Here are stories and artifacts from my first 23 years and the religious cult that my family joined when I was almost 4 and with which I lived with for the next 14 years. I am continuing to recover from this experience more than 35 years later. 

The modern meaning of “Cult” defines a social group that practices “unusual” religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs, or by its common interest in a particular personality, object, or goal. 

The Order was a combination of all of those elements, though it could also define most religions as well.