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!