José Luis de Jesús

On August 8, 2013, Miranda's ex-wife, Josefina Torres, claimed that Miranda had died in Sugar Land, Texas on August 8, 2013, apparently of cirrhosis of the liver. However, on September 11, Miranda reappeared in public, proclaiming himself in good health. On November 15, Miranda actually died in Orlando, Florida, with his death confirmed by both his movement and his family. Miranda's death has remained controversial among his followers. Publicly, his church has continued to insist that Miranda has not "died" and that he is immortal. He was buried on November 22, 2013 in a ceremony in which only his family and certain followers assisted.

According to his followers, there was to have been a Transformation day in which members would have supposedly been able to walk through walls and go through fire and not get burned, this because they would have been "fully enlightened and living with an immortal body". José Luis stated that his transformation and that of his followers would occur between June 30, 2012 and July 1, 2012 (sources Huffington Post and Miami New Times dispute the exact hour).

Roberto Piñeiro, the judge in charge of the divorce case, gave an unfavorable verdict towards de Jesús in 2008 and, according to the Miami Herald, Josefina Torres received $2.2 million in properties and estates as compensation. José Luis stated afterwards that he sent "angels of fair retribution to seek for justice" against the judge. Roberto Piñeiro died on December 9, 2010 of a stroke, much to the delight of Miranda's followers.

José Luis de Jesús Miranda separated from his wife in 2007 because, according to her, "he started to say that he was God; I was not comfortable with that, so he threatened me by sending death-angels to my sons if I didn't do whatever he wanted". She also alleged that he liked to send her far away from home for long periods of time because "he was seeing other women, some of them from Creciendo en Gracia".

In late 2006, he claimed that he was the Antichrist. He stated that the term was appropriate because people are no longer required to follow the "Jewish teachings" of Jesus of Nazareth, but rather to follow the apostle Paul's teachings through De Jesús. According to de Jesús, "Antichrist" means "no longer following Jesus of Nazareth as he lived in the days of his flesh". Followers showed their support by getting "666" tattoos on their bodies. One of Miranda's followers in Havana, Cuba tattooed the symbol on her three-year-old son. A YouTube video of the mother holding the child as he was tattooed was widely circulated in January 2013. "666", de Jesús said, is not a sign of the devil (he preaches that the devil was destroyed) but instead is the number of the Antichrist and that the number is "a number of wisdom and it displays who is really following the truthful words of Jesus Christ".

Creciendo en Gracia first started in Miami, Florida and soon expanded into different places in the United States and Latin America. On April 22, 2002, he married Josefina Torres, a woman that he met during one of his trips to Bogotá in 1999. In 2005, he announced that he was the next phase of Jesus Christ on Earth and self-proclaimed Jesus Christ Man. In 2007, the Dallas Morning News reported that de Jesús "preaches to followers in some 35 nations, mostly in Latin America, and has 287 radio programs and a 24-hour Spanish and English-language TV-network ." He claimed to have two million followers in 30 countries by 2008.

He started to assemble a select number of followers which culminated in the forming of Ministerio Creciendo en Gracia (Spanish for Growing in Grace) in 1988. At first, José Luis was only preaching according to the Four Gospels that narrate the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, but in 1998, he claimed that he was the reincarnation of Paul the Apostle and changed his focus into reading and preaching about Paul's gospel.

José Luis was promoted to minister after serving several years in the church. Miranda claims that in 1973, he had a vision in which he maintains that he was visited by a pair of angels. The impact on Miranda was significant; as he later told ABC News: "The same spirit that was in Jesus of Nazareth, and the same spirit is in me. He came to me. He [integrated] with my person in 1973." It was not long before Miranda started preaching his own ideals and teachings. José Luis moved his then-wife Nydia and five children to South Florida, where he secured a 15-minute time slot from the radio station WVCG-AM to begin preaching.

José Luis de Jesús Miranda (April 22, 1946 – November 17, 2013) was the leader of the Creciendo en Gracia cult, based in Miami, Florida. He claimed to be both the returned phase of Jesus Christ and the Antichrist; he was known for making statements that opposed the precepts of the Roman Catholic Church but that followed his interpretation of the Bible. He was previously known as el Jesucristo Hombre (which translates, roughly, to "the Man Jesus-Christ") but shortly after his death, his followers granted him the title of Melchizedek because, as stated by his official site, he attained his new and final name which means king of justice and king of peace. Footage from one of his sermons as well as an interview with comedian Bill Maher are included in the 2008 documentary film Religulous.