shunned

Adrian was raised one of Jehovah's Witnesses, born into the cult. His father even believed himself to be one of the 144,000 chosen to go to heaven. You'll see through this interview that Adrian was one of those people that had humanity that even the cult couldn't break. That sensitivity though, the heartbreak of shunning not just once but twice, led to his becoming a heroin addict at a young age....

Linda was a devout Jehovah's Witness, one that believed it all and really put her heart and soul into it. Today she's been out of the organization for 25 years and our discussion involves Buddhist teachings, the neuroscience of shunning, and her story which she also shares in her memoir that is entitled Shunned: How I lost my religion and found myself. So you're going to see how she both lost that...

Today we are talking with Andie, formerly one of Jehovah's Witnesses. This story really involves so many things. First, we're talking about a family that goes all the way back to the Rutherford days of the organization. Additionally, Andie was beat up for her beliefs, she was forced to move a lot for a reason that you won't see coming, and she spent time in Mexico to try to build an English speaki...

In this episode we're going to meet Lyla Illing from South Africa, now living in New York City. She was involved in a cult early in her life that, translated from Afrikaans to English, means "The Chosen People". As one might imagine in a land where apartheid held strong for so long the cult was definitely racist. Lyla was only involved for a short time and you'll see why, but it created dynamics t...

Naomi was raised in one of those JW families that didn't have a tv and that limited books because they were reflective of Satan's world. Their lives, even their limited traveling, revolved around the Kingdom work. You're going to see how even in such a controlled environment a child still has their own mind and thoughts, and how that plays out. It was really interesting what woke Naomi up, and you...

James was a member of the Old Order Swiss Amish but James is gay and that obviously caused a lot of difficulty for him. Just this week he had his story shared in The New York Times. He's taken his life from a place that is closed off and drab and he's built a life of openness and color. The song that James chose to represent his journey is  Here by the Pet Shop Boys . Resources Mentioned: Punatic...

Today we have a story that's different than the norm. We're going to get to know Dave Warnock, former pastor and member of a charismatic evangelical Pentecostal church who is shunned by his children. But the story is bigger than that. Dave has been diagnosed in the last few months with ALS, sometimes commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease, and he knows that he only has a finite time left in his li...

Chloe's family was in the circuit work as Jehovah's Witnesses, but her family also had a lot of pressure in the house, pressure that she'll describe in a way that will put you right there, pressure that perhaps you felt in your home if you too had a particularly volatile parent. Chloe, like so many, lived a double life and ended up getting married young to another JW. Today she shares custody of h...

Today we have Nico's story. Nico has actually already been on the podcast, at the end of episode 23 after Sherrie's interview. He told the story of his first Christmas in the Facebook group and it was such an amazing story that I had him call in and record it and played it on the show. Nico is one of the youngest guests that I've had. He was able to break free from the cult with so much life ahead...

I really had to think about how to describe this episode. A word kept popping out at me and that's "tough". Yolanda faced verbal, emotional, physical, and sexual abuse inside the cult of Jehovah's Witnesses, but she comes through with this tough and resilient spirit. Yolanda isn't officially shunned and we've done things to protect her identity. She has become a haven for some shunned people in he...

Georgia grew up in what Jehovah's Witnesses often refer to as a "divided household". Her mother was a faithful JW, her father violently opposed. In this episode you'll see how that opposition actually played into the hands of the Witnesses. You'll see how someone from an abusive situation ended up in another abusive situation after being raped. Georgia faces PTSD after a life of abuse, secret Bibl...

Nicholas was a member of an online ministry that seems to have some hallmarks of a cult called Is, Was, and Will Be. This is a really unique look into how what seems to be a cult can get its hooks in someone that is never even present physically. Imagine getting sucked into an online world where your fellowship is primarily through email chats and a website with information on it. There must be so...

PIMO – \pee-moe\  noun  – short for Physically In, Mentally Out, a person held captive to the cult of Jehovah's Witnesses because although they are awake, to let others know would cost them everything they've ever known. They stay in physically to keep spouses, family, friends, the only social structure that they've ever been allowed to have. Sometimes they do this while plotting a "fade" where th...

Homeless at just 13 years of age, married at 16, raised by extended family that claimed him as their own to create the young Jehovah's Witness that they wanted, Silvers led a life that encompassed the whole toxic palette of cult life. His life was touched by abuse of every kind and he's been as low as a human can get mentally and emotionally, but yet here he stands. Today he tells his story to the...

Today we have a really cool live recording from my living room. A listener to the show from Australia named Sherrie came to the Unites States with her Auntie Bev and they took time out of their trip to come visit my wife and I. Sherrie is pretty freshly openly out of the Witnesses, and Beverley was never one of Jehovah's Witnesses despite her close ties to her family and hopes that one day she cou...

This episode is the audio from my latest VIDcast that I do on my Youtube channel called shunnedpodcast.  In it I outline where this podcast is headed, what I plan on introducing to it, dreams I have for even bigger things, as well as new things that I'm working on currently or have recently achieved.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UHGzT8J9M4&t=309s

This episode features a fascinating interview with someone that was raised in a racist family cult. It was very small, just 14 people or so in actuality, but the teachings of the leader were found online and attracted a lot of alt-right and neo-nazi supporters that were drawn to it. This is a look into the literal life cycle of a cult. It shows how it began, how it eventually came to an end, but h...

Narcissism is a trait that is both attracted to the cult of Jehovah's Witnesses as well as a byproduct of their culture. One begins to see others as objects to be controlled, and often becomes tone deaf to the feelings of others around them. Tamara's story is one that highlights these qualities in those around her. You will learn of her extremely isolated JW upbringing, you'll see once again that...

A young girl finds herself in a new life, with new exciting hopes and dreams as part of the cult of Jehovah's Witnesses, but with very real fears of doom with a looming Armageddon. This story develops into a young JW marriage fraught with issues that often happen in such relationships. Added to that is a pregnancy followed by postpartum depression, and a spiral that leads into new relationships th...

In this episode I was able to interview Torah Bontrager, a non-practicing Amish that is the founder of the Amish Heritage Foundation. Torah has been on MTV True Life, the Tim Ferriss Blog, Forbes.com, and the Huffington Post. Her desire is to reclaim the narrative and help tell a more accurate Amish story while working to help those that escape the church. With that said, Torah has her own intense...

Sadly no, there is not necessarily any pasta and an Apostafest. What there is constitutes a group of people that have all been shunned by everyone that they ever knew for no longer believing what they once did. How did we get to this place? Listen and see. An apostate is simply a person that no longer follows a particular faith. However, cults like Jehovah's Witnesses use the term "apostate" in co...

This episode is a great look into the narcissism and authoritarianism that can be displayed by some inside the cult of Jehovah's Witnesses.  You will see how a young person can get caught between different worlds, and ultimately find their way out of toxic family and cult situations and into a world of freedom. The song that Sydney chose to represent her journey is  "Playing God" by Paramore.   Su...

Jason grew up in Amish Country but was raised in the cult of Jehovah's Witnesses. This story has cars hidden in the woods for a getaway, living on boats, time spent in rehab, a JW group of "lost boys" that were dealing drugs, just your average story of leaving a cult. You can see that Jason is an explorer, a person driven to learn and try new things, and how stifling it would be growing up in a cu...

Kacey grew up as one of Jehovah's Witnesses in the same Kingdom Hall as I did, so this episode is personal for me too. In this episode you're going to hear what it can be like to grow up in a "divided household", what it feels like to never fit in with the one community that you're supposed to have in life, and how childhood sexual abuse can create a perfect storm that results in so much damage to...

One of the hallmarks of growing up as one of Jehovah's Witnesses is that feeling that you're never "good enough". It drives a lot of the depression seen in the cult, and is often something that people that leave take with them. Imagine if instead of just feeling less than because maybe you aren't hitting some goal of hours spent knocking on doors or taking care of responsibilities in the congregat...