|
VISIT TO UGANDA, EAST AFRICA – December 2005 Bro. Akpan Blessing Nice
I am Brother Akpan Blessing Nice, a Nigerian brother and missionary, formerly a Oneness preacher overseeing a district in Lagos, Nigeria. I am writing from the mission field in Northern Uganda, where many are living very miserable lives due to a 20-year old war and the presence of rustlers (cattle raiders).
I was led to visit Uganda for a short missionary work, and the Lord confirmed this leading by opening doors for opportunity to minister to many who were willing to receive me. I got in contact with Bro.Bolahs J.Onyango, the pastor of the Little Flock Church through Bro.Richard Gan in Singapore. Another group that invited me to Uganda was the Oneness group who wanted me to share with their ministers why I left that which they cherish so much, and what I now believe in.
Journeying to Uganda was tough and I expected it to be so for I indeed had a revelation of it. Nigeria had just experienced 2 plane crashes in 40 days and it was about the periods for denominational conventions, and the organization I left were inciting troubles as usual against me. The Lord touched brothers in Singapore. Bros. Patrick Soh and Peter Wan who spoke to The Spoken Word Tabernacle and they sent a total of US$835 which was the exact amount for a one month return ticket to Uganda from Nigeria.
I arrived in Entebbe on the night of Wednesday, 21st Dec. 2005, and both ministers from the Endtime message church and the Oneness group were at the airport to receive me. A short meeting to decide who would keep me was held for less than 10 minutes and the Oneness brethren agreed to let me stay with the other brothers.
WESTERN UGANDA
LIRA DISTRICT
As I left Lira
for Karamoja, I started getting closer to the hostile natives but
the Lord granted me special grace to fit in among them immediately. I met
with Bro. John Mark who came to Alerek to wait for me, while Bro.
Defas, who was sent to go with me by his pastor, Bro. Bolahs, went back to
Kampala.
We preached daily from
village to village, sometimes walking up some 12-14 miles where no means
of transportation is, and where money seem to be useless, as you
What joy it is when a warrior receives Christ and gives up his gun and becomes totally delivered from the bondage of Satan. I am writing to you who love the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ that certain needs in the ministry are very much within our reach. As the business of our Father is, what we ought to do we ought to do.
OBSERVATIONS AND COMMENTS § Missionaries in this message should be encouraged to visit and help the work in this region. I can boldly say that it is the only region where the believers have not received the poison of the American black horse. These are the kind of people that should not be abandoned. § Accessing the entire land of Karamoja is a problem as only 2 buses pry this route. If you ever miss the bus which itself is in a horrible shape, you have to wait for its next appearing. For this cause those who venture to come into Karamoja must persevere to do a lot of trekking. § There are no built churches in this region, and fellowships are held in the open. Natives came out in their large numbers during my 2 weeks of ministry in Kotido and my voice ran out. Bro. John Mark suggested that I preach from the top most part of a tree so that I can be heard, which I did for the last 3 days. I pray that the Lord will provide us with EVANGELISM EQUIPMENTS, and a generator to help us have lights at meeting venues. § I was in Karamoja when there was not even a drop of rain, and water was a big problem. I saw natives drinking cow urine after meals and given the plates to the younger ones to lick as in washing. The hygienic condition was very poor so I decided to use leaves as my plate until I left the region.
I praise the Lord, especially for my health, as I have been labouring under very hard conditions for a period of two months, but my joy is that the results are great and I do not feel the pains of walking sometimes a distance of 14 miles. I desire to return to my wife and children in the third week of March as the children will be on holidays to spend time with them and be refreshed to return to the field as the Lord leads by the second week of June 2006. I continually ask for your prayers and supports knowing that it would abound in your account. God bless you richly in Christ Jesus. Amen.
A land and a people just living on their own not influenced by western culture, education, religion or even the polity of the state of Uganda. No government in Uganda has succeeded in taming the Karamojongs. Even the great British Empire tried and failed. The Karamojongs are a wild people, worshipping only one thing – cattle. They claim that all the cattle in the world belong to them and their existence depends on it. The worst happened when Idi Amin was overthrown, these people invaded the military base and took all the guns. Since then few courageous people visit that region and many have died venturing
WAY OF LIFE The Karamajongs do not wear clothes, they only cover themselves with a light blanket-like cloth. Their food is mainly milk mixed with blood from the cows, cheese and meat. Hygiene is really a problem, as the typical native has no business with taking bath. They do not even dig the common pit toilet, but pass out the faeces in the open. They do not bury their dead. As we traveled on motorcycles through the thorny bushes, I could not stand the horrible sight of corpses feasted upon by vultures and was told that the hyenas often come around to help themselves.
MARRIAGE Marriage is another funny thing that goes on with these people, though there is no room for defilement in the land, every woman must be a virgin at marriage. The way they marry is very inhuman, if the man cannot pay the bride price and if he cannot wrestle down the woman (that is what we may call rape in the very open), and if the woman seems stronger, he engages the services of his brothers-in-law to pursue their own sister way into the bush and hold her down for the man. This is not history, I am saying that which is obtainable even now in Karamoja. Some do go ahead to pay the bride price which is as high as 1,000 to 2,000 heads of cattle, but even after this the woman is not his wife until he wrestles her down to lay with her, just like animals do.
LAWS AND BELIEF Being that the land of Karamoja is full of thorns the people themselves are very hard and tough. They can go on foot a distance of over 40 miles and would not act as if anything has happened. They talk to their foot wears before going anywhere, and sometimes when going for raiding (stealing of cows) they could kill a human or animal, as the case maybe, to read the signs of the intestines so as to know what will be the outcome. The land could be called the place of THORNS.
Karimojongs have their laws and respect them a lot, only that there is no regard for human lives. It is dangerous to travel there driving in a private vehicle, your chances of surviving not being shot is half (50%). The warriors do not shoot at the buses and aid vehicles for reasons we do not know, but there are only 2 buses that come to Karamoja. There are uncountable stories daily of those being killed on the road to and from Karamoja, but they have respect for those they call genuine Children of the True God. They have resisted the catholic faith and many other denominations, but since 1985 when the Lord sent Bro. John Mark Louse, a former warrior like them, still having the holes in his ears 2 on each side, they began to say that the true God had visited their land.
BELIEVERS Once a Karamojong is saved, he is the most sincere of believers you can ever find. He serves the Lord sincerely and can proclaim him anywhere. Even while we held our meetings, those that have not believed were calling for the sick saying “the sons of the true God are around, just go believe and you would be healed”. As we ministered to them, the moment they believed, we observed that they were ashamed of being naked, so we quickly would give them whatever clothes are available. Although what we had was not even enough.
As was told by the believers, there had not been any foreign minister in the message who had visited Karamoja, and even in Uganda, only ministers from this region take the pain to evangelize their people. The believers in Karamoja are forgotten, and do not exist in the minds of the saints, this is what I was told by the natives who thanked the Lord for sending someone from afar to encourage them in the faith of the evening light.
Brethren, at this point what do I have to say. There are many, who believing that the coming of the Lord is near, just stay back in their local churches awaiting His appearing. Let us remember that our buildings and other great properties will not be raptured, even after dedicating them to the service of the Lord. In all of my visiting of these saints, we worship under trees, and ministers could trek under the sun long distances to meet up with meetings. If we had not heard then we would have no guilt, but now there is no cloak to cover our guilt if we turn deaf ears to these saints in Christ.
APPRECIATION I thank the Lord for the apostolic ministry of Bro. Richard Gan for his visits to Uganda and the grace of God in his life with which he used to keep the LITTLE FLOCK CHURCH together after the death of their pastor. It was a time when ministers around were contesting to gain members from the broken church to theirs, but it please the Lord to send a man who was mindful to save the work from collapsing.
Brother Richard Gan, may God bless you, I wish to write out that testimony in details as soon as possible to other ministers as I heard it. (Please read my vision concerning Bro. Richard Gan's SOURCE of Truth.)
I thank the Lord for Bro Bolahs J. Onyango, the pastor of Little Flock Church Kampala and manager of VOICE OF GOD RECORDINGS in Uganda, who introduced me to Bro. John Mark Louse, and gave great support and encouragement towards the Karamoja mission. Also, to Bros. Patrick Soh and Peter Wan for their personal contributions to my coming to Uganda. May the Lord bless you all in Jesus mighty name. Amen.
I continually appreciate some brethren who had taken the pain to be concern of my ministry in Christ, and are labouring for us in prayers, and great words of encouragements. May the Lord bless you all.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
(* Bro. John Mark’s testimony will be posted as soon as I can secure it. Things do not move fast in Uganda J. But I will see him in this coming Dec. 2006 and will record down his testimony on tape once more, just for the website. I had his testimony before in the early 1990s which was before this website was set up. It is a blessing for me to read of the work in Karamoja. In the 1990s, I had looked forward to a time that I could make a journey with Bro. John Mark to his own homeland to minister to his people. I had met and fellowshipped with some of his converts several times during the different conventions in Uganda and Kenya. I was told of the harshness of their land. Now I know how harsh it is. – Bro. R.Gan.)
|
Fellow saints of the
evening light, I bring you sincere greetings in Christ Jesus, the Lover of
the Bride. I thank the Lord for the Bride in the ups and downs being
experienced everywhere in the Body of Christ. This is only showing us
clearly that which we have received is the truth and we must fight to keep
it.
The next day there was
another short meeting to agree on the timetable of the meetings. Already
the Oneness group had gathered 40 churches to come together to listen to
me in the first week of the New Year. We then agreed that they also be in
our convention which was starting the next day, 24th Dec. 2005. The convention was well attended and speakers were from Congo, Kenya,
Rwanda, Nigeria, South Africa, Zambia, and the host Uganda. At the end of
the convention the Lord had blessed us with 2 souls, which I baptized.
After the convention I
was able to concentrate on the work which I came in for to do in Uganda. I
started in the far western district of Fort Portal and many
believed, and then to Mubende where denominational churches
gathered and the Lord took those that were ordained unto eternal life. At
the end of the January 2006, six out of the 40 Oneness churches had taken
a stand to be independent and believe the Message of the hour. The pastors
of these churches were re-baptized and introduced to brethren who will
help them to stand in the faith of the evening light.
I was targeting
Moroto and Kotido in North Eastern Uganda, they being the most
hostile parts of Uganda. I decided to access this region through the
longest but safest route, which is Lira. We had eight days of
meetings from house to house and in churches. The Lord blessed us with
wonderful teachings and the saints in this area were open to hear God’s
word. The Lord confirmed His word with signs and wonders. A total of 19
souls were ready for baptism and there was water in the area at that time.
have but
you do not find that which you desire to buy. Some of the ministers with
me in this great vision have never worn a shoe in their entire life having
been local Karamojong warriors, they use motor tires to make their
foot wears to enable them to walk up to 40 km. They have no education but
many amongst them received the Holy Ghost, and divinely begin reading and
speaking the English language. One notable example is Bro John Mark Louse
whom the Lord appeared to and commissioned him to take the message to
Karamoja*.
Sometimes local
transportation has hindered us from moving, just as I said earlier that we
travelled on trucks. This is very okay if available, but some ministers here, if given bicycles, not to even mention a motorcycle, could take a
portion of the kingdom for the Lord.
In a place called
Matany, a brother came to attend our meeting as we were to leave to
Iriiri, which is about 40km., and the said brother, who is in his late
60s, trekked only to get there the evening of the second day. I was so mad
to hear this because if he had told me he wanted to come I would have paid
his fare to join us in the truck, but he did not. Karamojongs
hardly beg. That is why those who do not believe Christ take by force, even by
killing, for very little things.