Wednesday, 11 June 2008

Cult

Samantha Broussard-WilsonStaff ReporterPublished Wednesday, February 6, 2008Source: http://www.yaledailynews.com/articles/view/23348Members of the Yale community practice many faith traditions. But proselytizing by members of one Korean church have left some students feeling a bit disturbed. Representatives of the World Mission Society Church of God — a religious group based in Korea that has been labeled a cult by Korean political leaders and ex-members — have been approaching students on campus to talk to them about the religion. The church’s doctrine dictates that the denomination’s late leader, Ahnsahnghong, was the second Christ. Ahnsahnghong founded the Church of God in 1964 after leaving the Seventh-Day Adventist Church. Ahnsahnghong died 23 years ago and the church is now directed by Zahng Gil Jah and Kim Joo-cheol. Zahng Gil Jah is called “Heavenly Mother” in the World Mission Society Church of God. It is unclear just how long the church’s members have been trying to convert Yalies, but it began expanding outside of Korea 10 years ago, according to its Web site. No church members could be found for comment. Yalies have reported being approached in Sterling Memorial Library, the corner of York Street and Broadway, as well as the Yale Bookstore. Jessica Marsden ’08 said a Church member first began talking to her after she crossed the street in front Au Bon Pain. She said the member was not older than 25 and was Korean. The woman said she was a Korean student and asked Marsden if she knew anything about the female god, Marsden said. “At that point, I realized she wasn’t asking for directions and told her I wasn’t interested,” Marsden said. “Then I realized there was another woman standing behind her, and they were together.” Marsden is a former managing editor for the News. The World Mission Society Church of God members followed Marsden to Labyrinth Bookstore on York Street, all the while gesturing toward a picture of a female figure who they claimed was the female god, Marsden said. When she exited the store, the women were gone, but she said they were doing the same thing to another young man. Marsden was later approached by a male member of the church in the Yale Bookstore, she said. Yale University Chaplain Sharon Kugler said university campuses are often targeted by religious groups looking to recruit members. She encountered similar situations at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, where she served as chaplain until coming to Yale last July. Kugler said the church will not be very successful at a school like Yale, because the students are generally very busy, and they are smart enough to realize the World Mission Society Church of God is not a recognized religious group on campus. “The Yale Chaplain’s Office has a specific structure in which all religious denominations, known as the Yale Religious Ministries, have a covenant with each other about appropriate behavior, Kugler said. “This group is not included.” Kugler urged students to use caution and not to give out personal information to religious solicitors. She said she believes the group is just passing through New Haven and will not cause any long-term nuisance on campus. Lily Rothman ’08 said she encountered two young male Church members in the music library in SML. The men said they were divinity students and asked if she had heard about the Mother Goddess in the Bible, Rothman said. “I told them I didn’t have time to talk and put my headphones back in,” Rothman said. “I had been warned about them so I knew not to start a conversation.” Marsden said although the church members were not coercive, their relentlessness made her feel uncomfortable. “I was clearly not interested, but they continued to talk to me,” Marsden said. “That was pretty frustrating.” According to the church’s Web site, the group has over 400 branches worldwide and has sent missions to every continent other than Antarctica. Kugler said she encourages any student who would like to talk about their experiences with the church to visit the University Chaplain’s Office. The Daily Pennsylvanian, the University of Pennsylvania’s daily student newspaper, reported last week similar occurrences on Penn’s campus in Philadelphia.

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The WMS Church of God

Ahnsahnghong was born in Korea to Buddhist parents. He joined The Holiness Church (Seventh Day Adventist) in 1947. In order to legally preach the gospel he renounced Buddhism and was baptized in 1948. He set up his own church in 1964. During this period he married and divorced several times and had multiple wives and children. Though several of his children are devout Christians, none actually believe him to be The Second Coming of Christ.
An accomplished Biblical scholar, Ahnsahnghong is also the author of several books ("Visitors from the angelic world", "The Seal of God and the Last Plagues" etc). Throughout the 35 chapters of one book, "The Mystery of God and The Spring of The Water of Life", Ahnsahnghong takes Bible scriptures, examines them individually and offers his own interpretations.
Ahnsahnghong made a number of predictions within his early books. The most prominent two being his 1967 and 1988 predictions for the Second Coming of Christ. The majority of his scholarly work written prior to the 1970's, deal in part with these Biblical prophecies.
Following Ahnsahnghong's death, the Church of God went through a reformation process. Many of these books were subverted and the newly named "Church of God" began republishing heavily edited "interpretations" of his work. As it is now hard to find English language translations of Ahnsahnghong's pre 1970's work, we are working to translate and scan various chapters so that readers may download and study his work themselves.
Nevertheless, a number of Ahnsahnhong's more recent and readily available books counter the notion that he was the Second Coming of Christ. Many of these latter water/life books are written in an interpretative tone that do not suggest that the author believes himself to be a deity. Instead he refers to Jesus and The Second Coming numerous times and speaks of the "coming" as an event that will occur in the future and not as one that has already happened or been personally fulfilled.
During his life, Ahnsahnghong never claimed to be Christ and nobody considered or even proclaimed that he was. In fact, before his death (due to a cerebral blood clot), he predicted that the Second Coming of Christ would occur in 1988. In his books, he rationalised this date by adding the Biblical generation of 40 years to the year 1948, the year of Israel's rebirth (1948+40=1988). It is clear that Ahnsahnghong saw himself, not as a God, but as a mere writer and Biblical scholar.
It was only after Ahnsahnghong's death that the Holy Mother Jerusalem, (a Korean woman called Zian-Gil-Za, whom also claims to be God) proclaimed Ahnsahnghong to be the Second Coming of Christ. Zian-Gil-(sometimes spelt Chung Gil Cha or Xhang Gil Cha), an ex lover of Ahnsahnghong (they met in her late twenties) ensures that the Church of God guards all details of Ahnsahnghong’s early life and guarantees that his real birth name and past history remains a secret. Incidentally, Chung Gil Cha’s sister was imprisoned in Korea in the 70s for embezzling money from a Church.
During the early 90's the Church of God underwent a major reformation process. After Ahnsahnghong's predictions and prophecies failed to materialise in 1988 (and after he failed to physically ascend after his death), his followers began to grow disillusioned. Thus, the Church's doctrines were "reinterpreted". The idea of Christ coming in secret as a mortal and the concept of a third coming salvation were all born in an effort to justify Ahnsahnghong's death.
The group currently believes in a 2012 END DATE, stating that an apocalyptic nuclear fire will terminate all life on earth. Only the chosen few will survive. When these interpretations do not materialise, no doubt they will further alter their doctrines.
In 2004, The Christian Council of Korea, which represents churches in the country has, according to the visiting professors, declared the WMS-Church of God “heretical”. Their findings indicated that the Church employs grooming methods, using susceptible young men and women (19-25 years old) to recruit further malleable recruits. The Church of God argues that these allegations are “groundless” and denies claims allegedly made by other Christian denominations that the Church “worships a man”, “mistreats minors” and “gradually destroys families”.
The visiting academics nevertheless indicated that the Church employs cultic practises and has frequently been accused of breaking up families, citing that female followers are often made to leave their homes in order to wait at cult buildings for the “coming of Christ”, which Ahnsahnghong initially predicted would happen in 1988.
As of January 1999, there are over 200 cult leaders in Korea claiming to be Gods or messiahs. The country is a hotbed of new age mysticism new religious movements as the Korean people try to evolve a religion of their own, incorporating Western and Middle Eastern mysticism with more traditional Korean cultural practises. Estimates of cult membership in Korea alone, provided by the Korean National Council of Churches in 1999, was 350,000. This figure is constantly rising as many cults are gaining power through clandestine door-to-door propagation.


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