Sky: this person Jose Luis De Jesus Miranda...

Ah. So that's what you meant when you said, "He's local... I didn't need the link." I hope you can appreciate Sky that those of us who are not local and therefore lacking all the details you have had, could not possibly come to any conclusions as based solely on the news clip. Nonetheless, you provided a name and that name has a personal website linked to it: Growing in Grace

A further run through the googler brought up this this article from the Houston Press which offers up a more complete view of the history of his ministry, including this excerpt that caught my eye...

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When people wonder about his progression, ask him why it took him more than 30 years to decide he was Christ, he says, "Well, it's like you. You were a young man, then you got married, then you became a father, then your kids have kids and you became a grandfather. You grow into things in life."

De Jesús has grown into some lavish tastes. According to his daughter/accountant Joann De Jesús, his salary last year was $136,000, but that doesn't count all the gifts he received from wealthy devotees. He's quite the clotheshorse, often seen sporting fine suits and gold jewelry, and he drives a 7 series BMW. When the Houston Press visited him at his Missouri City home, he joked that reporters always liked to talk about his Rolexes, but "now it is no more Rolex, that's the problem. Now I went to Miami, to a group of businessmen, and they gave me a Pasha," a Cartier watch encrusted with enough diamonds to finance the overthrow of a small African government.

Source: This Man Thinks He's Jesus H. Christ

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I'm inclined to think that Christ would not be blown away by material items such as diamond encrusted watches or BMW's. If you're going to talk the talk, you'd best walk the walk.

Meanwhile, along with what must be his personal charisma, De Jesus seems to have two hooks going in his favor -- he states that the devil died 2000 years ago and that all sin died with Christ on the cross. As a result, followers hear that they don't have to worry about burning in hell for eternity nor do they have to worry about ever being considered "bad". If the thought of being on fire forever and ever and ever doesn't sound like your cup or tea or you've ever felt that your best just wasn't good enough, there could be a strong appeal in that message.

This kind of behavior isn't a problem only in the West of course, it's also a problem in the East where "gurus" replace "ministers" as spiritual leaders. Ref: The Spiritual Psyche's Shadow: Gurus, Cults and Aliens

Meanwhile, I'm quite comfortable with Richard Deikman's perspective so I'll borrow on his words once more...

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Spiritual development requires the opposite of indoctrination: learning to discern how the perception of the world is influenced by egocentric thought and motivations. To the extent that groups employ indoctrination components they are not legitimate spiritual groups, no matter what other valuable functions they may perform. Accordingly, their leaders are not entitled to the authority claimed by genuine spiritual teachers, an authority that would otherwise render them immune from conventional criticism. This is an extremely important point because bogus leaders fall back on the argument of spiritual authority as justification for the most exploitive and destructive acts. Without relating a leader's behaviour to the requirements of spiritual development, there is no adequate reply to the argument.

It is because the leader's role is functional rather than magical that genuine spiritual teachers can be seen to obey implicit rules. Despite the general impression that great teachers indulge in any and all behaviour, careful attention to traditional teaching stories and anecdotes reveals that there are certain principles that are never violated. For example, I can recall no anecdote depicting a teacher ordering one student to harm another or condoning such an action. Nor are there examples of students being encouraged to compete for the teacher's attention. There are no examples of teachers entering into sexual relations with their students or enriching themselves with their money. All these examples have been common among current and past "spiritual" groups.

The reason why such examples are absent in authentic spiritual groups is that real teachers do not use their students to advance their own personal interests. In this matter the mystical literature is quite consistent and clear: a spiritual teacher does not have licence to exploit students in any way or for any cause; the only legitimate basis for the teacher's actions is the advancement of the student along the spiritual path. This is not to say that larger purposes may not be served at the same time; indeed, such synchronous activity is said to be the norm but it is never at the expense of the student's development. The fact is, far from having unlimited licence, a genuine spiritual teacher obeys functional requirements that far exceed the restraints most people are accustomed to impose on themselves in the name of religion or common decency. The behaviour of many spiritual leaders is a travesty of the authentic situation.

Source: Evaluating Spiritual and Utopian Groups


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