Onen needs to experience Jesus individually

I would like to respond to my friend James Onen’s article titled “Religious teachings reinforce belief in witchcraft, Daily Monitor April 26”. I must say I was utterly disappointed with his comparison of the rising witchcraft in Uganda to the faith in Christ Jesus that majority of Christians in Uganda hold dear.

Before we even get to discuss the existence of witchcraft, Onen’s own faith in the truth and infallibility of the scriptures when it comes to the things of the spirit is very wanting. When he reduces the faith of a follower of Jesus to just belief in “angels” on one side and the “devil” on the other. That’s where we start to see holes in his argument.

Like he quoted in Ephesians 6:10-12, my friend Onen should first have the faith to believe that the scripture he quoted is “God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness… 2 Timothy 3:16”. I mean, when he quotes Apostle Paul talking about the spiritual forces in Ephesians, he as an individual should welcome that passage in faith.

The Bible is full of scriptures pointing to the existence of evil powers. The girl that Paul rebuked in the book of Acts, the demon-possessed man Jesus prayed for in Matthew. I would, however, like to point out that the existence of evil is not the central message of the Bible.

The central message of the Bible is that mankind; and yes, all of you reading this article, have all fallen short of God’s glory. This happened in the Garden of Eden when we chose our own way. Our relationship with God was lost. But thank God for his mercies, he decided to dress in human flesh and walk our earth for 33 years, he was killed and he rose again so we may personally experience abundant life when live believing that. Unfortunately, many of the 80 per cent Ugandan Christians Onen talks about in his article seem to carry this message as just a religious thing and not a personal relationship with God through his son Christ Jesus.

Many of them have been raised in religious families, they know what we are supposed to do on Sunday morning, they own a Bible and even find it easy to say “Praise God”. But what many have never experienced is a daily personal relationship with God through Jesus.

That’s probably why when statistics come out saying the majority practice witchcraft in our country, it’s probably because they have not provided room in their own lives for the power of the resurrected Christ to work among them or they are not living out the gospel in their lives.

Many of these people living double lives in churches and traditional shrines are doing so probably because they have been swallowed up by the pressure of materialism that rules our post-modern society today.
Kingdom living seems to be less of a priority in today’s church.

However, these do not in anyway rule out the fact that there are Christians of sound doctrine in our generation. The first evidence Onen and others should ask is not that of the existence of witchcraft but the evidence of the resurrected Christ working among the lives of genuine Christians in Uganda. I will personally be very grateful to offer my testimony first –one of how my life was regenerated because of Jesus Christ.

Mr Ssemakula is a follower of Jesus
semakula.eddie@gmail.com