Feet of Clay—Confessions of the Cult Sisters
Feet of Clay – Confessions of the Cult Sisters – What's it like to live in a Christian cult commune? How the hell do smart people get brainwashed into crazy beliefs and behaviors? Tracey & Sharon share their parallel journeys into and out of Last Days Ministries, led by Christian music super-star Keith Green (and later his wife Melody Green). Plus they interview others who also got out of high-control groups and toxic churches. Arranged marriages? Purity culture virgins? Religious trauma? Submission of women and misogyny? Child abuse? Sexual assault? Power hungry patriarchy? Heinous homophobia? Christian nationalism and politics? Yep, we touch on it all. Hear stories of escaping evangelicalism, surviving spiritual manipulation, deconstructing fundamentalism and so much more! Former cult sisters, now turned Exvangelical, tell all with humor and healing, compassion and comedy. Bi-weekly.
Feet of Clay—Confessions of the Cult Sisters
010 - Abigail's Story Part 1 - Childhood in Bill Gothard's IBLP Cult (Shiny Happy People)
TRIGGER WARNING! This episode contains discussions and descriptions of ritualized child spanking, child abuse, spiritual abuse, and more. Listener discretion advised - and please take care of yourselves.
Tracey and Sharon talk with Abigail Witthauer, a courageous survivor of the cult "IBLP" (Institute for Basic Life Principles), led by Bill Gothard, and featured in the new documentary "Shiny Happy People." Shiny Happy People also told the "real" story of celebrities "The Duggar Family."
This episode is the first of a multi-part interview with Abigail. You can also listen to our general discussion of "Shiny Happy People" in episode 009, here:
https://www.buzzsprout.com/2078827/13032097
Link to the documentary "Shiny Happy People"
https://www.amazon.com/Shiny-Happy-People-Duggar-Secrets/dp/B0B8TR2QV5
Abigail's TikTok (with lots of juicy cult stuff!)
https://www.tiktok.com/@unicornhabitat?_t=8d8e9yzzuNH&_r=1
Abigail's wonderful non-profit work with therapy dogs can be found here:
https://www.theroverchasefoundation.org/
"Feet of Clay - Confessions of the Cult Sisters" is a new podcast hosted by Sharon Madere (Bennett) and Tracey Phalen (Reed), who both worked alongside Keith and Melody Green at Last Days Ministries (LDM). As one-time key leaders in the organization, they go on record about the spiritually traumatic and often damaging influences of the Greens and the multitude of materials (many of which are still available today) published through LDM, including 'The Last Days Newsletter'. Sharon and Tracey each joined LDM as teenagers, where they met and married their respective spouses during those cult-commune years. Both couples independently left LDM in 1987 and moved hundreds of miles apart. They continued in their hard-held beliefs for over ten additional years, yet ultimately divorced in the early 2000s. In this podcast Tracey and Sharon come together to talk about their parallel journeys out of the cult mindset, the long process of unpacking indoctrination and spiritual trauma, and their separate but often co-mingled road to healing and humor. Come join them on the journey!
https://www.instagram.com/feetofclay.cultsisters
https://feetofclayconfessionsofthecultsisters.buzzsprout.com
We love acronyms -- and we aren't afraid to use them! Here are some common ones that we might forget to explain:
LDM - Last Days Ministries (organization)
ICT - Intensive Christian Training School (at LDM)
YWAM - Youth With A Mission (organization)
CCM - Contemporary Christian Music
