FIRST READ:
Nigerian Prosperity Kingpin Pastor Enoch Adeboye to Preach at Hotel, Africana, Kampala- May, 23-24, 2011
http://watchmanafrica.blogspot.com/2011/04/nigerian-prosperity-kingpin-pastor.html
Wealthy Nigerians, Pastors Spend $225 million on Private Jets
http://watchmanafrica.blogspot.com/2011/05/wealthy-nigerians-pastors-spend-225.html
Pastor Enock Adeboye to visit Uganda
http://mobile.monitor.co.ug/Sunday+Life/-/1055104/1162100/-/format/xhtml/-/gj3vxy/-/index.html
Posted by MONITOR REPORTER
on Sunday, May 15 2011 at 00:00
Enoch Adejare Adeboye, a famous pastor from Nigeria and General Overseer of The Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), will be coming to Uganda for a conference starting May 23-24th.
This will be his maiden visit to the country. He will first pass by Rwanda before coming to Uganda.
Pastor Adeboye is arguably one of the most famous pastors in Africa, so famous that in 2008 Newsweek magazine named him one of the 50 most powerful people in the world.
The magazine said, “Behind Adeboye’s extraordinary success is his reputation for honesty. While other Pentecostal pastors (including some Nigerians) have been accused of financial misdeeds or faking supernatural powers, Adeboye remains above the fray…”
He is considered by many as one of the most outstanding figures of the 21st century Christianity.
Although he leads one of the fastest growing Christian Churches in Nigeria and probably in Africa today, majority of the flock he shepherds apart from calling him Daddy or Father in the Lord know little or nothing about him.
This is probably because of a philosophy which seems to emphasise the power and glory of God in all that he does, rather than highlight his own personal achievements or contribution to the phenomenal growth of the church and the body of Christ.
As he will say whenever commended, Glory be to God.
Under his leadership the church has experienced phenomenal growth from 40 small parishes which were located in the south-western Nigeria to well over 20,000 parishes in 110 nations.
Pr. Adeboye is also the host of annual Holy Ghost congress which attracts over seven million worshippers from all continents of the world and has been reputed as the largest gathering of human beings in history.
Pastor Adeboye was born on March 2, 1942 at Ifewara in the present day Osun State. His parents now deceased were natives of the town, which is about midway between Ilesha and Ondo towns.
The name Adejare cannotes, “The prince who has emerged triumphant or victorius.”
He had a strict Christian upbring which was engineered by a church going culture, the prevalent style of Christianity of those days. This church-going attitude gave him an appreciation of God, but made no extraordinary or outstanding Christian out of him.
Before joining the Pentecostal church Adeboye was a mathematics lecturer, and worked at the universities of Lagos and Ilorin. He has a PhD in applied mathematics from the University of Lagos.
Prosperity Gospel - A Gospel Of The Antichrist
By Kato Mivule
http://www.yesumulungi.com/Commentary/Comment53.htm
October 8, 2006
1 John 4:1-6
(1) Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.
(2) Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:
(3) And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.
(4) Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.
(5) They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them.
(6) We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.
Every spirit that confesses not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh...this is the spirit of the Antichrist... However, the 'confess that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh' is not a mere outside mouth confession or a religious confession in church but an acknowledgment, realization, submission to The Lordship of Jesus Christ in our personal life and from the heart to the fact that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh...that He reigns as Lord in our personal lives.
1 John 4:2
(2) Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:
It is the recognition, realization, submission, and obedience to the Life, Authority, Power, Lordship, Command, Word of God, and Life of Suffering, of Jesus Christ. So, this is not just mere confession on the outside that “Jesus Christ is come in the flesh” yet when one’s life and heart are totally contrary to the ‘Life of Jesus Christ in the Flesh’.
'Confess' in Greek...
G3670
ὁμολογέω
homologeō
hom-ol-og-eh'-o
From a compound of the base of G3674 and G3056; to assent, that is, covenant, acknowledge: - con- (pro-) fess, confession is made, give thanks, promise.
So, the Greek word that John used here ‘confess’ is ‘homologeo’ meaning…
• To Assent...
• Covenant…
• Acknowledge…
• Confess…
• Give Thanks…
So, the verse above speaks about not only confessing the that 'Christ Jesus is come in the flesh' but obeying Jesus Christ and living the life of Jesus Christ in us. Just as Christ Jesus walked in the flesh, so we follow His example and we too walk a life that is dead to this world, sin and evil and live the life of Jesus Christ in us.
This means total obedience to the commands of Jesus Christ in us. It means dying to the things of the world and the pleasures of the world. It means carrying our cross and following Jesus Christ daily.
If we Confess, Acknowledge, Realize, Covenant, Assent that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, then we live that life of suffering just as Jesus Christ suffered, we live the life of the cross, we then love the things Jesus Christ loves and hate what He hates. This means not being a friend of the world and not loving the things that are in the world. It means 100% obedience to Christ Jesus regardless of the price and cost, even if it means our very lives.
1 John 4:3
(3) And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.
The Antichrist spirit confesses not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh...this is a spirit of rebellion that does not realize, acknowledge, submit to the Lordship and Life of Jesus Christ. This Antichrist spirit submits to the things of the world, to the life and lordship of the world, riches, materialism, silver, gold, and submission to man.
The deceptiveness about this Antichrist spirit is it's characteristic of hypocrisy; religious Christians in this category merely “confess” that Jesus Christ is Lord and that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh but they do not obey the commands of The Lord...they merely say Lord, Lord but don't do the things The Lord commands...
Matthew 7:19-23
(19) Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
(20) Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.
(21) Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
(22) Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
(23) And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
It is interesting to note that the ‘Confess Jesus Christ is come in the flesh’ is in present tense and not past. Christ Jesus dwells in those who obey his commands, those who love Him, His saints, His True Church…and in Him we live, move, and have our being.
Acts 17:28
(28) For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.
'Is come' in Greek...
G2064
ἔρχομαι
erchomai
er'-khom-ahee
Middle voice of a primary verb (used only in the present and imperfect tenses, the others being supplied by a kindred [middle voice] word, ἐλεύθομαι eleuthomai or ἔλθω elthō; which do not otherwise occur); to come or go (in a great variety of applications, literally and figuratively): - accompany, appear, bring, come enter, fall out, go, grow, X light, X next, pass, resort, be set.
So, the 'Is Come' in Greek is 'erchomai' generally meaning here...
• Accompany
• Appear
• Bring
• Come
• Enter
• Fall Out
• Go
• Grow
The life we live, we live in Christ Jesus and Jesus Christ in us. We don't live on our own but submit to His will and obey His commandments. Such a life is a life of the Cross, it is not a life of pleasures of this world as the Prosperity preachers desire us to believe.
Galatians 2:20
(20) I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
If Christ Jesus lives in us then we shall follow after His leading and example and not conform to the standards of this world.
For Jesus Christ is the same yesterday today and forever…as He walked, so does He still walk, and so will He walk and even so we ought to walk after His likeness and character...
Jesus Christ was not parading around in the best SUV, Corporate Jet, designer clothing, million dollar houses, fat bank accounts, expensive vacations and cruises...Jesus Christ lived a simple life, a life that was not attached to the riches of this world and not a friend to the powerful and the elite. Jesus Christ reached out to the sinners, sick and the poor of His day and so must we if Christ Jesus truly dwells in us and if we truly confess that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh....
James 4:4-5
(4) Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.
(5) Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?
Prosperity Preachers always speak about terms like 'increase', 'going to the next level', 'being fruitful', 'divine favor in the world and business', financial increase, influence...and many other blasphemous terms...what the Prosperity teachers are doing is conforming Christian to the world and submission to man...this is the spirit of the Antichrist that 'Confesses not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh'...
Brothers and Sisters be forewarned that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God. Those preachers who seduce you to such philosophies are liars and wolves in sheepskin seeking only to destroy your faith in Christ Jesus.
Now, many prosperity preachers argue that they also take care of the poor, orphans and help the sick but this is just Hypocrisy 101; these greedy preachers simply throw money in orphanages and pretend to help the poor not because they love to but because they seek to use the poverty of the poor for their own gain...
They get more donations when they show pictures of the poor to their donors...they pretend to preach the gospel but what they preach is heresy...their care for the poor is nothing but pure hypocrisy...they are like the IMF and World Bank “giving” Africans “Grants” which they expect Africans to repay somehow somewhere sometime in the future back to the world's elite Bankers - IMF and World Bank.
John 15:4
(4) Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.
Hebrews 13:8
(8) Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.
1 John 2:6
(6) He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.
So, we understand that the “confess that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh” has to do with our total obedience to Jesus Christ, abiding in Him, He abiding in us and them we as a must, walking even as Jesus Christ walked…
We now understand that we must bear fruit and that fruit is the Life, character and likeness of Jesus Christ in us…walking just as He walked…acknowledging that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh…He abides in us even to this day, therefore His character and likeness is not just historical and past and irrelevant as the world says but is and must be manifest in us today…
So, we take a moment and ask our selves, did Jesus Christ live a life of materialism, worldliness, greed, sin, hate, murder, jealousy, political Christianity?…which things, sad to say is what many Christians are walking in today blinded by foolish pastors and so-called apostles (actually apostates) who are busy committing adultery with the world and loving the things of the world.
1 John 2:15-18
(15) Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
(16) For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
(17) And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.
(18) Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.
The spirit of the Antichrist is that which causes men to love the world and hate Christ and become enemies of God. Brothers and Sisters, let us watch and be very careful, today's prosperity preachers are agents of the Antichrist regardless of if they know it or not...the gospel of prosperity, riches and materialism is one that conforms Christians to the standards of this world while hypocritically using The Name of Jesus Christ.
Now, you CANNOT love Jesus Christ and at the same time love the things of the world such as materialism, posh cars first class air travel, the best cars – SUVs, Gulf Stream Jets, Million Dollar houses, huge dollar bank accounts, fame, upper class neighborhoods, the rich, powerful politicians and so forth…all best the world can give…
The prosperity gospel conforms people to love the things of this world and as such makes Christians friends with this world and as such they become enemies of God.
You cannot love such and think that you are abiding in Christ Jesus…those who think in such a way are hoodwinked and bewitched by Satan himself…and such is the prosperity doctrine and purpose driven life of lies and a life outside Jesus Christ.
Those who live in such lies called “prosperity gospel” will never be fruitful with The Life of Jesus Christ in them…they will never ‘Confess, acknowledge, realize, assent, covenant, that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh’; they will always say that “Jesus Christ CAME in the flesh”…such is the spirit of the Antichrist…the spirit of the world and love for the things of the world…the spirit that rejects continual submission to the Lordship, Character, and Likeness of Jesus Christ.
1 John 2:15-19
(15) Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
(16) For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
(17) And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.
(18) Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.
(19) They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.
The Antichrist spirit is very much connected to the love of the world and things of the world...
Those who love the world and the things of the world have no love of the Father in them… These are they that refuse to ‘confess, acknowledge, and assent that Jesus Christ IS COME in the flesh’; they refuse the Lordship and Life of Christ Jesus in their personal lives…
Such is the Prosperity Movement…this Movement is one that promises Christians riches here on earth and the best of the world here in this dying world that is certainly passing away. The prosperity movement is one that subtly indoctrinates its believers to love the world and the things of the world and in the process, they do away with the Love of The Father and ‘Confess Not that Jesus Christ IS COME in the flesh’…this is a movement of rebellion and as such it is an Antichrist Movement.
Sad to note is the fact that many churches here in Africa are being swept by this diabolical movement called the prosperity and purpose driven movement… TBN TV is the greatest dispenser of this World Love prosperity and purpose driven venom from the Antichrist.
I sometimes wonder why these TBN guys don’t stop their broadcasts here in Africa…we don’t need such venom, we are tired of it and please TBN keep your Antichrist programming to yourself. We shall have our bibles, those will be enough for us.
We are tired of such lies like “Enjoying Everyday Life” with Joyce Meyer, not forgetting Benn Hinn’s Jet purchase campaigns…
Benn Hinn says that we should give him money so he can buy a new plane and that we so send him to preach the gospel around the world…we are tired of such lies, we don’t see Jesus Christ in such, we don’t see, His character and likeness in such preachers but greed, materialism, covetousness, merchandising and selling of all those small idols Benn Hinn loves to call gifts for the price of donations from his viewers, and sure enough this is an Antichrist spirit!
Sad and so sad is the fact that the ‘emperor walks naked’ and does not even realize it…the TBN promotion of such filth around the world is such and simply a walking naked emperor here on Africa’s airwaves.
Revelation 3:17-18
(17) Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
(18) I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.
What amazes me is the fact that despite heavy criticism against the prosperity movement and its preachers, many of them still continue to stubbornly preach this Antichrist Gospel of riches, fame, ‘getting to the next level’ “being fruitful” which is nothing other than love for the world.
Brethren, truly this is the last hour just as The Lord Jesus Christ and the Apostles warned us 2000 years ago about the great deception that would happen prior to The Lord's Second coming.
The storms of deception are blowing left and right and against the people of God, those who call themselves after the name of The Lord.
Deception is so rampant that Pastors of churches and Christians are giving themselves over to the overt love for the things of the world.
The deception is packaged to seduce Christians in accepting a “good” life in the world. They are promised the 'best in the world' if they 'saw' seeds of faith... The talk in Christendom these days is about being “fruitful” and getting to the “next level” but the fruitfulness spoken about by these imposters who pretend to be pastors is all about getting more influence, materialism, riches and money in the world.
The “next level” that these false apostles speak about is all about “getting to the next level” in the social ladders of the affluent societies...this is the gospel of elitism and it only leads towards destruction.
Sad it is to say that the greatest proponents today are the Western Preachers and Pastors, almost 99 per cent of TBN TV is about the promotion for love of the world and the things of the world.
We in Africa are daily being bombarded by the false teachings on TBN about a “good life”, “being fruitful”, and “ getting to the next level” by mainly American preachers and America-nized preachers...
When one turns on Christian TV, all you see and hear is a gospel that speaks not about the cross of Jesus Christ but about “making it in life”, all we hear constantly is the heresy and error by such speakers as Joyce Meyer, and not to mention Kenneth Copeland and his “Faith” programs...all these guys do is speak about being conformed to the world...
Brethren, those who want blunt discernment concerning TBN TV, here is it...this is a TV that promotes a false gospel, another gospel, a gospel of the Antichrist, a gospel that conforms believers to love the world and to get justification from man. Yes, regardless of how many innocent and sincere preachers are on this TV, they have been blinded by the god of this world and to seduce and deceive believers in loving the world while hypocritically singing the Name of Jesus Christ.
These are the last days and the Antichrist does not come dressed in Halloween attire, the Antichrist comes dressed in business attire - in a corporate suit and a briefcase full of 100 US Dollars bill notes, credit and debit cards, with a brand new SUV, flies in a personal corporate Gulf Stream jet, being welcomed on pulpits every Sunday, and having his programs aired across the world on "Christian TV", while promising millions peace, prosperity, and a good life here on earth...
It is no wonder that his (antichrist) gospel connects well with the elite political establishment; they are all seeking peace and prosperity...and the establishment know that what some “Christians” need today is just money and 'making it in life', the very thing the Antichrist is willing to offer in his peace and prosperity initiatives...
1 Timothy 6:3-10
(3) If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness;
(4) He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings,
(5) Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself.
(6) But godliness with contentment is great gain.
(7) For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.
(8) And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.
(9) But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.
(10) For 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.
For the love of money is the source of all evil...don't be deceived, you cannot serve Jesus Christ and at the same time serve money...the prosperity preachers are liars and deceivers who desire us to believe that we can love Jesus Christ and money at the same time...those who heed these wolves who love to call themselves prosperity teachers and 'enjoying everyday life' preachers are doomed for destruction...brethren, repent!
Brethren, come out from such, be separate and The Lord will receive you...Amen
Revelation 18:4
(4) And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.
2 Corinthians 6:14-18
(14) Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?
(15) And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?
(16) And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
(17) Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,
(18) And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.
Sunday, 22 May 2011
World doesn't end: California prophet had no Plan B
FIRST READ:
The world is ending on October, 21st, 2011 and Judgment day is on May, 21st 2011: Do not believe this Utter Nonsense and Stupidity
http://watchmanafrica.blogspot.com/2011/03/world-is-ending-on-october-21st-2011.html
Harold Camping predicts doomsday on 21 May 2011
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9knnwnNf4w&feature=related
Doomsday Today: Will world end on May 21, 2011?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRbLFfWa1oM&NR=1
World doesn't end: California prophet had no Plan B
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/22/rapture-harold-camping-end-world
Paul Harris, New York
The Observer, Sunday 22 May 2011
Harold Camping spent millions of dollars telling the nations it was the end of days; now his followers may need counseling
To the shock and distress of a handful of ultra-devout Christian believers, the sun went down yesterday on an America and a world that had signally failed to end.
Instead of a series of earthquakes hitting successive countries at 6pm local time and heralding The Rapture – in which millions of the Faithful would ascend to heaven before the Second Coming of Christ – planet Earth simply carried on and, mostly, kept calm.
Middle East peace remained unresolved, political turmoil hit a few countries and bypassed many others. But by and large the world's toiling billions, as usual, just got on with their lives.
The non-event was a great disappointment to hundreds of followers of a hitherto obscure California-based religious group called Family Radio, which had lavished millions of dollars on a worldwide advertising campaign proclaiming yesterday as Judgment Day.
The group is centred on the teachings and broadcasts of prophet Harold Camping, an 89-year-old self-styled expert in the scriptures who told his followers that his interpretations of the Bible had uncovered the true date of the end of the world. Camping, who lives in the northern California town of Alameda, has previous form on this. He got the date wrong in 1994 when he said the world would end that year, and later explained its continued existence by saying he had made a mathematical error.
But what made this prediction different was the lavish spending that accompanied it. Camping and his followers spent more than $100m worldwide on billboards and posters, financed by the sale and swap of radio stations. Advertising popped up across America and the globe from Iraq to Lebanon to Israel to Jordan, the Philippines to Vietnam, where thousands of the Hmong ethnic hill tribe gathered together on the Thai border in anticipation of the event. The campaign was backed up by Camping's radio show, which can be heard worldwide, and a website that featured, naturally, a countdown clock. Yesterday that clock was at zero underneath the banner headline: "Judgment Day: the Bible guarantees it."
Camping's followers became a familiar sight in cities such as New York, wearing T-shirts proclaiming their beliefs and handing out leaflets in subway stations. On Friday they were at Manhattan's Union Square station, attracting a throng of fascinated gawpers who posed for pictures with them. They handed out their Judgment Day booklets and chatted amiably enough, given their conviction that the End Times were about to arrive.
But as yesterday approached many told reporters they would spend the time huddled in their homes with their families. They planned to pray for their loved ones and hope to be among the lucky few taken up into heaven and spared the global calamity the rest of us would have to put up with for the (much shortened) rest of our lives. Camping himself, who wound down his radio operations ahead of time, said he would watch events unfold at home on television.
Unfortunately for them, nothing happened; a fact that caused much hilarity on Twitter and elsewhere as the 6pm deadline passed in New Zealand, then Australia, Europe and finally America.
"Harold Camping Doomsday prediction fails; No earthquake in New Zealand," read one posting on Twitter. "If this whole end-of-the-world thingy is still going on... it's already past 6.00 in New Zealand and the world hasn't ended," said another. The jokes were global. "Through Croydon; devastation, pestilence, drawn, emaciated faces of the walking dead. No sign of the Rapture though," cracked someone evidently not a fan of the south London town. Another Twitter user suggested people scatter empty pairs of shoes and discarded clothes on their lawns to simulate those lucky few now living with God.
Perhaps not surprisingly, atheists and other non-believers used the opportunity as a way to mock the religious. Various parties were planned across the US. In Fayetteville, North Carolina, the local chapter of the American Humanist Association held a party last night to celebrate the Earth's survival and planned a music concert. The American Atheists held "rapture parties" in places such as Wichita, Kansas, Fort Lauderdale in Florida and even just a few miles from Family Radio itself at a conference centre in Oakland. New York's mayor Michael Bloomberg used a press conference to assure citizens that post-Rapture his administration would not pursue parking tickets or late library books.
But other non-believers and cynics saw an opportunity to make money rather than jokes. There has been a mini-boom in firms and individuals offering to look after the pets of those who believed they were about to be raptured. Eternal Earth-Bound Pets, set up by New Hampshire atheist Bart Centre, has about 250 clients who paid $135 (£83) for insurance policies that guarantee Centre and others will care for their animals when they ascend. Others paid out to sign up with websites that would send out farewell letters to friends and relations left behind.
But there is a serious side. Camping seemed entirely genuine in his beliefs, enough to spend a small fortune promoting them. While others may be making money out of believing in Doomsday, Camping is not one of them. Many experts have worried about the psychological impact on his followers who are suddenly confronted with the collapse of their belief system. Some Christian pastors planned to gather outside Family Radio to counsel any distraught members who showed up wondering why they – and the world – were still there.
Camping himself admitted he had pretty much staked everything on his fervently held belief. "There is no plan B," he told Reuters late last week. Which is a shame. As the day progressed in California last night with no global mega-quake in sight, he and his followers needed one.
The world is ending on October, 21st, 2011 and Judgment day is on May, 21st 2011: Do not believe this Utter Nonsense and Stupidity
http://watchmanafrica.blogspot.com/2011/03/world-is-ending-on-october-21st-2011.html
Harold Camping predicts doomsday on 21 May 2011
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9knnwnNf4w&feature=related
Doomsday Today: Will world end on May 21, 2011?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRbLFfWa1oM&NR=1
World doesn't end: California prophet had no Plan B
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/22/rapture-harold-camping-end-world
Paul Harris, New York
The Observer, Sunday 22 May 2011
Harold Camping spent millions of dollars telling the nations it was the end of days; now his followers may need counseling
To the shock and distress of a handful of ultra-devout Christian believers, the sun went down yesterday on an America and a world that had signally failed to end.
Instead of a series of earthquakes hitting successive countries at 6pm local time and heralding The Rapture – in which millions of the Faithful would ascend to heaven before the Second Coming of Christ – planet Earth simply carried on and, mostly, kept calm.
Middle East peace remained unresolved, political turmoil hit a few countries and bypassed many others. But by and large the world's toiling billions, as usual, just got on with their lives.
The non-event was a great disappointment to hundreds of followers of a hitherto obscure California-based religious group called Family Radio, which had lavished millions of dollars on a worldwide advertising campaign proclaiming yesterday as Judgment Day.
The group is centred on the teachings and broadcasts of prophet Harold Camping, an 89-year-old self-styled expert in the scriptures who told his followers that his interpretations of the Bible had uncovered the true date of the end of the world. Camping, who lives in the northern California town of Alameda, has previous form on this. He got the date wrong in 1994 when he said the world would end that year, and later explained its continued existence by saying he had made a mathematical error.
But what made this prediction different was the lavish spending that accompanied it. Camping and his followers spent more than $100m worldwide on billboards and posters, financed by the sale and swap of radio stations. Advertising popped up across America and the globe from Iraq to Lebanon to Israel to Jordan, the Philippines to Vietnam, where thousands of the Hmong ethnic hill tribe gathered together on the Thai border in anticipation of the event. The campaign was backed up by Camping's radio show, which can be heard worldwide, and a website that featured, naturally, a countdown clock. Yesterday that clock was at zero underneath the banner headline: "Judgment Day: the Bible guarantees it."
Camping's followers became a familiar sight in cities such as New York, wearing T-shirts proclaiming their beliefs and handing out leaflets in subway stations. On Friday they were at Manhattan's Union Square station, attracting a throng of fascinated gawpers who posed for pictures with them. They handed out their Judgment Day booklets and chatted amiably enough, given their conviction that the End Times were about to arrive.
But as yesterday approached many told reporters they would spend the time huddled in their homes with their families. They planned to pray for their loved ones and hope to be among the lucky few taken up into heaven and spared the global calamity the rest of us would have to put up with for the (much shortened) rest of our lives. Camping himself, who wound down his radio operations ahead of time, said he would watch events unfold at home on television.
Unfortunately for them, nothing happened; a fact that caused much hilarity on Twitter and elsewhere as the 6pm deadline passed in New Zealand, then Australia, Europe and finally America.
"Harold Camping Doomsday prediction fails; No earthquake in New Zealand," read one posting on Twitter. "If this whole end-of-the-world thingy is still going on... it's already past 6.00 in New Zealand and the world hasn't ended," said another. The jokes were global. "Through Croydon; devastation, pestilence, drawn, emaciated faces of the walking dead. No sign of the Rapture though," cracked someone evidently not a fan of the south London town. Another Twitter user suggested people scatter empty pairs of shoes and discarded clothes on their lawns to simulate those lucky few now living with God.
Perhaps not surprisingly, atheists and other non-believers used the opportunity as a way to mock the religious. Various parties were planned across the US. In Fayetteville, North Carolina, the local chapter of the American Humanist Association held a party last night to celebrate the Earth's survival and planned a music concert. The American Atheists held "rapture parties" in places such as Wichita, Kansas, Fort Lauderdale in Florida and even just a few miles from Family Radio itself at a conference centre in Oakland. New York's mayor Michael Bloomberg used a press conference to assure citizens that post-Rapture his administration would not pursue parking tickets or late library books.
But other non-believers and cynics saw an opportunity to make money rather than jokes. There has been a mini-boom in firms and individuals offering to look after the pets of those who believed they were about to be raptured. Eternal Earth-Bound Pets, set up by New Hampshire atheist Bart Centre, has about 250 clients who paid $135 (£83) for insurance policies that guarantee Centre and others will care for their animals when they ascend. Others paid out to sign up with websites that would send out farewell letters to friends and relations left behind.
But there is a serious side. Camping seemed entirely genuine in his beliefs, enough to spend a small fortune promoting them. While others may be making money out of believing in Doomsday, Camping is not one of them. Many experts have worried about the psychological impact on his followers who are suddenly confronted with the collapse of their belief system. Some Christian pastors planned to gather outside Family Radio to counsel any distraught members who showed up wondering why they – and the world – were still there.
Camping himself admitted he had pretty much staked everything on his fervently held belief. "There is no plan B," he told Reuters late last week. Which is a shame. As the day progressed in California last night with no global mega-quake in sight, he and his followers needed one.
Wealthy Nigerians, Pastors Spend $225 million on Private Jets
FIRST READ:
Nigerian Prosperity Kingpin Pastor Enoch Adeboye to Preach at Hotel, Africana, Kampala- May, 23-24, 2011
http://watchmanafrica.blogspot.com/2011/04/nigerian-prosperity-kingpin-pastor.html
Wealthy Nigerians, Pastors Spend $225 million on Private Jets
Mfonobong Nsehe
The Africa Chronicles
http://blogs.forbes.com/mfonobongnsehe/2011/05/17/wealthy-nigerians-pastors-spend-225-million-on-private-jets/
May. 17 2011 - 12:32 pm
A few wealthy Nigerians spent at least $225 million acquiring private jets between March 2010 and March 2011, a Nigerian newspaper reported on Monday.
According to the report published by the Punch Newspaper, a couple of the acquisitions were made by billionaires Aliko Dangote and Mike Adenuga. Last year, Dangote acquired a US$45 million Bombardier jet as a gift to himself on his 53rd birthday, while Mike Adenuga purchased a Bombardier Global Express XRS. Both Dangote and Adenuga own at least two private planes each.
Apart from wealthy business tycoons, Nigerian clergymen and spiritual leaders are also joining the very elite league of jet owners.
In March this year, David Oyedepo, a Nigerian cleric generally believed to be Africa’s wealthiest gospel preacher, acquired a Gulfstream V jet for US$30 million. Oyedepo, who presides over the Winners Chapel, one of Africa’s largest churches, now owns a private collection of four aircraft. In addition to his latest acquisition, he previously owned two Gulfstream planes and a Bombardier Challenger Aircraft. He is also reportedly creating a private hanger to accommodate his flying toys.
Oyedepo is not the only Nigerian clergyman to own a jet. Pastor Enoch Adeboye, the revered overseer of Nigeria’s largest congregation, The Redeemed Christian Church of God, is also a proud jet owner. In March 2009, the great man of God spent $30 million on a Gulfstream jet amidst widespread criticism. Pastor Sam Adeyemi, another cleric and founder of the Daystar Christian center, a flourishing Pentecostal congregation which repeatedly preaches financial prosperity, is also a jet owner.
It’s not cheap to own a private jet. On average, it costs hundreds of thousands of dollars annually to maintain a personal plane. The majority of Nigerians frown at such flagrant displays of opulence, particularly on the path of their clergymen, given that 60% of Nigerians still live below the poverty line.
Paradoxically, the same people who complain about the extravagant lifestyles of their spiritual leaders are the same ones who finance it. Every Sunday, swarms of worshipers rush to the church to give away their hard-earned money to the pastors’ coffers in the form of tithes, offerings and special gifts with the deluded hope of multiplied financial blessings in return. For many, this is but a pipe dream. Deep down, the pastors smile; they’ve got just the perfect suckers.
Nigerian Prosperity Kingpin Pastor Enoch Adeboye to Preach at Hotel, Africana, Kampala- May, 23-24, 2011
http://watchmanafrica.blogspot.com/2011/04/nigerian-prosperity-kingpin-pastor.html
Wealthy Nigerians, Pastors Spend $225 million on Private Jets
Mfonobong Nsehe
The Africa Chronicles
http://blogs.forbes.com/mfonobongnsehe/2011/05/17/wealthy-nigerians-pastors-spend-225-million-on-private-jets/
May. 17 2011 - 12:32 pm
A few wealthy Nigerians spent at least $225 million acquiring private jets between March 2010 and March 2011, a Nigerian newspaper reported on Monday.
According to the report published by the Punch Newspaper, a couple of the acquisitions were made by billionaires Aliko Dangote and Mike Adenuga. Last year, Dangote acquired a US$45 million Bombardier jet as a gift to himself on his 53rd birthday, while Mike Adenuga purchased a Bombardier Global Express XRS. Both Dangote and Adenuga own at least two private planes each.
Apart from wealthy business tycoons, Nigerian clergymen and spiritual leaders are also joining the very elite league of jet owners.
In March this year, David Oyedepo, a Nigerian cleric generally believed to be Africa’s wealthiest gospel preacher, acquired a Gulfstream V jet for US$30 million. Oyedepo, who presides over the Winners Chapel, one of Africa’s largest churches, now owns a private collection of four aircraft. In addition to his latest acquisition, he previously owned two Gulfstream planes and a Bombardier Challenger Aircraft. He is also reportedly creating a private hanger to accommodate his flying toys.
Oyedepo is not the only Nigerian clergyman to own a jet. Pastor Enoch Adeboye, the revered overseer of Nigeria’s largest congregation, The Redeemed Christian Church of God, is also a proud jet owner. In March 2009, the great man of God spent $30 million on a Gulfstream jet amidst widespread criticism. Pastor Sam Adeyemi, another cleric and founder of the Daystar Christian center, a flourishing Pentecostal congregation which repeatedly preaches financial prosperity, is also a jet owner.
It’s not cheap to own a private jet. On average, it costs hundreds of thousands of dollars annually to maintain a personal plane. The majority of Nigerians frown at such flagrant displays of opulence, particularly on the path of their clergymen, given that 60% of Nigerians still live below the poverty line.
Paradoxically, the same people who complain about the extravagant lifestyles of their spiritual leaders are the same ones who finance it. Every Sunday, swarms of worshipers rush to the church to give away their hard-earned money to the pastors’ coffers in the form of tithes, offerings and special gifts with the deluded hope of multiplied financial blessings in return. For many, this is but a pipe dream. Deep down, the pastors smile; they’ve got just the perfect suckers.
Saturday, 21 May 2011
‘Left Behind' Author: May 21 Rapture Is 'Flat Out Wrong'
‘Left Behind' Author: May 21 Rapture Is 'Flat Out Wrong'
http://www.christianpost.com/news/left-behind-author-may-21-rapture-is-flat-out-wrong-50322/
By Ariel R. Rey | Christian Post Contributor
U.S.|Thu, May. 19 2011 01:44 PM EDT
Left Behind author Tim Lahaye says that “anyone who thinks they ‘know’ the day and the hour is flat out wrong.”
On his website, the best-selling author recently wrote a letter to the public advising them not to buy into Harold Camping's prediction that May 21 is the beginning of the end of the world. He remarked that it “is not only wrong but dangerous.” He also said the claim that God will destroy the world on October 21 "is not only bizarre but 100% wrong!"
An evangelical minister, Lahaye, 85, has recently drawn attention himself after pointing out that the recent earthquakes and tsunamis in Japan are signs of the apocalypse just as he laid out in his fictionalized version of the end of days.
Nevertheless, he does not think that Camping’s prediction is correct because according to the Bible, “no one by God the Father knows ‘the day and the hour’ when our Lord will return.”
“No one knows, not even the angels in heaven, but my Father only (Matthew 24:36). These words were preceded with verse 35, when He also said, 'Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.'"
Camping and his followers have posted the May 21 rapture day prediction all over billboards and buses through Family Radio ministry.
LaHaye reminded the public that this isn’t Camping’s first infamous prediction. In September 1994 his so called end of the world prediction failed.
“Yet it seems he is still coming up with a date for Christ's return which seemingly only he has insight into – as he was wrong before so he is wrong now,” Lahaye wrote.
The Michigan native concluded that instead of focusing on preposterous assumptions, all God wants people to do is “to live every day as though Christ could come today.”
Focusing on the today and living by Christ’s Gospel is “a great motto for daily living,” he emphasized.
“For one day it will happen and we don't know when, but we don't want you to be left behind!”
LaHaye originated the idea of a novel about the Second Coming. He and Jerry B. Jenkins began the Left Behind series in 1995. Over 11 million copies in the series have been sold.
Doomsday: Is the world really ending today?
http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/-/688334/1166548/-/c1go1dz/-/index.html
Posted Saturday, May 21 2011 at 00:00
In Summary
Highlights of what is expected to take place during the day of May 21, 2011:
Mr James Bradley Okumu, an Industrial Chemistry student at Makerere University, has been following Mr Camping’s predictions. He believes in them totally, and tells us how events will unfold on that day of last reckoning, which we must prepare well for:
1. A huge earthquake will strike the whole world at 6pm local time of every country
but it will be a gradual process which will start from the east to the west.
2.After covering the whole world, the earthquake will then throw out of the graves all true believers who died a long time ago, who will be transformed instantly into spiritual bodies. They will then be brought up to be with Christ in the heavens.
3. The true believers who are alive will then follow and they will also be instantly transformed into spiritual beings and brought up to be with Christ in the heavens.
4. The non-believers and those who believe but are considered as sinners will all perish in the earthquake. Their bodies will then be thrown out like manure and shamed in the sight of God.
5. The whole world will then remain in such disorder until 21 October because from today (May 21) to October 21 will be the five months of the apocalypse period, after which the whole world will come to an end.
More than 11 years ago, at least 500 people died in a suicidal fire in a makeshift church in Kanungu District after being brainwashed by cult leader Joseph Kibwetere about an imminent doomsday. Harold Camping, an 89-year-old Califonia-based Bible teacher, thinks today is the D-day. Sarah Tumwebaze brings you details of this latest claim.
Today May 21, at exactly 6pm, the world is coming to an end, according to an elderly Bible teacher. He has studied and interpreted the Bible, and pinpoints today as the day of the apocalypse.
Such predictions of doomsday have been made in many parts of the world, including Uganda. In South America in 1978, Jim Jones, an American cult leader, ordered his followers to drink poisoned Kool-Aid and 909 of them, Jones inclusive, died.
Here in Uganda, on December 31, 2000, Kanungu District, in south-western Uganda, was filled with grief after a cult leader, Joseph Kibwetere, who was known as prophet, predicted the end of the world and ended up burning more than 500 people in a wooden church.
Kibwetere, who was the leader of the Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God, had earlier predicted the doomsday for December 31, 1999. However, when it did not happen, he pushed it to December 31, 2000.
On this day, more than 500 followers of this cult entered their small church whose windows and doors were then locked from the outside. They sang for some hours before the small wooden building was set on fire. Everyone inside perished.
There have been other judgment days, including September 6, 1994. Despite the prophecies, the world has not ended. Indeed, our local clerics here have scoffed at the idea of predicting the end of the world.
However, the predictors do not give up. The most recent date that has been fixed by Harold Camping, an 89-year-old California-based Bible teacher, is today, May 21, 2011. He says he figured out the date of Jesus’ return by studying the book of Daniel and other Biblical texts.
Believers in this doomsday prediction have put up billboards, purchased TV adverts, painted warnings on rooftops and flooded many countries with printed warnings. The message on the billboards reads: The Trumpet is Sounding Are you ready? 21 May 2011 FamilyRadio.com.
According to Mr Maxwell Moahloli Motlalepula, a representative of Family Stations, Inc, this station which is spreading the judgment day message is a non-profit, non-commercial, Christian radio network.
“It was established in 1958 with one FM station in the San Francisco bay area. Mr Harold Camping along with two other Christian men purchased KEAR with the sole intent of proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Today, there are 66 owned and operated radio stations throughout the US. Along with these domestic stations Family Stations also broadcasts its programming from numerous international broadcast facilities throughout the world.”
Mr Motlalepula explains that Camping is the President and General Manager of Family Stations, Inc. “He has been a full-time volunteer since Family Radio’s infancy,” he wrote in an email to Saturday Monitor’s enquiries.
Bible interpretation
He said it is out of Mr Camping’s efforts of reading the Bible for five decades that he has been able to come up with these dates.
“Mr Camping has been a tireless student of the Bible for more than five decades. The tens of thousands of hours he has spent analysing the Bible has given him a unique perspective of the entirety of Scriptures. Given the overwhelming Biblical evidence, the Family Stations, Inc.
Board of Directors made a determination to dedicate all available resources to proclaim the warning of May 21, 2011. God has prepared Family Radio for this important time in history. Given the population of the world, radio and the internet are the perfect vehicles to deliver this warning,” he explains.
Mr Motlalepula adds: “The date of May 21, 2011 was derived solely from evidence found in the Bible. The length of time between the day God created this world in 11,013 B.C. and the day he will destroy it in October 21, 2011. The discovery of this information built the foundation for what God would later reveal from the Bible as the date for the end.
Judgment Day on May 21, 2011 is the culmination of five decades of intensive Biblical study by Mr Camping and other Bible teachers who have discovered the same Biblical data.”
In Camping’s book We Are Almost There, he shows that God reveals the judgment day through his works in the Bible.
“Genesis 7, God is effectively saying all of mankind in the whole world have seven days to get into the safety of Christ, who alone can save us from the wrath of God. But God insists in II Peter 3 that we must absolutely know that a day is as a thousand years. So 7,000 years represent seven days. Therefore, effectively, God was telling Noah that all of mankind who would ever live in the whole world have 7,000 years to get into the safety of Christ, if they are to escape the wrath of God,” Camping explains in his book.
According to his calculations, 7,000 years after Noah’s day are in 2011. “Therefore, we must understand that God is declaring that He expects that all of the elect of God would absolutely know that the year 2011 is to be the end of the world.”
Camping also goes ahead to specify the date of the doomsday as being today, May 21. In his calculations, he says there is a five-month period that immediately follows the 8,400-days Great Tribulation period.
Home believer
Mr James Bradley Okumu, who believes in Mr Camping’s predictions, says the tribulation period started in 33 AD and ended in May 21, 1988. “The 8,400 years after the tribulation period that is talked about by Camping will elapse today, thus making today the judgment day, and it will start at 6pm local time in every country moving from the East to the West. From today to the 21 of October it will be five months and this day will be the end of the world.”
Maxwell says they are very certain about the dates because, “Mr Camping saw God had placed a lot of proof to alert believers that May 21 of 2011 is the date Christ will return for His people and begin a period of the final destruction of the world. Some of the signs described by the Bible have all been fulfilled, giving further proof that we are approaching that time. Jesus warned of several spiritual signs, such as the complete degradation of the Christian Church, the devastating moral breakdown of society, the re-establishment of the nation of Israel in 1948, the emergence of the ‘Gay Pride Movement’, and the complete disregard of the Bible in all of society today as direct evidence of His return.
“Mr Motlalepula urges people to cry out to God for mercy and fully recognise the fact that they are sinners and therefore need God’s mercy.
“One must approach God with a broken and contrite attitude, because after all every human being, without exception, is guilty before God. Only God decides whom He will save and it is only Christ’s ‘gift’ of salvation that can save one from destruction and the terrible events coming upon this world on May 21, 2011.” However, different religious leaders have rejected Camping’s doomsday prediction.
Reverend Diana Nkesiga refers to Camping’s way of coming to the Day of Judgment as defective. “His way of calculating the days is defective because God does not calculate His days that way. More so, the Bible says no one knows the day or the hour.”
Only God knows
Father Wynand Katende also calls Camping’s prediction as, “an arrogate of the power of God because it’s only God that knows the judgment day because even when Jesus was asked by the Pharisees about the same in Luke 17:20-35, He did not tell them because this day is only known by God alone.”
Pastor Martin Ssempa regards Camping as a well-intended trumpet blower who rather blows it the wrong way.
“I find that his predictions are well-intended, but I do not agree with him on the time and date because the Bible says no man knows the time, date and hour apart from God alone,” opines Pastor Sempa.
stumwebaze@ug.nationmedia.com
http://www.christianpost.com/news/left-behind-author-may-21-rapture-is-flat-out-wrong-50322/
By Ariel R. Rey | Christian Post Contributor
U.S.|Thu, May. 19 2011 01:44 PM EDT
Left Behind author Tim Lahaye says that “anyone who thinks they ‘know’ the day and the hour is flat out wrong.”
On his website, the best-selling author recently wrote a letter to the public advising them not to buy into Harold Camping's prediction that May 21 is the beginning of the end of the world. He remarked that it “is not only wrong but dangerous.” He also said the claim that God will destroy the world on October 21 "is not only bizarre but 100% wrong!"
An evangelical minister, Lahaye, 85, has recently drawn attention himself after pointing out that the recent earthquakes and tsunamis in Japan are signs of the apocalypse just as he laid out in his fictionalized version of the end of days.
Nevertheless, he does not think that Camping’s prediction is correct because according to the Bible, “no one by God the Father knows ‘the day and the hour’ when our Lord will return.”
“No one knows, not even the angels in heaven, but my Father only (Matthew 24:36). These words were preceded with verse 35, when He also said, 'Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.'"
Camping and his followers have posted the May 21 rapture day prediction all over billboards and buses through Family Radio ministry.
LaHaye reminded the public that this isn’t Camping’s first infamous prediction. In September 1994 his so called end of the world prediction failed.
“Yet it seems he is still coming up with a date for Christ's return which seemingly only he has insight into – as he was wrong before so he is wrong now,” Lahaye wrote.
The Michigan native concluded that instead of focusing on preposterous assumptions, all God wants people to do is “to live every day as though Christ could come today.”
Focusing on the today and living by Christ’s Gospel is “a great motto for daily living,” he emphasized.
“For one day it will happen and we don't know when, but we don't want you to be left behind!”
LaHaye originated the idea of a novel about the Second Coming. He and Jerry B. Jenkins began the Left Behind series in 1995. Over 11 million copies in the series have been sold.
Doomsday: Is the world really ending today?
http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/-/688334/1166548/-/c1go1dz/-/index.html
Posted Saturday, May 21 2011 at 00:00
In Summary
Highlights of what is expected to take place during the day of May 21, 2011:
Mr James Bradley Okumu, an Industrial Chemistry student at Makerere University, has been following Mr Camping’s predictions. He believes in them totally, and tells us how events will unfold on that day of last reckoning, which we must prepare well for:
1. A huge earthquake will strike the whole world at 6pm local time of every country
but it will be a gradual process which will start from the east to the west.
2.After covering the whole world, the earthquake will then throw out of the graves all true believers who died a long time ago, who will be transformed instantly into spiritual bodies. They will then be brought up to be with Christ in the heavens.
3. The true believers who are alive will then follow and they will also be instantly transformed into spiritual beings and brought up to be with Christ in the heavens.
4. The non-believers and those who believe but are considered as sinners will all perish in the earthquake. Their bodies will then be thrown out like manure and shamed in the sight of God.
5. The whole world will then remain in such disorder until 21 October because from today (May 21) to October 21 will be the five months of the apocalypse period, after which the whole world will come to an end.
More than 11 years ago, at least 500 people died in a suicidal fire in a makeshift church in Kanungu District after being brainwashed by cult leader Joseph Kibwetere about an imminent doomsday. Harold Camping, an 89-year-old Califonia-based Bible teacher, thinks today is the D-day. Sarah Tumwebaze brings you details of this latest claim.
Today May 21, at exactly 6pm, the world is coming to an end, according to an elderly Bible teacher. He has studied and interpreted the Bible, and pinpoints today as the day of the apocalypse.
Such predictions of doomsday have been made in many parts of the world, including Uganda. In South America in 1978, Jim Jones, an American cult leader, ordered his followers to drink poisoned Kool-Aid and 909 of them, Jones inclusive, died.
Here in Uganda, on December 31, 2000, Kanungu District, in south-western Uganda, was filled with grief after a cult leader, Joseph Kibwetere, who was known as prophet, predicted the end of the world and ended up burning more than 500 people in a wooden church.
Kibwetere, who was the leader of the Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God, had earlier predicted the doomsday for December 31, 1999. However, when it did not happen, he pushed it to December 31, 2000.
On this day, more than 500 followers of this cult entered their small church whose windows and doors were then locked from the outside. They sang for some hours before the small wooden building was set on fire. Everyone inside perished.
There have been other judgment days, including September 6, 1994. Despite the prophecies, the world has not ended. Indeed, our local clerics here have scoffed at the idea of predicting the end of the world.
However, the predictors do not give up. The most recent date that has been fixed by Harold Camping, an 89-year-old California-based Bible teacher, is today, May 21, 2011. He says he figured out the date of Jesus’ return by studying the book of Daniel and other Biblical texts.
Believers in this doomsday prediction have put up billboards, purchased TV adverts, painted warnings on rooftops and flooded many countries with printed warnings. The message on the billboards reads: The Trumpet is Sounding Are you ready? 21 May 2011 FamilyRadio.com.
According to Mr Maxwell Moahloli Motlalepula, a representative of Family Stations, Inc, this station which is spreading the judgment day message is a non-profit, non-commercial, Christian radio network.
“It was established in 1958 with one FM station in the San Francisco bay area. Mr Harold Camping along with two other Christian men purchased KEAR with the sole intent of proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Today, there are 66 owned and operated radio stations throughout the US. Along with these domestic stations Family Stations also broadcasts its programming from numerous international broadcast facilities throughout the world.”
Mr Motlalepula explains that Camping is the President and General Manager of Family Stations, Inc. “He has been a full-time volunteer since Family Radio’s infancy,” he wrote in an email to Saturday Monitor’s enquiries.
Bible interpretation
He said it is out of Mr Camping’s efforts of reading the Bible for five decades that he has been able to come up with these dates.
“Mr Camping has been a tireless student of the Bible for more than five decades. The tens of thousands of hours he has spent analysing the Bible has given him a unique perspective of the entirety of Scriptures. Given the overwhelming Biblical evidence, the Family Stations, Inc.
Board of Directors made a determination to dedicate all available resources to proclaim the warning of May 21, 2011. God has prepared Family Radio for this important time in history. Given the population of the world, radio and the internet are the perfect vehicles to deliver this warning,” he explains.
Mr Motlalepula adds: “The date of May 21, 2011 was derived solely from evidence found in the Bible. The length of time between the day God created this world in 11,013 B.C. and the day he will destroy it in October 21, 2011. The discovery of this information built the foundation for what God would later reveal from the Bible as the date for the end.
Judgment Day on May 21, 2011 is the culmination of five decades of intensive Biblical study by Mr Camping and other Bible teachers who have discovered the same Biblical data.”
In Camping’s book We Are Almost There, he shows that God reveals the judgment day through his works in the Bible.
“Genesis 7, God is effectively saying all of mankind in the whole world have seven days to get into the safety of Christ, who alone can save us from the wrath of God. But God insists in II Peter 3 that we must absolutely know that a day is as a thousand years. So 7,000 years represent seven days. Therefore, effectively, God was telling Noah that all of mankind who would ever live in the whole world have 7,000 years to get into the safety of Christ, if they are to escape the wrath of God,” Camping explains in his book.
According to his calculations, 7,000 years after Noah’s day are in 2011. “Therefore, we must understand that God is declaring that He expects that all of the elect of God would absolutely know that the year 2011 is to be the end of the world.”
Camping also goes ahead to specify the date of the doomsday as being today, May 21. In his calculations, he says there is a five-month period that immediately follows the 8,400-days Great Tribulation period.
Home believer
Mr James Bradley Okumu, who believes in Mr Camping’s predictions, says the tribulation period started in 33 AD and ended in May 21, 1988. “The 8,400 years after the tribulation period that is talked about by Camping will elapse today, thus making today the judgment day, and it will start at 6pm local time in every country moving from the East to the West. From today to the 21 of October it will be five months and this day will be the end of the world.”
Maxwell says they are very certain about the dates because, “Mr Camping saw God had placed a lot of proof to alert believers that May 21 of 2011 is the date Christ will return for His people and begin a period of the final destruction of the world. Some of the signs described by the Bible have all been fulfilled, giving further proof that we are approaching that time. Jesus warned of several spiritual signs, such as the complete degradation of the Christian Church, the devastating moral breakdown of society, the re-establishment of the nation of Israel in 1948, the emergence of the ‘Gay Pride Movement’, and the complete disregard of the Bible in all of society today as direct evidence of His return.
“Mr Motlalepula urges people to cry out to God for mercy and fully recognise the fact that they are sinners and therefore need God’s mercy.
“One must approach God with a broken and contrite attitude, because after all every human being, without exception, is guilty before God. Only God decides whom He will save and it is only Christ’s ‘gift’ of salvation that can save one from destruction and the terrible events coming upon this world on May 21, 2011.” However, different religious leaders have rejected Camping’s doomsday prediction.
Reverend Diana Nkesiga refers to Camping’s way of coming to the Day of Judgment as defective. “His way of calculating the days is defective because God does not calculate His days that way. More so, the Bible says no one knows the day or the hour.”
Only God knows
Father Wynand Katende also calls Camping’s prediction as, “an arrogate of the power of God because it’s only God that knows the judgment day because even when Jesus was asked by the Pharisees about the same in Luke 17:20-35, He did not tell them because this day is only known by God alone.”
Pastor Martin Ssempa regards Camping as a well-intended trumpet blower who rather blows it the wrong way.
“I find that his predictions are well-intended, but I do not agree with him on the time and date because the Bible says no man knows the time, date and hour apart from God alone,” opines Pastor Sempa.
stumwebaze@ug.nationmedia.com
Tuesday, 17 May 2011
LUWEERO EBOLA VICTIM FREQUENTED FOREST: OH! REALLY
First read: Testing biological weapons on Ugandan Guinea pigs: Deadly Ebola virus breaks out in Luweero(Uganda)
http://watchmanafrica.blogspot.com/2011/05/testing-biological-weapons-on-ugandan.html
“We are following it up because monkeys are one of the disease carriers. The disease spreads from wild animals to humans. We have gone to the community and we are studying their water and firewood collecting habits,” he said.
They have always told us that Aids came from a monkey. They are also arguing that Ebola came from a monkey. See, how the New vision is fooling us that the young girl got Ebola from a Monkey in the article below. They are saying’’In Uganda, the first Ebola outbreak was in October 2000 in Gulu where 170 people died. In November 2007, another Ebola outbreak in Bundibugyo killed 37’’. How did the Gulu or Bundibugyo Monkeys infect the ones in Luweero.How comes we have not seen a forest in Africa where all Monkeys were decimated because of Ebola or where 40 monkeys were killed by Ebola or Aids????? These are the million dollar questions.
Luweero Ebola victim frequented forest
http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/12/754951
Monday, 16th May, 2011
By Raymond Baguma
THE mother of the 12-year-old girl who died of Ebola has told health workers that she and her daughter used to go to the forest to cultivate the family gardens and gather firewood.
The mother is now among the group of people being monitored from their homes for symptoms of Ebola, according to the Luwero medical officer, Dr. Joseph Okware.
Other people who got into contact with the girl have also been advised to avoid sex, hosting visitors or visiting, mass gatherings and using public transport.
Okware declined to disclose the identities of the confined people and their physical addresses for ethical reasons.
He, however, said the village in Zirobwe sub-county where the deceased lived has over 40 homesteads.
Okware said a meeting would be held to discuss how the confined people will be supported. He also disclosed that medical follow-ups will be done from their homes.
“We have agreed that they are confined to their homes for the next 21 days,” he said.
Okware added that a quarantine would be imposed if more people showed signs of infection.
The commissioner for community health, Dr. Anthony Mbonye, said experts investigating the source of the disease had taken the mother’s statement into account.
“We are following it up because monkeys are one of the disease carriers. The disease spreads from wild animals to humans. We have gone to the community and we are studying their water and firewood collecting habits,” he said.
He, however, said they had not reached a conclusion and did want to spread information that would alarm the community.
Mbonye also said the health ministry was working with public health experts, wildlife conservationists, the Uganda Wildlife Authority, the World Health Organisation (WHO), Centres for Disease Control and Prevention and UNICEF.
The virus reported in Luwero is known as Ebola-Sudan, which has a 50-60% fatality rate.
The disease presents with fever, joint and muscle pains, headache, dry throat, diarrhoea, rash, kidney failure, internal and external bleeding.
According to the WHO, about 1,850 cases and 1,200 deaths have occurred since the Ebola virus was first discovered in 1976.
In Uganda, the first Ebola outbreak was in October 2000 in Gulu where 170 people died. In November 2007, another Ebola outbreak in Bundibugyo killed 37.
Remember the AIDS and EBOLA viruses are part and parcel of United States Army biological weapons programme. Now see, connection to the Ugandan Military UPDF in the story below:
Bombo sets up Ebola isolation ward
Tuesday, 17th May, 2011
http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/13/754999
By RAYMOND BAGUMA
A new suspected case of Ebola was yesterday reported in Bombo Military Hospital. Blood samples were removed from the patient and taken for further testing at the Uganda Virus Research Institute in Entebbe.
According to authorities at the hospital, the suspect identified as a 28-year-old male was admitted with symptoms similar to those of Ebola.
“He had a fever, blood in his urine and general body weakness. We have isolated him,” said an army Doctor, John Ssentamu.
An Ebola isolation ward is being constructed at Bombo Hospital to handle suspected cases of the disease.
According to Lt. Col. Dr. Godfrey Bwire from the UPDF directorate of medical services, the ward will be ready in three days.
Yesterday, teams from the health ministry, the World Health Organisation, the Spanish embassy, the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention and the Africa Field Epidemiology Network visited Nakisamata village in Zirobwe sub-county, where the first case was reported.
The commissioner for community health, Dr. Anthony Mbonye, said a response plan had been designed in Kampala, Wakiso, Mukono, Nakaseke and Nakasongola.
There was concern after a mortuary attendant at Bombo Hospital, who handled the corpse of the first Ebola victim, fell ill.
However, Bwire said medical tests had diagnosed malaria, which was being treated.
There were also fears after a one-and-a-half year old child from the home of the first Ebola case developed a fever. But tests later proved it to be malaria, according to the Luwero district medical officer, Dr. Joseph Okware.
Okware asked the Ministry of Health to provide protective equipment and sensitise medical workers how to identify Ebola cases and control infection.
‘FACTS’ ABOUT EBOLA
EBOLA FEVER
The Ebola is a disease caused by a virus and is characterized by: sudden onset of fever, intense weakness, muscle pains, headache, sore throat, vomiting, diarrhoea and both internal and external bleeding. Note that sudden onset of fever associated with bleeding from the mouth, anus, and in urine are the defining features
Transmission: Normally found within the wild animals (especially monkeys) but can be transmitted to the human being who gets into contact with an infected animal. Once in the human being transmission is from person to person through direct contact with the blood, urine, vomit, stools, or other body fluids of infected persons.
Drivers of the epidemic:
•Burial ceremonies where mourners have direct contact with the body of the deceased person can play a significant role in the transmission of Ebola.
•Health care workers have frequently been infected while treating Ebola patients, through close contact without correct infection control precautions
Incubation period: Two to 21 days
Diagnosis: Confirmation is by laboratory testing at the reference laboratory at the Uganda Virus research Institute.
Treatment and vaccine
There is no specific treatment or vaccine is yet available for Ebola. Urgently seek care from a qualified health facility where supportive care in form of intravenous fluids or oral re-hydration solutions, blood transfusions, and other necessary life support can be provided.
Recommended actions to contain the epidemic and the key actors
•Suspected cases should be isolated from other patients and strict barrier nursing techniques implemented (Health facility )
•Disinfection with JIK of the soiled clothing or bed linens from a patient with Ebola is required before handling these items (Health facility and Community).
•Strict surveillance- tracing and following up people who may have come in close contact with Ebola patients are essential (Ministry of Health).
•Hospital staff should be briefed on the nature of the disease and its transmission routes ( Ministry of Health)
•Communities affected by Ebola should make efforts to ensure that the population is well informed, both about the nature of the disease itself and about necessary outbreak containment measures, including burial of the deceased (Ministry of Health, Health facility staff, NGOs).
•People who have died from Ebola should be promptly and safely buried (Community).
Two more Ebola cases detected
http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/12/755265
Friday, 20th May, 2011
By Henry Sekanjako
and Violet Nabatanzi
THE Ministry of Health has reported two more cases of Ebola in Nakaseke and Luwero districts.
Dr. Issa Makumbi, the assistant commissioner in charge of epidemiology and surveillance, yesterday told Saturday Vision that the ministry had intensified surveillance to ensure no case of Ebola goes undetected.
Before that, only one case had been confirmed since the outbreak of the disease last week in Luwero.
The two new patients are receiving intensive treatment at the ebola isolation unit.
Makumbi, a member of the special task force for Ebola, noted that the ministry had embarked on taking blood samples from the victims to further ascertain whether it was really Ebola.
He added that apart from a 12-year-old girl from Zirobwe sub-county in Luwero district, who died last week at Bombo Military Hospital, no more deaths have been reported. He said as the ministry was working around the clock to guard against further spread of the disease.
Meanwhile, the Uganda Taxi Operators and Drivers Association has asked the Government to spray taxis coming from Luwero with disinfectant to avoid further spread of Ebola.
The transport body appealed to the ministry of health to sensitize the public on the causes and symptoms of Ebola disease.
The Ministry of Health last week confirmed an outbreak of the deadly Ebola fever in Luwero, 60km from Kampala.
http://watchmanafrica.blogspot.com/2011/05/testing-biological-weapons-on-ugandan.html
“We are following it up because monkeys are one of the disease carriers. The disease spreads from wild animals to humans. We have gone to the community and we are studying their water and firewood collecting habits,” he said.
They have always told us that Aids came from a monkey. They are also arguing that Ebola came from a monkey. See, how the New vision is fooling us that the young girl got Ebola from a Monkey in the article below. They are saying’’In Uganda, the first Ebola outbreak was in October 2000 in Gulu where 170 people died. In November 2007, another Ebola outbreak in Bundibugyo killed 37’’. How did the Gulu or Bundibugyo Monkeys infect the ones in Luweero.How comes we have not seen a forest in Africa where all Monkeys were decimated because of Ebola or where 40 monkeys were killed by Ebola or Aids????? These are the million dollar questions.
Luweero Ebola victim frequented forest
http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/12/754951
Monday, 16th May, 2011
By Raymond Baguma
THE mother of the 12-year-old girl who died of Ebola has told health workers that she and her daughter used to go to the forest to cultivate the family gardens and gather firewood.
The mother is now among the group of people being monitored from their homes for symptoms of Ebola, according to the Luwero medical officer, Dr. Joseph Okware.
Other people who got into contact with the girl have also been advised to avoid sex, hosting visitors or visiting, mass gatherings and using public transport.
Okware declined to disclose the identities of the confined people and their physical addresses for ethical reasons.
He, however, said the village in Zirobwe sub-county where the deceased lived has over 40 homesteads.
Okware said a meeting would be held to discuss how the confined people will be supported. He also disclosed that medical follow-ups will be done from their homes.
“We have agreed that they are confined to their homes for the next 21 days,” he said.
Okware added that a quarantine would be imposed if more people showed signs of infection.
The commissioner for community health, Dr. Anthony Mbonye, said experts investigating the source of the disease had taken the mother’s statement into account.
“We are following it up because monkeys are one of the disease carriers. The disease spreads from wild animals to humans. We have gone to the community and we are studying their water and firewood collecting habits,” he said.
He, however, said they had not reached a conclusion and did want to spread information that would alarm the community.
Mbonye also said the health ministry was working with public health experts, wildlife conservationists, the Uganda Wildlife Authority, the World Health Organisation (WHO), Centres for Disease Control and Prevention and UNICEF.
The virus reported in Luwero is known as Ebola-Sudan, which has a 50-60% fatality rate.
The disease presents with fever, joint and muscle pains, headache, dry throat, diarrhoea, rash, kidney failure, internal and external bleeding.
According to the WHO, about 1,850 cases and 1,200 deaths have occurred since the Ebola virus was first discovered in 1976.
In Uganda, the first Ebola outbreak was in October 2000 in Gulu where 170 people died. In November 2007, another Ebola outbreak in Bundibugyo killed 37.
Remember the AIDS and EBOLA viruses are part and parcel of United States Army biological weapons programme. Now see, connection to the Ugandan Military UPDF in the story below:
Bombo sets up Ebola isolation ward
Tuesday, 17th May, 2011
http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/13/754999
By RAYMOND BAGUMA
A new suspected case of Ebola was yesterday reported in Bombo Military Hospital. Blood samples were removed from the patient and taken for further testing at the Uganda Virus Research Institute in Entebbe.
According to authorities at the hospital, the suspect identified as a 28-year-old male was admitted with symptoms similar to those of Ebola.
“He had a fever, blood in his urine and general body weakness. We have isolated him,” said an army Doctor, John Ssentamu.
An Ebola isolation ward is being constructed at Bombo Hospital to handle suspected cases of the disease.
According to Lt. Col. Dr. Godfrey Bwire from the UPDF directorate of medical services, the ward will be ready in three days.
Yesterday, teams from the health ministry, the World Health Organisation, the Spanish embassy, the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention and the Africa Field Epidemiology Network visited Nakisamata village in Zirobwe sub-county, where the first case was reported.
The commissioner for community health, Dr. Anthony Mbonye, said a response plan had been designed in Kampala, Wakiso, Mukono, Nakaseke and Nakasongola.
There was concern after a mortuary attendant at Bombo Hospital, who handled the corpse of the first Ebola victim, fell ill.
However, Bwire said medical tests had diagnosed malaria, which was being treated.
There were also fears after a one-and-a-half year old child from the home of the first Ebola case developed a fever. But tests later proved it to be malaria, according to the Luwero district medical officer, Dr. Joseph Okware.
Okware asked the Ministry of Health to provide protective equipment and sensitise medical workers how to identify Ebola cases and control infection.
‘FACTS’ ABOUT EBOLA
EBOLA FEVER
The Ebola is a disease caused by a virus and is characterized by: sudden onset of fever, intense weakness, muscle pains, headache, sore throat, vomiting, diarrhoea and both internal and external bleeding. Note that sudden onset of fever associated with bleeding from the mouth, anus, and in urine are the defining features
Transmission: Normally found within the wild animals (especially monkeys) but can be transmitted to the human being who gets into contact with an infected animal. Once in the human being transmission is from person to person through direct contact with the blood, urine, vomit, stools, or other body fluids of infected persons.
Drivers of the epidemic:
•Burial ceremonies where mourners have direct contact with the body of the deceased person can play a significant role in the transmission of Ebola.
•Health care workers have frequently been infected while treating Ebola patients, through close contact without correct infection control precautions
Incubation period: Two to 21 days
Diagnosis: Confirmation is by laboratory testing at the reference laboratory at the Uganda Virus research Institute.
Treatment and vaccine
There is no specific treatment or vaccine is yet available for Ebola. Urgently seek care from a qualified health facility where supportive care in form of intravenous fluids or oral re-hydration solutions, blood transfusions, and other necessary life support can be provided.
Recommended actions to contain the epidemic and the key actors
•Suspected cases should be isolated from other patients and strict barrier nursing techniques implemented (Health facility )
•Disinfection with JIK of the soiled clothing or bed linens from a patient with Ebola is required before handling these items (Health facility and Community).
•Strict surveillance- tracing and following up people who may have come in close contact with Ebola patients are essential (Ministry of Health).
•Hospital staff should be briefed on the nature of the disease and its transmission routes ( Ministry of Health)
•Communities affected by Ebola should make efforts to ensure that the population is well informed, both about the nature of the disease itself and about necessary outbreak containment measures, including burial of the deceased (Ministry of Health, Health facility staff, NGOs).
•People who have died from Ebola should be promptly and safely buried (Community).
Two more Ebola cases detected
http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/12/755265
Friday, 20th May, 2011
By Henry Sekanjako
and Violet Nabatanzi
THE Ministry of Health has reported two more cases of Ebola in Nakaseke and Luwero districts.
Dr. Issa Makumbi, the assistant commissioner in charge of epidemiology and surveillance, yesterday told Saturday Vision that the ministry had intensified surveillance to ensure no case of Ebola goes undetected.
Before that, only one case had been confirmed since the outbreak of the disease last week in Luwero.
The two new patients are receiving intensive treatment at the ebola isolation unit.
Makumbi, a member of the special task force for Ebola, noted that the ministry had embarked on taking blood samples from the victims to further ascertain whether it was really Ebola.
He added that apart from a 12-year-old girl from Zirobwe sub-county in Luwero district, who died last week at Bombo Military Hospital, no more deaths have been reported. He said as the ministry was working around the clock to guard against further spread of the disease.
Meanwhile, the Uganda Taxi Operators and Drivers Association has asked the Government to spray taxis coming from Luwero with disinfectant to avoid further spread of Ebola.
The transport body appealed to the ministry of health to sensitize the public on the causes and symptoms of Ebola disease.
The Ministry of Health last week confirmed an outbreak of the deadly Ebola fever in Luwero, 60km from Kampala.
Monday, 16 May 2011
Testing biological weapons on Ugandan Guinea pigs: Deadly Ebola virus breaks out in Luweero(Uganda)
Testing biological weapons on Ugandan Guinea pigs: Deadly Ebola virus breaks out in Luweero(Uganda)
Thousands of people have died in the Northern Uganda war Against Joseph Kony amidst the aloofness of the US, Britain,etc. Now, with the Ebola outbreak, every body seems to be so concerned. Definitely they are testing their biological weapon on Uganda guinea pigs. This might be intended to distract attention from the walk to walk campaign and particularly the dictatorial tendencies that have clearly manifested in the dictator(Yoweri Museveni) they have nurtured and entrenched for decades. Every one should familiarize oneself with the information below.
MUST WATCH:
Emerging Viruses: Aids & Ebola - Nature, Accident or Intentional?
www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-VhkR9FGvA
FIRST READ:
THE DRUG EPIDEMIC, VIRUSES, EBOLA, AND AIDS[IT'S NOT WHAT YOU THINK
http://www.antipasministries.com/html/file0000081.htm
CHRISTIANS IN AFRICA: AWAKE!
America and the American ChurchAre Not Your Friends
http://www.antipasministries.com/html/file0000234.htm
The US was behind the Rwandan Genocide: Installing a US Protectorate in Central Africa
http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=18540
THE THIRD WORLD AS A MODEL FOR THE NEW WORLD ORDER
http://www.antipasministries.com/html/file0000156.htm
UGANDANS ARE NOT THAT STUPID ABOUT WHAT IS GOING ON: CHECK THIS OUT:
Ugandans are being used by USA/BRITAIN as guinnea pigs--testing the
medication **or being killed to make room/space for Museveni and his
immigrants. After all those killed are expected to be Kabaka's population of Buganda, or so they think. **Let us see how long the experiments willrun. *Assumpta Mary Kintu (http://www.mail-
archive.com/ugandanet@kym.net/msg27083.html)
Deadly Ebola breaks out in Uganda, kills one, 30 monitored
http://en.www.info.vn/society/facts/25960.html
The deadly Ebola hemorrhagic fever has broken out in Uganda, killing one person and leaving over 30 others being monitored by health officials, ministry of health announced here on Saturday.
The epicenter of the outbreak is in the central Ugandan district of Luwero located about 50 km north of the capital Kampala.
According to Anthony Mbonye, head of the community health department at the ministry of health, a 12 year old girl in Zirombwe Sub-county developed symptoms of Ebola and when she was admitted at a military hospital in the district, laboratory test confirmed that it was Ebola.
The Ebola virus is highly contagious and causes a range of symptoms including fever, vomiting, diarrhea, generalized pain or malaise and in many cases internal and external bleeding.
The girl died on May 6 and about 30 people who she got contact with are being asked to not get into contact with the public as health officials monitor them for about 21 days.
The 30 people have not yet developed the symptoms but if they do, they will be isolated from the public.
Mbonye said that preliminary investigations have showed that this Ebola virus is similar to the one that broke out in Sudan, thus named Sudan Ebola.
The epicenter of the outbreak is also located along the high way to southern Sudan.
This viral subtype has a human case fatality rate of 60 percent meaning that it will kill 60 percent of the infected people.
The other subtype is the Congo Ebola which also attacked Uganda in 2007. This one has a human case fatality rate of over 80 percent.
The 2007 outbreak which occurred in the western district of Bundibugyo bordering eastern Democratic Republic of Congo claimed 37 lives out of the 148 infected.
Mbonye said that there also ongoing investigations to find out whether the index case got into contact with moneys or bats, the known reservoirs of the Ebola virus.
Following the outbreak, government has reactivated the National Ebola Task Force (NETF) to coordinate the fight against the disease at the national level.
District task forces are also in the process of being formed according to Mbonye, who is the chairperson of the NETF.
Immigration officials at all the country's border posts have been put on alert and the neighboring countries have been notified about the outbreak.
According to Joachim Saweka, World Health Organization (WHO) representative here, tight border controls are not yet necessary although the immigration officers should be on alert.
With some people reluctant to disclose their exact areas of origin for fear of being inconvenienced and perhaps quarantined, it remains a challenge how the immigration staff will handle the situation.
According Saweka, a team of experts from WHO are also on the way to Uganda to beef up the team which is already camped in the affected district.
A ministry of health statement issued on Saturday urged the public to stay calm as all possible measures are being undertaken to control the situation.
The ministry urged the public to avoid direct contact with body fluids of a person suffering from Ebola by using protective materials like gloves and masks.
The public is also urged to burry people who have died of Ebola immediately and avoid feasting and funerals.
Government has also stocked the necessary drug supplies and logistics for case management. Isolation facilities have also been set up in the affected district.
"Any claim of somebody bleeding should not just be disregarded but should be rushed to the nearest health centre and then from there we are already working with the health system to try to instruct how to deal with these cases," said Saweka.
Borders on high alert after Ebola outbreak is confirmed
http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/-/688334/1163220/-/c1ite9z/-/index.html
Posted Monday, May 16 2011 at 00:00
Districts neighbouring key border points have been put on high alert after health officials warned of a possible spread of the Ebola haemorrhagic fever.
The outbreak of the deadly disease, which has killed one person so far, was announced by the Ministry of Health on Saturday. “We have already alerted the people at the border points to put in place safety measures and to report any suspected cases to the nearest health facility,” Dr Anthony Mbonye, the head of the Ebola task force, said.
This follows the death, on May 6 of a 12-year-old girl from a type of Ebola believed to be common in neighbouring Sudan.
Strains
The World Health Organisation says there are at least five types of Ebola—Zaire, Sudan, Cote d’ Ivoire, Bundibugyo and Reston.The disease has no known cure.
In this particular type known as Sudan Ebola, Dr Mbonye said 50 to 60 per cent of clinically-ill patients end up dying.He explained that with massive movement of people across borders every day, the potential for infected persons to spread the virus is very high. This is because the Ebola virus is spread by direct contact with the blood, secretions, organs or other body fluids of infected persons.
So far there are no new cases of the disease reported but the Ministry of Health is closely monitoring some 33 people who are believed to have had direct contact with the girl who died including medical workers at Bombo Military Hospital where she died.
“We are observing and monitoring these 33 people for at least 21 days to see if they show signs and symptoms of the fever,” Dr Mbonye said.
Health officials have also issued precautionary measures including avoiding direct contact with body fluids of infected persons, using protective gears to handle infected cases and avoiding feasting on dead monkeys.
In Luweero District—some 60kms from Kampala city where the latest case of the disease was confirmed—the reaction has been mixed—with some residents of Zirobwe Sub-county where the girl died, claiming ignorance about the outbreak.
Mr Abdon Mugerwa, the area LC3 chairman, told Daily Monitor that the health officials have not come out clearly to inform the public about what happened and try to find ways of isolating people who might be suspected to have had contact with the deceased girl.
Uganda is not new to epidemics. It has twice been hit by Ebola with major outbreaks in 2000 and 2007.
WARDEN MESSAGE
KAMPALA, UGANDA
MAY 14, 2011
http://kampala.usembassy.gov/warden_information/-report-of-ebola-hemorrhagic-fever-in-central-uganda.html
REPORT OF EBOLA HEMMORAGIC FEVER IN CENTRAL UGANDA
On May 14, 2011, the Uganda Ministry of Health confirmed that a 12-year-old girl who died on May 6 at Bombo Military Hospital, Luwero District (one hour north of Kampala) was infected with the Ebola virus. The Ministry of Health, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and international partners are investigating the case to determine the extent of the outbreak and if additional cases are present. As of now, there are no additional cases.
Ebola is a deadly disease but is preventable. A person suffering from Ebola presents with sudden onset of high fever with any of the following: headache, vomits blood, has joint and muscle pains, bleeds through the body openings (eyes, nose, gums, ears, anus) and has reduced urine. Ebola disease can only be spread through direct contact with body fluids like saliva, urine or blood of an infected person or the body of someone who has died from the disease. Since the virus spreads through direct contact with blood and other body secretions of an infected person, people living with and caring for Ebola patients are at a high risk of getting infected.
The U.S. Mission in Kampala and the CDC office in Uganda recommend that U.S. citizens working, residing and traveling in central Uganda avoid contact with individuals exhibiting the symptoms described above until further information becomes available.
To minimize the risk of contracting Ebola, avoid direct contact with body fluids (blood, saliva, vomitus, urine, and stool) by wearing protective materials like gloves, masks and gowns. Also avoid communal washing of hands during funerals and any other public gatherings.
For more information on Ebola hemorrhagic fever, please visit the following websites:
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/spb/mnpages/dispages/ebola.htm
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/spb/mnpages/dispages/ebola/qa.htm
The U.S. Mission in Kampala will post any additional info as it becomes available.
U.S. citizens are strongly encouraged to enroll in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP) to receive the latest security information. You should keep all of your information in STEP up-to-date, including your current phone number and a current email address where you can be reached in case of an emergency.
U.S. citizens should also consult the Country Specific Information Sheet for Uganda and the Worldwide Caution, both located on the Department of State’s web site. Up-to-date information on safety and security is available toll-free at 1-888-407-4747 from within the United States and Canada, or at regular toll rates at 1-202-501-4444 for callers from outside the United States and Canada, from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time, Monday through Friday (except U.S. federal holidays).
The U.S. Embassy in Kampala is located at 1577 Ggaba Road, Kampala, Uganda, Telephone: 256-414-259-791 or 256-414-306-001, Facsimile: 256-414-258-451.
Health team visits Ebola-hit Luweero
http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/12/754815
Sunday, 15th May, 2011
By Raymond Baguma
A team of health experts is set to visit Luweero district today where an outbreak of Ebola has occurred.
Rukia Nakamatte, the Ministry of Health public relations officer, yesterday said the experts had been constituted into a taskforce to respond to the outbreak.
The taskforce is comprised of response teams at district and national levels.
The taskforce is headed by the commissioner for community health, Dr. Anthony Mbonye and includes a team from the World Health Organisation.
The ministry on Saturday confirmed the outbreak of Ebola after a 12-year-old girl from Zirobwe sub-county in Luweero district died at Bombo Military Hospital.
Tests conducted in Entebbe confirmed Ebola to be the cause of death. Also, 33 people who came in contact with the victim while she was sick are being monitored from their homes for any signs and symptoms.
They include relatives and health workers at the clinic where the victim was initially treated before being referred to Bombo.
Ebola is a highly contagious disease with a high fatality rate. It presents with fever, bleeding through body openings, vomiting, diarrhoea, abdominal pain, headache, rash and red eyes. Currently, there is no known cure for Ebola.
The disease is spread through direct physical contact with body fluids like saliva, blood, stool, vomit, urine and sweat from an infected person.
Warden Announcements
http://kampala.usembassy.gov/ebola.html
Ebola Outbreak in Bundibugyo
Warden Message
Kampala, Uganda
December 3, 2007
On November 29, 2007 the Ugandan Ministry of Health reported that a previously unidentified illness that has infected and killed a number of people in Bundibugyo District, western Uganda has been confirmed as Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever. The Ministry of Health has dispatched additional personnel to the district to assist in containing the outbreak, and officials from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are monitoring the situation and providing assistance to the Ugandan Government. Ebola symptoms include: fever, headache, diarrhea, vomiting, abdominal colic – with or without vomiting, and cough.
Americans living in or who must travel to Bundibugyo District should be extremely careful and intensify personal health precautions at this time to avoid contracting this illness. Americans should also avoid contact with individuals who may have been in contact with the illness. Additional information about the Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever, symptoms, and steps that can be taken to reduce the likelihood of infection may be obtained on the CDC website at www.cdc.gov and the WHO website at http://www.who.int/topics/haemorrhagic_fevers_viral/en/.
American citizens with questions or concerns may telephone the consular section of the U.S. Embassy in Kampala at (256) (0) (414) 360 001 or (256) (0) (414) 259 791. In the case of an emergency outside business hours, or during any suspension of public services, American citizens may reach the embassy duty officer at the same numbers.
American citizens are advised to register and update their contact information with the U.S. Embassy in Kampala. The U.S. Embassy is located at Plot 1577 Ggaba Road. The phone number is (256) (0) (414) 360 001 or (256) (0) (414) 259 791, fax (256) (0) (414) 258 451, email: KampalaUSCitizen@state.gov, and travel registration website: https://travelregistration.state.gov/ibrs/.
For the latest security information, Americans living or traveling abroad should regularly monitor the Department’s Bureau of Consular Affairs internet website at: http://travel.state.gov/, where the current Worldwide Caution, Public Announcements, and Travel Warnings can be found. Up to date information on security can also be obtained by calling 1-888-407-4747 toll free in the U.S. or Canada, or, for callers outside the U.S. and Canada, a regular toll line at 1-202-501-4444. These numbers are available from 8 AM to 8 PM Eastern Time, Monday through Friday (except U.S. Federal Holidays.)
CDC-Uganda, UVRI Inaugurate Laboratory Extension
http://kampala.usembassy.gov/cdc-uganda_uvri_inaugurate_labaratory_extension_072006.html
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention-Uganda (CDC) and the Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI) will officially inaugurate new laboratory and office facilities on the UVRI campus in Entebbe on July 20, 2006, at 2:00 PM. U.S. Ambassador Steven A. Browning and Ugandan Minister of State for General Duties, Dr. Richard Nduhura, will make remarks at the opening ceremony.
The new facilities include a state-of-the-art infectious disease laboratory, a comprehensive public health library, and first rate training facilities that have already hosted groups from the World Health Organization, the Centers for Disease Control, and significant African medical institutions.
The building project was funded through a grant from the U.S. Presidents Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). UVRI first began hosting CDC on its campus in 1994. CDC’s activities in Uganda have grown from providing mostly laboratory-based services; to involvement in the full range of HIV-AIDS prevention, care and treatment programs, as well as the diagnosis and analysis of diseases such as Ebola, Tuberculosis, and Malaria. CDC-Uganda recently received a $400,000 grant to further expand laboratory capabilities and assist in Uganda’s surveillance of Avian Influenza.
For further information about the inauguration ceremony, please contact Alyson Grunder, Public Affairs Officer at the U.S. Embassy (41/31-259-791 or email grunderal@state.gov).
For further information about the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, please refer to http://www.cdc.gov .
Thousands of people have died in the Northern Uganda war Against Joseph Kony amidst the aloofness of the US, Britain,etc. Now, with the Ebola outbreak, every body seems to be so concerned. Definitely they are testing their biological weapon on Uganda guinea pigs. This might be intended to distract attention from the walk to walk campaign and particularly the dictatorial tendencies that have clearly manifested in the dictator(Yoweri Museveni) they have nurtured and entrenched for decades. Every one should familiarize oneself with the information below.
MUST WATCH:
Emerging Viruses: Aids & Ebola - Nature, Accident or Intentional?
www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-VhkR9FGvA
FIRST READ:
THE DRUG EPIDEMIC, VIRUSES, EBOLA, AND AIDS[IT'S NOT WHAT YOU THINK
http://www.antipasministries.com/html/file0000081.htm
CHRISTIANS IN AFRICA: AWAKE!
America and the American ChurchAre Not Your Friends
http://www.antipasministries.com/html/file0000234.htm
The US was behind the Rwandan Genocide: Installing a US Protectorate in Central Africa
http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=18540
THE THIRD WORLD AS A MODEL FOR THE NEW WORLD ORDER
http://www.antipasministries.com/html/file0000156.htm
UGANDANS ARE NOT THAT STUPID ABOUT WHAT IS GOING ON: CHECK THIS OUT:
Ugandans are being used by USA/BRITAIN as guinnea pigs--testing the
medication **or being killed to make room/space for Museveni and his
immigrants. After all those killed are expected to be Kabaka's population of Buganda, or so they think. **Let us see how long the experiments willrun. *Assumpta Mary Kintu (http://www.mail-
archive.com/ugandanet@kym.net/msg27083.html)
Deadly Ebola breaks out in Uganda, kills one, 30 monitored
http://en.www.info.vn/society/facts/25960.html
The deadly Ebola hemorrhagic fever has broken out in Uganda, killing one person and leaving over 30 others being monitored by health officials, ministry of health announced here on Saturday.
The epicenter of the outbreak is in the central Ugandan district of Luwero located about 50 km north of the capital Kampala.
According to Anthony Mbonye, head of the community health department at the ministry of health, a 12 year old girl in Zirombwe Sub-county developed symptoms of Ebola and when she was admitted at a military hospital in the district, laboratory test confirmed that it was Ebola.
The Ebola virus is highly contagious and causes a range of symptoms including fever, vomiting, diarrhea, generalized pain or malaise and in many cases internal and external bleeding.
The girl died on May 6 and about 30 people who she got contact with are being asked to not get into contact with the public as health officials monitor them for about 21 days.
The 30 people have not yet developed the symptoms but if they do, they will be isolated from the public.
Mbonye said that preliminary investigations have showed that this Ebola virus is similar to the one that broke out in Sudan, thus named Sudan Ebola.
The epicenter of the outbreak is also located along the high way to southern Sudan.
This viral subtype has a human case fatality rate of 60 percent meaning that it will kill 60 percent of the infected people.
The other subtype is the Congo Ebola which also attacked Uganda in 2007. This one has a human case fatality rate of over 80 percent.
The 2007 outbreak which occurred in the western district of Bundibugyo bordering eastern Democratic Republic of Congo claimed 37 lives out of the 148 infected.
Mbonye said that there also ongoing investigations to find out whether the index case got into contact with moneys or bats, the known reservoirs of the Ebola virus.
Following the outbreak, government has reactivated the National Ebola Task Force (NETF) to coordinate the fight against the disease at the national level.
District task forces are also in the process of being formed according to Mbonye, who is the chairperson of the NETF.
Immigration officials at all the country's border posts have been put on alert and the neighboring countries have been notified about the outbreak.
According to Joachim Saweka, World Health Organization (WHO) representative here, tight border controls are not yet necessary although the immigration officers should be on alert.
With some people reluctant to disclose their exact areas of origin for fear of being inconvenienced and perhaps quarantined, it remains a challenge how the immigration staff will handle the situation.
According Saweka, a team of experts from WHO are also on the way to Uganda to beef up the team which is already camped in the affected district.
A ministry of health statement issued on Saturday urged the public to stay calm as all possible measures are being undertaken to control the situation.
The ministry urged the public to avoid direct contact with body fluids of a person suffering from Ebola by using protective materials like gloves and masks.
The public is also urged to burry people who have died of Ebola immediately and avoid feasting and funerals.
Government has also stocked the necessary drug supplies and logistics for case management. Isolation facilities have also been set up in the affected district.
"Any claim of somebody bleeding should not just be disregarded but should be rushed to the nearest health centre and then from there we are already working with the health system to try to instruct how to deal with these cases," said Saweka.
Borders on high alert after Ebola outbreak is confirmed
http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/-/688334/1163220/-/c1ite9z/-/index.html
Posted Monday, May 16 2011 at 00:00
Districts neighbouring key border points have been put on high alert after health officials warned of a possible spread of the Ebola haemorrhagic fever.
The outbreak of the deadly disease, which has killed one person so far, was announced by the Ministry of Health on Saturday. “We have already alerted the people at the border points to put in place safety measures and to report any suspected cases to the nearest health facility,” Dr Anthony Mbonye, the head of the Ebola task force, said.
This follows the death, on May 6 of a 12-year-old girl from a type of Ebola believed to be common in neighbouring Sudan.
Strains
The World Health Organisation says there are at least five types of Ebola—Zaire, Sudan, Cote d’ Ivoire, Bundibugyo and Reston.The disease has no known cure.
In this particular type known as Sudan Ebola, Dr Mbonye said 50 to 60 per cent of clinically-ill patients end up dying.He explained that with massive movement of people across borders every day, the potential for infected persons to spread the virus is very high. This is because the Ebola virus is spread by direct contact with the blood, secretions, organs or other body fluids of infected persons.
So far there are no new cases of the disease reported but the Ministry of Health is closely monitoring some 33 people who are believed to have had direct contact with the girl who died including medical workers at Bombo Military Hospital where she died.
“We are observing and monitoring these 33 people for at least 21 days to see if they show signs and symptoms of the fever,” Dr Mbonye said.
Health officials have also issued precautionary measures including avoiding direct contact with body fluids of infected persons, using protective gears to handle infected cases and avoiding feasting on dead monkeys.
In Luweero District—some 60kms from Kampala city where the latest case of the disease was confirmed—the reaction has been mixed—with some residents of Zirobwe Sub-county where the girl died, claiming ignorance about the outbreak.
Mr Abdon Mugerwa, the area LC3 chairman, told Daily Monitor that the health officials have not come out clearly to inform the public about what happened and try to find ways of isolating people who might be suspected to have had contact with the deceased girl.
Uganda is not new to epidemics. It has twice been hit by Ebola with major outbreaks in 2000 and 2007.
WARDEN MESSAGE
KAMPALA, UGANDA
MAY 14, 2011
http://kampala.usembassy.gov/warden_information/-report-of-ebola-hemorrhagic-fever-in-central-uganda.html
REPORT OF EBOLA HEMMORAGIC FEVER IN CENTRAL UGANDA
On May 14, 2011, the Uganda Ministry of Health confirmed that a 12-year-old girl who died on May 6 at Bombo Military Hospital, Luwero District (one hour north of Kampala) was infected with the Ebola virus. The Ministry of Health, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and international partners are investigating the case to determine the extent of the outbreak and if additional cases are present. As of now, there are no additional cases.
Ebola is a deadly disease but is preventable. A person suffering from Ebola presents with sudden onset of high fever with any of the following: headache, vomits blood, has joint and muscle pains, bleeds through the body openings (eyes, nose, gums, ears, anus) and has reduced urine. Ebola disease can only be spread through direct contact with body fluids like saliva, urine or blood of an infected person or the body of someone who has died from the disease. Since the virus spreads through direct contact with blood and other body secretions of an infected person, people living with and caring for Ebola patients are at a high risk of getting infected.
The U.S. Mission in Kampala and the CDC office in Uganda recommend that U.S. citizens working, residing and traveling in central Uganda avoid contact with individuals exhibiting the symptoms described above until further information becomes available.
To minimize the risk of contracting Ebola, avoid direct contact with body fluids (blood, saliva, vomitus, urine, and stool) by wearing protective materials like gloves, masks and gowns. Also avoid communal washing of hands during funerals and any other public gatherings.
For more information on Ebola hemorrhagic fever, please visit the following websites:
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/spb/mnpages/dispages/ebola.htm
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/spb/mnpages/dispages/ebola/qa.htm
The U.S. Mission in Kampala will post any additional info as it becomes available.
U.S. citizens are strongly encouraged to enroll in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP) to receive the latest security information. You should keep all of your information in STEP up-to-date, including your current phone number and a current email address where you can be reached in case of an emergency.
U.S. citizens should also consult the Country Specific Information Sheet for Uganda and the Worldwide Caution, both located on the Department of State’s web site. Up-to-date information on safety and security is available toll-free at 1-888-407-4747 from within the United States and Canada, or at regular toll rates at 1-202-501-4444 for callers from outside the United States and Canada, from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time, Monday through Friday (except U.S. federal holidays).
The U.S. Embassy in Kampala is located at 1577 Ggaba Road, Kampala, Uganda, Telephone: 256-414-259-791 or 256-414-306-001, Facsimile: 256-414-258-451.
Health team visits Ebola-hit Luweero
http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/12/754815
Sunday, 15th May, 2011
By Raymond Baguma
A team of health experts is set to visit Luweero district today where an outbreak of Ebola has occurred.
Rukia Nakamatte, the Ministry of Health public relations officer, yesterday said the experts had been constituted into a taskforce to respond to the outbreak.
The taskforce is comprised of response teams at district and national levels.
The taskforce is headed by the commissioner for community health, Dr. Anthony Mbonye and includes a team from the World Health Organisation.
The ministry on Saturday confirmed the outbreak of Ebola after a 12-year-old girl from Zirobwe sub-county in Luweero district died at Bombo Military Hospital.
Tests conducted in Entebbe confirmed Ebola to be the cause of death. Also, 33 people who came in contact with the victim while she was sick are being monitored from their homes for any signs and symptoms.
They include relatives and health workers at the clinic where the victim was initially treated before being referred to Bombo.
Ebola is a highly contagious disease with a high fatality rate. It presents with fever, bleeding through body openings, vomiting, diarrhoea, abdominal pain, headache, rash and red eyes. Currently, there is no known cure for Ebola.
The disease is spread through direct physical contact with body fluids like saliva, blood, stool, vomit, urine and sweat from an infected person.
Warden Announcements
http://kampala.usembassy.gov/ebola.html
Ebola Outbreak in Bundibugyo
Warden Message
Kampala, Uganda
December 3, 2007
On November 29, 2007 the Ugandan Ministry of Health reported that a previously unidentified illness that has infected and killed a number of people in Bundibugyo District, western Uganda has been confirmed as Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever. The Ministry of Health has dispatched additional personnel to the district to assist in containing the outbreak, and officials from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are monitoring the situation and providing assistance to the Ugandan Government. Ebola symptoms include: fever, headache, diarrhea, vomiting, abdominal colic – with or without vomiting, and cough.
Americans living in or who must travel to Bundibugyo District should be extremely careful and intensify personal health precautions at this time to avoid contracting this illness. Americans should also avoid contact with individuals who may have been in contact with the illness. Additional information about the Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever, symptoms, and steps that can be taken to reduce the likelihood of infection may be obtained on the CDC website at www.cdc.gov and the WHO website at http://www.who.int/topics/haemorrhagic_fevers_viral/en/.
American citizens with questions or concerns may telephone the consular section of the U.S. Embassy in Kampala at (256) (0) (414) 360 001 or (256) (0) (414) 259 791. In the case of an emergency outside business hours, or during any suspension of public services, American citizens may reach the embassy duty officer at the same numbers.
American citizens are advised to register and update their contact information with the U.S. Embassy in Kampala. The U.S. Embassy is located at Plot 1577 Ggaba Road. The phone number is (256) (0) (414) 360 001 or (256) (0) (414) 259 791, fax (256) (0) (414) 258 451, email: KampalaUSCitizen@state.gov, and travel registration website: https://travelregistration.state.gov/ibrs/.
For the latest security information, Americans living or traveling abroad should regularly monitor the Department’s Bureau of Consular Affairs internet website at: http://travel.state.gov/, where the current Worldwide Caution, Public Announcements, and Travel Warnings can be found. Up to date information on security can also be obtained by calling 1-888-407-4747 toll free in the U.S. or Canada, or, for callers outside the U.S. and Canada, a regular toll line at 1-202-501-4444. These numbers are available from 8 AM to 8 PM Eastern Time, Monday through Friday (except U.S. Federal Holidays.)
CDC-Uganda, UVRI Inaugurate Laboratory Extension
http://kampala.usembassy.gov/cdc-uganda_uvri_inaugurate_labaratory_extension_072006.html
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention-Uganda (CDC) and the Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI) will officially inaugurate new laboratory and office facilities on the UVRI campus in Entebbe on July 20, 2006, at 2:00 PM. U.S. Ambassador Steven A. Browning and Ugandan Minister of State for General Duties, Dr. Richard Nduhura, will make remarks at the opening ceremony.
The new facilities include a state-of-the-art infectious disease laboratory, a comprehensive public health library, and first rate training facilities that have already hosted groups from the World Health Organization, the Centers for Disease Control, and significant African medical institutions.
The building project was funded through a grant from the U.S. Presidents Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). UVRI first began hosting CDC on its campus in 1994. CDC’s activities in Uganda have grown from providing mostly laboratory-based services; to involvement in the full range of HIV-AIDS prevention, care and treatment programs, as well as the diagnosis and analysis of diseases such as Ebola, Tuberculosis, and Malaria. CDC-Uganda recently received a $400,000 grant to further expand laboratory capabilities and assist in Uganda’s surveillance of Avian Influenza.
For further information about the inauguration ceremony, please contact Alyson Grunder, Public Affairs Officer at the U.S. Embassy (41/31-259-791 or email grunderal@state.gov).
For further information about the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, please refer to http://www.cdc.gov .
Monday, 2 May 2011
Very satanic indeed : Pope Benedict XVI kisses the glass reliquary containing the blood of the late Pope John Paul II during his beatification mass
Pope Benedict XVI kisses the glass reliquary containing the blood of the
late Pope John Paul II during his beatification mass in Saint Peter's
Square in the Vatican City, Rome. Photograph: Stefano Rellandini/Reuters
John Paul II takes first step towards sainthood in Rome
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/01/pope-john-paul-beatification-rome
Beatification of the late pope John Paul II in the Vatican City presided over by his successor, Benedict XVI
John Hooper in Rome
guardian.co.uk, Sunday 1 May 2011 21.36 BST
More than a million Roman Catholics set aside the scandals that have rocked their church to take part in a jubilant beatification of their late pope, John Paul II.
The Polish pontiff who helped speed the fall of communism in Europe was placed just a step from sainthood at a ceremony in St Peter's Square presided over by his successor, Benedict XVI. Looking out at a congregation that stretched half a mile down the broad avenue leading to the river Tiber, the pope said John Paul had "reclaimed for Christianity that impulse of hope which had in some sense faltered before Marxism and the ideology of progress".
Benedict said the man who could now be referred to as Blessed Karol Wojtyla turned back "with the strength of a titan ... a tide which appeared irreversible".
On the square's colonnades, one of John Paul's sayings was spelled out in giant letters: "Do not be afraid! Open wide the doors to Christ." Benedict said his predecessor had "helped believers throughout the world not to be afraid to be called Christian, to belong to the church, to speak the gospel".
A roar of approval went up when the pope, speaking in Latin, declared John Paul beatified. A tapestry of his charismatic predecessor in his prime was unfurled above the door of the basilica.
Many who converged on Rome had stayed up all night, or slept in churches or on pavements, to get within squinting distance of the ceremony. Crash barriers were erected to keep them from the area around St Peter's Square until just before dawn, but by 2am the pressure of numbers was such that police let them through. Among those who packed the area – many singing and waving flags – were blue-robed Brazilian nuns, young men wrapped in the gold and scarlet Spanish flag, US Legionaries of Christ and more than 50 men and women from the diocese of Abuja in Nigeria, led by their archbishop.
The Poles inevitably predominated, though. Long before the ceremony began, St Peter's Square was an undulating ocean of red and white flags.
The beatification, six years after John Paul's death, was the fastest on record. For some, particularly those critical of his failure to respond to evidence of clerical sex abuse, it was too hasty. "Not for us," said Elzbieta Bielawska, accompanying a group of scouts from Elk in north-eastern Poland. "We believe our pope was not just blessed, but a saint."
Ignacio Fernandez from Barcelona thought about the question for an instant and said: "Sanctity can't be measured in time." The requirement for beatification is proof of a miracle (canonisation needs two).
John Paul is deemed by the Vatican to have interceded to cure a French nun, Sister Marie Simon-Pierre Normand, who was dying of Parkinson's disease, the illness that killed him. She, and the Polish nun who was at his bedside when he died, were given a central role at the beatification as bearers of the reliquary: a silver olive branch containing a phial of John Paul's blood, set aside for a transfusion that never took place.
Representatives of five royal houses, including the Duke of Gloucester, attended. So did seven prime ministers and 16 heads of state, including Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, who flew to Rome on Saturday, once again dodging a ban on his entry into the EU. Though the beatification had been arranged for May Day, when Karol Wojtyla's communist enemies flaunted their armed might, the irony went studiously unacknowledged at the Vatican. The choice of 1 May had "a very precise connotation", the chief organiser, Monsignor Marco Frisina, had told correspondents at a briefing last week. "It is the Sunday of Divine Mercy".
And, somehow, he managed to say it with a straight face.
Protests mount over fast track for John Paul's beatification
Sex abuse controversy refuses to go away as Catholics prepare for ceremony in Rome
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/23/protests-john-paul-beatification?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487
Tom Kington in Rome
guardian.co.uk, Saturday 23 April 2011 22.46 BST
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/23/protests-john-paul-beatification?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487
A growing lobby of churchmen and religious experts are challenging the speed with which the Vatican is propelling Pope John Paul II towards sainthood, just six years after his death.
Hailed as the pope who helped bring down communism, who prayed alongside Jews and Muslims, and shrugged off an assassination attempt, John Paul will be beatified in St Peter's Square next Sunday, a first step towards sainthood.
The Vatican is erecting tent cities and stocking up with millions of bottles of water. More than 300,000 people are expected to descend on Rome to honour the Polish pontiff whose charisma gave Catholicism a new lease of life.
But as the crowds begin to arrive, doubts are being expressed over the decision to begin beatification proceedings for John Paul immediately after his death in 2005, instead of observing the usual five-year waiting period.
Some experts are questioning whether John Paul is fit for sainthood at all, pointing to his poor record in handling the sex abuse allegations against priests that came to the fore during his 26-year papacy. "I oppose this beatification and predict history will look unkindly on John Paul, who was in denial as the worst crisis since the Reformation happened in the church," said Father Richard McBrien, a theology professor at Notre Dame University in the US.
"My doubts are about John Paul being beatified by his successor, Pope Benedict," said the Catholic historian Michael Walsh. "It appears incestuous and akin to the habit of deifying one's ancestors."
Even as Benedict faced the fallout from accusations that scores of priests abused children around the world, he has pulled out the stops to beatify John Paul. Sorting through hundreds of miraculous cures attributed to the pontiff, Vatican officials have selected the overnight recovery from Parkinson's disease of a French nun as the miracle required for beatification. Experts believe canonisation could follow in two to three years.
"Years from now people may be saying, why the rush?" said Father James Martin, a Jesuit priest and author. "It takes a little bit away for future generations." Tom Reese, a theologian and author, added: "What we need are fewer popes and priests beatified, and more real lives."
The ramifications of the sex abuse scandal will continue as an internal Vatican report on predator priests in Ireland reportedly lands on Benedict's desk, ahead of the publication next month of an Irish government report on the scandal. It is expected that the report will shed light on whether the abuse was ignored by Bishop John Magee of Cloyne, a former private secretary to John Paul.
John Paul's unwavering support for Marcial Maciel Degollado, the Mexican priest and morphine addict who ran the powerful Legion of Christ movement, has also sparked concerns. Maciel has been accused of abusing seminarians, fathering up to six children and allegedly pacifying the Vatican through large donations, despite complaints about his behaviour dating back to the 1970s.
Supporters of the pope have argued that John Paul was wary of sex abuse accusations after seeing communist officials use fake charges to discredit priests in his native Poland. But Walsh said there was no excuse with the Legion. "John Paul clearly safeguarded Maciel," he said. Benedict was quick to banish Maciel to a life of penitence in 2006 after his election as pope.
Those voicing reservations over John Paul's beatification are very much in a minority. Martin said: "Among church insiders there is a sense of the perceived haste over the beatification, but it's a small concern among ordinary believers. The Vatican is often criticised for not responding to the will of the people, but here you can argue it is doing just that."
Visitors to his simple marble tomb are convinced John Paul is worthy of beatification. "He had courage, look at how he forgave the man who shot and wounded him in St Peter's Square in 1981," said Olivier de Pommery, a banker from Paris. "Through his own illness at the end of his life he taught us to live and suffer with love," said Marie Louise Murebwayire, from Rwanda. "He made suffering become love and gave dignity to all people who suffer."
Following his beatification, John Paul's remains will be moved to a large, ornate chapel near the entrance to St Peter's Basilica. The tomb of a 17th-century pope, Innocent XI, will be moved to make space.
Roving Eye: Why beatify a paedophile-protecting pope?
http://www.monitor.co.ug/Magazines/Sunday+Life/-/689856/1162030/-/hbh57vz/-/index.html
By Kevin O’Connor (email the author)
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Posted Sunday, May 15 2011 at 00:00
So, the prospect of a Saint John Paul looms on the horizon like a gathering storm.
At the beginning of May, the late Pope, John Paul II, was beatified at a ceremony at the Vatican in front of hundreds of thousands of brainwashed Catholics. Beatification, or declaring a person to be “blessed”, is the necessary prelude to full sainthood.
The ceremony was a relic from the Dark Ages. But at least during the Dark Ages people had some excuse for not knowing better. It was left to Keith Porteous Wood, of Britain’s National Secular Society, to make some sense of the Vatican’s mumbo jumbo. He rightly observed:
“This sprint to sainthood is to deflect examinations into John Paul II’s unedifying record on clerical child abuse - and, with it, Pope Benedict’s own role.”
Much of the clerical paedophilia (i.e. catholic priests having sex with kids) occurred while John Paul II was Pope, from 1979-2005, and the Church has been heavily criticised for not doing enough to punish those found responsible.
It is inconceivable that the soon-to-be Saint John Paul was unaware of such clerical child abuse or of attempts to cover it up. Perhaps he should become the Patron Saint of Paedophiles?
And who led the attempted cover up? None other than Pope Benedict, the then Cardinal Ratzinger. For example, in 1985 Ratzinger wrote to the Oakland diocese in California of the need to “consider the good of the Universal Church” before the needs of victims of a notorious paedophile priest.
The Catholic Church has committed many sins. Not least that its anti-contraception stance has brought many unwanted children into the world in already over-populated countries, and the condom element of this has assisted the spread of HIV/Aids.
But the greatest sin of all has been its paedophilia. What can you expect if you require your priests to remain celibate, given that the sexual urge is a natural one present in most human beings? The obvious end result was always going to be depraved sexual activity by a significant percentage of those priests, directed at the most vulnerable i.e. children.
John Paul’s supposed miracle of curing a nun of Parkinson’s Disease was part of the beatification process. If he had been able to perform the miracle of protecting children from the sexual ravages of perverted catholic priests, then that really would have been grounds for sainthood.
— kevin@imul.com
Vatican Prepares Relic of John Paul II's Blood
http://www.ewtn.com/vnews/getstory.asp?number=112991
French Nun to Carry Reliquary on Sunday
VATICAN CITY, APRIL 29, 2011 (Zenit.org).- A reliquary containing the blood of Pope John Paul II will be presented for veneration this Sunday during the Pontiff's beatification liturgy, the Vatican reported Tuesday.
A communiqué from the Vatican press office explained that a vial of the Holy Father's blood, which was drawn toward the end of his life "in the case of an eventual transfusion," was placed in a precious reliquary by the Office of Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff for the beatification Mass.
Four vials of blood were extracted and never used. Since John Paul II's death in 2005 from complications associated with Parkinson's disease, two of the vials were held at Rome's Bambino Gesu Children's Hospital, which runs a transfusion center, and the other two were given to Pope John Paul II's personal secretary, then Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz.
The liturgical celebrations office placed the two vials held at the Bambino Gesu hospital into two reliquaries, one which will be presented during Sunday's beatification and housed afterward at the Vatican. The other will be returned to the hospital.
The Vatican noted that the blood "is in a liquid state, which is explained by an anti-coagulant substance present in the test tubes at the moment of extraction."
Sister Marie Simon Pierre, who was miraculously cured from Parkinson's, and whose miracle was used in the cause of beatification, will carry the reliquary during Sunday's liturgy, the French news agency I.Media is reporting.
John Paul II sainthood questioned
http://www.sundayvision.co.ug/detail.php?mainNewsCategoryId=7&newsCategoryId=525&newsId=756022
THE relatively swift beatification of Pope John Paul II by his successor, Benedict XVI, on May 1, is being celebrated by millions of Catholic admirers, who were deeply convinced of his pious life. However, some are questioning it, writes Mathias Mazinga.
John Paul was, among many other things, credited for promoting interfaith dialogue, in particular seeking to improve Catholics’ ties with Jews and Muslims.
He also supported pro-democracy movements in Eastern Europe, further to making several trips to developing countries where he drew attention to the plight of the poor and strengthened the Church’s presence.
In many of his pastoral letters/pontifical messages, John Paul expressed solidarity with victims of war, violence and natural calamities all over the world. John Paul’s deep concern for the genocide in Rwanda, the senseless killings of people in countries like Sudan and Palestine and the plight of miserable and impoverished in various parts of the world touched the hearts of many. John Paul also surprised the world when he forgave his would-be assassin, Mehmet Ali Agca, who shot him in the stomach.
The chant of “Santo subito!” (Declare him a saint now), which filled St. Peter’s Square during his funeral was in itself a confirmation of his holiness, which is why after the experts approved the healing of a Parkinson-afflicted French nun, attributable to him, Pope Benedict immediately effected his beatification, which is said to be the fastest in modern times.
Although admiral Catholics like the Archbishop of Krakow, Poland — Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, the Polish archbishops are jubilant over the swift progression of John Paul’s canonical process, some Christians have pointed out shortcomings in his three-decade leadership of the more than 1.1 billion-member Catholic Church.
Critics, who include some senior clerics, have pointed out the recent revelations of the widespread abuse of children by priests and alleged attempts of a cover-up by senior clerics as some of the reasons that have prompted some Church members to question the pace of John Paul’s progress towards sainthood.
The president of the US National Federation of Priests’ Councils, Rev. Richard Vega, told the online National Catholic Reporter of the need to “look more closely into his life”.
Vega and other prominent Catholics polled by the National Catholic Reporter queried John Paul’s support for Marcial Maciel, a Mexican cleric, who founded the Legionaries of Christ, the secretive religious order that is the subject of a Vatican overhaul.
Maciel, who for decades was dogged by allegations of abuse, was finally removed from the ministry by Benedict in 2006, before his death in 2008.
The spokesperson of the metropolitan Archdiocese of Kampala, Rt. Rev. Msgr. John Waynand Katende, has nonetheless dismissed the critics’ concerns as null and void of substance.
“When the cause of beatification of any candidate is presented to the Vatican, there is someone called the Devil’s Advocate, whose role is to ensure that the canonical process of the respective candidate is stifled. I am sure all those issues were raised by the Devil’s Advocate and they were proved wrong, which was why the beatification eventually happened.”
“We also need to know that God is the supreme judge, which is why further to the attributes of a candidate, a proven miracle is demanded before one is beatified. In this case, God gave us the sign of the miraculous healing of a Parkinson-afflicted French nun as proof that his servant John Paul II was with him in heaven.
And if God, who is the supreme judge makes a divine statement, who are we to question his judgment? So, the cause of our beloved, Blessed John Paul II was closed positively by God and, we need not discuss it anymore,” Katende clarified.
Published on: Saturday, 28th May, 2011
Sunday, 1 May 2011
Women who enrich pastors
Women who enrich pastors
http://www.nation.co.ke/Features/saturday/Women+who+enrich+pastors+/-/1216/1153170/-/view/printVersion/-/faw3oe/-/index.html
By Irene Njoroge
Posted Friday, April 29 2011 at 18:00
In Summary
* Coming under the guise of God’s messengers, there are crafty pastor who take advantage of members of their congregation with various problems, write Irene Njoroge
Pastors are among well-respected members of any community. People revere them as servants of God who are out to help and counsel them and offer spiritual nourishment. But due the exalted position they hold in the society, some take advantage of the trust bestowed on them.
The men and women of the cloth come in different shades, just like everybody else. While most of them are genuine and are out to build God’s Kingdom and to help people as a calling, some are travellers on the gravy train that is religion in today’s Kenya.
There is money to be made, and plenty of it too, going by the success stories that abound of pastors and their multi- million shilling lifestyles that include ownership of planes and mansions – not to mention the businesses some of them own.
It is all very well for a pastor to succeed financially. Questions arise when desperate people, especially women are taken advantage of by these same people that they look up to for spiritual growth.
Some pastors demand hefty payments and gifts in exchange for prayers. They have cultivated the art of squeezing money from their members to a point where some women have given out title deeds and vehicles to certain pastors, only to regret it later.
There are also several sex scandals involving pastors and gullible women.
Many of these get-rich pastors have discovered a particular target group that is vulnerable and living in quiet desperation. These are well-off women who appear happy and comfortable on the outside, but are suffering deep down, from all manner of issues, which they dare not present to the outside world.
This group comprises women aged 28 until middle age and beyond. Indeed, 80 per cent of the membership of some of these churches is made up of these women.
The pastors in these churches rarely persuade men to give money or to attend their services because it is easier for them to manipulate these vulnerable and gullible women.
Bancy Wacera, a 33-year-old mother of two was experiencing marital problems with her husband, who had taken to drinking heavily after losing his well paying job in Nairobi. She works as a teacher in a private school, and earns a comfortable salary.
She decided to pray for her husband to find another job and stop drinking. A friend introduced her to a famous pastor in the city who holds numerous crusades and prayer sessions.
The first thing he asked her for after the introductions was Sh25,000 as an offering for the prayers. She promptly gave the money which her friends had asked her to carry with her.
The pastor anointed her and told her to visit each week with an offering of Sh10,000 per visit. Each visit lasted exactly five minutes, as he had very many people waiting to see him.
All the pastor did was offer a quick prayer and then ask Bancy to come back the following week. After 10 visits and Sh125, 000 poorer, she gave up and continued attending her regular church and praying at home.
One year later, her husband found work, and life was back to normal. Bancy says in retrospect that she was ready to do anything to save her home from falling apart. She says she willingly gave out the money, therefore does not blame the pastor, but feels one should not have to part with money for a man of God to offer prayers for her.
According to Reverend Nelson of the Nairobi Lighthouse church, there are very specific scriptural references to giving for the Lord. He says that the 10 per cent tithe is mandatory, as is the first fruits offering.
Indeed, the Bible says give and it shall be given unto you. This should not be misinterpreted to mean that for every prayer and healing that God gives through his anointed servants, there should be payment, especially cash payment or in kind.
A person may appreciate what has transpired in terms of healing or breakthrough, and decide to contribute to the church or ministry as a sign of gratitude.
But according to him, pastors are not supposed to make it seem that without money, there shall be no healings or breakthroughs.
Ignorance of the scriptures leads many to give the wrong way to the pastors who demand such giving.
There are several reasons why the women seek spiritual help from churches which include:
Marital problems
Sometimes marriages face problems which are both perplexing and overwhelming. These problems range from infidelity to financial issues and disagreements with in-laws.
These issues threaten the essence of the homes, and since not many women would want a broken home, they are ready to do anything to protect their marriages.
Out of desperation, they move discreetly from pastor to pastor for prayers and divine intervention which promise them a solution to their problems.
The group of money-hungry pastors waiting in the wings will usually ask them to “sow a huge seed and expect a miracle within a short time.”
Of course, the women do exactly this, hoping for the best. And once you start giving out money, it does not stop because the awaited miracle is a sham.
Childlessness
Many women who are having difficulties conceiving often go for prayers hoping for a miracle from God; and who else to intervene if not God’s servant?
In comes the money-hungry pastor. Knowing that she is desperate, such a pastor will make sure that makes as much money from such a woman as he can before she realizes that no miracle is forthcoming.
They will be asked to plant one seed after another. Some pastors even ask the women to have sexual relations with them as the only way of having a child and many women fall prey to this- sometimes leading to the very marriages they are hoping to save falling apart.
Seeking for husbands
Many young women and those who are not so young complain that there are no men out there to marry the. As the biological clock ticks, many become desperate for marriage.
This is where the cunning pastors come in. With promises of prayers which will land them suitable husbands.
We all remember the scramble by women when a Nigerian pastor came to town promising husbands to single women. Look for those women today and you will discover that none of them got the promised husband yet many of them must have parted with a tidy sum to the Nigerian.
Other women who seek these pastors may have a boyfriend who is reluctant to walk down the aisle. The tricky type of pastors particularly love women with this problem because many of them fall under this category and as they are asked to keep praying, they will also be asked to sacrifice as much money as possible so that their prayers may be answered through sustained prayers
Women with terminal illnesses
Many women go to the church pastors for healing prayers and anointing. This is in accordance with the scriptural teaching found in James 5:14. When these prayers are offered in the right way, and in faith, the pastor cannot be faulted.
However, the money-minded pastors make incredible demands on the sick and desperate person. One unforgettable case is the issue of one Lucy Nduta, who claimed she was in a position to cure those afflicted with HIV.
She had conveniently opened a laboratory near the church, where she would send the “healed” people after she had prayed for them. The laboratory would, then issue them with results that read negative.
To express their gratitude for such a miracle, many of the faithful offered her plots and huge amounts of cash. The law eventually caught up with her, but not before she had fleeced unsuspecting people of millions of shillings.
This was an extreme case of greed, but it illustrates the influence pastors have on people.
Why women are targets:
These crafty pastors target women because in Kenya, women form the largest church going group. Women are also quite gullible when asked for money, unlike men.
When women are overwhelmed by personal problems, they are usually willing to talk about their issues with counselors and pastors. Because of their vulnerability, it is easy for them to be coerced, persuaded, and convinced that the solution lies in giving money to the pastor for special prayers.
Other ways in which pastors dupe women:
*Certain pastors purport to have the gift of prediction into one’s life and are therefore able to tell such women about people who are causing problems in their lives or marriages.
These predictions have turned women against their sisters, co-workers, best friends and others due to suspicion. This is done in a bid to control the women and make them dependent on the pastor for emotional support. For this support, one usually has to part with money.
*Many women confide their personal secrets to their pastors. Some of these secrets are very sensitive and emotional. Certain pastors cash in on this and ostensibly provide a shoulder to cry on and a bed to lie on. Other pastors seduce young girls and unhappily married women who may have confided in them very personal issues about their marriages.
If you find yourself in any of these situations involving a pastor, it is best to check what the scriptures say about it. If your conscience tells you that there is indeed a problem, it is always best to pay heed to your instinct.
Visit a church where you feel comfortable about everything. If their policy of receiving money suits you, then you are probably in the right place.
irene.media2010@gmail.com
http://www.nation.co.ke/Features/saturday/Women+who+enrich+pastors+/-/1216/1153170/-/view/printVersion/-/faw3oe/-/index.html
By Irene Njoroge
Posted Friday, April 29 2011 at 18:00
In Summary
* Coming under the guise of God’s messengers, there are crafty pastor who take advantage of members of their congregation with various problems, write Irene Njoroge
Pastors are among well-respected members of any community. People revere them as servants of God who are out to help and counsel them and offer spiritual nourishment. But due the exalted position they hold in the society, some take advantage of the trust bestowed on them.
The men and women of the cloth come in different shades, just like everybody else. While most of them are genuine and are out to build God’s Kingdom and to help people as a calling, some are travellers on the gravy train that is religion in today’s Kenya.
There is money to be made, and plenty of it too, going by the success stories that abound of pastors and their multi- million shilling lifestyles that include ownership of planes and mansions – not to mention the businesses some of them own.
It is all very well for a pastor to succeed financially. Questions arise when desperate people, especially women are taken advantage of by these same people that they look up to for spiritual growth.
Some pastors demand hefty payments and gifts in exchange for prayers. They have cultivated the art of squeezing money from their members to a point where some women have given out title deeds and vehicles to certain pastors, only to regret it later.
There are also several sex scandals involving pastors and gullible women.
Many of these get-rich pastors have discovered a particular target group that is vulnerable and living in quiet desperation. These are well-off women who appear happy and comfortable on the outside, but are suffering deep down, from all manner of issues, which they dare not present to the outside world.
This group comprises women aged 28 until middle age and beyond. Indeed, 80 per cent of the membership of some of these churches is made up of these women.
The pastors in these churches rarely persuade men to give money or to attend their services because it is easier for them to manipulate these vulnerable and gullible women.
Bancy Wacera, a 33-year-old mother of two was experiencing marital problems with her husband, who had taken to drinking heavily after losing his well paying job in Nairobi. She works as a teacher in a private school, and earns a comfortable salary.
She decided to pray for her husband to find another job and stop drinking. A friend introduced her to a famous pastor in the city who holds numerous crusades and prayer sessions.
The first thing he asked her for after the introductions was Sh25,000 as an offering for the prayers. She promptly gave the money which her friends had asked her to carry with her.
The pastor anointed her and told her to visit each week with an offering of Sh10,000 per visit. Each visit lasted exactly five minutes, as he had very many people waiting to see him.
All the pastor did was offer a quick prayer and then ask Bancy to come back the following week. After 10 visits and Sh125, 000 poorer, she gave up and continued attending her regular church and praying at home.
One year later, her husband found work, and life was back to normal. Bancy says in retrospect that she was ready to do anything to save her home from falling apart. She says she willingly gave out the money, therefore does not blame the pastor, but feels one should not have to part with money for a man of God to offer prayers for her.
According to Reverend Nelson of the Nairobi Lighthouse church, there are very specific scriptural references to giving for the Lord. He says that the 10 per cent tithe is mandatory, as is the first fruits offering.
Indeed, the Bible says give and it shall be given unto you. This should not be misinterpreted to mean that for every prayer and healing that God gives through his anointed servants, there should be payment, especially cash payment or in kind.
A person may appreciate what has transpired in terms of healing or breakthrough, and decide to contribute to the church or ministry as a sign of gratitude.
But according to him, pastors are not supposed to make it seem that without money, there shall be no healings or breakthroughs.
Ignorance of the scriptures leads many to give the wrong way to the pastors who demand such giving.
There are several reasons why the women seek spiritual help from churches which include:
Marital problems
Sometimes marriages face problems which are both perplexing and overwhelming. These problems range from infidelity to financial issues and disagreements with in-laws.
These issues threaten the essence of the homes, and since not many women would want a broken home, they are ready to do anything to protect their marriages.
Out of desperation, they move discreetly from pastor to pastor for prayers and divine intervention which promise them a solution to their problems.
The group of money-hungry pastors waiting in the wings will usually ask them to “sow a huge seed and expect a miracle within a short time.”
Of course, the women do exactly this, hoping for the best. And once you start giving out money, it does not stop because the awaited miracle is a sham.
Childlessness
Many women who are having difficulties conceiving often go for prayers hoping for a miracle from God; and who else to intervene if not God’s servant?
In comes the money-hungry pastor. Knowing that she is desperate, such a pastor will make sure that makes as much money from such a woman as he can before she realizes that no miracle is forthcoming.
They will be asked to plant one seed after another. Some pastors even ask the women to have sexual relations with them as the only way of having a child and many women fall prey to this- sometimes leading to the very marriages they are hoping to save falling apart.
Seeking for husbands
Many young women and those who are not so young complain that there are no men out there to marry the. As the biological clock ticks, many become desperate for marriage.
This is where the cunning pastors come in. With promises of prayers which will land them suitable husbands.
We all remember the scramble by women when a Nigerian pastor came to town promising husbands to single women. Look for those women today and you will discover that none of them got the promised husband yet many of them must have parted with a tidy sum to the Nigerian.
Other women who seek these pastors may have a boyfriend who is reluctant to walk down the aisle. The tricky type of pastors particularly love women with this problem because many of them fall under this category and as they are asked to keep praying, they will also be asked to sacrifice as much money as possible so that their prayers may be answered through sustained prayers
Women with terminal illnesses
Many women go to the church pastors for healing prayers and anointing. This is in accordance with the scriptural teaching found in James 5:14. When these prayers are offered in the right way, and in faith, the pastor cannot be faulted.
However, the money-minded pastors make incredible demands on the sick and desperate person. One unforgettable case is the issue of one Lucy Nduta, who claimed she was in a position to cure those afflicted with HIV.
She had conveniently opened a laboratory near the church, where she would send the “healed” people after she had prayed for them. The laboratory would, then issue them with results that read negative.
To express their gratitude for such a miracle, many of the faithful offered her plots and huge amounts of cash. The law eventually caught up with her, but not before she had fleeced unsuspecting people of millions of shillings.
This was an extreme case of greed, but it illustrates the influence pastors have on people.
Why women are targets:
These crafty pastors target women because in Kenya, women form the largest church going group. Women are also quite gullible when asked for money, unlike men.
When women are overwhelmed by personal problems, they are usually willing to talk about their issues with counselors and pastors. Because of their vulnerability, it is easy for them to be coerced, persuaded, and convinced that the solution lies in giving money to the pastor for special prayers.
Other ways in which pastors dupe women:
*Certain pastors purport to have the gift of prediction into one’s life and are therefore able to tell such women about people who are causing problems in their lives or marriages.
These predictions have turned women against their sisters, co-workers, best friends and others due to suspicion. This is done in a bid to control the women and make them dependent on the pastor for emotional support. For this support, one usually has to part with money.
*Many women confide their personal secrets to their pastors. Some of these secrets are very sensitive and emotional. Certain pastors cash in on this and ostensibly provide a shoulder to cry on and a bed to lie on. Other pastors seduce young girls and unhappily married women who may have confided in them very personal issues about their marriages.
If you find yourself in any of these situations involving a pastor, it is best to check what the scriptures say about it. If your conscience tells you that there is indeed a problem, it is always best to pay heed to your instinct.
Visit a church where you feel comfortable about everything. If their policy of receiving money suits you, then you are probably in the right place.
irene.media2010@gmail.com
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