Welcome to the first episode of the Shunned Success Stories series. In this episode we meet Kelsey and get to learn from her path as she went from a homeschooled member of Jehovah’s Witnesses to recently being accepted to attend MIT. You’ll learn about her struggles on this path as she is shunned by her family and former friends, how she overcame that for this part of her journey, and the new opportunities that she’s found. Success as defined by these episodes is personal happiness, so look for the lessons you can take on your own journey to find more happiness in your life.
Are you struggling in some area of life and looking for your own success and happiness? Feeling stuck? Need an accountability partner or some encouragement? Need to talk to someone that understands cult life? Reach out and let’s talk. I have affordable programs to help as a certified life coach. Click HERE for more information.
Support the show by donating to the cause on our Patreon page, Patreon.com/shunned
A third generation Jehovah’s Witness from Puerto Rico, Daniel often had an identity crisis despite being surrounded by a cult that dominated so much of his life. He loved people and wanted desperately to fit in so he tried on different personas to try to make that happen. At one point a brother named “Mr. J” comes into his life and you’ll meet this character too as he tells his story.
Support the show by donating to the cause on our Patreon page, Patreon.com/shunned
Are you struggling in some area of life? Feeling stuck? Need an accountability partner or some encouragement? Need to talk to someone that understands cult life? Reach out and let’s talk. I have affordable programs to help as a certified life coach. Click HERE for more information.
You can listen to the Shunned Podcast Spotify playlist here for all of the songs chosen by guests of the show.
This podcast was made possible by my original podcast This JW Life. You can find it on any podcast app or on YouTube. It is a 9 part series about life as Jehovah’s Witnesses designed to help you understand how it worked in one comprehensive story and to help you process your own if you came from that environment.
Follow my new podcast called LouisvilleOne at LouisvilleOne.org or look it up on a podcast app. You can watch the live videos on the YouTube channel HERE.
The year was 2014. The event was the annual meeting of Jehovah’s Witnesses streamed all over the world. And then it happened…….”Tight Pants Tony” was born. A young Karamat was watching, and if stumbling someone results in the person doing the stumbling being cast into the water with a millstone around his neck, ol’ Tony Morris of the governing body of Jehovah’s Witnesses might need a bigger neck for all of the stumbling he did that day.
Karamat was a young enthusiastic member of Jehovah’s Witnesses but he also had friends outside of the organization and could never embrace the JW teaching that his friends would be killed in a fiery Armageddon by his God. He was an intelligent young man, one that started to wake up around the time of the annual meeting whereby Tony Morris ranted unintelligibly about women wearing “spanx” and men wearing tight pants designed by the homosexuals. Let’s also not forget his hatred of colorful or fun socks. On the world stage when he could have encouraged people in any way he saw fit, he went on a homophobic rant about clothing. He also railed against amusement parks if cult followers weren’t spending time visiting the Watchtower headquarters, among other inane assertions such as what standing one should have in the congregation in order to be considered marriage material.
A young man of intelligence and emotional/mental honesty, Karamat would go on a journey toward more education and less ignorance. He couldn’t abide by the elder’s warnings to give up his “worldly” friends on the outside, and of course he had an interest in relationships beyond friendships as a normal young man. He also had questions for which the elders didn’t have answers. This resulted in him being kicked out of his home, being homeless for a time, suffering depression, losing people he thought were his friends because Jehovah’s Witnesses truly shoot their wounded, and he started his life over at a young age.
Support the show by donating to the cause on our Patreon page, Patreon.com/shunned
Are you struggling in some area of life? Feeling stuck? Need an accountability partner or some encouragement? Need to talk to someone that understands cult life? Reach out and let’s talk. I have affordable programs to help as a certified life coach. Click HERE for more information.
You can listen to the Shunned Podcast Spotify playlist here for all of the songs chosen by guests of the show.
This podcast was made possible by my original podcast This JW Life. You can find it on any podcast app or on YouTube. It is a 9 part series about life as Jehovah’s Witnesses designed to help you understand how it worked in one comprehensive story and to help you process your own if you came from that environment.
Follow my new podcast called LouisvilleOne at LouisvilleOne.org or look it up on a podcast app. You can watch the live videos on the YouTube channel HERE.
The last episode was the story of Aaron, and in it he mentioned a particular couple in the congregation that he was close to. That friendship ended in much drama for him and his status with the congregation. In this episode Dani, the wife in that relationship tells her life story and gives details of what led to her eventual shunning from the cult of Jehovah’s Witnesses. The parties, the relationship she had with her husband, and the relationships that he had outside of their relationship. You’ll learn how she went from someone that always doubted the cult doctrine to the pressure to get baptized and how it all got worse after that. Through adversity often comes strength and Dani has earned hers.
Support the show by donating to the cause on our Patreon page, Patreon.com/shunned
Are you struggling in some area of life? Feeling stuck? Need an accountability partner or some encouragement? Need to talk to someone that understands cult life? Reach out and let’s talk. I have affordable programs to help as a certified life coach. Click HERE for more information.
You can listen to the Shunned Podcast Spotify playlist here for all of the songs chosen by guests of the show.
This podcast was made possible by my original podcast This JW Life. You can find it on any podcast app or on YouTube. It is a 9 part series about life as Jehovah’s Witnesses designed to help you understand how it worked in one comprehensive story and to help you process your own if you came from that environment.
Follow my new podcast called LouisvilleOne at LouisvilleOne.org or look it up on a podcast app. You can watch the live videos on the YouTube channel HERE.
Aaron was born into the cult of Jehovah’s Witnesses and never fully bought into the life that he was given. Knowing from a young age that he was gay he knew that he couldn’t fully be himself in the religion. A tight group of friends later in life would lead him into situations that eventually resulted in his shunning. Although it would still take several years to wake up even after shunning, Aaron has the opportunity to live as his authentic self.
Support the show by donating to the cause on our Patreon page, Patreon.com/shunned
Are you struggling in some area of life? Feeling stuck? Need an accountability partner or some encouragement? Need to talk to someone that understands cult life? Reach out and let’s talk. I have affordable programs to help as a certified life coach. Click HERE for more information.
You can listen to the Shunned Podcast Spotify playlist here for all of the songs chosen by guests of the show.
This podcast was made possible by my original podcast This JW Life. You can find it on any podcast app or on YouTube. It is a 9 part series about life as Jehovah’s Witnesses designed to help you understand how it worked in one comprehensive story and to help you process your own if you came from that environment.
Follow my new podcast called LouisvilleOne at LouisvilleOne.org or look it up on a podcast app. You can watch the live videos on the YouTube channel HERE.
Joseph’s story starts at the beginning, no not his beginning, all the way back at the beginning of the organization now known as Jehovah’s Witnesses. We start discussing some history of the Bible Students that I then researched later myself personally and found fascinating. But this story is much more than a throwback, this story features much of the modern issues within the cult of Jehovah’s Witnesses. Joseph got caught up in a bad situation with an elder and his wife, ending up married to that elder’s wife. Just like he got caught up as an adult with a cult, he was caught up in another bad relationship. He also saw other abuse while in the organization and knew that he wanted out of all of it.
Support the show by donating to the cause on our Patreon page, Patreon.com/shunned
Are you struggling in some area of life? Feeling stuck? Need an accountability partner or some encouragement? Need to talk to someone that understands cult life? Reach out and let’s talk. I have affordable programs to help as a certified life coach. Click HERE for more information.
You can listen to the Shunned Podcast Spotify playlist here for all of the songs chosen by guests of the show.
This podcast was made possible by my original podcast This JW Life. You can find it on any podcast app or on YouTube. It is a 9 part series about life as Jehovah’s Witnesses designed to help you understand how it worked in one comprehensive story and to help you process your own if you came from that environment.
Follow my new podcast called LouisvilleOne at LouisvilleOne.org or look it up on a podcast app. You can watch the live videos on the YouTube channel HERE.
“All of your worth is only as a JW” is a quote and common theme from Laura’s story of falling for a young man that was one of Jehovah’s Witnesses in high school. Meeting this person at just 16 years of age would send her down an intense path of self-denial at the behest of him and others that would come into her life. Ultimately she was manipulated into doing what they wanted. For a religion that calls itself “The Truth” this story involves so many lies, the ones told to others, the ones she told to herself, and the ones told to her. The cult dynamics were seen in her relationship early on. This 16 year old girl unknowingly entered a world that would take her from her family, take years of her life, and things got even worse when she met an elder that took advantage of her. Today Laura is an educated woman pursuing things that she values in freedom.
Support the show by donating to the cause on our Patreon page, Patreon.com/shunned
Are you struggling in some area of life? Feeling stuck? Need an accountability partner or some encouragement? Need to talk to someone that understands cult life? Reach out and let’s talk. I have affordable programs to help as a certified life coach. Click HERE for more information.
You can listen to the Shunned Podcast Spotify playlist here for all of the songs chosen by guests of the show.
This podcast was made possible by my original podcast This JW Life. You can find it on any podcast app or on YouTube. It is a 9 part series about life as Jehovah’s Witnesses designed to help you understand how it worked in one comprehensive story and to help you process your own if you came from that environment.
Follow my new podcast called LouisvilleOne at LouisvilleOne.org or look it up on a podcast app. You can watch the live videos on the YouTube channel HERE.
It is tough enough to be born into a cult and to not fit in with the people surrounding you outside the group, but sometimes you’re born into a family in a cult that is not particularly well liked in a congregation for whatever reason, and that adds an even heavier layer of isolation with nowhere to go. Throw in home schooling and a mother that teaches you not to trust people, and you have a recipe for destroying a young girl’s sense of self and belonging in the world. Cassandra has had to battle so much to find her place, people that care about her without the conditions of a cult, and she’s finding a life of her own now as she finds her own strength to knock down the walls that were built to keep her in.
Support the show by donating to the cause on our Patreon page, Patreon.com/shunned
Are you struggling in some area of life? Feeling stuck? Need an accountability partner or some encouragement? Need to talk to someone that understands cult life? Reach out and let’s talk. I have affordable programs to help as a certified life coach. Click HERE for more information.
You can listen to the Shunned Podcast Spotify playlist here for all of the songs chosen by guests of the show.
This podcast was made possible by my original podcast This JW Life. You can find it on any podcast app or on YouTube. It is a 9 part series about life as Jehovah’s Witnesses designed to help you understand how it worked in one comprehensive story and to help you process your own if you came from that environment.
Follow my new podcast called LouisvilleOne at LouisvilleOne.org or look it up on a podcast app. You can watch the live videos on the YouTube channel HERE.
People get baptized as Jehovah’s Witnesses for a myriad of reasons. Peer pressure, parental pressure, sometimes people feel like it will fix something in their lives. For Derek there was the hope that this 11 year old boy could erase the damage and shame he felt from the abuse he suffered at the hands of some of the girls in his life. The hope that somehow baptism would make him whole and feel safe. Derek has been through a lot in his life but he’s now got a life of his own that he can be proud of and he offers some of the lessons he’s learned to help others. This is a story of overcoming the past and the strength to create the things that a person wants in the present.
Support the show by donating to the cause on our Patreon page, Patreon.com/shunned
Are you struggling in some area of life? Feeling stuck? Need an accountability partner or some encouragement? Need to talk to someone that understands cult life? Reach out and let’s talk. I have affordable programs to help as a certified life coach. Click HERE for more information.
You can listen to the Shunned Podcast Spotify playlist here for all of the songs chosen by guests of the show.
This podcast was made possible by my original podcast This JW Life. You can find it on any podcast app or on YouTube. It is a 9 part series about life as Jehovah’s Witnesses designed to help you understand how it worked in one comprehensive story and to help you process your own if you came from that environment.
Follow my new podcast called LouisvilleOne at LouisvilleOne.org or look it up on a podcast app. You can watch the live videos on the YouTube channel HERE.
Alexa was raised as one of Jehovah’s Witnesses but never baptized, and she faces shunning for a life she didn’t want and never officially even joined. Her story involves being homeless, sexually assaulted followed by a cover up, and trying to find a life of her own that ultimately has her rejected by people that she cared for. Despite the odds Alexa is working hard to rise above her circumstances to live a good life, determined not to repeat the patterns in her family.
Are you struggling in some area of life? Feeling stuck? Need an accountability partner or some encouragement? Need to talk to someone that understands cult life? Reach out and let’s talk. I have affordable programs to help as a certified life coach. Click HERE for more information.
Follow my new podcast called LouisvilleOne at LouisvilleOne.org or look it up on a podcast app. You can watch the live videos on the YouTube channel HERE.
