Shincheonji lesson 89: the sons who will receive God’s inheritance

Where SCJ’s reading conflicts with the Bible

This lesson grants that believers in Christ became sons of God, “but there are promised sons of God at the second coming.” Others become sons “by following the person who overcomes,” and “The male child and the one who overcomes are, in fact, the same individual.” Its key text is Galatians 4:1-7: “The traditional churches are the guardians and trustees at this time. We will not reach maturity in the traditional church.” The class hears, “We cannot have our feet in both worlds.” It says “Being harvested is not optional for believers who desire heaven and eternal life,” that “those who remain in the field will be burnt,” and that when people learn about the 12 tribes, “they often react with persecution,” like Ishmael mocking Isaac. SCJ’s The Creation of Heaven and Earth (p. 433) says the promised pastor “becomes the son of God who will inherit the kingdom.” But the same book (p. 494) gets Galatians right: the guardian was the law, and “All true believers became sons of God through faith.” Galatians was written against exactly what this lesson teaches.

1. 1. Galatians 4: The guardian was the law

   The lesson says, “The traditional churches are the guardians and trustees at this time.”

   • Paul identifies the guardian in the verses just before: “the law had become our guardian until Christ, so that we could be declared righteous by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian” (Galatians 3:24-25).
   • SCJ’s own book says the same: “The law acted as an elementary teacher or guardian that led people to Christ” (The Creation of Heaven and Earth, p. 494).
   • The churches of Paul’s day weren’t the guardians. They were the sons.

2. 2. Galatians 4: Believers are already sons and heirs

   The lesson says there are “promised sons of God at the second coming.” Read Galatians 4:4-7:

   • “when the appropriate time had come, God sent out his Son … so that we may be adopted as sons with full rights. And because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, who calls ‘Abba! Father!’ So you are no longer a slave but a son, and if you are a son, then you are also an heir through God” (Galatians 4:4-7).

   Paul is writing to ordinary first-century believers: “you are … a son … an heir.” Not later, and not through following a man.

   • “in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God through faith … if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to the promise” (3:26, 29).
   • “Dear friends, we are God’s children now” (1 John 3:2).
   • “if children, then heirs (namely, heirs of God and also fellow heirs with Christ)” (Romans 8:17). The Spirit is “the down payment of our inheritance” (Ephesians 1:14).

3. 3. Galatians warns about people who want you to seek them

   Galatians was written because teachers told believers that faith in Christ was the start, but more was needed. Paul’s response fits this lesson closely:

   • “now that you have come to know God (or rather to be known by God), how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless basic forces? Do you want to be enslaved to them all over again?” (4:9).
   • “They court you eagerly, but for no good purpose; they want to exclude you, so that you would seek them eagerly” (4:17).
   • “Although you began with the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by human effort?” (3:3).

   Teaching that sons must leave their churches and follow one overcomer to receive an inheritance they already have is the very move Galatians resists. (See Lesson 66.)

4. 4. Ishmael and Isaac: Who persecuted whom

   The lesson uses Galatians 4:29 to say that when people learn about the 12 tribes, “they often react with persecution.”

   • Paul writes that “the one born by natural descent persecuted the one born according to the Spirit” (4:29). In his allegory, the persecutors are those who insisted on extra requirements beyond faith in Christ.
   • His conclusion: “Throw out the slave woman and her son” (4:30), meaning reject the system of added requirements. “For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not be subject again to the yoke of slavery” (5:1).
   • The allegory supports believers who rest in Christ alone, not a group that adds tribes, harvests and seals.

5. 5. Romans 8: The revealing of all God’s children

   The lesson uses Romans 8:19 for special “promised sons” at the second coming.

   • Paul describes all believers: “all who are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God … you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry, ‘Abba, Father’” (Romans 8:14-15).
   • What creation awaits is the full revealing of those children: “we ourselves also, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we eagerly await our adoption, the redemption of our bodies” (8:23). That’s the resurrection at Christ’s return, for every believer.

6. 6. The male child and the overcomer

   • The male child “was suddenly caught up to God and to his throne” (Revelation 12:5). Jesus is the one who “sat down with my Father on his throne” (3:21). (See Lessons 55 and 73.)
   • “The one who conquers will inherit these things” (21:7) is a promise to every believer who overcomes, and John says who that is: “the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God” (1 John 5:5). (See Lessons 45 and 57.)
   • Of the iron rod, Jesus says, “like clay jars he will break them to pieces” (2:27). It’s Jesus’ rule (19:15), shared with every overcomer in Thyatira, not “the teaching authority to rule, not as a king, but as a teacher.”

7. 7. Saying Satan has ruled the world for 6,000 years

   The notes say, “For the past 6,000 years, Satan has ruled over the world.”

   • Satan’s claim in Luke 4:6 was made by “the father of lies” (John 8:44). (See Lesson 51.)
   • After the resurrection, Jesus said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (Matthew 28:18). He disarmed the powers, “triumphing over them by the cross” (Colossians 2:15).

8. 8. Maturity happens in the church

   The lesson says, “We will not reach maturity in the traditional church,” and “Jesus didn’t remain under the teachers and synagogues; he surpassed them.”

   • Jesus went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, “as was his custom” (Luke 4:16). Paul did the same (Acts 17:2).
   • Paul says God gave the church “pastors and teachers, to equip the saints … until we all attain to the unity of the faith … a mature person, attaining to the measure of Christ’s full stature” (Ephesians 4:11-13). Maturity is what the church is for.
   • Hebrews urges, “not abandoning our own meetings, as some are in the habit of doing” (Hebrews 10:25).

9. 9. The field is the world, not “Traditional Churches”

   The lesson labels the field “Traditional Churches” and warns that “those who remain in the field will be burnt.”

   • Jesus said, “The field is the world” (Matthew 13:38). The owner said, “Let both grow together until the harvest” (13:30), and “the reapers are angels” (13:39). (See Lesson 76.)
   • Threatening that those who stay in their churches “will be burnt” pressures students with fear, not truth.

10. 10. Saying “not everyone who claims to be a believer” becomes a son

    The notes say “not everyone who claims to be a believer automatically becomes a son of God at the second coming.”

    • That’s true (Matthew 7:21). Jesus’ test is relationship with him: “I never knew you” (7:23). The issue is knowing Jesus, not leaving a traditional church for a particular group.

11. 11. Testing for “a place that loves, forgives, blesses, and extends an olive branch”

    • The lesson’s test is a good one. Apply it fairly. Lesson 52’s notes told students not to spend time with “those who are dead.” SCJ’s book, quoted on the Lesson 75 page, says “anyone who opposes Shincheonji is also evil.” Lesson 88 called doubters “dogs.” Lesson 47’s board named other churches Babylon. Students can ask whether those words fit “a place that loves, forgives, blesses, and extends an olive branch.”