Who was Aaron, the leader of the Mita congregation?

Teófilo Vargas Seín I was just a kid when Juanita Garcia Peraza, the founder Mita Congregation, anointed him as “minister of the kingdom” and his name changed to Aaron.

García Peraza, better known as Mita, died in 1970 and Aaron took over the leadership of the Christian church which, according to his website, believes in the Trinity – the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit – and in the teachings of the Bible.

Aarón, who died yesterday at the age of 99, was born on October 23, 1921 in the Aibonito neighborhood of Hatillo.. In the early years of his life, he attended the Pentecostal Church, but when he met Mita, he changed the congregation.

After being anointed, Aaron began his ministry by preaching for the first time in Camuy. “He was dynamic, hardworking and brave. He was never afraid of anything. He grew in knowledge and virtue along with the growth and expansion of the work “, reads his biography.

Following his work, Mita invited him to live with her at the congregation headquarters. Then, Aaron administered all Church property and served as the first officer of the Guard Corps, which oversees the Mita community.. He was also the first preacher, the first percussion player of the band Mita, builder and farmer.

“Bribery sowed in him all those qualities that a prophet should possess: integrity, firmness of character, willingness to sacrifice, courage to face problems, divine wisdom and discernment, temperance, kindness, goodness, charity, and more. above all, an immense love for souls “, adds his biography.

Aaron was tasked with expanding the Mita congregation in and out of Puerto Rico. For example, he took the doctrine of his Church to the United States, the Dominican Republic, Canada, Curaçao, Colombia, Venezuela, Costa Rica, Panama, El Salvador, and Mexico..

He also founded the Mita Congregation College, El Paraíso Aegis and Institution and the Office of Guidance and Social Assistance, initiatives that brought him respect from people of different faiths.

Aaron also gained prominence in the country through a filiation trial against him, in which Samuel Beníquez claimed that the leader of the congregation was his father.. Although he denied it, a DNA test ordered by the court established that Aaron is the boy’s biological father.

Beníquez’s birth was the product of a relationship that Aaron had with Antonia Beníquez in 1970, the same year he took over the leadership of the Church. The woman lived in the congregational house of the congregation.

Pressed by her new role, Aarón abandoned her partner and, according to her son, in 1973 forced her to give false testimony in court to give the child up for adoption to her maternal uncles. The doctrine of the Congregation indicates that its leader must remain celibate to be a prophet of God.

Despite the fact that, Beníquez knew who his biological parents were, and he grew up in the Mita congregation until the age of 22 when he left the Church in search of the “truth.”. Since, in 2004, he filed a filing application against Aaron.

After eight years of litigation, the Supreme Court ordered the Court of First Instance in 2012 to continue the forced recognition process, so in 2013 Judge Arlene Sellés ordered Aaron to perform DNA tests to confirm Beníquez’s version.