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Gyeonggi-do, South Korea
November 16, 2019
100,000 Theology Students from various parts of the world gradated from the Shincheonji Church of Jesus on November 10, 2019.
They completed a free six-month Bible study course to be registered as a Church member.
“Due to the corruption and the secularisation of today’s religious world, a great number of people are coming to Shincheonji to study the Bible and to fulfil their spiritual needs. While seeing a worldwide decrease in the number of people who identify themselves with a religion, the graduation ceremony of 100,000 people was unique,” a Press Note said.
The graduation took place in the South Korean province of Gyeonggi-do and simultaneously through livestream in 112 countries, with a total of 103,764 people.
Thousands of international graduates participated from many countries, including the United States of America, United Kingdom, Switzerland, Australia and New Zealand.
Sating Spiritual hunger
A graduate said, “In a traditional Church, I was not able to fulfil my spiritual hunger; however, in Shincheonji, I was able to fill it with the words of the Bible and understand a clear purpose of my life as a Christian. Shincheonji helps believers to have a logical and a clear understanding of what it means to be reborn with the Word. Therefore, I chose to go to Shincheonji.”
A Shincheonji representative said, “Everything was not achieved through man’s strength but by the power of God. This is surely a miracle from God.”
Comprehensive Study
A Survey on current graduates found that 95% of them chose to go to Shincheonji because of the excellent teaching of the Bible, from the Book of Genesis to Revelation in half a year, and the greatest difference between traditional Churches is that it is the only place that teaches the fulfilment of the prophecies of Revelation.
The Survey also found that 41.7% of the graduates were believers who came from pre-existing Christian denominations such as Protestants and Catholics.
Despite being criticised as a cult by Churches in the Republic of Korea, Shincheonji has been growing rapidly since 1984.
Among the other allegations are “Shincheonji claims that Man Hee Lee, Chairman of Shincheonji is Jesus,” and “Shincheonji hides their true identity when evangelising and brainwashes people with their teaching.”
Allegations denied
But graduates discount these allegations.
“I heard rumours that Shincheonji makes people quit jobs, divorce, and leave their homes, but I have seen and experienced for myself that this is not the case. I am thankful that I have had a chance to study the Bible and experience that Shincheonji’s teaching of the Bible is biblical and logical,” another graduate said.
Another graduate said that there are times when Shincheonji does not reveal their Church when evangelising.
“However, this is because traditional churches spread false rumours about Shincheonji and due to the fear of these false accusations being true, people do not want to study the logical teachings of the Bible from Shincheonji. The reason why evangelism is done in such a way is to be fair and give a chance for everyone to make their own judgement according to the standard of the Bible.”
Growing popularity
Christians in the Republic of Korea responded to the rapid growth of Shincheonji by saying, “Everyone in the world of religion must repent for becoming entangled with the world, interfering with politics, and losing the trust of believers. It seems that those who want to carry out a genuine life of faith have wandered off and ended up in Shincheonji.”
The graduation is the starting point of Shincheonji’s continuous growth.
Each of the 100,000 graduates has fulfilled a 100% evangelism rate, there are currently 200,000 people studying the Bible in Shincheonji.
If growth continues at this pace, within three years, Shincheonji will reach one million congregation members.
