Midwest Book Review

Finding Miracles: Escape From a Cult

Andrew LeCompte

Connections Press

979-8-9887483-5-9 $16.95

Ordering: https://www.amazon.com/Finding-Miracles-Escape-Andrew-LeCompte/dp/B0CQPG7Y18/

Finding Miracles: Escape From a Cult joins other literature about the experience of being in a cult and escaping from it, documenting Andrew LeCompte's journey in search of God and those who portend to transmit, reflect, or personify spirituality and spiritual promises.

The first important note is that LeCompte was no casual follower, but an early devotee of A Course in Miracles and David Hoffmeister, who was a teacher of the course:

"I had been a devoted student of A Course in Miracles, a spiritual text published in 1975. I had edited David’s first book, Awakening through A Course in Miracles, and done it very well. It had become the central book of his ministry. David’s having picked me for that job was proof to me that I was chosen, chosen to help David shape the words of Jesus as they came from his mouth and promulgate them to the masses in books and videos."

His familiarity with the work, its writer, and the belief system structured into and represented in A Course in Miracles provided a seamless journey into the new Utah community of David’s Messengers, which promoted severing all family ties and connections with those not members of his following.

The foundations of LeCompte's willingness to join and find a supportive spiritual community play out from childhood onward as he absorbs lessons from his parents and struggles with an empty feeling of longing for love and connection:

"I interpreted the spanking and her silence to mean not only had I done something wrong, but that I was not worthy, not worth speaking up for. My misdeed had exposed and defined who I really was. I felt a huge emptiness inside."

From his lonely pursuit of community and love to the initial promise his work, studies, and newfound spiritual community offered, LeCompte provides a compelling journey. It clarifies the allure of cult messages and why their promises and visions resonate with so many who are also lost, alienated, or longing for love and connection, chronicling how their messages transmit into ugly realities that many won't be able to escape.

From Angel Walks and talks to the components of convictions which weave cult members together and promote ideals and spiritual connections which ultimately can prove dysfunctional and dangerous, LeCompte's reflections, more so than other books about cult behaviors and indoctrination processes, strikes at the heart of what makes such groups both promising and dangerous:

"The Messengers made several beautiful music videos, one of which repeated the idea from the Course “Decide for me.” I was continually trying to have the Holy Spirit decide for me."

The result is eye-opening, intensely personal, filled with spiritual and psychological growth and realizations, and ultimately will compel all kinds of readers to examine their own belief and support systems and the structures that promote them.

Libraries seeking powerful memoirs that resonate on spiritual and psychological levels that offer plenty of material for book clubs and meeting groups discussing religious attractions, independent thinking, interests in God, and miracles and messengers will discover, in Finding Miracles, a powerful series of insights that deserve widespread discussion:

"The community took from me but never gave back. I lost my voice, actually had trouble talking for a while, was depressed and suicidal. They did not see me as a person."