Professional Documents
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Theology of Prosperity
Versus
JULIO SEVERO
The Dethroning of the Theology of Integral Mission and the Demonization of Neo-Pentecostalism in Brazil
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Contents
Endorsements .................................................................................................... 2 Theology of Liberation Versus Theology of Prosperity....................................... 3 Introduction ........................................................................................................ 3 The Dethroning of the Theology of Integral Mission and the Demonization of Neo-Pentecostalism. .......................................................................................... 5 Neo-Pentecostalism Dethrones Theology of Integral Mission............................ 6 Liberation Theology Precursors ......................................................................... 7 The Dialogue Prophet for the Theology of Integral Mission ............................. 9 Pentecostal Minority Affected by the Theology of Integral Mission .................. 10 Frustration of the Integral Mission Leadership with Neo-Pentecostals ............ 11 Victory for the Poor and Victory for the Progressive Dialogue ....................... 13 Theology of Integral Mission and Anticonservative Extremism ........................ 14 Theology of Integral Mission Demonizes neo-Pentecostalism ......................... 15 Socialism Versus Neo-Pentecostalism ............................................................ 18 Opportunistic Or Ideological Followers of the Workers Party .......................... 19 A Brazil Without an Elijah ................................................................................. 21 Complicity and Silence Versus Complicity and Imperfect Testimony of Christians in Brazil ........................................................................................... 22 Taxes, Taxes, Taxes! ....................................................................................... 23 Does an Anti-Neopentecostal Critic Deserve the Title of Defender of Faith? 25 Stupid Alliances................................................................................................ 26 The Biggest Obstacle for the Total Socialist Advance in Brazil........................ 28 Humility for Everyone ....................................................................................... 29 For Further Online Reading: ............................................................................ 30
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Endorsements
It is very important to be aware of the inroads that Marxist ideology has made into some branches of Christianity. In Latin America the nice-sounding concept of misin integral (integral mission) has turned out to be a thinly-disguised platform for leftist politics. Julio Severo understands this and he skillfully exposes these potentially harmful ideas in his book, Theology of Liberation vs. Theology of Prosperity. In it he helps bring forth the reality that even deeper and more permanent social change from poverty to prosperity can be effectively produced by proclaiming and practicing the biblical doctrine of the kingdom, opening the door for the transforming power of the Holy Spirit. This is a book that I highly recommend! C. Peter Wagner, Ph.D. Vice-President, Global Spheres, Inc. Julio Severo points up a reality of the Christian community in Brazil that finds expression in other countries as well. Liberal churches and theologians try to wed the Christian faith to socialism, a secular political philosophy. The net result: they talk mostly to each other while their churches decline in members and influence. Meanwhile Pentecostal churches have reached out to the poor and powerless, and more recently, with the spread of the charismatic movement in many churches, to people from all walks of life. Their message is a biblical and uncomplicated message of salvation through Christ, and new life in the power of the Holy Spirit. Their churches grow, peoples lives are changed. I hope the truth in this little booklet will impact the lives and understanding of many people in Brazil. And, who knows, even beyond Brazil! Larry Christenson, theologian and author, longtime leader in the charismatic renewal among Lutherans.
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here is a raging clash of worlds in Brazil, which is one of the most spiritualistic nations in the world. Individuals involved in Afro-Brazilian religions as Candombl (similar to Santeria and voodoo) are experiencing power encounters with the Gospel thanks to neo-Pentecostal churches.
No other Christian churches in Brazil have been so successful in bringing multitudes of witchcraft adherents to Christ than Pentecostal and neo-Pentecostal churches. Yet, these churches face massive opposition from more traditionalist Protestant churches, especially because of their Prosperity Theology. This opposition comes particularly from the Brazilian blogosphere, where mostly self-proclaimed Calvinist apologetic bloggers incessantly attack neo-Pentecostals. Nonetheless, they do not attack the massive infiltration of liberal and leftist ideas among Calvinist churches and leaders in Brazil. In fact, most of them espouse such ideas. They also attack capitalism, even though political economist Max Weber has pointed out a connection between capitalism and Calvinism. They prefer to be progressive, which in Brazil, according the renowned Aurelio Dictionary, means: One who, not being a member of a socialist or communist party, embraces and/or advocates socialist or Marxist principles. Their attitude toward capitalism is a far cry from that of Calvin and his immediate successors. Gayraud Wilmore, in his book African American Religious Studies: An Interdisciplinary Anthology (Duke University Press Books, 1989, page 12), says, The social ethics of Puritanism were directed toward the acquisition and proper
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stewardship of wealth as outward symbols of God's favor and the consequent salvation of the individual. The Max Weber Dictionary says, According to Calvinism (but not according to Calvin himself), the accumulation of riches was one of the signs that the believer was among the elect a sign of Gods blessing. The website A Puritans Mind says, The blessing of the Lord maketh rich And as riches are in themselves Gods blessings, so are we to desire them for the comfortable course of our natural and civil states. In this point, one could say that Prosperity Theology had a major Calvinist precedent. But modern-day left-leaning Calvinists have different ideas about their old predecessors and their views on riches. This is why they fiercely oppose capitalism and neo-Pentecostalism. Neo-Pentecostals in Brazil are not completely equivalent to the old Puritans in America. Even though their thoughts about riches seem equal, their attitudes toward witchcraft are completely different. Puritans, who were strict Calvinists, were known, especially in their early history in America, for their practice of burning witches, sticking probably to the Old Testament. Because of the high numbers of witchcraft adherents in Brazil, they would have been massively overloaded in their efforts to burn them all. In contrast, Brazilian neo-Pentecostals, with their daring evangelistic outreaches and clashes with spiritual powers, expel demons from multitudes of witchcraft adherents and lead them to Christ, burning only their books, not their bodies, exactly as described in Acts 19. The price they pay is to suffer attacks by selfproclaimed apologetic bloggers, who even though they hate capitalism, label themselves rightful descendants of Calvin. Yet, the clash of worlds in Brazil is not limited to witchcraft, which is widespread in Brazilian society. Marxism has been equally or more prevalent, with major inroads into seminaries and churches of historical Protestant denominations. Neo-Pentecostalism and its Prosperity Theology are mostly attacked by leftleaning Calvinist bloggers as if it were to blame for the devastating apostasy and corruption in the Brazilian Church. But they fail to mention that Calvinist churches in Europe have destroyed themselves with no help from neo-Pentecostal churches. And in America large Calvinist denominations have ordained gay and lesbian ministers, supported abortion, etc.
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Liberalism and leftism, which have been ravaging Calvinist and other traditionalist Protestant churches in America, are predominant among self-proclaimed Calvinist apologetic bloggers in Brazil. However, they are not concerned about the fate of their liberal counterparts in America, because they are busy attacking neo-Pentecostals. This e-booklet explores briefly the nature of such attacks and their origin, and how all Christians, neo-Pentecostals and Calvinists, should unite against a bigger enemy and thief.
The Dethroning of the Theology of Integral Mission and the Demonization of NeoPentecostalism.
n early 2012, two prominent Workers Party leaders shocked Brazil by revealing that the only remaining obstacle today to the advance of the socialist agenda in Brazil are neo-Pentecostals.
Brazilian socialist militants, especially the hard-core members of the ruling Workers Party (PT), are greatly concerned about Brazilian neo-Pentecostals. After all, while the socialists talk about love for the poor and offer promises to the poor (housing, health, education, jobs), that powerful lie is not achieving total control over the poor. To the alarm of the Brazilian Left, neo-Pentecostal churches not only have their church buildings filled with the poor, but also TV shows with enormous audiences of the impoverish masses. In the socialist secular theology, the poor are taught to see big government as the supreme provider for all their needs. In socialism, the State is God. NeoPentecostalism brought about a powerful, unparalleled demystification of that socialist worldview by educating the people to see God as the supreme provider for all human needs. In neo-Pentecostalism, though doctrinal deficiencies exist, God is God. Even though there are some neo-Pentecostal ministers experiencing fabulous enrichment coming not from God, but at the expense of their flock, it is indisputable that neo-Pentecostalism restored the centrality of God in the provision of job, housing, health, education and other needs through motivating messages encouraging people to seek and expect provision and prosperity from God. Secular socialism in Brazil has been greatly worried about neo-Pentecostalism since it sees neo-Pentecostalism as a rival in outreaches to the poor and subsequent influence over their vote. Christian socialism (in the Catholic form of
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the Theology of Liberation and in the Protestant form of the Theology of Integral Mission [Teologia da Misso Integral]) also has an obsessive concern regarding neo-Pentecostalism. Anglican bishop Robinson Cavalcanti, probably the most prominent evangelical socialist strategist in Brazil, was the founder of the Progressive Evangelical Movement (Movimento Evanglico Progressista) that helped to promote the Workers Party among Protestants for more than one decade. Cavalcanti, who received visits from former Brazilian socialist president Luiz Incio Lula da Silva (the founder of the Workers Party) identified, together with other liberal ministers, the Theology of Prosperity as a capitalist expression, as opposed to a socialist expression. In fact, Cavalcanti preached openly that radical socialist politics were expressions from the Kingdom of God. So antisocialist stances or views favoring the Theology of Prosperity were, in his opinion, expressions of the darkness, as opposed to the socialist light.
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churches supporting this line of doctrine under the pretense of lacking true spiritual dedication and religious devotion. Caio Fbio and Robinson Cavalcanti, who had prominent roles in initiatives to bring evangelicals into the fold of the socialist Workers Party, became prophets against the Theology of Prosperity and for the Theology of the Integral Mission, which uses the Gospel to serve the sole purpose of a platform for socialist ideology. As Ariovaldo Ramos, a prominent progressive Reformed Baptist minister and former president of World Vision in Brazil, has put it: Theology of Integral Mission is a Protestant variant of the Theology of Liberation.
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do what Fbio accomplished: to advance the Theology of Integral Mission inside and out of the Brazilian Presbyterian Church without provoking resistance. Shaull retired as a professor of ecumenism at Princeton Theological Seminar, one of the most prominent Presbyterian institutions in the world. Before dying in 2002, Shaull visited Pentecostal and neo-Pentecostal churches in the slums of Rio and there saw a spiritual vitality that he had never seen in the Liberation Theology communities. But, instead of opening himself up to their vitality, he wanted those churches filled with the poor to embrace Liberation Theology. For him, the historical (Presbyterian, Lutheran, Methodist, Baptist) churches in Brazil had a good relationship with that theology, but they didnt have much contact with the poor. In contrast, Pentecostal and neo-Pentecostal churches had a close contact with the poor, but they didnt have a good relationship with Liberation Theology. In his view, if those poor-filled churches continued to grow explosively, the face of the evangelical church in Latin America would be predominantly Pentecostal and neo-Pentecostal in the future. His questioning was: how to convert those churches to Liberation Theology so predominant in historical churches? Answer: The dialogue between historical and neo-Pentecostal churches. In that encounter, Pentecostals would come with their experience of easy coexistence with the poor and non-Pentecostals would come with their theology-ideology. That dialogue came largely true in the 1990s with Caio Fbios efforts to get close to neo-Pentecostal churches, including being a prominent lecturer in great events at the Heal Our Land Evangelical Fellowship (Sara Nossa Terra). That approach was fundamental later for a Protestant, Pentecostal and neo-Pentecostal unification for the massive evangelical support of the socialist candidate Lula in the 2002 election. Fbio was just a skilled implementor of the dialogue bridge envisioned by Shaull. Shaull and his disciple, Rubem Alves, are considered the parents on the Protestant side of Liberation Theology (according to a Mackenzie Presbyterian University document). In general, Shaull was the precursor of Liberation Theology. Alves, another precursor, eventually abandoned ministry and became an apostate. The Catholic side also had its parents and prophets: Cardinal Evaristo Arns, Cardinal Hlder Cmara (founder of CNBB), Frei Betto and Leonardo Boff. CNBB (National Conference of Brazilian Bishops), a sort of union of Catholic bishops, played a significant role in the foundation of the socialist Workers Party (known in Portuguese by its initials PT), and is an example of how Liberation Theology has affected the Catholic Church in Brazil.
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Although the Social Gospel from America helped to produce the Protestant version of Liberation Theology in Brazil, it was only with the Catholic implementation that this theology became practical theology with political results (Liberation Theology + CNBB = PT). The Catholic militancy on behalf of that theology was overwhelming, giving a Catholic face to the theology of Protestant soul. So leftist Protestants needed to recycle it and to restore its Protestant face. This way the Theology of Integral Mission was born in Brazil. Among Catholics, that theology led to the very foundation of the Workers Party. Among evangelicals, the Protestant version has been leading equally to socialism generally and to enlisting more and more members in the Workers Party specifically.
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However, before his fall, Fbio achieved significant victories for his cause: 1. He almost unified most of the historical churches of Brazil under the flag of the Theology of Integral Mission in the 1980s and 1990s. The only obstacle was the explosive growth of neo-Pentecostalism. 2. He was able, to a large extent, to popularize the Workers Party and socialism among evangelicals, guaranteeing that socialism doesnt eat children, as if the socialist obsession to legalize abortion does not cannibalize and exterminate any baby. 3. He was unable to lead most neo-Pentecostal churches into the Theology of Integral Mission, but his dialogue bridge was fundamental to soften their attitudes to Lula and the Workers Party. Before his fall, Fbio had time to launch the dialogue bridge and make some headway. However, if Shaull had been able to keep Fbios soft, persuasive and smart speech going, Brazil would have a traditional, Pentecostal and neoPentecostal church today largely mesmerized by the Theology of Integral Mission.
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coming from America, why didnt they avoid the imperialistic nation? Cavalcanti traveled to the US every year, and he had sent his son to live in America. Leftist ministers of the Presbyterian Church of Brazil and other historical denominations preferred exile in the US during the military regime in Brazil. Rev. Walter Altmann, former-president of the Evangelical Church of Lutheran Confession of Brazil (IECLB), seems to have had more consistency: he had financial connections with the Soviet Union and, like Shaull, connections with the World Council of Churches. The Evangelical Church of Lutheran Confession of Brazil (IECLB), a denomination filled with progressive theologians and ministers, owns the Higher School of Theology, in So Leopoldo, Brazil, which held a congress on religion and gender in 2005, where the main speaker was Luiz Mott, the most militant leader of the homosexual movement in Brazil. The IECLB is an example of a denomination dominated by the Theology of Integral Mission and engaged with the Workers Party in the fight against conservative values, which its progressive leaders ironically identify as imperialism. However, in truth, to fight imperialism is to fight the imposition of abortion, sodomy and leftist agenda coming from the US government and culture. The profamily and pro-life movement has excelled in this fight. The fact is that the Liberation Theology, camouflaged and sweetened later as Theology of Integral Mission, killed Gondims pentecostalism, making him like a mere leftist of any traditional church.
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churches were preaching and practicing the Theology of Prosperity, which upholds God, not the socialist State, as provider for human needs. The incessant complaints of Fbio, Gondim, Cavalcanti and other progressives that the Brazilian church is sick or decadent are because she is not open to their theology. Gondim also repeatedly complains that the Theology of Integral Mission had its advance stopped by conservatives in the Lausanne Congress for World Evangelization (Manila 1989). Ed Rene Kivitz, a theological companion of Gondim, had already denounced Peter Wagner as leader of the conservative opposition. Wagners performance, today leader of the world apostolic movement, exemplifies the neo-Pentecostal potential to stop the leftist progress in the churches. In the dissertation of Gondim (p. 53), Wagners mistake was to propose spiritual war as a solution for social problems a typically neoPentecostal solution, in contrast with the leftist solution of political revolutions. Echoing a complaint of Rev. Luiz Longuini, of the Presbyterian Church of Brazil, Gondim claims that Peter Wagner had been thwarting progressive Protestants for years. In1969, when participating in CLADE (Latin-American Congress of Evangelization), Wagner distributed his book that affirmed that the mission of the church is to prioritize personal salvation and warned of the dangers of leftist theology (p. 105). Salvation, in its original term, includes spiritual and also emotional and physical rescue. Progressive Protestants interpret that breadth of salvation as an excuse for political interventions, as if the Kingdom of God were just food, drink (Romans 14:17) and government welfare programs. In contrast, Wagner interpreted that the church should preach and demonstrate the Gospel of the Kingdom of God, including using Jesus authority to heal the sick and expel demons. It is a demonstration in tune with the miracles that follow those that believe (Mark 16:16). But the demonstration of the Gospel, for progressive Protestants, is limited to social action many times strictly in partnership with socialist politics and governments. Nothing else. Any rejection of that kind of social action as an intrinsic part of the Gospel receives the label of fundamentalism. In the dissertation of Gondim, even Billy Graham does not escape that label, because the most famous evangelist in the world refused to give support and money to progressive Protestant groups in Latin America. Grahams refusal gave him a negative image among the Theology of Integral Mission followers. In contrast, Gondim abundantly praises Liberation Theology and the Social Gospel and he recognizes that the largest obstacle for the advance of the Theology of Integral Mission was a religious phenomenon with huge popular appeal, neo-Pentecostalism (p. 135).
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Victory for the Poor and Victory for the Progressive Dialogue
Gondim doesnt hide the bitterness at seeing Liberation Theology, which affected generally Latin America and especially Brazil in matter, being undermined by a spiritual movement very present among the poor and largely led by leaders who grew up in poverty. His bitterness is shared by Caio Fbio and Brazilian progressive theologians formed in American and European seminars and universities, many of whom are unable to accept a movement where most of the ministers were formed in the seminar of a life in poverty. It is the poor who, barely knowing how to speak Portuguese, preferred the Theology of Prosperity to Liberation Theology, as a means to escape from poverty. The poor prefer the Theology of Prosperity, but the rich (professional theologians and ministers) prefer Liberation Theology, making it as elitist as the Marxism that helped to create it. That doesnt mean that no neo-Pentecostal church accepted the theology of progressive Protestants. The neo-Pentecostal churches most affected by the Theology of Integral Mission were, coincidentally, the churches closest to Caio Fbio. In the early1990s, the Presbyterian minister was a distinguished speaker in major Pentecostal conferences, including events of the Heal Our Land Evangelical Fellowship (Sara Nossa Terra), founded by Bishop Robson Rodovalho, who has Presbyterian roots. In the early1990s, Sara movement saw socialism and the Workers Party as diabolical. In 2002, the same Sara movement was deceived enough to embark in the Protestant, Pentecostal and neo-Pentecostal bandwagon of those supporting socialist Lula. The 1994 TV show Pare & Pense brought the misled Valnice Milhomens together with Fbio to jointly present Lula as a candidate, not because the neoPentecostal leader represented neo-Pentecostal political objectives, but because her presence was fundamental for the dialogue strategy to break anti-socialism barriers among neo-Pentecostals. Fbio represented historical Protestant churches, which had already been seduced by the Theology of Mission Integral and were largely ready to support Lula, the most important socialist messiah in Brazil. With his Theology of Integral Mission whose name he dare not pronounce, Fbio was a personality no leadership of the Presbyterian Church of Brazil and other historical churches questioned. Milhomens represented neo-Pentecostal churches, which needed to be deceived, as she herself had been. It was the dialogue bridge visualized years earlier by Shaull.
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Both were of different generations. While Shaull taught theology at the Southern Presbyterian Seminar in Campinas (1952-959), Fbio was ordained a minister of the Presbyterian Church of Brazil in 1977, when he was 22 years old. He had, by his confession, many friends who were ministers that had been students under Shaull. Fbio also read the books by the spiritual father of Liberation Theology. If Shaull was the prophet of ideas and visions of that theology, Fbio was the prophet of dialogue, entrusted with the mission of creating among Pentecostals and neo-Pentecostals an opening for that theology that was under the control of traditional churches. The impact of the second-rate Brazilian Cardinal Richelieu lasted decades.
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The Vatican tried to intervene in the positive conservative wave, by instructing Brazilian bishops to guide the Catholic people not to vote for pro-abortion candidates. It was useless, because CNBB and Frei Betto are for the Vatican what Ramos and Silva are for the pro-life and pro-family movement: a complete clash of values. Different to the Vatican, whose conservative stances are prominent strong public condemnations against abortion, homosexuality and Liberation Theology , CNBB is reluctant to condemn Liberation Theology and its most important child, the Workers Party. Similarly, Brazilian evangelical leaders affected by Shaull and Fbio are reluctant to express strong public condemnations against abortion, homosexuality and especially the Theology of Integral Mission.
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Rev. Caio Fbio welcoming presidential candidate Lula in his Christian TV show in 1994: the most important Presbyterian minister in Brazil propagandizing the most important socialist in Brazil
While Caio Fbio and Cavalcanti worked to undemonize the Workers Party, they and their leftist Protestant comrades were working to demonize neoPentecostalism for its resistance to the Theology of Integral Mission. (Brazilian Pentecostal, especially neo-Pentecostal, churches usually saw socialism as demonic.) In order to inoculate their congregations against the so called contaminations from neo-Pentecostal churches, Presbyterian ministers and leaders of other historical denominations induced mass signature of the progressive magazine Ultimato by their churches, especially leaders, in the 1980s and 1990s. So they drank directly from the pages of this magazine leftist texts by Robinson Cavalcanti, Ricardo Gondim and Paul Freston, who were official members in the Workers Party and prominent columnists in the Presbyterian magazine. Caio Fbio, a former Ultimato columnist, had no official membership in the party of Lula, but met him often, and was discreetly supporting him. Among the books published by Publisher Ultimato is O Novo Rosto da Misso (The New Face of Mission), written by Rev. Luiz Longuini, of the Presbyterian Church of Brazil, a minister married four times. The book, which has been an important reference in works of the Theology of Integral Mission, is not the only book promoting that leftist theology published by Ultimato, founded by a Presbyterian leader. With the antibodies of the Theology of Integral Mission, Ultimato inoculated leaders and congregations against neo-Pentecostalism, making their notorious leftist columnists famous for attacking neo-Pentecostal doctrines and defending leftist doctrines. Today, when attacking the Theology of Prosperity, the masters of the Theology of Integral Mission exempt countless ministers following that leftist theology from all criticism. After all, Brazil is having an open hunting season on neo-Pentecostal churches. By the decision of a minority of liberal ministers and by the silence of the majority, any criticism of the Theology of Integral Mission is apparently prohibited.
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Genizah is a tabloid founded by Danilo Fernandes, an radical liberal Calvinist and close friend of Caio Fbio. The main mission of Genizah is to inoculate against neo-Pentecostalism through the use of mockery and scandals often fabricated or inflated. In a fascinating case the owner of the tabloid, who has judicial problems due to financial issues, applies business methods to make a lot of money by accusing Silas Malafaia and neo-Pentecostal leaders of making a lot of money. The demonizing, mocking character of the Brazilian evangelical Left has been oscillating between Ultimato (with its diplomatic, anti-conservative bashing), and Genizah (with its anti-conservative mockery and hateful bashing). This then popularizes the Left and, in its place, demonizes neo-Pentecostals. The mostly Calvinist leftist character has remained free of criticism by non-liberal Calvinists, who often prefer silence because of their doctrinal affinity with cessationism, which denies the Holy Spirit granting supernatural gifts for today.
Calvinist Danilo Fernandes, owner of pro-Theology of Integral Mission sensationalistic tabloid Genizah, with his friend Caio Fbio
Apparently, for the sake of this doctrine, non-liberal Calvinists who heavily criticize Silas Malafaia and other neo-Pentecostal leaders never denounce the Calvinist writers of Genizah and Ultimato.
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Is neo-Pentecostalism a bigger sin than the shameless leftism of Calvinist and traditional churches?
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But a support that comes by interest is never guaranteed. This is why the Workers Party has so much distrust of neo-Pentecostal leaders: Because they are not moved by the socialist ideology, those leaders can openly criticize pro-abortion and prohomosexuality policies of the Workers Party, or even to jump the boat at any moment. That is a great sign. What is not a good sign is that we have lost the priority in our criticism. Many ministers who criticize Silas Malafaia for the Theology of Prosperity not for his political opportunism shut their eyes to other serious sins. They criticize him, while embracing the Theology of Integral Mission and other theologies that facilitate the acceptance of socialism as a social salvation. What is not surprising is that, for the Workers Party, the Genizah tabloid and similar Protestant media dont represent any threat to the advance of the socialist institutionalization of wickedness. The threat is neo-Pentecostal churches, which are frequently the target of mockeries by Genizah. Malafaia is not perfect, but he has been doing an amazing work of mobilizing the population against anti-homophobia bills in Brazil. In contrast, Genizah has never supported such mobilization and even implies that Christians doing it are extremist. Gay activists have acclaimed the liberalism of the Calvinist tabloid. Some months ago, a minister who commented in my blog introduced himself by saying, I am a member of the Workers Party by ideological motivation. When refuted by me and other readers of my blog, the minister, who leads an Assembly of God in Braslia, the capital of Brazil, quickly defended himself, by using the excuse that his presence in the Workers Party was to evangelize and that any opposition to him as a member of the Workers Party would equal opposition to a holy evangelistic outreach. To evangelize sorcerers do I need to say I am a sorcerer by ideological motivation? To evangelize homosexuals do I need to say I am a homosexual by ideological motivation? Therefore, there are two kinds of Protestants (and by extension other Christians) supporting the Workers Party. 1. There are evangelicals following the Workers Party by interests. They do not want to lose their radio and television licenses. Most of them are neo-Pentecostal leaders. 2. There are Protestants following the Workers Party because, blatantly or not, they are socialist by ideological motivation. Most of them are not neo-Pentecostal, and the Workers Party is not concerned about any of them.
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The declaration of Malafaia should have included what he really did, I have voted for, I have supported and I have promoted, with my signature, all of those socialist men, including Lula, the most pro-abortion and pro-homosexuality president in the history of Brazil. He should also have stated, I encouraged crowds to vote for the most pro-abortion and pro-homosexuality politicians in the history of Brazil and of Rio de Janeiro. This truth is unpleasant, as well as it would have been unpleasant for Elijah to say, As a prophet of the Lord, I have voted for, I have supported and I have promoted, with my signature, Ahab, the most proabortion and pro-homosexuality king in the history of Israel, and I encouraged the whole people of Israel to vote for him. Malafaia also said, I vote for people and not for parties. Does this justify voting for, supporting and promoting systematically people who have an ideological history in opposition to the family and against Christianity? Does this justify encouraging crowds of evangelicals to vote for people who have an ideological history against family and against Christianity? It is schizophrenic to fight abortion and homosexuality and to vote for, support and promote politicians who promote those evils. It is equally schizophrenic to fight abortion and homosexuality and encourage churches to vote for those same politicians. It is like a man who fights a great fire, but once in a while he throws gas on the fire. Elijah was a man who fought the great fires of the social wickedness without throwing gas in the fire. But Brazil doesnt have that kind of man.
Complicity and Silence Versus Complicity and Imperfect Testimony of Christians in Brazil
What Brazil has, mostly, are 1) Christians who vote for and promote the Workers Party or other socialist parties (PSDB, PSOL, etc.) and remain silent, and 2) Christians who vote for and promote the Workers Party or other socialist parties (PSDB, PSOL, etc.) and dont remain silent. To remain silent in the presence of the institutionalization of sin is a sin! To speak out against the institutionalization of sin while promoting those who do it is better than silence, but it is also a sin. However, because Brazil has no Elijah or John the Baptist, we are left with the imperfect option of supporting Christian leaders who at least open their mouths. That is the case of Malafaia. Although he has thrown a lot of gas on the fires that he is fighting, at least he is not like many others who equally threw a lot of gas on the fires and today remain silent or minimize the dangers of the fires.
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Actually, Brazil needs a man to speak out without throwing gas on the fire. That is Gods ideal. A man who denounces sin and says to the kings of Brazil, Thus says the Lord. A man who, even running the risk of losing his radio and TV license, would proclaim his messages in the street corners or in the corners of the internet. In the absence of a prophet like Elijah or a John the Baptist in Brazil, let us do what Jesus taught us: So practice and observe whatever they tell youbut not what they do. For they preach, but do not practice. (Matthew 23:3 ESV) Those words of Jesus can also be paraphrased this way: So practice and follow whatever they tell you in defense of family. But dont imitate their actions of voting, supporting and promoting anti-family politicians, because they dont practice what preach. Some consent only by their actions; others by their words and actions. Therefore, let us know how to discern what to do in the presence of total or partial omissions. When they teach us against abortion and homosexuality, let us hear and practice. But let us not imitate their actions. When they vote for anti-family politicians, let us not imitate them. When they support and promote anti-family politicians, let us not imitate them. Let us remember their words and messages in defense of family, but let us not imitate what they practice in election times, throwing gas on the fire. Let us ignore completely their irresponsible political recommendations when they dont practice what they preach. After all, such was Jesus command: to follow their good teachings and not to imitate their hypocrisy. Therefore, in obedience to Jesus words, let us follow everything that Malafaia and others teach on abortion and homosexuality, but let us not imitate their actions. Let us defend everything that Malafaia teaches in defense of family, but let us not imitate him when he throws gas on the fire. On the contrary, let us throw water on the fire, rejecting irresponsible political recommendations.
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1) It leaves, in the hard-working citizens pocket, less of his own resources to take care of his family. 2) Its final destiny is, a lot of times, the pockets of greedy politicians. People are free to attend neo-Pentecostal churches, and after you enter such a church, you only give what you want. Nobody is forced to give anything. With the government this is vastly different. No one is exempt. Everybody is a victim of the voracious State and its insatiable tax-collection. Socialists cover up, justify and excuse that omnipresent mega-robbery committed by a welfare State. Yet, they do not forgive neo-Pentecostal churches which collect tithes and offerings without the use of law and of the State. But secular, Protestant and Catholic socialists are not worried about the state wonder-working politicians that remove freedom and natural rights from citizens. They are worried about wonder-working Christians, who ask too much from citizens voluntarily attending their churches. They are troubled about wonderworking Christians, who point to God, not the State, as solution for all needs of the society. From their comfortable armchairs and well-equipped offices, socialist leaders, moved by envy, take aim at neo-Pentecostal churches. Competition troubles them. They want to be the only wonder-working guys in the center of the admiration of the poor and the society, not only of universities and media, where they and their ideology are idolized in an absolute way. If there is a commandment universities and media obey without questioning is this, You shall have no other gods before me. They actually dont give any space for others, only leftism reigns as a god in their midst. Even with all their power, secular socialist leaders still are troubled about neoPentecostals. The same discomfort affects religious leftists, but, because of a common theological grudge, even non-leftist religious individuals accept, gladly or not, an uneasy alliance, decrying neo-Pentecostal sins and at the same time closing their eyes to the horrendous progressive contaminations inside the churches. A progressive Protestant sees just ideological competition, with his view of a socialist kingdom of this world as a manifestation of the Kingdom of God. Differently, a traditionalistic Protestant sees not just religious competition, but also spiritual issues. Even if all of the neo-Pentecostal churches abandoned the Theology of Prosperity, traditionalistic Protestants would reject them, because they are unable to see current experiences as gifts of vision, prophecy, tongues and other supernatural gifts as manifestations of God.
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So the shared hostility to neo-Pentecostalism has created a strange alliance between progressive and traditionalistic religious individuals in Brazil. From their comfortable armchairs and well-equipped pastoral offices, socialist leaders, ministers and theologians of traditionalistic and progressive persuasions join together to criticize ministers of the Theology of Prosperity. That informal union is possible thanks to an undeclared non-aggression pact: while they attack the Theology of Prosperity by criticizing its ministers by name (Silas Malafaia, R.R. Soares and others who are on the blacklist), traditionalist and progressive Protestants do not attack one another. Progressive Protestants will only stop criticizing neo-Pentecostals after neoPentecostals embrace the Theology of Integral Mission. Traditionalistic Protestants will only stop criticizing neo-Pentecostals after neoPentecostals abandon the Theology of Prosperity, and after they abandon speaking in tongues, prophecies, casting out demons, etc, but the theological demands, certainly, wont end at this point.
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For me, this universe is sacred Sacredness inhabits the whole world If I do not have a vision making the cosmos and the whole creation sacred, I need at the least to make one more reflection This declaration, patently pantheistic, would have overthrown Malafaia and Soares, if they had made it. Yet, its real author has never faced opposition for it. It was made on August 12, 2004 in the workshop The Church and Federal Welfare Programs and the Church and Bioethics. The workshop was held in the Brazilian Congress, sponsored by the Progressive Evangelical Movement and the evangelical caucus of the ruling Workers Party. Since 2004, when the pantheistic declarations were made, they never subjected its author, Caio Fbio, to any accusation, denunciation or inconvenience from the eternally angry defenders of faith in the gossip world. Gossip means the habit of transmitting scandalous, sensationalist and often inaccurate private information. By this serious issue, you see that their objective is neither to defend sound doctrine nor to fight heresies, but to aim at neo-Pentecostals. Caio Fbio and his pantheistic heresy went unpunished by the defenders of faith in the gossip world just because he is not neo-Pentecostal. If he was neo-Pentecostal, he would have been denounced for much less.
Stupid Alliances
Traditionalistic Protestants dont attack the Theology of Integral Mission mentioning Ariovaldo Ramos, Robinson Cavalcanti and other progressive big guys. In turn, progressive Protestants return the favor, never condemning by name traditionalistic Protestants. From their big houses and cars, many traditionalistic and progressive Protestants condemn the bigger houses and cars of neo-Pentecostal leaders. They condemn the Theology of Prosperity, but they live an ecclesiastical luxury that would leave Jesus and his apostles with an appearance of mere illiterate beggars. A Presbyterian (I am using this example because Ultimato and other progressive critics consider themselves Calvinist, including Genizah) minister of a small church of a small town in So Paulo or Minas Gerais receives an average of 10 times the minimum wage. (If I received that much, I would consider myself wealthy!) In contrast, a Presbyterian minister of a big church in a big city receives a very higher wage. Although Silas Malafaia, R. R. Soares and other prominent neo-Pentecostal ministers receive super-wages, usually neo-Pentecostal ministers of small churches in small towns receive much less than 10 times the minimum wage, and they still
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lead services on an almost daily basis, while ministers of Calvinist churches receive a lot more to lead just one or two services a week. In a specific case, according to friend of mine who is a Presbyterian minister, a Presbyterian minister of a very small church received about 5 thousand dollars a month. He also received house, car, fuel, etc. His work was to lead just one service a week and a day of counseling. Thus, when we see a great Calvinist leader condemning the prosperity of a minority of neo-Pentecostal leaders, we also are free to ask how much the critic receives. They condemn the Theology of Prosperity, but they never give up their own prosperity. Do both groups have a prosperity reflecting Jesus humility? The motivation of the criticism, of course, involves much more than just defense of faith. It involves envy and other non-Christian feelings masked as theological concerns. Others, such as the sensationalist tabloid Genizah, grow rich by bashing neoPentecostals, and moreover they assume a pose of defenders of the faith and apologetics. The owner of Genizah is an entrepreneur with a bad reputation for financial scandals. Even so, he continues with his suspicious businesses, in terms of Christian ethics, while gaining a lot of money through mockery and deceit. Those defenders of the faith, with their hidden greed, greatly promote progressive and liberal big names like Caio Fbio, Ariovaldo Ramos and Robinson Cavalcanti, but they are not themselves labeled progressive by traditionalistic big guys. So it is confirmed that a discreet or secret non-aggression deal keeps progressive Protestants in silence regarding their differences with traditionalistic Protestants and vice-versa. For the sake of the common enemy, they are willing to ignore their differences. It is not without purpose that Genizah, whose owner brags about being a Calvinist, always has space in his tabloid for texts of such progressive writers as Robinson Cavalcanti and Caio Fbio, along with texts of non-progressive ministers such as Augustus Nicodemus (a traditionalistic Presbyterian who believes that prophecies, visions and other spiritual gifts came to an end two thousand years ago, making unacceptable the current spiritual experiences of Pentecostals and neo-Pentecostals), but has never a single positive text about Silas Malafaia, who believes that prophecies, visions and other spiritual gifts have never ceased. This common hostility unites traditionalistic and progressive Protestants. In a different way, the progressivism of Genizah always aims, with mockery, at my blog. I do not condemn neo-Pentecostals for everything that they are doing in defense of life and family, being impossible, for me, to make a non-aggression deal with Genizah and similar tabloids just for the sake of theological and ideological
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hatred and financial envy. I support Silas Malafaia, with restrictions. I support everything he does to defend life and family. I support him also in the conviction that spiritual gifts are for today. But I disapprove all of his alliances and interests with anti-family and anti-life politicians. It is not just from the progressive and traditionalistic Protestants that neoPentecostals in Brazil suffer attacks. Some Pentecostals, eager to win the favor of everything and everybody, close their eyes to progressive aberrations and the traditionalistic stance of rejecting prophecies and visions as current manifestations of God, but they join progressive and traditionalistic Protestants in condemning neo-Pentecostals. Each one following carnal ambitions camouflaged as theological concerns.
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their public witness! Partly, that picture reminds me of the angry Jewish theologians after two apostles of Jesus had performed a healing miracle: Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus. (Acts 4:13 ESV) Undeniably, neo-Pentecostal churches have the biggest power today to dethrone the negative role of the Brazilian State as controller and arbiter of such moral issues as abortion and homosexuality. As Olavo de Carvalho noted very well, the 2011 March for Jesus in So Paulo, Brazil, where Silas Malafaia denounced, in the presence of more than 5 million people, anti-homophobia bills and the tyranny of the Supreme Court in Brazil favoring the gay agenda, was the largest demonstration in Brazil against immoral impositions and disorders of the Workers Party. In spite of this, progressive and traditionalistic critics in the Protestant world of Brazil joined together to condemn the March for Jesus manifestation. Neo-Pentecostal churches dethroned the Theology of Integral Mission from its position of power in the 1980s, hindering the unification under Caio Fbio, Robinson Cavalcanti, Ultimato magazine and others of the Protestant churches in Brazil around a leftist ideology masked as pure Gospel. With an appropriate support (not hostility moved by envy and theological hatred), neo-Pentecostal churches could do much more to dethrone socialism in other spheres of the Brazilian society, helping to rescue families, children and churches from malicious state intrusions. Without support, those churches run the risk of entering also, as did the Kingdom of God Universal Church, into the socialist orbit, leaving the way open for the Theology the Integral Mission to reoccupy its throne.
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Through living humbly, all of them would have more passion to do the prophetic will of God, condemning openly, as John the Baptist did, immoral politicians and the robberies of the wonder-working State, which promises everything and steals everything. How long will we tolerate abusive loads of taxes in exchange for worn out wonder-working promises of housing, health, education and job? How long will we tolerate the lie that invasive socialist policies that enslave the pocket, the soul, the morality and the heart of citizens mirror the Kingdom of God? If even Tiradentes, who was not even a prophet, rebelled against an abusive collection of 20% of taxes, why cannot Christian leaders imitate John the Baptist and condemn the current bigger abusive collection of 40% of taxes, a blatant violation by the Brazilian government against the people and against the divine commandment banning everyone, including the State, from stealing? For international readers: Tiradentes, the nickname of Joaquim Jos da Silva Xavier (August 16, 1746April 21, 1792), was a leading member of the Brazilian revolutionary movement whose aim was full independence from the Portuguese colonial power and to create a Brazilian republic. Tiradentes and his companions were inspired by the American independence. As some of their American counterparts, they were Masonic, but lacked the strong Christian foundations which made possible the extraordinary victory of George Washington and other Americans. The tragic irony is that Tiradentes fought against a tax of 20%, and today the Brazilian State levies a tax of 40% from the Brazilian people! Portuguese version of this e-booklet: Teologia da Libertao versus Teologia da Prosperidade Spanish version of this e-booklet: Teologa de la Liberacin versus Teologa de la Prosperidad Source: Julio Severo in English (Last Days Watchman): www.lastdayswatchman.blogspot.com
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