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When Jesus warned in Matthew 7:15 and told the people to “Beware of false prophets,” He did describe them – saying they will look remarkably like true prophets. They would be wearing “sheep’s clothing.” They would look “right,” sound “right,” and might even perform miracles, the better to deceive. It would be their fruit, i.e., their teachings, which would demonstrate whether they were true or false prophets. A favorite tactic of many pseudo-Christian cults is to reimagine the Bible as being a book about their leader and group. For example, Sun Myung Moon founded the Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity, more commonly known as the Unification Church, in Seoul, South Korea, in 1954. He used or rather misused the Bible and developed an “updated” book, The Divine Principle, which:

inherits and builds upon the core truths which God revealed through the Jewish and Christian scriptures and encompasses the profound wisdom of the Orient.¹The Divine Principle, The Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, USA

Moon claimed to be the Messiah and pointed to Matthew 24 as prophesying his coming:

For as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. (Matthew 24:27)

Moon came from the East, South Korea, and went to the West, America. What could be plainer? Moon is not the first nor is he the last to twist the Bible to make it appear to be about their group. The Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, Jehovah’s Witnesses, taught that the seven trumpets of Revelation were seven conferences which they held back in their relative “infancy” – the early 1900s. The 144,000 mentioned in Revelation 7 & 14 are, they taught, the “anointed class” of Jehovah’s Witnesses; and salvation comes by associating with their organization. Jesus is not God but a created being, an archangel named Michael. This is another common theme among false prophet organizations and wanna-be messiahs. They preach a different Jesus, a different God, and a different way of salvation. That is why the most important way to identify a false prophet cult group is to examine their teachings.  

A group that has recently come to our attention is Shincheonji Church of Jesus, founded in 1984 by Lee Man-hee. They claim to be:

the 12 tribes (named after the 12 disciples) who make up the 144,000, along with “the great multitude in white” mentioned in Revelation chapter 7.²Shincheonji; Steve Matthews, Watchman Fellowship Profile, p 3

The group is quite aggressive in evangelizing Christians and Christian churches. At the time of this writing they have a “witnessing” campaign going on is the Orlando, FL area and college campuses in Australia.³A Christian ‘doomsday cult’ is targeting Australian university campuses. Now former members want them stopped | Christianity | The Guardian, Melissa Davey, The Guardian October 15, 2024 and Inside the bizarre recruitment tactics of the Shincheonji ‘doomsday’ church | Christianity | The Guardian, Melissa Davey, The Guardian October 15, 2024 As an enticement they are also offering all-expense paid trips to South Korea to observe the graduating class of their university.

Unfortunately, many pastors are not only unaware of the group, but often don’t have the tools or the time to evaluate such groups. They come across with a “Christian-sounding” vocabulary but they use a different “dictionary.” Like the Jehovah’s Witnesses, Shincheonji views the Book of Revelation as being all about their group. We see this in their name, “Shincheonji,” which translates as “new heaven and a new earth.”(Revelation 21:1)

But their understanding goes far beyond these words. The interpretation given by Lee Man-hee is that the historical church is no longer relevant; it has been set aside and replaced by Shincheonji. How very original! A historical-grammatical contextual reading of the above passage reveals that back in Revelation 20, the thousand-year kingdom on earth ended, and Satan was loosed for a season, after which he and the anti-Christ were cast into the lake of fire and sulfur. The Great White Throne judgment had already taken place and all accounts have been settled. Chapter 21 teaches the earth and cosmos have by this time been dissolved (see also 1 Peter 3:10) and the Apostle John wrote:

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.  And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” (Revelation 21:1-4)

Peter and John certainly describe a cosmos cleansed of the ravages of sin, a new heaven and a new earth in its place, God dwelling with man, and no “mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” But, we have to wonder how and why everything came to pass without our even noticing it? Looking around, NOBODY seems to have noticed it! So, we may not know “how” or even “when” all this overtook us, but we do know the “why.” It simply had to be that way to make everything now about Shincheonji, of course! Aha! Here’s a clue though – all this stuff did not occur literally. That helps…

The “new heavens and new earth” are not to be understood literally (and neither are most of the events of Revelation) but this refers to the passing away of the traditional churches to be replaced by God’s kingdom of Shincheonji. The meaning of the Book of Revelation was hidden in parables so that no one in heaven or on earth has been able to understand the truth for 6,000 years until now when Revelation’s fulfillment is taking place. All of the events of Revelation have already had their physical fulfillment in South Korea in the past few decades, except for some of the events of chapters 18 to 20 which will soon be fulfilled.⁴In-Depth Overview of Shincheonji

Simalarly, Jehovah’s Witnesses make good use of invisible or possibly non-literal events to claim that Jesus returned invisibly in 1914 to investigate all of the churches, which he determined were all part of the whore of Babylon’s (invisible) world empire of false religions. Well, all except the Watchtower Society, which was of course conveniently visible at that time, and whom Jesus (invisibly) appointed as the faithful and discreet slave, and then did a lot more invisible or at least highly debatable stuff. That’s what JWs claim, but when it comes to invisible and/or non-literal and highly debatable claims, it can be hard to know exactly who to believe!

Shincheonji claims, of course, that their group was chosen, and the hidden meanings of Revelation were given to Lee Man-hee, who, as it turns out in his telling, is the central character of the Biblical story. Wow! If you have supposed the central character of the Bible is God, you are sadly mistaken. How does Lee Man-hee figure into Scripture?:

• He is the Messenger in Rev. 1:1
• He is the “one who overcomes’ in Revelation chapters 2 and 3
• The one who wrote the letters to the seven churches of Revelation chapters 2 and 3.
• He is the pillar in God’s temple Rv 3:12
• He is the one who went up to heaven in Rev. 4:1.
• He was in front of the throne in Rev. 5
• He is the one that is sealing the 144,000 in Rev. 7.
• He is the golden censer of Rev. 8:3-5.
• The one who eats the little book in Rev. 10.
• He was one of the Two Witnesses of Rev. 11
• He is the Seventh Trumpet in Rev. 11:15ff.
• He is the male child born in Rev. 12:5f.
• He is the white horse that Jesus rides on in Rev 19:11.
• He is the bride of Christ of Rev. 19 and Rev. 21
• He is the Messenger who speaks of in Rev. 22:16.
• He establishes the kingdom of God on earth and seals believers for salvation.
• He is Faithful and Wise Servant (Mt 24:45)
• He is The Advocate (John 14-16)
• He is the “tree of life” in the Bible and will sit on God’s throne.⁵In-Depth Overview of Shincheonji

There is no inconvenient pre-incarnate Son of God for Lee Man-hee and Shincheonji to contend with:

Shincheonji denies the central biblical doctrine of the Trinity, and also denies Christ’s deity (and preexistence before His birth), His resurrected body (He was raised with a body that became a spirit as He ascended into the clouds), and His future glorious Second Coming. SCJ teaches that Jesus has already returned in 1966 in spirit when he started teaching his message in South Korea, the thousand-year Millennial Kingdom began in 1984, and the Great Tribulation that Jesus spoke of was the COVID-19 global pandemic.⁶Shincheonji; Steve Matthews, Watchman Fellowship Profile, p 3

Someone might wonder why some Christians don’t “catch on” that there is something “off” about the group. That is simple. They are lying to you! Like JWs, who have something called a “Theocratic War Strategy,” which is a doctrine that teaches they are not under any obligation, to tell the truth to those outside the organization, Shincheonji has the doctrine of “the wisdom of hiding,” which gives them the freedom to falsely claim to hold to the fundamental doctrines of the faith in the case of evangelism. These wolves invading the flock today in “sheep’s clothing” can rightly borrow and paraphrase an honest line from the wolf in Little Red Riding Hood – “the better to deceive you with, my dear.”

Do not be deceived, friends. Ravenous wolves of all kinds are still at the door, or on a street corner, or in your church, seeking to drag you and your family away from the flock. He or she may not bear all the glorious titles of the book of Revelation, but he is a biblical character! He is the wolf in sheep’s clothing that Jesus warned about in Matthew 7. Always remember: the important clue is not what he looks like – HE COULD LOOK LIKE YOUR GRANDMA – it’s what he teaches that identifies him! Jesus’s warning to “beware of false prophets” (Matthew 7:15-23) and Paul’s charge to “guard the flock” (Acts 20:28-31) are just as necessary today as they were in the First Century.Ω

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