Page 12 - ARUBA TODAY

A12 WORLD NEWS
Tuesday 25 July 2017

AP: US church goes to Brazil; instills fear, splits families

By PETER PRENGAMAN introduced physical as-
MITCH WEISS saults and “blasting,” a
HOLBROOK MOHR practice in which ministers
Associated Press and congregants scream
Sao Joaquim de Bicas, in members’ faces for
Brazil (AP) — At the Word hours to drive out demons.
of Faith Fellowship church- Word of Faith Fellowship’s
es in the Brazilian cities reach into Brazil began
of Sao Joaquim de Bicas with John Martin, an Amer-
and Franco da Rocha, the ican missionary who ar-
signs of broken families are rived in the late 1970s and
everywhere: parents sepa- served as pastor at a Bap-
rated from children, sib- tist church.
lings who no longer speak, Former members say Mar-
grandparents who wonder tin met Sam Whaley on an
if they will ever know their airplane in 1986, sparking
grandchildren. a relationship that led to
Over the course of two de- frequent visits from both
cades, the U.S.-based sect Whaleys and other Spin-
took command of two dale ministers.
congregations in Brazil, ap- In 1987, Martin founded
plying a strict interpretation Verbo Vivo in Belo Hori-
of the Bible and enforcing zonte, one of the country’s
it through rigorous controls This Wednesday, March 29, 2017 photo shows people at the Word of Faith Fellowship church in Sao largest cities. Year by year,
and physical punishment, Joaquim de Bicas, Brazil. Over the course of two decades, former members say the U.S.-based the Americans gained
mother church took command of this and another congregation in Brazil, applying a strict inter-
The Associated Press has pretation of the Bible and enforcing it through rigorous controls and physical punishment. control of the parish, for-
found. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo) mer members said.
Many of the more than In 2005, Martin moved his
three dozen former mem- you don’t know you are in members, the AP reported for freedom of religion. Pas- church to Sao Joaquim de
bers interviewed by the a cult because little by little in February that congre- tors at both Word of Faith Bicas, a small city about 45
AP in Brazil said they live in it all becomes ‘normal,’” gants in the U.S. were regu- Fellowship branches in Bra- minutes away. That same
perpetual fear of retribu- said Oliveira, 34. “It’s like larly beaten and choked to zil did not respond to re- year, dozens of church
tion. Some have sought a frog in a pot of water. “purify” sinners by expelling quests for comment. families moved to a large
psychological help. Others By the time it’s boiling, he devils. The church has nearly 2,000 plot of land in Betim, a
ask themselves how they can’t jump out.” The AP also has detailed members in Brazil and Gha- small adjacent city.
tolerated the abuse for so The examination of Word how Word of Faith Fellow- na and its affiliations in Swe- Though land was cheaper
long. of Faith Fellowship’s spread ship funneled a steady flow den, Scotland and other outside Belo Horizonte,
Former member Juliana into Latin America’s largest of young Brazilian members countries, in addition to 750 former members cite an-
Oliveira remembers when country is part of the AP’s to the U.S. on tourist and congregants in Spindale. other motivation: Isolating
life was normal in the Sao ongoing investigation into student visas and forced In Brazil, the takeover of the the flock from the outside
Joaquim de Bicas church, the evangelical church, them to work for little or no two churches was a slow world. Adult members had
before the Americans founded in 1979 by Jane pay. evolution that culminated little contact with non-con-
came from Spindale, North Whaley, a former math Jane Whaley has denied in rules dictating almost ev- gregants. And children at-
Carolina. Before, she said, teacher, and her husband, any wrongdoing and says ery aspect of congregants’ tended school on church
the screaming and beat- Sam. she is allowed to exert dis- lives, former members said. property ringed by an
ings began. Based on exclusive inter- cipline on her flock under Over the years, they said 8-foot-high fence topped
“When you are in a cult, views with dozens of former constitutional protections the Brazilian branches also
with barbed wire — and
Brazil: returned home to a neigh-
borhood with a manned
5 teens arrested for alleged gang rape at school gate and its own tall fence.
About 360 miles (580 ki-
lometers) south, a similar
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Bra- friend is among those ar- recently alerted police.In- The issue of gang rape transformation took place.
zilian police have arrested rested Monday. They are vestigator Bruno Cleuder became a national topic Former members say pas-
five teenagers on suspicion also investigating the pos- tells The Associated Press in Brazil last year after a tors Solange Granieri and
of gang-raping a 13-year- sible participation of sev- that police are also looking 16-year-old was allegedly Juarez De Souza Oliveira,
old girl on multiple occa- eral other boys in the four into whether the school’s sexually assaulted by gang a married couple, met the
sions at a Rio de Janeiro alleged assaults between director may have known members who posted vid- Whaleys at a religious con-
public school. May and June. The investi- about the alleged attacks eos of the incident on so- ference in the mid-1980s.q
Police say the girl’s boy- gation began after a friend and failed to take action. cial media.q