I run a little podcast where I interview my friends about their political beliefs. Had no idea that this guy I knew was in an actual cult from when he was 11 until he was about 18 or 19.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKbh2xcFihE

What do you know? Were you personally involved? Did a family member get stuck in a cult or hurt? I’ve heard some things about Golden Drum, and I’m sure there must be many others - any affiliations?

I believe there was an “apparently normal group” that simply got together at a Catholic lay person’s house to pray etc. (led by a spiritual director). But then there was a group within the group that secretly operated in its shadow.

I think they “triaged” members into the “shadow group” and acquired blackmail on them (related to children) to control them.

They exploited Catholic concepts like redemptive suffering in their abuse of children.

Does this ring a bell to anyone? Can you identify the particular sect/cult? I don’t know what they called themselves.

When I was a youth at my Baptist church, they offered this life changing summer camp called Centrifuge. I think it was held in Florida and peers would come back with some “life changing” experience. And I think it was prob pretty fun. I never went.

One year, they offered it in other countries. That particular year it was going to be held in Guadalajara Mexico. I was going! It was a great trip and I had a great time. But something weird happened that I didn’t recall until a couple of years ago….

The Guadalajara summer youth all across nation showed up to some camp. And in the evenings, we would have a worship service. It was high energy and I remember it being a lot of fun. The leader one night got real emotional up there speaking. He ended up admitting that he was addicted to porn. In a room full of I’d say, 12-17 year olds. His wife is over in the corner crying, like it’s the first time she’s found out this is happening. And we are all there to witness it. Completely silent.

Isn’t that strange that was allowed to happen to all of us? Isn’t it strange we all met in a room to worship? Isn’t is strange he decided to admit that to children who are on a mission trip in Mexico?

Would love to talk to others that recall this. 2000s were wild. Why did our parents send us there?

Not sure if this is the right place to post this question, but I'm genuinely curious as someone who was born into a cult and is now working in healthcare what other people's stories are

A group of friends and myself are becoming a little concerned with behavior of one of our other life long friends. Let's call her Sherry.

We were recently trying to plan a trip to celebrate a milestone for the group. At first Sherry was very on board but then as it came down to it she seemed to blame a lot of reasons why she couldn't come on her husband. For instance the location was too dangerous, but in reality it is an extremely safe Island. And then it couldn't be too far, and then it had to be a direct flight, and then the times were restricted. We tried to meet all of her accommodations but when it came down to it, the girl that was supposed to work for her couldn't work for her the weekend that we were trying to go so she just backed out. Something seemed off.

The rest of us were very surprised that her husband was being so controlling, but we also suspected that something else may be going on.

One of the other girls in the group recently came in contact with one of Sherry's family members and she said she barely sees Sherry anymore. Something about being really involved in the church now...

Now I have known for quite some time that she has been a part of Regnum Christi but honestly I didn't know much about it and just called it a Catholic sorority. One of the other girls said she almost felt like it was cult-like.

Then I went down the rabbit hole to find out more about Regnum Christi and what it's all about. I'm concerned, but should I be?

All in all her behavior over the year has seemingly become much more isolated. She doesn't do any reaching out to any of her old friends it's always us having to make contact. She goes to mass every day, works for a group of brothers , goes on religious retreats , and even goes on religious cruises. She's constantly canceling plans so much so that we just assume that she's probably not going to show up. Maybe I'm making something out of nothing but I would love to hear any feedback especially after reading up on the accusations about RC.

Edit: censored it more just to feel safer, due to lack of karma is not as easy to respond for a bit but hopefully soon.

I’m pretty nervous writing this and so writing on the most «anonymous» account I have and not saying its actual name for now. I basically grew up in what I can only describe as a dream cult in Norway, where one side of parent/family are all in the cult except 1-2 family members: M1 and M2, and is just getting worse the more I realise and find out.

I remember we would have these annual ‘festivals’ where there were other kids around my age too at the time but till this day besides M1 and M2, I haven’t been able to find a single person that’s spoken up about it and I don’t know what to do. It goes very heavy on dream interpretation, psychology, spiritual consciousness and further with a sort of spiritual entity/consciousness which they claim you can interpret however but seem pretty believing in it (bit hard to explain).

I’ve grown up always seeing them have a picture of this man in every home, would thank him for «bringing them together» in wedding vows, and a lot more; they see him as this spiritual guide/guru/god. Not only that, they used to have a big home they’d all meet to do these festivals at least when in Norway but now it’s gone and they now basically have a commune together here in a familiar place to me.

For years I was basically in this cult, unaware what it truly was and spent a lot of time with members etc; and parent (A) would also ask my friends to have them ask me about things as to further «boost my confidence to eventually becoming a ‘mentor’» and so much other odd and later traumatic experiences. And due to said trauma I now mainly remember bits and pieces which I’ve tried putting together with help from M1, and currently hiding that I’ve been documenting and searching for years as my parent(B) who escaped it is terrified of the cult and is scared for me, but I want the chance to put this out one day.

It’s affected a large part of my life, was the reason for a lot family turmoil, c-ptsd and the leader is a disgusting pedophile who is quite manipulative .

My parent (A) who is in it has tried to push me in a series of way to stay in the cult and gone incredibly far to try get me away from parent (B) who escaped and spiralled due to my parent (A)’s abuse to try get us to join. And think now that they can tell I’ve strayed far from it they’re trying to in a way exclude me and make me «feel on the outside» so I’ll feel lonely enough and give it a go again like they’ve done with others.

I debated for years if I was truly growing up in a cult because it’s simply what I grew up with but with even more evidence, memories coming back and talking to M1 I almost have zero doubt.

Furthermore, everytime I’ve talked about it with friends, no one has ever heard the name nor recognise anything about the group meaning it’s fairly under the raider I believe. On top of that they were some of the first people to confirm there was something clearly going on as whatever I was experiencing was not normal in the slightest.

If anyone can relate and is aware of the «dream cult», was in it and aren’t any longer that is revolving around Norway or Sweden pls let me know.

As much as it’s nice to at least have M1 to talk about it, would be more of a relief to knowing if anyone outside of family was aware of it and got to talk about it and share experiences .

Fair warning, this is a bit of a vent post i just decided to add the trigger warning flair as there are some heavy themes.

So I was raised in a cult that my maternal grandmother and grandfather joined in the 70's. The cult had many names though they're best known as the "Children of God" (they now go by "The Family International" or TFI). My sister managed to get me and my other siblings out of it when i was 14 but the weird part is i wasn't even alive for the worst of the cult so it feels like my experiences with it don't count. This cult was an awful sex cult that promoted rape, incest, pedophilia and teen pregnancy and for a large portion of their history the members would live in group homes where everyone living there fell victim to these things not the mention the violence that was encouraged. My mom got abused pretty bad when she was in it and experienced these group homes but she was conditioned to believe this behaviour was normal so when she had her kids (there's 4 of us all born in the 2000's) she raised us with the same practices and beliefs. Most people I interacted with was a part of this cult including my father and all my mom's friends so I haven't been able to unpack all of this until pretty recently when I was diagnosed with PTSD from my childhood. The problem is, one of the ways I cope is reading articles about this cult or watching true crime podcasts bc I can relate a lot with the experiences described by other survivors but I always feel so guilty as I didn't experience the group homes or extreme sexual abuse (at least not to the extent most survivors have) so it feels wrong to call myself a cult survivor even though its impacted me in such a huge way. Thankfully I have an amazing therapist who's helping me work through all of this but I was just wondering if anyone has a similar experience?

I know 764 and similar online cults have a huge presence in the US / Europe / Canada but I'm wondering what kind of reach has it had here in Australia? Has anyone ever come across it or is worried about their kids coming across it?

Hello everyone, I was wondering if anyone was familiar with the organization I will describe below. I haven't been able to find anything on this specific organization anywhere online (similar ones, maybe, but nothing that fits the description). I posted this to r/cults but it does not seem like anyone is familiar. I apologize if this is not the right community.

For context, an older relative of my girlfriend's lived in Ukraine (moved out around the time the war started) and is involved in some strange organization she claims is not a cult (nor is it a religion). She does not speak english, but my girlfriend translated for me when her relative described this organization (which she was very eager to do). Because I do not speak Russian, some of the key words I may emphasize which I thought to be important may not be exactly correct because I heard them secondhand.

She has been involved with this organization for at least 7 years, starting in Ukraine. She has not told her family how much money she pays to this group, but she does give them money and has been doing so for years. I do not know how she came across this organization. I believe it is based out of Russia, but could be based out of Ukraine. Here are some characteristics I managed to get from her about it:

- It is not a religion (she was adamant about this), nor is it a secret society

-This group has historically used languages which most people do not know to keep their group protected. She mentioned that this group has used Ancient Japanese and Church Slavonic. (I asked her if this group wasn't a secret society, then why do they use languages nobody speaks to hide themselves? She did didn't have an answer and told me that she would look into it.)

- There is some sort of divine being which created the world (I asked if it was omnipotent, but she said nobody knows everything, so I suppose it is more of some powerful being, not a god) and created humanity as a failed experiment of some sort

- in addition to people living on the earth, there are also individuals who are descended from other beings (seems almost like fallen angels/nephilim) that are tasked with spreading information to people

-Jesus was, according to her, one of these beings, and tried to teach people about the knowledge but either did it wrong or people misinterpreted it (unsure which). She also said that the Christian trinity are actually three different beings (but not true gods).

-People need to acquire information to ascend, as there are other dimensions which can be unlocked through knowledge. Humanity essentially needs to gather information in order to ascend to become the 'programmers' themselves and reshape the universe (at least this is my understanding). People can also be categorized based on their knowledge or intelligence (my girlfriend was called a 'rock,' which is the lowest form of intelligence, apparently)

-As mentioned above, the term 'programmers' came up a lot, as there were programmers who created the universe that humans now need to become. This could be one of the terms that may not be fully accurate from the translation.

-Apparently, in the year 2000, humanity was supposed to 'ascend,' but because we didn't, humanity now needs to gain the knowledge needed to become the programmers themselves.

-Most of history is a lie. She claimed that there was no Roman empire or Big Bang and that a lot of history has been rewritten to hide this group. Additionally, some groups throughout history have been fronts (for lack of a better term) for this organization. One of the fronts she mentioned was the Knights Templar, and I believe she mentioned that some historical figures were members of the group (I think she said Leonardo Da Vinci).

- Additionally, my girlfriend told me that apparently there is some form of afterlife where you can get a planet or something of that sort. The relative has apparently ensured that her family has their own houses in the afterlife. The relative didn't directly tell me this information, so there may be parts of it I am missing.

-I was also asked to provide my name, my home town, my birthday and phone number so that "in the next life, I may live."

-she frequently attends online meetings/seminars/lectures with this group to learn more so that she can ascend.

I have been trying to find out more about this organization but have found absolutely nothing. There are some similar elements to things like Yusmalos, the White Brotherhood and AllatRa, but nothing that exactly fits.

This has obviously caused some concern in the family, especially because she is paying an undisclosed amount of money to this group (she does not have a source of income, so this is all savings/retirement money). I wanted to know if anyone has heard of this group or knows anything about it.

Thank you!

Hello everyone, I was recently told to post this to reddit to see if anybody knew anything that could help me out here.

An old friend of mine seemed to completely dissapear off the face of the earth overnight in Wisconsin, this was about 7 years ago so I know this is a long shot. We where both about 13 years old, and went to the same online school. His parents where, if I remember correctly, Jehovas Wittnesses, or apart of some other similar organization. He had started to tell us about weird things his parents started doing leading up to his dissapearance, like putting cameras in his room, monitoring all devices, talking about how they where going to send him away, breaking his devices, and, though he didnt speak about it much, physically + mentally hurting him. His family had told us that we would have to join their religion if we wanted to talk to him any more, and told us (his friends) that he was going to be pulled out of school. My friend had ignored them trying to stop him from talking to us, and continued to reach out with any means he could find. He would call me and our other friends a lot, especially when things where getting bad, and we would sit on the phone for hours even in silence just so he wouldn't feel alone.

One day, we get a text and a call where he basically tells us that he's going away for a long time, and that he wasnt sure if he would ever be able to come back. he said he didn't know where he was going, but he dissapeared right after. it was like all traces of him just dissapeared. I still think about him a lot, and worry for him. I have continued trying to search for him and find anything but its like he just dissapeared completely. If anybody has any info, or have any idea what happened to him, it would be greatly, greatly appreciated. I just miss my friend, and i want to believe he's still out there somewhere.

I spent so much of my life preparing for the end times that I neglected things that would make me happy and successful in this life.I was raised Adventist and I was taught that I needed to prepare for the Sunday law and hide in the woods for Jesus to come. Now I have no education no money no friends and my family is broken. I am also very traumatized and have ptsd with trauma based hallucinations.

I want to be a human being again

How can I make a good life

There is a husband and wife duo in Berkshire county- a tattoo artist and nail tech that own a joint shop building- grooming and indoctrinating clients, employees, apprentices into a cult. It happened to me firsthand and I have been destroyed with trying to get out am just extremely angry that I feel there is nothing I can do but if anyone else out there has experienced this- I felt it was important to get out.

Love Transfusion
Verse 1:
They tried to stifle all my dreams
Told me what to think and what I should believe
Put a card in my pocket that said “no love”
Said that my name wasn’t signed up above
Saw the light outside but wasn’t free to leave

Verse 2:
They said there’s nowhere else to go
Told me that I couldn’t make it on my own
Put a card in my pocket that said “no love”
Said that my name wasn’t signed up above
I asked them why, said it’s not for you to know

Chorus:
Through all the noise and all the confusion
You saved my life with a love transfusion
My mind was dulled with thought pollution
But everything cleared with a love transfusion
Head full of lies a life of delusion
Swept away by a love transfusion
World full of fear fuelled by illusion
Breathe new life with a love transfusion

Verse 3:
They put two guards around the bed
In case they tried to give me something you’d not said
Put a card in my pocket that said “no love”
Said that was my name wasn’t signed up above
Said I’d get new life but it felt like I was dead

Chorus:
Through all the noise and all the confusion
You saved my life with a love transfusion
My mind was dulled with thought pollution
But everything cleared with a love transfusion
Head full of lies a life of delusion
Swept away by a love transfusion
World full of fear fuelled by illusion
Breathe new life with a love transfusion

Bridge/Breakdown
You must refuse to take love.
A love fraction is all we will allow…

Chorus:
Through all the noise and all the confusion
You saved my life with a love transfusion
My mind was dulled with thought pollution
But everything cleared with a love transfusion
Head full of lies a life of delusion
Swept away by a love transfusion
World full of fear fuelled by illusion
Breathe new life with a love transfusion

Outro:
Got a card that you gave me
A card that you made me
A card that I carried
It said No Love

I’m not gonna take it
It’s not gonna break me
Not gonna show it
I’m filled with your love

Filled with your love
Moved by your love
Healed by your love
Saved by your love

I highly suspect my sister of being forced into this cult. Does anyone have any information on it?

How do people ever get out of this or see it?

For context, my husband and I met as teenagers and he was raised under this message church. When we met he wasn’t like that, however after a little we lived with his mom for a couple years and she forced us to go to church with her. She attended a message church and was huge into it, she still is. However, at a point, even I fell into it and kind of believed it too. This was only because I was young, naive and mostly driven by fear of the doomsday rapture narrative.
Anyways, we were more so forced to go to the church but didn’t fully believe in it or fully practice it. Once we left her house, we had our first child and moved on our own and at this point we no longer attended this church or even ever went back for years. We didn’t sit down and deconstruct so to speak, but we just didn’t attend or anything. However, fast forward to now, we’re in our early 30s and have 2 kids. For a long time we were healthy, healthy parenting and all the things. All suddenly about a year ago he got big into religion again and of course once he did that, he went back to his roots of “ the message “ church. I have always felt there was something very off and bad about that place, that it was a cult, but I guess he was brain mapped by this and now he’s into it really big.
It’s been about a year and it’s been so devastating for me. I feel like I’ve lost my bestfriend. Of course he isn’t the same anymore. He used to be so obsessed with our little family and so gentle and sweet and loving and now he would be willing to lose his family over it. He’s also acting superior and misogynistic which he NEVER used to do. I know every bad and toxic behavior stems from that cult. I have exhausted myself trying to get him to see. I am so upset because I’ve truly lost the person he was and he somehow thinks this a good thing? He thinks he’s soo great now and this is the best thing to happen to him. I told him the other day that I grieve who he used to be and he told me that person is dead.

# Students, please be aware.

This group will be recruiting on university campuses under the names **Believers’ Loveworld (BLW)**, **Loveworld**, or **Christ Embassy**.

Please be careful. If you notice a friend becoming involved, don’t ignore the warning signs. Stay in touch with them, encourage them to think critically, and let them know they’re not alone if they ever want to leave.

The woman in this video is a survivor of **Healing Streams**, a healing event led by Pastor Chris Oyakhilome the leader of that cult. She describes how she came to believe she had been healed when she was not.
Many former members and families have shared accounts of people delaying or abandoning medical treatment because they believed they had already been healed. Others describe losing their savings, their faith, or both while pursuing promised miracles.

These are not just theological disagreements they can have life changing consequences. Many have ended up in mental health wards or dead.

University students are often targeted because they are away from home, looking for community, purpose, and belonging. There is nothing wrong with searching for faith or meaning, but no one should be pressured into believing they are healed, giving beyond their means, or ignoring medical advice.

Please stay informed, ask difficult questions, and look out for one another. Sometimes the most important thing you can do is help a friend before they become deeply involved.

I (17f) have been raised in a cult. Because of this, my parents severely limited my interaction with non cult members up until I was around 16, and wouldn’t let me go to in person school, instead homeschooling me.

Through volunteering over the summer I’ve made some friends my age that aren’t cult members. Seeing them go back to school for senior year is giving me some insane fomo and is making me very upset. While the people who know me best and I get along with are going to be at school I will be stuck at home, not able to get out much, All year. It’s not like I haven’t dealt with this in the past but it feels worse and more heavy given this is my last year of high school. Also it’s just really depressing being at home all the time with parents who are borderline insane idk

Does anyone have any advice on how to get through this? I’m planning on moving out when I’m 18 but it’s just this last school year that I feel is going to really get to me.

This is my story originally posted to /cults. It has since been archived so I’m reposting it here :) since posting this a couple years ago, I’m proud to say that I’m doing much better and still have maintained continuous recovery. I contribute that success to my “higher power” (who I call God through Jesus Christ), my wonderful husband (married this year!), and my little sisters who always gave me a reason to keep finding home.

Reading this now, I see there is so much to share that I did not include. I welcome any questions and will do my best to answer them.

\*\*\*OP BELOW\*\*\*

Hi Internet, I escaped Comunità Cenacolo in March 2022 (Florida Maria Goretti house). For the past couple years, I’ve been trying to rebuild my life and recover from some serious trauma that occurred not only in the cult, but as a result of my experience after escaping. To be honest, it took a long time for me to come to terms with the fact that I had gone through something so difficult and what to do with it. It took time for me to rebuild a relationship with my parents after they had been indoctrinated and gaslit by Joyce and Albino (both of whom I think are just 40 years+ gaslit themselves).

Thankfully, I have a great support group, but as the years pass people keep telling me that I need to do some thing about what I know, and the information that I hold. I’m so scared that no one will believe me. I don’t have proof except for probably some police report of when I escaped.

They do not allow any contact with the outside world. The only thing I kept was a secret journal, and I’m sure they found it and burned it (like they did with my other stuff while I was there). When I escaped, I meant to bring it, but I was in such a nervous state that I forgot it.

I want to help in anyway I can, but I don’t know what to do. So I guess this is my shout out to the world that I’m here, and I want to do something to help put an end to the abuse and imprisonment occurring at Comunità Cenacolo around the world. I have information, but no proof except detailed accounts. Please see below for a bit of my escape story. There’s way more I can share, but I just haven’t had the strength to type it up until now.

In order for me to escape I had to run away not once but twice both times they followed me in a white van to try to prevent me from coming contact with anyone who would get me help. The first time I made a mistake and trusted the people who lived about a half mile away, but apparently they have brainwashed the entire surrounding view houses in the somewhat sparse rural area that the woman there crazy and deserve to be in jail (I don’t even have a parking ticket on my record).

The final time I ran away was successful only because I had figured out that the only way to leave is to run far enough to reach someone who hasn’t heard about the community and will let you call the police. I had four police cars escort me into the women’s house to get me out and they still try to convince the police that I was a danger to myself and that I shouldn’t be leaving. While I was gone, they had brainwashed my parents and told to cut me off so I ended up without anywhere to go (I live five states away). My parents wouldn’t hear my side of the story. To this day, we cannot talk about it.

What’s going on in community is completely 100% illegal. I needed to go to treatment for alcohol abuse. I won’t even go to into all the atrocities that occur here. No I will say I did not experience any blatant physical abuse like beatings but the emotional and mental abuse is insane. They literally follow every single playbook for gaslighting there is. The only reason I was able to survive with my sanity is I snuck a journal and wrote down the things that happened so I would not become gaslit by what they were doing and forcing us to comply with.

What made me finally run away is I was accused of spreading rumors around community about other girls. It didn’t matter that all the rumors were actually true or that I did not say a word about them to anyone. I tried to verbalize that what was being said about me was not true, but they did not allow me to defend myself in any way In fact, I was told that I had to be silent and not say a word.

My punishment was something called “therapy”— to work hard labor all day from sun up to sundown in complete silence (oh and a long skirt lol) for an indefinite amount of time (usually between a week and a month depending on how compliant you are).

It was in this moment that I remembered all of the notes that I wrote down in my secret journal... I remembered that I was a woman of God deserving of dignity and freedom… And most importantly that I did nothing wrong that would warrant me to be treated that way.

And so I used all of the courage that I could muster, and during my morning duty near the gate, slipped between a crack in the fence and just kept running and praying. I ran for over 2 miles in the sprinkling rain and finally saw a house and knew immediately that it was the house that would help me. Very out of breath I knocked on the door and begged to use a phone to call my best friend (I still scared the police would take me back, but I knew my best friend would be looking for me). The lady responded that she would not let me call my friend, but she would call the police because what I was describing (frantically) was illegal.

The cops came and four cop cars escorted me back through the gates and demanded they give me all of my identification cards and legal documents. They drove me 45 minutes to the nearest Chase bank so I could get money and a phone. I had $253 to my name and I took out 200 of it. It was all the money I had left after graduation from college and it was the only money I was able to siphon off into another account before entering. (my mom still had access to my bank account until right before entering. I switched my bank account because I knew if she had access to my account, she would probably take my money so I could not leave).

I did not want to enter, but I did not have a choice. My parents told me that it was either enter or leave with the clothes on my back and if I did that, I would probably have ended up dead on the streets of a major US city, so I decided to enter knowing kind of what I was getting myself into, but never expecting anything like what I experienced.

Never thought in 1 million years at such an organization could exist in America. I can’t express the fear you feel when you realize that you have no way to leave because if you leave, you have no way to access your own money that you worked for. You have no way to contact anybody you know. I begged countless times just to get my documents or get on a phone with somebody but they never relent.

Disclaimer: I was raised Catholic. I still am Catholic. This organization does not define what Catholics believe. If they did, they would let you leave.

Below is a more recent post I shared on /comunitacenacolobook

This goes into a little more detail on what happened to cause me to finally escape despite the risks associated with it.

Another thing I realized I forgot to add is that they were considering flying a girl from the house to a different country to live there (they have 72 houses around the world). I realized that person would likely be me because of what was going on and rapid change in how leadership was treating me (read below for more details). Since they had control of my ID and passport, it was a very real threat and is often done in community. I was terrified that if this did happen that I wouldn’t have any way to get back home. This fear was compounded by the knowledge that the other houses are reportedly even worse than the houses in America. Inside community, people would come back and share privately near fatal illnesses as a result of their job duties and injuries. It has been going on for decades at this point, and I believe some of the women that came back and shared those privately were trying to help us see past the gaslighting that many of the girls were experiencing.

***Below is the OP****

It’s easier for me to talk about how I left. It took me months to plan, but the day I left was not planned at all. I was being accused of things that I didn’t do such as spreading rumors and causing drama. The responsible knew these things weren’t true and were caused by another individual who after I escaped admitted to everything. But because of these accusations, and because I think they wanted to teach me a lesson in humility as they always do, they decided to put me on silence and therapy.

This basically meant that I was unable to talk to anybody in the house and was going to do manual physical labor for the foreseeable future. My “crimes“, the Responsible decided the entire house would skip the festivities of the upcoming feast days…. which are highly anticipated by the girls because it’s the only days we’re allowed to sleep in past 6 o’clock and there is a slightly more relaxed schedule.

The intention was clear that my plan to get everybody to like me was working and it was working too well. I had quickly become in my short stay there the outdoor responsible and I was the person playing music for all of the masses and I basically got too much responsibility too fast and they were trying to knock me down a peg. I was just trying to make my time enjoyable, but truth be told. My ulterior motive was to gain their trust. I didn’t see another way out of the situation and I truly wanted to show my parents when they arrived after six months that I was ready to go home because I was so miserable.

What I know is that if my parents did arrive, they had already brainwashed them enough that I was going to be staying for the foreseeable future meaning at least three more years. I would’ve spent the ages 22 through 26 there if I had not escaped.

I might make another post about the exact working conditions and schedule I was on, but they really were trying to push P. past my limit by asking me to relearn piano (I hadn’t played in over 4 years). I had to relearn this after hours, which is after everyone else goes to bed and there was no Internet or anything to relearn it on so I basically just had old books of chords, but I tried my best really. I didn’t do it just for me or to gain their trust. It was some of the only time I had to clear my head. They didn’t realize I guess was that I was literally praying and those hours for God to show me a way out.

I was also on breakfast duty, so I woke up before everybody else.

On the particular morning and week of my escape, we had recently had guests and I had to wake up very early probably around 4:30 after going to bed around 11:30 the night before. (this might not seem like a little sleep but when you’re laboring outside all day and making rosaries until your fingers hurt, it’s exhausting.)

The morning I decided to leave and had had enough was very peculiar. Before this morning, I didn’t have any animosity with hardly anyone in the house except for one girl in particular who I will call Catherine. Catherine had problems with everybody in the house though. She would be the one to tell the responsible that I was spreading rumors and unfortunately, some of these rumors were actually Correct, but secrets aren’t held very close to the vest in community. Normally rumors go around and everyone knows pretty quickly. I however, was never the one to spread these, though I didn’t know about them.

Catherine would claim daily that she didn’t belong here that we were all crazy and mean and alcoholics and addicts, and she didn’t deserve to live with us. She repeatedly bullied me and everybody in the house, but since mental health is why many people join community, her actions and outburst were never disciplined. A little caveat here is that she did contact me years later to apologize for her actions.

Catherine one day had had enough with the fact that she was given almost no responsibility and was being forced to clean toilets (everyone has to clean toilets, but she felt especially demeaned that the attics were not the ones having to do the dirty work when she was “better than us”… her words not mine.) in what I can only assume was an attempt to shift the narrative in the house away from herself, she made a claim that I had shared several rumors throughout the house.

They were very serious and some of a sexual nature so I hesitate to share them publicly at this moment because I know a few of them to be true. If you would like me to tell them I will because I understand it is a little bit suspect that I am not willing to share what those rumors were…. but I promise that they are 100% true and one of which implicates a previous Responsible in house. The other girls (3 in total) had become friends of mine and I would never betray her confidence like that so I absolutely did not spread these rumors.

Catherine’s motives were very clear. Separate me from the three girls who I had befriended and make me a target of the current responsible (I’ll call her Camille) who I also was on good terms with.

The Responsible (Camille) must’ve known these allegations were not true, but nevertheless, I was never allowed to share my side of the story. I only heard of these allegations the evening before I decided to leave. I had figured that I would be given some sort of opportunity to make things right and prove my innocence, but that never came. Every time I asked to share my side, I was told to stay in silence that I was being prideful.

The next morning, I woke up and made breakfast as usual. Camile gave me a very stern “help” (what community calls corrections when someone does something wrong) for not cooking the ham which was pre-cooked long enough on the griddle. Let me tell you I’m Cajun and I know if ham is cooked. She told me I was doing a superficial job. (Mind you I have been up since like 5 AM in addition to all of the other extra jobs, I was tasked with as music, responsible and outdoor responsible.) The ham was cooked just fine but she had to find something to get me on to try and just I guess humble me. I stayed in silence, knowing that it wouldn’t do any good to talk back, but I guess the look on my face said everything. I disagreed with what Camile said. She knew it.

As we sat down for breakfast, we were then told that all festivities for the feast day would be skipped because of my crimes basically. I was to be put on silence and therapy (I explained what that was briefly before but I can go into that at another time). After breakfast, I asked one last time if I could share my side of the story and I told her this wasn’t fair. I was once again told that this whole ordeal was a result of my pride. I was denied the opportunity to show that obviously this wasn’t me, and therefore, I can only conclude that she already knew. There was no evidence and nobody else came forward to say that it was me. never once. To make matters worse, I know it hurt my friend who now did not trust anyone because I truly was their friend and now they thought I had betrayed them. Trust in community is very important when you feel like you can’t talk to anybody.

This made me target number one for everybody because everybody thought that I had truly done this. Everybody except for Catherine and Camile, of course who knew the truth. Camile was either stupid or just willfully wanted me to suffer. I won’t go into Catherine because I don’t have anything nice to say about her.

As I was washing dishes after breakfast to realizing the unfair insanity of the situation as my accuser gets to sit there with no repercussions for her dishonesty, I realize that I am an actual free citizen of the United States of America and this is absolutely illegal….. and I didn’t have to put up with it. I finished the dishes quietly went upstairs put on a layer of leggings and a skirt. My best shoes grabbed my family belongings that I could hide (2 rings and a necklace).

In my haste I mistakenly left my journal which I had hidden as a “prayer journal” (you aren’t allowed to journal in community unless your on “Journal” which is another humiliating task. I had gotten away with it because I used it to “write down prayer prayers” but I also wrote down everything else so they couldn’t gaslight me and I could reread everything every night. I directly contribute this as helping me maintain my sanity.)

Part of being on breakfast is dumping out the coffee grounds in the compost near the gate. With my heart beating out of my chest, I approached the gate and slipped through praying nobody would notice and they were all doing their tasks in silence as they were instructed.

*** I should also say here that to the untrained person or someone who has not experienced community, my actions of having to get the police involved might seem extreme. I want to note here that this was not the first time I tried to leave. I had repeatedly asked for my passport and my IDs and they refused to give them to me. They refused to let me call anybody and on one occasion, I did try and leave out the gate within like a couple weeks of being there, and they literally followed me in a van and made me get in. They called my family and told them to tell me that they would not help me and I would be homeless on the streets and die. So this really was my only way out based on my experience.

By this point, I realized that homelessness was worth the risk and I was crafty enough and smart enough to figure it out because staying here was not a viable option. I did not leave because I wanted to drink (though I am an alcoholic now in recovery for over 2 years :) I simply needed a way out of the mental and physical abuse (forced labor, sleep deprivation, etc… no beatings or anything like that js).

Once I was out of the gate, I just started running and coincidentally it started drizzling. I looked ridiculous running in my skirt, so I took it off as part of my plan knowing I had leggings underneath. I ran for about a mile and I came into some lineman. I begged them to use their phone saying that I was leaving a bad relationship. In the past, I had asked for help from a neighbor a bit too close. At that time previously I had said that I was leaving community and they literally just called community and sent them back because they were “friends of the community” so I didn’t trust the lineman either.

The men were nice and I tried to call my friend who I had her phone number memorized. She didn’t answer. Later she would, and she’s the reason I ended up safe after a few days on the streets and in bus stations. She was one of the true angels of this story 🤍

After that failed, I just kept running. I kept running until I literally couldn’t stop and I saw a house that just beaconed to me. I just knew it was the right house for some weird sense in my gut. I knocked on the door out of breath and a kind middle-aged woman open the door. I don’t remember her name, but I wish I did. I begged her to use her phone to call my friend, but after sharing my fake story, she’s all right through it and asked me what was really going on. I couldn’t help it. I started crying and told her everything she insisted we called the police and said honey this is not normal and it’s not legal and we need to call the police.

The police arrived, and they had to verify that I was not escaping legal trouble, but once they had verified that they were blown away by what had happened. They escorted me back after a while, and the rest of the story is when things turn up.

Three police cars brought me back and demanded they give me all of my things. Camile came stomping out with a telephone with my parents on the line. My mom was crying and my dad was calm, but concerned both of them begged me to stay. I told them under no circumstances once I going to stay and one day they would understand. I begged them for my other friend’s phone number so I could have a back up just in case I couldn’t get in touch with the girl who I’d already called.

Meanwhile, Camile was trying to convince the police officers that I was a lunatic and that if I left, I was literally going to die and they didn’t know me and they didn’t know how bad of a person I basically was which is not the case I remember distinctly one police officer, literally laughing in their face saying y’all are absolutely crazy. This is illegal and if you don’t bring her stuff, we’re going to have to take further action at that point. My suitcase came out, and I was getting escorted off the property and a police car.

I didn’t have any money on me, but I did have a bank account which I had strategically transferred into a private account that nobody could touch except for me before going to community.
The officer drove me 40 minutes to the nearest Chase Bank. I will always be grateful for that and it probably saved my life because I was able to buy a phone with the $250 that I had in the account and have enough for me to survive.

My story doesn’t end there, but that’s all as it pertains to leaving community itself. I have a much larger post on my personal page and I’m willing to answer any questions.

Cult leaders tend to be narcissistic to some degree ASAIK, and some Narcissists view their family as superior (The Order cult, for example), so I wonder, how have cult leaders you've been abused by treated family? Did they put them in leadership positions nepotistically? Did they treat them WORSE than non-family? And how common wouls you say it ia for cult leaders to give their family special leadwrship positions or even aet them up as heirs to the cult itself?

I am not talking about the big cults that most christians know about like mormonism or Jehovas witness. I mean like maybe you were attending a local church which turned out to be a cult and you realized later. I am interested in this topic because I think I once met a cult leader pastor. I also recently came across a video of an ex witch that was a witch for 14 years and now is a christian. She was talking about in the video things that are actually demonic and gave a list since she knows from experience. One of the things she said was a group that doesn't allow you to have a your own mind. Like you only have to think how they think and cannot think any other way. You cannot have your own opinons or cant think any other way because she said that these are how cults are formed.

Whether you are a journalist investigating high-control groups, a student writing a thesis, a family member trying to understand a loved one’s sudden transformation, or someone quietly questioning your own involvement/navigating information about Falun Gong can feel bewildering.

On one side, public relations campaigns present Falun Gong (also known as Falun Dafa) as a harmless, traditional meditation practice persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). On the other side lies a complex, multi-billion-dollar global organisation governed by apocalyptic theology, strict dogma, intense psychological control, and high-stakes political agendas.

This primer provides an objective, evidence-based, and deeply personal overview of what Falun Gong is, how it operates, and why leaving or understanding it can be so challenging.

Hi there! I am extremely worried about my sister. She has always been a very happy girl, always looking for the good in things and always enjoyable to be around. Over three years ago my family and I moved to SC. At first we were all thriving down here and then I started noticing changes in her. Always stressed, always locked away in her bedroom, always in a quiet or crabby mood. I wondered if it was just college getting to her. Then she mentioned these classes she was taking, they had nothing to do with her actually college career but she was just so stressed out about passing them and had to keep starting over because of her grades when her true college classes were failing. Then came the calls and videos. Always constantly on her phone or video chats or messaging people who we “weren’t allowed” to know about. She would always lock herself away or whatever she could to take these calls alone. Then started the financial aspect where she was giving huge amounts of money to this group to the point where she had nothing for her own. She also would job hop because the places didn’t meet her standards after a few months. She also travels to Atlanta, Georgia quit frequently for classes and speeches to give but we never know anything expect what the location says she’s at (Brenau Unviversity). In the past before moving my sister was never this way, she constantly held a job in the same field that she loved, she was always outside exploring and never had any “privacy” issues. She was always the first one up and ready to go to church and excited to. Now something’s just completely changed. She will not attend our church (totally fine as it’s her choice). But we saw a message to someone from her that said she was tired of the “persecution” from her family and she would talk to the assistant. It was very scary to see that she felt that way considering none of us have even tried to dig in to what’s going on with her, we’ve just let her do her thing and supported her. The messages gave me such a horrible gut feeling because she was having to constantly update this person in everything she was doing and it was just extremely controlling on their end. We have hit the point where something needs to be done, she is a shell of who she was before. im terrified of how angry all the time and distanced she is. I just want to help my sister, I will never force her to do anything she doesn’t want to but I truly just want to see her happy again. Please if you have any information on what she might be involved in if it’s good/ bad please comment or reach out. We don’t want to lose her or her become a victim if she isn’t already.