For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. Colossians 3:3
Kefa Sempangi was pastor of the large Redeemed Church of Uganda. Easter
Sunday 1973 was his first serious brush with death at the hands of Idi Amin's
goons. After an all-day worship service he went exhausted to the vestry to
change clothes—too exhausted to notice the five strangers (government secret
police goons) following him into the room:
They stood between me and the door, pointing their rifles at my face. For a
long moment no one said anything. Then the tallest man, obviously the leader,
spoke. “We are going to kill you,” he said. “If you have something to say, say
it before you die.” He spoke quietly but his face was twisted with hatred.
I could only stare at him. For a sickening moment I felt the full weight of
his rage. We had never met before but his deepest desire was to tear me to
pieces. My mouth felt heavy and my limbs began to shake.
Everything left my
control. They will not need to kill me, I thought to myself. I am just going to
fall over dead and I will never see my family again.
From far away I heard a voice, and I was astonished to realize that it was my
own. “I do not need to plead my own cause,” I heard myself saying. “I am a dead
man already. My life is dead and hidden in Christ. It is your lives that are in
danger; you are dead in your sins. I will pray to God that after you have killed
me, He will spare you from eternal destruction.”
The tall one took a step towards me and then stopped. In an instant, his face
was changed. His hatred had turned to curiosity. He lowered his gun and motioned
to the others to do the same. They stared at him in amazement but they took
their guns from my face.
Then the tall one spoke again. "Will you pray for us now?" he asked. I
thought my ears were playing a trick. I looked at him and then at the others. My
mind was completely paralyzed. “Father in heaven,” I prayed, “You who have
forgiven men in the past, forgive these men also. Do not let them perish in
their sins but bring them into yourself.”[1]
RESPONSE: Realizing I am dead in Christ brings boldness to proclaim truth
even in fearful situations.
PRAYER: Lord, help me to trust You in times of fear and challenge and
allow Your Spirit to take control of every situation.
1. F. Kefa Sempangi, A Distant Grief, Glendale, CA: G/L Publications,
1979, pp.119-120.