The October 2002 Pneuma Informer
What’s New at www.PneumaFoundation.org
- New online article–Living for Jesus Today: Submitting to
Authority “Individualism” guest article by Douglas
Wilson. Some important lessons about what submission really is.
Added October 14, 2002.
/resources/articles/article_guest0001.jsp
- Coming Soon: The Webmaster and his assistants are working on creating a new index of online resources for Christian thinkers, scholars and students of God’s Word. If you are interested in more academic or theological materials, would you write to Web Servant
to tell us what you would like to see in this new area?
- Coming Soon: Automatic translation of Pneuma Foundation
webpages into Spanish, Korean, Chinese, Italian, French, German,
and Japanese. See the article in this issue of the Informer about
“New Horizons.”
Also, be sure to check out the “What’s New”
section on the Pneuma Foundation homepage. New articles and other
features are being added regularly.
Have a website you would like linked to the Pneuma Foundation? Write
Webmaster Dave Driggs with your suggestion. Or use the on-line form to submit your suggestion:
/links.jsp#link.
Recent Visitors:
Some of the recent international visitors to the Pneuma
Foundation website have been from: Australia, Indonesia,
Mongolia, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, New Zeeland, Japan,
Mexico, Belize, Argentina, Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil, Chile,
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Romania, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, France, and Germany.
Come visit soon. Write to
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Pneuma Informer.
New Horizons for www.PneumaFoundation.org: New Languages
The Pneuma Foundation webmaster and editors have been
investigating the possibility of using an online translation
service that can translate webpages into several languages. This
online translation service translates pages on the fly into
Chinese, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Japanese, or
Korean.
The translations appear to be quite functional. However, those
involved with this project do not read any of these languages so
we do not know if the translator is doing a good job. Please take
a look at the following pages, navigate around using the sidebar
index, and see if the “babelfish” tool is doing a
fair job of translating the words from English into one of the
languages you are familiar with.
Please write to the
Web Servant to let us know what you think of
this service.
Try one of these languages and let us know what you think:
English to French.
http://babel.altavista.com/urltrurl?lp=en_fr&url=/presidents_message.jsp
http://babel.altavista.com/urltrurl?lp=en_fr&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pneumafoundation.org%2Fresources%2Farticles%2Farticle_guest0001.jsp
English to German:
http://babel.altavista.com/urltrurl?lp=en_de&url=/presidents_message.jsp
http://babel.altavista.com/urltrurl?lp=en_de&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pneumafoundation.org%2Fresources%2Farticles%2Farticle_guest0001.jsp
English to Japanese:
http://babel.altavista.com/urltrurl?lp=en_ja&url=/presidents_message.jsp
http://babel.altavista.com/urltrurl?lp=en_ja&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pneumafoundation.org%2Fresources%2Farticles%2Farticle_guest0001.jsp
English to Spanish:
http://babel.altavista.com/urltrurl?lp=en_es&url=/presidents_message.jsp
http://babel.altavista.com/urltrurl?lp=en_es&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pneumafoundation.org%2Fpf_story.jsp
English to Korean:
http://babel.altavista.com/urltrurl?lp=en_ko&url=/presidents_message.jsp
http://babel.altavista.com/urltrurl?lp=en_ko&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pneumafoundation.org%2Fpf_story.jsp
English to Italian:
http://babel.altavista.com/urltrurl?lp=en_it&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pneumafoundation.org%2Fpf_story.jsp
http://babel.altavista.com/urltrurl?lp=en_it&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pneumafoundation.org%2Fpresidents_message.jsp
English to Chinese:
http://babel.altavista.com/urltrurl?lp=en_zh&url=/presidents_message.jsp
http://babel.altavista.com/urltrurl?lp=en_zh&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pneumafoundation.org%2Fresources%2Farticles%2Farticle_guest0001.jsp
Reports from Around the World
Uganda: From “Reign of Terror” to Christian
Nation
Almost a quarter century after Idi Amin's reign of
terror, Uganda is experiencing a spiritual harvest. According to
one megachurch pastor, 92 percent of the 24 million population
claims Christianity, with at least 75 percent truly born-again
believers.
Robert Kayanja, who leads the charismatic Miracle Center
Cathedral in the capital, Kampala, told Charisma magazine that it
was "incredible" to see thousands of people lined up
for miles walking barefoot through the city just to attend
church.
His church's $7 million, 10,500-seat sanctuary is filled four
times for Sunday services and once on Friday night for a service
geared for troubled youth, prostitutes and other prime salvation
candidates.
Known as "The Butcher of Uganda," Amin seized power in
a coup in 1971. He sent roving squads of his thugs into Ugandan
cities, killing anyone who criticized him or appeared to be a
threat to his power. Victims were found dismembered and horribly
mutilated.
Some estimate that Amin killed between 300,000 and 500,000 people
during his reign, which ended in 1979. Currently, he lives in
exile in Saudi Arabia.
"He raped the whole country of morality, of integrity,"
Kayanja said. "He implemented a trend of corruption in a
people who were not corrupt. He raised a generation of people who
wanted to steal rather than to work for personal gain. He left
the church on crutches."
Even worse, dictators followed Amin's exile in 1979, Kayanja
said, but a spiritual warfare victory in 1983 helped turn the
tide back to the church, he said.
"A witch who challenged me said I would be dead in three
days," Kayanja said. "Instead, the witch died. They
found his body in the middle of the road, his severed head lying
on the roadside. His family came and took his body, and they
moved away."
Kayanja said that the night before he had had a dream in which
God handed him a sword to fight the enemy. When Kayanja saw the
witch's severed head, he knew that God "had dealt with
this man," he said.
"We heard a car crash that night but we didn't find the
car," Kayanja said. "After his family moved away,
revival broke out."
Miracle Center Cathedral has planted more than 1,000 churches
across Uganda, and with help from evangelists such as Reinhard
Bonnke, T.L. Osborn and others, millions of Ugandans have become
Christians, some 2.2 million in crusades led by Kayanja's
teams alone, he noted.
"Twenty-five years ago, 22 percent of the population were
Muslims," Kayanja said. "Today, only 6 percent are
Muslims."
Miracles, signs and wonders have been sweeping the country, as
key leaders in the government, military and the business
community have been born again, Kayanja said. In 1986, current
President Yoweri Museveni came to power. Because of
Museveni's and wife Janet's strong Christian faith, the
couple have helped turn Uganda around, politically and
economically, Kayanja said.
Miracle Center now feeds, clothes and ministers to Kampala's
20,000 street children. The church fights for the survival of
Uganda's 4 million orphans, of which Kayanja estimated that 2
million are children of parents who have died in the
country's ongoing AIDS epidemic.
Kayanja said God has healed many people of AIDS, including a
government agricultural official who, after his healing, gave up
his career and is now a staff pastor at the church.
Source: Charisma News Service 9/30/2002. By Billy Bruce. Used
with permission.
India: mentally ill mother healed by prayer
A church-planting team in Uttar Pradesh, India, arrived in the
village Sitapur. Some of the people who had already experienced
God's healing power asked the team to pray for Sukh Rani, a
32-year-old mother of two who had lost her mind three months
previously. Her husband had died three years before, and
everything had gone downhill since then. For 24 days, she had
only eaten grass, and drank almost nothing. "As we saw her,
our courage left us. But Monica, one member of the team, sat on
the woman's bed and prayed. Suddenly, Sukh Rani sat up and
began to speak and act normally. Monica told her about Jesus,
telling her that Jesus loved her even more than her husband or
relatives. Sukh Rani smiled and started eating normally again.
The villagers who had seen what happened all said 'Jesus is
truly a living God!'"
Source: Operation Agape, by way of Friday Fax 2002 Issue 39
USA: Pentecostal churches growing fastest
A recent study reveals that the Pentecostal churches in the USA
are among the fastest-growing, with a growth rate in double
figures between 1990 and 2000. A New York Times article about
“Religious Congregations and Membership: 2000” shows
the Assemblies of God to be the nation's third-fastest
growing denomination, with 18.5% annual growth, having gained 2.6
million new member since the previous study in 1990.
The research showed clearly that “conservative
Protestants” were generally growing in number, whereas
“moderate” and “liberal” Protestant
churches are losing members. "I was surprised to see that
most of the shrinking churches are moderate or liberal. The more
liberal the church, the faster it is shrinking," says
Professor Ken Sanchagrin, Director of the Glenmary Research
Center and Chairman of the Mars Hill College Sociology Department
in North Carolina. The study of over 150 Christian and
non-Christian religious groups is performed every ten years by
the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies.
The fastest-growing religious group in the USA in the last decade
was the non-Christian Mormon sect, which now has a membership of
4.2 million. The Southern Baptists remain the largest Protestant
denomination with 19.9 million members, but grew only 5% in the
last decade.
Source: Friday Fax 2002 Issue 40
Comments from Readers and Web Visitors
“I have read the Pneuma Foundation newsletter before and
have been impressed with its content. I took the time to look
through your web site today and I must say that I have found
nothing that I could not agree with.”
— Bishop D
Pentecostal denominational leader
“I pray in the name of Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of
God upon my life that the Ministry of Pneuma Foundation has no
choice but to succeed in Jesus name, Amen. I know that God will
do mighty things in your Ministry and I shall continue to lift up
your Ministry constantly into His mighty hand.”
— Francis
in Nigeria
“Greetings from China, I am a messianic Jew sent out by a
congregation in US and am seeking more valid/anointed options of
resources . . . Although I have some "charismatic
roots" my parents also directed us to a couple of excellent
Bible Churches when we were kids, so I was inspired by reading
Pneuma's mission statement.Thanks for all of the resources
you are providing!
Shalom from China,”
— Jim
“Dear Sir: I appreciate the Pneuma Foundation’s
ministry and notice that you sometime post scholarly papers on
your web site to make them more accessible for the general
public. A recently published piece that is informative and easily
readable may be of interest to you for that purpose: . . . With
best wishes, Paul”
Response
Thank you for thinking of the Pneuma Foundation. One of the goals
of our ministry is to make the research and biblical studies
being done by today’s Pentecostal/charismatic scholars
available to the broad Pentecostal/charismatic movement. Please
do send a copy of your paper to us for consideration.
“This is a blessed website for the body of
Christ.”
— Alo in Togo, Africa
“Thanks for your kind information. May your service help
us to enrich our knowledge in Christ and HIS Kingdom to receive
better gift from our Bridegroom. Love,”
— Daniel and Ruby
“I have really appreciated what I've found on the
Pneuma Foundation website. We like your Statement of Faith
because it is very solid, and unlike many I've seen, it makes
room for the fact that it is important to not choose traditions
over the Word, and it reminds me that we have to be always alert
to the (fallacious) notion that what we believe must of course be
God's truth. I got the sense from your Statement (or maybe
from your website as a whole) that we are all on a journey,
trying to come to a real knowledge of the truth. And that is
where my husband and I are at. We're definitely on a
journey.”
— JS, from Email
“Thank you for the great work you do in providing
Pentecostal/charismatic resources.”
— David R
“Thank you for sending me the Spring and Summer (2002)
issues of the Pneuma Review. I just have to make time to read
them. Especially the ‘How Much Does God Control?’
debate, it isn’t necessarily easy reading.”
— MR
“Thank you so much for having the vision to start this
organization, I'm very excited about finding something that
I'm in agreement with.”
— Matthew M
“Newest issue of the Pneuma Review looks great. Blessings
to you and on what you are doing!”
— MW
“I looked at your website and could not find your position
on women in ministry???? Please let me let me know what it
is?”
— Rev. Terri
Response
Thank you for your question about the Pneuma Foundation’s
position on the role of women in ministry. The role of women in
ministry is one of those teachings over which the editors and
writers of our publications are not required to agree. Some of us
are what are called complimentarians and some are egalitarians.
However, we are united in proclaiming that women are to be led of
the Spirit in the ministries they participate in, even if we are
not in agreement regarding what roles they are to fulfill.
Likewise, we are in agreement that everyone in the body of Christ
is to be submitted to one another in humility and the fear of the
Lord (Ephesians 5: 5, 1 Peter 5:5). This follows our principle of
teaching on controversial doctrines:
When presenting teachings over which there is disagreement in the
body of Christ (secondary teachings, for example, the security of
the believer, or the role of women in ministry), the Pneuma
Foundation will not make its position in a manner that alienates
or ignores opposing views. It is better to follow the Biblical
mandate of preferring others over ourselves (Phil. 2:3-4). The
Foundation desires to present the differing viewpoints and
promote dialogue, acknowledging that the goal of our instruction
is love (1 Tim. 1:5).
From Principles of Teaching and Dialogue
Special Offer on Pneuma Review Back Issues
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Resources You Can Use:
Reaching the 7:21 Window
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’
shall enter the kingdom of heaven , but he who does the will of
My Father in heaven.”
-- Jesus in Matthew 7:21 [NKJV]
Christian researcher George Barna made a startling discovery in
the mid 1990s that half of all adults attending a Protestant
church on a Sunday morning are not Christians. This means that
churches are filled with people who have never come into a
personal relationship with Jesus Christ based on grace. Whether
by reason of tradition, misinformation, demonic deception, or
something else, they are “lost in church.” They are
in the “7:21 Window.”
One ministry addressing this need and developing materials to
minister to this gospel-hardened group is Church Initiative. They
have put together an effective intra-evangelism program that can
be used to educate and lead church attendees and nominal
Christians into a real relationship with the God of the
Bible.
Visit their website,
http://www.facingforever.org
and you will even be able to view one of the program’s
segments online.
Excerpts from the Pneuma Review
The Pneuma
Review is a quarterly printed journal of ministry
resources and theology for Pentecostal and charismatic ministries
and leaders.
Excerpts from the Fall 2002 issue of the
Pneuma Review will
appear next month in the November issue.
Prayer Requests
- Adams Apaka in Tanzania has asked for prayer that God would
provide the necessary funds for him to travel for an evangelism
conference in December.
- According to a recent survey, many American
“Christians” do not really believe the Bible. This
means that ministries like the Pneuma Foundation need the support
of churches and individuals as they seek to lead Christians to a
greater understanding of God’s Word. Read this report from
Charisma New Service about the state of faith in North America:
Nine of 10 Americans own at least one Bible and eight of 10 call
themselves Christians, but their smorgasbord of religious beliefs
appear to contradict that second statistic. Examining 13
different beliefs, the Barna Research Group's (BRG) latest
survey found that a large percentage of Protestants or Catholics
have adopted beliefs that conflict with the teachings of the
Bible and their churches. Released last week, the poll of 630
adults discovered that most of them reject the notions of
original sin, the existence of Satan and salvation by God's
grace alone. The report also found that 80 percent of Catholics
believe that "praying to deceased saints can have a positive
effect in a person's life." Surprisingly, 41 percent of
Protestants believe in praying to dead saints, too -- a notion
dismissed by most evangelical churches. Thirty-five percent of
Protestants surveyed also said that it is "possible to
communicate with others after they die." And in yet another
break from biblical teaching, the study found that 44 percent
contend that "the Bible, Koran and Book of Mormon are all
different expressions of the same spiritual truths."
"Americans still revere the Bible and like to think of
themselves as Bible-believing people, but the evidence suggests
otherwise," said BRG president George Barna, who was not
surprised by the findings on Americans' pluralistic beliefs.
"Christians have increasingly been adopting spiritual views
that come from . . .other sources."
Source: Charisma News Service 10/16/02. Used by permission.
- Manoj S. has asked for prayer about a difficult family
situation.
- Alfredo D. Labial has asked for prayer for outreach efforts
to tribal peoples in the Philippines. D. Labial, a Foursquare
pastor, and his family have given up much to follow God’s
call on their lives and ask for God’s blessing as they
reach out to those who have never heard the good news of Jesus
Christ.
- A member of a charismatic Roman Catholic prayer group in
Kerala, India has written to request prayer to be effective in
sharing the good news of Jesus Christ with their larger community
and also for some personal needs within their fellowship.
- Gelegdorj Amartuvshin in Mongolia would like believers to
join with him in praying for an orphanage he founded as a
ministry of demonstrating the love of Jesus to needy children.
The ministry has many needs, but is a wonderful opportunity to
show the love of God and the salvation of Messiah.
- Mwundra Isidore in Namibia, Africa has asked for prayer for
God’s provision of funds to build a building on land he has
acquired where the believers may gather, for ongoing support of
the evangelists and pastors on staff, and also for needed office
equipment. Brother Isidore ministers in a refugee camp of those
who have escaped the violence in Congo, as well as traveling to
rural areas where there is no other witness of Jesus Christ.
- Allan A. is requesting prayer to made on behalf of the needs
of the evangelism ministry he is a part of in the Philippines.
There is a need for a truck, a new Bible school building, and
equipment to build churches in the mountains. Pray also for the
pastors and fulltime local missionaries ministering in the
mountains that God will protect them.
- A friend of the ministry writes: “My close friend Jeff
Hammock—He was diagnosed with throat cancer 8 months ago; went
through radiation and chemotherapy, and it spread to his lungs
and stomach. He is on morphine and more chemotherapy. He was
given 6mths to a year to live but now it's in his brain stem
and he was told by his Dr. that he needs a miracle. He is on
dialysis now; his kidneys went down. He is the kindest sweetest,
loving man.I know God will heal him. He has a wife and three
girls so please pray that God will remove this cancer from his
body and make him well again. Thank you and god bless all of you.
he went to Dr yesterday and the cancer on the brain is going down
his spine now. He almost lost his fight this weekend but he woke
up last night. He can’t eat and is on iv and cath but needs
to gain weight. I'm not giving up and he promised to keep
fighting. God bless you.”
- Pastor Richard M. Ogiseh has asked for prayer for efforts to
purchase land and to build an orphanage in Johannesburg, South
Africa. This will be part of the ministry effort of his church
Flames of Fire Family Fellowship Ministry which also includes a
homeless shelter, a drug rehabilitation program, and vocational
training center. Let us pray for these efforts to impact a
community with the love of Jesus.
- Please pray for Christians in Pakistan as they face a new
wave of persecution: Seven Christian human rights workers were
executed September 25 in the latest attack by Islamic extremists.
Police said two gunmen burst into the offices of a Christian
charity in the city of Karachi, and tied up and gagged the
Pakistani believers before shooting them at point-blank range,
Reuters reported. Six men died instantly, and doctors said a
seventh died shortly afterward. Doctors said an eighth man faced
permanent paralysis of his left side from a head wound, while a
ninth was under sedation after being beaten up in the attack.
Cecil Chaudry, executive secretary of the All Pakistan Minorities
Alliance and senior vice chairman of the Minorities Advisory
Council, knew all of the victims through working in the same
field. "These extremists just want to keep targeting our
places of worship and institutions," he told Christian
Solidarity Worldwide (CSW). "There is a great deal of fear,
and Christians are asking when is it going to stop. I sometimes
wonder whether they're trying to drive us to take up arms
against them, but we are not going to do that." It was the
first attack on Christians in Karachi, but there have been
numerous other attacks farther north in Pakistan. In August, six
Christians were killed during an attack on a missionary school in
Murree, and four were killed at a Christian hospital in Taxila.
Five people were killed in an attack on a church in Islamabad in
March, and 15 were killed in an attack on a church in Bahawalpur
in October last year, CSW said. Assaults on Christians and
Westerners have escalated since Pakistan's military
government sided with the U.S.-led war on terror and Afghanistan
last year.
Source: Charisma News Service 9/25/02. Used with
permission.
- Paul, of the Church of Pentecost International in Ghana, has
asked for prayer that the Lord open an opportunity to work with
an evangelist/missionary to help reach the lost in his region.
The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Pray that the
Lord of the harvest send workers into the fields.
Praise Reports
- Another article printed in the Pneuma Review has been
featured in Current Thoughts & Trends. "Workmen Or
Captives: Avoiding the Snare of Subjectivity" by David
Harvey, takes a serious look at how we interpret God’s Word
and cautions us to avoid the trap of subjective impressions.
Please join the editorial committee in thanking the God of heaven
for the opportunity to serve Him by sharing the truth of His Word
with people around the world.
- Please send us your prayer requests and praise reports. We
have a great God who always meets our needs.
- If you would like more information about how you may help in
meeting these needs, please send an E-mail to Member Services.