African Apologetics

GUEST COLUMN: Racism and Mormonism in Uganda

2013-04-09T17:53:00.001-04:00

By Tim Martin

I read with mixed emotions the Observer article “Mormons in media drive” dated 6 March 2013. The article explained that the Mormon Church has created a new web site that “will publish all there is to know about the faith” and help “Ugandan journalists and the general public [to] get credible information” about their religion.

The article was positive and accurate in its depiction of Mormonism’s moral positions. For instance, the Mormon Church should be commended for its “strong stance against cohabiting, alcoholism, pre-marital sex and homosexuality.”

However, the Mormons’ new site fails to cover some of the important topics that the Observer article said it would address. For instance, the article quotes Sean Donnelly as saying that the site “would throw more light on…controversies like…racism.” But the site’s article on racism sidesteps the main points of this controversy almost entirely.

Concerning racism, the site accurately discusses the 1978 change in Mormon Church policy allowing male church members of African descent to hold its priesthood. It also describes the current state of racial integration in many Mormon congregations. While true, these points beg the question at hand.

The most controversial race issue is that the Mormon Church’s top leaders have repeatedly claimed that dark skin is a curse from God. For instance, revered Mormon Apostle Mark E. Petersen declared: “At least in the cases of the Lamanites [American Indians] and the negroes we have the definite word of the Lord Himself that He placed a dark skin upon them as a curse—as a punishment and as a sign to all others.” (“Race Problems—As They Affect the Church,” an address given at Brigham Young University on August 27, 1954)

Notice that Petersen is not claiming that this is his personal opinion. As an apostle of the Mormon Church, he claimed that this was the “definite word of the Lord Himself.”

The Book of Mormon also supports this teaching. Although “black and white” people are all invited to approach God (2 Nephi 26:33), the fact that some have much darker skin is based on divine curses against their ungodliness. Second Nephi 5:21 explains that the people known as Lamanites received “a sore cursing, because of their iniquity.” What was the nature of the curse? God “cause[d] a skin of blackness to come upon them” so the Lamanites would not “be enticing” to His followers.

(It’s worth noting that on 1 March of this year the Mormon Church announced its new digital edition of the Book of Mormon. While the main text of the book remains the same, the church has strategically altered some of the chapter descriptions. For example, in the 1981 print edition of the Book of Mormon, the chapter description for 2 Nephi 5 says that the “the Lamanites are cursed, receive a skin of blackness, and become a scourge unto the Nephites.” The new version omits the phrase “skin of blackness” and merely says that the Lamanites “are cut off from the presence of the Lord.”)

The same theme is found in another Mormon scripture, the Pearl of Great Price. In the Moses 7:8 the people of Canaan were cursed, “and there was a blackness came upon all the children of Canaan, that they were despised among all people.”

Sadly, the Mormon Church’s apostles and prophets have never apologized for these and many other statements—some of them far worse. (See “The Mormon Church and the African,” published by the Africa Centre for Apologetics Research, for extensive quotations.) Instead, the church diverts attention from the issue by repeated references to the racial harmony one can observe in Mormon congregations since the 1978 “revelation.”

Still, there is another aspect of this issue that the Mormon Church needs to openly admit if it wants to engage in genuine full disclosure. According to the Book of Mormon and Mormon leaders, once a person with dark skin ceases to practice evil and begins following the Lord, his/her skin will transform into lighter shades. In the second chapter of 3 Nephi some of the Lamanites left their tribe and joined with the righteous Nephites. Verse 15 explains: “And their curse was taken from them, and their skin became white like unto the Nephites.

At the church’s General Conference in October of 1960, Mormon Apostle Spencer W. Kimball described his visit to an Indian community in Arizona. The Mormon Church had been making converts there for 15 years and had over 8,400 members. Now that these dark-skinned Indians had been accepting the Mormon gospel, Kimball—who would later become the church’s prophet—could report:

For years they have been growing delightsome, and they are now becoming white and delightsome, as they were promised (2 Ne. 30:6). … The children in the home placement program in Utah are often lighter than their brothers and sisters in the hogans on the reservation….At one meeting a father and mother and their sixteen-year-old daughter were present, the little member girl—sixteen—sitting between the dark father and mother, and it was evident she was several shades lighter than her parents. (Conference Report, October 1960, pp. 32–37; accessed at http://scriptures.byu.edu/gettalk.php?ID=1091&era=yes)

This aspect of Mormon teaching has not been properly addressed. Instead, it is covered up. Though Mormon leaders avoid the topic, its implications still permeate Mormon culture. For example, Mormons often produce large outdoor pageants depicting scenes from the Book of Mormon. Every one of them depicts Lamanites as savages with dark skins and Nephites as more sophisticated people with light skins. If you were to ask any lifelong Mormon why there is a difference in skin color between the Lamanites and Nephites, they know the correct answer.

People in Uganda and other nations where the Mormon Church is attempting to make inroads may never hear the facts about this racist doctrine—at least from the church’s missionaries. •

ACFAR Conference on Cults (March 21–23)

2013-03-05T13:43:00.002-05:00

REGISTRATIONS ARE NOW OPEN!

Powerful, scriptural answers to the challenges and claims of…

Mormonism • the Prosperity Gospel • Jehovah’s Witnesses • Seventh-day Adventism

March 21–23, 2013 • Africa Renewal Christian College • Buloba, Kampala

Featured speaker: Tim Martin | Watchman Fellowship USA

Registration is 25,000/- for the two and a half days of the conference, plus materials.

For inquiries, please call The Africa Centre for Apologetics Research at 0706 100 664/0782 000 664.

A Warning on Chris Oyakhilome

2012-07-03T00:05:00.000-04:00

Last week, J. Lee Grady of Charisma magazine posted “False Prophets, Foreign Charlatans and Global Deception,” a harsh warning about Nigerian televangelist Chris Oyakhilome of Christ Embassy International.

Grady writes that Oyakhilome is now a controversial figure in Romania, where some Christian leaders “have sounded an alarm. One of them, Ioan Peia, released a public warning in 2011 listing various false doctrines promoted by Oyakhilome.” Read a translation here.

Grady’s article is all the more significant because in the past his magazine has unashamedly promoted the “ministries” of Benny Hinn, Kenneth Hagin, and other false teachers.

The Bizarre Teachings of Ryuho Okawa

2012-06-18T14:54:00.000-04:00

As the much-heralded Namboole Stadium event of “Happy Science” founder Ryuho Okawa approaches, the curious would do well to closely examine his teachings.

Okawa is an occultist—a spirit medium. On one level, the story is simple and grim: In 1986, Okawa took the advice of supposed spirits of the dead, who persuaded him that he was the most powerful being in the universe. The result is Kofuku-no-Kakagu, or “Happy Science.” These supposed spirits of the dead—for it seems that virtually all of them claim to have lived before—still control Okawa and his cult.

The Bible harshly condemns the practice of necromancy in Leviticus 19:31, 20:6; Deuteronomy 18:10–11; 1 Samuel 28:3, 9; 2 Kings 21:6, 23:24; 1 Chronicles 10:13; 2 Chronicles 33:6; Isaiah 8:19, 19:3.

The teachings of “Master” Okawa are many-layered. The deeper one goes, the stranger they become.

Among other things, the man who claims to be God is constantly consulting with spirits to produce such outlandish articles as this one. Note Okawa’s prophecy: “North Korea will collapse in the year 2012. Like the Berlin Wall, Panmunjom will be taken down.”

In fact, Okawa’s site The Liberty web GLOBAL has bizarre messages from the “guardian spirits” of a number of political leaders and other famous people.

Want to know what the Republican presidential candidates are really thinking? Just ask their guardian spirits:

http://global.the-liberty.com/2012/1587.html

http://global.the-liberty.com/2012/1251.html

And did you know that Barack Obama was the last king of the Aztecs?

http://global.the-liberty.com/2012/2036.html

This may play well in Japan, but it will probably look absurd to the Ugandan public.

A final note: Regarding Okawa’s spirit messages and earlier predictions, one scholar writes that “study of [Okawa’s] prophetic utterances in Nosutoradamus senritsu no keiji [The terrifying revelations of Nostradamus] and elsewhere reveals very little original interpretation of Nostradamus. Examination of his alleged communications with higher spirits suggests plagiarism on a grand scale, with the spirit of Nostradamus managing even to repeat a mistranslation from a popular Japanese rendering of the Centuries. It is little wonder, then, that Okawa is anxious to keep his prophecies from the eyes of the rest of the world….” (Trevor Astley, “The Transformation of a Recent Japanese New Religion: Okawa Ryuho and Kofuku no Kagaku,” in Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 22/3–4 [1985], p. 377)

June 9th: Unanswered Questions on an Important Anniversary

2012-06-09T09:55:00.003-04:00

On this date in 1978, the Mormon Church stunned the world by announcing that God would finally permit “worthy” African men to be ordained to its priesthood. This “revelation” by Mormon prophet Spencer W. Kimball defused decades of anger and controversy, and opened new doorways of privilege to members whose access to church leadership and secret temple rituals had always been denied.

It also cleared the way for the Mormon missionaries to seek converts across Africa. On April 13th of this year the New York Times featured an article on the church’s increasing missionary work in Uganda, noting that fully a third of its members here have been converted in just the past year.

But the church’s announcement in 1978 left something completely unchanged by its leaders—men with the same authority as the prophets and apostles in the Bible, who direct “the only true and living Church upon the face of the whole earth.”

For more than a century, Mormon prophets and apostles openly taught that Africans are black because of a divine curse—the dreaded “mark of Cain.” This is not obscure folklore or opinion, but doctrine stated plainly by some of the church’s highest spiritual officers in formal conferences and respected publications.

What have revered Mormon leaders taught about the African race? Space only allows for four examples among many.

In 1859, Mormon prophet Brigham Young identified Africans as the descendents of Cain (Genesis 4), declaring: “Cain slew his brother. Cain might have been killed, and that would have put a termination to that line of human beings. This was not to be, and the Lord put a mark on him, which is the flat nose and black skin. Trace mankind down to after the flood, and then another curse is pronounced upon the same race—that they should be the ‘servant of servants,’ and they will be until that curse is removed….”(Journal of Discourses, Vol. 7, p. 290)

Mormon prophet Joseph Fielding Smith clarified this view in 1931, stating: “Not only was Cain called upon to suffer, but because of his wickedness he became the father of an inferior race. A curse was placed upon him and that curse has been continued through his lineage and must do so while time endures. Millions of souls have come into this world cursed with a black skin and have been denied the privilege of Priesthood and the fullness of the blessings of the Gospel.” He added: “This doctrine did not originate with President Brigham Young but was taught by the Prophet Joseph Smith....we all know it is due to his teachings that the Negro today is barred from the Priesthood.” (The Way to Perfection, pp. 101–102, 110–111)

Mormon apostle Mark E. Petersen asked in 1954, “Who placed the Negroes originally in darkest Africa? Was it some man, or was it God?” His answer: “The Lord segregated the people both as to blood and place of residence. At least in the cases of the Lamanites [i.e., Native Americans] and the negroes we have the definite word of the Lord Himself that He placed a dark skin upon them as a curse—as a punishment and as a sign to all others.” (“Race Problems—as They Affect the Church,” an address given at Brigham Young University)

Mormon apostle Bruce R. McConkie further explained in 1966 that “Cain, Ham, and the whole negro race have been cursed with a black skin, the mark of Cain, so they can be identified as a caste apart, a people with whom the other descendants of Adam should not intermarry.” (Mormon Doctrine, p. 114)

In recent years the Mormon Church has converted famous athletes and entertainers of African descent. In 2009 it elevated a Kenyan to the upper levels of its authority structure.

But on this date we are reminded that the Mormon Church has never renounced or changed its oft-stated doctrine that Africans are black because God Himself has cursed them. The Mormon Church should either publicly embrace its leaders’ racist teachings, or openly renounce them.

Hoping that we will not notice is not enough.

Mormon Missionaries Advance Across Uganda

2012-04-23T19:31:00.006-04:00

On April 13, the New York Times published a lengthy article entitled “At Age 19, from Utah to Uganda.” It describes the personal background and proselytizing efforts of a Mormon missionary named Jared Dangerfield and several of his colleagues from the United States and Zimbabwe.

Among the article’s claims:

• “Currently, there are only about 5,000 Mormons in Uganda, less than 1 percent of the population. What is noteworthy, however, is that a third of those were converted last year.”
• “The number of missionaries stationed in Uganda has also grown, to 120 from 70 two years ago.”
• “The missionaries say they can net a dozen new contacts from the street in a couple of hours, and visit five homes in a day. They estimate each is responsible for around 40 baptisms by the time service is up.”
• “The [worldwide Mormon] church gained nearly 400,000 members in 2010, about 70 percent of them converted by college-age missionaries like Elder Dangerfield…”

And how do the missionaries promote their strange and controversial faith among the largely Christianized Ugandans?

One example, if true, is troubling: “We are not here to move you to another church…We just want to share,” asserts Elder Dangerfield as he pursues one prospect. This is blatantly deceptive, as Mormonism claims that all other churches are apostate, and the missionaries’ intention is to convert followers of any denomination.

Will Ugandan Christians rise to meet the challenge of the growing Mormon missionary thrust?

A GLIMPSE INSIDE THE “HAPPY SCIENCE” CULT FROM JAPAN

2012-03-24T16:20:00.006-04:00

On March 18th, Uganda’s Monitor newspaper published a reporter’s account of her visit to the Kampala temple of Happy Science, a Japanese new religious movement also known as Kofuku-no-Kagaku.

Agnes Namaganda notes helpfully that “A large glowing gold statue of El Cantare, their god…stands directly in front of the corridor that goes right through the centre of the hall.” She also describes several aspects of Happy Science’s beliefs and practices, with an emphasis on angels and “casting out demons and evil spirits too.” As for parishioners at the temple on Rubaga Road, she describes them as “your ordinary Ugandans, your Mama Ivan who lives in a two-roomed-neighbourhoods sort of people, decently dressed in ankle-length outfits and men who are well-kempt but with no overtures of the rich and famous.”

For a succinct Christian perspective on the group, click here.

“Kibwetere is Uganda’s most wanted man”

2012-03-17T02:33:00.006-04:00

The New Vision newspaper of Kampala has published an article commemorating the 12th anniversary of the massacre of hundreds by the Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God. Its unnamed reporter reviews many of the known facts about the cult and includes a helpful list of factors that enabled its leaders to ensnare and control their followers, including:

• They separated families, including children, and took them to different camps in a new environment where they would not socialise easily.

• They erected fences around their camps that were opaque enough to prevent those outside from seeing what was happening inside.

• Producing children and having sex among followers—even between spouses—were strictly forbidden.
• They relied on deception through selective readings of the Bible. The Bible was usually read out of context.

• Apart from the leaders, other members of the cult were not allowed to talk. They used signs to communicate among themselves and to their cult leaders.

• They had a tight day's schedule that kept the followers extremely busy so that there was virtually no time to discuss, not even in signs.

• They tried to keep within the law and be close, very friendly and generous to the authorities, which helped them to avoid any suspicions from the state.

• They usually travelled at night so they could not easily be noticed even by neighbours.

• They did not own their own transport/vehicles. They usually hired vehicles to travel, they were therefore not easy to identify.

• They used to command all followers to sell all their property and bring all the proceeds to the cult leaders, sometimes burning it under the pretext that the Virgin Mary was annoyed with the owners.

• They created a property-less and helpless society of followers who became totally dependent on the cult and had nothing to fall back on.

Other news reports marking the anniversary:

• “Kanungu massacre: 12 years on, memories still fresh” (New Vision)

• “No arrests yet since Kanungu massacre” (New Vision)

A CALL FOR A NATIONAL DAY OF REFLECTION

2012-03-14T20:06:00.003-04:00

MEDIA RELEASE

A CALL FOR A NATIONAL DAY OF REFLECTION
ON THE 12TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE
KANUNGU TRAGEDY

On March 17, 2000 the world was stunned to learn that Uganda was the scene of an unspeakable tragedy: hundreds of men, women, and children cruelly trapped within a church in Kanungu and burned alive. In the days that followed, hundreds more bodies were discovered at four locations—evidence of callous crimes by religious pretenders who still remain at large. As the Bible tells us, “There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death” (Proverbs 14:12).

Sadly, the danger has not passed. Spiritual charlatans and counterfeiters, masquerading as men and women of God, still stalk the unwary in every district, and from among every social class. They inflict various degrees of harm and exploit those who trust them as guides to happiness and healing.

The Africa Centre for Apologetics Research, an anti-cult NGO registered in Uganda, calls on Christians across Uganda to make Saturday, March 17 a day of reflection. We encourage all who exercise pastoral and teaching roles in the churches to follow the example of the apostles, warning and discipling their flocks so that they can confidently “Test everything. Hold fast to what is good. [and] Abstain from every kind of evil” (1 Thessalonians 5:21–22). Likewise, we urge parents to diligently teach their children to practice proper biblical discernment in relation to all spiritual claims. And we respectfully request that the authorities press on in their efforts to bring the mass killers of Kanungu to justice.

Rodgers Atwebembeire, ACFAR Coordinator
and Robby Muhumuza, ACFAR Board Chairman
P O Box 72405
Clocktower, Kampala, UGANDA
Office: +256713 000 664
Email: info@acfar.org
Web site: www.acfar.org

The Definitive Work on the Kanungu Tragedy?

2012-03-07T19:13:00.003-05:00

As the March 17th anniversary of the Kanungu cult massacre approaches, readers seeking an authoritative analysis of the Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God should consult Ghosts of Kanungu: Fertility, Secrecy, and Exchange in the Great Lakes of East Africa by Richard Vokes.

The author is a Senior Lecturer in Anthropology at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand, and a Research Associate of the Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology at the University of Oxford, UK. Adding to the weight of his research is his fluency in Runyankore/Rukiga, which enabled him to personally interview many key individuals in and around Kanungu.

Vokes also maintains an extensive multi-media web site of cult-related findings.

(Note: The edition of Vokes’s book produced by Fountain Publishers of Uganda is far less expensive than that generally available in North America.)

ACFAR on Facebook

2012-03-06T23:12:00.003-05:00

Another way to keep up with ACFAR and news about cultic movements and related issues in East Africa is to follow us on Facebook. Sign up today!

Russian newspaper profiles the Legio Maria cult of Kenya

2012-01-23T02:08:00.006-05:00

On January 18th, the Russian newspaper Nezavisimaya Gazeta (Независимая газета) published an unusual first-hand report on the indigenous Legio Maria cult and its “black messiah,” Simeo Melkio Ondetto.

You can read the article (in rough translation) here.

(HT: Dmitry Rozet of the Center for Apologetics Research.)

Wisdom for the New Year

2012-01-07T11:19:00.005-05:00

For all aspiring defenders of the Gospel: Beware of these “Ten Pitfalls of the Foolish Apologist!” They include…

• Speaking before listening
• Trying to win every point
• Pride
• Seeking popularity
• Neglecting spiritual disciplines
• Lacking love

Are you willing to carefully, humbly examine your heart in order to faithfully represent Christ?

Is a doomsday cult reviving in Uganda?

2011-09-19T14:13:00.010-04:00

Reports in Ugandan news sources ranging from the mainstream New Vision to the sensationalistic Red Pepper claim that 52-year-old cult leader Wilson Bushara is now distributing “invitation cards to heaven.”

The Eddoboozi news site quotes a Uganda Radio Network article explaining that “the Luweero cult leader has started issuing invitation cards to his 5000 followers that are spread in Luweero, Mbale, Busia, Kampala, Iganga among other districts to attend the last supper in heaven. Bushara is telling his followers that that the end of the world is drawing nearer and the signs are visible on earth, including lightning, earthquakes, and floods among others. He claims that those with cards will be taken to heaven alive and those without cards will go to hell.”

Since 1999, Ugandan authorities have investigated and detained Bushara, founder of the notorious “World Message Last Warning Church,” on a variety of accusations. He is perhaps best known for his proclamation that the world would end on June 30th, 1999. For a summary of reports, see here.

VIDEO: How You Can Pray for ACFAR

2011-09-12T15:17:00.005-04:00

A personal word from ACFAR regional coordinator Rodgers Atwebembeire.

A special event for ACFAR

2011-09-12T13:34:00.006-04:00

On Saturday, October 22nd the Centers for Apologetics Research will host a special fundraising event in San Juan Capistrano, California to highlight and benefit God’s ongoing work through ACFAR.

Featured speakers include…

• Acclaimed apologist and author Dr. Ron Rhodes
• ACFAR regional coordinator Rodgers Atwebembeire
• CFAR Ethiopia director Tesfaye Robele.

To learn more and take part in this unforgettable evening, sign up here!

False Prophecy Creates Confusion Across Africa

2011-05-20T15:31:00.007-04:00

Broadcaster Harold Camping is spreading confusion throughout Africa with his unbiblical prediction that Judgment Day will take place on Saturday, May 21st.

Billboards warning of the impending rapture have been placed in Botswana, Burundi, Cameroon, D.R. Congo, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

In Uganda, Camping’s billboards have been seen in both English and Runyankore (right), although on May 18th the Kampala Capital City Authority ordered them removed. According to the New Vision newspaper: “Simon Muhumuza, the KCC public relations officer, said they had ordered the pulling down of the billboards. ‘We do not know who put them up,’ he said, adding that it was unnecessary to cause panic among Ugandans.”

For Christian critiques of Harold Camping and Family Radio, see (for example):

www.albertmohler.com/2011/05/16/the-end-is-near-the-false-teaching-of-harold-camping/

www.alliancenet.org/partner/Article_Display_Page/0,,PTID307086_CHID560462_CIID1526032,00.html

www.redeemerbroadcasting.org/content/family-radio-alternative

www.refutecamping.com/

UPDATE: A pastor in the town of Kasese has openly repented of spreading Camping’s false message, according to a May 27 report in Uganda’s Daily Monitor newspaper. “I want to apologise to the people of Kasese and whoever heard my messages about the end of the world. I am very sorry for the inconveniences because I followed false prophets,” said Pastor Isaac Muhindo. “I am ready to go back to my church and repent for misleading the people of God and I am now going to follow the scriptures seriously without wrong interpretations.” The article explains that “Panic gripped some people in Kasese after the predicted doomsday was characterised by a heavy downpour that started at 2pm and ended after 7pm.”

A message from the East Africa Coordinator

2011-05-20T14:55:00.005-04:00

As floods of western relativistic tendencies and postmodern idealism sweep the region, the church in Africa finds itself ill-equipped to sustain its relevance in an unpredictable, constantly changing society.

The most subtle and venomous enemy of the church is the invasion of cults—pseudo-Christian and aberrant groups, both foreign and traditional—now arising to challenge orthodox beliefs. Syncretism, unsound theological trends, widespread ignorance of God’s Word, a lack of discernment, social benefits promised by the cults, the unpreparedness of pastors, and other factors heighten the predicament in which the church finds itself.

The African church needs to stand in defense of the Gospel. It must emphasize both formative education and corrective discipline. It must seek to win cultists to the truth rather than simply brand them as its enemies. And it must teach the absolute truth of God’s Word, defending it from misinterpretations and corrupting influences. This will require biblically informed leaders, theologically knowledgeable men who are passionate for the defense and preservation of the Christian faith.

—Rodgers Atwebembeire

To schedule an ACFAR seminar or conference, click here.

Still No Justice for Kanungu Killers

2011-03-16T22:41:00.007-04:00

Uganda awaits the capture and trial of those suspected of murdering hundreds through the Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God in March of 2000.

According to a report in the New Vision newspaper, “arrest warrants for [cult leaders] Kibwetere and Mwerinde still stand.”

Audio lectures on the Kanungu massacre by Drs. Chris Tuhirirwe and Paddy Musana, both renowned experts on the cult, can be heard on ACFAR’s iTunes page.

UPDATE: On March 20th the Sunday Vision newspaper published “I Almost Joined Kibwetere’s Cult,” a detailed interview with former MRTCG follower Elias Rutebuuka about his five-month involvement with the deadly Kanungu sect.

More ACFAR Audio Now Online

2011-01-10T16:03:00.008-05:00

We’ve added more messages from our March 2010 conference and the Words of Hope broadcast to the ACFAR iTunes page, including:

Understanding and Answering Indigenous Cults by Robby Muhumuza (right)

Understanding and Answering Mormonism by Eric Pement

Understanding and Answering Jehovah’s Witnesses by Robert M. Bowman, Jr.

Is Jesus God? by Rodgers Atwebembeire

Commonly Misunderstood Verses by Rodgers Atwebembeire

Tell a friend!

Answering the Prosperity Gospel in Cape Town, South Africa

2010-12-08T21:31:00.005-05:00

The Third Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization in Cape Town, South Africa brought forth much fruit—especially in responses to the devastating errors of the Word-faith movement and “prosperity gospel.”

Preparing the way, J. Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu published an extensive advance paper, “From ‘Calvary Road’ to ‘Harvesters International’: An African Perspective on the Cross and Gospel of Prosperity.”

During the congress, Femi Adeleye (right) delivered a major statement at a multiplex session titled “Poverty, Prosperity and the Gospel,” recorded on video here.

Daniel Bourdanné offered a well-reasoned assessment of the movement’s errors with his online article “The Prosperity Gospel: All That Glitters Is Not Gold.”

And advancing the online “global conversation” on this topic, Ruth Padilla DeBorst attacked prosperity-purveyors in “The Gospel of Greed,” but mistakenly stated that these “Self-appointed apostles [who] are accountable to no one in matters theological, financial, or ethical” are “all men.” Evidently DeBorst hasn’t met neopentecostal preachers Imelda Namutebi Kula of Uganda and Margaret Wanjiru of Kenya and their counterparts.

NEW: African Apologetics Podcast

2010-09-08T16:25:00.003-04:00

ACFAR now has a podcast, available worldwide via iTunes!

It features selected messages from ACFAR’s March 2010 conference and radio broadcasts by coordinator Rodgers Atwebembeire on the “Words of Hope” program.

Tell a friend!

ACFAR ON THE RADIO

2010-06-18T14:52:00.003-04:00

Be sure to listen to “Words of Hope” in Kampala on Spirit FM (96.6) each Wednesday at 8:30 PM (repeats on Sunday 7:30 PM).

ACFAR coordinator Rodgers Atwebembeire (shown at right) is presenting a series of studies on discernment and the defense of the faith.

Tell a friend!

Exposing the “Bio Disc” in Africa

2010-05-11T18:05:00.010-04:00

The Bio Disc scandal finally receives some long-overdue press coverage. In “QuestNet pyramid scheme drops anchor in Africa” we read of the multi-level marketing company’s exploits in Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, and elsewhere. The article’s unnamed author alleges that “The sale of [QuestNet] products is fraudulent and targets the poorest of society—those who are desperate to make money quickly. The scam destroys relationships, because it’s to family and friends that recruited salesmen then sell the scheme to themselves. They convince their friends into indebting themselves in order to enroll in the scheme, and later find themselves responsible for both their own and their friends’ financial struggles when the pyramid collapses.”

Read our evaluation of the Amezcua Bio Disc here.

Background: A damaging report on QuestNet was broadcast by American Public Media in February of 2008. Read their report here, or listen here. QuestNet was banned in Rwanda in August of 2009, according to this report, and was the subject of a “sting operation” in Armenia in December of the same year, according to this report.

Update: QuestNet is under criminal investigation in Turkey, according to a May 28, 2010 online report by the respected news daily Hürriyet: “The Turkey branch of an international Ponzi scheme that collected millions of dollars from thousands of people has collapsed after police raids against the company. Quest.net, which defines itself as an ‘international direct selling brand that utilizes network marketing combined with e-commerce,’ victimized nearly 20,000 people in Turkey, according to government officials. The company, which is headquartered in Hong Kong, has been banned in many countries.”

A Major New Survey on Religion in Africa

2010-04-28T19:46:00.009-04:00

The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life has released the results of an important survey, Tolerance and Tension: Islam and Christianity in Sub-Saharan Africa. The executive summary notes that “sub-Saharan Africa is clearly among the most religious places in the world. In many countries across the continent, roughly nine-in-ten people or more say religion is very important in their lives. By this key measure, even the least religiously inclined nations in the region score higher than the United States, which is among the most religious of the advanced industrial countries.”

Of special interest is the finding that “Despite the dominance of Christianity and Islam, traditional African religious beliefs and practices have not disappeared. Rather, they coexist with Islam and Christianity. Whether or not this entails some theological tension, it is a reality in people's lives: Large numbers of Africans actively participate in Christianity or Islam yet also believe in witchcraft, evil spirits, sacrifices to ancestors, traditional religious healers, reincarnation and other elements of traditional African religions.”

The report also explains that “in every country surveyed that has a substantial Christian population, at least half of Christians expect that Jesus will return to earth during their lifetime. And in every country surveyed that has a substantial Muslim population, roughly 30% or more of Muslims expect to personally witness the re-establishment of the caliphate, the golden age of Islamic rule that followed the death of Muhammad.”

Significantly, “By their own reckoning, neither Christians nor Muslims in the region know very much about each other’s faith. In most countries, fewer than half of Christians say they know either some or a great deal about Islam, and fewer than half of Muslims say they know either some or a great deal about Christianity. Moreover, people in most countries surveyed, especially Christians, tend to view the two faiths as very different rather than as having a lot in common.”

Major newspapers in Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, and other countries provided local insights on the survey, which involved “more than 25,000 face-to-face interviews in more than 60 languages or dialects in 19 countries, representing 75% of the total population of sub-Saharan Africa.”

You can download the full report here.