Our theme for this year’s Easter is “Jesus is risen to empower me.”
Paul says in his letter to the Galatian Christians, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself up for me.” (Gal 2.20-21)
When Christ lives in you, you receive supernatural empowerment from Jesus’ resurrection. He is alive in you and imparting to you His power – the same power that defeated death.
I want to speak to you today as a Father in God, and I want to speak about three things:
1. First, the matter of corruption: Corruption is a strong force, but it is not stronger than death…and Jesus has defeated death. More than that, He has risen to empower us to defeat the demon of corruption. If we really feared this God who rose from the dead to empower us, we would not steal things that do not belong to us. For any of you who have taken anything that is not yours, I call upon you to return it and top-up with something extra. It does not have to be Zaccheus’ four times the amount. However, do top-up something.
2. The second matter is the challenge of sexual immorality in our country. It is not only homosexuality that is challenging us, but also, heterosexual immorality – fornication, defilement, rape and adultery are attacking our families, our souls, and our country.
Homosexuality is currently a challenge because it is being forced on us by outside, foreign actors against our will, against our culture, and against our religious beliefs. Homosexuality is already illegal in Uganda and we appreciate Parliament in upholding that position. There is no moral equivalence between LGBTQ relationships and lifelong, heterosexual, monogamous marriage. Those countries that legalized homosexuality a long time ago are now faced with the problem of “negative population growth.” Negative population growth leads to the collapse of countries, cultures, civilizations, and economies. I urge the President to assent to the Anti-Homosexuality Bill and ensure that Uganda does not set a legal precedent that will be difficult to overcome in the future.
We are also dealing with an internal pressure of our own rampant sexual indiscipline. Many of the people loudly protesting against homosexuality are quietly fornicating or betraying their spouse through Gender-Based Violence, adultery, or defiling their own children. Simply opposing the foreign imposition of homosexuality is not enough. We must also examine our own hearts and sexual greed.
For those who have been caught up in the lies of homosexuality, fornication, and adultery, God wants to set you free from the bondage of those lies. Know that this Easter, Jesus is risen to empower you to be free from those lies and from those sins. It is possible to have that freedom because Jesus has given us the victory.
3. The third thing I want to address as a Father in God is the transformation of our minds. Too many of us are stuck in the mindset of poverty, which makes us believe that we have to take money from LGBTQ groups because we can’t manage without it. That’s a lie. The poverty mindset has meant many people now worship at the altar of mammon…the altar of money. The Bible is very clear: “You cannot serve God and mammon.” You cannot serve God and money.
The international donor community has threatened to withdraw funding if Uganda exercises its sovereign right to regulate our country according to God’s created order of male and female, united in marriage, for their mutual support and the procreation of children. If they follow through on that threat, then we will need empowered Ugandans through the resurrection power of Jesus to overcome the poverty mindset and develop our country. For God and my country.
We send Easter greetings to the President of Uganda, H.E. Yoweri Kaguta Museveni and his dear wife, Mama Janet, to all Members of Parliament and local governments, and to the members of the Judiciary. I also greet all the Bishops and their wives, the Clergy, Lay Readers, and Christians of the Church of Uganda. Finally, I send my sincere greetings, along with prayers for a blessed Holy Week and glorious Easter for our Roman Catholic, Orthodox and Pentecostal brethren, and to all those who have put their trust and faith in the crucified and risen Lord Jesus Christ.
This Easter, as families and as a country, may we all know that Jesus is risen to empower us, especially to empower us to overcome corruption; to empower us to overcome sexual immorality in all its forms; and to empower us to overcome the poverty mindset.
A blessed Easter to you all!
The Most Rev Dr Stephen Samuel Kaziimba Mugalu
Archbishop of Church of Uganda
