Back in Time Today
Cults don’t just exist in history books or horror movies—they operate all around us today. These groups use mind control tactics that date back centuries, repackaged for our modern world.
They target vulnerable people looking for meaning, community, or answers during difficult times. Understanding how these groups work is the first step to recognizing their dangerous influence in our everyday lives.
1. NXIVM’s Self-Help Smokescreen
Behind the glossy executive coaching seminars lurked a sinister organization that branded women and collected blackmail. Founded by Keith Raniere in 1998, NXIVM posed as a personal development company while slowly isolating members from their families and critical thinking abilities.
Women were recruited into a secret society called DOS where they became “slaves” required to provide “collateral”—embarrassing information or nude photos. Many were literally branded with Raniere’s initials near their pelvic area.
The group used sleep deprivation, restricted calorie intake, and sophisticated psychological manipulation to break down resistance. Despite celebrity members like Allison Mack, the facade crumbled when former members exposed its true nature.
2. The Twelve Tribes’ Communal Deception
Yellow delis and buses painted with psychedelic designs serve as recruitment fronts for this controlling religious group. Founded in the 1970s by Elbert Eugene Spriggs, the Twelve Tribes attracts idealistic seekers with promises of simple living and spiritual fulfillment in their communes.
Members surrender all possessions to the group and cut ties with outside friends and family. Children born into the group face strict discipline including regular physical punishment with reeds and rods.
Former members report working 17-hour days in the group’s businesses without pay. The cheerful facade of their Yellow Deli restaurants masks a system where questioning leaders or doctrines leads to public humiliation sessions called “the lamp” where members are verbally berated.
3. Scientology’s Billion-Dollar Trap
Hollywood celebrities smile from glossy promotional materials, but underneath lies a system of escalating financial demands and psychological control. Founded by science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard, Scientology hooks newcomers with personality tests and promises of spiritual advancement through expensive courses.
Members undergo “auditing” sessions where personal secrets are recorded and stored for potential future use. Those who try to leave face aggressive harassment, family disconnection, and threats from the organization’s intelligence branch.
The group’s “Sea Org” members sign billion-year contracts and often work for pennies an hour. Despite investigations and lawsuits, Scientology maintains tax-exempt status as a religion while amassing vast real estate holdings and using litigation to silence critics.
4. FLDS: Polygamy’s Persistent Shadow
Pastel prairie dresses and elaborate hairstyles mark the women of this breakaway Mormon sect that still practices illegal polygamy. The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, long led by now-imprisoned Warren Jeffs, controls every aspect of members’ lives in isolated compounds.
Young girls are assigned to marry much older men in spiritual ceremonies, sometimes becoming one of many wives. Boys who might compete for wives are often expelled from the community on trivial pretexts, creating a lost generation of “Lost Boys.”
The group maintains control through economic dominance, owning most property and businesses in their communities. Children receive limited education focused on FLDS teachings, making independent life nearly impossible without outside help.
5. The Moonies’ Marriage Machine
Mass wedding ceremonies featuring thousands of couples who’ve never met before marriage showcase this group’s bizarre control over members’ personal lives. Founded by Sun Myung Moon, who claimed to be the messiah, the Unification Church recruits idealistic young people through front groups focused on world peace or interfaith dialogue.
New recruits undergo intense “love bombing” where they receive overwhelming positive attention followed by marathon indoctrination sessions with minimal sleep or food. Parents who attempt to extract their adult children often hire deprogrammers to break the psychological hold.
Members surrender their romantic autonomy, allowing Moon to match them with partners they’ve never met, often from different countries and speaking different languages. Despite Moon’s death in 2012, the organization continues through his widow and children.
6. Happy Science’s Expensive Enlightenment
Claiming direct communication with Buddha, Jesus, and even aliens, founder Ryuho Okawa built a multimedia empire that extracts maximum profit from followers’ spiritual hopes. This Japanese new religious movement operates sleek centers worldwide where members pay increasing fees to access higher levels of teaching.
Followers believe Okawa channels historical figures and even fictional characters during expensive seminars. Members are encouraged to purchase his 2,000+ books and attend pricey retreats to avoid negative karma and spiritual contamination from non-believers.
The group has expanded into politics through the Happiness Realization Party, which promotes nationalist policies. Former members report that questioning teachings or requesting refunds leads to accusations of demonic possession and threats of spiritual consequences that extend beyond this lifetime.
7. End Time Ministries’ Apocalyptic Control
Constantly shifting doomsday predictions keep members in a perpetual state of fear and compliance in this isolated religious community. Founded by Charles Meade in the 1980s, End Time Ministries convinced followers to relocate to remote compounds to prepare for imminent apocalypse.
Members surrender their medical autonomy, refusing treatments in favor of prayer healing only. Children raised in the group report severe punishment for minor infractions and complete isolation from outside cultural influences like television or non-approved books.
The group maintains control by teaching that demonic forces operate through family members who aren’t believers. When prophecies fail, leaders simply recalculate dates rather than acknowledging errors, keeping followers in a constant state of anticipation and dread that prevents critical thinking.
8. Love Has Won’s Mummified Messiah
From a mobile home in rural Colorado, a self-proclaimed divine being built a following that ended with her mummified corpse decorated with Christmas lights. Amy Carlson, who called herself “Mother God,” claimed to have been reincarnated 534 times and to contain the consciousness of Marilyn Monroe, Jesus, and Joan of Arc.
Members surrendered their finances and worked without pay to support the group while enduring Carlson’s abusive outbursts, often livestreamed to followers. Children in the group were neglected while adults focused on bizarre spiritual practices involving consuming industrial bleach products.
The cult collapsed in 2021 when Carlson died and members attempted to transport her decomposing body to a follower’s home. Despite this shocking end, splinter groups continue her teachings online, targeting vulnerable people with promises of ascension.
9. Raëlism’s Extraterrestrial Exploitation
Sleek websites about alien creators mask a group focused on sexual manipulation and controversial scientific claims. Founded by former French race car driver Claude Vorilhon (now called Raël), who claims aliens called Elohim revealed humanity’s extraterrestrial origins to him in 1973.
The group attracts members through UFO interest but gradually introduces teachings about sexual freedom that have led to exploitation. Female members called “Angel Order” serve as assistants and potential sexual partners for leadership.
Raëlism gained notoriety by claiming to have cloned humans through their company Clonaid, though no evidence was ever produced. Behind the space-age aesthetics and peace messaging lies a organization where women report coercion into sexual activities with Raël himself, all justified as spiritual advancement.
10. Eastern Lightning’s Underground Terror
Operating secretly in China, this apocalyptic group teaches that Jesus has returned as a Chinese woman and employs kidnapping and violence against rivals. The Church of Almighty God, founded in the 1990s, uses fear tactics including brutal assaults on those who refuse recruitment.
Members cut all ties with family who don’t join and surrender their finances to the organization. The group maintains secrecy through cell structures where most members never meet leadership and communicate through encrypted channels.
Their belief system teaches that the Chinese Communist Party is the embodiment of the red dragon from Revelation that must be destroyed. This has led to violent confrontations including a notorious 2014 McDonald’s murder where members beat a woman to death for refusing to give them her phone number for recruitment.
11. The Family’s Systematic Child Abuse
Children raised in this Australian cult endured forced LSD trips, starvation diets, and were told their leader was Jesus reincarnated. Founded by Anne Hamilton-Byrne in the 1960s, The Family acquired children through fraudulent adoptions and manipulated birth certificates.
Young members had their hair bleached blonde and were dressed identically to fulfill Hamilton-Byrne’s vision of creating a master race. Children received brutal physical punishment for minor infractions while being indoctrinated with a bizarre mix of Christianity, Hinduism, and apocalyptic teachings.
Adult members included respected professionals like doctors and lawyers who helped shield the group from scrutiny. Though largely disbanded after police raids in the 1980s, survivors continue to deal with psychological trauma from their upbringing in isolation from normal society.
12. Jehovah’s Witnesses’ Isolation Tactics
Friendly door-knockers offering literature conceal a system where questioning doctrines leads to complete family disconnection. While presenting themselves as simply another Christian denomination, Jehovah’s Witnesses enforce strict behavioral controls including prohibitions against birthday celebrations, holidays, and blood transfusions.
Members who violate rules face judicial committees and potential disfellowshipping, after which even family members must shun them completely. Children are taught that non-Witness friends are bad associations who will be destroyed at Armageddon, creating social isolation from early ages.
The organization’s changing prophecies about the world’s end create constant urgency, discouraging education or career advancement. Former members report PTSD-like symptoms after leaving, having lost their entire social network and family connections overnight for expressing doubts.
13. Shincheonji’s Deceptive Infiltration
Recruiting through fake Bible study groups, this Korean apocalyptic group expects members to bring in new converts or face spiritual punishment. Founded by Lee Man-hee, who claims to be the second coming of Jesus, Shincheonji Church of Jesus teaches that only Lee can correctly interpret the Bible’s hidden meanings.
Members infiltrate mainstream churches to recruit new followers, hiding their true affiliation. Initiates progress through levels of indoctrination where they’re taught to lie to family about their involvement, calling it “spiritual war.”
The group gained international attention during COVID-19 when they became South Korea’s largest infection cluster after refusing to stop mass gatherings. Recruitment includes love-bombing followed by exhausting study sessions where sleep deprivation makes critical thinking difficult, all while isolating members from concerned family through mandatory activities.
14. Destiny Church’s Prosperity Demands
Luxury cars and designer clothes adorn the leaders of this New Zealand group that demands significant financial sacrifice from often struggling members. Founded by Brian Tamaki, who calls himself Bishop, Destiny Church combines Pentecostal Christianity with Māori cultural elements while requiring members to tithe at least 10% of their income.
Male members undergo initiation into the “Man Up” program where they pledge loyalty to Tamaki personally. Families report financial hardship while watching leaders flaunt wealth from their contributions.
The group operates like a franchise business with Tamaki family members controlling all finances. Political activism against LGBTQ+ rights and COVID restrictions has expanded their influence. Members who question financial transparency face public shaming and community rejection.
15. La Luz del Mundo’s Protected Predators
Ornate white temples house a religious dynasty where young girls are groomed to consider sexual abuse by leaders an honor. The Light of the World Church, founded in Mexico in 1926, has expanded internationally while maintaining absolute authority of the founding Joaquín family over millions of followers.
Women must follow strict dress codes including long skirts and head coverings during services where they sit separately from men. Former members report being taught that the church’s apostle speaks directly for God and cannot be questioned.
The organization’s current leader, Naasón Joaquín García, was sentenced to nearly 17 years in prison for sexually abusing young female followers. Despite this conviction, thousands of members continue to proclaim his innocence, showing the powerful psychological hold the group maintains through communal reinforcement and isolation.