Pope John Paul II

It occurs to me, as I read over the various news reports and opinions about the state of affairs of the Catholic Church, especially from Fox News and My Way, in the wake of the death of John Paul II that we as protestants and evangelicals must pray.

I am reminded of a story told by speaker at a conference a number of years ago. When he first started pastoring, the building where he pastored, literally, sat in the shadow of a neighboring demoninational church building. He felt so threatened by the enormitiy of this building that he couldn't even look at the building while driving by. It was then that the Holy Spirit began to speak to him. He came to realize that every demonination, no matter how far they may have seemed to drift from their beginnings and passion, have, as their foundation, truth and more importantly, He who is Truth!

With this in mind, we can and must pray for revival. Revival is not, as many have preceived it, a scheduled event of week night services featuring a speaker from out of town and special music put on by the ladies of the church. Revival is an uncontainable, unquenchable, unreasonable invasion of God by His Holy Spirit to, as completely as we will allow Him, shatter the status quo. Revival is God sticking His finger into our comfortable, well-managed lives, stirring it around and messing us up! This is revival!

There is great debate with even odds-takers weighing in on who will be the new pope. Many are concerned that after 26 years of a conservative papacy that the more liberal factions of catholicism will want to have one of their own in power. Whoever is elected may have a profound influence on how Christians (i.e. non-Catholics) and Christian missionaries will be treated in Latin America.

What most North American evangelicals do not understand, even Catholics are unaware, is that Latin American Catholicism is very different from that which is practiced north of the US-Mexico border. The most inportant difference lies in the attitude of the Catholic leadership. In the US and Canada, Ecumenism is the word - we are all one Body in Christ. But south of the border, evangelicals in particular are regarded as the enemy. There is great concern in the Catholic leadership over the recent increase in the number of evangelical christians in Latin America.

An excerpt from an article on Fox News website:

" Three Latin American prelates — Brazilian Cardinal Claudio Hummes and Oscar Andres Rodriguez Maradiaga of Honduras and Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina — also have developed reputations as strong advocates for greater poverty-fighting programs and activism to counter the popularity of the evangelical churches. "

An article in Christianity Today in April 2001 states:

"Alluding to Protestant Pentecostalism, among other movements, Pope John Paul II called religious sects a "serious problem" in predominantly Roman Catholic Latin America and urged the region's bishops to reevangelize their flocks. "

The next pope could have a great effect on that by either embracing this advance of the Kingdom of God or by persecuting. We must pray. Pray for the Father's will.

"He changes times and seasons; he sets up kings and deposes them." Dan 2:21
(from New International Version)

John Paul, John Paul II's predecessor, was pope for only 33 days!

We must pray for revival among the Catholics worldwide. We must pray for that revival to start with us, as individuals.