Steer clear of beliefs that demean God’s sovereignty
ON Good Friday, Christians commemorated the day our Saviour was crucified. On Sunday we celebrated Easter Sunday when He rose from the dead. I feel I should share my thoughts with Christians, especially those from Toro and the districts of the former Toro Kingdom.
By Rev. Murangi Akiiki
ON Good Friday, Christians commemorated the day our Saviour was crucified. On Sunday we celebrated Easter Sunday when He rose from the dead. I feel I should share my thoughts with Christians, especially those from Toro and the districts of the former Toro Kingdom.
Recently, I was in Uganda to attend the burial of a long-time friend and former colleague in the church. I stayed for a couple of days to participate in the funeral rites and then left immediately after.
While I have continued to share with those who are still grappling with the sorrow and tears for our loved ones, I have been extremely bothered by some of the theories and speculations some people are inventing in an attempt to understand or explain the mysteries of death. Some seemingly devout Christians are claiming that the death of my friend was due to witchcraft!
While it is acceptable for a people to mourn or grieve and ask many questions, I think one has to be cautious and wary about the conclusions they draw. Some of the claims certain people make and are making, are not only unbiblical but are very dangerous and destructive to the Christian faith and teaching.
It is 2010 AD. Uganda as a country is in some ways new to her faith. It has been only 133 years since Christianity was brought to Uganda and we are still growing and moving into our faith. Our heritage is a received one, as is all Christian heritage—it comes from the early fathers of our faith.
Yet our own heritage is one which, while young, has already been tried by fire. We all know what we believed before we received the Gospel that led the martyrs to shed their blood. Their bodies were burnt to ashes because of the light they had received.
It is therefore a shame that some of us would even dare link the cause of death of a Christian or that of a prominent church leader to a mere head of a DEAD chicken or a dead fish!
How can someone claim that one can somehow take away the life of one of Christ’s anointed using mere dead and rotten animals? This kind of belief is bizarre, lacks any basis in scripture, is condemned and brings shame to the Christian faith.
I would fill several pages if I were to delve into all the whys these two dead objects have no power to kill anyone. However, I do want to say the following:
Such beliefs distort and demean the infinite power of God and His sovereignty
Such beliefs take us back to the point where Christianity found and rescued us from.
Such beliefs promote the false perception that the devil and his evil spirits can have any real power over those who know that such things have been finally and totally defeated by Christ’s triumph over death, sin and all evil.
Before He died on the cross, Christ said, “It is finished.†That very moment defines our salvation. Man’s bondage to sin was defeated by Christ’s death. That is why the day He died is called GOOD Friday. His death ensured our salvation.
Fellow Christians, it is one thing if the strange beliefs about witchcraft were held only by non-believers. Because the answer then would be obvious: “What do you expect, that is their belief system!†But this is not the case. These rumours are being spread and held by church-going people! We can’t have it both ways. It is not possible for us to perform this half-hearted service. We cannot serve two masters. We must believe and listen to the voice of our Lord and Master, and shun the false practices of witchcraft, which the Bible so rightly condemns (2 Chronicles 33:6, 2 Kings 17:17 Gal. 5:19-21).
Choose this day, whom you will serve. If you want to serve God then let us do away with false and heretical beliefs. If you want to serve lifeless idols, then so be it. The choice is yours. The bottom line is that as Christians we cannot serve both and still claim to be Christians.
While this is not the worst sin people can commit, it is actually one of the most dangerous seeds being sown. Our younger generation has known only one bishop consecrated in Rwenzori Diocese in their lifetime. Now that God has seen fit to call him home, we should set an example for our youth, so that they do not fall into despair.
Let us grieve but not like the unbelievers whom the apostle Paul warns us about in I Thessalonians 4:13b-5:11. Death is still an enemy, so we may grieve, but our sorrow should be tempered with hope because we know that we will all live again in far better circumstances on the day of our Resurrection. That is what Easter Sunday is all about. Death is not the end, it is the beginning of a new and better life for those who die in Christ.
We know and believe that Jesus died and rose again and if so why don’t we believe as the Bible tells us that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in Him?
In His human nature, Jesus grieved for his friend Lazarus at the tomb but never allowed Himself to be overcome by grief. Let us not allow ourselves to be overwhelmed by death and in the process give in to sin. Jesus vanquished death on the cross!
blessingsakiiki@yahoo.com
The writer is an Anglican priest based in Philadelphia, USA
ON Good Friday, Christians commemorated the day our Saviour was crucified. On Sunday we celebrated Easter Sunday when He rose from the dead. I feel I should share my thoughts with Christians, especially those from Toro and the districts of the former Toro Kingdom.
Recently, I was in Uganda to attend the burial of a long-time friend and former colleague in the church. I stayed for a couple of days to participate in the funeral rites and then left immediately after.
While I have continued to share with those who are still grappling with the sorrow and tears for our loved ones, I have been extremely bothered by some of the theories and speculations some people are inventing in an attempt to understand or explain the mysteries of death. Some seemingly devout Christians are claiming that the death of my friend was due to witchcraft!
While it is acceptable for a people to mourn or grieve and ask many questions, I think one has to be cautious and wary about the conclusions they draw. Some of the claims certain people make and are making, are not only unbiblical but are very dangerous and destructive to the Christian faith and teaching.
It is 2010 AD. Uganda as a country is in some ways new to her faith. It has been only 133 years since Christianity was brought to Uganda and we are still growing and moving into our faith. Our heritage is a received one, as is all Christian heritage—it comes from the early fathers of our faith.
Yet our own heritage is one which, while young, has already been tried by fire. We all know what we believed before we received the Gospel that led the martyrs to shed their blood. Their bodies were burnt to ashes because of the light they had received.
It is therefore a shame that some of us would even dare link the cause of death of a Christian or that of a prominent church leader to a mere head of a DEAD chicken or a dead fish!
How can someone claim that one can somehow take away the life of one of Christ’s anointed using mere dead and rotten animals? This kind of belief is bizarre, lacks any basis in scripture, is condemned and brings shame to the Christian faith.
I would fill several pages if I were to delve into all the whys these two dead objects have no power to kill anyone. However, I do want to say the following:
Before He died on the cross, Christ said, “It is finished.†That very moment defines our salvation. Man’s bondage to sin was defeated by Christ’s death. That is why the day He died is called GOOD Friday. His death ensured our salvation.
Fellow Christians, it is one thing if the strange beliefs about witchcraft were held only by non-believers. Because the answer then would be obvious: “What do you expect, that is their belief system!†But this is not the case. These rumours are being spread and held by church-going people! We can’t have it both ways. It is not possible for us to perform this half-hearted service. We cannot serve two masters. We must believe and listen to the voice of our Lord and Master, and shun the false practices of witchcraft, which the Bible so rightly condemns (2 Chronicles 33:6, 2 Kings 17:17 Gal. 5:19-21).
Choose this day, whom you will serve. If you want to serve God then let us do away with false and heretical beliefs. If you want to serve lifeless idols, then so be it. The choice is yours. The bottom line is that as Christians we cannot serve both and still claim to be Christians.
While this is not the worst sin people can commit, it is actually one of the most dangerous seeds being sown. Our younger generation has known only one bishop consecrated in Rwenzori Diocese in their lifetime. Now that God has seen fit to call him home, we should set an example for our youth, so that they do not fall into despair.
Let us grieve but not like the unbelievers whom the apostle Paul warns us about in I Thessalonians 4:13b-5:11. Death is still an enemy, so we may grieve, but our sorrow should be tempered with hope because we know that we will all live again in far better circumstances on the day of our Resurrection. That is what Easter Sunday is all about. Death is not the end, it is the beginning of a new and better life for those who die in Christ.
We know and believe that Jesus died and rose again and if so why don’t we believe as the Bible tells us that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in Him?
In His human nature, Jesus grieved for his friend Lazarus at the tomb but never allowed Himself to be overcome by grief. Let us not allow ourselves to be overwhelmed by death and in the process give in to sin. Jesus vanquished death on the cross!
blessingsakiiki@yahoo.com
The writer is an Anglican priest based in Philadelphia, USA