Former Zapatista Member Becomes Street Evangelist

As Roberto Santo Gomez looked back on his life, he felt like he hadn’t amounted to much. He was empty inside and his heart was filled with hate. As a member of the leftist Zapatista rebel group, his work involved shaking down people for money, running drugs and fighting the government. But that hadn’t given his life meaning, and now he felt trapped by the Zapatista “cause.”

After considering his options, Roberto decided he would go north to the United States and try to make some money. As many others had before him, Roberto hopped the train that runs from Chiapas in southern Mexico to the U.S. border.

The trip didn’t go as planned, however. Roberto fell from the train, severing his left arm and leaving him with multiple fractures. As he lay on the ground in agonizing pain, he suddenly recalled the words of a street preacher he’d once heard in a park, and his thoughts turned to God.

“God, if you exist, give me another opportunity,” he prayed. “Give me life, and I’ll get up and I’ll look for you and I’ll speak about you.”

God answered Roberto’s prayers. He survived the accident, returned to his home and, true to his word, became an itinerant preacher. Roberto is still poor by earthly standards, but he lives by faith and survives on the generosity of those he meets. “When I hear him preach, it touches my heart because he preaches with such passion,” a local VOM worker said.

The street preacher from Roberto’s past had such an effect on him that he decided to do the same kind of work. He shares God’s love in parks and on street corners with anyone who will listen. Though he is often rejected or ignored, he knows from personal experience that God’s Word is planting seeds.

In 2017, VOM provided Roberto with thousands of Bibles to distribute to new believers. Christians in the area suffer under the same Zapatista rebel group of which he was once a member. The Christians are isolated, ostracized by their communities, and many have been subjected to a life of severe poverty.

After faithfully distributing the Bibles, Roberto met with a VOM worker to share his report. As he pulled the list of Bible recipients out of his Bible, the VOM worker noticed how tattered Roberto’s own Bible was. “Roberto!” she exclaimed. “Why didn’t you take one of the new Bibles for yourself?”

“Oh, sister,” he replied, “even though my Bible is old, I have one. Those who I gave Bibles to had none.”

“Well, God has a blessing for you, Roberto,” the VOM worker said as she handed him a new study Bible.

Roberto was overjoyed by the gift of a new study Bible. “When he saw it, his face was transformed,” she said. “He got so happy.”