Shincheonji lesson 119: Revelation 13: the chosen people who received the mark of the beast
Lesson 119 · Advanced
Main verses used
Links open the NET Bible.
What SCJ teaches
This section comes from class notes that an attendee wrote down during SCJ’s 9-month Bible study seminar, posted with the full Closer Look study. They are not SCJ’s printed curriculum, so the wording is the note-taker’s. The notes name several men; this page does not repeat the names.
Before the chapter
The evangelist says people in the world will call the teaching “a cult” and “heresy”, and adds, “We’re not hiding anything, but we’re protecting your spirit.” The reason given for the staged order of lessons is that “if we had revealed everything at the beginning, it would have been too solid to accept.” Students are told their names in the book of life “can be removed” if they do something wrong, and that “Much of Revelation has already been fulfilled.”
The chapter in outline
Revelation 13 is “the First War,” which “the Beast wins.” It took place in the Tabernacle Temple during the 42 months “from September 1980 to March 14, 1984,” and chapter 13 happens before chapter 12 in time. Chapters 13 and 14 are a contrasting pair: the mark of the beast leads to the lake of fire (Revelation 14:9-11), while the seal of God leads to the first resurrection.
The beast from the sea (13:1-10)
The sea is the world, which the notes call Babylon, and in reality the Stewardship Education Center. The beast is a group of 17: seven pastors (the heads) from that center and ten Tabernacle elders (the horns). Its blasphemous names are “positions they assigned to themselves.” The dragon’s throne given to the beast is a person who directed the center. Of the head with the fatal wound, the notes say, “This situation actually refers to an internal conflict that occurred between the 7 heads,” and the wound is “healed” when the man gets the director’s post. The notes cite Zechariah 13:6, “the house of my friends.”
“Therefore, “the whole world” represents the congregation members.” The “forty-two months” are the period of destruction. Blasphemy against God’s name and “dwelling place” is opposing the saints of the Tabernacle Temple. The war is “a war of doctrines.” The book of life is “the church registry of Mount Zion,” and students are told to submit a passport-style photo for it.
The beast from the earth (13:11-18)
The earth is the Tabernacle Temple. The second beast is a false pastor there with “2 authority figures” as the horns. He looks like a lamb but “spoke like a dragon.” The fire from heaven is false doctrine “from the pulpit or altar,” and the image is “a false pastor” set up by the destroyers, the “tails” of chapter 12.
The mark and 666
The notes reject the chip and vaccine readings: “The mark actually refers to words – false teachings.” They add, “Importantly, this number 666 has appeared previously in the Old Testament,” and cite 1 Kings 10:14. Solomon began receiving Gentile gold, and “gold represents the word.” The forehead is being appointed as a pastor, the right hand is acknowledging the false doctrines, and buying and selling is listening and sharing the word. The man “like Solomon” is 666. Receiving the mark happened at 2 p.m. on September 20, 1981, a pastors’ appointment service.
The close
The review ends: “before studying the word, all of us had the mark of the beast,” and students “need to remain humble and discern to ensure that we are sealed by God.”
In SCJ’s own books
Each passage was checked against the scanned page image; page numbers are as printed.
The Physical Fulfillment of Revelation, Lee Man-hee (Shincheonji Press), page 298:
“They are referred to as the whole world to include all the saints of the tabernacle of the seven golden lampstands and all its branch churches.”
Page 308:
“the teachings of the beast, which are like fire raining down from the pulpit”
Page 312:
“People receive the mark of the beast on their foreheads when they receive a laying on of hands performed in accordance with the ecclesiastical laws and traditions of the beast.”
“People receive the mark on their right hands when they raise their hands to take an oath acknowledging the beast’s teachings.”
Page 314:
“The number of the name of the beast coming from the earth is 666.”
Page 315:
“Thus, the number 666 is a combination of the 600 shekels of gold with the dimensions of the great idol of Babylon, its 60 cubits in height and 6 cubits in width.”
How the lesson notes compare with the books
- The whole world. Same teaching (Physical Fulfillment p. 298).
- Forehead and right hand. Same teaching, with different wording. The notes say the forehead is being “appointed as pastors” and the right hand “acknowledging the word”; the book says laying on of hands and an oath (p. 312).
- The origin of 666. Difference. The notes tie it to Solomon’s yearly gold; the book adds the 600 shekels and the 60 by 6 cubits of Nebuchadnezzar’s idol (p. 315). Needs checking.
- The fire from heaven. Same teaching, with different wording. The book says the teachings are “like fire raining down from the pulpit” (p. 308).
What the Bible says
- The beast comes up out of the sea. Then I saw a beast coming up out of the sea. It had ten horns and seven heads, and on its horns were ten diadem crowns, and on its heads a blasphemous name. (Revelation 13:1, NET)
- The head with the wound. One of the beast’s heads appeared to have been killed, but the lethal wound had been healed. And the whole world followed the beast in amazement; (Revelation 13:3, NET)
- The beast’s authority. The beast was permitted to go to war against the saints and conquer them. He was given ruling authority over every tribe, people, language, and nation, (Revelation 13:7, NET)
- Those who worship the beast. and all those who live on the earth will worship the beast, everyone whose name has not been written since the foundation of the world in the book of life belonging to the Lamb who was killed. (Revelation 13:8, NET)
- The fire from heaven. He performed momentous signs, even making fire come down from heaven to earth in front of people (Revelation 13:13, NET)
- The mark. Thus no one was allowed to buy or sell things unless he bore the mark of the beast—that is, his name or his number. (Revelation 13:17, NET)
- The number. This calls for wisdom: Let the one who has insight calculate the beast’s number, for it is man’s number, and his number is 666. (Revelation 13:18, NET)
- The notes cite Solomon’s gold. Solomon received 666 talents of gold per year, (1 Kings 10:14, NET)
Where SCJ’s reading conflicts with the Bible
This lesson opens by explaining why the course revealed things in stages: “We’re not hiding anything, but we’re protecting your spirit … if we had revealed everything at the beginning, it would have been too solid to accept.” It then reads Revelation 13 as events at the Tabernacle Temple: the beast’s seven heads and ten horns are seven pastors and ten elders, “the whole world” is “the congregation members,” the head’s fatal wound is “an internal conflict” among the seven, and the mark of the beast “refers to words – false teachings,” received at a pastors’ service on September 20, 1981. It traces 666 to Solomon’s gold in 1 Kings 10:14. It says “before studying the word, all of us had the mark of the beast,” and asks students to submit a passport-style photo for the registry. Revelation explains its own beast, and Daniel explains the beasts Revelation draws on.
1. Saying it “would have been too solid to accept”
- The lesson admits the course was arranged so students wouldn’t hear the full claims until they were ready to accept them.
- Jesus said of his own teaching: “I have spoken publicly to the world … I have said nothing in secret” (John 18:20).
- Paul: “we have rejected shameful hidden deeds, not behaving with deceptiveness or distorting the word of God, but by open proclamation of the truth we commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience before God” (2 Corinthians 4:2).
- If a message needs to be withheld until someone has invested months, that’s a reason to step back and examine it with the whole picture in view. (See Lessons 86 and 111.)
2. Revelation explains the heads and horns
The lesson says the heads are seven pastors and the horns ten elders.
3. Daniel’s beasts are kingdoms
- Revelation’s beast is “like a leopard, but its feet were like a bear’s, and its mouth was like a lion’s mouth” (13:2). These are Daniel’s beasts combined: a lion, a bear and a leopard (Daniel 7:4-6).
- Daniel is told what they mean: “These large beasts, which are four in number, represent four kings who will arise from the earth” (Daniel 7:17).
- The lesson cites Daniel 7:3 but leaves out Daniel’s own explanation. The beast from the sea is a world empire opposing God.
4. “The whole world” means the whole world
The lesson says “the whole world” is the Tabernacle Temple’s members.
- “He was given ruling authority over every tribe, people, language, and nation, and all those who live on the earth will worship the beast, everyone whose name has not been written since the foundation of the world in the book of life” (13:7-8).
- Everyone except those in the Lamb’s book of life worships the beast. A congregation of about 7,000 people, by SCJ’s own count, can’t be “every tribe, people, language, and nation.” (See Lesson 117.)
5. The mark is the beast’s name or number
The lesson says the mark is false teaching, received by being appointed a pastor (forehead) and raising a hand to acknowledge doctrines (right hand).
- “no one was allowed to buy or sell things unless he bore the mark of the beast—that is, his name or his number” (13:17). Revelation defines the mark as the beast’s name or number, tied to economic control.
- The second beast enforces it with lethal force: it “could cause all those who did not worship the image of the beast to be killed” (13:15). That’s persecution unto death, not a pastors’ ordination service. (See Lessons 38 and 115.)
6. Saying “all of us had the mark of the beast”
- Revelation 14 warns: “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and takes the mark … that person will also drink of the wine of God’s anger … and he will be tortured with fire and sulfur” (14:9-10).
- If, as the lesson says, every student had the mark before taking the course, then every Christian outside SCJ is under that warning. That’s how this reading frames families, friends and churches.
- Revelation says the opposite of the believers it addresses: they’re sealed by God (7:3) and their names were written “since the foundation of the world” (13:8).
7. 666: Solomon, Nebuchadnezzar or “man’s number”?
- The notes trace 666 to Solomon’s 666 talents of gold (1 Kings 10:14). SCJ’s book combines Solomon’s gold with the dimensions of Nebuchadnezzar’s idol (Physical Fulfillment, p. 315). The notes and book don’t give the same explanation.
- Revelation’s own description: “it is man’s number” (13:18). The verse doesn’t mention Solomon or gold.
- Solomon’s revenue was a record of his wealth, not a prophecy of a pastor in Korea.
8. The fatal wound
- “One of the beast’s heads appeared to have been killed, but the lethal wound had been healed. And the whole world followed the beast in amazement” (13:3).
- The wound and healing mimic Christ’s death and resurrection, and lead the whole world to worship. Zechariah 13:6 is about a false prophet’s wounds in Zechariah’s day. Neither describes a dispute among pastors.
9. The beast from the earth
- It “had two horns like a lamb, but was speaking like a dragon” (13:11). It “performed momentous signs, even making fire come down from heaven” (13:13), deceives the world, and makes an image that speaks and kills (13:14-15).
- It’s a deceptive religious power serving the first beast, backed by signs and deadly force. Reading the fire as sermons from a pulpit removes the danger the text describes.
10. The book of life and your photo
- The lesson says the book of life is “the church registry of Mount Zion” and asks for passport-style photos, while warning that names “can be removed.”
- Names in the Lamb’s book were written “since the foundation of the world” (13:8), and Jesus promises the overcomer, “I will never erase his name” (3:5). (See Lessons 104 and 113.)
11. Saying critics will call it heresy
- Students are prepared in advance to dismiss these words. Being called a “cult” doesn’t prove a group is right, any more than it proves it’s wrong. The test is what’s taught (Galatians 1:8; 1 John 4:1-3).
What the lesson is really for
This lesson makes Revelation 13 a story about one church, and marks everyone outside SCJ:
- The beast is seven pastors and ten elders; “the whole world” is one congregation.
- The mark is false teaching received at a 1981 service.
- Everyone had the mark before the course.
- Disclosure was staged because the full message would have been too hard to accept.
The biblical answer: Revelation says the beast’s heads and horns are kings (Revelation 17:9-12), and Daniel says such beasts are kingdoms (Daniel 7:17). The beast rules “every tribe, people, language, and nation” (13:7). The mark is its name or number, tied to buying and selling and enforced by death (13:15-17). And Jesus spoke openly: “I have said nothing in secret” (John 18:20).
What’s happening behind the lesson
These notes are our reading of the lesson text, using Steven Hassan’s BITE model (behavior, information, thought and emotional control). They describe what the text does, not the teacher’s intent. Hassan notes that not every group uses every item. Source: Steven Hassan, BITE Model, Freedom of Mind.
- Thought: can label the outside world as already marked. “before studying the word, all of us had the mark of the beast.”
- Information: can explain a staged order of lessons as protection (our reading). “if we had revealed everything at the beginning, it would have been too solid to accept.” In our reading, this describes the order of disclosure as care for the student.
- Emotional: can present a choice between hell and heaven. “either receive the mark of the beast and go to hell, or be sealed and take part in the first resurrection.”
- Behavior: can lead to deadlines and paperwork. “These pictures will be due very soon.”
Wanting to be careful about false teaching, as Matthew 24:24 warns, is not a control technique in itself.
Go deeper
- Read the full Lesson 119 study
- Closer Look response: Issues with the Mark of the Beast
- Closer Look response: Examining Revelation – The Mystery of the Beast
- Previous: Lesson 118: Revelation 12: the war between the dragon and God
- Next: Lesson 120: Revelation 14: the 144,000 firstfruits on Mount Zion
- Back to all Shincheonji lessons