When the Roman Bough Breaks: How a History of Violence and Scandal Shaped the Roman Church, and Hope for Catholics in the Gospel

When the Roman Bough Breaks

How a History of Violence and Scandal Shaped the Roman Church, and Hope for Catholics in the Gospel

Jeff Nottingham

When the Roman Bough Breaks: How a History of Violence and Scandal Shaped the Roman Church, and Hope for Catholics in the Gospel

by Jeff Nottingham

ISBN: 978-1-953625-36-6 Trade Paperback

978-1-953625-35-9 Hardcover

978-1-953625-37-3 Ebook

BISAC: REL108020 RELIGION / Christian Church / History

REL067050 RELIGION / Christian Theology / Ecclesiology

Copyright 2024 Jeff Nottingham

Published by Intelligent Design Press. All rights reserved. No portion of this work may be reproduced in any form, with the limited exception of brief quotations in editorial reviews, without express written permission from the author and publisher. For permissions, or for bulk orders of church, classroom, or library copies, contact [email protected]. The views expressed herein are those of the author alone.

Unless otherwise specified, scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan.

Cover design by Rick Turylo.

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Contents

Introduction

Part I: The Pope and the Papacy

The Pope: How Did It Go So Wrong?

The Pope: Murder, Deception, and Denial

The Pope: Never Bow Down

Part II: The Early Church

The Early Church: A Movement, Not a Hierarchy

The Roman Catholic Church: Endless Apologies

Part III: The Catholic Priesthood and the Vatican

Catholic Priests: It’s Worse Than You Think

Catholic Priests: Have the Talk

The Vatican: A Homosexual Paradise

Part IV: The New Covenant

Forgiveness: It Really Is Finished

Forgiveness: What Kind Does Jesus Offer?

The Twofold Gospel

A New Covenant, A New Promise

Part V: The Eucharist

The Truth About the Eucharist

An Invitation to Catholics

Acknowledgments

About the Author

Endnotes

A Note to the Reader

Throughout this book the term catholic (lowercase) is used in its original meaning to refer to the universal or singular early Church that spread from Jerusalem and the Mediterranean throughout the world. This early catholic Church existed prior to the institutionalized structures of denomination we know today. Capitalized as a proper noun, Catholic refers to the specific entity of the Roman Catholic Church and its members. The aim is not to confuse the reader with grammatical nuance, but to highlight the distinction and difference between the two.

Introduction

Ihave been a Christian for nearly fifty years, but it’s only in the past two decades that I have come to understand the definition of grace and its true meaning. Grace is a term that is thrown around with other lingo in the Christian Church lexicon—such as reconciliation, justification, redemption, righteousness, and many more concepts—but that often has no contextual application for the average believer. The New Covenant is the ultimate manifestation of God’s grace in defining these terms, but what is the New Covenant, really, and what was God up to by placing us under that system? What were God’s real intentions when He initiated the greatest substitutionary sacrifice that has ever taken place?

We must acknowledge the context in which we attempt to apprehend the understanding of our Heavenly Father’s plan. What was intended to be a movement to spread the news about the resurrection (the original Gospel) centering around one person (Jesus Christ) turned into a complicated institutional dynasty, often dominated by tyrants and a hierarchy obsessed with control and power, and saturated with immorality. This movement that would come to be known as the Church became a system that would ultimately blend the Old Covenant and New Covenant together in its doctrines, completely negating the plan God had to reconcile mankind back to Himself through the gift of grace.

Everything changed after the resurrection. God’s will to make the Old Covenant obsolete was brought to bear, forever placing all of mankind under the canopy of the New Covenant, God’s new promise and our new way to relate to Him on this side of the cross. However, time would prove that corruption comes quickly. Simple gatherings turned into religiosity and institutions promoting a system of self-effort and self-attainment toward right standing with God. The result was the creation of a legalistic web and a fatiguing list of duties to inherit eternal life.

This book will uncover the Roman system and how much has changed since the first-century catholic Church and the teachings of the early apostles. Unlike similar Christian books that are written with the sole purpose of debating theological differences between Catholics and Protestants, this book looks at the fallout of wrong theology that puts man at the center, and what happens when a religious entity like the Roman Catholic Church is left alone with no accountability.

Beginning with an examination of the papacy, there will be hard and shocking explorations of what has remained behind closed doors for centuries, never discussed at Mass or in the living rooms of the average Catholic. This is not easy reading for the faithful attendee, but everything revealed in these chapters is public information that anyone can research, compiled here to show a full picture of what has transpired. The secrecy inside the Vatican will be unveiled as well, along with shocking information about the depravity of the priesthood, divulging realities of darkness in the heart and soul of the Holy See (the governing body of the Catholic Church).

If a choice is to be presented between the true New Covenant Gospel, and a human-centered Church system, then the two choices must be made abundantly clear for what they are. The beginning two-thirds of this book will present the realities of the Church system. In the latter chapters, I will humbly attempt to present the amazing truth of the New Covenant.

Although this book focuses on the broken Roman system, an invitation is given to both Roman Catholics and Protestants alike to return to the original Gospel—to return to the original catholic Church—and in doing so, to forever define forgiveness, righteousness, and justification God’s way, not by way of religious requirements with a fatiguing list. It is an invitation to come to the full understanding that Jesus was not a half-savior who only accomplished a portion of the mission to reconcile us back to God. He left mankind with the simple assignment to rest in His finished work by faith and trust in Him (Ephesians 1:7, Hebrews 4:9-11). This type of New Covenant faith is the motivating factor for a believer to walk in the Spirit, and to do so free from the bondage of Church requirements and institutional authorities.

The basics of the New Covenant are rarely taught in most churches but have been clearly defined by grace experts like Bob George, Steve McVey, Andrew Farley, and many others through their teaching and multiple books produced by their ministries. Even a cursory exploration of the New Covenant will reveal that the message of the Gospel and God’s unmerited grace is graciously laid out for anyone to understand. Unfortunately, church traditions have replaced spiritual truths so evident throughout the New Testament, and the early apostles were willing to die to prevent heretics and the traditions of Judaism from slipping back into the equation and changing the Gospel and muddying the waters of such a simple message of redemption. The New Covenant is not a new teaching by any means but was the doctrine taught by the early apostles, and Christ set the platform for all future believers to be able to understand it.

A great exchange took place at the cross: our unrighteousness for His righteousness. This exchange not only permanently removed the penalty of sin, but placed God’s holiness inside of us. It is an exchange that resulted in His only view of someone who has been born-again is of the perfection of Christ. It is not because of any believer’s actions and behaviors, but because of His life inside of every believer. This knowledge leaves us with the choice between frivolously working our way towards salvation (the Old Covenant way) or believing that we could never do enough to satisfy God’s righteous requirements, thus solely relying on our Savior.

Many Catholics I have met are some of the most genuine Christians I have known. This includes one of my best friends and many others I have met along the way. Regrettably, many spend their Christian lives participating in spiritual rituals and repetitions that would never be condoned by God, and never experiencing the freedom believers should experience in the New Covenant.

This book is written in total love (tough love), and from a genuine heart to all the wonderful Catholics that help make up the landscape of Christianity. However, this book will shine the spotlight on what God initiated from the start, absent from pious and prideful human attempts to try to meet God halfway, and will take a hard stance against the Roman Catholic system.

There is no meeting in the middle. There is only enjoying the Christian life, daily, because of the complete and saving message of the finality of the cross and the miracle of the resurrection, providing permanent forgiveness with no contingencies. There is no more guessing about our salvation standing on this side of the cross, as will be unfolded in the later chapters.

Through an in-depth look at the cornerstone sacrament of the Eucharist and the basic components of the New Covenant, the final conclusion will make a courageous call for Roman Catholics to shift from the trappings of institutional thinking and live primarily through the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The results of such a transition would be life-changing and could result in one of the greatest spiritual renewals in religious history.

Part I:

The Pope and the Papacy

Chapter 1

The Pope: How Did It Go So Wrong?

Roman Catholicism claims inauguration in AD 33 as, essentially, the original Church established by Christ with continuation through Peter, the apostles, and subsequent successors. Peter, the claim goes, was the first pope, and there has been a documented, uncontested succession of popes ever since. ¹ But there is not a clean line of succession regarding popes in the Catholic landscape, as we will see shortly, and the Bible doesn’t even hint at this claim about the function of a papacy (office of the pope). There is no mention of a singular, assigned pope anywhere in Scripture, neither in the present first-century Church nor as a prescription for the future. A succession of a created papacy did take place, but much later than the Catholic Church would like to admit. ²

Until about the fifth century, there were multiple bishops in the Catholic Church from the east and west of the European regions in constant disagreement and conflict over whose view of theology was right and who would be acknowledged as the final authority. If you study the history, it was chaotic (and that is an understatement). For several hundred years after the Church was established under Emperor Theodosius, the Church revolved around several powerful individuals, not an isolated pope. Bishops in some of the larger cities became archbishops, but in the very premier cities (Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, and Antioch) they were called patriarchs. Because of the constant East vs. West skirmishes, these patriarchs were often in opposition to each other.³

One would think these leaders would want to represent Christ and have it as their sole mission to spread the message about the resurrection, but instead, they plotted against each other to secure the prizes of the Church: wealth and power. Gregory of Nazianzus complained, The chief seat is gained by evil-doing, not by virtue; and the [Holy] sees belong, not to the more worthy, but to the more powerful.⁴ It was, in short, a political power system. We even see the Byzantine Empire controlling the popes for hundreds of years in the sixth, seventh, and eighth centuries. For several centuries after that, rich crime families selected popes to allow them complete control. The Medici, the Barberini, the Orsini, and the della Rovere all provided popes from their own ranks, but most notorious were the Borgias. Two of the popes placed in positions from these crime families were Calistus III and Alexander VI.⁵

After the fall of the Western Roman Empire around 476, the papacy was highly influenced by rulers of Italy; these periods were known as the Ostrogothic Papacy, Byzantine Papacy, and Frankish Papacy.⁶ The papacy became a puppet office under the influence of these imperial rulers and was not even similar to the papacy we know today. The illusion painted by the Roman Catholic Church of a single pope leading the original Church from the time of Peter, with a spotless and unsoiled succession and the teaching of a consistent message about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, is far from candid and not an accurate portrayal.

In Bruce Shelley’s book Church History in Plain Language, he states:

The papacy is a highly controversial subject. No other institution has been so loved and so hated. Some Christians have revered the pope as the Vicar of Christ; others have denounced him as the Antichrist … the concept of papal rule of the whole church was established in slow and painful stages. Leo is a major figure in that process because he provides for the first time the biblical and theological bases of the papal claim. That is why it is misleading to talk about the papacy before his time … in theory, the bishops from the church were all equal … Leo made his entrance into world history as the supreme head of all Christendom … In the historic session on October 30, 451, however, the same council gave the bishop of Constantinople, as bishop of New Rome, authority equal to Leo’s Constantinople became for the East what Rome was for the West … Christianity acquired not one but two heads: the Roman church of the Western Empire and the Greek church of the Eastern Empire. Leo’s representatives to the council immediately protested, but the council fathers would not alter their decision. It was an obvious reversal for Leo.⁷

It was over 400 years after the church began that the Roman Catholic Church acknowledged a singular pope. This is far different from the Catholic Church’s claim of a succession of the papacy from the inception of the Church, with all popes tracing back to Peter. The idea that leadership of the Church has always been held by only one individual can be very misleading.

To keep the timeline in perspective, imagine telling someone you are working on a business deal or project, and you will have it in place 400 years from now. What does that look like? We can all remember how long it felt to wait for another Christmas as children. As we get older, we are forced to feel the change after a birthday that propels us into another decade—thirties, forties, fifties … —and when we think of life 100 years ago, we must try to imagine the early lives of our great-grandparents and beyond, whom we may have never met.

If asked to go back hundreds of years, the conversation fades and becomes meaningless. Yet, it was over 400 years after the Church started before any trace of a singular pope can be identified in a continual succession.

Catholic apologists will deny this was the case and insist that there was only one recognized pope since the beginning, but that is simply not true. Pope Gregory the Great’s dispute with John the Faster was one well-known dispute for the papal throne, as was the dispute between Pope Callistus I and Hippolytus. These are just a couple of examples, although there were many simultaneous claimants for the papacy throughout history. When there were multiple claims for the title, each opposing pope would be called an anti-pope by the other, which became a common phrase in the Catholic Church. For many theologians in addition to Bruce Shelley, Leo (AD 451) seems to be the starting point for the papacy. Other historians put Gregory (AD 590) as the actual starting point for a single pope. Catholic author Jerome Neyrey admits:

It would be wrong, however, to read back into first-century Rome the existence of the papacy as we know it today …⁸

Shelly cites another historical situation to substantiate that a singular pope was not always common among the Roman Catholic Church, and the example summarized below takes place a staggering fourteen centuries after the start of the Church:

In 1377 the aged pope Gregory XI reentered Rome. The joy over the reestablishment of the papacy in the Eternal City was short lived. Gregory’s death within a year required a new papal election. The College of Cardinals, still heavily weighted with Frenchmen, yielded to the clamor of a Roman mob and chose an Italian. On April 18th, Easter Sunday, the new pope, Urban VI, was crowned. All the cardinals were present. The summer months, however, along with Urban’s dictatorial ways brought second thoughts about his selection. In August the cardinals suddenly informed all Europe that the people of Rome had forced the election of an apostate to the chair of Peter and that the proceedings were invalid. A month later the apostate" [pope] responded by creating practically a new College of Cardinals. For their part the French cardinals chose from their own number another pope, Clement VII, and announced this fact to the various civil and church authorities.

Thus, with Urban ruling from Rome and Clement from Avignon, the murky chapter in papal history called the Great Schism of their papacy begins. It lasted for thirty-nine years. Each pope had his own College of Cardinals, thereby ensuring the papal succession of its own choice. Each pope claimed to be the true vicar of Christ, with the power to excommunicate those who did not acknowledge him. By 1409 a majority of the cardinals from both camps agreed to meet. They met for a general council at Pisa, on the west coast of Italy. They disposed both claimants to the papal chair and elected a third man, Alexander V. Neither of the two deposed popes, however, would accept the action of the council. So, the church now had not two but three claimants to the chair of Peter. Three popes at a time are too many by almost anyone’s standards. Especially so when one of the popes preaches a crusade against another and starts selling indulgences to pay for it. At length in 1417 the council got one papal incumbent to step aside, deposed the other two, and chose a new vicar of Christ, Martin V.⁹

Right when you would think three popes at the same time was enough, along comes a fourth! This is additional proof that there has never been a clean line of succeeding popes. We know from history that many kings and feudal lords interfered in ecclesiastical affairs, even to the point of controlling the election of popes. An example would be King Phillip IV arranging for a French cardinal to be elected pope around the 14th century. In other words, the Church didn’t elect popes for a long period of time, the kings did. Another example is a German king named Otto in the 10th century who controlled the papacy because the Church looked to him for protection.

These facts alone cast a legitimate shadow on papal succession as a God-ordained event. God does not seem to be anywhere on the horizon when it comes to which pope is in office. Anyone looking for a clean line of successors dating back to Peter is going to be gravely disappointed to find it simply doesn’t exist. The point to grasp is that the foundational doctrines of the early, original, first-century Church were disappearing by the time the papacy started appearing with any semblance of a valid succession. Nevertheless, these facts about papal succession are just casual observations and a very small part of the overall story.

The Hallmark of Corruption

Regardless of where it all began, in an effort to convince millions of followers of papal legitimacy, there seems to be a pattern in Catholic leadership of sweeping all the historical, embarrassing stuff under the rug and pretending it doesn’t exist. This is not an honest and ethical way to live or build Christ’s Church, let alone advance the Gospel, but individuals become mentally immune to the truth because there is no acceptable explanation for what went wrong. If today’s Roman Catholicism were representative of the true, original catholic Church, it would not be logical to have numerous corrupt popes just a few hundred years after the Church started, continuing to be led with immorality and unscrupulous morals for almost 1,700 years. This is not referring to mere casual sin, but blatant, willful, unimaginable corruption on a level inconceivable to most Catholics or anyone.

Is it even possible to have a person who is immensely evil and ungodly as the head of the Christian Church (it is imperative to pause and realize just what that title would imply), the One who is succeeding directly from Christ, the Vicar (standing in place of Christ), derived from the early apostles (succession of the papacy)? Remember that these individuals allegedly have a special, assigned, linked-in position with the Creator of the Universe yet have been some of the most immoral people to have ever lived. Could this be possible? History is indisputable—this is compellingly and undeniably true. In fact, it is quite appalling.

As we will see, papal corruption is historically documented and verifiable—killing, molesting, stealing, and deceiving—and it doesn’t fit well with the Catholic story. Anyone venturing out to do the research can only conclude the succession of the papacy (the Catholic definition of divine continuing leadership since Christ founded the church) as being one of the biggest religious illusions in human history. This blatant accusation might come across as very condemning and offensive, as many Catholics have adored various popes. However, this story, tradition, and belief system about popes and their position over the Church that many cling to and defend with adamance seems to be massively flawed and misunderstood. There are critical elements that have been completely ignored or, at best, dismissed with unacceptable explanations.

Only a small portion of Catholics I have interacted with have ever scrutinized their faith because they are generally discouraged from questioning it. However, many inherently feel something is wrong. They just can’t bear to look at it, and feel ashamed to bring it up. Accepting the notion of past popes having sexual relations with prostitutes, little boys, and animals is very disturbing. When you learn that popes killed other cardinals to obtain this high position of the papacy, you know in your heart that is not a holy succession, and it looks nothing like Christ.

The truth is that the papacy was warped from an early stage and became even worse during medieval times. Not corrupt in the sense that, Yes, these guys made a few mistakes—they might not have been the best leaders—they probably sinned as we all do. No, we cannot dismiss these behaviors I’m introducing that easily. We are talking about corruption in the most sinister terms. Catholics need to comprehend what really happened without being dismissive and accepting deficient excuses from Catholic spokespeople or the Church, which tends to dumb down and diminish the impact.

Many popes were extremely irreverent and depraved individuals. Many committed capital crimes, as seen throughout the next chapters. Yet, unknowingly, these men are from whom Catholics get a big portion of their spiritual theology and direction. The original intent of the early Church, established after Christ ascended into heaven at Pentecost, was intensely subverted and became distorted and self-focused after the first 300 years. Self-righteousness and salvation-earning developed in stark contrast and competition with the simple grace of God that Jesus taught, and scriptural principles took a sharp left turn when these bad popes emerged onto the scene.

This is not simply hearsay. This is basic, common knowledge among all Catholic theologians and clergy; however, it is rarely discussed. Many detailed books have been written divulging these devious popes long before this book was published: The Bad Popes, The Sack of Rome, Sex Lives of the Popes, Sacred Betrayals, A Dark History: The Popes/Vice, Murder, and Corruption in the Vatican, Lives of the Popes, The Medieval Papacy, Holy Warriors/The Crusades, Absolute Monarchs, along with endless articles and documentaries that corroborate the history.

Simple, cursory research can unveil the true nature of this highly coveted position and the idea of the succession of the papacy. The bottom line is that many popes killed others and leveraged their political and military power to steal the papacy, purchase it, or inherit it deceptively.

Although no one can say they have a perfect interpretation of every verse in the Bible, the primary purpose of this book is to encourage Catholics not to accept doctrinal positions and theological holdings from past popes (and their surrounding clergy) who developed a fraudulent system saturated with criminal acts and swimming in sexual and other perversion. In short, the theology the popes put forth was not sourced in Scripture, but from a self-serving desire to preserve their power and gratify their flesh.

In examining the critical components of Christianity, the truth is seen that believers are not under the authority of a Church to form a belief system—especially not the authority of a warped system with unholy leadership. Instead, we should be looking at the original Gospel espoused by Christ and the early apostles as the very best understanding of biblical truth and correct doctrinal positions. The Bible clearly says that the Holy Spirit can teach us, and for us not to be dependent on men. Hebrews gives a little window into this truth as it introduces the New Covenant (the New Way we relate to God on this side of the Cross). The truth of the New Covenant is the original Gospel:

…I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest (Hebrews 8:10-11).

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever—the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know Him [Holy Spirit], for he lives with you and will be in you (John 14:16-17).

You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts (2 Corinthians 3:3).

For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16).

The inspired authors of Scripture are not speaking of the Old Covenant law. God did not write the Jewish, Levitical, or Sabbath law on our hearts. God has written a new command on our hearts from when Christ arrived on the scene. After the cross, God established a new way to relay information to us, to guide us, to speak to us, to reveal to us various instructions and directions for us to live out the Christian life, and this new way is not listening to man-made doctrine or tradition from a magisterium. In contrast, God tore the veil—he just unzipped the minds and hearts of genuine believers and came on in via the Holy Spirit to reveal his truth directly.

If you think otherwise and are a professing Christian, I’m sure you can remember numerous examples when you did something wrong and that inner voice suddenly let you know just how wrong that action was. You may also remember dozens of times when you were looking for direction and the Holy Spirit gave you peace and the proper focus in your situation, and it may have felt inexplicable. You may also remember something that seemed like a coincidence but would have been almost impossible without the Holy Spirit’s intervention.

Welcome to the true Christian life. I think this is an extraordinary arrangement: God, Himself, living inside the believer, guiding us on how to live and intervening when He chooses to. What a source. Not religion, not a system, not from a hierarchy. Not useless repetition. Instead, a direct relationship with the Heavenly Father.

In defense of most Catholics, almost all Christians, including those within Protestant denominations, have adopted their belief system from what they have always heard or have been taught growing up. I do not denounce or condemn this in any way. In fact, it would be expected. Accepted theology is often a force of inertia, with a strong influence from family and a religious institution with powerful, convincing leaders. Many Catholics simply grow up in the system, encouraged never to question the teachings, or at the very least, never informed of the vast chasm between the Roman Church’s doctrine and tradition and the original Gospel. So, very rarely does anyone branch out individually and do investigative research on the truth of where the Church they attend derived its doctrines. If they do, it is often with the goal of assuaging their fears and doubts, but they seek out biased material to do the fact-checking. Wolves never do a good job guarding the chickens in the coop!

I’ve learned many principles over the years, but one that has stuck with me is that you cannot be objective about something you have been steeped in and buried under your whole life, especially when it comes to spiritual matters. Objectivity requires stepping entirely away from an institutional system—even a church you have attended all your life—allowing the Holy Spirit to wash your mind, clean the slate, and start over again with Christ. In doing so, you can be released from the bondage of a religious system and have a fresh start with your Heavenly Father. I have personally experienced how refreshing this can be. Still, very few can ever experience this freedom because they are cemented into their churches and denominations.

This is not to make light of the work ahead of us—spiritual growth and understanding take time. However, it is a sobering reality that even earnest believers—with the Holy Spirit living inside of them—often place more trust in the Church, a priest, pastor, tradition, and the Church’s dogma and statement of faith than the Bible and the guidance of the Holy Spirit for renewing their minds and discovering truth, along with accurate theology. It is widely acknowledged that pursuing truth is an important objective as a Christian, but how do we arrive at that truth? Should we consider interpretations of early Catholic popes and clergy as the true Gospel? If so, do we accept interpretations from those who have exhibited gross misconduct and who demonstrated ulterior motives? We must consider whether we should shape our theological perspectives for the rest of our lives based on popes who obtained the papacy through nefarious means and engaged in immoral acts.

If you are Catholic, I invite you to honestly consider the following challenge:

If individuals like Ted Bundy, John Gacy, and Bernie Madoff had been the early leaders of Catholicism, would you still adhere to your same doctrinal beliefs?

If, despite learning of their involvement, you chose to maintain your beliefs, at what point do you think your theology loses its credibility?

If you discover that mass murderers, child molesters, and master deceivers occupied the position of pope and were instrumental in shaping the theological foundations of much of your belief system, would you be willing to pause and do some deeper research?

The reality seems to be that the character of many of the popes we will examine bears striking similarity to that of leaders of cults over the decades. When we consider figures like David Koresh, Warren Jeffs, Marshall Applewhite, or, for those familiar with distant history, Jim Jones, most of us react with a mixture of anger and disbelief toward such egocentric villains, and astoundment and grief at the vulnerable who were tricked into following them.

With the exposure of these cults, it was deeply disturbing to witness the aftermath of individuals permitting their spouses and children to enter into marriages and engage in sexual relationships with these manipulative leaders, eventually succumbing to mass suicides,