Guadalajara (Mexico) (AFP)
Thousands of people were participating in Mexico until Wednesday at the annual baptismal ceremony of a church whose leader, Naason Joaquin Garcia, is imprisoned in the United States.
Naason Joaquin Garcia, head of the Church of the Light of the World, was arrested on June 3 at the Los Angeles airport. The one whom his followers consider the last apostle of Christ is accused of 26 offenses, including sexual abuse of minors and child pornography.
According to the California Attorney's Office investigation, 50-year-old Mr. Garcia forced underage girls to perform sexual acts and threatened them by saying that going against the wishes of the "apostle" was tantamount to opposing farewell.
From his cell, he sent a letter to his followers, read at the beginning of the event in Guadalajara. "The plan of God is perfect, even if it is sometimes not pleasant," he says in the text, adding that his task was to "preach the word" among his Russian inmates, and thus make new followers in Russia, Ukraine and Croatia.
"I am 100% sure that he is innocent, honorable, that God has made his heart a precious work," AFP Andrés Riquelme, a 48-year-old Panamanian who traveled to Mexico to attend at the celebrations.
The baptismal ceremony began in Guadalajara (west) on Monday with 2,300 people who joined the Pentecostal cult created in that city in 1926 by the father of the current leader. Other thousands of baptisms have followed, and this gathering called of the "holy convocation" is to culminate this Wednesday with the "holy supper".
The ceremonies in the street are marked by innumerable scenes of great religious fervor, with people praying, screaming and crying, faces distorted by devotion. In the main church of worship, two metal pools receive the cohorts of candidates for baptism, who dive fully dressed.
Since Monday, some 160 people have been preparing 28,000 liters of wine and yeast free bread for the "holy supper".
Hundreds of thousands of people participate in the event, coming from all over Mexico and abroad (from 58 countries according to the organizers).
This cult claims two million followers in Mexico and another three million abroad.
© 2019 AFP