TOP PIC: Illustration “Bait & Switch” by Kevin McGivern from wng.org
article:How a South Korean cult mimics sound doctrine to recruit believers | Elizabeth Russell | wng.org | TOP PIC: Illustration by Kevin McGivern | Post Date: September 12, 2024 Issue Date: October 1, 2024.
Shincheonji – Beware of this highly dangerous pseudo-Christian religious movement by founder Lee Mann-Hee
For a quick-read… The following are direct Quotes …directly from the wng.org article.
“Shincheonji press releases claim more than 100,000 new adherents have graduated each year from its seminary, the Zion Christian Mission Center. Cult watchers view those numbers as highly suspect.
the majority of registered Shincheonji members outside South Korea are in China, Mongolia, South Africa, and the United States. As of December 2023, they totaled about 61,000.
Shincheonji excels at creating a high-control environment that makes it difficult for members to leave.
group scores highly on the BITE Model of Authoritarian Control, a tool developed by psychotherapist and cult expert Steven Hassan and used by most counseling associations.
Shincheonji members are taught that they must constantly recruit new believers in order to maintain their salvation
they’re encouraged to use “wisdom of hiding” to deceive, befriend, and even date new recruits.
they typically pretend to be first-time members when bringing a new recruit to the Bible study, and regularly report to the study leader on their recruit’s questions, goals, and personal details. Sometimes study leaders use these details to deliver a “prophetic word” to the new recruit.
Once he became a full member, Smith quickly began recruiting for Shincheonji, spending much of his spare time on Zoom studies or reaching out to Christians on social media.
He posted Bible verses and nature pictures on an Instagram account and encouraged followers to send in prayer requests and share their spiritual goals.
Shincheonji is far more dangerous than better-known groups like the Jehovah’s Witnesses because of its high-control, deceptive tactics—and its focus on recruiting Christians.
masquerading as a nondenominational church with orthodox Christian beliefs.
They started saying that Christian denominations were full of “mixed teaching” and had lost the truth.
They reinterpret the parables and Revelation,
teaching that Lee was bringing about Jesus’ kingdom on earth.
SHINCHEONJI teachings share similarities with other Eastern cults started around the same time, like the Unification Church (whose members are known as “Moonies”), Providence/Jesus Morning Star, and World Mission Society Church of God.
Most also claim their leader is the second coming of Jesus.
These groups dole out their core teachings slowly, mixing them with uncontroversial Biblical principles.
Shincheonji denies both the Trinity and Christ’s deity.
It took him another year to sift through his beliefs, especially about the deity of Christ
The group teaches that just as Jesus fulfilled and explained Old Testament prophecies during His time on earth, Lee Man-hee is the New John, indwelt by the spirit of Jesus, who bears witness to the fulfillment of Jesus’ prophecies about the end times from Matthew and Revelation.
lean heavily on Revelation and teach that their leaders are bringing about God’s plan for the end times.
Shincheonji believes that the new heaven and earth described in Revelation refer to a new kingdom of God established on earth that replaces the old, corrupt one that includes both Christians and unbelievers.
Shincheonji is organized into 12 tribes, named after the 12 apostles, headquartered in South Korea and divided by geographical areas around the world.
Only official members, who join after a six- to nine-month initial “Bible study,” are considered saved.
They slowly convinced her the group was the only way to salvation.
Sometimes they twisted parables—for example, saying that the parable of the wheat and tares referred to the true Church and that the tares thrown into the fire were Christians from other churches.
Shincheonji operates through an extraordinarily high number of front groups, most of which hide their affiliation and present themselves as nondenominational Christian organizations. These include Parachristo, a registered charity in the U.K., Rakau o te Ora and Pathways in New Zealand, the Zion Christian Mission Center, Zion Christian Seminary, International Coalition of Christian Pastors, International Youth Fellowship, Mannam Volunteer Association, and Word and Life Theology School.
Several of these groups offer free theological degrees as well as Bible studies, making them especially appealing to pastors in low-resource countries.
Shincheonji front groups often hold huge Christian-sounding events to deceive and draw in members. In March 2023, the California Zion Church, a Los Angeles branch of Shincheonji, rented out an Orange County high school for a worship night. Under the name “One Heart Worship,” the group offered free entry to attendees, collecting their contact information for future recruitment efforts.
Other times, they manipulated study members with frightening videos, like footage of the 2014 Sewol ferry disaster, during which 304 people drowned. “They actually showed the live footage of the kids drowning and hearing screams and stuff and [they were] saying, ‘This is what’s going to happen to you if you don’t follow the right path,’”
He’d been convinced that only Lee Man-hee had the true interpretation of God’s Word.
the “figurative scales” fell from his eyes and he finally put into words what he’d been feeling: “There’s more to life than just this group.”
Smith now… also pushes for deeper theology classes at his church. He says Christians need to fill the void, the hunger for more in-depth teaching, that Shincheonji claims to address.
knowledge alone won’t keep Christians out of cults. Smith stressed the need for Christians to ask questions out of humility. “When I was recruiting in [Shincheonji], the people who would always say, ‘Oh, this won’t happen to me. I know the Bible too well, the Holy Spirit will guide me,’ I found were the easiest to manipulate.”
1984: Lee founds Shincheonji Church of Jesus with several former leaders of Baek’s group and opens the first Shincheonji temple in Anyang, Gyeonggi province, South Korea.
1990-1993: Shincheoniji establishes the Zion Christian Mission Center in Seoul and begins missionary activity abroad.
2022: South Korea’s Supreme Court acquits Lee of obstruction charges but upholds a lower court’s decision to convict him of embezzling $4.7 million in Shincheonji funds.”
Direct Quotes …directly from: Bait and switch
How a South Korean cult mimics sound doctrine to recruit believers | Elizabeth Russell | wng.org | TOP PIC: Illustration by Kevin McGivern | Post Date: September 12, 2024 Issue Date: October 1, 2024.
FOR MORE:
Founded in 1984, Shincheoniji is a false teaching movement from South Korea that is all over the world now. Like the NAR, Shincheoniji misleads with many false doctrines, promoting a false salvation. Beware of this dangerous cult.
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Similarities to NAR false doctrines
Commentary by OMGjesus Editor:
(Includes Quotes from Bait and switch)
As with Shincheoniji – the NAR also:
* is a difficult cult to leave, like with NAR churches
* a high-control environment that makes it difficult for members to leave.
* masquerading as a nondenominational church with orthodox Christian beliefs
* reinterpret the parables and Revelation
* teaching that [NAR] was bringing about Jesus’ kingdom on earth.
* teach that their leaders are bringing about God’s plan for the end times
* believes that the new heaven and earth described in Revelation refer to a new kingdom of God established on earth that replaces the old, corrupt one that includes both Christians and unbelievers
* denies Christ’s deity
* dole out their core teachings slowly, mixing them with uncontroversial Biblical principles [deceiving]
* often hold huge Christian-sounding events to deceive and draw in members
* only [NAR leaders] have the true interpretation of God’s Word
_____See:_____
“Her prophets are reckless and treacherous men; Her priests have profaned the sanctuary; They have done violence to the law [by pretending their word is God’s word]. – Zephaniah 3: verse 4
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About False Teaching (a series)
– OMGj Search: false teachers
– Getting Into The Miraculous
– 2 Timothy 4:3
– Getting down to God’s meaning
– By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error
– The NAR – “A New ‘Reformation’ That Many Don’t Realize They’ve Joined
– Pretending their word is God’s word
– They in fact have seen nothing
– NAR-types are changing God’s Way, denying the Old Testament
– Why might many Charismatics not be saved
– Got a Cracked Heart?
– Needing something more than Jesus
– Following the Jesus who was not God
– The Old Testament is still Truth for today
– Calling out false teaching
– Think about it. Have you strayed from the truth?
– Arguing with God
– Jesus, the second man, is the Lord from Heaven
Counterfeit spirit of God
– Post New Apostolic Reformation Reflections |
– Examples of false doctrines
– “You are not of God”, Jesus said
– Can you really see what is going on in the world?
– First Apostasy, then Antichrist, then the Rapture
– Divine Mysteries Revealed by the Godman Jesus
– Two NAR Organizations to Watch | by Holly Pivec
– Our response to “Apostle” Randy Clark’s interview with Remnant Radio | by Holly Pivec
– False Prophets | Study by Diane Dew
– 7 signs you are in a counterfeit church | By Joseph Mattera, Op-ed Contributor | Voices | – Wandering Stars. The Paganism of Bethel, Hillsong, and the NAR pt 1 | by Jeremy Sanders | a four part series.
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