PREACHER’S NO-SHOW IN DIVORCE COURT

Added: (Tue Aug 26 2008)

Pressbox (Press Release) - The Doral Antichrist Preacher Divorce Case Went On Without Him.

Jose Luis de Jesus Miranda, the Doral-based church leader who first claimed to be Christ, then the Antichrist, disappeared after he was declared in contempt of court for failure to pay alimony to his soon-to-be ex-wife. Their divorce trial went ahead without him this week, with wife Josefina de Jesus Torres alleging abuse, abandonment and infidelity.

She's seeking half of both the Growing in Grace church assets and his personal property, which her divorce attorneys tampa argue are the same because they claim de Jesus controls the church's finances.

Miami civil court Judge Roberto Pineiro, who is presiding over the case, had ordered de Jesus to pay up or surrender to authorities by Aug. 6 after he failed to pay five months of alimony -- more than $72,000 -- to Torres.

De Jesus' attorney, Gregory Betancourt, told The Miami Herald that Torres' accusations of mistreatment are part of a gold-digging legal strategy.

De Jesus ''categorically denies all those claims,'' Betancourt said, adding that he has not spoken to his client for more than two weeks. ''She just wants to obtain as much money as she possibly can,'' Betancourt said.

The three-day divorce trial ended on Friday, and Pineiro asked both divorce lawyers tampa to submit settlement proposals within three weeks, after which he will rule.

The Growing in Grace empire, which has spread to 300 churches in more than 30 countries, attained international notoriety in the past two years after de Jesus declared himself to be Jesus Christ. De Jesus, 62, later claimed the title of Antichrist because, he argued, as he is the Second Coming, his teachings supersede those of Jesus. He and other followers got ''666'' tattoos to illustrate their devotion.

Testimony in his divorce attorney tampa case ranged from the spiritual -- with one church leader explaining why he now considers de Jesus to be God -- to the sordid, with Torres claiming that during their marriage de Jesus cast her off for another woman in Houston -- a woman his inner circle now calls his ``wife.''

''He didn't hit me, but in my mind he destroyed me,'' she said. ``In that
moment, I believed he was chosen by God with power over angels.''