Unveiled: Surviving La Luz del Mundo

The reason why I want to remain anonymous

is the fear.

The fear of what the church is capable of doing

to someone that has decided to speak of the truths

that happened behind the scenes.

The church can be a magnet for people

who enjoy hurting others.

If all their lives they've suffered

in the same way, psychologically, emotionally,

then that's all they know.

And they inflict it on others.

And they think that that's normal.

When they find you and they know you're

speaking ill of the servant of God,

they beat the crap out of you.

And there's nothing you can do.

We weren't allowed

to ask questions.

Everything were orders.

Everything was

you obey, obey, obey, obey.

I had a mental breakdown.

I said, I don't know how I'm gonna do it.

But I need to reach out to somebody that will help us.

I found Reddit because I went online,

and I just Googled, "La Luz del Mundo"

and that's the first page that popped up.

I knew that there was

some kind of social platform where people were communicating

but I didn't know what it was.

And I started reading all the posts,

and I was like... really?

These stories stuck to me,

'cause I'm actually reading them from someone

that had experienced the same thing as I did.

At the same age. Fifteen, 16.

So, this Reddit helped me see...

Wait a minute.

This was all wrong.

Although, I had been working

towards justice for a while,

it was really getting nowhere.

And then this attorney

said "There's this

one place that you should go.

It's called the Ex-LLDM blog."

I finally posted my story.

And I said, well, hopefully there's a girl out there

who reads this and maybe we can talk

and maybe the authorities will want to listen to me

if it's not just me now.

For me, that was like

somebody believes me.

They heard me... finally.

- (TRAFFIC WHIRRING) - (INDISTINCT CHATTER)

- (PLANE ENGINE WHIRRS) - (BIRDS CHIRPING)

I have my fidgets ready.

I'm just going to get all of them inside my little bag.

Okay, baby. Sounds good.

Uh, that's all you're taking?

I want to take my colors.

Yeah, that's fine.

I live in California...

With my husband and my daughter,

and they're my world. (CHUCKLES)

Now that I'm out of La Luz del Mundo,

my life is so different.

I don't have a reference of not knowing the church

or not remembering the church.

It's always in my memory.

For me, it was like... heaven.

But it was also living hell.

In an institution like La Luz del Mundo,

or the Light of the World,

you don't know what's going on.

You're in that world already. And you don't know it.

La Luz del Mundo is a Christian church

based in Guadalajara, Jalisco, founded in 1926.

And it has one leader

at a time,

and that's the apostle of Jesus Christ.

- They teach us that... - (CROWD CLAMORING)

He's a messenger of God.

And we don't have connection with God directly

without the apostle, and Jesus Christ

doesn't listen to us

if not through his friend, the apostle.

There have been three apostles in the Light of the World, so

generational.

They say it's not,

but it's in the same family.

Aarón Joaquín. He was the first Apostle.

And then his son, Samuel Joaquín.

And then Samuel's son, Naasón Joaquín García.

La Luz del Mundo worked their way

all over the United States.

They're everywhere.

Supposedly, it's in 57 countries.

Anywhere you name it,

there's a church of the Light of the World.

La Luz del Mundo claims to have

five million members

all around the world.

It's really interesting how they detect

the right person.

You have to be poor and you have to be broken.

For you to need somebody who's telling you

that he has all the answers in the world.

My mom

she was a drug addict.

And she was an alcoholic, and

social services took us away,

me and my three older brothers and my younger brother.

Uh, when we were all very little.

We have different dads.

I never met my dad.

He was also a drug addict.

I ended up with my Aunt Ruth.

She was our legal guardian.

My Aunt Ruth was a faithful member

of La Luz del Mundo, and still is to this day.

So, if you have like, family issues,

you don't have parents or something.

Oh, you'll have family here.

You don't have a job.

You come here and you know,

the servant of God prays for you.

I grew up in Silver Lake.

In East L.A.

It was so peaceful.

I loved my schools, I loved my teachers.

I felt safe in my schools.

And I told my husband I'm like, I don't know,

what would have become of me if I didn't have... that exit.

Um.

Even

even for a few hours a day.

Even for a little while where I can

just leave all the circumstances where I was at. Just

everything I was going through,

just to have a place where I can go and,

and feel safe.

I don't remember there being a time

of not being involved in church parties.

The theme parties that they had.

It was like an Egyptian themed party.

Or like a Greek themed party, or like a Roman themed party.

Everybody was a part of them.

And then you had your private parties.

They were...

Um...

It was all a secret.

I was thirteen when my aunt took me to Samuel,

the Apostle at the time.

It was at night in East L.A.

She fixed my hair up and she put my makeup on.

This is how she would explain it to me.

Like when the servant of God, you know, takes you with him,

remember to always please him

and whether it's you massage his feet, or you bathe him,

it's not a sin.

The servant of God never sins.

There's not a sin in his body.

When you're dancing in the private parties

for the Apostles,

some are 12, 11, 13.

Some were 16, 15.

I remember the first time

that I had to wear

my first outfit.

It was so tight and it was so skimpy.

We were dancing to a Britney Spears song.

Um...

And I remember shaking,

and um, everybody was so normal about it.

I was a little girl and I remember thinking,

he's gonna be so mad at me.

Like if the servant of God sees me with this on,

he's gonna be so mad.

And I walked into it, and

he was clapping, and he was happy and,

and I just felt so blessed.

I've spent most of my life

in the church La Luz del Mundo.

When I first started dancing for the apostle,

I must have been 14 or 15.

You're taught that you can't listen to music,

you can't dance, you can't wear makeup

or shorts or pants.

But when it came to the Apostle, you could do everything.

These dances

were for general audience.

Grandchildren included.

Nothing provocative, nothing sexy.

So, you might hear some church members say,