Behind the Bastards - Part Two: Apollo Quiboloy: The Jeffrey Epstein of the Philippines

Episode Date: October 3, 2024

Robert and Prop conclude the story of the Filipino Jeffrey Epstein with his exciting near-Waco arrest.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Oh, boy howdy. Boy, goodness gracious, Jiminy Christmas, behind the bastards, back yet again with our friend Jason Petty, AKA Prop Jason. I'm doing the thing that I do sometimes, or at least I did the thing while we were on our break, and I was eating some scrambled eggs with dried chanterelles, delightful breakfast.

It is 2.43 in the afternoon. Where I was like looking at Facebook, which I do about once a week. It's a bad thing to do, but there's like family and friends from years ago that I haven't seen in 15 years, that it's the only way I know of making sure they're all still alive without actually talking to them.

And God knows I'm not gonna do that. Absolutely not. Whenever you hop onto the old Facebook, you get a bunch of fascinating ads. And I got one today from the Daily Wire people for Jeremy's razors, which they- For who's, oh, the mad razors? Yeah, yeah, which are not woke.

Don't buy from a razor brand that hates you. Yeah, I don't think any razor brand hates me. Yeah, nobody's critical race theory. These are razors are not for women, they're for conservative men. And that's convinced me prop, you know, look, this is silly and shameless, but also, look, I like money as much as the next guy.

So what if I try to get into the opposite side of this business, right? But instead of like razors, that's lame. That's not a thing anyone associates with ideology. Not really. I wanna take products that are traditionally associated with a political ideology in this country and then find a way to sell it

to the opposite side of the population because that's how you make a lot of money. So for example, I'm gonna start manufacturing and selling an AR-15 that we only sell to people who in the last week have cried at a sunrise. I see, I feel like- That's a woke gun, yeah. I feel like you're leaving money on the table

by not doing this. Like this should have happened. It's too good a business. It's too good a business. Two seasons ago, we should have been, we should have been selling woke weapons for a long time. Absolutely, absolutely.

You know what I'm saying? Yeah, reproduction German military gear that we only sell to people who have volunteered at a soup kitchen that week, right? You know, all of it. You have to have, you have to have had. You gotta prove it to? You know, all of- You have to have, you have to have had- You gotta prove it to us.

Listen, you had to have cried white tears. Like at some point, you know what I'm saying? Like you said, served at a soup kitchen. Right, right. You feel me, like at some point, you've yelled at a Karen. Like you had to have had put in your work to prove that you're a comrade.

Now I'm with it. Yeah, yeah, Go volunteer at the border and you too can buy a Volkswagen type 166 Schwimmenwagen. I do actually want one of those. It's one of those cars you can drive in the water. Those cars are pretty dope. They're pretty cool. Look, it's not the car's fault.

It's not the car's fault. Not the car's fault. But shout out to all our Ka'i B guns since we're gonna be talking to our Ka'i B-Guns, since we're going to be talking to our Ka'i B-Guns. Hey, I'm Gianna Predenti. And I'm Jamea Jackson-Gadston. We're the hosts of Let's Talk Offline from LinkedIn News and iHeart Podcasts. There's a lot to figure out when you're just starting your career.

That's where we come in. Think of us as your work besties you can turn to for advice. And if we don't know the answer, we bring in people who do, like negotiation expert Morrie Taharary-Pore. If you start thinking about negotiations as just a conversation, then I think it sort of eases us a little bit. Listen to Let's Talk Offline on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Hey y'all, Nimini here. I'm the host of a brand new history podcast for kids and families called Historical Records. Executive produced by Questlove, The Story Pirates, and John Gl and families called Historical Records. Executive produced by Quest Love, the Story Pirates, and John Glickman, Historical Records brings history to life through hip hop. Get the kids in your life excited about history by tuning in to Historical Records. Listen to Historical Records on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. My Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, my name's Jay Shetty and I'm the host of On Purpose.

This week I interviewed Sean Mendez. He started out sharing covers online and now he's one of the biggest names in music. He also uses his platform to raise awareness for causes he cares about, like mental health and climate change. The reality is I don't have a deeper understanding of life. I just have a deeper acceptance of self.

Listen to On Purpose with Jay Shetty on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Trust me, you won't want to miss this one. My name is Brandon Kyle Goodman. I'm a black, gay, non-binary author, TV writer, actor, and I'm messy, but not, non-binary author, TV writer, actor, and I'm messy. But not in the way you think. Messy as in I'm human and flawed.

I'm on a mission to destroy shame around sex. And the only way to do that is to talk about sex. So that's what we'll do on my brand new podcast, Tell Me Something Messy. Join me on Tell Me Something Messy with brand new episodes every Thursday on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. I'm Maria Konnikova. And I'm Nate Silver. And our new podcast, Risky Business, is a show about making better decisions. We're both journalists who moonlight as poker players, and that's the lens we're going to use to approach this entire show.

We're going to be discussing everything from high stakes poker to personal questions. Like whether I should call a plumber or fix my shower myself. And of course, we'll be talking about the election too. Listen on the iHeart radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts We're back talking about yeah Apollo kibble. Oh talking about so yeah in the last episode I explained that Apollo had named himself the appointed son of God as he drew in more followers and his church Expanded into a multinational cult. The story he told about himself expanded too. He began claiming to his followers that God had visited his mother in the form of a cloud

to declare Apollo his son, which is arguably nicer than the way- I'm sorry. You probably have a better memory of this. That seems nicer than how he told Mary and Joseph. Absolutely, yeah. That's the angel showing up while you was a virgin.

And like just really like, yeah, if you marry, you like, yo, this is a real heavy lift, dog. Like, can you tell Joseph? You know what I'm saying? Like, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Then you're making peace with like, I'm about to have a kid and also it's God. Like, I didn't even get to do the good part.

Yeah. Listen, Joseph, I love you. I love you. I swear to God, this child is God's. Speaking of God, he's got something to say. Speaking of God. Yeah. Now, so yeah, I don't know, Cloud, that seems nice, soothing.

While Apollo had started his career as just another Pentecostal preacher, when he broke away and declared himself the new son of God, he also declared, and this is classic, classic cult leader form, that all other churches on earth are invalid, fundamentally broken institutions. They're all heretics.

Yeah, no, he's got an interesting reason for this, Prop, which is that every other Christian church on earth is bad because they all embrace the concept of the Trinity. And this is a little wonky. I'm curious for your take on this, cause I'm not a- Oh yeah, talk to me about this. People, now we've had a lot of wars over this.

I think so, yes. One has been a constant. Yes, yes. Okay. Yeah, the Trinity denies the oneness of God because it suggests that he is God's son is somehow separate and less divine than God himself. I think that's the point he's making.

No, you got it. Yeah. Yeah, that's actually like, so if there are all four black people that listen to this show, so T.D. Jakes, right? T.D. Jakes is a oneness Pentecostal. I wish y'all could see.

Oh yeah, it's a video show. Y'all see how they laughed. I just died. Oh man, but yeah, TD Jakes is like a oneness Pentecostal. And like, that's kind of a thing to be like, and then to argue that like the term Trinity is not in the Bible. Like that's something that came much later to describe

what theologians call the triune God, God being one in essence, expressed in three different persons. But the idea that they're actually three separate persons is not biblical. Yeah, one is Pentecostal. So if you believe in the Trinity, you're clearly not reading the Bible.

Yeah, yeah, you've gotten taken in by like a cult, right? Yes. As opposed to the cult that Apollo has created. That is actually the cult. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, listen to the man of God that's sleeping with your daughter, yes. I mean, very much literally listen to the man

because we're going to play a segment from a documentary about the church here so you can see him explain this in his own words. Oh my God, I can't wait. Hold on, let me get my puso in sagging. Let me get my spam and rice, you know what I'm saying? And my spoon and eat my rice with ketchup. I'm just doing a whole lot of Filipino stuff.

I'm gonna go for some spam and rice, that sounds fucking fire right now. It's phenomenal. Mm-hmm, Hawaiian too. We are in, as I I said 78 countries and 78 nationalities. I'll just clarify pastor this is not a religion. But you look deeper. It's a spiritual world. For me, again, as someone with a Filipino stepmom,

this accent is very warm. So hearing his thick, hearing both of them speak very thick, like with a thick Tagalog, it's like, it's just warm to me. So I would just, I still smile when I hear the accent, even though I know he's about to talk about something great. Good news. We got some more stuff that's about to talk about something great. Good news. We got some more stuff that's gonna make you smile here. It's not the religion. Like, yeah.

Okay, you did that. Yeah, I do love that. You get that a lot. That's like a very American thing too. And like, especially like an American Pentecostal thing where like, yeah, Christianity, our Christianity, it's not a religion, right? It's a relationship.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So when we talk about these kinds of pastor bastards, which is actually, I haven't said it that way before, but that's fun, that's a lot of fun. Did you wait, was that out there? Yeah, that just hit, I'd written it, but I hadn't realized how fun it was to say. Oh my God, pastor bastards.

Pastor bastards. This is, you have just created, you've just expanded the Behind the Bastards universe, and you have created a subgenre. Pastor bastards. We have pastor bastards. You just create, oh my God, I witnessed history made right now.

Yeah, this is the, a crack has gone down into the center of the earth from that. Dude. Maybe I'll do another pastor shoot. Mithra was just created. Ooh, I could do Mithra. Yeah, I don't wanna do Mithra. No. Yeah. I'm just trying tora. Yeah, I don't wanna do Mithra. Yeah. No.

Yeah. I'm trying to speak. Let's take her down a peg. It's been like 10,000 years. It's time. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I always try to find an example of like a pastor bastard talking, right?

Preaching, because you just kinda have to see it. And I think this clip from his, one of his all time hits, this is his white album, a sermon called Soaring as an Eagle in the Dimension of Faith. Come on fam. Yeah, that's a title. That gives you an idea of two key things.

How very American the way he preaches is and how focused his sermons are on the subject of Apollo Kivaloi being pretty fucking cool. Where is the state of innocence? You don't think evil of me anymore. You don't think negative of me anymore. You don't judge me according to your own human three dimensional perspective anymore. You look at me as you look at yourself.

You became spiritual. That's why you look at me spiritually. The way you look at me is you look at yourself you became spiritual that's why you look at me spiritually the way you look at me is the way you are how many of you think I am the most a spiritual person on earth that is now who you are amazing room that's a good room amazing that's a good room. Amazing. That's a good room. That is the most Pentecostal. How many percent do you trust me? Those who trusted me and believed in me until now,

100% raise your hands. That's how you are in the side of the party. I love that. What percent? I really want to drill down on this. Not just do you trust me, but let's get some numbers out here. We got to quantify. The notes, this guy is playing,

I mean, this is felonious monk level notes. He's playing like this dude. Beautiful. I am first of all, y'all. Huge fan. Like huge fan, no notes. But like, there's some stuff missing here. Like for some reason Pentecostals believe

because purple is the color of royalty. So when you walk into a lot of black churches, it's gonna be purple everywhere, right? The fact that you already, do you notice the color of the chiron on the bottom? You know what I'm saying? So there's that, right? The white is the holiness.

And if you can see in the thing right now, what color that man tie? What color is that man's tie in the clasp? You understand what's happening right now? He playing notes, y'all. Oh, I'm so excited. How do I not know this man? I'm so mad I don't already know this man.

I have an unfortunate note on the purple thing prop which is that about a year or so ago, maybe I was on some gas station drugs. Maybe I wasn't entirely sober. I was buying sheets for myself. And I bought what I thought was going to be a very nice like dark purple. And to make a long story short, my entire bed

has these eucalyptus sheets that I can only describe as the inside of a Pim escape. I actually just replaced them today because there was a hole in them, but it was like, what are those mistakes where it's like, well, I can't return these. This is just a mistake. Just a terrible mistake. Are they silk?

Yeah. No, no, no, these ones were eucalyptus, which I don't buy. It ages for shit. Yeah. Not like silk where it can hold up, you know? If you had silk, purple, like your new name. I know, I know.

You would have to change your, you'd have to have a pimp name. Your name is, you know, small change Robbie, small change Willie from Philly. You know what I'm saying? Like you- Jason, I would have already been indicted on racketeering. Absolutely.

You'd already have a Rico. Had you, yes, it'd be, there'd be no way I would question all of my interactions with you. Should we? After going to the Portland crib, I would be like, you know what? I'm seeing all this much differently now. Should we play the next clip?

We should. Okay, please. And I, what's, yeah, Sophie, just take it. Just take it. How many of you trust me only 50%? Raise your hands. Don't be ashamed. If you trust me 50% only, that is who you are. You cannot trust yourself. Your trust is only 50% only, that is who you are. You cannot trust yourself.

Your trust is only 50% to yourself and the 50% you cannot trust yourself. So the ownership of you is 50% to God and 50% to the devil. That cannot be because there is no fellowship between light and darkness. And darkness. Yep. I already know where he's going. I will cross all of you or the devil owns all of you the devil oh that's a good preacher voice right there no partnership it is 50 50 he preached that is partnership between god and the devil

no the percent is mine if the present is yours, let us profit sharing No profit sharing in the other kingdom of the universe and in humanity That's right He's not bad at what he does. He's not bad at what he does. He doing it, listen. Where light is, darkness cannot abide. Yes, where light is, darkness cannot abide. Either you belong to Jesus or your soul belong to Satan.

So if you trust me, man, boy, and he keeps saying it's in the spirit. It's in the spirit. It's in the spirit. Listen, there's a running joke about like, Merce talks about it too, like with, with underground rappers, how everything is like lyrically. So I'm like, I'm gonna lyrically murder your mom.

Like, so if you just throw lyrically in front of it, it's fine. It's fine, it's like doing it in Roblox. Yeah, exactly. Lyrically. The fence can't crack that one. Exactly, exactly. Yeah, yeah. Lyrically. The feds can't crack that one. Exactly, exactly. So they're like, what do you mean, lyrically?

You know, oh yeah, I just, I murdered your daughter lyrically, right? So, so for him to be like, it's in the spirit. It's in the spirit. It's like if whatever you trust in the spirit is who you are on earth as it is in heaven. Boy, he cooking. That man is cooking.

He's a, he's a pro. And him just being like, yes, amen. Like, yeah. Yeah, that's a professional. You gotta give him that, you know? You shouldn't give him much, cause again, pedophile, but he knows what he's doing when he gets up on a fucking pulpit, yeah.

Now that he's been arrested, Sophie, do you think we could buy that room, like his compound, and just kind of move the podcast over to the Philippines, you know, broadcast from Mount Oppo, maybe slowly start a cult? Does it come with the outfit? The fit's gotta come with it. I feel like it's a decent,

I feel like it's probably pretty affordable to get stuff tailored in the Philippines. A TBN in the Philippines, bro. Would you wear the outfit? I don't think I'd have a choice in that room. Well, that's a room you wear a white suit in. You have to wear a white suit. Like I'm not opposed.

We'll have to reach out to the menswear guy, but I kind of think that that's a pretty good fit. Like he's not a bad fitting suit. Yeah, yeah. I'm not an expert on these things. Kind of a no brainer. Yeah, like. I'm not an expert on these things. Kind of a no brainer. Yeah, like if you're doing that, you gotta do that. Then like, yeah.

Bro, all, listen, now that I see it, yeah, he's hitting, he's firing all cylinders. Like this is- He knows what he's up to. He's firing on every, thank you for giving me a fun episode. Oh yeah, I did think aside from the horrible, horrible sex trafficking. Yeah, besides that, I'm just saying.

It's a little more fun than Thomas Jefferson at least. Yeah, yeah. Thomas Jefferson and the lost cause. Yeah. Yeah. Anyway, as we've noted, a key aspect of the theology that he's cobbled together here is the idea that all other forms of authority are invalid,

not just other churches, but other political institutions. Now this is not so unique among cult leaders, but the way he came to explain these beliefs to his people, I do find interesting. In short, followers of KOJC are their own nation, right? Which by the early 2000s is at least three million strong, and they should have no other allegiances, and certainly had no responsibility

to follow the petty laws of whatever country they happened to be in. Oh, hey, we're part of the kingdom. We're part of the kingdom. That's a nation of followers, of believers. I'm in the kingdom, a holy nation, a joint heirs. I'm a part of the kingdom of God. I am not of this world.

I don't have to obey the laws of man. We make our own license plates and driver's licenses. Let's go. Now, you can get an idea of how this was transmitted to his followers by visiting the Kingdom of own license plates and driver's licenses. Let's go. Now you can get an idea of how this was transmitted to his followers by visiting the kingdom of Jesus Christ website, which on the day I visited looked like this.

So you can see, yeah, you can see like a lot of purple, as you noted, and there's a couple of different quotes on it, one, I will not succumb to the temptation of being weak, I will stand and defend my obedience to the Father's will. And then words of the son, which is Apollo. In whatever situation and circumstance you find yourself in, remain loyal to him, even unto death.

Him clearly being Apollo. That is, that does look like a guy, because this got put up on the website as he was being like basically hemmed in by law enforcement before his arrest. That does look like a guy trying to do a branch Davidian. Yeah, totally. You know?

Like that's a guy trying to way go. You know? Y'all got me, right? Like you remember, it's us till the wheels fall off. And that's, you know, I'm torn on this, because obviously I can't go to bat for this man He's a sex criminal, but also, you know our motto with this podcast ABW always be way going. Oh my god Listen not for the bad reasons, Sophie

There are there are qualities I just look at a really nice break from Robert bringing up Waco all the time and I feel like that streak is now broken I was always bringing it up in my heart. So time, and I feel like that streak is now broken. I was always bringing it up in my heart, so. Well, I know, but like I didn't have to hear that. See, I was living a lie because 50% of my heart was for Waco and 50% of it was for this show. And that means that none of it is for Waco.

Wow. And Elrond, yeah, you're right. You're right. Maybe the same math doesn't work for me. No, I feel it. It's because it's in the spirit It's in the spirit. It's in the spirit. It's 150 is still 100 in the spirit Yeah, Elrond Hubbard and and yeah Taylor what is it Taylor? Hey, who the fuck was the Taylor in that in that Waco show? So if he was the handsome man from

Friday night lights, what's his name? I got you, hold on. Yeah, he's the finest David Koresh. Him and L. Ron Hubbard play in a rock concert as the FBI burns the building down. It's Taylor Kitsch. Taylor Kitsch, I knew there was a name and not Taylor Hanson, who the fuck am I thinking? I don't know who Taylor Kitsch is.

It's that weird right-wing freak. I don't know, it was a Taylor. I'm sorry, Taylor Kitsch. I'm also sorry, David Koresh. Anyway, when it came to the laws that most vexed the son of God, the very top of the list was restrictions on immigration because his cult had brought him tremendous wealth

and he'd spent some of it on a private jet, a mansion. Prop, what city in California you think he picked for his mansion in Southern California? He picked Beverly Hills. Calabasas. Same. Calabasas, okay. Yeah, yeah. Same, but old money, new money, sorry.

Yeah, very much, yeah, yeah, the Valley. Now, he wanted- That's the Valley's Beverly Hills, yeah. Right, right. Now, he wanted to be able to bring his pastorals with him for, you know, but the US immigration service does not take I want to have a sex slave as a valid reason to hand out a work visa. So on or about 1998, the KOJC founded

the Children's Joy Foundation. And boy, I don't like that name. Oh my God. That's rough. That one's rough. Yeah, not fair. The stated goal of the CJF was providing quote, children in the Philippines with various residential services,

medical, psychosocial, educational support to harness their potential in community and nation building. Now, I cannot tell you if the CJF ever had a real purpose that resembled this, but by 2007, Apollo had hit upon the idea of using it as a way to hide the movement of large numbers of followers, particularly young female followers, across borders and into the United States. CJF was registered as a nonprofit 501C3 in the state of California with an office in Glendale, and he began bringing in workers from the Philippines. The federal indictment alleges that these workers spent long hours illegally soliciting

money for KOJC outside of businesses across the United States. KOJC administrators also imposed mandatory daily cash solicitation quotas on such KOJC workers. At the direction of KOJC administrators, the KOJC workers represented to the public that donated money would be used by CJF to help impoverish children, when in fact the money directly financed KOJC operations and the lavish lifestyle of KOJC leaders, in particular Apollo." So these were large numbers of followers brought to the US from the Philippines who would solicit,

stand outside of businesses and shops and ask for money for poor kids in the Philippines. We're like photos of suffering children, information about how much your money could help them. And all of that money was being used either to just like pay for these mansions or literally to directly pay for the system by which he imported young women and girls in order to molest them. Like that was paid for by these donations to help poor kids in the Philippines. That's what the CJF was.

Yeah. God, that... Yeah. It's hideous. Oh, God. To get these non-immigrant visas, Apollo's top lieutenants, who manage the scheme, falsified visa applications to claim

that the workers were needed to help run concerts. In order to keep their workers legal once they entered the scheme, falsified visa applications to claim that the workers were needed to help run concerts. In order to keep their workers legal once they entered the country, they next obtained student visas and forced them to attend minimal course loads at local colleges in order to maintain their status. According to the indictment, these students would attend college one day per week

and then spend the remainder of their week soliciting for church funds. So hey, at least they get a little bit of an education. Yeah, man. Yeah. Be a nurse like Tita Rose, but like. Yeah. It's gonna take you a while to get your nursing degree

on one day a week. Yeah. Yeah. Dang, man. Speaking of a nursing degree, if you just wanna become a nurse, buy any of the products and services that support our podcast and you will be hired.

You can learn on the job, most of that kind of stuff. Like setting an IV, easy. Surgical aid, assistant, fine. No problem at all. All kinds of stuff that you learn on the job. Just figure it out. The truth is like, yeah, some stuff you just can't learn in the classroom, you have to do it.

Like what medicine does. Yeah, just try it, you know? Listen. That's what I do is I just buy medicine, give it to people, see how it works. Doctors are really, they're detectives. They're detectives, they're not scientists. Exactly, they're detectives.

How many Tylenol can you put in a person's cake and what does it do to them, right? These are all questions that medical science has answered thanks to me, you know, for myself. Anyway, here's ads. So y'all this is Questlove and I'm here to tell you about a new podcast I've been working on with the story pirates and John Glickman called Historical Records. It's a family friendly

podcast. Yeah, you heard that right. A podcast for all ages. One you can listen to and enjoy with your kids starting on September 27th. I'm gonna toss it over to the host of Historical Records, Nimini, to tell you all about it. Make sure you check it out. Hey y'all, Nimini here. I'm the host of a brand new history podcast

for kids and families called Historical Records. Historical Records brings history to life through hip hop. Flash slam, another one gone. Bash bam, another one gone. The cracker, the bat, and another one gone. A tip, but a cap, is another one gone. Each episode is about a different inspiring figure from history, like this one about Claudette Colvin,

a 15 year old girl in Alabama who refused to give up her seat on the city bus nine whole months before Rosa Parks did the same thing. Check it. -♪ And it began with me, did you know, did you know? I wouldn't give up my seat Nine months before Rosa, it was Claudette Colvin. Get the kids in your life excited about history

by tuning in to Historical Records because in order to make history, you have to make some noise. Listen to Historical Records on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, it's me, Jay Shetty, and I'm the host of the award winning podcast On Purpose. I created this show to bring you conversations that inspire, motivate and help you navigate life a little easier. Every guest brings something special, whether it's about relationships, mental health or

finding your purpose. And this week I had the opportunity to interview Shawn Mendes, a singer songwriter known for his heartfelt lyrics and melodies. Shawn's music feels like an open diary, raw, relatable, and real. Beyond the music, he's all about using his platform for good, advocating for mental health and the environment. He really comes down to the moment you're prepared to take responsibility for your life and for everything that goes wrong and for everything that goes right.

And it's hard. Listen to On Purpose with Jay Shetty on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Trust me, you'll not want to miss this one. Hey, I'm Gianna Pedente. And I'm Jamea Jackson-Gadston. We're the hosts of Let's Talk Offline, a new podcast from LinkedIn News and iHeart Podcasts. When you're just starting out in your career, you have a lot of questions. Like how do I speak up when I'm feeling overwhelmed?

Or can I negotiate a higher salary if this is my first real job? Girl, yes. Each week we answer your unfiltered work questions. Think of us as your work besties you can turn to for advice. And if we don't know the answer, we bring in experts who do, like resume specialist Morgan Sanner. The only difference between the person who doesn't get the job and the person who gets the job is usually who applies. Yeah, I think a lot about that quote. What is it like you miss 100% of the shots you never take? Yeah. Rejection is scary, but it's better than you rejecting yourself.

Together, we'll share what it really takes to thrive in the early years of your career without sacrificing your sanity or sleep. Listen to Let's Talk Offline on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. We're turning up the heat on the newest episode of All the Smoke. Vice president and democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris pulls up to the show to discuss her historic presidential run. Most people have ambition, they have aspirations, they have dreams, and they are willing to work hard. And if we give people the opportunity to actually meet those goals, they jump for it every time.

Mat and Stack will be diving deep into the journey that brought her here, her vision for the future, and the real stories behind the headlines. Make sure you check out All the Smoke with Vice President Kamala Harris out now. Listen today on the Black Effect Podcast Network, iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Maria Kanakova. And I'm Nate Silver. And our podcast, Risky Business, is a show about making better decisions.

Both Nate and I are journalists who moonlight as poker players. We've both won and I have to say lost hundreds of thousands of dollars playing poker. And poker is a lens that we're going to use to approach this entire show, because poker isn't just about playing cards. It's actually about how to make good decisions. It's an entire framework for thinking about the world. In addition to poker, we'll be talking about the wide world of gambling, so sports betting, for example, plus the news, politics. It is an election year, and personal decisions too.

Like whether I should call a plumber or fix my shower myself. Tune into Risky Business every Thursday. Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Ah, I did just have a nice Tylenol cake prop, you know? Yeah, man. A lot of people don't know this. Are you now bullsog?

That means full. Probably. That means full into Gallup. I'm full and you know, the man doesn't want you to know this. The woke liberal media won't tell you this, but the more, if you eat enough Tylenol, you become superhuman.

It's like eating a bunch of those Zin pouches, right? When you mix enough nicotine and Tylenol, then you gain the ability to see through the matrix, which I have done, and all it took was vomiting up blood a couple of months in a row. I figured that. What is that new, I mean, it's like the new, the little chew pouches that you just,

that come in little white pouches that you put in your jaw look like little Look, I'm cheekless. Yeah, that's like the the the zens right there's that what they call zens. Yeah. Yeah, I think that's what that be Yeah, I was like man y'all love him I can see you mixing that with with some with some Tylenol and Being a superhuman and now you can like fly fish better than everybody right yeah fly fishing I can see the thing you'd gain the ability to do for that, sure. He's not fly fishing, prop.

No, he's not. Or if he is, I'm not really interested in it. He is sex trafficking. He is, being disgusting. Yeah. So if the whole go to college one day a week and then solicit funds for the KOJC was too complex or expensive,

there was another way to allow his followers to stay in the US as long as he needed them, which was to fuck with who they were married to. Apollo would simply order followers to marry. Because he's got churches now in Southern California, he would order his US followers sometimes to divorce their existing spouses and then to marry a Filipino follower so they could immigrate to the country under a marriage visa. One of his chief lieutenants, Duenas, was responsible for organizing divorces for the followers selected for this duty who happened to be married already.

Now, setting up. Yeah, that's fucked up. If your pastor calls you into the office and say, hey son, I think the Lord has given me Time to split. A vision. I don't think this is working out. Yeah, I think the Lord wants you to marry her.

I don't think that woman is the one that God chose for you. That is not your Ruth. You are not his Boas. You know what I'm saying? Like, oh word, okay. Yeah. I thought we wasn't supposed to, didn't Jesus say we weren't supposed to?

Yeah, but not if the pastor needs more money, right? That's in there. One of the translations, King James just missed it, but one of the earlier translations nailed it. Is God still speaking? The Lord spoke in the past and he's still speaking now. He's speaking to his prophet now. And he's telling you to divorce.

One of the Dead Sea scrolls is just about 501c3s. Yes, I'm telling you, man. Yeah. So setting up sham relationships is not light work. As the indictment notes, quote, defendants Duenos and De Leon, who are two of his high up assistants, would prepare and file divorce paperwork

on behalf of the KOJC workers, sometimes without the knowledge or consent of the KOJC worker. In order to manufacture the appearance of legitimacy for the fraudulent marriages, defendant Duenas would possess ATM cards to show immigration authorities that KOJC workers in the fraudulent marriages had joint banking accounts, and defendants, two of the other defendants, would possess male and female wedding rings for KOJC workers to use during fraudulent marriage ceremonies. They only bought two.

They're so, this is such a bargain bin human trafficking operation. Look, we only need two rings. We're gonna pass these fuckers around. Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, who got the rings today? Hey, send them. You don't even have to buy good ones. There's no law about that. He's like, hey, Hobie who got the rings today? Hey, send them. You don't even have to buy good ones. There's not a law about that.

He's like, hey, homie, can you stop by the crib, bring them rings over. We gotta go pretend like we got married today. Okay, word. If it customs has a bunch of ring experts. Hey, Phil, I don't think this is a very nice ring. Hey, Phil, have we seen this ring before? Where you guys get the same ring, man?

It's so crazy, like the seventh person came here with this ring. This must be a popular one, shit. Maybe I should get this one. I guess the Philippines, man, I guess they're cheap in the Philippines. They love that one, huh? Yeah.

Now, from what I can tell based on the indictment, the followers brought into the United States were again mixed between those who existed purely to bring in money for the church and pastorals meant to service Apollo and some other members of the high brass of the cult on night duty. It is unclear to me if any of the girls he used in this role had been pastorals back in the Philippines. Extant information does suggest he largely recruited unaware female victims ranging in age from 12 to 25 by telling them they'd get a visa

to live and work in the United States if they agreed to work as his personal assistants. Once they were stateside, their passports and money were taken away from them, their communication was monitored, and they were used as sex slaves for the son of God. If they resisted, he'd threaten to have his most loyal followers beat them, or he would promise them eternal damnation. The indictment notes that, pastoral who performed their duties to include night duty to the satisfaction of the defendant Kiboloy and other KOJC administrators were rewarded

by defendant Kiboloy and other KOJC administrators with privileges, including trips to tourist destinations like Disneyland, flights in private jets, use of cell phones, and yearly monetary payments referred to as honorariums by administrators. Honorariums, yup. Disneyland. Hey, but listen, but you could go to Disneyland.

What's crazy is, you know, you hear this stuff and it's like as individual and unique and inventive, a lot of these evil people are, there are also, it's the same thing. Yeah. Like it's, I'm just like, oh, this is the same old hustle. Like, you know. It's the same hustle. Yeah, it's like, I can promise you a better life in America

if you just come and work for me. And then once you get here, it's a disaster. And if you don't work for me, you're going to hell. Like how, you can drop that plot into every other country, India, everywhere. And that's like, it just sucks, man. Just preying on the poor who are desiring to make a better life.

Yeah. And at the end of the day, you're just horny. Yeah. I hate how regular that is. It's the point I'm making. And at the end of the day, you're just horny. I hate how regular that is. I think it's the point I'm making. This is always the case, right? These are never, L. Ron Hubbard being an exception, there's never anything like, really, when you get down to it,

it is like the most, it's always the most venal, gross version of it, right? They are all like Jeffrey Epstein, this man who clothed himself in this, like I'm this big donor to different sites. I hang out with all of these brilliant men. I'm one of these members of our like, our intelligentsia really thinking about the future.

And it's like, no, you're just a sex criminal, just a sex tourist to one of the tourism to come to him. You know? And that's all this guy is despite dressing up as a fucking son of God, right? And to kind of make that point, female victims were ordered never to speak of night duty. Any attempt to leave or avoid service was met with violence.

Apollo took to beating his pastorals if he caught them communicating with other men, a behavior he sometimes defined as innocent conversation. This he claimed was adultery and thus a sin. In 2002, we know that Kiboloy had sex with one victim, KF, who was 15 years old. In 2005, he had sex with another victim, KA, when she was 17 and asked specifically beforehand if she was a virgin. At times he provided his victims with lingerie to wear, or lotion to put on his body.

He would explain to his pastorals, all of whom had come to him through his church, one way or the other, that it was God's will they perform night duty, and that the Father is happy over what the Son is doing. That's all I'm going to cover in detail of that. Well, there's one last thing, because I don't think we need to be exhaustive about this, but I don't want to gloss over it. And there's one more paragraph from that indictment that we do need to cover before we move on. In or about 2009, defendant Salinas told victim RE that if victim RE was afraid to go near

defendant Cabolloy, then victim RE had the devil in her. In or about 2011, defendant Cabolloy had sex with the victim KP when she was approximately 14 years old. In her about 2014, defendant Dan Dan, who's one of the administrators, directed victim RE to purchase erectile dysfunction medication for defendant Kiboloy. Okay, that's probably enough. Yeah. That's horrific.

Just want to make sure people know what he did. Yeah, he's disgusting and that probably enough. Yeah. That's horrific. Just wanna make sure people know what he did. Yeah, he's disgusting and that's horrific. And yeah. Yeah. Probably enough of that. Yeah. So now the big difference, we've talked about Epstein a lot.

He's alive. Oh, that's too bad. But he is, no, no, no, Sophie, you're gonna be happy about where this ends. No, I think this ends well. I think this ends well. This ends pretty well. You know?

Yeah. Now, when it comes to well. I think this ends well. This ends pretty well. You know? Yeah. Now, when it comes to the difference between this guy and Epstein, because I don't get a feeling the scale is actually all that different. These guys may have been like very similar numbers of, I think Epstein, maybe he did it for, although I don't know,

these guys are actually kind of active similar periods of time. Yeah. So, DeBoloy probably was working a little longer than Jeffrey was. One of the big differences would be that Epstein seems to have used the girls he trafficked in order to broker favors and money.

Maybe Apollo did that, but we don't have evidence that he did at least in this country, right? Again, he's pretty tied in with like Duterte's sect in the Philippines. So maybe there is a lot more of that. There's allegations of it. More will come out about this guy, right? Like that is kind of the thing we just don't really know.

Now, what gets him caught is that he's very sloppy on the financial side of things. Remember, the other half of his human trafficking operation is people being brought in as free labor to canvas for the church under the auspices of helping the children. This generated a lot of cash and Apollo was smart enough to know that keeping that cash in bank accounts,

US officials could see was a bad idea. Yeah, I was gonna say like the forgetting that like, you could pull this off in the Philippines, like, cause you ain't got people like chasing down. And you got a lot of friends. Yeah. And you got a lot of friends and people not chasing down specific stuff like that. Like here we got time.

Oh yeah, Rodrigo is- Especially when it comes to the money. Yeah, Duterte does not have poll with the feds in the United States. No, no. So one of his lieutenants informed him that US customs allowed people to fly in into and out of the country with under 10 grand in cash

with no additional safeguards. As followers would return home, he would have them roll $9,000 in cash into their socks and place it in their luggage. Larger amounts of money were flown in bulk back home via the private jets that the church had amassed. Now this is the kind of thing you can get away with for quite a while because none of the individual pawns

are breaking any laws and there's not really an incentive for the government to like, it kind of seems like a bunch of Filipino people. Cause another thing, I'm sure a lot of Filipino people who like worked in the United States and returned home also take as- Oh, they fly back all the time. Yeah, with as much as they can.

So it's the kind of thing like you're never, you're not gonna notice this easily. No, I made the joke earlier about like the Balik Bayan box, which Balik Bayan translates to just like the ones who return. So like, it's very normal that like, when your aunts and uncles or whatever come from the Philippines, there's a box of stuff that you can't get here.

You know what I'm saying? And then when that family member goes back, they do the same thing. They bring stuff that you can't get in the Philippines from America there. So it's a very normal thing to have, even like you said, like anybody who's traveled, you know, internationally that like, yeah, you,

it says if you have anything over $10,000, you got to declare it. But if you got anything under that, that's fine. So even having cash in your Bali buy-in box, it's like, it's not, that's not anything that would raise any concern. So yeah, you're right. And also the fact that this is a well-known

Pentecostal preacher, like we all know, they all got private jets, like best they think. So like none of this is weird. Right, especially since like back in the Philippines where the money is actually going to be entering accounts, it's gonna be turned from cash into like other forms of money.

Like he's friends with, you know, after 2016, the president Duterte. So he and his church are not going to get targeted for any of this. Yeah, he's good. And it's like this friendship with Duterte, you know, comes in handy before he's the president, when he's just the mayor.

One particular example of this came in 2008 when Apollo sought to purchase a two hectare parcel of land owned by a man named Datu Dyerog, a local indigenous leader whose family land bordered the compound Apollo had purchased at the foot of Mount Apo. The KOJC first offered payments of varying size and then threatened to evict Datu and his family from their own land. After this failed, armed men raided the property three times, burning down several buildings. Eventually they carried out a drive-by shooting, which killed Datu, wounded his wife, and killed their four and eight-year-old children.

Now Datu's widow put the blame on Apollo, who himself blamed the New People's Army, the militant wing of the Philippines Communist Party, which has been involved in a guerrilla war against the government for quite some time. The communists blamed Apollo. And from what I can see, there's no reason that they would have murdered Datu and his family and every reason to suspect that Apollo did because he was trying to buy this parcel of land.

There's not really any evidence this guy was beefing with the fucking people's front or whatever. Since this all happened on the outskirts of DeVos City while Duterte was mayor, it's not hard to see why people suspect he played a hand in ensuring no proper investigation was ever concluded into the matter. If this is true, Apollo had a chance to pay his friend back with interest a few years later. In 2016, when Duterte announced his run for president, Apollo was one of the first men

to back his candidacy, urging his followers to vote Duterte and putting quite a lot of money behind his campaign. Now Duterte, being a mobster, did not forget this. When he won the election, Apollo's home was the first one he visited in person. The two ate together to celebrate the coming of this new regime. And for a few years, Apollo Kiboloy could rest easy knowing that nothing he did would bring legal consequences to him or his church, so long as Rodrigo held power.

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So in the US during the Duterte years, the legal climate grew markedly less friendly to the KOJC. In 2015, one of Apollo's followers in Hawaii had fled a church compound and reported to the authorities that they had been trafficked, beaten, and forced to have sex with kiboloi. This person claimed to have been forced into a re-education camp, which she described as a concentration camp, where they shaved her head and tortured her when she decided to leave. And I really would like to know more about this concentration camp.

He was apparently operating in Hawaii. That is bonkers. Yeah. I did not know that. That would be good to get some additional context on. Yeah, somebody tell me more about that. Yeah. As is often the case, it was her word against his and to the churches.

And the church claimed in return that she was only attacking Apollo because she had gotten kicked out for molesting a minor. Right? So they're like, no, she's the pedophile, right? Local prosecutors looked into the issue. They attempted to make a case, but they gave it up in 2019.

However, the FBI had gotten tipped on to Apollo at this point. And I'm not precisely sure what it was that got them on, if it was just that case, you know, that local case that got dropped or what. But in 2018, they raided one of the cult's private jets before it could take off from California to Manila. They caught Apollo and one of his female aides with $300,000 in cash and rifle parts. So Apollo gets taken into custody, rifle parts.

Yeah. Wow, okay. Apollo gets, yeah, that's an ITAR violation. Yeah. So Apollo gets taken briefly into custody, but his assistant pled responsibility for the money and gun parts. So she's like, hey, look, it was mine, right?

And once they've done that, you're kind of fucked unless you have proof that they were lying, right? So he gets let go and he takes a private flight back home to the Philippines and is like, guess I can't go to the US no more. Well, they lay low for a little bit, guys. I'm not gonna get Epstein to the way he got Epstein. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Look, I watch the news too. Yeah, no, no, no little bit, guys. I'm not gonna get Epstein to the way he got Epstein. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Look, I watch the news too. Yeah, no, no, no, no, no. That's all I need to see. So at this point in the US, a local and a federal investigation had both failed to bring Apollo down, but he was again smart enough to know that like, I just can't travel freely anymore.

So I'm gonna stick to my compound near Mount Apo. So while he's doing that, continuing to preach, living it up, in 2020 and 2021, the FBI finally filed an indictment against Apollo and several of his chief lieutenants. And that's what I've been quoting from several times in these episodes. Now there are raids on several church properties

in the United States, but so long as Apollo remained in the Philippines, he could count on the protection of his allies and the government. He even had the church flex its muscles to get a Filipino prosecutor to charge the Hawaii News Now, who reported on the case with criminal libel in the Philippines.

Jesus Christ. I think they're probably gonna be okay on those charges now, but thank God. Sure, they were sweating them. I'm like, wait, yeah, there's a lot of Filipinos in Hawaii too, so I can see how he's got homies over there. This is somewhat of a side note, but part of how I got radicalized for real was in college.

And so this Filipino girl, I think she teaches at S, I can name her because she's such a G, her name's Irene, right? And she was a few years older than me. I had no idea like, like that, the type of guerrilla warfare, freedom fighters that the way that was how it was like, they was really about it in the Philippines. And we was in college. She was the first person to tell me I'd be good at poetry. And I just had such a crush on her because I'm like, really? You think so? You know, say it. So like I totally started doing poetry. But she I say all that to say at some point she shaved her head

and she moved to the Philippines to like fight in with the gorillas, you know what I'm saying? That's awesome, yeah, hell yeah. And I was like, she little five foot nothing. Like, and Irene knows, I'm like, you know, everybody's we're adults now, but just, I just thought she was smoking hot. And like the coolest girl I've ever met that I was just like this little like,

yo, I'll follow you into the jungles like Where are we going? I'm with you. You know I'm ready. Give me a gun. Give me give me my bong and let's go Oh, no, you you call your friends right or die. I'm sorry. That's not what that word means. Yes Exactly, you know and I was like, okay so anyway, I got put on to like Exactly. You know, and I was like, OK, so anyway, I got put on to like all that. Like when you when you were talking about, yo, there was this like gorilla insurgent, this communist thing. I was like, oh, wait. Like my homegirl went, you know, said from what to get this with Ayala High School.

So be like from from Chino. Like she said she was from Chino. And then we went to school in Fullerton, it broke out and I was like, yo, you have, I'm telling you like she's part of why I got radicalized was like, and this with a Filipino step mom, like not even knowing all this was happening. You feel me like she, dog, she lit it up, dude.

Yeah. Anyway, that's an aside, but shout out Irene. Combat, you know what I'm saying? So, shout out Irene and not a shout out to Apollo, who at this point is safely live streaming, you know, his video sermons from Mount Apo, which the church had renamed Glory Mountain on his YouTube program, Powerline.

Which isn't that the name of- That is quite sexual. Isn't Powerline the name of the pop star from the Goofy movie? Yes. It is, okay, okay, that's good. I'm choosing to believe that's his second career, that he found Jesus after like maybe getting too addicted

to cocaine and he moved to the Philippines. That's where I'm on about Powerline. Yeah, according to the Goof Troop. Yeah, that seems like where Powerline would have gone. Yeah, yeah. Now, the situation didn't start to change until Rodrigo Duterte announced his intention to step down at the end of his term in 2022.

I think he had to, but everyone was kind of wondering is he just gonna like stay, right? This likely, you know, the fact that he ultimately doesn't push that matter probably had something to do with the fact that he was, there was an ongoing ICC investigation over his war on drugs, which had killed at least 6,000 people, but is believed to have led to tens of thousands of deaths.

So Duterte was ultimately succeeded by what should have been a friendly regime to Kiboloy, the son of the former dictator, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., better known as one of the great world leaders names around right now, Bong Bong Marcos. That's a name. That's a good name for your president. I'm sorry. Listen, sorry. Yeah. Listen, listen, President Trump shooting his fist up with the blood coming out his ear. Talking about fight, fight at bonk. Bonk. I can take him. Yeah. Yeah, but I'm saying that's, look, that's hard as hell. You know what I'm saying?

So a name like Bong Bong, yes, I'm odd. That's a 350 EV sweep, my friend. Yes, yes, you win. So Bong Bong becomes the president, alongside Duterte's daughter as his VP. So again, you could be forgiven for being like, well, nothing's gonna happen to Apollo with these folks in charge.

Right? Fucking Marcos' kid and Duterte's kid. Alliance of the failed children. My God. So yeah, now that said, if you actually knew anything, and I don't, but this is what people who know things about Philippine politics say, like if you knew anything about the political alliances in the country, this alliance was always going to collapse.

And it sure as shit did. Here's how the AP describes the start of the breakdown. Marcos reversed Duterte's pro-China stance and pivoted back to the United States, granting Washington greater access to Philippine bases amid China's assertiveness in the South China Sea and near Taiwan. He brought to the fore a 2016 arbitral ruling fortifying Manila's territorial claims in the South China Sea, which Duterte largely set aside in a move seen as directed at China, which is overlapping sovereignty claims in the South China Sea.

Marcos also sought to revive peace negotiations with communist rebels, which his predecessor had scrapped in which Sarah Duterte has described as an agreement with the devil. So that's not just a conflict with the previous admin, that's a conflict with his own VP. All of this should have been taken by Apollo as a sign that his time enjoying immunity and state protection might be nearing an end.

Apollo had always been a ferocious anti-communist dating back to the first Marcos regime and the fact that Bong Bong is now like, hey, let's talk to these people. Not a great sign for you. Danger, Will Robinson. Probably a good sign for the Philippines, but not for you. Yeah, yeah.

As the situation between Duterte and Marcos degenerated, Marcos started talking about rejoining the ICC, a move calculated entirely to fuck with Duterte, who'd withdrawn the Philippines once the ICC started investigating him. The breakdown eventually culminated earlier this year in both men accusing each other of being addicted to drugs. It's...

He on drugs. Uh-huh, look. That's all it is, he on drugs. He's high as hell. He on drugs. Uh huh. Look. That's all it is. He on drugs. He's high as hell. He just high. It's nice to know that like there's at least one other

country that's right on our level. You know, the Philippines, the U S and the United Kingdom, all just messy. All more or less sitting in the muck together. Yeah. Just messy as shit. Mm-hmm. Yeah, Ireland walks by and flips us all collectively a coin. The US prosecutors, yeah.

That's funny. US prosecutors had been among the many, many, many observers who recognized that the political alliance between Duterte and Marcos wouldn't last, and that its collapse would put Apollo Kiboloy at significant risk. In December of 2022, the US Treasury Department sanctioned Kiboloy

and accused him of serious human rights abuse, including pervasive rape of girls as young as 11. No action was taken at this pervasive. Not a great word with rape. No words are good with rape. Not to put in front of rape. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

No good word to put in front of, except for, I guess, none, but you wouldn't say it that way. Anyway, no action was taken at this stage, but earlier this year, as the Alliance crumbled entirely, a Philippine court was given the go-ahead to order Kiboloy arrested on suspicion of child sex abuse and human trafficking. Now, I have mentioned a few times in this episode how very American in styling Apollo

is, and one of his many inspirations seems to be friend of the pod, David Koresh. As soon as the government came after him, Kiboloy went to ground, locking himself in the underground bunker complex he had built in his mount I he built underground bunkers ah man You know again. I'm just hoping this place is for sale soon. He is when I tell you like late 90s early 2000 like uh

Speaking of power line Pentecostal like What's the word I'm looking for the the Like speaking of power line, Pentecostal like. What's the word I'm looking for? The the name and acclaim it, guys. Like, why can't I think of the name of what they was prosperity? Oh, yeah. Prosperity gospel. Yeah, just very much prosperity gospel. And you remember they was into selling the Y2K stuff. Sure. They were selling.

I'm like, you are hitting every note. You know what I'm saying? Oh, you got a bunker in the Philippines? Bro, like you've been taking notes. You are hiding in tunnels. Beautiful. Yes. Wow.

So as he hid in his tunnels, he told his followers the devil had orchestrated all of his problems. A write-up by NBC News describes what happened next. About 2000 Philippine police officers surrounded the property. They were backed up by hundreds of soldiers as riots erupted among congregants who rallied to defend their leader. According to local media, more than 600 police officers were injured in violent clashes with church members who protested Kiboloy's innocence.

One member died of a heart attack during the initial raid. Police said they would not leave the compound without Kiboloy who said he would not be caught alive. For days, the standoff raged as K- Lolo, you gotta chill, Lolo. He's about to. For days, the standoff raged as KOJC followers lined the streets to act as human barricades

to keep the police out. For their part, Filipino authorities were unable to locate Phil Kibloy in any of the main buildings of the compound and had resort to the use of ground penetrating radar with which they eventually found his heartbeat. Ground penetrating radar? That's scary as hell.

They used radar to catch his ass. It's all good. They found his heartbeat underground. Listen, listen, just, it ain't safe in these streets, my dog. Oh, man. That is hilarious. Where have we gotten?

All these armed swats dudes, and one guy, one nerd in the back is like, hey guys, guys, guys, guys, relax. Go get some coffee. I'll find him right now. I will find his heart. There you go, right there. How you know? I can hear his heartbeat. I'm not coming to bat for the sex criminal. I'll find him right now. We'll find his heart. There you go, right there. How you know?

I can hear his heartbeat. I'm not coming to bat for the sex criminal. I'm not, but I will say, where are we as a society when a cult leader can't even hide in underground tunnels without the authorities using ground penetrating radar? Is that the police state we wanna live in? You know? Big brother, man. I don't know. I'm not with that.

Yeah, I feel you, man. The police got too much power, dog. I think the police should have to raid those tunnels, like fucking tunnel rat stuff, like Vietnam era shit. Yeah, like you gotta be a tunnel rat. Give him a fucking 38 revolver and a knife and have him crawl the fuck in there, right? Catch the son of a bitch, you know?

Yeah, earn it. Yeah, right. You don't get no patch for this. You don't get no three puntos for that fool. Exactly, exactly. I think we're on the same page here. Now- So, earn it. This is obviously, just hearing that,

you can see like, well, I see why people were worried this was going to end in tremendous bloodshed. This does seem like the kind of situation. This is the kind of situation. This could have gone a lot worse than it did. Yes, facts. But after about two weeks of this shit, Apollo and several of his top people surrendered to the authorities and they are currently in custody.

At this point, it is too early to say how the situation's going to pan out. Kiboloy seems like he's dead to rights. After his prosecution in his home country, he should be extradited to the United States, which has more than enough dirt to put him away forever if the Philippines does not. That said, we're talking about a connected man in a country with a lot of corruption. Duterte's daughter, the VP,

has been publicly attacking Bong Bong's administration, which she's a part of over Apollo's arrest. It's not impossible that he fucking makes something happen here, right? That he skates in the Philippines at least. Yeah. I don't think that's likely. I think he's probably fucked.

But, you know, I've been wrong before, so I'm not going to say definitely, you know, keep an eye on this bad boy. While he is locked up, the church itself has wasted no time launching a media blitz to try and defend the son of God's contact. They put out a statement on the alleged human trafficking within the Kingdom, which makes what I would describe, Prop, as a flawed argument. Quote, in the Kingdom of Jesus Christ doctrine, your freedom of choice is the highest form of human rights exercise.

And in the KOJC, we uphold this rule in everything we do as a corporate body or as an individual member. That's the reason why the Kingdom are the happiest in what they do and believe to die for as they were not forced to do anything against their will. One of the cardinal rules in the kingdom of Jesus Christ, which is the most important of all rules, is your freedom of choice or your freedom to choose. In exercising this rule, it means you cannot be forced or allow yourself to be forced to do anything against your own will, no matter what.

So that means anything you do or anything that happens to you is your own voluntary will or choice. We believe in free will so strongly that anything that happens to you is something you chose. So if a bad thing occurs, that's on you. That was your choice? When you did, it was cool until you said, and that happens to you. Like was your choice? When you did- It's amazing. Amazing. It was cool until you said, and that happens to you.

Like anything you choose, and things you didn't choose. We're going there, huh? Yeah, like, wait, what? Like, yeah, yeah, totally. Like, did you hear what you just said? By being alive, you accept it's your fault if I fuck with you, you know?

Yeah, I mean, that's your choice. You joined the kingdom. Yeah. Now I don't think that's, I'm not an expert on the law in the Philippines, right? I'm gonna tell you that right now, Prop. I will say, I don't think that's holding up at a US court. Fam, yeah.

Yeah, they'd be like, get out of my face with that bullshit. Not even Florida. Yeah, not yet. Like, come on, guys. I do hope that Apollo takes some comfort from the fact that while his own legal situation might be dire, he at least has friends. And you know, that's really what it's all about.

Is you know, no matter, we're all gonna have ups and downs, right? Having friends is really what matters in your time of need. And I wanna read to you a very funny quote from an April 3rd, 2022 article by the Inquirer. Okay, Inquirer. Yeah, it's a Philippines paper. Oh, where?

Duterte yesterday said that he offered to be the administrator of the KOJC properties to unburden his friend of its day-to-day operations. The present rumblings, I would say, would maybe distract the pastor with the day-to-day operation. It was I who offered pastor, in the meantime, you're trying to figure out

the things that you're going to do or say regarding this present whatever I will run things for now do tear taste that during an interview with bloggers do you tear? Tay however specifically requested that he be left out of the financial side of the group's operation Let me focus on the properties to see the way that it's preserved well for the congregation Hey, man, I'll take I'd love to take this off your hands, bro focus on the properties to see to it that it's preserved well for the congregation. Hey man, I'd love to take this off your hands, bro. Like, don't even worry about it. You got so much on your plate, homie.

I'll handle that. Y'all can still do the money thing. I'll just handle it. It's such gangster shit. Here's the last two sentences of that quote. I love it. Duterte also explained that he was chosen by Caboloy because of their friendship.

Why me? Because I'm his friend, he said. Duterte said he used to have his firearms serviced by a guy who was living behind the church of Kiboloy in the city slum area. That's how he says they met. I was having all my guns worked on, met this guy in the slums.

Anyway, I should take the buildings. Hearing that, hearing that last statement makes me more be like, oh no, you're not getting away with this. You gonna stay in jail. You are fucked. Yeah, like you're not, there's nothing you can pull. If he was like, hey, bro, don't worry about it. Fucking buzzards are picking at you, bro.

Yeah, yeah. They didn't already, yeah, they didn't already divided your estate among the others. That is not a good sign, my friend. Yeah, no, bro, you staying in jail, homie. They put you up under the jail dog Yeah, man, hey look, mm-hmm. Don't worry about it. I'll take care of your property. I got your back I got you back bro. I'll keep an eye on this stuff. No, you definitely you're definitely gonna get out

You won't be in prison forever for sure. I'll hold this for you. Hey, yeah, homie. You'd listen. Do somebody look I'll hold this for you. Hey, hey, homie, listen, do somebody look, when you go to jail, Robert, for all the crimes you have said on this podcast. You call them crimes. Well, I call them crimes too, but yeah. I'm just saying when you do, and if somebody says, it says,

you're doing 15 years, Robert, don't worry about it. I'll take care of your wife. That is, that's very nice. She's not your wife no more., that's, that's, that's very nice. She's not your wife no more. Mm-hmm. That's right. Whoever it is. That's right. This is a fictitious wife.

Just, you know, but you know, Prop, they are my tunnels beneath my house. And I'm going to tell you one thing. I'm not leaving just cause some cops have radar. Prop, I got gas masks, you know, I got air filters. I'm staying in the tunnels. Never leave the tunnels never I the tunnels I am absolutely figuring out how to get my entire family to your house

Uh-huh when this goes down and I feel like tunnels will be honestly prop more tunnels than the city says I'm allowed to dig under my house could be a problem when that quake hits This might not be a great place to have tunnels. You know? Maybe not. Yeah, actually come and think about it. Maybe not, maybe not. That's where faith comes into the picture, my friend. That's where faith comes into the picture. Hopefully you are also chosen by God.

And saw the cloud by day. We will learn when the quake hits. I didn't get to mention that too. Like the, another note he's hitting is, you know, when Moses went to the top of the mountain to get the 10 commandments, he went into the cloud. And that's where God spoke. So when he came down from the cloud

and he saw the rest of the children to Israel partying with the golden calf, you know, this is all this. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, so he came out of the cloud. Yeah, totally. So like that, so he came out of a cloud. I keep one of those in my yard, yeah. Yeah, totally. So like that, so I forgot that I was gonna mention that. Like, yeah, he's hitting all the notes. He's basically saying,

take every Sunday school lesson you learned about when God spoke and that all those things happened to me. Yeah. Well, prop, got any pluggables to plug? Yeah. So if you're in LA, the park's finest is a Filipino barbecue spot. I just figure, at least just enjoy,

for all that this man has done to the Pinoy's, let's figure out how to support them. So go download anything from beat rock music, bamboo, Rocky Rivera, and then listen to my podcast, Hood Politics with Prop, and hear some music, hear some poetry, and please, yeah, yeah, man, continue to support us. But the politics prop, man, we got some dope,

we got some heaters coming up too. Yep. Yep, listen to Hood Politics, pick up Props Book Terraform. And also as we have been recording this, the information has come in about the fucking apocalyptic flooding as a result of the goddamn hurricane,

Helena or Helene? Honestly, I've just seen different so far. Helen, is it just Helen? I don't care. There's an E at the end. So I feel like it's Helena or Helene. She sucks no matter who she is. I don't know different so far. Helen, is it just Helen? I don't care. There's an E at the end. So I feel like it's Helena or Helene. She sucks no matter who she is. I don't know where it is.

I mean, this is not her fault. This is our fault for our hubris. Yeah, hurricanes are bad. But anyway, it's really fucked specifically North Carolina a lot. It's not the only place, but like Asheville is, I mean, I'm hoping it's not as bad as shit looks right now, but like there's a sign on I-40,

I've seen a picture of that just says, do not travel in Western North Carolina. So we are raising money for disaster relief, mutual aid disaster relief, working to help people in Asheville right now. Their PayPal is mutualaiddisasterreliefatgmail.com. Their Venmo is mutualaiddisasterrelief. You can also go to actionnetwork.org slash fundraising slash mutualaiddisasterrelief. We will have these links along with the sources in our show notes, so check them out. Anyway,

sorry if you're in North Carolina. Good luck. Behind the Bastards is now available on YouTube. New episodes every Wednesday and Friday. Subscribe to our channel, youtube.com slash at Behind the Bastards. Hey, I'm Gianna Predenti. And I'm Jemay Jackson-Gadston. We're the hosts of Let's Talk Offline from LinkedIn News and iHeart Podcasts. There's a lot to figure out when you're just starting your career. That's where we come in. Think of us as your work besties you can turn to for advice. And if we don't know the answer, we bring in people who do, like negotiation expert Morrie Tehary-Pore. If you start

thinking about negotiations as just a conversation, then I think it sort of eases us a little bit. Listen to Let's Talk Offline on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, y'all, Nimmini here. I'm the host of a brand new history podcast for kids and families called Historical Records. Executive produced by Questlove, The Story Pirates, and John Glickman, Historical Records brings history to life through hip hop. Get the kids in your life excited about history

by tuning in to Historical Records. Listen to Historical Records on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, my name is Jay Shetty and I'm the host of On Purpose. This week I interviewed Sean Mendez. He started out sharing covers online and now he's one of the biggest names in music. He also uses his platform to raise awareness for causes he cares about, like mental health and climate change. The reality is I don't have a deeper understanding of life, I just have a deeper acceptance of

self. Listen to On Purpose with Jay Shetty on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Trust me, you won't want to miss this one. My name is Bray Brandon Kyle Goodman. I'm a black, gay, non-binary author, TV writer, actor, and I'm messy. But not in the way you think. Messy as in I'm human and flawed.

I'm on a mission to destroy shame around sex. And the only way to do that is to talk about sex. So that's what we'll do on my brand new podcast, Tell Me Something Messy. Join me on Tell Me Something Messy with brand new episodes every Thursday on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. I'm Maria Kondakova. And I'm Nate Silver. And our new podcast, Risky Business, is a show about making better decisions. We're both journalists whom we light as poker players, and that's the lens we're going

to use to approach this entire show. We're going to be discussing everything from high stakes poker to personal questions. Like whether I should call a plumber or fix my shower myself. And of course, we'll be talking about the election too. Listen on the iHeart radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts.