Girl at the End of the World by Elizabeth Esther

She and her husband, Matt, when they were parents to two young children, decide to leave The Assembly. Ronald Enroth called Churches That Abuse.Īs Elizabeth Esther grows older, she starts to see the church for what it really is. Elizabeth notes that The Assembly was later profiled in a book by Dr. They were leaders of a group called The Assembly, which was started by Elizabeth’s grandparents. Elizabeth Esther wanted to be a “normal kid” and did all she could to please her parents, who had high expectations for her. Instead, she was expected to prepare for a life as a devoted helpmeet to a man and mother to his children. Though Elizabeth Esther is clearly a talented writer, she was not encouraged to develop her gifts. At age nine, she stood on a street corner, preaching about fire and brimstone to passers by, beseeching them to seek the Lord. She spent a lot of time learning the Bible and attending church, preparing for The Apocalypse, and worrying about whether or not her appearance was “modest”.

Consequently, Elizabeth Esther was spanked a lot growing up– every day, in fact. The Pearls are very strong advocates for corporal punishment and breaking the will of a child. Many were people in trouble looking for a new direction they seemed to come and go at a whim.Įlizabeth’s parents were strong adherents to the disciplinary practices advocated by Michael and Debi Pearl, authors of the notorious book To Train Up A Child, which is used by many fundamentalist Christians as a guide to discipline. Her parents ran kind of a halfway house for budding fundies and Elizabeth experienced an ever changing merry-go-round of new people living in her home. Like Jocelyn Zichterman, Elizabeth Esther grew up in a “homegrown” fundamentalist Christian group. Elizabeth Esther’s book was offered by Amazon in a suggestive sell and I took the bait. I found this book right after I read I Fired God, a book by Jocelyn Zichterman, probably because I was still so flabbergasted by what Zichterman experienced growing up the daughter of fundamentalist Christians. So, in the interest of providing more information about cults, I’m reposting it here, as is.Įlizabeth Esther went from blogging to writing a memoir when she published her 2014 book Girl At The End of The World: My Escape From Fundamentalism in Search of Faith With A Future.

I knew I had reposted my review of Jocelyn Zichterman’s book on this blog, but in the course of verifying, I realized that I didn’t repost my review of a related book by Elizabeth Esther, Girl At The End of The World. It got a lot of views and comments, including one from Jocelyn’s daughter, Sandra.

I read and reviewed that book several years ago on my original blog.

Recently, in the Duggar Family News Facebook Group, someone mentioned Jocelyn Zichterman’s book, I Fired God: My Life Inside-and Escape From-the Secret World of the Independent Fundamental Baptist Cult.

Girl at the End of the World by Elizabeth Esther