Held at Gunpoint!

Memory Gem: “For prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:21).

Diane stared down the barrels of three machine guns. “We’re going to fill you full of holes!” shouted one of the guerrilla soldiers.

This country had been in a state of unrest for sometime, and now Diane was experiencing it firsthand. She’d been on a bus returning from visiting an orphanage. In the early-morning darkness, soldiers had stepped out onto the muddy jungle road and stopped the bus.

“Did you hear they bombed the communication tower in San Luis?” one passenger had whispered. “Yes, and over to the east they killed some people!” another had said.

The guerrilla soldiers had climbed onto the bus. “Everyone get out!” one of the soldiers had ordered. Machine gun-toting soldiers outside had yanked open the bus’s door.

One by one the passengers had jumped to the ground through the rear exit. Then Diane’s turn had come, and she had jumped too. That’s when the soldier had told Diane that they were going to be shot.

But now Diane looked back at the bus’s rear door and saw a stooped-over, old woman standing in it. Suddenly Diane heard a calm voice inside her mind say, Help that old woman. Courageously, Diane turned her back on the machine guns and said to the old woman, “Venga, senora.” (“Come, let me help you down.”) Diane helped the old woman to the ground as the guerrilla soldiers looked on in bewilderment.

Diane continued helping others to the ground: children, a mother with a baby, and another older woman. After she finished, Diane turned to see the soldiers standing by, their machine guns hanging limply by their sides.

There would be more excitement before their ordeal was over, but none of the passengers lost their lives. Thanks to Diane listening to a still small voice, her actions foiled the soldiers’ evil plans to take her life. It’s always best to follow that heavenly voice’s instructions!*

*Story adapted from Diane Aguirre, “Guerrillas, Machine Guns, and God,” Guide, September 12, 2015.

Think it through

• Think about a time when you were asked to deliver a message. Was it a written or spoken message? Were you successful?

• Can you think of a time someone told you some- thing you didn’t want to hear? What did you do?

• Why do you think God uses prophets instead of just giving us messages directly?

Do it!

Gather a few friends and whisper a message into the first person’s ear. (The message can’t be repeated.) Do this for each person and see how accurate the message is when it gets to the last person. What helps a prophet’s message not to get mixed up?

Ask a parent or other loved one to share a time when they received a life-changing message. Were they glad they did what the message told them to do? Why or why not?