01x01 - Part I: Die to Yourself

[bunniefuu]

[woman] Welcome back to another Wednesday
video. We're the Wilking sisters.

And today, we are going through
our memorabilia boxes.

This was me in fourth grade.

This was a self-portrait.

- Let me just put it... put it like that.
- [laughing]

I have something.
"Why I love and respect you, Melanie."

What?

"Number one, you always care about me."

"Number two, you always love me."

"Number three,
you always cheer me up when I'm sad."

"Number four, when I get hurt,

you always make sure I'm OKAY,
in all caps."

"Number five, when I mess up something,
you always fix it." Thank you.

"Number six, when I fall..."

[Melanie] It's hard for me
to even remember, honestly.

Because it's just so different now.

[moody, mysterious music playing]

I miss my sister so much.

I still love dance,

but I feel like it's just different.

Like it was Miranda and I
together on this journey.

And

now I'm alone.

{an8}"And number 11..." I added this one
because I had one more.

{an8}Okay.

"Number 11,
Melanie, you fill my heart every day."

"Please don't let that go away."

- [laughing]
- [music fades]

[dramatic music playing]

[tearfully] Today is my sister's birthday.

And... [sniffling]

{an8}I don't even know where to start.
We're not allowed to contact her.

{an8}And it's... It's really sad because
we're blocked on absolutely everything.

I literally feel like my sister died.

She's everywhere, but nowhere.
Haunting me.

Shhh!

She cut off all ties.

I don't know of anybody
that has spoken to her from before.

The only people that I think speak to her

are whoever is involved
in this religious organization.

If anyone has ideas or something
that they know of... Someone may have...

Maybe someone came out of a religious
organization that they know of, recently.

- Yeah.
- That could help us.

[man] Because I will not
give up on my family.

[computer voice] Arrived.

[Melanie] All the dancers
that she dances with,

someone else is controlling their lives.

We're all victims of this church.

- Dean and I hunted down and...
- Found out where...

...did our little private investigating
to figure out where the church is.

We just want Miranda back...

[tense music playing]

...and don't know what to do.

"This property closed to the public."

[Dean] Just gonna walk over
to the gate, push the gate.

See if they let me in to see Miranda.

Let's see here.

[chime over speaker]

[faint noise over speaker]

Hello?

I, uh...

I'm here to possibly see
if you guys would let me see Miranda.

I think she's here.

Um... I'm her dad.

[faint noise continues]

Um... I'd just like to talk to her.
If you let me in, that'd be great. Just...

Buzz here, we'll come in,
talk to her, give her a hug.

Haven't had a chance to hug her
in over a year.

I know someone's hearing this.

I'm not gonna give up. I'll keep trying,
I'll keep coming here and keep talking.

I'm gonna try, somehow, someway,

to be able to get my daughter
back in my life again.

[faint noise continues]

[click over speaker]

[quiet, tense music playing]

Sweetheart...

Your daddy loves you
and wishes you the best.

I hope Miranda gets this.

[bleep]

- [Shinn] Hallelujah!
- [people] Hallelujah!

[Shinn] Miranda's family
decided to go on Instagram

and start a campaign against us,

calling us a cult organization.

And there was an article, the title was
"A TikTok Star Joins Cult." [chuckles]

[girl laughs]

We have now attention from media.

We have, every day, production companies

wanting to do a documentary series
with our group.

We're quite famous.

- [people cheering]
- [mysterious music playing]

- [Shinn] Hallelujah!
- [people] Hallelujah!

It all started when the Wilking family
went live on Instagram.

Some random cult video
that popped up on my For You page.

Influencer Miranda Derrick went viral

after her family claims
she's part of a dance cult called 7M.

[male reporter] 7M, an entertainment
company founded by Robert Shinn,

who's also the pastor
of LA-based Shekinah Church,

unaffiliated with other churches
bearing the same name.

I'm obsessed with these dance cults.
Do you know about these dance cults?

[woman 1] At first, it was just,
"Let's get Miranda out of this."

And now it's turned into, "Wow, all
of these dancers are involved in this."

[female reporter] Many of 7M's 11 dancers
have millions of followers

across TikTok and Instagram.

[woman 1] Some are from
So You Think You Can Dance,

gone on tours
with Janet Jackson and Madonna.

They are everywhere
online now in viral videos.

[woman 2] This is a line item.

"Big names and leaders of this cult live
in mansions and drive expensive cars."

The church services are very secretive.

[woman 3] Some of them have broken off
and started to not talk to their families.

Like, go full cult mode
where they dance all day,

and then marry each other,
then cut off all their old friends...

[man 2] 7M would tell you that they're not
a cult, they're just a management company.

[woman 4] Is she in a cult?

What are your thoughts?

{an8}[quiet, contemplative music playing]

For those of you who are just tuning in
and new to the page, welcome.

I know a lot of you
really don't care about the drama

and see right through all the craziness,
which is so amazing.

There was a lot of things happening
between my family and I, disagreements.

There's a lot of issues
that we need to work out.

I'm excited to move forward
and work those things out amongst us.

{an8}I'm proud of her. Miranda's just
telling it like it is at this point.

{an8}Think about it, when you're young,
and in your 20s,

and you move to California,
of course you're going to change.

Thank you, guys, for everything.
I love you guys. Talk to you soon. Bye!

["My Life" by Billy Joel playing]

♪ Go ahead with your own life
Leave me alone ♪

[music fades]

- [Miranda] Hello, everyone.
- [electronic music playing]

So one of the questions is,
"Are you okay?"

[Miranda laughs]

[Shinn] Yes, you!

Yes, nobody you!

Yes, insignificant you!

See, it's not about you!

It's about God!

[girl chatters indistinctly]

[music fades]

[clicking]

[Dean] Posture, posture, girls!
Chin up! Chin up!

[sentimental music playing on TV]

Chin up!

That's it!

Melanie, can you blow me a kiss?

Thank you. Could you blow me a kiss?

Thank you.

Oh, who's that girl right there?

- [Dean grunts]
- [laughter]

[Melanie] Miranda and I knew we always
wanted dance to be a part of our lives.

[contemplative music playing]

[mom] Dean being a teacher,
myself being a teacher, a counselor,

we didn't have much,
but everything the girls wanted to pursue,

we supported that.

Help me get my leg up better!

{an8}Your parents were at every single event.
My parents were at every single event.

They just were surrounded by love.

- [Kelly] Great job!
- Thank you!

[Kelly] Let me see! Wow!

[Melanie] Growing up, Miranda was always
very creative and incredibly talented.

{an8}So as a little sister, it was always
something I wanted to do too.

{an8}So, like, I would just try to work
to be like... to be like Miranda.

If you want to dance
at the most elite level,

LA is the place to be.

[Dean] Hi, guys!

California and dancing,
it was their big dream.

Right after Miranda graduated high school,

it was like either
gonna do theater program or LA.

And LA is the one that worked out.

[people cheering]

[Kelly] When Miranda
decided to come out to California,

that was hard for us.

'Cause we were always, like, very close
and doing everything together.

But it was so beautiful, because we were
seeing our daughter living her dream.

Even though we're 3,000 miles away,

she would call us,
sometimes a couple times a day, you know,

and tell us
the things that were happening.

- Auditions she's on and different things.
- Everything was just so exciting.

But I remember a time where
she was really sad and missing everybody.

I'm like, "Do you want to come home?"

And she's like, "I want to come home,

but I want... this more."

Hi!

[Melanie] It was like, "Okay.
She's really doing this."

A year later, I was like,
"I want to do the same thing."

{an8}[pop music playing]

{an8}I moved out to California
to be with Miranda.

Auditioning, doing tours, music videos.

But we'd have people telling us that,
"You can't be next to each other."

"You can't audition for this together."

"You're two separate people."

So then the dream kind of shifted.

We still loved to dance.

We loved that, but then we realized that,

"Okay, we could be doing really
the same thing on social media

and be ourselves."

{an8}[squeals] What's up, guys?

{an8}Wilking sisters are back at it again
with another Wednesday Vlog.

{an8}- Let's read the directions!
- [upbeat music playing]

{an8}[Melanie] As years went on, social media
has become so important for everything.

You go on auditions and they're asking
how many followers you have.

When TikTok was launched,

the online dancing became really popular,

and we created this brand.

[Melanie & Miranda]
We're the Wilking sisters!

[Melanie] When we're hired for a job
or doing brand collaborations,

they wanted the Wilking sisters.

♪ One, two, three, four ♪

♪ All these clothes
And I just want more ♪

So when we got a manager,

and saw the money that was to be made
in this industry,

there's no looking back.

♪ Never could dream ♪

♪ Where the site was gonna take me
Site was gonna take me ♪

♪ Now I can see
Now I can see ♪

♪ See the lies that I've been chasing
Lies that I've been chasing ♪

[song fades]

[Melanie] We were the busiest
we had ever been.

And then one day we got a DM from BDash,

a very admired dancer
in the dance community.

{an8}[electronic music playing]

{an8}James is very talented.
He's been around for a long time.

{an8}He's toured the world.
He is massive in the Krump community.

Everyone looks up to him.

He definitely has a different style

than what we do,
but we could collaborate on something.

{an8}[hip-hop music playing]

{an8}Then, afterwards, we were
in a group chat together, us three,

and then I got removed...

[chuckles]...and it was just
them two talking to each other.

And I... I know...
I was like, "Miranda, he likes you!"

{an8}[ethereal music playing]

{an8}And then they started to date.

{an8}- This is my girlfriend, Miranda Wilking.
- Hi.

[Dean] He came to our house
during the pandemic.

James had stayed with us for seven weeks.

Then he had come back
a couple times for shorter visits.

So we got really close.

I liked him, a lot.

- Hi!
- Hey!

- Eh. Hi.
- [Miranda] Hello!

[Dean and Melanie] Rise and shine!

[Melanie] And then Miranda
started to hang out

with all the people James was around,
all his friends.

{an8}I've known BDash since I was like 19.

{an8}We were actually
in a Krump group together.

{an8}- [woman] We are here with...
- This is Konkrete.

{an8}Lil B... I'm BDash. I want to...

{an8}[Konkrete]
He became one of my best friends.

{an8}This Krump thing, it has that reputation
of being super angry.

{an8}- It's not angry, just raw. Raw emotions.
- It's real raw.

[hip-hop music playing]

{an8}I have a special treat for you,
a style of dance called "Krump."

{an8}[woman] Krump. K-R-U-M-P.

"Kingdom Radically Uplifted
Mighty Praise."

It's a spiritual expression dance.
Came from the streets.

The reason I got into Krump, I was like,
"Dang, there's really young Black males

really pushing God through dance? I'm in."

{an8}Me and BDash created such an impact.

Just two of us. We blew up the industry.

Me and BDash are like,
"I don't know what the heck's going on but

we just gotta keep doing it."

{an8}[hip-hop music playing]

{an8}[people cheering]

Whoa.

[music stops]

{an8}[loud cheering]

- That was a dream come true.
- [contemplative music playing]

I just wanted to be
the most successful dancer,

one of the greatest,

but I was a starving artist.

I slept in cars.

It was almost a year I was doing that.

I didn't have a lot of clothes.
I just had my suitcase.

I didn't tell nobody
where I lived, you know?

If I wanted to go out on a date,
they're not coming over. Like...

I... you can't.

{an8}But then I met Kailea.

I met her at one of my music videos.

{an8}Kevin had gotten a call from BDash,
and BDash was like,

{an8}"Come, we got
some really great stuff going on."

{an8}"I'm with some dope people,
people you've filmed with before."

"You know Isaiah, you've filmed with him.
He shot a music video for Kevin."

"They're helping us a lot.
You should come."

{an8}We're gonna go head over to the location
in a bit. I'm gonna carpool with BDash.

{an8}Isaiah was James's videographer.

They had been working together
for close to a year.

Go, dude! Go, go, go, go, go!

Their videos were really dope.

Kevin started doing videos with them
and started meeting everybody.

{an8}- Yeah! Oh, yeah!
- [person laughing]

{an8}We all started to hang out together.
Dancing and making content together.

Very high-quality,
exclusive, everything set up.

It was just fun. I just enjoyed doing it.

[quiet, upbeat music playing]

BDash was telling me
about being at Isaiah's house,

and how Isaiah's dad is a pastor.

{an8}I was like, "Oh, really?"

{an8}BDash is like, "You gotta hear him
talk about the word."

I was like, "All right, I'll come."

I'm there and Robert was like,
"How's it going? I heard a lot about you."

He asked me, "Do you go to church now?"
I was like, "No."

"After high school, I fell off."

"I'm trying to get back into it
and trying to find a church."

And he was like, "Oh, okay."

Then he was like,
"Let's go to the scripture."

It's a scripture in Revelations.
He was like, "Read it."

"You are lukewarm."

"I will eat you up and spit you out."

"You see?"

"You are lukewarm."

So I was like, "You know what?
I gotta get back in church."

So, after that,
we started going to Bible study.

It's going long.
It's going a couple hours, three hours.

It's, like, super long.

I'm coming home late.

{an8}He was out until 1:00 a.m.,
not able to tell me where he was.

{an8}- I was thinking the worst. [chuckles]
- [music fades]

{an8}And then, obviously, goes to find out
he was at a Bible study meeting.

I couldn't get mad at that.

- No, don't hype her up. Aubrey.
- [Aubrey whimpers]

- My first true love is definitely Aubrey.
- [electronic music playing]

Ooh, booty! Hold on! Put your sweater up!

Let me see! I saw a jiggle!
[mimics jiggling] Put your sweater up!

- [Kylie] No, I'm hot!
- Yes, you are!

It felt like a perfect best friend
that had the same passion that I did.

So I started going to content days.

You know, carefree,
and going with the flow, and having fun.

Social media, for me, it was new.

Like, "Man, I can do this and get money
for my art? I want to do this."

But you have to do a lot of work.

You have to be cast,
crew, makeup, director, editor.

Like, you have to do all of it.

But with Isaiah and his crew,
they didn't have to wear all of the hats.

Everybody wants to work with sponsors
and all that stuff.

This was around the time
I was getting brand deals,

but I couldn't keep up.

I didn't know anything. I was like,
"I need somebody to keep me on track."

It's overwhelming. Back and forth on email
to get one simple instruction.

I just want to create.

One day, we came back to Isaiah's house.

{an8}BDash was telling everybody how
he was struggling to get a brand deal.

His old management
wasn't giving no response, no anything.

So, then, that's when
Robert was just looking around.

He's asking me,
"How many followers you have?"

"How long have you been dancing?"

I was like, "Yeah, I have
this much followers." He's like...

"You have around the same
amount of followers as BDash."

[electronic music continues]

He was like,
"I'm gonna start a management company."

"We're gonna call it 7M."

Add BDash.

Add RainO.

[electronic music continues]

He was like, "Okay, let's add Vik too."

I'm looking at him,
I'm like, "Oh, my boys are here. Okay."

I was like, "I want to be in it too!"

I was hungry to, like,
get invited to everything.

[Konkrete] I was invited
by my bro BDash. "Okay."

It sounds dope.

{an8}[Melanie] I would talk to Miranda
at the end of the night.

{an8}"What did you do today?
How is everything?"

{an8}She said, "Oh, I've been
at Isaiah's house with James,

{an8}having dinners and reading the Bible."

We didn't grow up very religious.

We, you know, we grew up Catholic,
but it wasn't on a regular basis.

{an8}Then we found out the pastor's wife,
Hannah, was now James's talent manager.

We're like, "That's kind of weird."

In my mind, I'm like, "Wait a minute.
Okay. So this is a church,

but they're also a management company?"

I just...
I just felt a little funny about that.

[music stops]

{an8}I was invited
to Robert's house for a dinner.

{an8}[ominous music playing]

At that time, Miranda was in.
Like she was committed.

She did tell me
that they read the Bible at dinner,

and they kind of go around
and, um, share different experiences,

and whatnot.

[utensils clicking]

[Kailea] Kevin was like,
"We're gonna go to a dinner party."

"Okay, cool. Let me just get dressy
and, like, see what this is about."

So we get to the dinner party.

And it's, like, at Robert's house
with everyone there.

"We're all in this church together
and this is what we do."

This, this, and that.

I was just like, "This is not the vibe
I was thinking we were gonna do."

[Kylie] I was nervous walking in
because I was thinking,

"The only person I know here
is my own boyfriend Aubrey."

And then, it's like this huge,
long table with Robert sitting at the end,

and everyone's just like super quiet.

But having Miranda there
and having Aubrey there

made me be able to kind of realize,
"Okay, this is gonna be okay."

[Melanie] So then,
after we sat down to dinner,

Robert asked if I would
consider myself a sinner.

And I'm like, "I don't think so."

He's like, "What if I told you
that you have already sinned

let's say a thousand times today?"

And I had no idea what to say.

I'm like, "I... I don't know."

And he's like, "Well, you have."

"And if you died right now,
you would go to hell."

[ominous music continues]

"But we'll help you."

So then we all sat in a circle
and held hands.

He sat in the middle,

and just kind of had his hands on my head.

And everyone
was kind of speaking... speaking in tongues.

{an8}- [Robert speaking in unknown language]
- [people shouting]

[Robert] Hallelujah!

[continues speaking in unknown language]

[continues speaking in unknown language]

Thank you, Lord!

And then, he said I was saved.

[music stops]

I remember thinking it was weird,

but then I'd never been
exposed to anything like it.

I'm like, "Maybe this is normal."

And all of...

You know, my sister is there,
her boyfriend's there.

All of these dancers
that I have looked up to are there.

So I'm like,
"Okay, maybe... maybe this is a thing."

[quiet, contemplative music playing]

[Aubrey] At that time,
I wanted to be close to God again,

because I grew up in a Christian home.

So, I was just more like,
"Okay, what is this about?"

- [Robert] Welcome to the Unseen World.
- [people] Yes!

[people cheering]

[Robert] Hallelujah!

[people clap]

I loved going to church,
but once I moved to LA,

I didn't really go as much

because I was really focused
on dancing and my career.

So when this popped up,

it felt like
this was the right place to be.

[Robert] Forget about who you are,
what you haven't done, what you can't do.

[man] Hallelujah! Yes!

[Robert] You know it, I know it.
Forget about that person.

[Konkrete] I always loved church.

I don't know why.

I just thought it was dope...
[chuckles]...you know?

I needed spiritual guidance.

And Robert could do that.

And if he also handled the business side,

I'm in. Count me in.

Yes, we were in church, talking about God,

but our day-to-day was making content
and hanging out with each other.

- [in British accent] Dancing in the dark!
- Dancing in the dark!

- Just dancing in the dark!
- 'Cause we are the Spice Girls!

[quiet, contemplative music continues]

[Melanie] Miranda and I
had always done everything together.

It was like,
"If you're gonna be here all the time,

let me check it out, maybe I like it too."

[Robert]
A new guest today, Melanie Wilking.

Can you stand up, Melanie?
Praise the Lord.

[applause]

Sister of Miranda,
who is connected to James.

[Melanie] James has always
been very religious.

And Robert became
very involved in James's life.

Miranda naturally joined this church
so that she could be with James.

[Kelly] James and Miranda
were going to the pastor's house

for all these dinners and all this.

I said to James,
"Something doesn't feel right."

"What's up with all these dinners?"

He's like, "Nothing.
They're just nice people."

I'm like, "Just be careful,

because I don't feel that
that's the case."

- "I think they want something from you."
- [music stops]

When you hear
somebody talking about Spirit,

you know, and then on top of that, money,

which is the most dangerous thing
to talk about to a artist...

Perfect prey.

Perfect prey.

A lot of young men and women travel to LA
with their big dream of being onstage,

and just get wrapped up in a lot of things
that, like, aren't fair for them.

They don't get paid enough,
they get overworked, people overlook them.

There's little opportunity
and a lot of dancers.

They're seeing Robert's house,
watching him drive these luxury cars.

That's why a place like Shekinah
can look so alluring.

[electronic music playing]

[Aubrey] Robert was like,
"I can make you rich."

He didn't only say that to me.
He said that to a lot of dancers in 7M.

"We can give you a place,

we can give you a home,
we can give you a car."

"We can give you finances,
management, all this stuff."

Robert was like, "I have
two empty bedrooms in a home in Sunland

that you guys can occupy
for 2,200 a month."

It was a really great house.
There was a lot of space.

We had two bedrooms and two bathrooms.
It felt like we had our own little wing.

There were two music studios,
two dance studios.

All the equipment was there.
Someone would edit it.

They would take care of the brand deals.
We were just creating.

We were being content creators
in Los Angeles,

in a nice house with some dope people,
and just loving God.

They were like, "We're also gonna have
church services on Sunday, you can come."

"Like, this house
is an extension of the church."

So you have to be invited to services.
You can't just go.

You know they're Wednesdays and Sundays.
You can't just show up.

I didn't get anything for Sunday.

So Miranda was going to church,

and I already had plans
to take someone to the airport.

{an8}Then I get a phone call from Kloe,
Robert's daughter, on Sunday.

I picked up, and she's like,
"Hey, I just talked to the pastor."

"He really needs you
to hear his word today."

And, "What are the chances you can
have your friend Uber to the airport,

you come here right now?"

- And I... [chuckles]
- [contemplative music playing]

I just remember thinking,
"No! I'm not... I'm not doing that."

I've gone to, you know,
different churches growing up,

and no one is ever like,
"You have to be here now!"

After Kloe did that, I made up my mind
that I was never going back.

This is not for me.

["Bounce" feat. Missy Elliot,
Justin Timberlake & Dr. Dre playing]

[Aubrey] All of us were
just doing videos, you know?

Normal content day,
everybody'll come to Robert's house

and we'll just sh**t content.

Just sh**t a few videos.
Whatever you want.

And then Robert started giving us,
like, songs here and there to dance to.

["Disco Nights [Rock Freak]"
[by G.Q. playing]

That was like when we started
doing videos in the suits.

["Daddy Cool" by Boney M. playing]

[Konkrete] He did pick the songs.

At first, we were questioning,
like, "Dang, this song's trash."

"I can't get off to this, bro."

["Surfin' Safari"
by The Beach Boys playing]

But we would do it anyway.

["Men In Black" by Will Smith playing]

[Robert] I'll pick top ten songs
of every year and then dance to it.

["I'm Still Standing"
by Elton John playing]

We want top song...
that is a sound from heaven.

["September"
by Earth, Wind & Fire playing]

[Konkrete]
We got a lot of attention off of it.

["Papa Got A Brand New Bag"
by James Brown playing]

[Robert] They're stars now. Why? The song.

[people cheering]

It was a genius idea
to dance to old-school music

at a time where nobody was doing it.

Whatever word
that a "Man of God" gives to you,

it's like it's blessed by God.

So when he'd throw a song,

we try to just believe, like,

"Okay, that song he said we dance to,

it's gonna have
the biggest blessing ever!"

- [Robert] Hallelujah. Thank you, Lord!
- [people] Hallelujah. Thank you, Lord!

- [Robert] Thank you, Lord. Yeah.
- [woman] Hallelujah!

- [people cheering]
- I earned my paycheck as a producer.

- [Robert laughing]
- [people chattering]

With 7M, it's a 20% management fee,
which is pretty normal.

Then the church would encourage
giving a 10% tithe, which is in the Bible,

{an8}- 10% Man of God, and then 10% offering.
- [contemplative music playing]

[Robert] Every time God told me to give,

he only told me to give
when he wanted to give me something.

And then he starts blessing you.

We were seeing blessings.
And I'm like, "Guys, it's working."

{an8}[Robert] Aubrey's Toyota commercial
went live today.

Hallelujah!

[Konkrete] Most of the time,
we would do what he'd say.

We felt like he knew what's best.

[contemplative music continues]

[Robert] I can take you financially
from here to there.

- [woman] Amen to that!
- [Robert] Thank you, Jesus!

- [Robert] I said, "Thank you, Jesus!"
- [people] Thank you, Jesus!

When you are a person
that had never seen those numbers,

and you start getting those numbers,

nothing else matters.

The more...
involved she got with the church,

the more distant she became from us.

[Melanie] She was gone all the time,
and I wouldn't know where she was.

We shared a car, so I would get
frustrated, too, 'cause I'm like,

"You're gone all day,
and now I'm just stuck at the house."

"I don't know where you are
or what you're doing."

[Kelly] All these months
and very little contact.

Not even a "like,"

not even a message back for days.

And we... we never had that before.

We were always very transparent
about what was going on.

And we knew from bank records that
she was pretty much running dry on money.

Yeah.

[Kelly] Thousands and thousands of dollars
of transactions being moved.

Something is very wrong.

[music fades]

When all this was happening,

my dad passes away,
and we have the funeral coming up.

- We get a phone call from Miranda.
- [contemplative music playing]

She's like,
"I just wanted to let you know that, um,

I just took a COVID test,
and I'm positive."

Something like that.
And I'm like, "Wait, what?"

And she's like, "Yeah."

I cut her off, "Are you trying to tell me
you're not getting on the plane?"

"Like, you've got COVID?"

Thirty minutes
before we're leaving for the airport,

she says she's not coming home.

Just out of the blue.

And so then Miranda hung up on us.

I'm like, "There's no choice.
We have to get to the funeral."

"What are we gonna do?"

"You have to get home somehow,
even if you wait a couple days."

And she was like,
"No, I just can't go. I just can't go."

How are you not coming
to your grandfather's funeral,

who was like a second father to you?

Like, it was Papa.
We're coming back to honor his life.

[Kelly] Please don't tell me
you're not coming home to Papa's funeral.

Don't regret it. Like, you're gonna
regret this in your life.

It was so strange to us,
and I straight up said, like,

"This has nothing to do
with COVID, does it?"

And she just started bawling.

Melanie called us and said,
"Should I come home? What do I..."

We're like,
"Just get on a plane. Come home."

I... I have... I'm on a plane now, alone,

and have no idea where she is,
what's going on.

[message bleep]

[moody music playing]

[Kelly] We called Miranda, no answer,
texted Miranda, no answer.

- Called James, no answer.
- Call James... So this was over hours.

And then, all of a sudden,
it occurred to us.

We're like, "Do you think Miranda's okay?"

So, we called the police.

[officer] They're not upset.

- But they're definitely concerned.
- [Miranda] Yeah.

[officer] My understanding is that
you were supposed to go to Michigan today?

[Miranda] Yes, so I just chose not to go
home out of my own grieving purposes.

- [officer] Okay.
- [Miranda] They're not taking it well.

They called us back
and said, "We found her."

[officer] So we went in the house,
um, and it is...

It's... Everything looks totally fine.

He said, "I talked with Miranda.
She was very well-spoken."

He said, "Yeah, she was with her friend."
We're like, "What friend?"

He described her.

We're like, "Oh my gosh.
It's Kloe, the pastor's daughter."

[Dean] We flew to California.

We found her in the condo.

We tried to get to talk to her,
and she wanted to leave.

She kept saying, "I have to go."

She's like, "I don't know."

"I'll see if I'll come to the funeral."
We were like, "Who do you have to ask?"

She said, "I need to ask someone
closer to God than you."

[music stops]

And that triggered in my head,

"She's gone."

[voice wavering]
I said, "Melanie, she's gone."

We had Melanie on the phone.

She goes, "If you let her go,
she's not coming back."

So I kept holding the car door up,
and she's trying to pull it down, and...

There was... I never touched her,
but the physical of that...

Seeing her face, like,
"Just let me go!" was like...

"Am I hurting you?"

"I'm losing you."

- So finally I gave up, right?
- [contemplative music playing]

[Kelly sniffles]

I was with her that day,
and so I saw Miranda going through

like so much pain
leaving her sister and her family

because she was non-stop crying.

And she was so beat down

even though she... she wanted to be,

like, with James and with Shekinah.

She was hurt and she was broken
from... from leaving her family.

Deep down, like, Miranda did want that,
but she was "dying to herself."

Die to yourself.

Dying to yourself means that
whatever you want or whatever you need,

die to it,
because whenever you die to something,

it'll come back to life and resurrect.

[Robert] When God said, "Love one another,
your family, your sister,"

it doesn't mean love with human love,
it's "love with God" kind of love.

Different kind of love.

You're not Jesus's disciple
until you've died to your loved ones.

[Kylie] One of the main things we learned
is that you have to die to your family

in order to save them.

And by "save them," I mean, um,
like, them going to heaven one day,

even if they don't go to church
all the time, you need to die to them.

That way, at least
you can follow your walk with God,

and if you get into heaven,
they're gonna come with you.

As a believer,
you want to hear that type of stuff.

You're like... [scoffs] "Of course I want
to get to heaven. What do I have to do?"

They'd say, "Cut off your family.
You need to work on yourself."

The goal is not to keep them cut off.

The goal is to eventually reach back out
and get them to follow God

{an8}and love God the way that you do.

{an8}[contemplative music continues]

{an8}[Aubrey] I stopped talking to my mom.

{an8}She told me,
"Something don't feel right about this."

{an8}[Kylie] My mom, my nana and my pop-pop...

{an8}[tearfully]...those are the ones
that built me to who I am today.

{an8}[sniffling] Just turn around
and walk the other way?

- That's hard.
- [tapping]

- [mimics airplane]
- [both chuckle]

[Konkrete] I was told by Robert...

I was told to, "Die to my son."

You know...

to... to help him, basically.

{an8}[baby coos]

{an8}And... when he said it, I was like...

"Okay, how do you do that?"

I never got an answer.

I couldn't do that.

It's like they didn't care
if we never seen our family again.

- [Robert] Bury yourself.
- [people] Yes!

[Robert] Get rid of yourself.

And anybody and anything that reminds you
of yourself, you gotta die to it.

[person] Yes.

[Robert] So when you die to something,
the new nature is born!

[music intensifies and then fades]

[no audible dialogue]

[audio static]

[big band music playing]

Oh my God!

Oh my God!

- [Dean] That's how we find out.
- [music becomes contemplative]

Couldn't get a phone call
or anything, nothing.

We just...
We just find out through social media.

They're getting married.

[Melanie] She got married.

That's something
that I wish I was there for.

[singing]

We've been those girls
that dreamed about our weddings

since the time we were little.

{an8}We had the expectation that we were
gonna be each other's maid of honor.

To this day, I still don't know
when she got married, if it's legal, if...

how that all happened.

And it's like, "What are we gonna do?"

What are we gonna do?
What are we gonna say?

Maybe we need
to reach out to other people,

and see if anybody else
has similar experiences.

[contemplative music continues]

[Lawrence]
We got this random email in my inbox.

Everything she said was happening
to her daughter was happening to us.

When Nick said,
"I think I'm gonna go out to LA,"

I always said,
"Go. Spread your wings. Fly." You know?

He would call her when he got a gig.

"I got a new gig.
I'm gonna be doing this. This is so cool."

{an8}I could feel his excitement
and his happiness wherever he was.

{an8}- Yup.
- And it made me feel excited and happy.

{an8}What's up, everybody?
Welcome back to my channel!

{an8}Hold up! I know it's been a minute,
but it's good to be back!

[Lawrence] So we would text.

And then, he was like,
"I'm too busy now. I'm on a sh**t."

There was always a reason.

But we didn't know anything
about this church until we got this email.

And I was like, "Everything that this lady
just said was accurate."

I told my wife about it,
we're like, "What is this about?"

And I was like,
"Well, I'm a little curious,

so I'm gonna call."

I reached out to other parents
because I didn't know what else to do.

There's strength in numbers.

If you do nothing, nothing's gonna happen.

We're going through the same battles
trying to get our children back.

[Kelly] We decided it would be
a good idea if we met in person

and see if we can
make some headway as a team.

[music fades]

[woman on phone] I'm sorry,
what is the name of the cult?

{an8}They went under "7M Management."

{an8}And the church
that's affiliated with that,

it's called "Shekinah Church."

We think it could be more of, like,
a labor traffic where they're working,

and more than just tithing to the church

is most of their money
going to the pastor of the church.

[woman] Okay.
Um, so, from our perspective,

because all the children that
you all are speaking about are adults,

it's really limited
in terms of what we can do,

because we don't take action with adults

in labor trafficking
and sex trafficking situations

unless those adults
are asking us for help.

[thud on phone]

If the police come,

it ultimately makes the situation
worse for the victims.

That is, survivors tell us,

when the control goes up,

the violence goes up, or it starts.

That includes physical and sexual.

Everything gets worse.

But as loving parents,

what can we do
or how can we... get them back?

[woman] Um, the goal
with these adult children

is to keep
the lines of communication open.

In the event that it really does go south,
or all the lights come on,

and your daughter
realizes what's going on,

you want to be
the first phone call she makes.

[contemplative music playing]

[Kelly] I don't want to tell you
what kind of religious beliefs to have,

who to marry, and how to live your life...

[voice wavering] ...but I want
some kind of a relationship with you.

[alert bleep]

There were some e-mails back and forth,
but nothing sounded like her.

Sentences were structured
not how she would have,

words that she... I know she's never used.

It just didn't sound like her.

No "Happy Mother's Day."
No "Happy Father's Day."

Melanie's birthday came and went.
Nothing to wish her happy birthday.

Nothing at all from Thanksgiving.

[music fades]

["Jingle Bells" playing]

I waited a couple months
to see if she would come back around,

and she never did.

♪ Jingle bells
Jingle bells ♪

So I decided to go to their public show.

I think I had this vision in my brain
that we would embrace,

and she'd miss me so much,
and we would skip off into the sunset.

So I went to the bathroom, and, literally,
she was... she was back there.

We were both, like, in shock.
- [music fades]

We hadn't seen each other in so long.

That was the first time
I'd seen her with her hair cut short.

Um, so I remember I hugged her
and it was like hugging a wall.

Like, she was just... stiff.

And I was like, "You're doing so great.
We wanted to come see the show."

"You look so cute."

And she was just

cold, like, no... no emotion.

- She's changed completely.
- [contemplative music playing]

[Dean] We were speaking
to a couple therapists that said that,

"They'll probably meet with you
if you have something big to share."

But we were blocked.

Her phone number had been changed,
so I texted James.

[alert bleep]

Miranda came walking up like that,

looking nasty.

And I sat down with her,
and I said, "Is everything okay?"

And she said,
"Well, what do you have to say?"

"What's the news?"

So I tried to say,
"Miranda, I'm so sorry."

"Maybe there's just a lot of things
that you've been holding inside

that you've never really
been able to process or deal with."

"I'm sorry if you didn't feel like
you could come to me with all this stuff."

- And she's like, "Is that it?"
- [music fades]

"I've got to go."

And she walked out on me.

[shudders]

[voice wavering]
When you raise somebody, and you know her,

and all of a sudden to see a shell
of your daughter... [sniffling]

There was just, like...
Her eyes were glazed over.

There was no expressions on her face.

She talked...

but I almost felt like
she didn't love us, or something, anymore.

[moody pop music playing]

[Melanie] It was literal months
trying to make it seem like we're okay,

trying to post old videos,
and then people are commenting, like,

"Hey, that's from December."

♪ Why'd you have to go
And leave me all alone? ♪

[Melanie] And me just trying my hardest

when I meet up with people
to do dance videos, and collaborate,

and they ask about her,

and I just say, "Oh, you know, she...
she just couldn't make it today."

Or, "She's sick."

Many of you have noticed

that Miranda and I
have not been in videos together lately.

I've been getting a lot of messages
asking where she's at, what's going on.

I'm here to let you know
that Miranda has chosen

to take a little break
from the Wilking Sisters brand.

I will still be here making videos.

My goal is to always
put a smile on your face.

♪ I'm sorry to bother you, hon ♪

Sometimes you just need a little change.

People knew that something was wrong.

It was awful. I'm not a liar.

I never thought in a million years
she would actually be gone.

I... loved what we had.

And so I felt so betrayed.

I felt like half my heart was just black.

Like... Like she... [sniffling]

Like she was half of me that was gone.

♪ Why'd you have to go? ♪

There was always something in the works
of like, "What else can we do?"

And I just feel like
we exhausted every option.

I remember it was...
it was actually Miranda's birthday.

James posted for her birthday,
and I remember commenting, saying,

"Happy birthday."

"I hope you get
all the love you deserve today."

I can't text you. I can't call you.

So I'm just commenting on,
you know, a post.

And within a minute,
the comment was deleted,

I was blocked, my parents were blocked.

♪ Why'd you have to go? ♪

This is now the second birthday
that we haven't heard anything from her.

We can't even get a message across to her.

And I just remember my parents,

they were like,
"I think we need to say something."

[song ends]

[Melanie] We are live.

{an8}We have not wanted to spread the drama,

{an8}we've not wanted to talk about this
because we don't know...

{an8}If she's gonna get punished
because of what we're doing,

which when we read up
on cults and stuff, is the case.

The person gets punished
for what other people do, so it's like...

We don't know what to do anymore.

I love this girl right here.

She has been our rock,
and she is our pride and joy,

but we have two daughters,
we don't just have one.

And we will not stop fighting
for our other one too.

- No.
- No way.

They messed with the wrong family.
We're not going away. [chuckles]

[mysterious music playing]

[Kylie] When the Wilkings went live,

we obviously were all aware
'cause we saw it on social media.

Miranda wouldn't tell us anything,
but you can tell by the energy, it's like,

people have thoughts about this,
but, like, they're not saying anything.

How it was brought up was,
"Miranda's family is making a fuss

because they still want to control her."

I know from being here with her, like,

she'll cry sometimes
because of how much she misses her family.

And when she sees
they're in town on social media,

she would even say to me,
"Sometimes, like, I do want to see them,

but Robert was not saying
it's a good idea."

Miranda was upset.
She was sad. She did miss them.

She does love them,
but she's being brainwashed.

{an8}[Robert] So in this time
of trial and troubles,

{an8}I had to write out my warfare prayer.

[mysterious music continues]

Anyone that touches the anointed
will suffer harm.

If you're Black, then you
gotta use the Black card, race card.

- [laughter and booing]
- [woman] r*cist!

People use the race card
every chance they get.

- [woman] My gosh.
- [man] All the time.

[Robert] Don't fight dirty, you won't win.

[people] Yes!

[people shouting]

[Robert] We did a sneak attack.

James and Mir's visit to Michigan,

which the enemy never envisioned.

{an8}We are going to the airport, to Michigan,
to meet the Wilkings. So let's go.

Miranda said she wanted to see us.

{an8}[Robert] I told Miranda,
"Go on Instagram live."

{an8}[people laugh]

We go to this hotel,
and as soon as we turned the corner,

Miranda was there with the camera.

We are live.

Um, we're in Detroit, Michigan, um...

This is my husband, James.

This is my mom, Kelly, and my dad, Dean.

Since they wanted to make our lives
public, we're, uh, we're gonna go live.

Do you guys
have anything to say to the livestream?

- I love you, Miranda, and I miss you.
- Yup.

We love you,
and we're excited to see her in person.

Okay. Um, more details to come.

We sat down and...

She said, "Is it okay
if I videotape our conversation?"

And I was like, "No!"

They had asked us to take down
anything off of social media

that had to do with her
because they wanted to start fresh.

- They wanted to have a new start. Yeah.
- We kept saying, "Let's work forward."

And we're like,
"We want nothing more than that."

Then we were like,
"Let's start right now."

And they said,
"Okay, then take it down now."

- And I said no.
- And then I left.

- Right.
- I said I... I'm...

Like, "No, I'm not taking anything down.
I'm not doing this."

"And this conversation is over."

From that time compared to
when we were there in the beginning

was totally different talk,
like a total different atmosphere.

We got called into service to talk about

how everything they're saying is wrong,

and, "This is just a church,"
and, "It's just 7M Management,"

and, "Miranda chose to leave her family."

That was the main thing that he was
highlighting for a four-hour service.

So he started panicking in services.

Like, everything gets more strict.

[Robert] That's why I had you sign NDAs.
So that you won't share this.

[laughing] Praise the Lord!

Amen.

NDAs in service?

Why am I signing an NDA?

You don't have no time to look it over.
Everybody's in church.

So I'm like, "Okay, fine."

Boom. Signed it.
I know, it's silly, right?

I didn't sign it.

That doesn't make sense.
What are you hiding?

[music becomes ominous]

{an8}[Kelly] All of a sudden,
there were social media platforms created

{an8}that were exposing things,
and we're finding documents,

{an8}court documents.

{an8}Everybody is coming forward with
lots of information about this leader.

{an8}And then we heard about things with, like,

private meetings with the pastor.

Of course, as parents, we're gonna wonder...

"Has Miranda had private meetings?"

[Kylie] All the dancers were separated

from the people
that have been there for 30 years.

So that was the first time
that we were hearing,

like, how people
were actually treated in Shekinah.

And that, for me, was,
like, a big turning point,

because I realized
I could be in an unsafe environment.

And then that's when me, and Konkrete,
and Kylie started talking.

Once one person sparked the conversation
with something that had happened to them,

the next person would just jump right in.

Something similar happened to them,
and they never told anyone.

We all came to a realization that
we've all seen some... some weird stuff.

And it was mind-blowing,
like, just the different stories.

"Okay, yeah, you were treated like that.
I can't believe I didn't see that."

Around the time he was telling everybody,
"Post you going out!"

"Post you hanging out with your family!"
"Make everything seem so normal!"

Right? And he wasn't saying that before.

And we all came to a realization, like...

This is a cult.

[mysterious music playing]

It's like, "Okay, so now what?"

So, mm, yeah.

{an8}- [Robert] I'm not afraid!
- [people] Not afraid.

{an8}- [Robert] Everybody!
- [people] Everybody!

- [Robert] I'm not afraid.
- [people] I'm not afraid.

"Come on, Miranda." Right?

[Robert] Not afraid! Not scared!

We're gonna clear our name.
We're gonna silence every voice.

And then we're going to be famous too.

Everybody's gonna know about 7M.

[person] Whoo!

[Robert] And they're all gonna know
how we overcame all that attack.

[clapping and cheering]

God never lost a fight.

- [clapping and cheering]
- [music fades]

I've been called a cult before.

[mysterious music playing]

Since day one.

Okay?

This is not a 7M thing.

From day one at Shekinah.

Amen.

{an8}[Melanie] A friend messaged me a link
to the Wilking video.

{an8}And I watched it.

And I was very confused.

Because I didn't

know they were talking
about Robert until the end,

and even then I didn't believe it,
and I had to, like, dig.

I started looking
in all the Instagram accounts.

{an8}I was terrified, 'cause that was me
for ten years in Shekinah.

{an8}Everything was lining up, and I was like...

no f*cking way.

- He's still around.
- [music fades]

["Low Life" by Frederic Duquesne, Julien
Grunberg & Paul-Marie Barbier playing]

["Low Life" ends]