"JERALD Walker knew he was different from his mates - because they told him it was weird that he was not allowed to celebrate his birthday or Christmas.
But what his friends and neighbours didn't know is that he was part of a white supremacist doomsday cult.
And what's even stranger is Jerald is black.
His blind parents had been convinced that TV evangelist Herbert W. Armstrong was the new Messiah and that he was going to save them.
They were not alone.
At its height in the 1970s the Worldwide Church of God had over 100,000 members and was pulling in over £60 million in donations from followers.
Armstrong convinced his followers that going to a hospital was a sin, that they shouldn’t listen to pop music and that black people should serve white ones.
According to his teachings, even heaven would be racially segregated.
But when judgement day came the chosen ones, no matter their race, would be taken to a “safe place” where they would be protected from drought, burning skies and pestilence."
"Jerald, 60, went back to college and is now a professor and author, whose latest book is titled Magically Black And Other Essays.
But the terrible damage the church, which has now changed its name and beliefs, did to thousands of members remains.
Jerald, who also wrote The World in Flames: A Black Boyhood in a White Supremacist Doomsday Cult, blames the cult for the death of his older brother Tim.
Speaking to The Sun, he reveals: “People are still really struggling with the aftermath of being part of this cult as I am myself.
“It was hard to write about. I hated reliving that past.
“You find you are that eight-year-old again crying at midnight because you are terrified of the thunder storm that you think may in fact be the skies burning and Christ returning.”"
END OF DAYS: I was a black child in white supremacy cult & dubbed a witch…I spiralled into drugs when £60m doomsday scam was exposed
