Gilles and Sylvie came to the church in Reims, France in an unusual fashion. AGWM Personnel, David Porter recalls that while he was filling in for Pastor Guy during his vacation, a couple that David did not know requested a visit from him. Sitting around the dining room table, they told him a surprising story that filled him with joy.
It seems that Sylvie had been deeply involved in occultism, thinking she was helping people. But somehow, she became uneasy so she went on the internet to see if she could find more information about some of the things she was doing. She discovered the website of a Swiss pastor who had been involved in the very same things that she was doing. He explained from God's Word how these things offended the Lord. Gilles and Sylvie were shaken. They took all of Sylvie's occult paraphanelia and burned it in the barbecue. According to Sylvie, it took two days because they didn't want to shock the neighbors as there was so much to burn.
They began to seek the Lord and he forgave them their sins and saved them. That day they asked Porter some very practical questions about the Christian life because, Sylvie said, "We want to get our lives in order before the Lord."
Porter was shocked because it seems that a lot of people want to figure out how to keep their sinful lifestyle and still have God's blessings. But here were two people who wanted to obey God fully.
One of the questions they asked was about marriage. They've been together over 20 years but weren't married. When they heard what God's Word had to say about marriage, they went to the city hall and took care of the legal part of marriage because in France, marriage is a civil question.
Then the next Sunday, they put things in order before God. Later, Sylvie wrote saying, "I've been trying to get mama to come to the Lord for a couple of months now and I'm sad that she couldn't come to church because of her health. She had told me that she was coming, because she's dreamed of this day for a long time. But unfortunately, she is suffering too much due to her health. I was happy to make my situation right before the Lord, but sad because I would have loved to share this moment that only comes once in a lifetime. When the blessing of the marriage came...in response to prayer, I had the impression that I had put my foot into God's Kingdom. I thought about the human warmth, the fellowship, the sincerity, and the good will of the people of the church. I said to myself, 'Yes! If everyone in the world would become like that, the world would be changed. This must be like the Kingdom of God.'"
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