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Cult of Before Stories

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August 2021

August 04, 2021

Why A Redemption Arc Mattered More Than Atrocity Apologetics

Hi and welcome back! Yesterday, we talked about a romance novel by Karen Witemeyer, At...

July 2021

July 31, 2021

Why QAnon is Attacking Evangelical Leaders Lately

Hi and welcome back! In the past, we've discussed QAnon -- the new moral panic...

October 2020

October 28, 2020

How the Satanic Panic Led Straight to QAnon

After a couple of years of ignoring the whole thing, evangelical leaders have finally noticed...

October 25, 2020

John Ramirez: A Star Might Be Fading

He's carved out a small career for himself by trying to resurrect the old Satanic...

June 2020

June 13, 2020

MLM Hunbots Have Discovered Trendy Testimonies

Here, a high-ranking hun offers her totally-used-to-be-an-antiMLMer-y'all testimony. And she does it for the same...

March 2019

March 07, 2019

Keeping Up Appearances in the Cult of Family

Lately, we've been talking about authoritarian Christians' new marketing push: the Cult of Family. Only these...

February 2019

February 19, 2019

Before the Cult of “Before” Stories: Tricking Authoritarians

I came face-to-face with two completely untrue beliefs I held: that my god transformed people...

July 2018

July 17, 2018

What Ed Stetzer Thinks He Knows About Platforms (Is Wrong, As Usual)

Today, we look at yet another Christian who shows us exactly why his religion is...

July 03, 2018

The Unequally Yoked Club: The 2018 Gritty Reboot

Some years ago, I ran a series called the Unequally Yoked Club (UYC). It was one...

June 2018

June 28, 2018

Trendy Testimonies: Why Christians Keep Saying They’re Ex-Atheists

Christians might want to help ease or (in their wildest dreams) reverse their decade-long decline,...

June 18, 2018

Lord Snow Presides Over Christian Weight-Loss Plans (LSP #47)

One of the more recent Lord Snow Presides (LSP) posts was about vegetarianism. It provoked...

May 2018

May 12, 2018

The Cult of “Before” Stories Welcomes Benedict Atkins!

A line's determined by two points, so I reckon we've found a new trend. His...

March 2018

March 04, 2018

The Cult of Before Stories: Glenn Hobbs, Totally An Ex-Satanist

I want to show you today how Glenn Hobbs' claims line up with our checklist...

January 2018

January 17, 2018

The Cult of “Before” Stories: A Mega-Review of Zachary King’s Testimony

Zachary King gave an extensive XM radio interview a couple of years just after becoming...

January 14, 2018

The Satanic Panic Meets the Anti-Abortion Crusade.

The Satanic Panic trickled to an undignified end years ago. But not long ago we...

October 2017

October 31, 2017

Halloween: It’s That Time Again

Halloween is that magical time of year when Christians can dial up to 11 their...

September 2017

September 28, 2017

Satanic Panic: By Far the Most Excruciating Talk My Mom Ever Gave Me

The reason I talk about the Satanic Panic is to remind people of what happens...

August 2017

August 11, 2017

“I’m Not Ashamed” Really Should Be. (Pre-Review Bugaloo)

We're going to be reviewing the movie I'm Not Ashamed shortly, so this is our...

December 2016

December 07, 2016

The Cult of Before Stories: Desperate for Relevance.

Bill Schnoebelen is one such storyteller. Once a popular figure in fundagelical Christianity, his narrative...

November 2015

November 12, 2015

We Welcome Ben Carson to the Cult of “Before” Stories

A long time ago, I wrote a post called "A Cult of "Before" Stories" in...

March 2015

March 22, 2015

The Cult of Before Stories: Heather Barwick, Sharper Than a Serpent’s Tooth

I wish it could shock me anymore, seeing a family ripped apart by religion. It...

February 2015

February 08, 2015

I’m Still Not a Francis Fangirl

I'm still not a Pope Francis fangirl. Here's why.

January 2015

January 21, 2015

Alex Malarkey and a Shocking Twist in the Old Story of Lying for Jesus (Heavenly Tourism)

You've probably heard of that genre of books called heavenly tourism. In these books, a Christian...

September 2014

September 18, 2014

The Cult of Before Stories: Shane Hayes, Part 1

A while ago, Kirk Cameron popularized a fairly-new evangelism technique: claiming that he knows all...

September 04, 2014

Why They Lie.

(CN: Religious overreach, movie/book spoilers about Hot Fuzz and Watership Down.) The movie Hot Fuzz...

July 2014

July 08, 2014

The Truth That Wasn’t There.

I have a real fascination with stories of liars who get found out. Today I...

January 2014

January 03, 2014

No, Virginia, Jesus Doesn’t Magically Change People

I've seen some additional--and dramatic-- stories of Christians who did not actually experience the 180...

November 2013

November 20, 2013

The Cult of “Before” Stories: From Witchcraft to Christ

Way back in the 1970s, a British Christian named Doreen Irvine wrote From Witchcraft to...

November 17, 2013

When the Scam Ends.

"There's one born every minute," the consummate showman P.T. Barnum said once, and that saying...

August 2013

August 26, 2013

Tony Anthony: The Cult of “Before” Stories Got a New Member Last Month.

One of my earliest blog entries, A Cult of "Before" Stories, remains one of the...