We grew up in the Worldwide Church of God — a high-control religious group that taught us to erase ourselves in the name of “truth.” Here are 5 specific ways the cult controlled our sense of identity, and how we’re unlearning the damage it caused. We are the Apostate Sisters - We talk about high control religion, what it takes from you, and how to take it back.
If you were taught that your joy was selfish, that your thoughts were dangerous, or that questioning was rebellion — this might hit home.
In this video, we unpack how high-control religion trains people to disappear inside themselves — and how to start reclaiming your voice, worth, and joy.
👇 Resources, support, and more below.
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Support & Resources for Losing Your Religion
Whether you’re freshly questioning your beliefs, stuck in the spiritual rubble, or years out but still carrying the weight — this list is for you. You deserve healing, clarity, and community as you untangle from systems that taught you to doubt yourself.
Mental & Emotional Health
Recovering From Religion (RfR)
recoveringfromreligion.org
Free helpline, peer support, and secular therapy referrals for those dealing with religious doubt and trauma.
The Secular Therapy Project
seculartherapy.org
Find therapists who use evidence-based methods without religious frameworks.
Janice Selbie, Divorcing Religion
divorcing-religion.com
Community & Peer Support
Facebook & Discord Communities
Look for “exvangelical,” “deconstruction,” “religious trauma,” or “exvangelical” groups — many are highly active and supportive.
Meetup.com
Search your city + “secular” “freethinker” “deconstruction” or “spiritual trauma recovery” — more local groups are forming every day.
Content Creators
Follow creators who speak openly about spiritual abuse, embodiment, and liberation. (We’re there too. Come say hi.)
/ @apostatesisters
Support the Sisters’ work on Patreon:
patreon.com/ApostateSisters
📢 Follow Us on Social Media:
Instagram: / apostatesisters
Tiktok: / apostatesisters
Facebook: / apostatesisters
BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/apostatesist...
Support & Resources for Losing Your Religion
Whether you’re freshly questioning your beliefs, stuck in the spiritual rubble, or years out but still carrying the weight — this list is for you. You deserve healing, clarity, and community as you untangle from systems that taught you to doubt yourself.
Mental & Emotional Health
Recovering From Religion (RfR)
recoveringfromreligion.org
Free helpline, peer support, and secular therapy referrals for those dealing with religious doubt and trauma.
The Secular Therapy Project
seculartherapy.org
Find therapists who use evidence-based methods without religious frameworks.
Janice Selbie, Divorcing Religion
divorcing-religion.com
Community & Peer Support
Facebook & Discord Communities
Look for “exvangelical,” “deconstruction,” “religious trauma,” or “exvangelical” groups — many are highly active and supportive.
Meetup.com
Search your city + “secular” “freethinker” “deconstruction” or “spiritual trauma recovery” — more local groups are forming every day.
Content Creators
Follow creators who speak openly about spiritual abuse, embodiment, and liberation. (We’re there too. Come say hi.)
5 comments:
When I was an Amballador Cossage student, I used to mock this. After witnessing many complete personality transformations, and young people attempting to make themselves appear much older than they actually were, I coined an expression. We called it the UAP, or "universal Ambassador personality". It wasn't hip, wasn't funny, and and had no soul! What a drag!
All organized church and religion does this to its children of the followers. WCG did not invent it. I have always noted that ultimately it is "the Book" that is the problem and source of all the control. Proverbs, OT stories and NT admonitions to be this or that drive the machine of family and childrearing with such results. Personality driven churches, and the NT Church was also such, suppress individuality and personal authenticity in the name of doing the right thing and being the right kind of person.
Catholic kids talk of surviving "Sister Mary the Mother Superior" or "Father" so and so. Southern Baptist kids probably drop out as adults the most and have the most good reasons to do so.
Those who grew up in more open minded, less controlling and mainstream churches with an educated clergy had a much better outcome even if they moved on as adults.
What the sisters describe is the 'family superself,' with churches taking on that role. It's defined as :
"In dysfunctional families, the 'family superself' is a collective identity where individual selves are enmeshed, often leading to suppressed personal identities. Your low self-worth was likely shaped by this family dynamic, but it's not who you truly are."
Dysfunctional family rules
1) Don't talk. We don't talk about our family problems to each other or to outsiders. ...
2) Don't trust. ...
3) Don't feel.
They may not have invented it, 5:52, but they sure as 7734 exploited it! Not inventing something you adapted as your own does not exonerate you from guilt!
I disagree that "the Book" is the problem. The problem is that human institutions seek to impose more rules and control and cultural conformity on its members than what the Bible imposes. I've heard sermons exhorting us to wear suits and ties to church, even though there's not a Biblical basis for particular clothing styles.
I can see how some people can want to regulate it, because there are implicit signals of identity and values embedded in human cultural elements. Eg, certain clothing styles signal various tribal identities, such as entrepreneur, golfer, hippie, goth, gangsta, surfer, some of which are at odds with Christian values. Thus it's tempting to cultivate a Christian cultural image. But Christianity is about a moral transformation of the core, not some cultural conformity of outward appearances.
The thing which frustrated me as a child of the institution was, some adults treated cultural conformity as a proxy for Christian moral transformation. I discovered that one could wear a certain mask of conformity of outward appearances that kept these adults satisfied (wear the approved clothes, do what you're told, smile and be polite), without genuinely embracing Christian values in the core. Ironically, this approach tends to cultivate hypocrisy.
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