006 - Virgins and Volcanos - Purity Culture Part 2

CAUTION!   In this episode we talk very vulnerably, honestly and explicitly about sex and our personal experiences.   We feel this is not appropriate for younger kids.  Regarding teenagers...  for those who may have already been influenced by or are struggling with the teachings of "purity culture" and/or fundamentalist principles, our unvarnished real-life experiences may be useful and instructive.   Please use discretion.

*** If you haven't yet listened to Virgins & Volcanos Part 1, you can catch up here: 
https://www.buzzsprout.com/2078827/12790634

In Part 2 we pick up where we left off last time discussing:

• The Preparations - how we, as VIRGINS, navigated our engagements and got ready for our weddings.
• The Pain - the disorienting and devastating reality we discovered on our wedding nights, that the fulfillment of all those "Promises" wasn't quite what we'd been led to expect.   

NOTES, ADDITIONS & CORRECTIONS

• It is NEVER our intention to inflict pain or shame.  We did our best to refer to our former spouses without using their names.  In two places we slipped, and have "bleeped" over those names with our super high-tech verbal "BEEP" technique.  Enjoy.
• Neither Tracey nor Sharon had ever had a boyfriend prior to their marriages at Last Days Ministries.
• The high-school choir teacher who molested Sharon at age 16 was Mr. J.  Edmund Hughes, who taught at Tucson High School.  Yep, we are naming names.  (Sharon later found out she wasn't the first teenage girl he took advantage of... and we're guessing she wasn't the last.)
• Solomon, of the Bible, is believed to have had 700 wives and 300 concubines. The 'daughters of Jerusalem' mentioned in the Song of Songs are considered to be poetic  'cheer leaders' to the love between Solomon and his newest bride.
• Tracey misspoke when she said she "could not UNDER-state" the emotional impact that the LDM leadership fractures had upon her - she meant to say should could not OVER-state that impact.

"Feet of Clay - Confessions of the Cult Sisters" is a new podcast hosted by  Sharon Madere (Bennett)  and Tracey Phalen (Reed), who both worked alongside Keith and Melody Green at Last Days Ministries (LDM).  As one-time key leaders in the organization, they go on record about the spiritually traumatic and often damaging influences of the Greens and the multitude of materials (many of which are still available today) published through LDM, including 'The Last Days Newsletter'.  Sharon and Tracey each joined LDM as teenagers, where they met and married their respective spouses during those cult-commune years.  Both couples independently left LDM in 1987 and moved hundreds of miles apart.  They continued in their hard-held beliefs for over ten additional years, yet ultimately divorced in the early 2000s.  In this podcast Tracey and Sharon  come together to talk about their parallel journeys out of the cult mindset, the long process of unpacking indoctrination and spiritual trauma, and their separate but often co-mingled road to healing and  humor.   Come join them on the journey!

https://www.instagram.com/feetofclay.cultsisters
https://feetofclayconfessionsofthecultsisters.buzzsprout.com

We love acronyms -- and we aren't afraid to use them! Here are some common ones that we might forget to explain:
LDM - Last Days Ministries (organization)
ICT - Intensive Christian Training School (at LDM)
YWAM - Youth With A Mission (organization)
CCM - Contemporary Christian Music