A Touch of Evil

July 13th, 2026

I’ll admit right off the bat that I had a massive problem writing this piece. I wasn't quite sure how to tackle such a heavy subject. I would have loved to just laugh it all off and reduce it to absurdity. Because, on the surface, it is funny and absurd. But if you stop and think about it for more than a second, it’s also incredibly sad and, above all, terrifying. So, laughing at it would be cruel. Then again, we established a while ago that taking things too seriously is a slow killer.

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He's the shining and the light without whom I cannot see

Two weeks ago, my cousin Bartek gave me a heads-up that he’d be shooting an assignment for Newsweek in Bielsko. He and a fellow journalist were doing a piece on "Dotyk Nieba" (Touch of Heaven), a "Christian evangelization initiative." The group was hosting an event in Bielsko on Monday and in Katowice on Tuesday. So, I set up a coffee date with my cousin before the Bielsko event, naturally bringing my camera along. I also tipped off Michał, telling him to drop by and watch a professional at work - and see my cousin work, too. Wink.

A quick tangent. The location of the event? My cousin mentioned it was by the pedophile fountain (three naked boys peeing into a fountain). I immediately recognized it as Adolf Hitler Square. Okay, officially it’s Chrobry Square now, but during WWII, it was renamed to Adolf-Hitler-Platz. Ever since I learned that fun fact, I haven't called it anything else.

The creator and leader of the group is Tomasz Dorożała, who refers to himself as the Apostle. A hulking guy. Bald, pretty jacked. Charismatic, a smooth talker. He doesn’t really look like those possessed 90s televangelists - that is, until his show begins. It starts off inconspicuously and, frankly, rather boring. First, our Apostle (who, by the way, fought in a freak fight MMA gala last year) started preaching something that sounded like he was the lyrical subject of the Genesis song Jesus He Knows Me. Then another guy gave a testimony about his sick child, who had issues with their legs. Naturally, the doctors were helpless, but prayer did the trick.

Time dragged on. Not many people showed up - maybe twenty, maybe a few more. A massive cloud was rolling in from the north, promising a genuinely biblical downpour.

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But I can get You a pocketful of miracles

Suddenly, the crowd gathered around the Apostle, and the healing began. "What ails you, ma'am?" "I have a problem with my legs." "Then let us cast the demon out of your legs!" He approaches the woman. He touches her legs, touches her stomach, and shouts: "Demon, I cast you out!" A puff of breath on the legs, a gentle push, and the woman collapses into the arms of one of the Apostle's assistants, who lowers her to the ground. Next patient.

"What ails you?" he repeats. The reasons for the visits varied wildly. Migraines, leg pain, nightmares, drug addictions, a miscarriage... and cancer. We'll get back to the cancer in a minute. As I mentioned earlier, the Apostle was a freak fighter, a personal trainer, and was (and probably still is) a multi-level marketing specialist. Currently, he is a full-time man of God, healer, and miracle worker.

People sometimes went into spasms. Like someone just pulled their plug. Sometimes they flailed their arms. Usually, an assistant was right there to gently lay them on the ground. An absolute circus. A mystical experience. Exactly like the Middle Ages, where miracle workers were followed by processions of blindly devout pilgrims - the sick, the desperate, those left to fend for themselves, abandoned by society and God. And you know what? It’s the 21st century, and very little has actually changed. Only the scale and the tools are different. The phenomenon itself never disappeared. It’s alive and well, and it will thrive for decades, even centuries to come. Because that’s human nature.

Watching these people, you realize that in some cases, the state failed them when it couldn’t heal their bodies. And the church probably failed them too, unable to heal their souls. It’s a complicated issue, really. Why is extreme alternative medicine booming right now? Flat-earthers and anti-vaxxers? It’s an open question; I feel like I know the answer, but I also know it’s nowhere near comprehensive.

For me, the whole event was a bit of a shock because I hadn’t done any research before showing up. I just came to hang out with my cousin. So, the actual “healing” hit me like a ton of bricks. I had no idea who this man was or what his group actually did. Once the dust settled and I got back home, I scoured the internet for answers.

The headlines scream: Internet Healer or Common Scammer? He Claims to Heal and Cast Out Demons (Wait, does he heal them first and then cast them out?). Apostle Tomasz Healed in Poznań: “After the miracle, I can bend my arm.” Reading these articles, you learn that his social media has 200,000 followers. That people faint, spasm, and rise miraculously cured. He claims to have cured them of cancer. Medical evidence? Apparently, none has been provided.

Oh, right. A woman at the meeting says she has cancer and the doctors don’t give her much hope. She’s on chemo. Chemo? The Apostle fired up. Chemo is evil, God hates chemo, we are casting Chemo out along with the demon! Laying on of hands, casting the Greater Heal spell. It knocked the woman flat on the ground. I mean, the assistant gently lowered her to the ground. It literally made me shudder. Up until this point, it was darkly funny; now, it was just terrifying. “Do you feel better, ma’am?” “No.” “We’ll try again later, then.” I’m quoting from memory, but this specific moment is on YouTube as a short. Because aside from us, his assistants were recording everything, and it’s all over social media. The show must go on.

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What you give just serves me right

In the meantime, a massive downpour unleashed. A solid wall of rain. If I were a believer, I’d think God actually existed and was at least trying to intervene here, on the former Adolf Hitler Square, to disperse the crowd. The rain, however, didn't stop the healing. We took cover for a moment, but Michał had an umbrella, my cousin had determination, and I had my heavily weather-sealed Canon R6. I got a little wet.

We were initially worried that if we crashed the event with cameras, they’d chase us away. Couldn't be further from the truth. The Apostle himself is a very friendly and charismatic guy. The assistants were accommodating, stepping out of our frames the moment they realized they were "in the way." To them, after all, this is free advertising, free reach. More people will find out they exist. It's not like they're doing anything wrong, right? They heal for free. Of course, they accept voluntary donations. You can drop a coin in the basket. You can use the card terminal. You can send a BLIK transfer. You can even buy a book - the Apostle's autobiography.

Media experts say it's classic manipulation, an obvious scam. They suggest he must have taken courses in hypnosis, influence, manipulation, mentalism, and other neuro-linguistic parlor tricks. Classic coaching at its absolute worst.

Looking into the faces of these people, you can see desperation, naivety, and hope. And it doesn't matter if it’s in Bielsko, Katowice, or Poznań. Or at some other man of God's gathering just outside Los Angeles or in Bucharest. They all look the same. They might wear different clothes or have a different skin color, but the expression on their faces never changes.

While we were shooting, a friend of mine walked by with her daughter. She asked what the hell was going on. We gave her the rundown: who this guy was and what he was doing to these people. Her expression shifted from confusion to pure disgust. And her immediate reflex was: "Why aren't the authorities looking into this?" Unfortunately, I had to bring her back down to earth. On what grounds? Under what statute? Collecting donations isn't illegal. As long as he isn't inciting hatred, restricting the personal freedom of his followers, or doing anything strictly against the penal code, there’s no law you can use to touch him. Once again, the state is powerless.

That thing in the photo above is a shofar from Jerusalem. I think it wards off demons, I can't really remember anymore. I do remember the Apostle bristling at people calling his organization a cult. How is it a cult? He's just healing people, he doesn't want anything from anyone, and he doesn't force anyone to do anything. He's harmless, right?

Woman, put away the chemo, we will cast the demon out of you. Is that harmless? About a decade ago, there was this quack in Poland named Zięba. He treated his cancer patients with Vitamin C. Left-handed, I think? Or was it right-handed? Either way, a lot of his patients kicked the bucket. Because instead of chemo, they were pumping themselves full of Vitamin C. The state finally nailed his ass and stripped his credentials. Then there was this other guy about three decades ago. His name was Nowak, a bioenergy therapist. He energized our water through the TV screen. Kind of like a Polish Kaszpirowski. I remember when I was a kid, my grandma used to energize her water. All of that seems so innocent and quirky now compared to what modern men of God and healers are pulling. But what I'm writing isn't entirely true. I take a deep breath, and I’m immediately reminded of far more hardcore cases from recent and distant history. Like people surgically implanting chickpeas into their bodies. Unfortunately, people are highly susceptible to these "revelations."

I think we all have that one relative who believes in this stuff. Or one who falls down the Russian internet rabbit hole and believes everything bad in the world is the fault of the Jews and the Banderites. I don't know what's worse. Actually, I do know - one doesn't exclude the other. You can go completely off the deep end politically, religiously, and medically all at the same time. People, en masse, simply haven't learned how to filter information. We were handed the internet without an instruction manual. And something that was historically a relatively localized phenomenon now has the potential to become massive and widespread.

So, I guess I just gave Mr. Apostle some free advertising. I wrote about him, and a few more people will hear about him. I added my own little brick to his machine. I also vented some of my frustration. The Newsweek article is already out, featuring my cousin's photos. I noticed they chose safe shots - ones that don't show the faces of the attendees. Though the event was public, I'll admit I'm not entirely sure what the press guidelines are in these situations. Maybe the editorial board decided these people are victims and chose not to broadcast their faces? Maybe. Then again, these people attended a public event, were recorded by fifty different security cameras, and their faces are plastered all over the Apostle's social media. So, personally, I don't see the issue with publishing them. I guess I just lack empathy.

But I think you’ll agree that in the grand scheme of this whole mess, that’s the least of our problems, right?

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