FRED OTIENO K’OMBEWA TESTIMONY
I am Fred Otieno K’ombewa, from Kisumu County in Kenya. I came in contact with the Gospel of Grace in 2017, after I had preached the so called gospel of prosperity (word of faith) for 26 years.
Since this gospel of prosperity is the view which is prevalent within our area, I thought I was saved during all that 26 year period in which I believed a false view of the gospel. What enticed me when I thought I got saved was because I was told of the things God could do for me, things I could get by becoming a Christian. They did not tell me about my sin, and the solution of that sin; which in actual sense was the purpose of Jesus coming into the world. This is clearly what Mary was told by the Angel in Mathews 1:21, that Jesus shall save His people from their sins.
My main reason for joining WTC at the time, was to obtain an academic certificate and be considered a theologian. I had no idea of my lost condition even as a practicing preacher. But while i was in class, we studied a unit which talked about the total depravity of man. This was a strange teaching which I had never come across before; during all these 26 years in preaching. Here I was trapped in an inner struggle with myself, in relation to my condition before God. But by this time, we had been taught to rely on the scriptures only as the source of information for the Christian faith. I struggled with the instructor who would refer me constantly to the Bible only.
I thought my dedication to God, and my service in preaching what I knew to be the Gospel was my way of earning greater acceptance with God. It was really a works salvation. The time I came across the Gospel of Grace is when I joined Wisdom Training Centre (WTC) in Mumias Kenya.
When I understood this doctrine of total depravity as revealed in the scriptures, I found myself under the terror and wrath of God. I realized that in all these years I had not known myself, fear came upon my heart, and I saw myself under the terror and wrath of God. Even though I struggled in my heart, I found myself a captive of the scriptures. All these great truths uncovered me, and I knew there and then I had not been saved. During this time, what I was left with was only to ask “what I could do to be saved”, just as the hearers of Peter asked in Acts 2:37, for I saw the judgment of God.
By the way, one of the strange things which happened to me, is that the lectures took a new turn. I felt that the lectures in class could turn into gospel preaching, as if it was being done in church. The Gospel of Grace brought an assurance to my thirsty struggling soul, and joy filled my heart as if I had found a great treasure.
Thanks be to God for he never left me without showing me what he had done for me in his son Jesus Christ. This time the death of Jesus became a reality to me. I heard that my sins were laid on him, so that his righteousness could be credited to me. The gospel of grace arrested my soul, and I readily found peace in my heart by believing on the work he had done for me.
As I write this, I would like to declare publicly my faith in Christ by going for water baptism this 8th of January 2023. Before this, I had been baptized in much water but I never understood its meaning as I do now. Therefore I see that it’s the appointed time by the Lord to be baptized a fresh, after understanding Christ’s work of atonement, and what he has done for me on his cross of Calvary. Blessed be the name of the LORD who never allowed me to die before this great time as i am going to be joined to the body of Christ, as truly one of his own.
You can watch brother Fred’s Baptism by clicking the video below
