The rattle of the world
27 May 2010

Adults use rattles to get a baby’s attention. Sweets, candy and other titbits are so appealing to children. Both kids and adults go crazy over any product that can stimulate their emotions. For many people, a romantic relationship is their biggest dream.

Satan’s fully aware of this. So much so that people have been encouraged to conquer the world through the alluring “rattles” of the media. And so they become so focused on the things of this world that they forget they have souls. People simply ignore their souls—except when death comes knocking on their front door.

As the father and leader of thieves, the devil knows what is valuable. His eyes shine at the thought of conquering a soul, and so he uses all his weapons to conquer it. He doesn’t give himself any rest when trying to steal a soul—no matter the cost, he wants to possess it for eternity.

Unfortunately, people don’t see it. They don’t realise the treasure that is hidden inside of them.

“For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?”(Matthew 16:26)

Bishop Macedo

Why Mount Sinai?

Sinai is a natural altar, a 7,500ft high mountain that rises abruptly from the Egyptian desert, higher than all other mountains in that range.

Also known as Horeb, one of the meanings of the word is ‘waste’. It remains to this day mostly as wilderness, a desert area, with very few people living there such as Bedouins and shepherds.

It was at the foot of Sinai where the Hebrew slaves, ‘the waste of Egypt’, came to encamp after they left the land of slavery over 3,000 years ago.

When they arrived there, they were nothing but real human waste: men and women, young and old, and children, with their backs scarred from the whips of their slave masters, their feet callous from standing knee-deep in mud all day making bricks to build cities for pharaoh, their clothes but old rags, eyes that had seen nothing but the horrible images of slavery from the day they were born.

But right there, at the foot of that mountain, that people became a great nation! The disorderly slaves departed from Sinai with the Book of the Law, given to them by God Himself, with clear direction to the Promised Land. They were assured of God’s help and protection as they marched on to become, at one point, one the most prosperous and feared nations on earth.

So, Mount Sinai is a symbol of victory, of rising from the ashes, of the impossible becoming possible, the weak becoming strong. It is where waste becomes wealth, and the forgotten are remembered. It is also a sign that God sees and remembers His people, and does not leave them at the mercy of their oppressors.

Sinai is the only mountain of earth where God set foot and decidedly changed the destiny of His people.

And that’s why we go there! When we are standing on top of that mountain, our faith is at its highest. All these facts come to life to us because we’re not just reading about that place – we’re seeing it before our very eyes!

That’s why we promote challenges of faith on Mount Sinai once a year at our church. Since we started doing this in 1980, thousands of people have achieved great victories and given wonderful testimonies through the prayers made on that mountain.

We go to Mount Sinai only for great things. We go there to radically change lives. We go to decide difficult situations.

We go to show through sacrifice that our faith is real, in return for the realization of God’s promises in our lives!

It is a privilege to be part of it. It is a blessing to take part in the Challenge of Mt Sinai.

Bp Renato Cardoso
Universal.org

Heart

Heart

“A wise man’s heart is at his right hand, but a fool’s heart at his left”.Ecclesiastes 10.2

Though our heart is in the left side of our chest, God is looking for those whose heart is inclined to the right side. Why? The reason why many Christians fail in life is exactly because they live their lives with their hearts inclined to the left side, being so, this person’s heart is led by emotions, feelings or guided by what his/her eyes see. The Bible says that the heart is deceitful… an emotional heart can bring us many traps to destroy our own lives.

The heart inclined to the right is the heart that lives by faith, never falls or fails before the problems nor subjects itself before the devil.

All the great heroes of faith such as: Abraham, Isaac, Israel, Moses and many others had their hearts inclined to the right, in other words, they lived by faith there was no room for feelings or any type of thoughts contrary to faith.

In the Bible we find the example of Jephthah who made a vow with God. It’s written, “And Jephthah made a vow to the Lord, and said, “If You will indeed deliver the people of Ammon into my hands, then it will be that whatever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the people of Ammon, shall surely be the Lord’s and I will offer it up as a burnt offering.”

When Jephthah came to his house at Mizpah, there was his daughter, coming out to meet him with timbrels and dancing; and she was the only child. Besides her he had neither son nor daughter. And it came to pass, when he saw her, that he tore his clothes, and said, Alas, my daughter! You have brought me very low! You are among those who trouble me! For I have given my word to the Lord, and I cannot go back on it.” Judges 11. 30,31,34,35

Only a person whose heart is inclined to the right side and lives by faith is able to fulfill an extreme and painful vow like this. If Jephthah was living by emotions or feelings, like many who claim themselves Christians but are not ready to sacrifice to the God they say they believe in, for sure Jephthah would have denied to fulfill his vow. The characteristic of those whose heart is inclined to the left is exactly that, they are not ready to sacrifice.

Many people have destroyed their lives because they have an emotional heart and their actions are led by feelings, they always despise the promises of God.

The question is: Which side is your heart inclined to? Left or Right?

Are you carrying a heart of sentiment or of faith? If you have a heart of faith make sure that very soon your life will be God’s blessing in this world.

Bp Carlos

I Overcame

Imagine for example, if your parents have sacrificed their entire lives by dedicating themselves at work day and night without enjoying a single moment of life but just working hard to provide you a high level of academic education, an excellent and very profitable carrier and in the end they invest all their money to build you up a comfortable house for you to live in? And then, after all this you simply say, “I don’t care about that and let me live my own life in the way I want! How do you think they would feel? Not good, right? That’s how God feels when we simply accept to be defeated by our problems, after all He did upon the cross by denying Himself and paying a high price for what He never did, simply for us to overcome our problems and enjoy the abundant life promised in the Bible.

Good Friday means good life and this good life is available for those who overcome their own weakness and their lack of confidence, those who overcome the problems that have overcome them for quite a long time.

No more defeat, we have to overcome!

Bishop Carlos E Da Costa

A drastic plea!
21 March 2010

My name is Patricia and I’m 17 years old. I’m very weak right now so I’ve asked my friend, Nurse Dani, to help me write this letter. I want to address all the young people of Brazil before it’s too late:

“I used to be a vivacious teen, raised in an excellent upper-middle class family in Florianopolis, Brazil. My father works as an electrical engineer in the largest power company in our state and always provided the best for my two brothers and me, including the freedom I never learned to appreciate.

At age 13, I participated in a modelling contest for a well-known agency and won. I went far in the competition and in the end a couple of girls were chosen to be game show assistants. I was also chosen to be booked for another modelling agency in Sao Paulo.

My beauty made me stand out. Heads turned wherever I went.

I attended the best college in Florianopolis and all the guys at school were at my feet.

On weekends, I went to the mall, the beach and the movies; I hung out with my friends and did all the things life has to offer beautiful people.

But life threw me a curve ball and my luck began changing in October 2004. I went with a group of friends to Oktoberfest in Blumenau (Santa Catarina, Brazil).

My parents trusted me and let me go without much concern. Everything seemed so fabulous in Blumenau. To get things started off that night we had some drinks at Bude a famous bar on 25th St.

Later that night, we went to ‘Proeb’ where the band ‘Cavalinho Branco’ was putting on an awesome show in the Galician Pavilion.

The crowd was rocking out with excitement.

I had already experimented with a few drinks. Without my mother knowing, I used to drink some Amarula liquor, but never enough to get drunk.

I got drunk on beer for the first time on Thursday, the first day of Oktoberfest.

I was smashed the whole night; what a cool sensation! I kissed like 10 guys. My friends mixed soda and beer in a baby bottle to fool the cops because we were minors and couldn’t legally drink. But we drank all night long and those idiots didn’t even notice.

At about 4’o clock in the morning, I was taken to the Emergency Room by some fire fighters because I was going into an alcoholic coma.

They immediately treated me with glucose injections. I almost threw up my guts when I got back to the apartment, but I must admit that I definitely took advantage of my freedom.

The next day, my body was sore and I had a horrible headache; it felt like premenstrual cramps.

On Saturday, we met a group of boys from Sao Paulo that happened to be renting an apartment in the same building as us. Never in my wildest dreams, did I imagine I’d meet my killer that day.

I drank a little on Saturday. The party wasn’t that good, so at about 5:30 in the morning, we decided to go back to the boys’ apartment and just relax for the rest of the morning. A little bit of everything went on that night and I was finally got to try out a joint.

At first I said, “No” but everyone started calling me a wimp. They made so much fun of us, we ended up trying it. It gave me a weird sensation, like a gloomy feeling, but I smoked some more the next day before leaving their apartment.

Marcus, one of the older guys in the group, formed some lines with a white powder, which I later found out was cocaine, and snorted it. They offered me some but I didn’t have the courage to try it that day.

When we got back home to Florianopolis, I noticed a change in myself. I felt the need to try new things and it wasn’t long before I met back up with my murderer: DRUGS again.

Gradually, those I considered to be close friends wouldn’t come around anymore because I was hanging out with a bad crowd, and without noticing, I became an addict. Drugs became part of my daily life.

I went on hallucinating “trips”, smoked weed laced with horse manure and tried cocaine laced with a whole bunch of junk.

We found out that if we mixed blood in with the cocaine, it had a stronger effect. Soon, we not only shared a syringe, but we also shared blood to dilute the powder.

At first, my allowance pretty much covered the costs because we would split the drugs among ourselves and we could afford it. I started buying coke for about $6.00 a gram, but it wasn’t long before I could only find the good stuff for about $12.00 and by now I was using at least five times a day.

I would go out with my “new friends” on Fridays and only come back home on Sundays. Sometimes we bought ecstasy and danced the whole night at the hottest spots… what a blast!

My behaviour at home also changed. My parents quickly took notice, although I tried to hide it at first and told them to mind their own business.

I would steal small things from around the house to sell or trade for drugs. Little by little, the money I was coming up with wasn’t enough so I started sleeping with these old guys in exchange for money. They paid well.

The thought of selling my body made me sick but I had to do it to get the money. With time, my family was being torn apart.

I was admitted into drug rehab treatment centres several times. With much love, my parents spent a fortune trying to reverse the situation.

I would be fine for a couple days after leaving the centre, but eventually ended up sticking myself with needles again. I abandoned everything: school, good friends and family.

In December 2007, I was given my death sentence. I found out that I had contracted the AIDS virus. I don’t know if it was from shooting up drugs or from the unprotected sex.

I must have passed on the virus to a lot of people because men paid more for sex without a condom.

Gradually, my values were faded: family, friends, parents, religion, God—even God—nothing seemed to have a point, it was ridiculous.

I’ll never stop loving my mother and father because they tried everything to save me. They gave me the most precious gift: life and I threw it down the drain.

I was admitted into the hospital, weighing a mere 53 lbs.; horrible. I don’t want any visitors because I don’t want anyone to see me like this. I don’t know how long I’ll live, but I’m asking all young people, with all of my heart, don’t go on this crazy trip.

You certainly will end up regretting it just like I’m regretting it now. Although, now I realise it’s too late for me.”

NOTE: Patricia was admitted to University Hospital in Florianopolis. Danelise, the nurse who took care of her, announced that Patricia died from respiratory failure as a result of AIDS 14 hours after they wrote this letter.

Bishop Macedo

Pact with God

Dear friend,

people are looking for peace where there's no peace, safety where there's no safety, joy where there's no joy and salvation where there's no salvation. The days in which we are living in are bad days, catastrophes, violence, crimes, prostitution rise day after day and love has grown cold in most of people. What then shall we do? Where can we go? See what God says, "If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will forsake". 2 Chronicles 15. 2

The only way you can find safety in this world is by making a covenant with God but for you to do it you need to be ready to sacrifice your all on His altar, you have to be ready to lose today to gain tomorrow.

March 21st in all The Universal Churches we will be making a pact with God and you and your family will be under God's protection.