Escobar examines Latin American mission

San Cristobal de las Casas, November 11th, 2004 (ACPress.net).
The mission-minded dynamism of Latin American evangelicals makes them the most suitable instrument to carry out the task of reaching their continent for Christ, according to Peruvian theologian, Samuel Escobar. He was speaking at a conference in the troubled Mexican state of Chiapas, scene of much persecution of evangelicals in recent years

In an analysis of Christianity in South America, Escobar said evangelicalism was always mission-minded and saw Latin America as a mission field which needed to be evangelised. They did not consider that Catholicism was authentically Christian and so thought “there was nothing Christian there until we arrived.” Following the analysis of Andrew Walls, he said that the centre of Christianity was moving south, with a decline in Europe and a crisis in North America, ­ though this needs re-adjusting in the light of recent events there ­ and growth in the Third World. He also mentioned growth among ethnic minorities in the developed world.

Escobar said Protestant growth in Latin America makes Catholic leaders question the effectiveness of Catholic missionary activity which has been going on since the 16^th century, and of pastoral practice in the 20^th century. In the past, they have used political and social coercion to stop the avalanche, and they used the slanderous tactic of telling people that Protestantism was a conspiracy of Masons, Americans and even Communists. In more recent times, some Catholic research has perceived the missiological significance of Latin American Protestantism.

For instance, a Catholic bishop, Boaventura Kloppenburg, pointed out that more Catholics are becoming Protestants today in South America than did so in Europe during the Protestant Reformation. True to his roots, the Spanish Jesuit, Juan Díaz, who works in New York, said “the cults”, ie. evangelical churches, “might help wake up the Catholic Church to the need to be a more personal, community-based and compassionate Church, in which everyone, whatever the race, ethnic background or language may feel loved, needed and ‘at home’. In other words, the mission-minded dynamism of evangelical churches is showing what a genuine Christian church should look like.

Escobar emphasised that the missionary vocation of Latin American evangelicals built on the heritage of people like Wesley and the Moravians, and the revivals in the English-speaking world. He encouraged non-Pentecostals to examine their relationship with Pentecostals in the light of this common heritage. Another Catholic theologian, Franz Damen, who also calls evangelical churches ‘sects’, recognises that they are principally a religious and not a political phenomenon, and that a growing number are Latin American and not North American in their origin. He also notes that many of them soon become independent of their founders, and that they are able to mobilise their members for evangelism.

Monsignor Roger Aubry is ambivalent. On the one hand, he recognises the generous efforts made by evangelicals in evangelism, but accuses them of proselytising. However, he also realises that very few Catholics are involved actively in the life of their parish or church, despite great efforts by leaders to encourage them. He adds that the Pentecostal groups which grow fastest are those with fewest missionaries. Many Christians get their first taste of the faith in evangelistic campaigns.

Buenos Aires, November 18th, 2004 (ACPress.net).
Evangelicals in the Argentinian capital remain divided over local authority plans to teach sex education in schools there

Claudia Lombardo, Chairman of the Methodist Educational Commission, is in favour on the grounds that Christians view a person in his entirety, and this includes his relationships with others. Ricardo M. Bedrossian, a lawyer and expert on sexuality issues, is against the move saying that sex education should be given at home, and that the new legislation will mean homosexuality and lesbian relationships will be taught as being normal, and that Christian schools will be forced to do so too.

Behind the proposal is the concept of ‘gender’ which means that children will be taught to choose their gender, regardless of their biological sex. In the new ideology, it is affirmed that masculine and feminine behaviour are only a parental and cultural imposition. Such dangerous nonsense will ring many bells in Europe, where the relativisation of the family is also being accelerated under false notions of sexuality and gender. Bedrossian does not want the Press or the state to supplant parents as the primary sexual educators of their children.

Countries which have promulgated similar laws have suffered the consequences. Sex education must include values, that love and respect are the basis of sound human relationships, that sex without love does not fit in these parameters, and that God has created the family to teach its members constraint within a healthy atmosphere and allow children to develop as they should. It is to be hoped that Buenos Aires will not go the way of Spain and other European nations.

Havana, November 18th, 2004 (ACPress.net).
Rafael Cepeda, a Presbyterian pastor and ex-Chairman of the Cuban Council of Churches, has received an award for virtue from the José Marti Cultural Society, for the integrity of his life as a thinker and Cuban patriot

The award was given to Cepeda in a celebratory act held at the foot of Marti’s statue in Revolution Square in the Cuban capital. Twenty or so Cuban intellectuals received awards. Cepeda has studied Marti deeply, and his prize included a text chosen specially for him, as one of the founders of the Latin American Union of Evangelical Youth Groups: “The soul of a man, like the sky on the sea, is always reflected in his work.”

Cepeda was also Chairman of the Commission which studied the history of the Latin American church (CEHILA) in Cuba, and has taught several generations of Cuban evangelicals. He is also a prolific author, having written, among others, ‘Missionary heritage in Cuba’, ‘José Marti: ethical views of the Christian life’, ‘José Marti: his truth about the USA’, and ‘Living the Gospel: reflections and experiences.’

Santo Domingo, November 18th, 2004 (ACPress.net).
A new Christian comedy film, called ‘The Christian of Secrets 1 and 2: The other version’, tells the story of Eddy, and stars Ramses Cairo, Carlos Nina and Raisa Caamaño

Eddy lives a double life. Saintly when at church and rather less so out of it. He goes to the most extreme lengths to avoid his non-Christian friends discovering that he is an evangelical. However, the situation becomes even more complicated when Eddy falls in love with a woman who hates Christians and when a fellow church member believes Eddy is a pillar of the church. Eddy comes up with the bizarrest ideas to keep his double life going. A life full of lies and deception.

The film’s producers hope that noone will watch more than 3 minutes of the film without laughing, yet one with a more serious message behind the humour.

Baghdad, November 18th, 2004 (ACPress.net).
Estimates of the number of Iraqis who have died since the start of the war in March 2003 have reached 100,000. A new report says that most of the dead are women and children, and the research attests that most deaths are due to armed conflict and military operations

A study carried out by an American university, John Hopkins in Baltimore, compared the number of deaths in Iraq in the 15 months prior to the invasion, with the 18 months since war broke out. The results have been published in the on-line version of the prestigious medical journal, ‘The Lancet’. Almost 1,000 families in 33 different districts in Iraq were interviewed to find out the number of people who had died, as well as the date, cause and circumstances of their deaths.

The risk of dying increased by 2.5 times after the invasion, although only by 1.5 times if the city of Fallujah ­ where two-thirds of the deaths have occurred ­ was removed from the equation. The chances of suffering a violent death are 58 times greater than before the war started, however. Before the war, the most frequent causes of death in Iraq were heart attacks, brain tumours or chronic illnesses. Saddam Hussein does not seem to have been included as a possible cause. Most deaths have been attributed to Coalition forces, especially through air raids, hence the high casualty rate among women and children.

Richard Horton, Editor of 'The Lancet', says the research obviously has its limitations, given the difficulties of obtaining reliable information in a war zone. He calls for “an urgent political and military response if one wishes to restore the confidence of the Iraqi civilian population in the Anglo-American Coalition occupation.” He ignores the fact that many other countries have their troops there, and that the country has its own Iraqi government. Horton continues: “A basic principle of public health is that harmful elements are reduced. But this can not only be reduced by the members of a society. Iraqi lives are currently being shaped by occupying forces and insurgents.” Which is why the Coalition forces are still there, of course.

New Delhi, November 18th, 2004 (ACPress.net).
The Indian Archaeological Service admits that the lean in the towers of the Taj Mahal is becoming more pronounced

Babu Rajiev, Head of the Service, admits the problem first came to light almost 20 years ago, says they will undertake a structural risk assessment of the building and take the necessary measures to correct the slide. The movement in the towers could endanger what is India’s most emblematic edifice. M.C. Joshi, a previous Director of the Archaeological Service, said he thought the problem was very serious and difficult to resolve. He believed the cause of the trouble to the marble mausoleum could either be tectonic movement, or something to do with the foundations of the building.

Other experts however have pointed to the deviation of the River Yamuna, on whose banks the Taj Mahal stands, the river bed of which has been dry for several years. The Minister for Urban Development for the region of Uttar Pradesh, which includes the city of Agra, home to the Taj Mahal, has called for an immediate investigation into the lean in the monument’s minarets, after a group of historians had drawn attention to the risk to the building.

UNESCO has expressed its concern at the news and its representative in India, P.Perera, has called on the authorities to do everything possible to avoid the Taj Mahal from being damaged. Historians and archaeologists have said the lean in the towers has been increasing since 1942 and warn that the mausoleum could collapse if the authorities do not take care of the surrounding area.

Katmandu, November 18^th, 2004 (ACPress.net).
A month ago, a team of native missionaries in Nepal were abducted by Maoist insurgents

Christian Aid recently received a personal account of the kidnapping from the leader of the missionary team. His own words best describe the unstoppable saving power of our Lord Jesus Christ, even in the most fearful circumstances: "Thank you for your prayers and support for me and our team. We praise God for you and rejoice with you for the miracle of our release! Let me tell you briefly my experience. We set out to conduct an evangelism project in a mountain village. We left this village and the whole time we were travelling, we were not aware that a group of insurgents was following us.

The insurgents approached us and the Maoist leader took me a distance and began to question me. All the team members and I were captured and taken to an unknown place. We prayed constantly for God's grace and protection. Praise God, they never harmed us. God had a greater plan. We shared the good news of salvation with them, and several received the Lord! God worked in our captors' hearts, and they decided to release us. Please continue to pray for the insurgents who heard the gospel, that they would hold fast to the word of God."

Washington DC, November 18^th, 2004 (ACPress.net).
A new survey in the USA by a Christian cultural research firm suggests that the results of the 2004 presidential election might have been very different had it not been for the huge "values voter" turnout

According to the Barna Research Group, most of George Bush's supporters did at least two things during the first week of November: they voted to re-elect the president and they went to church. The much touted ‘values voters’, those driven by moral or religious convictions, are being cited as a big part of the reason the 2004 race did not result in a cliff-hanger similar to the 2000 American presidential election. The Barna Group's post-election surveys show that adults who have an "active faith" -- that is, those survey respondents who had in the past week attended a church service, prayed to God, and read the Bible outside church -- also provided President Bush with a two-to-one margin of preference in the 2004 vote. Indicators of religious conviction in the Barna survey gave President Bush a virtual clean sweep among voters who put faith and values first. Self-described "committed Christians" cast their ballots for the incumbent by a 60% to 39% margin; those voters who said they were deeply spiritual preferred him by a 58% to 41% divide; and those who asserted they were "concerned about the moral condition of the nation" registered a 55% majority for Bush.

Meanwhile, pro-family Christian leaders are praising the resounding, coast-to-coast rejection of gay marriage this week. Voters in 11 states approved constitutional amendments limiting marriage to one man and one woman. Often by huge margins, the amendments won in Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Ohio, Utah and Oregon -- the one state where gay-rights activists hoped to prevail. "[This] vote reveals once again the broad support for protecting marriage among the American people," Family Research Council president Tony Perkins said. American Values President Gary Bauer added: "This issue does not deeply divide America. The country overwhelmingly rejects same-sex marriage, and our hope is that both politicians and activist judges will read these results and take them to heart." The amendments on banning gay marriage reportedly unified evangelical Christian voters. "We've come together in great unity," said Rod Parsley, pastor of World Harvest Church in Columbus, Ohio, who travelled round the state speaking in support of a ban. Matthew Staver, president and general counsel of Liberty Counsel, said: "The election is a clean sweep on marriage. The move to amend the U. S. Constitution to preserve traditional marriage will move full steam ahead."

Amman, November 18th, 2004 (ACPress.net).
The saga and suffering of the poor Christian widow in Jordan drags on. A judge heard opposing testimony from Siham Qandah last week, calling her to the witness stand on October 21st over the disputed use of her children's trust funds by their Muslim guardian

Abdullah al-Muhtadi had testified in court to Judge Mahmud Zghul on October 10th that his massive withdrawals of more than 15,000 euros from the children's orphan trust funds were legitimate. "I told the judge that I had never received any money from the guardian," Siham said. "He has never even visited our family for the past 10 years," Qandah said. "I told the judge that I don't care about the trust fund ... I don't want it or anything else, just my children." Al-Muhtadi, Qandah's estranged brother who converted to Islam as a teenager, has been trying to gain custody of her two minor children through Jordan 's Islamic court system. When the guardian failed to appear in court on October 21st, Judge Zghul heard Qandah's testimony and then set November 9th for a final hearing on the case.

Source: Compass Direct, RT. Editing: ACPress.net
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