Full Gospel pastor focuses on Bible

KAMPALA, Uganda — Somewhere between psychoanalysis and financial analysis, God stepped into Fred Wantaate Settuba-Male’s life and changed its direction. Today, he is the pastor of Kampala’s Makerere Full-Gospel Church and an avid supporter of the Bible Society of Uganda.

“I was set to become a clinical psychologist at university and I was doing well, but the Lord laid on my heart a real passion to share the Gospel,” he explains.
His passion reflects his own experience.

Confronted

He was brought up as a Catholic. “But when I looked at my life,” he says, “I realised that I really did not know God so when I was confronted with the Gospel and was asked to make a more serious commitment, I went about changing my life. Since then the Lord has been real to me.”

A holiday job in a bank led him to develop a rather dubious-sounding interest in money.

“I went to Kenya with the idea of getting a really good job, making a lot of money and buying all that I needed – like a good suit – and then launching out into my evangelistic ministry!” he says. “It sounds funny but it’s the truth! I did that for a while!”

Fortunately, experiencing a seminar led by US evangelist Morris Cerullo pulled him back into line. He was so moved by it that he left secular work altogether and went into full-time ministry. And from that time, he has built his ministry around God’s Word.

It was therefore natural that he should become involved with the Bible Society.

“I had always heard about the Society,” he admits. “I knew that they had been providing Bibles for many years at very reasonable prices. But I really became involved when I was invited to become a trustee. I got to know a lot about the inside of the work and then I loved it even more.”

He wants to make sure that each member of his church shares his passion.

“I’ve made available a program whereby people can read the Bible in a year,” he says. “We also take part in Bible Week. And because our people are already reading the Scriptures, we really urge people to become members of the Bible Society. We’ve had a good response – some businessmen in our church have become life members.”

An aspect of Bible work that he finds particularly encouraging is the way it draws together Christians who have not always been in sympathy with one another.

“The Bible Society works with Catholics, Orthodox, Anglicans – everyone,” he says. “I may not agree with all their views, but they seem to be people who really want our nation to change. There’s the fear of God in their hearts and we agree on the bulk of the Scriptures and to me that is the basis for working together.”

He is also carrying the Word outside the church walls.

Needy

“We regularly reach out to people in the prisons,” he notes. “They are a very needy area. In prison people get saved. They have been pushed up against the wall, and they have nowhere to look but up. Many of them give their lives to Christ, and when they do, the first thing they say is, ‘We really need the Bible’, so we want to invest in that.”

Ordinary Ugandans, too, he says, need more affordable Scriptures.

“With the unemployment in Uganda, our people are needy,” he declares. “Many have to struggle just to get one meal, so it becomes difficult for them to buy a Bible. If you have children and a family to feed, it becomes a real challenge.”

The danger is that, without Bibles, they can easily turn elsewhere to fill the spiritual void.

“Ugandans are by nature very ‘religious’,” Pastor Wantaate says. “A person may belong to one of the mainstream religions, but still have a shrine in his house where he worships an ancestral spirit. They may name the spirit ‘Mary’, ‘James’ or ‘Mohammed’, depending on the religion they follow, but they worship the Devil on the side.

“They will defend their religion vehemently but their faith lacks substance. They are trying to appear religious, but their hearts are hard. What people need is to be confronted with the Word of God.

“So I’m really bent on making the Bible accessible to as many as possible, so that their lives can be changed and hope can come to their hearts. If the fear of God can be instilled in people, our morals will change, and there will be more love and reconciliation.