A Widow Regains Faith in Christ
Sep 12, 2019 1792
Mama Robina is a resident of Entebbe, in Uganda. She is a mother of five and a widow, having lost her husband to a stroke nine months ago. Before he died, her husband, a former college lecturer and also a church elder, had fallen out with his local church after a disagreement. Two weeks ago, I visited Mama Robina’s home during my house-to-house evangelism routine.
According to Mrs Robina, her husband was a godly and humble man who was loved by the community where he worked, worshipped and lived. She explained that the church had excommunicated him on allegations that he was propagating what they described as “heretical teachings”. After much enquiry, I came to discover that her husband, Mr Kyiwa, had started teaching salvation by grace alone to some youths in the church.Mrs Robina narrated to me how the pastor had visited her husband in his sickbed and prompted him to recant those beliefs, to which he responded that he had nothing to recant unless he should deny Christ. Mrs Robina confessed that at times she feared her husband had probably lost the way. But after my assurance of the truthfulness of the teachings, she gained courage and thanked God for sending someone to give her confidence.
This controversy led to the church distancing itself not only from Mr Kyiwa but also from his entire family. When he died, the pastor and the church refused to carry out the funeral services and the family had to appeal to another local pastor from a different denomination to carry out the ceremony.
She gained courage and thanked God for sending someone to give her confidence
The death of her husband plus the rejection from the church was so heavy on her that she lost faith in God and church all together. By the time I visited her in Entebbe Uganda, Mama Robina had stopped praying or attending any church. She had stopped believing. She could not understand two things: First, why God allowed her only breadwinner to die. And second, why the church would desert her at her time of need. My work has been to explain to her the love of God in the midst of such crisis and the truthfulness of the teachings that cost her husband his membership. I assured her that her husband died in Christ and she would meet him in heaven if she also believed.
After two weeks of devotion and prayer with her, Mama Robina is now recovering from the loss. She now reads the Bible and prays. However, she has said it would be difficult for her to go back to the same denomination that rejected her family. She is therefore looking for a church where she can fellowship with her family. Her prayer is that GNU will help her find a church where she can worship.
– Pr Bonifresh Muhollo
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