Former Member Tells of His Cult Experience and Recovery in New Book

ALBANY, Calif., April 19 /PRNewswire/ — According to the Jewish Board of Family and Children’s Services, approximately 180,000 Americans are actively recruited by cults each year. While the odds of succumbing to a cult are twice as great as catching chicken pox, most individuals do not realize how susceptible they truly are to recruitment.

At the age of 21, Steve Sanchez had no direction in life. He sought spiritual enlightenment from the Spiritual Rights Foundation (SRF), a self- proclaimed psychic church and unbeknownst to him, a cult. Sanchez’s new book, Spiritual Perversion ($16.95, Turnkey Press), is an autobiographical account of his 15-year involvement with the Southern California cult.

“My family and childhood were integral in my decision to join the SRF,” says Sanchez. “I don’t think there is any doubt that getting involved in a cult is an extension of the dysfunctional aspects of our family life. Experts say that any intelligent person could be vulnerable to a cult at a critical time in their life.”

Sanchez exposes how the late Reverend Will, the former leader of the cult, exerted his control over the cult members and the psychological depths of abuse they suffered and learned to impose on each other in order to survive. Sanchez tells of his escape from cult life, followed by the rescue of his daughter, whom the group had brainwashed into hating him.

Tips for identifying the “cult mentality”:

• Leaders expect total loyalty, dedication, and veneration
• A charismatic leader shames members in front of others
• Claims to be spiritually elite, innovative, or superiorly enlightened
• Influences members to separate from their family and spend more timewith their “spiritual family”
• Tells members that if they leave the organization, their life will beruined

Sanchez now lives with his wife and two daughters in Albany, Calif., where he runs a construction company. He is an advocate for cult survivors, providing assistance to those seeking post-cult healing. Sanchez has also recorded an album of original guitar compositions called “Stories and Visions on Guitar.”

Spiritual Perversion ($16.95) is available online or in bookstores. See http://www.spiritualredemption.com

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