A Refutation Using “Testing Shincheonji’s Claims: Two Lenses, One Story”

Advanced Level Review Test 3 (Lesson 131): Examining the Final Stage of Indoctrination

Introduction: The Graduate Student

Imagine Sarah, who has now spent over a year studying with Shincheonji. She began with simple Bible stories in the Beginning Level, moved through the Intermediate Level’s complex prophetic patterns, and now sits in the Advanced Level—the final stage before graduation. She holds Advanced Level Review Test 3 in her hands, covering Revelation chapters 13-22. The questions seem straightforward, asking about harvests, sealing, and the New Jerusalem. But something has shifted in how she reads her Bible. When she opens Revelation 14 and sees “144,000,” she no longer thinks of symbolic completeness or the people of God throughout history. Instead, she immediately thinks: “That’s Shincheonji. That’s us. We are the fulfillment.”

This is the culmination of what the series “Testing Shincheonji’s Claims: Two Lenses, One Story” has been warning about—the gradual replacement of biblical Christianity with an organization-centered theology. By Advanced Level Test 3, students are no longer learning to interpret Revelation; they are learning to see their organization as the center of God’s prophetic plan. This refutation will examine this test through the lenses that first-century Christians would have used—historical, literary, and theological—while avoiding the modern eschatological debates (premillennialism, amillennialism, postmillennialism) that often distract from the text’s original meaning.

We will analyze how Shincheonji (SCJ) has carefully constructed a system where every symbol in Revelation points to their organization, their leader, and their specific events in South Korea between 1966-1990. More importantly, we’ll examine what first-century Christians actually understood when they read these passages, and how radically different that understanding was from what students are now being taught to believe.

For additional comprehensive examination of Shincheonji’s claims, readers are encouraged to visit the Shincheonji Examination section at closerlookinitiative.com (https://closerlookinitiative.com/shincheonji-examination), which provides detailed analysis of SCJ’s theological framework and historical claims.

Part 1: The Harvest Theology—Questions 51-52

What SCJ Teaches in This Section

In Questions 51-52, students learn that “the harvest” occurs after “betrayal and destruction” events, specifically after Revelation 6’s cosmic signs. The approved answer states: “After the events of betrayal and destruction (After the sun, moon, and stars become dark and fall in Rv 6, after the judgment and end of the world of the former heaven).” Students are taught that the 144,000 are “harvested firstfruits” who appear at “Mt. Zion” during “the time of Revelation’s fulfillment (the time of harvest).” The test explicitly identifies these 144,000 as “The sealed congregation members of the Temple of the Tabernacle of the Testimony (the sealed 12 tribes of Shincheonji).”

This represents the culmination of SCJ’s “Betrayal-Destruction-Salvation” framework, which has been thoroughly analyzed in the article “Betrayal, Destruction, Salvation – A Christian Response.” According to this framework, God’s work always follows a three-stage pattern: first, a chosen group betrays God; second, destroyers come to judge them; third, God raises up a new “overcomer” to create a new kingdom. Students have been taught throughout their lessons that this pattern repeats throughout Scripture and reaches its final fulfillment in Shincheonji’s establishment.

What First-Century Christians Actually Understood

When first-century Christians read about “harvest” in Matthew 13 and Revelation 14, they understood it within a completely different framework. The harvest imagery came from the Old Testament prophets, particularly Joel 3:13, where God’s judgment on the nations is described as a harvest: “Swing the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come, trample the grapes, for the winepress is full and the vats overflow—so great is their wickedness!”

In Jesus’ parable in Matthew 13:24-30, the harvest represents the final judgment at the end of the age—not a recruitment drive for a specific organization. Jesus explicitly states: “The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels” (Matthew 13:39). The separation of wheat and weeds represents God’s final judgment of all humanity, not the gathering of people into a particular religious group in South Korea in the 1980s.

The book of Revelation, as understood through first-century lenses, was written as apocalyptic literature to encourage Christians suffering under Roman persecution. As explained in “How First-Century Christians Read Revelation Like a Political Cartoon,” the original audience would have recognized the symbols as referring to their contemporary situation—the Roman Empire, emperor worship, and the conflict between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Caesar. The “harvest” in Revelation 14:14-16 follows immediately after the announcement of Babylon’s fall (14:8) and warnings against beast worship (14:9-11), indicating this is about God’s judgment on the Roman system, not about recruiting members for a future organization.

The Indoctrination Progression at This Stage

By Advanced Level Test 3, students have been conditioned through dozens of lessons to automatically apply every biblical symbol to Shincheonji’s narrative. Chapter 15 of “Testing Shincheonji’s Claims: Two Lenses, One Story” explains how SCJ creates “prophetic inevitability”—the sense that their organization must be God’s fulfillment because all the pieces seem to fit together.

Notice what has happened in the student’s mind by this point:

1. Biblical text → “harvest” and “144,000”
2. Automatic interpretation → “This must refer to Shincheonji’s establishment”
3. Organizational identity → “We are the fulfillment; we are the 144,000”
4. Exclusivity claim → “Only Shincheonji members can be part of this harvest”

The student no longer asks: “What did this mean to John’s original audience?” or “How does this fit with the rest of biblical theology?” Instead, the question has become: “Which part of Shincheonji’s history does this describe?” This represents a fundamental shift from biblical interpretation to organizational allegiance.

Biblical Problems with SCJ’s Harvest Theology

Problem 1: The Timing Contradiction

SCJ teaches that the harvest occurs “after the events of betrayal and destruction” in Revelation 6. However, Revelation’s structure doesn’t support a simple chronological reading. The book uses a literary technique called “recapitulation,” where the same events are described from different perspectives. The seven seals (chapters 6-8), seven trumpets (chapters 8-11), and seven bowls (chapters 15-16) all describe the same period of judgment from different angles, not sequential events.

As explained in “Chiasmus in the New Testament,” Revelation is structured with careful literary patterns, including chiasmus (inverted parallelism). The harvest scene in Revelation 14 appears in the central section of the book, positioned between the beast’s reign (chapter 13) and the bowl judgments (chapters 15-16). This literary placement emphasizes the certainty of God’s judgment on evil systems, not a chronological sequence of organizational events in South Korea.

Problem 2: The Universal Scope vs. Organizational Exclusivity

Jesus’ teaching about the harvest in Matthew 13:36-43 describes a universal, cosmic event: “The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the people of the kingdom. The weeds are the people of the evil one, and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels. As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age.”

Notice several critical points:

• The field is “the world” (Greek: kosmos), not a specific location in South Korea
• The harvesters are “angels,” not human recruiters
• The harvest is “the end of the age,” not the founding of an organization
• The separation is between all righteous and all wicked people throughout history

SCJ’s interpretation reduces this cosmic, universal judgment to the recruitment of approximately 144,000 people into their organization between the 1980s and early 2000s. This interpretation requires ignoring the plain meaning of Jesus’ own explanation of His parable.

Problem 3: The Identity of the 144,000

Revelation 7 and 14 describe the 144,000 as coming from “all the tribes of Israel”—12,000 from each tribe. First-century Jewish Christians would have immediately recognized this as symbolic language representing the complete people of God. The number 12 (representing the twelve tribes) multiplied by 1,000 (representing completeness or a large multitude) equals 144,000—a symbolic number representing the fullness of God’s redeemed people.

Immediately after the 144,000 are mentioned in Revelation 7:4-8, John sees “a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb” (7:9). Many biblical scholars understand these as two descriptions of the same group—first numbered symbolically as 144,000 (emphasizing completeness), then described as an uncountable multitude (emphasizing vastness). This interpretation makes sense of why the 144,000 are “sealed” (protected through tribulation) in chapter 7, and then seen standing victorious with the Lamb on Mount Zion in chapter 14.

SCJ’s interpretation requires believing that:

• God’s ultimate plan involves exactly 144,000 people (a literal number)
• These people are all Korean or connected to a Korean organization
• They were all recruited during a specific 20-year period
• None of the faithful Christians throughout 2,000 years of church history are included
• The apostles, early martyrs, reformers, and millions of faithful believers are excluded

This interpretation contradicts Hebrews 12:22-24, which describes all believers as having “come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven.”

What SCJ Teaches in This Section

Questions 53-57 represent a critical junction in SCJ’s theological system where students learn to identify specific historical events in South Korea as the fulfillment of Revelation’s prophecies. Question 53 asks students to identify “the location where the sealing work takes place,” with the answer being “The Tabernacle Temple (Shincheonji Church of Jesus, the Temple of the Tabernacle of the Testimony).” Question 54 teaches that those who “receive atonement for their sins and are born again” are “sealed,” and Question 55 identifies the one who seals as “Jesus (the Lord who comes again).”

Questions 56-57 shift to identifying “the beast with seven heads and ten horns” from Revelation 13. Students learn this beast is “the group of pastors who destroyed the Tabernacle Temple,” specifically identifying them as coming from “the Christian Council of Korea (CCK)” who “invaded the Tabernacle Temple and destroyed it.” The test teaches that this destruction occurred “in September 1980 (the 2nd year, 9th month of the Tabernacle Temple).”

This section crystallizes SCJ’s core narrative: their organization is the exclusive location of salvation, their leader is Christ returned, and mainstream Korean Christianity is the prophetic “beast” that opposed them. As documented in “The Real Reasons Behind the Tabernacle Temple’s Destruction and Sale,” SCJ has constructed an elaborate mythology around events at a tent church in South Korea in the late 1970s-early 1980s, claiming these local conflicts represent the fulfillment of cosmic prophecies.

What First-Century Christians Actually Understood About Sealing

When first-century Christians read about “sealing” in Revelation 7:1-8, they would have understood it through several biblical and cultural lenses:

1. The Old Testament Background

The concept of sealing God’s people appears in Ezekiel 9:4-6, where God commands: “Go throughout the city of Jerusalem and put a mark on the foreheads of those who grieve and lament over all the detestable things that are done in it.” This mark protected faithful Israelites from judgment that was coming upon Jerusalem. The original audience of Revelation, reading this in the late first century (likely around 95 AD), would have immediately connected this imagery to God’s protection of His faithful people during times of judgment.

2. The Seal as God’s Ownership Mark

In the ancient world, a seal indicated ownership, authenticity, and protection. When Paul writes in Ephesians 1:13-14, “Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance,” he’s describing something that happens to all believers at conversion—not a special status achieved by joining a particular organization. The seal is the Holy Spirit Himself, given to all who trust in Christ.

3. The Protection Theme in Revelation’s Context

As explained in “Early Christian Revelation Understanding,” the book of Revelation was written to seven churches in Asia Minor facing persecution under Roman imperial cult worship. The sealing in Revelation 7 occurs before the trumpet judgments begin, indicating God’s protection of His people through tribulation—not their recruitment into a specific organization. The 144,000 are sealed “from all the tribes of Israel” (7:4), which first-century Jewish Christians would have understood as representing the complete people of God (both Jewish and Gentile believers grafted into Israel, per Romans 11:17-24).

4. Universal Access vs. Organizational Exclusivity

Throughout the New Testament, salvation and the Holy Spirit’s seal are available to all who believe in Jesus Christ:

• “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Romans 10:13)
• “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16)
• “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12)

Notice the universal language: “everyone,” “whoever,” “the world.” There is no indication that salvation requires:

• Being in a specific geographical location (South Korea)
• Joining a specific organization (Shincheonji)
• Being taught by a specific person (Lee Man-hee)
• Being part of a limited number (exactly 144,000)

SCJ’s teaching that sealing only occurs at “the Tabernacle Temple (Shincheonji Church of Jesus)” directly contradicts the New Testament’s consistent teaching that salvation is available to all people, in all places, at all times, through faith in Jesus Christ alone.

The Dangerous Progression: From Christ to Organization

Notice the subtle but devastating shift that has occurred by Advanced Level Test 3:

Biblical Christianity teaches:

• Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6)
• Salvation comes through faith in Christ alone (Ephesians 2:8-9)
• The Church is the universal body of all believers (1 Corinthians 12:12-27)
• The Holy Spirit seals all believers at conversion (Ephesians 1:13)

SCJ now teaches students:

• Shincheonji is the only location where sealing occurs (Question 53)
• Their organization is “the Temple of the Tabernacle of the Testimony” (Question 53)
• Their leader represents “Jesus (the Lord who comes again)” who does the sealing (Question 55)
• Only those who join their organization and receive their teachings are truly saved

This represents what Chapter 8 of “Testing Shincheonji’s Claims: Two Lenses, One Story” identifies as “organizational salvation”—the belief that salvation comes not through Christ alone, but through membership in a specific organization led by a specific person. This is fundamentally incompatible with biblical Christianity.

What First-Century Christians Actually Understood About the Beast

The identification of “the beast with seven heads and ten horns” in Questions 56-57 reveals how far SCJ’s interpretation has departed from the text’s original meaning. Let’s examine what the first-century audience would have understood:

1. The Roman Imperial Context

As thoroughly documented in “Ken Gentry: The Beast Of Revelation IDENTIFIED,” first-century Christians living under Roman rule would have immediately recognized the beast imagery as referring to the Roman Empire and its emperor worship system. The beast “with seven heads and ten horns” in Revelation 13:1 parallels the dragon in Revelation 12:3, indicating a connection between Satan’s power and earthly political systems that oppose God.

Revelation 17:9-10 provides an explicit interpretation: “The seven heads are seven hills on which the woman sits. They are also seven kings.” Rome was famously known as “the city on seven hills” (Latin: Septem Montes). First-century readers would have immediately understood this reference. The beast represents the Roman imperial system that demanded worship and persecuted Christians who refused to say “Caesar is Lord.”

2. The Pattern of Oppressive Empires

The beast imagery in Revelation draws heavily from Daniel 7, where four beasts represent successive empires that oppress God’s people (Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome). The beast in Revelation 13 combines features of all four beasts in Daniel 7:3-7 (leopard, bear, lion), indicating it represents the culmination of all oppressive political systems that oppose God’s kingdom.

As explained in “The Revelation Project – Day 1-6,” the original audience would have understood the beast not as a group of Korean pastors in 1980, but as the Roman imperial cult system that was actively persecuting them. The beast’s “blasphemous names” (13:1) referred to titles like “Dominus et Deus” (Lord and God) claimed by Emperor Domitian. The beast’s authority “over every tribe, people, language and nation” (13:7) described Rome’s vast empire, not a local church conflict in South Korea.

3. The Mark of the Beast—Economic Persecution

Revelation 13:16-17 describes the beast’s mark: “It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name.”

First-century Christians would have understood this as describing the economic persecution they faced for refusing to participate in emperor worship. To conduct business in the Roman Empire, people often needed certificates proving they had offered sacrifices to the emperor. Christians who refused faced economic exclusion—they couldn’t “buy or sell.”

The “mark on their right hands or on their foreheads” contrasts with the seal of God on the foreheads of the 144,000 (7:3; 14:1). This represents two competing allegiances: those who worship the beast (Rome/Caesar) and those who worship God and the Lamb (Christ). It’s about ultimate loyalty, not literal physical marks.

4. The Number 666—Gematria and Nero

Revelation 13:18 gives “the number of the beast” as 666, stating “it is man’s number.” In the ancient world, letters had numerical values (gematria). Many scholars note that “Nero Caesar” in Hebrew letters (נרון קסר) adds up to 666. Nero was the emperor who first systematically persecuted Christians (64 AD), and there was a legend in the late first century that Nero would return (“Nero redivivus”). Whether or not this specific identification is correct, the point is clear: the number identifies a first-century reality, not a group of Korean pastors 1,900 years later.

The Absurdity of SCJ’s Beast Identification

SCJ teaches that “the beast with seven heads and ten horns” is “the group of pastors who destroyed the Tabernacle Temple” from “the Christian Council of Korea (CCK)” in September 1980. Let’s examine why this interpretation is biblically and logically impossible:

Problem 1: The Scope Mismatch

Revelation 13:7-8 describes the beast’s authority: “It was given power to wage war against God’s holy people and to conquer them. And it was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation. All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the Lamb’s book of life.”

The Christian Council of Korea:

• Had no authority “over every tribe, people, language and nation”
• Was not worshiped by “all inhabitants of the earth”
• Was a local religious organization in one country
• Had no political or military power to “wage war”

The Roman Empire in the first century:

• Controlled most of the known world (Mediterranean basin)
• Demanded worship of the emperor throughout its territories
• Had military power to persecute Christians
• Fits the description perfectly

Problem 2: The Chronological Impossibility

Revelation was written around 95 AD to seven churches in Asia Minor who were facing contemporary persecution. If the beast refers to events in South Korea in 1980, then:

• The book provided no comfort or guidance to its original audience
• The warnings to the seven churches were meaningless for 1,900 years
• The repeated phrase “what must soon take place” (1:1; 22:6) was false
• John’s assurance that “the time is near” (1:3; 22:10) was deceptive

This interpretation makes Revelation irrelevant to everyone except Shincheonji members, contradicting the book’s own claims about its timing and purpose.

Problem 3: The Theological Inversion

SCJ’s interpretation creates a bizarre theological inversion where:

• The “beast” = Christians who opposed SCJ’s teachings
• The “saints” = SCJ members
• “Babylon the Great” = mainstream Christianity
• The “New Jerusalem” = Shincheonji organization

This means that faithful Christians throughout 2,000 years of church history—including the apostles, early martyrs, reformers, missionaries, and millions of believers—are all part of “Babylon” or the “beast system.” Meanwhile, a organization founded in South Korea in 1984 represents the true people of God.

As documented in “Betrayal, Destruction, Salvation – A Christian Response,” this inversion is central to SCJ’s system: they must delegitimize all other Christianity to make their exclusive claims credible. If mainstream Christianity is valid, then SCJ’s claims to be the exclusive fulfillment collapse.

The Real Story Behind the “Tabernacle Temple Destruction”

“The Real Reasons Behind the Tabernacle Temple’s Destruction and Sale” provides detailed documentation of what actually happened at the tent church in Gwacheon, South Korea, in the late 1970s-early 1980s. The conflict involved:

• Doctrinal disputes within a small church community
• Leadership conflicts between different factions
• Property disputes and financial disagreements
• Concerns from mainstream Korean Christianity about heretical teachings
• Eventually, legal proceedings and church discipline

These were local church conflicts of the type that have occurred throughout church history. To claim these events fulfill Revelation 13’s prophecies about a beast with authority over all nations requires:

1. Ignoring the text’s original historical context
2. Dismissing the universal scope of Revelation’s language
3. Elevating a local conflict to cosmic significance
4. Demonizing Christians who raised legitimate doctrinal concerns

This interpretation method could be used by any group that experiences opposition to claim they are the fulfillment of prophecy. Every religious movement that faces criticism could claim their opponents are “the beast” and they are “the persecuted saints.”

The Indoctrination Mechanism at Work

By Advanced Level Test 3, students have been conditioned to accept several premises without question:

Premise 1: “Everything in Revelation must have a specific, literal fulfillment in our time”

• This ignores that Revelation was written to first-century churches facing first-century situations
• It dismisses 2,000 years of Christian interpretation
• It assumes our generation is uniquely the “end times”

Premise 2: “The fulfillment must involve our organization”

• This creates circular reasoning: we interpret prophecy to be about us, then claim the “fulfillment” proves we’re special
• It ignores that hundreds of groups throughout history have made similar claims

Premise 3: “Opposition to our organization equals opposition to God”

• This prevents students from considering that the opposition might be legitimate
• It creates an “us vs. them” mentality where all criticism is satanic
• It mirrors cult dynamics where the group cannot be questioned

Premise 4: “Our leader’s interpretation is the only correct one”

• This replaces biblical authority with human authority
• It prevents independent Bible study or verification
• It creates dependency on the organization for “truth”

Chapter 22 of “Testing Shincheonji’s Claims: Two Lenses, One Story” explains how this progression creates what psychologists call “bounded choice”—students feel they are making free decisions, but the framework has been so carefully constructed that only one conclusion seems possible.

What SCJ Teaches in This Section

Questions 58-62 introduce students to SCJ’s interpretation of judgment and the “two witnesses” from Revelation 11. Question 58 asks “What is the standard of judgment?” with the answer being “God’s word (the Bible).” Question 59 asks who will be judged, answering “Those who add to or subtract from Revelation.” Question 60 identifies “the two olive trees and the two lampstands” from Revelation 11:4 as “The two witnesses (the two pastors of the Tabernacle Temple).”

Question 61 then asks about the identity of “those who killed the two witnesses,” with the answer being “The beast that comes up from the Abyss (the group of pastors from the Christian Council of Korea).” Finally, Question 62 asks what happens “After the two witnesses who were killed come back to life,” with the answer stating “They go up to heaven in a cloud (they are taken up to the spiritual heaven, the kingdom of heaven that has been created).”

This section represents a masterful example of what Chapter 12 of “Testing Shincheonji’s Claims: Two Lenses, One Story” calls “prophetic personalization”—taking universal biblical themes and reducing them to specific individuals within SCJ’s organizational history. The cosmic drama of Revelation becomes a story about two pastors at a tent church in South Korea, their conflict with mainstream Korean Christianity, and their eventual “ascension” into SCJ’s spiritual hierarchy.

What First-Century Christians Actually Understood About Judgment

When first-century Christians read about judgment in Revelation, they understood it within a rich biblical and theological framework that SCJ’s interpretation completely distorts:

1. The Biblical Standard of Judgment

Question 58 correctly identifies that “God’s word (the Bible)” is the standard of judgment. However, SCJ immediately narrows this in Question 59 to focus exclusively on “those who add to or subtract from Revelation,” referencing Revelation 22:18-19. This creates a subtle but critical shift in emphasis.

The New Testament teaches that judgment involves the whole counsel of God’s word and centers on one’s response to Jesus Christ:

• “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad” (2 Corinthians 5:10)
• “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them” (John 3:36)
• “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account” (Hebrews 4:13)

The warning in Revelation 22:18-19 about adding to or subtracting from “the words of the prophecy of this scroll” was originally directed at scribes who might alter the text of Revelation itself, not at theological interpretations or church traditions. As explained in “Prophecy and Fulfillment,” this warning appears in many ancient texts to protect their integrity during copying and transmission.

2. The Universal Scope of Judgment

Revelation presents judgment as a universal, cosmic event affecting all humanity throughout history:

• “Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. The earth and the heavens fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books” (Revelation 20:11-12)

Notice several key elements:

• “The dead, great and small” = all people throughout history
• “Books were opened” = comprehensive record of all deeds
• “The book of life” = determining eternal destiny
• This occurs at “a great white throne” = God’s final judgment

This is not a judgment focused primarily on whether people correctly interpreted Revelation’s symbols or joined the right organization. It’s a judgment of all humanity based on their response to God’s revelation in Christ and how they lived their lives.

3. The Danger of Narrow Judgment Focus

By focusing Question 59 exclusively on “those who add to or subtract from Revelation,” SCJ creates a framework where:

• The primary sin is misinterpreting Revelation (rather than rejecting Christ)
• The primary virtue is correctly understanding Revelation (rather than faith in Christ)
• Salvation depends on having the “correct interpretation” (which only SCJ provides)
• Those who disagree with SCJ’s interpretation are automatically condemned

This shifts the gospel from “believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31) to “believe SCJ’s interpretation of Revelation and you will be saved.” This is a different gospel entirely, which Paul warns against in Galatians 1:8-9: “But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse!”

What First-Century Christians Actually Understood About the Two Witnesses

The “two witnesses” of Revelation 11:3-13 represent one of the most debated passages in the book. However, what first-century Christians would NOT have understood is that these witnesses were two pastors at a tent church in South Korea 1,900 years in the future. Let’s examine what they would have understood:

1. The Old Testament Background

The imagery of “two olive trees and two lampstands” comes directly from Zechariah 4:1-14, where the prophet sees a vision of a golden lampstand with two olive trees beside it. The angel explains: “These are the two who are anointed to serve the Lord of all the earth” (Zechariah 4:14). In Zechariah’s context, this referred to Zerubbabel (the political leader) and Joshua (the high priest) who were leading the rebuilding of the temple after the Babylonian exile.

The “two witnesses” in Revelation 11 are described with imagery that evokes Moses and Elijah:

• “They have power to shut up the heavens so that it will not rain” = Elijah (1 Kings 17:1; James 5:17)
• “They have power to turn the waters into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague” = Moses (Exodus 7-12)

First-century Jewish Christians would have immediately recognized these allusions. Moses and Elijah represented “the Law and the Prophets”—the entire Old Testament witness to God’s truth. They also appeared together at Jesus’ transfiguration (Matthew 17:1-3), representing the continuity between Old Testament revelation and Jesus as the Messiah.

2. The Symbolic Nature of “Two”

In Jewish legal tradition, two witnesses were required to establish truth: “A matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses” (Deuteronomy 19:15). Jesus sent His disciples out “two by two” (Mark 6:7). The two witnesses in Revelation 11 represent the complete, legally valid testimony of God’s truth to the world.

As explained in “The Revelation Project – Day 1-6,” the two witnesses symbolize the church’s prophetic witness to the world during the time between Christ’s first and second coming. They prophesy “for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth” (11:3)—the same period mentioned in 11:2, 12:6, and 13:5 (also expressed as “42 months” or “a time, times and half a time”). This symbolic time period represents the entire church age, during which God’s people bear witness to the truth despite opposition and persecution.

3. The Death and Resurrection of the Witnesses

Revelation 11:7-12 describes the witnesses being killed by “the beast that comes up from the Abyss,” their bodies lying in “the great city, which is figuratively called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified” (11:8). After three and a half days, they come back to life and ascend to heaven.

First-century Christians would have understood several layers of meaning:

Layer 1: Jerusalem’s Judgment “The great city…where also their Lord was crucified” clearly refers to Jerusalem. The city is “figuratively called Sodom and Egypt”—both symbols of rebellion against God. This connects to Jesus’ prophecy about Jerusalem’s destruction in Matthew 23-24. The witnesses’ death and resurrection may symbolize the church’s persecution and vindication during the Jewish-Roman war (66-70 AD).

Layer 2: The Church’s Witness and Persecution Throughout history, God’s faithful witnesses have been killed for their testimony. The pattern of death and resurrection reflects Jesus’ own death and resurrection, and promises that God’s truth cannot be permanently silenced. Even when the church appears defeated, God vindicates His witnesses.

Layer 3: The Three-and-a-Half-Day Period The “three and a half days” (11:9, 11) mirrors the “three and a half years” of the witnesses’ prophesying (1,260 days = 42 months = 3.5 years). This creates a literary parallel: the time of persecution is short compared to the time of faithful witness. It also echoes Jesus’ three days in the tomb before resurrection.

4. The Ascension to Heaven

When the two witnesses “went up to heaven in a cloud” (11:12), first-century Christians would have immediately connected this to:

• Jesus’ ascension “in a cloud” (Acts 1:9)
• The promise that believers will be “caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air” (1 Thessalonians 4:17)
• The vindication and glorification of God’s faithful witnesses

This is resurrection and glorification language, not a metaphor for being promoted within an organizational structure.

The Absurdity of SCJ’s Two Witnesses Interpretation

SCJ teaches that the two witnesses are “the two pastors of the Tabernacle Temple” who were “killed” by “the group of pastors from the Christian Council of Korea” and then “taken up to the spiritual heaven, the kingdom of heaven that has been created.” Let’s examine why this interpretation is biblically impossible:

Problem 1: The Literal Death Requirement

Revelation 11:7-9 describes the witnesses’ death in explicit terms:

• “The beast…will attack them, and overpower and kill them”
• “Their bodies will lie in the public square of the great city”
• “For three and a half days some from every people, tribe, language and nation will gaze on their bodies and refuse them burial”
• “The inhabitants of the earth will gloat over them and will celebrate by sending each other gifts, because these two prophets had tormented those who live on the earth”

If these two witnesses are literal individuals (as SCJ claims), then they must have literally died. Their dead bodies must have been publicly displayed. People from “every people, tribe, language and nation” must have seen their corpses. The whole earth must have celebrated their deaths.

None of this happened to any pastors at the Tabernacle Temple in South Korea in 1980. There were no literal deaths, no public display of corpses, no worldwide celebration. SCJ must therefore interpret “killed” metaphorically (meaning their ministry was stopped or they were expelled from the church). But if “killed” is metaphorical, why are the “two witnesses” literal individuals? This represents inconsistent hermeneutics—interpreting literally when it supports their narrative and metaphorically when it doesn’t.

Problem 2: The Worldwide Visibility Requirement

Revelation 11:9-10 states that “some from every people, tribe, language and nation will gaze on their bodies” and “the inhabitants of the earth will gloat over them.” This requires worldwide visibility of the witnesses’ deaths.

A conflict at a tent church in Gwacheon, South Korea, in 1980:

• Was not witnessed by people from “every people, tribe, language and nation”
• Was not known to “the inhabitants of the earth”
• Did not cause worldwide celebration
• Was a local church dispute known only to those directly involved

To claim this local event fulfills a prophecy about worldwide visibility requires ignoring the plain meaning of the text.

Problem 3: The Resurrection and Ascension

Revelation 11:11-12 describes: “But after the three and a half days the breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and terror struck those who saw them. Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, ‘Come up here.’ And they went up to heaven in a cloud, while their enemies looked on.”

SCJ interprets this as the two pastors being “taken up to the spiritual heaven, the kingdom of heaven that has been created” (Question 62). This means:

• “Resurrection” = being reinstated in ministry or joining SCJ
• “Ascension to heaven” = being promoted in SCJ’s organizational hierarchy
• “Heaven” = SCJ’s organizational structure

This interpretation requires believing that:

• The glorious resurrection and ascension language of Revelation describes organizational promotions
• “Heaven” is not the dwelling place of God but a human organization
• The witnesses’ enemies “looked on” and experienced “terror” at… a church reorganization?

This trivializes the biblical language of resurrection and ascension, reducing cosmic realities to organizational politics.

Problem 4: The Timing and Sequence Issues

According to SCJ’s timeline:

• The Tabernacle Temple was established around 1978
• The “destruction” occurred in September 1980
• The “two witnesses” were somehow “killed” during this destruction
• They were then “resurrected” and “ascended” into SCJ’s structure

But Revelation 11’s sequence places the two witnesses’ ministry, death, and resurrection BEFORE the seventh trumpet sounds (11:15), which announces: “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah, and he will reign for ever and ever.”

If the two witnesses represent events in 1980, and their ascension leads to the establishment of God’s kingdom, then God’s kingdom was established in 1980 in South Korea. But SCJ also teaches that Shincheonji was officially established in 1984. The timeline doesn’t work even within SCJ’s own framework.

The Real Story Behind the “Two Witnesses” Claim

“The Real Reasons Behind the Tabernacle Temple’s Destruction and Sale” documents what actually happened at the tent church in Gwacheon. The conflict involved multiple pastors and leaders with different theological views and leadership ambitions. When mainstream Korean Christianity investigated the group’s teachings and found them heretical, they intervened to protect church members from false doctrine.

This is standard church discipline, practiced throughout Christian history based on biblical principles:

• “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves” (Matthew 7:15)
• “If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not take them into your house or welcome them” (2 John 1:10)
• “Warn a divisive person once, and then warn them a second time. After that, have nothing to do with them” (Titus 3:10)

To reframe this church discipline as “killing the two witnesses” and the concerned Christians as “the beast” represents a complete inversion of biblical categories. It demonizes those who were trying to protect believers from false teaching and glorifies those who were teaching heresy.

The Psychological Impact on Students

By Advanced Level Test 3, students have been taught to see SCJ’s organizational history as the fulfillment of cosmic prophecy. This creates several psychological effects:

Effect 1: Organizational Grandiosity Students come to believe that local church conflicts in South Korea in 1980 were events of such cosmic significance that they were prophesied in the Bible 1,900 years earlier. This inflates the importance of the organization far beyond any reasonable assessment.

Effect 2: Persecution Complex By identifying mainstream Christianity as “the beast” that “killed” the two witnesses, students develop a persecution complex where any criticism of SCJ is seen as satanic opposition. This prevents them from objectively evaluating whether the criticism might be legitimate.

Effect 3: Historical Myopia Students lose sight of 2,000 years of church history. The apostles, early martyrs, reformers, missionaries, and millions of faithful Christians throughout history become irrelevant or even part of “Babylon.” Only SCJ’s recent history matters.

Effect 4: Interpretive Captivity Students can no longer read Revelation (or any biblical text) without immediately applying it to SCJ’s narrative. The text has been colonized by the organization’s story, making independent Bible study impossible.

Chapter 18 of “Testing Shincheonji’s Claims: Two Lenses, One Story” explains how this represents a form of “hermeneutical hijacking”—the biblical text is taken hostage by an interpretive system that prevents readers from hearing what the text originally meant or what it might mean apart from the organization’s narrative.

What SCJ Teaches in This Section

Questions 63-67 introduce students to SCJ’s interpretation of Revelation 12, one of the most symbolically rich chapters in the entire book. Question 63 asks students to identify “the woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head” from Revelation 12:1, with the answer being “The Tabernacle Temple that belongs to heaven.” Question 64 identifies “the male child” born to this woman as “The pastor who overcomes and rules all nations with an iron scepter (the one who overcomes in Revelation 2 and 3).”

Question 65 asks about “the enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on its heads” from Revelation 12:3, identifying it as “The group of seven pastors who belonged to Satan and destroyed the Tabernacle Temple.” Question 66 then asks what the dragon did to the woman, with the answer stating “It swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth (it caused a third of the congregation members of the Tabernacle Temple to fall and become flesh).”

Finally, Question 67 asks where “the male child” was taken, with the answer being “He was snatched up to God and to his throne (he went to the spiritual throne, heaven).”

This section represents the pinnacle of what Chapter 14 of “Testing Shincheonji’s Claims: Two Lenses, One Story” calls “prophetic narcissism”—the interpretation of cosmic, universal symbols as referring exclusively to one’s own organization and leader. The grand cosmic drama of Revelation 12, which depicts the conflict between God’s kingdom and Satan’s power throughout redemptive history, is reduced to internal church politics at a tent church in South Korea in 1980.

What First-Century Christians Actually Understood About Revelation 12

Revelation 12 stands as one of the most theologically profound chapters in the entire Bible. When first-century Christians read this chapter, they understood it through multiple layers of biblical imagery and theological meaning that SCJ’s interpretation completely obliterates:

1. The Woman as God’s People Throughout History

The “woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head” (12:1) draws from rich Old Testament imagery:

Genesis 37:9-10 – Joseph’s dream where “the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me,” which his father Jacob interpreted as representing the family of Israel (Jacob, Rachel, and the eleven brothers). The twelve stars in Revelation 12:1 represent the twelve tribes of Israel—God’s covenant people.

Song of Solomon 6:10 – “Who is this that appears like the dawn, fair as the moon, bright as the sun, majestic as the stars in procession?” This poetic description of the beloved reflects the beauty and glory of God’s people.

Isaiah 60:1-3 – “Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you. See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the LORD rises upon you and his glory appears over you. Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.”

First-century Jewish Christians would have immediately recognized the woman as representing Israel—God’s covenant people from whom the Messiah would come. As explained in “The Revelation Project – Day 1-6,” the woman represents the continuity of God’s people from Old Testament Israel through to the New Testament church. She is not a specific organization founded in the 20th century, but the entire community of God’s faithful people throughout redemptive history.

2. The Male Child as Jesus Christ

The identity of “the male child” in Revelation 12:5 is explicitly stated in the text itself: “She gave birth to a son, a male child, who will rule all the nations with an iron scepter.” This language comes directly from Psalm 2:9, a messianic psalm that prophesies about the coming king from David’s line:

“You will break them with a rod of iron; you will dash them to pieces like pottery” (Psalm 2:9).

This same language is applied to Jesus in Revelation 19:15: “Coming out of his mouth is a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. ‘He will rule them with an iron scepter.'”

The male child who “was snatched up to God and to his throne” (12:5) clearly refers to Jesus’ ascension after His resurrection: “After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight” (Acts 1:9). As explained in “Early Christian Revelation Understanding,” no first-century Christian would have read Revelation 12:5 and thought it referred to anyone other than Jesus Christ—the one born of Israel who ascended to God’s throne.

3. The Dragon as Satan

Unlike many symbols in Revelation that require interpretation, the identity of the dragon is explicitly stated: “The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray” (12:9).

The dragon’s description as having “seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on its heads” (12:3) parallels the beast from the sea in Revelation 13:1, indicating the connection between Satan’s spiritual power and the earthly political systems (like Rome) that oppose God’s people. The “seven heads” and “ten horns” represent completeness of power and authority—Satan working through various earthly kingdoms throughout history.

The dragon’s attempt to “devour her child the moment he was born” (12:4) clearly refers to Satan’s attempts to destroy Jesus, including:

• Herod’s massacre of infants in Bethlehem (Matthew 2:16-18)
• The temptations in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1-11)
• The various attempts to stone or arrest Jesus during His ministry
• Ultimately, the crucifixion itself

As explained in “Ken Gentry: The Beast Of Revelation IDENTIFIED,” first-century Christians understood the dragon as representing Satan’s power working through historical opposition to God’s people—from Pharaoh’s Egypt, to Babylon, to the Roman Empire. The dragon is not a “group of seven pastors” in South Korea; it is the cosmic spiritual enemy of God and His people throughout all history.

4. The War in Heaven

Revelation 12:7-12 describes a war in heaven between Michael and his angels against the dragon and his angels, resulting in Satan being “hurled to the earth.” This cosmic battle represents the decisive victory won through Jesus’ death, resurrection, and ascension:

• “Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself” (John 12:31-32)
• “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work” (1 John 3:8)
• “And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross” (Colossians 2:15)

The “loud voice in heaven” proclaims: “Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Messiah. For the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down” (12:10).

This is not describing events at a tent church in 1980. This is describing the cosmic significance of Christ’s victory over Satan through the cross and resurrection. Satan’s “accusing” power has been broken; believers are justified through Christ’s blood (12:11). As explained in “The Book of Revelation: the SHOCKING Key from the Story of Joshua & Jericho,” this represents the fulfillment of the promise in Genesis 3:15 that the seed of the woman would crush the serpent’s head.

5. The Woman’s Flight to the Wilderness

After the male child is taken to God’s throne, “The woman fled into the wilderness to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days” (12:6). Later, the text states: “The woman was given the two wings of a great eagle, so that she might fly to the place prepared for her in the wilderness, where she would be taken care of for a time, times and half a time, out of the serpent’s reach” (12:14).

This imagery draws from Israel’s exodus experience: “You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself” (Exodus 19:4). The wilderness represents a place of both testing and divine provision—just as God sustained Israel in the wilderness for forty years, He sustains His people during times of persecution.

The “1,260 days” (= 42 months = 3.5 years = “a time, times and half a time”) is the same symbolic period mentioned throughout Revelation (11:2-3; 13:5). It represents the entire church age—the time between Christ’s ascension and His return—during which God’s people face persecution but are sustained by God’s provision. This is not a literal 3.5-year period in South Korea in the 1980s; it’s a symbolic representation of the church’s experience throughout history.

The Absurdity of SCJ’s Revelation 12 Interpretation

SCJ’s interpretation of Revelation 12 requires students to believe that this cosmic drama—involving a woman clothed with celestial bodies, a dragon with seven heads and ten horns, a war in heaven, and Satan being cast down to earth—all refers to events at a small tent church in South Korea. Let’s examine why this interpretation is biblically impossible:

Problem 1: The Identity of the Male Child

SCJ teaches that the male child is “the pastor who overcomes and rules all nations with an iron scepter (the one who overcomes in Revelation 2 and 3)” (Question 64). This interpretation has multiple fatal flaws:

Flaw A: The Text Identifies the Male Child as Christ

The language “rule all nations with an iron scepter” comes from Psalm 2:9, a messianic psalm about the coming king from David’s line. This exact language is applied to Jesus in Revelation 19:15. To claim it refers to a Korean pastor requires ignoring the text’s own internal cross-references.

Flaw B: The Ascension Language

“He was snatched up to God and to his throne” (12:5) uses language that first-century Christians would have immediately connected to Jesus’ ascension. Acts 1:9-11 describes Jesus being “taken up before their very eyes” with angels promising He would “come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”

SCJ interprets this as the pastor going “to the spiritual throne, heaven” (Question 67), meaning he was promoted within the organization’s spiritual hierarchy. This trivializes the ascension language, reducing Christ’s cosmic enthronement to organizational politics.

Flaw C: The Chronological Impossibility

If the male child is born from the woman (the Tabernacle Temple), and the Tabernacle Temple was established around 1978, then the “male child” could not have been born before 1978. But Revelation 12:5 states the child “was snatched up to God and to his throne” immediately after birth, before the dragon could devour him.

According to SCJ’s timeline, the “destruction” of the Tabernacle Temple occurred in September 1980. If the male child represents a pastor who was “snatched up” to safety, this would have occurred around 1980. But SCJ also teaches this pastor is Lee Man-hee, who was born in 1931 and was already 49 years old in 1980. The chronology makes no sense even within SCJ’s own framework.

Problem 2: The Identity of the Woman

SCJ teaches that the woman is “The Tabernacle Temple that belongs to heaven” (Question 63). This interpretation ignores the cosmic scope of the imagery:

Issue A: The Celestial Clothing

The woman is “clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head” (12:1). This cosmic imagery—sun, moon, stars—represents something of universal, eternal significance, not a tent church that existed for approximately two years in South Korea.

Issue B: The Birth of the Messiah

The woman gives birth to the one who “will rule all the nations with an iron scepter” (12:5). If this refers to the Messiah (as the language clearly indicates), then the woman must represent Israel/God’s people from whom the Messiah came. Jesus was born from the people of Israel, not from a tent church in 1970s Korea.

Issue C: The Historical Continuity

Revelation 12 presents the woman as existing throughout redemptive history—she gives birth to the Messiah, flees to the wilderness, and continues to be persecuted by the dragon. This represents the continuity of God’s people from Old Testament Israel through the New Testament church. A tent church that existed for two years cannot fulfill this role.

Problem 3: The Identity of the Dragon

SCJ teaches that the dragon is “The group of seven pastors who belonged to Satan and destroyed the Tabernacle Temple” (Question 65). This interpretation contradicts the text’s explicit identification:

Contradiction A: The Text Identifies the Dragon

Revelation 12:9 explicitly states: “The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray.” The dragon is not a group of pastors; it is Satan himself. To claim otherwise requires ignoring the text’s clear statement.

Contradiction B: The Cosmic Scope

The dragon’s description includes “seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns” (12:3), representing complete power and authority. The dragon’s tail “swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth” (12:4), cosmic imagery representing Satan’s rebellion and the fall of angels (often interpreted as the origin of demons).

A “group of seven pastors” from the Christian Council of Korea:

• Did not have seven heads and ten horns
• Did not sweep stars from the sky
• Did not lead “the whole world astray”
• Did not wage war in heaven against Michael and his angels
• Were not “hurled to the earth” after losing a cosmic battle

The scale mismatch is absurd. SCJ is trying to fit local church politics into cosmic spiritual warfare imagery.

Contradiction C: The “Third of the Stars” Language

Question 66 interprets the dragon sweeping “a third of the stars out of the sky” as causing “a third of the congregation members of the Tabernacle Temple to fall and become flesh.” This interpretation has multiple problems:

1. Timing Issue: The dragon sweeps the stars before the woman gives birth (12:4), but SCJ places the “destruction” after the “male child” was born/established.
2. Identity Issue: The “stars” in 12:4 are typically understood as referring to angels who fell with Satan (the origin of demons), not church members. The imagery represents Satan’s original rebellion, not a church split.
3. Language Issue: What does it mean for congregation members to “fall and become flesh”? Were they not already flesh? This interpretation requires inventing a meaning that doesn’t exist in the text.

Problem 4: The War in Heaven

Revelation 12:7-9 describes a war in heaven between Michael and the dragon, resulting in Satan being “hurled to the earth.” SCJ’s interpretation cannot account for this cosmic battle:

• Was there a literal war in heaven in 1980?
• Did Michael and his angels fight against seven Korean pastors?
• Were these pastors “hurled to the earth” from heaven?
• Did a “loud voice in heaven” proclaim victory because of events at a tent church?

The text describes cosmic spiritual realities that cannot be reduced to organizational conflicts. As explained in “Betrayal, Destruction, Salvation – A Christian Response,” SCJ consistently takes cosmic, universal biblical imagery and reduces it to their organizational narrative, creating interpretations that trivialize the text’s actual meaning.

The Theological Devastation of SCJ’s Interpretation

Beyond the textual impossibilities, SCJ’s interpretation of Revelation 12 creates severe theological problems:

Problem 1: Christological Heresy

By identifying the “male child” as a Korean pastor rather than Jesus Christ, SCJ effectively removes Christ from the center of Revelation 12’s cosmic drama. The chapter’s entire point—that Jesus’ birth, death, resurrection, and ascension represent the decisive victory over Satan—is replaced with a story about a pastor escaping church conflict.

This represents a form of what theologians call “Christological replacement”—putting a human leader in the place that belongs exclusively to Christ. As explained in “Why Fulfillment of Prophecy is Absolutely Critical for Shincheonji – Especially Revelation,” SCJ’s entire system depends on this replacement: if Lee Man-hee is not the fulfillment of these prophecies, then SCJ’s exclusive claims collapse.

Problem 2: Soteriological Confusion

Revelation 12:10-11 proclaims: “Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Messiah…They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony.”

Salvation comes through “the blood of the Lamb”—Jesus’ sacrificial death. But if Revelation 12 is about events in 1980 at a tent church, then salvation is somehow connected to those events rather than to Christ’s finished work on the cross. This confuses the gospel message, making salvation dependent on recognizing SCJ’s fulfillment claims rather than trusting in Christ’s atoning death.

Problem 3: Ecclesiological Narrowing

By identifying the woman as “the Tabernacle Temple,” SCJ narrows the people of God from the universal church throughout history to one specific organization in one specific time and place. This means:

• The apostles were not part of the “woman”
• The early martyrs were not part of the “woman”
• Christians throughout 2,000 years of history were not part of the “woman”
• Only those connected to a tent church in 1970s-80s Korea are the “woman”

This contradicts Hebrews 12:1, which describes believers as “surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses”—the faithful throughout history. It contradicts Ephesians 2:19-22, which describes the church as built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ as the cornerstone. SCJ’s interpretation severs contemporary believers from the historical continuity of God’s people.

Problem 4: Demonization of Legitimate Church Discipline

By identifying concerned Korean pastors as “the dragon” and “Satan,” SCJ demonizes those who were exercising legitimate church discipline based on doctrinal concerns. When mainstream Christianity investigates a group’s teachings and finds them heretical, this is not satanic opposition—it’s biblical responsibility:

• “Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers” (1 Timothy 4:16)
• “Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction” (2 Timothy 4:2)
• “But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse!” (Galatians 1:8)

SCJ’s interpretation creates a framework where any doctrinal accountability is reframed as satanic persecution, preventing students from considering whether the criticism might be legitimate.

The Indoctrination Mechanism: From Scripture to Self

Chapter 19 of “Testing Shincheonji’s Claims: Two Lenses, One Story” explains how SCJ’s interpretation method creates what psychologists call “narcissistic hermeneutics”—reading the Bible as if it’s primarily about oneself (or one’s organization). By Advanced Level Test 3, students have been trained to:

1. See their organization in every symbol: Woman = our church, male child = our leader, dragon = our opponents
2. Interpret opposition as prophetic fulfillment: Criticism proves we’re the true church being persecuted
3. Elevate organizational history to cosmic significance: Local church conflicts become the fulfillment of ancient prophecies
4. Replace Christ with their leader: The male child who rules nations becomes a Korean pastor

This progression represents a complete inversion of biblical interpretation. Instead of reading Scripture to understand God’s character and Christ’s work, students read Scripture to find their organization. Instead of Scripture shaping the community, the community’s story shapes how Scripture is read.

What SCJ Teaches in This Section

Questions 68-75 represent the culmination of SCJ’s theological system, where students learn that their organization is the fulfillment of Revelation’s ultimate promises—the New Heaven, New Earth, and New Jerusalem. Question 68 asks students to identify “the first heaven and the first earth” that “passed away” in Revelation 21:1, with the answer being “The world of the tabernacle that betrayed (the Tabernacle Temple).” Question 69 identifies “the new heaven and the new earth” as “The 12 tribes that have been created (Shincheonji Church of Jesus, the Temple of the Tabernacle of the Testimony).”

Question 70 asks about “the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God,” identifying it as “The 12 tribes (the kingdom and priests who have been created with God’s seed).” Question 71 then asks what it means that “God’s dwelling place is now among the people,” with the answer stating “God comes and dwells within the 12 tribes that have been created (within the hearts of Shincheonji Church members).”

Questions 72-73 focus on the tree of life and the water of life, identifying them as “The pastor who has received and eaten the opened scroll (the one who overcomes)” and “God’s word of life (the revealed word).” Question 74 asks about those who can enter the holy city, answering “Those whose names are written in the book of life (Shincheonji Church members whose names are written in the book of life).” Finally, Question 75 asks what believers must add to and keep, with the answer being “The prophecies of Revelation and the New Song (the 5 books of Shincheonji’s doctrine).”

This section represents what Chapter 25 of “Testing Shincheonji’s Claims: Two Lenses, One Story” calls “eschatological hijacking”—the appropriation of the Bible’s ultimate promises for one’s own organization. The glorious vision of God’s eternal kingdom, where He dwells with His people forever, is reduced to membership in a Korean religious organization founded in 1984.

What First-Century Christians Actually Understood About the New Creation

When first-century Christians read Revelation 21-22, they understood these chapters as the climax of the entire biblical story—from Genesis to Revelation, from creation to new creation. These chapters draw from the rich tapestry of Old Testament prophecy and promise, presenting a vision of God’s ultimate purpose for His creation and His people:

1. The New Heaven and New Earth—Cosmic Renewal

The vision of “a new heaven and a new earth” (Revelation 21:1) draws directly from Isaiah’s prophecy:

“See, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in what I will create, for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight and its people a joy” (Isaiah 65:17-18).

This is not about replacing one organization with another; it’s about the complete renewal of God’s creation. As explained in “The Revelation Project – Day 1-6,” the “new heaven and new earth” represents the fulfillment of God’s original creative purpose—a world without sin, death, suffering, or corruption, where God dwells with His people in perfect harmony.

The apostle Peter connects this vision to the final judgment and cosmic renewal: “But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells” (2 Peter 3:13). This follows his description of “the day of God” when “the heavens will be destroyed by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat” (2 Peter 3:12). This is cosmic transformation, not organizational replacement.

2. The New Jerusalem—The Bride of Christ

The “Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband” (Revelation 21:2) represents the culmination of the marriage imagery that runs throughout Scripture:

Old Testament Background:

• Israel as God’s bride (Isaiah 54:5-6; Jeremiah 2:2; Hosea 2:19-20)
• Jerusalem as the city of God’s presence (Psalm 48:1-2; 87:3)
• The prophetic vision of Jerusalem’s restoration (Isaiah 60-62; Ezekiel 40-48)

New Testament Fulfillment:

• The church as the bride of Christ (Ephesians 5:25-27; 2 Corinthians 11:2)
• Believers as living stones being built into a spiritual house (1 Peter 2:4-5)
• The wedding supper of the Lamb (Revelation 19:7-9)

As explained in “Wedding Banquet of the Lamb and the First Resurrection,” the New Jerusalem represents the totality of God’s redeemed people throughout history—from Abel to the last person saved before Christ’s return—united in perfect fellowship with God forever. It is not a human organization founded in the 20th century; it is the eternal dwelling place of God with His people.

3. The Dimensions and Description—Symbolic Perfection

Revelation 21:10-21 provides an elaborate description of the New Jerusalem with specific measurements and precious materials:

• The city is laid out as a square, 12,000 stadia in length, width, and height (21:16)
• The wall is 144 cubits thick (21:17)
• The wall is made of jasper, the city of pure gold (21:18)
• The foundations are decorated with twelve precious stones (21:19-20)
• The twelve gates are twelve pearls (21:21)
• The street is pure gold, transparent as glass (21:21)

First-century Christians would have recognized these numbers as deeply symbolic:

The Number 12:

• 12 tribes of Israel (representing God’s Old Testament people)
• 12 apostles of the Lamb (representing the New Testament church)
• 12 gates with names of the 12 tribes (21:12)
• 12 foundations with names of the 12 apostles (21:14)
• 12,000 stadia (12 x 1,000 = completeness multiplied)
• 144 cubits (12 x 12 = the square of completeness)

The Precious Materials: These represent the glory, purity, and value of God’s dwelling place. The city doesn’t need sun or moon because “the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp” (21:23).

As explained in “Chiasmus in the New Testament,” these measurements and descriptions are not meant to be taken as literal architectural specifications for a physical city. They are symbolic representations of the perfection, completeness, and glory of God’s eternal kingdom. To interpret them literally would be to miss the point entirely.

4. The Garden Restored—From Eden to New Jerusalem

Revelation 22:1-5 presents imagery that deliberately echoes the Garden of Eden:

Genesis 2-3 (Eden):

• The tree of life (Genesis 2:9)
• A river watering the garden (Genesis 2:10)
• God walking with humanity (Genesis 3:8)
• Access to the tree of life lost through sin (Genesis 3:22-24)

Revelation 22:1-5 (New Jerusalem):

• The tree of life restored (22:2)
• The river of the water of life (22:1)
• “They will see his face” (22:4)
• “No longer will there be any curse” (22:3)

This represents the Bible’s grand narrative arc: from creation to fall to redemption to new creation. What was lost in Eden is restored and surpassed in the New Jerusalem. As explained in “The Book of Revelation: the SHOCKING Key from the Story of Joshua & Jericho,” this is not about a Korean organization; it’s about God’s ultimate purpose to dwell with redeemed humanity in a restored creation forever.

5. The Universal Scope—All Nations

Revelation 21-22 repeatedly emphasizes the universal scope of God’s salvation:

• “The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it” (21:24)
• “The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it” (21:26)
• “The leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations” (22:2)

This fulfills God’s promise to Abraham: “All peoples on earth will be blessed through you” (Genesis 12:3). The New Jerusalem includes people “from every nation, tribe, people and language” (Revelation 7:9), not just Koreans or members of one organization.

The Absurdity of SCJ’s New Jerusalem Interpretation

SCJ teaches that the New Jerusalem is “The 12 tribes (the kingdom and priests who have been created with God’s seed)” specifically referring to “Shincheonji Church of Jesus, the Temple of the Tabernacle of the Testimony” (Questions 69-70). This interpretation has catastrophic biblical and theological problems:

Problem 1: The Ontological Category Error

Revelation 21:1-2 describes the sequence: “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God.”

This describes:

• The passing away of the current created order
• The creation of a new cosmic reality (new heaven and new earth)
• A city coming down from heaven (from God’s presence)

SCJ teaches that:

• “The first heaven and earth” = the Tabernacle Temple that betrayed (Question 68)
• “The new heaven and earth” = Shincheonji Church (Question 69)
• “The New Jerusalem” = The 12 tribes of Shincheonji (Question 70)

This interpretation commits what philosophers call a “category error”—confusing fundamentally different types of things. The “first heaven and earth” in Revelation 21:1 refers to the entire created cosmos (sky, earth, sea), not a tent church. The “new heaven and earth” refers to God’s cosmic renewal of creation, not the founding of a religious organization.

Problem 2: The Chronological Impossibility

Revelation 21:1-4 describes what happens AFTER the final judgment:

“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away…And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.'”

Notice what characterizes the New Jerusalem:

• No more death (21:4)
• No more mourning (21:4)
• No more crying (21:4)
• No more pain (21:4)
• No more curse (22:3)
• No more night (22:5)

If Shincheonji is the New Jerusalem (as SCJ claims), then:

• Shincheonji members should never die
• There should be no mourning, crying, or pain among them
• There should be no curse or darkness

Obviously, Shincheonji members do die, do experience pain and suffering, and are subject to all the limitations of mortal existence. The New Jerusalem describes the eternal state after the resurrection, not a human organization in the present age.

Problem 3: The Source and Direction

Revelation 21:2 states that the New Jerusalem comes “down out of heaven from God.” This indicates:

• The city originates in heaven (God’s presence)
• It comes down to earth (descends from above)
• It is prepared by God, not built by humans

SCJ’s interpretation requires believing that:

• The New Jerusalem was founded by Lee Man-hee in South Korea in 1984
• It was built through human recruitment and organization
• It originates on earth, not in heaven

This reverses the direction. The biblical New Jerusalem comes from God to humanity; SCJ’s version is built by humans claiming to fulfill prophecy. As explained in “SCJ’s Fulfillment of Revelation Part 1,” this represents a fundamental misunderstanding of the nature of God’s kingdom—it is not something humans build and then claim is God’s fulfillment; it is something God creates and gives to His people.

Problem 4: The Exclusivity vs. Universality

Revelation 21:24-26 describes the New Jerusalem’s relationship to the nations:

“The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it.”

This describes:

• Nations (plural) walking by the city’s light
• Kings bringing their splendor into the city
• Gates that never shut (indicating openness and welcome)
• The glory and honor of all nations being included

SCJ’s interpretation creates the opposite:

• Only Shincheonji members are the New Jerusalem (exclusivity)
• Only those who accept SCJ’s teachings can enter (closed gates)
• Only Koreans or those connected to a Korean organization are included (ethnic limitation)
• The glory and honor of the nations are excluded unless they join SCJ

This contradicts the text’s emphasis on universal inclusion and openness.

Problem 5: The Tree of Life and Water of Life

Questions 72-73 identify the tree of life as “The pastor who has received and eaten the opened scroll (the one who overcomes)” and the water of life as “God’s word of life (the revealed word).” This interpretation has severe problems:

Issue A: The Tree of Life

Revelation 22:2 describes “the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.”

In biblical symbolism:

• The tree of life represents eternal life and fellowship with God (Genesis 2:9; 3:22-24)
• Access to the tree was lost through sin (Genesis 3:24)
• Access is restored through Christ’s redemption (Revelation 2:7; 22:14)

The tree is not a person (a pastor); it is a symbol of the eternal life available through Christ. Jesus Himself said: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). To identify the tree of life as a Korean pastor rather than Christ represents another form of Christological replacement.

Issue B: The Water of Life

Revelation 22:1 describes “the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb.” Earlier, Revelation 21:6 states: “To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life.”

Jesus identified Himself as the source of living water: “Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them” (John 7:38). He told the Samaritan woman: “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (John 4:13-14).

The water of life represents the Holy Spirit and eternal life available through Christ, not “the revealed word” of SCJ’s teachings. SCJ’s interpretation replaces Christ and the Holy Spirit with their organizational doctrines.

The Dangerous Exclusivity of Question 74

Question 74 asks who can enter the holy city, with the answer being “Those whose names are written in the book of life (Shincheonji Church members whose names are written in the book of life).” This represents the culmination of SCJ’s exclusivist soteriology (doctrine of salvation):

What the Bible Actually Teaches:

Revelation 21:27 states: “Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.”

The “book of life” appears throughout Scripture:

• “May they be blotted out of the book of life and not be listed with the righteous” (Psalm 69:28)
• “Yet now, if you will forgive their sin—but if not, please blot me out of your book that you have written” (Exodus 32:32)
• “At that time your people—everyone whose name is found written in the book—will be delivered” (Daniel 12:1)
• “Yes, and I ask you, my true companion, help these women since they have contended at my side in the cause of the gospel, along with Clement and the rest of my co-workers, whose names are in the book of life” (Philippians 4:3)

The book of life contains the names of all who belong to God through faith in Christ—not just members of one organization. Jesus told His disciples: “However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven” (Luke 10:20).

What SCJ Teaches:

By adding the parenthetical clarification “(Shincheonji Church members whose names are written in the book of life),” Question 74 creates the equation:

Book of Life = Shincheonji Membership Registry

This means:

• Only Shincheonji members have their names in the book of life
• All other Christians throughout history are excluded
• Salvation requires joining Shincheonji, not just faith in Christ
• The apostles, early martyrs, reformers, and millions of faithful believers are not in the book of life

This directly contradicts Jesus’ promise: “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand” (John 10:28). It contradicts Paul’s assurance: “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39).

As explained in “SCJ’s Fulfillment of Revelation Part 2,” this exclusivist claim is essential to SCJ’s system. If people can be saved outside of Shincheonji, then SCJ’s claim to be the exclusive New Jerusalem collapses. Therefore, they must teach that only their members are in the book of life, despite this contradicting the clear teaching of Scripture.

The Heresy of Question 75: Adding to Scripture

Question 75 represents perhaps the most dangerous teaching in the entire test. It asks what believers must add to and keep, with the answer being “The prophecies of Revelation and the New Song (the 5 books of Shincheonji’s doctrine).”

This question references Revelation 22:18-19:

“I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this scroll: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to that person the plagues described in this scroll. And if anyone takes words away from this scroll of prophecy, God will take away from that person any share in the tree of life and in the Holy City, which are described in this scroll.”

The Irony of SCJ’s Teaching:

SCJ uses a warning against adding to Scripture to justify adding their own writings to Scripture! By identifying “the 5 books of Shincheonji’s doctrine” as what must be kept alongside “the prophecies of Revelation,” they are doing precisely what Revelation 22:18-19 warns against.

The Original Meaning of the Warning:

In the ancient world, this type of warning was common in important documents to prevent scribes from altering the text during copying. Similar warnings appear in Deuteronomy 4:2 (“Do not add to what I command you and do not subtract from it”) and Proverbs 30:6 (“Do not add to his words, or he will rebuke you and prove you a liar”).

The warning in Revelation 22:18-19 specifically refers to “the words of the prophecy of this scroll”—the book of Revelation itself. It was meant to protect the integrity of Revelation’s text, not to forbid all theological reflection or commentary.

The Elevation of SCJ’s Writings:

By placing “the 5 books of Shincheonji’s doctrine” alongside “the prophecies of Revelation” as things that must be kept, SCJ elevates their own writings to the level of Scripture. This mirrors the pattern of other groups throughout history that have added extra-biblical writings:

• Mormonism: The Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, Pearl of Great Price
• Jehovah’s Witnesses: The Watchtower publications as authoritative interpretation
• Christian Science: Mary Baker Eddy’s “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures”

In each case, the group claims to provide the “true interpretation” of the Bible, but in practice, their additional writings become the lens through which the Bible must be read. The additional writings gain functional authority over Scripture itself.

As explained in “Why Fulfillment of Prophecy is Absolutely Critical for Shincheonji – Especially Revelation,” SCJ’s entire system depends on their interpretive framework being accepted as authoritative. If students can read the Bible independently and come to different conclusions, SCJ’s exclusive claims collapse. Therefore, they must establish their “5 books of doctrine” as essential, authoritative guides that cannot be questioned.

The Psychological and Spiritual Impact

By the time students complete Advanced Level Test 3, they have been thoroughly indoctrinated into a system where:

1. Organizational Identity Replaces Biblical Faith

Students no longer identify primarily as Christians who trust in Christ; they identify as Shincheonji members who have received special revelation. Their identity is bound to the organization, not to Christ.

2. Exclusive Salvation Claims Create Fear

Students believe that leaving Shincheonji means losing their salvation, having their names removed from the book of life, and forfeiting entrance to the New Jerusalem. This creates intense psychological pressure to remain, even if they have doubts.

3. Biblical Interpretation Becomes Impossible

Students can no longer read the Bible without immediately filtering it through SCJ’s interpretive framework. Independent Bible study becomes impossible because every symbol has been pre-assigned to SCJ’s narrative.

4. Historical Christianity Is Delegitimized

Students come to believe that 2,000 years of Christian history, theology, and faithful witness are all part of “Babylon” or the “first heaven and earth” that has passed away. Only Shincheonji represents true Christianity.

5. Critical Thinking Is Suppressed

Any questions or doubts are reframed as lack of faith, satanic attack, or failure to understand the “revealed word.” Students learn to suppress critical thinking and accept SCJ’s teachings without question.

Chapter 28 of “Testing Shincheonji’s Claims: Two Lenses, One Story” explains how this represents a form of “spiritual captivity”—students’ minds have been so thoroughly shaped by SCJ’s system that they cannot imagine Christianity existing outside of it. The organization has become their mediator to God, replacing Christ’s role as the “one mediator between God and mankind” (1 Timothy 2:5).

The Way Forward: Reclaiming Biblical Christianity

For students who are beginning to question SCJ’s teachings, or for concerned family and friends, it’s important to understand that recovery is possible. Here are key steps:

1. Recognize the Hermeneutical Problem

SCJ’s interpretation method is fundamentally flawed. They:

• Ignore the original historical context of biblical texts
• Dismiss 2,000 years of Christian interpretation
• Apply every symbol to their organizational narrative
• Use inconsistent hermeneutics (literal when convenient, symbolic when necessary)

Learning proper biblical interpretation—considering historical context, literary genre, original audience, and the whole counsel of Scripture—can help students see the problems with SCJ’s approach.

2. Rediscover the Gospel

The gospel is not “join the right organization and learn the correct interpretation.” The gospel is:

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9).

Salvation comes through faith in Christ alone, not through membership in any organization.

3. Reconnect with Historical Christianity

Reading the early church fathers, studying church history, and engaging with Christian theology from various traditions can help students see that faithful Christianity has existed for 2,000 years outside of SCJ. Resources like “Early Christian Revelation Understanding” can show how Christians throughout history have understood Revelation.

4. Find a Healthy Christian Community

Recovery from spiritual abuse often requires finding a healthy church community where:

• The Bible is taught in its historical and literary context
• Questions are welcomed, not suppressed
• Christ is central, not an organization or human leader
• Grace and love characterize relationships
• Critical thinking is encouraged

5. Seek Professional Help if Needed

Leaving a high-control religious group can be traumatic. Many former members benefit from counseling with professionals who understand religious trauma and cult recovery. There is no shame in seeking help.

Conclusion: Two Lenses, Two Stories

This refutation of Advanced Level Review Test 3 has examined SCJ’s teachings through two lenses—the historical lens (what first-century Christians understood) and the literary lens (how the text functions as apocalyptic literature). Through both lenses, we see the same conclusion: SCJ’s interpretation is not a faithful reading of Revelation, but a colonization of the text for organizational purposes.

The Biblical Story:

• God creates the world good
• Humanity rebels and falls into sin
• God works through history to redeem His people
• Jesus Christ comes as the promised Messiah
• Through His death and resurrection, Christ defeats sin and death
• The church proclaims this gospel to all nations
• Christ will return to judge the living and the dead
• God will create a new heaven and new earth
• He will dwell with His redeemed people forever

SCJ’s Story:

• God’s work follows a pattern of betrayal-destruction-salvation
• This pattern reached its final fulfillment in South Korea 1966-1990
• A tent church was established, betrayed, and destroyed
• Lee Man-hee overcame and established Shincheonji
• Shincheonji is the New Jerusalem, the fulfillment of all prophecy
• Only Shincheonji members are truly saved
• All other Christianity is Babylon that must be escaped

These are not two interpretations of the same story. They are two fundamentally different stories. One is centered on Christ and His finished work; the other is centered on an organization and its leader. One offers salvation by grace through faith; the other offers salvation through correct interpretation and organizational membership. One includes all believers throughout history; the other excludes everyone except recent members of one group.

As explained throughout “Testing Shincheonji’s Claims: Two Lenses, One Story,” the choice is not between different eschatological systems (premillennialism, amillennialism, postmillennialism). The choice is between biblical Christianity and a system that has replaced Christ with an organization.

The apostle Paul’s warning to the Galatians remains relevant today:

“I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse!” (Galatians 1:6-8)

The gospel is not about joining the right organization or learning secret interpretations. The gospel is about Jesus Christ—His life, death, resurrection, and promised return. It is available to all who believe, in all places, at all times. It cannot be monopolized by any human organization.

“For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all people” (1 Timothy 2:5-6).

Not one organization. Not one human leader. One mediator: Christ Jesus.

This is the gospel. This is the good news. And this is what Shincheonji’s system, despite its claims, has obscured and replaced.