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DEAD OR ALIVE

Twenty-five-year-old Marcio Freitas da Silva was having a difficult time finding a job, until he discovered the reason why. Government records indicated that the unemployed man was dead.

Three years earlier, another man of the same name and age died. On that death certificate, coroners mistakenly wrote the names of living da Silva's parents. The error essentially "killed" da Silva in all official records.

Though the civil registry office has already made the changes to revitalize da Silva, the new documents have not had time to arrive in many government offices. Da Silva is not even allowed to vote. Though he is alive, he cannot do anything in Brazil because his official record says he is dead.

In a newspaper interview, da Silva complained that he could not get a job as a truck driver, because officials claim a dead man cannot drive vehicles on federal highways. He said, "It's a humiliating situation when others make mistakes and I have to prove that I'm alive. "

—Reuters, July 1, 2003, Can't Have a Job If you're Dead, Man told, Illustration by Jim L. Wilson and Jim Sandell.

Da Silva is right a dead man, even if he is walking around has no opportunities. That’s why Jesus Christ “quickens” or gives new life to those deadened by their sins.

Ephesians 2:1 KJV “And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;”