I became a christian in February 1997 in Kasempa where I had taken my ailing father for treatment. Before that I sincerely believed I was saved and accepted by believers as such, as there was no cause to suspect otherwise from an outward point of view.

I was no different from the case of simon the sorcerer, in the book of acts, who was baptized and accepted by the apostles to be a Christian yet was not and Judas Iscariot whom they thought to be one of them until the very end. But let God be praised!who by His great and abundant mercy and at His appointed time removed the blanket of deception that had covered my eyes since I was born until 1997.

A religious aunt brought me up, I remember at an early age of 7 being led into a sinner’s prayer after some preaching by the Christian mission in many lands. I continued with the practice of going to church and attending scripture union groups upto secondary school and college level. I started being affected by the gospel while attending emersdale Baptist, now bread life church. As the gospel was being preached there were certain things I could not reconcile as a “child of God”. I could stay weeks on end without reading the bible or praying yet without noticing that something was amiss. Besides I had this morbid fear of darkness. Prayers were conducted for me after I had narrated a history of demon possession.

Though I had prayed a sinner’s prayer (1985) again, in my quest for desiring to be a Christian and continued being active in church work, looking back now, it was more from a fleshly point of view than anything else. I exerted myself serving the Lord to the best of my ability. We started a Pentecostal church while in Monze, was appointed an elder in an arminian Baptist church in Livingstone as well as Bethel Baptist church. While at bethel, as the gospel was being faithfully preached, a question arose in my mind whether I was really a child of God. For 4 to 5 yrs I wrestled with this question but did not come to terms with it then for two reasons or hindrances (atleast from the human stand point of view). The first hindrance was what would people think of me having been an elder in the church all along. The second one is if the first experience was no conversion at all then what was it. For I had confessed my sins in sinner’s prayers. I did not ask for help during this period of time but kept all this to myself until one particular evening of February 1997 while in kasempa as earlier stated.

On this particular evening when the question arose whether I was a Christian or not, I did not hesitate to face it squarely. For a moment I didn’t care about people’s opinions or let the earlier experiences that I might have had to hinder me to answer the question. I must confess that reading mrs Taylor’s experience (in the biography of her husband that evangelist to the Chinese people), during this period of great searching did help remove fears I might have had to face the question. I thought “what would it profit me to be thought of highly by the brethren when I was not one of them”.  As I continued looking at myself in the mirror of the scriptures the more I saw my filthiness, sin and helplessness to do anything. At the same time I saw that my only hope is to call upon the son of God to save me. As I prayed confessing my sins and actually trusting the Lord Jesus to save me, I experienced a joy that I had never experienced before. I have continued to experience a measure of this joy even today though I have felt the absence of the Lord at times. However the Lord has visited me over and over again to assure me of my salvation.

When I finally got home I deliberately left it to my wife to see any noticeable change in me after the Kasempa experience. One such remarkable change she noticed is that I was more considerate and no longer short tempered as before. While I struggled to read the scriptures I found there was a new principle in me inclined to do right so that if I disobeyed God it would become obvious even by countenance. Briefly then this is how my savior the Lord Jesus Christ dealt with my pride and blindness and saved me. I would like to know and love him more and him known to others as well. Here then is my humble testimony.