[tomcat14]

Hello everyone! I’m a current member of this church or as most of you like to call it a cult, which is fine each to their own. I stumbled upon this site while doing some research into this church (as I’ve only been apart of this group for 6 months) to see what other folks have to say about it. I see so much negative things for example, breaking up of family, the constant need for giving money (tithe) and so on. Though from what I can see these folks aren’t filled with hate or malice towards anyone, they don’t preach to break up family’s or encourage it for that matter, they don’t judge you if you don’t give a lot, I could give as much or as little as I want. Nothing is immune to criticism I get that, EVERYONE is entitled to that and you can say what you want about the biblical teachings I’m not here to argue that.. I just find all these claims very sad and most seem to be very situational and don’t seem to reflect the teachings or actions of the group as a whole (from what I can see)

[momsix]

[momsix]

Hi tomcat, I have 2 of my 6 children in this church. When they were six months in everything was ok between us. We still talked on the phone on a regular basis, my daughter even came home on her college semester breaks. Then the church started tightening the screws. My son has been in 8 yrs., my daughter 4, she is 24 yrs old. What’s it like now ? I have 2 children who live in the US and I don’t know where they live, what city, where they work, if my son is still in the navy, I have never met his arranged wife or talked to her, I don’t know if they are still married. Their brother married a year ago and they have never met her.  My daughter has taken her social media down so I can’t see her. They refuse to answer any of our calls, my son has written us all off, my daughter might answer a text but no phone calls from family or her friends here. She says she has moved on. I don’t know if they’ve married her off by now. Last I heard they are in New England area, I don’t know if they are near each other but we live in the South.  They constantly say this is not the churches fault, this is their decision like that phrase has been drilled into their head. I predict you’ll be saying that a lot pretty soon, it keeps the churches hands clean so no blame to them. Manipulation is persuading someone to do something and think it’s their idea. In their eyes it’s all our fault they can’t be close anymore, we chose not to be members of this church so we are outsiders now. I was a very devoted stay at home mom to these children. My other children would tell you that. Can you imagine the pain I have endured? I may not see them again. It’s like they have been kidnapped. Can you imagine my frustration? The hundreds of hours of fret and worry? The sleepless nights? I’m so glad you are trying to see why other people say negative things about this church. Please do your investigating quickly because as soon as the leaders find out you are searching for answers they will shame you into stopping. I pray you will leave before it is too late.

[Lovesjesus]

Hi, My sister has been a member for a few years and our relationship has seriously changed. From speaking daily to once every few months. She married into the cult and joined with no qualms. Believing all of yheir mistranslations and not doong the research or studying on her own. Because if you do you will see the truth. God bless you and I hope you are able to see the truth in God’s word.

[tomcat14]

Thanks for the response, momsix. I’m sorry to hear your story and I pray everything works out between you and your children. I’ve been speaking with the folks at my church in regards to using the internet for researching the wmscog and of course it was met with some speculation. Granted they never told me not to use the internet opting instead to tell me to just be careful of what you read, like with anything on the internet these days. Some things I’ve found to be blatant lies for example the whole “sex trafficking” hoax on twitter that was found to be fake. Though one thing I see as a trend in most of these upsetting stories is the arranged marriages deal. Many folks on this platform that graciously chose to share their story’s seems to have arranged marriages in them. In your case if you don’t mind me asking what was your opinion of the church when they first joined? And how can you be sure it was an arranged marriage between your son and this woman? I beg your pardon if these questions are too intrusive. I’m the same age your daughter was when she joined and I wish to have a sound mind and conscious if I am to continue attending this church. Cheers

[kayem]

@Tomcat14 I am a former member who attended for 10 years. I give you props for taking the time to research this church. Yes, what you read online for anything should be met with skepticism. However, as you know, this church is found around the world. As a former member, it’s not easy to speak out. You know you will be met with harsh criticism from the church and the possibility of being sued by the church is there. Keeping that in mind, when there are many people who have never met each other, all telling a very similar experience in the church, that says something.

I was a leader in the church. Someone who has been in the church 6 months is still considered pretty new. The longer you attend, the more you will see.

Arranged marriages do occur in this church. Oftentimes it is between Korean members and Americans. Reason being, Korean members can gain their visas to stay in America. Members can say no to the arrangement, but please understand the implications of saying no. If you say no, you are saying no to Mother’s blessing, you are saying no to helping the gospel spread in America and the fact that you are saying no, it is not considered obeying. So yes, you can say no but its not often people say no because of those implications.

There are multiple ways WMSCOG breaks up families. I have seen first-hand members being told not to talk to family members who persecute the church. That is more direct. In addition, when one spouse is in the church and the other isn’t/stops attending, the church will require more time of the spouse still in the church so that they will eventually cause a separation.

These teachings come from the Korean leaders. Members are told to obey all things they are taught, not even asking why.

For someone in the church just 6 months, I can understand you facing skepticism from them when telling them you’re researching online, but know that when you attend longer than a year, if you ask those kinds of questions, they will shut it down. They consider it as having little faith and those kinds of things are considered when choosing leaders.

This experience is not just my own, if you ask any former member, they will tell you the same story, I can guarantee. They will probably also show you a video about the dangers of researching online about the church, comparing the internet to the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

I’m not saying you should not research, you should absolutely do this. I just want to provide feedback from a former member. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask.

[genny]

Glad you are open to researching, tomcat. If you haven’t already found it, I have more information on my website:

encountering-ahnsahanghong.blogspot.com

And thanks for sharing, momsix and lovesjesus and kayem.

Kayem, what finally led you to leave after 10 years? Was it something particular?

 

[momsix]

Hi Tomcat, I will answer the questions you had for me. I was upset when my son told me three days after he attended a bible study that he was going to be giving money to his new church. We are Christians and after researching what they believed I realized he had joined a Korean cult. We eventually stopped talking about the church and just tried to maintain a relationship with him. He would not come home but he agreed to meet with me and his brothers separately if we went to him. He tried to recruit us and became extremely agitated when we said we didn’t agree with him. I went to his church, I wore the vail and met the pastor and his wife. I was as kind as I could be. That was the last I saw of him six year ago. Four years ago he went to my daughters college and recruited her behind my back. How did I feel? I felt like I was at a gas station and someone drove off with my child in the back seat. She assured me that she would stay in our lives and not be like her brother. She said she knew she could have both: us and her new religion. Her dad and I went to her church, it was all staged because they knew we were coming into town. They arranged for one of the head missionaries from NJ to be there. We were kind, I wore the vail, we talked with the missionary for hours afterward.  The missionary said that she could stay in college, do track (she had a 120K scholarship full ride) and that she could come home. I asked how that would be possible for her to miss Saturday’s and he said it would be ok. People who came on Saturday had great faith. I didn’t understand the significance of that statement. They began to make her feel shame for having “little faith” because she missed Saturday’s. A year later she quit track even though she was All-American twice, she was the 8th best in the country in her event and she gave it up in her junior yesr at the peak of her carrier. She lost her 30K a year scholarship and she never came home after that. As for the arranged marriage of my son. He never dated while he was in the church. One day he calls to tell me he’s getting married. His new wife wanted us to be a part of their lives. He said he had met her a couple of times but they had been texting for several months. She lived several states away from him. I guess I put two and two together. I really wanted to meet her and they agreed to come to our house for a few days. I was so excited, I fixed meals, spent days cleaning, our other daughter came home from college several hours away, my sons got off work, my husband flew home from a business trip, we spent $1200 on airplane tickets. What happened? A few hours before their plane was to arrive, I got a text saying my son wasn’t feeling well so they weren’t coming. That’s the last I talked to my son, a year and a half ago. This is what they do. It’s very typical. There are a  series of heart ripping incidents all along the way so it’s worse than a death in many ways. The Bible says you’ll know them by their fruits. They can clean all the streets in the world but who cares if you rip the guts out of those people who  truly love you.

[tomcat14]

Thank you to everyone who responded to my questions. I really, really appreciate it. I feel genuinely sorry for all of you who have been hurt or deceived over the years it really breaks my heart. momsix, kayem and lovejesus thank you. I have taken time to consider my situation, perhaps it could be luck i’m not sure, though through my time with the church I have gotten closer to my father and mother, it got me reading the bible again reminding me the importance of family and honoring thy father and mother. I have taken time to speak with both sides, and I am seriously thankful for that opportunity, not many people take advantage of the knowledge at their fingertips. I will take everyone here words to heart, believe me I will always strive to ask questions and do my due diligence continuously, especially with a group with a seemingly dubious history such as this one. For now, from my experience I will continue to go with a watchful eye and open ears. I will be coming back here every couple of days though, striving always to not find myself in a Eco-chamber and getting both sides to every story. Cheers and thanks again, tom

[Lovesjesus]

You sound like a very intelligent pwrson with good intentions and pure goals for your life. But, be aware. The devil is the prince of this world.

Mark 13:6 Many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am he,’ and will deceive many.

Mark 13:6 NIV

For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many.

Matthew 24:5 NIV

 

God put this in the Bible at least 2 times. He wanted us to be careful and He says many will be tricked. Many will believe the false prophets and teachings.

God bless you. If the Bible says it, it is true. If the Bible does not say it, it is a lie. And all the good intentions won’t save anyone’s soul. Jesus paid the price for our souls to live eternally with Him. And, then He said, “It is finished.” Jesus did not fail in beciming the supreme sacrifice, perfect and enough for God to __extend the gift of salvation to all of His children He created. All we have to do is accept Jesus’ as our Savior. And we are saved. The rest is irrelevant details that the Holy Spirit teaches and guides us through. We aren’t perfect. Just forgiven. Cheers!
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[kayem]

@genny I left after 10 years not because of one reason in particular, but mostly because I was so burned out. This church requires so much of your time. If I wasn’t in church every single day, then I was considered lazy and not working hard enough to go to Heaven. It took many years for me to have had enough to leave. It was during the autumn feasts not too long ago that I woke up having an anxiety attack. I went to urgent care but since it was the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles, we had service at 10am. If I went to urgent care, I wouldn’t have made it back to service on time. I called the deaconess and she told me not to go to urgent care because it was Satan trying to keep me from not keeping the service. I went to urgent care but needed to get lab work done. I left urgent care to go to the church to keep the service then drove back to the doctor to get lab work done. After that, I realized how tired I was of doing these kinds of things just to keep service. I then looked up the church online, even though the church tells us not to, and found a lot of alarming evidence that proves this church is just an organization strongly resembling a cult.

[faith2019]

Jewish people believe in Jesus. Go onto their website Jews For Jesus online or search for a Jewish Messianic it’s basically both Jews & Gentiles worshiping Jesus. They have kept the Feasts & New Covenant since the time of Jesus.