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.
Dreams Come True
The preparations of the heart belong to man, but the answer of the tongue is from the Lord.
Proverbs 16:1
Recommended Reading
2 Samuel 7:1-17
David Wilkerson tried to speak to the judge presiding over the trial of twelve New York gang members and was kicked out of the courtroom. The next day his picture appeared in the papers, holding his Bible in the air. He thought he had failed miserably with his courthouse blunder. But when he returned to the slums, people recognized him as the preacher who had run afoul of the law. They welcomed him to their neighborhood and many eventually welcomed his message of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
To have a dream, then endure the death of that dream, requires great faith like another David, the king of Israel. He dreamed of building a temple for the ark of the covenant, but God said No not "No" to the temple, but "No" to David building it. David realized that God’s plan was better. Instead of David building God a physical house, God promised to build David a spiritual house. If you’ve endured the death of a dream, don’t give up. Seek God to discover what His purpose and plan are. It may take time and adjustments, but it will be better in the end.
The secret to "dreams come true" is getting in step with the dream God gives you.
Out of the depths of my prison experience came the vision for Prison Fellowship’s ministry.
Charles Colson
Thank you, sweet Mary. It is so nice to see your words and work again; your posts to the thread are very welcome.
Jesus, the Word made flesh, does indeed have a sense of humor, as the Father - reading the Bible will show plainly God's display of His sense of humor!
This is not the same as saying that Jesus was joking when He said, "Those who believe in me will never die," or in any other declarations He made - of Himself, of His Father, of the two Kingdoms at war with one another, or of sinful men. Wisdom writes,
Like a madman shooting firebrands or deadly arrowsJesus did not lie, ever, and He did not treat life and death as matters to be joked about. He was awesomely serious about the need for sinful man to repent and to believe in Him, to get off the wide road leading to hell and get into the Way of Righteousness, found in Christ alone, the Door into the Kingdom of Heaven, the Only Mediator between Holy God and fallen mankind.
is a man who deceives his neighbor and says, "I was only joking!"
~Proverbs 26:18-20
He also was from all eternity, was in His incarnation, is to this day, and will be for all eternity, filled with JOY, which is far greater, supremely better, and much more worthy of seeking and finding than mere humor!
The Holy Spirit of God in holy men (the Sons of Korah) wrote the following prophetic, praiseful words from Psalm 45 of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the only Begotten of the Father, the King of the Jews, the Prince of Peace, the Bridegroom to the Church, the Kinsman-Redeemer and Dread Champion - it is important to note that all the Psalms were written in the time span from 1490 B.C. to 444 B.C., and so this one was written at the very least *5 centuries before* Jesus was born a baby in a manger in Bethlehem, grew to adulthood in Nazareth, walked willingly to die upon the cross at Calvary in Jerusalem, and rose from the dead, ascending into heaven to the right hand of the Father on High -
You are the most excellent of men
and your lips have been anointed with grace,
since God has blessed you forever.
Gird your sword upon your side, O mighty one;
clothe yourself with splendor and majesty.
In your majesty ride forth victoriously
in behalf of truth, humility and righteousness;
let your right hand display awesome deeds.
Let your sharp arrows pierce the hearts of the king's enemies;
let the nations fall beneath your feet.
Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever;
a scepter of justice will be the scepter of your kingdom.
You love righteousness and hate wickedness;
therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions
by anointing you with the oil of joy.
~Psalm 45:2-7, hallelujah, amen!
Good one. Thank you!
I have no problem with Jesus...just those who use Him to gain fame, fortune and power.
.
That's a nice post; thank you for sharing that testimony!
Excellent!
That is a very interesting reply, and I thank you for it.
What do you use Jesus for?
You posted earlier that you admired two groups of people for their witness for Christ. You seemed to be acknowledging that there is a way to live a godly life, and you see some living it.
Are you living it?
Does Jesus have a problem with you?
I think Jesus would probably have a problem with all of us.
Really? What do you think that problem is?
We don't practice what we preach.
What causes you to believe that?
Do great teachers tell bold-faced lies? Jesus said he was the Son of God, the Messiah, the embodiment of God. the only way to God and Heaven. Is that the Truth?
Jesus Christ - The Popular Alternatives
The typical responses to the life and claims of Jesus Christ sound something like this:"Jesus Christ was a great man."
"Jesus Christ was a wonderful moral model."
"Jesus Christ was an enlightened religious teacher."
"Jesus Christ was an esteemed prophet."
However, as Christian scholar Josh McDowell declares in his foundational book, More than a Carpenter, these types of statements raise a compelling "trilemma." Once you examine the actual claims of Jesus and His eyewitness followers, there are really only three alternatives for who He really is - Jesus Christ was either a liar, a lunatic, or our Lord.
"The issue with these three alternatives is not which is possible, for it is obvious that all three are possible. But rather, the question is 'which is more probable?' Who you decide Jesus Christ is must not be an idle intellectual exercise. You cannot put Him on the shelf as a great moral teacher. That is not a valid option. He is either a liar, a lunatic, or Lord and God. You must make a choice. 'But,' as the Apostle John wrote, 'these have been written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and' - more important - 'that believing you might have life in His name' (John 20:31)."C.S. Lewis, a popular British theologian, continues,
(Josh McDowell, More than a Carpenter, Tyndale House Publishers, 1977, pp. 33-34.)
"I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: 'I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God.' That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic - on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg - or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronising nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to."
(C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, The MacMillan Company, 1960, pp. 40-41.)
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