Cult in the Autistic Community: Scripture Prescription Ministries

Yes, a cult within the autistic community. It’s full of grandiose ideas, G-d complex, attempts to separate victims from their families, etc. The autistic community is more susceptible to this type of abuse because growing up, disabled children are most likely excluded from church activities as children. Not only that, most autistic adults were diagnosed as adults because not much was known about autism when we were children. This caused having little to no support at home. 

Study Proving Why Disabled People Have Had Bad Experiences in Church

According to the National Survey of Children’s Health, this has been going on for a very long time. The odds of an autistic child never attending a religious service were nearly twice as high as compared to typical children. The odds were also significantly higher for children with ADHD, developmental delays, and other neurodivergencies. 

According to this study, sanctuaries were more understanding to children with health conditions like asthma, type one diabetes, epilepsy, or other physical conditions. These children were just as likely to be at religious services as healthy children. 

Neurodivergent children were often excluded from other social gatherings and had the greatest need for community social support. These children were more likely to feel unwelcome when attending religious services. 

“I would like to think that this research could serve as a wakeup call to the religious communities in our nation,” said Clemson University sociologist Andrew Whitehead, the researcher who ran the study.”In many ways, this population is unseen because they never show up, or when they do, they have a negative experience and never return.”

Dr. Whitehead has two autistic children who are nonspeaking and currently attend church. “We have had church tell us that there was no way for them to serve our child’s needs and that if we were to attend it would have to be either my wife or I providing him care every Sunday. We’ve also spent over a year not attending because we just didn’t have enough strength to try to navigate a new place of worship, try to advocate for our children’s needs, on top of all the other care work we are involved in throughout the week. 

Statistics from the study:

• The odds of children with depression or anxiety never attending services were 1.73 times greater than children without. 
• The odds of children with oppositional defiant disorder never attending was 1.36 greater. 
• The odds of children with ADHD never attending were 1.19 times greater. 
• The odds of autistic children never attending were 1.84 times greater. 

The reasons for this can be complex but prior research shows barriers put up by the congregation are a major factor. They can be a lack of training and programming and other barriers. They can often be patronizing to children and this makes them uncomfortable. 

Personal Story with Bug During Purim

Purim is the Jewish holiday about the story of Esther. It is supposed to be a fun holiday and kids really enjoy this. Bug was 4, so this was before the last rabbi was replaced by our really amazing rabbi. Anyway, during the service, every time the cantor chants “Haman,” noise makers or groggers are used to drown out his name because he forced all the Jews to bow down to him. Little did he know, the king’s wife Esther was Jewish and she tricked him into freeing the Jewish people. 

At the end of the service, there is a play also known as the Purim Schpiel. This is a play put together by children to retell the story of Purim in a creative way. Bug was 4 and he was sitting in the aisle watching. An elderly woman yelled at him to sit in the pew. I explained that it was uncomfortable for him and he wasn’t hurting anyone. She then told me I should have left them at home and told me to leave. I took a photo of her and sent it to the Rabbi. The Rabbi then had a chat with her and since she was a big donor they did nothing. When the new Rabbi was hired we told him about the situation, and he told her it wasn’t tolerated.

The Autistic Behind the Cult

Rebekah Samuel, who also goes by Rebekah Josann, is a Jill of all trades. She calls herself The Lady Gadget. 

She is a:

artist

author

blogger/tech expert

teacher

life coach

“Rebekah Samuel aka The Lady Gadget is on the autistic spectrum, a small business owner, community organizer, and life coach. 

As an autistic, she is passionate about discipleship, life-coaching, spiritual and emotional healing ministry, local community work, and Blogger tech education and support. “

She started this ministry and calls herself a life coach with no formal training. In order to lead a church she needs to go to a seminary. No formal training in clerical studies or life coaching. 

Groups She is Currently Running

Credientals:

On her website , Rebekah shows certificates of completion of two classes. THATS IT. Mental health professionals such as social workers and therapists have to go through YEARS of study and licensure requirements. Showing the completion of two classes hardly shows you are qualified.

Level 101 classes are just an introduction and level 201 classes are just a continuation from level 101 classes. She hardly has any education at all.

Also, look at the completion date, it’s August of this past year. She has been operating this since 2019 and just decided to get some education on what she is doing. That is scary.

Letters of Love

Samuel has been featured in a book. It is called Letters of Love. She wrote part of the book. She is one of 12 authors in the book. She acts like SHE is a best selling author. No, other people made the book good too. I haven’t read it so I don’t have an opinion of it.

Services she offers:

• Hair, skin, and health with no credentials or training
• “Aspergers and Christianity” is a little aspie supremacist too. 
• Custom website templates
• Blogger Tech support services
• Photography
• Biblical Discipleship and Spiritual Support
• Book Publishing
• Sales services
• Chatty Autie Show Podcast

Scriptures Prescription Ministries

The healing place Services offered:  Recover from trauma restore your identity in Christ Rejuvenate your faith reconcile your relationships repurpose your pain to kingdom passion

Scriptures Prescription Ministries was started by Rebekah J. Samuel. It is run from a Facebook page (it looks like the Facebook page is closed down and its just a profile now called Rebekah Josann and claims its her business profile. ) and Discord channel. The Facebook page was started on June 22, 2019. The Discord Channel was started on May 21, 2021. Thankfully her Facebook page only has 300 followers. 

The text on the original linked website states: 

“Do you feel broken? Like no matter how much you try to get life to work for you, there seems to be something that interrupts your progress every time?

Maybe you’ve never experienced joy in your life, and instead are tired, depressed, anxious, and barely making it day to day.

Many of us go through life with trauma. It can stem from abuse in our childhood, a bad relationship, and even from the church. Those who were supposed to protect us and love us.

Most of us don’t recognize it when it manifests later.  
We find ourselves stuck in patterns, behaviors, and habits that hold us back from succeeding in life, but we don’t want to live this way. Yet, don’t know the way out…

Some of us may feel we are called to something greater but have no idea where to begin.

*********************

I remember these times. I awoke to 3-5 panic attacks a day, hiding in my closet, trying to push out the noise and the stress. Screaming in my home when my husband wasn’t around. Anything to seek relief from the physical pressure of life.  At the time, I did not know I was autistic which lead to even further sensitivity outlets and intensified how I was feeling.

There had to be a way out. I finally was able to see a counselor, but she didn’t truly get me. Eventually, she quit on me because my trauma was “Too much for her to handle.”  I was told by another therapist I didn’t qualify for EMDR therapy for my chronic PTSD diagnosis because I didn’t have the support system needed to last and get through it. Sound familiar?

It seemed all hope was lost for me…

But then a counselor came into my life, truly listened to my frustrations, and showed me I had what it took inside of me to heal. Along with my faith in God, the Word of God, and willingness to take action, I learned more about myself over the next few years. I began to see patterns and cycles in my life and not just my own others as well.

That’s when I knew, God, through my own trauma, gave me a gift to see healing on the horizon for others as well. In 2019 He gave me a vision and instructions to start Scripture Prescriptions Ministries which started out as “practice”. 

But then as I watched one life after another be transformed through this gift in every life I touched and interacted with, I realized God was doing something huge here.

In 2021, He moved me forward on Easter weekend to start “Identity Recovery Program”,  a one one one life coaching trauma healing program to help those of you who are fighting through each day in an uphill battle, find hope and healing.  A transformational experience like no other.

In Identity Recovery we explore the roots of your paralyzation and loss of identity along the way. We push past the mental, emotional, and spiritual blocks through practical tools, exercises, and other resources I’ve created in one on one sessions to recover the identity meant for you through Jesus Christ. Targeted, Biblical discipleship in Scripture Prescriptions will renew your mind to healthiness and wholeness.

I will uproot the sources to your trauma, you will be set free from the constrains of your traumatic childhood/adulthood. Past abuse regardless of what kind, will no longer define your identity or keep you held back from living the life you want to live in freedom.

In my upcoming paid membership community (The Healing Place), you’re invited to work through the deep roots that prevent you from moving forward in life with others who understand. As you grow in your faith and in God’s Word, you will learn to make Jesus your number one passion and focus!”

All this sounds great but this is the very verbage used to prey on the vulnerable to join a cult. They offer membership for $25 a month but they also offer other members to sponsor new people so more people can join. Either way, more money for her. 

She uses the fact that she is autistic and has PTSD to prey on others. 

Current Website:

The website has changed to rebekahjosann.com

This website has the introduction that says:

WELCOME! I’m Rebekah and my life mission is to SERVE YOU.

I use my tech support, business coaching/systems and processes virtual assistance and networking, God sized gifts and experiences to educate and support NEURODIVERGENTS and OUTCASTS who desire to heal , break free from the same old, and connect with THEIR community from deep hurts and pain.

“We experience life’s trauma from faith, church, family, and friends. This results in diagnoses we didn’t ask for. These affect our experiences at church and interactions with others.

Whoever you are, in your journey of healing with me, you will find you have gifts and talents and want to share YOUR story.

You’re here to thrive, heal, and grow. You don’t have to go on living life the way you have. I have solutions designed just for you!

Come join me through the resources and programs below and don’t forget to join my NO SPAM email list to stay up to date! If what you’re looking for isn’t here, please reach out and send me any questions/comments you have. I look forward to learning more about you!

With compassion and love,”

Type of Coaching and Prices

It has gone up by a lot since it was $25 a month. Here are here prices:

Solutions to Freedom and Purpose

Excerpt from her website:

CLASSIC: IDENTITY RECOVERY 1:1 COACHING PROGRAM

Many of us are stuck in patterns, behaviors, and habits that hold us back from succeeding in life. Some of us may feel we are called to something greater, but have no idea where to begin.

In IdentityRecovery we explore the roots of your paralyzation and loss of identity along the way. We push past the mental, emotional, and spiritual blocks through tools, exercises, and other resources in one on one sessions to recover the identity meant for you through Jesus Christ and help you reconnect with community and relationships from isolation. 

There is much work to be done! Click below to apply or sign up to sponsor someone to their success and healing!”

She charges $400 for one-on-one “coaching” sessions. That is exploitation at its worst. A population that does not have a lot of money as a whole and she wants to exploit people for their money. It’s disgusting.

Parenting to Peace

PARENTING POINTERS

Kids can be a joy, but also exhausting! You need special approaches to the various personalities and psychologies.

With extensive background training in working with children of several ages, I studied different types and realized over the years, that children need certain developmentally appropriate skills and strategies to grow and develop properly.

I can help you understand your child in a fresh way while also having your child involved in the coaching process. 

With my creative strategies and solutions to the problems you may be facing, there is hope without pulling your hair out or screaming at the top of your lungs. I promise!

She also coaches parents when she has no experience in rearing children, no education in early childhood, or any children of her own. She also charges $800 for this service.

Revitalize Your Marriage

A MARRIAGE LIFELINE

Excerpt from her website:

Are you feeling like your marriage could use some TLC and maybe even a life raft?

Marriages can be messy and challenging especially if you found your spouse to be different than you originally thought. We believe you can overcome what a marriage brings with some revitalization and reinvigorating strategies.

Give your marriage a boost of love and servant heartedness with targeted unique to you coaching designed to bring you and your sweetheart closer together despite the trauma that may lurk in the background. I use fresh creative ways to resolve conflict, work through differences, and learn teamwork towards mutual goals.

(Must have two willing partners for maximum success.)

You guessed it, this one is also $800 per month. She is in her second marriage and is advising people on how to keep their current one alive? Thats not how that works.

A Victim Speaks Out

Another advocate reached out to me because they were worried about their friend. They were added to a chat group. The victim and the advocate wish to be anonymous and it shall be honored. This chat group was started by Mrs. Samuel. This victim had no idea this chat group was being made about them. 

“The rundown: My name is Rebekah. I’m a friend of [redacted] and been working with her in mental health and life coaching pro bono for about 6 months or maybe longer now. I know ALOT about their life and situation. You guys were invited recently to their group [redacted], which is why you’re receiving this. Without giving too many details, [redacted] home situation despite what they are saying and believing is NOT as safe as they are being lead to believe. I see something called an abuse cycle occurring here. Recently thier family who are the perpetrators of the abuse took thier ipad away with all accounts open which of course exposed all thier friends to them. I was able to very quickly help them shut down all accounts. All accounts were supposed to be deleted and removed and they were supposed to go offline according to our plan until we could figure something else out that was safe for everyone. I then discovered they made this group and they told me that it was thier original profile which was exposed to thier family. I know [redacted] and they do not know what they are doing with all of this. My goal and aim is to get them back online, but safely with fresh everything unattached to her profile or identifiable information. they need our support as friends but they also need to be extra careful online. Their phone was threatened to be taken next. Im working on protocol safety with thier on how to keep themself protected from a breach again. To be cut off from our community and support completely would be detrimental to thier mental health and situation so my goal is to keep that intact. Now, because they has the old profile [redacted]connected to this group, we need to leave the [redacted] immediately. Unfriend and block any of thier accounts right now that identify them. [redacted], [redacted], thier location, her birth date, the game choices references,[redacted] even. (I realized it’s a character name in one of thier stories which I think they told thier family about). I am working with them in a safe communication avenue to set up a new profile and strategy with none of this information so no one would know it’s them or get into thier accounts from the ipad or phone. We have to be vigilant with this situation, but we also can be the support they need safely by going these routes. Now that I wrote this, I am going to unfriend and block thier accounts and leave thier group. We can set up a fresh one once I know everything is good and I’ll invite you to it via discord. See the link in the first message. If you have questions, you can scroll through this thread for info but then join discord! This thread will be deleted soon. Thank you!”

After this, I was added to a discord channel that was made for this purpose. 

“1. The grandmother did not threaten to sue as a lawsuit specifically and cannot in a situation like this have any legal standing even if she tried, but she threatens [redacted] with removing thier devices, sending them to the mental health facility, isolation in the definition of the word, and if the grandmother not knowing thier legal bounds, she could try to sue or cause trouble with specific people she’s seen messages in as intimidation. 2. One of our own with mental health challenges was targeted to [redacted] as someone accused of trying to take [redacted] away. There was a threat based on a comment how they’d help her if she wanted to move to their state in casual conversation where she was sharing things with us.. She took it as they were going to take her and then they got a weird call that same day with someone claiming to be a psychologist asking for his social security number. May have been unrelated but it happened with minutes. Also the way [redacted] tells stories there can be time in between and that we don’t know. Just a weird coincidence caused him to get freaked out and triggered some anxiety he already was having. 3. Threats are empty by the Grandma, but she has called us outsiders and warned [redacted] to not talk to us. She’s taken her iPad and keys, seen the messages, so now she’s on higher alert. [redacted] did get them back and there’s been talk about counseling. But nothing is guaranteed and this is beginning stages so for now we wait. If anything else is needing cleared up, please ask me so we can get stories straight. Also, again, [redacted] has told me things that she needed to clarify later too so I’m passing on what I’m learning from [redacted] to understand the situation to the best we can not being there. I’ll try my best to be more clear so I’m understood by what I mean to say. Oh the challenges of neurodiversity when relaying information.”

The victim had no clue. The victim messaged me because the advocate told them that they reached out to me. 

This is what really happened:

“I should have listened to my family about her. I mean, at the time, I had self-diagnosed autistic because I was trying to figure out if I was at all autistic.

She started sending me abuse cycle pictures because I was telling her about ho way family didn’t listen to my about my autism traits. I think she took advantage of that.

I mean, I just wanted my family to try and understand my autism al little bit more. I feel like now they understand because of my diagnosis. 

This worries me because now I have to worry about if she’ll try and contact me or try and send me something without me knowing. She was trying to send me a burner phone. Don’t know if she’s still trying. 

I just want no connection to that woman now.”

The advocate had talked to their grandmother on the phone and everything was OK. The victim wanted to be understood and Mrs. Samuel took advantage.

The victim is frightened of Mrs. Samuel but they are safe. 

Another Victim Speaks out After Seeing this Article

Years after posting this article, another victim of this cult reached out.

She was sucked in and after she was scammed out of a lot of money and a friend sent her this article, she contacted me. She has asked to be anonymous and I will respect her choice.

She joined her Autistic Christian group last year and is pretty sure that Rebekah sought her out after she posted in the group about her own personal trauma. She has a history of spiritual abuse from the past that was still happening.

Rebekah messaged her claiming that she could do numerous things to help her with their trauma. She had sticker shock at the price but Rebekah manipulated her into paying her outrageous fee after making false promises.

My informant thinks Rebekah might have helped in one way but a lot of it was her stalking her personal Facebook page and monitoring her posts. After creeping her page, Rebekah then claimed in sessions that the informant was triggered. Rebekah then told the informant that she needed to stop posting on her own Facebook page because she was “feeding into stuff.”

One time, Rebekah had her write a letter to a family member, pressing her to send it. The informant did not feel comfortable sending it because the letter was addressed to a toxic family member. Rebekah did change her mind and she said that the informant did not have to send it.

Once the informant “showed signs of healing,” Rebekah pressed her to share things on TikTok. It made the informant uncomfortable that Rebekah wanted her to rebrand herself and be catchy. She also wanted the informant to be on podcasts and such. The informant told Rebekah that she did not want to be famous, just share her stories.

After this happened, the informant just wanted to take a break. Before she told Rebekah, she told her that she was uncomfortable with that last push. In the back of her mind, she said it felt like she wanted to use her to get more clout.

The informant says she felt uncomfortable telling her that she wanted a break. She knew Rebekah would not be happy. This was because she was not getting the informant’s money.

Rebekah wanted to know the informant’s exact reasons and she did not feel safe doing so.

Another week went by and Rebekah “lovebombs my notifications.” After this, Rebekah messages the informant about a post she made and if Rebekah was doing that thing.

After this interaction, the informant blocked Rebekah on all social media.

After this, the informant snooped on her via an alt Facebook account because the informant thought Rebekah might make a post about her, and she did.

The informant’s friend commented on this post then it was deleted.

After deleting the post, Rebekah messaged the informant’s friend, sent screenshots to the friend of their conversation, and then blocked the friend.

Agreement Signed by Informant and Rebekah

How to Know if You Are in a Cult

1. Opposes critical thinking

2. Isolating members and penalizing them for leaving

3. Emphasizing special doctrines outside of scripture

4. Seeking inappropriate loyalty to their leaders

5. Dishonoring family unit

6. Crossing biblical boundaries of behavior

7. Separation from the church

If you think you are in a cult, know there is help for you. Do what you can keep your cult from finding out. Be safe. 

It gets better. She charges $800 for marriage counseling when she has taken a class. Not licensing, a class.

Cult Leader was not Happy after I Updated

So, My latest informant contacted me that Rebekah made a post about me without mentioning me saying I slandered her but I have proof to back what I say. She looks like she is making everything about her and is whining with no backup.

I hope and pray that she stops preying on people but I doubt she will. Using religion to pray on people is horrible and I can never get behind this.

Sources:

https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2018/july-web-only/study-us-churches-exclude-children-with-autism-addadhd.html

https://rebekahjsamuel.newzenler.com/f/the-healing-place-scripture-prescriptions-ministries

https://www.rebekahjsamuel.com

https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2014/06/the-seven-signs-youre-in-a-cult/361400/

private infiltrated groups