I find stories like this are absolutely amazing; inspirational, yet very challenging too. It’s inspirational in that there are people like this in our world. Challenging in as much as I’m left wondering if I would be able to do it if called upon — and doubting that I could. This is the story of Pastor Kefa Sempangi.
Pastor Kefa Sempangi
It was Easter Day, 1973. Pastor Kefa Sempangi bravely and openly preached on the risen Lord in his Ugandan town’s football stadium to over 7,000 people. After the service, five of Idi Amin’s Secret Police followed Sempangi back to his little church and closed the door behind them. Five rifles pointed at Sempangi’s face.
“We are going to kill you for disobeying Amin’s orders” said the captain. “If you have something to say, say it before you die.”
Sempangi, thinking of his beautiful wife and lovely little girl, began to shake. But the risen Lord living in his heart gave him the courage to speak. “Do what you must,” he said. “The Word of God says that in Christ I am already dead, and that my real life is hidden with Him in God. It is not my life that is in danger, but yours. I am alive in the risen Lord but you are still dead in your sins. May He spare you from eternal destruction.”
The leader looked at Sempangi for a long time. Then he lowered his gun and said, “Will you pray for us?” Sempangi did, and from that day those five officers, now converted through the witness of Sempangi’s bravery, protected the pastor with their very lives.
Having lived all of my life in middle-class England, where practising a religion may not be the most popular thing to do, but it certainly isn’t illegal — nor a police state — I find it hard to imagine the situation Pastor Kefa Sempangi faced. He must have been quite a man to have preached the gospel so openly in such a place. An inspiration to us all!
About Paul Sibley
Andrew Gosden (now 18) has been missing from his Doncaster home since 14 September 2007. The search continues.
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