The leader and self-proclaimed apostle of La Luz del Mundo, a Mexico-based church with branches in the US that claims more than 1 million followers, has been charged with human trafficking and child rape.
Joaquín García and a follower of the church, 24-year-old Susana Medina Oaxaca, were arrested on Monday after landing at Los Angeles international airport, the office of California’s attorney general, Xavier Becerra, said.
About 1,000 worshippers gathered at the headquarters of La Luz del Mundo in Guadalajara, Jalisco, on Tuesday evening to pray for García as he was held in Los Angeles on $25m bail.
García, 50, faces 26 counts of felony charges that range from human trafficking and production of child abuse images to rape of a minor. The charges detail a series of disturbing allegations involving three girls and one woman between 2015 and 2018 in Los Angeles county.
The fundamentalist Christian church, whose name translates to The Light of the World, was founded in 1926 by García’s grandfather. It has been the subject of child sex abuse allegations for years but authorities in Mexico have never filed criminal charges. It has more than 15,000 churches in 58 countries, according to its website. The church’s followers must adhere to a strict moral code in exchange for the promise of eternal salvation.
García – who was a minister in Los Angeles and other parts of southern California before becoming the church’s leader – coerced the victims into performing sex acts by telling them that refusing would be going against God, authorities said. He allegedly forced the victims, who were members of the church, to sexually touch themselves and each other. One of his co-defendants also allegedly took nude photographs of the victims and sent the pictures to García.
García told one of the victims and others in 2017, after they had completed a “flirty” dance wearing “as little clothing as possible”, that kings can have mistresses and an apostle of God cannot be judged for his actions, the complaint states.
“Crimes like those alleged in this complaint have no place in our society. Period,” Becerra said in a press release. “We must not turn a blind eye to sexual violence and trafficking in our state.”
The attorney general’s investigation began in 2018, prompted in part by a tip to the state’s department of justice through an online clergy abuse complaint form.
David Correa, a spokesman from the church’s headquarters, said in a phone call that they learned about the charges from the media.
“We categorically deny those false accusations,” Correa said. “We know him personally and he is an honorable and honest man.”
Church officials said García had always behaved lawfully and they rejected the attorney general’s charges.
The church’s statement on Tuesday said it hoped the accusations would not lead to discrimination and religious intolerance against its followers.
A third follower, Alondra Ocampo, 36, was arrested in Los Angeles county and is being held ahead of her arraignment on Wednesday in Los Angeles. A fourth defendant, Azalea Rangel Meléndez, remains at large.
It was not immediately clear whether the defendants had an attorney.
“The leader and self-proclaimed apostle of La Luz del Mundo”….., ALLOW AN EDUCATED CHRISTIAN PREACHER TO GIVE YOU THE DEFINITION OF “APOSTLE”;
“AN APOSTLE IS A MAN WHO HAS SEEN JESUS CHRIST IN HIS RESURRECTED STATE”.
OPEN YER EYES PEOPLE!
main street church of christ, dallas texas eldership.
Related:
And sorry if anyone finds this blasphemous, but I had to laugh to keep from crying:
Priest Admits He Made Young Boys Dress Like Baby Jesus Before Molesting Them:
https://themindunleashed.com/2019/06/priest-molesting-young-boys-baby-jesus.html
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DEAR GALEN. IT IS BLASPHEMOUS, BUT IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH YOU PERSONALLY.
BY THE WAY, THERE IS NO AUTHORITY GIVEN IN THE NEW TESTAMENT FOR A SEPARATE PRIESTHOOD IN THE LORDS CHURCH…..EVERY MEMBER THAT HAS “OBEYED THE GOSPEL” IS A PRIEST IN THE EYES OF GOD.
Rev 1:5 And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,
Rev 1:6 And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. ”
THAT “PRIEST” HAS THE WRATH OF GOD ABIDING IN HIM, AND IT’S GONNA HURT LIKE HELL WHEN IT COMES TO FRUITION… DAMNED FILTH!!
Thanks, Koyote. I certainly am aware of your perspective.
Oh that Bill of Rights, it lets us go where we gotta go.
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I WOULD HATE TO LIVE IN A COUNTRY THAT OUTLAWED TRUTH. I WOULD NOT LIVE LONG.
THE JEW HAS BEEN TRYING TO OUTLAW TRUTH FOR AT LEAST 2000 YEARS.
THEY DONT UNDERSTAND BECAUSE THEY DO NOT WANT TO UNDERSTAND;
2Pe 3:15 And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you;
2Pe 3:16 As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.
Understanding is such a personal term. Some take their own personal understanding and expand it as far as they can, even stretch it with curiosity, imagination, doubt.
But friend, this is big talk, and not meaning to be elusive, but just too much to tackle online. There is a dream in my home of one day a real cross-country trip, leisurely, and with only one objective: to enjoy people and places. So maybe then…
And ’till then, please know you are respected, even cherished.
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OH THAT I WOULD FOR THE JEW TO UNDERSTAND THE TEACHINGS OF GOD. THAT HOW HE IS THE SAME AS ALL MEN, BOUND UNDER THE SAME NATURAL LAW. AFTER THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST., EVERY MAN IS ON EQUAL FOOTING WITH GOD, FOR WE ARE NOW ALL OF “ONE BLOOD”;
Act 17:24 God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands;
Act 17:25 Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things;
Act 17:26 And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;
Act 17:27 That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us:
Act 17:28 For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.
THE NEW TESTAMENT UPHOLDS THE BILL OF RIGHTS, ALMOST TO THE LETTER…IF GOD DEMANDS EQUALITY IN SALVATION, WHO ARE THEY TO DEMAND INEQUALITY IN LAW?