July 10, 2014
Stephen’s Discourses (2)
A reading from the Acts of the Apostles 7, 9 – 22:
Stephen said, “The patriarchs, jealous of Joseph, sold him into slavery in Egypt; but God was with him and rescued him from all his afflictions. He granted him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, who put him in charge of Egypt and of his entire household. Then a famine and great affliction struck all Egypt and Canaan, and our ancestors could find no food; but when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our ancestors there a first time. The second time, Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and Joseph’s family became known to Pharaoh. Then Joseph sent for his father Jacob, inviting him and his whole clan, seventy-five persons; and Jacob went down to Egypt. And he and our ancestors died and were brought back to Shechem and placed in the tomb that Abraham had purchased for a sum of money from the sons of Hamor at Shechem.
When the time drew near for the fulfillment of the promise that God pledged to Abraham, the people had increased and became very numerous in Egypt, until another king who knew nothing of Joseph came to power in Egypt. He dealt shrewdly with our people and oppressed our ancestors by forcing them to expose their infants, that they might not survive. At this time Moses was born, and he was extremely beautiful. For three months he was nursed in his father’s house, but when he was exposed, Pharaoh’s daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son. Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in his words and deeds.
Here is another healing: a woman doctor came to visit me with her mother who was suffering from cancer. There was great danger that she would die before they could try all the medication. So I prayed with her and asked the Lord Jesus to heal her completely. They went home and after a few weeks, the doctor phoned me to let me know that the mother was completely free from cancer. She had gone for tests and when they came back, there was no sign of cancer. Praise the Lord.
Below you will find the message of Our Lord and Savior given to Father Melvin. Jesus spoke to him these words,
“I would like you all to read the story of Saint Stephen, especially you My brother Melvin and all My brothers and sisters who live in every country of the world. Stephen was arrested for no good reason. He had only been preaching the Good News. He talked especially about Abraham and about Joseph, the son of Jacob, who was sold into Egypt by his brothers. They did not like him because they were jealous of him. His father loved him very much. While in prison in Egypt, the Pharaoh had a dream, and Joseph said he could explain this dream. So he was brought to the king and explain what the dream was all about. Joseph told him that a famine was on it sway but first there would be seven years of plenty of food and then the famine would come. He told the king to build barns to put the extra food to be kept for the famine. The king put him in charge and Joseph did a great job by persevering all that food. Then the famine came in Egypt and in Canaan. One day his brothers arrived asking for food and they did receive some food. They came back a second time and Joseph made himself known to them. He asked them to come to Egypt with their father and so they did. They all remained in Egypt and died there. However, in time a new king took over and he was very harsh with the descendants of Abraham. They became as slaves for the Egyptians. Then Moses was born and when they placed him in a basket in the water, the king’s daughter saw him and adopted him. He became a man very powerful in words and deeds. He was chosen by Our Heavenly Father for an important task.”
Father Melvin
P.S. We had a mostly cloudy day on Wednesday but the sun came out in the late afternoon. We did not have any rain.