SPEAKING THE
TRUTH IN LOVE – PART I
By: Brother Nsubuga Charles
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Nsubuga Charles |
I was part of Gospel Assembly Church for
more than eight years. Before I joined the GAC, I was a member of the
Protestant Church although my father was a Catholic. So my first encounter
with the “born again” churches was with GAC.
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I am still finding it hard to have better words to explain
the kind of love I was offered by the members and leaders of Gospel Assembly
Church in Uganda. The members of this church are commonly referred to as
Saints. The pastor is referred to as the ”man of God” and those next to him are
called elders. Then the church has those in charge of church order who also
co-ordinate between the congregation and the “man of God” who are called ushers
and usherettes. All Gospel Assembly local churches everywhere in our
fellowship are under one GAC in Des Moines, Iowa U.S.A whose founder was the
late Lloyd L. Goodwin.
This is a church or movement knowing itself as the "Body of Jesus
Christ."
There was an effort on the part of the “man of God”, elders and some deep
founded Saints to let every one of their new converts know that for the very
first time he/she has come face to face with the only move of God and people of
God on this earth. They will let you know that every other thing out side
GAC is Babylon, devilish, satanic and really dead. They will do so with a
lot of corresponding scriptures to every statement they make.
With these people's love in the church, the knowledge of the written word of
God, the smartness and cleanliness, the dressing coordinated together with the
boldness of action and speech, it did not take me long before I concluded that
these are the real people of God. I started opening my heart to receive
the word of God and also to be trained how to be a servant of the most high
God. I attended every service. I was staying with some
brothers and sisters and we used to have an evening alter where there was
reading and expounding of the word of God, singing and praying. I was not
working but I was very contented. I was given some books and tapes
from Lloyd L. Goodwin to read and listen too.
I remember spending a lot of time reading these books also listening to
tapes. I acquired knowledge from these books, tapes and live sermons from
my pastor and elders. I did everything possible to retain this knowledge and
also tried as much as I could to do the application of this knowledge by
preaching to small fellowships and outsiders. By doing so, my pastor
and elders started realizing something good out of me and they started bringing
me more closely to themselves and helping me realize my call in the Ministry
and also introducing me into leadership positions. I remember one time we
were going out for evangelism and
we got some briefing from the man of God, he told us that in reaching out
to evangelize we should know that we as the body of Jesus have the message
for both the saved and the unsaved. Meaning that the saved don't have the
truth, the unsaved don't have both salvation and the truth. That was the
first time I was being introduced into leadership by giving me twelve people
(Saints) to lead into personal evangelism.
We went out preaching and we managed to get some people into church. This
continued for some time until I was one time chosen by the man of God to be
among the ushers and also to lead the whole evangelism ministry in our local
church. This is also when my pastor took me from where we were staying to
his house where I stayed with him until he left the house for me.
I remember when I was given to lead a big group of Saints from my local church
to a convention in Nairobi Kenya. When we came back I was made an assistant
head usher and later on head usher. I served unreserved, with all the
commitment and dedication. I was taught how to challenge churches and
Christians who were not part of GAC.
We were instructed not to have any dealing with any other Christian
organization simply because the scriptures say; "The people shall dwell alone.......come out of her
people.......How can light have fellowship with darkness and that Jesus worked
alone outside all these other organization He found around, and He said.....I
will build my church......
I remember when we were shown the young prophet who was sent
by God and instructed not to have any dealing not even to eat with the old
prophet, and when the prophet disobeyed he died. With many other verses
from the bible and technical powerful statements were made to cut us off from
other denominations and Christian organizations.
We were made to put all out trust and confidence in "men of God"
because if we did so then we were going to succeed as in; II chronicles
20:20B - Believe in the LORD your God, so shall ye be established;
believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper.
I remember reaching a point of rejecting my relatives until my
father died and I did not even go for a funeral service basing my faith on a
part where Jesus' mother and His brethren came to see him and he refused to
move and meet them. Matthew 12:48 - But he answered and said unto him that
told him, who is my mother? And who are my brethren?
Another verse where we find a man who pleaded with Jesus to
let him go and bury his father and Jesus said let the dead go and burry the
dead but you go and preach the Kingdom of God. We were made to trust the
written word of God as interpreted by man of God. Matthew 8:22 - But Jesus said
unto him, Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead.
Today I am about 40 years, but this cult movement has worked in my mind, brain
and spirit. Since I was 19 years, those who remember me do remember that
I was a very creative enterprising and productive person in the church. But I
would like to say that I got no personal gain out of all these. The
church and so-called" men of God" were the ones to benefit.
Some examples:
- Nobody is supposed to be richer than the pastor.
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No body should buy land or a plot and build a
personal house before the man of God And the Church does.
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Brothers were not to dress smarter than the pastor.
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Sisters were not to dress smarter than the pastor's
wife.
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There must be everything good at the pastor's house
before it can ever be at your house.
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Every business to be started with the approval of the
"man of God"
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No personal long journeys without notifying the man
of God. (The man of God reserved the right of stopping or allowing your
journey)
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Any visit to any sister Assembly was to be with an
introduction letter.
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Gifts to one another in church were to be in presence
of church leaders.
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Personal businesses were to be opened to the man of
God for inspection and advice. One was to buy a shirt recommended by the man of
God.
It is so amazing that scriptures were twisted and used to
back up every one of these statements, which made many to believe that for sure
this is the only work of God. I also wonder how we used to enjoy this kind of
strictness in the prison sort of life? I remember trusting the man of God so
much that I could not do any thing without consulting him, and I would only do
what the man of God approved. Little did I know that by now I was slowly
giving up my power of choice and decision and surrendering my brain to somebody
else who will have to do the thinking and making of decisions for me.
We were guided into how to stand up and give a testimony in
church. A testimony was supposed to go with what the church and man of God has done
into your life, until we reached a time and I realized that we were now lifting
and praising the man of God more than Jesus in the church. And when
somebody tried to resist that kind of trend, then he/she was an enemy of the
church. We started receiving messages of fear.
The time came that we were more controlled by fear than of
the love we started with. If any one ever left the church on his own or was
excommunicated, we were not to talk to that person. We were not even to respond
if that person ever tried to greet us.
I had already started up a small business of bread bakery at
least to earn a living as I go on serving God. And for sure God
blessed this business and it provided employment to so many Saints in the
church. It also catered for so many financial needs of the church. We
deprived our selves of the opportunity of developing our selves for the sake of
building the house of God. Any big amount of money to be drawn from my business
was either to expand the business or to sponsor a certain church program or to
be put in one of these accounts
(1)
Free will offering account.
(2)
Tithe account.
(3)
Building fund account.
(4)
Pastor's missionary journeys account etc….
It is difficult to tell you how much we pumped into these accounts,
but one thing I know is that so many saints failed to develop simply because of
these accounts. I know of some saints that sold their cows and other
properties and brought the money to sponsor some church programs latter on they
were excommunicated after having been made poorer than when they came and some
of them developed mental problems.
I would like to say that GAC worked on our mind and got us
to be slaves of men. To the extent that even after we had left GAC we continued
being our own slaves. 1 Cor. 7:23 - You were bought
at a price; do not become slaves of men.
We were bought at a price and we should not again become any
man's slave.
For instance when we came out of G.A.C and started up a
church, there are certain things we held on thinking that they were
right. In fact it was after visiting the Internet web sites that I found
out we still had something we inherited from G.A.C that we cannot biblically
defend. Yet we had made them doctrinal Issues, and they were binding us spiritually,
mentally, economically, and socially. We bound our selves with certain styles
that made us differ from other born again Christians; some of these things have
put us in some kind of isolation.
I don't know what happened somewhere a long the way, because I would not like
to believe that things were like that right from the beginning of G.A.C,
because if it was so then we or some other people in the church could have been
able to detect that there was something wrong around the church.
But I think there was such a nice spirit, very refreshing
and encouraging which gave some of us a very good start and move on in
God. Just like the bible says "they crept in unawares".
But if not so, some body should allow me to think that this was a cult that had
one of the highest way of initiating people into something that was terrible on
earth.
For instance; I remember my first five years in the church that I always felt
very good, happy and real Joyful and inspired whenever it was time to go for a
service. And the convention times were other beautiful moments of inspiration,
exhibiting the spirit of unity, fellowship and oneness of the people of God
from different assemblies. I remember one time in Nairobi convention; it
was the first of its kind to me. The entrance of the spirit and power-packed
men of God into the convention hall, and a sadden start of the praise and
worship of the general assembly followed by the rejoicing in the house of God
moved me so much to the extent that instead of laughing for Joy I just cried
for Joy, and so were some other brethren.
But that was not so during my last 3 years in church. Sunday and some other service days turned
into Judgement days and there would be no alarm if such Judgment was of Justice
and for right and good causes. I remember entering church like somebody already
guilty entering a Judgment Court for a capital offence. Saints had been turned
into spies of and unto one another causing insecurity spirits looming around
the church.
I cannot forget the days when I started noticing that either things have
already gone bad and are going on bad or were soon going bad. When certain
quotations of the bible were brought forward and twisted and followed by
certain interpretations directed into a very unclear direction. Like this day
when a roaring jumping, "man of God," racing up and down the platform
and shouting at the top of his voice, quoted Hosea 1:2; The Lord said to
Hosea "Go, take to yourself a wife of harlotry and have children of
harlotry.” (Now, I am
not against all the Jumping racing and shouting, but against the way a
quotation was handled.) Then a question was put before the assembly as to
whether they believed Hosea was a man of God, and went on to ask; “What would
you do, if you were in the days of Hosea and you caught him one day coming out
a harlot's bedroom fixing his shirt and trouser?” And many other words
followed that kept the whole congregation on tension the whole service. I
could not believe my ears when a statement come out that when "a man of
God" tells you to do something "seemingly" evil just go a head
because God will turn it around for good! In his conclusion, he remarked that
Solomon was quoted to have been a product of an evil act between David and Bath
Sheba who was somebody's wife.
At the end you could not fail to hear some saints say; "This was a
wonderful service." But in my heart I could say this was an indicating
service.
It was not long before we started hearing of possible sexual scandals and
adulteries in Gospel Assembly Church, imposed marriages, moreover from saints
of high credibility. Believe me, that was very dangerous to a people
whose minds, spirits and brain are fixed on that one assembly as the only
regarded true church in the world for God.
With many other strange things that kept on happening in the "Body' so
many people's minds, spirits and thinking were put in a certain state that
needed God's intervention and good counseling.
Like there are a few things that have kept on bothering me
in this small ministry for all these years I have stayed away from GAC.
After receiving many messages that showed us that outside GAC with its leader
being “Apostle Goodwin,” everything is Babylon and devilish, satanic and
habitations of evil spirits. In some of my last days in GAC, the late Brother Thomas
Oundo, Pastor of Nairobi assembly, the one we were told was Leading
Goodwin's work in Africa, used to preach and say that; “no one will leave the
church and survive spiritually economically, socially and even physically”. He
went on to give examples of those who left and are now either dead or are at
the grave's entrance. "As for me”, he said; “if I left the church today, I
would not even bother entering any other church or starting up any other grave
via the bar." I think that was very dangerous for someone's future
spiritual survival.
If we were once in these cult movements and we suffered under their
manipulation power and God helped us, we did not die there, like some of our
brothers and sisters have died there. We have come out believing that we
are delivered and also having a feeling, a conviction and a calling to deliver
others that are still trapped under these cult movements, including their
leaders, then why conceal our identity in fear that they will do harm to
us? I am not condemning my brothers and sisters who have concealed their
identity while declaring the wickedness that was and is still being done under
these cult movements. I just want to encourage them come out openly like
Jesus came out and attacked the dark forces, to deliver you and me from the
grip of Satan without concealing his identity.
I have a faith, a feeling and a belief that if we have discovered these people
to be evil, and that they are not of God as they claim, then they do not have
the power to harm any man or woman outside their jurisdiction. They were only able to do us harm as long as
we continued under their power. But once we came out, the chains were broken.
We crossed far deep beyond the no man's land to directly under the power of
protection of Jesus. He is the only one I know having all authority in
heaven and on earth. These people we want to hear can never have any
power above, equal or anywhere near the power of Jesus.
Their power is limited to just a few who avail themselves to them to make a
mind controlled manipulation of them and to rule them by fear. I can
never forget their evil prophetic utterances against our future should we dare
leave what they call the "body of Christ".
The time came that circumstances dictated that we left their church.
There was nothing to do; they had won our hearts, our minds, our
spirits and our everything. I am sure we were unable to save ourselves
from their power. They were more powerful than their captives, but I do
not know how it happened - God worked out a way and He got us out.
CLICK HERE FOR: PRINTER FRIENDLY
VERSION
CLICK HERE FOR: SPEAKING
THE TRUTH IN LOVE PART II
LETTERS FROM
AND TO STEVEN MAWALE FROM AFRICA