Jesus Christ The Man May Face Deportation On His Next Visit to Costa Rica

The next time Jesus Christ the man comes to Costa Rica he may face deportation, according to the Director de Migración y Extranjería – immigration service – Mario Zamora.

José Luis de Jesús Miranda, made his appearance this weekend in Costa Rica at the Complejo Picacho, en Paraíso de Cartago, before a crowd of his followers, made up mainly of foreigners.

Costa Rica is the only Central American country that has allowed entry to the controversial preacher. However, this may be his last.

A Cult of Christianity

Theologically, Creciendo en Gracia is a cult of Christianity. This term is used of a group or organization whose central teachings and/or practices are claimed to be biblical, but which are in fact unbiblical.

Sociologically, Creciendo en Gracia has cult-like elements as well

Zamora said that Miranda entered the country as a tourist, however, in reality he was here taking part in activities different than tourism, violating his entry status.

Zamora added that the next time Miranda comes to Costa Rica on the same basis, he may face deportation.

Miranda is the founder and leader of Creciendo en Gracia (Growing In Grace International Ministry, Inc.) a ministry that teaches the doctrine of Grace and is based in Miami (Doral), Florida.

Miranda’s followers believe that he is the reincarnation of God on Earth, Jesus, the apostle Paul, an angel and an archangel. He refers to himself as the Antichrist and exhibits a “666” tattoo on his forearm. He has also previously referred to himself as “Jesus Christ in the flesh“.

Miranda “preaches to followers in some 35 nations, mostly in Latin America, and has 287 radio programs and a 24-hour Spanish-language TV network.” Creciendo en Gracia has been described as a cult by cult expert Rick Ross, and others. [Recommended cult experts | Guidelines for selecting a cult expert/counselorRNB]

Much of the controversy began to rise after Miranda made comments about the Roman Catholic Church. According to Miranda, the “Catholic Church is evil” and he has told his followers to burn pictures of the pope and protest outside of churches.

Also, Miranda claims “there is no sin.” He has stated that murder and theft are only wrong because “society has made them wrong”.

Miranda has been labeled as a “con man” due to his comments about children in his ministry. He claims the youth in his church are the “super raza” or “super race” because they have been brought up “pure with no stain of religion.”

He also went on to say Miami was the center of his faith because “that is where Hispanics are.” “Miami is the bridge for all nations,” said Miranda, “That’s where Hispanics are, and then eventually I’m going to find a lot of beautiful English-speaking people who will want to believe in me and I’m going to have millions of them.”

Source

(Listed if other than Religion News Blog, or if not shown above)
, Inside Costa Rica, Sep. 25, 2007, http://insidecostarica.com/

Religion News Blog posted this on Wednesday September 26, 2007.
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