After the Cult

In 1981, at the age of 20, I walked away from a Christian religious cult with two dollars and a bag of clothes. At a highway merge I stuck out my thumb. If Satan had offered me a lift, I would've hopped in; I was too beaten to care. This is the story of how I escaped a cult's grip on my mind and reclaimed my life.

Publisher Marketing: After the Cult picks up in the days following David's courageous decision leave The Church of Bible Understanding--portrayed in his previous graphic memoir, The Cult . Using the same simplistic but gorgeously raw drawing style used in The Cult , David illustrates the telling of his traumatic new beginning where he's confused on how to redeem his broken spirit, and his muddled mind leads him to believe that salvation may rest within the arms of the abuser. After the Cult is a hold your breath page-turner that has the reader wondering, along with David, if how one defines the word perfect may hold the key to inner peace. -Hope Whitby Author of Traveling the River Dave Patteson's journey from cult-convert to self-reflective everyman is rendered so personally and so bravely on these pages that reading it invites us to consider our own uneven pathways through life, just as he does--our struggles, our flaws, and our triumphs. -- Ward Howarth, author of River City Blues Brief Description : "After the Cult picks up where The Cult left off. David Patteson has physically left the Church of Bible Understanding (COBU), has a manual labor job, is living in his parent's basement, but is mentally and spiritually still in the cult's grip. He cannot separate Christianity from COBU and believes every day he delays returning is an act of rebellion towards Christ. He goes so far as to identify himself with Judas, who betrayed Jesus for twenty pieces of silver. David equates his departure from COBU as a sin equal to Judas' because, he reasons, he is murdering the spirit of Christ within himself. And like Judas, whose reward convicts rather than benefits him, so David finds his reward, in the form of sexual temptation, also convicts him and compels him to return to COBU. It is only the interventions of a loving grandmother, a supportive father, and a chance accident that keep him from going back. Eventually resolving to not return, he embarks on his own narrow and difficult path toward spiritual reclamation."--Publisher's description. Publisher Marketing : After the Cult picks up where The Cult left off. David Patteson has physically left the Church of Bible Understanding (COBU), has a manual labor job, is living in his parent's basement, but is mentally and spiritually still in the cult's grip. He cannot separate Christianity from COBU and believes every day he delays returning is an act of rebellion towards Christ. He goes so far as to identify himself with Judas, who betrayed Jesus for twenty pieces of silver. David equates his departure from COBU as a sin equal to Judas' because, he reasons, he is murdering the spirit of Christ within himself. And like Judas, whose reward convicts rather than benefits him, so David finds his reward, in the form of sexual temptation, also convicts him and compels him to return to COBU. It is only the interventions of a loving grandmother, a supportive father, and a chance accident that keep him from going back. Eventually resolving to not return, he embarks on his own narrow and difficult path toward spiritual reclamation.

Format: Paperback | Pages: 58 | Publication Date: 2019-10-08