How the Universal Church emerged
Faith, revolt and sacrifice are the essence of a life with God. The prophet Habakkuk showed us a great example of faith, when at that time, Jerusalem was surrounded by Nebuchadnezzar’s army and destruction was imminent. His book only has three chapters and begins with a question: Why?
Who hasn’t, at least once in their life, asked “why?” Why would a child be born with birth defects? Why would lightning strike and destroy a poor person’s home? Why would a stray bullet shot in a poor community kill an innocent child? Why?
In such an unfair world filled with so much injustice, only faith can guarantee a fulfilled life. Without it, we are overcome by worries and fears; we become doubtful, flavorless, neither hot nor cold, a leaf carried by the wind; the living dead.
Faith naturally sparks a revolt against all these things, creates a sacrifice and ultimately achieves victory. This straight and narrow path is what God planned for the birth of the Universal Church.
As a young man Bishop Macedo attended an evangelical church on the south side of Rio de Janeiro for about 10 years. His desire was to preach, but the leaders didn’t feel that he had virtue or talent worth noticing. He wasn’t even given the opportunity to serve as an assistant. Ten years is not 10 days. Anyone else would have given up. Anyone else would have gotten discouraged, but he didn’t. Faith was responsible for that.
Moved by the desire to serve God, he and two friends went to another church in the suburbs. I was just a boy at the time but I remember the new pastor evaluated them to be all on the same level. After some time, his two friends were consecrated as pastors, but he wasn’t. Once again, he was pushed aside, belittled and put down. He was faced new prejudices, discouragements and frustrations. Once more, anyone else would have felt disheartened. Anyone else would have given up.
One day, I was having lunch at my grandmother's house when he came in. And let me stop here to modestly pay homage to that very special lady. She was an exceptional example of selflessness, devotion and love.
The bishop was stopping by to tell us that he was leaving his job to begin preaching the Gospel. By this time he was already married, had a daughter and his wife was expecting their second child. This was an extreme act of faith for someone who had been discredited by everyone. For a humble family like ours a government job like the one he had, guaranteed a life free from unemployment.
My grandmother simply pondered, "Don’t forget to pay your taxes to ensure your retirement fund when you get old."
Nowadays, when I hear the degrading and ridiculous insults, the hatred, the relentless hounding, the flood of name-calling, slander and defamations written with great conviction that his plan is to exploit the poor, I become deeply bitter because I know these things are published based on misguided opinions of the bishop and the church. Certainly, they know nothing about the Universal Church or who we are and where we came from.
It may have happened in one of our churches in Brazil, Africa, Europe, Asia or anywhere else in the world, that someone, sometime, placed a similar sacrifice on the altar but none greater than his. He gave everything he had. He quit his job without any guarantees or expectations, just faith.
A month later, his second daughter was born and he went to visit her in IASERJ hospital that morning. She was born with a cleft palate, and babies with this type of birth defect are also very thin, with dark circles around their eyes and facial deformities. There was an open wound in her mouth. She was missing a part of her lip and the roof of her mouth, making it impossible to breast or bottle-feed because she couldn’t produce suction to drink, causing her to often choke. It was days, months even years of terrible suffering.
On the way back, all the way from the Red Cross Square until Glory Square, with every step along Riachuelo Street, tears fell from his eyes. Like Habakkuk, I wondered why? Why would a poor, yet faithful tither, at a crucial point in his life, after deciding to leave his family’s only source of income in order to preach the Word of God, be awarded this, the worst kind of punishment? I don’t know if there’s any greater pain then when a father enters the hospital nursery only to find out that his daughter is the only sick, frail, suffering and crying child, while all the other babies are so beautiful.
As usual, during crucial times, my family would gather at my grandmother's house. He arrived in the afternoon. He was obviously sad, but he said two things that I will never forget. The first was: "I'm going to like her even more than the other one."
The other one that he was referring to was his first daughter, a beautiful child. I don’t think that you can like one child more than the other but there was a deeper meaning to what he was saying. It was much more than a father just compensating, protecting or venting his pain.
Later, I realized that the essence of those words would be reflected in the formation and function of the Universal Church, which is more inclined to helping the suffering, poor and needy.
From there, we begin looking for lost souls, who are at a crossroads in life, in the slums, in witchcraft centers, in mental institutions, entombed by addictions, among the damage of a broken home. This is when the assembly halls, auditoriums and theaters began getting packed with the sick, poor, unemployed, afflicted and possessed searching for help and deliverance. Those who once walked in darkness began seeing the light.
The second thing he said was: "I'm not angry with God. I’m angry at the devil. Now, I’m definitely going to invade hell to rescue lost souls."
He was no longer that doubtful young man that once stood before us. At that moment, a leader was born. A nation was also emerging; one, able to face the greatest of challenges and virulent persecutions. A nation of quality and strength that won’t turn back, won’t bow down, won’t run away from the fight or fear sacrifice. A nation with their eyes set on God's promises, reaching for their goals in the horizon of their destiny; determined, formed and sealed by faith in God. This is all because, during the hardest, cruelest, most difficult moment, a righteous man lived by his faith!
The Universal Church didn’t rise from the determination of an assembly of illustrious men, a group of executives or a notable foundation. It has never been subsidized, sponsored, paid for by government funds or a generous millionaire. This church is a simple, direct and faithful answer from a God who honors faith, revolt and sacrifice.
The phrase, "I'm not angry with God. I'm angry at the devil,” marks the emergence of faith. If he became angry at God, he would have been rebelling. The result would have been an ocean of failures, a Himalayan-sized frustration. Rebellious people blame God for life’s misfortunes. Rebelliousness is subtle and can be manifested in many different ways. Some rebellious people challenge God’s commandments by their disobedience to Him with sins and crimes. Others are cold and indifferent with the things of God, making their lives a huge waste of time and a sad story of mediocrity. There are also the Pharisees, these are the rebels within the church, who know the Word but don’t practice it.
Abraham was angry while he was wandering in the desert, waiting for the promise to arrive. However, he never rebelled. Moses became revolted at the sight of his people being enslaved, Joshua became revolted when he found walls and giants in the Promised Land, but they were never rebellious. David became revolted by Goliath’s affronts. Job, the most revolted of them all, cursed the day he was born at the height of his suffering, yet never rebelled. And even after all this time, he continues to be the most powerful example of what a man can endure and overcome when moved by faith. Because of his sacrifice, God restored his fortunes sevenfold.
You don’t have to live in a convent, a monastery on top of a mountain or be an absolute saint, in order to uphold a righteous life. It’s when you live by faith throughout all the struggles in your daily life. With your virtues and imperfections, while suffering injustices and persecutions like a sheep among wolves; you may cry at times but you know you’ll be comforted, you may come to feel hunger and thirst for justice but you know that in the end you’ll be satisfied. The righteous are simple and humble from the bottom of their soul.It’s those who put their hand to the plow and don’t look back, whatever the cost may be, even if it hurts. They aren’t weak or cowards; they are the sons of faith, revolt and sacrifice.
You can be sure that God has seen what you’ve endured; the persecutions, the injustices, the awful times of need. God has seen you’re grief-stricken face because of so many failed plans and sleepless nights. But what God need to see is the anger in your eyes, your will to fight for what you want. Faith comes from what you hear, but action comes from revolt. There is no victory without a fight and faith without works is dead. It’s time for you to get revolted, take action by faith and fight for your dreams. Either God is with you or He isn’t. It’s time for God to see that you're not a coward.
Bishop Marcelo Crivella
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