The strange story of young dancers who join a mysterious religious organization that is accused of violence.
At Netflix the three-part documentary series “Dancing with the Devil: TikTok Cult” was released, which tells the terrible story of famous dancers who published their videos on the social network TikTok, and who became victims of a cult of a religious organization disguised as audiovisual company.
The Guardian writes about this.
The series begins with the shocking discovery that 7M, a company that claims to promote the careers of talented young TikTok dancers, is actually a front for a cult.
Miranda Wilking is one of the victims at the center of the story, and her family fights desperately to get her back.
Sisters Miranda and Melanie Wilking always danced together as children. The girls were born two years apart and grew up in the suburbs of Detroit. When Miranda graduated from high school and moved to Los Angeles to pursue her dream, Melanie followed her as soon as she could.
The sisters looked almost identical – long brown hair, bright blue eyes, clear features, tan and lithe physique. Miranda and Melanie created a joint TikTok account as the Wilking sisters—they had over 3 million followers before 2020.
However, in 2021, the sisters suddenly stopped publishing new joint videos.
Miranda, through her boyfriend James Derrick, who was a street dancer from Los Angeles, and several other dancer friends joined a company called 7M, as well as its affiliate Shekinah Christian Church, run by a man named Robert Shinn.
Melanie always followed her older sister Miranda, but was put off by Shinn's “strange messianic sentiments” and the compulsion to attend church services.
Soon, Miranda Wilking began to behave strangely and become distant from her family and everyone not associated with the 7M company.
Miranda cut her hair short, dyed her hair blonde, and launched a new TikTok page, posting dance videos that follow a clear “7M” pattern.
Already before January 2021, Miranda completely stopped communicating with her family.
“I literally feel like my sister is dead. She's everywhere but nowhere,” says her sister Melanie.
The series begins in February 2022, when Melanie and her parents, Dean and Kelly Wilking, went public with their concerns during an Instagram Live broadcast.
It was Miranda's 25th birthday and they hadn't spoken to her in over a year.
The Wilkings used the word “cult” to describe 7M and Shinn's church, and asked the public for help.
At that time, Miranda and Derrick, already married, publicly insisted that there was nothing wrong with them and that they did not belong to a religious cult.
The Wilking family subsequently agreed to participate in a Netflix documentary showing their efforts to “free Miranda and expose Shinn's psychological manipulation.”
After the release of the series, some dancers left “7M”.
“Dancing for the Devil” details Robert Shinn's emotional, financial and sexual abuse. According to former 7M dancers, Shinn called himself a “man of God,” the only one capable of saving members from hell.
He ordered his followers to “die to themselves”—to sever ties with loved ones in order to humble and save themselves, and therefore them, from eternal damnation.
He humiliated those whom he considered “disappointments” during services. Robert Shinn required members to give most of their money as church tithes. The founder of “7M” had long dreamed of Hollywood success and fame, which was cleverly and quickly provided by viral dance videos on TikTok.
The series also tells the story of other sisters, Melanie and Priscilla Lee, who fell under Shinn's influence almost two decades before Miranda Wilking.
They were poor emigrants from Korea.
Melanie and Priscillie Lee lived together in a house with other church members until they were forced to separate.
Both sisters claim they were subjected to regular and repeated sexual abuse by Shinn. Melanie escaped in 2011 thanks to the help of a school friend. Priscilla remained isolated in the “cult” for another ten years.
Former 7M dancers and members hope the next installment of the series will include fallout for Robert Shinn, who has not been formally charged with any crimes at this time.
“We're not legislators. But what we can do is put something out there that gets a lot of people talking, that starts a conversation, sparks a debate, and hopefully has the potential to create significant change “, said one of the directors of the series.
The “7M” company continues to create dance videos, in particular from Miranda and Derrick.
Remember, a woman married a stripper and was stunned by the details of the marriage (photo).
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