The Universal Church of the Kingdom of God

A church that began in a Rio de Janeiro funeral parlor in 1977 under Bishop Edir Macedo, meets every day around healing, prosperity and deliverance, and now has its world headquarters in a replica of Solomon's temple.

UCKG UK, What We Believe (statement of faith)

Universal.org (Brazil), Em Que Cremos (what we believe)

UCKG UK, Who We Are

UCKG UK, home page and weekly meetings

UCKG UK, First Time Here

UCKG UK, The Chain of Prayer

Universal.org, Nossa história (the church's own history)

Universal.org, História do Bispo Macedo

Universal.org, Agenda: Domingo, Encontro com Deus

Universal.org, Agenda: Segunda-Feira, Prosperidade com Deus

Universal.org, Agenda: Terça-Feira, Corrente dos 70

Universal.org, Agenda: Quarta-Feira, Escola da Fé Inteligente

Universal.org, Agenda: Sexta-Feira, Sessão do Descarrego

Folha Universal (on Universal.org), "A real importância do dízimo" (10 June 2018)

Universal.org, "Eu achava que o dízimo era algo do Antigo Testamento" (24 May 2024)

Universal.org, "Domingo: participe da Santa Ceia em toda a Universal" (14 August 2026)

Universal.org, "O perigo de participar da Santa Ceia sem discernimento" (19 February 2026)

Universal.org, "Novo nascimento começa com a entrega a Deus" (22 October 2026)

Folha Universal (on Universal.org), "Falar em línguas: um dom que não é espetáculo" (10 August 2025)

Folha Universal (on Universal.org), "Dons versus Fruto" (11 June 2023)

Universal.org, "O que você faria se soubesse que o arrebatamento seria esta noite?" (14 May 2024)

Universal.org, "Apocalipse: É hoje o grande dia do arrebatamento" (6 February 2018)

Universal.org, Jejum de Daniel

O Templo de Salomão, "10 anos do Templo de Salomão" (the church's site)

Correio Braziliense, "Templo de Salomão é inaugurado em São Paulo com a presença de políticos" (31 July 2014)

Lusa via Ver Angola, "Justice orders all IURD temples in Angola to close" (21 September 2020)

Lusa via Ver Angola, "Police announce interdiction of UCKG temples and await court approval" (20 April 2022)

Universal.org, História de vida, "O dízimo é sagrado" (11 June 2021)

UCKG UK, Donate

Charity Commission for England and Wales, Operational Case Report: Universal Church of the Kingdom of God (1043985), published 14 May 2014

IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2010: Características gerais da população, religião e pessoas com deficiência (Tabela 1.4.6)

Agência Gov, "Censo 2022: evangélicos e sem religião crescem no País; católicos em queda" (6 June 2025, from IBGE)

Pew Research Center, "Brazil's Changing Religious Landscape" (18 July 2013)

Paul Freston, "Between Pentecostalism and the Crisis of Denominationalism," in The Power of the Spirit, ed. Gutierrez and Smith (1996), pp. 195–211 (Religion Online)

The church tells its own beginning at a bandstand in the Méier district of Rio, where a young pastor, Edir Macedo, preached on Saturdays with a keyboard, a microphone and a Bible. It dates its first church to 9 July 1977. From there it moved into radio, then into television when it acquired the Rede Record network in 1989, and then abroad: New York in 1986, Angola in 1992, Britain in 1995. In 2014 it opened the Temple of Solomon in São Paulo as its world headquarters. In Britain the charity regulator reviewed it in 2014 and found no regulatory concerns in its visit. In Angola, prosecutors opened a criminal case in 2020 and its temples were closed. In 2022, Lusa reported a Luanda court judgment acquitting the church's pastors, while the Angolan state recognized a rival, breakaway leadership.

The bandstand at Méier

The church's own history begins: "Tudo começou em um coreto no subúrbio do Rio de Janeiro." In our translation, "It all began in a bandstand in the suburbs of Rio de Janeiro." Macedo went each Saturday to the Méier district with a keyboard, a microphone and a Bible, climbed the seven steps of the bandstand and preached to a few listeners. The church names his mother, Eugênia, as the main encourager of this first work. The UCKG UK site tells the same start with one more name: it says the church "owes its origins" to an evangelistic program led by the Canadian missionary Bishop Robert McAlister, and that Macedo was one of his early converts.

The first church, in a funeral parlor

The first church was set up in a former funeral parlor in the Abolição district of Rio. The first service was held there on 9 July 1977. The old shed took in about 225 people at the opening meeting, and afterward the church drew more than 400 to its daily meetings, by the church's own account.

New York

After an exploratory visit to the United States the church was established in New York in 1986. The UCKG UK site lists churches in other US cities and, after that, in Canada, Mexico and much of Latin America, in Europe, and in Asia.

Television: Rede Record

In 1989 the church acquired Rede Record, which the sociologist Paul Freston, writing in 1996, described as the fifth-largest television network in the country. The church's own page on Macedo says his memoir, Nada a Perder, tells of the purchase of his first radio station and of Record TV. Freston called the Universal Church "the fastest-growing, most politically powerful, and most controversial Protestant church in the country," and tied its success to its use of media and its skill at linking the traditional and the modern in Brazilian culture.

Macedo jailed for eleven days

The church's own page on its founder says his memoir gives his version of controversial events such as his arrest in 1992, and tells of the eleven days he spent behind bars in the company of ordinary prisoners (our translation). The page sets this within a story of persecution and overcoming. It does not give the charges or say how the case ended. No court record was found for this chart, so it states only that the arrest happened.

The first church in Africa

The UCKG UK site dates the first UCKG church in Africa to 1992, in Angola. It says the church is now active in South Africa, Mozambique, Cape Verde, Kenya and other African countries.

Britain: Brixton and the Rainbow Theatre

Pastor Renato Cardoso, now a bishop, brought the church to Britain in 1995. At first he held two services a week in a Church of England church in Brixton, and within the year the first church of its own opened there. In 1996 the church bought the derelict Rainbow Theatre in Finsbury Park, a listed 1930s cinema, and set about restoring it. The UK body is a registered charity.

The Brazilian census

The 2010 census counted 1,873,243 Brazilians who named the Universal Church as their religion. It is the only independent count the sources read give. No page of the church's own that was read gives a count of its members in Brazil.

A review by the Charity Commission

In England and Wales the Charity Commission had received complaints over the years, some about fundraising. It wrote to the charity and made a review visit. It reported that the Fundraising Standards Board had no concerns, and "We found no regulatory concerns during our visit." It also found that the constitution did not allow a trustee's spouse to be paid, and that the trustees, who "had not realised this was the case," had been making such payments against the governing document. It instructed them to take their own legal advice. It said its work helped reassure the public that the trustees had fulfilled their duties. The report was published on 14 May 2014.

The Temple of Solomon opens

The Temple of Solomon was inaugurated in the Brás district of São Paulo on 31 July 2014. The church says the work took four years and that it is a replica of the temple built in Israel in the reign of Solomon, meant "to promote fear and reverence toward God and to be a house of prayer for all peoples" (our translation). The Correio Braziliense reported that it cost about R$685 million, that the ceremony was closed to invited guests, and that the guests included the president, Dilma Rousseff, the vice-president, Michel Temer, the governor of São Paulo and the mayor of the city.

Angola: dissidents, seized temples, a criminal case

By the account of the Portuguese news agency Lusa, a group of dissidents in Angola broke with the church's Brazilian leadership in November 2019, and in June 2020 a reformist wing took over temples. In August 2020 the Attorney General's office seized seven temples in Luanda in a criminal case for alleged "criminal association, tax fraud and exports illicit capital." In September a police source told Lusa that, by order of the Public Prosecutor's Office, all of the church's temples in the country were seized and closed. The church said it was "surprised," called the police action "disproportionate and excessive," and said there was no judicial order to stop worship in the temples closed that day. These were charges, not findings.

Angola: an acquittal, and two rival leaderships

In April 2022 Lusa reported that a judgment of the Luanda District Court, dated 31 March 2022, had acquitted the church's pastors of the crimes charged and ordered the temples returned. The report gives this as the account of Bishop Alberto Segunda, who leads the wing loyal to the Brazilian church; the Luanda police spokesman spoke of "the decision that guides the restitution of the temples" and said the police were waiting for the court to tell them to whom the buildings should go. The state's religious affairs institute recognizes a rival leadership under Bishop Valente Bizerra Luís, who led the 2019 reform commission. Both wings, Lusa reported, claim to be the legitimate representatives of the church founded by Edir Macedo.

Edir Macedo

Born in Rio de Janeiro, he began work as a public servant in 1963 and left that career after sixteen years to give himself to what the church calls the Work of God. The church's page lists his theology degrees and more than thirty books, with the memoir Nada a Perder. Its news pages today carry his daily message and his teaching on the Bible.

Robert McAlister

The UCKG UK site names Bishop Robert McAlister, a Canadian missionary in the Pentecostal tradition, as the leader of the evangelistic program from which the church grew. The church's Portuguese history page does not mention him.

Renato Cardoso

He brought the church to Britain in 1995 and is now a bishop. The church's news pages carry his sermons from the Temple of Solomon, and he appears there as a leading teacher alongside Macedo.

James Marques

The UK site says the church continues to expand in Britain under his leadership, supported by senior pastors and administrative staff.

Where the church stands in Brazil. Pew, reading the census, reported 42 million Protestants in Brazil in 2010, 22 percent of the population, up from 26 million in 2000, and it named the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God among the independent neo-Pentecostal churches in that group. The 2022 census puts evangelicals at 26.9 percent of Brazilians aged ten and over. The 2022 summary read here gives no count for the Universal Church by itself, so the 2010 count is the latest figure on record for it.

Two accounts of the beginning. The Portuguese history page tells the story as Macedo's: the bandstand, the funeral parlor, 9 July 1977. The UK page puts Bishop McAlister's program first and has Macedo begin with his blessing. Both are the church's own, and this chart gives both.

What this chart could not document. Three things should be said plainly. Court records for the 1992 arrest were not found. The Angolan judgment of 2022 is known here only from the Lusa report, not from the court's text. The Charity Commission's record after its 2014 report was not found. And no document was found that sets out the church's constitution: who appoints bishops, who owns the temples, how the money is governed. Where this chart speaks of leadership it describes what the church's own pages say and no more.

The Bible is the final authority, and the church's bishops teach it every day.

Both of the church's official statements put the Bible first. The UCKG UK statement of faith, its first article, accepts the Old and New Testaments as "the Supreme and Final Authority for faith and life." The Brazilian page says the Universal "bases its faith and belief exclusively on the Word of God, the Holy Bible" (our translation), and cites 2 Timothy 3:16-17. In daily life, the teaching reaches members through the bishops. The church's news pages report the daily message of Bishop Edir Macedo and the sermons of Bishop Renato Cardoso as explanations of the text. Cardoso, reporting on 1 Corinthians 11, said the worst attitude toward Scripture is to look in it for a reason to stay as one is: "The Word of God was not given to support us in error, but to confront us" (our translation).

We believe in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments in their original writings as fully inspired by God and accept them as the Supreme and Final Authority for faith and life.

Por isso, a Universal fundamenta a sua fé e crença exclusivamente na Palavra de Deus, na Bíblia Sagrada.

A pior atitude diante das Escrituras é procurar nelas justificativa para continuar como se está. A Palavra de Deus não foi dada para nos apoiar no erro, mas para nos confrontar.

The Brazilian statement and the UK statement are not the same text. The UK article speaks of the Scriptures "in their original writings" and as "fully inspired by God." The Brazilian page does not use those words but says the Bible was written by men divinely inspired. The sources read give no written rule on how a bishop's teaching is to be tested against the text.

Saved by faith in Christ's blood, born again by the Spirit, and baptized by immersion.

The UK statement says Christ died as a substitute for sinners, and that "all who believe in Him are justified on the ground of His shed blood." It says those who repent, receive Christ by faith and "hold fast to Him" are born again by the Holy Spirit. It names water baptism as one of two ordinances and defines it as the immersion of the believer, "as a confession of the Lord Jesus in burial and resurrection." The Brazilian page joins repentance and baptism. It says a person does the good work of God only after repenting, and that this happens "through baptism in the waters, carried out by immersion." There, it says, human nature, which is sin, is buried and a new person is born (our translation). Neither page says in so many words that baptism is for the forgiveness of sins. The Brazilian page ends with eternal life promised to those who persevere to the end.

We believe that those who repent of their sins, receive the Lord Jesus Christ by faith, and hold fast to Him are born again by the Holy Spirit and become children of God.

that baptism is the immersion of the believer in water as a confession of the Lord Jesus in burial and resurrection

E isso se dá por meio do batismo nas águas, realizado por imersão.

In October 2026 Bishop Macedo taught, as the church's site reports it, that water baptism "should not be only a ritual": the person must also hand over his own will, and no part of life is to be kept apart from what he professes (our translation, reporting on the church's page). In the same message he told listeners that believing is "to take it as a commitment." The Brazilian page closes with a promise of eternal life to those "who persevere to the end." The UK page adds sanctification as "a definite, yet progressive work of grace" and says that "without holiness no man can see God."

The Holy Supper (Santa Ceia) is the church's most important ceremony; the pages read do not show it every Sunday.

The UK statement names the Lord's Supper as the second ordinance and calls it "the partaking of the body and blood of our Saviour in remembrance of His sacrifice until He comes." The Brazilian page goes further. It calls the Santa Ceia the most important ceremony among the church's events and says it is "not only a symbol" of sharing in the Lord's body and blood but the strengthening of the church, physical and spiritual, and a renewal of the vows of covenant with God (our translation). In August 2026 the church announced a Santa Ceia in all its temples in Brazil on a given Sunday. Bishop Cardoso asked listeners how long it had been since they took it, and spoke of "the bread and the wine." His teaching on 1 Corinthians 11 calls it a moment of realignment of the body with the Head. The pages read do not state how often the Supper is held. It does not appear in the weekly schedules read (the UK site and the Brazilian agenda).

that the Lord’s Supper is the partaking of the body and blood of our Saviour in remembrance of His sacrifice until He comes.

Entre os eventos, a Santa Ceia é a cerimônia mais importante. Ela não representa apenas um símbolo da participação do corpo e do sangue do Senhor, e sim o fortalecimento da Igreja física e espiritual. Além disso, serve para uma renovação dos votos de aliança com Deus.

Neste domingo (16), a Universal realizará a Santa Ceia em todos os seus templos no país.

The Brazilian page makes the Supper a renewal of covenant, and the news page of 19 February 2026 calls it "a moment of spiritual realignment" (our translation of the bishop's words) between the members and Christ, the Head. The UK statement calls it a remembrance. The two pages do not contradict each other, but they do not say the same thing, and a reader should not assume one body's account is the other's.

A ranked ministry of assistants, pastors and bishops, with Macedo at the head as founder.

The UK statement believes in "the divinely ordained ministries of apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, and teacher." The UK Who We Are page describes the church's own order. Services are led by a pastor or a bishop, men (and in some countries women) who serve full time and hold no other job. Assistant pastors help them and, after years of service, are consecrated as pastors; pastors "may then be chosen to serve as Bishops." Volunteer assistants chosen from the congregation help in turn. Bishop Edir Macedo, the founder, is the church's best-known voice. On church membership, the UK statement holds that the true Church is all who have been redeemed and regenerated, and that "new birth and personal confession of the Christ are essential for church membership." Bishop Cardoso's teaching separates the visible institution, where the converted and the merely attending sit together, from the spiritual Church of those born of God.

We believe in the divinely ordained ministries of apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, and teacher.

On gaining more experience, Pastors may then be chosen to serve as Bishops.

that the one true Church consists of all those who have been redeemed by Jesus Christ and regenerated by the Holy Spirit; that the local church on earth should take its character from this conception of the spiritual Church and, therefore, new birth and personal confession of the Christ are essential for church membership.

No document was found that says who appoints a bishop, who owns the temples, or whether a local congregation has a council or elders. The only description of the ranks is the UK site's. The Angolan wire report speaks of "the Brazilian leadership," which suggests authority running from Brazil, but it does not set out how. What the pages show is that teaching and church life flow from the bishops, and that members take part as assistants and volunteers.

Daily meetings with a theme for each day, built around prayer for needs; laying on of hands, fasts and a five-week Chain of Prayer.

The church holds meetings every day, each for a stated need, and a visitor may come to any of them. In Britain there are four daily meetings through the week, and the church urges a first-time visitor to begin a Chain of Prayer: to attend one chosen weekday meeting for five weeks in a row, praying about one problem, with the Wednesday and Sunday morning services as well. Each week the participant is given a sticker for a card, and by the fifth week the five stickers spell the name of Jesus. On Tuesdays the Chain of the Seventy has the sick pass through a human corridor of seventy servants who pray and lay hands on each one, on the promise of Mark 16:18. Sunday's Meeting with God includes prayer, a Bible reading and testimony. The site's menu lists a hymnal. The pages read do not say what instruments are used, whether the congregation sings, or how worshipers dress.

Nesta corrente, os doentes passam pelo corredor humano formado por 70 servos de Deus que oram e impõem as mãos sobre todos, para que se cumpra a promessa:

For this reason, each week, the participants will receive one of five stickers to place on their card.

Domingo é dia de fortalecer a sua fé. O Encontro com Deus é destinado a todos aqueles que querem se aproximar do Criador.

The week on the UK site runs: Monday, Prosperity with God; Tuesday, Health Day; Wednesday, School of Faith; Thursday, Family Day and Love Therapy; Friday, Spiritual Cleansing; Saturday, Collective Fast; Sunday, the Empowerment Meeting, Life in Colour and Bible Study. The Brazilian week is named almost the same way. The Wednesday School of Intelligent Faith is described as the meeting for "all who seek eternal salvation," where members learn to understand and apply the Word of God (our translation). The Brazilian site also announces a Daniel Fast of twenty-one days.

Baptism with the Spirit and supernatural gifts are for today; healing and deliverance are central, with the fruit of the Spirit the sign.

The UK statement believes in "the baptism of the Holy Spirit, empowering believers for service, with accompanying supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit," and says divine healing "is an integral part of the Gospel." The Brazilian page says the baptism with the Spirit is an act of grace "carried out by the Lord Jesus Himself" on those who want to be purified and to walk in holiness (our translation). The church teaches that tongues are a private gift between the child and the Father, not a show, and that not everyone who has the Spirit speaks in tongues. The church's Folha Universal describes the gifts as the manifestation of God's power through healing, deliverance, prosperity, the rebuilding of the home and blessings won by faith, and it reports Bishop Macedo teaching that it is the fruit, not the gifts, that guarantees salvation (our translation). On Fridays the church holds the Deliverance Session for those seeking healing and freedom from spiritual evils. The church's page says that depression, anxiety and other problems that seem incurable are "disorders of spiritual origin" (our translation).

We believe in the baptism of the Holy Spirit, empowering believers for service, with accompanying supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit, and in fellowship with the Holy Spirit.

We believe that divine healing seen in the Old and the New Testaments is an integral part of the Gospel.

Depressão, ansiedade e outros problemas aparentemente incuráveis são desordens de origem espiritual.

On tongues, the church's Folha Universal says: "O sinal mais importante de que alguém é cheio do Espírito Santo é seu caráter, sua fé prática e sua transformação de vida." In our translation: the surest sign that someone is filled with the Holy Spirit is character, practical faith and a changed life. It warns against shows on the internet in which tongues are performed with shouting and "interpretations." The pages read give no account of what happens at the Friday session beyond its description.

Christ will return, the dead will rise, and the saved will be caught up before the antichrist rules; the end is near.

The UK statement believes in "the personal return of the Lord Jesus Christ in glory" and in "the resurrection of the just and the unjust, the eternal blessings of the redeemed, and the eternal banishment of those who have rejected salvation." The church's news pages add a teaching on the rapture. Jesus will return to take His Church, "not the physical church, but those who are His," at a moment that comes before the rule of the antichrist (our translation). In 2024 the church's site wrote that the day of the rapture is not yet here, but that the scene for it "is already visible," that the signs in Revelation match recent events, and that "we do not have much time left" (our translation). It cited Matthew 24:33-35 and invited readers to a Sunday evening meeting on the subject. In 2018 the church's site promoted a Record TV serial, Apocalipse, as a dramatization of the rapture.

We believe in the resurrection of the just and the unjust, the eternal blessings of the redeemed, and the eternal banishment of those who have rejected salvation.

Não nos resta muito tempo. E a Bíblia nos indica que Deus já faz contagem regressiva para buscar os Seus.

do grande momento que antecede o domínio do anticristo

The Brazilian page ends with the promise to the one who overcomes, from Revelation 3:21, that he will sit with Christ on His throne (our translation). The pages read give no teaching on a thousand years, a tribulation of set length, or a date, and no one in them sets a date for the rapture.

The tithe and the offering

The tithe is sacred and was never repealed; faithfulness with it opens a life of abundance.

The Brazilian page says the Universal believes that tithes and offerings are as sacred as the Word of God. The tithe means faithfulness; the offering is the servant's love for his Lord. It goes on: "All who serve God have the right to an abundant life" (our translation), citing John 10:10. The church's Folha Universal explains that a tither is one who sets aside the first tenth of all he receives, and so shows God that he puts Him first. It quotes Bishop Macedo, who reads the forbidden tree in Eden as God's own tithe: "God never repealed the Law of tithes. It was instituted with the creation of man" (our translation). Members' testimonies on the site tell of lives that turned around after they began to tithe. One man said he had thought the tithe belonged to the Old Testament, and a businesswoman said she tithes not for the money but to put God first. The article itself says the tithe "has nothing to do with the amount" (our translation). A 2021 testimony page closes by asking whether the reader wants a prosperous and blessed life, and invites those who want a true covenant with God to take part in the June "Voto de Jacó em Betel" (Jacob's Vow at Bethel). The UK branch words giving more mildly: its donation page asks those who appreciate the charity's work for "a voluntary donation," and lists a First Fruits Offering among the causes.

A Universal também crê que os dízimos e as ofertas são tão sagrados quanto a Palavra de Deus. Os dízimos significam fidelidade, e as ofertas, o amor do servo para com o seu Senhor.

Deus nunca revogou a Lei dos dízimos. Ela foi instituída com a criação do homem.

Todos os que servem a Deus têm o direito a uma vida abundante.

Quer ter uma vida próspera e abençoada? No mês de junho, na Universal, todos aqueles que desejam ter uma aliança verdadeira com Deus poderão participar do Voto de Jacó em Betel.

For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law.

Let each man do according as he hath purposed in his heart: not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.

Now when Simon saw that through the laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy Spirit was given, he offered them money, saying, Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay my hands, he may receive the Holy Spirit. But Peter said unto him, Thy silver perish with thee, because thou hast thought to obtain the gift of God with money.

Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons: freely ye received, freely give.

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye tithe mint and anise and cummin, and have left undone the weightier matters of the law, justice, and mercy, and faith: but these ye ought to have done, and not to have left the other undone.

The tithe was commanded to Israel under the Law and paid to the Levites, and Hebrews says that "the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law" (Hebrews 7:12). The church's best text, Matthew 23:23, was spoken to scribes and Pharisees still under that Law, before the cross, and binds a Christian no more than the temple offerings beside it. The apostles gave the churches a different rule, "not grudgingly, or of necessity" (2 Corinthians 9:7), so a tenth taught as a law "never repealed" is giving of necessity, the very kind Paul set aside. And a page that sets the tithe straight beside a "right" to abundant life, on a site whose testimonies tell of fortunes turned after tithing, teaches members to look for God's gift in return for money, the error Peter rebuked in Simon, "because thou hast thought to obtain the gift of God with money" (Acts 8:20); what Christ gives is given freely (Matthew 10:8).

Credit. The church teaches its members to put God first, and the 2018 article says plainly that the tithe "has nothing to do with the amount" (our translation). Scripture does teach generous giving. What it does not teach is the tenth as a rule for Christians, or abundance as the right that follows it. The Eden reading is Macedo's, as the article quotes him; Genesis 2 names no tenth. Jacob's vow at Bethel (Genesis 28:20-22) was a man's own promise, made before the Law, of a tenth if God would bring him home in peace; it is not a pattern given to the church, and the page read does not say what the June vow asks. The UK branch's own wording, "a voluntary donation," is nearer 2 Corinthians 9:7 than the Brazilian page's.

Deliverance and healing by the laying on of hands

Weekly sessions for healing and for freedom from spiritual evils, on the promise of Mark 16:17-18.

The church holds a deliverance session every Friday. The Brazilian agenda says that on all Fridays the Universal holds the Sessão do Descarrego, devoted to those seeking healing and liberation from spiritual evils, because depression, anxiety and problems that seem incurable are of spiritual origin. On Tuesdays the Chain of the Seventy has the sick walk through a corridor of seventy servants who pray and lay hands on them. The church grounds the Tuesday meeting in Jesus choosing seventy men and giving them authority to heal every sickness and drive out evil spirits, and it cites Mark 16:18 as the promise (our translation).

Todas as sextas-feiras, a Universal realiza a Sessão do Descarrego, dedicada exclusivamente àqueles que buscam a cura e a libertação contra esses males espirituais.

Se você sofre com problemas de saúde, inclusive aqueles considerados incuráveis pela medicina, descubra a cura definitiva que somente o poder de Deus é capaz de dar.

And these signs shall accompany them that believe: in my name shall they cast out demons; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall in no wise hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.

how shall we escape, if we neglect so great a salvation? which having at the first been spoken through the Lord, was confirmed unto us by them that heard; God also bearing witness with them, both by signs and wonders, and by manifold powers, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to his own will.

These twelve Jesus sent forth, and charged them, saying, Go not into any way of the Gentiles, and enter not into any city of the Samaritans: but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons: freely ye received, freely give.

Erastus remained at Corinth: but Trophimus I left at Miletus sick.

For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

The church grounds its Tuesday meeting in the seventy whom Jesus sent with authority to heal. But that sending, like the sending of the twelve, was a commission given in person to named men for one mission, "Go not into any way of the Gentiles" (Matthew 10:5), and the same charge says "raise the dead, cleanse the lepers," which no one takes as a weekly program. Mark 16 does promise signs to "them that believe," but it says what they were for, "confirming the word by the signs that followed" (Mark 16:20), and Hebrews speaks of that confirming as finished, "was confirmed unto us by them that heard," and done "according to his own will" (Hebrews 2:3-4), not at a set hour; Paul himself "left at Miletus sick" his companion Trophimus (2 Timothy 4:20). To invite the sick, even those medicine calls incurable, to "discover the definitive cure" (our translation) at a weekly meeting is to offer on a schedule what God never put at any man's command, and to call depression a disorder "of spiritual origin" goes beyond anything Scripture says.

Their best text, read whole. Mark 16:17-18 also promises that believers "shall take up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall in no wise hurt them." A reading that makes verse 18's laying on of hands a standing weekly promise must say why the rest of the same sentence is not one, and the church's pages do not try. In the book of Acts, the gifts among ordinary believers came "through the laying on of the apostles’ hands" (Acts 8:18), which is why they did not outlast the apostles.

Credit. Prayer for the sick is commanded in James 5, and the church is right to pray for those who suffer and to say that the struggle is against spiritual powers (Ephesians 6:12). Prayer is not the same as a cure offered on a timetable. The pages read do not tie the Tuesday or Friday meetings to giving, and this chart does not say they do. They also do not describe what happens at the Friday session itself.

Meetings for every need

A different meeting each day, named for what the person wants: prosperity, health, family, love.

The week is built around needs. The Monday meeting, Prosperity with God, is a talk the church describes as for those who want a change in their working and financial life. Tuesday is for health, Thursday for marriage and family, and Friday for deliverance. The church urges a first-time visitor to take a Chain of Prayer: to choose the day that fits his main problem and attend it for five weeks, with the stickers spelling the name of Jesus at the end. The UK site says the five weeks help people "achieve a positive life transformation by using their faith."

A reunião da “Prosperidade com Deus” é a palestra da Universal voltada especialmente a quem busca mudança na vida profissional e, consequentemente, na vida financeira.

The purpose consists of people attending a prayer meeting for five uninterrupted weeks.

wranglings of men corrupted in mind and bereft of the truth, supposing that godliness is a way of gain. But godliness with contentment is great gain: for we brought nothing into the world, for neither can we carry anything out; but having food and covering we shall be therewith content. But they that are minded to be rich fall into a temptation and a snare and many foolish and hurtful lusts, such as drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil: which some reaching after have been led astray from the faith, and have pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon the earth, where moth and rust consume, and where thieves break through and steal: but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth consume, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: for where thy treasure is, there will thy heart be also.

And day by day, continuing stedfastly with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread at home, they took their food with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God, and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to them day by day those that were saved.

Beloved, I pray that in all things thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.

To meet daily, as the first Christians did, is good, and to meet around the real troubles of life is not wrong. But a weekly meeting called Prosperity with God, for those who want a change "in professional life and, consequently, in financial life" (our translation), presents godliness as a road to gain. That is the very teaching Paul answered, "supposing that godliness is a way of gain," and his answer was the reverse: "godliness with contentment is great gain," while "they that are minded to be rich fall into a temptation and a snare" (1 Timothy 6:5-9). John's wish for Gaius, "that in all things thou mayest prosper" (3 John 1:2), is one friend's prayer for another, not a promise to every believer, and the Lord told His disciples not to lay up treasure on earth. The verdict is on the teaching, not on anyone's motives: a meeting that holds out earthly gain as the fruit of faith stands against all this.

Credit. The doors are open every day, and the church offers counsel without charge, according to its UK site. A church that meets with people in their trouble stands nearer the New Testament than one that opens once a week and says little about what the week holds.

The Temple of Solomon

A replica of Solomon's temple in São Paulo is the church's world headquarters.

The church built a replica of the temple of Solomon in the Brás district of São Paulo and opened it on 31 July 2014. It says the work took four years and that more than 27 million people have visited since. It says the purpose is to promote fear and reverence toward God and to be a house of prayer for all peoples (our translation). The Correio Braziliense, reporting its opening, called it "faraônico" and said it became the church's world seat. The church's Sunday and weekday meetings in São Paulo are held there.

O intuito da construção é promover o temor e a reverência a Deus e ser um lugar de oração para todos os povos.

é uma réplica do templo construído em Israel durante o reinado de Salomão, filho do rei Davi

Howbeit the Most High dwelleth not in houses made with hands; as saith the prophet,

The God that made the world and all things therein, he, being Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands;

Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when neither in this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, shall ye worship the Father.

Know ye not that ye are a temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?

Solomon's temple was built by command of God for the worship of Israel under the Law, and it was a shadow of what was to come. Stephen said that "the Most High dwelleth not in houses made with hands" (Acts 7:48), and Paul told the Athenians that God does not dwell in temples made with hands. Jesus told the woman at the well that worship would be neither on that mountain nor in Jerusalem. The church of the New Testament is itself the temple, God's building, made of believers. A church that builds a copy of the old temple, at the cost reported, and makes it the center of its life takes a step back toward the old covenant, and spends on stone what Scripture says the Lord builds in people.

The Correio reported the cost as about R$685 million. That figure is the newspaper's, and the church's pages read do not give a cost.

Fasting

A collective fast on Saturdays and a Daniel Fast at set times of the year.

The UK site lists a Collective Fast on Saturday mornings. The Brazilian site gives a Daniel Fast of twenty-one days, inviting members to "a great period of reflection and of seeking the presence of God" (our translation), with advice on how to keep it while working and studying.

Participe deste grande período de reflexão e busca pela presença de Deus

Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may be seen of men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have received their reward. But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thy head, and wash thy face; that thou be not seen of men to fast, but of thy Father who is in secret: and thy Father, who seeth in secret, shall recompense thee.

And as they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. Then, when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.

And Jesus said unto them, Can the sons of the bridechamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? but the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then will they fast.

Fasting is in Scripture, and the church at Antioch fasted together when it sent out Barnabas and Saul, so a shared fast is not wrong. The Lord's own instruction in the Sermon on the Mount is that a fast be private and kept from the eyes of men, and no set day or season is bound on Christians. A standing fast on a day the church chooses is therefore a lesser departure than the others here, and the church deserves credit for treating prayer and fasting as serious.

The Brazilian site's pages on the Daniel Fast give advice for the twenty-one days. They were read only in part, and what the fast is meant to obtain was not found stated.

The plumb line is the New Testament: what the apostles commanded, and what the churches practiced with their approval. Each position above is set against it, and the wall below shows how far each one stands from it. Choose a course to read the Scripture and the reason. The Universal Church has no single confession, so each verdict names the page it rests on. Where the UK statement and the Brazilian page differ, the verdict says so. Where the sources read are silent, the verdict says that too and judges only what is documented.

Every scripture inspired of God is also profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction which is in righteousness: that the man of God may be complete, furnished completely unto every good work.

Now these were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of the mind, examining the Scriptures daily, whether these things were so.

Now these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and Apollos for your sakes; that in us ye might learn not to go beyond the things which are written; that no one of you be puffed up for the one against the other.

The church's statements say the right thing: the Scriptures are "the Supreme and Final Authority for faith and life." The church holds to that as a written statement. But the pages show the teaching in practice resting on a bishop. A member reads the founder's message of the day and the teaching of his bishops, and an Eden reading of the tithe, which Genesis 2 does not contain, is given as the Bible's word. The Bereans were "examining the Scriptures daily, whether these things were so" (Acts 17:11), and Paul taught the Corinthians "not to go beyond the things which are written" (1 Corinthians 4:6). No page read sets out any means for a member to test a bishop's teaching against the text.

Credit. The Universal Church is far nearer the line than churches that set tradition or a creed beside the Bible. It says plainly that the Bible is final, and its leaders warn their own members against using Scripture to justify what they already do. That is the right instinct and the right standard. The failing is in practice: the standard is stated, but a bishop's teaching is not held to it.

And Peter said unto them, Repent ye, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ unto the remission of your sins; and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on his name.

Or are ye ignorant that all we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him through baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life.

for by grace have ye been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not of works, that no man should glory.

The church stands close to the line here. It teaches that Christ died as a substitute, that a person must repent and believe, and that baptism is the immersion of a believer, a burial with Christ. That is the form the New Testament gives and the people it gives it to. Where it falls short is the purpose of baptism. The UK statement places the new birth with repentance and faith, and calls baptism a "confession." The apostles said "unto the remission of your sins" (Acts 2:38) and "wash away thy sins" (Acts 22:16). The Brazilian page comes nearer, joining repentance to immersion and saying sin is buried there, but it does not say the forgiveness is given in the water. A person taught to find the new birth before the water is taught to look past the place where the apostles point.

The church also teaches that the saved must hold fast to the end, which matches the New Testament's warnings, and this chart does not count it against them. Nothing in the pages read makes the tithe or an offering a condition of salvation, and this chart does not say so.

And upon the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul discoursed with them, intending to depart on the morrow; and prolonged his speech until midnight.

and when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, This is my body, which is for you: this do in remembrance of me. In like manner also the cup, after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood: this do, as often as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink the cup, ye proclaim the Lord’s death till he come.

The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not a communion of the body of Christ? seeing that we, who are many, are one bread, one body: for we all partake of the one bread.

The church misses the line here in two ways. The disciples at Troas met "upon the first day of the week… to break bread" (Acts 20:7), but the schedules read show no Supper at the Sunday meeting: it is announced for a given Sunday, with the bishop asking how long it has been since the hearer last took it. And the Brazilian page gives it a meaning the Lord did not give. For Paul it is done "in remembrance of me" (1 Corinthians 11:24) and it proclaims "the Lord’s death till he come" (1 Corinthians 11:26). The Brazilian page says it is "not only a symbol" but a strengthening of the church and a renewal of the vows of covenant with God (our translation); the new covenant is in His blood, and His people remember it at the table, they do not renew it by eating. The UK statement, which keeps to remembrance, is nearer the text.

Credit. The church calls the Supper its most important ceremony, and it rightly teaches that it is a time for self-examination (1 Corinthians 11:28). Its bishops teach members to come in earnest and not lightly. That is right. The remedy for the rest is the Lord's own instruction: every first day of the week, in remembrance of Him.

And when they had appointed for them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they had believed.

For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that were wanting, and appoint elders in every city, as I gave thee charge; if any man is blameless, the husband of one wife, having children that believe, who are not accused of riot or unruly. For the bishop must be blameless, as God’s steward; not self-willed, not soon angry, no brawler, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre;

The elders therefore among you I exhort, who am a fellow-elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, who am also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed: Tend the flock of God which is among you, exercising the oversight, not of constraint, but willingly, according to the will of God; nor yet for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; neither as lording it over the charge allotted to you, but making yourselves ensamples to the flock.

But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your teacher, and all ye are brethren. And call no man your father on the earth: for one is your Father, even he who is in heaven. Neither be ye called masters: for one is your master, even the Christ.

The New Testament appointed elders in every church, a plurality over one congregation, who were to tend the flock "neither as lording it over the charge allotted to you" (1 Peter 5:3), and no one in the Church was to be called master or father. The Universal Church sets a ranked order over the congregation: assistants, assistant pastors, pastors and bishops, with a pastor chosen to become a bishop. It takes the bishop's title from the New Testament and makes it a rank above the pastor, which the New Testament does not do, since the bishop and the elder of a church are the same man (Titus 1:5-7). Above the ranks, the founder's teaching is carried in the church's daily message, and no page read shows any body above or beside him. No local eldership appears in them.

Credit. The UK statement is right that new birth and a personal confession are essential for membership, which rules out the membership of infants. Its page is plain that a pastor serves full time and holds no other employment, and it says the assistants are volunteers chosen from the congregation. The church's own teaching separates the institution from the true Church of those born of God. These are sound distinctions. The structure over them is not in the New Testament. Pages describing who appoints bishops and who owns the temples were not found.

But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth: for such doth the Father seek to be his worshippers. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship in spirit and truth.

speaking one to another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord;

The placement follows the lineage rubric. What can be judged from the pages is the shape of the meeting. The church meets daily, reads the Bible and prays, and invites all who come, which fits the Lord's call for worship "in spirit and truth" (John 4:24). But the meetings are named and built around results, such as prosperity, health, love and a card of stickers that ends in the name of Jesus, and the weekday meeting around a line of servants laying on hands is not found in the apostles' churches. Nothing in the pages read says whether the church sings or what instruments it uses, so no verdict is given on that. On the question of instruments in song, the pages are silent, and this chart leaves it unjudged.

The apostle's picture of the assembly's song is in Ephesians 5:19: psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, sung and made melody with the heart to the Lord. The church's menu lists a hymnal, but the book was not read, so nothing is said of what is sung or how.

Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. Now when Simon saw that through the laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy Spirit was given, he offered them money,

Love never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall be done away; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall be done away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part; but when that which is perfect is come, that which is in part shall be done away.

Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience, by signs and wonders and mighty works.

The church teaches that the baptism of the Holy Spirit and supernatural gifts are for today, that healing is part of the gospel, and that a weekly session casts out spiritual evils, with a line of laying on of hands for the incurably sick. The gifts of the Spirit in the New Testament came through the apostles' hands, as Simon saw when he offered money for the power (Acts 8:17-18), and they served to confirm the word, "God also bearing witness with them" (Hebrews 2:3-4). With the word confirmed, they were to cease: "whether there be tongues, they shall cease" (1 Corinthians 13:8). On this the church stands far from the line and carries its whole weekly program on the opposite claim. It also tells the depressed and the sick that their trouble is of spiritual origin and that a definite cure waits for them.

Credit. The church is right that the fruit of the Spirit, not the gifts, is the sign. Macedo's teaching that character, not tongues, is the mark of the Spirit is the New Testament's own (Galatians 5:22-23, 1 Corinthians 13). And its warning against the display of tongues is a good one. It is the premise, that the gifts continue, that fails.

Prosperity is not on Paul's list. The church's Folha Universal counts prosperity and the rebuilding of the home among the gifts. Paul's list in 1 Corinthians 12:8-10 runs from wisdom and knowledge to tongues and their interpretation, and names no wealth; the Spirit divides His gifts "even as he will" (1 Corinthians 12:11), not as a reward of faith.

For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven, with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we that are alive, that are left, shall together with them be caught up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

Marvel not at this: for the hour cometh, in which all that are in the tombs shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of judgment.

But of that day and hour knoweth no one, not even the angels of heaven, neither the Son, but the Father only.

Now we beseech you, brethren, touching the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our gathering together unto him; to the end that ye be not quickly shaken from your mind, nor yet be troubled, either by spirit, or by word, or by epistle as from us, as that the day of the Lord is just at hand; let no man beguile you in any wise: for it will not be, except the falling away come first, and the man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition,

The UK statement holds what Scripture holds: Christ's personal return in glory, the resurrection of the just and the unjust, and everlasting blessing and banishment, as John 5:28-29 says. The church's news pages also teach that the Church is taken before the antichrist rules. That is held there, not bound in the statement, and holding an order of events is not the fault. The fault is that the same pages match the signs to the headlines of the day and say "we do not have much time left" (our translation). The Lord said of that day and hour that "knoweth no one, not even the angels of heaven, neither the Son, but the Father only" (Matthew 24:36), and Paul told the Thessalonians not to be shaken by the claim that the day of the Lord is just at hand. To say that little time is left, and to promote a television serial as a picture of the day, goes past both. The church sets no date, which is to its credit.

The 2024 article quotes Matthew 24:33-35 to say that the signs match the present. Whatever "this generation" means, the same chapter says no one knows the day, and a reading that places the end in our own time must set that verse aside.

The Universal Church holds much that Scripture also teaches, and it should be said plainly. It confesses one God in three persons, Christ truly God and truly man, born of a virgin, who died for sinners, rose and will come again. It calls the Bible the supreme and final authority. It requires repentance and faith, baptizes only believers, and baptizes them by immersion as a burial with Christ. It holds that a person is born again and that membership in the church belongs to those who have been. It teaches the resurrection of the just and the unjust. It meets every day, opens its doors to anyone, and gives counsel to people in trouble. It teaches that the fruit of the Spirit matters more than the gifts, warns against show in tongues, and treats fasting and prayer as serious.

Measured by the New Testament alone, the Universal Church stands near the line in what it confesses about Christ, the new birth and baptism by immersion, and far from it in who rules the church, in what it asks of its members' money, and in what it promises the sick. The Supper is held on set days instead of every first day and is given a meaning the text does not give. In practice, a bishop's teaching carries the weight that belongs to Scripture. The leadership is a ranked clergy over the congregation, where the New Testament has elders in each church. The gifts that confirmed the word through the apostles are claimed as a weekly program. The tithe is taught as a rule for Christians that no apostle gave, with a promise of abundance that no apostle made.

The church's weekly program, built on health, money and deliverance, offers troubled people the hope they come looking for. The hope that holds is the one the apostles preached: repent, be baptized into Christ for the remission of sins, and be added to the Lord's church, which meets on the first day of every week to break bread, is taught by its elders, and gives freely and cheerfully. What this chart could not document it did not judge: the church's constitution, what happens at the Friday sessions, its music, and what its vow campaigns ask of members.

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