The World Mission Society Church of God (WMSCOG) core beliefs are:

• A Korean man named Ahn Sahng Hong, who died in 1985, was the second coming of Jesus Christ. During his lifetime, Ahn Sahng Hong fulfilled numerous biblical prophecies.
• A Korean woman named Zahng Gil Jah, currently living in South Korea, is “god the mother” and spiritual wife of Ahn Sahng Hong. 
• Ahn Sahng Hong designated Zahng Gil Jah as “god the mother” during the Passover observed in 1984.
• The WMSCOG is the one “true” church. 
• All other churches are “spiritual Babylons” and are filled with demons. 
• All other churches are heretical, blasphemers and liars.
• The WMSCOG’s Mission is to prove all other religions false.
• Salvation can ONLY be obtained through activities (works) including but not limited to, baptism into the WMSCOG, observance of all of their appointed holidays, tithing, recruiting new members and strict attendance.
• Saturday is the correct day to worship God and any church that worships on a Sunday practices paganism.
• Tuesday worship, also known as third day service, is also required.
• Men and women sit separately during church services.
• Women are required to wear veils during church services.
• The Passover is the seal of God and protects members from natural disasters.
• The WMSCOG is the only church that observes the Passover and other old testament feasts “correctly.”
• All humans are angels that sinned in heaven and are born on earth in order to earn their way back into heaven.
• Family and love are temptations from Satan.
• Crosses are a form of idolatry (even though this was not one of Ahn Sahng Hong’s teachings).
• The Pope is the Anti-Christ
• People who criticize the WMSCOG, especially family and friends, are “slanderers” who are being controlled by Satan.
• Anyone that tries to get a member to doubt or leave the WMSCOG is being used by Satan to take the member away from God.
• Members may only date with approval by the WMSCOG leadership.
• Some marriages are arranged by the leadership.
• Divorce is acceptable and may even be encouraged by the leadership if a member is divorcing a non-WMSCOG member.
• Members should avoid the Internet because it is the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
• Members can not socialize outside of the church because that is where Satan swells and will cause members to fight with each other. 
• Along with keeping every Sabbath and 7 feasts, members are required to bear 10 talents (recruit 10 members) in order to enter heaven.  A talent is a person they bring to the church who gets baptized, becomes an evangelist by preaching 8 times per month, tithes consistently for at least 3 months and bears a talent (recruits a member) of their own.
• Does not allow preaching to the homeless or disabled.
• Does not allow members of the LGBTQ+ community to be baptized unless they denounce their lifestyle and agree to remain single for the rest of their lives.
• The tithe, 10% of gross income from all sources including tax refunds, is the minimum rent that must be paid to God.  If a member does not tithe, they are robbing God and belong to the devil.
• Good will offerings are also required in addition to the tithe offering. 
• Parents must tithe on behalf of their children.
• Members must pray three times per day, at times designated by the WMSCOG.  
• Members must pray at 5am every day as God the Mother in Korea allegedly does.
• Attendance is tracked for each preaching meeting and sent to the General Assembly in Korea.
• Members who have no children must attend at least 8 preaching meetings per month to be considered an evangelist.
• Members who have children must attend at least 4 preaching meetings a month to be considered an evangelist.
• A member needs to be an evangelist before they can meet Zahng Gil Jah.
• Mondays are allocated for worldly responsibilities, such as laundry.
• The church buildings are to be cleaned on Fridays in preparation for Saturday services.

The WMSCOG has predicted the end of the world incorrectly at least three times, and 2012 will be next. Even though the WMSCOG predicted the end of the world in 2012, and numerous members have said so, some members are denying ever having said it.

Actually, the WMSCOG did say the world would end in 1988, 1999 and 2012.  It also came out during the fact finding stage of Church of God World Gospel Association vs. Ji Won Tak as recorded by the Northern Seoul Regional Court of South Korea in 2005.  (Church of God World Gospel Association is the direct Korean translation for WMSCOG). A news station in South Korea broadcasted an investigative report on the WMSCOG’s prediction that the world would end in 1999.

Failed Predictions of 1988 and 1999

The judgement in the case of Church of God World Gospel Association vs. Ji Won Tak proves that the WMSCOG predicted the end in 1988 and 1999.

The judgement in the case of WMSCOG v. Kang Geun Byeong & Jo Seong Geun also proves that the WMSCOG predicted the end in 1988, 1999 and 2012.

Some members of the WMSCOG have gone so far as to tell me that the failed 1988 prediction was a “prophesy”.  Alright, I’m sure members will find some way to dismiss one or more failed predictions, but you cannot dismiss all three failed predictions.  Were all three end of the world claims that didn’t come true “prophecy”?

Is the WMSCOG Different From Other Controversial Groups?

The WMSCOG is not the only controversial religious group that has a history of failed predictions.  The Watch Tower Society, or Jehovah’s Witnesses, falsely predicted the end of the world in 1914, 1918, 1925 and 1975.  It is a well-documented fact that the Watch Tower Society subsequently altered their doctrine and deleted the predicted dates from their literature.  William Miller, pioneer of the Adventist movement, also falsely predicted that Jesus would return in 1844.  This caused three divisions in the Millerite movement; each with three separate explanations for the Great Disappointment of 1844.  The third group explained the failed prediction away by claiming that the cleansing of the sanctuary that was predicted to happen on earth in 1844, actually “took place in heaven”.  More recently, Harold Camping falsely predicted that the rapture would occur on May 21, 2011 and when his prediction failed to materialize, he revised his prediction and claimed that what had occurred was a “spiritual” rapture and that the “physical” rapture would happen on October 21, 2011.  News 24 reported a decrease in the number of Camping’s followers following the failed prediction in May of 2011.  We all know that his second prediction did not occur either.

The WMSCOG seems to already be doing some damage control in advance of 2012.  In 2010, it was stated on one of their many member-run Internet blogs in an article titled “Heavenly Mother Jerusalem and 2012” that:

Rumors?  It appears to be documented by the court in Church of God World Gospel Association vs. Ji Won Tak.

Bringing You The Information

One of the great things about this site (www.examiningthewmscog.com) is that we obtain the information directly from South Korea, and have it translate into English for you to read.  If there was less of a  language barrier you would know much more about this group and their history.  For instance, you would have known about:

• Their three failed end-of-the-world predictions (see the Ji Won Tak case pages 3, 5-6 and the Kang/Jo case page 5)
• 300 of their members causing disruption outside a man’s store and with some members assaulting him after he chose to leave the WMSCOG and speak out against the organization according to this court case pages 4, 7-8.
• That Ahn Sahng Hong is buried in a cemetery where at least two other people who claim to be Jesus are buried.. and that’s just one cemetery
• That there was a split in the church that Ahnsahnghong established (New Covenant Passover Church of God) after he died, and that his original church is still active (see the court case pages 3, 6-7)

In fact, if you could read Korean, you would know that Ahn Sahn Hong’s own son isn’t even a member of the WMSCOG. He is a leader in the NCPCOG.  

Unfortunately, the WMSCOG has incorrectly predicted the end of the world at least three times now.  Failed predictions are the sign of a false prophet. Deuteronomy 18:21-22 says:

This should be sufficient proof that Ahn Sahng Hong was not god. If you are looking for more evidence, click here.

*The photo above is licensed under the Creative Commons license, available here.

On July 14th, 2005 the Northern Seoul Regional Court ruled against the WMSCOG in WMSCOG vs Ji Won Tak.  We obtained a copy of the court case from Korea and have made a translation available for you below:

Download the court case in English

Download the court case in Korean

There are many interesting points documented by the court, including:

• The WMSCOG predicted the end of the world in 1988, 1999, and 2012.  p. 5-6
• Um Soo In was kicked out of Ahnsahnghong’s church for claiming to be the “spiritual mother” (and, by the way, Ahnsahnghong said that “the idea of a mother god was delusional” in response to Um Soo In).  p. 6-7
• Ahnsahnghong’s original church was indeed divided between the NCPCOG and the WMSCOG, which was the result of these two sects’ argument over making Zhang Gil Jah the “spiritual mother.”  p. 7
• The WMSCOG changed their name from “Church of God Ahnsahnghong Witness Association” to the WMSCOG in 1997.  p. 6
• Some 300 WMSCOG members disrupted a business, with some members engaging in an altercation.  p 7-8
• The WMSCOG says (direct quote) — “we would like to be understood and accepted as a new religion and not as another denomination of the existing Protestant church.”  p. 5

You can download the court case in English (pdf), Korean, or read it below:

Update on Jan 23, 2012 – Some WMSCOG members claim that this court case is one in a series of court cases involving the WMSCOG and Ji Won Tak.  WMSCOG members claim that a later court overturned this court’s ruling.  When I have obtained the additional court cases, I will post them here.

English Translation of WMSCOG vs Ji Won Tak – July 14, 2005

Translated from Korean

Northern Seoul Regional Court
Civil Section Number 11
Judgment

Case 2003 Gahap 6020 Damage Compensation (Gi)

Plaintiff
Church of God World Gospel Association
395-67 Sindaebang-dong, Dongjak-gu, Seoul
Chairman Joo Cheol Kim
Legal Counsel, Kyung Yong Park, esq.
Co-counsel, Yong Gi Ryu, esq.

Defendant
Ji Won Tak
115-1401 Jugong APT., Sanggye-6dong, Nowon-gu, Seoul
Legal Counsel, Gi Joon Park, esq.
Defense Ending Date June 24, 2005

Judgment Date July 8, 2005

Main Decision
1. The claims by plaintiff are all dismissed.
2. Plaintiff shall pay for all legal costs.

Page 1 of 11

Claims Plaintiff seeks defendant to pay plaintiff 20,000,000 won and interest calculated by 5% a year for the period from the day after this copy of lawsuit was delivered and until the judgment date and 20% a year from the following day until entire amount is paid.  Plaintiff seeks defendant to designate a newspaper among the papers published and distributed nationwide within ten days of the final decision and post a correction at the bottom of the page with 38 font size in gothic font with a title of correction and an article underneath with a 14 font size in (myungjo) font at the expense of defendant.

Reasons
1. Basic Facts
The following facts are undisputed by the parties, or can be acknowledged as facts by concluding from all of the intentions in the arguments listed in the evidence (Article) numbers 1 through 3.
A. Plaintiff is the church Sang Hong Ahn (deceased) established in 1948 (referred as
“plaintiff church” hereinafter), and defendant is the publisher and editor of the monthly magazine (Hyudae Jongyo).
B. Defendant has published about 2,000 copies of a book titled “Researches on the New
Religions of Korea 2002, Collection I (subtitled, Self-Claimed Reborn Jesus Christ of Korea) and distributed about 500 copies to the Christian bookstores nationwide. On pages 145 to 168 of the book, the following text is listed about the plaintiff church: Under the title of “The Church of God (World Gospel Association)”, and underneath it, it describes, “The Church of God is an organization that stemmed from the Adventist Church. But unlike the Adventist church which acknowledges general Christian beliefs of judgment, ethical salvation, as well as resurrection, eternal life, trinity, atonement of the cross, and Jesus Christ’s redemption, this organization believes that Sang Hong Ahn who died

Page 2 of 11

in 1985 is God, and as they have proclaimed that they are not Christians, they are actually not part of Christianity”. It goes on to say, “Aware that the continuing failures of the many end of the world theories that continued in 1988 and 1994 as well as the critical views of the society, as they all came to be not true, they have changed their name to the Church of God World Gospel Association to continue their activities. In 1999, particularly, they again came up with another end of the world theory by jumping on the wagon of the Y2K phenomenon, which they insisted to their believers, but it too also backfired and along with reports of the Church of God Sang Hong Ahn Witness Association, what went on in their organization was reported by the media. In 1988, they were reported to have proclaimed an end of the world theory, and after this year, they have continued to claim these theories every year to their believers, some of which resulted in some of their believers leaving their families, which resulted in the family members making petitions each year. They then changed their name to Sang Hong Ahn Witness Association, but after it caused troubles in their missionary work, they changed their name to the Church of God. According to the teachings of Sang Hong Ahn Witness Association, the end of the world would come in 1988 at which time the world will disappear without a trace and except for 144,000 people who have been granted with God’s special protection, everything will be destroyed. It was believed that the first wife of Sang Hong Ahn, who was his so called spiritual wife, was Soo In Um. Um divorced her former husband before she began seeing Ahn, and she was the one who proclaimed that Ahn was Jesus Christ in 1978. After Ahn died, the Sang Hong Ahn Witness Association was divided into a sect called New Covenant Passover Church of God that worshipped Um as the wife of God and another sect that chose Gil Ja Chang as the wife of God in 1981 and believed the second spiritual wife as Mother. They wore white clothes that Ahn always wore when he was alive and insisted on living in shacks in the slums of Haewoondae. At worship meetings, they could not get into the building while wearing shoes, and women were required to wear veils on their head just like the Roman Catholic Church, all of which were some of their major

Page 3 of 11

doctrines. The Sang Hong Ahn Witness Association interpreted some of the Bible verses on their own in discretion in order to match with their claims, some of which were that in Psalms 132:10-18, there is a prophecy that David will grow horns. They insisted that the seven horns in the verse symbolize seven seasonal periods, and Ahn insisted after finding a doctrine about the periods that he was the little lamb in the last period. We must know that cults and heresies always target and approach people who are not satisfied and complain about their lives. What they are insisting are clearly pseudo-religious heresies that can only be accepted by someone with little knowledge about Christian beliefs, but they do not focus on Ahn being God to other people when they start missionary work. In February 29, 2000, a former member of the association named Chung left the organization and disclosed the truth about it after which he was surrounded by some 400 members and assaulted.”
C. As such, the plaintiff church claimed that the defendant published untruthful facts about the plaintiff church which resulted in damage to their reputation and honor by which it filed an injunction on producing, selling, and distributing published materials, followed by a libel and slander by publication lawsuit against the defendant around June, 2002.
2. Decision on the Claims of Plaintiff
A. Claims
All of the contents of the book about the plaintiff church describe untruthful facts, by which the plaintiff church’s reputation has been damaged due to such illegal acts committed by the defendant against the plaintiff, therefore the defendant must pay for the damages and is obligated to publish an appropriate correction in a newspaper in order to recover the damaged reputation as listed in the attachment.
B. Decision

Page 4 of 11

(1) First of all, we shall take a look at the book (referred to as “the book in this case” hereinafter) about the plaintiff, published by the defendant, and decide if the contents were describing all untruthful facts.
(A) In looking at page 145 of the book in this case in which the defendant states that the, “church rejects the Christian doctrines,” and proclaims, “they are not Christians,” according to the combined arguments made in the evidence documents 1 and 2 of (Article) number 3, (Article) numbers 4 and 5, 4 of (Article) number 7, and 1 and 2 of (Article) number 19, the plaintiff church does indicate the church leader Sang Hong Ahn as the holy God or the reborn Jesus Christ in their doctrines, dogma and in one of their hymns, “New Song”, and Gil Ja Chang as the Mother God. Also as described later, they did insist on their end of the world theories, not to mention the church officials having described their religion as “God’s church different from the Catholic church and with different characteristics from many protestant churches as well.” They also stated, “we would like to be understood and accepted as a new religion and not as another denomination of the existing protestant church.” Considering these acknowledged facts and statements, it can be interpreted that they in fact were rejecting the basic Christian doctrines from the point of Christianity, therefore, it can only be said that these were not untruthful facts.
(B) In looking at the parts where the book described how the plaintiff church first proclaimed its end of the world theory in 1988, by which the members of the families of some of the believers who left their families pleaded every year, according to the combined arguments made in the documents 7 of (Article) number 7 and (Article) numbers 8 through 13 (including serial numbers), the plaintiff church did make a missionary paper which stated that the world will end in 1988, which was three years after the death of Sang Hong Ahn, and in 1999, it also conducted a survey about their prophecy of the end of the world in 1999 on their believers. Also within the church, there is another claim being proposed that the world will end in 2012. Additionally, the broadcasting stations KBS, SBS and MBC have collected information and tried to broadcast about the plaintiff church’s end of the world theory

Page 5 of 11

in their programs of “60 Minutes America”, “Cases and People”, and “PD Memos” respectively, and there is now an organization formed by husbands of the victims who have said that they were victimized by the plaintiff church’s end of the world theory. Considering all these acknowledged facts, it cannot be conclusively said that the book’s descriptions are untruthful facts even if there may be some incorrect or a little excessive expressions about how the end of the world theory was described.
(C) In looking at the parts where it said the plaintiff church changed its name to the Church of God World Gospel Association because of how their end of the world theory did not materialize or the critical opinion from the society, and it changed its name to the Church of God from Sang Hong Ahn Witness Association because its name didn’t fit well with their missionary attempts, according to the combined arguments made in the documents and videos of (Article) numbers 5 and 7 (including serial numbers), the plaintiff church in fact has been using its title of Sang Hong Ahn Witness Association or the Church of God short for the Church of God Sang Hong Ahn Witness Association since the death of Sang Hong Ahn in 1985, and around 1997, it established a non-profit organization titled the Church of God World Gospel Association for the purpose of registering and managing the organization’s assets. Additionally, as described earlier, it did in fact proclaim the end of the world theory which resulted in critical opinion from the society – which was all true, and it seems that the plaintiff church does most of its external activities in the name of Church of God World Gospel Association, not to mention the fact that it almost does not use the Sang Hong Ahn Witness Association name when it does missionary work. Therefore considering all of these actual facts, it cannot be concluded that what the defendant described about these parts are all not true.
(D) In looking at the parts where the book described the spiritual wife Soo In Um and the divided sects of the plaintiff church, according to the combined arguments made in the documents 1 and 2 of (Article) number 14, Soo Im Un was expelled from the church after she did missionary work and claimed that

Page 6 of 11

she was spiritual mother, and after the death of Sang Hong Ahn, the church was indeed divided into the New Covenant Passover Church of God based in Busan and the plaintiff church based in Seoul which was the result of these two sects’ argument over making Gil Ja Chang the spiritual mother. Therefore, the book’s descriptions about these parts cannot be concluded as untruthful facts.
(E) In looking at the parts about the life of Sang Hong Ahn and worship rituals such as requiring to take off shoes, according to the combined arguments made in documents 4 of (Article) number 20 and (Article) numbers 5 and 15, these descriptions were based on an article published in the December 1985 issue of (Hyundae Jongyo) which was written by the magazine’s reporter, Chung Kim, who actually visited the plaintiff church to experience the church and did interviews. Therefore it cannot be concluded that these were untrue, or that the defendant wrote it thinking it was all untrue, and furthermore, it cannot be concluded that the descriptions about the life of Sang Hong Ahn and the worship rituals damaged the plaintiff church’s social reputation.
(F) In looking at the church’s own interpretation about the doctrines, according to the arguments made in documents 1 and 2 of (Article) number 17, it is true that there is no mention of seven horns symbolizing seven seasonal periods in the book Sang Hon Ahn wrote titled, “The Mystery of God and the Spring of the Water of Life”, but the book indeed mentions about “David’s horns” and “the little lamb during the last period”, and additionally, the above descriptions are based on the July and August 1994 issues of the Seventh Day Adventist Church’s magazine (Mokyangja). Therefore, the above parts about the doctrine and the following mentioning of cult and heresy seem to be opinions by defendant on the plaintiff church’s doctrines, cults and heresies from the defendant’s point of view. Considering these points, it cannot be concluded that these descriptions are untruthful facts either.
(G) In looking at the parts about Chung who was a member of the plaintiff church and suffered assault after he left the church, according to the combined arguments made in the documents 1, 2, and 3 of (Article) number 16, these parts were written by the defendant based on the March 8, 2000 issue of

Page 7 of 11

Gidok Sinmun (Christian Newspaper) and testimony by In Ja Chung. Even though the newspaper later replied to the article, it was only a reply made by the newspaper and cannot be interpreted as the newspaper admitting the article as untrue or having errors, and furthermore, in the summary order related to the above article (Seoul Regional Court Northern Branch 2000 Goyak No. 22814), it was acknowledged that some 300 members of the plaintiff church disrupted business in front of In Ja Chung’s video rental store and some of the members and In Ja Chung engaged in altercations which resulted in an indictment. Therefore these parts also cannot be concluded as describing truthful facts.
(H) In so far it has been looked into, the contents of the book in this case, published by the defendant, may have some parts where its expressions were not entirely correct or a little excessive, and it can be said especially from the plaintiff church’s point of view that there are parts where misunderstanding can result from how one interprets them, but in looking at the overall picture of the book, the main contents of the book do match with actual objective facts, therefore it is hard to determine that the contents are untrue, and furthermore, even if some of the details do not match with the objective facts, the defendant wrote the book based on the combination of studying the various doctrines and books published by the plaintiff church, the research data of the defendant’s father, Myung Hwan Tak (deceased), articles written by the reporters of the publishing house that the defendant operates who visited the plaintiff church and collected data, reports of various newspapers and broadcasting stations, testimonies by pastors and members who were once members of the plaintiff church and later left, as well as individual tips the plaintiff church and outcome of consultations with victims of the church, and considering all of how the book in this case was written, it is reasonably believed that the defendant believed what he found out to be true and there is no evidence that proves the defendant otherwise recognized them to be untrue.
(2) In addition, Article 20, Paraphrase 1 of Constitution states, “All people have the rights to religious freedom,” which means religious freedom includes the freedom to promote the religion one believes in

Page 8 of 11

and do missionary work in order to recruit new members, and the freedom of missionary work includes criticizing other religions and recommending that members of another religion convert to one’s own religion, therefore the rights to promote a religion and criticize other religions are subject to protection as rights to free expression at the same time as well. In such a case, it is interpreted that Article 20, Paraphrase 1 of Constitution about religious freedom has special aspect on Article 21, Paraphrase 1 of Constitution about freedom of expression, therefore, press and publication for the purposes of religion should be protected even more than other general press and publication. As such, in protecting the rights to criticize other religions or religious organizations to the maximum extent, in cases where another’s reputation or honor are damaged and as to how to decide over the two conflicting interests of protecting one’s right to religious freedom and one’s reputation, it must be decided by considering the general conditions on the act of criticizing itself such as benefits by the act of criticizing, the breadth of range of value and publication, and its ways of expression, and at the same time, comparing and considering the degree to which how such criticizing has damaged or may damage another’s reputation (Supreme Court September 6, 1996 decision, 96Da19246.) According to the combined arguments made in the evidence document number 18, the facts are that the book in this case was published as a collection of research based on the results of the outsourced research on Korea’s religious organization sponsored by the Ministry of Tourism, the main contents of the book criticizes the problems of the plaintiff church’s faith and doctrines from the point of view of traditional Christianity, the purpose of which the defendant published this book was to provide information about the doctrines of traditional Christianity and religious organizations that have different doctrines than the traditional Christian churches and their members so that they can be prevented from joining the different organizations (refer to the foreword of the book), and the book in this case was mainly distributed and sold to the members of traditional Christian churches through traditional Christian bookstores, therefore, considering the purpose, the steps taken to publish the

Page 9 of 11

books, contents, characteristics, expressions and methods, and the range of audience for the publication, it can be said that the plaintiff church was attacked for its characteristics of being a cult by the defendant in terms of its doctrines, therefore its degree of libel and slander is not comparatively significant. Moreover, considering how cults in today’s society have so many negative effects, the way how the defendant inappropriately and excessively described and severely and harshly criticized the plaintiff church in the book cannot be said as out of the range of expressing religious criticism in principle. Therefore, it is concluded that there is no ground for any illegality by the defendant and the defendant is not liable for committing any illegal acts to the plaintiff. In conclusion, the claims made by the plaintiff based on accusations against the defendant’s illegal acts against the plaintiff church, have no ground to be sustained.
3. Conclusion
Therefore, the claims by the plaintiff are hereby all dismissed and the decision is made as stated in the main decision.
Presiding Judge
Judge Han Sik Hwang_______________
Judge Dong Wook Lee______________
Judge Yu Kyung Kim_______________

Page 10 of 11

This is an original copy.
July 14, 2005
Northern Seoul Regional Court
Court Clerk
Byung Il Min [seal]
Information on Appeals
If you do not agree with the decision, you must submit an appeal form
within two weeks of receiving this original copy to the Northern Seoul
Regional Court (civil cases department).
Civil Litigation Article 162 (3)
2-139

Page 11 of 11

The World Mission Society Church of God (WMSCOG) claims that they are safe from natural disasters. Unfortunately for their claim, one of their buildings was damaged in the earthquake that hit New Zealand on February 22, 2011.

No Official Mention

I can find no official mention of the church being damaged on their official web site as of July 14, 2011.  Even the WMSCOG blogosphere seems to be unaware.  (This post has since been deleted.  Here is a screenshot from an Internet archive).

Earthquake Damage

These pictures come to us from our correspondent in New Zealand.  In her own words she writes:

As you know we are from Christchurch New Zealand here we have suffered some big earthquakes that have taken lives and homes and churches alike. After the 7.1 earthquake in September that devastated a lot of Christchurch’s churches, WMSCOG members were gloating that their church was not damaged, that “Mother” [Zhang Gil Jah] and “Father” [Ahnsahnghong] saved them, and that is why the other churches fell and not theirs, telling anyone who would listen they were saved by the heavenly mother…. However, we had another big earthquake on the 22nd of Feb this year and this was the result at the church they had recently purchased and done up.  The very place they were preaching that mother had saved…”

Just to let you know, no one was injured in the building that we know of.  Even after the damage was sustained that very day, they all rushed to the place straight after the quakes.  Meanwhile, we were still having violent aftershocks. We all thankfully escaped with our lives.  Many were not so lucky.  Christchurch lost 180 people that day and most of its business district.

The Location

This building is located at 4 New Brighton Rd, Christchurch New Zealand. You can see it on Google maps below. The street view image is old, but you can still explore the neighborhood.

And just in case you weren’t sure if this was a WMSCOG location, you can verify by looking at the same location in 2019, post earthquake repairs.

Safe or Not?

The WMSCOG preaches they are safe from disasters, but yet their church was damaged?  Shouldn’t the disaster have “passed over” them?  If they claim that:  “well no one was hurt”, then the other non-WMSCOG churches which suffered no casualties and no damage should also claim that they are the true church. Why weren’t the “Babylon churches” damaged by the earthquake?

If they claim that “well the members in this location were not celebrating the Passover correctly”, then again I’d have to point out all the Christians and non-Christians alike who don’t even try to celebrate the Passover and suffered no damage, but yet, the WMSCOG, try as they might, was still damaged.

I think it’s pretty clear that the WMSCOG’s claim to be safe from natural disasters just doesn’t add up.

Click here for the testimony of someone who had an encounter with the WMSCOG in New Zealand.

Our prayers go out to all of those affected by this terrible disaster.

The World Mission Society Church of God preaches that by observing the Passover, they are saved from natural disasters.  That’s quite a claim.  Let’s look at it in detail.

The Claim From Their Official Site

If you’ve spent any time in the WMSCOG, you’ve heard this claim in person, but just for those who haven’t, here’s some examples of the claim from their official site:

In an online sermon titled “The Passover and the Seal of God“, the WMSCOG states:

In an online article titled “Sacred Assembly Of The Day Of Pentecost 2010“:

In an online article titled “The Sacred Assembly Of The Passover 2010“, head pastor Joo Cheol Kim states:

Read anything related to the Passover on their official web site for ten minutes and you’re bound to come across something related to being saved from destruction.

The Claim From Their Official Videos

If you or anyone you know has spent any time in the WMSCOG, you’re well aware of the overly dramatic doom-and-gloom videos of death and disaster that they show their members. These videos are supplemented with messages that by sticking with the WMSCOG, you can be saved from disasters. This really plays upon people’s fear and anxiety. If you’d like to see what I mean, simply search for any of their videos on YouTube, and you’ll come up with videos like the one below:

Saved From Disasters?

That’s quite a claim coming from the World Mission Society Church of God.  Unfortunately for their message, WMSCOG churches do suffer during natural disasters–just like everyone else.  For example, click here to see their building that was damaged by an earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand.

Celebrating Correctly?

WMSCOG members might be tempted to claim that WMSCOG churches destroyed in natural disasters were not “celebrating the Passover correctly”, but there are a couple of problems with this claim:

1. That would mean that you can be a member of the WMSCOG and still not be saved from natural disasters (which goes against their original message).
2. Why not just call Zahng Gil Jah (whom they believe is God) on the phone and ask her not to send the disaster?

In Conclusion

In my opinion, playing upon people’s fear of death and destruction is at best disingenuous, and at worst a proven mind control tactic.  When your churches are destroyed by natural disasters, then what?  Claim that they weren’t “celebrating the Passover correctly?”  So are members safe from disasters in the WMSCOG or not?  In the World Mission Society Church of God, members never really know whether or not they are saved.

Update 2020: WMSCOG members believe that they are protected from the coronavirus by the Passover.