Friday, August 22, 2008

A Heavenly Mother ?

One of my new readers, Betty, from Paraguay, commented on my previous post. She said ..”And also we need to know exactly WHAT we believe in and why!”
Her comment was the perfect lead in to a post I have been struggling to write for a couple of weeks. The words just didn’t want to flow. Writer’s cramp? Or the enemy’s cramp !! I am thinking it was the latter !
I had an experience a few weeks ago that I have wanted to tell you about.

It all started with my friend, Lori, answering the ring of her doorbell.
There stood two smiling young Korean women eager to engage Lori in conversation. They were coming to spread the good news of the heavenly mother and the second coming christ.
Lori tried to put them off but they weren’t easily dissuaded and so Lori invited them to come to our bible study… They were more than willing and said they would bring their pastor.
They came. Their pastor , Isaac, was neatly dressed in suit and tie and all three were VERY polite and friendly. Even though they had only arrived in Canada in December their English was very good ,although we did have to listen carefully as their accent was very strong.
They were very insistent that what they believed was not out of their head but only based on the bible and they only wanted the truth.
They were very eager to dialogue with us and seemed sincerely interested in hearing what we believed.
The first evening we spent with them was rather confusing since we had no idea who they were. My husband and I consider ourselves fairly up to date on all the deviations from the gospel that are out there, but these young Koreans were definitely teaching something we had not yet heard. What we gathered was that the foundation of their beliefs was based on the second coming christ and the heavenly mother, the Trinity, and Jesus’ death for our sins.
We ended the first evening pleasantly enough with Isaac eager to come back next week promising to listen to what we believed the bible teaching to be.


As soon as we arrived home that night I hit the internet to find out what these people were all about.
I found out that our ‘friends’ were representing the World Mission Society of Church of God. The cult originates with a group that broke away from the Seventh Day Adventists in 1969, so they legalistically observe the Sabbath, the feasts, no Christmas or Easter and all Christian symbols, including the cross are idolatry.
But then it gets really bizarre. Their second coming Christ is Ahnsanghong. They believe that Ahnsanghon is Jesus’ new name , the name of the holy spirit who has returned to give salvation to anyone who believes on his new name.
Ahnsanghan was a simple Korean man, who died in 1985 and their heavenly mother is still alive in Korea. At some point in the future (probably 2012) the second coming Christ will return to earth and marry the heavenly mother.


Crazy, right ? But the difficult thing is that their deception is iron clad. They have been soo thoroughly indoctrinated with the scriptural interpretation to fit their beliefs that you cannot argue effectively against them. Their belief system is obviously crafted by a very clever mind.
By the time I had thoroughly searched out their belief system I knew arguing would not work, only the supernatural power of God could penetrate their deception. We had hoped at first that we could perhaps persuade them, because they were so adamant that everything one believed had to be based on the bible.

So we went prayerfully to the second meeting, hoping for a miracle breakthrough. It did not come. I’m not sure what the purpose of this experience was except to be made aware of who they were in order to put out a warning.

Here is one example of how their teaching went to prove the heavenly mother. First Isaac took us through the scriptures showing that Adam was a copy of the coming second Adam who was Christ. Through Adam all men died, but through Christ man could once again have life. Then they showed us how Jesus was going to be coming back again for the wedding feast .. the marriage of the Lamb and His bride. They showed how the Lamb was Jesus… then the question was .. who is the bride?

They took us back again to Genesis , showing Adam being a copy of Christ .. therefore Eve was a copy of the bride, who was the heavenly mother . They proved the heavenly mother was pictured in Eve because - as they had proved - all men born of Adam were ‘dead men’. Eve was NOT the mother of dead men because it says that she was the 'mother of all living'. Therefore Eve is not the mother of the physical race but rather the mother of the ‘living’ spiritual children of god.
This made perfect sense in their minds !! and though we tried to show them the true gospel their minds were closed and deceived and they were not willing to hear anything contrary to their teaching. They just waited until we took a breath and they would just go down their own one track reasoning thread again.

Always they kept insisting… “Can I show you ? in the bible?” Isaac had spent four years in school being indoctrinated into his belief system and only God’s Spirit could break through that iron wall around his mind.


In the end, they were very difficult to get rid of and they cornered Lori , who had been the most quiet perceiving her to be the weakest link in our group. I know they will be back to try to talk to her alone, as they said, to do a bible study with her !

I was shaken by the end of the second evening with them. I would not have thought such a bizarre belief system could be built using only the bible. I was shaken, not by any measure in my own faith, but by the cleverness of the enemy.

I share this experience with you to warn you and arm you in case any of you have a knock on your door …. The words heavenly mother or second coming christ will definitely be spoken of in their initial presentation . Turn them away, there is no way that you will be able to speak truth into their thinking, except that by trying you only confirm to them that they are right and you are wrong. This is a cult that is spreading its missionaries all over the world in their zeal to win enough converts so that the wedding can take place before 2012.

I believe that we are living in end times. Deception is everywhere and what is allowing this deception to flourish is that studying the scriptures and KNOWING and understanding what they say and mean is becoming less and less a priority in Christians’ lives and even in churches. Books like The Shack, presenting God in a false light are being eagerly embraced, with respected leaders endorsing its content. We live in our spiritual lives as we live our earthly lives --- under a ‘feel good’ umbrella. Quick fixes, excuses, easy mercy, live-and-let-live philosophy are really the order of the day - and the enemy rubs his hands in glee!

If ever there was a time we needed to know what we believe and why .. it is today !!!
Mat 24:24 "For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. "

“Deception” -- a very real sign of the end ! There is only one way to avoid it. Know what you believe and why !! and stand strong on the Word of God which is your sword to pierce the most deceptive ruse of the enemy.

And I believe that the warning in II John 9,10 is very applicable for today.
"If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine (the true doctrine of Christ) do not receive him into your house nor greet him."

(There was another reason I believe that God sent these people to our bible study. It had to do with a young man in our bible study.
Charlotte , in her comment on my last post asked if I had any advice about witnessing to non-Christians. I will happily offer what I have learned through my experiences in my next post.)




And I would just like to add a note here to ALL of you who comment on my blog.... I do really appreciate each and every one of you and your comments are important to me ! THANK-YOU!




27 comments:

Sara at Come Away With Me said...

Julie, thank you for sharing your experience and for your thoughtful words and warnings. A point well taken.

Deception is insidious. May our God, who has all the power, and all the glory, begin to reveal the truth to these who wander so blindly, and to tear down false belief systems in their minds, giving them eyes to see, ears to hear, and hearts to understand. I pray some of the words of truth your group spoke will begin to take root somehow in their hearts.

Betty said...

Yes, I second that. Thank you for sharing! I´m so glad I made that comment. I do believe it, but I´m not sure I would be able to stand up to people from other sects like you did. But I pray, that if it should come to that someday, that I would be wise enough to have the right words and strong enough to show them the wonderful faith that we have.
Have a great weekend!!

Strider said...

I had no Idea, when I posted a short quote from The Shack on my site that there was such controversy in christiandom over the book. I find it facinating. Maybe the "ploy" of the enemy isn't the content of the book at all, but that it causes disunity in brothers and sisters. We are so quick to judge each other. I don't think there will be anyone in heaven because they have great theology.....I think they'll be there because they know God. No one can know God unless the Spirit of God draws him. And the lost or unbeliver or cult memeber....will know we are followers of God by our Love....not theology. I bless you my friend, and may we all draw closer to The Master.

charlotte mgcc said...

julie
this was such an interesting post and i would not have been able to stand up to these very convicted persons in their belief with my belief, even though i feel that i am a fairly solid christian. this just affirms we really need to have biblical knowledge and pray for
God to give us wisdom and insight.
we have an amazing
gGod and He can do amazing things...far beyond what we can comprehend.

Elsie said...

Two Korean ladies showed up at our door a couple of months ago, talking about the "heavenly mother". I told them that as a Christian and Bible study teacher I did not believe what they were telling me. "It's very important!" they pleaded, but I politely turned them away. I had never heard of such a thing before. Your post confirms what I suspected, and I thank you for checking out this cult!!

Thoughts on Life and Millinery. said...

Wow...that must have been interesting listening to them zigzag through scripture.

In my communication course work in college I was taught that the best way to help a person strenghten their point of view is to argue with them. Oddly, even when someone feels rather neutral about something, just challenging it usually will solidify thinking,,,and generally in the opposite direction of what the challenge was. Thanks for the heads up on this cult.

Trish said...

Fascinating but I have never heard of this group before. My goodness.....there are so many out there who are lost....

James Janzen said...

I am not a book learner. I also have a very bad memory, so bad that I would forget my mother's name if i didn't see her for 6 months. ( mom right?) This makes it very difficult for me to "learn" God's word in a way that i would be equipped to "argue" with those with opposing beliefs. This has often bothered me as my lack of desire to "learn" God's word for witnessing made me feel like I was less of a Christian. I envy those who are able to "argue" the truths of the Bible. But I have discovered that how you live your live through example far exceeds your ability to recall and spout scripture.
God made us all different with different gifts and strengths. I've learned a long time ago that trying to witness to those who's minds are closed to the truth about God is a very frustrating and pointless exercise. Even if you do have an opportunity to get a few words in they don't hear you anyway as they are just taking a break to think of the next point they wish to make.
I'm soo thankful that God does not call any of us to "convince" people of his word. We are only called to live our own lives in such a way that people will see that we are different. The differences between "Christianity" and the world is becoming more and more blurred. I have even heard pastors say that they are only human and we shouldn't expect any more from them than anyone else. I'm sorry! I do expect more!!
Pastors and those in leadership rolls do receive a special calling from God. I think I have the right to expect a life of righteousness. Not faultless as we all have faults. But I do expect them to present themselves, at all times, as representations of Christ. But I guess i'm starting to ramble.
I was going to respond with one word: "bizarre!" I guess I just started writing. :-)

Anonymous said...

Julie, thank you for this warning. I have read and re-read your post and it does concern me how easily deceived these people are. The enemy is a very persuasive being, and we must all be warned and armed against these false teachings.

Strider's comment (above) that the enemy will use a book or anything to cause disunity is a valid one - that's why there are so many different religions and why so many battles have been fought through the years. Putting on the armor of God comes to mind (Eph. 6:10-17).

Again, thanks for the heads up.

Lovella ♥ said...

First of all how wonderful you are to try to share the truth with these lost folks. It is so sad that they are so decieved. I'm also very appreciative of the research you did to uncover their beliefs.

Olivia said...

Hi!!
I read your post!! I think we have to listen what God says.. Throuth the Bible!! because we don't know what is the truth but we can know through the Bible. Because Bible guids us to the Truth!!
If Heavenly Mother exist in the Bible.. We have to Believe in Mother God! Isn't it??

Olivia said...

http://text.watv.org/english/index.html

Lavinia said...

Julie this is quite disconcerting, that these people are so deceived. Make no mistake, the prince of the power of the air, that the Bible speaks of, is very much alive and in operation on many fronts on this earth.

These people are grossly deceived, its as plain as that. I'm glad you were able to pierce through the veil of lies that they have swallowed.

Well written post.

leslie wong said...

Since these occultists take the Bible literally, then remind them that there is NO mention of a heavenly mother. If it is not in the Word of God, not in agreement, then it is not of God. Adam is not a copy. He was a creation that was made PERFECT in the image of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Eve was not a copy of anything! She was created from Adam. The Bible states that the trinity was always there. No birth, no mother, and no beginning. If Adam was a copy, he would never have sinned, because Jesus is perfect, and God makes no errors. Adam was a creation and given his own identity with free will and susceptibility to made the wrong choices. Jesus never made a wrong choice as He is perfect and excellent. If Adam was a copy, he would have been perfect and excellent just like Jesus, never sinning. A copy is an exact replica from the original with no variations. The Bible also states that the bride is the church, not a person or earth or anything else. Where does this new name come from? Where does it state in the Bible that Jesus would be born again and die on earth AGAIN? The second coming of Jesus is to be his last coming. They are not so knowledgeable about the Word as you think. It is shocking how twisted people can get. Take it out of context and you have a whole other set of rules and promises. Take their statements line by line, look up the scriptures, read the context, and it will be easy to debunk them.

Anonymous said...

Thank you. I do think that you were lead by the spirit to compose this blog. I am twenty-three year old student, I am a single mother. My father is a pastor and I have also received formal training on the word. I have felt a little lost lately. I have been discouraged with the church and their pagan rituals, and behaviors. I want to believe in the strict adherence to the word and be under a teaching that follows the true word of God. I know that is how they enter with their deception. They try to use your love for the Lord against you. I went o the meeting and was very uncomfortable, they was no joy in my spirit, and I knew something was wrong. I knew I was trying to be deceived. I was having or am having a difficult time voicing my disapproval to one of the girls. She is a very sweet girl that in her heart seems to love the Lord. I think that the enemy is getting more clever with his deception. But Christ gave us a weapon and the Holy Spirit to help us discern. She has actually unleashed a tremendous desire in my heart to learn the Word without excuse. And this is the time for preparation and warning for the Lord's children. Saints never betray your spirit. Amen. Peace be with you in life sways.

Anonymous said...

Thanks, just got approached by them on the street recently and it was the most bizarre thing i have ever heard. thanks for your post, it was very informative

Anonymous said...

Remember that in the times of Jesus, many people specially jewish did not want to believe in him and rejected him even though it was prophesied. The same is happening now, we are the spiritual Israelites and those who think and claim to know the bible very well are the spiritual priests. In Ecclesiastes 1:8-10 tell you that the same story will happen again. So instead of warning people a bout this gospel, you should let them listen to it. We do not know the truth only God. Lest just pray to the Holy Spirit to give us wisdom and understanding. God Bless You!

Anonymous said...

Remember that the primitive church was also called a cult Acts 28. Same story now!!!!!!!!!

Aaron Angel said...

Thanks for sharing your experience. Am in seoul came as a exchange student from India. I recently met two girls who talked about the heavenly mother. They were convincing me about the heavenly mother existence by showing the bible references. Am a born christian and they want me to baptise once again.I was taken back when they told that the heavenly mother is in korea and showed me her picture. I was trying hard to say that what they are believing is wrong. I just felt guilty because I was not able to prove them that they were wrong. If I get a chance to meet that so called heavenly mother, I would surely say her not to play up with christian belief.

Anonymous said...

Aaron Angel, you realized that you couldn't prove they were wrong! If you truly believe the bible is the word of God and they showed you through it that she exists why not believe it? Please read John 5:39-40, 2000 years ago jews did not believed God coming to this earth in the flesh even though it was prophesied and consecuently put him to dead. Now bible testifies about her coming on the flesh. Are you going to be like them and not believe in her? Are you one of those who diligently study the scriptures and refuse to come to her? I hope you can make up your mind and just give yourself a chance to study with them. You will se that bible speaks by it self and there's no visions or miracles by them. You really have to be careful with what you say, do not let anyone tell you what you should believe. Also remember on the internet you can find true information and FALSE information, anyone can put whatever they please on it and it does not mean that it has to be true. God bless you!!!!

Anonymous said...

HI,
My mother is involved in this church. I go to a baptist church. I am 25 and I have been at my church since I was 12. My mother was raised in a baptist church, but after attending one study, she is a faithful member. She mostly talks about this Heavenly Mother and how we have to pray to her and she is this Korean lady here on earth now. She tells me that heavenly mother is God in the flesh. My response was well why hasn't God done anything to let us know He is here. She attends feast early in the morning day after day. She talks about the second coming christ who has come and established this church himself. It is very aggravating as she trys to convince me everyday that this is the way. As in the blog, they are very demanding and strong minded in these beliefs. Please help me and tell me what I should do. My mother is sooooo convinced i'm going to hell, but I am soo worried about her soul and prays that she wakes up and see this is truly the enemy who has distorted her thinking.

Anonymous said...

The Church of God which keeps the new covenant Passover and spreads the love of Mother has acheived amazing results of the gospel. It has established over 1,400 churches in 150 countries in just over half a century.
Acts 5:38 "Therefore, in the present case I advise you: Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. 39 But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God.”

Anonymous said...

If you really believe in the word of God (Bible), then let them show you the prophesies. They are very plain and clear. You don't need to interpret because the bible does it it self. They don't force you to believe it is up to you. Why don't you check what is your mom is into? I have read many stories about peoples (bad) experiences with the church of God, and let me tell you they are all lies!!! At the beginning, I was believing, then I came to realize that it wasn't true. Please, don't let other people's opinions decide for you, instead you do it yourself.

Anonymous said...

EVERYTHING THEY SAID WAS IN THE BIBLE, RIGHT?
BUT SUNDAY WORSHIP, CHRISTMAS, EASTER BUNNIES, AND EGG HUNTS ARE NOT IN THE BIBLE. ALL THOSE SO CALLED CHRISTIAN HOLIDAYS THAT CHRIST NEVER OBSERVED IN THE BIBLE, NOR DID HIS DISCIPLES AFTER HIS CRUCIFIXION...
JOHN 3:39-47

Anonymous said...

I think, they are a disgusting cult. I had really bad experience about them. They always followed me nearly to home, and bothered me. If I said "not interested", they were more violent. And since I am living in Seongnam, they have many members and missionarists. I think, they wash the brain of the people.. Grr... It would better to try avoid them...

Anonymous said...

U clowns r fuckin dumb God has clearly warned u about this saying many will take the open road & few will take the narrow, u r those that r taking the open road the road leading 2 distruction God will show no mercy on u u can neither hear nor see for u were never chosen b4 ur birth, & unfortunate 4 u this is a trick of the devil which has clearly tricked u peopl there is a heavenly mother this isnt a cult & u need 2 read the last scriptures of the bible pray 4 forgiveness repent for the kingdom of God is at hand & yes this generation is about to pass because heavenly mother is 70 years old the bible testifies that a generation is about 70 or 80 years & tht the world will end after this generation hears the truth God will establish a church n the last days u fucking clowns I read earlier post & u all testified that we are n the last days & u used scriptures that not only argue against u but clearly glorifies our Heavenly Elohim

Anonymous said...

So, you are an other brain-washed person... I just tell my experience...