Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 4, No. 1, 2005, Page 53
Gilbert Deya Ministries
“Miracle Baby” Minister’s Assets Frozen
The British Charity Commission has frozen the relevant bank accounts of Gilbert Deya
Ministries, headed by the UK-based Kenyan clergyman accused of involvement in an
operation that allegedly stole infants from a Nairobi maternity clinic and sold them to
infertile couples among his parishioners. Both Deya and the new parents explain the ―births‖
as the result of prayer and the successful casting out of demons, rather than sexual
intercourse. DNA tests on some of the recovered children and their new parents appear to
prove that they are not related. (David Stringer, PA News, The Scotsman, Internet,
9/20/04)
Deya, fighting extradition from Scotland, says: ―Everything that happened to Jesus in the
Bible is happening to me. Except one thing, because I can‘t walk on water like Jesus. ..
People want miracles. Jesus drew people with miracles, signs, and wonders. He fed 5,000
people with two fish and five loaves. How can you explain that? You are doubting Thomases
because it is difficult to understand.‖ (Cara Page, Scottish Daily Record, Internet, 9/30/04)
How He Works Miracles
A recent case in England involving an infertile Nigerian couple illustrates how Gilbert Deya,
wanted for child kidnapping in Kenya, allegedly produces ―miracle‖ children through prayer.
As part of an elaborate ritual, Mrs. ―E‖ was beaten, and then a living child, born by another
mother, was placed beside her, as if she had just given birth. And she believed that she had
done so. DNA evidence indicated no relationship between the woman and the newborn.
Deya claims the child was produced through divine intervention. The couple, according to a
British judge, has been the victim of ―a cruel deception to further the financial ends of those
involved.‖ (AP in the New York Times, 11/12/04)
Child Seized in Raids
British police have raided four facilities owned by Gilbert Deya Ministries ―to ensure the
welfare of children‖ at the locations, and took into state care one four-year-old. Authorities
think Deya, who claims to be able to make women pregnant through prayer, is actually
stealing Kenyan children and bringing them to new parents in the UK. (Evelyn Kwamboka
and Gitau wa Njenga, The Standard [Kenya], Internet, 12/13/04)
Gospel Outreach
Seventies Church Accused of Cultism
Former member Ronald Rhodes has filed a suit in Bergen County, NJ, against the Gospel
Outreach church — one of the few congregations remaining of a nationwide movement that
emerged in the 1970s — alleging that the Rev. James Lethbridge dominates the lives of
members for his own and the church‘s financial gain. Rhodes says the minister kept
members in line by intimidating them during daily 6:00 am confessional meetings.
The suit says members are excessively committed to Lethbridge, that they are preoccupied
with making money, that they are urged to leave careers and devote themselves completely
to the church, and that they then work in businesses run by Lethbridge.
Relatives of church members say their families have been torn apart by Gospel Outreach‘s
―us-against-them‖ attitude toward non-members. Former Pequannock Councilman Robert
Walsh said the slow process of alienation causes ―tremendous heartache.‖ A woman reports
that her daughter told her Jesus came to split the family, ―that we weren‘t her real family.‖
Single male and female members once lived in separate, biblically-named houses, and
married exclusively within the congregation.

Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 4, No. 1, 2005, Page 54
Lethbridge denies the accusations and says the practice of authentic, grass-roots
Christianity requires a life commitment. ―I‘ve been working in the community for 18 years.
So how could I be accomplishing all these things, like brainwashing people, and getting
away with it for so long.‖
The church‘s attorney said: "This lawsuit seeks damages for people praying and confessing
their sins, and that is a blatant violation of the First Amendment." (John Chadwick, Bergen
County Record, Internet, 12/18/04)
Helge Fossmo/Knutby Church (Sweden)
Claims He Was Leader’s Sex Slave
Pastor Helge Fossmo, recently convicted of influencing the family nanny to kill his second
wife, says in his appeal trial that he was the ―sex slave‖ of the leader of his Knutby,
Sweden, congregation, Åsa Waldau, who is known as the Bride of Christ. The nanny, Sara
Svensson, said during his trial that she was Fossmo‘s sex slave.
Fossmo states now that his relationship with Waldau began as with an equal, but then ―she
began to speak of heavenly love. I had to caress her, to satisfy her sexually with my hands.
It was one-way love. I existed for her.‖ Fossmo‘s wife did not like him spending long days
working with Waldau, he added, so Waldau began to talk about God calling Mrs. Fossmo
―home‖ if she continued to object.
In light of his conviction, Fossmo will now be tried for the murder of his first wife, who, it
was thought, accidentally drowned in the bathtub. He said he was under Waldau‘s influence
when he immediately took his just-deceased wife‘s possessions to a second hand store,
falsified her death documents, and quickly got engaged to another woman, chosen by
Waldau. ―Åsa said that she had been out and had spoken with God. God had said to her that
her sister would be my new wife.‖ (The Local, Sweden, 10/7/04)
Jehovah’s Witnesses
Authorities Force Transfusion
A Jehovah’s Witnesses father recently removed his dying two-year-old daughter from a
hospital, in India‘s Darjeeling region, in order to avoid a blood transfusion for the girl, but
police chased them down and brought her back to physicians who had insisted on the
procedure. The parents say they wish their daughter had died rather than receive the
transfusion — which they say is forbidden by the Bible. Meanwhile, dozens of Jehovah‘s
Witnesses clergy have come to this tea growing region to take up the parents‘ case.
(Khaleej Times, Internet, 10/15/04)
Policy on Sexual Abuse
A New Hampshire suit brought against the Jehovah’s Witnesses by the daughters of a
man imprisoned for sexually abusing them when they were children is one among many
legal actions across the country that are bringing to light the church‘s public policy toward,
and private response to, such abuse.
The women‘s mother, Sara Poisson, is sorry she followed her Jehovah‘s Witnesses
congregation leaders‘ advice to pray more, be a better wife, and keep quiet when she told
them that her husband had abused their daughters. ―I was a puppet. It was ‗God says you
are a screw-up, so fix yourself and it will stop.‘ ‖ (A teacher finally reported the abuse.) The
church publicly supported the father during his trial and excommunicated his wife, the fate
of many critics, for cooperating with authorities.
Poisson‘s story, and the accounts of others, indicate that despite officially calling sexual
abuse ―abhorrent,‖ Jehovah‘s Witnesses rules actually protect molesters, perhaps because