Capitol Ministries, the group whose leader, Ralph Drollinger, runs weekly Bible studies for members of Congress and President Trump’s cabinet, announced the launch of a new ministry to members of the Mexican legislature last week. Weekly Bible studies for Mexican legislators are set to begin in January 2019.
Drollinger, who produces weekly written Bible studies to augment Capitol Ministries’ in-person gatherings, says that a “righteous” public official should not “compromise biblical absolutes in his policies or interactions with others.” He tells public officials that they should make laws and policies that are aligned with his interpretation of the Bible—and that requires support for the death penalty, opposition to marriage equality, and opposition to abortion. Drollinger says “God is a capitalist” and that “radical environmentalism” is a “false religion.” He argues that entitlement programs lack “any basis of biblical authority.”
Drollinger has written that “God only hears the prayers of leaders and citizens who are upright, who live righteously through faith in Jesus Christ.” He has said that liberal Christians aren’t really Christian and he has called Roman Catholicism “the world’s largest false religion.”
Ricardo Arizmendi, tapped to lead the ministry in Mexico City, says the door was opened in Mexico by the election of an unprecedented number of Evangelicals:
A new political climate that has seen an unprecedented number of Evangelicals elected to office helped make the ministry planting possible.
On July 1, the people of Mexico elected as their president former Mexico City mayor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador who ran on an anti-corruption and anti-crime platform. A large number of his supporters, including many from the Evangelical Political Party (PES), were elected to Congress and now make up the majority.
"As never before, members of the Evangelical Political Party were elected," Zamora said. "Shortly after the elections, I had the pleasure of meeting with an elected Member of the House (PES) in Mexico City and he was eager to start a Capitol Ministries Bible Study, support Ricardo Arizmendi our Ministry Leader, and connect him with other legislators.
"We are really excited about what is coming for Mexico!" …
Arizmendi believes the weekly Bible study where God's Word is regularly taught will fortify Mexico's leaders, help them mature in their faith, and guide them as they legislate in keeping with God's precepts.
"We believe that a nation influenced by God's principles through His Word is what our country needs desperately" said Arizmendi.
Capitol Ministries has aggressive expansion plans both internationally and at the state and local level in the U.S. It has divided the world into ten regions and has currently hired seven “global directors” who “are charged with creating sustainable ministries to national political leaders in their respective geographic sphere of the world.”
According to Capitol Ministries, Drollinger was in Mexico for the launch event. Also on hand was Oscar Zamora of Peru, the global director for Latin America. Capitol Ministries’ report on the launch quoted Zamora saying, “After visiting Mexico, I saw first-hand the open doors that God has allowed for His Word to be taken to the Asamblea Nacional, the Congress of Mexico.”
After accepting the Global Director position in early 2017, Zamora has led the planting of ministries in Uruguay and Ecuador. Additional ministry launches are scheduled this fall in Honduras and Brazil. Most recently, Zamora and Elizabeth, his wife and ministry partner, had a very successful trip to Costa Rica last week to discuss creating a ministry to that nation's political leaders. As a result, plans are now underway to launch a capital ministry there, too.
Under Zamora's leadership, a number of Capitol Ministries Bible studies, in addition to those already offered on the CM website, have been translated into Spanish. Zamora also arranged for Drollinger's book, Rebuilding America, The Biblical Blueprint, to be translated into Spanish under the new title, Reconstruyendo Una Nación (Rebuilding A Nation).
