How prayer is pushing back the demonic darkness Uganda became known for

The backdrop to Uganda is the incredible natural beauty which caused Winston Churchill to proclaim Uganda as the "Pearl of Africa". But onto the stage came Idi Amin. Amin, claiming Uganda as Muslim, purged the country of the Asians, who at the time, owned over half the countries wealth and ran most industry. The country was ruined. Amin was ousted in 1979.

Alice 'Lakwena' Auma

Next on stage comes sorceress Alice "Lakwena" Auma, afraid and angry at the new government. She forms the Holy Spirit Movement, is defeated and eventually, a relative picks up her mantle and begins Africa's longest running conflict. Joseph Kony is his name and he proclaims Uganda should be run on the Ten Commandments.

In truth, he combined the Catholic use of rosaries and taking communion with the Islamic practice of praying towards Mecca. In addition, he retained local spiritualists and taught black magic. His called himself the leader of the Lord's Resistance Army or LRA.

The demonic side to Kony's fight is well known: 1.6 million displaced, murder of tens of thousands and the kidnapping and destruction of the innocence of at least 20,000 children's lives. In the natural realm, can you imagine bringing healing and a correct perspective of the biblical God after this mess? Fortunately, God is greater than all the demonic powers together - much greater.

United prayers

Thanks in part to Pastor John Mulinde, Christians around Uganda began to pray and seek God. Meetings and rallies were held and God's people cried out to Him. According to all reports, President Museveni heard about it and called pastors to him in Gulu. Although he was in the midst of a major offensive against the LRA called Operation Iron Fist, he helped the Christians to dismantle a system of demonic altars the LRA had set up.

Flag of Uganda

Map of Uganda

After this, the scene began to change. Families have testified of their children being returned to them. Uganda itself is doing better politically. It is Africa's rare success story in the fight against the AIDS pandemic (although interesting is that Human Life International says that "condoms are adding to the problem, not solving it"). The LRA still exists, but there is a hope of peace and stability. More important, there is a tremendous opportunity for the Gospel message to be shared in Uganda today.

So how can we pray for Uganda?

* Do not pray against the nation's problems. That will solve them, but others will rise in their place. Pray that Uganda finds its redemptive purpose, and God will take care of the problems.

* When people hear of what God is doing in Uganda today, they consider it impossible. But Uganda's example demonstrates that God can turn impossible situations around, and reveal himself as the living God in the midst of immense problems. Therefore pray in faith.

Background on Uganda

Islam was introduced into Uganda in the mid-1800's. Muslims are mainly Sunni, although there are Shi'a followers of the Aga Khan among the Asian community. While today's Muslims complain of being marginalized, in truth, private Qur'anic schools are becoming more common. Holy days celebrated as national holidays include Eid al-Adha and Eid al-Fitr. Muslim prisoners usually were released from work duties during the month of Ramadan. And the Uganda Muslim Supreme Council enjoys diplomatic relations with the USA.

On 3 June 1886, thirty-two young men, pages of the court of King Mwanga of Buganda, were burned to death at Namugongo for their refusal to renounce Christianity. Instead of impeding Christianity as intended, it only built the faith and strength of Christians.

Economy of Uganda

Uganda has substantial natural resources, including fertile soils, regular rainfall, and sizable mineral deposits of copper and cobalt. Agriculture is the most important sector of the economy, employing over 80% of the work force. Coffee accounts for the bulk of export revenues. Since 1986, the government - with the support of foreign countries and international agencies - has acted to rehabilitate and stabilize the economy by undertaking currency reform, raising producer prices on export crops, increasing prices of petroleum products, and improving civil service wages.

About Uganda

Population: 34,612,250 (July 2011 estimate) World Rank #36

Note: estimates for this country explicitly take into account the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality and death rates, lower population and growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected.

Life expectancy at birth: 53.24 years. World Rank #204

Ethnic groups: Baganda 16.9%, Banyakole 9.5%, Basoga 8.4%, Bakiga 6.9%, Iteso 6.4%, Langi 6.1%, Acholi 4.7%, Bagisu 4.6%, Lugbara 4.2%, Bunyoro 2.7%, other 29.6%

Religions: Roman Catholic 41.9%, Protestant 42% (Anglican 35.9%, Pentecostal 4.6%, Seventh Day Adventist 1.5%), Muslim 12.1%, other 3.1%, none 0.9%

Languages: English (official national language, taught in grade schools, used in courts of law and by most newspapers and some radio broadcasts), Ganda or Luganda (most widely used of the Niger-Congo languages, preferred for native language publications in the capital and may be taught in school), other Niger-Congo languages, Nilo-Saharan languages, Swahili, Arabic

Literacy: 66.8%

School Life Expectancy: 11 years

Sources: Uganda's Operation Iron Fist > news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/2083241.stm

Alice "Lakwena" Auma > en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Auma

Video: Joseph Kony's Hideout

Joseph Kony's Hideout from T.W. Rader on Vimeo.

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