Shincheonji lesson 27: figurative light, part two

Where SCJ’s reading conflicts with the Bible

This lesson continues from Lesson 26. It says there are “two groups of believers,” children of light and children of darkness, and that the worst darkness comes “from those who profess to have the Word but actually do not possess it.” It warns against churches that preach “peace and safety” or “come as you are.” It lays out four eras of day and night, ending with a 2,000-year night in which Revelation was sealed until it is opened “by the only one deemed worthy.” It even says Satan interferes when “your son calls needing help just when you planned to leave” for class. SCJ’s The Creation of Heaven and Earth calls simple faith in Jesus a “misunderstanding” (p. 133) and says the end-time events “are fulfilled by a single pastor who comes in the position of Apostle John. All believers must find this pastor” (p. 371). The passages the lesson uses say the opposite on each point.

1. 1. 1 Thessalonians 5:1: Paul didn’t write about times because they already knew

   The notes say Paul didn’t write about times and dates “because the details of times and dates are sealed, the word is sealed.” Paul gives his actual reason:

   “Now on the topic of times and seasons, brothers and sisters, you have no need for anything to be written to you. For you know quite well that the day of the Lord will come in the same way as a thief in the night.” (1 Thessalonians 5:1-2)

   • He didn’t need to write because they already knew the key fact: the day will come unexpectedly.
   • That’s the opposite of sealed. No one, including any group, can calculate the timing.

2. 2. The claim that “both groups are made up of believers”

   The lesson says the two groups in 1 Thessalonians 5 are both believers.

   • Paul separates them clearly: “Now when they are saying, ‘There is peace and security,’ then sudden destruction comes on them … But you, brothers and sisters, are not in the darkness” (5:3-4).
   • “They” are outsiders who say “peace and security” (a phrase many scholars connect to the slogans of the Roman Empire). “You” is the whole church.
   • “For you all are sons of the light and sons of the day” (5:5).
   • “God did not destine us for wrath but for gaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ” (5:9).

   Paul isn’t dividing believers into two groups. He’s assuring the believers that they belong to the day. (See Lesson 26.)

3. 3. Preaching “peace and safety” or “come as you are”

   The lesson treats churches that preach “peace and safety” or “come as you are” as the children of darkness.

   • Jesus’ own invitation: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). He also says “the one who comes to me I will never send away” (John 6:37).
   • Paul writes that “since we have been declared righteous by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1).
   • Peace with God through Christ is the gospel. What Paul warned against was the world’s false security apart from God, not a church telling sinners they can come to Jesus.

4. 4. The book calls “simply believing in Jesus” a misunderstanding

   The Creation of Heaven and Earth (p. 133) says, “most Christians think that by simply believing in Jesus, they have been saved and have already received the holy spirit. This misunderstanding leads to idleness.”

   • Paul: “when you heard the word of truth (the gospel of your salvation)—when you believed in Christ—you were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit” (Ephesians 1:13).
   • “Did you receive the Spirit by doing the works of the law or by believing what you heard?” (Galatians 3:2).
   • Jesus said those who believe in him would receive the Spirit (John 7:38-39). In Acts, the Holy Spirit fell on Cornelius’s household while Peter was still preaching that “everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins” (Acts 10:43-44).
   • Faith that saves isn’t idle. It works through love (Galatians 5:6). But the book calls the plain teaching of Ephesians 1:13 a misunderstanding.

5. 5. Philippians 2:12: The lesson’s “fear and trembling” rests on God’s work

   The lesson says children of light work out their faith “with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12), set against “peace and safety.” The NET reads “continue working out your salvation with awe and reverence.”

   • The next verse gives the reason: “for the one bringing forth in you both the desire and the effort—for the sake of his good pleasure—is God” (Philippians 2:12-13).
   • Paul says in the same letter that “the one who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus” (1:6).
   • Reverent seriousness and assurance go together, because the work is God’s. (See Lesson 21.)

6. 6. “Do not trust your heart”

   The notes call this “God’s warning.”

   • That’s the teacher’s wording. Jeremiah 17:9 says the human mind is deceitful, and the next verse says, “I, the Lord, probe into people’s minds. I examine people’s hearts” (17:10).
   • Just before that, the Lord says, “I will put a curse on people who trust in mere human beings” (17:5).
   • The answer to a deceitful heart is trusting the Lord, not transferring trust from your own judgment to a teacher’s. (See Lesson 5.)

7. 7. A son’s call for help is not Satan’s interference

   The lesson says Satan interferes with attendance: “your car breaks down when you need to get home to attend this seminar. Or your son calls needing help just when you planned to leave.”

   • A child needing help is not a spiritual attack. Paul writes that “if someone does not provide for his own, especially his own family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever” (1 Timothy 5:8).
   • In the Good Samaritan parable, the priest and the Levite passed by the injured man, and Jesus held up the one who stopped to help (Luke 10:30-37).
   • Jesus rebuked religious leaders whose rules let people avoid caring for their parents (Mark 7:10-13).

   Framing a son’s call for help as Satan keeping you from class puts the course above the duty to love your family that God commands.

8. 8. A night of 2,000 years contradicts John and Jesus

   The lesson’s four eras say the New Testament age is “night,” that “the night has already arrived,” and that Revelation was “sealed for 2000 years.”

   • John, writing after Jesus’ resurrection: “the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining” (1 John 2:8).
   • Jesus: “I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). There is no age of darkness for his church.
   • Revelation was not sealed: “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy contained in this book, because the time is near” (Revelation 22:10).
   • The first era is also wrong. The Old Testament wasn’t simply night: “Your word is a lamp to walk by and a light to illumine my path” (Psalm 119:105), and Hebrews 11 commends many Old Testament believers who lived by faith.

9. 9. The claim that “every prophecy was fulfilled”

   The notes say, “When Jesus came, every prophecy was fulfilled – during his ministry and lifetime.”

   • Peter said the outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost, after Jesus’ ascension, fulfilled Joel’s prophecy (Acts 2:16-21).
   • James said the Gentiles turning to God fulfilled the words of the prophets (Acts 15:15-17).
   • And the second coming itself is still prophesied. The neat era scheme doesn’t fit what the New Testament says.

10. 10. The Lamb is “the only one deemed worthy”

    The lesson says the word is opened at the second coming “by the only one deemed worthy to open it.” SCJ’s book (p. 371) says the events are fulfilled by “a single pastor who comes in the position of Apostle John. All believers must find this pastor.”

    • Revelation 5 names the only one worthy: “Look, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has conquered; thus he can open the scroll and its seven seals” (5:5). He is the Lamb that had been killed (5:6, 9).
    • In the next chapter, the Lamb opens the seals himself, in John’s vision (6:1).
    • John’s position in Revelation is the one who sees, hears and writes (1:11, 19; 22:8). He doesn’t open the seals. The one who opens them is Jesus.

11. 11. John 3:19-21: Coming into the light means not hiding

    The lesson uses John 3:19-21 to frame the choice as following “what had always been” versus jumping ship to “follow this new one.”

    • At the first coming, “this new one” was Jesus himself. The choice John describes is whether to come to Jesus.
    • John also says what light and darkness look like: “everyone who does evil deeds hates the light and does not come to the light, so that their deeds will not be exposed. But the one who practices the truth comes to the light, so that it may be plainly evident that his deeds have been done in God” (3:20-21).
    • Light means openness. A course that hides who runs it and where it leads until students are committed is not coming to the light, by John’s own description.