Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world. James 1:27
The trials which Pastor Olman Sánchez underwent throughout his life have made him empathetic to the needs of others. While contemplating the distress of the impoverished, he realized that many persons did not grieve for the woes of the underprivileged and neither were they giving generously to them. However, he felt a direct call from God to help those who were in these desperate situations, and he answered the call. He understood that the Holy Spirit guides us to do God’s will, so no one had to prophesy to him to assist the needy. He just simply did it because it is in the Word of God. And he did not want to do what he believes many people are guilty of today - they distort the Gospel by speaking a lot but doing nothing. Therefore, he says that they do not obey the Word of God. So, he was determined to not only speak the Word, but also to do it.
Consequently, after friends told him about the spiritual and material needs of the poverty-stricken indigenous people in the Chirripó Mountains in Costa Rica, and then invited him along to go to these mountains, he knew immediately he had to take this journey. He remembers this trip to a faraway village as "a little” walk that took only four hours.
Being a very sensitive person, he cried a lot when he arrived and saw the seemingly hopeless condition of the people. It was a very emotional experience for him, and it made a great impact. It was then that he knew he had to help them. When he returned from the mountains, he started contacting those who he believed could assist him to obtain donations of food, clothes, and medicines for the villagers in the mountains.
It was almost immediately that he started learning the Cabécar language which many of these indigenous folks speak as he recognized that not knowing their dialect created a barrier to communicate. He also decided to learn a little about medicine when he noticed there were no health facilities in the mountains, which forced many people to travel up to three days to receive medical care.
After making the decision to help, things did not go smoothly. It was a confusing process as he didn’t know what to do and had a lot to learn. He discerned that the main need was spiritual, and the physical need was secondary. Spiritual healing had to come first and then everything else needed in the physical would follow.
Once, he and three others went to an isolated school that was about 800 meters from the nearest house. When they arrived, there were 400 people there seeking their assistance. The people were happy that they were there to provide them much needed help, but not everyone felt this way. Many folks in the Chirripó Mountains practice witchcraft and their main spiritual leaders, the Shaman sorcerers, do not like Christians encroaching on their territory. Therefore, they will try to use their witchcraft to keep out followers of Christ.
After helping the villagers on this trip, they stayed over at the school. During the night they started hearing steps. It sounded like rubber boots walking filled with water, but when they turned on the lights, nobody was there. They knew it was witchcraft as it is a common practice in the community, but they felt no fear. It has become a normal occurrence for Pastor Olman to be confronted by Shaman sorcerers in the mountains. But he knows he is not fighting flesh and blood, but rather it is spiritual warfare. The principalities can be very strong, but Pastor Olman is not deterred by this as he knows he is guided by the Holy Spirt and greater is He that is in him, than he that is in the world. (See 1 John 4:4).
Pastor Olman is not one to fear demonic manifestations or to perform antics to cast out demons. He will calmly pray in the name of Jesus and it will stop. If a demon tries to bother him during his sleep, he will wake up and pray while remaining composed then goes back to a peaceful sleep. He has had to do a number of deliverance prayers and he says he never does anything outrageous and doesn’t shout at demons because Jesus never shouted.
This man of God truly believes that if you know that the Lord is with you, you won’t feel fear. He says that those who fear doing what God says are far from God and he would tell them to get closer to God. This is a man who steps out in faith with little fear, because he knows there is no fear in love and perfect love drives out fear. (See 1 John 4:18). He has received the Father’s perfect love and now he passes this love on to the many disadvantaged people he encounters in the Chirripó Mountains.
Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth. We will know by this that we are of the truth, and will assure our heart before Him in whatever our heart condemns us; for God is greater than our heart and knows all things. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; and whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight. 1 John 3:18-22
Although his life has not been easy, Pastor Olman has seen the fruit of obeying God and doing what is pleasing in His sight. From living under a bridge while growing up in poverty, to struggling with alcoholism, and then having an accident which incapacitated his hand, along with grappling with depression and having suicidal thoughts, he is aware that God has worked all these difficult circumstances for good in his life. These undesirable situations have enabled him to become sensitive to the needs of the poor and the oppressed, having gone through similar circumstances. He understands that when he walks up to ten hours to a village to bring a message of hope for the soul, and medicine and food for the body, he is walking out the truth of the Gospel in love.
It is God’s unconditional love is what has shaped Pastor Olman’s twofold vision. First spiritually, he desires to win souls and reach the culture in the Chirripó Mountains for Christ while opening up more churches. And, although he recognizes it is a great challenge, he knows that all things are possible with God. Secondly, he wants to provide more physical assistance by continuing to bring food, medicines, and clothes for the people. Currently, he now oversees eight churches in the mountains, and he is seeing where God is leading him to:
“Enlarge the place of your tent; Stretch out the curtains of your dwellings, spare not; Lengthen your cords and strengthen your pegs. Isaiah 54:2
And as Pastor Olman continues spreading the Gospel in the mountains taking back the territory which the enemy has stolen, he knows that he has to continue loving and helping those who are destitute in these remote areas. He treks long hours from one village to another to reach these isolated communities in order to serve the underserved, practicing pure religion as he wins more souls in the Chirripó Mountains for Christ.
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