Displaying items by tag: Latin America

President Morales has announced that the Guatemalan embassy will be moved to Jerusalem in May, just two days after the United States. The president, an outspoken Christian Evangelical, has been publicly supportive of Israel since the beginning of his mandate. After receiving an award recently he said, ‘From the bottom of my heart, I tell you, I don’t feel I deserve this. I’m just trying to do the right thing and allow my God, my people, and history to judge me.’ Vice president Jafeth Cabrera said his country is fulfilling biblical prophecy: ‘Yes, we do share the idea that prophecy is coming to pass. We are pleased that Guatemala is contributing to having that happen, and we hope it will soon be a reality.’ The vice president also said the decision could not have happened without prayer.

Argentina has recently hosted a meeting of the G20 anti-corruption group, with national delegations and international organisations seeking to address the best ways of curtailing corruption and promoting integrity in state-owned enterprises (SOEs). Controlled by national governments, SOEs rank among the largest companies in the world and are often some of the biggest employers in their country. They are central to the daily lives of citizens, providing critical goods and public services in sectors such as transport, utilities, health and telecommunications. When they indulge in corruption and malpractice, citizens feel the impact: trains are delayed, households go without power or water, and the sick are deprived of essential medical treatment. SOEs are particularly vulnerable to corruption because of their closeness to politicians and public officials, and the scale of resources, contracts and operations they control.

We extend greetings and blessings from the Christian church in Bolivia. We are very grateful for your prayers in favor of our continent. Those who could participate in the UPRISING organized in Bolivia in November 2017, now understood in greater depth the role of prayer to transform a nation and now we can see many results of those days of UPRISING, since the prayer in Bolivia has risen a lot.

On January 10, 2018, the Extraordinary Assembly of the National Association of Evangelicals of Bolivia (ANDEB) was held, with the participation of different denominations, missions, evangelical organizations, and some Evangelical United Departmental and Regional Churches to analyze the situation of the country and draw conclusions and determinations regarding the enactment by the President in exercise of Law 1005 of the Code of Procedure of the Bolivian Criminal System, as according to this Code, our country faces the possibility that as of 2019, evangelism activities are punishable by law.

In this sense, we request you to pray for our country, with the following prayer requests:

1. Pray for the ABROGATION of the aforementioned Law 1005 of the New Bolivian Penal Code.

2. Pray for the unity of ALL the Evangelical Church in Bolivia through its National, Departmental and Regional representation bodies in such a way that we are one voice, according to the prayer of our Lord Jesus Christ "So that all may be one ... so that the world believes that you sent me.”

Cochabamba, January 18th, 2018
Asamblea General Extraordinaria
Asociación Nacional de Evangélicos de Bolivia (ANDEB)
Iglesias Evangélicas Unidas Departamentales (IEUD

The International Justice Mission (IJM) writes, ‘Praise God for a successful and restoring 2017! Our Latin America teams walked faithfully alongside seventy boys and girls who are survivors of sexual violence and sex trafficking, through the ups and downs of trauma-focused therapy. In this process, our social workers and psychologists consistently work with each survivor and their family, to address the trauma they have experienced and help create a safe and stable environment that will support their healing process.’ IJM invites us to pray for these boys and girls, their families, and their communities.

May our Abba fulfil you with His everlasting joy, love, grace and revelation.

We, the planning team would like to invite you to join us for the UPRISING Bolivia Gathering to be held at Cochabamba, Bolivia, Nov 29 Dec 2, 2017.   In 1972, Bolivia, experienced a visitation from the Lord through a national revival, where one of the prophecies received was; “Bolivia, small and despised among the nations, but dear to my heart, I will cause that a great revival will be brought forth from you.”   Despite the ancestral bad reports on our country, the youth in our nation is ready to envision the fulfilment of that call.  

At the beginning of this year, the brethren in Bolivia dreamed of an UPRISING in our country and were summoned to earnestly pray about it, and believe that our Lord Jesus Christ designated our nation to become the site of the next UPRISING. We believe UPRISING will be an event that will affect the whole American Continent. The date set for the event is November 29 to December 2, at the Colonial Hotel, in the city of Cochabamba, interesting enough; the location of the event is the geographical center of our 9 States country.

UPRISING Bolivia will gather different denominational networks to impart worship and plenary sessions about a global revival and mission movement among the youth, children and women. Leaders of national, regional and international networks of prayer are being invited to share, pray, listen, learn and collaborate in the new strategies we believe the Lord will give us for Bolivia and our Continent.  The first day, a National Worship & Praise Altar will be displayed at Plaza de Las Banderas, for a transformation cry out over our Nation and region, while 700 young leaders will actively participate in the four-day gathering.

We would like to have your honorable presence and would love for you to join us at the UPRISING Bolivia event. We truly know that God's heart and anointing has been imparted among the fathers and mothers of our nation and now it will be passed on our youth and this generation.

Feel free to visit our web page: http://uprisingbol.pdlanzas.org for more information. We hope that you will invest your valuable time and effort to be part of the next movement of God surging from Bolivia to the nations and the world.

Every blessing in Christ,

On behalf of the Church in Bolivia,

Manuel Alejandro de la Torre UgarteCadima
Director MinisterioPuntas de Lanzas
UPRISING  Bolivia 2017 Convenor

Former Guatemalan football federation official Hector Trujillo, arrested in December 2015 in Florida, has become the first person to be sentenced in investigations into corruption in FIFA. He had accepted almost $200,000 in bribes from a sports marketing company. A further forty football and marketing executives have been accused. Many of the charges involve bribes paid around the organisation of regional tournaments and World Cup qualifying games. Prosecutors in Switzerland have also been investigating, and FIFA has conducted internal enquiries.

President Nicolás Maduro won a controversial election for a new Constituent Assembly with the power to rewrite Venezuela’s constitution,  allowing him to replace the current National Assembly with an assembly of 545 members nominated by his administration. The impoverished nation - wracked by an economic crisis, hyperinflation, food shortages, medicine shortages, starvation, skyrocketing infant mortality, civil unrest and street violence - has endured months of anti-government protests with many violent deaths. Maduro said his new Assembly ‘would bring peace to a polarised country, with all branches of the government falling under the political movement.’ Two of Australia’s major trade unions pledged support for the socialist dictator of Venezuela and his Bolivarian Revolution Socialist Government while America has imposed sanctions and the international community are discussing ways to stabilise the country after allegations of election ballot fraud. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/aug/02/venezuela-voting-fraud-corruption-allegations-protests.

Volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, hurricanes, civil wars, and oppressive dictatorships all play a part in the story of Nicaragua. This nation of only 6.3 million people is physically the largest of the Central American republics. As it continues to face unending obstacles, leaving it one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere, it also suffers from the ongoing conflict and violence associated with drug trafficking. There is poverty, there are broken families; but the suffering of many Nicaraguans has softened their hearts toward God. They are asking spiritual questions. Evangelicals have grown forty-fold in fifty years! Believers are growing in considerable influence, even in the government, but deep-seated poverty has also opened doors for false teachings such as liberation theology and prosperity gospel. Pray for seekers to be wise and discerning and for false teaching to be revealed for what it is - fake news, not good news.

Semana Santa (Holy Week) is very important in Mexico. Processions and passion plays take place throughout the country, with different areas and communities celebrating in varying ways and varying degrees of lavishness. On Palm Sunday (Domingo de Ramos) processions re-enact Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem, and woven palms are sold outside churches. Celebrations on Maundy Thursday (Jueves Santo) include visiting seven churches to recall the vigil the apostles kept in the garden while Jesus prayed before his arrest. There are foot-washing ceremonies, and of course Mass with Holy Communion. On Good Friday (Viernes Santo) there are solemn religious processions in which statues of Christ and Mary are carried through towns. People often dress in costumes to evoke the time of Jesus. Passion plays are presented in many communities. The largest is south of Mexico City, where over a million gather. Some places burn an effigy of Judas on Holy Saturday. There are no Easter Bunnies or chocolate eggs in Mexico. People go to church and families celebrate quietly.

Last week veteran newspaper journalist Miroslava Breach was shot eight times in front of her youngest son, in the Sierra Tarahumara region. She is the second journalist murdered in a week, and the third this month. The region is rich in precious minerals and old growth forests. It also has ample and hard-to-reach fertile land, ideal for growing illicit crops. Cartel-linked paramilitaries have for years carried out terrifying displacement campaigns against the indigenous Tarahumara residents. In January, gunmen killed the area’s most high-profile indigenous land rights defender, Goldman Prize-winner Isidro Baldenegro. One of Breach’s last reports was about the discovery of mass grave sites that were probably were used to hide the bodies of kidnapping victims and disappeared persons. Without her reporting, the region might become another journalism no-go ‘silence zone’ in Mexico’s media landscape.