Name: They call themselves the “Universal Church of the Kingdom of God”, the “Strong Prayer to the Holy Spirit” or “The Community of the Holy Spirit”.

Founder: The sect was founded on July 27, 1977 by Edir Macedo Bezerra (1945)

World headquarters: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Since 1986, Edir Macedo Bezerra has directed the church from Brooklynn, N.Y.

Statistics: They claim to number 3 million around the world. In 1995 it had 37 senior leaders (bishops) worldwide. There are a little more than 9,000 “pastors” in 56 countries. It is one of the fastest-growing groups in South America.

Characteristics: They meet in old theaters, cinemas and warehouses, rented or purchased. Their leaders appoint themselves “pastors” and “bishops”. They are characterized by misleading advertising, saying that at such-and-such upcoming meeting “THE PRIMATE BISHOP OF ……”, or “THE ARCHBISHOP OF …..” or “THE BISHOP OF …..” will be present.

History: Before founding his sect, Macedo worked as a cashier for the National Lottery. He began as a sectarian leader when 4 members of the evangelical church NOVA VIDA, among whom was his brother-in-law, dissatisfied with things, founded a new branch, which they called the “Church of Grace”, in which Edir Macedo was hired as treasurer.

Later they had a dispute over money matters, since Macedo demanded 50% of the sect’s earnings. His brother-in-law did not accept and Edir Macedo left the “Church of Grace”. He founded two new sects: The Crusade of the Eternal Way and the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God.

Macedo was imprisoned for 11 days in 1992 for fraud and charlatanism. In January 1996 the Brazilian government began investigations into the way funds were raised, fraud in international currency exchange, tax evasion and links with drug traffickers.

There are currently government investigations against him in eight countries. Some pastors have been expelled from various countries for disobeying immigration laws.

Doctrines and practices

1) Poverty is of the devil. Macedo promotes the “prosperity gospel”, saying: “I do not follow a poor God. If your God is poor, it is because your thoughts are poor […] Poverty is of the devil; not of God” (Universal News #7, p. 2).

Mario Justino, a former pastor who wrote a book about the group (“In the Corridors of the Kingdom”), alleges that many of the ministers are charlatans and live in luxury on 2 to 10% of the weekly collections.

This sect asks its faithful for a great deal of money with the promise that they will be blessed by God in this life and saved from the flames of hell in the next (Time, March 11, 1996, p. 13).

According to the teachings of the Strong Prayer, people can have two kinds of faith: natural faith or supernatural faith.

For them, natural faith consists in trust in God alone, but doubts that God can perform economic miracles. Supernatural faith is the one that trusts that God can multiply money and material possessions, and they affirm that this is the faith that pleases God.

2) The devil is present in all evils. Macedo affirms that all evils of any kind are of demonic origin.

The pastors have the gift of casting the demon out of those who are unable to believe, and it acts independently of the sick person’s faith. Complete deliverance is achieved only through participation in the life of their church.

Only in the meetings are the principal blessings received.

3) They use objects as “sacramentals”. The “Universal Church of the Kingdom of God” constantly offers objects for receiving miracles: the “blessed rose”, the “blessed oil” with which photographs of sick relatives can be anointed, “blessed bread” to ensure prosperity of the body, the spirit and the economy.

Their products are announced in large advertisements in newspapers such as: “Come and eat the blessed bread to cure illnesses!” (La Prensa, 28-Feb-95). In the services it is affirmed that “the things” blessed in the meetings, when taken home, carry the presence of God to bless whatever it may be.

At the end of radio (or television) programs in Brazil, they asked people to place a glass of water or items of clothing near the radio so that they would be blessed; once this was done, the objects would have “healing powers”.

5) Worship. The service begins with a brief explanation of some verse of the Bible. Then they make an appeal to deposit, on the Bible and in envelopes, large sums of money, with the promise that God will multiply it. The appeal begins by specifying high amounts that must be offered. They end with a session of mass exorcism in which the pastors lay hands on people to expel the demons.

On special days they gather to sell the blessed objects or to receive some blessing or special prayer from the pastors and the “bishops”. For example, the “Prayer of the 70” (where 70 pastors pray to expel the demons). There are meetings where the bishop is present and other special meetings to receive prosperity, healing or to annul some witchcraft.

The leaders always ask those attending about the problems that drove them to come to the sessions. Unlike Pentecostals, who give importance to praise and music, here people attend only to receive and buy the sacred objects.

Evangelizing: Why do some who attend these sessions in fact get healed?

First one must know whether healing always has its origin in God. Throughout history there have been people and places that have healed the sick. Sometimes it is the body’s natural process of healing itself over time. At other times, when the illness is psychosomatic, the environment, friendship, faith and other psychological factors cause the symptoms to disappear.

Sometimes it is God who heals through the person’s faith, and not as proof of the truth of the religion. The Bible says that God makes his sun rise on the good and the bad and sends rain on the just and the unjust (Mt 5:45).

But that is no reason to say that the wicked are right in their way of acting. It is the mystery of God’s great generosity toward us. Therefore one does not have to leave the one Church founded by Jesus Christ in order to be healed.

Authors: Daniel Gagnon/Carlos Alberto Jardón