Monrovia – Parents have started taking custody of their children as police continue to investigate a strange church called ‘Saint Assembly,’ established six years ago.
Report by Bettie K. Johnson-Mbayo, [email protected]
Jackie Perry is the first parent to take custody of her son after he was reportedly baptized by the church some weeks ago.
Perry, a mother of four, was worried that her eldest son – an 11th grader – started behaving strangely.
The 17-year-old boy became a member of the church in April and was allegedly brainwashed to neglect his mother and three siblings.
He stopped using soap to take his shower; neither did he brush his teeth with toothpaste.
He stopped going to school based on this church’s doctrine being educated or going further with education is a sin.
“I was concerned and asked him; he told me that he knows the truth already. ‘My church, Saint Assembly, says it’s sinful,’” the worried mother told this newspaper.
“When he was home one day, I overheard people warning him to stay away from the church, but my son has grown interested in the church and was refusing everything I gave him.”
Perry’s first visit to the church was to warn them of her son since his change in behavior was getting unbearable for her.
She thanked the Liberia National Police (LNP) for allowing her to take custody of her son after he left the house unknown to everyone.
On Wednesday, July 4, police officers took into custody several members and pastors of the church to begin investigation on their alleged act of denying children’s right to education and family values.
A call was placed to the church’s general overseer, one Robert Dossen, whose wife answered and said her husband was not around.
The investigator instructed her to inform her husband that members of their church were detained at the police headquarters, she said “You can even take the whole church my husband will not come anywhere.”
On Thursday, July 5, another investigator called the general overseer, who told police that he wouldn’t turn himself in.
Dossen is a Liberian national; born in 1974 and got married in 2004 to Felecia Dossen.
He has two children the eldest is Ralph D. Dossen born 2000 while the youngest is Extra Ralphilia Dossen born early 2018.
He was a follower of Political Science while in his youth. His interest and devotion to it led him to political persecution by the opposition and assaulted because of his strong opposition.
In 2004 he was busted by police and sentenced for 18 months, charged for criminal acts in the Republic of Benin.
After a trial in the court, where he made his open restitution and confession his sentenced dropped to 11 months.
Dossen said while he was in prison in Benin, he was visited by the Holy Spirit and given a gospel of holiness that he did not know.
Years after he returned home as a refugee from Ghana, he got involved with the gospel in the Deeper Life Bible Church.
Dossen said in 2012 he was called by God, similar to his call to holiness in prison, to establish another righteous ministry to boost the work of holiness in Liberia and the world at large.
His ministry was formally established on June 30, 2013 in the city of Paynesville. With the shortest time from then to now, the church grew rapidly from 9 persons to 3,000-4000 congregational members, with 40 major branches across Liberia.
It is not known when Dossen will turn himself in for inquiry to Police investigators.