Was I In A Cult?

CONTENT WARNING: This episode discusses sexual assault. Not in graphic detail, but please listen accordingly.
For 19 years, Lizzie Ens lived in one of the most conservative Amish sects in America: the Swartzentruber Amish. Last week you learned about her upbringing and all facets of living a life off the grid with no electricity, no indoor plumbing, and very little autonomy over her own life.
In Part 2, the horse-and-buggy postcard version of Amish life disappears fast.
Lizzie takes us inside the bizarre dating ritual called "bundling," and into the darker corners of the community — sexual assault, shunning, suppression, and the impossible weight of knowing that leaving means leaving everything behind. Including her twin sister.
Eventually, she realizes something terrifying: if she doesn't escape now… she may never escape at all.
 
What follows is one of the wildest escape stories we've ever covered.
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RESOURCES:
RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network)
Bailing Out Benji
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FIND LIZZIE:
Instagram: @lizzieens_wellness / TikTok: @lizzieh_wellness
Book: Amish Renegade: The Anthropology of an Amish Girl Turned Global CEO
Website: undietyou.com
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FOLLOW US  → For more culty content — follow us on Instagram & TikTok → @wasiinacult
SUPPORT THE SHOW
Join our Patreon! Get ad-free episodes, bonus content, and behind-the-scenes conversations. (And our forever gratitude)
HAVE A CULTY STORY?
Email us → [email protected]

Many people picture a peaceful, technology-free life of butter churning, candle making, and horse-drawn buggies. But for today's guest, the reality behind the plain dresses and pastoral image was far more restrictive, and far more dangerous.
Lizzie grew up in one of the strictest Amish sects in the country: the Swartzentruber Amish. No electricity. No indoor plumbing. No music. No photographs. No Rumspringa. And absolutely no preparation for life outside the community.
In this first part of a two-part conversation, Lizzie shares what it was like growing up under intense control, the rigid rules imposed on women, and how isolation and fear kept members obedient. She also opens up about the early cracks in her belief system—and the impossible choices that eventually led her to attempt an escape.

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FIND LIZZIE:
Instagram: @lizzieens_wellness / TikTok: @lizzieh_wellness
Book: Amish Renegade: The Anthropology of an Amish Girl Turned Global CEO
Website: undietyou.com
_____________________________________
FOLLOW US  → For more culty content — follow us on Instagram & TikTok → @wasiinacult
SUPPORT THE SHOW
Join our Patreon! Get ad-free episodes, bonus content, and behind-the-scenes conversations. (And our forever gratitude)
 
HAVE A CULTY STORY?
Email us → [email protected]

Four hours into a hostage situation between a man and a woman, the man walks out the door. In that moment, the woman's primal instinct kicks in: "Grab your kids and RUN." 
Later, she learns that action may have saved her life. He wasn't just leaving. He was going to get a gun. And the man? It was her husband.

At 33-years-old, Tia Levings walked away from the Christian Patriarchy system that dictated her body, her voice, and her life for 13 years.
If there were ever a guest who embodies the entire ethos of this show, it's Tia Levings. A badass is an understatement.
Now a New York Times bestselling author of "A Well-Trained Wife" and featured in "Shiny Happy People," Tia joins us to unpack: 
'Trad wives' and how this movement is far from just churned butter on Instagram. The wedding night she finally has language for. The daughter she lost. How, and more importantly why, the Christian Patriarchy movement has surged over the past decade.

And her new book. "I Belong to Me." The survival guide she wishes she had access to when she first got out. It's now our #1 recommendation for anyone leaving a high-control group. A non-judgmental, non-preachy, non-guru self-help book? Who knew?!
Tia is brilliant, funny, and unflinchingly honest. And if you leave with one thing, let it be her words: "If you can't speak in your power, you can't f*ck in your power." 

NOTE to our Patreon subscribers:
You can watch the full, unedited two-and-a-half-hour interview with Tia now on our Patreon. Thank you for being on this journey with us.
FIND TIA:
Website: tialevings.com
Socials @TiaLevingsWriter: Instagram, TikTok, Facebook
Substack: tialevings.substack.com — where she does real-time religious deconstruction
TIA'S BOOKS:
"I Belong to Me: A Survivor's Guide to Recovery and Hope After Religious Trauma"

"A Well-Trained Wife: My Escape from Christian Patriarchy" (now in paperback)
 

FOLLOW US  → For more culty content — follow us on Instagram & TikTok → @wasiinacult
SUPPORT THE SHOW
Join our Patreon! Get ad-free episodes, bonus content, and behind-the-scenes conversations. (And our forever gratitude)
 
HAVE A CULTY STORY?
Email us → [email protected]

**PLEASE NOTE: This episode originally aired in Oct 2024. Since, there have been quite a few updates to both the cult and story. Tune into the episode to hear more.**
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When her mother fell sick, young Angela had no idea that she would spend her childhood growing up in a dangerous cult. Falun Gong, a Chinese spiritual movement-slash-religion-slash-cult, known for its Shen Yun dancers and its ties to 'The Epoch Times' entangled her family in its facade of meditation and enlightenment. In this two-part episode, Angela recounts her experience in a world where karma is not just a bitch, but a force that can dictate life and death… with suffering seen as a path to salvation and modern medicine demonized as an obstacle to spiritual purity. And just when you think it can't get any wilder, the Capitol Insurrection storms into the story… 


This is Part 1 of Angela's powerful story. 
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FOLLOW US  → For more culty content — follow us on Instagram & TikTok → @wasiinacult
SUPPORT THE SHOW
Join our Patreon! Get ad-free episodes, bonus content, and behind-the-scenes conversations. (And our forever gratitude)
HAVE A CULTY STORY?
Email us → [email protected]

**PLEASE NOTE: This episode originally aired in Oct 2024. Since, there have been quite a few updates to both the cult and story. Tune into the episode to hear more.**
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In Part 2 of Angela's story, the realities of Falun Gong's grip on her family deepen. Angela reflects on the emotional toll of a cult that prioritized spiritual salvation over physical health—even as her mother's condition worsens. But escaping isn't easy when your family remains deep in the cult's ideologies… Angela's journey out of this cult is filled with heartbreaking revelations and the resilience that defines a true "surthirver."
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FOLLOW US  → For more culty content — follow us on Instagram & TikTok → @wasiinacult
SUPPORT THE SHOW
Join our Patreon! Get ad-free episodes, bonus content, and behind-the-scenes conversations. (And our forever gratitude)
HAVE A CULTY STORY?
Email us → [email protected]