“God literally led us to this place”: Hero pastor tells how divine intervention helped him rescue eight-year-old girl who was kidnapped by predator
By Julio
Severo
A hero pastor said divine intervention led
him to discover the place where an abducted girl was being held captive in Fort
Worth.
 |
| Pastor Jeff King |
A man, named as Michael Webb, 51,
reportedly grabbed Salem and pushed her into his car at around 6.30pm.
Heart-wrenching surveillance video showed
Salem’s mother jumping into the vehicle and desperately trying to save her
daughter before the kidnapper shoved her out and drove off.
 |
| Abducted girl Salem Sabatka and predator Michael Webb |
After King, a childhood friend of Salem’s
parents, heard about the shocking incident he and a friend started scouring the
streets of Fort Worth searching for the suspect’s car.
“I was sitting at home with my wife when a
friend texted and said that our friends’ daughter had been kidnapped. All I
could think is what are we going to do to help?” King told NBC
DFW.
He and the friend searched until
after midnight when they got a tip from someone that they should check out a
hotel in Forest Hill.
After searching the car park at the
tip-off location they found no sign of the suspect’s car.
But, purely by chance, the pair then
pulled into another hotel nearby, the Wood Springs Suites, and saw a car fitting
the description.
“God literally led us to this place. It
was not on my itinerary, I was not trying to go there, we just drove by. It was
divine intervention, 100 per cent,” he said.
King called police and it was just a
matter of time before they figured out Salem was inside of the hotel and they
were able to rescue her.
Two hours earlier, police had already searched
the motel room of the man suspected of kidnapping the girl but didn’t see the
child there. Yet, after the pastor called the police, they found her in the
same room after breaching the door.
“It was a crazy moment. I asked police, ‘Did
I hear that right? Did they find her? Is she safe?’” he said. “Then finally one
officer said, ‘Yes sir, they have her.’”
Police allowed King to be the one to call
Salem’s parents and tell them the little girl had been found alive.
“I feel like God allowed me to be a tool,”
the pastor said.
On
Facebook, Bear Creek Bible Church celebrated the little girl’s rescue,
writing: “The Lord is so faithful!”
Following the little girl’s rescue, King,
who local media dubbed a hero, led a prayer at a press conference in her
neighborhood.
“Thank you, Father, that she’s alive and
she’s with us still and that she has a wonderful life to live ahead of her,
Father,” he
prayed. “I can’t thank You enough for the redemption and grace You show us
all the time. I can’t thank You enough for the death of Your son on the cross
as a substitutionary atonement in our place. Father, I can’t thank You enough
for last night and being able to locate that vehicle. Thank you, Father, for
guiding us every step of the way.”
Michael Webb has been arrested and booked
on a charge of aggravated kidnapping. He a lengthy criminal history —
including being charged with aggravated and sexual assault in April 2018.
Portuguese
version of this article: “Deus nos conduziou literalmente a esse lugar”: pastor
herói conta como a intervenção divina ajudou-o a resgatar uma menina de oito
anos que foi sequestrada por um predador
Source: Last Days Watchman
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