Cults to Consciousness

Drawn to the Twelve Tribes in the 1970s by its promise of spiritual purity, communal support, and moral family values, Rebecca’s parents became deeply embedded in a system that demanded complete obedience and surrender of autonomy. Rebecca was one of the oldest of the second generation in the cult, which meant a lot of experimentation was done to determine the fate of other children. At 15 years o...

Elise Delamare recounts her experience growing up and serving in the Assemblies of God, describing a progression from sincere spiritual calling into a high-control, ab*sive ministry environment. Systemic issues such as authoritarian leadership, intense emotional and physical “boot camp” training, fear-based obedience, boundary violations, s*xual misconduct mishandled by leadership, and psychologic...

At 15, Maria’s parents willingly gave her to Russian cult leader Sergey who would marry her off to a man she despised. At 16 she was alone, hidden in a swampy woodland at the commune without electricity or running water, struggling to survive and raise her newborn in a tent during winter. She details everything she had to do to get food and water against all odds.   Click here to watch o...

It started when Maria’s mother was kidnapped and taken to Canada before somehow convincing her parents to give marital consent. Maria would end up being one of 11 children who were moved over and over from different Amish and Mennonite settlements. Maria’s father was a wannabe cult leader and stirred up trouble wherever he went. Homemade preaching tapes sent out to the world would attract predator...

Jaden Jeffs was born into the polygamous offshoot of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints where his father would become the Prophet. Jaden takes us inside the mind of his father, Warren Jeffs, and gives us insight into his increasingly twisted “revelations” from prison. Watch our initial interview where Jaden talks about his childhood and early adult years following orders from his fath...

Jaden Jeffs was born into the polygamous offshoot of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints where his father would become the Prophet. Drastic changes would ensue, splitting up families, demanding perfection and keeping the children working instead of playing. Jaden takes us inside the mind of his father, Warren Jeffs, and gives us insight into his increasingly twisted “revelations” from...

People can already guess that there are struggles that come with being a plural wife, however most don't know the dangers the lesser favorite wives and their children have to endure. We go into very real situations from The Order (the polygamist Mormon sect in Utah) with someone who escaped the cult.  Click here to watch on YouTube Watch Pt 2 on Amanda's channel Find Amanda: YouTube:  @T...

Olivia Marie Plath was on 7 seasons of TLC’s Welcome to Plathville. Today she will answer your questions and open up about her life before, during and after the show.  Click here to watch on YouTube Watch our initial interview with Olivia Follow Olivia on social media! IG: https://www.instagram.com/oliviamarieplath/ Website: OliviaMariePlath.com  Subscribe to our C2C "CLIPS" Channel! Sup...

You may know Olivia Marie Plath from TLC’s Welcome to Plathville, but do you know her story before being on the show? Olivia describes what her fundamentalist life was like in a home where her father sexualized her and her sisters, corporal punishment wasn’t optional and her mother, despite severe health issues that could take her life, was forced to continue getting pregnant. Her sincere hope to...

Raised in a conservative, fundamentalist Christian environment, Monte Mader’s home life was filled with being forced to memorize Bible verses or risk extreme corporal punishment. A scholar of the Bible, she later publicly deconstructed those beliefs and now focuses on challenging dogma and exploring cultural and historical topics.  Today we discuss some of the main talking points fundamentali...

Raised in a conservative, fundamentalist Christian environment, Monte Mader later publicly deconstructed those beliefs and now focuses on challenging dogma and exploring cultural and historical topics. Her home life was filled with being forced to memorize Bible verses or risk extreme corporal punishment. Her mom left the family of 6 children early in Monte’s childhood and was replaced by a sadist...

Brian Recker is a former Evangelical Pastor who spent about eight years in ministry before stepping away from traditional evangelicalism. He grew up as the son of a Baptist preacher and attended the fundamentalist Bob Jones University. Now, he speaks up about a love-centered relationship with God as interpreted by the Bible and shares why it’s common for people to fall into Authoritarian based con...

Brian Recker is a former Evangelical Pastor who spent about eight years in ministry before stepping away from traditional evangelicalism. He grew up as the son of a Baptist preacher and attended the fundamentalist Bob Jones University. Instead of pastoring a local church in the traditional sense, Brian now speaks, writes, and teaches about a more inclusive, love-centered Christian spirituality. By...

In the Old Colony Mennonites in Texas where JT was raised, education was only a priority up until 8th grade or age 13. After he escaped into the Military as soon as they would take him, he quickly realized he was either lied to or important information was left out. He ended up getting his GED at 21 years old. Learn how he navigated the "English" world with limited knowledge and a drive to succeed...

In Western Texas is an Old Colony Mennonite settlement where John Guenter grew up. His mother converted and ended up being one of the most strict members there. He was bullied and abused constantly for being gay, even though he wouldn’t even fully understand his orientation until later in life. He was under threat of being kidnapped and taken to an unlicensed facility in Mexico where they sent peo...

Following up our incredible interview with Lilia Tarawa, today we go LIVE with her to further discuss what it was like escaping the Gloriavale cult.  Founded by her grandfather, who was inspired by the Amish in the US, Gloriavale became an isolated community in New Zealand that implemented communal living, strict gender roles and even identical uniforms for its members.  The numbers grew...

Lilia Tarawa was raised in an isolated community in New Zealand started by her grandfather, called Gloriavale. Inspired by the Amish in the US, he implemented communal living, strict gender roles and even identical uniforms for its members. The numbers grew rapidly, especially since birth control wasn’t allowed. Lilia showed promise in leadership skills as a chiId, but was quickly shot down in an...

No electricity, no running water, no indoor plumbing.  Lovina Zook grew up in one of the strictest Amish settlements started by her own family. Highly demanding gender roles were enforced leaving Lovina with no other choice than to marry a relative and become a busy housewife, or be considered an old maid at 24. She had high ambitions and knew she had to escape and trade her entire family and...

No electricity, no running water, no indoor plumbing.  Lovina Zook grew up in one of the strictest Amish settlements started by her own family. It was common to marry cousins as most people there were related by blood and a woman would be considered an “old maid” if still single by 24 yrs old. Lovina discusses the hardest parts including struggling with mental heath, strict rules and not rece...

Surviving Mormonism is a new limited series hosted by Real Housewife of Salt Lake City Heather Gay where she interviews people with harrowing stories of how the LDS church failed them. It is a heartbreaking series that reveals the reality of a systemic problem that is not only covered up by church officials, but amplified by their only true intentions…avoiding lawsuits and avoiding bad media. Thou...

In 2017, Miranda signed up for classes at Tara Yoga Centre in London — a studio associated with the larger network Atman federation (also sometimes called MISA in other countries). At first, the classes were marketed as esoteric or tantric yoga — spiritual practices about inner work, self-improvement and body awareness. As time went on, students were encouraged to date the teachers, blurring lines...

Alexandra struggled with her parents’ treatment of her, as well as suffering SA which led to a deterioration of her mental health. When she asked her parents for help, she was either dismissed or laughed at. When she was finally given some psychiatric care, it didn’t last long before her parents chose to instead hand over custody and ship her to Utah during winter for a wilderness camp. What was s...

Alexandra struggled with her parents’ treatment of her, as well as suffering SA which led to a deterioration of her mental health. Her parents then took drastic measures by paying for her to be kidnapped and taken to a wilderness camp in the dead of Utah winter. They were forced to hike every other day further into the mountains carrying a 60 pound backpack with very little food and warmth for 13...

Raised in the “Holy War” and recruited as a soldier for Jesus, Philip Boltz, son of famous Christian singer Ray Boltz, was deeply invested in changing the world. He went on multiple mission trips abroad, ready to give everything, including his life for the cause. However, the goal to become a martyr was closer than he realized, when an emergency surgery leading to severe infection and medical negl...

Liz Boltz Ranfeld, who was featured in the recent Shiny Happy People 2 documentary, was fully immersed in the “Teen Mania” lifestyle. She went on several overseas mission-trips that caused more fear and guilt due to the inability to faith heal on the spot, however it opened her eyes to other cultures that were being labeled as “demonic”. Her father was a well known Christian singer/song writer, Ra...