A new Netflix docuseries entitled, Dancing for the Devil: The 7M TikTok Cult” which debuted last month, is shining a bright light on the alleged abuses suffered by followers of a man who runs both a church and a talent management company in Los Angeles.
Fox News is reporting on the cult which is run by a man named Robert Shinn who serves as the pastor of a Los Angeles Shekinah Church who also runs 7M Films, a dance production company that helps social media stars and TikTok dancers find jobs. As much as 80 percent of the dancers’ gross pay would be used to pay a variety of fees and required donations to the church.
Shinn, who calls himself a “self-proclaimed man of god” teaches about preparing for the end of days and the rapture in between running various interconnected companies.
The docuseries, which has amassed more than 4.4 million views, contains testimony from former members who claim Shinn lives a lavish lifestyle on the backs of brainwashed TikTok dancers who are extorted and sexually abused.
According to the LA Times, “They say he kept them away from their families by telling them that in order to be saved, they had to ‘die’ to their loved ones who did not follow his teachings. He reportedly told them that if they were ‘godly’ enough, they would also save their families from damnation.” If they didn’t fully submit to him, their lives and the lives of their families would be destroyed and they would go to hell.
According to the lawsuit, “In operating his ‘church,’ Robert (Shinn) preached that without him (former members who sued him) and other members of Shekinah would be cursed.”
When former members Priscylla and Melanie Lee spoke out about Shinn’s operation two years ago, he filed a defamation lawsuit against them. The Lee sisters and other ex-members of Shekinah countersued Shinn and his church in 2023, alleging “brainwashing, physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, manipulation and exploitation.”
According to the cross-complaint, Shinn exercised control over his church members’ lives, asking them to give large sums of money to him. He deployed “deputies” who were called “mentors” and “sub-mentors” who were charged with exerting control over members. As the filing states, these deputies “did his bidding including collecting tithes from other members, moving money from members’ bank accounts, instructing members where to live, and on how to spend nearly every waking moment of their time.”
The case is set to go to trial in 2025.
Cult expert Steven Hassan watched the three-part series and said he saw signs that Shinn and 7M are similar to a rapidly growing “brainwashing cult” disguised as a religious movement known as the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR).
“What characterizes them [leaders of the NAR] differently from mainstream Christian evangelicals is that the leaders claim to be an apostle or a prophet, who gets direct revelations from God,” Hassan told Fox News Digital. “These cult leaders, in my opinion, say God speaks directly to them, and they typically speak in tongues and claim to cast out demons and claim to do faith healings.”
An even bigger threat is that Shinn’s church seems to be espousing what’s known as the Seven Mountain Mandate, also part of the NAR, which advocates for spiritual warfare to bring about Christian domination of all facets of life. The “seven mountains” refer to the seven aspects of society that Christians need to influence in order to win control: family, religion, education, media, arts & entertainment, business, and government. This dangerous ideology is anything but Christian and is based upon a flawed understanding of both Scripture and the mission of Jesus Christ.
Even though Shinn has denied any affiliation with the mandate, 7M, which is the name of his film company, is also how the Seven Mountain Mandate is referred to by researchers and scholars. Shinn claims the 7 in the name of 7M Films stands for “millennium.”
As outrageous as these charges are, there is still no official criminal investigation of Robert Shinn and his enterprises. The Attorney General’s Office told Fox they have received no written complaints about 7M or Shinn, and the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office didn’t immediately respond to questions.
However, there is an online petition that has collected over 16,100 signatures imploring law enforcement to investigate and bring criminal charges against Shinn.
“It is time for justice,” the online petition says. “We cannot allow someone who preys on vulnerable individuals under the guise of religion to continue these heinous acts without consequence.”
Click here to sign the petition.
