My Encounter with the “God the Mother” Cult

There is a growing religious group going around many public locations like universities and malls. They will approach people with a question such as, “Would you like to learn about God the Mother?” I had never even heard of this “cult” until this past Fall when people kept talking about them at my university. I didn’t pay all that much attention until I was approached and talked with a few of the church’s members. Since then I have heard stories from many others who have had similar encounters all over the state. I have spent some time looking into the group, known as the World Mission Society: Church of God, and want to spend a few posts sharing what I learned. What happened in my encounter with the “God the Mother” cult?

This post will primarily focus on the initial experience and observations from that conversation I had with a few of their members. Next week I will get into what I learned from researching them after the fact.   As a quick warning, there have been some rumors about human trafficking associated with this group. From what I have seen and heard, they are nothing more than rumors. Still, definitely be on the safe side. Talk with them, but I would recommend only ever meeting in public places.

How Did I Get Sucked into This?

I had just finished an evening Bible Study and was outside chatting with a friend about the different cult-like groups on campus. The minute I walked away to head back to my apartment, a man walking by stops me to ask if I know about “God the Mother.” It was late, about 8:30 PM on a cold and damp November night. I hadn’t eaten dinner. And most importantly, I had a paper due the next morning that still needed a lot of work. So naturally I agreed to talk with him, and we stood there going at it for about an hour.

What Did We Actually Talk About?

I made my Christian views pretty clear from the beginning One God, and not any God the Mother business. They made a brief case for God the Mother from the Bible. Credit to them, they at least use the actual Bible. They don’t try to push their own book, or re-translate the Bible like some other groups. This gives us an advantage if we take the time to look at these passages properly. Their case primarily consisted of two verses, Revelation 22:17 and Genesis 1:26-27. I’ll go more into detail on those next week but suffice it to say they are taking verses out of context to make them say something different.

We ended up spending more time on a different subject. Despite that they are a group proclaiming a polytheistic view with two gods, and always bring up “God the Mother,” this doesn’t seem to be the core of their doctrine. It almost feels tacked on to make them stand out and have a good hook to get people’s attention. Once we moved past that, we got to talking about salvation, and how we obtain it.

They Are Really into Passover

The primary thing they focused on as how we are saved is Passover, which is really just what they insist on calling Communion. It’s the same practice of eating the bread and wine as Jesus’ body and blood. He straight up said, you can believe that Jesus is your savior, that he died for your sins, follow every step laid out by Jesus and Paul, but if you do not physically partake of Passover, you’re not saved. But they emphasized that you’re not supposed to have it every week. In fact, it’s only a once a year celebration, and if you do not take it on the right day, no salvation. They didn’t seem to find it strange or off-putting that you could do everything right but if you take it at 12:01 the next day, sorry. Hell for you. I hope God isn’t a stickler for time zones.

How Did This All Get started?

They said that in the 4^th century, the church was corrupted and destroyed the Passover. The Council of Nicea really does get blamed for everything. God had to return as a man once again to clear this up and reinstate the Passover. So in the mid 20^th century, their founder, a man in South Korea named Ahn Sahng-Hong, was the second coming of Christ. A now deceased man, awkwardly. How do they know he was the 2^nd coming of Christ? Because he brought us salvation through the Passover. We know he is Jesus our savior because he saved us, which we know because…they have some interesting circles going around here.

A Jumble of Heresy

If this all feels a bit weird and confusing to you, that’s pretty much how I felt walking away. Never before had I talked with someone so passionate and blunt in their obvious theological errors. My encounter with the “God the Mother” cult made me realize that I had some work to do. So if you want more detailed thoughts and responses to some of these issues, check back over the next couple of weeks.

The History of the “God the Mother” Cult

Is “God the Mother” in the Bible?

What does the “God the Mother” Cult Actually Teach?

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