It's sad that there are so many charlatans and deceivers claiming to represent Jesus Christ and Christianity these days. A story today on CNN highlights one such man, Jose Luis De Jesus Miranda, founder of cult group "Growing in Grace", who claims to be the second coming of Christ. According to the CNN report, Miranda's wife of five years, Josephina Torres, is now suing him for divorce, alleging he verbally and physically abused her, and that he committed adultery with many women in the church. The report also gives evidence that Miranda is an extravagant, admitted gambler.
A group whose leader claims to be the second coming of Christ, yet teaches his followers that there is no such thing as sin or hell; who flaunts his possessions and jokes about his gambling, is very obviously a blasphemer and not even a true Christian, let alone the second coming of Christ.
Besides the thousands within the group itself being misled and deceived, the other sad thing is that the world sees such people and finds perhaps another excuse to reject Christianity. But maybe they cannot be blamed for being unable to distinguish between such false teachers and true Christians, when there is so much bogus teaching even in "popular" Christianity.
Jesus warned us in advance about these kinds of false teachers (Luke 9:21, Matthew 24:4-5). These are signs that Jesus may be coming back soon.
May we then also rid ourselves of all hypocrisy, closing the gap between who are in Christ (perfected saints without sin) and what we are in current experience (not yet fully-redeemed saints who daily struggle with sin and fleshly temptations). Thank you Lord for your mercy and for your grace that has not left sin unpunished, but which placed upon Jesus, the Lamb of God, the sin of us all, as He bore the penalty for sin for those who believe in Him. Amen!
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