My Cult Your Cult: Sean Prophet on the Church Universal and Triumphant (Part 1)

A Little Bit Culty

Sarah Edmondson & Anthony “Nippy” Ames

True Crime, Society & Culture, Education

4.6 • 2.7K Ratings

🗓️ 10 November 2025

⏱️ 45 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

What’s it like to grow up the so-called “prince” inside one of America’s most notorious new religious movements—where your mother is a celebrated channeler, your father founds a church, and the end of the world is just another family discussion over dinner? In the first of this two-part episode, we’re joined by Sean Prophet, author of My Cult, Your Cult, for a deep dive into the strange realities of life inside the Church Universal and Triumphant (CUT).

Sean unpacks his childhood in sprawling mansions turned cult compounds, the roots of the group’s “ascended master” theology, the peril and privilege of being born to leadership, and why spiritual bootcamp so often blurs into psychological abuse. We tackled the insidious dangers of purity culture, the mind-bending logic of channeling, and the very fuzzy line between a “cult” and a “mainstream religion.” Expect anecdotes about bunker-building, guru-devotion, apocalyptic drama, and real lessons on power, othering, and reclaiming your own critical thinking. You’ll want to stay tuned for part two and follow Sean Prophet on Substack.

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.

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CREDITS:

Executive Producers: Sarah Edmondson & Anthony Ames

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Your first great love story is free when you sign up for a free 30-day trial at audible.co.
0:05.5	That's audible.co.uk slash Wondery.
0:11.2	This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be considered legal, medical, or mental health advice.
0:17.5	The views and opinions express do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the podcast and are not intended to malign any religion, group, club, organization,
0:26.2	business, individual, anyone, or anything.
0:39.4	I'm Sarah Edmondson.
0:42.5	And I'm Anthony Nippy Ames, and this is a little bit culty.
0:47.7	We woke up from a cult, and that journey was captured in The Vow on HBO and in my memoir, Skard.
0:52.6	Now, in this podcast, we break down the shame and secrets that make these experiences so destructive with honest conversations on how seemingly
0:54.6	benign groups can cross into the cultaverse and how to spot and recover from trouble if it
0:59.5	happens to you. Each week, we bring an expert, survivors, and whistleblowers to explore red flags,
1:04.0	resilience, and even share a few laughs because sometimes you got to laugh.
1:07.6	Subscribe to our Patreon for early and ad-free listening, some live Q&A and exclusive content at patreon.com slash A Little Bit Culty.
1:14.6	Welcome to Season 8 of A Little Bit Culty.
1:17.8	Seeking down to the depths of the ocean.
1:22.6	Hanging on to win my love.
1:27.1	I found that growing of all I could leave, but I know. to win my love. Welcome back to a little bit culty, everyone.
1:36.1	Today's guest is Sean Prophet, sometimes called the princeling of the Church
1:41.4	Universal and Triumphant, or Cut for short. Yes, that is right. We are
1:45.8	finally covering Cut. For those who've never heard of it, Cut was a New Age apocalyptic movement
1:51.6	founded by Sean's parents, Elizabeth, Claire, and Mark Prophet. At its peak in the 1970s and
1:58.0	80s, cut blended Eastern mysticism, Christianity, and Cold War paranoia
	...

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