Now imagine your parents were full fledge in a cult like this then you were born into it. That's what my life is. Born into the unification church "Moonies." Eventually got out, got my whole family out. It's hard to digest the fact that everything you believed your whole life is a lie. It's hard to go from having a clear purpose to not knowing what your life is really meant for. It's all good tho. Found a great girl and have a great son, I'm an electrician, lol Everything is ok. Make your own purpose

Would have been interesting to get a bit more info about the cult. What do they believe, what do they make their members do apart from isolate themselves, what makes them bad etc. This video seems a bit basic regarding information about the cult.

As someone who escaped this Hell hole of a cult, I can give you an idea of what they are like: -They target people who are unsure of their faith, especially if they are emotionally vulnerable (this is called “jundoing”/harvesting) -They start by asking you superficial questions about your faith and will treat you to meals or coffee -They invite you to have a Bible study with them, and at first they go over general stuff covered in Christianity -Then they invite you to a bigger Bible study where they “learn” alongside you and they start texting you all the time and wanting to hang out more (love bombing) -Once you get through the basic stuff, and after they deemed you open enough to their teachings (soft, tilled soil they call it) they begin to introduce their teachings -The Bible study become longer, more in depth, and require more dedication -The people who originally approached you are always following up with you, asking you questions, encouraging you to do more -Then they start introducing you to a bigger group, and they encourage you to travel to meet with everyone in person -In my case, I was in college, and when I started struggling to keep up with school they encouraged me that it was a necessary sacrifice -The out of town meetings grow larger and longer, they start introducing more of their teachings like: +the Promised Pastor who received the interpretation of Revelation from God +How only 144,000 are going to Heaven +If you get through the whole teaching series and then leave, you’ll never be able to get into Heaven -when you get through all of the lessons, you meet the real deal stuff (Skyped sermons from Korea, groups from all over the world) -You’re initiated in this super emotional love bombing ceremony -Then it’s revealed that the people who originally invited you already knew all the teachings, and that they acted like they were learning to monitor you -You learn the process for getting more members (the same process of how you were roped in) -They teach you to get people at any cost, even lying or leaving out the truth to convince someone to trust you It’s so much more, but it would take forever for me to write it all, and honestly reliving it is bringing back the severe depression I was suffering from at the time. If you have kids going to college please BE CAUTIOUS, they target college kids relentlessly as that is one of the most vulnerable times of a persons life.!

Yall, I found a similar church in Singapore and they tried to recruit me. My naiive self went to one of their personal meetings and they started talking about God reincarnated in some random man who is now wealthy from people worshiping him.

I never told anyone this but I was in it for over seven years. A few friends and myself brought most of the young adults from our filipino church to scj. Since I no longer attend, almost no one communicates with me anymore which sucks but I do understand. We're told to no longer talk to anyone who left the church. So I knew what would happen as soon as I moved to Vegas and stopped attending service. I still communicate with one of my group leaders here and there. I lost most of my 20s while attending the church, but to be honest I don't have any regrets. I learned a lot there. I did lose all of my friends, since we all joined scj together. Since then, I've made new friends, engaged and I am happier than ever. I do miss everyone there but my life is honestly so much better now post shincheonji. I joined the LA church when they were only at maybe 100-200 members. I remember everything. No one studied harder than me within the original Bible study that eventually graduated me into zion. I remember everything they taught and only dreamed of being one of their lectures. When i started to notice contradicting things is when I started to second guess what I full heartedly believed in which eventually caused me to leave. To this day, I still feel weird about leaving. After dedicating most of my 20s attending service, church, evangelizing to a lot of people, going to bible study 7x a week and leading small groups for years... it was difficult for me to adjust to a normal life. I'd say it took me about 3-4 years to get back on my feet, feel comfortable around non-zion family members and talk to someone because I'm genuinely interested in them, not because I want to evangalize to them.

Didn't give us any details about what happens in the cult?

I can understand if people are going through a hard time, they turn to cults and religions to find peace and acceptance. But even if everything seems harmless and peaceful at first, as soon as they say "This random guy here is a super special god-prophet. Quit your job, abandon your family, and give us money and you'll become a Chosen One," that would be a major red flag to anyone to get out.

another classic "Jesus revealed himself, but only to me" new prophet cult. I wonder how many claim that at any given time?

I left this group about 3 months ago. I was recruited into it by my university friend and ROOMMATE. Was scary. Only was in it for 5 months but I am still going through a lot of healing. There needs to be more awareness of this cult. Seriously. They are everywhere. I got recruited into the Australian branch

The Korean is not properly translated. They removed a lot of important comments and powerful words of the former cult member. Shame on Vice Media for not properly telling her story.

This church tried to lure me into a zoom session on "how to get closer to God" they did not advertise their name. They invited me to an introduction session, and the mentor, who claimed to be a teacher, asked me to identify three negative things people have said about me, three positives and three negatives I've told about myself and three positives. I immediately knew that this church is not preaching from Jesus's teachings as God does not cause us suffering. the church is what the bible refers to as "false prophets". The leader of this church is making himself like a GOD, which is wrong. It's a shame people use Jesus's name to do evil to others. I pray others are smart enough to get out! As soon as I noticed the BS, I called them out and blocked them! It's disgusting. I saw they were trying to fish for details about my personal life, but I remained boundaries . Well done VICE, FOR EXPOSING THEM.

It's like Korean Scientology

Has 250,000 followers but he's preaching only 144,000 will be saved lol

This movement/cult has moved all the way from South korea and found itself in New Zealand. I got invited from a friend to go along and attend. It's like a normal church pretty basic, everyone seems so inviting & welcoming and it feels like a church environment but growing up with christian pentecostal parents there were some things that I felt that were missing. The praise & worship was totally off, everyone was singing but not really worshiping god, the preaching was standard, no one was really on fire for god. After the service, we got into smaller groups to discuss our understanding of what had been taught and then my friend tried to convince me to join their online bible study group which was a duration of over 6 months, x3 times a week which i thought was ridiculous because i have other important commitments.. the moment I said no because I genuinely wanted to pray and ask god if this was the right church for me.. my friend started to force it upon me and use my vulnerability as a weapon against me. Thank god I'm not a pushover because I told her straight out that I won't be attending and now the friendship is awkward. I'm glad I made the right choice and listened to my gut intuition and got out.

“Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are savage wolves." - Matthew 7 : 15

11:02 "Churches are insufficient at teaching their followers about cults and their faults." Putting my Christian eschatology hat on for a moment, this could be a huge problem to those who believe in the "end times," since that "false savior" sounds like it'd be a typical cult leader just to a larger degree.

It's even harder to get out of a cult in the USA because of religious freedom. You wouldn't be able to do anti cult counselling. If you're in a cult you have to mentally leave on your own. You can only get help physically leaving and even then most people don't have anyone outside the cult to help them.

"You don't get rich writing science fiction. If you want to get rich, you start a religion." - L. Ron Hubbard (allegedly)

just about 6 days ago i have just recently lost my mother to “suicide” thing is my mum w had battled lots with her different kinds of mental health going from her battling postnatal depression after having my baby sister , then to her battling schizophrenia now anyways before my mum had died her friend said she apparently showed her friend , she had gotten real heavy into some organisation definitely the friend said it was asian or korean , idk apparently they’re normal at first luring people in with sermons and bible study sessions until it starts becoming an even bigger thing next thing you know they are taking all your time from you , telling you what to do n what not to do , what makes you a good christian from a bad , i am not 100% fully sure of this being the exact cult my mum may have just ended her life bc of , but i can’t help but think with the way mum was found before we buried her i believe there’s a bigger purpose to this i believe she would want me to speak it out and get it known by everyone i believe my mother would want these people taken down, these people who took a very emotionally vulnerable , loving,loyal and super dedicated mother from her whole family i believe i can’t just sit back and move on with life i feel i need answers i feel i need to solve this.

I met my my wife in Korea I remember her telling me about these people and to not talk to them I never knew why...

I'm about to join a cult. Jokes going to be on them when they realize that I don't have anything.

Guys, I stumbled upon this video just now and literally bawled to tears knowing how much they deceived and manipulated me. Help, please help me how to get out of this cult. I feel really betrayed. Damn, this is traumatizing.

As a former overseas member of this cult, I want to especially thank you for making this documentary. Shincheonji is not well know overseas, so when members leave this cult there are little to no resources for them to reach out for help and counseling. I myself am recovering all on my own, and while I wish to seek cult counseling and therapy here in the US it's very hard to do so because very few people here even know about this cult here. Still I am glad that awareness if being spread about them, and hopefully this will lead to overseas ex members to find a network they need to recover.

Asian Boss did a nice story on this too. This is really interesting wondering if they'll do the filipino fringe christian church next and the US expansion of both. They are known to be violent.. So I'd be careful that's just me though.

Right now my brother is in their emotional prison ... please do pray for him...

I was in cult when I was younger, it was called "The L.A. (Los Angeles) Church of Christ" now ICOC, International Church of Christ -- Most everyone in it was very well intentioned, and I will say that, because of these very kind, loving people, I did become a better person with a strong belief in God as my anchor that they helped cultivate. HOWEVER, the leader, his name was Kip that seemed well intentioned at first, but clearly his entire mission was just to take the tithes of the many thousands of the church's followers and use it to live a lavished life style. I went to 10,000+ seater events, and recall one moment where he just kept talking about tithes for an extended period of time, thinking... hmmmm, something isn't right lol. Anyhow, left the church, made some awesome friends, and kept the positive parts of the church alive in my life. Nonetheless, it's easy to get sucked in to a cult, I know. They used to prey on college students and had people recruiting at colleges, malls, etc. I don't regret the experience, but I'm glad I saw the dark side of religion as well.

I think it would be an interesting sociological experiment to put a bunch of altruistically inclined people together to see what kind of community is formed, next to a control group (of randomly chosen people). I'm not necessarily talking religious people, etc. I'm meaning merely those who are more apt to engage in non-profit pursuits to help others. What power structure would emerge? How would they manage things differently than currently arranged major societies?

Just left this cult a year ago and they still harass my friend who left a little after me

Love this type of content!

I just had a shincheonji member reach out to me on social media. I decided to check youtube to see if there is anything I can learn about this church. Im glad I found this video. I shared link to her

Please tell me where I can sign up?? I'm interested to join!

I want a father like that. I thank God for the families that helped these individuals see the truth and helped them be freed from this cult.

Kim Jong Un be like, " This is why I test rockets and have a demilitarized zone between us".

As a non-religious person I found it kind of odd that everyone interviewed in this video was a member or pastor from some other church. So their concern seemed to mainly be "That church is a cult, we need to get the people out of it so they can re-join our larger, more established cult." Like is this just a dispute between a bunch of splinter Korean Christian organizations or what? I mean, the person who was "saved" from this church seems to have simply switched her allegiance to another church, right? It might have helped to have had some secular opinions, maybe from scholars researching the field, to make it clear if and why this one church is a cult but the ones trying to pull members out of it are not.

Never heard of this church until now

The part i find fascinating is no one went to a psychiatrist they all got counseling from pastors, wow.

I wish you’d talk more about the type of brainwashing. What did they actually tell them? All I hear is how bad it was.

We all spend our time, money, and effort on something. Whether you think you have no religion or not you have a value system, a set of beliefs and that shows in your actions and words. A lot of people in the comments seem to think that the person helping her out is or could possibly part of another cult. think the important question we could be asking ourselves is "What am I doing to help those in need?" To be honest, for myself it's hard to say and also depends on the time period of my life. I know when I first experienced Jesus and freedom from believing my sins were all forgiven and started wanting to follow him know him and also love others because of how he loved me, I became a better person. I try to study different beliefs sometimes to understand where people are coming from. Being honest I had some amazing experiencing and gained freedom from an addiction I had. That was wonderful. After experiencing something bad in my life I started struggling again with that. I don't like the struggle and feel bad about it. I still want to quit again and hope I will not go back. I know I've experienced more fulfilling relationships and purpose following Jesus. However, I do also know there are a lot of Christian churches that don't preach truth or live by it. I know they and others have caused a lot of pain in people's lives and that deeply saddens me.

Thankyou for this video!!

This straight up reminds me of the Korean drama *'Save Me'* . Everything here is basically the same plot

Trading one cult for a more mainstream one...sounds legit.

But why is Vice using background music from the GBBO @1:57

15 months? A parents love is unparalleled

cults are all fun and games until someone says "and then he tried to touch me"

I live in South Korea and have heard about them before. They flaunted the COVID restrictions last year and ended up causing large cluster infections that drove the numbers up quite high. I believe the government had to come in and close them down to prevent it from getting worse. Personally I've never interacted with any of their people. Yes, I agree Vice could have done a better job explaining their beliefs. They did say that leader was treated like he was god like, they taught people to lie, to isolate themselves and to become dependant on the church. It also seems like they had a duty to recruit new members as well.

Is this a re-upload?

Vice you made a mistake. At 5:53 the translation is "wealth and honor," not "weath".

2:14 sounds like some person imitating what korean sounds like

Filmmakers have an ethical obligation to ensure that the identity of those who wish to remain unidentified is properly protected. The father of the cult member who is interviewed in this film has his face blurred, but he is shown clearly from behind, his wedding ring (unless it is a deliberate element of disguise) is clearly shown, and his distinctive nose is revealed. Anyone who knows this man would be able to easily identify him from the footage. This represents common poor practice on the part of filmmakers and the man in question has sufficient grounds to complain and/or litigate.

What's the hymn's name at 6:13?

Ohhhh now I understand Crossfit gyms.

honestly it feels like one cult VS the other

This going to end like heavens gate or Ohm Shimrikio?

Interesting and informative video

People in the comments calling all religious faith "cults" are causing real harm. Not only does it alienate people of different backgrounds, it also undermines the danger of real cults.

Terrible how these false pastors use the Bible to justify their sick perverse agendas

I came out of the Shincheonji cult. I never understood why it was called a cult, until two months into the course, they revealed that Man-Hee Lee is the 'New John' from Revelation.

Please, add voice over. I can't read subtitles all the time.

Was this reuploaded?

I was approached by them when I went to Seoul. I knew all about them since before I even got there so I knew I had to politely decline their offer. I've read about a few terrible encounters foreigners had though so it's just a friendly facade they put on whenever they approach you.

I was almost recruited yesterday by people I thought were my friends until I did my research...

Why reupload this with a new title? The old other one (launched may 19th) is titled "Why It's So Hard to Leave a South Korean Fringe Church"

please proofread your subtitle...

So, the only difference between cult and mainstream religion is that the mainstream folks said so.

After couple of month attending bible study with them there was a d-day when they wanted to registered me as their member. I told them I need time to think about that but kept insisting, not letting me to go home till midnight. They kept saying if not today then I can’t go to heaven ever. Ran away and never saw them again.

i also want to point out that shinjeonchi church was one of the main reasons why covid spread was huge in korea.

You should make one about Soka Gakkai.

I wish they would have touched more on what is going on inside the cult

I almost got recruited myself. I only got to the parables part that how I knew it was a cult! The guy was black and handsome and ever so subtle! It’s scary

5:46 It's been a while, but my recollection of the Bible, is that it's only through Christ that one is forgiven and finds redemption. Don't really recall anything about being wealthy or well known, or some chap called Lee.

I can't be the only one that felt how wrong showing how "saved" this poor girl is, really was in the context of her story and the way they realized this video feels wrong too. Wrong I tell you. Good to see, I'm not the only one that felt bad for her. Plus her parents did make her very vulnerable against this kind of practices, and act like she did something "evil" or something. It's all wrong, she looked sad at the end.

It's giving me Save me vibes

Crazy is good busine$$. Always has been .

@6:00 the translation caption says “weath” not “wealth”

Not so many people provably know this but there was a drama kinda like this one like 3-5 years ago

Jesus never said "Well done, you good and successful servant" he said "Well done, you good and faithful servant" people or believers get lured into cults by looking at the success of these ministries, for example - thousands of followers drawn to one man/woman, fancy looking building, great musical spectacle, like they're in a concert. but, sadly all of this is a facade; packaged like a product that is sensibly priced.

Can I request all to consider and think, how this "cult" is different from any other branches of most primary religions and their sects that has continuously branched out and is being preached across the world, especially under developed and developing countries? If those religions / sects have somehow converted an individual from their previous religion to theirs, then even this cult is not doing any thing wrong. Does it?

Wait a second! How do we know Logos Love isn’t a cult itself that is trying to steal Shincheonji’s customer base?!!

Time to get the popcorn 🍿

I am a native Korean and I know about these people. Only about 20-30% of my country is Christian, but they are very loud and you often see them preaching on the street or giving flyers promoting their church. These guys are a lot worse, will be kind and lure you, but if you try leave them, they will blackmail and harass you. They also ignored coronavirus regulations and regularly meet at church, which made it spread and we became more untrust of religion (especially Christianity and this church). I never cared about being an atheist but this year made me realize I should be glad for being an atheist. If you are in Korea, just don't talk to random people on the street unless you are asking for directions, and run if they are religious people spreading their religion.

Come on Vice do a Vice job on this story.

Can't over the caption about weath and honor in the world. You have so many staff members and not one of you can check the subtitles?

for those wondering what makes this bad. from wiki: "Shincheonji's teaching claims that their founder Lee is the pastor promised in the New Testament, and that the Book of Revelation is written in secret metaphors (parables) which only Lee is capable of deciphering" basically that lee guy is god and everyone is expected to leave their jobs, families etc to pretty much worship this lee guy. yeah safe to say its awful.

gotta say; this was some really thin reporting. I was sold on the problems the "cult" has caused; and maybe even the kookiness of the leader, .. but you didn't sell me on the goofy beliefs or techniques this cult was plying on their victims... Just really feels unfinished... 2/10 would not recommend

This so-called counseling appears to be a way for one cult to poach members from another cult.

People should live in present and only take care of things that they can control a very near future. Every one has some kind of hardship going on. We have to live with it.

Unfortunately, Shincheonji are preaching over the world now, not just Korea, but also China, the US, EU, and so on. They also target developing countries for charity (recruitment). My ex-girlfriend who is a Korean is still in Shincheonji. She literally left her jobs, friends, family, and of course, me also for her church. I didn't even realize she was in a cult until one of her friends told me. She's a core member in Shincheonji now. Shincheonji teaches its followers what to say, what to think, and what to do, they control your life with a highly organized system. In that system, it can take years to train a person into a deeply brainwashed core member. Shincheonji is smart, they define their " human resources", which means followers with different social statuses have different " missions". My ex is just from a middle-class family. She then started a part-time job in a local cafe, which allowed her to dedicate more time to the church. As I know, she gave 10 to 30% of her income to Shincheonji every month. After she became a core member, she spent almost 70% of her time in the church, the part-time job was just to cover her daily expense.

⁠The comments are interesting… It’s like people hear some parts of the lectures but not the others. It reminds me of Matthew 13 or Revelation 2-3!“he who has an ear, let him hear”. 👂 It just shows that some can hear and some can’t… propchey is fulfilling right here in this very comment thread 😳 🙇‍♀️ 🙏

the famous kdrama actor *park bo gum* has been a member of this cult since he was young and has even tweeted his support for their leader.

They call it “plotting”- Yep, that’s the 🚩

Churches, cathedrals, and chapels need more kinds of doctrines

so im from the roman catholic church and could identify some of the problems they were talking about. something to think about when try to define "religion vs cult"

Gotta love social control ,…….it’s real man. Live your life, love God and be kind to others….not so hard to do,…..no need to “compete” to be saved,..or lie and/or isolate yourself from others to prove what??? 🤦🏽‍♂️

"churches are insufficient at teaching their followers about cults and their faults" NO REALLY xD

why reupload?

But what I don’t get is what’s so enticing about Shincheonji?

"I know that after my departing grievous wolves shall enter in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them." acts 20 : 29-30

Please are they called NEW HEAVEN NEW EARTH in the UK. As I am currently undertaking the bible study sessions 3x a week

I don't understand how is a fringe church any different from a normal one?

Dug into korean search engines and found numerous youtube channels that are mass promoting this cult church. Comments under the videos are all repeating the same lines of 'curious to join...', 'part of the bible, curious to join' etc. very interesting for sure.