EBC
Luís Alberto Alves
Every end of the year the same greetings arise: “I hope next year is better than this one, what a grace to Jesus it is ending”! When you look at this phrase, quickly, it seems like something cool. Asking for the New Year to be better in everything. After all, human beings always aim for what is good, victory, not fights, desert, etc...
But when coldly analyzed, the tendency is to get worse. For those who have already passed the 60-year-old barrier, like this one who writes to you, when compared to past decades, the situation was different from several angles. For example, in the 1970s public school students did not threaten teachers, much less principals.
The words of father and mother never became the target of dispute. The son would ask for something and if it was not possible to give it, the conversation would end with a loud “no” and it was over. There were no tantrums, feet hitting the floor, swearing or emotional blackmail. Finally, there was respect for the parents, even if they appeared fragile in their walking and even speaking.
Couple
Dating, in most cases, was not something like a pornographic film, with the girl having sex on the first day she met the boy. Until the wedding arrived, which often ended in this way, respect prevailed. There were kisses, hugs, walking on the street, but without exceeding the limits. The couple enjoyed romance.
Drug consumption, even with the hippie revolution in the 1960s, with the famous motto “Peace and Love”, and men wearing long hair and long beards, did not reach the current level, where drugs can be bought on any corner, at sometimes next to the police station or barracks. Even the elite did not openly demonstrate their attachment to drugs.
The bandits acted, however, always opposed by the authorities. People, even on the outskirts, could walk at night, without the paranoia of being robbed or hit by a bullet that doesn't get lost, but finds someone. Rape cases did not occur in large numbers as they do today. As is the murder of women, currently an epidemic.
Entrance exam
People entered school, the famous gymnasium (currently Elementary School), then high school (High School) and the battle to enter higher education (college). There was no Fuvest, which only appeared in 1975. Exact and Engineering were grouped under the acronym Mapofei because of the initials “MA”, for Instituto Mauá de Tecnologia; “PO”, from the Polytechnic School of USP and “FEI” from the Faculty of Industrial Engineering.
These acronyms joined “Cescem” which was the entrance exam for the Biological area in São Paulo, created in 1964. Finally came “Cescea”, for the humanities area created in 1967. Unified they became Fuvest. Most had the goal of becoming successful. Teaching was not trivialized, as is the case today, with the majority of students leaving school semi-illiterate.
The few evangelical churches that existed in the neighborhoods were seen as places for serious, honest people. Generally, when girls passed by on the street for services, especially on Sunday mornings, they rarely became the target of teasing. The countenance revealed the striking presence of the Holy Spirit. Commerce respected the evangelical consumer, who generally honored their commitments, at a time when opening credits required in-depth research.
Patients
The praises hardly played on the radio, much less appeared on television stations. Any song in which the name of Jesus Christ was mentioned was soon called “believer’s music”. However, these songs had very spiritual lyrics, a strong presence of God. Luiz de Carvalho's big voice transformed many praises into true weapons of war against the evil forces sent by hell.
Humble men, when they ascended the pulpit, the Lord filled their lips with wisdom poured from Heaven. The result was cripples walking after the preaching of the Word, disillusioned patients receiving healing, drunks giving up alcohol and people with a bad temper becoming kind, in a clear sign of transformation.
The brothers had a lot of unity, as occurred in the early church, a record of which is found in the book of Acts of the Apostles. As a teenager, I remember the late man of God, Billy Graham, filling the Maracanã and Morumbi stadiums in São Paulo, without any type of advertising on radio, television, newspapers or magazines. All under the strong anointing of Jesus Christ.
Technology
Thousands of people went to these services without the promise of receiving the keys to their own house or new car, or a future millionaire husband or a beautiful woman like Raquel, who drove Jacob crazy and made him work 14 years to conquer the your love. They were interested in the presence of Jesus Christ. Drinking water from the fountain of life, which only the Lord is capable of providing, to invigorate the spirit and soul.
The praises had simple instrumentation: guitar, bass, drums, piano, sax. It was in no way reminiscent of current hymns, with so many instruments and effects used in mixing and mastering, more similar to secular music and most of the time with lyrics full of theological errors and without the anointing of the Holy Spirit.
In the lyrics, the authors spoke more about Jesus Christ, without giving any praise to the devil. Beautiful melodies that impacted and still impact the person who needs to find the love of Christ. Compositions written by people, many of them with only a primary education (currently the first five years of Elementary School). But inspiration sent from Heaven transformed these songs into a great weapon of war against evil.
Word
I cited these examples to show that in the last 53 years the Gospel of Christ has suffered a lot of deterioration. In some denominations the customs of the world entered and caused changes that saddened the Holy Spirit. In some churches, the space reserved for the Word was reduced to 30 minutes or even 20. The cool thing is to fill the 2 hours of worship with lots of singing, preferably very upbeat, as if it were a show.
In the view of these churches, it is not the Word of God that converts, but the guitar solo imitating a worldly hit that will hold the person in that place. Or the strong sound of the double bass, combined with the beat of the drums, in a very fast rhythm, can put in that person's mind that they need Jesus Christ's help.
Another interesting detail is that the Word in this type of worship needs to be light. Nothing to talk about sin, which separates man from God, about obedience to the Lord's commandments, about abandoning addictions, wrong behavior, a life of prostitution, idolatry, lies, infidelity and excessive love of money. The proposal is to accept Jesus, but without committing to obey him.
Pagoda
As the decades passed, 1970, 1980, 1990, 2000, 2010, 2020... the same tumor that at first was a small lump, has now turned into an immense ball filled with pus and trampled blood from sin. Evangelical church that seeks to follow the commandments of Jesus Christ, most of the time does not bring together many members. In fact, they are branded as grimaces, fundamentalists, backwards. They lost touch with the world. They live stuck in the past.
It is correct, for the merchants of the gospel, for the member to please two masters: the devil and Jesus Christ. The cool thing is to have two or more women. Just as a wife can exchange her husband, already fat, bald and with a face full of freckles, for a big boy full of muscles that she gained in the gym. At the end of the year, evangelicals, in the view of this type of church that proliferates throughout the world, need to drink with their colleagues.
Enter the pagoda circle and sing along to the sambas that are currently in fashion. Without forgetting, of course, the glass of caipirinha and beer. Then just ask Jesus Christ for forgiveness and everything will be ok. After all, we are in the season of Grace, of undeserved forgiveness. God will not be angry with the few hours spent in the circle of mockers, where gossip ran rampant. In Holy Supper, just ask for forgiveness and everything will be resolved before God.
Promotion
The sister's very short skirt, which causes everyone to sigh, will also not be a reason for Jesus to be sad. After all, these are the last days of the year, and no one is made of iron. From these people's perspective, always being in the presence of Jesus Christ is boring. Having to walk the line, stay away from sin, obey the commandments. Sometimes it's nice to feel the sweet taste of sin, even to guarantee a future promotion.
In the opinion of defenders of this type of gospel, the Bible is outdated. Jesus Christ needs to update himself. Monogamy is rude. When a man and a woman get married, they do not need to be faithful to each other. Everyone can have lovers, because loving the same person until the end of your life is quite boring. The evangelical church that considers this behavior wrong is classified as fundamentalist and backward. Missed the train of history.
The business is to encourage “gospel marijuana”, “gospel cocaine”, “gospel prostitution”, “gospel homosexuality”, “gospel lies”, “gospel corruption”, “gospel spells”, “gospel dispatch”. ”, “gospel betrayal”, “gospel abortion”, and all kinds of anomalies with a Christian veneer, as if Jesus Christ was pleased with this type of thing.
Price
That's why with each new year that arrives, it doesn't get better. The tendency is to get worse. Just like cancer that spreads throughout the sick patient's body. Sin advances quickly over the evangelical church. But for what reason? Simply for Jesus Christ to separate the chaff (people who are in the church, but never converted and do all the desires in the world) from the wheat (those who remained faithful to Jesus Christ, despite paying a high price, even among their family members) .
Christ himself said that: “he who is dirty, let him become dirtier and dirtier”, as described in Revelation 22/11. The tendency is to increase filth. Each year, the situation will get much worse until the day comes, and it is very close, when the Lord will separate those who belong to Him and leave those who belong to the devil, to be taken to hell. Because they never wanted a commitment to the Lord.
If you hope, my brother or sister, that 2024 will be a wonderful year, you can take the horse out of the rain. The trend is to have more corrupt politicians, criminals committing increasingly terrible crimes, an increase in sexual depravity, where prostitution will be considered a lifestyle and fidelity something outdated.
Elderly
Terrible crimes that shock public opinion will happen more frequently. As well as the increase in the absence of love in people's hearts. Few people will be sad to see an elderly person being attacked in the street or a mother asking for mercy so that her family member is not coldly executed by criminals. It is the principle of Talião (an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth) being applied fiercely.
Because of discredit, millions of people will no longer trust Justice. With the approval of the antichrist, the pending issues will be resolved through fire emitted by weapons or several blows with a piece of wood, until death arrives. Love, as we know it until this 2023, will disappear from the face of the Earth. Hatred will gain gigantic proportions, to the point that anyone who is good will be considered endangered.
The advancement of technology will drive people even further away. Even within a house, dialogue will take place mechanically, without hugs, kisses or any act of affection. The paternal and maternal figure as we know it today will cease to exist. The devil, through the antichrist, will work fiercely to destroy the family as God's project. Just as no one will have any type of authority over their children.
Extinct
People who today label the Gospel of Christ as a frown, especially those who are teenagers, when they reach 40 years old, will cry with sadness at the situation they will have to face, to try to enter Heaven. They will not be able to use the Bible digitally, as the antichrist will consider it a terrorist act for anyone to believe in Jesus Christ. Domestic cults will be extinguished. No person will be able to gather, even within their own home, to talk about the Word of God.
No person will have authorization from the antichrist government to baptize someone with a name that has a strong connection with the Kingdom of God. For example: Joseph, Mary, John, Abraham, Magdalene, Isaac, Joshua. Anyway, any name that is in tune with God will not be allowed. Because this type of nomenclature will denounce that that person had, in the past (2000, 2010, 2020, 2030...) some type of connection with the Gospel of Christ.
As Daniel prophesied, technology will be so sophisticated that the antichrist dictatorship will have the ability to read people's thoughts. And depending on what's on this person's mind, they could go to prison. Everything arbitrarily without any judgment as currently occurs. There will only be one justice: that of the antichrist. And she will be tyrannical.
Nation
Subtly, people's freedom is evaporating. Every day something is done in the Supreme Court of different countries. Rights that existed for decades are becoming distant from people. In the United States, a nation that was evangelical for centuries, it is now forbidden for students to read Bible verses. In some regions of that country, the Bible is already considered a profane book. Therefore, it should not have the privilege of being worth reading.
In some European countries it is forbidden for anyone to mention the name of Jesus Christ as a gesture of help for another person. Evangelizing is also considered a violent act, as it would be trying to suggest to someone that only Jesus Christ has the power to resolve a given situation. And he has. But in the view of some rulers, religious people need to stay away from political management, which governs the State.
Like a rope that slowly tightens a person's wrist, the forces of darkness work subtly to carry out the evil plan of granting great strength to the antichrist. Sell the solution to something, as if it were good. Just a single document bringing together all that person's information. It looks beautiful. It is not. Simply put, the dark system will have absolute control of the population.
CPF
Much is said about the chip that will be placed in people's hands. Everything to speed up the process in your daily life. Few people know that we all already have a number, which is the CPF. With it, the government knows how much money we have and what we buy, when we buy it, how we buy it, where we buy it. Everything recorded quickly. The Income Tax declaration period is just to confirm what he already knows.
It is estimated that the new ID will have the CPF number as the only one to identify that person, valid throughout Brazil. It will gather various data, including those related to health. In other countries, similar processes exist. Technology advances, bringing benefits in which we subtly renounce our freedom. We admit to being watched by the State, in the name of security.
It is in this gap that the antichrist's government strategy gains ground. Whether in the Americas, Europe, Asia, Oceania. In fact, in Australia financial transactions are no longer made with money. It's card only. Therefore, the Christian who truly fears God, not just a pretend one; Raise your hands to heaven and be thankful that you are still free to worship the Lord. Future generations will not have this privilege.
Luís Alberto Alves is a pastor.
