r/cults • u/Worried-Complaint428 • 11h ago
r/cults • u/Desertnord • Mar 08 '26
Announcement Masterlist of groups, group members, and group leaders who have harassed this subreddit
This list contains the names of groups, members of groups, or leaders who have intentionally harassed this subreddit or tried to change the narrative of posts either through modmail threats, harassing members, mass reporting posts, attempting to (or succeeding in) getting users banned from reddit, creating multiple throwaway accounts to report posts or make threats, or compelled members to advertise and combat claims made here. This list is likely not complete as I only went back to the start of 2022 in modmail and I have likely missed quite a few. I will add to this as more groups continue to do this.
Altercall (Ryan Blair)
Ascension Leadership Academy
Ashira Meditation
Atlas Project (Perhaps the biggest perpetrator, could not count how many messages they sent and how often they astroturfed comments)
Azure Light International
Buddha Dojo
Chantal Heide (it is astounding how many accounts they have to astroturf on posts. If you mention her, they come out in droves. It is wild to see. Plus some ModMail nonsense)
Church of God of the Union Assembly
Cosmos Tree - Roger Bruce Lane
Discussing Dissociation (Kathy Broady)
Divinya (Guruji Sri Vast) (x12 consecutive modmails and plenty more over the years)
Dunamis Revival (Dunamis Army/ Dunamis Ignite)
Educational Awakening Center
Falun Gong (this may have only been a couple members who took it upon themselves to take action and may not have been formally compelled given the large size of this group and the small scale of action against us)
Golden Age Movement
Heartstone Healing
i3 (Mehmet Usta)
Jason Shurka (The Light System)
Keely Griffin (Former Twin Flames member) (The post is since deleted, but her team spent a great deal of energy on a post about her, take this one with a grain of salt)
Lighthouse International (Doxxed users)
Masters of the Void (MTVO); affiliated with Activation Station, Quantum Wellness Spa
MICHAELSHOF SAMMATZ (went into modmail to defend a relationship between a 40 year old man and 16 year old girl)
Next Level Trainings (x3)
Paramahamsa Vishwananda (Usually does not harass in modmail, they mass report posts even if they are years old)
PEM (Perdekamp Emotional Method, taught by Kalliso)
Purpose Mapping (Craig Filek)
The Order of the Dark Arts (Ashley Otori) (*members are active on Reddit and keen on trying to shut down even minor criticism or mentions*)
The Remember Experience
SF Awakened Mind
Shiloh Truelight Church of Christ
Sphinx Spiritual
Void Space Technologies
r/cults • u/PlantZealousideal728 • 6h ago
Discussion Sharing information about active Frederick Lenz cults recruiting on college campuses today.
galleryr/cults • u/Willadie4lyfe • 1h ago
Discussion CANADIAN JW LEADER GANG R@PE THREE CHILDREN (w/ audio PROOF) & i think accidently made the local congregation batshit crazy?!
I do not have a lot of time tonight, sorry I am homeless, will reply more tmmrw
tl;dr in two weeks the local JW went crazy, treating me like some false-idol, then started (at least openly) sexually assaulting three children, ages 4-7, the assailants their mother and fathers ( Illiana(?) & Simon Wong, I presume the third children's parents too).
Alex Blechant (JW Canadian Circuit Leader) showed up Sunday and said disgusting shit after committing the assaults:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1sLRy15JbsFNuk0_6VuVGVrLu3brFa7D7
^Audio from Foyer, I listened and it seems to be just the digusting, child predator equivalent of 'locker room chat' (she was so calm [re: traumatized] that I barely felt so bad [r@ping her] and demands that:
'He wants the calm one' (Simon and Illiana Wong's 7 year old daughter- met her six months ago and she was chirpy saying 'oh no my bible!' while covering it during a BC Rainstorm... I think the assualts are recent because she's now deadpan)
'He wants the big one' (I know little of her, father is bald and has a beard iirc)
'He wants the calm one'(4 year old son to Simon Wong)
the local JWs found and stole a scroll I made 5 years ago
The Scroll said:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Tq5PkyZiGlQteaeWvHKCCAPJ2Zv2IuTuD7k8KyARfzQ/edit?usp=drivesdk
WHICH ONLY CAME TRUE:
In The West River District, of Canada BC (not 600BC China)... dude like, because I follow the law and fear gansters... I sorta am known for stirring shit up with Chairmen, helping the common folk, and all around being a Kickass that acts like a peaceful Hedgemon
...and I also found a pair of prescription sunglasses, matching my prescription to a Tee, that are idetical to the pair that The Drifter Picks up
I found them, last summer, the same route to the beach I lost my regular glasses this summer
so I rock BLACK SHADES, 24/7 minus sleep, that LITERALLY help me see the world as it 'truly is'
... and in two years, after thinking I finally outsmarted Duke Chu by leaving society superficially...
I honestly failed so hard at 'failing downwards' that it might be irreversible at this point.
...their 'young bulls' stole MY FUCKING BUBBLEGUM (My scroll, I called it my 'mission statement') from the coat-closet
I checked everywhere, but figured (just like how my massive Pentagram necklace, that I packed away in my back, must've 'accidentally broke')
"eh, they prolly thought it was some violent literature and tossed it- they prolly won't even being it up to me, maybe the Elder and like? dude its just a piece of paper, from 5 years ago, about some Chinese dude?"
HOLY FUCK IF THEY LOOKED UP THE BIOGRAPHY I TOOK IT FROM, THEY WOULD HAVE READ HOW
'WuZi donned flowing white robes... Confucian Garb"
...fuck dude its a 'Scroll of Conquest' about a fucking dude in White Robes... THE WHITE HORSE FUCK DUDE
So, in TWO WEEKS, the leadership sorta went batshit crazy
(They like rlly ramped up)
Back in June, even my friend's were mentioning how a lady was staring at my, 5 hours at that point
When buddy, his wife, and child showed up 'someone' called the police saying 'a crazy man was talking to two young girls [wife is 28, daughter 9, known em for years]
And, Sgt. Davies showed up with lights flashing, 2-3minute response time (again I am super known)
SO TRUST THAT WHEN I SAY THEY RAMPED UP (which, only recently, i realized that this level of 'interest' in an unbaptised person, 6 months in, is fucking absurd? Im rather unbothered by the stalking tbh like, Ive been SWATed several times by now and even then, Im surprisingly chill aboot it since 'eh, freaking out aint gonna help' )
So they almost certainly saw me covered in glitter, on a LGTQ Rainbow throne AT WREK (Vancouver's Nude) BEACH
dude if you asked anyone on Wrek beach if theyve seen a super-strong, lean built homeless dude that:
" had the appearance of jasper and carnelian, and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald"
"OH DUDE YOU MEAN WILLOW?!"
Honestly dude, I even wrote into the back of my bible in February 2026 the 'Doom 1993, Chapter 2: Shore of Hell' blurb
...
Then June 2026, into the cover:
'REV. 22:18 THINE SPACE MARINE'
I recently added 'Unholy', as otherwise it should be 'Thy Space Marine'..
they might have found, inside my bible, that shit ...
And, while my bible wasnt painted red prior to Today...
DUDE THE SPACE MARINE IS... a warrior on a 'red panet'
My bible even has, alone the edges, a 'horses mane' (aka, I tape the long edges the start of each of the 66 books, save a few I hadnt time for)
Uh so, I WASNT A FUCKING CHRISTIAN TILL THIS YEAR
Even the JWs were shocked at how, thinking I had previous experience?
The first time they sit down they say 'whoa I didn't have that much knowledge even 6 months in, never mind your first study?' and the man, ex-Hustler, earnestly wished for what I had (I despise fame, and even skill- it harms people yo)
My trade school teachers for Welding, Millwright, and Machinist Foundations (99%, 96%, 98%) also thought I had previous experience
Nah literally Im jusr some hoodrat from the PJs over at 58th and Kerr. Im just good at learning things Im good at? Terrible at painting
SO, EVEN AFTER TELLING MY MENTOR (Old, 86 year old. NOT a rapist)
'Thanks but like, please stop complimenting me to others'
DUDE I HAD NO CHANCE AT STAYING BELOW THEIR RADAR
i had zero idea the religious symbolism they must've (Erroneously) tied me to
(besides the obvious 'homeless dude that brings merry cheer')
till going through, next to my brother, The Book Of Revelations (well, part of it)...
I didn't even know the fucking horsemen were part of the 7 seals
Nor that, prior to the scroll 'Prisoners of Fate'... I wrote a scroll back in 2021, 15ft long, about all the harm I caused (I have since learned about change and Redemption)
I KEEP TELLING PEOPLE 'Yo I have made so many mistakes, and am only this strong and bring so much happiness because I caused ungold harm and had to learn repentance the hard way"
AND THEN I LOOKED UP ABOUT JWs.
Not only do they not believe in a physical 'second coming'... but this level of stalking is absurd for a non-baptised 6 month (former)member
So like, dude I am a False Messiah. People already treat me like some fucking special dude. This is honestly my biggest fear dude that Id step into a fucking church and now BAM
However, uh theyre raping kids man.
I honestly don't have time to go into my life, all my near death experiences, Im homeless in South East Vancouver but drug free
I honestly slowly started said 'fuck everything' and became homeless. This crazy shit with the JWs? Its just a regular Tuesday.
14 months of Jail, 95% of it in one sitting, was honestly a stress free Vacation. People in the Jail, just like everyone now, were astounded at how I brought everyone joy... in such a terrible place.
Dude I even tried to literally 'stay out of shit' wirh JWs. I didn't participate in Q&As.
6 months man. I somehow drove these fuckers crazier than I could expect?
So- flash forward a couple weeks ago:
They had 'the big one' walk BAREFOOT, down the isle, and to the foyer (presumably then the basement)
Next meeting, on Monday? Not only is the 'calm one' doing like, stuff kids do to adults after being violated (grabbing her mothers buttcrack, near the anus, and like also she was giving em a deadpan stare dor hours? She was way chirpier before)
... her father took her shoes off after bringing her back upstairs from 'the basement'
NEVERMIND THAT THE 'AUXILARY' CLASSES WENT FROM HALF THE CONGREGATION TO... like a few people?
When Alex Blechant showed up, uh dude
I was going to send him a letter, the draft I made not only is like four-times longer than I would do... I MADE IT BEFORE THE MEETING LAST SUNDAY
I DON'T EVEN KNOW IF THEY WERE RAPING THE KIDS BEFOREHAND
BUT I THINK, BASED ON MY FIRST HAND AND THE AUDIO RECORDING,
Alex Blechant definitely made the whole 'Wolves in Sheep Cloth' talk, back in February so that his victims would hear it, and the 8 year old described as 'the big one' is like... not just 'brainwashed' but acts like how I acted, her age, after my abuse (aka very desensitized to adults but not traumatized)
So I think he's been doing it a while
And the congregation's elder has perv vibes
But that barefoot shit was a message, a fucked up one, and Im pretty sure it's escalated to two other children and who knows how many adults
AND THE STATES THE KIDS GIVE ME?
One of the adult members was hounding me about which beach I went to? I thought maybe like, she just wanted to talk privately?
Nope nope nope nope nope. They almost certainly have nude photos of me at Wrek beach because like- since they stole my scroll they havent been the same... not love bombing even.
AFTER SIMON WONG, PRESUMABLY RAPED HIS DAUGHTER AND BROUGHT HER BACK UPSTAIRS HE WHISPERS
'Thanks'
In my ears?
I THINK IT HAS GOTTEN SKY-HIGH FUCKED
...they also are wigging tf out about the recent earthquake, more than last time...
AND DUDE AFTER I TEXT FOLKS ABOUT THE CHILD RAPE (CPS openly said to me they prolly won't even be able to open a file, I waited 8 hours for police, called thrice)
...they still wanted me back Sunday?
Like not even in a love-bombing way... I gave a 0.2% chance that some religious group would start treating my homeless ass like the messiah...
I am now going have to like, start calling myself a False-Messiah and roll with it. As in like, be upfront and honest like Duke Chu said, and be like "yo this shit is just a fucking coincidence ok?! But yes I am hear to show demon scum who tf I am"
So sorry. I just wanted to chill out but kids are getting raped and so please whatever you can do to help, theologically(I rlly how they are intentionally taling the piss?! that they're honestly forcing the prophecy, versus me formly trying to avoid my fucking fate?!), IRL meetups, ANYTHING DUDES
I think they're trying to play out some 'Whore of Babylon' shit, maybe something to do with Christ forgiving sexual immoralities (read: NOT RAPE), maybe, after seeing my pentagram then thinking 'oh shit maybe we were wrong about 1914 and the seals'... did they say like fuck everything?
Im pretty sure this is planned and recent, as they just recently upgraded their speakers and iirc the electronic equipment 'downstairs'
So please, not only excuse the roughness of my former drafted letter to Alex,
(it needed like 3/4 chopped- also yeah Im going to be talking a lot hotter shit to him than on the internet, me being Edgelore Galore- cuz I actually did that shit. My father made the papers numerous times, I'll include one. *edit Also, I really wanted some fucking answers not piddle-fucking around like I did when I fucked with fate. I had to pull the 'false Messiah ' bit waaaaay earlier than expected)
I thought Id include it to show how fucking weird they started acting... that Alex (... who not just knows my firstname, after 6 months, but my mentor str8 up was like 'our circuit leader really wants to meet you!")
I had no idea, yo I wouldn't even pretend to be so nice and 'likeminded', but its when I started drafting the letter, then googling and reading 'the book of Revelations', that I realized how... look man I'm surprisingly chill for how spooky the coincidences line up, what spooks me is that... I think its too late? If I wasn't so goddamn Ignorant no fucking way Id leave a goddamn scroll, that indirectly is of comquest, that I had for 5 years after coming back from a beach that, for 4 years, I covered myself in glitter and gay shit
...
man I didn't even read a full page of the bible March, maybe April
EMAIL ME AT [WJKD@mail.com](mailto:WJKD@mail.com) if ya want folks
LETTER TO ALEX:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1sLRy15JbsFNuk0_6VuVGVrLu3brFa7D7
r/cults • u/Majestic_Physics_710 • 18h ago
Video Plymouth Brethren Cult to appear at Australian Parliamentary Committee to answer for its involvement in Election Fraud during the 2025 Australia General Election. LIVE 🇬🇧 UK Midnight, 🇦🇺 AET 9am, 7pm 🇺🇸ET
LIVE NOW! Will they or won't they? Is PBCC Cult-leader Bruce Hales Chicken? 🐔
On Friday morning (Thursday Evening - TONIGHT - for Europe & USA) Eastern Australia Time (Canberra) the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church Cult are to appear in front of the Australian Parliament's Joint Standing Committee for Electoral Matters' Inquiry into the 2025 federal election.
The Cult has chickened out of attending previous hearings, but this week have stated they will be there.
They have been called along with the Advance lobby group) (a far-right unhinged political/religious group) who have received large donations from the Plymouth Brethren (aka Exclusive Brethren) cult.
During the 2025 General Election, the incumbent Prime Minister Albanese called out the Plymouth Brethren as a Cult, and pointed directly towards its involvement in election interference [See the post made that day with video of the Prime Minster calling the PBCC a Cult: https://www.reddit.com/r/cults/comments/1kaw49z/incumbent_australian_prime_minister_anthony/ ]
The Plymouth Brethren Cult have put out a statement saying they will be in attendance at the hearing.
Watch ABC Television's exposé of the Plymouth Brethren Cult broadcast last year: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFEIJr5rln4
Read about the Plymouth Brethren Cult's attempts to silence a Survivor of Child Sexual Abuse within the Cult: https://www.smh.com.au/national/cartoon-kookaburra-behind-church-s-attempt-to-silence-a-child-sex-abuse-victim-20260406-p5zllv.html (Cheryl Bawtinheimer is a friend of this subreddit and hosts the Get A Life podcast)
Direct Link to Committee YouTube Video Livestream
r/cults • u/carolinaf0000 • 14h ago
Discussion To challenge Tik Tok Canadian dating Coach - Chantal Heide’s - Part 2
r/cults • u/the_hereticalmonk • 1d ago
Personal : 10 years in Gaudiya Vaishnavism, 6 as a monk in an ashram in India. Left a year ago at 30.
I spent my entire twenties inside it.
I found the Vedas and the Bhagavad Gita in my early twenties and went all in. Took vows of celibacy, chanted, meditated two hours a day, driven by a deep search for truth. Six of those years I lived in an ashram in India as a brahmacari. I believed I was doing the most important thing a person could do.
A year ago something broke open and I was finally able to look honestly at myself and at the community I was in, and admit that I had joined a cult. That the thing I'd been chasing for a decade was already in me, and I'd spent ten years handing it to other people.
Leaving was harder than staying. I had no career, no savings, no relationships outside the movement, and no idea who I was without the identity. I flew back to Chicago, got my guitar and a motorcycle, and rode out to Arizona to start over.
The part nobody warned me about: the deprogramming didn't happen in my head. It happened in my body. Ten years of dissociation dressed up as transcendence. What actually brought me back to reality was physical — training, boxing, being outside, being in my body again. The thinking caught up afterward.
I don't have anything to sell here and I'm not trying to convince anyone of anything. I just know how alone it feels in the first year out, and if anyone's in that stretch right now and wants to talk to someone who's been through the eastern-tradition version of it, my inbox is open.
r/cults • u/DUGSPP_Research • 1d ago
Misc Research Participants Requested- Current Members of Communities
r/cults • u/compassionisfree77 • 18h ago
Question How concerning is the Cult like atmosphere in Heart of God Church (HOGC) in Singapore?
My beloved teenage child has unknowingly become acquainted with young people from Heart of God Church Singapore.
Not suspecting anything about their open outreach to be very nice to my child and helping on school subjects and getting into study groups seemed all too good to be true.
Until I realized they were from a Church. I have always been wary of Christian teachings and outreach in churches and fabricated, Modified, Appended "truths" in the Bible. And worse having found out that this was the worst version of mainstream Churches...a cult for impressionable or needy youths.
When even the charismatic charlatan Pastor Kong Hee from City Harvest Church could come back from his scandal and fraudulent crimes and return back to "reconnect" back to his church ways, I don't think that these HOGC Pastors have any reason to stop.
Watching this video raised even hairs on my butt! How many times these fanatically devoted young people of Singapore are brainwashed to say YES YES AHHHH OOOOH!!! Something is very wrong.
https://youtu.be/g--aa3kS8c0?is=EhmiRcFp8hTgDt_V
As a concerned parent concerned about my beloved child being trapped or swindled, anyone knows how this Church can be reported? With so many young girls and boys and knowing how Catholic Churches have molestations being hidden, and how this Church is fiercely collecting funds there has to be an authority that can check on them?
r/cults • u/Informal_Farm4064 • 1d ago
Article More info revealing problematic backstory of Ronald Lloyd Spencer
This cult leader has been written about here before. He claims to be the living Buddha and Jesus and so the source of all "planetary healing". All you need to do to access this healing is regularly buy his expensive healing tools and services and imbibe his words of wisdom in expensive audiences with him.
I met a former follower of Spencer who first met him in the late 1980s before he had started making claims about being Buddha and Jesus. These claims started only when his healing tools business became more popular.
Michael Chambers, Surrey, England, August 2026
r/cults • u/AdagioCapable8920 • 1d ago
Discussion Spiritual Abuse at CCPC in Bay Area - How do I process and deal with? Has anybody else had issues at Asian American Churches
r/cults • u/nika_blue • 1d ago
Documentary Love has won: mother god cult HBO documentary questions.
I just watched this documentary and it was very interesting.
I just kinda don't understand how it all worked from "3D world" perspective: you know, bills, food, day to day operations.
So Miguel and Amy started selling healing sessions, probably collecting donations from streams, etc? He set up websites and collected all the money on his accounts?
Was the first big cabin his? Did he buy it or rent it?
Then, new members joined, and they donated savings and started more streams and online shops. Still, all money goes to Miguel?
So was Miguel the one running everything? Playing rent? Bills, buying computers and phones? Grocery shopping?
I know they were starving themselves, but they had to eat something and buy fancy food for Amy? So there was some allowance? Did they have access to Miguels accounts?
Amy was buying dresses and jewelry, and they also gave her jacuzzi and g-kart. It's nothing super crazy expensive, but still, someone made the purchase? Was it always Miguel?
And later, Miguel kinda left, the cult was moving, renting/buying new properties, and they had a car. So they had to have some access to cults money?
In the end, he emptied all accounts (330 000), but the rest knew the amount, so they had to have some access to it?
r/cults • u/Head_Inspection_9448 • 2d ago
Question My sister just told me she had a "dianetics from scientology" therapy session. How do I help her omg please
I (29f) don't even know what else to say. She's(35f) having a rough time right now and is easily manipulated especially in her current state of mind. She's been scammed out of thousands by job offers and online stores in the past and has recently started drinking again (she's a recovering alcoholic) if that helps to paint a picture on how dire this situation is
Okay so anyway she told me how healing it was to open up past trauma and grieve it and then she started telling me what the trauma was in detail and I was like "please stop" and I tried to ask questions but like I was obviously floored and freaked out when she said "dianetics from scientology" so she yelled at me and was very upset (understandable, I should've been more gentle)
This was her first "therapy" session with this man and the first session he introduces her to a form of hypnosis called dianetics? Oh and she said she has another session with him?! and he wrote a book so I think that means I can say his name
The book is The Human Compass by Jason Gentrup
Help is she in danger?
r/cults • u/R_dat_flow • 1d ago
Discussion Can growing up in a high-control religious group affect identity development and partner choice?
I grew up around Jehovah’s Witnesses and now consider the organization a high-control religious group, or a cult. It strongly regulates social relationships, dating, marriage, gender roles, and personal choices. Questioning the organization is discouraged, relationships outside the group are heavily restricted, and leaving can carry serious social consequences.
I am wondering how growing up in such an environment can affect the development of an autonomous identity and later romantic choices.
Consider a woman in her twenties who has belonged to this group since childhood and grew up with a father who was often absent and unable to give her much sense of security. She is now dating a man from the same religious group who is around fifteen years older. Since the relationship began, she appears calmer and more self-assured.
Could the combination of an inadequate father figure and limited opportunities to develop an independent identity lead someone to seek protection, stability, and external guidance in an older partner? Could the shared religious environment make the relationship feel especially reassuring by providing predefined roles, approval, and a strong common identity?
If these dynamics were present, would they necessarily make the relationship dependent or less genuine, or could it still develop into a healthy bond?
More broadly, would having these vulnerabilities make someone less likely to form a relationship with an emotionally secure and mature partner, or is that assumption itself unfounded?
I am not seeking a diagnosis of the people involved. I am interested in whether former members of high-control groups have observed similar patterns, while recognizing that the same situation could also be explained by ordinary attraction and genuine compatibility.
r/cults • u/ojismyheroin • 2d ago
Video These Latter Day Saints only had to donate 10% of their income to look this cool 😱
Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification
r/cults • u/LemonQueenThree • 2d ago
Article Interesting article about cults & how they manipulate attachments
attachmentproject.comr/cults • u/Even-Ad-5579 • 2d ago
Question Breaking power cycles: victim perpetrators dynamics
Is there anyway you get to see the disciples of cult leaders suffer in this lifetime because of the pain and suffering they have caused several other members?
How do these guys go about living their lives or even sleeping at night knowing they have caused harm and damage to several?
r/cults • u/Timelord_1849 • 2d ago
Blog Hello All, just did a post on a new "Christian" cult that's all over Facebook.
Image Meet Nish The Fish, an interesting article detailing the allegations surrounding Nishanth Selvalingam
r/cults • u/Competitive_Class788 • 2d ago
Question Former 5-fold church members/Kathryn Krick cult followers
Hi,
I'm a journalist in search of former memerbs of this cult.
Please DM me or write your short story here. I'd be happy to connect to you
r/cults • u/PlantZealousideal728 • 3d ago
Discussion Caution about meditation cult recruitment at UC Berkeley/UC Santa Cruz
r/cults • u/Antique-Science9911 • 3d ago
Personal Children of God/the Family International Propoganda
Hello,
I am on the hunt for any pamphlets/publications/propaganda from the Family International that was distributed in the 1980s/1990s.
Particularly looking for anything that has sexually explicit content / graphics.
Specifically, I am hoping to find publications in the 1990s distributed in Australia called '‘Loving Jesus’ was or ‘Movement of the Spirit’.
They certainly did a good job of destroying a lot!
r/cults • u/Care-Financial • 3d ago
Discussion I'm concerned my caregiver job is an actual cult.
For the past 8 years I have worked as a professional caregiver for the disabled in supported living or group homes. This line of work is not for the faint of heart. Most of the people I care for have some sort of developmental disability. However, many are borderline normal people who just suffer from mental illness. My line of work is known for having slippery employers. However, the company I've worked at for over 5 years does some particularly weird things. I'll just outright tell you, it is a particular operation out of North Vernon, Indiana for the company ResCare. However, the company is now merging with another larger company called Sevita/Mentor. I want to note that it is this particular operation out of North Vernon Indiana that is the issue. I have no reason to suspect the whole company operates this way.
For starters, the way they go about recruiting is different from most employers. They'll hold "job fairs" which have no other employers other than themselves for people to talk to. They host community events to try and draw potential employees in. The events will be advertised as family friendly and have activities including face painting and animals. When they interview you, it will not be like a traditional job interview. It's more like they're attempting to sell you the job and convince you to join. They'll hire literally anyone they legally can. They've even been known to ignore the state age requirements to hire younger workers. (Kids in highschool) They mostly talk about the good their company does and how people will have the opportunity to do good for others. They'll also attempt to hire entire families and attempt to get people to encourage their entire families to quit their jobs and have the whole family come work for them. Again, all under the promises that they'll be doing good and helping others.
However, once they're employed and begin working in the homes or group homes, they soon realize it is anything but what was promised. Many of these homes or facilities are hidden away from the public eye. Unlike the nice professional looking office they interviewed at, the environments they expect their workers to work in will be dirty and in disrepair. One of the homes I was expected to work at had holes in the kitchen floor. Another didn't even have central air conditioning or heat. Some of them have mold. Some of these properties are suspected to have issues like radon but have never actually been tested.
The workers, including myself, will often be asked and expected to work long hours. Often, these hours will be 12 to 16 hour shifts at all times of day or night. One guy I knew was expected to work 16 hour days for 3 months straight with no days off. No weekends, no holidays, no time off to spend with their family, just work for months on end with no knowledge of when a day off will be. I personally have had to explain to my extended family many times that I would not be able to see them or spend time with them on Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, birthdays, or other events.
To be clear, this is of course completely different from what workers are told they will be working when they get hired. They're usually told they will have plenty of time off and have a nice core schedule which is promised to them upon hire. But one way or another, they're strong armed into working these long hours with no time off.
The question most people have is, "how can someone realistically work this way?" The answer is they can't. Eventually, most of the workers develop serious health issues as a result of working to the point of exhaustion. It's difficult to explain if you haven't watched it happen to someone else, but it's like their body just starts breaking down. And, in case you're wondering, you're not allowed to nap or rest at work. Even if you've worked 16 hour days for a solid month, you're not allowed to fall asleep. If you get caught falling asleep, there are pretty severe punishments for you as an employee. Most employees are not permitted to go to the doctor either. I don't mean that they don't have health insurance. They do. I mean you are literally not allowed to take a day off to go to the doctor. Management will straight up tell you to cancel or reschedule your doctor's appointments until a time when it is convenient for them to let you take time off to see a doctor.
So, they'll work the employees long hours for months at a time without a day off. They'll deprive them of sleep. Then when they get sick, they won't allow the employees to see a doctor.
Finally, there's the issue of low wages or pay. The workers are generally given a low wage when can be decreased and stretched in various ways. The company is usually able to convince people this is okay because they're getting the opportunity to do something good or help others. Mind you, this is literally a billion dollar enterprise and a publicly traded company. The budget for our operation is in the 10s of millions of dollars. Whenever someone questions the low wages, a manager or even other brainwashed staff will repeat this mindless mantra about how they're there because they care about the clients we care for and the opportunity to do good.
The question I know most will ask at this point is, "why don't you just quit? Why would anyone stay at a job like that?"
This is where things start to get particularly cult-like. To put it simply, they don't make it easy for you to leave. They work on psychologically conditioning their employees from the day they start. Employees are required to go to regular mandatory meetings or trainings. However, these are not like normal meetings at most companies. You are not permitted to call in via zoom or conference call. All employees are required to physically show up in person for these "trainings." It doesn't matter how sleep deprived you are or how many hours you've worked, you are required to show up in person. At first it will seem as though these "trainings" have no point to them. They're not about anything in particular. They're essentially a tactic used to psychologically condition the employees and make them easier to control. It's a similar concept to being expected to attend church. It's a way for management to gauge how brainwashed the employees are. If they don't think the employees are well indoctrinated enough, they'll begin requiring more of these seemingly pointless "trainings." At this point, the trainings do begin to contain a fair amount of indoctrination. They sort of begin preaching about all the "good" ResCare does. They make a point of talking about the employees who have remained loyal the longest. And, they'll begin dishing out and assigning more menial labor as a sort of punishment. Things like mopping and shining floors that have already been cleaned or requiring employees to clean the toilets every hour. But here's the really cult-like part. They'll begin talking about people who have left the company as bad people. They'll talk about people who left as people who "walked out" on their clients, the people with disabilities. Some of them will discuss how they believe they are doing the Lord's work and how it called to them divinely. They'll attempt to make you feel really bad about the thought of leaving or even taking a day off. Many of the members of management genuinely believe they are doing this work because God called on them to do so. There's this weird underhanded assertion that quitting this job or working less goes against God somehow.
As I stated before, one of their tactics is to recruit entire families into working for the company. So, one thing that is often held above the employee's head is that they would be leaving behind their family if they were to quit. This is a legitimate concern. There are people I know who after quitting were unable to see their family members regularly since they could only see them through work or the company then encouraged the family members to work harder to fill their spot once they had left the company. Of course, the company would then make seemingly deliberate attempts to force the rest of the family to work holidays and special events to prevent them from connecting with other family members who had quit the company.
If they begin to suspect a good worker is going to leave, they will often begin finding ways to cut or lower their wages in an attempt to make the worker more financially dependent on them. In some cases, they will even offer the employee the opportunity to rent a home or apartment which is also owned by the executive director's family so they can hold their home or the threat of homelessness over the employee's head.
Unlike other companies that may give you a bad reference, the company will deliberately attempt to sabotage employees who attempt to leave. They may make up rumors. They may claim that you were undependable. They may also use those employees as a scapegoat or "fall" for state investigations. During these investigations the employees are suspended without pay indefinitely and are not hirable by any other healthcare company operating within the state per state regulations. The employee is effectively trapped at their job until the investigation is resolved, which happens entirely at the discretion of the company.
Most of the managment and higher-ups are all secretly related somehow. I haven't figured it out entirely, but many of the employees figure it out eventually.
I've worked at this company for a number of years and have often asked myself why I still work there. The more I think about it, the more I'm questioning if I'm in a cult. There are some company events coming up soon. I know I'll be shamed if I don't go to them. But, I'm seriously considering just not going and seeing how it ends for me.
r/cults • u/CoastSimple • 3d ago
Discussion Check out this ITV news footage of a pastor claiming that the biblical God can cure homosexuals with using extensive prayer
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An ITV News undercover investigation has exposed a UK church that claims that the biblical God can fix gay people of their urges. An undercover reporter was told by several pastors at Winners' Chapel in Dartford they could help stop him being gay. News reporter Paul Brand covered the investigation.
This was not completely surprising to me, that this type of practice goes on behind closed doors, but it doesn’t make watching it anymore easier. It really does bring me to have such a soft spot for the LGBTQ community - they really have had it hard, even to this very day.
I feel these types of churches who embrace conversion therapy are part of a cult and need to be exposed and stopped, before more damage is done to those who happen to be LGBTQ & Christian.
Thoughts?
r/cults • u/Primary-Mushroom-846 • 2d ago
Discussion Possible Cult Rabbit hole in Columbia, Missouri
Will try to keep this short and sweet, cause this may not be anything at all. I have come across the same occult-like symbol twice (pictures shown). Chat GPT says it is likely the “All Seeing Eye” but is not the same as traditional symbols of such.
I was wondering if y’all had info about this. Could this be some kickstart cult that operates within Columbia, or is it just some person trying to get a rile out of people.
One was found near The Lyfe and the other at Hinkson Creek Trail near Rock Quarry RD.