Shincheonji lesson 81: God’s purpose (objective)

Where SCJ’s reading conflicts with the Bible

This lesson’s stated goal, God living with his people again, is biblical, and SCJ’s book puts it well: “God’s purpose was and is to live together with men in unity” (The Creation of Heaven and Earth, p. 30). But the lesson builds a different path to it. It says, “Adam is the first man from God’s perspective. Everyone else was considered a beast.” It names the “one of us” of Genesis 3:22 as “Satan,” and says, “To be clear, no one is going up for a period and then coming back down.” It describes the first resurrection as spirits clothing living people, says the male child “we now know is new John,” and says the victors “become the seven bowls” and “begin to pour out God’s wrath.” A chart sets “Traditional churches” against “the 12 tribes of the new kingdom and the new people.” The lesson ends, “Come out of Babylon.” Scripture describes how God accomplishes his purpose, and who carries it out.

1. 1. God’s purpose: The lesson and the book start well

   • “Look! The residence of God is among human beings. He will live among them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them” (Revelation 21:3). That is God’s goal.
   • Revelation continues, “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death will not exist any more” (21:4). God’s purpose is fulfilled in the new creation at Christ’s return, not in an organization in this world. (See Lessons 56 and 68; Lesson 68’s new section isn’t live yet, so that link goes to the lesson page.)

2. 2. “Everyone else was considered a beast”

   The notes say, “Adam is the first man from God’s perspective. Everyone else was considered a beast.”

   • Scripture calls Adam the first man (1 Corinthians 15:45), and Eve “the mother of all the living” (Genesis 3:20). “From one man he made every nation of the human race” (Acts 17:26). There were no human beasts alongside Adam. (See Lesson 69; its new section isn’t live yet, so the link goes to the lesson page.)
   • Every human being bears God’s image (Genesis 1:27; James 3:9). Labeling some people beasts is a dangerous way to see others, especially those outside a group.

3. 3. Genesis 3:22: “One of us” is God speaking

   The notes ask who “one of us” is and answer, “Satan.”

   • It was the serpent who promised, “you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:5).
   • In 3:22 God speaks: “Now that the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:22). It’s the same “us” as “Let us make humankind in our image” (1:26). Satan isn’t part of God’s “us.” (See Lessons 4 and 76; Lesson 76’s new section isn’t live yet, so that link goes to the lesson page.)
   • Genesis 6:3 sets a limit: “They will remain for 120 more years” (Genesis 6:3). It doesn’t say God’s Spirit left the world. (See Lesson 51.)

4. 4. Satan is bound by an angel from heaven

   The lesson says Satan is captured by being exposed, and that what exposes him is “The word and testimony.”

   • “I saw an angel descending from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the abyss and a huge chain. He seized the dragon … and tied him up for a thousand years” (Revelation 20:1-2). It’s God’s act from heaven.
   • Christ already won the decisive victory: “Disarming the rulers and authorities, he has made a public disgrace of them, triumphing over them by the cross” (Colossians 2:15). (See Lesson 51.)

5. 5. The first resurrection isn’t spirits clothing people

   The lesson says imperishable spirits clothe perishable people, citing 1 Corinthians 15. Read Paul’s description:

   • “What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable … it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body” (15:42-44). The same body is raised and transformed.
   • “the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality” (15:52-53).
   • Then “Death has been swallowed up in victory” (15:54).

   The resurrection is the transformation of believers’ own bodies at the last trumpet, not dead spirits joining living people. (See Lessons 53 and 78; Lesson 78’s new section isn’t live yet, so that link goes to the lesson page.)

6. 6. Saying “no one is going up”

   The notes say, “To be clear, no one is going up for a period and then coming back down.”

   • “the Lord himself will come down from heaven … and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be suddenly caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will always be with the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17).
   • Jesus said, “I will come again and take you to be with me, so that where I am you may be too” (John 14:3).
   • The lesson’s claim that the 144,000 and the great multitude “will be alive here on earth” also overlooks the martyrs in Revelation, “the souls of those who had been violently killed” (6:9; 20:4).

7. 7. The bowls of wrath are poured by angels, not believers

   The notes say, “Those who were victorious become the seven bowls,” and “They begin to pour out God’s wrath.”

   • “one of the four living creatures gave the seven angels seven golden bowls filled with the wrath of God” (Revelation 15:7). “Go and pour out on the earth the seven bowls containing God’s wrath” is said to the seven angels (16:1).
   • The victors in Revelation 15 are standing by the sea of glass singing praise: “All nations will come and worship before you” (15:2-4).
   • Believers are told, “Do not avenge yourselves, dear friends, but give place to God’s wrath” (Romans 12:19).

   Teaching students that they will pour out God’s wrath turns them toward judgment of others, which Scripture reserves for God.

8. 8. The male child is Jesus

   • “Her child was suddenly caught up to God and to his throne” (Revelation 12:5). Jesus says, “I, too, conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne” (3:21). The male child isn’t “new John.” (See Lessons 55 and 73; Lesson 73’s new section isn’t live yet, so that link goes to the lesson page.)
   • The brothers overcome “by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony” (12:11): believers faithful to Jesus.

9. 9. The harvest and the sickle

   • The lesson says weeds stay in the field to burn, sets “Traditional churches” against the 12 tribes, and says, “The spirits will use people to do the work of harvest.”
   • Jesus said, “The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels” (Matthew 13:39). The owner said to let wheat and weeds grow together until then (13:30). (See Lesson 76; its new section isn’t live yet, so the link goes to the lesson page.)

10. 10. Saints who were “born at the 11th hour” and those who “could not see it”

    The class hears, “We are the ones blessed enough to be born at the 11th hour,” while earlier saints “could not see it.”

    • Peter says the prophets searched carefully, and they served “you, in regard to the things now announced to you through those who proclaimed the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit” (1 Peter 1:10-12). It was revealed to first-century believers in the gospel of Christ.
    • The saints of Hebrews 11 are held up as examples, “commended for their faith” (Hebrews 11:39-40), a “great cloud of witnesses” (12:1). They aren’t people who missed the point.
    • The notes say full understanding isn’t possible until events happen. But Revelation blesses its first readers: “Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy aloud, and blessed are those who hear and obey the things written in it” (Revelation 1:3). (See Lessons 13 and 71; Lesson 71’s new section isn’t live yet, so that link goes to the lesson page.)

11. 11. “Come out of Babylon”

    • Revelation 18:4 says, “Come out of her, my people, so you will not take part in her sins” (Revelation 18:4). Babylon is the world city of power and trade (18:11-19). It isn’t a call to leave churches for one organization. (See Lessons 35 and 55.)