Nebuchadnezzar II is about to be crowned in a sumptuous Babylonian palace, and production assistants in Havaiana flip-flops are rushing to get a small army of extras into place.

Welcome to the set of The Rich Man and Lazarus, the latest biblical telenovela from the media empire of one of Brazil's largest evangelical megachurches.

Edir Macedo, the controversial founder of the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God, has already scored two prime-time hits with soap operas based on the Bible: The Ten Commandments, in 2015, and The Promised Land, currently on air.