Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:00:00 <silence>
Speaker 1 00:00:04 Praise the Lord. Good morning everyone. Thank you for having me. Um, I hope technology works. The last time I was here, the alarms went off and I couldn't share anything. Uh, now I'm seeing that technology is trying to play up, but it's in Jesus' name. We are overcome. Thank you very much. Hallelujah. It's great to be here. I would like to, um, uh, thank you Pastor Michael and Bri for welcoming me. Arrived here, uh, on Wednesday afternoon, and, uh, from the airport up to a wonderful home. I stayed from Col, Colleen and I and, um, Jerry. It was like a burning furnace, <laugh> hot <laugh>. Uh, and I thought, okay. Then, then the next day it was worse, <laugh>. So I asked, I said, Colin, why do you leave here? So I went to my knees and prayed and, uh, the next day, and today, God gave me, uh, gave me some beautiful weather, <laugh>.
Speaker 1 00:01:12 I even went to play golf at 5:00 AM in the morning. Um, and uh, that's when I realized I have another talent to play golf <laugh>. You hit one ball perfect, and you're like, oh my gosh, I can be a pro. And the next one is in the waters that, uh, I'm really thankful for the opportunity that I've, uh, enjoyed since I arrived here. Thank you, uh, pastor Michael and Bri, uh, for the tradition of ice cream. We had a lot of ice cream the first day and the second day, and I told him, we have to go to the gym. <laugh>, Sam and I went to the gym and work it out. And, uh, that's all off. And every meal I have had at the restaurant, they give you two or three meals. So you have to pack something and take into the fridge at home.
Speaker 1 00:01:58 So Colin and Jerry's fridge is, uh, pretty full of, uh, everything I've carried from the restaurants. But, uh, I'm really blessed. I've had a great time so far, and Fellowship have rested. 'cause when I'm back home, it's pretty busy. And, uh, and then when I come here, it feels like home. I know quite a number of people here that are so lovely and caring, and when I come here, I feel like come home. So, thank you, brother. Thank you, Brie. Thanks. The elders. Thanks all of you that I have had a chance to meet for your love and care and fellowship, bring you greetings from my wife, Jillian. She's not here. Uh, she had a wedding for her sister. She was supposed to travel with me, but she had a wedding for her sister. And so I called her yesterday. I'm like, what are you doing?
Speaker 1 00:02:43 I'm like, I run away from the wedding. I'm playing golf. <laugh> that, uh, she sends a love and greetings. We have six children. Uh, five goes. And, uh, one boy, uh, everybody ask here, I tell six children what our children are a blessing from, from the Lord. And we are blessed. Uh, and this church has been a part of our family in some way or another. Uh, three adopted children and three of our bal children. And I'm thankful for your prayers and support through that. Uh, also the children here at this church last year raised money to help us put, uh, some, uh, swings, uh, in our church and that they send their love and they're enjoying that. I show it some of those pictures to the, uh, forge. Uh, last, uh, Thursday, I'm a local missionary back home, and I've been called in a village called Champion.
Speaker 1 00:03:44 I wanna show you, uh, some pictures from Champion Sea. So you can see how, how it looks like it's beautiful green and those rocks, you see. Um, I took that picture on a place called, we Call Now, the Prayer Mountain. Um, until I went to Utah last year, I realized it's not a mountain, it's a pimple <laugh>. It's literally, and so I I, we, we call it now the Rock Hill. Our church is the Rock hill. And that place used to be a place of which craft, which doctors used to be on that place, uh, initiating people into which craft. And a lot of mutilations and sacrifices happened there. When the Lord took us to Chue. Uh, and I realized the highest point of that village was that place and the, the, which doctors are taking it for evil practices. And so I run very quickly and we bought that place.
Speaker 1 00:04:44 And, uh, now we put a big cross on top of it. And, uh, we named it, uh, rock Hill because we believe our church is gonna be built there for the village. So we redeemed what the devil, uh, wanted to use for witchcraft. Now, a lot of people from the community go there and spend time in prayer. Um, I want also to show you a picture of our campus. Uh, that's the compass for Champion Childcare Ministries. When I, I went there in 2007 to start seeing what God was calling us to do. That place was a bush. And interestingly, there was a relationship between that place and the, and the Rock Hill because, and the prayer mountain, the pimple, uh, because they said the witch doctors used to walk from the rock to that place and back and forth. But when we were looking for the land, the Lord pressed on my heart that that's the place, uh, we were supposed to go.
Speaker 1 00:05:43 I asked the local leaders, they said, oh, this place is not for sale. I said, well, this is where I think the Lord wants us to be. And I went to the owners, the owners said that they're not selling. I said, you are going to sell in Jesus' name. Eventually I left. We put our feet and prayed. And he called us. He said, are you still interested in this land? I said, of course. I said, I'm just gonna sell you a little strip. I said, fine, as long as we get somewhere to step our feet and pray, we will take over. And now we have taken over the whole place. And they heal. Interestingly, how God puts these things together, because the two and the relationship are now, those center of witchcraft in the whole village is now a place of proclamation, of God's glory.
Speaker 1 00:06:28 And so, as you see, it is being, uh, evolved down. We are building a, a rehab center for the children that we rescue. I'll share a little bit more of that. And we have, uh, a clinic on that place where the community comes to get medical care. We have a school of 800 children. Uh, majority of those have been rescued from the child sacrifice and trafficking. Um, and then we have gardens and um, um, and other things that we are planning for the place on the corner this way, uh, we will show you. So champions is, that's, it's green. It's nice, it's beautiful. Uh, we have fun in the village, as you can see in those photos there. If you think innovation started from America, look at those pictures. That little boy on the left is a good friend of mine. Came to my office one time and, uh, and he says, Hey, pastor Peter, can we exchange glasses?
Speaker 1 00:07:27 So he had his strings. I don't know where he picked it, had his strings on here and on the singer. Uh, he's one of our kids in our center. And on the right, jumping off from the, um, he's a, another little boy who tragically was, um, sacrificed, was a good friend of mine from the village. He took me to his village to meet his parents. And he took me to the rocks in his village. Um, and he re always reminded me that you need to go and visit my home. So when I went there, we jumped. A week later, he received a call and that, which doctors had, um, killed him. We arrested them in prison, but he's with a lot. And so we do a lot of activities with the kids. Um, these are random pictures of shared. Those are, when I was here, a dear friend of mine shared with me sports evangelism, which was soccer.
Speaker 1 00:08:27 I'm like, that's a great idea because back home we play real football, which you call soccer. Uh, and the football here is really handball, right? Uh, and soccer. So we play, we started a soccer, a ministry. And I, I'm telling you, it's a discipleship vehicle for us. And I got that inspiration from this place. I, I wanted to share that as an encouragement, uh, that, uh, um, whatever, any member of you or we meet there and things that you share, we take them seriously. And a lot of young men have come to the Lord through, uh, that. And then you can see the bigger picture of the, uh, of the Pimple Mountain, uh, rock Hill. We plan and pray that our church is gonna move there. The bigger campus is the children's campus because most of the children will rescue from child sacrifice, um, um, protected.
Speaker 1 00:09:27 Most of those are witnesses, uh, in courts of law. And so we have armed security on the campus and blocks out a lot of the community. And so we've moved the church from inside. 'cause during the week, you have to be checked. We have armed security all over. And so it cuts away the outreach in the community. So we are moving outside as you see that tent, uh, and establishing the church there. And then we will move it from there to the Pimple Mountain Prayer Mountain. And, uh, there's nothing there yet. It's not just a place of prayer. Uh, and we are hoping to buy more land to build the church there. And also wanted to share with you, uh, the team. Uh, uh, the, I work with a lot of people. Um, 82 people who are involved in our ministry. Some of those are social workers, uh, teachers and nurses in the clinic, um, pastors and leaders. And I wasn't part of that photo. For some reason. When they're having fun, they keep me out <laugh> somehow they send me away to do something, and then they go have fun. Uh, but, uh, we are amazed on how God has put that team together. And, um, and um, and, um, uh, they all send their love and greetings and they know about Village Church and the prayers and the support that you give us. Um, I wanna pray and share, um, from scripture today.
Speaker 1 00:11:01 Heavenly Father, thank you for this morning. I thank you for my brothers and sisters today. And I thank you, God, that you have given us an opportunity to share from what you're doing in Uganda. And God, you refresh me while I'm here. I'm thankful God, for what you're doing here. The growth, the blessings, the joy, the fellowship, the work of your hands here is manifesting. Thank you God, the pre Lord, you give us a great time in this moment as we share about your heart. In Jesus' name, amen. I wanna read a scripture from Leviticus, uh, this morning. And the reason I'm, I'm sharing with this is because I want you to, to feel a little bit of what God is. Heart is verse 20, Levi viscus 24. And verse five, the Lord spoke to Moses saying, said to the people of Israel, any one of the people of Israel, or the strangers who gel in Israel, who give any of his children to molecules shall surely be put to death. The people of the land shall stone him with stones. I, myself will set my face against that man and will cut him off from among his people because he has given his children to monarch
Speaker 1 00:12:28 To make my sanctuary unclean and profane my holy name. And if the people of the land do at all close their eyes to that man, when he gives one of his children to Malik, I do not put him to death. Then I will set my face against that man and against his clan and will cut them off from among their people, him and all who follow him in warring after maleek. Another scripture I wanna share is Matthew 18, six. But whoever causes one of these leader, ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great milestone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of thi. See, there are two things probably I wanna share with you. 'cause of time is the calling. I was a young man when God called me into the village of ze.
Speaker 1 00:13:34 And, uh, he wanted me to establish a work there. And I was very confused. And I'm not sure, uh, I, I have now a conviction that whoever got has called to himself, those that have been saved, all of us in some way or another, have a spiritual calling of some sort to serve the Lord. And I was convicted. I went into the village of ze. I met a, a man. I introduced myself to this man who was a, a village local council. I told him, my name is Peter. I'm here to share about the gospel. He told me about Jesus. I said, yes. Can you tell me about Jesus? I did. And within a very short term, this man gave his life to the Lord. And then I realized he was a witch doctor. And then I'm like, this is really too fast. And so he told me, but I don't have a Bible. Where do I go to church? And so I told him, I'll come back next Thursday and bring you a Bible. I went back the next week on Thursday, gave him a Bible. His wife gave his life to the Lord and she wanted a Bible too. And I said, I'll come back next Thursday and bring you a Bible.
Speaker 1 00:14:49 Eight months later, we were meeting in the witch doctor's house, 35 people every Thursday. And on a Thursday of 2008, it was a Christmas day, people were asked me, the 35 people asked me, are you gonna come for church? I mean for fellowship? I said, no, it's Christmas. He says, yeah, it's Christmas. You better come. I said, uh, I have some, you know, family stuff to do. It's Christmas day, but it was a Thursday and it's a, it's a good day to fellowship. And I'm like, okay. And so we gathered in the community hall, and I'm scared to death now because I'm realizing God is calling me into ministry, pastoral ministry that I am not really prepared for. I'm a an accountant. I like mathematics and business. And now God is calling me into this. I called a friend of mine who was a pastor, came with me. And we gathered into a hall. And uh, it was one of the most disorganized service I've ever seen. <laugh>. I laid some worship at that time. And I don't, you know, for many songs I've sung for many years, I don't remember them.
Speaker 1 00:16:04 And then I got a scale of my life as I was preparing to preach. A lady walks from the corner of the, of the road of the, of the, of the door, comes straight on the place. Palita is going to preach from and grabs me straight in the neck. And he's fighting with me. And I'm trying to pull myself. But this lady is so strong. And as I tried to pull myself like this, stand around, I pulled her down. I looked at the church and every set of five of the members in the church run out. It was only me. And then one of the guys in the window comes, his name is Cockroach, and says, Hey Peter, are you okay? I'm like, yes, cockroach, I'm okay. Please come and help me. If you come to champions, you'll meet. Cockroach is one of the craziest people that you'll ever find. We call him Cockroach because he disappears anytime. And he appears anytime where you least expected. <laugh>. I don't know if you have those people here. You never know what he's doing. But then he appears and say, are you okay? Fine. And then he comes and pulls this lady away from me. We cover her with a cloth 'cause she was completely naked.
Speaker 1 00:17:25 And she went into a deep sleep. And then I started calling people back and everybody was, you know, and then I asked, where was this lady from? And this lady was a village member for 15 years. She was oppressed by the devil and she was cast out. Nobody wanted her to come, you know, she would lose her mind. She was living by herself. And then I collect, I asked the people to join me. We went to her home. We cleaned their house, we prayed for her. I brought her Bible. She gave her life to the Lord. And she was one of the first members of the church. And the next door neighbor to her who never visited her, gave her life to the Lord. Because this woman who was oppressed, demonized for 15 years had become well and gave her life to the Lord. The calling had become a little bit scary for me at that moment, <laugh>. And then after that, in the village of Champion, there was another problem called child sacrifice. The whole community, the whole district was the center of witchcraft. Right close to us was a a a a hill where which doctors were sacrificing and killing children. I was involved in the burial of many children that have been, had been killed.
Speaker 1 00:18:57 And so I realized that we needed to do something. So I called 10 people from the church. I said, guys, my heart is ripped to the core. We have to do something. And 10 people come to me and says, Peter, there's nothing you can do. You're gonna die before you start. I said, but I cannot be seeing and watching. And I saw these children, I knew them. One of my friends was sacrificed. Nine year old Ronald was sacrificed, I cannot sleep, um, ripped through the coal. There must be something that we have to do. And these friends of mine, including Cockroach, told me, there's nothing you do. The meeting ended there. I said, let's meet next week. The next week, three people came. The seven disappeared. Thankfully Cockroach was part of us. We sat down, we talked about it. They were discouraged. I went back home, discouraged and opened my Bible straight to a scripture, second Chronicles seven 14. If my people will humble themselves and pray and seek my face, I'll turn down from heaven and heal the land.
Speaker 1 00:20:25 I had experienced firsthand the reality of the demonic, the power of darkness, the witchcraft that was operating. I prayed specifically to God that to give me the gift of discernment because I knew for sure he had made it so clear that I had to do something. Whether I had people follow or come with me personally, I felt a sense of responsibility of calling to do something. So I prayed. I called cockroach and four other people. I said, let's go somewhere for a week. And we pray. And I said to God, please, one of the things I prayed, forgive me the gift of discernment to know what is happening, to know who is behind this. Why are they doing this? Because I realized the spiritual darkness was too heavy on my heart, even before we started.
Speaker 1 00:21:20 And then I prayed that God will strengthen us. The other thing I prayed for is to give me the gift, the physical signs. I said, God, you have to give me physical signs to show me that I am called to do this because I have nothing. I don't know anyone. I'm just from university. There's nothing that really gives me any advantage in this. And then I realized one by one in, in the end of that prayer week in the bush where the ke compasses, we didn't, don't have an agenda or invite anyone. 150 people came from the village and joined us into prayer. And I remember about two wives of which doctors kept their life to the Lord there. And the church expanded. And other people from the church said, why didn't you call us? They joined us. The next one was a dove. Now, I don't know, back in Uganda when we don't have white doves common, and this dove came and started flying around.
Speaker 1 00:22:34 I claimed it for myself. I, I didn't care who. I said, well, a dove in the Bible represents some presence of the Holy Spirit. And, and I'm like, I'm claiming that I know that I cannot go without the Holy Spirit. I'm taking it with me. I claimed it. Then we had rain. It, it never rains in the sunny season. It rained that one day before we left. And then after that, I got peace to do whatever God wanted us to do. Now, not often that peace was with me all the time, because many times I wanted to quit before we started. It was so confronting. And then a few weeks later, two boys came to my house. One had a complete genital mutilation and another one had a cat in his head. And he had been mutilated and drained of blood. They were surviving for their lives.
Speaker 1 00:23:40 And they came to my house, a single bo I was, uh, in my twenties, just to facilitate their medical treatment within the city. One of them was about to die 'cause the doctors tried their luck to do all the surgeries in Kampala. And they failed. And I had been invited to speak in Australia at the youth camp. And as I was going to the airport, the doctors called me and they said, Peter, this boy's gonna die. I passed out the hospital. I saw him almost saying goodbye. I I went to the airport and prayed. I remember kneeling down in the toilet of the airport and my legs were outside the door. And the toilet cleaner guy came to me and says, are you okay? And I was praying. And then I went to South Africa and I ended up sitting with a doctor whose best friend was a urologist.
Speaker 1 00:24:35 This doctor was traveling with his wife. And, um, they tried to change their tickets, but three times, but they didn't work. And then he asked me, can you sit with, uh, my wife so that my wife comes here? And and I said, yeah, we'll exchange while we take off. Um, as we took off, we started conversations. He, he was a Christian, then he forgot about his wife until we got to Brisbane. I told him about the boy I left in hospital. He told me, um, give me the details. And within just a week, we had phoned a urologist who could do reconstructive surgery for this boy. And within three months, took this boy to Australia and he got the reconstruction that he needed. He's now back home. He is 18, he was six years then. And then the next boy, as I was getting outta the hospital, I got a doctor called me and said, do you have any other children? And this doctor who walked to me was a neurosurgeon. And the boy I had back home who was sick, needed neurosurgery who puts all these pieces together.
Speaker 1 00:25:53 And within a few months, I was back in Australia to take this other boy for surgery. I said, okay, piece by piece. God was manifest in trying to put all these things together. And so I realize now that my calling is aligning with the things that I really was working on. I had, I was, I had a soccer academy for children. I had gone to Northern Uganda where there was war to do Christmas parties for children. And uh, and so when I was confronted by this, for me, the worst evil that can happen to children, it was really aligning with what was already in my heart. It was evident that, um, the issue of abusing children was a huge constant to me. And I needed not to convince. Another thing that was unique also is that I love to start things I, I just don't know. And, uh, here in the village and things are starting and I'm a bit overwhelmed. And then this is starting. And so when the ministry was starting, I really had no fear. I, I had the, the worry, but I, I knew that this was something that God had gifted me with. So God was unfollowing a spiritual calling at that time.
Speaker 1 00:27:29 And, uh, my eyes connected to these vulnerabilities. I had to make a moral judgment and make a decision that if God is heart is ripped for these children and my heart is ripped for that children, surely God is going to be with me and God is going to bring people in the same way. And God from then, from the bush, and I'll show you some pictures right now, God has been on the move. And one, one by one, one by one last two years ago, I came with a little boy here. That boy was stabbed in the neck. The machete went through his spinal cord and he could not walk. They tried to help him in Uganda. There was nothing that could, you know, help him. I, we took him to Australia. The doctors did what they could. And the doctor said, uh, Peter, there's nothing we can do. This boy, he's not gonna walk. I looked at the neurosurgeon again. I said, this boy is going to walk in Jesus' name. He looked at me, says, Peter, there's nothing we can't do. The spinal cord is completely cut. We brought him here to us. They did surgery. As we talk right now, the boy is walking.
Speaker 1 00:28:56 So there was an address in my heart. I had no peace to keep silent. My most urgent priority was the plight of these children. God made the conviction very clearly to me, and I had to move. Child sacrifice was active in politics. In government, it is still active in the villages and people's homes. It is active in the families where ch uh, parents are killing their own. And you, if you see the pictures, the child on the left with a plaster, its own father who tried to abuse. And we try, you see the, the, the ones that you see are some of the children in our care depicted in artistic way. There were the works of flesh are evident in witchcraft. And witchcraft is a reality that we have to be aware of. And the manifestation of those, the worst of it is the killing of these children. And I couldn't look. And then the hope, there's a little girl called hope, as you can see, who has been in our care for over nine years. She was kept in a shrine for one year and a half. When she was about two years. They cut her tongue, they drained blood,
Speaker 1 00:30:46 They did incisions. And she became completely disabled. She has a 24 carer. She's our inspiration because she's the first child that started the rehabilitation center where those children are. We have right now 120 children, the rehab center. And she was the first there. But the torture she went through, she's, as you can see, the smile of her face. She can't walk, she can't talk, she can't feed by herself, but she's the happiest. And right now, her spinal cord has coiled to the point that the body's pressing on her organs. And the doctors have assessed her. The doctors from Children's Primary Hospital in Utah have sister. And they said, if hope doesn't get the surgery to strain back this spinal cord, she's gonna die anytime soon. The hospital gave us a bill of about $185,000. I remember the first bill the doctor gave us was $300,000 in Australia. I said, okay, thank you very much for Bill. We are coming. I'm saying the same thing for hope, that we are coming for hope's surgery. And everybody has told me hope doesn't speak, doesn't talk. Why are you bothering? Every child needs a chance, I believe, and my prayer for you. If nothing happens or if my life stops here, but hope gets the help that she needs,
Speaker 1 00:32:19 I will have done my part. And I'm sure God will fight for her. And but, but they hope as we as, as God calls us into ministry, he saved us to a holy calling. Not because of our works, but because of his power and grace. He gives us biblical hope, confident expectation, a strong belief that something will happen completely. Sure, I am completely sure He who called us into this work that he will accomplish it. And we have seen his hope happen in many different ways. So this biblical hope gives us an expectation that God is at work and God will work. God is calling in our lives, is holy, I believe is high and it's heavenly. It's bigger and better. And we will continue to expect that God is going to do. There is hope even in despair in these situations, which doctors have been arrested. In hope's case, which doctor was arrested after 80 years and nobody had expected that he was sentenced to prison for 45 years. One year after he was sentenced to prison, we went to prison to check on him. He gave his life to Christ in prison. That is hope.
Speaker 1 00:33:58 The default for me is to hate that man for killing this child, almost killing this child. But when I went to him, I realized in his own self, he's also a victim of oppression. Evil that is manifest. That he gripped his life, that he did this because the devil had taken him off and it needed the greater hope of salvation for him to be, to understand that what he did was evil and he needed Christ. He appealed his case last year and just before I came here, the higher court said the 45 years they gave you were too small and they enhanced it to life in prison. He'll be in prison for life. He's not gonna be in that prison for life because he's been served. That is hope. When I was here a few years ago, I brought a petition. And that petition I have, I had been knocking on the door in Uganda to enact a law that protects children on child sacrifice. Many people signed the petition. We took 40,000 petitions to the Parliament and to the President. And last year in 2021 and law to prohibit a prevent child sacrifice was enacted. And we are seeing its impact. And God is working. And hope
Speaker 1 00:35:34 Is an icon in Uganda because she has gathered members of parliament government into a conference where thousands of people come to bring change to the law in Uganda for the enactment, uh, to support children. As you can see, it's called the hope event for her in her honor. No one knew that a child tortured to that horrible nature would be the one rallying these people. Does she need or dissolve the help that she needs? Right now, we are now calling for another petition to enact a law, which is called the Witness protection. Because the children will rescue who are now care, still take a stand in court and face their tormenters as they give witness. And we have seen many of them collapse in court because they see the people that abuse them badly. God is at work even in advocacy. God is at work in their healing. God is at work in their restoration. God is at work in the transformation of the community. God is at work in building his church in a village that was known as a village of witchcraft. And I pray that you can be a part of that and continue to pray for us. Let me pray.
Speaker 1 00:36:55 Heavenly Father, thank you. Thank you God that you are fighting alongside us. Thank you God, that you have given us brothers and sisters all over the world to share in the painful experiences. But God, you know you care for your children. There are some things that we don't face, but even those children who are unborn, you are their creator and you care for them even when we haven't put our eyes on them. And you create these children and you protect them. You've created an army, an army of God for us to be able to fight for them. And we will not be like the Israels who kept quiet when this was happening. May you stir our hearts to the justice that you cry for. May we align our hearts to yours so that we are broken completely and continue fighting for justice for the children. In Jesus name, amen.
