Evangelical, Pro-Israel, Brazilian Drug Lord

[uair01]

I've read a lot of weirdness but this one was surprising:

There is more at the link and some comments are also interesting:

Since Peixão – whose nickname comes from the ichthys “Jesus” fish – took power in 2016 of five favelas that have become known as the Complexo de Israel, an allusion to the evangelical belief that the return of Jews to the Holy Land is a step towards the second coming of Christ and Armageddon.

A neon Star of David has been erected at the top of the complex and at night can be seen for miles around – an unmissable symbol of Peixão’s force and his faith. The roofs of the favelas’ redbrick houses are dotted with blue and white Israel flags demarcating the territory the gangster controls [emphasis added]. When police raided one of his hideouts in 2021 they found a swimming pool framed by a mural of the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem and the words: “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.”

https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2024/07/narco-pentcostalism-in-brazil.html

On July 6th, two Catholic parishes near the Complexo do Israel suspended both masses and church meetings “until further notice.” Parishioners immediately blamed Peixão, but the social media posts from the churches were deleted.

https://catholicvote.org/brazilian-evangelical-drug-lord-accused-closing-catholic-churches/

Original Guardian:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/a...l-gang-boss-drug-trafficking-closing-churches

 

[ramonmercado]

More on these Gangsters for Jesus.

When police in Rio de Janeiro seize blocks of cocaine and bundles of marijuana they may well find them branded with a religious symbol – the Star of David. This is not a reference to the Jewish faith, but to the belief of some Pentecostal Christians that the return of Jews to Israel will lead to the Second Coming of Christ.

The gang selling these branded drugs is the Pure Third Command, one of Rio's most powerful criminal groups, with a reputation both for making its opponents disappear, and for fanatical evangelical Christianity.

They took control of a group of five favelas in the north of the city – now known as the Israel Complex – after one of their leaders had what he believed was a revelation from God, says theologian Vivian Costa, author of the book, Evangelical Drug Dealers. She says the gangsters see themselves as "soldiers of crime", with Jesus as "the owner" of the territory they dominate. Controversially, some have dubbed them "Narco-Pentecostals".


One man who has experience of crime and religion – though in his case, not at the same time – is Pastor Diego Nascimento, who became a Christian after hearing the gospel from a gangster holding a gun.

Looking at him, it's hard to believe that this boyish looking 42-year-old Wesleyan Methodist minister with a ready smile and dimples, was once a member of Rio's notorious Red Command crime gang and managed its activities in the city's Vila Kennedy favela. Four years in prison for drug dealing weren't enough to make him give up crime. But when he became addicted to crack cocaine his standing in the gang plummeted.

"I lost my family. I practically lived on the street for almost a year. I went so far as to sell things from my house to buy crack," he says.
It was at that point, when he was at rock bottom, that a well-known drug dealer in the favela summoned him. "He started preaching to me, saying there was a way out, that there was a solution for me, which was to accept Jesus," he recalls.

The young addict took this advice and began his journey to the pulpit. Pastor Nascimento still spends time with criminals, but now it is through his work in prisons, where he helps people turn their lives around, as he did himself. Despite having been converted by a gangster, he regards the idea of religious criminals as a contradiction in terms.

"I don't see them as evangelical believers," he says. "I see them as people who are going down the wrong path and have a fear of God because they know that God is the one who guards their lives. There is no such thing as combining the two, being an evangelical and a thug. If a person accepts Jesus and follows the Biblical commandments, that person cannot be a drug dealer."

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c86w44x083zo

 

[uair01]

More on these Gangsters for Jesus.

When police in Rio de Janeiro seize blocks of cocaine and bundles of marijuana they may well find them branded with a religious symbol – the Star of David. This is not a reference to the Jewish faith, but to the belief of some Pentecostal Christians that the return of Jews to Israel will lead to the Second Coming of Christ.

The gang selling these branded drugs is the Pure Third Command, one of Rio's most powerful criminal groups, with a reputation both for making its opponents disappear, and for fanatical evangelical Christianity.

They took control of a group of five favelas in the north of the city – now known as the Israel Complex – after one of their leaders had what he believed was a revelation from God, says theologian Vivian Costa, author of the book, Evangelical Drug Dealers. She says the gangsters see themselves as "soldiers of crime", with Jesus as "the owner" of the territory they dominate. Controversially, some have dubbed them "Narco-Pentecostals".


One man who has experience of crime and religion – though in his case, not at the same time – is Pastor Diego Nascimento, who became a Christian after hearing the gospel from a gangster holding a gun.

Looking at him, it's hard to believe that this boyish looking 42-year-old Wesleyan Methodist minister with a ready smile and dimples, was once a member of Rio's notorious Red Command crime gang and managed its activities in the city's Vila Kennedy favela. Four years in prison for drug dealing weren't enough to make him give up crime. But when he became addicted to crack cocaine his standing in the gang plummeted.

"I lost my family. I practically lived on the street for almost a year. I went so far as to sell things from my house to buy crack," he says.
It was at that point, when he was at rock bottom, that a well-known drug dealer in the favela summoned him. "He started preaching to me, saying there was a way out, that there was a solution for me, which was to accept Jesus," he recalls.

The young addict took this advice and began his journey to the pulpit. Pastor Nascimento still spends time with criminals, but now it is through his work in prisons, where he helps people turn their lives around, as he did himself. Despite having been converted by a gangster, he regards the idea of religious criminals as a contradiction in terms.

"I don't see them as evangelical believers," he says. "I see them as people who are going down the wrong path and have a fear of God because they know that God is the one who guards their lives. There is no such thing as combining the two, being an evangelical and a thug. If a person accepts Jesus and follows the Biblical commandments, that person cannot be a drug dealer."

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c86w44x083zo

I would love that book. Unfortunately only in Portugese:
https://www.amazon.de/Traficantes-e...-Viviane-Costa-ebook/dp/B0C31VHD3G/ref=sr_1_1