Interview with Rev. Paul Gitwaza on the 5th Zion Temple Anniversary

Q: Reverend Pastor, you are the visionary of this ministry, when did you receive the vision for Authentic Word Ministries International; in which circumstances exactly did you receive the vision?

A: Often everyone is born with a vision and the vision grows as the person grows. That is what happened to me. When I was still very young (9 years old), I remember that I was praying a lot and fasting every Friday. I could not understand what I was doing but it was to help me in the future. God kept on visiting me in dreams and visions. I was seeing myself in some places serving God but all this was not very clear and I could not understand it. In 1990 in DRC is where the real vision started to come step by step. At that time I was at University praying intensively. I was very disappointed by the situations in local churches and decided, along with a team of other brothers I was leading, to pray for the Church of God in general.

In 1992 the team increased in number, it was at that time God started telling us about the ministry He was going to give us. God revealed to us his intention to give rise to an international outreach ministry, composed of men and women from all tribes and colours who will serve as God’s warriors of the last days. God told me that I have to raise this ministry worldwide.

Q: I think you were still very young at that time. How old were you?

A: I was 19 in 1990.

Q: The way I see the Authentic Word Ministries International, it is a very big vision. What was your reaction when God told you about it: did you react like Gideon? Or Like Moses?

A: I was very afraid and frightened because what I understood in the vision was that God wanted me to take the vision worldwide. This was like a dream because I had my own plans and I was thinking that even if the vision is brought to pass it was to be when I had become a mature man, maybe in my fifties. But I also knew that God never lies and I concluded that we were mistaken about the timing of the vision. On the other hand, I was afraid that if it is true and if I don’t obey God and do his will, I would face a lot of problems.  

Q: You received the vision while in Kisangani, why did you come to Rwanda?

A: The mystery that was in the revelation we had was the fact that the Holy Spirit told us the time for the ministry to start had not come yet and the location where it would operate would be revealed after- in God’s time. But the Holy Spirit demanded us to keep on praying in unity until the time fixed by God. This pleased my heart for I understood that I still had time to accomplish my plans. In 1993, I went to Kenya looking for a way to go to Australia to pursue my studies as an airplane pilot. My bothers kept their intercession in Kisangani. On February 24, 1995, I had a great vision and heard the voice of God asking me to go to Rwanda and deliver His message. I did not know Rwanda and never thought that God could send me to Rwanda and I did not remember that God told us we would start His work in Rwanda and that it would extend to the whole world. I refused to obey and after 8 months God sent to me someone who was born blind, coming from Congo. He came to Kenya looking for me; I did not know him and he repeated to me everything God had told me in the vision. He told me that if I don’t go to Rwanda within seven days, the grace of God will no longer be upon me. He also said this:” This is the time the ministry God gave you must start and it will operate in Rwanda because Rwanda will become the glory of the entire world.” This was very different from what had just happened in Rwanda in 1994.

On October 01, 1995, for the first time, I stepped on the Rwandan soil. I came not because I wanted to but for fear of God’s punishment.

Q: What was your companions’ reaction when God told you to come to Rwanda?

A: When I arrived in Rwanda, I straight away wrote to my companions in Kisangani and told them what happened to me. When the letter reached them, God had already prepared them; He had told them that they must come to Rwanda because it is where the ministry will start.

Q: When David faced Goliath he remembered how God was always faithful to him. In your case, what gave you the confidence, what was your personal experience with God that pushed you to obey and come to Rwanda, a devastated and hopeless country at that time?

A: When I arrived in Rwanda I was very discouraged. I was thinking that because it was God who had sent me everything that I would say or do would be very welcome; but it was the contrary. Many thought that I was crazy; others insulted me, sent me threatening and discouraging letters. I was so discouraged that I wanted to go back to where I had come from. What helped me is that the vision I had to come to Rwanda was unusual. It was like reading on a television screen, and I could read easily what was written and brother Omar who was with me was writing in a notebook. The other thing is that when the blind man I told you about came he repeated the same things. The only difference was that he literally interpreted in Swahili the vision, which I had received then in French.

Q: What did you exactly see in your vision? You are awakening my curiosity!

A: I saw many things but some of them I cannot tell you because I’m not allowed to do it. But some of the things included in the message God gave me were messages to Pastors here in Kigali, I delivered it; a message to the National University of Butare, I also delivered it at that time. Other things included in the vision were great wealth that will come to Rwanda, the Bugesera airport, precious stones in the Rwandan underground, the first national crusade we had at the end of 1999 called “Healing our Land”, the national revival we are expecting in August this year and many other things. Some already happened and others are still to come.

Q: Describe to us your first impression when you arrived in Rwanda?

A: My first impression was a discouraging one. What I was telling people was completely different from what they were living. There was no more love in people’s hearts and I thought that I could not live here.

Q: In Rwanda you started working as a nondenominational ministry including all churches. Why did you open a church?

A: It is true that we started as a ministry, and the ministry is still there and functional. But the ministry had five branches: Church planting, missions and evangelisation, Samaritan Heart, socio-economic empowerment and development and information and communication. Another thing Zion Temples are not ordinary churches as we used to know. They are nondenominational worship centres whose aim is to bring the revival in Rwanda, Africa and in the whole world.

Q: Why did you choose the name Zion Temple for your Church?  Is there any special significance or it is just a name? I think this is too ambitious, don’t you think so?

A: Not at all. In the promises the Lord gave us related to Rwanda there was that Rwanda will become like the Mountain Zion, His dwelling place, a place where His power will be manifested to the entire world. God will not come to visit Rwanda but to rest. (Psalm 132:13, 14). Our logo include a mountain: the holy and dwelling place of God (Psalm 15:1); the cross: the testimony of Jesus Christ’s power on the cross, the reconciliation between men and God, between men themselves and the source of salvation and all other blessings, spiritual, material and physical.

Q: So every thing you do comes from the revelation. Tell us, how do you prepare for God’s coming and dwelling on Mountain Zion?

A: The bible says that “God dwells in praises and worship of His people” (Psalm 22:4). That is why we have a choir team named Asaph praising and worshiping God 24 hours a day. The Holy Spirit led us to David’s time. After David brought back the Ark of the Covenant (the presence of God) he built a tent on mount Zion, the place was called the city of David (1Chronicles 15:1 – 16:1). That is the reason behind the name Zion Temple. David appointed ASAPH as a leader of the singers. David commended them to sing 24 hours a day (1Chronicles 16:37) They were at the same time singers and prophets, singing under the direction of Asaph the prophet, and Asaph prophesised under the order of the King – Prophet. The singers had to be under the supreme authority. They were 288 singers distributed on 24 hours. 12 singers covered each hour. That is why we need 288 singers in Asaph, we are not doing it by our own understanding but by obedience to the Holy Spirit. We now have only 200 singers but we pray to God that His will may be done.
The other thing we do, we pray day and night so the glory of God may come to Rwanda (Isaiah 62:6,7). We pray 24 hours a day every day. We need one intercessor per 1000 people. It means that if now we are 8 millions we need 8,000 intercessors. This comes from Job 33:23-24 (Yet if there is an angel on his side, one out of a thousand….). We need one person to stand in the gap for 1,000 persons. That is why we have “watchmen on the wall”.  When Nehemiah was restoring the wall of Jerusalem there were watchmen on the wall. We need them for the reconstruction of our country.

Q: In real life it is not always easy to start a new project, certainly you encountered difficulties, can you tell us some of the hindrances and constraints you had to face since you started Zion Temple?

A: The major obstacle we faced when we started Authentic Word Ministries International and Zion Temple in Rwanda was to know exactly the people God wanted us to work with – the “Authentics”. I started talking to them about the vision and the ministry but it took some time. They are the ones who received my brothers from Kisangani because I was not married yet at that time and had no place to host them. Another problem we had is that when we started God anointed mightily the ministry, it was like an explosion of a bomb.

This made many people curious about us, to know who we really were. Some people said that I was a very powerful sorcerer, a crook, who was just stealing money from people. Others were convinced that I was taking other people’s wives and I was stealing members from other churches. Some were insulting me on bus while seating by my side not knowing that I was there because they did not know me…

However, on the other hand some said that I was a holy man, a prophet from God, I had “an unknown origin…”Briefly, I was both a threat and peculiar to the society.

All this delayed what we had to do because whoever we asked to assist us had to take time to verify if what was said about me was true or not.

The economic conditions we were living in were also a big constraint to our work when we began for many of our members were living in very bad conditions.

All the offerings and tithes we had were dedicated to support them. We assisted many people because they lived in miserable conditions. Though we also had nothing, we were living by faith.  I thank God for the heart of love he gave me-I love people. Every one is special, unique and worthy in my sight. This helped me to pay no attention to what was being said about me, I tried to see the positive side in all that. Even now I try to see the best of people more than the worst said about them.

Q: I learned that the Authentic Word Ministries International officially opened in 1996 and Zion Temple in 1999, this is really a short period, how is it possible that you have AWM and ZT in Africa, Europe and America?

A: Since 1995 we worked day and night, we were living in a cellar (Cave) sleeping on the ground until 1999 when we opened the first Zion Temple Celebration Centre. Now in 2004 we have opened the ministry in almost all the five continents: Africa, Europe and America. In Asia and Oceania we have already established connections and we may open there in the near future. There are many things that made this happen because it is the first time in the Rwandan history, a church born in Rwanda to have branches in other countries. The Lord has made us achieve this despite our country’s economic and financial crisis. Normally churches come from Europe to Rwanda not the contrary. This has been possible due to the following:
1. This is God’s time.
2. The Holy Spirit guides us
3. We have a vision of what we are doing

4. We work in unity, the spirit of teamwork
5. Strong leadership and character
6. Commitment to God’s work
7. Love and sacrifice for God’s work and family.
8. Working with young people and taking advice from old ones.

Q: I see the list is very long, apart from the fact that it is God’s time; can you tell us in two or three words the secret of your success?

A: Obedience, Trust and Prayers

Q: As a Christian I know that God always accomplishes His promises, but can you give the readers some striking example of how God has been faithful to what he told you?

A: God has accomplished many things He promised me. Let me say only three.
1. I have now travelled the five continents preaching the Gospel. God told me about this when I was still very young.
2. The Authentic Word Ministries and Zion Temple are now known worldwide. There are blacks, whites, and coloureds. God talked about it in 1992.
3. God told us that Rwanda will be restored and will become God’s glory. Now wherever Rwandans are, they are proclaiming the good news of the Gospel.

Q: What do you think are your weaknesses and your strengths (not as a person but as a ministry)?

A: Our weaknesses are: the lack of experience, trusting many people who deceive us, the lack of administration on the international level, doing many things in a short period of time and this affect the outcome.

Our strength are a clear vision, strategic planning, we know what is our target, and my associates love me and respect me.

Q: I’m interested in your relationship with other Zion Temple’s Pastors. The way you talk about them we can see that you make a very good and powerful team and you live like brothers. How did you meet them? Were they all there when you received the revelation about AWM? Was there any special indication from the Holy Spirit to whom should be included in the leadership of this Ministry?

A: God brought the people who work with me in the appropriate time. Some of them came and God said that we would work together, others we felt connected in the Spirit when we saw them for the first time. All this was the result of intensive prayers so we came to know each other. There are also others we started together but did not carry on. The factor of time also helps us to know true “Authentics”. Three things: God, conscience and time help us make the selection.

Q: Since Man is a spirit living in a body, are you also involved in other activities aimed at the social well being of your members and the Rwandan population in general?

A: Our ministry assists many people. We pay school fees for some orphans (secondary school and universities) depending on our capacity. We provide financial support to Batwa (the pigmies). We helped some impoverished families in building their own houses (of course cheap houses), we provided some with loans for small business… Many young men and women are now delivered from prostitution and drugs…Of course we did not do all what we wanted in only 4 years. We have many things we plan to do you will know it when time comes.

Q: Do you have any external sponsorship for all these activities?

A: No we don’t. Only God sponsors His work we are doing. God has specifically forbidden depending on anyone. If someone does help us it is because the Holy Spirit touched his heart to do so. For every need we have, we kneel down and ask God to provide and He has always done it.

Q: At the beginning of this year God told us, through His servant, that this is the year Rwanda will enter into true revival, the year of enlargements. How do you plan to enlarge your tent?

A: Our most valuable tent is our heart. So we are calling out to all Rwandans to open their hearts so God can make them His resting place. Another thing, we plan to travel through all the districts and provinces of Rwanda proclaiming the glory of God. We are also, in few days to come, going to inaugurate the Mountain of the Lord where God will dwell and perform wonders and miracles. Every one will come to that mountain to see the hand of God.

Q: Is there anything else you would like to tell the readers?

A: Let us love each other, work together in unity and love our nation for the eye of God is upon her.