Cissy Kagaba

Corruption? What Corruption? In Uganda Impunity Reigns Supreme

http://www.blackstarnews.com/global-politics/africa/corruption-what-corruption-in-uganda-impunity-reigns-supreme.html

 September 07,2013

[Commentary]

In order to encourage a national debate on Uganda's problems and to explore solutions The Black Star News invites nationals to submit essays of reasonable length addressing the topic " Where Uganda is Today And The Changes We Need."

Impunity! That is the elephant in the room for Uganda.

A nation wallowing in the mud of impunity can only be sure of one thing. Zigzag growth and development. And that is just about where Uganda is.

We have let the claws of impunity grip every single system of our country. We have become an audience, looking on as its tentacles take the core of our citizenry hostage. We have turned what Sir Winston Churchill observed as the "Pearl of Africa" into "A Pearl of Impunity." And that is when we dug our own grave.

But behold, good news is that we can actually fill the grave and move forward as a nation. Only and only if, however, we solve the jig-saw puzzle that impunity is.

We are talking of senior government officials diverting millions of dollars of donor monies to personal accounts, withdrawing funds using personal credit cards -- monies meant to be delivered to hundreds of thousands of people who, for 20 years, suffered the brunt of war from biting poverty and agony.

Where do they take the money? To build lavish mansions; to gamble in top casinos in Las Vegas; and, to accounts in foreign banks. Do we know about this? Oh yes, this information is written on the wall of every Ugandan. What do we do? We glorify them as the "movers and shakers" of society; in church we give them standing ovations upon arrival and call them "sharp." That's Impunity for you!

It is in Uganda where we have a swarm of laws against corruption that are never applied. The country competes for the top most position on the Transparency International Rankings of most corrupt nations. Because of impunity the country's anti-corruption laws are applied selectively. The so-called “ big fish” are immune to these laws and in most cases protected under the guise of being “ whistleblowers”.

We pay thrice higher the average price of building a road in the morning. By afternoon the same road is developing cracks; in the evening this road is filled with potholes and causing untold road carnage through accidents.

What do we do? We don’t care! Yes, even when we know the thieves. We may arrest them, parade their faces in the media but that is where the "do it for formality" game ends and then we are back to point zero. Who wins? Impunity!

It is in Uganda where patients go to public hospitals and catch diseases rather than get medication. It is here where mortality rate is high because access to maternity care is a reserve for those who can fly their relatives out of the country for treatment; and yes, it is here where doctors use torches in operating theatres because there is just no money for hospitals to have sustained power.

Meanwhile, Global Fund monies from overseas, intended to save lives of malaria, Tuberculosis and HIV/Aids patients were stolen by government officials.

Millions of dollars was injected into investigating the crime against humanity. The thieves were identified and named. Oops! They walk free on our streets and we continue to elect them to office.

Impunity!

What word best describes this: We pay a member of parliament tens of thousands of dollars and all he does is sign the attendance register, walk out without official leave, attend to his business and smile all the way to the bank. Meanwhile he will return to the August House to vote on-- Bills that oppress us; to pass supplementary budgets for the presidency; and the only time he speaks is when he is pushing for an extra allowance.

There is a reason why we vote them back to Parliament or we don’t recall them. The word is Impunity!

As a nation, our sense of right and wrong has been surrendered to impunity.

The men of the cassock accept posh cars from the president as an unwritten contract to simply watch when and as the state commits wrongs against their flock. They look on, mute, as their own who stand up against evils such as corruption are victimized and thrown into jail. They continue to preach the "good news" unto their people and go to bed with their oppressors. In the end, there is no one to say "this is wrong" and to hold others accountable.

If the media and civil society does, their voices will be suppressed, thanks to the big bull in the crowd.

By and large, for Uganda to transition, in all facets of life, we must strip ourselves of impunity. It is then that we shall feel ashamed as a nation that we lose over $200 million annually to corruption. Money that can help with many projects and go towards the $6 billion external debt.

It is only after our leaders are cured of impunity that they shall recognize that they are in office to foster better social service delivery, to care about the shame of our children having to study under trees instead of classrooms, and to be touched by mothers and babies dying day after day because of our squalid health care system.

We want a country where we put Uganda and Ugandans above self, family and ethnicity.

The very first article of our constitution vests power in us and it is that power which we must invoke to contribute to the making of the Uganda we desire for our generation and posterity.
Cissy Kagaba is Executive Director, Anti-Corruption Coalition Uganda

BRIAN BLANCO/EPA - Polk County Sheriff's deputies escort Terry Jones (C) to a waiting patrol car in Lakeland, Florida, Sept.11, 2013.

Florida pastor arrested before he could burn 2,998 Qurans on anniversary of 9/11 attacks

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/florida-pastor-arrested-before-he-could-burn-2998-qurans-on-anniversary-of-911-attacks/2013/09/11/6cba13e8-1b32-11e3-80ac-96205cacb45a_story.html

By Associated Press, Published: September 12

MULBERRY, Fla. — Law enforcement arrested a Florida pastor Wednesday as he drove to a park to light nearly 3,000 Qurans on fire to protest the 2001 terrorist attacks.

Polk County sheriff’s deputies arrested Pastor Terry Jones, 61, and his associate pastor, Marvin Sapp Jr., 34, on felony charges as he drove a pickup truck towing a large barbecue-style grill filled with Qurans soaked in kerosene. He had said he was heading to a nearby park to burn 2,998 Qurans — one for every victim of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Sheriff’s officials said they would hold a news conference later Wednesday to discuss specific charges.

Mulberry’s mayor, along with area elected officials, a sheriff’s deputy and several Polk County residents have talked about the need to express love and tolerance for all faiths on Sept. 11.

Jones is the pastor of a small evangelical Christian church. He first gained attention in 2010 when he planned to burn a Quran on 9/11, although he eventually called it off. His congregation did burn the Muslim holy book in March 2011 and last year he promoted an anti-Muslim film. All three incidents sparked violence in the Middle East and Afghanistan.

The most violent protest happened after the 2011 Quran burning as hundreds of protesters stormed a U.N. compound in Mazar-i-Sharif in northern Afghanistan, killing seven foreigners, including four Nepalese guards.

Jones has repeatedly ignored pleas from the U.S. military asking him not to stage his protests. Military officials say his actions put American and Western troops in Afghanistan and elsewhere in danger.

Mulberry is a town of about 3,000 between Orlando and Tampa and has no connection to Jones’ church, which recently moved out of its Gainesville building.

An Egyptian court convicted Jones, along with seven Egyptian Coptic Christians in absentia, sentencing them to death on charges linked to the film. The ruling was seen as largely symbolic because Jones and the other defendants live outside of Egypt.

Just last week, a federal judge in Michigan issued a summary judgment in favor of Jones and his organization, Stand Up America Now, against the city of Dearborn for requiring Jones and his organization to sign a city-issued agreement in order to speak on public property in front of a Dearborn mosque in 2012.

Earlier Wednesday, about 75 people gathered In Mulberry for an interfaith prayer service to counter Jones’ actions.

Mike Ghouse, who has organized a 9/11 prayer service in his home state of Texas for nine years, brought his event to Mulberry because of Jones’ planned Quran burning. He initially had planned to hold the service in Texas but teamed with a group of Mulberry residents who had organized an anti-Jones Facebook page.

“Everyone has a right to believe what they believe,” said Ghouse, adding that it was Jones’ right as an American to express himself. Others said that while Jones was free to say or do whatever he wanted, the people of Mulberry didn’t want the world to think that the residents condone or agree with Jones’ views.

“We don’t buy what Jones is selling,” said Polk County resident Butch Rahman.

Also see,

USA Military burns Bibles sent to troops in Afghanistan

http://www.examiner.com/christian-in-louisville/military-burns-bibles-sent-to-troops-afghanistan#ixzz1f4yklBBN

http://articles.cnn.com/2009-05-20/world/us.military.bibles.burned_1_bibles-al-jazeera-english-military-personnel?_s=PM:WORLD  

US hypocrisy Antics: From burning bibles, and cross removal to Obama's God-less Thanksgiving Speech

http://watchmanafrica.blogspot.com/2011/11/us-hypocrisy-antics-from-burning-bibles.html

Some of the most damaging criticism of Pat Robertson comes from former aid workers at Operation Blessing. Photograph: Win McNamee/Getty Images

Mission Congo: how Pat Robertson raised millions on the back of a non-existent aid project

http://www.theguardian.com/film/2013/sep/05/mission-congo-pat-robertson-aid-rwanda

The televangelist claimed Operation Blessing was giving vital aid in response to the 1994 Rwandan crisis. A documentary opening at the Toronto film festival paints a less flattering picture

Chris McGreal

Thursday 5 September 2013

One of the stranger sights of the refugee crisis that followed the 1994 Rwandan genocide was of stretcher-bearers rushing the dying to medical tents, with men running alongside reciting Bible verses to the withering patients.

The bulk of the thousands of doctors and nurses struggling to save lives – as about 40,000 people died of cholera – were volunteers for the international medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). The Bible readers were hired by the American televangelist and former religious right presidential candidate, Pat Robertson, and his aid organisation, Operation Blessing International.

But on Robertson's US television station, the Christian Broadcasting Network, that reality was reversed, as he raised millions of dollars from loyal followers by claiming Operation Blessing was at the forefront of the international response to the biggest refugee crisis of the decade. It's a claim he continues to make, even though an official investigation into Robertson's operation in Virginia accused him of "fraudulent and deceptive" claims when he was running an almost non-existent aid operation.

"We brought the largest contingent of medicine into Goma in Zaire, at least the first and the largest," Robertson said as recently as last year on his TV station.

Now a new documentary lays bare the extent of the misrepresentations of Operation Blessing's activities in the Democratic Republic of Congo, formerly Zaire, that it says continue to this day.

Mission Congo, by David Turner and Lara Zizic, opens at the Toronto film festival on Friday. It describes how claims about the scale of aid to Rwandan refugees were among a number of exaggerated or false assertions about the activities of Operation Blessing which pulls in hundreds of millions of dollars a year in donations, much of it through Robertson's televangelism. They include characterising a failed large-scale farming project as a huge success, and claims about providing schools and other infrastructure.

But some of the most damaging criticism of Robertson comes from former aid workers at Operation Blessing, who describe how mercy flights to save refugees were diverted hundreds of miles from the crisis to deliver equipment to a diamond mining concession run by the televangelist.

Throughout the Rwandan refugee crisis, when more than 1 million people fled into neighbouring Zaire and started dying en masse of cholera, Robertson told his viewers that Operation Blessing was at the forefront of saving lives.

"It was the most important first medical shipment on the scene out of everything," he said of one aid delivery as he appealed for donations.
In another broadcast, Robertson said Operation Blessing was saving thousands of lives.

 Rwandan refugees flee the fighting in 1994. Photograph: Pascal Guyot/AFP

"The death toll in this particular camp went down to almost zero because of our people being there," he said.

Robertson claimed that Operation Blessing sent plane-loads of doctors.

"These are tents set up with our doctors and our medical teams that came from here to work as hard as they could to save lives," Robertson said over pictures of a large tent of children on drips being tended by nurses and doctors.

But the film was of MSF medical staff at work. Operation Blessing had just one tent and a total of seven doctors. MSF officials who worked in Goma told the documentary-makers that they had no recollection of even seeing Operation Blessing – let alone working with it.

"What's really unacceptable is that Operation Blessing took photographs of MSF workers and then used this in their fundraising," said Samantha Bolton, the former MSF spokeswoman in Goma.

Officials from other aid operations said that Operation Blessing was not anywhere near the first or largest groups working in Goma. Jessie Potts, the operations manager for Robertson in Goma in 1994, told Mission Congo that the medicines that did arrive were not of great use in fighting the cholera epidemic.

"We got a lot of Tylenol. Too much. I never did understand that. We got enough Tylenol to supply all of Zaire. God, I never saw as much in my life," he said.

Then, Potts said, suddenly everything changed. "Operation Blessing, several weeks into the operation, decided not to send any more medical teams," he said. The flights to Goma dried up.

Robert Hinkle, the chief pilot for Operation Blessing in Zaire in 1994, said he received new orders. "They began asking me: can we haul a thousand-pound dredge over? I didn't know what the dredging deal was about," he said.

The documentary describes how dredges, used to suck up diamonds from river beds, were delivered hundreds of miles from the crisis in Goma to a private commercial firm, African Development Company, registered in Bermuda and wholly owned by Robertson. ADC held a mining concession near the town of Kamonia on the far side of the country.

"Mission after mission was always just getting eight-inch dredgers, six-inch dredgers … and food supplies, quads, jeeps, out to the diamond dredging operation outside of Kamonia," Hinkle told the film-makers.

The pilot said he joined Operation Blessing to help people. Of the 40 flights he flew into Congo, just two delivered aid. The others were associated with the diamond mining. "We're not doing anything for those people," he said. "After several months I was embarrassed to have Operation Blessing on the airplane's tail." He had the lettering removed.

Robertson ordered an airstrip carved out of the bush next to the town of Kamonia, 800 miles from Goma. On his television show he left the impression this was part of his aid operation.

The televangelist was also raising donations for Operation Blessing's other activities in Congo. These included a 100,000-acre farm near the town of Dumi, which Robertson claimed had produced a large harvest of corn and was a "tremendous feeding station".

"The soil is unbelievable. You stick anything in the ground and it grows. You put a shovel in and it starts sprouting," he said in appealing for donations.

In fact, the farm at Dumi had already failed. The soil was of poor quality and Operation Blessing brought seeds from the US unsuited to the region.

To this day, Robertson continues to solicit donations on the back of the project, on the grounds that although the farm failed, it left a legacy with a school that established a "foundation of education" in the town. 2011 posting on the Operation Blessing website described the school as "thriving".

"Despite the turbulence over the years, the children of Dumi still gather to learn and grow in the little school house on the plateau," it said.

Yet Mission Congo visited the Dumi school at the same time and filmed it abandoned, stripped of its desks and falling down.

Similarly, local leaders in Kamonia said that they were promised schools, roads and a hospital by Robertson's mining company – but none of it materialised.

Robertson's activities in Congo were initially exposed by a Virginia newspaper, the Virginian Pilot, in the 1990s. The investigation by Bill Sizemore prompted the attorney general in Virginia, where Operation Blessing is registered, to order a probe by the state's office of consumer affairs.

Its report concluded that Robertson made "fraudulent and deceptive" statements with claims to be ferrying doctors and medical aid to Goma when he was delivering diamond-mining equipment. It accused Operation Blessing of "misrepresenting" what its flights were doing, and of saying that the airstrip at Kamonia was part of the aid operation when it was "for the benefit of ADC's mining operation".

It also said Robertson had falsely portrayed the Dumi farm as hugely successful when it had already failed.

"Pat Robertson made material claims, via television appeals, regarding the relief efforts. These statements are refuted by the evidence in this case," the report said.

But the Virginian authorities declined to prosecute Robertson, describing his misrepresentations as a "blemish". Mission Congo notes that leading state politicians were recipients of large donations from Robertson.

Robertson has been embroiled in mining controversies elsewhere in Africa. He supported the then president of Liberia, Charles Taylor, during that country's civil war without revealing at the time that he had an $8m investment in a Liberian gold mine. Taylor was already indicted by a UN war crimes tribunal at the time and was later convicted of crimes against humanity.

Robertson has consistently denied the accusation of misusing donations and claimed that the Virginia authorities' failure to prosecute effectively cleared him of wrongdoing. He has acknowledged the diamond mining operation but said that it was small scale and produced few gems.

‘It’s a Sin, But I’m Not Against It:’ ‘Christian’ Pride Fest Attendees Affirm Homosexuality

http://christiannews.net/2013/09/08/its-a-sin-but-im-not-against-it-professing-christian-pride-fest-attendees-affirm-homosexuality/  

September 8, 2013

CHARLOTTE – Responses to a recent survey conducted at the 2013 Charlotte Pride Fest highlighted the ongoing ‘moral malaise’ of modern society, a Christian commentator reports.

The poll, entitled Are You Open Minded?, was conducted by friends of Dr. Michael Brown, a Christian author and host of the radio talk show Line of Fire. Over 100 attendees participated in the survey, 70 percent of which identified as homosexual.

The first question presented to attendees asked, “Do you agree with the statement, ‘I have the right to marry the one I love?’” Out of the 102 respondents, only two disagreed.

A follow-up was then presented, asking, “Are there any exceptions?” Examples were provided to some, such as polyamory, polygamy and consensual adult incest. Some surveyors also asked if there was an age of consent, and what that should be.

While 53 percent of respondents agreed that there were exceptions, most notably expressing concerns about pedophilia, 23 percent said that love is love, and a person should have a right to marry whoever they have feelings for as long as it “doesn’t hurt anyone.”

Two professing Christian girls, who were in attendance to support family members who are homosexuals, especially stood out to Brown following their response to the question, “Is it bigoted to believe that homosexual practice is sin?”

“I’ve said this,” one of the girls replies, “Being gay is a lifestyle; having gay sex is a sin.”

“You believe it’s a sin?” one of the interviewers asks.

“It’s a sin, but I’m not against it,” she replies. “I think you’re forgiven no matter what.”

“So, if you’re a Christian, you’re forgiven of the sin?” he inquires.

“Absolutely,” she responds. “You’re forgiven for everything except not believing.”

“So, if you engage in that sex which the Bible defines as sin, it’s still okay as long you believe?” the interviewer asks.

“The only way the Bible defines it as sin is because a man and a woman were put here on this earth [with] what we were given to recreate,” the girl responds, “and so it’s a sin [because] you can’t recreate if you’re having gay sex–lesbian or gay.”

“So, you support people having gay sex?” the interviewer inquirers.

“Yeah, I believe you can’t help your heart sometimes,” she replies.

As footage of the poll has attained several thousand views since being posted to YouTube, many have commented that the video is “heartbreaking” to watch.

“My heart breaks for them!” one commenter wrote. “The deception is thick on these two!”

“That really was amazing,” another stated. “Forgiven no matter what? Forgiven without repentance? ‘You can’t help your heart;’ that makes it acceptable?”

“Imagine Jesus hanging on that tree for your sake and dying for you, paying the highest price for your sin to be done with–such a demonstration of LOVE!” a third exclaimed. “What’s your response to Him? To sin even more?”

Other responses also saddened Brown, as 56 percent of participants stated that it is bigoted to believe that there is only one way to God, and 71 percent said that religious exemptions should not be allowed for those who do not wish to participate in same-sex ceremonies.

First Read;

The day Uganda Scientists exposed their hypocrisy and naivety about globalization and the GMOs in Uganda: Academics, activists clash over GMO bill

http://watchmanafrica.blogspot.com/2013/06/the-day-uganda-scientists-exposed-their.html

Battle over Mosanto’s GMOs in Uganda : Civil society petition EALA over biosafety Bill

http://watchmanafrica.blogspot.com/2013/05/battle-over-mosantos-gmos-in-uganda.html

Can GMOs achieve food sovereignty for Uganda?

http://www.monitor.co.ug/OpEd/Commentary/Can+GMOs+achieve+food+sovereignty+for+Uganda+/-/689364/1975774/-/1o0n10/-/index.html

By Peter Kanyandago

Posted  Monday, September 2  2013 at  01:00

In Summary

The claim that GMOs will solve the hunger problem is not verified. The world produces enough food to feed humanity, but of this 30-50 per cent is either not harvested or wasted.

Uganda is concerned about ensuring food security, now also called food sovereignty, for its entire people. Attaining food sovereignty implies that one eats food of good quality, with the nutrients that the body needs, and also one must take food in sufficient quantities.

The Biotechnology and Biosafety Bill, 2012, which is before our Parliament, is essentially about putting in place the right conditions to use GMOs safely. GMOs stands for Genetically Modified Organisms - also called genetically engineered seeds or foods. The Bill in question has raised controversy because of some health, scientific and environmental questions which are not yet completely resolved in respect of GMOs.

Aware that many Ugandans go hungry, and others are malnourished, no one in his/her right mind would oppose any move to promote food sovereignty. However, Michael J. Ssali’s article, “Uganda needs to adapt (sic) GMOs and biotechnology” in the Daily Monitor of August 28, gives a general impression that the people opposed to adopting GMOs do not want Ugandans to eat well and enough. He argues that humankind has always interfered with and manipulated nature. The examples he gives however do not correspond to what happens in the case of GMOs.

As the phrase indicates, genetic modification means you modify the DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid), which is the main constituent of chromosomes and is the carrier of genetic information of each living organism. Through genetic modification or engineering, you can grow a cabbage on an ear of a cat! Most genetic modification in crops involves use of a bacteria such Bacillus thurigiensis (Bt) and herbicide tolerant technologies. The latter application is to equip the GMOs to resist spraying of herbicides which kill the weeds in which GMOs are growing without killing the crops. Taking all this into account, the idea currently accepted at official level in the US that GMOs are “substantially equivalent” to natural crops cannot be correct.

Questions about the safety of GMOs have been raised by the pioneering research of Dr Arpad Pustzai who worked at the Rowett Research Institute in Scotland in 1998. He was sacked when his findings questioned safe use of GMOs. His research has been complemented by that of the Russian scientist, Irina Ermakova. Add to this the work of Gilles-Eric Seralini et al., for example their publication in the International Journal of Biological Sciences in 2009 and another in Food and Chemical Toxicology published in 2012, which focused on Monsanto’s genetically modified NK603 corn.

Detailed references and copies of these articles can be availed on request. The methodology of the authors in the last was strongly opposed by the pro-GMO groups, but the authors have been vindicated even by the European Food Safety Authority, which had initially called into question the authors’ approach.

Mr Ssali makes a cursory reference to the problem of GMOs contaminating natural crops, and yet contamination has legal and economic implications. In May, South Korea and Japan boycotted US commercial wheat when it was discovered that it was contaminated by GMO wheat. In the US itself, a farmer in Oregon found GMO wheat growing in his field and this has raised very serious concerns, which are being addressed by the United States Department of Agriculture.

The fact is that the spread and contamination of genetically modified grains cannot be controlled when they have been produced and grown. This problem, therefore, is neither simple or fiction.

Given the real questions that have not yet been answered, the French President has confirmed moratorium on GM maize. On March 25, there were more than 2 million people in 436 cities from 52 countries who participated in a march against Monsanto who happens to be the biggest player in the field of GMOs. Last month, Chileans in more than nine cities staged a protest against what they called a “Monsanto law” aiming to allow development of GMOs.

It should also be noted that introduction of GMOs will necessarily take away the farmers’ ability and right to produce their own seed and will also mean using more pesticides. The health and environmental risks involved are not to be neglected. Moreover, the claim that GMOs will solve the hunger problem is not verified. The world produces enough food to feed humanity, but of this 30-50 per cent is either not harvested or wasted.

The way forward, I believe, is to ensure that farmers have control over production of seeds and food at local level. We should also join the international search for working on climate changes which disrupt weather patterns. All this should be an invitation to our MPs and scientists to first take stock of what is happening elsewhere before we put all our hopes in a technology that is more bound to compromise food than promoting it.

Prof. Kanyandago is the director of research, Uganda Martyrs University. pkanyandago@gmail.com

From an eternal to a temporal perspective : Bishop David Kiganda organizes Money Makers Convention, 2013 : Frank Gashumba who has said that Catholicism runs in the blood in his veins was one of the speakers.

(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?(James 4:4-5)

Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: 20But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: 21For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.(Matthew 6:19-12)

1If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. 2Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth(Colossians 3:1-2).

(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.(1 John 2:15-18)

Bishop David Livingstone Kiganda

19 hours ago

Hullo People around Kampala Tomorrow is the last day of the Money Makers Convetion. Today We had Frank Gashumba and Mr. Mukalazi The director of Homesdallen Schools. Please don\t miss tomorrow at Christianity focus centre. It is Business and wealth creation strictly.

Bishop David Kiganda recently  organized a Money makers convention, from 5-6, September, 2013 where some of the speakers are not born again Christians . I know some people are going to get mad at me for attacking an ‘anointed man of God’. But what makes me wondering is; why do pastors spend a lot time preparing  people to be comfortable in this world??? When you look at all the messages taught in the church in Uganda today, you will discover that pastors are struggling hard to make people comfortable in this world. There are not so much concerned about the eternal destination of believers which is heaven. Many pastors just like the people in their  churches are eating the world but slowly losing their souls. Pastor Kiganda has been so much infested with the rotten American prosperity gospel and therefore I’m not surprised by this Money makers convention idea.   He has in the past  made incredibly  un scriptural statements such as:

• Without money there is no gospel

• The Jesus riding on a donkey is very different from the Jesus walking on foot because no body claps for the Jesus walking  foot.

• A poor preacher  can not attract people  to salvation .

• The Poverty of born again Christians prevents people from getting saved.

Mr.Frank Gashumba, a  professed staunch catholic was one of the speakers at Pastor Kinganda's money making convention

Let us ask our selves the following questions:

• Could Apostle Paul or any of the other Apostles of Jesus ever come up with bogus Conventions such as; Money makers convention?

• How can a person who is truly born again be attracted to a non saved millionaire catholic’s gospel on how to make money?

• Could the Lord Jesus ever sit people down and begin to tell them how to be wealth in this world?  

• Could the Lord Jesus Christ even call Rich un saved Jews and Roman to teach his disciples how to make money?

• Does the money making conference bring people out of the world or into the world?  

• Does the bible talk of people who went to hell because they were  poor?

• Did the increasing wealth of the catholic church make the catholic church more scriptural or more apostate?

• Isn’t it  true that wealth blinds us from our transitory connection to this world?  

Concluding remarks

I know Conventions such as the Money makers Convention are so enticing because they appeal to our flesh however, they are bogus to the kingdom of heaven. The bible tells us of  poor Lazarus who made it to heaven and  the rich man ended  up in hell. If wealth attracts people to salvation why did the rich man fail to make it.

Also see,

Bishop David Kiganda’s stinking Prosperity Gospel: Money in one hand and the bible in the other

http://watchmanafrica.blogspot.com/2010/07/bishop-david-kigandas-stiking.html

Bishop David Kiganda’s preposterous wealth gospel : If wealth and poverty are buses taking people to hell, where wealth takes 10 people to hell, poverty takes 60.

http://watchmanafrica.blogspot.com/2012/05/bishop-david-kigandas-preposterous.html

Bishop David Kiganda calls me an internet false prophet: How about his friend Creflo $$$$$$$ who ‘broke’ the curse of poverty over Uganda in 2007

http://watchmanafrica.blogspot.com/2012/07/bishop-david-kiganda-calls-me-internet.html

Pentecostal Prosperity Pastors and their ignorance of the bible version controversy: Bishop David Kiganda mis- interprets Pastor Solomon Male’s stance against divorce

http://watchmanafrica.blogspot.com/2013/07/pentecostal-prosperity-pastors-and.html

The Truth About Christian Television

Rick Frueh

I am an ordained Baptist minister but more importantly I am a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. I was saved in 1975 watching Billy Graham on television after having lived a wicked and Christless life. I graduated with a three year degree from Trinity Bible College in Dunedin, Florida. I have three children, two grandsons, and one granddaughter. I not only see the obvious falling away of the present day church, but I humbly acknowledge that we all are in desperate need of a massive revival. I hope this blog ministers to you, and may Jesus Himself receive all the preeminence! spcrick@msn.com

The Truth About Christian Television

http://judahslion.blogspot.com/2012/05/truth-about-christian-television.html

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Before I give an honest critique about Christian television, allow me to sum it up with a broad generalization which I believe to be accurate. Christian television these days is little more than a money raising vehicle, much of which gets pocketed by the star of each program. In 1975 God used Billy Graham to lead me to Christ via television. Now I do not agree with everything Billy Graham does or believes, however back in those days his association bought expensive time on secular stations and preached the gospel. Today, Christian television does not preach the gospel.

I do believe that God desires the church to use any and all technologies in order to reach the lost. But that is not what Christian television is doing in these last days. Preachers and ministers are gaining great wealth and popularity through television and believers and unbelievers alike are funding these spectacles. And even if you can identify certain programs that preach Biblical truth, these programs support the networks that continue to expose people to all kinds of heresy and error. And that makes those “orthodox” programs culpable since they lend their support to these ungodly networks.

Television is very alluring and through slick imagery it bends the minds of those that watch and like the Greek sirens of old it draws people toward spiritual shipwreck. And when you see men like Franklin Graham endorsing people like Paul and Jan Crouch of TBN, then you realize just how sacred these money making cows are. People will endure all kinds of blatant compromise just so they can gain access to the air waves and into people’s hearts and minds and ultimately into people’s wallets.

If you dared to watch an entire day of Christian television you would see an incredible array of dog and pony shows. Anointed oil, blessed spring water, spiritual rocks, and magic handkerchiefs are but a few of the religious talismans offered to the gullible. Screaming and yelling and telling people their names and physical conditions are popular on these networks. And most of the men and women advertise their upcoming meetings which are also great money making schemes.

Many people have their favorite preachers and watch them religiously. And when that preacher comes to town and rents out an auditorium, it is filled. Books and Cds and other trinkets will be on sale, and an offering will be taken. Let us unveil the dirty little secret. These meeting are very lucrative or else they would not be holding them. Money is the petrol that runs the engine. Most of these preachers stay in hotels with lavish accommodations and they do not eat at McDonalds. The entire spectacle is a waste of God’s money and an affront to all that Christ lived and taught. And it isn’t confined to the false teachers. Even “orthodox” teachers and preachers hold such meetings and rake in the big bucks.

But as lucrative as these meetings are they pale in comparison to the money making vehicle of television. And as if the normal offerings were not enough, the Christian networks hold at least one telethon every year. And the managers bring in a gifted money raising false prophet who promises all kinds of divine favor to those who give. In fact, if you listen to the man or women who steers the telethon, it goes way beyond the absurd. If it wasn’t so tragic it would be comical.

But I have heard people say that there are a few good and edifying programs. I ask them if they would reach into a spittoon and search for a penny. I ask them if they would shop in an adult bookstore if it had a Christian book section? I ask them if unholy alliances are God’s will. I ask them if they would partner with Mormon’s to reach people in Africa. You see, the compromise that emanates from these networks is diabolical. It isn’t just a minor disagreement over non-essentials. It is a spreading of damnable lies and soul deceiving heresies. And the program that you identify as edifying supports these heresies. So when you see the ungodly lifestyles of Jan and Paul Crouch, and you gasp with horror, remember that all the programs on TBN contribute to those lifestyles.

So with all the Bibles and books and Cds available to us, we still need to watch cleverly crafted television programs? And when you watch one hour of such a program, do you also pray for one hour? Beloved, I have stated what should be obvious. Christian television isn’t just worthless, it is undermining the gospel itself. If you desire to please God than you should avoid watching and supporting the modern day expression of Christian television.

The pictures of ministers holding black African children or Haitian refugees are shameless. If you could see the homes these preachers live in, or the cars they drive, or even the jets they own, you would get a glimpse into just how much they care about starving children. Christian television has no conscience and will do almost anything to raise a buck. And in reality, that is what it’s all about. Thousands of preachers have gotten rich through this medium, and that includes men and women who do not even believe in the “prosperity message”.

So there it is. Christian television is no longer evangelistic. It has become a sham, a pyramid scheme, and a religious Ponzi scheme as well. If we were shown today’s brand of Christian television 30 years ago we would have been horrified. But since deception usually comes little by little, we have become numb to it and desensitized to the absurdity. In fact, if I were to say that God told me that the first ten people who send me $1000.00 would receive a special miracle in their family and in their finances, I would probably receive several checks.

That clearly outlines the state of western Christianity. The Lord demands a forsaking of everything, but the church continues to accumulate wealth and ask God for more. God has become the servant and we have become the master. God help us all.

The Modern Machiavellian Church

http://judahslion.blogspot.com/2012/05/modern-machiavellian-church.html

Sunday, May 06, 2012

The Modern Machiavellian Church

Niccolò Machiavelli was an Italian philosopher, writer, and humanist. His most famous work, The Prince, is a story of how politicians manipulate situations and control people in order to stay in power. It is this story that has lead to the expression “Machiavellian” which is used to mean cunning and manipulative.

The modern church has adopted Machiavelli’s tactics. It uses all kinds of techniques to lure people to church and even to a false Christ. The modern evangelical church no longer believes in the power of the gospel or the power of the Spirit. Like jingling keys in front of an infant, the church dangles all sorts of shiny gimmicks and enticing words of men’s wisdom in hopes of gaining members and tithers. It is a dazzling display of human craftiness which is supposed to aid the gospel but which in fact presents a false gospel and manipulates unsuspecting sinners. Manipulation and theatrics may work well for the fallen system we call politics, but when are those the vehicles to spread the gospel?

This is not some difference of opinion about methodology. This is in fact a war against Christ and His Word. This kind of deception rips at the very heart of God’s eternal truth. This kind of theatrics and sensationalism obscures Christ, ignores the cross, and replaces God’s word with the cunningly devised fables of men. Entertaining to be sure, but it is a path that leads to death.

I Cor.2:3-5 - And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling.
4 And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power:
5 That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

Col.2:2-4 - That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ;
3 In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
4 And this I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words.

The strategies of men have replaced the directives of God’s Word. Entertainment has replaced the convicting power of God’s Spirit. Celebrity preachers have replaced the humble servants. Paul says he came with weakness and fear and much trembling. But today’s preacher drives up in a luxury automobile, dressed in expensive clothes, and spews out hubristic words that speak of earthly success, human power, sexual exploits, and all kinds of worthless advice derived from a carnal mind.

The western evangelical church is broken down and its gates have been burned with strange fire.

Neh.1:1-3 - The words of Nehemiah the son of Hachaliah. And it came to pass in the month Chisleu, in the twentieth year, as I was in Shushan the palace,
2 That Hanani, one of my brethren, came, he and certain men of Judah; and I asked them concerning the Jews that had escaped, which were left of the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem.
3 And they said unto me, The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach: the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire.

The Babylonians had captured God’s people and Jerusalem was in shambles. When Nehemiah receives this news it moves his soul. He begins to mourn with fasting and prayers for his people. He intercedes for the sins of the people, and he is grieved in his spirit for the state of the Temple in Jerusalem. By God’s providence, and in an answer to Nehemiah’s prayer, he is allowed to go to Jerusalem. He leaves the splendor of the king’s palace and will now step right into persecution.

The church has been completely deceived about persecution. We have confined it to the martyrs or the Chinese church or forbidding prayer in the public schools. But persecution is a thousand times more savage and clandestine than we could have ever imagined. The western church is in the midst of the most diabolical persecution in church history. It has not come with chains and prisons made with men’s hands. This present persecution comes in as an angel of light armed with spiritual chains of deception..

It has placed the church in bondage to the allurements of this world. It has adorned preachers with gold and jewels, and it has placed lying spirits in their mouths. And while the church believes it is receiving the blessings of God, the evil one is stealing our youth, stealing God’s truth, and he has replaced the Spirit with all sorts of fallen customs which are against the teachings of Scripture. But since we prosper materially, the church considers itself blessed. In fact we are dancing inside hell’s prison.

And in the midst of great and wonderful church buildings, our spiritual walls are broken down and our gates are burned with fire. The paradox is striking. We have traded our birthright for a mess of worldly pottage. And while we claim to be feasting at the Lord’s table, we are eating from the world’s trough. And we are blind to our condition and addicted to the dictates of the flesh. And Christian television continues to spread falsehoods and lies while it makes carnal men and women rich. Oh how the Spirit must grieve as He witnesses this monstrous betrayal!

I suggest that this is not time for more evangelistic strategies. This is no time for more Machiavellian cleverness that fills the pews with warm bodies and their vulnerable checkbooks. This is no time to learn Hebrew and Greek and parade the wonders of our orthodox exegesis. This is a time to fast and pray. The ground that has been fallow for so long it can only be broken up by fervent intercession and prayer. It is no easy task, and the flesh will resist any authentic attempt to seek a fresh awakening of the prayer closet.

Here we stand. Here we sit. Here we sleep. God help us for we cannot help ourselves. Even the “orthodox” church has embraced their doctrines and their theologies and their original language credentials. But they treat God as an aloof being who is more information than communication. Think about a son on earth. He learns more and more about his father. He uncovers his father’s genealogy, he measures his height and takes his weight. He and his brothers and sisters gather to learn more and more about their father.

But rarely do they speak with their father. Their communication with him is very formal and in comparison with their study about him it is meager indeed. But the father desires greatly to speak with his children. He sees and hears their studies about him, but they do not seem to relish fellowship with him. He approves of their avid interest in him, but he is grieved since they seem uninterested in long and fruitful sessions with him.

We will always have the cults. The apostasy will continue as well. The Joel Osteens and the Rick warrens will continue to flourish and draw great crowds. And we will need to continue to address such things and protect and teach God’s sheep about the many, many wolves. But unless we ourselves repent of our own stilted Christianity, and unless we allow the Spirit to break up our own fallow ground, we will be a lifeless blaring trumpet. Unless there is a significant revival of prayer among us, our truth will be bound to paper and our lives and power will be bound to this earth.

This is not child’s play. This is no game. God desires to meet with us in the dimension of prayer and without the restrictions of tradition and time. We have fallen in love with music and we have treated prayer with contempt. We desire preachers with oratorical prowess but require nothing of their prayer mantle. We spend more time looking for coupons than we do in prayer. We fellowship more with our dogs than we do with God.

In order to avoid being broken and corrected we avoid the threshing floor of the prayer room. We protect our western life styles by avoiding time with a Holy God. And in so doing we also surrender the immense glory of His very presence. Worship without a foundation of prayer is just singing. Emotional and moving, yes, but fleshly at its core. Like holding a dinner in honor of someone but not inviting the guest of honor. You enjoy the special music, you enjoy the fellowship with each other, the dinner was wonderful, but the guest of honor was curiously absent. But you have become so adept at arraigning and organizing the dinner that the guest of honor’s absence is not even noticed. The entire spectacle has become about the dinner itself.

Do we really think that Sunday after Sunday, week after week, month after month, and year after year, people meet together to worship God and never does God move in such a way that they remain at the church house for the entire day, or at least for many hours? Are we really suggesting that the God of the Universe meets with us every Sunday and arranges His presence and His ministry so as to conform to our redundant schedule? Is that what we want the world to believe? So meeting with the Risen Christ, and allowing the ministry of the Spirit to change our lives, requires less time than a football game?

So what has happened to us? We have manipulated the Christian faith and made it conform to our culture. The church gatherings on Sunday mornings are cultural expressions of a popular religion but they have no real power and they elicit only a two hour “sacrifice” which is rewarded by special music and flowery speeches and smiling fellowship. It is usually at this juncture where the “orthodox” crowd tunes me out. We love to hear about Osteen and Bell and Warren and even Obama, but when the inventory begins to invade our doctrinal fort we retreat immediately.

So who seeks the Lord these days? Many claim they already have a Biblically sound statement of faith and theology, so they need not seek the Lord. So you see what has happened? The orthodox crowd is content with their “orthodoxy” and satisfies their own spiritual lethargy by feasting on the errors of others. Not only do I disavow Rob Bell’s theology, but I boldly point out his errors. So I must be filled with God’s power and my spiritual life needs only minor tweaking, if that. That mentality leads to a practice of ecclesiastical traditions rather than a vibrant spiritual church where seeking God is the desire of our very lives. The way the evangelical church prays is an enormous scandal.

Do not think that I speak as someone who has arrived, or as one who can point to my own prayer life as the complete example. I do not. But I do speak as someone who has heard the Spirit and I loudly proclaim that all of us need to stop, see what the Spirit reveals, and with a broken spirit of repentance rebuild the walls of prayer personally and collectively. What would happen if your church said this month they would gather only to pray on Sunday mornings? Attendance would decrease and perhaps the local assembly would lose members. But if at the end of such a month you had a famous Christian singer on a Sunday morning, well the attendance would return to normal.

The end is very near. The deception deepens and widens. And those who embrace the true Christ have fallen asleep. While we stand guard atop the wall for enemies outside the camp, our own camp has slidden into a spiritual state of comatose. Our God is a doctrine, and the paltry expressions of prayer are filled with verbal genuflects to that doctrine. We can come before a Holy God and speak to Him with redundant petitions and familiar religious phrases and with no tears and no trembling lips and especially with no changed lives we can say “Amen”. Just who do we think we are speaking with? A concept? A doctrine? Or is He a consuming fire who loves us with an everlasting love but wishes to change us into His very image?

God is now a wax figure, smiling and waving to the Sunday morning crowds. The situation in the world and in the church is dire, and yet one Sunday reflects the past one and the next one. The spiritual crisis worsens by the day but the church marches on imprisoned by its structure, its debt, its schedule, its entertainment, its false contentment, and its well worn traditions. And Jesus correctly asked if He could even find faith when He returns. Unless there is an unbound and startling move of the Holy Spirit that rushes through God’s church and washes away the ecclesiastical façade we have constructed, then there is little hope for the world.

But of one thing we can be certain. This coming week will be just like last week. And next week? Just push the replay button and enjoy. Niccolò Machiavelli would be proud.

Judge: Ugandan Homosexual Activist Group Can Sue American Pastor for ‘Crimes Against Humanity’

 

Judge: Ugandan Homosexual Activist Group Can Sue American Pastor for ‘Crimes Against Humanity’

http://christiannews.net/2013/08/26/judge-ugandan-homosexual-activist-group-can-sue-american-pastor-for-crimes-against-humanity/

 August 26, 2013

Heather Clark

SPRINGFIELD – A federal judge has refused to dismiss an international lawsuit filed by a Ugandan homosexual activist group, which accuses an American pastor of committing ‘crimes against humanity’ for speaking out against homosexual behavior in the country.

As previously reported, Massachusetts Pastor Scott Lively, author of The Pink Swastika, had visited the nation of Uganda in 2009, where he spoke on what the Bible says about homosexuality and expressed support of pastors in the country that were working to oppose the proliferation of sexual activity between those of the same gender.

Following his visit, the group Sexual Minorities of Uganda (SMUG), filed a lawsuit against Lively, asserting that he had violated international law because his words allegedly encouraged government persecution against homosexuals in the nation. He was sued under the Alien Tort Statute (ATS), which allows individuals from foreign nations to file federal complaints against U.S. citizens who have committed torts overseas.

“That’s about as ridiculous as it gets,” Lively told the New York Times. “I’ve never done anything in Uganda except preach the Gospel and speak my opinion about the homosexual issue.”

“ATS is not a blanket delegation of lawmaking to the democratically unaccountable international community,” said Mat Staver, founder of Liberty Council, which is representing the evangelical pastor. “Like all American citizens, Lively enjoys a fundamental First Amendment right to engage in nonviolent political discourse anywhere in the world.”

In January of this year, Senior Litigation Counsel Harry Mihet and General Counsel Steve Crampton asked District Judge Michael A. Ponsor to throw out the case. SMUG is being represented by a group funded by George Soros.

However, now eight months later, Ponsor has issued his decision, refusing to dismiss the lawsuit.

“He has allegedly supported and actively participated in worldwide initiatives, with a substantial focus on Uganda, aimed at repressing free expression by LGBTI groups, destroying the organizations that support them, intimidating LGBTI individuals, and even criminalizing the very status of being lesbian or gay,” he wrote in his 79-page ruling.

Ponsor, appointed by Bill Clinton in 1994, reportedly said that Ugandan representatives were “co-conspirators” with Lively, and that to some, standing against the proliferation of homosexuality “constitutes a crime against humanity that violates international norms.” However, he advised that it is too soon to say whether Lively actually violated any American law.

Lively’s attorney, Harry Mihet, issued a brief statement in response to Ponsor’s decision, remarking that the case should not have been permitted to proceed.

“We are disappointed with the decision because we believe SMUG’s claims are firmly foreclosed, not only by the First Amendment right to free speech, but also by the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Kiobel, which eliminated Alien Tort Statute claims for events that allegedly occurred in foreign nations,” he said. “We are still reviewing the court’s ruling, and will continue to vigorously defend Mr. Lively’s constitutional rights, with confidence that he will ultimately be vindicated.”

The case will now move forward in federal court.

In addition to serving as an attorney, author and pastor, Lively assists the homeless and drug addicts of his community and helps them to find freedom from their chains through the power of Jesus Christ.

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