434 – Melissa Duge Spiers – Holy Disobedience
The Desert Sanctuary
Feb 18
434 – Melissa Duge Spiers – Holy Disobedience
434 – Melissa Duge Spiers – Holy Disobedience

The Desert Sanctuary
Feb 18
Shownote
Shownote
“Holy Disobedience is a visceral portrayal of a daughter’s quest for the dark truth beneath the religious veneer of forced beauty and familial cover-ups. Spiers’s writing is propulsive and intelligent.” -Tia Levings, author of the New York Times bestsellin...
Highlights
Highlights
Melissa Duge Spiers shares her harrowing journey of growing up in the Seventh-day Adventist church, a community she describes as cult-like, and the painful deconstruction that followed. Her story takes a dark turn when she uncovers a devastating family secret that forces her to confront the systemic failures of the institution she once trusted.
Chapters
Chapters
Growing Up in a Cult-Like Church and the Long Road to Deconstruction
00:00The Forced Deconstruction: Discovering My Father Was a Serial Predator
06:26Why the Church's Obsession with Sex Led Me to Question Everything
16:04The Church's Betrayal: Prioritizing Predators' Souls Over Victims' Safety
26:14Healing from High-Control Religion: A Lifelong Journey Beyond Purity Culture
35:26Transcript
Transcript
Melissa Duge Spiers: Welcome to the Desert Sanctuary with Karl and Laura Forehand.
Karl Forehand: Often, when we have doubts about religion or simply want to ask questions, it can feel like we are wandering out into the desert.
Laura Forehand: We would l...