June 8, 2023 • 34 mins
We delve into the remarkable expansion of LLDM under the leadership of its second Apostle, Samuel Joaquín García, and trace the origins of LLDM back to its founding Apostle, Aaron Joaquín.
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Before we jump in, we must warn you this episode
contains explicit content, such as sexual abuse that may be
disturbing some people. Listener discretion is advised. Samuel was born
on February fourteenth, nineteen thirty seven, and he was.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Dead ikwandn Fevrero was Nosletikavan in his Historia Nasim.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
At that very moment, Aaron took him into his arms
and presented him to God, and the child came back
to life.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
Sharimbusman remembers hearing the stories of the apostle Samuel's miraculous
rebirths many times over while growing up in a luzel
Mundo lo.
Speaker 4 (00:50):
Que.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
We're also told that on another occasion, Samuel fell into
a well died and when they lifted him out of
the well, he came back to life.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
Samuel's rebirths were just one of the many miracles the
apostles of laluzel Mundo were blessed with. There were visions
of paradise, prophetic dreams, and special protection from evil, the
devil and sin. But miracles didn't just happen to the apostles.
They could also perform them, like the time Sachill Martin's
(01:23):
aunt drank bleach as a young girl.
Speaker 5 (01:26):
My grandmother starts to flip out and she tells my
grandfather and he's like, no, we take her to the
emergency room, and she's like no, no, no, We're going
to take her to the Apostle of Jesus Christ and
he's going to bring her back to life.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
The Apostle heal her with prayer. The Apostles prayers are
considered the source of all blessings for the flock. If
you have a good job, it's the Apostles prayers. If
you have healthy children, it's the Apostles prayers. If you
have good sex, it's the Apostles prayers. This belief in
the Apostles miracles among LDM members is so strong that
(02:01):
when Samuel finally did die at the age of seventy seven,
followers like Sharimgu's Man refused to believe it.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
Uduela and what did those basis and isidia.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
To us? Samuell held over He come back from the
dead twice, so the day he died, the hope was
that he would come back to life just as Jesus
Christ had. Popo were jumping to their own conclusions about
how he could return and some even offered the lives
of their own children in exchange for a minute of
Samuel's life.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
The believers waited days, even weeks for Simul to rise again.
Believers sprayed on the floor of the temple next to
the coffin. They cried underneath the church at the entrance
of his mausoleum. His presence had become so towering, so
all encompassing. They could not believe he was just gone.
If Jesus had resurrected, why not, some weel he was,
(03:01):
after all, the closest thing to God on earth. The
special connection between the Apostles and God, that God himself
had chosen them and would allow his might to flow
through them, was used to first gain followers, then keep
their hold over the congregation. It was the founding myth
(03:22):
of Laluzelmundo. If you are not inside the church, the
miracles sound fake phony, easily dismissed. But when you live
in the world of Laluzelmundo and believe in the Apostle,
these miracles and the apostles divinity are very very real.
(03:53):
This is Sacred Scandal season two. Lalus del Mundo and
I'm Robert Garza, L luzel Mundo is not just a church,
as we learned in previous episodes. It's a powerful and
powerfully corrupt transnational institution with strong connections to Mexico's political elite.
This episode explores how the church gained so much power, money,
(04:16):
and influence, one miracle at a time. This is episode
three the election. LLDM had humble beginnings before the apostle
was named. At on, he was known as Yusebio Jua,
(04:37):
King Gonzalez, a foot soldier in revolutionary Mexico, living with
his young bride, Elisa, in Monterey. We'll hear more about
Elisa later. The couple had recently converted from Catholicism to
Evangelical Christianity after meeting a pair of wandering preachers who
spoke of fantastic visions and miracles and took as many
(04:59):
wives as King David. Intrigued, the newlyweds left the army
to serve the preachers. But then, about a year after
their conversion, something fantastic happened. One night in April nineteen
twenty six, Eusebi was asleep in his bed with his wife.
(05:20):
He awoke to a thunderous voice and the shimmering white
hand pointed right at him. The voice said, your.
Speaker 3 (05:29):
Name will be Aaron. I will make it known to
the world, and you.
Speaker 4 (05:34):
Will be a blessing.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
Brilliant multi colored stars spelled the name Arona across the heavens,
fading into the dawning day. He had been visited by God,
or so he claimed. The vision convinced the man newly
named Aaron and his wife Elisa, they had been touched
by something special. Within a week, the couple left their
(05:59):
evangelical teachers and began wandering south through the Sierra Madre Mountains,
trekking over five hundred miles in search for a place
to build their own Jerusalem. The couple eventually made their
way to Warajara, arriving on the fist day of the
Virgin of Wailupe and preaching to anyone who would listen
about Aaron's divine connection. In l DM, this vision is
(06:23):
known as the Election. It's the church's origin myth, the
central tenet of its faith, and the foundation from which
the apostles unquestionable iron rule would spring. Use how former
el DM deacon Huil Silva remembers it.
Speaker 6 (06:41):
Not theology, not high doctrines of a resurrection or judgment. No, no, no,
They spend ninety nine percent of the time taking about
the election, the privileges of being elected by God directly.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
We can either confirm nor deny these miracles, and it
seems neither can the apostles.
Speaker 6 (07:01):
NASONI, when his preaching said, I can't say a dead
body stand up.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Your cuelo the sila muerto levantade jo poiego.
Speaker 6 (07:17):
I can tell a paralytic guy what, But God didn't
send me.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
To do that. You comna ben was alvarecarne.
Speaker 6 (07:32):
I'm not gonna do it because God didn't send me
to do that. He sent me to save your souls,
not your bodies.
Speaker 3 (07:38):
Ami Cristobo alvarda carne.
Speaker 7 (07:42):
Amigristo maybe Ino Salvarto alma.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
The story of our own's vision that he was chosen
by God was convincing enough to gain him a small following.
This was nineteen twenties Mexico and twere religious movements were
popping up all the time in the wake of America's
Evangelical Revivalism. Still preaching under his teacher's pentecostal banner, Aaron
(08:10):
saw shoes and bibles door to door while the rest
of his flog sold fried food in the streets of Wallajara.
But Arna and his congregation were not welcome by their
staunchly Catholic neighbors, and the group faced constant heckling and harassment.
His higher ups at the Church of the Good Shepherd
back in Monterey were not happy with the group either.
(08:32):
As a pastor, aar On often straight from the doctrine,
and he did not live modestly or behave humbly yeah
jah I located the kavan or le rossi Avon.
Speaker 8 (08:46):
He was chastised because he asked for perfume to be
sprayed where he walked and flower pedals to be thrown
at his feet. He was criticized for presenting himself like
a demigod.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
Anthropologist Rnede La Torre is the leading expert in Elaliam's lore.
She explains how Aaron transformed himself from humble pastor to
a full blown divinity the yogochal moment of resacamentem scorentitos.
Speaker 8 (09:16):
What change The moment was exactly in nineteen forty two
when he broke from the Evangelical church, and from then
on he began to project his figure as semi divine.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
Two decades after he first converted, Aaron broke away from
his church. Acting again on a vision, God appeared to Aaron,
denounced his former pastors as greedy, envious, corrupt, and ordered
him to get baptized again. This time, though Aaron would
(09:53):
do what not even Jesus did. He baptized himself. This
is the moment when Aarn fully became the Apostle of God,
the one person on Earth able to open or close
Heaven on Hell for the rest of humankind. Newly minted Apostle,
(10:23):
Aaron not only rebaptized himself, he also changed the church's
main feast, the Santacena, into a full on celebration of himself.
He moved it from December to his birthday in August,
and added pageantry and mandatory gifts. Aaron was really going
off the doctrinal script. These moves were not without some controversy.
(10:46):
About two hundred of his followers left, but the rest
of his five or six hundred acolytes remained by him
and followed in his footsteps, being rebaptized by the Apostle's hands,
and soon they would help Aron build his own holy city,
one where they would be saved from the heckling Catholics
and free to praise as they pleased. In a stroke
(11:09):
of luck, Aaron's old army commander general became governor of Jalisco.
With the governor's generous help, Aaron acquired an abandoned acienda
close to forty acres of sparse land at the outskirts
of Wallajara. The land would become his personal fiftom, an
evangelical utopia where no leave is turned without the Apostle's blessing.
(11:32):
It would be known as Hermosa Provincia, or Beautiful Province.
Having felt first hand the rejection and hostility of the
community around him, he wanted to found a settlement apart
from the world at large, a fable, shining city on
a hill where mundane society would have limited rich and
(11:52):
only Christ through his Apostle, would rule supreme. More on that,
After the break, the Apostle led his flock to a
(12:13):
settlement just outside the city of Wallajara, Ermosa Provincia. In
this new sanctuary, Aaron was able to consolidate his power,
and he was able to perform miracles of a sort.
In post revolutionary nineteen forties, Mexico land was hard to
come by the nation was rebuilding itself. Strongmen ruled over
(12:37):
a struggling federal government, and farmers and workers had been
displaced by the never ending wars. But Aaron, having access
to a bunch of land, was able to provide his
followers with homes, jobs, community and salvation. Ermosa Provincia quickly
became a hot ticket. The lots were sold exclusively to
(12:59):
church members at reduced prices. The faithful flocked, but there
was a catch. If you left the church, you lost
your job and probably your home. And commitment to LDM
was not a casual affair. There would be no private life,
(13:21):
no time away work, schools, friendships, courtships, marriages, leisures and interests.
Even hairstyles and dress codes were governed by ledm's increasingly
strict rules. And if he controlled every moment of his followers' lives,
there would be less time for them to question if
(13:41):
his connection to God was real or if the rumors
that he was a pedophile who had gotten his twelve
year old stepsister pregnant were true.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
Dostravachan, but I saw, like.
Speaker 3 (13:55):
Secta Abbibidio and Racan.
Speaker 7 (13:58):
The cult has lived in the eye of the hurricane
ever since hour and in forty two when they accused
him of being an adulterer, that he read little girls,
they're used to living in the eye of the hurricane, right,
So for them there is one one thought. No one
is going to come to us to tell us who
the servant of God is. We know him, we know
(14:19):
who he is, and for us, he's honorable, even if
the news says otherwise.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
Egtrberta was a high ranking pastor in LDM during the
nineteen eighties and nineties. He watched the church grow on
the around sona successor sa Way. He's a first hand
how Samuel continued his father's legacy, his divinity, but also
his corruption and his sexual abuses.
Speaker 3 (14:44):
Fum camio tremendo joby v loso Chenda's joby villo Novendez.
Speaker 7 (14:49):
I lived through the eighties. I saw the growth. I
saw when they began to build the Great Temple in Guadalacara.
I saw some wealth, enthusiasm, the so poor that all
his constant encouragement gave. Although he was under he wasn't,
but he urged the ministers to be holly, to be clean.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
Ector remembers how Samoil and Arne, who he calls by
their family name, the Joaquins made their followers feel like
they were part of something special and sacred.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
Los Joaquines. But Son Mukaridos in hospital.
Speaker 7 (15:25):
Yes, the Huakins truly are very beloved and very respected,
any of them, all of them for the church, for
the called the Joaquin family is very powerful.
Speaker 1 (15:38):
Samoeil was Aaron's youngest son, and it was not obvious
he would take over. When asked about a successor, Aaron
was vague loosely referencing his revered and loyal elder pastors.
But when Aaron died in nineteen sixty four, his wife,
Elisa Flores, had other plans. She spread a rumor saying
(15:59):
that right before his death, Aaron dreamt his pastures appeared
with the face of a monstrous Hyaena ravenous like wolves.
Elisa reminded every one of Samuel's birth that his father
had raised a stillborn child to the heavens, crying Samuel, Samuel, Samuel,
when suddenly the child took a deep breath and began
(16:21):
to cry. The crowning moment came when the apostle's body
was laid in the wake at the feet of the
temple's altar. And the tearful flog bawled, tore at their
clothes and pulled out their hair. At that moment, Samuel's
sister took her father's hand and pulled off Aaron's seal ring.
(16:43):
She raised it for the community to see and slid
it onto Samuel's finger, saying, Israel's lamb has not gone out.
It is lid and shining forth. Samuel then stepped out
and told the mourners he had dreamt himself reading the Apocalypse,
the part where the Angel of God cleanses the earth,
(17:06):
when the Almighty Boys interrupted him to say that Angel
is you. At twenty seven. Just like that, Samuel became
the second Apostle, like his father, chosen by God, and
as apostle, he would flex that power to its fullest extent.
(17:29):
When we return how Samuel built a holy empire through
unholy alliances. Samuel's apostles ship was not guaranteed. The fight
that ensued between the church's elders and him was fierce.
(17:53):
In order to maintain control, he needed to find a
way to keep his followers in check and prevent information
from leaking out.
Speaker 6 (18:01):
So he wanted to create his own group that was
totally loyal to him, a group.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
That could keep everyone in lockstep and reported only to him.
Speaker 6 (18:13):
And he accomplished creating this group called Unconditionals. The conditioners
were young, the majority of them close to his age,
others younger than him. But he wanted a group of
pastors that were totally loyal to him.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
The Unconditionals the Apostle, some Well's most trusted inner circle.
Some call them the Aronites. Their existence is strongly denied
by the Church to outsiders. Oil Silva was one of them.
Speaker 6 (18:47):
Well, I never wanted to be a nunconditioner now, but
Samuel called you. He ordered you to be an unconditioner,
so you cannot deny the will of the Apostle. So
I became an conditioner for Samuel. And when I was
requested that blank page signed, I didn't.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
Did it blank?
Speaker 7 (19:10):
Blank or win on several I signed several blank sheets, Yes,
blank sheets, because I was an unconditional.
Speaker 1 (19:20):
A signed blank page may not seem like a big deal,
but imagine if someone had the power to create any
type of document such as an accusation or an ambition
of guilt, or the petition of a mortgage or a will,
and then printed on the blank page you just signed.
They could manipulate it and use it against you however
they wanted, And that was the point. Here's former pastor
(19:44):
Hector Vera again.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
So now the CI is the system dispostos.
Speaker 7 (19:53):
They asked me if I was willing to do anything,
if the servant of God commands us to do something,
we're going to say, yeah, yes, We're not going to
think about it. Even my ex wife told two of
my children that she was unconditional. She let them know
she was willing to kill to defend sam Oil.
Speaker 1 (20:12):
One of the first things Samuel did was use his
secret police force to increase the feeling that he was
an omnipotent divine being. He was able to establish this
vast network of informants who were willing to put him
above their own friends and family. The unconditionals act as
spies for the Apostle, reporting on anyone who isn't following
(20:34):
his rules or being loyal to him.
Speaker 3 (20:37):
Beyond this course, socket Pestan I see.
Speaker 5 (20:41):
Eske Samuel Tony.
Speaker 8 (20:43):
There was a saying they began telling everyone that was
just cruel. They would say that Samuell sees everything someone
can see, not just when I have seen or have
made a mistake. But he can also see my desires.
He can see it all. Not only can he see
into your homes, but also into your conscience. LDM members
(21:08):
were taught that every time they thought or did something sinful,
they would be somehow immediately punished because Samuel had the
power to do so. With this network of informers, ldm's
members often spent their whole life tiptoeing around their own
thoughts and actions, just to avoid displeasing some way. Sharimgu's
(21:29):
man knows this feeling all too well, having experienced it
when he was young.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
Premo Muco and Luzl Mundo is probably.
Speaker 3 (21:42):
I lived in my aunt's house with my cousin, who
was three years younger than me. The light of the
world forbids going to carnivals because they're seen as pagan celebrations.
But once I decided to go to the carnival with
my cousin, and while we were there he was murdered.
Some drunk head beat him up and kill them. It
was a very difficult time in my life. I corrupted him.
(22:05):
It was my fault he had strayed, and I carried
that thought with me.
Speaker 1 (22:10):
For decades. Shaddin believed he was responsible for his cousin's
death because omnipotent Samuel had seen his sinful behavior and punished.
Speaker 2 (22:19):
Him Ricordo, Canvales and Ferrero.
Speaker 3 (22:28):
When this happened, I was twenty one and he was eighteen.
This so all went down in February, and I remember
that in August I went to Guadalajara and I got
to see some Well up close. I remember crying to
some Well for my cousin's soul, because to me, his
soul was damned.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
Despite the smoke and mirrors, he had his followers, Samuel
grew his divinity through earthly means. Under Samuel, the church expanded.
In return for favors, local politicians gifted LERDM more land
and less red tape. L DM went international, from Guallajara
to all of Mexico, to Costa Rica, Ethiopia, the Netherlands
(23:17):
and beyond. And with more territory came more money, which
was a good thing because as his flock grew, so
did some Well's extravagant tastes. Renee la Torre remembers attending
one of his birthday celebrations.
Speaker 8 (23:35):
I got to see some all very close. He was
alone at his table on a chair with big golden wings.
Everything was different at his table. His cops were gold
under decoration was something like out of a thousand and
one Nights. It was like a theme party. That part
(23:56):
of my field job was very revealing. On Samuel's feast day,
it was very striking, with women dancing and parading in
front of him in mock magic carpets with all the
imaginative trainings of power. One of Samuel's main gifts to
(24:17):
his congregation, his most extravagant of extravagances, was the building
of a giant temple smack in the middle of Vermosa Provincia.
Speaker 6 (24:26):
Yeah, Samuel was a visionary because he wanted to do
big things, even though he knew he didn't have the
resources to do it. But he told me once, if
you want the church to accomplish something, you need to
create a necessity and the means will come.
Speaker 1 (24:47):
After Samuel told his congregation he wanted to build a
sanctuary to honor his father and for good, but it
would be difficult to build such a big, beautiful temple,
such a marvel, to require lots of sacrifices.
Speaker 6 (25:03):
So in order to get the resources to build a church,
you need to first put the need in front to
the people and say, hey, we want to build a
sanctuary for God. So in order to do that, we
need to sacrifice everything.
Speaker 1 (25:19):
The sacrifices were of course for the followers, not for
the apostle or the royal families.
Speaker 6 (25:25):
They will put some prestriction. For instance, if you eat
meet one or twice a week, stopped buying meat, yes,
its free holids and of beans and rice, the minimal
in order for you to be able to give more
towards the common goal.
Speaker 1 (25:43):
Well, Silva knows it well. He was the young architect
brought in to oversee the construction. The first brick was
laid in nineteen eighty three, and once complete, the temple
would be the largest religious structure in Latin America. It
looks like a multi store wedding cake, towering over everything
around it.
Speaker 6 (26:04):
It took us from July the third, nineteen eighty three,
and we finish unofficially in August of nineteen ninety one.
And I say unofficially because Samuel didn't want to declare
like an official inauguration of the temple.
Speaker 1 (26:24):
Samuel didn't want to declare the temple complete because he
didn't want to stop the flow of money pouring in
from ledm members from all over the world.
Speaker 6 (26:32):
He told me, if we say that we are done,
they're not gonna give up any more money for the construction.
So just keep going and we will say that we
in the future. Because the symbol at the top wasn't
yet built or installed, so he said, no, no, officially,
we're not done yet, so keep going with the offerings.
(26:53):
You know, every month the.
Speaker 1 (26:55):
New temple was literally built by the people. Members of
the church offered their skills for free, as mason workers, carpenters, electricians,
and plumbers, and those without trades offered their hands and backs,
including women, children, and the elderly, all without insurance, overtime
pay or any of the usual labor protections mandated by law.
(27:19):
Some paid for that loyalty and generosity with their lives.
Speaker 6 (27:24):
I winnessed two. I winness two accidents in different occasions,
you know.
Speaker 2 (27:30):
The first one was.
Speaker 6 (27:32):
An electrician that fell from the highest part of the
structure that was being built.
Speaker 1 (27:40):
The electricians slipped from the very top of the temple
to the concrete floor close to the altar. Both Roel
and other congregation members working on site were instructed at nothing,
not even death, would stand in the way of the construction.
Speaker 6 (27:55):
So we were ordered to pick up the remains as
put it in a whale barrow and move it to
another building and tell the authorities that he fell from
cleaning the tanks on the top.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
Oil and others moved the electricians body to another side
away from the temple. When the authorities arrived, they seemed confused.
Speaker 6 (28:23):
I remember, because when the authorities came, they say, hey,
all this happened, falling from three floors and they just
crashed their heads. You know, this was this guy made
of a gelatine or yellow or what.
Speaker 1 (28:40):
But ultimately they accepted Ledm's official explanation. This was the
nineteen eighties Ermanza Provincia. By this time the government was
deep in Ledm's pockets. The two deaths Oil witnessed were
not the only cover ups during the temple's construction. But
none of that matter to the faithful. To LLDM, that
(29:03):
building represents what the Vatican is to Catholics or the
Botala to Himalayan Buddhists.
Speaker 6 (29:09):
He was understood like a sacrifice for the goods, you know,
of the Church. And the people accepted that because it
was like an honor that one of their members died
building the main temple for the church. You know, so
they accepted the fact and they knew, you know, they
actually happens in the temple, but they knew that they
were they wouldn't go to authorities to report or be
(29:32):
a you know, bad news for the church.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
Today, the Temple of Armosa Provincia stands taller than Walajara's
colonial Catholic Cathedral. It is truly gorgeous. On the outside,
it looks like a seven tier snow white marine fantasy,
covered by scalloped walls that during the day act as
skylights and by night illuminate the darkness with pastel colored floodlights.
(29:56):
You can see the church for miles around. Inside its
all white marble floors and the apostles giant initials in
gold trimmings, with room for twelve thousand l DM devotees.
Reneede la Torre says that more than anything else, the
temple cemented someone's legacy and rallied the faith of his followers.
Speaker 5 (30:21):
It was as the Quendakata munist pacify the Grandaca mondorural
more poverty.
Speaker 8 (30:28):
So it was like the very poor rural world had
been transplanted into the city very poor people, but they
had a sense of belonging, of community, mutual help and
safety inside the neighborhood. And the temple was oul Allah.
It was a symbol that God had fulfilled his promise
(30:50):
during Aaron's election as apostle, where he was told he
had been chosen to lead his people and help them.
To any doubt, they would point to the temple as
if to say, we can't question anything. Here's the proof
that God is with us and with Samuel. It represented
(31:12):
a new look, modernity and prosperity. That temple locked in
Samuel's neo charismatic identity. The temple didn't just lock in
Samuel's divine identity, it also solidified his impunity. It showed
some Oil the authorities were willing to look the other
(31:33):
way when it came to building inspections, tax breaks, even death.
And it showed his followers there was nothing sam Oil
couldn't do, nothing he couldn't see. So in nineteen ninety seven,
when a man named with Hispadia and a crew of
former church members began to talk on national TV about
(31:54):
the apostle Samuel and his abuses, Jews Pugaminataggle, Promeo, de
Ann you John.
Speaker 4 (32:04):
I was threatened for about two years. I was told
not to talk about any of it because Samuel had
a lot of influence in the government. He had a
lot of money and an entire town that wanted to
hang me.
Speaker 1 (32:18):
Ledm devutees like Joel turned a blind eye.
Speaker 6 (32:22):
I didn't believe Moissas at the time. I didn't believe
the girls. I began to have a lot of doubts
that were, you know, piling up in my mind in
the back of my head. But still I was defending somewhere.
Speaker 1 (32:35):
The church was almost a century old, three generations deep.
None of the scandals before had stopped the apostles growing power,
so why would this one. It would take another decade,
another apostle, and many more survivors going public for the
church's divine image to start to peel. And still it
(32:57):
wasn't easy, and I was fucking scared.
Speaker 5 (33:01):
I was like, these fuckers are in some weird powerful
mafia that and they it's all families. They protect the business,
they protect the name, and I am now fucked over
because of my life of abuse and knowledge of Nason.
Speaker 1 (33:22):
That's next on Sacred Scandal. Sacred Scandal La luz el
Mundo is a production of Exile Conton Studio in partnership
with Iheart'smichael Tura podcast network, and is hosted by me
Roberta Garza, produced by Sabin Johnson with the help of
Stella Emett, Reynolds, Gutierrez and Anna Isabel Octavio. Written by
(33:46):
myself and Monissa Hendrix, Research by Roberta Garza, additional reporting
by Florencia Gonzales Geragarcia, Engineering by Uga Mendoza and Sabin Jensen.
Sound designed by patikin Unis. Original music by Patrick Hart,
edited by writer Alsop and Rose Red. Executive producers are
(34:07):
Rose Reed, Carmen gratterol Isac Lee, and Nando Villa, Daniel
Batista Overseas audio at Exil Conston Studio. Our executive producers
Aret iHeart, r Gisel Banses, and Early in Santana. Sacred
Scandal was created by Melanie Bartlett and Paula Varos. Special
thanks to the voice actors in this episode and Sonic Union.
(34:30):
For more podcasts, go to the iheartradiop or anywhere you
listen to your favorite podcasts.
Before we jump in, we must warn you this episode
contains explicit content, such as sexual abuse that may be
disturbing some people. Listener discretion is advised. Samuel was born
on February fourteenth, nineteen thirty seven, and he was.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Dead ikwandn Fevrero was Nosletikavan in his Historia Nasim.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
At that very moment, Aaron took him into his arms
and presented him to God, and the child came back
to life.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
Sharimbusman remembers hearing the stories of the apostle Samuel's miraculous
rebirths many times over while growing up in a luzel
Mundo lo.
Speaker 4 (00:50):
Que.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
We're also told that on another occasion, Samuel fell into
a well died and when they lifted him out of
the well, he came back to life.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
Samuel's rebirths were just one of the many miracles the
apostles of laluzel Mundo were blessed with. There were visions
of paradise, prophetic dreams, and special protection from evil, the
devil and sin. But miracles didn't just happen to the apostles.
They could also perform them, like the time Sachill Martin's
(01:23):
aunt drank bleach as a young girl.
Speaker 5 (01:26):
My grandmother starts to flip out and she tells my
grandfather and he's like, no, we take her to the
emergency room, and she's like no, no, no, We're going
to take her to the Apostle of Jesus Christ and
he's going to bring her back to life.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
The Apostle heal her with prayer. The Apostles prayers are
considered the source of all blessings for the flock. If
you have a good job, it's the Apostles prayers. If
you have healthy children, it's the Apostles prayers. If you
have good sex, it's the Apostles prayers. This belief in
the Apostles miracles among LDM members is so strong that
(02:01):
when Samuel finally did die at the age of seventy seven,
followers like Sharimgu's Man refused to believe it.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
Uduela and what did those basis and isidia.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
To us? Samuell held over He come back from the
dead twice, so the day he died, the hope was
that he would come back to life just as Jesus
Christ had. Popo were jumping to their own conclusions about
how he could return and some even offered the lives
of their own children in exchange for a minute of
Samuel's life.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
The believers waited days, even weeks for Simul to rise again.
Believers sprayed on the floor of the temple next to
the coffin. They cried underneath the church at the entrance
of his mausoleum. His presence had become so towering, so
all encompassing. They could not believe he was just gone.
If Jesus had resurrected, why not, some weel he was,
(03:01):
after all, the closest thing to God on earth. The
special connection between the Apostles and God, that God himself
had chosen them and would allow his might to flow
through them, was used to first gain followers, then keep
their hold over the congregation. It was the founding myth
(03:22):
of Laluzelmundo. If you are not inside the church, the
miracles sound fake phony, easily dismissed. But when you live
in the world of Laluzelmundo and believe in the Apostle,
these miracles and the apostles divinity are very very real.
(03:53):
This is Sacred Scandal season two. Lalus del Mundo and
I'm Robert Garza, L luzel Mundo is not just a church,
as we learned in previous episodes. It's a powerful and
powerfully corrupt transnational institution with strong connections to Mexico's political elite.
This episode explores how the church gained so much power, money,
(04:16):
and influence, one miracle at a time. This is episode
three the election. LLDM had humble beginnings before the apostle
was named. At on, he was known as Yusebio Jua,
(04:37):
King Gonzalez, a foot soldier in revolutionary Mexico, living with
his young bride, Elisa, in Monterey. We'll hear more about
Elisa later. The couple had recently converted from Catholicism to
Evangelical Christianity after meeting a pair of wandering preachers who
spoke of fantastic visions and miracles and took as many
(04:59):
wives as King David. Intrigued, the newlyweds left the army
to serve the preachers. But then, about a year after
their conversion, something fantastic happened. One night in April nineteen
twenty six, Eusebi was asleep in his bed with his wife.
(05:20):
He awoke to a thunderous voice and the shimmering white
hand pointed right at him. The voice said, your.
Speaker 3 (05:29):
Name will be Aaron. I will make it known to
the world, and you.
Speaker 4 (05:34):
Will be a blessing.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
Brilliant multi colored stars spelled the name Arona across the heavens,
fading into the dawning day. He had been visited by God,
or so he claimed. The vision convinced the man newly
named Aaron and his wife Elisa, they had been touched
by something special. Within a week, the couple left their
(05:59):
evangelical teachers and began wandering south through the Sierra Madre Mountains,
trekking over five hundred miles in search for a place
to build their own Jerusalem. The couple eventually made their
way to Warajara, arriving on the fist day of the
Virgin of Wailupe and preaching to anyone who would listen
about Aaron's divine connection. In l DM, this vision is
(06:23):
known as the Election. It's the church's origin myth, the
central tenet of its faith, and the foundation from which
the apostles unquestionable iron rule would spring. Use how former
el DM deacon Huil Silva remembers it.
Speaker 6 (06:41):
Not theology, not high doctrines of a resurrection or judgment. No, no, no,
They spend ninety nine percent of the time taking about
the election, the privileges of being elected by God directly.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
We can either confirm nor deny these miracles, and it
seems neither can the apostles.
Speaker 6 (07:01):
NASONI, when his preaching said, I can't say a dead
body stand up.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Your cuelo the sila muerto levantade jo poiego.
Speaker 6 (07:17):
I can tell a paralytic guy what, But God didn't
send me.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
To do that. You comna ben was alvarecarne.
Speaker 6 (07:32):
I'm not gonna do it because God didn't send me
to do that. He sent me to save your souls,
not your bodies.
Speaker 3 (07:38):
Ami Cristobo alvarda carne.
Speaker 7 (07:42):
Amigristo maybe Ino Salvarto alma.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
The story of our own's vision that he was chosen
by God was convincing enough to gain him a small following.
This was nineteen twenties Mexico and twere religious movements were
popping up all the time in the wake of America's
Evangelical Revivalism. Still preaching under his teacher's pentecostal banner, Aaron
(08:10):
saw shoes and bibles door to door while the rest
of his flog sold fried food in the streets of Wallajara.
But Arna and his congregation were not welcome by their
staunchly Catholic neighbors, and the group faced constant heckling and harassment.
His higher ups at the Church of the Good Shepherd
back in Monterey were not happy with the group either.
(08:32):
As a pastor, aar On often straight from the doctrine,
and he did not live modestly or behave humbly yeah
jah I located the kavan or le rossi Avon.
Speaker 8 (08:46):
He was chastised because he asked for perfume to be
sprayed where he walked and flower pedals to be thrown
at his feet. He was criticized for presenting himself like
a demigod.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
Anthropologist Rnede La Torre is the leading expert in Elaliam's lore.
She explains how Aaron transformed himself from humble pastor to
a full blown divinity the yogochal moment of resacamentem scorentitos.
Speaker 8 (09:16):
What change The moment was exactly in nineteen forty two
when he broke from the Evangelical church, and from then
on he began to project his figure as semi divine.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
Two decades after he first converted, Aaron broke away from
his church. Acting again on a vision, God appeared to Aaron,
denounced his former pastors as greedy, envious, corrupt, and ordered
him to get baptized again. This time, though Aaron would
(09:53):
do what not even Jesus did. He baptized himself. This
is the moment when Aarn fully became the Apostle of God,
the one person on Earth able to open or close
Heaven on Hell for the rest of humankind. Newly minted Apostle,
(10:23):
Aaron not only rebaptized himself, he also changed the church's
main feast, the Santacena, into a full on celebration of himself.
He moved it from December to his birthday in August,
and added pageantry and mandatory gifts. Aaron was really going
off the doctrinal script. These moves were not without some controversy.
(10:46):
About two hundred of his followers left, but the rest
of his five or six hundred acolytes remained by him
and followed in his footsteps, being rebaptized by the Apostle's hands,
and soon they would help Aron build his own holy city,
one where they would be saved from the heckling Catholics
and free to praise as they pleased. In a stroke
(11:09):
of luck, Aaron's old army commander general became governor of Jalisco.
With the governor's generous help, Aaron acquired an abandoned acienda
close to forty acres of sparse land at the outskirts
of Wallajara. The land would become his personal fiftom, an
evangelical utopia where no leave is turned without the Apostle's blessing.
(11:32):
It would be known as Hermosa Provincia, or Beautiful Province.
Having felt first hand the rejection and hostility of the
community around him, he wanted to found a settlement apart
from the world at large, a fable, shining city on
a hill where mundane society would have limited rich and
(11:52):
only Christ through his Apostle, would rule supreme. More on that,
After the break, the Apostle led his flock to a
(12:13):
settlement just outside the city of Wallajara, Ermosa Provincia. In
this new sanctuary, Aaron was able to consolidate his power,
and he was able to perform miracles of a sort.
In post revolutionary nineteen forties, Mexico land was hard to
come by the nation was rebuilding itself. Strongmen ruled over
(12:37):
a struggling federal government, and farmers and workers had been
displaced by the never ending wars. But Aaron, having access
to a bunch of land, was able to provide his
followers with homes, jobs, community and salvation. Ermosa Provincia quickly
became a hot ticket. The lots were sold exclusively to
(12:59):
church members at reduced prices. The faithful flocked, but there
was a catch. If you left the church, you lost
your job and probably your home. And commitment to LDM
was not a casual affair. There would be no private life,
(13:21):
no time away work, schools, friendships, courtships, marriages, leisures and interests.
Even hairstyles and dress codes were governed by ledm's increasingly
strict rules. And if he controlled every moment of his followers' lives,
there would be less time for them to question if
(13:41):
his connection to God was real or if the rumors
that he was a pedophile who had gotten his twelve
year old stepsister pregnant were true.
Speaker 2 (13:51):
Dostravachan, but I saw, like.
Speaker 3 (13:55):
Secta Abbibidio and Racan.
Speaker 7 (13:58):
The cult has lived in the eye of the hurricane
ever since hour and in forty two when they accused
him of being an adulterer, that he read little girls,
they're used to living in the eye of the hurricane, right,
So for them there is one one thought. No one
is going to come to us to tell us who
the servant of God is. We know him, we know
(14:19):
who he is, and for us, he's honorable, even if
the news says otherwise.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
Egtrberta was a high ranking pastor in LDM during the
nineteen eighties and nineties. He watched the church grow on
the around sona successor sa Way. He's a first hand
how Samuel continued his father's legacy, his divinity, but also
his corruption and his sexual abuses.
Speaker 3 (14:44):
Fum camio tremendo joby v loso Chenda's joby villo Novendez.
Speaker 7 (14:49):
I lived through the eighties. I saw the growth. I
saw when they began to build the Great Temple in Guadalacara.
I saw some wealth, enthusiasm, the so poor that all
his constant encouragement gave. Although he was under he wasn't,
but he urged the ministers to be holly, to be clean.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
Ector remembers how Samoil and Arne, who he calls by
their family name, the Joaquins made their followers feel like
they were part of something special and sacred.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
Los Joaquines. But Son Mukaridos in hospital.
Speaker 7 (15:25):
Yes, the Huakins truly are very beloved and very respected,
any of them, all of them for the church, for
the called the Joaquin family is very powerful.
Speaker 1 (15:38):
Samoeil was Aaron's youngest son, and it was not obvious
he would take over. When asked about a successor, Aaron
was vague loosely referencing his revered and loyal elder pastors.
But when Aaron died in nineteen sixty four, his wife,
Elisa Flores, had other plans. She spread a rumor saying
(15:59):
that right before his death, Aaron dreamt his pastures appeared
with the face of a monstrous Hyaena ravenous like wolves.
Elisa reminded every one of Samuel's birth that his father
had raised a stillborn child to the heavens, crying Samuel, Samuel, Samuel,
when suddenly the child took a deep breath and began
(16:21):
to cry. The crowning moment came when the apostle's body
was laid in the wake at the feet of the
temple's altar. And the tearful flog bawled, tore at their
clothes and pulled out their hair. At that moment, Samuel's
sister took her father's hand and pulled off Aaron's seal ring.
(16:43):
She raised it for the community to see and slid
it onto Samuel's finger, saying, Israel's lamb has not gone out.
It is lid and shining forth. Samuel then stepped out
and told the mourners he had dreamt himself reading the Apocalypse,
the part where the Angel of God cleanses the earth,
(17:06):
when the Almighty Boys interrupted him to say that Angel
is you. At twenty seven. Just like that, Samuel became
the second Apostle, like his father, chosen by God, and
as apostle, he would flex that power to its fullest extent.
(17:29):
When we return how Samuel built a holy empire through
unholy alliances. Samuel's apostles ship was not guaranteed. The fight
that ensued between the church's elders and him was fierce.
(17:53):
In order to maintain control, he needed to find a
way to keep his followers in check and prevent information
from leaking out.
Speaker 6 (18:01):
So he wanted to create his own group that was
totally loyal to him, a group.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
That could keep everyone in lockstep and reported only to him.
Speaker 6 (18:13):
And he accomplished creating this group called Unconditionals. The conditioners
were young, the majority of them close to his age,
others younger than him. But he wanted a group of
pastors that were totally loyal to him.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
The Unconditionals the Apostle, some Well's most trusted inner circle.
Some call them the Aronites. Their existence is strongly denied
by the Church to outsiders. Oil Silva was one of them.
Speaker 6 (18:47):
Well, I never wanted to be a nunconditioner now, but
Samuel called you. He ordered you to be an unconditioner,
so you cannot deny the will of the Apostle. So
I became an conditioner for Samuel. And when I was
requested that blank page signed, I didn't.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
Did it blank?
Speaker 7 (19:10):
Blank or win on several I signed several blank sheets, Yes,
blank sheets, because I was an unconditional.
Speaker 1 (19:20):
A signed blank page may not seem like a big deal,
but imagine if someone had the power to create any
type of document such as an accusation or an ambition
of guilt, or the petition of a mortgage or a will,
and then printed on the blank page you just signed.
They could manipulate it and use it against you however
they wanted, And that was the point. Here's former pastor
(19:44):
Hector Vera again.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
So now the CI is the system dispostos.
Speaker 7 (19:53):
They asked me if I was willing to do anything,
if the servant of God commands us to do something,
we're going to say, yeah, yes, We're not going to
think about it. Even my ex wife told two of
my children that she was unconditional. She let them know
she was willing to kill to defend sam Oil.
Speaker 1 (20:12):
One of the first things Samuel did was use his
secret police force to increase the feeling that he was
an omnipotent divine being. He was able to establish this
vast network of informants who were willing to put him
above their own friends and family. The unconditionals act as
spies for the Apostle, reporting on anyone who isn't following
(20:34):
his rules or being loyal to him.
Speaker 3 (20:37):
Beyond this course, socket Pestan I see.
Speaker 5 (20:41):
Eske Samuel Tony.
Speaker 8 (20:43):
There was a saying they began telling everyone that was
just cruel. They would say that Samuell sees everything someone
can see, not just when I have seen or have
made a mistake. But he can also see my desires.
He can see it all. Not only can he see
into your homes, but also into your conscience. LDM members
(21:08):
were taught that every time they thought or did something sinful,
they would be somehow immediately punished because Samuel had the
power to do so. With this network of informers, ldm's
members often spent their whole life tiptoeing around their own
thoughts and actions, just to avoid displeasing some way. Sharimgu's
(21:29):
man knows this feeling all too well, having experienced it
when he was young.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
Premo Muco and Luzl Mundo is probably.
Speaker 3 (21:42):
I lived in my aunt's house with my cousin, who
was three years younger than me. The light of the
world forbids going to carnivals because they're seen as pagan celebrations.
But once I decided to go to the carnival with
my cousin, and while we were there he was murdered.
Some drunk head beat him up and kill them. It
was a very difficult time in my life. I corrupted him.
(22:05):
It was my fault he had strayed, and I carried
that thought with me.
Speaker 1 (22:10):
For decades. Shaddin believed he was responsible for his cousin's
death because omnipotent Samuel had seen his sinful behavior and punished.
Speaker 2 (22:19):
Him Ricordo, Canvales and Ferrero.
Speaker 3 (22:28):
When this happened, I was twenty one and he was eighteen.
This so all went down in February, and I remember
that in August I went to Guadalajara and I got
to see some Well up close. I remember crying to
some Well for my cousin's soul, because to me, his
soul was damned.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
Despite the smoke and mirrors, he had his followers, Samuel
grew his divinity through earthly means. Under Samuel, the church expanded.
In return for favors, local politicians gifted LERDM more land
and less red tape. L DM went international, from Guallajara
to all of Mexico, to Costa Rica, Ethiopia, the Netherlands
(23:17):
and beyond. And with more territory came more money, which
was a good thing because as his flock grew, so
did some Well's extravagant tastes. Renee la Torre remembers attending
one of his birthday celebrations.
Speaker 8 (23:35):
I got to see some all very close. He was
alone at his table on a chair with big golden wings.
Everything was different at his table. His cops were gold
under decoration was something like out of a thousand and
one Nights. It was like a theme party. That part
(23:56):
of my field job was very revealing. On Samuel's feast day,
it was very striking, with women dancing and parading in
front of him in mock magic carpets with all the
imaginative trainings of power. One of Samuel's main gifts to
(24:17):
his congregation, his most extravagant of extravagances, was the building
of a giant temple smack in the middle of Vermosa Provincia.
Speaker 6 (24:26):
Yeah, Samuel was a visionary because he wanted to do
big things, even though he knew he didn't have the
resources to do it. But he told me once, if
you want the church to accomplish something, you need to
create a necessity and the means will come.
Speaker 1 (24:47):
After Samuel told his congregation he wanted to build a
sanctuary to honor his father and for good, but it
would be difficult to build such a big, beautiful temple,
such a marvel, to require lots of sacrifices.
Speaker 6 (25:03):
So in order to get the resources to build a church,
you need to first put the need in front to
the people and say, hey, we want to build a
sanctuary for God. So in order to do that, we
need to sacrifice everything.
Speaker 1 (25:19):
The sacrifices were of course for the followers, not for
the apostle or the royal families.
Speaker 6 (25:25):
They will put some prestriction. For instance, if you eat
meet one or twice a week, stopped buying meat, yes,
its free holids and of beans and rice, the minimal
in order for you to be able to give more
towards the common goal.
Speaker 1 (25:43):
Well, Silva knows it well. He was the young architect
brought in to oversee the construction. The first brick was
laid in nineteen eighty three, and once complete, the temple
would be the largest religious structure in Latin America. It
looks like a multi store wedding cake, towering over everything
around it.
Speaker 6 (26:04):
It took us from July the third, nineteen eighty three,
and we finish unofficially in August of nineteen ninety one.
And I say unofficially because Samuel didn't want to declare
like an official inauguration of the temple.
Speaker 1 (26:24):
Samuel didn't want to declare the temple complete because he
didn't want to stop the flow of money pouring in
from ledm members from all over the world.
Speaker 6 (26:32):
He told me, if we say that we are done,
they're not gonna give up any more money for the construction.
So just keep going and we will say that we
in the future. Because the symbol at the top wasn't
yet built or installed, so he said, no, no, officially,
we're not done yet, so keep going with the offerings.
(26:53):
You know, every month the.
Speaker 1 (26:55):
New temple was literally built by the people. Members of
the church offered their skills for free, as mason workers, carpenters, electricians,
and plumbers, and those without trades offered their hands and backs,
including women, children, and the elderly, all without insurance, overtime
pay or any of the usual labor protections mandated by law.
(27:19):
Some paid for that loyalty and generosity with their lives.
Speaker 6 (27:24):
I winnessed two. I winness two accidents in different occasions,
you know.
Speaker 2 (27:30):
The first one was.
Speaker 6 (27:32):
An electrician that fell from the highest part of the
structure that was being built.
Speaker 1 (27:40):
The electricians slipped from the very top of the temple
to the concrete floor close to the altar. Both Roel
and other congregation members working on site were instructed at nothing,
not even death, would stand in the way of the construction.
Speaker 6 (27:55):
So we were ordered to pick up the remains as
put it in a whale barrow and move it to
another building and tell the authorities that he fell from
cleaning the tanks on the top.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
Oil and others moved the electricians body to another side
away from the temple. When the authorities arrived, they seemed confused.
Speaker 6 (28:23):
I remember, because when the authorities came, they say, hey,
all this happened, falling from three floors and they just
crashed their heads. You know, this was this guy made
of a gelatine or yellow or what.
Speaker 1 (28:40):
But ultimately they accepted Ledm's official explanation. This was the
nineteen eighties Ermanza Provincia. By this time the government was
deep in Ledm's pockets. The two deaths Oil witnessed were
not the only cover ups during the temple's construction. But
none of that matter to the faithful. To LLDM, that
(29:03):
building represents what the Vatican is to Catholics or the
Botala to Himalayan Buddhists.
Speaker 6 (29:09):
He was understood like a sacrifice for the goods, you know,
of the Church. And the people accepted that because it
was like an honor that one of their members died
building the main temple for the church. You know, so
they accepted the fact and they knew, you know, they
actually happens in the temple, but they knew that they
were they wouldn't go to authorities to report or be
(29:32):
a you know, bad news for the church.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
Today, the Temple of Armosa Provincia stands taller than Walajara's
colonial Catholic Cathedral. It is truly gorgeous. On the outside,
it looks like a seven tier snow white marine fantasy,
covered by scalloped walls that during the day act as
skylights and by night illuminate the darkness with pastel colored floodlights.
(29:56):
You can see the church for miles around. Inside its
all white marble floors and the apostles giant initials in
gold trimmings, with room for twelve thousand l DM devotees.
Reneede la Torre says that more than anything else, the
temple cemented someone's legacy and rallied the faith of his followers.
Speaker 5 (30:21):
It was as the Quendakata munist pacify the Grandaca mondorural
more poverty.
Speaker 8 (30:28):
So it was like the very poor rural world had
been transplanted into the city very poor people, but they
had a sense of belonging, of community, mutual help and
safety inside the neighborhood. And the temple was oul Allah.
It was a symbol that God had fulfilled his promise
(30:50):
during Aaron's election as apostle, where he was told he
had been chosen to lead his people and help them.
To any doubt, they would point to the temple as
if to say, we can't question anything. Here's the proof
that God is with us and with Samuel. It represented
(31:12):
a new look, modernity and prosperity. That temple locked in
Samuel's neo charismatic identity. The temple didn't just lock in
Samuel's divine identity, it also solidified his impunity. It showed
some Oil the authorities were willing to look the other
(31:33):
way when it came to building inspections, tax breaks, even death.
And it showed his followers there was nothing sam Oil
couldn't do, nothing he couldn't see. So in nineteen ninety seven,
when a man named with Hispadia and a crew of
former church members began to talk on national TV about
(31:54):
the apostle Samuel and his abuses, Jews Pugaminataggle, Promeo, de
Ann you John.
Speaker 4 (32:04):
I was threatened for about two years. I was told
not to talk about any of it because Samuel had
a lot of influence in the government. He had a
lot of money and an entire town that wanted to
hang me.
Speaker 1 (32:18):
Ledm devutees like Joel turned a blind eye.
Speaker 6 (32:22):
I didn't believe Moissas at the time. I didn't believe
the girls. I began to have a lot of doubts
that were, you know, piling up in my mind in
the back of my head. But still I was defending somewhere.
Speaker 1 (32:35):
The church was almost a century old, three generations deep.
None of the scandals before had stopped the apostles growing power,
so why would this one. It would take another decade,
another apostle, and many more survivors going public for the
church's divine image to start to peel. And still it
(32:57):
wasn't easy, and I was fucking scared.
Speaker 5 (33:01):
I was like, these fuckers are in some weird powerful
mafia that and they it's all families. They protect the business,
they protect the name, and I am now fucked over
because of my life of abuse and knowledge of Nason.
Speaker 1 (33:22):
That's next on Sacred Scandal. Sacred Scandal La luz el
Mundo is a production of Exile Conton Studio in partnership
with Iheart'smichael Tura podcast network, and is hosted by me
Roberta Garza, produced by Sabin Johnson with the help of
Stella Emett, Reynolds, Gutierrez and Anna Isabel Octavio. Written by
(33:46):
myself and Monissa Hendrix, Research by Roberta Garza, additional reporting
by Florencia Gonzales Geragarcia, Engineering by Uga Mendoza and Sabin Jensen.
Sound designed by patikin Unis. Original music by Patrick Hart,
edited by writer Alsop and Rose Red. Executive producers are
(34:07):
Rose Reed, Carmen gratterol Isac Lee, and Nando Villa, Daniel
Batista Overseas audio at Exil Conston Studio. Our executive producers
Aret iHeart, r Gisel Banses, and Early in Santana. Sacred
Scandal was created by Melanie Bartlett and Paula Varos. Special
thanks to the voice actors in this episode and Sonic Union.
(34:30):
For more podcasts, go to the iheartradiop or anywhere you
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