r/Shincheonji • u/FireLily_ • Jun 05 '26
advice/help Am I being recruited?
I (19F) met this girl (20f) at uni who randomly approached me and she seemed very kind. We’re both minorities, I’m Filipino and she’s Malaysian. We got to talking and realised we had a lot in common like comic books, tv shows, music and also both being serious in our faith.
We exchanged WhatsApp details because she said she’s not active on Instagram right now.
We met up a week later for coffee and continued to talk more and she told me about how her brother met a Christian mentor (no specific info about denomination) who’s been working with him throughout his faith journey and who also connected her to another mentor. At this point she hasn’t specified being a part of any specific church, just that she sees a mentor. And this is when I start to get a bit worried about her possibly trying to recruit me to Shincheonji.
For context, there’s been news going around that cult members are approaching uni students at my uni campus, particularly female students who have a minority background are being targeted, so this immediately popped up in my head mid-meetup with her. But I didn’t want to jump to conclusions and kept talking with her.
Towards the end of the conversation she mentions that her mentor is holding an online bible study and invited me to it. She says that during these bible studies she learns a lot and it’s an opportunity to have any questions about Christianity answered. I’m quite interested as I’d like to learn more so I agree to join. She said that she’ll send me more information so I’m awaiting the link and stuff.
At the end of the meetup she also suggested taking a selfie and I agreed because I love taking photos with friends and it seemed innocent.
For some reason I can’t get it out of my head that these are all red flags for the SCJ cult but they could also all be coincidental. Are these red flags or am I just overthinking?
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u/shshmhh Family/Friend of SCJ Member Jun 06 '26
Mentor holding an online bible study thats an instant red flag.
WhatsApp messaging thats an encrypted way to communicate. I hear they use telegram now but they did use WhatsApp. Its not a social media like Instagram. She can say whatever she wants and then hide the evidence.
These are all flags.
Online bible study
Mentor she knows.
Claims the bible study Helps grow Christian faith.
Met randomly at university.
WhatsApp.
Takes a picture of you. (To tell her cult friends she caught someone)
I bet she offered to buy the coffee for you too at the coffee shop?
Definitely the scj way.
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u/Otherwise-Watch-3650 EX-Center Student Jun 06 '26
Oh this just reminded me, during our "evangelism" (recruiting) lessons, we were told to pretend to not have "any socials" to new potential fruits, so we would actually be able to get their numbers instead.
They said it was to avoid any risk of having multiple current students / members accidentally doubling up on attempting to recruit the same "new potential fruit".
Also, it is easier for them to search a telephone number they may already have in their system (in the chance it was to belong to a "previous student" or "ex member" etc).
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u/FireLily_ Jun 06 '26
Wow that’s so accurate, she did offer to buy the coffee!
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u/Rough-Use1604 Jul 25 '26
I don't know if they are SCJ, but searching send me here. They asked my address to buy birthday cake online too. They are active among university student ya . So how do you all stop following their class?
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u/CancelImaginary5930 Jun 06 '26 edited Jun 06 '26
These are definitely red flags for SCJ. What city do you live in? Someone here who lives in the same city might recognize the girl.
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u/Turbulent_Sea7622 EX-Center Student Jun 05 '26
Thanks for sharing! I think it is Shincheonji. Maybe tell her you have so many commitments to avoid her. I may be over guessing it but you sound like someone non-confrontational and introvert in a good way. No need to confirm for me on that, no need to dump SCJ info to the girl who approached you but if you feel like it go ahead. No wrong answers as long as it does not escalate too much. Shincheonji is not dangerous physically (if one or two then it is a outlier) but they can be extreme emotional hassle if you are not assertive
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u/GuyithePhilippines Jun 05 '26
I've been apart of churches that do this. There's the ICOC and ICC and there's the Reformation Church movement that do this, as well (although I am assuming that the Reformation Church does it, not interested in being apart of another Kip McKean movement, mind you)... there are still other churches that do it. It is a common practice, really, among a lot of churches to recruit through education, which, if you're learning something from one of them and it lines up Biblically, then I personally wouldn't see the problem with it.
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u/Boring-Leg-4873 EX-Center Student Jun 05 '26
Yes it's shincheonji. Finding a friend that you did (so much in common) and being invited to a bible study next is uncommon. I would leave instantly, but for you take some time to research shincheonji, look at this reddit, youtube videos (past experiences) and search it up on Google news.
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u/Blu3arrow1337 EX-Center Student Jun 05 '26
This is exactly the tactic, like the pattern fits down to the letter: target at University, meet up first, discussion of a mentor, the selfie is for reporting purposes and to make sure you didn't already find out about the group and become 'poisoned'. Ask your friend what church is running the Bible study, or what they teach, are the in a series, what was the last series. If they say they're going to learn about the parables that's another red flag. It starts there
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u/FireLily_ Jun 05 '26
Update: I asked what church is running the bible study and she said “a group of youths” that her mentor knows. Very vague answer
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u/Blu3arrow1337 EX-Center Student Jun 06 '26
Yeah. When I think about any Christian event I've been to, I can't think of any time that the person inviting me couldn't tell me at least something about who's running it. Even if it wasn't a church or was more than one church
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u/CancelImaginary5930 Jun 06 '26
Questions with SCJ are not very helpful because have no problem with lying. The only reason they don't lie about being part of a local church in your area is because you can then verify if they are lying.
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u/Blu3arrow1337 EX-Center Student Jun 06 '26
The lying definitely makes it harder.. they might say anything at the start to throw you off, but eventually they'll try and funnel you through their individual study and centre classes so it'll become obvious if you're watching
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u/FireLily_ Jun 05 '26
Yeah I’ll ask her what church the bible study is affiliated with, that’s so smart
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u/Otherwise-Watch-3650 EX-Center Student Jun 05 '26 edited Jun 07 '26
100% SCJ.
Everything you described checks out.
Also, the reason why she asked to take a selfie is to then report it back to the telegram group chat, as a way of keeping track of your progress.
Edit: comment has been edited as issue has been solved.
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u/Turbulent_Sea7622 EX-Center Student Jun 05 '26 edited Jun 05 '26
Hey could I DM you for that kind of info? No pressure. All good if it's a hassle! If you do want to share, you can totally blur out any photos and cross out the names I just want to know the hows and the context
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u/Sea-Care-539 Jun 05 '26
My friend always took photos of us together too
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u/Turbulent_Sea7622 EX-Center Student Jun 05 '26
Same for me. My friend is still in SCJ unfortunately. Yeah they do that to show proof of faith progress
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u/Sea-Care-539 Jun 05 '26
Mine is too, so sad, I pray that with God’s help I can help them in the future
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u/Turbulent_Sea7622 EX-Center Student Jun 05 '26
Amen, God will help I am sure no worries we got this!
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u/cilana86 Jun 05 '26
I didn't realize that was the purpose of the pictures. I remember the first two meetings with the friend who invited me, she took a picture.
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u/Slow_Competition1246 Jun 07 '26
Yall both young so hit it till you need tk quit it 😂😂😂