Every Refuge has its price: My visit to the Prophet Mbonye- led Fellowship of Remnants

I'm not really the kind of guy that's spontaneous. Many a companion has tried to get me to do things spur of the moment and had their enthusiasm slowly drained as I whipped out my calendar to see if I could spare the time for their aside. Want to go to the bar? -Better give me a day's notice. Want to have lunch today?Better shoot me a text before 8am. Want to come over to my place? Send an owl with a handwritten letter in triplicate at least 4 business days ahead!

I'm just the type of person who generally knows what I'll be doing days in advance.

It was therefore rather out of the ordinary for me to suddenly think one Monday afternoon - "Hey why don't I just go see what is going on at the Mbonye thing? " I texted my friend and asked her if she'd want to go with me but true to adult life-arranging a time that worked for us both was a little difficult. But this played right into my wheelhouse. We finally set a date and I was excited.

In the days that followed, I tried to query my sudden urge to go see what was going on at the Zoe grounds where the remnants meet every Tuesday for fellowship.

Part of me thought I just wanted to have a laugh because of all the wacky things I'd heard about the fellowship and the prophecies of this sudden gospel superstar which include his Oscar predictions. But that's not really something that would take me away from my hard-earned time alone at home on a school night. No.

It's the fact that so many people I know or have worked with or have seen around are enamored with the man and the fellowship. Having been a Christian before, I know what the fervor can be but this had a special ting to it.

The event itself

Hosted at the KCAA grounds, called Zoe grounds. It felt like I was headed to blankets and wine event. Instead of high hemlines and polo shirts, were, well, high hemlines and polo shirts but their wearers carrying bibles instead of four cousins wine. The choir and band were in full swing playing a mix of old worship standards with emphasis on choruses and refrains that can't help but get you feeling some type of way.

On each of the seats was a pledge card and envelope to place it in. The smell of the roasted meat on sale wafting in the open air and the sound of kids running around playing lent a nice vibe to the whole event.






The Testimonies
In the midst of the music, are televised pre-taped testimonies as slickly done and produced as anything on NTV. This time around, the testimonies followed from the point of contact fellowship that had happened a week or so prior. People brought items of clothing, cheques or other items that were meant to be a point of contact between them, or the people they had come with a request for, and the Prophet

One young man had an issue of keloids, but after being prophesied over by the Prophet, he was completely healed he said. He was also blessed with a new job and according to the prophecy, his name would be famous around the world. Soon after a prophecy was uttered over his life- he got a job making a South Korean documentary and his name was listed! Amazing!

Another testimony was about a young lady who had lost her job and was to quote her, "Looking to the God of my father Prophet Elvis Mbonye for a supernatural breakthrough to have rent for the next 6 months". According to her testimony, not 24 hours after point of contact, her landlord called and asked her to be the custodian over his ouses as he would be heading back to the USA. She was offered a house rent-free for 3 years as part of the benefits of the job! The people went absolutely wild. A few people were in tears even.

The biggest testimony wasn't from a person but from the media team in a prepared video that spoke to a prophecy made by the Prophet concerning the firing of Gen Tumukunde and Gen Kale Kaiyhura , men who were at loggerheads as security minister and inspector general of police back till their dismissal back in 2018 when the Prophet said that people of the same house would be against each other. Apparently, this was clearly about this specific breakdown and not say, the millions of conflicts around the world.

As far as prophecies go, it's quite telling that it took a nearly 10-minute video to explain something that was "clear".

Then offertory time. I could not in good conscience give something but there was no declaration of the amount collected as I'm accustomed to from my All Saints days. Perhaps at the next meeting?




image courtesy of sqoop.co.ug

Enter the man of the hour

After the testimonies, the choir and band kick it back into high gear play some great tunes, and create an atmosphere of expectation. And on the screen, we see the gates opening up that lead to the ground and a white rover comes through with "Elvis 1" plates. It looks like the Elvis 2 Range Rover was left at home this particular day.

Prophet Elvis comes on stage in a tailored suit and flashy watch looking every bit the man on whom the favor of the Lord sits. He leads worship for a while in a key only the Lord can catch.

Stopping to walk into the crowd for a bit. Seeming to be searching from among the sea of faces a few people whom he could talk to and have their lives changed. Many churches do that actually, using music and building anticipation for something huge about to happen. And the people know their part in this is to be hyped.

To be ready.

To expect a miracle

And Mbonye's charisma was through the roof. Weaving through scripture all the while hitting on three main points

1. Give up the earthly mindset of poverty and relying on earthly things, and expect supernatural favor

2. Supernatural favor comes through miracles, in health but mostly in wealth

3. The world will call you crazy and mock you for following a man, but you are the remnant of GOD.








The last hour or so was some type of cold reading in which the Prophet would say he hears a name starting with the letter a and whose birthday is in February and people would run to the front to receive their word and blessing.

My friend and I ended up leaving at this point because as things went on, we began talking about how, as much as this seemed like the most cynical setup of a man with slick promoting taking advantage of people's faith and desperation, we wondered, well...don't we have our own places of refuge? Our own irrational beliefs that have been cosigned by the larger society?

Were we being paternalistic and condescending to say what people ought to be doing and that they were being gullible and taken advantage of by a man and a ministry selling an invisible product in the sky and promising material returns? Not just glories in heaven?





Aerial shot courtesy of Apostle Mbonye's Facebook page


Hmph.

I took a few days to think about it and I am quite skeptical and angry about just the blatant tricks that are as old as time being employed to get people to pay up for these promises, I do see that this is a symptom of a bigger issue in our land. The not-so-quiet desperation of people who feel they have no choice but to lean on the supernatural for assistance. With a government that seems to forget them and an economy that offers most people very little, and for even, the so-called middle class- the illusion of security doesn't hold.

It's easy to be dismissive but I think we ought to think carefully about the state of a nation in which people will rely on the supernatural because all else has failed them. As Marx called it , the opium OF the masses- it is a genuine cry, a need for relief in this painful world.

So if anything, I'll encourage you to go see this place for yourselves, speak to the people you care about who go trust me shaming and name-calling only make the resolve and feeling of being set apart stronger- and listen.

Listen to what their needs are and how they feel about this place. This man they call father fulfills it.

Then hope to God you can show them that every refuge has its price and some are clearly overpriced.