Televangelist Benny Hinn, who became a millionaire by making worshipers donate to him, said that his prosperity gospel “It’s an offense to the Lord,” and vows he will never ask for money again

By Julio Severo

Televangelist Benny Hinn, who became a millionaire by preaching the prosperity gospel, has now made a stunning rejecting of the practice and declared that “it’s an offense to the Lord.”

His form of the prosperity gospel got him rich by challenging people to give large sums of money if they wanted a big blessing.

Hinn, who has an estimated fortune of $60 million, now says the “Holy Ghost is just fed up” with the prosperity gospel and vowed never again to ask for money.

“I’m sorry to say that prosperity has gone a little crazy and I’m correcting my own theology and you need to all know it. Because when I read the Bible now, I don’t see the Bible in the same eyes I saw 20 years ago,” Hinn said.

“I think it’s an offense to the Lord, it’s an offense to say give $1,000. I think it’s an offense to the Holy Spirit to place a price on the Gospel. I’m done with it. I will never again ask you to give $1,000 or whatever amount because I think the Holy Ghost is just fed up with it. I think it hurts the Gospel, so I’m making this statement for the first time in my life and frankly, I don't care what people think about me anymore. When you look at the word of God… if I hear one more time, break the back of debt with $1,000, I’m gonna rebuke them,” he said.

“I think that’s buying the Gospel. That’s buying the blessing. That’s grieving the Holy Spirit… If you are not giving because you love Jesus, don’t bother giving. I think giving has become such a gimmick… it’s making me sick to my stomach,” he added.

Daily Mail reported that Hinn’s ministry collected roughly $100 million in annual donations.

Hinn is known for his faith healing summits that are often held in huge stadiums across the country.

The faith healing services often show believers being knocked over by the Holy Spirit. They also claim to have been cured of illnesses through Hinn's services.

Hinn, who was born in Israel and grew up in Canada, became a devout evangelical as a child. He moved to Florida in his 20s and married his wife — the daughter of a preacher. It was then that he also became a preacher. He started his TV show in the early 1990s and it quickly started airing worldwide.

Hinn had his Texas offices raided by the IRS back in 2017 and he was one of six television evangelists investigated by the Senate Finance Committee in 2007.

The prosperity gospel is the teaching and belief among Pentecostals and charismatics that Christians can obtain wealth and health by exercising their faith.

There are varying degrees in teaching and practice of the prosperity gospel. Some prosperity gospel televangelists insist that you can receive blessings only by giving money in the church. This was Hinn’s case.

Other prosperity gospel televangelists insist that miracles happen only by faith, regardless donations. This was the case of the late televangelist Rex Humbard.

The prosperity gospel, which was born in the United States, the most capitalist and Protestant nation in the world, is a distinctly capitalist form of the U.S. evangelicalism that was exported to several nations around the world. In Brazil, prosperity gospel televangelists have been in the forefront of the cultural war and, interestingly, Brazilian socialists have said that the number 1 enemy of socialism in Brazil is the prosperity gospel.

In fact, socialist Fernando Haddad, who lost the Brazilian presidential election to Jair Bolsonaro in 2018, blamed his defeat to charismatics and the prosperity gospel.

The prosperity gospel threatens socialism in Brazil because while socialists teach the poor to support socialist politicians to get health, education and a better life, prosperity gospel televangelists teach the poor to seek intensely God for health, education and a better life.

Socialism entered Latin America enticing the poor that they could get better lives by taking from others and helping Marxists into power.

The prosperity gospel, in its several forms, came directly from America and entered Latin America by encouraging and motivating the poor to work hard and pursue a professional objective by seeking God intensely. The prosperity gospel teaches its adherents in Latin America to hate abortion, homosexuality and similar ideologies. So it is no wonder that the left hates it. The only surprise is why Calvinists are so united with Marxists, socialists, progressives and even sorcerers who fight this capitalist theology.

I welcome Hinn’s decision to leave his radical form of the prosperity gospel that made people donate millions to him. But other forms of the prosperity gospel should be encouraged, not only because they produce a capitalist spirit in poor Christians, but also because they threaten socialism.

The biggest enemies of the prosperity gospel in Brazil are socialists, including secular, Catholic and Protestant socialists. This speaks volumes.

The degrees of difference in the prosperity gospel are vast. For example, the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God (UCKG) is a neo-Pentecostal denomination that owns TV Record, the second largest TV channel in Brazil. UCKG preaches the prosperity gospel and uses Hinn’s radical form of teaching that people can be blessed only by giving more and more money to the church, but UCKG is very hostile to all the other prosperity gospel churches in Brazil. UCKG is the only neo-Pentecostal church in Brazil defending abortion, a stance that is compatible with the Presbyterian Church USA, the largest Calvinist denomination in the U.S. And UCKG defends cessationism, teaching that prophecy, revelation and other gifts of the Holy Spirit today are demonic. UCKG teaches that only the Bible is necessary and that the supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit ceased 2,000 years ago, a stance that is compatible with cessationist Calvinists.

Nevertheless, a Brazilian Calvinist theologian speaking at the Ligonier National Conference used UCKG as a “perfect” example of the prosperity gospel, being very careful not to mention that UCKG is as cessationist as he is!

Cessationist Calvinists are celebrating Hinn’s decision. Many of them have a socialist background or are friendly to Calvinist socialists. Even though they are not hesitant to call any form of the prosperity gospel heresy, they are very hesitant to call any form of socialism among Calvinists heresy.

The prosperity gospel in its several forms is not present among Calvinists. But socialism in its several forms, including the old Social Gospel and the gay theology, is present among Calvinists. So it would be very wise for Calvinists to focus on their massive domestic socialist problem, not on the prosperity gospel, which has been the most effective form of evangelical capitalism to fight socialism.

Often cessationist Calvinists attack the prosperity gospel, making no distinction in its several degrees, because they oppose everything Pentecostal and charismatic, especially spiritual gifts of the Holy Spirit. They believe that these gifts ceased 2,000 years ago and that Christians who say today that they have such gifts are heretical or under heretic and demonic delusion.

This is the case of Calvinist theologian John MacArthur. In his book “Strange Fire: The Danger of Offending the Holy Spirit with Counterfeit Worship,” he mentions negatively Benny Hinn 199 times, even though Hinn was not invited to preach in Calvinist churches. “Strange Fire,” which makes no negative mention of PCUSA and the homosexualist Calvinism of the Gospel Coalition, uses the prosperity gospel to attack all charismatics, Pentecostals and neo-Pentecostals.

In “Strange Fire,” MacArthur said,

“By elevating the authority of experience over the authority of Scripture, the Charismatic Movement has destroyed the church’s immune system—uncritically granting free access to every imaginable form of heretical teaching and practice. Put bluntly, charismatic theology has made no contribution to true biblical theology or interpretation; rather, it represents a deviant mutation of the truth. Like a deadly virus, it gains access into the church by maintaining a superficial connection to certain characteristics of biblical Christianity, but in the end it always corrupts and distorts sound teaching. The resulting degradation, like a doctrinal version of Frankenstein’s monster, is a hideous hybrid of heresy, ecstasy, and blasphemy awkwardly dressed in the tattered remnants of evangelical language.”

MacArthur repeatedly calls the Pentecostal, neo-Pentecostal, and charismatic movement “heretical.” One of the many excuses he uses to apply this extremist label to Pentecostals is in his book, which says: “Pentecostals and charismatics elevate religious experience over biblical truth. Though many of them pay lip service to the authority of God’s Word, in practice they deny it.”

The opposite is true. I give an example of MacArthur’s own Calvinist backyard. The Gospel Coalition, a group formed exclusively by Calvinists, has been advocating the idea that an evangelical can be homosexual and minister as long as he limits his homosexuality to thoughts and desires without practicing them. In fact, the Gospel Coalition has several members who are supposedly non-practicing homosexual ministers.

MacArthur is also a member of the Gospel Coalition. This is the perfect case of putting the personal experience of sin, whether in thoughts, desires, or actions, of homosexual Calvinist ministers above God’s Word. In fact, it is not the Pentecostal churches that are leading the apostasy of ordaining homosexual ministers. It is Calvinist churches. Pharisaism reigns in cessationist Calvinism.

Benny Hinn has done the right thing by renouncing an extremist prosperity theology that demands money in exchange for blessings. But the other less radical capitalist forms of the prosperity theology that confront socialism and encourage and motivate poor Christians to seek health, employment, and a better life in God, not in socialism, should be strengthened.

As for John MacArthur, who demonizes Pentecostals, Charismatics, and neo-Pentecostals, and all capitalist forms of the prosperity theology, he should focus on the Gospel Coalition that accepts homosexual Calvinist ministers who place their homosexual experience and feelings above the Word of God.

Another harmful feeling is envy. MacArthur and other envious Calvinists should not use the hardcore form of the prosperity gospel formerly preached by Hinn as an excuse to attack all forms of this gospel and, worst of all, attack all charismatic, Pentecostal and neo-Pentecostal movements, which is exactly what he does. Such feeling is a hardcore envy, especially because the prosperity gospel, with its distinct American capitalist evangelicalism, has had a prominent benevolent role to encourage and motivate the Third World poor and threaten socialism. MacArthur and other Calvinists should praise God, not dedicate their lives to a hardcore envy against charismatics, Pentecostals and neo-Pentecostals.

If all forms of the prosperity gospel are destroyed, as cessationist Calvinists want, who will be left to encourage and motivate the poor to pursue a better life through a biblical capitalism? Who will be left to fight socialism so prevalent among Catholics and even Calvinists in Latin America?

With information from DailyMail.

Portuguese version of this article: Televangelista Benny Hinn, que se tornou milionário fazendo adoradores darem contribuições para ele, disse que sua teologia da prosperidade “é uma ofensa ao Senhor” e promete que nunca mais pedirá dinheiro

Source: Last Days Watchman

Recommended Reading:

Prosperity gospel televangelist, who is a Trump spiritual adviser, officially opens Trump’s reelection campaign launch with prayer spiritually destroying the demonic network against the president and saying his 2020 victory assured in the name of Jesus Christ

Rex Humbard, Premier Televangelist Who Blessed Millions

Megachurch pastor buys wife $200G Lamborghini. How cannot you criticize such waste?

Why Cannot a Cessationist Calvinist Theologian Use His Pulpit for Crusades against Abortion, Sodomy and Feminism, But Can Use it for Crusades against Charismatics, Pentecostals and Neo-Pentecostals?

Brazilian Presidential Election: Fernando Haddad Acknowledges that the Biggest Responsible for His Defeat at the Polls Was “Evangelical Phenomenon”

Ed Shaw, Gospel Coalition and Homosexual Feelings: What They Say and What Jesus Said

Justin Peters in Brazil: God Does Not Speak to You Today Through Prophecy and Revelation

By Julio Severo

There was a lot of confusion among some experts on Christian apologetics in Brazil early this year about whether Justin Peters preached or not cessationism when, as a VINACC guest speaker, he taught against prosperity theology preachers by calling them “heretics.”

Justin Peters

Actually, he wanted also to call believers in supernatural charismatic gifts of “heretics,” but he was hindered from doing so in his VINACC public meetings.

He was prevented from teaching his cessationist gospel in VINACC.

How did Peters become an intransigent cessationist?

Apparently, after attending several meetings of prosperity theology proponents and receiving no miracle, Peters, who is a disabled man, let his bad experience create a bad theology: If he received no miracle in these meetings is because God gives no supernatural gifts in our days.

Today, he is an avid cessationist — a theological jargon to design adherents of the theory that says the supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit ceased 2,000 years ago and that they are no longer available today. In fact, his non-healing experiences have been used by Calvinist theologian John MacArthur to back his anti-Pentecostal “Strange Fire” conferences, where Peters is one of the speakers.

In Campina Grande, Brazil, where the VINACC meeting was held, Peters was recorded as saying,

“Anytime somebody says God has spoken to me and has given me a word, has given me a new revelation, has given me a prophecy, that you automatically write that person off as a false teacher as a false prophet. And we could talk for an hour at least about how God does or does not speak to people. Hebrews 1:1,2 pretty clear: God long ago spoke through the fathers in the prophets in many portions in many different ways, but in these last days has spoken to us in His Son Jesus who is the final speaking of God. We have the perfect, inerrant, infallible and sufficient record of that. So God is not giving certain individuals special revelations, special insight into His future plans. He’s not doing that anymore. Everything that we need is right here in the Word of God. We’re the dwell of the Spirit who illumines the meaning of this Word in our hearts and minds. That’s all we need. The second thing: anybody who claims to be an apostle or a prophet, write that person off immediately.”

After reading Peters’ words, Dr. Michael Brown, author of “Authentic Fire” (a book that exposes the fallacies of “Strange Fire,” a book by MacArthur), said to me:

“What a bizarre statement about God not speaking today. The Word plainly says that Jesus, by the Spirit, continues to speak. If I believe the Word, then I must believe the Spirit is still speaking today. It’s troubling to see how Mr. Peters terribly misuses the Bible to justify his claims and rather than dealing with the detailed scriptural evidence I provided in my Authentic Fire book, he dismisses it all because I accepted Benny Hinn’s invitation to appear on his broadcast and preach the gospel to millions of viewers.”

With his words, Peters showed that he has not a problem just with prosperity theology preachers. His problem is with all people professing Pentecostalism or charismatic experiences. In fact, his main foundation to attack Pentecostal leaders seems to be his fierce opposition to the supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit today.

By the way, Brazil was a huge challenge for him, because most Brazilian evangelicals are Pentecostal. Brazilian evangelicalism is basically Pentecostal and neo-Pentecostal.

Peters would get a good audience among followers of Bishop Edir Macedo, the founder of the Kingdom of God Universal Church (KGUC). Macedo also believes that God gives no prophecy or revelation today. He said, “In former times, God used to speak through dreams, visions or prophecies, because there was not His written Word. Today, He speaks through His Word.”

What is to be done to people today who say that they had a prophecy or revelation? Macedo answers, “If someone learns that there is a ‘prophet’ or ‘prophetess’ in KGUC, denounce it immediately to the minister and also to the regional leader, so that we may take immediate measures.”

It would sound ok for Peters, wouldn’t it? After all, this is his theology!

Macedo is relentless in his anti-prophecy stance. Incredibly, he is a neo-Pentecostal (neo-charismatic) leader who preaches the prosperity theology. Yet, whether or not you bring Macedo a prophetic revelation or God’s Word about the value of life, he remains fierce and equally relentless in his defense of abortion and birth control.

If Peters’ attacks were directed to this real strange fire (abortion, birth control, partial cessationism and the Gospel together), it would be fair. But his attacks are directed to other issues and against all Pentecostals. For Peters, all gifts of prophecy and revelations today are “strange fire,” are demonic. Of course, Macedo would say, “Amen!”

There are false gospels and false miracles, but you should never use the false gospels and the false miracles to disqualify the true Gospel and the true miracles.

Because I am charismatic Christian, should I accept all manifestations of supernatural gifts coming from Christians? No. Some years ago, an American preacher said that he received a prophecy about Brazil winning the 2014 World Cup and also about an evangelical woman getting elected as Brazilian president in the 2014 election. His prophecy was interpreted as God supporting Marina Silva, a socialist militant who began in the Catholic Church and today is an Assemblies of God member.

Brazil suffered its worst defeat in the 2014 World Cup. I knew that his prophecy was not correct, especially for its interpretation favoring Marina, who has solid socialist stances. While many evangelical leaders were supporting her because of the prophecy, I was, before the election, exposing Marina and her avid socialism. Eventually, she lost.

Apostle Paul, who had many charismatic gifts, never taught that you should reject prophecies, but that you should be free to prophesize and free to evaluate what each person says in prophecy: “Two or three people should speak what God has revealed. Everyone else should decide whether what each person said is right or wrong.” (1 Corinthians 14:29 GWV)

To reject all prophecies is not the Bible way. To accept all prophecies is not the Bible way. The Bible ways is freedom to prophesy and freedom do evaluate.

In Campina Grande, Brazil, Justin Peters lambasted prosperity theology preachers. He also lambasted the VINACC organizers because he wanted to teach cessationism (the strange doctrine that says God no longer grants supernatural gifts today), but they did not allow him. Even though several VINACC speakers are cessationist Calvinists, its public is mostly Pentecostal. Peters’ cessationism would have been extremely offensive to this public.

Peters’ declarations against prophecy and revelation were recorded in an interview with him in Campina Grande and show how eager he was to teach the VINACC public to reject “heresies,” misinterpreted by him as an acceptance of prophecy and revelation for today.

In his recorded declarations, Peters also attacked Dr. Michael Brown, a Jewish charismatic leader who has been prominent for his defense of the Gospel and Israel. He said,

“A lot of pastors will have invite questionable people to come to their churches to preach. They will go on to questionable or maybe I should say questionable because it could sound like mad, television programs associated with false prophets. One good example is Dr. Michael Brown, who is considered to be one of the intellectual leaders of the charismatic movement. He blasted the Strange Fire Conference that was held at John MacArthur’s church, because he claimed that the Strange Fire Conference plained all charismatics with raw brush and it was really as if the Strange Fire Conference should talk about the strange time fringe of the charismatics. He said that is not who we are. So he blasted the Conference and then three months later he goes on Benny Hinn’s television program and records five programs with Benny Hinn who is one of, if not the world’s most infamous bad influence, that’s the bad way influence in believers. If you can’t tell Benny Hinn is a false teacher then something is really wrong. And so associations pick volumes about who we are and what we believe.”

In answer, Dr. Michael Brown clarified that, because Peters tried to misrepresent him in Brazil, he is open to a public debate about these issues. The debate could happen in Brazil. Brown said,

“1) I invited Pastor MacArthur to private discussion or public debate on numerous occasions, but he refused to engage in private or in public; 2) I would debate Justin Peters in a heartbeat as to what the Bible says about divine healing; 3) I exposed false accusations made against Benny Hinn by Justin Peters; 4) my appearance on Benny Hinn’s show is not an endorsement of his theology any more than my appearance on Piers Morgan. Instead, I was able to reach his audience with the message of Jesus the Messiah. Is this wrong? 5) I have exposed errors in the Charismatic church for decades, and I continue to do so to this day, but I am Charismatic because of the plain teaching of Scripture and again. I would gladly debate what the Scriptures say with any qualified non-Charismatic leader.”

Dr. Brown is willing to debate John MacArthur and Justin Peters, in Brazil or in the U.S., about their stance against prophecy, revelation and other supernatural gifts for today. He said:

“I invite Mr. Peters to have a formal, moderated debate with me on what the Bible says – not what people say – about the gifts of the Spirit, including healing and prophecy, being promised by God in His Word for today. Let’s not engage in rhetoric. Let’s look at the Word.”

I do not know if Brazilian charismatics are prepared for such debate.

CPAD, the biggest Pentecostal publishing house in Brazil, has published several books by anti-Pentecostal Calvinist John MacArthur, but it has not published “Authentic Fire,” by Dr. Brown. In contrast, cessationist Calvinist publishers in Brazil will never publish any book by Dr. Brown or by any other charismatic, even though there is no anti-Calvinist Pentecostal version of John MacArthur in Brazil.

CPAD belongs to the Assemblies of God, which has over 12 million members in Brazil. The Presbyterian Church of Brazil, the first Calvinist denomination in Brazil, has 1 million members, but not all of them are cessationist.

MacArthur’s “Strange Fire” has been published in Brazil by Thomas Nelson. Both Thomas Nelson and Zondervan, the two largest Protestant publishing houses in the world, belong to HarperCollins, which publishes the Satanic Bible, by Satanist Anton LaVey.

So the publisher and promoter of “Strange Fire” in Brazil is owned by HarperCollins, which publishes and promotes satanic books. This is satanic fire!

Yet, the publisher and promoter of other books by MacArthur in Brazil is Pentecostal giant CPAD. Does it make sense?

A schizophrenic contrast. Brazilian Pentecostals promote MacArthur. MacArthur does not promote Brazilian Pentecostals. MacArthur uses and abuses the Gospel to attack Pentecostals. Brazilian Pentecostals do not use and abuse the Gospel to attack MacArthur. Are Brazilian Pentecostals spiritual masochists who love to be labeled “heretics” for believing in supernatural gifts for today?

There is a real strange fire when “Strange Fire” and the Satanic Bible are published and promoted by the same source.

There is a stranger fire when books of an anti-Pentecostal Calvinist author are published and promoted by the biggest Pentecostal publisher in Brazil.

Portuguese version of this article: Justin Peters no Brasil: Deus não fala com você hoje por meio de profecia e revelação

Source: Last Days Watchman

Recommended Reading:

Justin Peters: an American Cessationist Teaching “Apologetics” to Brazilian Pentecostals

The Perfect Revival?

A Charismatic Response to “The Growing Crisis Behind Brazil’s Evangelical Success Story”

Liberation Theology and Neo-Pentecostalism: A Leading Challenge to the Evangelical Churches in Brazil

Brazilian Pentecostals: Church Growth Endangered by Socialist Embrace

R.C. Sproul: There Is No True Prophecy Today

Inflamed by American Prophecy, Brazilian Evangelicals Want a Woman for Brazil Presidency

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.

The Brazilian Catholic Church, plagued by the Liberation Theology, has been worried about this growth. And even mainline Brazilian Protestant churches, similarly plagued by Protestant versions of the Liberation Theology, have been worried.

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?

Source: BarbWire, via Last Days Watchman

Recommended Reading:

A Charismatic Response to “The Growing Crisis Behind Brazil’s Evangelical Success Story”

Liberation Theology and Neo-Pentecostalism: A Leading Challenge to the Evangelical Churches in Brazil

Brazilian Pentecostals: Church Growth Endangered by Socialist Embrace

R.C. Sproul: There Is No True Prophecy Today

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