Timesuck with Dan Cummins - 454 - The Light of the World Sex Cult

Episode Date: May 12, 2025

Have you ever heard of La Luz Del Mundo? a.k.a., LLDM? a.k.a., The Church of the Living God, Pillar and Support of Truth The Light of the World? Naasón Joaquín García, the leader of this church based in Guadalajara, Mexico (that some estimates claim has up to seven million members worldwide) is currently in prison after being found guilty of three counts of the sexual abuse of minors. And he is awaiting trial on charges of producing and possessing child pornography. What do members of this church described by many as a cult believe? And how far back does the abuse go? Merch and more: www.badmagicproductions.com Timesuck Discord! https://discord.gg/tqzH89vWant to join the Cult of the Curious PrivateFacebook Group? Go directly to Facebook and search for "Cult of the Curious" to locate whatever happens to be our most current page :)For all merch-related questions/problems: [e-mail] (copy and paste)Please rate and subscribe on Apple Podcasts and elsewhere and follow the suck on social media!! @timesuckpodcast on IG and http://www.facebook.com/timesuckpodcastWanna become a Space Lizard? Click here: https://www.patreon.com/timesuckpodcast.Sign up through Patreon, and for $5 a month, you get access to the entire Secret Suck catalog (295 episodes) PLUS the entire catalog of Timesuck, AD FREE. You'll also get 20% off of all regular Timesuck merch PLUS access to exclusive Space Lizard merch.

Everything that reminded me of the servant of God was a blessing for me. Specifically, everything related to Apostle Samuel or Apostle Nassone was a blessing for me. And I thought that if I ever had a sad day, a day when my suffering was too great, I would go back to see those memories. I would go back to see those moments I had and I would remember I am blessed. I would have never thought that these memories that I cherished would be memories that I would later on provide to the prosecutor as evidence that I been abused by an apostle of Jesus Christ. Those are the words of a woman identified in public court documents and media accounts only as Jane Doe number

four who came forward in 2018 to report a deep-rooted and disturbing history of sexual abuse within the La Luz del Mundo Church. A church described by many is a dangerous cult with a series of leaders who have ruthlessly sexually preyed on young girls. La Luz del Mundo, aka the Light of the World, shittiest places, so often have the kindest most harmless sounding names, don't they, was founded in the Mexican city of Guadalajara in 1926. Since then the church claims it has gained over 5 million members and established branches in over 50 countries. La Luz del Mundo teaches its members that it is,

of course, and how many times have we heard this, the one and only true Christian church based on biblical principles. Come with me if you want to live, the battle cry of the most organized religions and just about all cults. Members are required to both dress and act in a manner consistent with the church's teachings and are expected to dedicate their time, money, and labor to the church. In exchange, they receive a loyal community and the promise of eternal salvation. La Luz del Mundo is led by one man known as the Apostle of eternal salvation. La luz del mundo is led by one man known as the Apostle of Jesus Christ. The Apostles revered in a godlike way amongst

members who are expected to hang up portraits of him in their homes, often break out into spontaneous and ecstatic worship when in his presence. Church members, at least the truly faithful, truly believe that the Apostle is God's chosen one, that he can do no wrong, and that if they disobey him, they are disobeying the Word of God and therefore placing their eternal souls in great peril. Experts argue this reverence for the Apostle, combined with strict rules and a strongly patriarchal culture, has created an environment where sexual abuse can and has easily occurred and can and has been hidden from others. Others including the authorities. Although the church teaches that God chooses the Apostle, that any righteous

man could be an Apostle, there have been only three. And all three of them have weirdly come from the same family. Grandfather, father, and son. Huh. Either these guys are the most righteous men on all of the earth or they're grifting everybody. Which one do you think it is? I know which one I'm choosing. All three generations of Apostles have been accused of corruption and sexual abuse but only the third and current leader, a man by the name of Nason Joaquin Garcia, has ever been found guilty and put behind bars. The victim stories are eerily similar.

At the main temple in Guadalajara and also from the congregations of smaller churches around the world, assistants of the apostle choose a group of young girls, typically around 14-15 years old, to be his personal servants. They are trained by older women who also work for the apostle to serve his every need, right down to washing his body in the shower or in a bathtub. All of his body. A form of sexual abuse right there. These girls are taught that if they go against the Apostle desires, they are going against God and they will suffer. Cult. Cult. Cult. And then much more horrible shit happens to these girls.

There are likely thousands of these girls who have been abused by the Apostles who have never reported it. Women once abused as girls still too afraid of backlash, too afraid of losing their salvation, too afraid of being harassed by church members who will not believe them. Those members have harassed other victims who have come forward and some don't even understand that they have been abused. Many girls who have spoken out said that they didn't even realize they were being abused until many years later. They thought the abuse at the time they were being abused was a blessing because that is

exactly what they had been taught. They had been chosen by God to help comfort the apostle. What an honor. In 2018-2019, five women came forward to report years of sexual abuse by both Nasson Joaquin and by his father, Samuel Joaquin and by his father, Samuel Joaquin Flores. They exposed the dark secrets of the light of the world church in a way that no one else had been able to do previously, which has finally led to much needed consequences. And some of them are convinced that the abuse has been there the whole time,

going all the way back to 1926. That the founder taught his son how to take advantage of young believers, and then the son taught his own son, and how demented. The grandson and current leader of this cult, Church Combo, Nasson, was arrested in 2019, charged with human trafficking, rape, child pornography, and other serious offenses. And yet, despite being found guilty of numerous horrific predatory crimes

Millions of followers still believe this dirtbag is the one true apostle of Jesus Christ But all the women and girls who have come forward have been corrupted by dark Satanic forces That they have slandered an innocent prophet to keep others from the eternal truth This week I will share the beliefs and guiding principles of La Luz del Mundo, details from the lives of the three so-called apostles who've led this cult for nearly a hundred years, numerous sexual abuse allegations spanning generations, how this cult has maintained the loyalty of its followers since their current apostle was put in prison, and how my dad might have played a major part in all of this. In another, these assholes are all the same.

Cult, cult, cult. Why can't we just start executing these motherfuckers' edition of Time Suck? This is Michael McDonald and you're listening to Time Suck. Ah! You're listening to Time Suck. Music Well, happy Monday and welcome or welcome back to the Cult of the Curious. I'm Dan Kellman, back in the Suck Dungeon. Suck Nasty, Gary Heidnik, Wealth Management, Incorporated Financial Advisor, Button Pusher.

Are you sucking Kimmy? I said, are you sucking Kimmy? You are listening to Time Suck. Hail Nimrod, hail Lusovina, praise be to good boy Bojangles, glory be to Triple M, our songbird. No announcements today. So just get in loser. We're going to Mexico. Finally saw Mean Girls a while back. Get that reference now. In terms of the structure of today's episode, we'll start with the overview of the beliefs or in-overview of the beliefs of La Luz Del Mundo. What if I pronounced it, every time I pronounce some Spanish words this week,

I just really put some flair on. Like if I speak just like I normally speak until then, you know, we'll start with an overview of the beliefs of, and then I'm like, La Luz Del Mundo! Like a fucking radio announcer. That'd be fun, right? For a couple of you. Yeah, we'll start with an overview of the beliefs of La Luz Del Mundo! That's too much.

Followed by a timeline of the three apostles and the disturbing sexual abuse scandals surrounding them. They'd have followed the church from the very beginning, followed by me explaining why I think this massive church has a cult at its core. Weird that the whole time this bullshit church seems to have been mostly formed so the leaders could have sex with underage girls. La luz del mundo! I won't do that the whole show. Identifies as a restorationist church. That was like a weird soccer announcer there. Let's briefly cover what exactly this means to establish contextual

background for today's story. The Restoration Movement is defined as a Christian movement that began in the American frontier during the Second Great Awakening which lasted from 1790 to 1840. The Great Awakening was a religious revival amongst Protestants in the British colonies and later in the early United States it was a reaction to the secularization of society and materialism. It was a lot of real hardcore believers who wanted to party like it was 33 AD. Sounds boring and horrific. The leaders of the Restoration movement sought to reform the church and unify all of Christianity based on their interpretation of the church of the New Testament in the Bible.

One of the main tenets of this movement is, quote, no creed but Christ. Meaning Christians should not be divided into different denominations, but instead should all worship in the manner described in the biblical book of Acts. Right? Of course. Hey everybody, we shouldn't be divided. We don't need to be divided. The rest of you just need to worship the correct way, which is obviously if you just take the time to look my way and only my way. Gosh dang oh my heck! And that attitude, I'm right, you're wrong, is

exactly why there are so many different denominations today. This is why there are an estimated roughly 45,000 different Christian denominations worldwide. Right now, according to the Center for the Study of Global Christianity, differentiation and variety have been markers of Christianity since the very beginning. According to Dyer Made McCullough, Professor Emeritus of Church History at the University of Oxford in the UK.

There's never been a united Christianity, he said in a recent interview with LiveScience, and I would wholeheartedly agree. Some large well-known restorationist organizations include the Jehovah's Witnesses, the LDS Church, and Seventh-day Adventists. And so many cults have morphed out of all those branches. And many consider those branches themselves to be cults. I'd be surprised if people didn't think that. You know, some think the massive Catholic Church is a cult. One person's religion, another person's cult. Restorationist churches typically practice communion weekly and believe that communion should be open to everyone. The churches also tend to have positions of power like elders and deacons. Some restoration churches do not allow music during service because the New Testament has

no examples of a church using instruments during service. There also are not examples of early New Testament churches having electricity, indoor plumbing, air conditioning, running water, and yet restoration churches use all of that. Come on, assholes, walk the full walk or fuck all the way off. But seriously, it's almost like this is all one big stupid fucking game. And everyone who's playing it

is at least a little bit full of shit. Sorry, I'm pretty sure my application of some basic logic there is upsetting to some of you. Some restorationists teach that a water baptism is required for salvation salvation which is considered controversial because many Christians believe in salvation by faith alone. Restorationism started off as a group of unaffiliated 19th century movements based on the premise that the true church was lost and needed to be restored. And I'm just a guy to do it, you know, vibes. A man named Barton Warren Stone, what a name,

a Georgia school teacher, attended the 1801 Cane Ridge Revival and dog on it, spirit took him and he felt inspired. The Cane Ridge Revival was a large camp meeting type of Protestant service that was common on the American frontier at the time, occurred in Cane Ridge, Kentucky, considered the most famous camp meeting of the Second Great Awakening with an estimated 10,000 to 20,000 cosplayers, I mean attendees. Stone came to believe that all the Christian denominations needed to work together in the new frontier

instead of being divided. As if that's a fucking novel idea. And working with other ministers, he started the so-called Christian movement as if everything that came before them was not really Christian. Not since Christ died, least. Six years later in 1807 a Presbyterian minister by the name of Thomas Campbell immigrated to the US from Ireland. He too promoted the concept of restoring the church to the New Testament church. After

being suspended from his ministry for not preaching the right way, he founded the Christian Association of Washington in Washington County, Pennsylvania. And I bet that association held so many super fun, exciting meetings that definitely wouldn't make me excuse myself to use the bathroom and then never come back. In 1809, he published a treatise. I think that's, I usually mess that word up. He published a treatise that rejected denominationalism. Denominationalism.

Oh my God. Denominationalism. That's a big word. He published a treatise that rejected denomination, denomina, oh my god denomination, denominationalism. That's a big word. His son Alexander Campbell joined him after completing university. The Christian Association of Washington was later named the Brush Run Church. By 1812, the Campbells had joined the Redstone Baptist Association. Alexander began preaching, debating in Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee, and Western Virginia to spread their ideas. Their followers were called Campbellites, but they also called themselves Disciples of Christ. In 1832, the Disciples of Christ joined with their Christians at Lexington, Kentucky, and their numbers grew rapidly. However, some of Barton Warren Stone's group

decided to break away from their own fellowship community that interpreted things correctly for frickin' once. Campbell's, gosh dang, you're messing it up. We're sick of it. Holy heck, it's about time someone got it right. In 1849, the Disciples of Christ organized the American Christian Missionary Society. Their motto was, Where the Scriptures speak, we speak. Where the scriptures are silent, we are silent. They sound fun. They sound like they were a nice easygoing bunch that loved to party and have a good time.

That perspective led to some dissension amongst the restorationist movement, because those who followed a more strict interpretation of the Bible believed that it did not explicitly advocate for the use of missionaries. more strict interpretation of the Bible believe that it did not explicitly advocate for the use of missionaries. Jesus is commissioned to his disciples to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. And Mark, chapter 16, verses 15 and 16, seems to me to be a pretty crystal-clear call to Christians for global missionary work, but for reasons that confound me that is not how some in the Restorationist movement sought. These guys can fucking nitpick anything. They were like, uh, okay, yeah, Jesus had to preach the gospel to every creature, but does that mean walking the door door to door? Does that mean

handing out pamphlets? He never said that. Never said explicitly. 1906 the movement was affected by a big schism. Of course it was. Christian Indian schisms go hand in hand. This one occurred when the US Census Bureau issued a document titled Religion Bodies and in this document it listed strict restorationists as Churches of Christ separate from the disciples of Christ. Uh-oh. Apparently that little snafu led to a whole bunch of infighting. And then the movement splintered further and the decades have followed. It continues to

splinter today as nearly all of Protestantism continually does as disagreements over who is getting it right just never end. Today the churches that follow these stone-cambal principles are divided primarily into three groups. The Disciples of Christ, also called Christian churches, Churches of Christ, and independent Christian churches. And that is not confusing at all. I'm sure that no one has ever showed up in one of these churches thinking it was one of the other churches. One of the other slightly differently named ones. As you can see this movement has been, you know, fairly disorganized, full of quite a bit of disagreement from the very beginning. History has shown that it, you know, fairly disorganized, full of quite a bit of disagreement from the very beginning.

History has shown that it, you know, it's basically impossible to get a large group of people, much less all the members of a religion, to agree on everything. Keeping these basic principles in mind, along with the idea that these types of religious movements can easily become legalistic and very controlling and culty, let's take a look at La Luz del Mundo. I just get fucking crazy. What is he doing? Why did he throw those little tongue frills in there? The full name of the church in Spanish is Iglesia del Dios Vivo, Calma y Apoyo de la Verdad, La Luz del Mundo. In English that means Church of the Living God, Pillar and Ground of the Truth, the Light of the World. And that is quite the title. The more words the more God I guess.

That name commonly abbreviated as LLDM because it's way too fucking long. Also called commonly La Luz del Mundo. LLDM is a non-trinitarian church that that follows the Restorationist tradition, and non-Trinitarianism, there's a good scrabble word, is a Christian belief that rejects the Trinitarian view of God which states that God is one being existing in three co-equal and co-eternal persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Instead non-Trinitarians believe that God is one being, Jesus Christ as the Son of God, Holy Spirit as the divine power or influence of God. LLDM is unique amongst Christian churches because the members believe in following one apostle

whom they call the Apostle of Jesus Christ or the Servant of God. A dude who has more power than the Pope does for Catholics. A dude who has cult leader power. There have been only three apostles in the church's history and as I believe I mentioned earlier, they all come from three generations of the same family. They are Aaron Joaquin Gonzalez, the founder Apostle, ruled from 1926 when he founded the church to 1964 his death. His son Samuel Joaquin Flores, who ruled from his father's death in 1964 to 2014 when he died. And then Nason Joaquin Flores, who ruled from his father's death in 1964 to 2014 when he died. And then, Nason Joaquin Garcia, who has ruled since his dad died in 2014 until now.

And according to rumors, each apostle has become more debauchress and lecherous than the one before him. Very rare for a cult leader to pass down the crown and all the abuse that comes with it to somebody else. But these clowns have kept this grift going for three generations. Impressive in a darkly fucked up way. Let's now break down the specific beliefs of La Luz del Mundo. The church's name comes from two Bible passages, 1st Timothy 3 chapter 3 verse 15. But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou outest to behave thyself in

the house of God which is the church of the living God, the pillar and the ground of the truth. And Matthew chapter 5 verse 14, ye are the light of the world, a city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. The way LLDM practices their faith is pretty unique compared to the most or most of the rest of Christianity. Churches not use crosses or any other religious images during worship because they want to avoid anything that could possibly be considered an idol, right, to avoid idolatry. And yet, most followers have framed pictures of the three men who have led the church in their homes prominently displayed. Hypocrisy be damned! The blatantly contradictory beliefs of these groups always amuse me. Female members must wear long skirts and head coverings during service, which isn't all that uncommon in the Christian world. Definitely considered by a lot more or a lot of mainstream

Protestants as being a bit extreme though, a bit backwards. Women in the church also do not wear any jewelry, makeup, or even cut their hair short, which is again, nothing unheard of, but definitely considered weird by a lot of Christians who believe in Christ, who go to church regularly or somewhat regularly, but aren't letting their pastor tell them how to dress or style their hair. Men have restrictions as well, but less than women, which makes sense because Men have restrictions as well, but less than women, which makes sense because Because we are righteous. We are righteous patriarchs built to lead the lady folk the simple fragile lady folk with our superior

Audi versus any genitalia, okay We have the fuck sticks not the fuck holes and thus our superior So sayeth the lord Jebus Are you fucking kidding me? I said are you fucking kidding me? Don't you contradict me Myles, not today. Don't you sass your elder patriarch. I'll silence your tiny voice in the show. Seriously now, men are not allowed to have long hair or wear shorts in public, there are some rules.

Strange decrees considering Jesus had long hair and wore a tunic everywhere he went, you know, including public. And tunics of his place in time? More scandalous than shorts today. Right? They hung to just around the knees. Basically Jesus had a similar amount of leg showing to a guy wearing shorts, so why make the no long hair and no shorts decrees? This kind of stuff is truly why I never fared well in church as a kid. I tried.

And then I would start asking very rational questions like that. Like why can't this person wear shorts? You know, when Jesus wore a tunic and I would only be met with blank stares, an attitude of like, how dare you question this? Or attempts at answers that didn't even remotely satisfy me. Men and women are separated in LLDM services. The women on the left, men on the right. I mean, that policy does make sense.

Jesus, as anyone who studied the Bible knows, fucking hated women sitting near men during sermons. Okay? I believe it's in the book of Matthew where Jesus is quoted as saying, bros before hoes, keep those trifling ass bitches away from me, my men. No musical instruments are used during services, as I mentioned, and dancing and clapping also not allowed because clapping really chapped Jesus's ass. I think he was quoted in one of the Lost Dead Sea Scrolls as saying, who did it? Who just clapped? I swear to dad, next mother trucker I catch clapping is getting female dogs slapped all the way back to Bethlehem

Church does have an acapella choir as Singing is an important part of their worship and everybody knows Jesus loved an acapella choir Obviously huge acapella guy all members sing at the same time to maintain strict uniformity during church No fucking showboating. All right, Mariah Carey easy Christina Aguilera uh the uh there are three daily prayer meetings throughout the week two on Sundays plus one consecration or consecration uh i.e. declaring bread and wine uh to either be uh or represent

the body and blood of Jesus on Sunday morning the church hosts Sunday school for both the adults and little ones. Gotta get the little ones. Good and brainwashed. While their skulls are still soft. During the Sunday sermon, the preacher slash minister will read Bible passages and present material to be studied throughout the week. Afterwards, hymns and prayers are recited and voluntary donations are given. Sunday service starts off with hymns and prayers. Members recite the Bible, sing more hymns, but don't clap! Then a shorter sermon is given that builds on the talk from the Sunday School. The first daily prayer starts at 5 a.m. never too early to get your Lord on

and lasts for about an hour. The service includes a talk that helps members remember the lesson from Sunday School. The second meeting starts at 9 a.m. This meeting is mostly for women. Female church members lead the talk at this part of the day. The 9 a.m. prayer reportedly established by the first apostle after he learned that one of his followers was being abused by her husband because he was such a nice guy. True gentleman. Nice guy who sexually abused at least some of these women. This meeting in theory would give women a place to express themselves and develop status within the congregation.

The third meeting takes place at 6 30 p.m. Follows a similar structure as the 5 a.m. meeting. Long ass day! Oh, a lot of lording on Sundays. Gotta take a nap if you're a heavenly light worker. Let's now take a moment to discuss the role of women in LLDM. Women can become missionaries or evangelizers which are actually considered the lowest tiers within the church. Wives of important members can obtain the role of deaconess which is a highly select position within the church that only a few women ever

obtain. How lucky. Women are very active in the church playing an important organizational and administrative roles. They can lead women's groups but never men's groups. Heavens no. That's a crazy thought. Bicycles meant to be ridden. They don't ride you. They don't lead you around. You get it, maybe. A woman with a woman brain teaching a man something? Might as well let a dog read the service. Jesus was very clear on what he thought about women when he said in first Corinthians, I believe, fuck her in the pussy. And if she tries to teach you something, fuck her in the mouth. Uh, doesn't that sound Jesus? Then he followed that teaching by taking a few moments to dap it up

with his apostles while they all giggled and repeated, bros before hos, bros before hos. Yeah. A deaconess can't assist pastors and deacons but cannot administer ever the sacrament. If a woman ever administered the sacrament, a plague of demons would probably literally rise up out of the ground and they start eating everybody like a bunch of angry mushroom zombies in The Last of Us. Or the church could spontaneously explode. One member said in an interview that women are viewed as equal to men in social spheres and are believed to have equal capacities for higher education and careers But there are limits to how far they can advance in the church hierarchy

So they're not viewed as equal. I don't think that member understands what equality means. Women are also taught to submit to their husbands and on that we agree That's fucking awesome. That's righteous. And that's why I became a member of this organization this week. Mm-hmm That's righteous and that's why I became a member of this organization this week. Mm-hmm. They said I could hit Lindsay if she didn't submit. Oh and I have. Don't be sad for her. Be upset. Be upset by her. Once she gets right with God, well then the punches stop, don't they? It's pretty simple, pretty fair, pretty righteous, pretty heavenly and just. She must submit. Can you imagine? What if I took that turn here? What an epic bait and switch that would be after all these episodes. Be like, I did it. I

found my church. I'm gonna fucking smack lens around. She's gonna be docile. It's gonna be a great life. In the early 2000s the church did begin promoting women to PR positions that were previously reserved for men. How very progressive. A couple women have even served as legal representatives of the church as well as a spokesperson, director of social communication, assistant director of international affairs. Women have also served as directors of LLDM family services, a violence prevention and intervention center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, directors of social work and psychology within the Ministry of Social Welfare, directors of

the Samuel Joaquin Flores Foundation, and directors of the Association of Students and Professionals in the US. And all of that is a great way to help with recruiting. Make it seem like the organization is good for women instead of the truth that it harbors, enables, and protects serial abusers of women. LLDM church leaders teach the importance of community service and exercising your right to vote and they teach that science is a gift from God. That's actually good. LLDM considers the Bible to be the only source of doctrine

and that the Bible contains sufficient rules of faith for salvation. But, asterisks on that. They say that but then they also let the Apostle basically create new scripture. LLDM attempts to maintain uniforming of their teachings and beliefs in all congregations around the world. LLDM also teaches, and how wild is this, that there was no salvation on earth between the death of the last Apostle John in 96 AD and the 1926 calling of the next Apostle, church founder, Aaron Joaquin. No one knows for starters exactly when John died. A lot of Christian sources say 98 AD, many say

99 AD, some say 96. More importantly, these guys teach that no Christians were able to attain salvation from 96 CE to 1926. So for over 1800 years, everybody who went to a Christian church, no matter how pious, no matter how devout, they're all wasting their time because their churches were fake. So I guess, la luz del mundo, believers are cool worshiping a God who is a massive cold-blooded sadistic prick who plays fucked up games with his worshipers and just lets them burn in hell. sadistic prick who plays fucked up games with his worshipers and just lets them burn in hell. Even when they do their best. Even when they follow all of his egomaniacal rules.

Even though he knows they're gonna burn regardless. And not for a few hours, but for forever. Why would anyone worship a deity that completely monstrous? Wait, I think I know. Desperation, social pressure, cognitive dissonance, sunk cost fallacy, deep longing for answers to the unanswerable desire that places desire before reason. That shit bums me out. So many people choosing to add so much fear and sadness and confusion to their lives. Like other restorationists, LLDM members believed that the Christian Church was founded by Jesus Christ around 2,000 years ago and then after the Apostles died the original church became corrupt and was quickly lost. LDM also as I touched on earlier rejects the doctrine of the Holy Trinity. They believe in a one and universal God and that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and Savior of the world but not a part of the Trinity.

The church believes that baptism in the name of Jesus for forgiveness of sins and baptism with the Holy Spirit is necessary for entrance into heaven. Faith alone just won't cut the mustard. Perpetually angry and sadistic sky daddy who has no reason to ever be angry or cruel since he is all-powerful and all-knowing and can fix literally any problem or indulge in literally any desire will not allow you to get in heaven unless you fucking go through the ritual. You have to follow a bunch of weird rules to the letter or fuck you forever. Seriously, why would a true God literally ever be angry with his creations? Just think about that. Why? If he can alter his creations at will. He's omnipotent, all-powerful. Somebody make that make sense to me because it has never made sense. God has no reason to be angry.

Children can be baptized at the age of 14 and La Luz del Mundo, aka LLDM, and these kids like the rest of the members are fully expected to contribute their time, labor, and money to the church. All these members are forbidden from drinking alcohol, using tobacco because their bodies are temples. Temples to be fucked by the leader. All these members are forbidden from drinking alcohol, using tobacco because their bodies are temples. Temples to be fucked by the leader. According to the secular nonprofit online magazine, Religion Dispatches, independent scholarly estimates put worldwide membership somewhere around 7 million people. A lot of high estimates out there. I hope that's too high.

These guys are, as you will see, so vile. Once we get, by the time we get to the end of this episode, you're like, oh, okay, now this is terrible. The website reports in its history, aesthetics, and social structure, though, Luz del Mundo's closest relative is probably the Mormon Church. There are Catholic overtones in LLDM, odd echoes of Hasidic Jewish sex, and a strong streak of Mexican nationalism, but the overall effect, as with the Latter-day Saints is a kind of structured elaborate Protestantism. Azusa Street baptized into bureaucracy a Martin Luther Baroque. Both LDS Church and LLDM consider themselves to be a new Israel. Both have living Apostles. Neither church uses crosses and worship. Both churches believe in modern-day revelations and

they have centralized authorities and temples. Alright, let us now focus on probably the most important part of LLDM, the Apostles themselves. Right after we take this week's first of two mid-show sponsor breaks, if you don't want to hear these ads, well sign up on Patreon. Become a Space Lizard! Hello meat sack. Now let's learn more about the Apostles. Sorry if this seems redundant but it's good to really understand their core beliefs. LLDM believes the Apostles are directly chosen by God to preach the will of God and salvation. They believe that back in 1926, Aaron Joaquin called to restore the original church and that has been their mission ever since. Keep

it going. Despite the fact that all the Apostles have come from the same family, the church claims that succession is determined by divine calling and not by kinship. Uh-huh. The church teaches that it is the only true Christian church because it is led by their Apostle, whom they consider the only true servant of God on earth at the current time. Rather than Christmas or Easter, the most important church holiday is the Holy Supper, Santa Sena in Spanish, celebrated on August 14th to honor founder Aaron Joaquin's birthday. So no false idols but the most important day is the founder's

birthday. Got it. The church also celebrates the birthday of the current Apostle, Nason Joaquin, May 7th. Directly beneath the apostles are the pastors who lead their individual branches of LLDM, all pastors expected to undertake missionary tasks. Church deacons expected to administer sacraments. Church managers called encargados. They're the ones who grant permits to members who want to leave the church's community in like Guadalajaraara where a true cult compound exists

either for vacation or for work and there's you know these encargados at other communes. Laborers the lowest level assist with missionary work. Within LLDM a mission is a church that is unable to provide fully for the religious needs of its members. Missions depend on a congregation which is administered by a minister. A group of several members. Missions depend on a congregation, which is administered by a minister. A group of several congregations in their missions form a district. Every country that has multiple LLDM churches

is divided into districts. Shifting focus back to the top level, LLDM has been accused of creating a cult of personality centered around the apostles, and members have been accused of worshiping the leaders, rather than worshiping Christ. For example, towards the end of the second apostle Samuel Joaquin's life, LLDM members used Bibles with his speeches and epistles added to the end as if what he had written was equal to what the prophets of old had written. Members also decorate their homes, as I said,

with pictures of the current apostle and previous apostles. It's considered a great honor and a blessing just to stand in the apostle's presence. Huge honor if you get sexually abused by him. Not kidding actually. That is what victims of the apostle have claimed to have been told. Alba Lopez, a member based in the church's home city, spoke of how much of an honor it was just to be in his presence in a 1998 interview with LA Times saying it's something supernatural You feel great happiness seeing him. I bet you do. I bet you do Alba, but not supernatural Not like how you think it is What she felt is explained in part I think by a combination of these psychological concepts of behavioral conditioning and elevation Let's start with behavioral conditioning

of behavioral conditioning and elevation. Let's start with behavioral conditioning. You feel something supernatural because you have been trained, perhaps for your entire life, to truly believe that this person is the most important, most holy person on earth. You have been trained, conditioned to worship Him. You receive praise, positive reinforcement from your family, in your social circle circle whenever you do. Any hint of disbelief is met with ridicule, disgust, or some other form of punishment.

When you finally see this person, well you have been conditioned to think, or who you have been conditioned to think is supernatural, of course you're going to feel something you believe to be supernatural. It's what you've literally been trained to feel. What you have been conditioned to feel. It's like an emotional placebo effect is occurring. You likely experienced what psychologists call elevation once you are in the presence of this apostle.

Elevation is an uber positive emotion experienced when witnessing acts of virtue or moral beauty, often described as a warm uplifting feeling within the chest. It's characterized by a sense of awe, inspiration. It's very powerful, perhaps even a seemingly supernatural feeling, typically triggered by witnessing acts again of kindness, courage, compassion, other virtuous behaviors. And it only makes sense that this powerful feeling would be triggered by seeing somebody who you believe, who you have been trained your whole life to believe, literally embodies the highest virtue,

godly virtue. Of course you're gonna experience some of the most if not the most powerful emotions of your entire life. And a good grifter will convince you that these feelings, these oh-so-unreliable, often misunderstood emotions, are God's will, and love and approval. That these feelings prove you're in the presence of God. That you are on the one true path. But if that were really true, if you really were receiving a type of confirmation that you are in the presence of the one true God is described by organized religion, then why do people from faiths that worship very, very different gods all feel this exact same emotion across the world? Gotta watch out for those feelings. Cannot rely on emotions for big decisions, I don't think.

In 2020, former youth minister Joel Durand told the LA Times that children are taught to revere the apostle through songs. Hello, brainwashing. And that the church instills fear in people in regards to speaking out against the Apostle. Hello behavioral punishment. He said we're taught he's a spiritual being. He can see through you. He knows all your sins. He can absolve you of your sins. He just is perfect being and we can't question it. Cult, cult. Cult. Are you fucking kidding me? I said, are you fucking kidding me? Sadly, no Miles. Not kidding you.

Andrew Chestnut, professor of religious studies at Virginia Commonwealth University, told LA Times that LLDM is too large to be considered a cult, but stated that the church is a cult of personality. Garcia took on godlike roles saying he could not be judged that the church is a cult of personality. Garcia took on god-like roles saying he could not be judged that he was like a king. Chestnut explained that people are drawn to LLDM because of the strong sense of community, because the church has very clear absolutes on the right way of living. This can give people a, you know, strong sense of comfort, structure, safety. Chestnut also noted that hierarchical churches based around strong pastors lend themselves to

certain kinds of abuse. And this church has the strongest leader, right? The one apostle. An anonymous woman who came forward to report abuse within the church said in an interview that all the doctrine and teachings of this church, this cult, are based on the apostle. That without the apostle there is no church and there is no salvation. She described the Apostle as being revered as God on earth. Can't find a stronger leader than that. Can't find a better opportunity for abuse. And now let's meet all three Apostles and really delve into the horrific sexual abuse allegations against them in the timeline. While we currently don't have much more than speculation regarding the first apostle, you'll see that the further we go down the timeline, the closer to the present, the more

concrete allegations I'll share. Keep in mind it was much, much, much harder for victims of sexual abuse to be heard or to receive justice, you know, decades and decades ago, especially down in Mexico, than it is here today. Right? Mexico's government, historically very corrupt, more corrupt than America's, very likely to bury abuse allegations. I think that's why it took so long for one of these apostles to finally be stopped. Shrap on those boots, soldier. We're marching down a time suck timeline. Time Suck Timeline Eusebio Joaquin Gonzalez, the first grifter, I mean apostle, born on August 14th 1896 in

Colotlán, Jalisco Some sources list 1898 is the year of his birth Colotlán is a rural municipality of less than 20,000 people spread out over 250 square miles in the northern part of the state in The Nahuatl language the name means the place of scorpions fitting name for this dangerous fucking insect of a dude to come from the actual town of Colotlán has about 15,000 people living there today. I imagine far fewer lived there in 1896 has about 15,000 people living there today. I imagine far fewer lived there in 1896 from where we don't have a census records that I can find. Jalisco is a state in Western Mexico, the second largest state in the country with a

population of 8.3 million people per 2020 statistics. The capital of Jalisco is Guadalajara. According to Wikipedia, many of the characteristic traits of Mexican culture are originally from Jalisco. Hence the state's motto, Jalisco es Mexico. As a young man, Eusebio joined the constitutional army, fought during the Mexican Revolutionary War. The conflict started in 1910, led to the end of the dictatorship in the country and the beginning of a constitutional republic. Several revolutionaries, including the infamous Pancho Villa, who we did an episode about years ago, participated in that revolution. The new Constitution was drafted in 1917,

but violence continued well into the 1930s. In 1920, while on military leave with his father in Guadalajara, El Sabio met a woman named Alisa Flores, whom he married. How lucky for her to have God's one true apostle on earth proposed to her. Wow! At the beginning of 1926 while stationed in the state of Coahuila, Eusebio, or Aeosabio, excuse me, met two preachers using the alysses of Saulo and Silas aka Saul and Silas. They were two preachers from the

Iglesia Cristiana e Spirituala, the Christian spiritual church, the mother church that gave birth to the LLDM. Eusebio did not have any divine revelation. He did, you know, what nearly all cult leaders do when he founded his church. He took an existing belief system, slightly twisted its teachings, and presented it as something new. The Christian spiritual church's leadership tends to be authoritarian, hostile to other denominations, but the denomination is missionary minded, seeks to plant new churches wherever needed both nationally and internationally. Believers must be

baptized or rebaptized in Jesus' name in order to experience true salvation based on the oneness doctrine found in Acts of the Apostles chapter 2 verses 37 through 42. The traditional Protestant Trinitarian doctrine is rejected as being unbiblical and polytheistic. Members are taught that all other churches are erroneous, that only their doctrines and practices represent the true gospel. Come with us if you want to live. Members are not allowed to visit or have fellowship with believers of other denominations. Very culty that way. The pastor functions as a type of priest to whom members must

confess their sins. The pastor is a disciplinarian in charge of maintaining order and decorum with the congregation. They have the authority to remove rebellious members from the fellowship of the church or people who just question their shit too much. They can excommunicate any member critical of the cult leader. Women are prohibited from cutting their hair, wearing makeup or jewelry, wearing any form of pants. For god fucking god hates pants.

Their skirts and dresses must be no further than 20 centimeters from the tops of their shoes. Women must also cover their heads with scarves while praying. Men must be seated on opposite sides of the sanctuary during religious services. Men are prohibited from wearing shorts in public places." Right? Sound familiar? Right? We just went all over all of this with the LLDM. Clearly very, very similar churches because one morphed from the other. And the shorts stuff, God, it fucking still kills me. As if Jesus is totally cool with you putting on some shorts to wear while you're sitting on the couch reading the Bible.

But you step outside, grab the mail, fuck you buddy. That's what Jesus would say to you. If he could come down, if he chose to come down and confront you, he'd be like, fuck you, dude, fuck your shorts. Hope that small bit of comfort was worth never getting into heaven. You walking drip of pre-cum. That's one of Jesus's favorite insults, by the way, to call somebody a walking drip of pre-com. No one knows why he thinks it's so insulting and funny, but I like it. The real names of these two Christian

spiritual church missionaries were Antonio Munoz and Francisco Flores. They had been preaching for about two years before they ran into the Apostle, the Chosen One. They were controversial figures wherever they roamed because they spoke about prophecies, visions, and dreams. They believed that they had spiritual authority instead of the Bible being the only source of spiritual authority. According to Eusebio's obituary published in the Chronica Hellesco newspaper, Eusebio started to attend the reunions of preachers by the name of Saul and Silas. He convinced his wife to go with him.

The attitude and customs of these people surprised Eusebio. They didn't drink, they treated each other with the utmost respect, they studied the Bible, they put in practice the words of the Holy Scriptures. Eusebio was quickly baptized by these two preachers. He then resigned from the army and he and his wife began to work for Saul and Silas, helping them with missionary work. Around the same time, Eusebio also met a Pentecostal pastor named Francisco Borrego, whom he called his father in the faith. Borrego instructed him in understanding doctrine. And after studying for a few months, incredibly, Eusebio had a divine

revelation. What was it, you ask? God told him that he should open up a new church almost identical to the church he was a member of but with him as a king as God's one true apostle on earth. Interesting timing for his revelation. El Sabio founded La Luz del Mundo April 6, 1926. Just a few months after meeting those missionaries and starting to study with this pastor. Well he kind of founded it April 6 1926. That's what the church teaches now, but it's very revisionist history, which is so common in these situations, in these stories. He was actually still affiliated with the first church he'd been baptized in and would remain under the umbrella of that church for nearly a decade.

So he's getting a cut of their ties, all that kind of stuff, before he's ready to march out on his own. So they say now that like, yeah 1926 when we started to do our thing. Not really. That's when maybe he got the idea to start to do his own thing. Eusebio had his work cut out for him, build a new Iglesia Cristiana, a spiritual congregation. Mexico, very Catholic nation, even more Catholic back then. In 1920, 78% of the population still identified as Catholic. Back in 1970, 96%.

In the 1920s, approximately 95 to 98% of Mexico identified as Catholic. Eusebio had to either convince Catholics to abandon their church that all their friends and family were going to be members of, or find those, I don't know, two to five out of every hundred people who were not Catholic and convince them to either become religious or leave whatever other church they were a member of. April 6, 1926, Eusebio has another vision. Oh, what? Great news. In this vision, God told him to change his name from Eusebio to Aaron and also told him to leave Monterey where he and his wife were working for their two preachers.

And by God speaking to him, I mean Eusebio came up with a business plan entirely on his own, no God involved. One that would, you know, financially benefit him greatly and sexually benefit little Eusebio, Pequeño Eusebio, El Pequeño Apostol Arecho. The Little Horny Apostle. El Sebiol will now primarily be referred to going forward as Aaron. His dick will primarily be referred to as El Pequeño El Pastor Arecho. The Little Horny Apostle. According to Mectan anthropologist Rene de la Torre, who has studied the church for years and authored the book Los Gios de la Luz. The voice told Aeron to go to a land that I will show you.

The author will be referenced throughout the timeline as an expert source on LLDM. Aeron chose, I mean was instructed by God to leave the following Thursday. He went on a months-long journey preaching near the entrances of Catholic churches until he reached the city of Guadalajara December 12th 1926. Guadalajara, second largest city in Mexico, as I believe I stated, most Catholic city of the super-Catholic nation in many sources. Back in 1926, Guadalajara legitimately probably about 99% Catholic. And at the time, Catholics there generally pretty hostile towards the few Protestants that tried to intermingle amongst them.

According to Michael Schulson, an editor for the website Religion Dispatches, one neighborhood at the time had a bicyclist who pedaled around and ran their bell to alert those with an earshot that a door-to-door Protestant evangelist was in the area. Schulson wrote, but our own had military connections in local government and roots in the region. Elisa had been born in the city. After two decades of civil war and social reform, rural migrants had swelled Guadalajara's working classes. Arone soon built a following amongst poor Guadalajarans, in part by offering social

services. Arone Joaquin worked as a shoe vendor by day. In his spare time, soon a group of ten worshippers were meeting at he and his wife's apartment. During this very early phase, he began building the church's hierarchy, appointing the first deacons and deaconesses, which included his wife. He eventually appointed the first minister to oversee 14 new members in the city of Amaya Jalisco. According to the LA Times, the early church recruited members from jobless people returning

to Mexico from the US during the Great Depression. These people, slightly less Catholic overall than those who had not left Mexico, found hope in Arone's preachings. The church still appeals to working class people today, primarily Latinos, by promising to bring order to their lives per the LA Times. Experts say that members can find support networks that help them professionally. and that's how they get you. They genuinely do help you. Might fuck you later. Might fuck your daughter, but they also get you a job, right? They got you a job when you need one. They hooked you up with a landlord

when you couldn't find a place to live. They put some food in your belly when you were hungry. You scratch their back, they'll scratch your butthole or your daughter's vagina. In the late 1920s, Arohan Joaquin traveled to the Mexican states of, oh my gosh, this is a tough one for me to say, Michoacan, Nayarit, and Sinaloa.

I can do Sinaloa. Whenever it's like some of the indigenous words down there, I get a little confused. To gather more followers, unfortunately he would be somewhat successful. In 1931 the young church held its first Santacena holy supper to commemorate the crucifixion of Jesus and the church grew and as they grew they had to meet in rural areas because they feared complaints from their Catholic neighbors in the cities. Migrants, poorly educated, often illiterate migrants from the country made up a significant portion of the early church. Those poor

bastards. 1934, the growing new congregation had its first temple built in sector Libertad, one of four sectors in Guadalajara. Members had been heavily encouraged to purchase homes in that area in order to establish a church community. And this first temple was originally registered as part of the Iglesia Christiana, a spiritual, the Christian spiritual church, the one he plagiarized to form his own church, his own cult. He is still associated with him.

Aaron claimed that during the dedication, he received another message from God. Oh, Nito Burrito, I wouldn't know it. God told him that the church he was building was quote the light of the world and That they were the church of the living God pillar and ground of the truth God told him buddy Really, it's time. It's time you do your own thing After he received his powerful very true not made-up vision his congregation became known as la luz del mundo I keep trying to stop But still for a few more years

they were affiliated with Iglesia Cristiana Espiritual. In 1937 the LDM officially split from Iglesia Cristiana Evangelica Espiritual, this is full title, due to a disagreement with the current pastor general, Aaron's old mentor Francisco Borrego. Aaron thought that Aaron thought that he was God's most important vessel on earth by far. The new apostle and Francisco disagreed. In 1938, Aaron returned to the city of Monterey to continue preaching. There he learned that he had been baptized in the Trinitarian formula.

Uh-oh, and not in the name of Jesus Christ. Oh, what a careless mistake. So now Arone has himself rebaptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Oh, whew. Close call. And that marked his separation from the traditional Pentecostal community down there. 1939, the church's home base moves to a new location in southeast Guadalajara. They relocated because of an overall hostile environment against Protestants and formed another community of primarily church members. August of 1942, the church goes through an internal schism. What? This divide caused at least 250 members to leave LLDM.

Tensions had arisen after Arone Joaquin's birthday that year. The remaining congregation in Guadalajara, those who had drank the flavorade, so to speak, gave him flowers, perfume, and sang some hymns for him. And those acts led to further division. They caused a debate that led to the defection of three congregations in Mexico City, Coatla and San Pedro, Totoro Lapec, as well as two small missions in Cuernavaca and Ciudad Madero. The main issue was whether a servant of God's birthday should be celebrated by the congregation or birthdays in general. Why are we glorifying this guy in church? Because he's the one turned to apostle, you idiots!

Okay, and how do we know that? Because he fucking said so, all right? Because he had visions that no one else saw or heard. What more proof do you need? According to chapter 6 of the church's 2008 book that is considered just a bit blasphemous by many Christians, Hichos del Apostol Aaron, Acts of the Apostle Aaron, there were some pastors who for some time had wanted to separate from the church, had begun to plant the foundation for the argument of Aaron's corruption with the following harangue, Why does brother Aaron accept that people sing him hymns in honor of his birthday? Why does he accept flowers? Where in doctrine does it state that neckties should be worn?

Should the Church of God accept doctors and medics? Should birthdays be celebrated in the Church of God? At the end they, the pastors said, what a perfect work, what a marvelous act has God done for us? He brought us from impurity, from sin, from injustice, from evil. For love of Him we left properties, families, commodities. We've done good leaving everything for Jesus Christ, brothers. And if Arone were corrupted, would we consent his sin? No, shouted the church, having been deceived by these traitors. And they added, we will continue to defend the holy and pure doctrine until death. In the following Sunday School meeting, these pastors announced from their ministry,

Arone has been corrupted. Arone has been corrupted. The questions they threw at the church were without foundation. The dissidents weaved a tangled web of false arguments to arrive at the false accusation, the dishonor, the confrontation, and attacking the prestige of the servant of God. This book as you can imagine is a wee bit biased. Considering the authors who wrote it believed this clown to be a legit apostle. Anthropologist René de la Torre would explain that essentially this schism was a power struggle where Arone was accused of enriching himself at the expense of congregation members, which

he definitely was doing. Additionally, the dissidents spoke to a local paper called El Occidental and accused church members of committing immoralities with young women. And there it is, whisperings of sexual abuse back in the very beginning. Before we learn more about these whisperings, let's take today's second and two mid-show sponsor breaks. Thanks for listening to those sponsors. And now let's find out what rumors or abuse were swirling around the apostle back in 1942. Aaron was accused of committing adultery with a woman named Guadalupe Avalar back in 1938. Wait, did I say woman? I meant girl.

I meant very young girl. She was 13 and he was 40 so he should have been accused of pedophilia. But he was just a righteous 40-year-old apostle of God, fucking the seventh grader, lots of times, enough to get her pregnant, allegedly. Aaron reportedly had a child with Guadalupe named Abel Evelar, whom he would actually recognize later in his life. So doing some math, he was guilty. He did fuck a 13-year-old when he was 40.

Glory be to God. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Wait, are 13 year olds getting fucked by creepy dudes up in heaven? Oh, no. Back to the Great Schism of 1942 now. According to the church's book, Hechos del Apostol Aaron, act of the Apostle Aaron, Aaron was told of a heavy trial at the beginning of the year that would bear much fruit in the end. According to me, El Pequeño al Pastor Alecho was told, don't you worry little buddy, we're still gonna get you some fucking pussy. The dissidents who didn't want to risk having their daughters fucked by this creep. People who may have also been creeps. Allegations of other

men in the church molesting young female members have swirled since the church's early years. young female members have swirled since the church's early years went on to form La Iglesia Del Dios Vivo, Coloma y Pollo, De La Verdad, El Buen Pastor, The Church of the Living God, Pillar and Ground of the Truth, The Good Shepherd. God these folks love their fucking long-ass name. I want to open up a big-name church. Sounds fun. Let's see how just the biggest fucking sign out from the church just to fit in all the letters. Small font. Small font, but still need a gigantic sign. Here's my church name. The church of the living God, but also dead God, but not really a zombie God. But I can see how you could think that since the resurrected dude is kind of a zombie, but this guy is not really a guy.

He was a guy, but he's also a non-guy. Perfect God. So kind of like a perfect zombie, but maybe we should stop talking about zombies. Pillar and ground of truth. Temple of Heaven. Good Shepherd. Better Australian Shepherd. Golden Retrievers are also pretty cool. Sacrament. Holies of Holies.

Big sale that was supposed to be mostly homemade muffins, but a lot of kids just bought store cookies which is better than nothing, but not ideal. Wrecked League basketball on Wednesday nights behind the church. Restoration. Innovation. no cohabitation. Unless you put a ring on it, cuz if you like it then you should have put a ring on it. If you like it then you should have put a ring on it. Church of God on high! That's a fucking strong-ass name. Anyway.

This dissident schism church has similar doctrines and practices and like LLDM, their leaders considered a prophet who probably also molest people. Cool, cool, cool. The church is much smaller than LLDM with a membership of 17,800 people in Mexico in 2010. Okay, despite the controversy, August 14th becomes a day of celebration. For the LLDM to honor the Apostles birthday. All ministers were required to come to the main church in Guadalajara for the celebration. This custom later merges with Santa Sena after Aaron dies, which was previously observed in December or January. The August celebrations become known as La Santa Convocation, the Holy Convocation.

The purpose of the week-long celebration is for members to quote renew their pact with the Lord. And some members are supposed to quote, besa la boca del pequeño apostol Arecho. Kiss the mouth of the little horny apostle. The week ends with the Santa Sena on the Apostle's birthday. All the pilgrims wear white just as God instructed. Eat bread and drink wine to symbolize their renewed commitment to the church and to Eusebio, I mean, Orón, I mean God. In July of 1943, Orón has another vision. Wow, man, how cool for him. Hadn't been fun having all those super real legit visions. In this vision, he was told that his 1938 baptism by that fucking defector trader piece of shit,

either Antonio Munoz or Francisco Flores. Which one not mentioned sources? He was told that his 1938 baptism by that fucking defector trader piece of shit, either Antonio Munoz or Francisco Flores, which one not mentioned sources I can find, not valid. Damn it. He has been baptized twice now and both times they fucked up. But he was already an apostle of God when he got baptized incorrectly in 1938. That's weird. He'd been one for 12 years. So you would think that by that point he knew what he was doing. That he knew God's will better than anyone else on earth since that's what he literally claimed. How did he still fuck up his baptism? Is God just a poor communicator? He must be. His followers can't seem to agree on shit. Gotta tighten up the messaging, bro. Now, Arone needed to rebaptize himself in Jesus' name to actually be considered baptized and be eligible for salvation.

Crazy it took God five years to make that decision. Good thing Arone didn't die between 1938 and 1943 and then not get into heaven because of a weird ass technicality. In these stories, it starts to feel to me like heaven's being run by somebody from the fucking DMV or a mortgage lender or somebody. Sorry, yeah. No, this form wasn't properly notarized. The stamp falls just outside of the accepted margins, so we can't let you in. You were not correctly baptized. Best of luck in hell. That same year, 1943, the entire congregation was rebaptized under the threat of excommunication. Sucks for the families you know of people who died in the years preceding 1943. Had to been tough to find out all those people just now were burning in hell. This was a big power

move when Aaron baptized himself he signified that baptisms are only legitimate if he performs them. He was in this way making himself even more important than Jesus. Right? Jesus' grace can't flow through just anybody. Jesus' love only flows through him now. So you better stay in his good graces, for your soul is forfeit. You fucking dipshoot. You doo-doo head. You drip a pre-cum. 1954, Arone secured land on the outskirts of eastern Guadalajara. That would become another church community. It would be named Hermosa Provincia, beautiful province. Orón's goal was to have his Guadalajara congregation all in one place so he could control them effectively. Cult, cult, cult. So he sold the land to church members at reduced prices. LDM began providing health care, education, other urban services to

residents of Hermosa Provincia. They even received assistance in providing these services from municipal sources like a state sanctioned cult compound. Still there today, weird culty neighborhood inside Guadalajara. In 1959 residents formed the Association of Colonists of Hermoso Provincia to petition the local government so they could govern themselves without outside interference. Wouldn't want those pesky police officers looking too closely what we're doing to some of our members here. The concept of Hermosa Provincia has since been replicated throughout Mexico and abroad, but it is very hard to find info on the inner workings of most of these communities. Very secretive, very patriarchal, places where victims would have a very hard time

being heard. Michael Schulson wrote about the Hermosa Provincia community in his article about the church for religion dispatches. He wrote, there is no clear border to Hermosa Provincia. The colorful walls of Guadalajara's citrus-lined streets just grade into whitewashed buildings. Their window sashes and doors painted gold. Deeper in the district in the fenced Huerto Guizamane, where tropical birds cry out in cages and our own lies buried beneath a great metal Bible, across the street is the main temple built in the 1980s, early 1990s. The building is white and its sloping surface, like a 26-story tall circus tent, is paneled. The effect, whether intended or not, is of stairs marching up to heaven. Alternately, the building resembles the arched back of some great albino reptile

or a pangolin on his hind legs trying to lick the sky. Yeah, it's fucking weird looking. Inside, it's a hollow cone. You can look up 80 meters to the underside of the church's spire. The centerpiece of the altar is a replica arc of the covenant sitting on a little lawn of astroturf. Okay, not weird at all. That's cool. In the early 60s, the final years of

Arone's life, the church started missionary efforts in Central America. By this point, they were supposedly, according to the church, and they are fucking liars, who knows, 64 congregations and 35 missions. By 1964, the church, again according to the church, had between 20,000 and 30,000 members spread out across five countries. The church eventually expanded into the U.S. That definitely happened and has branches all across the country now. So that's fun. Rumors swirled that Essobio, Joaquin Gonzalez aka Orón and El Pequeño, El Apostol, Arrecho, his horny little apostle, continued to have sexual relationships with underage girls.

Aaron Joaquin died June 9, 1964 at the age of 67. Poor guy lived 67 years too long. Church members believed that God just happened to select the next apostle to be his 27-year-old son Samuel Joaquin Flores, born on February 14th, 1937, even though he could pick anybody else in the world. Samuel, the youngest of Aaron's eight children, and more allegations of sexual improprieties will surround him than surrounded his father. Church history says that Samuel was stillborn, but that he then began breathing air, or just began breathing, after Aaron lifted his body up to God and quote, blew with strength in his mouth and called to him in a loud voice,

Samuel, Samuel, Samuel. Wow! Man, Aaron and God working hard together to bring that baby back to life. I mean, neither could have done it on their own. Too weak, but together? Oh, hot dang! So strong. Thank Aaron that God had Aaron to help him with those with that miracle. Samuel continued focusing on missionary efforts, traveled abroad often when he took over. He'd run the church for a half century, a full 50 years. He was an especially charismatic leader who was revered by his followers. Michael Schulson describes Samuel Joaquin in photos as, hail and coiffed with bleached teeth.

described Samuel Joaquin in photos as hale and coiffed with bleached teeth. He gives off a kind of stiff benevolent virility like the spokesperson for an herbal testosterone booster. That is a very funny description to me. Anthropologist Patricia Fortuny met Samuel in person, described him as a megalomaniac, saying he's the strength of the church but at the same time he's the weakness of the church. In 1998, the LA Times described one of the services led by Samuel, saying, In the pre-dawn darkness, the floodlit cathedral looms like a snow-covered mountain over this poor neighborhood. Inside, 15,000 faithful have been waiting for two hours, but they show no sign of fatigue. They are expecting their Moses. Suddenly, a pudgy preacher in a brown suit strides up the marble stairs to

the altar, a golden tree trunk. Thousands of worshipers break into chest heaving sobs. Others furiously wave white handkerchiefs and cry, Glory to Christ! Samuel Joaquin has arrived! Member Vicenza Iquaya told the LA Times, There are no words to explain what he is. It's something divine. there are no words to explain what he is. It's something divine. Ah, but since there are words to explain what he was. Sexual predator. By 1970, La Luz del Mundo. La Luz del Mundo! Sorry. Why is that so fun for me? It's probably very annoying.

By 1970, the church had large branches in Costa Rica, Colombia, Guatemala. By 1972, the church claims it had 72,000 members. Over the next decade, they would allegedly experience massive growth, claiming 1.5 million members worldwide by 1986 and then 4 million worldwide by 1993. Patricia Fortuny said this growth could be attributed to several factors, including the social services offered by the church like schools and hospitals. Okay, well I mean that would make sense. Construction of the church's new main temple in Guadalajara started in 1983. Samuel had the first temple in Hermosa provincia demolished and then replaced. It was built to hold 8,000 people.

Construction began July 3rd, ended August 1st 1992. Church members did most of the construction free of charge. So a little bit of abuse there. According to former church spokesman Joel Silva who later came out against LLDM. The temple signifies the presence of the church before society. There are two human torsos on top of the pillars. One represents Arone, the other represents Samuel. The statues hold an almond branch to represent God's choice. human torsos on top of the pillars. One represents Aaron, the other represents Samuel. The statues hold an almond branch to represent God's choice. Wow, beautiful. Brings a tear to my eye. In his interview for the 2023 Netflix documentary, The Darkness Within, La Luz del Mundo, Silva explained how Samuel inspired many to become unconditionals, a class of especially dedicated

congregants who signed letters promising their complete devotion and loyalty to the church. Anything the church asks of them they are expected to do and that sounds pretty culty. Because of that, because of being a unconditional, Silva said he couldn't choose a girlfriend for himself or decide where he wanted to live. Sammy made all those decisions and that is definitely culty. Cult culty. Cult, cult, cult. Silva claims he was told a week in advance that he was going to get married. He and four other unconditional couples got married on the same day. He had never even spoken to his wife before then.

Yet they accepted the marriage because they thought Samuel was, you know, God's chosen emissary, had God's wisdom. Another individual who shed light on the unconditionals is Jorge Urdale, former pastor who became a leader of an anti-cult group. Urdale became one of LLDM's harshest critics. He saw them as nothing but a dangerous cult. Urdale, who was also co-editor of the academic journal for the study of religions in Mexico City, wrote a book about abuse in a variety of churches in Mexico and really kind of focused, dedicated a lot of pages on the LLDM. And LLDM would then accuse him of trying to make money off of, you know, sensationalism.

Erdogan and another anti-cult group asked the government to strip La Luz del Mundo of its legal recognition, which would bar them from owning land, operating schools, and operating hospitals. They cited Mexican laws that prevented religious groups, prevent religious groups from harming members or supporting political parties. LLDM does both. Erdelay wrote an article published in the July 2004 edition of Proceedings of the Four International Congress of Social Religious Studies which described how the unconditional's pledge lifelong obedience to the Apostle directly. Their entire lives are planned out for them. They're monitored, you know, heavily for their loyalty. The Unconditionals are also responsible

for surveilling and controlling other members, right? That level of control, definitely cult-like. The article alleged that Samuel had an armed group of Unconditionals whose purpose was to intimidate dissidents. And that's scary. Church members have of course denied these allegations. In the 1990s, the second generation of the church goes through another scandal when Samuel is now accused of sexual abuse. May 18th, 1997, a group of women, exactly how many not named in sources, appeared on the Mexican network, Televisia, to report that they were sexually abused by Samuel two decades prior in the 1970s. And that right there makes me wonder about my dad. Hear me out. If you've listened to the show for

any length of time, you know that my dad has probably, pretty much definitely, murdered a lot of people. Has he admitted it? No. Has he been charged? No. Has he ever been brought in for questioning? Not to my knowledge. But he still has not provided solid evidence that he hasn't killed a lot of people in my mind. And now I also have to wonder, did he help run a sex cult in Mexico beginning in the 1970s? Hear me out. My dad was in his early 20s in the mid 70s. He was 20 years old when he met my mom, who was, at the time, get ready for this, 16. So, when my dad was an adult man, out of his teens,

he was for sure 100% fucking at least one underage girl. My mom, come on, my mom is exhibit A, in argument here Also, my dad was definitely, uh, you know He definitely went to Mexico because I was with him and I for sure saw him check out some Mexican women Right when I was like 12 he was into him. I fucking know he was I Know I know he likes her sexy ass tan skin thick dark beautiful hair My big brown eyes incredible curves. I'm pretty sure he went to Mexico with some buddies in 70s Add it all up. what do you get? Yeah, you get my dad was probably fucking Mexican teens. It's all, it's all right there.

He was also raised by a doomsday preacher, right? That's kind of culty. I think at the very least he should be investigated for sex crimes related to the LLDM, right? And if he got a taste for doing that shit in the 70s, well then does he still have a taste for it? How long has it been going on? You won't fucking tell me. He's still horny. I know he is. It's time to expand DadWatch.

Which, you know, many of you know, stands for dads are disappearing where all the corpses hide. We need to now open a sister organization called Sad Bum. Sad Bum, okay? Stop adult dads banging underage Mexicans. Can we all agree that it's wrong for adult dads to bang underage Mexicans? If you don't think that's wrong, well I got some news for you. You're either a fucking pedo, a pedo enabler, or a racist who doesn't care what happens to Mexicans. God, I hope I get some Cummins law emails from all that.

Please, Nimrod, please. Also, if you're very confused, Dad Watch is an old time psych reference. Don't be sad if you missed it. Be happy that you're on the ground floor for sad bum. I fucking can't make. I said, I fucking can't make. Don't make fun of me, Miles.

Don't stop. Stop it, Miles. Refocusing now, Joel Silva, that former church spokesman, explained that after the 1997 Heaven's Gate mass suicide, the media in Guadalajara reached out to ask if LLDM would do something similar. The story slash accusations eventually made their way to a national news program and the church's PR team went on the program to defend la luz del mundo. Silva was one of those who defended the church. But right before the interview started, they were told they were also going to be discussing a group of people who had accused the leader of sexual abuse and the team was not prepared for

that. Silva said that was the first time on a national level that someone had publicly reported abuse within the church to his knowledge. A few months later, August 17th, former member Moises Padilla Iniguez publicly accused Samuel Joaquin of sexually abusing him when he was a teen. And he was not the only accuser. In total, nine people would speak out against LLDM at this time, including two men. At first, Silva thought they were all liars, but soon he started to have doubts. The testimony they were giving began to feel genuine to him. Former member Betzabe Gonzalez did an interview for the Darkness Within, La Luz del Mundo documentary. She too reported she was

sexually abused by Samuel. She explained that her parents saw the temple in Los Angeles and were intrigued. They liked the church's teachings. She grew up in LLDM, thought her life was completely normal. They were taught that God chose Samuel to be the apostle and in line with that, they were taught that even questioning that was a sin because that meant you were questioning God's decisions. Cult, cult, cult. Betzabe explained that they were taught to the apostle praise for their families. Everything they have is because of him. Thanks to him. She said she felt love toward Samuel, considered him to be her father more so than her own biological father

because, you know, he guaranteed her and her family salvation. She said that it was known that the Apostle needed time to rest because of all the work he was doing for humanity and that sometimes he would come to Los Angeles for a little rest. And the Apostle needed a staff to run his large household. More on that later. And the apostle needed a staff to run his large household. More on that later. Betsabe was chosen to be part of the staff when she was 14. Which makes total sense, right? Everyone with half a brain knows if you want a house cared for and cleaned correctly, you get a 14 year old to do the job. And no shade there by the way 14 year old suckers. It's just that by and large you're you're not part of a demographic known for exceptionally strong housekeeping

skills. Also, and this is not me being creepy, but she's truly a beautiful woman now, Bezabe, and was a very pretty teen. Her parents should have been alarmed that a middle-aged dude wanted their pretty 14-year-old daughter spending a lot of time with him around his fucking house. But Bezabe, her parents thought it was a blessing to be so close to the Apostle. You know, what an honor. She explained how if the Apostle stayed for a week, they had to try and outdo themselves every day that week, making his life as peaceful and relaxing and as enjoyable as

possible. Right, every meal the Apostle ate had to be a delicious five-course meal. The teen girls who were part of the general housekeeping staff, a good portion of the housekeeping staff was teen girls, also would do dance performances for Samuel. She noted that those performances were not sexual and I would say, well, maybe not for her, but I would bet on my life they were for him. She said that a few of these girls who danced were then selected to be part of a smaller, private group that would attend to the apostle in other ways, almost like those dancers were dancing as a form of audition. But Sabe was one of the girls who was selected. At first, she would bring him coffee.

Then she would give him shoulder massages. Then she said that Samuel's first secretary, a woman named Rosy Sosa, approached her and told her the Apostle needed something a little extra. She didn't realize until years later that she was being groomed right now. She was now instructed to sneak into the Apostle' room late at night, so she did. You know, Rosy Sosa, just a regular fucking Galane Maxwell at this point. She said her memories are foggy after the point that Samuel entered the room, but she, because of fucking PTSD, but she recalled that when she was leaving, Secretary Rosy Sosa grabbed a handkerchief and used it to clean up some blood

off of her fucking thighs and it was blood from her hymen. She had been manipulated into giving up her virginity to Samuel quote as a gift and she was not alone. All the girls he would select were being groomed. Another former member, Caram Leon, said that she had her first sexual experience at the age of 16. And it was again with Samuel. She knew that what happened to her was wrong, so she decided to leave home because she didn't want to be exiled from her family for speaking out or get her family exiled. She kept quiet.

She eventually got married, had a daughter. She knew she didn't want her daughter to experience what she did, so she stopped attending church. Jose Guerrero, Caram's ex-husband at 17 years, said in his documentary interview for the darkness within La luz del mundo, that they were going to sign unconditional follower letters when Kerem told him to sit down so she could tell him why she did not go to the church. She asked him if he remembered the time he stopped to visit her and she couldn't talk. She was too upset because she'd had a sleepover with another woman. She said she did go with that woman and then that woman took her to Samuel who sexually

abused her. When she told him she was going dancing, she said she was going to dance naked for Samuel. Jose was angry. He wanted to know more. They talked to Karam's family who completely rejected the idea that the apostle could be an abuser. Karam's father said that they were wrong, told Caram to quote, stop that nonsense. And you know what? Fuck that guy. If it ever came down to a choice to believe my own fucking daughter or some random preacher, coach, teacher, neighbor, et cetera, I believe my daughter.

At the very, very least, before I get any of the facts, I'm going to choose to be on her side. And everybody else will have to prove my trust in her To be wrong, right? Fuck dads who do not stand up for their daughters Above other people in their life preachers, whatever Kareem's dad said the Bible was written for us sinners. He's a saint and he's sinless God he said that they should pray for the devil to leave Kareem's body, but she was dead to them if she ever left the church Yeah, double fuck that dad. Despite having a father with a spine of a jellyfish and the brain of a fucking

bull to dog shit, Caram was one of the brave women who would come forward in 1997. The police did interrogate Samuel according to former spokesman Joel Silva. He witnessed the interview and noted that two officers questioned Samuel in his home on his terms and that the officers were shaking with fear as they did so. Right? That they believe this fucking guy was God's one true apostle. The accusers never had a chance. The church treated the 1997 scandal as a positive example of someone trying to destroy the reputation and being unable to do so and it only made him stronger. Fun. February of 1998, former member Moises Padilla reported that he was kidnapped and attacked by two gunmen now.

He blamed Samuel Joaquin for the kidnapping and for an earlier attack where he said he was allegedly beaten by men who warned him against denouncing the church leader. The story was published in a March 1998 LA Times article covering the church. Padilla, 33 years old at the time of this article's publication, accused Samuel of raping him when he was a teen. He reported that gunmen kidnapped him outside his home in Guadalajara for speaking out. This kidnapping was witnessed by a neighbor. They handcuffed him, drove him to the outskirts of the city where they ripped off his clothes, attacked him with a dagger. One of them allegedly said, now you're going to now you're not going to talk idiot. He said he made his way to the roadside to get help after the kidnappers left him for dead. He was cut 57 times. Although most of the cuts were small, a doctor did say he would have died of blood loss had he not gotten

help when he did. Joel Silva, who at this point was still representing the church, denied that LLDM had anything to do with the attack and accused Padilla of orchestrating the assault himself to make his sexual abuse allegations seem more credible. Pretty fucking wild that he would arrange to have himself stabbed 57 times. I'm not a possible. People do crazy shit, but that's pretty extreme. Investigators also said that the victims who came forward in 1997 were not being fully cooperative and that was the reason no charges were ever brought against Samuel. Hmm. Former members said they believed the legal system favored the church.

And as I've gone over in previous episodes, Mexico's government, historically, wildly corrupt. A lot of bribery. The church in all likelihood could have easily paid off investigators. To make allegations against their apostle just disappear. Joel Silva, while he did not believe accusations against Samuel for years, finally left the church when he learned that his own fiance had once been sexually abused by the Apostle. Former member Amporo Aguilar, who was 31 years old at the time, she spoke to a reporter for the LA Times, told them that almost 20 years earlier, so what, when she was around 12, 13, she was invited to Samuel's home in Hermosa Provencia.

A female assistant took her to Samuel, who was lying in bed. She told the LA Times, he asked me if I could get rid of his headache. I said how? I have no pills, no aspirin. Samuel and his assistant then grabbed her, stripped her of her clothing. She resisted, but they, Samuel and his female assistant, how fucking gross, pinned her to the bed and then Samuel raped her. Aguilar said they made me promise not to say anything because if I did, God would punish

me. So fucked up. In 1998 Amparo reported the rape to the Religious Affairs Department of Mexico's Interior Ministry. The department passed the report to the state prosecutor. Aguilar's lawyer Jose Ramundo Meza said that three other former members had also filed similar complaints of rape or sexual abuse in 98. The prosecutor's office confirmed it received four reports of sexual abuse but said it was unlikely there would be a trial because of how long ago the alleged crimes occurred. The church gets away with it again. LLDM unsurprisingly denies the accusations.

Spokesman Joel Silva, who again was still supporting the church at this time, was quoted as saying, not one of the alleged abuses disseminated by the media has been proven true by authorities. According to the LA Times, Samuel appeared at the Guadalajara temple and said in response to the allegations, what do they want? To turn this temple we built into a dance hall? A home of prostitution?

Oh boy, the rapist in righteous man's clothing. Such a tired old trope. Samuel asked his congregation if they would be destabilized by the accusations to which they responded loudly and in unison. No! Some church members actually published a book and made fucking posters attacking the accusers who came forward in 1997 and 1998. They said that their critics just could not tolerate their faith. Cult. Cult. Cult, cult, cult. News of the reports made their way to Ontario, California where LLDM was seeking to open a new church.

Local residents who had not been yet indoctrinated into this cult and still viewed things fucking rationally pushed back after the sexual abuse allegations came out. Lourdes Oregues, an Ontario professor in protest at the church, told the LA Times, on the one hand we want to maintain freedom of religion. On the other hand, we want to zero in on these destructive sex that abuse communities and individuals. Aruegues began to investigate the church after hearing reports from Mexican colleagues and students. She explained that her objections to the temple were not because of religious intolerance. We're not talking here about theology. Or whether you believe in Jesus Christ, what we're talking about is purported criminal activity. Yeah, but why not also detest their

theology? I'm so sick of the religious tolerance argument. Why? Why do you have to be tolerant of religion? You don't. You do not have to be tolerant of the religious beliefs of others if you find them morally abhorrent and in fact I think it's fucking weird to do- to not- to be tolerant, right? Just like somebody can protest a Planned Parenthood clinic because it flies in the face of their beliefs. Generally religious beliefs. Stand on the public sidewalk, you know, in front of it, signs about how terrible it is. Well you can also show up on the public sidewalk outside of a church that has beliefs you detest with your own fucking signs, and you can talk about how terrible you find their God and their beliefs, right? If one's fair, the other's fair.

Saying, oh no, stop, it's my religion. That should exempt fucking no one from criticism. Our way gaze explained that she worried about the church's totalitarian control of powerless people and how this could affect vulnerable immigrants. Ontario officials were meeting with residents researching the church while considering the necessary permits needed to operate a church in a commercial zone. Despite the protest, city spokesman George Urch said the local police checked with other cities that have LLDM churches and they reported no problems. LLDM would then purchase an Ontario property in 1995, apply for a construction permit in 97, would not win permission to build until 2008.

Then construction started soon afterwards and is still going on. As of this recording over 15 years later at 1140 North Mountain Ave. According to some online forums looking like it's almost ready. Guys really been taking a sweet ass time with the souls of the people in Ontario. What are you fucking dirty sinners doing in Ontario? Before moving forward to 1997, the LA Times also reported the Mexican newspapers were looking into church practices and some journalists had produced reports about alleged sexual abuse and even orgies with high-ranking members as well as the church's alleged ties to Mexico's Institutional Revolutionary Party, aka the PRI.

The Catholic Church has accused LLGM of seeking political power by highlighting its relationship with the PRI. Members have said that church leaders in Guadalajara have urged them to vote for the PRI. According to anthropologist Rene de la Torre, the relationship with the party has allowed the church's residential communities to receive better treatment and services and to have investigators look the other way. The church helps politicians get elected, stay in power through pushing votes their way, through alleged illegal campaign contributions and bribes, and in return the leaders of the church get to continue to prey on certain members. The Times reported

that the church claimed to have had,. The Times reported that the church claimed to have had or the Times reported that the church claimed to have 1.5 million members in Mexico and that many of them lived in three neighborhoods predominantly made up of church members. Those neighborhoods were huge supporters of PRI candidates. Several former members who lived in those neighborhoods went to the media and claimed that their lives were totally controlled by the church Who had the government in their fucking pockets? They said they had to ask permission to leave the neighborhood

You know if they wanted to go on vacation if they wanted to go across town to get a fucking Burrito from some other place a fucking pizza slice of pizza They had to ask permission to leave Rene de la Torre explained that the church or Torre explained the church closely Supervises the Hermosa provincia community and requires individuals to get permission from guardians, so-called guardians, to travel, to study outside the community. Guardians also monitor attendance at daily services. They monitor financial contributions of members. Cult, cult, cult. The people who came forward claim that impoverished or working- class members were urged to make significant financial contributions to the church while the apostle lives a luxurious lifestyle. The church responded to this accusation by conceding that, yeah, Samuel has a chauffeur, multiple cars, but still lives more modestly than most local politicians.

That's a weird defense. Yes, he lives lavishly off of your support, but your local politicians are fucking you even harder. So you should focus your anger on them. He's only fucking you a little bit. Members are required to donate at least 10% of their salaries, but according to ex-member Dario Meza, that doesn't include the offerings at daily services. Fucking daily.

In his interview for the Netflix documentary, he said that if somebody goes to prayer or study five times a day, they typically give some money at least twice. And those offerings are the ones used to maintain the temple and to support local ministers and services. The tithes allegedly just go straight to the apostle for their lavish lifestyle. Over the decades, all of the single-family's apostles have accumulated millions and millions of dollars, millions and millions worth of property in Mexico, the US, possibly elsewhere. They're pretty secretive about their holdings. Scholars who have studied the church found that the apostles wealth comes from tithes, recruiting more members in affluent areas, which means bigger tithes and real estate development.

The current apostle, Neson Joaquin Garcia, and his siblings said to own $7.3 million worth of private property in just the U.S. Eventually the allegations against Samuel and the church disappeared from the news until the next generation is accused of corruption and sexual abuse and these accusations will be much more detailed and turn into criminal charges in America. Between 1990 and 2010 the church expanded into the UK, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Ethiopia, Israel. The church currently has branches in an estimated 50 countries. Hard to get any exact information because there are no definitive

membership stats and some experts do believe the church greatly exaggerates their true numbers. In 1998, LLDM reported 5 million members worldwide with one and a half million in Mexico, 30,000 in Guadalajara. No stats for the US there. The church does claim to have a Ministry of Statistics, but researchers have not been able to access membership information from them. The Mexican census, however, does ask about religious affiliation, but did not report membership with LLDM before the year 2000. but did not report membership with LLDM before the year 2000. The 2000 census recorded LLDM membership for the first time and in total 69,254 people reported membership that year. Much lower figure than the church has stated, right?

There's no way that they could be lying, could they? I mean, that would be a sin and we all know churches never sin. LLDM objected to the formatting of the census, argued that it discriminated against non-Catholics because Catholics did not have to specify their religion or like their, I don't know, branch, which doesn't make sense. I mean, there's not necessarily branches of Catholicism like there is with Protestantism. 2010 the government changed the census to make the religious affiliation question completely open-ended without predetermined choices. In 2010, 188,326 people of any age reported membership in LLDM. And I realize

there's a few kind of branches of Catholicism, but it's not the same. Anyway, much higher number, almost 200,000. But that's still far short of the 1.5 million the church has claimed. Okay, jumping ahead another decade, 190,005 people of any age reported membership in 2020 still short by about 1.3 million. The World Christian Encyclopedia reported 430,000 followers in Mexico in 2000, 488,000 in 2010. Not sure how they arrived at those figures though. Anthropologist Hugo G. Nutini used the number of congregations and average number of members per congregation, estimated that in 2000 the church had 1.1 million members worldwide,

with over half in Mexico, so somewhere north of 660k, or around 660k right at. 2008, some unnamed anthropologists cited by the church estimated there were seven million members worldwide. I believe I shared that estimate earlier. Yeah. Who the fuck knows? December 7th, 2014. However many there are, there's too many. December 7th, 2014, church services were interrupted to inform the entire congregation that Samuel Joaquin Flores was dying. The announcement live streamed from Guadalajara. No! He'd been sick with terminal cancer. How? God's one true apostle? What? Betzabe Gonzalez, the woman who claimed she was sexually abused

by Samuel, said that she and the other girls who were part of the private group who went to authorities with allegations of abuse were now told Samuel was sick because of their sins against him. That's what some church officials said. That's insane. Before he died Samuel made sure that his children knew how to run the church. Former spokesman, again, Joel Silva, said he was sure that Samuel made all the church leaders agree that his successor would be his son, Nason Joaquin Garcia. Nason had always been his choice. And finally this dude will see allegations against him stick. Joaquin Garcia or Nason Joaquin Garcia born May 7th 1969 in Guadalajara the fifth of Samuel's eight children. Eight legitimate kids. Who the fuck knows how

many other kids that pile of shit fathered? Who knows how many kids my dad has fathered I should add. Was he still taking trips to Mexico in 2014? Maybe. He told me around that time he was taking long ass trips to Papua New Guinea. He would send pics he took in the jungle from remote construction sites. But were those photos from PNG or were they from the jungles of Mexico? If only sad bum had existed then. Stop adult dads banging underage Mexicans. And I know to some that name might sound racist. But you know what's really racist? Not caring which Mexicans get banged.

Are you fucking kidding me? I said, are you fucking kidding me? Sorry, Miles. Anyway, fifth child, Naison, had worked as the minister of a large LLDM church in East LA, Los Angeles, California for 22 years when he's made king. Silva said about Nesson, He was raised as a spoiled daddy's boy, right? Like the arrogant children of rich people who do whatever they please. That's my impression of him. And he demanded his right as the son of the apostle.

All of Samuel's sons were called the princes of the church or sons of God's servant. Ex-member Dario Meza once lived in the same house as Nason. He compared the life of Samuel's son to the life of royalty. Said they were given everything, totally indulged. They could go to any university they wanted. They had luxury cars, multiple houses, flew on private planes wherever they went, stayed in luxury hotels. Right? Hallelujah. God is good. Nason's daddy, apostle number two, Samuel Joaquin Flores, dies December 8th, 2014, even though so many people prayed so hard to keep him around. The entire congregation was devastated.

In their heavily brainwashed minds, they had lost the means to their salvation, and they wondered who the next apostle would be. Even before Samuel died, the congregation was told to pray so that God would manifest the next apostle. Many people didn't know who could replace Samuel. And they questioned if the next apostle had even been born yet. One former member said in her interview for the LLDM documentary, we prayed, we sang, we didn't eat, we didn't sleep. That creates a perfect environment to receive something new.

That creates a perfect environment to believe something fucking insane. Not sleeping, not eating, just constantly singing and praying. Church members are told to write down their dreams or visions of who the next apostle should be and submit it to the pastor's office, ran by a man named Gilberto Garcia. In the early hours of December 14th 2014, Gilberto he had great news to share. Great news everybody, Nesson Joaquin

was manifested as the next apostle of the light of the world. On that day, Gilberto Garcia read an anonymous letter naming Nason as the new apostle. And part of the letter read, get ready, there's a new sheriff in town and you might want to hide your kids if you thought the last apostle was horny you ain't seen shit yet this guy truly a bum he lives for fucking underage Mexican

and of course that's not what the letter said of course you probably wish I would stop saying that here's part of the real letter I fixed my gaze on cloud, and when that cloud came close to where I was, I saw how the anointed one emerged from the cloud in his white and dazzling clothes. It's like the fucking righteous gemstones. I got closer to identify him. When I saw him, I heard a voice say, Nason is my chosen one. You weren't alone at all. There was just a pause.

But now that my time has come, I can freely say, Nason Joaquin Garcia, servant of the living God and Jesus Christ's apostle." Why the fuck is God? Or some emissary of God? Why are they wearing an all-white outfit? You ever think about how ridiculous these images are? When you see God in clothes? Like you're God.

You're all powerful. Why are you putting on a fucking white suit to go chat with one of your creations? I don't even know if it's hard for me to understand who is on the cloud. Was it God who's on the cloud? I don't know. It's confusing. Oh no, I guess it wasn't. It wasn't. well no, it just says, Gilberto Garcia read an anonymous letter, which wasn't anonymous, but naming Nasson, or Nasson the new apostle, and this anonymous author says that they saw, oh they saw, oh they saw Nasson emerge from the cloud in his white and dazzling clothes. Okay.

Okay, and then I just heard a voice. All right. Well, never mind. I was going to go on a rant about this fucking this nonsense, this cult nonsense, because it's so confusing sometimes. But I was going to go on a rant about why is God putting on clothes ever. Which is what some people do. Some people will have visions of godly, you know, people in clothes. Which is fucking weird. Like there's, like, they have dry cleaners up in heaven, they have to get their clothes washed, gotta call a repairman when their washer and dryer breaks down. I don't know. Okay, skipping my clothes. Skipping my planned clothes rant. Apparently, a lot of high-ranking members were not happy with God supposedly choosing Nasson,

but they couldn't voice those doubts or they'd be accused of rejecting God's will and risk excommunication. Nasson, according to many, did not seem to have the right personality for being the apostle. For example, Betsabe Gonzalez said that Samuel, her abuser, was at least charismatic, but Nasson, rude, blunt, sarcastic. It's just spoiled fuck. According to Joel Silva, again, once a member of the Inner Circle, Nasson wanted to cement his image as the new apostle early in his tenure. And he traveled all over the world for missionary purposes on private planes, sometimes going from New York to LA in one day, doing much of schmoozing. Before he became an apostle, he knew that creating a strong media presence was

essential to church growth. So he founded a Beria Vigion. According to former member Shereem Guzman, Nasson blossomed during the final decade of Samuel's life. He built up his ministry through Beria Vigeon. The company he incorporated, Beria International, utilized radio, or I guess it'd be Internacional, going back and forth between English and Spanish pronunciation since frying my brain, utilized radio, TV, internet, printed media,

produced content for the church. It was financed by church donations and members working long hours without pay. Right? So typical to convince people it's a privilege to work full-time for your organization for nothing. Joel Silva said that at first, that at first, Nesson used Borea to broadcast videos of the Holy Supper, ceremonies, sermons, and his tours. But then he began using it as a recruiting tool to increase membership. One of the employees of Burya was a woman identified as Jane Doe, number four. One of five women who accused Nason of sexual abuse. Jane Doe, four, started working for the church when she was 14 years old.

This was the year that Burya became a TV station. She said her life was school, church, and burial. A short time later, she received a call from Nasson's secretary Azalea Rangel to inform her that the apostle wanted to invite her to go on tour with him. She was honored to tour with the apostle to be able to travel internationally and she was happy to be making friends with the other girls who were also on tour. The younger girls were accompanied by older women whom they called sisters. The older sisters taught her how to take care of the Apostle while traveling. She had to do things like bring him water, bring him towels, sanitize his cutlery at

restaurants, put toothpaste on his fucking toothbrush like he's a fucking toddler, and pre-fill his mouthwash cup for him. My god! She said that a sister named Rosy Sosa, who we've heard from before, showed her how to bathe the Apostle. She had to prepare the bath for him, then wash his entire body, and so the sexual abuse began. She said she didn't think much of it. She assumed that all girls were taught to do that. Then one night when they were staying in Madrid, she was instructed to give Nason a full body massage. That night, Nason said something to his secretary Azalea. She then asked Jane Doe number four if she

was grateful to the apostle. Jane Doe number four responded she was very grateful. Azalea told her there must be a way to repay the apostle for everything he had given her and that her most valuable asset was her virginity and she should give that to Nason to thank him. And then Azalea and Jane Doe number four went to the living room of their hotel suite where Azalea asked if she was willing to do anything for the apostle. When she nodded yes, Azalea told Jane Doe,

okay, you'll do everything I do. They went into the bedroom together, Nason lying on his stomach, completely naked, Azalea starts taking off her clothes and massaging him. And then she told him, here is your niece. Oh yeah, did I mention that Jane Doe number four is the Apostle's niece? Incest on top of sexual abuse. Jane said that Nason put his body on top of hers while a nude Azalea encouraged him. Losing her virginity in a threesome with Uncle Apostle. Where was sad bum? But for real, so fucking dark. Jane said in her interview, it was as if I didn't exist. I was there. I didn't

exist. I was like an object for him. Afterwards, Azalea lifted up the now bloody sheet, told Nason, here's your niece's proof of innocence. Ugh. Jane Doe then had to bathe Nason to wash her blood off of him, and he told her, God will reward you for what you have given me. When they later arrived in Guadalajara, Nason told her she would now be in charge of a group of women he had in Hermosa Provincia. Jane Doe IV explained that there were four to five permanent ladies, so-called permanent ladies, there who attended to Nason. They had to do different things depending on the shift, in the morning.

Jane Doe IV said she had to wake him up with a blowjob or with a handjob. It's quite the fucking alarm clock. Nasson also had various female personal assistants in groups of so-called damsels in different cities. Each group had different managers slash groomers. Underage girls in various cities were instructed to participate in strip teases, lap dances, a variety of sexual games for Nassauan. Jane Doe IV said, I saw it as the rings of hell. You have an outer ring where certain things happen. Then you have another circle in which he was occasionally with them. There was another circle inside in which we, the permanent ones, were.

And there was another circle, the closest one to hell. There things started to get ugly, sexually speaking. Here's where BDSM really started. He started asking a mom to get involved with her son. Sex with animals. He started being more sexually aggressive with me. He started biting me, hitting me. As the days went by, I felt that I was slowly dying. And I cried before God, asking him to help me.

And at some point, I did not want to live anymore. Man, this dude is a fucking cretin and I wonder was he shown a lot of this by his own father? Did his dad learn it from this guy's grandfather? How far back did this level of sexual depravity go? Right back to the very beginning? Did it just escalate over time? Jane Doe IV was sent back to the US to live in LA and fell into a deep depression because now she was locked in a room and couldn't leave without permission. Once when she went to the store with a group of girls she snuck away just so she could hug her mom. She was afraid to tell anybody what was

being done to her. The sexual abuse was so secretive amongst the groups of girls most didn't even talk about it with each other. Those who did say something about it were called liars. They were shamed into silence. Sometimes their families would threaten to disown them for speaking out against, for blasphemously lying about the apostle. Parents were proud to have their daughters in a position close to the apostle. And they did not want to believe that there was sexual abuse within the church.

That was even possible. That revelation would destroy their identity. They lived for their salvation and their salvation came exclusively from the Apostle. In December of 2017 the Apostle told Jane Doe IV she'd be getting married in three days. She didn't know who her future husband was. Nason texted her just two days after the wedding to ask her how the honeymoon went. He wanted details, sexual details, and then he continued to demand sex from her even though she was married. Her being married, I would guess, probably turned that deviant on. Not long after her honeymoon, a random family member told her about a Reddit

thread where people were criticizing the Apostle. She found it, saw that other girls were accusing him of abuse, sexual abuse. Finally, she started to fully believe that having sex with the apostle was never a blessing. That she had been abused the entire time. The apostle was no man of God. Jane Doe IV asked her husband for permission to see a psychologist now and during her first session that was when somebody told her what had actually been happening to her for the first time. This is when the psychologist told her she had been raped. Therapy also helped Jane Doe Four realize that Nason was going to keep

abusing more girls. So she contacted the Reddit moderator and they helped her contact the office of the Attorney General in California. They wanted her help get an info about his travels on private planes. She also told him that he had child pornography on his iPad and more on other hard drives that he kept in his briefcase. That motherfucker when he wasn't preaching he was abusing or jerking off to pics and videos of girls he had been abusing. While all this is occurring behind the scenes, Naison continued touring. He's trying to grow his church. Of course he is. More congregants, more money, more daughters. He wanted the world to see him on the same level as the Pope now. He wanted to expand LLDM's influence within the Mexican government.

He had influence in local and national government because the Hermosa Provincia, that community voted as a powerful voting bloc. They voted for whoever he told them to vote for. And because of that, and I'm guessing again because of bribes as well, he would meet with high level politicians and receive the keys to different for. And because of that, and I'm guessing again because of bribes as well, he would meet with high-level politicians, you know, and receive the keys to different cities. One ex-member claimed that Nasson told the former governor of Veracruz, Javier Duarte de Ochoa, that he had 30,000 people who could each vote multiple times thanks to some kind of fucking rigged voting system he had set up. In 2020, Duarte would be sentenced to nine years in prison for corruption.

Did Duarte know about the girls Naison was abusing? Did he abuse him too? Should he have been a fucking sad bum target? Did Naison use votes, money, girls to influence politicians to be able to blackmail them later? Just me speculating, but I would certainly not be surprised to learn that. May 15th, 2019, Naison celebrates his 50th birthday at the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City, a prominent cultural center. Well, how wonderful for him. But he had so many people kiss his ass,

dined on the finest foods before he headed home to rape some more kids. The venue had never been used for a religious leader before. One former member said in the documentary interview, or their documentary interview, this was Nasson's greatest moment. It was his moment with ambassadors, legislators, mayors, and governors paying homage to him. It was the moment he reached his peak. Just three weeks later, June 4th, 2019, well, his peak was over. Nasson Joaquin Garcia is arrested by the California Bureau of Investigation at the Los Angeles International Airport.

They fucking got him in LAX. He was arrested on suspicion of human trafficking, production of child pornography, and forcible rape of a minor. His assistant, 24-year-old Susana Medina Oaxaca, was arrested with him. They faced a total of 26 felony charges for crimes that occurred in Los Angeles County between 2015 and 2018. That same day, former church member Alondra Ocampo, who was then a student at Cal State University Dominguez Hills, was arrested in LA County. A fourth suspect, 36-year-old Azalea Rangel Melendez, remains at large as of this recording.

And a possible fifth suspect, not yet identified by authorities, also remains at large as of this recording. And a possible fifth suspect, not yet identified by authorities, also remains at large. My dad. Come on, sad bum. Form. Find. Confine. Seriously again now. It was reported that the arrests were the result of a 2018 tip submitted to a website created by the California Department of Justice

to help people report abuse by clergy members. That website, if you're curious, survivorspace.org. And you can email reports of abuse to clergyabuse.doj.ca.gov. So clergyabuse.doj.ca.gov. Nason was initially held on $25 million bail. However, late on June 4th, a judge, after hearing about how deep this church's pockets were, granted the prosecutor's request to raise the bail number to $50 million. California Attorney General Xavier Borreca said that was the highest bail in the history of LA County.

Initially, it was reported that the criminal complaint involved four Jane Doe's, three girls, and one adult. Later sources reported that five women accused N four Jane Doe's, three girls and one adult. Later sources reported five women accused in a zone of sexual abuse in LA County. The following information comes from that criminal complaint. The LA Times reported that in August of 2017, Alondra Ocampo met with Jane Doe one and other underage church members. She told them that if they went against the wishes of the apostle, they were going against the wishes of God, which meant their salvation will be lost. They would be rejected by God and they'd fucking burn in hell forever.

So not a very light threat. In September of 2017, Alondra Ocampo directed Jane Doe One and other minors to perform, quote, flirty dances for Nasson while wearing as little clothing as possible. This motherfucker is 48 years old while that's happening. That same month, Nasson gave a speech about a king having mistresses, said an apostle of God could never be judged for his actions. So that's cool. And I hate to be the messenger here, but I can see how, you know, fucking cult leaders and just random people could look to the Bible and see it as condoning some of this kind of behavior.

people could look to the Bible and see it as condoning some of this kind of behavior. In the book of Numbers, chapter 17, verses 15 to 18, check out what the great holy man Moses had to say when talking about a war against the Midianites, an Arabic tribe cursed by God. "'Have you allowed all the women to live?' he asked them. They were the ones who followed Balaam's advice and enticed the Israelites to be unfaithful to the Lord in the Peor Incident, so that a plague struck the Lord's people. Now kill all the boys and kill every woman who has slept with a man, but save for yourselves every girl who has never slept with a man.

What do you think he meant by save for yourselves every girl who has, you know, never slept with a man. I have to assume. He was telling them to go ahead and just, you know, force themselves on these young virgins. Maybe in a marriage that they didn't want to be in. Maybe not. But, you know, either way, definitely raped. And he definitely just condoned the slaughter of children when he said kill all the boys. And Moses, you know, considered one of the holiest men ever. Godly man, big prophet. And if he can condone the murder of unarmed women and children, the rape of girls, then of course future fucking followers are going to use examples like that to commit evil acts. You know, because they can point to this kind of shit. They can point to Moses committing very evil acts with God's blessing.

Trying not to pick on Christians when I point this out, but I think this is partly to blame for why so much sexual abuse comes from within Christianity. Scandal after scandal after scandal. It just fucking never ends. While so many people worry about some satanic, cabal molesting kids, fucking pastors and priests doing that shit left and right. And that has to be in my mind. Because while the Bible, at least partially, because you know the Bible contains, you know, while it contains many, you know, good moral and ethical lessons, it also contains

very contradictory passages, you know, condoning blatantly heinous evil acts. And because of that, co-leaders will, you know, I think always be able to use Scripture to justify their evil deeds and manipulate their victims and to go along with it. Be like, hey, it says says right here what about this? And to be fair I should add that without the Bible you know I strongly believe these same creeps would just find a different way you know to condone their deviant sexual urges but but still it's definitely a problem. Between September of 2017 and January 2018 Ocampo directed underage girls to take off their clothing and

touch each other sexually. Olando Ocampo directed underage girls to take off their clothing and touch each other sexually. Olando Ocampo then would take photos of them touching each other for the purpose of sending those photos to Nasson. On or between August of 2017 and February 1, 2018, Olando Ocampo called Jane Doe One to Nasson's home, asked her to serve him coffee in his office. Ocampo walked Jane into Garcia's office, took the coffee she was holding, then told her to remove her dress. She said she was supposed to serve him the coffee naked. Jane did as she was told, stripped before she then entered the office.

Naison put his arms around her and kissed her, touched her ass, and then touched her vagina. On or between August 1st, 2017 and August 30th, 2018, Nasson and Olando Ocampo committed conspiracy to commit human trafficking for production of child pornography. On or between September 1st, 2017 and January 31st, 2018, Olando Ocampo sent a message to three Jane Doe's saying that the servant of God would be happy if they sent nude photos for him. Olando Ocampo messaged the girls telling them to take sexually explicit photos of themselves and send the photos to her. Okampo took

the three girls to an office, gave them schoolgirl outfits, instructed them to touch themselves and each other, and then took photos of all this. In December of 2017 Okampo took three girls to Nassone's home, told them to take off their clothes, told them to touch each other's home, told them to take off their clothes, told them to touch each other's bodies, and then took photos. In January of 2017, she took the three girls to a hotel room, had them take off their clothes, touch each other's bodies for yet another underage photo shoot. She told them the photos were for the, quote, servant of God, in text messages.

Nassone thanked them for their photos on at least one occasion. On the night of the arrest, the church posted a 10-minute address on Facebook and on YouTube titled Special Message from the Council of Bishops. An unidentified man told the worldwide congregation, The apostle of Jesus Christ has been the object of an arrest. And with integrity, security, and trust, excuse me, and would with integrity, security, and trust respond to all legal requirements knowing that God will give testimony Okay

Speaker said that the church is a spiritual family and quote We will not allow any spirit of uncertainty panic or discouragement to invade us on the contrary in these moments The firmness of our faith shines what a bunch of fucking nonsense now you're fucking you're a corrupt institution Church members around the world began praying all night without ceasing for a suspected pedophile to be set free. What a noble thing to pray for. The East Los Angeles Church kept its doors open so anyone could join them in these prayers. They posted photos of them praying on social media, encouraged followers to also post photos with the hashtag pray for pitos.

They didn't actually do the hashtag thing. They might as well have. What they actually did was just ridiculous. They believed that their apostle was the innocent victim of a smear campaign, of course. June 5th church officials held news conferences in Los Angeles, Mexico, posted statements online. Salem Garcia, a spokesman, told reporters in Mexico that they, quote, consider these accusations defamatory and a calumny against our international director, the Apostle of Jesus Christ. We firmly believe in the innocence of the Apostle of Jesus Christ. When asked if he believed that there were forces out to get them, he said the church officials believe some people were making false claims

and they were trying to get more information about it. Christopher Keller-Meyer, the husband of Alondra Ocampo, the church's very own Ghislaine Maxwell at this time, or one of them, spoke with the documentary team about his marriage and his reaction to her arrest. He said that Alondra brought him into the church. Officers approached him when he got home from work that day. Okay, it's kind of two separate thoughts. It's kind of weird the way this lays out. Yeah, he said he was a part of this church because of Alondra. And then after she is

arrested, officers approached him when he got home. And he informed him that his wife had been arrested. He couldn't believe it. When he read the charges against her, he said the police sees all their electronics. He later requested to have them back, was given two USBs that he did not recognize. The first USB he said contained family photos. The second one contained pornographic videos featuring a bunch of girls who sure looked underage. Not sure why they gave that back. Sounds like somebody fucked up. Or maybe the women in those videos were of legal age. I'm not sure. Christopher visited Elondra in prison, asked her if this was all real. She said, what does it matter? He told her that he

and other believers deserved to know the truth and then she put her head down and said yes. He asked her how far back it went and she responded all the way back and he felt that meant all the way back to 1926. According to the Darkness Within La Luz del Mundo, the documentary, there were multiple groups of girls who served the apostle in different cities. All three apostles supposedly had this set up. When a girl got married, moved away, or got too old, more girls would be called in to join the group. There are likely thousands of victims, and we'll probably never know who almost any of them are. Many have probably now died of old age. June 7th, 2019, Nasson's attorney Ken Rosenfeld said that his client was the victim of a high-tech

hit job and people who had negative interests were trying to incriminate him. Yeah, totally. You know, just somebody fucking put a bunch of child porn on all of his hard drives and his phone and just made up all these text rights. The defense also argued against the 50 million dollar bond. Co-counsel Alan Sawyer argued that it was unjustified and that Nason did not have access to the church's bank account to raise bond because the rules of the church state that funds cannot be used for his criminal defense. Ken Rosenfeld emphasized in a press conference that Nason was not a flight risk saying he owes it to the five million faithful to go to court and to categorically disprove every allegation that has been made against him.

He is the one that is looking forward to the opportunity to be in court and to be able to tell the world he has been falsely charged. I wouldn't quite work out that way. June 21st 2019, Nason Joaquin Garcia pleads not guilty to all counts against him at his arraignment and bail review hearing. Alondra Ocampo and Susana Medina Oaxaca also pled not guilty to their charges. Oaxaca's bail reduced her in the hearing, which allowed her to be released under house arrest. Deputy Attorney General Amanda Plizner told the judge that 60 digital devices had been seized and that the allegations were quote much broader in scope than the original complaint. 60 different devices. Holy shit. Plizner asked that Nason be denied bail, arguing that what they had found was just a tip of the iceberg.

The authorities found $200,000 worth of precious metals and cash in Nason's house, as well as two fake California driver's license with different names. The defense explained that the metals were gifts of appreciation that he'd received over the years, and that the licenses were used to check into hotels anonymously. licenses were used to check into hotels anonymously. Nason's lead counsel, Ken Rosenfeld, told reporters that literally thousands of female members were ready to testify for the defense. July 16, 2019, Judge David Fields ordered Nason to remain in jail without bail because he believed he was a flight risk and thought the information provided by the victims was very detailed.

An amended criminal complaint was filed July 15th that charged Nassone with three new counts of possession of child porn. The complaint described how Nassone and his co-defendants helped procure and prepare young girls for his pleasure. Officer and forensic examiner Stephen Stover said he found child porn on an iPhone taken from Nassone. Stover described a video that showed Nasson participating in a sexual threesome involving a minor per the LA Times, just like victims have claimed.

Stover testified that he was still analyzing over 100,000 images and videos on a phone taken from Nasson and on another phone belonging to Susanna Oaxaca. Stover testified that Oaxaca and another woman had a conversation where they discussed which girls were ready for certain things like erotic dances or sexual acts, various sexual acts with Nason. Troy Holmes, the lead investigator from the California Department of Justice, testified about the suspicious items found in Nason's home after his arrest. Also said that they discovered that a trust account for Nason had received five million US dollars in just June alone.

The money came from various individuals in a dozen different states. At the hearing, the judge referenced the defense's claims that Nasson was being framed, saying these images are not planted on his phone by a conspiracy against him. The defense cited a brief they had recently filed, claiming that they uncovered a financially motivated plot to extort and frame the Apostle. They accused a witness of making false rape claim to help sell a documentary film. The defense interviewed the adult witness but did not name her. She allegedly coerced two underage female witnesses into engaging in child pornography as part of her plan which is fucking crazy. She admitted

taking photos of the girls and sending them to Nassau without being asked in order to extort him. I mean, she probably heard that he fucking loved those kinds of images. The anonymous witness searched for people in a Reddit group started by former member Sandra Martinez. Sandra Martinez grew up in the church, contributed manual labor and money to support LLDM missionaries. Her relationship with her mother, still a member, deteriorated after Nason's arrest. She started the Reddit group to discuss abuse in the church. On July 10th, the defense filed a brief alleging that the witness searched for people in Martinez's

Reddit group who would be willing to participate in a plot to frame him that would help her sell the documentary. In a Reddit post, she solicited money to finance her documentary and discussed her need for damaging footage of Garcia to have better b-roll. The judge responded, There is just too much specific detail over a long period of time, several years, given by the Jane Doe's for the court to believe that all of this is contrived and that Garcia is being extorted. So maybe some people are trying to extort him, but not all of them. Defense attorney Ken Rosenfeld said in a news conference at Stover, inadequately relied

on a Jane Doe to identify one of the people in the alleged threesome. 33 year old Sochal Martin filed a federal lawsuit against the church in February of 2020. Maybe a Sochal Martin. She told the LA Times, for nearly 22 years I was made to work for, travel for, lie for, and give my body to an organization that saw me as nothing more than a source of profit and sexual pleasure. The civil complaint named the church, for and give my body to an organization that saw me as nothing more than a source of profit and sexual pleasure. The civil complaint named the church, Naison, and a dozen other high-ranking members. It sought damages for, uh, still seeks, I think it's still playing out, for involuntary servitude, forced and unpaid labor, human trafficking, racketeering, and sexual

battery. A social born in Monterey Park raised by her aunt, who was a prominent member of the church, her aunt offered her was a prominent member of the church. Her aunt offered her as a sexual servant to both Samuel Joaquin Flores and Naison Joaquin Garcia, she says. She claims at the age of fucking nine, she was taught erotic dances, given revealing outfits to wear. Groomers began teaching her how and where the apostle wanted to be touched. By the age of 12, she was regularly doing private dances for Samuel Flores. Over the next four years, she served him in different states of undress. She and other children were forced to memorize biblical passages, which their groomers would use to explain why being loved by

an apostle was a gift from God. By the age of 14, she was required to make regular payments to the church. At the age of 16, she started producing segments for the church's media and propaganda division. The LA Times did not specifically reference Borrella International. International is being the organization she's referring to but probably is. She was never paid despite working over 30,000 hours in total for the church she claims. Martín said, For far too many La Luz del Mundo members, everything they have is taken by La Luz del Mundo. Every dollar they make goes to La Luz del Mundo because they truly believe their money will be used to do the work of God on earth.

The suit alleges that Nesone and his family used church donations to buy designer clothing, art, and multi-million dollar estates, including mansions in California and ranches that house exotic animals and vintage cars. Martín recalled that church members in Southern California were once encouraged to donate their gold jewelry. The gold melted down used to paint the moldings in the home Nason had recently built in LA. So decadent. Martine said that after Nason took over as apostle, the abuse intensified. She was living with her husband whom she married with church approval and she had a daughter, yet she was still forced to

travel to Guadalajara for months at a time. And there she said, Nason was, quote, entirely unlimited in his sexual demands. In addition to abusing her, he assigned her to recruit more children for sexual abuse. Lawsuit stated that Nason once ordered her to perform a sexual act on a 14-year-old boy. And then when she refused, God's apostle beat her until she lost feeling in her right leg. She later learned that the boy was forced to have sex with another groomer and then to have sex with his own fucking mother and Naissonne filmed it all. Artine became depressed, attempted suicide and October of 2016 her husband trying to figure out why she was so depressed discovered explicit photos and

text messages between her and Naissonne. out why she was so depressed, discovered explicit photos and text messages between her and Nason. He told her that what was happening was wrong and that she was being used and abused and so they left the church but then they were intimidated and harassed by church members which worsened when they found out she was still working or that when they found out she was working with law enforcement. Aye, aye, aye. Several weeks after Nason was arrested two people walked into her home in Baja, California, introduced themselves as private investigators hired by the defense, and made, quote, vaguely threatening comments about her future testimony.

She was so afraid she left for the US. In December of 2019, she said she was staying with family in a hotel in San Diego when she noticed a man known by church members as the enforcer following her. Who the fuck is that scary dirtbag? Is that my dad? Is he the LLDM's enforcer? Can someone please arrest him and at least check? Jack Freeman, an LLDM minister, accused Martine of trying to disrupt the February Holy Supper. He said, per the LA Times, it is not about abuse. It is not about this fantastic story she's come up with. It's about attention and trying to interfere with the holy

event the church is doing. I wonder if Jack is also a pedo. He also said that the accusers who came forward are a fraction of the entire congregation. We continue to have baptisms, he said, we continue to grow. So you're hearing from one individual. We have over five million that would testify otherwise. That everything she's saying is untrue. And that we are a church of good decent honorable people with ministers who care about and love their members. And a director who is guiding this church in a very decent way. Yeah, but

How much does all that matter if the fucking heart of your church is so corrupt and evil? On April 7th, 2020 the the California courts of appeal dropped the charges against Nason on procedural grounds. The court ruled that his preliminary hearing was not held in a timely manner. And Nason did not waive his right to a hearing after the amended complaint was filed. And now it was looking like after all this, he could walk free. I fucking can't me.

I said, are you fucking kidding me? Don't you worry free. I fucking can't. I said, I fucking can't. Don't you worry, Miles. He was not released. Nearly four months later, July 29, 2020, Nason recharged with three dozen felonies, including child rape, human trafficking, along with Susana Medina Oaxaca and Alondra Ocampo. He was rebooked on $50 million bail, and he had been held in custody the entire time while prosecutors decided whether or not to refile the charges. On August 6, Nason's bail increased to $90 million.

Nason's preliminary hearing began August 11, 2020. State's first witness was California DOJ agent Troy Holmes. He testified about the photos and videos that he and his team retrieved from Ney Sohn's iPhone and iPad. Holmes spoke about his interviews with Jane Doe's 2, 3, and 4. He said he spoke to Jane Doe 2 in April of 2019, and she said that several years prior she had been invited to join a service group at the East Los Angeles Church. She'd been a member of LLDM since she was born. She felt honored to join an exclusive group of girls that serviced Mr. Garcia. When she turned 15, co-defendant Alondra Ocampo invited her

to join a more exclusive group of girls and now she and these other girls danced for Garcia while partially nude and wearing lingerie. She said, she told Ocampo she felt uncomfortable doing that but Ocampo said if she didn't want to participate in the dancing it would go against the church and Mr. Garcia would go against God. Ocampo also told Jane Doe, number two, that Nason would be like a father to her and take care of her because her father was not currently in her life. Jane Doe, number three said she was invited into the same service group.

She said they were called the fruteros, meaning fruit servers. Ocampo said she would be committing sins, but those sins would instantly be forgiven because Nason was God's servant. At a hotel in Whittier, California, Ocampo filmed a pornographic video of her and another girl. In January 2018, she was summoned to Garcia's home, told to go to his bedroom, where she saw a woman she knew as Ms. Susie, Susana Oaxaca. Oaxaca took her hand, put her hand on Nason's cock, then asked her to perform oral sex on him. She initially said no, but then she said she felt stuck and eventually performed the sexual act.

Jane Doe, number four, the woman introduced earlier in the timeline was now 24 years old. As mentioned, she worked as Nason's personal assistant in Guadalajara, oversaw a group of girls who performed chores, groomed some of them to be subjected to sexual abuse, told Agent Holmes that Garcia preferred younger girls. He said something to the extent of, they're more pure, they have more love for me. God, just a fucking true predator. At this hearing, it was revealed that Jane Doe IV left the church when Nason asked her

to provide her sister for more sexual abuse. This dude is as bad as some of the serial killers we've covered. And I do wonder, especially down in Mexico, where he was more powerful if he ever had any girls who threatened to expose him killed. Or if he killed girls in just six fucking sexual games he played. Dude's evil. Jane Doe IV helped agents identify potential victims in videos from Nassone's phone, turned over hundreds of texts she exchanged with him where they discussed things like sexual acts involving very young children and bestiality. Right, this is on the fucking court record that he is texting this woman about, you know, bringing in young girls to fuck each other and fuck like dogs and stuff.

His depravity just knows no bounds. The defense argued that Jane Ford had a consensual affair with Nason and that she was angry with the church that, I don't know, didn't go the way she wanted. Nason's attorneys also noted that Jane Ford, oh my God, Jane Doe, number four, too many words, too many Janes, was offered immunity in the U.S. and assurances that the State Department of Justice would intervene in Mexican prosecution against her. AJ Holmes also testified about an incident involving Jane Doe number 5 and Azalea Melendez. Melendez held Jane Doe 5's hands behind her back as Ocampo penetrated her with a sex toy and Nason watched. She was an adult when this occurred.

The preliminary hearing about all this lasted five days in total and court filings prosecutors said they believed that widespread sexual abuse had been perpetrated in this church at least as far back as the 1970s. During Nasson's pedo dad's tenure, Nasson's attorneys argued that the prosecutors were presenting testimony through surrogates which deprived the defense of their right to confront the accusers to find inconsistencies in their accounts or identify bias and the judge ruled that Nason had no right to confront his alleged victims at a preliminary hearing. The hearing continued with testimony from former special agent Thomas Donahue who said that one day Alondra Ocampo told Jane Doe one and other girls a story about God allowing a king to have a woman to serve him.

She said it would be an abomination to deny Nason his desires. August 18, 2020. A judge finds evidence for Nason and his two co-defendants to stand trial on 36 counts against them. August 13th of that year, Olander Ocampo pleaded guilty to three counts of contact with a minor for sexual offense and one count of forcible sexual penetration in a plea deal. She claimed she was also a victim of sexual abuse as a minor. Ocampo's parents had joined LLDM when she was just a year old. She was raised in Los Angeles, taught to the apostle, was the voice of God. When she was eight, her family traveled to Guadalajara where she was separated from her family and went to go spend the day

with other children. And then soon a woman took her to a room where she would meet former Apostle Samuel Joaquin Flores. He supposedly put her on his lap, caressed her face, and then raped her. Jesus Christ. She said she cried and screamed and struggled but he forced himself and then afterwards told her she had to keep it a secret. The sexual abuse continued throughout her childhood trips to Mexico, sometimes in the presence of an adult female. She continued having sex with Samuel Flores as an adult, never reported what happened to her family or the police, and then the abuse continued when Nason took over the church. So then the son takes over for the father and then both

have abused the same victim. Which is so fucking twisted. Then a few years before he was arrested, Nason told her he wanted her to lead a service group in East LA and procure girls for him. She identified which girls he liked and it was understood that Ocampo would choose them to be part of the group. Nason gave Ocampo money to purchase lingerie so she could photograph girls wearing it. When girls told her they felt uncomfortable she would tell them

people have different levels of faith which is the same bullshit she was told as a kid while she was being abused and raped. Ocampo's attorney, Fred fucking no idea what this name is. T-H-I-A-G-A-R-A-J-A-H. Fred, Fred T, Freddie T said that Ocampo believed the abuse she suffered was actually a blessing for many years. That she was chosen by God to service as apostle. She said she acted as a groomer out of fear because she was indoctrinated to believe nothing was more important than fulfilling the apostles desires. That if she denied them, she would be punished by having her salvation taken away from her. Regarding all this, Nason's defense attorney, Alan Jackson, accused Ocampo of trying to curry favor with the prosecution by smearing my client in the press with salacious and

false allegations. And yes, if you're curious, this lawyer is that Alan Jackson, the famous country singer. Well, way down yonder on the Chattahoochee It gets hotter than a hootie cootie How is any of this my client's fault? An apostle of God should never get caught Down in his bedroom on a Friday night, taking nudie pictures and fluorescent light, talking about God with naked future women. Never had a plan just to live for a minute, way down yonder on the Chattahoochee. Never knew he'd get in trouble for drowning in coochie. He learned how to grift and he learned who he was. Jack shit about God, mostly about lust. check shit about God mostly about lust. And of course, not that Alan Jackson.

I do actually like that song. In reality, this Alan Jackson, former head of the major crimes unit of the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office, and then he went on to become a Herald of Defense attorney, typically hired by wealthy and powerful people to defend them. October 21, 2020. Judge throws out four extortion counts against Nassone, ruling that the prosecution failed

to conclusively show he threatened to disgrace his victims if they did not perform sexual acts. Judge also dismiss enhancements for great bodily injury on counts of forcible rape of a minor and unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor, citing the lack of evidence that an actual physical injury had resulted from a sexual act. So I'm sure the judge wanted to fucking pin this guy on this kind of shit, but they just didn't have the evidence. December 22nd, 2020, Mexican investigators announced the filing of money laundering complaints

against five religious groups and LLDM, one of them. Was the party finally over for these fucking douchebags down south as well? Mexico's financial intelligence unit found that some of the group's transactions are unrelated to the purpose for which they are were founded and have not been reported to tax authorities and for that reason constitute the generation of illegal income. That financial investigation is still ongoing. June 3rd 2022, three days before his trial is scheduled to start, 53 year old Nason Joaquin Garcia pleads guilty to two counts of forcible oral copulation involving minors and one count of a lewd act upon a child who is 15 years old.

He took a plea deal to try and make sure he wouldn't stay in jail the rest of his life. The plea was made during an unannounced hearing, was disclosed in a news release after the fact the trial was supposed to start June 6th, Alondra, three days after this announcement, and Alondra Ocampo was expected to testify against Nason and share so many damning details that would be on the public record about the Apostle. Susanna Medina Oaxaca, Nason's former assistant, also pled guilty on June 3rd, also took a deal, pled guilty to assault, likely to cause great bodily injury. The third defendant Azalea Melendez, not been found, as I I mentioned earlier and I keep saying

third but it's like third woman but fourth overall the fourth person not been found and the fifth person my dad also still walks free. Attorney General Rob Bonta said in the news release today's conviction sends a clear message that sexual exploitation is never acceptable in California. We will hold you accountable if you break the law. Today's conviction can never undo the harm, but it will help protect future generations. The LA Times reported that even three years

after his arrest, even after being found guilty, admitting to such disgusting crimes, Nason still had almost universal support from church members. Man, when evidence and faith collide, sadly, faith normally wins. You simply cannot reason with somebody who has chosen to base their life in something that, you know, not even trying to be inflammatory here, but is inherently unreasonable. After the plea hearing, members spoke to journalists to protest their apostles' innocence. For example,

a man named Robert Pellegrin said, when David was going to find Goliath, oh my god, it looked like he was going to lose. God has a plan. Fuck off Robert. This guy's still in prison. Former member Claudia Eunice Hernandez from Mexico City told the LA Times that she believed that some people would leave the church after the guilty plea, but that most would stay and continue to believe in Nason's innocence. She explained, I know how hard it is for them to see Nason like a normal person who also does bad things. For them he is a saint that does everything well. Anthropologist Rene De La Torre, that researcher from Guadalajara's Center of Research and

Graduate Studies in Social Anthropology, I've been quoting the expert on LLDM referenced throughout the timeline, noted that the church consistently has held that Nason is innocent and has spent the past few years trying to rebuild a positive image of LLDM. June 8, 2022, 53-year-old Joaquin Garcia sentenced to 16 years, 8 months in prison, and required to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life in the U.S. Obviously, Susanna Medina Oaxaca sentenced to one year probation plus time served, plus six months of psychiatric counseling. The first woman to speak to give a victim impact statement said she wanted to quote, tell the world who this man really is. She said she was saddened by Nason's sentencing.

She believed the plea deal allowed Nason to escape quote, true consequences. Not sure when he will be eligible for parole based on his sense. I tried to figure that out and just couldn't. This victim talked about her upbringing in the church saying, all I've ever known was the church. It was my whole life. I'd always been taught that we couldn't refuse his desires. Other members convinced her she was lucky to quote receive his blessing. She told the court that she was a servant. She was a sexual slave to Nassone. She was forced to wash his clothes, clean his toilet, perform sexual acts on him every morning that occurred nearly every day whenever he was around for years. Jane Doe II told the judge there were other pedophiles and rapists in positions of power

in this church that have not been held accountable. Not fucking surprised. She said, I was willing to sacrifice my dignity once more to allow prosecutors to show the child porn. We wanted to defend ourselves and to have the evidence put out in public so that other victims would feel empowered to speak up. After the sentencing, the church released a statement that Nassone had no choice but

to accept with much pain that the agreement presented was the best way forward to protect the church and his family. He wishes to spare the church and his family from weeks of unfounded public accusations, including threats to their physical well-being. Oh yeah, totally. No, he's a fucking saint. He's doing such a good job here protecting his family. Church dissidents like Deborah Contreras thought that Nason got off easy and wonder why the five Jane Doe's were not consulted about the plea bargain before it was offered. Contreras told the LA Times that she was six years old when she was first called into the

residence of Samuel Joaquin Flores. She said that he massaged or that she massaged his feet and then he sexually assaulted her. She didn't question it because she was raised to believe that the apostle was infallible and that disobeying Flores, you know, was going against the word of God. These dudes were animals. She said, I believed him. I followed him. I defended him. When you're a kid, you believe everything. You know, they give you stories like Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny. Yeah, and that this guy's the fucking apostle. Survivor Sochil Martin, who filed a lawsuit against the church in 2020, said the plea deal felt like a slap in the face

and that she worried other survivors would be less willing to speak out after watching how the Jane Doe's were harassed before, during, and after the trial. The Times reported that Martin had spoken with FBI agents and the Department of Homeland Security for an investigation separate from the LA case. Moises Padilla, the man who came forward in the late 90s to accuse Samuel Flores of abuse, did not feel the sentence was appropriate and was hopeful that other church leaders would be prosecuted eventually. Padilla fled Mexico in 1998 and was granted political asylum in the US where he has lived

ever since. Former church spokesman Joel Silva, who became an advocate for the Jane Doe's, also criticized the sentencing saying, if they would have been five white girls, college-bound girls, the outcome would have been very different. Yeah, not wrong. Silva said that although the Jane Doe's identities were not publicly disclosed, people in the community knew who they were and their families were being harassed by the church. Sergio Meza, another former member, expressed his disappointment as well, saying that a trial

probably would have caused more people to leave once they saw the evidence against Nisone. He told the LA Times, the guy is now more of a martyr to save the name of the church and his own people. In July of 2022, LLDM ministers in LA told the congregation that the defense was barred from introducing favorable evidence that would have helped the apostle during trial. Right, of course, it was a sham. They have too much to lose if they believe the truth. How many people remain members of destructive religious belief systems for that same reason? Right, leaving would just be too hard, too hard to let go of cherished beliefs.

Too hard to say goodbye to family and friends who won't leave with you. In August of that year, the church held its annual Holy Supper at the Guadalajara Temple. Nason addressed his followers from LA via phone per the Associated Press. He said, I do not see the bars that separate me from you. I see your beautiful faces because you are the children of God. Follower Therese Ruiz told the AP, the apostle always shows determination to move forward. He's firm in his convictions and the church is firm as well in its purpose of moving forward.

Sarah Pozos said that Nasson's time in prison united the church and changed things for the better. Oh man, what great news. She added, it's been a very difficult issue, of course, for him and for us. We all suffer something in life, but one learns to know those moments where you see that God is doing something to help you to get ahead, not to let you fall. Well, fortunately, Nason's suffering not done. Five victims filed a civil lawsuit against the church in September of 2022 in Los Angeles County Superior Court. The lawsuit claimed that the women had been routinely coerced since they were children

to believe that Nason's wishes were orders from God and that if they did not obey, it would, quote, lead to catastrophic consequences, including but not limited to eternal damnation, unspeakable tragedy, infertility, and countless other harms. That's fucking evil. October 12, 2022, Alondra Ocampo sentenced to four years in prison for her role as recruiter and groomer. A light sentence. Should have been more, a lot more. How many girls did she groom? And, you know, in many cases help abuse, but also she had been groomed to be a groomer. She'd been so brainwashed to think all this was somehow God's will. She was also a victim in all this. Deputy Attorney General Patricia Fusco said Ocampo was guilty of egregious criminal conduct

but that she had cooperated and acknowledged her guilt very early on. She'd been incarcerated since June of 2019 and therefore had already served most of her sentence. Olando Ocampo released on probation 14 months later December of 2022 and now here's some good news. October 25th, 2023, Nasona indicted by a federal grand jury in LA on one count of production of child pornography and another count of possession of child pornography. The charges accused him of committing sexual acts on a 16 year old and possessing an iPad that contained five videos of the victim. Not sure if you're curious if my dad appears in any of those videos.

Nason faces up to 40 years in prison if convicted. 15 to 30 years in federal prison for producing child pornography, up to 10 additional years in prison for possessing it. It appears his trial has yet to begin and obviously because of how frequently he abused allegedly so many girls for so long in so many ways, more charges could certainly be coming. I think they probably will be. I certainly hope so. I would be surprised if no more victims come forward. But even if they don't, a conviction here followed by even half the maximum sentence

would almost ensure that the 55-year-old will die where he should have lived for most of his life in prison. Okay, so let me begin this little section by explaining why I believe this church has a cult inside of it. And also, hopefully my pronunciation is not too distracting. I had so much confidence going into this episode that I was going to pronounce things so accurately. I think I did pretty good. I think I did better than I have in the past, but it's tricky. On the outside, many La Luz del Mundo adherents, you know, they just go to this church.

They show up on Sundays, you know, they just go to this church. They show up on Sundays, you know, the tithes. They believe that they are Joaquin Garcia's God's one true apostle as you know, was his father and grandfather before him and they believe that LLDM is the one true church and that it's the only one that can offer them salvation. And while all of that is pretty culty to me, you know, almost all organized religions at least cult adjacent to me as well. And that all does not make LLDM a cult by most cult definitions. Most parishioners, you know, not living on some compound. They're not being cut off from their families. They're not being controlled to the extent a cult controls its followers. But inside the LLDM, there are the extent a cult controls its followers. But inside the LLDM there are the unconditionals, right? This class of especially dedicated congregants who sign letters promising, you

know, their complete devotion and loyalty to the church. People who, you know, will do anything the church asks of them, like give the church their daughter to serve the needs of the apostle. Because if they don't, you know, they'll be punished with the excommunication, damnation. Many of them live in Hermosa Provincia or in other communes like it where congregants have to ask permission to leave, where what they wear is closely monitored, where how much they give to the church is closely monitored, where the church governs the community and controls even the police. And these communes are controlled by a man who claims that he and he alone can give salvation, right? And take it away.

Uh, many unconditional's volunteer, quote unquote, long hours for the church, doing whatever they're told to do. Uh, help with marketing, help with cleaning, cleaning the apostle's house, fucking brushing his teeth, massaging him, taking pics of naked girls for him, helping him rape girls. You know, the apostle controls all. He demands that you serve him without question, that you speak, uh, that you not speak to your family about what's been happening to you. He isolates you from the outside world. He manipulates you. If you don't go along with it, if you ever try to leave him, he makes you think that you have forfeited your very soul.

You know all of that is very culty. You know people going to church, you know, five times a fucking day, day after day in these little communes. Very culty. And that's why this organization needs to go away. I've actually come up with a great way to get rid of these cults, or at least to take a lot of the wind out of their sails. How about we pass a new law? Anyone who proclaims himself to be a prophet of God, somebody who claims that God has a very special plan for them, someone who claims, you know, they have special inside information that nobody else is getting. Well, they have to pass a very serious test to prove definitively that God is watching out for them. And I volunteered to be the prophet tester.

For this test, the prophet will be tied to a chair. I'll be in the room with them. Just me and them in the room. You know, they're tied to a chair. I have a semi-automatic handgun with a magazine of no less than 15 rounds and a large double-headed axe as a backup weapon. Before I pull the trigger while aiming at their head from a few inches away,

I will give them a chance to prove their prophetness. You know, okay bud, call on God now. I mean, you claim to have his ear, right? You claim he has a special plan for you. Let's find out if you're right. I'm gonna put the end of this barrel against your temple and I'm gonna pull the trigger. Probably more than once. And then if the gun won't fire I'm gonna pick up that axe and I'm gonna try and cut your fucking head off. Now if the gun won't fire, if the power of God stops me from swinging or put some force field

around you or some shit, I will become your most dedicated follower. I will dedicate my entire life to your teachings. I will praise you as God's one true prophet. If God strikes me down dead to save you, oh, you will be set free and declared America's prophet. Doesn't something like that feel fair? I mean, an all-powerful God could easily smite the fuck out of little old me. If God really has a special plan for these assholes, wouldn't God use his godly powers to save them?

And if they don't get saved, well, then fuck them. You don't want to be executed like that? Pretty simple. Shut the fuck up. Stop talking your dumb shit. Admit you don't know anything. I truly believe that no one in the world, no one, knows any more about the definitive nature of God than you or I. So many claim to, so, so many. But guess what? Just like the rest of us, you know, they still get sick, they get hurt, they struggle, they age, they never display any magical powers, they never share any groundbreaking universal secrets, they die, they're never truly special, not ever in my opinion,

not in some prophet-like way. They never perform, you know, obvious miracles. They never truly show themselves to be anything other than just a random person with a God complex talking shit. So I don't think you should ever listen to any of them. You want a relationship with God? Well, just speak to the universe. Meditate. Go out in the woods. Have a conversation with the sky like a crazy person. If God exists and God is omnipotent and God is merciful and full of love, why wouldn't God listen to you? Why would God make you jump through a bunch of weird-ass hoops? You know, speak through some intermediary. What kind of sense does that make? If God exists, then didn't God make us all out of the same exact stardust, out of the same

exact fabric of the universe? Why would some of us be elevated of the same exact stardust, out of the same exact fabric of the universe? Why would some of us be elevated above the rest? Why would some of us be made to be spiritually superior to others? Why would some of us be chosen to lead others in communicating with God when God, the ultimate, all-powerful Creator, could easily instill that ability in all of God's creations? Just my opinion. But I think if any one of us has the ability to commune with God, then all of us have that ability. And no one needs to talk to some fake-ass apostle. Let's head to the takeaways. Time Shack Top 5 Takeaways! Numero uno. La Luz del Mundo is a Christian church, kind of, I guess technically, that

many have labeled a cult. The organization identifies with restorationist principles that encourage Christians to follow a strict interpretation of the ancient church in the New Testament. The entire church is led by one apostle who claims to be chosen by God through divine vision, but many doubt that because all three of the apostles have come from three generations to the same creepy-ass pedo family. Numero dos. Among the many regulations church members are required to follow tithing 10% of their income is one of them. While the daily cash offerings given during prayer meetings are used to support lower-level staff and maintain

buildings, it has been alleged that all the tithes go straight to the apostles who enjoy a lifestyle fit for royalty. Demented, corrupted by power, soulless royalty. The apostles and their families have owned several multi-million dollar properties, flying private jets around the world and stay in luxury hotels. While the church denies that the apostles use the followers' money to enrich themselves, how else can their wealth be explained? They have no outside jobs. Their only income is connected to their cult. Numero tres. Sexual abuse allegations against the second Apostle first came out in 1997 when the church was led by Samuel Joaquin Flores. Women, girls, and men all came forward to report they had been raped or sexually abused by the Apostle, many of them when they were minors. They claimed that the Apostle had older women

select girls within the church who they thought could easily be groomed. These groups were brought in to act as servants of the Apostle, tending to his daily needs and providing entertainment in the form of dances. From this group a few more girls were chosen and brought to the Apostle for sexual abuse and then several of the girls who were abused would go on to become groomers. Several victims filed police reports against Samuel Joaquin Flores, but he was never charged because the claims of abuse dated back to the 70s. Nason Joaquin Garcia, the current Apostle,

is the only one of the three generations that has ever faced justice, and so far limited justice at that. Originally facing 36 charges of sexual abuse, Nason pled guilty to three charges, sentenced to just over 16 years in prison. His plea deal caused outrage because his victims were not consulted prior. However, he is currently facing federal charges

that could lead to an additional 40 years for the 55-year-old. Number four, Azalea Melendez, an accomplice of Nason who participated in sexual abuse, has been on the run for over five years now. A warrant has been out for her arrest since 2019, but she has not been brought to justice for her crimes, at least not yet. And number five, new info, the La Luz del Mundo Zoo.

Yeah, fucking why not? The LLDM apostle and his family own multiple properties, as I've said in both the US and Mexico. And one of these properties is a 343-acre exotic animal park in Sagin, Texas called Silver Wolf Ranch. The ranch was purchased in 1998, located off of I-10, about 40 minutes outside of San Antonio. Ranch is divided into two parts, a non-profit zoo and a wildlife rescue refuge, and private property owned by the family where the Apostles fuck exotic animals.

Or more likely pressure underage girls to fuck or be fucked by animals. No formal allegations of that by the way, but with those clowns, with all the bestiality allegations, I wouldn't doubt it. In 2008, the San Antonio Express News was allowed access to parts of the property. Locals have reported hearing relentless construction, howling wolves, seeing armed guards, SUV caravans roaming about the property. Maria Elena Castillo, a lawyer who formerly handled the ranch's legal affairs, told the news express that they never interacted with their neighbors because, quote, it's a private property. If he's high profile, he's showing off if he's low profile profile. He's hiding something. You can't win either way Everybody who needs to know about us knows about us from 2004 to 2008 the nonprofit side of the zoo accumulated around a million dollars

Most of it from church collections Church officials have pointed out that the donations go to the nonprofit and do not benefit the family but get the fuck out of here that the donations go to the nonprofit and do not benefit the family but get the fuck out of here. The IRS requires nonprofits to promote their purpose of benefiting the public. Castillo said the zoo benefits the public by taking animals from surrounding counties. For example, they took in two tigers who are gonna be euthanized for attacking their owner's son. And the family allows veterinary and children's groups to take field trips to the zoo but it's hard to find evidence of that. Back in 2008 she said that the zoo would be open to the public the next summer

because the zoo was being funded at private expense but then that did not happen. In 2019 the zoo was valued at over four million dollars. It houses animal species such as lions, a white tiger, and exotic birds as well as a mansion and a museum that stores vintage cars all funded undoubtedly by ties and church collection plates., does not appear that it is open to the public still. It may be possible for large groups to book a tour of the property. It's pretty fucking confusing contacting them. The ranch does have a 4.4 star rating with 43 Google reviews that describe it as a beautiful property, but are those reviews legit? Or did the

apostle or one of his fucking minions just tell some parishioners to leave glowing reviews, you know, just like they are told to vote? Time Shuck Top 5 Takeaways Whew! Light of the World sex cult has been sucked. And at the end of the day, it is a sex cult, basically, isn't it? Thank you to the Bad Magic Productions team for helping make time suck. Thank you to Queen of Bad Magic Lindsay Cummins. Give me the space to create and record. Again thanks to Logan Keith helping to publish this episode on short turnaround time this one. Designing merch for the store at badmagic productions.com. Thank you to Olivia Lee for the initial research. Also thanks to the All-Seen Eyes

moderating the Cult of the Curious private Facebook page and the Mod Squad making sure Discord continues to run smoothly and the good folks over at the Time Suck server in it and Bad Magic server in it. And now let's head over to this week's Time Sucker updates. Updates. Get your Time Sucker updates. All right. This first update is, this is incredible. Troy the Time Sucker sent an email to Bojangles at timesuckpodcast.com.

B-O-J-A-N-G-L-E-S at timesuckpodcast.com with the subject line of Dr. Hole. And they wrote, Hey Dan, I was listening to the most recent episode of Time Suck and almost swerved off the road when he started talking about Dr. Richard Hole. I used to see a therapist in his office building many years ago and snapped the below picture when I saw the names. Dr. Dick Hole is one thing but being married to Dr. Anita Hole and sharing office space is just so much more incredibly funny in my book. Just thought you might enjoy this additional info. Thanks for keeping me entertained on my daily commute.

I turn the volume way down when I arrive at my corporate campus so I haven't experienced Cummins Law yet, but it's only a matter of time. Oh my god, Troy, thank you for attaching the picture. Unbelievable. Dr. Richard W. Hull, and then right underneath his name, Dr. Anita V. Hull. I think her name is actually better. Anita V. Hull. I need a V. Hull.

And who gets that V. Hull? Dr. Dick. God, thank you for that, Troy. That's incredible. I hope they're laughing about that. Now for a shout out from a wonderfully happy sucker by the name of Joni Jones. What's going on with these names? Who sent in a message with the subject line of 25 motherfucking years in county. She of nearly the same name twice wrote, Greeting suck master. I wanted to write in regarding my brilliant and amazing husband, Ben. This May 20th, we will have been married 25 years.

We jokingly, well, sort of, say 24 of them have been the best years of our lives. You know that first year can be challenging because each of you are bringing the way you were raised and trying to find a happy medium. But I digress. Ben has been the most amazing husband a girl could ever ask for. He's the peanut butter to my jelly and I love him more than Wimpy loves hamburgers. Seriously though he is a patient and kind man has given me a life I never thought I would have nor did I think I deserved. He knows me better than anyone ever has or has tried to. He has been my ride-or-die and biggest supporter from day one. Together we have raised two

amazing young men. He's my best friend and I can't imagine my life without him. Gosh dang my allergies are acting up. I'm sure it's a dead giveaway that this email will arrive too late to hit before the 20th, but I'm hoping you'll be able to read it whenever Lusifena entices you to. We are both loyal space lizards. Can't wait to listen to both Time Suck and Scared to Death every week. Sending love and light to Lindsay and a metaphorical case of WIPPLE to you. Your loyal magician, your loyal Michigan, sorry, space lizard, Joni Jones. Well, Joni Jones, how beautiful. How lucky are you two to have the love you do and to be able to hold on to it for so long? And I'm sure it's been a lot of work, but that's awesome. By the way you write

about it, I don't think it's probably ever gonna go away You give others hope when you love like that Joni cherish this wonderful woman Ben. Keep her happy. Don't get lazy Still get her flowers Write her notes give her big hugs when she least expects them. Tell her she's beautiful. Tell her you love her Eat that pussy. Don't get lazy. Don't just fucking slam it in all the time with no fucking foreplay. How dare you? Hop in the shower. Eat that sexy ass from time to time. Showbiz. Don't neglect those titties either. Show those sweet nips a little bit of love. Some lust. Hail, Lucifina. And keep that good thing going. And this last update is from a beautiful space visitor by the name of Gabe Moorhead. Oh man, the names this week.

Who sent in a message with the subject line of my name is Gabe Moorhead. Yes, that's my given name. I got beat up a lot in high school. And then Gabe wrote, I grew up in the deep south, Dan. My name is Gabe Moorhead. And so before I even knew what sexuality was, I got told that I was gay. The problem is I'm gender fluid. My grandmother told me Jesus wouldn't love me if I dressed like a girl when I was five and then when I was eight I was assaulted when I told a family friend that sometimes I felt like a girl. When I was 19 I told my best friend at 10 years he said he accepted me. I got dressed up, we got drunk and then he hurt me too. Two years ago I decided to drive into a tree because I felt I shouldn't exist.

I couldn't be honest with anyone, my family, my wife, who I'd been listening to Time Suck with for a while, but I'd never had the money to be a Spacester. I love you guys so much. I didn't listen to your podcast on sex and gender until a year ago, because I was afraid that you would say I was crazy. But you didn't.

You showed me that I am in between and I am okay. I decided to listen to your podcast about sex and gender the day before I was going to kill myself because I value your thoughtful open take on things. The way you talk so openly about you and Lindsay's relationship plus how however we feel is okay as long as we're not hurting others and it's consensual. It gave me the courage to come out to my family and for me to come out to my wife. We've since had a child. There are

some days I still don't feel like I should exist because there are lots of people out there who say I shouldn't. I want you to know that your podcast keeps me a little saner every week, gives me another reason to wake up so I can hear what you have to say and laugh at life. Thank you Lindsay and the Bad Magic Crew for all you do. If I ever get the money I'll come to summer camp and become a space hazard. Gabe. Well, Gabe, first off, sorry about your last name. Moorhead, that's on par with Cummins. In a parallel universe, I'm pretty sure that you and I run a law firm together called Cummins and Moorhead. Pretty fucking sexy name, I gotta say. Next, you know what? Fuck your grandma. Jesus wore a tunic,

right? As we talked about, something closer to a dress than pants. While there is a passage in Deuteronomy that some interpret as forbidding wearing clothing of another gender, that same book spends a lot of time talking about curses. How people who don't bend the knee to Christianity, you know, are gonna fail in life in every possible way and be smited and have early deaths and so on.

And that doesn't happen. Lot of very successful, happy, healthy, non-Christians live in long ass lives. So the Deuteronomy shit is nonsense. And Jesus never said anything of the sort about not loving some male child because they want to wear a dress. Not ever. In fact, Jesus said the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to children. Didn't specify. So all kids. Your grandma, lots of politicians, a lot of people in general right now who are not licensed psychiatrists or psychologists, who don't have strong knowledge base on fucking psychology at all or biology. They got a lot of strong opinions, very vocal with their

strong opinions about people who are not straight. And just like your grandma was pulling her opinion out of her ass, so are they. What the fuck does some politician with no background in social science really know about somebody who's transgender, for example? Probably fucking nothing. But you know what? Any asshole can have an opinion. Any asshole can pass legislation. Any asshole can vote. Any asshole can fucking honk their horn and put a bunch of fucking flags on their truck and say a bunch of stupid shit. Any asshole can tell you that you aren't okay just being you. And you know what, Gabe? They can all go eat a fucking bag of dicks.

You know what? Do I know that you're not crazy, Gabe? No, I don't. I'm not a therapist. But I understand as a decent person that if you're not hurting anybody, if you're not engaging in sexual activity with a child, then why the fuck would I care at all about what you do in your bedroom? Why would I care what you wear? Right? How does it affect my life? It doesn't.

Fuck all the assholes, and they are assholes, telling you that you shouldn't be you. They should worry about their fucking selves, right? They should worry about people causing real problems, not sweet souls just trying to feel like they fucking belong. And I can tell that you're a sweet soul. I don't care what your pronoun is. I don't care what you wear. I don't care what adults you want to fuck. I don't care you know. But any of that shit. I care that you seem like a good thoughtful loving empathetic person. And man you seem great to me. I love you buddy. I hope to see you in person one of these days. I got a big old hug waiting for you. And we can scream together, fuck you to everybody else.

So stay strong. Be you. Don't let the bastards grind you down. Man, more head got my allergies acting up. Didn't expect that. Just gets so angry. I try and keep it in about some of this stuff. Whew. Man, whenever I just detect like that kind of bullying vibe out in the world and I hear these stories,

I just think like, man, fuck all those assholes. Anyway, actually I think more than that. My murder fantasy generator gets really going and I just picture just fucking taking large swaths of the population putting them in pits and lighting them on fire, if I'm gonna be fully honest. Because I'm crazy. I don't know if you're crazy Gabe, but I know that I'm crazy. Thanks for listening to another Bad Magic Productions podcast. Scared to death, time suck each week. Short sucks nightmare fuel on the time suck and scared to death podcast feeds twice a month.

Please don't claim to be God's one true apostle this week. So you can sexually abuse teens. If you're attracted to teens and you're not a teen yourself, how about you talk to a therapist instead of starting a cult? Maybe not as exciting, but a better way to stay out of prison. Talk to a therapist, find someone age appropriate, and keep on sucking. Today's Time Suck was brought to you by Sadbump. Stop Adult Dads Banging Underage Mexicans.

A subsidiary of the 501.3c nonprofit dedicated to solving dad-related crimes, Dadwatch. Dads are disappearing where all the corpses hide. Dads don't just murder people. Lots of people. Sometimes dads also fuck underage Mexicans. as a sign. Dads don't just murder people. Lots of people. Sometimes, dads also fuck underage Mexicans. Lots of them. Is your dad a sad bum?

Does your dad like Selena Gomez? Selena is not Mexican. She was born in Texas, but her dad is Mexican. Her name is Mexican. She is of Mexican heritage. And if your dad was into her prior to 2010 when she turned 18, your dad might be a sad bum. What about OG Selena? Is your dad a big OG Selena fan? She was also non-Mexican, but she was Mexican-American. Did your dad listen to the music she made

before she went solo when she sang for Selena y los Dinos, started when she was 12. Was it really about the music for him? Why does your dad spend so much time with a local family-owned Mexican restaurant? Is it because they make amazing street tacos? Because the guac game is on point? Because the churros are so deliciously crispy on the outside, but not too dry or doughy on the inside? Because they nail the cinnamon to sugar ratio?

Or is it because he likes to stare at the young Mexican hostess' ass? What kind of pervy shit is your gross ass dad trying to pull? Please, call 1-800-DADWATCH. Listen to the prompts to be connected to Sadbum and keep your dad from killing innocent people and from fucking innocent underage Mexicans.