Transcript from Anderson Cooper 360 2/14/07
For reporters, Jose Luis De Jesus could seem like a godsend, the kind of character who makes great copy, a man who literally believes he's a godsend, as in the second coming of Jesus Christ.
His followers consider him the messiah. His detractors call him a cult leader and a danger. He claims millions of disciples worldwide, and some are willing to express their devotion in unorthodox ways.
Here's CNN's John Zarrella.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In a tattoo parlor on trendy South Beach...
JOANN DE JESUS, DAUGHTER OF JOSE LUIS DE JESUS: You did the 666 really big?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
ZARRELLA: ... sat the daughter of the man who claims to be God.
JOANNA DE JESUS: He's God. He's here to teach us that we should reign in life, that there is no sin. And today, we're honoring him with the symbol.
ZARRELLA: Joann De Jesus is one of several dozen members of a religious sect called Crecienda en Gracia, or Growing in Grace. They were tattooed on their arms, ankles, even their necks with 666, the biblical sign of the antichrist. Why? Because their spiritual leader says he is the antichrist, not the embodiment of evil but rather the second coming.
JOSE DE JESUS: Six-six-six, antichrist means do not put your eyes on Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Put it in Jesus after the cross.
ZARRELLA (on camera): And that's you?
JOSE DE JESUS: That's me.
ZARRELLA (voice-over): And he says the word "antichrist" is a bad translation of a word that actually means the new Christ, the second coming.
Puerto Rican born, Jose Luis De Jesus Miranda founded the sect 20 years ago in a warehouse outside Miami.
JOSE DE JESUS: You receive it, you accept it, you confess it and it's done unto you.
ZARRELLA: The charismatic 61-year-old De Jesus claims millions of followers, most in Latin America. His sect does have hundreds of churches, cable TV stations and says it brought in $1.4 million in donations last year. And he boasts of a rapidly growing presence in the United States.
In an interview with us in September, he declared...
JOSE DE JESUS: I do greater things than Jesus of Nazareth. Much greater.
ZARRELLA: Now, sporting his new tattoos...
JOSE DE JESUS: Seis-seis-seis. Triple. Huh?
ZARRELLA: De Jesus says those expecting the second coming of Christ on a cloud with angels have misinterpreted what Jesus himself said.
JOSE DE JESUS: He said it. You won't see me anymore, because he will come in another body, which is me.
PROF. DANIEL ALVAREZ, RELIGION EXPERT: He's in their heads. He's inside the heads of those people.
ZARRELLA: De Jesus is dangerous, says religion professor Daniel Alvarez, because he believes he's God.
ALVAREZ: These megalomaniacal moves are the one that are very disturbing, because it shows that he does believe his own hype and he's capable of saying to his members, "Go tattoo 666 on your arm." I believe he's also capable of asking his church members to do even something more dramatic than that.
ZARRELLA: De Jesus laughs at the implication.
JOSE DE JESUS: They always say those things. They're going to keep waiting for me to kill everybody, you know. ZARRELLA (on camera): Right.
JOSE DE JESUS: I'm giving life to people.
ZARRELLA (voice-over): De Jesus is referring to the suicide death of more than 900 killed in the so-called Jonestown Massacre nearly 30 years ago. But he says mass suicide would never happen with his followers.
JOANN DE JESUS: If somebody tells us, listen, drink some Kool- Aid and then we'll go to heaven, that's not true. We are already in heavenly places.
ZARRELLA: De Jesus preaches that heaven can be found here on earth simply by following him. There's no sin and there is no hell. And that's part of why he's attracting so many followers.
But marking your body with 666 seems an unusual way to show you're a Christian, even unnerving the tattoo artist.
(on camera) I see you wearing a cross.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Protection.
ZARRELLA: John Zarrella, CNN, Miami Beach.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
Amazing Videos of this startling person on his English webpage
http://www.cegenglish.com/