A Christian Source with Politically Incorrect News
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 interested 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 a 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 to 10 major points. Most of the people that receive this email have requested 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 nor anyone else that ordered the material has kept their word and paid for the cost of copying all the documentation and the cost of postage. Now to move on to the subject of the person of Alberto Rivera.
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 phrases. 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 Lung.
This 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 reveals 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.
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 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. Jack Chick has a history of publishing sensational stories that proved to be false testimonies, such as John Todd and the Closet Witches. This should be an alarm bell in itself. Based on the fact that Chick has printed fraudulent testimonies in the past, it is very risky to accept Chick's response that he knows Rivera was for real because he prayed about it.
Roy Livesey did an excellent job of investigating Rivera's life. 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.
To set the record straight on the lawsuit against Rivera:
#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. We are talking more than just not paying bills — lying, taking money under false pretenses, and not paying loans means he took advantage of people that trusted him and believed he was a man called of God. The medical doctor who had given and donated so much to Rivera went into debt to borrow money at Rivera's request — against his house and on his credit cards — and put himself and his family in extreme debt that took him years to recover from after leaving AIC.
Roy 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 — and this is unsurprising. Jack Chick wasn't going to print it and admit he had published a false testimony for years. He has never retracted the other false testimonies in his comics and continues to sell them. Ecumenical publishers won't print it because the book isn't ecumenical. Those that do publish books exposing Romanism don't want to touch it as they fear it is contrary to their purpose.
Personally, I wouldn't have helped 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, then they wouldn't be swayed by the details of Rivera's life story. If they dismissed his actions as just personal failings, then they would simply assume any negative story published about his life was slander and the work of Jesuits.
The lesson of Alberto Rivera is a lesson in the importance of discernment — of testing all things by Scripture and by the observable fruit of a person's life, rather than by the attractiveness of their story or the satisfaction we take in what they say against our enemies. Rivera's message against Romanism was not wrong; but a true message in the mouth of a false man does not vindicate the man. Let us be wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.