Stepping onto the wooden-slatted veranda was like stepping into one of Eric B. Hare’s tales from Burma. There on the long table before me lay a man with swollen, red eyes and with a “dirty little string” tied around his neck.

A group from the Adventist health center in Malaysia was conducting a health screening for our village. This blind man was one of about 45 people who came for the screening. He had multiple problems including a goiter, diabetes, and cataracts, as well as a major eye infection.

As he lay on the table, unable to close either of his bulging, puss-rimmed eyes, our friend from the health center prayed. Then she gave instructions for how to use natural means to combat the eye infection and how to better manage his diabetes. Sadly, the man is too poor to go to the doctor, never mind buying medicine for his diabetes on a regular basis.

In the course of the treatment, the woman asked the man why he wore the string around his neck. “The doctor put it there,” he said, blowing in the air to indicate that he was talking about the witch doctor. “I used to have a large lump on my neck but it got smaller after he put the string there.”

After 10 days of treatment, the eye infection is now almost gone, but he needs cataract surgery or a direct miracle to fully regain his sight.

This man is not the only one with blinded vision here, trying to mix the power of God with the power of Satan to find relief. Please claim the promise of Isaiah 29:18, 19 with us as we pray that this man and many other Great River people will come to see Jesus clearly. “And in that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity, and out of darkness. The meek also shall increase their joy in the Lord, and the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.”

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