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News | July 15 - 21, 2007

The pastor’s tricks
RODNEY MUHUMUZA
An insider’s testimony

KAMPALA

In the wake of rising cases of worshippers accusing their pastors of extortion, fraud and other dubious conduct, born again city businessman John Katto has spoken out to reveal the schemes employed by some Pentecostal clerics to “keep followers inside” a web of ignorance.

In an interview with Sunday Monitor, Mr Katto, who became a born again Christian in December 2004, revealed how some pastors have used the “manipulation plus intimidation and judgement” equation to keep their congregations blinded and unable to leave churches that are clearly suspicious. “We have a few good pastors and many bad ones . ”

Illiterate pastors
Mr Katto, a trailblazer who led several initiatives in the Ugandan media, said “In fact, many of these [pastors] cannot read or even be able to tell you a few verses in the Bible.”
NEW REVELATIONS:
Mr Katto. Photo by Bruno Birakwate

New converts, he said, are the most vulnerable to manipulation, especially when pastors claim that “you will be cursed” if tithe is not paid. According to Mr Katto, 47, “people end up paying tithe using even borrowed money” because of “coercion”. Even those who need counselling, Mr Katto explained, “are expected to pay money and the bigger their problem the more money they are expected to pay”.

The church of one Muwanguzi, a cleric with a fearsome reputation, has been accused of commercialising church proceedings. According to Mr Katto, “at Pastor Muwanguzi’s church, on Entebbe Road, they have envelopes. If your problem is big and you need to be prayed for quickly, the amount of money is Shs100,000”.

According to Mr Katto, the basic trick of the manipulative pastors is to project themselves to their victims as substitutes to God. “Then you are judged, especially when it comes to things like finances, and giving.”

Mr Katto, who converted to Pentecostalism at Pastor Isaac Kiweweesi’s Kansanga Miracle Cathedral, said after the pastors have projected themselves as glorious “substitutes” for God, they inspire fear and loyalty among followers who are likely to be desperate for quick miracles.

“When [pastors] start churches, they feel that for them to grow they have to pull people in and when they are in, to find a way of holding them in,” Mr Katto said. “So instead of using the church to liberate them from the oppressions they have been facing, they instead add a few. So [people] are held in.”

In recent days, there have been reports of alleged crimes involving pastors, the most bizarre of which was the allegation by a 26-year-old man that he was sodomised by Grace Kitaka, a pastor at Liberty Worship Centre. Kitaka’s accuser, Mr Julius Kitaka Lukyamuzi, contends that the pastor, who adopted him and made him change his surname to Kitaka , performed violent acts of sodomy on him.

Mr Kitaka has since resigned, and the National Fellowship of Born Again Pentecostal Churches (NFBAPC) is already investigating his lifestyle for evidence of “sexual perversion”. According to Pastor Alex Mitala, the overseer of NFBAPC, Mr Kitaka will be expelled from the fellowship if found culpable and there is also a possibility that Ms Namutebi’s church could be blacklisted.

The NFBAPC says that although there are 20,000 churches for born again Christians countrywide, only 1,020 have joined the fellowship. Within NFBAPC, there is agreement that because the activities of the Pentecostals are not regulated and monitored, “dirty” undertakings have gone unreported.

Interest into the activities of churches for born again Christians peaked last week after the arrest at Entebbe Airport of Obiri Yeboah Kojo, the Ghanaian born Kampala pastor who was interrogated by police over an “electric touch” gadget that he attempted to clear into the country.

Police crackdown
Police suspected the gadget, which is marketed on the Internet as a miracle-maker, was to be used by Mr Kojo to shock unsuspecting worshippers to make them falsely believe the Holy Spirit is entering them. Some pastors, including the crusading Solomon Male, have called for an independent inquiry into the activities of the Pentecostals, going beyond merely probing Kojo and Kitaka.

According to Mr Katto, “we have come to that tragic point” where pastors have turned the Church into a “money basket”. He said pastors’ “sale of miracles” has enabled them lead flamboyant lifestyles, including the ability to become “the best clients in Kampala’s boutiques”.

Said Mr Katto: “Pastors have made themselves look like substitutes for God and so people look to pastors for their needs rather than to God. Fortunately, I have been lucky to be open-minded, so I have not fallen for these [tricks].”

Mr Katto pioneered private radio broadcasting in Uganda by setting up Radio Sanyu in 1993. He also introduced colour newspaper printing by bringing the first colour separation equipment that all the city's papers used before developing their own capacity. Katto now manages a printing business.

Concluded the media trailblazer: "Born again Christians are better off “building personal relationships with God…the dependence we have on pastors is just not right”.

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http://www.monitor.co.ug/sunday/news/news07152.php


News | July 15 - 21, 2007

Museveni’s lawyer to help sodomy victim
SIMON KASYATE
KAMPALA

President Museveni's legal aide has offered to help the man who said his rectum was mercilessly torn in repeated homosexual assault between 2002 and 2004.
Mr Hussein Kashillingi has promised to help the victim Julius Lukyamuzi alias Julius Kitaka, 26, to rebuild his shattered life by accessing legal redress and medical treatment.

Mr Lukyamuzi who was formerly an adopted son of Pastor Grace Kitaka of Liberty Worship Centre Lugala is living a hellish life following the damage to his anal anatomy that has failed to heal. He now goes around padded all day.
SEEKING JUSTICE: Mr Lukyamuzi who accuses Pastor Kitaka.

The visibly traumatised Mr Lukyamuzi has been arrested several times at the instigation of his tormentors who he says want to discourage him from pursuing justice. Mr Lukyamuzi was renamed Julius Kitaka by Pastor Kitaka after the adoption.

"After watching Julius ' story on a local television station, I sought to know why justice had eluded him. After meeting him in my office, I decided to help him privately," Mr Kashillingi told Sunday Monitor by telephone on Friday evening.

"I am prepared to assist as much as I can including paying a lawyer to fight for justice," he added. Kashilling says he was moved by Lukyamuzi's ordeal. He said he had drawn the attention of Ethics and Integrity minister Nsaba Buturo to Lukyamuzi's plight. Mr Buturo confirmed he has met Julius over the matter.

"After listening to him, I asked the internal affairs ministry to investigate and come up with a report on the matter. I thought I couldn't help in any other way except to first wait for a thorough report from my colleagues in Internal Affairs," he said by telephone on Friday.

Buturo was recently quoted in the press saying homosexuals from Europe and America were threatening him to stop interfering with their freedom with his strong stance against homosexuality.

The police said they have re-opened the file on the case of sodomy Mr Julius Kitaka Lukyamuzi had reported against Pastor Kitaka some years ago. "The file was already there, we however regret the error that it was not moving. But what I can confirm to you is that it is moving. What I am not sure is if it has been submitted to the DPP and returned to police with instructions to proceed with the prosecution," said Police spokesman Asan Kasingye.

"I have asked my people here at CPS to brief me on the matter but I have not received feedback from the O/C CID. I am new in this position and the file has been here much longer," said Mr Musana, the Regional CID officer for Kampala Extra. "By Monday I will know how far the investigations will have gone and who exactly is handling the file," he added.

This week, the police CID opened a general inquiries file on suspect activities of pastors which include alleged fraud and sodomy. But as the police renew investigations into Pastor Kitaka's alleged homosexual assault on Mr Lukyamuzi, the pastor has issued a notice of intention to sue Sunday Monitor, the Editor, the complainant Julius Lukyamuzi and another Emmanuel Magara.

The notice culminates from a July 8 front page article in Sunday Monitor entitled "Sodomy in Church" that contained a graphic narration of Mr Lukyamuzi's ordeal while he stayed with the pastor.

Mr Lukyamuzi alleges that he was repeatedly sexually assaulted by Pastor Kitaka and as a result he developed a chronic anal inflammation leading to regular discharge of blood and other fluids.

However, Kitaka's lawyers Kaggwa Ssempala, Mukasa Obonyo Attorneys & Legal Consultants say their client was being framed. Their July 12, 2007 notice to sue, gives the respondents five days to apologise in equal magnitude and pay a staggering $250,000 (about Shs400m) in damages for libel.

However Mr Lukyamuzi has said he is ready for the legal showdown with sufficient evidence supported by medical diagnosis.

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http://sundayvision.co.ug/detail.php?mainNewsCategoryId=7&newsCategoryId=132&newsId=575994


Are pastors becoming cheats?

A BEAUTIFUL woman in her late 20s walked into the Sunday Vision offices one evening. She was in
mourning over her car, which she said had been taken by pastors Ronnie and Betty Badda of Liberty
Praising Centre, Luzira.

According to her, Pastor Betty called her during a service and told her that God had asked her to
give her car to the church. Pastor Betty promised that God would answer the woman’s prayers in three
months if she agreed to donate the car.

With the promise of a wedding in three months’ time, and a life in the US thereafter, the woman
surrendered the car and its log book to the pastors. But none of their promises came to fulfilment,
despite months of prayer and fasting.

The woman had bought the car using a bank loan that she is still paying off. Before taking the car,
the pastors had asked her to “sow” her household items, two phones and millions of shillings, which
she did.

A Sunday Vision undercover reporter posing as a desperate, heartbroken woman went and prayed at the
Badda’s church for three months. She recorded her experiences in a gripping three-part series. We
bring you the last part of the series:

It was approaching 6:00pm. Pastor Ronnie called me a few minutes to 7:00pm with a request that I go
to the church. I refused, because I had another appointment in town. We agree to meet at
Communications House.

He got there after 8:00pm and we stood on the steps to discuss my ex-boyfriend’s car offer and the
Hoima mission.
He said the mission was actually the opening of a new branch of his church in Hoima to be followed by
a fundraising. He would return on Tuesday.

A lengthy discussion about my ex-boyfriend’s car followed, at the end of which he advised me to
accept it. This was contrary to his earlier warning that the car was likely to have strings attached,
which could easily get lead me to get infected with HIV, as God had revealed to him that my ex-lover
would contract the virus.

“How about AIDS?” I ask him as he pocketed the money. He smiled knowingly and said: “You know what?
You take the car. We shall pray to God to cancel all those problems. We have to pray very, very hard,
and have faith. I have no doubt that God will hear our prayer and cancel all those plans.”

Friday, March 30, 2007
We doubted Pastor Ronnie’s story of a mission in Hoima, so we asked someone to call him with an
urgent business problem.

The idea was that the caller would express readiness to part with any amount of money, if the pastor
could solve his problems. The caller would claim he was in Kampala. If Pastor Ronnie agreed to meet
him, we would know he had not gone to Hoima. We decided that he call Pastor Ronnie after 2:00pm as he
would have arrived in Hoima by then, if he intended to travel at all.

Our contact called, explaining his problem and asking if he could meet the pastor immediately. The
pastor said he was travelling the next day so a meeting was not possible. He suggested that they meet
when returns. We were, however, unable to establish whether he travelled on Saturday or not.

Sunday April 1, 2007
I was eager to see if Pastor Ronnie would turn up at the church. He didn’t, so maybe he did travel
somewhere. But he might also have decided to stay home. Pastor Betty was around, flanked by a guest
pastor.

My efforts to find out the name of the visiting pastor were futile since my neighbour, a regular
member of the church only knew him as “the pastor who weds people in this church”.

He wedded two couples before the service and was also the preacher of the day.
His sermon was about Christians who dishonoured their pledges and were cursed by God.

We were told that sometimes we suffered problem after problem because we failed to honour our pledges
to God. This particularly happened if we had pledged to sow money and instead used it to pay school
fees, buy new clothes and treat our hair or to buy land and build houses.

“You tell God that you have to buy that piece of land the moment you get money. You have been eyeing
that land for some time so you use the money you pledged to God to pay for the land before it is
taken up by someone else. Even if you promise God that you will pay next time, He will not forgive
you because He never listens to such excuses,” the pastor declared.

He insisted that people always got problems when they diverted what they had pledged to sow. He said:
“Your marriage starts going sour, your children are sent away from school, thieves break into your
house and you lose your job for unclear reasons. You cry out to God for help, but He does not help
you. Why? Because you lied to Him.

“You cheated Him by not giving Him what you promised. As a result, He turns His face against you and
pours His wrath on you. He sends you all sorts of problems and He cannot listen to your cries of help
because your voice is an abomination to Him.”

He preached that God gives Christians a grace period and covers them with His love and protects them
from evil, harm and disease when they pledge to sow something.

“He protects you until you get what you promised to sow. Then He takes away His grace period because
He expects you to honour your pledge, which then pleads on your behalf whenever you get problems. If
you don’t pay and use the money for other things, problems start haunting you because God is angry
with you. He gets angry with your voice so that even if you pray for help, He just sends calamity. If
you come for counselling, your problems will just get worse when the pastors pray for you.”

The congregation was moved by the sermon. Several shook their heads in fear. My neighbour to the
right, a woman probably in her early 40s, started weeping.

The church was so silent that the pastor’s voice and that of his interpreter echoed like voices of
doom in sinful Sodom.
He moved from one corner of the church to another, wiping his sweaty face, aware that his message was
convicting many, and that by the end of the sermon, they would heed his call to return unto God
whatever they promised Him.

He directed pastors to pray for people after confirming that they return the tithe and honour their
pledges.
“There are people we pray for when God Himself is the one fighting them. No matter how much you pray,
your prayers will be in vain because His wrath is terrible,” he said.

My weeping neighbour was listening so attentively that you wouldn’t have distracted her for anything
in the world. “You pledge to give God sh50,000,” the pastor continued, “but the moment you get it,
you remember that your hair is unsightly, so you rush to the salon for a hairdo. Unfortunately, the
chemicals burn your skin during the process.

“A few days later, your hair starts falling out. Before you wonder why, sit down and ask yourself if
you brought whatever you pledged to God. Recall the promise you made to God and what you did the
moment you got the money.”

He went on: “You get money you pledged to give God and use it to pay your children’s school fees. No
wonder many finish school and fail to get jobs. You pray, but your son fails to get a job. You start
wondering why, but the answer is that God is angry with you. He cannot answer your prayers because
you once chose your son above Him by diverting His money to settle your son’s school dues.

“If your child is a girl, she will get pregnant while in S6. You then beat her and lock her out of
your home. But before you do all that, look back and remember the times you did not honour your
pledge to God because you had to buy a uniform, new shoes and books for that girl. God is punishing
you,” he insisted.

By this time, my neighbour was sobbing uncontrollably. To drive the sermon home, the pastor referred
to the story of Jephthah in Judges 11:29-40. “That man,” he explained, “asked God for victory in
battle with a promise that he would in thanks offer the first person who came out of his house to
meet him. He won the battle and sacrificed his only daughter because she was the first person to meet
him. Do you hear that? This man sacrificed his daughter to God according to his promise, but you fail
to sacrifice mere money because you have to pay school fees for your child?”

He also referred to Acts 5:1-11, in which a man and his wife died instantly for cheating God. “I tell
you people, whoever has God’s pledge bring it. If you don’t have it today, I’m going to pray for you
and ask God to forgive you for cheating Him. I will also pray for you so that you get it. Bring it
the moment you do. Give God a sacrifice of thanks and He will help you. If you don’t honour your
pledge this time, whatever will happen to you is your issue.”
The whole congregation rose to its feet at the promise of prayer for forgiveness.

Friday April 13
I sent Pastor Ronnie a text message, but his phone was off. It was just a message informing him that
God was blessing me and the relationship with my boyfriend was improving.

I also informed him that I had got the car from my ex-boyfriend, and that I was already learning how
to drive.

The message wasn’t delivered, so I sent it to Pastor Betty. She replied wishing me God’s blessings.
She said she was keeping me in prayers and hoped to see me soon.
She signed off as Pastor Badda.

Saturday, April 21
Pastor Ronnie sent me a message requesting that I go to church. This was in response to several phone
calls I had made, requesting for a meeting with him. I promised to see him the following day after
the service.

Sunday April 22
Pastor Ronnie was the day’s preacher. His subject was why some people sow faithfully, but do not
receive their miracles. “God has a purpose and plan for our lives,” he consoled. “If you still have
problems standing in your way yet you pay the tithe and sow your seed every month, don’t worry
because God is going to answer your prayers. Your blessings are still big. All your problems will be
solved because you have been faithful in sowing.”

He said that all who had sowed and hadn’t received their miracles had to be patient because God was
still working on their problems. He emphasised that God worked within His own timing.
“God is still with you. He’s not a failure. He is able. He is ready to release all your blessing. In
this church, we pray for people through giving so that they get rich. He is going to give you a
special blessing, and you will enjoy it fully once you get it. He will fight all your battles for
you. Your enemies are going to run away because the God you give is the God who pays,” he assured the
congregation.

Earlier before the sermon, Pastor Betty had decried people who “steal blessings” from Liberty
Praising Centre. “They come here, get blessings and run to other churches immediately their problems
are solved. They never return to say thank you, but instead go around talking ill of us, claiming
that we robbed them.” She cited one case: “There is a young lady who you all know came here with
enormous problems and we told her what God wanted her to sow. Her problems were solved, but she is
now claiming that we fleeced her.” The congregation jeered.

Demands for a peace offering

As promised, I met Pastor Ronnie after the service. He asked me if I had ever heard about a peace
offering. I said I hadn’t. He explained that it was a big monetary offering you gave to God so that
He could solve your problems with utmost urgency.
He gave me examples of people who gave peace offerings of sh3m.
He said the prayer group would dedicate two weeks of fasting and prayer to plead with God to look at
my peace offering and solve my problems. I asked him how much money God wanted.

He first refused to state the amount, but finally said that I give a peace offering of sh1m. I gasped
in shock, but he assured me that a million shillings was not too much to give to God. “The bigger the
offering, the faster God deals with your problem. Think about it.”

He promised that my boyfriend would propose after the peace offering because it was the only thing
standing in the way of my blessings. He also promised that I would get a new car without strings
attached, get a job promotion and go abroad.

I told him that I was relieved God had asked for sh1m because I had expected Him to ask for a car. He
then pondered on this and then we prayed. He said he had had a vision of a weighing scale with a car
on one side and sh1m on the other. He said God had chosen the car as my peace offering.

I insisted that I preferred to give Him the money, since it was the first thing He had revealed to
the pastor. Pastor Ronnie, however, insisted that I give God the car as my peace offering. I agreed,
albeit grudgingly. He suggested that I take the car the following day.
We went to Pastor Betty to inform her about ‘my’ decision. She was very happy. She told us that a
certain lady had sowed her land so that God would bless her marriage. She suggested that I take the
car that day instead of Monday so that the prayer group could start praying and fasting for me
immediately.

She reminded me that they couldn’t start praying for me before I brought the car, since it was the
peace offering that would plead on my behalf. It would appease God who in return would shower
blessings on me so that I could get married as well as prosper.

I came up with a quick excuse that my driver had gone to the village. She said they could give me a
driver, but I told them that the driver had taken the car. They asked me to call him and find out
when he was returning from the village.

I exited the church to call my non-existent driver.
I returned to the church and told them that his number was unavailable. We agreed that I take the car
the next day. I left and never returned to the church.
Pastor Ronnie called me twice after as I embarked on writing my undercover report. I did not answer
the calls.

If you have any reactions to this story send them by sms to 198. Type: Svtip, leave a space followed
by your comment. You can also mail your
reaction to
sunday@newvision.co.ug

Published on: Saturday, 14th July, 2007

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http://www.monitor.co.ug/sunday/oped/oped07155.php

Opinions | MORALITY | July 15 - 21, 2007

Media exposure of fake pastors was great
Peter Nyanzi

A few months ago, one male passenger, in a taxi that I had also boarded, presented a counterfeit Shs20,000 note to the conductor. The fare was Shs700. And he promptly demanded his change of Shs19,300.

Luckily, the conductor (as it has now become the norm) held the note up against some light -- and immediately noticed that it was a fake.
A heated discussion about the rampant counterfeit notes ensued in the taxi. One woman, with whom I had shared the front seat, recounted to us that she never accepts Shs20, 000 or Shs50, 000 notes as payment from anyone any more.

I, however, disagreed with her. I counselled that it she would be better off learning the simple techniques of identifying counterfeit notes than imposing a total ban on all Shs20,000 and Shs50,000 notes.

In similar vein, as Ugandans reel from shock following media reports that there fake 'men of God', especially in the Pentecostal churches, a heated debate has many a folk across and beyond our borders about the character of born-again Christian pastors. Oddly, but understandably, all the men of God have been bundled together -- and become a subject of ridicule and all sorts of crude jokes.

However, one thing many people tend to forget is that fake men of God -- those who masquerade as servants of God -- have been around since time immemorial. In the Bible, there are numerous accounts of false prophets; both in the New and Old Testaments.

Even our Lord, Jesus Christ, warned his disciples about the rise of "false Christs." He said they "would deceive many" by performing miracles in His Name. He, however, gave the disciples a simple tip, through which they could identify them; by their fruits (i.e. their actions and character). In their fledgling ministry, the early apostles spent a sizeable amount of their time battling fake pastors and apostles in the Church.

In 2 Corinthians 11:13-15, Paul warned thus: "These people are false apostles. They are deceitful workers who disguise themselves as apostles of Christ. But I am not surprised! Even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no wonder that his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. In the end they will get the punishment that their wicked deeds deserve."

But while Paul was concerned about the false apostles -- who were also actively fighting his ministry -- he said it was necessary that they be there so that: "they, which are approved may be made manifest." (1 Corinthians 11:19).

In 2 Peter 2:1, Peter also echoed the warnings of Jesus about fake "men of God." He said: "But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you…" The apostles warned that these false teachers had never renounced the "hidden things of dishonesty, craftiness" and "handling the word of God deceitfully."

Apparently, fake men of God will only continue to arise. Therefore, my humble appeal to fellow Christians is that they must equipped with knowledge, which will help them have an insight into these fake characters; they would be able to discern - and avoid them.
Sadly, fake men of God seem to thrive on Christians' immaturity, materialism and ignorance - which, apparently is in abundance in many a church today. The Apostle Paul warned believers to mature so as to avoid being "tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine; by the trickery of men; by craftiness in deceitful scheming." (Ephesians 4:14).

The fate of the deceitful schemers, who he referred to as "men of depraved minds" and "rejected, would be sour. He said: "They will not get very far because, as in the case of those men, their folly will be clear to everyone."

Some Christians are mad at some sections of the media for what they call a witch-hunt against born-again Christian pastors. I, however, think that the media are doing the Church a good service by exposing dodgy pastors.

Many people seem to be enveloped in the disillusionment of the prophet Elijah -- who thought that there was no single prophet, in Israel, that had not bowed to Baal (an idol). God was, however, quick to remind his despondent prophet that there were 7,000 such souls that had not done so.

Personally, I am convinced that there is a heavenly purge that is going on in the body of Christ in Uganda. As the shams (who are obviously the minority) are exposed, the genuine servants of God will be manifest. Onto these, God will add a new breed of church leaders, who will not live a life of compromise to worldly goodies and ostentations.

"I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding." (Jeremiah 3:15). Like he said to Elijah, God wants us to know that He will always have thousands of his servants who will carry His heart and His message of love of salvation for mankind.

It is normal for many a Christian to be saddened and disillusioned when they discover that their preachers of spiritual leaders are not living up to expected standards. However, it is also important to know that God always has alternative individuals who will not sacrifice His word at the altar of materialism and financial gain.

Just as one can hold a currency note against light and see if it is a counterfeit, it is equally important that Christians get the understanding and maturity to hold each of the ever increasing deluge of "men of God" against the light of God's word -- to determine whether they are true servants of God or not.

peternyanzi@yahoo.co.uk


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http://www.monitor.co.ug/sunday/oped/oped07151.php

Editorial | July 15 - 21, 2007

Be patient with Born-Agains

One outstanding feature of the beleaguered born-again Christian movement is its position as the fastest growing "church" in Uganda. From just several thousands at the start of the 90's, registered born-again Christians now reportedly number six million and more. Their crusades draw hundreds and thousands to dwarf any similar gathering or political party rallies.

According to Pastor Fred Wantate of the Full Gospel Church -- while commenting on recent scandals in the communion -- "anything of value attracts" counterfeits. Since last weekend, the media has been awash with reports ranging from fraud, sodomy, theft, and worse, attributed to various con pastors. The public has reacted asking for the born-again communion to be re-organised and for lawbreakers to be arrested.

This series of events raises important questions on the future of the "movement" of born-again Christians. Firstly, the public and relevant authorities need more information to understand why there appears to be serious crimes being committed many times in the name of God in these churches.

That information must answer why current systems are failing to check some of these practices before any reform proposals are put on the table. For example, all born-again Christian churches are registered and operate under licence.

They also fall under the scrutiny, for the time being, of the Uganda Non Governmental Organisation (NGO) Board and the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Further, many voluntarily belong to peer associations like the National Fellowship of Born Again Churches. Why have all these failed to restrain crime in the churches? This needs to be understood.

Secondly, many of these churches are patronised by politicians at the highest level. Part of The First Family comprises born-again Christians, and also run a church. There is today documented links between born-again churches and politics. Is there a way in which politicians associated with these groups can apply pressure on these crimes to stop or suggest ways short of stopping them?

Rev. Canon Grace Kaiso of the Uganda Joint Christian Council (UJCC) recently wrote to the born-again Christian community, offering a helping hand from the traditional churches. This is one way to go. Such initiatives help bring exactitude to proposed reforms, instead of a situation where reactionary reform "throws the baby away with the bath water".

It is important to remember that born-again Christians spring from Ugandan society, where corruption is high today, and institutional trust is falling and the numbers of desperate people are swelling, in tandem with the rise in population. Before we go in all directions to cure a section of the society, let us do the smart thing and holistically understand what is fuelling this rot.



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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070715/ap_on_re_us/church_abuse;_ylt=AhQaDE1em1AoMCFb8xDB9xxH2ocA

L.A. archdiocese to pay $660M for abuse

By GILLIAN FLACCUS, Associated Press Writer 5 minutes ago

LOS ANGELES - Hundreds of people who claim they were abused by clergy affiliated with the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles can expect to be paid more than $1 million each in a $660 million settlement of their lawsuits. The deal, by far the largest settlement in the church's sexual abuse scandal, was reached Saturday, said Ray Boucher, the lead plaintiff's attorney.
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The archdiocese, America's largest, and the plaintiffs were set to release a statement Sunday morning and hold a news conference Monday, he said.

An anonymous source with knowledge of the deal placed its value at $660 million, by far the largest payout in the church's sexual abuse scandal. The source spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because the settlement had not been officially announced.

The amount, which would average a little more than $1.3 million per plaintiff, exceeded earlier reports that the settlement would be between $600 million and $650 million.

Some Roman Catholic orders — the Servites, Claretians and Oblates — will be carved out of the agreement because they refused to participate, the source said. The settlement also calls for the release of confidential priest personnel files after review by a judge assigned to oversee the litigation, Boucher said.

The settlements push the total amount paid out by the U.S. church since 1950 to more than $2 billion, with about a quarter of that coming from the Los Angeles archdiocese.

It wasn't immediately clear how the payout would be split among the insurers, the archdiocese and several Roman Catholic religious orders. A judge must sign off on the agreement.

The release of the priest documents was important to the agreement, Boucher said, because it could reveal whether archdiocesan leaders were involved in covering up for abusive priests.

"Transparency is a critical part of this and of all resolutions," he said.

Tod Tamberg, a spokesman for the archdiocese, did not immediately return a call seeking comment late Saturday. Previously, he said the church would be in court on Monday.

Plaintiff Steven Sanchez, who was expected to testify in the first trial, said he was simultaneously relieved and disappointed. He sued the archdiocese claiming abuse by the late Rev. Clinton Hagenbach, who died in 1987.

"I was really emotionally ready to take on the archdiocese in court in less than 48 hours, but I'm glad all victims are going to be compensated," he said. "I hope all victims will find some type of healing in this process."

The settlement is the largest ever by a Roman Catholic diocese since the clergy sexual abuse scandal erupted in Boston in 2002. The largest payout so far has been by the Diocese of Orange, Calif., in 2004, for $100 million.

Facing a flood of abuse claims, five dioceses — Tucson, Ariz.; Spokane, Wash.; Portland, Ore.; Davenport, Iowa, and San Diego — sought bankruptcy protection.

The Los Angeles archdiocese, its insurers and various Roman Catholic orders have paid more than $114 million to settle 86 claims so far. The largest of those came in December, when the archdiocese reached a $60 million settlement with 45 people whose claims dated from before the mid-1950s and after 1987 — periods when it had little or no sexual abuse insurance.

Several religious orders in California have also reached multimillion-dollar settlements in recent months, including the Carmelites, the Franciscans and the Jesuits.

However, more than 500 other lawsuits against the archdiocese had remained unresolved despite years of legal wrangling. Most of the outstanding lawsuits were generated by a 2002 state law that revoked for one year the statute of limitations for reporting sexual abuse.

Cardinal Roger Mahony recently told parishioners in an open letter that the archdiocese was selling its high-rise administrative building and considering the sale of about 50 other nonessential church properties to raise funds for a settlement.

A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge overseeing the cases recently ruled that Mahony could be called to testify in the second trial on schedule, and attorneys for plaintiffs wanted to call him in many more.

The same judge also cleared the way for four people to seek punitive damages — something that could have opened the church to tens of millions of dollars in payouts if the ruling had been expanded to other cases.S. church since 1950 to more than $2 billion, with about a quarter of that coming from the Los Angeles archdiocese.

It wasn't immediately clear how the payout would be split among the insurers, the archdiocese and several Roman Catholic religious orders. A judge must sign off on the agreement.

The release of the priest documents was important to the agreement, Boucher said, because it could reveal whether archdiocesan leaders were involved in covering up for abusive priests.

"Transparency is a critical part of this and of all resolutions," he said.

Tod Tamberg, a spokesman for the archdiocese, did not immediately return a call seeking comment late Saturday. Previously, he said the church would be in court on Monday.

Plaintiff Steven Sanchez, who was expected to testify in the first trial, said he was simultaneously relieved and disappointed. He sued the archdiocese claiming abuse by the late Rev. Clinton Hagenbach, who died in 1987.

"I was really emotionally ready to take on the archdiocese in court in less than 48 hours, but I'm glad all victims are going to be compensated," he said. "I hope all victims will find some type of healing in this process."

The settlement is the largest ever by a Roman Catholic diocese since the clergy sexual abuse scandal erupted in Boston in 2002. The largest payout so far has been by the Diocese of Orange, Calif., in 2004, for $100 million.

Facing a flood of abuse claims, five dioceses — Tucson, Ariz.; Spokane, Wash.; Portland, Ore.; Davenport, Iowa, and San Diego — sought bankruptcy protection.

The Los Angeles archdiocese, its insurers and various Roman Catholic orders have paid more than $114 million to settle 86 claims so far. The largest of those came in December, when the archdiocese reached a $60 million settlement with 45 people whose claims dated from before the mid-1950s and after 1987 — periods when it had little or no sexual abuse insurance.

Several religious orders in California have also reached multimillion-dollar settlements in recent months, including the Carmelites, the Franciscans and the Jesuits.

However, more than 500 other lawsuits against the archdiocese had remained unresolved despite years of legal wrangling. Most of the outstanding lawsuits were generated by a 2002 state law that revoked for one year the statute of limitations for reporting sexual abuse.

Cardinal Roger Mahony recently told parishioners in an open letter that the archdiocese was selling its high-rise administrative building and considering the sale of about 50 other nonessential church properties to raise funds for a settlement.

A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge overseeing the cases recently ruled that Mahony could be called to testify in the second trial on schedule, and attorneys for plaintiffs wanted to call him in many more.

The same judge also cleared the way for four people to seek punitive damages — something that could have opened the church to tens of millions of dollars in payouts if the ruling had been expanded to other cases.

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http://www.sundayvision.co.ug/detail.php?mainNewsCategoryId=7&newsCategoryId=125&newsId=575951

Author Rick Warren visits Uganda

By Isaiah Mbuga

SELF-centred leadership is to blame for the failure to fight poverty and disease, author Rick Warren said on Friday.

Warren, who was made world-famous by his books: Purpose Driven Life and Purpose Driven Church was in Uganda on a brief unannounced visit and on Friday morning hosted city pastors and preachers to a breakfast and lunch meeting.

Warren is also pastor of Saddleback Church, one of the biggest churches in the US. He started it 25 years ago.

Warren said he had made a commitment not to change his lifestyle when he started raking in a lot of money. “ I get a lot of money from the books, but I have not changed my house for a bigger one. I drive a seven-year-old car, and I don’t wear socks,” he said.

Warren, who also visited eastern Uganda and spoke to 500 church leaders there, promised to return to host a seminar and training to help people live purpose-driven lives.

Published on: Saturday, 14th July, 2007



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http://www.sundayvision.co.ug/detail.php?mainNewsCategoryId=7&newsCategoryId=128&newsId=575955

Pastor arrested over fraud, theft charges

Pastor Mbaziira

By Eddie Ssejjoba

GOING by events of the past few weeks, the title pastor has acquired new connotations. First it was a Sunday Vision undercover story which revealed that some pastors were fleecing their flock.

Then the Police impounded a gadget that produces electric shocks and which they suspected is used to simulate the slaying by the Holy Spirit from another pastor. Shortly after, another pastor was accused of sodomy.

Now, the Police in Lyantonde have arrested yet another pastor formerly attached to Holy Fire Church of Pastor William Muwanguzi of Namulanda on charges of fraud, theft and obtaining money by false pretence. Paul Mbaziira, 30, who formed his own church, the Revival Word Ministries Church at Katovu along the Masaka-Mbarara road, was on Tuesday arrested at Kajjansi in Kampala following a tip-off.

The Criminal Investigations Department officer at Lyantonde Police Station, Opendi Osuna, said Mbaziira stole a Toyota Corolla car, registration number UAH 693L from Denis Kalamuzi, a businessman in Kampala and sold it to someone in Lyantonde. Osuna said that on June 25, Mbaziira allegedly hired the car saying he would use it to run his church’s activities in Kyazanga where he was staying, but later sold the car to Vincent Ssebitosi at sh1.35m.

He said the owner reported the matter to the Police, who later got information that it was in Lyantonde where it was impounded. Ssebitosi told the Police that he was not aware that the car was stolen since he bought it from a person he trusted. Osuna said that the pastor disappeared from Lyantonde, but the Police got print-outs of his cell phone calls and tracked him to Kajjansi.
Kalamuzi produced documents that showed that he was the rightful owner and the vehicle was released to him. Osuna told Sunday Vision that Mbaziira was also charged with obtaining sh1.6m by false pretence from John Koyekyenga of Sanga trading centre in Kiruhura District. Police also recovered from him a television set, two tarpaulins, two big loud-speakers and amplifiers.

He also said the Police had received complaints that Mbaziira had not cleared his bills at Joreti Lodge in Kyazanga where he had been staying. Osuna said Mbaziira’s charges file number is CRB872/2007 and that he will soon be produced in court again.

Mbaziira, however, told Sunday Vision that he had borrowed money to run his at Katovu church which has over 70 followers, after breaking away from Muwanguzi’s church following a disagreement.

He accused Muwanguzi of extorting money from his followers after promising to pray for them. Mbaziira alleged that Muwanguzi demands between sh100,000 and sh1m depending on the standing of that follower in society, but would pay pastors who work with him peanuts.

Mbaziira said that he had obtained permission from Pastor Leonard Sserwadda of Katwe in Masaka to set up the church in Lyantonde. He said he had hired the car and borrowed money expecting to get returns from his followers, which never materialised.

Published on: Saturday, 14th July, 2007


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http://www.sundayvision.co.ug/detail.php?mainNewsCategoryId=7&newsCategoryId=128&newsId=575956


Pastor Lule scoffs at Apostle Mitala

Mitala addresses journalists on Thursday. Left, Pastor Ambrose Gidudu

By Mable Twegumye

A CITY pastor has scoffed at claims that he does not belong to the born-again leaders’ fraternity. Godfrey Lule of The Lord’s Blessed Temple said that his orders were from Jesus Christ and not the other pastors in the country.

“I was not sent by the National Fellowship of Born-Again Pentecostal Churches (NFBAPC) to preach the word of God,” Lule, whose church is located in Nakulabye, a city suburb, said.

NFBAPC chairman Alex Mitala on Thursday told reporters that Lule was not part of their group, adding that they did not acknowledge what he does in his church.

The others, Mitala cited, are Samuel Kakande of Synagogue of All Nations in Mulago, Steven Ssozi of Glad Tidings in Kalerwe, Joseph Serwadda of Victory Church in Ndeeba and William Muwanguzi of Namulanda.

But Lule argued that not being a member of NFBAPC would not compel him to resort to uncouth methods to attract people to his church. “Not being a member doesn’t make anyone do bad things,” he stressed when contacted for comment last week.

Kakande, Ssozi, Sserwadda and Muwanguzi could not be reached for a comment. The media has recently been awash with reports about pastors and what they do to maintain the size of their flock. The Police in Entebbe recently interrogated Pastor Obiri Yeboah Korji over a device designed to administer electric shocks.

According to the Police, who are examining the device, he wanted to dupe the public that he has special powers. But Korji insists that the ‘Electric Touch’ machine is a toy for his 17-year-old daughter.

Published on: Saturday, 14th July, 2007

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http://www.sundayvision.co.ug/detail.php?mainNewsCategoryId=7&newsCategoryId=525&newsId=575991


Is 'sowing' biblical?

Pastor Ssempa.

THE Sunday Vision undercover story on the activities of pastors Ronnie and Betty Bada of Liberty Praising Centre, Luzira has raised ethical questions in the born-again churches. Anthony Bugembe spoke to Pastor Martin Ssempa of Makerere Community Church about sowing in the Church.

What do you have to say about this story?
Criticism is good for the development of any institution. The Sunday Vision has done a commendable job in exposing church leaders who rip off unsuspecting believers in the name of sowing. These people have been tarnishing the image of born-again churches.

What is sowing?
Pastors who preach the prosperity gospel tell their followers that God’s blessings and salvation depend on how much they give to the Lord through the pastors. Many believers have been intimidated into giving cars, phones and huge sums of money to their pastors in the hope of having their prayers answered.

What does Christianity teach about sowing?
Sowing defiles Christianity. There is nowhere in the Bible that we read about Jesus asking for money or material things to perform miracles or bless the people. When Jesus was sending out his disciples, he told them to heal and bless believers freely because he had also given them his blessings freely (Matthew 10:8).

Don’t you think sowing sustains God’s work?
It is not bad to contribute to the sustenance of God’s work, but it should be out of free will and not because they expect something in return as the prosperity gospel teaches. Besides, believers must not to be categorised on the basis of how much they contribute. There are

Published on: Saturday, 14th July, 2007

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http://www.sundayvision.co.ug/detail.php?mainNewsCategoryId=7&newsCategoryId=525&newsId=575995


The Church is under fire

By Brian Mutebi

ON his way to an 8:00am Sunday service at a born-again Christian church in Kampala, Jimmy runs into a friend. “These days your churches are getting publicity!” the friend comments.

“Publicity?” Jimmy asks.
Pointing to a nearby newsstand, Jimmy’s friend responds: “Look at the leading stories.” The headlines of the Sunday Vision and Sunday Monitor read: “Are pastors robbing their followers?” and “Sodomy in church,” respectively.
After a short conversation, Jimmy walks away with his head down wondering what is happening to the church of Christ.

“They came, they boomed, but now they are doomed,” says another critic of born-again churches.
The stories carried in last Sunday’s papers are just one example of the shocking things allegedly taking place in the Church.

There are widespread allegations of believers being conned of their money and property by pastors, false and stage-managed miracles, witchcraft, sexual sin, abuse and false prophecies, to mention but a few.

Due to these allegations, people are now speaking ill of the Church. “They preach and speak holiness but see what is happening. Instead they are the culprits,” says John Bantadde of Mbuya, who vows to remain a conservative as opposed to ‘joining the bandwagon of the wave of the new religions’.
“They are not after God, they are conducting business,” adds Juma Lukwago.
It is not only those outside the Church who are critical, though. Even Christians are running out of ways to defend their churches. “People use the news stories to discredit us. It is hard to preach to someone when all this is in the air,” laments Deborah Nakanwagi, a born-again Christian.
Apostle Alex Mitala, the chairman of the National Fellowship of Born-Again Churches in Uganda, thinks the problem stems from the way born-again churches are registered. “Registering churches as non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and as limited companies is the problem. That’s why everybody is coming up with a church, because anybody can set up an NGO,” he says.
The absence of a way of vetting the qualifications of a pastor has opened the door for false preachers/prophets. In the past there have been calls from some Christians that for one to become a pastor one should fulfil requirements like getting training, being mentored and sanctioned by an authoritative body. However, this was downplayed by other Christians who argued that ‘being called by God does not necessitate going to school to study His word’.
John Bunjo of Christian Restoration Mission International says false preachers and cults are partly promoted by Christians who don’t read their Bibles. “They lack the foundation of biblical knowledge and that’s why they are led astray. Nobody will deceive you if you know the truth,” he says.
“It is unfortunate, but I am not surprised,” Rev. Stephen Turyomwe of All Saints Nakasero says. “The Bible says such people will come. Therefore as Christians, we only need to be cautious.” According to Pastor Michael Kyazze of Omega Healing Centre, the problem is not only in the Pentecostal church, but everywhere. “In Parliament, business and elsewhere there are problems of forgery, witchcraft and conmen,” he says.
Kyazze blames the Police for not taking action. “The Police are not doing their work. How can a conman be reported and nothing is done?” he asks, referring to the Sunday Vision undercover report on pastors who are asking for money from their followers before they pray for them.

See story by undercover reporter here

Published on: Saturday, 14th July, 2007

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Cult or Church?

http://www.sundayvision.co.ug/detail.php?mainNewsCategoryId=7&newsCategoryId=406&newsId=575907

TUCKED away somewhere in Luzira is a mystical and controversial church which has been labelled a cult because of the strange ways of worship. George Wabweyo went there to uncover what lies behind the Legio Maria faith where they worship a black Jesus.

Several pairs of shoes cover the ground at the entrance of Saint Abraham’s Church compound.

The churchyard is considered to be a holy place so it is an abomination to walk around it with shoes. I fear for my shoes, but a church member assures me that nobody will steal them.

“If anybody tries to steal them you will know who he is and he will bring the shoes back on his own,” my guide tells me. I hesitantly take off my shoes and enter. A big red cross with half-burnt candles of all colours stands just two metres from the entrance.

All visitors to the church must kneel before it, make a sign of the cross and say a certain prayer. I ape my guide’s every move due to my ignorance of the sect’s practices.

There is a lot of speculation on whether Legio Maria is a credible Christian denomination.

Scanning the whole compound, I notice several flags of white, yellow and purple with crosses in the middle. Pigeons are all over the compound, and they do not show any signs of being timid or intimidated by the presence of humans.
From the stern glares pointed my way, my intruding presence has already been felt by the faithful.

Dirty jeans and a T-shirt do not quite cut it in a place where everyone is wearing colourful robes of blue, white, purple or yellow.

An altar boy moves around the churchyard swinging a tin of burning incense to purify the ground. I am told that once you move past the cross at the entrance, all your worldly troubles and demons disappear.

There are no seats in the church. Worshippers are supposed to kneel on the floor as a sign of humility before God.
The women occupy the left side of the church while the men occupy the right side. The two sexes do not mingle.

Straight ahead is the priest, who faces the congregation from a raised altar that is restricted to only him and the altar boys.

I kneel down next to a man with very long dreadlocks and several rosaries of different colours hanging from his neck. When asked why he wears dreadlocks, Micheal Ochieng says: “My hair gives me wisdom, spiritual strength and the ability to understand visions and foretell people’s futures. We borrow this practice from Samson of the Bible whose strength lay in his hair.”

A glance around the church reveals that almost everyone has something hanging from his or her neck. Some have pictures of either a bearded man or a black lady dressed as a nun.

I later learn that these are the images of Jesus and the Virgin Mary as they had appeared to them. Several members also had crosses shaped like swords which are allegedly used to exorcise demons.
The sermon in the church is conducted mainly in English, Luo, Swahili and Latin.

I expect a different kind of message in this church, but the priest echoes the messages that other churches preach on morality, a righteous life and loving your God.

He even quotes from the Bible, even though I notice that it is only him with the Holy Book in the whole church.
There are repetitive rituals of kneeling and standing punctuated by bloodcurdling screams and yells from members of the church who are allegedly filled with the Holy Spirit.

So what makes people call Legio Maria a cult? Is it the several pictures on the wall depicting the angels in different stages of battle with the devil? Or is it because they subscribe to a black Jesus? It is hard to tell at first glance so I decide to do more some more observation.

The songs are generally somber accompanied by constant chanting and yelling by the faithful. Incense is burned at strategic points such that the whole church is engulfed in thick clouds of smoke.

The chanting reaches fever pitch as a lady falls and starts writhing as if she is having an epileptic fit.

The whole church is worked up to frenzy as some in the congregation begin to speak in tongues (I am later told they are actually speaking Latin). The air is filled with screams, yodels and growls from the congregation.

Outside, a woman darts across the compound as though under the influence of alcoholwhile screaming and sprinkling holy water around. She too is said to be filled with the Holy Spirit!

I am so tense, that I expect someone to jump on me and exorcise demons from me.

At one point, a lady who is allegedly possessed by the Holy Spirit begins to talk in an authoritative, deep male voice, and everybody else bows in reverence as she talks. At times she makes a strange growling sound from the pit of her throat and I almost run out of the church at breakneck speed.

Later when the service ends (after Holy Communion and the sprinkling of holy water on the people), there seems to be excitement and euphoria.

My guide tells me that this is because the angels had appeared today in the church and that the black Jesus, who they refer to as Baba, was the one talking through the lady who had been possessed.

The lady, Gertrude Akello, is called “nabii” (prophetess) because of her commitment to prayer, ability to see into the future and mediate between people and God.

She tells me that she cannot recall what had happened to her earlier, but she is exhausted and she had been told that she was possessed by Baba (the black Jesus).

Nabbi Akello offers to counsel me and tell me my future. I am taken to a room — the black Mama Maria shrine — and made to hold a lit yellow candle while the prophetess chants and goes in and out of trances.

Waving a fly whisk around me, she begins speaking in tongues while making a guttural sound. She tells me: “Be patient with your boss and you will get a good job, and maybe you might drive a car soon.”

Baba also tells her to tell me that he is the one who called me to his place and that if anyone else asks me to bring them, then I should do so. I notice that many people come to consult her and she talks to them with a lot of authority, either rebuking them or ordering them about. All this time she was talking in a deep male voice.

Having witnessed all this mystical drama, I decide to dig deeper for insight. Historically, Legio Maria was formed as a resistance movement against hypocritical and discriminative white missionaries, in Western Kenya, who did not want African catechists to be priests.

It was founded by Simeo Melkio Ondeto a Roman Catholic African who decided to form an Afro-centric church. He claimed that God had appeared to him and though he never said it himself, most of his followers felt that he was the black reincarnation of Jesus.

However Fr. Kennedy Caleb Ochieng, the priest of St. Abraham’s Church, denies the political angle and gives a purely religious account.

“Legio Maria has its origins in the Catholic mission in 1936. It was a way of prayer and those who practiced it were called the Legion of Mary. However the Catholic missionaries kept it as their own secret, and practiced it using a very powerful rosary called the Catena along with saying prayers from a book called Tessera.

In 1962 the Virgin Mary, having got fed up with the white fathers monopolising the Catena, decided to introduce it to the Africans,” Ochieng explains.

According to him, Mary came in the form of a woman called Mama Omolo Kanyonja Regina Owich who wandered around looking for her lost son. People would ridicule and insult her by calling her a lunatic.

One day she sent the Holy Spirit to a mission church where she had been stoned and called insane. The spirit sent the mission into confusion as its followers and occupants began to follow her.

They walked for a long time until she finally encountered her long lost son who was now grown up. They saluted each other in terms which would later become the Legio Maria way of greeting. The woman said “oyaore” (the sky has opened) and the son said “oyaore mama”.

Having met each other finally, they led the large following to Kwero hill in southern Nyanza (Got Kwero).

The Holy Spirit allegedly descended upon the people and they saw angels coming down while singing praises to God. That was the day the people saw Baba Simeo Melkio Ondeto as the reincarnation of Jesus Christ.

There were several claims that Ondeto resurrected countless people and performed lots of miracles which made him popular.

A new faith was born and it spread fast. They borrowed a lot from Catholicism like Holy Communion, prayer in Latin and belief in purgatory. However, they insist on praying with the Catena, a rosary which has sets of beads in threes standing for the Trinity.

The members do not eat pork, or drink alcohol or do drugs and they adhere to the 10 Commandment.

On the other hand, the Catholic Church is against lay people using the Catena, which is said to have superior power.

Published on: Saturday, 14th July, 2007

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http://www.bukeddekussande.co.ug/detail.php?mainNewsCategoryId=3&newsCategoryId=167&newsId=575909

Obuuma obusuula abantu buzaalidde Mitala leenya

Omusumba Alex Mitala

Bya Francis Kagolo

AKULIRA abasumba b'Abalokole mu ggwanga, Apostle Alex Mitala, ategeezezza nti waliwo abantu abatannategeerekeka abamutiisatiisa okumukuba amasasi bamutte.

“Abantu batandise okumpeereza obubaka ku ssimu (SMS) n’okunkubira amasimu nga bantiiisatiisa nti mu bbanga ttono bajja kuba bamaze okunzita,” bwe yagambye.

Okwogera bino, Mitala ow’ekibiina kya National Fellowship for Born-again Churches (NFBC) yabadde ku Laadiyo y’omusumba Jackson Ssenyonga eya TOP FM e Bwaise ku pulogulaamu eyitibwa ‘Amazima gazaala emirembe’ ng’ekubirizibwa omukyala Phale Kuteesaakwe ku Lwokutaano ekiro.

Bwe yabadde ku mpewo yagambye nti obubaka obumutiisatiisa bw’azze afuna ku ssimu bungi naye obwabadde busembyeyo nga bugamba nti, “Tujja kukukuba amasasi ofe oveewo.”

Mitala alowooza nti abasumba abakozi b’ebikolobero naddala abakozesa ebyuma ne balindiggula abagoberezi baabwe ennume z’ebigwo ku bituuti n’abakozesa eddogo nga bagayita amaanyi ga Mukama be bali emabega w’olukwe lw’okumumiza omusu olw’okubaatuukiriza mu mpapula z’amawulire.

“Banneeweredde okunzita naye nja kuguma kubanga ne Yesu abantu abeenoonyeza ebyabwe nga beerimbika mu ddiini abafaananako nga bano bwe baamutta yamala n’azuukira,” bwe yagambye.

Bino biddiridde Poliisi okukwata omusumba Korjo Obiri Yeboah ku kisaawe e Ntebe ng’akukusa ekyuma ‘Electronic Touch’ ekirimu amasannyalaze agakuba abantu ebigwo ng’abasabira ne balowooza nti maanyi ga Katonda ge gakoka ebyamagero.

Mitala yatuuzizza olukungâana lwa bannamawulire ku Lwokuna ne yeegaana abasumba abamu nti bye bakola ye ng’akulira Abalokole tabimanyi era n’ategeeza nti ayagala Poliisi enoonyereze ku basumba ababba abantu n’oluvannyuma baggyibweko layisinsi ezibakkiriza okubuulira enjiri mu Uganda.

Bukedde bwe yakubidde Mitala essimu annyonnyole ku lukwe lw’okumutta yategeezezza nti ensonga mwetegefu okuzitwala ku Poliisi ebanoonyerezeeko naye asobole okuweebwa obukuumi obumumala.

Omwogezi wa Poliisi ya Kampala n’emiriraano, Simeo Nsubuga yagambye Poliisi yasindise bambega abawerako okuketta obumenyi bw’amateeka obuli mu makanisa g’Abalokole naye Mitala yabadde tannaba kubategeezza ku kutiisibwatiisibwa kuno.

“Guno si musango mutono, abantu bangi abattiddwa basooka kutiisibwatiisibwa mu ngeri bw’etyo ne batafaayo. Kati Mitala alina kugenda ku Poliisi awaabe Tusobole okubakwata ng’obudde bukyali,” bwe yamusabye.

Omuduumizi wa poliisi mu Kampala n’emiriraano, Edward Ochom naye yayise Mitala abatwalire ensonga zino abawe ne nnamba y’essimu kwe baamusindikidde obubaka buno n’awera nti mu buli ngeri bajja kuzuula abantu abaagala okumutuusaako obulabe babakwate.

Ku Mpewo, Mitala yasiimye omusumba Namutebi olw’okukkiriza omumyuka we Paasita Kitaka n’alekulira olw’omusango gw’okulya ebisiyaga oguli mu kkooti kwe kugamba nti , “Kati Namutebi afuuse wafe ddala.”

Yannyonnyodde obukodyo basumba banne bwe bakozesa okubba abakazi abanoonya abasajja nti abasinga obungi okubasabira babasaba ssente okusinziira ku bugagga n’ekitiibwa ky’omusajja gwe baagala. “Bw’oba oyagala musajja alina Benzi bakusasuza za njawulo kw’oyo anoonya ow’eggaali,” bwe yagambye.

Published on: Saturday, 14th July, 2007

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http://www.monitor.co.ug/sunday/life/life07152.php

Sunday Life | July 15 - 21, 2007

My experience with Prophet JohnYeboah
PATIENCE ATUHAIRE

The year was 1972. Estone Musisi 60, then working as a driver for Equatorial Tours and Travel, had gone to Entebbe airport to pick tourists as was routine.

While they parked their cars and waited for their passengers, a man in a Reverend's collar approached them, pointing to Musisi's car and asked about its driver. "My car was parked the farthest.
SUPPORTIVE: Estone Musisi worked with John Obiri Yeboah and is as devoted to working with the late pastor's son, Reverend Kojo Nana Obiri Yeboah. Photo by I. Kezaala

But he passed by all the others. He asked who the driver was and I came forward. Before I even greeted him, he said out my name! I was very shocked! How had he known my name?" wide-eyed, he tells a story that has definitely been heard by a thousand ears.

The reverend told Musisi that he would travel to Kampala in the latter's car and also sleep at his house, to Musisi's continued astonishment. "I asked him to tell me how he had learnt of my name. But he continued to surprise me.

He already knew things about my life such as that I had quarrelled with my wife the previous night!" he adds. The then young man's inquiries and excuses that he did not have room and could not take in the reverend for the night fell on deal ears. Musisi stayed in a one-roomed house with his family, but 'the man of God' said he would sleep under the bed if he must.

He goes on. "I tried to tell him that I could not drive him in the same car with white tourists. It was company policy not to mix white and black travellers. I went to consult my supervisor who sent me to the director. No one seemed to help.

Eventually, I gave in and decided to drive them." On the way to Kampala, the prophet inquired about the distance they had to travel, which stunned his two co-passengers. Since he seemed to know much about Kampala, the two perceived that he had been here before.

Upon inquiry from one of the white women, the strange man revealed that he had never been to Uganda. This time, the collared-man zeroed down on her. He asked her why she had left her husband back home and travelled with her lover and asked her to let go of the long-standing hatred between her and her only sister.

All this was true! If it had been present day Uganda where talk of ginis and under-water characters is commonplace, these people would have jumped out of the car and taken to their heels. "The man already knew the road to my home in Kibuye, and asked to be dropped first. But I had to first drop the bazungu. When I dropped them at Apollo (now Sheraton) hotel, I thought of a way to get rid of him. I took him to the archbishop of the Church of Uganda, (Erick Sabiiti)'s residence.

The archbishop found out the man was of a different faith and sent us away," Musisi relates. Musisi was stuck with the strange man. He devised another plan. He took him to a hotel near his home and had to wake up early to check on him. On his way the following morning, Musisi failed to find a seat in a taxi, due to the morning rush.

The taxi he failed to get onto got involved in an accident at Clock Tower, taking the lives of all the passengers aboard. "When I arrived, he congratulated me upon surviving the accident. By now, I think I was used to his shocking talk.

I had to take him to my house because he had nowhere else to go. He spent most of the night preaching to me and by morning, I had seen the light. I gave up driving there and then and we decided to establish the Redeemed Church, where the Prayer Palace in Kibuye now is," he says.

Musisi goes on to say that the road to Amin's downfall in 1973 brought the church to its turning point. Due to the bloodshed ensuing from the Tanzanian invasion, the senior pastor and his congregation held prayers at Ggaba beach, for the end of the war. He says that amidst the prayers, a star fell from heaven onto the lake's waters.

The prophet announced the end of the war, to everyone's joy. Musisi says, "And indeed the war had ended. But when the authorities heard about the prophecy, they said the prophet must be an intelligence officer. They arrested him with six church elders and took them to Makindye Barracks, only to release them a week later because they weren't guilty."

Musisi walked and worked with prophet John Obiri Yeboah and now, in his old age, does the same with his son, Reverend Kojo Nana Obiri Yeboah.

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http://www.bukeddekussande.co.ug/detail.php?mainNewsCategoryId=3&newsCategoryId=186&newsId=575970

‘Katonda si musuubuzi’

Patience Rwabwogo ng’abuulira mu kkanisa ya Kiganda mu Kisenyi.

Bya Joseph Mutebi

MUWALA w’omukulembeze w’eggwanga Patience Rwabwogo agaanyi eby’okumuyita Paasita Patience.

Bino yabyogedde atandika okubuulira kwe mu kusaba okwabadde mu kkanisa y’Omusumba David Kiganda eya Christianity Focus Centre mu Kisenyi gye buvuddeko. Okubuulira kwe kwagenze bwekuti:

“Abooluganda Mukama waffe yeebazibwe! Nnina omukisa munene okubeerako mu kkanisa eno ne tugabanira wamu nammwe enjiri eno ey’obulokozi.

Kya bulijjo Mukama atuyitta okubuulira enjiri mu bifo nga bino ebizibu ng’Omusumba Kiganda bw’agambye nti mu 1993 yafuna okwolesebwa nga Mukama amugamba nti alina okutandika okubuulira enjiri mu kifo kino mwagambye nti yasangamu bamalaaya, n’ababbi.

Bwe bampise okujja wano ku kituuti okubuulira ekigambo bampise Paasita Patience ekintu kye mpulira muli nga sikyagala bulungi, wadde ndi musumba era nnina n’ekkanisa gye nsumba. Njagala nnyo mumpite Patience ng’omuntu omulala yenna.

Mu mwezi oguwedde nasoma olupapula lw’amawulire olumu omwali eggulire erigamba nti omuwandiisi waabwe yatutte ebiseera bye n’amala ennaku mu kkanisa z’abalokole abamu naye bye yaggyeeyo nga binyiiza. Okugamba nti abasumba abamu bagamba abagobereezi baabwe nti buli kye baagala babasabire balina kumala kukisigira balyoke bakifune abooluganda ekyo kikyamu.

Gino misota gyennyini egyerimbise mu makanisa gaffe, bagezaako okubuzaabuza abantu. Omuntu yenna okusiga alina kuba nga yeesiimidde, kubanga nange ne bw’aba Creflo Dollar ng’ang’ambye nti nsige ekintu ndyoke nfune kye njagala nga Mukama tannang’amba sikkiriza.

Gye buvuddeko, nafuna okwolesebwa nga Mukama ang’amba nti nsige enju yaffe ne ng’aana oluvannyuma nategeera nti yali ang’amba ngifuule kkanisa ne nzikirizza era kati mwe nsumba. (Abantu bakuba Alleluya ey’omwanguka n’engalo)

Balokole, bwe muwulira ekigambo kyonna nga tekitambulira wamu ne Katonda manya nti ekyo si kituufu kubanga Katonda si musuubuzi.

Bwe twatandikawo kkanisa abantu bang’amba nti nnina okufuna omusaala nga bapasita abalala naye nze nga sikiwulira mu mutima. Wadde Bakolinso 1-9:12-18 egamba nti, “Abaweereza mu Yeekaalu balya mu Yeekaalu”, nze saatandiikawo kkanisa kugaggawala. Paul agamba nti ‘Olina kukola na mikono gyo’ era nange nnina omulimu gwange ne baze alina ogugwe tusaba busabi Mukama n’atuwa omukisa mu bizinensi zaffe.

Published on: Saturday, 14th July, 2007

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http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/20/575801

Some pastors and their flocks!

Friday, 13th July, 2007
John Nagenda

JOHN NAGENDA


UGANDA’S No1 COLUMNIST... INFORMED, CONTROVERSIAL AND PROVOCATIVE

An elderly Muganda woman was heard to exclaim: “Nga ba Paasita bakutte wansi newaggulu!” It is almost
impossible to translate without going into a few sentences but the gist is that the Pastors are
swarming up and down all over the place.

A few examples shall suffice. “Pastors are involved in sodomy of the young”; “Pastors batten on the
poor of Society”; “Pastors sell God’s favours to the gullible”.

This week there was the peerless allegation of a pastor who allegedly bought electrical gadgets to
make people in his close vicinity (when he was hooked up) to tremble and fall at his feet during his
sermons. Now, where have we seen and read of this happening recently? Perhaps, just maybe, it
explains a lot! I had already spent hours trying to work out how some well-known people in the pastor
trade had slithered to the floor not once but thrice in quick succession. Really, has it come to
this, and would God sanction it?

Obviously I would never dream of saying that such allegations can be upheld against all pastors, who
must surely be as diverse as any other grouping. But it takes but one member of a clan to bring that
clan into disrepute. And some of the evidence sounds convincing on the face of it.

A very well written three-part series in Sunday Vision (catch the last part tomorrow) is about the
hard sell of certain pastors to force cash and goods from their gullible sheep, in return for
“favours from God”.

It is nauseating; but these enticers will find in the Bible that one sin God will never forget is
“taking His name in vain”; in this case coercing in His name. Hell, without remission, awaits; have
they, of all people, forgotten? The whole place seems riddled with them, and their numbers seem to
multiply in rabbit-like fashion. Then we have read about those who feast on poverty-stricken boys and
girls. It is the easiest way for these youngsters to get somewhere to sleep, and food to eat, and, if
lucky, funds for school.

The Monitor told a heart-rending story of boys who were allegedly preyed on by a highborn pastor,
whose grandfather, on his mother’s side, was Kabaka of Buganda. This pastor at least has since
resigned. If these victims make it to school, it is unfortunately not the end of their suffering.

Rumours abound of a foreign-born pastor on the Entebbe Road, past Zana in Bunamwaya. He seems to have
built the school for his evil purposes. True or false? Government has put in place an investigating
committee; let it root out all these criminals.

Gadgets to fool the gullible are bad enough. Ensnaring defenceless children and the youth, of both
sexes, is a nightmare scenario deserving no mercy or forgiveness.
***************

Your columnist yields to nobody in his affection for President (for once a president always a
president) Godfrey Lukongwa Binaisa.

I have known him for many a year, and many are the jokes we keep exchanging. I doubt he has ever
intentionally hurt another person, be it foe or friend. It is true he was exceedingly rude about
President Museveni and indeed the National Resistance Movement itself, impugning base motives to
both.

But this was when he was in New York, eking out a miserable living, and very ill at that. There are
many stories from that interlude, but one will suffice. A man said to a friend: “You know I keep
meeting a madman on the subway (underground train) who insists he has been president of Uganda.” How
the two laughed! In the end Binaisa decided to wend his way home, and asked Museveni for help in
winding up his American sorrows.

This was swiftly done and the prodigal uncle was received warmly; the fatted cow amounting to his
being granted his full honours and benefits as an ex-president. Not only that; President Museveni was
very much present some years later to witness Binaisa’s “blissful” (as Binaisa termed it) wedding to
a new bride.

It is untrue that President Binaisa has been treated “like a village headsman”, and the relevant
Permanent Secretary has convincingly repudiated this. That the Public Service is sometimes strapped
for funds is a truth widely acknowledged. Binaisa knows it, and also that most other countries would
not have accorded him the warm reception he has received.

It is upon him, and his dignity and seriousness, to judge whether his recent outburst was worthy, or
deserved by the hand that happily feeds him.
**************

I wonder to whom Kampala Mayor Hajji Nasser Ssebaggala repairs for advice! His latest idea of
advertising himself on Kampala’s rubbish bins is bound to prove catastrophic. It is rumoured to have
cost Uganda shillings 300,000,000 (not far from US $200,000) of somebody’s (not his) money.

You question how many better uses the colossal sum could have been spent for the under-funded
capital! Mr Ssebaggala, as the saying goes, “hails from the people”. I am given to understand that is
why he uses the title “Seya”.

But will these needy cheer him on for this wanton and self-serving misuse of their funds? On the
contrary. My “ears” from the more forsaken parts of the capital tell me that they have started
referring to their man as: “Oh you mean Misita Kasasiro”? (Mister Rubbish Bin).

They say they have prepared a slogan: “Rubbish to Rubbish” which they will eventually scroll on every
single bin. Oh boy! Time to leave town, Mr Mayor?




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http://www.monitor.co.ug/letters/index.php
Letters to the Editor | July 14, 2007

‘Pastor’ Obiri was most unconvincing

I write in response to the article, which appeared in DM July 11 titled “Police hunt for wired
pastors.” The alarming numbers of pastors that are taking advantage of the unsuspecting public,
claiming to be performing miracles in God’s name is a shame that should not go unchallenged.

Some faithful have been duped into selling their property and those who have shown reservations are
threatened. It is now known that most pastors discourage members of their congregation from taking
ARVs on grounds that the Holy Spirit will heal them.

For Pastor Obiri Yeboah Korji to claim that the gadget he was nabbed with is a well-known and popular
toy in developed countries, and that it was a birthday gift for his teenage children, does not add
up. This should be an eye opener.

Thadeuos Francis Mukuru.
Kampala

**********

I am responding to the way in which Pastor Obiri Yeboah Korji defended himself about the electric
machine he was caught with at the airport. He says the machine was a toy he had bought for his son
which to me is an insult to our intelligence.

What parent can buy their child such a ‘‘toy’’, which can lead to their death? For a machine that
releases magnetic electricity to shock someone within 10 feet radius is not a toy for a child to play
with. The church of Christ must be presented as the spotless bride of our Lord.

Jesse Kakenga,
Kampala


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http://www.bukedde.co.ug/detail.php?mainNewsCategoryId=2&newsCategoryId=60&newsId=575779

Omusumba Kayiwa abiwakanyizza okusuula ebigwo

BYA RICHARD KAYIIRA

OMUSUMBA Kayiwa (waggulu) agambye nti takkiriza bantu kugwa bigwo mu kkanisa ye kubanga mu Bayibuli
ekyo tekiriimu.

“Nange olumu nnesuula kyokka ne siwona. Okuva olwo ne mbikkulirwa nti omuntu okuwona oba okusumululwa
teyeetaaga kumala kugwa bigwo”, bwe yategeezezza Bukedde eyamusanze ku kkanisa ye eya Namirembe
Christian Fellowship.

Kyokka yagambye nti assa ekitiibwa mu basumba banne wadde nga bo balina amaanyi agasuula abantu
ebigwo.

Yabadde ayogera ku nkola ekyase mu makanisa g’Abalokole okusuula abantu ebigwo nga kati kwe kupimirwa
amaanyi Omusumba g’alina okukola ebyamagero.

Wiiki ewedde, poliisi y’oku kisaawe e Ntebe yakutte Omusumba Korjo Obiri (mutabani wa Obiri Yeboah)
n’ekyuma ky’amasannyalaze kye yabadde agenda okukozesa okusuula abagoberezi mu kkanisa ye eya ‘We are
One Ministries’ ku luguudo Sir Apollo Kaggwa .

Kyokka, Simeon Kayiwa eyasooka okubeera ssentebe w’Abasumba b’Abalokole mu Uganda yagambye nti,
“Sikkiririza mu kikolwa kya kusuula bagoberezi abazze okusabirwa kubanga sirina we nkiraba mu
Bayibuli.”

Yannyonnyodde nti omuntu ayinza okukkibwako Mwoyo Mutukuvu n’avunnama oba ne yeevuunika ng’ebibatu
biri mu maaso so si kugwa eri kyabugazi n’okusambagala n’osambagala.

Wano kwe kugamba: Kati kizira abagoberezi bange okugwa mu kkanisa nga mbasabira, era bonna
nakibategeeza. Abantu abamu be beesuula bokka nga balowooza nti bwe banaagwa nga Mwoyo Mutukuvu
abakkako nga bawona ebizibu bye babeeramu.

Yeewaddeko obujuli: “Nange mu 1990 nneesuula nga tuli mu lukung’aana lwa Morris Cerullo olwali ku
KPC. Omutwe ne ssennyiga byali binnuma era bwe nnalaba basumba bannange nga bagwa nange ne ndowooza
nti bwe naagwa osanga naawona, wabula saawona.”

Published on: Friday, 13th July, 2007
 

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http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/21/576106

Fake churches a reflection of our society
Sunday, 15th July, 2007
E-mail article E-mail article Print article Print article

EDITOR— I wish to comment on Mr Edward Mutabazi’s letter “Watch those churches” published on Friday.

In analysing the church situation, it is important for us not to look at where we have fallen but where we have slipped.

While the bulk of the blame is put on the dubious churches and pastors, I strongly believe that the fake churches and religions in general merely reflect Ugandan society.

In Uganda, the hardest thing to come by is an honest soul! Most people are so pretentious and selfish and the few honest ones, navigate through life with curiosity, openness and vulnerability but often meet with disaster!

This disillusionment, caused by fellow countrymen, drives people straight into the arms of religious predators.

Ugandans need to stop agonising about what the fake churches have done to our people because to be truly honest, we have created these situations ourselves through our daily interactions with our fellow men.

The song kiwani gives a clearer picture of our society today. I suggest that as Ugandans especially those in ‘glass houses’ should refrain from casting stones and instead focus on evaluating the consequences of our behaviour on others.

We should strive for right conduct towards others because only then will people objectively seek religion and thus avoid possible exploitation because this is where we have constantly slipped.

Emily Ekra, Kampala

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http://www.monitor.co.ug/oped/oped07162.php


OPINIONS & COMMENTARIES
LETTER TO A KAMPALA FRIEND | Dr Munini Mulera

When crooks did not rule the pulpit in Uganda
July 16, 2007

Dear Tingasiga: There was a time, not long ago, when pulpit-hopping crooks were a very rare phenomenon in the Christian churches in Uganda.

Unlike today’s multitudes of fraudsters who view Jesus Christ as a mercantile commodity that holds the key to worldly riches and power, Uganda was once blest with Roman Catholic and Protestant church leaders, including great evangelists, who did not need to labour hard to persuade us that they actually believed and lived what they preached.

The majority of those that I personally knew or came to hear about from my elders were men and women who enjoyed society’s high esteem, not because of the collars they wore but because they lived what they preached.

Men like Rev. Ezekiel Balaba of Buganda and Kigezi, Rev. Simon Peter Kigozi of Buganda, the Rev. Yusto Otunnu of Acholi [father of former UN Under-Secretary General Olara Otunnu], Bishop Kosiya Shalita of Nkore, Archbishop Erica Sabiti of Nkore, Rev. Abraham Zaribugire of Kigezi and Archbishop Janani Luwum of Acholi, stand very tall among the genuinely Christian leaders of the Native Anglican Church in which I was raised.

However, the tallest of them in my opinion, was Bishop Festo Kivengere of Kigezi who remains the reference point against whom every other Ugandan evangelist must be judged, not because he was a better Christian than the others, but because he never allowed his charisma, his international fame and opportunities and his access to some of the most powerful people in Africa to get to his head.

Bishop Kivengere was the most well travelled Ugandan evangelist of his time, standing shoulder to shoulder with famous international preachers like Rev. Billy Graham of the United States and Rev. Michael Cassidy of South Africa. Yet he happily served as the first African bishop of the small Anglican diocese of Kigezi and took his seat as an equal among the less famous bishops in the Church of Uganda.

Though he studied and lived in England and the USA long before others had opportunities to travel outside Uganda, he did not find it necessary to speak with a fake English or American accent in an attempt to sound more sophisticated than his peers.

He had a greater intellectual and scholarly grounding in theology than the majority of his peers in the Great Lakes Region, yet his sermons were invariably simple messages that almost always struck a chord with his listeners. He made the rather complex scriptures of the Old Testament accessible and meaningful to those of us with deficient stores of Bible knowledge.

He possessed a natural charisma that assured him packed churches wherever he travelled, yet he never turned this gift into a cash cow that could have made him one of the financially wealthiest preachers of his time.

Unlike some of today’s “pastors” who live in palatial mansions, Kivengere built himself a very modest house on Rugarama Hill in Kabale, in which he lived as Bishop of Kigezi, and kept a small apartment in the Bat Valley Flats.

He did not need “Prayer Palaces” or “Miracle Centres” or “Crystal Cathedrals” to preach his highly effective messages. He simply let his life affirm the truth of his words. And beyond his traditional evangelical work, Kivengere was a tireless human rights fighter who used his position to challenge secular authority whenever the lives and rights of the citizens were threatened.

It was a risky undertaking, of course, for which he nearly got killed by Field Marshall Idi Amin in February 1977. Of course he was human, complete with weaknesses and inadequacies. However, he was always the first to acknowledge these and to turn them into vehicles for delivering the message of humility, love and forgiveness that were central to his work.

The most memorable sermon from the many that I heard from Bishop Kivengere was one where he told us of a day he was sharing leadership of an evangelical meeting with Graham.

When the electrified American congregation sang the famous chorus: “How Great Thou Art”, the thought briefly crossed Kivengere’s mind that it was to him that the words were directed. But soon he regained his senses plus his humility and realised that it was to Jesus that the congregation was speaking.

From then on he never failed to remind his congregations to clap for Jesus, not to the preacher before them. And these were not empty words designed to hoodwink his listeners into parting with their shillings, but spiritually enriching sermons that were aimed at bringing personal peace and inter-personal harmony.

Nineteen years have passed since death took Kivengere away from us at the premature age of 68. Yet his stature remains undiminished, his thoughts and sermons and writings quoted by preachers and scholars around the world. Kivengere’s brand of Christianity is still remembered by many as a living example of what Jesus of Nazareth and Paul of Tarsus preached nearly two thousand years ago.

Contact: mkmulera@yahoo.com

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http://www.monitor.co.ug/oped/sms07161.php

SMS Feedback | July 16, 2007


How should we deal with ‘pastors’ who con their flock?

Lenin said music is the soul of life and the Bible the opium of the spirit. The suspicious pastors should be exposed. They ride on people’s ignorance and desperation.
John Kato, Iganga.

Pastors and their activities must be thoroughly monitored, censored and controlled.
David Ocen, Jinja.

Pastors everywhere, these are false teachers, they are taking advantage of the ignorance of their “so called” flock. Get back to your conservative churches and you shall have no trouble with these wealth seekers.
Nathan Olinga, Jinja.

The police should go to churches and catch pastors red-handed. If they think pastors are usìng electronic gadgets to con followers of their property.

Pastors should be screened by a committee of Pentecostal Churches that should include representatives from government, NG0s and mainstream Protestant and Catholic Churches.
Oscar Okech, Kampala.

Govt should tighten its control mechanisms not only on balokore but also other faiths to safeguard the people from extortion. Also prosperity for all should be realised soon because people with jobs and money do not have time for such foolery!
Abbas Agaba.

Kibwetere was not born alone. If our government does not intervene into the Balokore churches, many innocent people will die.
Boaz Musinguzi, Rukungiri.

Government should put forward strict laws to regulate the mushrooming churches in Uganda.

A special force should be set up to investigate the matter.
Herbert Ssali, Kireka.

let the police interrogate Pastor Obiri so that he mentions some of his fellow ‘wired’ pastors. Since this fake pastor was arrested, there are no longer any ‘miracles’ happening in churches. May God help this country. Now we know those who have been shocking innocent Ugandans with this machine.
Abby Seggy.

Thank God. All Pentecostal churches are registered as non-government organisations with the intent of extorting money from unsuspecting believers.
Mitala, Rakai.

These are what we call ghost pastors! It is time that we go back to our traditional churches. Otherwise more Kibwetere’s will soon be seen.
Alex Kadenge Pacific.

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Current Topic: “How should we deal with the suspicions of pastors conning their flock using ‘miracle-making’ devices?”


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http://www.bukedde.co.ug/detail.php?mainNewsCategoryId=2&newsCategoryId=60&newsId=576113

Obuuma obusuula abantu busattizza abasumba b’abalokole

Lule ng’alaga omukono.

Bya Robert Mutebi, Eria Luyimbazi, Francis Kagolo ne Terah Kaaya

EKYUMA eky’amasannyalaze ekigambibwa nti abasumba b’Abalokole kye babadde bakozesa okusuula abantu kyongedde okubasattiza era okusaba kwa Ssande kwonna baakumaze mu kwegaana nga bwe bamatiza abagoberezi baabwe nti bbo bakozesa ‘maanyi ga Yesu’.

Omusumba Godfrey Lule ow'ekkanisa ya Blessed Temple e Nakulabye yakoze katemba bwe yeefuungulidde abawagizi be mu kkanisa okubakakasa nti talina kuuma kasuula bagoberezi.

"Bannange mundabe, munneetegereze amagulu gonna, ddala akuuma kaliwa ke bagamba nti nkozesa? Nze musajjawattu nkozesa maanyi ga Katonda!" Lule bwe yategeezezza abagoberezi be.

Yabasuubizza nti okutandika n'okusaba okunaddako, ajjanga kwambala mpale nnyimpi waggulu ateekeyo bbulawuzi musalankwawa ey'ekikazi olwo abantu bakakase nti talina kyuma ky’amasannyalaze.

Ate mu kusaba okwabadde ku Victory Church e Ndeeba, Omusu-mba Joseph Sserwadda yalumbye akulira Abalokole mu ggwanga, Omutume Alex Mitala, ku kulumiriza abasumba abamu abatali mu kibiina kye nti baabulimba n'agamba nti Mitala talina buyinza bwogera ku basumba balala.

"Olaba nange Mitala angatta ku basumba abatamanyi bye bakola! Kino kiraga nti awabye kubanga ogw'okulondobamu omutuufu n'omukyamu si gwa mwana wa muntu, ogwo mulimu Yesu eyatulagira tubuulire enjiri yagwesigaliza," bwe yagambye.

Ye Omusumba Imelda Namutebi yagambye nti amafuta ge bafuna nga balondeddwa okubeera abaweereza ba mukama ge gabasobozesa okusuula abantu ebigwo kubanga amaanyi ga Mukama tegakolagana na sitaani.

Namutebi owa Liberty Worhip Centre e Lugala yagasseeko nti omuntu agwa lwakuba Yesu abeera asisinkanye omulabe era mu lutalo olubaawo omulabe awangulwa ekireetera omuntu okugwa.

"Eby'obuuma obusuula abantu katemba w'abo abaagala okulemesa wamu n'okusuula omulimu omulungi abasumba gwe bakolera abantu," bwe yagambye.

Ye Omusumba Agustine Iga ow'ekkanisa eya Revival Christian Church e Kawaala, yajereze basumba banne abagamba nti waliwo ekyuma ekikubisa amasannyalaze kye bakozesa okusuula abagoberezi baabwe ebigwo.

"Abagamba nti tukozesa kyuma okusuula abantu ebigwo okukkiriza kwabwe kutono nnyo, ate balinga abatalaba, bazibe b'amaaso ag'omwoyo. Ekyuma bwe kiba kisudde omuntu ekigwo kye kimala ne kyogeza n'emizimu? Iga bwe yabuuzizza.

Published on: Sunday, 15th July, 2007

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