How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, “I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.” Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit. – Isaiah 14:12-15

The passage comes straight from the 14th chapter of the Book of Isaiah in the King James Version, a 17th-century translation of the Bible that is one of the most prominent and enduring English renditions of the Hebrew and Greek manuscripts. I used that because the version is favored by embattled doomsday preacher Apollo Quiboloy.

So, we are told that this Lucifer guy got a little too full of himself. The big guy upstairs wasn’t too happy with his ambitions, so he gave him the old boot down to the fiery depths. Classic case of celestial office politics, right?

But let’s bring it down to earth, shall we? We have our own modern-day son of the morning – or the “appointed son,” as he likes to call himself. It’s a real-life drama unfolding right here in the Philippines. Pastor Apollo, the superman from Davao with heavenly ambitions, or so he thinks.

Now, let’s take a trip down memory lane based on the accounts of those who know him. Picture this: a young Oneness Pentecostal convert back in 1969, just a bright-eyed believer eager to spread the good word. Fast forward to 1985, and suddenly he’s building his own religious empire in Davao City, away from the prying eyes of Pentecostal doctrine checkers.

Somewhere along the way, things took a turn. Those good intentions? They got lost in the shuffle. And accountability? Well, that went out the window. Delusions crept in like uninvited guests at a party, and before you knew it, he was declaring himself the “appointed son of God” in 2003. Ah, the twists and turns of religious evolution. 

FAST FACTS: Who is Pastor Apollo Quiboloy, the ‘Appointed Son of God’?

In the grand theater of religious delusion, behold the self-appointed sovereign, draped in the mantle of divinity. The self-proclaimed half man-half god ascended his throne, ruling over his domain with an iron fist cloaked in piety. 

In the kingdom of his creation, his word was law and he reigned supreme, decreeing what is moral and what is immoral, what is virtuous and what is depraved. Behold, the arbiter of morality, the solitary judge of righteousness, for in his realm, he alone held the scepter of divine authority. 

Quiboloy must relate to that Isaiah passage given his legal problems now. Given his situation, he is like a rat in a cage with a cat.

Since early 2022, the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has been on his tail, but for two years, he’s been laying low in Davao City, thinking he’s got the Duterte family’s mantle of protection. But oh boy, did he underestimate the long arm of the law.

In late 2023, Senator Risa Hontiveros came in like a biblical prophet, shining a light on Quiboloy’s alleged sins – abuse, exploitation, human trafficking, exactly the same things he is wanted for in the US. You name it, he has it all on his rap sheet. 

Hontiveros’ privilege speech last December resulted in an ongoing investigation into the alleged offenses of Quiboloy and his group, the Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KOJC). The Senate, except for a few, is not too happy with him dodging the hearings like a kid avoiding homework. As I write this, the Senate is after Quiboloy for snubbing the hearings of its committee on women, children, family relations, and gender equality despite a subpoena.

Senate orders arrest of Quiboloy. What happens next?

It looks like one of his friends from Davao, Senator Bato de la Rosa, is dropping him like a hot potato now. In an interview on Tuesday, March 19, Bato said something like, “No one is exempted from the Senate rules.” Not even the son of God – or Lucifer’s.

So, it makes me wonder: who’s going to be the next one to abandon this once-upon-a-time powerful preacher? I mean, we are seeing senators either shutting up or distancing themselves faster than a cat in a room full of rocking chairs. Who’s next in line to jump ship on this sinking religious Titanic?

But wait, there’s more! Just when you thought Quiboloy’s troubles couldn’t get any hotter, the justice department steps in with charges. And we’re not talking about a slap on the wrist here. This is serious business, the non-bailable kind.

The Senate’s order for his arrest and detention pales in comparison to the justice department’s move to charge Quiboloy with human trafficking before a Pasig court on Monday, March 18, as well as sexual assault against children and maltreatment of children in Davao City last week. While prosecutors recommended a P180,000 bail and an P80,000 bail in Davao, the qualified human trafficking case in Pasig is non-bailable.

A Senate detention, following arrest, is not a punishment for crimes, and it will be brief. But a likely arrest warrant from a court would mean a much longer detention, perhaps, until a judge announces his or her verdict.

If a court, especially the one in Pasig, issues a warrant for his arrest, then Quiboloy would likely end up in detention until his trial is over unless, for some outrageous reason, which this country has been seeing especially since the Duterte administration, he is allowed to bail out.

This early, Quiboloy is screwed beyond recognition, and is living an ordinary mortal’s life in hell.

Quiboloy in the US: More multi-million properties in Las Vegas, Hawaii

So what’s Quiboloy, KOJC’s beloved preacher and founder, going to do now, huh? Here are a few choices that immediately come to mind:

• He hides and remains a fugitive for the rest of his life.
• He surrenders and submits to the Senate’s authority.
• He is caught, detained, and tried in Philippine courts.
• He is extradited to the US and tried in California, where he was indicted by a federal grand jury in late 2021.

Yes, he could spend the remaining days of his life in misery, going underground, pulling a disappearing act, or he could just try his luck in the Senate and court – in the US or the Philippines. But he should face it – he’s in deep, deep trouble.

The worst-case scenario is that he might end up like Jim Jones or those Branch Davidians. Nobody wants to see that kind of madness.

And no one wants to see Quiboloy become a missing person forever, because that could mean his BFF and property administrator, by the name of Rodrigo Duterte, the father of tokhang, will become the owner of his filthy rich “kingdom.”

So here’s to our modern-day son of the morning. May your fall from grace be as spectacular as Lucifer’s, but with a lot less fire and brimstone. Pastilan.

Inside Apollo Quiboloy’s lavish world: Mansions, rich-and-famous lifestyle in North America

– Rappler.com