Paul Schafer: Difference between revisions
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== | ==Association with William Branham== | ||
Following World War II in 1945, Schäfer served as a young people's leader in the Evangelical Free Church. He was removed from his position there after rumors arose that he was molesting young boys.<ref>Falconer, Bruce (1 September 2008). "The Torture Colony". American Scholar. Retrieved 2 April 2020.</ref> He then set out as an itinerant preacher and singer, traveling around Germany and preaching. During the 1950s, Schäfer became a follower and promoter of the teachings of William Branham.<ref>https://www.reuters.com/article/us-germany-chile-sect/insight-german-sect-victims-seek-escape-from-chilean-nightmare-past-idUSBRE8480MN20120509 Insight: German sect victims seek escape from Chilean nightmare past, Brown, Stephen (May 7, 2012 - Reuters</ref><ref>http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=67352 Colonia Dignidad and Jonestown, San Diego State University</ref> Schäfer had been following the ministry of Branham from Germany, and was very excited when Branham made a personal visit to Germany in 1955. Schäfer and other members of his church served as William Branham's personal security detail on his 1955 European tour.<ref>La Secta Perfecta by Basso, Carlos (4 October 2022, PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE GRUPO EDITORIAL, pg. 8</ref> Branham advocated "a strict adherence to the Bible, a woman's duty to obey her husband and apocalyptic visions, such as Los Angeles sinking beneath the ocean."<ref>German sect victims seek escape from Chilean nightmare past - https://www.reuters.com/article/us-germany-chile-sect-idUSBRE8480MN20120509 (9 May 2012, Reuters</ref> Branham held multiple revival campaigns across Europe and Germany during the early 1950s. Schäfer became a friend of Branham who promoted a return to "a more pristine time" of religious and racial purity.<ref>The Dark History of Colonia Dignidad, Stavans, Ilan (March 24, 2022) https://www.thenation.com/article/culture/sinister-sect-colonia-dignidad</ref> | Following World War II in 1945, Schäfer served as a young people's leader in the Evangelical Free Church. He was removed from his position there after rumors arose that he was molesting young boys.<ref>Falconer, Bruce (1 September 2008). "The Torture Colony". American Scholar. Retrieved 2 April 2020.</ref> He then set out as an itinerant preacher and singer, traveling around Germany and preaching. During the 1950s, Schäfer became a follower and promoter of the teachings of William Branham.<ref>https://www.reuters.com/article/us-germany-chile-sect/insight-german-sect-victims-seek-escape-from-chilean-nightmare-past-idUSBRE8480MN20120509 Insight: German sect victims seek escape from Chilean nightmare past, Brown, Stephen (May 7, 2012 - Reuters</ref><ref>http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=67352 Colonia Dignidad and Jonestown, San Diego State University</ref> Schäfer had been following the ministry of Branham from Germany, and was very excited when Branham made a personal visit to Germany in 1955. Schäfer and other members of his church served as William Branham's personal security detail on his 1955 European tour.<ref>La Secta Perfecta by Basso, Carlos (4 October 2022, PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE GRUPO EDITORIAL, pg. 8</ref> Branham advocated "a strict adherence to the Bible, a woman's duty to obey her husband and apocalyptic visions, such as Los Angeles sinking beneath the ocean."<ref>German sect victims seek escape from Chilean nightmare past - https://www.reuters.com/article/us-germany-chile-sect-idUSBRE8480MN20120509 (9 May 2012, Reuters</ref> Branham held multiple revival campaigns across Europe and Germany during the early 1950s. Schäfer became a friend of Branham who promoted a return to "a more pristine time" of religious and racial purity.<ref>The Dark History of Colonia Dignidad, Stavans, Ilan (March 24, 2022) https://www.thenation.com/article/culture/sinister-sect-colonia-dignidad</ref> | ||
Latest revision as of 20:15, 17 December 2024
Paul Schäfer Schneider, also spelled variously as Paul Schäfer or Paul Schaefer (December 4, 1921 – April 24, 2010), was the founder and former leader of a sect and agricultural commune of German immigrants called Colonia Dignidad ("Dignity Colony")—later renamed Villa Baviera—located in the south of Chile, about 340 km south of Santiago, where many sexual abuses against minors were performed. Investigations by Amnesty International and the Chilean National Commission for Truth and Reconciliation Report have verified that Colonia Dignidad was used by DINA, the Chilean secret police, as a torture and detention center during Augusto Pinochet's military dictatorship.
Reuters tied William Branham to Paul Schafer in a news report in 2012 which stated:
- Schaefer followed the teachings of American preacher William M. Branham, one of the founders of the "faith healing" movement in the 1940s and ‘50s. Born in a log cabin in Kentucky, Branham said he had been visited by angels and attracted tens of thousands of followers with sermons that advocated a strict adherence to the Bible, a woman's duty to obey her husband and apocalyptic visions, such as Los Angeles sinking beneath the ocean.[1]
The story of Paul Schafer has been made into a movie:
Association with William Branham
Following World War II in 1945, Schäfer served as a young people's leader in the Evangelical Free Church. He was removed from his position there after rumors arose that he was molesting young boys.[2] He then set out as an itinerant preacher and singer, traveling around Germany and preaching. During the 1950s, Schäfer became a follower and promoter of the teachings of William Branham.[3][4] Schäfer had been following the ministry of Branham from Germany, and was very excited when Branham made a personal visit to Germany in 1955. Schäfer and other members of his church served as William Branham's personal security detail on his 1955 European tour.[5] Branham advocated "a strict adherence to the Bible, a woman's duty to obey her husband and apocalyptic visions, such as Los Angeles sinking beneath the ocean."[6] Branham held multiple revival campaigns across Europe and Germany during the early 1950s. Schäfer became a friend of Branham who promoted a return to "a more pristine time" of religious and racial purity.[7]
"Strong ties were forged" between Schäfer, William Branham, and Ewald Frank during Branham's time in Germany. Schäfer "was completely fascinated" by Branham, "not only because of his supposed healings, but because behind the latter rain doctrine, the axis of what Branham preached, there was a totalitarian, misogynistic and apocalyptic message, perfect to brainwash all those who were willing to follow him." William Branham's second sermon during his visit to Karlsruhe, Germany, left a deep impression on Schäfer. The sermon was about the Pool of Bethesda, and in it Branham strongly taught that all illness and all sin are actually demons entrenched in the people's bodies. Schäfer claimed to experience a healing in the meeting, and thereafter began to preach very strongly that all sin and illness was the result of demonic possession.[8]
Following the 1955 meetings with Branham, Schäfer began to put more of William Branham's doctrines into practice in his group, and began to insist to his followers that they were the "only faithful ones" to William Branham's teachings.[9]
It is uncertain whether this quote refers to Paul Schafer or a different Schafer:
- And I heard a Baptist preacher say the other day, which is a good friend of mine, Dr. Schafer, a dear, godly, beloved brother. And I'm not just saying about the Baptist, the Methodists has got that kind, too. My associate pastor of my church is a Methodist from Asbury College. He's a godly, borned again, Holy Ghost filled man. Yes, sir. And old Mordecai F. Hamm, and many of those old Baptists was filled with the Holy Ghost.[10]
Footnotes
- ↑ Reuters.com, Insight: German sect victims seek escape from Chilean nightmare past, KREFELD, GERMANY, STEPHEN BROWN AND OLIVER ELLRODT, May 9, 2012
- ↑ Falconer, Bruce (1 September 2008). "The Torture Colony". American Scholar. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
- ↑ https://www.reuters.com/article/us-germany-chile-sect/insight-german-sect-victims-seek-escape-from-chilean-nightmare-past-idUSBRE8480MN20120509 Insight: German sect victims seek escape from Chilean nightmare past, Brown, Stephen (May 7, 2012 - Reuters
- ↑ http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=67352 Colonia Dignidad and Jonestown, San Diego State University
- ↑ La Secta Perfecta by Basso, Carlos (4 October 2022, PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE GRUPO EDITORIAL, pg. 8
- ↑ German sect victims seek escape from Chilean nightmare past - https://www.reuters.com/article/us-germany-chile-sect-idUSBRE8480MN20120509 (9 May 2012, Reuters
- ↑ The Dark History of Colonia Dignidad, Stavans, Ilan (March 24, 2022) https://www.thenation.com/article/culture/sinister-sect-colonia-dignidad
- ↑ La Secta Perfecta, Basso, Carlos (4 October 2022, PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE GRUPO EDITORIAL
- ↑ La Secta Perfecta, Basso, Carlos (4 October 2022, PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE GRUPO EDITORIAL
- ↑ William Branham, 53-1129A - The Faith That Was Once Delivered To The Saints, para. 88