A Message from a President to the Youth of His Nation

While visiting in Uganda recently on a mission trip, I picked up a local newspaper called “New Vision.” Uganda’s president is Mr. Yoweri Museveni. Under the heading “Museveni Cautions Youth Against Loose Life“, the following was printed:         “President Yoweri Museveni has cautioned the youth against sexual promiscuity, instead exhorting them to make “the fear of God” a cornerstone of their journey through life.         Museveni said many vices like smoking, binge drinking and “living a loose life“, which tend to ruin many youths, with some dying well before time, can be avoided by leading a life of prayer.         Drawing examples from his own life, a jovial Museveni told hundreds of youths during the Scripture Union golden jubilee celebration on Friday how fruitful the fear of God can be to one’s life.         Reminiscing about his formative years at Ntare School, where he was a chairperson of the Scripture Union, Museveni extolled the organization for shaping his character and helping him avoid taking on vices that have ruined and enslaved many.         The President likened the fear of God to “an internal Policeman who restrains you from doing evil like greed, selfishness and harming others.”         “I am so grateful that I associated myself with Scripture Union, which I joined in 1961,” the President said as he admonished the youth to lead “purposeful lives” and avoid “sampling sex” until they get married upon completion of their studies.         “I have no time for alcohol,” Museveni said in reference to vices likely to be picked up by purposeless youth, including smoking that he labeled as “burning one’s lungs.”         Drawing parallels between drunkenness and slipping into a coma, Museveni mused: “Why do I budget to get into a coma every day?”         He urged his young audience to avoid the pitfall of misinterpreting the Bible, which has bred laziness and a section of people producing many children they are incapable of caring for.         “The birds in the air neither sow nor reap, but God cares for them.” Musevenin said, quoting a verse in the Bible that highlights God’s enduring mercy, adding: “Life is all about work and mastering technology to subdue the earth.”         The National Chairman of Born Again Pentecostal Churches in Uganda, Joshua Lwere, lauded the Scripture Union for 㦞 years of shaping lives of young people.” “The more people have the fear of God in their lives, the fewer criminals we are likely to deal with in society“, Lwere explained.” (New Vision Newspaper, article by: Moses Walubiri, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2013, Vol. 28 No. 221, Kampala, Uganda)         I copied the whole article as it appeared in the newspaper. I do not know what political party Mr. Museveni belongs to nor do I know much about his presidency. However, I do know he has something that many Americans wish our president had; and that is moral fiber. How long has it been since you heard a president of the USA make a speech encouraging our youth to abstain from sex until they are married? When have you heard a president of the USA encourage our youth not to smoke or drink and to avoid “living a loose life?” What US President recently has encouraged the youth of our nation to “lead a life of prayer?”         I am ashamed to say what we hear from our president is “let’s keep abortion safe and legal.” Our president is in favor of the “morning after pill” for young girls and without parental knowledge! Our president pushes same sex marriage whenever he can!         Many Americans refer to nations like Uganda as “third world nations.” May God help us to one day rise to the morals of many “third world nations!”         Psa. 33:12, “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord; and the people whom he hath chosen for his inheritance.”         Psa. 43:1, “Judge me, O God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation: O deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man.”         Prov. 14:34, “Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people.”         Isa. 1:4, “Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked the Holy one of Israel to anger, they are gone away backward.”         Jer. 5:9, “Shall I not visit for these things? saith the Lord: and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?”         Jer. 12:17, “But if they will not obey, I will utterly pluck up and destroy that nation, saith the Lord.”         It is later that we think! What will it take to turn this nation back toward God?  (Published in the January 2014 issue of Seek The Old Paths)

Happy New Year!

We ended the year 2013 on a high note when one of our students in Ghana reported being baptized on Christmas day.  Then we started 2014 with a bang because a student in South Africa has also just been baptized.   What a wonderful way to begin the new year!

Our latest newsletter is available to read by clicking here.   In it are a review of the things done in 2013 along with some plans for 2014.

The latest issue of The Seeker has a report on the November trip to Africa.  You can read it by clicking here.

Quick Update

The IBTM Zambia Campaign for 2013 was a great success.  44 were baptized and 146 restored during this month-long effort!  You can read the full report by clicking here for The Seeker newsletter.

While in Zambia one of the IBTM campaign group, Barry Gilreath, taped some segments for his TV program called Fabric of Family.  If you would like to see just select a program and click to go to the You Tube video:

            Ronald Gilbert speaking by Victoria Falls.  (The segment is about 4 ½ minutes into the program.)

           Godfrey Pitika, an instructor at Zambia School of Biblical Studies, speaking at Victoria Falls.  (Segment about 16 ½ minutes into program.)

            Webby Kenabanyama, an instructor at ZSOBS, speaking at a game park by the Zambezi River.  (Segment about 2 minutes into program.)

We have continued to have good news since this campaign as well.  In just the past couple of weeks 3 of our online correspondence students from Philippines, Botswana and Trinidad have been baptized.  Please pray with us that more of the many students continuing to study in this Bible program will obey the gospel of Christ.

30,000 New Tracts Ready to Ship to Africa

We have printed 30,000 tracts in differnet African languages that are now ready to ship. Most of these tracts have been written by bro. Rod Rutherford.  These tracts will be given to many of the graduates  of ZSOBS by bro. Jerry Sullins while he is in Livingstone, Zambia at the preacher's seminar that he holds each year. We are still collecting funds to pay for the postage for these tracts and for the 1,000 NKJV New Testaments that we hope to send later this month.

January 2012 Newsletter

Dear brethren,

Greetings to you all in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. January has been a very busy month. Some of the things accomplished with your help were:

Sending 150 song books to Malaysia & Africa

Sending 1,042 library and text books to Africa

Baptisms reported by our students- 55

Restorations reported by our students-20

New congregations started by our students- 3 in Africa

Gospel tracts sent to Africa- 100,000

New students enrolled with ICOTB- 3

Bibles & NT sent to Africa-688

Our January stats were also very encouraging. We had 11,111 visits to our two websites in January. Our online BCC student enrollment was the highest ever for one month with 327 new students. We averaged 10.5 new students daily in January. At the beginning of February we had 2,230 BCC students enrolled from 124 nations.

During the past several weeks we have been visiting and reporting to some of our supporting congregations. We also had the opportunity to visit with several new congregations seeking to raise support for our work fund. We are happy to report that three new congregations are helping support our work fund.

We are also working on our mission trip to Zambia in August. Those going on this trip include; Jimmie B. Hill, Rusty & Laura Stark, Rod Rutherford, Dave Amos, Barry Gilreath, Jr. and Carolyn and I. We have purchased our tickets and are now working on dates for gospel meetings. We plan to teach 6 hours each day Monday through Friday at Zambia School of Biblical Studies in Livingstone. We will also be speaking in chapel each day and teaching some night classes for our students with ICOTB. We are hoping this year to conduct 3 or 4 gospel meetings. There is much work to do each year before we depart for Zambia.

Churches and individuals need to be aware that there is a scam going around in different places concerning helping those in need. I received an email from a faithful brother who lives and works outside the USA as a missionary. The email states that he had been on a trip away from home and was attacked and robbed. He said that his cell phone, cash, credit cards and ID were stolen. He then says his bank was sending him a replacement credit card but it would take 7 days and that he was trying to get the proper paper work at the embassy so he could fly home. He then asks that I loan him some money to settle some bills. He then tells me that if I could help to let him know and he will inform me on how to wire the money to him. The missionary knew nothing about this email and was safe at home when it was sent. The reason I was suspicious is that another missionary had told me a few weeks ago that someone sent out emails using his name on another scam recently. Churches and individuals should do some checking if they get such an email before they send any money. How sad that evil people would use the names of faithful missionaries to involve them in their evil activity. Brethren, beware!

I want to thank a brother in Christ in KY. for making several wooden communion trays for us to take to Africa. There is always a need for communion trays in Africa and the ones we use here in the USA are so hard to pack and carry to Africa. Our brother has made several wooden trays that are not assembled yet. They are flat and will not take up much space in travel. We plan to take them in our bags this year and put them together when we get there. 

Ronald D. Gilbert