Edir Macedo Biography
Edir Macedo Bezerra is a Brazilian evangelical bishop, writer, billionaire businessman, and the founder of the Universal church of the Kingdom of God (UCKG). He is the owner and chairman of the second-largest television network in Brazil, RecordTV, since 1989 with the Grupo Record, which he founded after he bought the network.
How old is Edir Macedo? – Age
The Brazilian evangelical bishop is 76 years old as of 18th February 2021. He was born in 1945 in Rio das Flores, State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Who are Edir Macedo Parents? – Father and mother
The Brazilian evangelical bishop is the son of Eugenia de Macedo Bezerra and Henry Bezerra. He is Jewish, descending from Shepardi jews. He was raised by his parents and was one of seven surviving children.
Edir Macedo Education
The Brazilian evangelical bishop holds a doctor’s degree in Theology and in Christian Philosophy, and an honorary degree in Divinity from the Faculdade de Educação Teológica do Estado de São Paulo. He also received a masters in theological science through the Federation of Evangelical Religious Entities of Spain in Madrid, Spain.
Is Edir Macedo in a relationship? – Spouse
Yes, the Brazilian evangelical bishop is in love. He is married to Ester Bezerra, her lovely wife. They lived together and was blessed with children. They enjoyed parenting life together.
Edir Macedo Children
The Brazilian evangelical bishop is blessed with two children together with her lovely wife. The pair has two daughters, Cristiane and Viviane, and an adopted son, Moises. They enjoys raising their children with support and love.
Edir Macedo Career
The Brazilian evangelical bishop began a career as a civil servant in 1963, initially working with the state-run lottery of Rio de Janeiro, Loterj, and also at the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, IBGE, as a researcher in the economic census of 1970.
He was raised Catholic, but by 1965 converted to Pentecostalism, after an invitation from his sister to Igreja Crista de Nova Vida. In 1975, he founded a Pentecostal church with Romildo Ribeiro Soares, Cruzada do Caminho Eterno. After an argument, the two separated.
In 1977, the Brazilian evangelical bishop founded with others the Universal church of the Kingdom of God in Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil. In 1989 he bought the free-to-air commercial television network RecordTV and in the same year he founded Grupo Record. In 2007 he founded the 24-hour free-to-air news channel Record News.
His rapidly growing religious movement and his teaching of prosperity theology have been a source of controversy. His sermons partly focus on freeing his followers from unclean spirits that oppress them, which manifest in them, and are cast out in the name of Jesus, for them to overcome their problems. His views about other faiths, particularly Catholicism, are also controversial.
In 1992 he spent eleven days in jail on accusations of charlatanism. There were several protests, with his religious followers camping in front of the police precinct he was held in, according to his autobiography “Nothing to Lose”. His prosperity theology is used by church leaders to justify his lifestyle, “If I preach prosperity and my clothes are ragged, who will follow me?”.
From March 2013 to 2015, the writer has been on the Forbes billionaires list with a reported US$1.1 billion, and $1.24 b for Macedo and family, making him by far the richest pastor in Brazil and the world. He was not on the list for 2016. The UCKG built a US$300 million replica of Solomon’s Temple in sao Paulo.
The writer and the UCKG have an $8 million contract to import stones from Israel like those used to build the temple in Israel.
Ten million copies of evangelical books by Macedo have been sold, and over 34 titles published. Titles include Orixás, Caboclos and Guias and In the Footsteps of Jesus, both of which sold more than three million copies in Brazil.
The Brazilian evangelical bishop has also sold his trilogy called Nada a perder (Nothing to lose), with millions of copies sold worldwide. He has written several religious books including the polemical best-seller Orixás, Caboclos e Guias, Deuses ou Demônios.
Edir Macedo Net worth
The Brazilian evangelical bishop has an estimated net worth of around US$1.1 Billion as of 2015.