Lee Manhee, the Promised Pastor of the New Testament
Lee Man-hee, born on September 15, 1931, in Cheongdo County, North Gyeongsang Province, South Korea, is the founder of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus, a religious group established in 1984. Shincheonji, meaning “New Heaven and New Earth,” is considered a pseudoreligion or cult by mainstream Christian denominations.
Lee’s followers regard him as the self-proclaimed messiah and the “promised pastor” mentioned in the New Testament, believing he is the fulfillment of the prophecies of the New Testament, speaking on behalf of God and Jesus.
He started his life of faith under the guidance of a star and built the Church of Shincheonji with God’s Word for over 40 years, sometimes even risking his own life. In addition, the reason why Shincheonji was able to be established according to the Word without adding to or subtracting from it is because He is the appointed messenger from Jesus as shown in Revelation 22:16. Furthermore, following Jesus who proclaimed peace on earth 2,000 years ago and preached the revelation of the Old Testament, he has been working as a global peace activist.
He was chosen by God and Jesus to be the spokesperson on their behalf in 1977, and in the spring of 1980, Lee Manhee was given the “open scroll”, becoming a walking Bible. Lee Manhee then started Shincheonji Church of Jesus Temple of the Tabernacle of Testimony officially on March 14, 1984. His purpose is to build the Kingdom of Heaven on earth as it is in heaven.
He is also the one who judges the world with the Word and plainly testifies to the opened revelation of the sealed scroll of the New Testament (the word of revelation that fulfilled the New Testament).
The Exaltation of Lee Manhee
Lee Manhee is a self-proclaimed “Promised Pastor”, putting on the following titles:
New John – as the Apostle John “sees and hears” the prophecy of the book of Revelation, the “New John” sees and hears the events of Revelation.
Promised Pastor – Shincheonji teaches that the New Testament prophecies point to the promised pastor of the current era, who will come to judge the world and establish God’s eternal kingdom. Lee Man-hee and his followers believe that he is this promised pastor.
The Advocate or Comforter that Jesus spoke of in John chapters 14 to 16, as the Advocate in reference is the angel who delivers the book of Revelation to John in Revelation 1:1-3, and feeds the New John the “open scroll”, the fulfillment of the book of Revelation, in Revelation 10 which happened during the spring of 1980.
The “faithful and wise servant” of Matthew 24.
The tree of life in the Bible.
Lee Manhee in the Book of Revelation
God’s Messenger (1:1-2)
The one who wrote the letters of chapters 2 and 3
The one who went up to heaven in chapter 4
The one in front of God’s throne in chapter 5
The one who wept when the scroll could not be opened
The one sealing the 144,000 in chapter 7
The one who is the golden censer in chapter 8
The one who eats the little book in chapter 10
One of the two witnesses in chapter 11
The seventh trumpet in chapter 11
The male child born in chapter 12
The white horse that Jesus rides in chapter 19
The one who is the bride of Christ in chapter 19
The John who is spoken of 22:18
Lee Manhee the Savior
Even though a Shincheonji member will outright deny calling Lee Manhee a “savior” or “messiah”, when reviewing his books, we can clearly see that it is heavily implied or even outright stated.
The Creation of Heaven and Earth, page 562 – The prophecies of the New Testament are already being fulfilled. At first, the destroyers in the prophecies of Revelation defeated the betrayers in a spiritual battle, but the savior (i.e., the promised pastor who overcomes) has defeated these destroyers in a second battle (Rv 13, 12). Jesus promised in Rv 2-3 to give many things to the one who overcomes at the time of the end.
The Creation of Heaven and Earth, page 398 – … the promised pastor comes to carry out the work of salvation. This savior (the promised pastor) …
The Physical Fulfillment of Revelation, page 89 – …this becomes the testimony that distinguishes the savior (i.e., the promised pastor) from the betrayers (i.e. the seven messengers) and the destroyers (i.e., the Nicolaitans).
The Creation of Heaven and Earth – page 84 – The betrayers = the seven messengers; the destroyers = Satan’s Nicolaitans; the saviors = Jesus and the one who overcomes
The betrayers = the seven messengers; the destroyers = Satan’s
In the above quotes, it’s pretty clear and apparent that the Promised Pastor does have a messianic, or salvific, role in the era that they rule in. This is also why Lee Manhee can boldly make the claim:
The Physical Fulfillment of Revelation, page 10 – This means no one can come to Jesus, gain eternal life, or enter heaven except through the one who overcomes (Rv 10).
Lee Man-hee never evangelized?
Lee Man-hee makes plenty of bold claims, especially when he claims to have never been evangelized. To quote him directly:
‘To All the Protestant Pastors in Korea’ (380911 – 11 Sep 2021) – I was a farmer that grew up on a farm in the countryside. I did not know anything about church, the Bible, or pastors, and I never received the laying on of hands to become a pastor. Also, I was never evangelized by anyone. During my childhood, I only [had the experience of] holding my grandfather’s hand when he would pray to God.
And yet, when looking at his past, he was involved with at least three different groups, including the Olive Tree Movement, the Tabernacle Temple, which he admits that he was apart of, and Baek’s Recreation Sect.
To make matters worse, despite Lee Manhee claiming to have received a vision from an angel to have the “correct” understanding of the Bible, when investigating the previous cults that he was involved with, there is certainly a lot of overlap between what the previous cults taught, and what Shincheonji teaches today.
To learn more about the different groups and their overlap with the current teachings of Shincheonji, visit the following resources:
https://shinchonjiandthebible.blogspot.com/2010/06/all-or-nothing.html
https://wrldrels.org/2020/03/31/olive-tree-movement/
https://cesnur.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/tjoc_4_3_1_introvigne.pdf
https://repository.up.ac.za/bitstream/handle/2263/53079/Kim_Shincheonji_2016.pdf