Torben Sondergaard - Fighting for the Gospel, episode 1 - Demons and a new law

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.

Proverbs 18:17 I a lawsuit the first to speak
seems right, until someone comes

and cross-examines.

In 2017 Torben was living in Denmark
where he had a ministry.

His ministry is growing and
gets worldwide attention.

He was approached by a production
company to make a TV program about his life.

As I said, I am thinking of proposing
a program about repentance.

About the turn
Christianity is about to take.

And what makes the National Church
no longer enough for those who seek God.

About the people who are
converted and how their lives change.

You yourself are a strong
representative of such a journey

and since I know from the
programs we have made together

how good a communicator you are,

I am sure we could make
something cool together.

But let's start with a cup of coffee
and see what can work for you.

Best regards, Bjarke.

Torben had already
worked with this man before,

so he had no reason to
doubt his intentions.

But... Bjarke was not honest to Torben.

In the beginning of 2019, the show was
aired on Danish TV in three episodes.

Instead of making
‘something cool together’,

GOD'S BEST CHILDREN

the program put him in a
very negative light.

In the program. They show different
people that have committed crimes.

And they mix the stories of these people
with the videos they made of Torben.

And they used this to frame him.

They made it look like Torben
was also ‘one of these criminals’

And we will soon show
you an example of this

but first I need to explain
something to you.

It’s about the practice
of ‘casting out demons’

Demons can be the source
of depressions, illnesses,

and different bad things
that torment people.

And ‘setting people free from
demons’ also known as ‘deliverance’

is a practice that has existed all
throughout the history of the church.

The great single evidence of the coming
of the Kingdom of God

is the casting out of
demons in the name of Jesus.

But there are many
people, I'm convinced

that are under the control, power
and influence of demons.

It started with Jesus Christ
who was the first to do this.

And he instructed his
followers to do the same.

And the Bible gives us fourfold
power over demons

Christ said: 'I give unto you
power over against all unclean spirits.'

In the Bible you can read in
different places

that the people who followed Jesus
casted out demons.

And often there was quite
a bit of screaming involved.

We read that in different places
in the Bible… here for example:

‘‘For unclean spirits,
crying out with a loud voice

came out of many who had them’.

So often, there is
screaming, shouting

or other weird sounds involved
when a demon reveals itself.

As a follower of Jesus, Torben
sometimes ‘casts out demons’.

To cast out demons is not
just a good suggestion.

Not something we can
choose to do if we want

It's actually a commandment.

It was a commandment
He gave to people.

And Torben teaches in a
very practical way

that every follower of Jesus Christ
has the authority to cast out demons.

Are you ready to do it alone now?

It’s just that not many
Christians actually practice this.

So.. what does this look like?

Here we will show a
real-life example that started

when Torben went into a store
and started praying for the salesman.

It starts with a simple prayer,
but then a demon reveals itself.

It looks like a real battle
that’s going on here.

We read about that in the Bible.
Jesus is alive, don't be afraid.

This process is not always comfortable to
watch, but more important is the outcome.

People are so happy!

Because it’s a relief of something bad
that tormented them for a long time.

I love you my friend.

This is a new beginning.

Now, let’s go back to the program
that was shown on TV in Denmark.

They showed many clips of this
‘casting out of demons’.

But, they left out the part
where people feel relieved

and are joyful in the end.

So what’s left is a lot of screaming.

And then they showed some children
who were standing around watching.

They give the impression that
these kids are very scared.

Over the years, Torben and his team
never got complaints from parents

about kids being scared at their meetings

Because these meetings are actually joyful
people are very happy and positive.

Yet the program gives the impression
that the children are very frightened.

Next, they show a compilation of
this footage to a representative

of an organization that looks after the
well-being of children in Denmark.

When this representative sees the footage,

she is led to believe these kids
are terrified by what they witness.

In another clip, the representative is
shown a boy standing in his underwear.

By the way the producers cut together
different clips in the program

they give the impression that the kids
in these recordings are very scared.

It is very, very violent.
He's so scared.

It affects me deeply to see
such a small boy stand there

being forced to watch someting
he clearly doesn't like.

If a child is crying, you pull
him aside and comfort him.

He shouldn't be forced to watch it.

And children who pee in
their pants from anxiety

you have to be very, very frightened.

The child-welfare representative concludes
that the boy in his underwear is so afraid

that he wet his pants.

She even uses the strong term
‘psychological abuse’

to describe what she is witnessing.

Children are not even
supposed to watch this

It's a form of pshychological abuse
to watch adults subjected to this.

But, what really happened?

We were not able to find
the parents of this child

but we were able to make contact
with another lady who was there.

We see her here in the video.

This is her explanation of what happened.

Hi. Yes that was me in
the clip of the film.

I was speaking to
the mother of the boy.

He was very distressed,
crying very hard

I wanted to understand
what was happening

If I could help in some way.

She was explaining
that her son has autism

and he was pulling his clothes off.
You see him there half undressed.

Because he wanted to go swimming.
He saw the baptism pools,

which were like small swimming pools
and he wanted to swim.

His mother had told him he wasn't allowed.

He wasn't very happy about it,
took it very badly

and couldn't understand why not.
That's why he was very upset.

So this boy is angry because he’s not
allowed to swim in the pools.

He is not scared.

His body language confirms this.

We can even see in the video that
the boy did not wet his pants.

This part of the story was made up.

Torben was given the opportunity
to comment on this video.

And his comments were
included in the show.

Torben Sondergaard explains
the boy has autism and he's crying

because he wants to
take a swim in the pool.

When you hear this explanation...

what would you expect the reaction
of the child-welfare organization to be?

I guess something like...

“Okay, this was a misunderstanding”.

And you would expect them to withdraw
their comments about abuse

Bente Boserup says: if this is true,
the abuse is even worse

as autists need quitedness
and predictability

She comments: "That is even worse".

How can anyone make
such a strong conclusion?

How can someone judge from only a video

that these parents were in the wrong to
bring their autistic child to this event?

Remember, she used the
term ‘psychological abuse’.

It is important to note that in that
same period, in January of 2019

the Danish government
was discussing a bill

around the topic of
‘psychological violence’.

It proposes to make ‘psychological
violence’ punishable as a crime.

A bill that explicityly makes
psychological violence

illegal and punishable

They refer to Torben and the
program in the Danish Parliament.

However, we have an addition to the bill,
which we hope the parliament

will support in future committee work.

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

and seen how a preacher
commits demonic exorcisms

in front of shaking and crying children.

On the Left, we agree with
'Children's Condition'

that this kind of behaviour can be
described as psychological abuse

that can leave serious
trauma in the children.

They propose to criminalize Torben’s behavior,
of performing ‘casting out of demons’.

If the bill passes, it can result
in up to 3 years in prison.

This was intimidating for Torben.

Especially the fact that they
did not even check the story.

This TV program got a lot of attention.
And many news programs discussed it.

And the public in Denmark, but also the
government already condemned Torben

based on what they were
shown in this TV program.

We will soon show you more examples
of how the truth was distorted in this series

GOD'S BEST CHILDREN

Many questions remain.

Why did this production company
misrepresent the footage in this way?

I'm sure we could make
something cool together.

What was their motive to frame Torben?

But also: why did Torben ask
for asylum in the United States?

And why did he end up in jail there?

We will explore all of these questions
and more in the following episodes.

FIGHTING FOR THE GOSPEL