Free Republic

It seems to be a basic rule of the universe that whenever something is simple the devil tries to complexificate it and whenever something is complex the devil is always insisting that it should be simple.So it is only in keeping with this pattern that something as simple as baptism should have generated so much unbelievable complexity over so simple and powerful a rite.It would appear at first glance that there is nothing to performing baptisms. All you need is sufficient water (just a few drops will do) to run on the skin and somebody (anyone will do) to say,...

The God Chasers by Tommy Tenney Book Excerpt & Commentary I recently finished THE SHACK by William P Young and HE LOVES ME by Wayne Jacobsen. I found both of them deeply moving, Biblical, edifying and helpful in drawing me closer to God. Subsequently, a Navy Friend/ Christian Bro of 30+ years read me the riot act about THE SHACK. I found his rants about “heresy” completely without substance. Turns out he had not read it. Sheesh. It is, after all, a NOVEL! And, I found it exceedingly Biblical. Some important Biblical truths, doctrines are affirmed with a sentence...

Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire, which parted and came to rest on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. As we came to the close of the last millennium there were groups within the Christian community who claimed to have a special connection with the encounter that the early followers of Jesus had in the upper room on that great and glorious day. A modern “Pentecostal” movement was born. Out of it, much good has come. The Second Vatican Council in the Catholic Church began with a prayer for a...

ABC News Ties Sarah Palin to Pentecostalism "As America gets a crash course in Sarah Palin, the question has been raised of how her two decades as a member of the Assemblies of God church in Wasilla has shaped her personality. If elected, Sarah Palin would become the most powerful Pentecostal in U.S. history. So how has this church shaped her as a leader"What is interesting about this is that my father (a minister now for forty years) was an Assemblies of God pastor for seven years and was also a pastor for many years with Church on the Rock...

Marcelo Bordon is a powerful bear of a man. In football, people like Bordon are known as towering defenders. He is sitting in the club restaurant owned by Schalke 04, the Bundesliga (German football league) team he plays for. With his slicked-back hair, muscular upper body and tattoos, he could easily pass for a prison guard in New Jersey. Yet he speaks softly, talking about the love that helps him when he is in distress, and about the one who has always been there for him, ever since he came into his life. Bordon is referring to the Holy Spirit....

While the millions of Muslims in America are observing the month of Ramadan and concentrating on gaining as many blessings as possible in this noble month, we would be deaf, dumb, and blind not to be caught up in election fever. Every media outlet is giving non-stop coverage to the contest between the Democratic Presidential nominee Senator Barack Obama and Vice-Presidential candidate Sen. Joe Biden and the Republican candidate John McCain and his running mate, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. Given the unpopularity of President George W. Bush and the Democratic leads in polls, most observers have assumed it to be...

As the “drive-by-media” continues to look at every aspect of Sarah Palin’s personal and religious life, they are digging themselves into a big hole, turning what they believe will cause her harm, to work for her good. If you take nothing else from this, remember this quote: Bitter Pennsylvanians “cling to their guns and religion.” — Barack Obama Reporters for CNN and other networks are not prepared to write honestly or objectively about matters of faith. These are people who view life from a much different perspective. They are not so naive to overlook that Christians from all denominations are...

An Apostolic Pentecostal is a person that believes in speaking in tongues - glossolalia - as proof that a person has received the Holy Ghost. Pentecostals are people who believe in dramatic demonstrations of the Gifts of the Spirit, such as prophecy or the interpretation of tongues. Pentecostal Oneness believers reject the concept of the Trinity and are convinced salvation relies upon the literal form of baptism; dunking rather than sprinkling and repentance of one's sins. People who are not familiar with Pentecostalism may think that the following descriptions are exaggerated and shocking, however the things depicted in this article...

WASHINGTON, March 31 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Pope Benedict XVI will lead an ecumenical prayer service April 18, at St. Joseph's Church in the Yorkville area of Manhattan. Participants at the service will include 250 national and local Protestant and Orthodox Church leaders. St. Joseph's Church was built in the 19th century by the immigrant German community that settled in the area and today serves a diverse population. A Sunday Mass is still celebrated in German. The pope will address the group after a reading from Paul's letter to the Ephesians (4:1-6) and before the congregation prays the Lord's Prayer. At the...

WIMAUMA - Father Demetrio Lorden walks into the garage of a concrete block house, slips on his robe and vestments, and unpacks a gold chalice. He tests a microphone, and as dogs howl nearby, a small group of Hispanic workers and their families launches into a discordant song of praise. Lorden calls this his "evangelism Mass," the one he has every Monday night in houses and mobile home camps of the Wimauma immigrant community. Like other Catholic priests with Hispanic members, Lorden is trying to fend off competitors for the parishioners in his pews. Protestant evangelists - people just as...

A senior Vatican cardinal told a gathering of the world's top prelates Friday that the Roman Catholic Church had to examine what it is doing wrong in the battle for souls who are leaving the church to join Pentecostal and other evangelical groups.Cardinal Walter Kasper, who heads the Vatican's office for relations with other Christians, told a meeting of more than 100 cardinals that the church must undergo a "self-critical pastoral examination of conscience" to confront the "exponential" rise of Pentecostal movements."We shouldn't begin by asking ourselves what is wrong with the Pentecostals, but what our own pastoral shortcomings are,"...

When Pentecostal power couple Randy and Paula White recently announced they were headed to divorce court, the most remarkable part of the reaction was that there wasn't much reaction at all. For increasing numbers of clergy, a divorce no longer generates the kind of career-killing hue and cry of decades ago, in part because plenty of people in the pews have experienced divorce themselves. The shifting views on divorced clergy reflect a growing concession among rank-and-file conservative Christians that a failed marriage is no longer an unforgivable sin. For many evangelical Christians, the line seems to have shifted from a...

TAMPA, Florida (CNN) -- Some Christian congregations, particularly in lower income, urban areas, are turning to an unlikely source for help -- the Church of Scientology. Rev, Charles Kennedy uses Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard's book during a Friday night sermon. Scientologists do not worship God, much less Jesus Christ. The church has seen plenty of controversy and critics consider it a cult. So why are observant Christians embracing some its teachings? ....The Rev. Charles Kennedy, of the Glorious Church of God in Christ, a Pentecostal church in Tampa, Florida, and the Rev. James McLaughlin, of the Wayman Chapel African...

I was raised in the Oneness Pentecostal movement until I was twelve years old. My mother was more devout, and my dad had stopped attending church by the time I was around six or seven. The Oneness Pentecostals are a very, very strict sect of the Pentecostal churches. I remember when we had no television in the house, we couldn’t wear short-sleeved shirts, no make-up for the women, long hair for the women, and a myriad of other rules applicable to every facet of life. I was baptized in “Jesus’ name,” for the Oneness churches do not believe in the...

Raleigh | A powerful sense of devotion overtook Michael Burbeck in a medieval church in the small Czech town of Cesky Krumlov. The way he describes it, he was praying in the lofty, 125-foot-high sanctuary of St. Vitus Roman Catholic Church, when he looked up at a life-size crucifix and was overwhelmed by a sense of peace and belonging. He realized he would commit the rest of his life to Jesus. "It was like the classic movie scene: Guy sees girl across the room, knows she's the one," said Burbeck, who grew up on the Cary-Apex border. "I had this...

July 30 Roundtable (former Pentecostals)

Ask people to name the most influential Canadians of the 20th century and they will throw out familiar entries from the centre-left political firmament: Pierre Trudeau, Lester Pearson, Tommy Douglas. Yet there was a woman who eclipsed all these men: a Canadian preacher who reinvented American Protestantism, starred in a crime sensation rivalling that of the Lindbergh kidnapping and helped fuse the alliance between evangelism and right-wing ideology that drives American politics to this day. And amazingly, I bet you've never heard of her. Perhaps a newly published biography will change that. Aimee Elizabeth Kennedy was born to a hardscrabble...

Marcus Grodi welcomes John and Gay Caswell, former Pentecostals, to his program this evening. This is a live telecast and you may call the number posted on the television screen for an opportunity to pose a question to his guests. Alternately, you may also submit your questions via email to journeyhome@ewtn.com. This program will be televised, live, at 8pm Eastern Daylight Savings time. Check your local cable listings for the appropriate channel.

MURFREESBORO, TN – When new believer Gentry Tate attended Murfreesboro Assembly of God’s Friday Night Signs and Wonders meeting, he wasn’t expecting to make use of his acute knowledge of professional basketball. However, when traveling preacher Morgan Sheppard gave the altar call for those who wanted to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit, Tate turned to the NBA for guidance. “He laid hands on me, and I didn’t want to let him down, so I spouted the weirdest gibberish I could come up with: ‘Kirelenko, Mutombo, Potapenko, you name it’. I guess it worked - everyone around me praised...

Pope Benedict XVI is heading to the world's most populous Roman Catholic country at time when evangelical Christians are packing converted storefronts and cavernous churches every Sunday, thrusting their Bibles in the air. Benedict will try to halt that wave of Protestant fervor during his first trip to Brazil. Aiming to energize its more than 120 million Catholics, Benedict will canonize the country's first native saint, hold Masses that could attract millions and open a conference of Latin American bishops in the holy shrine of Aparecida. Few believe the five-day papal visit, which begins Wednesday, will reverse the flight of...

SAN BERNARDINO - A man or woman of God sees hope amid ruin. In Pastor Lenton Lenoir's case, he has to, because his luck has been bad enough to bury lesser men. On the evening of April 27, tragic deja vu swept over Lenoir when an associate pastor at Holy Land Church of God in Christ on G Street discovered a shocking scene and alerted him with the news. The 750-capacity worship hall's roof collapsed some time between April 25 and 27, burying everything beneath a spectacle of rubble. The news was doubly stunning to the 76-year-old Lenoir. It was...

CARAPICUIBA, Brazil (Reuters) - For years, Ronaldo da Silva's daily routine consisted of drinking himself into a stupor until he passed out on a sidewalk. Now he spends his days praying and singing with hundreds of fellow Christians at the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God in Carapicuiba, a sprawling shantytown on the outskirts of Sao Paulo where Pentecostal congregations are found on just about every block. "I'd probably be dead or in jail if it weren't for this church," said da Silva, a 38-year-old former Catholic who claims God cured him of epilepsy and helped him straighten out...

Is it true that the name of God the Father is 'Jesus' according to John 5:43? The answer is "no," and here is why. First, the term, "name," in John 5:43 does not refer to one's proper name, like "John" or "Larry." It refers to the Father's authority. Jesus did not come in his own name; that is, he did not come by his own authority. Jesus did not speak by his own authority (Jn. 12:49). His doctrine was not his. It was not of his devising, but it was the doctrine which his Father gave to him to deliver...

The influx of Hispanic immigrants to the United States is transforming the Roman Catholic Church as well as the nation’s religious landscape, according to a study of Hispanics and faith released today. The study, conducted by the Pew Hispanic Center and the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, found that half of Hispanic Catholics practice a “distinctive form” of charismatic Catholicism that includes speaking in tongues, miraculous healings and prophesying — practices more often associated with Pentecostalism. Among Catholics who are not Hispanic, only 12 percent are involved in these practices.

SÃO PAULO, Brazil — In their heyday, Estevam and Sônia Hernandes were the Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker of Brazil, on television preaching a gospel of material success and living a life to match. But that was before they were arrested in Miami in January and charged with illegally smuggling cash into the United States, including $9,000 concealed in a Bible. All told, American authorities seized $56,467 that the couple and other family members had hidden on their bodies and in luggage, according to the United States indictment. Brazilian authorities, who have charged them with money laundering and fraud, are...

As his 7-year-old daughter lay near death, Danilo Florian raged. The doctors could do no more. His prayers — a desperate turn to the religion he had abandoned long ago to pursue a successful jewelry business — seemed equally futile... Then it happened. Out of nowhere, he says, came a voice. “Do business with me,” it demanded. Sixteen years later, the girl is a young woman, and Mr. Florian is keeping his end of the bargain. The jewelry business is long gone. He abandoned it to heed the call to serve God, plunging into Pentecostalism and founding Ark of Salvation,...

If music is the motor that drives Pentecostal worship, the band and choir at Ark of Salvation for the New Millennium, a little storefront church in west Harlem, could use a tuneup. Ragged and off-key at times, they are easily outclassed when they sit in with the seasoned musicians at other churches. Yet they grab attention for one simple reason: They are often the only teenagers in the room. As Pentecostalism advances across the world, winning converts faster than any other Christian denomination and siphoning believers from more established faiths, it is also suffering its own slow leak: young people...

“This could be a church,” he muttered. “Lord, that is the place.” Mr. Florian, a factory worker by day and a pastor by night, was desperate to find a home for his small congregation...Now, on most nights when the neighborhood winds down to rest, the fluorescent lights inside the room flicker to life, and the spartan, whitewashed space rattles under a sonic barrage of prayers, yelps and tambourines. As a teenage band pounds out bouncy Latin rhythms, men in crisp business suits that belie their dreary day jobs triumphantly pump their fists. Women in flowing skirts shout, stomp and gyrate...

NOTE: BOLD & COLOR EMPHASES by Quix OpenHeaven.com Digest December 27, 2006 Ron McGatlin Dec 27 2006 07:07PM Published By Ron & Barbara McGatlin OpenHeaven.com In This Edition 1. FIRE LIKE WE’VE NOT SEEN BEFORE 2. "A Year Like None Other!" 3. "The Day Is Coming" 4. Kingdom Growth Guides Added 5. TOP NEWS Headlines -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. FIRE LIKE WE’VE NOT SEEN BEFORE Jesus Baptizes With The Holy Spirit & Fire By Ron McGatlin "You have never yet seen the fullness of outpouring of My fire. You have seen outpourings of My Spirit and My love" I tremble and tears...

The most surprising thing for many about the international religious scene at the beginning of the 21st century is that there is an international religious scene worthy of investigation. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Early 20th-century progressive thinkers thought that by now, religion would have long been shuffled off the main stage of history, relegated to the purely private sphere. There would still be religious believers, but religion would cease to be a major force shaping culture. It would be more akin to a hobby. That turned out to be true for Western Europe, but not so almost everywhere else. Religion has been a...

                                                                       Upcoming Guests Jan 1 Steve Smith Former non-denominational Evangelical Jan 8 Journey Home Roundtable Jan 15 Deacon Nathan Allen former Christian & Missionary Alliance Jan 22 Carol A. Fletcher Former Pentecostal Jan 29 Fr. Leonard Klein Former Lutheran minister   Also available via the Internet at the EWTN home page. Click on Television, Live Television and choose Real Audio or Windows Media Player. LINK

<p>A century after its birth Pentecostalism is redrawing the religious map of the world and undermining the notion that modernity is secular IN 1906 Ambrose Bierce, one of America's finest satirists, published a guide to bullshit, “The Cynic's Word Book” or, as it was later rechristened, “The Devil's Dictionary”. Bierce reserved his sharpest barbs for religion. To pray, he said, is “to ask that the laws of the universe be annulled in behalf of a single petitioner confessedly unworthy”. Religion is “a daughter of Hope and Fear, explaining to Ignorance the nature of the Unknowable”. For Bierce, Christianity was an antiquated superstition with no place in the modern world.</p>

The bongo drums and keyboard at Iglesia El Shaddai, a Pentecostal church in Elizabeth, are being played so briskly they can support a conga line. The El Salvadorian-born pastor shakes a tambourine, some women rock their hips and everyone sings praise to Jesus in Spanish. Soon, the pastor takes the service down a notch. But just a notch. With his eyes shut, Renato Castro shouts "Gloria, Jesus! Aleluya!" and paces before 300 people. The worshippers, eyes also closed, shout as they feel the spirit -- the Holy Spirit -- moving them: "Oh, Dios! Dios!" "Gracias, Papa!" Lips tremble. Tears flow....

Who does go to hell? Many people don't believe in hell at all. Non-Christian faiths have their own take, of course. Judaism, the religion that birthed Christianity, teaches of the eternal nature of the soul, a divine judgment, and a mostly undefined "World to Come." But specifics are left up to God. Islam is more like Christianity, with concrete traditions of paradise and hell. Who ends up where is a matter of how well the person submitted to God's will while alive. Hindus and Buddhists believe in karma and reincarnation, so the evil done in one life is atoned for...

Okay, so maybe being a Catholic requires more than a thousand word explanation. Since publishing this page, I received questions as to whether or not I had forgotten something since I had only the image above with the one line statement beneath it. This was my way of focusing this website on Christ and not myself...however, I do believe a personal testimony is long overdue.The point I was trying to make with the above painting is that it represents our Lord, Jesus Christ, holding the Chalice and offering the Eucharist. To me, the Eucharist is the main reason that...

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Heidi Ewing, the Catholic co-director of the new theatrical documentary "Jesus Camp," said she found some hostility about her religious faith during the making of the film from an unexpected source: a high-profile evangelical minister. "Jesus Camp" follows the lives of three children -- Levi, Rachael and Tory -- before and during a North Dakota summer camp led by youth minister Becky Fischer and aimed at deepening the youngsters' faith. "My one disturbing encounter was at the New Life Church in Colorado Springs (Colo.) with Pastor Ted Haggard," head of the National Association of Evangelicals, who is...

NEW YORK - A new 10-nation survey of Pentecostal and charismatic Christians, considered the fastest-growing stream of Christianity worldwide, shows they are deeply influencing the Roman Catholic and mainstream Protestant churches and are poised to make a big impact on global affairs. p>The poll released Thursday by the Washington-based Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life found that "spirit-filled" Christians, who speak in tongues and believe in healing through prayer, comprise at least 10 percent of the population in nine of the 10 surveyed countries. The study also found that followers are more willing than previously thought to bring their...

LOS ANGELES -- The new documentary "Jesus Camp" is shocking Christians and non-Christians alike with its scenes of children sobbing and crying out to God at a Pentecostal summer camp in North Dakota. The film follows Midwestern children Rachael, now 10, Levi, now 13, and Tory, now 11, who attended Fischer's Bible camp in Devils Lake, N.D., in 2005, according to the Los Angeles Times. Filmmaker Heidi Ewing said she was raised Catholic and her co-director, Rachel Grady, is Jewish, enabling them to present what they hope is a neutral view of Pastor Becky Fischer's "Kids on Fire" program. Grady...

VATICAN CITY, JULY 20, 2006 (Zenit.org).- Here is the report "Catholics and Pentecostals: A Historical Overview," by Father Juan Usma Gómez, official of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. *** An April 2005 meeting in Los Angeles, U.S.A., commemorated the first centenary of the Pentecostal Movement. The chronicles recount that at the beginning of the 20th century, a group of believers was expelled from the Second Baptist Church of Los Angeles because of its constant insistence on the need for a spiritual revival. The search for these revivals, a practice that has been more or less widespread in Protestant...

Catholic, Mormon, and Pentecostal Churches Fastest Growing Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) - The Assemblies of God, the Mormon church and the Roman Catholic Church were the fastest-growing major denominations in the United States last year, according to the just-released 2006 Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches. The Assemblies of God, a Pentecostal church, grew 1.81 percent to just under 2.8 million members. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints increased 1.74 percent to nearly 6 million people. And the Catholic Church, by the far the largest denomination in the United States, grew .83 percent to 67.8 million...

NEW YORK (AP) - The Assemblies of God, the Mormon church and the Roman Catholic Church were the fastest-growing major denominations in the United States last year, according to the just-released 2006 Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches. The Assemblies of God, a Pentecostal church, grew 1.81 percent to just under 2.8 million members. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints increased 1.74 percent to nearly 6 million people. And the Catholic Church, by the far the largest denomination in the United States, grew .83 percent to 67.8 million parishioners. Only three mainline Protestant churches remain among the 10...

Even with its parapets and stained glass, the Golden Gate Lutheran Church on the corner of 19th Street and Dolores in the Mission isn't the prettiest building around. Truth be told, the red-brick edifice built in 1912 has a bit of the humble workhorse about it. Nor does it attract the most worshippers. According to Pastor Ed Miller, the congregation of active members amounts to only about 35 or 40 people. But like so many inner-city churches, it made itself relevant -- and for some people indispensable -- by filling gaps in our yawning social safety net. Until recently, it...

Some questions about the Christian life have easy answers. Others do not. In a nice article from January 17th, 2006, D.C. Toedt at The Questioning Christian addresses the thorny and complex issue of Christianity and mental illness. It is my opinion that the Christian community in general has historically not done a very good job at of understanding and ministering to those with mental illness. Christians have no problems helping those suffering from heart disease and cancer, but often blame mental illness on the patient. How many Christians have been told "If you just prayed more and developed a better attitude" you...

December, 28, 2005Dear Friend,            A warm handshake, the touching of each cheek in turn (in true Italian style), and the words, “We are doing the same mission for our Lord Jesus Christ.”            That moment bridged a gap of centuries. Five hundred years ago I would not have been standing in the Vatican and a priest might have called for my death as a heretic. But this day in December, 2005, was a day of reconciliation and embracing on common ground–the belief in waging spiritual war through exorcism, deliverance, and healing. St. Peter's Basilica. The largest church in the world.            ...

Forces Reshaping Christianity Around World By BRIAN MURPHY ASSOCIATED PRESS The forces reshaping Christianity come with many names. In Nigeria, the Mountain of Fire and Miracles congregation holds huge all-night revivals. Across Asia, the True Jesus Church preaches biblical interpretations that include shunning Christmas as a pagan-tainted holiday. In Brazil, the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God says rewards - spiritual and material - may await those who give to its fast-expanding empire. Such ways of worship that challenge the dominance of Christianity's mainline denominations on every continent will be high on the agenda this week as envoys from...

The Southern Baptist Convention's International Mission Board has adopted a new policy that forbids missionary candidates from speaking in tongues. The policy, adopted Nov. 15 during the board's trustee meeting in Huntsville, Ala., reflects ongoing Southern Baptist opposition to charismatic or Pentecostal practices.

Our Worst Fear Online Editorial by O. Benjamin Sparks 09/07/2005 Last week I was overcome with rage and shame at the pitiful responses to the onset of hurricane Katrina and its watery aftermath. I was ashamed at the helplessness of the government of the United States. I was angry that neither the mayor of New Orleans nor the governor of Louisiana did anything initially except to criticize the federal government for its lack of response. How many lives would have been saved by the immediate response of which we showed ourselves capable after 9/11 in New York – a disaster...

Lead story - Monday April 11, 2005 PAKISTAN : PASTOR AND DRIVER MURDERED Kidnapping followed threats for ‘converting Muslims.’ Daniel Emmanuel and Pastor Babar Samsoun April 11 (Compass) -- Unknown killers kidnapped and brutally killed a Protestant pastor and his driver near the capital of Pakistan’s North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) last week, apparently in retribution for their evangelizing activities among Muslims. The bullet-ridden, mutilated bodies of Pentecostal pastor Babar Samsoun and his driver and fellow evangelist, Daniel Emmanuel, were found dumped on a roadside near the outskirts of Peshawar on April 7, two days after they were kidnapped. Both...

Friday November 7, 2003 Dear Yahoo!: What church is the Reverend Al Sharpton associated with?Thomas Cincinnati, Ohio Dear Thomas: Alfred Sharpton, Jr., is a minister of the Pentecostal Church with no fixed parish. The Pentecostal Church is an evangelical Protestant movement that emphasizes glossolalia, or speaking in tongues. It was founded in 1901 and has approximately 10 million members in the United States. Pentecostal sermons are noted for their fervor. Sharpton started on his path to religious piety at a young age. An active member of the church since the tender age of 4, the Brooklyn native was dubbed a...

The Father and Jesus are well known - both have starred in movies and have been the subjects of countless books, paintings and music compositions. What about the third member of the Trinity? The Holy Spirit does lots of heavy lifting in the Bible by providing supernatural strength, direction and courage to scriptural heroes. When the world was created, when Jesus was conceived, when he was crucified, the Holy Spirit was there. When Saul was converted, when John baptized Jesus, the Holy Spirit was there. When the early Christian church was founded on the Day of Pentecost nearly 2,000 years...