Shincheonji lesson 2: let’s be those who are blessed
Lesson 2 · Introductory
Main verses used
Links open the NET Bible.
What SCJ teaches
This section comes from class notes that an attendee wrote down during SCJ’s 9-month Bible study seminar, posted with the full Closer Look study. They are not SCJ’s printed curriculum, so the wording is the note-taker’s.
Nowhere else to go
The class opens with John 6:68. The instructor says he came to see that “there is nowhere else for him to go but to God through Jesus.” The notes then ask, “After Jesus taught something difficult, didn’t he ask his disciples a challenging question, testing their commitment to stay?” Of the crowd that walked away in John 6, they say: “Because their hearts were not open to understanding what Jesus was saying, they left instead of listening further.” The class is told: “Let’s not respond that way.”
Prophecy as the basis of faith
John 14:29 is presented as a verse that “emphasizes the importance of prophecy and fulfillment for faith. Without prophecy and its fulfillment, faith is difficult to attain and comprehend.” The notes say Jesus had “just finished telling his disciples about his second coming,” and they ask, “is that time close? And how can we know?” The summary line is: “God declares and then fulfills, because He wants us to believe in Him.”
The blessed person delights in the word
Reading Psalm 1:1-3, the class links the tree by the water to the previous lesson’s seed: “What does the seed mean? The word.” The notes go on to say that “those distant from God’s word are perpetually hungry and thirsty in an unhealthy way, often manifesting as anger, depression, anxiety, stress, fear, and feeling overwhelmed.” After the house on the rock (Matthew 7:24-27), the point is made plain: “You have to put in the effort.”
Ezra’s example
Ezra 7:6-10 is used as a model. The notes say “Ezra devoted himself to the study and observance of God’s law,” and apply it directly: “If I want to be someone used by God, I too need to devote myself to studying His Word.” The section ends, “Let’s be like Ezra.”
Blessing means hearing, understanding and obeying
From Luke 11:28 the lesson says the obedient are blessed, but adds that “we cannot obey what we fail to understand.” Matthew 7:21-23, it says, is about believers: “He is referring to people who profess belief in him, not non-believers.” So “The real standard for entry into the kingdom of heaven is doing the will of God.” The instructor says of this passage, “That is truly frightening.”
Where is that will found? The notes answer: “God’s will is recorded in prophecy.” They add a time factor: “it is expected for people to know and believe once the prophesied event has taken place.”
Our determination to study
The last section turns to the class itself. The instructor says he does not let other things interfere with teaching, and then: “What I ask of you is the same commitment – as you prepare for this course, be determined to truly dive in and learn.” From 1 Chronicles 28:9, the notes say Solomon was to seek God with full attention, “not just giving God partial attention once or twice a week.” The class closes with: “Do not allow worldly obstacles to readily deter you from what matters most.”
The memory verse is John 5:39, with the reflection: “I need to study the Word of God in a way that helps me find Jesus in its pages.”
In SCJ’s own books
Each passage was checked against the scanned page image; page numbers are as printed.
The Creation of Heaven and Earth, Lee Man-hee (Shincheonji Press), page 325, on Matthew 7:21:
“Therefore, only those who know God and God’s will can enter heaven.”
The same book, page 146:
“God shares his plans regarding the future before he fulfills them so that when the time of prophetic fulfillment comes, the prophecies themselves become the pieces of evidence that convince people to believe (Jn 14:29).”
The same book, page 182:
“When God fulfills the secret promises, he always reveals them to his chosen pastor before fulfilling them (Am 3:7; Jn 5:19).”
How the lesson notes compare with the books
- Matthew 7:21. Same teaching. The notes say the standard for entry is “doing the will of God”; the book says only those who know “God’s will can enter heaven” (p. 325).
- John 14:29. Same teaching. Both treat the verse as the reason God speaks before he acts, so that fulfilled prophecy becomes evidence (p. 146).
- Who understands prophecy first. Difference. The notes put understanding in each student’s study: “We need to study the Word.” The book says God reveals fulfillment first “to his chosen pastor” (p. 182). The lesson notes do not mention a chosen pastor.
What the Bible says
- In context, the “before it happens” of John 14:29 is about Jesus going to the Father and coming back to his disciples. You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away and I am coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father because the Father is greater than I am. I have told you now before it happens, so that when it happens you may believe. (John 14:28-29, NET)
- Jesus states the Father’s will directly, and it centers on looking to the Son and believing in him. For this is the will of my Father—for everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him to have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.” (John 6:40, NET)
- Straight after the “Lord, Lord” warning, Jesus names the words to be done: his own words in that sermon. “Everyone who hears these words of mine and does them is like a wise man who built his house on rock. (Matthew 7:24, NET)
- Jesus’ blessing is on hearing and obeying the word of God. But he replied, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it!” (Luke 11:28, NET)
- The blessed person of Psalm 1 delights in the Lord’s commands and meditates on them day and night. Instead he finds pleasure in obeying the Lord’s commands; he meditates on his commands day and night. (Psalm 1:2, NET)
- Ezra studied, kept and taught the law the Lord had already given. Now Ezra had dedicated himself to the study of the law of the Lord, to its observance, and to teaching its statutes and judgments in Israel. (Ezra 7:10, NET)
- Jesus says the scriptures testify about him, and that life comes from coming to him. You study the scriptures thoroughly because you think in them you possess eternal life, and it is these same scriptures that testify about me, but you are not willing to come to me so that you may have life. (John 5:39-40, NET)
- Peter’s answer in John 6 is a confession of who Jesus is. Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God!” (John 6:68-69, NET)
Where SCJ’s reading conflicts with the Bible
On its surface this lesson sounds harmless: study the Bible, obey God, be committed. The problem is the chain of claims underneath it: faith rests on prophecy, God’s will is found in prophecy, you can’t obey what you don’t understand, so being blessed depends on understanding prophecy. SCJ’s own book then says God reveals prophecy first to his “chosen pastor.” Every link in that chain breaks when you read the verses the lesson uses in context.
1. John 6:68: Peter stayed because of who Jesus is
The lesson uses John 6 to cast people who leave as people whose “hearts were not open,” and tells the class, “Let’s not respond that way.”
- Those who left were “many of his disciples” (6:66), and they did not leave because they stopped studying. They were offended by what Jesus said about himself: that he came down from heaven and that they must eat his flesh and drink his blood (6:41-66).
- Peter’s answer is a confession about Jesus: “You have the words of eternal life … you are the Holy One of God” (6:68-69). The reason to stay is Jesus himself, not a course or a teacher.
- The question “You don’t want to go away too, do you?” (6:67) is about staying with Jesus. Applying it to staying in a Bible study run by a particular group swaps Jesus for the group.
The effect is to label doubt in advance. If a student later questions the teaching, they have already been told that leaving is what closed hearts do.
2. John 14:29: Not a prophecy about today
The notes say Jesus had “just finished telling his disciples about his second coming” and use the verse to argue that faith depends on prophecy and fulfillment.
- In context, the event Jesus is speaking of is his going to the Father and coming back to the disciples sitting in the room (14:28). He says, “I have told you now before it happens, so that when it happens you may believe” (14:29). “You” is the eleven, and it was fulfilled in their lifetime through his death, resurrection and the coming of the Spirit (14:18-19, 26).
- Jesus uses the same formula in 13:19 about Judas’s betrayal, which happened that night.
- John states why his Gospel was written: so that you may believe Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God (20:31). Faith rests on Jesus, not on decoding modern events.
- Jesus says those who believe without seeing are blessed (20:29). The lesson’s claim that faith is “difficult to attain” without seeing prophecy fulfilled runs the other way.
Fulfilled prophecy does confirm faith (Luke 24:25-27 shows Jesus doing this). But what it points to is Jesus, already fulfilled, not a new fulfillment happening in Korea.
3. Matthew 7:21-23: The people Jesus rejects are the ones who prophesied
The lesson says the standard for entering the kingdom is doing God’s will, and that “God’s will is recorded in prophecy.” SCJ’s The Creation of Heaven and Earth (p. 325) shifts it further: only those who know God’s will can enter heaven.
- Look at who is turned away: people who say “Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name?” (7:22). Involvement in prophecy is exactly what does not save them.
- Jesus’ reason is “I never knew you” (7:23). The issue is relationship with him, not lack of information.
- Jesus tells you what “the will” means in the very next verse: “Everyone who hears these words of mine and does them” (7:24). “These words” are the Sermon on the Mount: mercy, purity, forgiveness, prayer, loving enemies. That is ethics, not prophetic decoding.
- Jesus states the Father’s will directly: everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him has eternal life (John 6:40). Paul does the same: “this is God’s will: that you become holy” (1 Thessalonians 4:3), and “In everything give thanks. For this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (5:18).
- Jesus says to do the will. SCJ’s book changes it to know the will. That change is what makes a teacher who claims to hold the knowledge necessary.
4. SCJ says “We cannot obey what we fail to understand”
This sounds reasonable, but it is the hinge of the whole lesson. Combine it with “God’s will is recorded in prophecy,” and the result is that you cannot be blessed unless you understand prophecy.
- Luke 11:28 blesses those who hear the word of God and obey it. Jesus says this in reply to a woman in the crowd (11:27), not to a group who has finished a decoding course.
- SCJ’s Creation (p. 182) says God reveals the fulfillment of secret promises first to “his chosen pastor,” citing Amos 3:7. The lesson notes leave this out, but the book shows where the lesson is going: understanding comes through one man.
- Amos 3:7 speaks of “his servants the prophets” (plural), and it describes the Old Testament prophets. For the present age, Hebrews 1:1-2 says God spoke “in various portions and in various ways” through the prophets, but “in these last days he has spoken to us in a son.” Final revelation is in Jesus, not a later pastor.
- Jude 3 speaks of “the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints.” Nothing essential to obedience is being held back for a future revealer.
5. Psalm 1: The blessed person meditates on the word already given
- The blessed person “finds pleasure in obeying the Lord’s commands” and “meditates on his commands day and night” (1:2). That is Scripture Israel already had, read openly. No new revelation or interpreter is needed.
- The lesson pulls in its own Lesson 1 symbol (“What does the seed mean? The word”), but Psalm 1 has no seed. The tree is the person. This is the figurative-dictionary method again, importing a meaning from another passage.
- The notes link anger, depression, anxiety, stress and fear to being “distant from God’s word.” Scripture’s most faithful people experienced exactly these: David throughout the Psalms, Elijah wishing to die (1 Kings 19:4), Jesus saying his soul was “deeply grieved, even to the point of death” (Matthew 26:38). Distress is not a sign that someone lacks the right teaching.
6. Ezra: Open study and public teaching
The lesson uses Ezra as a model of devotion to study. That is a good model, but look at what Ezra actually did.
- Ezra studied, obeyed and taught “the law of the Lord” (Ezra 7:10), which was already written.
- When he taught it, he read it publicly to all the people (Nehemiah 8:3), the Levites explained it (8:7-8) and the people understood it the same day (8:12).
- Ezra’s model is open Scripture explained plainly to everyone. It is not hidden meanings revealed step by step over months, with the main point withheld until the end.
7. 1 Chronicles 28:9: Devotion to God, not a course
- David charges Solomon to serve God “with a submissive attitude and a willing spirit” (1 Chronicles 28:9). It is about devotion to God, not attendance at a study program.
- The notes contrast this with “partial attention once or twice a week.” That sets the course against ordinary church attendance, which Scripture itself commands (Hebrews 10:24-25).
- “Do not allow worldly obstacles to readily deter you” is presented as faithfulness to God, but in context it points to keeping the course schedule.
8. John 5:39: The memory verse works against the lesson
The lesson’s memory verse is John 5:39. Read the next verse:
“You study the scriptures thoroughly because you think in them you possess eternal life, and it is these same scriptures that testify about me, but you are not willing to come to me so that you may have life.”
(John 5:39-40, NET)
Jesus is rebuking people who studied the Scriptures intensely but did not come to him. Life is not found in mastering Scripture. It is found in coming to Jesus. A lesson that makes blessing depend on intensive study and understanding prophecy is doing the very thing Jesus rebukes in the verse it chose to memorize.
9. What the lesson is really for
This lesson lays groundwork for the rest of the course:
- Leaving is reframed as a closed heart (John 6), so doubt is disarmed before it begins.
- Salvation is tied to understanding prophecy (Matthew 7, Luke 11), which sets up the need for someone who holds the understanding. SCJ’s book names him: the “chosen pastor.”
- Commitment to the course is framed as wholehearted devotion to God (1 Chronicles 28), and ordinary weekly church is framed as half-hearted.
- Anxiety and distress are tied to distance from the word, so staying in the study feels like the cure.
The biblical answer to every one of these is the same: the will of God is to believe in the Son (John 6:40), blessing is hearing and obeying a word already given (Luke 11:28, Psalm 1), and life is found in coming to Jesus, not in mastering a system (John 5:39-40).
What’s happening behind the lesson
These notes are our reading of the lesson text, using Steven Hassan’s BITE model (behavior, information, thought and emotional control). They describe what the text does, not the teacher’s intent. Hassan notes that not every group uses every item. Source: Steven Hassan, BITE Model, Freedom of Mind.
- Behavior: can create pressure around time commitment. The class is asked for “the same commitment” the instructor gives, warned against “partial attention once or twice a week,” and told, “Do not allow worldly obstacles to readily deter you from what matters most.” In this text, blessing is linked to steady attendance at the course.
- Thought: can discourage doubt in advance. Before any hard teaching arrives, the lesson frames confusion as a test of loyalty: Jesus was “testing their commitment to stay,” and those who left did so because “their hearts were not open.” A student who later struggles may already be cast as one who “left instead of listening further.”
- Emotional: can tie distress to distance from the word. The notes connect “anger, depression, anxiety, stress, fear” with being “distant from God’s word,” and the instructor calls Matthew 7:21-23 “truly frightening.” This can attach worry about one’s standing to keeping up with the study.
The memory-verse reflection, to “find Jesus in its pages,” is not a control technique in itself.