Growing in Grace and the Tattoos of 666

Perhaps, you have heard about a ?church? who tattoos the number 666 on his disciples. I, particularly, met it through a friend some time ago and had a hard time believing it ? not because of the tattoos, but because of the philosophies.

The cult/ sect called Growing in Grace was founded by the Puerto Rican José Luis de Jesús Miranda, which has branches all over the world; in Brazil alone there are 11. Around 2007 José declared himself Jesus Christ Man or the Anti-Christ. Where Antichrist means no longer following the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as he lived in the days of flesh.

Their disciples are not baptized because they believe that there is no sin ? everything is allowed (including things that break society's laws as well), they discard all the books that were not written by Paul and say that only this apostle can be considered a Christian. They also don't believe in Revelation and ?the number of the beast, 666? because they claim that the devil doesn't exist, that he has already been defeated. On the contrary, they say that the number 666 is of God, of life, and of Man.

Second, the magazine SuperInteressante, about 666:

The best known explanation is in Apocalypsethe last book ofBibleIn chapter 13, verse 18 the following passage is found: "Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is six hundred and sixty-six. The theologians Isidoro Mazzarolo and Leomar Brustolin help to interpret the passage, in order to understand the meaning of the famous satanic number.

First of all, the biblical passage says that the number 666 is the number of a man. According to Brustolin, who coordinates the graduate course at the PUCRS Theology School, the man to whom the author refers is Cesar Nero. Nero was one of Rome's emperors who persecuted Christians the most. For this reason, the followers of Christianity began to call the emperor "the beast". In order not to be repressed for defying Nero, they decided to use a kind of code to refer to the tyrant.

The faithful related the Hebrew letters that formed the emperor's name to numbers. In the Hebrew alphabet, this name (Cesar Nero), in number, it will give 666? says Brustolin. The theologian Isidoro Mazzarollo adds that the Apocalypse He didn't mean to strike only Nero, but all wicked emperors. Any king who is evil, any despot who is evil, is indeed a beast to the author of the Apocalypse?.

A Liga, a program on Band TV, did a report commanded by Thaíde about different cults, among them Crescendo em Graça :

But why are we talking about this? After all, the BlendUp does not take a religious position. Well, there is a video on the internet of a child around 2 years old being forcibly tattooed? and it has been linked to the image of this cult.

In the video, the woman says that now her son is blessed by Jesus. Besides the religious fact, it is worth repeating that tattooing minors is a crime in Brazil.

All the disciples of Creciendo en Gracia has the number 666 tattooed on their skin, as a way of expressing that they accept Jesus, in this case the founder Joseph.

I want to say that I respect all religions, including the option of not having a religion. I don't see a problem in tattooing the 666 because each one knows what he does with his body and what he believes attracts him.

But, in Brazil ? in most states it is forbidden to tattoo minors. It is also worth reflecting on the justification for tattooing a child - who doesn't even know what a religion is and if he wants to be part of it (valid for other religious practices as well). The difference is that tattoos are harder to remove. in case the child grows up and has an opinion contrary to that of the parents.

Respect your children's opinion ? or respect them until such time as they can form one. Until then, temporary tattoos are free!