Life inside the cult targeting pastors
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Isabella* would drag herself to prayer gatherings and Bible study at 7am every morning.
From 9am to 5pm she would cold-call Christian pastors across Victoria, and evenings brought more recruitment activity, team meetings and Bible studies.
Most days she would not get to sleep until 3am.
This demanding schedule was daily life in Heavenly Culture, World Peace, Restoration of Light, a peace organisation.
Korean-based cult Shincheonji Church of Jesus’s followers believe founder Lee Man-hee is Jesus returned to earth and that salvation is exclusive to group members.
According to articles on HWPL’s website, Shincheonji founder Lee Man-hee is also chairman of HWPL.
However, HWPL Victoria states on their website that the organisation is strictly non-religious and maintains no affiliation with any religious body.
Isabella alleged her work with HWPL involved attempting to convert pastors who would then bring their entire congregations into Shincheonji.
Speaking at a clergy conference in 2024, St James’ Dandenong vicar the Reverend Graeme Peters estimated 90 per cent of those present had interacted with Shincheonji.
“We were constantly contacting pastors all over Victoria,” Isabella said.
“One by one and we’re trying to evangelise them.”
Isabella first became involved with them when two strangers asked her general questions about spirituality at Melbourne University during orientation week in 2020.
After hearing she had converted to Catholicism, they arranged to meet the next day to hear her testimony, bringing with them a Bible teacher who offered free classes.
Isabella had decided to study international human rights law hoping to make a difference in the world, driven by her experiences growing up in a war-torn country.
But she said she realised the international organisations she had wanted to work with were corrupt, leaving her searching for answers and considering adding theology to her master’s degree.
For six months she struggled to sleep and sought therapy, describing it as a midlife crisis after losing faith in the system she had trusted.
Content retrieved from: https://tma.melbourneanglican.org.au/2025/06/life-inside-the-cult-targeting-pastors/.
