Shincheonji lesson 18: figurative food

Where SCJ’s reading conflicts with the Bible

This lesson makes food a symbol for the word, and then says there is a famine of the word today that ends only when “the faithful servant” of Matthew 24 gives “food at the proper time.” That food is “hidden manna,” the “opened word.” The notes are careful to say the faithful servant “is not Jesus.” SCJ’s books say who he is: The Creation of Heaven and Earth (p. 319) says “everyone must find this pastor,” and The Explanation of Parables (p. 19) says “salvation can only be attained by eating the food” he gives. The lesson also warns that students who stop studying will be “worse off” than when they began. Jesus’ own words in these passages say otherwise.

1. 1. Matthew 12:43-45: Jesus was talking about “this evil generation”

   The lesson applies the returning evil spirit to students: “This is what happens to someone who is beginning to learn deeper truths when they stop – they are worse off after than when they were in the beginning.”

   • Jesus ends the passage: “It will be that way for this evil generation as well!” (12:45).
   • The context is religious leaders who had just accused Jesus of casting out demons by Beelzebul (12:24) and demanded a sign (12:38). The “evil generation” is the one rejecting Jesus.
   • It is not a warning against stopping a Bible study course.

   Using it that way makes leaving the class feel like inviting seven worse spirits.

2. 2. Matthew 24: Jesus names famines and says they are not the end

   The lesson says the wars and famines of Matthew 24 “cannot be literal current events, but rather are figurative.”

   • Jesus says “there will be famines and earthquakes in various places” (24:7).
   • The reason current famines don’t mark the end isn’t that they are figurative. Jesus says so: “this must happen, but the end is still to come,” and “All these things are the beginning of birth pains” (24:6-8).
   • The early church saw a literal famine predicted and fulfilled: Agabus foretold “a severe famine was about to come over the whole inhabited world,” and it took place “during the reign of Claudius” (Acts 11:28).

   Turning the famine figurative is what allows the course to say the famine is a lack of “opened word,” which only one servant can end.

3. 3. The lesson says “don’t be confused by someone claiming it’s already fulfilled”

   The lesson warns against people who claim Matthew 24 has already been fulfilled. Jesus gives a sharper warning in the same chapter:

   • “For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect” (24:24).
   • “So then, if someone says to you, ‘Look, he is in the wilderness,’ do not go out, or ‘Look, he is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe him” (24:26).

   A course that will later teach that Revelation’s prophecies are being fulfilled now, in one place, through one man, falls under Jesus’ warning.

4. 4. The faithful servant: A question for every disciple

   The lesson says the faithful servant who gives food at the proper time “is not Jesus.” The Creation of Heaven and Earth (p. 319) says “everyone must find this pastor.”

   • Jesus tells the parable right after telling everyone listening: “Therefore you also must be ready” (24:44). Then he asks, “Who then is the faithful and wise slave …?” (24:45). It is a question meant to make each disciple ask whether he or she is faithful.
   • In Luke, Peter asks, “Lord, are you telling this parable for us or for everyone?” Jesus answers with the same parable and ends: “From everyone who has been given much, much will be required” (Luke 12:41-48). It applies to every steward.
   • The same parable goes on: “But if that evil slave should say to himself, ‘My master is staying away a long time’” (Matthew 24:48). The same servant can turn out faithful or wicked. It describes a test of faithfulness, not a title for one prophesied pastor.
   • The master “finds” the servant at work “when he comes” (24:46). The parable looks toward Jesus’ return, which Jesus said will be as visible as lightning (24:27).

5. 5. The bread of life is Jesus

   The lesson rightly cites John 6, where Jesus is the bread of life.

   • “I am the bread of life. The one who comes to me will never go hungry, and the one who believes in me will never be thirsty” (John 6:35).
   • He explains what eating means: coming to him and believing in him (6:35, 40, 47).
   • “The bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh” (6:51), his life given on the cross.

   The Creation of Heaven and Earth (p. 319) and The Explanation of Parables (p. 19) put a pastor’s food where Jesus puts himself. Whoever comes to Jesus “will never go hungry.” There is no famine left for a later servant to end for those who have come to him.

6. 6. Peter: “Lord, to whom would we go?”

   The lesson concludes from John 6:68: “There is nowhere else for us to turn. No other word for us to receive.”

   • Peter said, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God!” (6:68-69).
   • The answer to “to whom” is Jesus. Using Peter’s words to say there is no other word for students to receive, while pointing to a course, moves Peter’s confession away from Jesus (see Lesson 2).

7. 7. Amos 8:11: A famine in Amos’s day, and the restoration Amos promised

   The lesson says the famine of Amos 8:11, which the NET renders as “an end to divine revelation,” is the famine of the end times.

   • Amos was speaking to Israel in his own day: “The end has come for my people Israel! I will no longer overlook their sins” (8:2).
   • Israel had silenced the prophets: “you commanded the prophets, ‘Do not prophesy!’” (2:12), and the priest Amaziah ordered Amos to leave (7:12-13). The famine of the word was God’s judgment on that rejection.
   • Amos ends with a promise of restoration: God will rebuild “the collapsing hut of David” (9:11-12). James quotes that promise at the Jerusalem council, “so that the rest of humanity may seek the Lord, namely, all the Gentiles I have called to be my own,” and says it agrees with what God is doing as Gentiles turn to him (Acts 15:15-17).

   The New Testament itself says how Amos’s hope is fulfilled: through Christ and the spread of the gospel to the nations.

8. 8. Hidden manna: Jesus’ promise to every believer who conquers

   The board says “Hidden Manna (Revelation 2:17) = opened word.” The Creation of Heaven and Earth (p. 319) says Jesus gives it “only to the one who overcomes, not to anyone else.”

   • Revelation 2:17 is Jesus’ promise to the church in Pergamum: “To the one who conquers, I will give him some of the hidden manna.” The words just before it: “The one who has an ear had better hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” It’s for anyone in the churches who conquers.
   • Each of the seven letters makes a promise to “the one who conquers” (2:7, 11, 17, 26; 3:5, 12, 21), and Revelation 21:7 sums them up: “The one who conquers will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be my son.” The one who conquers means every faithful believer, not one man.
   • John defines the conqueror: “who is the person who has conquered the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” (1 John 5:5).
   • Jesus himself contrasts the manna in the wilderness with “the true bread from heaven,” which is himself (John 6:31-35). The hidden manna is Christ, given to those who conquer by faith.

9. 9. Into the trash before it is tested

   The lesson says that once a food is identified as Satan’s, “you toss it in the trash,” and “we must exclusively eat God’s food.” The Explanation of Parables (p. 19) says Satan’s main food today is “commentaries.”

   • Scripture says: “examine all things; hold fast to what is good” (1 Thessalonians 5:21). You can’t examine something you’ve already thrown out because of its label.
   • Labeling commentaries as Satan’s food cuts students off from the tools that would let them check the course’s claims (see Lesson 15).

10. 10. Distress is not proof of a starving spirit

    On Matthew 4:4, the notes say neglecting God’s word “can lead to wondering why feelings of depression, anxiety, fear, stress, and so forth arise.”

    • The verse is about living “by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” It says nothing about depression or anxiety.
    • Faithful people in Scripture went through deep distress. The psalmist asks, “Why are you depressed, O my soul?” (Psalm 42:5). Elijah told the Lord, “I’ve had enough!” (1 Kings 19:4). Jesus himself said in Gethsemane, “My soul is deeply grieved, even to the point of death” (Matthew 26:38). None of them was starving for lack of teaching.
    • Depression and anxiety are real and common, and they often have causes a Bible class can’t see. Feeling low is not a sign that you need more study, and it is not a sign that you have failed God.
    • Teaching students that distress means spiritual starvation can make them read their feelings as proof they need the course, and can keep them from seeking help from a doctor, counselor or pastor. If you are struggling, reaching out to one of them is a good and wise step (see Lesson 2).

11. 11. Satan’s food is attractive: What was the first temptation?

    The lesson rightly says Satan’s food is attractive and hard to detect, like Eve’s fruit (Genesis 3:6). Look at what the serpent actually offered:

    • “your eyes will open and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:5).
    • The fruit looked “desirable for making one wise” (3:6). The first temptation was the promise of hidden knowledge that would set you apart.

    The lesson’s own summary is “Secrets once concealed are now unveiled,” available through one servant, for a select group. That is the same kind of appeal: special, hidden knowledge that others don’t have.

12. 12. The teacher says students “also should be doing this for me, too”

    The teacher tells students to test his words as the ear tests food (Job 34:3-4). That’s a good instruction. Apply it:

    • Does Matthew 12:45 say students who stop a class will be worse off? No, it says “this evil generation.”
    • Does Matthew 24:45 name one pastor everyone must find? No, Jesus asks every disciple to be faithful.
    • Does Revelation 2:17 limit the manna to one man? No, it is for the one who conquers in the churches.