Josué Bengtson
Bengtson in 2011
Federal Deputy for Pará
In office
1 February 1999 – 31 January 2007
Federal Deputy for Pará
Assumed office
1 February 2011
Personal details
Born (1944-05-27) 27 May 1944
Getulina, São Paulo, Brazil
Political partyPTB

Josué Bengtson (born 27 May 1944) is a Brazilian politician and pastor. Although born in São Paulo, he has spent his political career representing Pará, having served as state representative since 1999. He is also the pastor and head of the Brazilian division of the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel.[1]

Personal life

Bengtson was born in a family of distant Scottish descent to João André Bengtson and Elza Luiza Bengtson. He was raised Presbyterian. In 1955 he began listening to evangelical podcast on the radio and his family began attending the newly founded Foursquare Gospel Church in his community. It was not until 28 January 1961 that Bengtson formally converted and joined the church following the lead of his sister Anna who had joined the church a few years before.[2] Almost immediately after being baptized, Bengtson became a missionary and pastor, traveling Brazil to establish other Foursquare Gospel Churches, including in the states of Mato Grosso do Sul, Bahia, Santa Catarina and Pará where he ended up moving to.[2] He is the current leader of the Brazilian division of the Foursquare Gospel Church and is the pastor of igreja da Pedreira in Belém.[2]

Bengtson is married to Marilene Maestri Bengtson with whom he has 4 children.[2]

Political career

Bengtson voted in favor of the impeachment against then-president Dilma Rousseff.[3] Bengtson voted in favor of the Brazil labor reform (2017), and would later back Rousseff's successor Michel Temer against an investigation looking into possible corruption.[4][1]

In May 2018 a court in Belém found Bengtson guilty of diverting funds for the state health department for his church and personal usage. As a result, Bengtson was banned from running for political office in the state of Pará for 8 years.[5]

References

  1. 1 2 "JOSUÉ BENGTSON – Biografia". Câmara dos Deputados do Brasil (in Portuguese). Retrieved 24 February 2019.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Marli de Jesus; Priscila M. C. de Oliveira. "Josué Bengtson: Vida e Obra". Rede 300 (in Portuguese). Retrieved 24 February 2019.
  3. ↑ "Reforma trabalhista: como votaram os deputados" (in Portuguese). Carta Capital. 27 April 2017. Archived from the original on 9 April 2012. Retrieved 18 September 2017.
  4. ↑ "Como votou cada deputado sobre a denúncia contra Temer" (in Portuguese). Carta Capital. 4 August 2017. Archived from the original on 9 April 2012. Retrieved 18 September 2017.
  5. ↑ "Deputado federal pastor Josué Bengston, envolvido na 'máfia das ambulâncias', é condenado a perda de mandado" [Federal deputy pastor Josué Bengston, involved in the 'ambulance mafia', is sentenced to the loss of warrant] (in Portuguese). Globo. 4 May 2018. Retrieved 24 February 2019.
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