That is why everyone who tried to reach out to him heard the same words full of hatred and revolt. That man's heart was filled with anger and nothing seemed to be able to heal the wounds that came from the disappointment of being betrayed by people to whom he had dedicated part of his life. Carlos França was a great spiritual leader, he converted to the gospel and from an early age learned to have compassion for the pain of others. He was always among those who tried to help others, reading the gospels and knowing the mission of Jesus Christ, he decided to follow his example.

Deep knowledge of the Scriptures, he studied until the last level of theology, in order to learn and teach them to his church. A worthy worker, the husband of one woman, and who handled the Word of truth well, as the apostle Paul demanded in his letter written to his disciple Timothy. But, now he wondered what the dedication was for, what resulted in such effort? He was criticized by the rest of his ministry colleagues for having created a Bible school, where he taught the theology he learned free of charge. In order to form leaders for the work of the church.

 They thought it was a waste of time to give this preparation for free. Without charging anything for it. When asked to teach at a seminar, he did not accept payment for it. He did everything out of love for the work of God. With a doctorate in theology, with an emphasis on the Old and New Testaments. He knew the entire Holy Bible by heart. His public teachings and lectures called attention by the content of his words, he had many admirers, as well as enemies.

Who burned with envy for the way he grew up in this area and conquered a position that few had. In the State of Pará, only he had this title and not even the presidents of the conventions or camps stood out to him. With so many qualities it ended up becoming the target of future persecutions that would end up destroying it completely. For years, his opponents sought ways to stop the brilliant career of evangelical leader he had conquered. There were several accusations that were launched on Carlos, of embezzlement of funds obtained through tithes and offerings donated by members of the local church.

Going to the absurdity of trying to sexually seduce young people and teenagers. When he was summoned to attend an urgent meeting with his superiors and was informed of the actual content of the complaints, he hardly believed it. How could anyone have accused him of such barbarity? What he, in his simplicity and innocence, was unable to understand is that Satan works in all sectors of human life and wherever he finds a breach. Within the churches, too, there are the subjects of the evil one.

All who do not watch and let themselves be carried away by greed become slaves to envy and, consequently, easy targets for the induction of darkness. And it is through them that the shadows end up obscuring the light. And in this way they reach men like Carlos França. That for living in full communion with the God who chose to serve and half a people he considered holy and worthy, he is taken by surprise. That Sunday, after the distribution of the Holy Supper. He went to the headquarters temple to clarify his superiors about certain complaints. He couldn't hide his surprise at what he heard:

  — Shepherd, we received in our office several complaints about unacceptable facts that would be occurring during your administration in the Castelo Forte congregation, among them is the most alarming, which left us all perplexed, stating that you have diverted financial resources from the treasury for use and the seduction of minors within the church which presides over what is something abominable, being a representative of God and who should watch over the sanctity of his flock. What would you have to say in your defense?

  — My first defense will be to affirm that I do not know these accusations and I am as surprised as the brothers with such affirmations, because I have done nothing to deserve such slander. If my accusers have hard evidence about my posture as the shepherd of the flock that has been entrusted to me, then let them introduce them to this council and prove what they are saying. Where are those who came to try to tarnish the reputation that I have earned with a lot of effort?

  — Certainly no concrete evidence has been given to us for the Shepherd to be punished or for this council to demand his immediate removal from his pastoral duties. However, according to the report we received from your treasurer, it is clear that a certain amount of cash has been diverted to the purchase of undeclared assets, so far, and we would like you to explain to us where they were applied.

 — If the treasurer of the congregation did not make it clear, in his report, where the withdrawn amounts were applied, I invite you to go to the temple so that I can show you what has been built. However, beforehand, I show you the invoices for the purchase of materials used in the construction of the meeting room and classrooms for the Sunday school, all of which were readily built. If you have not yet heard about this enterprise, it is because you have rarely visited the field that I preside over or my treasurer has used incompetence for not declaring the works that we have done together for our church, as he himself released these funds

 — Very well, today we will pay a visit to your congregation to make sure of your statements. But, another serious complaint against the pastor came to our attention and, due to the gravity, it is our duty to clarify it. According to one of our deacons, a young woman is said to have been harassed by her brother inside the temple, several times, after the services and meetings that took place there. What does the pastor have to tell us about this?

  — First of all, gentlemen, I never report directly to young women and adolescents inside or outside the congregation. This work is intended for the leaders of this department. When there is an extreme need to have some kind of dialogue with them, for discipline or the like, it is my wife who does it. But if one of my sheep claims to be disrespected by me, then because she, accompanied by her parents or guardians, is not here to directly accuse me, why would a temple worker have to come here to make such accusations?

With such a defense by Carlos, his interrogators were speechless and, after exchanging confused looks, dismissed him. Requesting that he be present at the church in the afternoon. For confrontation with the whistleblower. Carlos returns home and leaves his wife aware of everything that was going on. Janaina was still very young. I wasn't even thirty years old. Without enough maturity to digest all those accusations, she doubted her husband's integrity and started to question him.

 She wanted answers about the possibility that he even harassed the young woman in question. Carlos didn't even believe that even his wife was capable of believing in his loyalty. He felt alone and the only way he found was to lock himself in his room and talk to God, ask for his intervention in that situation.

 But his prayers seemed empty, it was as if a bronze sky had been created over his head. He no longer felt the presence of a divine being at his side, he was alone, no one would help him. It was three o'clock in the afternoon, on that summer Sunday, the sun seemed to have dropped a few degrees more from the earth and the temperature burned his skin. Beneath that cane-green jacket, the red tie he had received as a gift a few days earlier was suffocating him, and in a few minutes he was present in the temple.

There he met with a delegation of Shepherds to show them the buildings he declared were made with the funds acquired from the church's donations. Then, after having verified everything, they settled in a large room and waited there for a few minutes for Amilton, the deacon who had denounced him for harassment and the young woman who was said to have been the victim. Both sat before the shepherds and there they had to accuse their leader, face to face. The deacon reported what she had revealed to him, but, when asked about her complaint, she was very nervous, denied everything and told another version of the facts:

 — Things did not go well. A few days ago I was visited in my house by one of the Shepherd here in the country and he blackmailed me, saying that he had discovered some wrong things that I did and if I did not do exactly what I wanted would expose my error to the whole church, and I was terrified, because if my father knew he could even kill me

 — But what would be such a terrible thing for you to come to the conclusion that your father did not understand?

 — I can't even speak

 — Well try

 — I've been prostituting myself with my boyfriend, and I was afraid of what would happen if my family found out, my father and my brothers are very violent

 — Well, and why didn't you take your situation to the pastor of your church, instead of accepting the blackmail of accusing him of something he apparently didn't do?

 — I was afraid he wouldn't understand me and communicated to my parents, I was scared, I talked to my boyfriend and he thought it was better for me to accept the proposal to accuse Brother Carlos and prevent the other Shepherd from reporting us

 — So, do you mean that you confess to having been forced by one of our Shepherds to accuse your leader of sexual harassment for the purpose of harming him, and thus preventing you from being reported for your acts of prostitution?

 — Yes, sir, that's right

— And for what reason, now, did you decide to go back and confess the whole truth?

  — Because I came to the conclusion that if I am wrong in prostitution, I would be even more so if I sacrificed the dignity of an honest man like Shepherd Carlos França, who has been worthy of everyone's trust in this church. He was always a great friend and advisor to all of us, supported the neediest and acted justly for those who seek his help, so it would not be fair of me to throw such infamy on him. The brother is innocent of this accusation, it was all a plan to tarnish his reputation!

   — You weren't pressured by Shepherd Carlos to come here and defend you before this ministry, were you?

   — In no way, I was never coerced into making that decision, if I decided to reveal the truth it was to be at peace with my conscience!

   — Okay, young lady, so now tell us who it was that forced you to lie against your leader

   — It was Shepherd Milton Farias, he has been pressing me to confirm this accusation for several weeks, but I convinced myself otherwise

   — Very well, you are excused, you can go

After the revelations made by the young woman, Carlos was indignant and wanted to take his own action against his fellow minister, but he was restrained. His superiors assured him that they would solve the problem and that extreme measures should be taken against Judas, but without causing scandal. What he couldn't even imagine is that there was only the tip of the iceberg, all of his superiors were aware of the pressure put on the young woman to publicly accuse him of harassment, but to their displeasure she decided to deny them in front of everyone.

Leaving them unarmed and without being able to reach him. Milton Farias was a subordinate loyal to Carlos' true enemies. He had been ordered to find a way to accuse the innocent colleague with the promise that after all he would be promoted to vice president of the field where he pastored. He was the type of man without any ability to grow up honestly and he allows himself to be driven by ambitions of that magnitude. However, since everything went wrong, he would pay the high price of cowardice that they were unwilling to pay.

Days later he was transferred to a mission field. Located in the interior of the State, a poor place and almost without resources, exiled there until the whole situation was normalized. Those responsible for the slander made against Carlos wanted to stifle their commitments in that episode. So, they decided to silence Milton's voice, sending him far away. However, some time later, for seeing him growing in a frightening way in his ministry, especially when they learned of the decision of the convention of ministers. Upon becoming aware of the ministerial decision to appoint him as the future pastor, they went into despair and secretly met to prevent such a thing from happening:

  — We cannot allow him to be named our future president, if he receives this power we will be exposed and in bad shape!

— I fully agree with you, Pastor Francisco, we have to find a way to prevent this appointment!

 — Very well, and what do the pastors propose?

 — In my opinion, since the election for the new conventional president is approaching and is unavoidable, we should immediately call the other ministry colleagues to an extraordinary meeting, where we will expose to them the complaints that were recently made against Carlos França and use that in order to prevent them from giving their votes to him

 — Good idea, so we should put this into practice as soon as possible!

That same day, the other pastors who were members of the ministry were summoned and during that Monday night they were present at the headquarters temple, where the agenda for the next elections for president of the state convention was discussed. Among the proposed themes, the profile of all candidates was highlighted and Carlos França was highlighted. This is due to the recent denunciations about his performance as a spiritual leader in recent times.

Everything duly articulated according to what his opponents had planned in the ideal of preventing his candidacy for the important position. Despite the insistent appeal of the majority of pastors for their name to be excluded from the list of future competitors, the position of principal representative of that church. Yet a few have opposed to agree to such a plot and have refused to give their formal opinion on the case. Withdrawing from the meeting that ended up under strong tension between conventional ministers. As the only one not invited to attend was Carlos.

The following morning, an entourage of pastors came to see him at his residence to keep him abreast of the latest developments. And from then on he understood the real reasons why his enemies pursued him. It wasn't just that he was extremely zealous in his dealings with the church and that he earned the respect of his flock and his superiors. But because they wanted to prevent him from reaching the top of the pastoral ministry. At least, as a positive point in the face of such betrayal, the names of the traitors who wished to see him defeated in the elections were revealed.

  And now he could defend himself against future advances, even if that didn't really mean much. Since they are the majority, they would eventually achieve their evil purposes, which in fact would happen later. Day by day living alongside false Christians was not an easy task for a man zealous about biblical principles like Carlos. But it was necessary to keep up appearances in order not to denounce his friends who had kept him informed of the truth.

Even though he knew that his enemies were already suspicious of his awareness of the facts. The election time was approaching and there was great expectation about who would be appointed the next general leader of the church. His enemies were certain of the defeat of the one to whom they declared themselves to be opposed and Carlos França felt defeated at the ballot box. Even before the final result was announced. It took the whole day of that Sunday for all conventionals to cast their votes for the future president, and in the late afternoon the name of the chosen one was announced.

As expected, the elected pastor was Gilberto, one of the members of the rival group. He would be in charge of the highest power in the church for four years. And without a doubt, he would harass Carlos and his supporters relentlessly until none of them remained in the ministry. From then on, the expected changes began to happen. Despite the apparent silence after Gilberto was appointed president, everyone knew that they were plotting the next attack, and that it would not be long before it happened. With no real friends to share his current problems with, it was his wife who listened to his outburst:

— I can't understand, Janaina, how I could have lived all this time with so much hypocrisy and not perceiving anything. I had in mind that I was beside holy men and committed to the gospel of Christ and the mission of winning souls for his Kingdom, suddenly the smoke screen rises and the infamous mask of these corrupt people falls, showing that it is similar to the National Congress. Where politics goes hand in hand with bribery and the greed of the most powerful, they betray each other in search of status and money. After all, where can you still find sincere men and women, really faithful to God and his purpose, if we find this type of abomination within the church?

— I do not know exactly what to answer you, Carlos, but I can tell you that you are fighting people of great power and they will not give up until you destroy everything we have conquered and throw your name in the mud

— But why? That is my constant question since discovering this nest of vipers where I find myself. Why did you choose me to chase?

— You are a good man, intelligent, faithful and dedicated to the cause of Christ, which means announcing the Good News of salvation to free as many souls condemned to hell as possible and the darkness arose to try to prevent it.  Silencing your voice and destroying everything that can give you opportunities to accomplish that purpose

— Yes, you are right, this persecution does not come from men, but from a greater and stronger force. As Paul said, "We do not fight against flesh and blood, but against the evil hosts of wickedness." We need to pray, seek more God and put on the armor of God, otherwise we will not survive the attack of our enemies.

A prayer campaign began in the Strong Castle church, carried out by congregants loyal to Carlos and who defended his permanence as pastor. It started on Tuesday night and continued at the same time, from 19:00 to 23:00, fasting and all consecrated to the Lord. For ninety days that group of Christians cried out to God for protection and deliverance on behalf of their leader, pleaded with sincere cries and tears for him and his family to be free from persecution.

He wanted to be protected from the treacherous attack of his enemies, who were greater in number and more powerful, and strongly believed that they would receive the expected answer, but it did not come. Shortly after the prayer period ended, Carlos França was again summoned to appear before the body of ministers who formed the church council, the call was to provide clarification on new allegations, this time on a possible double case of adultery within the church that shepherded.

And the accusation weighed on his shoulders that he would be aware of it. They accused him of being consistent with the sin committed by four of his followers. According to his enemies, he was condoning such a sin. It was yet another aggravating factor that would be difficult to escape unharmed. This time he was cleverly trapped, two of his assistants, in full agreement with their wives, pretended to be having an extramarital affair with other women.

They, who were also part of the body of members and were married, thus, Carlos' enemies accused him of being conniving with the unclean acts of his workers, for not having denounced them to the church and punished each of them with expulsion and discharge from their respective positions in the local congregation. because they were people with ecclesiastical responsibilities, with the duty to set a good example for others.

 An immediate meeting was held and once again Carlos found himself before the council, being seriously questioned about such complaints. His responses were vague. He was unaware of what was going on behind his back and had not prepared himself in advance to answer them. It was easy prey for those vultures, used to destroying the reputation of men whose hearts were without malice, like him.

 His only defense was to demand a confrontation with the accused to prove that he was unaware of the situation, which turned out to be a serious mistake. Days later, in his office at the local church, he met with the four defendants and two council representatives in order to clarify those charges. Marinalva and Joana, both wives of two helpers, admitted to having an affair with Waldir and Pedro. Also workers with important functions in the temple.

Something that lasted approximately five years. Asked how they dared to keep an act of such a lack of divine fear inside the house of God, and how it was possible to keep everything secret for so long. The two women were unanimous in stating that it was easy to go unnoticed. Since their shepherd paid little attention to what happened to their sheep. Such responses were prepared and passed on to the accused prior to confrontation. This was so that they would accuse him of negligence towards the church and, thus, allow them to find ways to expel him from his duties.

 They were a band of conspirators who came together for the sole purpose of destroying an innocent, and succeeded. The following weekend, properly on a Sunday night, after notifying Strong Castle Church of the new and serious accusations that had arisen against its pastor. And, claiming that it is no longer possible to put up with his leadership after so many mistakes made by him, the deputy pastor announced the council's decision to demand the resignation of his ministry within that evangelical community.

 And, finally, to the sadness of those who remained faithful to the leader, knowing that everything was just a set up properly planned by the enemies who sought his defeat. Carlos França stands for the last time in front of that pulpit made of hardwood, properly prepared to highlight the walls of the temple, painted in petal yellow, and the floor in brown porcelain, and says goodbye to his flock, Daniel and Danilo, his two sons, remained at his side when his wife and youngest daughter, as well as false friends and the whole church to whom he dedicated part of his life, abandoned him.

Due to the excessive consumption of alcoholic beverages, he was losing more and more weight and his mind, so bright, no longer seemed to be as before. After a routine examination, performed by the boys, he was diagnosed with diabetes and it was forbidden to drink alcohol. But he paid no attention to medical recommendations. Death no longer scared him, since he considered himself dead since the day that pulpit came down. The night I said goodbye, I no longer saw them with the same eyes as before, the faith that one day believed to be true.

Heaven and hell were now just human concepts, vague thoughts of those who believe they can be punished because of their mistakes, pure nonsense engraved on the minds of the weak by religions, led by corrupt men and women. Whose greed for money leads them to deceive their fellow men with this idea of ​​salvation to the just and condemnation to sinners. For the sole purpose of making the most of them. They were all wolves and jackals, traitors, false prophets concerned only with benefiting themselves.

Faith is a powerful weapon that, if used correctly, can lead a person to conquer and achieve the unimaginable. But when it ceases to exist it leaves the human soul so empty that man loses all his hopes and his most intense dreams die.  Carlos was a Christian dedicated to his religion since the day he converted to Christianity, he believed strongly in everything the Bible taught and doubted nothing about it. However, the latest events have changed their faithfulness in the teachings of the Master who said he was always present in the lives of those who believed in him and practiced his teachings.