El Christo Falso

He lives in Houston, Texas. His name is José Luis de Jesus Miranda. He is the leader of the Growing in Grace International Ministry. He says that he is the second coming of Jesus Christ. “He [integrated] with my person in 1973,” said de Jesus. Estimates of the number of his followers range from 100,000 to millions. He has a 24 hour TV channel. He plans to enlarge his mainly Hispanic flock with English-speaking Americans. “Miami is the gateway to the world,” he said.

The Growing in Grace Doctrine

There is no devil, no hell, and no sin. “There is no wrong in God’s eyes. Heaven does not have anything to do with your behavior,” he says. He claims that other churches hurt people by using fear of the devil, hell, and sin. “Yes, this is a ‘feel good’ church,” one of his followers said. This “Jesus of suburbia” also says that there is no need for prayer. He claims that he was visited by two angels.

Miami Vices

De Jesus openly smokes and drinks alcohol. He says he never gets drunk or does drugs, but says, “I enjoy life.” Before his “calling” he had been a thief and a drug addict. He was reportedly convicted of a DUI as recently as 1997. The female members of his flock see nothing wrong with dressing immodestly, but de Jesus claims that there is no adultery going on. Divorce is perfectly OK in the Growing in Grace Church. When questioned about his similarities to Jim Jones, de Jesus said that his followers would never commit suicide because the Bible doesn’t say to. Watch out! Remember what the Heaven’s Gate group taught about suicide. Cults tend to do the very thing that they say that they are the most against. What a cruel irony. The wages of sin is death indeed. (Romans 6:23)

Brainwashed Children

Children of the followers of this sect are taught that there are no eternal consequences of stealing, murder, and other “crimes which are not sins”. He calls them the “super raza” (“super race”) because they have not been polluted by the teachings of other churches.

The Antichrist

De Jesus wears a vest with “666” on it and his followers get “666” tattoos. I guess they get a liberating feeling from it because it confirms their confidence that there is no devil. De Jesus has recently started calling himself “the Antichrist”. He says that he does this because it is his way of rejecting “the continued worship of Jesus Christ”. In 1998 he reportedly claimed to be the reincarnation of the apostle Paul. As in any other cult, contradictions just don’t matter.

How It All Got Started

De Jesus claims that he was visited by two angels. This is how Islam, Mormonism, the Jehovah’s Witnesses, and many other religions have gotten started. Galatians 1:8 says, “But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.”

What the Bible Really Says

Hell does exist. The devil does exist. I Peter 5:8 says to “be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.” Sin does exist. Anyone who claims to be without sin is a liar and makes God out to be a liar. (I John 1:8, 10) As for churches using fear, Proverbs 19:23 says, “The fear of the LORD tendeth to life: and he that hath it shall abide satisfied; he shall not be visited with evil.” Paul reasoned with Felix about “righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come”. Felix trembled at this. (Acts 24:25) I Thessalonians 5:17 says, “Pray without ceasing.”

Matthew 24:23, 24 says, “Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.” False Christs feed on dead churches that teach meaningless religiosity. (Matthew 24:28)

It is sinful for women to dress immodestly. (I Timothy 2:9, 10) Jesus said, “…whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.” (Matthew 5:28) Divorce is not OK with God. He hates it. (Malachi 2:16) Jesus said, “…whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery.” (Matthew 5:32) So the claim that there is no adultery in the Growing in Grace Church is false in the final analysis. “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;” (II Timothy 4:3)

Not All False Teachers are So Easy to Recognize

Many people in mainstream churches today would say that they never would become a member of Growing in Grace, but yet they deceive themselves. What they believe is essentially the same thing. They still call sin sin, but they take it with as little seriousness as de Jesus does. They claim Jesus as their savior, but it is not the real Jesus, but a Santa Claus-like Jesus that they feel comfortable with.