Hundreds of Christians affiliated with the Church of the Apostles of Christ in Uganda, one of the East African countries, went to Ethiopia for fear of the ‘apocalypse’. Police spokesman Oscar Ogeca told Anadolu Agency (AA) that hundreds of Ugandan Christians went to Ethiopia for fear that the apocalypse would break out and it would affect their region. Ogeca stated that members of the sect believe that life will begin again in post-apocalyptic Ethiopia.
Noting that the members of the aforementioned sect sold all their assets before moving to Ethiopia, Ogeca said, “The residents of the village of Obululum in the east of Uganda went to Ethiopia with the thought that it was the only safe place in the apocalypse.” said. In Uganda, some sects that lead with false information cause many people to lose their lives. Ogeca shared the information that they started an investigation on the subject.
In Uganda, 68-year-old Joseph Kibwetere, formerly the leader of the ‘God’s Ten Commandments Renewal Movement’, was born in 1987 to Hz. Mary and St. He claimed to have heard a conversation between Jesus. As part of the allegations he made in 2000, Kibwetere, 10 CommandmentsHe argued that the world would collapse because of the disobedience. Many members of the sect sold their assets and donated the money to the sect, but later demanded their money back from the sect when the claim that the world would be destroyed on December 31, 1999 did not come true.
What is the Movement to Renew God’s Ten Commandments?
The Renewal Movement of the Ten Commandments of God is a religious movement in southwestern Uganda founded by Credonia Mwerinde and Joseph Kibweteere. The movement was founded in 1989 after the Virgin Mary claimed to have seen visions and consists of its five main leaders, Joseph Kibweteere, Joseph Kasapurari, John Kamagara, Dominic Kataribabo, and Credonia Mwerinde.
In early 2000, followers of the movement died in a series of fires, poisonings and murders. This event was designated as a mass murder by the group’s leaders and is thought to have been carried out after the doomsday predictions did not come true. News sources such as BBC News and The New York Times referred to the Restoration of God’s Ten Commandments Movement as a doomsday cult in their reporting on this event.
While the teachings and goals of the Movement to Restore God’s Ten Commandments are based on some Christian teachings, the interpretations and emphases made by the movement’s leaders are quite different. The group believed that the apocalypse was imminent, and therefore they taught that people should strictly obey the Ten Commandments. They also taught that their leader communicated with the Virgin Mary and that she had a special role.
The leaders of the movement had set some strict rules to encourage their followers to strictly follow orders. For example, speaking for fear of violating the Ninth Commandment was forbidden, and communication was sometimes only done in sign language. The group also taught regular fasting, eating only one meal on Friday and Monday, and prohibiting sexual activities.
The leaders of the movement announced that the apocalypse would take place on December 31, 1999. The leaders of the movement saw themselves as a ship of righteousness in a sea of immorality and had developed a hierarchy of visionaries led by Mwerinde. The reasons that eventually led to the group’s mass suicide, which resulted in a fire and a series of poisonings and murders, were not fully understood. However, it turned out that the leaders were planning a mass murder after their apocalyptic predictions did not come true.
The fact that Uganda’s recent history is fraught with political and social turmoil and the established Church beset by scandals that create dissatisfaction has led many to question the authority of traditional religious structures. In this period, the emergence of charismatic leaders who declared themselves the messiah was inevitable. Groups such as the Movement to Restore God’s Ten Commandments have emerged to fill this void and meet people’s needs. The people involved in this movement acted in good faith as a protest against the scandals of the Church and the government’s persecution.
