Thursday, March 29, 2012

St. Petersburg Russia law questions if gay rights are human rights?

St. Petersburg Russia law questions if gay rights are human rights?

Bryana Johnson
DALLAS, March 18, 2012 — St. Petersburg, Russia has adopted a new policy designed to protect young people from exposure to propaganda by homosexual rights groups. The policy has created controversy amongst gay rights group.
On March 7, 2012, Gov. Georgy Poltavchenko signed into a law a bill that will fine individuals up to $170 and companies up to $17,000 for violating a ban on "public actions aimed at propagandizing sodomy, lesbianism, bisexualism, and transgenderism among minors.”  
The St Petersburg law also includes amendments introducing stricter punishments for pedophilia.
Photo: A Russian police officer detains a man dressed in a bridal gown during a gay rights protest in Moscow. Credit: AP Images
Applauding the recent legislation, the Russian Orthodox Church is calling for a similar nationwide ban. Dmitry Pershin, head of the Church’s youth council, says:  “helping to protect children from information manipulation by minorities that promote sodomy.”
Responding to homosexualist activist Nikolay Alexeyev’s intention to organize protest rallies near children’s establishments, Pershin says “the persistence of sexual minorities and their intention to rally near children’s establishments indicate that this regional law is highly needed and should be urgently given federal status.” 
Gay rights groups are unhappy and clamoring for redress against the government in St. Petersburg.  In 2011 the LGBT activist organization All Out was able to pressure financial services website Paypal to shut down anti-LGBT agenda and Christian blogger Julio Severo’s account, suspending access to funds. 
Now the group is crying foul and calling the law a “gag rule” that “muzzles artists, writers, musicians, citizens and visitors,” and they are the, “We Won’t Go There,” threatening to boycott travel to the Russian city.
Read more here.
Source: The Washington Times, via Julio Severo in English: www.lastdayswatchman.blogspot.com

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Brazil: more violent than nations in war

Brazil: more violent than nations in war

Anti-gun politics aimed at citizens make the Brazilian society prey to criminals and high violent crimes

Commentary by Julio Severo
In my article “Rio de Janeiro and the Old West”, I said that the obsessive Socialist anti-gun laws in Brazil were destroying innocent Brazilian citizens.
In the Old West, there was equality. Outlaws were armed. But all of citizens also were armed. They were armed criminals against armed citizens.
In Brazil, inequality is total. For the outlaws’ huge happiness, only they are armed. They are strongly armed criminals against a strongly unarmed population, where a murderer feels like a fox free in the hen house. That hen house might be called Brazil.
While murderers in Brazil torture and kill innocent people, a victim that is able to repay ten percent to the criminal is condemned as a human rights offender. So Brazil has become a hell.
Hey, you do not need to accept my word. The secular press has already acknowledged that Brazil is very, very violent — and the reason is very, very clear. See a recent secular article:

Number of Brazilian murders higher than global war zones

By Jim Kouri, Public Safety Examiner
Brazil’s murder rate is more than four times higher than that of the U.S. and rates for other crimes are similarly high, according to a think-tank study released this week. 
While U.S. government officials and members of the news media often remind Americans about the Mexican murder and crime rates, a study by the Latin American think-tank -- the Sangari Institute -- claims that well over one million people have been murdered in Brazil in the last 30 years.
According to the Institute's study released this week, Brazilians experienced more murders in their country than people living in nations that are in the midst of wars and violent revolutions.  
Sangari analysts claim that the number of murders in Brazil increased 259 percent in the three decades, jumping from 13,910 in 1980 to 49,932 in 2010. What's shocking to many is the fact that Brazil has no territorial disputes, emancipation movements, or civil, religious, racial, or ethnic wars.
The murder rate rose 124 percent within the 30-year period, from 11.7 to 26.2 murders per 100,000 inhabitants.
The study reveals that between 2004 and 2007, 192,804 people died of homicide in Brazil, exceeding the 169,574 people killed in the twelve largest armed conflicts in the world during the same period.
The South American nation witnessed more frequent murders in small towns and rural areas since the mid-1990s, the report said. At the same time, during the past seven years the murder rate in Brazil's metropolitan areas registered a continuous decrease, while the rate in rural areas increased consistently as police repression in large metro areas drove criminals to other regions, according to the study's analysts.
"We must deploy public policies to deal with the increase in violence in rural areas, especially the border regions," the study said.
Source: Examiner, via Julio Severo in English: www.lastdayswatchman.blogspot.com

Monday, March 19, 2012

AllOut wants anti-“homophobia” bill passed in Brazil

AllOut wants anti-“homophobia” bill passed in Brazil

Brazilian gay website, in partnership with AllOut, denounces opponents of gay dictatorship in Brazil

By Julio Severo
Socialist parties of Brazil want PLC 122, the main anti-“homophobia” bill in the Brazilian Congress, and other homosexualist laws passed. But what right does AllOut, a US-based homosexualist group, have to press Brazil to copy homosexualist legislations from the US and Europe?
Months ago, AllOut, which brags of having about 900,000 backers, launched a campaign to press PayPal to shut down my account. The campaign was successful, leading PayPal to close my account — showing that AllOut has power and money. The official document, in English, of AllOut bragging of its “victory” against me is available here.
Recently, AllOut requested all its international collaborators to exert pressure on Russia, so that St. Petersburg, the second largest Russian city, would pass a law banning gay propaganda and parades. Even US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton responded to the call from AllOut, condemning St. Petersburg’s law openly and asking Russia not to pass it. This time, despite of AllOut’s clout, AllOut campaign was not successful, because Russians did not cave to the threats.
Now, the eyes of AllOut are on Brazil, and more specifically on PLC 122.
The Brazilian website “PLC 122”, belonging to the Brazilian homosexual movement, revealed first hand that PLC 122 has been targeted by the American organization, which thinks it can force its will on the nations, just as it forced PayPal to act against me. This gay pressure on Paypal was named as the fourth top anti-Christian act of 2011.
The website “PLC 122”, which has some affiliation with AllOut, complains on its page about opposition by me and other Christians to PLC 122.
Decades ago, Brazilian Socialist President Dilma Rousseff would have screamed that AllOut is an imperialistic organization and that the website “PLC 122” is a facade for American imperialistic machinations.
In that time, Mrs. Rousseff and her comrades were Communist terrorists and had a passion for Russia. If they had learned that Russians in St. Petersburg showed a certain attitude against America, Mrs. Rousseff would quickly imitate them.
Mrs. Rousseff, the Russians in St. Petersburg have rejected the pressures of AllOut and US government. How about imitating them?
Mrs. Rousseff, the Russians in St. Petersburg have passed a law banning gay propaganda and parades. How about imitating them?
How about investigating website “PLC 122” for its “imperialistic” connections?
Portuguese version of this article: AllOut quer PLC 122 aprovado no Brasil

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Christian minister accused of “Crime against Humanity”

Christian minister accused of “Crime against Humanity”

Scott Lively targeted by an international homosexualist plot

By Julio Severo
Two years ago, Scott Lively, author of “The Pink Swastika”, addressed members of the Ugandan Parliament, which was considering a bill criminalizing homosexuality. Lively urged an emphasis on therapy rather than punishment, and, after the bill was released he opposed the death penalty provision.
Scott Lively: accused of “Crime against Humanity”
Now, on March 14th a lawsuit was filed in an American court alleging that Lively committed the “Crime Against Humanity,” by speaking against homosexuality in Uganda. The plaintiffs say that his address in Uganda is a cause of action in international law. The plaintiffs are the homosexualist organization Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG), and the law firm which filed the lawsuit, the Center for Constitutional Rights, a George Soros-funded Marxist group.
If Rev. Lively were a Russian citizen living in St. Petersburg, the second largest city in Russia, he would be safe. Recently, St. Petersburg passed a pro-family law banning homosexual propaganda. But Lively is an American citizen, living in a society where Christian and anti-homosexualist messages are increasingly under ban. When a hate crime law is passed, everything is possible, and America has such law, which was used specifically to make the lawsuit against Lively possible.
Rev. Lively has never advocated violence against homosexuals. Even so, the lawsuit makes it appear that his preaching against homosexuality in Uganda has been the singular cause of persecution of homosexuals in that country. According Lively, “The centerpiece of the SMUG evidence that homosexuals have been persecuted in Uganda is the murder of their leader, David Kato, in 2011. Glaring omitted from the complaint is the fact (well known to SMUG) that Kato was killed by a ‘gay’ prostitute whom Kato had bailed out of jail to be his live-in lover. This man confessed to bashing in Kato’s head with a hammer for failing to pay him as promised and was prosecuted for the crime”.
Gay activists live risky lives with their lovers and male prostitutes, and should Christian ministers be blamed for their immoral choices?
I suppose that if Lively were a Muslim cleric visiting Uganda and preaching death to all homosexuals, he would be left in peace by homosexualist groups, by George Soros-funded groups and even by American hate crime laws.
Capital punishment is used frequently against homosexuals in Muslim nations, even when these homosexuals did not commit any rape of children or another major crime. Yet, international groups never charge these nations of “Crimes against Humanity”. Certainly, there are Muslims preaching death to homosexuals. Where are the Western “human rights” groups to say that these Muslims committed “Crimes against Humanity”?
The lawsuit against Rev. Scott Lively is a very dangerous precedent for all Christians fighting the gay agenda. A powerful orchestration of homosexualist and socialist individuals and groups is using a gay group in Uganda to have Lively prosecuted as a “Criminal against Humanity”! If their efforts succeed, no pro-family Christian in the West will be safe.
You will not be safe. I will not be safe.
In my case, I fled my country, Brazil, to escape from pressures, persecutions and legal actions from federal prosecutors incited by ABGLT, the largest gay group in Brazil that, by the assistance of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, was accredited in the UN system in 2009.
My departure from Brazil, with my pregnant wife and little children, should have been enough to make ABGLT forget me, but this is not so. Intercepted messages from ABGLT show that it has instructed Brazilian gay groups to find my location.
Because of the massive and powerful influence of the pro-sodomy US government, gay groups have an “open season” on pro-family Christians.
While Russians in St. Petersburg are under the protection of a law banning homosexualist propaganda, Western Christians face threats for their pro-family message.
Pro-sodomy America and Europe have made the West a treacherous place, where pro-family Christians have to live under oppressive and deceiving hate crimes laws. And Brazil and other Latin American nations have been docilely copycatting these laws.
“Crime Against Humanity” is a very serious legal threat. If such baseless, ridiculous charge can be leveled against Lively as an American pro-family Christian, what will happen to Brazilian pro-family Christians?
Keep your eyes open: new Gulags for American and Brazilian Christians are coming, but not from Russia.
Portuguese version of this article: Pastor é acusado de “Crimes contra a Humanidade”

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Brazilian Senate considers bill to depenalize abortion, reduce penalties for infanticide

Brazilian Senate considers bill to depenalize abortion, reduce penalties for infanticide

March 14, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) — A committee of jurists created by the Brazilian Senate has proposed a new national criminal code that would eliminate criminal penalties for abortion during the first twelve weeks of pregnancy if a psychologist certifies that the woman “does not have the psychological ability to bear the pregnancy.”
The legislation would also decriminalize the killing of unborn children suffering from deformities, and in cases of involuntary artificial insemination. It reduces criminal penalties for infanticide and for abortions in general, and lowers the age of sexual consent from 14 to 12.
If the bill is approved by the socialist-dominated National Congress, it will reduce criminal penalties for post-birth infanticide from 2 to 6 years to 1 to 4, and for penalized abortions from 1 to 3 years to 6 months to 2 years.
Brazilian law currently suspends penalties for abortion only in cases of rape, or danger to the life of the mother. The people of Brazil are among the most pro-life in the world, with around 70% rejecting its depenalization in recent polls, and about 80% rejecting the elimination of abortion as a crime.
Deputy Marcos Feliciano, a pastor and member of the National Congress’ powerful Evangelical Caucus, immediately expressed his rejection of the proposal.
Feliciano tweeted that “we will struggle, we will obstruct, we will protest, and we will do what is necessary and possible” to prevent the bill’s passage.
“They use the flag of the rights of women to legitimize abortion. What about the right of the unborn child, who can’t defend himself?  How is he at fault?” Feliciano was also quoted as saying.
“We are faced with a culture that seeks to legalize abortion at any cost,” said Doris Hipolito of the National Association of Women for Life.
“It’s easy to find (medical) professionals who recommend abortion using any justification,” said Hipolito, adding that “psychological evaluations are even more subjective.”
“We attend tens of pregnant women in vulnerable situations. I speak from experience: abortion never solves the problem; it only makes the drama even worse.  I have seen young people who, upon receiving the necessary help, reconstruct their lives when they become mothers.”
Source: LifeSiteNews, via Julio Severo in English: www.lastdayswatchman.blogspot.com

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Brazil in the headlines for its growing buying power

Brazil in the headlines for its growing buying power

By Julio Severo
In 2008, I met an American that told us that we (my wife, me and our children) would be living among the nations. Well, we have being living among the nations since 2009, since gay groups, supported by government forces, launched attacks against us.
He also told us that 2008 was the last year for America. He told that God was removing his special blessing from America, and that He was looking for another nation — perhaps Brazil.
I had no doubts about America, because Christians can see that America has been in massive sins. But a special blessing and destiny for Brazil? Yes, I have doubts about Brazil. After all, the Brazilian president is a former Communist terrorist intent in imposing socialist tenets in Brazil. Differently from Chavist Venezuela, Brazil has a solid pro-America Marxism: if America supports gay rights, so does Brazil. If America supports child-killing laws (abortion), so does Brazil — even though Brazil has never legalized abortion as the US did in 1973, the date when the US accepted what Brazil has been resisting for decades under a massive propaganda from lobbies well-funded by US foundations.
I still have doubts about Brazil, but the words I heard from my American friend keep ringing in my ears and mind. After all, I am seeing the reality: America has been in a deep economic crisis. Brazil is experiencing a booming economy.
The time for America is running out, and God is looking for another nation to do his will. Perhaps, perhaps He might use Brazil.
See the AP report:

Brazil's new consumer class flocks to US to buy

GISELA SALOMON and JENNY BARCHFIELD
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) - The overstuffed bags filling Fernando Mello's luggage cart wobbled precariously as the gym owner made his way home one morning through Rio's international airport. Navigating the terminal, Mello was part of a horde of other Brazilian travelers returning with loot found in the strip malls and discount outlets of southern Florida.
Mello's girlfriend's freshly purchased Michael Kors handbag in gold lame sat atop four bulging suitcases like a shining crown - a testament to the newfound consumer power of Brazilian travelers, who now spend more per capita than any other visitors to the U.S.
In fact, Brazilians are spending so much that flights with Brazil's top airline TAM originating in the U.S. have had to carry more fuel to accommodate the dramatically overweight baggage.
"We left with nothing, just a piece of hand luggage," said the 30-year-old Mello. "We go to the U.S. once a year, stay in great hotels, have a fantastic holiday and shop till we drop and it's still cheaper than shopping in Brazil. It's a no-brainer."
According to the latest statistics, Brazilians spent $5.9 billion in the U.S. in 2010 in a tsunami of cash that's shifting American immigration practices and boosting economies in hard-hit parts of the U.S. that remain in the doldrums.
President Barack Obama recently ordered the State Department to speed up the visa application process for tourists coming from Brazil, China and other nations with newly flush consumers.
After suffering decades of hyperinflation, Brazil has ridden high commodity prices along with some of the world's biggest offshore oil discoveries to expand its economy, lift millions out of poverty and multiply the ranks of the country's deep-pocketed elite.
The buying binge also shows off the muscle of the country's mushrooming middle class, which has expanded by 40 million people since 2003. That's been bolstered by the growing use of credit cards, bank loans and other forms of consumer credit.
But it's not just the easy money that has transformed Brazilians into world-class shoppers.
Stiff tariffs on all imports push the prices of foreign-made goods into the stratosphere at home. And though domestic products are not known for their quality, their prices have risen in recent years as demand is higher than production, making it cheaper to buy nearly everything in the U.S., from clothes to toys and kitchen gear and even soaps and shampoos.
As a result, Brazilians spend more in the U.S. than visitors from any other nation - around $5,400 per person in 2010, with experts estimating the number growing last year. Japanese tourists followed, spending $4,300 each.
Unniverson Liborio, a 60-year-old chef based in New York, disembarked at Rio's airport with bags stuffed with hot buys for his grandchildren - baby onesies, a pink plastic Barbie mansion and 700 disposable diapers.
"I got this all for maybe $300, total," said the Brazilian-born Liborio, who has lived in the U.S. for decades. "Here I couldn't have bought even half the diapers for the same price, and forget about everything else."
Price discrepancies are particularly pronounced when it comes to luxury goods.
With the number of millionaire households here forecast to more than triple by 2020, Brazil is widely regarded as the new El Dorado of luxury, and top-tier labels such as Italy's Prada and Bottega Veneta are scrambling to get a foothold.
Because of the staggering import taxes, however, the high-end handbags, shoes, garments and electronics can end up retailing for several times more here than in Europe or the U.S. The iPhone 4S with 16 gigabytes of memory costs $1,515 without a contract on Apple's Brazilian website. The same phone retails without a contract for $649 on Apple's U.S. website.
And so it is that hordes of Brazilians swarm Miami's Apple Store while the Girls from Ipanema snap up designer purses on New York's Fifth Avenue.
Brazilian shoppers are easy to spot - they're the ones at malls with huge suitcases on rollers, spending from store to store until their baggage won't hold any more.
Aristoteles Guimaraes, a 36-year-old from Sao Paulo, was busy recently at Miami's Sawgrass Mill mall while on a special four-day shopping mission with a budget of $4,000.
"I came exclusively to buy things for my baby," said Guimaraes, whose wife is seven months pregnant and remained back home. "I came to buy everything. Things here cost on average one-third of what they would in Brazil."
His big find: an Italian baby stroller that would have run him $1,300 in Sao Paulo but was $350 in the U.S.
Guimaraes had visited before, with his first trip in 2005, and said he was treated better this time at his hotel and at the shops.
It should come as no surprise: Still struggling merchants have rejoiced at the business.
"They spend a lot," said Giovana Ennen, a saleswoman at a luggage store in Miami. "I've sold 16 suitcases to a family of six people."
Ennen added that she sees some Brazilian clients every six weeks or so and that they leave each time with bags full of merchandise.
Brazilians' heavy spending has in part helped pave the way for a geopolitical shift in relations between the Latin American giant and the U.S.
During a recent visit to Disney World, a perennial favorite among Brazilians, Obama unveiled measures aimed at making it faster and easier to obtain tourist visas for citizens of developing countries such as China and Brazil with "rapidly growing economies, large populations and emerging middle classes."
"More and more of their people can now afford to visit America who couldn't come before," Obama said.
He said the State Department has been instructed to process 40 percent more visa applications for Brazilian and Chinese nationals this year.
That expected increase comes on top of the already skyrocketing numbers of U.S. visas granted to Brazilians in recent years, which more than doubled over the past decade to 546,866 in 2010. Official figures for 2011 have not yet been released, but the U.S. Embassy in Brasilia estimates at least 1 million visas were granted last year.
The U.S. consulate in Sao Paulo last year received more visa applications than any other in the world - around 3,000 a day, according to the U.S. Embassy.
Business at the three other U.S. consulates in Brazil has been so brisk that Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman has said staff there are working double shifts and plans are being examined to send reinforcements.
Liborio, the New York-based chef, said he's amazed how the tables have turned since the days people flocked to Brazil for cheap clothing and other buys.
"I used to do my shopping here in Brazil, where you could buy four pairs of jeans for the price of one in the U.S.," he said amid a group of sated shoppers at the airport. "Now I come here with tons of luggage and leave with nothing."
Source: Associated Press, via Julio Severo in English: www.lastdayswatchman.blogspot.com

Wednesday, March 07, 2012

Theology of Integral Mission

Theology of Integral Mission

Can the Gospel be used as a mere platform for an ideology?

“Theology of Integral Mission is a [Brazilian] Protestant variation of the Liberation Theology”.
— Ariovaldo Ramos, in the Marxist magazine Diplomatique. Ramos is a former president of World Vision in Brazil.
By Julio Severo
Note: This is a message by me to Brazilian evangelicals, because Theology of Integral Mission is by far the most serious problem in the Brazilian churches, making them prey to political opportunists, and because the dominant political ideology in Brazil, in churches and society, is socialist. I hope that this message may be instructive to international evangelicals too.
 “God heard our prayers!” So said a widow when opening the door of her shabby house and seeing, with her son, several boxes with purchased foods, clothing and other items. Everything was there, at her door, with no identification from the kind donor. But the widow knew that whoever he was he had been used by Him who touches hearts for those precious expressions of love.
Such stories are repeated in all times and places: on their needs, people pray and receive special blessings from unknown donors. These donors are unknown people, moved by Him who is love and humility, and they practice love with no ambition to be showy, as Jesus himself taught,
“Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” (Matthew 6:1-4 ESV)
That's the beauty of Christian life: love in action, in obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ, expresses itself in humility. Christian charity is an act moved by pure love, not by ideology.

Love versus ideology

But when ideology takes hold imposition enters and love leaves
Where God gives each individual freedom to help people in real need, ideology uses brute force to take away from others under the guise of helping the needy.
God helps through his servants, by love.
Ideology, through its adherents, imposes in the name of love.
God uses people by their voluntary choice.
Ideology makes use of the State to force people.
This is the basic difference between ideology and love inspired by God.
Ideology likes to deal with money, especially other people’s money. While in the Christian life every follower of Christ uses his own resources to bless those in need, adherents of ideology use money often taken by force from others, and not only to help others allegedly in need, but also to help themselves, just as Judas did.
Judas, the apostle who betrayed Jesus, was responsible for the money that people voluntarily donated to the poor. He used the money to help not only the poor but also himself, and even so took a bribe to betray the Master.
The Master’s betrayal can occur in several ways. When a Christian only helps the poor with other people’s money, lives on it and promotes an ideology defending the State in the role of money-taker from others for alleged charity, the name of Jesus is not glorified. The name of Jesus is betrayed.
For example, what would inspire a Brazilian progressive minister, an adherent of Theology of Integral Mission, to travel to Venezuela to support Hugo Chavez, for his policies supposedly for the poor? Why did not this minister (Ariovaldo Ramos) seek a good job, with money from his hard-earned wages, give charity to the poor?

Selective apostolic assistance

Both the Catholic supporters of the Liberation Theology and the Brazilian evangelical adherents of the Theology of Integral Mission believe they are more apostolic than the twelve apostles of Jesus.
The first apostles had in their church a charity ministry not directed to unbelievers or society, not even to all believers. It was directed exclusively to widows who met certain requirements:
“Honor widows who are truly widows. But if a widow has children or grandchildren, let them first learn to show godliness to their own household and to make some return to their parents, for this is pleasing in the sight of God. She who is truly a widow, left all alone, has set her hope on God and continues in supplications and prayers night and day, but she who is self-indulgent is dead even while she lives. Command these things as well, so that they may be without reproach. But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. Let a widow be enrolled if she is not less than sixty years of age, having been the wife of one husband, and having a reputation for good works: if she has brought up children, has shown hospitality, has washed the feet of the saints, has cared for the afflicted, and has devoted herself to every good work. But refuse to enroll younger widows, for when their passions draw them away from Christ, they desire to marry and so incur condemnation for having abandoned their former faith. Besides that, they learn to be idlers, going about from house to house, and not only idlers, but also gossips and busybodies, saying what they should not. So I would have younger widows marry, bear children, manage their households, and give the adversary no occasion for slander. For some have already strayed after Satan. If any believing woman has relatives who are widows, let her care for them. Let the church not be burdened, so that it may care for those who are really widows.” (1 Timothy 5:3-16 ESV)
The church assistance was selective. All widows in need had no automatic right to receive assistance. They firstly had to undergo some tests of moral evaluation.
However, more commonly enthusiasts of Christian theories of Marxist extraction use the decision of the first Jewish apostles guiding the whole church to surrender their properties to the apostolic leadership. But, contrary to the interpretation of the Theology of Integral Mission (TIM), the apostles’ intent was never to turn the church into a mega-charity agency for the whole society.
The same chapter 5 of Acts that addresses everything being handed over to the apostles also shows apostles filled with the Holy Spirit: “Now many signs and wonders were regularly done among the people by the hands of the apostles.” (Acts 5:12 ESV)
True Christianity gives charity to those who really need and deserve charity and performs signs and wonders among the people: healings, demon-expelling, etc. TIM fans, who are not known by signs and wonders of healing and deliverance among the people are best known for defending the church’s role as a force of pressure on the State in its ambition to extract resources from citizens for alleged charity acts without the selectivity that the apostles used.

The apostles’ decision: state, ideological or merely ecclesiastical inspiration?

Was the apostles’ decision of ordering all church members to have everything in common aimed to:
* Make members poorer and make apostles richer, as in modern Theology of Prosperity.
* Create a political system to take from those who have to give to those who have not, as proposed by the Theology of Integral Mission.
If you chose one of these two options, you missed what the apostles did was not a means of enriching themselves at the expense of members, and they were not also using the church to create a political system. It was only an internal decision, a decision directed only to the Jewish church. Their intention was never to turn their church experience into a socialist theocracy, pressing the State to impose on society a forced distribution of possessions.
A transfer of this system to the secular sphere would impose certain measures:
* All citizens should submit to the authority of the state apostles and noncompliance would entail the same consequence as Ananias and Sapphira suffered, death penalty.
* All citizens should surrender all their possessions to the state apostles.
Even if we dare to consider the possibility of the apostles accepting the secularization of their private, ecclesiastical decision for their church, transferring it to the society, what would the result be?
The 12-apostle Jewish church suffered a lot economically when it was hit by a great famine that affected the entire Roman Empire. But the churches founded and directed by the Apostle Paul in Asia Minor and Europe, which were also in the Roman Empire, not only had the strength to prevail over the economic crisis of hunger, but even sent aid to the impoverished Jewish church.
There was a significant difference: Paul did not want to bring to his own churches the practices from the Jerusalem apostles, who had set everything in common. (See a more detailed study here .)

Forced welfare

If a famine hit the world — and where there are prevalent socialist policies, poverty is inevitable in the short or long term — even Christian churches will be affected, including churches run by the apostles.  However, churches not infected by the worldview that is at the service of an ideology of false compassion will escape.
Consider the proposal of the Theology of Integral Mission (TIM) by using as basis the apostolic practice:
TIM wants the State to compel all people to share their income for its welfare programs.
The apostolic church only used church funds to support the church itself, never using these resources for welfare in the world.
TMI supports any corrupt and immoral government, as long as it does “welfare.”
The early church had no such welfare or political proposal or example. What the early church had was a program of assistance to widows. This program requires two clear things: A) The duty to support widows belongs to their families. Those who had no families could count on church assistance if they met certain conditions of good Christian witness. B) Widows without a good witness were left out. Therefore, to be eligible to church assistance was not enough to be poor, widows had also to have a good life story.
However, TIM supporters want the State in the place of both families and churches. Although they label themselves as Christian and use the Gospel out of context, their actions show that they are working to create a stronger State, transferring to itself the family and church responsibilities.
Under Marxist inspiration, but with a strategic biblical garb, socialist theocracy is now by far the most popular and predominant Christian political action, where progressive Catholics and evangelicals make pressure on the State to impose on society a forced division of properties from citizens under the socialist guise of social justice. Indeed, the socialist theocratic State breaks down every separation between church and state, by removing from churches and families their traditional rights on education, health, charity, etc.
In the name of compassion for the poor, the basic ecclesial communities of the Brazilian Catholic Church, infected by the Liberation Theology, preached a socialist theocracy to be fully justified. With sufficient biblical basis from the Liberation Theology, a Marxist CNBB (National Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Brazil) granted its approval to the socialist Workers’ Party and Luiz Inácio “Lula” da Silva and his friends rose to power. Next, Theology of Integral Mission adherents also signaled that Lula and his gang had the support from evangelicals to take off.
Today, thanks to the Liberation Theology and the Theology of Integral Mission, Brazil has a more and more socialist state allegedly dedicated to “the poor”. There should be no misunderstanding. Although the word “theology” may appear often, what matters is ideology.  Ariovaldo Ramos himself acknowledged in the Marxist magazine Diplomatique, that “Theology of Integral Mission is a Protestant variation of the Liberation Theology.” Catholic Liberation Theology is the most important religious variant of the Marxist ideology. They are two sides of the same coin.
Adherents of this theology in Brazil, who also call themselves “progressive” have a proven history of Socialist connections.
As I have told in one of my Portuguese articles,
They cause untold damage to the spreading of the Gospel by perverting it and putting it in the service of an ideology that has nothing to do with Jesus Christ. Each attempt to establish a human kingdom of this ideology brought the manifestation of the kingdom of darkness: slaughters, genocide, lies, destruction and horrible persecution of the true followers of Jesus Christ.

Theft in the name of compassion

In the name of compassion for the poor, the socialist theocratic government takes from you and I a lot of money through greedy tax policies.
Let us now consider some examples of the use of our money by the Brazilian government:
* My money is forcibly taken from me to help “poor” Fidel Castro and his “poor” communist government.
* My money is forcibly taken from me to help the “poor” Palestinian Authority, which needs to persecute Christians and help their “poor” terrorist groups against Israel.
My money is forcibly taken from me to help “poor” homosexual groups to promote their homosexual orgies, including promoting homosexuality in public schools.
* My money is forcibly taken from me to fund pro-abortion groups to help “poor” women and “poor” doctors to rid society of “oppressing” unborn babies.
* My money is forcibly taken from me to help “poor” socialist politicians in Brazil to travel throughout the world to meet terrorist and dictator friends.
* My money is forcibly taken from me to help many other “poor” individuals, as the government sees fit.
Since we’re in a theocracy, everyone must obey without question. Have you ever seen someone willing to question God? But, you ask, if we are in a theocracy, where is God at the center? Oh, they forgot to tell you! As soon as Liberation Theology and Theology of Integral Mission become reality in a nation, there is a small “government” shift. The merely symbolic role of God is discreetly removed and the socialist state occupies the throne! “Hey, God! Thank you for letting us use your name to advance our revolution! Thanks also for letting us borrow some parts of your Gospel through Liberation Theology and Theology of Integral Mission”.
However, do not be shocked: Liberation Theology and Theology of Integral Mission ensure that the central concern is the poor, and whether socialist theocracy has God or the state on the throne is somewhat unimportant. What matters is to do all in the name of compassion and the poor!
Jesus Christ is for the poor, but his compassion has nothing to do with socialism. He teaches us to love and help the poor voluntarily. I and many Christians would like to do more, but the socialist theocracy has been choking all the resources that citizens should have available for voluntary acts of charity: Huge amounts of taxes are swallowed up by the State in the name of compassion for the poor to finance huge socialist welfare policies that create a big stable of voters who support socialist theocracy.
With the true God you have the choice and free will to help the poor, as you want, the way you want and when you want. With the false god of socialist theocracy, the choice and free will are beheaded. Whether you like or not, you and especially your pocket are called to contribute involuntarily to the socialist theocratic revolution HERE AND NOW.
There is a cosmic difference between Jesus and the state.
Jesus does not use the state to deceive the poor, neither using it to take money from anyone nor using it to force anyone to lose their free will. Jesus comes to a man and asks, “Do you want to follow me? Do you want to help your neighbor?”
But socialist theocracy behaves very differently. Its representatives come to you and says:
We need to help the “poor”.
Then you answer:
Cool! With what will you help them?
“With your money.”
But I cannot give right now…
“We are not asking for your cooperation. We are demanding your money.”
Wait a minute. Jesus wants me to help, but even he never forces me to give anything.
“Do we have any similarity to Jesus? Give your money immediately. Otherwise, you will be arrested for insubordination to the State.”
Having no choice, you give your money. Your pockets are emptied, and the pockets of the powerful “in the service” of the “compassionate” state are filled to brim.
What is the difference between Prosperity Theology and Theology of Integral Mission?
Both make your pockets empty: the first one, on the church altar, the second one, on the state altar.
In the Theology of Prosperity, you make church leaders richer, if you want to give. Remember: Theology of Prosperity does not force anyone to enter their church and give money.
In the Theology of Integral Mission, you make state officials and their crazy policies richer, whether you want or not. Remember: the Theology of Integral Mission advocates a socialist theocracy where everybody is forced to give money on the state altar.

State sinner

In its excuse to help the poor through its incessant and cruel tax increases, the government commits three sins:
* It violates one of the Ten Commandments which requires us not to steal.
* Takes from citizens their opportunity to help the poor voluntarily.
* It supports a heavily expensive populism to consolidate its power.
Jesus taught clearly in Matthew 6 that each man — never the State — has a responsibility and option to help the poor directly. Jesus also taught the way to give: no one is to be aware of your giving.
However much the Theology of Integral Mission and the Liberation Theology adherents want, the government is unable to obey both teachings for a very simple reason: they are directed to people in the church, not to the State.
When the State invades the church sphere to fulfill the role of her members, perversion results. While a man or a woman that loves Jesus helps the poor with his or her own resources, the State, that does not love Jesus, forcibly takes away resources from its citizens and in contrast to what Jesus commanded,  the State propagandizes and publicizes to the whole society every crumb it gives away, making trumpets sound on itself and making its opportunistic populism strengthened.
Does the government spend from the people’s money so much in crumbs to the poor as in propaganda in order to keep its image of “protector of the poor”.
Visualize the picture: A man is determined to follow the instruction of Jesus to help the poor. So, he goes to his neighbor and says, “Hand me over your money!”  When his neighbor refuses, the man threatens him, finally being able to get the money. With his neighbor’s money in hand, he propagandizes to the whole city that he is going to help the poor. He takes part of the money and gives to newspapers, in order to publicize his generosity. He takes another part and gives to his homosexual friends, to help them go party. He takes another part and gives to his friend that has a pro-abortion advocacy group. He gives another part to more of his friends. He takes some for himself and then finally, not to be unfair to his populism, awaits journalists, cameras, TVs, radios, etc., to hand over his “assistance” to the poor.
This is charity without God.
This is state charity.
How were some Christians able to plunge into it?
I believe that Jesus Christ gave to Christians the authority and power to perform signs, miracles and wonders, including expelling demons (see Mark 16).
It is long overdue for Christians to expel from their midst the Liberation Theology and the Theology of Integral Mission.
Portuguese version of this article: Teologia da Missão Integral
Spanish version of this article: Teología de la Misión Integral
Source: Julio Severo in English: www.lastdayswatchman.blogspot.com