<\/p>\n
Singer Joy Villa burst on the scene years ago for wearing bold outfits in support of conservative leaders and causes. But, today, she\u2019s speaking candidly about her faith \u2014 and her journey out of Scientology and into Christianity.<\/p>\n
\u201cI grew up Christian, born again, saved, evangelical, laying of hands, praying in tongues, you know, all the gifts, charismatic \u2014 all the gifts of the spirit,\u201d Villa recently told The Bible Bros Podcast. \u201cAnd my dad was a minister, and my parents unfortunately passed away almost 20 years ago, and so I lost them at a very young age.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite growing up active in the faith, something inside Villa eventually shifted.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was like such a Christian scene kid, and I knew that I wanted to be a singer, and an actress, and \u2026 I wanted to go to Hollywood,\u201d she said. \u201cI wanted to make it. I was unfortunately abused when I was a little girl \u2026 when I was 4.\u201d<\/p>\n
That sexual abuse had a profound impact on Villa\u2019s thoughts and perspective as she grew up.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat sort of opened up a world of demonic feelings, to be honest, demonic control around me because I started having these feelings,\u201d she said. \u201cI would have dark feelings, feelings I shouldn\u2019t be here, kind of like ideations of wanting to off myself as a kid \u2014 feeling very isolated, very alone. So I grew up with that, but also very artistic, very talented, going into arts.\u201d<\/p>\n
By the time Villa was around the age of 20, she was dabbling in professional acting. Living the Hollywood life, though, brought further trauma. Amid that difficulty, though, she still found herself praying and asking God for the path forward.<\/p>\n
But she eventually found herself embroiled in Scientology \u2014 a faith system of which she was initially skeptical. Villa started going to the church\u2019s Celebrity Center in Hollywood after she was hired to walk in a runway show.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey give you the free personality test, they\u2019re smiling, they\u2019re bright, they\u2019re clean, they\u2019re shaking your hand, they\u2019re looking you in the face, they\u2019re remembering your name,\u201d she said. \u201cLike, you\u2019re so traumatized in Hollywood, right? LA is crazy. And so you\u2019re like, \u2018Oh wow, you\u2019re giving me a chance. You\u2019re here, you\u2019re looking at me.\u2019 They had free acting classes. They had free seminars on health and nutrition, everything I was into.\u201d<\/p>\n
Over time, Villa became increasingly ingrained in the world of Scientology. Some people inside reportedly told her they were Christians, too, further confusing her theology.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe more I learned, the more I got into it, and the more I got sucked into this system without knowing I was in the system,\u201d Villa said. \u201cIt\u2019s like boiling the frog very slowly. You don\u2019t realize it until it\u2019s too late.\u201d<\/p>\n
Listen to the latest\u00a0episode\u00a0of \u201cQuick Start\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n In many ways, it was the perfect storm for Villa.<\/p>\n \u201cFirst, it was like the feeling of wanting family. I\u2019d lost my parents. I didn\u2019t have a community,\u201d she said. \u201cSo they kind of suck you in with this community. They\u2019re like, \u2018Oh, we\u2019ll be your family.\u2019 That\u2019s what one of the staff members said.\u201d<\/p>\n The appeal was hard to deny. Soon, Villa said Scientology put her \u201ceverywhere,\u201d including promotional materials.<\/p>\n \u201cThey had posters everywhere, on all the churches, like around the world,\u201d Villa said.<\/p>\n The singer said she eventually came to conclude that the \u201croots of Scientology are witchcraft\u201d and \u201cextremely dark.\u201d Eventually, this led her to separate from the system to which she had fervently clung.<\/p>\n But Villa was a Scientologist for 15 years and said the faith system had become her \u201caddiction.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cFinally, though, it got so just like every addiction \u2014 it works in the beginning \u2026 but the cost will destroy you, and the cost started destroying me,\u201d she said. \u201cI lost so much weight \u2026 I was working 12 hours a day, paying for thousands of dollars a week in the United Kingdom, training to get to the next level \u2026 and these demonic voices kept telling me, \u2018You\u2019re dead. You\u2019re going to die. You\u2019re no good. You\u2019re no good. You\u2019re no good.’\u201d<\/p>\n She eventually descended into sadness and realized that nothing she thought was working was actually helping to heal her. These realizations forced her to flee Scientology.<\/p>\n \u201cI was constantly masking and camouflaging my pain,\u201d Villa said. \u201cAnd I broke down on my kitchen floor, and I cried, and I said, \u2018Jesus help me.\u2019 Because I would have ended my life. I would have ended my life.\u201d<\/p>\n And after she left, she said the more than 100 people she led into Scientology also left \u2014 something she is relieved about.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m born again and out of Scientology, like \u2014 I\u2019m reborn again, rebaptized, gave my life over to Jesus Christ as my Lord and savior,\u201d Villa said. \u201cAnd I will never, ever go back to any man-made anything.\u201d<\/p>\n She now believes she struggled with the spirit of pride as a celebrity. Scientology helped feed that \u201cspirit of narcissism,\u201d which fueled her association with it. Now, Villa said she spends her time warning about the dangers of Scientology.<\/p>\n \u201cPraise God, He sent me free,\u201d she said. \u201cThat was three years ago I got out, and that\u2019s been the journey, and my life has been so much better. I lost a lot. \u2026 But I found Jesus again. \u2026 I\u2019m the sheep. He left the 99 to find one.\u201d<\/p>\n Please sign up for\u00a0Faithwire\u2019s daily newsletter\u00a0and download the\u00a0CBN News app\u00a0to stay up-to-date with the latest news from a distinctly Christian perspective.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Singer Joy Villa burst on the scene years ago for wearing bold outfits in support of conservative leaders and causes. But, today, she\u2019s speaking candidly about her faith \u2014 and her journey out of Scientology and into Christianity. \u201cI grew up Christian, born again, saved, evangelical, laying of hands, praying in tongues, you know, all<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29601,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[819,2032,3211,1055,9817,7421,221,9816,1217,9818,328],"class_list":["post-29600","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jesus","tag-delivers","tag-details","tag-dire","tag-evil","tag-exscientologist","tag-fled","tag-free","tag-godset","tag-joy","tag-villa","tag-warning"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29600","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=29600"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29600\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/29601"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29600"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=29600"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=29600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}