Shincheonji special lesson 95: God’s work at the end time

Where SCJ’s reading conflicts with the Bible

This review lesson opens with a strong argument: people missed Jesus because they misread prophecy, because “the name ‘Jesus’ is not in the Scriptures,” and because he came from an unlikely background. “When God fulfills his promise, the World labels it as ‘foolish.’” Then it asks, “Will we repeat the same mistakes?” It reviews the three promises (the new teaching, Mount Zion and the faithful servant), saying “if somebody has a problem with the faithful and wise servant today, they actually have a problem with Jesus,” that Mount Zion is “the only one called God’s temple, implying that the others are not God’s, but Satan’s,” and that the next knowledge test is one of the “exams to determine whether we are sealed or not.” It also warns that online answers about the Bible are incorrect “99.9% of the time,” and that students unsure about their church should seek advice from “those who are already on the mountain.” The opening argument deserves a careful answer, because it’s one of the most persuasive in the course.

1. 1. “Will we repeat the same mistakes?”

   The lesson compares people who rejected Jesus with people who reject SCJ’s founder today. The comparison breaks down at three points:

   • Jesus’ own warning. Jesus told his followers what to expect after him: “Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There he is!’ do not believe him. For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. Remember, I have told you ahead of time” (Matthew 24:23-25). Being cautious about a later claimant isn’t repeating the Pharisees’ mistake. It’s obeying Jesus.
   • Jesus’ credentials. Jesus didn’t only fulfill prophecies about himself. He was “a man clearly attested to you by God with powerful deeds, wonders, and miraculous signs,” and God raised him from the dead (Acts 2:22-24). He “was appointed the Son-of-God-in-power … by the resurrection from the dead” (Romans 1:4). The resurrection is the decisive proof, and it’s in a different category from any later claim.
   • The gospel. Paul says the test of any later messenger is the gospel already preached: “even if we (or an angel from heaven) should preach a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be condemned to hell!” (Galatians 1:8). Earlier lessons show where SCJ’s message differs from that gospel: a second new birth through a new John (Lesson 64), salvation only through the promised pastor (Lessons 73 and 94) and conditions added to faith (Lesson 66).

   The people who missed Jesus failed to recognize the Messiah. The people who test SCJ are holding to that Messiah and his warning.

2. 2. 1 Corinthians 1: The “foolishness” is the cross

   The lesson says God chooses the weak and foolish, so a small, mocked group may be God’s.

   • Paul’s point: “the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Corinthians 1:18), and “we preach about a crucified Christ” (1:23). God’s foolishness is Christ crucified.
   • Being dismissed or mocked doesn’t prove a group is God’s. False teachers are also rejected, often rightly. The test is what’s taught (1 John 4:1-3). (See Lessons 6 and 86.)

3. 3. Saying a problem with the servant is “a problem with Jesus”

   The notes say, “It says servant, meaning one,” and that anyone who objects to him objects to Jesus.

   • When Jesus told this parable in Luke, Peter asked, “Lord, are you telling this parable for us or for everyone?” (Luke 12:41). Jesus answered by describing what any servant should be doing when the master returns.
   • In Matthew, the same passage goes straight on to the opposite case: “But if that evil slave should say to himself, ‘My master is staying away a long time’” (Matthew 24:48). The parable is about every disciple’s faithfulness, not one office-holder who can’t be questioned. (See Lessons 18 and 94.)
   • Equating objections to a man with objections to Jesus puts the man beyond testing. Scripture never does that for anyone but Christ.

4. 4. Mark 1:27: “A new teaching with authority”

   • The crowd said this about Jesus himself, after he cast out an unclean spirit: “What is this? A new teaching with authority! He even commands the unclean spirits and they obey him” (Mark 1:27). The newness was Jesus, God in person, not a later revelation.

5. 5. Pure milk and saying “even many of the moral teachings could be incorrect”

   The notes say, “You will find pure milk in a place where there’s also solid food,” and that where Revelation’s fulfillment isn’t explained, “even many of the moral teachings could be incorrect.”

   • Peter tells all believers to “yearn like newborn infants for pure, spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up to salvation” (1 Peter 2:2). It’s available wherever God’s word is faithfully taught.
   • This claim casts doubt on everything a student learned in their church, including its moral teaching, so that only the course is trusted. (See Lesson 92.)

6. 6. The sealed scroll and Revelation 22:10

   • The Lamb opened the scroll (Revelation 5:5-9), and John was told, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy contained in this book” (22:10). (See Lessons 71 and 94.)

7. 7. Mount Zion as “the only one called God’s temple”

   • Believers are God’s temple (1 Corinthians 3:16), and Jesus says, “where two or three are assembled in my name, I am there among them” (Matthew 18:20). Calling every other church Satan’s is the course’s claim, not Scripture’s. (See Lessons 63 and 90.)
   • “In figurative language, a mountain represents a church” isn’t in Isaiah 2:2, which speaks of “the mountain of the Lord’s temple” (Isaiah 2:2) in Jerusalem, from which the word went out “to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem” (Luke 24:47). (See Lesson 44.)

8. 8. A knowledge exam doesn’t determine sealing

   • Paul writes, “when you believed in Christ—you were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit” (Ephesians 1:13). Sealing is God’s act at faith, not a test score. (See Lessons 47 and 62.)
   • The lesson also says belonging to “that celebration” depends on passing the test. Belonging to God depends on Christ.

9. 9. Ask for counsel, but not only from inside

   The lesson cites Proverbs 20:18 and says to seek advice from “those who are already on the mountain.”

   • Proverbs values many advisers: “with abundant advisers they are established” (15:22). It also warns, “The first to state his case seems right, until his opponent begins to cross-examine him” (18:17).
   • Seeking advice only from people inside the group about whether to join it isn’t balanced counsel. Talk to your pastor, your family and people who have left. (See Lesson 86.)

10. 10. Saying online answers are incorrect “99.9% of the time”

    • Reading the Bible itself is good advice, and the lesson’s use of 1 Corinthians 4:6 (“not to go beyond what is written”) is right in principle. But Paul’s verse continues, “so that none of you will be puffed up in favor of the one against the other” (1 Corinthians 4:6), a warning against exalting one leader. Applied honestly, it cuts against the course’s central claims. (See Lesson 86.)