Appointed Son of God, Lucifer’s Conqueror, Owner of the Universe. These are just some of the self-proclaimed titles Apollo Quiboloy goes by. His penchant for superlatives is equally matched by the faith of his followers, who believe that Quiboloy is the fulfilment of a biblical prophecy anointing him as the second coming of Jesus Christ. When he is not using these titles, he is usually referred to simply as Pastor Quiboloy by his disciples. He is head of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ, The Name Above Every Name, a religious group he founded in 1985.
You have me to thank for because if I didn’t command the earthquake to stop, many of your homes would have been destroyed and you would have died.
Quiboloy once said that he stopped the earthquake in Mindanao. “I said, ‘Earthquake, stop!’ And it did,” said Quiboloy. “You have me to thank for because if I didn’t command the earthquake to stop, many of your homes would have been destroyed and you would have died.”
Stopping earthquakes is not the only miraculous feat Quiboloy claims to have done in the past. He has even defeated Satan.
“Lucifer is your father,” says Quiboloy in a televised segment of his show. “I defeated him here. You couldn’t defeat him because he is your father and he holds you by the neck.” He was answering a comment from a member of a different sect, challenging him to a religious debate. “Why should I debate with you? I am the Way. You will never go to heaven if you don’t go through me. How could I debate with you when I own your souls?”
Quiboloy’s followers believe that he is the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.
“The official coming of the Son of God was on April 13, 2005,” proclaimed Quiboloy to his sea of followers. It was the date when God appointed him “Christ on Earth.” Being the second coming of Christ on Earth seems to have a lot of perks, too. Quiboloy lives in a holy site he calls Prayer Mountain, a sprawling estate with a five-bedroom mansion, carefully manicured lawns, and super-tight security. Although people may visit the complex, you have to secure an appointment from Jose Maria College (a school Quiboloy owns), and then pay a maintenance fee of P100.
Why should I debate with you? I am the Way. You will never go to heaven if you don’t go through me. How could I debate with you when I own your souls?
Unlike Jesus who lived in poverty, Quiboloy does not shy away from opulence and grandeur.
“If it’s not God’s will for me to not have these things that I have, he can take it away,” said Quiboloy in response to detractors criticizing his lavish lifestyle. One of the things he was referring to was his private jet, which he claims was shown to him by God in a vision way back in 1983, and a helicopter.
Quiboloy is just one of the thousands of proponents of the “Prosperity Gospel,” a controversial belief among some Protestant sects which states that money, material goods, and possessions are always the will of God for their owners, and that donating to the church will increase one’s wealth.
Who was Quiboloy before he became the “Owner of the Universe”?
Apollo C. Quiboloy was born on April 25, 1950 in Davao City to Kapampangan parents who migrated there after World War II. He was a member of the United Pentecostal Church until he founded his own religious group in 1985: the Kingdom of Jesus Christ, The Name Above Every Name. It initially had 15 members. Since then, his sect has grown to six million, about four million of whom reside in the Philippines, and the rest overseas.
Controversies that hounded Quiboloy and his sect
In 2008, Quiboloy was accused of having Bagobo leader Datu Domingo Diarog killed for refusing to sell ancestral land to the pastor. Quiboloy categorically denied the accusations and labelled them as baseless.
In 2014, Lumads from Barangay Manuel Guianga accused Quiboloy of sending 40 armed men to evict them from their homes. The men allegedly were hired by Quiboloy so that the pastor could expand his “kingdom."
In 2015, the Federal Bureau of Investigation investigated Quiboloy’s church for human trafficking in Hawaii. The case involved a former church member who claimed she was physically abused when she couldn’t raise enough money for the church.
