Dailyrecord.com, NJ
08-20-06
Hearing from God at Dover church
Members believe Holy Spirit speaks through people
BY TIEN-SHUN LEE
DAILY RECORD
DOVER -- A spiritual cacophony of loud praying and vigorous clapping, mixed
with tambourines and a pastor preaching over a microphone, filled Club
Colombia on a recent Monday night.
Then, according to church members, God spoke to individuals by using several
people in the room as vocal instruments. The chosen parishioners placed their
hands on top of other people's heads and privately spoke the word of God to
those people.
"I cannot explain how it is when the spirit takes over you," said Pastor John
Rivera, who gave several "prophecies," or messages from God, that night. "It's
something incredible to experience. It's coming from my heart."
The belief that God speaks through people is a central tenet of the Iglesia de
Dios Ministerial de Jesucristo Internacional, or Church of God International
Ministry of Jesus Christ. The church has roots in evangelicalism, but differs from
most evangelical and Pentecostal churches in that prophecy-giving is ritualized
into every worship service.
Founded in 1971 in Bogota, Colombia, the International Ministry of Jesus Christ
now has hundreds of churches worldwide. They include one in Elizabeth that was
founded nine years ago, and another in Dover, which was founded close to two
years ago as an outgrowth of the Elizabeth church, which now has about 800
parishioners.
In Dover, about 140 people, almost all Latinos, attend church services held in
Spanish at Club Colombia on Blackwell Street every Monday, Tuesday,
Thursday and Sunday.
Rivera and other church members are looking for a bigger space to hold
services. They have their eye on a building on Route 15 that would hold about
400 people.
"Our doctrine is based on the Holy Spirit," explained Maria Mosner, a Morristown
resident who began attending services in Elizabeth eight years ago.
"You have to receive the Holy Spirit. God gives some the gift of prophecy, and
they start to give messages from the Lord."
Rivera, an immigrant from Montenegro, Colombia, said he used to work in any
place where he could find a job -- including cafeterias and hotels -- before he
became a pastor for the International Ministry of Jesus Christ. He began going to
the church in Elizabeth because his wife, who used to suffer from severe arthritis,
went to the church day after day, and believed that God cured her of her illness.
'Where God talks'
"My wife said, 'I know a place where God talks,'" Rivera said.
"When I came here for the first time, God said, 'You're going to work with me,'"
he said.
Rivera went to Miami in 2002 to study the Bible at a special branch of the church
that prepares people to become pastors. Though he was a shy person, he began
leading some church services in Elizabeth after finishing two months of Bible
study, he said.
In 2004, parishioners made a request to the pastor of the Elizabeth church, Luis
Garcia, to open a church in Dover. Many parishioners had been traveling to
Elizabeth from Dover and surrounding areas such as Morristown and Morris
Plains. Rivera, who lives in Parsippany, responded by leading the Dover church
services.
Church leaders would not allow the local worship services to be photographed.
With his eyes squinted almost shut, Rivera stood in front of a blue sign bearing
the church's name on a recent Thursday night, praising God and the Holy Spirit
as men, women and children stood with their hands held up at head level and
said their own, personal prayers to God.
The cacophony of individual praying mixed with a pastor's lyrical preaching is a
distinct trait of worship services at the International Ministry of Jesus Christ.
Seeking wisdom
Rivera then led parishioners in a reading from Job 28, "The man who is looking
for wisdom." At the end of the reading, lively, circus-like music with xylophones
broke out over loudspeakers and parishioners launched into a hearty singing of
"Despliegue el Cristiano" (Deployment of the Christian).
After a series of readings and songs, Rivera began his sermon. He urged
parishioners to put their hearts with God, instead of giving priority to problems
with spouses, exercise, telenovelas or material things.
"Some people love to exercise. But if you are sitting here thinking about
exercising your muscles, then you are putting your priority with material things,
and material things are not going to give you salvation," Rivera preached.
"Let us let go of material things. Your first priority should be God. Worry about
other things as a second priority."
Although Rivera preached about letting go of material things, he and church
members believe in both material and spiritual blessings. This was demonstrated
during the next part of the service, when men and women shared testimonials -personal stories that show how God manifested Himself in their lives.
"God told me that He would give me the house I wanted, and He gave me that
house," said Amira Zuluaga, a Morris Plains resident who has been a church
member for seven years.
"He told me, 'Don't worry about the money because I will multiply the money that
comes into your hands.' And one way or another, I got money to pay bills and to
pay for the house."
Another woman testified that God had helped her to obtain a bed that she liked.
A man testified that God had given him a bigger car.
A miracle
One woman testified that her friend, who did not believe in miracles, experienced
a miracle when he remained alive and functioning despite having a cancer that
had spread throughout his body.
"Almost all Pentecostal churches believe in an eminent God -- that God is here
and now, and is going to step in and cure you and be there on a day-to-day
basis," said Cornelia Flora, a professor of sociology at Iowa State University
who has written a book on Pentecostalism in Colombia.
"Testimonials are very common in Pentecostal churches. It's looked forward to
and anticipated."
Flora has never encountered the International Ministry of Jesus Christ, but she
has studied other Pentecostal churches where prophecies are an important
phenomenon.
"In the United Pentecostal Church, the prophecies would come in tongues -- in a
language that was unknown to you," Flora said.
"One person would prophesize, and another person would interpret the tongues.
But the prophecies I've seen were more of collective well-being prophecies,
rather than individual prophecies. What's unusual about this church is that the
prophecies are individual, and that they are so regular in the service."
In Dover, prophecies usually are given at the end of church services on
Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. On Mondays, more attention is devoted to
receiving the Holy Spirit. In a religious ritual called la lavanza, parishioners spend
more than an hour speaking aloud to God while clapping vigorously. If they are
moved by the Holy Sprit, they may put their hands upon another parishioner's
head and bless them, or give them a prophecy.
The founder of the International Ministry of Jesus Christ, Maria Luisa Piraquive
de Moreno, still runs churches in Colombia. According to her book, "Vivencias,"
which has become the manifesto for the church, Piraquive and her deceased
husband, Luis Eduardo, used to belong to an evangelical church in Bogota in the
1960s. They became disenchanted with the church because the leaders did not
behave in their lives according to what they preached in their church.
Church of God
They joined another church, called the Church of God, where it was forbidden to
speak in tongues, though the pastors preached about the necessity of receiving
the Holy Spirit.
While still members of the Church of God, Piraquive and Eduardo met a woman
named Dora who held religious services in her house. It was in Dora's house that
Piraquive received numerous prophecies that she herself would receive the gift
of prophecy, as well as a large ministry.
Two years after being baptized in 1969 with the ability to give prophecies,
Piraquive again left her church because she was disillusioned with the leaders.
She and her husband decided to start their own independent church, according
to the book.
An article published this year in the Colombian magazine Revista Cambio paints
a controversial picture of the Piraquive family's churches, which now number
around 180 in Colombia. According to the article, about 25,000 people attend
International Ministry of Jesus Christ church services every Sunday in Colombia.
During the services, monetary donations are collected. While some people
donate very small amounts, many donate between $4 and $20, and about 2000
parishioners donate 10 percent of their monthly salary to the church.
"One time, only in Bogota, they collected 1 billion pesos ($423,000) in a single
month," Piraquive's nephew was quoted saying in the Revista Cambio, which has
a circulation of about 175,000.
With access to large amounts of money, some of Piraquive's family members
have become powerful political figures, the Revista Cambio article contends.
'Intimidating' guards
Piraquive's daughter, Moreno, is the leader of the Independent Movement for
Absolute Renovation, or MIRA, a conservative political party that opposes free
trade with the United States, abortion and gay rights. Carlos Baena, the husband
of Piraquive's niece, is on the Bogota city council.
"When they move, they are protected by an intimidating group of security
guards," Revista Cambio stated. "They ride in armored vehicles, and they have
14 security guards that work in two shifts."
But Philip Berryman, a former priest who has written a number of books on
religion in Latin America and the rise of Protestantism and Pentecostalism,
defended the church's political power and money-making tendencies.
"It's a common view from the outside that churches are money-making entities
that exploit the people," Berryman said. "But when you get into the world of these
churches, that's not necessarily the feel of them."
In Dover, possible exploitation by the church was far from the minds of
parishioners last week. Instead, they praised the church as a place where they
found happiness and peace. Rivera pointed out that nobody is forced to go to the
church, or to give the church money.
"I used to go to Catholic church, where you go in, and you come out empty,"
Zuluaga said. "Here we go out with happiness in our hearts."