Mia Williams
A woman who grew up in an extremist Christian 'cult' has opened up about the strict rules she had to follow as a child.
Marissa Martin, 24, has taken to TikTok to discuss the religious 'cult' she was forced to be a part of during her childhood.
She noted at the start of the clip that she usually doesn’t get hate on any of her content, but this changes when she opens up about her heavy Christian upbringing.
Marissa, from Albuquerque, New Mexico, made no mistake of describing the experience as a cult, and made sure that people were not mistaking it for something less intense.
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She said: “This cult I grew up in, yes it was a Christian cult. So a lot of Christians that watch my videos or see the video get personally offended by me saying, ‘I grew up in a cult’.
“But here's the thing - it was an extremist Christian religion. Extremist, okay?”
More specifically, her family had been a part of the Independent Fundamental Baptist Church.
The organisation, which is made up of local churches who preach deeply fundamentalist Christian beliefs, was actually part of a docu series called Let Us Prey: A Ministry of Scandals.
The group was depicted to be harrowing in the series, bringing specific attention to the sexual abuse of women and girls that had been happening across congregations.
But Marissa went into more detail about the strict rules that people were made to follow as part of the cult.
She said: “We had to wear skirts down to the mids of our calves.
“We couldn't show our ankles. We had to wear crew socks. We also had to wear pantyhose [under skirts]. We couldn't show our shoulders or our collarbones.”
She further explained that nail polish was completely banned, unless it was the lightest shade of pink possible.
She noted that guys and girls were basically never allowed to do anything together.
Listing more rules, Marissa continued: “We weren't allowed to listen to music - no CDs, no MP3 players, no phones.
“When I was in school as a kid, my parents had to sign a contract at the beginning of the year that we would not have a phone. The list goes on and on."
She went on to add: "If you're one of my haters that is personally offended by me saying, ‘I grew up in a cult,’ because you feel like I'm being disrespectful to the Christian religion, all I have to say is, if you're wearing pants in your videos, they don't like you.
“They think you're gonna go to hell, so you can't win.”