The following article is an English translation of a Korean newspaper article containing the testimony of Australians who left Shincheonji.
Why Shincheonji Lee Man-hee bought a 6 billion won building in USA?
↑ A panoramic view of the Gaju Zion Church building that Shincheonji bought in California to control the western part of the United States. It is actually in Anaheim N. Redgum Street, but if you search for the name of the facility registered with the state on Google Maps, you will find a completely different place.
Anaheim, about a 15-minute drive from Disneyland, a world-renowned theme park in California, the U.S., has a large Shincheonji(신천지) building. It is the “California Zion Church,” which is known to have been purchased in 2017 by the Shincheonji leader Lee Man-hee who sent more than 6 billion won to the country.
This reporter visited the two-story building on Monday (local time). As the exterior wall of the two-story building only says “LA Zion,” it was hard to tell if it was Shincheonji building by its appearance.
“If you search by the name of the facility registered in the state government, you will find another place,” said Pastor Ezra Kim, head of the Bible Vaccine Center in the U.S. “I left it unchanged to hide the identity as much as possible.”
Pastor Yang Hyung-joo, head of the Bible Vaccine Center, is looking at the monument in front of the building on the 21st (local time).
Only a triangular tombstone as tall as a person placed at one side of the entrance of the building could tell that this was a Shincheonji building. The tombstone had a copper plate reading “Tree of Commemoration in LA” and at the end it read “35.06.10 The Promised Pastor” This means that Lee Man-hee visited this place on June 10, 2018, in the date notation of Shincheonji.
While looking around the building, a Shincheonji official came out and blocked the group. He shouted, “Don’t take pictures and go out of the private property.” When asked if he believes Lee Man-hee will live forever, the official answered, “Yes” with confidence. He denied that he does not commit conspiracy.
However, Pastor Kim said, “I recently informed Shincheonji’s problems in front of a Shincheonji education center, and at that time, I saw a Shincheonji instructor rushing to crack down on the students so that they would not be shaken,” adding, “It is still hiding identity and brainwashing education is taking place.”
↑ An American victim (Mike Eden) who attended Shincheonji’s Bible study process and escaped talks about his victim’s experience at the opening ceremony of the American Bible Vaccine Center at the University of California, Vila. From left, Pastor Ezra Kim, head of the American Bible Vaccine Center, the victim, and Pastor Yang.
The Shincheonji defectors who met in the U.S. also claim that Shincheonji concealed its identity and approached it. All of them firmly believed in what Shincheonji calls “real life” but eventually withdrew after realizing that it was an illusion after seeing many doctrinal changes in Shincheonji.
Chris (30), an American, only found out later that his girlfriend, whom he met in 2018, was a Shincheonji believer and deliberately approached him. “I followed my girlfriend to a Bible study group in Shincheonji, and I only found out later that half of the participants were Shincheonji believers pretending to be students who were studying for the first time,” he said. “Like me, I played the role of a ‘leaf lion’ to monitor and report on new students.” Jessica (pseudonym, female), who was in her mid-40s, who was also the head of the department in Shincheonji, also said, “Shincheonji carefully plans considering the personality, environment, and even the level of heresy of the Bible study subjects. Depending on the personality of the subject, they attach customized teachers or ‘leaf lion’ and if necessary, they make meetings disguised as coincidences.”
In fact, according to Pastor Kim, one withdrawal was helped by a person who was walking in a dispute on the street, and it turned out that they were all well-organized by Shincheonji believers.
Yellow letter : fake student / blue rectangle letter : real student
Students including Shincheonji instructors participated in the Bible study group held by Shincheonji on Zoom for local residents in the U.S. More than half are Shincheonji believers disguised as new students. Courtesy of Pastor Ezra Kim.
At the opening ceremony of the center held by the American Vibble Vaccine Center at the University of California, Biola, we were also able to hear news of heresy in Latin America. “In Latin America, Korean culture such as ‘K-Pop’ or media propagation through SNS is actively taking place,” said José Gonzalo Ángeles (51), pastor of Honduras. “There are examples of using influential media such as public broadcasting.” Park Hee-sung, a Honduran missionary, also said, “In the case of Costa Rica, there is little information on heresy in Latin America, as the local church council has accepted the salvation group defined by the Korean church as a heresy,” adding, “In particular, Latin America has a strong friend-centered culture that calls each other ‘Amigo’, so it is easy to fall into heresy “like peer pressure”
The big problem with heresy and pseudo from Korea in the United States is that there is little related information, so the alertness is low and the focus is on the next generation. Steve Matthews, an American Christian variable who studies heresy and pseudo, said, “A new kind of heresy and pseudo is emerging recently, and the number of organizations that started in Asia is increasing rapidly. They mainly target young people, which are much stronger and more controlled than traditional heresy and pseudo.”