Reformed. Christianity. Evangelism. Modern Culture.
Sandala Mwanje from Zambia writes an interesting article on Africa’s position on homosexuality. [Note: This article was first posted in 2014] Most African countries will take the stand against the legalization of homosexuality on the premise that it is against their culture. How about Christians in Africa should they hold to the same mantra? Will this stance stand the test of time? He writes…
Culture is not static—it changes. Therefore if culture is the only basis upon which [Africans] are rejecting the legalization of homosexuality, then we are just postponing the problem. The Kenyan author and self proclaimed gay, Binyavanga Wainaina, is right when he says, “I’m extremely optimistic about rapid transformation and change of things in Africa in general.” In addition Mr. Wainaina says “It’s set off. It cannot stop. It’s going to be turbulent. There’ll be dark bits and there’ll be bright bits, but it’s a speed train.”[1]Part of what is going to make this train move even faster is the pressure from the western countries. On 28th February 2014, BBC reported that the World Bank postponed 90million dollars in aid because the Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni had signed a bill that criminalized homosexuality in Uganda.[2] …Read More!
M and J were a missionary couple who were working in Uganda. (Story was first posted in Feb 2013) Every week they sent updates on their progress with evangelism in the community or the growth of the local church and new orphanage that they are setting up. Some times there were moments of deep heart ache (especially when the gospel was rejected) but nothing lightened up my heart with a good old laugh than this particular week’s ‘veggie tale’. Apparently not every thing that is green and leafy is lettuce:
The Mistake – (J writing) While at the trading center on Saturday, I saw two ladies sitting on the veranda of a little restaurant with bags of green leaves for sale. The leaves were a lovely shade of green, and I thought I should buy some of them and take them back for our orphan children to eat. I asked the ladies how much one bag would cost, and they replied, “It is seven hundred shillings.” That seemed a little high to me for greens so I went into the little restaurant and gave out some more tracts and asked the owner (who happened to be a lady that I knew quite well) how much a little bag should cost. She said that 700 shillings was the usual price. So I went back outside and started digging in my purse for the money. I was going to buy 7 bags to take home so there would be enough for all of the children to enjoy. As I was digging in my purse, the lady inside the restaurant called out, “Who are you buying that for?” I replied that I wanted to take it back for the children at home. “What children?” she asked. …Read More!
This week the focus goes to praying for missionaries all over the world. In particular we will pray that Jacob Lee a church planter and missionary with Reaching Africa’s Unreached who is battling malaria some where between Moyo and Yumbe (in Northern Uganda) will have a steady recovery. Remember him plus many more nameless missionaries who toil day and night to reach the unreached with the gospel and spend some more countless hours teaching them how to read and study the Bible for themselves.
Jacob Lee in Ugandan Village…
I have now been fighting malaria the last 4 days with last 2 days being the worse. My definition of malaria is “flu to the 10th power”. I am starting to feel a bit better now. I am so grateful for my dear friends Kevin and Ron with SWI (Strategic World Impact) who have pushing on without me preaching the glorious gospel. …Read More!
I have had the opportunity to take a few pictures of different sights and scenes of the district of Arua in Uganda this year. These are a few of them:
The long road that seems to have no end
Death – O how cruel you are! I recently lost my sister (at 4.00am on 11th October 2013), Miss Winnie Amaguru, just a few days after her thirty ninth birthday and the last couple of days have been tough. The funeral service preparations and preparations for burial have had a physical and emotional drain on me. Yet in all this I am seeing the providential hand of God’s comfort.
In the next few days I will be travelling from London back to Uganda where I will present the body to the rest of the family. We intend to give my sister a decent burial and thank God for the short time He loaned her to us. …Read More!
Todd Bentley is eccentric in his practice. He loves being the charismatic preacher he is and will draw a crowd and will definitely continue to do so. I have watched and listened to his ‘revivals’ all the way from Lakeland to South Korea and now in Uganda. Most of these trail blazing show men draw crowds because they preach a message that most of the people they attract want to hear. He promises sensations, manifestations and signs and wonders and indeed he does get to mesmerise hundreds with his showmanship. But at what cost? It is at the cost of the gospel.
This is what Todd reports in his news letter:
One time in my life, a curse was broken that I didn’t even know was on me. It doesn’t mean that there was a witch doctor or a warlock practicing magic or sorcery like we see in the movies that was specifically cursing me. That’s happened, too. I’m not just talking about someone out there with a voodoo doll and putting pins in it. These things happen. I believe in that (sic)….
[So Todd tells of going to a Ugandan town called Jinja where “a curse came over the city for many years-nobody was getting saved, nobody was getting healed, and nobody was getting delivered” till he made an appearance]
I got up on the platform [in Jinja] and I started to break the power of witchcraft, and 1,835 people at the same time started manifesting demons and fell to the ground writhing like snakes. We counted 1,835 people vomiting, rolling in the mud, writhing and hissing on the ground like snakes. …Read More!
Some people have crept in to Evangelical churches and are stealthily spreading a teaching which has become quite lucrative with its draw strings. They claim that Christians remain cursed until those curses are broken and to have yours broken, you have to part with a hefty sum called “seed money” deposited at the foot of a particular “anointed man”. Furthermore, notes Kato Mivule[ a Ugandan pastor]….
Usually, those who are deemed cursed are the poor, weak, destitute, unemployed, sick, and those facing various challenges of life.
One of the remedies for “breaking” the curse is to give “seed” money to preachers so as to “break” the curse. The teaching has become very popular given the current global economic malaise, that poor Christians will take the little savings they have and “sow the seed” into the ministries of these predatory preachers.
The popularity of these “breaking the curse” teachings caught the attention of media [here is] an article on the subject. The catch phrase that these predatory preachers use is “if you are poor then you are cursed”. Thus many ignorant poor Christians give all they have as “seed money” so as to “break” the curse in hopes of getting a job.
Yup, you guessed it right -I am back from Uganda! I’m back from my short trip to Uganda. Surely how did I survive the tears of the kids at the airport on the last day as we left one of the most green, leafy and exquisitely beautiful and enchanting countries in Africa? No wonder every body I went with wanted to ‘lose’ their passports and stay some more (Ha!Ha! Shauna!).
I must say (of course I am biased) that Uganda is truly the ‘pearl of Africa’ as Sir Winston Churchill once said. My trip back to Kampala was rather short and nostalgic. The kind that lingers in the recesses of your mind long after your sobering departure. It has taken me weeks to sit down and write anything about the trip but I thought it would just be better to put up a few photos at time.
This short slideshow contains photos taken either in Kampala or Arua in Uganda.
Now you know why I think the ‘Garden of Eden’ was in Uganda 😉
In a few days time I will be going to Uganda. For those who have little knowledge of this beautiful country here is a teaser:
Well I will be travelling to Uganda soon! It was apparently the best bird watching destination for twitchers in 2012 according to Lonely Planet. Uganda’s scenery and wildlife is amazing and draws in many visitors. The country is home to more than 1,000 bird species, which make up over half of the birds in Africa – so says one birding website! Not to mention this natural haven was once described by Sir Winston Churchill as “the Pearl of Africa”. Okay, enough of the plug…typing such long sentences in my pseudo feverish current condition makes me want to here and scream -“Ouuuch!” You see, I have just had a couple of vaccination jabs and my raw deltoids are a mixture of muscle fibre and punture wounds from yellow fever attenuated viral loads and typhoid antibodies.
The preparation process for travel to Uganda is almost going according to military precision as I haven’t been to Africa in a while. I have recently had nightmares of old foes called “Malaria terror squads” flying in the bellies of helicopter-like mosquito drones and they keep singing and buzzing “Welcome back! Welcome back!” My misery comes to an end as I awake in cold sweat in March. Looking outside it’s all snowed up outside in the English countryside and if it’s any consolation I am just happy that it wont be snowing in Uganda!
A couple of things I plan to be doing – I have a photography challenge that I managed to modify and adapt from an on line source that any one can download here. It is riddled with tasks and challenges of different photographs to take like 10 portraits of strangers, a shot of a dinner plate and a close up shot with detail and composure e.t.c While for the kids I have designed a Uganda Kids Challenge -this contains investigative activities that you can download and adapt for any travel trips.
Arua. If you tried to search that name on “google” five years ago you would be auto corrected and taken to “Aurora” or “Aruba”. Not any more! As a matter of fact this little town tucked in the North Eastern corner of Uganda is becoming a bustling hub of activity. Uganda recently came back into the spotlight when it won its second ever Olympic gold medal. No, that was not the most recent. Um, was it the Joseph Kony 2012 video? No, that was just a celebrity stunt involving Uganda. Yes, the president stood and repented of personal and national sins of the country and dedicated the country to God during celebrations marking the 50th anniversary of its independence from Britain. (I will blog about that another time) Speaking of which before I digress, are there any blogs on Arua? Yup, actually several. One blogger recounts how he travelled to Arua and dined in an Ethiopian “hole in the wall restaurant” and slept in a bed laid side ways (I’m still trying to figure that out)!
I have lately been searching for Reformed and conservative missionary groups in Africa more especially Uganda. On the surface Uganda just like many other third world countries struggles with many issues theological and otherwise. Christianity in Africa as they say is “a mile wide but an inch deep”. I am deeply grateful for the few laborers going into the field and faithfully preaching the gospel and discipling new believers. Today I will feature a simple letter (blog post ) written a little while ago. It is written by James Huckabee a missionary from America to rural Western Uganda.
Greetings! I thought I’d send a brief letter and let you see the latest construction out at the Juru church. They have put the roof on the pole building, and we had our first service at the new location yesterday. Thank you to the church that sent us money for the construction. This is what your money built:
We had a great service. The morale of the church is greatly improved. I know it wasn’t terribly comfortable meeting in the old place, which had mud walls and a tarp roof (’til some lowlife stole it). It was wet in there when it rained, and hot in the sun. This new building is dry and cool. There’s always a nice breeze. …Read More!
This post is a humanitarian appeal and an awareness campaign on behalf of the thousands of child soldiers and orphans whose lives have been ravaged by Joseph Kony and the LRA (Lord’s Resistance Army). It’s also my prayer to God that justice may come and peace may be ushered into Northern Uganda.
KONY 2012 is a film and campaign by Invisible Children that aims to make Joseph Kony famous, not to celebrate him, but to raise support for his arrest and set a precedent for international justice.
A Twisted Crown of Thorns ® 