#ex Doomsday cult

[only1lorrie]

[only1lorrie]

Mistakes are, in my opinion, are huge part of learning.

After growing up in a cult that sought for us to live one day "attaining to perfection"...it's nice to realize my heart is not treacherous and desperate and I am able to follow my intuition.

I am still learning! I am allowed to make mistakes! Big mistakes!!! Huge mistakes!!! They will not stop me from growing!!!!

[wetsocksinbed]

dropping some lore for my followers, but here’s a list of things that the doomsday cult I was raised in banned and forbade:

• Celebrating your birthday. I’m 24 next month and it’ll be my first birthday

• Celebrate Christmas, Halloween and Easter. All stem from pagan beliefs (yes including Christmas), which is “satanic”

• Do afterschool activities like joining a sports team or a club. You risk being “influenced by the world” and may be “tricked into joining Satan’s world”

• Have friends that weren’t part of the religion. We could play with kids at school but god forbid we asked mum and dad if those kids could come over to play. See above for reason why.

• Have sex before marriage. Even kissing someone on the lips is seen as taboo.

• Be anything other than Straight. You’re obviously mentally ill, you’re confused, it’s just a phase, it’s Satans World

• Seek higher education after high school. This is considered viewing yourself as better than others. Also you might “be influenced by satans world” and “commit immoral acts” if you’re around people who aren’t part of your religion. Instead you’re pushed to become a missionary and preach in places “where the need is great” aka poor and impoverished places

• Own anything expensive. You clearly think you’re better than everyone else

• Like a band/singer/actor and own posters of them. This is considered idolatry.

• Get tattoos or piercings. One lobe piercing one each ear was acceptable though.

• Dye your hair a colour that wasn’t brown, black or blonde. You’re being influenced by the world.

• Wear trousers/pants to church. Only men are allowed that. Women must wear a dress or skirt.

• Have a role in the church. Only men can give talks/sermons or “shepherd the flock”

• Wear a head covering if you say a prayer in a room with a man who is in the church. You must show submission to him in front of god

• Never get divorced. If you do, then you’re forbidden from marrying again

• Have any opinions that differ from the general belief of the church. If you don’t believe humanity started 6000 years ago in Eden, you’re essentially a heretic.

[cuntbreeder]

I was in this backpacker hostel before I fucked off to the mountains to grow my beard. I was in the girls' dorm back then, but I have a beard now, so I came back and now I'm in the mixed dorm.

Officially, there are "AC times". Outside of those times, the AC is off. This country is hot and humid, so that's bordering on a human rights abuse. I found out which fuse is to the AC in the girls' dorms, so I would always secretly flip it on when I lived there.

I don't know where the switch to the mixed dorm is. But the girls' dorm is on the floor below the mixed, so I still always turn it on for them on my way up. You're welcome women.

[radio-free-beth-sarim]

Thinking a lot about things today and I have a confession.

As much as I dread the prospect of things becoming worse and shit just burning around us I at least do take some comfort in the fact that I'll be prepared for it to a greater degree than most.

It feels almost like being grateful to the switch for teaching me how to deal with pain.

Should I feel ok with that?

[winterswake]

jake gyllenhaal... forever stuck in my mind as john seed and rafe adler

[natequarter]

Me on a date: The Sarah Jane Adventures lures you in with a closed-off and paranoid single woman living alone who slowly opens up to her much younger friends in an obvious parallel to the Doctor, particularly the Third Doctor (alone and miserable on Earth, which she cannot leave, unwilling to open up to her friends but slowly coaxed out of her shell); Sarah is the protagonist of The Sarah Jane Adventures, but she is not its hero. We see hints at her trauma, emotional repression, and paranoia over the course of the show; she repeatedly lies to her charges, to the point where they essentially have to stalk her to keep track of her, and she’s fundamentally incapable of relating to ‘average’ people, because she never really adapted back to life on Earth, emotionally or psychologically, and never learnt to grieve. All of this is a compelling, if implicit, storyline on its own, but it hits much harder if you’ve listened to the Big Finish audio series Sarah Jane Smith, in which Sarah is explicitly depicted as an antihero who willingly and recklessly endangers herself and her friends because she’s miserable without the adrenaline of danger and saving the world. Her heroics more often than not cause more harm than good; she cuts herself off from her friends just to solve mysteries (to the point it puts her life at risk), she throws herself into situations that nearly kill her multiple times, and many people die because of her intervention, some of them innocent. The only way she can rationalise the Doctor leaving her to herself is that there was some higher purpose. The artifice of prophecy pervades the entire series; time and time again it becomes clear that any instance of ‘coincidence’ or ‘fate’ are actually down to the machinations of time travel, Sarah, or the cult that has dedicated itself to fulfilling its doomsday predictions. Sarah in The Sarah Jane Adventures is an obvious Doctor stand-in for the narrative, but in Sarah Jane Smith it goes further than that: Sarah embraces his manipulative behaviour, his darker side, his tricks and bluffs. She pretends to be blind to outwit her enemies. She defeats her enemies through words and kills a villain through intentional inaction. At one point she’s forced into a moral dilemma reminiscent of the conflicts that the Doctor faces, where she must choose between the lives of thousands of innocent Londoners and her friend. In the end, it’s no question to her; she chooses to let her friend die. She’s willing to let both her friends die, if it comes down to it—and one of them ultimately does. Sarah is an unusual character; unlike most ex-companions, she’s fundamentally incapable of readjusting to normal life, and has pretty explicitly spent her life since leaving the Doctor isolated, miserable, and in constant peril. But she also doesn’t fit in with the companions who ultimately meet their doom travelling with the Doctor; unlike, say, Clara Oswald, she’s given the chance to back out before it’s too late, and she takes it. But it’s clear that she never recovered from leaving the Doctor, because the Doctor’s lifestyle is the only thing that makes her feel like life is worth living. Sarah Jane Smith clearly portrays Sarah as someone transformed by the Doctor into the Doctor. But this is not a good thing, and the series occupies itself with deconstructing the damaging psychological effect the Doctor has on both people in general and Sarah specifically—Sarah is not a nice person. She is not a better person for having known the Doctor; in fact it’s only made her worse. She’s a danger to the people around her. She’s irrational and obsessed with getting what she wants to the exception of all else. She’s sometimes outright cruel. It’s a fascinating play on a usually much kinder (if imperfect) character, and personally, I love it.

My date: What the hell?

[bi-hop]

my thoughts on rgu ep 2

and we're back to watching rgu! my thoughts so far can be found here.

it's funny and cute how those girls fawn over utena. no further thoughts, I just enjoy when that happens in yuri

I was so fucking worried that Wakaba wouldn't want to talk to Utena anymore after All That. I think Utena did the duel for a good reason but it's not like Wakaba asked her to. but nope, that wasn't the point of all that. it's okay, girl, you're better than Saionji's abusive ass anyway

... is the student council a doomsday cult?

you'd think for a group trying to 'bring revolution to the world' or whatever, they'd be more comfortable with a chaos agent added to their game LMAOOO anyway I'm pretending I understand what the fuck is going on with the letters but I don't <3

current working theory: End of the World is a supernatural force guiding them to achieve ends on the material plane. source? I have none. do not tell me what's going on or I will scream at the top of my lungs and embarrass us all

I had the feeling Anthy would be in the dorm but her writing her name underneath Utena's because her placement was an afterthought is... cute... kinda heartwrenching...

also is Anthy meant to look like a housewife? they're really hammering home the patriarchal nature of engagement and marriage here, and we haven't even gotten to another duel

speaking of their situation... while Anthy being like "you dress like a boy because you like to and I do the role as a Rose Bride because I like to" is an interesting conversation to have, I don't know if I believe it. I'm not claiming Utena's reasoning for dressing the way she does is false, I just also don't think it's the full story considering how she was also inspired to dress a certain way by a figure in her past. As for Anthy though, I do think it's false. I think she certainly believes what she's saying but the idea that she just naturally enjoys being subservient (cooking, cleaning) and being an object (more on that later) does not seem organic or 'true' to her.

my girlfriend wants a Chu-Chu plushie... ruh roh

okay back to the duels. I was already thinking she'd object to further duels because the one she partook in was exclusively for the benefit of Wakaba and she has no interest in the power plays over the Rose Bride. she doesn't even know about what they're fighting for, right? so why would she care

god, Saionji is such an abusive ex. I mean, obviously, but wow. I do think the situation is worsened by the fact that the duels confer a sense of ownership over Anthy, but the entitlement... the way he feels like she's betrayed him when he's the one who lost while also having THE ADVANTAGE? rotating him calling her shameless... Saionji-senpai vs Utena-sama... hm

I honestly didn't really notice the castle at the top of the sky when I was watching episode 1, so now the dialogue about entering it makes sense lmao

Utena claiming not to care about Anthy's situation but then immediately getting into the Sword of Dios rite and subconsciously moving to protect the rose even at the potential risk to her... yeah okay. Even Saionji calls her out on it lmao

final thoughts on the way Anthy is rendered an object to be possessed and owned but the way Saionji literally talks about her and the Sword of Dios in the same breath as 'glory' rather than, you know, Anthy being a person he cares for says it all. Her worth is only in the sense of possessing the power of Dios (whatever that means)

... is the prince Dios??? is he dead? what the fuck.

.... is Dios End of the World?!??!!? I'm so confused

Next episode is a ball episode and I'm excited for that one. I love balls, I love intrigue, I love messes.

This episode was good though, even if the pace felt different than the first episode. I think my central interest so far in the series is unraveling the mystery of what the fuck is going on at this school (the student council being powerful enough to make kids vanish is so funny btw), but I'm also deeply invested in Anthy. her passivity in the face of everything is alarming and I just want to understand it. how much of it is facade? how much of it is genuine conditioning? I want to know!!!

[lesbean-sideblog]

CW suicide

I think it's worth mentioning that while evangelicals present an extreme, the roots of that mentality are imbedded in all of Christianity. I don't have any data on this, but my intuition from my own upbringing tells me that there must be some correlation between suicidal ideation and Christian belief.

Being a child and constantly told that there's this magical, wonderful, loving paradise you'll go to after you die (if you do the "right" things) will create the mentality that life isn't something to be enjoyed but to be endured, or at worst, some kind of punishment or test. When I was a child I used to fantasize about dying early so that I could skip life and get to the good part, and I wasn't raised in some super conservative or extremist faction of Christianity. I was episcopalian and attended a very loving, ordinary, liberal church. So yes, Christianity can slide into death cult territory very easily, and it's crucial to keep an eye on all of it, not just the evangelicals and fundamentalists.

Tldr, the toxicity of evangelicalism has, at it's core, beliefs held by every faction of Christianity and we need to be really fucking careful.

[only1lorrie]

[alex-the-bringer-of-chaos]

As an ex jw, listen to me when I say: never set foot in that hell hole, don't study with them, don't trust the watch tower, look at their lies and how they cover up abuse and csa.

Fuck the watch tower! Fuck the governing body! Fuck the jw! Fuck this high controlling religion/doomsday cult! Fuck these queerphobes! Fuck these abusers! Fuck these misogynists! Fuck these ableists!

[sol-of-waterdeep]

okay so i've been mulling over modern AU tadfools for a while and this is what i got so far

Lae'zel is a skater lesbian (and super autistic lmao), nobody really knows what her whole deal is but they are pretty sure she was raised by some kind of doomsday cult

she's flatmates with Karlach, who is really into MMA and partying it up now that she finally moved out of her old flat where everyone else were just the most fucked up assholes in existence, everyone exclusively calls it "hell" when talking about it

Astarion is the most flamboyant catty twink in existence and currently crashing on their couch because he's been kind of broke since he left his much older toxic boyfriend Cazador (who won't stop bothering him on Grindr)

Shadowheart is the nu goth girl who lives across the hall from them and is really into crystals and witchcraft/paganism, Lae has a crush on her but doesn't know how to deal with it so she's just really mean all the time

Wyll met Karlach when she almost put his lights out in a drunk brawl at a frat party but now they are besties and he constantly hangs around their flat, his father is a politician and he is dating Mizora, who is his dad's lawyer and everybody is telling him to break up with her because she's toxic af but for some reason he just can't bring himself to do it

Gale lives in the same building and never goes outside ever since his ex broke up with him but he met the rest because his cat slipped outside and he had to catch her again and Karlach had picked her up and brought her home because she thought it was so cute

Halsin is an old hippie guy who is the pot dealer of the whole party and constantly tells everyone how great Woodstock was whether they asked or not (they did not)

Jaheira is the teacher of Karlach's MMA group and comes over occasionally because hanging with them "reminds her of her wild twenties" and "makes her feel young again", sometimes she brings her buddy Minsc who is the life of the party

dunno about Minthara she always died in my playthroughs up until now so can't really say much about her

Raphael is their landlord and just insanely weird about everything, everyone is dreading when he shows up except Astarion who thinks "he's got a certain je ne sais quoi to him" (cue everyone throwing pillows at him and booing him for his terrible taste in men)

Gortash is Karlach's ex who got her into "hell" in the first place, he's a lawyer and nobody likes him, there's a dart board with his face taped on it in the bathroom and nobody knows who put it there (it was Lae'zel)

Ketheric is the owner of the law firm he works at and Orin is his other junior partner, she and Gortash are constantly competing about who will inherit the firm despite Ketheric never saying anything about planning to retire, he hates both of them and wishes his daughter Isobel would take over but she quit law school to go to a liberal arts college with her girlfriend whom Ketheric refuses to acknowledge

[prettybbychim]

holding my younger self’s hands to say that there is freedom and release waiting for me. that it will be scary and hard but you will finally be able to breathe and the air tastes so sweet

become best friends with your ten year old self im so fucking serious

[moonfall666]

Its 2am and I can't sleep so here's a shitty essay on why I believe MAGA is a doomsday cult.

I can't stop thinking about the 2018 film The Trump Prophecy. It's a "true" documentary about a so-called prophet who, in 2011, predicts the future presidency of Donald Trump. And it's fucking terrifying when you think about all the implications.

But first I need to talk about evangelicals and modern interpretations of biblical end times. So I am not an expert and am definitely going to get things wrong, and its important to note that there is no one standard belief when it comes to extremism like this (because these beliefs often have no textual basis in the bible), but it has 3 key points I will talk about: the belief in Christ's Second Coming, the belief in an Anti-Christ, and the belief in Christian Zionism.

The Second Coming is very simple; Jesus comes back to welcome all the good Christians into heaven, and bring upon the Apocalypse to punish the non-believers.

The Antichrist is another key part to the apocalypse. Popular (arguably antisemitic) interpretations say not only is he Jewish, but specifically the messiah that Jews are waiting for.

Christian Zionism relates these two ideas together while also fitting the prophetic requirement of return of Israel. For Jesus to come and rapture everyone, first the Jews have to return to their Holy Land. Honestly I'm not even going to attempt to explain this myself, you can do some reading yourself. This article from Al-Shabaka is very informative and a good place to start: https://al-shabaka.org/briefs/the-dangerous-exceptionalism-of-christian-zionism/

Further reading (because Google sucks)

https://www.midnightsunmag.ca/to-oppose-zionism-we-have-to-deal-with-christian-zionism/

https://www.thebanner.org/features/2019/12/why-i-m-not-a-christian-zionist

https://balfourproject.org/rev-dr-munther-isaac-christian-zionism-as-imperial-theology/

https://baptistnews.com/article/how-zionism-poisoned-western-christianity/

More Desired Than Our Owne Salvation: The Roots of Christian Zionism - Robert Smith

So back to Trump.

In April 2011, a man named Mark Taylor apparently heard the voice of God in his head as he fell asleep to Donald Trump on TV. The prophecy went something like this:

“The Spirit of God says, I have chosen this man Donald Trump for such a time as this. For as Benjamin Netanyahu is to Israel so shall this man be to the United States of America. For I will use this man to bring honor, respect, and restoration to America.” (its longer than this, you can read more here, as well as someone breaking down how its wrong lol)

So obviously this is crazy, but giving it any deep thought, it starts to become kinda scary. The "prophecy" places Trump and Netanyahu into a dichotomy. Trump is clearly stated as a savior to America, while Netanyahu's relationship to this seems unclear. Is he meant to be a savior to Israel? Or is he meant to be the opposite of a savior? Or could it be both?

No one, not even the craziest MAGAs will say it aloud, but I 100% believe this prophecy is placing the two into the roles of Christ and Antichrist. I am very serious when I say that I think MAGAs believe Trump to be the Second Coming of Christ. It's the reason why everything that goes wrong (losing the 2020 election, the assassination attempt etc) only strengthens their beliefs--it is genuinely comparable to crucifying their messiah, which is just proof they are following the right man. Every criticism to Trump is persecuting their messiah.

It is also why you will find ex-MAGA accusing Trump of being the Antichrist. It is a major part of the belief of the Antichrist that he will present himself as a messiah and gain lots of followers before his true nature is revealed. So for these ex-MAGA to now believe he is the Antichrist, they must have previously believed him to Christ-adjacent.

(If you have never heard of these people before, there are so many communities online with r/DonaldTrump666 and r/Trump666 being 2 examples, each having 2.6k and 3.6k members respectively. There may be some trolls in these communities, but every post I have read seems to be written by people who genuinely believe.)

So, why do so many people believe in all this religious conspiracy and prophecy stuff? I think a big reason is that there is a huge, global mental health epidemic currently that makes people a lot more vulnerable to indoctrination and conspiracy theory. There is also low education and literacy rates that makes it difficult for people to detect propaganda. The internet also helps a lot with the spread of conspiracy theories--and I know this first hand. My dad is down the QAnon/Trump/Antivaxxer rabbit hole (and has been since 2016 but it gets worse every year), but also I was falling for conspiracies for my first few years of internet access as a child. Algorithms on platforms like youtube make it easy to fall down rabbit holes, and communities like reddit and forums create echochambers that are difficult to escape. And worst of all in my opinion is the dopamine you get each time you discover a new piece of information for your conspiracy, which goes so well with modern algorithm culture.

But the biggest reason is actually.... I think Trump started this on purpose. From a vox article:

Trump’s top evangelical advisors, such as prosperity gospel preacher Paula White and First Baptist Dallas preacher Robert Jeffress, have frequently implied that Trump’s authority is virtually unlimited because his presidency is divinely mandated.

Project 2025 and everything Trump advocates for are horrible for the world. But even worse is if his followers really believe he is the Second Coming of Christ, or at least just chosen by God as part of His plan for the Second Coming like Taylor's prophecy, then what are the implications for world ending issues like climate change? Climate change has caused so many deadly floods, fires, hurricanes, etc lately, but what motivation does a government built on the idea of Parousia have to give any aid to people suffering from "apocalyptic" disasters? What motivation would they have to improve this world if they all want it to end?

[giveamadeuschohisownmovie]

Based on the following info, what is the plot of your generic action movie?

For your background, if your first name starts with…

A - you’re an ex-CIA spy

B - you’re an ex-SAS operative

C - you’re an ex-hitman/hitwoman

D - you’re an ex-Green Beret

E - you’re an ex-ROK Special Forces operative

F - you’re an ex-DEA agent

G - you’re an ex-MI6 spy

H - you’re an ex-FBI agent

I - you’re an ex-US Army Ranger

J - you’re an ex-GAFE commando

K - you’re an ex U.S. Coast Guard officer

L - you’re an ex-U.S. Air Force pilot

M - you’re an ex-Secret Service agent

N - you’re a mercenary who is unaffiliated with any nation

O - you’re an ex-NYPD officer / NYPD SWAT

P - you’re an ex-LAPD officer / LAPD SWAT

Q - you’re an ex-ATF agent

R - you’re an ex-U.S. Marine

S - you’re an ex-Delta Force operative

T - you’re an ex-Navy SEAL

U - you’re an ex-MARCOS operative/commando

V - you’re a biker gang member

W - you’re a death row inmate in for some type of heinous crime

X - you’re a survivalist living in the woods

Y - you’re an ex-Joint Task Force 2 operative

Z - you’re an ex-bomb disposal unit operative (EOD)

For your tragic backstory, if your last name starts with…

A - lost your wife/husband

B - lost your son

C - lost your daughter

D - lost your brother

E - lost your sister

F - lost your mother

G - lost your father

H - lost your best friend

I - lost your fiancé/fiancee

J - lost your favorite uncle

K - lost your favorite auntie

L - lost your entire team

M - lost your mentor

N - failed to save a civilian in your last mission

O - lost your protégée

P - lost your partner (non-romantic, work relationship only)

Q - just got out of prison after being falsely accused of a crime

R - dishonorably discharged for disobeying orders

S - betrayed and left for dead by your inner circle

T - lost your ENTIRE family

U - shot and went into a coma that lasted several years

V - quit your profession because of the rampant corruption you were witnessing

W - divorced from your lover

X - shot an innocent, although you had reliable information that they were a bad person

Y - spiritual reawakening that made you leave your life of violence and death

Z - developed PTSD after single-handedly saving your team from a dangerous situation

For your movie’s antagonists, if your birth month is…

January - the cartel

February - foreign terrorists

March - domestic terrorists

April - corrupt government forces trying to eliminate loose ends

May - a hostile country that hates your country

June - an elite team of thieves/bank robbers

July - a doomsday cult

August - a powerful corporation

September - the mafia

October - far-right militia / white supremacist gang

November - a private military company

December - a gang led by your nemesis from the past

[arimiadev]

Hazel is an ex-adventurer who's settled down with some of his previous guildmates after the adventure of a lifetime—taking down a doomsday cult that tried to end the world, but at the cost of killing their former guild leader who turned against them. Despite their adventure still haunting him months later, he's tried to move on.

That is until a man with the same face as their guild leader approaches him.

Asphodelium is a dark slice of life boys love story about your past confronting you. It's a story about what makes you, you. If you're not yourself, but you have your face, your memories, your mannerisms, then what is "you"?

winter visual novel jam features:

17k+ words, 5 chapters

multiple choices

demo on itch.io