THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, October 6, 1995 TAG: 9510050168
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 14 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY GREGORY SCOTT BURT, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Medium: 92 lines
Political activism has been in Jose Gonzales' blood ever since he was a teenager in his native land of Uruguay. His first act of political involvement occurred at 14 when he took part in a student protest helping take over a school building and holding it for three days from authorities.
Today his passion for politics remains the same, but his methods and philosophy have changed. Instead of preaching Marxism and calling for the violent overthrow of corrupt governments, Gonzales is urging prominent evangelical Latin American leaders to look to the Bible for the correct perspective on building nations.
Last month Gonzales' Virginia Beach-based organization called Semilla organized ``Encuentro 95,'' the largest gathering ever of evangelical politicians, businessmen and pastors interested in changing the political future of their countries. In attendance at this three-day Miami conference were leaders of more than 20 Latin American political movements, including congressmen and women, senators and other public officials from 20 countries.
Conservative political organizations from the United States were also involved. Morton Blackwell, founder and president of Leadership Institute, was a conference speaker and the Christian Coalition had representatives there as well. Daily workshops covered topics from constitutional reform to environmental policy to the protection of street children.
Besides focusing on the present political leaders of Latin America, Semilla provides professional training and mentoring for future Latin leaders through Regent University. ``All these pretty buildings were not built just to educate middle-class Americans . . . but to train the leaders of the nations,'' said Gonzales. As a Regent graduate himself and an adjunct professor in the Robertson School of Government, Gonzales has been able to bring promising students to Regent for training.
Regent's chancellor, Pat Robertson, has committed $2 million in scholarships to enable Gonzales to do just that. Four students have come this semester. One man from Paraguay turned down a job as the personal secretary to his president and another from Venezuela has run for congress twice. In addition, one of Gonzales' former graduates is now advising the minister of education in Nicaragua on the country's education policy.
Gonzales pointed to his religious conversion to evangelical Christianity at age 33 as the catalyst behind his work at Semilla, which is Spanish for ``seed.'' Gonzales had always been a very religious man. It was in Uruguay in the early '60s where he embraced Marxism through the encouragement and teaching of his Catholic church. Drawn by his parish priest's deep compassion and commitment to the poor, Gonzales became involved in radical left political activities. Yet as political factions began arming themselves, things became dangerous and Gonzales' parents urged him to leave the country at age 19.
Moving to New Jersey, it wasn't long before Gonzales, with the help of a Catholic church, was involved in political activism again protesting human rights abuses against the Puerto Rican community. Over the next decade Gonzales traveled the United States visiting different hot spots of social unrest where he promoted his Marxist ideology. He worked with Latin communities in Texas and California and even lived in a Mexican village studying the peasant lifestyle and meeting weekly in the city with other leftists from Europe, Latin America and the United States.
It wasn't until winter of 1979 that his religious conversion occurred. He was invited to a dinner put on by a evangelical Christian women's group and heard about having a personal relationship with God. About the same time, a friend Gonzales highly respected told him he believed the Bible was the actual word of God. After pondering these two possible truths, Gonzales decided to put his faith in evangelical Christianity, and this in turn transformed his whole outlook and perspective of the world.
He looks back on his Marxist beliefs and says he realizes their fallacies. ``Class conflict based on envy is the root of Marxism,'' Gonzales said. ``Without the irrefutable reality of our own personal injustice, which is sin, then good men are almost inevitably drawn into causes that advocate justice for the poor and the downtrodden, but which inevitably as they are applied, destroy the downtrodden and the poor as well as the rest of society.''
Gonzales now tells his students and political leaders of Latin America to look to the United States at its founding as the true model for Christian government. He sees the United States today as abandoning those religious roots and revolting against individual accountability. ``I am accountable to no one is the current philosophy in American society,'' said Gonzales. ``Government must reflect a given, already established and permanent set of laws, rather than make up its own.'' Gonzales said he believes the Bible teaches there are limits to the authority of the state and other institutions within society have co-equal sovereignty. The responsibilities and freedoms of the family, individual conscience and religious institutions must be protected from the state, he said. ``When things are run that way, they produce both freedom and prosperity, an example of which is the United States.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by CHARLIE MEADS
Jose Gonzales, an adjunct professor at Regent University, leads
Semilla.
by CNB