My aunt joined out of college and convinced my mother that the end of the world was coming in 1975.
I was just a kid in 1975 when the end of the world did not come. My mother left the religion to return later, but I did not return with her.
Fast forward to my young 20's. I made a mess of my life and tried to commit suicide. Jehovah's Witnesses was the only religion I knew. So when they told me God spared my life for a higher purpose, it sounded great to me.
So I like to say that joining a dangerous mind-control cult was better than killing myself.