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Normally when you hear about a cult, which follows the rules of God, it is not necessarily ‘dangerous’. However when you factor in that 780 people died because of this cult, then it is something serious. The Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God (MRTCG) will infamously go down in history for how it ended.
Between 1960 and 1989, Ugandan man Paulo Kashakun said he was seeing a number of visions. In 1988, one of the visions he reported was of Jesus Christ, The Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph. Paulo told his daughter Credonia Mwerinde (who was having similar visions) to spread the word across the country about the orders of the Virgin Mary. In the following year, she met a man called Joseph Kibweteere, who was also having the same visions. They formed a pair and (vowed) to tell people about the message from the vision. This is how MRTCG was formed.
The believability, popularity and importance of the group would only get stronger after the arrival of Dominic Kataribabo. Dominic joined not long after getting at PhD at a college in Los Angeles and he was a very respected priest. Once he and reverend, Paul Ikazire, joined the cult, there was more and more discussion about their ideas and more people joining.
The cult aggressively believed in the Ten Commandments of God and all followers had to strictly abide by them in order to avoid damnation in the apocalypse. The group was so forceful about following the Commandments, members (around 5,000 at the time) were afraid to perform basic human acts. For example, the Ninth Commandments says: “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.” So there were days where the members would refuse to talk and only communicate using sign language. Also the use of soap was forbidden.
The apocalypse was something the group had discussed in their booklet ‘A Timely Message from Heaven: The End of the Present Time’. They said it would happen at the turn of the millennium- the year 2000. Members, who recently joined, had to study the book and read it as many as six times. The following is an extract from the booklet that explained the group’s feelings about the apocalypse:
“All of you living on the Planet, listen to what I'm going to say: When the year 2000 is completed, the year that will follow will not be year 2001. The year that will follow shall be called Year One in a generation that will follow the present generation; the generation that will follow will have few or many people depending on who will repent…The Lord told me that hurricanes of fire would rain forth from heaven and spread over all those who would not have repented."
Once January 1st 2000 came around and there was no apocalypse, there were serious questions about MRTCG. The group then said another date for the apocalypse, this time being March 17th of the same year.
On the day of March 17th, members went to the group’s church to pray. However, after the neighbours heard the sound of an explosion. The church had been set on fire and all the 530 people in it were killed. The police would then find the rest of people killed in mass graves throughout the country. It is still not known if all six leaders of the cult died and the police still have a warrant for their arrest 15 years on. After investigation, they said they believed it was a mass murder, not a mass suicide.
The believability, popularity and importance of the group would only get stronger after the arrival of Dominic Kataribabo. Dominic joined not long after getting at PhD at a college in Los Angeles and he was a very respected priest. Once he and reverend, Paul Ikazire, joined the cult, there was more and more discussion about their ideas and more people joining.
The cult aggressively believed in the Ten Commandments of God and all followers had to strictly abide by them in order to avoid damnation in the apocalypse. The group was so forceful about following the Commandments, members (around 5,000 at the time) were afraid to perform basic human acts. For example, the Ninth Commandments says: “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.” So there were days where the members would refuse to talk and only communicate using sign language. Also the use of soap was forbidden.
The apocalypse was something the group had discussed in their booklet ‘A Timely Message from Heaven: The End of the Present Time’. They said it would happen at the turn of the millennium- the year 2000. Members, who recently joined, had to study the book and read it as many as six times. The following is an extract from the booklet that explained the group’s feelings about the apocalypse:
“All of you living on the Planet, listen to what I'm going to say: When the year 2000 is completed, the year that will follow will not be year 2001. The year that will follow shall be called Year One in a generation that will follow the present generation; the generation that will follow will have few or many people depending on who will repent…The Lord told me that hurricanes of fire would rain forth from heaven and spread over all those who would not have repented."
Once January 1st 2000 came around and there was no apocalypse, there were serious questions about MRTCG. The group then said another date for the apocalypse, this time being March 17th of the same year.
On the day of March 17th, members went to the group’s church to pray. However, after the neighbours heard the sound of an explosion. The church had been set on fire and all the 530 people in it were killed. The police would then find the rest of people killed in mass graves throughout the country. It is still not known if all six leaders of the cult died and the police still have a warrant for their arrest 15 years on. After investigation, they said they believed it was a mass murder, not a mass suicide.
The Movement for the Restoration for the Ten Commandments of God will go down as one of the more infamous cults. The shocking final death toll of 780 shows how dangerous this group proved to be. By Zach Emmanuel Read More: Profile - Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandmants of God Sources: The New York Times Cesnur: Center for Studies on New Religions Wikipedia The Guardian The New York Times (2) Cult Education Institute Guts and Gore |