Unveiling The Secrets Of JMS: A Former Follower Reveals What Really Happened After Netflix’s “In The Name of God: A Holy Betrayal”
On March 13, a netizen claiming to have been a JMS follower for seven years disclosed inside information about the cult and the effects the Netflix documentary In the Name of God: A Holy Betrayal had on her and the cult.
The anonymous ex-JMS member’s post on an online forum answered the burning questions people had about JMS, also known as Christian Gospel Mission. She stated that she posted this hoping it would gain much attention and bring awareness to the cult.
The reason why I wanted it to become a hot topic was because I wanted this information to reach the JMS members who haven’t watched the Netflix show yet, and in hopes that those who are not in JMS can learn of the manipulation and dirtiness of the cult and never be a victim to it. Most importantly, I wanted the cult leader and second-in-command to be unable to run away and get investigated and punished.
She introduced herself and revealed that she joined JMS as a college student—when the cult leader and self-proclaimed Messiah Jeong Myeong Seok was in jail. Because she was 175 cm tall and Jeong Myeong Seok liked tall and slender women, she was approached by some young women who eventually persuaded her to attend the church. For the next seven years, she dedicated her whole life to the cult, but luckily, she was never a victim of sexual assault by Jeong Myeong Seok.
She continued to answer some personal questions about her involvement in JMS. In response to the question, “What kind of activities did you do in JMS?” she replied and apologized for her actions:
I attended Sunday worship and Wednesday worship and early morning prayer every day. And when Jeong Myeong Seok was in jail, I did 1 a.m. morning prayer and I worked in the church broadcasting team and praise team. I also evangelized at colleges and was part of the star group. I admit that I was really a cancer to society when I went around evangelizing, and I will live with the guilt for the rest of my life. I’m so sorry. And I know the other former members who realized the truth and left JMS probably feel the same. I’m so sorry.
When asked if she believed JMS was a regular church, she admitted that she knew it was seen as a cult.
I knew it was a cult. But the world only defined us as a cult and we didn’t believe we were a cult. I thought the world didn’t truly know us.
We invite you to worship full of truth and the Holy Spirit.
— Christian Gospel Mission, or JMS
To the question, “But if you go on online communities, wouldn’t you inevitably have known it was a cult?” she explained her position.
But there’s no article that reveals Jeong Myeong Seok in detail. You can only find that on the anti-JMS forums. So I just thought they were just harsh criticisms. And I thought it was more so because I was taught to believe they were all lies. When they teach you, they really just make things up and bring the materials to make you believe it.
The netizen also stated that she ended up watching the documentary, despite the cult’s warning not to.
They told me not to watch it, but none of my friends outside of JMS know I was a part of it. So while we were just talking, they mentioned In the Name of God: A Holy Betrayal because it was super popular and brought it up like, ‘Did you watch it? It’s so shocking.’ They kept talking about it so I became curious, and I continuously saw articles about it come up on theqoo, and as someone who didn’t have 100% in the Jeong Myeong Seok, I couldn’t overcome my curiousity.
She then answered questions about the Netflix docuseries’ impact on the cult.
When asked the question, “If you try to leave the cult, do you get threats?” she answered:
Many people around me left the cult even before the documentary was released. I’m not close to the famous pastors or the stars and the members around me were regular believers or stars that were not Jeong Myeong Seok’s style, so the church didn’t really try to catch people like us if we tried to leave. However, if it was revealed that someone was going to leave the cult, there was a one-on-one interview with a pastor in charge and they sometimes showed up at your door (I’ve never done this.) But the members who showed up at your house were just college students like me. They only urged you to keep going to church and if you were to say, ‘F*ck off, f*ckers,’ they would just leave.. lol. So I was surprised to hear that Maple and Professor Kim Do Hyeong’s father was followed and assaulted.
She said she had no idea because the threats didn’t happen to ordinary people. The leadership, on the hand, seemed to have been attacked atrociously. She confirmed that Maple, a former leader at JMS and a victim who testified in the documentary, was a very famous figure at JMS, and “if you didn’t know her, that meant you must not have attended the worship services.”
She then responded to a question about Maple’s press conference: “Didn’t you know [about the cult] when Maple did the press conference last year? Or did you not believe her?”
I knew. But at the time, the church uploaded an explanation video claiming that Maple was someone with a lot of problems , so I didn’t know what was right. But I’ve been brainwashed for a long time, so I would think that the church was right… while at the same time, I couldn’t let go of my doubts. The reason why I was suspicious was because I kept thinking to myself, ‘Why did they set a person with a lot of problems as a pastor and make her things for the church?‘
To the question, “How much of an effect did the documentary have?” she explained its massive impact on the JMS followers.
It was huge! This is the most chaos I’ve seen since I joined JMS. There are so many people leaving now. Most of the followers believed that the cult leader didn’t commit sexual crimes beause very few people agreed with it or turned a blind eye to it. However, since evidence was shown this time, the majority of them now figured out the facts. I figure everyone’s having a hard time because I’m definitely having a hard time. Of course, JMS told us not to watch the Netflix documentary, so there were some JMS acquaintances who didn’t watch it. But I didn’t contact them or say, ‘You gotta f*cking watch it’ or anything because any one of them could be crazy people who’ll come after me.
Yep.. ^_^ There’s no one in the world who talks as stupidly as him~~~ The effect is f*cking amazing
Then she revealed where Jeong Myeong Seok is now.
He’s in custody for investigation. He’s lucky he’s only going to jail… He needs to be ripped apart to death
She also noted that some people might not leave JMS even after watching the documentary.
But I think there are more people who haven’t left because they haven’t watched it yet. Especially the ones in the small churches outside of the city who can’t get information thoroughly. If you’re an online community user and go to a small church, please see my post.. and watch the Netflix documentary.
