Meesta Reekie, you have a point! How are people gonna know where I'm coming from until I explain where I've been?
- Name: There is a cult snuggled down in a suburb of Philadelphia, hiding in plain sight. It's surrounded by a neighborhood of yuppies who go shopping at the Gateway Shopping Center, slurping Starbucks, browsing Trader Joe's in their tennis togs. The culties look just like you. Except maybe for the tennis. The name? "Covenant Presbyterian Church". Of course you now ask "How can this be a cult with such a mainstream churchie name?" Fact: It simply serves as good camouflage. The more "normal" the name sounds, the more rubes you lure in! Let's face it. When you're searching the Yellow Pages for a place of worship who are you gonna pick? Hmmmm....."Covenant Presbyterian" or "The Exalted Brotherhood of the Holy Lint-Lickers"? Whuuuut?
- Structure: Resembles the Presbyterian layout as far as leaders being called "elders" instead of "pastors". There the similarity ends. It is not part of any "Synod" or administrative group to whom they are held accountable. The real leaders were the married couple who split (were ejected?) from another church to start their own gig. Everybody else is pretty much spiritual cannon fodder. Incidentally, the husband of this dynamic duo finally got the sh!Ts of the whole thing and left. So "MOM", as they all call her, runs the show now. It is considered a privilege to speak to her on the phone. People compete for the right to sit beside her or at her feet. Anyone who doesn't try hard enough to grab that honored spot runs the risk of having their motives or sincerity questioned. Don't let that happen. Trust me, it sucks.
- Living Conditions: The single women all lived in one house, the single men in another, both of which were owned by the leaders of the cult. Since the cult focused on drawing in people who were at a particularly vulnerable time in their life, high school graduates or college freshmen were prime targets. So we all were pretty much the same age. There were a few young married couples who managed to slip in there in the early years of the cult, but other than that it was all singles, or divorced people. No dating went on except in groups. I imagine it's the same kind of situation nowadays.
- System of Beliefs: First, let me clarify something: Cults are not about religion. There is no religion going on here; they merely use their twisted interpretation of a religion to their own ends, usually to gain control over a person through fear and self-loathing, either for financial gain or the sick need to have a group of people desperately needing you to survive. The cult I was in enforced the notion that the wife was pretty much the husband's property right down to the clothing on her back. She must submit to him in all things. We never had the luxury of saying. "Not tonight, honey...I have a headache!" This cult was the only place you could go to attain salvation. We were told that God had reserved the hottest part of Hell for anyone who dared to leave. So many negative things were drilled into our heads on a daily basis and such tremendous pressure was put on you to agree with everything they told you, that eventually you just lost your identity and sense of self. You were lower than the lowest worm in the dirt; completely unworthy of love. We were so disgustingly grateful to get a little special attention from one of the leaders and they kept us that way. They were the only family we had left since we were expected to break away from our families. Some of us hadn't seen or spoken to our relatives in years. You came to feel totally dependent on the leaders, and terrified of being "out there" in the world.
- As far as I can recall, there were bible studies three nights a week, attendance mandatory. In addition, married women had a bible study during the day while the kids were in school. Every day. Attendance mandatory. TV sets and radios were turned off promptly at midnight on Saturday, which is when the Sabbath began. You better have all your assigned cooking for the Sunday meals done before then. Sunday was an all-day experience. First came morning worship service, then lunch, then we split up into study groups. Men went with the male leader and talked about whatever humiliating subject was chosen for them. Women naturally hung out with "Mom", hung on her every word, and discussed everyone's failures, shortcomings, etc, be they emotional, physical, sexual. They usually found something. If they didn't, they made something up. There was no privacy in these things. During bible studies there would be the "hot seat" in which the lucky person was subjected to humiliation and accusations. Things were brought up which you thought you had told someone in confidence. You learned there was nothing of your own. Not your thoughts, not your emotions. Everything you did was wrong. After a while you just go along to make it stop. I usually tried to keep a blank expression on my face to avoid notice. I also devised the habit of singing songs to myself inside my head to keep from going crazy. To tune them out as much as possible.
Okay, Rickie: My writer's block is officially over....now I have writer's cramp, dad blast ya!!
