgun blast into his upper body. He felt the pain of the pellets rip through him and he stepped back and collapsed under its impact. However, he noticed that when the pellets struck his chest they ricocheted in different directions. The shotgun pellets bounced off and struck the nearby barangay captain’s house, stalls and galvanized drum filled with water and filled them with holes. Amazingly, Brother Melchor’s torso had not been shredded with lead. There was no blood and no entry wounds. There were only powder burns and small bruises. His tee-shirt was tattered and torn from the shotgun blast.13 The JMC congregation literally believes in the scripture “No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper” (Isaiah 54:17).
Along with the physical healings, the JMCIM is made of living witness of the deliverance and power of God’s mercy and grace. The Jesus Miracle Crusade is full of members who were once outcasts ad dregs of society; male and female prostitutes, transvestites, prison inmates, hard-core violent criminals, former members of the communist New people’s Army (NPA), sex offenders, mercenaries, abusive military operatives, gang members and even former Moro terrorists all come together in a spirit of love and fellowship and worship their Creator, the One true God who came to earth and wrapped Himself in flesh, lived among His creations and died for men’s sins.
Excerpt from the Book, Miracles in Moroland: A Journey of Faith, Love and Courage (The Inside Story of the Sipadan Hostage Crisis) by Sam Smith, published in 2015
