Pastor Gregg Schoof emailed Rwandan journalists on Sunday October 06,2019 inviting them to a news conference where he said he would discuss the closure of his radio station and court cases, here down we have a copy.
RE: Before I leave…
Dear people of Rwanda,
I want to thank all of you who have prayed for us during this attack against us, this attack against the radio, and the attack against our church. This month, we will be moving to Kampala because Immigration refused to renew our visas – even though we still have ongoing court cases. For the RURA case, we appealed to the appeals court more than 3 months ago and are still waiting for an answer. For the RMC case, we go to court again the end of November.
I actually have not spoken very much during this mess because my lawyer and I both agreed that we would quietly allow the courts to do their job in peace. But since staying quiet has not been productive, I now wish to leave you with the best possible explanation as to what was done to us. Here are 4 different areas that we have been attacked In Rwanda:
1st –RMC attacked us
This whole mess was created by RMC not following its own rules of fairness that it wants journalists to follow. In Short, RMC lied about pastor Nicholas. What was played over and over again in the news that came from RMC was a lie.
Pastor Nicholas did not preach against women. He was actually preaching about bad churches. In the bible, a good church is pictured as a good woman. A bad church is pictured as a bad woman. So, he said these women are evil. Which women? The bad women that pictured bad churches.
He explained VERY clearly and many times repeated: “I am not talking bout women. Remember, that bad women represent bad churches.’’ I ask you, did you ever hear that spoken of in the news? No, of course not! –Because the media only repeated the small part that was taken totally out of context by RMC.
If a journalist did the some as RMC did they would be fired very quickly. And even if pastor Nicholas was guilty, then let’s fix the problem according to proper procedure – which RMC did not follow. That is not a reason to close the whole radio! RMC also lied about us having a history of hate speech. They said we previously received warnings. No, we did not. And I challenge them to prove their words. But I know they cannot because they lied.
2nd -RURA attacked us
The crimes that RURA committed were actually worse than that RMC did. RURA vomited on the constitution of Rwanda. Does the Rwandan constitution say? – People are innocent until RURA declares them to be guilty. – No, of course not. It says; People are innocent until proven guilty. So, Pastor Nicholas is still innocent.
Even to this day, there has been No investigation, No hearing, No court case, and not even 1 minute of discussion of Pastor Nicholas’s sermon. There has been No opportunity to hear both sides of the story. Nobody should have their name smeared all aver Rwanda without having a chance to defend themselves. I could not condemn an innocent man- so they closed the radio.
Furthermore, I am a Pastor and a Christian. The 9th commandment in the Bible says: “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. –Exodus 20:16.” How can I possibly slander this pastor’s good name and witness against him without him ever being tried, prosecuted, or ever have a hearing? Again, I could not do that- so they closed the radio.
3rd –Tony Kulamba attacked us
Tony is the one who illegally closed the radio, but there is another area that most people don’t know about. Tony illegally blocked me from going to my own property for 3 months! I could not set one foot on my own property! There was no court order and I did nothing wrong to deserve that. I reported it to RIB and they helped a little.
But I ask this question: Suppose I chained the doors of RURA for 3 months? How fast would I be arrested? Not even one day would pass! But obviously, Tony Kulamba and RURA make and enforce their own laws to block me from entering my own building. They violate the most basic protections in the Rwandan constitution!
4th –Our church was attacked and closed illegally:
Three days after the radio was closed, Kalisa at Remera sector, gave an illegal order to close our church. He did not ever say WHY we had to close! I complained and appealed to Remera sector, Gasabo District, Kigali City, MINALOC, RGB, Prime Minister, and to the office of the President.
There were some nice people we met, but NO ONE helped and to this day we still have no idea why our church was closed. And before you ask, Yes , we had parking, toilets, sound protection, and lots of room. The church existed 15 years then it is closed in one day and not even given a reason!
How can any one smack God in face and close a church without even giving a reason. That is what devils do! They will have problems when they stand before God!
To finish I ask one question. Is this government trying to send people to hell?
Think about this: Christian radio illegally closed-7000 churches illegally closed- Schools teach evolution and says there is no God- Condoms are promoted to children in schools which promotes filth and leads to a skyrocketing number of teenage pregnancies- Women can now kill their babies through abortion- House churches are illegally closed down- And pastors are put in jail just for having church.
Please understand I love Rwanda. We all need to pray for Rwanda. If you are a christian, you need to hold your leaders accountable. I did not come here to fight the government. I came to preach the gospel. I care nothing about politics. Nor do I care who the president is or what party is in power. But this government has taken a stand against God with its heathen practices. I hope Christians will do their lawful part in all this and simply do what is right and help fix these problems.
Thank you,
Gregg Schoof
Director
Rwandan police arrested Pastor Schoof at the venue where he was preparing to host the conference, for “disturbing public order,” A spokesman for Rwanda’s Directorate General of Immigration and Emigration told CNN that Gregg Schoof was deported back to the United States due to “failure to comply with Rwandan laws.”
We guess Rwandan government has learnt many things from Pastor’s case…! It didn’t want the truth of Schoof goes out in any news…but by trying to stop it, it has multiplyied 1000 times!
Abaryankuna Editorial