Stranger Things

21 People Arrested After Unregistered Singapore Chapter of South Korean Shincheonji Church Resumed Activities Covertly (Channel News Asia)


Court Grants Bail to Shincheonji Leader Indicted on Charges of Obstructing COVID-19 Response (Yonhap News)

Shincheonji Leader Arrested on Charges of Obstructing Anti-Virus Response (Yonhap News)

Shincheonji Leader Arrested on Charges of Obstructing Virus Containment (KBS World Radio)

South Korea Sect Leader Arrested Over Coronavirus Outbreak (Reuters)

South Korean Sect Leader Arrested For Obstructing Covid-19 Investigation (The Guardian)

South Korea Arrests Shincheonji Church Leader for Stalling Virus Containment Efforts (South China Morning Post)

Coronavirus: South Korean Shincheonji Sect Leader Arrested (BBC)


Shincheonji Church Leader Jailed on Obstruction Charges (Korean JoongAng Daily)


Shincheonji Leader Arrested For Obstructing Disease Control Efforts (Hankyoreh)


Can Unpopular Sect Expect Justice? (The Korea Times)


Court Rejects Shincheonji Leader's Request to Cancel Arrest (The Korea Herald)


South Korea's COVID-19 Church Scapegoat Is Fighting Back (Foreign Diplomacy)


Conservative Church Claims South Korea's Government is Persecuting Them by Blaming Members for Coronavirus Spread (Fox News)

May 22: Prosecutors Raid Branches of Religious Group at Center of Coronavirus Outbreak (The Korea Times)

May 29: Jilin CC&TSPM Prints Anti-Cult Poster (China Christian Daily)

June 23: Daegu Files Damage Suit Against Shincheonji for Mass Coronavirus Infections (The Korea Times)

June 23: South Korea Sues Religious Sect Over COVID Spread as it Grapples With 2nd Wave (CBS News)

July 1: How I Escaped My 'Cult' in Lockdown (The Telegraph)

July 8: Three Shincheonji Officials Arrested for Hindering Virus Control Measures (Yonhap News)


Shincheonji Leader Questioned for 4 Hours on Alleged Disruption of Quarantine Efforts (KBS World Radio)

Shincheonji Founder Questioned for Allegedly Disrupting Anti-Virus Efforts (The Korea Times)

South Korean Prosecutors Question Church Leader Accused of Hampering Coronavirus Recovery (Fox News)

July 18: Coronavirus: Leader of Shincheonji Church Questioned by South Korean Prosecutors (SCMP)

July 30: Thepersecuted.org Breaks News of Religious Leader Arrests (Shincheonji Press Release)


Court to Review Arrest Warrant For Shincheonji Founder Over Allegedly Disrupting Anti-Virus Efforts (Yonhap News)

Arrest Warrant Hearing Starts for Shincheonji Leader (The Korea Herald)

Court Convenes Hearing on Arrest Warrant for Shincheonji Founder (KBS World Radio)

Shincheonji Joins Resistance Against Prosecution Reform: Justice Minister (The Korea Herald)

April 18: Lee Seung Kwang of old-school group Goofy, now a suspected Shincheonji cult member, sparks controversy after referring to people who voted for Democratic Party as "dogs and pigs" (All K-Pop)

April 27: Korean Cult Shincheonji Uses Online Courses to "Steal Sheep" (China Christian Daily)

April 27: Shincheonji 'Superspreader' Released from Hospital (Choseon Ilbo)

World Mission Society Church of God: A Collection of Articles at CultEducation


Feb. 1: Korean Church Seeks Recruits on Campus (The Daily Pennsylvanian)


Prof Ji-il Tark on Ahn Sahng-hong's World Mission Society Church of God Cult (ICSA Conference)

Comment under video:

QuoteChrist AhnSahngHong is God HIMSELF. I cant withdraw this statement, and I can boldly testify that he is God the creator Himself.The New Jerusalem Mother is God too, The Almighty God, the creator of Heavens and the Earth. The reason you cant get it is that You are NOT His children, so you cant understand. John 8:47 He who belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.

June 10: Church Bought by Korean Group (Otago Daily Times)

Nov. 13: Come to God the Mother




Feb. 19: When a little-known faith divides families (NBC Today)

Feb. 19: Watch Ronan Farrow's interview with World Mission Church of God Member (NBC Today)

Feb. 19: Watch Ronan Farrow's Interview with Missionary John Power (NBC Today)


Jan. 30: Religious Individuals Under Investigation by Campus Police (Daily Helsman)

Feb. 21: Controversial Church Group Recruiting at Rider, Other NJ Schools (The Rider News - Internet Archive)

May 9: Authorities Seize Cult Assets & Detain Cult Members (Asia News)


April 16: Alleged Ridgewood cult forced members to sign nondisclosure agreement, suit claims (North Jersey)

April 23: Ex-Members of NJ Church Allege it is a Cult that Forces Abortions & Arranged Marriages (Fox News)

March 22: Church of God Donates $160,000 for COVID-19 Response (The Korea Times)


Sept. 27: "Have you Heard of God the Mother?" (The Triton/EC San Diego)

Shincheonji Members Working at Call Center Might Need Antibody Testing (Korea Biomedical Review)


It Was Like My Intestines Were Being Ripped Out' Says South Korean High-Schooler Infected by Shincheonji Follower (SCMP)

Coronavirus Spike in S Korea: Role of Shincheonji Sect (Daily Pioneer)


COVID-19 Cases Related to Shincheonji Church South Korea 2020 (Statistica)

Cracking Covid-19: The Shincheonji Church's Role in the Outbreak in Korea (Joongang Daily Video)



Psy Refuses to Comment on his Father-in-law's Alleged Involvement with Shincheonji Cult (All K-Pop)

Korean Sect Leader Facing Coronavirus Backlash Had Balkan Operations (Balkan Insight)


Seoul Seeks 200 Million Won in Compensation From Shincheonji


Seoul City Cancels Shincheonji Permit, Blames Religious Sect For Virus (The Korea Herald)

Rebuilding Their Young Lives After Shincheonji: Former Members Talk About The Secretive Sect & How They Escaped (Korea JoongAng Daily)

China Bans Shincheonji Church, Warning People to Stay away from Cults (China Christian Daily)


COVID-19: South Koreans Wary of Religious Cult Shincheonji (Channel news Asia)


Young Women Are Easy Prey for Shincheonji (The Korea Times)

'Shincheonji Didn't Lie About Membership Figures' (The Korea Herald)

Ex-Shincheon-ji Members Reveal Shocking Testimony on MBC's 'PD Note' (Daily Naver)


What Is The Shincheonji Church of Jesus & Who Are Its Members & What Are its Links to The Coronavirus? (Korea JoongAng Daily)

Personal Reflection after Encounters with Shincheonji: I Was Depressed for Half a Year (China Christian Daily)

QuoteAt a Sunday service, I met two of the six sisters, and one of them recognized me and sat down beside me. While the pastor gave the sermon, she was giving me her own ideas. I found that she was sharing the same doctrine as Shincheonj. I took a closer look at the entire gathering and found that it seemed to have been "invaded" by members of Shincheonj. They sat scattered in different corners of the church, each spreading their ideas to the people around them.

Former Shincheonji Members Make Shocking Confessions About the Cult on 'PD Note' (All K-Pop)

QuoteKim Jong Chul, a former member who worked in the administration of the scouting department, caused the most shock of all when he stated that they have crazy guidelines when members get caught, "If someone touches you, [highlight]just fall or jump out of a window, hurt yourself..."[/highlight]

Note: Former member Stella described in this BBC report jumping out of a fifth floor window.

Beijing Pastor's Fight for Truth with Sect Shincheonji (China Christian Daily)

'It Was Very Painful': Teen Survivor of COVID-19 Shares Her Story (The Korea Times)

QuoteKim said it started after speaking with a follower of Shincheonji, a shadowy religious sect responsible for much of the virus spread in Korea, near a subway station on Feb. 20. The Shincheonji member tried to make conversation with Kim, who briefly responded after taking off her mask. It later turned out that the person had been infected with the virus. On March 4, Kim tested positive for COVID-19.

Shincheonji & Coronavirus: The Mysterious 'Cult' Church Blamed For S Korea's Outbreak (BBC - 5-Minute Video)

S. Korea Launches Fresh Anti-Epidemic Fight Against Shincheonji Followers (Aju Business Daily)

Shincheonji Replaces Foundation Ceremony With Online Service (The Korea Herald)

Explained: Why a Sect in South Korea is Under Scanner for COVID-19 Spread (Indian Express)


Shincheonji's Appeal to Young S. Koreans (Hankyoreh)

What We Can All Learn From South Korea's 'Super Spreader' of Coronavirus, Patient 31 (Mamamia)


Shincheonji Cult Leader Write Letters Asking Members Under Coronavirus Suspicions Not to Lose Faith (All K-Pop)

How A Religious Cult in Korea Spread COVID-19 (The Nib - Comic Strip)

Dec. 19, 2019: Když odejdeš, skončíš v pekle. Tajemná sekta už ulovila desítky českých dívek
When You Leave, You End up in Hell. A Mysterious Sect has Already Caught Dozens of Czech Girls

A mysterious Christian sect Shinchonji has been running quietly and quietly for several years in Prague's streets. Her supporters believe in the upcoming apocalypse and invite their South Korean leader Man-hee Lee, the angel of truth and the other Jesus. Based on the testimonies of two Czech women who were stuck in a sect, Aktualne.cz describes how the organization attracts Czech Christians through systematic lies, manipulation and emotional blackmail.

(Photo)
Shinchonji sect members do not appear in public in the Czech Republic. Perhaps the only exception was made during the demonstration in
February 2018. Even then, they performed under a different name and covered their eyes with masks.

Shinchonji sect members do not appear in public in the Czech Republic. Perhaps the only exception was made during the demonstration in February 2018. Even then, they performed under a different name and covered their eyes with masks. | Photo: Petr Vrabec
A security camera hangs over gray metal doors in Prague's Palmovka Street. It faces not into the street, but directly in front of this - otherwise unusual - entrance. Whoever wants to enter must ring. Then look up, and when the camera operator recognizes you, the door opens.

It was through these doors a year and a half ago, and Ema, only in the opposite direction. At that moment, she was worried about her life. "I collapsed outside. I called the parents who came for me," the young girl recalls. Ema is not her real name; she did not wish to state it, but the editor knows him. Today it is a year and a half since she left the Korean Christian sect of Shchinji.

Sekt, who has been secretly recruiting mostly young Czech girls in Prague for the past few years. A sect that has several hundred thousand members in Korea alone and is headed by the almost ninety-year-old founder of the Church, Man-hee Lee, who declared himself the angel of truth and the embodiment of the Second Coming of Christ.

It started with an innocent search on the street. She first heard the name Shinchonji Ema just a few days before her upset ran into the darkened Prague street. Even though she had been in regular contact with sect members for several months. She left two of her friends behind the gray gate. Both of them have burned all bridges since then. "They stopped studying, moved out of the family and kept contact with her to a minimum. So did I," says Ema.

Approximately a year later, this year in July, Hana, a young elementary school teacher, left the Prague Shincheonji Mission. She had spent four months in the sparkling wine, and even until the last moment she had no idea where she was. "The first time I met them in Peace Square," he recalls. Two girls approached her saying that they are doing research for their diploma thesis and looking for respondents. "They asked where I get my life inspiration, whether people, nature, or even faith," says Hana.

Her answer that, among other things, because of her faith, because she is a believer, aroused interest in the girls. She was promptly asked if she would opt for an in-depth conversation. Hana agreed. This is how the first meeting of most girls who come into contact with champagne in Prague looks like - in the square, often in front of the church, always under an imaginary pretext. But it sometimes differs.

"It may be a questionnaire about Advent time. They often say they are preparing a script for a movie featuring a Christian girl, and they want to know what the views of real Christian girls look like in order to write it as real as possible." they write a book, "says Ema. Anyway, after the first address, the next meeting, usually somewhere in the cafe. Ema was brought directly to such a meeting by a friend who, Ema didn't know, had been in contact with the sect for several months alone.

Shinchonji tries to inspire confidence and gratitude
A teacher comes to this meeting who says she has a professional education and usually offers a new psychological test. From it and from the non-binding conversation, problems arise that an unsuspecting person on the other side of the table is bothering. The teacher listens attentively and seeks a way to the girls. Ema, a young girl from an orderly Christian family, has been looking for answers to questions that no one can give her a simple answer. "If God really exists and what he is. Why are there so many religions or why even priests don't always explain things the same way," says Ema.

Han, among other students of theology, does not burn the questions of faith so much. But he has health problems. "My hair fell a lot, I had problems with upper respiratory tract inflammation, I coughed, and as a beginning teacher I was struggling with stress," she recalls.

She helps both to talk about her problems and the lecturer is willing to listen to them in the cafe. In addition to psychological tests, however, it is necessary to look for answers in the Bible. And here she truly gains the trust of both girls. "She knew the Bible verses and found everything in it incredibly fast. I was intrigued because few people know the Bible so well. She felt she had found a man who understood the Bible and seemed to have answers to her questions.

Yet she is distrustful and refuses the first offer for regular meetings. "I thought if someone was suspicious of a sect, she would call herself and drive me. But that didn't happen," says Ema. But her questions had not disappeared. Her parents, priests, or friends from the Catholic Church had no answer. "I didn't know who to go to. I thought others didn't even think about these things in depth," he adds. Finally she approached the lecturer again.

They began to meet twice a week and she explained the Bible to her. "There were things I couldn't object to. Things I knew, but nobody explained them to me so clearly. She began to explain to me how the Old Testament prophecies are fulfilled in the New Testament, how wonderful and connected it is. I was really excited, "says Ema.

Hana, in turn, is gradually helping to find the cause of her problems. In her childhood, she faced bullying and refusal from her classmates at school. Beginning of elementary school teacher career brought back ancient feelings. This knowledge was surprising and emotional to Hana. "We sat in the café and I cried for half an hour," he says. "It was a great healing, it helped me a lot," she adds. He gradually acquaints himself with the lecturer's family, husband and daughter.

A favorite trick, scaring the apocalypse, the sect initially hides
After a few weeks of building confidence, the tutor has great news for both girls. "That they are opening a Bible course in Palmovka where I can go with others," says Ema. But it is a demanding leisure activity. The group meets three times a week for six months - Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, from six to eleven in the evening. Hana does not want to, but after a long thought, agrees, even out of gratitude to her lecturer.

Related
Photo: Scary suicide of hundreds of sectarians. That was the Jonestown massacre 40 years ago
Photogallery / Jonestown Massacre / ČTK 79 pictures

Even Ema is not prepared for such a commitment. But here comes one of the most powerful tools the sect uses. "The lecturer strengthened the guilt in me that I hadn't understood the Bible much in my life in the Catholic Church. Which was a little true. "says Ema.

So far, neither of the girls has heard a single word about the Korean Church of Shincheon or the Savior Man-hee Leem. And it will stay that way for a long time. The secret is that Man-hee Lee is the only one who is supposedly able to correctly decipher the Bible, in which, according to him, everything God wanted to tell mankind is kept by members of the Church for themselves. "According to Man-hee Lee and his followers, the time of all the other 'old' churches is over," explains Zdeněk Vojtíšek, a religionist engaged in the study of cults, sects and new religious movements.

Like other sects, it places great emphasis on the approaching apocalypse. Believers are now supposed to seek God-promised pastor, Man-hee Lee, to join thousands of believers in the twelve tribes of "New Israel" and become part of the new creation.

"Shincheonji members will dominate the 'big crowd' of supporters for thousands of years. Apparently mainly members of organizations founded by Leo or the Church, while the apostates and those who refused Shincheon's teachings will perish perpetually in the" lake where sulfur burns ".

However, courageous claims and haunts at the end of the world do not take on Czech Christian girls and the sect is well aware of this. The language used to catch girls on the street and in seminars is thus little different from that of ordinary Christian organizations. At least at first. "It's really thoughtful, gradual, and logically very well connected from the beginning, it was very hard for me to detect," Hana says. She studies theology herself. The situation is even worse for girls who are not so confident about faith.

The other churches do not understand the Bible, only Shinchonji knows the way to salvation
The five-hour seminars are divided into several parts. Everything starts with relaxation, singing and dancing. The following is a professional interpretation in English with a translation into Czech. Ema was lectured by Korean Aeri, with whom she had experience of personal meetings, Hana listened to Korean Young Simon.

Shinchonji's teaching enters into the instructors' interpretation unnoticed and creeping. Initially, these are common lectures on the Bible and topics such as humility and gratitude. Over time, however, lecturers are starting to add more controversial interpretations. "There were times when the stresses, as I knew them from the Bible, were somewhere else. But basically, there was still no significant mistake when I thought it was completely wrong," Hana describes.

For example, the Bible tells us that shepherds, that is, those who transmit faith and take care of the people, are both good and bad. "But suddenly there was a lot of emphasis on the fact that there are a lot of bad people," says Hana.

In the case of Ema, this particular lecture went even further. "They played us pastoral videos and we laughed at it together. They mocked the fact that the man didn't know what he was talking about, saying he was delusional," he recalls. He now realizes that it was an attempt to create the impression that other churches do not understand the Bible and that priests cannot be trusted. "To better believe what they were saying, they needed to root out what they believed before," he thinks.

It may seem like an easy-to-see trick, but according to the two girls, such moments have always been distant from each other and surrounded by harmless interpretation and activities.

The Church's strategy was also helped by the way the seminars were organized. About twenty to twenty-five people attend each of them. But only a part of them are complete novices, even though others try to perform. "The seating order is solid. People who are new are surrounded by those who are not new, so that the new ones never sit side by side," says Ema. That her neighbors had been in the sparkling wine for a long time, but she didn't know then.

It is also necessary to follow some seemingly simple rules at the seminar. For example, although a sect selects all phone and email contacts from the beginning, the resulting list is secret. In addition, seminar participants are prohibited from sharing contact information with each other. "They said it was once abused for commercial purposes to spread the advertising of their business, so the numbers stopped sharing," says Ema.

However, to avoid loneliness during the lecture, everyone will be assigned one "secret angel" to exchange the number with whom he can turn to see him outside the seminar at any time. "But we were not allowed to tell anyone in the class who our assigned angel was," Ema adds. Of course, this angel is not a newcomer to Shincheon, and his job is to keep an eye on the girls and try to dispel their fears when the lecturer does not guess and goes too far in the interpretation. Otherwise, she flatters the girls and encourages them to continue their studies.

According to the divide and rule strategy, the isolation of newcomers is truly consistent. The sect makes sure that they are not alone for a moment and cannot share their doubts without supervision. "For example, we took three of the course home by subway. Me and the only two guys who went there. One was new and the other was not. The one who was there a long time ago said he was living in the other direction, he said he had it on the way, "Ema recalls.

Other times, when it seemed that she might be alone with one of the other girls who was new to the class, Aeri herself went home with her. "On the pretext of talking, she came to the door with me. And that's how it was every day. But at that time I thought everyone was new, so I didn't suspect it," says Ema.

After some time, the instructors began to strictly monitor attendance and added weekend activities. "He's trying to isolate a person. When he's there with them five days a week, he doesn't have time for anything else," says Hana.

Ema sees it the same way. "I came home tonight, went to bed, from bed to school, and straight from school. They were still encouraging us to investigate if they were telling the truth and to look for everything at home in the Bible to see if it fit. But I found out that I actually don't have time to do it because I'm either at school or with them, "he says. She gradually gave up the job at that time, shuffled the school schedule according to the course and stopped seeing friends.

"They taught us to lie"
"I do not understand much today that I was no more suspicious. But I was very scared. They insisted a lot that one had to understand the Bible to be saved. And I felt I did not understand it," Ema adds. But spending more than two dozen hours a week on a Bible course is not easy to hide from the surroundings. And the girls had to keep it secret. "They said we must not talk about it anywhere, because we have to understand first and then pass it on to avoid closing the way to the truth," Ema describes.

Over time, the girls even began to learn the best ways to get rid of the suspicion at home. "The people who were deployed there gave us different tips. For example, I found a friend or a new evening job. And even if the family finds out, after a few weeks, I said I stopped taking the course because he was weird, "says Ema.

For Hana, the first major problems arose when she wanted to leave for a week-long event with a friend she told about the instructors when she first started the course. "But suddenly they told me that I couldn't miss three lessons, that it was too much. And they asked me what was more important to me, whether the word of God or some action," Hana says.

In the end she agreed to return to two of her friend's lessons and to replace the third. But the whole situation left a bitter aftertaste in her mouth. She did not like the fact that the lecturers made her choose between God and a friend. "And then it was Magdy, my friend had a holiday, so we met. And she asks me if I have heard of the Korean sect," Hana says. The friend's description was remarkably reminiscent of everything she had experienced in the last four months.

Ema's parents showed one of the few articles on the Czech Internet that mentioned Shinchonji sect. This was dominated by photographs from so far perhaps the only public event in which sect members took part in Prague. At that time, they protested against the allegedly violent death of the Korean Koo Ji In, who was to perish in an attempt to convert her back to the traditional Korean church. Even here, however, it was seen that Shchinji appreciates privacy. The sect members did not apply for the organization and had black masks on their faces. Still, Ema recognized one of her friends among them.

Both girls, Hana and Ema, but returned to Palmovka and the teachers confronted the finding. "I asked them frankly - are you Shincheonji or not? And they wonder why I need to know that it depends on whether the Scripture is true or not," Hana recalls. One of the lecturers then brought Korean Young to her. "I was just wondering that they would kidnap me and beat me up. But nothing like that happened," he says.

A several-hour lecture followed, in which Young quoted verses from the Bible and tried to convince Han that there was only one place where Scripture could truly know. However, unsuccessfully, even though, according to Hana, he had some good arguments to which she simply did not know the answer. But he began to question Christian sacraments, such as baptism or ordination, the divinity of Jesus or the Holy Trinity. That was too much for the girl. They broke up saying that Hana would try to defend her position in the Bible and come back. But she never did. She wrote to her pastor who helped her explain the contradictions in the Korean interpretation.

"I then wrote to everyone I had contact with that if they didn't want to go to Korea, bow down to Mr. Man-hee Lee and be part of the Shincheon sect, they should leave. And that's what I concluded," Hana says.

Nobody knew I was there. I was worried about life, says Ema
Ema's last days in the sect were a bit more dramatic, at least according to her story. After reading the article her parents showed her, she was confused. "No one has ever told us that there is someone in Korea that we should consider as the second Jesus," he says. But she spent the whole night on the Internet examining foreign sources. "The stories fit exactly. I haven't slept for several days looking for more information," he says.

Every other article made her more upset. "I realized how they manipulated me all the time. They convinced us that we must not trust our own thoughts, because one never knew where it was from that head. That we can only believe the Scriptures, "Ema recalls.

Finally, when she pushed the Aeri instructor, she confessed to her that they were indeed Shincheonji, although she had claimed at all times that she was not a church or organization. "She started explaining to me why they didn't tell me, why they kept it from me. They say they already have a bad reputation and people wouldn't believe them. They say people want to believe what they say about the Bible and not to condemn it according to what they find on the Internet, "says Ema.

Finally, Aeri told her that if she stayed for a week, they would show her the fulfillment of Bible prophecies and prove they were telling the truth all along. And Ema really came back. "But I've seen it with other eyes, I've seen their techniques," he says. At the break, she confided in her secret angel to whom she had developed a personal relationship. "I tried her a little, I wanted to know if she knew all about it. I told her they were lying to me and that I learned something about them. I expected to ask for details," says Ema.

But the girl just paused, looked unhappy, and a moment later she went to tell the teachers. "I saw them talking about me. It was terribly uncomfortable, looking at me and consulting," says Ema. She was afraid at that moment. "I realized we were in a place that is unmarked. Nobody knows I'm there, and only those who are allowed in the sect have access to the area. I realize that if someone hurt me there, nobody will know. I started. I saw that I was the most uncomfortable to know all about them, and it spreads to other members of the group, "Ema recalls.

At that moment she grabbed all her things and ran away. She stopped behind the gray gate. "Now, back to myself, they're probably not dangerous enough to do something to me. At that moment, I wasn't sure about that at all. Even now, I think it's likely they would at least lock me up and try to persuade me for hours , "says Ema.

After escaping the girl a year of depression and anxiety awaited
It might seem that everything was over for her. But more than anything else, the systematic pressure of Shincheonji suggests that another year Ema was considering returning to the sect.

"I've had nightmares for a long time, I was sick and depressed. I didn't know what to believe in the world. it means that for the unbeliever it must sound strange, but when one believes that there is such a thing, it is quite a good reason to stay, "Ema adds.

Today she is better and thanks to the help of her parents feel good. Others were not so lucky. The fates of two of her friends have already been heard. Four months after she had escaped from the sect, Ema had met one of the two boys who had attended her course - a rookie who had come to the sect at the same time as her. He stopped people on the street and offered them a questionnaire. "I was pretty sad about it," he says. But she was afraid of confrontation, not wanting to close her way to her friends who had remained in the sparkling wine.

Members of the sect pay tithes, and in Prague there are more
Nobody will know what the fates of both girls would look like if they did not leave the club on Palmovka. The available information suggests that the course would continue and the pressure of the Church would increase. When the other members of the sect were certain that they would be able to bear the truth, they would learn about Shinchon and the Korean Christ Man-hee Lee.

The participant appears to complete the process by completing a Korean form confirming his / her membership in Shincheonju. He then remits the tithe (approximately one tenth of his income) and is expected to become a missionary himself and to bring several other people to the sect. And the cycle continues.

It is difficult to estimate how many members Shinchonji has lured in Prague. He has been working in secrecy for four to five years and at the same time he is running two courses in Palmova in two classes of approximately twenty to twenty-five students. However, it is not at all certain that this is the only place where seminars take place. "And certainly not all members go there. I would say that Shincheonji may be around two hundred in Prague, given their active involvement in stopping people on the street," says Ema.

It is difficult for both girls to remember the membership of Shincheonji. "It was my first sect experience. I ask myself how I could have been so stupid, trusting and naive. But I just wasn't expecting it. I won't go tripping and don't go to a seminar, "says Hana.

She has since been trying to warn Shinchonji whom she can. She approached priests in churches, most of whom sect attracts sheep in front of sects, and gave them all the documents she had collected up to that time. Still, he is afraid of revenge. Shinchongji has her worksheets and psychological tests. The sect thus has a lot of personal information about her.

Emu also surprisingly surprised how powerful the sect gained over her and how masterfully she was to manipulate it. "I always thought I was too clever to get into a sect. Too critical and suspicious. At the same time, things that seemed obvious to me today didn't occur to me at all," he says.

But both decided to talk about the painful experience. "It's a bad experience, but if it's meaningful, I'll talk about it," Hana says. Ema adds that a similar fate to her may have met other Christian girls. "If people don't know about Shchinji, I don't even want to imagine how many more girls they can manipulate," he concludes.


Czech churches warn their believers against Shinchoenji
The action of the Shincheonji sect has not escaped the attention of traditional Christian churches. After increasing reports of sect members attempting to reach out to their believers, some of them issued a joint statement in which they warned of the disguised tactics of the Korean Church.

Where can I find out more about Shchinji?
Even because of the sect's efforts to keep secrecy, there are not many available sources from which information about Shinchonji's activities in the Czech Republic can be drawn. The subject of study is devoted to religionist Zdeněk Vojtíšek, who studies cults, sects and new religious movements. He described the origins and essence of the sect's teachings in detail in Dingir, for example. He published other reports not only about Shchinji's activities in the Czech Republic on the website of the Religious Infoservice. Further information can be found at scjinfo.cz.

Jan. 6 2020: Nemám výmluvu. Dívkám neříkáme pravdu, ale nemůžeme jinak, říká člen korejské sekty
I have no excuse. We don't tell the girls the truth, but we can't do otherwise, says a member of the Korean sect

Jakub Heller

Simon Yang, a member of the South Korean sinchchochi sect, who has been secretly recruiting young girls in the streets of Prague for several years, is trying to justify why his organization uses fake and indiscriminate practices in an interview with Aktualne.cz. According to him, it is time for the end of traditional churches, whose place will be taken over by the Shinchoji Church. He must lie to young girls, otherwise he would have lost their chance to know the true word of God.

Shinchonji sect members do not appear in public in the Czech Republic. Perhaps the only exception was made during the demonstration in February 2018. Even then, they performed under a different name and covered their eyes with masks.
Shinchonji sect members do not appear in public in the Czech Republic. Perhaps the only exception was made during the demonstration in February 2018. Even then, they performed under a different name and covered their eyes with masks. | Photo: Petr Vrabec
I don't know how to imagine a typical sect member, but Simon Yang doesn't look at him at first sight. The young Korean is well dressed and expresses himself clearly, calmly and without much emotion. Definitely not a fanatic. We meet the day before Christmas Eve. At the Prague restaurant, a translator, a young Korean, is waiting for him.

Yang is a member of the South Korean Shinchonji sect and is in charge of her mission in Prague. The sect is trying to secretly take over believers to other Christian churches under various pretexts.

He first wonders if I'm a believer. Even though I answer no, most of my questions are answered with Bible quotations. He pulls them off his sleeve with the confidence of a man who has spent countless hours studying script.

Yang approached the newsroom just a few days after Aktualne.cz published an article based on the experience of two Czech girls who had been recruited for several months by Shincheonji. Girls who described systematic manipulations, lies and coercion.

Yang, according to Yang, the article is not objective. He especially dislikes mentioning that a sect haunts the end of the world. The organization has more than two hundred thousand members mainly in South Korea, and according to Yang, they did not get intimidated.

If you have so many members, you must have a great self-confidence. Why, then, are you attracting Czech girls on the streets under false pretenses concerning diploma theses and screenplays? Why do you creepyly explain your ideology to them in closed seminars of the month without even mentioning that you are the Korean Church of Shinchon?

Because of the persecution we face.

Persecution?

People have bad prejudices, bad information about Shchinji. It started about fifteen years ago with a man who lived the life of faith in Shinchon for about twenty years. But then he left the church and began to create false rumors to destroy Shincheonji. And these are really strong topics that when people hear, they think Shinchon is a really bad place. For example, that young people have to give up their lives and their children's mothers or that women have to divorce. Honestly, I also thought Shinchon was a place before I entered it. Of course I do not know if you will believe me if I tell you that is not true.

You are talking about slander to discourage people from Shincheonji. However, our article is based on the testimony of two girls who had a personal experience with your organization. You mean they're lying?

I'm not saying what they said is false and bad. They just showed what they had experienced. But this is not the experience of people who have experienced Shincheonji. It is the experience of people who have learned the Bible so that they can only enter Shinchonji. They started to have bad thoughts about Shincheonji after reading bad news about Shincheonji.

In the beginning, the girls also liked the word we gave them. But then they began to believe not the word, but the news. I actually met one of those girls and talked to her, as he says in the article. I taught her about three weeks. After hearing the word, she began to recognize it...

But then she realized that you were systematically lying to her...

The girl herself said at the time that she thought I'd take her somewhere and beat her there. But he admits that we only talked about the Bible for four hours. But why did she have such thoughts? Because she read things like that in the news on the Internet.

Where can I find out more about Shincheonji?

Even because of the sect's efforts to keep secrecy, there are not many available sources from which information about Shinchonji's activities in the Czech Republic can be drawn. The subject of the study is devoted to the study of cults, sects and new religious movements by Zdeněk Vojtíšek. He described the origins and essence of the sect's teachings in detail in Dingir, for example. He published other reports not only about Shchinji's activities in the Czech Republic on the website of the Religious Infoservice. Further information can be found at scjinfo.cz.

You say girls discouraged hoaxes from outside. But I think they were more affected by the fact that you were attracted to them by fraud and you lied to them for several months, withheld your identity and manipulated them...

For Czechs, manipulation is a word from which they fear. But we don't manipulate anyone. Only according to the Bible do we show the word of God. We give everyone a choice. People are free to stop learning the word. We never say things in the headline of your report that someone will go to hell. We just said that we would pray for them to find the truth. Is that manipulation?

The manipulation I think is that under innocent pretenses you attract girls into educational groups, where you speak to them without knowing who is actually talking to them...

Honestly. I don't have much excuses to give you. Whatever I say, I know it won't be accepted. But you have to understand why we have to do this, why we have to evangelize like this. When we say that we are Shincheonji, people will certainly find a lot of bad information about Shincheonji on the Internet and lose the chance to accept God's Word of Truth. Jesus also told Matthew when he sent disciples to evangelism - be wise as a serpent and pure as a dove. Other times, Jesus says this: "You do not yet announce that you belong to Christ." Yet many people say that Shchinji evangelizes through a lie.

But you really lie to the girls and don't tell them the truth...

Of course, from your point of view it is a lie. But the Bible says that God fulfills His Word through wisdom and through plans. The Apostle Paul says - I evangelize towards Jews as a Jew. Of course, we would also like to speak openly about Shinchon, but the world does not yet have a good idea of ​​Shinchon, so we cannot evangelize. That's why it's not easy.

Will it ever change?

In Zechariah 8 it is said that the harvest will come when there will be peace and peace. Then it will no longer be evangelization through a lie, as you see it. The day will come when we will openly talk about Shincheonji and open it from the beginning. But I'm not trying to justify, but I just want to explain our view of why it had to be done this way.

The girls also described many ways of trying to make sure they didn't realize prematurely that it was Shincheonji. For example, you cannot share phone numbers with each other and you assign one long-term member, a so-called guardian angel, to each girl to watch over her...

Because we really want them to come to see the word first. This is not a place where people should meet each other, but a place where people should meet God and the Word. Moreover, many of those who come to learn have really good qualities and are good people, but there are also some who come to learn the word for other reasons. Perhaps because of the pyramid fraud and they are trying to turn the others for money. And those good people are a good target for them.

It seems that you are more interested in avoiding spreading news about Shincheonji ...

If one student reads some bad news about Shincheonji and shares it, everyone will know. It is true. But the aim is not to lie and deceive someone to believe the word. When I deliver the word, I always say that we must verify it in the Bible to the end. Verify that it's true. But when people get these fake reports of Shincheonji, they decide they won't come again, and they lose the chance to verify that this is true. But I do not force them to believe in Shincheonji. I want them to choose freely after they have verified everything in the Bible.

Only a few newcomers attend your seminars. They are then surrounded by long-term members who only pretend to be new. You even have a strict sitting order. Why?

As Ezekiel 47 says - water flows from the sanctuary of God and we have to measure the water four times. Therefore, even at our seminars, people come to hear the word more than once. God's Word is not something we can realize when we listen to it once. But of course, they cannot tell others that it is true, that it is Shincheonji and that they are members of Shincheonji.

Why not?

As I said, there is nothing good about Shincheonji in the world. Only the Bible really describes Shincheonji.

You do not like the article to mention Shincheonji Church's emphasis on the approaching end of the world. But isn't it? Isn't the apocalypse one of the central parts of your teaching?

In Matthew 13 it is written that Jesus is sowing seed in the world and that the harvest time will come and Jesus will reap what he sowed. It says that harvest time is an end to the ages. Therefore, Christianity cannot be interested in the end of the ages. But many sects are abusing the notion of the end of ages and arouse or threaten people to gain something. They are told that the end of the globe will come. But this is not the end of the ages that Jesus spoke about and Shinchonji talks about.

So what is your end of time?

The end of time is not only written in the New Testament, but also in the Old Testament. When the Old Testament wrote about the end of ages, it was written about the end of Judaism. And after Judaism was over, Christianity began. Jesus then planted the seed, the word, into the world of Christianity. And he promised to those who believe in him and keep him that he would reap them in a place named Zion. This is a different concept of the end of ages.

So this end of your ages is the end of Christianity...

Two thousand years ago, Jesus came up with the fulfillment of the Old Testament, and ended the world of Judaism. Similarly, there is an end to age in the New Testament, and that is the end of the world of traditional churches.

And what do you think is happening?

Although it was Europe, which was the headquarters of Christianity, it is now a continent where it is difficult to find believers. Around the world, the number of Christians is declining, but the number of people entering Shcheonju is steadily increasing. In Korea alone, we have over two hundred thousand members. I think that's the reason. Just like two thousand years ago, the number of people in Judaism declined and the number of Christians grew.

Czech churches warn their believers against Shinchon
The activities of the Shincheonji sect have not escaped the attention of traditional Christian churches. After increasing reports of sect members attempting to reach out to their believers, some of them issued a joint statement in which they warned of the disguised tactics of the Korean Church.

What does Shincheonji really mean?

New Heaven New Earth. Even in 2 Peter 3:13 the Lord's second coming is mentioned, and it is written that the first heaven of the first earth will pass away and a new heaven and a new earth will be created. This does not mean the physical new heaven and the new earth, but the new heaven is God's new tabernacle, and the new earth is the new members who are harvested from the seed of God.

How long have you been in the Czech Republic? How many members do you have? And how many people have already passed your seminars in the Czech Republic?

Why are you interested in this information?

I would like to know how big the organization is in the Czech Republic, how many lives it touches in comparison with other churches...

The information about our numbers and when we started to work, which you have written in your article, is true. (Shinchonji has been in Prague for about four to five years. The number of its members is estimated to be tens to several hundreds - red.

Most of those who attend your seminars seem to be young girls. Do you focus on them somehow?

No. I have met many men in the Czech Republic. I pray for men in the Czech Republic and I would like to discuss the Bible with them.

But why is the vast majority of people at your female seminars?

It's just my personal view of things, but I believe that life of faith is better for women than for men who have a strong ego. But it's not that we think of women as a target and focus on them intensively.

The girls also talked about the fact that your seminaries often make light or detrimental to other church dignitaries, like Catholic priests. Videos of their sermons are being played and you laugh at them together. Why are you doing this?

In John 4, it is written, do not believe in every spirit, but try to examine the spirit. We should compare and discern the Spirit through the word. People who learn to speak are often believers. We only give them a comparison. But it's not that we want to dishonor or humiliate a pastor or organization.

When will the candidates learn at the seminar that there is Shincheonji and that there is your leader Lee Man-hee in Korea, whom you consider to be the second coming of Jesus?

After their mind and core cross into the word. When they realize that they should not follow any worldly views, but God's Word.

How long does it take?

It is different for every person. It's not that we have a pre-set period. We can tell somebody after two or three meetings, but there are people we can't even say in a year or a year and a half. We will tell them after the word becomes the core of their lives.

Indeed, a lot of information suggests that many of your members are leaving their loved ones. Even one of the Czech girls talks about it, whose friend broke her relationship with her family because of Shincheonji ...

It is not that people give up their lives and go to Shincheonji. We do not scare people or push them to give us something or give up something. They have their own personal lives. Some go to university, others go to work, and others go professionally in their field. It's not a place with an extreme atmosphere that people talk about from outside.

How much do church members have to engage in its work?

It depends on the free decision of the members. No one can tell them and everyone does it according to their faith. Most members study or work regularly and according to their faith voluntarily serve in the Church.

I would like to go back to why you stop people on the streets under false pretenses and lure them to yourself without telling them truthfully that you are a Shincheonji church. I wonder if you understand humanly why most people consider such behavior condemnable ...

Of course I understand. Who would like to lie in the world. Naturally, if I find myself lying to me, I won't like it. But when you look at it from the perspective of the Bible and from the perspective of God, you begin to understand that it must be so. When you feel that this word is truly life and truth, you will understand. When we tell them all, we apologize for not telling the truth. But we explain that we had no choice. Of course, there are people who will refuse to accept Shincheonji at that moment.