Former Child Soldier Delivered from Alcohol

This is the amazing story of a man named Martin, who was forever changed by the saving power of Jesus Christ in the year 2000.

Martin's Testimony

I grew up in South Sudan (at the time, Sudan). Just after I was born, my father left. Four years later, I lost my mother. When the war in South Sudan broke out, my older brother and sister died, and the government forced me to become a child soldier. I spent two years on the frontlines before I escaped to Egypt. There, a Canadian church (MCC) led me to Christ.

It was just another day, or so I thought. Little did I know my entire life as I knew it was about to change forever. Let me explain…

It was that time of year of 2000 when the Easter Fest came in Cairo Egypt.  As I was not yet a born again Christian, it was a time of enjoying music, food, and most of all…beer. I could drink all I wanted, and had a “good” reason for it. My friends had come up for the weekend, so we could go to a disco place together.

Then I had left just before noon on Saturday to go down to the party, and I began drinking as soon as we got there. We returned home hours later to get everyone else to go back down to the disco hall. I never missed a beat – I just kept on drinking. Later that night, I was so drunk that I did something in which I really embarrassed myself. Everyone I was with began to laugh at me. They thought it was funny, but I was overcome. It was at that moment I knew something had to change; I couldn’t  continue to live this way.

I HATED what I had become—a drunk. On the following day, which was Easter Sunday, some students from VBI reached out to us in our area of Maadi Arab Cairo. One of them was preaching, and he said, “The Bible tells us in Proverbs 23:29-30, 'Who hath woe? Who hath sorrow? Who hath contentions? Who hath babbling? Who hath wounds without cause? Who hath redness of eyes? They that tarry long at the wine.'"

It was at that moment I knew something had to change; I couldn’t continue to live this way.

That entire week, I prayed that God would show me whether or not I was truly saved.

I was invited by the youths who reach out to our area to their college. During my visit, there was fellowship.  However, as the pastor preached, it was as if no one else was in the church except me. It seemed as if the whole message was pointed at me.

God began to show me my sin and to show me that I was not saved. God had answered my prayers! Jeremiah 29:13 says, “And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.”

When the invitation was given at the end of the service, I wanted to jump over the pews to get to the altar.  That was 2000; I surrendered my life to the Lord Jesus Christ. I repented of all my sin and put my faith in Jesus and what He had done for me, taking my place on the cross. It was indeed “the day of salvation” for me and the beginning of a new life.

Everything began to change, from the inside out. It wasn’t a reformation; it was a life-transformation. My drinking—the thing I had struggled with for so many years—stopped. I no longer had a desire for it. In fact, I haven’t touched a drop since that day. Without me even trying, I noticed my foul language changed. I have a love for the Lord and a desire to share Christ with everyone I know. I now have peace and assurance of my salvation.

After the Canadian church in Egypt led me to Christ, they awarded me a scholarship to Victory Bible Institute. I met my wife, Rita, in Cairo. She shared my calling, which is to serve displaced and abused South Sudanese women and children.

When Egypt became unsafe for refugees, we fled to Israel. In 2010, I and my wife Rita returned to South Sudan to begin the Children of Light Mission. But when war broke out again, we moved our work, ministry, and family to Uganda. 

Right now we offer spiritual care for women and child refugees in the Kiryandongo Refugee Settlement and in Kampala. Our vision is for people of different tribes to live in peaceful coexistence through the example of Christ. 

END OF MARTIN'S TESTIMONY

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Praise the Lord for that amazing testimony!

Perhaps you are bound by alcohol and you would like to be free. Jesus Christ can set you free, if you will give your life to Him. He said, "He whom the Son sets free is free indeed." (Joh 8:36). He can not only set you free, but give you an abundant life that is full of love, joy, and peace, such that it will overflow into other people's lives. Like He did for Martin, He can use your life to touch countless others with His love. I invite you to repent and give your whole heart and life to Him today.

Author's Note: If you enjoyed this post, you may also like to read The Truth Set Me Free, My Overflowing Joy in Knowing Jesus, and Lifted Out of a Slimy Pit, which are the testimonies of myself and two of my other children. Also see the Home page of this blog for more testimonies. You are invited to view my collection of blogs at Writing for the Master.

Do You Want to Know Him?
If you want to know Jesus personally, you can. It all begins when you repent and believe in Jesus.  Do you know what God's Word, the Bible says?

“Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.’” (Mar 1:14b-15).  He preached that we must repent and believe. 

Please see my explanation of this in my post called "Do You Want to Know Jesus?"

________________________________________________

Len Lacroix is the founder of Doulos Missions International.  He was based in Eastern Europe for four years, making disciples, as well as helping leaders to be more effective at making disciples who multiply, developing leaders who multiply, with the ultimate goal of planting churches that multiply. His ministry is now based in the United States with the same goal of helping fulfill the Great Commission. www.dmiworld.org. 

Boy Raised from the Dead After One Day

I received the following testimony from brother Justus (pictured below with blue jacket and red tie), one of our Doulos Training School (DTS) students, who is a pastor in Uganda. The Lord recently used him through the power of Jesus' Name to raise from the dead a boy who had been deceased for a day. He wrote:

"GOD is good and worthy of praise. Last week, June 13, 2021, l was called for a family deliverance in Boke Lira City, Uganda. There was a son born in this family named Odongo Hosman, thirteen years old. The boy was paralyzed, could not walk, sit, or turn off to the other side of the bed...

The condition [grew] worse and unbelievable. His parents tried their best caring for and taking Odongo to Hospital, but there was no improvement, to the point where the boy died.

As l ministered to the family from Rev.5:5 the boy began to sweat. Life came back [into him], when I was holding up the boy in my chest.

[A week later] on June 20, 2021, the father gave a testimony through the phone call saying [that] because of the lock down they have gone to the village; and he continued saying that the boy is walking, running, eating and completely healed.

We give God the glory and honor. For in Christ, life is complete with all the fullness thereof.....(Col.2:9-10).

Thanks.

Justus"

He later clarified that the parents could not continue taking the boy to Mbale Regional hospital, to which he had been referred by the local doctors in Lira, who had been puzzled at the boy's condition. As the boy was brought home on June 12th, around 9:00 pm, he stopped breathing, his body became very cold, his eyes turned white, and the elders pronounced him dead. The report went to the village where the father comes from, and they were waiting for the body in the village. The following day (June 13th) was when brother Justus was called in to minister to the family, and the boy was brought back to life.

Corroborating Testimony of Nelson Ociti

On July 23, 2022, a year after the incident, I finally called and spoke to a brother named Nelson Ociti (pictured left), who witnessed this miracle firsthand. This man is a pastor, who is now raising the boy himself, since the boy is a relative of his without anyone to raise him.

You see, the boy's father is Nelson's nephew, the son of Nelson's sister. And the relationship between Nelson and the boy's father was so close that Nelson called him "my son". But at the time that the boy died, the boy's father had already passed away, and his mother had remarried someone else in another place, leaving the boy effectively without any parents. 

The boy was from a very poor family, and when he became very sick, the mother came and took him to the health center. But when his condition worsened, she brought him back to brother Nelson (his great uncle) and then she went away again. 

Finally the boy was pronounced dead. The next day they had the dead boy in a sitting room, and brother Nelson asked brother Justus to join him in praying to God for the boy to be revived. This attracted many neighbors from the local area, who had gathered around to witness it, and women were screaming, because the boy was dead. As these two brothers prayed for the boy, they saw him begin to breath, so they covered him with a blanket and a papyrus mat. 

The boy woke up sweating all over. He looked tired and miserable, and he was unable to speak. He was looking around at all the people who were watching, but he did not know what had happened to him. At that point, brother Justus put the boy up high on his shoulders, and the boy was so light that Justus could barely feel his weight. At that point all the people were rejoicing, because they were so grateful that the boy was alive again.

Then they had the boy bathed and afterward they organized to get him some porridge to drink, since he hadn't eaten in  days. He was able to consume the drink, and after a few hours he was able to walk with some help from others, although he struggled to do so, since he still had poor balance. But within a few days he was able to regain his strength and walk on his own once again. However, as I mentioned already, the boy was not aware that he had been brought back from the dead, and he had no experience to report about with regard to the period when he was dead.  In other words, he had no memory of any supernatural experiences that may have occurred.

Since that time, brother Nelson has gotten married and is raising the boy with his new wife as their adopted son (pictured altogether above). His marriage to this woman was organized so that they could raise the boy and brother Nelson's children together, because Nelson's first wife had died of diabetes five years earlier, and he had been a single parent during that time. Brother Nelson says the boy has a good disposition and goes around smiling all the time, but he needs the Lord to heal him from the emotional trauma caused by his fellow classmates at school and others, who know about what happened to him and persecute him.

Closing Words

Hallelujah! Praise the Lord for what He has done for this boy and his family. Some people don't believe this is even possible. But Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father." (Jn 14:12, NIV). Why should anyone consider it incredible that God raises the dead?

Attribution Notice: All Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible NIV, copyright Zondervan, all rights reserved, used by permission.

Author's Note: Some changes were made to the wording of Grace's testimony with his permission, in order to add clarity or for easier reading without changing the meaning. 

If you still have any doubt as to whether this testimony is true, please read Have the Spiritual Gifts Ceased?. 

If you enjoyed this post, you may also like to read these other testimonies called Pastor Raised from the Dead, Testimonies from Voila, Amazing Healing and Deliverance in Uganda, The Body Parts Storehouse in Heaven and The Night the Lord Came into My Hut. You are also invited to read the testimony of Elisabeth from Indonesia that he referred to call Forty Days in Heaven and Hell. Also see the Home page of this blog for more testimonies. You are invited to view my collection of blogs at Writing for the Master. 

Do You Want to Know Him?
If you want to know Jesus personally, you can. It all begins when you repent and believe in Jesus. Do you know what God's Word, the Bible says?

“Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.’” (Mar 1:14b-15). He preached that we must repent and believe. 

Please see my explanation of this in my post called "Do You Want to Know Jesus?"

________________________________________________

Len Lacroix is the founder of Doulos Missions International. He was based in Eastern Europe for four years, making disciples, as well as helping leaders to be more effective at making disciples who multiply, developing leaders who multiply, with the ultimate goal of planting churches that multiply. His ministry is now based in the United States with the same goal of helping fulfill the Great Commission. www.dmiworld.org.