Sister Edna Kanabahita's Testimony
I am thankful to the Lord for this opportunity to let the saints in the Lord's recovery know what has transpired in Kampala, Uganda. Lord cover me! If our reports can contribute in protecting other saints in other localities, so be it, Lord!
1 John 2:20 says: " And you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know." This anointing, which is the moving and working of the indwelling compound Spirit, the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit, abides in us, and by this we know the Father and know the truth.
v. 24: "As for you, that which you heard from the beginning, let it abide in you. If that which you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father."
v. 26: "These things I have written to you concerning those who lead you astray."
v. 27: "And as for you, the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone teach you; but as His anointing teaches you concerning all things and is true and is not a lie, and even as it has taught you, abide in Him."
The above Scriptures were such a salvation and confirmation to me when we were in the heat of the confusion of the mixture that was brought in among us by Titus's co-workers. The Lord, in His sovereignty, put us in the books of 1, 2 and 3 John as soon as Brother Tim Knoppe and his family left us. What a preparation this was!
I remember vividly from the very first day Brother Tim Knoppe and Brother Steve Lietzau came to Uganda to stay. That was my last day to step into a denomination. They told us that as they were flying over, they asked the Lord to give them some lives to "ruin," and the Lord truly answered their prayers; we, the saints in the church in Kampala, have been totally "ruined" for the Lord's recovery. Praise the Lord for the "ruining!" We are for the recovery and are standing with the one ministry.
When we first touched the recovery, we used to meet every Friday evening to get into the Word. We started with the book of Ephesians, where we all entered into an "elevator" that took us to the topmost floor of the tallest building! That was the first time for me to come into a real appreciation of "the church" and "the Body," from the true scriptural revelation. Up to that point, I knew that "the church" was a building. Every Sunday I would say, "I am going to church." But praise the Lord! I now live it! I do not just show my face; it is now the church life, and now it is our living!
After the book of Ephesians, we went into Paul's other books. Those Friday nights were so intense. I remember sitting for hours and hours listening to Brother Tim Knoppe share from the Word. There are times when we did not want him to stop speaking. By the Lord's grace, our capacity was so stretched that we could take in so much without getting tired. We also covered the book of John during the Lord's table meetings before we started meeting in a hall. On Sunday evenings we used to meet at Brother Godwin's and Sister Sarah's home, and we covered the book of Galatians and part of the book of Romans. Then on Saturday mornings we would get into the Life-study of Genesis before cleaning the meeting hall. By God's grace we have since finished going through the Life-study of Genesis. It took us three years to finish it. We were disrupted along the way, but praise the Lord for His faithfulness—He allowed us to pick it up again, and we enjoyed the life of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph. Besides the above meetings, we used to meet every morning at 6:30 a.m. for thirty minutes for the "morning watch." The Lord clearly showed us the difference between life and religion. We still had the Life-studies to feed on. It was through these times of "morning watch" that we pray-read through nearly the whole of the New Testament. I learned to touch my spirit, pray-read and read-pray. In addition to the meetings and morning watches, we had meals together and took trips out of town to Ssese Island, Entebbe, Jinja, etc. We truly enjoyed the Lord!!! What a sweet start and deep grounding this was!
Why am I giving you the above background? Through all this, there was an intense inoculation of life that was taking place. Little did we know what the enemy was also working behind the scenes, preparing Titus's co-workers to come in to pollute the pure life that we had touched. BUT, praise the Lord for His faithfulness; we were well equipped. We had received a deposit of the true life!
One and a half years later, Keith Miller was sent by Titus Chu to Uganda. This was the beginning of all the problems. Because we had been experiencing and enjoying the life that was being dispensed into us from the Word, we thought that they were in the same thing - the one ministry. We welcomed them with such wide open hearts. Little did we know that they had come with another hidden agenda. I was so desperate to gain more of the Christ that I had tasted from the very beginning, so I attached myself to this couple. Everywhere they went to speak, I went with them. The first meetings at the campus, I went with them. I recall vividly that all through this time I was in a state of denial. I sensed it from the word "Go" that something was very different, but I kept checking myself, thinking that the problem was with me.
I used to go with Keith to the main campus (Makerere University) every Saturday and Sunday evenings to meet with the students. On Sunday evenings, we would carry with us some doughnuts for the students, and Keith would get into short gospel messages. I found it too, too shallow, but I kept thinking that maybe this is just the beginning—maybe it is because he is talking to students—or maybe things would change. I was so full of "maybes." There was no major difference from what we used to do in the denominations. What attracted me to the church life was the high peak truths. I had been tired of feeding on the husks around me. In Uganda nearly three out of every five people you meet are born again. So what most of them are looking for is a deeper knowing of Christ, not a shallow Christ.
One day they called me for a meeting with one of the campus students who had failed to pay his fees. This brother had attended one of the Christian Learning Centre sessions, and he was really seeking. Keith Miller asked me to lend this brother some money (five-hundred thousand Uganda shillings) to assist him to start a small business. Out of respect and trust I went ahead and lent this brother the money. Keith gave this brother a condition that since we had given him money, he had to make sure he attended all the meetings. This leaven caused this brother to disappear from the church life. The next time I saw him, he had come to apologize to me that he was not able to pay back the money. Oh may the Lord cover me! I felt it was shameful that Keith had used money to try to coerce this brother to be in the meetings.
Two to three months later, Brother Tim and his wife went back to the States with an expectation to come back. We were later told by Keith that they were not coming back. We were so devastated. It was as if we had been left like orphans. I recall one night, after the Millers had told us the news that the Knoppes were not coming back, Keith and his wife offered to take me out for coffee at Rwenzori Café. While we were there, Keith told me that this is the time when "the rubber meets the road." He said that we had accumulated head knowledge of the Bible but did not have the experience. How could he measure our experience? Only God knows.
As more and more events continued to unfold, the meetings gradually started to change. Even the way we used to clean the meeting hall started to become a duty. In the beginning, I used to enjoy mopping the floor of that hall and arranging the chairs. It was a joy doing it. Then later, a system was introduced. Functions and responsibilities were delegated to us. It was becoming exactly the same as what is done in a corporate organization. I did not have the peace to take on the responsibility which I had been allocated. Yet even with all this, I was still not very clear on what exactly was going on. Deep within me and within other saints, we had a sense that something was not in line. Knowing what I now know, I can see that these events were a display of the natural concept of leadership, where the leader lords it over the flock rather than the proper leadership in God's New Testament economy. This was slavery.
But praise the Lord for His mercy! He saved us! All through this time, I kept telling myself that if this was of the Lord, it will stand. In addition to the Scriptures in 1 John, some of the Scriptures that kept coming into remembrance during that time were:
2 Tim. 1:6a: "For which cause I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you...."
2 Tim. 1:14: "Guard the good deposit through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us." (The deposit of the healthy words, including the riches of life in His word, which the Lord has stored in us.)
2 Tim. 3:14: "But you, continue in the things which you have learned and have been assured of, knowing from which ones you have learned them."
Looking back, and after watching the five-hour video from the blended brothers, I can now say with such a deep assurance that, truly, the recovery is of the Lord—it is the apple of His eye. What a privilege that we are a part of it!
