Saw a few posts here related to certain religious groups which are allegedly affiliated to a Korean cult and would also like to share my experience when I was an undergrad. I was invited by my not-so-close JC friend to join a religious group when I first started out in school. I didn’t have many friends so I thought to myself, why not join this group to make more friends?
The members seem very friendly at first and I really grew to like them. However, there were a few things that felt weird. Firstly, most of the members are females, and mostly in their early twenties and are quite attractive.
Secondly, we were not allowed to tell anyone outside the group about the existence of the group and we had to come up with a list of reasons of what we have been up to, in case our family members asked.
Thirdly, we could invite our friends to join the group but only after providing a photo of them to our group leader along with a brief background of our friend. The friends we plan to invite are also encouraged to be female, in the same age group and best if they are single. Apparently, the more friends we invite, the more powerful we can be and the more we will be rewarded in our afterlife.
The last and the most alerting indicator was that the lecture materials during our sessions had very poor grammar and frequently included images with Korean origins. Sensing something was amiss, I did some research into Korean religious groups and chanced upon this group called Providence where their leader is a convicted rapist who duped the female members to have sex with him.
I got cold feet about the potential shit I got myself into and stopped attending the sessions.
The leader contacted me multiple times and told me that I will be punished for leaving the group, and that I will never be able to find a boyfriend and will be single for life. Jokes on her, I got married after graduating and am expecting a boy soon.Would like to encourage students to open your eyes big big and be super cautious when dealing with religious groups. You never know whether whether a h**ny leader lies underneath the innocent exterior waiting to prey on their foolish followers.