I was raised in a closed society from age 10 until I left home and religion at age 18. My dad was the cult leader and he believed he was the last prophet of the end times. He built a following of about 100 people, including women and children. I've written off and on about my turbulent upbringing. I was disowned by my parents when I left the church. I'll be posting an article before long about the year we lived in Guatemala as self appointed missionaries (1964)

I haven't watched The Leftovers. As far as talking in tongues goes, my grandparents were into the Pentecostal church so my grandmother spoke in tongues. My family only affiliated with the far out wacko churches, nothing mainstream.. and we spent several years visiting every little weirdo church we could find until my dad came to the conclusion that he needed to start his own.

As far as the preachers you spoke of taking up with your mom, that sounds normal to me. There was a lot of that stuff going on back in the day, including incest. I assume it still is.

Thanks for sharing your story with me.