It is with joy unspeakable that I Stephen Njoroge Kigo gladly gives my testimony of how I became a born again believer in Jesus Christ. I was born on 16 August 1978 in Murang’a County in Central Kenya to Samuel Kigo and Rebecca Wahu as their eighth born child in a humble family of ten children, having had six brothers and three sisters. Though at first I thought less of God and godliness, I am now eternally grateful to my lord and savior Jesus Christ who graciously saved me from the everlasting punishment in hell, freely gave me eternal life, gladly adopted me into the family of God as a child of God, and irrevocably assured me that in His appointed time He shall usher me into the presence of God the Father in heaven where I will dwell forever and ever experiencing everlasting joy and satisfaction while always worshipping Yahweh my God—the one and the only true and the living God there is! Amen.
I grew up giving little or no attention to religious beliefs. Though I was raised up a Roman Catholic, I was a nominal Roman Catholic to say but the least. I was baptized as an infant, but that was the only sacrament I received in the Roman Catholic Church. This is because, even as a little boy, I was keen to know and understand why and how things worked. So, when I tried to do the same to the “things of God” I was being taught in the Roman Catholic Church, I became greatly disillusioned when I realized that what the Roman Catholic Church taught differed significantly from what the Bible taught: notably, the omission and violation of the Second Commandment which forbids making, bowing and worshipping of idols. This spiritual setback put off my zeal for the “things of God” as I gradually drifted to playful pursuits as a young boy. This led me to a path of living for self from my early childhood. As a result, selfishness marked my life. My life was dominated by jealous, malice and even hatred for those who did better than me in school and at home. This made my life miserable as anger, jealous and malice guided my actions. The results were temperamental outbursts which were characterized by sinful attitudes and sinful actions. While all this was going on, I managed to conceal my inner turmoil of hopelessness and helplessness because I was an extremely self-righteous person. I prided myself on the fact that I lived my life trying my level best to do the “right things” while religiously avoiding to do the “wrong things”. This made me to think that I had a good relationship with God because of my good works. Trusting in my good works I became extremely self-consumed, self-righteous and thus a self-deceived person. In fact, I was so self-deceived that I believed in the lie (which was circulating then just as it is today) that I could do all things through the power of positive thinking. Consequently, I led a life of pleasing and glorifying myself. Hence I had become my own “god” unwittingly worshipping myself!
But all this self-worship started to diminish when I joined Alliance high school in 1994. This is because, during my four years at the Alliance high school from 1994 to 1997, God graciously used chapel services held there almost on daily basis along with all the “challenge-weekends” we had at the start of every term to awaken in me both the interest and the love of the things of God and godliness. More importantly, I repeatedly heard the true Gospel of Jesus Christ from the hymns and spiritual songs we were singing regularly in the chapel and from the Gospel movies we often watched during all the “challenge-weekends”. In spite of all that, I kept on postponing that very important decision of repenting my sins, believing and receiving Jesus Christ into my life to become my personal lord and savior. But in 1998 while I was living at home in Kaharo village in Murang’a county waiting to join the University, I actively participated in most of the church events held at Karinga Catholic Church, where I had been attending church services since my early childhood. It was then that I was significantly exposed to the Roman Catholic beliefs, traditions and practices, most of which I found to be questionable and unbiblical. Particularly, the belief that during mass, Roman Catholic priest offers a prayer by which a wafer of bread is mysteriously changed into the real body, blood, soul, and divinity of Jesus Christ so that, that consecrated “wafer of bread” becomes Jesus Christ Himself and is thus adored and worshipped as God.
Because of such kinds of unbiblical beliefs, I made up my mind in 1998 that as soon as possible I would leave the Roman Catholic Church and join a Bible-believing church, from where I would learn more about salvation and more importantly become a born again believer in Jesus Christ who is truly and eternally saved. Sadly, however, I delayed to do that. But thank God that while studying for my Bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Engineering at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) from 1999 to 2004, I regularly heard the true gospel of Jesus Christ. This is because students who were truly born again in the University regularly shared the gospel of Jesus Christ with me. Notably, two of my classmates who were born again strongly encouraged me to purchase and read the Bible for myself. Without hesitating, I purchased the Bible and started to read it in search of the truth. The more I read the Bible in search of the truth, the more I realized that I was a sinner in desperate need of salvation. Though I knew that I was supposed to repent all my sins and believe in Jesus Christ to be saved, I once again kept on postponing that decision throughout all the five years of my undergraduate studies at the University.
So immediately I finished my undergraduate studies at JKUAT in April of 2004, I had a great desire to discover the purpose for my life. By the providential leading of God, I attended a parish youth seminar held at Kangare Catholic Church in my upcountry village town in Murang’a County on Saturday 17 April 2004. The Guest Speaker of that seminar was Professor Mbugua from USA, who taught us in great details from Genesis 2:7 and Ecclesiastes 12:1-7 on the three-in-one nature of a human being, which is made up of a body, a soul and a spirit. Even though that seminar was abruptly and unfortunately stopped to pave the way for mass, a vital seed had already been sown in my heart because I got to understand that in addition to my body, I do also have a soul and a spirit, both of which are eternal hence the need to be saved. Then four weeks later exactly to the day, I received and read a Christian book which clearly explained why and how to become a born again believer in Jesus Christ. To my amazement, both the seminar I had attended four weeks earlier and the Christian book I was reading were each showing me from the Bible that I was a hopeless and a helpless sinner in great and urgent need of salvation. So for the first time in my life, it became crystal clear to me that if I would sincerely repent all my sins and truly believe that Jesus Christ died and rose from the dead paying in full for all my sins, then I would immediately be born again by God the Holy Spirit and become a child of God who is totally forgiven of all my sins and is thus righteous in the sight of God. Right there and then on that late afternoon of Saturday the 15 May 2004, at exactly 5:25pm, I sincerely repented all my sins and then truly believed and willingly received Jesus Christ into my life to become my personal lord and savior. And there and then, I became a born again believer in Jesus Christ who is truly and eternally saved!
Immediately I got saved, the hopelessness and helplessness I was experiencing in my life was right away replaced by joy and peace. Great changes started taking place in my life. First of all, I started enjoying reading the Bible daily, which previously I found boring and confusing. In fact, I found the Bible so sweet and enlightening that my daily habit of reading the Bible was propelled to greater heights in just two years of my salvation. For in year 2006, I read the whole Bible from Genesis to Revelation twice in just the second half of that year! And from January of year 2007, I started a habit of reading the whole Bible once every year. I thank God that by the end of this year (2024), I will have read the whole Bible from Genesis to Revelation 20 times. And I am fully convinced that God will enable me to keep on reading the whole Bible once every year for the rest of my life. More importantly, I have developed a habit of putting into practice what I learn from the Bible. The inevitable end result has been that God has drastically changed the course of my life from a person who used to live for self to a person who now lives to give God the Father maximum pleasure and glory through who I am (my body, my soul and my spirit), what I have (my material possessions and my immaterial possessions such as spiritual gifts, natural abilities and acquired skills), and what I do (my occupation, my vocation and my vacation). With the word of God (the 66 books of the holy Bible) as my guide and with Jesus Christ through God the Holy Spirit who permanently indwells me as the driver of the “vehicle” of my life; I am now well able to successfully navigate through the ups and the downs, the lows and the highs, the hot and the cold, and the ugly and the beautiful terrain of this life. Secondly, prayer has become part and parcel of my life. Through prayers and supplications, fear has been replaced by faith in God as I boldly and directly talk to God on any matter on daily basis. All in all, I have learnt that I exist for the sole purpose of bringing God the Father maximum pleasure and glory through who I am, what I have and what I do. And that is what I seek to do all the days of my life by the help of God the Holy Spirit through the written word of God in all the 66 books of the holy Bible. I am therefore confident that Yahweh my God will ultimately finish all the good work He has begun in me until the very moment He will usher me into His presence in heaven to spend eternity with Him forever and ever. Amen.