Finding Truth in the Midst of Deceit

“But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ….For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ.  And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.”(2 Corinthians 11:3,13-14)

A friend of mine in Houston maintained a website for about 2 years which was a very good source of information on a certain religious organization called La Luz Del Mundo.  He has since not been able to afford to continue the site.  However, since my interactions with this group are part of what has led me to where I am today, I would like to share some of the information I know about this group and some of my dealings with them here. 

First, how I came to know about La Luz Del Mundo.  Back in 2008, I was dating a young woman who went to church just about every day.  I’ll not use her name, but one day, she invited me to go to church with her.  At this point, I had only been a believer in Christ for about 2 and a half years, and although I read my Bible regularly, I still had not found a place to attend church services.  I agreed to go, even though the services at her church were held in Spanish.  I can speak Spanish at an intermediate level, and there was an interpreter provided for the things I could not understand.  After listening to the Pastor speak, and also talking with different members there, I became concerned about the things they were teaching and believing, as it did not seem to be in line with a straightforward understanding of Scripture.  I was led to do more research into the group’s teachings and history, and what I found is quite troubling.  Although the group calls itself a Christian church (In fact, it calls itself the ONLY true Christian church), I have no choice but to consider them a cult because of the things they teach.

La Luz Del Mundo has it’s international headquarters in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico.  The group is centered around 2 leaders – Eusebio Joaquin Gonzalez, known as “Aaron the Apostle” to his followers, and since 1964, his son Samuel Joaquin Flores.

Eusebio Joaquin Gonzalez was the founder of the group.  He was born in 1896 in Jalisco to a family of small means, and joined the constitutionalist army during the Mexican revolution, fighting from 1915 to 1921.  He continued in the army until 1926, when he left the army after coming into contact with ministers of a Pentecostal church.  He and his wife Elisa worked for leaders of the church. 

On the night of April 6, 1926, he claimed to experience a revelation in which God spoke to him, designated him as an Apostle, gave him the name Aaron, and charged him with the task of restoring the primitive Christian church.  Following this, he journeyed on foot to Guadalajara, Jalisco.  Jalisco at this time was the center of the Cristero rebellion, a Catholic movement involved in an armed conflict with the anti-catholic administration of Plutarco Elías Calles.  Anthropologists have stated that Gonzalez' anti-catholic stance and his relations with high standing army officials enabled him to get a good footing in Guadalajara, where he was able to recruit a substantial number of followers especially among the poor.  In the early thirties he was able to purchase a large tract of land on the outskirts of Guadalajara. On this land he constructed the first church of the movement and the sold the rest in parcels to church members, effectively building an entire neighborhood of devotees which he called "La Hermosa Provincia" (the Beautiful Province).

Samuel Joaquín Flores was born on February 14, 1937. According to church teaching, he was born dead but resurrected by his father.  Samuel was baptized into his father's church at 14.  He was married at 25 and took control of the church at 27.  Samuel's leadership was even more focused on outward growth than his father's and he began opening up the boundaries between the church and the surrounding world, and carried out an aggressive missionary strategy.  By the end of 2011, the faith has now spread to 43 different countries, including Australia, Israel, Russia, Cape Verde, Ghana, Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Moldova, The Netherlands, Switzerland, Finland, Romania, Norway, United Kingdom, Italy, France, Portugal, Spain, Chile, Argentina, Paraguay, Brazil, Uruguay, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Venezuela, Colombia, Cuba, Curaçao, Jamaica, Haiti, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, Belize, Canada, United States, and Mexico.

Now that you understand some of the background, let’s move on to some of the group's teachings.  I really don't have time to go through a point by point summary of all their teachings, so I'll give you some of the main pieces. 

The group teaches that from the death of the last Apostle, (Apostle John) circa 96 AD, until the calling of Aaron in 1926, there was no salvation on earth.  That’s right – no Salvation for well over 1800 years, so all those who the Apostles entrusted to carry on the faith (ie Timothy, Titus, John Mark, etc.) – they not only failed to continue the church, but they weren’t saved themselves, according to this group, because there was no living apostle.

Aaron died in 1964, at which time followers say Samuel Joaquin Flores was elected by God as Apostle and the new leader of the church.

Samuel Joaquin Flores teaches members that La Luz Del Mundo is the only true Christian church, because he is the only true servant of God and Apostle of Jesus Christ, and that thus there can be no salvation outside his church.  

A central doctrine is that one can only reach God through the servant Samuel and one can only achieve eternal salvation in the name of Jesus Christ.

The group teaches that only La Luz Del Mundo will achieve Salvation, because they believe in the election of the only true apostle.

The group denies the historic Christian doctrine of the Trinity and espouses Nestorianism, dividing Jesus into two persons: Jesus (man) and Christ (God).  They say that Jesus did not become the Christ until his baptism by John, and was only the Christ for 3 years until his death on the cross.  Their version of Jesus was only a man, and not the God incarnate Jesus that the Scripture presents.

The group denies that Jesus rose from the dead in bodily form.

Women are required to wear ankle-length skirts, and prohibited from wearing trousers, cutting their hair or using make-up. Male and female members are separated during worship. The use of musical instruments is forbidden during services. The most important yearly rituals are the Holy Supper (Santa Cena in Spanish), held yearly on August 14 (Aaron Joaquin's birthday), the anniversary of Samuel's alleged calling by God (held on June 9–10) and the celebration of Samuel Joaquin's birthday on February 14.

As with any group that exalts one man above all others, and grants him essentially carte blanche, there has been a fair share of controversy connected to this group. 

In 1942, the founder of La Luz Del Mundo, Eusebio Joaquin Gonzalez, was accused of exploiting underage women. Eusebio was later sued by two minors, Guadalupe Avelar and Ramona Olivares, who were impregnated by Eusebio. To settle the lawsuit, Eusebio registered himself as the father of Abel Joaquin Avelar and Martha Joaquin Olivares, his victims' children.
In 1997 and 1998, Moisés Padilla, a young dissident member of LLDM, was interviewed by several Latin American anthropologists and psychologists. Among other data, he provided a detailed account of having been drugged and sexually abused as a minor by Samuel Joaquín.  According to the L.A. Times, days after his interview, Padilla was kidnapped and stabbed 57 times with a dagger. 
Additionally in 1998, a handful of women went public with similar accusations of being raped by Samuel Joaquín. After initiating a formal investigation through the Religious Affairs Department of Mexico's Interior Ministry and a state prosecutor, Mexican authorities remarked that "because the alleged crimes occurred so long ago [approximately 20 years from the initial report], it's unlikely any trial will take place."  Researchers assert that "the wealth and publicly known political connections of the sect with Mexico’s most powerful political party help explain the impunity with which this and other alleged human rights violations have occurred for decades."
In 2004 the church was accused on Mexican television of several counts of rape against female members. The accusations were spearheaded by the Mexican Anti-Cult group "The Christian Institute of Mexico", who demanded that La Luz del Mundo should be stripped of its legal recognition as a religion. The Mexican government was again reluctant to take action.
In May 2008 it was discovered that Samuel Joaquin Flores purchased an exotic zoo in Seguin, Texas, known as Silver Wolf Ranch (interesting name when you recall Jesus’ warning about wolves in sheeps clothing, is it not?).  Flores came under fire by local communities for closing off access to the public, given that "IRS regulations require nonprofits to actively promote their tax-exempt purpose of benefiting the public and not the personal wealth of anyone.”  Silver Wolf Ranch, valued in excess of $3 million dollars, was renovated with a private mansion and a "long rectangular warehouse" where, according to the ranch's manager Vaspi Coronado, the family's private collection of "real restored vintage automobiles are kept."

Then, there’s the way Samuel Joaquin and his father are regarded among the members.  They are clearly worshipped as divine, yet it is never acknowledged and even violently denied by the group’s faithful.  Samuel Joaquin is usually called "apostle" by the group's members, but is considered to be on the same level of authority as the Biblical Apostles such as Paul, Peter or John. In one the hymns published by members of LLDM, they claim their leader is the angel described in Revelation chapter 10.  Another La Luz Del Mundo hymn claims that Samuel Joaquin is greater than Moses.  Several other of the groups hymns claim that Samuel Joaquin has the power to redeem, justify, sanctify, and give Salvation and eternal life.

Now, before I knew any of this, and before I even recognized the falsehoods in the group’s teachings, I seriously considered converting and being baptized into this cult.  Some one may wonder why?  Well, quite frankly, it’s because I had the wrong motivations.  I really liked this girl I was dating, and I knew the only way we could be together was if I converted to the group.  When the Spirit opened my eyes, and I realized their teachings were wrong, I tried my hardest to convince her to leave so we could be together.  Although it made me recognize that my spiritual gifts include teaching and preaching the Bible, that wasn’t the right motivations either. 

It was like doing a puzzle, and you find two pieces that fit together perfectly (minds out of the gutter, please), but they do not go together because the picture just doesn’t match up.  Besides, it was more than showing her correct doctrine – her whole family was a part of this cult, they were committed to it, and if she were to leave she’d be excommunicated and not allowed to interact with her own family any more.  It’s a sad situation.  We stopped dating a long time ago, and I rarely hear from her anymore, but I still remember her in my prayers from time to time – that she’ll realize the truth, and have the strength to stand for it.

I also met several other people who are in similar situations.  There was a man who married a member of this group, then later realized their teachings were false.  Yet, he stays with her and still attends with her, regarding it as his mission field for witnessing.  There was also another woman who married a member, and I’m happy to say the last time I heard from her, her husband had come to realize the group’s teachings were false, and left the group.  I even encountered a man who said that his wife was raped by the group’s leader before they were married, but by the time he found out it was too late to file charges, and he risked his life to leave the inner circle of the group.  He was doing all he could to witness to his family members who were still a part of the group.

Even though it's pretty easy to refute the group's teachings with just a little bit of Biblical knowledge, witnessing to members is very difficult, because they are trained that they cannot read and understand the Bible for themselves with the help of the Holy Spirit, but that only LLDM’s leaders can give them correct understanding.  This causes them to repeat what they are told almost by rote, and walk away from a discussion when they do not have a response.  For example, I was once asking a member why the group does not believe in the Trinity, he replied:

“The word Trinity is not in the Bible.”

“Does that mean the concept is not there?”

“Yes, because it doesn’t say Trinity in the Bible.”

“But, the concept is there – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are each referred to as God.”

“But you will not find the word Trinity.”

“Well, you won’t find the word monotheism either.  Does that make monotheism an invalid concept?”

“The Catholics invented it.”

“The Catholics invented monotheism?”

“And the Greeks were wrong before them.”

“I don’t understand.  Monotheism is the concept that there is only one God.  Do you mean to say that’s an invalid concept invented by the Greeks and Catholics…because the word monotheism is not in the Bible?”

“Look, the Bible never says Trinity OK?”

At that point, he walked away from me, and our conversation was over.

There are many other stories like that, but this post is already long as is.

Anyways, some people say that God works in "mysterious ways."  That's a little cliche for my taste.  I mean God is mysterious, how else would He work?  But through this and other experiences in my life, I've learned that God will reach people where they are, if they're really open to hearing from Him.  God works through some really messed up situations that we humans have made in this fallen world of ours, and He seeks to redeem those situations.  For instance, I was able to learn a lot about God's truth and His call on my life from interacting with a group that espouses deceitful teachings.  I’ve come to learn a lot about witnessing for God, and about humility and reliance on prayer through my interactions with this group.  I learned a lot about the true Gospel, for the simple reason that I said “I want to believe what’s true,” and I sought to verify the claims they were affirming, which is when the Spirit opened my eyes and really began teaching me.  After my interactions with this group, I did finally find a good Bible-based church in my area, where I have become involved as a regular attendee and made some very good friends.  I learned about my own spiritual gifts.  And, I also grew to understand about the sad state of Christianity in the world today, and the tremendous need for discernment, even with those who call themselves Christians.  They may say they believe in Jesus – but you better make sure it’s the Jesus of the Bible.  Be a Berean:
"Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true."(Acts 17:11)
In the words of LeCrae - "The world's full of them sheep with the sharp teeth."

Anyways – if you’d like to learn more about the group, below are some various sources of information.  And, the comments section is always open to you, my friend, whether you have comments, questions, concerns, or death threats.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Luz_del_Mundo

http://lasa.international.pitt.edu/members/congress-papers/lasa2004/files/DowJames.pdf

http://www.toddbensman.com/Bensman/Light_of_the_World_Church.html

http://www.thecenters.org/searchgroups.aspx?groupid=94

http://articles.latimes.com/1998/mar/10/news/mn-27361/6

http://www.revistaacademica.com/ToLive/luz-del-mundo-mexico.asp

http://www.sectas.org/Articulos/luzdelmundo/laluz.asp

http://thetruthaboutlldm.blogspot.com/
www.luz-delmundo.com/

Thank you for reading, and until next time - don't drink and drive, don't text and drive, and God bless America, it's a beautiful country.