US Christian Right Group Boasts of Influence in Kenya Election

A press release from the American Pastors Network:

Last week’s election in Kenya proved to be a statement on the power that Christian voters can have on the outcome of the direction of their nation…

APN President Sam Rohrer said the American Pastors Network provided encouragement to members of the Kenyan Pastors Network leading up to the election, praying for them and helping them to mobilize Christian voters.

“Leading up to this election and still today,” Rohrer said, “the freedom of Kenyans, Kenyan pastors and the ability to freely preach the Gospel is currently under threat. Had Uhuru Kenyatta not been elected, Islamic, pro-abortion, pro-LGBT and anti-Christian policies would have advanced. Our Kenyan brothers and sisters, and especially our fellow pastors, asked for fervent prayers before and during the election—that the right man would be elected, that the opposition would concede and that violence would not erupt as in other elections. We continue to pray for these matters, as the coming days and weeks will be crucial for Kenya to be able to move forward under a man of God and other leaders who desire to model the country after the founding documents of the United States of America.”

Rohrer added that a U.S.-based APN volunteer who was on the ground in Kenya helped to create and execute several initiatives to encourage values-based voting last week. Kenyatta, feeling the effects of these efforts, led a public prayer before the election, thanking Christians and pastors for their commitment and stating that he would give God the glory if victorious, according to reports from the APN volunteer.

“Pastors there are praying in faith that God will raise them up as a nation to be the leader to all of Africa, that the relationship with the U.S. can be strengthened and that God would enable APN to assist in the final establishment of a Kenyan Pastors Network in order to train leaders and teach pastors the biblical principles needed in both church and government,” Rohrer added. “The involvement of APN in Kenya is similar to work we’ve been blessed and honored to do in Ukraine, where pastors and government leaders are yearning to bring biblical and American constitutional principles to the country.”

I noted the APN’s efforts in Ukraine in 2015 – this was several months after Rohrer had travelled to the country in the company of the pseudo-historian David Barton.

The APN says that it exists

to establish a dynamic network of Biblically faithful pastors and citizen leaders who are committed to the Truth, who believe in the Authority of Scripture, who boldly preach the whole counsel of God with a disciplined application of a Biblical World-view to public policy, and who are building a permanent infrastructure of Biblically faithful pastors and lay leaders.

As noted by Right Wing Watch in over the past year, Rohrer believes that “lack of respect” towards Trump is heralding the rise of the anti-Christ, and last August he and APN board member Gary Dull concurred that God does not want women (i.e. Hillary Clinton) to lead nations. The APN also has a radio show, Stand in the Gap, which provides a platform for anti-Muslim opportunists such as John Guandolo, who used an appearance in June to excuse the attack on Finsbury Park Mosque in London and to denounce the mayor of London as “a suit-wearing jihadi”.

Dull is also quoted in the press release, warning that “there has been a movement among government officials in Kenya to vet pastors concerning their ability to lead churches”, and that “many pastors” believe the proposal is “an effort to reduce the preaching of the Gospel”. In fact, the proposed regulations are aimed at fake pastors; Christianity Today discussed the issue in May 2016, noting that

One [preacher] recently told churchgoers that their money would double if they transferred half of theirs to his bank account. Another used potassium permanganate to turn water red, claiming it was blood coming from the feet of AIDS victims he had washed and then healed.

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