Ep. 28 | The Cult Next Door: Unveiling The Potter's House Christian Fellowship
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Cult Spotlight: The Potters House Christian Fellowship
Speaker: [00:00:00] Hey Legends, welcome back to another week. Hopefully my voice isn't too frustrating for you to listen to. I've actually had a head cold and been a bit album well, this full last week, and I've now run out of a backlog of episodes to release to you. And so I was like, well, I'm not missing another episode.
I'm not doing it. You guys, I just wanna talk to you. So , today we're actually gonna be talking about. I'm going to be talking about a topic that is pretty near and dear to my heart. I'm not going to lie. So this is a kind of a new series that I'm going to do. And there'll be, these episodes will be spaced out over coming months, not all like one week after another, but I want to do a cult spotlight.
So each time I do one of these episodes. I want to shine a light on a different cult, whether that is a religious cult or a non religious cult. And I thought there's none better to start with than the one that I was personally raised in. So today we're going to be shining a light on a cult [00:01:00] called the Potter's House Christian Fellowship and I'm going to start off by actually explaining to you, what even is a cult?
So we're going to go through that. What is a cult? You know, different signs to look out for with cults. I'm going to go through what is the Potter's House, which is the Christian fellowship that I was born into and I didn't leave until I was 25. So I know it intimately. And I will also explain that it depended on which particular Potters House church you were a part of as to how severe your experience would have been.
So some of, and I'll get fully into it, but some of the actual Christian churches within Potters House were way less severe than others. The one that I was in, in Launceston, Tasmania, was full nuts. So I know it intimately and then I also spent time in the Beechboro Church in Perth, Western Australia and also in Sydney.
So I've been in three Potters House churches and I will get into that but [00:02:00] I'm going to go through Why I consider Potter's house to be a cult and many that have left do also consider it to be a cult. You know, what are the tactics that are used to keep people tightly held in and to never leave? And what are the consequences of you leaving?
I'm going to go through so much to do with what actually also happens once you leave. Cause I know many people that have left this cult, many, right? Lots of people over the years, over my lifetime. Um, That I personally know, or, you know, we're in other, other churches within the Potter's house fellowship.
And I'm seeing a massive pattern amongst those that leave that you tend to end up in one of four different categories that I've come up with and reasons why I can see that happening. So I'm going to go through all of this. So this, I want to try to make this as quick, quick as possible. I'm not going to go through every single part of my story of being raised in Potters House Christian Fellowship, [00:03:00] but this is more just for you to understand what it is.
Why not all Christian churches are the same? Why some are way more cultish than others. And what are the signs of that? So you'll get something out of this, whether you are religious or not. In fact, I would think that most of the people that tune into this podcast, controversial as fuck are non religious or maybe hold.
You know, maybe believe in God like I do. I believe in the concept of a God. I believe in, for instance, I've mentioned this before, but I have very different views to when I grew up. I don't believe in the rupture. I don't believe in hell. I don't believe that sin is something that requires somebody to die for.
I don't believe that Jesus was the son of God any more than we are all fractals of God. We are all, you know, we are all God experiencing itself, right? So I have very different beliefs now. I am completely non religious. So don't worry. I'm not about to start a sermon. I'm not about to pull an altar call.
If you're religious, you'll know what that means. Um, this [00:04:00] is more just to shine a light on why cults occur and how they occur, how they become so big and how they, What are their methods? What are their tactics? So let's just dive into it. So first of all
and hopefully my voice holds up for this, but first of all, let's go through different signs of a religious cult, because let's think about it, right? If you've heard of different cults, maybe you have watched different, I don't know, Netflix shows or YouTube shows or whatever it on different cults that are out there.
Often you can on the outside watching it or maybe hearing stories, you can be like, how the crap are they so gullible? How are the members so gullible that they got sucked in so strongly and gave such a massive portion of their life and of their existence and their devotion to this thing? And look, I have thought that Scientology.
When I've looked into. You know, what is [00:05:00] Scientology? Um, what do they believe and what goes on? I'm like, how can they be so gullible? And then I'm like, holy shit. What about you, Holly? You spent 25 years in the Potter's house, Christian fellowship. Like, how could you be so gullible? And It is so easy to think that way.
And I hope that this episode shines a light on how people are literally so gullible, but not, and I don't mean that in a nasty way, like how they actually get ahold of you. Because it's not like an overnight thing normally, right? Same way with, for instance, if you hear of someone that's like a severe narcissist, they are incredible at being charismatic and also at love bombing.
These are two big tactics that are used, right? So. You think of someone that you may know, I know this word gets overused. Everyone today is a narcissist. Apparently it gets overused, but there are actual individuals that are [00:06:00] proper narcissist out there. And if you know of one, or you've had a narcissist in your family, maybe a family member, you know, is one, these individuals are so cunning, right?
They are so charismatic that on the outside, people are like, They're not a narcissist, they're wonderful. And they're incredible at love bombing people that they meet and just pulling a crowd and drawing people in. And the people that actually know them really well, like maybe family members that actually know who this individual really is, it's hard for them because they're like, Nobody else sees it, but me, right?
And this is the same when it comes to cults. You, when you join one of these places, you are love bombed on heart right now. I, I was raised in it from birth basically. So I didn't know any different, but from someone, let's say someone joins as a teenager or as an adult, you don't often join a religious group because your life is incredible.
Like that just doesn't happen. People [00:07:00] don't it's because their life, and I've mentioned this before their life is in chaos. Their life is a mess. Maybe their, you know, marriage has just broken down or someone close to them has just passed away, or they've gone bankrupt and lost everything, or they're addicted to drugs or alcohol or whatever it might be.
Right? So their life is in chaos. Normally that is how people join religious groups. So then you walk in the door to this religious group and all of these people are so lovely to you, right? They're, Um, and they mean, well, like most really mean, well, they're not doing it as a means of necessarily, let's just like deliberately, let's just love bombing this person to get ahold of them.
It's, it's coming normally from a pure place, right? But it is a tactic that's used and they will love bombing this individual and they will just be so devoted to this new person that's just walked in and make them feel like the king and the queen and make them feel so loved. And instantly they're part of a community.
Right. You don't instantly notice that a [00:08:00] cult is a cult normally.
let me clarify. If any of us walked into a Scientology building right now, us as individuals that have high levels of self trust high levels of self authority, we have strong discernment. We, you know, we trust ourselves. Yeah. We'd be like, well, what the crap I'm getting weird vibes from But if If you don't have those things, you may not pick up on it instantly.
There is with Colts a gradual and it is gradual and it calculated stripping away of your freedom of thought is one and also of your independence and your self trust. So these are three big things in Colts and I know this intimately, right? But what actually happens is over time, you picture the analogy of.
the frog in the boiling water. So if you've got a hot pot of boiling water on a stove, and all of a sudden you were to put a frog in it, it's going to instantly leap out of there because it feels it instantly. It gets burnt and it stings. it's going to leap [00:09:00] out. Whereas if you put, don't do this, it's disgusting.
It's just an analogy. If you put a frog in a pot of colder water or like lukewarm water, it's going to stay in there. And then you, you know, turn it on and it's slowly over time going to get warmer and warmer and warmer until it's boiling. The frogs don't actually notice usually, and they stay in there and they, uh, Boiled to death.
It's literally the same as us human beings. If something is done overnight, like if you were to walk into a cult, right. As you know, your life is a mess. Your life is chaotic. You are looking for answers. You're seeking answers in life. You are looking for hope and you step into a cult and you don't realize you've stepped into a cult if literally it went from you being love bombed and being doted on one day and then the next day everything changed and you were exposed to what the cult actually was you would leave because you're like [00:10:00] What like this is not what I walked into yesterday.
Okay. And you would leave. And that's how it would lose members. Instead. It's very gradual. It's a gradual, as I said, stripping away and erosion of your freedom of thought. So you come in as an individual thinking certain things about yourself, about the world, about maybe God or whatever it is, right? You have certain belief systems over time, they are molded and they are shaped to only.
agree and, and, and follow what they want you to agree with and to follow. It's done over time. Same with your self authority, right? You may have some form of self trust. You may have some form of self authority when you first go there. As I said, most people's lives are in chaos when they join a religious church, but you might have some form, but then over time.
If you're continually taught what a scumbag you are, if you're continually taught that there is something inherently wrong with you, if you're taught not to trust yourself over time, that goes from maybe [00:11:00] this level of having self trust to like down the bottom. And that's another way that they get you hook, line and sinker and, and basically plugged into them and to their community and to their cult for life.
A lot of. Religious cults, like their, their religious beliefs at first, and as an outsider may seem pretty reasonable because they tend to, and I'm going to speak specifically to the Potter's house. They tend to be quite similar to a lot of other churches out there. So for instance, the Potter's house, just some of their theology, right?
They believe obviously that Jesus is the son of God and that he died on the cross for everybody's sins. And when you die, you're either going to go to heaven or to hell. One of those two places. They believe obviously in hell. They believe in the rapture. So that meaning that, you know, Jesus is going to take all of his people from earth up into heaven and everyone left on earth at that time that isn't a Christian that hasn't [00:12:00] accepted Jesus into their hearts, for instance, is going to go through a horrible time of tribulation.
So they believe very much in the rapture. Now when you talk about these things, They're pretty common in Pentecostal Christian churches, right? That aren't cults. They're the same as like say Baptist church and churches and lots of Christian sects out there, right? And so from an outsider, it might be like, well, yeah, that's pretty common.
Like it doesn't make them a cult, okay? And I agree. I agree. Having certain beliefs Right. About God or, you know, whatever that itself isn't what is making them a cult, right? A lot of these, you know, beliefs that they hold they're, they're not exclusive to just them. And this is why on the outside, you'd be like, well, are they actually a cult?
They're just a Christian church when on surface, that's all you see. Okay. So most people, that's all they would see. Like if you look up a website of any church out there, you might see See a list of their beliefs and a [00:13:00] list of what they believe the Bible to be and what they believe about life. And you might be like, well, they all hold similar sort of belief systems.
So therefore they're not really cults. They're just different denominations of Christianity at the core of cults though. And at the core of the Potter's house, Christian fellowship is dominance and submission. Okay. It is all about dominance and submission. And these come through four different ways. And one of them is psychological.
They very much are about what you believe and what you think. And as I said, this is going to be reshaped over time and continually influenced by what they want you to believe. Another way is emotional. So your feelings, your connections with other individuals, they're all Manipulated. So any, anything emotional is manipulated by the church, by their theology, and by their means of control.
And I'll get into all of this. Another way is financial. and that's really big, [00:14:00] very big in potter's house. And then there's also physical. So There could be restrictions on movements and on your physical autonomy. And again, this is why I say it depends on which potter's house church you were a part of as to what your experience was.
There could be people that listen to this episode, that watch this episode on YouTube that are like, I'm part of the potter's house. And I have not experienced that. Now, obviously they're probably going to have. cognitive dissonance, and they're only going to be looking for things that reaffirm what they already believe.
So instantly they're going to reject what I'm saying anyway. I understand I would have done the same if I was still in potter's house, but it does also depend on who your pastor was. And I'll get into the structure of that in a second. But this is what tends to be very common in cults. You will have a charismatic leader.
So they're charismatic. People want to follow them, right? No one really wants to follow a douchebag. They may have douchebag tendencies that come out over time, but overall they've got [00:15:00] charisma. There's a push for not questioning the faith. So that was, this is huge in Potter's house. Don't question, don't ever question.
We were actually taught do not question. I've said this numerous times. Do not question that actually teach you that if you question what's in the Bible, if you question the leaders, Then you are opening up a foothold for the devil to come into your mind and to basically take control. You are rebellious is another way that they put it.
And you eventually end up leaving the church and going to hell. That's literally how it was taught to us. And then the third thing is isolation and or abuse of members. Isolation is huge. And I'll get into how the potter's house ticks all of those boxes in particular.
Now, let's just talk about quickly what even is the potter's house. What am I talking about? So there was originally a church called, or it still is out there, called Foursquare. And there was a man who was a part of that church. This is [00:16:00] in America, who was called Wayman Mitchell. And he was part of the four square church.
He went to now listen intently to this. This all will make sense in a second. This guy, Wayman Mitchell went to Bible college and he was one of the leaders in the four square church. And he ended up actually disagreeing quite strongly with, you know, different parts of. His church that he was a part of, or the fellowship he was a part of called Foursquare.
So already this is quite an important thing to understand. There's a man, Wayman Mitchell, who's part of a Christian fellowship. He went to Bible college. He got his degree in Bible theology and he's, he is having disagreements within Foursquare fellowship. And he ends up actually breaking away from that church.
This is important and creating his own fellowship due to disagreements. Right. So he ends up starting, Christian fellowship ministries. So CFM it's actually known as Christian [00:17:00] fellowship ministries and within Christian fellowship ministries, there were three main church names that they ended up using over years, which was the door Potter's house, which is not to be confused with T.
D. Jake's. Who's a big American, uh, preacher. From Texas, I believe he has a church called Potter's House in Texas. It's not to be confused with him and his fellowship. It's completely different. So Christian Fellowship Ministries, CFM, is what Wayman Mitchell, this guy who broke away from Foursquare, started.
And under CFM, there's The Door, Potter's House, and Victory Chapel are kind of three main names that they used for the churches that they started, right? you All three of those names, whatever church it is, right? Whether you're part of The Door, Potter's House or Victory Chapel, they still have the same rules and standards.
They weren't separate. It was all under CFM, Christian Fellowship Ministries. So you think about it. Wayman [00:18:00] Mitchell broke away from Foursquare, started his own ministrySo he had his main potter's house church in Prescott, Arizona, and then he would start candlelight churches. They would often be called where he would send out different men and their wives within the church to start and to plant new churches all around the world. And that's how it actually grew. So that's how Christian fellowship ministries became so big around the world with all these different churches is because he would plant them.
And so that's quite important because When it comes to him, he's now passed away, but when, and his son is now the leader of the entire fellowship worldwide, he was idolized massively, this guy, Wayman Mitchell. So basically that would say you would have God, and then you would have him. You would have the leader of your church, right?
And then, and then people underneath and then you. So like he was, it was almost like saying God and Wayman Mitchell were right next to each other, as far as level of importance and reverence [00:19:00] and all of that. They literally. idolized him. He was seen as a charismatic leader. You know, you never go against anything he says or what leaders of the churches would say.
They were very strongly about obedience. Obedience is better than sacrifice. And they would often say that in relation to, you know, they'd be talking about God, you know, you've got to obey God and all that, but it was often obey the leaders. In fact, you were taught to never disagree with your leaders. as in leaders of the church and, you know, people in positions of power within the church structure, you were taught to never disagree with them, to never go against what they say.
And this is one of the ways of how they, you know, how it turned into a cult was how they actually controlled people within the church, because you cannot question the leaders of the church. You're just not allowed to, you're not allowed to question How they teach you as well. So what's fascinating, here's a man, Wayman Mitchell, who went to Bible college and got a Bible degree, [00:20:00] but he also didn't believe in anyone else going to Bible college.
So if you were in the church and you wanted to be a pastor, only men could be pastors, you were discouraged. Do not go to Bible college. Let us teach you. So you would be taught in the ways of Wayman Mitchell. Basically you would be taught in the ways that he would want you to be taught. Or, you know, the leader of your church would want you to be and how they would want you to be a leader.
You know, how they would teach you how to read the Bible and how to handle X, Y, Z or. you know, how to handle problems that might arise in the church. And then basically you, if they liked you and they wanted you as a leader, that's how a church would be started. They would send you with money, like funds from the church.
They would send you to start a whole new Potter's house church. And so again, here's a guy who broke away from a fellowship to start his own, who went to Bible college, but discourages anyone else from going to Bible college. And who was very much against. questioning him, even though he [00:21:00] questioned his leaders and disagreed with them.
And that's why he ended up breaking away. They actually, I would say they became so paranoid about rebellion and about dissent amongst the members that they did everything possible to squash it. So they squashed any critical thought, any questioning, they believed in blind obedience, like absolute blind obedience.
And it's how They kept members in tight. So they believe very strongly in hell. Hell was constantly like hell would be mentioned in every single church service. And so for myself being raised in it from a baby, literally, I would hear about hell all the time as a young child, as a, and then going into my teens, like.
We would be told about hell and about, you know, the demons and the devil could do whatever they want to you. And like, there was a lot of fear put into us as children. They believe very much in the rapture, which I mentioned before. And this was again, also taught to us as children. This is just something that we were taught. [00:22:00] Everything about them was very fear based, very dogmatic teachings. This was not like your nice, normal, Christian church. Everything was dogmatic.
They believed that the Bible is the perfect word of God and can never be questioned. So it wasn't that. You know, the Bible holds wisdom and, you know, it's, it uses metaphors and parables to try to explain human conditioning and the human experience. And it's, you know, it's human beings trying to understand who is God and trying to, you know, understand what is life and what's the purpose of existence.
No, it is the infallible, perfect word of God. And you are never to question it. And obviously, as I mentioned before, you were discouraged from ever going to Bible college. They very much discouraged that. And I think it's another way to control because, you know, you can't open yourself yourself up to other Christians and how they might view the Bible.
You had to be very different. And we were actually taught. That we were above others. [00:23:00] And I'll get into that in a second. Another thing that they believed in very strongly, as I mentioned before, is that obedience is better than sacrifice. You were to always obey your leaders, no matter what they said, you were taught to obey your leaders.
And we were also taught that we are innately wicked. So that we are in need of a savior, that we are born wicked. Not that we have the capacity to do wicked things, which I do believe as humans, we all have the capacity to hurt another human being or to hurt, you know, to do wicked things. We have that capacity.
No, it's that we are innately wicked and we actually needed death. Someone to actually die on a cross so that we could be right with God. That's what they believe. So. Here are some of the tactics used. As I've mentioned before, biggest one in my mind is don't trust yourself. They are massive as a fellowship on breaking down self sovereignty as a means of control.
It is constantly pushed into you, whether you are raised in it like I was. So [00:24:00] this was pushing to me literally from a young child, from the moment that I could understand what's being taught. Or whether you're an adult that's come in or a teenager that's come in and joined the fellowship, you are instantly taught to not trust yourself.
Again, we're taught that we are innately wicked. We're taught, do not trust yourself. You cannot trust yourself. You are innately wicked. And it just, it is a form of control. It's, it's abusive in my opinion. Again, the other tactic is don't go to Bible college. You're only trained under them. You're only trained in the way that they want you to look at their Bible.
You're only trained in the way that they want you to look at certain topics.
The third way is to don't ever question. And this ties in with don't trust yourself. Why would you question something if you don't trust yourself? Right. They kind of go hand in hand. So again, as I said before, if you were to question, you would instantly be seen as rebellious. You would be seen as a dissenter, is that a word?
You'd be seen as someone that [00:25:00] is, you know, you're being troublesome within the church. Even if you went privately to the pastor and said, listen, I'm questioning this particular thing that you taught on Sunday, or I'm questioning this particular scripture in the Bible. Even if you went with like humility, You would be seen as rebellious because you're questioning.
How dare you question? Don't ever raise a single question. And again, as I said, if you're taught to not trust yourself, then why would you ever question? Because you would instantly tell yourself, you're only raising this question because you don't have faith and you can't trust yourself to raise this question, right?
It's just mind games continually. The fourth thing was, as I said before, obey your leaders at all times, right? Helps that you don't trust yourself with that as well. So you're going to put all of your faith into your leaders, whatever they tell you to do, whether it's in church, in your relationship, as a parent, whatever, whether it's to do with what job you should take, what career you should have.
You're going to obey your leaders. You put [00:26:00] all faith in your leaders. Sure, it's under the guise of put faith in God. Yeah, okay, but it's also put all faith in your leaders, right? Obey them at all times. The fifth thing is keep busy. So busy that you can never ever think for yourself. Give you an example with Potter's house.
So you go to So picture a Sunday, and I'll say this quickly, Sunday morning you have Sunday school or Like for instance the kids, you all meet at the church, the kids would have Sunday school So they're going into a group of you know kids with a leader teaching them. The adults stay in the main auditorium And you have adult Bible study, basically.
So that usually from memory would go from like nine until 1030 or something like that. And then you have a worship service. So like songs, you all sing songs and you have the tithes and the offerings. So that's where they would do a mini sermon on tithing and how you need to give money to the church.
You, [00:27:00] you had to give a minimum of 10 percent of your income. And normally it's seen as anything above that is, is good.
So that would all be Sunday morning. And then you would have the actual church service. So you'd be at the church building from like nine until 12 or something like that every Sunday morning. Right. Then you would break. And normally you would all hang out together. So you would all go to each other's houses for lunch, or you'd go back home to your own home.
Maybe have a nap, whatever. Come back again at I think five o'clock. You would always have a prayer session before a church service. So that's Sunday morning and Sunday night. Um, so you'd all come together for prayer. Maybe I think prayer goes for an hour again, another worship service, another tithes and offerings basket gets handed around.
You put your money in again, and then you have your church service that night. And then you'd get out at like nine o'clock. So it's a big day. That's not just it though. You do the same thing. Wednesday night, you would have morning prayer. Uh, Monday to Friday, every single morning, you [00:28:00] would all meet at the church building for an hour, like before school, before you go to work.
And by the way, you might be like, well, yeah, you wouldn't do all that. Well, yeah, you do. This is the thing. Like when you first joined, sure you may not, but before long you're in hook, line and sinker and you have to go to everything. And people that are part of the church now be like, you don't have to do that.
You don't have to, if you want to leave, you can leave. If you don't want to go to these. Think about it. Your entire social network is intertwined in this fellowship. You're, cause you're taught that you're better than all the other churches and that you're there to save the entire world. So you don't mingle with people from other churches and everyone who isn't in a church is considered a sinner, so you don't hang out with them unless you're actively trying to convert them into your church.
So, Your, your entire social network is within the church. And the more that you go to the better you are seen within the church, the more chances you have of, [00:29:00] you know, leadership roles or being seen as a good person within the church, which is everything. Cause it's your entire world. Like your entire world is wrapped up in it.
So sure. No one holds a gun to your head and says you have to go to morning prayer and you have to go to church twice on Sunday and go Wednesday night and all that. No, but like, Of course you're going to. It's your entire existence and this is how they get you. It's done over time. It's gradual over time.
So two churches on Sunday, two church services on Sunday, morning prayer Monday to Friday, church service again Wednesday night. Friday night, every second Friday night, I think it was, we would have Bible studies. So that would be held at different people's like different leaders houses. The whole church would be split up in different groups and you'd go to someone's house on a Friday night for like a few hours, have Bible study, and then you'd all sit around eating and talking together.
So again, your entire network is. with people, not just Christians, people within your church. Then Saturday mornings, you would have outreach. So you would go within [00:30:00] your, your community, like your local town, or for instance, I was in Launceston, Tasmania, we'd go to the local shopping mall town thing and you would do street preaching.
So like with a megaphone, yes, I did street preaching, like young teenagers would be encouraged. In fact, sometimes you would just have a megaphone put in your hands and they'd be like, go. And so in one regard, and I want to point this out, I am grateful for the experience. I'm actually grateful for the entire experience.
I have a belief and let me make this clear. I have a belief that prior to me incarnating in this lifetime, I actually chose that as my upbringing, as a part of my evolution as a human soul, as a soul in a human form, right? I actually do believe that I chose this for myself in this particular incarnation, in this particular lifetime, right?
So even though parts of it were gnarly, parts of it were absolutely abusive, parts of it were messed up. And I don't think anyone should go and join a [00:31:00] Potter's house Christian fellowship church like at all. I think run as far away as you possibly can. I'm actually grateful for the experience. I'm grateful for having megaphones shoved in my hands and I'm, and you're just like, what the crap?
And next meet, you start street preaching to a bunch of strangers, not knowing if your high school friends are about to walk past while you're there screaming about. However, I needs to be saved and not go to hell when they die. And it's crazy, but man, it pushed me out of my comfort zone. It made me like better at public speaking and maybe more confident in, in crowds and speaking publicly and all that kind of stuff.
So good can come from shitty circumstances. I have to say that. Anyway, back to the story. So you do your local outreach and you might do door knocking, right? Just like how the Jehovah's Witness do door knocking on people's doors and try to invite them to come to your church because everything is about saving the world.
It's your sole responsible to save the world basically.
And I'm not kidding when I say that, like you literally, you do believe it is yours and [00:32:00] it's pushed onto you that it's your, your responsible. for getting as many people to heaven that you possibly can. And, you know, so we would walk around the city and give out flyers for church. Then Saturday night, we would have a church concert.
So at the church building again, cause you basically live there. Um, we would have a church concert and it would basically be like our church band. So we had people that formed a band and you'd put on a show essentially of Christian music and try to get people to join. Again, it's all about joining the church.
It's all about growing the church. So. Think about that, how busy you are kept, right? So you're kept busy, literally, you cannot think for yourself. We went to regular schools, so we didn't have like a church school or anything like that. I went to a regular public school and had regular public school friends that I loved dearly.
But it's also pushed onto us to, if we're hanging out with them, we need to be [00:33:00] trying to get them to come to church. So I would invite them to come to church, which was experience. I feel so terrible for my high school young friends that ended up coming and visiting my church. Like, Oh my God, they were pounced on to try to get them to say the sinner's prayer and to join the church.
And these young girls were just freaked out by Our pastor's wife in particular who just hounded them about how they needed to give their life to Jesus and they needed to join our church and they were going to hell and so I actually never, I'm pretty sure invited any friends to church ever again. It was horrific. But anyway, so you kept very, very busy. Sometimes we would also have visiting preachers. So We might have, for instance, a pastor come from America, from a potter's house church from America. And so if he's flying all that way, then they might book him out for seven days straight, or, you know, if it's a healing crusade, we would have those sometimes it might be 10 days straight.
So not [00:34:00] only are you going to morning prayer in the mornings and, you know, your two services Sunday and your one Wednesday, now you're going seven nights a week. So Just to paint a picture, we were busy. Our entire life revolved around, you, you think of it, how I said, everything's gradual. Your entire existence is revolved around the church and the people within the church.
So you are going to do whatever is possible to stay in good standing and to be viewed as a good, Christian woman, a good Christian man, a good Christian child, whatever, within that church, right? So you're going to obey whatever you're told to obey. You're going to basically do whatever you're told. You're not going to question.
You're not going to be rebellious. You're not going to. create a storm, because what would actually happen is public humiliation. So people that did question people that stepped outside the rules that stepped outside the box, or just maybe the pastor had it in for them, they would be publicly [00:35:00] humiliated, right?
This was a thing. And, or they'd be ostracized. So you would be told who you could no longer hang around. And those people, maybe it's a family within the church, We're now seen as the black sheep and nobody was allowed to hang out with them and it would be obeyed. This is messed up, but it would be obeyed.
And if you're raised in this from birth, you know, no different. This is why I have more. Empathy for people that are raised from birth or from young children, because you know, no different is literally what you were taught. I have less empathy for people who are adults who join and who go along with shit like that, because I'm like, you know, better, you fricking knew better.
And you still went along. Like it boggles my mind. We are taught that. Everybody else is sinners. So obviously we've got to try to convert them. Uh, this was one of the tactics, which is the superiority. So we're up here and everybody else is below us. Even though we're innately wicked and can't trust ourselves, we're still above other people.
So there's a massive [00:36:00] superiority. And one way that they do this is by making us think that we are superior to all other Christian churches. So you're never going to leave and join another Christian church because they're seen as bad.
And there's kind of two tactics within that, as I said, you don't go to Bible college, so You're no good to another church if you're a male, right? And you decided you wanted to leave the potter's house But you still wanted to be a part of a church or you still wanted to be a pastor for example You're not really any good to other Christian churches because you haven't been to Bible college, right?
You've only been trained to the potter's house way. So you're no good to another church But also why would you go and join another church because they're seen as bad. They're seen as sinners They're all probably going to hell as well along with the sinners as they would say So you're superior. So it's another way to keep you in.
And then it's the fear. There is so much fear pushed on you in Potter's house. You have a fear of losing everything. If you leave, you have a fear of losing everything, including all of your social [00:37:00] connections. If I was to leave as a teenager, my parents would be encouraged to kick me out of home, right? I actually, like it happened.
There were teenagers that left and their parents kicked them out of home. They were no longer allowed to live in the house. You are not allowed to be a part of your family and not go to the Potter's house church. If you're a part of the family, you go to Potter's house and if not, you are kicked out of home.
No matter what your age. Right? There was kids kicked out of home, legit, like homeless, kicked out, that had to find their own way in life and had to One chick, she was the pastor's daughter. She ended up going to a women's shelter at the age of 15. I think she left 14, 15, still in high school. And she was kicked out of home because she chose to not go to church anymore.
Right? So it's brutal. So in that instance, she lost her entire family. She lost her entire social circle. So all of her friends within the church, all of her [00:38:00] You know, you think about it. It's not just your friends. It's your friends, families, because their parents are seen as like your aunts and uncles, you're all a family.
So you lose everything, not just your immediate family, but you lose your entire social network in one hit. And that's too much for people to bear. You are instantly outcasted, never allowed to return unless you are, you are groveling big time. And even then you're going to, it's going to take a long time to build, you know, people's trust in you again.
And, and you're probably going to have to go through years of being seen as the black sheep and you just put up with it because you just want to be a part of that community again. So they definitely, definitely isolate you from outside influences and the fee of What you're going to lose by leaving a potter's house church is just too much for most to bear.
You are taught to have full devotion to, and this is common in any cult, you have devotion to a [00:39:00] cause or to a leader, right? In this case, it's It's a bit of both, right? You, again, you're superior. You've got to save the world, but it's also the leader, right? It's not just the Bible that is seen as infallible, but the leaders are seen as infallible.
Wayman Mitchell, the guy who started the Potter's House Fellowship and all leaders of different, the different churches were seen as infallible. They could do no wrong unless Wayman Mitchell said they did wrong and kicked them out. That was basically it. You are to follow them no matter what. Do what they say, obey them.
Another thing is to isolate members from outside influences, as I said, so members are encouraged to also cut ties with family and friends. Again, as I said, if someone was to leave within your family, you would be encouraged to no longer see them unless you were actively trying to get them to come back to your church.
So it could be your sister, your brother, your mum, your dad, your Your children, whatever. You were encouraged and actually [00:40:00] forced to cut ties with these individuals. There's the narrative that is pushed, and this is common in cults of, you know, you're positioned as an us versus them. So it's you and outsiders, right?
And again, this was pushed with the superiority. It's us and it's them. And that's very dangerous when that ideology is pushed onto you within a church setting. That's how it becomes a cult because it's, it's very much, we're a group and we need to stay as a group. And that's how they control you. That's how they manipulate you because you're part of this sect.
You're part of this community. You're part of this group that you never want to leave out of fear. And it's how they keep you. There's very much black and white Thinking, right? There's no gray. It's all black and white. And the group, the Potter's House, promotes itself as good and everything and everyone else is evil.
Right? They're good. The Potter's House Christian Fellowship believe they're the good [00:41:00] guys. And everything outside of that is bad. Everything outside in the world is evil. And it's just this constant battle of good versus evil and where he to save the world. As I said before, there is no room for questioning.
There's no room for just discussion. There's no room. You're rebellious if you do so. And so any form of critical thinking, Or dissent is completely discouraged. You are not to think for yourself. Ever. How dare you think for yourself. Members must conform to the group's ideologies, to the group's beliefs.
Without question. It's scary shit. Like, I'm not kidding. I've seen this. My, my entire first 25 years of my life, I saw it non stop. You are completely discouraged from having any form, form of critical thinking
another thing that is very common in cults is having undue influence or excessive control of members lives. They actually run them like a [00:42:00] cartel. Now that might sound extreme, But for real, there is excessive control over members lives. For instance, in the potter's house, they will dictate your life choices.
They will dictate who you do and who you don't marry to a degree. For instance, you are only allowed to marry. Someone within the Potter's House Fellowship, preferably the church that you're actually in, but at least within the Potter's House Fellowship. So as a Christian young person, for instance, you could not marry somebody from another Christian church.
It had to be from the Potter's House. Right. It had to be, otherwise you basically are frowned upon. You'll lose again. You'll be publicly shamed. You will. You would have to leave. You'd have to go join the other person's church. And why would you do that? Because again, you're seen as superior. Why would you want to marry someone who is less superior than you?
They're very cunning and very clever with how they actually do this. So another way that they [00:43:00] dictate it with your life, it like, and run it like a cartels with your finances. You are taught to give, and this is common within Christian churches. I'm not saying this makes them a cult. Okay. This is just one part.
So this is common in most Christian churches to give the tithes and the offerings, which is 10 percent of your gross income to the church. Right. And that's how, you know, churches run. Apparently that's how they, you know, can plant new churches and send couples out to start new churches and, you know, run these, band nights and have these preachers fly over from America and do these, you know, all that kind of stuff.
Right. But within the Potter's house, you actually told that that's minimum. You actually need to give more than that. And every single church service, it was pummeled into you that you have to give more. And so it's called tithing, right? You've probably heard of, if you're not religious, you've probably heard of tithes and offerings.
So tithes is the 10 percent [00:44:00] offerings is above that. I just want to play a little bit of an audio clip. Let me just turn this up a bit of an audio clip of one of the pastors from, uh, from a potter's house church and him, when he was talking about tithes and offerings, this is just to give you an idea of the kind of things that they would say.
And if you're raised in this, this is all, you know, and this is how you would view tithes and offerings. And this is how you would view God. So let me just play this audio clip. Tithing
Speaker 3: is not liberality. It's how we keep alive. It's how we stop God's hand from killing us. And yeah, I'm
Speaker: not kidding. That's actually a pastor.
He was, he was, he's still a part of the fellowship. I believe he was a part of it when I was there. And so this is the kind of things that they would say, right? So, It's like tithing is bare minimum and it's how you keep alive and you stop God from killing you. They also used to teach us that it's [00:45:00] a way to, um, like anything above that, that you give.
So most people would give at least 20 percent of their income. And they taught us that you would get a bigger gold mansion in heaven when you die. And we believed it. We actually believe that you are storing up. Whatever you give here on planet earth, right? When you die, you are storing it up in heaven for yourself.
So you will know who has been the biggest givers in the church based on when you're all in heaven, look at everybody's gold mansions and see who's got the biggest. I'm not kidding. It sounds insane, but that is literally what we were taught. That's insane. And while we're on it, I've actually got another audio clip.
This is from the exact same pastor. And, you know, as I said about how they control your life, they literally control your life. They dictate your personal choices, your relationships, your finances. This is just another clip that when I heard it, I was like, Oh my God, I forget how messed up it was when I was a part of it.
But you know, they very strongly, I don't know who their stance on it now, but they very strongly believed in not having [00:46:00] social media. So you didn't really. I think some people now have Facebook pages, but you weren't to have like a big social media presence. It was discouraged. Don't go onto YouTube. Don't go onto Facebook.
Don't have Instagram. TikTok wasn't even around back then, but like all those things, right. Just don't go on it. And we were discouraged even from like, I mean, we didn't have TVs. Okay. So I haven't even given you the backstory. We didn't have TVs. You don't go to movies. Um, you know, your life was very much revolved, as I said, around the church.
And then outside of that, you live a pretty simple kind of existence, but no TVs in the house, no movies, no secular music, meaning you basically have to listen to Christian music or just music that wasn't seen as too bad, which I understand to a degree. Um, and I actually loved growing up without a TV, by the way, I'm not saying any of this is wrong.
It's just, again, it wasn't our own personal choices. You're forced. If you want to have any form of ministry within the church, then you have to adhere to these rules. But yeah, back to the [00:47:00] social media thing. I just want to play this. This is, this is another thing about not trusting yourself.
Speaker 4: Pictures that warn us about YouTube and YouTube theology.
Speaker: I'm just going to pause because the beginning wasn't very loud. He said this, there's scriptures that warn us about YouTube and YouTube theology. Um, I just got to say the Bible's like what? 2000 years old. YouTube definitely wasn't around them, but anyway.
Speaker 4: I'm getting sucked into all of the false winds of doctrine.
They're constantly blowing around. Just stay away from it. You don't need to spend hours on the internet. Yeah. You don't need to spend hours on YouTube. You don't need hours in your social network, which is a whole
Speaker: Yeah, and I'm not kidding when this kind of stuff is drilled into you, your entire existence and every single week, and these kinds of things weren't just one offs, like these are things that would be said all the [00:48:00] time.
It's a way to keep you controlled. Don't have social media, don't even go on social media. Don't be a part of different online communities. Don't even have. And a community outside of the church, like great way to keep you tethered to the very dysfunctional system that the potter's house is. And as I said, the, the fear tactics are insane.
So they use a lot of fear to control such as. you know, the threat of eternal damnation of hell. And you know, the fear of being shunned, the fear of losing everything that you know, when you leave or fear of physical harm, that was another one. They actually would teach us that if you leave the Potter's house, not just leave God, it's not just, if you leave God, it's, if you leave the Potter's house, physical harm will come to you.
Your marriage will break up. You might lose a child. Like they actually would say, someone will probably die within your family. Yeah. Everything is just constant threats. And so I want to talk a little bit. Um, you [00:49:00] know, I haven't gone through my full story of growing up in it. It was nuts. The church, like, as I said, depended on which potter's house you were a part of as to how extreme it was.
I grew up in Launceston, Tasmania. So I was a part of the Launceston church. It was insane. Like it was literally insane. And the reason why I moved to Perth was because when we realized we were like, Oh my gosh, when I was about 19, we were like, Oh my goodness, this is nuts. Like it actually started to dawn on us, dawn on us how nuts it was, but we thought it was just our church that was nuts.
We didn't believe the whole fellowship was nuts. So we actually moved, we went, it was seen as the most rebellious thing. Our entire family moved from Launceston, Tasmania to Perth, Western Australia, to be a part of the Beach Borough. It's a suburb in Perth. The Beach Borough Potter's house, which was the.
Mother church as they call it. So it's the home church of all of Potter's House within Australia. That was the mother church. So we went from a church of about 50 people to about 500 people and that was seen [00:50:00] as extremely rebellious thing to do. You normally weren't allowed to change churches but the pastor of the Beachboro Church at the time was way cooler than the pastor we had in Tasmania, but Uh, long story short, I also married within the church when I was 22 and my husband was from, my ex husband was from the Sydney church.
So I had to then move literally like as soon as we got married to Sydney to be a part of the Sydney, uh, Potter's house church. So I've been in three Potter's house churches. They're all nuts. I came to realize that at the age of 25 when I actually left the fellowship for good and I was like, Oh my gosh, the fellowship, like, sure, each church is slightly different depending on the actual pastor, like who's the head of that particular church.
So some are less extreme than others. Sure. But the foundation, it's still a cult. It's still a controlling cult. It's still, you know, it's a cult. And so once I left, that was [00:51:00] when I reviewed all of my beliefs over the years and came to complete different ways of viewing life. But it took time. One thing I want to say though, is once you leave, as I said at the beginning, I tend to find a pattern that you tend to fall into one of four camps.
Once you leave the Potter's house in particular, or it could be any religious cult, pretty much. And these are the four that I see. So. They're split in half at first, right? So four, picture four individuals and they all leave the potter's house. This is what I tend to find. Two will end up in Christian churches and two won't, okay?
And by the way, this is not actual statistics. I'm just saying you fall in one of these four camps in general. Though, out of the two that will likely go to a different Christian church, the first one will be the type that will, so they'll leave Potter's house. They'll instantly join another Christian church because they believe so strongly in God, which I fully understand.
And they still want to be a part of a Christian church. They just realize, Oh my gosh, the Potter's house is a cult. I need to find a [00:52:00] new church. They will instantly find a new, uh, you know, church, um, but they will evaluate their beliefs. And they will be able to see the dogmatic teachings of things like the hell of hell, the rapture, you know, being innately wicked when you're born and all those kinds of tools of fear, fear based dogmatic teachings.
They'll evaluate them and be like, I actually don't believe them. Right. So this individual who leaves Potter's house will be like, that was nuts. I want no part of that. They still want to be a Christian. They'll find a nice, normal Christian church. And they'll likely evaluate their beliefs and ditch those, you know, dogmatic teachings and no longer believe in hell, the rapture, all of that.
And so they'll find a nice good church where it's all about unity and love, which are the foundations instead of fear based controlling manipulation as it was before. They'll likely restore relationships that were possibly broken whilst being a member of the Potter's house church. Because when you're a member of the Potter's house church, [00:53:00] Remember, you don't have a lot of relationships outside of the church.
So if someone's a part of Potter's house, maybe they're estranged from the rest of their family, or, you know, maybe they just never had time to catch up with people that they actually love that were a part of their family because they were too busy in the Potter's house. So now relationships that were broken can likely start to be mended.
And there's a lot of healing that can occur while still maintaining their love for God or for Jesus or whatever they believe. These are the type that I find that will likely go to therapy or have some form of, you know, be a part of some form of healing, self healing modality. And these individuals I respect, right?
I actually respect because their life is a lot more peaceful. They've left Potter's house, but they have, they have found peace within themselves and done work on themselves to heal. And they've evaluated their beliefs and being like, Oh, I actually don't necessarily believe X, Y, Z. So that's the first person.
The second person I find [00:54:00] That also goes straight from Potter's house into another Christian church. These are the ones that I find still hold very, very dogmatic fear based beliefs, such as hell, the rapture, et cetera. So maybe their church that they've just joined is less crazy than, you know, Potter's house.
It's not a cult. It's just a nice, normal church for instance, but they're still actively wanting to save the world. And, you know, they're still likely got sick. Severed relationships because they see everything as separate seal, right? They're going to heaven, but their loved ones aren't. I see this a lot.
I've seen this in, you know, people that have left Potter's house, but, you know, still want to be a part of a church, but they have not evaluated a single. Belief system. They still hold very fear based dogmatic belief systems that they held in Potter's house. They still hold the belief of I can't trust myself.
They still hold the belief of I should not question this. and they still blindly follow. These are [00:55:00] the type of individuals that likely believe they're going to heaven and, but their family members are going to hell. These are the type of people that will see their family members as living in sin. As they would say, these are also the type of individuals that refuse to do any form of inner healing, right?
They, they will not do any inner healing because it's all good. They've said the prayer, right? They're going to heaven. They're constantly just waiting on miracles from God rather than actually taking self responsibility. And they're likely surrounded by chaos. They're constantly surrounded by drama because they're, they're trying to run from an inner war that they're, they're constantly running from, right?
They, they don't realize that the battle is actually going on within, not, not outside of them. So, sure, they may have left the cult, but the cult hasn't actually left them. They're still the exact same individual, just different church. You'll find these people tend to be church hoppers, so they'll leave Potter's house.
They'll find a normal, excuse [00:56:00] me, I keep wiping my nose because it's running. I apologize if you're watching this on YouTube, but they'll leave Potter's house. They'll find a Christian church. They'll be like, yay, everything feels so much better. And then before long, they'll be nitpicking, picking at things that are wrong in the church.
Because again, everything that they dislike is actually within them. It is within them. They're not doing any work on themselves. They're the type that will likely church hop, church hop, church hop. It's always somebody outside of them that is the problem. They'll still have hurting relationships, likely within family dynamics, because again, they're going to heaven in their mind, but their family members who aren't Christians are going to hell.
They'll likely be the type that think that they have to save them still. They're very dogmatic. And as I said, they may have left the cult, but the cult has not left them. They may likely still ostracize kids who don't believe the same way. So for instance, if they're, if they are, let's say they're older and they've got adult kids who some believe the same way and some don't, [00:57:00] they will likely to a degree, and it's not intentional, ostracize certain kids because they don't believe the exact same thing that they believe.
And they'll favor the kids that do. You see this a lot within family dynamics of people who consider themselves to be Christians and those that don't. So as I said, four types of situations you find yourself in when leaving a cult or a religious cult, especially for instance, Potter's House Christian Fellowship, I've gone over two.
So the two that will go straight into churches, one will do the inner healing and will leave the dog based Dog based, the dogmatic based theology and will live a peaceful life. And I have high respect for these individuals. They take responsibility. They're like, shit, that was wild, but I want to change. I want to grow.
I want to do better. I want to be better. They leave the cult and the cult is no longer a part of them. The second one leaves the cult, but the cult is very much still alive in their system. And they are literally the same individual have done no inner [00:58:00] healing work and refuse to question their beliefs.
They're very much still a part of the cult without even realizing it. Then we've got the third and the fourth individuals. The third, and you see this a lot, unfortunately, they leave and they are bitter and they will never move on. They will not move on, whether intentionally or not intentionally. They don't do any inner healing work.
They are struggling. And look, there's a lot of shit that goes on in cults. Okay. So these are individuals that likely have Face some horrendous stuff, or have, you know, seen horrendous things, or they've got PTSD. You actually see a lot of PTSD in people that have been a part of Potter's House, Christian Fellowship, or just any religious cult in general, and they leave.
So, but the issue is they take zero responsibility for their healing. They are not responsible for what they went through. but they are responsible for their inner healing. And this is where you see that they can tend to be victims of life, right? These are the [00:59:00] type that think that they are just a victim of life's circumstances.
And the pain is never fully addressed. They're angry with God. They're angry at religion. They're angry at religious family members. They struggle to ever fully move on. It's like, it's always residing within them. Alive in their system now, it's not to say that they can't move on. They absolutely can, but they have to take full responsibility for their healing journey for that to be able to occur.
And then the fourth individual, and I'm going to put myself in this particular category and it will make sense why. They leave and they go through stages of inner healing. And I will say that a part of that stage is the angry phase. I've known this. You do go through an angry phase. That is quite normal.
So if you're in, if you're listening to this or you're watching this on YouTube and you have left, a cult. You have left a dogmatic based theology religious group, whether it's a cult or not. If you're in an angry phase, I'm not suggesting that you are being a little victim and that [01:00:00] you're going to stay in that stage.
Not at all. It can actually be a beautiful part of your healing journey. And I promise you can come out of it. What is sad when you see people that don't come out of it and they stay there for the rest of existence, right? Please don't be that individual. It does nothing good for you. So the ones that, so the fourth individual, the ones that leave and they go through stages of inner healing, they see themselves as authors of their existence.
And that the experience, whilst it could have been extremely painful, I actually think that there was some really painful parts of my upbringing being a part of Potter's house. There are parts that I, I don't agree with and I don't like, right? But I actually can see that it was a gift for the evolution of me as a soul.
I can see, I really do believe that I chose the events of my life prior to choosing this life, prior to incarnating in this body as [01:01:00] Holly in this exact time, space, reality, right? And I can see that there is a gift. So even through any of the pain, even through any of the You know, shit that went down within that particular cult.
I believe that prior to incarnating in this particular lifetime, that I chose that for my existence, for the evolution of me as a soul. We are the type of individuals that once we leave, over time, we build on our self trust and our self authority. And we go from having pretty much none when we first leave.
To building it to very strong levels where we have so much self trust and we will never let ourselves get in a situation like that ever again. Not from a place of fear, but from a place of absolute power and self sovereignty. We face our beliefs and we go through a dark night of the soul. A death night.
Of our ego. And of course, as I always say, we still have a healthy ego. It's just in that [01:02:00] moment, every single one of our belief systems that our identity was built on within the cold is shattered in an instant. And it's fricking painful. And then we start to rebuild ourselves and we start to see the gifts.
within the pain. We start to see the lessons within the heart wrenching times, right? We become more grounded. We become less reactive. And it takes time. I'm not suggesting this is an overnight thing. We start to see unity on earth And not that we're separate. So for instance, instead of viewing, like while we're in Potter's house, we likely will be a hundred percent viewed ourselves as separate, right?
I'm going to heaven. You're going to hell. I have to save you. You need me. You need what I have. You need what I have to offer. It's very separate. If you have that view, If you think you have to save the world, you see it as separate. You see yourself as separate to everybody around you. When you come out of [01:03:00] that and you actually face your belief systems and you start to see, hang on, we're not separate.
We are actually one. We are all fractals of whatever the crap this creator is. And I mean, no disrespect. When I say that at the end of the day, we're all freaking guessing. Okay. I say we're a fractal of God. I see God as as energy. I don't say God is some being in the sky there to judge us at all. I think we are all a form of energy experiencing life and it's the creator experiencing itself through our existence, right?
So I'm not preaching to you, but when you start to view everything as, as the same, we're not separate. You're way less reactive. It's why I don't react when people are rude on my social media anymore. It's like, It's okay. You're not you when you're hungry. You know, like those, is it the Kit Kat ad? You're not you when you're hungry and you just need a chocolate bar.
That's how I kind of see it. It's like I'm having a conversation with myself. So someone who may be trolling on my social media. It's like, it's all good. They're probably tired. They're [01:04:00] probably hungry. It's okay. Maybe they're having a rough day. Like it's okay. No, I don't condone it. I think it's a terrible use of your time and your energy, but it's okay.
I'm not going to be highly reactive to that individual because we are the same. It's hard to be really rude to somebody when you see you as them and them as you. And this is common if you're in this fourth category, when you face your beliefs and you have that massive death of the ego and your entire structure, like foundation structure is just crashed overnight.
You can start to rebuild yourself and see us always the same, right? And we leave those dogmatic fear based beliefs in the past and we choose to not carry them anymore. They have no space in our life anymore. They have no. space in our future. They have no right to come with us into the future that we are creating for ourselves.
We are also the type of individuals that are likely a walking contradiction. You [01:05:00] cannot slap a label on us. We cannot be defined because we're not trying to fit into the world's tiny little box that it's laid out for us. It's like most people get surprised when I say I'm not a feminist. I don't agree with feminism.
And they're like, Oh, you must be, you know, you must be religious because I, I believe in traditional gender roles. And it's like, I'm not religious, right? You can't be put in a box. It's not like, Oh, you believe this thing. Therefore you're this. No, there's so many beliefs that I hold that I may not hold in five years time.
Okay, we are constantly evolving and constantly growing and constantly wanting to become better humans. We are the type of individuals that want to turn the pain into a gift and then be of service to others. We become stronger from it. We become wiser from it. We become more compassionate. Having gone through the experience.
And the reason why I wanted to break these four down is I see them so much, even in my friendship circle of people that have left Potter's house, I can literally [01:06:00] pinpoint. I know that's putting someone in a box, but I can pinpoint which kind of category they're in based on how they talk. If they're constantly judging like people and thinking they have to save the world.
I'm like, Ooh, the cult never left you, did it? I to say that to them. I just, in my heart, I'm like. The cult is still alive in their system. They've never addressed their belief systems. They've never questioned a single thing. It's still very much alive. And it's why they cannot accept you as you are, because they will not accept themselves as they are.
They will say they do. But they don't, they're still highly at war with themselves inside. So I have just gone on a bit of a rant, haven't I? I just really wanted to point out that I don't believe I'm a victim of being a part of the Potter's house cult. I don't even use the word survivor. Like I think it's kind of corny when people like, Oh, I survived the Potter's house cult and I'm a survivor.
It's like, You know what? Look, each to [01:07:00] their own. I believe I chose this for my existence and I believe it was for the evolution of me as a soul and I believe that now I can see it so strongly how we get, you know, caught into it and roped in and how our entire existence is wrapped in it and how I can see how easily that can happen.
And so if you have a friend or family member that you think is in a cult. These are definitely signs to look out for. And all I can say isjust know that at some point, even those that are the most devoted to whatever ideology they're stuck on at some point, they're going to have to confront it, whether this lifetime or the next. Like it has to be confronted because if we don't learn the lessons in this lifetime, we will continue to repeat the exact same lessons in coming lifetimes anyway, right?
It's for the evolution of who we are as a soul. So just know that at some point it is going to be confronted. And [01:08:00] it is going to be confronting for that individual, but the more that you can hold compassion, even if it's hard as an outsider to understand how the crap were they so gullible. I'm telling you when you're a part of something, it is donewith like the most Calculated moves and with the most manipulation and often it's done in very underhanded ways that you don't pick up at first. And anyway, that was my spotlight on the Pottis House Christian Fellowship. I do not recommend that you join it. I recommend that you run far, far away from any Potters House church that you possibly can.
It's. it's not healthy at all. It may on the outside look great as far as the theology, if you are religious, but I'm telling you once you're in there, it is quite dangerous what it can do to you as an individual, to your psyche, to your identity, to your relationships, to your family, and you end up doing things and obeying things that you never thought that you possibly could have.
I will definitely say that. Actually, I've just got another clip I forgot to share [01:09:00] before. So this is actual. The pastor, Wayman Mitchell, the guy who founded the entire Potter's house fellowship. And obviously he's passed away since, but this is where he's talking about the tithes and the offering. So I just want you to hear this.
Speaker 5: I want to ask you, are you really using it? Well, I'm tithing. Tithing is not giving anything. That belongs to God. He's giving back what he wants and what he requires. And what will keep you from going to hell if you give it.
What pastor are you here to? You mean I'm not giving anything? You're giving nothing when you give your tithe. You're just obeying God. He says very plainly, the tithe is the Lord's. So you're not giving anything until you let this come to grips with your heart, yeah? I wanna ask you.
Speaker: And then it was about to just repeat itself. So that's another way that they get you with money is you're not actually giving like giving 10%. They believe you're not actually giving it's what is already God. So it's not until you give way more than that, that you're actually seen as a good [01:10:00] Christian.
It's pretty crazy. And here's another audio clip from a pastor from the Potter's house church. I used to know this one as well. And I just want to play this because this is what religious manipulation. Honestly, looks like pay attention to the words that he is using.
Speaker 6: How can it work in you? It's worse.
Worse. Okay. It's one thing when a parent, somebody, person in authority, teacher, police says that to you and you say, I will not. It's way worse when you say that to God or to your pastor. Hey, listen, a refusal to do the will of God is called what? No. A refusal to do the will of God is called what? Rebellion.
Speaker: Let me take that one step further. A refusal to do what your pastor asks you to do is called what? Rebellion. Some people say, I don't have to do what you say. [01:11:00] What? And no you don't. But if you don't, you're rebellious. This is how they groom you to be compliant within the Potters House Church, within the cult.
Notice how he said, I'll go one further. So he was saying obedience to God is one thing, but I'll go one further. Obedience to your pastor. And this is how they get you to obey anything. That a leader tells you to do no matter what it is. You have to obey otherwise you are rebellious So this kind of thing is drummed into you weekly in sermons.
It's constant Anyways, I think you get the picture at this point. So I'm going to do some more cult spotlights over the coming months. And I think it'd be really interesting just to dissect some of them and the ways, the insidious ways that they get ahold of people and get you tethered basically to their ideology, to their beliefs, to their values, and to being a part of the community for them.
For life. Cause that's the goal they want you for [01:12:00] life. So, yeah, I hope you enjoy it. If you've got any questions, let me know. And I hope you have an incredible week and hopefully my voice doesn't sound too bad on the audio. I love your guts as always. Thank you legends for listening. Bye.
THE SHOW
