Let's Talk About Sects

Violet Pryor told her followers that she was God. They gave up their money and possessions to keep her in comfort. David Ayliffe became one of her key Pillars, a right-hand man. After her death, he became the leader of the cult she had created in Sydney, Australia – the Zion Full Salvation Ministry. Guest: David Ayliffe Full research sources listed here. You can support us on Patreon or Acast+, with a one-off donation, or grab some merch. Sarah Steel's debut book Do As I Say is available on audiobook now.With thanks to Audio-Technica, presenting partner for season 4 of Let's Talk About Sects.If you have been personally affected by involvement in a cult, or would like to support those who have been, contact Cult Information and Family Support in Australia, or the International Cultic Studies Association outside of Australia.If you or someone you know is in crisis or needs support right now, please call Lifeline on 13 11 14 in Australia, or find your local crisis centre via the International Association for Suicide Prevention. Links:My Brother’s Eyes — by David & John Ayliffe, John Garratt Publishing, 2009David Ayliffe’s website — with links to the audiobook of My Brother’s EyesThe development of, and opposition to, Healing Ministries in the Anglican Diocese of Sydney, with special reference to the Healing Ministry at St Andrew’s Cathedral 1960-2010 — by Paul Francis Egan, PhD thesis for Macquarie University, 2012Full Salvation Fellowship — Peter and Verlie Hobson’s website, accessed February 2021Omegaman Internet Radio Station — accessed February 2021Violet Dorothy Pryor — gravesite listing, Kangaroo Valley CemeteryWedding Bells: Wills-Pryor — Sunshine Advocate, 25 February 1944Violet Dorothy Wills — Victorian marriage listing with the Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages, accessed February 2021 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As he was about to turn 17, Remy Attig was keen to get away from his parents’ fracturing marriage, and ready for something to give his life purpose. The Master’s Commission program seemed like just the thing to set him up for a life of travel and spreading the word of God. Instead, it ran him ragged, instilled fear, built on his internalised homophobia, and set him up for unhealthy relationships and trust issues. In hindsight, he believes that the Master’s Commission was a cult. Guest: Remy Attig Full research sources listed here. You can support us on Patreon or Acast+, with a one-off donation, or grab some merch. Sarah Steel's debut book Do As I Say is available on audiobook now.With thanks to Audio-Technica, presenting partner for season 4 of Let's Talk About Sects.If you have been personally affected by involvement in a cult, or would like to support those who have been, contact Cult Information and Family Support in Australia, or the International Cultic Studies Association outside of Australia.If you or someone you know is in crisis or needs support right now, please call Lifeline on 13 11 14 in Australia, or find your local crisis centre via the International Association for Suicide Prevention. Links:Master’s Commission International Network (MCIN) — official websiteAthletes International Ministry — official websitePhoenix Megachurch Hosting Trump Rally Says It Has Special Coronavirus-Killing Air System — by Ray Stern, Phoenix New Times, 22 June 2020AG Warns Phoenix Megachurch and Air-System Firm About Fraudulent COVID Statements — by Ray Stern, Phoenix New Times, 26 June 2020Without a Vision, You Perish — Trivita profile of Larry Kerychuck, unknown dateLloyd Zeigler — Jim Bakker Show profile, accessed January 2021Statement of Fundamental Truths — Assemblies of GodMy Cult Life — blog by Lisa Kerr, archived January 2014 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lindy Jacomb was born into the Exclusive Brethren in Auckland, New Zealand, and was told there was no longer a place for her there in 2008. Her family cut off all communication with her and she was forced to start a new life at the age of 20, without any of the people she knew and loved. Guests: Lindy Jacomb and Michael Bachelard Full research sources listed here. You can support us on Patreon or Acast+, with a one-off donation, or grab some merch. Sarah Steel's debut book Do As I Say is available on audiobook now.With thanks to Audio-Technica, presenting partner for season 4 of Let's Talk About Sects.If you have been personally affected by involvement in a cult, or would like to support those who have been, contact Cult Information and Family Support in Australia, or the International Cultic Studies Association outside of Australia.If you or someone you know is in crisis or needs support right now, please call Lifeline on 13 11 14 in Australia, or find your local crisis centre via the International Association for Suicide Prevention. Links:Behind the Exclusive Brethren — by Michael Bachelard, Scribe Publications, 2008Separation from Evil - God's Principle of Unity — by John Nelson Darby, 1853BIG JIM TAYLOR, LEADER OF SECT — James Taylor Jnr. obituary, The New York Times, 17 October 1970"The Aberdeen Incident" July, 1970 — a compilation of material including a transcription of the Aberdeen Tapes, from the 25 July 1970 meeting following the incidentThe closed-door church: Inside the secretive and strict Plymouth Brethren sect in Manitoba — by Bill Redekop, Winnipeg Free Press, 10 May 2014Howard defends meeting the Exclusive Brethren — by Peta Donald, PM, ABC Radio National, 22 August 2007OneSchool Global NSW Enrollment Policy — accessed December 2020OneSchool Global — official website, accessed December 2020 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lindy Jacomb was born into the Exclusive Brethren in Auckland, New Zealand, and was told there was no longer a place for her there in 2008. Her family cut off all communication with her and she was forced to start a new life at the age of 20, without any of the people she knew and loved. Guests: Lindy Jacomb and Michael Bachelard Full research sources listed here. You can support us on Patreon or Acast+, with a one-off donation, or grab some merch. Sarah Steel's debut book Do As I Say is available on audiobook now.With thanks to Audio-Technica, presenting partner for season 4 of Let's Talk About Sects.If you have been personally affected by involvement in a cult, or would like to support those who have been, contact Cult Information and Family Support in Australia, or the International Cultic Studies Association outside of Australia.If you or someone you know is in crisis or needs support right now, please call Lifeline on 13 11 14 in Australia, or find your local crisis centre via the International Association for Suicide Prevention. Links:Behind the Exclusive Brethren — by Michael Bachelard, Scribe Publications, 2008Separation from Evil - God's Principle of Unity — by John Nelson Darby, 1853BIG JIM TAYLOR, LEADER OF SECT — James Taylor Jnr. obituary, The New York Times, 17 October 1970"The Aberdeen Incident" July, 1970 — a compilation of material including a transcription of the Aberdeen Tapes, from the 25 July 1970 meeting following the incidentThe closed-door church: Inside the secretive and strict Plymouth Brethren sect in Manitoba — by Bill Redekop, Winnipeg Free Press, 10 May 2014Howard defends meeting the Exclusive Brethren — by Peta Donald, PM, ABC Radio National, 22 August 2007OneSchool Global NSW Enrollment Policy — accessed December 2020OneSchool Global — official website, accessed December 2020 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As a disaffected youth, Shannon Bundock was drawn to progressive ideas. In her late teens she moved into the city, to a poor neighbourhood in Vancouver, Canada, where she became hyper aware of the inequality all around her. The activists who were trying to do something about this in the early 2000s ignited her passion for radical politics. At 19, Shannon was ready to dedicate herself wholeheartedly to doing her part to change the world for the better. Five and a half years later, she’d find herself flat broke and unable to make life decisions about the simplest things, like what to wear. Guest: Shannon Bundock Full research sources listed here. You can support us on Patreon or Acast+, with a one-off donation, or grab some merch. Sarah Steel's debut book Do As I Say is available on audiobook now.With thanks to Audio-Technica, presenting partner for season 4 of Let's Talk About Sects.If you have been personally affected by involvement in a cult, or would like to support those who have been, contact Cult Information and Family Support in Australia, or the International Cultic Studies Association outside of Australia.If you or someone you know is in crisis or needs support right now, please call Lifeline on 13 11 14 in Australia, or find your local crisis centre via the International Association for Suicide Prevention. Links:That revolution thing? My bad — by Erin Millar, Maclean’s, 12 March 2008No Fire No Time — Ivan Drury’s blog archive of materials around his and other ex-members’ experiences in FTT, accessed November 2020Cuba Solidarity in Canada: Five Decades of People-to-People Foreign Relations — edited by Nino Pagliccia, FriesenPress, 2 December 2014Battle of Ideas Press website — accessed November 2020Fire This Time website — accessed November 2020, including Derrick O’Keefe’s private emails still online“The Movement,” Mullahs and Liberal Muddleheads: From MAWO to Revolutionary Marxism — by Andrew Malieni, Spartacist Canada, No. 152, Spring 2007 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Natasha Tiku wrote for Gawker in 2013, “Everyone is interested in doing fun things with their bodies. But the impulse to systematize, replicate, package, sell, and build an ideology around it is uniquely Silicon Valley.” She was writing about an organisation that was monetising the female orgasm. And they weren’t the only ones doing so. Guests: Christine Talbott Acosta, Ruwan Meepagala, Sasha Nelson Full research sources listed here. You can support us on Patreon or Acast+, with a one-off donation, or grab some merch. Sarah Steel's debut book Do As I Say is available on audiobook now.With thanks to Audio-Technica, presenting partner for season 4 of Let's Talk About Sects.If you have been personally affected by involvement in a cult, or would like to support those who have been, contact Cult Information and Family Support in Australia, or the International Cultic Studies Association outside of Australia.If you or someone you know is in crisis or needs support right now, please call Lifeline on 13 11 14 in Australia, or find your local crisis centre via the International Association for Suicide Prevention. For sexual assault resources in Australia, visit www.1800respect.org.au, and in the USA, visit www.rainn.org. Links:The Pleasure Principle — by Patricia Leigh Brown and Carol Pogash, New York Times, 13 March 2009Lafayette Morehouse — official website, accessed October 2020Lafayette Morehouse, Inc. v. The Chronicle Publishing Co., No. A067522. — 37 Cal. App. 4th 855, 44 Cal. Rptr. 2d 46, California Court of Appeal, First District, Division 5, 9 August 1995Sgt. Bilko Meets The New Culture — by Robin Green, Rolling Stone, 9 December 1971Inside The Purple People House, The Freaky, Stand-Offish Sex Cult In Northern California — by Anna Lindwasser, Ranker, 7 November 2018The Truth about RJ Testerman — Christine... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Natasha Tiku wrote for Gawker in 2013, “Everyone is interested in doing fun things with their bodies. But the impulse to systematize, replicate, package, sell, and build an ideology around it is uniquely Silicon Valley.” She was writing about an organisation that was monetising the female orgasm. And they weren’t the only ones doing so. Guests: Christine Talbott Acosta, Ruwan Meepagala, Sasha Nelson Full research sources listed here. You can support us on Patreon or Acast+, with a one-off donation, or grab some merch. Sarah Steel's debut book Do As I Say is available on audiobook now.With thanks to Audio-Technica, presenting partner for season 4 of Let's Talk About Sects.If you have been personally affected by involvement in a cult, or would like to support those who have been, contact Cult Information and Family Support in Australia, or the International Cultic Studies Association outside of Australia.If you or someone you know is in crisis or needs support right now, please call Lifeline on 13 11 14 in Australia, or find your local crisis centre via the International Association for Suicide Prevention. For sexual assault resources in Australia, visit www.1800respect.org.au, and in the USA, visit www.rainn.org. Links:The Pleasure Principle — by Patricia Leigh Brown and Carol Pogash, New York Times, 13 March 2009Lafayette Morehouse — official website, accessed October 2020Lafayette Morehouse, Inc. v. The Chronicle Publishing Co., No. A067522. — 37 Cal. App. 4th 855, 44 Cal. Rptr. 2d 46, California Court of Appeal, First District, Division 5, 9 August 1995Sgt. Bilko Meets The New Culture — by Robin Green, Rolling Stone, 9 December 1971Inside The Purple People House, The Freaky, Stand-Offish Sex Cult In Northern California — by Anna Lindwasser, Ranker, 7 November 2018 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Laura McConnell was born into a fundamentalist Christian sect that claims it has no name. Former member Elizabeth Coleman told Nathan Jolly for news.com.au earlier this year that, “It is of utmost importance to them that they do not have an official name or headquarters or centrally identifiable presence anywhere on earth.” From his investigative reporting in 2013, journalist Chris Johnston estimated there were 20,000 members in Australia, and hundreds of thousands around the world. Sometimes referred to as The Truth, the Two by Twos, or the Friends and Workers, the sect has seen multiple leaders face accusations of child sexual abuse, some of which are currently in court. Laura and many former members believe that this highly secretive group should certainly be considered a cult. Special Guests: Laura McConnell, Chris Johnston Full research sources listed here. You can support us on Patreon or Acast+, with a one-off donation, or grab some merch. Sarah Steel's debut book Do As I Say is available on audiobook now.With thanks to Audio-Technica, presenting partner for season 4 of Let's Talk About Sects.If you have been personally affected by involvement in a cult, or would like to support those who have been, contact Cult Information and Family Support in Australia, or the International Cultic Studies Association outside of Australia.If you or someone you know is in crisis or needs support right now, please call Lifeline on 13 11 14 in Australia, or find your local crisis centre via the International Association for Suicide Prevention. Links:Wings for Truth — support site for sexual assault survivors of the Two by TwosLaura McConnell’s website — including various blog posts and Links & Articles Related to The Truth SectFriends and enemies, truth and lies — by Chris Johnston, The Age, 23 September 2013Secrets, lies and sex abuse as ex-sect leader chooses life on the inside — by Chris Johnston, The Sydney Morning Herald, 28 July 2014The Truth Church: Inside the nameless church cult where TV and dancing are "the devil's work" — by Amy Clark, Mamamia,... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Helen Zuman describes herself as “a tree-hugging dirt worshipper devoted to turning waste into food and the stinky guck of experience into fertile, fragrant prose.” Her memoir ‘Mating in Captivity’ details her experiences joining Zendik Farm, a commune in North Carolina with the motto ‘Stop Bitching, Start a Revolution’, which she came across in 1999. Helen stayed until 2004, but it wasn’t until the following year that she recognised she’d been in a cult. Special Guest: Helen Zuman Full research sources listed here. You can support us on Patreon or Acast+, with a one-off donation, or grab some merch. Sarah Steel's debut book Do As I Say is available on audiobook now.With thanks to Audio-Technica, presenting partner for season 4 of Let's Talk About Sects.If you have been personally affected by involvement in a cult, or would like to support those who have been, contact Cult Information and Family Support in Australia, or the International Cultic Studies Association outside of Australia.If you or someone you know is in crisis or needs support right now, please call Lifeline on 13 11 14 in Australia, or find your local crisis centre via the International Association for Suicide Prevention. Links:Mating in Captivity: A Memoir — by Helen Zuman, She Writes Press, 2018The Green Alternative At Zendik Arts Farm, a Commune Strives for a Dollar and Change — by Fredrick Kunkle, The Washington Post, 22 January 2006Who Are These People? — by Ryan Grim, Washington City Paper, 4-10 November 2005Commune Unplugs From the World to Save It — by Tom Gorman, Los Angeles Times, 19 April 1987Leaving Zendik Farm — by Alison Rooney, The Highlands Current, 9 May 2017Wulf Zendik — Facebook pageArol Wulf-Zendik — Facebook profileThe Work of Wulf Zendik — online archive of Wulf Zendik’s writings Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Journalist A.M. Gittlitz released his book I Want to Believe: Posadism, UFOs and Apocalypse Communism earlier this year. In it, he explores the fascinating world of the Posadists – a Latin American Trotskyist group who are best known today for their zany beliefs around extra-terrestrial and dolphin intelligence. But their movement had a lot more to it than this, and in its later days would devolve into a cult around the authoritarian leadership of J. Posadas.Gittlitz drew on considerable archival research and numerous interviews with ex- and current Posadists in writing his book, and he spoke to me about the more cultic elements of this unusual socialist movement.Special Guest: A.M. Gittlitz.Full research sources listed here. You can support us on Patreon or Acast+, with a one-off donation, or grab some merch. Sarah Steel's debut book Do As I Say is available on audiobook now.If you have been personally affected by involvement in a cult, or would like to support those who have been, contact Cult Information and Family Support in Australia, or the International Cultic Studies Association outside of Australia.If you or someone you know is in crisis or needs support right now, please call Lifeline on 13 11 14 in Australia, or find your local crisis centre via the International Association for Suicide Prevention.LinksI Want to Believe: Posadism, UFOs and Apocalypse Communism — by A.M. Gittlitz, 2020 (Use code POSADAS20 for 20% discount)J. Posadas, the Trotskyist Who Believed in Intergalactic Communism — an interview with A.M. Gittlitz by David Broder, Jacobin, 5 April 2020A.M. Gittlitz on Twitter, and on The Antifada podcastPromo: The Troubles podcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.