| THE DEVIL ENGAGES BATTLES BUT GOD WINS WARS! |
Emmanuel Ngirumpatse is the Hines of Africa. whereas God took an Assembly of God missionary named Loren Thomas Hines into an orthodox theology for the Church in the Philippines, He put Emmanuel Ngirumpatse on a spiritual journey as a Pentecostal pastor into a sacramental liturgical appreciation of the historic Faith. When I made my first mission into Rwanda in year 2000 I knew this young pastor would be God's man to make visible the void in this war torn nation for Christians seeking a deeper faith and worship. Bishop John Obokech of Uganda had accompanied me, and prophesied that the Charismatic Episcopal Church would explode throughout Rwanda under the leadership of this man. The prediction was to materialize the morning of February 21, 2004.
I had entered Rwanda two days earlier. My arrival in Kigali had a forlorn feeling about it. It was unlike previous arrivals, but then this trip was unlike others because this time I was going to Kigali to participate in the consecration of Emmanuel Ngirumpatse and he would take over the episcopal leadership. For almost two years I had been supervising bishop of Rwanda, and before that Archbishop Howard's representative as Canon Missioner.
The following day Bishop-elect accompanied me across the border into Burundi for ordinations. It was a trip mixed with confusion, delays and opposition. Immigration problems at the Rwanda border caused more than an hour delay in both directions. The hired driver on the return began to increase the rental by $100 above the agreed price. Hotel reservations for Archbishop Dale Howard and other participants in the Consecration had been made two months in advance, but the morning they were to arrive I discovered they had no reservations. The church facility would not be large enough to accommodate the expected attendance so in the court yard a canvas canopy was to be erected providing coverage for the overflow crowd. The canvas was donated but several days before it was stolen. The morning of rehearsal the rain poured, making it difficult for some of the participating clergy to get to the church.
Upon the arrival later in the day of Archbishop Howard I said, "we are in spiritual warfare." Little did we realize to what extent.
That evening the bishops and visiting clergy enjoyed a good meal and fellowship. The next morning I went early to the church to assure all was in order for the consecration. Later the Archbishop, Kenyan Bishop Bernard Njoroge and Ugandan Bishop John Obokech arrived. The 113 clergy raised up by Emmanuel were vested. Last minute instructions were given to the Master of Ceremonies and we were ready for this great day in the life of the Rwandan Church. Five minutes before the procession was to begin, the police arrived with guns, and announced that we were not permitted to hold a service and if we proceeded we would be arrested. Archbishop Howard, Bishop Njoroge and Bishop-elect Ngirumpatse went to the district Mayor's office hoping to resolve the matter, but were kept waiting for one hour before they could see her. Reporters had already converged on the Mayor's office for details. Bishop Njoroge who is an attorney in Kenya and a Commissioner with the Kenyan government, tried intervention in legal ways. Emmanuel was understandably distressed, but God gave assurance through the Archbishop that He would open the way and before sundown Emmanuel would be consecrated. The Mayor told them to go back to the church and wait two hours while she appealed to higher authorities. It was obvious since the police were involved, the orders had come from high officials in the government. While waiting, the plan was to feed the people, but the police returned and told us to vacate the church, send the people home and leave immediately or we would be arrested. This is a country where ten years ago Christians were murdered inside churches while seeking refuge; eight hundred thousand slaughtered in two months because they were born into the wrong tribe. What was to have been a glorious day in the life of a church with more than 12,000 members ended with people shocked, weeping, confused and disappointed. The police stood across the road watching. We packed our vestments and returned to the hotel.
What was the reason for all this? Who orchestrated this evil act? The congregation had been worshiping in this facility since the first of the year. Our national registration was in process of completion; the paper work done a year ago, and monies paid to the authorities. But the authorities stalled in finalizing the registration, and the day before the Consecration, bishops of the Anglican Church went to the government officials and pressured the service stopped.
This opposition comes from the same Anglican who has consecrated a half dozen men of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America into his Anglican Mission in America organization. Rwandan Archbishop Kolini has no opposition in America when he consecrates bishops or take congregations from ECUSA, but the Charismatic Episcopal Church in Rwanda is prevented to move in God's plan, and allowed the same freedom he enjoys. Last year I had dinner with Archbishop Kolini at which time I assured him we were no threat to him because our mission was to make visible the void with Pentecostal and independent pastors and churches. I assured him we would not receive Anglican clergy or congregations.
We knew that with the consecration of Emmanuel Ngirumpatse there will come increased growth in our church. From the time the first priests were ordained, we experienced growth because our church and the Roman Catholics are the only ones giving the Body and Blood of Jesus weekly. The people came for the sacraments heretofore unavailable to them. This must have threatened the Archbishop to use his power as prelate of the large Anglican denomination to stop us. Based on our experience in other African nations where Anglicans had been received, I told Emmanuel that after his consecration he would be wise never to accept Anglican clergy if he wished to prevent war. In Kenya Anglicans have tied up our bishops in court. In Uganda they have vandalized property and jailed clergy. In Tanzania they tried to have immigration deny our entry. We wanted no problem in Rwanda. We were there not to compete with the Anglican Church but to give Pentecostal and Evangelical pastors a connection with the historic Apostolic Church. We had offered peace; Kolini has responded with war.
The people and clergy were deprived of witnessing the consecration of their bishop and they left the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit with saddened hearts, but God's purposes will not be defeated by mayors, police or an Archbishop who presents himself to Americans as a holy man interested only in the Kingdom and preserving the Faith.
With Emmanuel's wife and four children, three of his priests, two lay people, and two clergy from Tanzania and Burundi, we moved to the Chez Lando Hotel and Archbishop Howard's "Catacomb" ROOM SEVEN, where in privacy this thirty-eight year old man of God was consecrated Bishop of Rwanda. The consecration reminded us of earlier days when Christians met secretly in catacombs and bishops were consecrated in privacy In his homily, Archbishop Howard referred to passages from the Revelation letter to the Church at Philadelphia where those from the synagogue of Satan were forced to acknowledge God's favor upon the Church of Philadelphia because of their faithfulness. Emmanuel, his priests and people had been faithful to God's Word and Sacraments. Archbishop reminded us that Jesus holds the key of David and opens a door no man can shut, and a day will come when those of the congregation of opposition will acknowledge God's favor upon the Charismatic Episcopal Church. We had been denied worship in our church; the people denied witnessing the consecration of their bishop, but God was not defeated. On the afternoon of Saturday, February 21, 2004 Emmanuel Ngirumpatse became the forty-first bishop in the Charismatic Episcopal Church.
Bishop Ngirumpatse gave a personal invitation to Kolini and Archbishop Howard had instructed me if the Anglican Archbishop came he would sit in a prominent place of honor. In every way we had offered our peace and desire to build the Kingdom together. Our peace was returned to us and as Jesus instructed, we shake the dust off our feet in an attempt to be ecumenical with the Anglican Church of Rwanda. Where we had once declared we would not accept Anglicans, a door is open for God's judgment to be reaped upon the Province of Rwanda, who readily accept American Episcopal Churches from orthodox sound Episcopal Bishops. By their own action they have opened the door for Anglicans to come to us and if they do, we will not turn them away.
A POST SCRIPT:
Sunday morning the police chief who the day before threatened our arrest, came to the church and asked Bishop Emmanuel's forgiveness. He said they could continue with their service and explained that they were ordered by higher officials acting on behalf of the Anglican bishop. God has already begun to vindicate and show His favor upon this people. The church was filled to overflow; the clergy remaining from yesterday to welcome their new bishop. God won the war!
+Bishop Philip E. P. Weeks
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