The Cult of Rodney Howard-Browne: “Holy Ghosted”

Was I In A Cult?

PodcastOne

True Crime, Comedy, Talk Radio

4.4 • 3.1K Ratings

🗓️ 15 September 2025

⏱️ 56 minutes

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Summary

She thought she was enrolling in a Bible college.

Instead, she was signing up to give her identity, her labor, her choice—and her fire—to a man who called himself the Holy Ghost Bartender.

At “River University,” worship looked like laughing fits and collapsing bodies. Romance was arranged. Submission wasn’t suggested—it was glorified. And your soul? That was just a tally mark on a clipboard.

For Sarah, what started as a mission from God turned into a 12-year descent through emotional control, spiritual abuse, and religious labor trafficking.

___

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Transcript

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0:56.9	Just go to Indeed.com slash P-O-D-K-A-T-Z UK right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast.
1:07.3	Terms and Conditions apply. Hiring, Indeed is all you need. The views, information, or opinions
1:13.2	expressed by the guest appearing in this episode solely belong to the guest and do not represent
1:17.8	or reflect the views or positions of the hosts, the show, podcast one, this network, or any of
1:24.0	their respective affiliates. So my name is Sarah Ricks.
1:29.0	I was in a place that I would definitely categorize as a cult, obviously.
1:35.5	It's the River at Tampa Bay Church, or I would say really the cult of Rodney Howard Brown.
1:41.0	That was six years of my life, and it was hell and a place they call joyful.
1:47.8	Welcome everyone to was I an occult?
2:03.0	Yeah, you were.
2:03.7	I'm Tyler Meesum.
2:04.7	I'm Liz I Akuzi.
2:06.5	And yes, on this show, we've covered many a cult and many a Christian cult.
	...

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