Note: Some stories include subjects of violence, sexual abuse, and suicide. Please proceed with caution.

"The whole service was pretty much him talking about me and making rude jokes. I knew this sermon was about me when he kept referring to the 'person' hanging out with others and saying it was sinful. I never felt so embarrassed in my life, with everyone laughing at me. I sat through that entire service just embarrassed.

Once I left, several of the members attempted to contact me, with a few of them trying to 'go to the movies' with me at midnight when they knew damn well the closest movie theatre was an hour away and which movie theatre shows movies at midnight.

After I stopped going to that church, a few of the members completely stopped talking to me, despite us being 'friends.' I still can’t believe that happened to me."

"They had me sit in this chair in a tiny room covered in crosses and incense that made me nauseous and started chanting at me, telling my mother they were 'speaking in tongues.' I was getting scared. I begged my mother to let me go home because they were scaring me, and they kicked her out of the room, telling her that meant the 'demon' wanted to leave because it was working. They told her not to worry if I started screaming, so at this point, I'm actually terrified.

They strapped me to the chair and splashed me with 'holy water,' which was freezing, and I kind of yelped when they did it, which was apparently another sign it was 'working.' This went on for about an hour and a half, and to be honest, I was so scared and upset that I just cried for the last 40 minutes or so.

I was so stressed, and the smell of the incense was nauseating, so I eventually vomited, and they took that as the sign they needed that the 'demon' was vanquished and let me go.

It didn't occur to me that I was in a cult until I told someone else about this experience as a teenager. What a bizarre and traumatizing thing that is to do to a 9-year-old. Looking back, it's kind of funny how wild they were, but at the time, I was just upset my mother didn't believe me that I wasn't possessed."

"They started with this strange ritual where they promised to perform any miracle you wanted or needed, as 'Christ allowed them to do so.' A kid said he wanted to get taller, and so they put their hands all over him and started murmuring prayers for a while. Then they put him against a wall, and they claimed he had at least grown three centimeters. He believed them, like, seriously believed them. Later, they claimed that they could turn water into wine and grabbed a bottle of water, put their hands on top of it, and prayed again. The water didn't change at all, but they all drank from it, claimed it tasted like wine, and said they were getting drunk from it, laughing hysterically again.

Finally, the 'reunion' ended, and they returned to being as normal as before, as if nothing had happened. I left, and when they tried to contact me again, I just ignored them."

"That called into question the legitimacy of the cult and everything it had ever taught me. Unfortunately, I realized as well what consequences would be before me if I spoke up about my thoughts on the matter. Disowning, shunning, abandonment, and being labeled a traitor, just to name a few. I decided to wait until an upcoming event, the centennial of the ending of the 'Gentile Times,' so about a year and a half, to make my choice. It wouldn't take nearly that long to do so. Nothing, and I mean nothing, in this world can prepare you for the sense of mortal dread and fear being trapped in a cult can instill in you, especially if you suffer from mental health issues as I did. 

Thankfully, in mid-2014, I found my way to a little subreddit known as r/exjw, a support group for people like me who were raised as, or became, Jehovah's Witnesses. That place saved my life. They taught me the 'truth about the truth,' the reality of what the Jehovah's Witnesses actually were, and what I needed to do to get out."

"They also told my dad and brother that unbaptised children shouldn't be near baptised children, presumably for the same contamination reason. We were just talking about it the night before last, and my father said, 'I swear to you that's a cult in the making. I haven't been there since.'"

"My friend sat in the meeting and could only look at the pastor's Rolex watch she had never seen before. She looked around her apartment and realized that, while on the surface it looked the same, she was not living the same austere life. She said the longer she sat there, the more she realized she had made a terrible mistake.

She was employed by a member of the church, so when she left, she was also fired. 45 years old and she had nothing. Even the car she drove was owned by the church. She had to literally walk away from everyone she knew — she went to a police station to ask for help, and was put in a shelter for the unhoused.

A year or so later, the pastor was charged with fraud. She claimed she was saving their money for their retirement, but she sent most of it offshore. She went to prison, but they never recovered the money. Everyone ended up in the same boat as my friend. She took a few of them in to help them transition to a normal life. None of them were ready to accept they were in a religious cult, and most ended up moving to the same neighborhood together and welcomed the pastor back when she was released from prison.

I honestly think the next church my friend joined was also a cult. They controlled how she dressed and who she socialized with. But they did let her keep her paycheck. She left them a couple of years later when she got her ears pierced. She now runs her own church, and I swear she's building it as a cult around her. It's so strange."

"Despite all of this, I kept going mainly because of the people there. I stopped when my sociology class did a unit on cults and how they work. It covered being nice and friendly, then tried to separate people from their friends and family so they wouldn’t be persuaded to leave.

After that, I decided to stop attending services, although I stayed in touch with some people. It’s a real shame because most of them are born-again Christians and don’t know that a real church isn’t like that. They’re great people, just led by the wrong person."

"The son of the leader tried to kill his mom for sexually abusing him throughout his childhood, killed his childhood babysitter instead, then killed himself. I sat in commune meetings reading a statement denying the accusations, condemning the son as unstable and going to hell, and mourning the death of the babysitter.

The stuff his accusations were based on was all documented. Literally, it's all on paper, pictures, and recordings. I think that day was the day the last bit of my faith died. Thankfully, my family left the cult soon after."

"One guy got chewed out in front of the office for going to his grandmother's 80th birthday party. I went out of state with my then-wife to celebrate our anniversary, which required me to explain to the office staff my actual dedication to the company, even though I was only gone for one weekend. I even had to explain myself when I stayed home one Sunday to replace my car's brakes. I was asked, 'How is that going to improve your business?' My answer was, 'I have to drive to people's homes to sell policies. I shouldn't have to explain how car maintenance is a business-related thing...'

Kids weren't safe either. Those members who were 100% dedicated to the company and had kids dragged them to the office on nights and weekends. I saw kids the day after Christmas, with some of their new toys, playing at the table in our breakroom, fighting off boredom. One pair of parents had a kid who got a laser tag birthday party invite that was the same day as one of the big, dull events where higher-ups from out of state came in to speak to us in long, dull speeches. The parents told their kid, nearly in tears as we were in line to enter the event room, that going to this event was more important than playing laser tag. He's a 10-year-old kid, and he can't be a kid; he has to follow this as his lifelong career."

"The worst was an advertised equivalent where everyone was subjected to severe physical, psychological, and emotional stress. The purpose was to find one's breaking point. It seemed safe because anyone could ring a bell, tap out, and be done at any time. But some of the things were plain inappropriate. You'd be drenched with hoses in the middle of the night for sleep deprivation and elemental exposure. 'Facilitators' would order exercises until people passed out. They were barely fed, and most of the food was presented in a disgusting way, like beans in diapers. 

A lot of people rang out after a few days, but my buddy, a really good guy, went for the whole week. When it was over, he had to go to the hospital because he had gangrene on his heel. This happy, kind guy was kind of psychologically broken after that — he was never the same. I don't know what emotional stuff they tried with him one-on-one, but by that end, it was tailored to the person. He spent the following few weeks just hobbling around on his crutches, barely speaking to anyone.

I was lucky to avoid it because that week I was part of the ministry media team designated to film everything because we wanted to turn it into a documentary, but Jesus Camp came out the same year, so they realized it might not be good timing to get a positive reception of what they were doing. After seeing what happened to my friend, I couldn't believe I was just following directions and standing behind the camera and not speaking up about how shocking that all was. I was trying to finish their program at least, but I lost interest and realized we were PAYING for this experience, so I stopped paying, and they found a reason to kick me out around the time they noticed I stopped paying."

"That was the first time I understood that everyone I knew and loved was being completely brainwashed, and I had to get my family out. It took a while, and although my wife still defends the religion, we all no longer participate. My kids know it is complete nonsense, and they will live normal lives rather than I have."

"I also wasn't allowed to tell my parents anything that happened in youth services/work. I was 17 when I was recruited to write for the church's nationalist website of sorts. We'd have meetings that started at 7 p.m. and stretched out until 2 a.m.. I was told I wasn't allowed to tell my parents anything about what went on in these meetings. We weren't paid or anything. We were just expected to be there."

Note: Some submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.