Inciting unconditional love in the war torn world of religious division and man’s control.
Hello I’m John Spinks, and in the absence of a convenient cafe, two comfortable chairs and two frothy cappuccinos, let me introduce myself to you.
I’m the author of Cult Escape which is this web resource and the book about my full story. The title might sound a little dramatic, but I reckon it describes exactly what was required for me, to escape that is, and for many who are still today incarcerated by the control their religion has over them.
I was born into a religious cult. I was fourth generation. When I was 22, I managed to get out. The cost for leaving was losing my family.
There are millions of cult members in the world today. Many of them want to get out. They can’t because they are trapped, not physically, but psychologically.
It is my passion to help such people escape. I know that awful feeling of what it’s like to have no hope and thinking you have a lifetime of being controlled ahead of you. Many feel the same.
If I am qualified to create this resource and write the book, my greatest qualification will be love and passion. I reckon I have not been ready to write this book until the last few years. My character was too wounded, and it would have blunted the message. Though I don’t hold back in exposing the traditions of man that separate families and destroy so many lives, I aim for unconditional love to all people no matter who they are. Unconditional love will dissolve all separation and war and without believing that, this book would have just been a criticism without a solution.
Other qualifications which may be of use are my Master Life Coaching and Diploma in Psychology. I also got a first in Media Studies, majoring in photography which is still a passion of mine. I am a Restorative Justice Counsellor and a Relationship Coach with an ambitious course I created called The Answer – Literal Steps to Your Relationship Bliss.
I am a father of an amazing daughter and I live on the Wirral Peninsular in England. I describe myself as non-religious as I love God who I believe is also non-religious. I see love and religion as opposites. My belief nowadays is that God is right, and he loves me and you unconditionally. (That’s pretty much all the Bible-bashing you are going to get out of me.)
The purpose of this Cult Escape website resource and book is:
1: To inspire courage and hope for anyone who seeks freedom from religious control.
2: To point towards healing and wholeness for those who are suffering psychologically after having their lives and families torn apart by cult law.
3: To warn the world about religious cults and what could happen if people were ever to ever join one.
4: To shine a bit of unconditional love into this world.
I didn’t have access to any media when I was in the cult and a website like this would have given me great hope and encouragement. I hope it does the same for others.
In writing the book, I decided to go ‘raw-revealing’ and say it as it was, during my life of trying to live under the laws of the Exclusive Brethren cult. I am past caring about reputation and I am not shy. Also, to date, for the last 31 years, half my family have been forbidden to sit down and have a meal with me. They are still under their doctrine of separation. I reached acceptance and peace about all that years ago, but the deep passion I feel, has motivated me to write it all down. I want to tell you about what it was like growing up being coercively indoctrinated with 11 meetings a week. I reveal how what I believe was spiritual abuse and control, and how it was interwoven in many areas of my life, and how my mind was groomed to be a clone of the Leader’s choosing. I will tell you my escape route in detail and how the psychological and emotional chains were far harder to break than the physical ones.
What I’d like my story to achieve, is to give the message that freedom from any controlling religion, is possible. Though the escape route may well be different from mine, the many principles that I applied will be relevant no matter what religion a person might be in. I really believe that there is hope for everyone.
But there’s more. A person can leave a cult but does the cult ever leave the person? After escaping I spent a wild two years exploring my desires. I was driven by wounds of rejection and not feeling loved. I tell of my adventures and vices and mistakes in the book. I want to show that a person leaving a cult can make many mistakes but don’t let that stop your adventure into freedom. My journey of healing and wholeness had just begun and looking back all I needed was faith, hope and above all, love. I really believe that there is hope for ‘the cult to leave a person’ too.
I’m with you on your journey.
Love John