012 - Abigail's Story Part 3 - Surviving and Thriving After Bill Gothard's IBLP Cult (Shiny Happy People)

Send us a text

TRIGGER WARNING!  This 3-part series contains discussions and descriptions of arranged teen marriage, spiritual abuse, sexual abuse, sexual assault, domestic abuse, and more.  Listener discretion advised - and please take care of yourselves.

Tracey and Sharon talk with Abigail Witthauer, a courageous survivor of the cult "IBLP" (Institute for Basic Life Principles), led by Bill Gothard, and featured in the new documentary "Shiny Happy People."  Shiny Happy People also told the "real" story of cult celebrities, "The Duggar Family."

This episode is the third of a multi-part interview with Abigail.
Part 1  is here:
https://www.buzzsprout.com/2078827/13030650
Part 2 is here:
https://www.buzzsprout.com/2078827/13055778

Listen to our general discussion of "Shiny Happy People" in episode 009, here:
https://www.buzzsprout.com/2078827/13032097

Link to the documentary  "Shiny Happy People"
https://www.amazon.com/Shiny-Happy-People-Duggar-Secrets/dp/B0B8TR2QV5

FANTASTIC-DO-NOT-MISS-THIS satire video on purity culture by the great folks at Mega-the-Podcast  is here:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/CreKutxI0e6/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Abigail's TikTok (with lots of juicy cult stuff!)
https://www.tiktok.com/@unicornhabitat?_t=8d8e9yzzuNH&_r=1

Abigail's wonderful non-profit work with therapy dogs can be found here:
https://www.theroverchasefoundation.org/

"Feet of Clay - Confessions of the Cult Sisters" is a new podcast hosted by  Sharon Madere (Bennett)  and Tracey Phalen (Reed), who both worked alongside Keith and Melody Green at Last Days Ministries (LDM).  As one-time key leaders in the organization, they go on record about the spiritually traumatic and often damaging influences of the Greens and the multitude of materials (many of which are still available today) published through LDM, including 'The Last Days Newsletter'.  Sharon and Tracey each joined LDM as teenagers, where they met and married their respective spouses during those cult-commune years.  Both couples independently left LDM in 1987 and moved hundreds of miles apart.  They continued in their hard-held beliefs for over ten additional years, yet ultimately divorced in the early 2000s.  In this podcast Tracey and Sharon  come together to talk about their parallel journeys out of the cult mindset, the long process of unpacking indoctrination and spiritual trauma, and their separate but often co-mingled road to healing and  humor.   Come join them on the journey!

https://www.instagram.com/feetofclay.cultsisters
https://feetofclayconfessionsofthecultsisters.buzzsprout.com

We love acronyms -- and we aren't afraid to use them! Here are some common ones that we might forget to explain:
LDM - Last Days Ministries (organization)
ICT - Intensive Christian Training School (at LDM)
YWAM - Youth With A Mission (organization)
CCM - Contemporary Christian Music