God Said Obey: Katherine Spearing on the Brainwashing Power of Spiritual Abuse

A Little Bit Culty

Sarah Edmondson & Anthony “Nippy” Ames

True Crime, Society & Culture, Education

4.6 • 2.7K Ratings

🗓️ 11 August 2025

⏱️ 69 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Katherine Spearing is back—and she’s not pulling any punches. A trauma recovery practitioner and founder of Tears of Eden, Kat grew up in the Christian Patriarchy Movement, where obedience was godly, women were walking wombs, and joy was suspicious at best.

In this episode, we dive deep into what spiritual abuse actually looks like: body control, purity culture, biblical gaslighting, and the long-term effects of being told your desires are sinful. Kat’s new book, A Thousand Tiny Paper Cuts, is part memoir, part manual for healing—and a total middle finger to coercive religion.

We talk masturbation, improv, the myth of the one true partner, and why reconnecting with your body might just be the holiest thing you’ll ever do.

Out in October, her book A Thousand Tiny Paper Cuts is for anyone reclaiming their voice after high-control anything. Find her at katherinespearing.com and @katherinespearing.

Also… let it be known that:

The views and opinions expressed on A Little Bit Culty do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the podcast. Any content provided by our guests, bloggers, sponsors or authors are of their opinion and are not intended to malign any religion, group, club, organization, business individual, anyone or anything. Nobody’s mad at you, just don’t be a culty fuckwad.

**PRE-ORDER Sarah and Nippy's newest book here

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CREDITS:

Executive Producers: Sarah Edmondson & Anthony Ames

Production Partner: Amphibian.Media

Co-Creator: Jess Tardy

Associate producers: Amanda Zaremba and Matt Stroud of Amphibian.Media

Audio production: Red Caiman Studios

Theme Song: “Cultivated” by Jon Bryant co-written with Nygel Asselin

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Transcript

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0:00.0	This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be considered legal, medical,
0:03.9	or mental health advice. The views and opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the
0:07.9	official policy or position of the podcast and are not intended to malign any religion group,
0:12.1	club, organization, business, individual, anyone, or anything.
0:25.8	I know. I'm Sarah Edmondson.
0:27.6	And I'm Anthony Nippy Ames.
0:30.3	And this is A Little Bit culty.
0:31.8	Cults are commonplace now.
0:34.2	From fandums to fads, we're examining them all.
0:39.2	We look at what happens when things that seem like a great thing at first go bad. Every week we chat with survivors, experts, and whistleblowers for real culty stories told
0:43.5	directly by the people who lived through them, because we want you to learn a few things
0:47.6	that we've had to learn the hard way.
0:50.0	For example, if you think you're too smart to get sucked into something culty, you might
0:53.8	be prime recruitment material.
0:55.5	And who knows, you could already be in a cult.
0:58.2	If you're not aware of your programming, you're probably being programmed.
1:01.4	So keep listening to find out.
1:03.2	We'll talk about all sorts of topics on the show, but be aware.
1:06.6	This podcast might contain stories that could be alarming to some of our listeners.
1:10.5	So please check our show notes for more detailed descriptions and take care of yourself.
1:15.2	Subscribe to our Patreon for Thursday bonus episodes, Q&A, and all sorts of exclusive content.
1:19.8	That's patreon.com slash A Little Bit Culty.
	...

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