‘They Kept Us As Slaves’ – Mega Church Exposed Running Massive Slavery Ring in North Carolina
By Matt Agorist
TheFreeThoughtProject.com
July 24, 2017
Spindale, NC — Scores of former slaves have come forward to expose the Word of Faith Fellowship congregation as a hub for modern slavery in the United States in which hundreds have been victims, according to a scathing report from the Associated Press. To date, the church leaders have yet to be held accountable.
According to the investigation, the Word of Faith Fellowship set up two churches in Brazil and used it as a means of siphoning young laborers to the United States to used them for forced labor.
Andre Oliveira was one of those slaves who tells the AP he was forced to work 15 hours a day, usually for no pay, first cleaning warehouses for the secretive evangelical church and later toiling at businesses owned by senior ministers. Any deviation from the rules risked the wrath of church leaders, he said, ranging from beatings to shaming from the pulpit.
“They trafficked us up here. They knew what they were doing. They needed labor and we were cheap labor — hell, free labor,” Oliveira said.
The church’s 35-acre compound in Spindale, NC provided the perfect core for this horrific human trade.
Former slaves who’d escaped the church were able to make it to authorities and describe the nature of what was happening to them.
“And do they beat up the Brazilians?” Jill Rose, a U.S. attorney in Charlotte who heard these allegations, asked, according to the AP.
“Most definitely,” one of the former congregants responded. Ministers “mostly bring them up here for free work,” another said.
Despite promising the victims that they would have someone look into the allegations, the victims claim that never happened. The AP reached out to Rose to verify these claims and she refused to comment.
As authorities continue to look the other way, the abuse continues.
“They kept us as slaves,” Oliveira said.
“We were expendable. We meant nothing to them. Nothing. How can you do that to people — claim you love them and then beat them in the name of God?”
The Rest…HERE
