Lecture by Friends of Esthers at Sense Foundation, 23 March 2024, summarised by Gerard van der Schee
On the websites www.lichtoplevens.nl and www.lichtopsrm.com contains a plethora of information on which the lecture is based.
What is satanic ritual abuse (srm)?
The reading starts with the reading of the moving story 'When your house is not a home' (see www.lichtoplevens.nl) characterising the young lives of victims of srm.
Satanic ritual abuse is gruesome, sex-oriented abuse of babies, children and (young) adults in groups; involving rituals, abuse of power and torture. Typical rituals on many set days include the reversal of Christian rituals, Satan worship and, ultimately, sacrifices. We know this from testimonies of survivors, the people who have the courage to break free from the cult with God's help and recover from terrible traumas. The contrasts between darkness and light are enormous. Whereas darkness (John 8:44) is characterised by fear, punishment (humiliating, painful, deadly) and inner division (DIS - see below), the basis of the Light of God's Kingdom is love, grace, help and inner wholeness.
Psalm 118: 7 describes aspects of how to break free from a dark environment: The Lord is with me, in the midst of those who help me; therefore I look down on those who hate me.
Why does society notice little of the cult? Firstly Maturity in general: it is too bad for an outsider to grasp and believe; and accepting it as reality, even in our country, gives a sense of powerlessness. Secondly Fog from society: there is no independent thorough investigation into the nature and extent of organised ritual abuse. The Hendriks committee report is substandard and lets the hypothesis of recovered memories prevail over hearing survivors. Whistleblowers are thwarted; good investigative journalism by Argos/Human is retroactively overruled and removed from its website. Third: Wall from the cult: through key positions, in various organisation, professions and also churches, victims are discouraged or thwarted from disclosing their horrific experiences. They are not believed and thus carry their huge amount of horrific trauma alone.
How do people get caught up in srm? Victims tell of being taken to the cult by relatives or close ones. They also tell of missing children ending up in the cult. Victims are also turned into perpetrators, blackmailing them: if you ever tell us you are a victim of srm, we will show that you are a perpetrator yourself. Perpetrators get involved through relationships and weakness around temptations of power and sex. Like Joseph (Genesis 36), it is an art and courage to immediately step out of temptation and/or admit a wrongdoing.
Can you get out of srm? No, never in your own strength. Yes, by grace and faithfulness from God. What it takes is an inner desire and courage; a network of graciously faithful adult Christians; therapy and prayer. It is a long road of recovery with much opposition and where much shame must be overcome .
Survivor Esther's recovery is a hopeful story; where at first she could not find a good counsellor, GZ psychologist Aline Terpstra started helping her. Besides expert help, any survivor seeking help from Friends of Esthers needs a network of faithful adult Christians who want to be a new family and provide practical support and intercession. Friends of Esthers also has prayer groups that pray through during cult nights and a group of people who can then also be reached by survivors. This is needed because survivors are frequently discouraged by the cult on their path of recovery and threatened (read Esther's stories at www.lichtopsrm.com which can include stalking, driving off the road, workplace rape and even attempted murder). The goal is for them to return to the cult.
What does srm mean for our spiritual lives? We need spiritual discernment to see through it/this evil and wisdom how to help in a way that brings survivors to recovery from within. If we have some awareness of srm and Satan's modus operandi, we will also become aware that there are spiritual struggles going on in the church to render it powerless so as not to be a place of grace for survivors to come to recovery from srm.
Four of the 7 churches in Rev 2 and 3 receive the warning that Satan is active in their city or group. Let us (re)know Satan's principles of power, lies and fear and prayerfully consider how we ourselves are determined by them. Do you have to be brave to engage with a survivor? Yes, however, brave people are not people who have no fear, but people who do not let their fear dominate - think of Gideon (Judges 1).
The cult is obsessed with the Christian God, who has failed in their eyes and must be fought tooth and nail. Some cult members are explicitly instructed to infiltrate churches and congregations with the aim of causing misery. Often the assignment is to rise as high as possible in the church hierarchy. Many church congregations do not take this into account at all and do not believe it; the survivors really do tell otherwise; e.g. that they are to deliberately seduce church leaders.
Where and when does srm take place? There are frequent gatherings - in a variety of locations - on all Christian holidays and memorial days like Walpurgisnacht (see Friends of Esthers prayer letter). Cult groups also meet at seasonal transitions, full month and weekly on a fixed night, regionally or nationally.
What characterises victims of srm? They develop multiple personality disorder (DIS) at a young age through severe trauma from horrific rape, torture and rituals. This Dissociative Identity Disorder is recognised in the DSM-V psychiatry manual. Because this division is deliberately made by the cult, we speak of CDIS (Complex DIS); see explanation by GZ-psychologist Aline Terpstra in Café Weltschmerz https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YygZPBqV174).
People with CDIS can function normally in society and at all levels, including in a family. Many people suffering from CDIS regularly feel like they have been somewhere before. They can also have highly fluctuating moods and beliefs. Often people keep DIS hidden out of shame
Handlers themselves have been able to observe that, for example, parts are deliberately created that have to undergo (torture) sex, parts that have to do special tasks for the cult, reporting parts, ordinary life parts, etc. Sometimes there are more than a hundred parts that have to process their own trauma, get to know each other and come to integration. That takes a lot of grace from God and appropriate support from people.
How does society deal with srm?
Occasionally, something surfaces about the existence of organised paedosexual networks and srm. Like with 'Lisa's girl'. Following this, Argos wanted to investigate the existence of srm and asked practitioners to complete a survey. This resulted in 200 cases of severe organised paedosexual abuse and 140 had ritualistic features. Based on this, the House of Representatives unanimously called for an enquiry into the nature and extent of organised sadistic abuse in October 2020. Unfortunately, this did not become an independent enquiry. The report was of poor quality,
Hardly any attention is paid to it in the media either, and what little attention there was to e.g. the Hendriks Commission investigation has faded away very quickly. Meanwhile, horrific rapes, often of small children and even child sacrifices, take place every month in shocking numbers!
(Deceased) victims of srm should stand out, shouldn't they? Unfortunately, in the cult, babies are regularly not declared to the civil registry at birth and there are also cult doctors who can sign fake death certificates. Thus, among other things, this great injustice can stay under the radar.
How can you help survivors? Friends of Esthers was set up to assist and help survivors and advocates the following approach:
- Intensive psychological help for trauma treatment
- New family: a friend network of stable people is essential.
- A safe place to live is important.
- Reachability during cult nights
Through the website and information evenings, the group of trusted volunteers and practitioners who want to help long-term is growing. They are supported and equipped. We also advise churches/Christians in a general sense what they can do to help children or adults trapped in satanic ritual abuse.
What characterises the path of liberation and recovery?
Core purpose in helping a survivor is integration of the different parts, being able/daring to speak in a safe environment. This involves connecting with what survivors come up with. Mainly open-ended questions are asked to avoid influencing the practitioner.
Processing the very serious traumas is spearheaded, with the help of EMDR and other forms of therapy. Breaking obedience to the cult is obviously also important, to prevent new traumas.
What can you do to help?
- Prayer for survivors, in person or after signing up with a group from FoE
- Inform churches or groups (this can also be done in a small circle, of 5-10 people).
- Politicians point out existence of horrific abuse in our country
- Becoming a volunteer of our foundation
- (Learning) to engage as a practitioner for survivors.
- A donation to FoE. Among other things, this pays for trauma therapy for survivors. Survivors also often have practical needs e.g. means of transport that broke down/destroyed etc. Costs for training and information evenings in the country, travel expenses, etc.
More info on our two websites; www.lichtoplevens.nl and www.lichtopsrm.com
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