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which is related to the gifts of the Spirit and experience in the emotional life which later translated to material benefits (1987: 197-208).\u000AOn other hand, the writings of Palacios and other pastors show a calling to take the biblical principles on work ethics seriously. Without using Weberian terminology, he points to certain elements that are in some way connected to these principles. He signals that to prosper the following are necessary: 1) responsible administration of resources, 2) life planning, 3) responsible management of family budget in order to avoid debt, 4) the persistency of goals, 5) hard work, 6) tenacity to not abandon ones principles, 7) reducing unnecessary expenses, 8) the danger of consumerism, 9) excellence and responsibility at work, 10) the need of saving, 11) fidelity in the care and control of what is trusted upon one, 12) perseverance with goals, and 13) productive work and high yield (Aleluya News a\u00F1o 3 No.16: 43).\u000AThese principles draw close to a work ethic, and are interchanged with the teachings of prosperity theology, which generally applies much more to the personal field. These ways of achieving economic improvement differs from the practice of the \u2018Comunidad del Esp\u00EDritu\u2019 churches that are linked to Brazil\u2019s \u2018Iglesia Universal del Reino de Dios\u2019. Their motto which is \u2018stop your suffering\u2019 promotes a magical way of resolving the believers\u2019 problems. The researcher observed one of these churches in Managua, which was known there as the Community of the Spirit. The pastor made the faithful come forward to deposit their offering on a huge bible, and later they received from him holy water which was supposed to have come from Israel. These churches and similar groups sell goods for salvation and faith gets relegated to a form of knowing how to ask in order to receive.\u000AFinally, observers of Neo-Pentecostalism affirm that their emphasis on material prosperity is the greatest attraction for their followers. This attracts specially people of the middle and upper classes, but also to the poor and working classes. Garrard-Burnett states that the elite and middle class of Guatemala in the 1980s came to these churches attracted\u000A 317\u000A


































































































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