Worldwide
Season One, Worldwide: The Unchosen Church, shares first-hand accounts of growing up inside of a doomsday apocalyptic cult called The Worldwide Church of God. It's a series about the costs and rewards of high-demand religious group, dispels many of the myths about what types of people join cults, and showcases the beauty, comedy, and tragedy of life inside Herbert W. Armstrong's WCG.
Season Two of Worldwide travels to Southeast Asia to explore one of the most captivating, unsolved mysteries of the 20th century: the disappearance of Jim Thompson, the Thai silk king. Join us as we delve deep into the extraordinary life of Thompson and the fateful weekend when he vanished without a trace, leaving behind a perplexing mystery that has confounded investigators, armchair detectives, and conspiracy theorists alike. Through research, expert interviews, and compelling storytelling, we piece together the fragments of evidence to explore the most popular theories about what happened to Jim and shed light on the newest developments in the case.
Worldwide
Ep. 1.5 The Closet, the Cult and the College: An Interview with DJ Grothe (Worldwide: The Unchosen Church)
DJ Grothe is the former host of the Point of Inquiry and For Good Reason podcasts and the past president of the James Randi Educational Foundation. While he has interviewed hundreds of skeptic and scientific leaders, he rarely tells his own story of how he attended a little Bible college in the piney woods of East Texas, called Ambassador University. In this episode, I sit down to ask DJ why he joined the Worldwide Church of God - a biblical cult - when he was 14 years old - the same year that he came out as gay and the same year he started getting into magic. We also talk about how his background in magic and a magazine housed in Ambassador University's library helped to lead him out of the doomsday apocalyptic cult he had once joined, and why today, he says he's grateful for the entire experience.
While this podcast is a labor of love, if you'd like to support Worldwide: The Unchosen Church, we would gladly accept a coffee or beer: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/worldwidepod
Hosted, written and produced by Dr. Tricia Jenkins. Sound design and editing by Thirteen Media.
Instagram @worldwidepod
Facebook and Twitter: @worldwidepod11
Email: Worldwidepod11@gmail.com
