Shincheonji special lesson 97: the word and testimony

Where SCJ’s reading conflicts with the Bible

This lesson defines “Word = Prophecy (Promised Made)” and “Testimony = Fulfillment (Promised Kept),” given as who, what, when, where, why and how. It says, “In Babylon, when people hear ‘testimony,’ they often think of personal blessings.” It argues that Abraham’s generation couldn’t know which land was promised, that the ark “is called the testimony because it represents the fulfillment of God’s promises,” that “John didn’t realize he was Elijah,” and that in Revelation “John recorded what he saw in the vision. Later, someone else will witness the reality”: the New John. It reads Revelation 12:11’s “blood of the Lamb” as “the words of Jesus,” and the testimony as “identifying the betrayers and destroyers – the seven pastors.” It ends: “You must leave those who do not know, regardless of who they are.” Scripture defines “the testimony” in its own words.

1. 1. What Scripture calls “the testimony”

   The lesson defines testimony as a detailed account of prophecy’s fulfillment, and says Revelation’s testimony is about identifying seven pastors.

   • John defines God’s testimony: “And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. The one who has the Son has this eternal life” (1 John 5:11-12).
   • Revelation calls it “the testimony about Jesus” (1:2, 9; 12:17), and “the testimony about Jesus is the spirit of prophecy” (19:10).
   • The overcomers in Revelation 12 are those who “hold to the testimony about Jesus” (12:17). It’s witness to Christ, not to the identities of pastors in Korea. (See Lessons 55 and 87.)

2. 2. Personal testimony is biblical

   The lesson says, “In Babylon, when people hear ‘testimony,’ they often think of personal blessings.”

   • Jesus told a man he had delivered from demons: “Go to your home and to your people and tell them what the Lord has done for you, that he had mercy on you” (Mark 5:19).
   • The Samaritan woman told her town about Jesus, and “many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the report of the woman who testified” (John 4:39).
   • Telling what God has done in your life is a real testimony. Calling it “Babylon” teaches students to look down on how other Christians speak of God’s work.

3. 3. Abraham knew the land

   The notes say it was “impossible to know which specific land it would be.”

   • God showed Abraham the land: “To your descendants I will give this land” (Genesis 12:7), spoken when Abraham was in Canaan. “Look from the place where you stand to the north, south, east, and west. I will give all the land that you see to you and your descendants forever” (13:14-15).
   • He named its boundaries: “from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates River,” and listed the peoples living there (15:18-21).
   • The number of descendants was meant to be uncountable, like the stars (15:5). That isn’t a sealed secret; it’s the point of the promise.

4. 4. The ark holds “the testimony,” the covenant tablets

   The notes say the ark is called the testimony because it represents fulfilled promises.

   • God told Moses: “You are to put into the ark the testimony that I will give to you” (Exodus 25:16). That testimony is “two tablets of testimony … tablets of stone written by the finger of God” (31:18).
   • The name “the ark of the testimony” comes from the covenant law it holds. The manna jar and Aaron’s staff were placed “before the testimony” as reminders (Exodus 16:34; Numbers 17:10).

5. 5. Isaiah 8:20: God’s word versus mediums

   The notes read Isaiah 8:20 as needing both the law and “what has been seen and heard.”

   • The verse before sets the context: “They will say to you, ‘Seek oracles at the pits used to conjure up underworld spirits, from the magicians who chirp and mutter incantations’” (8:19). Isaiah’s answer is to turn to God’s revealed word instead.
   • Isaiah had just said, “Tie up the scroll as legal evidence, seal the official record of God’s instructions, and give it to my followers” (8:16). The “testimony” is God’s word through Isaiah.

6. 6. John the Baptist knew his mission

   The notes say “John didn’t realize he was Elijah.” SCJ’s book says the same (Creation, p. 426).

   • When asked, “Are you Elijah?” John said, “I am not!” (John 1:21). He wasn’t Elijah returned in person. But he knew exactly who he was: “I am the voice of one shouting in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord’” (1:23, from Isaiah 40:3).
   • Jesus said John came “in the spirit and power of Elijah” (Luke 1:17), and “if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah” (Matthew 11:14). Both statements are true together.
   • And John gave the clearest testimony in the Gospels: “Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). “I have both seen and testified that this man is the Chosen One of God” (1:34). John testified about Jesus.

7. 7. John 3:31-34: The one from heaven is Jesus

   • “The one who comes from heaven is superior to all. He testifies about what he has seen and heard” (John 3:31-32). The one who comes from heaven is Jesus. It doesn’t establish a pattern for a later human witness. (See Lesson 47.)

8. 8. Revelation’s “vision” and “reality”

   The lesson says John saw the vision and “someone else will witness the reality.”

   • John identifies himself: “I, John, your brother … was on the island called Patmos” (1:9). He signs the book: “I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things” (22:8).
   • Revelation never says a second person will witness its events in reality. (See Lessons 39 and 94.)

9. 9. The blood of the Lamb is his blood

   The notes say “The blood of the lamb represents the words of Jesus.” SCJ’s own book writes “the blood of the Lamb (Jesus)” (Creation, p. 527).

   • “To the one who loves us and has set us free from our sins at the cost of his own blood” (Revelation 1:5).
   • “you were killed, and at the cost of your own blood you have purchased for God persons from every tribe” (5:9).
   • “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness” (Hebrews 9:22).

   Turning the blood into words removes the cross from the verse. (See Lessons 31 and 40.)

10. 10. Saying the new testimony matters now, not the old

    • The lesson says the old testimony of bread, manna and the ark no longer matters. Hebrews agrees those were shadows, fulfilled in Christ (Hebrews 9:1-12). But the fulfillment is Christ himself, not a new testimony about Korea.
    • The Lord’s Supper still proclaims “the Lord’s death until he comes” (1 Corinthians 11:26).

11. 11. “You must leave those who do not know, regardless of who they are”

    • This includes pastors, friends and family. Scripture says to honor parents (Ephesians 6:2), care for family (1 Timothy 5:8) and stay with an unbelieving spouse (1 Corinthians 7:12-13).
    • When a teaching requires leaving everyone who disagrees with it, that’s a reason to weigh it with more care, not less. (See Lessons 46 and 90.)

12. 12. The “last push”

    • A fourth class day and three 25-question tests come right as students are told to leave those who disagree. More hours and more tests leave less time to step back and think. (See Lesson 96.)