Better Than Sight
Pastor Andes wants nothing more than restored vision—but God gives him something better.
Young Pastor Andes had lost his vision. The doctors diagnosed it as retinal vein occlusion—but unfortunately, none of the medications or other treatments they prescribed helped him recover his sight. Forced to give up on medical solutions, Andes turned to Jesus for healing.
As an ordained pastor of a local denomination, Andes had been praying all along for a miracle; but now he began thinking about the simple remedies Jesus had sometimes used during His ministry. When Jesus healed a blind beggar beside the gates of Jerusalem, He had made clay and commanded the man to go wash at the pool of Siloam. Could natural remedies work where medicines had failed? Andes decided that he would try some.
The medical missionary whom Andes found to help him turned out to be an Adventist Bible worker. They agreed on some simple treatments to try, and during the treatments they had many conversations about the Bible and its teachings. As they talked and compared Scriptures, Andes became convicted about subjects like the permanence of the Law, the sleep of death and the perpetuity of the Sabbath commandment. “Would you like to attend our camp meeting?” the Bible worker asked him. “It will be nearby, and you could learn even more.”
Andes attended the camp meeting, and God spoke to him there. He decided to recommit his life to Jesus and join the Seventh-day Adventist Church. After spending just one Sabbath with us at the local church, he decided to travel with us to another camp meeting. Here we continued to give him treatments for his eyes. A few days into the camp meeting, however, Andes told us, “My quest for healing is less important to me now. I was seeking restoration of my sight, but I have found something better. I have found true salvation in Christ and freedom from my sinful self!”
What a surprise and a blessing to hear Andes’s testimony! We had thought he would decide to accept Jesus’ truth once he recovered his sight, but God had worked for him even more marvelously. Although Andes did not receive physical healing, he valued his personal salvation more than the recovery of his sight. “What Jesus did for me personally on the cross of Calvary is more important than healing for my eyes,” he said. “God has done something valuable for me. I must consecrate myself to Him regardless of my disability!”
Soon after making this confession, Andes joined God’s remnant church. “I was a preacher,” he said, “but I have found something different in the Seventh-day Adventist Church. God has blessed this church with the special gifts of prophecy, the sanctuary message and health ministry. I believe I have found the true church of God.”
Every Sabbath Andes is full of questions, and each Sabbath we sit down and discuss the Bible. Week by week his understanding of God’s last warning message is deepening, and his understanding of God’s love and His ways are strengthening him for life’s trials. Praise God for how He worked in a blind man’s life and gave him something better than sight.
Location
Papua New Guinea
Author
Moses Yauma is a lay evangelist working in the upper highlands of Papua New Guinea.
How You Can Help
Pray for the evangelistic endeavors of Moses and the other lay workers as they reach out to the spiritually starving people around them.
Pray for God to use Andes to reach others in his sphere of influence. Pray that his courage will remain strong!
Give to the evangelistic work in Papua New Guinea by sending your check marked “PNG Evangelism” to:
Mission Projects International
PO Box 151
Inchelium, WA 99138
To give securely online, visit:
www.missionspro.org/donate