Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Julio Severo Interviews Brazilian Congressman Marco Feliciano: How Massive Homosexualist Opposition Has Skyrocketed His Name into Fame, Making Him the Most Prominent Evangelical Politician in Brazil


Julio Severo Interviews Brazilian Congressman Marco Feliciano: How Massive Homosexualist Opposition Has Skyrocketed His Name into Fame, Making Him the Most Prominent Evangelical Politician in Brazil

By Julio Severo
Marco Feliciano has become the most prominent evangelical leader in Brazilian politics. His fame came involuntarily. As a Congressman, he was appointed chairman of the Human Rights Committee in the Brazilian House of Representatives last March. Immediately, all the Brazilian Left began a massive campaign against his appointment. Artists, politicians and even ministers in the socialist administration of President Dilma Rousseff wanted him out of this committee chairmanship.
Marco Feliciano
Even among evangelical leaders, there was fierce opposition. Two important leftist Reformed ministers in Brazil, Rev. Marcos Amaral and Rev. Ariovaldo Ramos, took part in national efforts to remove Feliciano.
In the face of such fierce opposition, the chances for Feliciano to remain in office were slim to none. No one was willing to side with him.
I was among the tiny minority of Christian leaders supporting him, in spite of his past. As Ariovaldo Ramos and many leftist evangelicals and Catholics, Feliciano had supported the election of socialist President Rousseff. But my Catholic pro-life contacts assured me that he was instrumental in many pro-life battles in the Brazilian Congress. Besides, these sources told me his support for socialist Rousseff was based on pure naiveté. Unlike Ramos and Amaral, who are ideological militants and supported Hugo Chavez and socialist administrations in Brazil, continuing to support them even after they began to promote abortion and homosexuality, Feliciano withdrew his support of Rousseff over these issues. In fact, the massive opposition to his appointment was over his solid stances against abortion and homosexuality.
Marco Feliciano is the president of Catedral do Avivamento (Revival Cathedral), a church connected to the Assemblies of God denomination in Brazil. His fame has skyrocketed because, in spite of systematic socialist hostility, he has remained as the chairman of the Human Rights Commission in the Brazilian House of Representatives.
Before his appointment, this committee, which was controlled by powerful socialists, had for many years approved grants to homosexual groups. Since 2010, over 100,000 dollars were allocated to the gay agenda. With Feliciano in office, these massive financial resources are being earmarked for legitimate human rights needs.
Leftist groups throughout the Brazilian society are furious about the losses to the homosexual agenda. But true human rights have won.
I am privileged to have interviewed Congressman Marco Feliciano to inform you of his colossal battle to uphold pro-family values in Brazilian politics — which is dominated by socialists bent on foisting the culture of death on Brazil.
Julio Severo: Your appointment as Chair of the Human Rights Committee (HRC) in the Brazilian House of Representatives provoked indignation in the ruling Workers’ Party (whose Portuguese acronym is PT) and the Left. I have never seen an evangelical politician so attacked as you were. Why did PT and the Left do it?
Marco Feliciano: The Brazilian Left hates everything and everybody hindering their nefarious progressive plans. Since my election in 2010, honoring the votes of the Christian population, I have paid special attention to major issues and I was surprised to find about 200 bills turning homosexuals into a super-race. Today, on close examination, I found more than 900 bills before the House of Representatives which harm the traditional family, church and free speech. I have become a kind of “bodyguard” for family. Long before HRC I had, for example, petitioned for the impeachment of a justice in the Brazilian Supreme Court because he disclosed beforehand his vote for the abortion of anencephalic babies. I did it with the assistance of the late Catholic Bishop Bergonzini, Bishop of São Paulo. I had several battles in House committees and on the floor when the subject was sexual orientation, and from that time on, they made me a public enemy. When my name was nominated for the HRC chairmanship, the opposition went crazy. After all, I was, for them, basically a rightwinger chairing a committee created exclusively by and for the Left.
Marco Feliciano with Catholic pro-life leaders
Julio Severo: Rev. Ariovaldo Ramos, Rev. Marcos Amaral and other representatives of the evangelical Left joined together to protests against you. Why did they do protest you, but never the pro-abortion and pro-homosexualist policies of the ruling Workers’ Party?
Marco Feliciano: One fine day I received a call from someone connected to Ariovaldo, saying that he wanted to talk to me before issuing a declaration. I admit, I had never heard of him before. I obeyed the Bible command: “Strive for peace with everyone.” I met with him, and he was accompanied by several other leaders comprising the Board of Directors of the Evangelical Alliance. For over an hour I provided my explanations, denounced how bills are processed in the Brazilian Congress, mentioned hundreds of bills threatening the freedom of worship and the destruction of the traditional family, etc. Yet, I was questioned about how I would conduct myself before the demands from Indians, the poor, social issues, and then I perceived that these leaders, friends of the leftist Rousseff administration, had no concern at all with the threats I had exposed. They were activists, worried about provoking a holy “war,” advising me not to be intolerant, lecturing me about the perfect Lula administration (the predecessor of socialist Rousseff)… Anyway, before this meeting, Ariovaldo had already signed a public document denouncing me.
Julio Severo: In your desperation, you contacted ANAJURE, a Christian organization recently founded to defend civil rights of Christians, for help. What was their answer?
Marco Feliciano: I was really desperate. For 30 days, I was under cross fire and a very few people helped me. I remembered ANAJURE. I remembered also the desperate request these noble “Christian” lawyers made to the Evangelical Parliamentary Caucus saying that ANAJURE could not be recognized unless evangelical parliamentarians gave them their seal of approval. After all, this group was being created for the express purpose of protecting evangelical parliamentarians in their struggle to defend religious freedom and family. I called the ANAJURE president* who was in France. I talked to him more than once, and he told that he was on my side and that ANAJURE would legally defend me. Idle talk! Nonsense! Some days later a note by these holy lawyers attacked me and advised me to leave HRC because I was not qualified. After this episode, ANAJURE lost some of its most important founding members, including our faith warrior in Brasilia, Dr. Damares Alves.
Julio Severo: In the heat of persecution, the ANAJURE president issued a press release warning that your presence in the Human Rights Committee was going to “divide the evangelical church even further… Just because personal projects are above the values of the Truth of the Gospel of Christ.” Why, instead of helping you, did the ANAJURE president decide to issue this press release?
Marco Feliciano: Out of cowardice, because it was not convenient to combine the image of his organization with a “leprous dog” like me at that time. I was an offense to them. Very few people believed that I would be able to withstand the pressure. He was sure that I would leave, that I would fall. But the Lord, through the prayers of the church, has sustained me.
Julio Severo: What did you go through as a result of the massive opposition, coming especially from the media and the secular and evangelical Left?
Marco Feliciano: Persecution, death threats, physical ailments and public humiliation. My wife suffered a psychosomatic illness. My younger daughters (10 and 11) needed psychological support, because in a worship service gay activists climbed on my car, exposed their genitals, shouted loudly, swearing and spitting when my small daughters were in the car crying. I lost 22 pounds, because I was unable to eat and sleep properly. The media were cruel, editing sermons I had preached 15 years ago and showing them daily in their news and TV reports. The social media were disgusting. Gay activists vandalized our churches and campaigned at the doors of some churches hindering members from entering. In some small cities the battling was so great that church members were afraid to attend worship services, because when they came they met gay activists smoking, drugging themselves, drinking and dancing half-naked.
Protest against Marco Feliciano
Julio Severo: Has the homosexualist pressure affected your daily life? And if so, how?
Marco Feliciano: Yes. Today, rarely I go to public places. When I do, if someone calls my name, or comes near abruptly, I get worried, because I do not know what is going to happen and what this individual’s intent is. This is why I avoid going to restaurants and malls.
Julio Severo: Have your family suffered threats because of homosexualist pressures?
Marco Feliciano: My oldest daughter, 18, had to discontinue her studies in Brazil, because her surname, Feliciano, was a burden. I had to send her to study in the United States.
Julio Severo: Gay militants have called you names and threatened you? Have you called them names and threatened them too?
Marco Feliciano: My profile is peaceful and calm. I have emotional health. I never use abusive language. I never threaten. Even when I have legal grounds to file a legal action, I do not do it. I am a Christian, not just nominal, but practicing.
Julio Severo: What do you think about homosexual behavior? Is it medically healthy? Is it morally healthy?
Marco Feliciano: It is a behavioral phenomenon beyond comprehension. It is an issue that should be studied, but gay militants have pressured psychologists to abandon the topic and never discuss it. This is deplorable and even criminal. They have turned it into a “trendy” thing, and the next generations will pay the consequences for it. Gay behavior results in confusion, distress, and desperation. I am sorry for them.
Julio Severo: What do you think about God’s condemnation of homosexual behavior in the Bible?
Marco Feliciano: I do not question God or his thoughts. The Old Testament had prohibitions aimed at preserving our species. For example, circumcision, bans on foods like pork or seafood. Today we know how these dietary rules and circumcision increased the people’s lifespan. It was intended to keep them healthy. I see the condemnation by God of the homosexual act in several respects, the preservation of species. If you put 500 homosexuals on an island for 70 years, it will eventually be uninhabited. Anal copulation is unsanitary. Diseases like HPV and AIDS spread easily among GLBTT people, and there is the issue of sin, which is everything offending God and making Him sad. But remember that the condemnations were from the Old Testament, in the Dispensation of the Law. With Christ in the New Testament, the condemnation is spiritual, it is about eternity. The eye-for-an-eye law was changed to “Love your neighbor as yourself.” So I love homosexuals, but I abhor the homosexual act.
Marco Feliciano receives support from March for Family in June
Julio Severo: What do you think about PLC 122, the Brazilian bill criminalizing “homophobia”?
Marco Feliciano: PLC 122 is the padlock that swill forever lock up free speech and severely chastise the Christian Church.
Julio Severo: Do you agree with the government’s attitude, with media complicity, of forcing children and adolescents to be exposed to homosexual indoctrination in schools and other settings?
Marco Feliciano: I am opposed to it and I pay a high cost for that. The so called “new family structure” is dishonest, macabre, putrid, wretched and implacable! Parents, beware for your children!
Julio Severo: Before your term, what was happening in the Human Rights Committee? Is it true that much money was channeled to fund homosexual projects?
Marco Feliciano: HRC was created about 20 years ago and was used as a visibility platform for the LGBTT movement. In the past 18 years it is estimated that over 100,000 dollars were earmarked for them.
Julio Severo: What about now under your chairmanship? How does the Human Rights Committee channel resources? Where is people’s money going to?
Marco Feliciano: A House committee cannot send money, but it stipulates where the grants are to be employed. It happens at the end of the year. I have not done it yet, but when I do it, don’t worry, because I will allot it to people in real need.
Julio Severo: Do you think that the massive indignation of the gay militancy against your chairmanship in the Human Rights Committee has to do with the multi-million loss of resources that the gay movement has suffered?
Marco Feliciano: Of course.
Julio Severo: In the past, you supported politically socialists Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Dilma Rousseff, of the Workers’ Party. What has made you change your mind? In the choice between ethical values, especially opposition to abortion and homosexuality, and support to the Workers’ Party of Lula and Rousseff, why did you lean toward ethical values?
Marco Feliciano: In the 2010 Brazilian presidential election, we were in a tight spot. On one side, there was PSDB (a social democratic party) and its candidate José Serra, who said openly that he supported abortion. On the other side, there was Rousseff, who signed a public document saying that she was against abortion and that in her administration she would not approve it. What would you do? I chose the lesser evil, the candidate who had a document that could be used to hold her feet to the fire. I supported Rousseff. I have repented. To the ruling Left, “values” means money.
Julio Severo: Why did Ariovaldo Ramos and other representatives of the evangelical Left, who also supported Lula and Rousseff, prefer to join the Workers’ Party and the militant homosexuals in opposing your chairmanship of the Human Rights Committee? Do not ethical values, especially against abortion and homosexuality, matter to them?
Marco Feliciano: Who knows? Certainly, there must be some special benefit that we do not know about. An ancient poet said “Between heaven and earth there are more mysteries than our vain philosophy of life”… I cannot believe in a church that prefers error over truth. I cannot understand what leads a minister to support a wicked system, but to fail to support a simple, weak brother. I really do not understand.
Brazilian Congress
Julio Severo: You have gone through a major trial by fire. With the massive opposition to your appointment for the Human Rights Committee chairmanship, it seemed that you were not going to holdout for long. How was your experience with God during that time?
Marco Feliciano: I do not remember being so near to God before. It was profound. Dependency on Him was total. Prayer had a pure focus. I had heard about Him before, but then I knew Him in truth. After 40 days I saw Christians arising to help me. Evangelicals, Catholics and, amazingly, even spiritualists and conservative atheists joined in on the internet, in the streets, in prayer, in TV and radio shows. The rally promoted by Rev. Silas Malafaia in Brasília was a blessing. I saw God moving the Christian nation to prayer.
Julio Severo: Following this huge opposition, your stay in the chairmanship of the Human Rights Committee is a miracle. Do you feel that God had this purpose for you? Jean Wyllys, the homosexualist congressman in Brazil, says that he was put in the politics by African deities. What about you? Have you a calling from God for politics?
Marco Feliciano: When I became a candidate for the Brazilian House of Representatives, many were shocked. A very small number of people understood what I did at that time. I had a spiritual dream. I was moved by God to politics. My life in Brazilian politics awakened many in the Brazilian Church. I demonstrated that it is possible to be a politician and stay filled with the Holy Spirit. I continue being a minister and preacher. My principles remain intact. Next year the Brazilian Church will show her power at the polls. I am sure that God is in this business. I believe that God still has “Josephs and Daniels” in government. Let’s remember that the Old Testament prophet was the political conscience of kings.
Marco Feliciano
Julio Severo: Many would like to vote for you for president of Brazil next year, because possibly all the candidates will be pro-abortion and homosexualists. Even socialist evangelical Marina Silva, who is looking for evangelical votes, is not trustworthy on these issues. She is supported by many leftists, including evangelicals, who made consistent opposition to you. You would be the only electoral option for Christians. Why don’t you run for president of Brazil?
Marco Feliciano: I was also disappointed with our “sister” Marina. Marina is so leftist that even the Workers’ Party was not radical enough for her. Look at the people who are with her building the new party Rede, and you will understand what I am talking about. If a party owning an electoral TV spot adopted me, I would become a candidate with no fear. If not now, perhaps the next time around. I am in prayer. I have to learn many things. I am 40 years old and beginning my political life. I have the conviction that I am not 100% prepared, but there are advisers, etc. It is a dream. Let’s dream.
* Uziel Santana.
For international readers unfamiliar with the evangelical Left in Brazil, I recommend my recent e-book, available here free of charge: http://bit.ly/1a6brwP
Reviewed by Don Hank.
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