Aparisyon Kay Kuya Daniel Razon: A Cult of Light and Shadow

Cebu City - During a recent MCGI International Thanksgiving held at IEC Convention Center in Cebu City, an unusual moment seized the congregation’s attention. A backlit figure of Daniel Razon appeared on screen, and murmurs began circulating "Parang si Bro. Eli." The shadow he cast was interpreted by many as resembling the late Eliseo Soriano, with members treating the moment not as coincidence, but as a divine aparisyon or a ghostly confirmation that Bro. Eli’s spirit lives on through Kuya Daniel.

Instead of correcting the crowd’s growing idolization, MCGI leaders leaned into it. Kuya Daniel Razon stood silent, unmoved, allowing the illusion to be absorbed as spiritual truth. Some might see this as mere over-enthusiasm from followers, but it reflects something far more dangerous. A shift from doctrine to spectacle, from exegesis to emotionalism, from truth to projection.

Pareidolia or Prophecy?

Psychologists have a term for this phenomenon--pareidolia. The brain has tendency to see meaningful images in vague stimuli. It’s the same mechanism that makes people see faces in clouds, saints in toast, or the Virgin Mary in tree bark. In this case, pareidolia met desperation. A spiritually starving congregation, longing for continuity and validation, projected holiness into a silhouette formed by stage lights.

But in MCGI’s case, it’s worse than pareidolia. This wasn’t just a coincidental trick of the light. The lighting was staged. The silhouette was positioned. The same kind of manufactured mysticism was employed in the infamous 2014 Brazil event, where “seven rays of light” were said to emanate from Kuya Daniel—later debunked as nothing more than basic projector glare.

These aren't signs from heaven. They're cultic props.

MCGI framed this lighting illusion as a divine “7 Rays of Light” apparition—mistaking stage effects for mystic signs.

The Slow Drift into Idolatry

Theologians have long warned that when a movement loses its anchor in scripture, it begins to substitute spectacle for substance. That’s exactly what’s happening in MCGI. For decades, the group prided itself on being anti-idolatry—condemning Catholic statues, INC’s glorification of Felix Manalo, and Pentecostal emotionalism. But now, MCGI is indulging in the very same patterns, only cloaked in LED screens and media production.

Today, Bro. Eli is no longer remembered as a teacher, but invoked like a saint. And Daniel Razon—once just his assistant—is now portrayed as the “living vessel” of Soriano’s spirit. His face is plastered across merchandise, his voice dominates every program, and now his silhouette is being venerated like a divine apparition.

This is no longer a ministry. It is a monarchy of mysticism. And it reeks of desperation.

Spiritual Bankruptcy with a Light Show

The rise of visual manipulation in MCGI is not an innovation, it’s a cover-up. A cover-up for doctrinal erosion, financial instability, and mass internal disillusionment.

Instead of answering the exodus of members, the collapse of local chapters, or the glaring contradictions in theology, the leadership now offers light beams, silhouettes, and goosebumps.

This is emotional sedation masquerading as divine encounter.

The Age of Delusion

This incident is a reflection of the MCGI's growing detachment from its core teachings. What was once a movement that claimed to shun idolatry has now begun to manufacture it.

MCGI today is not dying from persecution or doctrinal attack. It is being hollowed out from within, replacing faith with projection, discernment with pareidolia, and God with a man in a spotlight.

When the silhouette of a man becomes sacred, and the silence of leadership becomes endorsement, it’s no longer a church.

It’s a cult of light and shadow.