A WINDOW INTO LIFE IN A CULT

Screeching Tires, My Young Son Inert by the Side of the Road — A Mother’s Worst Nightmare

My duty to, and fear of, God had captured all my focus

In my youth, I naïvely joined what looked to be an innocent Christian group, the Children of God, and I remained in that cult for 31 long years. Now that I have been free for 17 years, and have subsequently learned, grown, and recovered, I look back on that experience as a source for education.

It is my wish that what I have learned and experienced may serve to help people understand what life in a cult is like, and may even help those who may find themselves, or their loved ones, in a similar high-control type situation.

The following story took place during the years that I was enmeshed in the cult.

The number one duty of a Children of God member was to tell others about Jesus, or rather, the cult’s interpretation of Jesus. Not doing so would result in expulsion from the group, something that we feared would have dire consequences for our souls.

An even worse fate for those who neglected to proselytize was stated in one of the first Bible verses new members learned. If we failed in our duty to tell others about Jesus, and they died without knowing the way of salvation, according to Children of God interpretation, God had said, “his blood will I require at thine hand.”(Ezekiel 3:18) In other…