Sensational accounts of the Korean new religious movement have been published in several countries. The reality is both different and much more interesting.
February 17, 2025
Article 1 of 4.
From Switzerland to New Zealand, media have published in the last few months sensational exposes of Shincheonji, a Korean new religious movement, denouncing it as a quintessential “cult.” Some of the exposes are ethically questionable, as they ignore scholarly literature and only interview disgruntled ex-members and anti-cult pseudo-“experts.” They are based on deceptive observation of Shincheonji by reporters who pretended to be prospective converts and personally attack local members of the movement, damaging their personal and professional activities.
Some media have even revamped the old story that Shincheonji was responsible for the spread of COVID-19 in South Korea. They omit to mention that on August 12, 2022, the Korean Supreme Court, confirming the first- and second-degree verdicts, acquitted the movement’s leader Lee Man Hee from all COVID-related charges. The Supreme Court confirmed that Lee’s arrest in 2020 had been due to misunderstandings and inaccurate information received by the authorities.
The real story of Shincheonji is both more complicated and much more interesting that the media exposes instigated by “apostate” ex-members and anti-cultists. This “Bitter Winter” series will try to reconstruct it, based also on the fact that one of the authors, Massimo Introvigne, is one of the few scholars who have personally interviewed Chairman Lee (in two separate meetings in 2019).
Lee Man Hee was born on September 15, 1931, at Punggak Village, Cheongdo District, North Gyeongsang Province, Korea (now South Korea). In 1946, he was among the first graduates of Punggak Public Elementary School after the Japanese left Korea. Lee did not receive any higher education but is proud of his level of knowledge and understanding of all books in the Bible, which he attributes to revelations he received from Heaven.
Lee spent his early years by praying fervently morning and evening, following his grandfather’s example. Lee served in the South Korean Army’s 7th Infantry Division during the Korean War and, when the war ended, settled in his native village of Hyeonri-ri, Punggak-Myeon, Gyeongsang Province as a farmer. He later reported that he started receiving revelations from divine messengers (angels) and from Jesus himself and explored various forms of Christian spirituality.
In 1966, under the leadership of a Mr. Yoo, eight people (seven “messengers” and one “elder”) gathered on the Cheonggye Mountain, where they remained for 100 days, feeling they were learning the Bible guided by the Holy Spirit. Following what they believed was the will of God, they established the Tabernacle Temple. Lee joined the Tabernacle Temple, which was established by these seven messengers.
The seven “messengers” had not received a formal theological education, but their sermons appeared as persuasive to many who gathered around the Tabernacle Temple. However, corruption and divisions soon developed. Yoo was arrested for fraud. In first degree, in 1976, he was sentenced to five years in prison, but his sentence was shortened to two and a half years with four years’ probation on appeal.
Giving voice to many members, Lee wrote to the seven denouncing the corruption prevailing in the Temple and calling them to repent. As a result, he was repeatedly threatened and beaten, until he eventually returned to his hometown. Meanwhile, what Lee and others recognized as “a false pastor influenced by the spirit of Satan” entered the Tabernacle Temple and spread “false teachings.” These teachings misled the Tabernacle Temple leaders, who ended up accepting them, leading to their organization being dissolved.
In 1980, when General Chun Doo-Hwan (1931–2021) led a military coup and became President of South Korea, the government launched an anti-cult campaign known as the “religious purification policy” (part of a broader program of “society purification”). An institution called the Stewardship Education Center, originally created to educate pastors in the mainline Christian churches, joined the “purification” movement and coordinated the churches’ actions against the “cults.”
To avoid the consequences of the anti-cult campaign, an evangelist of the Tabernacle Temple called Oh, who had a certificate as pastor from the Presbyterian Church, was appointed as the new head of the Tabernacle Temple, replacing Yoo. Oh introduced the Stewardship Education Center into the Tabernacle, which eventually caused the whole of the Tabernacle to merge into the Presbyterian Church, with all its members and assets. Yoo willingly gave up his position as leader of the Tabernacle Temple and eventually left for the United States in the late 1980s, claiming he will study theology in a traditional church. He thus escaped dangerous accusations of being a “cult” leader by the Korean authoritarian government.
Lee continued to visit the Tabernacle Temple when the latter was in the process of joining the Presbyterian Church. He informed the members about the prevailing corruption in the Temple. Having listened to his testimony, several members came out of the Tabernacle Temple and followed Lee. With them, Lee founded his own separate organization, Shincheonji (“New Heaven and New Earth”) on March 14, 1984. Since then, Lee continued to expose the corruption of the Temple and what he believed to be the destructive role performed by the Stewardship Education Center. Finally, the Stewardship Education Center closed its doors in 1990.
All these events, according to Shincheonji, were not coincidental, and represented the fulfillment of key prophecies in the Book of Revelation. The Cheonggye Mountain in Gwacheon, Shincheonji argues, is the location where these prophecies were physically fulfilled, and for this reason God commanded Lee to join the Tabernacle Temple. As foretold in the Book of Revelation, first seven stars and seven lampstands (corresponding to the seven angels of the seven churches, Revelation 1:20: the seven leaders of the Tabernacle, whose representative was Yoo) appeared. Then the heretic “Nicolaites” (Revelation 2:6 and 15: those in the Tabernacle Temple who corrupted the doctrine) became part of the story. Seven destroyers (the Presbyterian pastors, some of them associated with the Stewardship Education Center, or the destroyers of the Tabernacle from outside) also appeared, led by “a beast coming out of the sea” (Revelation 13), a “great prostitute” (Revelation 17: Tak, who was the head of the Center), and a “chief destroyer” (Revelation 13 and 17: Oh, the destroyer of the Tabernacle from inside, described as “the beast coming out of the earth” of Revelation 13 and the “eighth king” of Revelation 17).
Finally, the “one who overcomes” manifested himself (Revelation 2–3: Lee), fought and was victorious over the Nicolaites and the chief destroyer. He became the “promised pastor of the New Testament” whom Jesus had announced (according to Shincheonji’s interpretation of Revelation 12 and 22:16). As for the time when the new heaven and the new earth (Shincheonji) were created, 1984, according to the movement it also represents the year when the universe completed its orbit and returned to its point of origin.
Source: Bitterwinter.org
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