Alise Maripuu

The ICC recruits many members on college campuses.

When I attended UC Santa Cruz after transferring from CSM, the last thing I expected was to become involved in a religious cult called the International Christian Church (ICC). Upon finally researching the group, I realized that it is a pyramid scheme that uses mind-control and weaponizes the Bible to indoctrinate its members into unrealistic obedience. All the red-flags I had turned a blind eye to were later confirmed. Although I only stayed in the group for one month, the traumatic experience made me want to share my story to warn students who are transferring to a four-year college. 

Being in a faith-based community during college can be powerful and beneficial for many students. There is nothing wrong with wanting to explore different religions. After all, college is where many people ‘find themselves’ and try new things. Unfortunately, this is why the ICC cult likes to recruit new members on college campuses. 

Students away from home at college can experience loneliness and the desire to find belonging in a social group. Additionally, being at college can make it easier for toxic groups to recruit you since you are not as influenced by your parents or friends from back home. Although there are many registered religious organizations on college campuses that treat their members with fairness and respect, there can be some groups that cherry-pick from religious texts in order to manipulate members. 

No one willingly joins a cult. If they are in one, they do not view it as a cult. Through grooming techniques, these groups can get to the hearts and minds of anyone in a vulnerable position.

As a transfer struggling to make friends and find belonging on a large college campus, I suffered from loneliness and became depressed during my first year at UCSC. This made me easily susceptible to being targeted by toxic organizations on campus wanting to expand their membership. 

I grew up in a non-religious household. Most of my family are atheists. I had never read a religious text in my entire life. As I grew older I questioned whether God existed but never took the time to explore this curiosity. So when a Christian group on my campus approached me and asked if I wanted to try a Bible study, I agreed thinking, ‘What’s the harm?’ 

I asked them the name of their Christian club and they said it was called “DREAM.” I later learned that “DREAM” is one of the many names used to introduce the group alternative to “ICC” so that people don’t Google their name and find out all of the cult accusations. 

One way to identify if the group is the ICC is that they will approach people with aggressive and overbearing intensity to get you to come to a Bible study. I later learned that they do this because a member’s success in the church is partly determined by how many people they can recruit. As a pyramid scheme, members are recruited and then pressured to go out and recruit more people who are all required to pay substantial tithes.

At first everything seemed great. The first meeting I attended was a Wednesday Women’s group and I was welcomed with open arms. I enjoyed the teachings and walked away happy to finally feel some acceptance and love from others on campus. Upon reading the Bible for the first time, its words and wisdom convicted me strongly. All I could think was, ‘Where has this book been all my life?’ 

Even though I found truth in scripture, red flags in the group started popping up. The International Christian Church refers to its baptized members as ‘disciples.’ For one thing, very few of the ‘disciples’ were students at UCSC. They were simply members posing as students trying to recruit more followers. 

One technique the cult uses is isolating you so that you spend most of your free time with the group. They wanted me to meet them every single day and attend all of their events in order to quickly develop close relationships with the members.

Early in my time with the cult, I mentioned to a few members that I had gone to a party instead of attending one of their “campus devotionals.” It wasn’t until a week later that one of the girls brought it up in front of the entire group and shamed me aggressively. I left that meeting broken and sobbing. This was my first personal encounter with the group’s dark side and willingness to shame members for not immediately abiding to their expectations.

Another grooming tactic used by the cult is love-bombing. Love-bombing is excessive displays of affection and attention used by the group as a psychologically manipulative tool to increase membership. Just like in an abusive relationship, members immediately showed me over the top affection that at times felt ingenuine. Although I could see through their fake flattery, the loneliness inside of me still craved acceptance and a social circle.

The group quickly became my primary social circle and I had grown very close to some of the members. These strong social bonds and dependence on the group for community made it difficult once I decided to leave the cult. Upon reflection, I realized that the ICC uses this trick to make members feel like if they leave they will lose many close friendships. Thus, indoctrinated members are conditioned to stay. 

There were other red-flags I brushed aside. 

One of the hallmark characteristics that make the ICC a cult is their belief that one can only be ‘saved’ under their own church’s baptism. They believe that they are the only ‘true church.’ They see every other church’s baptism as null and void for salvation.

The group does not give out all of the information of what they believe before you are baptized. As an evangelical Christian cult, they have strict rules dictating who members are allowed to date as well as intimacy before marriage. 

After about a month in the cult, what made me decide to Google the ICC was learning that the ‘disciples’ earn income for their recruiting work. I thought, ‘Having a monetary incentive to engage in group works and recruiting activities means that they are not just doing it out of good faith and a desire to help others get to know God.’

That night in my dorm I finally researched the ICC. All of the red-flags like love-bombing, intense pressure to participate in group activities, significant tithes, and shaming those who don’t fully commit were confirmed to me. The group is featured on cultwatch.com. I stayed up late as my mind was racing with horror and embarrassment. I was in a cult. 

The following week was spring break. Going home gave me the time to do more research and tell my family what I had gotten myself into. 

After returning to school, I decided to attend another Bible study. This time around I had strong suspicion and apprehension. The weekend before spring break, one of the new members, Kizzy, had been baptized after only a week of getting involved. Kizzy always had a joyful spirit and a light in her eyes. However when I saw her on this day after spring break, she appeared broken and depressed, the light in her eyes was gone. 

This Bible study was my very last with the cult. They tried cherry-picking specific Bible verses in order to convince me to leave my family behind. I had enough. I debated saying that one of the ten commandments is to honor your mother and father. This was all I really needed to turn around and never look back. 

By the grace of God, Kizzy decided to leave the cult for the same reason. She told me they had shamed her for going to see her family over spring break. Neither of us would ever leave our families over a religious group.

I have been hesitant to tell my story out of embarrassment and because I don’t want people to think that all evangelical Christian churches are cults. I do not want it to prevent people from exploring the Christian faith and wanting to get involved in a healthy church. However I think it is important for students moving onto a four-year campus to beware of this cult’s presence on college campuses all over the country so you can avoid it.

My brand new faith in God was hurt but not gone. I still read the Bible and prayed sometimes to try and hold onto the peace these practices brought me. I spent some time away from faith-based groups in order to recover from my experience. I approached finding a new church on campus with the utmost hesitancy. I eventually found a home in one of the many healthy and officially recognized Christian clubs on campus. They helped to fully restore my faith and helped me heal from the spiritual abuse and indoctrination of the ICC.