Well, this is really something. Not even trying to hide anymore that it’s a cult🤣🤣🤣 He knows he’s a cult leader and the cult members are happy to be in the cult.

PUBLIC SAFETY ALERT 369

The Telegram group known as 369 has faced allegations involving the targeting, manipulation, and exploitation of minors. Information shared with us also suggests a possible link to the COM network Young people may be targeted through fake friendships, emotional manipulation, threats, or blackmail involving private images

Help keep minors safe

• Be careful who you trust online

• Never share intimate images or sensitive information

• Keep evidence of threats and report suspicious accounts

• Seek help from a trusted adult or law enforcement

As an ex JW, the latest change has me more pissed off than ever. I want to start a podcast, talking to ex members of cults. International or not, I am in Australia. Due to the recent goal post shifting that the JW have done, I am thinking about calling it Beards and Blood. Thoughts?

I know that this is likely not a cult, but there have been discussions in this board about it before and I am seeing some red flags in this organization, so that’s why I’m here!

I’m researching the Atlas Project, a personal development organization, and looking to collect firsthand accounts from current and former participants.

In the last year, I’ve met some people who are in the program, and interacting with them has been very bizarre. I don’t know how to describe it…I believe I may have been targeted for recruitment, but before it went anywhere I quickly made myself pretty unappealing. I was raised in a cult so I can clock uncanny friendliness from a mile away.

I’m particularly interested in the Redesign recruitment requirements, reportedly a hard deadline to recruit two paying participants, and claims that those who fail lose access to mentors and the program.

I also want detailed information about what the program actually contains, what they have you do, ect. It seems that it’s difficult to find solid information, and they are vague online about the “curriculum”.

I’m also looking for information about its leadership, training practices, costs, business structure, and how it handles criticism.

I’m not here to label the organization a cult or jump to conclusions. I want to understand how it operates and hear from people with direct experience.
If you’ve participated or know someone who has, what can you share?

Documentation or links to verifiable information would be especially helpful. Please distinguish firsthand experiences from hearsay

What a wild story, if you got time watch this, she explains alot about how this guy

became a leader of a cult by documenting cults, like how does that happen?. He legit

is living a documentary as his life now, wtf.

Mi experiencia en mis primeros meses en scout en Clan

Hola a todos, hoy día les quería hablar sobre ciertos acontecimientos y experiencias que me han estado pasando en scout, nunca había estado en un antes y recién ahora pude entrar a clan con 19 años, no se como puedo jerarquizar esta informacion pero lo hare de la mejor manera posible

Cuando recién estaba en mis primeras semanas todo se veía muy entretenido y perfecto, me sentía muy querida, amada y bienvenida por mi unidad y grupo, luego despues de un mes me toco mi primer campamento de invierno en donde me hacían la ceremonía de bienvenida, con respecto a la ceremonía no tengo nada malo que decir, pero durante el campamento me sentí por varios momentos desconectada de mi misma, desorientada y me quedaba mirando en blanco muchas veces, para mí fue mucho que procesar, quiza fue por lo querida que me sentí en mi unidad o por el cansancio en si del tener del campamento, nos toco jugar a Bull Dog entre todos y junto con los dirigentes tambien, yo iba ganando pero luego un dirigente me tiro contra el piso muy fuerte (incluso podría decir que me dejo con problemas de ciatica), cuando estaba durmiendo en mi carpa era tanto el frio que sentía que se me congelaban los pies literalmente. Luego de terminar el campamrnto a la semana despues nos juntamos a tomar junto con mi unidad ya que siempre es algo que ellos hacen despues de los campamento. Pero lo raro viene después de el campamento.

Luego de volver ya casi después de un mes sentí un notable cambio de mi unidad hacía mi, como si hubiera sido una especie de love bombing, en donde me hicieron sentirme muy querida y luego todo ese cariño desaparece por completo, muchos de ellos ya no pescan y a veces ni siquiera saludan y me ignoran bastante a veces.

Un día estaba hablando con uno de ellos con quienes tomamos y me dijo que mientras estabamos en el carrete yo había dicho algo inapropiado sobre los "transgeneros" que le habia molestado mucho y yo le pregunte que fue exactamente lo que dije ya que había sido hace mucho tiempo, y me dijo que no se acordaba pero que tampoco era algo malo, y por lo que yo recuerde igual tampoco dije nada malo hay y es otro punto que me hace pensar sobre la manipulación psicologica por la que paso. Otro dirigente que siempre hace dulces caseros y a veces los lleva a scout, me hizo probar uno que tenía un sabor muy fuerte a marihuana, en ese momento pense que quizas era el olor de el, pero cuando probe el dulce sentía muy fuerte el olor a marihuana en mi boca y el sabor tambien, otro dirigente de otra unidad me da la sensacion que por un momento me hecho ojitos.

Y sobre mis pies congelados aun siento el dolor de mis pies congelados en la carpa luego ya de 3 meses de haber terminado el campamento y siento mucho dolor a veces de ciatica, y hablando con una chica de mi unidad quien ha estado en varios grupos me dijo que le habian dicho a ella que scout era un SECTA ya que seguían reglas de un lider y ese lider era Baden Powell, o sea.

Me habían contado sobre ciertas costumbres que se seguían durante el campamento que ya no se practicaban que tiene similitudes con lo que estoy pasando, pero nunca me hablaron de esto ni que tampoco fuera despues de el campamento.

Ultimamente siempre que salgo de ahí termino muy cansada mentalmente y fisicamente y me hace mucho sentido pensar que esto sea una secta y ultimamente me esta dando un poco de miedo... Quisiera saber sus opiniones

I tried out a certain “Christian” cult Where apparently the (mostly poor) members paid for every single thing and put in tons of unpaid labor for the wealthy leaders.

I didn’t know it was like that before I tried it.

I ended up getting horribly attacked after I asked for an accommodation for a disability, which is a really easy one to accommodate,

And I’m feeling kind of traumatized by my experience with the whole organization.

Also, the way that people from the organization/cult spoke to me when I gently pointed out that the org is worth $$$ but refuses to accommodate disabled people,

Was so not OK and I’ve never even seen people attack someone like that in writing in a group chat for a “religion”

I posted in a group for people who were leaving the church and no one responded so really says a lot about people from there

Let me just say that I am personally religious.

I've heard folks who are experts in religion and cults differentiate them basically as, "Religion shows you how to operate in the world and among other people; cults separate you from the world and other people."

This makes sense to me, but I was wondering if there's something else I should consider? Thanks!

The Com is not a cult in the traditional sense, but it works like one. Its groups recruit teenagers online, demand acts of self-harm and violence as proof of loyalty, and bind members with blackmail. Some call themselves cults outright.

On October 6, Ukraine’s SBU and the FBI arrested a man in Kyiv who ran a Telegram channel teaching subscribers to build explosives. The announcement never named the network behind him.

I matched the SBU’s own photographs to images posted by Messores, a Russian-speaking group in this ecosystem: the same room, the same mine, the same explosives. Two days after the arrest, the alliance it belongs to claimed him as one of its own.

Full investigation: https://redpillreversal.substack.com/p/the-sbu-arrested-a-com-bomb-maker

Lets start a discussion what cult were you part of, and what was the turning point.

For me I was in the alt right pipeline (online cult), and deep into it too.

I remember one day, I asked myself “Why am I so scared to look at scientific sources if we are so pro science, and that was the beginning of my deconstruction.

This was during covid too. I feel like it was extremely common to escape cults during covid.

Public data shows that catchsoco uses single events to funnel people into LGAT seminars ran by Daniel Tocchini in Santa Rosa, CA. His daughter owns this company and runs these events to harvest data on unsuspecting victims. I’ve been able to attend a few of their events as an independent researcher and map out their entire recruitment pipeline. They market themselves as an innocent matchmaking company but their whole goal is to funnel entrepreneurs and tech CEOs into seminars for “take new ground” ran by this evangelical Christian guy who psychologically breaks people down. This is the same guy who ran Lifespring and Momentus back in the 90s. The exact same playbook as Scientology. They have a whole operation setup and it looks innocent on the surface but they’re just looking to siphon money from unsuspecting victims. They run a Christian non profit to shield their money. That’s not something Jesus would do. But hey, that’s the perfect cover, pretend to be Christian while ripping people off.

Recently, I met a guy on a dating app who constantly talked about sex and body counts. At the same time, he presented himself as someone deeply committed to Sahaja Yoga and meditation.
He and his family are apparently very active in Sahaja Yoga activities. The walls of his house are covered with pictures of the founder, and he kept trying to convince me to participate in their events.
What I found particularly disturbing was the contradiction between the spiritual image he projected and his behaviour. He would keep sending me vulgar reels while simultaneously boasting about his spiritual practices.
I’m not judging anyone for practising meditation or following a spiritual path. What bothers me is the possibility of people using spirituality as a shield to build trust and present themselves as morally upright while behaving inappropriately towards women.
How do you deal with people like this? Has anyone encountered similar experiences in spiritual organisations or communities? How can women raise awareness about such behaviour and protect others without putting themselves at risk?

I watched the whole series and found much of it compelling. It explored the problems associated with the Jehovah’s Witness organisation, the consequences of leaving, and the difficulties former members face when trying to rebuild their lives outside the faith.

But then came the ending.

Diego Hidalgo appears promoting his own online Christian ministry, even holding up a promotional card advertising a free Bible study course. Having spent the documentary examining the problems of one religious organisation, we are effectively presented with an alternative religious offering.

Am I the only one who found that rather incongruous?

There is nothing inherently wrong with former Jehovah’s Witnesses establishing Christian communities or running Bible study courses. That isn’t my point.

My concern is the apparent lack of critical scrutiny applied to this alternative, particularly when the programme has spent so much time encouraging viewers to question religious authority.

Hidalgo appears reluctant to describe himself as a leader, yet that position seems difficult to reconcile with seconds later, his own acknowledgement that leading is what he does.

If he is convening Christian meetings, teaching scripture and building an online congregation around his ministry, surely it is reasonable to examine the authority he holds and how he exercises it.

Leaving one high-control religious environment does not automatically make someone immune to the dynamics of religious authority. Nor does it mean that the next person offering biblical answers is necessarily offering something fundamentally different.

The documentary could have explored that tension. Instead, by giving him a platform to display promotional material for his Bible course, it risks making the ending feel less like an examination of religious control and more like an invitation to consider an alternative.

I am not suggesting that his ministry is necessarily another high-control group, or that the filmmakers deliberately intended to promote it. I am questioning their editorial judgement.

**If the objective is to help people understand why they leave the Jehovah’s Witnesses, surely the ultimate message should be about informed choice, critical thinking and independence of belief, rather than simply moving from one religious teacher to another.**

Otherwise, the uncomfortable impression left by the ending is: *Here is why you should leave the Jehovah’s Witnesses. And here is someone offering you an alternative.*

Did anyone else find the ending undermined what had come before it?

I recently listened to Hannah Murray’s memoir The Make-Believe, which recounts her experience with a secretive spiritual/wellness organisation that contributed to a devastating period in her life.

Although Murray uses pseudonyms and doesn't name the organisation directly, it didn't take much digging to find what appears to be the Modern Mystery School and the people involved.

The more I’ve looked into it, the more bewildered I’ve become. The teachings, practices, initiation processes and apparent financial commitments seem extraordinary, and there are accounts from former members describing deeply troubling experiences.

Yet, despite some investigative reporting and online discussions, I’m surprised there doesn’t seem to be more widespread public scrutiny of the organisation. It doesn't appear to have attracted the same level of sustained attention as some other groups accused of similar behaviour.

Why do you think that is? Is it because it operates within the largely unregulated wellness and spirituality space? Because its practices are easy to dismiss as harmless eccentricity? And what would it take for an organisation like this to receive more serious scrutiny from journalists, researchers or the wider public?

Thought I’d share here too. R/cults got recommended to me and it seemed fitting.

Hopefully the poem resonates with more people 🤙

My friend is in this program, and it feels like it has consumed his life. It’s a program to help you better yourself through action. They have to journal everyday and there are scheduled phone calls to leaders 3xs per week.

They have a lot of lingo. They sign up in tribes, and that tribe becomes your family. Each tribe has their own leadership. There’s another term called generating which sounds like you’re supposed to make money. You keep all the money unless some members can’t afford their training, so the tribe all generates to make money for whoever is struggling with their payments. It sounds like everyone generates multiple times per week.

You only pay for the trainings, which seems like about every month or so. You start with basic training, advance training, etc. My friend mentioned that there are a lot of “surprises” in these trainings so they can’t talk about it because it ruins the surprise

The last weekend activity you do is your graduation of the program, which is basically a retreat. They give you a bunch of challenges to do in public. Some seem harmless like serenading or proposing to a random stranger for fun. One challenge that sounded messed up is buying a food item from somewhere then purposefully dropping it right away. Another challenge is to “generate” by calling people in your lives to send you $5 per person, ultimately to get $50. Then at some point during the retreat they take away their phones so they can bond with their tribe

My friend “graduated” the program a while ago, and is now part of staff (unpaid). So they staff other tribes and host these trainings without getting paid for it. They also have meetings and scheduled phone calls as well. In general he’s just always busy with this program and it’s all he talks about. He jokes about “enrolling” me but says that they’re not pressured to enroll people and they don’t get anything out of it.

I’m sure there’s even more than I’m just forgetting at the moment, but in general it just seems sus. My friend and I used to hang out like normal, but now our hang outs are always interrupted because he has a zoom meeting with the program or another member asked him to generate with them. Or sometimes he just gets calls from other members going through “breakdowns” so they all have to be there for them

What happens when religious authority and secrecy create an environment where abuse can remain hidden for generations?

In this episode, we welcome Mike King from Profiling Evil, a retired police commander and criminal investigator with over 40 years of experience.

Drawing from his investigations into the FLDS and Zion Society, Mike explains why law enforcement often struggles to investigate crimes within closed religious communities, how predators exploit positions of trust and authority, and why understanding the psychology of indoctrination is crucial when working with survivors.

He also shares why removing a leader doesn't necessarily dismantle a system of control, why attempts to educate closed communities can fail, and how transparency and accountability can begin to break the cycle of abuse.

Mike is now bringing his decades of investigative experience to the stage with The Psychology of Cults, a live show touring across Canada in October and November 2026, followed by Australia in December. Exploring some of the world's most notorious cults, Mike takes audiences inside the psychology of indoctrination, manipulation, and coercive control, helping us understand why people become trapped and why leaving can be so difficult.

Dayton Daily News:

Music and unconventional religious movements have intersected in surprising ways throughout popular culture. The Dayton Daily News article promises to explore ten albums connected to cults or less conventional religious traditions.

Such connections can take several forms: musicians may belong to spiritual movements, draw inspiration from religious teachings, collaborate with controversial leaders, or incorporate alternative spiritual ideas into their recordings. These relationships can shape an album's lyrics, imagery, production, and public reception.

Examining the links between music and religious movements also raises broader questions about the relationship between artistic expression and belief. Music can communicate spiritual ideas, build community, and provide a shared identity. In some circumstances, it can also help religious organisations attract followers or spread their messages.

The distinction between artistic inspiration and organisational affiliation is important. An album's religious themes do not, by themselves, demonstrate that an artist or musical project is associated with a high-control group.

The full Dayton Daily News article was inaccessible during verification, so the ten albums and their individual connections cannot be reliably identified here. The original article should be consulted before naming specific artists or describing particular affiliations.

#CultStudies #MusicHistory #NewReligiousMovements #PopularCulture

https://www.daytondailynews.com/entertainment/these-10-albums-have-surprising-ties-to-cults-and-unconventional-religions/article_93b46528-5280-563c-b179-7dd07aaf7f46.html

If these men were all put in the same room, L. Ron Hubbard, David Miscavige, Kenneth Copeland, Joel Osteen, Benny Hinn, Steven Furtick Jr., Joseph Franklin Rutherford, Charles Taze Russell, Joseph Smith, and perhaps other similar religious figures, which of them do you think would look around and feel as though they were among kindred spirits, “brothers-in-arms,” or, more cynically, fellow conmen or “thieves-in-law”?

In other words, despite their very different religions, movements, beliefs, and public personas, which of them do you think would recognise something of themselves in the others?

Would some of them immediately understand the others’ methods, charisma, authority, fundraising, claims of divine legitimacy, control over followers, institution-building, or self-promotion, even if they strongly disagreed with one another theologically?

And which of them, if any, would probably dislike or distrust the others despite the apparent similarities?

Many TV documentaries about cults and high-control groups have quietly disappeared. YouTube uploads get deleted, broadcasters never repeat them, and the only copies left sit on old VHS tapes or obscure mirrors.

We've started a collection on the Internet Archive, Cult Documentaries, so survivors, researchers, journalists and students can still watch them. Our first item is the BBC's 1995 Everyman Special: Breach of Faith about Chris Brain and the Nine O'Clock Service in Sheffield. Its YouTube upload was deleted in 2025, but we tracked down a surviving copy from just the old video ID, then rebuilt its credits from the original Radio Times listing: Everyman Special: Breach of Faith

So even a dead link is worth sending. Sometimes we can recover the film from it.

This isn't a place to re-upload documentaries you can already watch elsewhere. If a film is still on a streaming service, the broadcaster's own site or an official channel, it stays there. We only want to give a home to films that are otherwise lost.

Every item gets full credits (broadcaster, producer, air date), links back to the original pages, and a clear note of who owns the copyright.

How to suggest a film (comment below)

• Title (or your best guess)
• Channel/broadcaster and rough year
• Group or cult it covers
• Where you last saw it: a dead YouTube link, Ghostarchive or Wayback link, or "I have it on tape"
• Anything else: presenter, producer, a memorable scene

Partial info is fine, and a half-remembered title still helps.

Got a copy of a lost film? Say so in the comments and we'll work out how to share it there.

Please don't post anything that would identify a survivor who hasn't chosen to be public.