Church of the poor - Jesus Army

“...there are
lots of ancient
tree circles,
used by the
Druids. We
were driving
past one. He
stopped the car
and the next
thing I knew
he’d dragged
me out, into
the trees.”
www.jesus.org.uk
– physically.”
As Jacqui talks, the room seems to darken.
She tells me how, over the months, Dan
used the ritual as a pretext to try and push
Jacqui to have sex with him. As Jacqui
resisted (“I was married and just saw it as
wrong”) things “started to get nasty”. Dan
became threatening, cornering Jacqui when
he knew she was on her own. Jacqui decided
she “wanted out” of the coven.
“It was about this time, just when things
were getting really heavy, that I found the
Jesus Fellowship’s glass mug,” recalls
Jacqui, smiling faintly. “It reminded me; like
a message, almost. I got in touch again, after
many years, via the Jesus Army forum on
the web.”
Meanwhile, things got heavier and
heavier with Dan.
“It was early February. I remember it had
been snowing. Dan had given me an ultimatum
to do what he wanted by a particular
pagan festival called Imbolc. I’d dropped
the kids off to school and Dan turned up in
the car and I got in; a great mistake.”
Jacqui takes a deep breath. “Round where
we lived there are lots of ancient tree circles,
used by the Druids. We were driving past
one. He stopped the car and the next thing I
knew he’d dragged me out, into the trees.”
Her description of the rape that followed
is muffled by tears; Jacqui’s horror of the
memory is palpable.
“I couldn’t tell anyone. I couldn’t report
it to the police. It’s difficult to explain, the
whole coven secrecy thing. I’d taken various
oaths...” Jacqui’s voice is very quiet. She
adds: “And, for me, it was like the pact of
silence I’d experienced as a child about the
abuse. I guess I’d been there before.”
Trapped in silence, Jacqui was sure about
one thing: she wanted to get right out of the
coven. But who to turn to? Jacqui’s recently
renewed friendship with people in the Jesus
Fellowship, via the web forum, became a
lifeline.
“Eventually, I went to stay at a Jesus
Fellowship house for a few days. I didn’t
say much about what I was going through,
but the friendship really helped – and I was
finding my way to real faith in Jesus” Jacqui
says. “It was at that time that I found out
about Jimmy’s affair as well – so I certainly
needed support!”
Her friends in the Jesus Fellowship,
together with a determination to stay
strong “for my kids” gave Jacqui fight. After
a number of other threatening incidents
involving Dan, she decided to take action:
she told Dan she was going to the police.
Not long after that Jacqui heard he was
moving away. The nightmare was coming
to an end.
“I still had threatening and abusive messages
online for a while after Dan moved,”
remembers Jacqui, “but from then on I
became much more involved with the Jesus
Army. I was getting stronger in myself.”
Slowly Jacqui found herself getting restored
and healed – and deepening in faith
towards Jesus. “I don’t trust quick, sudden
dramatic changes” she says. “They can be
quickly, suddenly reversed!
“But I found that Jesus is a friend; a friend
who is for you even if you mess up.” In early
2006, Jacqui was baptised as a Christian.
“It felt like I’d come through the wilderness
and out the other side.” Jacqui smiles. “Now
I had a new chance to get life the right way
round!”
I ask her what her message is to those
who might be trapped in similar occult or
abusive situations. “Get out of the secrecy”
she replies, “whatever has happened. And
whatever you’ve done, there’s always room
for you with God.”
What a lovely woman I think, as I reach
for yet another choc biscuit.
JL
Names have been changed
Jesus Life One/2008 Page 11