Dozens of Pentecostal Churches Being Shut Down in Cameroon
http://global.christianpost.com/news/dozens-of-pentecostal-churches-being-shut-down-in-cameroon-103774/
By Michael
Gryboski, Christian Post Reporter
September 4, 2013|9:10 pm
Cameroon has decided to close down dozens of Pentecostal churches due to claims of "criminal practices" from the government.
President Paul Biya, who has led the West African nation since 1982, ordered last month the closure of several Pentecostal churches in the name of public safety.Mbu Anthony Lang, a government official, told reporters in a statement that the order involved safety issues rather than opposition to the Pentecostal Movement.
"We will get rid of all the so-called Christian Pentecostal pastors who misuse the name of Jesus Christ to fake miracles and kill citizens in their churches. They have outstretched their liberty," said Lang, as reported by BosNewsLife.
The dozens of churches, including around 10 in the capital Yaoundé, were guilty of "extortion," "repeat nocturnal uproars," and "proselytizing," said Communications Minister Issa Tchiroma Bakary.
"The administrative authorities which are responsible for the preservation of public order had to take responsibility," he added at a press conference held last week.
Supporters of the government's order point to incidents involving faith healings gone wrong and other disruptions of the peace.
According to Tapang Ivo Tanku of CNN, the government's action against the Pentecostal churches has not only already taken effect, but also will expand.
"Biya is using the military to permanently shut down all Pentecostal church denominations in the nation's capital, Yaounde, and the North West Regional capital, Bamenda, which have the largest Christian populations in Cameroon," wrote Tanku.
"More than 50 churches have now been closed, with the government targeting nearly 100 in eight other regions."
The World Watch Monitor reports that while Cameroon is a majority Christian population with a constitution that guarantees freedom of religion, there are certain government regulations for churches.
"This law stipulates that the exercise of religious worship should be subject to the approval of the minister of interior affairs, and authorization by the president," said WWM.
"Officially, only 47 permits were granted to Churches or Christian organizations between 1990 and 2009, whereas about 500 denominations are operating across the country."
WWM also reports that efforts to crack down on non-recognized churches in Cameroon are not novel in nature.
"A number of Pentecostal churches in Cameroon have been closed in recent years by local authorities following complaints by residents," said WWM.
Boniface Tum, bishop of the Christian Church of God in Yaounde, said in a statement that the system of registering churches was a violation of religious freedom.
"Authorizing only the Catholic, Presbyterian, Baptist, Muslim, and a few other churches, is a strict violation of the right to religion," said Tum.
Dozens of Pentecostal Churches being shut down in Cameroon
Supporters of the government’s order point to incidents involving faith healings gone wrong and other disruptions of the peace.
The army of Cameroon has been ordered to attack Churches.
“Biya is using the military to permanently shut down all Pentecostal church denominations in the nation’s capital, Yaounde, and the North West Regional capital, Bamenda, which have the largest Christian populations in Cameroon,” wrote Tanku.
“More than 50 churches have now been closed, with the government targeting nearly 100 in eight other regions.”
Source: Christian Post.com
My comment:
First: The Governments should permit cults and sects to operate freely, based on Freedom of Religion. As long as there is no violence involved. This is an example of persecution of Christians.
But I have to admit, that sometimes Christians are their own worst enemies. By permitting false teachers and false prophets to operate, the enemies of Christianity gets fuel to attack true followers of Jesus the Messiah.
1 Corinthians 5:11There is no easy solution to this problem. Many Christians have been martyred, because of crimes committed by false brethren. Non-Christians will not be able to see the difference and execute both true and false Christians.
But now I am writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler. Do not even eat with such people.
Luke 21:16Paul has given us a warning, which is followed by few of us. – Do not have anything to do, with people who claim to know Jesus the Messiah, but by their words and deeds make a mockery out of the true faith.
You will be betrayed even by parents, brothers and sisters, relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death.
Written by Ivar
>>>>Such rapid growth has come at the expense of historical churches such as the Catholic Church, which has seen a great number of its followers join Pentecostal movements.<<<<<
And anyone who has every met Jesus can not sit still still, or be quiet even if they just kneel and cry at his feet for his abundant mercy and love for them…!
yet at the end of your reasoning’s for not caring for these lost souls
you list the use of Saul by Jesus who was persecuting the believer’s he led heathen to Jesus, even Roman soldiers! The Lord used Him mightily! How awesome is our Lord!!
Grow up Sweetheart…give the Holy Spirit more time to show you what a truly mighty God we really have in us..whether we lay in pain or stand on a stage and preach His Word to multitudes or write in an office under the anointing of the Spirit of God to many who will reap the exact thing they will need in their lives years from now or that was written many years ago as in His Word we receive that Balm of Gilead each time in His Word is read and received….your love of our Lord is a great help-mate for many let it continue to grow and give strength to yourself, praise to our Lord and to others.
would not take us to to reveal the depth of the awesome Love of God for us and for those we love and the working of the Death, Burial and Resurrection in us. Sad to say many prefer the Sunday
morning service time since many churchs have done away with ”
nite and Wednesday nite services. Not enough people to pay for the
overhead. As for you will never be grow up till you are with Jesus..let Jesus answer that one for you…(smile) he has a way to tell all his girls and boys when to lower their dresses and for the boys to stop wearing short pants…(smile)…Our God knows how to Father his own…many who think they are too little…as Paul says should be teaching….there are many still sitting in the pews…the leaders of some church’s don’t want some to teach…it’s a ‘click’…stay away from those…they only teach what they are told …then go tell ‘gossip’ what they hear…wait on the Holy Spirit..he’ll pull you out…
Shalom, and love in Jesus.
The “Jews” are not a group of people who disagree on almost all matters. Also related to who and what the Messiah might be. Some Jews says there is a Messiah in every generation. Others say “He” is a set of beliefs. I have also heard that the suffering Jew, fits into Isaiah 53. That the Messiah is the summary of the collective suffering of the Jewish people.
Scripture. You have his spirit in you who causes you to ask the deep questions of God, and who reveals truth to you. The unbeliever does not have this discernment. God has to expose the truth of the gospel to them. They cannot do that on their own
He knows the heart of the diligent seeker vs. the one who is not
Jesus spoke in parables for the sole purpose of drawing the diligent seeker in to understanding. The unbeliever and non seeker had no clue what the parables meant
Without belief in the scripture a person cannot see God. God is the one who causes a person to believe. Many that were following him at that point began to fall away even after seeing and witnessing the miracles he performed. Why would the fall away with incredible evidence that he showed. They simply did not believe and continued in their blindness. Unbelief causes blindness. We don’t know whom God is drawing in but know that he is drawing people in. In his drawing he is opening eyes and ears. That is why we must tell them and show them in his word the truth. Correctly you quoted the passage from Romans how will they hear without a preacher. Its interesting that he says a few verses later that your hope is in Moses.They believed him. He says if you believed Moses you would believe me, for he wrote about me. But since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say. We must pray that God will cause Jews to believe what he says or said then they will accept him and have life. It is the same for anyone.
Unbelief causes blindness. Only God will lift the blindness and the deafness.
The church today is guilty of the same. They say they believe in him but do not believe in what his word says his word says about many things. They even quote it but do not believe it