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Faithful come to hear Antichrist
The storefront worship center was packed with more than 100 of the faithful clutching their Bibles, but this was not a typical Sunday-morning service by any stretch of the imagination.
The front door was flanked by two bodyguards wearing earpieces and dark suits, and many others like them were sprinkled through the small room. They were there for Jose Luis de Jesus Miranda, the leader of a controversial international sect, who this weekend paid a rare visit to his Central Florida followers to conduct a series of seminars.
Miranda says he is God and also the Antichrist. Some of his followers sport a 666 tattoo. He has been barred from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. The Costa Rican government is considering a similar action. The Nicaraguan Catholic Church has asked for the same.
On the pulpit, he is funny, warm and charismatic. But his rhetoric is far from conventional.
“I am upstaging Jesus Christ,” he said of his ministry.
Miranda, a 61-year-old former evangelical pastor, is the founder and leader of Creciendo en Gracia, or Growing in Grace. The organization has followers in about 23 countries, according to its Web site.
Miranda is a rich man, by his own admission, whose followers shower him with gifts as well as money.
The east Orange County educational center, as the group calls its gathering places, is one of 12 in Florida. It’s not clear how many followers Miranda has in this area, though. Group leaders say they deem it unnecessary to keep tabs.
A gathering Saturday at Lake Eola attracted a few hundred.
Miranda teaches that the devil no longer exists and that Jesus, like him, was also God incarnate but that his message is no longer current. Nevertheless, Miranda also believes, like mainstream Christians, that Jesus died for the world’s sins. Unlike them, Miranda preaches sin no longer exists.
His followers, some of whom had the 666 or the letters SSS tattooed on their arms, ankles and necks, laughed and applauded during his sermon.
Later, at a news conference, Miranda said the 666 is a number that represents him as the Antichrist but said it is not the devil’s mark since he does not believe there is a devil. He readily admitted the voluntary marking of his followers has more to do with publicity than with anything else.
“It’s the best way to get the world’s attention,” Miranda said.
The letters SSS mean salvo, siempre salvo, or once saved, always saved. They are key to the belief system of the group, which teaches that there is nothing members could do that would cause them not to be God’s “chosen ones.”
Miranda said he’s not worried about the countries that are slamming doors in his face.
After all, his mission is to establish a world government so it makes sense that governments would oppose him.
“We will lead,” he said.
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