Next week, Rwanda will be commemorating the genocide against Tutsis for the fifteenth time. Whenever it is about time to commemorate this period, I get so sad. The pastor always tells us that God is able to do much more than we ask for. I am sure that in 1994, there were pastors and Christians.

Were they so taken up by the happenings that they forgot to ask God to do his miracles and wonders? About a month ago, I attended a fellowship thirty minutes away from my hostel. When the time came for us to leave, it started raining.

With so much faith, the pastor commanded the rain to stop. I still cannot bring myself to believe that it stopped but I saw it with my own eyes. Everybody trusts God. If a thief is on his mission, he asks God to help him not to be caught.

And God helps most of them because if you will agree with me, there are more theft cases than cases of recovered items. A politician, too, will ask God to help him get more votes and he will win the elections.

A rapist will ask God to help him catch "the victim” and he will readily catch "the prey”. There are so many evil doings that people do after asking God to help them. After their success, they even thank God for being with them.

However, God does not answer only the prayers of evil doers. In fact, he helps his followers more. We have seen pastors praying for the sick and they get healed.

My pastor prayed and asked God to stop the rain and it did stop. Maybe it was coincidence but all I saw was the rain stop after the prayer.

We heard about Jesus’ works, raising the dead, changing water into wine, feeding 5000 people on 5 loaves of bread and two fish, and many more.

Why then, did God close his ears to the cries of the Tutsi? The Hutu must have prayed hard to be successful and unfortunately, God helped them do their evil. I am saying this because I know that God has all control over the world.

From the bible, I read that, "with God, everything is possible.” Was he unable to stop the 1994 Rwanda genocide against the Tutsi before it happened?

Some of you may be wondering if I am a Christian or not. Yes I am. And I also know that God never fails. I even learnt that one can wait for many years to get answers for their prayers. I am also sure that there were intercessors in Rwanda when the genocide took place.

Why then didn’t God answer their prayers but chose to answer to the prayers of the evil doers? Maybe somebody could explain to me where God was in the face of evil. I have been asking myself the same question for so many years, and it is a mystery that remains unsolved.
                                
fimwel@outgun.com