Wednesday 22 August 2012

When Ugandan Pentecostal prosperity preachers dress like catholic clergy: the Case of Bishop Patrick Makumbi of Gospel Healing centre, Lweza





15Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. 16Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? 17Even so every good tree bringeth fortit; but evil fruit. 18A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. 19Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. (Mathrew 7:15-19)


7Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, 8This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. 9But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. (Matthew 15:7-9)


5They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. (1 John 4:5)


14Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch. (Matthew 15:4)

My analysis

One of the prosperity Ugandan pastors who amazes me most is Bishop Patrick Makumbi of Lweza Healing centre. This pastor always preaches money, going to the next level, recovering all, dominion  theology, breaking curses, healings, miracles and all that prosperity stuff.  He is not interested in focusing on holiness, purity, righteousness, suffering for Christ, heaven and hell and above all SIN in his preaching. Funny of all,  this guy enjoys dressing like catholic clergy. When you look at this guy, you really wonder whether this is a catholic bishop or born again spirit filled preacher. How can a born again spirit filled person admire to look like  catholic clergy or religious fellows.


God said in his word that there is nothing hidden that will not be reveled(Luke 12:2). God’s word also says that the heart of man is deceitfully above all things and desperately wicked(Jer.17:9). With in the heart of Bishop Patrick Makumbi is the love for power, prestige, and materialism. He is ready to look like catholic bishops for the sake of power and prestige.  God is clearly showing us that pastors like Bishop Patrick Makumbi have gone whoring after the world, after power and after materialism. They do not want to be conformed to his image but rather enjoy to look like the world. These guys are easy to see, but we have chosen to reamin blind.




Bishop Patrick Makumbi dressed like a catholic clergy 



Bishop Patrick Makumbi dressed like an Anglican  clergy 



Check the finger rings: They look exactly like the ones of catholic bishops


Who is Bishop Makumbi?


Patick Makumbi was born and raised in Uganda, East Africa. At the age of 17, the Lord Jesus appeared to him one evening at his father's house where he miraculously healed his condition and also fixed his teeth by his holy hands.

Patrick soon after started his journey to serve the Lord, anointed to carry the message of healing to God's People.

Patrick is the Presiding Bishop, and together with Miriam and a number of other ministers, they pastor the Gospel Healing Center International Church (GHCIC) located along Entebbe Road, the main gateway to Uganda, and its various branches. A sought after speaker on a number of conferences and crusades throughout Europe and Africa, his ministry has returned hope to the hopeless, broken families have been restored, and by the love of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit countless people have been healed and many others given their lives to Jesus.

We believe in God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. We believe that Jesus is the son of God who was born of the Virgin Mary, was crucified, died and was buried. We believe that he rose on the third day and ascended into Heaven.

We believe that the word of God is the Standard and final Authority. We believe that what Jesus did in the days of the Apostles, He still can do it today by the power of the Holy Spirit who is here present with us;the lame can walk, the sick can be healed, the blind regain their sight and the captives set free.

Our Vision is a world where all God's people are saved and set free from afflictions of Satan.

We aim at raising an Army of anointed Spirit filled men and women with the passion of preaching the gospel of salvation and taking the message of healing to all parts of the whole world while demonstrating the power of the Holy Spirit.


My church was set on fire


TESTIMONY

MY name is Patrick Makumbi and I pastor International Gospel Healing Centre Lweza. I became a born-again Christian in S2 after a fellow student, who was a born again, preached the Gospel to me.


After I had completed A’Level, my father was retrenched from his job, leaving me with no one to pay for my school fees. I immersed myself fully in the activities of my church. I graduated from being a mere member to a youth pastor.


One day, I had a voice telling me to leave Jinja and go to a place called Lweza on Entebbe Road and establish a church there. Having been brought up in Jinja, I did not know this place. However, because of the strong faith I had in Jesus, I accepted.


I had was newly married at the time. I talked to my wife and she also gave me the go-ahead. It was hard for me to set up a church there. What I know is that whenever you obey there is always a reward.

When we got to Lweza, my wife and I didn’t know where to begin. The voice had told me to look for a place where a church could be planted.


I was amazed at the number of Muslims in Lweza. There seemed to be a Muslim family wherever we went.


However, we kept on praying as we looked for a building large enough to house a church. Most of the structures were bedsitters. We also came across several free buildings but the owners being Muslims were not ready to let them out to us.


Later, in the evening, we found a bar that had collapsed. It belonged to a man called Nsalasaata. We were so tired but decided to try our luck. When he heard that we wanted to rent the place for use as a church, he first hesitated. However, after pleading with him for over 30 minutes he accepted and we paid him.

The congregation for the first service in this church comprised only my family.


But the following Sunday, God blessed us with new members. We did not advertise anywhere or invite people. They came all by themselves. After six months, the congregation had grown to more than 60 people and the space was no longer enough.


This increase did not go down well with some of the residents given that it was a Muslim-dominated area.


On December 25, 2000 late in the night some police officers came to my home and told me that the church was on fire. Everything had been burnt by the time we got there. Some people claimed to know the arsonist, but I wasn’t bothered. I did not want to revenge because I knew that God who had sent me there had a big plan for me. We decided to build a temporary structure. Surprisingly, after that incident, God started opening doors for me to travel overseas. Through my travels I was able to raise some money which I used to buy the land on which our church stands today.


In 2001 while on a trip to London, I prayed for a rich but hitherto barren woman and she gave birth. A year later, she invited me to the UK to attend a thanksgiving ceremony for her child. She paid for my air ticket. I spent three days at her home and she gave me £15,000.


I used about £12,000 to buy the land on which we built the church. It has branches in Mubende, Namugongo, Ntinda and Kyenjojo. Today the church sits over 4,000 people. We have bought several neighbouring plots and want to construct a 15,000-seater church. It will cost $1m.

As told to Aidah Nanyonjo
Published on: Saturday, 8th August, 2009

 

Only prayer can answer witchcraft

http://observer.ug/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=9930:only-prayer-can-answer-witchcraft&catid=73:highlights&Itemid=70

Wednesday, 01 September 2010 18:59

Written by Shifa Mwesigye

Witchdoctors claim to have powers that can make or break a job, marriage or end lives but if you are a God fearing person, there is no point in crossing over to the dark world. The answer to your joblessness is right there in front of you, in church or the mosque with the man at the pulpit preaching God’s word.


“Just walk to me, talk about your tribulations and leave the rest in God’s hands,” says Pastor Patrick Makumbi of International Gospel Healing Centre Church Lweza on Entebbe Road who has prayed for over 1,000 people who had been cursed and demons cast on their souls.

Pastor Makumbi acknowledges that corporate witchcraft is high and thriving. “The Bible talks about enemies who take it to another level and go into witchcraft to fight. He says that even Jabel in the Bible in 1Chronicles 4:9 was born out of sorrow; he had to be prayed for,” he says.


In Matthew 8:31, Makumbi says, the bible talks about Jesus casting demons out of two men and letting them go into pigs.


The Islamic Hadith talks about Prophet Muhammad reciting the Quran when he was targeted by witchcraft.

Even in the Catholic faith, especially the Charismatic Renewal sect, demons are exorcised.

“People who have got bad omens, curses, spirits of rejection and the like come for prayers. People throw witchcraft on their colleagues’ computers to take over their jobs.


You can get a curse through somebody speaking a negative word upon you and if you don’t have Jesus in your life, you will suffer,” says Pastor Makumbi.

He says victims of corporate witchcraft are those that don’t last more than five months on the job.

Once, a man Makumbi declines to name went to him with a big problem. He was well educated with a master’s degree in Economics. He had vast job experience as the adverts in the papers said. But he never lasted on a job past five months.

Pastor Makumbi says that after praying for long, the young man got a job which he has kept for five years.

“There is no curse greater than prayer; there is no omen bigger than the name of Jesus. When we pray, God delivers them and they get jobs.”  

Pastor Makumbi says that every Tuesday he prays for over 700 people, including women who have failed to have children.

“When you pray for them, you hear demons scream, ‘you will never have money. How can you be educated and then have a job and children?’ We are living in a world with many tribulations but there are people who fight,” Makumbi says.

He does not charge those who go to him for prayers like the witchdoctors do.


'Recover All' conference offers hope that God can restore what was lost


Esther Namugoji

Every human being struggles with questions about the future: will I make it in life; will I ever succeed in school, business; will I ever get married? These questions become more haunting when someone has experienced a loss in the past.


In these tough times, with many Christians feeling the pinch of the financial hardships, some have lost their property, jobs, key relationships and dreams and wonder if there is hope. It is with this in mind that the ‘Recover All’ Conference has continued to be a relevant event over the last 11 years, hosted by Bishop Patrick Makumbi of Gospel Healing Ministries International.


This year’s annual conference takes place at the church in Lweza (on the Kampala-Entebbe road) starting on Monday July 18 through to Sunday July 24. It aims at restoring hope in the fact that God can return all that seemed to have been stolen or destroyed in a Christian’s life.


“We do this to remind Christians that there are setbacks in life but if we put our trust in God, we will have victory because only he can restore and recreate anything that has been lost,” Bishop Makumbi says, adding that whatsoever is born of God overcomes the world — See 1 John 5:4.


The theme of recovery is based on Joel 2:25 (I will restore to you the years the locust has eaten...) which goes on to say that God’s people will be satisfied and never be ashamed again. The Bible, in 1 Samuel 30, shows David at a vulnerable point when he lost a lot to his enemies. David inquired of the Lord and God assured him that he would surely regain what was lost.


Each day, congregants will be inspired and taught through powerful sermons, deliverance and counselling sessions, prayer and worship ministry. Speakers include Pastor Robert Kayanja, Imelda Namutebi and Michael Mugerwa among other local and international preachers. Judith Babirye, Hum Kay are among musicians slated to minister during the conference.


The conference is particularly beneficial to up-country pastors who get free accommodation and meals as they learn from more established pastors. The week is to be crowned with a dinner on Saturday, July 23.

Published on: Saturday, 16th July, 2011

 

Prayed for a car, got a Hummer

http://www.observer.ug/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=17431:prayed-for-a-car-got-a-hummer&catid=43:sizzling&Itemid=71

Thursday, 01 March 2012 21:34

Written by Immaculate Wanyenze

For most of us, the process of finding the right car is quite tedious.

We consult friends who seem to know more about cars than we do; check car websites and frequent bonded warehouses for good deals before we buy a car. Bishop Patrick Makumbi, and perhaps others in his spiritual calibre, asked God for a car in prayer and at no charge. The divine response was a Hummer from a member of his congregation at Gospel Healing ministries in Lweza. Makumbi recalls that the gentleman was not a regular at his church in 2009.

“I am not sure why he chose my church. He said he had been to several churches but still had problems. He came to my church, praying that God delivers him from poverty,” Makumbi narrates.

Later that year, the charitable man went abroad for greener pastures, which he considered God’s answer to delivery from poverty. He returned at the year’s end to bear testimony to the fact that God answers prayers. In so doing, he gave Makumbi a new Hummer, which was valued at Shs 250m. Makumbi was very happy to receive the car, which he also says was an answered prayer.

The Hummer, whose registration plates read, “PSALMS 121” is Makumi’s manifestation that help comes from the Lord, as the verse implies.  Four years since, Makumbi’s car soldiers on through the bushy, hilly and rough terrain, while keeping its driver comfortable. Besides the car’s tough body, Makumbi also enjoys its in-built music system that plays his gospel music smoothly.

Although he has owned seven other cars like a Supercustom, Pajero, Land Cruiser, Makumbi says the Hummer is the best. And just as he got his Hummer, Makumbi has also been freely giving away his cars.

“It is better to give because God multiplies your blessings. I started commuting in taxis like anybody. But imagine if I was buying and selling the cars I had, who would have given me a Hummer when I couldn’t afford it?” asked Makumbi.

He is grateful to God that together with his wife,Miriam, they have both been blessed with good cars. Miriam drives a 2010 Mercedes-Benz GL 450. And Makumbi is not done yet. He will go down on his knees to get his dream car - a Cross Country Mercedes-Benz GL 550.