Hello Friends,
Here in Northern Virginia, several of my friends and I have run into street preachers from the “World Mission Society Church of God”.
This group is from Korea. Korea is full of people claiming to be Jesus Christ. This sort of phenomena is very popular in Korea for some reason.
Here is a collection of apologetics articles which I believe show some of their misunderstandings of Scripture.
If you can commit just one of these to memory, I would recommend this one. If you are looking for more, here is another good blog with lots more Scriptural rebuttals, or you can check out the Facebook group for former members if you are looking to talk with other folks about this group. Also, check out www.examiningthewmscog.com.
UPDATE 09-26-11 – I originally wrote these articles after bumping into these folks on the street. I will not be posting additional articles or responding to comments on these articles from members because I have other things to do with my time. If you really want more information on the WMSCOG, I would recommend heading over to www.examiningthewmscog.com where they deal with these folks full time. Every argument that the WMSCOG makes is refuted there. I will leave these articles for posterity though as lots of people still find them useful. Alright.. now I can get back to blogging..
-The “mother god” Misunderstanding
-Jerusalem is a City, Not a Person
-A “mother god” Would Violate the First Commandment
-The Word “Elohim” Is A Pluralis Excellentiae
-That Ahn Sahng-Hong Was a False Messiah
-Clouds Means Clouds
-Christ’s Warning Against False Messiahs
-Ahn Sahng-Hong Had the Wrong Name
-Ahn Sahng-Hong Never Claimed to be Christ
-Ahn Sahng-Hong Was Never Prophesied
-Jesus Already Has A Body
-Ahn Sahng-Hong Died
-Constantine Did Not Abolish the Sabbath
-Christians Are Not Bound by the Old Law With Its Sabbaths and Feasts
-Christians Have Always Worshiped on Sunday
-Judging Concerning The Sabbath Violates Colossions 2:16
Hi, I’d just like to thank you for all your write-ups on World Mission Society Church of God.
I’m a Christian that lives in Singapore and I was approached by two members from their branch in Singapore. They came across as rational, good-hearted, warm people. So I decided to meet up with them to understand how such rational and loving people could believe in something so radical.
I did a search on them and found no websites that had apologetics in relation to their beliefs till i stumbled upon yours! I’m grateful for it. However, they hold to the belief that they have the absolute truth and the perfect interpretation of the bible. So no matter how much I tried to show them other interpretations, they just seemed to ignore it by pointing elsewhere to other verses. Which led to a rather pointless discussion.
I’m rather dismayed because they seem like really nice people but I don’t know what to do for them. The discussions go in circles and we’re like two lines that never connect. Faith is a reasonable faith, and it seems like reason does not lean in their favor.
Hi P,
You are welcome. Thank you so much for posting your comments here. I appreciate your kind words. I really hope the articles have helped you, and I hope they help others.
God bless you in your efforts to reach out to our brothers and sisters in this group. That takes a lot of courage. I’m glad that you met with some loving and well-meaning people therein, and I pray that God brings them all to knowledge of the truth, that Ahn Sahng-Hong (like Sun Myung Moon and others before him) was not Jesus Christ.
I think it is difficult to discuss these things in person because the points can be profound and may take time to fully understand (especially when they are new). Like you experienced, when a point is made, it can be quickly ignored. I think what you can do in these situations is to plant seeds.
I believe we can pray for them. I ask everyone reading this to please join our prayers together daily to ask that God lead all of the righteous people out of this group, and into knowledge of the truth of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Hi
I am a Catholic and I have my brother and his family who has been baptised into WMSCOG two years back and wants the rest of the family to join him. I have been preached by some of their memebers and have had debates especially that the second coming of Jesus Christ has already happened. Your website has help me a lot I will be making notes of the references you have mentioned. My brother lives in Goa- India and I live in London. I have commented earlier to one of your article. Thanks much God Bless you , I hope people have the grace to understand you have very well addressed the topics. Thank you.
Hi Marina,
Thank you for your comment here. I give praise to God that these articles have helped you; it has made my effort to write them worth it.
I was also approached by my friends who converted to the religion. At first they were nice and they really interpreted well but when they wanted to baptize me right away and wanted to forcefully do it, it felt unright so I politely declined their offerings. I asked a lot of my Korean friends and I even researched about it and it is a fraud. There are many Koreans who claim to be Jesus just to control young people for money and power. Ahn Sahn-Hong was married and had children. One of his son got a divorce because his wife claims that he was abusive and a drug addict they even have a video. Also a member of this church was reported to have murdered a professor who was researching about them and sharing it to seminars. Do not allow them to confuse you. They say that Jesus Christ is no longer the savior and only ahn sahn hong is the savior but they forget to mentioned that in the bible it mentioned that it was the change of heart of the sinner who was given salvation not the pharisee. You can pray, go to church and read the bible all day everyday because you fear of not recieving salvation but that will not save you because you are doing it out of fear not from your heart. Do not fear your faith, live it and trust God and he will have a reason to trust you.
I’d like to echo what has been said, and say thank you so much for taking the time to do the leg-work and provide apologetics on the wmscog. I have been so burdened by what I’ve been reading the last few days concerning their perversion of scripture and brainwashing.
My interest in these guys peaked recently when one of my former students told me that he was very excited about what God was doing in his life and wanted to come over and talk. What he actually wanted was to come into my home and do a “study” with my mother and I (both of us are long-time believers with bible degrees) and bring along one of his converts. I was, to say the least, devastated at what began to come out of his mouth. At first I thought he was a 7th day guy because he immediately started in on the Sabbath stuff. My mother and I cut him off gently and actually pointed out some of the same things you pointed out- about Christians worshiping on Sunday… which of course, he didn’t know
But the two things I really have to comment on that you have just nailed… and I think what devastates me the most, is one- the blind arrogance, and two- the circular talk. Being a teacher, nothing aggravates me more than a flawed argument. Then you add fuel to the fire with arrogance, and it’s over for me- that’s my signal to not, as scripture says, argue with a fool in his folly. I have just been blind-sided by these two elements in another conversation with this young man recently; I was so angry/ devastated at his use of spiritual jargon (which was of course completely misused), his quick illogical dismissal of anything legitimate I would say to him (he seemed so preoccupied with what he was going to say next that he didn’t even READ properly, even simple feelings I was relating to him!), and lastly his utter blindness as per his arrogance. When I addressed this superiority, even his denial OF it was arrogant!
Then to read exactly these things here on your website… these elements of conversation, I was just so relieved in one sense that this discourse with a wmscog member has happened to someone else and that every experience with these guys tends to be the same (This is how they indoctrinate them to do speak).
Also, I am normally very good at finding the fallacies in flawed arguments, but when you can’t use scripture (in one sense) because more is thrown back at you so quickly and inaccurately and arrogantly, you quickly become so overloaded it’s hard to respond, just as you said. You were dead on in terms of their tactic, their tone, their approach, and the fact that they never EVER come right out and tell you what they ACTUALLY believe. The only reason I found out what this kid was a part of was because, in his arrogant zeal, he “slipped” and broke protocol to say that, “It was a shame no one recognized Christ when he came back the second time in 1918,” which is I guess when their Christ was born. So, I started googling, found out who the wmscog was, and it’s been a horrific trek for me through their “doctrine” ever since.
Thanks again so much for so succinctly and accurately discussing the apologetics necessary to help these poor deceived people. I simply had no idea where to start, and your site as been a huge answer to prayer! God bless you in your ministry!
Hello Jess!
Thank you very much for your comment, and for your kind complements. I very much appreciate them, and I am very glad you have found the information here helpful.
Yes, it is certainly very difficult to speak with WMSCOG members, because as you have reiterated, they mostly ignore your points and do seem to have already queued up their next line. Their arguments are also circular or incoherent, and adeptly employ ad hominems and straw men.
I would also recommend checking out http://www.examiningthewmscog.com. That site has done a much better job at debunking this fringe organization than I have time to do here on my blog. They also have many more conclusive refutations of their beliefs.
God bless and thank you again,
Hi
I have two friends who have recently begun going to the Fairfax branch of this church.
at first everything seemed alright and they were both turning their lives around.
a few days passed and they began changing.
I was actually in a relationship with one which ended because she became so narrow minded on these views. Im afraid I will lose two people that are very close to me and I do not know what I should do.
any thoughts would be appreciated
Hi James,
sorry to hear about your friends. where in Fairfax is the church located?