Jesu, Cristo, Isus, JESUS: The Same Name Above all Names
Language is a part of who God created us to be as humans. Jesus Himself is called “the Word”—the incarnate and ever-living perfect Word of God.
Language is also inextricably intertwined with the character of every culture in every geographic region. And to penetrate a culture with the Gospel, bringing the light of spiritual understanding, correct use of language is vitally important.
That’s why when Love Worth Finding made the decision to go all in with digital broadcasting—providing the profound truth of the Gospel through the simply-stated teaching of Pastor Adrian Rogers worldwide—we simultaneously and strategically translated Pastor Rogers’ core teaching into some of the world’s most-spoken languages.
Our goal is to wrap biblical teaching around the globe to illuminate the darkness among people who have yet to hear of God’s love and to amplify the light for Christians who need sound teaching to grow in their faith.
Let’s Look at Just One Language, Brazilian Portuguese
About 95 percent of Brazil’s more than 216 million people speak Brazilian Portuguese, a derivative of a language that originated more than two millennia ago when Roman soldiers first arrived on the Iberian Peninsula. Those soldiers brought with them the Latin alphabet. The native people of Portugal used that alphabet to communicate in a tongue—Portuguese—unique to their culture. In turn, when Europeans brought the Portuguese language to Brazil as they colonized the country in the 16th century, Portuguese was influenced by a diversity of people groups coming together at that time. The Indigenous people of the Americas or “Amerindians,” African slaves, and European immigrants, all residing in Brazil, began communicating with one another using a new language, Brazilian Portuguese.
As language and culture intertwined, and as Brazil’s entertainment culture flourished (especially its soap operas), Brazilian Portuguese was “exported” to Portuguese speakers in Europe, Africa, and Asia. While traditional or “European” Portuguese is still spoken by significant populations in Angola and Mozambique, Brazilian Portuguese is the official language of nations with larger populations, including Brazil. >/h3>
“It will be a great day in any land when people stop enduring religion and start enjoying salvation.”—Pastor Adrian Rogers
Language and Spiritual Understanding
Just as the language and the general culture in a geographic region is influenced by the people groups that settle there, the religious culture is influenced as well. European settlers brought Catholicism to Brazil. The Amerindians and the African slaves practiced forms of spiritism that differed from one another. All three religions were often blended.
For instance, in the Brazilian states of Bahia and Pernambuco, where most African slaves arrived, various cults emerged mixing the spiritual practices of Amerindians and Africans with Catholicism. One popular spiritual fusion, Candomblé, spread throughout Brazil and across its borders, impacting all social classes.
In 1930, another fusion religion, Santo Daime, emerged. In this tragic delusion of spiritual misunderstanding, followers embrace a sacred hallucinogenic drink used to “transcend reality” and “find” themselves. Since 1972, the Brazilian government has recognized this practice. People from all over the world go to Brazil and other South American nations to participate in what they believe to be enlightening experiences. A recent Netflix documentary, Enigma, follows NFL quarterback Aaron Rogers on one such self-focused spiritual quest.
Our Challenge Together
According to a report by Cultural Atlas, in 2023, 52 percent of Brazilians identified as Catholic, 27 percent claimed a protestant tradition (most as evangelicals), 2 percent said they practiced African-Amerindian religions; remaining respondents were agnostic, atheist, or did not specify.
Even among the Catholic and Evangelical Protestant population, other spiritual practices are often mixed in, again because people in a particular region share cultural (including spiritual) understanding.
That leaves us with the common denominator of the Brazilian-Portuguese language to reach Brazil’s 216 million people (and other BP speakers) with the truth of the Gospel. Yes, there are Bibles translated into Brazilian Portuguese. But biblical teaching—simply stated teaching that adheres to the Scriptures—is not widely available.
People who have never heard the Good News need to find God, not themselves. New Christians need biblical teaching to differentiate the truth of the Gospel from “other gospels” mixed in from dead spiritual traditions. And that’s why your partnership with LWF is so important!
Let’s saturate Brazilian Portuguese-speaking culture with the Love worth finding—Jesus Christ.
SOURCES: World Bank, Cultural Atlas, The World Fact Book, Eriksen Translations, Mission Maker Magazine, World Population Review
Come back soon for more stories about the 13 non-English languages into which Pastor Adrian Rogers’ core content has been translated. As always, the goal of this ministry is to provide biblical teaching from Pastor Rogers that reaches people with the Gospel and helps believers grow in faith.
