We were trained to the point where we didn’t have breakfast, or lunch, or dinner, but we still had to go and take the Word of God and preach. Our children were hungry, but they learned not to even say, “I am hungry.” They just played until they fell asleep. We learned how to control our body.
When God sent us to America, we did not know anybody there. We did not know any organization, nothing. We came to Miami with $12 in our pocket, but ready to do a missionary journey. If we had gone to the Salvation Army, that would have been a defeat of the faith that we had in God. We couldn’t be deceived by anybody wanting to give us food to eat. We didn’t care where we were going to sleep at night. When we landed in Miami, we said, “God, take over!” And God did. We stood there and waited until God sent a raven. Many people might say, “Get away from me, you dirty raven! I don’t want your bread!” Do you think this is what Elijah would have said? Our raven finally arrived: a drunken woman came, fell on the shoulder of my wife with liquor coming out of her breath, hugged her and said, “Let’s go to Fort Lauderdale.” From a drunken woman, we heard the voice of God. “Get away from me, you drunkard!” No, we heard the voice of God speaking through a drunken woman, and there our missionary journey in America started.
I remember when Mavis and I left Miami and travelled for 2 years and 10 months non-stop before we got back. We would go to one place and spend three days there, then we would go to another place and spend three days there. Sometimes we would form four churches per month. There were about 15 churches started around the Miami area and coming down to Fort Lauderdale. We would go to a different group every night. Then, we travelled along the coast up to New York and even further up to Canada. On the way back we went to the West Coast and formed churches there right down to California. And God was blessing us. I preached in more churches in the United States than any other person I know.
This is what God has ordained me to do. I could go to a city and start crying out and people would be gathered together and get saved. I remember the day I laid hands on my sister and she began to scream like a pig. As she did, people came in running. As soon as they came through the door, they went down on their knees, giving their lives to the Lord. And it went on and on and on. The revival just could not stop. At this moment, they have a church with over five thousand people in that spot.
But, brethren, I preached to all these people and then I left them. When I left them, some continued in the Lord, some became wishy-washy Christians, struggling in their lives, and some joined different churches. Also, some churches we formed were taken over. Church in Los Angeles – taken over; church in San Diego – taken over; church in San Francisco – taken over. However, we left them in the hand of God. They can get the food for feeding their souls if they want to. They can always get the books, they can always get some of the thousand tapes we have and they can always call us. Anybody can get any message we preach – anybody from the Czech Republic, India, Russia, all over the world. They get the tapes, because they ask for them.
And so, we left the churches we formed and for some reason even now, after many many years, those people are still against me. Some of them don’t even have to know me in order to be against me. I had about 20 thousand against me at one time. A church we formed! While we were preaching elsewhere, a man came in, took it away for himself and they came to a conclusion, “Brother Cecil is a sorcerer.” But I don’t care. I was not doing it for my sake. This was the work of God and God is responsible for it. He told me something that sustained me over the years. He said, “Never own a church!” This word was such a blessing to me! I don’t have to own a church. I just preach and let God take care of the rest. The church is His! Praise be to Him.
Sonlight Devotional 