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Priest Claims To Be Jesus
A Miami priest who served several stints in jail and has 666 tattooed on his body claims he is Jesus reincarnated.
His church members, reaching numbers in the thousands, also believe he is what he says.
Jose Luis de Jesus Miranda is also called "Daddy" by his followers. Although he calls himself Jesus, some say he is no more than a cult leader.
Religion expert at Florida International University Professor Daniel Alvarez said, "He''s in their heads, he''s inside the heads of those people. De Jesus speaks with a kind of conviction that makes me consider him more like David Koresh or Jim Jones (both notorious cult leaders)."
But de Jesus claims he was visited by angels in a dream who told him he was Jesus reincarnated. The 61-year-old said this was after he served time in jail for petty theft and became a heroin addict.
De Jesus said the number 666 is misunderstood to mean the devil or Satan. He said it means the antichrist but the antichrist is good.
He said, "The prophets, they spoke about me. It took me time to learn that, but I am what they were expecting, what they have been expecting for 2,000 years. The spirit that is in me is the same spirit that was in Jesus of Nazareth
Published: October 22, 2007
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