Testimony of Salvation

In August 1996, Miss Ayoko, my Sunday school teacher, taught my class about hell. She told us hell is as real as our homes, school and market place. The difference, she explained, between hell and those other places is that hell is a place of suffering; it is a lake of fire. She asked if we had ever burned our finger in the fire? Of course, we all said yes. She continued by asking us how it felt to get burnt by a fire – if it was fun or sweet? We all replied, “No, it hurts a lot!” She then asked, if burning your finger hurts a lot, how much more do you think you will be hurting when your whole body will be put into the fire of hell forever? When I heard that, I was shocked and terrified. “Do you know what?”, she added, “at that time you will be seeking to die but you cannot because death will also be in hell, so it cannot kill any more.” When she said that, I was shocked a second time. She ended by asking who wanted to go to the hell and we all were quiet; no one responded. She spoke of how the only way of escaping hell is to trust Christ as our personal Savior. She explained the way of salvation through John 3:16 and Romans 10:9-10. She asked us to pray and confess our sins to Christ and trust Him as our Savior.

After Sunday School I went home to work on the farm. For the rest of the day I kept thinking about what our teacher had said. My mind could not shake the thought that my whole body would be covered by fire forever and I would be seeking to die but wouldn’t be able to. I became miserable and was horrified at the thought of ending up in hell. In my mind, I was seeing myself in hell A sadness overwhelmed me. Finally, at night before going to bed, I trusted Christ as my personal Savior and Lord. The Lord graciously saved me that night. It was the greatest night I have ever had! I had an unspeakable peace in my heart that had never been there before.