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Korea is a hotbed for cults and heresies. And because Shincheonji is aggressive in its approach to proselytize churchgoers who are weak in faith, this new movement is huge in Korea – one of the biggest and fastest growing cults. I’ve already met many people who are involved in this cult and I’m sure all of you have as well. It breaks my heart that so many people – especially young people (according to statistics most of them are former churchgoers) are now involved and active in this cult.

And one of the reasons so many young people are easily persuaded to join this cult is that the Korean church has done a poor job in protecting their youth. We pastors have done a poor job in training our sheep. We have failed to teach the basics of the Bible and the essentials of our Protestant Christian faith. Young people in our churches attend church for years, but do not know the core doctrines of Christianity. No wonder so many young churchgoers so easily leave the church and many even end up in cults.

I implore leaders of the church – just as Jesus did, just as Paul did, just as Peter did, and just as John did – to warn the church about false teaching and false heresies and to go back to teaching core, biblical doctrine so that the sheep when they are confronted by wolves in sheep’s clothing will

“no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.” Eph. 4:14

We need to go back to the Gospel, go back to the Bible.

Shinchonji teaches that Manhee Lee is the second flesh of Jesus' spirit. Lee, Manhee states Jesus returns to earth as a spirit in a secretive way. In contrast to Lee Manhee’s statement, Jesus says He will return – not in secret – but with power and great glory:

“Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven ... all peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory (Mt. 24:30).


We can easily -- if we know our Bible and our universal Christian creeds, confessions, and catechisms -- discern that Manhee Lee is a heretic.

But what about the hundreds of Shinchonji members affected by covid-19? Are members of Shincheonji being directly punished by God for their belief in a false Messiah? That is not for us to decide or declare, for only God has the inherent righteousness to justly punish the wicked. And we – as wicked sinners ourselves -- should not be quick to point the finger because as I said before, we as the church, have done a poor job in seeking and teaching the truth.
But to help shed light on this questions, let us turn to
Luke 13:2-5
. Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”

Jesus is telling us that we all deserve to suffer and die because we are all sinners. Paul, the greatest missionary of all time, said he is the chief of sinners.
The point Jesus is making is that we are all sinners, we are all guilty and we all need to repent or else we too will die, just like the Galileans and the eighteen who perished when the tower in Siloam fell on them.
We cannot point the finger at Shinchonji members like a judge and rebuke them for their suffering: "Yeah that's what they deserve!" Admittedly, they need to deeply repent for not heeding Jesus’ warnings of coming false Messiahs, but we too the church also need to repent for failing to preach the Gospel, failing to learn the Bible adequately.

We have failed to focus on Christ. If we the church had been faithful to preaching the Gospel every Sunday, if we had been faithful to teaching the Bible with fervency, if we had been faithful to focusing on Christ, would so many of those who once attended church leave and go to Shinchonji? Perhaps not.
So let us not judge them – as if we were God -- but let us first repent and turn to Christ – turn to his Gospel. And, because of how much God has forgiven us, let us reach out and love others – even those belonging to Shinchonji or any other heretical group – and be equipped to persuade them through Scripture to believe the true Gospel – Christ died and rose bodily for our justification. Let us pray they repent of their false teachings and come to saving faith in Jesus, our true, eternal Messiah.