ALLEGED SEER FROM APPROVED APPARITION SAYS NATURAL DISASTERS, GENOCIDE WERE FORESEEN

ALLEGED SEER FROM APPROVED APPARITION SAYS NATURAL DISASTERS, GENOCIDE WERE FORESEEN

One of the alleged seers from the Church-approved apparition site of Kibeho in Rwanda claims she was told by "Jesus" that floods, quakes, and disruptive weather would be signs of a major looming event.

But the visionary, Valentine Nyiramukiza -- the only one of an original nine who, allegedly, is still receiving apparitions -- says she is not certain the Haitian earthquake is among those signs but that it could be.

"I can only wait for God to confirm that," said Nyiramukiza Wednesday.

"The Lord has told me that we must be ready every day, that we don't know the day or hour and that the time is short," Nyiramukiza told Spirit Daily after arriving in the U.S. for an appearance this weekend at Walsh University in Ohio [see below for information on appearance].

"The Blessed Mother told me the world is in a bad state and people need to pray a lot, and prayer that comes from the heart," adds the seer. "We don't forgive; pride has taken over hearts so much. We don't have the hearts to be true to God. The wrong have become right and the right have become wrong. There is no reconciliation because of pride in the heart. People are becoming their own God."

Added the seer about Haiti, a country similar in poverty and strife to her own native land: "I don't know if this is a sign of the last days, but Jesus told me there would be all kinds of trouble, and the weather will be troubled. Everything will be mixed up and destructive. There will be trouble among people. Right will seem wrong and wrong will be right. The Blessed Mother doesn't mention this so much but says be good, change your heart."

It was in June of 2001 that Bishop Misago of Gikongoro issued a formal proclamation declaring that the Blessed Mother did indeed appear at Kibeho as "Mother of the Word." The apparitions began on November 28, 1981, with a Catholic school girl named Alphonsine Mumureke.

"Yes, the Virgin Mary did appear in Kibeho on Nov. 28, 1981, and in the course of the following six months," the bishop said. "There are more reasons to believe this than to deny it." The statement appeared in the "Declaration on the Definitive Judgment on the Apparitions of Kibeho" published by the Vatican.

The declaration verified three of the seers but did not address six others. Nyiramukiza was not one of those formally approved.

But the alleged visionary enjoys the support of a bishop in Brussels, Belgium -- where she moved after the horrible genocide that took up to a million lives in Rwanda in 1994 and was foreseen by the Blessed Mother.

That was a direct chastisement and sign due to immorality, says Valentine, as warned by the Blessed Mother in advance of the holocaust, which as it turned out was the swiftest taking of life in recorded history as Hutus massacred rival Tutsis across that nation. Two seers were killed in the mayhem. A third later succumbed to an illness.

Notes author Immaculée Ilibagiza, who will appear with Nyiramukiza, and has written a bestselling book about the apparitions (as well as another book on her own harrowing ordeal during the genocide):

"Valentine is the only one of the seven who is still receiving annual messages every May 15th. She started to have apparitions of Our Lady on May 15, 1982 when she was only 9 years old. Soon after, she started to have an apparition of Jesus that stopped in public, on March 20, 1993. I was there with hundreds of other students from college, and we were among over 20,000 people.

"That apparition took place after Valentine fasted for twelve days without eating and drinking. It was a sad day for all of us who saw her saying goodbye to Jesus in tears, begging Our Lord to take her with Him. Happily though, Our Lady still appears to her; she told her long before that she would be the last to receive messages from Heaven, and she still has an apparition to this day on May 15th of each year. It lasts about four hours, and it occurs in her native language, Kinyarwanda, even though she lives now in Belgium.

"When she first moved to Belgium, a number of miracles happened during the apparitions right in her own home. Since then the Catholic Church in Belgium has graciously opened their doors for her to have apparitions there. During one apparition, one miracle that happened right in front of the parish priest occurred when Mary told Valentine that 'She is never separated from Her Son, Our Lord,' and then Valentine saw Our Lord coming from behind Our Lady, and she screamed tears of joy how she missed Him, and then He told her that 'He wanted to show her His true presence in the Eucharist and to prove she is truly having apparitions of His Mother, and that He truly has appeared to Kibeho even though they have not approved His apparitions.'

"Jesus then descended in the hands of Valentine into a form of Eucharist that was seen by everybody who was there, and it was filmed and photographed. Later the priest of the parish took the Eucharist and kept it for a while before Valentine was called to receive it. It was after this miracle that the doors of the church were opened to her apparitions."

The seer was born on Christmas Day in 1972 and her last name means "the one who belongs to the Savior."

The apparition occurs after Confession and a Mass when Valentine hears Mary "call" her.

"I see her all in white, nearly like a nun, but with a long veil and blue 'belt,'" says Valentine, who foresaw the genocide like a movie. "She always has her hands folded at chest, upward. I asked her what that means and she said it means graces of God are under her protection. She is the fullness and holder of God's grace."

One of Nyiramukiza's missions: "To suffer and help Jesus save the world and to pray for those who criticize God's message.

"Our Lady used to call them like a bird in Rwanda that is always talking and never stop talking -- those who talk more than listen.

"If you can't believe it, pray; don't criticize it."

"The other message is to pray for people who are possessed by demons, or attacked by evil."

During the alleged apparitions Nyiramukiza has seen the Blessed Mother touch a possessed person with her foot, driving the evil out by that means -- and reminding one of the statues with her feet on a snake. "She stands on something that seems agitated and tells Valentine to do the same," says the author.

"I have to mention here that, although the church approved Our Lady’s apparition in Kibeho, they have not yet approved Our Lord’s apparitions," notes Immaculée [left]. "He also appeared in public to the second visionary, Anathalie Mukampazimpaka who was only approved for receiving Our Lady’s apparitions and not those from Jesus; however, the Church has not denied that these apparitions of Our Lord did occur. They have never denied or negated the apparitions of Jesus to Valentine and the other visionaries as false. The conclusion of the Bishop was that the investigations would be continued later because of the turmoil that hit their country, but so far found nothing to say they are not real.

"Since 1999, it is just Valentine who still has apparitions. She says the world is in a bad state and you have to pray much. She prays all night. You can call her at two a.m. and she is up praying.

"There were twelve seers originally," Immaculée informs us. "There were nine main ones. I spoke with the bishop, and he said they will be going back to all the visionaries. Anyone who had an apparition of Jesus -- the Church officials did not want to go there. They approved of Mary but not Jesus. We must trust the wisdom of the Church and pray that the Holy Spirit will continue to guide them."

[resources: Event with seer from Kibeho in Ohio, Immaculée's website, and Our Lady of Kibeho]