This chapter employs the historical episode of the War of Canudos (1896–1897) and its leader, Antônio Conselheiro, as a foundational case study for understanding apocalyptic religiosity in Brazil. Through an ironic commentary by Machado de Assis, the chapter presents the Canudos revolt not as mere fanaticism but as a rebellion against the bureaucratization and domination of modern republican life. The term “apocalyptic” is defined as a theological imagination born from social disintegration, seeking to reconstruct meaning in a destroyed world. The analysis explores how Conselheiro’s adherents interpreted the forces of “progress” as the “forces of the devil,” perceiving their settlement of Belo Monte as a new Jerusalem and their confrontation with the state as a sacred battle. The chapter posits that this occurrence symbolizes an inaugural “battle between the gods,” a form of religiosity that emanates from a direct encounter with a world on the brink of collapse, thereby establishing a historical antecedent for the contemporary phenomena the book examines.