There is a story that...
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There is a story that comes from an American visitor who went to Uganda. She found herself listening to a group of Ugandan Christians as they traded stories about the dark and bloody days under Idi Amin. They told story after story of fellow believers who were killed, often in horrible ways, by the ruthless tyrant who was trying to stamp out religious opposition to his regime. But they told these stories with a merriment that was quite puzzling to their American visitor. Finally the American took her host aside and asked him, “Why are these stories of martyrdom being told in such a lighthearted manner?” And the man replied, “You see, it is because Idi Amin didn’t know the story.” “The story? What story?” she said. And he answered her, “The story of Christ. Whenever you kill him, he rises again. You can’t kill off the body of Christ. Idi Amin thought he could put an end to us. We are laughing because he didn’t know the story.” (from James Friedrich, The Christian Ministry, September-October, 1999, p. 24)
