Elitism in High-Control Christianity: When "Super Faith" Becomes Spiritual Harm

John Collins and Jenny McGrath examine how elitism functions inside high-control Christian movements, shaping identity, behavior, and emotional health. Drawing from lived experience in movements connected to Branhamism, YWAM, and modern charismatic systems, they explore how "chosen" language, secret knowledge, perfectionism, and performance-based faith quietly produce chronic shame, burnout, fear, and long-term psychological harm. The conversation unpacks how elite identity becomes a leash rather than freedom—reframing exhaustion as devotion, suppressing normal human limits, and stigmatizing ordinary faith as failure. This episode also addresses why stepping away is often met with social punishment, how children and young adults are especially vulnerable, and what recovery can look like when faith is disentangled from control, surveillance, and spiritual superiority. ______________________ 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 - Visit the website: https://william-branham.org