With
anointed Messengers of God and under the guidance of the Holy
Spirit and direction of God the Father, Awakening Ministries
is sharing the Gospel of Jesus
Christ, delivering the message of Love and Salvation to the
lost in India. Jesus Christ commanded us (Body of Believers)
to fulfill the Great
Commission
- Then
Jesus said, All
authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing
them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the
Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have
commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the
very end of the age."
Matthew 28:19,20 (NIV)
The
distribution of population is uneven because
large areas are virtually uninhabited, while others have a
relatively high population density. Of
the Philippine population, 83
percent are Roman Catholics, 5
percent are Muslims, and 9
percent are Protestants or of other denominations, including
the Philippine Independent Church, or Aglipayans, a schismatic
group of Roman Catholics founded about 1902 by Gregorio
Aglipay, a Filipino priest.
Representatives
of various Roman Catholic religious orders, such as the
Augustinians, Dominicans, Franciscans, and Jesuits, came to
the islands immediately after the successful Legazpi
expedition. Conversions were rapid, as coercion mixed with the
ceremonial splendor of the Roman Catholic rites aroused fear
and admiration in the local peoples.
The
work of the missionaries was utmost importance in establishing
Spanish rule and was comparably important to the Filipinos,
united as least into a fairly homogeneous people by a common
religion. The monastic orders eventually secured the
possession of large tracts of land, and they became wealthy
and politically powerful.
With
U.S. help, Aguinaldo returned to the islands on May 19 and
proclaimed an independent Philippine republic. By the terms of
the Treaty of Paris (December 10, 1898), however, Spain ceded
the entire archipelago to the United States in return for $20
million, and on December 21 the United States proclaimed the
establishment of U.S. military rule.
Aguinaldo
and his associates refused to acknowledge U.S. domination.
They proclaimed independence in June 1898 and a provisional
Philippine government was established at Malolos, in central
Luzon. Tension increased, and on February 4 hostilities began
at Manila when a Filipino patrol provoked the fire of a U.S.
sentry.
The
insurgents were driven back almost at once by U.S. troops, and
in November 1899, the Filipinos resorted to guerrilla warfare.
Aguinaldo was captured on March 23, 1901, and he sword an oath
of allegiance to the United States in April, but sporadic
warfare continued for still another year.
At
the end of the insurrection in 1902, U.S. civil government
replaced the military authority, and on July 4, 1902, William
Howard Taft, later president of the United States, became the
first civil governor. The Philippine Bill of 1902 provided for
the establishment of a bicameral legislature, and five years
later, on October 16, 1907, the first session of the
Philippine assembly opened, with an elected lower house and
the Philippine Commission, previously established, as the
upper house.
