u/cultalarm

Shincheonji doctrine differs dramatically from traditional Christian theology. Its teachings have been condemned as heretical by major Christian organizations throughout South Korea. Despite that, Shincheonji recruiters often present the group as if it were simply another ordinary, non-denominational Christian church. It isn't.

Shincheonji teaches that its founder, Lee Man-Hee, received special revelation from God and therefore possesses the correct understanding of the Bible, especially the Book of Revelation. His interpretation is not presented merely as one possible interpretation. In fact, Shincheonji teaches that not only is his interpretation correct, but that any other interpretation or understanding of Scripture is blasphemously adding to or subtracting from God's Word.

Actually, they take it one step further. If Lee Man-Hee's testimony and interpretation are correct, then he is not just a normal preacher, but he is a "promised pastor," and is the "one that overcomes," which is referenced in Revelation 21:7. According to their doctrine and Lee Man-Hee's teachings, because of his importance in restoring truth to the world, no other person can reach salvation unless they first come through Lee Man-Hee. Whatever terminology Shincheonji prefers to use, that places Lee Man-Hee in a functionally messianic role.

Not only that, but in order to properly follow Lee Man-Hee's teachings, your personal interpretation of the Bible must match his, exactly. Members of Shincheonji are required to repeatedly take tests to demonstrate that their beliefs completely line up with Lee Man-Hee's commentary.

This probably goes without saying, but they believe that churches outside Shincheonji are part of "Babylon," meaning religious institutions that have been corrupted by false teaching because they do not possess Shincheonji's supposed revealed truth through Lee Man-Hee.

Before going on, I want to mention that there are other fringe Christian sects that hold identical or similar beliefs; For instance, Jehovah's Witnesses believe that there is no way to correctly understand the Bible without the guidance and interpretation of their organization, and they believe that their leaders continually receive "new light," allowing them to update or clarify doctrinal teachings. Additionally, Iglesia Ni Cristo teaches that its founder received unique revelation that allowed him to become a singular source of truth.

That claim gives these organizations enormous power over their members. If your salvation, understanding of God, or ability to recognize truth depends upon one organization, then leaving that group, or even disagreeing with it, suddenly becomes terrifying.

Nevertheless, this brings up an important question:

How do we know whether we should believe any of these leaders' testimonies? Why should anyone trust Lee Man-Hee?

Every group making extraordinary claims about its leader eventually needs to explain why that leader deserves such extraordinary authority.

With Shincheonji, I have personally been told that the answer comes through attending their Bible course, which can take roughly six to ten months. These classes become increasingly demanding of your time the longer you remain in them. Nevertheless, students are told to remain patient and continue studying because, eventually, the justification for trusting Lee Man-Hee will come.

The length of the course matters because Shincheonji is not simply presenting one argument and asking you to evaluate it. The course gradually dismantles your prior understanding of the Bible and replaces it with Shincheonji's own distorted interpretations, which are necessary before its teaching about a "promised pastor" can even begin to make sense. Rest assured, however, that the Bible explicitly teaches that "salvation is found in no one else" besides Jesus, according to Acts 4:12.

But, I'm here to save you a lot of time. Before you join their classes, I would like to try to save you a lot of time by answering the question previously asked: Why should anyone trust Lee Man-Hee?

I think many people are earnestly curious about finding God and genuinely want to seek Him. I think there are even many Shincheonji members who want to live a life in which they have a relationship with God and are able to connect with Him. For people who are honestly seeking God, perhaps the question is not phrased correctly, because they are not specifically seeking truth about Lee Man-Hee. These earnest people are seeking a connection with God and the truth that Shincheonji promises to people who are being strung along through its classes.

Before even asking the question of, "Why should anyone trust Lee Man-Hee?" I think that the question we should ask is, "Why do I need Lee Man-Hee at all?" Do we even need someone else's interpretation of the Bible for salvation? Do Christians need another person's testimony in order to be saved?

While this question is worded just slightly differently, it's much more important and needs to be answered before even entertaining the idea that Lee Man-Hee is an important figure or telling the truth.

Are churches missing out? Is there some special commentary they lack beyond the Bible? Are they really misleading their church members? Should churches rely on an external document, teaching, or teacher in order to properly prepare the body of Christ? If someone reads just the Bible, would they have everything they need? Would they be complete? Or would they need someone else's testimony?

Luckily, the Bible, itself, give a straightforward answer to this question. 2 Timothy 3:16–17 states:

"All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work."

According to these verses, the Scripture is used for teaching, correction, and training in righteousness. In fact, the Scripture is so "profitable" (in terms of usefulness) that Scripture completes a person of God and enables them to be equipped for good deeds. Scripture could not do that if someone else's testimony was necessary.

Christian theology commonly describes this concept as the Sufficiency of Scripture. This doesn't refer to that the Bible is the only source of all information in the world (other books do exist) and it doesn't mean that the Bible is exhaustive in covering every possible topic. (Obviously, the Bible won't teach you how to drive a car or program a computer.) What this is referring to is the idea that if someone wanted to know and understand God, cultivate a stronger relationship with Him, learn how to live a God-honoring life, and to be prepared for their future, no additional source is necessary. Other than Scripture, there is no other testimony that we are required to accept. We do not need to receive a certain score on a written examination in order to reach salvation. We do not have to complete a special Bible training course in order to truly understand God.

The Bible, itself, assures us that reading and understanding it will equip you enough to be complete. Yes, even Revelation. It's a difficult part of the Bible to understand, but, yes, 2 Timothy 3:16 says, "ALL Scripture," which includes that, too.

2 Peter 1:2-3 states:

"His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness."

This verse reinforces the idea that God has given us "everything we need." Do I need to sit through an 8-month class, first? No, God has already provided. This verse is especially important because it not only says we are sufficiently equipped, but it also states what it is that we are sufficiently equipped with: "knowledge"! This verse is saying that I already have the knowledge and tools necessary to seek and glorify God.

I do not need to sit through a class in order to receive special or secret knowledge. I do not need to listen to Lee Man-Hee's testimony in order to obtain some missing truth that God supposedly failed to provide elsewhere. God has already graciously provided what we need.

Please, please don't let these kinds of groups use scare tactics on you to deceive you into requiring additional testimony or teachings from an outside source or from their leader.

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Hello, I am seeking the lyrics (Korean or English are fine) of the songs in SCJ about Lee Man-Hee. I am curious as to their content since they are official church-approved messages about LMH that are extra-Biblical.

I'm so tired of seeing people say that South Korea is violating human rights and trying to stop religious freedom by locking up Lee Man-Hee. I've seen current members argue that Lee Man-Hee is being persecuted.

However, the truth is that Lee Man-Hee, himself, was responsible for taking away the human rights of his own members. Yes, when Lee Man-Hee and Shinchoenji leadership forced Shincheonji members in Korea to vote for a specific party, he was denying those members the freedom that every democracy is supposed to uphold. Democracy cannot exist when people are forced to vote a specific way by some outside force.

The government is supposed to protect its citizens and their human rights, including their right to vote. That right is just as important as the right to religious freedom. I think any member who talks about religious freedoms when it comes to Lee Man-Hee's arrest but fails to talk about voting rights is being completely disingenuous.

If you're a current member, what are your thoughts?

Would love to hear if anyone happened to be living in Japan and was recruited into any cults. Living in Korea as a foreigner, I see it happen here all the time. Korea is known for its vicious cults, and I know Japan is often cited as having many cults, as well, so I'm curious to hear any stories.

If you were in a cult and consixered yourself to be PIMO (physically in, mentally out), was there anything that pulled you back in to be PIMI? As in, was there a time when you were done with the belief system but then you were re-indoctrinated? If so, what caused it? Was it guilt? Giving in to family demands to continue attending services? Did they present some evidence that fully satisfied your doubts?

Thank you!

What's something that you witnessed in-person that was very eerie, creepy, or chilling that isn't related to anything paranormal, religious, etc? I'm asking about something that came about from ordinary, real, and easily explainable circumstances, yet still gave you goosebumps when you witnessed it?

Hello, I'm a American professor living in South Korea. If you know anything about South Korea, you'll know that the cults here are vicious... They constantly harass my students on campus and trick them into exchanging contact information, joining their events, and eventually funnel the students into the cult.

I'm putting together a large project to help inform students on my campus that I plan on using as a pilot program... With success, I'm hoping to expand it to other campuses in my city.

My goal with this project educate students about the specific Korean cults that target them, but in order to do that, I think that it's important to first give them a general understanding of cults, then build off of there. I know that there's not a lot of explicit overlap with Korean cults that people in this sub would know.

I'm hoping to get in contact with an ex-INC or two who might be willing to do a short interview about INC beliefs and their personal interpretation of what a cult is, and if they are comfortable enough, then maybe we can do a second, extended interview that could include any amount of their story that they think would help to bring awareness about the dangers of Iglesia Ni Cristo/cult groups.

My private messages are open to anyone who would like to lend their voice, but if you know anyone who you think might like to lend their voice, please do let me know in the comments.

Thank you so much!

Hello, I'm a American professor living in South Korea. If you know anything about South Korea, you'll know that the cults here are vicious... They constantly harass my students on campus and trick them into exchanging contact information, joining their events, and eventually funnel the students into the cult.

I'm putting together a large project to help inform students on my campus that I plan on using as a pilot program... With success, I'm hoping to expand it to other campuses in my city.

My goal with this project educate students about the specific Korean cults that target them, but in order to do that, I think that it's important to first give them a general understanding of cults, then build off of there. I know that there's not a lot of explicit overlap with Korean cults that people in this sub would know. (Even though I've seen many JW with street carts in Korea!)

I'm hoping to get in contact with an ex-JW or two who might be willing to do a short interview about JW beliefs and their personal interpretation of what a cult is, and if they are comfortable enough, then maybe we can do a second, extended interview that could include any amount of their story that they think would help to bring awareness about the dangers of the Watch Tower/cult groups.

My private messages are open to anyone who would like to lend their voice, but if you know anyone who you think might like to lend their voice, please do let me know in the comments.

Thank you so much!

Hello, I'm a American professor living in South Korea. If you know anything about South Korea, you'll know that the cults here are vicious... They constantly harass my students on campus and trick them into exchanging contact information, joining their events, and eventually funnel the students into the cult.

I'm putting together a large project to help inform students on my campus that I plan on using as a pilot program... With success, I'm hoping to expand it to other campuses in my city.

My goal with this project educate students about the specific Korean cults that target them, but in order to do that, I think that it's important to first give them a general understanding of cults, then build off of there. I know that there's not a lot of explicit overlap with Korean cults that people in this sub would know. (Even though I've seen several Mormon missionaries over here in Koea!)

I'm hoping to get in contact with an ex-Mormon or two who might be willing to do a short interview about what Mormonism is and their personal interpretation of what a cult is, and if they are comfortable enough, then maybe we can do a second, extended interview that could include any amount of their story that they think would help to bring awareness about the dangers of Mormonism/cult groups.

My private messages are open to anyone who would like to lend their voice, but if you know anyone who you think might like to lend their voice, please do let me know in the comments.

Thank you so much!

Hello, I'm a American professor living in South Korea. If you know anything about South Korea, you'll know that the cults here are vicious... They constantly harass my students on campus and trick them into exchanging contact information, joining their events, and eventually funnel the students into the cult.

I'm putting together a large project to help inform students on my campus that I plan on using as a pilot program... With success, I'm hoping to expand it to other campuses in my city.

My hope is to educate students about the specific Korean cults that target them, but my intention is to create a baseline understanding of what cults are and how their structure and beliefs can vary.

I'm hoping to get in contact with an ex-Scientologist or two who might be willing to do a short interview about what Scientology is and what a cult is, and if they are comfortable enough, then even an extended interview that could include any amount of their story that they think would help to bring awareness about the dangers of Scientology.

My private messages are open to anyone who would like to lend their voice, but if you know anyone who you think might like to lend their voice, please do let me know in the comments.

Thank you so much!

I live in Korea and the SCJ members here are notorious for trying to recruit people under false pretenses. Members walk around university campuses or downtown, randomly trying to grab the attention of people by asking them to do a survey about AI, talking about joining an art club, asking about students in need of financial aid, etc. Unsuspecting people who engage in these conversations and often get funneled into a Bible study after they've been vetted, etc.

So, my question is... Were any of you recruited this way? What was the excuse that they used to start talking to you?

Hello, I apologize for using what is essentially a blank account. Despite the name and question, I hope that my post will be allowed to remain up by the moderation team.

I am trying to connect with people who have left the Thelema movement. My inbox will be publicly available for anyone to message about their experiences. Specifically, I am curious why people might leave the movement.

As you know, some people may remain religious after leaving organized structures, so this question is not specifically directed at people who are disgruntled towards Thelema and the philosophy behind it, but I don't mind hearing from people who have left.

Whether it's lack of interests, finding a new organization or beliefs, I am curious to hear about people's journey through and out of Thelemic groups/organizations.

More specifically, I am hoping to hear from people who have left OTO (Ordo Templi Orientis), as this is the group that I have most experience with.

Personally, I am not a follower of Thelemic beliefs and my knowledge of it is quite elementary. I am not making this post as any kind of accusation or prejudice, just a call for more information and education. Please feel free to also express your opinions in the comments, as well, but let's remain respectful.

Thank you!