In 2016, the former Ugandan Parliament House Speaker Rebecca Kadaga raised eyebrows and caused controversy for her re-election thanksgiving to the ancestors in a shrine. Before her, the then Vice President, Professor Gilbert Bukenya, had done the same. Indeed, in Africa, many politically powerful people believe in the power of witchcraft. But what is witchcraft, why does it persist in Africa, and how do we biblically respond to it?
… Witchcraft: Choose Faith Over Fear
Comedy is what most of us appreciate—especially when it is clean. But finding clean comedy can sometimes seem like the proverbial needle in a haystack. We wonder, why do many comedians like it dirty? And how do others manage to keep humor above the belt? I posed these questions to Kenneth Kimuli, a.k.a Pablo, a famed Ugandan stand-up comedian. In this article, Pablo narrates how he manages to keep his comedy clean in a dirty comedy world.
… Pablo on Keeping Clean in a Dirty Comedy World
The stench of death is pervasive on Ugandan social media platforms these days. If we ever lived under the illusion of distanced death, COVID-19 slapped and sobered us from slumber, reminding us of our mortality. Death dwells nearer than we deign to discuss or admit. It knows your address—and mine.
… The Stench of Death and the Scent of Life
On November 6th this year, Makerere University Kampala hosted a Mind Education Seminar by Dr Ock Soo Park, ‘for all academic and non-academic staff.’ The seminar followed a ‘Mind Education Lecture’ on September 11th, 2019, to the staff and students of Psychology at the same institution. This lecture was by Dr Kim Kisung, “the Main Character in the Korean Movie, ‘A Big Shot’.”
… IYF: Mind Education or Mind Control?
Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers. 3 Jn 1:2.
Are material wealth and health part of the ‘blood-bought Christian package’ for our enjoyment now? Specifically, what does 3 John 1:2 tell us about John’s view on material prosperity? Did he mean by this that physical health and material wealth are must-have things for every Christian in this life?
… When We Prosper in Distorting 3 John 1:2
Birungi is distressed. At 40, she remains unmarried. With a high-paying job, she is a well-educated Christian who believes that Jesus died for her sins. At her age, she has attended many weddings, including those of her close friends. Recently, driving home from one reception and alone, Birungi ponders her plight. ‘Maybe it’s true; perhaps I am cursed’ she mutters to herself, silently sobbing.
There is a popular and perilous rumour around, inspired by the late Myles Munroe and Benny Hinn. It says that the Sovereign of the universe requires man’s permission to do anything on earth. ‘The only creature that God gave authority in the earth, legally to, is a spirit in a dirt body,’ maintains Munroe. ‘Any spirit without a body is illegal on planet earth’ he says, before remarking that ‘even God Himself is illegal on earth.’
I recently watched a BBC documentary detailing the rising suicide rate among Kenyan men. The report, which is ‘part of a series of reports on modern masculinity in Africa’ told of how in Nyandarua County, Kenya, ‘70 people – almost all of them men – killed themselves last year.’
The African concept of Ubuntu, which loosely translates as ‘I am because we are, and because we are therefore I am’ insists that to be human consists in a continual community of being, knowing, and becoming.
Presbyter Arius pondered through his platonic philosophical sieve: ‘If He is begotten,’ he mused; ‘then He has a beginning. And if He has a beginning, surely He is not truly God.’
