78 Ex-Cult Members Share The Strangest Things They Were Expected To Do And Believe

Wearing all white clothes in an all white tub surrounded by ox, that is also full of water being dunked repeatedly, while two older men stand there and “bear witness” as you do baptisms for those that have passed on.

There was this brief thing where you would visit the graves of d**d church “fathers” and lay on them to “absorb the annointing”.

Being happy that you aren’t going to heaven but 144,000 weirdos get that choice. You get to stay in paradise for 1000 years but after that you have to prove yourself again!!

Baptizing d**d people by proxy.
Secret handshakes and secret new names that only the top members can receive to get into a special level of heaven.

Can’t drink coffee because it goes against the word of God. I wonder if Jesus ever drank coffee.

Having to confess my sins to the priest who was h*******g me.

My parent/grandparents giving priests money to say prayers so they can go to heaven.

Listened to my grandmother tell tale of throwing up black - obviously it was a demon. I remember it like yesterday. I’m 4-7 (this happened on more than one occasion), sitting there in my pjs on a Saturday night. Wet hair up in sponge curlers for church in the morning. Eating apple slices and cheese like “and then what happened?” Why she felt led to tell such a young child these stories, no idea. Traumatic.

1. We made a whole trip to see a healing evangelist to try and heal my brother’s autism.
2. Hell Houses lol
3. Praying over DVDs of Harry Potter at Family Video so they wouldn’t open portals for demons
4. Praying in tongues and falling out in the spirit
5. That time we had a fly infestation and we had a house exorcism bc…again…demons and portals and stuff.

Wanting to be "slain in the spirit" by the traveling revival preacher pointing at you, meaning you would fall on the floor, possibly speaking in tongues, and if you had on a skirt someone would sidle up next to you and throw on a modesty towel. This is just what springs to mind, not necessarily the weirdest.

Its hard to choose just a few: the encouragement of children speaking in tongues was g***y. Regular White Dudes in the church were given special authority & mantles to end up as confidants & mentors to teen girls, & especially loved conversations on purity & the joys of marital s*x.

That we call women leading a household “invisible labor” because the cult of masculinity insists that men lead households.

Constantly staying hyper-vigilant for demons in our home.

Paid only in cash, but not a single penny was allowed to cross into the threshold - it had to be buried outside in specific places "so they couldn't observe us through it".

400 people moved from Southern California to Nashville in the mid-90’s.
And honestly, that might not be the strangest.

School clubs and extra curricular stuff was a govt initiative to teach kids how to *procreate* so they become child parents and have to get welfare and food stamps so they can put the mark of the beast into you. Also she told me I was demon possessed and called her dad for an over the phone excersism on me because I was doing a school project and when she suggested formatting it one way, I told her the teacher said it had to be another way. Because "the only reason anyone would disagree with thier mother was because they had been fully taken over by Satan."

Speaking in tongues and making prophecies while people fell out on the floor. Kind of disturbing tbh
That was just surface level non-denominational Christianity, though. There’s probably plenty weirder stuff I wasn’t there for.

Asking for permission to do things such as cut YOUR own hair…. Or attend a non church member’s graduation party…. Let me stop before my algorithm starts adding church hurt to my interests.

Blaming illness or disorders on "not being faithful enough to god".

Not me but happened to my fd: they don’t force but strongly advice all member to live in a same rent apartment. Also encouraged to monitor each other from watching/reading/ listening to things that have s*x in it.
My fd was devoted at first and agreed to a lot of stuff like less contact with non-member fds but drew the line when they told her Y**i is sinful and she will be in hell for reading them.