Filipino televangelist Apollo Quiboloy, another TV preacher masquerading as an angel of light, was finally arrested this week. But first some background.
He called himself the son of God. Unfortunately, thousands and perhaps millions of his followers believed him, even after he managed to get on the FBI’s most wanted list by accusations of having his own sex slaves and carting off loads of undeclared money out of the U.S. on his private jet.
After a two-week standoff, hiding in an underground bunker under the protection of his followers, he was arrested in the Philippines where he has hidden out for the past three years, avoiding extradition to the US under the presumed protection of the Filipino government. He is currently being held in a heavily guarded detention center at the national police headquarters of the Philippines and the status of his extradition to the U.S. remains unclear.
Of course, these are allegations until proven in a court of law. Here’s some of what we do know. His jet was detained in Honolulu in February 2018 after U.S. customs officials discovered $350,000 of undeclared U.S. cash hidden on his jet destined for the Philippines. One of Quiboloy’s loyal followers took the fall by telling officials it was her own money.
Also, we know of an “immigration fraud scheme where (top) church officials allegedly coerced some members into sham marriages (82 of them between 1999 and 2019) to keep them in the United States to raise money for the church’s expensive projects and to fund the “lavish lifestyle” of its leader.” These officials were arrested in Los Angeles in January 2020.
Moreover, almost simultaneously, U.S. “federal authorities raided several churches and homes in Hawaii and on the mainland Wednesday connected to controversial Filipino evangelist Apollo Quiboloy as part of a massive human trafficking and immigration fraud investigation” (Hawaii News Now, January 30, 2020).
The Filipino news media outlet Rappler chronicled Quiboloy related events starting with temporary detainment in Honolulu in 2018, continuing with disturbing and chilling testimony about him to the Filipino Senate, and ending with his arrest this week.
This past March, Rappler began publication “of its investigative series on the multi-million properties linked to Quiboloy and the KOJC in the United States and Canada. Four of the currently owned properties have a total estimated value of US $9.07 million (P503 million.) If the property sold in 2018 is included, the total value would go up to $10.83 million (P601 million).”
Unfortunately, Quiboloy is not alone by a longshot. Quiboloy’s masquerade is common among televangelists. By creating a false persona as this son-of-God, his edicts go unchallenged by his followers.
Photo: Apollo Quiboloy screen capture by Medium, an online analysis of Quiboloy’s claim to be the son of God
Name your televangelist! Some other televangelists we investigate that are masquerading as men of God that deserve to be placed in a hall of shame for various other reasons are Benny Hinn, Kenneth Copeland, Creflo Dollar, Gene Ewing, Jesse Duplantis, and a plethora of other religious leaders.
These are guys that are more interested in what God can do for them and by extension, what YOU can do for them with your donor money, rather than living their lives for God and others.
Their self-seeking reveals the plan of God by showing what it’s not. The plan or mystery of God is about self-giving, not self-serving.
