Cult survivor fell into rogue exorcist sect after escaping group that took all his money and banned him from sex

A cult survivor has spoken out about how he fell into a rogue exorcist sect of the Church after escaping a group that took all his money.

Cults have been a hot topic of discussion in recent weeks due to Allison Mack speaking out on a controversial podcast about her time as one of the main leaders of the NXIVM cult.

One brave survivor has now spoken out about the type of personality traits cults look for, and his own experience in a UK cult.

Richard Turner is a survivor of the Hope City Church cult, which drained him of all his money and put bizarre rules on his relationship with another member.

Turner was initially a charity worker for Hope City’s charity and was convinced by members of the church to donate as much as 35% of his £13,000 salary, leaving him with almost no money.

Speaking exclusively to LADbible, Turner spoke about how there were ‘complicated grooming processes’ and that Hope City was a ‘prosperity teaching church’ that had a major negative effect on his mental health.

Richard was paid just £13,000 by the church's charity wing, and they then demanded further payments (Supplied)

This means that churchgoers are taught that by donating money to the Church, they can improve their life and future earnings.

He said: "It was all manipulative tactics to make you feel bad if you didn't give, and good if you did give. And God loves you if you give more money."

In addition to this, the church placed strict rules on Richard when he began dating another person in the cult, preventing them from having sex, kissing, or even sleeping in the same building.

Eventually, Richard thankfully was able to escape the cult, but unfortunately, he fell from one vulnerable situation to another.

In his attempts to recover from the trauma of his cult experience Richard’s dad was recommended a church where they could support him.

Speaking about this, Richard said: “What they were doing is, secretly, without the Church of England knowing, the son of the vicar was running… well, the church would call it a like deliverance ministry.

“But what that means in the wider world, we call that exorcism.”

He says he was encouraged to starve himself (Supplied)

He explained that the church group convinced him that the bad things which had happened to him were because he might be cursed or have dark spirits inside him.

The group caused him ‘more damage’ by saying that his own sins had caused his cult experience, and that he could only be exorcised by giving up all his worldly belongings.

The man, originally from the Wirral, also explained that they encouraged him to starve himself.

He said of the ‘deliverance’ method used by this rogue Church group: “It's a really pessimistic, negative worldview. You never know where you stand. It's like you can't measure any of this stuff.

“So how many demons are supposed to have in there? And it's never ending. It's like a black hole. It's horrible.”

Eventually, he was able to escape and said that a major part of his recovery was studying psychology and cults and setting up a counselling service where he aids others involved in cults.

If you've been affected by any of the issues in this article and would like to speak with someone in confidence please reach out to the Family Survival Trust here.

The Hope City Church is now known as the C3 Church and, after an internal investigation, multiple people believed to be at fault over the cult were fired.