By Kato Mivule | Updated May 10, 2009
Two interesting religious articles appeared in the Ugandan Press, one in the State owned Sunday Vision in which the writer interviews a number of prominent Ugandan Pastors and Preachers as to why there are no more Evangelistic Crusades in Uganda as was the case about 20 years ago.
Ugandan Evangelical Churches were very found of carrying out Evangelistic campaigns in order to win souls in the 1980’s and 1990’s but with the advent of the Prosperity Gospel in the late 1990’s the Evangelistic campaigns ceased. Emphasis was placed of church buildings, wealth, riches, fame, and more materialism. Sound Bible Teaching and Discipleship were cast aside and in came false teachings and more emphasis on money and how to become rich.
Yet it is interesting that in the interview carried out by Sunday Vision, a few Ugandan Pastors don’t even realize what is going on. However, as Pastor John Mulinde put it, there is a wrong Priesthood in place – the leadership in Ugandan Evangelical Churches is decayed and sold over to riches, materialism, and the love of money…and therefore wicked…
“…Apostle John Mulinde of World Trumpet Mission believes that it is the increased unholy priesthood and wickedness in the Church that has caused the reduction in gospel crusades…”
Apostle John Mulinde: Sunday Vision, Where are the Crusades? May 10, 2009
Yet few of Ugandan Pastors and Christians are willing to acknowledge that the church leadership has messed up and even take full responsibility as Pastor John Mulinde bravely stated in his comments to the Sunday Vision Interview.
Many Christians in Uganda don’t like the idea of “criticizing” the current leadership. They idolize them and simply worship them, placing them on peddle stools and even if the offences done by the Pastors are criminal and warrant filing a police case, Ugandan Christians will simply shield and protect Pastors whom they very well know are wife snatchers, child molesters, extortionists, bribers, pedophiles, sodomites etc in the name of “Don’t Touch the Anointed”. The solution to such Christians is that we simply have to pray to and The Holy Spirit will come and clean the house…
A good example can be seen in the article that appeared in Weekly Observer, a Ugandan Bi-weekly, in which a Religious Evangelical Columnist laments at the ongoing evil and wickedness in the Churches but struggles with the idea of exposing the fake and phony Pastors but relents to the idea of the “Holy Spirit will clean the mess”…
“…Last year at a lunch-hour fellowship, one pastor testified that he “thanks God” that his divorce is in final stages and that God has already given him another woman with whom they even have a baby girl! “As soon as the divorce is final, we shall have the wedding too,” he said. From the pulpit! My hair almost flew off my scalp. My friend’s doubts flooded me too: Am I the stupid one here?... What happened to the Holy Spirit if we really claim to be Christians? When did we become the alpha and omega? When did we become the judges and solvers of mankind’s sinful nature? When did God appoint us to do His work of cleaning up the Church? So where does that leave the Spirit of God and intercession? I think we need to repent. All of us. We are rapidly skidding off the tracks…”
Malita Wamala: Weekly Observer, Life in The Miracle World, May 6, 2009
Ugandan manipulative Pastors love such responses from the flock and this stems from the ‘Village Chief Mentality’ in Africa. A Village Chief is always correct and never questioned in many African cultures otherwise one risks taking a bad omen and an evil spell. Likewise many fake and phony Pastors threaten their followers with the notion not to “Touch The Lord’s Anointed”. Many Ugandan Christians have cast aside all discernment, reason, critical thinking, and objectivity in fear that they will be cursed if they “Touch The Lord’s Anointed”…
A yet theatrical case of the “don’t touch The Lord’s Anointed” belief was seen recently in Northern Uganda where a group of Christians in Uganda’s Episcopalian (Anglican) Church took the law into their own hands and drove out the seating Bishop Benjamin Ojwang accusing him of mismanagement of church property and not being transparent in dealing with Church affairs.
However, what was more troubling was that rather than hold the Bishop and Church Leadership accountable, the Head of Uganda’s Episcopalian Church Archbishop Henry Luke Orombi told the parish Christians to simply respect their leaders since they are “anointed by God” but the Christians in the diocese did not buy into the “Touch not the Anointed Man of God” mantra…they drove out the Bishop.
“…Archbishop Henry Luke Orombi, while touring the diocese last year, urged Christians to respect their leaders. “You do not elect bishops. They are anointed by God. Bishop Ojwang may be weak, not sharp and not able to speak well, but God anointed him,” Orombi said…”
New Vision, May 10, 2009: Worshipers Clash With Kitgum Bishop
http://newvision.co.ug/D/8/16/680861
Why would Archbishop Orombi use Charismatic Pentecostal lingual like the “anointed man of God”? But Archbishop Orombi is a very well liked and highly respected Born-again Christian not just among Episcopalians but also among Uganda’s Evangelicals groups like the Charismatic and Pentecostals; he is highly esteemed in Uganda’s Evangelical circles.
Those who studied the ‘East African Revival’ know that Evangelicalism in Uganda had its roots in the Anglican – Episcopalian Spiritual Renewal Movements. Yet still the highly educated Archbishop Orombi finds himself still bumping into the “Touch not the Anointed Man of God” and the ‘African Village Chief’ mindsets rather than call for leadership accountability.
However, the spiritual developments as reported in both the Sunday Vision and Weekly Observer are a good sign for the Ugandan Evangelical Church. While on one hand there is a on going apostasy and fall from Sound Doctrine, Truth, and Biblical Orthodoxy, on the other hand Christians are beginning to soul search and ask questions as to why the status quo continues to persists.
Yet Jeremiah the prophet put it more clearly that there was a drought in the land as people rejected the commands of The Lord and responsibility lay at the feet of the priests and prophets who prophesied falsely… Instead of spiritual rain and renewal, the Ugandan spiritual land is filled with false teachers, false pastors, and false prophets, Pharisees whom Jesus Christ referred to as snakes and vipers…these are the wild asses, jackals, wolves, and devils roaring like lions seeking who to devour.
Jeremiah 14:1-7
(1) The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah concerning the drought.
(2) Judah mourneth, and the gates thereof languish, they sit in black upon the ground; and the cry of Jerusalem is gone up.
(3) And their nobles send their little ones to the waters: they come to the pits, and find no water; they return with their vessels empty: they are ashamed and confounded, and cover their heads.
(4) Because of the ground which is chapt, for that no rain hath been in the land, the plowmen are ashamed, they cover their heads.
(5) Yea, the hind also in the field calveth, and forsaketh her young, because there is no grass.
(6) And the wild asses stand on the bare heights, they pant for air like jackals; their eyes fail, because there is no herbage.
(7) Though our iniquities testify against us, work thou for thy name’s sake, O LORD: for our backslidings are many; we have sinned against thee.
This is proof that there is no Revival in Uganda as reported by Pastor Joseph Sserwada but an apostasy and perhaps a groaning in the heart and spirit of Ugandan Christians as to what has gone wrong…for there is no Rain in the Land but a Drought and Barrenness…but the false leadership continues to prophesy lies…
Jeremiah 14:13-15
(13) Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! behold, the prophets say unto them, Ye shall not see the sword, neither shall ye have famine; but I will give you assured peace in this place.
(14) Then the LORD said unto me, The prophets prophesy lies in my name: I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, neither spake I unto them: they prophesy unto you a lying vision, and divination, and a thing of nought, and the deceit of their own heart.
(15) Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning the prophets that prophesy in my name, and I sent them not, yet they say, Sword and famine shall not be in this land: By sword and famine shall those prophets be consumed.
Unless we take full responsibility for our sins and spiritual mess in Uganda, unless we tackle the issue of fake spiritual leaders in Uganda’s Evangelical Church, and unless we are willing to return to Sound Bible Doctrine and the New Testament Faith, the drought will only continue and eventually the death of Evangelicalism in Uganda.
Kato Mivule
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ARTICLES
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Where are the crusades?
By Moses Mulondo | Saturday May 9 2009
Have you ever wondered why there are fewer gospel crusades today than in the past? Crusades — open-air gospel rallies — were a common occurrence in the late 1980s and 1990s in different parts of Uganda. However, today they seem to be a thing of the past.
Talk about gospel crusades evokes memories of prominent evangelists like T. L. Osborne, Reinhard Bonnke, Deo Balabyekkubo, Dr. Joseph Serwadda, Pastor Robert Kayanja, Archbishop Henry Luke Orombi, Father Joseph Bill and many others.
“I remember in the early 1990s I dedicated six years to evangelism during which I used to hold four gospel crusades in different parts of Kampala every day. Our gospel efforts laid a firm foundation for the Pentecostal church in Uganda,” says Dr. Joseph Serwadda, one of Uganda’s renowned evangelists
Serwadda believes the devil has deceived the Church into ignoring crusades and urges all born-again Christians to resume holding gospel crusades in different parts of Uganda. He says this will strengthen the Church and check on the soaring immorality.
“One of the major missions of the Born Again Faith Federation is to take evangelism to a higher level and we have already started with Jinja. We shall do the same frequently in different parts of Uganda,” Serwadda says.
But Bishop Steven Ssenfuma of United Christian Church, Kasubi, thinks the reason behind the fewer crusades today is that the churches are now full of Christians.
“In the past, we had to have many crusades because the Pentecostal church in Uganda was new and facing lots of resistance. That is why crusades had to be organised so that the public could understand our message so that we could get followers,” Ssenfuma said.
Pastor Simeon Kayiwa believes the reason crusades have reduced is because of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the Pentecostal churches which has resulted in the multiplication of miracles, signs, and wonders
“Just as people used to look for Jesus to witness his miracles and in the process he preached to them, non-believers keep flooding to our churches to witness the power of God in the process of which they get saved. That is why although fewer crusades are held nowadays, the number of people getting saved is skyrocketing,” Kayiwa said shortly after a woman called him testifying that her doctor had confirmed that she had been healed of HIV after he prayed for her.
Kayiwa said as more signs, miracles and wonders intensify in the churches, more and more souls will be won into salvation.
“A person can convene crusades but if there is no manifestation of the power of God, very few souls may be harvested,” Kayiwa said.
Bishop David Kiganda, the overseer of Born Again Churches in Kampala, admits that the reduction in the gospel crusades is the result of the shift in attention from evangelism to building and acquiring mores assets and projects.
“In the last 10 years emphasis shifted from evangelism to building churches and setting up projects like orphanages. As such, resources that would have been spent on crusades, have been spent on such new developments,” Kiganda explained.
“But I think we somehow went wrong because Jesus’ prime interest is the souls and not buildings and projects. As we are busy building, souls are perishing. We need to wake up and make the gospel our number one priority over everything we do because that is the major commission Jesus gave us,” he said.
Apostle Alex Mitala, the overseer of National Fellowship of Born Again Pentecostal Churches, argued that crusades may not be the most effective avenue of evangelism today.
“At the crusade, only one person preaches and others are just looking on. But if we could put emphasis on methods where everyone preaches, like door to door and encouraging every Christian to be the light and salt in his community, the impact would be tremendous.”
“The major reason immorality is skyrocketing yet over 80% of Ugandans claim to be Christians is because religious leaders are preaching the wrong message. There is a problem in the church leadership whether in the traditional or Pentecostal churches. The gospel has been corrupted. The messages are not transformational. And there are few people who practise what they preach,” Mitala reasoned.
Apostle Mitala said an effective gospel calls first for a shift from useless messages to messages that will transform people within the Church and after, that those who have been transformed can go out and preach.
Kabowa Redeemed Church senior pastor Elijah Kintu thinks the reason gospel crusades reduced is because believers have “fattened” themselves.
“A fattened person is more attracted to material possessions than investing in the gospel. That is why these days the gospel of prosperity is more common than that of holiness. The Church is in a backslidden state and all we need is a spiritual revival,” Pastor Kintu argued.
In both the old and new Testaments, preaching the gospel is the main responsibility that God gave to his servants. For instance in Ezekiel 3:17-18.
Apostle John Mulinde of World Trumpet Mission believes that it is the increased unholy priesthood and wickedness in the Church that has caused the reduction in gospel crusades.
“But if we repent and seek to restore godliness in the Church, the Lord promises to pour out a fresh anointing of His spirit and there shall be another wave of revival in the nation. He promises to restore a passion for the lost souls and will grant great soul harvests to the churches,” Mulinde said.
But suppose your commander assigned you to disrupt an opposition rally, whereby you inevitably have to flog or even shoot at innocent Ugandans, wouldn’t you obey the order?
Of course as a soldier, I am expected to obey the orders from my bosses. But Jesus, who calls us to salvation, always protects us from all kinds of dangers and temptations. When he was commissioning his disciples, he promised to be with them in every situation, till the end (Matthew 28:20).
Jesus also promised them the holy spirit, who gives courage, strength, wisdom and knowledge. I have a testimony to this. I have never been given an assignment which is perceived as controversial by the public. My point here is that God, who calls you to salvation, also makes sure that he protects you from assignments which are likely to jeopardise your salvation.
Published on: Saturday, 9th May, 2009
http://www.sundayvision.co.ug/detail.php?mainNewsCategoryId=7&newsCategoryId=525&newsId=680764
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LIFE IN THE MIRACLE WORLD: Church skidding off track
by Malita Wamala | Wednesday, 06 May 2009
I have observed different things that have been happening around me for years now, even before I took that extra step into Salvation and getting to know Christ at a personal level.
And I have come to one conclusion: if we call ourselves truly Christian, we should pray for one thing above all else; the grace to always know God’s might; the grace to not become too familiar with God.
I have noticed that unfortunately, the closer we get to God, the more we seem to think we now know Him perfectly and can therefore treat Him like a buddy, bend His rules the way we want, and put others down. I have seen it not only in Pentecostal churches, but in other churches as well.
There is a zeal we initially possess when we first get to know Him, and then somewhere along the way we not only discard Him by the roadside, but also trample all over Him and take over His place. How else can you explain the increasing judgmental spirit, self-righteousness and compromise with sin in the church today?
My friend – a virgin – was telling me how she has started getting regular attacks of doubt over her chastity and whether it even pleases God. Christians she holds in high esteem, pastors and others are increasingly compromising about sex before marriage that sometimes she feels she is the one on the wrong side of God’s ‘things’. Like, she is the only one who missed a certain verse in the Bible which says, ‘but should God’s promise delay, go ahead and knock yourself out with some sex in the meantime’.
I felt really sad about that.
Last year at a lunch-hour fellowship, one pastor testified that he “thanks God” that his divorce is in final stages and that God has already given him another woman with whom they even have a baby girl! “As soon as the divorce is final, we shall have the wedding too,” he said. From the pulpit! My hair almost flew off my scalp. My friend’s doubts flooded me too: Am I the stupid one here?
But I think it is a case of thinking we know God too well, that we get to a point where we believe we know how He would react to situations, what He can and cannot do, whom He loves and whom He doesn’t love, what is damnable sin and what is acceptable sin.
Pastor Wilson Bugembe sang a song I like, in which he asks God to take him back to that initial place where he experienced the first love. That place where we make huge vows to God and shed tears of pure love for God.
Then God blesses us, elevates us from the dust and turns us into princes, and then we force Him into the backseat in everything.
We start taking decisions and advising others out of experience and our own strength, because we think that is what God would advise anyway under the circumstances! No wonder we even think we can now manipulate God through evil or witchcraft prayers.
What happened to the Holy Spirit if we really claim to be Christians? When did we become the alpha and omega? When did we become the judges and solvers of mankind’s sinful nature? When did God appoint us to do His work of cleaning up the Church? So where does that leave the Spirit of God and intercession?
I think we need to repent. All of us. We are rapidly skidding off the tracks.
http://www.observer.ug/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3245&Itemid=71
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Worshippers clash with Kitgum bishop
Sunday, 10th May, 2009
By Chris Ocowun
A RIFT has emerged between the Kitgum Diocese bishop and a section of Christians in the district, prompting the Police to intervene.
A service led by bishop Benjamin Ojwang ended prematurely last Sunday when it was disrupted by members of Concerned Christians, prompting the Police to lock the church building until the dispute is settled in court.
The Christians have dragged Ojwang to court, accusing him of mismanaging church property.
Last year, another group of Christians and youth locked the office of the bishop, accusing him of lack of transparency and accountability and of being biased.
They also accused him of taking all church projects to Pader district, where he comes from.
The Kitgum deputy resident district commissioner, Sylvester Opira, said the Christians accused Ojwang of working with his relatives to mismanage the church property.
“The church is now under the custody of the Police and the keys are with me until I get clearance from the court,” he said.
Opira advised the Christians to go for prayers at All Saints Church.
The Kitgum Diocese secretary, the Rt. Rev. Wilson Kitara, explained that the Christians stormed the church building claiming that the court had ruled that it belongs to them.
“They wanted to remove the parish priest who was posted to the church by the diocese. The Police came in to rescue the situation. There is a process to resolve the conflict.”
Kitara appealed to the Christians to wait for the court ruling on the matter.
Archbishop Henry Luke Orombi, while touring the diocese last year, urged Christians to respect their leaders.
“You do not elect bishops. They are anointed by God. Bishop Ojwang may be weak, not sharp and not able to speak well, but God anointed him,” Orombi said.
http://newvision.co.ug/D/8/16/680861
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