The Cut - A Woman's Escape From Her Mother's Cult

At around midnight, Sarah Green got out of bed and crept from the house. A full moon illuminated her path to the wood stack, where she had hidden a backpack in preparation for her escape. The air was cold and smelled of the piñon pines that stretched in every direction. Rushing past the flower beds, Sarah glanced back at the shacks and scattered trailers on the compound she had called home for the past year. Nervous sweat ran down her back as she listened for the yelp of the dogs that prowled the property in search of deer — and people.

It was September 1999. At 26, Sarah had spent almost her entire life as a member of the Aggressive Christianity Missions Training Corps, a paramilitary religious cult headquartered in the New Mexico desert. Founded by her parents in the early 1980s, the group operated under the leadership of Sarah’s mother, who believed herself to be God’s oracle. According to her prophetic vision, “true Spirit-led Christianity is war.” The group’s several dozen members wore fatigues. During worship meetings, they battled Satan by slashing the air with invisible, demon-slaying swords. Everyone had a military rank. Sarah’s mother was the general; the youngest children were privates.

Shailene Woodley is dead set on changing the world. A London Metropolitan Police officer has pleaded guilty to the March kidnapping and rape of Sarah Everard. An epic New York City reopening concert is coming to Central Park. Robert Kraft got one helluva 80th-birthday gift. The Atlantic claims to have compiled “the only movie watchlist you’ll need this summer.” Inside the murder scandalizing Brazil’s Evangelical churches. And rejoice — finally, new Lorde music!

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