Death is a Reality, and I assume even those who are not Christians consider this a fact. The Bible says in Ecclesiastes 9:5 that: “For the living know that they shall die“. Regardless of whether you believe the Bible is an inspired word of God or not, you agree with it on this one: We all in one way or another, do know, that we will die and majority anticipate it. What I abhor and dismiss as part of the truth and reality of death is KILLING.
We all know that we will at one time die, but to kill those who will after-all die or to commit suicide or to be killed is not a reality but a circumstantially induced choice that influences the existing reality aka DEATH. Just because we will die, we should not, therefore, prepare and create systems and conduits that accelerate and ignite us unto death. As a Christian theologian, minister of the Gospel and Pastor; I insist that the problem is not that people (Police, Military, and Civilians) died in Kasese but the problem is that they were killed before they died. People die all over the world and actually more than those in Kasese, however, not all are killed. As Christians, we should not mourn the deaths before we mourn the killings.
The Politics
When I look at Kasese and all other killings all over the world both in the present and in history, my mind reflects on 1 Samuel 8:4-22 and this is what it says:
4 So all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah. 5 They said to him, “You are old, and your sons do not follow your ways; now appoint a king to lead[a] us, such as all the other nations have.”
6 But when they said, “Give us a king to lead us,” this displeasedSamuel; so he prayed to the Lord. 7 And the Lord told him: “Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king. 8 As they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you. 9 Now listen to them; but warn them solemnly and let them know what the king who will reign over them will claim as his rights.”
10 Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking him for a king. 11 He said, “This is what the king who will reign over you will claim as his rights: He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his chariots. 12 Some he will assign to be commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and others to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and still others to make weapons of war and equipment for his chariots.
13 He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers.
14 He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his attendants.
15 He will take a tenth of your grain and of your vintage and give it to his officials and attendants.
16 Your male and female servants and the best of your cattle[b] and donkeys he will take for his own use. 17 He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves. 18 When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, but the Lord will not answer you in that day.”
19 But the people refused to listen to Samuel. “No!” they said. “We want a king over us. 20 Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles.”
21 When Samuel heard all that the people said, he repeated it before the Lord. 22 The Lord answered, “Listen to them and give them a king.”
Then Samuel said to the Israelites, “Everyone go back to your own town.”
According to Menachem Posner:
Originally, the Jewish nation had no kings. At Mount Sinai God told Moses that if the Jews would follow in His ways, they would be “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” If they would serve the one true King, they would have no need for a mortal replacement. Of course, they needed a leader. But Moses was not a conventional king. He was God’s servant, a humble shepherd rather than a supreme monarch.
Moses passed this model of leadership on to his successor Joshua, and he in turn passed it on to his disciples. Thus for most of its early history, the Nation of Israel was lead by judges and prophets. The prophets relayed the word of God, while the judges counseled the people in times of peace, and lead them to battle in times of war.
Allow me to give a brief History and background that shapes the understanding of the text in 1 Samuel 8.
The monarchy in Israel has its basic roots in the initial theocracy under God. With each successive political or religious leader, Israel came closer and closer to a true monarchy but was plagued by problems at each step. Every transition had its own set of underlying tensions throughout the period of leadership that culminated in the displacement of the leader. These tensions repeat in an almost cyclical fashion, with one problem being corrected but another problem causing the downfall of the leader chosen by Israel.
The stages of the evolution of the monarchy take place under the leadership of the following figures: Samuel, Saul, David, and Solomon. The kingship evolves out of Samuel’s mentorship of the tribes of Israel into Saul’s transitionary kingship in which he plays the role of a uniting leader but lacks the strong political and religious ties necessary to create an empire. David succeeds where Saul fails, and creates a vast empire for Israel but is not able to control his own family, leaving Israel in the hands of Solomon, who is the strongest administrator and finally becomes the king that is modeled in other cultures.
In the beginning stages of the evolution of kingship within Israel, the tribes of Israel are governed separately by “charismatic leaders called judges who delivered the people from their enemies” (Finkelstein, Israel. When and How did the Israelites Emerge? (The Bible and the Ancient Near East. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1997), p. 73) but are united under a common theocracy in their obedience to God.
These unique tribes have loose political ties through their beliefs, but no administrative connection to one another. Thus, when a tribe was threatened, it would be the responsibility of the judge of that respective tribe to address the threat utilizing the available members of the tribe.
As Williamson points out, this “system of the judges had worked in the past when Israel was threatened, but with the continual dominance of the Philistines, the Israelite populace realized that a more permanent mode of government was necessary.” (Williamson, H.G.M., The Transition to Kingship. (Understanding the History of Ancient Israel. Oxford University Press: 2007) pp. 183-5,7).
Just like our modern world shifted from chiefdoms to kingdoms, and from kingdoms to political regional powers that have brought about what we know as the central governments.
Israel had many kings, the first being king Saul and the most favorite being King David. However, the final stepping-stone to David’s kingship was placed and the meaning of what that title held was changed greatly. Where Saul held the tribes of Israel together militarily, David actively sought to establish an empire. The conquering of Jerusalem and the naming of it as the capital accomplished this goal immediately.
“Jerusalem had not belonged to a particular tribe; in forging a united kingdom David was going to have to reduce the importance of old tribal allegiances; a capital that no tribe could claim as its own was one way of accomplishing his goal.” (Gordon, Cyrus H. and Rendsburg, Gary A., Israel United Under the House of David. (The Bible and the Ancient Near East. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1997) pp. 195,197,202,209-10,214.). This is the very disease that Uganda as a nation we are suffering. The president of this country is trying to formulate a new identity from that which Ugandans have known for ages. He wants Ugandans to drop
This is the very disease that Uganda as a nation we are suffering. The president of this country is trying to formulate a new identity from that which Ugandans have known for ages. He wants Ugandans to drop their indigenous and flex their conservativeness on who they are as a tribe and start appreciating themselves as a nation. Rather than one looking at himself as a typical Muganda or Mukonjo or Mwamba etc. they should look at themselves as Ugandans primarily but just with Ganda or Konzo origins.
Personally, I think the president has a very honest and good intention but plagued in and by its mode of implementation. For when it comes to the implementation of this ideology, some tribes are favored not merely more than others but at the expense of others. And this is what is happening in Kasese (as a case-study). People are selfish in nature and their interest in a thing bases on what they gain from it. So the power struggle in that region is influenced by who gets what, why and how much. (LAND ISSUES).
Let me give you an example as I draw from the History of Israel. When David wanted to solve the wrangles in the tribal league of the Israelites, he established a unification element which fundamentally was a capital city known as Jerusalem. However, this capital city drew its rationale from the fact that it was mystified in relation to the national deity aka Yahweh. In establishing a capital, that every tribe had a stake in, David cemented the unification of Israel not as tribes unified under a common banner, but as a people united under a king. David, not content that Jerusalem
In establishing a capital, that every tribe had a stake in, David cemented the unification of Israel not as tribes unified under a common banner, but as a people united under a king. David, not content that Jerusalem should be only the political capital of Israel, has the ark brought to Jerusalem as well. This act makes Jerusalem a religious capital as well as a political capital and places David in the role of a religious leader.
The religious aspect that Saul lacked and attempted to make up for by offering the sacrifice himself is filled by David’s actions in transferring the ark. This now places the king of Israel in a position of military, political, and religious authority, granting him all the rights that kings of other empires in the ancient near east held and hold. To further establish Jerusalem as the religious center of Israel, David sought to build a temple for God, but after a consultation with Nathan the Prophet, this endeavor was postponed for a generation.
With the religious aspect of his kingship finalized, David focused on the political. He expanded the territory of Israel from “the Sinai Desert and the Gulf of Eilat in the south and southwest to the Euphrates River in the northeast, and from the Mediterranean Sea in the west to the Syrian Desert in the east.” (Gordon, Cyrus H. and Rendsburg, Gary A., Israel United Under the House of David. (The Bible and the Ancient Near East. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1997) pp. 195,197,202,209-10,214) Not only did David acquire massive amounts of land for Israel, but he also knew how to govern it well.
Now what happened in Kasese is suppressed violence which is almost everywhere in Uganda where there is a so-called Kingdom. Believe me or not, there is tension in all these monarchs in Uganda. It is just contained by the military terror and the phlegmatic nature of the largely Bantu people in Uganda. Uganda suffers the lack of a
Uganda suffers the lack of a National accepted philosophy of worship. Am not sure Uganda can directly claim that it is an Islamic state like SaudiArabia would or I doubt whether Uganda can indirectly and implicitly state that it is a Christian Country as America would or actually does. Because of this lack of directed worship, there is always conflict between the central political government and these monarchical leaderships. Let me tell you why: People respect and fear the central government but they intrinsically worship their monarchies and monarchical kings.
While the president is honored, the king is worshiped. Now this is what engineers both the ideological and practical war between what is known as the Theocratic form of governance and the Autocratic form of governance. Allow me exhibit these too. The Greek definition of theocracy was “
The Greek definition of theocracy was “rule by gods,” and it was first employed in the first Century A.D. by Josephus Flavius to describe the form of government practiced by the Jews. In its purest state, the theocracy definition involves a leader who is believed to be in direct communication with a god. A theocracy government occurs when an earthly state is ruled by a divinity, either in a personal embodiment or more frequently, through a human representative. The term is “Theo”… (god)-“
A theocracy government occurs when an earthly state is ruled by a divinity, either in a personal embodiment or more frequently, through a human representative. The term is “Theo”… (god)-“Cracy” (government); which is governance by gods through whatever objects and instruments they choose. On the other hand is the human evolution method of the Autocratic system of governance. Autocracy, from the Greek, “auto”, meaning by itself, and ”
On the other hand is the human evolution method of the Autocratic system of governance. Autocracy, from the Greek, “auto”, meaning by itself, and “cracy” which is translated as Government, is that political form whose Government is exercised by one person, granted itself powers unlimited, being similar to the dictatorship, but has different practical application.
The concept of autocracy is a political concept that is used to refer to those types of Governments in which power is concentrated in one person and which does not, therefore, allow the participation of other individuals or social groups. The autocracy was very characteristic of different moments in the history of mankind and although today the most common Government is democracy, this does not prevent some political figures from imposing over the remaining powers to keep in place indefinitely.
Herman Heller said:
Democracy is a power structure built from below upwards; autocracy organizes the State from top to bottom. Autocracy is a political concept, it is not suitable to designate the modern limited, parliamentary or constitutional monarchies. Autocracy’s most common use is as a parameter of participation in political power, as opposed to others such as oligarchy and democracy.
However, we all know today the parameters of every powerful body in modern governments. In a sense, what am saying, is that: what we call Democracy today is disguised autocracy. Let me give you a scenario in the case of Uganda. While a monarchical king might be deemed powerful and as much as they are mystified and worshiped, the terms stipulated constitutionally demonstrate that these leaders are toothless and powerless politically.
In fact, it is stated that a village LC 1 has more political power than a king of the entire regional tribes. To minimize the powers of these cultural leaders, politicians capitalize on the green within these cultural institutions and insidiously start empowering individuals within these institutions just to tame and control the influence of these so-called kings. This how we
This how we end up with Mumbere Vs…so and so, Mutebi Vs…so and so, Toro…Vs so and so, Busoga…etc.. All these kings have internal power struggle and sections that seek independence from the mainstream. These sub-divisions continue to the level of districts and that is how we end up with almost 400 MPs. It is what I call: The People Pleasing Politics (PPP).
Now this is where politics chips in and poor innocent and ignorant people start killing others and killing themselves, some even eat rats in demand of districts and others undress in defense of their king. For Politicians to appeal to those hyper with cultural leadership, they ceremoniously enthrone them and autocratically dethrone them. The unfortunate bit arises when the publicly infatuated king assumes he has the power to do and to defy the containment of the central government, and that is how we end up with issues like that of the Mutesa and Obote wrangle, Mutebi’s Kayunga blocked Visit, and the arrest with charged crimes of the Omudingiya of Kasese.
Through the pretense of democracy, politicians seek to harmonize and sooth the emotions of people by granting them shadows of power in these monarchies. However, true power is autocratic and only one man has it and that is the head of the State and its machinery (as long, far and much as he can influence it).
Let us face the bitter facts here; the Republic of Uganda is under the power of the president of Uganda, the rest are details that can be explained and alternated. (as long as he is in charge). This is not particular with Uganda but it is the trend throughout Africa, Asia, America and Europe (forget about the propaganda of African dictatorship, they are all dictators, the difference is in style and the cultural conditionings).
Now let me again draw from the History of Israel just to shed more light on this matter as a Christian. When David emerged as King of Israel, it was amazing and no wonder he is celebrated throughout the Psalms of the Jews. The administration that David set up had never been seen in Israel before, with a clear development of a class-based system consisting of recorders, scribes, priests, military commanders, and various other political appointments.
While David was excellent in his political and military control over his people, his fatal flaw was his lack of control over his own household. Israel once again divides politically between David and Absalom. David’s son, Amnon, seduced his half-sister and was killed by Absalom in vengeance. This rift in David’s family tears a rift in Israel as well. Absalom mounts a full-fledged rebellion from Hebron, but is eventually captured by David’s troops and killed.
This divide, however, would prove disastrous to David’s kingdom.
“The kingdom was far from firmly established because the appetite of Israel for independence had been whetted by the disruption of David’s House in the time of Absalom’s revolt.” (Gordon and Rendsburg 1997: 202).
In David’s old age, with the kingdom still fractured, Nathan and Bathsheba convinced him to anoint Solomon king.
With the kingdom in decline, Solomon takes over and is able to reach the pinnacle of the monarchy in Israel. Unfortunately, this does not mean the pinnacle of prosperity and wealth for the people of Israel. Solomon fulfills the role of king as it is fulfilled throughout the area, unifying the people under a strict administration.
According to Gordon and Rendsburg, “Solomon’s regime marked a further growth in administration and accordingly a further weakening of the tribes” but “with the growth of wealth in royal and official circles came the growth of poverty among the masses of people.” (Gordon, Cyrus H. and Rendsburg, Gary A., Israel United Under the House of David. (The Bible and the Ancient Near East. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1997) pp.209-10)
Solomon was able to build the temple that David had wanted to, completing the religious authority of the king by moving the ark into the temple and signifying it as the house of God. The finality in Solomon’s kingship occurs religiously and politically, but it takes place at the cost of the people. The Israelites who desired so much to be united under a monarchy were finally given a true monarch and suffered under him.
“What the Israelites had to pay in labor and wealth for Solomon’s prosperity was regarded as plain oppression. The situation was aggravated by the fact that the subjugated provinces of the empire grew rebellious as the warlike qualities of Israel gradually petered out.” (Gordon, Cyrus H. and Rendsburg, Gary A., Israel United Under the House of David. (The Bible and the Ancient Near East. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1997) p.214.)
While the nation of Israel had achieved the peak of political, economic, and military power they were not able to escape the tensions that came along with such things. Solomon was the culmination of the evolutionary process of the monarchy, a king just like the surrounding cultures. As the kingship evolved within Israel, so too did the ramifications of their initial request. As a people that went from tribes to an empire under evolving leaders, their fina
I think what is happening in Uganda today has much in resemblance to what was happening in Israel in the time of David. Uganda today has a very good leader who actually, according to me, is the first and last of his kind to Uganda. However, his mission to unify a diverse Uganda has been frustrated not by any other outside force but by his very household (by household here I do not intend those with whom he has biological ties like in the case of King David, but those with whom he serves this nation with).
Take for example the people who have land and have abused the peasants of Kasese have political power and in name and status, these are representatives of the president. No wonder the region voted against him, not because they never liked him, but because they wanted him to go with his abusive team. As King David was Liberal and indulgent with his sons, so has the president of Uganda groomed indulgent careless leaders who have (through their corrupt habits) misrepresented his image in the minds of the nationalities.
Am not a prophet, but if he does not fix his political household, his fate in his old-age might not differ so much from that of King David. Another issue that has caused wrangles such as that of Kasese, is the economical gap between the leaders and those they lead. It is not a coincidence that politics in Uganda has become a source of income, whoever has failed in life joins politics to fix his economic status.
In fact, one member of parliament was blunt enough to tell his voters that: munonde nange ngende ndyeeko (Vote me too to go and enjoy free money). And for sure the constituency in the polis (Kampala Capital City) of the state voted him in. What is happening in Uganda today is exactly what was happening in Israel in the reign of Solomon.
King Solomon and his leadership team were the richest but at the expense and at the exploitation of the Israelites. When you look at the salaries of the members of parliament, the executive directors of the cities, the budget on cars, and accommodation, it will not take you long to understand why taxes are high on everything done in Uganda. So this kind of libertarian politics that the president has transacted with his team of leadership in exchange to his presidency has caused more harm than good and as a minister of God, I think Uganda needs not merely a divine intervention but a divine chastisement too, just to put things in line.
However, this is all politics and we should not blame pigs for behaving like them. My definition of politics is: A Committed utilization of Force and Deception. Politics is about who gets what, when and how. As a Christian citizen, it requires wisdom from heaven to survive in search a corrupt entity. All that you will be politically told after force is inserted on either side (whether the central government or the cultural kingdoms) is deceptive, that is why Truth is always the primary victim.
The Unpopular Truth
I started by stating that: the problem is not that people (Police, Military, and Civilians) died, the problem is that they were killed prior to their demise. People die all over the world, however, not all are killed. As Christians, we should not mourn the deaths before we mourn the killings. By this am insinuating that Christians should not sit in the Chief-Justice office to decide who is guilty and who is innocent. No proper theology will categorize and characterize people at the scene of crime by considering some as victims and others as culprits.
For the Bible says: “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.”, “Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.“, “The poison of vipers is on their lips.“, “Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.“, “Their feet are swift to shed blood; ruin and misery mark their ways, and the way of peace they do not know.“, “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” (Romans 3:10-18 NIV).
This is not to say that the Bible has no formula for holding individuals accountable for their deeds, but this is to emphasize the point that: Man has a primary cause of whatever he does. And that is Sin (Satan). So we argue that, before we condemn what has been done let us denounce and expose the cause of whatever we do. Nothing is normal about
Nothing is normal about man, we just have accepted standards of living and survival. Take for instance, I think about Politics as a necessary evil given how unruly man can be naturally. And this politics is played at different levels in various communities of people. While we all might stereotype the central government, be skeptical to its formation and rebuke its praxis, when we look closer into these monarchs we cherish, we might realize there is no difference.
Has anyone ever asked whether God created some royals and others peasants? I personally think monarchies are consequences of physically superior species dominating the inferior species at a primary level and then psychologically conditioning these physically inferior species to willingly (nurtured choice) serve and acknowledge the bully superiors.
So if you one studies the history of every monarchy and its development, you will not go far until you see wars geared towards dominance and manipulation of the weak. The more you conquer, those you turn into subjects and stereotype as lesser humanity than you the conqueror (Balangila= Prince and Bakopi= Peasant). This is the very attitude that influenced and fueled slave trade, it is the same element that raises emotionally filled slogans like: Black Lives Matter. I wish we could discuss the Holocaust and other atrocities in history.
What I am trying to tell you is that: while you condemn the political central government, you should as well do justice to the manipulative cultural institutions as well. We cannot justify poison just because it has credible addicts. This is the unpopular truth. God created the humanity, he never created tribes, classes, some royals and others peasants. He created all of us strong but sin feasted on us and affected some more than others and the less-privileged in this crisis are always manipulated by stronger sinners (Governments and Monarchs).
Even in the Bible the first king (Saul), was appointed based on looks (taller than everyone, and relatively good looking than the majority). Israel appointed its first king on beautician merits but to occupy a national leadership office. I mean this is how unfortunate our world is. For this matter, we conclude then that none is good, they are all bad and as well guilty.
The Will of God
Christians should not take any side in this whole crisis except the side of God. And the side of God is none other than that of LOVE. He has again and again cautioned all of us to love one another…and unfortunately, the best we have attempted to do in doing the will of God (which is Love) is to love our brothers. God asks us to love ONE ANOTHER but we insist on loving our BROTHERS. This is fundamentally the problem. The difference between loving one another and that love directed to one’s brother is that: ONE ANOTHER is any human being while BROTHER is specific biology or particular tribe. In the past History of the central governments of Uganda it is clear-cut that all the regimes to the current one, have suffered NEPOTISM. There was a time when
The difference between loving one another and that love directed to one’s brother is that: ONE ANOTHER is any human being while BROTHER is specific biology or particular tribe. In the past history of the central governments of Uganda, it is clear-cut that all the regimes to the current one, have suffered NEPOTISM. There was a time when Uganda felt like it was all Ganda and in fact, that is how the country ended up with a name which all regions never agreed upon. The mighty Gandas have never restored that glory and they have been political scavengers to-date. And then there came a time when Uganda was dominated by the Acholis, and these tormented the Gandas until their king escaped for his life to exile, today the Acholis are security guards, then came the Nubian regime…as I write these words today, they are vending sim-sim, yellow bananas, and njugu.
Then came the westerners, and unfortunately the routine has not been broken, as I speak today they are the incumbent as well as the opposition. This problem is not particular with Uganda but the whole world. And what has caused this is our understanding of the world and the people in us. God never created Uganda or America, or Germany. He just created the world with no borders and boundaries. It was man who created the boundaries and ever since he created these boundaries he has never had peace within his invention.
People make these boundaries and mark territories not basing on humanity but based on those who speak the same language, same breed, height, looks, and beliefs. We have lived in this unfortunate setting for so long and many wars have been caused by it. It is of recent that the world leaders have started considering making the world, a global village. Am not sure it will succeed while we still respect these hypothetical boundaries. I have gone through many borders but whenever I reach those borders, I do not see any special natural feature. God creates people and people create tribes.
God creates people with the ability to speak and people create language (has anyone ever asked what tribe and what language are the deaf and dumb?). God creates land and people create boarders, engineer land titles, etc. After man has created all these sectarian and discriminative organs, then love becomes an exclusive discipline and not inclusive. Man starts speaking the language of: US vs THEM, he invents concepts like PATRIOTISM, PAN-AFRICANISM, EUROPEAN COMMUNITY…ISLAMIC BROTHERHOOD, YIIRA REPUBLIC, etc.
The terrible truth is that people fight, kill and die for these corrupt entities created to benefit just a few click of people. God said: love one another, and the Jews said: love your brother. God said: love your neighbor, and we said: love your relatives. This kind of exclusive love has resulted in preferential treatment of some people at the expense of others and that is why those who have been left out are always attacking those who have been pampered. God in his sovereignty has guided and held our confused world in place and even though it would have exploded already, he has by his grace wooed some evil away.
However God does not want to fix leadership before he fixes individuals, God wants you from today to change the way you look at yourself because that influences your view to others. God wants you to love one another, not your brothers alone. God wants you to understand the value difference between People and Property. Do not kill People and save Property but rather, save people at the cost of property.
God wants leaders to understand the power has meaning because of people, without people endorsing it. Governments that exhibit state power through shootings prove their weakness and cowardice camouflaged in war. Citizens with knives and machetes that expunge men in uniform and attack authority exhibit how it will not take long before they attack the same leadership they are fighting for.
The issue of Kasese and other predicaments all over the world have proved how we all lack love and have lost sight of what matters most. Humanity is divided along lines of religion, tribe, ethnicity, and political power and it is through these that the devil has taken advantage to devour all of us. We must point our children to a different direction from the one we parents have taken.
As sick as we are, these dividing entities might be all we know, let us then devise means on how to survive with them if they are so dear to us that we cannot dispose them off. As for the Bible, the word of God has categorically put it thus: So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law. You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. (Galatians 3:24-29 NIV).
When you read this passage carefully, you will realize two outstanding themes that Paul presents. The first one is the LAW. This was the politics of the Jews that actually had created their ideology about life past, present, and future. Through their Law Politic, they looked at the world through that exclusive lens, and that is how they ended up looking at all other people not as equal human beings as the Jews themselves were. It is the very principle of the
It is the very principle of the Hamurrabi code that our modern governments and cultural leadership still operate under. Because our world runs a LAW-BASED System and not a LOVE-BASED System, we suffer three problems fundamentally: 1-TRIBALISM, 2-CLASSISM, and 3-GENDERISM.
The problem with the Law is that if explained, it can serve the victim with the penalty and give the culprit freedom. Now you know why all politicians both in central governments and cultural governements are good criminal lawyers. They all do politics and like I defined politics earlier in this statement, POLITICS IS A COMMITTED UTILIZATION OF FORCE AND DECEPTION, they apply force on mankind and justify it through deceptive measures like the propaganda of patriotism.
This is not antinomianism (against the rule of law), however, it a test of results. The question I am posing here is, Can we still trust the effectiveness of the law in the hands of a selfish sinner? Man being fallen as he is, can we trust him to interpret the law to the effect of Justice? I insist it impossible.
I, therefore, suggest that since our leadership systems have miserably failed, it is high time we turned our hearts to our creator and redeemer who is none other than Jesus Christ. And this brings me to the second theme that Paul talks about in the text I shared above is JESUS CHRIST. Paul argues that if we believe Jesus Christ, our dividing walls that cause chaos are no more.
This brings me to the second theme that Paul talks about in the text I shared above, JESUS CHRIST. Paul argues that if we believe Jesus Christ, our dividing walls that cause chaos are no more.
Once you take on Jesus Christ as your savior, then you have a dialect and language as a means of communication but without a Tribe to fight for, kill for and die for (Tribalism). When you believe on the name of Jesus then you have a status of a child but with no Classism exercised over others. And finally, when you believe Jesus Christ you have a sex but without a gender agenda (Genderism) over your sex.
In Christ, there is the absence of tribalism, the absence of Classism and the absence of Genderism, The Bible says: for all are one. Our world struggles with these things because it is so much oriented in the Law and not in Christ. The more we emphasize our Tribes, Religions, Social-Classes and gender-based programs, the more we incite chaos and critical moments to our communities.
What Uganda needs is not good presidents and better cultural leaders, just like God told Prophet Samuel to tell the Israelites all these do more harm than good. If we crown Jesus as our king and president in our lives, as individuals, we will build institutions founded on love and goodwill as opposed to the ones we have built on selfishness and competition. With Christ in our hearts, it will be service to others and not to self.
Christ calls for our humility for the gratification of others. Moreover, am very sure this is why this gospel is not popular even among pastors who are more popular than the Jesus they market. Authorities shooting into their constituency reflects how self-serving they are. And civilians killing the authorities is a slap in the face of God the sovereign authority. Let us love one another and teach our children the importance and power of love.
Let us educate our world the substantial and functional difference between people and property. Let us call the attention of our leaders from power to people. For God so love the world that he gave his only begotten son…so that whosoever believes shall not perish but have eternal life. God died to save; he never killed to save as many are doing today. He is the ultimate freedom fighter, not because he died for his freedom but for the freedom of others.
Whenever you realize that you are involved in a selfish battle, then, get to know how wrong you are. He gave his life as a sacrifice for others and that is why his death is known as a sacrifice and not a suicide like the ones who die today. That is why I contend that as Christians, we should not engage ourselves in the debate of who is wrong and who is right. We all should confirm that these are works of the devil through human instruments. And
And secondly, as Christians, we should not mourn the deaths at the expense of condemning the killings. Let us love one another instead of killing them, not even harming others by the weapon of our words. We must learn from this God and abide in him, for without him, we can do nothing and all is sinking sand.
God bless you. I invoke TRUTH, KNOWLEDGE and FAITH in Jesus’ name.
Am Pr. Isaiah-White Tumwine. +256-793-8228333 (WhatsApp)
iTiS Well of Worship Fellowship (John 4:24) 