If Jesus Can Change a Gang Leader's Life, He Can Change Ours
In his book Out of the Black Shadows, Stephen Lungu describes his life journey, from his difficult childhood and life as a gang leader and terrorist, to becoming one of the most influential Christian evangelists of our times.
I was moved when I found out Stephen passed away from COVID-19 at the age of 78 in January 2021, right while I was reading his testimony.
Born in Zimbabwe, Stephen was a living example of how God can change lives and bring good from even the most difficult situations. His testimony and life have brought thousands of people to the Lord, including his own parents who had abused and abandoned him at the early age of 4. He preached tirelessly in Africa and internationally until the end of his life, becoming known by some as the “Billy Graham of Africa.”
After everything he had gone through, I asked myself: how did he get the energy to do this? Many times he was beaten, kidnapped, and almost killed for preaching the Gospel. What moved him so deeply that he couldn’t stop sharing his experience? In one of his talks to a group of students in the United States, I learned the answer.
He shared that after you’ve been healed, there is no way you can shut your mouth. Once you’ve had an encounter with Jesus, you are unstoppable.
When Jesus healed people in the Bible, they were overwhelmed with amazement. When Jesus touches you, it is a wow experience! When Jesus comes into one’s life, into a marriage, into a business, it’s hard to remain silent.
Often, the greater the illness and greater the pain, the bigger the amazement, the deeper the gratitude, the more the urgency to share the news with others.
I think this was the case for Stephen Lungu. From the day he was dropped off at the orphanage as a four-year-old, until the day of his conversion, he never smiled or laughed. He would get angry if he heard anyone else laughing. There was rule against laughing in his gang.
He experienced deep self-hatred and hatred toward God and others. He knew what it was like to feel all alone in the world, despised, abandoned, and unwanted.
When Stephen was 20 years old, he was the leader of the most dangerous gang in his city. One day he and his gang members were planning to attack a group of Christians gathered in a tent. He entered the tent to listen for two minutes before throwing the first bomb, and those two minutes changed his life forever.
He was stunned by the words of a black missionary from South Africa who spoke of the consequences of sin and how Christ came and humbled himself and experienced pain, humiliation, and poverty so that we might have life.
Stephen was so moved by a sudden desire for change and mercy that he brought his bombs, his gun, and his knife, handed them to the preacher, and told him he wanted this Jesus.
When God entered his life and he experienced forgiveness and God’s voice calling him to something new and great, the inner transformation was so immense and powerful that he dedicated the rest of his life to sharing the joy and healing he’d received from Jesus. The next day he heard the voice of God tell him he was to go preach about God to the nations.
He dedicated his life to preaching and sharing his testimony. He was known to preach day and night. One of his first reactions after he experienced his conversion was to laugh heartily with joy. If you see pictures of him or watch videos of him preaching, his joy is undeniable.
What would the Church in Vancouver be like if we opened ourselves to an encounter with the love of Jesus, to a real transformation of heart and mind?
What if we asked him to come, take over our lives, and work in and through us in new ways?
Perhaps some of us feel that our limitations, sinfulness, or illnesses are too much for Jesus to heal. Let’s not put limits on God’s mercy. With God all things are possible. He can bring light in the greatest darkness and healing to the leper, to the blind, and to the hard of heart. With God the greater the sin, the bigger the mercy. The greater the pain, the deeper the consolation.
I’d love to see that in myself and others, and I pray that out of the shadows and ashes of Lent during a pandemic we may see great things arise.
We may not have Stephen Lungu’s story, but we all have our stories and the unique ways God speaks to us and desires us to be his witnesses in the world. May we be testimonies here in Vancouver that God is still in the business of changing lives.
Do you have a story of how God has transformed your life? We would love to share it with our community.
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