Will the Real Men Please Stand Up

This week, I got the privilege of reading the book Strong Men in Tough Times by Edwin Louis Cole and was amazed by its immediate relevance to the Ugandan situation today, and the role we men must play to rescue our country and ourselves from the rough socio-economic times we are facing. I would like particularly to share with you from the first chapter of the book, and will in the subsequent days look at other chapters as well.  

The strong men of Makerere Full Gospel Church

The author begins by citing countries like South Africa, Norway, Germany, New Zealand, Australia, England, Mexico and Philippines that are morally and spiritually decaying. Uganda is not innocent either. In fact, the tough economic times; the rising costs of foodstuffs like sugar and other basic needs, the unemployment, the carnage on the roads, the mysterious fires and recent earthquakes are to me writings on the wall that this country is under judgment. Makes me wonder how we came to this point; where are the men that are supposed to be strong pillars in society? Where are they at this time when, as the author observes, the “call for strong men is louder or the need greater” than never before?

I’ll tell you where all the men are! The men have been duped into believing that to be a real you must drive a big car, live in a mansion by the lake, take your children to international schools complete with holidays abroad. All this, unfortunately, puts the pressure on the man to be financially loaded all the time, and so integrity has been thrown out of the window as men have employed the Machiavellian principle of the end justifying the means in a bid to sustain this expensive and often ostentatious lifestyle and be seen as ‘super-man providers!’ The author captures it beautifully when he notes: “In the quest for self-fulfilment, self-awareness and self-gratification, masses of men have lost what it means to be a man, a hero, a leader. We have sold morality for economic privilege…in frustration we have succumbed to the stresses of eroded manhood and lost our ideals to immoral, illegal, unethical or irresponsible actions.”

“The world is crying for strong men who will overcome drifting philosophies and bring order, hope and dignity back to a world in desperate need of men who will be heroes.” These are men who will refuse to conform to the status quo. Men who recognise the vanity of worldly things and the significance of storing oneself treasures in heaven where moths don’t reach. These men stand as strong pillars in their homes, their church and their society and refuse to get carried away just because the world is making spectacular progress in science and technology –two disciplines that have led many astray. We refuse to be compromised. We refuse to equivocate in a bid to please people! I mean, of what use is it to gain the whole world and lose your soul in hell?

Truth to tell, honest men with noble intentions are being attacked by from all sides by forces of darkness -those that try to bring their children up as responsible, law-abiding, morally upright citizens. But then again it’s in such situations that the boys are separated from the men, chaff from wheat.  In the prayer closet, a real man has the power to demolish the enemy walls. You know what the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous person is capable of!

Yes, the world is in desperate need of men whose manhood has not been emasculated. God created men to be leaders and heroes, writes Edwin Louis Cole, and to be effective in our roles, he gave us manhood. And I don’t mean the physical organ with which babies are made. No thank you! True manhood is that inner strength with which you resist the devil even to the point of death. Cole argues that there’s no excuse because Jesus set a precedence that must be emulated. He “exemplified the traits of manhood so elusive to us today…He accepted responsibility not only not only for His own actions, but for the actions of the entire world.” Is He your role model? Make Him, because He is the one that “teaches men on how to rise to greatness, to become real men, to achieve the heroic successes we dream of achieving.”

Daniel was another strong man real men should emulate, a man who in tough times used the godly principles of Christ and influenced the world. As Cole beautifully writes, “He held firm to his religious beliefs, faced the grim realities of the age and contended for truth in a world of lies and false images. He was endowed with attributes that make men great –integrity, moral excellence, character, a God-fearing spirit, political savvy, immeasurable courage, decisiveness and a strong, handsome appearance that emanated from a strong spirit. He lived during persecution, political upheaval and oppression; survived conspiracies against him, false accusations, near-fatal encounters, economic disaster and war. He was a strong man for the tough times in which he lived” and “serving God was his nature.”

Listen, 1 Peter 5: 8-10 says man’s enemy, the devil, is always prowling about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. The real man must resist him and stand firm in the faith and refuse to back down even in the midst of the fiery furnace. What our forefathers in Christendom endured was far more trying than the perplexing times we’re living in. Besides, we’re reminded we’re not alone; our brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings. And the God of all grace, who called us to his eternal glory in Christ, after we’ve suffered a little while, will Himself restore us and make us strong, firm and steadfast. Oh yes, weeping may endure for the night but joy comes in the morning!

“For men to be men once again, we must regain the spirit of manhood in virility and integrity, the power of manhood in productivity and leadership, the conviction of manhood in resolve and moral excellence,” advises Cole.

The 3 Keys to Revival

During the youth-led overnight on Friday, we were challenged to rediscover our zeal for Christ Jesus and walk consistently with Him as I here below report 
 

It was a wholesomely blessed Friday night at Makerere Full Gospel Church during the youth-led overnight. The blessedness of it all for me was in the sharing by the church administrator, David Kamugisha, who gave us three 'Keys to Revival' and challenged us to continue praying for revival in the land.

His sharing was drawn from Hosea 10: 12 –"Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the LORD, till he come and rain righteousness upon you."

The three keys to revival he gave are:
i) Sow yourselves righteousness
ii) Break up your unplowed grounds
iii) It’s time to seek the Lord.

His portrayal of the wickedness of the heart, or natural man's desperate inclination to evil, was meticulous as he challenged and exhorted us to take an effort and sow righteousness like a farmer picks a hoe to break the ground and sow. "It's the renewed man who can seek the Lord," he said.

He said our lives can sometimes go fallow even when you're an intercessor and Sunday school teacher! Here he touched a sensitive nerve; how we can sometimes drift into routine without even knowing it and turn worshiping God into a religion. But God's looking for worshipers to worship in Him in truth and spirit, so the quick prayer you and I mumble every morning's not be enough. We're basically too busy for God, for which our lives have become "fallow." I've just checked this word in the dictionary –and to be fallow means to be "currently inactive." Synonyms include: unseeded, unused, untilled, barren, unproductive, idle, inactive…

See, sometimes after a day of fasting or praying in tongues, we relax and it takes another week before we get in the spirit again. Look at the few church members that attend overnights. How are we going to learn from each other and grow in unity and understanding, exhorting and learning from one another? Of course it's true that the business and busy-ness of the world have oftentimes unavoidably kept us away, but that's inexcusable because truly knowing the Lord we serve means putting Him first in everything, and risking to lose our jobs or even close family ties for His sake. Hosea warns us to plow the unplowed ground that when rain from Above comes down, it'll find a well-tilled spiritual ground to permeate.

We cannot afford to let our lives be hardened like some untilled land. As Kamugisha advised, we must constantly plow our spiritual grounds like a diligent farmer tills his land for after we've plowed, our spiritual ground's ready to receive the Holy Spirit. This is where seeking the Lord must become our preoccupation. How about walking toward righteousness instead of walking to work!!

Listen to David in 1Chronicles 28:9: "And thou, Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve Him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind: for the LORD searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts: if thou seek Him, He will be found of thee; but if thou forsake Him, He will cast thee off for ever."

Yea, God's more than willing to work through us mightily, but first, we must make seeking Him more important than everything else and once we find Him, we shall have found everything.

What Uganda Needs Today Are Men Like Strong Pillars

In March this year, the Men's Ministry of Makerere Full Gospel Church took the gospel of Jesus Christ to the people of Bajjo. I was there, and here relay how it went

Some of the strong men that went to Bajjo

The English evangelist and author Leonard Ravenhill once voiced his disillusionment with men who are willing to spend years fighting in cold wars but are unwilling to spend half a night in a warm church battling principalities and forces of darkness. Well, the members of the Men’s Ministry of Makerere Full Gospel Church have chosen to be different. And oh how God is working through them! On Saturday morning, they were praying in preparation for outreach when a Muslim named Abubakar appeared and announced at once he wanted to get saved. 

It was a rare experience that testified to the effectiveness of the prayers of the righteous in breaking the ranks of the devil; having the Holy Spirit lead the lost to the sanctuary to be delivered.  
     

After leading him to Christ, the prayer warriors continued tallying in the presence of God, pleading for the salvation of more souls, and for every church in this land to transform into an army of spirit-filled believers. 

In alignment with this year’s theme to build strong men like pillars in the home, business, church, and the general community, the Men’s Ministry on Sunday morning then went on a ministering mission to Bajjo Full Gospel Church in Mukono District.  

They had dug deep into their pockets and collected one million shillings to support the development projects of this nascent church but their main desire was for the natives of this area and beyond to be stirred into the deeper knowledge of God and begin experiencing the transforming power of Jesus Christ.  

Mr. Paul Matembe represented the visitors behind the lectern; preaching about what faith –even the size of a mustard seed –is capable of. He encouraged the congregants to continue growing in faith like Abraham, and in due time they would be elevated from their humble circumstances to greater heights in accordance with God’s plan and purpose. 
 

Bajjo Full Gospel Church may still be housed in a shack yet it blossoms with spiritual giants seeing the zeal and joy with which they prayed and worshiped the Lord. Pr. Daniel Ofwono was led to plant this church in 2006 after completing his university studies. 

“I could not afford to sit down while people were perishing, so I heeded the call of God to come here,” he said humbly. “We started with kids but God has been adding more people, and we continue to feel His blessing upon us.” 

The last born in a family of six, Pr. Ofwono also testified how he suffered poor self-esteem and a numbing fear of people, but like Gideon of the Bible, God saw him as a mighty man and called him to a noble assignment of preaching the gospel to the lost and being the light to His flock in Bajjo.  

He was visibly overwhelmed by the altruism of the men of Makerere Full Gospel Church; thanking them for being strong pillars and true imitators of Jesus Christ from whom his church will continue to look up to for mentorship. 

In turn, the guests bowed their heads and stretched their hands to pray for the youthful preacher, saying, “The Lord bless thee, and keep thee: The Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace” (Numbers 6:24-26). 

Martin Mwende broke into a song; and soon the place reverberated with resonant voices singing about the sovereignty of Jesus; the eternal, immortal, invisible and everlasting God whose faithful love endures forever and surpasses human understanding. 

After the service, they discussed the issues affecting the church today. It came out unanimously that the Ugandan church is standing on shaky ground because of an insufficient number of father figures; men who have not conformed to the standards of this world. Men who espouse a lifestyle of prayer, fasting and discipleship; men that have purposed in their hearts to minister, instruct, motivate, influence and to enlighten and enliven others in the things of God. 
 

Dr. Geoffrey Okaka who chaired the dialogue said such men are rooted in the Word of God and joyfully sacrifice their time, skills and resources to attend to the spiritual and physical needs of the church. This is the kind of man he summed as the “3M” man –Model, Minister, Mentor! 

“It’s a responsibility and call upon our lives to authenticate Christianity by serving one another,” he said. “We must stand out for others to emulate through a consistent track record of love, joy, peace and patience, and generally be the good tree that is recognised by its fruit.” (Luke 6:44). 

It was such a Holy-Spirit inspired sharing that a young man named Vincent Odhiambo stepped forward and gave his life to Jesus. It was another rejuvenating answer to the prayers of the men of Makerere Full Gospel Church who have embraced a divine call to provide life-giving leadership for the greater good of the Kingdom of God.

Must every Christian be baptised?

It is Biblically clear that baptism is a rite of purification that Jesus desires for all, but should it matter how and when it is done? Dennis D. Muhumuza writes 

In the early days, a cry of desperation rang through the wilderness and reverberated throughout Judea: “Turn away from your sins and be baptized!” Judeans and the inhabitants of Jerusalem attended to the cry of John the Baptist and were baptized in the Jordan River by him, confessing their sins (Mark 1:3-5).

It would be a point of no return! The converts as with the way John challenged the Pharisees and the Sadducees had to live in consonance with their repentance. He then assured them that One mightier was coming to baptize them with “the Holy Spirit and with fire!” (Mathew 3:11) 

Something extraordinary happened shortly after when Jesus Himself arrived from Galilee, and got baptized in the Jordan as well. It was the perfect endorsement of baptism as something sanctified by Heaven and pleasing to God (Mathew 3: 13, 16-17)

Over 2000 years today, baptism remains a sacred rite in the Church but the different Christian denominations have failed to agree on proper procedure. Mainstream churches baptize infants by sprinkling of water on the brow. This ritual, according to Encarta Encyclopedia, was introduced by Saint Augustine in late 4th and 5th centuries, his argument being that people are born with an affinity for sin and, as descendants of Adam and Eve, share in the guilt of original sin. Sprinkling the child’s head with water, he emphasized, would cleanse its soul and prepare it for a life in Christ.

But Pentecostals and Baptists insist on baptism by total immersion, and reject the baptism of infants, saying the act should be carried out when an individual is mature enough to comprehend the finished work of Christ and make a commitment to God.  

More controversial is the view that baptism should not be a one-time thing. In The Power of God in the Two Sacraments (Baptism and Communion), the author argues that since baptism represents the washing away of sins, it should be an everyday experience seeing we sin daily. 

“Many, many mornings when I get in the shower, I thank Abba Father that the water is washing my sin, failure, fear, guilt, and everything else negative from me.” she writes. “I get out of the shower 'baptised' in His love, grace, peace, joy, etc…” 

But Pastor of Bashan Zziwa of Makerere Full Gospel Church confutes this by quoting Jeremiah 2: 22: “For though you wash yourself with lye and use much soap, yet your iniquity and guilt are still [upon you; you are] spotted, dirty, and stained before Me, says the Lord” (Amplified Bible). 

Baptism by immersion

It implies no amount of washing and scrubbing can expunge man’s impurities except through the blood and name of Jesus. As Ananias tells Paul: “…arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord.” (Acts 22:16)

Pr. Zziwa faults mainstream churches for ignoring the clarity of Jesus’ demonstration of how baptism is done. “If Jesus Christ is our master, we should emulate His example of baptism by immersion,” he says. “There’s no excuse as technology has made it possible to have baptismal pools even at the alters as we do have at Full Gospel Church.”

Once, Peter and the apostles preached to multitudes who got convicted of their sins and asked, what shall we do? Whereupon they were told to repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of their sins, and the receiving of the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2: 37-38).

“This makes baptism is a conscious act that comes after confession, signifying the turning away from sin to live a transformed life by following Jesus Christ,” says Pr. Ziwa. “Since infants are unconscious of their sins, they should not be baptized, however they should be dedicated to Jesus by letting a minister pray to God’s blessing on these young lives as Jesus did in Mark 10: 16.”

Anita Asiedu of Promise Church of Christ, in Accra, Ghana is an example of one who got dedicated to the Lord as a baby.

“The pastor prayed for me and it was after I turned 18 that I finally got baptized by submersion,” she emailed Sunday Life. “I was supposed to be baptized at 16 because I knew everything by then. But I fell in love and started living in filth. Later I gave up the world for the work of God, and put my old self to death in baptism. The devil would be very happy if you would stay the whole of your life in church without what God wants you to do to attain total liberty. That’s why adults should actually put pressure on their pastors to baptize them.”

Rev. Canon Dr. Johnson Ebong, Chaplain St. Francis Chapel Makerere, says the baptism of infants by sprinkling and the baptism of adults by immersion are all right, water being the indispensable ingredient. 

He’s backed by Fr. Lawrence Kanyike, Chaplain of St. Augustine Chapel who says: “How baptism is done does not matter; it’s either by pouring [of water on the forehead] or by immersion, but the essential thing must be water.”

It’s the church’s responsibility, he adds, to welcome parents who feel the obligation to share their faith with their offspring through baptism. The baptized infants are after they have become adults then fully initiated into the community of believers through the sacrament of confirmation. The priest lays hands on them, anointing them with consecrated oil. This nullifies the need for a second baptism popularized by Pentecostal churches to those who become born-again.   

Some rush to baptize their children fearing that dying unbaptized would send their souls into what the Catholic Church calls “Limbo” –where they won’t suffer the torment of hell but are denied the everlasting bliss of Heaven. To this, Fr. Kanyike says: “What happens after death is not for us to judge.”

It is Biblically clear, overall, that baptism is a rite of purification that Jesus desires for all: “He that believeth and is baptized shall have saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned” (Mark 16:16).

--Sunday Monitor (Sunday Life Magazine, page 4-5), March 20, 2011