By Michael Woira
In October 2020, I lost not only a friend, but also a mentor and a boss. Five years have now passed since the late Col. Shaban Bantariza departed from this world, yet the lessons he imparted and the wisdom he shared remain as relevant today as ever.
I had the privilege of spending countless hours with him during our travels, in his office, and on the many occasions when he delivered ideological lectures across the country. Those moments were more than ordinary conversations, they were opportunities to learn from a man whose depth of thought, patriotism, and commitment to public service shaped the lives of many.
On one such occasion, I engaged him on an issue that has stayed with me ever since. His response left me with several profound lessons, a few of which I would like to share in remembrance of his enduring legacy.
Comrades, when Jesus Christ, the earthly son of Jewish peasants Mary and carpenter joseph comes again from the place we are taught and call heaven, you can be sure there will be stampede, chaos and commotion. Why? Because, the last time he was here, he caused “instability” in the socio-political and religious status quo,by not only making miracles of raising the dead, making the blind see, the lame walked but more seriously, he told off the representatives of the Roman Emperor, that he, Christ ,the son of man, was not only a son of God, but One with God. Incomprehensible and unacceptable blasphemy! He went ahead to even claim that he was KING what?, He did not only blaspheme, but with political intent to overthrow the Roman Empire, starting with the kingdom of Judea as king of the Jews.
There was no question about Jesus’ deliberate and conscious crime, and no witness needed, since he had the guts to repeat his crime in front of King Pontius Pilate and the chief judge caephus. At that time, the religious establishment had what is now known as the Old Testament of the prophets of old, then the covenants and the Ten commandments that God passed to Moses on the mountain, which Moses is now known to have been the pioneer liberator of the Jews from slavery in Egypt symbolizing the mission of Christ who would come to liberate God’s people from slavery to evil and sin captured in earthly attractions, troubles and tribulations.
So, what was the price of Christ’s crime?
Too grave for any other sentence other than crucifixion. And after that? The son of man and son of God rose from the dead and promised to return soon, and the signs would be more than localized earthquakes and tsunamis worse than tornados and typhoons with bones of the dead regaining their bodies and probably, in these most blinding flood light, shocking lightening’s, we would all be thrown into hell or heaven, both of which our limited human mind cant accurately define or describe since hell and heaven are super natural architectures according to what we read. So, what will cause the new Apocalypse when this son of both God and man comes back for us?
Number one on the list is that Jesus Christ did not leave any religion on earth in his name, did not register any religion or organization called Catholicism, Protestantism, Presbyterianism; He was circumcised, but not a moslem,just like all Jews.So,Roman Catholics ,Anglican Protestants,Presibetereans,American Pentecostals with all their innumerable churches, and all these religious factions which have taken over what Jesus Christ firmly left for not only his Apostles and disciples ,but all humanity.
Faith in the Christ that overturned tables and whipped vendors from the temple; the Christ that rebuked Pharisees and called them pigs and hypocrites for fasting as a show to impress, when he comes, you can be sure he will be harsher than then, because at least then , believers were following the imperfect law of Moses that preached “an eye for an eye “. Jesus Christ performed miracles to strengthen the wavering faith of his disciples and believers.
Today, miracles have been a business, a trade! In our various churches, an electronic preaching, street preachers, all promise miracles, but not free of charge! Just like it was in the 16 century before Martin Luther protested the sell of “indulgences “by some authorities of the then one, universal, catholic church, and gave birth to what we now have as the “Reformed churches”!. So, miracles, which can now be procured, have replaced our faith and honest prayer to our makers in Heaven.
The bible, which is a compact library, has become a document interpretable by anyone who can read and write, whether English or other languages, and anyone today, on the street corner is a street preacher of the “word of God”, on several streets we find several platforms with pastors debating with sheiks on who gave birth to Jesus, who will go to heaven, is heaven even in existence, that’s how far we have come. This would be all right if the bible had one clear message by all, For all! But the bible, as i know it, exists as a theology, which defines our interpersonal relationships with God, individually and collectively. I am not a theologist like some people I know but I know this same bible also, exists as a literature, which is for the human words, in human language, that serve as the packaging material for the theology.
As if this does not complicate matters enough, the bible also has the human, social culture as part of its context. To this effect, not any literate man or woman has the capacity and competence to understand and interpret the bible to be able to decipher and contextualize every verse, every chapter and every book of the 72 books from Genesis to Revelations, such that then we can all be theological interpreters for the faithful flock of Christ.
Any wonder therefore, that we are seeing people starting up churches, based on personal interpretation of the bible? Today, anyone can become a preacher on the street, graduate into a pastor, start up a tarpaulin church structure, gather faithful’s, use some mysterious powers to make some miracles, and before you blink twice, you have all sorts of people heading there to “get healed “get a wife or husband, get a flourishing business, mysteriously gets money to build a house “etc. etc.
All this could be ok, in the propagation of the faith, but Christ told his disciples to” beware” because, as he stated, even the devil can make miracles, and claim to be making them in Christ’s name! Have you heard of the upsurge of cults, including the recent ILLUMINATTIS? Have you heard about unending denominations, each fighting the other competing for followers, mudslinging and accusing each other of all sorts of crime and sins?
If Jesus came today, to bring the faithful back to the faith in the Holy Trinity of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, with the current theological liberalism and falsehood, what would he do to bring us all back on track? It could be anything but not less than an Apocalypse, which is Why, some people often come up to prophesy the bitter End of the World, and “soon “as they claim!.
Brethren, I do not claim to have all the answers. I simply share these thoughts in faith and hope that we can all strive to be better.
Let us never do evil in the name of God. He never called us to hate one another, pull others down, or celebrate their failures. If God wishes to judge anyone, He has the power to do so. Our calling is to love, encourage, forgive, and wish one another well.
As the world continues to witness painful conflicts, including the wars between Iran and Israel, may we choose peace over division and unity over hatred.
May the lessons of the late Col. Shaban Bantariza continue to inspire us, and may his soul rest in eternal peace.
Patriotic Ugandan
