THERE ARE SPOILERS ABOUT THE DOCUSERIES IN THIS ARTICLE
Recently, I watched HBOMax’s Docuseries titled “Unveiled: Surviving La Luz Del Mundo”. The docuseries is about the Mexican Christian megachurch, which is more of a cult, La Luz Del Mundo (often referred to as LLDM). But, the series dives deeper into the physical and sexual abuse that females and some men who were members of this congregation have experienced. The majority of this did take place when they were minors. I had never heard of LLDM, so I was interested in learning more about it.
The first aspect I found interesting is that the Apostle of this “church” has spoken out from jail since his incarceration, though the interview took place before the release of the docuseries. LA Times covered former Apostle, Naasón Joaquín García who is currently serving a 17-year sentence for sexually abusing young girls. The fact that people still follow a leader who has been arrested for something so horrible shows how brainwashed people can be by religion.
I also find it interesting that this is labeled as a church. This is a cult. The actions done by the three apostles that have led this cult in no way prove that they are one of God. I understand how former members gave labeled it as a church because that is how they know it, but in no way, shape, or form is this a church and it should not be labeled as such in any new form of media, it should be labeled for what it is, a cult.
The interesting aspect that I learned from this documentary was how the people fighting for freedom against La Luz Del Mundo and women who were also victims of the Apostles used Reddit as a way to start their mission for freedom and justice. When I think of Reddit, I think of memes, porn, and medical facts, but this shows an incredibly different side of Reddit that I never thought I would see in my life.
After watching this series, I also am incredibly interested in the cult mentality. This is something I want to see researched in depth. The way that people can be brainwashed in the name of religion is so interesting to me. I also find it interesting that in the century that this took place, it was not until the past few years that this was all exposed. I understand it takes courage, but I feel like that is a long time for a cult to be under the radar like this one was.
The spread of this cult also fascinates me. La Luz Del Mundo has spread to 50 countries and there are locations in all 50 states. I want to better understand how this was able to spread that far and there was also no way it was exposed. One of the cases in this series is of a nine year old girl, as someone who used to work with kids for a long time, I am shocked that no nine-year-old went to school and briefly mentioned something because that is something kids do a lot. It makes me also wonder if other sexual abuse cases have yet to be exposed, being that Apsotle’s sentence is only seventeen years, there has to be. You can have the best attorney in the world but you can not get away with a sentence so short if more potential cases came about.
This docuseries is on HBOMax. There is a discussion of both physical and sexual abuse so if any of the following trigger you, do not watch it. Although it is such a sad story, I believe everyone should check this out.
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