A rebel group, The Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), led by a cultic spirit medium, has been terrorizing northern Uganda for sixteen years. Nearly one million Ugandans have been forced into refugee camps by the LRA rebels. While Christians have frequently been the targets of this group, the Catholic Church is now being specifically targeted for attack.
Despite threats from Joseph Kony, the leader of the LRA, church leaders have consistently been involved in peace talks between the LRA and the Ugandan government. According to the World Evangelical Alliance's Religious Liberty Prayer List, several commanders deserted the LRA during recent meetings with church officials. Consequently, Kony declared war on the church. Since the defections, church missions have been burned, bombed, and desecrated on nine separate occasions. On June 14, the Ugandan Army intercepted a transmission in which Kony was ordering his soldiers: "Catholic missions must be destroyed, priests and missionaries killed in cold blood and nuns beaten black and blue."
The LRA is fighting against the government to create a state based on the observance of Kony's interpretation of biblical concepts. In a report to Zenit, Father Albanese described Kony as a "mad visionary" whose "creed is of a syncretist type, where there is a bit of everything: elements of Christianity, Islam and animism." International observers report that at least 20,000 civilians and as many children have been kidnapped and enslaved and/or forced to join the LRA army.
Pray for God's intervention in protecting Christian workers in northern Uganda. Pray that God will bind the demonic spirits controlling Kony, and end the LRA's reign of terror. Pray that children kidnapped and forced to fight will be able to escape.
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