Faith healer Tom de Wal’s plans to build a megachurch in Dussen are canceled for the time being. The leader of Frontrunners Ministries himself has withdrawn the application for the permit, the Brabants Dagblad reports.
According to the BD the municipality of Altena was just about to make a decision on the application. The council had until the end of January to do this. This should actually have happened earlier, but De Wal was repeatedly granted an extension to provide missing documents, the newspaper writes.
De Wal planned to build a large events center on the Oude Kerkstraat in Dussen. There should be room for about 1,775 guests. With its religious organization Frontrunners Ministries De Wal wanted to hold healing and deliverance services, among other things. During such a service you could be healed of diseases or freed from demons.
READ ALSO: Faith healer not welcome: ‘Something so big doesn’t belong in a small village’
Residents of the village were absolutely not happy with the plans. “Something so big doesn’t belong in a small village,” said a resident at a residents’ evening. Texts also appeared on the street and local residents hung posters in their windows.
In the podcast Op Hoop van Zegen, journalists from Omroep Brabant delve into Tom de Wal’s religious organization, Frontrunners Ministries.