Army of Jesus: the survivors reveal as the routine of the abuse of Christian sect was to create a sky on earth

A new series of BBC documentaries tells the story of the movement known as the army of Jesus, founded in 1969 in England and now extinct

Hundreds of people are still traumatized by the abuses suffered in the hands of an ancient religious movement that has fallen out of favor.

Jon Ironmonger investigated the group known as the army of Jesus before his closure, five years ago. He met the director of a new series of BBC documentaries to tell his story.

At first glance, the army of Jesus seemed to be an enthusiastic church in the rural region of Northamptonshire, in England.

He collected 2 or 3,000 members, who wore a flashy military uniform and had a fleet of buses with rainbow colors.

But the reality was very different.

In 2016, I started a journey that lasted years to exhibit one of the most illegal seven of the United Kingdom.

At the time, there were reports of dubious practices and illegal deaths, such as that of a young man whose body was found on a train line.

Months later, since we had tea at St. Pancras station in London, a woman who had fled the group when she was a teenager revealed the real damage scale caused by the service. He asked to remain anonymous.

“How many victims got in touch with you” I asked her. I expected an answer perhaps in the two -digit house.

“Close to 600 or 700”, he replied calmly. I was opening.

Two years followed by interviews and investigations until the BBC has published our results. They describe in detail the widespread abuse of children and show tests of concealment of cases by the group leadership of the group.

Formally known as the brotherhood of Jesus, the Church closed a year later.

Intrigued by the news of the press on the scandal that has been revealed, the director of the documentary Ellena Wood began her investigations on the army of Jesus in 2022.

He spoke with more than 80 survivors, as well as the families of the victims. Divided into two parts, the film is engaging and, in some parts, distressing.

“In many cases, I was the first person with whom they shared their experiences,” he says, “and almost everyone was still traumatized. To a large extent, it was a live process for them.”

“One of the points that surprised me was that they describe what we know as sexual abuse, but without understanding it as such, or blame yourself for that.”

“And as a director, I wanted to convey to the public that you don’t leave just a sect and go ahead with your life,” continues Wood. “You can inform you everything about you, your decisions, your way of thinking, your fault, your relationships.”

Wood says he has decided to question the hypotheses on the reasons why people remain in seven.

Compare the situation with the idea of leaving a home relationship, aggravated by the anguish of abandoning family, friends, money, money, employment and support support, as well as the intrinsic threat to go to hell.

For example, he says that a group collaborator, Nathan, “also fighting to accept the fact that he had been enrolled and abused sexually, admitted that he would probably return to the army of Jesus if he had reopened”.

For children in particular, life in the various common cult houses throughout the central England was intense and full of dangers.

About one in six children suffered sexual abuse, according to an analysis of the complaints for damage presented by about 600 people.

The children were separated from their parents. Often they slept in the dormitories next to travelers without a destination and dependent on drugs.

Many have been subjected to daily beatings and have faced long cult sessions, with exorcisms and retractions of sins.

Listening to the survivor’s story brought an emotional load to Wood.

“I had been just a mother and I had detailed two or three hours conversations on the abuse, sometimes involving the incest,” he explains. “Then my son came from the nursery and all these mental images were in my head.”

“You are forming these relationships that involve a lot of contact, very comforting and try to do the right one. So sometimes the load is very large.”

After the army of Jesus was dissolved, the BBC revealed that its founder, Noel Stanton (1926-2009), and his so-called five apostles covered the abuse of women and children, manipulating the complaints.

An old elderly person described the church leader as “predatory pedophile”. He gave me a file full of revelations and accused him of rape and sexual abuse.

Stanton died in 2009, without responding for any of the accusations.

Wood says that “people were terrified and admiral for him to an equal extent. The children were completely terrified”.

But was Stanton’s sect was totally bad or has it started as something good and turned into something terrible?

“If I had tried to guess, I would say the second option,” says Wood. “I think more power had noel on someone, the more control I felt he should have.”

“But I think the biggest problem has not been reported the abuse. The victims have been forgotten and often suffered Gaslighing. There are no excuses for this. “

Ellena Wood knows that many people in the army of Jesus have had positive experiences.

“It wasn’t horrible for everyone, always”, he explains, “and we must recognize that nothing is black or black in the world”.

In a moving scene of the documentary, David, a former strong supporter of the group, explodes in tears with Wood’s careful questions.

“Recognizes that he must start believing that what people have faced is real,” he says. “And it was the first time that any leader in that church said it was a very important moment.”

The fraternity Foundation of Jesus, a liquidator of the army of the army of Jesus, said that it was perplexed by the abuses that occurred and offered unconditional apologies to all the people affected.

Last year, a repair regime, partially financed by the insurance, paid individual damage to hundreds of victims, an average of about 12,000 pounds (about $ 89.5 thousand).

Listen to the BBC podcast episode In detail: the cult of the army of Jesuswhich gave rise to this report, on the website BBC Audio.

Source: Terra

Rose

Rose James is a Gossipify movie and series reviewer known for her in-depth analysis and unique perspective on the latest releases. With a background in film studies, she provides engaging and informative reviews, and keeps readers up to date with industry trends and emerging talents.