Showing posts with label PENTECOSTALS. Show all posts
Showing posts with label PENTECOSTALS. Show all posts
Friday, October 25, 2024
Saturday, September 29, 2018
Pope calls for strengthening relations with charismatics and Pentecostals
09/28/2018, 17.12
VATICAN The pontiff calls for overcoming mistrust and mutual prejudices. “First of all,” he said, “we have the duty to discern and recognize the presence of the Holy Spirit in these communities, trying to construct bonds of authentic fraternity with them.” For him, it is “necessary to avoid settling on static and immutable positions.”
Vatican City (AsiaNews) – Pope Francis spoke Friday to participants in the Plenary Assembly of the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity, whose theme was “Pentecostals, Charismatics, and Evangelicals: Impact on the Concept of Unity”. In his address, the pontiff called for overcoming mistrust and prejudices that exist between the Catholic Church and other Christian movements.
For him, “The constant growth of these new expressions of Christian life is a very significant phenomenon, which cannot be overlooked. [. . .] First of all, we have the duty to discern and recognize the presence of the Holy Spirit in these communities, trying to construct bonds of authentic fraternity with them. This will be possible by multiplying the opportunities for meeting and overcoming mutual distrust, motivated many times by ignorance or lack of understanding. And I would like to offer you a personal experience and declare a mea culpa. When I was provincial [superior], I had forbidden Jesuits to enter into relationships with these people - with the Catholic Renewal - and I said that more than a prayer meeting it seemed like a “samba school”! Then I apologized, and as a bishop I had a good relationship with them, with Mass in the cathedral ... But it takes a journey to understand.
“Among the various shared activities are prayer, listening to the Word of God, service to the needy, the proclamation of the Gospel, the defence of the dignity of the person and of human life. In a fraternal mutual acquaintance, we Catholics can learn to appreciate the experience of many communities that, often in ways different from those to which we are accustomed, live their faith, praise God and witness the Gospel in charity. At the same time, they will be helped to overcome prejudices about the Catholic Church and to recognize that in the priceless treasure of tradition, received from the Apostles and kept in the course of history, the Holy Spirit is not at all extinguished or suffocated, but continues to operate effectively.”
“The fact that more than a few Catholic faithful are attracted to these communities is a source of friction, but can become, for our part, a matter of personal examination and pastoral renewal. At the same time, the pope acknowledged that relations with these communities “are not easy”. Yet, “many communities are inspired by these movements and live authentic Christian experiences in contact with the Word of God and in obedience to the action of the Spirit, which leads us to love, witness and serve. Even these communities, as the Second Vatican Council taught, are by no means devoid of meaning and value in the mystery of salvation (cf. Unitatis redintegratio, 3).
“Catholics can welcome those riches that, under the guidance of the Spirit, contribute greatly to the fulfilment of the mission of proclaiming the Gospel to the ends of the earth. In fact, the Church grows in fidelity to the Holy Spirit the more she learns not to tame it, but to accept without fear and at the same time with serious discernment its fresh newness. The Holy Spirit is always new. Always. And we have to get used to it. It is newness that makes us understand things more deeply, with more light, and makes us change so many habits, even disciplinary habits. But He is the Lord of newness. Jesus told us that He will teach us; He will remind us of what He has taught us, and then He will teach us.”
“We must be open to this. It is therefore necessary to avoid settling on static and immutable positions, to embrace the risk of venturing into the promotion of unity: with faithful ecclesial obedience and without extinguishing the Spirit (cf. 1 Thess 5:19). It is the Spirit Who creates and recreates the newness of Christian life, and it is the Spirit Himself Who leads everything back to true unity, which is not uniformity. For this openness of heart, the search for communion and careful discernment are the attitudes that should characterize our relationships according to the Spirit.”
Francis cited some recent ecumenical meetings of “great importance and comfort”, like the one in Bari (Italy) over the beloved and tormented Middle East, and the one in Geneva for the seventieth anniversary of the Ecumenical Council of Churches, which provided an “opportunity to renew our irreversible commitment to the promotion of ever greater unity between believers.”
Francis also mentioned the meeting with the Pentecostals on the 50th anniversary of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal in Rome, at the Circus Maximus, and finally the meeting he had during his recent visit to the Baltic States, in Riga and Tallinn.
Saturday, July 23, 2016
Wednesday, December 30, 2015
Catholic Mexico is persecuting converts to evangelical Christianity
by Mariusa Reyes - 3rd December 2014
President Peña Nieto, whose country's constitution guarantees freedom of religion, meeting Pope Francis in 2013. Photo: presidencia.gob.mx
FIDEL López Hernández is one of many evangelical Christians persecuted in Mexico for daring to practice Christianity in a way that differs from Catholicism, the country’s main religion.
‘Where I live, in Chiapas, when the local community leaders heard that a group of families had converted to the Pentecostal church, they told them that if they wanted to have a religious service it would have to be in their own homes, and only after paying a fine of 25,000 Mexican pesos (the equivalent of £1,000), which is illegal’, Hernández, a converted evangelical Christian told Lapido Media.
Hernández: expelled from his community for converting. Photo: CSW
Hernández himself has suffered persecution because of his decision three years ago to join an evangelical church. In 2012, he and his family along with 40 other Christians were violently removed from their houses by the local authorities.
‘They not only expelled us from our homes, they also took our plots of land and all our possessions. We had to leave with nothing’, Hernández said.
In this particular incident all the Protestant men and boys were arbitrarily imprisoned and forced to renounce their faith. The group included women, children and the elderly. Since then they have been living in an overcrowded former homeless shelter in another municipality.
‘They not only expelled us from our homes, they also took our plots of land and all our possessions. We had to leave with nothing’, Hernández said.
In this particular incident all the Protestant men and boys were arbitrarily imprisoned and forced to renounce their faith. The group included women, children and the elderly. Since then they have been living in an overcrowded former homeless shelter in another municipality.
Evangelical church service in rural Mexico. Photo: tiemposprofeticos.com
Religious intolerance is most prevalent in the southwest of Mexico, particularly in the states of Chiapas and Oaxaca, but also in some central states such as Michoacán, Hidalgo, Puebla and Guerrero. These are states with a high percentage of indigenous population.
‘Christians in these regions are threatened and persecuted by those who disagree with their choice to change their religion and beliefs,’ Dr Jorge Lee Gallardo, a specialist lawyer who has provided legal assistance to evangelical churches for over 20 years, told Lapido Media.
‘These authorities believe that their culture is being damaged and they do not accept that the freedom of the individual can take precedence over their cultural traditions.’
Gallardo leads Impulso 18, which heard first-hand accounts of violations of religious freedom at a recent conference in Mexico City hosted jointly with Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW).
‘The central conflict often arises around the financial contribution requested by local authorities and traditional religious leaders to be used for the ‘patron saint’ religious festivals. Protestant Christians refuse to pay these fees,' he said.
Protest slogan on T-shirts - Ser Evangelico, No Es Delito - reads: Being an evangelical is not a crime. Photo: beginningandend.com
Members of minority Christian groups are being forced to leave their faith, their children are banned from state-run schools, they are barred from access to electricity, water and farmland, and their modest religious buildings are destroyed.
The Mexican constitution in its article 24 guarantees religious freedom for all. However, the law is ignored by those who consider Catholicism to be the official religion in the country.
‘Our constitution does not talk of one church but of many churches. I don’t think the Catholic Church as an institution perpetrates these abuses against other churches. What happens, I believe, is that the Catholic leadership in our country does not have the control over the more traditional or conservative of their believers to persuade them to respect other churches,' Gallardo said.
A further growing threat to religious freedom in Mexico comes from the drug trafficking criminal networks operating in the country.
In a written statement to the US House of Representatives´ Foreign Affairs Committee, during a hearing on the Worldwide Persecution of Christians earlier this year, Galindo reported that ‘extortion aimed at houses of worship has become normal in the north of Mexico’.
According to his statement, pastors, priests and parishioners - Christians and Catholics alike - who refuse to cooperate with criminal activities, are threatened and kidnapped - in some cases in the middle of religious services.
Juan Sapien Sandoval has been an evangelical Christian for 15 years. He knows only too well what it means to be a Christian in his home town, ridden by crime and violence.
‘In Michoacán, where I live, we see these groups of armed men, most of whom were drug dealers before, now fighting the narco cartels’, he told Lapido Media.
‘They recruit children and teenagers for their cause. On one occasion, they threw us out of our community using sticks and machetes. They have threatened to kill me if I go back to my community’.
At all levels in society there seems to be a general acceptance that this problem of religious persecution exists but what is lacking is the political will to resolve it.
‘Government officials usually try to find excuses, putting the blame on the regional authorities. There is very little political will to address the issue in any meaningful way,' said CSW´s Anna Lee.
Non-Catholic churches, like the Assemblies of God, are growing in Mexico. Photo: CC/Rayttc
Despite their plight, non-Catholic churches in Mexico – Protestant, Pentecostal, Christian and evangelical – continue to grow. In the 2010 census out of a total population of 112 million inhabitants, eight million people said they belong to any of these denominations, as opposed to six and a half million people in 2000.
Lapido Media asked the Mexican Episcopal Conference, the leadership body of the Catholic church in Mexico, to comment on the treatment of minority Christians. Monsignor Leopoldo González González, Bishop of Tapachula (Chiapas) and President of the Episcopal Commission for the Interfaith Dialogue said the Catholic Church is tolerant of believers who convert to other denominations, but, for example in Chiapas 'evangelicals accuse and offend Catholics, calling them idolaters and drunks. These offences provoke a normal reaction of intolerance from our believers towards evangelicals'.
He added that indigenous people have a 'very high sense of community life' and when someone else doesn't respect their tradition and rules 'they expel them from their communities'.
Mariusa Reyes is a former BBC correspondent in Mexico and Central America.
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Saturday, May 09, 2015
Pope Francis meets with Pentecostal pastors
Pope Francis \ Activities
Pope Francis on Thursday met with a group of Pentecostal pastors from around the world. -
OSS_ROM
08/05/2015 13:04
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Thursday afternoon met with a group of Pentecostal pastors in the “Auletta”, a meeting room adjoining the Paul VI Audience Hall.
A statement released by the Holy See Press Office said the meeting was private, and involved around 100 pastors from around the world. The group was led by Pastor Giovanni Traettino, whose community in the Italian city of Caserta was visited last year by Pope Francis.
The statement said the meeting was “very cordial” and characterized by a “spirit of prayer for unity.”
Pope Francis was accompanied by Cardinal Kurt Koch, the President of Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.
08/05/2015 13:04
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Thursday afternoon met with a group of Pentecostal pastors in the “Auletta”, a meeting room adjoining the Paul VI Audience Hall.
A statement released by the Holy See Press Office said the meeting was private, and involved around 100 pastors from around the world. The group was led by Pastor Giovanni Traettino, whose community in the Italian city of Caserta was visited last year by Pope Francis.
The statement said the meeting was “very cordial” and characterized by a “spirit of prayer for unity.”
Pope Francis was accompanied by Cardinal Kurt Koch, the President of Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.
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Tuesday, July 29, 2014
Pope Francis apologizes for persecution of Pentecostals
CASERTA, Italy (RNS) Pope Francis sought forgiveness for decades of persecution of Italian Pentecostals when he met with around 300 evangelicals from the U.S., Argentina and Italy in the southern town of Caserta on Monday (July 28).
Pope Francis talks with Giovanni Traettino, a Protestant pastor and his friend, in Caserta, Italy, July 28. Pope Francis said he knew people would be shocked that he would make such a trip outside of Rome to visit a group of Pentecostals, “but I went to visit my friends.” CNS photo/ L'Osservatore Romano via Reuters
This image is available for Web and print publication. For questions, contact Sally Morrow.
The pope made his second visit in as many days to the Mafia stronghold near Naples, this time to meet evangelical pastor Giovanni Traettino, whom he befriended while he was archbishop of Buenos Aires.
During the visit, Francis apologized for the persecution suffered by Pentecostals under Italy’s fascist regime in the 1920s and 1930s and urged Christians to celebrate their diversity and unity.
“Catholics were among those who persecuted and denounced the Pentecostals, almost as if they were crazy,” Francis said.
“I am the shepherd of the Catholics and I ask you to forgive my Catholic brothers and sisters who did not understand and were tempted by the devil.”
READ: Italy’s Pentecostals: Time to stand against Rome? (First Things)
Since his election last year, the pope has been reaching out to other faiths and has held talks with Protestant, Jewish and Muslim leaders. On Monday, he went even further by apologizing for what Catholics had done.
Luca Baratto, a pastor from the Italian Federation of Evangelical Churches, said the pope’s apology was unexpected and greatly appreciated.
“It is very important to remember the racial laws through which the Pentecostals were victims under fascism,” he told the Italian news agency, AdnKronos. “We really appreciate the opening of dialogue by this pope.”
Calling the pope “my beloved brother,” Traettino said the evangelical community was deeply grateful for the visit, which would have been unthinkable until recently.
James Robison explains a “high five” to Pope Francis at the Vatican on June 24, 2014. During their meeting, they agreed all Catholics and Protestants need to come to know Jesus personally. RNS photo courtesy LIFE Outreach International
Indeed, whereas now-retired Pope Benedict XVI channeled his energies into trying to reconcile with traditionalist Catholics, Francis has spent more time reaching out to conservative evangelical leaders; his recent three-hour meeting with American televangelists raised some eyebrows and resulted in what was dubbed the first-ever papal high-five.
“With a single gesture he has opened the door wider, overcoming any complications of protocol and going directly to the heart of human relations,” Traettino said of his meeting with Francis.
One participant said it was a very emotional moment when the pope asked forgiveness, and “everyone was in tears.”
The pope arrived in Caserta by helicopter and after a private conversation at Traettino’s home, he met with the community of the Evangelical Church of Reconciliation at the site of their church, which is under construction.
A notable absentee was Bishop Tony Palmer, the charismatic preacher who used a cellphone camera to record Francis’ appeal for unity between Catholics and evangelicals. He was killed just over a week ago (July 20) in a motorcycle crash in the United Kingdom.
On Saturday, around 200,000 faithful gathered for the pope’s first stop in Caserta, a stronghold of the notorious Naples Mafia known as Camorra.
The pontiff did not mention the Camorra, which runs a vast organized crime empire including drug trafficking, money laundering and extortion, but spoke out against “corruption and lawlessness” during his address.
KRE/AMB END McKENNA
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Monday, July 28, 2014
Papal first: Francis visits Pentecostal church
NICOLE WINFIELD
Associated Press
Vatican City — Pope Francis has become the first pope to visit a Pentecostal church, pressing his outreach to evangelicals who represent Catholicism’s greatest competition for Christian souls around the globe.
Francis flew by helicopter Monday to visit the under-construction Evangelical Church of Reconciliation in the southern city of Caserta. He met privately with Pentecostal preacher Giovanni Traettino, an old friend.
Speaking to some 350 Pentecostal faithful in the church, Francis apologized for Catholic persecution of Pentecostals during Italy’s fascist regime, when the practice of their faith was forbidden, and stressed that there was unity in diversity within Christianity.
“Among those who persecuted and denounced Pentecostals, almost as if they were crazy people trying to ruin the race, there were also Catholics,” he said. “I am the pastor of Catholics, and I ask your forgiveness for those Catholic brothers and sisters who didn’t know and were tempted by the devil.”
He acknowledged the remarkable nature of his visit, saying: “Someone will be surprised: ‘The pope went to visit the evangelicals?’ But he went to see his brothers.”
Catholics have often compared Pentecostal groups to cults and accused them of overly aggressive, unethical proselytizing. The popular, charismatic movements have drained parishioners from the Catholic Church, particularly in Francis’ own Latin America.
But Francis has met unofficially with several Pentecostal and evangelical preachers recently, including the Texas televangelists James Robinson and Kenneth Copeland. He recorded an iPhone video for a Pentecostal conference hosted by Copeland, whose prosperity gospel ministry — stressing that God will reward the faithful with health and wealth — clashes with Francis’ own embrace of the value of a “poor church.”
Not all evangelicals or Catholics have welcomed the pope’s outreach: Some traditionalist Catholics have sought to minimize the pope’s initiative, stressing that Traettino and others represent only their individual churches.
In a statement earlier this month on the eve of the Caserta meeting, several Italian evangelical groups met in the same city and stressed the “incompatibility” of their beliefs with that of the Catholic Church and its pope.
From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20140728/RELIGION/307280093#ixzz38muMtkdb
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Saturday, May 17, 2014
Charismatic Movement -- Vatican Promotion
dntemp·
Uploaded on Apr 21, 2008
Also (on iTunes): Dr. Peter Kreeft on Charisms (Visions, Tongues, Healing, etc.) feat. Dave Nevins
https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/cha...
48 years of dramatic worldwide growth of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal (visions, tongues, prophecy, healing, etc.).
The film is excerpted from the International Catholic Charismatic Renewal Services (ICCRS) DVD "A New Pentecost" featuring a brief history, papal promotion, endorsement and testimonies. The full DVD is available at: http://www.iccrs.org
Posted with permission by:
http://www.davenevins.com
Uploaded on Apr 21, 2008
Also (on iTunes): Dr. Peter Kreeft on Charisms (Visions, Tongues, Healing, etc.) feat. Dave Nevins
https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/cha...
48 years of dramatic worldwide growth of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal (visions, tongues, prophecy, healing, etc.).
The film is excerpted from the International Catholic Charismatic Renewal Services (ICCRS) DVD "A New Pentecost" featuring a brief history, papal promotion, endorsement and testimonies. The full DVD is available at: http://www.iccrs.org
Posted with permission by:
http://www.davenevins.com
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Tuesday, April 29, 2014
David Wilkerson Prophecy (New York 1000 fires burning)
Revival House
Uploaded on Sep 16, 2011
David Wilkerson Prophecy (New York 1000 fires burning)
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Revival House Fellowship is a Moncton, NB, House Church which is Cross centered and Spirit filled. Be sure to check out our website for more Christian resource material at http://www.revivalhousemoncton.com
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Related:
David Ray Wilkerson (May 19, 1931 – April 27, 2011)[1] was an American Christian evangelist, best known for his book The Cross and the Switchblade. He was the founder of the addiction recovery program Teen Challenge, and founding pastor of the non-denominational Times Square Church in New York of evangelical doctrine and practice, in which more than 100 nationalities were represented.[2]
Source: (Bio) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Wilkerson
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Monday, April 14, 2014
Anglicans and Pentecostals have 'much to learn' from each other
Published 11 April 2014 | Cath Martin
(Photo: ACNS)
The consultation brought together nine Anglicans and eight Pentecostals
Representatives of the Church of England and Pentecostal traditions came together in Hertfordshire this week to explore their similarities and differences, and consider their partnership in mission.
The Anglican Communion News Service (ACNS) reports that the two-day consultation at High Leigh follows the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby's call for greater interaction between the two traditions.
The Reverend Dr David Hilborn, a member of the Faith and Order Commission and the Society for Pentecostal Studies, said the talks represented a "real step forward in mutual understanding and co-operation" between Anglicans and Pentecostals.
"I had been involved in ecumenical work for some years and had noticed that while Roman Catholic, Reformed and Lutheran churches had been engaged in bilateral theological conversations with Pentecostals, Anglicans had lagged behind," he said.
His sentiments were shared by the Reverend Nezlin Sterling, of the New Testament Assemblies, who said the consultation was a "welcome new development in understanding and cooperation" between the two traditions.
The consultation considered key doctrinal questions around the work of the Holy Spirit, apostolic leadership and prophecy, as well as practical aspects of relationship, such as chuch sharing, Christian schools and joint ministerial training.
Anglicans and Pentecostals in England have enjoyed informal relationships over the years but this is the first structured conversation, the ACNS reports, and more meetings are being planned.
Professor William Kay, of the Assemblies of God, said: "Pentecostals have much to learn from Anglicans and, dare I say it, Anglicans have much to learn from Pentecostals, and this enriching consultation got us off to a flying start."
Source
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Thursday, March 13, 2014
Joel Osteen’s church robbed of $600G in cash, checks
Published March 11, 2014
FoxNews.com
FILE: Joel Osteen's church announced that $600,000 were stolen in donations. (Reuters)
Televangelist Joel Osteen's church in Houston announced Monday that $600,000 in Sunday donations were stolen from its safe last weekend, MyFoxHouston.com reported.
The heist at Lakewood Church wasn't discovered until 8:30 a.m. Monday morning when a church employee and off-duty Harris County Sheriff's Officer noticed the break in, the report said. Investigators believe the theft occurred sometime between Sunday afternoon and Monday morning.
The donations were from services on March 8 and March 9 and included cash, checks and credit cards. Lakewood has asked anyone who attended services this weekend to pay attention to their accounts and report any suspicious activity.
"The funds were fully insured, and we are working with our insurance company to restore the stolen funds to the church," the Lakewood statement said, according to The Houston Chronicle.
Lakewood stresses this was not a data breach, but says the theft was limited to donations made in the actual services.
More than 40,000 people attend weekly services led by Osteen, whose televised sermons reach nearly 100 countries.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Monday, March 03, 2014
Pope Francis's Message to Pentecostal and Charismatic Conference in Texas
Mesajul papei Francisc pentru Conferinta penticostalà si carismaticà in Texas
INTREITA SOLIE INGEREASC
Published on Mar 3, 2014
No description available.
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POPE TO COPELAND: CATHOLICS AND CHARISMATICS MUST SPIRITUALLY UNITE
Amy Spreeman
Published on Feb 24, 2014
We are galloping toward a one-world melding of religions, and the ramifications are staggering. Pope Francis has now sent a video message to Word of Faith father Kenneth Copeland, urging a reconciliation between Catholics and Charismatics.
(Our Story Here: http://bit.ly/1h72CV8)
"The Catholic and Charismatic Renewal is the hope of the Church," exclaims Anglican Episcopal Bishop Tony Palmer, before a group of cheering followers at the Kenneth Copeland Ministries. Palmer said those words are from the Vatican. Before playing the video message from Pope Francis to Kenneth Copeland, Palmer told the crowd, "When my wife saw that she could be Catholic, and Charismatic, and Evangelical, and Pentecostal, and it was absolutely accepted in the Catholic Church, she said that she would like to reconnect her roots with the Catholic culture. So she did."
The crowd cheered, as he continued, "Brothers and sisters, Luther's protest is over. Is yours?"
Even Kenneth Copeland finds this development incredible: Said Copeland, "Heaven is thrilled over this...You know what is so thrilling to me? When we went into the ministry 47 years ago, this was impossible."
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Thursday, August 15, 2013
Modern Chaos: The Charismatic and Pentecostal Movements
Paul Flynn
Published on Feb 25, 2013
Segment taken from the Film 'Of Chaos and Confusion: The Modern Church':
http://youtu.be/bA0It1CkMxo
A Megiddo Films Production
Produced, Written and Directed by Paul Flynn
Running Time: 2.5 hours
Copyright 2012 Paul Flynn.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
To support the making of other planned future films you can donate here at:
http://megiddofilms.org/donations/
Megiddo Radio
Paul Flynn talks about his new film which is now out online called 'Of Chaos and Confusion: The Modern Church'.
http://megiddofilms.podomatic.com/ent...
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Tuesday, May 14, 2013
TV PREACHERS EXPOSED! Satanism/ Pentecostalism/ New Age/ Tongues/ Demonic
HeavenClear
Published on Nov 25, 2012
(video mirrored) Do you see the logo of the TBN tv braodcast? In it there is a dove flying down - this is a hardcore satanic symbol - it is featured also in Roman Catholicism and on Chuck Misslers church logo - but it is also to be found on the occult luciferian magazine of the 60s/70s "The Voice" - it is also their logo.
more tags: Prosperity Gospel Benny Hinn Kenneth Copeland Paul Crouch TBN satanic and not christian tv Toronto Blessing Unmasked Robert Tilton Jim Jones cult you are god satanic lie Trinity Broadcasting Network exposed satanic -----
Published on Nov 25, 2012
(video mirrored) Do you see the logo of the TBN tv braodcast? In it there is a dove flying down - this is a hardcore satanic symbol - it is featured also in Roman Catholicism and on Chuck Misslers church logo - but it is also to be found on the occult luciferian magazine of the 60s/70s "The Voice" - it is also their logo.
more tags: Prosperity Gospel Benny Hinn Kenneth Copeland Paul Crouch TBN satanic and not christian tv Toronto Blessing Unmasked Robert Tilton Jim Jones cult you are god satanic lie Trinity Broadcasting Network exposed satanic -----
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Tuesday, May 17, 2011
IS IT THE SAME SPIRIT?
Photo (Courtesy) http://frjim123.wordpress.com/2010/12/04/charismatic-pentecostal-balance-and-a-warning/
The Roman Catholic Charismatic Renewal continues to grow at a rapid pace. All around the world, Roman Catholics are experiencing the Charismatic’s second baptism known as the ‘baptism of the Holy Spirit’. Statistics show that at least half the Charismatics in the world are also Roman Catholic. Many Roman Catholics are being ‘slain in the spirit’ and are ‘speaking in tongues’. Much of the Roman Catholic priesthood has embraced the ‘charismatic experience’ which, incidentally, has received the Pope’s official blessing. But what does all this mean? How can Roman Catholics be experiencing what has generally been thought to be experiences found exclusively within what is considered to be a Protestant movement? The question we will be addressing is: ‘Is the spirit that is granting Charismatics their experiences – ‘tongues’, the ‘slaying’ etc – the same spirit that Roman Catholics joyfully receive?’
Before we examine the question ‘Is it the same spirit?’, it is important that we look at what most people have presumed to be Protestant, namely the Pentecostal and Charismatic movements. This despite the fact that both abide in the doctrines of Arminianism which stem from Pelagianism, a fifth-century heresy that continues today, in which the Roman Catholic concept of salvation is rooted.
1971 was the year that saw the emergence of what became a very influential book. Entitled ‘The Pentecostal Movement in the (Roman) Catholic Church’, it was authored by a Roman Catholic priest named Edward D. O’Connor. The book became recognized as a classic and is still considered so by the Vatican and Roman Catholic activists. On page 23 of the book, O’Connor makes the following statement: "Although they derive from Protestant backgrounds, the Pentecostal churches are not typically Protestant in their belief, attitudes or practices. Many historians, as well as many of their own members, regard them as a ‘third force’ in the Christian world, between Protestantism and (Roman) Catholicism."
We also see in further quotes from this book the compatibility of Roman Catholicism and Charismaticism. "(Roman) Catholics who have accepted Pentecostal spirituality have found it to be fully in harmony with their traditional faith and life. They experience it not as a borrowing from an alien religion, but as a connatural—meaning to have a similar nature or origin—development of their own" (p.28).
"The spiritual experience of those who have been touched by the grace of the Holy Spirit in the Pentecostal movement is in profound harmony with the classical spirit of theology of the (Roman Catholic) Church" (p.183). And, "...the doctrine that is developing in the Pentecostal churches today, seems to be going through stages very similar to those which occurred in the early Middle Ages when the classical doctrine was taking shape" (p.193,194).
We learn from this the fact that the Roman Catholic Church sees no threat from the Charismatic movement, but has officially approved and embraced it, and is receptive to its ‘blessings’. However, Roman Catholic doctrine is NOT changing! Roman Catholics more than ever are remaining faithful to the use of the Rosary, prayers to Mary and other false Roman doctrines and practices.
For years many have believed that true revival has been occurring, firstly through the Pentecostal movement and later the Charismatic movement and that these two movements have seen the great move of God in these last days. And yet we see these ‘great movements’ now walking hand in hand with Romanism and other proponents of erroneous doctrine! They have become great friends. Some would even call it a family reunion. Roman Catholicism and the Charismatic Movement, specifically the Assemblies Of God churches, have played a major part in formulating the one-world church via the Ecumenical Movement.
Wilson Ewin, author of the book ‘The Pied Piper of the Pentecostal Movement’, says, "Untold millions of Catholic Pentecostals are now among the faithful of the Vatican. They are distinguished not only by the Pentecostal experience but also by their unswerving loyalty to the dogmas and teachings of the Roman Church. Medieval Catholicism as defined by the Council of Trent, remains intact in their hearts" (p.25). Ewin adds, "The very powers of classical Pentecostalism are now being shared with Roman Catholic Pentecostalists. And this of course, without conversion to Christ. The exploits of Oral Roberts, Kathryn Kuhlman, Rex Humbard, Aimee Semple McPherson, David Du Plessis and other mainline Pentecostal stars are even being outpaced by some Roman Catholic Pentecostalists" (p.26).
Throughout his book, Ewin tells of large meetings being held by Roman Catholics and Pentecostals. "Meetings have been carried on for many years between Vatican authorities and Pentecostal leaders. Cardinal Leon Suenens, usually involved in this, spoke at the 1977 Congress in Kansas City. He and ‘Thomas Zimmerman (Assemblies of God), J.O. Patterson (Church of God in Christ), and Archbishop Bill Burnett (Anglican) stood together before the vast multitude in an unprecedented demonstration of unity’" (p.34).
There still exists somewhat of a doctrinal gulf between Roman Catholics and Charismatics but these have been put to one side as they enjoy an experience-based unity. The Assemblies of God churches and the Vatican both agree that it is God’s Holy Spirit who is at work in both the Charismatic Movement and Roman Catholicism. And yet, when we examine the testimonies of Roman Catholics who have experienced charismatic phenomena such as ‘tongues’, the ‘slaying’ and the ‘baptism of the Holy Spirit’—a term not found in the Scriptures— we see that they are not, in turn, being led out of the errors of Romanism but deeper into them! One such testimony specifically records that the person began to pray the Rosary, "a practice" they said, "I have taken up since the baptism in the spirit" (Catholic Pentecostals, p.68). Another wrote of his renewed allegiance to Mary. A priest declared after his ‘baptism in the spirit’, "Never before had I such a sense of Mary’s role in leading me into the fullness of Christ and the Spirit" (The Charismatic Renewal and the Irish Experience, p.92). In fact, some nominal Roman Catholics who were not amongst those who prayed to Mary or prayed the Rosary or even attended Mass, now eagerly do so as a direct result of their charismatic experience!
E.N. Gross in his book ‘Miracles, Demons and Spiritual Warfare’ says, "The Charismatic Movement now embraces Roman Catholics with a total openness. Basic differences of doctrine no longer seem to matter. Huge Charismatic meetings feature Protestant and Roman Catholic speakers as if there were no difference between them. ‘Tongues’, ‘prophecies’, ‘healings’ abound in such meetings—all with loud united shouts of ‘amen’ and ‘praise Jesus’" (p.160).
If it is the Holy Spirit giving these experiences to Roman Catholics, how then are we to explain the fact that these people are not being led out of Romanism and renouncing her blasphemous teachings but are becoming more firmly entrenched in her heretical doctrines? The Bible says that the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth and the Lord Jesus Christ further stated that "...when He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth..." (Jn. 16:13). He would not confirm and establish Roman Catholics or any other followers of false doctrine in their error but would lead them out of it. And the Holy Spirit would certainly not lead God’s people to join hands with those who are steeped in deadly error, having embraced a false gospel. But wait, we need to ask these questions at this point: ‘How can the spirit that is active in both the Pentecostal and Charismatic movements be the Holy Spirit of God when this spirit has not led the followers of either of these movements to the Gospel of Christ but to a counterfeit and has fused these movements with the giant of doctrinal monsters, the Roman Catholic Church? How can it be the Holy Spirit leading these people when their unity is not over the doctrine of Christ but rather involves a disregard of doctrine?’ These movements have entered into an experience-based love affair with Roman Catholicism and even Mormonism through the Promise Keepers movement.
Jesus Christ said that the Holy Spirit, Whom He called "the Spirit of truth" three times in the Gospel of John, would guide all God’s chosen into all truth (Jn. 16:13). The spirit which is at work in the Charismatic Movement and Roman Catholicism IS the same spirit but is NOT the Holy Spirit, for this counterfeit spirit is not leading people into all truth. He is not leading them to the only Gospel of God which reveals the Righteousness of Christ and which declares that Christ’s death was for all those God gave Him, but is encouraging fellowship with error and leading people into a false unity—love and experiences—rather than Biblical unity (which God Almighty is the Author of) which is, and can only ever be, love and truth. Disciples of both groups need to be aware of the Scriptural truth that doctrine must never be laid aside, even because of an overwhelming desire to unite at any cost. Only those who believe the True Gospel can be of the same mind as the Scriptures when it comes to Who Christ is, what Christ has done and for whom He has done it.
The sight of the Charismatic Movement and the Roman Catholic Church merging ever closer by the minute and, although in disagreement over some doctrine, warmly welcoming the spirit which is leading them deeper into ecumenical bondage and doctrine which is at odds with the Scriptures, demonstrates conclusively that it IS one and the same spirit—but it is NOT the Holy Spirit of God, it is a foul counterfeit. A counterfeit which is titillating the senses and feeding an insatiable urge to see and feel and experience something out of the ordinary — to have a man-made unity now, based on experience and not Truth, rather than the true unity which only Jesus Christ brings to all those who abide in HIS doctrine (see 2 Jn. 9). God’s Holy Word states that the Christian’s walk is one of faith, not of sight (2 Cor. 5:7). God has chosen to speak to His people through the written Word and it is in the Holy Scriptures that you will find true experience with God, not in some flesh-pleasing titillation dripping with false doctrine.
In John’s First Letter, chapter 4 and verse 1, we see his instruction to "...believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world." Many today do not question, but merely accept at face value that if an experience is real and seemingly ‘beneficial’, it must be of God thus giving credibility to, in the minds of such thinkers, whatever movement one has had the experience in. It is clear that the spirit working within the Charismatic movement is leading it further into fellowship with darkness. This same spirit is not guiding Roman Catholics into all truth but deeper into the heresies of Romanism. Therefore this spirit cannot be the Holy Spirit of God but is the unholy spirit of Satan. God’s people—those among His elect currently a part of the Roman Catholic Church or the Pentecostal or Charismatic movements who do not yet believe the Gospel must do so—need to come out of the Roman Catholic Church and the Charismatic and Pentecostal movements according to Revelation 18:4, "...that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues." The line has been most distinctly marked out: will you follow the spirit of the Charismatic movement and the Roman Catholic Church or will you follow the Holy Spirit of God who guides people into all Truth?
The Spirit of God is the Spirit of Truth and He alone it is Who will guide people into His truth: the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We exhort Roman Catholics and Charismatics alike to study the Word of God and experience the TRUTH!
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Before we examine the question ‘Is it the same spirit?’, it is important that we look at what most people have presumed to be Protestant, namely the Pentecostal and Charismatic movements. This despite the fact that both abide in the doctrines of Arminianism which stem from Pelagianism, a fifth-century heresy that continues today, in which the Roman Catholic concept of salvation is rooted.
1971 was the year that saw the emergence of what became a very influential book. Entitled ‘The Pentecostal Movement in the (Roman) Catholic Church’, it was authored by a Roman Catholic priest named Edward D. O’Connor. The book became recognized as a classic and is still considered so by the Vatican and Roman Catholic activists. On page 23 of the book, O’Connor makes the following statement: "Although they derive from Protestant backgrounds, the Pentecostal churches are not typically Protestant in their belief, attitudes or practices. Many historians, as well as many of their own members, regard them as a ‘third force’ in the Christian world, between Protestantism and (Roman) Catholicism."
We also see in further quotes from this book the compatibility of Roman Catholicism and Charismaticism. "(Roman) Catholics who have accepted Pentecostal spirituality have found it to be fully in harmony with their traditional faith and life. They experience it not as a borrowing from an alien religion, but as a connatural—meaning to have a similar nature or origin—development of their own" (p.28).
"The spiritual experience of those who have been touched by the grace of the Holy Spirit in the Pentecostal movement is in profound harmony with the classical spirit of theology of the (Roman Catholic) Church" (p.183). And, "...the doctrine that is developing in the Pentecostal churches today, seems to be going through stages very similar to those which occurred in the early Middle Ages when the classical doctrine was taking shape" (p.193,194).
We learn from this the fact that the Roman Catholic Church sees no threat from the Charismatic movement, but has officially approved and embraced it, and is receptive to its ‘blessings’. However, Roman Catholic doctrine is NOT changing! Roman Catholics more than ever are remaining faithful to the use of the Rosary, prayers to Mary and other false Roman doctrines and practices.
For years many have believed that true revival has been occurring, firstly through the Pentecostal movement and later the Charismatic movement and that these two movements have seen the great move of God in these last days. And yet we see these ‘great movements’ now walking hand in hand with Romanism and other proponents of erroneous doctrine! They have become great friends. Some would even call it a family reunion. Roman Catholicism and the Charismatic Movement, specifically the Assemblies Of God churches, have played a major part in formulating the one-world church via the Ecumenical Movement.
Wilson Ewin, author of the book ‘The Pied Piper of the Pentecostal Movement’, says, "Untold millions of Catholic Pentecostals are now among the faithful of the Vatican. They are distinguished not only by the Pentecostal experience but also by their unswerving loyalty to the dogmas and teachings of the Roman Church. Medieval Catholicism as defined by the Council of Trent, remains intact in their hearts" (p.25). Ewin adds, "The very powers of classical Pentecostalism are now being shared with Roman Catholic Pentecostalists. And this of course, without conversion to Christ. The exploits of Oral Roberts, Kathryn Kuhlman, Rex Humbard, Aimee Semple McPherson, David Du Plessis and other mainline Pentecostal stars are even being outpaced by some Roman Catholic Pentecostalists" (p.26).
Throughout his book, Ewin tells of large meetings being held by Roman Catholics and Pentecostals. "Meetings have been carried on for many years between Vatican authorities and Pentecostal leaders. Cardinal Leon Suenens, usually involved in this, spoke at the 1977 Congress in Kansas City. He and ‘Thomas Zimmerman (Assemblies of God), J.O. Patterson (Church of God in Christ), and Archbishop Bill Burnett (Anglican) stood together before the vast multitude in an unprecedented demonstration of unity’" (p.34).
There still exists somewhat of a doctrinal gulf between Roman Catholics and Charismatics but these have been put to one side as they enjoy an experience-based unity. The Assemblies of God churches and the Vatican both agree that it is God’s Holy Spirit who is at work in both the Charismatic Movement and Roman Catholicism. And yet, when we examine the testimonies of Roman Catholics who have experienced charismatic phenomena such as ‘tongues’, the ‘slaying’ and the ‘baptism of the Holy Spirit’—a term not found in the Scriptures— we see that they are not, in turn, being led out of the errors of Romanism but deeper into them! One such testimony specifically records that the person began to pray the Rosary, "a practice" they said, "I have taken up since the baptism in the spirit" (Catholic Pentecostals, p.68). Another wrote of his renewed allegiance to Mary. A priest declared after his ‘baptism in the spirit’, "Never before had I such a sense of Mary’s role in leading me into the fullness of Christ and the Spirit" (The Charismatic Renewal and the Irish Experience, p.92). In fact, some nominal Roman Catholics who were not amongst those who prayed to Mary or prayed the Rosary or even attended Mass, now eagerly do so as a direct result of their charismatic experience!
E.N. Gross in his book ‘Miracles, Demons and Spiritual Warfare’ says, "The Charismatic Movement now embraces Roman Catholics with a total openness. Basic differences of doctrine no longer seem to matter. Huge Charismatic meetings feature Protestant and Roman Catholic speakers as if there were no difference between them. ‘Tongues’, ‘prophecies’, ‘healings’ abound in such meetings—all with loud united shouts of ‘amen’ and ‘praise Jesus’" (p.160).
If it is the Holy Spirit giving these experiences to Roman Catholics, how then are we to explain the fact that these people are not being led out of Romanism and renouncing her blasphemous teachings but are becoming more firmly entrenched in her heretical doctrines? The Bible says that the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth and the Lord Jesus Christ further stated that "...when He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth..." (Jn. 16:13). He would not confirm and establish Roman Catholics or any other followers of false doctrine in their error but would lead them out of it. And the Holy Spirit would certainly not lead God’s people to join hands with those who are steeped in deadly error, having embraced a false gospel. But wait, we need to ask these questions at this point: ‘How can the spirit that is active in both the Pentecostal and Charismatic movements be the Holy Spirit of God when this spirit has not led the followers of either of these movements to the Gospel of Christ but to a counterfeit and has fused these movements with the giant of doctrinal monsters, the Roman Catholic Church? How can it be the Holy Spirit leading these people when their unity is not over the doctrine of Christ but rather involves a disregard of doctrine?’ These movements have entered into an experience-based love affair with Roman Catholicism and even Mormonism through the Promise Keepers movement.
Jesus Christ said that the Holy Spirit, Whom He called "the Spirit of truth" three times in the Gospel of John, would guide all God’s chosen into all truth (Jn. 16:13). The spirit which is at work in the Charismatic Movement and Roman Catholicism IS the same spirit but is NOT the Holy Spirit, for this counterfeit spirit is not leading people into all truth. He is not leading them to the only Gospel of God which reveals the Righteousness of Christ and which declares that Christ’s death was for all those God gave Him, but is encouraging fellowship with error and leading people into a false unity—love and experiences—rather than Biblical unity (which God Almighty is the Author of) which is, and can only ever be, love and truth. Disciples of both groups need to be aware of the Scriptural truth that doctrine must never be laid aside, even because of an overwhelming desire to unite at any cost. Only those who believe the True Gospel can be of the same mind as the Scriptures when it comes to Who Christ is, what Christ has done and for whom He has done it.
The sight of the Charismatic Movement and the Roman Catholic Church merging ever closer by the minute and, although in disagreement over some doctrine, warmly welcoming the spirit which is leading them deeper into ecumenical bondage and doctrine which is at odds with the Scriptures, demonstrates conclusively that it IS one and the same spirit—but it is NOT the Holy Spirit of God, it is a foul counterfeit. A counterfeit which is titillating the senses and feeding an insatiable urge to see and feel and experience something out of the ordinary — to have a man-made unity now, based on experience and not Truth, rather than the true unity which only Jesus Christ brings to all those who abide in HIS doctrine (see 2 Jn. 9). God’s Holy Word states that the Christian’s walk is one of faith, not of sight (2 Cor. 5:7). God has chosen to speak to His people through the written Word and it is in the Holy Scriptures that you will find true experience with God, not in some flesh-pleasing titillation dripping with false doctrine.
In John’s First Letter, chapter 4 and verse 1, we see his instruction to "...believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world." Many today do not question, but merely accept at face value that if an experience is real and seemingly ‘beneficial’, it must be of God thus giving credibility to, in the minds of such thinkers, whatever movement one has had the experience in. It is clear that the spirit working within the Charismatic movement is leading it further into fellowship with darkness. This same spirit is not guiding Roman Catholics into all truth but deeper into the heresies of Romanism. Therefore this spirit cannot be the Holy Spirit of God but is the unholy spirit of Satan. God’s people—those among His elect currently a part of the Roman Catholic Church or the Pentecostal or Charismatic movements who do not yet believe the Gospel must do so—need to come out of the Roman Catholic Church and the Charismatic and Pentecostal movements according to Revelation 18:4, "...that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues." The line has been most distinctly marked out: will you follow the spirit of the Charismatic movement and the Roman Catholic Church or will you follow the Holy Spirit of God who guides people into all Truth?
The Spirit of God is the Spirit of Truth and He alone it is Who will guide people into His truth: the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We exhort Roman Catholics and Charismatics alike to study the Word of God and experience the TRUTH!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source
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Saturday, September 25, 2010
Appeal of the Religious Right
A Sense of Belonging
The goal of dominion is alien to moderate Republicans and may not be shared by many members of fundamentalist, Pentecostal and charismatic churches. These church members should be made aware of how they are being politically manipulated by their leadership.
It's important to note that there are good reasons why so many people join fundamentalist, Pentecostal and charismatic churches. First of all, many of the churches I visited had very lively services which I enjoyed; that is until the preacher started talking about Satan, the role of women, the biblical call to beat children, the Rapture, or God's mandate to get involved politically.
These churches have been very successful in helping people give up drug addictions. And people have told me that the quality of their lives improved significantly once they took Jesus Christ as their Savior. This personal relationship with Christ can be a very positive experience, especially when it infuses one's life with a sense of a loving light.
And most of all, the churches offer practitioners a real sense of belonging. Whenever I attended church services, I was always warmly greeted by people who gave me a sense that if I joined, I would never feel alone. This sense of belonging goes right to the core of one of the most troubling aspects of our modern, affluent society - a feeling of alienation. It is this need to belong and have a higher purpose to life which is, unfortunately, being politically exploited by the Religious Right.
Some of the Church services I have attended have been very emotional. Sometimes members seem to be ecstatic. Some of the churches appear to offer a kind of group catharsis, not unlike some forms of therapy. In a time of great stress, the Holy Laughter Movement, which encourages deep belly laughing and weeping, is growing rapidly. The Holy Laughter Movement makes me think of the physician, Patch Adams who advocates healing through laughter. There is a reason so many people are drawn to these ministries, and it's useful to understand the appeal.
Read story by Joan Bokaer called Getting Saved in Amarillo.
This article about the popularity of the Passion Experience for young people demonstrates the appeal of the form of worship found in Pentecostal and charismatic churches. This worship can be a positive experience if it is not overlain with a political message that is anti-women, anti-environment, anti-arms control, anti-social justice, and anti-democratic. Unfortunately, a joyful experience becomes grounds for political manipulation. Photographer: Michelle V. Agins/The New York Times.
The goal of dominion is alien to moderate Republicans and may not be shared by many members of fundamentalist, Pentecostal and charismatic churches. These church members should be made aware of how they are being politically manipulated by their leadership.
It's important to note that there are good reasons why so many people join fundamentalist, Pentecostal and charismatic churches. First of all, many of the churches I visited had very lively services which I enjoyed; that is until the preacher started talking about Satan, the role of women, the biblical call to beat children, the Rapture, or God's mandate to get involved politically.
These churches have been very successful in helping people give up drug addictions. And people have told me that the quality of their lives improved significantly once they took Jesus Christ as their Savior. This personal relationship with Christ can be a very positive experience, especially when it infuses one's life with a sense of a loving light.
And most of all, the churches offer practitioners a real sense of belonging. Whenever I attended church services, I was always warmly greeted by people who gave me a sense that if I joined, I would never feel alone. This sense of belonging goes right to the core of one of the most troubling aspects of our modern, affluent society - a feeling of alienation. It is this need to belong and have a higher purpose to life which is, unfortunately, being politically exploited by the Religious Right.
Some of the Church services I have attended have been very emotional. Sometimes members seem to be ecstatic. Some of the churches appear to offer a kind of group catharsis, not unlike some forms of therapy. In a time of great stress, the Holy Laughter Movement, which encourages deep belly laughing and weeping, is growing rapidly. The Holy Laughter Movement makes me think of the physician, Patch Adams who advocates healing through laughter. There is a reason so many people are drawn to these ministries, and it's useful to understand the appeal.
Read story by Joan Bokaer called Getting Saved in Amarillo.
This article about the popularity of the Passion Experience for young people demonstrates the appeal of the form of worship found in Pentecostal and charismatic churches. This worship can be a positive experience if it is not overlain with a political message that is anti-women, anti-environment, anti-arms control, anti-social justice, and anti-democratic. Unfortunately, a joyful experience becomes grounds for political manipulation. Photographer: Michelle V. Agins/The New York Times.
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Thursday, July 29, 2010
BELARUS: Another massive fine, right to worship on own property denied
This article was published by F18News on: 29 July 2010
By Felix Corley, Forum 18 News Service
New Life Pentecostal Church in Belarus' capital Minsk has had a massive fine imposed on it today (29 July), for alleged "environmental damage", Forum 18 News Service has learned. Added to an earlier fine, the two fines and "compensation" total 265,750,000 Belarusian Roubles (542,850 Norwegian Kroner, 68,250 Euros, or 89,300 US Dollars). Sergei Lukanin, the church's lawyer, told Forum 18 that the Church will pay neither fine, arguing that if there is any pollution at the site it dates from the time before the church owned the property. He insisted that the church has kept the building and site in good order, a contention which Forum 18's own observations on visits support. A city environmental official claimed in an official report on the Church before the fines that grass growing for a children's playground damaged the environment. Meanwhile, two small Pentecostal churches in villages near Minsk have been fined for using the properties they own for worship. Officials claim the properties are registered for domestic use and therefore worship is illegal. The small congregations will struggle to pay these fines, a church member said. "The fear is that officials could do this again – the mechanism is there," Forum 18 was told.
After a court decision today (29 July) against New Life Church in the Belarusian capital Minsk, the Pentecostal church now faces two massive fines for alleged "environmental damage" to the church's car park. Sergei Lukanin, the church's lawyer, told Forum 18 News Service that the church will pay neither fine, arguing that if there is any pollution at the site it dates from the time before the church owned the property. He insisted that the church has kept the building and site in good order. Forum 18's own observations during visits to the church support Lukanin's contention.
Meanwhile, two small Pentecostal churches in villages near Minsk have been fined for using the properties they own for worship services. Officials claim the properties are registered for domestic use and that use of the land they stand on to facilitate worship in the properties is illegal. A member of the Pentecostal Union handling these two cases says that the small congregations – each has 20 to 30 members – will struggle to pay these fines. "Raising such sums is difficult for such a small community," the Union member told Forum 18 from Minsk on 28 July. "The fear is that officials could do this again – the mechanism is there."
Protestant communities in particular have long faced great difficulties in rebuilding properties they own for worship, and have found that it is nearly impossible to get property officially re-designated so that it can be legally used for worship buildings. This problem mainly affects Protestant communities, as unlike the other major communities in the country - Orthodox and Catholic - they are much less likely to own their own worship buildings (see F18News 30 May 2007 http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=966).
Communities who do not own their own property have long found that the state places great obstacles in the way of them renting premises to meet in (see F18News 29 May 2007 http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=965).
Massive "environmental damage" fine imposed
Officials have long sought to oust the New Life church from its building – a former cowshed which the church bought in 2002 and converted for worship – on the edge of Minsk. The latest case against New Life began at Minsk City Economic Court on 12 May, seeking compensation for alleged oil pollution on church land. The case was suspended as an earlier pollution case was considered separately, but resumed later.
At the final hearing on 29 July, Judge Oleg Klyuko found the church guilty and fined it 249,000,000 Belarusian Roubles to pay for what the state claims would be the cost of cleaning the alleged damage. In addition, 8,000,000 Roubles were imposed in costs, in "compensation" for the state's costs in bringing the case – bringing the total to 257,000,000 Roubles (524,850 Norwegian Kroner, 66,000 Euros, or 86,400 US Dollars).
New Life argues that officials are using environmental claims as part of their long-running campaign against the church. The head of Minsk's City Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Committee has claimed that grass being grown for a children's playground at the church might also cause environmental damage, and was uninterested when Forum 18 raised concerns about accumulated rubbish - including rotting vehicles and old washing machines - dumped within 500 metres of the church (see F18News 1 June 2010 http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=1452).
The congregation has adopted a policy of civil disobedience, refusing to allow state officials into the building.
"No one ordered us to do this"
However, Aleksandr Borovikov, head of Minsk City Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Committee which brought the case, defended the massive fine. "The court established that the church is guilty – they took the decision," he told Forum 18 from Minsk in the wake of the hearing. He brushed aside any comparison between the size of the penalty in New Life compared to those in Brest Region.
Borovikov once again vigorously rejected the church's claims that environmental measures are deliberately being used to target the church. "No one ordered us to do this – we are an independent agency."
Church lawyer Lukanin told Forum 18 that the church will appeal against the fine to the Appeals Section of the Economic Court. The Church has 15 days to do so from receipt of the verdict in writing, though it must pay 4,000,000 Belarusian Roubles (8,100 Norwegian Kroner, 1,000 Euros, or 1,300 US Dollars) in costs to lodge the appeal.
Lukanin added that officials are now alleging that the track that leads from the nearest road to the church car park was built illegally. He insisted that the track was already there when the church building was a cowshed long before New Life bought it.
Borovikov of the Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Committee told Forum 18 that the track is still being investigated and no conclusion has yet been reached. "The report from the experts has not yet reached my desk for signature."
Earlier "environmental damage" fine
In the earlier case, on 12 July New Life received in writing the decision of the Supreme Court upholding a fine handed down on the church for "environmental damage" to its car park, the church told Forum 18. The decision was signed by one of the Court's deputy chairs, Valeri Kalinkovich.
Minsk District Court had fined the church 8,750,000 Belarusian Roubles (18,000 Norwegian Kroner, 2,250 Euros, or 2,900 US Dollars) on 26 February for damage environmental officers claimed had been caused to the land in the car park. An appeal against the fine was rejected on 26 March by Minsk City Court, after which the Church took its case to the Supreme Court (see F18News 9 April 2010 http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=1430).
The two fines and "compensation" total 265,750,000 Belarusian Roubles (542,850 Norwegian Kroner, 68,250 Euros, or 89,300 US Dollars). Church lawyer Lukanin contrasts the fines imposed on New Life with the situation in Brest Region. According to a 24 July Belapan article citing the Regional Prosecutor Sergei Khmaruk, penalties totalling 88,000,000 Belarusian Roubles – just under one third of the total imposed on New Life - were imposed in 281 separate cases involving environmental damage in the entire Brest Region in the first six months of 2010.
Churches can't use own property for worship
On 8 June, Soligorsk [Salihorsk] District Court in Minsk Region found two Pentecostal churches guilty of using their plots of land not for their true purpose. The church in the village of Gavrilchitsy and the church in the village of Krasnaya Sloboda each use a private home they have bought and remodelled for worship. In each case, the registered congregations have certificates from the Village Executive Committees certifying their "permanent use" of the properties.
Each congregation was fined 700,000 Belarusian Roubles (1,449 Norwegian Kroner, 181 Euros or 235 US Dollars) under Article 15.10, Part 3 of the Administrative Violations Code ("violation of the procedure for using a land plot"). The fine was the minimum laid down for legal entities found guilty of this offence.
Both churches appealed against the decisions, but Judge Lyudmila Astreiko of Minsk Regional Court upheld the fines in separate hearings on 6 July, according to the almost identical verdicts seen by Forum 18. The court ruled that both buildings were private homes and that the land on which they stood could only serve to support domestic use of the home.
"They can't use them as places of worship"
Leonila Belitskaya, head of Soligorsk District Land Use Geodesic Department, who testified against both churches in the District Court, told Forum 18 on 28 July from Soligorsk that "these are recorded as private houses – they can't use them as places of worship." She said they had to change their official use before they could use them as churches. She defended the fines, insisting that they were handed down in accordance with the law, not to punish people for religious practice.
Belitskaya added that the Pentecostals can gather as friends in the houses and pray. Asked how that differed from what they have been doing, she responded: "They've been using them as places of worship when they are not."
"Legal vacuum"
The deputy head of the Pentecostal Union, Sergei Tsvor, expressed concern over the rulings. He pointed out that for many small congregations, buying anything other than a private home to use as a church is beyond their means. He insisted that congregations abide by the law and all sanitary and fire requirements. He complained of a "legal vacuum" which made it all but impossible to transfer such properties from domestic use to use as places of worship. "Earlier the stress was on the alleged misuse of the building," he complained, "while now it is on the use of the land that they stand on."
Tsvor said the Union is preparing a set of documents to present to the Supreme Court in a bid to clarify and resolve the issue.
It has long been nearly impossible to get property officially re-designated so that it can be legally used for worship buildings (see F18News 30 May 2007 http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=966). (END)
New Life Pentecostal Church in Belarus' capital Minsk has had a massive fine imposed on it today (29 July), for alleged "environmental damage", Forum 18 News Service has learned. Added to an earlier fine, the two fines and "compensation" total 265,750,000 Belarusian Roubles (542,850 Norwegian Kroner, 68,250 Euros, or 89,300 US Dollars). Sergei Lukanin, the church's lawyer, told Forum 18 that the Church will pay neither fine, arguing that if there is any pollution at the site it dates from the time before the church owned the property. He insisted that the church has kept the building and site in good order, a contention which Forum 18's own observations on visits support. A city environmental official claimed in an official report on the Church before the fines that grass growing for a children's playground damaged the environment. Meanwhile, two small Pentecostal churches in villages near Minsk have been fined for using the properties they own for worship. Officials claim the properties are registered for domestic use and therefore worship is illegal. The small congregations will struggle to pay these fines, a church member said. "The fear is that officials could do this again – the mechanism is there," Forum 18 was told.
After a court decision today (29 July) against New Life Church in the Belarusian capital Minsk, the Pentecostal church now faces two massive fines for alleged "environmental damage" to the church's car park. Sergei Lukanin, the church's lawyer, told Forum 18 News Service that the church will pay neither fine, arguing that if there is any pollution at the site it dates from the time before the church owned the property. He insisted that the church has kept the building and site in good order. Forum 18's own observations during visits to the church support Lukanin's contention.
Meanwhile, two small Pentecostal churches in villages near Minsk have been fined for using the properties they own for worship services. Officials claim the properties are registered for domestic use and that use of the land they stand on to facilitate worship in the properties is illegal. A member of the Pentecostal Union handling these two cases says that the small congregations – each has 20 to 30 members – will struggle to pay these fines. "Raising such sums is difficult for such a small community," the Union member told Forum 18 from Minsk on 28 July. "The fear is that officials could do this again – the mechanism is there."
Protestant communities in particular have long faced great difficulties in rebuilding properties they own for worship, and have found that it is nearly impossible to get property officially re-designated so that it can be legally used for worship buildings. This problem mainly affects Protestant communities, as unlike the other major communities in the country - Orthodox and Catholic - they are much less likely to own their own worship buildings (see F18News 30 May 2007 http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=966).
Communities who do not own their own property have long found that the state places great obstacles in the way of them renting premises to meet in (see F18News 29 May 2007 http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=965).
Massive "environmental damage" fine imposed
Officials have long sought to oust the New Life church from its building – a former cowshed which the church bought in 2002 and converted for worship – on the edge of Minsk. The latest case against New Life began at Minsk City Economic Court on 12 May, seeking compensation for alleged oil pollution on church land. The case was suspended as an earlier pollution case was considered separately, but resumed later.
At the final hearing on 29 July, Judge Oleg Klyuko found the church guilty and fined it 249,000,000 Belarusian Roubles to pay for what the state claims would be the cost of cleaning the alleged damage. In addition, 8,000,000 Roubles were imposed in costs, in "compensation" for the state's costs in bringing the case – bringing the total to 257,000,000 Roubles (524,850 Norwegian Kroner, 66,000 Euros, or 86,400 US Dollars).
New Life argues that officials are using environmental claims as part of their long-running campaign against the church. The head of Minsk's City Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Committee has claimed that grass being grown for a children's playground at the church might also cause environmental damage, and was uninterested when Forum 18 raised concerns about accumulated rubbish - including rotting vehicles and old washing machines - dumped within 500 metres of the church (see F18News 1 June 2010 http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=1452).
The congregation has adopted a policy of civil disobedience, refusing to allow state officials into the building.
"No one ordered us to do this"
However, Aleksandr Borovikov, head of Minsk City Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Committee which brought the case, defended the massive fine. "The court established that the church is guilty – they took the decision," he told Forum 18 from Minsk in the wake of the hearing. He brushed aside any comparison between the size of the penalty in New Life compared to those in Brest Region.
Borovikov once again vigorously rejected the church's claims that environmental measures are deliberately being used to target the church. "No one ordered us to do this – we are an independent agency."
Church lawyer Lukanin told Forum 18 that the church will appeal against the fine to the Appeals Section of the Economic Court. The Church has 15 days to do so from receipt of the verdict in writing, though it must pay 4,000,000 Belarusian Roubles (8,100 Norwegian Kroner, 1,000 Euros, or 1,300 US Dollars) in costs to lodge the appeal.
Lukanin added that officials are now alleging that the track that leads from the nearest road to the church car park was built illegally. He insisted that the track was already there when the church building was a cowshed long before New Life bought it.
Borovikov of the Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Committee told Forum 18 that the track is still being investigated and no conclusion has yet been reached. "The report from the experts has not yet reached my desk for signature."
Earlier "environmental damage" fine
In the earlier case, on 12 July New Life received in writing the decision of the Supreme Court upholding a fine handed down on the church for "environmental damage" to its car park, the church told Forum 18. The decision was signed by one of the Court's deputy chairs, Valeri Kalinkovich.
Minsk District Court had fined the church 8,750,000 Belarusian Roubles (18,000 Norwegian Kroner, 2,250 Euros, or 2,900 US Dollars) on 26 February for damage environmental officers claimed had been caused to the land in the car park. An appeal against the fine was rejected on 26 March by Minsk City Court, after which the Church took its case to the Supreme Court (see F18News 9 April 2010 http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=1430).
The two fines and "compensation" total 265,750,000 Belarusian Roubles (542,850 Norwegian Kroner, 68,250 Euros, or 89,300 US Dollars). Church lawyer Lukanin contrasts the fines imposed on New Life with the situation in Brest Region. According to a 24 July Belapan article citing the Regional Prosecutor Sergei Khmaruk, penalties totalling 88,000,000 Belarusian Roubles – just under one third of the total imposed on New Life - were imposed in 281 separate cases involving environmental damage in the entire Brest Region in the first six months of 2010.
Churches can't use own property for worship
On 8 June, Soligorsk [Salihorsk] District Court in Minsk Region found two Pentecostal churches guilty of using their plots of land not for their true purpose. The church in the village of Gavrilchitsy and the church in the village of Krasnaya Sloboda each use a private home they have bought and remodelled for worship. In each case, the registered congregations have certificates from the Village Executive Committees certifying their "permanent use" of the properties.
Each congregation was fined 700,000 Belarusian Roubles (1,449 Norwegian Kroner, 181 Euros or 235 US Dollars) under Article 15.10, Part 3 of the Administrative Violations Code ("violation of the procedure for using a land plot"). The fine was the minimum laid down for legal entities found guilty of this offence.
Both churches appealed against the decisions, but Judge Lyudmila Astreiko of Minsk Regional Court upheld the fines in separate hearings on 6 July, according to the almost identical verdicts seen by Forum 18. The court ruled that both buildings were private homes and that the land on which they stood could only serve to support domestic use of the home.
"They can't use them as places of worship"
Leonila Belitskaya, head of Soligorsk District Land Use Geodesic Department, who testified against both churches in the District Court, told Forum 18 on 28 July from Soligorsk that "these are recorded as private houses – they can't use them as places of worship." She said they had to change their official use before they could use them as churches. She defended the fines, insisting that they were handed down in accordance with the law, not to punish people for religious practice.
Belitskaya added that the Pentecostals can gather as friends in the houses and pray. Asked how that differed from what they have been doing, she responded: "They've been using them as places of worship when they are not."
"Legal vacuum"
The deputy head of the Pentecostal Union, Sergei Tsvor, expressed concern over the rulings. He pointed out that for many small congregations, buying anything other than a private home to use as a church is beyond their means. He insisted that congregations abide by the law and all sanitary and fire requirements. He complained of a "legal vacuum" which made it all but impossible to transfer such properties from domestic use to use as places of worship. "Earlier the stress was on the alleged misuse of the building," he complained, "while now it is on the use of the land that they stand on."
Tsvor said the Union is preparing a set of documents to present to the Supreme Court in a bid to clarify and resolve the issue.
It has long been nearly impossible to get property officially re-designated so that it can be legally used for worship buildings (see F18News 30 May 2007 http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=966). (END)
For a personal commentary by Antoni Bokun, Pastor of a Pentecostal Church in Minsk, on Belarusian citizens' struggle to reclaim their history as a land of religious freedom, see F18News 22 May 2008 http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=1131.
For more background information see Forum 18's Belarus religious freedom survey at http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=1311.
Full reports on freedom of thought, conscience and belief in Belarus can be found at http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?query=&religion=all&country=16.
A compilation of Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) freedom of religion or belief commitments can be found at http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=1351.
A printer-friendly map of Belarus is available at http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/atlas/index.html?Parent=europe&Rootmap=belaru.
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Saturday, May 15, 2010
Editor Laments Pentecostals' 'Epidemic Of Moral Failure'
First Posted: 05-12-10 06:00 PM Updated: 05-12-10 06:00 PM
Jim Bakker, shown here in 1987, built a multimillion-dollar evangelism empire and then saw it collapse in disgrace.
By Steve Rabey
Religion News Service
(RNS) After Ted Haggard confessed to a gay sex and drug scandal, he lost his Colorado Spring pulpit, his job as head of the National Association of Evangelicals and underwent a lengthy period of counseling and discipline.
For the most part, he hasn't been seen much since.
Other fallen charismatic/Pentecostal superstars, however, have rapidly reemerged into the spotlight with a new wife, a new church, new TV ministry or a new message from God that seems to dismiss the gravity of their sins.
Lee Grady has seen it all, and he's had enough.
Grady, a longtime editor of the widely read Charisma magazine, says the miraculous and transforming power of the Holy Spirit he and other charismatic/Pentecostal have experienced is under assault by the "epidemic of moral failure among our leaders."
"We can have the gifts of the Holy Spirit in operation without this circus sideshow going on," Grady said in an interview. "I'm waving my hands in the air because this is a huge problem, and we are going to experience even more serious problems in our churches if we don't know how to apply godly discipline to our wayward leaders."
It's a message he's preaching in his new book, "The Holy Spirit is Not for Sale," and one that's roiling the waters in one of the fastest-growing segments of evangelical Christianity.
Charismatic and Pentecostal Christians--who embrace speaking in tongues, healing and other signs and wonders--have been raising eyebrows ever since the Holy Spirit first descended on Pentecost. At the time, skeptical observers figured they were drunk.
Things haven't changed much since; Aimee Semple McPherson, a pioneer of the Pentecostal movement that grew out of Los Angeles in the early 20th century, was known for her fervor, her pioneering use of radio, and her mysterious 1926 disappearance. The 1980s were rocked by the sexual and financial shenanigans of Jim Bakker, Jimmy Swaggart and others.
Grady was a member of a Southern Baptist church when, in 1976, he was filled with the Holy Spirit--"when I became a really radical Christian," he says now. From 1992 until earlier this year, he was editor at Charisma, and he still writes a column for the magazine called "Fire in My Bones."
Grady says the movement remains as controversial on the dawn of its second century as it was in its first. Yet the movement's embrace of technology--especially television--carries added risks.
His book explores the fall of leaders like Bishop Earl Paulk of Atlanta's Cathedral of the Holy Spirit, who confessed to decades of sexual misconduct before his death last year; divorced evangelists Randy and Paula White, whose lavish lifestyle at Tampa's Without Walls International Church piqued the interest of congressional investigators; abuse charges leveled against Bishop Thomas Wesley Weeks III and his ex-wife Juanita Bynum, and the affair that toppled evangelist Todd Bentley's Lakeland Revival in Florida.
As if to prove his point, soon after the book was published, the wife of famed faith healer Benny Hinn filed for divorce. Hinn defended his sexual purity and said the divorce filing caught him off guard.
Grady said there's nothing unusual about leaders falling--they're sinners just like anyone else, and charismatic/Pentecostal leaders are no guiltier than others. It's just that their failures are more publicized.
"Our movement has a lot of television personalities," he said.
What does concern him, however, is fallen leaders who try to emerge from scandal without publicly acknowledging their sin, repenting, submitting to discipline or undergoing counseling.
In other words, it's not the fall, but the response, that matters.
"Instead of giving into our celebrity culture and allowing fallen leaders to reappear in a new pulpit the next week, we need to preserve a sense of purity with standards of righteousness and systems of accountability," he said.
Historian Vinson Synan, who has spent decades researching the charismatic and Pentecostal movements, shares many of Grady's concerns.
"Lee's book is accurate and fair," said Synan, dean emeritus at Regent University, the Virginia school founded by charismatic broadcaster Pat Robertson. "And I share many of the same concerns Lee has about the lack of discipline and order in our movements."
Grady said he will continue his vigilant crusade to do whatever he can to keep modern-day Elmer Gantry's from "hijacking our whole movement."
"I'm unapologetically part of this movement. That's who I am and there's no changing that," he said. "But just as the Apostle Paul was outspoken about false prophets, bad doctrine and bad methodology, I'm going to continue offering words of correction and brotherly rebuke."
By Steve Rabey
Religion News Service
(RNS) After Ted Haggard confessed to a gay sex and drug scandal, he lost his Colorado Spring pulpit, his job as head of the National Association of Evangelicals and underwent a lengthy period of counseling and discipline.
For the most part, he hasn't been seen much since.
Other fallen charismatic/Pentecostal superstars, however, have rapidly reemerged into the spotlight with a new wife, a new church, new TV ministry or a new message from God that seems to dismiss the gravity of their sins.
Lee Grady has seen it all, and he's had enough.
Grady, a longtime editor of the widely read Charisma magazine, says the miraculous and transforming power of the Holy Spirit he and other charismatic/Pentecostal have experienced is under assault by the "epidemic of moral failure among our leaders."
"We can have the gifts of the Holy Spirit in operation without this circus sideshow going on," Grady said in an interview. "I'm waving my hands in the air because this is a huge problem, and we are going to experience even more serious problems in our churches if we don't know how to apply godly discipline to our wayward leaders."
It's a message he's preaching in his new book, "The Holy Spirit is Not for Sale," and one that's roiling the waters in one of the fastest-growing segments of evangelical Christianity.
Charismatic and Pentecostal Christians--who embrace speaking in tongues, healing and other signs and wonders--have been raising eyebrows ever since the Holy Spirit first descended on Pentecost. At the time, skeptical observers figured they were drunk.
Things haven't changed much since; Aimee Semple McPherson, a pioneer of the Pentecostal movement that grew out of Los Angeles in the early 20th century, was known for her fervor, her pioneering use of radio, and her mysterious 1926 disappearance. The 1980s were rocked by the sexual and financial shenanigans of Jim Bakker, Jimmy Swaggart and others.
Grady was a member of a Southern Baptist church when, in 1976, he was filled with the Holy Spirit--"when I became a really radical Christian," he says now. From 1992 until earlier this year, he was editor at Charisma, and he still writes a column for the magazine called "Fire in My Bones."
Grady says the movement remains as controversial on the dawn of its second century as it was in its first. Yet the movement's embrace of technology--especially television--carries added risks.
His book explores the fall of leaders like Bishop Earl Paulk of Atlanta's Cathedral of the Holy Spirit, who confessed to decades of sexual misconduct before his death last year; divorced evangelists Randy and Paula White, whose lavish lifestyle at Tampa's Without Walls International Church piqued the interest of congressional investigators; abuse charges leveled against Bishop Thomas Wesley Weeks III and his ex-wife Juanita Bynum, and the affair that toppled evangelist Todd Bentley's Lakeland Revival in Florida.
As if to prove his point, soon after the book was published, the wife of famed faith healer Benny Hinn filed for divorce. Hinn defended his sexual purity and said the divorce filing caught him off guard.
Grady said there's nothing unusual about leaders falling--they're sinners just like anyone else, and charismatic/Pentecostal leaders are no guiltier than others. It's just that their failures are more publicized.
"Our movement has a lot of television personalities," he said.
What does concern him, however, is fallen leaders who try to emerge from scandal without publicly acknowledging their sin, repenting, submitting to discipline or undergoing counseling.
In other words, it's not the fall, but the response, that matters.
"Instead of giving into our celebrity culture and allowing fallen leaders to reappear in a new pulpit the next week, we need to preserve a sense of purity with standards of righteousness and systems of accountability," he said.
Historian Vinson Synan, who has spent decades researching the charismatic and Pentecostal movements, shares many of Grady's concerns.
"Lee's book is accurate and fair," said Synan, dean emeritus at Regent University, the Virginia school founded by charismatic broadcaster Pat Robertson. "And I share many of the same concerns Lee has about the lack of discipline and order in our movements."
Grady said he will continue his vigilant crusade to do whatever he can to keep modern-day Elmer Gantry's from "hijacking our whole movement."
"I'm unapologetically part of this movement. That's who I am and there's no changing that," he said. "But just as the Apostle Paul was outspoken about false prophets, bad doctrine and bad methodology, I'm going to continue offering words of correction and brotherly rebuke."
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Thursday, February 05, 2009
Obama Names 26-Year-Old Director of Faith-Based Office
Obama Names 26-Year-Old Director of Faith-Based Office
White House to Broaden Religious and Community Outreach
By KAREN TRAVERS
Feb. 5, 2009
President Barack Obama has named a 26-year-old Pentecostal minister to head the White House office that coordinates outreach to religious and community organizations.
The Obama White House will announce that Josh DuBois will head the revamped White House Office for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.The White House will announce formally today that Josh DuBois will head the revamped White House Office for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, created by an executive order to be signed by President Obama this morning.
DuBois directed the religious outreach for the Obama campaign. Previously, he worked as an associate pastor at a Pentecostal church in Massachusetts and received a master's degree in public affairs from Princeton University.
With this announcement, Obama continues an initiative created by an executive order signed by President George W. Bush in his first month in office.
In the Bush administration, the office was designed to work with faith-based and community organizations on social service issues and to advise them on applying for and receiving federal funding.
The Obama administration will seek to expand the role of this office as it relates to policy issues where religious and local leaders can be effective. DuBois will coordinate with faith-based and community organizations on social service outreach and will work to utilize these organizations' efforts to advance the administration's policies, with a primary focus on poverty.
The Obama White House will announce that Josh DuBois will head the revamped White House Office for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.The White House will announce formally today that Josh DuBois will head the revamped White House Office for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, created by an executive order to be signed by President Obama this morning.
DuBois directed the religious outreach for the Obama campaign. Previously, he worked as an associate pastor at a Pentecostal church in Massachusetts and received a master's degree in public affairs from Princeton University.
With this announcement, Obama continues an initiative created by an executive order signed by President George W. Bush in his first month in office.
In the Bush administration, the office was designed to work with faith-based and community organizations on social service issues and to advise them on applying for and receiving federal funding.
The Obama administration will seek to expand the role of this office as it relates to policy issues where religious and local leaders can be effective. DuBois will coordinate with faith-based and community organizations on social service outreach and will work to utilize these organizations' efforts to advance the administration's policies, with a primary focus on poverty.
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