My 2016 experience attending a service at this King Jesus Ministry: When I finally found the place adjacent to the airport on SW 136 st, even though the address matched, I thought I was at the wrong place because it looked like a convention building center not a church.
It's been years I purposefully watch TV, so I had no expectations of what this place looked like, not having seen it on some telecast. Coming to that building was like driving into the Youth Fair carnival, people in safety vests & batons point you where to park in a vast lot. To the handicap, you will find a problem getting close to the building. Even the closet space was in a closed off parking lot that required looks like 100 feet minimum from the closest car to the entry.
Even though I still wasn't sure the office building ahead of me was the church, in faith I walked in the doors, not sure still because I saw emblems of what looked like the Holy Spirit, but not the name. Walked in & found hall was teaming with people & had tables set up ala convention hawking style.
Where's the church, I wondered. I was told through the double doors straight ahead. Okay, walked into vast hall, theatre setting, plenty of seating & a setup like they were filming Jurassic park: 2 humongous boom mikes swerved like cranes to catch every powerful moment to whatever other audience. But that was not the issue; the issue was the surround-sound speakers which at calculated moments were raised in volume to vibrate your whole body with the sound or music. I was there for 3 hours & the entire time it was an assault on sensibility. For fairness of my assessment & because I was waiting for the service to begin the whole time, I stayed.
Now in summation this is what I experienced: The money-changers Jesus chased out of the church, well their descendants have a church in Miami & it's called King Jesus Ministries. Outside the hall & inside they have their business set up & stand at the ready to provide services for a fee. Even the spiritual leadership is withheld but provided in curriculums you can sign up for & at a price per module (@$200) you are educated. The service had an attractive leader who was expert in the art of evoking emotion & calculated delivery with theatrical flares. The audience was led along like Sesame Street to what they were supposed to feel & profess, given number counts when to feel such & such & toddler prodding to reply back to the preacher or be counted lacking faith.
The worst part to me was the abuse of technology to convince the people they underwent spiritual experiences, particularly time to receive the Holy Spirit involved a countdown & then the surround sound was raised to it highest point so you were rocked by the music & rumbles in a carnival sideshow perpetrated to simulate an actual supernatural experience. Missing were the seatbelts, smoke & mirrors in a carnival ride where each person has paid $10 to 'feel' the spirit shake them & is put through this kind of trickery so they walk away with a 'guaranteed experience'.
Wealth or size or popularity of a church does not an approved church in the body of Christ make. The Holy Spirit doesn't need surround sound or any kind of aid to fill a person. The original apostles had no technology at all & imparted the Holy Spirit just by laying on hands, no SFX added in case the Holy Spirit didn't show for someone & that person might want their money back. I was stunned when it rolled to an end that what I'd gone through, this Mardi Gras carnival, was the service! I'd been expecting for it to start to a real sermon, some real leadership, but could see that any kind of instructions seemed reserved for paid curriculum (hello money-changers) of which they were ready to sign you up if you just walked out to the hall or raised your hands.
In fairness, Pastor Maldonado wasn't there, apparently motivating other branches. But still this system was setup in its maturity in this organization in this address & obviously was a set routine. When I go to church I want to go to church, not a carnival. When I hope to feel the Holy Spirit, I want to feel the Holy Spirit & not a SFX simulation to shut me up if I don't feel the Holy Spirit that night. In other words, I want a real experience & trusted leadership I can relax takes seriously getting the congregation to heaven.
What I found is the money-changers have a sweet setup to offer lucrative curriculums with profound names of 'supernatural' this or that & that rules the sermon lame as it was, because it was a sideshow of praises & accomplishments of the staff & congregation & zilch on preaching the Word. If you're not mature in your Bible education, you need to stay away as you will be caught up in the hysteria of the fun surround sound celebration of a Romans 10:2 church that has a zeal for Christ but not according to knowledge. This is by far the worse church experience I have walked into since coming back to Miami a few months ago. read more