Inside Story: “Adventists Are Good People”
Inside Story for Friday 6th of September 2024
By Andrew McChesney
Anush worked as a project manager for the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) before Father prohibited her and Mother from worshiping at the Seventh-day Adventist church in their town in Armenia. After he lifted the ban, Anush resumed working at ADRA.
Through her work, Father met a number of visiting Adventist leaders, including the ADRA director for the Euro-Asia Division, which oversees a large swath of the former Soviet Union, including Armenia.
When Anush brought the guests home, Father was impressed to see that they were sincere and well educated.
“Adventists are good people,” he told Anush.
As he got to know the seven women who attended the Adventist house church in his town, he concluded that they also were good people.
Then Anush was accepted into a master’s program at Andrews University in the United States, and the Euro-Asia Division and ADRA agreed to cover her costs. Father was impressed by that as well. He only wanted the best for her.
When Anush graduated, she was appointed ADRA director for Armenia. Father watched as she oversaw a number of projects, and his respect grew for both the Adventist Church and the Adventist lifestyle. He removed tobacco and then alcohol from the small grocery shop that he owned.
Then he got baptized and joined the Adventist Church. It was 21 years since Mother had gotten baptized and nine years since Anush had started praying for Father to find his way to God.
After his baptism, Father met the friend whose question about reading the Bible had shocked him and prompted him to start going to church.
“Did you know that your words change my life?” he asked. “I stopped being a passive Bible reader and got baptized.”
“What are you talking about?” the friend asked.
“You asked, ‘If Jesus came tomorrow, would you say, “I have read the Bible?” Would that be enough?’ ” Father said.
The friend denied that the conversation had ever taken place.
“I never said that,” he said. “I would never judge you like that. You must have made a mistake.”
At that moment, Father realized that God had spoken to him through his friend, who hadn’t even realized what he had said.
Part of last quarter’s Thirteenth Sabbath Offering went to open a center of influence for families like Anush’s in Yerevan, Armenia. Thank you for helping spread the gospel with your offerings. Next week: Father has another dream.
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This story has been meaningful to me. I was wondering when you would post the next episode
Iam interesting to joining the discussion every day
Wow…! God rebuked Anush’s father through a friend (who himself had no idea about it). Enough evidence we verily serve a living God.
Happy Sabbath from South Sudan.
The Spirit is so patient in revealing Christ to us. 9 years for Anush's Father. For me it was about 5 years of wrestling with him before I could leave the Catholic faith. The LORD is faithful indeed. Amen
I was first exposed to Adventist teaching and preaching as a young boy of 12 years of age through the television ministry of George Vandemann on "It is Written", on WGN, Channel 9, in Chicago in 1972. Even as a child I was impressed with the calm nature of his presentation of Bible truth. It was refreshing compared to so many shouting and yelling television preachers. I remember at the end of the program wondering who produced the program. When in the closing credits it mentioned produced by the Seventh-day Adventist Church, I wondered to myself what they believe, and thought that maybe someday I would look into it. It never even dawned on me that I would, in about a decade become a baptized member of the church.
Being born and raised in the Catholic tradition gave me a spiritual foundation upon which the Lord was going to build upon, but first He would have to reveal to me the need for a "reformation " in my life. This took several years of "wandering in the wilderness" before I realized my need. I needlessly wasted years of my life running from the only One that could save me from myself. Early on, even before I was baptized, I learned that Adventists are indeed good people, as I had a church member offer to sponsor me to go to Andrews University if I would enter the ministry. This gentleman wasn't a person of means that I could tell. He owned a small barber shop in a town not far from from where I lived at the time. Unfortunately because I was young and uninformed, I passed on the offer. He obviously saw something in me that I didn't see in myself.
Though I dragged my feet in getting baptized, the only regret I have is that I didn't do it sooner. Fast forward 40 years, and I can honestly say that God's ways are righteous, holy, and just. My life has been so richly blessed by being a Seventh-day Adventist Christian.
God will wait our whole life, if He has to, but the loss will be our own.