In a world filled with fantasies where:

the forces of darkness lure even the cleverest;

material success puts a soul’s salvation at risk;

the thirst for consumption is satisfied at any cost;

children born of love are thrown aside because of new passions;

moral values are traded for the pleasures of the flesh;

even the faithful sell out for a bowl of lentil stew;

a mature love is replaced by a younger one;

and the law of the flesh says that you had better share your man than be alone,

faithfulness is meaningless…

But the Word of the Eternal ensures that “a faithful man will abound with blessings, but he who hastens to be rich will not go unpunished” (Proverbs 28.20).

I held a meeting in the Philippines with the bishops responsible for our churches in Asia. One of them expressed his difficulties in reaching out to Buddhists. I told him that there are no impassable barriers when it comes to having faith in God’s promises. Of course, there is a price to pay!

Abraham challenged God by saying: “What is it worth to have you as my shield and my exceedingly great reward if I do not have children?” (Genesis15.1,2).

His answer from God was immediate, in the form of a sacrificial covenant.

Gideon also answered the Lord with great audacity when he said: “If the LORD is with us, why then has all this happened to us?” (Judges 6.13).

Again, the response was immediate. God chose him to free Israel…

I believe that every true Christian will eventually have to face a situation where they need to make a pragmatic decision: either God is or God isn’t! It’s all or nothing! Life or death!

What is unacceptable is to do things half way!

I said to him: if you don’t take on an attitude of revolt against this situation, nothing will change! The problem isn’t because of the hardened heart of Buddhists, but because of your own feeble heart. This is a problem only you can solve!

How long will we put up with these problems that we already know are not from God?

My dear reader, there are times in our life that there is no other way out! Either we are from God or we aren’t! Either He’s with us or He’s not!

How do we know? You can only find out by putting His Word to the test!

God permits these situations to happen so that we can better understand where our spiritual level stands.

Taking these actions will exclude the hypocrites and separate them from the chosen.

This is the only path that will bring answers to those who are from God!

These are the pictures of the Jerusalem Cultural Center located in Rio de Janeiro. The main attraction is a huge model of the city of Jerusalem during the period of the Second Temple.

The ceiling simulates a starry sky, which changes according to Jerusalem’s local time. The material used in the construction was imported from Jerusalem, and took five years of hard work. Everything was built to precision—from the walls of Jerusalem to the simplest palm tree.

Few people in Brazil have had the opportunity to visit the Holy City, which was why we’ve decided to create this Center.

For more info, visit the site: www.centroculturaljerusalem.com.br

There are two sources of power in the world: good and evil. The source of good sends forth life through the Spirit of God, and the source of evil sends forth death through its darkness.

These two sources are spiritual forces, and in order for either to have an affect on the world, they need to use human beings. Spirits need a body to manifest themselves in the world. Both the Spirit of good as well as the spirit of evil need a person to express themselves.

The Spirit of God seeks people with character to sow what is good throughout the nations; while, the spirit of evil looks for people without character to use as pedophiles, murderers, rapists, extortionists, to sow evil among the nations. Its goal is to make everyone an unbeliever in the existence of a Just, Holy and Merciful God.

The question is: why are the forces of evil more active in the world than the forces of good? The answer is that those who do evil don’t care about the future of their souls. Besides they make up the majority in this world.

On the other hand those who do what is right, the instruments of the Spirit of Good, are the minority. Few are chosen and saved. That’s because few have made a commitment with the Way, the Truth and the Life Everlasting.

To whom are you committed?

God has provided all the conditions needed for His people to conquer the Promised Land. He has given us His Word, His Spirit and His Name. What more do we need? With these tools absolutely nothing is impossible.

It’s obvious that His Word, His Spirit and His Name cannot function without the active participation of those who truly believe in Him. After all, we are God’s fellow workers (1 Corinthians 3.9).

What’s more, God will not act in your life without your cooperation! It’s no use praying when you have to take action! Moses didn’t pray standing before the Red Sea! Instead, He cried out! And the Lord answered, “Why do you cry to Me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward.” (Exodus 14.15).

Perhaps you’ve been praying, fasting and waiting for God to do something. If this is the case, my dear, forget about a solution! God will never do your part, just like you will never be able to do His!

We are His partners, and each partner has to do his own part so that miracles can happen!

We know that life does not depend on luck, opportunities, money or even on our qualifications. Our life depends only on faith.

The “wise” have answers for everything. But when they are faced with family, financial or health problems, they don’t have a solution.

When our faith is down, doubt rises up. When that happens, finding a solution seems impossible, and the person becomes powerless before their problems—even the insignificant ones.

But when faith rises up, doubt automatically shrinks down. Then the problems, difficulties, tribulations and the like become insignificant—even when they seem unbearable.

The big difficulty is to remain in faith! It’s not enough to have faith for some time. We’ve got to live it out at every moment. For this reason, it’s important to invest in our faith day after day, all the time.

How? By setting our mind on the things of God.

There are people who fulfil their “vows” with God on Sunday mornings, and then they relax in their faith—after all, they think they have already fulfilled their religious duty. This is a terrible mistake! Our enemy stays away when our faith is up. But when he sees that our faith is weak or relaxed, he immediately attacks us.

When we are in faith, our body becomes full of light; but when we doubt, that light is switched off. Then, we become easy prey for the devil.

Note that problems always rise when our faith is down… Am I right?

That’s why the Holy Spirit teaches us to fight the good fight of faith in order to lay hold of eternal life (1 Timothy 6.12).

Question:

Bishop Macedo,

I’m a 17-year-old girl from Namibia. Regarding the sacrifice that I made, I asked God to increase my mother’s salary. She’s not a church person, and believes that we’re demanding God to answer our request… My sacrifice got me into trouble with her because I didn’t tell her about it… I sold my clothes and things she bought me for my birthday—a gold and silver watch, a radio etc. How do I get God to perform this miracle? I know that He will answer me; I don’t have doubts about God!!! I know it, but how do I make it happen? Please help me. My mother is also not having a good relationship at the moment! I need advice, please.
-Coco

Answer:

Dear Coco,

Faith is above everything. God never forgets our sacrifices—the highest expression of our faith. And because of that, God has not rejected the sacrifice you made on behalf of your mother.

But let me explain something to you: a blessed financial life depends on a person’s faithfulness to God. As a matter of fact, there is a formula for a blessed financial life: conversion + faithfulness = prosperity.

By all means, keep your sacrifice alive by praying, fasting and attending the church, but bear in mind that, once your mother converts to God, the blessings will be a natural consequence—whether in her finances, love life, health etc. Therefore, I advise you to focus on praying for her to convert first rather than for her to prosper.

God bless you abundantly.