Endorsements
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“This gripping memoir demonstrates how an intelligent man can be gradually seduced by a cult. LeCompte shows the psychological damage wrought by cultic mind control, his healing journey to recovery, and his ultimate triumph.”
Dr. Steven Hassan, One of America’s leading cult experts, Director of freedomofmind.com
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“Andrew LeCompte shares his odyssey within the world of cults through this book, which is a compelling personal journey including more than one cult. What we can learn through his shared experiences is how vulnerable we all can be and what to watch out for when navigating through the self-help and spiritual growth universe. LeCompte knows this through first-hand and often painful lessons learned, while under the influence of modern-day gurus."
Rick Alan Ross, Executive Director of The Cult Education Institute
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"This book is at once a personal journey toward love and a warning to others. Andrew’s vulnerable exposé of his slow boil into a cult reveals the playbook of how coercive control masquerades as a spiritual path. A must read for anyone searching for life’s answers, community, or a connection to something bigger.”
Sarah Edmondson, Author of Scarred: The True Story of How I Escaped from NXVIM, the Cult that Bound My Life, whistleblower in the critically acclaimed HBO series “The Vow,” and co-host with Anthony “Nippy” Ames of the podcast “alittlebitculty.com”
Finding Miracles:
Escape from a Cult
ACIM makes a student “cult-ready.”
Finding Miracles: Escape from a Cult is unique in providing both a harrowing personal cult experience with recovery experience, plus an analysis of the widely read (2 million copies, 27 languages) A Course in Miracles (ACIM). Finding Miracles shows how ACIM makes a student “cult ready.” It also describes how the cult guru instilled cultic mind control in a variety of ways, such as gaslighting and “love bombing.” Finding Miracles is not exhaustive in this regard. This makes the book a faster read and may well raise questions that I will be happy to address in response to submissions on my Contact page.
In Finding Miracles: Escape from a Cult LeCompte thoroughly exposes the underlying, unloving nature of A Course in Miracles, which may come as a shock to thousands of devotees.
There are 2,500 to 3,000 cults in the US with dozens of smaller cults too numerous to keep track of according to Dr. Margaret Singer at UC Berkeley. The number of cult members has been estimated up to three million. Family members and friends of cult members will be eager to read this book.
Spiritual leader Bill Free has written a blog about Finding Miracles: Escape from a Cult and his own experience with David Hoffmeister and the Living Miracles organization. https://billfree.com/david-hoffmeister-unveiled-the-dual-faces-of-a-spiritual-leader/
What is “love bombing”?
The Angel Walk is a “love bombing” technique used in the community as a very powerful special influence method. So, also is the practice of prolonged eye-gazing. I was rendered susceptible to the belief that all these intimate signs of physical affection were manifestations of the love of God.
Another form of love bombing occurred on those occasions when I was very discouraged and went to the one Messenger I felt I could always trust, Maria. She would invite me to cuddle non-sexually, but intimately with her on the bed. I loved her. Several times she told me I was being held back by my attachment to worldly possessions. As I had no other worldly possessions at this point but money, I offered to help pay for several large community projects. Maria was feigning love to heighten my suggestibility and subservience, in order to convince me to give a substantial amount of money toward my “spiritual development.”