Shincheonji: the cult of Lee Man-hee spreads in Africa
Published By admin
Across Africa, pastors and lay Christians who would love to attend Bible school but can’t afford to do so are being approached, and seemingly befriended, by strangers offering them the chance to do so for free.
An aggressive missionary cult called Shincheonji is luring unwary believers to enroll in Bible training online or at its local “Zion Truth Bible Centers.” Its recruiters slip into churches, Bible studies, and campus fellowships. Their methods are polished, their language sounds biblical, and their claims are bold.
Shincheonji boasts of being “The only Church in the world to master the book of Revelation,” and that its members “take weekly exams to become walking Bibles.” And it carefully conceals its core belief: that all the Christian churches in the world must surrender their congregations to Shincheonji’s elderly founder, Lee Man-hee.
About Shincheonji and Lee Man-hee
Shincheonji Church of Jesus, the Temple of the Tabernacle of the Testimony (hereafter SCJ) was founded by Lee Man-hee in South Korea in 1984. It claims to be active in at least 17 countries in Africa; sometimes using names such as Hope Church (South Africa), New Heaven New Earth (Malawi), along with Shincheonji Church of Jesus (Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania).
By 2023 SCJ claimed nearly 360 000 adherents worldwide; it also boasts that over 100 000 students graduate from its “Zion Christian Mission Center” courses annually. SCJ’s “Introductory Level Course” focuses on “the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, hidden in parables by Jesus.”
The cult’s 2024 brochure explains that “the prophecies in Revelation and their fulfillment… have been kept a mystery in the Christian world.” According to SCJ, only those who accept Lee Man-hee’s personal interpretation of Revelation can be accepted into membership and hope to gain
Read the full article at link below.
Content retrieved from: https://www.christiandaily.com/news/shincheonji-the-cult-of-lee-man-hee-spreads-in-africa.
