Holy Disobedience: Melissa Duge Spiers on the Seventh Day Adventist Church (Part 1)

Holy Disobedience: Melissa Duge Spiers on the Seventh Day Adventist Church (Part 1)

In Part 1 of our episode with Melissa Duge Spiers, she pulls back the curtain on Seventh‑day Adventism (SDA)—a massive but strangely invisible denomination she describes as a classic end‑times cult built on control of food, bodies, and behavior. She traces the movement’s roots through prophet Ellen G. White, mad‑hatters‑era health fads, Kellogg’s cornflakes‑as‑anti‑masturbation tool, and the church’s global education and medical empire, which still funnels power to “crusty old white men” in Washington while aggressively proselytizing in vulnerable communities.

Melissa zoomed into her own multi‑generational SDA family: a great‑grandmother pulled in by a job and schooling for her kids, generations of Adventist doctors, and parents who enforced extreme modesty, hair and weight control, media bans, and purity culture so intense that even nail polish and books were policed. Gymnastics, banned Saturday competitions, secret library runs, and a “shirt” virginity metaphor all shaped her sexuality and body image. As a teen, she decided to reclaim her agency by deliberately “losing” her virginity to a public‑school athlete, only to replay the same patriarchal script later through older conservative partners and dysfunctional marriages that echoed SDA-style submission without the theology.


Be sure to pick up Melissa’s memoir, Holy Disobedience, when it launches this week, and follow her at The Glory Whole on Instagram and TikTok or on her Substack page: substack.com/@melissadugespiers

Trigger warning: This episode contains frank discussion of religious and spiritual abuse, body‑ and weight‑shaming, coercive purity culture and sexual scripts, and child corporal punishment.


Also…let it be known that:

The views and opinions expressed on A Little Bit Culty do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the podcast. Any content provided by our guests, bloggers, sponsors or authors are of their opinion and are not intended to malign any religion, group, club, organization, business, individual, anyone or anything. Nobody’s mad at you, just don’t be a culty fuckwad.


Buy the A Little Bit Culty book on Amazon!

Check out our amazing sponsors

Join A Little Bit Culty on Patreon

Get poppin’ fresh ALBC Swag

Support the pod and smash this link

Check out our cult awareness and recovery resources

Watch Sarah's TED Talk and buy her memoir, Scarred


CREDITS:

Executive Producers: Sarah Edmondson & Anthony Ames

Production Partner: Citizens of Sound

Co-Creator: Jess Tardy

Audio production: Will Retherford

Production Coordinator: Lesli Dinsmore

Writer: Sandra Nomoto

Social media team: Eric Skwarzynski and Brooke Keane

Theme Song: “Cultivated” by Jon Bryant co-written with Nygel Asselin


SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS:

If you like your money, Mint Mobile is for you. Shop plans at MintMobile.com/culty.


Right now as a listener of our show, you can get up to 50% off your first order at MeUndies, plus free shipping, at MeUndies.com/culty, promo code culty.


Way Day is THE sale to shop the best deals in home – we’re talking up to 80% OFF with fast and FREE shipping on everything! Head to Wayfair.com April 25th through the 27th to shop Way Day. Wayfair. Every style. Every home.


Refresh your spring wardrobe with Quince. Go to Quince.com/culty for free shipping and 365-day returns. Now available in Canada, too.


See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Tämä jakso on lisätty Podme-palveluun avoimen RSS-syötteen kautta eikä se ole Podmen omaa tuotantoa. Siksi jakso saattaa sisältää mainontaa.

Jaksot(349)

Dr. Gillie Jenkinson on Thought Reform, Trauma, and Walking Free (Part 2)

Dr. Gillie Jenkinson on Thought Reform, Trauma, and Walking Free (Part 2)

In Part 2 of our conversation with Dr. Gillie Jenkinson, we move from her remarkable story into the practical question so many survivors ask: How do you actually recover after leaving a cult? Gillie s...

23 Heinä 0s

Dr. Gillie Jenkinson on Thought Reform, Trauma, and Walking Free (Part 1)

Dr. Gillie Jenkinson on Thought Reform, Trauma, and Walking Free (Part 1)

This episode is sponsored by Betterhelp.Dr. Gillie Jenkinson—the OG, the GOAT, and the GG of cult recovery work (she needed a definition, we provided several)—finally makes her long-overdue debut on A...

20 Heinä 43min

The Workout Witch: Liz Tenuto on Trauma, Somatics, and When the Body Speaks (Part 2)

The Workout Witch: Liz Tenuto on Trauma, Somatics, and When the Body Speaks (Part 2)

In Part 2 of our conversation with Liz Tenuto aka The Workout Witch, we get into the science (and surprisingly practical magic) behind somatic healing and why so many trauma survivors feel stuck even ...

16 Heinä 1h 1min

The Workout Witch: Liz Tenuto on Trauma, Somatics, and When the Body Speaks (Part 1)

The Workout Witch: Liz Tenuto on Trauma, Somatics, and When the Body Speaks (Part 1)

Liz Tenuto, aka The Workout Witch, joins A Little Bit Culty for a seriously useful, beautifully weird conversation about healing after abuse, trauma, and all the body-based chaos that can follow. She ...

13 Heinä 37min

Religious Trauma and Cults: Sam Sellers & Elise Heerde on Healing After High Control Churches (Part 2)

Religious Trauma and Cults: Sam Sellers & Elise Heerde on Healing After High Control Churches (Part 2)

Sam Sellers and Elise Heerde return for Part 2 to unpack what healing actually looks like after leaving high-control religious environments. Spoiler: it is not neat, linear, or especially glamorous. S...

9 Heinä 43min

Religious Trauma and Cults: Sam Sellers & Elise Heerde on Healing After High Control Churches (Part 1)

Religious Trauma and Cults: Sam Sellers & Elise Heerde on Healing After High Control Churches (Part 1)

Sam Sellers and Elise Heerde of Religious Trauma and Cults bring the receipts on growing up in high-control faith worlds, with Sam from the Brethren Christian Church, an independent off-shoot of the E...

6 Heinä 42min

Michael Shamblin Black on The Way Down and Escaping Remnant (Part 2)

Michael Shamblin Black on The Way Down and Escaping Remnant (Part 2)

Michael Shamblin Black is back for Part 2, and this one goes to the darkest corners of life inside Remnant Fellowship—and the even darker corners of life after it. Michael walks us through the red fla...

2 Heinä 1h 10min

Michael Shamblin Black on The Way Down and Escaping Remnant (Part 1)

Michael Shamblin Black on The Way Down and Escaping Remnant (Part 1)

Michael Shamblin Black joins ALBC to talk about growing up inside his mother Gwen Shamblin’s world, featured in the HBO Max docuseries The Way Down: God, Greed, and the Cult of Gwen Shamblin. He refle...

29 Kesä 46min

Suosittua kategoriassa Koulutus

rss-murhan-anatomia
psykopodiaa-podcast
voi-hyvin-meditaatiot-2
rss-arkea-ja-aurinkoa-podcast-espanjasta
aamukahvilla
kesken
rss-luonnollinen-synnytys-podcast
rss-koira-haudattuna
rss-narsisti
rss-rahataito-podcast
ihminen-tavattavissa-tommy-hellsten-instituutti
rss-hereilla
rahapuhetta
solu-ja-molekyylibiologian-perusteet
mielipaivakirja
rss-liian-kuuma-peruna
rss-perho-rajoilla
ilona-rauhala
rss-niinku-asia-on
rss-suomen-aa-podcast