Luz del Mundo spokesman Eliezer Gutierrez denied allegations that past church leaders engaged in sexual abuse.
Over half a million pilgrims from over 50 countries descended upon the western Mexican city of Guadalajara last week to participate in an annual ceremony at the spiritual home of the little-known Christian denomination: Luz del Mundo.
Mexico’s second largest religious denomination after the Catholic Church, the Luz del Mundo (Light of the World) was founded in Guadalajara in 1926. It now claims to have approximately five million members, the majority spread across the Americas and Europe.
Luz del Mundo’s national spokesman, Eliezer Gutierrez, told Latin Correspondent that the purpose of last week’s celebrations, known as “La Santa Convocación,” was for devotees to “renew their pact with the lord”.
The culmination of the week-long event was a reenactment of the Last Supper, in which the pilgrims, all dressed in white, broke bread and sipped wine to symbolize their continued commitment to their faith, Gutierrez said.
The church claimed the event drew 537,000 devotees from five continents this year, 177,000 more than in 2014…
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Almost a year on from the forced disappearance of 43 students in southwest Mexico, an activist who helped lead efforts to find them has been brutally murdered.
Police in the troubled state of Guerrero found Miguel Angel Jimenez Blanco’s bullet-ridden body in the taxi he owned near his hometown of Xaltianguis on Saturday night.
Jimenez, 45, was a prominent activist who organised community search parties to find missing people, including the 43 students who disappeared and are believed to have been massacred near the town of Iguala last September. He was a vocal critic of the local authorities, whom he accused of hiding evidence related to the case.
Jimenez also led one of many community police groups that have sprung up in rural Mexican towns in recent years in response to the threat of violent drug cartel and the lack of protection provided by the government. In a tribute video posted online after his death, he confirmed that he had been receiving death threats as a result of his work…
Click here to read this article at Latin Correspondent.
Half a million pilgrims flock to Mexico’s Luz del Mundo church
Inaugurated in 1992, the Hermosa Provincia Temple stands 270 feet tall and seats 12,000 worshippers.
Out of Guadalajara’s working-class Hermosa Provincia neighbourhood rises the 270ft Hermosa Provincia Temple. It is, for millions of devotees, a stairway to heaven.
This week, half a million religious pilgrims from 53 countries will descend upon the Mexican city to celebrate the birthday of Aaron Joaquin Gonzalez, the deceased founder of the little-known Christian denomination Luz del Mundo (Light of the World), a colourful institution with cult-like leaders that was founded in 1926.
With grandstanding architecture and a growing global reach, Luz del Mundo is a Pentecostal church that claims five million members worldwide. Inaugurated in 1992, the 14-sided Provincia Temple is formed of seven blindingly bright white and gold layers, each meant to symbolise steps towards the perfection of the human spirit…
Click here to read this article in full at The Independent.
A Luz del mundo devotee prays inside the vast Hermosa Provincia Temple.
The Tequila Files 