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Pastor with 666 tattoo claims to be divine, claims to be Jesus

Nikijad4210

Nikijad4210

Member
Veteran
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/02/16/miami.preacher/index.html

Video link:
http://www.cnn.com/video/player/player.html?url=/video/us/2007/02/15/zarrella.man.jesus.cnn

Pastor with 666 tattoo claims to be divine
POSTED: 2:08 p.m. EST, February 19, 2007

By John Zarrella and Patrick Oppmann
CNN

MIAMI, Florida (CNN) -- The minister has the number 666 tattooed on his arm.

But Jose Luis de Jesus Miranda is not your typical minister. De Jesus, or "Daddy" as his thousands of followers call him, does not merely pray to God: He says he is God.

"The spirit that is in me is the same spirit that was in Jesus of Nazareth," de Jesus says.

De Jesus' claims of divinity have angered Christian leaders, who say he is a fake. Religious experts say he may be something much more dangerous, a cult leader who really believes he is God. (Watch followers get 666 tattoos for their leader )

"He's in their heads, he's inside the heads of those people," says Prof. Daniel Alvarez, a religion expert at Florida International University who has debated some of de Jesus' followers.

"De Jesus speaks with a kind of conviction that makes me consider him more like David Koresh or Jim Jones."

Is de Jesus really a cult leader like David Koresh, who died with more than 70 of his Branch Davidian followers in a fiery end to a standoff with federal authorities, or Jim Jones, the founder of the Peoples Temple who committed mass suicide with 900 followers in 1978?

Prophets 'spoke to me'
De Jesus and his believers say their church -- "Creciendo en Gracia," Spanish for "Growing in grace" -- is misunderstood. Followers of the movement say they have proof that their minister is divine and that their church will one day soon be a major faith in the world.

But even de Jesus concedes that he is an unlikely leader of a church that claims thousands of members in more than 30 countries.

De Jesus, 61, grew up poor in Puerto Rico. He says he served stints in prison there for petty theft and says he was a heroin addict.

De Jesus says he learned he was Jesus reincarnate when he was visited in a dream by angels.

"The prophets, they spoke about me. It took me time to learn that, but I am what they were expecting, what they have been expecting for 2,000 years," de Jesus says.

The church that he began building 20 years ago in Miami resembles no other:

Followers have protested Christian churches in Miami and Latin America, disrupting services and smashing crosses and statues of Jesus.

De Jesus preaches there is no devil and no sin. His followers, he says, literally can do no wrong in God's eyes.

The church calls itself the "Government of God on Earth" and uses a seal similar to the United States.

Doing God's work with a Lexus and Rolex
If Creciendo en Gracia is an atypical religious group, de Jesus also does not fit the mold of the average church leader. De Jesus flouts traditional vows of poverty.

He says he has a church-paid salary of $136,000 but lives more lavishly than that. During an interview, he showed off a diamond-encrusted Rolex to a CNN crew and said he has three just like them. He travels in armored Lexuses and BMWs, he says, for his safety. All are gifts from his devoted followers.

And what about the tattoo of 666 on his arm?

Although it's a number usually associated with Satan, not the son of God, de Jesus says that 666 and the Antichrist are, like him, misunderstood.

The Antichrist is not the devil, de Jesus tells his congregation; he's the being who replaces Jesus on Earth.

"Antichrist is the best person in the world," he says. "Antichrist means don't put your eyes on Jesus because Jesus of Nazareth wasn't a Christian. Antichrist means do not put your eyes on Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Put it on Jesus after the cross."

And de Jesus says that means him.

So far, de Jesus says that his flock hasn't been scared off by his claims of being the Antichrist. In a show of the sway he holds over the group, 30 members of his congregation Tuesday went to a tattoo parlor to have 666 also permanently etched onto their skin.

He may wield influence over them, but his followers say don't expect them to go the way of people who believed in David Koresh and Jim Jones. Just by finding de Jesus, they say, they have achieved their purpose.

"If somebody tells us drink some Kool-Aid and we'll go to heaven, that's not true. We are already in heavenly places," follower Martita Roca told CNN after having 666 tattooed onto her ankle.
Click to expand...


Wolf's met this guy, and I quote, "He's a fucking NUT. He's not wrapped tight!" :biglaugh: I agree, he doesn't seem to be wrapped too tight....

What more can I say???
 
G

Guest

yeah, you know, if I have "faith" in anything that i can't see, feel or touch, then who am I to say that the other guy's faith is misplaced?

LD

PS that said, religious people all scare the hell out of me...

 
Tarkus

Tarkus

Mother Nature's Son
Veteran
This guy is obviously lying though. He can't be jesus. Everyone knows I am. I just don't like to show off.

Now to turn wine into water...t-turn around.

By the way....I do not think I am really this "jesus" guy, just joking. Although....prove me wrong. Ha, religion. :pointlaug
 
R

Ruosk

Active member
Like Nietzsche wrote, "A casual stroll through the lunatic asylum shows that faith does not prove anything".

And cult leaders (often claiming to be incarnation of god / christ / whatever) are mostly just like other loonies, though more dangerous and powerful.
 
G

Guest

well i saw a pic of the guy and he definitely isn't jesus, jesus was a jew...
 
NoNameNoshame

NoNameNoshame

Member
MMmm, doesn't most if not all religions speak that we are of ONE spirit.

His ego is just a little confused.....probably stacking guns away too....but maybe not.
 
mrgrowmez

mrgrowmez

Member
i hope jesus hasnt come back back as a overweight, middleaged hispanic guy. i was hopin for a woman this time round..............
 
G

Guest

Would take me an hour to drive up to Miami and slap the shit out of this guy...
 
H

HighonthePrize

hee-larious, verite. i think i'll keep an open mind about this guy. maybe he is "the one". think about it. what if he's here to free us from the matrix... :sasmokin:
 
G

Guest

I find it ironic that people preach "tolerance" and "free thought", but if you speak of religion, you find that the hate and intolerance just drip out of peoples' assholes. I don't force my opinions or beliefs on anyone, but I don't think it's cool at all to get down on someone because they believe in something larger than themselves. Most religions are by default exclusive and somewhat "intolerant". Faith is only misplaced when that faith is in humans.


On the other hand, this dude is a Grade A, Genuwyne, Fuckin' Loon! Anyone who claims to be Jesus, and more so the followers, obviously are too lazy to read Scripture and find out for themselves what it really says, or think they can "interpret" what it says, usually to the benefit of their pocketbook or genitals.

later, flip
 
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