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Elise takes a selfie
During the summer vacation of her senior year, 17-year-old Elise flew from Chicago to South Korea with her mother for a six-week vacation. However, what she never expected was that she would be trapped in a cult and could not escape, and all this was caused by her mother's own hands. During her confinement at Grace Road Church, she was coerced into attending a five-hour sermon, was denied medical treatment, and church believers threatened her never to see her father and sister again.
In 2013, Elise's mother discovered she was smoking marijuana and began planning her trip to South Korea. Born in the United States to Korean parents, Elise was supposed to provide an opportunity for Elise to share the joy of her Korean family and cut ties with her American friends. But after spending two weeks with a Korean family, Elise's mother took her to Gwacheon City, Gyeonggi Province, to join Eun Hye Ro-do.
Located in South Korea and Fiji, Eun Hye Road Hall does not recognize itself as a cult. Its leader, The Priestess Shin Ok-ju, claimed that there would be a famine in South Korea and that Fiji would be the Promised Land to survive there, so she led hundreds of members to Fiji in 2014. Last month, Shin was arrested along with three other leaders of the church and accused of imprisoning believers and coercing them into beating each other.
In the church, Mother and Daughter Elise slept in the same room as 12 other women, and there were no beds in this room, so everyone made a bunk. The room was located above the hall, where Shin Yuzhu gave a five-hour sermon. In an interview with The Guardian, Elise said: "At the end of June, my mother decided to go to Grace Road Hall for the weekend, and then the weekend became the whole week spent there. I thought to myself: What the hell, this is not part of the plan. ”
The exterior view of the house in South Korea, where Elise lives with her mother. Elise photographed
Elise: "These people are not normal!" ”
Two weeks later, Elise realized that she had actually been kidnapped. She struggles with her mother, wants to leave, and feels a huge panic attack, wanting to take anti-anxiety drugs. But her mother told her that she had thrown away her medicine because the church was not allowed to take it. Elise's mother also took away her computer and iPod, cutting her off all contact with the United States.
Shen Yuzhu: "Did you hear me?" She had the devil inside her, and that was why she screamed. ”
Elise: "I heard that and I took a breath of relief. I suddenly woke up to the fact that these people are not normal. ”
Elise refused to leave the room, and the three members dragged her downstairs to attend the sermon ceremony. Elise screamed loudly to tell the men not to touch her, and Shin Yuzhu told the congregation, "Did you hear me?" She had the devil inside her, and that was why she screamed. Do you want to be like her? Elise was forced to sit in the first row of the congregation and faced Shen Yuzhu directly: "She called me loudly, saying that I am a very evil person, how much I need to accept her guidance, I will soon go to hell, and the medicines I take make me even more crazy." I felt like I was about to throw up, but I couldn't escape it. I looked at my mom and motioned to her I needed my medication, but she ignored me completely. I didn't know what to do, I just tried my best not to faint. ”
Some of the believers who escaped grace and road said in interviews that as soon as they arrived in Fiji, Shen Yuzhu took away their passports and was coerced into working without any remuneration. Shen Yuzhu also asked them to beat each other and videotaped the process. Anyone who tries to leave the organization will be brutally beaten. One son also beat his father 100 to 200 times during the violent beating ceremony. Another believer was beaten more than 600 times and went home and died.
Grace Road Hall declined to comment on the matter, but said in an earlier statement to The Guardian that the beatings, known as the "threshing ground," were a "perfectly biblical" way of "publicly proving" the guilt of these followers.
Female pastor Shin Yu-joo is under investigation for abusing enslaved believers. Photo courtesy of Seoul Broadcasting Corporation (SBS).
<h2>Elise: "The last time I saw my mom. ”</h2>
Eventually, during a week, Elise managed to leave the area and contacted her sister at a nearby convenience store, who told her that she and her father would come to pick her up. In the process of Elise's phone call, Elise's mother also came to the convenience store and looked for her everywhere.
Elise: "I'm just hiding in the corridor between two rows of shelves, feeling like the protagonist in a horror movie, the killer is on the other side of the corner, and you have to do your best to avoid them." ”
The next day, her father, sister, and uncle came together to rescue Elise, and Elise was finally able to leave: "This is the last time I see my mother. ”
But Elise was not free. Without a passport (according to her mother, her passport had been cut up), Elise had to go to the embassy to get a tourist visa. Elise's father felt that there were believers following them all the way to the embassy. On their first day back to the United States, Elise's mother canceled her flight.
Nightmares come. During her time at Grace Road, Elise would occasionally dream of returning to the United States and returning to normal life. But once she returned to the United States, she was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Believers attend the evangelistic ceremony at Grace Road Church. Courtesy of Elise
"I would think about what would have happened if I hadn't been here, if it was just a very realistic dream, just like I had in Korea," Elise said. In the end, Elise was taken to the hospital for self-harm. While in the hospital, her mother also called her and told him that those who committed suicide could only go to hell. Elise said, "How can you say such a thing to your own child?" How can you say such a thing to anyone, especially to your children! She's completely changed, her personality has changed completely. When I needed her, she rejected me. Before all this happened, the two of us were very close. ”
Finally, Elise heard that her mother was still in church and had no intention of changing her mind. Elise hopes that the current investigations into Shin Yu-joo and Eun-Hye Lu Tang will put Shin In-joo in the final indictment: "I hope that the pseudo-priest will be brought to justice and people are starting to realize that such a thing is indeed happening." ”
In order to protect the victims, the names in the text are pseudonyms.