Brazil: $300 Million Temple of Solomon
By Joseph DeCaro, Worthy News Correspondent
SAO PAULO (Worthy News)– A billionaire pastor inaugurated a $300 million replica of the Temple of Solomon in Sao Paulo, Brazil last week, according to The Christian Post.
The 10,000-seat temple — made of Italian marble and stone imported from Israel — also has a helipad for Edir Macedo, the founder and pastor of the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God: a Pentecostal denomination that preaches a prosperity gospel.
According to its website: “This temple is not about a denominational project, but something so glorious and spiritual that transcends reason itself. It will certainly awaken the dormant faith of those who are cold and will prompt a national and worldwide revival.”
Macedo — who has a net worth estimated at $1.3 billion — intends the temple to be a tourist attraction, but claims its most important purpose is worship.
“In this new temple, all, without exception, will have free access to seek God, unlike the past temple, where the only people allowed to enter were the high priest into the ‘Holy of Holies'”.
Brazil’s Jewish community is divided over the temple.
“On the one hand, there’s the favorable way in which Jewish culture and history are treated in the structure,” Rabbi Nilton Bonder told The New York Times. “On the other, there’s the bizarre aspect of the project’s dimensions and aggressive marketing.”