History Before Shincheonji: Where was Manhee Lee?

Dear reader, 

One phenomenon in Christian history is how apocalyptic leaders and movements give birth to other movements that claim to be the final movement in Christianity.

The following report sent by a professor in California substantiates Manhee Lee's involvement in three other Korean end-time movements before Shincheonji.  

_______________

A Short Genealogy of the Shinchonji Church of Jesus (1)

Here is some information on historical and theological connections between the Shinchonji Church of Jesus and other apocalyptic Korean movements.  Manhee Lee (b. 1931), the founder of the Shinchonji Church of Jesus, originally belonged to a faith-healing group begun by Tae Sun Park (b. 1915) (S. Lee 139).  This group was known as the Olive Tree Movement, because Mr. Park linked himself to the return of Christ as one (or both) of the two witnesses or olive trees in Revelation 11 (Grayson 209; Moos 117).  (His followers, in fact, revised Wesley’s hymn to read “Joy to the world, the Olive has come” [Moos 116]).  Mr. Park also identified himself as the mysterious, ever-victorious figure who comes from the east in Isaiah 41:2 (Grayson 209).  His followers called him the “Righteous Man of the East,” and they (or he) claimed he would never die—or, at least, that the last day of the world would come within his lifetime (Moos 120).

The Olive Tree movement was the largest and fastest growing of the new, syncretic Korean religions after the Korean War (Grayson 208).  By 1963 it had gained from 800,000 to 2,000,000 followers in over 300 congregations (Moos 119).  Many of the followers lived in specially constructed industrial communities outside of Seoul that made a variety of “Zion” products—everything from blankets and underwear to caramels and artificial flowers (Moos 113).  The movement also had a popular presence in rural areas, where Mr. Park’s distinctive white churches, with crimson crosses painted atop crenellated towers, dotted the countryside (Grayson 207). By the mid-to-late 1960s, it seemed to some observers that Mr. Park’s movement would supplant mainline Protestant groups in South Korea (Grayson 208).

Mr. Park was an industrialist and elder in the Presbyterian Church who was attracted to revivalist movements.  He himself had a growing sense that there must be more to Christian faith than the Presbyterians seemed to offer.  While helping to lead an all-night revival meeting for 20,000 people in southern Seoul in 1955, he received a vision of fire and water descending from heaven.  He then came down from the platform and massaged the head of a man identified as a cripple, and Mr. Park’s helpers then cried out that the man could walk.  By sunrise, after Mr. Park had circulated among the crowd and massaged many heads and limbs, his helpers shouted to great applause that he had healed 1,000 people (Grayson 208; Moos 115-116).  Thus the Olive Tree movement was born.

Park was expelled from the Presbyterian Church in 1956 on charges of heresy.  He claimed in return that he was a truer Christian than the ones who denounced him, and his followers continued to call him Elder Park.  It should be noted here that a vexed relationship with the Presbyterian Church has marked not only Mr. Park’s movement but also all of his successor movements, all of which have regarded themselves as supra-denominational (Grayson 208; Moos 117).

The worship services that evolved in the Olive Tree movement were somewhat Presbyterian in form but came to involve hours of frenzied hymn-chanting, hand-clapping, and drum-beating.  Many followers, both women and men, deserted their families to donate all their worldly possessions in order to gain eternal life on Mr. Park’s terms.  According to the anthropologist Felix Moos, “Women followers were observed to be especially eager to offer whatever possessions they had—rings, watches, clothing; some ardent believers were even seen shedding their skirts during revival services since they had nothing else to give” (119).

Mr. Park was accused, among other things, of injuring and defrauding his followers, and he was sentenced to two and a half years in jail in 1959.  But a regime change resulted in a swift pardon, and Mr. Park spent only a few months in prison (Grayson 208; Moos 117-18).  Scandals connected with Mr. Park and his family from the 1970s onward, however, resulted in mass defections (Grayson 208). 

By 1969, Manhee Lee had already abandoned the Olive Tree movement to join another—the Tent Temple movement.  The Tent Temple—or the Temple of the Tabernacle—was founded by Jae Yul Yoo (b. 1949), also known as the “Young Servant.”  Mr. Yoo had previously been a follower of Jogkyu Kim and his Hosang prayer house.  When Mr. Kim became involved in a sexual scandal with a female member, however, Mr. Yoo left the group with a handful of members and started his own (S. Lee 138).

According to Mr. Yoo, Jesus spoke only in parables and secrets.  Since the end times were now said to be imminent, these parables and secrets needed to be illumined, and Mr. Yoo alone could properly do this. His method of interpretation was to match each passage of Scripture with its hidden twin.  For, according to Mr. Yoo, all verses come in secret pairs (S. Lee 139).

Mr. Yoo also taught that the Lord had prepared a secret room near the reservoir of Mt. Chungkye, on the southern outskirts of Seoul, as a refuge of escape from the battle of Armageddon.  After the chosen saints entered this valley, the world would be covered by fire.  Then the saints would be made into kings to rule the world (S. Lee 138-39). 

Mr. Yoo’s Tent Temple movement grew to 5,000 members in the 1970s.  The group shrank when Mr. Yoo was accused of fraud.  Mr. Yoo subsequently gave up his leadership of the movement, donated its assets to the Presbyterian Church, and moved to the United States in 1980, where he now pursues a private business and denounces the teachings of Manhee Lee, in part because Mr. Lee was critical of Mr. Yoo’s defection from his own movement (S. Lee 139, 143).

Manhee Lee’s Shinchonji Church of Jesus is one of several apocalyptic groups that came out of Mr. Yoo’s Tent Temple movement.  Two other such groups are Poong Il Kim’s Saegwang Central Church and the late In Hee Koo’s Heaven Gospel Witnessing Association (S. Lee 139). 

Mr. Kim, founder of the Saegwang Central Church, was originally an evangelist for Mr. Park and then a follower of Mr. Yoo.  He founded his own movement in 1974.  Like Mr. Yoo, he held that all passages in the Bible are secretly paired—and that one must know these secret pairings to be saved.  He named himself “The Counselor” or “Another Counselor.”  According to Mr. Kim, the Kingdom of Heaven would soon be established in Korea, and the abode of salvation would be in his church alone.  In 2009, he publicly confessed in a newspaper that he was not the divine Counselor after all, and he repented and apologized.  However, he has maintained leadership of his movement, and he continues to insist that believers can only receive their salvation through the Saegwang Central Church (S. Lee 140-42).

Like Manhee Lee, In Hee Koo of the Heaven Gospel movement had been part of Tae Sun Park’s group and, also like Manhee Lee, had joined the Temple Tent movement in the late 1960s.  He started his own Heaven Gospel movement in 1971 after receiving a vision in which he was commanded to “receive the worship of the nations.”  He was imprisoned as part of a government crackdown on pseudo-religions in 1975, and he died in prison in 1976.  Among his teachings: (1) the Korean flag was a symbol for God and contained the meaning and message of Scripture; (2) Scripture itself was a system of parables, secrets, symbols, and mirrored shadows;  (3) the saints should learn the words of God directly from those who had received the Spirit of God; (4) the second coming of Christ would take place in Korea; (5) Mr. Koo himself embodied that second coming; (6) judgment day would arrive on November 10, 1973.  When judgment day did not arrive as predicted, many of his followers literally wanted their money back.  Other followers, however, even after Mr. Koo had died, continued to believe that they had witnessed in him the second coming of Jesus (S. Lee 141-43).

After Mr. Koo’s death, the Heaven Gospel movement divided into many branches.  Among them, The Korean Jesus Churches of Heavenly Gospel Evangelical Association became the best known.  This group was headed by Chong Il Choi, who represented himself as the “wife “of Mr. Koo.  He was regarded as the “Lamb” who embodies the second coming of Christ in Revelation.  Mr. Choi also claimed that he could perfectly interpret all sixty-six books of the Bible.  Each of the branches of the Heaven Gospel movement vigorously asserts itself as the only path of true belief (S. Lee 141).

Manhee Lee’s Shinchonji Church of Jesus is the third main offshoot of the Tent Temple movement.  In addition to being a follower of Mr. Sun and then of Mr. Yoo, Mr. Lee subsequently followed Man Bong Baek, who claimed to be God and was referred to by many as “Solomon.”  Mr. Baek, like Mr. Koo, also stipulated a date for the end of the world.  When this date came and went, Mr. Baek’s followers deserted him.  Mr. Lee gathered some of these to form the Shinchoji Church of Jesus (SCJ).  Manhee Lee dates the official beginning of SCJ as 1984, which, he says, is “the year that the universe completed its orbit and returned to its point of origin” (M. Lee 44).

Like others from the Tent Temple movement, Manhee Lee asserts that the Bible is made up of parables and secrets, and that one must understand the exact meaning of these passages in order to be saved.  Manhee Lee, as the “promised pastor,” is the only one who can impart a complete mastery of the scriptures.  Also like others from the Tent Temple movement, Mr. Lee asserts that the new heaven and new earth will begin in Korea.  When the number of the saved reaches 144,000, the era of Shinchonji will begin at Gua Chun City, located in the same valley designated by Mr. Yoo.  At this time, or by this time, the souls of 144,000 martyrs, having waited in heaven, will enter the bodies of the 144,000 SCJ saints.  Mr. Lee himself, like Mr. Sun before him, claims that he will never die, and that his followers will partake of his “fleshly immortality,” a sort of redefined resurrection, through becoming the recipients of the spirits of the dead martyrs.  At present, Manhee Lee is in his early 80s and not in good health.  Recently, several leaders within SCJ have departed from the organization to begin their own movements, each leader claiming to be divinely anointed and uniquely possessed of the truth of the scriptures (S. Lee 140-43).

In summary, then, SCJ is one of three Korean apocalyptic movements that were all derived from Mr. Yoo’s Tent Temple movement.  In addition, the leaders of all three of these movements were originally involved in Mr. Park’s Olive Tree movement.  At least two of these third-generation movements, including SCJ, have in turn given rise to further, somewhat similar movements.  

Also in summary, it can be seen that SCJ demonstrates a number of common features with one or more of these related movements:

• A leader who claims divine appointment or divine identity, revealed through a vision.
• This leader’s claim of complete and exclusive understanding of the scriptures.
• A focus on the parables of Jesus and other figurative or “secret” portions of scripture—or other portions understood by the leader as figurative.
• An understanding of the leader’s exact interpretation of the parables and other figurative portions of scripture as prerequisite to a person’s salvation.
• The claim that no other leader or group offers the way of salvation.
• The claim that the leader will never die.
• The claim that the leader has a messianic role in the end times, which are imminent or in fact have already begun.
• The claim that Korea is a focal point of action in the end times.
• The claim that the valley of Mt. Chungkye in particular will be a refuge and gathering place for believers in the end times.
• The future role of these believers as rulers of the world.                                                                                                                                                                                                  

Works Cited

Grayson, James Huntley.  Korea: A Religious History.  London: Routledge Curzon, 2002.

Lee, Man-Hee.  The Creation of Heaven and Earth.  Republic of Korea: Shinchonji Press, 2009.

Lee, Seung Yun.  “The Genealogy of Cults: ‘The Tabernacle-Temple Denomination.’”  Modern Religion April 2011: 138-43.

Moos, Felix.  “Some Aspects of Park Chang No Kyo—A Korean Revitalization Movement.”  Anthropological Quarterly July 1964: 110-20.

(1). Researched by professor Paul Willis, willis@westmont.edu, revised July, 2012.

     

Why are SCJ Interpretations so Different?

Dear reader, 

If you are a Christian and have conversed with end-time groups, you may have asked yourself, ¨How in the world did they get that interpretation from this verse or that word?¨ It seems spiritually bizarre and puzzling.

Some people feel conversations with end-time groups are pointless because Christians show them one set of verses while members of these groups retaliate with other verses (or even use the same ones with different interpretations).  For example, Shincheonji interprets those ¨in the light¨ in I Thess. 5:1-8 to refer to SCJ members with the revealed word, whereas Christians view this as all believers in Christ Jesus.

The reality is that Christians and followers of end-time movements use different ¨glasses¨ (or approaches) to explain meanings in the Bible.  This leads to some important questions about biblical interpretation.

What method should Christians use to interpret the Scriptures?  What approach do final prophets or end-time groups use?  Why are interpretations so different?

There are two methods that have been historically unsafe and dangerous. Even though these approaches claim to possess divine help and guidance, they are based more on human authority.  Below is a brief description and analysis of them.

1. Group-Guided Approach.

This method is based on the notion that God guides a specific group of leaders to explain meanings and concepts of the Christian faith.  The Watchtower Society or the Catholic Magisterium are primary examples.  Leaders of these groups emphasize that God´s Spirit gives them interpretative authority, which is why Christians need them.

One result of this approach is that it forces Christians to depend more on human leaders as opposed to seeking God and relying on his help. In addition, leaders end up developing spiritual traditions, teachings, or rules that go beyond what is written.  Many of these traditions become the central focus of the group and are even elevated above the simple message of Christ.

Lastly, because these leaders consider themselves interpreters by divine appointment, they become the real authority above the Bible.  Moreover, they do not humbly receive correction from the Bible by devoted Christians outside their group.

2.  Prophet-Revealer Approach.

This method is based on the belief that God appoints a prophet to be Jesus´ final spokesperson on earth in the end.  Through visions, dreams, and revelations, this prophet brings new knowledge regarding Jesus´ second coming and salvation. They believe they are filled with God´s power and Spirit, much like the prophets in the Old Testament.

Members in end-time groups are taught to put aside previous concepts about God and the Bible as they learn new information from the prophet.  Their leader offers interpretations that ¨makes sense¨ of mysterious or unfulfilled prophecies.  The prophet´s authority is also magnified because they insist all other Christians are spiritually blind and in darkness.
 
What serious problems emerge with this method?

First, Jesus Christ cautions all Christians to stay away from final prophets who take his place and assume his authority in the end (Mt. 24:4,5, Lk. 21:8).  This is a common sign of error in all end-time groups.

Even so, prophets in end-time groups assert God has sent them as a final prophet. They point to ¨revealed¨ prophecies in the Bible foretelling their coming and authority.  One example in SCJ is the idea that the Bible has promises of a final pastor in the end. Yet, it is suspicious when only the prophet sees certain texts as prophecies and the language (and context) from the Scriptures communicates something else.

Unbeknownst to them, members subtly believe a prophecy based more on human authority than the Bible.

This leads to a second problem - too much interpretative authority in the hands of one person.  Interestingly enough, a prophet offers new light about Bible verses, words, Scripture connections, figurative meanings, prophecies, etc., almost entirely based on an, ¨I say so authority.¨  For instance, Manhee Lee says that the interpretation of ¨east¨ in Rev. 7 refers to Korea because he ¨knows where the east is¨ (Creation of Heaven and Earth, p. 194), but not based on the Scriptures.

As members become more and more involved in their organization, the danger is that the prophet´s interpretations are viewed as more inspired than the Bible itself.  Thus, any Bible verse or explanation which contradicts their prophet must be in error, especially from Christians outside their group.

Lastly, something is spiritually amiss when a final prophet is said to be filled with God´s Spirit, yet modifies Jesus´ identity and the clear message of salvation through Christ.  They make ¨prophetic knowledge¨ about the Bible a requirement for eternal life instead of being united to Christ Jesus.
  
3. The Christian Model: Holy Spirit and Bible-Method.

This is the safest and most efficient way to interpret the Scriptures.  As Peter said, ¨His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him¨ (2 Pet. 1:3).

As we give our lives to Jesus Christ, believers can rely on God's presence to help them understand the important truths from God (i.e. everything we need for life and godly living).  Regardless of one´s church or denomination, the important truths can be known and experienced by all believers.  The Scriptures preserve and communicate God´s redemptive message in Christ (2 Tim. 3:16) to all those who sincerely seek him.

Thus, the biggest and most important spiritual truths can be understood without an authoritative leader or group (1 Jn. 2:27, Ps. 119:97-104).  In Christian thinking, the clear language in the Bible is superior to a final prophet´s explanations, not the other way around.

In closing, understanding that Shincheonji uses a prophet-interpretation method explains why their interpretations are so innovative and puzzling.  This is why Christians and SCJ members can have Bible discussions and be talking past each other.  They are using two different methods to interpret the Bible.

A Misconception about Jesus Christ.

Dear reader,

One of the earliest spiritual movements against Christianity was Gnosticism.  In its simplest and reduced form, various Gnostic leaders and schools claimed to know more about Christ than the early Christians.  They taught they had hidden knowledge (gnosis) about who Jesus was, what the universe was about, and how to be saved from the evil world/physical matter.

In response to Gnosticism, early Christians wrote the first creed in Christian history.  From Gnosticism and other subsequent movements, Christian thinkers have noted a common theme - dark movements present a different Christ who is supposedly more real than the Christ of Christianity.

The apostles warned about erroneous ideas concerning Jesus.  John wrote that any spirit that denied Jesus coming in the flesh was a spirit of the antichrist (I Jn. 4:2,3), which is what many of the early Gnostic leaders denied.  Paul warned about philosophies that did not accept God´s fullness in Jesus' physical body (Col. 2:8,9).  He said that no Christian worker could ¨lay any other foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ¨ (I Cor. 3:11).  Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever (Heb. 13:8).

One Christian researcher stated that the same Gnostic pattern is observed today in end-time movements.  Revelations to prophets from alleged angels, Jesus, or God teach a Jesus who is different in some aspect (and supposedly more accurate than the one in Christian circles).

What is one of the most common errors about Jesus Christ?

It is common for Christian cults to reveal a spirit-Christ who is resurrected as a spirit or becomes a spirit after he ascends into heaven.  Since Jesus is a spirit being, he then returns invisibly to earth to indwell the leader of an end-time group or invisibly chooses and guides their movement.  

Manhee Lee states that Jesus returns invisibly and unites with the flesh/body of the SCJ pastor (Manhee Lee).  ¨Jesus promised that when the gospel of heaven is spread to the ends of the earth, he will return in spirit to unite with his promised pastor¨ (Creation of Heaven and Earth, p. 143).  One Shinchonji instructor said that Jesus was transfigured after his death and became a spirit (citing the vision of Jesus in Rev. 1).

Interestingly enough, Christian leaders and thinkers realize this is not the complete picture.

First, the information in the Scriptures is that the post-resurrection Jesus is not just a spirit.  Something happened to his human side.  He was the first human to be glorified (Col. 1:19, I Cor. 15:20).  Christ is the first man of a new, human existence. When confronted by the religious leaders, Jesus predicted something would happen to his physical body (Jn. 2:19-21).  His body, not the temple in Jerusalem, would be rebuilt.

When Christ rose from the dead, he proved he was not just a spirit (Lk. 24:39).  He challenged his disciples to touch his hands and feet.  His body was the same in some aspects, but totally different in another sense (i.e. glorified).  The body that suffered death was raised to life and never saw decay or destruction again (Ac. 2:31, 13:34).  Acts 13:34 says, ¨As to his raising him from the dead, no more to return to corruption.¨

It was a new human body in glory.  In Philippians 3:21, while mentioning God´s plan to glorify mortal bodies, Paul refers to Christ´s present body in glory.  ¨And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body (or body of his glory in some translations)¨ (Phil. 3:21).

The disciples also believed that Jesus never lost his human side.  Years after his ascension, they continued to refer to Christ as a man.  ¨For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus¨ (I Tim. 2:5).  ¨He has fixed a day on which he will have the world judged in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed¨ (Ac. 17:30).  In Hebrews 2, the Bible states that Jesus became humanity's high priest forever, a unique mediator who shares our human nature.

Secondly, if Jesus became a spirit after his ascension, then his human resurrection was not real.  It would be a contradiction of terms.  According to the definition of the resurrection, God powerfully infuses into a human body a new and higher glorified form with an indestructible nature (See I Cor. 15:42-44).  In other words, a resurrected human body is designed to exist forever.  This is what Jesus experienced when he rose from the dead.  His body was glorified, not disintegrated or transfigured into a spirit.

When the Corinthians asked about the future resurrection body, Paul explains that it's a higher body, imperishable, greater in power and glory (I Corinthians 15:42-44).  It is a body that is indestructible, which means nothing can destroy it.  It´s a body that puts on ¨immortality¨ (I Cor. 15:53).  Further, the word ¨body¨ in I Cor. 15 in the original language is used of a physical, material body, not an immaterial spirit-body.

End-time groups mistake ¨spiritual body¨ in 1 Cor. 15:44 for ¨spirit body,¨ which denies the physical side of the resurrection body.  ¨Spiritual body¨ refers to a human body infused with new, supernatural life.
    
How do final leaders justify their teachings of Jesus being a spirit?

First, leaders condition members by claiming that Christianity is in spiritual darkness.  They are the chosen prophets to reveal the real meaning of biblical definitions and passages.  Thus, even when the written words appear to communicate something different, only the leader's revealed meaning is the correct one.

Second, instead of harmonizing all the texts about Jesus, leaders use selected verses that speak of the Spirit of Jesus.  Yet, God´s voice in the Scriptures reveals two concepts regarding Jesus - his God-like nature and his glorified human side.  Both are true, not just one.  This is what Christian churches everywhere see - Christ is the first human of a new kind of existence, the first to rise from the dead in glory (Col. 1:19, Rev. 1:5).

These points are relevant when a leader talks about Jesus returning to earth as a spirit in a secretive way.  In contrast, Jesus says he will return as a king ¨in power and great glory¨ and all the nations will see him and mourn (Mt. 24:30). According to the angels in Acts 1:11, the same Jesus who left (in a glorified body) is the same one coming back, not a different Jesus.  Jesus, the Messiah, is not just a spirit.  He is much more.

_____________________________

Addtional Points/Questions.

What about Shinchonji´s teaching that Jesus is a spirit based on the vision of Jesus in Revelation 1?  Could not Jesus have been transfigured like in Matthew 17 (i.e. transfigured into a spirit)?

First, the image in Revelation 1 is an image of a glorified Jesus, but it is not a literal description.  It reflects Old Testament images of God in glory (Dan. 7:9).  Second, when Jesus was transfigured in Mt. 17, he did not become a spirit.  He did not lose his physical humanity.  Rather, his glory was shown through his humanity.  Even Manhee Lee mentions that Jesus was still flesh.  ¨On the mountain of transfiguration Jesus and his disciples were still flesh, but Moses Elijah, and God were spirits¨ (p. 425, Creation of Heaven and Earth).  Third, the Bible teaches that even after the ascension, Jesus still possesses his human (and new glorified) body.  The Apostle Paul makes this point at the end of Phil. 3:21.

From these points, we see that the Bible shows that God did not destroy Jesus' humanity. On the contrary, he glorified it. I Peter 1:21 reads, ¨Through him (Christ) you believe in God, who raised him from the dead, and glorified him.¨  God gave him an imperishable resurrection body in glory, unlike our frail, sin-infested, and mortal bodies.  Christ Jesus is the first human to put on incorruption (I Cor. 15:20).

How could a normal physical body (¨flesh and blood¨) enter heaven, a spiritual place?

Regarding the phrase ¨flesh and bones¨ in I Cor. 15:50, it is a synonym for a corruptible, sin-tarnished body.  This is a phrase for mortal bodies, but not immortal, resurrection bodies.   The Apostle Paul is saying that a weak, dying body (i.e. flesh and blood) cannot enter heaven because it needs to put on ¨immortality¨ first (i.e. be glorified).  Since Jesus´s body put on immortality, it wasn't a problem. 

His new body was no longer mortal.  It was a supernatural body made for glory (i.e. a place of glory).  As mentioned above, it was both the same and different as his physical body before.  It was now superior in that it could defy normal limitations.  This is why it is not a mortal human body.  The Scriptures reveal that the Messiah´s humanity was glorified and physically taken up to heaven (Acts 1:9-11, Heb. 1:3).  

How do you explain that Paul says that there is a spiritual body in I Cor. 15:44?

As mentioned above, the meaning of the ¨resurrection¨ involves a new human body  (See Is. 26:19).  So, keep this in mind when thinking about a resurrected ¨spiritual body¨.  It is not people becoming resurrected spirits.  The phrase ¨spiritual body¨ in I Cor. 15:44 refers to a higher human body in contrast to mortal bodies, which are frail, corruptible, and sinful.  Further, the word ¨body¨ in Greek refers to a physical body, not an immaterial body.  When Jesus was raised, his body was not a spirit (Lk. 24:39).    

A resurrection body with no human body would be like a wedding without a bride.   By spiritual body, Paul is affirming that the resurrection body is not natural or normal.  It is superior to the sinful body.  The verses before and after v. 44 indicate that he is talking about a different kind of human body.   It is ¨spiritual¨ in the sense that it is a higher make up than the natural body.  In Romans 8:11,23, the Bible says our mortal bodies will experience a change like Jesus' did. 

(1) See Shinchonji's first article on the Trinity on their website where they say that Jesus is a spirit after his ascension.  

Jesus' Warnings in the Olivet Discourse.

Dear reader,

Imagine walking with Jesus Christ and being able to converse with him about the end.  When the disciples asked the Lord about his return, what was his first sign?  Jesus gave an important sign that is before the Apostle John's visions in Revelation.  This first sign concerns future leaders who would appear and take his place (Mt. 24:4, Lk. 21:8).

When Christians study the writings of other apocalyptic groups, this point emerges.  One simple lady once said that she did not join an apocalyptic group when she heard the members continually praise and exalt the role of their prophet.  In practice, they emphasized their leader more, not the Lord Jesus. 

While reading Manhee Lee's book, I thought about this point too.  Does the revelation to Mr. Lee put Mr. Lee on a level that takes the Son of Man's place?  To find answers to this question, we need to analyze the specific signs Jesus reveals about final leaders in the Olivet discourse (Mt. 24, Mk. 13, Lk. 21).

1. ¨For many will come in my name¨ (Mt. 24:4). The Lord says that a leader will come in his name (i.e. claim to be his authority and representative on earth).  In Shinchonji, Manhee Lee claims to come in Jesus' name. ¨The next advocate, the holy spirit of the advocate who comes from heaven at the second coming, comes in Jesus' name¨(Creation of Heaven and Earth, p. 437).

2. ¨Many will come in my name, saying I am he,¨ (Mk. 13:5). Jesus says that the leader will announce to everyone that he is the one everyone was waiting for in the end.  He is linked to the Messiah's presence.  In the same way, Manhee Lee teaches that he is the body/flesh that people see when Jesus' spirit returns to earth.

¨Jesus promised that when the gospel of heaven is spread to the ends of the earth, he will return in spirit to unite with his promised pastor¨ (Creation of Heaven and Earth, p. 143).  Manhee Lee states that he is "the flesh" through whom Jesus appears in Rev. 19. ¨John sees heaven open and someone called 'Faithful and True' riding a white horse leading the armies of God (Rev. 19:11)...The spirit chooses one flesh as its horse and works through that person. At the second coming, Jesus chooses the one who overcomes (Rev. 3:12) as his horse and works through him (Rev. 6:2)¨ (Creation of Heaven and Earth, pp. 246,247).

3. ¨I am he and the time is at hand,¨ (Lk. 21:8). Jesus says that a leader not only proclaims to be the savior-Messiah's presence, but he announces the coming of the end of the age.  In Manhee Lee's book, he writes that he is witnessing the end of the age and that the time is at hand. ¨...the prophecies in the New Testament exist to testify about the promised pastor who acts as a savior¨ (Creation of Heaven and Earth, p. 177). ¨Today the time that was appointed for Revelation's fulfillment has finally come¨ (p. 564).

4. ¨...they will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect.¨   The Lord teaches that final leaders will perform signs to convince people, almost convincing the elect (Mt. 24:24). A sign is necessary to give the leader credibility and convince many.  Manhee Lee states that mastery of the Bible's prophecies is a spiritual sign that he is the chosen pastor (i.e. explanations of Revelation).

5. ¨At that time if anyone says to you, Look, here is the Christ...There he is, out in the desert, do not go out... or here he is in the inner rooms, do not believe it.¨  Jesus states that some will announce how the Lord returns. They will point to a hidden or secret return (Mt. 24:26,27, Lk. 13:21). In Shinchonji's article on Rev. 1:7, Shinchonji teaches that Jesus comes back in an invisible way and the final pastor is the one everyone sees.

When thinking about these signs from the Lord Jesus, we see that he expects us to wait for him, not a leader who comes in his name or embodies a spirit return of Christ.  When leaders of apocalyptic movements appear, they say they come as servants of the Lord but end up ruling, judging, and saving the Christian world in place of the Lord.  In Manhee Lee's book, the emphasis is noticeably on Mr. Lee and his final role.     

Manhee Lee: A Flesh-Spirit Incarnation of Jesus?

Dear reader,

Do you believe any missionary, minister, or Bible teacher could be a divine incarnation just like the Messiah in the first coming?

In Christian thinking, a final prophet who announces that that they are incarnated/indwelled by God or Jesus is a red flag.  A leader who claims to be the flesh (or human body) that Jesus uses to return to the planet would turn Christians off.

It sounds strange, but this is what Shinchonji's promised pastor teaches about himself.  Even though SCJ explains that Manhee Lee is not Jesus or God, when we read Mr. Lee's descriptions about himself, he is considered to be a unique and divine incarnation of Jesus' spirit.    

After reading through Shinchonji's blog, one Christian commented that Shinchonji makes Manhee Lee the incarnated Jesus/the body of Jesus' spirit return.  What made him think this?  

Let's look at what Shinchonji teaches about Manhee Lee's body.  What kind of spiritual indwelling does he have, according to SCJ sources?  In one website article, Shinchonji reveals that God has entered Mr. Lee just like God entered Jesus in the first coming.

¨Just as the spirit of God entered and dwelt within Jesus (Jn 14:9-11), who overcame at the time of the first coming (Jn 16:33), the holy Spirit of Truth will come and dwell within one chosen person (i.e. the one who overcomes).¨(1)

¨The one who overcomes preaches the revealed word after uniting with the spirit of the counselor, who comes in the name of the Lord (Jn 14:16-17; Jn 14:26; Jn 16:13-14). This is similar to the time of the first coming when God came to Jesus (Matt 3:16; Jn 1:32) and united with him¨ (Jn 10:30). (2)

According to Shinchonji's descriptions, the Shinchonji pastor has Jesus' spirit and the Spirit of Truth, just like when God came to Jesus.  This makes Manhee Lee the second flesh of Jesus' spirit.  It means that seeing Mr. Lee is seeing the physical embodiment of Jesus' return.   

Of course, Shinchonji does not claim that Manhee Lee is God or Jesus himself.  But, Mr. Lee is described as having a series of incarnations by spiritual beings (the Spirit of the Counselor, Jesus' spirit, and God).  The presence of God is inside the Shinchonji pastor in an exclusive way.  In an article on Rev. 1:7, SCJ teaches that when believers see Mr. Lee, they see the Lord.  

¨The fact that every eye will see him means, as discussed above, that people will see the person with whom the spirit of the Advocate has united. Seeing that person is the same as seeing the Lord.¨(3)

When I asked one Shinchonji member if Manhee Lee was the physical-Messianic coming that most Christians were waiting for, he became silent.  In the quote below, Mr. Lee is the physical body that we should expect.  According to this quote, the promise of Jesus' return is fulfilled by a spirit return that comes to Mr. Lee's body, who is the chosen one.  

¨Jesus, during the time of his first coming, promised that he would return (Jn 14:1-3). He said in Matt 23:39, “For I say to you, from now on you will not see me until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’”  Who, then, is this one who comes in the name of the Lord?  He is the holy Spirit of Truth, the Counselor (Jn 14:16-17, Jn 14:26). The holy Spirit of Truth, who comes in the name of the Lord, will come to dwell within one person.¨(4)

¨Jesus promised that when the gospel of heaven is spread to the ends of the earth, he will return in spirit to unite with his promised pastor (Mt. 24:47)¨ (Creation of Heaven and Earth, p. 143).

-----------------------------------

(1) ¨Promised Pastor,¨ Shinchonji Website Articles. Accessed May 26th, 2010. http://healingallnations.shinchonji.kr/content/promised-pastor

(2) ¨Faith and the Promised Pastor,¨ Shinchonji Website Articles. Accessed May 20th, 2010. http://healingallnations.shinchonji.kr/content/faith-and-promised-pastor

(3) ¨What is the true meaning of Rv. 1:7?¨, Shinchonji Website Articles. Accessed May 25th, 2010. http://healingallnations.shinchonji.kr/content/what-true-meaning-rv-17

(4) ¨Promised Pastor,¨ Shinchonji Website Articles. Accessed May 26th, 2010. http://healingallnations.shinchonji.kr/content/promised-pastor

Only the Bible? Manhee Lee's Vision on a Mountain.

Dear reader,

In the history of world religions and end-time movements, many leaders testify that they felt the presence of spirit beings (for instance, Christ, God the Father, angels, or the Holy Spirit) or even have these spiritual beings working through them.  These entities are the source behind their information - new information about a movement God accomplishes at the end of human history as we know it.  

The point is that these leaders claim to be in contact with a spiritual world.  They refer to powerful spiritual experiences.  Naturally, many modern thinkers might explain away these experiences with natural explanations (and, in some cases, it could be true) - power, insanity, money, women, or an urge for hero status.

Yet, from a Christian perspective, there is an invisible world.  The spiritual world existed before the physical world.  God, who is spirit, created spiritual creatures before humans.  A rebellion occurred in the spirit world and, thus, evil spirits are a reality.  Satan himself can manifest as an angel of light (2 Cor. 11:13) and his side has evil angels who are crafty.  The Bible reveals that many of these demons inspire teachings to people and are deceptive.

Because end-time leaders are captivated by these experiences (and the seemingly logical explanations to final prophecies), they move forward in full force.  However, it is important to ask how these leaders tested these spirits.  When Christians look at other end-time leaders, they notice the need for testing.  Mohammad, Joseph Smith, Samuel Joaquín, Ellen G. White, and others all embraced their spirit encounters as true.  

What about Manhee Lee in Shinchonji?  Does Shinchonji explain to their members how he tested the spirits that appeared to him?  The excerpt below describes two beings (Jesus and an angel) appearing to Mr. Lee on a mountain in South Korea.  

¨What follows is a summary of the life of the promised pastor who received the words of the opened scroll....On Sundays, he would climb to the top of a nearby mountain for his prayers. This man had the unique experience of seeing stars in the sky during the day. At one point, during his prayers to God, he saw these stars approaching him for three days in a row....On the first day he went to church, he climbed up a mountain and made a covenant with God, swearing by his own blood. After that, the promised pastor met the Lord, who was walking among the clouds of the sky, and he received an anointing from him. The Lord commanded him to write down what he saw...After that, he received the opened scroll from an angel and was commanded to go and preach to the peoples...¨ (1)

If one hundred leaders appear with similar spiritual experiences, how can Christians discern if these encounters are trustworthy?  Christians are warned,  ¨Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God¨(I Jn. 4:1, NASB).

Many people assume testing ¨the spirits¨ is seeing if their revelation/revealed word provides answers, interpretations, and connections that no else has in the Christian world. However, it is more effective to test if the spirits rightly divide the Bible.  (See other articles on this point.)  In Christian thinking, it is safer to see if the voice behind the spirit-revelation is different than the voice in the written word.

When spirit entities appear to different leaders and give them powerful explanations to Revelation and end-time prophecies, many experts look at other areas that these spirit revelations change (e.g. Jesus' identity, salvation in the end, and other passages that all Christians notice) - texts and spiritual truths that evil spirits hate or want to distort.

The other reality about this experience is that if Manhee Lee's vision is unreliable, it means that all the information received from these spirits (the parables, the flesh-spirit union, the model of betrayal, the figurative interpretations in Revelation, and all the unique teachings in SCJ) is coming from spirit entities, not the Spirit's voice in God's Word.

Lastly, when leaders contend that they are only going by the Bible, it is not completely accurate.  They are only basing everything on a spiritual vision that uses the Bible.  

---------------
(1) Church of Jesus, the Temple of the Tabernacle of the Testimony,¨Shinchonji Website Articles. Accessed May 22nd, 2010. http://healingallnations.shinchonji.kr/content/shinchonji-church-jesus-temple-tabernacle-testimony

Question for Manhee Lee: Where is the Promise?

Dear reader,

Thanks for taking these points to heart.

In the last two hundred years, many final leaders have given prophecies for themselves in the written word to assure their followers that God has chosen them.  Yet, Christian researchers notice that when final leaders reveal prophecies for themselves, the biblical texts do not say what the leaders affirm.

Let´s look at an example in Shinchonji.

According to Shinchonji's public website, Manhee Lee has received information from an angel (a holy spirit), Jesus, and God.  These spiritual entities, working through Mr. Lee, reveal that the New Testament announces the coming of a final pastor.  To Mr. Lee, this is no exaggeration.

Manhee Lee's coming is just as big as the Messiah's first coming.  He writes, ¨Just as the Old Testament promises Jesus Christ (Jn. 5:39), the New Testament prophesies about this promised pastor¨ (Creation of Heaven and Earth, p. 82).  ¨The Old Testament testified about one person in Jesus, God's promised pastor.  It is no exaggeration to say that the New Testament testifies about the one pastor Jesus promised¨ (Creation of Heaven and Earth, p. 337).  ¨It could be said that the New Testament proclaims one pastor promised by Jesus¨ (Creation of Heaven and Earth, p. 429).

In Manhee Lee's book, he explains that the Bible reveals a series of pastors and chosen people in different time periods, and that there is now a final pastor (Mr. Lee) and a final chosen people (Shinchonji) in the end. Through this final pastor God accomplishes his will in the book of Revelation.

What is the problem with this claim about a promised pastor?

First, a legitimate promise in the written word is one that everyone sees.  Otherwise, it is not a true promise according to the written word (the Bible).  If it were a clear promise, we should expect devoted Christians from the first century on to be talking about this coming, which we do not find in Christian writings.  This means it is a promise only based on Mr. Lee´s authority, not the written word.

Second, Manhee Lee's statement that his coming is prophesied just like Jesus' coming is not accurate.  Jesus' coming in the Old Testament was foretold in a clear way.  Although many of the details were disputed in the first century, no one disputed the Messianic promise itself.  One Talmudic tradition says that the prophets spoke of nothing more important than the days of the Messiah.  Multiple groups independently extracted promises of a Messiah, like the Essenes.  The Aramaic targums (translations of the Old Testament) inserted the Messiah in many texts.  Even the Samaritans believed a Messiah was to come (Jn. 4:25, 42).

Thus, when God's voice wanted his people to believe in an important coming, like the Messiah's coming, he used clear and unambiguous language.  Applied to Manhee Lee's statement above, if there is a similar promise from God in the New Testament for a pastor, it should be equally obvious, but it´s not.

Thirdly, when we evaluate the verses used by Shinchonji for a final pastor, they are based on circular interpretation.  That is, they are real prophecies only to Shinchonji.  Let´s look at a few examples.

  

Manhee Lee teaches that the phrase ¨the one who overcomes¨ in Rev. 2,3 refers primarily to one individual/Mr. Lee (and, in a secondary sense, to those who overcome in Shinchonji).  But, according to the testimony of the written word, it is the exact opposite.  The primary meaning refers to all those who overcome in the churches (Rev. 2:24, 3:4), not just one individual.

An unbiased reading, confirmed by Christian communities everywhere, reveals that no one sees this as a clear prophecy for one individual.  It is supposedly a secretive prediction only clear to the leader, which makes it based on his authority.  The same is true for other prophecy texts.

According to Mr. Lee, the promise of the Counselor in Jn. 14,16 refers to a final flesh (pastor).  But, this is only so because he re-defines the Counselor to include two aspects - the Spirit and another ¨flesh¨ through whom the Spirit of the Counselor works.  Further, it is not an example of a clear prophecy.  On the contrary, evidence in the text and in Acts dispels the teaching of the Counselor working through only one flesh.

Other examples can also be cited in Revelation.  However, these are only clear promises to Mr. Lee, not any other Christian community.  Again, apocalyptic leaders cite hidden prophecies for themselves based on their authority, but it needs to be shown that God in his written word has made these prophecies known. 

To justify hidden or secretive prophecies in Revelation, Manhee Lee quotes Hosea 12:10 to show that that the Apostle John in Revelation refers to a promised pastor, a new Apostle John who must appear in the future.  According to one source, in the Korean translation of Hosea 12:10, it states that ¨prophets can be used figuratively,¨ but this does not constitute a specific prophecy.

A specific promise according to the Bible is one that the voice in the written record makes known to others independently, like in the writings of the Hebrew prophets announcing the Messiah's coming.  If the written word does not make this clear, the real source of authority is the leader's revelation (from heavenly entities), which other end-time leaders have used to reveal prophecies for their coming.

Imagine a U.S. judge declaring that ¨something is clear according to the U.S. Constitution¨.  This would mean that other judges could open the Constitution and find it there.  It would be suspicious if it were only clear to this particular judge and no other judge could confirm its clarity.  It would make everything based on this judge's interpretation/perspective of the Constitution, but not the Constitution's self-revelation.

The same is true in God's Word.  One Christian lady said that after looking up Bible verses given to her of a final pastor, she was more convinced that God had not made this promise in the Bible.  According to the written word, God's voice led her in the opposite direction.

One Shinchonji instructor replied that perhaps God planned to hide this promise (i.e. seal it) from Christians.  But, this creates more problems than it answers.  First, it would make Manhee Lee's promise different than the promise of a Messiah in the Old Testament, which goes against Mr. Lee's statement above.  Second, if God truly asks believers to follow a final pastor, it would be strange to hide this promise in his written testimony and then expect everyone to believe a promise that is not clearly revealed in the Bible.

Even though the written word gives many clear prophecies about the end, Christians have never seen a clear promise to follow a world pastor who embodies Jesus' spiritual return.  Jesus' first sign of the end is a warning to stay away from leaders who come in his name and embody his expected return (Lk. 21:8, Mt. 24:4,5).  See article on Manhee Lee's claim to be the flesh-spirit union with Jesus' returning spirit.

Questions for reflection.  

In Latin America, there is a group that believes that their first leader was the new Aaron of the Christian world.  Are there any clear prophecies for a new Aaron in the Bible?  Should followers of Christ believe a promise that only a final leader makes clear to their group?     

Jesus´ Promise of the Counselor.

Dear reader,

When a final prophet appears and demands the whole Christian world to listen to him because of a revelation from spiritual entities (angels, the Spirit of prophecy, Jesus, or God), it's important to test the information with God's written word.  The written word is God's breath (or voice) to the Christian world (2 Tim. 3:16) and it's superior to revelation words.  When there is a difference, the written word should be believed, not the revealed word. 

Let's test one of the revelations in Shinchonji – the definition of the Counselor. 

In Manhee Lee's book, Creation of Heaven and Earth, he teaches that when Jesus refers to the coming of another Counselor, he is referring to another flesh and the Spirit of Truth, not just the Spirit of Truth.  "The advocate Jesus sends from heaven is both spirit and flesh" (Creation of Heaven and Earth, p. 436).  One Shinchonji article even calls Christians heretics for only believing in the Counselor as the Spirit of Truth instead of a human/role that the Spirit of Truth works through.

"Without even realizing that the Counselor refers to a role instead of a specific entity, many groups claim that the Counselor is the holy spirit of God.  Because they base this claims on their own faulty arguments and standards they cannot be considered orthodox; these are the actions of heretics." (1)

Both Shinchonji and Christians believe Jesus refers to the Counselor as the Spirit of Truth, but the real question is if the written word also defines the Counselor as another flesh.  Since everything must be according to the Bible (the written word), the written testimony needs to be the final authority that others can see too, not just Shinchonji.

What points make Shinchonji's revelation unreliable?

First, spirit entities to other prophets have misapplied the Counselor meaning and tried to use this same promise in their movements (see the Muslim and Baha’i application of the Counselor promise to their prophets).  The arguments are complex too.  Thus, this should make us suspicious.

Second, for centuries Christians have read the account of the Counselor in Jn. 14:16 and no Christian church has believed that Jesus' voice was referring to another flesh.  If God wanted believers to follow another flesh, it should be clear that Jesus was referring to the Holy Spirit and ¨a flesh¨.  If only the Counselor-flesh sees Jesus referring to a flesh role, it is circular. 

In Christian thinking, Jesus was not saying the Spirit of the Counselor would enter only one flesh.  The written word points to the Spirit of Truth entering many Spirit-empowered followers.  The Counselor would be invisible and would come to Jesus' followers shortly.  This Counselor would be with Jesus' disciples forever. 

"And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever – the Spirit of truth.  The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him.  But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you" (Jn. 14:16,17).    

Third, another problem is that Manhee Lee rests on a Korean-Chinese translation of ¨advocate¨ as if this were the original language in God's Word.  Mr. Lee uses the Chinese-Korean word, ¨Bohaesah¨ for ¨advocate¨, which means ¨someone who helps alongside, a teacher who protects with grace¨ (Creation of Heaven and Earth, pp. 434, 435).  Thus, Mr. Lee says, "Any pastor who belongs to God must speak God's word on God's behalf, protect God's people with grace, and teach only the words of the path leading to God" (Creation of Heaven and Earth, p. 435).

This Korean-Chinese translation lends to Manhee Lee's teaching in a physical teacher.  But, the real definition is what Jesus says.  In Jesus' definition, Christians only see the second, divine Counselor-presence being God's Holy Spirit.

Fourth, Manhee Lee uses a spirit-flesh teaching to support the Spirit of the Counselor entering his flesh.  He says that "just as" God's spirit entered and worked through Jesus, the Spirit of the Counselor must enter and work through the last pastor.  He writes, "Spirit(s) work through flesh.  That is, a spirit chooses a person and uses that person to speak and work on its behalf" (Creation of Heaven and Earth, p. 437).  He then uses the example of the spirit of Elijah working through the flesh of John the Baptist.  See our article on this point.

Even if there are cases where God or spirits work through flesh (like in the case of Judas), it is not true that spirits always work through flesh.  In the written word, spirits can work through visions and dreams (Mt. 2:13), through voices (Ac. 8:26), and through temporary bodies of their own (Gen. 18, 19).  God, who is spirit, speaks in many ways (Heb. 1:1).  Manhee Lee needs to show that Jesus specifically said that the Spirit would be another flesh, not just the Holy Spirit.

Fifth, in Ac. 1:4,5, Jesus revealed that the promise of the Father (the Counselor) would come shortly. If Manhee Lee's revelation is correct, then it implies that Jesus only sent the apostles 50% of the promise in the first century and they were without the real Counselor-flesh in their time.  

What is the importance of this Counselor-flesh doctrine?

If true, it means that Manhee Lee is the flesh of God's spirit and the mouth of God's spirit.  This is seen in the way he compares himself to Jesus.  According to Mr. Lee, since God's spirit united to Jesus' flesh, people who heard Jesus were hearing God and people who saw Jesus were seeing God.  The same has happened to Mr. Lee.  Since he has this same indwelling, those who hear him and see him are hearing and seeing God.

"At the first coming, God, who is spirit, worked within Jesus.  This is why Jesus said that anyone who saw him had seen the Father (Jn 14:8-10, 12:44-46).  It is also why Jesus was able to tell people that his words were not his own, but they were the words of the Father who sent him…Just as God, who is also a spirit, worked through Jesus' flesh, the spirit of the truth, who acts as our advocate, dwells within and speaks through the promised pastor (Jn 14;16-17, Rev. 19:9-10, 22:8,9)" (Creation of Heaven and Earth, pp. 438,439).  "The spirit of the advocate, who comes in the name of Jesus, is the one who speaks on behalf of Jesus.  Therefore, the person who receives the spirit of the advocate also becomes the advocate that speaks on behalf of Jesus.  Just as Jesus and God are one (Jn 10:30), the pastor to whom the spirit of the advocate comes unites with that spirit (Creation of Heaven and Earth, p. 440). 

_______________    

Appendix: What about the Counselor who teaches us ¨all truth¨ in Jn. 16:13-15?  Do Christians know ¨all truth¨ if they have the Spirit of the Counselor? 

I have heard Shinchonji instructors use this argument to show that Christians today do not have the Spirit of the Counselor or the promise from Jesus because they do not know ¨all truth¨.  The idea is that only a leader with perfect mastery of the Bible has the Spirit of the Counselor. 

Manhee Lee uses a Korean translation, tongdal, of ¨searches¨ in 1 Cor. 2:10 to mean ¨master, be well-versed in, or have thorough knowledge of something¨ (Creation of Heaven and Earth, p. 441).  Having perfect mastery is a sign of the Spirit-Counselor in Mr. Lee.  He writes, ¨Since 1 Cor. 2:10 says that the spirit searches even the deep things of God, we can recognize the promised pastor as the person who has mastered the Bible and who is teaching it accordingly.  The promised pastor, who has united with the spirit of truth, has mastered the Bible through the word of truth and is teaching it in Shinchonji Church of Jesus and at Zion Christian Mission Center¨ (Creation of Heaven and Earth, pp. 441, 442).

Thus, Shinchonji gives ¨all truth¨ a mastery-definition that applies to Shinchonji, which is self-defining and circular.  In context, Jesus refers to the truths that the Spirit would reveal to them in the lives of the apostles, which is seen in Acts and in the epistles.  This is what Paul recognizes in I Cor. 2:10-13.  The Spirit has shown them things from God, not from the wisdom of man.  Lastly, according to Vine's Dictionary of Greek words, the word for ¨searches¨ in I Cor. 2:10 is ¨eraunao/ereuna,¨ which means ¨search¨ or ¨examine¨ (2).

____________

(        (1) ¨The founder of a church, the Counselor, and holy spirits,¨ Shinchonji Website Articles. Accessed January 11, 2014. http://shinchonjireport.blogspot.com/2012/10/shinchonji-leemanhee-founder-of-church_19.html

      (2)  http://studybible.info/vines/Search

A Review of Manhee Lee's Book, ¨Creation of Heaven and Earth.¨

This edited article comes from a professor in California, a Christian, who read through Manhee Lee's book, Creation of Heaven and Earth (1), and submitted this review.  

________________________________

Some Thoughts on Manhee Lee, The Creation of Heaven and Earth

(Shinchonji Press, 2009)

I am impressed with Mr. Lee’s familiarity with the terrain of the scriptures. The crux of course comes with his interpretation of them, and with whether one can agree with his claims. He complicates this process of discernment on almost every page by asserting that anyone who does not completely agree with him is destined for the lake of fire. He sends all his critics there - both people who do not wish to join his group and people who wish to leave his group. Those who leave “will receive seven more evil spirits regardless of whether they realize it” (351). Those within the group are not allowed to associate with defectors, and defectors are not allowed to repent of their leaving and to return. One might regard this set-up as simply a statement of “what truth is,” or, one might regard it as evidence of a spiritual tone found in other apocalyptic movements.

 

But I digress. As I reflected upon Mr. Lee’s approach to the scriptures, and of his election of himself as the key figure in whom the scriptures supposedly culminate, I thought about an episode in an eighteenth-century moral tale called Rasselas, by Samuel Johnson. In the tale, a group of friends engaged on a search for truth happen upon an astronomer who has spent his entire life studying the movements of the sun, moon, planets, and stars. Over the years, immersed in this study night after night, the astronomer comes to believe that the heavenly bodies only move in the proper way because he keeps track of them; without his guidance, the heavenly bodies would fall out of orbit and the universe would come apart. This delusion is entertained gradually, but once it has taken hold, the astronomer is filled with a sense of responsibility and anxiety. His new friends want to help him, but they are not able to talk him out of his delusion. As he begins to enjoy their company, however, he finds that his delusion gradually melts away.

I have always found this a sweet and cautionary tale, and I think it may apply in the case of Mr. Lee. I imagine him deeply immersed in the scriptures, especially the weirdly fascinating prophetic portions—and this would be only natural to him, as he has apparently spent almost all of his life in groups that pay special attention to these portions of the Bible (2). I also imagine him deeply affected by the power of the scriptures, and wanting to appropriate that power for himself—to involve himself as deeply as possible in what he is reading. And then, one day, caught up in the urgency of the apocalyptic events of the book of Revelation, his thoughts come to rest on “the one who overcomes,” and something inside says, “That’s me.” And then he´s off. 

If he is “the one who overcomes,” he can also be the son of the woman, one of the two witnesses, the white horse, the Advocate, and the Apostle John himself. He can be “the promised pastor” who uniquely succeeds and carries out the will of Jesus. And pretty soon, he’s not just a secondary character—he is the hero of the entire story. Without him, none of the events at the end of the age can take place. He is in fact indispensable, just as the astronomer, in his own mind, becomes indispensable to the proper movements of the heavens.

The difference between the fictional astronomer and the literal Mr. Lee, however, is that the astronomer keeps his delusion to himself, while Mr. Lee uses his to build a public following. And once he insists that everyone else must share his vision, an inflexible narcissism kicks in, and any Christian who questions his bit of theological role-playing is blithely consigned to the lake of fire. But the Scriptures advocate close examination, giving particular caution to end-time leaders who come in Jesus' authority before his time. So, questioning is recommended.

First, I question whether “the one who overcomes” refers to a particular person. In fact, it does not. When we let the words and context give us the meaning, we see that it refers either to believers at that time - those who belonged to the seven churches of Asia Minor - or, by extension, to any subsequent believer who, through the power of Christ, is able to overcome adversity or temptation. Christ does not need a supposed “one who overcomes” to accomplish his return, and in donning this mantle Mr. Lee is not only taking a promise made to all and reserving it only for himself, but he is also changing that promise into something it is not, inventing a leading role for himself out of thin air. His frequent objections to all biblical commentaries and to some biblical translations may stem from the fact that this misunderstanding regarding “the one who overcomes” is so easily resolved. The NRSV, for example, in Rev. 2-3, has “to everyone who conquers” (3x), “whoever conquers” (1x), “if you conquer” (2x), and “to the one who conquers” (1x).

In claiming to be the unique embodiment of the Advocate promised in John 14-16, Mr. Lee is also taking a guarantee made to many and applying it only to himself. Jesus is promising the Holy Spirit to his disciples—and by extension to all believers—but Mr. Lee would have us believe that the holy spirit (always lower-case for him, as he seems to regard the Holy Spirit as more of a function than a person) is only embodied in himself—and that this spirit has been effectively withheld for the last 2,000 years. Again, there is a usurpation—a wrongful taking—of powers here.

Related to this is Mr. Lee’s claim that he literally functions as the Apostle John as a receiver of revelation. Just as John received a vision of the apocalypse, Mr. Lee claims to have received an even clearer vision of what he calls the “physical fulfillment” of these prophecies. He in fact regards John the Apostle as only a “figure” for himself, for Mr. Lee is the actual one who eats the unsealed scroll and finally makes the book of Revelation clear to all. Again, however, he is usurping a role. The revelation given to John was written down for all to read, but by claiming that he is the “real” Apostle John, Mr. Lee invalidates 2,000 years of engagement with a historic text. Access to divine truth is suddenly narrowed, and Mr. Lee becomes the only gatekeeper.

There is a pattern here, and it is not a healthy one. It is one thing to play a children’s game of pretend for oneself—and then to become so caught up in the game that one believes it for oneself. (In the midst of my reading it is fun to imagine that I am Tom Sawyer, or Bilbo Baggins, or Tumnus the Faun.) But it is quite another thing to inflict this game of pretend upon others. (I’m Aslan, and you have to do what I say.) That is when play becomes piracy. What Mr. Lee has accomplished, intentionally or not, is a hijacking of the scriptures.

Finally, and over-archingly, Mr. Lee constructs a pattern of scriptural history to validate his anointed role. Like many before him, Mr. Lee has noticed that God appears to reveal himself in different ways at different times. There have been many efforts to systematize these different ways and steps of revelation, none completely satisfactory, given the fact that the scriptures are full of such living, squirming variety. One of the most rigid ways was developed by a man named Darby in the nineteenth century, and it came to be called dispensationalism, because Darby regarded the Bible as recording a series of different dispensations of God’s presence in a succession of covenants with his people.

Mr. Lee takes Darby’s general idea and shapes it in a particular way. He perceives a rigid social pattern of betrayal, destruction, and then salvation through divine selection of “a new pastor,” and he follows this pattern through Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Joshua, and Jesus. Most any other interpreter would stop here, with Jesus as the climax of God’s revelation of himself, though of course the return of Christ would be taken into account as well. Mr. Lee, however, uses the momentum he gains from unfolding this pattern to springboard the reader to a “new gospel” of “the promised pastor” in the end times. To do this, he needs to exercise some sleight of hand to stipulate an expiration date for the “old gospel” of Jesus.

This is where he has to equivocate a little: on some pages of his book he extols the saving grace of Jesus made available through his death on the cross; on other pages he insists that salvation is only made available through “the promised pastor.” He has sort of painted himself into a corner. It won’t do to completely dismiss the work of Jesus, partly because Mr. Lee constructs his own authority on the basis of many messianic analogies, but at the same time he wants to convince us that he himself, Mr. Lee, is the new “savior,” the one we must “believe in,” that God’s work is completely contingent upon Mr. Lee’s appearance and upon his heroic acts.

Also, Mr. Lee would have us believe in an inflexible “logic” of this dispensational pattern: God can work in no other way, and this way culminates in the arrival of Mr. Lee. He would not have us notice that the role of “the promised pastor” is one he has completely made up on his own, for no clear New Testament prophecy is made for a promised pastor.

Indeed, there is a certain impenetrable circularity to his logic. How does Mr. Lee have, as he claims, “complete mastery” of the scriptures?  He will tell you it is because he is the one who overcomes and is thus given the hidden manna of the revealed word. How does Mr. Lee know he is the one who overcomes? Why, because he has complete mastery of the scriptures.

Finally, I will note in passing that he exercises this supposed mastery with an exegesis that often seems quite arbitrary. In Mr. Lee's hands, for example, Genesis 1 becomes a figurative allegory for the end times. The 144,000 who belong to the Lamb on Mt. Zion in Revelation 14, however, comprise a number that Mr. Lee takes quite literally. His choice of a strangely literal interpretation or a heretofore unknown figurative interpretation of the scriptures does not seem to be guided by any consistent principle. If there is a consistent principle, it is the promotion of his own status and purposes.

So, this is my response in a nutshell to Mr. Lee’s theology in his book. Samuel Johnson’s astronomer could be cured of his delusion. If Lee is like other end-time visionaries, finding a cure may prove difficult.
____________________
(1) Professor Paul J. Willis, November, 2011. willis@westmont.edu
(2) See article on Lee's involvement in other movements before Shinchonji.