Rafael José Silvestre, 23, was an atheist since the age of 17. He came to this decision because of several questions that arose in his mind, the main ones being: why does God allow so much evil to happen in the world? How could one God more compelling than another?

“Certain actions taken by Catholics caused me much confusion and so did the bad examples I witnessed from a so-called Christian whose life was the complete opposite of what he claimed to believe. His behavior wasn’t like what I read in the Bible, because although I was an atheist and I didn’t believe in the Bible, I still read it searching to justify my disbelief. My friends and I had the same views on the subject and although many had their doubts they eventually converted to atheism after I influenced them with my reasoning.

The idea I had of the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God was based solely on what I heard about them on the news. I never took time to investigate what I was hearing. I admit that was one of the biggest mistakes I’ve ever made. One of the thoughts I mentioned earlier that came to mind was of the “scandals” that were always appearing on TV against the church regarding money, tithes and offerings, what the congregants gave and this money was put to use .

About two and a half months ago I was invited by a dear friend to come to the UCKG. I was the type of person that had to “see to believe” and so I came to understand how someone could be possessed by evil spirits after witnessing my friend manifest. And that’s when I began questioning my stand on atheism. Was everything that I was so sure about, the power of reasoning, really the only thing that exists?

I decided to continue going to church to support my friend in her deliverance. During the meetings, I continued seeing how she would manifest with evil spirits and how she would become normal again after the bishop used his authority through prayer to deliver her. I felt some strange things happen to me as well, like: discomfort, shaking and pressure on my body as if something was pulling me down. Seeing how the bishop had all this authority over those evil forces challenged everything I believed in. I wanted to understand where that power was coming from. Doubts filled my mind. I spoke with one of the members of the Church and he suggested that I put God to test by tithing. I gave my tithe, put God to test and got an answer, it was amazing. Since then, I began seeking God, the bishop and the pastor for help. I also began reading the Bible to clarify my doubts and for the first time, I found answers.

During one of the worship meetings my attention was drawn to the fact that it’s necessary to bury our sinful past and give birth to a new life. I finally understood that I’m human and a sinner and I was able to repent and find forgiveness in Jesus. I decided to place my life in God’s hands and accept Jesus Christ as my Lord. I was baptized in water and through Him, I’m able find the strength to fight against my will.

Today, I participated of the Lord’s Supper for the first time and it was really special. I was able to take part of the body and blood of Christ. To me, this is experimenting with my faith. It’s not something palpable or found in a material form. I believe that through these elements (the bread and wine) I’m in communion with the Body of Christ.

Everything is now clear to me. I understand the value of a true sacrifice. It’s not in the sacrifice itself; there’s so much more behind what really pleases God and being able to let go of the materialism and rely solely on God is what shows our true faith. The formula for a miracle is: give your life to God and fully trust in Him, without doubting.

I have a thirst for the Holy Spirit to fill me completely. I fight every day to conquer and I will, because today I believe!”

A story goes that in the US state of Florida, an atheist opened a discrimination case against the Easter and Pesach (Jewish Passover) holidays. He hired an attorney to bring a discrimination case against Christians, Jews and the observance of their holy days.

The argument was that it was unfair that atheists had no such recognised day. The case was brought before a judge. After listening to the passionate presentation of the lawyer, the judge banged his gavel declaring, “Case dismissed!”

The lawyer immediately objected to the ruling, saying: “Your Honour, how can you possibly dismiss this case? The Christians have Christmas, Easter & others. The Jews have Pesach, Yom Kippur* and Hanukkah**. Yet my client and all other atheists have no such holidays.”
The judge leaned forward in his chair saying, “But you do. Your client, counsel, is sadly ignorant.” The lawyer said:” Your Honour, we are unaware of any special observance or holiday for atheists.”

The judge said, “The calendar says April 1st is April Fool’s Day.” Psalm 14:1 states, “The fool says in his heart, there is no God.” Thus, it is the opinion of this court, that if your client says there is no God, then he is a fool. Therefore, April 1st is his day. Court is adjourned!

You have to love a judge who knows the Holy Scriptures.

* Yom Kippur (Jewish New Year)
** Hanukkah (Jewish Feast, Festival of Lights)

Text is from an unknown source

José Saramago, a Portuguese writer and Nobel Prize winner for literature in 1998, has just launched another book with a biblical backdrop. In the book Cain, Saramago once again questions and doubts God’s justice and portrays the Creator as, in his point of view, “cruel, jealous and unbearable.”

In an interview with the Portuguese magazine Visão, José Saramago, describes the Bible as “a manual of bad manners” in which you can find all sorts of atrocities and with his intellectual rhetoric, questions the veracity of the Scriptures, objecting strongly that the concepts written in the Bible are true records of the Word of God. “Regarding the holy book, I usually say: read the Bible and lose faith,” Saramago said during the interview.

In 1991, the writer had already caused controversy with his book The Gospel According to Jesus Christ, which suggests a romantic relationship between Jesus and Mary Magdalene, in what seems a desperate attempt to approach the divine, by humanising the figure of Christ, since the other way around would be unlikely.

A “hardhearted atheist” as he describes himself and communist by ideology, Saramago’s arguments in his obsession with “exposing” God are lost amid his accusations of the Catholic Church—referring to acts such as the Inquisition, the Crusades, the dungeons and everything that is part of an oppressive past in which the institution exerted clear social and political power over Christian society—and a kind of unrest that the god that inhabited his imaginations was not found to be rejected in the Bible.

To say that an atheist can develop a judgment in relation to God may seem contradictory, but Saramago’s own debate on the subject is conflicting and confusing. He combines concepts and definitions about the Bible, Christianity and the Catholic Church as if they were all the same thing. He says that the Bible is “manipulative”, as if people were dominated by depravity and unable to form their own opinions when reading the Scriptures. He claims and values freedom, which he says is denied and oppressed by God, but moralises communism, which is one of the most repressive forms of government in the political world. Seated on the throne of his acclaimed and renowned intellect, and based on the prestige attained by his literary acknowledgements, he considers himself worthy to “impose” his beliefs as absolute truth and judge those who don’t agree with him as ignorant.

But, what is more confusing, contradictory and interesting about his speech is the energy Saramago uses to criticise, discuss and challenge something that he believes doesn’t exist. Saramago doesn’t understand or accept the mysteries and spiritual messages of the Bible because he can only read it and interpret it in an academic and literary way and doesn’t see the relevance of a book that has lasted for centuries and continues to be authentic until today.

The Bible itself points out, literally, the way Saramago should read it and accept it without trying to find a rational explanation for the existence of its mysteries, when it states: “The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever” (Deuteronomy 29:29).

Saramago’s discussions lead us to believe that, perhaps from his own despair, he proves to be desperately searching for God. But his intellectual arrogance only allows him to accept an explainable God that fits in his limited box of human understanding, and not depend on what seems uncomfortable and uncertain from a rational point of view. But the God in whom Saramago doesn’t believe “chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise” (1 Corinthians 1:27).

This testimony brought me to tears and I’d like to share this with you. Read it slowly and give it the attention that it deserves!

A testimony sent by email

Bishop Macedo,

My name is Pedro Dante. My wife, Antonia, and I are sending you this email and are eager for it to reach you. It’s the story of how I found God.

Bishop, I have a degree in medicine and was once devoid of this faith, the same faith that my wife and nonna (grandmother, we’re Italian, Bishop) embraced after coming to the UCKG. I always depended on the work of my own hands and my education… proud of my work as a doctor through which I saved lives. My wife fought for me for 12 years, for my salvation. I never allowed her to say anything to me about God or the UCKG. We always had the best financial situation, and never depended on anyone. Very wisely, my wife kept fighting for my salvation in silence, because she knew her husband: a proud man that would never allow her to speak about GOD or her faith.

Then in September of 2008 the unexpected happened. Since I’m a well known and respected doctor, I got a call from a friend asking me to go to Campo Grande in Mato Grosso do Sul (Brazil), to handle a case of Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever. In this particular case I was going to perform an autopsy; to examine a dead body and gather data to help in the development of a vaccine against the various types of Dengue Fever.

It was a girl of 26, but Bishop, when I arrived she had already suffered the trauma of a series of respiratory failure and was in an induced coma. My medical team got busy controlling the fever and the hemorrhaging. As a doctor I had never seen such a severe case of Dengue Fever, but even so, there was something different with the look on her face.

This young woman, a warrior of faith, Bishop, was of the same faith as my wife. When I arrived with my medical team, we evaluated her case and found that she was extremely sick. She should have already been dead from her many respiratory failures. That night, when she came out of her coma, my team called me.

I had not yet talked to her because of her bad state. She said to me: Doctor, I don’t know what the LORD JESUS is going to do tonight, I don’t know what He wants, but I know that His will will be done in my life. And if He wants to take me today, you won’t be able to do anything about it. You can perform CPR on me, use the defibrillator, or anything else you deem necessary, but I’ll only come back if GOD Himself chooses to bring me back because my life is in His hands!

Bishop Macedo, to me that was just absurd, because in all my pride I would never allow a girl say something like that to me. She was really patronising. In all my life, no one had ever spoken to me like that. One small detail is that she had never seen me before. I said to the team that worked with me: Who’s the professional here? Who studied and specialised in medicine for years? Here comes this girl, this child, to insult me in this manner. Who does she think she is? While I’ve been studying and saving lives, she’s been in church serving this GOD of hers!

Bishop, I left the room of this young woman named Charlene. I left there shouting, furious at everything that had just happened… she was in this extremely critical situation, believing in what she couldn’t see, and her body was just shattered. And then, one more time the unexpected happened. Late that night, Bishop, her heart stopped beating. At that moment I remembered what she had said to me a few minutes earlier. I quickly began to do CPR on her and used the defibrillator. After 40 minutes of trying to resuscitate her I was exhausted, and my team stopped assisting and was just watching me. Then my chief assistant and friend grabbed my arm and said: Peter, stop. She’s dead. It’s finished!

Bishop, I left that place humiliated and crying. I said to my team: “I’ve never lost anyone in these 35 years of medicine, and now comes this patronising girl who embarrasses me in front of everyone with this faith in her GOD,” (I kept remembering that my wife was of the same faith and church as Charlene). My medical team hung their heads during my angry outburst. But after some minutes I was able to gather myself, took a deep breath and went out to tell the family that Charlene had succumbed to her illness.

I said to the family: I did everything I could to bring her back to life, but in the end Charlene passed away. THEN A NURSE CAME RUNNING INTO THE ROOM SHOUTING: DOCTOR PEDRO, THE PATIENT ISN’T DEAD. SHE JUST WOKE UP!!!!!!! BISHOP MACEDO, AFTER EXHAUSTING ALL OF MY STRENGTH AND MEDICAL KNOWLEDGE, AND TELLING HER FAMILY THAT SHE WAS DEAD, SHE SIMPLY WOKE UP. I HAD ALREADY ANNOUNCED HER TIME OF DEATH. SHE WAS IN ANOTHER ROOM. WE WERE ALREADY GOING THROUGH THE NORMAL PROCEDURES AND I WAS WITH HER FAMILY, AND ALL OF A SUDDEN SHE WOKE UP…

MY MIND DIDN’T UNDERSTAND ANYTHING. MY YEARS OF STUDY, MY TRAINING, MY DEGREE, NONE OF IT HAD PREPARED ME FOR THIS. WHEN I ENTERED HER ROOM, SHE WAS SITTING UP, SMILING. PERPLEXED AND UNABLE TO UNDERSTAND WHAT WAS HAPPENING, I EXAMINED HER… AND COULDN’T EVEN LOOK HER IN THE EYE.

When I left her I called my wife who was in Campinas (Sao Paulo, Brazil) where we lived. She was still awake preparing things because we were about to move to Portugal. I said to her: Antonia, help me, because I don’t know what just happened. I don’t understand any of this.

I explained everything that had happened that night. Antonia said: Pedro, honey, I knew this would happen one day. I knew GOD would knock you off your feet and that you would find Him. Don’t worry everything’s going to become clear. GOD did all of this just for you.

I cried a lot that night. I wasn’t able to sleep one bit. I was just waiting for morning to come so I could go and talk to the young lady.

Early in the morning I went to see her. Bishop Macedo, she talked to me about JESUS, about His sacrifice for me. She said that her life was in the hands of GOD, and that she was never afraid because she knew who she believed in. Then she invited me to go to the cathedral on Sunday morning, before returning to Sao Paulo. She said I shouldn’t waste any more time, and that I should attend a meeting at the UCKG immediately.

Then I told her that my wife, Antonia, had been a member of this church for 12 years, and that she had always wanted to take me with her, that she had always fought for me. Charlene said: GOD heard your wife’s prayers, doctor. He saw everything she did for you. Last night MY GOD was forced to use a “dead” person to save your soul. He had already tried to use many living people, but you never paid attention to what GOD was saying through them.

I went to the cathedral in Campo Grande where the bishop was preaching that GOD works when medicine can’t work anymore; that this is the GOD of the UCKG. I thought that Charlene or someone else had told him what had happened, but it was GOD speaking to me. I participated in the meeting, a little perplexed by that. I left there with those words ringing in my ears, trying to understand everything that had happened. I spoke on the phone and exchanged emails with Charlene’s pastors and their wives who had been closely following everything (they live in Porto Alegre). They are: Pr. David Windsor, and his wife Jecy, Pr. Cristiano, and his wife Paola, as Charlene refers to them, friends that are closer than family. In one of his emails, Pr. David wrote: Dr. Pedro, from the very beginning the target was not Charlene, because she was already saved! GOD was targeting you!

Bishop, I went back to my wife, Antonia, in Sao Paulo. In fact, she told me that I wasn’t the same Pedro that she had last seen! Though we had scheduled a flight to Portugal, we went to the UCKG in Sao Paulo, where we asked the pastors if we could speak with either Bp. Romualdo, Bp. Jadson, or Pr. Edson, but the pastor said that Bp. Romualdo was travelling, and the other pastors were not available to speak. Even so, my wife and I attended the service.

Bp. Jadson called all those who wanted to surrender their lives to GOD to come forward. I went and gave up my life. Immediately a PEACE and JOY came over me. It was like several TONS were lifted off my shoulders. Now I understand all that GOD did to save my soul… the sacrifice of HIS SON, MY LORD JESUS. TODAY I CONFESS THAT HE IS MY LORD. Now I understand that what happened in Campo Grande was for me to find GOD; to have an encounter with God! Today we live in Portugal. I’m building my own hospital. My children belong to the UCKG together with my Antonia. My nonna (who has now passed on) and who fought for me, can now smell the fragrance of JESUS in me. She also belonged to the UCKG. During the recent earthquake in Italy she went to be with JESUS. But I’m at peace because she was saved, and if the same happens to me, I’m certain that I’ll be saved too.

My good, Bishop Macedo, this is how I found God. I tried to summarise and not get into too many details… but this is it. God saved me and now I recognise that only He has dominion and power over everything, and that everything is possible for those who believe, even in death!

Days after all this happened in that hospital, another patient was admitted with Denge Hemorrhagic Fever. She died. But one detail, Bishop: this patient was involved in occult practices and her face was dark and sad. She died with a look of agony, the total opposite of what I had seen several days earlier… the power of GOD.

Charlene has totally recovered without any recurrence… a person who had 13 respiratory failures, internal hemorrhaging, who had no heartbeat and did not breathe for 40 minutes, and who had both normally occurring and induced comas. After all of this, she woke up smiling… a real miracle of the power of GOD! She told me that she’s not against medicine, that medicine is from GOD, but that it has its limits, and our GOD has no limits! Every day Antonia thanks GOD for what happened because without it, the old, proud Peter would never have recognised this miracle.

I hope you get this email, Bishop. Forgive me for everything that I used to say about you and your faith. I’ve already asked Antonia to forgive me. Please Bishop, my sincere apologies and my utmost thanks for you having persevered in the face of so many difficulties (I read your book) to rescue so many souls, including my own.

One more thing, before I used to be known as “Doctor House, the unbeliever”, now I’m known as “Doctor Pedro, a man that’s been born of GOD.”

In faith,

Pedro Dante and family.