Noel Stanton: the preacher who turned a Christian dream into a cult | UK | News
The charismatic preacher Christmas Standon, once a humble baptist minister, established a powerful religious empire that masked the terrible abuse of decades under the flag of the Jesus Army.
Born on Christmas Day in 1926, Standon began his career as a traditional church man. However, in the 1970s, he rediscovered himself as a visionary behind a radical Christian community in rural Northamponshire. What begins as a brave experiment in faith will become one of the most controversial religious movements of England.
Standon called on his followers to deliver their property, homes and even their children and promised to make “Paradise on Earth”. The Jesus’ Scholarship Church, known as the Jesus’s army, grew up to a national organization with thousands of members, unlike other small -fame cults from a small congregation in Bubrooke.
His followers lived in solid joint houses and submitted their wages and autonomy as they followed more strict rules. Public Evangelism was the signature of the group, the colored Jesus army buses and street sets in the eye -catching jackets have become familiar landscapes throughout England.
Dark truth
But behind the enthusiastic social assistance and public prayers, there was a darker truth. Stanton asked for a complete obedience by creating a culture in which leadership was equal to blasphemy. As explained in a new BBC documentary, the survivors now describe the Jesus Army as a cult “hiding on a clear view”.
The images of the 1993 documentary showed that Stanton called his followers to give his followers to “genitals to Jesus ,, now a creepy expression in the context of subsequent sexual abuse claims. The obsessive focus on sexual purity laid the foundation of systematic abuse, when it was combined with absolute control over the lives of the members.
When Standon died on May 20, 2009 at the age of 82, he left a community on the verge of collapse, not just a religious movement. Although it developed outward, cracks emerged in the carefully managed image. He was buried in New Creation Farm in Nether Heyford, a community site financed by his followers’ donations.
After his death, sad claims emerged. The survivors have come to the fore with allegations of routine physical, emotional and sexual abuse for decades. Children were subjected to violent “rods ve with birch cane, and frightening“ devil extracts ”to cleanse the so -called demons. Former members say that strict rules areolated them from the family and that personal decisions were controlled by the elderly appointed.
Predators were not checked
Perhaps it was the most shocking allegations of sexual abuse, including high -level figures in the group. Hard teachings of the church on celibacy and authority created a culture in which predators could work uncontrollable.
In 2019, the Jesus’ army officially disintegrated. The Jesus’ Scholarship community, a legal successor, launched a correction plan to provide compensation to the victims. Hundreds of people came to the fore with their exploitation stories and asked him to accept the “serious damage olan that caused confidence.
In the cult of the Jesus Army, a new BBC documentary offers a sober look at how Stanton’s dream of Christian unity has turned into a nightmare that lasted for decades. With strong expressions from the survivors, he sheds light on a divine movement while hiding deep and lasting damages.
What started as a search for spiritual community has ended in the tragedy for many – a definite warning on how uncontrolled commitment can bend in control, coercion and abuse.
