Survivors Confess The Moment They Realized “Oh No…I’m In A Cult!”
When does faith become unhealthy? For those who seek a higher purpose, the cost of entry might be too high, as was the case for these “cult survivors” who shared their stories on Reddit.
To our surprise, even non-religious organizations—from business to even too tightly-knit friend groups—could trigger that moment where one has to realize, “Oh no, I’m in a cult!”
Escape into these harrowing stories from folks who learned they were in too deep.
1. This Isn’t High Heaven
A college friend invited me to a service at her new church. Later told me that the "church" met in a barn, and they spent their last service literally vomiting up their demons. 50 or so people holy-vomiting all at once.
2. Dodged a High-Profile Bullet
I went to my 20th reunion five years ago, and I’ve known the woman who organized it since 3rd grade. Very nice, smart, charismatic, etc. and she told me about her self-help/life coaching company.
I said that sounds cool and maybe I could benefit, so she said she would hook it up later. I live in LA and when I got back, I had an email introducing me to her colleague.
The email domain was esplosangeles.com, which sounded weird. A quick trip to their web page and a Google search, and I find out she was trying to get me to join NXIVM, which is now all over the news. I got right outta there, and glad I did, as a bunch of them are going to jail now. Not sure about her status in the whole thing, though.
3. No Education Would Be Better to This One
I went to a “therapeutic” boarding school. The first night I got there, everyone told me how I’d “get used to everything.” And I did, I fell right into their trap. I didn’t even realize how messed up it was until the school got shut down by the FBI and the owner got charged with child endangerment and abusing a student.
4. Bad to Mix Friendship With Business
I got invited to a "business meeting" for a life insurance company. My wife was looking for business connections, trying to get referrals to her company, so we went. It was a life insurance company. It was such a creepy, cultish place.
Everyone with fake serial-killer smiles, constantly talking about how much money they're making.
That wasn't even the worst part. The other "guests" around us were nodding their heads in agreement, taking it in hook, line, and sinker. My wife and I just looked at each other, left, and stopped answering that guy's phone calls. We had actually signed up for some insurance through them when we thought it was a normal company. We immediately canceled and signed up with a real, big-name insurance company.
