18 February 2018

Evangelicals in Brazil

It is undisputed that Evangelicals are on the rise in Brazil. It's being talked about and the subject is even coming up in regular mainstream newscasts. Just the other morning, there was a brief story about how Marcelo Crivella the Evangelical mayor of Rio de Janeiro created a somewhat odd moment with his half-hearted inauguration of the Carnival bacchanal. An opponent of the pagan festivities, he has made considerable cuts to the funding earning the ire of many of his constituents.


Brazil has even produced its own version of Trump in the person Jair Bolsonaro. An obscene, vile racist and misogynist, like his American mentor, he jokes about rape and celebrates crude violence. A Roman Catholic married to a Protestant he's become very popular in Evangelical political circles. He praises the military junta which ruled the country during the 1960s-1980s and doesn't shy away from the accusations of torture and mass incarceration. In fact he considers these things as virtues to uphold and calls for a return to authoritarian government and harsh law and order regime. Given Brazil's problems with violent crime he's garnered considerable support.
Some Brazilian Evangelicals have been influenced by Libertarianism and have championed the backlash against disgraced former presidents Lula and Rousseff and are doing all they can to roll back their perceived socialist policies. In other words the Evangelicals have jumped on to the Anti-Left backlash, a move heavily supported by Washington. Some like Eduardo Cunha have fallen prey to scandal and it would seem their US ties were unable to save them. Operation Carwash, a still somewhat murky investigation uncovering massive corruption within the Brazilian state and oil industry has nebulous but strongly circumstantial evidence pointing to US involvement and perhaps even orchestration. From NSA surveillance to political and judiciary figures connected to the US Deep State, there are rotten things afoot Brazil.... from corruption to outright murder. 
Sadly, the Evangelicals seem to be right in the thick of it all. Brazil even has its own synthesis of Rupert Murdoch and Pat Robertson in the figure of Edir Macedo. Wielding a massive corporate and media empire (which began to flourish during the junta years) his shadowy realm seems to have close ties to US banking. That in itself may prove meaningless but if history is precedent we're seeing what can only be described as a sequel in a long string of Latin American projects originating in the towers of Wall Street and the corridors of Langley. It would seem Operation Condor is alive and well.
The American Christian Right also has a presence among the various denominational bodies, particularly of the Charismatic and Pentecostal varieties. Another sure sign is that the ACLJ, Pat Robertson's legal activist wing has set up shop.
The vast majority of these figures are connected to the wider Charismatic movement and in addition to propagating the Anti-Scriptural and rapacious theology of prosperity, the political and cultural emphasis finds its roots in the New Apostolic Reformation. This movement while restricted to Charismatic Christianity was born of a synthesis with Dominion Theology... much of it flowing directly from American Calvinistic circles.
A strange brew to be sure, the movement has combined the influences of men like Abraham Kuyper, Francis Schaeffer and RJ Rushdoony with the material excess, Christo-Capitalism and neo-Pentecostal theology which came to dominate International Evangelicalism in the late 20th century. A powerful amalgamation, it has united Charismatic zeal and growth potential with a deliberate programme rooted in cultural transformation, political power and the sacralisation of wealth.
This unfolding tragedy in Brazil is sending storm clouds over both the society and in particular the Church. Once again the hellish cauldron that is American Evangelicalism has spawned a new monstrosity... one that really seems to be taking off in Latin America and is beginning to percolate in places like Africa. How long before Asia is affected?
Some believe we are on the cusp of worldwide revival and an explosion of cultural renewal and Christianisation. For those committed to the teachings of the New Testament it's clear we've seen nothing yet. If the 20th century was one of doctrinal and spiritual catastrophe, the apostasy, chaos and confusion of this generation (and the one to come) will prove perhaps unprecedented or at least only paralleled by the darkness of the Roman ruled Middle Ages, a period in which Christianity was redefined and the gospel was virtually lost but for small remnants, who though persecuted by the Constantinian terror maintained the faith and testimony of Christ and the Apostles.
All I can say is this, pray for Brazil. Pray that God will raise up leaders who will (probably in the face of danger and violence) denounce these false forms of Christianity and help the Church to find discernment and to avoid the many toxins flowing from El Norte. The American Harlot-Beast exports a world system that chokes nations, kills the poor and sends people to Hell... sometimes even believing that they're serving God and glorifying His name.

4 comments:

  1. This is horrible. Of course everywhere has its problems but Western Christianity is in my opinion killing itself and I was hoping that American style Evangelicalism would stay here in the USA but I guess not.

    I've been reading your blog for a while and I actually would like if you could review two things happening in Evangelicalism. One is the argument between Shane Claiborne (a "progressive" evangelical) and Franklin Graham, over of course politics. Old Life wrote about it but I would like for you to review Claiborne's left-wing Dominionism.

    Also, low and behold theologically modernism (this time post-modernism) is coming to Evangelicals now. Recently Jen Hatchmaker, a self-appointed former Evangelical guru did a interview and de-conversion story with Peter Enns, another former Evangelical. I would like to know how you think popular Evangelicalism will hold up, seeing as what theological modernism has done to the former Mainline. Personally I think their subjectivity, ignorance of history and lack of appreciation for the Catholicity of the Faith will do them in.

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  2. Thank you for writing and once again I'm sorry to everyone for my lack of engagement over the past few weeks... even months. Long days including a 1.5hr commute in each direction has about wiped me out.

    I've been struggling just to keep up on daily life and Saturday's have been consumed with trying to accomplish all the things that we would normally do during the evening M-F. On Sunday's we've been travelling long distances to church and thus I've had almost no time to work on much of anything. I'm trying to get caught up on emails etc...

    I know who Claiborne is but I'll admit I don't know a lot about him. I have one of his books on my shelf and I perused it some time ago. While he and those with him certainly grasp some issues vis-à-vis the Christian Right.... you're correct in pointing out there are some inherent problems in what they're attempting to do. Do you have anything in mind that you've looked at? Has someone written a good article summarising the debate? I'll see if I can dig up the Old Life article.
    Graham of course is well... pretty awful. Actually it's been on my list of things to do for about a month, but I wanted to write about his fairly recent BBC interview. It was interesting if disappointing.

    As far as theological liberalism and Evangelicalism.... I think it's safe to say Evangelicalism risks being subsumed. There are quite a few people who have grasped this in recent years. I guess from my perspective the problem in their commentary is that they do not seem to understand the prime motivations and philosophical commitments of Neo-Evangelicalism post WWII. From its foundations it was always about reaching out to and engaging the culture. It established an accommodationist theology and developed an epistemology that was syncretic, working with and alongside the world. Christianity and the gospel were redefined and continue to be. By the 1990s everything was in a tailspin as Catholics, Mormons and every potential ally in the culture war was being embraced. Not only are the wishy-washy Evangelical leaders caving in to both social and theological liberalism, a growing number of seemingly conservative leaders, men that would have been reckoned 'stalwarts' are exhibiting cracks in the wall and chinks in their armour.

    In my own experience as we've had to recently re-engage the search for a viable church to attend, I can only say this.... congregations that 20 years ago were in a bad way but still viable.... are no longer possibilities. Virtually every Evangelical Church that I've looked at (past and present) in about 1.5hr radius of where I live has suffered significant downgrade. I wouldn't have been happy with them 20 years ago but at this point as bad as things are I would endure them. But they no longer exist. Many have outright folded but others are no longer remotely as conservative as they once were. This is true in terms of liturgical practicalities and in terms of the state of the congregation. And yet for all that, some have ironically moved more aggressively into the political sphere and openly offer praise to Trump, praising gun culture etc...

    It's like they're in a double-death spiral. They've become worldly, confused and both theologically and socially dangerous.

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  3. Thanks for replying,

    Juicy Ecumenism has two articles on the topichttps://juicyecumenism.com/2018/02/02/jerry-falwell-jr-shane-claiborne-politics-jesus/ and https://juicyecumenism.com/2018/02/09/red-letter-christian-revival/. I just stumbled upon it and wanted your opinion more on the political left SJW Dominioism. Among young people like me, the political right is unpopular but yet many young Christians are still operating on the same make the culture holy bases and the same secularized moralist faith, it is just left-wing WASP and not right-wing WASP. Hearing your thoughts on his interview would be nice.

    Touching on most of them not understanding the presuppositions of Post-WW2 Neo-Evangelicalism, they also severely don't understand the presuppositions of the former Mainline churches and liberal theology in general as well.

    Of course the churches of the Magisterial Reformation as you noted kept the Roman Catholic dominioism and rejected the Two Kingdom theology of many of the Radical Reformers. Also one of the greatest motivations of the first theological modernist was to replace and get rid of core Christian doctrines in order to survive in a secular world, aka based off of their Christendom background and dominioist assumptions, they decided in order to stay establishment and "relevant" they had to interrupt the Faith through the lens of the Enlightenment. The former Mainline in the USA and their equivalent were the elite and so felt the pressure of secularism first, which is why theological liberalism is just now coming down to the lower classes, as most were not in the higher up and so did not feel the affects of secularism and kept at least a nominal orthodox faith.

    I think most of white Evangelicalism, especially the Christian Right and Mega Church variety will just be wiped out by secularism and some among them will go "progressive". Where popular Evangelicalism is at mimics where the former Mainline was about 50-60 years ago. It is politicized, establishment, moralist therapeutic and parochial, facing a secularizing culture. I hope that at best most just leave any type of Christianity all together and those that truly believe can rebuild, theology modernism is a unneeded distraction.

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  4. Bolsonaro has entered the race: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-44919769

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