Torben Sondergaard: who is behind his persecution?

There are going to be big programs.

The 2nd of January here in Denmark.

I thought they were doing a documentary
about The Last Reformation,

but they've done a documentary
where they talk about other ministries

that have gone really wrong in Denmark.

We will go to America
and we will be there more.

We actually be five months
in America next year. All in all.

I really enjoyed your last video.

I'm happy to hear you're going
to the United States.

There I will be able
to really take care of you

and your ugly cult.

You destroyed Alice's life.

You are a sick person.

And I warned you
I will take care of your cult.

As long as Alice won't be able
to get back to her therapy

and live a normal life,
I will be on your back.

Previously on our series,
we have revealed compelling evidence

that the TV program God's Best Children
was not an honest portrayal of Torben

and his ministry.

It was rather a calculated attempt
to discredit him.

The goal is to bring Torben
and his ministry down.

They tried to get what they wanted
through politics

by proposing new laws
that were tailor made to target Torben.

Many of you have probably followed
the documentary God's Best Children.

And seeing how a preacher
commits demonic exorcisms in front

of shaking and crying children.

We agree with children's condition
that this kind of behavior

can be described as psychological abuse.

They also twisted the truth
by misusing existing laws.

We have asked a number
of health commissioners

to watch TV2's hidden recording
of Torben Sondergaard.

It's simply quackery.

It is deeply, deeply worrying.

Another tactic used was linking Torben
with convicted criminals,

which caused public outrage against him
across the country.

This man is downright dangerous
and what he practises should be illegal.

In an attempt to discredit him further,
they offered him a large sum of money,

hoping to trap him financially.

Torben Sondergaard, a pastor from Denmark,
is being detained in Florida

without any formal charges.

With this video series,
we want to make you aware of his case

and we will show you evidence
that there is a fight going on,

a fight over the gospel of Jesus Christ.

It is an incredible story where things
are not always what they seem.

In this

episode, we will show you
that Torben is actually being persecuted

for his faith in Jesus Christ.

To be persecuted means to harass or punish
in a manner

designed to injure, grieve or afflict.

Jesus said a servant is not greater
than his master.

If they persecuted me,
they will also persecute you.

Paul is saying in one of his letters,
Everyone who wants to live

a godly life
in Christ, Jesus will be persecuted.

Should we be surprised when this happens?

Peter answers.

Do not be surprised at the fiery trial
when it comes upon you to test you

as though something strange
were happening to you.

When we follow Jesus Christ
and want to live a godly life,

we will get trouble.

It's a promise.

But the things
that are happening to Torben

is that actually Christian persecution?

Or is it merely that he made mistakes
and he has to face the consequences?

To answer these questions,
let's first look

at how Jesus was persecuted.

Jesus went around doing good,
but he also offended many people.

He hurt the religious leaders
in their pride,

and they gradually became more
and more agitated with Jesus

and ultimately wanted to kill him.

Jesus had many followers,
but he had an inner circle of 12 people.

However, one of these 12
turned against him.

The reasons for this
could have been greed, disappointment,

or even pride as it's written.

or even pride as it's written.

Satan entered into him
and he became an instrument of the enemy

to destroy Jesus.

After Judas handed Jesus over
to the religious leaders,

these leaders took him to the authorities.

By applying pressure,
the religious leaders

convinced the authorities
to make an unjust decision.

To maintain peace,
they decided to execute Jesus.

But it's important to see that it's Satan
who is working out his plans.

The battle is not against the government
or against these religious leaders.

The battle is spiritual.

In Ephesus, it is written:
'for our struggle

is not against flesh and blood,
but against the rulers,

against the authorities,
against the powers of this dark world

and against the spiritual forces
of evil in the heavenly realms.'

Now, you may say, wait a minute.

How can you compare Torben to Jesus?

Torben was not persecuted.

He was simply portrayed
in a negative way in a TV program.

Was that not his own fault?

Shouldn't he have been more cautious
and not collaborated

with that production company?

Well, there's more to the story
that you need to know

to fully understand the situation.

We need to take you back to 2016.

That was the year when Torben's ministry
released a powerful film

called The Last Reformation:
The beginning.

I was tired of looking for answers
and I could not find it anywhere.

This film gained
significant worldwide attention

and inspired
numerous people to follow Jesus.

However, it was also the year
when a fierce battle began.

The forces of darkness
began to fight back.

So how did this battle unfold?

We need to introduce you
to two individuals

who have been relentlessly
attacking Torben since 2016,

and their campaign continues to this day.

They've been operating anonymously
all these years.

They discredited Torben and his ministry
while remaining hidden from public view.

But their false narrative
has been spread everywhere

through the mouths of other people.

The first of these individuals
is a citizen of Denmark

and a former friend of Torben
who had an important position

in his ministry.

We won't use his real name here

because we're not out for revenge
or to damage anyone's reputation.

Let's call him Thomas.

I came to Denmark
in 2015 together with my family.

We lived there for over a year.

We worked with Torben
at that time in his organization,

and we also met this man.

He was a very good listener,
and he was someone

who pulled a lot
of information from people.

Very charismatic,
but someone who just managed to come

alongside just about anybody
and get them talking

and seemed to be somebody
that was really nice,

seemed very interested in people.

And my first instinct
was to really like him.

And I felt sorry for him
when he told me some

of the stories of his life.

And um, yeah, we became friends, I guess.

I met him
and I connected very good with him.

I actually became good friends with him.

And I remember.

Uh, getting really close to him.

I liked to work with this man.

We had good times together.

I had good I have good memories of him.

In the beginning
he was actually a really nice person.

In that way, he was really involved
by helping a lot, where he helped Torben.

He helped other people,
including helping me.

He's a very intelligent person and someone
that if he's working for somebody

would be an amazing ally.

Really very clever
and one step ahead of everybody.

And if he wants to achieve something
or get something done, he would.

He was a very likeable person.

He was funny. He was very intelligent.

He had multiple talents.

He was good in basically
everything you would ask him to do,

he would do it.

Extremely intelligent, um,
and, uh, shrewd.

Very shrewd, very shrewd,
very intelligent.

I believe that when he came at first,
he was very sincere.

He was very sincere with everything.

He loved what was going on at TLR.

He loved the way God was moving.

I believe God was touching him as well.

And you could see that he was changing
and he would go out on the street,

you know, join the kickstarts
and everything.

And it was amazing with him.

But however, after I think around a year,
um, things started to change with him.

But there was another side of him
or another character of him,

which I did not see in the beginning,
but I saw later on that he was also very,

very a manipulative person.

And because he was very manipulative
where he was really... he was actually

really good at manipulate people
and manipulate situations.

And for that reason, he really gained very
quickly high position

at that place at Jesus Hotel
where he almost somehow...

you can say he became like the right hand
of Torben at that time.

Torben really liked him and trusted him.

So he gave him positions
and access to basically everything at TLR.

Some of those people
he was not happy about,

he often went to Torben
and behind their back

where he somehow started to gossip
and he tried to manipulate

about them to Torben
that they are...

they have a problem or they need
to be sent home and all this kind

of stuff. And because of this
he often succeed

that some of those co-workers
were being sent home because of him.

I would say it's not normal behavior
to manipulate so many layers deep.

And it does make that person very powerful
in what he's able to achieve

if he wants to tear somebody down.

And I did witness
some people being torn down.

But it's very hard
when you're in it sometimes to see it.

He'd expressed it,
he'd it said that he was actually jealous

of anybody that got close to Torben.

And so he would remove people
who got close

or manipulate them
either one way or the other.

He would often complain
that he have done... he did a lot,

but he didn't get enough credit
for what he did.

And that was basically
because, I mean, Torben

was the main guy on the videos
and Torben was the one also preaching

when there was a kick start
and this guy was more behind the scene.

So he pulled me aside one evening.

He felt like there was not enough
of credit given to him,

aid given to him like a place to live,
a nice place to live.

He was bitter and angry
and complaining a lot because of that.

At some point, this man really started
to work against Torben.

He started to talk really bad about him,
but at the same time,

he showed the Torben a really nice face.

So Torben had no idea.

He thought this was my best friend,
someone who's helping me a lot.

But to other people,
he would say things like,

Torben hurt me a lot,
and he started to try

and convince other people
how bad Torben actually is.

And he would actually manipulate
the situation in such way

that Torben was at one point
removed from his own organization.

It was almost like he wanted me
to hate Torben as well.

It was almost like he wanted me
to turn my back on Torben

as well and join his side.

And I found out later on
that he would do the same to other people,

that he will also talk
to them bad about Torben.

And then as soon as Torben would come in
or enter into the room, he changed.

And he was suddenly, I mean, very sweet.

So at some point, Torben found out
that this man

was actually causing a lot of problems,
and he decided to remove him

from the organization.

I got a call from a friend, he said: Hey,
if Torben is going to fire this man,

please make sure
to change all your passwords

because he will take revenge.

And I was like, Nah...

I couldn't believe it because I was
like, it would not be this bad.

I thought I knew this man quite a bit,
but he said: No,

it's really bad with this man.

You have to do this.

So I was okay, if you say so.

And actually I didn't believe it,
but I changed a lot of passwords,

but I didn't take it so seriously.

A few months later, I found out
that actually I forgot

to change some passwords
and some really important ones.

So someone logged in into our systems
and basically deleted everything

they could find to destroy, to delete.

So, that day we lost all our websites,
we lost a lot of domain names

in different accounts,
and it was a big disaster.

I think there was more than a year of work
completely destroyed.

And for me personally, it was like,
how can someone be so evil?

Because I spent so much time
myself already in all this, these things,

and just deleting everything
and destroying everything,

including the backups, because the backups
were also included in this system.

Of course I cannot prove
that it was this man,

but I know one thing
that I was warned beforehand

to change all the passwords
because he would take revenge

and then later this happens.

It's a funny thing
that sometimes our strengths

can become our weaknesses spiritually.

You know, the the thing
that we have a really strong calling

can also be if it's turned
inward rather than toward God,

if it's turned inward,
it can become something very destructive

because we've got a lot of perhaps skill
or talent that's been given

in those areas.

So I see that with this gentleman,
it's a very sad thing

because he is somebody
who wanted desperately

to amount to something big in the Kingdom
and instead of that,

has found himself involved in something
really bitter and quite twisted.

And that's sad.

That's a terrible thing.

And I think that's also
why God allows things to happen

as long as He does, because He loves us.

He loves us dearly, He loves our enemies
as much as He loves us.

I've still you know, I still
care a lot for this guy.

I pray for him,
and I hope that he will turn to God.

So that's my hope.

But something else happened
that same year.

A lady we will call Alice
comes to faith in Jesus Christ.

She has a friend.

Let's name him Gabriel.

Gabriel is a businessman
of French nationality.

When he hears that Alice is going to one
of Torben's schools,

he doesn't like it
because he doesn't believe in God

and hates Christianity.

On top of that, Alice
decides to break up with Gabriel

because the relationship is not good.

We called a friend of Alice, who was
with her during Torben’s Bible School.

I remember that this guy,
he was actually married with another woman

and that my friend was with him
over a couple of years

and which means
they were having an affair.

From that moment on, he stalks her.

So this guy,
he thought that she has gone into a sect

and he was kind of searching everything,
what he could from the ministry.

And he was very much against this
because he kind of lost her

because of her faith in Jesus.

And he wanted kind of
to take her out of this, uh,

and so that he could have her back.

What I understand
is that he became someone

that would persecute the whole, uh,
ministry with everything he could.

He was very much against it.

The staff and fellow students
of that school

received friend requests through Facebook
from a Christian lady

with the name of Olivia Tennenbaum.

The account spread false information
about Torben and his ministry

and repeatedly used the word 'cult'
to address the ministry.

But no one seemed to know her.

It became clear to Alice
that this Olivia Tennenbaum

is actually her ex-boyfriend
spreading this information.

Yeah, I remember some of the profiles
that, uh, all of a sudden was friend

with everyone that we knew,
the things that were shared

on the profile,
it was very much against Torben.

So much hate, so much bashing.

We asked Alice if she wanted to cooperate
with this episode,

but she declined because she is afraid
of what this man would do to her.

It has now been seven years
since she ended the relationship

and this man is still stalking her.

She describes this man as rich,
influential and even

with contacts in the US government.

He also threatened her to not go public
with her story

and not to mention his name.

He is the one who wrote the email
we quoted at the beginning

of this episode.

I'm happy to hear you are going to the US.

There I will be able
to really take care of you

and your ugly cult.

Also several other people
we ask to tell their story

for this episode said no.

They said: this man is dangerous
and I don't want him to come after me

and my family.

He also wrote to other people
involved in Torben's ministry.

Yes. I also received a message
from this man back in 2020

when on the TV in my home country
in the Netherlands,

there was a program that was very similar
to the program in Denmark,

The program is basically the same.

It has Torben, it has the child abuse.

All these lies are also in there.

And after the program, I receive an email
from this man

who is hiding
behind a fake account, Laura Palmare,

and he writes:
Once I told you I'm not the kind of guy

you are used to deal with,
and he ends with more to come.

Get your suitcases ready.

Always making sure
to not mention his name.

I forgot one last thing.

Don't you ever mention my name
on any social media?

I will know it.

And I promise you
that you will have serious reason

to fear my wrath.

Obviously, Alice
didn't tell you everything

about who I really am.

Don't try to learn it the hard way.

You would regret it deeply. Am I clear?

Somewhere in 2016, Gabriel and Thomas
found each other and joined forces.

Several other fake social media accounts
appeared. Their sole purpose

was to spread defamatory information
about Torben and his ministry.

They created a narrative
where Torben's ministry was a 'cult'

and Torben was
the 'dangerous cult leader'.

Besides the fake profiles,
anonymous reports were sent

to various government
organizations in Denmark.

The fire department got an anonymous call
that there was a fire hazard.

They checked and everything was fine.

The food control came.

They got a report that the kitchen
at the Bible school facility

was dirty and there were rats.

They checked and everything was fine.

The Workers Association got a report
that there were people

working at the ministry
that were not authorized to work.

They checked and everything was okay.

The tax agency was told
that the ministry was evading taxes

and they requested the books
for the last two years.

Everything turned out fine.

A Wikipedia page was also created
with defamatory information about Torben.

Wikipedia moderators decided
that the page needed to be removed.

When Torben was doing
a kickstart in France,

the police showed up.

They had received reports
that Torben's ministry

was a dangerous cult
and were investigating the matter.

People got baptized, set free,
received the Holy Spirit, so beautiful.

And in the middle
of the most beautiful thing,

the police come,
three policemen standing outside

and want to close us down.

And they say something with the building
and the man who owns the building.

But we know it's just an attack.

And what to do now?

We have no idea.

800 people. We have no idea.

After we showed them all the paperwork
and they saw all the people,

they never came again.

And we were able to move on
with the Kickstart with no problems.

It didn't stop there
because as soon as we went to the airport

to fly back to Denmark, the police came
to check all our bags suddenly again,

and they took us all into a special room.

It was very strange
and they went through all our bags,

all our stuff
and just opened and took stuff out.

And we just had no idea
of what was going on.

And then apparently they told us
that they got a report for someone

that we had a lot of money,
a lot of cash in our bags.

And it was just strange.

Very, very strange.

And of course, we didn't have anything,
so they didn't found it.

And then in the end, they let us go.

But it was just... we started to become
very curious about who this person was

because it was like it kept coming again
and again and again

that someone would call in to the police
and ask them

to check us and to go through us
because we were 'dangerous'.

And yeah. But anyway, I mean, Torben
never really wasted too much time on it.

He was just so focused on the gospel.

So he moved on.

Month of April, I actually did a kickstart
in Switzerland in a city called Lausanne.

During that time,
for what I remember, I was excited

and we were preparing
to start with the Kickstart.

One of my friends, she actually came to me
and she actually told me

in a surprising way that there are police
who are outside of the building.

They had a document
and someone had made a big complaint

about Torben Sondergaard,
about The Last Reformation,

that we were a sect,
something to do

.

Autistic and hypnosis.

Hypnosis, a whole.

Lot of things.

And we are dangerous. It was from.

Some place near Geneva.

We don't know, it was not signed.

Over the years,
these people have continued their mission

and through their fake accounts,
they have been clear about their goals.

We will continue
until Torben and his ministry

are completely destroyed.

Hey, Toby Boy, I have to say,
I am really enjoying

watching you slowly going down.

Soon there will be nothing left
of your freaking cult.

Maybe you should have listened to me
when I asked you for help for Alice,

you arrogant moron.

When Torben was approached
by a production company in 2017,

he had no idea
that Gabriel and Thomas were involved.

Towards the end of filming, Torben
realised that he had been betrayed

and that the film crew was in contact
with his persecutors.

When he found out, he called the producer.

He confronted him with his dishonesty.

The producer excused himself
and said it was part

of the journalistic process
to hear both sides of the story.

But was this fair journalism?

We have received information
suggesting that Gabriel,

the businessman from France,
paid the salaries

of the undercover journalists
you saw in our last episode.

The source of this information
is someone close to Gabriel.

If this is true, then Torben's persecutors
have helped fund God's Best Children.

We contacted one of the journalists.

He said that he felt sorry for Torben,
but that for 'legal reasons'

he could not answer our questions.

When we watch
the God's Best Children documentary,

we see the presence
of both Thomas and Gabriel everywhere.

For example, we see a representative
of the organization InsideOut.

According to their website, InsideOut
provides support to people

who have broken
with a destructive community.

Their website lists Thomas
as chairman of the organization.

Bente Boserup,
who we saw in our first episode,

is also listed on the InsideOut website
as a child specialist consultant.

These people are not independent experts.

They know each other and work with Thomas.

In the program,
we see this couple who criticized Torben.

They are friends of Thomas
and were under Thomas influence.

When asked why
they agreed to appear on the program,

they said that Thomas asked them to do it.

They share a misleading story about Alice,
the ex-girlfriend of Gabriel.

So are you worried for her life? Yeah.

I've been since the first day.

We also see this man
talking about his friend.

He appears at the end of the last episode
of God's Best Children

and his identity is not revealed.

This is Gabriel.

He is the man that has been stalking
his girlfriend, Alice, for years.

She has repeatedly told Gabriel
to get out of her life,

but he continues to pursue her.

And since this thing started,
everything collapsed.

She can actually commit suicide
in a blink.

Nobody is here to see what's going on.

Everything can happen.

And they don't know what they're doing.

It's this Last Reformation thing
is like a mental institution

where patients
are trying to help patients.

They are all crazy.

She can actually commit suicide
in a blink.

Gabriel says Alice could
commit suicide in a blink.

But here we are today,
4 years later, and Alice is fine.

She is not part of Torben's ministry
and never has been.

She just followed
one of Torben's Bible schools

and is now part
of a church in her home country.

He was doing all kind of things
to have contact with her,

even though she blocked immediately
every possible door.

He kept finding another door
to just try to have contact with her.

He were also sending her flowers.

He, um, tried to have contact
with other students at the school

as well as create
multiple Facebook profiles.

Typically, it was female pictures
and names he was using.

She was really done with this guy.

She didn't want to have anything
to do with him.

She didn't even consider to go back to him
and she just

wanted him to leave her alone.

She decided to follow Jesus
with everything she had.

Around the time Torben realized
that the production company

was working with his persecutors,
he and his family

received a visit from the Municipality.

They had received a report that children
were being abused in their home.

At the same time,
a YouTube channel linked to Gabriel

uploaded this video
making the same claim of child abuse.

It was a very threatening situation
because in Denmark

and other European countries,
the child protection authorities

have a lot of power.

Sadly, there are several examples
of authorities making bad decisions

and removing children from their parents
based on false information.

This was a very intimidating situation
for Torben and Lene

because these authorities have the power
to remove children

if they suspect
any wrongdoing in the family.

Sometimes I get up to three calls per day
from people

fearing a forced adoption
of their children.

This became more real
when Torben was publicly declared guilty.

We agree with children's condition
that this kind of behaviour

can be described as psychological abuse.

It was likely for authorities
to take action at some point.

Now, do you see the pattern?

These individuals pushed the government
but also the media into unjust actions.

Later we will see the same thing
happening in the USA.

After the programmes aired on Danish
TV, Torben and Lene

fled to the United States
and decided to stay there for a while

Seeing the ongoing discussion
in the media and government,

they concluded:
These people that are persecuting us,

they are not going to stop.

The people of Denmark buy in to their lies
and this will continue until I'm in jail.

Torben was advised to apply for asylum.

He did not know that his persecutors
had already contacted Homeland Security.

A memo we received, states: On March 27th,
2019, the ICE Homeland Security

Investigations Fort Myers office
received information

that Sondergaard
was defrauding the sick and elderly

and abusing children.

But why did Torben end up in prison
in the United States?

And how were Thomas and Gabriel
involved in this?

that we will share in our next episode.