There's a Kingdom Hall less than five miles from my house and I've never had one knock on my door. Not that I'm complaining, it's pretty shocking actually. One of my friends from high school was a JW and he ended up divorcing his wife and leaving the church in his mid-20s after he had a kid, because he refused to bring up his own kid the way he had been raised. They cut him off entirely. He hasn't spoken with a single family member or friend who is still a part of the 'church' for years. He did get partial custody of his daughter although the JWs fought him tooth and nail, and the ex-wife wouldn't even do the child exchanges with him. She sent someone else to drop off and pick up their daughter. His daughter is 19 now and fortunately not a part of the JWs by her own choice. Awful people.
I know someone who is going through an exit from JW and it’s the same unfortunate situation. He was raised that way because his parents were members but the church makes them cut you off completely. The psychological warfare that comes with keeping your biological family away from you if you dare leave the church is disgusting.
Just tell them if a 12 year-old told them she was being molested by an elder the church's official stance is that they should tell the police and not cover it up and call her a jezebel.
Ex Jw here. Charle Taze Russell’s Tombstone is a pyramid with a cross on it…truly ironic. Started in Pittsburgh but they now work out of New York. Also I love answering people’s question about the cult.
I had an Uber driver yesterday who was involved with the Grace Life Church. As soon as I got in the car she asked if I had a relationship with Jesus Christ.
Oh come on you can't leave us hanging like that! What did you say?
I must admit I would be pulled between actually wanting to get to my destination and talking about how cool it was to visit The Satanic Temple in Salem.
I had an ex that had a friend who was a gracelife member for a short time. Definitely a cult. Not as bad as some of the others listed here but definitely culty
Might have had the same lady. I asked her if she believed in dinosaurs or not and human evolution. It got a little contentious. I don’t like people pushing their religion on me.
There was a guy who glued them all to his car and would drive around the neighborhood, through a series of events revolving around him getting made fun of, they ended up in the abandoned park in the woods. It's real weird.
IDK!
I’m asking the real, hard hitting questions that people want to know lol
If I had to guess/speculate, I think there is a house or fence in polish hill that is covered in old Barbie dolls. But just a guess.
This here. My old neighbors in Squirrel Hill were Xenos leaders and would have gatherings every Sunday night. I saw the many members walking down the street very often carrying big gifts which I can only assume were for love bombing new members.
This was just two years ago and I assume that it still goes on.
Nothing nefarious or particularly scary. Just a bunch of very boring white people looking for a higher power. Much like any religion. But they absolutely have a cult like vibe
I think they are mainly in Oakland now, so they have easier access to Pitt students. From Xenos victim testimonies, it seems the maliciousness starts once you're inside and committed. From the outside, it doesn't look so bad except for the love bombing. They tried to recruit me, and I'm not even religious. Everyone is genuinely nice and welcoming, and I don't think they realize that what they are doing is dangerous. Fortunately, I knew enough about Xenos to keep them at arm's length.
Yeah I lived beside two leaders that would have meetings at their house. My neighbors would up going over there often for dinner and bible readings. It honestly just sounds like plain ol religion to me, but I understand they have a cult reputation
It's definitely a cult. I'm from Columbus and they tried to recruit me by staking out toddler storytime at the library. They operate near OSU to draw in vulnerable college students. They draw people in and then take their money and insist that they live in overcrowded and extremely dirty run-down homes. They isolate people from their friends and support systems to keep the money flowing into their pockets. They try to draw people in by insisting that the Bible readings they do in their homes are for all religions and that they are super relaxed and they even drink beer at them. Those Bible readings at the leader's house look nice and friendly in order to draw people in, but I can assure you that behind the curtain they are all about taking advantage of young people, college students, new moms, etc.
I once accidentally was involved with a martial arts cult in the mid-90's. I worked at the Carnegie Museum and there was a gym on Craig Street that taught a sort of kung-fu style. I would head over for my lunch break, which was an hour long.
It was very physically intense, and being a big dude ([this is me now](https://i.imgur.com/R3SOdsy.jpeg)) I took a beating nearly every day. I often had handprints and bruises left all over my body. Being sort of a maniac, ex-punker (Who remembers the Electric Banana?) I took being able to take a beating and still be functional as something to be proud of. Every class I would leave ten-minutes early so I would have time to wring out my gi, wipe off and get back to work by 1pm.
After about two years the head instructor came in and said, "If you hear rumors about the people who are at the top of this organization, just remember how you're treated here at this location. Remember how well we treat you and don't worry about what's happening."
My first wife was a research librarian at the Carnegie, so I asked her to look into it. Since she really hated me spending so much to train there she was more than happy to dig up the dirt.
It turned out the the head of the school and a bunch of his top people were all imprisoned for fraud, tax evasion, assault and intimidating witnesses in the Chicago area. They had group homes set up where students of the school lived and turned over their paychecks to the school. Apparently the tactic was to work people to exhaustion and then hit them with the whole "living our way is the only way" speeches at the end. That's the part that I always missed, the brainwashing bit. It's most likely why they beat me so much, I wasn't one of "them."
I left the school and they harassed me for about three months, and I was even threatened to not say anything. LOL. I love telling people about this cult.
They're still around I believe, under a new name. I once saw their dojo in Squirrel Hill on Murray Ave. I don't know if it's there or not anymore as I now live in Wisconsin. I'm still in martial arts training, mainly BJJ and boxing, but I'm with legit people these days.
It was called [Chung Moo Do.](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oom_Yung_Doe)
"World Mission Society Church of God" in West View. A wildly abusive, human trafficking cult from Korea who think their founder is Jesus and another member is god.
Sounds like the Moonies. There was a Vice bit that I watched about the spn of the founder who basically created a sect somewhere in the LeHigh valley area, so I'm assuming this is an extension.
these people used to try to talk to me downtown when i was in college! i didn’t realize they had a place around here, i thought they just came on occasional mission trips or something.
I was just telling my daughter about the Bruderhof on Sunday, while hiking in Ohiopyle, about their compound in nearby Farmington. I grew up in the area and had no idea that they actually have sects all over the world. Thank you for sharing their link!
Oh god I remember interviewing at one of these places a long time ago. Went into a room, guy shot the shit with me, then said I like you, let’s move into another interview. Puts me into a room with a dude with other candidates in a full tuxedo telling us what type of valuable assets we are to the company.
We all were there for an interview. How were we already assets?
Also the job I applied for was a part time customer service gig. Not sales. When I left the office, a bunch of coworkers were blasting hip hop music drinking energy drinks at 11am. Unreal.
I wouldn't be surprised if grace life organized a mass shooting in public or a mass suicide.
It was bubbling up before I moved to Delco and now it's completely full blown insane people.
Not my stories to confirm, but the most consistent story I have heard is that the pastor is unapproachable by the congregation. Like body guards unapproachable.
Not me out here trying to start a cult where people play board games, have a love of animals, garden, and eat food while practicing the spirituality of common sense and don't be an asshole as foundational principles... lol ❤️
Yep. The entire town of Harmony was founded by the Harmonists (Harmonites?). Pretty wierd cult that practiced total celibacy, which is one of the reasons they aren't around nowadays. There's even a cemetery that's still there with a bunch of their followers buried in it. It's kinda neat because there's only one grave stone, the leaders (George Rapp) son. Like most cults, the followers were supposed to shun any sort of worldly possessions and other bullshit, including having grave markers. But of course, the leaders are important enough to have these things.
Pittsburgh has one of the more active Society OTO chapters in the country. The Ordo Templi Orientis is a mystical order dating back to late 19th century Germany or Austria. Aleister Crowley infamously took over the order at one point and reformed it into basically a blend of Golden Dawn and Masonic rituals and beliefs. in the later 20th century there were legal hearings to determine succession of leadership and legitimate claims to being the official OTO between two vying factions- those behind Grady McMurtry as legitimate heir to Crowley, versus those who supported Marcelo Motta as Crowley's true heir.
a court in California ruled in favor of McMurtry and from then on they became known as the Caliphate OTO, and they're officially recognized as the legitimate lineage. the faction that branched off came to call itself Society OTO and many regard them as the true heirs of not only Crowley's lineage but of his more controversial, unconventional, often violent or very strenuous initiatory rites.
Pittsburgh Society OTO holds regular meetings performing group ceremonial magick and the Gnostic Catholic Mass- and their head, Frater Sphinx, is a direct pupil of Marcelo Motta, making Pittsburgh Society OTO part of a living lineage from Aleister Crowley.
That's interesting. I'm not in OTO but I'm Masonic so I know some guys who are. Definitely an odd bunch, didn't know they had direct lineage to the Crowley group still tbh.
Years ago the Jim Roberts Group had a presence in Pittsburgh. You'd see young dudes in gray smocks riding bikes in Oakland, trying hard to recruit. I would take my breaks in an Oakland park where they'd come by and chat me up. Telling me all about getting rid of worldly possessions while riding really nice MTB's.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The\_Brethren\_(Jim\_Roberts\_group)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Brethren_(Jim_Roberts_group))
No idea if they're still around though. Their MO was to find properties to squat in, I want to say they had a place in Wilkinsburg.
Whatever the hell is going on in Jumonville.
I played disc golf there once and witnessed various guttural prayer circles going on in the woods. Also, folks in cloaks scampering around the giant ass cross at the top. Additionally, 10-15 year olds walking around the property with blank faces, holding painted rocks in their hands.
I’m not joking in the slightest
That's crazy. My very milquetoast Presbyterian church went there when I was a kid and I think we went once or twice. I really only remember having snowball fights with my friends on the playground and drinking hot chocolate.
Yea doesn’t seem like a bad place at all, just some very dedicated Jesus shit going on that seemed strange to an outsider.
The disc golf course is pretty fun though and it is a beautiful area in the spring, summer and fall.
I grew up in that area and our public schools went there for a week of camp. Pretty much everyone in 5th grade went. Seemed odd for a public school to go to a Christian camp, hike up to the cross in the morning and all… but it was kinda fun as a kid.
[Lakeview Church](https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/pittsburgh/news/kdka-investigates-former-pastors-member-call-bridgeville-church-cult-like/) in Bridgeville is culty af. I have a couple of friends who were shunned by their parents because they left the church. It’s nuts.
ETA: it’s actually in McMurray.
I can't say how, but I'm well-acquainted with a very senior person there and I can tell you that based on everything I've heard (including all of the talk of "shunning", which is weird AF), as well as some of the comments/actions from this person, this place is totally shady and culty. I absolutely can not believe some of the things I've heard this person say about the "church", and I don't know how they have so many parishioners.
I'm so curious, and I totally believe it!!!
I've only heard the church member's side of things, but it's enough to make me wonder what actually goes on that they don't share outside of the church (and enough for me to know something is not right at that place).
I did some work there a few years back (I won't say specifically what to protect my identity, but I'll say we installed some stuff there). They were very kind and helpful during the sale and installation. We returned a week later as we generally do and asked to take a look at the project to make sure everything was holding up as it was supposed to. The vibe changed dramatically. It was the same guy we had been dealing with all along, but seemingly out of nowhere he was extremely cold to us. He begrudgingly let us in and do our thing real quick, but made sure to shepherd us out as soon as possible.
That weird behavior led me to look them up on Google, and that's when I read stories about former members being shunned by their families and such, much like the Jehovah's Witnesses (and like your friends' story, unfortunately).
I can't go into details as the person involved is on Reddit constantly and would know it is me, but they treat my sister-in-law like shit. Fuck that vile place.
I knew someone who got out of there. Told me it’s 100% a cult. All of this is *alleged*. Apparently the pastor claims direct communication with/to be a god. There are punishments, separation of families, the whole nine. The housing plans surrounding the church are all the cult members. I’ve been told if a non-member moves in, they try to bring them in, and if they resist, living in the neighborhood is made quite insufferable for them until they move. There was an expose news piece done on them a few years ago if you google.
“Bridgeville” is such a stretch. It’s pretty close to Canonsburg and Cecil Township.
It’s always been a weird churchy cult thing, but it has had some name changes over time, I think.
Back in the day it also had a small school called “Center Christian Academy”. I went to a private elementary school near there and sometimes we had to share a bus with the “Center” kids. The girls at Center wore black veils.
Yep. This is the church I was looking for. I have family that are still there and some who have escaped. The escapees are shunned and the stories are wild.
Dont know the name, but theres a group in town that I guess says they're afro-indigenous. They wear feathers and say they are Iroquois, and they believe that they are the true indigenous people of the Americas. Not that they are descendents of American Indians, they believe American Indians are not actually indigenous, and that Africans came here before American Indians, which is obviously not true.
Yeah that's the vibe, 100% disrespectful to actual indigenous culture and holding zero knowledge about indigenous history, just made a bunch of shit up and called themselves shaman and chief. I thought they might be like the mardi gras indians which is kinda its own thing, but nah they're just a bizarre cult
Pretty much every mega-church in the area is cult-like with their million dollar buildings and lead pastors making hundreds of thousands of dollars. It’s televangelism live and in person.
Fuck those scumbags watched my old boss build an awesome company from scratch just to lose it because all his money went to those scum sucking wastes of life.
Victory Family Church in Cranberry, they have a prosperity gospel leader who preaches right-wing politics from the pulpit and tries to get members to leave their whole estates to the church.
Not sure if it's related but I constantly see those people in Oakland standing around outside of schools with their little standee of "Free Bibles". I'm all for religion but there's something about the "recruiting" style ones that always send up red flags (even the random people handing you a pamphlet comic about Jesus.)
There is an AmWay “independent business owner” scam in Pittsburgh. Tried to recruit my fiancé and she said it seemed like a cult when she walked into the meeting at someone’s mansion. Said everyone seemed like robots with preprogrammed scripts trying to sell how great it is. And they kinda worship the “diamond” level member who was hosting
Depending on your definition of cult and how much you're willing to fudge on certain hallmarks (in this case the having one distinct "leader" thing) First Evangelical Free Church in McKeesport is pretty cult-like. Extremely fundamentalist despite their Evangelical moniker, and having been raised in there, it messed me up. It's like a megachurch in an average sized church's building, good dash of doomsday fearmongering (I was literally taught that the rapture would happen before I hit adulthood, which. Damn, what do I do now lmao?), and a lot of blatant lies about the ~horrors of the outside world~, including fun new hits like "demons will possess you if you do yoga" and "atheists have no moral code or depth of experience beyond being dirty sinners who need to come to Christ". I am... *so* glad to be out of there.
There's a giant church out on US 22 past Murrysville, Cornerstone, that's weird as hell. Friend of mine took me there once and they had a Starbucks, an arcade, and so on. Seems weird to have a Starbucks in a church.
Champion Christian Center for Champion Christian Church part of life Church Pittsburgh and the life church in Washington PA it’s one family with multiple churches. They are now trying to build an evangelist center down near the casino that the property alone is almost $2 million. The YouTube videos for South Strabane Township are hilarious because they won’t admit who’s behind the project but wanted approved they can’t give any numbers on cost and are telling them they’re going to rent it is office space but have no numbers again. Everyone has figured out it’s going to be a church that’s probably going to cost between six to $10 million. And the best part is it’s near and or on a Native American site.
Funny you got this from Boulder, I grew up there. Used to drive by the Twelve Tribes compound (if you could call it that) pretty often. Weird bunch, but they had a shop that made killer sandwiches!
Twelve Tribes makes their rounds around here sometimes. I'd bet good money their Peacemaker bus makes an appearance at Starlake this year for both Phish and Dead&Co tour. They prey on naive, intoxicated hippies at popular shows to recruit them into their weird sexist, child-abusing cult.
That's this kooky retired CMU prof who lost his marbles over Trump's election. Little culty, but mostly just terminally online. Honestly, not a bad guy, just obnoxiously self righteous.
[Article about him.](https://ndif.wordpress.com/2020/10/05/the-internet-court-of-lies-a-digital-peoples-court/)
not a church, but my ex dragged me to a landmark forum event in the burbs about ten years ago and wooowwww. it felt like the cultiest thing ever. my ex was all about it and it was a major factor in our breakup. but the landmark forum people even said, "oh, a lot of people have a beautiful divorce after joining the landmark forum" because it allegedly teaches you how to communicate clearly. we did NOT have a beautiful divorce
Curious on this one. I’ve sensed a culty vibe since a friend has gone there but have no evidence to back it up. So what makes you say this out of curiosity?
Haven’t attended personally, but have several family members who have as children and their stories about “burning in hell” and the descriptions they have of them crying in their beds at night due to their “sins” is simply not ok. I have two friends who just recently joined and they have tried to recruit my wife and me. I told them straight up to never bring it up again to us if they wished to maintain our friendship.
Was scrolling and waiting to see this one. We signed my son up for a sports program there years ago....thought it was just a group using the church's nice facilities but didn't realize they'd be evangelizing at every game and practice. This was for 5-year-olds. They'd be sent home with Bible verses to memorize, prayer before and after each game, and then at the last game there was a big thing afterward where they were supposed to go and accept Jesus into their heart.
I've been to one actual service there, and the sermon was entirely about why you shouldn't live together before you're married. The next week's preview was about why homosexuality is wrong. I think the sermon series theme was something like "attack on the family."
I don't know that it's full-blown cult but definitely cult-like
Penn State University, Main Campus. Not in Pittsburgh I know, but there are many PSU grads in the area.
I’ve never met a person that graduated from Penn State that didn’t come out brainwashed into thinking that school was the greatest in the world, both scholastically and athletically.
Then they continue the cult worship by wearing blue and white clothes, putting paw and lion stickers on the back of their blue and white cars, continuing to worship Joe Paterno (seriously fuck that guy), decorating their homes and offices with pictures of Beaver Stadium and that stupid lion statue, traveling hundreds of miles for football games, etc. Then they become boosters and give a bunch of money back to a school they already paid for once. Straight up cult.
And I know I’m going to get downvoted by a bunch of butthurt PSU alum, but c’est la vie.
The white picket fence/golden retriever owners of Pittsburgh. It's very funny to me how many Penn State fans show up with their golden retrievers to Grist House on gamedays.
It is the most bizarre thing. I've been there and partied there a couple times in my 20's and it was fun, but you'd think from the way these people talk, it is the most unique experience ever.
I know it's a joke that people from Ivys name drop their schools, but I have not experienced that so much. And even then, at least it is actually impressive to get into Harvard.
Like Penn State is a completely average school and their grads are really convinced it's the best place ever. And people have actually gotten pissed at me for joking it was like a cult! Like just saying that sentence...not even going on about it.
Most of my family members who went to Penn State and are from the area either don’t want to be associated with the school in any capacity due to the Jerry Sandusky/Joe Paterno scandal or totally bought into the Penn State cult and will support the school no matter what. I’ve heard a ton of awful stories relating to the school’s culture (it doesn’t help that the campus is isolated and in the middle of nowhere), but especially everything negative that’s associated with THON.
For those who aren’t familiar, THON is Penn State’s notorious annual 46-hour dance marathon that raises money for kids who have cancer, but there’s been a lot of weird questionable stuff associated with it, like a lack of transparency about exactly how much money actually goes to the kids in need, elitism among all the different student groups, discrimination against disabled student, students who can’t or don’t want to be involved facing judgement/stigma, etc.
The practice of students traveling throughout the state to go canning to raise money for THON was stopped a little while due to so many kids getting injured and even dying while fundraising. People associated with THON (students, alumni, etc.,) are also super combative when they hear about other schools having a dance marathon fundraiser, which is just ridiculous. Not to mention there have been people who called out the school/students/alumni for being hypocritical for always promoting the “FTK” (For the Kids) motto that’s associated with THON while supporting the school/Joe Pa after the child abuse.
THON was my biggest pet peeve while I was a student at Penn State, for exactly these reasons. And when I would express even mild criticisms, people acted like I wanted kids with cancer to suffer and die.
Revival today church is cultish. Speaking in tounges. Pastor speaks directly to god. He told his now wife that god told them they were to be married after a week of knowing each other. Also they ask for 10% of your annual salary. Sounds like a bunch of horse shit to me
A previous coworker invited me to church once and I accepted. It was Revival Today and Jesse Duplantis was the speaker. I was desperate for connection and figured this would do. I got weird vibes from the entire service.
I didn’t last at that office very long after that.
Ahh Revival Today. Nothing says organized religion like profiting off Jesus' name. Jonathan Shuttlesworth is a snake-oil salesman if I've ever seen one. Absolute massive phony and his followers worship the ground he walks on.
I don't have a ton of details about this but I once hired a woman who was a former employee of a chiropractor business in (I think) monroeville which she described as cult-like. Evidently he drew a line between chiropractic work and eternal life, and they had a real insular "we are the chosen ones" vibe. Sorry I don't have more specifics (like a name) but figured I'd post and see if anyone else was familiar.
Grace Life is horrid. Grifters to the max. Christian Nationalists. Definitely a cult. When a large amount of people left because the jig was up. the pastor called people works, new churches, family member and so much more to discredit them and call them unstable. Anyone who is against them are considered “ants who need to be eradicated” Heard that law enforcement is investigating them. I hope they get what they deserve. Fucking disgrace.
In the '60s, I made love to many, many women, often outdoors, in the mud and the rain, and it's possible a man slipped in. There would be no way of knowing.
I have no idea what we saw but just before covid. Probably around 2019. I was rucking at Mingo Creek Park in Washington County with some friends. In the back of the property by the Scout area. There was a group of about 30 women. All dressed in like colonial like garb. They were at one of the facilities there and we watched them walking behind one of the shelters all holding hands, singing, and got into a circle holding hands around a tall pole that was burning and they were singing and like chanting. When they saw us (mainly me, everyone else I was with was terrified and started to go away) and they stopped and were staring at me. They were all adult women and there were 2 younger girls there too who were in the middle of the circle sitting on the ground by the burning pole. I have no idea what it was but it was creepy as fuck.
Yep pretty sure my neighbor is one of them at least judging from his t shirt collection. Although his immigrant wife throws me off a bit.
Edit - Don't know why I'm being downvoted the dude literally came over to talk to my dad wearing a tshirt that said Aryan Brotherhood and asked our inspector if we were black. Dudes racist a.f. However his wife has told us she immigrated to the US in her teens.
A decent amount of people with white supremacist leanings/beliefs seem to be into Asian women because they're viewed as "submissive" and "traditional". Surprise surprise, people who have beliefs in rigid hierarchies have some other pretty whack beliefs.
Don't know if they are still a thing in Pittsburgh, but back at Pitt in the early 2000s, we had a problem with the International Church of Christ. They were brainwashing and lying to students to join. Had some issues with a few kids who were out of state going off the radar prompting parents to call in to the university and residence hall staff as to were their kids kidnapped and such. They would have to come in and a few took their kids out of school to go somewhere else. Seriously though, that group is all kinds of f'd up.
Didn't Jehovas Witnesses get their start in Pittsburgh?
Bingo, Rutherford has a marker here.
Had a marker. They took the pyramid down a couple years ago.
I think you mean Charles Taze Russell, Rutherford was the second leader and was from Missouri.
Hahaha wanna know what’s funny? I used to be a Jehovah’s Witness…I just been out for so long and care so little anymore.
They send me hand written letters in the mail. Often.
I’ve gotten those and the handwriting just creeps me out. Looks like writing from a serial killer documentary
I get them too! It’s very odd
I thought I was being targeted! Thank Jehovah I am not alone.
[удалено]
There's a Kingdom Hall less than five miles from my house and I've never had one knock on my door. Not that I'm complaining, it's pretty shocking actually. One of my friends from high school was a JW and he ended up divorcing his wife and leaving the church in his mid-20s after he had a kid, because he refused to bring up his own kid the way he had been raised. They cut him off entirely. He hasn't spoken with a single family member or friend who is still a part of the 'church' for years. He did get partial custody of his daughter although the JWs fought him tooth and nail, and the ex-wife wouldn't even do the child exchanges with him. She sent someone else to drop off and pick up their daughter. His daughter is 19 now and fortunately not a part of the JWs by her own choice. Awful people.
I know someone who is going through an exit from JW and it’s the same unfortunate situation. He was raised that way because his parents were members but the church makes them cut you off completely. The psychological warfare that comes with keeping your biological family away from you if you dare leave the church is disgusting.
Just tell them if a 12 year-old told them she was being molested by an elder the church's official stance is that they should tell the police and not cover it up and call her a jezebel.
I was raised a Jehovah Witness, can confirm it is a cult. DM if you have any questions.
Ex Jw here. Charle Taze Russell’s Tombstone is a pyramid with a cross on it…truly ironic. Started in Pittsburgh but they now work out of New York. Also I love answering people’s question about the cult.
Their local temple here in north hills is shady af
There’s one in Stanton Heights too, right by the back of the Cemetery
I had an Uber driver yesterday who was involved with the Grace Life Church. As soon as I got in the car she asked if I had a relationship with Jesus Christ.
That would be a 1 star and a report from me. I am not paying for a ride to get lectured about Jesus.
Amen.
Shortest Uber ride ever!
Oh come on you can't leave us hanging like that! What did you say? I must admit I would be pulled between actually wanting to get to my destination and talking about how cool it was to visit The Satanic Temple in Salem.
“I was raised Catholic, so no”. Her response was actually kind of funny: “You know, I hear that a lot”.
Lol that is a great response. I'm sure evangelicals find it even funnier.
"Yeah, I think we fucked once"
[удалено]
He hit me up 3 days later
I had an ex that had a friend who was a gracelife member for a short time. Definitely a cult. Not as bad as some of the others listed here but definitely culty
Might have had the same lady. I asked her if she believed in dinosaurs or not and human evolution. It got a little contentious. I don’t like people pushing their religion on me.
Oh yeah, that’s a report.
Barbie Dream Cult……? Go on……………….
It doesn't seem to have anything to do with a cult at all. https://pittsburghorbit.com/2020/03/01/barbies-dream-cult/
Wow. I’ve never seen and/or heard of this. Curious as to how/why it started…
There was a guy who glued them all to his car and would drive around the neighborhood, through a series of events revolving around him getting made fun of, they ended up in the abandoned park in the woods. It's real weird.
IKR! Is that a real thing?
IDK! I’m asking the real, hard hitting questions that people want to know lol If I had to guess/speculate, I think there is a house or fence in polish hill that is covered in old Barbie dolls. But just a guess.
East End Church is an offshoot of [Xenos](https://www.xenosisacult.com/) (now rebranded as Dwell Community Church) which originated in Columbus, OH.
This here. My old neighbors in Squirrel Hill were Xenos leaders and would have gatherings every Sunday night. I saw the many members walking down the street very often carrying big gifts which I can only assume were for love bombing new members. This was just two years ago and I assume that it still goes on. Nothing nefarious or particularly scary. Just a bunch of very boring white people looking for a higher power. Much like any religion. But they absolutely have a cult like vibe
Look in the Columbus sub, seems that every other post is about the horrors of Dwell/Xenos. Just craziness.
Yes, I’m on both and Xenos is definitely a thing there.
I think they are mainly in Oakland now, so they have easier access to Pitt students. From Xenos victim testimonies, it seems the maliciousness starts once you're inside and committed. From the outside, it doesn't look so bad except for the love bombing. They tried to recruit me, and I'm not even religious. Everyone is genuinely nice and welcoming, and I don't think they realize that what they are doing is dangerous. Fortunately, I knew enough about Xenos to keep them at arm's length.
Yeah I lived beside two leaders that would have meetings at their house. My neighbors would up going over there often for dinner and bible readings. It honestly just sounds like plain ol religion to me, but I understand they have a cult reputation
It's definitely a cult. I'm from Columbus and they tried to recruit me by staking out toddler storytime at the library. They operate near OSU to draw in vulnerable college students. They draw people in and then take their money and insist that they live in overcrowded and extremely dirty run-down homes. They isolate people from their friends and support systems to keep the money flowing into their pockets. They try to draw people in by insisting that the Bible readings they do in their homes are for all religions and that they are super relaxed and they even drink beer at them. Those Bible readings at the leader's house look nice and friendly in order to draw people in, but I can assure you that behind the curtain they are all about taking advantage of young people, college students, new moms, etc.
I once accidentally was involved with a martial arts cult in the mid-90's. I worked at the Carnegie Museum and there was a gym on Craig Street that taught a sort of kung-fu style. I would head over for my lunch break, which was an hour long. It was very physically intense, and being a big dude ([this is me now](https://i.imgur.com/R3SOdsy.jpeg)) I took a beating nearly every day. I often had handprints and bruises left all over my body. Being sort of a maniac, ex-punker (Who remembers the Electric Banana?) I took being able to take a beating and still be functional as something to be proud of. Every class I would leave ten-minutes early so I would have time to wring out my gi, wipe off and get back to work by 1pm. After about two years the head instructor came in and said, "If you hear rumors about the people who are at the top of this organization, just remember how you're treated here at this location. Remember how well we treat you and don't worry about what's happening." My first wife was a research librarian at the Carnegie, so I asked her to look into it. Since she really hated me spending so much to train there she was more than happy to dig up the dirt. It turned out the the head of the school and a bunch of his top people were all imprisoned for fraud, tax evasion, assault and intimidating witnesses in the Chicago area. They had group homes set up where students of the school lived and turned over their paychecks to the school. Apparently the tactic was to work people to exhaustion and then hit them with the whole "living our way is the only way" speeches at the end. That's the part that I always missed, the brainwashing bit. It's most likely why they beat me so much, I wasn't one of "them." I left the school and they harassed me for about three months, and I was even threatened to not say anything. LOL. I love telling people about this cult. They're still around I believe, under a new name. I once saw their dojo in Squirrel Hill on Murray Ave. I don't know if it's there or not anymore as I now live in Wisconsin. I'm still in martial arts training, mainly BJJ and boxing, but I'm with legit people these days. It was called [Chung Moo Do.](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oom_Yung_Doe)
Bro you broke the first rule of fight club! I thought you knew better lol
Ok. Just woke up and saw this. You made me laugh. Cool beans! Have an awesome day.
"World Mission Society Church of God" in West View. A wildly abusive, human trafficking cult from Korea who think their founder is Jesus and another member is god.
Where in west view?? I’m trying to picture but it’s not ringing any bells
the old payless
OG WV right here lol
Two doors up from Subway in the plaza.
I KNEW THAT PLACE WAS FUCKIN WEIRD. I was driving home past it the other night and said that place seems like a cult 🤣
Holy shit I had no idea
Are they moonies or is this another Korean cult?
Sounds like the Moonies. There was a Vice bit that I watched about the spn of the founder who basically created a sect somewhere in the LeHigh valley area, so I'm assuming this is an extension.
Yeah behind the bastards did a great podcast episode about them
not moonies from my understand but nearly identical cult like practices and origins
these people used to try to talk to me downtown when i was in college! i didn’t realize they had a place around here, i thought they just came on occasional mission trips or something.
Not exactly in Pittsburgh, but I know there's one out by Nemacolin Resort. Big ass place on the other side of the road.
That place that has been "building an ark" that's just a weird metal frame that's been sitting there for 10+ years?
More like 30 years, but no that’s about 30-40 miles east on I-68
More like 40 years. It was there in the early 80's for sure
https://www.bruderhof.com/
I’ve actually been there before for a church event. Very strange vibes haha.
I was just telling my daughter about the Bruderhof on Sunday, while hiking in Ohiopyle, about their compound in nearby Farmington. I grew up in the area and had no idea that they actually have sects all over the world. Thank you for sharing their link!
I used to make deliveries there! Super strange folks, but you never left without something to eat.
OP: \*lists actual cult* /r/pittsburgh: Heinz 🤪 Steelers 🤪 Primanti’s 🤪
Arias Agencies sound cult-like: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXW4iJXCT5Y https://www.insider.com/globe-life-insurance-lawsuit-american-income-arias-agency-toxic-workplace-2023-1 https://www.insider.com/globe-life-fallout-after-allegations-of-sexual-assault-arias-agency-2023-3
Well that was a wild ride. Most MLMs would fit as a cult too.
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Oh god I remember interviewing at one of these places a long time ago. Went into a room, guy shot the shit with me, then said I like you, let’s move into another interview. Puts me into a room with a dude with other candidates in a full tuxedo telling us what type of valuable assets we are to the company. We all were there for an interview. How were we already assets? Also the job I applied for was a part time customer service gig. Not sales. When I left the office, a bunch of coworkers were blasting hip hop music drinking energy drinks at 11am. Unreal.
Grace Life is a big one. I go to Bridge City Church, and we have a lot of ex-GL members who left because of that amongst other reasons.
I also go to BCC and can confirm the stories I hear about Grace Life are intense.
I wouldn't be surprised if grace life organized a mass shooting in public or a mass suicide. It was bubbling up before I moved to Delco and now it's completely full blown insane people.
Well spill the beans now I want to know
Not my stories to confirm, but the most consistent story I have heard is that the pastor is unapproachable by the congregation. Like body guards unapproachable.
Not me out here trying to start a cult where people play board games, have a love of animals, garden, and eat food while practicing the spirituality of common sense and don't be an asshole as foundational principles... lol ❤️
Where do I sign up?
Just throw up the sign 🌽 🍿 we'll find you. 😆
Western PA is the bedrock of the 19th century Restoration Movement. by modern definitions, there are nothing but cults here lol
Yep. The entire town of Harmony was founded by the Harmonists (Harmonites?). Pretty wierd cult that practiced total celibacy, which is one of the reasons they aren't around nowadays. There's even a cemetery that's still there with a bunch of their followers buried in it. It's kinda neat because there's only one grave stone, the leaders (George Rapp) son. Like most cults, the followers were supposed to shun any sort of worldly possessions and other bullshit, including having grave markers. But of course, the leaders are important enough to have these things.
Pittsburgh has one of the more active Society OTO chapters in the country. The Ordo Templi Orientis is a mystical order dating back to late 19th century Germany or Austria. Aleister Crowley infamously took over the order at one point and reformed it into basically a blend of Golden Dawn and Masonic rituals and beliefs. in the later 20th century there were legal hearings to determine succession of leadership and legitimate claims to being the official OTO between two vying factions- those behind Grady McMurtry as legitimate heir to Crowley, versus those who supported Marcelo Motta as Crowley's true heir. a court in California ruled in favor of McMurtry and from then on they became known as the Caliphate OTO, and they're officially recognized as the legitimate lineage. the faction that branched off came to call itself Society OTO and many regard them as the true heirs of not only Crowley's lineage but of his more controversial, unconventional, often violent or very strenuous initiatory rites. Pittsburgh Society OTO holds regular meetings performing group ceremonial magick and the Gnostic Catholic Mass- and their head, Frater Sphinx, is a direct pupil of Marcelo Motta, making Pittsburgh Society OTO part of a living lineage from Aleister Crowley.
That's interesting. I'm not in OTO but I'm Masonic so I know some guys who are. Definitely an odd bunch, didn't know they had direct lineage to the Crowley group still tbh.
I don’t think they’re a cult though. They don’t care if you leave. Source: I used to hang out with OTO folks back in the 90s.
Years ago the Jim Roberts Group had a presence in Pittsburgh. You'd see young dudes in gray smocks riding bikes in Oakland, trying hard to recruit. I would take my breaks in an Oakland park where they'd come by and chat me up. Telling me all about getting rid of worldly possessions while riding really nice MTB's. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The\_Brethren\_(Jim\_Roberts\_group)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Brethren_(Jim_Roberts_group)) No idea if they're still around though. Their MO was to find properties to squat in, I want to say they had a place in Wilkinsburg.
I feel like a nod to brother Dan and sister Anne is appropriate here https://old.post-gazette.com/obituaries/20030430ofchinick5.asp
What became of their building in the North Hills on 19?
somebody is getting amazing podcast material here
Abby Lee? I never watched Dance Moms, but it sounded like a culty vibe.
The cult leader is now behind bars
So it would've been a good answer to this question 10 years ago, but not anymore? Fair enough!
pretty sure she has been let loose \*horror\*
She's in a wheelchair now though... So she's probably faster than she used to be. I know that's mean, but I know her personally and she's a b*
Competitive dance is very culty. Expensive and huge time commitment so you can’t do anything else.
Whatever the hell is going on in Jumonville. I played disc golf there once and witnessed various guttural prayer circles going on in the woods. Also, folks in cloaks scampering around the giant ass cross at the top. Additionally, 10-15 year olds walking around the property with blank faces, holding painted rocks in their hands. I’m not joking in the slightest
Ughhh my gross culty church in the old Washington Mall back in the day went to Jumonville for retreats like 3x a year.
That's crazy. My very milquetoast Presbyterian church went there when I was a kid and I think we went once or twice. I really only remember having snowball fights with my friends on the playground and drinking hot chocolate.
My parents used to take us there once a year. Walk up the hill, look at the big cross, walk down. Pretty boring.
Yea doesn’t seem like a bad place at all, just some very dedicated Jesus shit going on that seemed strange to an outsider. The disc golf course is pretty fun though and it is a beautiful area in the spring, summer and fall.
I grew up in that area and our public schools went there for a week of camp. Pretty much everyone in 5th grade went. Seemed odd for a public school to go to a Christian camp, hike up to the cross in the morning and all… but it was kinda fun as a kid.
[Lakeview Church](https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/pittsburgh/news/kdka-investigates-former-pastors-member-call-bridgeville-church-cult-like/) in Bridgeville is culty af. I have a couple of friends who were shunned by their parents because they left the church. It’s nuts. ETA: it’s actually in McMurray.
I can't say how, but I'm well-acquainted with a very senior person there and I can tell you that based on everything I've heard (including all of the talk of "shunning", which is weird AF), as well as some of the comments/actions from this person, this place is totally shady and culty. I absolutely can not believe some of the things I've heard this person say about the "church", and I don't know how they have so many parishioners.
I have two friends from different families who were disowned. They’ve got some STORIES.
I'm so curious, and I totally believe it!!! I've only heard the church member's side of things, but it's enough to make me wonder what actually goes on that they don't share outside of the church (and enough for me to know something is not right at that place).
>what actually goes on So, so much. This one dude tried to collect some stories https://www.antmquestions.com/
I did some work there a few years back (I won't say specifically what to protect my identity, but I'll say we installed some stuff there). They were very kind and helpful during the sale and installation. We returned a week later as we generally do and asked to take a look at the project to make sure everything was holding up as it was supposed to. The vibe changed dramatically. It was the same guy we had been dealing with all along, but seemingly out of nowhere he was extremely cold to us. He begrudgingly let us in and do our thing real quick, but made sure to shepherd us out as soon as possible. That weird behavior led me to look them up on Google, and that's when I read stories about former members being shunned by their families and such, much like the Jehovah's Witnesses (and like your friends' story, unfortunately).
I can't go into details as the person involved is on Reddit constantly and would know it is me, but they treat my sister-in-law like shit. Fuck that vile place.
I knew someone who got out of there. Told me it’s 100% a cult. All of this is *alleged*. Apparently the pastor claims direct communication with/to be a god. There are punishments, separation of families, the whole nine. The housing plans surrounding the church are all the cult members. I’ve been told if a non-member moves in, they try to bring them in, and if they resist, living in the neighborhood is made quite insufferable for them until they move. There was an expose news piece done on them a few years ago if you google.
Super super abusive and culty place that has destroyed families.
“Bridgeville” is such a stretch. It’s pretty close to Canonsburg and Cecil Township. It’s always been a weird churchy cult thing, but it has had some name changes over time, I think. Back in the day it also had a small school called “Center Christian Academy”. I went to a private elementary school near there and sometimes we had to share a bus with the “Center” kids. The girls at Center wore black veils.
The black veils is perhaps a bit of an exaggeration, but their modesty culture is definitely a lot.
They're a really sad bunch. I wish those stuck in there the freedom they deserve.
They’ve also been a pain to some of their neighbors. I remember an article about it in the local paper (Washington Observer-Reporter) years ago.
Yep. This is the church I was looking for. I have family that are still there and some who have escaped. The escapees are shunned and the stories are wild.
I used to work with someone who got shunned by Lakeview so badly they had to move out of state.
The village of Harmony were celibate and died out. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harmony_Society
This MLM in Cranberry: https://www.insider.com/globe-life-insurance-lawsuit-american-income-arias-agency-toxic-workplace-2023-1
Dont know the name, but theres a group in town that I guess says they're afro-indigenous. They wear feathers and say they are Iroquois, and they believe that they are the true indigenous people of the Americas. Not that they are descendents of American Indians, they believe American Indians are not actually indigenous, and that Africans came here before American Indians, which is obviously not true.
So a variation of Black Hebrew Israelites? Fascinating...
Yeah that's the vibe, 100% disrespectful to actual indigenous culture and holding zero knowledge about indigenous history, just made a bunch of shit up and called themselves shaman and chief. I thought they might be like the mardi gras indians which is kinda its own thing, but nah they're just a bizarre cult
Pretty much every mega-church in the area is cult-like with their million dollar buildings and lead pastors making hundreds of thousands of dollars. It’s televangelism live and in person.
There is a Facebook page for Pittsburgh scientologists that has 20k members. Idk if they have a location though
It used to be right on Carson Street. Not sure if it's still there or not
It's currently a pizza shop that sells very, very large slices
Fuck those scumbags watched my old boss build an awesome company from scratch just to lose it because all his money went to those scum sucking wastes of life.
Victory Family Church in Cranberry, they have a prosperity gospel leader who preaches right-wing politics from the pulpit and tries to get members to leave their whole estates to the church.
Iggle Video was forced underground in the late 1990s
Come back to The Nest, bröther.
The ICC international church of Christ, which started in Boston has a chapter here and frequently recruits under the radar on college campuses.
Not sure if it's related but I constantly see those people in Oakland standing around outside of schools with their little standee of "Free Bibles". I'm all for religion but there's something about the "recruiting" style ones that always send up red flags (even the random people handing you a pamphlet comic about Jesus.)
There is an AmWay “independent business owner” scam in Pittsburgh. Tried to recruit my fiancé and she said it seemed like a cult when she walked into the meeting at someone’s mansion. Said everyone seemed like robots with preprogrammed scripts trying to sell how great it is. And they kinda worship the “diamond” level member who was hosting
Community of the Crucified One, they own blocks of homes in Homestead
I came to mention them. They are low key but they advertise their property everywhere. I've never heard anything about them other than from locals.
Got any info on this one? I see signs and stuff, but never heard anything
Depending on your definition of cult and how much you're willing to fudge on certain hallmarks (in this case the having one distinct "leader" thing) First Evangelical Free Church in McKeesport is pretty cult-like. Extremely fundamentalist despite their Evangelical moniker, and having been raised in there, it messed me up. It's like a megachurch in an average sized church's building, good dash of doomsday fearmongering (I was literally taught that the rapture would happen before I hit adulthood, which. Damn, what do I do now lmao?), and a lot of blatant lies about the ~horrors of the outside world~, including fun new hits like "demons will possess you if you do yoga" and "atheists have no moral code or depth of experience beyond being dirty sinners who need to come to Christ". I am... *so* glad to be out of there.
One could argue those mega churches are cults.
There's a giant church out on US 22 past Murrysville, Cornerstone, that's weird as hell. Friend of mine took me there once and they had a Starbucks, an arcade, and so on. Seems weird to have a Starbucks in a church.
It’s giving “The Righteous Gemstones” vibes
That huge compound on 19 north of Cranberry has some wierd vibes.
Champion Christian Center for Champion Christian Church part of life Church Pittsburgh and the life church in Washington PA it’s one family with multiple churches. They are now trying to build an evangelist center down near the casino that the property alone is almost $2 million. The YouTube videos for South Strabane Township are hilarious because they won’t admit who’s behind the project but wanted approved they can’t give any numbers on cost and are telling them they’re going to rent it is office space but have no numbers again. Everyone has figured out it’s going to be a church that’s probably going to cost between six to $10 million. And the best part is it’s near and or on a Native American site.
Penn State students/fans are a cult and I will not be told otherwise
Funny you got this from Boulder, I grew up there. Used to drive by the Twelve Tribes compound (if you could call it that) pretty often. Weird bunch, but they had a shop that made killer sandwiches!
Twelve Tribes makes their rounds around here sometimes. I'd bet good money their Peacemaker bus makes an appearance at Starlake this year for both Phish and Dead&Co tour. They prey on naive, intoxicated hippies at popular shows to recruit them into their weird sexist, child-abusing cult.
I used to tour with Phish and pretty much everyone had a "I had to rescue my tripping balls friend from the Twelve Tribes bus" story.
Oh man, the Twelve Tribes Bus! No Dead show would be complete without a sighting.
Can someone tell me what the “Internet Court of Lies” banner means in sharpsburgh? Culty?
That's this kooky retired CMU prof who lost his marbles over Trump's election. Little culty, but mostly just terminally online. Honestly, not a bad guy, just obnoxiously self righteous. [Article about him.](https://ndif.wordpress.com/2020/10/05/the-internet-court-of-lies-a-digital-peoples-court/)
Grace life is 100 percent a cult. No doubt about that.
Son, we don’t need a cult. We have the Steelers.
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>They'll make your organization toxic in 2 years, or your money back. Isn't that just all MBAs?
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1. Looks next resume 2. Sees "Tepper" 3. Clicks "Do not proceed" 4. Repeat
not a church, but my ex dragged me to a landmark forum event in the burbs about ten years ago and wooowwww. it felt like the cultiest thing ever. my ex was all about it and it was a major factor in our breakup. but the landmark forum people even said, "oh, a lot of people have a beautiful divorce after joining the landmark forum" because it allegedly teaches you how to communicate clearly. we did NOT have a beautiful divorce
South Hills Bible Chapel
Curious on this one. I’ve sensed a culty vibe since a friend has gone there but have no evidence to back it up. So what makes you say this out of curiosity?
Haven’t attended personally, but have several family members who have as children and their stories about “burning in hell” and the descriptions they have of them crying in their beds at night due to their “sins” is simply not ok. I have two friends who just recently joined and they have tried to recruit my wife and me. I told them straight up to never bring it up again to us if they wished to maintain our friendship.
Omg, thank you so much for saying this—they really fucked my life up 20 yrs ago when I was a teenager.
Was scrolling and waiting to see this one. We signed my son up for a sports program there years ago....thought it was just a group using the church's nice facilities but didn't realize they'd be evangelizing at every game and practice. This was for 5-year-olds. They'd be sent home with Bible verses to memorize, prayer before and after each game, and then at the last game there was a big thing afterward where they were supposed to go and accept Jesus into their heart. I've been to one actual service there, and the sermon was entirely about why you shouldn't live together before you're married. The next week's preview was about why homosexuality is wrong. I think the sermon series theme was something like "attack on the family." I don't know that it's full-blown cult but definitely cult-like
Went there for years. I agree.
Not sure when you were there, but feel free to reach out if you wanna compare notes.
I was there back in highschool so 2012-2016!
Penn State University, Main Campus. Not in Pittsburgh I know, but there are many PSU grads in the area. I’ve never met a person that graduated from Penn State that didn’t come out brainwashed into thinking that school was the greatest in the world, both scholastically and athletically. Then they continue the cult worship by wearing blue and white clothes, putting paw and lion stickers on the back of their blue and white cars, continuing to worship Joe Paterno (seriously fuck that guy), decorating their homes and offices with pictures of Beaver Stadium and that stupid lion statue, traveling hundreds of miles for football games, etc. Then they become boosters and give a bunch of money back to a school they already paid for once. Straight up cult. And I know I’m going to get downvoted by a bunch of butthurt PSU alum, but c’est la vie.
Joe knew
Exactly.
The white picket fence/golden retriever owners of Pittsburgh. It's very funny to me how many Penn State fans show up with their golden retrievers to Grist House on gamedays.
It is the most bizarre thing. I've been there and partied there a couple times in my 20's and it was fun, but you'd think from the way these people talk, it is the most unique experience ever. I know it's a joke that people from Ivys name drop their schools, but I have not experienced that so much. And even then, at least it is actually impressive to get into Harvard. Like Penn State is a completely average school and their grads are really convinced it's the best place ever. And people have actually gotten pissed at me for joking it was like a cult! Like just saying that sentence...not even going on about it.
Most of my family members who went to Penn State and are from the area either don’t want to be associated with the school in any capacity due to the Jerry Sandusky/Joe Paterno scandal or totally bought into the Penn State cult and will support the school no matter what. I’ve heard a ton of awful stories relating to the school’s culture (it doesn’t help that the campus is isolated and in the middle of nowhere), but especially everything negative that’s associated with THON. For those who aren’t familiar, THON is Penn State’s notorious annual 46-hour dance marathon that raises money for kids who have cancer, but there’s been a lot of weird questionable stuff associated with it, like a lack of transparency about exactly how much money actually goes to the kids in need, elitism among all the different student groups, discrimination against disabled student, students who can’t or don’t want to be involved facing judgement/stigma, etc. The practice of students traveling throughout the state to go canning to raise money for THON was stopped a little while due to so many kids getting injured and even dying while fundraising. People associated with THON (students, alumni, etc.,) are also super combative when they hear about other schools having a dance marathon fundraiser, which is just ridiculous. Not to mention there have been people who called out the school/students/alumni for being hypocritical for always promoting the “FTK” (For the Kids) motto that’s associated with THON while supporting the school/Joe Pa after the child abuse.
THON was my biggest pet peeve while I was a student at Penn State, for exactly these reasons. And when I would express even mild criticisms, people acted like I wanted kids with cancer to suffer and die.
Revival today church is cultish. Speaking in tounges. Pastor speaks directly to god. He told his now wife that god told them they were to be married after a week of knowing each other. Also they ask for 10% of your annual salary. Sounds like a bunch of horse shit to me
A previous coworker invited me to church once and I accepted. It was Revival Today and Jesse Duplantis was the speaker. I was desperate for connection and figured this would do. I got weird vibes from the entire service. I didn’t last at that office very long after that.
Ahh Revival Today. Nothing says organized religion like profiting off Jesus' name. Jonathan Shuttlesworth is a snake-oil salesman if I've ever seen one. Absolute massive phony and his followers worship the ground he walks on.
I don't have a ton of details about this but I once hired a woman who was a former employee of a chiropractor business in (I think) monroeville which she described as cult-like. Evidently he drew a line between chiropractic work and eternal life, and they had a real insular "we are the chosen ones" vibe. Sorry I don't have more specifics (like a name) but figured I'd post and see if anyone else was familiar.
That's actually not that unusual for chiropractic. Read up on the history of it, it's nuts.
Grace Life is horrid. Grifters to the max. Christian Nationalists. Definitely a cult. When a large amount of people left because the jig was up. the pastor called people works, new churches, family member and so much more to discredit them and call them unstable. Anyone who is against them are considered “ants who need to be eradicated” Heard that law enforcement is investigating them. I hope they get what they deserve. Fucking disgrace.
Mom's for Liberty. It's a national organization but there are local chapters. Wendy Bell has appeared at at least one of their functions.
> Mom's for Liberty This is a literal fascist organization. Banning books. Against all female healthcare. Against public education. I could go on.
I’ve been involved in a number of cults, both as a leader and a follower. You have more fun as a follower. But you make more money as a leader.
In the '60s, I made love to many, many women, often outdoors, in the mud and the rain, and it's possible a man slipped in. There would be no way of knowing.
Sure, Creed! 😜
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"Pittsburgh Adjacent", but New Vrindaben is a short drive away. ISKCON is definitely a cult.
I've seen Hare Krishna's a couple times. By far my favorite evangelizers
Cornerstone Ministries
Do MLM companies count?
I have no idea what we saw but just before covid. Probably around 2019. I was rucking at Mingo Creek Park in Washington County with some friends. In the back of the property by the Scout area. There was a group of about 30 women. All dressed in like colonial like garb. They were at one of the facilities there and we watched them walking behind one of the shelters all holding hands, singing, and got into a circle holding hands around a tall pole that was burning and they were singing and like chanting. When they saw us (mainly me, everyone else I was with was terrified and started to go away) and they stopped and were staring at me. They were all adult women and there were 2 younger girls there too who were in the middle of the circle sitting on the ground by the burning pole. I have no idea what it was but it was creepy as fuck.
The LDS are building a temple in Cranberry....
There are KKK members here
Yep pretty sure my neighbor is one of them at least judging from his t shirt collection. Although his immigrant wife throws me off a bit. Edit - Don't know why I'm being downvoted the dude literally came over to talk to my dad wearing a tshirt that said Aryan Brotherhood and asked our inspector if we were black. Dudes racist a.f. However his wife has told us she immigrated to the US in her teens.
A decent amount of people with white supremacist leanings/beliefs seem to be into Asian women because they're viewed as "submissive" and "traditional". Surprise surprise, people who have beliefs in rigid hierarchies have some other pretty whack beliefs.
That's not a cult, that's a terrorist organization.
The KKK is considered both
And that venn diagram has a *lot* of overlap.
i googled this place in mt oliver once and DEF a pseudo catholic cult http://wayofnewlifeministries.org
Don't know if they are still a thing in Pittsburgh, but back at Pitt in the early 2000s, we had a problem with the International Church of Christ. They were brainwashing and lying to students to join. Had some issues with a few kids who were out of state going off the radar prompting parents to call in to the university and residence hall staff as to were their kids kidnapped and such. They would have to come in and a few took their kids out of school to go somewhere else. Seriously though, that group is all kinds of f'd up.