Free Republic

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...