[5][6] In June 2019, church leader Naasón Joaquín García was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport and charged with sex crimes by the California Department of Justice.

However, the obituary of Eusebio Juaquin González in the Crónica Jalisco newspaper states that "Eucebio started to attend the reunions of preachers by the name Saul and Silas.

[19] During the 1920s, Mexico underwent a period of instability under the administration of Plutarco Elías Calles, who was seeking to limit the influence of the Catholic Church to modernize and centralize the state within the religious sphere of Mexican society.

[28] In 1939, it moved to a new meeting place at 12 de Octubre street in San Antonio in southeast Guadalajara, forming its second small community which was populated mainly by its members.

[34] Having received word, this celebration generated a heated debate that culminated with the defection of three LLDM congregations (in Mexico City, Cuautla, and San Pedro Totoltepec) and two missions (in Cuernavaca and Ciudad Madero) with most of their members, including their pastors.

[13] Later, Aarón Joaquín had a vision in July 1943 where the baptism by Figueroa (who had defected to El Buen Pastor) was invalidated and he was ordered to re-baptize himself invoking Jesus' name.

[34] In 1952, Aarón Joaquín purchased a lot of land outside the city and called it Hermosa Provincia (Beautiful Province), with the intent of forming a small community made up exclusively by church members.

[52] With Samuel Joaquín's work, La Luz del Mundo became integrated into Guadalajara and the Church replicated the model of Hermosa Provincia in many cities in Mexico and abroad.

[citation needed] Anthropologist Patricia Fortuny says that the Church's growth can be attributed to several factors, including its social benefits, which "improves the living conditions of believers.

[58][59][60] During La Luz del Mundo's religious services, male and female members are separated during worship; from the preacher's perspective, women sit on the left side of the temple and men on the right.

Although Church leadership has remained in the Joaquín family since its founding, La Luz del Mundo maintains that succession of power is by divine calling, not by kinship.

[74] Members believe that this Apostolic authority allows them to find peace, feel close to God and attain meaning in their lives from the hopes of joining with Christ to reign with him for eternity.

[88] Anthropologist Fortuny said, concerning the 9 a.m. prayer, that "I infer from this that, if the membership considers this as [a] female [gathering], they would be giving authority to women in the religious or ecclesiastical framework of the ritual, and this then [would] put [them] on a plane of equality or [in] absence of subordination to men.

[95] Fortuny also states that dress codes are a sign of a patriarchal organization because men are only forbidden from growing their hair long or wearing shorts in public, and also that women, at times, can be more autonomous than those in the general population in Mexico.

[132] Following a change that allowed respondents to specify their religion if they were neither Catholic nor nonreligious,[133] the 2000 census captured La Luz del Mundo membership numbers for the first time, reporting a nationwide total of 69,254 members five years or older.

[134][135] La Luz del Mundo objected to the format of 2000 census, arguing that it discriminated against non-Catholic religious individuals who, unlike Catholic respondents, had to specifically state their religion.

Church leaders have been accused of creating a cult of personality, sexually abusing members, and have been criticized for amassing wealth, living a lavish lifestyle, and attempting to build entire cities.

[144] In December 2022, HBO and RAINN released an original documentary series titled Unveiled: Surviving La Luz Del Mundo, which tells the story of child sexual abuse within the church.

[151] In May 2019, La Luz del Mundo faced scrutiny for using the Palace of Fine Arts in Mexico City to host a concert as tribute to its leader Naasón Joaquín for his 50th birthday.

[157][156][158] These accusations were amplified by Jorge Erdely's anti-cult group, which demanded that La Luz del Mundo be stripped of its legal recognition as a religious organization.

[153] On June 4, 2019, current La Luz del Mundo leader Naasón Joaquín García and co-defendant Susana Medina Oaxaca were arrested by Special Agents of the California Bureau of Investigation after their chartered flight from Mexico landed at Los Angeles International Airport.

[163] The California Department of Justice alleges that between 2015 and 2018 Naasón Joaquín and three co-defendants committed twenty-six felonies including human trafficking, production of child pornography, and forcible rape of a minor.

[144][170] Following the guilty plea, the Los Angeles County Superior Court sentenced García to nearly 17 years in prison and required him to register as a sex offender for life.

[172] The leader of La Luz Del Mundo Naasón Joaquín and his family members, including his father and previous leader Samuel Joaquín, have accumulated millions of dollars in luxury homes throughout the United States, including a private 343 acre exotic animal park in Seguin, Texas, called Silver Wolf Ranch, and a luxury home in Palos Verdes Estates.

[175][174] According to a church spokesperson, the ranch is divided into two parts, a federally registered nonprofit zoo and wildlife rescue refuge, and a private zoo-themed family retreat.

In September 2018, residents of Flowery Branch, Georgia, publicly objected to the church's plan to turn 272 acres into a multi-use development called the "City of the Light of the World".

[187] Ontario officials met with objecting residents and began researching the Church, checking with cities where La Luz del Mundo had temples, but found no problems.

[190] Rodolfo Morán Quiroz, a sociologist, said that the discrimination started by the Catholic Church, which in the past caused La Luz del Mundo to establish its community in Hermosa Provincia, continues in Mexico.

[193] According to Church spokesperson Armando Maya Castro, many students who are members of La Luz del Mundo have been discriminated against and punished for refusing to partake in celebrations and customs concerning the Day of the Dead at school.

[198] La Luz del Mundo ministers reported that the site of a newly constructed temple in Silao was subject to harassment, vandalism, and physical threats because of religious intolerance, which caused them to request increased police protection.