How God Rescued Me from Addiction
By Pastor Isidore Aufa
Greetings to all who are reading this. May God bless you. My name is Isidore Aufa, and I am the pastor of Living Water Reformed Church in Kamkumung, Lae.
I would like to share my testimony with you. I can be honest with you that I am not a good or righteous man. I am a sinner. In the past, there were many things that were imprisoning me and ruling my life.
I have known God since I was a little boy. But as I grew up, sin trapped me and completely ruled over me. I was completely given over to a life of sin. I was an adulterer, a porn-user, a thief, I used to swear, get angry, fight, chew buai, smoke marijuana and tobacco, and drink. These and many other sins were completely ruling my life and destroying me at the same time.
Two things in particular really messed me up: alcohol and drugs. I was a complete drunkard. I tried everything – from SP to hard liquor to homebrew to steam. I tried it all.
Alcohol totally ruled me. And it destroyed me at the same time. Many times I only wanted to drink. If I had even a little bit of money, I would use it to buy alcohol and nothing else.
What made it worse, every time I would drink, I would do all kinds of other terrible things like swear, fight, get angry, be a nuisance, and get into all kinds of other trouble. I even went to jail because of my drinking.
Because of my drinking, many people didn’t want to associate with me. Even my own family became tired of my drinking and distanced themselves from me. I was completely imprisoned by alcohol even as it was destroying my life and my relationships.
Another thing that messed up my life was drugs, especially marijuana. I was completely enslaved to marijuana, as I smoked it for 20 years. It was my life, and I would even say as I smoked it, “This is life, ya.”
Satan used these two things to control me and at the same time destroy my life. But even as I could see that my life was being ruined, I felt powerless to do anything.
If I didn’t have marijuana to smoke, I would feel sick, and I would do anything to get some again. I felt like if I didn’t have marijuana in me, I would die. When I would smoke, my eyes would go red, I wouldn’t talk to anyone, and I would just sit and think, like I was living in a dream. Many people thought I was losing my mind.
Because of marijuana, I never finished school. In 1992, I was expelled from Dela Salle High School in Bomana because of marijuana. Up to this day, I still haven’t finished High School.
Satan used these two things to control me and at the same time destroy my life. But even as I could see that my life was being ruined, I felt powerless to do anything. I was trapped.
But praise God for His grace to me. I started to read the Word of God in 2006 and God opened my eyes to be able to see Him. I started to pray to God to help me give my life to Him.
In His grace, He heard my prayer and helped me. He allowed me to enter the Reformed Churches Bible College at 14 Mile, Port Moresby. There I learned many things about God and His Word. Even more, I repented of my sins and He completely changed my life.
By His grace, I finished 5 years at the RCBC and God called me to serve as a pastor in Lae. Now, alcohol and drugs no longer have power over me. Christ, and Christ alone, rules over me. Therefore, I am compelled to praise Him and preach His great Name alone.
God has truly blessed me now with a good wife and four children. I have been working in Lae as a pastor for six years.
Thank for reading, and may God bless you.