Shincheonji · Immortality

Sealed Members Who Died

Shincheonji taught that certain people in its inner circle would not die. Some of them have died. This page sets out what the published record says about those deaths, and how the explanations given inside Shincheonji changed afterwards. For the wider teaching, see our immortality hub.

These were real people who gave years of their lives to what they believed. We name them only as our sources name them. Where a source masks a name, so do we. Our aim is not to make a point of anyone’s death, but to answer honestly the question many members quietly carry.

By Chris Vishoot, co-founder of Bible Vaccine Center International and former Shincheonji member8 min readSource notes

How to read the quotes

Primary
the place these words were first published (the author’s own article or the speaker’s own statement), checked against a copy we saved.
Secondary · via outlet
copied exactly as a later outlet or page printed it.
Secondary · reporter’s paraphrase in outlet
a summary, not a quotation, so we give it without quotation marks.

Renderings marked (our translation) are ours.

On this page

A word on “sealed.” In Shincheonji, being “sealed” (인 맞은) means being counted among the 144,000. No source we found says that either man below was “sealed” in those words. What the sources do say is that they were taught never to die. We use that phrase, and we do not claim more.

1. 윤재명, education director and one of the “barley”

윤재명 was one of Shincheonji’s education directors (교육장). He came out of the Tabernacle Temple (장막성전), the group Lee belonged to before founding Shincheonji. He served the movement for nearly 30 years.

Revelation 6:6 mentions “a measure of wheat” and “three measures of barley.” Former lecturer 지명한 says members understood the wheat to be Lee and the barley to be three men from the Tabernacle Temple, 윤재명 among them:

English translation

Most of us understood the fulfillment of the one measure of wheat and three measures of barley this way: the one measure of wheat was Chairman Lee, and the three measures of barley were the three who came out of the Tabernacle Temple, namely 윤요한, education director 윤재명 and tribe leader 지재섭.

원문 · Original

밀 1되 보리 3되의 실상을 밀 1되는 이만희 총회장이요, 보리 3되는 장막성전에서 나온 3명 곧 윤요한, 윤재명 교육장 그리고 지재섭 지파장이라고 대부분 알고 있었습니다.

Primary source지명한, exit press statement, 26 Jan 2012LinkOur translation; awaiting native-speaker review.

He adds that at a 2004 lecturers’ retreat, the education head named five possible “barley” men (윤재명 among them) and publicly declared that the wheat and barley “’절대 죽지 않는다!’” (“will absolutely not die!”) (our translation). Primary

황의종, a pastor who heads a Busan cult-counseling center, describes the same teaching:

English translation

They had taught that the real figures of the one measure of wheat and three measures of barley were four people, the Chairman, 윤, 윤 and 지, and that these would not die. But because 윤 died …

원문 · Original

그들은 밀 한 되, 보리 석 되의 실상인물로 총회장과 윤**, 윤**, 지** 4 사람으로 이들은 죽지 않는다고 가르쳐 왔었는데 윤**이 죽었기 때문에 …

Primary source황의종, 기독교포털뉴스 (opens in new tab) · Archived 2025-08-27, 13 Aug 2015LinkOur translation; awaiting native-speaker review.

What this says

윤재명 was taught to be one of four people who would not die.

How he died. Two sources say cancer:

English translation

윤재명, an education director who was said to be one of the real figures, also died of cancer.

원문 · Original

교육장으로 실상의 인물의 하나라고 하던 윤재명도 암으로 죽었다.

Primary source황의종, 기독교포털뉴스 (opens in new tab) · Archived 2025-08-27, 13 Aug 2015LinkOur translation; awaiting native-speaker review.

A counseling page run by the Guri cult-counseling center says the middle “barley” died of illness, calling it cancer. It also says Lee “장례식장에 안 나타난 것으로 알려졌다” (“reportedly did not appear at the funeral”) (our translation). Secondary · via 구리이단상담소, undated page credited to 바로알자 신천지 We could not confirm that report.

When he died. We say “around 2010.” 황의종 is quoted in a 2023 article saying “2010년 윤재명이 죽었을 때” (“when 윤재명 died in 2010”) (our translation). Primary The same 2023 article, and the Guri page, give 2012. 지명한 attended the funeral while still in Shincheonji, and he left in December 2011. So 2012 does not fit his timeline. We have seen no obituary.

지명한 at the funeral. For 지명한, this death was a turning point:

English translation

Then came news of the death of education director 윤재명, the fulfillment of the ‘one measure of wheat and three measures of barley’ who was supposed never to die. At the time it was a great shock to me. Masan is quite far, but I went up to Seoul to pay my respects to a man who had devoted nearly 30 years to Shincheonji. On the way back, this was my heart: a founding pillar, who came out of the Tabernacle Temple and worked for years beside Chairman Lee for Shincheonji’s history, has died like this without gaining eternal life. What will become of me?

원문 · Original

그러던 중 절대 죽지 않는다던 ‘밀 한 되 보리 석 되’의 실상이었던 윤재명 교육장의 사망 소식이 있었는데 당시에 저에게는 큰 충격이었습니다. 사망 소식을 듣고, 마산에서는 다소 먼 거리이지만 30년 가까이 신천지를 위해 헌신하신 분의 명복을 빌어드려야겠다는 마음으로 서울로 상경하여 조문을 하고 돌아오는 길에 저의 마음은 이랬습니다. 장막성전에서 나와 이만희 총회장과 함께 신천지 역사를 위해 오랜 세월 일해오신 개국공신도 이렇게 영생을 얻지 못하고 죽는데 나는 과연 어떻게 될까?

Primary source지명한, exit press statement, 26 Jan 2012LinkOur translation; awaiting native-speaker review.

What this says

A lecturer of ten years mourned a man he respected, and the death made him question the teaching itself.

2. 문**, a lecturer in the Peter tribe

Only one source, 황의종, reports this death, and he gives only the surname:

English translation

Lecturer 문** of the Peter tribe, known to be very capable, died of cancer

원문 · Original

매우 유능하다고 알려진 베드로지파 문** 강사가 암으로 죽었으며

Primary source황의종, 기독교포털뉴스 (opens in new tab) · Archived 2025-08-27, 13 Aug 2015LinkOur translation; awaiting native-speaker review.

We know no date, age or other detail. No source calls him “sealed.” Hwang places his death in the same period as 윤재명‘s, and says the two deaths together led to a change in teaching (below).

3. Other deaths in the record

황의종 lists earlier deaths. He writes that when a Bartholomew tribe leader, 신, died in 2004, Shincheonji “그를 영생에 들어갈 믿음이 안돼서 죽었다는 식으로 배도자로 매도했다” (“branded him an apostate, as if he had died because his faith was not enough to enter eternal life”) (our translation). Primary He also names a headquarters worker, 정, and the head of Shincheonji’s legal department, 전**. Primary No cause of death is given for any of them.

In November 2024, 교회와신앙 reported that a former Busan James tribe leader, 박용X, died at 77, based on an internal notice sent to it by 바이블백신센터. Primary Bible Vaccine Center International and 바이블백신센터 (Bible Vaccine Center) are the same team. That report does not say what he was taught about his own death.

4. How the explanations changed

Shincheonji has not, as far as we found, published its own account of these deaths. What we have are reports from former insiders and counselors. In order:

  1. He lacked faith (2004). The apostate label above. Primary

  2. “Even a commissioned worker can die.” After the deaths of 정 and 전, the teaching became “신인합일이 이루어지기 전에는 사명자도 죽을 수 있다” (“before the union of God and man is complete, even a commissioned worker can die”) (our translation). Primary · 황의종, 2015

  3. “We don’t know who they are.” After 문** and 윤재명 died: “실상의 인물이 몇 명 있는데 그들이 누군지는 우리도 모른다” (“There are a few real figures, but even we don’t know who they are”) (our translation). Primary · 황의종, 2015

  4. “A little flock.” 지명한 says the barley was quietly redefined: “보리 석 되의 실상은 이전에 말했던 3명이 아니라 ‘적은 무리‘라고 슬쩍 말을 바꾸어 가르치고 있습니다” (“They are quietly changing what they teach: the barley is not the three people they spoke of before, but a ‘little flock’”) (our translation). Primary

  5. Silence. 지명한 says deaths of education directors and tribe leaders were “철저히 통제” (“thoroughly controlled”) as unfavorable information. In 2024, 교회와신앙 reported Shincheonji was known to “장례광고를 쉬쉬” (“hush up funeral notices”) for members. Primary

In 2012, 신현욱 also said some leaders were softening the teaching with lines such as “우리 세대에 이루지 못하면 우리 후손들에게 이 복이 넘어간다” (“if it is not fulfilled in our generation, this blessing passes to our descendants”) (our translation). Primary

What this does and does not show

  • It shows that people taught never to die, including one of the four named “real figures,” have died, and that the explanation moved each time.
  • It does not show the exact date of 윤재명‘s death, any medical detail, or the words Shincheonji itself used at the time. The record comes from former insiders and counseling ministries.
  • It does not say anyone was “sealed (인 맞은).” The one source in our files where Lee is said to have called a leader sealed concerns 지재섭, who is alive.

For families

Source notes

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