Moisés Padilla was born and raised within the La Luz del Mundo church, whose current religious leader, Naasón Joaquín García, has just been sentenced to jail for sexually abusing three girls.
His account of what he lived with his family behind closed doors of the religious cult leaves an alarming complaint: the horrors suffered by the victims of the so-called 'Apostle of Jesus Christ', sentenced this Wednesday, have been perpetuated for decades in the name of God .
The church, he points out, has been led by a group that takes advantage of the vulnerability of the faithful, with deep ties to the Mexican political power that guarantee impunity.
"The church, the leadership, is criminal," says Padilla in an interview with Noticias Telemundo Investiga, the first he gave after 25 years of silence.
His message is for the hundreds of thousands who are still part of La Luz del Mundo:
“
They have to be very careful: they are dedicated to organized crime
,” he warns.
La Luz del Mundo was founded in 1926 and defines itself as the restoration of the primitive Christian Church.
According to its figures, it is the second largest church in Mexico and has a presence in 60 countries.
It has built lavish temples such as those in Guadalajara and Tapachula, in Mexico, it has organized events at the level of great audiovisual super productions, it has a communication agency and YouTube, radio and television channels and millionaire assets in properties and companies, as it was verified. Telemundo News Investigate.
The church is being targeted by the FBI for allegations of sexual abuse as well as for handling its finances.
For its part, the Attorney General of the Republic (FGR) of Mexico opened an investigation in 2020 for alleged crimes of trafficking in persons for the purpose of sexual exploitation, while the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) has denounced its leaders for tax crimes and money laundering.
But the religious cult grew for decades without knowing what was happening behind the scenes, until Padilla kicked off to change that.
In 1997, he denounced in an interview on Mexican television that he had been raped when he was 16 years old by the then religious leader, Samuel Joaquín Flores, father of Naasón Joaquín García.
The abuse occurred on a congregation trip in 1982. "As we have always been told in the church that we should not judge a 'man of God,' I kept silent until now," Padilla explained.
Samuel Joaquín Flores headed the congregation for 50 years.
He had inherited it from his father, Eusebio Joaquín González, who founded the church in Guadalajara, Mexico, on April 6, 1926.
Along with other victims, he later imposed multiple legal complaints, he now tells Noticias Telemundo Investiga, but none prospered at the time.
"The Mexican government never did anything," he says.
"The church is untouchable."
Padilla points out that he paid a high price for being the first to speak publicly against the church.
In 1998, shortly after his appearance on Mexican television,
he was kidnapped and tortured with 68 stab wounds
.
He survived and for more than two decades, he remained hidden.
He changed his name and started a new life in Los Angeles, California.
There he had a party with friends when he learned of the death of Joaquín Flores, in 2014, and also continued to work for the faithful, creating the Fundación Moisés Padilla to help victims who want to report violations or leave the church.
Naasón inherited from Samuel the title of 'Apostle of Jesus Christ' as leader of the church, and stories of girls forced to be sexual servants multiplied.
“
When the Naasón case comes up, then I understand that I have to go in
,” says Padilla.
Naasón Joaquín García was arrested in California in 2019 accused of 30 sexual crimes.
A Los Angeles court sentenced him Wednesday to 16 years and 8 months in prison, calling him a "sexual predator."
"They told me that if I didn't follow their orders, God would punish me," said one of the victims between sobs during the hearing, where their testimonies were heard, a story of atrocious abuse and harassment that impressed the attendees and put the judge, Ronald S. Coen, on the verge of tears.
The 53-year-old man avoided a life sentence after reaching a plea agreement with the California District Attorney's Office.
He pleaded guilty to three counts: forcing two minors to perform oral sex on him and committing a lewd act on a 15-year-old girl.
Despite the heartbreaking testimonies of the victims, La Luz del Mundo has maintained its support for the apostle.
"Our trust in him remains intact," he said in a statement after Naason's conviction.
In Mexico, meanwhile, followers showed his indignation and prayed for him, believing him to be innocent.
Padilla says he understands the faithful: he, too, was caught up in fanaticism.
“It is time for the brothers to wake up,” he says.
It is time for the brothers to wake up"
Moisés padilla victim of the light of the world
In his interview with Noticias Telemundo Investiga, he not only remembers what his sisters experienced, which he claims were forced to have sexual relations as virgins, but also the visits of political candidates for the "blessing" of the apostle and a display of power in the church properties, with tunnels and secret chambers and exclusive Army weapons.
"Since I was a child I always observed that the Joaquín family saw the church as a business, later I observed that they saw it as a power, but in 1997 (when he denounced sexual abuse and was persecuted) I discovered that it is a criminal group," he says. "That is to say, at first they sought power, money, and then they resorted to crime," he sums up.
Noticias Telemundo Investiga contacted spokespersons for La Luz del Mundo to ask them about the Padilla case, but received no response.
[“It is a terror and I am afraid”: says a woman who denounced Joaquín García]
Faithful pray for religious leader Naasón Joaquín García at the International Headquarters of the "La Luz del Mundo" Church in Guadalajara, Mexico, after his arrest in 2019. ULISES RUIZ / AFP via Getty Images
Other victims of La Luz del Mundo coincide with Padilla's vision.
"
This organized crime organization does not only handle Naasón
, but it is the leadership, which was sitting there inside this court, and to whom the same complainants also turned and pointed," said Sochil Martin, one of the people who sued to the current leader in California, in an interview with Noticias Telemundo Investiga.
Sex maids, an open secret
Padilla grew up in the Hermosa Provincia neighborhood in Guadalajara, Jalisco, the international headquarters of La Luz del Mundo, and his family was always in the inner circle of the religious cult.
His father helped build buildings and held various positions.
"I was born in the church, and like all children, after school, I went to the street to play, marbles, the spinning top, and two of my little friends were precisely the children of Samuel Joaquín," he says.
On visits to the family, he says, he saw how the then leader used cocaine and the secret tunnels that connected church properties in the neighborhood.
But Padilla had learned to admire the apostle with devotion and without judging him.
Until he suffered in the first person, he denounced what was always an open secret: the abuse of minors.
It's an open secret, everyone knows, that he messed with him, with her...everyone knows and everyone covers it up"
Moisés Padilla member of the Light of the world
“When I was little, I used to go to his house, it always struck me why there were so many women and young people, and all of them good-looking, but I never imagined the sexual part of Samuel.
I knew her when she was 16 years old, and she invited me to spend a weekend with him”, she relates.
On that trip to Puerto Vallarta, in 1982, Padilla denounces that it was the leader who forced him to have sexual relations, something that caused him "irreparable damage", destroying him on a spiritual level and generating a lifelong trauma.
It happened when the group he was traveling with sent him to the outskirts of the city only with Samuel with the excuse that they were going to wash a truck.
“
Everyone else already knew, all of them are accomplices
”, thinks Padilla.
Excerpt from an article published in La Jornada on May 21, 1997 with testimonies of victims of Samuel Joaquín Flores, then leader of the La Luz del Mundo church in Mexico.Noticias Telemundo
Padilla's 1997 interview revealing this abuse unleashed a scandal in the press with complaints against the so-called "holy man."
One of the young women, they then told several Mexican media, was assigned to "serve in the house" of Samuel, which was considered an honor, and then she was forced to have sex with him at private parties.
"This is a blessing for you," they told her.
After sharing his story, Padilla then learned that his two sisters were forced to "give their virginity" to the former leader and be his sexual servants.
Her mother was the one who offered them, she says.
This situation caused her parents to divorce and brought division and pain to the family.
Over time, Padilla learned to understand his mother.
"When I analyzed the situation, I saw in my mother
a mentally ill human being, she had suffered a lot of damage to her religion
," she says.
The stories from that time coincide with the recent testimonies of Naason's victims: they were forced to obey the leader, as if his orders were the word of God.
“He used my trust and he used my innocence.
He made me his property, I was his property, ”said one of the survivors at the Los Angeles court hearing.
"In the Beautiful Province it is an open secret, everyone knows that he messed with him, with her...everyone knows and everyone covers it up," says Padilla.
"I was raped and abused day after day."
The strong stories of the victims of Naasón Joaquín García
June 9, 202203:10
Padilla relates that he has seen how the faithful come to church after suffering difficult emotional experiences.
“
In that moment of vulnerability, it is when [the leaders] begin to work on their emotions
and little by little they begin to introduce fanaticism”, he assures.
Millions of dollars for your silence
Padilla and his father left the church in 1992 and began denouncing its leaders.
From that moment, the threats to the family began, according to police reports and the press of the time.
The situation worsened when Padilla spoke on television in December 1997.
Along with the threats, he says, the then apostle Samuel Joaquín Flores offered him millions of dollars for his silence.
“He sent two people with two briefcases full of $100 bills.
And they told me, brother Samuel wants this to end in holy peace,
that you forgive him for what he did to you
, that it was not the intention to harm you, but that you stop this situation, ”he relates.
Padilla refused: “it was an offense to me, wanting to buy money for the damage I had done.”
Shortly after, in February 1998, a group of people kidnapped him in Guadalajara, and took him at gunpoint to the outskirts of the city, where they stripped him naked and stabbed him until they thought he was dead.
"Perhaps this sacrifice will help the government act," he thought.
Moisés Padilla after being stabbed in 1997. Moisés Padilla Archive
But there were no investigations at the time.
When Padilla managed to survive, he again received death threats.
Samuel Joaquín Flores said for his part to the press that the accusations against him were "absolutely false" and that violence is contrary to his morals.
"It is highly biased and slanderous to launch reckless and baseless accusations," he said in a statement published by the newspaper El Universal a day after the kidnapping.
Although he indicated that he would not file a libel suit.
Padilla says that he has the evidence and records of what happened, but no investigation ever prospered.
There he realized that he was facing something bigger than just the leader: a political and economic power.
Samuel Joaquín Flores, he relates, has always worked so that “the brothers” would be congressmen, federal deputies, to take on positions of power.
He also says that political candidates passed by the apostle's house to receive "his blessing from him."
“
Because of its political relations, the Government of Mexico did not accept our demands
, they did not even take them, they did not even grab them,” he indicates.
La Luz del Mundo assures that it is the largest evangelical church in Mexico and that it has millions of followers, according to the congregation itself, although the most recent census data, from 2010, indicate that it has less than 200,000 members.
Padilla makes it clear again and again that the followers of the church are not sectarian, but rather deluded.
“They are good people, my mother was a good person, but they damaged her mind.
All the dogma of faith towards the apostles, I consider as a mental damage to society”, he explains.
Naasón Joaquín García, left, and his father, Samuel Joaquín García, center. Moisés Padilla Archive
The faithful are not the problem, but "
the tumor is the entire Joaquín family, the ministers, those at the top
, the Council of Bishops, and their accomplices," he remarks.
[This Mexican persecuted by La Luz del Mundo obtained asylum in the United States and wants to help others leave the church]
The church leadership has defended the current leader, Naasón Joaquín García, despite the fact that he himself has pleaded guilty.
"It's the worst mistake they've ever made," says Padilla, and then points out: "they're scared, they're afraid because they know they've committed a lot of crimes themselves."
The end of the Light of the World
La Luz del Mundo has a consortium of businesses, with assets of millions of dollars, that are engaged in various activities in the name of religion.
But
Naasón's victims will only receive a small compensation
, which is established by California law.
"Victims have the right to a restitution of 10,000 dollars, it is the most that a victim of a crime can receive," explained Álex Gálvez, a criminal lawyer, to Noticias Telemundo Investiga.
If other victims decide to speak out, they could file a lawsuit and get other compensation, he says.
In addition,
the church is being investigated by various federal agencies, including the FBI
, which is pursuing new cases of abuse and handling of its finances.
[The Light of the World collects millions of dollars from its faithful. What do they do with the money?]
Padilla also says that his foundation plans to take the case of La Luz del Mundo to an international court to "compromise the Government of Mexico, and the other governments, which due to corruption have not accepted cases from the victims."
The Light of the World has millions in assets but the victims of their leader will receive a small compensation
June 9, 202202:06
But there is a pending debate: the future of the hundreds of thousands of believers, and of the money from La Luz del Mundo that, in the end, belongs to the faithful, says Padilla.
The trial of Naasón Joaquín García has generated great confusion among the pastors and the faithful, but "there is a very big project, a very beautiful project, to be able to rehabilitate the church," he clarifies.
There is a very big project, a very nice project, to be able to rehabilitate the church"
Moises padilla member of the light of the world
This attempt is supported by a majority group, he assures, that sees the possibility of a new Light of the World without an 'Apostle of Jesus Christ', such as Samuel and Naason.
Padilla thinks of
an "ecclesiastical parliament"
and that the funds of the congregation, the tithe of the faithful, are used to help the most needy families.
His message to the members of the Light of the World is to be encouraged to see the reports and complaints against the leaders.
“I know that they are seeing me and maybe they are against what I am saying and it is respectable, because until now they are beginning to see this world that they had blocked,” she indicates.
“It is time for the brothers to wake up, for the brothers to embrace God and really look for a new Light of the World”, he points out.
If you know of a child who may be experiencing abuse, you can report them to Child Protective Services (CPS),
which has agencies in every state
and can investigate.
You can also contact Child Help by calling or texting
1-800-422-4453
or
online chat
.
If you know of a case of abuse in La Luz del Mundo, you can contact
juan.cooper@nbcuni.com