BIBLE BABIESInside the Weird World of Brazil’s Child PreachersINTERVIEWS BY MARTINA KIX, TRANSLATED BY FILIPE PIRL 
| Ana Carolina Lucena Dias, Photos by Ezequiel Dias |
Managed by their parents, on tour 365 days a year, and charging $900 for a two-hour sermon, child preachers are big business in Brazil. Each event is a finely tuned marketing maneuver promoted with posters, magazine coverage, and radio ads. If you want one of these kid wonders to visit your parish, you’ll also have to fork over a down payment on a minimum of 150 DVDs (around $750).
Considering that there are approximately 17,000 evangelical parishes with over 24 million members across a country renowned for its drugs, violence, and general depravity, Brazil is a huge market for potential “salvation.” We met up with three of the country’s most popular pint-size proselytizers to see what happens when people stop being polite and start being Brazilian child preachers.
Ana Carolina Lucena Dias, 14 years old Vice: What was the first sign that maybe you had a special thing happening with God?
Ana: When I was three years old, I got pretty sick. I can’t really remember what happened, but my mom told me that I stopped breathing and my heart stopped beating for a couple of minutes. Then God sent an angel down to earth who rescued me. So I was reborn and started a new life. A few weeks after that I did my first sermon to share this miracle with other people because I wanted to help them find God too. Do you think your relationship with God is different from that of other Catholics?
It’s a little bit complicated. In the Bible you find people who are called the “chosen ones.” For example, Sansão [Sampson—of Delilah fame] was “chosen” by a prophet to be the voice of God on earth. I’m pretty confident about being one of those “chosen people,” too. Everybody recognizes the Holy Spirit right away and sees that I’m different from other kids because I’m a medium and God speaks through me. So in some ways I’m speaking to God right now?
No. Only when I preach can you hear the true voice of God. Do you have any religious training?
My parents couldn’t afford to send me to school. I grew up in the pretty poor favelas. I studied the Bible because it is the strongest book in the world and you can find the answers to everything in God’s words. In addition to that, my parents taught me how to be good. What role do your parents play in your life?
They are more than a mother and father to me: They are friends, pastors, and disciples. I would say they fill all the gaps in life on earth because they are always there. I am sure God sent them to help me. What do you do when you’re not spreading the Gospel? Do you enjoy things other children your age enjoy?
The Bible says that I don’t need to take time off because I’m God’s servant all the time and that is a blessing. You can rest when you are blessed, and you are blessed when you are dead. So I will continue to serve God as long as I live on earth. But don’t you ever miss your friends?
I hang out with kids my age in school, but as long as I have my parents and God, I don’t need more in life. No boyfriend then, I take it.
No. I belong to God. What kind of job would you like to do when you grow up?
I want to become a federal judge and hope I still have enough free time to go out on the streets and into the favelas to tell the people the word of God. I hope God will be in my life all the time. And as intense as he is right now.
See all articles by this contributor Anonymous, on May 15, 2009 wrote:
Alot of you people think that these kids are being brainwashed and what not for the money, but once you give your life to Christ the material things of this world lose their luster. How do you know that the parents are not protecting their childrens money for them? Or are you jumping to conclusions and assuming that everyone in this fallen world is evil? | | Anonymous, on May 15, 2009 wrote:
Matheus Moraes said he first started preaching in 2003... that ridiculous. he was five years old in 2003. five year olds cant even wipe their own ass, let alone preach the "word of god" | | Anonymous, on May 15, 2009 wrote:
the sad part is the kids never see a dime of that money. their parents take it all and then keep brainwashing them to their religions | | Anonymous, on May 15, 2009 wrote:
$900 for a two-hour sermon??!! how is that even possible. I mean look at how many people that get coming to see them too. they must make be crazy rish | | Anonymous, on May 15, 2009 wrote:
That would be an amazing photograph if it wasn’t for the religious fanatics in the way ruining it. | |
| tinkerer, on May 15, 2009 wrote:
it sounds to me like the people are more into the children themselves than god. who makes signs praising a kid? that is messed up. | | Anonymous, on May 15, 2009 wrote:
If he’s buying a new suit for every public sermon, why the fuck is he choosing suits that he wont grow into till he is 26? | | Anonymous, on May 15, 2009 wrote:
Pirates are taking money from God!!! | | Anonymous, on May 15, 2009 wrote:
weak, those questions were so watered down.. there should of been hard hitting questions | | Anonymous, on May 15, 2009 wrote:
It’s so foreign seeing adults follow children. When I was a kid in church the adults only tried to keep us quiet and if we misbehaved we got swatted on the back of the hand with a wooden spoon. That shit hurts! | |
| donaghy, on May 15, 2009 wrote:
it never fails to gross me out when girls say they belong to god in a way like their husband. makes me think of them getting it on and lightning bolts blasting through her veege. | |
| Shelby, on May 15, 2009 wrote:
The first picture reminds me of the church scene in the Blues Brothers. Who knows? Maybe this girl really is blessed.
Yeah, right. But the parents did pick a perfect time of day for the dramatic lighting. | | Anonymous, on May 15, 2009 wrote:
Church is the best business in Brazil | | Anonymous, on May 15, 2009 wrote:
I must say, that is one fucking epic photo up there. props to the photographer. | | Anonymous, on May 15, 2009 wrote:
"Anonymous, on May 15, 2009 wrote:
i was really into this site till you guys starting the anti-religion angle, and how to get get high on household items. just trash. i’ve got better things to read. bye."
OH NO NOT THAT NO MORE TAKING FREE FUCKING CONTENT FROM THIS MAGAZINE HOW WILL THEY SURVIVE WITHOUT YOU BUT FOR THE GRACE OF GOD | | Anonymous, on May 15, 2009 wrote:
i was really into this site till you guys starting the anti-religion angle, and how to get get high on household items. just trash. i’ve got better things to read. bye. | | Anonymous, on May 14, 2009 wrote:
this has scam written all over it, scam those poor ignorant hyper religious fucks out of what little they have. | |
| Dilettante, on May 14, 2009 wrote:
"I want to become a federal judge" well as a evangelical preacher she’s already got alot of experience judging others and condeming them to eternal damnation not a far stretch from the Brazilian penal system Im sure | | Anonymous, on May 13, 2009 wrote:
"When I don’t pray to God I watch TV". Nice. thats what I do to, minus the praying the part. so yeah, just TV
| | Anonymous, on May 13, 2009 wrote:
The little 11 year old boy says he gives the money that he makes to his parents. that is so fucked up. basically these children are being manipulated by the parents, not for "god" but for money. its disgusting. | |
| aahhhhb, on May 13, 2009 wrote:
"as long as I have my parents and God, I don’t need more in life"
thats actually kind of sad. I feel bad. the girl is so brainwashed | | Anonymous, on May 13, 2009 wrote:
I love that most of the people gathered around little Ana Carolina Lucena are older men... creepos. | | Anonymous, on May 13, 2009 wrote:
If my child mumbled Bible phrases as a baby I would be seriously freaked out. | | Anonymous, on May 13, 2009 wrote:
This is such bullshit it’s laughable. Mumbling bible verses from the crib? Yeah right. Dude, you have been played. By your own parents. | | Anonymous, on May 13, 2009 wrote:
"What kind of job would you like to do when you grow up?
I want to become a federal judge."
oh god... | | Anonymous, on May 13, 2009 wrote:
i’ve done some stupid things in my life but i have never listened to a three-year-old preach. me - 1, brazilian religious nuts - 0. | | Anonymous, on May 13, 2009 wrote:
I guess ’Jesus Camp’ doesn’t have Portuguese subtitles yet. | |
| A Taipan, on May 13, 2009 wrote:
Yeah these little buggers are facked. | | Anonymous, on May 13, 2009 wrote:
"Every preacher has his own ritual. The first thing is that I don’t do anything that stresses me."
I didn’t know that being a lazy fuck was a virtue. | | | < Previous 30 comments | |
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