CULTIC TREND ALERT: March 18, 2008

UGANDA: A GRIM ANNIVERSARY, A CONTINUING THREAT

“There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.” (Proverbs 14:12)

Some acts are so evil that they defy the powers of language to fully describe their horror.

I was in snowy Moscow, a hemisphere away, when the news first reached me on March 17, 2000: “More than 100 die in Uganda cult mass suicide.”

As the days passed, the estimated death toll rose: first 235, then 500, then 619, then 924. The estimated number of known dead reached 1,000—beyond the carnage of Jonestown—and on April 24 Ugandan authorities announced the discovery of yet another mass grave.

Meanwhile, the leaders of the little-known Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God in Kanungu could not be found and were at first presumed to be among those who perished in the flames.

A Pattern of Cruelty
According to forensic examiners and escaped former members, the cult’s victims were burned or buried alive, poisoned, mutilated, and strangled. In life they had been required to sell their property and turn the money over to their leaders, who pretended to burn it by the sackful.

No medical care was permitted the average follower; speaking, sex, cigarettes, and soap were likewise forbidden. Small children were separated from their parents and routinely made the objects of crude abuse.

On the basis of purported messages from the Virgin Mary and Archangel Michael, the cult’s leaders had promised that the world would end on December 31, 1999; when it did not, their formerly compliant followers began demanding the restitution of their property. The leadership set a new date for March of 2000— and began quietly killing dissenters by the score, with such stealth that their neighbors had no inkling that a massacre was in progress.

A government report issued in 2002 states that “Most of those bodies that were exhumed were naked. According to the police, people were first shaved before being killed or buried. This hair was also burnt. Traces of human hair were found at the remains of the bonfires at most sites. Burning followers’ property started a long time ago before murders started. At first, the cult used to burn people’s property as punishment for sinning against God. But in reality it appears the purpose was to impoverish and enslave the followers. Once in the cult camps people were reduced to destitutes and it was thus difficult, if not impossible, to escape from what was tantamount to captivity.”

Scripture Twisting
The tragedy left many asking the same stark question posed by U.S. News and World Report: “How could faith beget such evil?”

One of the cult’s main strategies for enslavement was, of course, the deliberate misuse of Scripture. The Uganda Human Rights Commission report states that “It relied on deception, prophecies and lies through selective readings of the Bible. The Bible was usually read out of context.”

The April 1, 2000 Washington Post reported that the cult seemed to offer its followers “relief from the daily hardship most Africans endure. Christian church membership is growing faster in Africa than on any other continent, and the fastest growth has been among charismatic ministries that provide ‘easy answers to the difficult questions,’” in the words of Grace Kaiso of Uganda’s Joint Christian Council.

Meeting the Challenge of Cults and Abusive Churches
Eight years after the Kanungu disaster, unnumbered cults and exploitative churches still prey on unsuspecting Christians and non-Christians across East Africa. This ongoing tragedy demands a response characterized by compassion, courage, and commitment.

To help pastors, missionaries, and Christian workers meet this challenge, CFAR is preparing to launch the Africa Center for Apologetics Research (ACFAR) in Uganda in partnership with the Kampala Evangelical School of Theology.

ACFAR’s mission is to equip believers for discernment, defending the faith, and evangelizing the cults through training, translation, publishing, and distribution of much-needed resources in East Africa and across the continent. CFAR missionary John Divito and his family are raising their support in hopes of beginning this unique and vital initiative in Uganda by year’s end.

Christian leaders in Africa are anxiously awaiting the launch of ACFAR:

“The establishment of a Center for Apologetics in the East African region is long overdue....We look forward with excitement and great anticipation for this opportunity, which will advance authentic preaching and pastoral service, including church planting, in East Africa."

Dr. Solomon Nkesiga, principal
Kampala Evangelical School of Theology

“A center like ACFAR will really help bring the issue of cults to the forefront and provide the resources to help church leaders, as well as students in colleges and universities (who are such a target of cults because of their strategic nature), in dealing with doctrinal error. Personally I am really excited about this opportunity that I believe God is going to use to strengthen the church in Uganda.”

Vincent Langariti, General Secretary
InterVarsity Christian Fellowship (FOCUS) Uganda

You can help to equip African pastors and missionaries to recognize and resist the cults! Through your prayers and gifts, we can begin ACFAR’s work this year to meet the growing challenge of cults and abusive churches in East Africa. Will you join us?

Paul Carden, executive director
The Centers for Apologetics Research

• Learn More About ACFAR
• ACFAR Blog
• Uganda Country Profile

See also:
• Remembering the Kanungu massacre
• Preparing for the end
• Ugandans still waiting for probe