Cults to Consciousness

Esperanza returns to dive deeper into the SYSTEM behind the World Mission Society Church of God, explaining how the church's control over members' relationships, money, careers, and personal decisions actually worked, while answering your biggest questions.

Click here to watch on YouTube

Watch our initial interview with Esperanza

Follow and support Esperanza!

TT: https://www.tiktok.com/@espyyfoodfreak

IG: https:...

Esperanza was a successful young woman working at an NBC-affiliated television station when she was introduced to the World Mission Society Church of God through a man she met online. Searching for faith, family, and belonging, she quickly became devoted to a religious organization that taught the world was coming to an end. Within months, Esperanza had walked away from her career, devoted nearly every waking hour to the church, an...

She escaped one of New Zealand's most controversial religious communities with 10 children. But leaving Gloriavale was only the beginning. Ginny returns to Cults to Consciousness LIVE to reveal what life has really been like since escaping, how her family has adapted to freedom, and what she's learned about the community she once called home. We'll also discuss her ongoing fight for accountability, the challenges of rebuilding a li...

Born and raised inside New Zealand's isolated Gloriavale religious community, Ginny was taught that a woman's purpose was to obey, marry, and have as many children as possible. After entering an arranged marriage at 20, she spent approximately 22 years pregnant or breastfeeding while enduring relentless work demands, strict expectations, and limited reproductive freedom. But when her teenage daughter became the target of horrific m...

Use code CULTFREE at jonesroadbeauty.com to get a Free Gift with your first purchase! #JonesRoadBeauty #ad

Raised in the Canadian FLDS community, Ange Johnson was just 15 when she offered herself up for an arranged marriage, believing it would prove her worthiness to God. As Warren Jeffs battled for control of the church, Ange faced unimaginable pressure from her family, including her father's threat to jump off a bridge if she didn...

Two survivors. Two notorious FLDS leaders. One unexpected love story. Warren Jeffs’ son, Wendell Jeffs, and Nomz Bistline, who was once considered Sam Bateman’s 13th wife, are now in a serious relationship! After sharing their individual stories of escaping religious control on Cults to Consciousness, Wendell and Nomz are joining LIVE today on the Youtube channel to reveal their unexpected romance, how they found each o...

After escaping the FLDS at 18, Warren Jeffs’ son Wendell Jeffson, didn’t leave Mormonism behind… he joined the mainstream LDS Church and eventually became a Mormon missionary. In this follow up Part 2, Wendell reveals the strange transition from being raised as the Prophet’s son to preaching a new version of the faith, navigating dating and the outside world for the first time, and eventually questioning wh...

Wendell Jeffson, son of notorious FLDS prophet Warren Jeffs, reveals what it was really like growing up inside his father’s isolated world. From being separated from his mother and hidden away on the Texas compound to believing his father spoke for God. Wendell opens up about the extreme control, wealth, manipulation, medical neglect, family hierarchy, and disturbing practices hidden behind the compound walls.

Click here to...

Sonny Malvolio grew up inside a world most children only see in movies. His father was a professional criminal who escaped prison, fled with the family to Mexico, gave his children new identities, and began grooming Sonny to become part of his criminal empire. From doing payroll at eight years old to living surrounded by guns, violence, paranoia, and fear, Sonny shares how the unthinkable became normal, and what it took to finally ...

Jinjara Mitchell returns to go deeper into what it was like growing up with a narcissistic mother who was adored by the public but terrifying behind closed doors. She opens up about the manipulation, fear, and control that shaped her chiIdhood—and the complicated process of recognizing the truth about her mother and breaking free from her influence.

Click here to watch on YouTube

Watch the initial interview with Jinjara: https:...

Jinjara Mitchell grew up watching her mother become a celebrated motivational speaker and powerful businesswoman while experiencing a very different person behind closed doors. Now, after uncovering medical records, conflicting accounts surrounding her father’s death, a dramatically changed will, and painful memories of CSA, Jinjara is publicly investigating the family story she says she was raised to believe…  tr...

Justin returns LIVE to dive deeper into how growing up Mormon intensified his OCD into debilitating religious scrupulosity, where even the smallest decisions could become questions of obedience, worthiness, and sin. He’ll unpack the specific rules he felt compelled to follow, how leaving a high-control religion dramatically changed his experience with OCD, and how he learned to replace rigid, black-and-white thinking with nua...

Athena Grimes returns LIVE to dive deeper into the dark side of “personal revelation” and how her mother used supposed messages from God to justify extreme control and abuse. Along with more stories from growing up under her mother’s religious authority we’ll unpack what happens when a parent believes their own voice is the voice of God.

Click here to watch on YouTube

Watch our initial interview with Athena

Fin...

Athena Grimes grew up in mainstream Mormonism under a mother who, Athena says, used “personal revelation” to justify extreme control, isolation, punishment, and abuse—including telling nine-year-old Athena that God required an “Abraham experience” in which she would die, leading Athena to plan her own funeral and say goodbye to her family. Years later, after joining the military, getting married, enter...

Today I sit down LIVE with Mama Bear to reveal how I played a part in helping her leave Mormonism, and what we’ve learned about our family and each other since walking away. We’ll unpack toxic perfectionism, family vs. faith, shocking garment stories, and multigenerational perspectives on what it meant to be a “good Mormon mom,” while uncovering some truths about my childhood, including mom’s secret fe...

Jehovah’s Witnesses have changed their blood doctrine again. In Governing Body Update #6, a major shift was announced regarding red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets, and plasma—components that Jehovah’s Witnesses were previously instructed not to accept, but which are now being left to individual conscience. Alissa Watson of  @alissasawake  joins us LIVE to break down what changed, what Jehovah&...

Mae returns LIVE to answer viewer questions and dive deeper into the parts of her childhood story we couldn’t fully explore in our first conversation. We’ll unpack more of the extreme isolation and religious control she experienced, what happened after she finally left her father’s home, and how she’s learned to navigate freedom, relationships, and healing after growing up so disconnected from the outside wo...

Raised in an intensely devout Mormon household, Justin Shoemaker believed happiness and salvation came from following every rule exactly… until religious scrupulosity and intrusive thoughts sent him into a devastating mental-health crisis on his mission. After returning home, attending BYU-Idaho, rushing into a temple marriage, and later becoming deeply involved in an Amway-associated training organization, Justin began reco...

How did one of America’s most notorious serial killers convince a religious community that he was one of them, and for a time, that he couldn't possibly be guilty?  Today we are joined LIVE with Hannah and Jess of the “ @PostmormonPostmortem ” Podcast to deep dive Bundy’s Mormon conversion, his life inside the congregation, arrest, members defending & supporting him, and ultimately his conviction an...