KAMPALA MAYORAL ELECTIONS HAS BEEN SUSPENDED BY UGANDA ELECTORAL COMMISSION, DUE TO MASSIVE VOTE RIGGING BY NRM MAYORAL CANDIDATE PASTOR PETER SSEMATIMBA. THIS GIVES THE WORLD A TRUE PICTURE OF THE EXTENT OF VOTE RIGGING BY NRM OFFICIALS DURING PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS ON 18/02/2011 BECAUSE SAME TACTICS WERE USED BY SAME PEOPLE.(ugandans-at-heart@googlegroups.com)
Police seizes 13 ballot boxes with pre-ticked ballot papers
http://www.ugpulse.com/articles/daily/news.asp?about=Police+seizes+13+ballot+boxes+with+pre-ticked+ballot+papers&ID=18214
Opposition supporters in conjunction with police have seized 13 ballot boxes with pre-ticked ballot papers in favour of Peter Sematimba, the NRM mayoral candidate in Kampala. Sematimba is also a born again pastor in Kampala.
Five boxes were found at Public Library polling station on Buganda Road, four at Bat Valley poling station and other boxes were found at Railway polling station and at National Theatre poling station.
Police have also arrested many Electoral Commission officials in Kampala for reportedly aiding in vote rigging.
At Bat Valley poling stations, voting started at night and when the people forced the returning officer to count the votes in one of the boxes, there were 399 pre-ticked ballot papers – all in favour of the ruling National Resistance Movement’s mayoralcandidate for Kampala, Pastor Peter Ssematimba. In the second box, there were 424 ballot papers pre-ticked in favour of NRM councilors.
How mayor election rigging was exposed
http://www.observer.ug/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12264&catid=75&Itemid=59
Written by Gertrude Tumusiime
Wednesday, 23 February 2011 13:40
By 4am this morning, chaos had already broken out in Kampala.
The city mayoral and council elections had become a mess even before they officially started. A number of polling stations were closed after full ballot boxes of cast votes in favour of NRM mayoral candidate, Peter Sematimba, were found before 7am – the official starting time.
Buganda Road Primary School, National Theatre, Public Library and Railway grounds polling stations were among those closed early in the day. By 6am, more than six ballot boxes with more than 300 votes already cast for Sematimba had been confiscated from different stations.
The Observer has reliably learnt how the ballot stuffing was exposed at such an early hour, leading to the closure of the polling stations and, eventually, suspension of the whole process.
Lukwago task force
Prior to the polls, Erias Lukwago, an independent candidate and one of the front runners for Mayor, had formed an election task force to scrutinize the entire process, starting before commencement and throughout, to the end.
“We set up a task force to monitor our votes because we were sure the elections would be rigged,” said an official that is part of the task force.
A communication base was also established at Sr. Miriam Dugan Primary School in Kamwokya in the outskirts of the city, where all agents were to send information from the different polling stations during the voting process, so that immediate action could be taken where necessary.
The task force was a vast one, led by notable opposition members such as the Democratic Party’s Charles Sserunjogi, who is contesting for LC 3 Chairman in Kampala Central. He was badly wounded at Summit View polling centre in Kololo, while trying to ensure that Lukwago’s votes were safe.
Other members of the taskforce were Lukwago allies, who were ready to take action when called upon. Agents in the task force were divided into teams that were spread at polling stations throughout Kampala to observe the process from the time of arrival of the election materials to their removal after counting and results declaration.
These teams were charged with sending regular reports to the communication base, which would then inform the responsible authorities about the situation on the ground.
The agents had a short night’s sleep on Tuesday. By 4am on Wednesday, they had reported to the different stations to which they had been assigned, awaiting voting to commence at 7am. But chaos ensued long before dawn.
Agents flogged
At Kisekka market in downtown Kampala, Lukwago’s agents who had camped in the area at 4am were allegedly attacked by a gang of men armed with whips and clubs (commonly referred to as ‘kibooko squad’), who flogged them while demanding to know what the agents were doing at the polling station at that time of the night.
It was these agents that witnessed the arrival of ballot boxes with already cast votes in favour of Sematimba. They informed the communication team, which contacted the Electoral Commission, prompting the premature closure of various polling stations.
“By 5am, we started receiving calls that elections had been rigged,” said an official at Lukwago’s communication base.
“We informed the Electoral Commission and started deploying more agents to the mentioned areas to make sure those boxes were seized and thoroughly checked,” she added.
According to the official, personnel from the Electoral Commission delayed to get to the scene, but when they eventually did, they acted promptly.
tumusimetrudy@yahoo.com
Thursday, 24 February 2011
Nullify Uganda's Sham Presidential Elections
Nullify Uganda's Sham Presidential Elections
http://www.blackstarnews.com/news/135/ARTICLE/7139/2011-02-23.html
Black Star News Editorial
02-23-11
Regardless of Shameful U.S. Endorsement; Toss Elections
The right to choose one's leader is a universal human right that is well recognized. That remains true for Americans, for Tunisians, for Egyptians, for Yemenis, for Libyans and for people all over the world, regardless of religion, race, ethnicity and national origin.
Ugandans were denied this right on February 18. The U.S.-backed dictator Gen. Yoweri K. Museveni by most accounts was the beneficiary of massively rigged presidential and parliamentary elections.
Today, the Obama Administration shamefully added insult to the injury. It endorsed the election theft--the U.S. State Department released a statement congratulating Gen. Museveni on his "reelection" though the overwhelming evidence shows otherwise. The State Department's actions amounted to a debasement of the concept and practise of democracy everywhere. Uganda's sham "elections" need to be anulled--the fraud has been well documented by monitoring organizations and Ugandan journalists.
Ugandans from all over the world should voice reaction to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at (202) 647-2492 or (202) 647-1512; also call Clinton's boss, President Obama, through press secretary Jay Carney at (202) 456-2580 or email him via press@who.eop.gov , so Obama knows how you feel about the U.S. betrayal of democracy in Uganda.
On Sunday, Uganda's partisan Electoral Commission awarded Gen. Museveni 68% of the vote and 26% to his key opponent Dr. Kizza Besigye. On Saturday, before the Commission's announcement, this newspaper had published an article stating that Museveni would win by 67.2%. This information was supplied by a source who obtained the tip from a contact in the Museveni government; that contact was involved with a special unit created to manipulate the election "figures."
It was critical for Gen. Museveni to get over 50% to avoid a runoff. Logically the results aren't credible--in disputed elections in 2001 he was awarded 69%, in 2006, only 59%. His popularity has continued to diminish and yet the Electoral Commission awards him 68% this time around.
Even before the February 18 vote, an independent group, the Democracy Monitoring Group (DEMGroup), exposed fatal flaws which should have called for the postponment of the elections. DEMGroup studied the National Voters' Registry and found, on the fraudulent registry, that: 139,541 dead people were listed as voters; more than half a million "unknown people" were listed; 1.9 million people had changed their locations; 418,623 foreigners, ineligible to vote, were listed; 5,000 registered voters were 100-years old or older; and 4,629 voters had the same name and birthdate, and the same polling station.
The shocking expose was printed on the front pages of Uganda's major independent newspaper, The Daily Monitor; it was ignored by the Uganda government-owned newspaper, The New Vision, and a major newspaper The New York Times, which had a correspondent in Uganda to cover the elections.
Since the vote, the Commonwealth observers' group has declared that "commercialization" of the voting, otherwise bribery and vote-buying compromised the elections; the European Union (EC) also criticized the vote. Yet, it seems that the United States isn't bothered that fictitious and dead voters may have accounted for Gen. Museveni's "victory."
Ugandans must not have been copied on the State Department memo. The leaders of Uganda's three major opposition parties, the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) under Dr. Besigye, the Uganda People's Congress (UPC) under Olara Otunnu, and the Democratic Party (DP) under Norbert Mao, have all rejected the election results. They have called for mass public reaction in Uganda.
Yet the rigging actually began last year when Gen. Museveni hand-picked the Electoral Commission. The same Museveni Commission four years ago was found by Uganda's Supreme Court to be incompetent during the 2006 disputed elections. In fact, the opposition's challenge in 2006, claiming the elections were rigged and that it's outcome should be nullified almost prevailed. The court voted 4-3 against nullification, only after some Museveni generals are said to have threatened a military coup.
Even the U.S., which sustains the Ugandan dictator --much as Washington had sustained Egypt's Hosni Mubarak for decades-- was so concerned about election rigging that last year Secretary of State Hillary Clinton issued a report to Congress declaring that the credibility of Uganda's elections would be "damaged" because of the exclusion of opposition parties in determining the Electoral Commission's composition.
The day before the State Department annointed Gen. Museveni, on Monday DEMGroup issued a statement that it had discovered that nearly 2,000 polling stations across Uganda had ballot boxes with more votes than the number of people who voted. Additionally, 7% of the 23,968 polling stations, representing at least 1,677 centers that DEMGroup randomly observed, had ghost voters--fictitious voters. And on election date, the FDC intercepted ballots that had already marked for Museveni enroute for ballot stuffing.
There was always much concern that the U.S. would look the other way if Gen. Museveni stole the elections. Museveni serves U.S. interests in the region, much in the same way as Mubarak once did in north Africa and the Middle East. In the case of Museveni, he is the only African president who has provided significant number of troops --8,000-- to help prop up the U.S. installed government in Somalia, which is unpopular and not representative of Somalians. What's more Museveni's U.S.-trained soldiers are accused of war crimes by shelling Somali civilians in Mogadishu. Gen. Museveni's departure might actually attract the participation of more African countries in the attempt to stabilize Somalia.
"Through fraud, intimidation and bribery the Ugandan people have been denied the right to exercise a free choice," Mao, the DP leader has said. "The results declared do not reflect the will of the people." He also concluded: "In the words of President Obama, Africa does not need strong men but strong institutions. We urge you to realize that your relationship should be more with the people rather than the regime in power."
The Obama State Department's endorsement of Gen. Museveni's election theft sends the wrong signal. That when the U.S. talks about global democracy, as President Obama did during his 2009 Accra speech, it shouldn't be taken seriously. Yet even worse, the United States will share the blame for the possible grave consequences should Ugandans, following the examples of Tunisia and Egypt, rise up and challenge tyranny.
The U.S. failed the first test by endorsing the sham elections. At the very least it must now warn Gen. Museveni, who has widely deployed his U.S.-trained and equipped military throughout the country not to use force against peaceful popular outcry against the election theft.
"Speaking Truth To Empower."
http://www.blackstarnews.com/news/135/ARTICLE/7139/2011-02-23.html
Black Star News Editorial
02-23-11
Regardless of Shameful U.S. Endorsement; Toss Elections
The right to choose one's leader is a universal human right that is well recognized. That remains true for Americans, for Tunisians, for Egyptians, for Yemenis, for Libyans and for people all over the world, regardless of religion, race, ethnicity and national origin.
Ugandans were denied this right on February 18. The U.S.-backed dictator Gen. Yoweri K. Museveni by most accounts was the beneficiary of massively rigged presidential and parliamentary elections.
Today, the Obama Administration shamefully added insult to the injury. It endorsed the election theft--the U.S. State Department released a statement congratulating Gen. Museveni on his "reelection" though the overwhelming evidence shows otherwise. The State Department's actions amounted to a debasement of the concept and practise of democracy everywhere. Uganda's sham "elections" need to be anulled--the fraud has been well documented by monitoring organizations and Ugandan journalists.
Ugandans from all over the world should voice reaction to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at (202) 647-2492 or (202) 647-1512; also call Clinton's boss, President Obama, through press secretary Jay Carney at (202) 456-2580 or email him via press@who.eop.gov , so Obama knows how you feel about the U.S. betrayal of democracy in Uganda.
On Sunday, Uganda's partisan Electoral Commission awarded Gen. Museveni 68% of the vote and 26% to his key opponent Dr. Kizza Besigye. On Saturday, before the Commission's announcement, this newspaper had published an article stating that Museveni would win by 67.2%. This information was supplied by a source who obtained the tip from a contact in the Museveni government; that contact was involved with a special unit created to manipulate the election "figures."
It was critical for Gen. Museveni to get over 50% to avoid a runoff. Logically the results aren't credible--in disputed elections in 2001 he was awarded 69%, in 2006, only 59%. His popularity has continued to diminish and yet the Electoral Commission awards him 68% this time around.
Even before the February 18 vote, an independent group, the Democracy Monitoring Group (DEMGroup), exposed fatal flaws which should have called for the postponment of the elections. DEMGroup studied the National Voters' Registry and found, on the fraudulent registry, that: 139,541 dead people were listed as voters; more than half a million "unknown people" were listed; 1.9 million people had changed their locations; 418,623 foreigners, ineligible to vote, were listed; 5,000 registered voters were 100-years old or older; and 4,629 voters had the same name and birthdate, and the same polling station.
The shocking expose was printed on the front pages of Uganda's major independent newspaper, The Daily Monitor; it was ignored by the Uganda government-owned newspaper, The New Vision, and a major newspaper The New York Times, which had a correspondent in Uganda to cover the elections.
Since the vote, the Commonwealth observers' group has declared that "commercialization" of the voting, otherwise bribery and vote-buying compromised the elections; the European Union (EC) also criticized the vote. Yet, it seems that the United States isn't bothered that fictitious and dead voters may have accounted for Gen. Museveni's "victory."
Ugandans must not have been copied on the State Department memo. The leaders of Uganda's three major opposition parties, the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) under Dr. Besigye, the Uganda People's Congress (UPC) under Olara Otunnu, and the Democratic Party (DP) under Norbert Mao, have all rejected the election results. They have called for mass public reaction in Uganda.
Yet the rigging actually began last year when Gen. Museveni hand-picked the Electoral Commission. The same Museveni Commission four years ago was found by Uganda's Supreme Court to be incompetent during the 2006 disputed elections. In fact, the opposition's challenge in 2006, claiming the elections were rigged and that it's outcome should be nullified almost prevailed. The court voted 4-3 against nullification, only after some Museveni generals are said to have threatened a military coup.
Even the U.S., which sustains the Ugandan dictator --much as Washington had sustained Egypt's Hosni Mubarak for decades-- was so concerned about election rigging that last year Secretary of State Hillary Clinton issued a report to Congress declaring that the credibility of Uganda's elections would be "damaged" because of the exclusion of opposition parties in determining the Electoral Commission's composition.
The day before the State Department annointed Gen. Museveni, on Monday DEMGroup issued a statement that it had discovered that nearly 2,000 polling stations across Uganda had ballot boxes with more votes than the number of people who voted. Additionally, 7% of the 23,968 polling stations, representing at least 1,677 centers that DEMGroup randomly observed, had ghost voters--fictitious voters. And on election date, the FDC intercepted ballots that had already marked for Museveni enroute for ballot stuffing.
There was always much concern that the U.S. would look the other way if Gen. Museveni stole the elections. Museveni serves U.S. interests in the region, much in the same way as Mubarak once did in north Africa and the Middle East. In the case of Museveni, he is the only African president who has provided significant number of troops --8,000-- to help prop up the U.S. installed government in Somalia, which is unpopular and not representative of Somalians. What's more Museveni's U.S.-trained soldiers are accused of war crimes by shelling Somali civilians in Mogadishu. Gen. Museveni's departure might actually attract the participation of more African countries in the attempt to stabilize Somalia.
"Through fraud, intimidation and bribery the Ugandan people have been denied the right to exercise a free choice," Mao, the DP leader has said. "The results declared do not reflect the will of the people." He also concluded: "In the words of President Obama, Africa does not need strong men but strong institutions. We urge you to realize that your relationship should be more with the people rather than the regime in power."
The Obama State Department's endorsement of Gen. Museveni's election theft sends the wrong signal. That when the U.S. talks about global democracy, as President Obama did during his 2009 Accra speech, it shouldn't be taken seriously. Yet even worse, the United States will share the blame for the possible grave consequences should Ugandans, following the examples of Tunisia and Egypt, rise up and challenge tyranny.
The U.S. failed the first test by endorsing the sham elections. At the very least it must now warn Gen. Museveni, who has widely deployed his U.S.-trained and equipped military throughout the country not to use force against peaceful popular outcry against the election theft.
"Speaking Truth To Empower."
Wednesday, 23 February 2011
US congratulates President Museveni
FIRST READ:
How Quickly Will U.S., Museveni "ally", Endorse Uganda's Bogus Presidential "Elections"?
http://watchmanafrica.blogspot.com/2011/02/how-quickly-will-us-museveni-ally.html
Rigging a Rigged Election!!
http://watchmanafrica.blogspot.com/2010/11/rigging-rigged-election-situating.html
US congratulates President Museveni
http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/12/747391
Wednesday, 23rd February, 2011
E-mail article E-mail article Print article Print article
By David Mugabe
THE US Government has congratulated President Yoweri Museveni on his new five-year mandate in the just ended February 18 polls.
A statement from the US department of state sent through the embassy in Kampala on Wednesday and signed by Philip Crowley, the US assistant secretary of state for public affairs, noted that the elections and campaign period were generally peaceful.
The US government also advised all participants in the elections to accept the official results declared by the electoral body and refrain from acts of violence and channel grievances through Uganda’s independent Judiciary.
But the US voiced concern over what they described as “diversion of government resources for partisan campaigning and the heavy deployment of security forces on election day.” “We are also disappointed by the disorganisation at polling stations and the absence of many registered voters’ names from the voter rolls. These irregularities could have been avoided by appointing an independent and more representative Electoral Commission,” read the statement.
The US further recommended that appropriate reforms be undertaken especially by putting in place an independent Electoral Commission that will strengthen the country’s commitment to multiparty democracy and human rights for the next generation of Ugandan citizens.
“Democracy requires commitment at all levels of government and society to the rule of law, freedom of speech and assembly, independent media, and active civil society,” said Colley.
Recently, South African president, Jacob Zuma, also congratulated Museveni on his re-election.
ALSO SEE;
CHRISTIANS IN AFRICA: AWAKE!
America and the American Church Are Not Your Friends
http://www.antipasministries.com/html/file0000234.htm
THE THIRD WORLD AS A MODEL FOR THE NEW WORLD ORDER
http://www.antipasministries.com/html/file0000156.htm
AFRICOM Year Two: Seizing The Helm Of Africa
http://www.antipasministries.com/other/article026.htm
The US Sponsored "Rwanda Genocide" and its Aftermath
Psychological Warfare, Embedded Reporters and the Hunting of Refugees
http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=8657
Darfurism, Uganda and the U.S. War in Africa The Spectre of Continental Genocide
http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=7311
US speaks out on 2011 Uganda Presidential elections
http://www.monitor.co.ug/SpecialReports/Elections/-/859108/1113094/-/k31s6n/-/index.html
By Benon Herbert Oluka
Posted Wednesday, February 23 2011 at 12:08
The United States government has spoken out on Uganda’s general elections, saying it is disappointed by the diversion of government resources for partisan campaigns, the heavy deployment of security on Election Day and other electoral irregularities.
However, according to the statement by the US Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs, Philip J. Crowley, the US considers the general election held on February 18 and the campaign period that preceded it to have been generally peaceful.
“The elections and campaign period were generally peaceful, but we note with concern the diversion of government resources for partisan campaigning and the heavy deployment of security forces on Election Day,” says the statement. “We are also disappointed by the disorganisation at polling stations and the absence of many registered voters’ names from the voter rolls, irregularities that could have been avoided by appointing an independent and more representative Electoral Commission.”
The US has however urged all participants in the electoral process to abide by the official results, refrain from violence, and channel grievances through the country’s independent judiciary.
“Democracy requires commitment at all levels of government and society to the rule of law, freedom of speech and assembly, independent media, and active civil society,” says the statement. “We urge the Ugandan government to undertake the electoral and administrative reforms that will substantially improve future elections and will strengthen the country's commitment to multiparty democracy and human rights for the next generation of Ugandan citizens.”
THE FULL STATEMENT
Statement by Philip Crowley, US assistance secretary of state for Public Affairs, on Uganda’s February 18 presidential and parliamentary elections:
The United States applauds the people of Uganda for their participation in the February 18 presidential and parliamentary elections and congratulates President Yoweri Museveni on his reelection.
The elections and campaign period were generally peaceful, but we note with concern the diversion of government resources for partisan campaigning and the heavy deployment of security forces on Election Day.
We are also disappointed by the disorganization at polling stations and the absence of many registered voters’ names from the voter rolls, irregularities that could have been avoided by appointing an independent and more representative Electoral Commission.
Nevertheless, we urge all participants to abide by the official results, refrain from violence, and channel grievances through Uganda’s independent judiciary.
Democracy requires commitment at all levels of government and society to the rule of law, freedom of speech and assembly, independent media, and active civil society.
We urge the Ugandan government to undertake the electoral and administrative reforms that will substantially improve future elections and will strengthen the country's commitment to multiparty democracy and human rights for the next generation of Ugandan citizens.
How Quickly Will U.S., Museveni "ally", Endorse Uganda's Bogus Presidential "Elections"?
http://watchmanafrica.blogspot.com/2011/02/how-quickly-will-us-museveni-ally.html
Rigging a Rigged Election!!
http://watchmanafrica.blogspot.com/2010/11/rigging-rigged-election-situating.html
US congratulates President Museveni
http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/12/747391
Wednesday, 23rd February, 2011
E-mail article E-mail article Print article Print article
By David Mugabe
THE US Government has congratulated President Yoweri Museveni on his new five-year mandate in the just ended February 18 polls.
A statement from the US department of state sent through the embassy in Kampala on Wednesday and signed by Philip Crowley, the US assistant secretary of state for public affairs, noted that the elections and campaign period were generally peaceful.
The US government also advised all participants in the elections to accept the official results declared by the electoral body and refrain from acts of violence and channel grievances through Uganda’s independent Judiciary.
But the US voiced concern over what they described as “diversion of government resources for partisan campaigning and the heavy deployment of security forces on election day.” “We are also disappointed by the disorganisation at polling stations and the absence of many registered voters’ names from the voter rolls. These irregularities could have been avoided by appointing an independent and more representative Electoral Commission,” read the statement.
The US further recommended that appropriate reforms be undertaken especially by putting in place an independent Electoral Commission that will strengthen the country’s commitment to multiparty democracy and human rights for the next generation of Ugandan citizens.
“Democracy requires commitment at all levels of government and society to the rule of law, freedom of speech and assembly, independent media, and active civil society,” said Colley.
Recently, South African president, Jacob Zuma, also congratulated Museveni on his re-election.
ALSO SEE;
CHRISTIANS IN AFRICA: AWAKE!
America and the American Church Are Not Your Friends
http://www.antipasministries.com/html/file0000234.htm
THE THIRD WORLD AS A MODEL FOR THE NEW WORLD ORDER
http://www.antipasministries.com/html/file0000156.htm
AFRICOM Year Two: Seizing The Helm Of Africa
http://www.antipasministries.com/other/article026.htm
The US Sponsored "Rwanda Genocide" and its Aftermath
Psychological Warfare, Embedded Reporters and the Hunting of Refugees
http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=8657
Darfurism, Uganda and the U.S. War in Africa The Spectre of Continental Genocide
http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=7311
US speaks out on 2011 Uganda Presidential elections
http://www.monitor.co.ug/SpecialReports/Elections/-/859108/1113094/-/k31s6n/-/index.html
By Benon Herbert Oluka
Posted Wednesday, February 23 2011 at 12:08
The United States government has spoken out on Uganda’s general elections, saying it is disappointed by the diversion of government resources for partisan campaigns, the heavy deployment of security on Election Day and other electoral irregularities.
However, according to the statement by the US Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs, Philip J. Crowley, the US considers the general election held on February 18 and the campaign period that preceded it to have been generally peaceful.
“The elections and campaign period were generally peaceful, but we note with concern the diversion of government resources for partisan campaigning and the heavy deployment of security forces on Election Day,” says the statement. “We are also disappointed by the disorganisation at polling stations and the absence of many registered voters’ names from the voter rolls, irregularities that could have been avoided by appointing an independent and more representative Electoral Commission.”
The US has however urged all participants in the electoral process to abide by the official results, refrain from violence, and channel grievances through the country’s independent judiciary.
“Democracy requires commitment at all levels of government and society to the rule of law, freedom of speech and assembly, independent media, and active civil society,” says the statement. “We urge the Ugandan government to undertake the electoral and administrative reforms that will substantially improve future elections and will strengthen the country's commitment to multiparty democracy and human rights for the next generation of Ugandan citizens.”
THE FULL STATEMENT
Statement by Philip Crowley, US assistance secretary of state for Public Affairs, on Uganda’s February 18 presidential and parliamentary elections:
The United States applauds the people of Uganda for their participation in the February 18 presidential and parliamentary elections and congratulates President Yoweri Museveni on his reelection.
The elections and campaign period were generally peaceful, but we note with concern the diversion of government resources for partisan campaigning and the heavy deployment of security forces on Election Day.
We are also disappointed by the disorganization at polling stations and the absence of many registered voters’ names from the voter rolls, irregularities that could have been avoided by appointing an independent and more representative Electoral Commission.
Nevertheless, we urge all participants to abide by the official results, refrain from violence, and channel grievances through Uganda’s independent judiciary.
Democracy requires commitment at all levels of government and society to the rule of law, freedom of speech and assembly, independent media, and active civil society.
We urge the Ugandan government to undertake the electoral and administrative reforms that will substantially improve future elections and will strengthen the country's commitment to multiparty democracy and human rights for the next generation of Ugandan citizens.
Monday, 21 February 2011
How Quickly Will U.S., Museveni "ally", Endorse Uganda's Bogus Presidential "Elections"?
FIRST READ:Rigging a Rigged Election!!
http://watchmanafrica.blogspot.com/2010/11/rigging-rigged-election-situating.html
How Quickly Will U.S., Museveni "ally", Endorse Uganda's Bogus Presidential "Elections"?
http://www.blackstarnews.com/news/135/ARTICLE/7134/2011-02-20.html
U.S.-backed Gen. Museveni--will dead voters and ghost voters send him back to State House for another five years?
Uganda Vote 2011: Dead And Ghost Voters Propel Incumbent
The Ugandan presidential election of February 18 are living up to the predictions of incumbent dictator Gen. Yoweri K. Museveni and his critics--that the president would "win."
The key question is whether major Western countries that have sustained Museveni's dictatorship, the U.S. and the U.K., will endorse these sham elections, where the president was openly bribing voters and whose operatives were reportedly stuffing ballot boxes on Friday. Local newspapers in Uganda did an exemplary job documenting the corruption. Foreign newspapers, such as The New York Times undermined their efforts when the Times correspondent, Jeffrey Gettleman, whose articles occasionally reads like press releases from Gen. Museveni, made references, in passing, in two stories, that the general was "expected to win"; thereby endorsing the theft.
Ethically and professionally corrupted journalism at its worse.
Opposition leaders Dr. Kizza Besigye of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) and Olara Otunnu of the Uganda People's Congress (UPC), have already rejected the outcome of the vote. Dr. Besigye in a news conference denounced what he called "massive rigging" on an unprecedented scale. Ironically, in 1980, Museveni himself went to the bush to launch his insurgency after those elections were allegedly rigged.
For several months now the opposition had denounced the process leading towards the election, including the composition of the Election Commission, which was hand-picked by Gen. Museveni. The opposition parties --primarily the FDC, the UPC and the Democratic Party (DP)--insisted that Gen. Museveni would rig the elections. Yesterday, on the day of the vote, the FDC was able to produce intercepted ballots that had already been checked off for Gen. Museveni and were being transported to an election center for stuffing.
Also yesterday information relayed from a source close to the presidency was provided to The Black Star stating that a command center for rigging the outcome of the election had been established by the government and that it was operating and would award Gen. Museveni 67.2% of the vote. In a September 25, 2010 interview with The Black Star News, a Uganda government minister Henry Oryem Okello "predicted" that Gen. Museveni would win by 62%.
With 78% of the polling stations reporting results, Gen. Museveni is being given 68.7% of the provisional results, the FDC's Dr. Besigye 25.4%, the UPC's Olara Otunnu 1.8%, DP's Norbert Mao 2%, with the balance distributed among other minor candidates.
Both the FDC and UPC are expected to challenge the validity of the Uganda elections in court. In 2006, Dr. Besigye's court challenge after elections he claimed were also stolen almost prevailed; the Supreme Court voted narrowly 4-3 against nullifying the results.
Days before the Friday voting for Election 2011 started, a major monitoring group in Uganda, the Democracy Monitoring Group (DEMGroup) issued a report essentially repudiating the voters' register. According to DEMGroup, there were: 139,541 dead people listed on the National Voters Register; there were more than half a million "unknown people"; 1.9 million people had changed their locations; 418,623 registered voters were foreigners ineligible to vote; 5,000 registered voters were 100-years old or older; and 4,629 voters had the same name and birthdate, and the same polling station.
Earlier, a Ugandan based in London also found his name on the voters list and wondered whom "he" would vote for.
The United States has been a major financial and military backer of Gen. Museveni's 25-years of dictatorship on Uganda, in recent years because he's provided troops to help prop up the U.S. installed government in Somalia. Yet last year, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who was directed by the U.S. Congress to monitor the Uganda elections, denounced the composition of the Election Commission. In a report to Congress Clinton wrote that the "exclusion of key stakeholders from the appointment process compromised the Commision's independence and will damage the credibility of the 2011 electoral process."
There were several troubling developments prior to the elections: The opposition parties brought several cases before the courts, challenging the integrity of the electoral process due to inflated voter's register, ghost polling stations, millions of voters allowed to vote without voter's ID, bribery, and violence. All the cases were rejected by the court, indicating that the judiciary is not independent.
Both UPC and FDC have indicated that they willl go to the court to challenge these results. Let's see what Secretary Clinton says this time. Under the Congressional directive, she is to produce a mandated report 30 days after the election, which is March 18. The US played a major role in getting Nigeria to change its electoral commission but did not act similarly with respect to Uganda.
The outcome of these bogus Uganda presidential elections had already been pre-determined by Gen. Museveni and his hand-picked Election Commission. Now the question is, which countries or major international organizations will endorse these bogus elections and potential legitimize and impose five more years of dictatorship on Ugandans?
"Speaking Truth To Empower."
CHECK OUT THIS FOOLISH COMMENT TO THE ABOVE ARTICLE FROM AN AMERICAN WHO IS VERY ANGRY ABOUT WHAT IS BEING EXPOSED
Date: February 20th, 2011
Name: Mike Croslow
Subject: Your Bias
Comment: As an American living in Uganda for more than 20 years, I find the tone of your article inflammatory, and obviously based on information and sources biased against the present government of Uganda. Your article is an oversimplification and neglects key factors. My guess is none of your writers has spent more than a few days in Uganda, if that. In my view, your understanding of Africa and African politics is sadly lacking. Desiring change for the sake of change is is immature and foolhardy.
Editor's Note: Is it safe to assume you're an apologist for the dictator?
SEE RIDICULOUS ARTICLE FROM THE GUARDIAN
and unlike other african leaders who have enjoyed similarly long stays in power, museveni has not helped himself to vast chunks of the country's wealth.
Ugandan leader wins presidential election rejected as fraudulent by opposition
Incumbent Yoweri Museveni wins more than two-thirds of votes, with nearest challenger Kizza Besigye on 26%
Xan Rice in Nairobi
guardian.co.uk, Sunday 20 February 2011 15.36 GMT
Ugandan leader wins presidential election rejected as fraudulent by opposition
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/feb/20/ugandan-leader-wins-presidential-election
Incumbent Yoweri Museveni wins more than two-thirds of votes, with nearest challenger Kizza Besigye on 26%
Xan Rice in Nairobi
guardian.co.uk, Sunday 20 February 2011 15.36 GMT
Uganda's leader, Yoweri Museveni, has won more than two-thirds of the votes in a presidential election rejected by the opposition as fraudulent.
With nearly all the ballots counted, Museveni had 68% of the vote, according the country's electoral commission. His nearest challenger, Kizza Besigye, won 26%.
The result represents a strong reversal of the trend of declining victory margins for Museveni, and will raise questions over the fairness of the election process.
Besigye immediately rejected the results, accusing Museveni of spending huge amounts of taxpayers' money on his campaign and bribing voters, candidates and electoral officials.
"An election conducted in this environment cannot reflect the will of the people. We therefore ... reject the outcome of the election and reject the leadership of Mr Yoweri Museveni," he told a news conference in the capital, Kampala.
The Commonwealth Observer Group, which monitored the poll, also expressed concern about "the lack of a level playing field, the use of money and abuse of incumbency in the process".
Besigye, who was Museveni's personal physician during the bush war that brought him to power in 1986 and was also his main opponent in the last two elections, had pledged not to go to court to challenge the result this time.
Instead, he said it would be up to his supporters to mount street demonstrations, although there have been no signs of this happening yet.
Museveni has warned that anti-government protests will not be tolerated, and there is a heavy police presence in Kampala.
The election result means he is on track to serve as president for 30 years and possibly longer, because he has given no hints about retiring since coercing parliament to scrap term limits.
There is no doubt that Museveni still enjoys a level of genuine support across Uganda, especially in rural areas and among older voters for whom the stability he has brought to the country trumps all other considerations.
and unlike other african leaders who have enjoyed similarly long stays in power, museveni has not helped himself to vast chunks of the country's wealth.
But his refusal to even groom a successor, along with increasing levels of youth unemployment and fast-declining public services, has left many Ugandans eager for change.
Between 1996 and 2006, Museveni's share of the vote declined from 75% to 59%. But this result means he is now back at around the level of support he enjoyed in 2001, as is Besigye.
Apathy among opposition voters who do not believe elections can be fair may have played a role – voter turnout was less than 60%, down from around 70% in the past three elections.
In its initial findings, the Commonwealth Observer Group criticised the "commercialisation of politics" in Uganda, and singled out Museveni's party for blame.
"The magnitude of resources that was deployed by the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM), its huge level of funding and overwhelming advantage of incumbency, once again challenged the notion of a level playing field in the entire process," Dame Billie Miller, the head of the observer group, said.
http://watchmanafrica.blogspot.com/2010/11/rigging-rigged-election-situating.html
How Quickly Will U.S., Museveni "ally", Endorse Uganda's Bogus Presidential "Elections"?
http://www.blackstarnews.com/news/135/ARTICLE/7134/2011-02-20.html
U.S.-backed Gen. Museveni--will dead voters and ghost voters send him back to State House for another five years?
Uganda Vote 2011: Dead And Ghost Voters Propel Incumbent
The Ugandan presidential election of February 18 are living up to the predictions of incumbent dictator Gen. Yoweri K. Museveni and his critics--that the president would "win."
The key question is whether major Western countries that have sustained Museveni's dictatorship, the U.S. and the U.K., will endorse these sham elections, where the president was openly bribing voters and whose operatives were reportedly stuffing ballot boxes on Friday. Local newspapers in Uganda did an exemplary job documenting the corruption. Foreign newspapers, such as The New York Times undermined their efforts when the Times correspondent, Jeffrey Gettleman, whose articles occasionally reads like press releases from Gen. Museveni, made references, in passing, in two stories, that the general was "expected to win"; thereby endorsing the theft.
Ethically and professionally corrupted journalism at its worse.
Opposition leaders Dr. Kizza Besigye of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) and Olara Otunnu of the Uganda People's Congress (UPC), have already rejected the outcome of the vote. Dr. Besigye in a news conference denounced what he called "massive rigging" on an unprecedented scale. Ironically, in 1980, Museveni himself went to the bush to launch his insurgency after those elections were allegedly rigged.
For several months now the opposition had denounced the process leading towards the election, including the composition of the Election Commission, which was hand-picked by Gen. Museveni. The opposition parties --primarily the FDC, the UPC and the Democratic Party (DP)--insisted that Gen. Museveni would rig the elections. Yesterday, on the day of the vote, the FDC was able to produce intercepted ballots that had already been checked off for Gen. Museveni and were being transported to an election center for stuffing.
Also yesterday information relayed from a source close to the presidency was provided to The Black Star stating that a command center for rigging the outcome of the election had been established by the government and that it was operating and would award Gen. Museveni 67.2% of the vote. In a September 25, 2010 interview with The Black Star News, a Uganda government minister Henry Oryem Okello "predicted" that Gen. Museveni would win by 62%.
With 78% of the polling stations reporting results, Gen. Museveni is being given 68.7% of the provisional results, the FDC's Dr. Besigye 25.4%, the UPC's Olara Otunnu 1.8%, DP's Norbert Mao 2%, with the balance distributed among other minor candidates.
Both the FDC and UPC are expected to challenge the validity of the Uganda elections in court. In 2006, Dr. Besigye's court challenge after elections he claimed were also stolen almost prevailed; the Supreme Court voted narrowly 4-3 against nullifying the results.
Days before the Friday voting for Election 2011 started, a major monitoring group in Uganda, the Democracy Monitoring Group (DEMGroup) issued a report essentially repudiating the voters' register. According to DEMGroup, there were: 139,541 dead people listed on the National Voters Register; there were more than half a million "unknown people"; 1.9 million people had changed their locations; 418,623 registered voters were foreigners ineligible to vote; 5,000 registered voters were 100-years old or older; and 4,629 voters had the same name and birthdate, and the same polling station.
Earlier, a Ugandan based in London also found his name on the voters list and wondered whom "he" would vote for.
The United States has been a major financial and military backer of Gen. Museveni's 25-years of dictatorship on Uganda, in recent years because he's provided troops to help prop up the U.S. installed government in Somalia. Yet last year, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who was directed by the U.S. Congress to monitor the Uganda elections, denounced the composition of the Election Commission. In a report to Congress Clinton wrote that the "exclusion of key stakeholders from the appointment process compromised the Commision's independence and will damage the credibility of the 2011 electoral process."
There were several troubling developments prior to the elections: The opposition parties brought several cases before the courts, challenging the integrity of the electoral process due to inflated voter's register, ghost polling stations, millions of voters allowed to vote without voter's ID, bribery, and violence. All the cases were rejected by the court, indicating that the judiciary is not independent.
Both UPC and FDC have indicated that they willl go to the court to challenge these results. Let's see what Secretary Clinton says this time. Under the Congressional directive, she is to produce a mandated report 30 days after the election, which is March 18. The US played a major role in getting Nigeria to change its electoral commission but did not act similarly with respect to Uganda.
The outcome of these bogus Uganda presidential elections had already been pre-determined by Gen. Museveni and his hand-picked Election Commission. Now the question is, which countries or major international organizations will endorse these bogus elections and potential legitimize and impose five more years of dictatorship on Ugandans?
"Speaking Truth To Empower."
CHECK OUT THIS FOOLISH COMMENT TO THE ABOVE ARTICLE FROM AN AMERICAN WHO IS VERY ANGRY ABOUT WHAT IS BEING EXPOSED
Date: February 20th, 2011
Name: Mike Croslow
Subject: Your Bias
Comment: As an American living in Uganda for more than 20 years, I find the tone of your article inflammatory, and obviously based on information and sources biased against the present government of Uganda. Your article is an oversimplification and neglects key factors. My guess is none of your writers has spent more than a few days in Uganda, if that. In my view, your understanding of Africa and African politics is sadly lacking. Desiring change for the sake of change is is immature and foolhardy.
Editor's Note: Is it safe to assume you're an apologist for the dictator?
SEE RIDICULOUS ARTICLE FROM THE GUARDIAN
and unlike other african leaders who have enjoyed similarly long stays in power, museveni has not helped himself to vast chunks of the country's wealth.
Ugandan leader wins presidential election rejected as fraudulent by opposition
Incumbent Yoweri Museveni wins more than two-thirds of votes, with nearest challenger Kizza Besigye on 26%
Xan Rice in Nairobi
guardian.co.uk, Sunday 20 February 2011 15.36 GMT
Ugandan leader wins presidential election rejected as fraudulent by opposition
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/feb/20/ugandan-leader-wins-presidential-election
Incumbent Yoweri Museveni wins more than two-thirds of votes, with nearest challenger Kizza Besigye on 26%
Xan Rice in Nairobi
guardian.co.uk, Sunday 20 February 2011 15.36 GMT
Uganda's leader, Yoweri Museveni, has won more than two-thirds of the votes in a presidential election rejected by the opposition as fraudulent.
With nearly all the ballots counted, Museveni had 68% of the vote, according the country's electoral commission. His nearest challenger, Kizza Besigye, won 26%.
The result represents a strong reversal of the trend of declining victory margins for Museveni, and will raise questions over the fairness of the election process.
Besigye immediately rejected the results, accusing Museveni of spending huge amounts of taxpayers' money on his campaign and bribing voters, candidates and electoral officials.
"An election conducted in this environment cannot reflect the will of the people. We therefore ... reject the outcome of the election and reject the leadership of Mr Yoweri Museveni," he told a news conference in the capital, Kampala.
The Commonwealth Observer Group, which monitored the poll, also expressed concern about "the lack of a level playing field, the use of money and abuse of incumbency in the process".
Besigye, who was Museveni's personal physician during the bush war that brought him to power in 1986 and was also his main opponent in the last two elections, had pledged not to go to court to challenge the result this time.
Instead, he said it would be up to his supporters to mount street demonstrations, although there have been no signs of this happening yet.
Museveni has warned that anti-government protests will not be tolerated, and there is a heavy police presence in Kampala.
The election result means he is on track to serve as president for 30 years and possibly longer, because he has given no hints about retiring since coercing parliament to scrap term limits.
There is no doubt that Museveni still enjoys a level of genuine support across Uganda, especially in rural areas and among older voters for whom the stability he has brought to the country trumps all other considerations.
and unlike other african leaders who have enjoyed similarly long stays in power, museveni has not helped himself to vast chunks of the country's wealth.
But his refusal to even groom a successor, along with increasing levels of youth unemployment and fast-declining public services, has left many Ugandans eager for change.
Between 1996 and 2006, Museveni's share of the vote declined from 75% to 59%. But this result means he is now back at around the level of support he enjoyed in 2001, as is Besigye.
Apathy among opposition voters who do not believe elections can be fair may have played a role – voter turnout was less than 60%, down from around 70% in the past three elections.
In its initial findings, the Commonwealth Observer Group criticised the "commercialisation of politics" in Uganda, and singled out Museveni's party for blame.
"The magnitude of resources that was deployed by the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM), its huge level of funding and overwhelming advantage of incumbency, once again challenged the notion of a level playing field in the entire process," Dame Billie Miller, the head of the observer group, said.
Thursday, 17 February 2011
Matembe Attacks Museveni For Associating With Traditional Healers
Matembe Attacks Museveni For Associating With Traditional Healers
http://www.simba.fm/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2140:matembe-attacks-museveni-for-associating-with-traditional-healers&catid=1:latest-news
Written by Aisha Nakawoya Tuesday, 15 February 2011 19:31
Former Ethics and Integrity Minister Miuria Matembe has attacked President Yoweri Museveni for associating with traditional healers in disguising to be praying for him to win the forth coming election.
President Museveni on Sunday met with several traditional healers in Nambole national stadium who engaged him in spiritual acts that will enable them win the elections with 85%.
Matembe says the country is only run on one God the almighty and says what president Museveni did was evil
ALSO SEE
Why Museveni will win 4th term
http://www.monitor.co.ug/OpEd/OpEdColumnists/EmmanuelGyezaho/-/878670/1106850/-/v8w1adz/-/
President Museveni Performs Satanic Ritual
http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/58/60/527983/Museveni%20in%20Sudan
President Museveni bathes in Prophet Kakande’s well- HOLY WATER???????????????????????
He wanted to win the election...
http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/58/60/495375/NABBI%20Samuel%20Kakande
Ugandan Evangelicals, Ssabalokole, and the Future
http://www.yesumulungi.com/index.php/commentaries/375-buganda-crisis-ugandan-evangelicals-ssabalokole-and-the-future.html
Museveni prays with Pentecostals
http://www.yesumulungi.com/index.php/apostasy-watch/276-response-to-mwambutsya-ndebesa.html
‘Waakiri okufa naye nga tetulese mmere’
Wednesday, 16 February 2011 19:02
http://www.bukedde.co.ug/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=35981:waakiri-okufa-naye-nga-tetulese-mmere&catid=34:kasalabecca&Itemid=583
ABASAWO b’ekinnansi abaakung’aanidde e Namboole okusisinkana pulezidenti baasikang’anye ebitogi nga balwanira ssente n’emmere ebyabadde bibaweebwa.
Ssente zino zaabadde za ntambula ebazza buli omu gye yavudde wabula obuzibu ne buva mu ngabana nga buli omu ayagala basooke kuwa ye ekyabaleetedde okweyuza engoye. Ebyo byabadde bikyali bityo ate ne wabaawo eyabaleetedde omuceere.
Bakira buli omu aleeta akaveera ne bamuteeramu omuceere era abamu baalabye bino bibalwisa kwe kugwa mu ntamu si kulwa nga bafikka.
http://www.simba.fm/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2140:matembe-attacks-museveni-for-associating-with-traditional-healers&catid=1:latest-news
Written by Aisha Nakawoya Tuesday, 15 February 2011 19:31
Former Ethics and Integrity Minister Miuria Matembe has attacked President Yoweri Museveni for associating with traditional healers in disguising to be praying for him to win the forth coming election.
President Museveni on Sunday met with several traditional healers in Nambole national stadium who engaged him in spiritual acts that will enable them win the elections with 85%.
Matembe says the country is only run on one God the almighty and says what president Museveni did was evil
ALSO SEE
Why Museveni will win 4th term
http://www.monitor.co.ug/OpEd/OpEdColumnists/EmmanuelGyezaho/-/878670/1106850/-/v8w1adz/-/
President Museveni Performs Satanic Ritual
http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/58/60/527983/Museveni%20in%20Sudan
President Museveni bathes in Prophet Kakande’s well- HOLY WATER???????????????????????
He wanted to win the election...
http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/58/60/495375/NABBI%20Samuel%20Kakande
Ugandan Evangelicals, Ssabalokole, and the Future
http://www.yesumulungi.com/index.php/commentaries/375-buganda-crisis-ugandan-evangelicals-ssabalokole-and-the-future.html
Museveni prays with Pentecostals
http://www.yesumulungi.com/index.php/apostasy-watch/276-response-to-mwambutsya-ndebesa.html
‘Waakiri okufa naye nga tetulese mmere’
Wednesday, 16 February 2011 19:02
http://www.bukedde.co.ug/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=35981:waakiri-okufa-naye-nga-tetulese-mmere&catid=34:kasalabecca&Itemid=583
ABASAWO b’ekinnansi abaakung’aanidde e Namboole okusisinkana pulezidenti baasikang’anye ebitogi nga balwanira ssente n’emmere ebyabadde bibaweebwa.
Ssente zino zaabadde za ntambula ebazza buli omu gye yavudde wabula obuzibu ne buva mu ngabana nga buli omu ayagala basooke kuwa ye ekyabaleetedde okweyuza engoye. Ebyo byabadde bikyali bityo ate ne wabaawo eyabaleetedde omuceere.
Bakira buli omu aleeta akaveera ne bamuteeramu omuceere era abamu baalabye bino bibalwisa kwe kugwa mu ntamu si kulwa nga bafikka.
Museveni courts cult, witch doctors and religious heads
Museveni courts cult, witch doctors and religious heads
http://www.observer.ug/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=12201&Itemid=59Written by Shifa Mwesigye
Thursday, 17 February 2011 04:25
He removes his grey hat, closes his eyes and bows his head, humbling himself before Archbishop Henry Luke Orombi of the Anglican Church of Uganda, who asks God for the President’s protection ahead of tomorrow’s election and its aftermath.
President Yoweri Museveni is deeply immersed in the prayer and if the Holy Spirit came at that point, he would be the first to be thrown off balance. Yet a few hours earlier, Museveni had sat in Mandela National Stadium Namboole where he prayed with traditional healers who predicted a landslide victory for him.
“The spirits have told us you will win by 87%,” Patrick Mudungu, vice president of the Traditional Healers Association, told him.
Sitting in the pavilion surrounded by his security detail, Museveni smiled at the traditional healer who looked like he was about to be possessed by demons. His display of undying love for Museveni was resounded in the stadium as another traditional healer thanked the President for his support to their work.
Two days before that meet, Museveni had sat at Nakivubo Blue in the heart of Kampala, with the faction of the Muslim community headed by Sheikh Zubair Kayongo, seeking their prayers, blessing and support.
Such has been the President’s schedule in the last two weeks, as he winds up his campaigns for a fourth term. He has been meeting religious leaders, firmly aware of the command they have over their flock.
According to the 2002 population census, the majority of Ugandans are Christians, with 41% Catholic and 35% Anglican. Muslims, at the time, accounted for 12% of the population, while the rest practise other beliefs.
Praying with Muslims
On Idd day, while in Arua Municipality – a largely Muslim community – Museveni joined the Muslims for prayers. A photograph was carried on the front page of a daily newspaper of a barefoot Museveni seated on the front row, his legs stretched out. Beside him was Kampala Mayor Nasser Ntege Sebaggala.
This picture painted him at par with the Muslims, whom he promised a mosque.
“Your leader has just told me about the need for a bigger mosque and that there are 34,000 Muslims in Arua municipality. If all these had a source of income, they would build the mosque themselves.”
Gives back land
Museveni is familiar with the icy relations within the Muslim community over their land and other property. The community has, for the last three years, been fighting over ownership of property, accusing the Mufti, Sheikh Ramadhan Mubajje and Dr Edris Kasenene of illegally selling Uganda Muslim Supreme Council property to businessman Hassan Basajjabalaba.
This property includes Plots 102 and 30 on William Street and Plot 12-16 on Port Bell road. Basajjabalaba later sold Plot 30 to Drake Lubega. During the wrangles in 2008 and 2009, Museveni was reported to support the Mubajje faction, leading to the election of Mufti Sheikh Zubair Kayongo by the differing faction.
Now that elections are here, Museveni, who already had the Mubajje group in his grip, is playing ping pong between the two factions. He told the Kayongo faction during the meeting in Nakivubo last Friday that government will pay city businessman Lubega for the Muslim land he acquired on William Street so he hands it back.
“You were going to see blood spilling over this land; for us Muslims we do not joke about our property. We are happy that you have returned the property to us,” one said.
Seeking voodoo luck
Last Sunday, Museveni met traditional healers in their thousands in Namboole as leaders of the Inter-Religious Council of Uganda (IRCU) waited for him at Kololo Airstrip, where they had organised the National Peace Rally and Prayer for the 2011 General Elections.
When the MC at Namboole asked LC chairpersons who are also traditional healers to stand up, half of the crowd sprang up. The healers asked the President for a car for their chairman, an office building and a ministry because they are unaware of which ministry they belong to; Health or Culture.
They also told him that the Constitution should be amended so that they are not referred to as witch doctors, but traditional healers. Museveni promised to look into their grievances after the election because if he granted their wishes then, it would be seen as a bribe.
Museveni’s indirect call to the traditional leaders to show him support if they want their demands fulfilled was loud and clear. They sat him on a chair and handed him a drum, which he beat. He left Namboole a happy man as he headed for the prayer service at Kololo.
Calling on God
At Kololo, the function, scheduled to have started at 12:30 pm, began at 5pm when Museveni arrived. All the other presidential candidates, although represented, were conspicuously absent.
“Reject corrupt leaders whose actions deprive the poor. I urge security agencies to be calm and not overreact. These children too need employment, education and a good environment. Forgive your tormentors, don’t plan revenge, restrain from violence,” said Jonah Lwanga, the Archbishop of the Orthodox Church.
While the IRCU leaders might not have directed their message and prayers to any particular candidate, Museveni expects a more open message supporting his candidature, like the Muslims and traditional healers have done.
Courting cult leader
When he moved through western Uganda much earlier, a sizeable number of barefoot women and men dressed in white were seen heading to his rallies. These were the followers of a cult leader, Desteo Bisaka Owobusobozi, founder of Faith of Unity Church.
At a rally in Mwenge West in Kyenjojo district, Owobusobozi, claiming to be a god, sat on a white plastic chair in the guest tent. While in the past, Museveni had ordered an investigation into Owobusobozi’s work, during the campaigns, he had no trouble associating with the cult leader, given the influence he wields over a sizeable number of people from Kisoro, Kabale, Mbarara, Hoima, Masindi, Kampala and his home district, Kibaale.
With so many prayers and blessing sent his way, Museveni will certainly be smiling his way to the polling station tomorrow.
smwesigye@observer.ug
Monday, 14 February 2011
WHAT'S HAPPENING NOW IN EGYPT REVEALS THE DEPTH TO WHICH THE AMERICAN ELITES USE DEATH SQUADS IN PRESERVING THE AMERICAN EMPIRE
WHAT'S HAPPENING NOW IN EGYPT REVEALS THE DEPTH TO WHICH THE AMERICAN ELITES USE DEATH SQUADS IN PRESERVING THE AMERICAN EMPIRE
[Both the Republican and Democratic Party elites are involved]
http://www.antipasministries.com/other/article122.htm
[Both the Republican and Democratic Party elites are involved]
http://www.antipasministries.com/other/article122.htm
The shaping of a New World Order
The shaping of a New World Order
If the revolutions of 2011 succeed, they will force the creation of a very different regional and world system.
Mark LeVine
http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/02/20112611181593381.html
I remember the images well, even though I was too young to understand their political significance. But they were visceral, those photos in the New York Times from Tehran in the midst of its revolutionary moment in late 1978 and early 1979. Not merely exuberance jumped from the page, but also anger; anger fuelled by an intensity of religious fervour that seemed so alien as to emanate from another planet to a "normal" pre-teen American boy being shown the newspaper by his father over breakfast.
Many commentators are comparing Egypt to Iran of 32 years ago, mostly to warn of the risks of the country descending into some sort of Islamist dictatorship that would tear up the peace treaty with Israel, engage in anti-American policies, and deprive women and minorities of their rights (as if they had so many rights under the Mubarak dictatorship).
I write this on February 2, the precise anniversary of Khomeini's return to Tehran from exile. It's clear that, while religion is a crucial foundation of Egyptian identity and Mubarak's level of corruption and brutality could give the Shah a run for his money, the situations are radically different on the ground.
A most modern and insane revolt
The following description, I believe, sums up what Egypt faces today as well as, if not better, than most:
"It is not a revolution, not in the literal sense of the term, not a way of standing up and straightening things out. It is the insurrection of men with bare hands who want to lift the fearful weight, the weight of the entire world order that bears down on each of us - but more specifically on them, these ... workers and peasants at the frontiers of empires. It is perhaps the first great insurrection against global systems, the form of revolt that is the most modern and the most insane.
One can understand the difficulties facing the politicians. They outline solutions, which are easier to find than people say ... All of them are based on the elimination of the [president]. What is it that the people want? Do they really want nothing more? Everybody is quite aware that they want something completely different. This is why the politicians hesitate to offer them simply that, which is why the situation is at an impasse. Indeed, what place can be given, within the calculations of politics, to such a movement, to a movement through which blows the breath of a religion that speaks less of the hereafter than of the transfiguration of this world?"
The thing is, it was offered not by some astute commentator of the current moment, but rather by the legendary French philosopher Michel Foucault, after his return from Iran, where he witnessed firsthand the intensity of the revolution which, in late 1978, before Khomeini's return, really did seem to herald the dawn of a new era.
Foucault was roundly criticised by many people after Khomeini hijacked the revolution for not seeing the writing on the wall. But the reality was that, in those heady days where the shackles of oppression were literally being shattered, the writing was not on the wall. Foucault understood that it was precisely a form of "insanity" that was necessary to risk everything for freedom, not just against one's government, but against the global system that has nuzzled him in its bosom for so long.
What was clear, however, was that the powers that most supported the Shah, including the US, dawdled on throwing their support behind the masses who were toppling him. While this is by no means the principal reason for Khomeini's successful hijacking of the revolution, it certainly played an important role in the rise of a militantly anti-American government social force, with disastrous results.
While Obama's rhetoric moved more quickly towards the Egyptian people than did President Carter's towards Iranians three decades ago, his refusal to call for Mubarak's immediate resignation raises suspicion that, in the end, the US would be satisfied if Mubarak was able to ride out the protests and engineer a "democratic" transition that left American interests largely intact.
The breath of religion
Foucault was also right to assign such a powerful role to religion in the burgeoning revolutionary moment - and he experienced what he called a "political spirituality", But, of course, religion can be defined in so many ways. The protestant theologian Paul Tillich wonderfully described it as encompassing whatever was of "ultimate concern" to a person or people. And today, clearly, most every Egyptian has gotten religion from this perspective.
So many people, including Egypt's leaders, have used the threat of a Muslim Brotherhood takeover to justify continued dictatorship, with Iran as the historical example to justify such arguments. But the comparison is plagued by historical differences. The Brotherhood has no leader of Khomeini's stature and foreswore violence decades ago. Nor is there a culture of violent martyrdom ready to be actualised by legions of young men, as occurred with the Islamic Revolution. Rather than trying to take over the movement, which clearly would never have been accepted - even if its leaders wanted to seize the moment, the Brotherhood is very much playing catch up with the evolving situation and has so far worked within the rather ad hoc leadership of the protests.
But it is equally clear that religion is a crucial component of the unfolding dynamic. Indeed, perhaps the iconic photo of the revolution is one of throngs of people in Tahrir Square bowed in prayers, literally surrounding a group of tanks sent there to assert the government's authority.
This is a radically different image of Islam than most people - in the Muslim world as much as in the West - are used to seeing: Islam taking on state violence through militant peaceful protest; peaceful jihad (although it is one that has occurred innumerable times around the Muslim world, just at a smaller scale and without the world's press there to capture it).
Such imagery, and its significance, is a natural extension of the symbolism of Mohamed Bouazizi's self-immolation, an act of jihad that profoundly challenges the extroverted violence of the jihadis and militants who for decades, and especially since 9/11, have dominated the public perception of Islam as a form of political spirituality.
Needless to say, the latest images - of civil war inside Tahrir Square - will immediately displace these other images. Moreover, if the violence continues and some Egyptian protesters lose their discipline and start engaging in their own premeditated violence against the regime and its many tentacles, there is little doubt their doing so will be offered as "proof" that the protests are both violent and organised by the Muslim Brotherhood or other "Islamists".
A greater threat than al-Qa'eda
As this dynamic of nonviolent resistance against entrenched regime violence plays out, it is worth noting that so far, Osama bin Laden and his Egyptian deputy, Ayman Al-Zawahiri, have had little - if anything - of substance to say about the revolution in Egypt. What they've failed to ignite with an ideology of a return to a mythical and pure beginning - and a strategy of human bombs, IEDs, and planes turned into missiles - a disciplined, forward-thinking yet amorphous group of young activists and their more experienced comrades, "secular" and "religious" together (to the extent these terms are even relevant anymore), have succeeded in setting a fire with a universal discourse of freedom, democracy and human values - and a strategy of increasingly calibrated chaos aimed at uprooting one of the world's longest serving dictators.
As one chant in Egypt put it succinctly, playing on the longstanding chants of Islamists that "Islam is the solution", with protesters shouting: "Tunisia is the solution."
For those who don't understand why President Obama and his European allies are having such a hard time siding with Egypt's forces of democracy, the reason is that the amalgam of social and political forces behind the revolutions in Tunisia, Egypt today - and who knows where tomorrow - actually constitute a far greater threat to the "global system" al-Qa'eda has pledged to destroy than the jihadis roaming the badlands of Afghanistan, Pakistan, or Yemen.
Mad as hell
Whether Islamist or secularist, any government of "of the people" will turn against the neoliberal economic policies that have enriched regional elites while forcing half or more of the population to live below the $2 per day poverty line. They will refuse to follow the US or Europe's lead in the war on terror if it means the continued large scale presence of foreign troops on the region's soil. They will no longer turn a blind eye, or even support, Israel's occupation and siege across the Occupied Palestinian territories. They will most likely shirk from spending a huge percentage of their national income on bloated militaries and weapons systems that serve to enrich western defence companies and prop up autocratic governments, rather than bringing stability and peace to their countries - and the region as a whole.
They will seek, as China, India and other emerging powers have done, to move the centre of global economic gravity towards their region, whose educated and cheap work forces will further challenge the more expensive but equally stressed workforces of Europe and the United States.
In short, if the revolutions of 2011 succeed, they will force the creation of a very different regional and world system than the one that has dominated the global political economy for decades, especially since the fall of communism.
This system could bring the peace and relative equality that has so long been missing globally - but it will do so in good measure by further eroding the position of the United States and other "developed" or "mature" economies. If Obama, Sarkozy, Merkel and their colleagues don't figure out a way to live with this scenario, while supporting the political and human rights of the peoples of the Middle East and North Africa, they will wind up with an adversary far more cunning and powerful than al-Qa'eda could ever hope to be: more than 300 million newly empowered Arabs who are mad as hell and are not going to take it any more.
Mark LeVine is a professor of history at UC Irvine and senior visiting researcher at the Centre for Middle Eastern Studies at Lund University in Sweden. His most recent books are Heavy Metal Islam (Random House) and Impossible Peace: Israel/Palestine Since 1989 (Zed Books).
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera's editorial policy.
If the revolutions of 2011 succeed, they will force the creation of a very different regional and world system.
Mark LeVine
http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/02/20112611181593381.html
I remember the images well, even though I was too young to understand their political significance. But they were visceral, those photos in the New York Times from Tehran in the midst of its revolutionary moment in late 1978 and early 1979. Not merely exuberance jumped from the page, but also anger; anger fuelled by an intensity of religious fervour that seemed so alien as to emanate from another planet to a "normal" pre-teen American boy being shown the newspaper by his father over breakfast.
Many commentators are comparing Egypt to Iran of 32 years ago, mostly to warn of the risks of the country descending into some sort of Islamist dictatorship that would tear up the peace treaty with Israel, engage in anti-American policies, and deprive women and minorities of their rights (as if they had so many rights under the Mubarak dictatorship).
I write this on February 2, the precise anniversary of Khomeini's return to Tehran from exile. It's clear that, while religion is a crucial foundation of Egyptian identity and Mubarak's level of corruption and brutality could give the Shah a run for his money, the situations are radically different on the ground.
A most modern and insane revolt
The following description, I believe, sums up what Egypt faces today as well as, if not better, than most:
"It is not a revolution, not in the literal sense of the term, not a way of standing up and straightening things out. It is the insurrection of men with bare hands who want to lift the fearful weight, the weight of the entire world order that bears down on each of us - but more specifically on them, these ... workers and peasants at the frontiers of empires. It is perhaps the first great insurrection against global systems, the form of revolt that is the most modern and the most insane.
One can understand the difficulties facing the politicians. They outline solutions, which are easier to find than people say ... All of them are based on the elimination of the [president]. What is it that the people want? Do they really want nothing more? Everybody is quite aware that they want something completely different. This is why the politicians hesitate to offer them simply that, which is why the situation is at an impasse. Indeed, what place can be given, within the calculations of politics, to such a movement, to a movement through which blows the breath of a religion that speaks less of the hereafter than of the transfiguration of this world?"
The thing is, it was offered not by some astute commentator of the current moment, but rather by the legendary French philosopher Michel Foucault, after his return from Iran, where he witnessed firsthand the intensity of the revolution which, in late 1978, before Khomeini's return, really did seem to herald the dawn of a new era.
Foucault was roundly criticised by many people after Khomeini hijacked the revolution for not seeing the writing on the wall. But the reality was that, in those heady days where the shackles of oppression were literally being shattered, the writing was not on the wall. Foucault understood that it was precisely a form of "insanity" that was necessary to risk everything for freedom, not just against one's government, but against the global system that has nuzzled him in its bosom for so long.
What was clear, however, was that the powers that most supported the Shah, including the US, dawdled on throwing their support behind the masses who were toppling him. While this is by no means the principal reason for Khomeini's successful hijacking of the revolution, it certainly played an important role in the rise of a militantly anti-American government social force, with disastrous results.
While Obama's rhetoric moved more quickly towards the Egyptian people than did President Carter's towards Iranians three decades ago, his refusal to call for Mubarak's immediate resignation raises suspicion that, in the end, the US would be satisfied if Mubarak was able to ride out the protests and engineer a "democratic" transition that left American interests largely intact.
The breath of religion
Foucault was also right to assign such a powerful role to religion in the burgeoning revolutionary moment - and he experienced what he called a "political spirituality", But, of course, religion can be defined in so many ways. The protestant theologian Paul Tillich wonderfully described it as encompassing whatever was of "ultimate concern" to a person or people. And today, clearly, most every Egyptian has gotten religion from this perspective.
So many people, including Egypt's leaders, have used the threat of a Muslim Brotherhood takeover to justify continued dictatorship, with Iran as the historical example to justify such arguments. But the comparison is plagued by historical differences. The Brotherhood has no leader of Khomeini's stature and foreswore violence decades ago. Nor is there a culture of violent martyrdom ready to be actualised by legions of young men, as occurred with the Islamic Revolution. Rather than trying to take over the movement, which clearly would never have been accepted - even if its leaders wanted to seize the moment, the Brotherhood is very much playing catch up with the evolving situation and has so far worked within the rather ad hoc leadership of the protests.
But it is equally clear that religion is a crucial component of the unfolding dynamic. Indeed, perhaps the iconic photo of the revolution is one of throngs of people in Tahrir Square bowed in prayers, literally surrounding a group of tanks sent there to assert the government's authority.
This is a radically different image of Islam than most people - in the Muslim world as much as in the West - are used to seeing: Islam taking on state violence through militant peaceful protest; peaceful jihad (although it is one that has occurred innumerable times around the Muslim world, just at a smaller scale and without the world's press there to capture it).
Such imagery, and its significance, is a natural extension of the symbolism of Mohamed Bouazizi's self-immolation, an act of jihad that profoundly challenges the extroverted violence of the jihadis and militants who for decades, and especially since 9/11, have dominated the public perception of Islam as a form of political spirituality.
Needless to say, the latest images - of civil war inside Tahrir Square - will immediately displace these other images. Moreover, if the violence continues and some Egyptian protesters lose their discipline and start engaging in their own premeditated violence against the regime and its many tentacles, there is little doubt their doing so will be offered as "proof" that the protests are both violent and organised by the Muslim Brotherhood or other "Islamists".
A greater threat than al-Qa'eda
As this dynamic of nonviolent resistance against entrenched regime violence plays out, it is worth noting that so far, Osama bin Laden and his Egyptian deputy, Ayman Al-Zawahiri, have had little - if anything - of substance to say about the revolution in Egypt. What they've failed to ignite with an ideology of a return to a mythical and pure beginning - and a strategy of human bombs, IEDs, and planes turned into missiles - a disciplined, forward-thinking yet amorphous group of young activists and their more experienced comrades, "secular" and "religious" together (to the extent these terms are even relevant anymore), have succeeded in setting a fire with a universal discourse of freedom, democracy and human values - and a strategy of increasingly calibrated chaos aimed at uprooting one of the world's longest serving dictators.
As one chant in Egypt put it succinctly, playing on the longstanding chants of Islamists that "Islam is the solution", with protesters shouting: "Tunisia is the solution."
For those who don't understand why President Obama and his European allies are having such a hard time siding with Egypt's forces of democracy, the reason is that the amalgam of social and political forces behind the revolutions in Tunisia, Egypt today - and who knows where tomorrow - actually constitute a far greater threat to the "global system" al-Qa'eda has pledged to destroy than the jihadis roaming the badlands of Afghanistan, Pakistan, or Yemen.
Mad as hell
Whether Islamist or secularist, any government of "of the people" will turn against the neoliberal economic policies that have enriched regional elites while forcing half or more of the population to live below the $2 per day poverty line. They will refuse to follow the US or Europe's lead in the war on terror if it means the continued large scale presence of foreign troops on the region's soil. They will no longer turn a blind eye, or even support, Israel's occupation and siege across the Occupied Palestinian territories. They will most likely shirk from spending a huge percentage of their national income on bloated militaries and weapons systems that serve to enrich western defence companies and prop up autocratic governments, rather than bringing stability and peace to their countries - and the region as a whole.
They will seek, as China, India and other emerging powers have done, to move the centre of global economic gravity towards their region, whose educated and cheap work forces will further challenge the more expensive but equally stressed workforces of Europe and the United States.
In short, if the revolutions of 2011 succeed, they will force the creation of a very different regional and world system than the one that has dominated the global political economy for decades, especially since the fall of communism.
This system could bring the peace and relative equality that has so long been missing globally - but it will do so in good measure by further eroding the position of the United States and other "developed" or "mature" economies. If Obama, Sarkozy, Merkel and their colleagues don't figure out a way to live with this scenario, while supporting the political and human rights of the peoples of the Middle East and North Africa, they will wind up with an adversary far more cunning and powerful than al-Qa'eda could ever hope to be: more than 300 million newly empowered Arabs who are mad as hell and are not going to take it any more.
Mark LeVine is a professor of history at UC Irvine and senior visiting researcher at the Centre for Middle Eastern Studies at Lund University in Sweden. His most recent books are Heavy Metal Islam (Random House) and Impossible Peace: Israel/Palestine Since 1989 (Zed Books).
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera's editorial policy.
Tuesday, 8 February 2011
The GREAT WHORE of Revelation?
FIRST READ: MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT,
THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND
ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH
http://www.antipasministries.com/html/file0000222.htm
The GREAT WHORE of Revelation
by Shaun Willcock
"And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgement of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:
With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.
So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:
And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration." Rev. 17:1-6
In the first century AD, John the apostle was given, by the Lord, an astounding revelation of things which were to take place in the coming centuries. In chapter 17, he describes "the great whore": and the interpretation of this symbolic prophecy has not been left open to conjecture. There is only one institution that has ever fulfilled this prophecy. And the Holy Spirit, in the very same chapter, provides infallible evidence as to which one it is.
Vs.9 says: "And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth."
And vs.18 says: "And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth."
From these two verses, we learn that the "great whore" of this chapter is a great city; in fact, "that great city" – the greatest of them all – which rules over the kings of the earth. And it is a city built on seven mountains (or hills).
Now, as has been well-known for many, many centuries, there is only one city that has always been known as "the city on seven hills" – and that is Rome. And no other city that has ever existed has reigned over the earth as Rome has.
With these facts in mind, we are able to correctly interpret the rest of the chapter. And there is overwhelming evidence that the Great Whore of this chapter is the great religio-political system known as the Roman Catholic "Church".
The implications, of course, are tremendous. If, indeed, the Roman Catholic institution is the Great Whore, then it is an institution utterly abhorred by God; a vile, antichristian institution, a monstrous counterfeit of the true Church of Christ. And the hundreds of millions of souls within it are lost and hell-bound, destitute of the saving grace of God.
Let us, therefore, study the first six verses, in order.
In vs.1, this institution is called a whore. A whore, of course, is a harlot, a prostitute; and from vs.3 we see that a woman is meant. Now, the true Church of Jesus Christ is often described, symbolically, as a woman; but a "chaste virgin" in 2 Cor. 11:2, and as the bride, or wife, of Christ, in Eph. 5:22-33, Rev. 19:7, and Rev. 21:9. The Lord Jesus Christ is described as the Church's "husband", who loved the Church, and gave himself for it, in 2 Cor. 11:2 and Eph. 5:25; "that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish" (Eph. 5:27). The true Church is described as glorious, spotless, holy, without blemish.
In Rev. 17, however, there is another type of woman set before us! This one is a harlot, filthy and vile. That she is set forth as a "woman" means that she is an imitator of the true Church; but she is not chaste, or spotless, or pure – she is a harlot. She may pretend to be a chaste virgin, and externally may appear very beautiful; but she is all filthiness within.
If a "chaste virgin", a spotless bride, is the true Church, then the Great Whore is a FALSE "church": a counterfeit. And as we have seen, it is a false "church", or ecclesiastical institution, that "sits" on seven hills – the city of Rome. There is only ONE institution that fits the description, and that is the Roman Catholic institution. Its description as the Great Whore, alone, would be sufficient to identify it; but there is more. The Lord did not want his people to be in any doubt.
We are told that the Whore "sitteth upon many waters". What are these? Vs.15 tells us: "The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues." For centuries, the Roman Catholic institution has ruled over peoples, multitudes, nations and tongues! It still does to this day: there are now over 900 million Roman Catholics worldwide. And she SITS upon them! She suppresses them, squashes them, suffocates them. She controls all aspects of their lives, from birth to the grave, and even beyond the grave by means of the money she extracts from the relatives of the departed.
But let us go on to vs.2.
Vs.2 says, "With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication". This is spiritual fornication (Jas. 4:4). Ever since the emperor Constantine became the first earthly ruler to "commit fornication" with the Whore, kings and queens and emperors and dictators and other rulers of the earth have been doing so. They have bowed to her authority, worshipped her, served her. That vile religion has fascinated them, mesmerised them, and they have been seduced by her. The history of Europe, and of other parts of the world, is replete with examples of the unholy relations of the Great Whore with worldly rulers – right down to our day!
"And the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication." The Papal institution has committed fornication with the world; it has embraced all manner of evils; it has done this, and the earth's inhabitants have been made spiritually "drunk" on this religious system. NOT ONLY Roman Catholics, but vast numbers of other people, of other religions, have become intoxicated on her wine. And hundreds of millions of "Protestants" are "drunk" on her wine as well! They gaze longingly at her, and desire to be joined to her.
In vs.3, John writes, "So he [the angel] carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness", where he saw this Harlot. Later on, when he is shown the true Church, the Lamb's wife, he writes, "And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain..." (Rev. 21:10). The language is identical, and is meant to show us that what John saw in Rev. 17:3 was the great false "church", the very opposite of the true Church of Jesus Christ, the Lamb, in Rev. 21:10.
The Whore was in a "wilderness". Roman Catholics are, indeed, in a spiritual wilderness. Their spiritual state is desperate. They are not in that place of spiritual rest which true Christians are in. For they have not found rest for their souls in the Lord Jesus Christ (Matt. 11:28-30). They are trusting in their "church", and its sacraments, and Mary, and the so-called "saints", but have not drunk of that living water, which forever quenches one's spiritual thirst (Jn. 4:13,14). They are drinking from a well that never satisfies.
The woman sat "upon a scarlet coloured beast". This is the political power of the Roman Catholic institution. The woman signifies spiritual power, the beast signifies political and military power. History reveals that this system took over the political might of the Roman Empire; controlled the so-called "Holy Roman Empire"; and has sat upon the political powers of Europe ever since. Political and military powers have been harnessed by the Harlot and made to work for her. The two most notable examples this century have been Nazism and Communism. Scarlet, of course, is the colour associated with violence and cruelty and bloodshed; and has also been the "official" colour of various political systems.
"Full of names of blasphemy". This refers to the blasphemous titles given to the popes – "Vicar of Christ"; "God on earth"; "Holy Father"; and many, many others; as well as to the blasphemous doctrines of this system, the titles given to Mary, etc., etc.
"Having seven heads and ten horns". What do these signify? We are not left to wonder. Vs.9, as mentioned previously, declares that the seven heads symbolise seven mountains – and this identifies this system with the city of Rome. As for the ten horns, these are said to be ten "kings", in vs.12. In the fifth century, the Roman Empire collapsed into ten barbarian kingdoms; and these developed into the nations of Europe as we now know them.
Now we come to vs.4: "And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour". In no other religious institution on earth are these two colours so predominant as in Roman Catholicism! These are the colours used by popes and cardinals. The true Church of Christ is said to be "arrayed in fine linen, white and clean" (Rev. 19:8); but the Harlot wears purple and scarlet. We are told that the white fine linen symbolises "the righteousness of saints" in Rev. 19:8; which is the imputed righteousness of Christ. The followers of the Romanist religion are not dressed in Christ's righteousness, but, "being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God" (Rom. 10:3).
Next, we read that the Whore is "decked with gold and precious stones and pearls": these represent the vast wealth of the Roman Catholic institution. This wealth is so great that it cannot be realistically estimated. The institution has vast real estate, art treasures, gold, businesses, etc.
And the woman is said to have "a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication." Truly, Rome's abominations are many: her false doctrines, her evil actions through the centuries, her idolatry, etc. As for "the filthiness of her fornication": her spiritual fornication was mentioned in vs.2. And as a result of the enforced celibacy for her priests and nuns, she is full of physical fornication as well. Immorality of all kinds abounds within her.
The Harlot's name is given in vs.5. "And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT". This name is said to be written on her forehead, where it is visible. To those with eyes to see, her real identity is clear.
"MYSTERY". Paul the apostle wrote of "the mystery of iniquity" in 2 Thess. 2:7; and he was referring to the same system. The religion of Romanism is derived from the ancient "mystery religion" of Babylon.
"BABYLON THE GREAT". What a perfect name for this system! For, although its headquarters, the Vatican, is in the city of Rome, the doctrines, rites, ceremonies, etc., of the Roman Catholic religion are all derived from the ancient religion of Babylon, Baal worship! Even Papists have recognised that this is true. Many centuries ago, in its infancy, Romanism adopted the various doctrines and practices of Baal worship, and disguised them with Christian names and terminology. All her distinctive doctrines – the mass, purgatory, Mariolatry, the papacy, the celibate priesthood, salvation by works, to name just a few – originated in Babylon. Rome is to the New Testament times what Babylon was to the Old.
"THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH." It is the boast of Rome that she is "Holy Mother Church". Although she is not the Mother Church, she is a Mother – the Mother of Harlots and Abominations! She is a Harlot who has given birth to daughters. These daughters are numerous, and include even certain so-called "Protestant" institutions, which, by both doctrine and practice, are very similar to her. Anglicanism and Lutheranism are two of her daughters. In both doctrine and practice, they ape their Mother.
In vs.6, the Great Whore's bloody persecutions of true Christians are revealed by the words, "And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration." Century after century, the Roman Catholic institution has sought to destroy the true Church of the living God. It has persecuted unto death literally millions of believers. They have been put to death in a thousand diabolical ways. There have been times when so many have been killed, that blood has flowed down the streets. The Papacy has used fire, the sword, the rack, and all kinds of other means to destroy the saints of God. How apt is the vision John saw! The woman was drunk with the blood of the saints and martyrs! This is a documented fact of history, impossible to deny. Nor must it be thought that Rome has now repented of her persecution of believers. Even in this century, she has provoked wars, and supported dictators, and persecuted the children of God.
Such is the description the apostle has given of the prophetic vision he saw. It has been perfectly fulfilled, down to the smallest detail, in the Roman Catholic institution. That Rome is the city meant in Rev. 17, even Roman Catholic authors have had to admit. That a religious system, masquerading as a Christian church, is meant, is clear from the prophetic description, when Scripture is permitted to interpret itself. That there is only one religious system which fits the description, is quite obvious. A worldwide system, with headquarters in Rome, deeply involved with earthly rulers, purple and scarlet in colour, extremely wealthy, whose doctrines and practices originated in ancient Babylon, the greatest persecutor of the saints of God throughout the centuries: this is Romanism, and Romanism alone.
This being so, beyond a shadow of doubt, it becomes clear just how abhorred of God the Roman Catholic system is! It is utterly vile in his sight. Indeed, according to his own prophetic Word, the day is coming when it will be completely destroyed (see Rev. 18). And when that happens, Scripture says there will be a "great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluiah; Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God: for true and righteous are his judgements: for he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand. And again they said, Alleluiah. And her smoke rose up for ever and ever" (Rev. 19:1-3).
The doom of this great enemy of God, Christ, and his Church, is certain, The Lord has spoken.
But, oh! if you are a child of God, does not your heart break with compassion for the multitudes of Romanists, who, thinking themselves to be true Christians, are miserably deceived, and on their way to hell? In our day, we see "Protestants", as spiritually blind as the Romanists, treating the Roman Catholic institution as if it were part of the Christian Church – and the chief part at that! It is not! It is not! It is an accursed system, and its adherents are as lost as the Hindu, or the Muslim, or the Buddhist. You who love the Lord, pray for the Roman Catholic people, and preach the Gospel to them! Under the sovereignty of God, those whom he has chosen will be effectually called unto Jesus Christ, will repent, and believe the Gospel, and "come out of her" (Rev. 18:4).
Shaun Willcock is a minister of the Gospel, and lives in South Africa. He runs Bible Based Ministries. For other pamphlets (which may be downloaded and printed), as well as details about his books, tapes, news articles, etc., please visit the Bible Based Ministries website, or write to the address below. If you would like to be on Bible Based Ministries’ electronic mailing list, please send your details.
Bible Based Ministries
info@biblebasedministries.co.uk
www.biblebasedministries.co.uk
THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND
ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH
http://www.antipasministries.com/html/file0000222.htm
The GREAT WHORE of Revelation
by Shaun Willcock
"And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgement of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:
With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.
So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:
And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration." Rev. 17:1-6
In the first century AD, John the apostle was given, by the Lord, an astounding revelation of things which were to take place in the coming centuries. In chapter 17, he describes "the great whore": and the interpretation of this symbolic prophecy has not been left open to conjecture. There is only one institution that has ever fulfilled this prophecy. And the Holy Spirit, in the very same chapter, provides infallible evidence as to which one it is.
Vs.9 says: "And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth."
And vs.18 says: "And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth."
From these two verses, we learn that the "great whore" of this chapter is a great city; in fact, "that great city" – the greatest of them all – which rules over the kings of the earth. And it is a city built on seven mountains (or hills).
Now, as has been well-known for many, many centuries, there is only one city that has always been known as "the city on seven hills" – and that is Rome. And no other city that has ever existed has reigned over the earth as Rome has.
With these facts in mind, we are able to correctly interpret the rest of the chapter. And there is overwhelming evidence that the Great Whore of this chapter is the great religio-political system known as the Roman Catholic "Church".
The implications, of course, are tremendous. If, indeed, the Roman Catholic institution is the Great Whore, then it is an institution utterly abhorred by God; a vile, antichristian institution, a monstrous counterfeit of the true Church of Christ. And the hundreds of millions of souls within it are lost and hell-bound, destitute of the saving grace of God.
Let us, therefore, study the first six verses, in order.
In vs.1, this institution is called a whore. A whore, of course, is a harlot, a prostitute; and from vs.3 we see that a woman is meant. Now, the true Church of Jesus Christ is often described, symbolically, as a woman; but a "chaste virgin" in 2 Cor. 11:2, and as the bride, or wife, of Christ, in Eph. 5:22-33, Rev. 19:7, and Rev. 21:9. The Lord Jesus Christ is described as the Church's "husband", who loved the Church, and gave himself for it, in 2 Cor. 11:2 and Eph. 5:25; "that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish" (Eph. 5:27). The true Church is described as glorious, spotless, holy, without blemish.
In Rev. 17, however, there is another type of woman set before us! This one is a harlot, filthy and vile. That she is set forth as a "woman" means that she is an imitator of the true Church; but she is not chaste, or spotless, or pure – she is a harlot. She may pretend to be a chaste virgin, and externally may appear very beautiful; but she is all filthiness within.
If a "chaste virgin", a spotless bride, is the true Church, then the Great Whore is a FALSE "church": a counterfeit. And as we have seen, it is a false "church", or ecclesiastical institution, that "sits" on seven hills – the city of Rome. There is only ONE institution that fits the description, and that is the Roman Catholic institution. Its description as the Great Whore, alone, would be sufficient to identify it; but there is more. The Lord did not want his people to be in any doubt.
We are told that the Whore "sitteth upon many waters". What are these? Vs.15 tells us: "The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues." For centuries, the Roman Catholic institution has ruled over peoples, multitudes, nations and tongues! It still does to this day: there are now over 900 million Roman Catholics worldwide. And she SITS upon them! She suppresses them, squashes them, suffocates them. She controls all aspects of their lives, from birth to the grave, and even beyond the grave by means of the money she extracts from the relatives of the departed.
But let us go on to vs.2.
Vs.2 says, "With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication". This is spiritual fornication (Jas. 4:4). Ever since the emperor Constantine became the first earthly ruler to "commit fornication" with the Whore, kings and queens and emperors and dictators and other rulers of the earth have been doing so. They have bowed to her authority, worshipped her, served her. That vile religion has fascinated them, mesmerised them, and they have been seduced by her. The history of Europe, and of other parts of the world, is replete with examples of the unholy relations of the Great Whore with worldly rulers – right down to our day!
"And the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication." The Papal institution has committed fornication with the world; it has embraced all manner of evils; it has done this, and the earth's inhabitants have been made spiritually "drunk" on this religious system. NOT ONLY Roman Catholics, but vast numbers of other people, of other religions, have become intoxicated on her wine. And hundreds of millions of "Protestants" are "drunk" on her wine as well! They gaze longingly at her, and desire to be joined to her.
In vs.3, John writes, "So he [the angel] carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness", where he saw this Harlot. Later on, when he is shown the true Church, the Lamb's wife, he writes, "And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain..." (Rev. 21:10). The language is identical, and is meant to show us that what John saw in Rev. 17:3 was the great false "church", the very opposite of the true Church of Jesus Christ, the Lamb, in Rev. 21:10.
The Whore was in a "wilderness". Roman Catholics are, indeed, in a spiritual wilderness. Their spiritual state is desperate. They are not in that place of spiritual rest which true Christians are in. For they have not found rest for their souls in the Lord Jesus Christ (Matt. 11:28-30). They are trusting in their "church", and its sacraments, and Mary, and the so-called "saints", but have not drunk of that living water, which forever quenches one's spiritual thirst (Jn. 4:13,14). They are drinking from a well that never satisfies.
The woman sat "upon a scarlet coloured beast". This is the political power of the Roman Catholic institution. The woman signifies spiritual power, the beast signifies political and military power. History reveals that this system took over the political might of the Roman Empire; controlled the so-called "Holy Roman Empire"; and has sat upon the political powers of Europe ever since. Political and military powers have been harnessed by the Harlot and made to work for her. The two most notable examples this century have been Nazism and Communism. Scarlet, of course, is the colour associated with violence and cruelty and bloodshed; and has also been the "official" colour of various political systems.
"Full of names of blasphemy". This refers to the blasphemous titles given to the popes – "Vicar of Christ"; "God on earth"; "Holy Father"; and many, many others; as well as to the blasphemous doctrines of this system, the titles given to Mary, etc., etc.
"Having seven heads and ten horns". What do these signify? We are not left to wonder. Vs.9, as mentioned previously, declares that the seven heads symbolise seven mountains – and this identifies this system with the city of Rome. As for the ten horns, these are said to be ten "kings", in vs.12. In the fifth century, the Roman Empire collapsed into ten barbarian kingdoms; and these developed into the nations of Europe as we now know them.
Now we come to vs.4: "And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour". In no other religious institution on earth are these two colours so predominant as in Roman Catholicism! These are the colours used by popes and cardinals. The true Church of Christ is said to be "arrayed in fine linen, white and clean" (Rev. 19:8); but the Harlot wears purple and scarlet. We are told that the white fine linen symbolises "the righteousness of saints" in Rev. 19:8; which is the imputed righteousness of Christ. The followers of the Romanist religion are not dressed in Christ's righteousness, but, "being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God" (Rom. 10:3).
Next, we read that the Whore is "decked with gold and precious stones and pearls": these represent the vast wealth of the Roman Catholic institution. This wealth is so great that it cannot be realistically estimated. The institution has vast real estate, art treasures, gold, businesses, etc.
And the woman is said to have "a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication." Truly, Rome's abominations are many: her false doctrines, her evil actions through the centuries, her idolatry, etc. As for "the filthiness of her fornication": her spiritual fornication was mentioned in vs.2. And as a result of the enforced celibacy for her priests and nuns, she is full of physical fornication as well. Immorality of all kinds abounds within her.
The Harlot's name is given in vs.5. "And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT". This name is said to be written on her forehead, where it is visible. To those with eyes to see, her real identity is clear.
"MYSTERY". Paul the apostle wrote of "the mystery of iniquity" in 2 Thess. 2:7; and he was referring to the same system. The religion of Romanism is derived from the ancient "mystery religion" of Babylon.
"BABYLON THE GREAT". What a perfect name for this system! For, although its headquarters, the Vatican, is in the city of Rome, the doctrines, rites, ceremonies, etc., of the Roman Catholic religion are all derived from the ancient religion of Babylon, Baal worship! Even Papists have recognised that this is true. Many centuries ago, in its infancy, Romanism adopted the various doctrines and practices of Baal worship, and disguised them with Christian names and terminology. All her distinctive doctrines – the mass, purgatory, Mariolatry, the papacy, the celibate priesthood, salvation by works, to name just a few – originated in Babylon. Rome is to the New Testament times what Babylon was to the Old.
"THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH." It is the boast of Rome that she is "Holy Mother Church". Although she is not the Mother Church, she is a Mother – the Mother of Harlots and Abominations! She is a Harlot who has given birth to daughters. These daughters are numerous, and include even certain so-called "Protestant" institutions, which, by both doctrine and practice, are very similar to her. Anglicanism and Lutheranism are two of her daughters. In both doctrine and practice, they ape their Mother.
In vs.6, the Great Whore's bloody persecutions of true Christians are revealed by the words, "And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration." Century after century, the Roman Catholic institution has sought to destroy the true Church of the living God. It has persecuted unto death literally millions of believers. They have been put to death in a thousand diabolical ways. There have been times when so many have been killed, that blood has flowed down the streets. The Papacy has used fire, the sword, the rack, and all kinds of other means to destroy the saints of God. How apt is the vision John saw! The woman was drunk with the blood of the saints and martyrs! This is a documented fact of history, impossible to deny. Nor must it be thought that Rome has now repented of her persecution of believers. Even in this century, she has provoked wars, and supported dictators, and persecuted the children of God.
Such is the description the apostle has given of the prophetic vision he saw. It has been perfectly fulfilled, down to the smallest detail, in the Roman Catholic institution. That Rome is the city meant in Rev. 17, even Roman Catholic authors have had to admit. That a religious system, masquerading as a Christian church, is meant, is clear from the prophetic description, when Scripture is permitted to interpret itself. That there is only one religious system which fits the description, is quite obvious. A worldwide system, with headquarters in Rome, deeply involved with earthly rulers, purple and scarlet in colour, extremely wealthy, whose doctrines and practices originated in ancient Babylon, the greatest persecutor of the saints of God throughout the centuries: this is Romanism, and Romanism alone.
This being so, beyond a shadow of doubt, it becomes clear just how abhorred of God the Roman Catholic system is! It is utterly vile in his sight. Indeed, according to his own prophetic Word, the day is coming when it will be completely destroyed (see Rev. 18). And when that happens, Scripture says there will be a "great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluiah; Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God: for true and righteous are his judgements: for he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand. And again they said, Alleluiah. And her smoke rose up for ever and ever" (Rev. 19:1-3).
The doom of this great enemy of God, Christ, and his Church, is certain, The Lord has spoken.
But, oh! if you are a child of God, does not your heart break with compassion for the multitudes of Romanists, who, thinking themselves to be true Christians, are miserably deceived, and on their way to hell? In our day, we see "Protestants", as spiritually blind as the Romanists, treating the Roman Catholic institution as if it were part of the Christian Church – and the chief part at that! It is not! It is not! It is an accursed system, and its adherents are as lost as the Hindu, or the Muslim, or the Buddhist. You who love the Lord, pray for the Roman Catholic people, and preach the Gospel to them! Under the sovereignty of God, those whom he has chosen will be effectually called unto Jesus Christ, will repent, and believe the Gospel, and "come out of her" (Rev. 18:4).
Shaun Willcock is a minister of the Gospel, and lives in South Africa. He runs Bible Based Ministries. For other pamphlets (which may be downloaded and printed), as well as details about his books, tapes, news articles, etc., please visit the Bible Based Ministries website, or write to the address below. If you would like to be on Bible Based Ministries’ electronic mailing list, please send your details.
Bible Based Ministries
info@biblebasedministries.co.uk
www.biblebasedministries.co.uk
Prophetess or heretic? VASSULA Ryden's 2010 visit to Uganda
Prophetess or heretic?
http://www.sundayvision.co.ug/detail.php?mainNewsCategoryId=7&newsCategoryId=478&newsId=745848
VASSULA Ryden's claims that she hears from God have stirred controversy. Mathias Mazinga talked to her when she visited Uganda last year
Vassula Ryden, a globe-trotting Greek Orthodox preacher and promoter of Christian unity visited Uganda on November 13, 2010 and preached at Nakivubo Stadium. Vassula is best known for her writings entitled True Life in God, a compilation of about 2,000 visionary messages, which she claims to have received from God since 1985.
One of the strongest elements in these messages is the gravity of the division between churches and the urgency of the work for unity of the Church and the importance of the ecumenical movement. Vassula also advocates universal peace, love, justice, holiness and practical charity.
Vasulla claims to have been called to transmit to the world the messages she receives. Her messages have been translated into more than 40 languages and have widespread distribution and readership. Vassula has been invited to several countries to give her testimony and, to pass on the messages she has received. According to the official True Life in God website, she has been invited to more than 900 meetings in 75 countries.
Vassula claims she had never received any catechetical or theological formation and was not a serious Christian. She believes the Christian God chooses those, who are incapable of such achievements, so as to leave no doubt that it is his power at work.
Despite her seemingly good messages of Christian unity, peace, love and charity, Vassula is not in the good books of some mainstream Christian Theologians, who see her writings and visions as controversial.
In 1995, the Catholic Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith issued a notification on the True Life in God writings of Vassula. The congregation studied the written daily conversations which she said she had with Jesus and, on October 6, 1995, issued a notification in response to many Catholic bishops and faithful that had written for guidance regarding Vassula’s spiritual writings. The congregation stated that the “attentive examination of the entire question” had brought up “a number of basic elements that must be considered negative in the light of Catholic doctrine” as well as “several doctrinal errors”.
It also questioned the “suspect nature of the ways in which these alleged revelations have occurred” and considers the fact that “the aforementioned errors no longer appear in Ryden’s later writings is a sign that the alleged heavenly messages are merely the result of private meditations”. The notification concludes by requesting “the intervention of the bishops” to prevent the dissemination of Ryden’s ideas in their dioceses and “invites all the faithful not to regard Mrs Vassula Ryden’s writings and speeches as supernatural”.
In November 1996, following a series of declarations from Ryden’s supporters affirming that the notification was not a valid document, the congregation issued a press release, stating that the notification “retains all its force” and “was approved by the competent authorities and will be published in the Acta Apostolicae Sedis,” the official organ of the Holy See.
Prior to her Kampala visit, Vassula was disowned by both the Catholic and Orthodox Christian leaders and, her crusade was attended by a scanty congregation.
But in an interview with Sunday Vision, Vassula denied any ill-motives against the Church and re-affirmed the purity of her prophetic ministry.
“There is nothing evil in what I preach. Even Cardinal Ratzinger, before he became Pope, investigated my writings for over two years but he never condemned me.”
“I have also never been excommunicated from the Orthodox Church where I belong. I am just delivering God’s message of peace, unity, love, holiness and practical charity,” Vassula said.
“People who attend my crusades come from all churches. I am not starting a church. I am simply preaching to Christians, to live in unity in diversity.”
“There are some people, who are opposed to my message of love, peace and unity, who write bad things about me. It is such people who have made some religious leaders look at me with suspicion.” “You know anything that comes from God has to be persecuted while that, which comes from Satan, is cherished. Even the prophets of God, Jesus and his followers were persecuted,” she added.
Asked why she was disowned by the local Orthodox Church leaders prior to her visit, Vassula expressed feelings of disbelief and said: “I don’t think that is true. The Orthodox Archbishop Jonah Lwanga hosted me at his residence and I had tea with him. Later we went to the Church and had prayers with him. Even here at the crusade, we have been with some Orthodox priests.”
Incidentally, many other contemporary Christians have claimed to have received visions from God. But what do religious leaders say about divine revelation?
We need to know the difference between personal meditation and divine revelation.
“In personal meditation, you read the word of God, internalise it and, get some spiritual insights or messages from it. This must not be confused with divine revelation, where a person gets a direct revelation from God, through a vision,” said Rev. Fr. Joseph Sserugga, Assistant Pastoral Co-ordinator, Kampala Archdiocese.
However, Simeon Kayiwa, a theologian and Pastor of Namirembe Christian Fellowship said: Jesus said, “In a little time I will come back to you, the world will not see me but you will see me (John 14:16).” This shows that people can experience divine revelation even today. Of course there are some people who make false claims of visions from God, but this does not mean all visions are bad. Remember that Paul himself was converted after a vision he received from God (Acts 9).
The Catechism of the Roman Catholic Church is very clear on the transmission of Divine Revelation. In the past, God spoke directly to our fathers like Abraham. God also communicated his messages to his people, through the prophets. But in these last days, God speaks to us through his son Jesus. Jesus is God’s unsurpassable word. In him, he has said everything; there will be no other word than this one (Hebrews 1:1-2).Christ, the mediator and fullness of all revelation. The Christian economy, therefore since it is the new and definitive covenant, will never pass away; and no new public revelation is to be expected before the glorious manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ. Yet even if revelation is already complete, it has not been made completely explicit; it remains for Christian faith gradually to grasp its full significance over the course of the centuries. Jesus chose the Apostles to continue transmitting his good news of salvation to all ages. Jesus’ redemptive work continues through the apostolic succession: the Pope, the Bishops, who help us interpret properly the word of God. So, the Catholic Church doesn’t simply recognize visions. Claimed visions must first be investigated thoroughly before they are accepted.
Published on: Saturday, 5th February, 2011
http://www.sundayvision.co.ug/detail.php?mainNewsCategoryId=7&newsCategoryId=478&newsId=745848
VASSULA Ryden's claims that she hears from God have stirred controversy. Mathias Mazinga talked to her when she visited Uganda last year
Vassula Ryden, a globe-trotting Greek Orthodox preacher and promoter of Christian unity visited Uganda on November 13, 2010 and preached at Nakivubo Stadium. Vassula is best known for her writings entitled True Life in God, a compilation of about 2,000 visionary messages, which she claims to have received from God since 1985.
One of the strongest elements in these messages is the gravity of the division between churches and the urgency of the work for unity of the Church and the importance of the ecumenical movement. Vassula also advocates universal peace, love, justice, holiness and practical charity.
Vasulla claims to have been called to transmit to the world the messages she receives. Her messages have been translated into more than 40 languages and have widespread distribution and readership. Vassula has been invited to several countries to give her testimony and, to pass on the messages she has received. According to the official True Life in God website, she has been invited to more than 900 meetings in 75 countries.
Vassula claims she had never received any catechetical or theological formation and was not a serious Christian. She believes the Christian God chooses those, who are incapable of such achievements, so as to leave no doubt that it is his power at work.
Despite her seemingly good messages of Christian unity, peace, love and charity, Vassula is not in the good books of some mainstream Christian Theologians, who see her writings and visions as controversial.
In 1995, the Catholic Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith issued a notification on the True Life in God writings of Vassula. The congregation studied the written daily conversations which she said she had with Jesus and, on October 6, 1995, issued a notification in response to many Catholic bishops and faithful that had written for guidance regarding Vassula’s spiritual writings. The congregation stated that the “attentive examination of the entire question” had brought up “a number of basic elements that must be considered negative in the light of Catholic doctrine” as well as “several doctrinal errors”.
It also questioned the “suspect nature of the ways in which these alleged revelations have occurred” and considers the fact that “the aforementioned errors no longer appear in Ryden’s later writings is a sign that the alleged heavenly messages are merely the result of private meditations”. The notification concludes by requesting “the intervention of the bishops” to prevent the dissemination of Ryden’s ideas in their dioceses and “invites all the faithful not to regard Mrs Vassula Ryden’s writings and speeches as supernatural”.
In November 1996, following a series of declarations from Ryden’s supporters affirming that the notification was not a valid document, the congregation issued a press release, stating that the notification “retains all its force” and “was approved by the competent authorities and will be published in the Acta Apostolicae Sedis,” the official organ of the Holy See.
Prior to her Kampala visit, Vassula was disowned by both the Catholic and Orthodox Christian leaders and, her crusade was attended by a scanty congregation.
But in an interview with Sunday Vision, Vassula denied any ill-motives against the Church and re-affirmed the purity of her prophetic ministry.
“There is nothing evil in what I preach. Even Cardinal Ratzinger, before he became Pope, investigated my writings for over two years but he never condemned me.”
“I have also never been excommunicated from the Orthodox Church where I belong. I am just delivering God’s message of peace, unity, love, holiness and practical charity,” Vassula said.
“People who attend my crusades come from all churches. I am not starting a church. I am simply preaching to Christians, to live in unity in diversity.”
“There are some people, who are opposed to my message of love, peace and unity, who write bad things about me. It is such people who have made some religious leaders look at me with suspicion.” “You know anything that comes from God has to be persecuted while that, which comes from Satan, is cherished. Even the prophets of God, Jesus and his followers were persecuted,” she added.
Asked why she was disowned by the local Orthodox Church leaders prior to her visit, Vassula expressed feelings of disbelief and said: “I don’t think that is true. The Orthodox Archbishop Jonah Lwanga hosted me at his residence and I had tea with him. Later we went to the Church and had prayers with him. Even here at the crusade, we have been with some Orthodox priests.”
Incidentally, many other contemporary Christians have claimed to have received visions from God. But what do religious leaders say about divine revelation?
We need to know the difference between personal meditation and divine revelation.
“In personal meditation, you read the word of God, internalise it and, get some spiritual insights or messages from it. This must not be confused with divine revelation, where a person gets a direct revelation from God, through a vision,” said Rev. Fr. Joseph Sserugga, Assistant Pastoral Co-ordinator, Kampala Archdiocese.
However, Simeon Kayiwa, a theologian and Pastor of Namirembe Christian Fellowship said: Jesus said, “In a little time I will come back to you, the world will not see me but you will see me (John 14:16).” This shows that people can experience divine revelation even today. Of course there are some people who make false claims of visions from God, but this does not mean all visions are bad. Remember that Paul himself was converted after a vision he received from God (Acts 9).
The Catechism of the Roman Catholic Church is very clear on the transmission of Divine Revelation. In the past, God spoke directly to our fathers like Abraham. God also communicated his messages to his people, through the prophets. But in these last days, God speaks to us through his son Jesus. Jesus is God’s unsurpassable word. In him, he has said everything; there will be no other word than this one (Hebrews 1:1-2).Christ, the mediator and fullness of all revelation. The Christian economy, therefore since it is the new and definitive covenant, will never pass away; and no new public revelation is to be expected before the glorious manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ. Yet even if revelation is already complete, it has not been made completely explicit; it remains for Christian faith gradually to grasp its full significance over the course of the centuries. Jesus chose the Apostles to continue transmitting his good news of salvation to all ages. Jesus’ redemptive work continues through the apostolic succession: the Pope, the Bishops, who help us interpret properly the word of God. So, the Catholic Church doesn’t simply recognize visions. Claimed visions must first be investigated thoroughly before they are accepted.
Published on: Saturday, 5th February, 2011
Monday, 7 February 2011
False gospel - Pastor scolds preachers of prosperity doctrine
Creflo Dollar Interview Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cj5CZer3tVc&feature=related
Creflo Dollar Interview Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2ivUTS9xl8
False gospel - Pastor scolds preachers of prosperity doctrine
BY KARYL WALKER Observer staff reporter walkerk@jamaicaobserver.com
Monday, February 01, 2010
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/prosperity-gospel_7377441#ixzz1DM6Rt4Mn
PASTORS who preach what is commonly known as prosperity gospel received a scolding yesterday from the Reverend Roderick Hewitt who accused them of imparting a false interpretation of God's word to their flock.
In a sermon to mark his Hope United Church's 50th anniversary celebrations, Rev Hewitt reminded his congregants that obedience to God is costly, demanding and involves submissive living, and urged church leaders to refrain from leading their flock astray by preaching that Christianity will bring economic well-being.
PASTORS who preach what is commonly known as prosperity gospel received a scolding yesterday from the Reverend Roderick Hewitt who accused them of imparting a false interpretation of God's word to their flock.
In a sermon to mark his Hope United Church's 50th anniversary celebrations, Rev Hewitt reminded his congregants that obedience to God is costly, demanding and involves submissive living, and urged church leaders to refrain from leading their flock astray by preaching that Christianity will bring economic well-being.
"Prosperity gospel is a false interpretation of the gospel," said Rev Hewitt. "To say that if you are faithful to God you are going to prosper is not correct. This is not teaching the gospel that follows the examples of Jesus."
Prosperity gospel has been a source of contention in Christianity for many years and some Christians have argued that it infiltrated the early church in the form of destructive greed sects.
Some theologians have pointed to Scripture, specifically the Apostle Paul's warning to Timothy to stay away from men of corrupt minds who argue that gain is godliness. They also point to Paul's advice to Timothy that "the love of money is the root of all evil; which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows".
Some American televangelists whose sermons, and sometimes controversial appeals for money, reach millions of people worldwide have also been accused of preaching prosperity gospel, as they often instil in their flock the importance of money.
One of the more prominent was the American pastor known as Reverend Ike, who preached the gospel of material prosperity.
Known for his flashy homes in New York and Hollywood, high-end motor cars, expensive jewellery, and a Liberace-style wardrobe that was said to have cost his flock US$1,000 a week, Rev Frederick J Eikerenkoetter II is reported to have used Jesus' advice to His disciples on the possibility of a rich man entering the kingdom of heaven to tell an audience: "If it's that difficult for a rich man to get into heaven, think how terrible it must be for a poor man to get in. He doesn't even have a bribe for the gatekeeper."
Yesterday, Rev Hewitt was also critical of pastors who preach populist messages to fill church pews.
"We are seeing persons who are trying to be popular by giving the people what they want," he said. "If we ever compromise numbers for faithfulness, then we are barking up the wrong tree."
The pastor also called on his congregation to usher in new members who might not fit the regular profile of a church-goer.
"There are boys who we administer to that might not dress or talk like you," he said. "Don't watch the hairstyle or dress; these are the very boys we need to reach. We must be more inclusive and widen the arc of love."
'Prosperity Gospel': Give and You Shall Receive?
http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/story?id=4149598&page=1
Senator Investigating Controversial Pastor Creflo Dollar and Others' Lavish Lifestyles and Finances
By DAN HARRIS and MARY MARSH
Jan. 17, 2007
Creflo Dollar sits atop a religious empire. He has a congregation of nearly 40,000 people with offices on six continents, a series of successful books, and a daily television show that reaches a billion households worldwide.
It's an empire built in part on the following message: God does not want you to be poor.
"If you don't know better, you'll stay in the ghetto all your life," Dollar preached just last Sunday. "But once you realize, I am not ghetto-bound."
This "Prosperity Gospel" has earned Dollar a fervent following. "I have prospered under his ministry," said one follower. "You can't stay up under the word of God and not prosper."
Some have viewed Dollar's take on Christianity as an inversion of the gospel, but he disagrees.
"You have to really talk to people who read the Bible. We've made financial prosperity like it's a wicked thing," he said. "We automatically assume that Jesus was poor, that he was homeless."
Jets for Jesus?
Nobody can accuse Creflo Dollar of not practicing what he preaches. The son of a policeman and a school cafeteria worker, he now owns a $2.4 million dollar apartment in New York and a mansion in Atlanta.
He also travels by private plane -- a Lear jet.
"The planes are owned by the ministry. We see it as equipment to accomplish the work of the ministry. Like a carpenter has to have a hammer to do his job, I've got to have a plane to fly around this world and be back here to pastor two churches, one here and one in New York," Dollar said in an interview with ABC affiliate WSB-TV in Atlanta.
"Nightline" caught up with Pastor Dollar on a publicity tour for his latest book. He says his ironic name is not a farce, like many think.
"That's one of those urban legends that has been attached to our ministry," he said. "Dollar's my real name. My father was a Dollar, my grandfather was a Dollar. All I can say is God had a sense of humor to call me into ministry and name me Dollar at the same time."
But Dollar's success has also now landed him -- along with his wife and co-pastor, Taffi Dollar -- in the cross-hairs of Sen. Chuck Grassley, a Republican from Iowa.
"Jesus came into the city on a simple donkey," the senator said. "What are disciples of his doing flying in jets?"
Grassley is investigating whether the Dollars are using tax-free donations from their followers to fund their lavish lifestyle. Dollar has refused to hand over his financial records, saying he's standing up for the privacy rights of all churches. He strenuously denies any financial improprieties.
"We've got to make sure that we don't judge a man, and say you know what, he's misusing the church funds to finance a lavish lifestyle." Dollar said. "What I have, I get through my businesses and investments that I have separately, that I keep separate from the church.
"It's the principle of the thing," he said. "If you don't stand up for something, you'll fall for anything... If I were to turn over [the records] and you could see it, the only thing you would see is what a great guy, he gives millions of dollars to his ministry. Wow."
Dollar's is one of six large televangelist ministries under investigation. In Dollar's case, Grassley is interested in a Rolls Royce given to him by his congregation.
"Black churches love to honor their pastors," Dollar explained. "So how did we get a Rolls Royce? Ten dollars times 28,000 members. They decided to put their money in to surprise me with that car." Dollar says the car is actually the property of the Ministry.
But these televangelists are controversial not only because of their lavish lifestyles, but also because of their theology, which associates wealth with the blessings of God.
Prosperity: 'Not Just Your Finances'
Dollar's church actively solicits donations from its members as a show of their commitment to God. But what about people who can't afford to donate?
"I don't worry about it," Dollar said. "Again, I'm a Christian and I'm a believer and I believe that when people who are having hard times give, I believe that good things will start happening to them. I was one of those poor people that gave and couldn't afford it."
When "Nightline" visited Dollar's World Changers church in Atlanta this past Sunday, his followers defended their pastor's theology and lifestyle against the Senate investigation.
"Jesus said we were going to be persecuted. So you expect that to happen. It doesn't matter to us because whatever they find, they find. It doesn't matter because I know what he has done to my life and I know it has worked for me," churchgoer Tanya Hicks said.
"If you're deserving, you're deserving," congregation member Hervis Mitchell said. "If you do a good job, you expect to be rewarded, and it's not different for him, God rewards him."
"When I first came to this ministry, we're talking about 15 credit cards maxed out," Crystal Bennett said. "[He's] been able to show me exactly, step by step through the word of God, how to get out of debt and to be able to be financially independent, not having to feel the struggle and train of debt and then also being able to change my life in regards to my relationships with my family, my friends, how to just apply the word of God in a practical manner in my life without feeling like it was a complete struggle."
"If we [sic] gonna believe in prosperity and the truth of the word, we got to see it," said one congregant. "And we see it through him and we believe it can come to us." Another said, "God didn't bring us here in this world for us to be poor. I just don't believe that."
As for Dollar, he wants to make clear that when he talks about prosperity, he doesn't mean just money.
"Prosperity -- I define it as wholeness in every area of your life," he said. "Wholeness in your spirit, your soul, your body, your marriage, your family and your finances. But not just your finances."
But a quick search on YouTube might yield a different message from Dollar, including a rap video featuring the group Ziklag Boys called "Money Comin'."
"Sure, but that's just one incident, one video, one time," said Dollar, who says he focused on financial prosperity in "one season" of his ministry years ago, at a time when he was trying teach his followers about financial literacy.
"Of course I'm going to use everything available to try to get your attention to focus in on that message," he said. "Even sometimes going overboard to bring your attention here. You've got young blacks who don't even know how to balance a checkbook. We open a school up for entrepreneurship because we want to train and teach people how to do the everyday things that's going to make them successful in life.
"So at that time, you know, of course, but we've grown from that point and I would like to think that the human race wouldn't just limit you to that one season, that one point, that one sermon and then try to say that this represents your entire ministry," he said.
Dollar says that if he's perceived as going overboard, it's on purpose.
"Of course! [It is] because in the church, we'll put all the emphasis on peace, oh yes, we'll put the emphasis on love, yes, we'll put the emphasis on grace, yes, but now I'm trying to teach you about money and budgets and how to stay out of debt," he said.
Was Jesus Rich or Poor?
Dollar has broadened his focus to issues such as emotional, familial and physical prosperity. But he has not budged on his controversial assertion that Jesus Christ was actually a rich man.
"He had 80 staff people and more that traveled with him," Dollar said. "You'd better be able to take care of them. And I heard this comment the other day, even if Jesus was poor, the disciples were not so he could have borrowed from them. Doctors, tax collectors, fishermen."
However, many biblical scholars say the notion that the notion that Jesus was anything more than a poor carpenter, an itinerant preacher is, frankly, nonsense.
"And I feel so sorry for those guys... Because it's very clear," Dollar said. "The Bible's not a difficult book to read... If I were to take the Bible out and show you those scriptures and you read it, you'd say dear God, it's very clear. So rather than trusting what the scholars say, I say pick the Bible up and read it for yourself. And as you begin to read it, you'll go through the entire Bible and find out, that Abraham, the Bible says, was rich. Isaac and Jacob was rich. Joseph was rich. Solomon was one of the richest people in the world. These were all servants of God."
"This claim that Creflo Dollar makes that Jesus is rich is so ludicrous as to hardly bear examination," said Dr. Joseph Hough, president of the Union Theological Seminary in New York. "I mean, I could sit and quote scripture for scripture for him but the fact of the matter is that those examples just don't hold up. I mean all of the roving, the apocalyptic rabbis have followers. They obviously had to buy food, they obviously had to travel together, and somebody had to look after the money they had. They obviously didn't have very much. All the people who followed Jesus were poor people. Ninety-five percent of the people who lived in the culture Jesus was a part of were very poor people."
Critics say Dollar is misreading the gospel in order to justify a misguided theology -- one in which sacrifice is replaced by personal gain.
"It is wrong to make people believe that if they follow a certain formula, God somehow is going to transform their circumstances," Hough said. "That would be too much of a kind of reward and punishment model for the gift of the grace of God to allow me to be very enthusiastic about it."
Nobody can deny that Dollar and his church spend an enormous amount of time and money on charity.
"We do so much for our communities, so much for needy people," he said. "I personally have purchased a hundred cars for elderly and single mothers, bought houses for people... I couldn't do that if I was broke."
But wouldn't Dollar be able to help even more people if the Rolls Royce and the private jet were sold? p>
"Now, if you want good news, I sold the Rolls Royce and I put the money into our children's Rolls ministry," Dollar said. "But I want to make sure people understand I didn't sell the Royce to please everybody, because there was nothing wrong with receiving a Rolls Royce that my church gave me. Nothing wrong at all with that."
And despite all the skeptisicim directed at Creflo Dollar these days, he continues to give his followers an enormous amount of hope -- and they continue to give.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cj5CZer3tVc&feature=related
Creflo Dollar Interview Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2ivUTS9xl8
False gospel - Pastor scolds preachers of prosperity doctrine
BY KARYL WALKER Observer staff reporter walkerk@jamaicaobserver.com
Monday, February 01, 2010
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/prosperity-gospel_7377441#ixzz1DM6Rt4Mn
PASTORS who preach what is commonly known as prosperity gospel received a scolding yesterday from the Reverend Roderick Hewitt who accused them of imparting a false interpretation of God's word to their flock.
In a sermon to mark his Hope United Church's 50th anniversary celebrations, Rev Hewitt reminded his congregants that obedience to God is costly, demanding and involves submissive living, and urged church leaders to refrain from leading their flock astray by preaching that Christianity will bring economic well-being.
PASTORS who preach what is commonly known as prosperity gospel received a scolding yesterday from the Reverend Roderick Hewitt who accused them of imparting a false interpretation of God's word to their flock.
In a sermon to mark his Hope United Church's 50th anniversary celebrations, Rev Hewitt reminded his congregants that obedience to God is costly, demanding and involves submissive living, and urged church leaders to refrain from leading their flock astray by preaching that Christianity will bring economic well-being.
"Prosperity gospel is a false interpretation of the gospel," said Rev Hewitt. "To say that if you are faithful to God you are going to prosper is not correct. This is not teaching the gospel that follows the examples of Jesus."
Prosperity gospel has been a source of contention in Christianity for many years and some Christians have argued that it infiltrated the early church in the form of destructive greed sects.
Some theologians have pointed to Scripture, specifically the Apostle Paul's warning to Timothy to stay away from men of corrupt minds who argue that gain is godliness. They also point to Paul's advice to Timothy that "the love of money is the root of all evil; which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows".
Some American televangelists whose sermons, and sometimes controversial appeals for money, reach millions of people worldwide have also been accused of preaching prosperity gospel, as they often instil in their flock the importance of money.
One of the more prominent was the American pastor known as Reverend Ike, who preached the gospel of material prosperity.
Known for his flashy homes in New York and Hollywood, high-end motor cars, expensive jewellery, and a Liberace-style wardrobe that was said to have cost his flock US$1,000 a week, Rev Frederick J Eikerenkoetter II is reported to have used Jesus' advice to His disciples on the possibility of a rich man entering the kingdom of heaven to tell an audience: "If it's that difficult for a rich man to get into heaven, think how terrible it must be for a poor man to get in. He doesn't even have a bribe for the gatekeeper."
Yesterday, Rev Hewitt was also critical of pastors who preach populist messages to fill church pews.
"We are seeing persons who are trying to be popular by giving the people what they want," he said. "If we ever compromise numbers for faithfulness, then we are barking up the wrong tree."
The pastor also called on his congregation to usher in new members who might not fit the regular profile of a church-goer.
"There are boys who we administer to that might not dress or talk like you," he said. "Don't watch the hairstyle or dress; these are the very boys we need to reach. We must be more inclusive and widen the arc of love."
'Prosperity Gospel': Give and You Shall Receive?
http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/story?id=4149598&page=1
Senator Investigating Controversial Pastor Creflo Dollar and Others' Lavish Lifestyles and Finances
By DAN HARRIS and MARY MARSH
Jan. 17, 2007
Creflo Dollar sits atop a religious empire. He has a congregation of nearly 40,000 people with offices on six continents, a series of successful books, and a daily television show that reaches a billion households worldwide.
It's an empire built in part on the following message: God does not want you to be poor.
"If you don't know better, you'll stay in the ghetto all your life," Dollar preached just last Sunday. "But once you realize, I am not ghetto-bound."
This "Prosperity Gospel" has earned Dollar a fervent following. "I have prospered under his ministry," said one follower. "You can't stay up under the word of God and not prosper."
Some have viewed Dollar's take on Christianity as an inversion of the gospel, but he disagrees.
"You have to really talk to people who read the Bible. We've made financial prosperity like it's a wicked thing," he said. "We automatically assume that Jesus was poor, that he was homeless."
Jets for Jesus?
Nobody can accuse Creflo Dollar of not practicing what he preaches. The son of a policeman and a school cafeteria worker, he now owns a $2.4 million dollar apartment in New York and a mansion in Atlanta.
He also travels by private plane -- a Lear jet.
"The planes are owned by the ministry. We see it as equipment to accomplish the work of the ministry. Like a carpenter has to have a hammer to do his job, I've got to have a plane to fly around this world and be back here to pastor two churches, one here and one in New York," Dollar said in an interview with ABC affiliate WSB-TV in Atlanta.
"Nightline" caught up with Pastor Dollar on a publicity tour for his latest book. He says his ironic name is not a farce, like many think.
"That's one of those urban legends that has been attached to our ministry," he said. "Dollar's my real name. My father was a Dollar, my grandfather was a Dollar. All I can say is God had a sense of humor to call me into ministry and name me Dollar at the same time."
But Dollar's success has also now landed him -- along with his wife and co-pastor, Taffi Dollar -- in the cross-hairs of Sen. Chuck Grassley, a Republican from Iowa.
"Jesus came into the city on a simple donkey," the senator said. "What are disciples of his doing flying in jets?"
Grassley is investigating whether the Dollars are using tax-free donations from their followers to fund their lavish lifestyle. Dollar has refused to hand over his financial records, saying he's standing up for the privacy rights of all churches. He strenuously denies any financial improprieties.
"We've got to make sure that we don't judge a man, and say you know what, he's misusing the church funds to finance a lavish lifestyle." Dollar said. "What I have, I get through my businesses and investments that I have separately, that I keep separate from the church.
"It's the principle of the thing," he said. "If you don't stand up for something, you'll fall for anything... If I were to turn over [the records] and you could see it, the only thing you would see is what a great guy, he gives millions of dollars to his ministry. Wow."
Dollar's is one of six large televangelist ministries under investigation. In Dollar's case, Grassley is interested in a Rolls Royce given to him by his congregation.
"Black churches love to honor their pastors," Dollar explained. "So how did we get a Rolls Royce? Ten dollars times 28,000 members. They decided to put their money in to surprise me with that car." Dollar says the car is actually the property of the Ministry.
But these televangelists are controversial not only because of their lavish lifestyles, but also because of their theology, which associates wealth with the blessings of God.
Prosperity: 'Not Just Your Finances'
Dollar's church actively solicits donations from its members as a show of their commitment to God. But what about people who can't afford to donate?
"I don't worry about it," Dollar said. "Again, I'm a Christian and I'm a believer and I believe that when people who are having hard times give, I believe that good things will start happening to them. I was one of those poor people that gave and couldn't afford it."
When "Nightline" visited Dollar's World Changers church in Atlanta this past Sunday, his followers defended their pastor's theology and lifestyle against the Senate investigation.
"Jesus said we were going to be persecuted. So you expect that to happen. It doesn't matter to us because whatever they find, they find. It doesn't matter because I know what he has done to my life and I know it has worked for me," churchgoer Tanya Hicks said.
"If you're deserving, you're deserving," congregation member Hervis Mitchell said. "If you do a good job, you expect to be rewarded, and it's not different for him, God rewards him."
"When I first came to this ministry, we're talking about 15 credit cards maxed out," Crystal Bennett said. "[He's] been able to show me exactly, step by step through the word of God, how to get out of debt and to be able to be financially independent, not having to feel the struggle and train of debt and then also being able to change my life in regards to my relationships with my family, my friends, how to just apply the word of God in a practical manner in my life without feeling like it was a complete struggle."
"If we [sic] gonna believe in prosperity and the truth of the word, we got to see it," said one congregant. "And we see it through him and we believe it can come to us." Another said, "God didn't bring us here in this world for us to be poor. I just don't believe that."
As for Dollar, he wants to make clear that when he talks about prosperity, he doesn't mean just money.
"Prosperity -- I define it as wholeness in every area of your life," he said. "Wholeness in your spirit, your soul, your body, your marriage, your family and your finances. But not just your finances."
But a quick search on YouTube might yield a different message from Dollar, including a rap video featuring the group Ziklag Boys called "Money Comin'."
"Sure, but that's just one incident, one video, one time," said Dollar, who says he focused on financial prosperity in "one season" of his ministry years ago, at a time when he was trying teach his followers about financial literacy.
"Of course I'm going to use everything available to try to get your attention to focus in on that message," he said. "Even sometimes going overboard to bring your attention here. You've got young blacks who don't even know how to balance a checkbook. We open a school up for entrepreneurship because we want to train and teach people how to do the everyday things that's going to make them successful in life.
"So at that time, you know, of course, but we've grown from that point and I would like to think that the human race wouldn't just limit you to that one season, that one point, that one sermon and then try to say that this represents your entire ministry," he said.
Dollar says that if he's perceived as going overboard, it's on purpose.
"Of course! [It is] because in the church, we'll put all the emphasis on peace, oh yes, we'll put the emphasis on love, yes, we'll put the emphasis on grace, yes, but now I'm trying to teach you about money and budgets and how to stay out of debt," he said.
Was Jesus Rich or Poor?
Dollar has broadened his focus to issues such as emotional, familial and physical prosperity. But he has not budged on his controversial assertion that Jesus Christ was actually a rich man.
"He had 80 staff people and more that traveled with him," Dollar said. "You'd better be able to take care of them. And I heard this comment the other day, even if Jesus was poor, the disciples were not so he could have borrowed from them. Doctors, tax collectors, fishermen."
However, many biblical scholars say the notion that the notion that Jesus was anything more than a poor carpenter, an itinerant preacher is, frankly, nonsense.
"And I feel so sorry for those guys... Because it's very clear," Dollar said. "The Bible's not a difficult book to read... If I were to take the Bible out and show you those scriptures and you read it, you'd say dear God, it's very clear. So rather than trusting what the scholars say, I say pick the Bible up and read it for yourself. And as you begin to read it, you'll go through the entire Bible and find out, that Abraham, the Bible says, was rich. Isaac and Jacob was rich. Joseph was rich. Solomon was one of the richest people in the world. These were all servants of God."
"This claim that Creflo Dollar makes that Jesus is rich is so ludicrous as to hardly bear examination," said Dr. Joseph Hough, president of the Union Theological Seminary in New York. "I mean, I could sit and quote scripture for scripture for him but the fact of the matter is that those examples just don't hold up. I mean all of the roving, the apocalyptic rabbis have followers. They obviously had to buy food, they obviously had to travel together, and somebody had to look after the money they had. They obviously didn't have very much. All the people who followed Jesus were poor people. Ninety-five percent of the people who lived in the culture Jesus was a part of were very poor people."
Critics say Dollar is misreading the gospel in order to justify a misguided theology -- one in which sacrifice is replaced by personal gain.
"It is wrong to make people believe that if they follow a certain formula, God somehow is going to transform their circumstances," Hough said. "That would be too much of a kind of reward and punishment model for the gift of the grace of God to allow me to be very enthusiastic about it."
Nobody can deny that Dollar and his church spend an enormous amount of time and money on charity.
"We do so much for our communities, so much for needy people," he said. "I personally have purchased a hundred cars for elderly and single mothers, bought houses for people... I couldn't do that if I was broke."
But wouldn't Dollar be able to help even more people if the Rolls Royce and the private jet were sold? p>
"Now, if you want good news, I sold the Rolls Royce and I put the money into our children's Rolls ministry," Dollar said. "But I want to make sure people understand I didn't sell the Royce to please everybody, because there was nothing wrong with receiving a Rolls Royce that my church gave me. Nothing wrong at all with that."
And despite all the skeptisicim directed at Creflo Dollar these days, he continues to give his followers an enormous amount of hope -- and they continue to give.
Wednesday, 2 February 2011
Are US Evangelicals to Blame for the Death of a Ugandan Gay Activist?
Are US Evangelicals to Blame for the Death of a Ugandan Gay Activist?
http://www.yesumulungi.com/index.php/commentaries/449-are-us-evangelicals-to-blame-for-death-of-a-ugandan-gay-activist.html
Kato Mivule | February 1st 2011
Once again Uganda made international headlines this past week when a Gay Rights activist, David Kato was murdered at his home in Mukono, Uganda. Speculation run high as to the motivation of his killers given the anti gay and homophobic atmosphere in Uganda.
There is no doubt that the anti gay fervor is certainly adding to the unnecessary and unneeded persecution and demonizing of Gays in Uganda, creating a homophobic environment and certainly Christian Leaders must spoke out against such hate. It is unchristian to hate anyone because they are gay and or for that matter do not agree with you or your spiritual lifestyle. As a Christian, you cannot force your spirituality on anyone. You cannot preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ by the sword and “Christian Legislation”, to do so diminishes the free gift of Salvation by Grace in Jesus Christ.
I do not see anywhere in the New Testament were Jesus Christ or His disciples call for the imprisonment of Gays in the Roman Empire. I do not see them fighting for such legalization of “Christian Values” as the law of the Land in the Roman Empire. Yet this is what some Evangelicals from the US have unfortunately promoted in Uganda.
Is this then what caused the death of David Kato, the Ugandan Gay activist? I do not think so but certainly his life was made more difficult by such unnecessary demonizing and inflammatory rhetoric from religious and political circles in Uganda even to his grave when the burial ceremony was hijacked by a Priest to lash out at gays.
Ugandan Christians have now been placed in useless fights against Gays as the main spiritual focus and this ought not to be so. Perhaps the death of David Kato, while not caused by Ugandan Evangelicals, should be a time to rethink the whole anti-gay legislation issue in Uganda and drop the useless anti-gay bill that is unfortunately defining Ugandan Evangelicals as wimps and puppets of US Religious Right zealots.
The purpose of the Church is not to legislate “Christian Laws”, doing so is to digress from New Testament scripture. Secondly, we Christians must learn that we are not the only ones inhabiting this planet earth and this earth is not Heaven, we must therefore learn to live with others who disagree with our “Christian Values”.
My personal humble appeal is that Pastors will call for the withdraw of the Anti-gay Bill in the Ugandan Parliament and seek to reassure the Ugandan gay community that even while they disagree with them, at least they agree to coexists peacefully and seek to do them no harm. Even while we might disagree with Gays in Uganda, first and foremost, they are Human beings created in God's Image and yes, Jesus Christ died too for them too, many of them are your brothers, sisters, and or cousins...let us see Humans not simply defined by their sexual preferences but as Human beings created in God's Image. There is no need and no biblical basis to demonize Gays in Uganda, and Christian Leaders should stand to defuse such rhetoric.
On the other extreme is the propaganda machine of ignorance and what seems to be reverse hate in the Western Media to generalize and demonize whole populations that do not necessarily agree with them on the Gay issue. The day that David Kato was murdered, the Western media picked up a statement by a leading Ugandan activist, Val Kalende, that “David’s death is a result of the hatred planted in Uganda by U.S Evangelicals in 2009. The Ugandan Government and the so-called U.S Evangelicals must take responsibility for David’s blood!”
Rather than seek a peaceful coexistence with other parties, the first statement by the leading Gay activist in Uganda was that US Evangelicals are to blame for the murder of David Kato, and the Western Media without thought or at least with purpose and intent carried that unfortunate generalized statement across Western news outlets and blogs.
Rather than foster an atmosphere of reason, respectful debate, and understanding to at least promote coexistence in Uganda, the Western Media took the opportunity to actually hijack the unfortunate death of David Kato to foster and spread what seems to be reverse hate for US Evangelicals.
There was no single evidence that US Evangelicals as a group paid the assassins to have David Kato murdered as the Western Media painted and insinuated in Western Media reports and blogs. While I do not agree at all with some US Evangelicals influencing morality legislation and the criminalization of Gays in Uganda, to suggest that ALL US Evangelicals are responsible for the death of David Kato was ill conceived, evil, vengeful, hateful, and Western Journalists should have known better – what they engaged in was reverse hate...the very hate against the Gay community that they claim to be fighting against. I don't see how hate can be used to fight hate in Uganda.
Secondly, to assume that Ugandans cannot self determine is the most racist and hostile statement against the people of Uganda. To suggest that Ugandans are wholly influenced by US Evangelicals is to say that they are fools and idiots who only wait for US Evangelicals to fill them in with garbage and as a result to further suggest that even the Gay community in Uganda cannot self determine but are simply robots controlled by Western influences.
Thirdly, some Western Journalists are plain ignorant, pathetic, and oblivious to events on the ground in Uganda; they for example will pick up stories in Uganda when the issue is about Gays but will not report about rampant corruption in Uganda's government and the oppression of opposition parties and the press by dictators supported by Western Governments. There was the case of Pedophilia crimes, young boys who were victims of sexual abuse, and young girls repeatedly raped and abused, yet such cases are not reported but sensationalized stories about Gay persecution are reported in the Western press because that is what sells and gives them a false sense of security and euphoria that they are joining the 'March with Dr. King' on Washington for civil rights; and at the same using such sensational stories to demonize US Evangelical Christians as a group. Rather than seek to foster respectful and peaceful debate about Gay issues in Uganda for example, the Western Press has only become a problem, and increasingly seen as sensational, ignorant, imposing, and imperialistic.
Kato M.
Notes
1] “Ugandan gay activist slain after photo published - Africa - Salon.com.” [Online]. Available: http://www.salon.com/news/africa/?story=/news/feature/2011/01/27/af_uganda_gay_activist_slain.
[2] “Gay Ugandan's Murder Blamed on U.S. Evangelicals - New America Media.” [Online]. Available: http://newamericamedia.org/2011/01/gay-ugandans-murder-blamed-on-us-evangelicals.php.
[3] “US should use influence to stop persecution | The Daily Beacon.” [Online]. Available: http://utdailybeacon.com/opinion/columns/the-social-network/2011/feb/1/us-should-use-influence-stop-persecution/.
[4] “Scott Lively's bizarre response to the murder of David Kato - The Angle - Boston.com.” [Online]. Available: http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/blogs/the_angle/2011/01/scott_livelys_r.html.
[5] “Pressure builds after murder of LGBT activist | Uganda Talks.” [Online]. Available: http://www.independent.co.ug/?p=175&option=com_wordpress&Itemid=360#comments.
[6] “Jonathan D. Fitzgerald: The Deadly Serious Connection Between Evangelicalism and Homosexuality.” [Online]. Available: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jonathan-d-fitzgerald/the-deadly-serious-connec_b_815651.html.
[7] “Ugandan Gay Activist, Former NPR Guest, Killed : NPR.” [Online]. Available: http://www.npr.org/2011/01/28/133306184/Ugandan-Gay-Activist-Former-NPR-Guest-Killed.
[8] “David Kato, Gay Rights Activist, Is Killed in Uganda - NYTimes.com.” [Online]. Available: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/28/world/africa/28uganda.html?_r=2&src=ISMR_HP_LO_MST_FB.
[9] “David Kato, Uganda Gay Activist, Brutally Slain.” [Online]. Available: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/27/david-kato-uganda-gay-act_n_814775.html.
[10] “PostPartisan - Murder in Uganda.” [Online]. Available: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/postpartisan/2011/01/murder_in_uganda.html.
http://www.yesumulungi.com/index.php/commentaries/449-are-us-evangelicals-to-blame-for-death-of-a-ugandan-gay-activist.html
Kato Mivule | February 1st 2011
Once again Uganda made international headlines this past week when a Gay Rights activist, David Kato was murdered at his home in Mukono, Uganda. Speculation run high as to the motivation of his killers given the anti gay and homophobic atmosphere in Uganda.
There is no doubt that the anti gay fervor is certainly adding to the unnecessary and unneeded persecution and demonizing of Gays in Uganda, creating a homophobic environment and certainly Christian Leaders must spoke out against such hate. It is unchristian to hate anyone because they are gay and or for that matter do not agree with you or your spiritual lifestyle. As a Christian, you cannot force your spirituality on anyone. You cannot preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ by the sword and “Christian Legislation”, to do so diminishes the free gift of Salvation by Grace in Jesus Christ.
I do not see anywhere in the New Testament were Jesus Christ or His disciples call for the imprisonment of Gays in the Roman Empire. I do not see them fighting for such legalization of “Christian Values” as the law of the Land in the Roman Empire. Yet this is what some Evangelicals from the US have unfortunately promoted in Uganda.
Is this then what caused the death of David Kato, the Ugandan Gay activist? I do not think so but certainly his life was made more difficult by such unnecessary demonizing and inflammatory rhetoric from religious and political circles in Uganda even to his grave when the burial ceremony was hijacked by a Priest to lash out at gays.
Ugandan Christians have now been placed in useless fights against Gays as the main spiritual focus and this ought not to be so. Perhaps the death of David Kato, while not caused by Ugandan Evangelicals, should be a time to rethink the whole anti-gay legislation issue in Uganda and drop the useless anti-gay bill that is unfortunately defining Ugandan Evangelicals as wimps and puppets of US Religious Right zealots.
The purpose of the Church is not to legislate “Christian Laws”, doing so is to digress from New Testament scripture. Secondly, we Christians must learn that we are not the only ones inhabiting this planet earth and this earth is not Heaven, we must therefore learn to live with others who disagree with our “Christian Values”.
My personal humble appeal is that Pastors will call for the withdraw of the Anti-gay Bill in the Ugandan Parliament and seek to reassure the Ugandan gay community that even while they disagree with them, at least they agree to coexists peacefully and seek to do them no harm. Even while we might disagree with Gays in Uganda, first and foremost, they are Human beings created in God's Image and yes, Jesus Christ died too for them too, many of them are your brothers, sisters, and or cousins...let us see Humans not simply defined by their sexual preferences but as Human beings created in God's Image. There is no need and no biblical basis to demonize Gays in Uganda, and Christian Leaders should stand to defuse such rhetoric.
On the other extreme is the propaganda machine of ignorance and what seems to be reverse hate in the Western Media to generalize and demonize whole populations that do not necessarily agree with them on the Gay issue. The day that David Kato was murdered, the Western media picked up a statement by a leading Ugandan activist, Val Kalende, that “David’s death is a result of the hatred planted in Uganda by U.S Evangelicals in 2009. The Ugandan Government and the so-called U.S Evangelicals must take responsibility for David’s blood!”
Rather than seek a peaceful coexistence with other parties, the first statement by the leading Gay activist in Uganda was that US Evangelicals are to blame for the murder of David Kato, and the Western Media without thought or at least with purpose and intent carried that unfortunate generalized statement across Western news outlets and blogs.
Rather than foster an atmosphere of reason, respectful debate, and understanding to at least promote coexistence in Uganda, the Western Media took the opportunity to actually hijack the unfortunate death of David Kato to foster and spread what seems to be reverse hate for US Evangelicals.
There was no single evidence that US Evangelicals as a group paid the assassins to have David Kato murdered as the Western Media painted and insinuated in Western Media reports and blogs. While I do not agree at all with some US Evangelicals influencing morality legislation and the criminalization of Gays in Uganda, to suggest that ALL US Evangelicals are responsible for the death of David Kato was ill conceived, evil, vengeful, hateful, and Western Journalists should have known better – what they engaged in was reverse hate...the very hate against the Gay community that they claim to be fighting against. I don't see how hate can be used to fight hate in Uganda.
Secondly, to assume that Ugandans cannot self determine is the most racist and hostile statement against the people of Uganda. To suggest that Ugandans are wholly influenced by US Evangelicals is to say that they are fools and idiots who only wait for US Evangelicals to fill them in with garbage and as a result to further suggest that even the Gay community in Uganda cannot self determine but are simply robots controlled by Western influences.
Thirdly, some Western Journalists are plain ignorant, pathetic, and oblivious to events on the ground in Uganda; they for example will pick up stories in Uganda when the issue is about Gays but will not report about rampant corruption in Uganda's government and the oppression of opposition parties and the press by dictators supported by Western Governments. There was the case of Pedophilia crimes, young boys who were victims of sexual abuse, and young girls repeatedly raped and abused, yet such cases are not reported but sensationalized stories about Gay persecution are reported in the Western press because that is what sells and gives them a false sense of security and euphoria that they are joining the 'March with Dr. King' on Washington for civil rights; and at the same using such sensational stories to demonize US Evangelical Christians as a group. Rather than seek to foster respectful and peaceful debate about Gay issues in Uganda for example, the Western Press has only become a problem, and increasingly seen as sensational, ignorant, imposing, and imperialistic.
Kato M.
Notes
1] “Ugandan gay activist slain after photo published - Africa - Salon.com.” [Online]. Available: http://www.salon.com/news/africa/?story=/news/feature/2011/01/27/af_uganda_gay_activist_slain.
[2] “Gay Ugandan's Murder Blamed on U.S. Evangelicals - New America Media.” [Online]. Available: http://newamericamedia.org/2011/01/gay-ugandans-murder-blamed-on-us-evangelicals.php.
[3] “US should use influence to stop persecution | The Daily Beacon.” [Online]. Available: http://utdailybeacon.com/opinion/columns/the-social-network/2011/feb/1/us-should-use-influence-stop-persecution/.
[4] “Scott Lively's bizarre response to the murder of David Kato - The Angle - Boston.com.” [Online]. Available: http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/blogs/the_angle/2011/01/scott_livelys_r.html.
[5] “Pressure builds after murder of LGBT activist | Uganda Talks.” [Online]. Available: http://www.independent.co.ug/?p=175&option=com_wordpress&Itemid=360#comments.
[6] “Jonathan D. Fitzgerald: The Deadly Serious Connection Between Evangelicalism and Homosexuality.” [Online]. Available: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jonathan-d-fitzgerald/the-deadly-serious-connec_b_815651.html.
[7] “Ugandan Gay Activist, Former NPR Guest, Killed : NPR.” [Online]. Available: http://www.npr.org/2011/01/28/133306184/Ugandan-Gay-Activist-Former-NPR-Guest-Killed.
[8] “David Kato, Gay Rights Activist, Is Killed in Uganda - NYTimes.com.” [Online]. Available: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/28/world/africa/28uganda.html?_r=2&src=ISMR_HP_LO_MST_FB.
[9] “David Kato, Uganda Gay Activist, Brutally Slain.” [Online]. Available: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/27/david-kato-uganda-gay-act_n_814775.html.
[10] “PostPartisan - Murder in Uganda.” [Online]. Available: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/postpartisan/2011/01/murder_in_uganda.html.
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