The writer of the Letter to the Hebrews reminds Christians that they are surrounded by a great “cloud of witnesses.” (NRSV) That “cloud” has continued to grow in size since then. In this monthly column we will be thinking about some of the people and events, over the past 2000 years, that have helped make up this “cloud.” People and events that have helped build the community of the Christian Church as it exists today.
Throughout Christian history one of the phenomena hardest to fully categorize is that of ‘syncretistic movements.’ These are movements and groups that draw on Christian language, terms and motifs, but blend them with non-Christian beliefs in such a way as to produce movements that are - in practice - radically different from orthodox Christian faith and practice. And yet there are echoes (in use of some terms and motifs) of ideas familiar within some Christian communities.
With some groups, this can take the form of a diluted Christianity; in other cases, the product is so radically different that it cannot be described as Christian at all. And yet, even in these cases the echoes of Christian terminology and outlook (even though distorted and abused) can draw in followers who believe there is some degree of connectivity with their indigenous Church community.
The groups examined in this piece are particularly extreme and shocking examples: the so-called ‘Holy Spirit Movement’ (HSM) and the better-known, and infamous, ‘Lord’s Resistance Army’ (LRA). While both of these are from Africa, syncretism is not limited to any one continent, culture or period of time, although context always informs the way that such phenomena develop.
In examining them, a serious reservation must be kept in mind. For, while some journalistic accounts describe them (especially the LRA) as ‘Christian extremist’ groups, the matter is much more complex than this suggests. For, while that shorthand term captures something of – especially regarding the LRA – their use of biblical language and symbols, most historians, anthropologists, and scholars of religion consider it too simplistic a piece of shorthand. In contrast, they generally emphasize that the LRA was a ‘syncretistic prophetic movement’ that is rooted in the religious culture of the Acholi people, rather than an expression of any mainstream Christian tradition despite its borrowing - or more accurately, hijacking - of biblical and Christian language.
Distinguishing between using Christian beliefs and symbols and representing historic Christianity is an important analytical point but the very fact that the term ‘Christian extremist’ is sometimes used as a description reveals how confusing things can be to some observers.
The ‘Holy Spirit Movement’ (1986–87)
This movement emerged in Uganda between 1986 and 1987. It arose out of a combination of traditional African beliefs in spirit mediums – particularly found in this area of Uganda – with aspects of Christian beliefs (particularly regarding personal morality). Within some congregations of the regional Catholic Church, belief in so-called ‘spirit divination’ meant that many people were prepared to accept the claims of the founder of this movement, and assumed some degree of resonance with some of their Christian beliefs.
In a context of contemporary social and political disintegration - when many people had lost trust in the Ugandan state - those who claimed to be spirit mediums appeared to offer ways in which events could be both understood and influenced. This was especially the case in a society where suffering and death was often considered to be caused by witchcraft and spiritual activities; and where these beliefs existed alongside - and within - communities that considered themselves Christian.
This involvement, of those claiming to be spirit mediums, in guerrilla movements had earlier been seen in Zimbabwe. Here the post-colonial government, in its attempts to build local powerbases, had worked to co-opt them. However, greater international interest was focused on that which occurred within the Acholi-speaking region of northern Uganda in the late 1980s.
In contrast to Zimbabwe, where the spirit mediums claimed to be possessed by ancestral spirits, those in northern Uganda claimed to be possessed by strangers. What occurred in Uganda represented traditional Acholi beliefs combined with Christian imagery and terminology. Arguably, the co-option of these Christian beliefs made it easier to incorporate traditional beliefs regarding spirit mediums (otherwise unacceptable within orthodox Christianity).
In 1987, Alice Auma/Lakwena led her so-called ‘Holy Spirit army’ in an attempt to overthrow the National Resistance Movement (NRM) government of Yoweri Museveni and its military wing, the National Resistance Army (NRA). Evidence suggests that rogue NRA units took to arresting and killing ex-military men from the region and persecuting old regime supporters.
In response, the north rose in arms, first through the Uganda People’s Democratic Movement/Army (UPDA) - which eventually cut a peace deal with Kampala in 1988. Then, the so-called ‘Holy Spirit Movement’ (HSM) appeared, led by a spirit medium named Alice Auma. The government forces were disconcerted by an adversary which walked into battle in cross-shaped formations, swaying and shaking, and singing Christian hymns.
Alice Auma claimed to be channeling messages from the spirit of an Italian First World War veteran who was buried near Murchison Falls. She named him Lakwena. As a result of this claim, she called herself ‘Alice Lakwena.’ Alice claimed that she underwent a forty-day (note echoes of biblical numerology) immersion in the Nile before giving advice to the UPDA. Gaining support from this group assisted her to launch her own – ‘Holy Spirit’ – movement.
She preached what she termed ‘Holy Spirit Safety Precautions’ for her followers, in order to achieve victory, which included: singing Christian hymns when going into battle; rubbing themselves with shea-butter oil as protection against bullets; throwing stones that (she claimed) would transform into grenades; avoidance of contact with non-members of the movement; avoiding killing bees and snakes, described as the allies of the HSM, and following the Ten Commandments.
It was a syncretistic combination of indigenous religious beliefs, magic, and aspects of Christian belief. She interpreted Uganda's political troubles through biblical themes of sin, repentance, divine judgment, and redemption. Christian prayers, hymns, and biblical language formed part of the daily life of armed members.
As with many such groups throughout the history of the last two millennia, apocalyptic expectation, borrowed from Christian end-times beliefs, helped shape key aspects of the group’s ideology. The movement anticipated a divinely ordained transformation of Uganda after a period of holy warfare. The HSM blended Pentecostal, Catholic, Anglican, and indigenous spiritual concepts into an entirely new religious (and apocalyptic) synthesis.
In November and December 1986 her forces achieved two surprising victories over NRA forces. This encouraged belief in her ‘spirit power’ among the Acholi population. When her followers were killed, she asserted that this was because they lacked purity or strict adherence to her instructions. She also launched attacks on UPDA groups who did not accept her authority.
Despite these initial successes, 1987 brought defeat for the HSM. After these defeats, Alice was forced to withdraw and reorganize. She also carried out ‘purification’ activities in an effort to reverse these setbacks. In September, she once more marched on Kampala, gathering support along the way. The extent of belief in her was seen in the fact that these supporters included Professor Isaac Newton Ojok, who had been Minister of Education under President Obote.
However, in November, her forces were defeated; suffering huge losses as they advanced, convinced by faith in spiritual protection that, in the event, failed to protect them from machine guns. Alice Lakwena fled into exile in Kenya, where she died in a refugee camp in 2007. However, the afterlife of the movement saw the rise of a group whose violence was (and is) deeply shocking.
The ‘Lord’s Resistance Army’ (since 1987)
The defeat of the ‘Holy Spirit Movement’ left a number of smaller rebel groups which survived its collapse. Some of these copied its religious message of belief in the impending millennial rule of Christ, combined with indigenous spiritual beliefs. The most infamous of these was ‘The Lord’s Resistance Army’ (LRA). With its massive impact on civilians, this movement has caused the deaths of more than 100,000 non-combatants.
Joseph Kony, who some believe to be Alice Lakwena’s cousin, formed this group in 1987. He claimed to receive messages from God and declared that the LRA was fighting in the name of God, with the aim of overthrowing the Ugandan government and replacing it with a government that has the Ten Commandments as its constitution.
The features of the movement, and its claims, were: divine judgment would soon occur in support of the LRA and the LRA was an instrument of that judgement; direct guidance from God was given him by the Holy Spirit; extensive use of Old Testament imagery; prayer before military operations; use of crosses, rosaries, and Christian devotional objects among some of its fighters.
Kony frequently portrayed himself as a prophet, or divinely chosen intermediary, rather than simply as a military commander. As with the ‘Holy Spirit Movement’ this all purported to root it in a Judeo-Christian tradition (particularly an Old Testament one). But nothing could be further from the truth.
Horrific violence was chosen as the strategy deployed to make Uganda ungovernable, disrupt civilian life, spread terror, and undermine trust in the government. At its height, LRA ranks were filled by some 25,000 child-soldiers who had been kidnapped and then forced to commit horrific acts of extreme violence, including abduction, mutilation, rape and torture.
As it developed it became a shocking composite movement which blended aspects of Christian, Islamic, and traditional Acholi beliefs into a murderous world view that terrorized Kony’s own Acholi people, set back development in the north of Uganda by decades and caused appalling suffering.
Within the LRA spirit mediums occupied an authoritative position alongside biblical ideas; salvation became linked with military struggle and ritual obedience; indigenous spiritual beings were incorporated into the composite religious system.
When the Acholi people failed to offer the LRA the support demanded, it responded with massacres, abductions and atrocities. The movement often justified its violence through claims of divine command or purification of communities by destroying those deemed unworthy, or unwilling to support it. It also desocialised its child soldiers by forcing them to take part in unspeakable acts of horror.
Overall, more than 60,000 children were abducted by the LRA (according to widely cited estimates). Millions were displaced during the conflict in northern Uganda and in neighbouring countries. Psychological, economic, and social consequences continue to impact on communities abused by the LRA.
Whereas Alice Auma continued to emphasize repentance and moral purification (albeit as she defined these), Kony increasingly subordinated any semblance of theology to his claimed personal prophetic authority and the military survival of the group.
The LRA terrorized large areas of central Africa. It was eventually expelled from Uganda by the end of 2006. Following this, it became a significant problem in nearby countries, continuing to terrorize and to raise revenue by elephant poaching and by looting diamonds and gold from miners operating in eastern Central African Republic (CAR). In recent years it has been worn down in conflicts with regional armies, assisted by US Special Forces and an African Union counter-LRA task force; and by UN-supported sanctions, and actions by the International Criminal Court (ICC).
By the 2020s, the group numbered in the low hundreds, dispersed across remote border areas of the Central African Republic (CAR), northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and occasionally in areas bordering South Sudan, and Sudan. Yet, despite the reduction in its size, killings and abductions have continued; mostly in the remote border areas of Democratic Republic of Congo-Central African Republic-South Sudan.
It is clear that the ongoing impact of the LRA has been greatly reduced in the last decade. Nevertheless, the appalling scale of death and suffering caused by its activities makes it one of the bloodiest of political apocalyptic movements. Its impact continues to be felt in many African communities.
As of 2026, the LRA is a shadow of the force it was in the 1990s and early 2000s. It is still regarded as a security threat by the UN and regional governments, but it is no longer capable of conducting large-scale insurgency or threatening state control in any country. Hundreds of members have defected over the past decade, including several senior figures and members of Kony's own family.
A 2025 investigation described the remaining force as no more than a couple of dozen fighters centred around Kony, who remains the symbolic leader and is still wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC). Its command structure has weakened considerably through deaths, captures, and defections; the organization is increasingly fragmented and dependent on isolated commanders rather than a robust hierarchy.
The LRA, in 2026, is best understood as a residual insurgent and criminal network, rather than a major rebel army. Yet, over the course of its history, it has inflicted suffering on vast numbers of civilians. It is a disturbing example of what happens when Judeo-Christian apocalyptic beliefs go rogue, are blended with spiritual beliefs that do not form part of biblical spirituality, and are hijacked to promote violent imposition of power onto defenceless people.
Martyn Whittock is an historian and a Licensed Lay Minister in the Church of England. His recent books include Apocalyptic Politics (2022), which explores the connection between end-times beliefs and radicalized politics across religions, time, and cultures; including the African syncretistic apocalyptic movements described in this piece.
