Posted on 06/01/2020 1:27:17 AM PDT by Cronos
The prime minister and many of his closest allies follow a fast-growing strain of Christianity
"THE REASON why we are poor is inside us,” cries Nigusie Roba, his face sweating with emotion. “It is not the fault of God.” The pastor’s youthful congregants rise, palms open wide. Nigusie’s voice grows louder: “Tonight you will go home anointed by God.” In the far corner a young woman drops to the floor, her body writhing as she screams.
Preachers like Nigusie—sharply dressed, charismatic, and renowned for exorcising demons from the bodies of the faithful—represent a strain of Christianity not widely associated with traditionally Orthodox Ethiopia. For centuries national identity was entwined with the conservative ritual and hierarchy of the continent’s oldest church. But pentecostals are on the march..
(Excerpt) Read more at economist.com ...
The whole of Africa is a s***hole. The only good thing to come out of there in the last 100 years is Elon Musk.
That is a positive, yet Muslims could also cite this as a benefit of its demonic faith, and pagan Ephesus of old as also prosperous. God surely does bless the "obedience of faith," which must be tested by adversity and sometimes affliction (which Islam, for one, helps provide), and God has not ceases providing Pentecostal gifts, and sometimes supernaturally heals, yet the "prosperity gospel" is not the gospel of the 1st century church. For while salvation is somewhat preached, the overall goal is to get your material blessings versus being Christ-like, and being poor or afflicted is often seen as being due to a lack of faith, and such are sometimes shunned.
And survey shows:
Globally 98% of evangelical leaders agree that the Bible is the word of God. Only 3% believe that human life has evolved with no involvement from a supreme being. 33% describe themselves as Pentecostals, versus 14% of leaders from the Global North. 76% say they have experienced or witnessed a divine healing, and 70% of those from the Global South say they have witnessed the devil or evil spirits being driven out. 90% reject the so-called prosperity gospel, the notion that God will grant wealth and good health to those who have enough faith. 52% (75% in the “Global South”) believe drinking alcohol is incompatible with being a good evangelical, 97% likewise reject astrology, 96% reject reincarnation, 95% reject denying Jesus is the only way to salvation, 92% reject yoga. (More)
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I presume you meant that God has not ‘ceased’ providing Pentecostal gifts.
How about speaking in tongues?
I think it's clear that known languages were spoken in the Bible to edify nonbelievers who spoke those languages.
Yet I think what passes for speaking in tongues today is gibberish that no one understands and turns more unbelievers away from Christ than it brings towards Christ.
It is not true that tongues were only spoken in languages known to the hearers, and thus the need for an interpretation (1 Corinthians 14:14,27,28) but it is true that disorder as well as fabrication abounds in Pentecostalism and which often causes reproach (as we all to when our walk is not consistent with what we claim to be), and I wish more people were concerned about preaching the gospel in human tongues than striving about speaking in tongues. However, doctrinally speaking there is no valid case for cessationism, and it is well testified to that true healings do take place (I was healed of a lower hernia, praise God) as well as other miracles.
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