Please freepmail me if you want on/off this list
Posted on 10/07/2006 6:40:10 AM PDT by NYer
NEW YORK - A new 10-nation survey of Pentecostal and charismatic Christians, considered the fastest-growing stream of Christianity worldwide, shows they are deeply influencing the Roman Catholic and mainstream Protestant churches and are poised to make a big impact on global affairs. p>The poll released Thursday by the Washington-based Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life found that "spirit-filled" Christians, who speak in tongues and believe in healing through prayer, comprise at least 10 percent of the population in nine of the 10 surveyed countries.
The study also found that followers are more willing than previously thought to bring their traditional values into public debates, potentially shaping government policies in the years ahead.
The surveys were conducted over the spring and summer in Brazil, Chile, Guatemala, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, India, the Philippines, South Korea" /> Researchers polled both Pentecostals, who form their own denominations such as the Assemblies of God, and charismatics, who have adopted some Pentecostal beliefs but remain members of traditional Protestant and Catholic churches.
The survey estimated that Pentecostals and charismatics together comprise at least half the population of Brazil, Guatemala and Kenya, and 44 percent of the Philippines.
They make up about one-third of the population of South Africa and Chile and nearly one-quarter of Nigerians and U.S. residents. The figure for South Korea is smaller, at 11 percent. In India, the poll was limited to three states with large Christian populations, so a national estimate could not be made.
The study found Pentecostal beliefs have a strong hold in major churches in many countries.
In the traditionally Catholic nations of Brazil, Guatemala and the Philippines, charismatics are a larger share of the population than Pentecostals.
In six of the 10 countries, Pentecostals and charismatics together make up the majority of the overall Protestant population, according to the survey.
The Pentecostal movement, which began a century ago in Los Angeles, spread quickly overseas because of its adaptability to local cultures, whose indigenous beliefs often include healings and casting out of evil spirits, and because of the exuberance of its worship.
While Pentecostals and charismatics are known for speaking in tongues, the survey found respondents were more likely to say that they had personally witnessed or experienced other signs of the Holy Spirit, such as a healing through prayer or a direct revelation from God.
The majority of Pentecostals in every nation surveyed except South Korea and India believed religious groups should express their views on social and political issues. In seven of the 10 countries, 70 percent of charismatics agreed.
"These are folks for whom the world of spirit is remarkably alive ... but that in no way diminishes their commitment to social justice for the poor, for instance, or a role for government in meeting those needs," said Luis Lugo, director of the Pew Forum.
The polls were conducted by phone in the U.S., and in person overseas, with margins of error ranging from plus or minus 4 percentage points to 9 percentage points for some subgroups.
The polls in Brazil, South Africa and South Korea focused on urban areas.
Cool.
Fads run their course. They also fail to mention that Pentecostalism is the denomination within Christianity with the highest dropout rate. It would seem that you can only play pretend for so long before reality once again sets in.
I went to a Pentecostal service. More than once I felt I accidentally walked into a nuthouse.
But the Church IS the body of Christ on earth -- His Peace, His Grace, His Wisdom, His Love -- anything else is a counterfeit, having the illusion of value based on the ignorance of the observer.
I would not be too excited about something claiming to be truth but off by a degree or two at the center gaining much influence. Its benefits to souls will be tangential to its errors, I would think.
bump
Praise Jesus!
Pray for W and Our Freedom Fighters
The furious assault on Osteen, Warren, and others makes the boldface passages that which really frightens the mainstream.
100 year fad?
Stand far away from those who arise and babble and tell you it is the word of God, judgment can't be far from them.
1 Cor. 14:13-19 "Therefore let one who speaks in a tongue pray that he may interpret. For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful. What is the outcome then? I will pray with the spirit and I will pray with the mind also; I will sing with the spirit and I will sing with the mind also. Otherwise if you bless in the spirit only, how will the one who fills the place of the ungifted say the "Amen" at your giving of thanks, since he does not know what you are saying? For you are giving thanks well enough, but the other person is not edified. I thank God, I speak in tongues more than you all; however, in the church I desire to speak five words with my mind so that I may instruct others also, rather than ten thousand words in a tongue".
Paul praises God that he speaks in tongues more than all of the Corinthians. He also defines why speaking in tongues is edifiying -- it is praying "in the spirit".
He also says that in church it is more valuable to speak in an understandable language than to speak in tongues.
He doesn't ever say tongues has no value though.
"But I will come to you shortly, if the Lord wills, and I will know, not the word of those who are puffed up, but the power. For the kingdom of God is not in word but in power." 1 Cor 4:19-20.
I think Catholics on the whole because of our structure got what was best out of this movement.
However I think Evanglicals and Protestants are now just waking up to the danger this movement is to the faith. The problem is that many Pentecostls cannot be even classified as Christians because of their views on the Trinity. When that gets blurry Doctine starts to go to hell in a hand basket
Amen...tell me how any Christian can read I Corinthians 12-14 and say that the power of the Holy Spirit has no place in the church.
This is not a "fad." Pentecostal and charismatic Christians have been influencing those in the RCC and elsewhere for decades at least.
While there is some oddity in these denominations, and some false doctrine in some congregations, for the most part it's my understanding that they're biblically sound.
The great Puritan Jonathan Edwards, I suppose, could be considered a pastor of one of these holy roller churches, so I wouldn't be too quick to dismiss them as heretical (though, of course, the RCC does consider them anathema)....
i heard that. bloody freakshow.
Must've been a lot like Acts 2. Freaky flames over people's heads, dang weirdos speaking in other languages, some black guy playing a Hammond B3 through a leslie....
Jesus told Naman to dip 7 times in river, he spit in the dirt and healed a blind man, he brought the dead back to life, a lady was healed by touching his clothing...he tells us that by the power of the holy spirit we can do the same things that he did.
However, most of the religious intellecutal elite want to put God into a box and control the way in which the spirit moves. They are politically correct Christians...they don't want to make anyone uncomfortable.
Give me a service where some may seem a little nutty, and some very well may be...over a human intellectually controlled service in which the spirit of God had no room to move any day.
Ping 4 later...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.