This Man Thinks He's Jesus H. Christ!

Much like Joel Osteen, De Jesús preaches prosperity, even if he does criticize the Lakewood pastor for not using enough of the Bible. ("He's a great motivator, but he's not a preacher," says De Jesús. "He reads one verse of the Bible and that's where he ends.") When it was time to pass the bucket during the Sharpstown fellowship, offerings were referred to as "investments," and investments they were, since Creciendo en Gracia rarely gives back to the community and spends most of its money on outreach.

"Say someone comes here and kills my wife," says De Jesús. "I'm supposed to turn the other cheek? Maybe, or maybe I kill him back."

Be happy, say goodbye to guilt, only worry about yourself -- it's a message that's easy to swallow. But it can also be a little dangerous.

During a recent televised sermon, Bishop Carlos Cestero, who often introduces De Jesús, related the tale of a gay man in Cuba who had slept with someone who had AIDS. The man was sure he'd been infected. But then he found out about Creciendo en Gracia, and when he later got tested, the results were negative. And even though he had never tested positive, these results were presented as proof that De Jesús has healing powers.

"I do miracles, my God, every week," says De Jesús. "I'm a miracle. I'm 60 years old. I don't have an insurance plan. I heal myself, easy. I teach that to my people. My people, they heal themselves easily."

Members of Creciendo en Gracia seem to have a knack for constructing their own realities. Media rep Poessy told the Press the gospel of De Jesús was "causing such a transformation in people's lives that the federal government of the United States wrote to us, asking for this to be the official teaching in prison." When asked for documentation, she provided a letter from the Federal Bureau of Prisons stating the bureau had received several audio cassettes from the church and needed written permission to pass them out -- not exactly an official endorsement, but enough for a believer like Poessy to see what she wants to see.

And as HBU Professor Capes was quick to point out, Paul had plenty to say about struggling with sin. Apparently De Jesús isn't reading those parts.

"Everybody would agree -- in terms of early Christian theology, Paul and John and Peter -- that when the Messiah comes, that war is done away with," says Capes. "But the presence of war, the killing, is proof that the Messiah has not yet come."

Even if you look at the quote from Thessalonians above, which is a Creciendo en Gracia favorite, it says "the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night," not that the Lord would come like one. That line is generally interpreted to mean the Second Coming will come by surprise, out of nowhere, not that the Lord will be a former heroin addict.

But if you're bothered by such things, you probably don't believe De Jesús is the Second Coming of Christ. No problem. He's fine with that. In fact, he urges you to find Him somewhere else.

"But if you find someone else who claims to be Jesus, he has to be teaching what I'm teaching," he says. "That I know."