A young woman from Albuquerque, New Mexico, has taken to TikTok to speak out about her upbringing in a Christian cult.
Marissa Martin, 24, was urged to talk about her childhood after admitting she was lucky for the lack of “hate” she usually received at her posts – but with one big exception: Christians on the defensive.
“I want to talk about the fact that I never get any hate on my videos, which is great, I have really great viewers,” she began, while also trying out a recipe that combined raspberry syrup and iced matcha.
“But the one kind of video I make that gets hate every time is when I talk about the cult I grew up in,” she described.
Marissa Martin, 24, talked about growing up in a Christian sect, namely one that followed the teachings of the Independent Fundamental Baptist sect
“This cult that I grew up in, yes it was a Christian cult. So a lot of Christians who watch my videos or see the video get personally offended when I say, “I grew up in a cult,” she continued.
“But the thing is, it was an extremist Christian religion. Extremist, okay?’
In particular, her family had been members of the Independent Fundamental Baptist Church.
The organization, made up of local churches preaching deeply fundamentalist Christian messages, was the subject of the 2023 docuseries Let Us Prey: A Ministry of Scandals.
The gripping docuseries mainly emphasized the uncontrolled sexual abuse of women and children that is rampant in the municipalities.
Marissa further elaborated on the strict dress code that only allowed “plain white” casual shoes, while “dress shoes” could be solid black.
She continued, “We had to wear skirts that reached mid-calf. We couldn’t show our ankles. We had to wear crew socks. We also had to wear tights [under skirts].
‘We couldn’t show our shoulders. We couldn’t show our collarbones.’
The rules she had to follow ranged from adhering to a strict, ultra-conservative dress code, to being banned from associating with boys, to not being allowed to listen to any music.
Marissa also explained that nail polish was also a no-go unless it was “super, super, super light, light pink.”
Culottes were required for any form of physical education, from running to volleyball and even swimming.
In general, “there was no co-ed, boys and girls were never allowed to do anything together,” Marissa emphasized.
She continued: ‘We weren’t allowed to listen to music – no CDs, no MP3 players, no phones.
‘When I was at school as a child, my parents had to sign a contract at the beginning of this year that we would not have a telephone.’
They were also not allowed to have any form of social media, as she stated, “The list goes on.
“If you’re one of my haters who feels personally offended when I say, ‘I grew up in a cult,’ because you feel like I’m being disrespectful to the Christian religion, then all I have to say is, if you ‘If you wear pants in your videos, they don’t like you.
“They think you’re going to hell, so you can’t win,” she said.
She also alluded to the sect’s “main men” all being “in jail” for “exactly what you would think” – namely child abuse and pedophilia, among other things.
The content creator added that while she would like to do an in-depth story about her experiences, she admitted that she thinks she “blocked out a lot of my childhood with trauma.”
However, she supported the Let Us Pray docuseries and mentioned that her own cousin is referenced throughout because she had been a secretary for one of the men convicted of pedophilia.
Meanwhile, she considered her drink recipe a great success and also encouraged her viewers to try it.
“Raspberry and matcha just belong together,” she explained. ‘This is the best matcha I’ve ever had.’