Rick Warren's Dissertation Advisor Leads Network Promoting Uganda Anti-Gay Bill
Wagner is the Convening Apostle in a movement of charismatic "relational networks" which has extended its reach from the United States to Uganda, and worldwide. Under its umbrella of authority are virulently anti-gay apostles in the United States and Uganda including Lou Engle of TheCall, who led thousands of young people in a twelve hour November 1, 2008 stadium rally in support of California's anti-gay marriage Proposition Eight.
The San Diego event closed with Engle, a member of Wagner's inner circle of "prophets," calling for Christian martyrs. Wagner's plans include reorganizing charismatic Christianity under the authority of these apostles and prophets. Both C. Peter Wagner and Rick Warren want to transform the world, and both [1,2] have proclaimed the advent of a second Reformation. Wagner claims the New Apostolic Reformation began in 2001. Rick Warren's "second reformation" is "purpose driven" and powered by his 2005 launch of a global P.E.A.C.E. Plan. In Uganda both visions for societal transformation appear to include the categorical elimination of homosexuality - by any means. Rick Warren wrote his 1993 dissertation for a Doctorate of Ministry from Fuller Theological Seminary under Wagner's supervision, titled New Churches For a New Generation: Church Planting to Reach Baby Boomers.It became the basis for Warren's book The Purpose Driven Church which preceded the blockbuster The Purpose Driven Life. Warren is undoubtedly the most celebrated pupil of C. Peter Wagner, a world renowned and controversial guru of "Church Growth." In C. Peter Wagner's 2008 book "Dominion", he describes the process through which this brand of Christianity can take dominion over government and society, and claims that this can be accomplished within a democratic framework. Wagner clearly states that Rick Warren's global P.E.A.C.E. Plan is an example of "stage one":
"I think the P.E.A.C.E. plan fits most comfortably into Phase One, the "social action" phase of strategies for obeying God's cultural mandate. The Phase Two emphases on strategic-level spiritual warfare and associated activities have not been placed front and center. And crucial to Phase Three, as I am defining it, are such things as apostolic/prophetic government of the Church, the Church (including apostles) in the workplace, the great transfer of wealth, dominion theology and the 7-M mandate."If Rick Warren is "phase one," what do Wagner's stages two and three entail ? The "7-M" or Reclaiming the Seven Mountains mandate encourages believers to take over key societal sectors such as government, and a leading Ugandan spokesperson for the theocratic 7-M paradigm has played a major role organizing and inspiring politicians behind Uganda's Anti Homosexuality legislation. On April 29th, 2009, as the Anti Homosexuality bill was first introduced in the Ugandan parliament, the Deputy Speaker of the House stated, "Let us hear from Hon. Bahati. In connection with the motion he is moving, we have in the gallery Apostle Julius Peter Oyet, Vice-President of the Born Again Federation; Pastor Dr Martin Ssempa of the Family Policy Centre; Stephen Langa, Family Life Network."Ssempa and Langa have received considerable media scrutiny and David Bahati has been exposed by Jeff Sharlet as part of "The Family," but who is Apostle Julius Oyet?
Tied to the top leadership of C. Peter Wagner's New Apostolic Reformation, Julius Oyet organized charismatic prayer breakfast meetings which occurred in April 2009, shortly before the anti-gay bill was introduced, and again in November 2009, when the Ugandan Parliament was expected to vote on the bill. Oyet has served as General Secretary of Uganda's National Federation of Born Again Pentecostal Churches, and in March 2009, "deputized" the new "Presiding Apostle" of the Born Again Faith Federation, an organization representing millions of Ugandans. Transformations In addition to serving as the Uganda national director for Healing Rooms which operate under the authority of one of Wagner's U.S. based Apostles, Oyet's role in C. Peter Wagner's global initiative includes starring in one of the movement's Transformations video "documentaries" that depict cities and even whole nations supposedly transformed to earthly utopias when charismatic Christians take control of societal structures and government. The Transformations videos, produced by George Otis, Jr., teach that supernatural methods such as breaking "demonic strongholds," can quell riots, end war and poverty, eliminate corruption, cure diseases including AIDS, and reverse environmental degradation. The prominent role of female religious leaders in the Transformations videos adds a progressive gloss to this social activism, but the methods portrayed are conceptually medieval, and the agenda is theocratic and Christian supremacist. One Ugandan blogger labels the Transformations ideology as "political Christianity" and an import of the Western world. Scholars who have tracked the export of this distinctly American and charismatic version of demonology to other countries include Paul Gifford, author of African Christianity: Its Public Role, and René Holvast, who wrote the late 2008 Spiritual Mapping in the U.S. and Argentina: A Geography of Fear, a book on the emergence of the unusual methodologies used by Wagner ( Link to PDF link of Rene' Holvast's doctoral dissertation.) Transformations ideology has spawned interrelated organizations across the globe including International Transformation Network, Transformation Africa, and Transform World with branches including in Europe, Indonesia, Brazil, India, and the U.S. The first Transformations video, released in 1999, starred Thomas Muthee, a Kenyan leader in the movement who anointed Sarah Palin at Wasilla Assembly of God in 2005. The 2001 Transformations II, The Glory Spreads, portrayed the impact of supernatural transformation on governments in several locations including Uganda, and featured footage of a January 1, 2000 stadium event initiated by First Lady Janet Museveni which dedicated Uganda to Jesus Christ through a 1,000 year covenant. Transformations II claimed that reductions in the Ugandan AIDS rate were achieved both through abstinence only campaigns and thousands of cases of miraculous faith-healings of HIV. Oyet also claims miracle cures of HIV, which he showcases on his ministry website. According to the Carnegie Council, the abstinence-based Children's' AIDs Fund received PEPFAR funding against the recommendations of the USAID expert committee due to Children's' AIDS Fund's link to the Uganda Youth Forum, a faith based NGO founded by Janet Museveni. Human Rights Watch, Vol. 17, No 4 (A) confirms subcontracting by the Virginia-based Children's AIDs Fund to Museveni's Youth Forum for the production of abstinence only training material with U.S. funds. Human Rights Watch also cites a World magazine article indicating that 3 million dollars of U.S. funding has gone to the Youth Forum. Janet Museveni has publicly compared condom use to theft and murder and has promoted "virgin censuses," leading Human Rights Watch to state that the US funding "may constitute a violation of U.S. law." Apostle John Mulinde, a star of multiple Transformations movies and a "Transformation Associate Partner," reports that he serves on the board of Janet Museveni's Youth Forum. The 2005 Transformations video An Unconventional War, portrayed Julius Oyet as a hero who helped to end the suffering of Northern Uganda's Acholi people. The video shows Oyet, at the request of President Museveni, supernaturally breaking the power of the Lord's Resistance Army. When Oyet destroys the demonic altars which the video claims gave the rebel army supernatural powers, Acholi children the Lord's Resistance Army had kidnapped are miraculously returned to their parents.
But Robert Ochola-Lukwiya presents another view of Oyet in his Ph.D. dissertation on the Acholi Religious Leaders Peace Initiative - a multi-religious initiative that includes Christians and Muslims. Ochola-Lukwiya reports that Oyet almost provoke a riot, during a 2004 revival crusade Oyet held in the Acholi district of Kitgum, when he called for participants to bring forward their rosary beads and condoms to be burned. Beyond its anti-gay animus, C. Peter Wagner's movement is also virulently anti-Catholic. [See Killing Mother Teresa with their Prayers.] The College of Prayer Julius Oyet is head of the Uganda division of the College of Prayer, an Atlanta-based international leadership training ministry led by Fred Hartley III, for which Wagner and his Apostles have frequently taught courses. Oyet presided over a series of 2009 high-profile prayer breakfasts billed as having the participation of dozens of Ugandan MPs and hundreds of Ugandan leaders. An article on the College of Prayer website, titled "COP Comes To Parliament," describes an April 16th, 2009 event during which a College of Prayer team personally prayed and "prophesied" over each of 50 attending Ugandan MPs. On April 18th, at an even larger COP event that was broadcast on Ugandan national television, Julius Oyet urged the 248 attending members of parliament, and business and religious leaders to "seize the moment and forcefully pray |