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- A woman joined a cult without knowing, after trying to make a connection on Bumble.
- She said she made friends off the app after joining and was soon invited to a Bible study.
- She realised it was a cult after doing research on the congregation's teachings.
When Jane* joined dating app Bumble she was looking forward to making new friends.
She specifically chose Bumble BFF so she could connect with others. Not long afterwards, she made a few friends and was invited to a Bible study by one of the women she was chatting to.
"There was nothing suspicious about it. I'm a Christian so we connected as we spoke about spiritual things. I was then invited to join a Zoom Bible study."
A few weeks later, Jane was invited out for coffee.
"The lady I met on Bumble wanted to meet in person, and we were joined by another person also from her church. They were really nice, very friendly. They brought me gifts. Now that I look back, I guess you could say they love bombed me."
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Jane was then invited to their building in Randburg.
"We had to wear a sort of uniform - either black or white which they gave to us when we got there. This was during the lockdown.
"At my regular church, we were still having services online so when I met people on Bumble who wanted to have Bible study groups, I was really keen."
After a few months, Jane began questioning some of the teachings.
She then discovered this new religious organisation was the South African branch of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus (SCJ).
Shincheonji was established in 1984 in Seoul, South Korea.
"We were told that the founder of the church, Man Hee Lee, was a prophet and only he could decipher the book of Revelations.
"We were also not allowed to discuss any of the teachings with friends or family. We were told that they would not understand the teachings and would try to distract us.
"We were also not allowed to have contact with other members via WhatsApp or any other means. Only leaders were allowed to contact them. So, when people left, we were not allowed to contact them or ask why they left."
Jane wanted to attend a Christmas Carol evening at her former church but was discouraged from going as it was seen as a distraction by SCJ. She finally plucked up the courage to leave after nearly a year.
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"My friends and family started to notice that I had become withdrawn, and they were concerned. But I couldn't tell them about Shincheonji because we were told not to discuss their teachings with anyone. That's when I finally decided it was time to leave."
Leaders tried to convince her to stay.
"They came to my home with gifts and tried to persuade me to stay but I had made my mind up."
One of the reasons why Jane stayed for nearly a year was because leaders made her feel special, like she was one of the few chosen by God – because, according to them, not everyone was.
Mandy's* experience was similar, but she had bumped into SCJ members at a mall in Johannesburg.
"They were handing out flyers at a mall. I was in a rush so I asked them to give me the pamphlet, but they said they would rather send me a link to their Zoom classes.
"We exchanged numbers, and I received a Zoom link that same evening. I ignored the messages for a few months, then one day I finally decided to join in out of curiosity."
As with Jane's experience, everything seemed normal at first, but Mandy started seeing red flags when the teachings started to change.
"Soon the focus shifted from Jesus Christ to this old man, Man Hee Lee, and how God's Word can only be heard through him and how everyone else was misleading us. If we questioned the teachings we were told that we were being disobedient."
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Mandy was also told not to talk to family and friends about SCJ.
"They always said that we shouldn't tell any of our family members or friends about the church because we were still learning and when the time was right we could invite our family and friends.
"We were told that they would show us where the church building was, but we had to work towards it. We had to write a test and when we did go to the building we had to wear a uniform. But we were told we couldn't wear the uniform in public because people would get suspicious."
Members were also told not to research the church online because the "media painted them in a bad light. Once I started to question the teachings, I started to do my own research", she said.
The final straw for Mandy was when she wanted to visit her family who lived out of town but was called out for being disobedient for putting her family first.
"My leader told me I was being disobedient and falling back into 'hell' which is what they call the place where us normal Christians are."
She finally started not attending classes and blocked the numbers of the leaders but somehow they found out where she lived and showed up at her home.
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"This freaked me out because I never told any of them where I lived."
Mandy stood her ground and told them she was not coming back.
Since leaving SCJ, she has been approached by random people at the mall who would call out her name and tell her they have not seen her in a while.
"This happened more than five times. They would tell me they were from SCJ. I didn't even know them, but they knew my name."
Mandy said the whole experience has put her in a shell.
"I was there for a year and when I left I was scared the whole time because strangers seemed to know my name. I stopped going anywhere alone. It has changed my whole life."
Mandy has since started to go back to her old church and feels her life is starting to return to normal.
Sarah-Jane van der Westhuizen, who is the information officer at Shincheonji in South Africa, said it was incorrect to label the organisation as a cult.
"For those of us living out a fulfilled and fruitful life of faith as a member of Shincheonji, it is heart breaking to hear that former members' experiences have been so egregious to the point where they label the church in such a derogatory manner.
"As a church that is heavily persecuted and treated as a discriminated minority, we are bold to say that it is defamatory to label us in this way."
She added despite the misinformation about Shincheonji and the misunderstandings that were perpetuated through the media, Shincheonji had achieved phenomenal growth.
It began its activities in Cape Town in 2013. Since then, it has established branches in Johannesburg, Durban, and Port Elizabeth.
Not her real name*
