Last prayers for Bolsonaro's victory: "Oh Lord, stop the avalanche of evil"

An evangelical meeting, in Rio de Janeiro.André Coelho (EFE)

God will have his eyes fixed on Brazil next Sunday, October 2, the day of the presidential elections.

In the Temple of Solomon, one of the largest evangelical churches in São Paulo, Bishop Renato Cardoso is already giving battle from the altar.

“They have to go vote.

If there is no resistance from believers, evil will continue to advance!” he exclaims.

The last Sunday mass before the elections welcomes hundreds of faithful who have come to hear the word of the Lord.

The message is clear.

There is no mention of candidates, but it is understood that evil has a name: Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and the left.

Located in the middle of a popular neighborhood in the Brazilian city, the Temple of Solomon is a replica of the legendary building from the Old Testament.

The whitish stones with which it was built come from a quarry in Hebron.

In the garden, there are 12 stubby olive trees that are 300 years old and a well with holy water that they say works miracles.

"Works.

It cured my grandfather's pancreatic cancer”, assures Carlos Wendel, 25 years old.

Dressed in a suit and tie, the young man works the weekend as a "worker", the name given to the church volunteers, and this Sunday he is in charge of giving directions to the novices.

First, you have to leave cell phones, weapons and chewing gum at the reception so as not to interrupt the worship.

Released from those bonds, one can now cross the great golden gate.

Solomon's Temple, with its 100,000 square meters, is the great symbol of the Universal Church.

Its founder, Bishop Edir Macedo, came up with the idea of ​​raising it during a trip to Israel.

“Why not bring a little piece of the Holy Land to Brazil?” he asked himself, and got down to business.

The inauguration in 2014 brought together the entire Brazilian political elite, including President Dilma Rousseff, Lula's successor.

With 65 million evangelicals in the country, a third of the population, the vote had to be cultivated.

A lot has changed since then.

Now there is no longer a place for the Workers' Party in Solomon's Temple.

Macedo, the bishop who welcomed Rousseff eight years ago, made it clear last week that he would vote for incumbent President Jair Bolsonaro, a far-right ally of evangelical leaders.

This Sunday's mass starts full of hope.

“

”, some volunteers dressed in white tunics trimmed in gold greet you at the entrance.

Inside, giant screens on each side of the room indicate the lyrics of the song on duty: "God cares about you, it only depends on you...".

Suddenly, they lower the intensity of the light until they are in semi-darkness.

A family rises to take the microphone and explain how the Gospel made the father stop drinking and beating his wife: "The Church saved us."

Next, white-robed attendants stand by the pews with credit card terminals ready to receive donations.

The example of the father who put an end to his demons serves Cardoso to connect with the fight between David and Goliath.

The bishop, always didactic, is interested in a particular passage.

After the giant is stunned by the stone, the hero goes and finishes him off.

First book of Samuel 17:51: "David ran and stood against the Philistine, and taking his sword, drawing it from his sheath, killed him, and cut off his head with it."

“Attention, everyone!” says the bishop.

“David didn't want to just solve the problem temporarily, he wanted to eliminate it forever.

If not Goliath, he would have come back.

Let's see, do you want or do not want victory?

Because for victory they have to fight, put all their blood into battle ”he continues.

"Those who do, raise your hand."

“Me!” answer many raised arms.

The earthly battle has a date: October 2.

Evangelicals face "the normalization of the abnormal," in Cardoso's words.

Despite having Bolsonaro in power, the leftist threat is everywhere in Congress.

The bishop proceeds to project on the giant screens a series of bills: teaching of "gender ideology" in schools, permission for children to decide on a sex change without parental consent, "prohibitions" on proselytizing religious in the streets, legalization of marijuana…

"Is that what you want?" asks the audience an angry Cardoso.

"Nope!"

they respond.

"Are we going to cut off Goliath's head?", "Yes!".

"Crack," he says, and twists his neck.

“Then next Sunday come to church with your voter registration card and then go vote for good people.

You already know who they are, right?

Next, the bishop kneels with other pastors, the parishioners raise their arms to the sky, and say a prayer for Brazil: “Oh Lord, do not allow people who normalize the abnormal to come to power, help us stop the avalanche of wrong…".

In one of the exits, Jéssica Cándida, 30, distributes propaganda for the candidate for state deputy Edna Macedo, sister of the founder of the Edir Macedo temple.

The brochure denounces efforts to "transsexualize babies."

With Lula far ahead in the polls, the Presidency is almost lost and the objective is different.

“We are very focused on the legislature.

All those bills would pass if it weren't for the evangelical deputies,” she notes.

A few steps away, Sandra Barbosa, a 66-year-old nursing assistant, continues to think over Bishop Cardoso's powerful words.

Her speech has seemed "exceptional", although, in any case, she has already had the vote decided for a long time.

“Who will I vote for?

For the only possible option: Bolsonaro.

He's a little hot-blooded, but he's a good man,” she says.

"Lula hates the Gospel."

Facade of the Temple of Solomon, in São Paulo. Victor Moriyama (Getty Images)

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