Pentecostals find fertile ground in Latin America

Great article from BBC News. In Guatemala and other parts of Latin America, people are ridding themselves of the Mary-worshipping false religion known as Roman Catholicism, and embracing Pentecostal Christianity. Definitely a good sign, to say the least.

Article excerpt:  
Pentecostals find fertile ground in Latin America

By Steve O'Hagan BBC Radio 4 Crossing Continents

In a suburb of Guatemala City, a 90-day non-stop televised fundraiser for a Pentecostal church is in full swing. At one end of a courtyard is a make-shift TV studio, where a steady stream of believers are queuing to present gifts to a pastor live on air.

A man and his son have brought two floppy-eared puppies. A boy of seven has brought a cute white kitten. A woman and her daughter are clutching a plump brown hen. Noise fills the air, but the animals are quiet.

Perhaps they know they are about to be donated?

The man and the boy with the puppies are next up. They are ushered in front of the cameras, where the pastor waits to bless and thank them. With tears in their eyes the pair hand over the dogs to church workers, who whisk them away.

But these tears are not for the puppies, they are tears of joy at having helped the church.
"We are not sad to give these dogs," explains the man to me afterwards. "We are doing something that will help spread the word throughout Guatemala."

The dogs do not have far to go. Next door to the studio is an ad-hoc market. Here, everything that is donated to the church is put on sale to other worshippers. The money raised this way joins the donations pouring in from callers to the phone lines. The goal is to raise enough to build a new television studio, a high-tech purpose-built media hub to carry the Pentecostal message across all of Guatemala.

"They bring wonderful gifts - animals, televisions, even cars," the church's smiling PR woman tells me. "And it's all for one reason, and that is to spread the word of God."

The Pentecostal word has spread explosively here in the past 40 years. Estimates suggest that over four in 10 now follow the faith in Guatemala. And the same thing is happening across Central America - traditionally a bastion of Catholicism.


Here at the tele-marathon, it is clear from their dark skin and flashes of traditional textiles that many of the followers are of indigenous Mayan descent.

These people are generally poor, and discrimination against them by the elites of European descent is a part of life here.


Full article here:
Related article (from bbc.co.uk): Pentecostal Church 'sees growth'

Churches back plan to unite under Pope

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article1403702.ece

I cant even begin to emphasize how important I think this story is. This might be one of the biggest news stories to hit this weekend, although the mainstream media gave this stuff a collective yawn, as always.

The Times of London is reporting that Anglican and Catholic leaders are proposing to unite both churches under the Pope. Bible prophecy-watchers have been expecting something like this for some time now.

Why is this a big deal? Long story short: The Bible has long prophesied of the Antichrist to come, and Revelation 13 speaks of his partner in evil, one called the False Prophet. These 2 men are the leaders of a united world political system, and unified religious system also (commonly referred to as the One World Government and One World Religion). Many prophecy watchers (myself included) expect the World Religion to be centered in Rome, under the Pope. So its been interesting for some time now that there have been rumblings for some time of the breakaway denominations coming "back to Rome" unifying with the Roman Church.

Whatever is done in the dark comes to light eventually. Watch for more of talk of "unification" of different "Christian"denominations. And watch for churches to embrace the Roman Church all over again. This breaking down of the walls between denominations and religions is just a further step in the fulfillment of last days prophecy. It's a shame more people dont realize that.

Thanks for stopping by.

Vatican cardinal condemns U.S.-Mexico fence

VATICAN CITY - A senior Vatican cardinal on Tuesday condemned the building of walls between countries to keep out immigrants and said Washington’s plan to build a fence on the U.S.-Mexican border was part of an “inhuman program”.

Cardinal Renato Martino made his comments at a news conference presenting Pope Benedict’s message for the Roman Catholic Church’s World Day of Migrants and Refugees, in which the Pope called for more laws to help immigrants integrate.

“Speaking of borders, I must unfortunately say that in a world that greeted the fall of the Berlin Wall with joy, new walls are being built between neighborhood and neighborhood, city and city, nation and nation,” said Martino, head of the Vatican’s Council for Justice and Peace...

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Really? An inhuman program? Since when is it inhuman for a country to build wall on its border? Arent there walls and fences on the borders of many countries in the world? So why pick on this particular border between the US and Mexico?

Ironically, Mexico is known to have a fence and border guards on its southern border with Guatemala. So is it ok for Mexico to keep illegal aliens out of their country, but it's wrong for us to do the same? The insanity never ends.

Then again, a cynical mind might think that this Cardinal is just one of many who recognizes that having a flood of illegal Mexicans and other Central Americans enter the US is just another step toward a new North American Community some are trying to build, similar to the European Union. Integration of the US, Canada, & Mexico is not just a concept, but a hope and a plan that many in high places hope to bring to fruition.

"The North American Community?" some might ask? That's the whole point. Many hav never even heard of it, but that doesnt make it any less real - and it's coming for sure.