Isaiah 54:17 remind us that no weapon formed against us shall prosper. There are two promises here: 1) weapons will form against us. The life of a believer is not always cookies, butterflies and flowers. 2) The greater promise is that these weapons will not prosper. David also reminds us in Psalm 34 that many are the afflictions of the righteous. However, the greater promise here is that God will deliver us from all of them. As I start the beginning of a new year I must remember these words more than ever.
The year of 2019 started with our house burning on Jan 17th. We lost many of our possessions. Our house was destroyed! That’s the weapon formed against us; that’s the affliction! However, no loss of life! That’s God’s love, that’s God’s protection, that’s God’s power to deliver and that’s God’s faithfulness. God is the God who turns things around! I have seen family members, friends, co-workers and even strangers giving my family emotional support, words of encouragement, help, clothing, cooked meals and even money. I am overwhelmed by such demonstration of love.
A year from now we will be able to see what comes out of this. I asked that you guys pray for us, pray specifically for favor with the insurance and all the details that comes with the territory of this process.
An independent thinker with a profound call to see the orthodoxy of the church and passion for Christ manifesting together. Angel was born in Brooklyn, New York in April of 1968, he was raised on the beautiful island of Puerto Rico where he earned his B.S. degree in Sociology with a minor in Education from the Inter American University in San Germán in 1991. That same year he moved to Jacksonville, Florida. After working construction jobs for a year and learning the English language, his first job working with foster-care children in the capacity of youth care worker was with Jacksonville Youth Sanctuary in September of 1992. With JYS he was promoted several times as group home supervisor, legal caseworker, and program director.
While in Jacksonville, Angel studied a couple of martial arts styles. After earning his black belt, he became the founder of Good Fight Ministries as he used martial arts as an instrument to preach the gospel. In 2004 Angel was selected Martial Arts Instructor of the Year for the State of Florida and in 2005 Angel was inducted in the USA Martial Arts Hall of Fame where he also received the Christian Spirit Award. In July of 2005 Angel accepted his call to pastor a bilingual church in Winton, NC where he served for a couple of years. Five months later he lost his first wife to cancer in December of that same year. This initiated a deep valley of suffering in his life, a mountain of costly mistakes and the embracing of lifestyles of sin that are well documented through this blog.
In August of 2012 Angel moved to Fairbanks Alaska with his wife Rayette Casiano and six children who are now adults. In Alaska, Angel continued his social work-related career and his ministry of preaching, teaching and writing. Angel is the author of two books, Hope for the divorcee: Forgiving and Moving Forward and 7 Banderas de Esperanza: La Bendición de Yokdzonot.
In January 8th of 2020 Angel and his wife moved to Arizona. On June 8th 2021 Angel started his home church, not as a starting point, but as a closer way to how the church is suppose to look like according to Scripture.
angelcasiano.com 