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Wow ... Rocky ... I just finished watching this and it was amazing to me the clear parallels to TWI. I even took notes, I was so struck by the uncanny similarities! The things I bolded are almost identical WAY stuff (imo): “A fun fact that all cults share is that they reject the label ‘cult.’ Even now 16 years since I left, my parents will give me a list of reasons why the Assembly was not a cult. So fine. It wasn’t a cult. It was an evangelical, fundamentalist, non-denominational, religious fringe group whose charismatic leader could do whatever it wanted, but it wasn’t a cult! . . . Because we had many mainstream religious beliefs. We wanted to return to the simple life of the early Christians.” Not sure how early … but also, ‘Do women really need equality’? So I guess, post Augustine, but pre-feminist early Christians.” “My grandparents, George and Betty [Victor and Dotsie] were in charge. George [Victor] was a fantastic public speaker, a charismatic leader, and an abusive, narcissistic pathological liar.” “The Assembly targeted college-aged kids, vulnerable because they’re on their own for the first time and they’re looking for a community, a place where they can connect with other people.” “Cults don’t want to be defined as a cult, because it empowers its members to take a critical look at it. Language in cults is controlled because language is powerful. {Ho-Ho Relo; Happy Household Holidays, just to name a couple.] This happens in the “real world” too. Despite what 98% of our world’s scientists say, let’s not call it ‘climate change’.” “Training homes [Way Homes] were the Assembly’s communal living homes where groups of people would live with an elder, his wife and kids. Basically, it was a super fun way of making sure we had no free time. [And a great way to have live-in housekeepers, cooks, baby sitters and grocery shoppers]!" "Cults are all consuming. They don’t allow their members to invest in a life outside of the group.” [You don't need full time jobs or careers -- unless it's window washing! -- or to go to school to develop a career; spreading the word over the world IS your "career" -- you're CORPS!] “When I left ... I started to see how small my world view really was. [Ain't that the truth! It took months of therapy to begin to even have an inkling in this regard!] … In a cult, when you leave you’re shunned. [Corps loyalty pledge or else "excommunication"; "Mark and Avoid" BS] Women, children and people of color were second-class citizens. There was emotional and psychological abuse, and there was also physical abuse [rampant sexual abuse]." “It takes a lot of work to unlearn behaviors after you leave something like that. And it was hard. There was a lot of questioning the paradigm I’d been raised to believe. [I felt like I was on the verge of an almost undefined, emotional breakdown of sorts for the first couple of months "out" ... or FREE, as she spoke of here: "But I can tell you that even the hardest day of freedom was better than the best day in a cult.” “Comedy for me is the best way for me to take ownership of my past.” I have a friend who also spent years in TWI who I visit now and then, and he has an uncanny ability to make insanely funny jokes about the experiences we both had in TWI ... and so in a sense, that helps me "take ownership of my past" through humor!! This was really cool to "stumble" on today, Rocky, as I haven't visited this site in months. Thanks so much for posting it!