‘They Kept Us As Slaves’ – Mega Church Exposed Running Massive Slavery Ring in North Carolina

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.

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“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.

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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?”

One of the dozens of victims interviewed by the AP told reporters that she was put to work for no pay when she was only 12-years-old. The males were used as construction workers while the girls were often used as babysitters in the church’s K-12 school and forced to sew during the night.

While babysitting may not sound that bad, consider the following findings by the AP.

The revelations of forced labor are the latest in an ongoing AP investigation exposing years of abuse at Word of Faith Fellowship. Based on exclusive interviews with 43 former members, documents and secretly made recordings, the AP reported in February that congregants were regularly punched, smacked and choked in an effort to “purify” sinners by beating out devils.

Under the leadership of Jane Whaley, the Word of Faith Fellowship grew to nearly three thousand members in several countries throughout the world.

Members visit the Spindale compound from around the world, but Brazil is the biggest source of foreign labor and Whaley and her top lieutenants visit the Brazilian outposts several times a year, the AP found.

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Whaley would travel to Brazil and tell the members of the church there that salvation awaited them in the United States.

Thiago Silva was one of those followers who got duped into coming to the US to be a slave. He told the AP that he was excited to travel to the US, but quickly learned there was “no happiness” at the church.

“Brazilians came here for labor. I’m telling you, that’s it,” Silva said. He called the treatment “a violation of human rights.”

Silva explained that he could only call his parents if someone monitored the call to make sure he would not tell them about his treatment.

“There’s no free will,” he said. “There’s Jane’s will.”

Ana Albuquerque was another victim who came to the church when she was only five. Over time, she witnessed so much verbal and physical abuse that she began to see this behavior as normal.

“They come to you and say, ‘You will get to know the United States of America. You will get to go to the malls,’” she said. “But when you get there, everything is controlled.”

Other victims of the church describe horrifying scenarios in which they were crammed into the basements of other church leaders’ homes to be used a slave labor.

“There was never time to sit down. We were worked like slaves,” Luiz Pires said.

Slavery, in the United States, as well as the rest of the world, is a horrific and unfortunate reality. When the government looks the other way instead of stopping it, things only get worse.

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While people may not be sold at auction in town squares anymore, humans still force other humans to do their bidding — which can often come in the form of forced sexual labor. Government actors, the elite, and churches are often the main culprits in this hideous practice which makes it that much more difficult to stop.

Technology Is The Master Of Modern Slavery

By: Tom Chatham, Project Chesapeake |

The recent cyber attack on computers worldwide is just the latest wakeup call to the future we are blindly building for ourselves. The vast majority of humanity embraces technology like it is their next breath of air. Without it, they feel like they will die.

Technology is a double edged sword that we wield that must be handled with care less we cut off one of our own limbs. Technology allows us to be more productive and work faster than without it but as we embrace more technology to relieve us of many manual tasks we must not let it rule our very existence.

Technology must be used as a lever, not a crutch. When we give up our ability to function in daily life and allow technology to rule our every move, we ultimately give up our freedom. To allow technology to dictate what we can do and when we can do it is to reduce ourselves to nothing more than compliant slaves to it.

When a hospital cannot perform operations or even see patients because their computers are down or we cannot communicate or travel because of computer hacking, we have allowed technology to become a crutch that prevents us from falling on our faces in its absence. When we cannot buy food or fuel or depend on electrical power for basic needs we have become too dependent on the technology we invented to assist us.

The use of technology is a good thing that allows us to move forward and build things we never dreamed of before but when it becomes a weakness, we need to reexamine our use of it. If we become so dependent on technology that we cannot function without it we are preparing ourselves for a doomsday scenario when it eventually fails and we are helpless to care for ourselves.

It is only logical to have backup systems to utilize in the event our technology fails for some reason. This is the whole reason we have people to warn us before hand such as the EMP Commission to tell us we are in danger if certain events happen. Technology provides us with many good things but it also leaves us susceptible to many bad things as well if we ignore our responsibility to use it wisely and not become too dependant on it.

Many people today can actually have withdrawal symptoms if they lose access to their technology for any length of time. This should be an alarm to society but most just brush it off as fear mongering. When the loss of technology causes a business to completely stop operations, that should be an indication they do not have sufficient backup systems to fall back on.

One of the prime tenants of the prepper movement is that they have multiple backup systems to rely on if technology stops working. This is just a logical step taken by people that have taken the time to analyze the threats posed by the loss our technology and determine action is warranted for the preservation of life following certain events. The less technology you require to take care of daily activities, the more freedom you have to live a normal life.

Most people still do not take the threat of technological disruptions to society seriously. They think that if something happens, someone will fix it and life will go on as normal. What they refuse to contemplate is if something happens and nobody can fix it. As society moves along this technological road they become more dependent on it and the risk to their lives increases as they lose the ability to do basic tasks. Hopefully this latest cyber attack will instill in people the need to have backup systems in place to continue their daily activities and live life as a free person and not be a slave to the technology they so eagerly seek.

Meet the 12-Year-old Boy Who Was Murdered for Fighting Against Modern Day Slavery

Pakistan — Slavery, across the globe, is a very harsh reality. It is estimated that around 46 million adults and children are in some form of slavery worldwide. This includes over five million men, women, and children in modernized countries.

When defining slavery, it is important to note that this does not include those who work for low wages and are able to walk free. The Walk Free Foundation defines modern slavery as the deprivation of individual liberty for the purpose of exploitation. This broad definition includes many slavery-related practices such as human trafficking, forced labor, debt bondage, forced marriage, commercial sexual exploitation and the sale and exploitation of children.

Despite slavery being outlawed nationally, Pakistan has one of the highest prevalences in the world of modern slavery and, as the case of Iqbal Masih illustrates, there are some ominous forces working to keep it that way.

Masih’s story is as inspiring as it is tragic. At the age of five, Masih was sold into bondage for less than $7 USD. Masih’s mother needed a life-saving operation and so little Masih lost his freedom.

According to the Express Tribune, Bonded labor means that Masih was to work as a carpet weaver for the factory owner till the loan was paid back. His freedom remained a dream because his family’s financial burdens kept growing and they were unable to pay back the loan. Masih’s torture continued without any respite and any hope of the loan ever being repaid.

The slavery operation was set up in such a way that the few cents a day that applied to the loan were never enough to pay it back. In spite of growing up in this harsh environment, Masih longed for freedom. On one occasion, as the Tribune reports, he managed to escape and reached the local police station. He told the police about how the factory owner had shackled him into slavery. But he was brought back by the custodians of law to the factory owner for a petty bribe.

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After being betrayed by police, Masih knew he could not rely on the government to obtain his freedom. But one day, in 1990, Pakistan’s Supreme Court finally outlawed slavery. This gave Masih new hope and he escaped again. This time, however, he went to the Bonded Labour Liberation Front (BLLF), instead of police.

His story reached the ears of Ehsan Ullah Khan, Chairman of BLLF, who directed his efforts towards freeing Masih from bondage, and mercifully succeeded.

Masih made it his mission to raise awareness about child slavery. He toured various cities of Pakistan where child slavery is known to exist. He also travelled internationally inviting masses to stand with him against child labour. He resumed his education and managed to complete four years of education in a two-year period.

“Children should have pens in their hands, not tools.” -Iqbal Masih

For the next several years, Masih traveled around Pakistan and the world to raise awareness about child slavery. His actions led to companies getting exposed for using slavery and many children were freed as a result. According to Khan, Masih’s actions forced dozens of factories who enslaved children to close.

Unfortunately, however, this made Masih a target. On April 16, 1995, at the age of 12, Masih was shot and killed as he rode his bicycle with friends.

“We know his death was a conspiracy by the carpet mafia,” said Khan at the time as Masih had received numerous death threats for his activism.

These modern-day slave masters may have killed Masih but they did not kill his mission. Masih remains an inspiration in Pakistan to those who fight against others who would enslave their fellow human.

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As the Free Thought Project has reported on multiple occasions, there is a dark market around the globe that deals in human currency. Even in the U.S., it is estimated that there are 60,000 men, women, and children enslaved at this very moment.

The human trafficking business is estimated to earn $150 billion annually. Because this industry is so profitable, governments around the world and domestically often look the other way instead of enforcing the laws against slavery.

One of the best ways to fight this slavery is refusing to buy products from companies who use slavery. As we’ve previously reported, thousands of products are sold in the US that rely on slave labor. One of the main culprits is Nestlé who admitted last year that they were using slaves to make their products.

As the failure of anti-slavery laws illustrates, voting with your money is far more effective than a corrupt government who enables it. Slavery is one of the fastest growing industries in the world today and until we refuse to support it — it will continue to grow.

Please share this article with your friends and family so that Masih’s story can continue to shed light on this horrible abuse.

Matt Agorist is an honorably discharged veteran of the USMC and former intelligence operator directly tasked by the NSA. This prior experience gives him unique insight into the world of government corruption and the American police state. Agorist has been an independent journalist for over a decade and has been featured on mainstream networks around the world. Agorist is also the Editor at Large at the Free Thought Project. Follow @MattAgorist on Twitter, Steemit, and now on Facebook.