I Once Was Dead

Swidiq Kanana was born to a Hutu-Tutsi marriage between the first Muslim sheikh in Rwanda and a priestess of a traditional African god. After the genocide, his father divorced his mother and Kanana turned to the streets for survival. He began dealing marijuana, developing an addiction, a lust for power, and a thirst for revenge. He became a cocaine dealer and the leader of a violent gang, eventually threatening the lives of his father, his headmaster, and a fellow student. Expelled from school, he attended a Muslim school and became an aggressive apologist against Christians. He lost his mind for several months, and was healed only by the prayers of an Anglican priest, but he kept it a secret that Jesus had healed him. He then contracted a blood disease that left him paralyzed. During 12 hours of death, he was tortured by demonic forces until Jesus liberated him, declaring his redemption. Sent back to his body just before burial, he immediately began to proclaim Jesus as Lord. Through the interventions of the Spirit, he survived many attempts on his life even as he learned how to think and live as a Christian. Baptized with the name Cedric, he is now a sought-after evangelist throughout East Africa.