‘I was recruited into a Christian cult’

It started with a simple message.

It was March 2024. She was looking to connect with Christians in Leeds. I’d always struggled making friends, and I was keen to meet Christians my own age.

I checked the profile. She was a real person, a student with an active social media presence.

We started chatting online. It was friendly and good-natured; we’d share what we’d been up to, what we were looking forward to, always encouraging each other in our work and faith. I was never asked anything personal or made to do anything that made me uncomfortable. I was delighted to have made a new friend and we chatted almost every day for the next five months.

Then in June she invited me to a Bible study. I was intrigued; study groups were a normal part of my spiritual life, a great way of meeting new people. She passed my name on and I was set up with a taster session and a mentor.

I wasn’t being asked to travel anywhere – I was simply invited to an online Bible study. I was told it was run by a typical non-denominational church in Manchester. Nothing about any of this aroused my suspicions - why would it? 

Halfway through the session the study leader introduced himself and the church. It was called New Heaven and New Earth. I Googled it and my jaw dropped.

This ‘church’ was actually part of a South Korean cult called Shincheonji, founded in 1984. An apocalyptic group, they claim that their founder, Lee Man-hee, is the only one who can interpret the Book of Revelation correctly. Other teachings, including the denial of the Trinity, obviously contradict the established doctrines of the worldwide Church, which have existed for centuries. 

I discovered an article in The Independent which revealed the full scale of Shincheonji’s predatory and deceptive recruitment practices which target young Christians. Countless posts detailed coercive control, emotional, spiritual, and psychological abuse, and the joy that people felt when they finally left. Those who had signed up for the full Bible course found themselves falling deeper and deeper into a web of manipulation.

My heart raced as I realised the truth.

My friend didn’t actually care about me. I’d been told everything I wanted to hear, groomed for months by someone who’d been trained on how to effectively recruit me.

Based on my further reading, I realised many of the people in the Zoom Bible study meeting weren’t new like me, but were likely existing members who were there to boost the numbers.

I felt angry, humiliated, and betrayed. How could I have fallen for it so easily? I’d watched countless documentaries about cults. It was always something that happened to other people. But here I was, having fallen for the classic ‘love-bombing’ technique, because they’d appealed to one of my weaknesses – my earnest desire to make friends.

They were brainwashed

I found the strength to confront my mentor. I calmly explained what I’d read and that their doctrines do not align with what was in the Bible. She was incredibly calm and friendly throughout, a response which now fills me with unease.

But mostly I felt pity. They were brainwashed, people who were in themselves friendly and good, but who had fallen victim to a complex web of lies and deceit. I pleaded with her that there is a way out of this and that she can stop now. But she calmly, and with a chillingly warm smile, told me that everything she does, she does because she wants to.

I left and cut off all contact. I sent my supposed friend an article exposing the cult and a message pleading for her to leave it all behind and find a proper church.

I’m still hurt by the betrayal and my own foolishness for trusting someone so deeply. But I firmly believe that these are learning experiences, and hopefully my story will help other people who find themselves in similar predicaments. These groups prey on those who are vulnerable or seeking Jesus, exploiting every weakness to draw you further in.

With young people increasingly isolated and exposed to a range of online content, it’s become easier than ever to be manipulated, exploited, and even radicalised.

God’s family is one of love. But when Christians are in situations of emotional, spiritual, and psychological abuse and manipulation, we are obliged to expose the dark forces masquerading as beings of light.