Living By Faith 8

NTRO: Our study is on faith. Last week I mentioned four important aspects of the Christian faith. In the section of faith as a gift, I mentioned the prosperity Gospel. Afterward I felt I should add this so you get some understanding of the influence of the prosperity Gospel. In Brazil, a country of which 92% professed to be Catholic in 1970 it is expected that it will become mostly Evangelical by 2030. A recent CBC article says, As Catholicism loses ground to evangelical competition in its largest country, Brazil's economic malaise has given Christians here more reason to pray. Many downtrodden have sought spiritual answers to their earthly "health and wealth" afflictions. It goes on to say, The largest denomination, the Sao Paulo-based Assembleias de Deus (Assembly of God), boasts 22.5 million followers in Brazil.
The CBC article says, “Pondé, a University of Sao Paulo philosophy of religion professor, traces the rise of evangelical Protestantism in Brazil to the Catholic Church's cozy relationships with political parties in the '70s and sermons in Latin America that waxed too political. Political speeches were not what churchgoers sought when they were struggling with health problems or finances at home, Pondé says, and many were enticed by the Pentecostal promise of magical healing. ‘This neo-Pentecostal movement is very emotional,’ Pondé says. ‘The belief is if you do what God wants, if you take the baptism and the holy spirit, you're going to get rich.’ Cucato, a pastor there, and I quote, “asks attendees to envision a day when they won't have to choose between paying their electricity bills or their hydro bills and to dream of paying off their cars in cash.”