Rhemalight

Can a slave say to the Master, “Today I won’t wear that tunic or I won’t do the work you have delegated to me”? No! Why? It is because the Master orders and the servants or slaves respond. Jesus is our master and we are his servants. We are no longer slaves to any man but regard it in its context because you have earthly bosses.

In recent days, fear and anxiety( Bunkenke) has gripped this nation at levels I have never seen in my life. People were shot, property destroyed and many deaths reported as a result of the recent rioting due to failure by the Prime minister of Buganda kingdom to visit Kayunga district. I have never and will never involve in riots. I even escaped the ones at Makerere University during those 4 years and thank God, I was never on campus when they happened. Coward? No! My outlook at strikes and riots is different and I will discuss it but now will concentrate on the Christian response to the politics of our country.

The Christian response can never be independent of the master’s thoughts on the matter. His thoughts have been made available to us through His Word and therefore this article will provide some of these insights. Often times when you deal with politics in that manner, Christians are quick to brush you off saying you should be real. (Read my article on reality). However, there is a better response than just taking sides because you belong to this party or this tribe.

The church’s response should be different from that of the world. We are in this world but not of this world. But bless God we have the resources to stand and declare the counsel of God in this wicked generation. However, the church’s response is and has been similar to that of the world. We are trying to find out who is wrong, fighting tooth and nail to gain political favors, skinning our pastors, binding ourselves to political parties because it was formed by so and so etc. Surely the church should provide the answers and cause the world to repent by being the light and salt. We should not be entangled with the world justifying their actions with scriptures taken out of context.

The Response
1: Refuse to be anybody’s servant but the Lord.
2: Praying for the leadership.
I have included an excerpt from a book by Hillary Turyagyenda, a personal friend, called The Believer’s Prayer Life.
“First Of All
Text: 1 Timothy 2:1-6, 1 Peter 2:13-16
In 1 Timothy 2, we are told to pray first of all for all men but in particular for kings and all who are in authority. Before praying for ourselves or something else, we must first of all pray for our government authorities. Of course if we were going to eat and I asked you to pray for the food, you wouldn’t start praying for kings and all who are in authority. That would be misplaced. All that Paul is telling Timothy is that praying for our leaders should have priority in our prayer life. Why should we put them first in our praying? Why should we give them priority? Verse 2 and 3 say,
“That we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all Godliness and reverence. For [or because] this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
It’s for our benefit: that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life. It is also for the sake of the gospel. You see if there is trouble on the political scene, the Word of God cannot be spread effectively and people will not be reached. So God wants us to pray for our leaders so that the Gospel will have a free course in our nation and there will be peace. The bible says that government authorities are God’s judgement arm on those who do evil.
“For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. For he is God’s minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil.” -Romans 13:3, 4
God’s word says the authorities are God’s ministers sent to execute wrath on him who practices evil. So we can bring God’s word to Him like lawyers believing that our leaders will indeed be what the Word of God says they are - a terror to evil works - a terror to drug abuse, abortion, sexual abuse, child abuse, pornography, crime and anything else that is evil. If we pray for our leaders based on God’s word, these evils will no longer run rampant in our country.”

Let me also add this; you as a believer are commanded to pray for President Museveni and other leaders. Many of you want to please the Lord and this is one of the ways. I have heard of believers who when they are told to pray for the government, they say they are of the opposition. Opposition to God? His word has directed you to pray and you say you are in opposition. It is little wonder that we even fail to receive answers to our prayers because Paul urges that it should be first. Well, I don’t agree with the current Government policy and if I pray then… At the time Paul wrote this letter to Timothy, Nero had already set fire to Rome and laid it on the Christians whom he was also persecuting. I have one question and if you answer it yes then don’t pray for the president and other leaders. “WHO OF YOU PREACHED IN KISEKKA MARKET FROM THURSDAY 2 PM TO FRIDAY EVENING?” When there is no peace, the gospel can’t have free course. A friend of mine even failed to attend an overnight.

3:Understand the spirits behind and deal with them.
We have been granted weapons that are not of this world and we should unleash them when called to do so. The bible says what we bind on earth shall bound in heaven and what we loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. The word used translated bind means prohibit or refuse and the one for “loose” means to allow or permit. We should refuse all sorts of havoc and division while permit peace, love and unity in this nation.

4: Stand up for what you know is right.
Speak the truth and use the channels that have been placed in the country. It is good to stand up to the powers that be but not through rebellion. Never in the Acts of Apostles where the apostles started a strike or a rebel group but they spoke the truth that they knew was from their Lord by the help of the Holy Ghost. We oppose bad government policies by speaking about them and praying because we know how to shape history through prayer.

5: Conform not to the patterns of this world.
The world will always want to show how the other is evil. We in the church want to cover the sins of the other when they fail. Let us not conform to the standards of the world which are do unto them before they do it unto you. The church is different from the world. It is a place to offer solutions to the nations problems. For the start, read your bible, pray everyday and witness and surely you will see a difference. Then you will be able to stand to powers that be and say you are wrong without biasness or fear because you know the mind of God. Prophets of old could do that because they knew what God had said and had no fear. Who said there is a specified number of years one should rule? You vote based on the word of God and His specific direction not what the opposition or government says. But because we think God is a democrat, we listen to the world and then start debating how long one should rule. I don’t care as long as I know God is in it. To some, opposition is of the devil. Who told you? I have and will never belong to any political party but if the lord leads me to vote for some one who has ruled for more than 20 years, I will and if he leads otherwise, I will do so. But what remains is this:
I WILL PRAY FOR PRESIDENT MUSEVENI, HIS GOVERNMENT AND ALL POLITICAL LEADERSHIP TO LC LEVELS. I WILL PRAY FOR THE KABAKA, KYABAZINGA, OMUKAMA AND ALL CULTURAL LEADERSHIP IN THIS NATION WHETHER I SUPPORT THEM OR NOT BECAUSE MY STANDARDS ARE WHAT THE BIBLE REVEALS TO ME AND THIS SHOULD APPLY TO YOU.