A Brand Plucked From The Fire

Ronald grew up on a little island in Lake Kyoga, which is located in Uganda. As a little boy, he dreamed of a life of usefulness and productivity. Those dreams were ruined, however, as the moral influences around him soon set him on a path of drugs and self-destruction. His mother was a brewer of local beer, and, little by little, he became an alcoholic.

But God began to work in his life through his two little sisters. These sisters had listened to the Adventist message in the school they attended on the mainland. They were convicted of the Sabbath truth, and they began keeping it holy. The devil made their life bitter—when they returned home, they explained to their parents their newfound faith and desire to keep the Sabbath day holy. This sparked a storm of persecution, as their parents and other relatives were opposed to the Seventh-day Adventist faith. The young girls stood firm amidst assault and insult. But things got worse when Ronald made Sabbath-keeping impossible by forcing his sisters to brew alcohol on the Sabbath day. Having no Adventist church or pastor on the little island to intervene, the girls were at the mercy of their oppressors. They begged to be allowed to do their work on Sunday and to have the Sabbath off for rest, but their pleas fell on deaf ears.

Feeling hopeless and helpless, the young girls were on the brink of giving up. They decided, however, to make one last effort to obey God. They asked God to “curse” the alcohol that they were forced to prepare on the Sabbath, and it happened! The alcohol made on the other days of the week was normal, but that which they were forced to make on the Sabbath turned bitter and could not be sold.

When the family learned that the girls had asked God to curse the brew made on Sabbath, they were furious. They beat the girls unmercifully and demanded that they give up their “Adventist nonsense.”

At this time, the young girls heard about an Amazing Facts team working on the mainland. They contacted the team and asked them to visit their home and, if possible, plant a church on their island. When Ronald heard about this plan, he created prejudice by disparaging the Seventh-day Adventists among the locals. Hearing this, the missionaries hesitated to visit the island, fearing the local community would turn against them. Providentially, Ronald was convicted of a crime and incarcerated for a month. During this period, the missionaries were able to visit homes and prepare people for a prophecy seminar.

The first day of the seminar was also the day when Ronald was released from prison. Since no alcohol was available in the prison, Ronald’s mind had cleared, and he was sober. Near his home, he saw people gathering for a public meeting. Curious about what was being presented, he stopped to listen. The meeting captivated his interest, and he soon found himself intently following the speaker’s presentation.

That first meeting became the turning point in Ronald’s life. The gospel truth pierced his heart from that first night with sharp arrows of conviction. Ronald experienced a true conversion of heart and victory over alcoholism, as He gave himself fully to Christ.

When the appeal for baptism was made, 50 people came forward. Ronald was one of the first to respond, committing to join the church. The people of the island are sincerely thankful to Amazing Facts for sending missionaries who have turned their village upside down with the life-changing gospel of Christ!

Indeed, God is answering your prayers for Africa! Ronald and his family are just a few of the 2,000 individuals baptized in 2024.  

 Convinced, Converted, and Commissioned

Nehemiah and his wife, Janet, had been searching for the true church for a long time. For Nehemiah, the search had been going on for the past 24 years—in fact, ever since he left the Catholic church. That search ended recently when Amazing Facts Bible workers visited their home and began studying the Bible with the couple. During those studies, the missionaries discovered Nehemiah’s negative attitude toward the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

It all started when Nehemiah requested a local Adventist church to loan the church’s chairs to his clan for a secular ceremony. The church leaders had dedicated the chairs for sacred use, so they refused his request. Failing to understand the reasoning for not loaning the church’s chairs, Nehemiah became resentful and concluded that the Adventist church could not be the true church of God. As a proud son of the local clan, Nehemiah gave his whole heart to the clan’s traditions and became known as the “pagan pastor” because of how he would argue with his Christian friends who tried to get him to join their churches.

But as the Amazing Facts Bible workers continued to visit his home, the love of Christ toward him and his family softened his heart and that of his wife. Eventually, Nehemiah allowed his wife and their two children to start attending the nearby Adventist church while he remained at home. While they were at church, he would occupy his Sabbaths studying the Storacles of Prophecy Bible lessons. He asked the Amazing Facts missionaries one day about God’s true church.

However, though that question and others were clearly explained to him, Nehemiah hesitated to join the church through baptism. He still had more questions, which the Bible workers patiently answered. After another Bible study, Nehemiah was convicted of the truth of the Bible. After that, he determined that he would no longer resist the Holy Spirit’s leading. When a baptism service was organized by the missionaries, Nehemiah, together with his wife, gave their hearts to Jesus and joined the Seventh-day Adventist Church through baptism.

Thank you for accepting God’s call to reach the lost in Africa. Because of you, they can bask in the light of God’s truth.