Thom Keller and the spectre of satan in the Lebanon Valley

The following all represents my personal opinions and reflections. I am dealing with partial information mainly but have attempted to reconstruct the events to the best of my ability. To the best of my knowledge, I have shared no private information, that was not spoken/talked about in a public setting, including Thom’s discipleship class. Instead of gossip and hearsay, I believe this issue needs to be addressed, and the accused families should have access to why their names are being associated with heinous crimes.

I haven’t known how to proceed for a long time, but I’ve decided to simply put it out there, because this is a story that should be told, and there is justice in the truth for the affected families. This was an open secret during the early years of the church. It is a story of an alleged abuse of authority by a pastor, and to clear my conscience, I am publishing this letter.

I have been a member of Calvary Chapel since its inception. Before I left Calvary Chapel in 2019, I was told horrific child abuse had occurred, and was still occurring. Thom Keller spoke in a discipleship class about Satanic Ritual Abuse and spoke of how he had counseled a woman who experienced it, and how her family, who live in Lebanon County, were a part of a ring of people who raped and murdered children. I began a multi-year personal investigation of these claims. I believed Thom but could not understand how if these peoples’ names were known, nothing had been done about it. No police reports, no child services. I thought investigating this would put my family in danger. I discovered though that the basis for these claims of abuse appear to be based upon a highly controversial counseling method and recovered memories. I have found no evidence to substantiate the bizarre and appalling abuse Thom spoke about.

Thom diagnosed a woman with disassociate identity disorder, and then proceeded to exorcise demons from her and her alternate personalities. His counseling has caused real damage to a family. I spoke with the parents of the woman, who don’t know why their daughter had accused them of these crimes and have suffered a painful separation for two decades.

I met with the pastoral team at Calvary Chapel Lebanon multiple times, attempting to understand why I could be hearing about this story, and they believe it, more than twenty years after the counseling took place. I told them all of this had to stop. Thom said he still receives calls from pastors or counselors whom he compares notes with on Satanic Ritual Abuse. But his expertise and knowledge appear to have no basis in reality.

Thom claimed there is additional information that if I knew, I wouldn’t even think of questioning him on this issue. He spoke this in the final meeting I had, and Jerry Paradise claimed there was additional information Thom shared with him. If there is information that proves a family is a part of a multi-generational satanic cult of child abusers, it should be turned over to the authorities immediately.

I was accused of rebellion for questioning Thom. Of attacking him personally, and even of teaching heresy in my service of kids ministry and youth group.

Thom has refused to back down on any of his claims. This letter in necessary to give another side to the story to anyone who has heard Thom speak of satanic ritual abuse, and who have heard terrible things said about the families in question.

In the final email Jerry Paradise (of Calvary Chapel Philadelphia) states Thom gave him additional information which seemed to assure him that Thom has acted correctly, and nothing wrong has been done. I hope the families one day have access to the same information. The following is the culmination of years of many hours of research, in person interviews, and a painstaking amount of reflection and heartache. I hope to convey why this issue is so important to bring to light.

I have chosen to publish emails sent to Thom Keller and Jerry Paradise from 2018-2020. Please read through them. I present them as they were written. They include some of the graphic descriptions of child abuse I was told were occurring. My Email Coorespondence

An Open Letter

I have been a member of Calvary Chapel Lebanon since its inception(used to be Cornerstone East/Community Christian Fellowship). In 2016 I attended a discipleship class put on by head pastor Thom Keller, in which he discussed satanic ritual abuse, and spiritual warfare. When I was younger(probably around 12), I remember having a woman CS(to protect her identity in written form), speak at CCF’s youth group about satanic ritual abuse, and how she was a survivor, and how she was counseled by Thom and Sue Keller(before he was officially a pastor).

During the discipleship class, Thom actually discussed this woman, and how he believes(present tense) that there are social workers, police officers, and people in the community who are ritually abusing children. Something didn’t seem quite right about his talk, and I felt strange that this was still an issue, when I had heard this woman CS give her testimony at a youth group meeting when I was around 12 years old. During the discipleship class he mentioned no names, but I knew who he was speaking about, and I believe most people who have been at Calvary/Cornerstone long enough know(my parents, for example.) And so I listened very intently, and was disturbed by the details he provided about her abuse and counseling. In discussing SRA, He said matter of factly, that Satanists will even have a children on a stage, tell them stories about Jesus, and then a man dressed as Jesus comes out and rapes them.  Why had no justice been brought? How could this still be “covered up?” Who are these people, and where can I find them? 

And so for the next year I pondered this, and eventually began a deep research dive into the history of SRA, the various speakers who appeared on church circuits in the 80’s and 90’s, countless research papers, FBI reports, purchasing books on specific cases, and spending a great deal of time thinking about the issue, and what felt wrong about what Thom had said. There was a cognitive dissonance over what I was reading, and what Thom, my pastor, had told me was true.  I finally approached Thom, and asked him when he was counseling this young woman(in her late teens/early 20’s?), if he had gone to the police, or sought professional therapy, to which he replied no. I began to question him further on how he could, 20 years later, talk about this case, and even how he told us in that discipleship class the supposed head priest(who abused SC) even went on to conduct SRA abuse at a local church. If he stated this as a fact, why were police not informed? What is this church? Do the parents even know? I also discovered that through Thom’s counseling, this woman had disowned her entire family, and Thom had diagnosed her with multiple personality disorder. In the Christian sphere of SRA/MPD, these are referred to as  “alters” which can be possessed by demons. Through prayer and counseling, this woman came to believe she had been sexually abused by Satanists, attending rituals, and that her parents were her “handlers”.

I was very angry and disturbed that Thom still strongly believed all of this, and for 20 years he knew who this alleged high priest and abuser/pedophile was, and yet was silent. But he had no problem discussing Satanic ritual abuse in church.   In past sermons, on a Sunday morning, he has made the claim that sex binds people together spiritually, and that high level Satanists know this, and actually send women around the world in order to take advantage of this. I have no problem with the interpretation of being knit together as one, but I do take issue with high level Satanists engaging in such practices. On another Sunday, he read a quote by Bradd Pitt, in which Brad Pitt confessed to being a Satanist. I still have not found this quote, and even questioned him on his source.

In accordance with scripture on disputes, I went to our associate pastor, to ask him his thoughts, and why police shouldn’t be contacted about this pedophile in the community, and found out he has known all of this as well, and told me the name of the counseling Thom had done with the woman – Theophostics(or today known as TPM, Transformational Prayer Ministry). I began studying theophostics, and found very serious issues with the claims of its founder, and was quite disturbed with what I read in an theophostics manual I had purchased second hand. TPM is difficult to pin because its founder keep changing methods/beliefs, but I made sure to get a manual that Thom would have been using in the 90’s. Even today though there are serious issues with TPM, that I believe the church needs to address.

Once again I confronted Thom in a meeting I requested on theophostics, which he claims he doesn’t use anymore, but still seems to believe in some of the core tenets. During the discipleship class he described how when praying with someone, he takes a person back to the trauma/the lie Satan told them, and asks Jesus to reveal the truth to the person, with Jesus sometimes even showing up in the person’s memory. This is memory regression, and is very dangerous I believe. Part of the belief in this is that because you are praying, whatever you feel/remember will be the truth, because Jesus can’t lie.

I was still not satisfied, and was troubled that this woman had received theophostic counseling, and over time, “remembered” more and more abuse and heinous crimes committed by her parents and family, whom Thom still refers to today as generational Satanists.

I then met with our other associate pastor, Dan, who was very straight forward with me, and didn’t attempt to cover anything. He also informed another person in our church had received this theophostic counseling/prayer, and that this person also pin pointed the same “high priest”, and also believed their family had sold them as a child prostitute. And so if you believe this type of counseling is genuine(which I don’t), 2 people witnessed against a pedophile in the community, and yet nothing had been done for years.

I had no idea what to do at this point. I was hitting a brick wall, and to be discreet I could speak about this with very few people. What also tore me up, and caused me great turmoil, was that I had such great respect for Thom, and a love for his teaching. I believe he is such a good person, and I was in/am in emotional distress over shining a spotlight on this. I had contacted Calvary Philly last year asking a pastor’s opinion on theophostics, and he referred to it as “psycho-heresy”. When I told this to Thom, he brushed it off, and said he doesn’t do it anymore. Also he seemed upset I was so targeted on this use of theophostics. And yet this woman’s family is living in the legacy of this, still cut off from their daughter/sister.

My own family(my mother and aunt) warned me that people would come after my own child for looking into this. And I even discussed with my wife before starting any of my research at all, that this is dangerous territory, but I have to do what is right. I had heard about this when I was young, and now, hearing Thom speak about it still going on, I was going to put an end to it, once and for all. If I found out what I heard was true, people would be brought to justice. If I found out what Thom said was false, I would put an end to the gossip, the rumors, and the heresies, so they wouldn’t infect another generation.

I decided, with much trepidation, to actually meet with the woman’s parents. They are a kind old couple, in their 80’s,  who are heatbroken over their daughter, and don’t even know the “high priest” who abused their daughter. Shouldn’t they have a right to know? Or her brothers, who I believe are firemen in the community? After sending their daughter to many therapists in order to try and help her overcome an eating disorder, somehow she came into contact with Thom. If these people are Satanists, why were they trying to help their daughter get better? Why did no other therapists note signs of abuse? Or discover the “over 100 hundred” personalities Thom claims she had? I was gentle with the details, but they knew some of the things their daughter accused them of.


After meeting her parents, I requested one last meeting with all three pastors, to try and make an emotional plea to stop all of this, after witnessing her parents anguish. I even stated in the meeting I just wanted it all to stop. I wanted no one else to hear the story, and not another word about SRA spoken. I wanted this “story” to end. In return, I was ridiculed, asked “why do you care so much”, and was accused of being rebellious and of teaching unorthodoxy(I had taught children’s ministry for 6 years prior). Thom said I should submit to authority, through the church and through my parents. I asked Thom whose authority he was under, and he stated Joe Foscht.

Also during this meeting I was told that honoring authority meant not questioning it.

Which painted a more fuller picture of what can happen during these “prayer counseling” sessions. Someone “remembers’ something, and their pastor is there, who speaks with God’ full authority, so that they can believe it to be true.

I was very shocked and betrayed that at least two people in my church had received this counseling. I felt betrayed that I had to find out from the other pastor that Thom had been engaging in theophostics. If he feels that this is all true, that this woman’s parents are her handlers, why did he not mention theophostics when I questioned him?

I am submitting this appeal to authority, because, as I stated, I want this all to end. This story of SRA, and “alters” and prayer counseling, or even Thom’s personal views on “authority” from scripture will not infect another generation, at least not with the authority of a Calvary Chapel. Over 10-15 years ago, while the woman was “remembering” her abuse, the head pastor of Cornerstone looked into her case, and found there wasn’t really anything there. He even reprimanded Thom on theophostics. Why did I still hear this same story a decade later? Even if Thom claims not to have even looked at a theophostics book in years, he cannot keep telling a story which was formed through theophostic counseling, and which no one backs up. One of the pastors even tested this woman, asking her trustworthy people he knew, and she essentially claimed everyone was apart of the conspiracy. She may have been having a psychotic break, and Thom may have helped her get better, but the price of her then believing she was abused and used by her Satanist family is not acceptable. This must have a resolution. I do not look the other way when I hear children are being abused. I do not look the other way when I see a family torn about by heresy. This all came to fruition while I was teaching through Acts in my Sunday School class. While teaching my kids on Paul’s boldness to speak the truth, I somehow felt pursuing this all was the right course. Although its taken me a while to get here, I have counted the cost. If some members of my family believe, because Thom says so, that my children are in danger from exposing Satanists, I am definitely dragging all the details out into the light. If abuse did occur, I will not allow a pedophile to hide behind the shroud of “satanic conspiracy”.

I am not judging what happened 20-30 years ago. I am concerned with its effect today, and how readily this information on a local, horrific conspiracy is so readily  believed and repeated.  I am concerned that there may be people receiving prayer, or referrals to therapists who are sympathetic to beliefs such as this, and they are being deceived. Because sexual abuse is rarely talked about, the most vulnerable may be deceived, and no one would even know.

I began this not as an inquiry into Thom’s beliefs/practices, but as a real level of concern. I wanted to catch this man/group. I believed Thom. I believed it all was real. Only later did I begin to realize how shaky the details were. I believe the church today, not just Calvary, needs to deal with and respond to TPM/Theophostics, Sozo, and any new inner healing/Christian counseling movements.

I have even contacted older people in the community who knew this “high priest”, and his wife. I did not let them know why I was asking, because I didn’t want to smear his or his wife’s name).

I have also spoken with the husband of this woman 1 time, and they believe all of this still very strongly. He stated she has no wish to discuss this with anyone, and so I did not press them for an interview, or question her, out of respect. They also are no longer members of Calvary Chapel(as of 5 years ago, approx..?)

I have no desire to “cancel” CCLEB, or demand any resignations. I am simply finishing the cause I stood up for. It is not enough, concerning abuse and a family legacy, to simply say you believe what you want, I’ll believe what I want. Either the story is valid, or it should never be spoken about again/used a teaching point/told to other pastors asking about SRA.

Also, after having taught Sunday School every Sunday for years, volunteering at Awana, and then youth group, I am disturbed that I’d be labeled as teaching unorthodoxy and rebellious. I would in a heartbeat begin publicly questioning a pastor at any other church who said these things, or who I heard from someone had said these things.  I have almost walked away from speaking up, but I believe this is the right thing to do. To truly love and honor someone is to not cover for their faults and weaknesses, but to honestly address them. I attempted in meekness, although I did express anger when I thought a pedophile was loose at this moment in the community.  I may be the first person since Bob Krouse to challenge Thom on this story/beliefs, if I remember one of our meetings correctly.

I was disturbed by the sexual purity course that was being offered in youth group, following the Conquerors series, as the founder seems to make some disturbing memory claims, and found it not very healthy/appropriate for high school kids, but I couldn’t address this issue as I’d already begun taking on this bigger one. I also was told I must submit to the youth leader’s authority. I submit to any and all authority above me, being helpful, kind, and a team player, whether in a secular or religious setting. But the well being of the children I taught comes first. I quit teaching and the church because I would feel a hypocrite after teaching the children to stand up for truth.

Joseph Krall

CC Philly may also be in agreement on some of the above issues. I would like to know what those are, and also if you believe I am in the wrong on my beliefs/views, or anything you have read.  We may not agree, but I would like to discuss it.

CCLEB may also not be under CC Philly’s authority, and if that is the case, I would hope this is publicly known.

If I get any dates/slight details wrong I apologize. I have been accused in meeting with the pastors of spreading false information/gossip over getting small detail wrongs or asking clarifying questions, when I am simply trying to gather all the information I can, and correcting details whenever I can.