Two more more curious coincidences on the Johansson case as it may be connected with Christopher Warren. Warren's group is also known as the Mishpachah Lev-Tsiyon. We find that;
'Mishpachah Lev-Tsiyon (MLT) is the name of a small Christian denomination with an association of assemblies or congregations having close Messianic Jewish and Evangelical Christian affinities, with centers in Arvika municipality, Sweden, Oil City, Pennsylvania and Andhra Pradesh State, India. It describes itself as "plotting a mid course between these two". The group is officially registered in Norway as the Nye Pakts Kristne Fellesskap (New Covenant Christian Fellowship) and Den Nye Pakt (The New Covenant) and in India as the New Covenant Church of God. The main international office of MLT is located in the former Hillringsberg State School, Sweden, which closed in the 1960's.
MLT was founded in 1986 in Oxford, England following a revelation which Christopher C. Warren, the founder, claimed he received from God in 1984.'
Hmmmm, Oil City, Pennsylvania. Do we know anybody near there? Oh, wait a minute. Kelley Brautigam, who founded and runs the Friends of Domenic website, lives right round the corner in New Alexandria, Pennsylvania. Spooky or what? What about Andhra Pradesh in India? Have a look at this, from Christopher Warren's site;
http://www.nccg.org/orphanage3.html
Observe well, this part;
'In July 2001 32 congregations, principally in Andhra Pradesh State, but also in Orissa and Bombay (Mumbai), joined the New Covenant Church of God under the Pastorship of G. Raj Kumar'
This Pastor Kumar would not be related by any chance to Annie Nirmal Kumar, who married Christer Johansson?
Does he uphold the theory that the world is going to end in 2012?? =D
ReplyDeleteIf this is the reason Swedish officials are holding this child they should make this public. Not only is it a person's right to know what they are accused of in a civilized society, it would also serve to warn others of the dangers posed by this cult or membership of the cult.
ReplyDeleteIs the taking of children because their parents are members of a cult a regular occurrence in Europe or North America? It's not something I know anything about, luckily.
I don't imagine it's a 'regular' occurrence because cults are pretty rare! But it does happen
ReplyDeletehttp://arkansasnews.com/2009/11/18/appeals-court-upholds-removal-of-children-from-alamo-compound/
I imagine that officials are always very wary around something they think may be a cult because we all know of the famous and tragic outcomes like Jonestown and Waco.
At least in that case the parents were made aware of why their children were taken. That's what I find hardest to understand about this case if this is the reason behind the child being held. The Swedish authorities are not only failing to inform 'the accused' of the crime they are supposed to have committed (with the inevitable result that they cannot defend themselves), they are also failing to warn other citizens of the dangers posed by this cult. Whether this is a reason or not, the Swedish officials/state seem to be at fault either way you look at it.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know there was such a field as "forensic homeschooling", but maybe this is your new calling, Simon. Good job on digging out the background to this story. I was initially rather outraged by the Swedish government's actions, but figured there was something we weren't being told. Interesting...
ReplyDeleteI'm not a big fan of Chris Warren either and your speculative rantings are abysmal. I'm a former member of the group, personally think it's a cult, and realize that this is amateur. The reason that there *was* a group in Oil City was because I used to live there. I was the former representative of the USA branch of NCCG after Grant Robertson (the head in Salt Lake City) resigned. I used to be one of the major contributors to the nccg.info website, but dropped it when I realized it was consuming me. I also used to have material on there, but it no longer is. If you Google my name, you should find information that is sufficient to reconstruct something of a history about the group over the last few years.
ReplyDeleteLikewise, I was in and out of NCCG and Oil City long before this Dominic Johanssen thing started. I did briefly get back in contact with the group in 2009 after a false conversion back to Christianity (false owing to the fact that I converted due to crummy circumstances and de-converted when I realized I didn't really believe it, not due to any particular desire to deceive people). It was then he started his campaign for homeschooling in Sweden and the Johannsen issue. There was a member named Ruth Johannsen, but that was a psuedonym and is not in any way, shape, or form related to this.
ReplyDelete