“Global Video Church”: Radicalization of an online church

Governments controlled by Satan, exorcisms via Telegram, vaccination – of the devil. An online church from Bingen has believed that it is in the final battle since the beginning of the corona pandemic and now even wants to found its own state.

Against marriage for all, sex before marriage or abortions – the online church “Global Video Church” was earlier noticed by observers as a community with extreme attitudes – based on a literal interpretation of the Bible. But since the pandemic, the videos on the YouTube channel have said that Corona is part of the “end-time scenario”, Satan wants to establish “world domination”, microchips in the brain are not a conspiracy theory, “fiery” Christians will end up like the Jews occur in the Third Reich. Inga Haase, founder of the association “GVC Global Video Church eV” and preacher in the YouTube videos calls on Christians to leave Europe and to take part in founding their own Christian state. 19,900 people follow the channel.

Philipp Kohler, an expert on worldview issues at the Evangelical Church in Württemberg, has been observing the community’s online presence since it was founded around 2014. From his point of view, the “Global Video Church” has evolved from a professionally designed theological niche channel to a political channel with clearer System criticism developed. “In my opinion, it has become really problematic since Corona started and you started having this strong end-time orientation. By criticizing the system in which we live. By saying that large individual institutions govern and control the country. ” While GVC used to be a controversial house church movement, it now forms “an entry point to dangerous conspiracy thinking and open hostility to democracy”.

Telegram: “Sometimes it takes real guns”

Jasmin Neumann, whose real name is different, has been dealing with the “Global Video Church” for weeks. In her circle of acquaintances she had heard of a person who came into contact with the “Global Video Church” through a vocational school for pastoral leaders (THS). THS now has three locations in Germany and was founded a few years ago by Inga Haase and her husband. Jasmin says: “The person has changed so much within a very short time that she has now broken off almost all contact with her old life – everyone around her is very worried.” A request from SWR left the THS unanswered. In any case, Jasmin wanted to find out more about this community.

Under a false name, she established contacts with members of the “Global Video Church” and the vocational school, made long, personal video calls with Inga Haase and other members, and also met one person in person. At the beginning she presented herself as a desperate young woman on a search in one of the Telegram groups of the “Global Video Church”. She shows us chat logs. In it, a group member compares vaccinated people with Baal worshipers who need to be put down. “Sometimes you need real weapons,” it says in this context. Another member who is considering whether vaccination might not be an option receives the following reaction: “Get out of the Satan group. In Jesus’ name. Amen.”

Paraguay, a place of longing

Student Jasmin also applies to the THS vocational school, which was founded by Inga Haase and her husband in Bingen, but is no longer managed by them. Inga Haase’s daughter invites her to an online job interview in which several applicants take part. A task for Jasmin: A short impulse lecture on the topic “Marriage for all”. The student remained in her played role, saying, contrary to her actual opinion, among other things that the Bible makes it clear “that marriage is unnatural for everyone”, that it contradicts “God’s intention” and harms people. It is accepted at the BAföG-entitled vocational school.

The application to THS is just one of many experiences for the student. Through personal chats and video calls, she quickly gets to know the actors of the “Global Video Church” better. Her experience: “I was in a network very quickly. Everyone accepted me so openly, radiated incredible warmth and always gave me new contacts.” She felt a contrast that had occupied her in the past few weeks: “How does it fit together that such warm people who took me in a supposedly desperate situation convey such evil content?”

Inga Haase now lives with her husband in Paraguay, and the association’s deputy chairwoman has also made her way there. The vision: The founding of its own state – with its own schools, hospitals and science, they say. In a video chat with the deputy chairwoman, she announced that “(to) be defensive, we will have our own police force and we will also defend ourselves. Of course”. Paraguay is a place of longing among corona deniers. Quite a few have left Germany to found their own colonies there and to escape the supposed Corona dictatorship.

Fake vaccination cards: code word “orange”

Jasmin Neumann wondered how far the group would go and asked in a chat whether she could get a fake vaccination card. Inga Haase wrote to her privately that Jasmin’s question was “dangerous”, but then she sent a voice message saying she had “two addresses where it’s very easy to get and reliable”. She was very happy to help Jasmin and continued: “Hold on, please don’t bow down. Because with every single person who bends down, we give this whole evil system more power.” According to Jasmine’s experience, the term “oranges” is used in connection with the sale of fake vaccination certificates within the community. One SWRInga Haase and the vocational school, which also has locations in Berlin and Nuremberg in addition to the main location in Bingen, leave inquiries about this unanswered.

Most recently, Inga Haase suggested to Jasmin that she should carry out her supposed studies at the THS online from Paraguay and at the same time get actively involved in GVC projects there. Jasmin finishes her project, her conclusion: “What shocked me is that you get pulled into it relatively quickly and are asked to isolate yourself. And so quickly it was suggested to me to come to Paraguay.” Her experiences also left her sad. “Many of these people I met should actually be caught somewhere else. And of course that makes it a little more difficult to deal with. You notice that people are drifting away. But they don’t seem like bad people to me. “