Zambian pastor Nevers Mumba believes Christians will lead a ‘wind’ of political change that is coming to Africa
Although Nevers Mumba is running for president in 2006, Zambia’s leading newspaper, The Post, still calls him “Pastor Mumba.” It’s a title not easily shaken from the man who launched Zambia’s first Christian television ministry in the early 1990s called Zambia Shall Be Saved.

After Mumba completed a two-year program at Christ for the Nations in 1982, he returned to Zambia, founded 42 churches and launched a TV ministry that draws 2.5 million viewers each week.

African citizens weren’t the only ones watching TV; Zambian politicians began calling Mumba for counsel and prayer.

Although Mumba was content to be Zambia’s pastor, he said two prophetic encounters changed the course of his life.

During a visit to Virginia Beach, Va., to appear on The 700 Club, he received a call from someone wanting to speak with him. The young man was African evangelist Christopher Alam, who told Mumba, “The Lord is going to use you in the political process in your country.”

“At that time I had no thought of becoming involved in politics,” Mumba told Charisma, “and my theology totally contradicted his prophecy.”

Mumba put the prophecy aside and returned to preaching. But a year and a half later, while Mumba was preaching in Canada, a South African preacher asked to meet him for lunch. The two ministers had never met before, and when they sat down to eat in a restaurant, the preacher told Mumba that God would “bring His word to pass, and you shall be in political leadership in your nation.”

Mumba never saw the minister again. But within five years he handed over his TV ministry to an associate and formed an organization now called National Citizens Coalition, which gave him a platform to run for president in 2001.

Mumba lost that election but remained in politics, focusing most of his work on outreach to the poor, orphaned and uneducated. This humanitarian work coupled with his stand against political corruption motivated Zambia’s current president, Levy Mwanawasa, to appoint Mumba as his vice president in May 2003.

Mumba’s popularity increased, and within a year and a half he surpassed Mwanawasa in Zambian opinion polls by 65 percent. While Mwanawasa was traveling internationally, Mumba exposed political corruption that was going on between Congo and Zambia. As a result, Mwanawasa dismissed him as vice president.

Despite this rocky beginning in politics, Mumba announced in March that he planned to run for the presidency as Mwanawasa’s opponent in the 2006 elections. Afterward, Mwanawasa suspended Mumba from his leadership role in the National Executive Committee of the Movement for Multi-Party Democracy (MMD) Party.

In April, another opinion poll showed Mumba leading Mwanawasa by a large margin. Mumba hoped to be elected as presidential candidate for the MMD Party at the convention scheduled for May 4-8.

However, President Mwanawasa postponed the May convention and then expelled Mumba from MMD Party membership, erasing all possibility of Mumba running for president under that party. Mumba’s supports planned to form a new party that will give him a platform to run.

Despite the setbacks, Mumba is not deterred. “I’m convinced once we achieve our goal in Zambia, there will be a domino effect,” Mumba said. “Men of integrity and morality will rise up to take positions of political leadership in countries across … Africa. There is a wind of change, and the church is going to lead this new change that is coming on this continent.”
C. Hope Flinchbaugh

Ministers in the Emerald Isle say the ‘wind of Pentecost’ is starting to blow in the nation’s second largest city
Church leaders in the second-largest city in Ireland, which has a minute number of Christians, say “God is moving” in Cork City, with many accepting Christ and being baptized in the Holy Spirit.

Located on the southwest coast of Ireland, Cork is home to 123,000 people, with a college student population of more than 25,000. However, local Protestant leaders estimate only about 2,000 people belong to an evangelical church. In addition, the area is plagued with alcoholism-among the highest rates in the world-as well as depression, suicide and domestic abuse.

“Cork is a very dark city,” said Nick Cassidy, pastor of Donnybrook Pentecostal Church, which is located in the heart of Cork. “It’s full of alcoholism and false religion. Less than one quarter of 1 percent of the Republic of Ireland claim to be born again. We have never seen Pentecost come to this country, not in its real form, but the wind is starting to blow.”

Cassidy, 38, has witnessed it firsthand. He pioneered the church more than 10 years ago with a handful of adults and three children. Today, Donnybrook ( ) is a congregation of about 400 people, comprised of 20 nationalities due to Cork’s large influx of foreign workers.

Located in the middle of the city’s notorious “red light district,” the church is referred to by locals as the “Holy Ground” of Cork, Cassidy noted.

“But since the church has taken up residence here, it is truly becoming holy ground,” explained Cassidy, noting that 100 people received Christ this summer during one-on-one street evangelism. “Every week we see souls come to Christ and people filled with the Holy Spirit. We have seen prostitutes, drug addicts, alcoholics, suicidal people, people suffering from depression, and people who were sexually abused by clerics become born again and set free from their suffering.”

Keith Cullen, 29, accepted Christ this spring after he started attending Donnybrook. “Before that my life had been a bad one,” he told Charisma. “I started drinking when I was 13. At 17, I started getting into trouble because of my drinking. In the last five years, I have seen nine friends and two cousins die of suicide.

“Now that I have been saved, I no longer drink and have peace of mind and love towards people,” Cullen added.

Tony Kirby, 33, also became a Christian while attending Donnybrook earlier this year. Like Cullen, Kirby had an alcoholic background.

“When I came to church, I met some of the nicest people on earth,” Kirby said. “After attending the church for a few weeks, my life changed totally. I stopped drinking, cursing and my way of living got better. I gave myself to the Lord.”

An Assemblies of God (AG) minister in the United States for 15 years, John Bailey, 42, and his family moved to Cork earlier this year to become the only AG missionaries in this region of Ireland. Ironically, Bailey’s family immigrated to the United States from Ireland during the Potato Famine.

Today he works with Donnybrook and other area churches, and he said the spiritual landscape of Ireland has changed in the last few years, with many small churches springing up all over the nation.

“At Donnybrook, as well as in many churches across Ireland, there is a pure river of God flowing,” said Bailey, noting that on Monday nights, a group of about 70 adults pray for Cork as well as for revival in Ireland. “I truly believe that Ireland is one of those places that God has on His spiritual map. Darkness has prevailed here for many years, but there is a time of refreshing and spiritual life coming to the Emerald Isle.”
Eric Tiansay

Prominent charismatic leaders seek to raise awareness about the importance of the Ten Commandments
Fueled by the recent Supreme Court decision that barred the display of the Ten Commandments in two Kentucky courthouses, a commission has been formed with a mission to bring the Decalogue back to the conscience of America.

The Ten Commandments Commission, formed the day after the June 27 ruling, was launched with a threefold purpose, said commission chairman Myles Munroe.

“We want to restore the values of the principles contained in these commandments back to our postmodern society; replace the Ten Commandments back to the consciousness of society; and challenge the powers that be to reconsider the decisions being made,” said Munroe, a best-selling author and pastor of Bahamas Faith Ministries International, one of the largest churches in the Caribbean.

The commission was launched at the International Charismatic Bible Ministries convention in Tulsa, Okla., where Munroe urged fellow Christian leaders to join his efforts, and where Roni Wexler, commission president and CEO, unveiled the commission’s Ten Commandments pin ().

Munroe says the pin, which displays the Ten Commandments in Hebrew, was designed to make a statement: that “collectively, we can make a difference.”

“Democracy works on numbers, and we believe that there are a lot more people who are for the Ten Commandments than against them,” Munroe said. “We want to rally millions of people to not only take a stand but to do it in a unified way.”

“The slogan here is, ‘If we can’t wear it in public and on buildings, we can wear it on the building of God, which is our bodies,'” Wexler added.

The commission hopes to educate the charismatic community by “getting people to understand what we are standing against and identify themselves with a symbol,” Wexler said. That symbol is the Ten Commandments pin.

Washington, motivational speaker Charles Phillips says the battle is not only against ignorance, but also darkness. “I think that this movement through the Supreme Court was not just to take away the Ten Commandments from … public places,” said Phillips, the commission’s spokesman. “I think it’s also a part of the devil’s strategy to remove God from the consciousness of people.”

Phillips said the group’s efforts are not politically motivated. “Right now we’re just trying to make a statement,” he said. “We’re simply emphasizing the fact that we can display the Word of God, and that’s what we’re going to do.”

Mark J. Chironna, commission board member, hopes to see a renewed appreciation for the values embodied by the Ten Commandments. “Those values have to be once again appreciated and understood for a generation that has really been so numbed by situational ethics,” he said. “History proves that when nations do not embrace those kinds of values, they end up being destroyed. If we ignore God, we ignore Him to our own detriment.”

Chironna, pastor of The Master’s Touch International Church in Orlando, Fla., says his church plans to be a part of The Ten Commandments Day, which the commission has declared for Feb. 5.

“I feel that every pastor everywhere on that day should include in their sermon the message of the Ten Commandments, which is bringing the Word of God back to the nations,” Wexler said.

America cannot afford to ignore this discussion, explained Jay Sekulow, chief counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice, a Washington, firm that specializes in constitutional law. “I think the idea of getting the Ten Commandments out of the context of a painting on the wall, into the reality of what the Ten Commandments stand for is important,” said Sekulow, whose firm has defended more Ten Commandment cases than any other in the country.

“We need to come together on this,” Wexler stressed. “So it’s Jew and Gentile, black and white. It’s everybody coming together, holding hands and saying enough is enough.”
Suzy Richardson

Observers say Sight & Sound Theatre reaches people who might never step foot in a church
What started with a slide projector, screen, turntable and microphone has become the leading faith-based theater in the nation, attracting some 800,000 patrons a year.

Glenn Eshelman, founder of Sight & Sound Theatres in Lancaster County, Pa., said he and his wife, Shirley, stepped out in faith 30 years ago with their first production, The Wonder of It All.

Today he says that title has become a fitting way to describe the ministry’s growth and popularity. “What you see in the natural absolutely should not be,” said Eshelman, a former dairy farmer and Church of the Brethren minister. “It is a miracle.”

Sight & Sound’s Millennium Theatre, nestled in Lancaster County’s Amish farm country, is considered the largest faith-based live theatre in the U.S. Some even refer to it as “the Christian Broadway.” To Eshelman, it’s a way to reach people who might never sit through a traditional sermon.

Ruth was on stage at the Millennium through Oct. 22. Complete with a 68-member cast and more than 35 animals, the show carried the audience through Ruth and Naomi’s tumultuous journey of faith, love, loss and redemption. The gleaning fields of Boaz came to life on a 300-foot, wraparound stage illuminated by the largest moving light system on the East Coast.

“There is a strong need in the world today for this type of a ministry,” Eshelman said. “For too long, the world has looked at Christian drama as bathrobes and half-cut wigs. Why should it not be equal to that of Broadway, equal to that in Las Vegas.”

Sight & Sound Theatres, which includes the more intimate, 643-seat Living Waters Theatre also in Lancaster County, uses innovative production technology while remaining faithful to its mission. Patrons return year after year for more.

Lancaster County resident Beth Fisher said she has visited Millennium Theatre dozens of times. “The message is the draw,” she said. “I love how they represent the Bible so well. [The stories] are not stretched out of proportion.”

Though it isn’t a traveling theater, Sight & Sound has reached theatergoers outside the U.S. “Delegations from China have visited the Millennium Theatre in hopes of taking Noah the Musical to the Olympics to represent Christianity amongst the other religions,” Eshelman said. “Impossible logistics deterred it from taking place.”

The theater has also helped ministries from within the U.S. develop their drama departments. “Churches are doing [theatre] with excellence, not to compete with the world, but so that it would be intriguing for the world to come in and say, ‘Let me see,'” said producing director Earl Grove. “We’re just doing it in the culture in the way that the culture can understand it.”

Area ministers agree that Sight & Sound is an effective evangelism tool. “Many people that won’t come to a church will come to a theatre,” said Tommy Stoudt Jr., pastor of Victory Church in Lancaster. “They play a critical role in reaching people.”

“The Bible speaks that the body has many members,” Eshelman said. “I feel like we are an arm or member of the body of the church that presents the gospel in this fashion. [It is] all part of God’s final program here to bring in the final harvest.”
Psalms of David is on stage at the Living Waters Theater through December. Noah the Musical is to open in a Branson, Mo., Sight & Sound Theatre in June 2008.
Paula Hornberger in Lancaster County, Pa.

Charismatic attorney David French fights for religious rights as president of secular civil liberties organization
When the new school year started, ReJOYce in Jesus Campus Fellowship hoped to again attract up to two dozen students to its weekly Bible study meetings.

Affiliated with a charismatic church in Los Angeles, the group spent most of the 2004-05 academic year fighting for official recognition after running afoul of the Milwaukee School of Engineering’s (MSE) anti-discrimination policies.

The school yielded in April after intervention by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), a Philadelphia-based organization that publicizes campus First Amendment violations.

“We’re happy we don’t have to have this problem again,” said ReJOYce chapter adviser Daphne Wilson. “We just want to continue to do the Lord’s work, have our meetings open to everyone and be there to help them and spread the gospel.”

The conflict in Milwaukee is only one of numerous battles FIRE pursued in the last year. Among others:

As battles over stem-cell research rage, pro-life couples are calling the adoption method a ‘noble’ choice
As the battle over federal funding for stem-cell research intensifies, some Christians are using leftover embryos for what they say is a more noble cause.

Adoption of embryos-the earliest stage of fetal development-from people who have gone through in vitro fertilization (IVF) and have spare embryos is now a popular choice for infertile couples who believe in the sanctity of life and want to experience the joys of pregnancy.

Doni and Jim Brinkman of Phoenix had their son Tanner after adopting an embryo through Snowflakes, a branch of Nightlight Christian Adoptions agency, located in Fullerton, Calif. “I always wanted a big family, so when we discovered Jim was infertile in 1996, we were devastated,” Doni Brinkman said. “We dabbled with different options, but when I heard about embryo adoption on Focus on the Family in 1999, it seemed like the perfect thing for me to do.”

The process involves adopting several embryos and implanting two or three at a time in a woman’s womb. After completing a home study with Snowflakes, the Brinkmans adopted 11 embryos in February 2000. Doni started carrying two embryos that August but lost one after seven weeks. In May 2001, she gave birth to Tanner, a mischievous redhead with brilliant blue eyes.

“There are no words to describe the miracle that he is, even down to his hair color,” Doni Brinkman said. “I always dreamed of having a redhead, but it seemed impossible because I’m very dark-haired and so is my husband.”

Doni lost the other nine embryos after three successive tries. Still determined to have a large family, the Brinkmans tried traditional adoption. The first two times the birth mothers backed out, but the third time the couple experienced a “second miracle,” when their son Ty Jordan joined the family.

Snowflakes program director Lori Maze said Nightlight started embryonic adoptions in 1997 when the agency’s Christian owner recognized that couples with extra embryos from IVF treatments had two options: stem-cell research or thawing.

“We’ve learned by listening to clients that families who see life as sacred and have extra embryos feel guilty and/or responsible, while those who don’t see embryos as life [at that point] still want to help another couple start a family,” Maze said.

Snowflakes charges $6,600 for embryo adoption and implantation. Shipping and blood work is extra. Since 1997, roughly 151 families have adopted embryos through Snowflakes; 88 babies have been born and 11 more are on the way. Maze said the live birth rate of implanted embryos adopted through Snowflakes is 37 percent.

Although half of all American fertility clinics allow their clients to donate their embryos to other couples, only a handful of adoption agencies give clients the option of adopting an embryo. There are no adoption laws in place yet for embryos, but the agencies that do it have legal papers drawn up for the transfer of ownership. Donors and adoptive parents have three choices-anonymous donation, anonymous adoption and known adoption, in which both sides meet each other.

Diahn Oakley, public relations manager for the National Embryo Adoption Center in Knoxville, Tenn., said the center suggests that donors and adopting families live at least 500 miles apart. “If they live in the same town, a donor might think a child they see on the sidewalk looks like them and wonder if he came from one of their embryos a few years earlier.”

The center, located within Knoxville Baptist Hospital for Women, started in May 2004 through federal funding and donations from the Christian Medical Association. Clients have come from 48 states and four countries to the one-stop shop, where couples can fill out the paperwork and have their embryo transfers done on-site by a fertility specialist. The package, including studies and legal documents drawn up by an outside adoption agency, costs $5,000.

Bonnie Bernard, a professional counselor and executive director of Embryos Alive, an embryo adoption program in Cincinnati, said emotional attachment to the embryos can happen the same way it does with traditional adoptions. “So far, we’ve only had one couple who have chosen to re-adopt their embryos,” Bernard said.

According to the latest statistics available from the American Society of Reproductive Medicine, in April 2002 there were 400,000 frozen embryos in fertility clinics across the ,250, or 2 percent of them, were available for donation or adoption.
Josie Newman

Christian Teachers Sentenced to Three Years in Prison

Three Christian women in Indonesia were sentenced Sept. 1 to three years in prison for allowing Muslim children to attend a Christian Sunday school program, Compass Direct reported. Rebekka Zakaria, Eti Pangesti and Ratna Bangun were found guilty of attempting to convert children under the Child Protection Act of 2002. Jeff Hammond of Bless Indonesia Today said the women asked the children to get permission from their parents before attending the program, and those without permission were asked to go home. The Sunday school teachers were not given the maximum sentence of five years in prison but said they were devastated by the prospect of being separated from their students, who range in age from 6 to 19, Compass said.

International Church in Vietnam Shut Down

Local authorities shut down a 500-member international church in Vietnam Aug. 27, Compass Direct reported. Eric Dooley, pastor of New Life Fellowship, had sought a permit to meet since it was founded in 1997. Dooley said District 5 police ordered the church to close because it had no permit-though the government has repeatedly ignored the church’s efforts to get permission to worship. On Aug. 28, the Sunday after the church was closed, Dooley stood outside the hotel where the church has been worshiping to inform those showing up that they would not be able to meet. Church leaders hope the action does not represent an effort by the national government to harass the church, Compass said.

Chinese Christian Denied Asylum in U.S.

In August, Xiaodong Li was denied asylum in the U.S. because he was a member of an “illegal” house church, Assist News Service ANS) reported. Li, who is receiving assistance from Virginia-based Christian Freedom International (CFI), fled to the U.S. after police raided his apartment in Ningbo, China. CFI said Li was punched, kicked and shocked with electric batons until he “confessed” to organizing “unauthorized” Christian house-church meetings. The 11-member Board of Immigration Appeals determined that Li fled China because he feared legal action, not persecution, ANS reported. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with the board’s decision and denied Li asylum. CFI said the ruling will make it hard for others who face religious persecution to find refuge in the U.S. “America was founded by men and women fleeing religious persecution,” CFI said in a statement. “It is unfortunate that a group of unelected officials … have lost sight of this.” The Alliance Defense Fund, a Christian law firm that specializes in religious liberty issues, has taken over as Li’s lead counsel.

Diane Bickle contributes all the profit from her Glad Heart Realty to the International House of Prayer
Diane Bickle, wife of International House of Prayer (IHOP) founder Mike Bickle, started a real estate company in 2001 that is a model for effective marketplace ministry. “God told me to do it,” she said. “When God speaks, you don’t know why, you just do it.”

When she heard that still, small voice, Bickle was working for a real estate company while serving as co-pastor of a 3,000-member church in south Kansas City, Mo. She started working in real estate in 1997 for the broker of a small company. “I was in real estate previously, but it was a switch to start my own company.”

The start of Glad Heart Realty coincided with the launch of the IHOP ministry, which facilitates 24-hour prayer and worship. “People were moving here to be a part of the ministry,” she said. “As the CEO, I could set up the company to facilitate and serve the ministry.”

The connection between IHOP and Glad Heart Realty shows in the prayer meetings that the staff have weekly and their commitment to fast for the first three days of every month. “The House of Prayer has prayer for us on a daily basis,” she said. “I have a prayer meeting with the agents once a week. We pray for our clients, for their health, finances and communication, and we pray for one another.”

In the last five years, 17 people have joined her staff. They are all Christians with a heart to reach the city. “We’re making an impact on the community,” Bickle said. “It’s not uncommon for us to lead clients to the Lord. We’re a presence of light and salt as we move into the community.”

Glad Heart Realty owns the building it’s housed in. The 50,000-square-foot shopping center includes IHOP, a food pantry, a child care center, a coffee shop, a bookstore and an international missions center.

Glad Heart contributes all its corporate profits to IHOP. “After the agents and the bills are paid, everything goes to the International House of Prayer,” Bickle said. “We’ve contributed tens of thousands every year. An example is the first year we were in business, we installed stucco on the outside of the shopping center.”

The agents are actively involved with IHOP, and Bickle leads a prayer meeting every Wednesday at 6 a.m. for professionals who want to reach the marketplace. She also has the freedom to pray in the Healing Room for two hours every Thursday.

Bob Frasier, founder of the Joseph Company, said he asked Bickle to lead the prayer meeting. “Diane is an example of where God is leading many business people, to make Jesus the center of their pursuit and prayer as their chief methodology,” he said.

Glad Heart client Cindy Dodd said Bickle’s faith-based business approach set her apart from other real estate companies. “When Diane came to look at our house, she said we had three strikes against us but because of our motive for selling the house, she believed God would move on our behalf,” said Dodd, who wanted to sell her 3,800-square-foot home because of the time it took to care for it.

“The first person who looked at our house decided to buy it,” she said. “I was so glad to have a real estate agent who trusts God.”

Since Glad Heart opened its doors in 2001, Bickle says there has been an impact on the community. “Property values have risen around the shopping center because of the quality of residents moving in who are joining IHOP,” she said.

IHOP also has purchased two apartment complexes near the shopping center. The complexes are full of hundreds of students attending IHOP’s ministry-training center.

Bickle said she drew the name of her company from Scripture. “Hebrews 1:9 says Jesus was the gladdest person who lived,” she said. “This truth that Jesus is kind and happy about people has really impacted me. I decided this would be the personality of this business. I wanted Glad Heart Realty to reflect the gladness Jesus has when He reaches people.”

The name piques people’s curiosity and sets the tone for the working relationship with clients. “All of the agents have a reputation for honesty and hard work,” Bickle said. “Our clients and other real estate companies know that we are different.”

What’s the next step for Glad Heart Realty? “I’m praying for wisdom and expecting miracles in my business,” Bickle said. “I’m expecting that we are going to lay hands on the sick and they will be healed. It’s about the harvest, that’s why we’re doing what we’re doing.”
Leilani Haywood in Kansas City, Mo.

Attorney General Seeks to Overturn Pledge Ruling

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said the Justice Department would fight to overturn a federal court ruling that the Pledge of Allegiance can’t be recited in public schools because it refers to God, the Associated Press (AP) reported. Gonzales said the Supreme Court has affirmed “time and again that such official acknowledgements of our nation’s religious heritage, foundation and character are constitutional, Gonzales said in a statement. The ruling by U.S. District Judge Lawrence Karlton in San Francisco could put the issue before the Supreme Court, which declined to hear a similar case last year. The high court said the plaintiff, atheist Michael Newdow, did not have standing to file suit on behalf of his daughter because he did not have custody of her. In the current case, Newdow is acting as attorney for the three parents who challenged the pledge because it contains the words “under God.” After Karlton’s ruling, the Senate unanimously approved a resolution stating that the phrase “one nation under God” is “fully constitutional,” the AP reported.

Appeals Court Permits Ten Commandments Display

A Nebraska federal appeals court ruled Aug. 19 that a Ten Commandments monument could remain in a Plattsmouth city park, the Associated Press (AP) reported. The 11-2 decision reversed a previous decision, citing the Supreme Court’s recent ruling that it was constitutionally permissible for a Ten Commandments monument to remain on the grounds of the Texas Capitol. In that decision, the high court determined that the monument was a legitimate tribute to the nation’s legal and religious history, the AP said. Writing for Nebraska’s 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Judge Pasco Bowman said the park display “makes passive and permissible use of the text of the Ten Commandments to acknowledge the role of religion in our nation’s heritage.”

Abstinence Program Funding Suspended

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) suspended funding for the Silver Ring Thing abstinence program Aug. 22, saying it “includes both secular and religious components that are not adequately safeguarded,” the Washington Post reported. Officials ordered the group to submit a “corrective action plan” in order to be considered for a $75,000 grant this year, the newspaper said. The move came three months after the American Civil Liberties Union filed suit against HHS, saying its activities and materials were “permeated with religion.” Joel Oster, senior litigation counsel at the Alliance Defense Fund, which is representing Silver Ring Thing, said the group offers both a religious and a secular program, though its Web site said a secular program was “in development,” the Post said.

My Turn

Charisma’s 30th anniversary issue, (“Who Is the Holy Spirit?” August) was awesome! To be connected with the body of Christ through such a common denominator is truly amazing. Specifically, the article “Holy Spirit, Make Me Bold” by Wayde I. Goodall summed it all up because it took us from the early church experience to the filling of the Spirit—a gift that the article clearly states is available to us today.

What could we possibly accomplish that would benefit the kingdom of God, as well as our brothers and sisters, without the unction of the Holy Spirit? How effective would a car be if its navigation system didn’t work properly? The driver would be lost.

So it is with believers and the Holy Spirit. He is our resident guide. The entire magazine made it clear just how much we Christians need the Holy Spirit to fulfill our purpose so we can enjoy life the way God intended.
Leonie Chandersingh
Orlando, Florida

New Look, Same Message

Thank you for devoting so much of the redesigned August issue to God’s empowering Holy Spirit. It is His Spirit who can transform a Christian into a powerful servant of God. It is also the Spirit who gives us the peace that surpasses all understanding. That’s why He is called the Comforter.
Larry Higgins
Denver, Indiana

Although your 30th anniversary issue is much glossier, I have two concerns that surfaced after seeing it. Now that it is being sold on mainstream newsstands, will this limit the topics that need to be addressed? Second, will your editors be tempted to water down things that need to be said to the body of Christ but are not appropriate now that so many others are looking over your shoulder?

I have appreciated your integrity and passion in the past. But I fear this new paying audience will compromise your editor and other writers.
Rev. Rosie Farnsworth
Kingston, Washington

More and more Christian publications are looking like the celebrity tabloids we see in the grocery store checkout line. The photos and content all are focused on personalities, with just a few articles of real substance.

In these last days, much is at stake in the lives of your readers. Please don’t offer them just articles about personalities. We are drowning in personalities—even if they are “Spirit-filled”!

This is happening everywhere we turn, even in the church. We are drowning out the melody and watering down the new wine.
Dennis Wood
Palmyra, Pennsylvania

No More Pope Bashing

Your article about Pope John Paul II was a powerful witness to the things God can do with a surrendered heart and an openness to the Holy Spirit (“Vicar of the Spirit” by Stephen Mansfield, June). What puzzled me were the letters to the editor sent to discredit the pope. Is it so hard to believe that God will pour out His Spirit on all who call on Him, including Catholics?
Marianne Kluesener
Cincinnati, Ohio

I did not appreciate the anti-Catholic letters you published from readers. To give a platform for people to spread lies and misunderstandings about the Catholic Church serves no good purpose. Archbishop Fulton Sheen hit the nail on the head when he said: “There are not a hundred people in America that hate the Catholic Church, but there are millions who hate what they think is the Catholic Church.”
Kim Parnis
Livonia, Michigan

I am responding to the letters from readers who accused Roman Catholics of being pagans, cultists and practitioners of witchcraft. It’s ironic that some Christians say the same thing about charismatics!

Regarding the question of whether the pope is born again, consider the fact that his daily devotion included the Apostle’s Creed. We could all benefit from daily declaration that Jesus Christ is Lord through His virgin birth, crucifixion, death, resurrection and imminent return.

There are many expressions of the Christian faith. But the universal church agrees on the foundational revelation that Jesus Christ is the only way of salvation. There are traditions even in independent charismatic churches that have no root in Scripture. But I will not judge them as unsaved simply because I disagree with their fringe beliefs.
Teri Hamrick
Marietta, Georgia

I was appalled by some of the readers’ responses about the Catholic Church. In some of their letters they described Catholics as pagans, witches and cult members. Give me a break!

The way you learn things is basically from other people. This includes religion. I appreciate your special June issue on the pope.
Tracy Kern
Cumming, Georgia

I have been impressed with the open-mindedness and acceptance that Charisma shows—especially with your issue about Pope John Paul II. Unfortunately when I received your anniversary issue—with many letters criticizing Catholics—I felt compelled not to read your magazine again.

Then I realized that if I stopped reading Charisma that would make me just like the judgmental readers who wrote to you to criticize the pope. So rather than debate the misrepresentation of the Catholic Church (in letters full of idiocy, inaccuracy and close-mindedness) I will suggest that your critics read the New Testament.

Jesus would not spew the hate that oozed from those letters in the August issue. Those who wrote those letters have a translation of Jesus’ message that is both frightening and sad.
Michelle M. Mead
Wappingers Falls, New York

Thumbs Down on Hollywood

In response to Leigh DeVore’s review of the movie Cinderella Man: Shame on Charisma for using space and ink to support Hollywood by suggesting that readers waste money on this film.

This film has violence and cursing. Why are we supporting Hollywood in the first place? And since when did Hollywood ever care about Christians?

Charisma ought to get a backbone and recommend to its readers that they should not be seeking entertainment from Hollywood unless another Chariots of Fire or The Passion of the Christ comes along.
Curt Vieselmeyer
Boise, Idaho

Thumbs Down on Book Reviews

I was extremely disappointed in Eric Wilbank’s review of Francis Frangipane’s new book This Day We Fight (Vibes, August). I couldn’t help but wonder if he actually read the book or perhaps just skimmed it.

In this age of terrorism, drugs, war and immorality, it is sometimes easy to become complacent in prayer. The needs of the world can seem overwhelming. But this book shows that we can make a difference.

This book is about fighting and not giving up. It’s a wake-up call. But it’s also about perfecting our faith and developing the character of Christ so we can move in supernatural power and do what otherwise would be impossible.
Terri Rowray
Robins, Iowa

Lost Integrity

Kudos to editor J. Lee Grady for addressing greed among ministers (“Charismatic Idols,” June). Has Charisma ever written about The Salvation Army? You’ll never find their ordained ministers wearing Rolexes or driving luxury cars. You’ll find them in inner cities across the nation dealing with people few others care about.
Shane Gilmore
via e-mail

Thank you for addressing the issue of greed and lack of accountability in our churches. I was in a church in California for 23 years where the pastor treated his congregation like children. He stopped having business meetings, and the deacons had no say about anything. This man was given a $1,500 monthly housing allowance, a credit card from the church and a $12,000 anniversary gift each year.

Churches are being ripped off. These types of leaders do not believe they will be punished.
name withheld
Fordyce, Arkansas

Lee Grady recently wrote about a Florida minister who is divorcing his wife and fighting with her over money. His article lacked the balance most reasonable Christians know is necessary in dealing with personal finance and accountability. It is embarrassing to your magazine that Grady has painted ministers with such a broad brush—as if to suggest that people in ministry should not be prosperous in everyday life.
Stephen Spillers
Atlanta, Georgia

Lee Grady declared the charismatic movement over in his August column. I agree that some charismatics have refused to mature and that some groups are approaching apostasy.

Charisma magazine should highlight some of the formerly independent charismatic groups that have adopted in recent years a more sound, biblical understanding. They still teach about the gifts of the Holy Spirit but they have embraced reformed theology.
Dan Becker
Alpharetta, Georgia

For and Against the War

We are losing the war in Iraq because some of God’s people are complaining about our president and the ongoing conflict. First Timothy 2:1-2 says prayer and intercession and giving thanks should be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence.

All I hear on the news is bad-mouthing against God’s elect. Let’s pray instead of complaining!
C.F. Polston
Darby, Montana

Tell me again how the Iraq war has made us safer from terrorism. Point out for me again how we’ve suffered no terrorist attacks since the day George W. Bush took the fight to the enemy.

You’ll have to speak up, though. It’s going to be hard to hear you over the explosions, sirens and wails of the maimed in London. Sooner or later it will be us again.
Leonard Pitts Jr.
via e-mail

Corrections:

In a July news story about Israel donating 35 acres to a group of evangelical leaders, Benjamin Netanyahu should have been identified as former prime minister. A caption in an August news story about Christian persecution in Sri Lanka misidentified pastor Shawn Turing as pastor Jebamoney Ratnam. Both men have endured attacks by Buddhist mobs. Charisma regrets the errors.