debut: 2/16/17
35,084 runs
Christian ‘coup’
Discovery of ‘take-over plot’ led to Best’s SSA departure
A plan hatched within the Strategic Services Agency (SSA) to establish a military-style pro-Christian government was allegedly discovered and became the trigger for Major Roger Best being sent on administrative leave.A “Christian” organization with a minuscule membership of less than 100 persons dominated one of the country’s most sensitive security agencies, and was at the centre of the take-over plot.
A quarter of the church’s members were employees of the SSA.
The church is led by Pastor Ian Ezekiel Brown, who was employed by Best at SSA, on a starting salary of $10,000 which was increased shortly thereafter to $23,000 a month. Brown was a Special Reserve Police (SRP) officer.A top official at the SSA who is a member of the church facilitated the hiring of many of the church members in the SSA, circumventing the vetting process in many instances, and strategically placed church members in senior management which included head of human resources, finance, as well as senior positions in technology, cybersecurity and administration. The deputy director, intelligence, is also a member of the church.
Unlike other churches, the membership of the Jerusalem Church is determined by invitation, which tended to be focused on persons with a military background.In one case, a Coast Guard captain is said to have left his spouse; and in another, a senior SSA member left her spouse to cohabit with another senior SSA official based on the “prophecy” of the church leader.
“It became a cult-like Jim Jones-like organisation,” a source noted.
Discovery of ‘take-over plot’ led to Best’s SSA departure
A plan hatched within the Strategic Services Agency (SSA) to establish a military-style pro-Christian government was allegedly discovered and became the trigger for Major Roger Best being sent on administrative leave.A “Christian” organization with a minuscule membership of less than 100 persons dominated one of the country’s most sensitive security agencies, and was at the centre of the take-over plot.
A quarter of the church’s members were employees of the SSA.
The church is led by Pastor Ian Ezekiel Brown, who was employed by Best at SSA, on a starting salary of $10,000 which was increased shortly thereafter to $23,000 a month. Brown was a Special Reserve Police (SRP) officer.A top official at the SSA who is a member of the church facilitated the hiring of many of the church members in the SSA, circumventing the vetting process in many instances, and strategically placed church members in senior management which included head of human resources, finance, as well as senior positions in technology, cybersecurity and administration. The deputy director, intelligence, is also a member of the church.
Unlike other churches, the membership of the Jerusalem Church is determined by invitation, which tended to be focused on persons with a military background.In one case, a Coast Guard captain is said to have left his spouse; and in another, a senior SSA member left her spouse to cohabit with another senior SSA official based on the “prophecy” of the church leader.
“It became a cult-like Jim Jones-like organisation,” a source noted.
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