The frightening thing about cults is that they aren't always easily detectable and they come in many different forms; religious, political, doomsday, New-Age, sexual, satanic, polygamist, racist, etc. While some cults are obvious from the beginning through harmful initiations that are sometimes tied in with the act of harming themselves or others, some are not so obvious in the beginning stages. 

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Often times cults appear appealing through promises of becoming part of a family or brotherhood. It is these promises that draw men and women into the cult lifestyle because they are wanting to feel accepted because perhaps they've felt rejected and want that feeling of belonging. The real intent for a leader wanting to recruit them into their cult is revealed over time and the longer a person stays in the more difficult it is to get out because they have been cut off from friends and family and are under the full control of their cult leader.

 

In some of these cults the members are ordered to do extreme things, including abusing others (physically and/or sexually) or even killing them. Getting out and going to authorities for help is often met with the fear of going to prison for an act that they committed that was under the force and/or coercion of their leader or fellow member of the cult/group. 

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From my personal experience, I (Ana) was a part of the Seventh-day Adventist church for 09 years and while I am not saying that the SDA religion is a cult it had many aspects of a cult, in my opinion (based on the locations in which I attended these churches) and the one thing that the leaders that I encountered used to get me to adhere to the teachings of their religion was fear (going to hell if I drank caffeine or watched anything on the Sabbath that wasn't a Christian sermon to name a few). My now-ex-husband was also an Adventist and helped in the fear-mongering as well and due to the psychological effects that it had on me after I left the religion, it took me several years to recover emotionally and spiritually. Despite my negative experience with this religion, many of these people that I met were wonderful and kind-hearted and I do not believe their intentions to use the fear tactics that they used were done with malicious intent. They were just imposing their beliefs on me because that is what they were taught; many of them were born into the religion and don't know better.  

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Rising Up Ministries has the vision to help offer support to those who either are in a cult or have left a cult and/or New-Age movement which is a movement that is growing quickly and gaining influence all throughout the world today. Many of those who have an interest in this movement are typically seeking answers, something deep and meaningful like where did we come from and what is the meaning of life? Even professing Christians who feel like they're lacking somewhere in their faith can fall victim to searching in an attempt to fill that spiritual void outside of Elohim (God). 

 

Whether these people who get caught up in these movements have voluntarily joined through a recruitment process or was born and raised into it need a safe place to heal to overcome their trauma. We understand how scary it is to muster up the courage to leave a cult and the fear of whom to trust is at an all-time high. Privacy is our utmost goal when it comes to helping cult survivors and/or members who are looking to escape, therefore the exact location of our healing ranch will never be revealed to anyone outside of the community, a meeting point will be established to transport those who are looking to come for healing to our ranch and 24/7 security and surveillance will be provided.

 

Guests who come to stay can expect that ALL private information that is shared with select staff will be kept confidential; nothing that is said will ever be shared with anyone else no matter how extreme your testimony may be. We all have a past and have made bad decisions but the wonderful thing about having a relationship with our Master and Saviour, Yahshua Messiah, is that He forgives ALL sins, no matter how "big" or "small" they are and He gives us the chance to become born-again which sets us free from the sins of our past. 

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