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A Letter on Alberto Rivera:
Fraud or Failure to act as a Christian?
(Editor's note: Alberto Rivera claimed to be a
Jesuit Priest, his story is being published by Chick publications, but the real
story about him is written in this letter by a person who actually knew him
personally and worked in his ministry. One final note, Alberto Rivera has
passed away some years ago, also more insight about his life contained in
another letter can be found at;
Alberto Rivera: More Insight on This Man's Life
To Eric and others in this
debate regarding Rivera,
This letter is to address the person of Alberto Rivera and more directly, why I
as one that worked with him know that he was not only not a Christian but also
not a Catholic Priest, Jesuit or any other kind within the Roman Catholic
System.
My permission is granted to forward this email to anyone that is interesting in
knowing whether Rivera was really a Christian leader or a fraud posing as a
converted Jesuit Priest.
I shall be very direct and blunt in this letter as it is time to stop with
endless discussion of side issues that are ignoring the fact that Rivera was a
wolf in sheep's clothing, that appeared as an minister of righteousness and
deceived many that had left Romanism or were trying to witness to Roman
Catholics. It would be easy for me to write many pages of things regarding
Rivera but I shall limit this a 10 major points. Most of the people that receive
this email have request and received my documentation on Rivera, so they are
aware of Rivera's actions while professing to be converted and his conduct as an
Elder/Pastor of a congregation. Just for the record, neither Eric or anyone else
that ordered the material has kept their word and paid for the cost of copying
all the documentation and for cost of postage. Now to move on to the subject of
the person of Alberto Rivera.
#1. No one defending Rivera has addressed the fact that Rivera didn't know
Latin. He was unable to read or write Latin and only knew certain phases. In
previous emails I stated how while I was under Rivera at AIC, at his direction I
tried to get Robert Champaign (a former priest whose testimony is in print) to
join AIC so he could do Latin translation for the books that were being sent to
AIC from around the world. Rivera not knowing Latin isn't something that can
just be dismissed. I was troubled by this fact and actually asked him about this
at one time and because I wanted to believe in him, I blindly accepted his
excuse of problems with Latin being caused by brain trauma from all the
tormenting done to him by the Jesuits, and from when he was in the Iron Long.
#2. This following comment is for those that profess to hold the doctrines of
grace. Just how corrupt in one's personal life should one be, and just how many
false doctrines can a man preach before you see by their fruit they are still in
their sins and in darkness? For anyone to know of Rivera's conduct of abusing
his followers over many years and his false doctrines (either of these in
themselves reveal his true state) and yet still view him as a Christian shows a
lack of sound judgment and reveals a pre-conceived bias that prevents them from
seeing Rivera in his true light. I know that people loved the way Rivera spoke
against Romanism but his false doctrines and corrupt life can't be overlooked or
dismissed as just personal failings.
#3. The burden of proof is on the one making claims that they have special
training or education. The burden is not on those that reject his claims to
prove a negative. If those who defend Rivera and put the bar so high before
accepting information showing that Rivera was lying about his testimony would
require even 50% of this same standard from those supporting Rivera, they would
never accept him. Eric, you are wrong to say the burden is on Derek or myself to
prove Rivera was a fraud. Those that support him should be willing to prove he
is for real and be able to clearly show that the claims against him are false
based on facts, not with personal attacks. Over and over, defenders of Rivera
say that his accusers are attacking the man but not his message, therefore
Rivera is real.
In reality, many of those that have sought to expose Rivera, including myself
agree with much of what Rivera preached about Romanism, but we know the man to
be a fraud. How do the defenders of Rivera normally react. The do what they
accuse those exposing Rivera of doing, they attack the people exposing Rivera
(some time those exposing Rivera with fact are in themselves unsound in
doctrine) and they ignore the evidence they bring forth. I know this first hand
and while at AIC I found it easy to dismiss evidence against Rivera because I
didn't like the source that provided it. Sadly, I found out that many false
professors in the ecumenical movement had done good research into Rivera's life
story but I dismissed it because they were not Christians. This continues to be
the path of Rivera's supporters to this day. To defend Rivera, it should be done
with real evidence, not by attacking those that are presenting the facts.
One can't sight Rivera's efforts in exposing Romanism as proof that he was for
real. You must cite things regarding the man himself, his life, things he did,
where he got his training, official documents that stand up to examination, etc,
etc. Jack Chick has a history of publishing sensational stories that proved to
be false testimonies, such as John Todd and the Closet Witches (Rebecca Brown
and Elaine). This should be an alarm bell in itself. Chick should have been
required to provide significant proof Rivera is for real. Based on the fact that
Chick has printed fraudulent testimonies in the past, it is very risky to accept
Chick's response the he knows Rivera was for real because he prayed about it.
#4. Roy Livesey is not the issue and who Roy is or isn't hasn't anything to do
with whether Rivera is for real or not. He did an excellent job of investigating
Rivera's life and hopefully some day his work is made widely available. Once
again, Eric you have a tendency to make rash accusations which later prove to be
false. Just as you were quick to make rash comments about Shaun Willcock that
you had to retract once you found out that he had written books exposing the
Jesuits' efforts in the ANC take-over of South Africa, you have written to
others and said that those that sued Rivera should have used their money to fund
the publishing of Roy's book instead of paying a lawyer. To begin with, Roy
didn't have a draft manuscript about Rivera done back in May 1990 at the time of
the trial date. Additional reasons your judgments were faulty in this opinion:
#1. I would never have paid one cent to sue Rivera because I knew I would never
collect when I won a judgment (which is what happened).
#2. The sister-in-law of the other person in the lawsuit handled the case for us
for free.
#3. It didn't take much legal work to prove Rivera to be a fraud and a liar.
#4. I only joined in on the lawsuit so that Rivera's actions as a liar and a
deceiver would be on public record. He always challenged people to take him to
court and pointed at the lack of convictions of proof that he was telling the
truth and that others were the liars. It wasn't just a few people deceived or
left unpaid as Eric seems to imply in one of his emails. To dismiss it as simple
a matter of not paying off a few loans doesn't reflect what took place. We are
talking more than just not paying bills, lying, taking money under false
pretenses, and not paying loans which means he took advantage of people that
trusted him and believed he was a man called of God. The medical doctor, the
former Deacon in Rivera's congregation whom you told someone should have been
able to finance Roy's book, had 'given' and 'donated', so much to Rivera and
went in debt to borrow money (against his house and on his credit cards) at
Rivera's request that he put himself and his family in extreme debt that took
him years after leaving AIC to recover.
#5. Roy Livesey: As to Roy financial state which Eric as talked about at length
based on his assumptions, it isn't something I know first hand other than my
experiences with him. But whatever his state is these days doesn't matter. Roy
has many blind spots, but to those that are so quick to throw out charges
against Roy as if he was some secret agent of Rome and to those that are quick
to believe these claims should find it odd that he provided a copy of his draft
book to Alberto Rivera, Jack Chick, and Jonas Shepherd. Roy has not found a
publisher for his book on Rivera.
I'm very surprised that some of you find this so far fetched. Jack Chick sure
wasn't going to print it and admit that he has published a false testimony for
years. He has never retracted the other false testimonies in his comics and
continues to sell them. Ecumenical places are not going to print it because the
book isn't ecumenical. Those that do publish books exposing Romanism don't want
to touch it as they seem to fear it is contrary to their purpose of exposing
Catholicism. So, just who would be in their interests to publish it give it wide
distribution to get protestants fighting among themselves. If Roy was a agent of
Rome, why would he not be able to have the book published by a Catholic
publisher or have it published by one the secular publishers that the Jesuits
control? But again, Roy is not the issue here and blasting attacks on him only
diverts from the evidence provided by Rivera himself that shows him to be
unsound and unconverted.
I wanted to make Roy's book available in photocopy form but Roy preferred a
professional job and as the author, that is his right. I also can't blame him
for not wanting any thing to do Eric or this email court after how quickly he
saw members blast away at people without any proof and the false assumptions
made over and over about other people's actions. Personally, I wouldn't have
help to fund any effort to publish Roy's book because I felt that if a person
couldn't see through Rivera based on his conduct and abuse of Christians along
with his false doctrine on things not related to Romanism, then they wouldn't be
swayed by the details of Rivera's life story.
If they dismissed his actions as a professed converted Jesuit as just personal
failings, then they would just assume any negative story published about his
life was just slander and the work of Jesuits to discredit him. I think the
reaction of some reading this email proves my thinking is correct. Jonas
Shepherd himself is the one that made me see that those that oppose Romanism and
want to profit from the use of Chick's comics would take this course of actions.
Harry and Tina Barrett were very kind whose company I enjoyed and they are
lovely people but they were willing to overlook Rivera's conduct when they came
to AIC in Los Angeles back in the late 80s because they believe Rivera was a man
called of God to expose the Pope.
#6. If you listen to the tape I sent out entitled "Is Alberto Rivera for Real",
you will hear his rantings for yourself and some heretical statements, not to
mention his arrogance and lack of humility.
#7. You can't biblical judge whether a man is saved or not based on his position
regarding Alberto Rivera. One cannot show that Rivera's life revealed the marks
of grace and he is not a prophet or apostle from the scriptures but many seem to
hold him in such high esteem. Charles Chiniquy's books were of great value to
me, especially "50 years in the Church of Rome", because it spoke to me as a
former Roman Catholic as he struggled with what the scriptures taught and what
he held as a Catholic. Now, to Eric and others that blast away so quickly in
making charges at men that don't agree with them, I don't see them holding
Chiniquy to the same standard. In his book "40 years in the Church of Christ",
he details a close relationship with members of Masonic Lodges. He was defended
by them and preached at their temples. In my opinion, while it saddens me
greatly that Chiniquy had any involvement with Freemasons, I believe in his
ignorance he looked to the American Mason as the Protestant equivalent of the
Roman Catholic Knights of Columbus.
#8. There is much I know about Rivera that I have not discussed but I didn't see
a need to continue on and on over every detail. There should be enough in the
documentation I've sent out and in both my tape, "Is Alberto Rivera for Real",
and Shaun Willcock's tape, "Alberto Rivera - A False Brother", to make the
brethren aware that Rivera was not what he professed to be. He was not a
Christian man and all other judgments about Rivera should begin with that fact.
#9. I remain open to questions about the material I've provided or my
experiences with Rivera and those who were involved with AIC during those years.
Rivera did my Baptism after I left Romanism and he is in all my wedding pictures
and video. I idolized him and felt very privilege and probably even a sinful
amount of pride that I was the right hand man for a time for whom I thought was
God's greatest servant since the Reformation in exposing Romanism. The heartache
and pain I went though after realizing that I had been deceived and blinded by
him was a time of great trial and weeping before the Lord. It was very humbling,
but the Lord delivered me and I learned an important lesson about 'balance' and
'preaching the whole council of God'.
#10. The Vatican is the Mother of Harlots, the denominations and other false
religions are her daughters, and the Jesuits are her most evil servants, this I
know and preach along with the person of Christ and the duty of believers in
seeking after holiness. This experience with Rivera taught me that there are
many that will unite together against the Pope and his false religion but there
are few of them that unite in humbleness before Christ, who hold sound doctrine
and walk in the light themselves.
To those that might accuse me of being a secret servant of Rome, or soft on the
Jesuit or other type of slander, I would say they are ignorant of my testimony,
our ministry, and how I spend my life witnessing to people to come out of the
Great Whore and for Christian to separate themselves from her sinful practices.
To help educate people on our ministry, I have copied an article that was
written for Derek's TCS magazine and pasted it below. A better copy with the
proper words bolded and italized can be read by downloading the attached Word
document.
To God be all the glory, both now and forever.
Contending for the Faith once delivered unto the saints.
Jude 3
Feedback: From emerson_67..."hey none of what you
said about Rivera is relevant whether his a fraud or not instead of being
subjective to your claims you should be more objective you should use evidence
not your own point of views I dare you to why not challenge his testimonies
instead of just saying that he is not real on your web page after reading your
whole page your just like going round and round almost all you said was nonsense
you should attack solid evidence because we don't who you are saying this things
right please don't make a fool of yourself okay.....if
i were you you just better shut up if your not going to say anything relevant
okay."
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