I've been in a cult for 20 years. I am just now learning that the God we worship is actually a group of old people who meet to play board games together

So I’m not going to waste your time with my life story. I grew up in an evangelical family, and as soon as I could, I left the hellhole and went off to college. My parents tried to convince me to attend a school that was affiliated with the church. I didn’t. The church tried to convince me to attend a college preparatory high school, and I didn’t either. I was about 6 months pregnant when I finally moved out of their house. <br><br>That’s a long story for another time. I’m not mad at them, or even sad about it. I only tell you these things so you can understand how I came to where I am today.<br><br>My first boyfriend, the father of my daughter, was a charismatic guy who had a charming personality and a very nice face. He was a very devoted member of our church. I think I was just swept up in the romance of it all, but I thought I was marrying a man of God. We had our own personal language and way of speaking that was all connected to our faith, and that was romantic to me.<br><br>I was only 18, and I didn’t speak Spanish until I was 15. I didn’t know that my boyfriend was actually the son of a wealthy Cuban family. He spoke like a Bible thumping preacher, but his teeth were straight and white and his skin was a flawless shade of brown. When he introduced himself to my parents, he said his last name was Sanchez, and that he was the son of God and Elvira. He was born again, and had dedicated his life to serving the Lord. My parents were immediately wary, and my mother’s eyes widened at my father’s waist as if she was checking his belt for a gun. <br><br>But they weren’t afraid of our church, or our Bible talking preacher. They were afraid of what our church believed. <br><br>I’m not sure I can explain it. I was so young and naive and stupid back then. I wanted to be a wife and a mother, to have children and raise them in the faith. My parents had broken up when I was young, and I had always felt like I had never gotten the attention of both of my parents. When I started going to church, they paid more attention to me. When I started dating my boyfriend, they were thrilled to have me back in the fold. <br><br>I didn’t see the danger. I didn’t know that I was making a deal with the devil himself. I was so young and stupid. I still am. I still am. I’m still in love with him, after all these years. I still talk to him. I still talk to my parents. <br><br>I was so blinded by love, and by faith, that I didn’t see that my boyfriend was using me. That he had used my parents, and he was using me. <br><br>I didn’t know what a cult was, until I got out. I didn’t know that the church I grew up in was a cult. My family tried to get me to leave, to come back home, but it was too late. By then, I had already met the rest of the leaders. <br><br>It all happened so quickly. I remember walking into a big hall full of people, with my boyfriend holding my hand, and my parents screaming at me. The church had grown, and it had a big building of its own. I was introduced to the leaders of the church, who were all smiling at me. I was introduced to Elder Jacob, who was a tall, handsome man in his 30s with a commanding presence. I was introduced to Elder Michael, who had a warm smile and a gentle hand shake. And then I was introduced to Elder Eliezer. <br><br>Elder Eliezer was a small, old man with thick white hair and a kind smile. He wore thick glasses and a black robe. He had a walking stick to support himself as he walked, but his voice was strong and deep as he spoke. I don’t remember much of what he said, other than that he was pleased to meet me. He said that he was glad that my boyfriend and I had come to join the family. That he was happy that we had finally come home. <br><br>When he finished speaking, he reached out and gently stroked my hair, and I remember feeling like I was melting into his touch. Like the entire world had melted away from me, and all I could see was this old man, looking down at me with his kind eyes. <br><br>That was the start of my 20 year journey. <br><br>The church was not as big as it is today. It had been around for decades, and it was a small but thriving group. I soon learned that the Elder’s were the leaders, and the church was ruled by them. They had always been the leaders, since the day the church was founded. <br><br>The church was founded in the 1960s, by Elder Jacob. He was a young man at the time, only 24 years old. He was born and raised in Miami, in a family of immigrants from Cuba. He was raised in a Catholic household, but he had a falling out with God when he was in his early 20s. He met with a terrible accident, where he almost died. <br><br>He was in a coma for several days, and when he came to, he was in a great deal of pain. He couldn’t move his legs, and he was in agony. He had lost a great deal of blood, and he was so weak he couldn’t even lift his head off of the bed. He was miserable, and he hated God for doing this to him. <br><br>While he was recovering, he spent a lot of time in prayer. He was reading the Bible and trying to find answers, but he had no idea what God’s plan for him was. One night, he fell asleep with his Bible open. When he woke up, he felt strong. He felt like he could move. He got out of bed and he was right. He walked around the room, and he was right. He got out of the hospital, and he was right. He started sharing his testimony, and soon enough people were following him. <br><br>He had found his way back to God. He had discovered his purpose in life, and he wanted to share it with others. <br><br>I grew up thinking that this was the origin of our church. I grew up thinking that Elder Jacob had started it. I learned later on that this was a lie, and that Elder Eliezer was the one who started the church. <br><br>The truth is, the church was never about Elder Jacob. It was never about Elder Michael or Elder Abraham. It was never about the Elder’s, until much, much later. <br><br>It was about Elder Eliezer. From the beginning to the end, it was always about him. And I’m about to tell you why. <br><br>Elder Eliezer is extremely old. I don’t know how old he is. I know that he was old when I met him. I know that he had to be over a hundred years old by now, and he’s still alive and kicking. He looks like an old man, with white hair and wrinkled skin. But his personality is that of a child. <br><br>He is playful and mischievous, and he loves to laugh and tell jokes. When he talks, he uses a thick Jewish accent, and he always uses a thick tone of voice. He always speaks in third person. Only Elder Eliezer can speak that way. Only Elder Eliezer can do that. <br><br>Elder Eliezer is not human. That much I am certain of. But I’m not going to waste your time telling you what he is, not yet anyway. I’m not going to waste your time telling you how I know these things. I’m just going to tell you what happened, the way it happened. <br><br>The church was a family. A big, tight knit family. It was like a nonstop slumber party, where everyone had to be there, or else they wouldn’t be allowed to come home. The Elder’s were the parents, the members were the children. I was a baby, and my daughter was a toddler. But we were all part of the family, and we were all happy. At least, we had to be happy. <br><br>I was homeschooled, along with the rest of the family. Children went to a school that was run by the Elder’s, until they turned 12. At that age, they were pulled out of school to learn from the Elder’s themselves. They learned everything, from cooking to cleaning, from laundry to gardening, from sewing to knitting. <br><br>They learned how to sew, how to wash, how to iron, how to cook, and how to clean. They learned how to garden, and how to take care of children. They learned about cars, and how to fix them, and they learned about electronics and how to fix them. They learned how to be a husband, and how to be a wife, and how to be a parent. <br><br>I learned a lot of things, but I never learned how to be an employee. I never learned how to work a job. The Elder’s said that would never be necessary, that we would always be taken care of. We would always be safe, with them. <br><br>I believed them, of course. What’s a young girl to do? I believed every word they said. <br><br>The Elder’s took care of everything. They bought our houses, they paid for everything we owned. They bought our cars, our clothes, and our food. We had to give them money, in return. They took out loans for us, in our names, but they controlled the money. They