A woman who spent 14 years married to a man in a Christian cult has spoken of how she finally left him just as he went to fetch his gun.

Tia Levings is author of A Well-Trained Wife: My Escape From Christian Patriarchy - an instant New York Times best seller.

She told Moncrieff that she grew up a devout Christian – adding that the sect she was a member of was “very puritanical”.

“They didn’t believe in birth control, they wore prairie style dresses - so, it was more like the American old West,” she said.

“They home schooled at a time when nobody home schooled - it was very fringe and alternative. 

“They were big into basic, simple nutrition - things that sounded good on the surface but were all part of this more formulaic alternative lifestyle.” 

'Christians are meant to take over the planet'

The Church subscribes to ‘Dominionist Theology’ - which preaches an extremely hardline doctrine to its members.

“Dominionist Theology teaches that Christians are meant to take over the planet – the globe,” Ms Levings said.

“In America, [they want to] make America a Christian nation and the dominant state religion.” 

Despite this, when Ms Levings was young, she thought the sect “looked wholesome and very appealing”.

“We had a growing number of families in our Church - 20,000 people on the membership rolls,” she said. 

“They were very revered and respected families in our Church because they were more devout than the rest of us.

“Some of us wanted to use birth control and have jobs and careers and go to school.” 

Marriage

Although Ms Levings wanted to go to art school, it was frowned on to continue education if you were a woman. 

Instead, she met her husband - a Navy man who had moved to the area and began attending Church. 

He was also looking for a wife and proposed to her when she was just 19 years old.

“He found me and declared himself,” she said. 

“I was conditioned to accept who declared himself as God’s [wish] for my life.” 

When it came to relationships, women were not supposed to argue with men and the pair were engaged within a month of meeting each other. 

In the 14 years they were together, Ms Levings became pregnant nine times, had five live births and today has four surviving children.

Poverty

Through this all, the family were poor and Ms Levings soon realised she had to go out and earn her own money - a taboo in the community.

She had what she described as the “luck of the internet” when she started a blog and soon realised she was “very good at it”.

“It was my ticket to freedom,” she said. 

Escape

Abuse was another feature of their marriage and Ms Levings described it as a “threat” that was “always there”.  

“There was every flavour of abuse,” she said.

“There was sexual, psychological, emotional, financial, physical - it’s kind of baked into the culture.” 

It was only when her eldest child was 10 that she escaped – realising her family’s situation had reached a “tipping point”.

“We escaped at midnight and it was in the middle of a very violent scene that was multiple hours long,” she said. 

“He had left very randomly and suddenly - which was not something he never did in a situation like that. 

“It gave me a window to get the kids and get in the car and go.

“When I did, I passed him in town and realised the reason he had left was to go back to his office and retrieve the gun that he had left there a few weeks before.” 

He had threatened to use his gun “many times” but Ms Levings believes that, “I would not be here speaking with you if I hadn’t left in that moment.” 

If you have been impacted by domestic abuse, you can contact Women’s Aid for free on 1800 341 900.

Main image: Tia Levings. Image: Facebook.