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| Email: repubulika@mrdrubanda.com |
Rwanda closes more than 8,000 churches, arrests pastors and prophets, forcing them to recant of their words
Kagame’s Rwanda meddling in church affairs and persecuting believers
(WA D.C, USA) — MRD is closely following recent persecution of believers in Rwanda. A few weeks following president Paul Kagame’s sham election, the Rwanda Government Board (RGB) per Kagame’s order has arrested pastors, prophets and people of faith; forced them to recant of their messages and prophecies on national TV’s, and closed over 8,000 churches within one week, citing “building and safety concerns.”
In meddling with church affairs, Kagame’s RGB is also crushing churches with unbearable religious demands that pastors must have certain theological degrees from an RGB accredited institute; RGB which is persecuting believers and closing churches is the one to approve church leaders! One of the church elders who was interviewed on a YouTube channel revealed that RPF organs are quickly taking over the church in Rwanda; pastors are being replaced by RPF elites or military personnel who are teaching RPF ideology of division, racism, hate and murder. Hence, Rwanda is becoming more and more corrupt and full of violence throughout the country but a great effort is used to keep it hidden from the International Community.
RGB is also tightly controlling the church, meddling in tithes and offerings, exacting that at least 80% of the church budgets directly benefit the vulnerable. In doing this, Kagame forgets that the church’s idea is God’s idea and it is God who calls His servants. As for the church tithes, the scripture clearly says, “Thus all the tithe of the land, of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the tree, is the LORD’S; it is holy to the LORD.” So it is not the job of RGB to decide how the tithes should be used but God has left it to the discretion of the church leaders whom He has called.
Sources close to the situation including Rwanda news papers tell us these actions follow as the result of believers especially Christians not participating in the election in which Kagame proclaimed himself a winner at 99.18%. During Kagame’s campaign, citizens were forced to start heading to the campaign site in the middle of the night where they would wait for Kagame for hours, worshipping and singing praises to him. In Rwanda, it is no secret that pastors, preachers and TV evangelists are all compelled to always mention the name of Kagame in their sermons, give him glory for all his accomplishments. Those who do not comply are persecuted. Many Christians realized that Kagame is demanding worship and for this reason, they began to distance themselves from him and from participating in voting. There are many believers who left the country so that they would not participate in voting. The election turnout revealed that many evangelicals and believers from different religions did not vote.
In bitterness and in anger, Kagame held grudges and decided to revenge on those who did not vote for him but especially on Christians and it is for this reason he ordered the closing of thousands of churches. It should be noted that houses of worship were closed suddenly without warning ahead of time, so that there are weddings and other church pre-planned events such as baptisms, baby dedications … which were forced to be canceled out or stopped in the midst of the ceremonies.
In Rwanda, authorities have banned all meetings of a closed church, and congregation members are not even allowed to come near a closed church nor hold meetings in home groups. Pastor Francois Nsengiyumva, the lead pastor of ADEPR in Ngarama was arrested with his prayer team when they were caught praying inside their church building that had already been closed by the government. Pastor Nsengiyumva was thrown in jail.
There have been arbitrary arrests of prophets Meshake, Marcelin and others who had prophesied that in the future, there was going to be judgement and true unity of Hutu, Twa and Tutsi tribes in Rwanda. On day one of cracking down on churches, these pastors were disappeared until activists started advocating for them, and they were later released on condition that they recant of some of their past prophecies and messages. Popular pro-government pastor Antoine Rutayisire was brought in front of the TV and repented for criticizing the government on the closing churches; prophet Meshake and prophet Marcelin were all brought in front of the TV and recanted for some of their prophecies.
In most cases, it is almost impossible for churches to meet the new requirements without being given enough time in advance. Some of those requirements include:
- Church access roads and compounds must be paved
- Church building must seat on ½ hectares
- All churches must have lightning-conductors
- All church leaders must have a theological degree from an RGB accredited institute
- All churches must have a car metal detector
- All churches must have a bomb/explosive detector
- All churches must have fire extinguisher
Rwandans’ right to religious freedom is granted under article 37 of the 2003 constitution, which was amended in 2015. Kagame tightly controls the media, political parties and civil society. In a country where interrogations, raids, arrests, kidnappings, poisoning and murders have become standard practice on innocent citizens, Rwandans usually find refuge in God. At large, churches constitute the last open space in Kagame’s Rwanda. The local community of churches offered fellowship, a slight space for sharing the pain even daring to imagine and talk about change. Churches offer hope and a better future. For Kagame to control and close the churches, it is like cutting the last hope for most Rwandans.
MRD, the Rwanda Movement for the Republic and Democracy ask Rubanda (we the people) to not lose heart, hope and their faith in God. We advise people to remain strong and continue their prayer in their heart and in their own homes and be resilient in fighting for their freedom. Rwandans need to remember that where there is a will there is a way; they can’t lose if they do not give up.
We ask the International community and the members of Congress world wide to increase pressure on the government of Rwanda, to stop all aid and to put sanctions against president Kagame and his inner circle until he ends once and for all, the growing abuse of religious freedom and human rights in Rwanda.
Done in Washington DC, this Monday, August 12, 2024
Rev. Christine Coleman,
MRD President
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