The Perfect Revival?
By Julio
Severo
Brazil has
experienced an explosive growth of Pentecostal and neo-Pentecostal
(neo-charismatic) churches. Large crowds of poor people have been attending
these churches looking for answers for their physical, material and spiritual needs.
International
onlookers see such growth as a phenomenon or even evidence of “revival.” Yet,
Brazilian Calvinist critics question that if it were genuine, Brazil would not
have now a socialist government. But what if Brazil depended just on the
Catholic Church and its Liberation Theology? It would be already a Catholic
Cuba. What if Brazil depended just on mainline Protestant churches and their
Protestant versions of the Liberation Theology? It would be already a
Protestant Cuba.
The Pentecostal
and neo-Pentecostal growth in Brazil is far from perfection. But virulent
critics from mainline Protestant churches, which are very small in Brazil in
comparison to large Pentecostal and neo-Pentecostal churches, have used the
imperfections to point that the “revival” in Brazil is counterfeit, misleading,
and even demonic. Calvinist critics have consistently condemned the Pentecostal
and neo-Pentecostal growth in Brazil.
They ignore that
revival does not equal perfection. They ignore the grave imperfections of the
perfectly charismatic church of 1 Corinthians.
They point that
the result of a perfect revival is change and transformation in Christians and
their behavior. This change affects everyone: lawyers, farmers, and even
politicians. If there is a large numbers of Christians in a government, it is
expected that it will conform to the Christian values and justice by the
testimony and presence of Christians.
They point that
the perfect revival was the Great Awakening in America and the preaching of men
like Jonathan Edwards.
Let us use their
standard to analyze a “perfect revival.” First, came the Great Awakening, by
Jonathan Edwards and others. Next, the birth of the United States by men
simultaneously Protestant and Mason. This is, most of the Founding Founders
were Protestant at the same time affected by the Great Awakening and Masonry!
If America is
today plagued by Mason symbols and taints, the example was set by these Mason
Protestants who lived under the influence of the strong spiritual culture left
by the Great Awakening.
The largest
Presbyterian denomination in Brazil, founded by U.S. Mason Presbyterian
missionaries in the midst-1800s and cradle of the first Protestant version of
the Liberation Theology in the 1950s, has a difficult time to discipline its
countless Mason ministers and other leaders, who nevertheless have been busy
criticizing the many “heresies” of the Pentecostal and neo-Pentecostal growth.
So by their
logic, if the Great Awakening was a perfect revival, it follows that Masonry
plaguing Protestant politicians is ok, because if it is not ok, it follows that
the Great Awakening was an imperfect revival. And Calvinist critics in Brazil
have just one answer to imperfect revivals: systematic criticism.
Never mind that
what God’s Word says also applies to Masonry among Protestant ministers,
politicians and other leaders:
“Stop forming inappropriate relationships with
unbelievers. Can right and wrong be partners? Can light have anything in common
with darkness?” (2 Corinthians 6:14 GWV)
The Great
Awakening was the greatest blessing for the birth of America. But Masonry was
not a blessing, and it will be, with its schemes of New World Order, her fall.
The Great
Awakening was not a perfect revival. Only God is perfect. The Pentecostal and
neo-Pentecostal growth in Brazil is not perfect. Only God is perfect.
If Brazil is
today more socialist, Pentecostals and neo-Pentecostals are not to blame. In
the 1990s, Rev. Caio Fábio, the greatest Presbyterian leader in the Brazilian
history, led the Brazilian Church to support the Workers’ Party (Partido dos
Trabalhadores), which is the ruling socialist party in Brazil, and today Rev.
Fábio is a fallen man, because of his sexual and financial scandals. More
information about his huge influence in the Brazilian Church can be found in my
free e-book “Theology of Liberation Versus Theology of Prosperity” here: http://bit.ly/15AJmMC
The Workers’
Party and other socialist parties are determined to impose abortion and
homosexuality in Brazil. The only hindrance to their project, by their own
admission, is the daring testimony of neo-Pentecostal televangelists, who are
under a heavy barrage of “theological” criticism from Calvinist critics
comfortably in a religious environment plagued by Masonry and the Theology of
Integral Mission, which is the Protestant version of the Liberation Theology.
Their
inspiration is often John MacArthur, a Calvinist theologian who believes the
supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit have ceased. Calvinist churches
increasingly embracing homosexuality, abortion and stances against Israel and MacArthur
and his Brazilian followers worried about what the Holy Spirit can or cannot do
today. Why do not he and other Calvinist critics use their judgmental “gift”
toward PCUSA and many other cessationist, liberal Protestant churches?
Why do not they
use their judgmental “gift” toward the Theology of Integral Mission and
Masonry?
If they did it,
many Calvinist critics in Brazil would begin to busy themselves with these
colossal problems in their own midst, and understandably they would be left no
time to attack Pentecostals and charismatics and much less to require their
growth to conform to Calvinist expectations of the Great Awakening.
If they want to
criticize “imperfect” revivals, what about Masonry among Founding Fathers who
were affected by the Great Awakening? Why do they refuse to see Masonry as
intricate witchcraft? If they want perfection in others, why is their midst
plagued by the Theology of Integral Mission? Why does this liberal and leftist
theology affect predominantly Calvinists in Brazil? Why do they have never
criticized their former theological celebrity, Rev. Caio Fábio, for his instrumental
role promoting the Theology of Integral Mission and evangelical involvement
with the Workers’ Party?
Is there a
perfect revival? Of course, not. But if Pentecostals and neo-Pentecostals do
not criticize the Great Awakening, why do Calvinist critics consistently
criticize the Pentecostal and neo-Pentecostal growth in Brazil?
As for me, I
say: there is no reason to reject the Great Awakening and the Pentecostal and
neo-Pentecostal growth in Brazil because of their imperfections. Mature
Christians will appreciate both events and will know how to reject their
imperfections without tossing away what God did and is doing.
Portuguese version of this article: O
reavivamento perfeito?
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