How I Met My Husband: My Experience as a Christian Cult Member, Part 8

If you've read my previous articles in this series, you've no doubt learned that my life as a cult member was anything but easy. But as if often the case, good things happen even in the midst of bad situations. Meeting my husband in the cult was such a time for me.

When I initially joined the cult, I was told that after 6 months of training at the home base, I would spend a few months in Mexico for additional training, and then go to the country of my choice. This cult had a group in Italy, and since I had done mission work in Europe before, I naturally assumed that I would end up in Europe.

Often, even in difficult situations, God works in our lives and brings us to a place of submission to him. Although my situation with the cult was very difficult for me, and was definitely not handled by leaders in a way that is outlined in the Bible, God was still real to me during that time. I often prayed, because God was the only one I could be truly honest with.

At some point, God began putting the country of India on my heart. I had heard nothing but horrible things about India, and the last thing I wanted to do was move to India! Besides, I was afraid that if I moved to India, that I would remain single for the rest of my life, and I really wanted to get married. I wrestled with this decision for a long time, but I could never get away from the thought that God was calling me to India for a specific purpose. I didn't tell anyone about these thoughts, but I finally told God that I would be willing to move to India if that was what he wanted.

One evening, during my kitchen duty, the man assigned to wash dishes that day asked me if God had put a particular country on my heart. When I said, "India," he just about dropped the pot he was washing. You see, he felt called to India, and so had made a commitment that he would not get married unless he met a woman who also felt called to India.

After our conversation that night, I couldn't get rid of him! He followed me everywhere! Initially I was not at all interested, but over time he won me over, and we made the decision to get married.

Unfortunately, the cult leaders had already made a decision regarding who I was to marry, and it wasn't this man. So they opposed us on every side. They considered sending us to two different countries in order to separate us. Somehow, we eventually prevailed, and got married. (We've now been happily married for 22 years.)

After our marriage, we made plans to go to India, as we had been promised. But we soon learned that since we had defied them by getting married (even though we had gotten permission to marry), we were not going to be allowed to be on the India team.

That was when we made plans to leave. But leaving a cult is no easy matter. We had no money, no car, and very few relationships on the outside. Only God could arrange for us to leave the cult, and He did.

The next and final installment in this series will explain how we were able to leave the cult and what I learned through the whole process.