Introduction
Few passages reveal the interpretive divide between Shincheonji and historic Christianity as clearly as the fifth trumpet in Revelation 9. In this chapter, John describes locust-like beings emerging from the Abyss, unleashed to torment those who do not have the seal of God. Rather than reading this scene as a supernatural judgment flowing from heaven, Shincheonji reinterprets nearly every element of the passage in organizational and doctrinal terms. The locusts become false pastors, the Abyss becomes a headquarters of corrupt teaching, the scorpion’s sting becomes poisonous doctrine, and the torment becomes spiritual confusion rather than affliction. This approach allows Revelation 9 to be absorbed into Shincheonji’s broader Betrayal–Destruction–Salvation narrative, but only by redefining key biblical categories in ways foreign to the text itself.
This article revisits Revelation 9 with a singular focus: whether Shincheonji’s interpretation can actually survive the internal logic, grammar, and theology of the passage. Central to their framework is a redefinition of the “Seal of God,” shifting it from the New Testament teaching of the Holy Spirit given to all believers into visible allegiance to a modern organization. From there, the locust judgment is reframed as targeted false teaching that somehow afflicts only the unsealed while leaving the sealed untouched. Yet Revelation 9 does not describe persuasion, deception, or doctrinal influence. It describes commanded restraint, supernatural torment, and divine judgment executed with perfect precision. The locusts are not teachers, the victims are not former believers, and the judgment is not corrective.
What follows is not a dismissal by assertion, but a careful examination of the text itself. By comparing Shincheonji’s claims with the plain reading of Revelation and the consistent teaching of the New Testament, this study will show that the locusts cannot be reduced to human pastors, the Abyss cannot be reimagined as an organizational hub, and the seal cannot be redefined without collapsing core Christian theology. Revelation 9 presupposes a fixed distinction between God’s people and God’s enemies, and it portrays judgment that only God can administer. Any interpretation that removes the supernatural from this passage does not clarify Revelation. It empties it of its meaning.
Be aware that groups like Shincheonji often respond to criticism by subtly adjusting their doctrine—a common tactic involving denial, adaptation, and manipulation; is a common tactic among high-control organizations. They may gather information on critics and “flip the script,” portraying exposure as persecution or misinformation. It’s essential to carefully observe doctrinal shifts rather than accepting new explanations at face value. Stay vigilant against gaslighting through evolving teachings designed to counter today’s realities and criticisms. (Read More)
Revisiting the Locusts
Shincheonji’s Interpretation of the Locusts (Revelation 9)
The issues with the Locusts – Shincheonji believes that the locusts are false pastors.
The Physical Fulfillment of Revelation – page 193
The abyss and Hades refer to hell, Satan’s dwelling (Rv 20:2-3, Lk 8:30-31). They also refer to people in whom Satan dwells. Therefore, the abyss in Rv 9 refers to the headquarters of the destroyers responsible for destroying the tabernacle of betrayal.
The Physical Fulfillment of Revelation – page 195
These destroyers are called Nicolaitans in Rv 2 and the red dragon and his beast with seven heads and ten horns in Rv 12, Rv 13, and Rv 17. The locusts spill out onto the earth from inside the smoke of the abyss. This means the destroyers move from their headquarters, enter the tabernacle of the seven golden lampstands, and fill it with their false doctrines. What is the scorpion-like power given to the locusts? A scorpion’s power is in its poisonous tail. The power given to the locusts represents the ecclesiastical authority and false teachings they use to kill people’s spirits.
Shincheonji interprets the fifth trumpet in Revelation 9 symbolically, arguing that the locusts represent false pastors (destroyers) rather than literal or supernatural beings. According to SCJ, the Abyss and Hades signify both the spiritual realm where Satan operates and the people in whom Satan dwells. Thus, the Abyss in Revelation 9 is understood as the headquarters of the destroyers, a centralized source of false doctrine that emerged to corrupt the Tabernacle Temple during the period of betrayal.
The locusts “coming out of the smoke of the Abyss” signifies false pastors entering the Tabernacle Temple and spreading deceptive teachings. Their scorpion-like tails represent poisonous doctrine. Just as a scorpion injects venom that paralyzes or kills, false teaching injects spiritual poison that kills a person’s spirit. SCJ specifically identifies this poison with false doctrines such as Calvinism, which they claim corrupts the understanding of salvation and God’s work.
The command in Revelation 9:4 that the locusts may only harm those without the seal of God is interpreted through a redefinition of the seal. Rather than an invisible, universal seal of the Holy Spirit, SCJ understands the seal as visible allegiance to the revealed New Covenant truth, which at the time of fulfillment is found only in Shincheonji. Those who have accepted and internalized the revealed word are “sealed” in their foreheads and therefore immune to false doctrine.
SCJ argues that no omniscience is required for this judgment. The locusts do not need to identify the sealed themselves. Instead, God supernaturally restrains the demonic power working through the false pastors so that their false teachings cannot harm those already sealed with truth. The command “they were told not to harm” reflects God’s sovereign limitation on the scope of deception, not a requirement for human discernment. The sealed are protected by spiritual immunity, while the unsealed are naturally susceptible.
The restriction against harming grass, trees, or vegetation is also symbolic. Grass and trees represent believers from a prior covenant era, the former heaven and earth, who are no longer the focus of judgment during the fulfillment period. The fifth trumpet is therefore narrowly targeted toward people living in the final generation, those who must choose between revealed truth and false doctrine.
Finally, the Angel of the Abyss, Abaddon or Apollyon, is understood as the leader of the destroyers. This figure is not necessarily a literal demonic being, but the ruling authority behind the false pastors, expressed through human leadership structures. In this way, the fifth trumpet is fulfilled through historical, organizational events rather than supernatural torment, preserving SCJ’s internal narrative of betrayal, destruction, and salvation.
Why the SCJ Interpretation Fails
Redefining the Seal of God breaks New Testament theology
SCJ’s entire framework depends on redefining the “Seal of God” from the Holy Spirit given to all believers into visible allegiance to a single modern organization that claims exclusive possession of revealed truth. This is not a secondary interpretive disagreement. It overturns core New Testament teaching on salvation, assurance, and divine ownership.
Throughout the New Testament, sealing is consistently presented as God’s unilateral act, not a status achieved through doctrinal advancement, organizational loyalty, or recognition of a particular leader.
Paul states this unambiguously in Ephesians 1:13:
“In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit.”
The sequence is decisive. Hearing the gospel, believing in Christ, and being sealed all occur together. The seal is not postponed until later revelation, nor is it contingent on joining a specific group. It is granted at conversion.
Paul reinforces this in 2 Corinthians 1:21–22:
“And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.”
Here, the seal functions as a divine guarantee, not as a marker of intellectual attainment or institutional alignment. The Spirit is given by God as assurance of belonging to Him, not as a reward for discovering hidden fulfillment.
Ephesians 4:30 further clarifies the permanence and purpose of the seal:
“Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.”
The seal is oriented toward future salvation and final redemption, not toward temporary participation in a particular end-time organization. If the seal could be lost, transferred, or redefined based on organizational allegiance, Paul’s assurance collapses.
Romans 8:9 also establishes that possession of the Spirit defines belonging to Christ:
“Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.”
The command in Revelation 9:4 requires active restraint, not passive immunity
Revelation 9:4 does not describe a passive outcome. It describes an explicit command: “They were told not to harm.” The restraint is placed on the locusts, not on the victims.
If false doctrine naturally harms only the unsealed, the command is redundant. God would not need to instruct locusts not to do something they are already incapable of doing. The grammar and structure of the passage indicate that the locusts are active agents capable of harming anyone, but are supernaturally restrained from harming the sealed.
This immediately disqualifies the locusts from being human pastors or doctrines. Human teaching spreads indiscriminately. It does not stop mid-sentence because someone is sealed. The text requires moment-by-moment, global precision in restraint. That level of discrimination belongs only to supernatural judgment, not human communication.
The locusts do not deceive, persuade, or teach
False pastors deceive through persuasion. Revelation’s locusts do not persuade anyone of anything. They torment. Their power is not cognitive but afflictive. People suffer regardless of belief, comprehension, or doctrinal alignment.
This is decisive. Deception operates through acceptance. Torment operates through imposition. Revelation 9 describes the latter, not the former. People seek death and cannot escape. That is not the result of listening to false doctrine. That is divine terror.
SCJ collapses deception and judgment into the same category. Revelation keeps them distinct.
Revelation 9 targets the unsealed, not fallen believers
Revelation 9 is explicit and unambiguous about the identity of those who suffer under the locust judgment. Revelation 9:4 states:
“They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any green plant or any tree, but only those people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads.”
The distinction is not incidental. It is the controlling feature of the judgment. The locusts are not allowed to harm God’s sealed people under any circumstances. The text does not describe sealed people being harmed and then later losing their seal. It does not describe partial harm or conditional exposure. The restriction is absolute.
Throughout the book of Revelation, the sealed are consistently identified as those who belong to God. In Revelation 7:3, the seal is explicitly placed on “the servants of our God.” This language echoes Old Testament covenant terminology and establishes the sealed as God’s faithful people, set apart before judgment begins. Revelation never redefines this group later as apostates or former believers.
By contrast, Revelation repeatedly describes the recipients of judgment as “those who dwell on the earth,” a technical phrase used throughout the book to describe humanity in rebellion against God. For example, Revelation 6:10 records the martyrs crying out:
“How long, O Sovereign Lord… until you judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”
This same group appears in Revelation 8–9 as the recipients of trumpet judgments. Revelation 9:20–21 describes them further:
“The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands… nor did they repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.”
This moral profile does not describe former covenant members who fell away from truth. It describes hardened, unrepentant idolaters. Revelation uses consistent language to mark them as outsiders, not failed insiders.
This creates a fatal problem for Shincheonji’s betrayal narrative.
SCJ requires the victims of the locust judgment to be people who were once chosen, once sealed, and later lost that status through betrayal. Revelation does not allow for this category. The locust judgment does not fall on those who had the seal and lost it. It falls only on those who never had it.
Revelation 13:8 reinforces this distinction with devastating clarity:
“All who dwell on the earth will worship the beast, everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain.”
Here, the unredeemed are defined not by a loss of status but by the absence of prior inclusion. Their names were not written. They did not fall out of the book. They were never in it.
Likewise, Revelation 17:8 describes the same group:
“The dwellers on earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world will marvel to see the beast.”
Again, exclusion precedes action. Judgment presupposes separation from God, not expulsion from covenant membership.
The New Testament consistently rejects the idea that God subjects His own sealed people to demonic torment as punishment. Romans 8:1 declares:
“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
Romans 8:38–39 further affirms that nothing can separate believers from God’s love. To suggest that sealed believers can later become victims of demonic judgment contradicts the assurance repeatedly given to those who belong to Christ.
Even when God disciplines His people, Scripture is careful to distinguish discipline from judgment. Hebrews 12:6 states:
“The Lord disciplines the one he loves.”
Discipline is corrective and paternal. Revelation 9 is punitive and judicial. Demonic torment that drives people to seek death is not discipline. It is judgment against enemies.
This is why Revelation 9 cannot be reframed as internal church correction. The passage presupposes a fixed distinction between God’s people and God’s enemies. The sealed are protected. The unsealed are judged. There is no mechanism in the text for sealed believers becoming unsealed mid-judgment.
The distinction alone collapses the Shincheonji model. SCJ’s betrayal narrative depends on a loss of covenant status. Revelation’s locust judgment depends on prior exclusion. One describes apostasy within God’s people. The other describes judgment upon those who were never God’s people to begin with.
The text leaves no room for overlap.
The Locusts are False Pastors with False Teachings?
Shincheonji believes that the locusts are false pastors, whose tails (false teachers) are full of poison (false teachings).
The Requirement of Omniscience for the “Locusts”
The core problem lies in the directive: “only those people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads.”
The Doctrinal Issue: For a human pastor or organization (even one inspired by a spirit) to fulfill this command, they must have the supernatural ability to distinguish between two groups of people globally:
- Those with the invisible, spiritual, Divine mark (the “seal of God”).
- Those without it.
No human being, church president, or organization possesses the omniscience or the spiritual X-ray vision required to make this perfect, precise distinction.
If the Locusts are false doctrines (the poison), these doctrines should logically be attempting to infiltrate and destroy everyone, including the sealed believers. If the sealed are immune to the false doctrine, it’s not due to the “false doctrine’s” precision; it’s due to the Holy Spirit’s protective power within the believer. The text attributes the control to the Locusts’ restraint (they “were told not to harm”), not the target’s immunity.
Expected Shincheonji Pushback
The Seal of God as Visible Allegiance (The New Covenant Seal)
The strongest defense for interpreting the locusts as human agents (false pastors/destroyers) rests on redefining the “Seal of God” from an invisible, universal spiritual mark to a visible, verifiable sign of allegiance to the organization possessing the revealed word at the time of fulfillment. The argument posits that the “sealed ones” are SCJ members or those who have received and internalized the full revelation of the New Covenant fulfillment in their minds and hearts (the “forehead”). This spiritual fortification grants them immunity to the “false doctrine” (the poison) inflicted by the “locusts” (the false pastors). Thus, the human destroyers don’t need supernatural omniscience to fulfill the command; the command is simply a statement of observed outcome: the spiritual poison cannot penetrate minds already sealed with truth, and therefore the only people harmed are those who are naturally susceptible due to a lack of true, revealed knowledge.
This interpretation also explains the directive as a supernatural restraint placed upon the demonic spirit (Apollyon) working through the human destroyers. The text stating “they were told not to harm… but only those people who did not have the seal” is seen as a declaration of God’s sovereignty limiting the scope of the demonic attack. While the human agents are actively spreading their harmful teachings (the poison), the restraint ensures that this destructive force is physically unable to spiritually corrupt those whom God has chosen and sealed with revealed truth. The non-harm to the “grass and trees” further supports this by symbolizing the protection of the old church members, which are no longer the focus of this specific, final-era judgment.
No Omniscience required
A Shincheonji member may push back by saying that Revelation 9 does not require the locusts themselves to identify the sealed. They might argue that the text simply states, “They were told not to harm… but only those who do not have the seal of God,” and that this command reflects a supernatural limitation rather than an operational instruction. From this perspective, the locusts do not choose their victims at all. Instead, SCJ teaches that the demonic power behind the locusts is restrained by God so that only the unsealed—those who lack the “knowledge of the fulfilled New Covenant”—are spiritually harmed. In their view, the command is a divine restriction on the spiritual forces working through false pastors, not a requirement that human agents distinguish between sealed and unsealed believers.
A Shincheonji member might continue by suggesting that this model allows the locusts to remain symbolic of human pastors spreading false doctrine. The precision of the attack does not depend on the awareness or discernment of these human agents, but on God’s sovereignty preventing the sealed from being spiritually damaged. They could argue that the sealed possess a kind of spiritual immunity—like a protective barrier—so that even if false doctrine reaches their ears, it cannot corrupt them. The command therefore functions as a divine “force field” that false teachings cannot penetrate. In this explanation, the restraint is supernatural, the locusts remain human, and the sealed are safeguarded without requiring human omniscience or demonic discernment.
The grass and trees
A Shincheonji member may push back by saying that the steelman must also account for the locusts being told not to harm the grass, trees, or any natural vegetation. They would argue that this does not undermine SCJ’s symbolic framework but reinforces it. In SCJ teaching, grass and trees symbolize the members of the previous covenant era—the “first heaven and earth”—who are no longer the focus of judgment during the fulfillment period. Because these earlier believers already completed their era or were judged in prior historical phases, they are not included in the specific woe of the Fifth Trumpet.
A Shincheonji member might elaborate further by claiming that this actually strengthens their interpretation. If the grass and trees represent the prior covenant community, then the fact that the locusts are forbidden to harm them shows that this plague concerns only the people living at the time of fulfillment, those who must choose between the sealed truth and the false doctrine. The “non-harm” clause signals that the judgment is uniquely targeted toward the final generation. In this view, the protection of the “grass and trees” highlights not the literal safety of vegetation but the narrowing of judgment to the specific individuals participating in the last-days testing.
Christian Response
The Seal of God as Visible Allegiance (The New Covenant Seal)
The first and most significant doctrinal issue is the redefinition of the “Seal of God” used to justify the precision of the locusts’ attack. The steelman interprets the seal (Rev 7:3-4) not as the universal, invisible presence of the Holy Spirit—the standard New Testament view (Eph 1:13, 2 Cor 1:22)—but as a verifiable, visible allegiance to a specific, contemporary group (SCJ) possessing the “revealed word.” This interpretation forces the conclusion that only those within that group are truly “sealed” and immune to spiritual harm. This stands in direct conflict with the universal nature of the Church, which holds that the Holy Spirit seals all believers in Christ across every generation and denomination, guaranteeing their salvation and ownership by God. Consequently, the SCJ interpretation effectively excludes the vast historical body of Christian believers from possessing God’s mark, which is a fundamental deviation from established Christian doctrine.
Furthermore, this redefinition is necessary only to account for the impossibility of human precision in the command. By stating the sealed are immune due to their internal possession of truth, the steelman treats the command (“do not harm the sealed”) as a passive statement of observed outcome rather than an active, restraining directive to the locusts. However, the text’s structure implies the locusts, as active agents of torment, must possess the supernatural ability to identify and intentionally bypass the sealed globally. If the immunity were purely passive (the truth naturally blocks the false doctrine), the divine command telling the locusts not to harm them would be redundant. The need to drastically redefine a major biblical term like the “Seal of God” demonstrates the difficulty in forcing a supernatural command onto purely human agents.
Rejecting Omniscience for Execution
Shincheonji tries to avoid the implication of omniscience by claiming that false doctrine naturally harms only the unsealed. Under this view, the command in Revelation 9:4 is simply describing an observable outcome rather than a precise directive that requires identification of individuals. But the text itself contradicts this reading. Revelation uses a direct negative command: “They were told not to harm…” This is a restraining order placed on active agents who could harm all people but are supernaturally prohibited from harming the sealed. If the locusts were merely false teachings that naturally affect only the unsealed, such a command would be pointless. The phrasing implies that the locusts must obey an explicit instruction from their commander, requiring a supernatural ability to distinguish sealed individuals from unsealed ones. The restraint is placed on the attackers, not merely on the victims’ immunity.
Furthermore, if the locusts symbolize human pastors spreading false doctrine, their messages would go out globally and indiscriminately, as all human communication does. For the command to be fulfilled, these human agents would need to halt their influence instantaneously whenever encountering a sealed person and resume only when addressing the unsealed. This would require perfect, continuous discrimination across all people, cultures, and languages—an ability that no human organization, leader, or “promised pastor” possesses. Even the steelman interpretation collapses under the mechanism required by the text. Revelation 9:4 still demands a level of global, moment-by-moment precision that only divine omniscience or supernatural control can accomplish, directly contradicting Shincheonji’s attempt to restrict the fulfillment to human activity within their organization.
Angel of the Abyss
Shincheonji attempts to humanize the Fifth Trumpet by claiming that the “Angel of the Abyss,” named Abaddon or Apollyon, is merely the president of the destroyers in Shincheonji’s framework. This interpretation allegorizes a powerful demonic being into a contemporary organizational leader. However, the biblical context directly contradicts this move. Both Abaddon (Hebrew) and Apollyon (Greek) mean “Destroyer,” a title reserved in Scripture for a supernatural figure associated with judgment. The designation “Angel of the Abyss” links this being to the Abyss, which the New Testament consistently describes as the prison or domain of demons (Luke 8:31; Rev 20:1–3). The Abyss is not a symbol for human corruption or failed leadership; it is a spiritual place of confinement for high-ranking demonic powers. To reinterpret this figure as a human pastor or organizational president is to detach the text from its supernatural framework and impose a meaning foreign to both Revelation and the broader New Testament.
Moreover, to treat the “Angel of the Abyss” as a human leader requires accepting that this person has taken on the name, title, authority, and function of a demonic ruler who resides in a spiritual prison. This is an interpretive leap that neither the symbolism of apocalyptic literature nor the narrative context supports. The steelman may offer a way to fit human actors into the allegory, but doing so undermines core New Testament teachings, including the nature of the Seal of God and the universal scope of the Church. It also forces the explicit language of command and restraint in Revelation 9 to be reinterpreted as mere observation, emptying the passage of its supernatural dynamics. In short, the steelman preserves SCJ’s system only by compromising the biblical context that gives Revelation its meaning.
Conclusion
Shincheonji’s interpretation of the locusts in Revelation 9 fails because it requires redefining nearly every controlling category in the text. The locusts are transformed from supernatural agents of judgment into human pastors, the Abyss becomes an organizational headquarters, torment becomes doctrinal confusion, and the seal of God is stripped of its New Testament meaning and reassigned to visible allegiance to a modern group. None of these moves arise from the text itself. They are imposed in order to preserve SCJ’s Betrayal–Destruction–Salvation framework. Revelation 9, however, does not describe deception, persuasion, or internal correction within God’s people. It describes divinely authorized torment, executed with precise restraint, upon those who are explicitly identified as outside God’s covenant protection.
Most decisively, the command in Revelation 9:4 exposes the impossibility of the SCJ model. The locusts are told not to harm those who have the seal of God. This presupposes active, moment-by-moment restraint exercised by God over the agents of judgment. Human teachers and false doctrines cannot operate this way. Teaching spreads indiscriminately. It does not halt automatically when it encounters someone who is spiritually “sealed.” The text requires supernatural agency capable of global discrimination and obedience to divine command. The grammar, structure, and logic of the passage rule out human pastors as the locusts and rule out false teaching as the torment.
Finally, Revelation 9 collapses SCJ’s betrayal narrative by clearly identifying the victims of judgment. They are not former believers who lost their seal. They are those who never had it. Throughout Revelation, the sealed are God’s servants, protected before judgment begins, while “those who dwell on the earth” are unrepentant idolaters whose names were never written in the Book of Life. The text leaves no room for overlap, reversal, or loss of covenant status mid-judgment. To read Revelation 9 as internal church corruption is to contradict Revelation’s own categories, its theology of the Spirit’s seal, and its assurance that God does not subject His redeemed people to demonic judgment. Revelation 9 does not describe false pastors destroying a church. It describes God judging His enemies. Any interpretation that denies this does not illuminate the passage. It replaces it with another story altogether.