‘I was stalked by a cult!’ — How I paid the price for blowing the whistle on ‘Christian’ cults in Norway

The story you are about to read is shocking, yet sadly not surprising.

(Article by Peter Imanuelsen republished from RMX.news)

This is my story about how I got harassed by a cult — and there is possibly a very dark hidden secret here… Is my life in danger?

Last year, I got involved with several organizations that call themselves Christian churches here in Norway, but I quickly discovered some things happening at these places were not very Christian at all, some very worrying things.

Don’t get me wrong. I am a Christian, but many places that call themselves churches nowadays do not follow Jesus and are, for want of a better term, cults.

And you will not believe what they did to me after I blew the whistle.

Everyone who follows me knows that I am here to report the truth and to stand up for freedom, goodness, and kindness.

I am not afraid to call out and expose evil when I see it. Over the years, this has come at a great personal cost to me, but I will always stand up for those who don’t have a voice in this world.

For example, I have been one of the few journalists to have brought international attention to the rape crisis that has been going on in Sweden. I was called all kinds of names by people who didn’t like that I exposed it, but I never let that stop me. You can read my article on the truth about the Swedish rape crisis here.

So let’s start at the very beginning

While working on this story, I had the help of insiders giving me information. To protect their identity, I am keeping all my sources anonymous.

One would think that a place that calls itself a church should be a safe place. A place to seek God, a place to find support and help with the challenges of life. Sadly, as we have heard about all too often, this position of power is something that can be very destructive when it falls into the wrong hands.

As a Christian myself, I attended several churches regularly in my local area. One thing that they did that I thought was very good, at first, was organize youth groups. Places where youngsters could go and hang out, learn about the Bible, and stay out of trouble. Awesome!

But the more I learned and the more I got to know about what was happening at these youth gatherings, the more worried I became.

You see, at this particular so-called church, they don’t have any official pastor for the youth group, but there is a man in his mid-30s who has more or less just assumed a leadership role.

We are talking about youth gatherings taking place, where this adult man is hanging around alone with girls and boys as young as 13. He is there long into the night, playing games with the children. Why would an adult man be doing that? It would not be unusual for this man to be alone with the children until as late as 2 or 3 a.m.

But it gets more disturbing

My sources have told me that this man rarely talks about God or the Bible with the youngsters. Instead, the focus of conversation would often be about worldly and very age-inappropriate topics.

For instance, one of my anonymous sources told me that while sitting around a table with teenage girls late at night, this man said that the things men “look for” in women are “big boobs and butts” and that women look for “big muscles” in a man. It might not be such a surprise that this so-called spiritual leader is talking about body parts considering that he is an avid gym fan and has engaged in semi-professional weight lifting.

Another time, my source told me that he had been talking about which gyms one should go to, and he gave tips to the youngsters at the youth group about a certain gym where they had massage areas that were strategically positioned so that one could “see the women doing squats” and that “one got chills” watching the butts on those women.

So, knowing this information, would it be appropriate for this man to invite the youngsters and teenage girls to go with him to the gym at midnight?

Because that is exactly what this man did. Several times.

And of course, the parents were not there. They did not know where their children were going. They thought that their children were safe in the hands of this spiritual leader in their local church.

I spoke with this man directly to find out what was going on here, and he admitted to me that he had struggled with sexual sins in the past, but claimed that God had set him free from it.

When I decided to do some more research, things became very clear. Checking his Instagram profile, it turned out that he was following not one, but many accounts that would be considered pornographic in nature, even following an OnlyFans model!

Here are the screenshots of who this so-called Christian youth leader is following on Instagram. It is so pornographic that I had to blur almost all the photos.

Is it appropriate for a spiritual leader who has access to young girls and boys alone late at night to be talking about these kinds of things and following these kinds of people on social media?

I was told by one of my sources that the youngsters there look up to this man as a “father” and almost idolize him. That is a position of power. I was also told by insiders that the church had received complaints about abuse in the past.

Someone had to stand up for the children and warn the church about what was going on because this kind of behavior certainly did not seem appropriate.

These worries that I had were then reported to the leaders and elders at the church so that they could take further action. There was not much more I could do.

Can you guess what happened?

I was thrown out of the church. Very suspicious.

Now, it just so happens that there is another church not far away from this one. They are connected and are part of something called Indremisjonen (Inner mission) in Norway.

My brother was a member of a youth choir in this church. He played the keyboard.

He had seen some things going on there that he thought were a little strange. Some hugs that were a little too intimate, older adults touching underage girls in some strange places.

And it was pretty clear that the environment being fostered here was that of a cult. My brother would have some theological disagreements with them, and that was not accepted at all in the church. Everyone had to conform to the pastors.

Those who didn’t bow down to the pastor were singled out and confronted. I have been told by other insiders who used to go to that church that they do not behave like Christians at all.

There is no freedom of thought or speech here, according to what I have heard from my sources.

When doing some more research, I found that one of the leaders, a man in his 60s, is also following pornographic content on his Instagram.

Now keep in mind, the choir that this man is one of the leaders of is a youth choir consisting mainly of young teenage girls.

And you cannot make it up — the account he is following seems to be some kind of foot fetish account.

Again, I had to blur all the photos because there was so much nudity.

Is it really appropriate that someone with so much power and influence with young children is doing this, considering the other things that my brother saw and heard?

Now, this church has an official place on its website saying whom to contact in case of concerns.

That was done. One would think that when concerns like this are sent in, they would at the very least be taken seriously and investigated.

So what happened?

I was thrown out of this church as well, and so was my brother. Again, very suspicious.

But it gets worse.

I thought that would be the last I would hear from these churches.

But no, like any cult it was not that easy to leave.

To my shock, I received a letter informing me that this church had reported me to the police, and not only me, but also my brother, my wife, and my parents.

So not only are they going after and harassing me for daring to blow the whistle, but they are also going after my family. This is insane. This is something that only cults do.

Of course, the police immediately dropped the case against us because it was meritless and laughable.

They came with all kinds of baseless claims against me and my family. For example, they claimed in the police report that they had to “protect” the people in the church from the “extreme views” of my brother. What were those “extreme views”? That he believes in the Bible when it comes to 1 Timothy 2:11. That apparently warranted a police report, according to this church.

You cannot report someone to the police merely for having different opinions. And what is even weirder is that my brother’s view is actually the same as the official view of the church, so why would they report him for something that they themselves supposedly believe in?

They also reported me to the police for posting “conspiracy theories” online, which isn’t true. I’m posting nothing but facts. They wrote in their report that they were afraid that I would influence their church members.

Again, that is only something a cult does — trying to shield their members from different points of view. Perhaps they would begin thinking for themselves. That is very bad for the pastor’s power over the people.

Like I said, the police dropped the case because there wasn’t one and I have nothing but good things to say about the police here in Norway. They have been very professional.

But I did find out that both of these churches mentioned had been in contact, colluding with each other against me.

It has later come to my attention that many of the pastors in the local area have talked among themselves about how to “handle the situation,” referring to me blowing the whistle.

It is also worth mentioning that shortly before all of this madness took place, my brother was playing at a concert with this youth choir. When he came back to his car, someone had either placed or dropped a pouch containing live bullets.

What was very interesting is that when I contacted the church leaders, they were completely uninterested in reporting it to the police. Very weird.

You can read all about that here.

Just to make it clear. Exposing cults can be dangerous for myself, so I will just say it here that I am not in any way suicidal and I have good security.

It is not unheard of when it comes to sexual abuse within so-called Christian communities.

It has been reported in Norwegian media that Olaug Bollestad, the leader of the Christian Democratic party, has herself been the victim of sexual abuse within Indremisjonen, the very same organization that the churches mentioned in this article are a part of.

Back in the 1980s, she was a youth worker at Indremisjonen. She tells of a “tall and charismatic man” who was highly regarded in her church community.

“He locked me in and took me around from behind. He put his hand between my legs, groped my breasts, said nothing, just breathed heavily and moaned” she revealed.

“I had to put responsibility not only on the abuser but also those who let him go forward” she added.

That is very true. Those who know about these kinds of things but still let them happen are equally responsible.

“This was what one can call in good Norwegian a classic young girl and old pig with power situation. We have a word for it today: #MeToo,” said Olaug Bollestad in her book.

In other words, this has happened before, to someone who is now one of the most powerful people in Norway.

Again, I want to point out a very important thing. Just because some people seek a position of power and abuse that position in the name of Jesus, does not mean that they are Christian. Jesus is awesome, but cults are not.

Remember, the religious leaders of their day hated Jesus despite the fact that he did nothing but good and helped people.

Now, I’m being persecuted by religious leaders for doing good and trying to help people.

“Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also” — John 15:20

To summarize, I blew the whistle on inappropriate behavior. They colluded with each other to throw me out. Then they reported me to the police when all I did was want to protect the vulnerable.

Is that normal behavior? I will leave that up to you, the reader, to decide.

The identities of the so-called churches are being withheld in this article to protect those who are still in their grip.

Anyone who feels they have been a victim should contact the police in Norway for help. You are not alone and there is help to get.

Victims in Norway can also call the help number for sexual abuse victims here: 800 57 00.

If you want to step forward with information on this issue, please send me a message via the contact form on my website: www.petersweden.com

Read more at: RMX.news