Showing posts with label Bolivia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bolivia. Show all posts

Thursday, July 9, 2015

Why the Pope Should Be Worried About Latin America - J. Lee Grady

Why the Pope Should Be Worried About Latin America


Pope Francis
Pope Francis
Pope Francis, leader of the world's Roman Catholics, arrives today in Bolivia—the second country on his three-nation tour. He will meet with President Evo Morales, visit bishops and nuns, and wave at countless adoring fans on the streets of La Paz. His visit will be upbeat, but this revered "pope of the poor" has a big concern: Millions of Latin Americans are leaving the Catholic Church to join Pentecostal groups.
Even though this popular pope is from Argentina and speaks Spanish, he is losing his grip on the region.
The Pew Research Center reported last year that 40 percent of the world's Catholics—more than 425 million—live in Latin America. Yet nearly 1 in 5 Latin Americans now describe themselves as Protestants. The Catholic population of Brazil—the largest Catholic nation in the world—has slipped by more than 20 percent in the past 13 years, according to the Washington Times. Today, about 40 million Brazilians are evangelicals, and this number is expected to grow to 109 million by 2020.
Guatemala was 90 percent Catholic in the mid-1950s. Thanks to a Pentecostal revival that hit the country after the 1976 Guatemala City earthquake, and subsequent waves of church growth, 1 in 3 Guatemalans are now evangelical Christians. Similar growth is occurring in Mexico, Peru, Colombia and Paraguay, where Pope Francis will end his tour next week.
I have seen this Pentecostal revival up close during the past two weeks, when I ministered in Guayaquil, Ecuador and five cities in Bolivia. The statistics don't lie. There is a spiritual hunger brewing in Latin America that outshines what I have seen anywhere on the planet.
In Ecuador I preached at Centro Cristiano de Guayaquil, an Assemblies of God congregation that has grown to 9,000 members in 30 years. It has been pastored all those years by an American couple, Jerry and Janice Smith, who built a 3,300-seat auditorium and a K-12 school that now has 4,600 students. The church ministers to more than 1,600 children every Sunday.
When I spoke at the Guayaquil church I witnessed a spiritual hunger that is rare in the United States. People jammed into the sanctuary for an 8 a.m. service, and some returned for the 10 a.m. and noon service just because they wanted to hear more of God's Word. In each meeting people came to the altar to give their lives to Christ for the first time.
I arrived in Boliva on July 1 to work with Ekklesia Church, a movement that began in the early 1970s after a charismatic revival erupted in the capital city of La Paz. Today the church has planted congregations in dozens of cities all over the mountainous country. The pastor, Alberto Salcedo, and his wife, Silvia—who hosts the popular Vaso Frágil program on the Enlace Network—are training an army of Christians through cell groups, intense worship and leadership classes.
When I visited the Ekklesia church in the mining city of Potosí (which has an elevation of 13,420 feet), hundreds of people packed into a conference center near the center of town. More than 50 people came to the altar for salvation, including a man who had alcohol on his breath. When I prayed for him, he told me that it was the first time he had ever visited a church with his wife and young daughter. He prayed to receive Christ and said he wants to end his alcohol addiction.
I saw similar responses in meetings in other Bolivian cities such as Sucre, Cochabamba and Oruro. Many of the people who have joined these churches are former Catholics who now prefer a lively Pentecostal worship style and more contemporary sermons. They have traded rote tradition for relevant teaching on family, sexual purity and the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
Pentecostals in Latin America are also challenging long-held cultural traditions, including superstitious idolatry, witchcraft and male superiority. In a meeting I did in La Paz earlier this week, a man who has been regularly beating his wife came to the altar in tears to repent of his abuse.
Another thing I noticed on this trip was the striking number of youth and young adults in the meetings. In Ecuador, more than 1,700 came for a Saturday night youth service, and some literally ran to the altar when I challenged them to go deeper with God. In Bolivia, teenagers often came to the front of the church during worship so they could dance freely—and many responded when I challenged them to pursue the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
These young Latin American believers represent a new generation that is passionate for God. They want so much more than tradition. If Pentecostal churches continue to grow at the pace we are seeing today, it's likely we will witness a total spiritual transformation of the region that Pope Francis calls home.
J. Lee Grady is the former editor of Charisma and the director of The Mordecai Project. You can follow him on Twitter @leegrady. Check out his ministry at themordecaiproject.org. He flew home from Bolivia the day Pope Francis arrived there.
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Thursday, June 4, 2015

God Said: 'This Is Just a Taste of What Is Coming' - J. Lee Grady

Bolivian ministry leader Fernando Villalobos shares during the recent Bold Venture men's retreat.
Bolivian ministry leader Fernando Villalobos shares during the recent Bold Venture men's retreat. (Photo courtesy of Steven Semmones)
Fire in My Bones, by J. Lee Grady
Last weekend, I led a men's discipleship retreat at a church in Augusta, Georgia. Of the 125 men who attended, there were African-Americans, Ukrainians, Hispanics, Indian-Americans, Brazilians and white guys—and more than a third of them were spiritually hungry teens or 20-somethings. (Those who say young people in the United States aren't interested in Christianity don't attend the same meetings I do.)
We had a special time together—worshiping Jesus, sharing meals, opening our hearts in small groups, listening to messages from both older and younger speakers (the youngest preacher was 25) and praying for racial healing in our nation. Over the course of three days, some guys were delivered from porn, others were reconciled with their dads and many decided to begin mentoring other guys in the faith.
But something happened on the last morning that I felt I needed to share with my Charisma family.
After the last message, I asked my Bolivian friend Ives Orozco to come to the stage with his father-in-law, Fernando Villalobos. I knew a bit of Fernando's testimony. He had been a part of the sweeping revival that occurred in Bolivia in the 1970s, and I wanted him to share a few stories from those days and then pray for us.
I was not prepared for what happened next.
Fernando is not a shouting preacher. He is very humble and soft-spoken, but when he took the microphone the atmosphere in the room shifted immediately. I felt the hairs stand up on the back of my neck.
Fernando began to tell a story about how Julio Ruibal, the leader of the revival movement in Bolivia, had been baptized in the Holy Spirit while visiting California. When he returned to the city of La Paz, he led many students to Christ and was busy discipling them. One day, he asked a Christian woman to prepare a meal for 20 students—but when Julio arrived at her home he had 200 students with him!
When the woman worriedly complained that she didn't have enough food to serve the crowd, Julio told her that Jesus would provide. Then everyone watched as the meal was supernaturally multiplied. What Jesus did for a multitude 2,000 years ago was repeated in a modest home in South America.
"Jesus is here," Fernando said to us.
I have listened to countless miracle testimonies before. But when this broken man stood near the stage at Good News Church in Augusta, it was almost as if the same revival spirit that hit Bolivia more than 50 years ago entered the room.
Men spontaneously got up and walked or crawled to the front of the church. Some were kneeling, others were flat on their stomachs. I began to hear many of them sobbing. Within five minutes it became a chorus of wailing. It reminded me of some accounts I have read from the Great Awakening, when people were overcome by the presence and convicting power of the Holy Spirit.
Fernando did not ask for mood music, and he didn't manipulate the audience to get a response. He didn't tell anyone to cry. He simply reminded us that the same God who poured out the Holy Spirit on Bolivia in the early 1970s—resulting in hundreds of thousands of conversions over a four-month period—was with us now.
As I lay on the carpet in that church I thought of all the times I have prayed in the past year for a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit on my generation.
Then I felt the Lord speak to my heart: "This is just a taste of what is coming."
That is all I needed to know to be convinced. A fresh wave of God's power is headed toward the United States. The Lord has heard the cries of His people, and He is about to do again what He did in the early 1970s—only this time young people will be catapulted to the forefront of the movement, and it will not be divided by race.
I pray we all have our lamps full of oil so we can be ready for this visitation. Pray and expect the tangible presence of God to rock your world. We are on the verge of something big.
J. Lee Grady is the former editor of Charisma. You can follow him on Twitter at leegrady. He is the author of The Holy Spirit Is Not for Sale and other books. You can learn more about his ministry, The Mordecai Project, at themordecaiproject.org
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Monday, November 24, 2014

Israel in Their Hearts: The Jewish State's Honorary Consuls

Israel in Their Hearts: The Jewish State's Honorary Consuls

Monday, November 24, 2014 |  Yossi Aloni  ISRAEL TODAY
They are the long arm of Israeli diplomacy, and they aren't even Israeli citizens. They help foster strong relations, and open doors that would otherwise be shut. They are motivated by love for Israel, and, no, they receive no monetary compensation. In fact, they invest much of their own time and money to fulfill their important diplomat mission.
Introducing the honorary consuls of the State of Israel, a total of 77 specifically accredited persons, many of them non-Israeli Jews, but also including a large number of Bible-believing Christians.
Earlier this month, Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs held its second Honorary Consuls of Israel conference, which was attended by 48 of the honorary consuls, representing 36 nations, 13 of which don't even have official diplomatic representation in Israel.
One of the honorary consuls in attendance was Roberto Nelkenbau of Bolivia, which severed all diplomatic ties to Israel in 2009. As the only representative of Israel in the South American country, Nelkenbau is often called upon to provide consular services to Israelis visiting Bolivia, which remains a popular destination for backpackers from the Jewish state.
Following the summer's Gaza war, the Bolivian government decided to punish Israel by canceling a 1972 agreement that exempted Israeli visitors from obtaining a visa before arriving. Nelkenbau quietly negotiated with his government on Israel's behalf, ultimately securing an understanding whereby Israelis could continue to travel to Bolivia and pay at the border for a temporary visa.
The backpacking and hiking adventures in which these Israelis partake are often dangerous, and Nelkenbau regularly plays a key role in dealing with accidents involving Israelis in Bolivia.
And while he is known to Israelis visiting the country, Nelkenbau is even more recognizable among his own countrymen. Like most of the other honorary consuls, Nelkenbau is a known public figure in his country. He is a former professional race car driver who today owns a chain of popular cinemas.
Also like Nelkenbau, many of the honorary consuls are from nations in which Israel has no embassy or official diplomatic representation. These consuls, in effect, serve as Israel's ambassador. They raise the Israeli flag with pride at their residences, the addresses of which are often used by the Israeli government for all matters pertaining to government or local media.
One of the longest-serving honorary consuls is Benny Gilbert of Barbados. Despite Barbados' small size, Gilbert has been able to play an important role in Israel's global diplomacy. Any time there is an important vote regarding Israel at the UN, the Jewish state scrambles to find nations willing to vote on its side. In such situations, the Israeli Foreign Ministry calls up Gilbert and guides him in how to approach the government of Barbados and what message to convey. More than once, Gilbert's intervention has resulted in Barbados abstaining from votes on important anti-Israel resolutions.   "My greatest success was convincing Barbados to abstain from a vote on accepting the [State of] Palestine at the UN, [a motion] the government had planned to support," said Gilbert.
 Fredrik Ekholm is one of the newer honorary consuls. He represents Israel in the city of Vasa, Finland. As a devout Christian, Ekholm is constantly on the lookout for anti-Israel boycotts, which he and a group of like-minded Christians immediately seek to counter by promoting the boycotted Israeli goods.
"I explain to people that they must not be foolish. Even if they have criticism of Israel, it is no reason to boycott Israeli products, which are the best available," said Ekholm. "I believe that doing business with Israel is a blessing."
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Ekholm owns a company that imports Israeli wines and Dead Sea products to Finland. He also regularly organizes pro-Israel conference and rallies, and never tires of directly intervening when he comes across biased anti-Israel news reports.
"Whenever I read or see reports negative of Israel, I immediately pick up the phone and contact the reporter in question to correct him," said Ekholm, who has become something of a one-man PR army.
"The problem is that the media in Europe constantly reports false information," he explained. "We have to find a way to deliver the right information, and one way is through videos. In Finland, we have published numerous videos, for instance showing Hamas hiding rockets in residential areas or calling for Israel's destruction. Those who see the videos often change their tune."
Jewish businessman Philip Kaye has been serving as Israel's honorary consul to Wales since 2010. In this capacity, Kaye works closely with the Israeli Embassy in London, in addition to also operating as a one-man PR war room. Not a scrap of anti-Israel propaganda in the local media escapes Kaye, who immediately responds either personally or by mobilizing a network of pro-Israel voices.
"People are affected by the information they receive. This is not a lost cause, and we must not give up," said Kaye.   During the last Gaza war, Kaye hosted the former mayor the rocket-battered southern Israel town of Sderot, David Buskila. "We introduced [Mayor Buskila] in churches, where he explained life under the threat of missiles," said Kaye. "Unfortunately, we were unable to arrange any media interviews."
Presently, Kaye is working to bring Israeli musicians for a first of its kind music festival in Wales. "I try to advance Israeli interests not only in politics, but also in culture and economy," he said.
But doing this work often comes with a price.
Kaye has received threats in the past, but said local police are on the case and he is not frightened. Much more harrowing is the situation for Israel's honorary consul in Cordoba, Argentina, Mr. Alejandro Orchansky. The Jewish businessman's private home has been the scene of four demonstrations by pro-Palestinian activists, and he has received a number of death threats necessitating regular police protection.
Orchansky related that the situation is so bad that most are scared to actually speak up for Israel, or to even be neutral on the subject.
"I fight constantly with a local media that is completely against Israel," he said. "I spoke to journalists and asked, 'Why don't you allow anyone to write in favor of Israel, or at least to be neutral?' The answer shocked me: 'What do you want, we would be the only ones!'"
Orchansky lamented that the media in Argentina are "like cattle. I found the best way is to avoid politics and instead show the beauty of Israel. I show Israel's achievements in medicine, education and culture. I also take governors and other trainees on tours of Israel. They all return to Argentina as ambassadors for Israel."
During the recent conference, attending honorary consuls met with Israeli President Reuven Rivlin, who provided an overview of the current situation in the region. They also received briefings from senior Foreign Ministry officials and toured local "hot spots" like the Gaza border.
Concluding the visit, Israel's Foreign Ministry called the honorary consuls "an important part of Israel's diplomatic 'Iron Dome,'" referencing the anti-missile system that saved so many lives during the Gaza war. 
PHOTO: Israel's honorary consuls meet with President Reuven Rivlin in Jerusalem. (Chaim Tzach)
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