My heart is about to explode right now, wanting so much to be able to say the words that would allow you to experience what I have been blessed to witness for several years. Actually, I have just finished reading literally over a hundred old letters and e-mails from a dear friend, the most saintly man I have ever known. He went to be with his Lord this past month and if ever there was a celebration in heaven it was when he arrived. I can honestly imagine Jesus standing in front of His throne, clapping as hard and as fast as He could, leading the thunderous applause as Dr. Michael Guido finally got to walk into the throne room he had stormed in prayer so many thousands of times while he was in his earthly body.
Perhaps you have seen him yourself. Dr. Michael Guido was “The Sower” who for years and years was seen on TV or heard on radio with his short spots known as “Seeds From The Sower.” A more remarkable life has not been lived. He and his wonderful wife, Audrey, built a phenomenal ministry that spanned the globe and reached billions of people, saving hundreds of thousands if not millions of souls, and all the while never asking a man for a dime. More astounding faith has never been seen on this earth. And no man has probably ever lived who witnessed first hand the miraculous provision which God repays such faith.
My oldest daughter, Tondra, first brought Dr. Guido to my attention about eight years ago by sending me a little write up about him that mentioned that he had decided from the start of his ministry never to ask anyone but God for his needs. At the time I was already enthralled with the life of George Mueller who had done the same thing in England a few hundred years earlier. I felt I had to meet this man, who already was in his mid eighties, so Barb and I headed to Metter, Georgia, in the hopes that he would see us. In his always most gracious way, he did, and the encounter changed my life.
It is difficult to put in words, but as we walked into his office at his studio I immediately felt like I had been transported into the throne room of God. Our Father was so close to this humble man that even the physical atmosphere in that earthly room seemed changed into the atmosphere of heaven. And as I was to learn was the norm for Dr. Guido, he quickly asked that we pray. Had I been irreverent enough to open my eyes I am convinced I would have actually seen that we were in the physical presence of God during that prayer. I am not exaggerating. Heaven immediately opened up.
The meeting itself turned out to be one of those God things. It just so happened that a few weeks earlier Barb and I had attended the funeral of a hospice patient of mine named Dr. Smith, who in five short months had become like a second father to me. Dr. Smith, known as the “Dean of Gospel Music,” was Billy Graham’s first music director and had written scores of hymns, including “Surely Goodness and Mercy.” Somehow Dr. Smith’s name came up in that initial conversation and Dr, Guido had a strange look on his face. He asked me, “Do you mean Dr. Alfred Smith?” When I said that I did he went on to tell me that they had been best friends for over fifty years and he was so sorry that he had been unable to attend his funeral. I was able to send him the funeral brochures and copies of the last tapes Dr. Smith had made of him singing his own hymns. With that, a new dear friendship was born, one that I shall always cherish.
Let me give you just a glimpse of this phenomenal servant of God. As a financially struggling young student at Moody Bible College, Michael Guido was supposed to sing one night. While getting ready he looked down at his shoes and said, “Lord, look at that. Tonight I am going to sing ‘I’m a Child of the King,’ and my toe sticks out of my shoe. The congregation is going to think that I am a liar or You are a sorry King. Please give me a pair of shoes.” As soon as he walked out of his room a man asked him if he would like a pair of shoes, and immediately escorted him to a store and bought him a new pair.
Michael Guido’s life is a total story of continuous provision like that. When he graduated he couldn’t believe that he did so with the extravagant sum of $25 in his pocket. He arrived home, with a terrible sore throat, only to learn that he had to have his tonsils taken out, which of course cost exactly $25 dollars.
Dr. Guido’s fantastic ministry lasted over seventy years, and as I said, he never once asked anyone but God to supply a need, and God was always faithful. If a copier was needed, Dr. Guido prayed, and a copier supernaturally was supplied. If money was needed for the ministry, Dr. Guido prayed, and money came. Why turn to man when God owns the whole world? Oh, that all church leaders, TV evangelists, etc, would ingrain in us that truth through leading by example the way he did.
One example I love was when he and Audrey were in their car on the way to their next engagement and neither one had a single dollar. Dr. Guido asked Audrey to pray for ten dollars for lunch money while he kept his eyes on the road. A trucker passed them and then waved for them to stop. They did and the trucker came running back to them and said he did not know them but felt that he should stop them and give them ten dollars, which he did. He then ran back to his truck and left. Yes, God’s resources are endless, and Dr. Guido’s confidence in His faithfulness was always justified.
On the other side, though, Dr. Guido was always faithful to God, too. He worked tirelessly up to sixteen hours a day, even into his nineties. When he left the office he transferred the phone to his and Audrey’s little home. And invariably someone would call at two in the morning from Michigan, or India, or Europe, or who knows where, and the end of the conversation would see Dr. Guido on his knees leading the needy soul to the Lord in prayer. I personally have never worked the schedule Dr. Guido worked. I think of him with a film crew coming in to film 175 of his one minute spots that are on hundreds of TV stations. He wrote and memorized each one before the crew got there and they did all 175 shoots in three days. They did this every six months. It was a grueling three day schedule, and I remember him doing that into his nineties.
Dr. Guido was always available to anyone. For example, once he got a letter from a lady he had never met in a distant town saying that she watched him four times a day, and she needed him to come. He and Audrey got in the car and drove there. When they arrived they found this poor lonely soul living in an abandoned old store that was now her home. It was raining, and pots and pans were everywhere to catch the water from the leaks in the roof. She told them, “No one loves me. No one comes to help me. No one has time for a poor, old woman like me. Please help me.” Dr. Guido and Audrey stayed with that desperate lady for six hours, comforting her and answering her questions. That is the Dr. Michael Guido I loved.
I guess you might be interested in knowing that two days before Dr. Guido got that letter from that poor soul, he had been told that he had to come up with $26,000 to pay for an expansion on their studio that they desperately needed. Of course, Dr. Guido had immediately prayed. The day after they got back from ministering to the poor woman a registered letter arrived. It was from that same woman, and in it was a check for $26,000, the exact amount he had prayed for.
I was so very fortunate to have received letters and e-mails from this true saint almost weekly, and occasionally we chatted on the phone. Virtually every time I heard from him I was blessed to hear about the many miracles that happened almost daily in his life. Yes, often they pertained to God’s supernatural provision, but even more often they involved the biggest miracle of all, the salvation of souls. Many brought tears to my eyes, but sometimes they made me laugh out loud. One letter that I received last year that I unfortunately can’t put my hands on tonight told of a service at a small country church a few days earlier. Remember, even at age 93, in addition to all the other work he was doing with his TV, radio, and written “Seeds from The Sower,” Dr. Guido was still preaching somewhere every week. At any rate, this particular Sunday found him at a little church that could hold about 200 people. He wrote that when he arrived there were only about twenty or thirty people there. As was typical, Dr. Guido went to his knees and asked the Lord to send more people. When the service was about to begin it sounded like thunder outside. The noise, though, was motorcycles, over 200 of them. It seems that a large motorcycle gang was driving down that country road that Sunday morning and the leader had the urge to pull into that church parking lot. Once again, our God answered Dr. Guido’s prayer. The result was that scores of men and women were won to Jesus that morning. Of course, Dr. Guido gave all the credit to God.
Dr. Guido received his reward this past month for a life lived for God like no other that I know. Fortunately his work will continue. His younger brother, Dr. Larry Guido, who I think is only about 74, will continue the ministry, and millions will still be able to see Dr. Guido sitting in his beloved gardens and hear a short but powerful seed from the Sower. Hundreds of thousands more will still be saved for his Master. To learn more about the ministry and even listen to Dr. Guido in person, please go to
www.guidogardens.com .
Dear reader, to know this wonderful saint and his phenomenal story would bless you more than you could imagine. Fortunately, in 1991 his autobiography was published at a cost of twenty dollars. Today you can get this awesome book for only $7, including shipping. If you ever pay heed to anything I write in these articles, please take my advice on this. Go to
www.seedpublicationsinc.com right now and order
The Michael Guido Story. Meet the most Godly man I have ever known, and be amazed at his awesome life of faith with the Lord. No life story since George Mueller’s even comes close.
