- 2 days ago
John invites Priscilla Cyanni Morris to discuss her time inside City Reach Church, where revival culture and “spiritual covering” turned into authoritarian control. Priscilla describes how obedience was demanded, critical thinking discouraged, and loyalty to leadership elevated above faith in Christ. Through emotional stories of public rebukes, deliverance rooms, and “prophetic activations,” she reveals how City Reach’s vision replaced the gospel with coercive loyalty tests.
Together, they unpack how fear, phobia indoctrination, and “decision paralysis” can follow people who escape high-control churches. John explains the biblical case against “spiritual covering” and the manipulative use of honor language, while Priscilla shares how she rediscovered freedom through Scripture and genuine Christian community. The conversation offers hope to anyone recovering from spiritual abuse or wondering if their “revival-focused” church has crossed the line into control.
⸻
Chapter List
00:00 Introduction
01:03 Priscilla’s background and reason for sharing
02:17 Life inside City Reach Church
04:03 Decision paralysis after leaving
06:10 Obedience, honor, and authoritarian control
07:48 The psychology of learned helplessness
09:50 Worship culture and image management
13:05 “Obedience to the vision” and financial pledges
16:09 False urgency and fear of missing God
20:43 Being accused of a “Jezebel spirit”
23:12 Public shaming and rebuke from leadership
27:02 John explains “spiritual covering” as cultism
30:59 How authoritarian churches invert leadership
33:13 Leaving City Reach and cutting ties
37:07 “Church is meant to hurt you” and toxic teachings
40:09 Scriptural refutation of authoritarian control
42:32 False prophecies and repentance
44:00 Learning from cult research and Rick Ross’s insights
47:45 Encountering NAR doctrines like the “five-fold ministry”
49:08 Understanding destructive cult frameworks
52:47 Aftermath and spiritual disillusionment
53:58 Weaponization of the Bible and recovery
54:35 Priscilla’s advice to her past self
55:21 Conclusion and closing remarks
______________________
Priscilla's Youtube Channel:
https://www.youtube.com/@priscillacyanni
______________________
Weaponized Religion: From Christian Identity to the NAR:
Paperback: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1735160962
Kindle: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DCGGZX3K
______________________
– Support the channel: https://www.patreon.com/branham
– Subscribe to the channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBSpezVG15TVG-lOYMRXuyQ
– Visit the website: https://william-branham.org
– Follow on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WilliamBranhamOrg
– Follow on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@william.m.branham
– Follow on Twitter: https://twitter.com/wmbhr
– Buy the books: https://william-branham.org/site/books
Together, they unpack how fear, phobia indoctrination, and “decision paralysis” can follow people who escape high-control churches. John explains the biblical case against “spiritual covering” and the manipulative use of honor language, while Priscilla shares how she rediscovered freedom through Scripture and genuine Christian community. The conversation offers hope to anyone recovering from spiritual abuse or wondering if their “revival-focused” church has crossed the line into control.
⸻
Chapter List
00:00 Introduction
01:03 Priscilla’s background and reason for sharing
02:17 Life inside City Reach Church
04:03 Decision paralysis after leaving
06:10 Obedience, honor, and authoritarian control
07:48 The psychology of learned helplessness
09:50 Worship culture and image management
13:05 “Obedience to the vision” and financial pledges
16:09 False urgency and fear of missing God
20:43 Being accused of a “Jezebel spirit”
23:12 Public shaming and rebuke from leadership
27:02 John explains “spiritual covering” as cultism
30:59 How authoritarian churches invert leadership
33:13 Leaving City Reach and cutting ties
37:07 “Church is meant to hurt you” and toxic teachings
40:09 Scriptural refutation of authoritarian control
42:32 False prophecies and repentance
44:00 Learning from cult research and Rick Ross’s insights
47:45 Encountering NAR doctrines like the “five-fold ministry”
49:08 Understanding destructive cult frameworks
52:47 Aftermath and spiritual disillusionment
53:58 Weaponization of the Bible and recovery
54:35 Priscilla’s advice to her past self
55:21 Conclusion and closing remarks
______________________
Priscilla's Youtube Channel:
https://www.youtube.com/@priscillacyanni
______________________
Weaponized Religion: From Christian Identity to the NAR:
Paperback: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1735160962
Kindle: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DCGGZX3K
______________________
– Support the channel: https://www.patreon.com/branham
– Subscribe to the channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBSpezVG15TVG-lOYMRXuyQ
– Visit the website: https://william-branham.org
– Follow on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WilliamBranhamOrg
– Follow on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@william.m.branham
– Follow on Twitter: https://twitter.com/wmbhr
– Buy the books: https://william-branham.org/site/books
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:30Hello, and welcome to another episode of the William Branham Historical Research Podcast.
00:36I'm your host, John Collins, the author and founder of William Branham Historical Research
00:41at william-branham.org, and with me I have my very special guest, Priscilla Ciani-Morris,
00:47former member of City Reach Church.
00:50Priscilla, it's good to have you and to let you share your story on the podcast.
00:55We've talked a little bit offline, and you are definitely a sci-fi fan, as am I, and
01:00it makes this connection very real to me.
01:04We find things in common.
01:06But anyway, if you could just take a moment and tell everybody a little bit about yourself
01:10and give everybody an introduction to your story.
01:14Wow.
01:14Mr. Collins, thank you so much for the amazing introduction and all the work that you put
01:19in on your channel and with the research that you do.
01:23I really appreciate it, and it truly means a lot to be a part of this conversation.
01:27So, my name is Priscilla, as Mr. Collins just said.
01:34Before I share my story, I want to make something very clear, right?
01:37My aim is not to malign, but to eliminate and shed light on unhealthy patterns that distort
01:43the gospel so the healing and repentance can take place.
01:48And everything I share today comes from my personal experience, right?
01:51And my hope is that by being honest about what happened, others who have walked through
01:57similar pain will find clarity, comfort, and the confidence to return to the sufficiency
02:03of scripture.
02:05So, my story begins, well, it isn't an easy story to tell, but it is one that I believe
02:12I'm called to share.
02:15Because for years, I thought I was a part of revival, right?
02:19We hear that language a lot in Word of Faith and NAR, New Apostolistic Reformation culture.
02:28But in reality, it was something far more dangerous, right?
02:32And like I said, my hope is to help others see that difference before they get hurt the
02:37way that I got hurt and many others got hurt.
02:41So, I'm sharing this because when I came out of the Hyper Charismatic Church, rooted in Word
02:48of Faith, I needed someone to say, you're not crazy and you're not rebellious.
02:52And what happened to you was, in fact, spiritual abuse and how God just took me out of that.
03:02So, I kind of wanted to share a little bit of a story before I get into the real story,
03:06if that's okay.
03:07I don't know.
03:08Absolutely.
03:09So, this is kind of going to segue into this, but I once was standing in a produce section
03:16of a grocery store and I was debating for 10 minutes over which pair to choose.
03:23And it really wasn't about fruit, right?
03:25It was about freedom.
03:27And what I was experiencing was a form of decision paralysis, right?
03:31So, that's common among individuals, and I'm sure, Mr. Collins, that you understand this,
03:37right?
03:38It's common among folks who leave coercive or high-control religious environments.
03:44I felt like I was stuck, right?
03:46And it was like the same pair.
03:47It was like literally the same pair.
03:49There was nothing wrong with either of these pairs.
03:51I was just really struggling.
03:52Um, but for, you know, for about two years, obedience was demanded from me and critical
04:00thinking was discouraged and personal discernment was, was reframed as rebellion.
04:06So, when I left City Reach, even something as, as what would seem like as minuscule, as
04:13like choosing which fruit I wanted from the grocery store felt terrifying.
04:17It felt very scary.
04:19Um, of course, it wasn't about pairs.
04:21It was about learning to think again and to trust God's word rather than someone else's
04:25voice.
04:26Um, so I was a part of a ministry culture where it's in City Reach where loyalty and leadership
04:33was elevated above faithfulness in Christ.
04:35And I started going to City Reach, um, because there was community.
04:39It was, I'm a young adult and I needed, I needed friendship, right?
04:44I needed fellowship.
04:46It was something that was really important to me.
04:48Um, and something that I, I noticed initially when I went was that we were slowly but surely
04:56being trained to say yes without hesitation.
05:01So, I remember on one particular Sunday, there was a service that was being preached on honor
05:08or something like that.
05:09It was on honor.
05:10And the, at the end of the service, we had like a deliverance session and then the pastor
05:16said, you know, something along the lines of, of course, I can't remember exactly what
05:22was said.
05:23Um, but it was something along the lines of if, if either of us come to you, you must
05:28say yes.
05:29Just say yes.
05:30Don't question it.
05:31Don't even think.
05:32Like, like, don't use your critical thinking skills.
05:34Just, just say yes.
05:35Be obedient and say yes to the man and the woman of the house, to the, to your, to your
05:40spiritual mother and your spiritual father, right?
05:42This was the language that was used.
05:44Um, so it was a lot of honor.
05:45It was a lot of alignment.
05:47Um, and it, uh, mirrored, uh, authoritarianism and it was, it was really, really scary.
05:53And, you know, uh, you know, being a part of their worship team, eventually getting
05:58on their worship team, um, my life was like consumed by events and rehearsals and mandatory
06:03meetings and it never really stopped.
06:05And every demand was like over spiritualized as well.
06:09Um, and I remember whispering to a friend once, does this feel like a cult to you?
06:13I go towards the end.
06:15I was like, does this feel like a cult?
06:17And, um, that individual had, had said something along the lines of, I think about that all the
06:21time.
06:22You know, I think about that all the time, uh, but I don't want to think too hard.
06:26Yeah.
06:26And I think that that says a lot, I think that that says a lot about the culture.
06:30I don't know.
06:31Have you ever heard anything like that when you were, when you were leaving the message
06:33or when you were in the message?
06:35Was that, well, it's a, it's something that many people have experienced myself and my
06:41family included.
06:42I'm actually glad you brought this up because I think you may be the first person who's
06:46ever brought this up.
06:47The, you called it decision paralysis.
06:50There's different terms that people use, but those can be tied to trauma.
06:54But in the, in the, whenever you look at the structure of a destructive cult, the way that
07:02it is set up, the people are programmed and indoctrinated to externalize their decision
07:07making.
07:08The cult leader makes the decisions.
07:10He chooses what's right or wrong.
07:12And in this type of environment, you are actually afraid to make a decision because what if you
07:17make the wrong one, they, they instill this fear that if you do make the wrong one, it's
07:23a, I think that, I think the term for this is actually phobia indoctrination.
07:27You're taught that wrong choices bring catastrophe, whether that's demons plaguing you, hell, illness,
07:34family collapse, et cetera.
07:36And so if you make the wrong decision, you have this fear that something worse than the
07:40decision is going to happen.
07:42So people end up just not making decisions unless they're really, really headstrong, but
07:48more than that, when you're in a high control group, by definition, high control, you are
07:54learning helplessness.
07:56You are surrendering your control to the leadership and practically every person who has come on
08:02the podcast have described what you've described in one way or another, but nobody's really opened
08:08up to say, I had this fear of making decisions.
08:10I think mentally, after you leave, people are through the same indoctrinated fear.
08:16They have a little bit of a, of a fear accepting the fact that they did fear to make decisions.
08:22And so there's this long road of recovery, but in the end, it's, um, I think if I remember
08:29correctly, I think the term is RT, RTS, which is religious trauma syndrome.
08:35There's a, there's actually a definition for this.
08:38Wow.
08:38Yeah.
08:38And that's, that's spot on.
08:40Right.
08:41Um, and I think even what, what it is somewhat, you know, entangled with that is this disassociation
08:50that for me, at least I could speak on my experience.
08:53I, I was, it was almost like I wasn't here after I went in now I'm going to get into a
08:58little bit more of the trauma that happened.
09:00Um, right now I'm kind of just listing the general things that, that occurred there,
09:03but, um, yeah, so I suppose I'll get into that a little bit later too, but everything
09:08that you're saying, um, Mr. Collins is spot on.
09:10Right.
09:11Um, you know, uh, I, I even could say that I experienced some of that when I was in actually
09:19in the movement, right.
09:20Where I was, it wasn't just after, after the fact, right.
09:23I was experiencing that, that decision-making paralysis, uh, as we, as we mentioned, uh,
09:29while I was in the movement, right.
09:31Uh, should I get permission from the pastors before I, before I do this or, you know, like
09:35yeah, maybe, and this is going to segue into, into the, the story time, right.
09:39I started, I ended up kind of starting a prayer.
09:42It wasn't even a prayer group.
09:43It was just a few of us friends.
09:45It's like eight of us.
09:46And we were praying together every so often.
09:48Um, and for some reason, um, for some reason, I, I believe that it was, it was God allowing
09:55me to cover all my bases.
09:56So I didn't feel guilty, but that's how I reason with it.
10:00Um, I, I had notified the secondary pastor, right.
10:04We had two churches, right.
10:05We had the main church and then we had a secondary church, which was, like I said, it was, it
10:11was the one we have two campuses.
10:13Right.
10:13And so we built another church.
10:16I was so thankful at the time to be a part of that building process.
10:19And now I kind of look at it and I'm like, oh no, like, this is not good.
10:23But, um, you know, we, we ended up, I ended up going to the secondary, um, to the secondary
10:29ministry that they had.
10:31Um, and, you know, common themes in the, the, the, uh, generalized preaching of city
10:43reach was like, we would, we would have sermons about, uh, preserving the image of the church,
10:48like things like that.
10:49Right.
10:50Like, especially like during women's retreats, sometimes we would, we would, I would notice
10:55that there was like this weird theme.
10:56And I don't know if this is kind of any commonalities within the message, but like,
11:00they like really, they cared about how we looked.
11:02So like, it was like a brand, like city reach.
11:05It was, it was a brand.
11:07I still think it is to this day, but you know, you were like, you don't have to look like
11:10a bum.
11:11Right.
11:11So the girls, girls, if you want to find, if you want to find a husband, like you don't
11:15need to be wearing sweatpants.
11:16Right.
11:17You don't need to be, don't do that.
11:18Like look presentable.
11:20Like it was very strange.
11:21Right.
11:21And I just remember being there like, what, what is this?
11:24This is not like a expository teaching on scripture.
11:29Um, but we were called to like, look anointed and, and sound powerful.
11:34Right.
11:35Whatever that meant.
11:36And, and, and never really let exhaustion, exhaustion show.
11:40Right.
11:41And so we, we hosted nights like, uh, that were called hope and healing nights.
11:46We had like deliverance rooms.
11:47I think I mentioned that a little bit earlier, right.
11:49We had, uh, deliverance rooms, or we would, you know, do second baptisms.
11:55Like that's a thing and prophetic activations.
11:58Right.
11:59Uh, and, and, you know, children and teens, this is where I kind of feel a lot of, I think
12:05a lot of, a lot of, uh, guilt because we had a lot of teenagers, um, that we were like
12:10recruiting into this ministry.
12:11A lot of it, we were focused a lot on young adults because, you know, social media, all
12:15these things, we're able to get the message out there.
12:18Right.
12:18But we were really focused on bringing the youth into the church.
12:22So, uh, and none of, none of this, we were told to help them speak in tongues and things
12:26like that.
12:27None of that really resembled what scripture teaches as, you know, we also know the history
12:31of, of tongues and all of these things, Charles Parham and all these crazy, crazy things that
12:36came about from that.
12:38Um, but, but behind all of it was like constant talks of vision.
12:43And, and, and we had themes every year.
12:46So like, it was, I think one of the, one year it was like occupy, right?
12:50So we, that means that we had to occupy your territory, right?
12:53Be a soldier in the army of God.
12:55Right.
12:55And then it was multiply.
12:57That was the last one that I, from when I was there that we did, um, where we were told
13:02to not only take your place.
13:04Right.
13:05But you need to make sure you're multiplying and that aligned with their vision of making
13:08more churches.
13:09Right.
13:09So, you know, multiply and also give our, give us your money.
13:15Financial pledges were, were expected, right?
13:18Hundreds, even, you know, thousands of dollars in additions to tithes.
13:22Um, and, and tithes were not, we weren't taught to, to give willingly.
13:27Right.
13:28You know, we were highly encouraged.
13:29You were, you were to sign a pledge.
13:30If, if you, you know, if you write this down on a pledge, it's like you were, you were,
13:37you were, you needed to stick to your pledge.
13:39It was, it was, uh, the environment and, and the, the milieu of city reach was you, you just,
13:45you ought to stick to your pledge.
13:47You made a word, you made a word to the man and woman of God in the house and to God, you
13:51ought to fulfill that pledge.
13:53Okay.
13:53So we were told obedience to the vision was proof of faith.
13:58Um, and we know that true faithfulness, right?
14:00Well, I, I, I, true faithfulness, it is obedience to, to God, right?
14:05To Christ and allegiance to man-made vision.
14:07So that was a big, that was a big deal.
14:09And that was one of the red flags for me where I was like, hmm, we're saying a lot about a
14:12vision.
14:13I'm like, what vision are we talking about guys?
14:16Hmm.
14:17I don't know.
14:18So it was a lot of that.
14:20It was a lot of that.
14:21Yeah.
14:21You know, I, I'll never forget.
14:23I went to a church after we left the high control group we were in and he was preaching
14:29from the first book of Samuel and the pastor showed up in shorts and we were like, what
14:36in the world is going on?
14:37Especially coming out of the religion we do, Pentecostal styled religion and dress codes.
14:41Yeah.
14:42And here he is in shorts.
14:43I'm like, what, what's going on?
14:44Why is he wearing shorts?
14:46He starts talking about, uh, first Samuel, I think it's 16.
14:50It says the, the Lord sees not as man sees the man looks on the outward appearance, but
14:55the Lord looks on the heart.
14:57And the whole sermon, that was actually one of the more memorable sermons because I really
15:02stopped and thought about the way that we, much like you, we had an appearance.
15:07We had to keep up the appearance and it turned into this thing where even if you were unhappy,
15:13you kind of tried to build yourself up and give the appearance that you were happy.
15:19If you were sick, if you were dying, you had to pretend that you weren't, you had to
15:23have this, you know, you, you set up this air around you that everything was perfect.
15:28And the problem was I knew many people and I knew that it wasn't perfect.
15:32In many ways it wasn't perfect, but we were trying to give that appearance.
15:37And we had that false sense of urgency, which is probably behind much of what you're
15:42describing.
15:43It had to be now we had to have, it wasn't the same type of revival culture that you
15:48were describing, but it, the underlying foundation is the same.
15:52You had this, you had to push the kingdom to come.
15:55You basically, you had to, and you had to present yourself in a way that your outward
16:01appearance was actually the selling point for other people joining the call, which is
16:06really weird because it, that's not what the gospel is all about.
16:09Right.
16:10So it was flipped completely upside down.
16:13But a lot of the things that you mentioned earlier, um, the psychological effects of being
16:18in that spiritual urgency, it is emotional intensity.
16:22You are, you are so stressed out in your emotions that you become an emotional wreck trying to live
16:29that, you know, keep up that image and live that high sense of urgency.
16:34And in the end, every single urgent point in time that they give in our churches, they would
16:41say the next election is it, this is the big one, or whatever it is, if there's a war
16:45breaking out in some country, that war signals that the
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