Shincheonji lesson 56: figurative heaven and earth

Where SCJ’s reading conflicts with the Bible

This lesson’s board reads “Heaven = the tabernacle of the chosen people. | Earth = flesh or saints (people).” It says, “Wherever God is with, that place becomes heaven,” that at the second coming that place is Mount Zion, and that choosing where to go “is the difference between, on a Sunday, walking into heaven or walking into hell.” It says God grants understanding “based on whether the person deserves it or not,” that resistance to “flee to the mountain” doesn’t come from God’s spirit, and that a church should be tested by asking, “Was this place established after rebellion and destruction?” SCJ’s The Explanation of Parables (p. 97) says: “The reality of the recreated new heaven and new earth is the Temple of the Tabernacle of the Testimony (Rv 21, ‘Shin-Cheon-Shin-Ji’ [abbr. Shincheonji]),” and “we must belong to … (Twelve Tribes of Shincheonji) … to be saved.” The organization’s very name, Shincheonji, means “new heaven, new earth.” Scripture describes the new heaven and earth in detail.

1. 1. The new heaven and new earth in Scripture

   SCJ’s book says the “recreated new heaven and new earth” is Shincheonji and its congregation.

   Read what Scripture says the new heaven and earth will be like:

   • “the first heaven and earth had ceased to exist, and the sea existed no more” (Revelation 21:1).
   • “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death will not exist any more—or mourning, or crying, or pain, for the former things have ceased to exist” (21:4).
   • “the heavens will disappear with a horrific noise, and the celestial bodies will melt away in a blaze … But, according to his promise, we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness truly resides” (2 Peter 3:10, 13).
   • Isaiah’s picture: “The sound of weeping or cries of sorrow will never be heard in her again,” and “A wolf and a lamb will graze together” (Isaiah 65:19, 25).

   The new heaven and earth replace the present world, with no more death or tears. An organization on today’s earth, whose members still grow sick, grieve and die, can’t be it. (See Lessons 41 and 51; Lesson 51’s new section isn’t live yet, so that link goes to the lesson page.)

2. 2. Matthew 6:9: “Our Father in heaven”

   The lesson cites Matthew 6:9, then defines heaven as a tabernacle and says, “Wherever God is with, that place becomes heaven.”

   • “Our Father in heaven” (Matthew 6:9) refers to God’s dwelling above all creation, not a building or church on earth.
   • Hebrews makes the contrast:

   “For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made with hands—the representation of the true sanctuary—but into heaven itself, and he appears now in God’s presence for us” (Hebrews 9:24)

   • The earthly tabernacle was “a sketch and shadow of the heavenly sanctuary” (8:5). The shadow points to heaven itself, where Christ is. It doesn’t make an earthly organization into heaven.

3. 3. Revelation 14:3 doesn’t put God’s throne on Mount Zion

   The notes say the place is Mount Zion “because it is promised that the throne of God will be on Mount Zion, according to Revelation 14:3.”

   • The verse says the 144,000 “were singing a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders” (Revelation 14:3). It doesn’t say where the throne is.
   • Revelation describes God’s throne “in heaven” (4:1-2). The scene in chapter 14 is in God’s presence, with the 144,000 “redeemed from the earth” (14:3). (See Lesson 44; its new section isn’t live yet, so the link goes to the lesson page.)

4. 4. Walking into heaven or hell on a Sunday

   The lesson says choosing where to go “is the difference between, on a Sunday, walking into heaven or walking into hell.”

   • Jesus told the Samaritan woman: “a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem … the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth” (John 4:21-23).
   • Heaven and hell aren’t decided by which building you enter on Sunday. “The one who believes in the Son has eternal life” (John 3:36).
   • Scripture tells believers not to abandon “our own meetings” with their church (Hebrews 10:25). (See Lessons 33 and 44; Lesson 44’s new section isn’t live yet, so that link goes to the lesson page.)

5. 5. Isaiah 1:2: Heaven and earth are called as witnesses

   The lesson says Isaiah 1:2 shows that “heavens” refers to leaders and “earth” represents the people.

   • “Listen, O heavens, pay attention, O earth! For the Lord speaks” (Isaiah 1:2). This is a courtroom summons. God calls creation to witness his case against his people, as Moses did: “Today I invoke heaven and earth as witnesses against you” (Deuteronomy 30:19; see 32:1).
   • Isaiah 1:10 addresses “you leaders of Sodom” and “people of Gomorrah” (Isaiah 1:10), calling Jerusalem’s corrupt rulers and people by those names because of their sin. It doesn’t define “heavens” as leaders.

6. 6. Not knowing a parable’s meaning means the Word is sealed

   The lesson says, “The only reason why somebody wouldn’t know the meaning of a parable is if the Word is sealed to them,” and urges students, “Change for God and for the sake of entering the kingdom,” citing Isaiah 55:8-9.

   • This is circular: Anyone who doesn’t reach the course’s meaning is “sealed.” No disagreement can ever count as a reason to question the meaning.
   • Isaiah 55:8-9 says God’s plans are higher than ours in the context of his mercy: “They should return to the Lord, and he will show mercy to them … for he will freely forgive them” (55:7). (See Lesson 43; its new section isn’t live yet, so the link goes to the lesson page.)
   • The notes rightly mention the Bereans. They examined even an apostle’s message against Scripture (Acts 17:11). That’s not a sign of a sealed mind.

7. 7. God gives wisdom generously, not by merit

   The lesson asks whether students who come late, keep cameras off or do two things at once deserve understanding (“Do they deserve it?”), and says God grants it “based on whether the person deserves it or not.”

   • “if anyone is deficient in wisdom, he should ask God, who gives to all generously and without reprimand, and it will be given to him” (James 1:5).
   • Jesus thanked the Father for revealing things “to little children” (Matthew 11:25). Understanding is God’s gift, not a reward for class attendance and camera use.

8. 8. Faith isn’t an “outdated” phone

   The lesson says faith depends on the era, and a faith that looks only at the first coming is like an old flip phone: “outdated.”

   • Hebrews 11 commends people across every era for the same thing: trusting God’s promises. “Abram believed the Lord, and the Lord credited it as righteousness to him” (Genesis 15:6).
   • The object of faith now is Jesus, who is “the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). The faith was “once for all entrusted to the saints” (Jude 3).
   • Faith in Christ’s death and resurrection isn’t outdated. It’s the gospel “by which you are being saved” (1 Corinthians 15:1-4). (See Lesson 55; its new section isn’t live yet, so the link goes to the lesson page.)

9. 9. 2 Thessalonians 2: The order ends with Christ’s return

   The lesson reads 2 Thessalonians 2:1-3 as “rebellion, destruction, and salvation,” and says to test a church by asking, “Was this place established after rebellion and destruction?”

   • Paul names “the man of lawlessness … the son of destruction” (2:3), a person, whom “the Lord will destroy by the breath of his mouth and wipe out by the manifestation of his arrival” (2:8). Salvation is “our being gathered to be with him” at “the arrival of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2:1).
   • Paul wrote this so believers wouldn’t be shaken by claims that the day had already come (2:2). (See Lesson 10.)
   • A test that asks whether a church was founded after a particular rebellion and destruction fits only the church that tells that story about its own beginnings. Scripture’s test is what a church confesses about Jesus (1 John 4:2).

10. 10. Resistance and offense blamed on Satan

    The notes say, “this resistance does not come from the spirit that tells us to flee to the mountain,” and that offense at the word comes from Satan: “Satan wants us to take offense.”

    • Jesus did say, “blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me” (Matthew 11:6). That’s about Jesus himself.
    • Being uneasy about a human teacher’s claim isn’t the same as being offended at Jesus. “do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits” (1 John 4:1). Resistance may be your conscience doing exactly what Scripture asks.

11. 11. Hypocritical to say flee without knowing where

    The lesson says other churches don’t teach this because “people actually just don’t know that they have to,” and that it would be “hypocritical” to say “flee to the mountain” without knowing where it is.

    • Jesus said where: “those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains” when “Jerusalem [is] surrounded by armies” (Luke 21:20-21). It was the siege of Jerusalem in AD 70. (See Lessons 12 and 44; Lesson 44’s new section isn’t live yet, so that link goes to the lesson page.)
    • Churches don’t tell people to flee to a particular church because Scripture doesn’t.

12. 12. How many are studying the secrets of heaven? Not many

    The lesson asks, “how many people do you think are studying the secrets of heaven? Not many.”

    • This builds a sense of being one of the few, along with a 90% test threshold before moving to Revelation “so that before Jesus returns, we can get that oil.” (See Lessons 43 and 44; their new sections aren’t live yet, so the links go to the lesson pages.)