An old tale is told of when Francis of Assisi met Pope Innocent III at the Vatican. Pope Innocent took Francis on a tour of the Vatican treasury, showing him the great wealth the Roman Catholic Church had amassed. While the Pope was counting some of the gold coins, he said to Francis of Assisi, “The Church can no longer say with Peter, ‘silver or gold have I none’.”
Francis of Assisi replied, “Neither can she say, ‘Rise up and walk.'”
Both men were alluding to the story in Acts 3:1-10, where Peter and John met a lame beggar at the temple gate called ‘Beautiful’ as they went into the Temple to pray. Peter said to the man, “Silver and gold have I none; but what I have, that give I thee. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.”
That story shows God’s power to bring salvation to His people. The lame man walking was a physical sign of what had happened internally to the man. He entered the Temple with Peter and John, ‘walking and leaping and praising God’ (Acts 3:8). It was also a sign to the people who, not long before that, had crucified Jesus Christ.
And his name—by faith in his name—has made this man strong whom you see and know, and the faith that is through Jesus has given the man this perfect health in the presence of you all. Acts 3:16
Peter’s explanation reveals the extent of what the man had received. While many professing Christians are, sadly, stuck on the physical miracle of the lame man walking, the man’s true gift was salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. Also, the purpose of that miracle extended beyond just the man. God’s purpose was not just for him but for Israel – and all nations, as revealed later in the chapter: “to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness” (Acts 3:26).
Francis of Assisi’s response to Pope Innocent III reveals the extent to which the Roman Catholic Church had abandoned the commission Jesus gave in Matthew 28:16-20. While the Pope boasted about the Church’s wealth, Francis of Assisi showed him the stark failures of the Church in fulfilling the Great Commission.
Of the two statements in that passage, the Roman Catholic Church had pursued the wrong one. Just as they could no longer say with Peter and John that “Silver and gold have I none,” they also could no longer say with them, ‘Rise up and Walk.’ They pursued wealth and, in doing so, lost the gospel and its power to save.
Recently, Apostle Moses Mukisa, commonly referred to as ‘Ap Mo’, the lead pastor of Worship Harvest, in a teaching titled ‘Mastering your finances‘ at Christian Life Missions in Burundi, said that “God never called any poor people into the ministry in the Bible.” He gave examples of wealthy people called to ministry, including Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, David, Solomon, Elijah, Jeremiah, and the Apostles.
His misreading and misinterpretation of the biblical texts notwithstanding, Ap Mo epitomises the failures of many churches in Uganda, much like Pope Innocent III. His statements are also a glaring example of attitudes that have negatively influenced the Ugandan church and many who claim to be believers, leading to practices that are detrimental to the gospel and its power to transform believers’ lives.
The Pursuit of Money
“Any church that has the right vision will lead more people to Christ if they have ten times their budget,” – Moses Mukisa.
There is no doubt that churches need money to run their activities, such as missions, help the underprivileged in their congregations, and pay their pastors (1 Tim. 5). But when the Church makes money either the subject of the gospel or the driver of missions, then it has deviated from its purpose.
The New Testament places less importance on money than Ap Mo does. That is because money has no power whatsoever to save anyone. The Apostles did not collect money first before they went on missionary journeys. They went and trusted God to provide for their needs.
Neither does one need money to preach the gospel. The Great Commission is not philanthropic work. It is telling others about the good news of Jesus Christ and what He has done for mankind. It is the work of every believer, not just the institutional Church, which is one mistake many people make. Yes, churches must support missionaries, and people ought to give generously to these causes, but we must never think that money does the work. Man plants the word – faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God (Romans 10:17) – and God gives the increase (1 Corinthians 3:6-7).
In stating that God never called any poor people into the ministry in the Bible, Ap Mo is deliberately misrepresenting the biblical stories to advance a particular narrative which the Bible does not intend or even attempt to make. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were not wealthy when God called them. They became so because of God’s favour upon them. This blessing was a shadow and type of the kind of blessing that God would give to the nations through his descendant, Jesus. It was not a reference to material blessings but to spiritual blessings (Ephesians 1:3).
Nothing is known about Elijah before he appears in 1 Kings 19; the only information about his ancestry is that he was a Tishbite from Gilead. We also know that when he prophesied a drought, he went to the brook Cherith, where he was fed by ravens. Yet Ap Mo somehow has information about him regarding his wealth that the rest of the Jews and Christians do not have.
Joseph was a slave imprisoned in a dungeon when he interpreted Pharaoh’s dreams. He wasn’t a prince seated in a palace or a wealthy trader living a luxurious life. He had nothing while in the dungeon. Also, as a slave, whatever he may have owned belonged to his master, Potiphar.
David was a shepherd boy, running from Saul and hiding in caves. The apostles were poor, of low social standing, and lacked formal education. An attempt to interpret their fishing vocation as a fishing conglomerate is a misreading and misinterpretation of the Bible and Jewish culture. In Mark 10, Peter said to Jesus, “See, we have left everything and followed you.”
Perhaps, even more damning to Ap Mo’s statements is the fact that God in the second person of the Trinity, Jesus Christ, was himself poor. He was born into a poor family, worked as a poor carpenter, and had no place to lay his head (Matthew 8:20). He, along with His disciples, went from place to place, preaching the good news of the Kingdom of God.
Salvation Is No Longer From Sin But Poverty
“We have God’s children, born again, fire spitting, demon chasing, water walking, tongue talking, heaven bound, King James quoting, but in reality, they are slaves…” – Moses Mukisa.
Another unfortunate effect of such deliberately erroneous teachings is that those who preach (and believe) it confuse and conflate the gospel message with prosperity. And because of the high levels of poverty, poor living conditions, and disease, such teachings resonate with many desperately seeking to escape those conditions.
Therefore, salvation is no longer from the power of sin and the wrath of God, but from whatever undesirable condition one may find themselves in. It is no longer the gospel of Jesus Christ but a social gospel. This has led to a wave of false teachings (demonology, deliverance, word of faith, etc.) that have obscured the need for personal accountability and repentance.
Sin is tolerated under the guise that people need deliverance, while repentance is done away with since the responsibility for one’s actions is placed on some demon. We now have, according to Ap Mo, believers in bondage, as long as they are under some subjection, and this includes bad bosses (yes, he actually alluded to that).
As a result, the gospel has been both misrepresented and mispresented. A typical gospel presentation today is, “If you have any problems, come to Jesus, and he will fix them.” Jesus has become a problem solver rather than the Redeemer. Sin has been almost entirely erased from the salvation story, replaced by prosperity and problem-solving.
Yet in John 8:31-34, Jesus explicitly reveals that man’s bondage is to sin and says that he has come to set people free from it. This is not a social gospel but the true gospel, the only gospel. The gospel message is about redemption from sin and the wrath of God. God has made a way for man to be reconciled to Him, having paid the penalty for his sin.
For You Are Saved by Works, Not by Grace
“God is looking for partners, not beggars. People who do not tithe, they are going nowhere.”
“Most of Jesus miracles involved the man participating. Go wash in the pool of Siloam.”
“But that’s Jesus for you he says, “I want you to participate in your own miracle.””
“We give tithe because we know the day we stop is the day we are gonna run out.”
– Moses Mukisa.
As long as the gospel is not about salvation from the power of sin and the wrath of God, it is not the gospel. Therefore, whatever men make it to be about, they will have to pursue it by their own works, since God’s power to save is no longer at work in their pursuits.
Salvation in the Bible is a work of grace, apart from works (Ephesians 2:8-9). Man contributes nothing to salvation except his sin, which makes salvation necessary. Even after salvation, adding works as a means of earning God’s favour is condemned by the Apostle Paul in Galatians.
Yet, in his teaching, Ap Mo not only encourages ‘participation’ in one’s salvation through a series of works, but also says that God demands it. This, again, is a result of misreading and misrepresenting the biblical accounts of the blind man and the man who was told to take up his bed and walk.
Jesus was not asking for their participation in those miracles. They are called signs because they point to something greater, not provide a modus operandi for seeking favour from God. The word Siloam means ‘sent.’ The Jews also believed the pool of Siloam to be the pool of the Messiah. So, when Jesus sent the man to the pool, he was sending him to the pool of the Messiah, who was sent by the Father. This story also reveals the Pharisees’ blindness, who excommunicated the man for his faith in the Messiah.
Likewise, when Jesus tells the paralytic man in Mark 2 to take up his bed and walk, it’s not so that the man would participate in his miracle. Rather, it was to prove that he has authority to forgive sins, and the man walking was to be a visible sign of that authority (Read: Mark 2:1-12, specifically 5-12).
Ap Mo and many others who similarly twist Scripture are not in the least interested in the context and message of these passages. Rather, they are interested in how they can be used to advance the message of prosperity. His own success is attributed to his works, ‘tithe,’ rather than God’s grace, stating that his success will stop the day he stops tithing.
He’s not alone. In the recently concluded Hallelujah Challenge, Nathaniel Bassey asked his viewers to “place a demand’ on the sacrifice of Jesus. The blessings of God are no longer given by His grace but must be earned through things like fasting or tithing, or demanded, as Nathaniel Bassey advised.
Although they will not admit it, this is purely works-based ‘salvation’ and not God’s grace. If one has to do something either to gain or sustain a blessing from God, then that blessing is no longer by grace but by works. Unfortunately, many people believe that they have to work to earn and keep these blessings because of preachers like these. One must make a sacrifice or do something ‘big’ to have God bless them or act on their behalf, usually by fasting or giving a hefty gift to a man of God. They also end up believing that if they stop doing that thing, the blessings they have received will cease.
If God’s grace is unmerited, then there is nothing anyone can do either to earn it or lose it. If there is one thing one can do, it is no longer by grace.
How Does This Reflect Many Ugandan Churches
The attitudes that Ap Mo espouses are not unique to him. They have permeated many churches in Uganda and are a big part of the ‘worship’ experiences of those churches. They are at the very core of what those churches believe and preach, thus influencing the very lives of their congregations.
The relationship between pastors and their congregations is so intertwined that it cannot be easily separated. In many ways, both influence one another, and when there is a problem with one, there is usually a problem with the other.
Bad Teachers Lead to Bad Congregations
“But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep” 2 Peter 2:1-3.
The reality of bad/false preachers and bad doctrine is that they lead to bad congregations who will follow their teachings diligently to get results, as 2 Peter 2:2 says. These people suppose that their pastors are preaching the truth and so follow them into their errors. In a nation that claims to be 82% Christian, the unfortunate reality is that many churches, especially the most popular ones, are in this category.
We should not wonder when we see people lining up to buy ‘holy rice or water,’ to kiss the feet of a false prophet, to burn Bibles because of the word ‘ghost,’ or to eat grass. These are the results of greedy people standing in church pulpits negatively influencing people seeking after their passions. Rather than be like the noble Bereans who didn’t take Paul at his word but “examined the scriptures daily to see if these things were so,” they blindly walk into errors that make others wonder what is wrong with Christians.
Pastors have tremendous power to influence their congregations, especially when their congregations fully trust them and do not think they could ever lead them astray, even unknowingly. As such, they will usually believe everything they are told without verifying it or cross-checking it with Scripture. This is the kind of power that cults have over people, and we are all prone to falling prey to it.
The sad reality is that these false teachers are taking advantage of their congregations, exploiting them with false words. They sit at the top of the food chain, making them the ultimate beneficiaries of these teachings. It is surprising that people who are desperate to escape poverty never realise that they are giving the little they have to the ones who have the most, while staying poor.
Bad Congregations Produce Bad Pastors
“For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.” 2 Timothy 4:3-4
The problem with Ap Mo’s teaching, or that in many churches in Uganda, is not solely down to the preacher. False teachers – and bad ones – thrive precisely because they have an audience willing to hear what they have to say. If people didn’t want to hear them, they wouldn’t go to them; the false teachers wouldn’t have followings or churches.
Most disheartening while listening to Ap Mo was the audience’s ‘wows,’ revealing a very high and dangerous level of biblical ignorance. A combination of biblical ignorance and itching ears has led to congregations that will tolerate anything as long as it scratches their ears. Worship is no longer about God but about how it makes people feel, while prayer is no longer about asking God to act on one’s behalf but about issuing demands, declarations, and decrees.
Under such conditions, false teachers find fertile soil for their doctrines. In his boldness to “shock” his listeners, he symbolises and epitomises the ongoing decay in many Ugandan churches: a two-fold problem. Unless the congregations wake up from their slumber and recognise their own weaknesses (itching ears), they will continue to be prey for people like Ap Mo, and these doctrines will spread like gangrene (2 Timothy 2:17). Unless they boot these preachers out of their pulpits, they will continue to be prey for wolves in sheep skin.
Similarly, unless faithful pastors rise up or, by God’s mercy, these pastors repent, these congregations will never know the truth but will follow their pastors’ sensuality and errors to ultimate destruction. They will continue to give their money, time, and valuable assets to these men, supposing that God will bless them if they do so, all the while simply giving up what they should not give.
Conclusion
Many churches have lost the power of the gospel in pursuit of wealth and other passions. Like Pope Innocent III, they can no longer say with Peter and Paul, “Rise up and walk,’ because they are too busy trying not to say with them, “Silver and gold, have I none.” If we lose the gospel to pursuits of passion, we lose not only the people who are lost to a false gospel but also Christ.
They have also changed ‘Rise up and walk’ to ‘Rise up and prosper.’ It does not matter anymore that lives are transformed from wickedness to righteous living, as Acts 3:26 says. All that matters is whether one has come out of their poverty or whatever ‘enslavement’ they may find themselves in.
May God help us.