Finally, the 4th and final part in my series on the World Mission Society: Church of God. I shared my experience. We talked about their history, and who their founder is. Finally, we covered the Biblical case for “God the Mother” and how flimsy it is. Lastly, we’re going to dive into what they teach about salvation. “God the Mother,” seems to often be a secondary issue to other subjects like Passover. What does the “God the Mother” cult actually teach?
“My Sheep Listen to My Voice”
The primary teachings of the WMS come from their leader, Joo-Cheol Kim, and his book “My Sheep Listen to My Voice.” The book provides many of their foundational teachings, and colors how they interpret the Bible. The book is quite difficult to come by, especially in English, so once again a big thank you to Mike Winger. Go check out his content for a deeper look.
In “My Sheep Hear My Voice,” Kim details three things that we must either do or avoid in order to obtain salvation. Like “God the Mother,” they have a few verses used to back these up. Once again, read the verses in context, and always be asking, does this really say what the WMS claims it does? Often you will see them reaching very far to get their conclusions. Strangely absent from the conversation is the actual good news of Jesus Christ. They claim to believe that Jesus gives salvation, but they then add a lot of asterisks for actions we need to take. These are the Three Actions.
Keep the Sabbath
Most people know what the Sabbath is, but the WMS has made it into one of their key salvation issues. Kim believes that the church has made a mistake by worshipping on Sundays, and we must return to the true Sabbath on Saturday. There are a few problems with this.
First, the Sabbath taught in the Old Testament is not simply the day Israelites went to church. The Sabbath was a day of rest. Kim seems to be so caught up on getting the right day of the week that he completely misses the point of the Sabbath.
Second, Christians understand the Sabbath was done on Saturday. There churches today that still gather on Saturdays. We don’t go to church on Sunday because of some mistake or dark secret. It was an intentional decision by the early church in celebration of Jesus’ resurrection on Easter Sunday, the actual source of salvation.
Third, and most important, there is no reason to believe that this is necessary for salvation. You’ll see this repeatedly, but they have turned God into this monstrous caricature, tossing people out for stepping an inch out of line. Oh, you believed in Jesus and repented of your sins, but you worshiped me on Sunday? You’re out.
Don’t Celebrate Christmas
Kim seems to have serious problems with celebrating Christmas on December 25th. He makes the same claims that we hear every year. “Christmas is a pagan holiday!” He lists all the alleged festivals and idol worship associated with that day. I’m not going to list them all here, but they are all either misinformation, or ones that we are well aware of and do not need to be worried about. Drew has written pretty extensively on these if you want to know more. (Drew’s Christmas Myths Series: Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
Even if every claim he made about the pagan festivals were true, that would not matter. Worshipping God does not turn into worshipping Satan because of the date on the calendar. The celebration of Christmas has never been a salvation issue, let alone the day we celebrate it.
Take Passover, Not Communion
We’ve reached the big one; Passover. To the WMS, the Passover is seemingly the most important thing for salvation. It’s so important, that it’s the reason Jesus had to return as Ahn Sahng-Hong. They believe that Passover was lost at the Council of Nicea in the 4th century, and everyone went to Hell for 1600 years because of it. If you ask why they believe Hong is Jesus, they will probably say some version of, “He brought back salvation through Passover.”
What is their version of Passover? It’s pretty much just Communion. Like Sabbath, they are not interested in the Old Testament Passover customs. It’s Communion with bread and wine like nearly every other modern Christian church, but with one twist. It must be taken on one day a year, not weekly. You could follow their own rules, going to church on Saturday, not celebrating Christmas, and taking the Passover. But if you take the Passover at 12:01 AM the next day, it’s off to Hell with you. No straight reading of scripture gives this impression, especially considering the early church seemingly had Communion all the time.
Why Call Them a Cult?
I’ve been calling them the “God the Mother” Cult since the beginning here. I don’t call them a cult because they’re creepy. I call them that because they rule by fear and twisting the word of God. They may not be involved in human trafficking like some rumors say, but they certainly trap people spiritually and hide the truth from them. The WMS has taken something great and corrupted it into a broken mess. Learn your Bible, and don’t get swept up in these lies.
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