Book - "Wizard of the Nile"

By Anthony:

I would like to recommend that you read the book I just finished called, "The Wizard of the Nile: The Hunt for Africa's Most Wanted," by Matthew Green.  It is about a journalist who goes to Uganda and tries to get a meeting with Joseph Kony, the leader of the Lord's Resistance Army, or LRA, which terrorized Northern Uganda and parts of Sudan for decades, fighting against the Ugandan government, and committing numerous atrocities against civilians.

If you want to know more about the recent political situation in Uganda, or more about the LRA, then this is a book for you.  By reading the book, you will also get some sense about what Ugandan life is like, and what kinds of interesting tribes and people there are in Uganda.

In the book the author gives nice summaries of the history of the region, after doing quite a bit of careful research and interviewing many people.  I knew a fair amount about Uganda already, but I learned a lot that I didn't know. 

The author gives a more realistic picture than we are used to, of Joseph Kony, the current Ugandan government, as well as the role of the United States in the conflict.  He doesn't defend Kony, as Kony is certainly responsible for thousands of child abductions and countless atrocities.  But he does explain Kony's role in the political situation, and shows us he is more than just a demon possessed madman (as we like to think of him, though he may indeed be that too).

Here are a couple things that I found interesting.  We tend to think of the LRA as this rag-tag group of children with AK-47s thrust into their hands running around maybe strung out on drugs.  But as interviews with actual child soldiers in this book make clear, the LRA was a pretty sophisticated fighting machine, with divisions and tactics, modern weaponry, intelligence officers, and strategy.  They trained and got themselves ready to fight.  And the children and other soldiers really gained a sense of camaraderie with each other, in the same way that I think modern soldiers today become very close during combat. 

I also learned that there was at least some aspect of really wanting to rebel against the government in the agenda of the LRA.  It was not just about randomly committing atrocities.  They had some reasons that made good sense as to why they were fighting against the government.  And I learned a lot about Uganda's current president.  It was troubling to see that some of the cultural/political realities that started this conflict are in some ways still there.  Uganda is completely at peace right now, and the LRA is out of Uganda, but that doesn't mean everyone is happy with the current system.

What was further really troubling to hear was about how the Ugandan government with help from Western aid organizations and governments just put Northern Ugandans in camps whether they wanted to or not, for their own safety.  And their lives in the camps for years and years ended up giving them far worse suffering and a far greater death toll, than they may have faced if they had been allowed to stay on their homelands.  Life in the camps was horrible and full of disease and squalor.

Sometimes the book seems more like a travel adventure book than a really good analysis of the situation, but I still found it helpful.  I really appreciated his descriptions of former child soldiers, as well as reporting on his interviews with them.  I didn't think the book was necessarily excellently written, but it is definitely worth a read, and it is easy to read, especially if you want a good starting point at understanding the LRA in Uganda.

Evangelism is Not Offensive

By Anthony:

Evangelism in our culture is normally seen to be offensive and intolerant.  To tell someone that they need Jesus or need forgiveness for their sins, or shouldn't be living a life without God is very politically incorrect.  Unfortunately I think many Christians are buying into this lie.  I want to argue in this post that evangelism is not at all offensive and intolerant, though some people may indeed be offended by it.  It is actually a loving and caring thing to do.  Even for people who believe the Christian faith is false, or who believe that God does not exist should still see evangelism from Christians as a loving action.   Here are a couple of videos that show my point.  I thank my brother for pointing them out to me.  First, a funny video from the show Seinfeld.

In this clip, Elaine's boyfriend is certainly not a model Christian.  His faith seems pretty shallow.  However, Elaine herself points out to us the true nature of evangelism, that it is a loving and caring action.  Elaine is most upset in the show, not that her boyfriend is a Christian, (though she doesn't like that either), but that he doesn't care enough about her to try to get her to become a Christian.  He seems to not care at all that she is going to Hell, since he doesn't try to talk to her about his faith.  Elaine remains firm in her rejection of the Christian faith, and yet she is still greatly bothered by his lack of love and evangelism.  Even this secular television show points out to us that our culture's notion of evangelism being offensive is based on false logic.   If we really believe what we claim to believe, we should be sharing our faith with others because we care about them.  If we don't, we might seem less offensive, but actually we are callous and uncaring towards non-Christians.

Next, an atheist named Penn Jillette argues the same point.  Although he is an atheist, he sees the true logical and loving nature of evangelism, and argues that all religious people should proselytize.  

People should want to be evangelized to by Christians, (even if they are convinced that God does not exist), because that shows that Christians care about them.  At the very least, people should expect Christians to evangelize to them.  If we don't share our faith, it makes people think our beliefs are a bunch of nonsense that even we don't really believe.  Sharing our faith with someone is not intolerant.  Real tolerance means respecting people and allowing them to believe differently.   Tolerance does not mean we shouldn't try to influence other people.

I can't guarantee that it won't offend someone if you tell them about Jesus, but it shouldn't offend them.   Evangelism is loving.  We were commanded to love our neighbor, and sharing our faith is the greatest application of loving our neighbor.  We should care about whether they have eternal life or not.  If what we believe is true, then sharing our faith is the most loving thing we can do.  It is a beautiful thing to do.  It is sharing good news, not bad news.

Romans 10:9-15
⁹ If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰ For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. ¹¹ As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.” ¹² For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, ¹³ for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
¹⁴ How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? ¹⁵ And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”

Timothy Leadership Training Part 1

By Anthony:

I have just completed my first of three weeks of Timothy Leadership Training.  Here is a summary of what it is, taken from their website.

"TLTI" stands for Timothy Leadership Training Institute, an organization that took root in Africa in the 1990's and has since developed rapidly throughout the world. The mission of Timothy Leadership Training Institute is to train pastors, evangelists and lay leaders, enabling them to build viable and healthy congregations and communities in the spirit of 2 Timothy 2:2, "Entrust what you have heard from me to those who will be qualified to teach others." TLT goals include the growth of faith, generosity and productive work accounted for through regular reporting.

I took the first of three parts of this training last week in Houston and stayed with my cousin Andy and his family.   He is a Christian Reformed pastor here.  It was great to see them, but unfortunately I still had to drive a few hours each day of the training.  A Japanese seminary student, Keisuke, also stayed with them and we drove together.   We had some crazy adventures navigating the highways of Houston and got lost a fair number of times.  Here is a picture of us.

The training itself was good and is from a Reformed biblical perspective.  I am very excited to utilize this training in Uganda.  There have already been some TLT trainings in Uganda, but there is plenty more to do.  There are still many untrained pastors with no theological education.  And TLT is also really good for training up lay church leaders.

The curriculum is very simple, so there wasn't really much new for me.  But almost the whole time, you read passages of Scripture, so it was a great week of digging into God's Word.   The curriculum is centered around making concrete action plans to carry out what God's Word teaches, so even though all the passages were familiar, taking this training gave me a personal push to practically do the things God says.  The entire training consists of 7 manuals of about 14 lessons each, which can be taught very flexibly in whatever time arrangement one sees fit, whether teaching a couple manuals in an intensive week, or teaching one manual over several months of weekly meetings.  The manuals are: 1. Caring for God's people, 2. Stewardship, 3. Biblical Preaching, 4. Teaching the Christian Faith, 5. Serving God in Work and Worship, 6. Overcoming Violence in the Family, and 7. God's Plan for Sustainable Development. 

The style of learning is very interactive.  It is not one person lecturing.  Together the group reads Scripture and discusses.  But it doesn't have the subjective feel of "what does this mean to you?"  It has the feel of, "this is what God's Word says, so let's discuss how to carry out this clear teaching of God's Word."  If you were to glance at this material, you probably would not think to use it in a typical North American church.  But although simple, the material has a way of really getting you to change things in your life to carry out what God says, and I could see this material being helpful in churches here.  Below are some pictures of the small TLT group I worked with this past week.  We were the ones doing manuals 1 and 2.

We had a very international group of people at this training.  I am amazed hearing about the ways God is using TLT in various countries around the world.  The transformation that it brings in churches is hard to believe.  The material doesn't seem really incredible when you look at it, but God is sure using it in big ways.  Perhaps its simplicity is why it works so well.   I was also humbled hearing the stories of what local pastors are doing around the world.  They put in double the hours I do, with a tenth of the resources I have, and they do it for practically no money.  Their sacrifices are incredible.  And most of their stories we probably won't hear about until we are in Heaven.  Here is a picture of our larger group, praying for each person and their action plans.

I think TLT will be very helpful for the Ugandan pastors I know.  The goal is to teach them so that they can teach others.  And that can take place relatively quickly.  Once I complete all 3 weeks of TLT, I will be a master trainer.  The goal is to have a group of Uganda pastors who are master trainers (having completed all 7 manuals) who can go out and keep the teaching spreading.  I'll write more about Timothy Leadership Training as the year goes on.  I'll have my next training in June.  I would guess that TLT will be between 1/3 and 1/5 of the work that I will be doing in Uganda.  I'll figure exactly how much later when I am there.

The Paralysis of too much freedom

By Anthony:

I've reflected on this before, that is the problem of having too much freedom and choice.  You may remember reading my other post called - "Freedom in Choice?"  Read it again if you forgot about it :)

Recently a friend referred me to a TED talk that was on this same theme, called "The Paradox of Choice."  Watch it here.  It's really good, I highly recommend it.  He of course affirms that some choice is good.  Having no freedom or very limited freedom is not good.  But he makes the argument, convincingly, that too much choice actually causes us to freeze up in our decision making, and can actually reduce our satisfaction and happiness in life.  I think all of us experience this, as he shows with numerous examples, and yet we don't seem to realize it, and don't change our life practices in order to have more satisfaction.

For some of us, this might be a hard concept to understand.  Living in another country for a while without a lot of the conveniences you are used to is one way to help you to understand having more satisfaction and more "freedom" of a sort, even when having less, or having less choices.  It would probably also work to purposely limit yourself to less choices, and less things.

This is something that I learned while we lived in Uganda, and perhaps one of the reasons I miss living there so much.  If you asked me if I wanted to have intermittent power, I'd say no.  If you asked me if I wanted to have a library with only a few books, I'd probably say no.  If you asked me if I wanted to be limited to only watching the movies that I own, I'd probably say no.  If you asked me if I wanted to be limited to the food I could purchase at a Ugandan market, and go without my favorite cereals and chips, I'd probably say no.  And I could add many similar questions to this.  But when you add all of these things together, it's make for a simpler life, a life less confusing and complicated, a life with less time spent on making choices, and a more exciting satisfying life.  It also makes for a life, I would argue, in which you appreciate the things you do have much more.  It made the movies and books I owned much more special and treasured and I got more use out of them. 










It made it much more exciting to find a favorite food at the supermarket.  I just about guarantee you that I had more fun coming back from a shopping trip in Uganda after finding a bag of Doritos, than you usually do going to the grocery store buying whatever you want every time.  You came home with exactly what food you wanted (or thought you wanted after looking at 100 choices), but I came home feeling excited and grateful for that bag of chips, and you might have felt nothing especially positive.  Makes you wonder, doesn't it?  Is our plethora of choices at the supermarket really making us better off?

I'm not trying to judge all of you.  I am just like you.  It is very hard to have this satisfaction and simple life in the United States.  Even after being in Uganda, I fell back into the same life patterns while living here.  It makes me wonder if we have to stop worshiping the idol of freedom and choice, and purposely give ourselves some more limits, less choices, and more self-control.  I wonder if it is sinful for us to agonize over life choices (especially simple choices like what bag of chips to buy), when our concerns should be on more important things.   Further, I think it is very hard to cultivate the biblical virtue of gratitude when you always have so much choice.  With simplicity and less choice, it is easy to be grateful for what you have, and occasionally really grateful for unexpected circumstances like a week with no power outages.  But if you always have everything you want, and there is no special occasion for gratitude, there might tend to be only occasions for complaint when we don't get what we want.

This is a really interesting topic to me as I've pondered ways to limit myself in order to live for God more, make my life less complicated, and enjoy life more.  If you have any thoughts on this, or have some contrary points that I should keep in mind, please comment below.  I like a healthy debate :)