A Mad Husband and a Machete

A woman’s faith is tested by her husband’s anger.

When we decide to follow Jesus, some of our worst enemies can be those of our own household.

“We shall find that we must let loose of all hands except the hand of Jesus Christ. Friends will prove treacherous and will betray us. Relatives, deceived by the enemy, will think they do God service in opposing us and putting forth the utmost efforts to bring us into hard places, hoping we will deny our faith. But we may trust our hand in the hand of Christ amid darkness and peril.” Maranatha, 197.

As I led an evangelistic campaign for women’s ministries in Kigarama, it became the custom of the local leader to stop by the house where I and my friends lodged. “Is it well with you, our special visitors?” he inquired.

“It is well with us sir,” I replied.

The meetings progressed fairly smoothly. Medius Namaranzi along with her son and daughter attended all fourteen messages without missing a single day. They were very punctual in their arrival at the tent.

During the second week of my meetings, Namaranzi and her two children volunteered to assist us. They cleaned up after the meetings, picking up empty plastic bottles from the ground and strewn pieces of paper scattered in and outside of the tent.

When I made an appeal for baptism, Namaranzi and her son were the first to come to the front. Her daughter also wanted to make a decision for Jesus.

News that I had converted his wife to Adventism reached the woman’s husband, a staunch Catholic. The next morning, he arrived at the doorstep to my house, clad in a white robe with a string of beads draped around his neck. A huge wooden cross hung over his chest from the necklace. He clenched a sharp, glittering machete in his hand.

We ladies had just finished our morning devotions. With a flash of his machete, he called out threateningly. “You strange, hopeless woman, come out now and I will show you what I can do!”

The women in the house who had gathered for worship fled to their rooms. I felt glued to my chair, a Bible still in my hands. I closed my eyes and whispered a prayer in my heart. “Help me, God.”

When I opened my eyes, I saw the local leader of the village who had made a habit of checking on us. He asked the angry husband why he was at our door with a machete in the early hours of the morning. “Sit down,” the local leader ordered. “And throw your machete away.”

The man complied, the local leader picked up the machete and told him to stop threatening me.

This was not my first time to meet such confrontation in my gospel ministry. We must always be prepared to meet Satan’s stiff resistance. The good news is that Satan is a defeated foe. Paul’s words in Romans 8:36–39 encourage me to carry the gospel banner without fear. “As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

In spite of threats from Namaranzi’s husband and region leaders who put up their best efforts to stop people from attending our meetings, God won the battle. We had 28 baptisms at the close of the evangelistic campaign.

Namaranzi, along with her son and daughter, did not heed the threats of Namaranzi’s husband. On May 19, 2018, they were first to step into the water to be baptized. Quickly following their public decision, Namaranzi’s husband disowned her and their children, ordering them to leave his house. The next day, he married another woman.

As a church, we reported the situation to the local authorities of the village. One of our Adventist members has donated a small plot of land where we are going to build Namaranzi and her children a house of their own. Each member of our church congregation has contributed in some way to see that building materials are available, and the work will begin next Sunday.

Every evening, Namaranzi along with her children, gather with us to study the Bible. The mother and her two children are staying with my family presently, very happy in their new-found faith. 

Location: Uganda

Author: Jane Kyarikora  is an evangelist in the Uganda Conference.

How You Can Help

Pray. Jane is winning many people to the Lord and needs our prayers to press the message into the unreached regions.

Donate to Mission Projects International. Needs include new church buildings, training for church planters, Bibles and church planter support. Donate online or send your check, with “Uganda Workers” or “Uganda Churches” as the memo to:

Mission Projects International
PO Box 151
Inchelium, WA 99138