Universal Church of the Kingdom of God coming through your letter box soon

I just got a newspaper though my front door (in Oxford) called City News, with a red top and front page splash about benefit cheats and scroungers. As you read through it, it starts to dawn on you that this might not be a free newspaper, but an advert of some sort.

It reads just like a paper. But there are references to something called UCKG, and how it has helped people out of welfare dependency, saving the Government millions. On the back page there’s a full page spread promoting events round the country, at centres around the country, of the UCKG.

The UCKG is the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God.

The UCKG has been linked with charges of fraud, tax evasion, extracting money from the poor and directing it to church leaders, money laundering, child demonic-possession cases, and the appalling death of Victoria Climbie (see the wiki page on the church for details).

The UCKG is a focus of cult watcher Rick Ross. Go here for a long list of worrying reports.

There have also been charges of whipping up hatred against Catholics, and even pretending to be the Catholic Church.

If I had a scanner, I’d scan in a few pages of the newspaper so you could take a look….

STOP PRESS. I just found this video below. Note the references to curing cancer and creating wealth through prayer.

It’s a different version of the paper to the one I got. The following video is kind of interesting. The Brazilian founder of the church appears part way though explaining to his followers how to con people out of their money, “Either you give or you go to hell!”.

POSTSCRIPT. INCIDENTALLY… the UCKG has charitable status in the UK. The Charity Commission said, after their investigation of UCKG in 2003 (following the Victoria Climbie affair – Victoria was taken to the UCKG by her aunt Kouao, where she was seen by Pastor Lima. The Public Inquiry report said: “Pastor Lima expressed the view that Victoria was possessed by an evil spirit and advised Kouao to bring Victoria back to the church a week later.” Victoria was tortured to death by her aunt and her boyfriend within a week), that it found no evidence that the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God claimed to be able to heal individuals or purge them of demons. Rick Ross’s cult watch website says that on the same day the CC reported: “Despite the charity regulator’s ruling the churches’ website was today advertising “strong prayer to destroy witchcraft, demon-possession” – an apparent reference to exorcism.”