What God Has Done for Me

As told by Deo Mushambo
Fort Summerall, Iraq

 

“He brought me up also out of an horrible pit,
out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a
rock, and established my goings.  And he hath
put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto
our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall
trust in the LORD.” (Psalm 40:2-3 KJV)

 

have lived with my grandparents since the time I was weaned to date. My mother disappeared during the 1978-79 civil war that ousted the former Uganda dictator called Idi Amin. So from 1978 to date the whereabouts of my mother are never known. And all this time I didn't know where my father lives until of recent (1992) is when I discovered where he was. Unfortunately because he is a Muslim, he realized that I was saved and told me we cannot have things in common as long as I remain saved. This caused a rift after a short meeting with him.

This is a related account of how God talked to me to get saved. The period of time in which He talked to me cannot be accurately traced because at the start just because I was a Muslim who never paid much attention to what God was telling me. I only know that the time I heard the first voice was between the month of February and March 1987 while I was still a Muslim and living that kind of life—you know, the kind of life heathens live.

That is when I dreamed of seeing the rainbow flashing across the sky and while wondering what it meant, is when I heard a voice saying that "Today is the judgment day". I remember I had made a very sinful appointment with some body's wife who met me in my garden digging (I never wanted to tell you this). The day was Saturday and she told me that we should meet the following Monday because she was undergoing medication due to neck pains. But that very night before it was Sunday morning is when I had that dream which scared me a lot and I had to cancel all about that appointment and to this day I never asked her anything about that appointment neither did she. 

In that same night God started talking to my heart. It so happened that while I was pushing a wheelbarrow going to fetch water in a dream, before reaching at the stream I saw the rainbow across the sky and while I observed in awe I heard a voice in English saying today is the judgment day. I decided to go back home and when got home a wild cat took off with our chicken and I went to rescue it but the cat only left a dead chicken so I took the dead chicken home.

But while the dead chicken was there in the courtyard, a certain friend of mine came and asked why I did that big mistake to get the dead chicken while I see that it was the day of judgment. I asked him what was wrong for me to get the chicken from the wild cat and he told me if I had left the cat to take the chicken my sins could have been reduced but then they were to remain as they were. That disturbed me and I had to take back the chicken so that the wild cat could retake it but after some time I went there and the dead chicken still lied there. Immediately I woke up and the first thing that came in my minds was the guilt of trying to make love with somebody's wife. And of the failure of the cat to retake the chicken I likened myself with the unwise five of the ten virgins who went to meet the bridegroom.

Remember I was a Muslim and some of these Bible stories I had heard them briefly whenever I could go to the Catholic church because my grandparents were Catholics.

For about two months that dream kept disturbing me but eventually I counted it among any other common dream so I gave it no more attention.

God didn't stop there. After a certain period of time another dream came and in this one I was walking with a certain girl called Goretty who is now a mature woman. Suddenly I looked on my right which was in the West and I saw what looked like a river flowing from heaven to the ground but didn't get to the ground. On the left there was a big flame of fire burning and in the fire I saw one guy called Godfrey and a young lady who was pregnant carrying a baby on her back and a young child of about five to six years was standing on her right hand side and she was holding the child by the hand.

 I therefore asked that girl what it meant and she told me the end of the world should have come. I again asked her what she thought we could do and told me we could sing hymns. We therefore decided to go back home singing but after a short time we could not continue singing. We reached home and someone came with a sign post and planted it just near our home and when I went there to read the writings on the sign post it was written in the language I couldn't read. At that point I woke up and again got troubled within me, for some time I could think what those dreams meant to me.

The idea of getting saved started coming into my minds but there was no church for born again Christians in our village and somehow after some time I also stopped giving it much of my attention and continued with my normal life as before but God still could not give me time to do away with His message to me.

Eventually, there came another dream and in this one God was so clear He could not give me the hard work of interpreting dreams. In this one I was walking on an old path outside a wall fenced area, the path was grown with grass from either sides and I found myself getting to the entrance where there was no gate. Inside was the most beautiful place I've ever seen, when I entered I realized that there were people seated in small groups like in hotel gardens some of them too close to me but I could only hear them murmuring but could not see them. Somehow I got confused hearing voices too close to me but not seeing people talking. It was at that time that I heard a voice telling me that you people while you were in the world you could not listen to preachers now see how you have given us a hard time pleading to God on your behalf to be allowed in this place. I woke up and guess what I started feeling the need to get saved. 

You remember I told you that there was no church for born-again Christians in our village by that time. Satan used this chance to continue confusing me and making me more stubborn but God decided to achieve His goal in a way similar to what He did with those who were with Jonah in the ship. This time there arose an insurgency due to Karamojong cattle raiders (Karamojongs are a tribe of people living the far North-East of Uganda who live by cattle rustling among their neighbors.)  These karamojongs made a series of attacks both day and night and because the present government had just come into power, we had no government soldiers to provide our security, so we opted to flee the village and look for refuge from other places that were safe. And for my grandparents' case, they settled in the outskirts of  Mbale town where my uncle had bought some houses for rent.

I should first tell you that in my youth I was a very humble boy with a stubborn mind. My grandparents had first left me in the village with one late uncle of mine who used to smoke marijuana and we could not accept to go and stay in town because we thought that would help us live an independent life free from supervision of the grandparents. We wanted to live a reckless living away from all that supervision. But one day Karamojongs came and kidnapped one man from our village, the man's name is Muse, he was a former soldier in the late Obote 2 regime (Obote ruled for two separate regimes in each one being ousted from power in one by a military coup and the other by a guerrilla army led by the present President). So around 15:00 hours our local time, this man came back after being released by the Karamojongs and started narrating to us what he passed through, but while he was just telling us about his ordeal, we heard another round of gun shots. And the Karamojongs had made another attack. In this attack I almost lost my life. This forced me to flee and follow my grandparents who were already staying near Mbale town. With my grandparents was my cousin sister who had gone with them and she had got saved.

She got saved in the church called "Mbale full gospel church" and in that church there was a program of visiting homes of their church members taking there the gospel. It was at this time that I decided to surrender my life to Jesus and that was between November and December of 1987.

I became a devoted Christian and almost got to the position of a pastor by that time because that church had a slogan "We are a sending church". So they could open new churches, train new pastors and send them to these churches. I was an assistant home fellowship leader (for we had fellowships in homes of different believers). But the problem came when my uncle failed to raise my school fees when I was going to sit for my Senior four final examinations, this forced me to go back in the village and remember there was no born-again church in our village. I joined my former non Christian friends and eventually Satan won me back and I backslid going back to that former reckless living.  I backslid between the years 1992 and 2003.

But though I had wandered from God's presence, He didn't give up all about me. In the Village I started teaching in a government school (it was a primary school) which had a born again headteacher. This headteacher tricked me when I got my accumulated salary (for I had taught for four months without payment) so he told me to come into partnership with him and run a certain business which he was already running that could end after some 8 months, whereby we were to get back each his initial capital and share the profits. I only came to learn later that this headteacher only wanted to get my money and complete his house that had stalled due to lack of funds. And the time we were supposed to get back our working capital and share profits, he told me he had no money for he had spent all the money on his house. This sparked off a very serious misunderstanding between me and him and he started working for my lose of that teaching job by making false accusations against me to the District Education Officer who also kept calling me to go and defend myself. This he did several times and eventually he asked the man who worked in the salary section to delete my name from the payroll claiming that I had resigned, in this he succeeded in that at the end of the month I found when my name was not on the payroll.

Today I realize that it was the working of God because after losing that job I went to Kampala and that was in July 1998. While in Kampala I decided to renew my relationship with God in the year 2003.  When I read Jeremiah 8:4 which says, "when men fall do they not get up again and if they turn away do they not return?"

And also Jeremiah 6:16 which says "stand at the cross roads and look, ask for the ancient paths, ask where the right path is and walk in it."

I decided to make a comeback because the reckless living that I had gone back to, I felt it was going to cost my life. And that is when I reconceived the idea of becoming a pastor. I tried to talk to the Pastor of the church where I was fellowshipping in Kampala to help me get a sponsor to help me go in the seminary but he told me he had never got anyone such a sponsor unless may be if God made a miracle. I felt my dream was likely not to be realized and thought that may be it has never been God's will for me to be a pastor.

All the time I felt the desire to be a pastor could not get out of my heart but still I couldn't see any possible means through which this could come to happen. One day I got a piece of paper on which a certain organization advertised for those who would like to visit Bible historical sites like Mt.Sinai, Mt.Horeb, the city of Jerusalem, Jericho and any other site of one's choice. This troubled me so much because I had ever thought of going to any of such sites if God could provide means. But still things ended there because at first I had no passport and I could not be able to raise the necessary funds that could required for me visit those sites (that was in the year 2003).

But in the year 2006, I heard of people going to Iraq to work as guards, this made me think of coming to Iraq because first of all I had no money to begin my personal home. Secondly, I knew I was brought up by grandparents who evidently could not live any more long time and who were very weak in their old days. And because I only met my father at the age of 23 who told me to abandon Christianity and go back to Islam without which he said he could not recognize me as his son, this made me to hate him because he could not let me tell him how God talked to me to abandon Islam and get saved.

So with a combination of all these factors, I felt my coming to Iraq could help me plan for my future and the future of my children. I also thought to myself that since I cannot make it go to Israel to visit those Biblical historical sites, it was better for me to go to Iraq as it is among the lands in the history of the Bible. I believed that just as God told Abraham to go in this land and live as a sojourner among the people who never knew him, but where He was to bless him in future and make it an inheritance for his descendants, I believed God can also bless me in this same land of Iraq (Mesopotamia). In this, however, I faced much opposition mainly from those of my church in Kampala in regard to the security situation in Iraq. But I couldn't be stopped from accomplishing my plan. I started processing the issue of the passport and in September last I was among those selected to come to Iraq on September 09th. But as I came I thought that Iraq being a land of mainly Muslims, I might not be able to have fellowship with other Christian brethren. But glory be to God that when I came I found that there was unlimited opportunity of fellowship here in Iraq.

With other colleagues from Uganda, both born again and non born again Christians, we jointly signed a piece of paper asking our shift leaders to get us a way of access for church services. We were therefore promised to have a chaplain come to offer church services that very Sunday. Indeed we started by attending services at the chapel but later on we requested to have our services near our residence. We were therefore granted to have our services from where we were staying. At the beginning we could only start arranging the venue for services after the chaplain had arrived but this didn't look good to me so I decided to start cleaning and arranging the place before the Chaplain's arrival. First it was discouraging because my colleagues could talk all provocative words whenever they could find me cleaning; you know there is a lot of sand and dust and so they say I made for them dust by sweeping the place. But when I thought of playing it cool and let everyone get where to sit as it had been before, God reminded me of Zechariah the father of John the Baptist how God answered his prayers after his good service to God. This encouraged me to do all I could do without minding about others or even thinking of getting assisted by anyone. From that day to date, I've never changed my attitude of offering my services in ensuring a successful Sunday service. To me I feel God is only training me for much more service in as much as preparing to be pastor after my service in Iraq.

While we were still living together for both shifts (Night and Day shifts) services were held at the same venue and so whenever I could arrange for our service, those of the day shift could also come and have their service there at night. But when we were separated, I looked for another convenient place where we could have our services because I knew that my colleagues could not go to the chapel for services. This led to the collapse of the services for the day shift because they had no one to volunteer to organize the place for services.

Today I see God doing great things in my life more especially that you have helped me much by sending me Bible study materials in preparation to be a pastor. I know that God has good plans for my life and this makes me seek His face in faithfulness every day.

I know that I can tell you more and more but precisely this and much more is what God has done for me here in Iraq. 

May God bless you,

Deo Mushambo

 

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Note:  Deo Mushambo told his story to Verda Reeves who has “adopted” him and other soldiers serving in Iraq as “sons”.  Deo serves under Chaplain Chris Rusack at Fort Summall in Iraq.  Chaplain Chris has been a powerful instrument of ministry to the Ugandan allies who serve alongside the US troops.  For more information about the Soldiers Bible Ministry and our work to offer support through providing free Bibles and Bible Study Materials to the chaplains and troops, please visit our website.