Shincheonji special lesson 30: keeping the word of God

Where SCJ’s reading conflicts with the Bible

This special lesson is about faithfulness to God’s word, and much of its surface is sound: take God’s word seriously, respond like Josiah, don’t be complacent. That should be affirmed. But the lesson also says God and his Word are “one and the same,” so “You are here for God and His Word,” and then asks whether students are showing “the Word of God and your teachers the same level of respect.” It says God moves “from group to group,” that “unlimited chances” aren’t biblical, and that “A place that only teaches milk does not have the Spirit of God there,” with solid food defined as “Prophecy and fulfillment.” It warns that Satan will use a Sunday event, working late or a child’s school meeting to pull students away. And it asks, “Have we found a place like this yet?” SCJ’s The Creation of Heaven and Earth (p. 418) answers: “make every possible effort to attain salvation by finding the nation of the twelve tribes … These are the twelve tribes of Shincheonji Church of Jesus.”

1. 1. John 9: The man who saw believed in Jesus

   The lesson uses John 9:39-41 to praise those who say “explain this to me,” and to warn those who say “Oh I’ve heard this before.”

   • Humility before God’s word is right. But in John 9, the blind man was healed when he did what Jesus said (9:6-7), and the story ends with him worshiping Jesus: “He said, ‘Lord, I believe,’ and he worshiped him” (9:38).
   • Jesus’ warning is for those who claim exclusive sight: “because you claim that you can see, your guilt remains” (9:41). Lesson 29 looks at this verse more closely.

2. 2. John 1:1: The Word is Jesus, not a class

   The notes say God and his Word are “one and the same, there is no distinction,” so “You are here for God and His Word,” and then ask about students’ posture and whether their camera is off.

   • John 1:1 says “the Word was with God, and the Word was fully God.” The Word is distinct from the Father and yet is God, and “the Word became flesh” (1:14). The Word of John 1 is Jesus himself.
   • Taking John 1:1 to mean that attending this class is being here for God equates a course’s teaching with God.
   • Later the lesson asks, “Are you showing the Word of God and your teachers the same level of respect?” Scripture says to “esteem them most highly in love because of their work” (1 Thessalonians 5:12-13), but it never puts teachers on the level of God’s word. Even apostles were tested against it (Acts 17:11; Galatians 1:8).

3. 3. Deuteronomy 31-32: The song was given to bring Israel back

   The notes say the song in Deuteronomy 31 was meant “to instill a sense of fear and motivation.”

   • The song was a witness against Israel’s future unfaithfulness (31:19-21). But Deuteronomy also promises that when Israel turns to the Lord, he “will reverse your captivity and have pity on you” (30:1-3).
   • The song itself ends in mercy: “The Lord will judge his people, and will change his plans concerning his servants; when he sees that their power has disappeared” (32:36), and he will “make atonement for his land and people” (32:43).
   • Calling God’s word “your life” (32:47) is right. Paul quotes the nearby passage (30:14), “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart,” and says it is “the word of faith that we preach”: confess Jesus as Lord and believe God raised him (Romans 10:6-9).

4. 4. 2 Kings 22: Josiah wasn’t enslaved, and God showed him mercy

   The notes say when the law was found, “Israel had been conquered and its people enslaved.”

   • Josiah “reigned for thirty-one years in Jerusalem” as king of an independent Judah (22:1). The northern kingdom had fallen to Assyria earlier; Judah’s exile to Babylon came after Josiah’s death.
   • Josiah’s response is a good model: he tore his clothes and sought the Lord (22:11-13).
   • God’s answer: “You displayed a sensitive spirit and humbled yourself before the Lord … and I have heard you” (22:19). Humble repentance was met with mercy.

5. 5. Matthew 21:43: Jesus was talking to the chief priests and Pharisees

   The notes put a phrase on Jesus’ lips, “God will take the kingdom away from those who break the covenant,” and conclude that God moves “from group to group.” The Creation of Heaven and Earth (p. 401) says Jesus “left Physical Israel.”

   • Matthew tells us who Jesus meant: “When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they realized that he was speaking about them” (21:45).
   • The “people who will produce its fruit” (21:43) is the community built on Jesus: “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone” (21:42). Peter calls believers “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation” built on that same stone (1 Peter 2:6-9).
   • The New Testament doesn’t describe God moving from group to group after that. Jesus says of his church, “the gates of Hades will not overpower it” (Matthew 16:18), and “I am with you always, to the end of the age” (28:20). Paul says God hasn’t even rejected Israel: “the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable” (Romans 11:1-2, 29).

6. 6. The claim that “unlimited chances” aren’t biblical

   The notes say, “We’re often taught you get unlimited chances. That’s not biblical.”

   • Scripture does warn seriously against deliberately turning away from Christ (Hebrews 6:4-6; 10:26-29), and that should be admitted.
   • But Scripture also says “if we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous, forgiving us our sins” (1 John 1:9). Jesus tells Peter to forgive “seventy-seven times” (Matthew 18:22). “The Lord’s loyal kindness never ceases; his compassions never end. They are fresh every morning” (Lamentations 3:22-23).
   • The warnings in Hebrews concern rejecting Christ, not missing a class or failing to find a particular group.

7. 7. Malachi 3:6: God’s unchangingness is why they weren’t destroyed

   The lesson uses Malachi 3:6 to say God expects the same faithfulness, “although what he tells us to do might differ along with who we need to follow compared to their time.”

   • Read the whole verse: “Since, I, the Lord, do not go back on my promises, you, sons of Jacob, have not perished” (Malachi 3:6). God’s unchanging faithfulness is the reason they hadn’t been destroyed.
   • The next verse: “Return to me, and I will return to you” (3:7). It’s an invitation.
   • The lesson adds that who we need to follow may change. Scripture says the opposite: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever!” (Hebrews 13:8). The one to follow doesn’t change.

8. 8. Hebrews 5-6: Solid food is Christ as high priest

   The lesson says solid food is “Prophecy and fulfillment,” and “A place that only teaches milk does not have the Spirit of God there.”

   • Hebrews says what its solid food is. Right before the milk passage, Jesus “was designated by God as high priest in the order of Melchizedek. On this topic we have much to say, and it is difficult to explain” (5:10-11). Then the letter explains it for four chapters: “the main point of what we are saying is this: We have such a high priest” (8:1).
   • The foundation of 6:1-2 (repentance, faith, ritual washings, laying on of hands, resurrection and judgment) isn’t worthless. The author wants to build on it toward a deeper understanding of Christ’s priesthood.
   • Paul says he fed the Corinthians milk because of “jealousy and dissension,” people saying “I am with Paul” or “I am with Apollos” (1 Corinthians 3:1-4). Even so, he tells that same church: “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you?” (3:16).

   A church teaching the foundations still has the Spirit. And the immaturity Paul names is factional loyalty to one teacher.

9. 9. Satan, a Sunday event, work and a child’s school meeting

   The lesson says Satan will pull students away through a Sunday event, staying late at work or a child’s school meeting: “Whatever it takes to pull you out from God’s Word, Satan doesn’t care.”

   • A Sunday church gathering is something Scripture commands: “not abandoning our own meetings, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging each other” (Hebrews 10:25).
   • Diligent work is service to the Lord: “Whatever you are doing, work at it with enthusiasm, as to the Lord” (Colossians 3:23).
   • Caring for your children is part of faith: fathers are to raise them “in the discipline and instruction of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4), and “if someone does not provide for his own, especially his own family, he has denied the faith” (1 Timothy 5:8).
   • Jesus rebuked using religious devotion to set aside duty to family (Mark 7:9-13).

   Calling church, work and parenting Satan’s tools puts the course above things God commands.

10. 10. “Have we found a place like this yet?”

    The lesson asks, “Who is teaching Bible prophecy and fulfillment today?” and “Have we found a place like this yet?” The Creation of Heaven and Earth (p. 418) says believers “should make every possible effort to attain salvation by finding the nation of the twelve tribes … These are the twelve tribes of Shincheonji Church of Jesus.”

    • Paul says “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9).
    • “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Romans 10:13).
    • Peter says “there is salvation in no one else” than Jesus (Acts 4:12).

    Salvation comes through Jesus, by faith, not by finding a particular organization.