Valadão says he will file a lawsuit against detractors – 07/10/2023 – Mônica Bergamo

Pastor André Valadão again denied this Monday (10) having insinuated, during a religious service, that members of the LGBTQIA+ community should be killed by their faithful. The religious leader came under investigation for allegedly committing the crime of homotransphobia after delivering a speech at the Lagoinha Baptist Church in Orlando, USA, earlier this month.

“I do not admit, I have never admitted and I do not authorize that our faithful attack, injure, offend or cause any kind of physical or emotional harm to anyone. I repudiate the use of physical or verbal violence against people because of their sexual orientation” , says the pastor, in a manifesto published this Monday.

Valadão also declares himself to be against hate crime and incitement to violence — and says that, as a Christian, he defends “that God loves the sinner”. “And we are all sinners, as the Apostle Paul says,” he writes.

In the text, the pastor claims that his life and his family were exposed after the episode, and promises to sue those who supposedly distorted his preaching.

At the religious ceremony held in Orlando, Valadão suggested to the faithful that the time had come to “take the strings back” and “reset” the members of the LGBTQIA+ community.

“But God says he can’t anymore”, he amended. “He [Deus] says: ‘I already put that rainbow there. If I could, I would kill everything and start over. But I promised I can’t’. Now it’s with you,” he added.

After the repercussion of the aggressive speeches, Valadão went on to claim that his statement was taken out of context and blamed “the mainstream media”. In this Monday’s statement, the pastor again blamed the press for the reactions to the cult.

“I need to say that none of our faithful interpreted what I said the way the press reported it. There are no reports of aggression or threats”, highlights the religious leader.

“I did nothing more than repeat what is written in the Bible. Furthermore, my preaching as a pastor was addressed only to the faithful and is protected by freedom of worship, whether in Brazil or in the United States. distorted to distill their hatred against Christians,” he continues.

Read below the full text published by André Valadão:

“Dear brothers and friends,

I’ve been introspective and prayerful to understand the avalanche of events in recent days. My life and that of my family were exposed, lies and distorted interpretations spread. But today I found peace and I want to put things in their right places.

First: I do not admit, I have never admitted and I do not authorize that our faithful attack, injure, offend or cause any kind of harm, physical or emotional, to any person. I repudiate the use of physical or verbal violence against people because of their sexual orientation. I am against the crime of OD1O and incitement to violence and, as a Christian, I defend that God loves the sinner. And sinners we are all, as the apostle Paul says in Romans 3:23. We depend, without exception, on the forgiveness, mercy, and grace of God through Jesus Christ.

Despite the backlash over the July 2nd service, I have to say that none of our worshipers interpreted what I said the way the press reported it. There are no reports of aggression or threats.

I did nothing but repeat what is written in the Bible. Furthermore, my preaching as a pastor was addressed only to the faithful and is protected by freedom of worship, whether in Brazil or in the United States. Freeloaders are using the episode in a twisted way to vent their hatred against Christians.

The expression “and God left the dirty work to us” never left my mouth, which countless people have maliciously spread around. They will respond in court. One only has to watch the video of the service to see that this phrase was never said.

By referring to the story of the flood and Noah, I wanted to remember the consequences that sin can have on all of us. “For the wages of sin is death,” says Romans 6:23. Today, death is spiritual, it is complete separation from God. It is up to us to take care that our children do not fall into traps that distance them from God.

That’s what he meant by taking the strings again, “resetting the machine” and starting over. We need to be more firm in our teaching of faith and the Word. But always taking Love ahead of everything.”

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