Shincheonji special lesson 114: advanced level test 1

Where SCJ’s reading conflicts with the Bible

This is the first advanced-level test: 25 questions, a 90% pass mark and the instruction “Memorize all the answers word by word.” The answer key states that the new covenant is “Revelation (the events of Revelation),” that the fulfillment began in “1966” at “The Tabernacle Temple in Gwacheon,” that the savior group is Shincheonji, that “the one that reads” in Revelation 1:3 is “New John,” that the deceivers of Matthew 24 are “Pastors of coercive conversion” and that those who hand believers over are “Parents and relatives who were deceived.” Here is what Scripture says about the key answers.

1. 1. “Memorize all the answers word by word”

   • Memorizing Scripture is good (Psalm 119:11). Memorizing one group’s answers word for word trains students to repeat an interpretation rather than test it (Acts 17:11; 1 Thessalonians 5:21). (See Lesson 93.)

2. 2. Question 1: Parables and atonement

   The key says an outsider can’t receive atonement “Because one will not know the actual entities.”

   • Jesus “is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for our sins but also for the whole world” (1 John 2:2). Atonement depends on his sacrifice, not on knowing which people in Korea correspond to Revelation’s symbols.
   • Jesus explained his parables to his disciples (Mark 4:34). (See Lessons 3 and 14.)

3. 3. Question 1.5: The harvest in Revelation 14

   • The answer “Rv 14” is right, and the chapter says who reaps: “seated on the cloud was one like a son of man … So the one seated on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was reaped” (14:14-16). The Son of Man himself reaps the whole earth from the clouds. It isn’t evangelists recruiting from churches. (See Lesson 76.)

4. 4. Question 2: Who are the deceivers?

   The key says Matthew 24’s deceivers are “Pastors of coercive conversion,” and those who hand believers over are “Parents and relatives who were deceived.”

   • Jesus defined the deceivers: “many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will mislead many” (24:5). Later: “if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ … do not believe him” (24:23). The warning targets those who claim a messianic role.
   • Coercion of any kind, including forced “deprogramming,” is wrong, and Christians should oppose it. But labeling the pastors and families who raise concerns as Jesus’ deceivers turns ordinary care into prophesied persecution. (See Lessons 77 and 90.)
   • “nation will rise up in arms against nation” (24:7) describes wars between peoples, not SCJ against other churches.

5. 5. Question 3: The new covenant

   • The key: “Revelation (the events of Revelation).” Jesus: “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood” (Luke 22:20).
   • The keeper, per the key, goes to heaven, and the non-keeper to hell. Scripture: “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9). (See Lessons 87 and 91.)

6. 6. Questions 4, 5 and 7: 1966, Gwacheon, Shincheonji

   • Revelation contains no dates or places in Korea. Its scenes are worldwide: the beast rules “every tribe, people, language, and nation” (13:7). (See Lesson 103.)
   • On the savior: “Salvation belongs to our God, who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!” (7:10). Not to a group.

7. 7. Question 8: Saying the Passover “will not be eaten until it finds fulfillment”

   • Jesus said he would not eat the Passover again “until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God” (Luke 22:16). In the same meal, he gave the bread and cup to his disciples: “Do this in remembrance of me” (22:19). The church has eaten it ever since, proclaiming “the Lord’s death until he comes” (1 Corinthians 11:26).
   • The four verses the key lists for who can drink the blood all speak of it as already effective: Jesus “has set us free from our sins at the cost of his own blood” (Revelation 1:5); “you have purchased” (5:9); “They have washed their robes” (7:14); “they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb” (12:11). (See Lesson 87.)

8. 8. Question 10: Three verses that don’t mention the Passover

   The key lists Revelation 16:12, 17:14 and 18:4 as verses “concerning the Passover Lamb Jesus’ blood and flesh.”

   • 16:12: “the sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates and dried up its water.”
   • 17:14: “the Lamb will conquer them, because he is Lord of lords and King of kings.”
   • 18:4: “Come out of her, my people.”
   • None mentions blood, flesh or the Passover. A test that requires students to memorize these as the answer trains them to accept the course’s links over the text.

9. 9. The pastor’s work, chapter by chapter

   The key lists the pastor’s role: letters (Rv 2-3), a scroll (Rv 10), a death (Rv 11), a fight (Rv 12), a judging bowl (Rv 16) and a wedding supper (Rv 19).

   • Rv 2-3 and 10: John, writing from Patmos (1:9; 10:10; 22:8). (See Lesson 39.)
   • Rv 11: the two witnesses are killed, raised by “a breath of life from God,” and “went up to heaven in a cloud while their enemies stared at them” (11:7-12). Nothing like that has happened in public view. (See Lesson 96.)
   • Rv 12: “Michael and his angels fought against the dragon” (12:7). (See Lesson 99.)
   • Rv 16: “the seventh angel poured out his bowl” (16:17). (See Lesson 103.)
   • Rv 19: “the wedding celebration of the Lamb has come” (19:7). The groom is the Lamb.

10. 10. The four women

    • Jezebel, a false prophetess in Thyatira (2:20); the woman clothed with the sun, who gives birth to the male child, the Messiah (12:1-5); the prostitute Babylon (17:1-5); and the bride, “the holy city, Jerusalem” (21:9-10). The bride is God’s whole people, not one man. (See Lessons 54 and 104.)

11. 11. Question 18: “Who is the one that reads?”

    • The key: “New John.” Revelation 1:3: “Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy aloud, and blessed are those who hear and obey” (1:3). In the early church, letters were read aloud to congregations (Colossians 4:16). The blessing is for any reader and every hearer.
    • The key’s own chain is “God → Jesus → Angel → John → Servants” (from 1:1). That’s right, and it ends with John and the servants, not a later John.

12. 12. Question 25.3: Those who pierced him

    • The key: “Beast.” Revelation 1:7 quotes Zechariah 12:10, and John applies that verse to the crucifixion: “They will look on the one whom they have pierced” (John 19:37). Those who pierced him were those who crucified him, and “every eye will see him, even those who pierced him” (Revelation 1:7) when he returns visibly.