I just finished watching that, and even wrote a summary of their definition (which they base off of studies):

3 main characteristics

1.) A cult is a group or a social movement that’s led by a charismatic leader who is authoritarian and who demands to be revered as a god-like figure

2.) the group has some form of indoctrination program sometimes called thought reform/brain washing/though control

3.) sexual exploitation, financial exploitation, some kind of exploitation against members/blackmail

Did mention there was a small problem with this definition, more so with number 1

7 elements that can lead to indoctrination of a cult

1.) number one you’re going through a transition/something that leaves you vulnerable (I see this a lot/hear about this a lot when it comes to people running to religion)

2.) the soft sell; questions about life, if you’re happy

3.) the people create a new reality for you/ isolate you from others; no outside books/tv/going against the grain “to protect you from the world”

4.) most important relationship is with “god” or the leader; everybody else and everything else is wrong

5.) the leader creates an external enemy for you like “the devil”/you’re going to be raped/you’re going to be beaten/left in a ditch; what would happen if you left the cult because the world is such an evil place

6.) peer pressure; leaders use peer pressure to manipulate you; 1951 Solomon Ash study

7.) Leader is a sociopathic narcissist; if I die you die too; Jim Jones

The whole cult thing made me think of Shincheonji Church of Jesus. Kim Gang-Rim an ex member Who left and now councils people talk about his experience in the church and what they do to get new members.

Two things that helped them convert people and get new members:

1.) converting tactics they use fraud-based conversion tactics. They pretend to be a normal church. When a person is fully devoted, they then reveal that they are the Shincheonji Church

2.) customized converting/customized recruiting tactics They research their target. They collect information; they find out the hobbies, their worries and etc. Then they send out a group of specialist (people from the Shincheonji church) who pretend to like those hobbies or have the same worries as the person they researched. Whether it be English proficiency tests, sports, nail art, magic tricks, acupuncture, massages or more, the SC members zero in on their target’s interests and create a team where they get special acting training from Shincheonji Instructors to recruit the individual. They even resort to sexual recruiting in some cases where a person feigns interest in another/tries to date the target in order to get the person to join.

There were cases where a member posed as a monk to convert Buddhist monks. Members pose as a telemarketing team, journalists, researchers, psychologists to collect information on Kim Gang-Rim, they used a team of three SC members where the SC members pretended to not know each other; one SC member also pretended to be an interviewee while the other two pretended to be the interviewers - kind of like the 1951 Solomon Ash study - everyone is in on the study except for the one person they are studying. Then the SC members use the information to customize their tactics to recruit him.

On another note, I can see some resemblance to the definition and how it applies to TRA movement