The Hallelujah Kids.... disturbing

I was up late last night and I came upon a programme that I personally found to be deeply disturbing and frankly frightening. I don't think that this is a religious issue, but if the mods think it is, then please move it to the religious forum.

The documentary was titled "The Hallelujah Kids", and it was a portrait of two children Shaun (19 years old) and Jacob (10 years old) and their father Mike Walters.

Description of the documentary

Shaun was ordained at the age of 6, and he then took to the road with his father as itinerant preachers. For 13 years they travelled around the bible belt of the US, going from church halls to revival meetings, often living out of a car, spreading the word of God. He was home schooled by his father, but this stopped when Shaun was 16, because it had become too difficult. The documentary maker first caught up with Shaun when he was 14, and he had captured a bright and fanatical child who was solely caught up in preaching and pulling in crowds of people wanting to see him in action. He was questioned about his life and lack of friends and family, and he stated that his sole calling was to preach and having friends did not matter. By the time Shaun turned 19, they had been joined by Jacob, who was just about to be ordained at the age of 10, and the father and 2 children had settled in a small town while the father attempted to start up a permanent ministry. Shaun had changed and become withdrawn, plagued by nightmares that the Devil was after him, he had no friends at all, virtually no education, could not interact socially with anyone aside from his father and brother. He only became animated when he preached and withdrew into himself as soon as the microphone was taken from him. He had apparently been diagnosed as being autistic, but his father had sought no medical help for him. When asked about the obviously failing mental health of his child, his father replied that he was happy that Shaun was not into the same things that boys his age are usually interested in and he stated that the fact that Shaun only showed signs of life when on the pulpit showed that Shaun was doing God's work. The mother (who lives hundreds of miles away and rarely sees the boys) has stated that she recognises that Shaun is in need of medical help because he is not a normal boy, but she feels that he should continue preaching (she too is also a preacher), because he needs to fulfil his calling, although how a child of 6 can have had a calling is beyond me. However, Shaun, having grown up, was no longer pulling in the crowds that he did when he was a small child.

Enter Jacob, who at 10 years old, appeared to be healthier mentally and more active as a child his age should be. He too is as fanatical as his father, however he did not experience the gypsy lifestyle that his brother had endured, and he has friends and attends school. The documentary shows Jacob preaching in his father's church and also in other churches as they travel for Jacob's ordination. Apparently Jacob has chosen to become a minister all on his own, even though he did not know what being ordained was actually about. The parents were immensely proud that he was being ordained and following in the footsteps of other family members. Jacob had become the new child phenomenon, replacing Shaun, who appeared to be relegated to the background as Jacob took to the stage driving demons and illnesses out of the followers who attended these revival meetings.

Breakdown of the documentary (Starts from page 3)

The terrifying aspect for me while watching this documentary was that these were not normal children. They were completely immersed in preaching, and this was fully encouraged by their father. The father literally ignored Shaun and his continual descent into madness, concentrating on his new project, 10 year old Jacob who could draw in the crowd. The sad part of this story is that one knows that Jacob's fate could be the same as his brother if his father's ministry fails and they have to take to the road again.

How the mother could allow this to happen is beyond me, but she was very proud that her boys had chosen to become ministers. One has to wonder if these children were not forced or pressured into it, especially seeing that they were both so young when they became ministers. The father continually preaches about Satan and the Devil to his children, and this is especially evident in Shaun's obsession with the Devil trying to destroy his life. Yet the father sees no problems with any of this. I felt disgusted as I watched these children become pawns in their father's striving for fame in his children becoming ministers. These children are paraded at these revival meetings with the father looking on proudly and happily.

How can parents be allowed to do this to their children? Surely there are laws in place to protect children from such things? The father's fanaticism, to me, amounts to child abuse, especially in light of his refusing to seek medical help for Shaun, who is in dire need of it. I am amazed that the boys were not removed from the father's care in all this time.

After having watched this documentary, I'm left to wonder to what extent should we involve children in religion. These children aren't allowed to be children, instead thrown into the world of fighting the Devil and curing people. These kids are too young to be able to make a choice and by the time they are old enough, they know of no other life. Should this be allowed to happen? Should parents be allowed to do this to their children?

 

Praise the lord? Praise for what? This child has not had a chance to be a child. You get to sit at home, use the internet, go to school, have friends, watch TV, etc. If you were given a choice at the age of 6 South, would you have done the same as child has had to do? Notice how I have used the word 'choice' there South? Here in lies the difference between Matthew's verse and this child's life. These kids did not leave home to spread the word, they were taken away and made to do so.

And what has this child received South? Oh that's right, he's received a decline in his mental health as well as a lack of help for his autism. How wonderful! Praise God!

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Tell me something South, if this had been a story about a small child being forced to leave home with a fanatical parent, to travel the road, not being allowed to go to school or receive a proper education or have friends, not allowed to seek medical help for his illness, and all for anything that was not religious, would you be quoting Matthew?

These children are being used as puppets by their fanatical parents, especially the father, to serve his own means of starting a ministry. These kids have no future. Especially the eldest son who has had no education and is mentally ill.

 

The choice is there for you South, and yet here you are on the internet. Looks like no 'hundredfold eternal life in heaven' for you. Maybe in some small part of that religious brain of yours, you do see the folly and the insanity of the father's actions.

Either that or your parents won't let you borrow the car.

South, the whole point of the documentary was to show this child's unhappiness. He is not jovial in spirit, nor did he rejoice at the promise of eternal life. All he talked about was Satan trying to ruin his life and at one point, after he'd missed a chance at the microphone because his younger brother felt the need to keep on preaching, he thought his heart had stopped and that he had become a vampire. Not the speakings of a happy and jovial child. This boy was visibly unhappy and he admitted to being so.

And the heathen? Heh! Give me a break!

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I have to ask South, why aren't you out with your bible in one hand and tamborine in the other converting the heathen lost souls?

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That comment shows the difference between a rational mind and your mind.