At the tail-end of January this year Uganda was cast in the gaze of international spotlight, but not for the usual reasons.
To the utter shock of many, International Criminal Court justice Julia Sebutinde had voted against South Africa in its “genocide” case against Israel’s continued bombardment of Gaza. Observers thought it was an open and shut case, in which Israel would be unanimously condemned and brought to book.
The unexpected ruling rocked many. They turned their artillery on Justice Sebutinde and Uganda caught the stray bullets forcing the Kampala government to distance itself from the ruling. But this was not exactly news to some. Likewise, many global news making incidents this year were foretold including; the floods that threatened to drowned entire villages in Kenya, compounded by hitherto unforeseen hailstorms in certain areas.
The death of Russia’s main opposition figure Alexei Navalny, the sudden propping of his wife to steer the ship rallied on by the Western powers that choreographically took turns to condemn Vladimir Putin for his alleged hand in the incident.
The daring but shambolic attempted coup in DR Congo, the unexpected release of the internationally acclaimed journalist Julian Assange, the change in UK government, the rise of Kamala Harris to the helm of the Democratic Party and the split in the National Unity Platform pitting the former Leader of Opposition in parliament, Mathias Mpuuga, against the party president Robert Kyagulanyi.
Through all these global events, Prophet Elvis Mbonye is the common thread, yet he should never be treated as common. What then should be our necessary response to what we have heard and seen of him?
An ancient story is told of a man so wise that his accomplishments attracted global attention. He, literary, was a tourist attraction. The noble and the ilk sought audience with him to behold his genius. From near and far, people trudged bearing an array of assorted gifts that broke camels’ backs.
Among the many was a renowned and honorable lady whose stature, perhaps attracted the attention of fellow nobles. Yet in comparison to the man, she was about to encounter, she lay down her own crown. Upon her encounter, she exclaimed thus, “Everything I heard in my country about your achievements and wisdom is true!
I didn’t believe what was said until I arrived here and saw it with my own eyes. In fact, I had not heard the half of it! Your wisdom and prosperity are far beyond what I was told. How happy your people must be! What a privilege for your officials to stand here day after day, listening to your wisdom!”
In return for her extravagant display of honour towards the wise man, the noble woman received whatever she asked for, including all the customary gifts, before she and all her attendants embarked on the return journey. A leader herself overlooking an empire, the noble lady did not consider it belittling to acknowledge another leader whose exploits dwarfed her own.
She rather sought a seat at his feet peradventure she would catch the aura and operate at the same frequency as well, to the benefit of her subjects. As a nation, this noble woman teaches us how we ought to relate with Prophet Mbonye whose track record in peering into the past and future, across varying sectors, irrespective of geographical location, and bringing with him supernatural guidance, is unmatched.
In fact, had the lady lived in our day, chances are high, she would have long paid homage to the Prophet. But to a generation that scoffs at and sacrifices ancient wisdom on the altar of modernity, such examples as seen of the noble lady, are often trodden underfoot to our own peril. Professing to be wiser, we have ended up foolish.
In regard to honour, the prophet thus admonished during the 2018 celebrations; “This that you have chosen to participate in, it is the secret of God for this phase. There are things that are chief among the secrets of God and when you miss them, you almost miss the whole point to what God is doing.”
Citing from Matthew 21:42 that reveals the stone that was rejected by the builders yet turned out to be the chief cornerstone, the Prophet stated that though primarily the scripture talks about the Lord, in principle it talks about what He is doing. He then cautioned today’s builders (ministers of the gospel) to be wary not to fulfill the scripture by rejecting the chief cornerstone in the building of the latter church.
“There are secrets from God which He reveals but when the church is not prepared to align themselves accordingly, then they miss the whole point of building this latter-day house. In this day and age, the Spirit of God has started a work of restoring the reverence of His anointed ones. And that stone, if the builders reject it and go along with what they so desire they will miss it,” he warmed.
He further explained that; “The secret of impartation is going to be the most prominent of all the workings of the Holy Spirit in our day. In other words, when He brings a man or woman in your midst, He will expect you to learn that secret of impartation that will enable you to instantly catch the levels that that man is on. That your life may in an instant be on a level where it may have taken you years and years of cultivation. Things are just given to you because you recognize the glory of God upon a man.”
Yet for all the glorious things spoken about the secret of impartation, it too is received through another secret; the secret of honouring those that God sends to us. Hence honour in itself is not the end, but a means to impartation, the chief cornerstone in the ongoing building of the latter church.
The author is a concerned citizen