Girl abused, Pentecostalist church covered up

This Dutch video is about the House of Heroes, a fundamentalist Pentecostalist church, headquartered in Nijkerk, the Netherlands; led by senior preacher Mattheus van der Steen. He claims to be an ‘apostle’ getting messages from God Himself directly. The video shows a service in which Van der Steen and his wife Rebekah are declared to be anointed by God.

Two weeks ago, 38-year-old preacher of that church, self styled ‘prophet’, Michaël D., in charge of the church’s children’s department, was on trial for sexually abusing a girl member, his foster daughter, from when she was 15 till she was 21.

Married ‘prophet’ Michaël and his wife justified the abuse saying that 15-year-old Lisa (a pseudonym) had supposedly ‘seduced’ him. Every time after the abuse, the ‘Reverend‘ Michaël had Lisa pray with him, confessing ‘their’ sins to the Lord. The prophet claimed the girl was possessed by Satan and his demons, and he had to abuse her ‘in the name of Jesus’, while speaking in tongues, as usual by Pentecostalist preachers. Lisa hated the abuse, saying softly ‘Don’t’, but feared that resisting more strongly would be ‘against God’.

There was hardly a day without being abused.

Abused Lisa complained to apostle Mattheus van der Steen. The Reverend Michaël D. admitted the abuse to the church leadership. There was an audio recording of that. But the Right Reverend Van der Steen had that proof against ‘prophet’ Michael D. removed, and did not go to the police, but covered up.

According to journalist Karel Smouter, who did much research on this, there is a pattern of covering up scandals in this church. Also in a child rape case in 2012 in Uganda, a miraculous discovery of gold in a bible, and fraudulent claims of faith healing by church missionaries in Burma (Myanmar).

In 2016, another House of Heroes church member, Marijn de V. was convicted for abusing five and six-year-old girls. The church leaders tried to cover up, telling the girls’ parents not to go to the police. After the parents did go to the police, the House of Heroes excommunicated them. If the mother now meets ex-coreligionists in the street, they look away from her. While Marijn de V. is once again a church member in good standing.

Rebekah, the Right Reverend Apostle Van der Steen’s wife, has filed for divorce. ‘I have discovered that my husband whitewashes predators’. Rebekah was sacked as House of Heroes preacher; while the Right Reverend Apostle Mattheus Van der Steen once again became a preacher in good standing.

March 2018: House of Heroes at last sacked ‘prophet’ Michael D. because he was bad public relations for the church.

Sexual abuse, murder in Dutch Pentecostalist community: here.