Once, I got a call from someone I love very much. This person was telling me about his life and how “God” was guiding it.
He told me that “God was speaking” with him every day, and that “God had said” that “God is the only person he should care about” and that having a good relationship with friends and family was completely unnecessary. I heard things like, “My mom is just an idiot sinner anyway, and I can’t get any closer to her. I hope she reaps everything she’s planted.” Or, “How can a liar be accepted and loved inside the church? He has to be expelled.” For a good while I listened as his reclusive life was bringing him closer to God and how it had become easier to hear God’s voice by stepping away from other “sinners.”
After about 30 minutes I got curious, and asked how much that person was reading the Bible. I asked: When was the last time you read the gospels or the letters of the apostle John? That’s when he told me God spoke to him in his “thoughts.” A “really crazy” relationship, very close, like “a voice in my head.”
I decided to ask if he didn’t find it strange that this “voice” was saying things contrary to what Jesus said, and he told me he was sure of what that voice was saying, and that I was the one getting everything wrong. I had to answer: “What God had to say, the way God has to reveal Himself, has already been revealed. They are the scriptures. As Paul wrote to the Galatians:
I can’t believe what I’m hearing! How can you be so fickle? How can you settle for embracing another message? You are betraying the one who called you to the grace of Christ. And you know this isn’t about irrelevant details: it’s another message! Completely different! It’s a brazen lie about God. Those responsible for this agitation are turning the Message of Christ upside down. Let me make this clear: if any of us — even an angel from heaven — preaches a different message than the true and original one, let him be accursed. I’ll repeat: if anyone — no matter their reputation or credentials — preaches a different message from the one you received in the beginning, let him be accursed! — Galatians 1:6-9
And to wrap up my speech with a “golden flourish,” I added. If you hear voices in your head, that’s not God, that’s schizophrenia, and you need help.
Of course this initially created tension in our relationship and the conversation ended badly. Even so, I couldn’t stay silent while watching a person I love lying to himself just to find a way to justify attitudes that don’t line up with the gospel.
All of this leads me to wonder: Could it be that Malafaia has NO FRIENDS at all?! Nobody to come up and say: Dear pastor, you’re living like the church of Laodicea, to whom Jesus sent a letter saying:
“I know you inside and out and I see little that pleases me. You are not cold and you are not hot — better that you were cold or hot. You are spoiled, rotten, and make me want to vomit. You boast: ‘I am rich, I make things happen, and I don’t need anything or anyone,’ but you are despicable, a blind beggar, in rags and homeless.
Know what I want you to do: buy gold from me, gold refined by fire. Then you’ll be rich. Buy clothes from me, clothes designed in heaven. You’ve walked around half-naked for too long. And buy from me medicine for the eyes, so you can really see.
I tend to call to account those whom I love — to encourage, correct and guide, so that they live in the best way. Get up then! Turn around! Seek God!
Look at me. I’m knocking at the door. If you hear my call and open the door, I’ll come in and have dinner with you” — Revelation 3:15-20
It’s sad to see how many pastors share the stage with Malafaia, share Malafaia’s dinners and money, but no one has the courage to tell him the truth. He, Malafaia, doesn’t just say that nonsense… it’s worse than that… he BELIEVES in it, and no one, NO ONE, stands up to say ENOUGH!
All the famous pastors in the country share the table and the pulpit with Malafaia. If you know one of these pastors, ask him to LOVE Malafaia and tell him the truth! Not to pat him on the head and come up with a thousand stories about how “Malafaia” protects the church in the Senate. No, my friend, Jesus’ church doesn’t need to be protected — here’s what Jesus himself said about His church:
[…] I will build my church, a church so exuberant and full of energy that not even the gates of hell will be able to obstruct its advance. — Matthew 16:18
You don’t need Malafaia screaming on TV every day that homosexuality is sin; it’s Malafaia who needs you, who needs a real friend.
Pastors who share the stage with Malafaia, hear the absurdities he says, and say nothing remind me of John Calvin, who said:
“A dog barks when his master is attacked. I would be a coward if I saw divine truth being attacked and remained silent, saying nothing.”