“I Was Raised in a Pedophile Cult”

Podcast: We’re All Insane
Host: Devorah Roloff
Guest: Zach Comfort Zacchaeus
Date: April 6, 2026

Episode Overview

In this harrowing and deeply candid conversation, Zach Comfort Zacchaeus shares the unfiltered truth of his childhood spent in a pedophile cult on the US West Coast led by Tom Smith. Zach details the abject abuse, coercion, and trauma he and others experienced — but also traces the journey of his parents and explores the complicated aftermath of escape and healing. The episode avoids sensationalizing the trauma, instead focusing on the sharp, resilient voice of a survivor determined to live a life of honesty, service, and self-discovery.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Cult’s Origin and Leader: Tom Smith

• Founding Story: Tom Smith was convicted of molesting his daughter and, after a stay in jail and a psych ward, claimed to have religious visions that inspired him to create “The Truth True Church.”

  • “He decided he was going to start this church. So that was in the 80s in Las Vegas...it was charismatic church. People were like, speaking in tongues and doing stuff like that, which was fairly new for that.” (01:45, Zach)

• Manipulation and Abuse:

  • Early gatherings included “fire and brimstone” preaching, but quickly became bizarre and abusive. Tom would force women to French kiss him under the guise of spiritual testing, and normalized sexual boundary violations.
  • “He started getting a little weird… he would start, like, French kissing people and, like, women, and then he would try to have people do it to each other, like, in front of each other.” (02:56, Zach)

• Misogyny and Control:

  • The cult operated under intense misogynistic beliefs.
  • “Everything that happened was a woman's fault. Women were just these lustful beings… If you were in his church, you had to be married.” (03:18, Zach)

2. Family History & The Lure of Community

• Parental Trauma:

  • Zach’s mother and father both came from deeply abusive backgrounds, which contributed to their vulnerability to cult recruitment.
  • “I tell that story just so you kind of get an idea of the people that joined… people that were troubled, like they needed some form of community.” (11:36, Zach)

• Joining the Church:

  • Both parents became involved as teens/young adults in Vegas, drawn in by a sense of belonging and rigid clarity.
  • Tom enforced arranged marriages; Zach’s parents were paired in public, under duress.
  • “My dad would get up… say things that they were struggling with...the pastor says, brings my mom up, and he goes, do you want to marry this girl? And my dad said no. And so he starts yelling at him...So that's how they got married. And that's pretty much how all marriages were put together.” (13:30, Zach)

3. Isolation, Control & Commune Life in Oregon

• Escalation of Control:

  • Tom predicted the “end times” as a pretext to isolate the group on a commune in rural Oregon. Members liquidated assets to fund communal property. (14:00–17:00)

• Grim Living Conditions:

  • “People were hallucinating on the job, people were bone thin, losing weight. Kids were getting sick… babies died. He told them just bury it in the backyard.” (17:00–18:30, Zach)
  • Medical neglect was rampant, and Tom’s pets received better care than the children.

• Total Social Severance:

  • Members were not allowed contact with family/friends outside, and children never encountered outsiders.
  • “I didn’t talk to a single person outside of the church until I was 10.” (31:02, Zach)

4. Extreme Abuse & Enforcement

• Physical, Emotional & Sexual Abuse:

  • Frequent and sadistic corporal punishment, enforced silence, and psychological warfare.
  • Children beaten with extension cords, deprived of food, forced to eat separately, and sometimes went weeks without speaking to anyone, including parents.
  • “I didn’t hear a nice word for 10 years...For 10 years, I don’t remember a single nice or positive thing said to me.” (34:02, Zach)
  • “They beat these kids with extension cords, and then they’d put them in hot water after, so it stung… I mean, kids were treated like shit.” (27:43–33:10, Zach)

• Sexual Predation by Leader:

  • Tom systematically took children into his home under the pretense of “adopting” them—the same thing happened to Zach and his sister. Zach describes being groomed and abused.
  • “He came in. I’m not going to get into the details...he said he was checking to see if you peed the bed, but that’s not what was happening… I remember being like, ‘fuck this,’ basically.” (51:20, Zach)
  • The leadership’s crimes were open secrets within the cult—Tom was even confronted about his past molestation on TV and denied wrongdoing.

5. Breaking Free: The Collapse of the Cult

• Intervention by Authorities:

  • Doctors noticed signs of abuse when Zach and his sister were taken to the hospital; Child Services intervened, but the adults coached the children to lie.
  • “They coached us to, like, lie to them… they said, ‘They don’t count, they’re Gentiles, you’re not really lying to them.’” (58:01, Zach)

• Cult Disintegration:

  • Facing scrutiny, Tom began ejecting families. Zach’s was given only their clothes and put on a bus; the family relied on relatives for shelter, crowding 11 people into a tiny trailer.

• Aftermath:

  • After initial trauma and culture shock, Zach began the difficult process of adapting to the outside world.

6. Adapting & Healing After Trauma

• Integration Challenges:

  • “I don’t know anything about sports… If you want to talk about farm life and the Bible, I got you. But other than that, good luck.” (69:08, Zach)
  • Early school years were marked by confusion, bullying, and learning to “fake it” socially.

• Anger, Violence, & Reflection:

  • Zach fell into the “wrong crowd,” substance use, and violence, including getting stabbed in a street fight at 16. He describes the role of male role models and the importance of making choices for himself (75:00–78:35).

• Encountering Therapy & Purpose:

  • Found meaning and self-worth in helping others: working with incarcerated or mentally ill youth, serving as a therapeutic recreation specialist, and striving to be the positive adult he lacked as a child.

• Complex Healing:

  • Zach is honest about having never had an open emotional reckoning with his parents; family conversations remain terse and factual.
  • “I went to therapy one time… She was awesome. I just didn’t feel like I was going to make any progress.” (114:40, Zach)
  • Healing is ongoing: helping others is his form of therapy. He’s deepened his self-awareness and strives in daily life to counteract the abuse of his childhood by being present and uplifting to those he works with and to his own daughter.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the cult leader’s abusive hypocrisy:
  “This guy had dogs, cats, and those animals had more medical attention than probably all of the kids combined.” (21:20, Zach)

• Realization about the cult leader’s manipulation:
  “I fully expected him to go, ‘That’s not what happened…’ and he just kind of shook his head and walks away. I was like, this guy can’t read my mind.” (44:00, Zach)

• On leaving the cult:
  “When it was our turn to leave, I was actually pretty scared… You don’t know anything else. You had no money, right? Zero. Nothing. So we just rolled the dice.” (66:01–66:06, Da Vorah & Zach)

• Reflection on learned misogyny:
  “I realized it’s because in the church, Tom hated women. Women were, like, second-rate citizens… I was like, well, that’s kind of fucked up. That’s not a good reason to not like her.” (72:00, Zach)

• On his healing approach:
  “A lot of the work I’ve done, I guess, is just kind of talking myself through things. Or seeing, making mistakes and learning from it, which I’m fortunate to do because I know not everybody does that.” (114:23, Zach)

Important Timestamps

• [00:37] — Zach introduces himself and explains the cult’s origins
• [03:54] — Early abusive acts by the cult leader, including sexual abuse in public
• [11:32] — Zach describes his parents’ backgrounds: cycles of abuse
• [13:30] — Arranged marriages under pressure
• [14:00–18:00] — Move to rural commune; child mortality; enforced isolation
• [27:04–34:02] — Details of sadistic child abuse and forced silence
• [44:00] — Zach’s realization the cult leader isn’t “all-knowing”
• [51:20–54:32] — Experience of sexual abuse at leader's hands; enforced silence
• [58:01] — Child Services investigates; children coached to lie
• [66:01–68:49] — Family finally leaves the cult; struggles to adapt
• [75:14–78:35] — Zach's years of violence, addiction, and beginning of self-examination
• [91:22–96:21] — Lessons from working with at-risk youth; moving into helping roles
• [104:56] — On (not) talking to his parents about the past
• [114:23–115:45] — On healing: self-work vs. formal therapy

Final Reflections

Zach’s extraordinary journey underscores the generational nature of trauma, the seductive power of abusive communities, and the resilience it takes to reclaim one’s life and identity. His story, as raw and unfiltered as promised, offers hope that recovery is possible — and that those who’ve suffered most can become powerful agents of healing for others.

If you’d like to hear more like this, share your own story, or contact Devorah, see the links in the episode description.

“You have to do it for you, not for somebody else… That’s why I stopped getting in trouble, that’s why I stopped doing drugs — because I saw where it was going. Nobody asked me to.”
(117:12, Zach Comfort Zacchaeus)