For example: the theory that if you had two objects of the same size the heavier one would fall faster was developed by the Greeks.  When this was proven wrong by Galileo the Catholic leaders were so upset he had to back down or they would kill him.  He dropped a brick and a piece of would of the same size from the top of the tower of Pisa. (It must have been leaning a little then already).  Anyway, in direct defiance of the Catholic hierarchy, they fell at the same speed.  The same was true of the doctrine of the bread and wine being changed into the body and blood of Christ in the mass.   The Greeks taught that a substance changed into another substance would still look like the original.  This, too, was debunked by science, but too late.  The Catholic Church was stuck with it.

With Proverbs particularly and the qualifications for the church elder in the New Testament we see the opposite.  To both the Old Testament Jew and to the Christian it is a much more practical, hands on thing.

Not all the wisdom of this world is impractical but it does lean in that direction.  Think of just three areas and we see the same mind set.  One is Karl Marx and his theory of communism and socialism.  Marx was very careful never to look at historical or other evidence.  He simply stated as a fact that the western democracies would rise up in revolt.  The only popular revolts were against communism itself because of it’s obvious failure and oppressive nature, mostly in eastern Europe.  Yet the liberals and college professors still push socialism which is nothing other than a twin cousin of communism.

 The second is psychotherapy or psychology, now although 200 years old simply does not cure anyone but does destroy millions.

Third, there is the theory of evolution; false but carefully guarded from any test.

Compare these untried theories with the true science of someone like Einstein.  Every time he analyzed any new theory in his mind he put it to one or more tests to prove it true or false.  God has given to each one the gift of reason: and to different people different abilities and interests.  But all thought (where it all begins) must first pass the test of Scripture and then the test of experimentation.

Those of you who saw the film EXPELLED heard one man say that the Bible can be made to fit science.  That sounds good but it’s not true.  Science must always be made to fit the Bible.  The Bible is always true, science sometimes.

THE TINY BIPED

            I happen to have a small book of poems written by CS Lewis.  This was written before he became a Christian and generally the poems are depressing.  This one, combined with some things I saw on the video: “Expelled” got me to thinking on a certain line.  Some of the words of the poem are:

            I lost my way in the pale starlight

            And saw our planet, far and small

            Through endless paths of nothing fall

            A lonely pinprick spark of light

            Upon the wide, enfolding night,

            With leagues on leagues of stars above it,

            And powdered dust of stars below-

            Let’s say that you could possibly have a map of the universe which was a thousand miles long and a thousand miles wide or even if you had one that covered the entire North America you would not be able to find the solar system on this map.  The entire solar system, large as it is, would be too small to be found on a map of this size.  Now, the sun, although a million times bigger than the earth would still be a very small part of the solar system.  The earth is, of course, very much smaller than the sun.  On this tiny planet walks a two legged creature, billions of times smaller than this speck of a planet.  It is hard to imagine that this little biped is so intelligent he knows for a fact that in these vast reaches of space there is no God.  In fact, this tiny insect believes he has the most intelligent mind there is or ever has been in this entire cosmos. 

            If a man was a clever scientist, it’s possible that he could make a robot so advanced that it could, in turn, make other robots.  After a few generations would not the robots question whether there was a man who made them?  The same could be true of this little man.  The problem is that this creator just might be God.

For any organization to succeed it needs a leadership which truly reflects the will of the majority of it’s members.  This seems to be lacking.  This is especially true if there is no strong leadership to guide and discipline the adherents.

The average citizen, though he truly wants a smaller government will forget all about it the moment the economy turns around and then the problems which were caused by the liberals will be worse next time.  There are deeper problems than the failed economy which are not resolved but have become accepted as part of a modern society.  Only a strong, determined and fearless leadership will be willing to face these issues.  They are:

1-Niether congress nor the states make the laws today.  Any law the liberal judge doesn’t like (as in Arizona) he either annuls or he takes the teeth out of it.  We can vote all the congressmen in we wish, it doesn’t make that much difference.  The liberal judges rule the land and take out anything they don’t like.

2-As long as we can’t profile we’ll never solve our problems.  Just recently I saw a photo of a Moslem woman with a head dress patting down an elderly nun at an airport.  I doubt that you ever heard of a sweet old lady carrying a hidden bomb.  Twenty years ago, in saner days, I was in London airport.  They were passing the wand over everybody.  A man of about sixty came up.  The official put his hand on the man’s shoulder, put him through and tested the young man behind him.

3-As long as we use the term “African American” we will have discrimination.

4-As long as we use other languages in government or business we will be a divided nation.

Everything we do seems to turn out badly.  We push democracy in the middle east and they vote in Hamas.  We go into Iraq and now Orthodox, Catholics and Protestants are being systematically wiped out.  We plan to turn Afghanistan into a western style country and if a Moslem leaves the faith he is beheaded, especially if he becomes a Christian, unless they can get out in time.

There is a deeper problem .  There is a God in heaven who rules over the earth.  He has given some very clear commands and told us very clearly what the consequences would be if we disobey.  We as a nation have disobeyed them and are now footing the bill.

Perhaps the most blatant and the worst is what might be called the alternate life style.  In the Bible, in Romans 1:18- 32 God shows His anger at this particular perversion.  It begins with man refusing to recognize God in creation and ends with his approval of that which God hates.  That is when God gives one over to a mind of confusion.  I speak of the approval by our nation.  America, along with Western Europe, states that the alternate life style and union is of equal worth with traditional marriage as set up by God.  Although other groups have had many individuals fall into this sin, no other has ever seen it as normal.  In all of history people have always known that marriage between men and women was normal and anything else was not.  All who practiced this came under God’s severe punishment.  How much more those who give it the stamp of approval.  The average person who dabbles in this unnatural life style (in every country in the western world) lives an average of forty-six years or thirty years less than the norm.  This is a universal law with no exceptions. What does this mean?  The liberal, who teaches the pupils in school that this is normal and good are killing them and should be treated accordingly.  This is only one side of the problem.  There are many downsides, such as nervous and physical problems.  For full documentation on this see the book “Marriage On Trial” by Inter Varsity Press.

Then there is the problem of violence.  There is suicide bombings by the Muslims, mass murders in the schools, millions of innocents put to death by the abortionists, etc.  People ask why God doesn’t stop the killings.  We take the ten commandments out of the schools, which is simply God’s law for us to live by and then blame God because the school children kill each other.

Remember, Sodom was destroyed by God for it’s sins of immorality while the flood came because of violence.  The tea party feels that all our problems are financial.  All we need is to fix the economy.  I do believe the economy needs fixing but that will not solve our problems in the long run.  After all, it is still the law of the land that the lie of evolution must be taught in our schools.  We are still back to square one, that of confusion: “The fool hath said in his heart, ‘There is no God’”:Psalm 14.  Only repentance and living by the standards of God’s Word will solve our national problems.

The problem these people have is that they have neither the know-how nor the materials on the entire island to build the helicopter.  One would have to come from outside the island to carry the inhabitants over.  In other words, something would need to enter the Closed System from the outside.

Our planet is also a Closed System.  A few years ago I read that the largest computer on earth could not get the square root of any number over two hundred digits.  Maybe that has changed since that time.  But assuming this to be true, if an answer came it would have to be from outside the Closed System.  There are no doubt angelic intelligences that could supply the answer.  Or, I could take the answer, and by simple multiplication prove whether it is true or false.

To go one step further, the entire universe is a Closed System.  There is one thing neither angels or men can do and that is to foretell the future.  If the future is foretold, that knowledge must come from outside this Closed System.  In other words, knowledge can only come from God.

Let me give just one example.

In the year 572 BC the prophet Ezekiel wrote “and there shall be no more a prince of the land of Egypt,” Ezekiel 30:13.  In 332 BC the last of the Pharaohs was defeated by Alexander the Great.  For the next 2,284 years every ruler in Egypt was a non-Egyptian.  This kind of knowledge could only come from outside the universe: the Closed System.

According to Psalm 78:1-7 it is up to each generation to pass on to the next generation the knowledge of God and His wonderful works.  One can fail to pass this on, but with great lose to the next generation

In my reading through the gospel of Luke I came across the story of Jairus daughter.

When Jesus came to the house He made the statement: “She is not dead, but sleeps.”

I saw that God was showing me that from His perspective grandma was simply sleeping.

He will wake her in the morning.

Right after that I came across this poem which I want to share with you.

While millions buried and forgot               They all arose a mighty throng

In slumber both profound and deep                 No deepest slumber could withstand

And all who are in Christ shall rise                   Not one there was who could refuse

The hosts in long and dreamless sleep            The mighty Word of God’s command

The one Who’s throne is not of earth                   But there are many left behind

Will come: the Lord, the King of heav’n            Who must remain within the clay

Nor all the hosts of hell can stop                  A thousand years: a second death

The One before Whom skies are riven            Then all must stand on judgment day

With authority that none have heard                Will you arise when Jesus comes

He speaks: a thunder of command                     To raise the sleep at morning call

A single Word: “Arise”, they rise                   Or will you come at later time

From every grave, in every land                  And meet Him as the judge of all

And every eye is fixed on Him              The choice is yours; when will you bow

Who spoke the single Word: “Arise”             Your choice: to bow before His feet

And every knee before Him bows                Now willingly, or then in fear

In that glad morning in the skies                 And bow in terror when you meet

They wonder at such Majesty                            Remember, Jesus died that we

A mighty King before them stands               May rise, responding to that call

Still reaching out to every one                   His offer is forever firm

And love flows out from face and hands                For Jesus died to ransom all

By  Bernard Bergman

December  2007

Jesus said that “iniquity would abound.” This is not hard to see today. I think it is so obvious that I need to say little about it. Things are happening today that were not even mentioned in the past. It is because of this that the “love of many grows cold.”

One of the complaints I hear from those who lead Bible studies is that it is difficult to find men who have the desire to study and obey the Bible. The very word “commandment” has almost become a negative idea. But Jesus Himself said, “Not every one that saith, ‘Lord, Lord’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven but he that doeth the will of My Father, Who is in heaven.”

One of the causes of this is the emphasis on “rights” but at the same time there is no clear understanding of right and wrong. The result of all this is that as sinfulness is becoming more acceptable the love for God and His laws is fading away. t

Here is a quote from Thomas Vincent who lived in the seventeenth century:
It is the folly of our day that we think we can have none of His Kingship in this life, yet have some claim to part of His Kingdom in the next. But for those who reject the rule of the Lord Jesus now, there is only the fearful expectation of the fury of the wrath of God, the Judge of heaven and earth.

Finally, we must remember that the entire purpose of the Scriptures is that God wants to save us from our sins. I think the key passage in the Old Testament is Exodus 25:17-22 where we are told that God will meet His people at the Mercy Seat.

A passage that stands out in the New Testament is in John 5. In verse 18 we read: “Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill Him.” In the verses that follow He seems to be very severe, even to the point of warning them that “they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.” But in verse 34 Jesus tells the Jews His purpose when he says “but these things I say that ye might be saved.” And this was to men who were out to kill Him.

So, too, Jesus prophesies about the unpleasant things that will happen in the end times, but His purpose is to keep us from being drawn into the deception and the consequences.

Remember, men do not hate and fear God because they are good and God is evil but because men are evil and God is good. I think it was Finney who first pointed that out.

David, the director, was at the airport to pick me up and took me to their home for dinner and suggested that I use a guest house owned by someone we both knew well.

This guest house is on Tank Hill.  It is the highest of the seven hills that Kampala is built on and the city water tank is on this hill.

During dinner we could hear occasional heavy weapons-cannons- coming from the road that led down to Masaka.  The rebels-the National Resistance Army-had taken over Masaka some time ago.  Yoweri Museveni the rebel leader was now driving up the road from Masaka.  At the time they were perhaps ten miles from Kampala and we could hear a little bit of shelling from the big guns.  Other than that Sunday was quiet.

I should explain that Uganda is made of two different tribal peoples.  The northern tribes are from the Nilotic group.  They are the cattle herders, cattle rustlers and warriors.  The southern half of the country are farmers and business men.  They are from the Bantu set of tribes.  The south and the north have long been enemies.  As the last three presidents have been from the north it was much like an alien occupation; like Germany occupying Poland in the second world war.  Sense Museveni was from the south, the people were hoping he would drive out the northerners.

The day before this the government helicopters were ordered to attack the guerillas, but the guerilla forces had shot one of them down.  The pilots were afraid to go there again and so they dropped their bombs half way, in a residential area including a school, killing several children.

Monday was quiet with some continued rumbling in the distance.  There were rumors that Museveni was planning to surround the city and cut off the airport from Kampala, which I didn’t like because I planned to fly out on Wednesday.  Tuesday was like Monday, fairly quiet.  By Tuesday evening my work in Uganda was pretty well finished except for the meeting with the four organizations I mentioned.  By night fall we found the rumors of the rebels surrounding the city to be false.  The rebels were heading straight in.

Wednesday began quietly.  There was some increase in gunfire which we could tell was coming nearer but was still some distance away.  The main increase was the rumors flying around.  I was still hopeful of flying out that afternoon at 3:15 before Museveni moved in.

At 10:00 AM Mickey Parrish, a missionary living in Nairobi, stopped by to see me.  Mickey offered me a ride as he was heading east, away from the rebels who were coming from the west.  I had the meeting with the representatives of the four organizations at 10:30 and if I missed that much of my time there would have been wasted.  I told Mickey I would take a chance on getting out as planned.

When the meeting ended at 12:15 David Kaagwa’s secretary, Josenta, came in to tell us that there were soldiers everywhere causing panic in the streets.  She told us that there were people running in all directions and the stores were closing.  We hadn’t noticed anything until then but suddenly there was a good deal of small arms fire.  Josenta explained that these were soldiers from one of the tribes of the north.  They were coming from the direction of the front lines.  Josenta pointed out that they were all carrying luggage which meant that they were heading for home.  There was obviously some powerful force driving them on.  From the shouting of the soldiers Josenta gathered that they had tangled with Museveni’s troops and did not like it much.  Apparently these men had not been treated too well by their officers and were poorly fed.  The troops they met were highly motivated.  Many of these rebels had fled from villages which had been destroyed by the government troops for real or alleged rebel activity.  The young men were the ones able to flee and joined the rebel army.  It was ironical that in this way the oppressive government supplied the troops that overthrew it.  At any rate these men from the north were tired of it and going home.

We waited for a while wondering what to do.  I knew that I could do nothing but let the local people decide and follow them, which I told them when they asked where I was going.  There were several other people in the building.  They said that when they looked out the window the soldiers shot at them.  Things didn’t look too good.  I called my wife Lillian.  I didn’t want to worry her so I told her there was a little trouble and I would not make it home that day.  I simply told her I would try to call the next day and let her know when I was coming.  The problem was that she wanted to talk and I didn’t want her to hear the gunfire.  I had to let her do most of the talking while I held my hand over the mouth piece.

Josenta told me the people wanted to get out of the downtown area before dark.  They were very much afraid of the soldiers and even more so at night.  She knew I was staying on Tank Hill and as she lived near the guest house offered to lead me there through the back alleys.  I told her to do whatever she thought best and I would follow.

After an hour or so it was quiet and the people in the building saw no one.  They decided to try to get home.  It was now about two o’clock.  We left the building, looked down the street to make sure there were no soldiers, quickly went to the next corner and again looked down the block.  We had gone less than two blocks when I heard someone shouting.  I looked up to the second floor of a bank building and the man calling down was Chris Vogen from England.  He worked with the Ministry of Finance.  He suggested I stay there as the building was very strongly built.  The second floor was made up of apartments, one of which was vacant so I could stay there.  I asked Josenta what I should do.  She thought it a very good idea as I was white and would be a prime target for any soldiers lurking around.  I also liked the idea because their was no phone on Tank Hill so I would be somewhat isolated ; not knowing what was going on.  At the bank building I would be in touch with the out side world and hoped that I could keep in touch with my wife in Nairobi.

Throughout the rest of Wednesday we saw more troops fleeing from the front lines, some on foot and others in stolen vehicles.  Across the street we saw two men on a rooftop taking off their uniforms.  They were quickly transformed into civilians, blending nicely into the background.  I’m sure that happened to many of them.

Around  8:00 PM the military chairman, Okello, was on the radio telling the people not to mind the slight disturbance and to go ahead with their normal activities.  As someone said: “I think Okello lives in another world”.  The heavy guns, rockets and small arms fire, now much closer continued until midnight and then quieted down.  Since some were now hitting fairly close we stayed below the bottom of the window.  The building had walls of concrete which were over a foot thick so as long as we kept our heads down we were quite safe.  One Ugandan there didn’t seem to think so and jumped a foot high every time a door slammed.  I got alone with him the next day.  I pointed out that if he would become a Christian, he would still have other fears but at least the fear of death would be removed.  He would not do so and I saw that he wanted to take his chances and go back to his wine and partying.

Thursday morning all was quiet in the downtown area: in fact dead quiet.  At 9:30 AM I walked to the American Embassy, only a few blocks away, and talked to the Security Officer.  He recommended that I leave Kampala.  I told him I was all for that and asked if he had any ideas.  He did not but said they would do their best to get me back to Nairobi.  He suggested that I come back at 4:00 that afternoon.  At 4:00 the city was like a ghost town, except for a few soldiers who seemed to be patrolling the town.  They had no more news and told me to come back on Friday morning.  They planned to bring in a helicopter to evacuate those who wanted to go.  On Thursday I had walked to the office, found Josenta there and was again able to call my wife..

At 5:00 PM Chris and I walked to the Speak Hotel nearby.  This was the headquarters of the Uganda Freedom Movement (UFM), which is one of the rebel factions that joined the government when the latest peace agreement was signed two months ago.  This was the last of three revolutions and the different factions were always trying to land on the right side of the fence.  Chris knew some of the officers.  They claimed the fighting was only between elements of the Ugandan Army, which we found hard to believe. It was obvious there was more to it than that.

About 6:30 we were still in the hotel and heard quite a bit of small arms fire.  The noise increased and spread until there was a semi-circle of noise around the hotel front and the two sides.  The soldiers took up their battle positions and Chris and I decided it was not a good place to be.  Fortunately, Chris’ place was away from the gunfire so we went out the back and walked the few blocks to his apartment.  We saw nothing from the time we left the hotel until we were back in his apartment.  That night the sounds of the battle were getting closer.  By evening Museveni was right on the edge of town.

At 8:00AM Friday morning, I again walked to the embassy; the streets were completely empty.  Both American and British Embassies are located in the same building and both were closed.  Things were obviously getting worse and the embassy people had simply stayed home.  I waited for more than an hour hoping someone would show up. I was really at a loss of what to do.  I could go back to the Vogen place but I was still hoping to go back on the Kenyan plane.  After about an hour Allen Eens from London came up with his suitcase.  Allen said that Kenya Are was coming in and offered me a ride to the airport.  He was waiting for his driver to come, which he did in only a few minutes.  The driver had to report to his employer who’s office was right on the way to the airport.  When we were a couple of miles out of town suddenly we were in an entirely different world.  The streets were full of people seemingly free and happy.  Richard, the driver explained that the United Freedom Movement soldiers were in this area.  They were troops from the local or southern area and the people felt much more secure,

We arrived at the office of Stewart Ranier, another Britisher. Surprisingly, I found myself one-half mile from the guest house where I was supposed to stay in the first place.  Stewart Ranier had a phone and informed us that the airport was closed.  Just across the road was a Dr Carswell.  The British Embassy has about fifteen wardens in different areas of Kampala.  Dr Carswell was one of them.  I told Allen that as we could not fly out and were trapped in the city, the best place we could possibly be was right here on Tank Hill.  There was a guest house to stay in and there was room for him also.  We had good security as UFM had control of the area, we had good communication with Ranier and his phone near by and Dr Carswell had good contact with all of Kampala.

I managed to call Lillian from Stewart Ranier’s phone but after that all the phones went dead.  In fact, I called her every day while in Kampala, thereby keeping her worries at a minimum. Right at that time Museveni again attacked the city.  The battle raged the entire day, throughout the night and most of Saturday.  Being on the highest hill in the city and spending much of the time at the Carswells, we had a good view, we could see much of the city and kept receiving first hand reports of at least much of the battle.  Museveni seemed to have a well disciplined and capable band of men who obeyed orders and in no way terrorized or molested the people.  The only personal involvement we had was mid morning on Saturday, the first day of the battle for the city.

There was suddenly a good deal of small arms fire at the base of Tank Hill and refugees began coming up the road.  They told us that Government forces were attacking the UFM troops who were guarding the area.  The UFM (according to the rumors, which were false) had switched sides as they saw Museveni losing the battle.  For about an hour the gunfire increased and came closer; then we heard gunfire come from he other side of the hill and soon refugees were coming from that side also.  Refugees were meeting refugees at the top.  We tried to get some information, but other than the fact that we were told that government troops were advancing on both sides, we couldn’t make a lot of sense of what was happening.  They were apparently not too well informed,

For a while the gunfire from both sides kept increasing and coming nearer.  Suddenly it stopped but we heard no more.  After about an hour we learned that the UFM were simply rounding up the escaping government troops.  Museveni’s men were attacking the government barracks and the troops coming up Tank Hill were the men fleeing up the hill with the UFM trying to catch them.  There never had been an attack on the hill.  It was a false alarm.

Late Saturday afternoon (the next day) I went to the home of Al and Pat Ray of Campus Crusade.  They also had a home on Tank Hill and they had a two-way radio in their car.  I was able to send a message through to Lillian to let her know that the danger was over.  However, there still was some gunfire late into Saturday night, as Museveni,s men were attacking pockets of resistance and catching the fleeing government troops.

By Sunday morning it was quiet and the battle for Kampala was over.  On Sunday afternoon I rode into town with the Rays.  We saw many bodies lying around, mostly government troops as near as we could tell. The center of town was fairly intact; perhaps because all the cannon shells and rockets did not all explode; being old World War Two surplus material.  We saw one house with a gaping eight foot hole in the wall and the seven foot unexploded rocket lying on the floor.

Monday morning I walked into the downtown area.  I got there about 9:00 AM.  The streets were full of people and cars.  Everyone was happy that the government had been overthrown.  There was a good rapport between the civilians and the rebel soldiers.

There were many soldiers around and for the first time in three decades the civilians were living without fear.

During that day Josenta led me back to the office.  I had been separated from my suitcase, including my shaver, which wouldn’t do the job any more so that had to wait until I got back home to Nairobi.

Being on Tank Hill I escaped the worst of the battle.  Not only were we above the battle but had a good place to sleep and plenty of food and a cook besides.  Others had it much worse.  I talked with a man whose name was AJ Purbia.  He was staying in the same hotel we had walked out of.  It was later attacked again and as he said: “There was a wall of sound and a wall of lead coming toward me”.  One Campus Crusade family spent twenty-six hours in the hallway of their home.  I went back to Chris Vogel.  He said that it had been very bad.  One of the apartments  in the same building had been completely blown out.  They had lain on the floor for thirty hours.  There was a bomb shelter under the building but the small arms and bigger weapon firing was so intense they could not get down there.  Not only had God preserved me from harm but also kept moving me in the right direction when I had no idea which way to go.  I was never in any real danger.  I should mention here that David Kaagwa was not with me at the last meeting on Wednasday  and I did not see him until Monday.  He was happy to see me as he was quite sure I had been killed in the battle.

On Wednesday I found a small private plane with one empty seat and bought my way back to Nairobi.  I was apparently more tense than I thought as I cracked one of my wife’s ribs when I hugged her.  Well, nobodies perfect

Bernie

On Sunday, January 19, 1986 I was in the airport in Nairobi, Kenya when I saw in the newspaper the headlines: HEAVY FIGHTING IN KAMPALA.  This was the place that I was flying to.  I reasoned that often the news stretches things a bit and that as the plane I was to go on was going to fly it should be ok to go.  I knew that the rebels were closing in on Kampala but thought I could get in and out on time.  I had an appointment with my Ugandan director and four other organizations and thought it worth the risk.

David, the director, was at the airport to pick me up and took me to their home for dinner and suggested that I use a guest house owned by someone we both knew well.

This guest house is on Tank Hill.  It is the highest of the seven hills that Kampala is built on and the city water tank is on this hill.

During dinner we could hear occasional heavy weapons-cannons- coming from the road that led down to Masaka.  The rebels-the National Resistance Army-had taken over Masaka some time ago.  Yoweri Museveni the rebel leader was now driving up the road from Masaka.  At the time they were perhaps ten miles from Kampala and we could hear a little bit of shelling from the big guns.  Other than that Sunday was quiet.

I should explain that Uganda is made of two different tribal peoples.  The northern tribes are from the Nilotic group.  They are the cattle herders, cattle rustlers and warriors.  The southern half of the country are farmers and business men.  They are from the Bantu set of tribes.  The south and the north have long been enemies.  As the last three presidents have been from the north it was much like an alien occupation; like Germany occupying Poland in the second world war.  Sense Museveni was from the south, the people were hoping he would drive out the northerners.

The day before this the government helicopters were ordered to attack the guerillas, but the guerilla forces had shot one of them down.  The pilots were afraid to go there again and so they dropped their bombs half way, in a residential area including a school, killing several children.

Monday was quiet with some continued rumbling in the distance.  There were rumors that Museveni was planning to surround the city and cut off the airport from Kampala, which I didn’t like because I planned to fly out on Wednesday.  Tuesday was like Monday, fairly quiet.  By Tuesday evening my work in Uganda was pretty well finished except for the meeting with the four organizations I mentioned.  By night fall we found the rumors of the rebels surrounding the city to be false.  The rebels were heading straight in.

Wednesday began quietly.  There was some increase in gunfire which we could tell was coming nearer but was still some distance away.  The main increase was the rumors flying around.  I was still hopeful of flying out that afternoon at 3:15 before Museveni moved in.

At 10:00 AM Mickey Parrish, a missionary living in Nairobi, stopped by to see me.  Mickey offered me a ride as he was heading east, away from the rebels who were coming from the west.  I had the meeting with the representatives of the four organizations at 10:30 and if I missed that much of my time there would have been wasted.  I told Mickey I would take a chance on getting out as planned.

When the meeting ended at 12:15 David Kaagwa’s secretary, Josenta, came in to tell us that there were soldiers everywhere causing panic in the streets.  She told us that there were people running in all directions and the stores were closing.  We hadn’t noticed anything until then but suddenly there was a good deal of small arms fire.  Josenta explained that these were soldiers from one of the tribes of the north.  They were coming from the direction of the front lines.  Josenta pointed out that they were all carrying luggage which meant that they were heading for home.  There was obviously some powerful force driving them on.  From the shouting of the soldiers Josenta gathered that they had tangled with Museveni’s troops and did not like it much.  Apparently these men had not been treated too well by their officers and were poorly fed.  The troops they met were highly motivated.  Many of these rebels had fled from villages which had been destroyed by the government troops for real or alleged rebel activity.  The young men were the ones able to flee and joined the rebel army.  It was ironical that in this way the oppressive government supplied the troops that overthrew it.  At any rate these men from the north were tired of it and going home.

We waited for a while wondering what to do.  I knew that I could do nothing but let the local people decide and follow them, which I told them when they asked where I was going.  There were several other people in the building.  They said that when they looked out the window the soldiers shot at them.  Things didn’t look too good.  I called my wife Lillian.  I didn’t want to worry her so I told her there was a little trouble and I would not make it home that day.  I simply told her I would try to call the next day and let her know when I was coming.  The problem was that she wanted to talk and I didn’t want her to hear the gunfire.  I had to let her do most of the talking while I held my hand over the mouth piece.

Josenta told me the people wanted to get out of the downtown area before dark.  They were very much afraid of the soldiers and even more so at night.  She knew I was staying on Tank Hill and as she lived near the guest house offered to lead me there through the back alleys.  I told her to do whatever she thought best and I would follow.

After an hour or so it was quiet and the people in the building saw no one.  They decided to try to get home.  It was now about two o’clock.  We left the building, looked down the street to make sure there were no soldiers, quickly went to the next corner and again looked down the block.  We had gone less than two blocks when I heard someone shouting.  I looked up to the second floor of a bank building and the man calling down was Chris Vogen from England.  He worked with the Ministry of Finance.  He suggested I stay there as the building was very strongly built.  The second floor was made up of apartments, one of which was vacant so I could stay there.  I asked Josenta what I should do.  She thought it a very good idea as I was white and would be a prime target for any soldiers lurking around.  I also liked the idea because their was no phone on Tank Hill so I would be somewhat isolated ; not knowing what was going on.  At the bank building I would be in touch with the out side world and hoped that I could keep in touch with my wife in Nairobi.

Throughout the rest of Wednesday we saw more troops fleeing from the front lines, some on foot and others in stolen vehicles.  Across the street we saw two men on a rooftop taking off their uniforms.  They were quickly transformed into civilians, blending nicely into the background.  I’m sure that happened to many of them.

Around  8:00 PM the military chairman, Okello, was on the radio telling the people not to mind the slight disturbance and to go ahead with their normal activities.

As someone said: “I think Okello lives in another world”.  The heavy guns, rockets and small arms fire, now much closer continued until midnight and then quieted down.  Since some were now hitting fairly close we stayed below the bottom of the window.  The building had walls of concrete which were over a foot thick so as long as we kept our heads down we were quite safe.  One Ugandan there didn’t seem to think so and jumped a foot high every time a door slammed.  I got alone with him the next day.  I pointed out that if he would become a Christian, he would still have other fears but at least the fear of death would be removed.  He would not do so and I saw that he wanted to take his chances and go back to his wine and partying.

Thursday morning all was quiet in the downtown area: in fact dead quiet.  At 9:30 AM I walked to the American Embassy, only a few blocks away, and talked to the Security Officer.  He recommended that I leave Kampala.  I told him I was all for that and asked if he had any ideas.  He did not but said they would do their best to get me back to Nairobi.  He suggested that I come back at 4:00 that afternoon.  At 4:00 the city was like a ghost town, except for a few soldiers who seemed to be patrolling the town.  They had no more news and told me to come back on Friday morning.  They planned to bring in a helicopter to evacuate those who wanted to go.  On Thursday I had walked to the office, found Josenta there and was again able to call my wife..

At 5:00 PM Chris and I walked to the Speak Hotel nearby.  This was the headquarters of the Uganda Freedom Movement (UFM), which is one of the rebel factions that joined the government when the latest peace agreement was signed two months ago.  This was the last of three revolutions and the different factions were always trying to land on the right side of the fence.  Chris knew some of the officers.  They claimed the fighting was only between elements of the Ugandan Army, which we found hard to believe. It was obvious there was more to it than that.

About 6:30 we were still in the hotel and heard quite a bit of small arms fire.  The noise increased and spread until there was a semi-circle of noise around the hotel front and the two sides.  The soldiers took up their battle positions and Chris and I decided it was not a good place to be.  Fortunately, Chris’ place was away from the gunfire so we went out the back and walked the few blocks to his apartment.  We saw nothing from the time we left the hotel until we were back in his apartment.

That night the sounds of the battle were getting closer.  By evening Museveni was right on the edge of town.

At 8:00AM Friday morning, I again walked to the embassy; the streets were completely empty.  Both American and British Embassies are located in the same building and both were closed.  Things were obviously getting worse and the embassy people had simply stayed home.

I waited for more than an hour hoping someone would show up. I was really at a loss of what to do.  I could go back to the Vogen place but I was still hoping to go back on the Kenyan plane.  After about an hour Allen Eens from London came up with his suitcase.  Allen said that Kenya Are was coming in and offered me a ride to the airport.  He was waiting for his driver to come, which he did in only a few minutes.  The driver had to report to his employer who’s office was right on the way to the airport.  When we were a couple of miles out of town suddenly we were in an entirely different world.  The streets were full of people seemingly free and happy.  Richard, the driver explained that the United Freedom Movement soldiers were in this area.  They were troops from the local or southern area and the people felt much more secure,

We arrived at the office of Stewart Ranier, another Britisher. Surprisingly, I found myself one-half mile from the guest house where I was supposed to stay in the first place.  Stewart Ranier had a phone and informed us that the airport was closed.

Just across the road was a Dr Carswell.  The British Embassy has about fifteen wardens in different areas of Kampala.  Dr Carswell was one of them.  I told Allen that as we could not fly out and were trapped in the city, the best place we could possibly be was right here on Tank Hill.  There was a guest house to stay in and there was room for him also.  We had good security as UFM had control of the area, we had good communication with Ranier and his phone near by and Dr Carswell had good contact with all of Kampala.

I managed to call Lillian from Stewart Ranier’s phone but after that all the phones went dead.  In fact, I called her every day while in Kampala, thereby keeping her worries at a minimum. Right at that time Museveni again attacked the city.  The battle raged the entire day, throughout the night and most of Saturday.  Being on the highest hill in the city and spending much of the time at the Carswells, we had a good view, we could see much of the city and kept receiving first hand reports of at least much of the battle.

Museveni seemed to have a well disciplined and capable band of men who obeyed orders and in no way terrorized or molested the people.  The only personal involvement we had was mid morning on Saturday, the first day of the battle for the city.

There was suddenly a good deal of small arms fire at the base of Tank Hill and refugees began coming up the road.  They told us that Government forces were attacking the UFM troops who were guarding the area.  The UFM (according to the rumors, which were false) had switched sides as they saw Museveni losing the battle.

For about an hour the gunfire increased and came closer; then we heard gunfire come from he other side of the hill and soon refugees were coming from that side also.  Refugees were meeting refugees at the top.  We tried to get some information, but other than the fact that we were told that government troops were advancing on both sides, we couldn’t make a lot of sense of what was happening.  They were apparently not too well informed,

For a while the gunfire from both sides kept increasing and coming nearer.  Suddenly it stopped but we heard no more.  After about an hour we learned that the UFM were simply rounding up the escaping government troops.  Museveni’s men were attacking the government barracks and the troops coming up Tank Hill were the men fleeing up the hill with the UFM trying to catch them.  There never had been an attack on the hill.  It was a false alarm.

Late Saturday afternoon (the next day) I went to the home of Al and Pat Ray of Campus Crusade.  They also had a home on Tank Hill and they had a two-way radio in their car.  I was able to send a message through to Lillian to let her know that the danger was over.  However, there still was some gunfire late into Saturday night, as Museveni,s men were attacking pockets of resistance and catching the fleeing government troops.

By Sunday morning it was quiet and the battle for Kampala was over.  On Sunday afternoon I rode into town with the Rays.  We saw many bodies lying around, mostly government troops as near as we could tell. The center of town was fairly intact; perhaps because all the cannon shells and rockets did not all explode; being old World War Two surplus material.  We saw one house with a gaping eight foot hole in the wall and the seven foot unexploded rocket lying on the floor.

Monday morning I walked into the downtown area.  I got there about 9:00 AM.  The streets were full of people and cars.  Everyone was happy that the government had been overthrown.  There was a good rapport between the civilians and the rebel soldiers.

There were many soldiers around and for the first time in three decades the civilians were living without fear.

During that day Josenta led me back to the office.  I had been separated from my suitcase, including my shaver, which wouldn’t do the job any more so that had to wait until I got back home to Nairobi.

Being on Tank Hill I escaped the worst of the battle.  Not only were we above the battle but had a good place to sleep and plenty of food and a cook besides.  Others had it much worse.  I talked with a man whose name was AJ Purbia.  He was staying in the same hotel we had walked out of.  It was later attacked again and as he said: “There was a wall of sound and a wall of lead coming toward me”.  One Campus Crusade family spent twenty-six hours in the hallway of their home.  I went back to Chris Vogel.  He said that it had been very bad.  One of the apartments  in the same building had been completely blown out.  They had lain on the floor for thirty hours.  There was a bomb shelter under the building but the small arms and bigger weapon firing was so intense they could not get down there.  Not only had God preserved me from harm but also kept moving me in the right direction when I had no idea which way to go.  I was never in any real danger.

I should mention here that David Kaagwa was not with me at the last meeting on Wednasday  and I did not see him until Monday.  He was happy to see me as he was quite sure I had been killed in the battle.

On Wednesday I found a small private plane with one empty seat and bought my way back to Nairobi.  I was apparently more tense than I thought as I cracked one of my wife’s ribs when I hugged her.  Well, nobodies perfect.

Bernie

.