Fall from grace

Some of the abominations alleged against the fugitive Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KoJC) leader Pastor Quiboloy, the “self-appointed Son of God,” were found in the files of the US Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California.

An indictment that was the basis for placing Quiboloy and some of his followers on the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) wanted list alleged a sex trafficking operation that coerced girls and young women to have sex with the church leader under threat of “eternal damnation.”

Quiboloy and his cohorts face similar charges in Philippine courts but the US indictment gave details of the charges against the pastor that are retold in other countries where the cult operates.

A contingent of about 2,000 policemen has been staking out the KoJC compound in Davao City the past six days seeking to serve a warrant of arrest on the group’s leader who is suspected to be hiding in an underground bunker.

Quiboloy and several KoJC members were named in 42 counts in the United States that included a labor trafficking scheme that brought church members to the US through “fraudulently obtained” visas.

According to the US state attorney, KoJC members were forced to solicit donations for a bogus charity called Children’s Joy Foundation (CJF) but the collections were used “to finance church operations and the lavish lifestyles of its leaders.”

Members who proved successful at soliciting were allegedly forced to enter into sham marriages or obtain fraudulent student visas to continue soliciting in the US year-round, the 2021 indictment stated.

Six KoJC members have been arrested while Quiboloy and three others are the subjects of a manhunt.

In the first apprehension in the US of three KoJC members in January 2020, the immigration fraud committed by Quiboloy’s group was detailed.

The core allegations of the case are that representatives of the KoJC obtained visas for church members to enter the US by claiming, for example, that they would be performing at musical events.

Once the church members arrived in the United States, they were required to surrender their passports and work full-time soliciting donations for the CJF subject to quotas.

While some church members knew they were entering the US to be fundraisers, the indictment alleged “other KoJC workers were unaware of the actual purpose until they were forced to solicit on the streets nearly every day, year-round, working very long hours, and often sleeping in cars overnight, without normal access to over-the-counter medicine or even clothes.”

The victims’ passports and other immigration documents were confiscated by the traffickers “to prevent and restrict KoJC workers’ liberty to move and travel to maintain their labor and services, some of them were and had been victims of a severe form of trafficking,”

Productive workers were kept in the US by obtaining student visas or by arranging sham marriages with KoJC members who were US citizens, the indictment alleged.

To create the illusion of a legitimate marriage, joint bank accounts were produced.

“(US) immigration records summarized in the criminal complaint indicated there were 82 marriages involving KoJC administrators and full-time workers over the past two decades,” the indictment said.

Quiboloy and his minions face other charges involving the exploitation of the members of the religious organization.

Quiboloy had impressed on innocent individuals his infallibility and omnipotence which meant that he was beyond anything temporal, including the law.

Through such oppressive methods, Quiboloy amassed wealth and influence which he now uses to evade accountability.

It behooves the government to find the KoJC leader without conditions.