Silenced - Escape from the Message Cult

M. Plique describes her recruitment and escape from William Branham's "Message" cult of personality.  Read the full story on Casting Pearls Project
https://castingpearlsproject.com/silenced 

I joined the Message in 1980 as a member of the Spoken Word Tabernacle in Tulsa, Oklahoma. I had been married less than a year when my new husband ran into an old friend who was a member. Within days, I was subject to constant pressure to join and to submit to all its teaching. I was faced with a choice: either leave my new husband or join him in the church and see how things played out. Even though I hadn't been going to church for the past year, I was a Christian girl, and I couldn't bear the thought of leaving my husband just because he wanted to get closer to God. So, I agreed to join.

She was recruited into the cult through her husband, a "Message" believer, and later learned that he was an abusive sexual predator. 

I know that ex-husband bears responsibility for all he has done. The Message teaching made it so much worse, though; it fueled his hatred of women and gave him justification for his dominance and abuse. It weakened me so I could not fight back. Even after we left the church, it took years for me to learn how to stand up to him and question him. The reticence to talk about sex honestly, combined with the shunning of secular mental health services, blocked us from receiving any help during that short window when he seemed to want help.

Though she understands that her husband's issues were separate from the "Message", she is certain that the cult doctrine and policy both enabled and worsened his behavior.  The doctrine, combined with her experience, had long-term effects on her life.

Her husband was eventually featured on "America's Most Wanted".[1]

I know that ex-husband bears responsibility for all he has done. The Message teaching made it so much worse, though; it fueled his hatred of women and gave him justification for his dominance and abuse. It weakened me so I could not fight back. Even after we left the church, it took years for me to learn how to stand up to him and question him. The reticence to talk about sex honestly, combined with the shunning of secular mental health services, blocked us from receiving any help during that short window when he seemed to want help. The teaching that anything that was "under the blood" should never be spoken of helped him avoid responsibility for the harm he had caused. On top of all this, his religious manipulation of my daughter has turned her off about religion so much that I don't expect her to be a part of any spiritual community, ever.