Even before we saw the video in which Bishop Macedo talked with Gabriel Boccoli – who is autistic – and his parents, I was talking about autism with my husband. We are both on the autistic spectrum – the so-called ASD – at a mild level. We were talking about how a diagnosis is a human criterion to categorise behaviours and signs, to establish patterns and facilitate treatment. However, in reality, human beings don’t know exactly what each disorder, problem or dysfunction is. We commented on which person in the Bible, if it were today, would be diagnosed as being autistic.

Considering just the way they understood the world, and the way they thought and were perceived by society, we came to the conclusion that basically all the heroes of faith would fit into an autistic spectrum. I think that even those who were neurotypical (“normal”) ended up neuroatypical (autistic), because, after their encounter with God, their way of thinking changed completely! Even the Lord Jesus would be considered autistic. He spoke His mind in a disconcertingly direct manner. He had a strict way of thinking in regard to the Word of God. He responded differently to what would be socially appropriate. He spoke to people, not to ranks. He often needed to get away to a secluded place to pray – and He would just leave. He knew that God had sent Him on a particular mission and He never deviated from it. His words in the gospel tell us what He was like. He taught that our ‘yes’ should be ‘yes’, and our ‘no’ should be ‘no’ – and anything beyond that comes from the evil one.

God’s way of thinking, throughout the Bible, has these traits, which today are considered characteristic of an autistic person. He does not accept lies. He is strict about the fulfilment of the Word. He is not bound by human social conventions. He is direct in what He says – and He says only what He means. For Him, every word matters. If He says He is going to do something, you can be sure that He will do it. His ‘yes’ is ‘yes’ and His ‘no’ is ‘no’. And He expects this of everyone. If God is the Creator, He is the standard. If He is the standard, He is what’s normal. If He is what’s normal, the criteria of this world are all wrong and, in fact, autistics are right!

In this world, we deal with many difficulties and end up having to learn to be a little bit more flexible and to understand other people’s way of thinking in order to be more functional (like “an anthropologist on Mars”, which is the title of a case report by Oliver Sacks on the subject). We are seen as divergent. However, we are normal in God’s kingdom because the standard is Him. In this world, the standard is the human being, which is already contaminated by sin, and that is why they are so different. So, I guess everybody was originally supposed to be “autistic”, but sin got in, messed everything up and this way of thinking and behaving that science today calls “neurotypical” came about… have you ever thought about such a plot twist?

The thing is, autism is a spectrum, so there are different types of people with different abilities within that spectrum. With that in mind, we came to some conclusions that helped us understand both the kind of faith that God expects everyone to have and why many who seemed to be in the faith turned out so badly. There are those who leave the faith because they were no longer in the faith – They didn’t have much conviction. They were half wet, half dry. They were living in sin, etc. That is another situation. But there are those who seem to belong to the faith, who were full of strength and conviction, and seemed sincere. Why on earth did they leave, then? And why do some of them come out badmouthing the system of the church, as if someone had forced them to stay within it for so long? Have we been so wrong about them, for so long? Therefore, we understand these two concepts:

The autistic of faith and the bureaucrat of faith

There are many people who are within the autistic spectrum and do not know it. Many seem so “normal” (neurotypical) that they have never suspected and will go through life without knowing. As I said, God’s characteristics, described in the Bible, coincide with many of the characteristics attributed to autism today, and since the idea of the new birth is to make a person become a child of God, similar to Him, God’s idea is for everyone – neurotypical and neuroatypical – to become autistic in faith, returning to the original plan.

Two of the most significant features of autistic thinking are very powerful forces for both good and evil: the search for a routine (structure) and strictness of thought. When an autistic is born of God and learns to support these two characteristics in the Word of God, they become unbeatable. This is because now, their structure is on the Word of God and it is only on it that they are strict. And if it is contrary to everything that they are seeing… to everything that seems “real” and “concrete”, they will be seen or considered crazy by the world but they will please God because they will keep their mind firmly fixed on what is written.

External circumstances may change. They may lose everything but they do not lose their conviction. This is because they understand that God is the only Rock. He is the only thing that is really solid and true in this world. It is only in Him that we can trust. He is the one who must be our structure and in Him, we deposit our need for routine, so that He may guide us. And so, even when a comfortable routine is taken from under our feet, we know we are safe.

But when the autistic person is not born of God, they tend to rely solely on the words of men and on human structures. For this reason, they suffer (and makes others to suffer), because these things are flawed (even science, which is considered to be infallible). However, the most dangerous thing is when an autistic person arrives in church and, instead of seeking to be born of God and trust in His Word, takes into the church the things they do in the world and beings to trust a religious system and the words of men. They become a bureaucrat of faith, who also seeks a structure but finds a safe place to lean on the more visible structure, which are the processes of a church system.

They cling with all his might to the word of man – the structure becomes their god. They are strict with what is expected of them, many times, just to retain their rank, which is their safe place. They only appear to belong to God but in fact, it is also a routine that they created and will fight to maintain it because it is how they feel safe. Those who see them externally think that they are a person of faith because they speak with conviction – and they really are convinced that they should say those things. They are faithful to the church, thinking that it’s the same as being faithful to God. They have been deluded by the devil and, at first, I believe that they don’t realise that they are deceiving and being deceived.

An autistic bureaucrat loves rituals. They think of themselves as being part of a human structure. And because they feel good, they think that it (the feeling of being safe) is a connection to God. THEY ARE NOT LYING. Or rather, they don’t think they are. Therefore, we see sincerity in their words. They are being sincere with what is expected of them. On the other hand, the idea that autistics can’t lie may be true for many people on the spectrum, but unfortunately not all. A 2016 study proved that if trained to tell some socially accepted lie (like saying they enjoyed a gift they received), an autistic child is quickly able to learn and generalise it to other situations in life.

Therefore, there are autistics who reach adulthood already conditioned by their family to tell little lies in order to be accepted and integrated into where they want to be. Especially the more functionally well-trained ones, who are excellent observers. They look for patterns in order to find out what is expected of them and they learn to live up to expectations. I don’t think they have the malice of a “neurotypical” while doing this (this is why God gives them more of a chance). They are very sincere people in their lack of sincerity. They are sincere with what is expected of them but not with the Word of God.

And, if the bureaucrat knows how to “play the game” of the structure, they naturally grow there, thinking that everything is alright, since, after all, they believe that they are “following the rules.” They think that their growth is an approval from God. However, God sometimes “pulls the rug” from under them so that they can see what they are holding on to. God’s intention is not to make them fall, but to lead them towards holding on to the One who can support them, even when the human structure cannot.

God keeps “removing the floor” so that they can hold on to Him. For an autistic person, this is most distressing. Therefore, it is a moment for a conscious decision. I believe that He makes a person to remember everything they have heard from His Word, in order for them to decide whether to believe, trust and hold on to Him, or to follow their feelings. It is a moment when God gives the bureaucrat a chance for salvation… a chance to choose to become an autistic of faith and save their soul. I think that God also does this with all those who want to belong to Him and who starts to drift away and lean on other things. He begins to take the ground from under them (or allows it to happen) so that they might cling to Him.

Unfortunately, some people choose wrong. They don’t recognise God in their path and leave the church while speaking ill of the structure and discipline… not because they didn’t like the structure, but because they feel that they have been betrayed by it. They dedicated all of themselves to the structure of the church and it did not give them the eternal stability they were looking for. This is because they did not understand that only one Person can give them eternal stability. Only God can. He Himself says that there is no other Rock. To build our structure on the Rock is to make us firm and unshakable.

Therefore, it is not so difficult for a person to examine themselves in order to see if they are really in the faith. What if injustices come? What if an order was given by someone, which at the moment, seems to make no sense? What if they are taken away from where they are and placed somewhere they didn’t want to be? What if they lose something they have? What if they lose their rank? What if they lose their position? What if something happens to breaks the structure – will they endure? Will they resist? Not everyone examines themselves concerning this, but they should.

An autistic person needs to know that they are not saved just for being autistic. They also need to be born of God in order to become an autistic person in faith, who is transformed from the inside out, and has all their need for structure filled by the Word of God, and can hold on to it with all their strength and conviction. The good thing is that we have this natural sincerity within us. By transferring our support to God, we finally get to really know Him. This is because – I repeat – everybody, whether they were born neurotypical for the world or born neuroatypical for the world, needs to go through the process of becoming autistic in faith. You need to understand that you will never again be seen as “normal” by the world – and be at peace with that. We are different, yes, because our standard comes from up high. In the kingdom of God, it is typical to be autistic. In the kingdom of God, there is no other way to live.

An autistic in faith may even put themselves “at risk” within the church structure, if need be, in order to please God (which sometimes even means facing injustices and stand believing that God will justify them – as He promised). The autistic in faith is extremely helpful to the church structure as they allows it to grow, remain malleable and never become a god to those who operate in it, but always maintain it in its supporting role that keeps the body of Christ cohesive and well-oiled in order to accomplish the work of the One who called us.

The more “autistic in faith” a person makes themselves, the more useful they will become in the growth of God’s work and of the kingdom of God – Like a crazy type of servant of God, who is ready for the all or nothing… of whom the devil is most afraid of because he doesn’t know what to expect… and for being unstoppable.

To place all our structure in His Word – This is God’s dream: That we trust Him with all our strength, with all our soul and with all our understanding; that His Word becomes our structure, every day, to guide our way. Then, we will automatically become autistic in faith, whether we were born autistic or not.

“Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law (which is the Word) which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go.” Joshua 1:7