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TB Joshua prepares to heal someone as his ‘disciples’ look on
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The dorm rooms ‘disciples’ would sleep in, with lights on 24/7, which Mr Hurst believes was to ensure new members would be more susceptible to brainwashing
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rbbm lengthy article.
Constance Marten’s friends say she wasn’t the same after her time in the cult
www.independent.co.uk
''On one occasion, the 35-year-old was apparently forced to eat the leftovers of the church’s “prophet” and
controversial leader, TB Joshua. Another time, she was placed in social exile – the customary punishment for disciples who were not “focused enough” on the church leader, or who spoke about their former lives.
After leaving the church, Ms Marten spoke about experiencing paranormal activity after meditation, which became so out of control that she once collapsed on the floor laughing while queueing in Starbucks.''
''Ex-disciple and former British soldier Joe Hurst joined the group in Lagos in 2006. Although he left before Ms Marten joined later that year, he told
The Independent that she got in touch with him some six years later because she wanted to do a documentary about the church.
Mr Hurst, who now lives in India, said Ms Marten had told him that white disciples would often be targeted and humiliated by TB Joshua.''
“She said she played along but it was really weird. She said it was humiliating. Her take was that it was the white British people who were typically humiliated in this way,” Mr Hurst told
The Independent.''
''Referring to the incident with the leftovers, he added: “It was taken as a big honour to eat his food.”
Mr Hurst said he advised Ms Marten, who he knows by her nickname Toots, against running the documentary on the cult, where disciples sleep in gender-separated dorms of around 50 bunkbeds, with lights left on at all hours of the day.''
Matthew McNaught, the author of the book
Immanuel, which details the secrets of the African megachurch and others like it, said Ms Marten had contacted him in 2011 seeking help in response to one of his blogs about the manipulative nature of the cult.''
''Mr McNaught revealed that in a method typical of cults, new disciples would initially be “love-bombed” – a term that describes extremely kind and friendly behaviour from a group or individual, which later becomes abusive and manipulative – by TB Joshua.''