Interview With Bishop Renato Cardoso

By Evelyn Higginbotham
[ transcrip of the audio interview ]

EH: I have Bishop Renato here who along with other bishops and pastors around the world has been going to the Holy Land every year on the “Campaign of Israel”. I have a few important questions for Bishop Renato about this campaign. Bishop, thank you for agreeing to answer these questions, I’m sure it will help many people to better understand the Campaign of Israel.

BRC: My pleasure, Evelyn.

EH: First of all, how and why was the Campaign of Israel created?

BRC: The Campaign of Israel was born in our church as the result of a simple but powerful thought: If God is the same today as in the past, then we must see His great works in the lives of those who believe in Him today. An intelligent faith strongly refuses the idea that you can believe in the God of the Bible, who presents Himself as a great and powerful God, and yet live a life like those who don’t believe in Him. The Campaign of Israel was born out of this conviction. And every year since 1980 we have been going to Israel, the land of the Bible, to claim God’s great promises for those who believe.

EH: We have seen many testimonies of people being blessed through the campaigns – but does everyone who participate in the campaigns of Israel get what they want?

BRC: No, not everyone.

EH: And why is that?

BRC: First we don’t restrict participation – anyone who says I want the envelope of the campaign is given one. But not everyone who gets an envelope in the church is actually participating in the campaign as they should. And that’s why sometimes we have the impression that the whole church, or lots of people are participating in the campaign, when in fact a lot of people take the envelope of the campaign but only a few of those actually do it seriously.

EH: So, not everyone who has the campaign envelope is actually in the campaign?

BRC: That’s right.
There are three main reasons I usually see why people fail to be blessed in a campaign.

• They don’t know what they want. They don’t have a fixed idea of what they really want, or they want too many things at the same time, so their faith gets divided.

"God swore to give Abraham’s descendants a life of distinction"

• Many people participate by emotion and not by faith. It can be guilt, you know, that thought “If I don’t participate there must be something wrong with my faith.” – that’s wrong! We always stress that the campaign has to be by your own faith, not the pastor’s or anyone else’s. When you don’t have the faith to do something, it’s very simple – don’t do it! Some people do it because they like the idea that their prayer request on that piece of paper, will be prayed over in the Holy Land, and so they just write what they want and expect magic – but they leave all the hard work of praying to the bishops and pastors who travel there. They don’t realize that that piece of paper is just a symbol, and that the real prayer is the sacrifice that the person makes.

• And that leads me to the 3rd reason why some fail to be blessed, it’s that they do not express their faith through a real sacrifice. A fellow pastor friend of mine once said something I’ll never forget. He said, what language does God speak? What’s God’s language? You know, Americans speak English, Brazilians speak Portuguese, South Africans speak Zulu and Sotho and other languages – but what language does God speak? And he said, “God’s language is sacrifice.” I like to call it “Sacrifician”, you know, the language of sacrifice. What it means is that God cannot misunderstand you when you make a sacrifice. God cannot ignore you when you sacrifice to Him. Your sacrifice says to God that you’re serious, that you really trust in Him, and that you depend on Him. So, many people want God to bless them but they want something for nothing. They want to be blessed but they don’t want to do anything to get that blessing, and it doesn’t work like that. That’s why many people are not blessed – because they are not prepared give sacrificially.

EH: So three reasons – either they don’t know what they want, or they participate by emotion, or they do not express their faith through a vow of sacrifice.

BRC: Yes, one of these three or maybe all three! And I would add a 4th: They give up if the blessing takes too long to come. And that’s usually because they failed in one of the points I mentioned earlier, and that gives them doubt. They say, well, I’m not sure that’s what I want anymore, so they change their mind and stop pursuing it. Or if they did it by emotion, I don’t need to tell you that emotions are short lived. Or if they know they haven’t really made a sacrifice, doubt comes in and their own doubt makes them give up. That’s why we say that when you step up on the altar to fulfill your vow to God on the day of the campaign, you should do it in such a way that you come down saying to God, “Now God, you know I have done my part and have not withheld from you what you asked of me. Now, the ball is in your court.”

EH: This next campaign is focusing on how God tested Abraham’s faith by asking him to sacrifice his son Isaac on the altar. Why is that passage in Scripture important for people today?

BRC: It’s important for this reason. What God promised to Abraham, I mean, what God SWORE to Abraham, He swore to you and me, He swore to everyone who believes in God. The Bible clearly says that those who are of the faith of Abraham are the true descendents of Abraham. So, if you believe in Jesus Christ, then, you are a descendant of Abraham. Now the implications of that, the implications of being a descendant of Abraham are so many. As a descendant of Abraham, you are entitled to an abundant life! You’re entitled to a blessed family! Healing for your body – remember that woman Jesus healed, who’d been walking bent over for 18 years… When Jesus healed her, He called her a ‘daughter of Abraham’, in other words, it was her right to be healed!

So, in short, God swore to give Abraham’s descendants a life of distinction, and this is what this Campaign of Israel is inviting people to ask for.

We have Christians today, people who believe in the God of Abraham, who have been living in shame, so far away from the plan that God has for their lives. And we’re saying to them, “Don’t settle for this. Don’t accept your suffering. You have a big God who promised you big blessings. So go for it! Challenge yourself! Challenge your faith and put God’s promises to the test!

Your problem may be too big for you, but not for the God of Abraham! So engage Him in this fight you’re fighting. Make this problem HIS problem!

If you have a dream to conquer something big, to really succeed in life, then go to the God of Abraham, the One who promised YOU that the EARTH would be your inheritance! Sacrifice big and ask big too!”

EH: We don’t see God swearing, making oaths to a lot of people in the Bible, but He swore to Abraham. Why do you think God needed to swear – isn’t His Word good enough?

BRC: God’s Word is definitely good enough, and that’s what makes the oath even more important. The few times we see God swearing He would do something to or for somebody in the Bibles were all in response to some kind of extraordinary act of faith or of unbelief. God swore in His anger for example, that the Israelites who left Egypt and repeatedly doubted Him in the desert would NOT enter the Promised Land. In that case, God’s oath was in response to an excessive display of unbelief, of lack of faith – so that attitude and behavior from the people provoked God to swear

In the case of Abraham, again, God was also provoked by the extreme display of faith and obedience from Abraham. When Abraham put on the altar what he loved and wanted the most, what he’d waited for his whole life for, He forced God to top Himself, to go further than before. So God’s response was swear by Himself that He would bless him and his descendants because of what he did. That’s why it’s no longer about merit, no longer about whether I deserve it or not. What counts now is the oath. God has to bless those who believe BECAUSE they believe and act their faith, nothing else.

EH: So that means anyone can be blessed today, not only those who are holy and righteous, but even people who have done some bad things in life?

BRC: That’s right in part – let me explain. Yes, God can bless even people who have done some bad things in life IF they act their faith in Him, yes. But your question seems to imply that those who are holy and righteous are entitled to blessings because they are holy and righteous and that’s not true.

Even the holy and righteous, if they want to be blessed, they too have to act their faith. I see a lot of good people in the church who are not seeing God’s blessings in their lives because they’ve been relying on their goodness and righteousness for God’s blessings, and that’s not enough. You have to use your faith; you have to challenge yourself, to put the Word of God to the test, and to make your sacrifice.

EH: Bishop, what would be your last word to people who are already in this campaign and to those who are considering joining in?

BRC: To those who are already in this campaign I want to prophesy the blessings we pastors and bishops want to see in their lives.

• You will be blessed over and above what you ask for
• Miraculous healings of incurable diseases will happen in this campaign
• God will prosper some of His people so much that with a single offering or a tithe they give one Sunday in church we’ll be able to buy or build a church building somewhere we need it.
• Through this campaign we determine that employees will become employers; that those who have worried about money all their lives will never have to worry about it again
• I prophesy that marriages will be restored and families will be reunited
• God’s people will be powerful in society and in government
• That your testimony will be heard around the world for its greatness
• I prophesy that this campaign on Mount Moriah will bring about more and bigger testimonies than any campaign before it. And for those who are not in this campaign and are considering it, I tell you this:
• The Campaign of Israel is a privilege and an opportunity, not an obligation
• If you are considering taking part, then first take some time to stop and think about why you want to participate
• Define one goal only, just one, and focus on it
• Pray to God about what your vow of sacrifice will be. Ask Him to show you what your Isaac is.
• Get into this campaign immediately. The sooner you join in, the better. Ask your pastor for the envelope today, write your prayer request on it
• And last but not least: Keep this between God and yourself, don’t ask for anybody’s opinion.

EH: Thank you very much Bishop for your answers, I’m sure it’s of great help to our listeners and if anyone has any other questions they should feel free to ask the pastor at their local church.

Bishop Renato Cardoso