Netflix’s trending docuseries Dancing for the Devil is startling.
The documentary features families affected by the alleged cult of Shekinah Church lead by Robert Shinn, a self-proclaimed “Man of God.” It’s a story that’s almost too insane to believe. Famous up-and-coming dance influencers join a cult that brainwashes them to “die” to their families and cut them out, while paying Shekinah majority of their earnings. Robert sets up 7M Films, Inc. to manage the dancers as an agent. And, if that wasn’t bad enough, there are further allegations of abuse against him.
Most of the documentary focusses on Miranda Derrick, a popular dancer who joins Shekinah. Her sister, Melanie, also a dancer, gets introduced to Shekinah at the same time as her, but Melanie knew something was off during the bible reading dinners with Robert—initiation events into the cult—and stopped attending altogether. She tried to get her sister out of it too but couldn’t.
Melanie & Miranda have the same background, so how could one sister see the cult for what it is and the other couldn’t? Could you or me join a cult without knowing what’s happening?
The University of Texas posted about The Psychology of Cults and their recruiting tactics (which makes me question what’s going on on their campus but that’s for another article):
Targeting Vulnerable Prey
Receptive people are those who are looking to escape something—such as an unhappy life situation—and to belong, be accepted, and find meaning. Cults prey upon the vulnerable among us, such as teenage runaways, drug addicts, abuse survivors, those who have lost someone close to them through death or a breakup, those suffering from insecurity or mental health issues, or anyone who feels disconnected from society.
Drawing in Recruits
Once the potential recruit is in the presence of cult members, typically still oblivious to the group’s agenda, they are showered with love and validation. This tactic, referred to as “love bombing,” makes the recruit believe they’ve found what they’re looking for and more likely to return for group activities in the future. This is critical in the early stages of cult indoctrination since the recruit is not yet under their influence and needs to feel secure.
Taking Control
As they indoctrinate new members, many cults separate them from their families, friends, and jobs, slowly remaking their identities to suit the group. They may force recruits to surrender their money, belongings, and bodies to the cult’s leader and other members. Sometimes they compel new members to marry people they just met. They may use punishment, deprivation, and other tactics to wear them down. These efforts, which sometimes include threats, make new members dependent on and afraid to leave the group. Fully indoctrinated members often engage in behavior they never would’ve considered in their former lives.
Targeting Vulnerable Prey. As far as the documentary showed, Miranda didn’t have any traumatic life events that could put her at risk. It seemed like she grew up in an affluent, loving family.
Drawing in Recruits. Miranda was invited into the cult by her boyfriend. Other recruited members were dancers Miranda looked up to, so she likely felt validation.
Taking Control. Robert told members to cut off their families and metaphorically die to them, ensuring that the family could be saved in the eyes of god. Social media earnings were siphoned to Shekinah and psychological manipulation sounded like a choice weapon to keep members in line.
There’s nothing in Miranda’s life that I can point to and say, “well that’s why she ended up in a cult.” The fact that her boyfriend was already in is probably a significant factor, but her sister also knew her boyfriend and she didn’t fall for their deception.
So, yes, it seems like under the right circumstances you or me could be vulnerable to join a cult. If the cult offers what we desire the most then the rest can fall into place.
How someone ends up in a cult is one part of the story. The other element I don’t understand is how much responsibility do you put on the people who end up in them? Melanie and her family are able to see Miranda a couple times a year. She agreed to visit them only if they don’t talk about Shekinah. They were advised by experts that the best thing they can do is to just be there for her. If the day ever comes she realizes what’s happening to her she’ll need them more than ever. In other words, her family can’t do a damn thing to help her because anything else they do could put Miranda in harm’s way. It seemed they participated in this documentary because they’re completely out of options, and they’re willing to risk the consequences. Looking at the whole situation, Miranda joined on her own, and she continues to stay in on her own, while actively avoiding discussing her choices. She’s unwilling to look at facts, despite her family’s pleas for her to come home. As an adult, Miranda bears some responsibility in all this, albeit minimally given she’s brainwashed.
Again, I empathize with the people stuck in Shekinah, but I’m still dumbfounded. There’s just no part of Shekinah that’s rational. The leader of Shekinah convinced new members that he was the “Man of God” by helping them achieve big social media numbers. He suggested the dancers make videos to old songs. Then, their videos became more popular than ever. The brand deals rolled in and the dancers were hooked. To convince someone that you are god’s disciple by picking the right music for Tik Toks sounds like an SNL skit.
I’m not here to mock. Parts of daily life are cult-like. Social media tailors content to pin us in microcosms that make everyone outside of them look nuts. Platforms even control which comments we see on posts to best match our interests. Online conformity is already happening; we’re sorted into silos that feed us what we want. We’re aware of this, but we don’t do much. Perhaps the core perversion of truth in our lives isn’t far off from Shekinah. We’re probably more similar than we are different. People in Shekinah have just given up control of their lives; whereas, we still have conscious agency.
I’m just glad cults have had no influence on my life. It’s a strange thing to say out loud, but with some Netflix perspective it’s worth adding to the gratitude journal.
Best of luck staying cult-free.
The whole cult thing is super interesting.
My partner and I are currently watching the doco series ‘wild wild country’ and it seems crazy to me how people join these things. But then again, I have also read and heard podcasts where people talk about how the capacity to do everything humans have done — murder, joining cults, and anything else — exists within all of us, and so maybe joining a cult is in my future after all haha.
Thanks :)
To convince someone that you are god’s disciple by picking the right music for Tik Toks sounds like an SNL skit.
Truly.
Any cult documentary (NXIVM!) is a guilty pleasure of mine. In general a good scam will do it for me (Theranos! Weirdly inspiring haha)