In defending their claims that Ahnsahnghong is divine, members of the World Mission Society Church of God have argued (as noted on numerous sites such as here, here or here) that Ahnsahnghong  “revealed the secret of the 7 thunders”.  Members of the WMSCOG claim that the 7 thunders in Revelation 10, represent the 7 feasts in the Old Testament (noted on this blog here).  When I was a member of the WMSCOG, I took extensive notes on this study because of the importance that high ranking members placed on this “secret”.  I was told that “through this study we prove that Ahnsahnghong is god because he is the only one that could unseal the 7 thunders”.

The basic summary of the study proceeds like this:

1. God told John not to write about the 7 thunders (Revelation 10:4)
2. The scroll will be opened in the last days (Revelation 22:10)
3. The scroll represents the Bible and only the Root of David, or God, could open the scroll (Revelation 5:1)  ***Click here for an article that addresses this point of the study.***
4. Jesus Christ is the Root of David (Revelation 22:16)
5. 7 thunders are perfect thunders (Revelation 10:4)
6. Thunder represents God’s voice (John 12:28), therefore the 7 thunders were 7 of God’s instructions/decrees
7. The scroll will be sealed until the end times (Daniel 12:4,9)
8. The tablets had writing on both sides (Exodus 32:15), therefore the 7 thunders, which the WMSCOG believes are the 7 feasts must have been written on the back
9. Ahnsahnghong reinstated the 7 feasts in the end times, therefore he is the Root of David

To those of you who have never been a member of the WMSCOG, I apologize if your head is spinning right now.  I know this is Bible hopscotch.

Do the 7 thunders in the book of Revelation represent the 7 feasts of the Old Testament?  This is key to the study, and if it can be refuted, the entire study fails because if the 7 thunders do not represent the 7 feasts, then they were not supposed to be reinstated by Ahnsahnghong or anyone else.  (Not that the Jews ever stopped celebrating them, but that is a topic for another article.)  In order to answer the question of whether the 7 thunders in Revelation represent the 7 feasts from the Old Testament, we will focus our analysis around two claims the WMSCOG makes in this study:

1. Thunder represents God’s voice.  (point #6 in the study)
2. The stone tablets, on which the 10 commandments were written, also had the 7 feasts written on the back.  (point #8 in the study)

Does The Sound Of Thunder Always Represent God’s Voice?

Numerous verses in the Bible describe God’s voice sounding like thunder to those that heard it (See 2 Samuel 22:14, Job 37:4-5, Psalm 18:13), but does this apply to God’s voice alone?  Revelation 6:1 proves that the sound of thunder does not always represent the voice of God Himself:

Again we can confirm that voices other than God’s can sound like thunder by looking at Revelation 19:6:

In the above two verses, it is clear that other voices from heaven, not only the voice of God, are described as sounding like thunder.  Therefore, the WMSCOG’s claim that the 7 thunders in Revelation 10 must be the voice of God, is not certain since the text does not say it is the voice of God.  This is important because if the 7 thunders do not represent God’s voice, then the argument that Ahnsahnghong is god because he “unsealed the secret of the 7 thunders”, or 7 instructions from God, is no longer tenable.  This is one possible problem with the study, but there is a far more glaring error–only the Ten Commandments were written on the stone tablets given to Moses which unequivocally refutes point #8 of the study, as we will now demonstrate.

Were The Old Covenant Feasts Written On The Back Of The Stone Tablets Given To Moses?

During the study about the 7 thunders, the pastor read Exodus 34, where God tells Moses to carve another set of stone tablets after he broke the first set of tablets (see Exodus 34:1).  In Exodus 34, God reminds Moses of the 7 feasts and other requirements prior to Moses writing the Ten Commandments on the second set of stone tablets.  The pastor, cited Exodus 32:15 and claimed that since the tablets had writing on both sides, that the seven feasts must have been written on the back:

The WMSCOG pastor claimed that God commanded Moses to write the seven feasts which, according to him, represented the covenant God made with the Israelites on the stone tablets in addition to the Ten Commandments.  However, Exodus 34:28 says:

Exodus 34:28 states that only the Ten Commandments were written on the stone tablets.  That’s bad news for point #8 of the study outlined above, because that means that the 7 thunders are not the 7 feasts.  It gets better.

The book of Deuteronomy also describes what was written on the first set of stone tablets (Deuteronomy 4:13, 9:10) and the second set of stone tablets (Deuteronomy 10:4).  Deuteronomy 4:13-14 says:

The above verses tell us that the covenant, or the Ten Commandments were written on the two stone tablets and in addition to the Ten Commandments, the Lord directed Moses to teach other decrees and laws that the Israelites were to follow.  Deuteronomy 5:1 begins with a list of the Ten Commandments and in verse 22 says:

The above verse clearly says that nothing more than the Ten Commandments were written on the first set of stone tablets.  But were the second set of tablets different?  Deuteronomy 10:1-2 tells us that they were the same:

Deuteronomy 10:4 confirms that the writing on the second set of tablets was in fact the same as the first.

Conclusion

Scripture clearly tells us that:

1. The covenant was the Ten Commandments (Deuteronomy 4:13-14 )
2. God added nothing more to the Ten Commandments written on the stone tablets (Deuteronomy 5:22)
3. The second set of tablets was the same as the first set of tablets (Deuteronomy 10:1-2, 4)

It is incomprehensible to read the above scriptural proof, and still conclude that there was anything except for the Ten Commandments written on the stone tablets.  After concluding that the 7 thunders John heard in Revelation 10 may not have been God’s voice, and that only the Ten Commandments were written on the stone tablets given to Moses, the rest of the WMSCOG’s study becomes irrelevant.

I remember believing that the WMSCOG’s studies were perfect when I was a member.  At least that’s how they were presented.  I remember hearing members say that the Bible never made sense until they had studied with the WMSCOG.  Today that statement seems overwhelmingly ironic after seeing other numerous examples of verses the WMSCOG has taken out of context in order to “make sense” of the Bible.

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

This story comes to us from one of our friends whose son has been involved with the World Mission Society Church of God for over three years.  His drastic and sudden personality shift is not unlike the many other stories we hear about.  Our heart goes out to this mother who is persevering in her effort to win her son back.  Here she is now in her own words:

My son has been in the World Mission Society Chuch of God since July 2008.  My husband and I did not find out until October 2008.  He hid it from us all that time.

We were away for a week at the time, and had left him in charge of the house.  Being extremely responsible at the age of 20 we trusted him.  He was meant to come away with us but had to remain to complete a short course at university.  By the time we got back, he had already apparently been baptised within 2-3 days of knowing them in our home.  The WMSCOG apparently came knocking on the door offering their literature which consisted of small leaflets about “God the Mother” and the “second coming”.  As we were away for a week I had my parents pop in to check on him. My dad said he found 4 glasses, one of them had lipstick on it.  He joked with my son about the lipstick, as though he’d been entertaining.  My son admitted to nothing.

He obviously listened to what they had to say.  Within 3 days after meeting the WMSCOG recruiters, he dropped his class at university to study daily with these people.

When we got back, we noticed he became extremely interested in the Bible and started showing us different verses.  He was jumping all over the Bible.  We’re Christians but not over the top religious and were not very knowledgeable about the Bible at the time.  Our son wanted to read the Bible every night with us however, we’d just end up arguing about it.  All we were doing was fighting over the Bible.  He was trying very hard to convert us without our knowledge and to believe these weird doctrines.  We argued that these were very strange interpretations of the Bible. We tried hard to explain to him that he was confused and his interpretations were a bit “off track” (He had attended a Christian school, so he already had  prior knowledge of the Bible – he even studied religion as a subject).

As we read the Bible together, I noticed he would reveal things very slowly.  He’d come to a certain “prophecy”, and then say I’ll reveal the rest tomorrow. I’d want to continue, but he would tell me I was not ready to hear the “truth” yet.

During one of our readings of the Bible he explained that “Jesus had already come back in secret”.  By this point I was getting very upset, as he was revealing this slowly and suspiciously.  I thought he was going to tell me he was Jesus Christ!  After a couple of days he finally revealed what he said was Jesus’ second coming, however he did not mention anything Korean or Ahnsahnghong or “mother”.  I was in shock.  At this point we told him he needs help -Spiritual and psychological.

Over the next few months, my son kept telling us he was extremely busy on Saturdays, helping out a friend with work.  This of course was extended to Tuesday nights.  The excuse was the same.  He had to help his friend with his business. My son also had a part time job, so when the feast days would come up, he would tell us he had to open the grocery store he was working in on his own at 5am.  He simply lied to us the whole time.

By around September 2008, our son told us he was going to go to Korea for a holiday to study with a friend from University.  He told us he was a very good friend who had invited him to go to Korea with him.  He kept telling us it was a great opportunity to visit the country and may not be able to again.  This just didn’t sound right to us but we couldn’t really say why.  But he said he really wanted to go.  Our response of course was that we were concerned because we didn’t even know this mysterious friend.  We tried hard to talk him out of it, but he reassured us it was a holiday to study and explore a new country.

About three days before he was meant to go, we found out he was really going to Korea to meet “god.” We confronted him with this and asked him what he was involved in.  He told us the truth that he was involved in the WMSCOG and that it was not a cult to him.

We spoke to our local priest who came and spoke to him the following evening.  Our priest tried to point out that the Bible interpretations he was presenting were totally off-beam when compared to normal Christian interpretations.  The priest also tried to point out the craziness of going to Korea.  He told him to hold off a while as 3 months of attending this church was not enough time to be placing so much trust in them and to be leaving the country.  My son agreed and swore he would cancel his ticket the next day.

The next morning our son was a totally different person and was acting very suspiciously.  I actually managed to ring the travel agent myself and cancelled the ticket.  But of course, the travel agent notified the pastor who alerted my son about the cancellation.  When my son found out he was absolutely furious with me.  My son had never sworn at me his whole life, but that day he called me every bad thing you can imagine.  He showed me the cancelled ticket and said he was not going and that the members were angry with him, as I placed him in an uncomfortable situation.  I don’t think any of that was true though.  He went on to tell me that in his fit of anger he threw his passport away.  I realized then, that he was still lying and planning to leave somehow.  He had given his luggage and passport to the WMSCOG.  In the following days leading up to the trip he continued acting very suspiciously.

This just was a total shock to us.  I did have the perfect child.  He was very close to us and we had a great relationship.  What was happening was like a death in the family.  He sold all of his possessions including iPods, cameras and a watch to fund his trip to Korea.  I go into his bedroom now and there’s nothing, just the bed he sleeps on.  He has kept the computer we bought him as he needs this for his study.  Although, I did have to stop him from selling it in the beginning.

He eventually went to Korea.  He pretended to go to work early in the morning on the day of departure.  He called us that evening from the airport and said he would be back in two weeks.  I was devastated.  I needed a lot of medical attention to get me through those two weeks.  When he got back he told us that he’d met “god” and this was “his church” and he was “never going to leave it”.

The day after he returned from Korea, he wanted his father and I to attend his “church”. I didn’t want to go at all but my husband thought we should give it a try so we can see what he is involved in.  On arrival at the church, which was just a house, everyone was welcoming and saying “god bless you” to us.  They made me wear a veil on my head.  I was in disbelief during the service as there was a lot of singing and NO worship of Jesus.  They prayed and sang to “christ Ahnsahnghong” and “mother god” who they call “mother jerusalem”.  The men sat on one side of the room and the women were seated behind them.  The women all wore veils on their heads.  I was expected to wear one.  The pastor was very forceful during his address to the congregation.  He choose bible passages and interpreted them with his own spin.  Everyone was friendly as long as you didn’t begin to question anything.  The members read from their own Korean/English Bibles.  They have “song books”.  The fellow who had converted my son sat with us during the service and guided us through the singing.  He kept encouraging us to join in but that was the last thing we could do.  They expected my husband to sit at the front with the men and they wanted me in the back with all the women.  But I refused to separate from him.

My son works part-time but he never has any money.  I’m not sure if they have access to his bank account.  From what I understand there’s a 10 per cent tithing on earnings plus many other offerings.  There are also the offerings during all services attended on Saturdays.

I know my son marks the roll of attendance at every service to see who has turned up.  If a member is absent, they will phone or physically go to that person’s home and ask why they didn’t come to church.  He goes “preaching” from 8 am to 10 pm on most days.  He has spent all of his time recruiting during semester breaks from college.  Most of the time it’s as if he’s not there, like we’ve lost him as a person.  He reads the Bible and WMSCOG literature all the time.  The change in his personality is astounding.

There was an occasion where I had to take my son for a medical appointment, as he needed medical attention.  They must have advised him not to go.  They kept him busy the whole day.  I had a lot of difficulty contacting him because he turned off his mobile phone.  I went to the “church” to find him.  I was approached by the pastor’s wife who told me “he was a man” and I had no right to take him to the doctor.  I told her how upset I was as he needed to see a doctor.  I continued to tell her how upset I was that he was part of this “church”.  The pastor’s wife then told me to get off of the property or she would call the police.  She turned very nasty towards me.  Other members came outside and urged me to leave also.  When I told my son about how abusive the pastor’s wife was towards me, he defended her and told me I should never have gone to find him to go to the doctor.  He told me I was on private property and the pastor’s wife had every right to tell me to leave or call the police.

About a year ago I had a local newspaper reporter approach me for my story.  I told him my story which he wanted to publish.  However the week before it was to be published, the local paper had written a small article about the church, which included a small quote about my son selling everything to go to Korea.  Apparently members from the church went charging into the office telling them how wrong they were.  They had to print another article written by one of their pastors. In this article they claimed what I said was not true.  I was furious!  The reporter told me they were quite abusive and they called the police.  Because of their intimidation, the reporter was too afraid to publish my full story.  You can imagine my disbelief.

Friends have tried to keep in touch with my son but he has distanced himself from them.  He had tried hard to convert all his friends but they didn’t want to know about it.  So he cut off all ties with them.  One friend (his closest) had supported him through the whole ordeal but he has now given up hope as my son has cut ties with him also.  Our son is still trying to get us into the church and tells us that we will one day become members.  He says this because “mother” told him he shouldn’t worry because we would all eventually enter his “church”.  He tells me one day we will see the “truth”.

As a family there are many things we can’t do together anymore.  We have not had a Christmas or Easter together for the past three years because he doesn’t believe in those holidays anymore.  On Christmas day my son will leave around 6 am and not return home until after midnight.  He has told me that Christmas makes him “sick” and we are all wrong to celebrate it.  He will not set foot in our church (or any other church for that matter) because he says they are the “wrong churches”.  He refuses to attend and has missed out on many family functions such as weddings, christenings etc.  My biggest fear is a funeral.  Both my husband and I have elderly parents, so the realization that he will not attend these is heartbreaking for us.

Our son has gone through periods of fasting when he does not eat or drink for up to 7 days.  He says he does this because it will make his prayers more meaningful.  He also tells us that we’re all wrong and he’s the only one in the right church and he’s trying very hard to save us.  We have found some ex-members who have written emails to us about their experiences but when we show him these he just dismisses them.  I’ve given him so much information and have encouraged him to do some other bible studies and branch out and look at other things.  I constantly print information from different sites to give to him.  He always just dismisses the information.  He tells me he has no time to read it and that it’s wrong anyway.  If I show him testimonies from ex-members, his response is that they fell out of the truth and didn’t fully understand.

Our son has been to Korea twice.  He had not notified us of the second trip either.  Instead, he just called from the airport letting us know that he was leaving.  He does still live with us but it is very difficult.  We live with a total stranger.  However, I live with the hope that he will “wake” up from this nightmare and come back to us.  The fact that he believes the things that the WMSCOG claims makes me ill.  His whole person has changed to someone we really don’t know and can’t trust anymore.  The people in this group can appear to be very loving but they can be very harmful at the same time.  This honestly has devastated and ruined my family.

A heartbreaking story of family strife caused by a son’s involvement in the World Mission Society Church of God.  Please comment below to let our friend know you support her.  Is your story similar?  Feel free to contact us and share your experience.

We recently asked one of our correspondents from New Jersey to send us the story of her experience in the World Mission Society Church of God.  What followed certainly did not disappoint.  Following her through this five part journey, we learn how she was recruited, the questions that began to unravel her beliefs, an her final exit.  Unfortunately, some of what she went through is not uncommon in stories we hear from other former members.  Perhaps her experience is not unlike your own?  Without further delay…

I first visited the World Mission Society Church of God in Ridgewood, NJ for the first time back in October of 2009 after being invited by two co-workers of mine.  One of my co-workers told me that she had recently joined a church that she really enjoyed attending.  My other co-worker, having been a member of the WMSCOG for three years, didn’t mention any details about the organization’s beliefs either.  One day I asked my co-workers if I could visit the church with them.  I was surprised that they suggested that we go that very night and offered to pick me up.  I found this a bit strange because I expected that I would have to wait for a specific day to visit the church for a service or something.  

I remember that it was a Monday night around 7:30 pm when I arrived at the WMSCOG with my two co-workers, not knowing what I was getting myself into.  I was greeted by a few smiling faces at the front desk, which they call “admin”, and given an application to fill out.  The application consisted of a few basic questions like what my religious background was and if there were any specific questions I had about God or the Bible.  Then I was introduced to a missionary that would teach me my first Bible study lesson.  The four of us went to a small room that had a dry erase board and a small table with a few chairs.  My first lesson was about the Saturday Sabbath.  Being somewhat of a conspiracy theorist, in about 30 minutes I was convinced that all of my life I had been deceived into going to church and worshiping the Lord on the wrong day!  I was told that Constantine, a Roman Emperor, abolished the Sabbath and forced Christians to worship on Sunday and thus worship the pagan sun “god”.  Then I was asked if I would like to do another study, so I said sure why not.

The missionary asked me if I thought that I was going to heaven.  I answered that I hoped that I would be saved and allowed in to heaven.  I mean I thought that I was generally a good person, no one is perfect, and I worked in a field where I helped people every day.   She would soon prove me wrong.  The missionary began to explain that humans were angels that had been kicked out of heaven for sinning against God.  As we flipped back and forth through the Bible, which I admit I wasn’t very familiar with at this point in my life, I became convinced that I had committed a sin against God in heaven that afforded me the “death penalty” on earth.  I found it strange that we continued flipping back and forth through the Bible, ignoring the context around any of the verses, but it somehow seemed to make sense at the time.  So then the question was, what do I do in order to be saved and allowed into heaven?  She explained that baptism was the first step and that despite having been baptized into a Catholic church as a child, that previous baptism did not count because Catholics worship on Sunday.  After all, I had just learned that Sunday worship was really pagan sun “god” worship right?

Then the missionary asked me if I would like to get baptized.  Since I was impressed with the way that I was able to “understand” the Bible all of the sudden, I agreed.  I was then taken to another room down the hall where there was what looked like a large stand-in shower, given a robe-like top and shorts to wear, and asked to change.  After I changed I was asked to kneel in the shower while a Deacon that I had never met poured water over my head and baptized me in the name of Jehovah, Jesus, and then another name I had never heard before.  Since the Deacon was Caucasian, I had no idea that what he said was actually in Korean.  While this was going on my friends were singing in the room with veils on their heads.  I thought that this was weird but since my co-workers, who I had also befriended and trusted, seemed happy I didn’t think to ask.

After I changed back into my normal clothes, I was taken in to another room in the same hallway, to partake in the “Passover bread and wine”.  I was shown a few verses in the Bible where Jesus said that we must eat his flesh and drink his blood in order to have eternal life.  So I said to myself, “who doesn’t want eternal life?” and did as I was told.  Then the Deacon brought out this huge book and asked me for my name, address, phone number and next to my info he wrote down the names of my two co-workers.  

Next, I was told that after baptism they always take a picture of the new member.  I jokingly said, “oh great after my hair is wet and make-up is smeared”.  One of my co-workers told me not to worry, that I “looked great”, and that it was just for their records.  I reluctantly agreed and let them take a polaroid of me.  

As my co-workers and I were leaving, they asked when I would be returning to continue to study.  I answered that I wasn’t sure because I was taking dance classes on some evenings during the week.  I was told that I could return at any time during the week so I didn’t feel pressured to return right away.

We are very familiar with the studies concerning whether we were angels in heaven before.  In fact, we have an entire section devoted to just that topic.  The articles therein demonstrate how we were not angels in heaven before.

In part 2 of her story, we’ll learn how our friend slowly felt pressured to spend more and more time at the WMSCOG.

This true story from one of our friends who is now a former member of the World Mission Society Church of God has been posted here with their permission.  Here is our friend’s story in her own words:

I was introduced to this group by my brother who was baptized while in the Navy.  He had no prior knowledge of the Bible at all, and at times can be easily impressionable.  Being a church hopper I always ran away from a church at the least sight of something not sounding or looking right.  In the beginning, the things my brother told me about the trinity made sense.  So I vowed to attend service one Saturday just to get a feel for it, only to be informed that I needed a study first.  My husband and I, with kids in tow, went one Saturday and were directed downstairs to the hall for a study which was called “The Parable of The Fig Tree” (which is about the fall and rise of Israel, Ahnsahnghong was born or something of that nature) and when the second coming of Christ appeared.  I could hardly concentrate because I was distracted by pictures of this woman with so many people surrounding her.  So I asked who this woman was that was surrounded by so many people, and my brother simply said “you’ll learn soon”.  But I told my husband, forget soon I want to know now!  So the missionary said, “We teach in a systematic order according to father’s teachings so you will know in due time everything”.  So I was there with my family studying until midnight.  I’m very observant of my surroundings so I hardly paid attention because of the pictures on the wall, “smiling faces” and being stuffed with kimchi and coffee.

We left and returned the next day after one of the deacons pleaded with us to. That’s when they studied with us about “Jerusalem mother”, showed some videos all of which are pretty convincing, and once they showed us their interpretation of Genesis 1:26-27 we were sold.  We started out going to every service, every feast, ceremony and all, paying tithes and giving offerings during each service.  Most times we gave until we had little money left and nothing to show for it.  I bought groceries for this organization and gave hard earned money.  But if I came across hard times I was told, “We don’t lend helping hands sister because it help you better to depend on Father and Mother”.

I started becoming really suspicious of these people.  I became especially suspicious when they started telling me not go on the internet and that I should work on studying to gain ten talents instead.  It was after this that I started researching the church (something I should have done in the beginning) and began to see that it wasn’t a church at all, but a cult.  I found another site which in turn led me to the Examining website and so forth.  I started asking questions that led the Missionary to center his sermons around questions that I had asked.  For example, the Missionary would say “brothers and sisters we don’t need to search the web for info about father and mother do we because we know who true father and mother is don’t we?” and then look at me out of the corner of his eye.  They would say things like a member with financial struggles couldn’t represent father and mother, but I still dont get that.

The leaders at the WMSCOG location I attended, say that they have all of the knowledge that theologians wish they had, and been searching for for centuries.  But once the truth about the WMSCOG’s misinterpretations of the Bible are exposed, they really don’t know that much.  I was told that they do not preach to elderly because they are set in their ways.  I believe that the WMSCOG targets the young and naive, which is how my 18 yr daughter was recruited by them.

Recently, during a holiday get-together with my family, I heard my daughter and brother say that they planned to preach to my family members during this get-together.  So in an attempt to raise my family’s awareness, I informed them of my brother and sister’s intentions.  I showed them the examining site and pointed out that Ahnsahnghong never said he was “god” and that there was no way that Zhang Gil Jah was “god” either.  Then my daughter shouted “you don’t know anything!”.  So I told her “I know that you are wrecking your life investing it in a doomsday cult and that woman in Korea is a [edit]” (maybe I went too far).  Then my daughter hit me in the mouth!

After that incident I refuse to have any contact with my daughter.  I have vowed to provide any support that I can to other victims of this organization because I believe that the World Mission Society Church of God destroys families, worships idols [Zhang Gil Jah], and is blasphemous against Jesus Christ.  I was able to get out without any further destruction to my family, but my brother, daughter, and others are still being robbed and manipulated.  There is also a sister who befriended me at this church who is ill and has to work all of the time despite her illness because her husband lost his job after refusing to work on Saturdays.  When she came back from Korea, she told me that she was convinced it [the WMSCOG] was completely fake and she wanted out, but she can not leave the WMSCOG because she is afraid of her husband.  Please continue to pray for all the families affected by the World Mission Society Church of God.

There you have it.  Tough words for the World Mission Society Church of God from yet another former member.  Sadly, this story isn’t unlike all the others we hear.  Our friend and her family will be in our prayers.  Please pray for all families affected by this group, and contact us, if you would like to share your experience.

The World Mission Society Church of God believes that Zahng Gil Jah is both the “mother” and “bride” described in the Bible.  How does the WMSCOG arrive at this conclusion?  How do WMSCOG recruiters present this conclusion to potential new recruits?

How They Recruit Using Galatians 4:26

When recruiting in shopping malls, heavily populated areas, or on college campuses, WMSCOG recruiters approach people and ask, “have you ever heard of god the mother in the Bible?”  Regardless of what the person says, as long as they are not immediately shunned away, recruiters quickly open the Bible and begin to explain how they arrive at their conclusion that there is a “female god”.  (When I was a member, I was taught to recruit this way).  The WMSCOG “logic” goes something like this:

1. Revelation 22:17 – WMSCOG recruiters point out that the “Spirit” is capitalized and therefore refers to the Holy Spirit.  The bride has to be “god” because no one else can give us eternal life (as in water of life).  Then, who is the bride?
2. Revelation 21:2 – The holy city, new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven prepared as a bride for her husband.  Who is the bride’s husband?
3. Revelation 21:9 – The bride is the wife of the Lamb.  Who is the Lamb?
4. John 1:29 – The Lamb is Jesus.  Then who is mother in the bible?
5. Galatians 4:26 – The Jerusalem that is above is our mother.  (I know it’s confusing, hang in there):

So, according to the WMSCOG formula:

mother in the Bible (Galatians 4:26) = Jerusalem above (Galatians 4:26) = Jerusalem bride (Revelation 21:2) = bride wife of Jesus (Revelation 21:9) = bride gives water of life (Revelation 22:17, just like Jesus in John 4:14) =

Therefore, bride is mother god

Clear as mud right?  Anyone can clearly see that this does grave violence to the original meaning of the Scriptures.  If you skip around in the Bible this way doing a keyword search, you can make it say anything you want to.  Unfortunately for the WMSCOG, this interpretation easily fails when we read the verses in their proper context (and by the way, if you thought you could make sense of any book by jumping around all over it, grabbing a line from this chapter and another line from another chapter, you should try this with some other book in your library you’ve read before and see how it very poorly communicates the underlying story).

Problems With The WMSCOG Interpretation

1. While the WMSCOG does not believe that the “bride” in the Bible represents the church, they contradict their own founder, a Korean man named Ahnsahnghong, when he writes that the bride does represent the church.
2. While the WMSCOG believes that the “mother” in Galatians 4:26 represents a “mother god” (whom they also claim is a lady living in Korea named Zahng Gil-Jah), they again contradict their own founder Ahnsahnghong who wrote a book denouncing the idea of a “mother god”.

Galatians 4:26 Grossly Misinterpreted

The WMSCOG continues their pattern of misinterpreting Scripture by completely ignoring the context surrounding their cherry-picked verses.  A person can be seriously mislead by this sort of thinking if the context surrounding Galatians 4:26 is not examined.  Considering the context of Galatians 4 in its entirety, it becomes clear that the apostle Paul was not referring to a “female god”.  Let us read the text as it is written.

Paul begins the chapter by comparing Christians to heirs of their father’s estate (Galatians 4:1-2).  In continuing with this analogy, Paul goes on to explain how we were slaves under the law until Jesus, also born under the law, came to redeem us and adopt us as God’s children, making us heirs of our Father’s Kingdom.

Paul goes on to express his concern for the Galatians because they had turned back to observing “special days and months and seasons and years” (Galatians 4:9-10).  It is clear that Paul is quite disturbed by the behavior of the Galatians when he says “I fear for you, that somehow I have wasted my efforts on you” (Galatians 4:11) and “I am perplexed about you!” (Galatians 4:20). The Galatians seemed to have turned back to observing the ceremonial law of Moses, (“Tell me, you who want to be under the law” Galatians 4:21) despite having learned about redemption through Jesus Christ.

Paul uses the story of Abraham and his two sons to illustrate his point.  Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman (Hagar) and one by a free woman (Sarah).  As we read on in Galatians 4, Paul tells us that what he is about to say should be taken figuratively  (aka metaphorically, allegorically, NOT literally).  

Ahn Sahng Hong also agreed with this interpretation.

When interpreting the above verses figuratively as Paul intended (and flat out says), the following becomes clear:

1. Hagar represents the present city Jerusalem, the old covenant, and therefore her children are slaves.
2. Sarah represents the heavenly city Jerusalem, the new covenant, and therefore her children are free.

Therefore, in Galatians 4:26, it is clear that when Paul says that the “new Jerusalem is our mother” he is referring to the heavenly country Jerusalem as our motherland.  In order to illustrate this more clearly, here are some additional Biblical examples of the word “mother” being used to refer to a country.

For more information on what the word “mother” is used to represent in the Bible, please view this excellent article.

Conclusion

As you can see, Galatians 4:26 taken out of context can mean anything.  However, when we read the verse in context, it is abundantly clear that this verse does not refer to a mother god and Ahn Sahng Hong agreed.  When I was in the WMSCOG, they discouraged us from reading outside the verses they wanted us to memorize because they said we would not be able to understand the Bible on our own.  Actually, I can see another reason why–because doing so quickly leads one to leave the WMSCOG.

This true story from one of our friends who is now an ex-member of the World Mission Society Church of God has been posted here with their permission.  Here is our friend’s story in her own words:

I was raised Pentecostal/Apostolic and I was dating a guy from the World Mission Society Church of God.  He has been a member of the WMSCOG for about 2 years now.  He broke up with me because I would not convert to his religion.  I just could not enter that church!  I got such a strange and scary feeling the one time I got near it.  The Saturday after we broke up his pastor arranged for him to marry a Korean member from the church because according to him, “she would help him grow spiritually“.   I suspect that this was in order to get her US citizenship.  I mean she barely speaks English.  So he married her only one month after our break-up.  After he got married I asked him if he loved her and he responded “god the mother will bless us”.  I wouldn’t exactly take that as a yes.

I pray that he will wake up and open his eyes.  I don’t know how likely the chances are of this happening now that he has married a devoted church member.  The last few months haven’t been easy but I have prayed (to Jesus Christ) to give me the strength to move on. The Lord has blessed me since!

Are you a former member who would you like to share your story with us?  Contact us, and let us know why you also left the WMSCOG.

This true story from one of our friends who is now an ex-member of the World Mission Society Church of God has been posted here with their permission.  Here is our friend’s story in her own words:

I was a member of the World Mission Society Church of God for about 5 months. I wasn’t recruited on the streets like most people. I was invited by a good friend of mine. She had been a member for less than a year at the time. So after several invitations from her Ifinally said to myself, what the heck let me go check this out. I was really interested because my friend kept telling me about how this church was different because they did not deny evolution and dinosaurs. In the past I had trouble with religion not being able to reconcile with scientific evidence that the world existed for a lot longer than six thousand years old. The WMSCOG seemed to have an answer for everything.

My first study was about the Sabbath. It seemed to make sense at the time. And not being all that familiar with the Bible and not having belonged to a specific church, this made me an easy target. I was baptized the very same day. Right after that study, it was impressed upon me that if I believed everything in the study then what would be the point of waiting to be baptized. I felt pressured, but then again because it was my friend who invited me, and I knew her to be smart and anything but gullible, I felt that she wouldn’t steer me in the wrong direction.

I began going to the church to study every day so that I could finish the “basic studies”. Being the skeptic that I am, I began to think that it was weird that everyone there was always smiling and happy all of the time. I was told by some members that “once you are in the truth you are happy all of the time”. (Kinda reminds me of the cult called shiny happy people in the movie “Bubble Boy” lol). One day when I was there, I was waiting for the person who I was going to study with, and heard a member commenting to another about her appearance. She stated “if I knew we were going preaching I would have dressed better”. So I turned to her and asked what difference it made what she was wearing if she was going to “preach the Word”. She answered, “well it’s for father and mother and you always want to look your best for father and mother”. It was at that point that I realized that appearance was very important to members in this organization. I asked the person that I was studying with about the question I asked the other member and she responded that “if you are doing something for God then you should be at your best”. I thought this was weird because to my knowledge Jesus was never worried about what He wore when he preached right?

I noticed that I saw less and less of my friend as the weeks went by. I attributed this to her just being busy with other stuff. I also was really tired because I went from going to church sporadically to going everyday. I justified my going so often due to the fact that I was new and I had a lot of studies to get through before I could understand everything that was going on in the church. Fortunately for me, I joined at a time when there were a lot of these “feasts” going on. During these feasts that I didn’t fully understand, I was expected to be in the church by 4:30 am for prayer services. I would then go to work and have to come back for the 7:30 pm services. I was exhausted! Due to the increasing demands for my time from the organization, things were tense between me and my family. Of course when I told the girl assigned to study with me and watch over me (this is typical of the way they work) about the issues with my family’s concern with my involvement, she advised “this is persecution, satan will try to use the people closest to you to try to keep you from coming to the church and learning the truth”. This was disturbing. It made for a frustrating time because I had to defend why I was going to the church so often to my family. I would say that I was just going to church and there shouldn’t be anything wrong with that, or so I thought. I said that it wasn’t like I was going to be in the church 24/7, or so I thought. I was under the silly impression that once I was done with the basic studies, I wouldn’t be spending as much time there. Ha Ha Ha

Slowly but surely they tried to nudge me into changing the way that I dressed. I mean I don’t dress provocatively, I just favor darker colors (the non-shiny happy people colors :)). I didn’t exactly adhere because I really didn’t have the expected wardrobe of skirt suits or pant suits like everyone else was wearing. I still made an effort to go appropriately dressed and sort of blend in.

I also began asking “who is this Korean lady in this picture” and “who is this lady on this calendar”?  The member next to me said “don’t worry about that, you will learn about that later”.  This was so weird.  I also noticed that people obsessively cleaned the church on their hands and knees.  I was told that it was a great honor to be chosen to beautify the temple.  I just thought to myself, why don’t they just use a mop…

I once noticed one of the women complaining about her weight.  So I suggested that she join a gym.  I mean 30 minutes a day a few times a week should do the trick.  She answered, “oh no I don’t have time because I’m too busy doing things for father and mother”.  I still didn’t know who this “mother” person was but I thought this was very suspect.  

During one of the breaks between feasts, I decided to just attend Tuesday and Saturday services. On that Sabbath I was approached by one of the missionaries questioned why I hadn’t been there since Tuesday, and I bluntly said that I attended on Tuesday and Saturday, had finished my basic studies and didn’t see a reason to come any more often. She then said that I didn’t really need to go just to study and I should want to go everyday. I thought to myself, why would I do that? I mean I have other obligations. I came to realize that the expectation was that I be there everyday and that the only activities I should be involved in outside of the church were sleep and work. Forget about family obligations. It seemed that the only obligations were to the “church family”. At this point I still hadn’t kept a full Sabbath.

So after being there for about three months I started tithing. There was a lesson dedicated to this topic during which I asked, “who pays the pastor?”. They claimed that the pastor doesn’t get paid and that the mortgage for the church was really high (about $20,000 per month or something crazy like that). I was informed that the money was used for food, church activities, donating to the UN, etc.  It seemed that a lot of pressure was put on everyone to tithe and failing to do so was like stealing from God.  Then I was shown different envelopes for other types of offerings.  In my head I was like I don’t make that much money!  But I guessed that they assumed that I wouldn’t have a need to pay my cable bill because I wouldn’t have time to watch TV.  I also hadn’t seen my friends in a long time.  My involvement in the church caused conflict because I would have to choose between family functions and attending services at the church.  So when I had to leave on a Sabbath to go and do something for my Mom, one of the deaconesses said, “what’s more important, your mother or God”.  I said to myself, God would not make me choose.   It was at that point that I became really suspicious and uncomfortable about their motives.   

During one of the feasts, I was discussing the tension with my mom again.  I said that I don’t lie to my mom, even if I know she isn’t going to like what I’m going to say or do.  The deaconess then said, “well you know that there is such a thing as a righteous lie“.  As I walked away I thought, no there isn’t a lie is a lie.

So I had just about had enough when I noticed that my friend that had invited me in the first place had been MIA for several services.  Every time I questioned one of the members in the group that I was assigned to about my friend, I was told that she wasn’t feeling well.  So I said to one of the girls in my group that I was going to have to take the time to go and see my friend because I was concerned.  It was at this point that she became somewhat evasive and changed the subject.  

Not too long after, my friend actually called me as I was on my way to one of the last feast services and told me that she wanted to speak to me and not to let the church members know that I had spoken to her.  I wanted to turn the car around right away but instead I went ahead and attended the short service.  Throughout the service, every time that they said the name Ahnsahnghong, I said Jesus Christ in my head.  I thought to myself, they have been really evasive lately so I really need to pray for a sign to let me know if this was the place for me or not.  I didn’t want to quit just because I was challenged, but all of the little things that didn’t add up suddenly snowballed.  

When I saw my friend later that evening, she told me that she found a lot of contradictions about the church and that she was lied to by one of the high ranking members of the church.  So that was enough for me.  I had had enough of this charade.  I was done!  Needless to say, members would not stop calling.  After not answering numerous phone calls and text messages, eventually they showed up unannounced at my doorstep.  They of course tried to convince me to return to the church and do the basic studies over again from the beginning.  I told them that I had all of my notes and I also had come across 1 John 2:27 that says “you do not need anyone to teach you”.  One of the members basically told me that I could not understand the Bible on my own.  I felt so disgusted with myself for not being able to see through their “shiny happy people” facade.  At the same time I felt sorry for them because I knew that not all of them were in on what I would call this scheme to take people’s money.  Having just woken up, I realized that these people who had become my friends were still stuck there.  I realized that I could not be their friend because they would not have any time for me outside of the church and that was the only thing we had in common.  I really didn’t want to hurt their feelings or insult anyone.  I just wanted to be left alone to go on with my life.  At this point I told them twice that no one will come between me and my family.  They advised me that I could return whenever I was ready.  But I told them that I could not be a hypocrite and go to their church and pray to someone that I did not believe in.  I told them that they did have some truth in their church but it was of no use because it was mixed with lies.  They gave up and left shortly after.

I hope my story helps people to avoid this organization.  Jesus Christ our only Lord and Savior!

Are you a former member who would you like to share your story with us?  Contact us, and let us know why you too left the WMSCOG.

This true story from one of our friends who is now an ex-member of the World Mission Society Church of God has been posted here with their permission.  The rudeness she experienced when speaking with active members which you are about to read is, sadly, not uncommon from our own personal experience.  Here is our friend’s story in her own words:

I was there for only a few months. I joined after I found out I was pregnant and my family didnt agree with my choice to parent and kicked me to the curb so to speak, and the people from the World Mission Society Church Of God seemed so nice and accepting of me.  I thought it was a good place to restore my faith in Christ. I got baptized after the first two lessons, Sabbath and Passover because it felt right and the proof was in front of me.  I’m no Bible wiz so I was amazed. I didn’t ask why they said “Ahnsahhong” during the baptism.  It was really naive of me now that I think about it, but I believed that was just the Korean way of saying Jesus (because I heard “Christ” before that name) so I didn’t dwell.  As I studied more it became difficult for me to travel (the church was in New Jersey and I live in Long Island, New York). I became sick due to the pregnancy and my belly was growing, so it was difficult for me to travel and have Saturdays off from work.  I was living on my own and paying for everything on my own at that point.  A couple of the sisters were getting frustrated with me telling me that I was not keeping [the] Sabbath and telling me that the devil was stoping me from coming. So I thought to myself, “it’s not the devil they are talking about–it’s my baby”.  I just couldn’t make that two hour drive to the church and the three hour drive back, pay those tolls, make an offering, pay my rent and bills, buy food and baby items, all at the same time by myself!!!  When I tried to explain this to them they would tell me [to] pray about it.  And I would like a good little lamb.  But one day I didn’t make it and the sister that I’d gotten very close to was upset that I didn’t make it to yet another Sabbath.  She became rude and disrespectful with me when I asked her if we could study the Bible by way of Skype or Oovoo.  I thought it would be good because of my situation, it just made sense in my mind. But to her it was me being lazy and not caring about my salvation.  And she blew me off that night.  I can’t remember exactly what she said, but it was a pompus response to my humble question.  I didn’t hear from her until 2 months later.  She text me asking me to come back to the WMSCOG, and didn’t apologize.  Instead, she made me feel minimal by telling me she understood that I simply “didnt know any better” and it wasn’t my fault and she “forgot about that”.  I decided to learn more about this church.  I mean I know Christians who call themselves as such and conduct themselves as anything but. However those two conversations with her made my skin crawl.  I went on the internet, as I should have done MONTHS ago and found a blog that had been a few years old and WMSCOG members were arguing with the rest of the world [For our readers, our friend is referring to this blog].  Just every faith ripping each other apart.  It took me 3 days to read years of this one particular debate; is Ahnsahnhong the second coming of Christ?  And I left that blog more confused then I had ever been about anything in my life.  Everyone made valid points and quoted Bible passages and even Atheists were making sense.  Who is this “mother god” lady they spend their last penny to visit in Korea?  And is it true that no WMSCOG member has or will die as long as they have the Passover?  That’s what I’ve been told and its such a hard concept to wrap my head around.  I’ve never told any of my friends or family members what I’ve been through and the demons that are haunting me because of the WMSCOG.  I also should mention that I left the church right before the “father and mother god” study. Before I did my own research, when they mentioned “father and mother”, I just thought they meant God was not of a specific gender, but had both male and female qualities.  That was enough to explain “elohim” to me. Little did I know I was worshiping a dead man and a living woman. Shameful.  I’m young and haven’t experienced many things in life.  I’m vulnerable and I always want to believe in the best of people.  And I also want to believe in the truth.  I’ve been on a downward spiral since the experience and it’s won me nothing but confusion and anger.

Our prayers go out to our friend.  Please comment below, or contact us from our contact page to send some words of encouragement to her.

Our friend is not the only person who thought that “Ahnsahnghong” was the Korean name for Jesus.  Turns out, it’s not.  View another ex-member’s experience with just this mistake on YouTube here: Part 1, and Part 2.  Some people are shocked to learn that they are worshiping a dead Korean man, and a Korean lady.

Would you like to share your experience with us?  Please contact us.

In an online sermon, “The Sabbath and God the Creator” the World Mission Society Church Of God claims that Ahn Sahng Hong is the last Adam described in Romans 5:12-14.

It is interesting to note that they only cite Romans 5:12-14 because if you read (in context) on to verse 15, the Bible clearly describes Jesus as the last Adam.  The WMSCOG also believes that Zahng Gil Jah, or “mother” as members refer to her, is the last Eve.

Who Does Ahn Sahng Hong Say Are The Last Adam And Last Eve?

On p. 50 of his book titled “Visitors From The Angelic World”, Ahn Sahng Hong writes:

On p. 55 of his book titled “Visitors From The Angelic World”, Ahn Sahng Hong writes:

If Ahn Sahng Hong says that Jesus is the last Adam and the church is the last Eve, then why does the WMSCOG teach the contrary?  If WMSCOG members believe Ahn Sahng Hong to be their “god”, then why do they preach something that completely contradicts what he wrote in his own books?

Ahn Sahng Hong never claimed to be Jesus.  Since the WMSCOG preaches things contrary to what their founder Ahnsahnghong wrote, this must mean that the WMSCOG changed their teachings over time.  Any WMSCOG member who would like to comment or clarify may do so by commenting below, or in our forum.