(REVIEW) “In The Name of God: A Holy Betrayal” is a riveting Netflix docuseries revisiting some of South Korea’s most prominent cult leaders. 

The eight-episode series covered Jesus Morning Star, Five Oceans, The Baby Garden, and the God of Manmim cults. Comedian Esther Ku spoke with ReligionUnplugged.com about how the series unearthed an ecosystem of cults in Korea.

In an article from allkpop, Jo Sung Hyun, the creator of the series, became passionate about the topic because some of his family members were victims of pseudo-religion. He believed that this story was a part of his story as well. 

“I wanted many people to know and recognize these incidents and religions to raise a social topic and awareness,” Hyun said. “I’m glad that these things are happening and that social change seems to be happening.”

The first three episodes show us the rise of evangelism from Jesus Morning Star leader Jeong Myeong-Seok and, ultimately, his dissent into a sexual assault against the women in his congregation. The series gives us all the details, no matter how disturbing. The first episode starts with a recording of Myeong-Seok complimenting a woman on her wide hips and asking her if she orgasmed during her assault by him.

Myeong-Seok assaulted the women under the guise of “health check-ups.” Some women believed that he had healed other women from health issues. In the documentary, a previous member recalled being examined by Meyong-Seok. He touched her inappropriately and said, “The Lord is examining you.” After the assault, he told her she was God’s bride now, and if she betrayed him, she would go to hell. 

Myeong-Seok deified himself, referring to himself as the Messiah. Many of his followers believed he read the Bible 2,000 times. 

Amy, an Australian member of Jesus Morning Star, was assaulted by Myeong-Seok as well, but at the time of her assault, she believed it was a godly encounter. 

“I could barely sleep at night thinking about the event, but I think I know why he did it,” said Amy, as she recalled just how brainwashed she had become as a member of Jesus Morning Star. “He was cleaning me, forgiving me and making me his. I thought about how Jesus did strange things when he made miracles.”

Hyun faced threats from Jesus Morning Star for revealing the truth behind the cult. It sought an injunction to stop the series from airing. The cult claimed that the information was fictional and it undermined its members’ religious freedoms. Netflix and Korean public broadcaster MBC defeated the court application. 

Carrying out threats isn’t uncommon for Jesus Morning Star members. The series details how loyal members have beaten and kidnapped former members and retaliated against people trying to expose them. To protect the producer from the cults, Netflix took extra safety precautions at a press conference on March 10. Taking these steps to protect Hyun is understandable, considering some of the cults he covered in the show have murdered people. 

Garden variety cults

This is the case for the Baby Garden cult, which Kim Ki-Soon ran. She is suspected of enforcing several murders on members of her cult, with the most notable murder being of five-year-old Choi Nak-Gwi. The boy was starved and beaten up by members, some being his family members, while he was in a pigpen. Kim Ki-Soon convinced the members that evil spirits possessed him. 

Evangelism is an essential part of these Korean cults. Spreading their “gospel” to other nations is important. Along with the cults covered in the Netflix show, other Korean cults or cult-like churches have tried to evangelize to other “much-needed” countries, according to them. 

University Bible Fellowship is a part of Korean churches that expanded to other nations. The church was founded in the 1960s in South Korea by Samuel Lee. The organization has been criticized for its cult-like practices and was even thrown out of the National Association of Evangelicals. The church’s headquarters is in Chicago. 

A comedian and TikTok influencer who quit UBF

Esther Ku is a 43-year-old comedian who grew up in University Bible Fellowship. Her parents followed leader Samuel Lee to America to evangelize young college kids. Ku recalls what it was like recruiting the college kids, which UBF called “fishing.” 

“They prey on very vulnerable kids,” Ku said in an interview with ReligionUnplugged.com. ”These college kids are away from home for the first time. They (UBF) target people who are alone or lonely. These kids are probably thinking, ‘man, I thought I would have friends by now,’ and during that time, the only people who would approach them would be these religious people.” 

Jun Kim, a 24-year-old fashion influencer, experienced the cult’s recruitment tactics firsthand in Korea and Australia. She went viral on TikTok talking about her experience. 

“When they talked to me, it was very much about the church as opposed to God or religion,” Kim said. “The girls said they recently joined this church, and they loved it. They told me lots of cool young people go there and that I would be a great fit.”

Even though she didn’t take the bait, she believes the cults lure people in with the community and then indoctrinate them. 

Ku recalled many cult-like practices in UBF. One of those practices was the shepherding system, a system that members used as they brought in newcomers. A member who brought in an outside person to church would become a shepherd to the newcomer sheep. 

“It may seem small, but the people in this system have power over the sheep underneath them,” Ku said. “This hierarchy is like a pyramid scheme. It makes people feel, ‘Oh look at me, I have 10 sheep I brought to Bible study; how many did you bring?’ It makes people feel better than each other, and you are pitted against each other constantly.”

Arranging marriages was another strange practice among UBF members. Dating was frowned upon because it took your focus off of Bible study. People needed to put their faith in God to find a partner. 

“I did see people get married out of the blue,” Ku said. “The church would make an announcement telling the congregation that two people would be married next week. It was always so sudden. There would sometimes be a big group wedding, anywhere from four to 10 people.”

An ecosystem of cults in Korea

Cult culture in South Korea is thriving. Even though “In The Name of God: A Holy Betrayal” exposed the horrendous actions of those cults, they still have active members even today. 

“Koreans love cults; they just kept falling for cults left and right,” Ku said as she recalled her mother becoming attached to another Korean cult that believed Jesus was coming back on a specific day. 

Ku believes that the hardship of the Korean War could be a contributing factor to the cult culture of Korea.

“I have a feeling the Korean War has had a big impact on why cults were so successful in the ’70s and ’80s,” she said. “The war was heartbreaking for people, and they were just searching for answers. It seemed like Christianity was the answer because the thought was “just give us a god.”

She also considers the United States’ impact on South Korea when it intervened in the war. Western Christianity was glorified among the Koreans because the United States helped in the war. 

Idolization and wanting to fit in can also be a part of the problem. 

“Koreans are really impressionable, and they don’t like to stand out from the crowd,” Kim said. “There was this french designer that said Koreans dress really well, but the thing is, they all dress the same. Koreans have a tendency to pedestalize people in power, you can see it with K-pop idols and celebrities, which is why I believe leaders have such a hold on people. Like, honestly, the BTS fanbase alone could be a cult — they are next-level passionate and protective. So, when it comes to religion, they really believe in it.”

Ultimately, these cults greatly damage people, robbing them of peace, autonomy, and sometimes their life. But what are the impacts of spiritual abuse on a person’s relationship with God? 

“My whole life was built on UBF,” Ku said. “I was willing to throw away my relationship with God in order to get these people to stop controlling me. I had questions about if God exists or if the UBF god exists. I just put it on the back burner and decided to figure out my life, and I will figure it out later.” 

Ku hasn’t been to church since. 

A second season

Meanwhile, after the show’s success, Hyun said he plans to do another season. 

“I didn’t have any plans of making a season two even when this show was first released, but I changed my mind when I saw people quitting the pseudo-religion after watching In The Name Of God: A Holy Betrayal,” said Hyun in a Sportskeeda article. 

Princess Jones is a freelance writer based in North Carolina. Jones was a features editorial assistant at the New York Post and has worked for Religion Unplugged and the New York Amsterdam News. She is an alumna of Trevecca Nazarene University in Nashville, Tennessee and of the NYC Semester in Journalism at The King’s College in New York City.