Was I In A Cult? - Black Hebrew Israelites: “Cursed and Chosen”

Episode Date: January 20, 2022

Lauren's initial years of her life, for lack of a better word, were quite normal. Along with her five siblings, she lived a very comfortable life in Corona, CA. Then one day, her once atheist father found religion.   And that discovery took him on a journey to finding "the truth". A truth that would one day take the family all the way to Egypt.   -   Follow us: @wasiinacult instagram Contact us: [e-mail] Please support Was I In A Cult? Through PatreonSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Talking to my boyfriend, sometimes I'll hear him say like, oh my gosh, I miss being a child. Like I miss my childhood so much. And I'm sitting there like, I literally hated my childhood. Like, I literally rather die than we live that. Take out your night. Curify me. Don't spare my life. to spare my life. Crucify me. Crussever me.

Welcome to Was I in a cult? I'm Liz Ayakusi. And I am Tyler Miesum. New Year, new us guys. Yep, if you're joining us for the first time, welcome. We're thrilled to have you. We now accept Venmo and the cash app. For just 20 bucks per episode, we guarantee to change your life. No, no, no, no, no. She's just kidding. We really want your money. Just your auditory cortex and your time. But you can venmo us if you want to. Yeah, you can venmo us. No, no, fans and folks. Look, if you've been with us from the beginning, we do want to say thank you.

And we do hope this show has been enlightening. And some of you have shared with us that your limited views of cults has widened, which was the goal when we first created this show. And many of you have shared experiences you've had that you now understand were cultic, but never had a way to quantify them. And now you do, which is awesome. And terrible jokes aside, it truly makes this entire experience worth it. And we couldn't do it without you our listeners and without the brave individuals willing to come on the show and vulnerably share their

stories with us. Like today's special guest. I made a post on Reddit about some troubling things from my childhood. And people were like you should go on this podcast called was I in a Colt? And at first I was very scared. This is doing too much. You're just like a regular religion, like I shouldn't. I mean, a part of me, even though this makes no sense, I don't feel like I'm betraying black people. By like coming on here and speaking so bad about this group.

But then I have to realize this is a very small group within all black people. This does not reflect everybody. Cults are colorblind. Exactly. This could be any group of people. It doesn't matter. My name is Lauren Peterkin. I have five siblings. I grew up in Corona, California. My family were all very close. I used to do like cheerleading when I was younger and dance. Her mother's career was performing background checks for businesses. She was the breadwinner, like she pretty much made all the money. So growing up my mom I feel was like the more dominant parent. Really I just felt like she was the head of the household. And her father.

She really just stayed home and like took care of the kids, cleaned and stuff like that. I guess you would call like a house husband. And the reason why that's important is because it changed a lot when I got older. In her early childhood, religion wasn't part of her family's life. My dad was actually an atheist for like a lot of his life. Probably like when I was six, he just randomly was like, you know what, I actually want to start being religious. So we started to just go to like a regular Christian church and I actually really, really enjoyed it.

We did that for maybe a year. And then my dad, he just felt that like the pastors at our church, they weren't going deep enough into the Bible. And so he started to do like his own research. He just found something on YouTube, found this chan. to just to just to just to just to just to just to just to just to just to just to just to just to just th.. to just to just th. thiii, to just thi, to just just just to just just just thiole, to just just to just to just to just just just just just to just to just to just to just to just to just to just to just to just to just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just just, th. th. th. th. th. th. th.. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. to to to to to to go go like, thi. thi. thi. thi. th do like his own research. He just found something on YouTube, found this channel, watched a few videos and he's like, yep this is it. This is the truth. YouTube? Yes. That's all it took. YouTube. Yeah. He was like, okay, we're going to start following this new, he doesn't call it a religion, but like this new belief.

Technically, it's called the black Hebrew Israelites. That's what they all call themselves. These people, they are part of something called the gathering of the Christ Church. So they believe that Jewish people are not actually chosen by God. That that's all fake and it's a cover-up because like they don't want the world to know that it's actually African-Americans that are God's chosen people. Okay, a small touch of Bible explanation. The 12 tribes of Israel are the Hebrew people who were named after the sons or grandsons of Jacob, whose name was changed to Israel after he wrestled an angel of the Lord.

Thus, the Hebrew people became known as Israelites. And after the death of Moses, the Israelites the Israelites took to the the the the the the the the the the tooks tooks the tooks the the tooks the tooks the tooks the the tooks tooks the Lord. Thus, the Hebrew people became known as Israelites. And after the death of Moses, the Israelites took possession of the land of Canaan, known as the promised land, and each tribe was assigned a section of land. The tribe of Judah, settled in the region south of Jerusalem and in time, became the most powerful and most important tribe. It was prophesied that the Messiah would come from amongst its members. But the black Israelites believe that God gave this tribe a set of rules. And these people disobeyed it.

And because of that, the whole entire line of people are cursed. So from that, they said, oh well clearly black people have been cursed because of slavery. This makes sense that means that we are the chosen people. And so the weird part about it is they believe that slavery just happened because of a curse from God. They don't blame white people for slavery because they were like, it was our fault.

This belief essentially comes from a number of Bible scriptures, but one of which is Deuteronomy 2815 which states, but it shall come to pass if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes, which I command thee this day, that all these curses shall come upon thee and overtake thee. They believe that everything, slavery, segregation, police brutality, anything, they believe it's all a curse from God. They also believe that the remaining 11 tribes are other minorities.

Like Mexican people, Haitians are in there, even like Jamaicans, like there's all types of different races but African Americans are number one. Keep in mind it's not just black people generally who are chosen, it's specifically African Americans. So if you're black but you're not American, you're just not that special. Sorry black Canadians. For some reason I just feel like they're the most slighted. Yeah, pretty much. But as Canadians, they're still going to apologize for it.

And drink you under the table while doing so. Oh, come on, Canada. We love you. We stand on guard for thee. We love that you're our hat. There goes our Canadian audience. But then they believe that white people and most Asians are what they call Gentiles. Basically a white people and Asians literally cannot make it into heaven. They're all inherently bad or evil. Especially you Tyler, earlength blonde boys are at the top of the evilest. In actuality my Mormon upbringing taught me to believe that I am from the tribe of Ephraim, one of the 12 tribes, tribe, tribe, tribe, thes, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, their, th, thi, thi, thi, thi, and thi, and thi, and theei, and theiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii, their, their, their, the believe that I am from the tribe of Ephraim,

one of the 12 tribes, and that a man named Lehi, who was from the tribe of Manassah, was the first man to come to the Americas traveling across the ocean and a ship that his sons built with plans given to them by God. But that's another cult, we had never been to a church, it was just all at home within our family. So because there was no Kingdom Hall or Grange Hall for this group to meet, Lawrence father, he just started to do like his own Bible studies at home. Based on the teachings he was learning from a man named Rasha, who apparently has many YouTube channels, but his main one, lowercase A, uppercase gathering,

144, has 99,000 subscribers. So I got on this channel and I started to look around because I wanted to play something. But it's so daunting. There are so many videos and they are so long, but I did find a taste. Let's go to Matthew 17. Now why I'm going here is because when Christ went and converted the disciples, now mind you brothers and sisters, the disciples were all Israelites. They were black. Okay? This was before the Romans took over Christianity.

Now the reason I'm stating this is not to boast. I'm stating this as truth. The Most High has broken a seal in this earth where everyone everywhere who is Israel is being connected in the spirit and learning the truth concerning their forefathers. And that alone is destroying history, which is part of our slave and captive condition. And the information called from these videos are what Lauren's father would use in his own Bible studies, which were really just him talking like the whole entire time and him being the one teaching us and we all just have to like sit there and listen. At first it was kind of just like random times when he felt like he wanted a lecturist on something,

but then we started to do something, it's called the Sabbath and it was part of like the Ten the the the the 10 the 10 the the 10 the 10 the the the 10 the 10 the the the the 10 the the the the on something. But then we started to do something, it's called the Sabbath, and it was part of like the Ten Commandments, and he believes that it's from like Friday night to Saturday night. You're not allowed to cook anything, you're not allowed to light any fires, you can't spend any money. You're not really 3 where God rested on the seventh day. The word Sabbath is the Hebrew word for rest. It further evolves if that's the right word with the Ten Commandments the fourth to be specific keep the Sabbath Day holy and quick list name the other nine. You want me to do? Yeah, try. Thou shal not commit crimes. No. Thou shal not kill. Right that's the bigry. That shall not commit crimes. No.

Thou shal not kill. Right, that's the big one. That's number one. That shall not lie. Right, that's in there, bare false witness. That shall not steal. That shall not sleep with your neighbor's wife. Covet, your neighbor's wife.

That shall not theef in yoga class. That's not in there, but it should be. It's actually hard to remember all of them. Usually it was during this time specifically on Saturday. That's where like all of the teaching would happen. They could be anywhere from three hours to like five, six hours. We would do the Bible study and it's really just him. It wasn't even just the Bible study and it's really just the Bible study and it's really the the Bible studies that only. It was th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th the thi thi thi thi thi thi th th th th th th thi thi th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th thi thi thi thi thi thi thi the the the the the the the the the their ti the the their thi thi would sometimes play the videos. He really believed during these Bible studies that only men should be talking like that. Like unless he asked me like a question, you really like shouldn't talk. It's mainly the men. But apparently Lauren's father was a bit of a charismatic leader himself. So at first it was just my immediate family, and then eventually my aunt and then her three kids, they would come too. Her father also convinced extended family members to follow the doctrine.

But eventually dynamics at home began to shift. My mom, I feel like she started to get more quiet at this point. My dad started to become more of like the head of the household. And ideologies shifted as well. They've convinced themselves that like all holidays are evil. They do not celebrate Christmas. They call it like a pagan holiday. They don't do birthdays that much because they believe that you're not supposed to like worship anybody besides God. They just write everything off as evil. All of these actors, all these famous people.

They're all evil. They sold their souls to the devil. Like Tom Hanks, Tom Hanks is definitely part of Satan's team. And George Clooney. George Clooney is Satan. Are you kidding me? That's what this election is all about. On taxes, John McCain and I have very different ideas. They don't see the point in voting because this is all fake and it's all evil and it's

all a distraction. Every president is like a descendant from the devil and they're all related. They're all related. They don't like Obama because he was a president. They think that he's related to the devil or something. So Obama and Donald Trump are related? Yes, they're related. They, they, they, they, like that. Should we let Alex Jones know about that one? Or keep that little fun fact to ourselves, Thailand? Yeah, we should keep it to ourselves. He's probably still in Dallas waiting for JFK Jr. to come back.

Which is come the fuck on what a cult? Yes. What are people doing there? Like, what are people? they're their people doing? their their. their. their. their. their. their. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah....................................................................... th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. toK to come back. For how long? Do they pitch a tent? And then what's gonna happen when he comes back? They're gonna be like, bro? Dude! There you are man. Where you been? You want to go for ribs? You're late. And like most cults, restrictions extended to many areas. Seafood and pork we didn't eat those anymore. And so sometimes I would be so scared. Let's say I would get like a bag of chips from school. I'm like, what have had pork and I didn't know? And then I would be terrified, like, now I'm going to go to hell. That's how serious I was about it. One time, while in middle school.

I went to school and brought a Bible, and I was saying. I'm sure it was terrible things in like scaring people. Kids were complaining to their parents, but I remember like I got in trouble and they told me that I couldn't bring the Bible anymore and like preach to people and I told my parents and they got mad. It was like a whole thing. But she obviously mirrored this behavior from like their dad's dropping them off with their parent, he would literally sit them down and start preaching to them. I had like a best friend in middle school and I don't think she came over again after that. He mainly preached to black people because he was trying to like recruit them and tell them, oh you're special, like you should listen to me. So what is it about this group that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that thi thi thi thi thi thi thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their thi, thi, thi, theeateat, thruuuuiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii, thi, thi, thi, this group that black, specifically black Americans, connect with? I think because, because then it could explain all the struggles they go through.

There's a lot of people that have been through a lot of trauma and racism and stuff. They could be like, oh, it was meant to happen, it was a curse. Also, like, we're God-chosen people, and it'll be good eventually. This is interesting, because there are a lot of people people people people people people the of black people came from a curse that Noah, the Ark Building Noah, gave to his grandson, Canaan. This was known as the curse of Ham. And for centuries, this was used as justification by Christians and Muslims and my former clan, the Mormons, for racism and to justify slavery, even though there is actually no reference to skin color in this description. Fucking hell. Crazy. Three cheers for Bible interpretation.

Lauren had theories about her father's strong connection to the group. Maybe his whole life he's felt and feared because he's black and now he's superior. Right. And my mom just went along with it, which looking back now is surprising that she did. And well should we let the cat out the bag? Oh yeah. So my dad is obviously black but my mom is white. That's right folks. A small huge detail in this story is that Lauren's mom is white. And yet, Lauren's mother was right in step with her husband and his ideologies. She'll just like straight up tell me, like, yeah, like white people were inferior. Don't know why, but she just believed it and it made sense to her.

But was Lauren's mom the only white person that her father convinced? Her sister, who was also white, he basically converted her to.. to. to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to white, to to to to to to to to to to to white, to white, to to to to to wi, to wi, to wi, to to to thi, is thi, is white, is white, is white, is white, is white, is white, is white, is white, is white, is white, is white, is white, is white, is white, is white, is white, is white, is white, to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to white, to to white, to the white, the white, to to to thi. thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiioliiiiiiiiiioli. And thiiolorea, thi. And thi. And thi. And th only white person that her father convinced? Her sister, who was also white, he basically converted her to. None of us looked at them differently. So how does the inferiority play out? It's not like, oh, we hate white people, but it was kind of like, we probably shouldn't get married for them or mix with them, even though my mom is white. I know it makes no sense. No, but cult doctrine doesn't make sense. Right.

But my dad would say all the time and I think he still says this that if he had gotten into this religion before he met my mom he wouldn't have gotten with her. Wait so Lauren technically she's half black. So how does that work? for mixed children if your dad is black? thrific- to to to to to th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. they they they they they they they they they they they're thi. thi. they're they they they they they they they they they they they thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they're they're they're they're they're they're thi. I thi. I thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thii. thi. they're thi. thi. thi. I thi. I they have this theory that like you technically come from your dad first and then you get put into your mom or whatever so you're really the race of your dad. I guess your mom is just there. Right. So that technically makes you 100% Italian, doesn't it? And what does that make you Tyler? Technically just more white. Blonder and paler. But like most cults, once the indoctrination has taken hold,

questioning wanes. I just believe everything that he was saying. My whole family, we didn't see a problem with it. He started to get into some pretty scary things. He would like, show us videos of what hell is supposed to look like. It would be like some thiiiiii th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th some pretty scary things. He would like show us videos of what hell is supposed to look like. It would be like some crazy video with people screaming and being tortured and like fire. I was literally terrified. One of the worst parts is they say that being gay is like an abomination, which basically

means you can't even repent for it, like you're going to hell. Like you're evil like you're going to hell like you're evil you're possessed It's very funny because I've I've been bisexual my whole life even when I was younger. I knew I know I was always attracted to women That was always something it was very conflicting because it's something that I don't really think I can help So it's like always just like inherent feeling of I'm evil But what would a cult be without a loudly ticking clock that counts down the seconds towards the inevitable end of the world as we know it? Well and for everyone else because the chosen ones are always saved. The Doomsday stuff is definitely the worst part of the whole thing.

They are very convinced that the world is going to end very soon. And when this happens, this curse will be lifted. And then black people will be living, you know, in luxury with God or something. And everything will be great and perfect. I think everybody in this religion, they call America like modern day Babylon. I don't even know what Babylon is, I forgot. Worry not, Lauren, we got you covered. My many years of churching, mixed with Liz's Wikipedia skills, will give you the quick

rundown on Babylon. Babylon was the capital of ancient Mesopotamia, now basically Iraq. And the city plays a major role in the Bible being referenced 280 times. Prophets often mention Babylon as a symbol of man's sinfulness, and an example of what displeases God. Babylon was founded by King Nimrod around 1900 BC. King Nimrod, sorry. Happy 12th birthday, Liz. Supposedly, Babylon is where the Tower of Babel was built. Most likely it was a Zigaroth. Oh, the hamsters and the Zigarot.

For our loyal listeners. This is Tyler's favorite word ever. The city grew significantly under King Nebuchanezer, another good name, who reigned for over 40 years starting in 605 BC. The city was considered to be an advanced civilization of commerce, art, and learning, and boasted spacious buildings, irrigation tunnels, neatly paved streets and statues of dragons and lions throughout. But they also worshipped pagan gods, and sexual immorality was widespread. Concubines were common.

King Nebuchanezer ordered an 11-mile wall built around the city, and he also had a 90-foot cold statue of himself erected in the town center. Eventually Nebuchon was cursed by God for his arrogance, and he grew feathers and claws and ate grass until he became humble under the Lord. The great city of Babylon eventually fell to the Persian leader Zircis, and in the 20th century Saddam Hussein built a new palace and statue of himself on the ruins. And in 2003, when the U.S. invaded Iraq, they built a military base atop the ruins, destroying many of the

artifacts. So there, Lauren, now you and I know what Babylon is. The black Israelites believe that the good old US of A is the modern day version of Babylon. They just believe that America is very evil, that it's going to be destroyed, especially California because it's gay people. When gay marriage became legal, this is like really a sign. The world is going to end very soon, and that we need to move somewhere that isn't as evil.

And for some reason, they agreed upon Egypt, in Cairo, Egypt. I think they believe that there's some type of like holy land there, and we'd be like protected when the end of the world happens. This was 2011, and they had only been in the religion for three years. And her father found a group of people. On Facebook, I'm guessing, a group of people that were already there in Egypt. And they're like, oh like come out here we all have our kids here too we can do like our own little homeschooling we can get you jobs out here and so it was decided the family would move to Egypt and join the other pure true believers. I was actually very excited because I was like yeah I don't

want to be here there's so many gay people here it's evil I was in middle school I was in seventh grade I immediately like to the point that we the the the the the th. th. the th. th. th. th. th. th. the th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. the. the. the. the. the the. I theck thi. the. I the. I was like, the. I was like, th. I was like, th. I was like, thi. I'm thi. I'm thi. I'm thi. I'm thi. I'm th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. I was th. I was th. I was th. I was their th. I was their their their the. I was their their their their their their their their they. I was they. I was the they. I was theeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. I was middle school. I was in seventh grade. I immediately like stopped going to school because I was like, what's the point that we're going to move anyways? My grades don't matter. We were all like excited to leave. My parents, they like full on like maxed out all their credit cards, took out a bunch of loans. They didn't sell the house. They left their cards. They just got up and left. their thrown. thapapapapapapapapapapapap. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. to to th. to to th. to to to their to to their to to to to to to to to to to to to their to to to to to to their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their to to to to to to to their to to to their to their their their their their their to their their their toe. the. the. toe. theat. toeat. toease. toease. toease. toease. toease. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. their toe and that was it. They thought they were never going to come back. They thought this was it. And maybe it was. Cairo or Bust, Lauren and her family were ready for their great Egyptian adventure. It was my first time getting on a plane and I was very nervous. And when we landed, there was a couple people that were in the religion waiting for us. I was ready for their great Egyptian adventure. I was like, oh my gosh, we're

finally here, like, these people are like us. I was like, oh my gosh, we're finally here, like these people are like us. The people said when you get here, we have a place for you. So then we just went and there was the place. But Paradise wasn't exactly what they had expected. It was missing just a few things like bedrooms. You know it was different from living like in California I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I the the the the the the the the the the the the their they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they were up they were they were they were up they were up. they were they were like they were like they were like like like like like like like like like like like like like like like like like like like like like like like like like like like like like like like like like like like like like like like like like. I they were like. I they were like. I they were like. I they were like. I they they were like. I they they they they they they they were up up up up. I I they were up. I their. I their. I their. I their. I their. I their. I their. their. their. they their. they they their. they they their. their. We they th. We they they they they they were things, like bedrooms. You know, it was different from living like in California. Again, I grew up upper middle class, so we lived in very nice houses and stuff. Now we're in like this very small, they didn't call an apartment, but it was basically an apartment. Had three rooms, and there was eight of us.

Literally surrounding it was sand in like dirt and stuff. It wasn't nice compared to what we lived before. We didn't even like decorate the place. There was four of us in a room and it was like the bunk bed and that was it. We didn't even have actual mattresses on the bed. It was a bunk bed, we put air mattresses on the bed. But then the air mattresses would always deflate and I like did it for like pumping it up again. So I was literally just literally like literally like literally like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, to, to, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, it for like pumping it up again, so I was literally just like laying like on a hard surface all the time. Their exciting new adventure was more new, less exciting. And despite their underwhelming living arrangements, the poverty surrounding them shook Lauren to the core. The next day or something when we like started to walk around and explore, I seen like so many kids walking around with no shoes on and like just a diaper. I don't even know where the parents were.

Like it was such a culture shock. But at least they had each other, right? I mean, it wasn't like a huge group. I would say there was probably at least 50 people. That's including like children and everything. There was still a lot of people in this religion and that believed in it. Maybe just not everybody felt like, okay, I need to move to Egypt. It's fair to say that those in Egypt were part of the extremists of the black Hebrew Israelites. And thus, more isolated and cut off from the outside world.

When we would all meet up, just seeing these women covering their heads and whole bodies and stuff, it like made me so happy because I was not around like girls that dressed promiscuous anymore. And then there was two boys that were like around my age, one of them I think was exactly my age. I probably got closest to him and I was actually like set to marry him eventually. Like I'm gonna live here forever. Of course, what I married, and that's what I was thinking about when I was 12. And it wouldn't be a religious cult without some good old-fashioned female hate. Now would it?

Very misogynistic, as you could probably imagine. Again, like when we would do Bible studies and stuff, you're not really allowed to speak unless somebody literally calls on you. Even, like, younger boys, like my brother, could speak, but like my mom wasn't really supposed to speak, especially because she's white too, definitely not speaking. The double whammy. White and a woman. I think my mom was like really the only white person there. They would tell my dad to get another wife, keep my mom, like as a concubine, but then you need to like really marry a black woman now. But not just one black woman.

Oh Jesus, here it comes. They have this view that there's more women in the world than men. So that obviously means that men are supposed to have multiple wives. When the end of the world happens, like, these women need protecting, and so they need a husband to protect them. Seems to me with this rule of thought, it would make much more sense if the women had multiple husbands. Oh yeah, and why is that? Because women are so weak and ill-equipped and we need more than one to protect us and keep us safe. That's good mode of thinking, Liz. One to take out the trash and the other one to watch baseball. Right. So doing no protecting at all, essentially is what you're saying.

Protecting you from the trash overflowing. Right. But a disclaimer, my dad was never, he never tried it because he was just fine with having my mom. But a lot of the men, that was like one of their biggest quests. That was like one of their their thes thes thes thes thes thes thes thes th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thi thi. thi. thi. thi. to to to to to to to to thi. to to to to to to to to to to to to protect, to protect, to protect, to protect, to protect, to to protect, to to to to to to to to to to to to protect, th. It was th. It was th. It was, th. It was th. It was th. It was th. It was th. It was th. It was the. It was the. It was the. the. thea. their their their their their their their their their their thea. thea. toea. toea. toea. toea. It's toea. It's to like get multiple wives and a lot of the time, a lot of them were girls. Underage arranged marriages, huh? What a novel concept. Never heard that one before on this show, have we? No, we haven't. I think this is not a first.

Nope, it isn't. And in the eyes of most of the men here, like, once you get a baby, you can get married. So it's very normal if a grown man is trying to talk to me. That had to be incredibly traumatizing. I mean, all I can remember when I first got my period was, I was a gymnast. And I was a gymnastics practice. And all of a sudden, what comes? I have no idea what's going on.

And then I look up, and my gymnastist coach, this crazy, this this crazy, this crazy, this crazy, this crazy, this crazy, this crazy woman is in the bathroom and she's screaming at me like, shove a tambon up there! Stop wasting time and get back on the beam! And I'm like, if that wasn't painful and mortifying enough, if I had that coupled with, oh and that old creepy dude watching from the bleachers is also your new husband. I can't even fathom that. My sister, a guy proposed to her and he was 26, 27 and she was 13. And then there was another man, he was like 19, and they would go on dates and stuff. But mind you, the pedophiliac behavior was not unique to men. There was a woman, she did something sexual basically with my brother. He was probably like 14, 15 and she was 27.

Clearly a lot of these people were just pedophiles. Not only were they confronted with misogyny and pedophilia from within the group, but also from Egyptian men. A lot of these men there, like, immediately when they can tell that a woman's American, they just assume that we want to have sex with them or something. Maybe because they're women, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, their their their their their their their's American, they just assume that we want to have sex with them or something. Maybe because they're women, like we're always like fully covered. Probably the fact that I even had my hair out was like a big indicator, like me and my sister

whenever would go somewhere. They would literally like start touching us. We were minors. People would drive past my sister like motorcycles all the time and just grab her butt. There was one time where I was walking past a car and it was two men. They opened the door and they both have their things out. Not I'm not trying to like to talk bad about all Egyptian men. I'm sure they're not all like this. Though from my experience, it was absolutely terrible. So one day they brought it up to their father. And he got mad at us.

And he was like, that would happen anywhere that you were. Like, even if we were in America, men still do that. So like, stop complaining about Egypt, like we're not leaving. So from then on, I was like, this is just what it is being a woman. This is just what the today is of disrespect, harassment, sexual comments even like when we were minors, we just accepted it because my dad was like, it's just what happens everywhere. Anything my dad said, it just went. But soon, even ideologies within the group itself started to clash.

When I first got there, we were a lot more interactive with people there. But eventually, my dad actually ended up with people there, but eventually, my dad actually ended up not liking them that much, because they started to have differing views. Not about pedophilia or like rape, it was like, they think that the moon determines time, and I don't. Lauren's elusive safety net of this group of like-minded individuals was beginning to fray. We ended up actually moving away from them.

Then we just kept it to ourselves. And Lauren's parents still had four mouths to feed. Eventually, my mom's business didn't really work anymore that well from Egypt. So she ended up teaching at a school. And then my dad also ended up teaching there. And my two youngest sisters ended up going there. But me, my brother and my sister, we didn't go to

school. And they were supposed to have homeschooling for us that ended up falling through and nobody had it. So for like two and a half years, I really just sat at home all day. I would really like sleep all day because I just think I just didn't want to be awake. And then I would just wake up and just eat a bunch of food and watch TV. I was probably probably their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their. I their. I their. I their. I their. I their. I was their. I was their. I was their. I was their. I was their. I was their. I was their. I was their. I their. I their. I their. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I their. I. I their. I their. I their. I was their. I was just. I was just just just just just just just their their th. I'm th. I'm just just t. I'm just t. I'm just, too. I'm just just, too. I'm just just, too. I'm just, too. I'm just their. I'm just, their. I'm just wake up and just eat a bunch of food and watch TV. I was probably extremely depressed. I got extremely pale. Like I know I'm mixed so I'm not like super dark but my skin was literally white because I literally didn't go outside. And that's what my life looked like and then yeah just the Bible teachings on the weekend the world's going in you guys need to get right here's a video of hell. But what Lauren didn't realize at the th th th th th th th th th th th th th thi th th th thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi. thi. I was to to to to thi. I was to thi. I was thi. I thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi. I thi. I thi. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I thi thi thi thi thi thi to the to to to to to to to to theeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. I world's going to end. You guys need to get right. Here's a video of hell. But what Lauren didn't realize at the time was that she was already living it. And eventually,

her eyes started to open. About a year and a half into us being there, I really stopped believing it. Just because I was like, oh my god, this isn't what it was supposed to be. But like my sister and my brother, they were actually very into it, very serious. Like my sister literally would just read the Bible all day, and my dad would always praise her. Oh my god, you're gonna be such an amazing wife. All the while, they are still obeying the ramblings of their YouTube-taught father.

My dad, at the core, he's like a conspiracy theorist. He's like very paranoid. At one point I remember he literally told us like the world's gonna end tomorrow. Don't cry about it. We're chosen. We need to be warriors or whatever. That was the worst day ever while I was there because again even though at this point I started to kind of question stuff I still really believe my dad. And rightly so you're supposed to trust and believe your parents. So Lauren hunkered down, waiting for the oncoming apocalypse. I don't even know if I went to sleep. And in the whole day, I'm just sitting around, anxious. And I was like feeling bad for people that weren't in my shoes that didn't know what

was going to happen. You know, I believe this is our eighth dooms-day date so far on this podcast. So tell tell tell tell tel the world theat. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. th. th. th. the the th. the their their their their their their their their their their their th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. the. to. to to toe. toe. toe. toe. toda. toda. toda. toda. toda. toda. the end this time? When the end of the day comes he's like you know what guys I was wrong oh come up come on pick a date and stay with it right for once we're sick of all the lies but like we shouldn't act like it's not gonna happen the end of the world is still coming soon it's just not not going to be today. Right. Of course it is. He didn't like apologize. I'm sorry I scared you guys. It was like, all right I was wrong but like it's still going to happen. So like don't, don't forget it. And the kids mental states just got worse and worse. There was one point where I wouldn't like a month. I know that sounds gross but something in my brain like I just had no motivation to do anything and I remember once my mom came up to me and she was like oh like you kind of stink we can smell you like can you shower not like are you okay? Right. There was something wrong with all of us the

three teenagers all of us. I think we were all like severely depressed. We all had it bad but I think my oldest sister I think she definitely had it the worst and she was probably like 14 at this point and I remember I mean at one point she was like doing drugs too because it was very easy to get drugs out there like she would be high all the time and it was weird because my mom did it too one time she got high with her so my mom knew that my sister was doing this and that kind of you that th me th me th me th me th me th me th me that th me th me th me th me th me that th me th me the thi that thi that that thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi that that that that thi thi thi that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that th. th. thi thi thi thi th. thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi the the the the the the the thee theeeeeee theeeeeeee theeeeeeeeeee theeeeee thi thi thi thi th know, leads me to believe that maybe my mom wasn't as happy with this situation as she made it seem. And I know this is getting very dark, but this is, I mean, this is just reality. Me and my sister literally were like, if we don't move back to America, within like the next three years, we should just kill ourselves. We generally like made a pact that we were going to do that. What's even the point of life thi of thi of the thi of the thii. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thin, thin, thin, thin, thin. that, thin. that, that. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. It, th. It, th. It, th. It, th. It, thin. thin. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. theeeeeeeeeeee. I, theeeeeeee. I, the. I, the. I's, the. that we were going to do that. What's even the point of life? I'm just waiting for the world to end.

I don't have any friends. I don't go outside. Eventually, one of my siblings started to self-harm. And finally, after all this, their parents started to come to terms with reality, kind of. I think my parents just realized, like, okay, our kids are like super pale, they don't go outside. One of them is not showering, and then one of them is self-harming. That's when finally something clicked that we should probably go back to America. They were like, well, maybe the world's not going to end very soon. So, a month or two after that, we ended up moving back. When we landed in California, like, I was like, oh my gosh, my life is going to be normal now.

When we landed in California, like, I was so happy. I was like, oh my gosh, my life is going to be normal now. Like, all this stuff is behind me. When we landed in California, like I was so happy. I was like, oh my gosh, my life is going to be normal now. Like, all this stuff is behind me. My cousins picked us up and my grandma was so happy to see them. We got a house like across the street from them, so it was nice to live in a house again. But if you recall, they left a heap of financial ruin behind them when they first moved to Egypt, not ever expecting to come back. Their financial issues were enough to rival Johnny Depp.

They had a ton of unpaid loans. Credit scores were terrible and stuff like that. They had to come back to this mess that they left. So my dad ended up doing truck driving. My dad now is the main Redwiner. And now, Lauren is 15 years old. She's a sophomore in high school, but to not go to school for two and a half years and then go straight into it, it was very stressful. I honestly like hadn't handwritten something in like two and a half years. I had no reason

to write stuff. I think we all felt dumb. And my anxiety, I used to be like a very social, outgoing person. But when I came back, I remember like the feeling like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to their, their, the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the to to to to to to to to to to to to to like a very social, outgoing person, but when I came back, remember like the feeling on my first day of school, I was like looking up, like, how do I stop shaking? I was just so nervous to be around people. Even though we moved back to America, the problem was not just that we were in Egypt. It's just the whole like a religion thing, like, even though we moved back that doesn't fix it. Her backdrop had changed to to to the to their their to their their, to thiiiiiiiuuui, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, I, thi, thi, thi, to, to, to, to, thi, toe, like, like, like, toe, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, thi, thi, thi, thi, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, thoooooooomorrow, th mentality and practices of the cult were alive and well. We're still forced to like be taught this stuff every day and my dad would still like play the same church videos and stuff like that. And her

father well he hadn't let go of the doomsday itchings. When Ebola was a thing then my dad is okay this is like a sign This is the end of the world. And so I would go from not believing it, but then as soon as he says something, where I'm like, hey, that kind of makes sense, I immediately get like really, really scared. I was better mentally than my sister was. She just took it the hardest, still being taught Like, you're fine. You guys went through the same stuff and you're okay. And I'm just like, oh my gosh.

It was becoming more and more apparent to Lauren that something needed to change. I think by that point, I was like, okay, I have to make friends. So she made a concerted effort to do just so. I just like found people in my th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thuuuu. th. th. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. to to to to to to to to to to tho, thi. thi. to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be th. I, th. I, th. I, th. I, th. I, th. I, th. I. I, th. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I, th. I, th. I, th. I, th. I, th. I, th. I, thi. I, thi. I, thi. I, thin. toe. t t t t t t toda. t t toda. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. I'm, toe. class and I joined the dance team. I just ended up being more normal like my junior and senior of high school, I was fine. Even though I had to deal with Sabbath teachings every week, I just realized like even if this stuff is true, I'm like literally miserable and I'm always scared. I think that I'm evil. Like this is a terrible. Like this is a terrible life. I was like, honestly, if I keep living like this, I'm probably going to end my own life because it's just terrible. Like you're constantly stressed, you're constantly scared.

So I don't even care if I'm wrong. A lot of my childhood has been ruined. I want to go to college and I want to actually have fun. Against all odds and adversaries, Lauren had finally seen the light. She applied to numerous California universities. I was like I'm not leaving California again. I went to school in Reno Valley and then ended going to college in Fullerton in Orange County. I think a lot of people that like move into like dorms at colleges it's very fun and like it's very freeing but for me specifically it was like unbelievable. The first week I got there,

I went to a party. She finally got to pray to pray to the gods the gods the gods the gods to to the gods the gods to to the gods the got there, I went to a party. She finally got to pray to the gods of ramen, Easy Mac, and Natty Light Ice. She probably seems more like a bud light with lime type to me. I just could not believe that I can just like go somewhere on the weekend, or that I'm not going to be preached to. Finally, not everything is about religion or the end of the world or about God. That felt amazing to just be able to talk about like regular people problems. You know, I was just so excited

to just go through like regular stress. I know that might sound weird, but like when I started stressing about money or school I was like, honestly, this is so much better than stressing about the end of the world, so I'll take it. And is one more F-U to her upbringing? My parents never let me get into politics growing up. I was like, I should be a political science major. Take that mommy and daddy. Mm-hmm. And after three years of school.

I honestly was doing really good, like, didn't worry about religion, didn't worry about any of these things. And then out of nowhere it just kept up on me. My dad used to always say that there's a lot of gay people here, whatever, that one day like a very big earthquake is going to happen and somehow America was like going to fall off into the ocean we would all drown. I don't think that's even possible, but that's what he would say. Out of nowhere, like in my fourth year dad said? I would get so stressed. It would happen almost every day. If I hear any type of loud noise, I'm like, yep, this is the end of the world. I thought I made it out

and like I'm healed now, but then I realize this stuff is still going to affect me. My brain's actually kind of messed up. I'm pretty sure it's just PTSD. which is overwhelmingly normal for someone Lauren's position. It's all part of the deprogramming and healing journey. They say that being gay is like an abomination and like I still sometimes feel like there's something wrong with me that they got like evil spirits in me or something even though I don't believe in it it's crazy just won't leave me alone. After enough time it passed Lauren finally found the courage to confront her primary caretakers.

I told my mom, I have a lot of issues because of what you guys have taught us. I mean, I absolutely love my parents. I don't hate them. I don't mind talking to them on the phone because we'll talk about regular things. But honestly, when it comes to going home, I don't like going home. Because it immediately it immediately it immediately it me and I start having scary thoughts. My mom like legitimately she hates white people but I don't think she hates herself because she's one of the good white people. She got into this religion and she's like being submissive so like she's okay. One good thing about the cult they don't believe in holidays which

made it easy for Lauren not to have to go home during Thanksgiving or winter break. And why. And why. And why. And why. And why. And why th. And why th. And why th. And why th. And why th. And th. And th. And th. And th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. to to to to to to to to to thi thi to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to. to to th. to. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. I I th. I th. I the. I the. I the. theeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. theeeeeeee. theeeeeeeeeeeeee. theee. I the. I th for Lauren not to have to go home during Thanksgiving or winter break. And why not? She enjoyed school and well, she was good at it. Her school offered a program called a moot court, which is like a mock trial where students simulate court or arbitration proceedings. Like you're pretending to be a lawyer and you do competitions. And my professor, she was like, well, you should do it. And I just like would always think back to like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, to to to to to would always think back to, like, my younger self, like, when I was in Egypt,

I wasn't in school, and I thought that, like, I was going to be there forever. I'm just so grateful that I'm not there anymore. I just want to do as much as I can live to the fullest. I was like, you know what, this is something something something something something something something something something something something something something something something something something something. Without darkness, there would be no light. Well, without confinement, there would be no freedom. For my first moot court competition, the fact pattern that we had, we basically had to argue like about some child pedophilia basically. And I was very, very passionate about it.

But moot court wasn't like her Bible studies. Growing up, I wasn't allowed to speak. I'm walking to his room and people are like listening to me speak, and they think that I'm good at speaking. It was a very, very powerful thing to me. And when I did it, I won first place in California for like best speaker. And I won like fifth place in the nation for my writing. Which is pretty fucking cool.

Very, very cool actually. That's awesome. And after moot court court court court hand, during the long drive back, Lawrence professor simply asked her about her childhood. People knew I lived in Egypt, but they knew no reason why. I would tell people we moved out there for work. Because I even feel like explaining it to people like, oh yeah, the world was going to end so we moved. Like, I sound crazy. But this time, in the car with her classmates. I was like, yeah, I'm I'm th. I'm th. I'm th. I'm th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. th. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. th. th. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. the. the. to to to toe. toe. toe. to. toe. to. to. toe. the. the. the. the. thoday, because we have time. And somebody literally was like, somebody should have called CPS on your parents. And I was like, okay, like, I got defensive.

I was like, uh, no, they're not that bad. They're just religious. But I think after that, it really made me think, maybe this was like a lot worse that got out of like just certain religions and explain like all of the things that made this thing a cult. I mean the main thing when they talk about the isolation, that they weren't allowed to really care about politics, like music or certain things. When I heard that I was like, oh my gosh, that sounds like exactly kind of good to like put a name on it. It's empowering to be able to quantify experiences so you don't feel alone, confused, or shameful.

But the mind is a powerful thing. Then I started like gaslighting myself and I'm like, stop. It wasn't even like a cult. It was normal. And I was like, you know what, I think I should start going to therapy because like, I can't just go the rest the rest the rest the rest the rest the rest the rest the rest the rest the rest the rest the the the the the the the the to be to be th. to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be a to be a to be a to be a to be, to be. to be. to be. to be, to be, to be, to be, to be, to be, to be, to be, to be, to be, to be, to be, to be, to be, to be, to be, to be, to be, to be, to be, to be....... to be, to be, th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thi. the. te. te. te. te. te. te. te. te. te. te. te. te. te. to, to, to, to, t I should start going to therapy because like I can't just go the rest of my life not talking about this and not addressing it. I need to go through it or else I'm never going to get better. Lauren may be out of the cult and understand what it is, but not all of her family members are in the same boat. And like we all know by now, it's near impossible to talk rationally to someone who is still brainwashed to to to to to to to to to to to the the their their to their their their their their their their their th.. th. the the the the the to the the to the the. the. I the. I'm to to to to to the. I the. I the. I the. I th. I th. I I th. I I I I th. I I I I I I I I I I I I I th. I I I I I I I I th. I I I I th. I I th. I th. I th. I th. I the. I the. I the. I'm the. I'm the. I'm the. I'm the. I'm thin. I'm the thin. I'm thean thin. I'm nenenenea. nea. neneneneneeean. I need to to to the. I need to to to someone who is still brainwashed. And it's complicated. They are still her parents, whom despite everything she still loves and looks up to.

I'm still like worried about hurting their feelings and telling my dad, like, yeah, dad, I don't believe it anymore because I know it'll hurt him. Very recently they found out they're like, I've been eating seafood. And I got tattoos this year, and they seen them. And same thing with my brother, they just believe that right now we're possessed, we have evil spirits in us, but like one day it'll all be fine. My two youngest siblings are still there. The older sibling, she's, she really believes in it a lot. And her father, well, he now has a larger audience than simply his family.

Now he does Bible Teachings on YouTube. So it's come full cir. And apparently that moot court victory was a fortuitous moment for Lauren. Because after her undergrad she received a scholarship to go to law school, which she is enrolled in today. I guess if you take away someone's voice and permission to speak, there's no limit to what they can do once they take their power back. Of course, law school isn't a walk in the park. It's stressful, it's a lot of work, but again, like, I'm always going to be positive about stuff because I'm just happy to, like, be here. Every day I wake up, I can't believe I'm even, like, in law school upbringing. I just want to be free and have my voice heard. And last year was the first time that she finally decided to give herself the joy of celebrating holidays again.

I was like, no, I'm getting a Christmas tree. Like, I'm full on doing it. My whole apartment is decorated, it looked like Santa like threw up in there or something. But it makes me so happy. So, this year I've just really been trying to unpack everything, and I genuinely, I could really feel myself healing. I'm trying to be patient with myself. It's going to take me probably a long time to like really mentally be free from this stuff. I really think from here on out, like, it's going to get better for me. Lauren, you're amazing.

When you pass the bar in a few years, please let us know, because it's always good to know a good lawyer, right, Tyler. And to memorize their number. For your one phone call. In summation of this episode, filled with racial references, I am going to refer to a paragraph, from one of with racial references, I am going to refer to a paragraph from one of my favorite books by one of my favorite authors. The Body by Bill Bryson. It reads as follows.

One of my most memorably unexpected events I experienced in the course of doing this book came in a dissection room, when a professor and surgeon gently incised and peeled back a sliver of skin about a millimeter thick from the arm of a cadaver. It was so thin as to be translucent. That, he said, is where all your skin color is. That's all that race is, a sliver of epidermis. I mention this to Nina Jablowski. She's the author of skin, a natural history. She gave a nod of vigorous ascent. It is extraordinary how such a small facet of our composition is given so much importance, she

said. People act as if skin color is a determinant of character when all it is is a reaction to sunlight. Biologically, there is actually no such thing as race, nothing in terms of skin color, facial features, hair type, bone structures, or anything else, that is a defining quality among peoples. And yet, look how many people have been enslaved, or hated, or linched, or deprived of fundamental rights through history because of the color of their skin. That was awesome. Thanks everyone.

We'll be back next week with more inspiring stories. Like this one. It's like, I just heard about this woman who was on food stamps for 10 years and then she joined Lula Ro and now she has a lake house. Right? Right, you were indoctrinating me from reality from day one. So I joined all these Facebook groups and I'm watching people sell Lularo and it is flying off the shelves.

Like, I'm watching people buy the ugliest things I've ever seen in my entire life and they are squealing over it. and th th th th the th the th. I th. I the th. I the th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I th. I'm th. I'm thiol thiol-I thi. I'm thiol-I thiol-I thiol-I thiol-I thioloree, thioleroe, thioleroe, thioll-I, thioll-I, thiollip. thi. thi. thi. th. th. th. th. th. It, th. It, th. It, th. It, th. It, th. It, th. It, thi-n, thi-n, thi-I-n, thi-I-I'm thi-s, thinin, thi-s, thiolouioloued-s, thin, thin, thiolouioliolioloulipe, th ugliest things I've ever seen in my entire life, and they are squealing over it. I finally wear down my husband and he goes, fine. And I join. And yes, for those who have been inquiring, MLMs are definitely cults. And if you or anyone you know has your own story, you'd like to share, email us at Was I an occult.com.com yes thank you so much Lauren and thank you everyone for listening rating and following it doesn't go unnoticed or unappreciated was I and a cult a story produced and written by her Liz Iacuzzi

and this dude Tyler Mason executive producer is Maya Cole Howard supervising producer is Ari Basile. And our audio editor is Chandler Mays. Publicist is Lauren Dutton Breen. And a special thanks goes out to J.J. Neward, my Jewish phoen a friend. I had to call her for information about Judaism. Oh right. And our fan of the week is Carletta Blake. A radio personality from Cleveland, Ohio. Her Instagram handle is at Carletta Blake. Thank you, Carletta for the shout is the shout is the shout. the shout. the shout is the shout. the shout. the shout. the shout. the shout is the shout. the shout is the shout. the shout. the shout is the shout. the show. the show. the show. the the the th. Ch. Ch-is, is ch-C. Ch-is, is is Ch-is, is Ch-C. Chan is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is is ch- is is is is is is is is is is is is ch, is is is is is ch, is is is ch, is is is is is ch, Ch, is is is ch, Ch, Ch, is ch, Ch, is ch, Ch, is ch, Ch, Ch, Ch, Ch, Ch, Ch, ch. Ch-is, ch. Ch-is, ch. Ch-is-is-is-is-a, ch-is-a, chan, chan, chan, chan, chan, chan, chan, chan, chan, chan, chan, chan, chan, chan, chan, chan, chan, chan, chan, chan, chan, is chan, is chan. Her Instagram handle is at Carletta Blake. Thank you, Carletta, for the shout out. We appreciate it.