u/Ad6108

Hello all. I was a former SCJ member (very unknowingly) because I was invited by a friend of mine to be a part of a "Community Bible Study." I've posted my Testimony on here already if you would like to check that out; I really hope it helps people who've experienced something like this feel less alone <3

My question for former SCJ members or people who were unknowingly recruited, does anyone know how SCJ members try to recruit people within various churches? I've tried researching this but can't find any sort of testimonials. I feel compelled to warn leadership within my church about this, & give them a heads up. God forbid this happens to any of our congregants, especially our younger adults :(

Hello everyone. I wanted to share an experience I had recently that has deeply grieved me. If any of you have experienced anything similar, I am so very sorry. I pray that God comforts you & reassures you that you do indeed belong to Him, if you have (by the LORD'S grace) chosen to place your full faith & full trust in Jesus Christ as your Personal Lord & Savior.

Matthew 7:15-16a, 15 "Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous & ferocious wolves. 16a You will know them by their fruits."

1 John 4:1, 1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

1 John 4:4, 4 You are from God, little children, & have overcome them [false prophets, false teachers]; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.

My hope & prayer is that the following provides further reassurance to those who have gone through something similar. That you remember just how faithful your Heavenly Father is (2 Thessalonians 3:3), that you remember that as a believer in Christ you never walk alone in this life (Psalm 139:5-6), & that God is for you (Romans 8:31) & that He cares ever so deeply for you (1 Peter 5:7).

I met someone through a local meetup. She struck up a conversation with me & wanted to get together to hear about my testimony regarding how I came to Christ. We exchanged numbers & as soon as I left the event she texted me & asked to meet up next week.

This person was very friendly & seemed kind, & (in my opinion) seemed to possess a genuine love for the Lord. After I shared my testimony with her, she asked if I wanted to do study the Bible with her. I said, “Sure.”

We began to meet up in person weekly for Bible Study, & she’d go over different lessons that I believe she had said she created, but we also would talk about our lives & things of that nature as well. She seemed very knowledgeable & could remember every Scripture she’d use in her lessons (as if she had everything she had written down prior to meeting me memorized, word for word), & she even seemed to be able to find every one of those Scriptures right away when turning to the Bible.

This went on for maybe a few months. During this time this person became my friend. She’d text me often to see if I was doing okay, or sometimes she’d just call to chat, & she even took me out for my birthday & gave me a card & a gift. This person seemed to genuinely care for me, & she seemed to only want the very best for me.

There definitely was a genuine rapport established by the time she had mentioned she & some other people who were involved in local ministries were going to do a one year Bible Study (online, via Zoom), in which they would go through the whole Bible — from Genesis all the way to Revelation. She said it would just be like a Community Bible Study of fellow believers who were located in the North Shore & South Shore area, & that it would be like a fellowship group. 

She knew that what I was seeking was community. That I wanted to be able to fellowship with like-minded Christ-followers; those who genuinely love Jesus Christ & the Bible. So when that Community Bible Study was presented to me, I said, “Yes.”

At first, everything seemed harmless, & everyone was so kind & friendly & welcoming. In the beginning the lessons seemed very familiar to me & doctrinally sound, & really just revolved around the basics of the Christian faith. But things slowly (ever so subtly) but surely took a turn not only regarding what was being taught, but how we were be treated. I realize in hindsight that whether or not it was intentional on their part, there was a lot of manipulation & a lot of mind control taking place. And in my gut, I knew that something was not right …

Initially I joined to be able to partake in real fellowship with true followers of Christ, but we were not free to fellowship unless it was on the leaders’ terms —

• There was no group chat via Telegram or WhatsApp & no group email chain.
• There was no ability to private message anyone else over Zoom; that option was completely disabled.
• There was no way to communicate with others outside of the Bible Study.
• The only way you could communicate with others was whenever the leaders decided a few days prior they would host a fellowship event, but all the leaders would be present.
• There never seemed to be ample notice or enough time given for us as the participants to plan accordingly because each fellowship event was announced just days before the actual event. We were told to just keep our schedule open, & to plan accordingly.

 

I was initially told that this Bible Study would be held 2 days a week, & that the duration was to be 1 year, & again, I was told that we would be going through the whole Bible.

• I can’t remember exactly when, but I think barely only a few months in the leaders (5 in total) decided to add an extra day, & they chose to have another day of Bible Study on Saturday nights. We were told to no longer make plans on Saturday nights, & to keep our Saturday nights free & open “for God.”
• They told participants they had to plan & prioritize accordingly, but of course a lot of these people had family commitments, work commitments, or they just had a life in general outside of this Bible Study. We were all told to find a way to rearrange our time & to prioritize God above all else. Note: To prioritize God & to genuinely love God, that meant making it a point to attend these Bible Study classes 3 days a week.
• Then it was required that we meet once a week at least with another student of the Bible Study to study & to review the lessons, so that your "study buddy" could help to further “seal” you in God's word. I was told that after the leaders prayed about it, that I was to be paired up with “so & so.” Therefore, this person was assigned to me to be my “study buddy.”
• Eventually it was said that we will not be going through the entire Bible, & that we'd only just be looking at “some” of the books of the Bible.
• They had said they wanted to get through these Bible Study lessons quickly, so that’s why they added an extra day. But 5 or 6 months into these Bible Study classes these 2 teachers would still just be talking about various “figurative” or “spiritual” themes found throughout the Bible, specifically pertaining to the parables. 
• These Bible Study classes started to run longer & longer into the late evening, & they were very drawn out & repetitive. They lasted anywhere from 2 hours or more, but they still also wanted us to meet in small groups after each of the lessons to share & discuss what we just learned.

Someone from the Bible Study, either a leader or a teacher would constantly check in on you by way of phone (via calls or texts), & you had to connect with a leader on a weekly basis to talk about what you were learning. For my experience, we had 2 teachers who also served as leaders & 3 other people who just served as leaders. One of the teachers who was also a leader was that friend I had met who had told me about this Bible Study.

It was also mentioned that these 3 other leaders had gone through this Bible Study prior & that now they were volunteering their time to help out. Every 1 of these leaders was just as knowledgeable about the material, & I found it so interesting that they seemed to all be so in synch with what they knew, down to the exact wording & terminology they would use.

As time went on I began to feel smothered, & I felt as if more & more of my time was being monopolized by them. I had 2-3 hour long Bible Study classes Mondays, Thursdays, & Saturday nights; I had to have a phone call with my “study buddy” on Sunday nights; & 1 of the leaders had me meet with her on Fridays. This obviously left less & less room for me to be able to think clearly.

On top of all this I also really tried to understand the lessons. I spent hours on end outside of these classes writing my notes all over again, trying to review, & I would pray for God’s true understanding & for Him to guide me in all of His Truth by His Spirit, & I prayed to not lean on my own understanding. I also prayed to not be deceived & to not be led astray by others ... Therefore, a lot of what they were saying didn't make sense to me, so I began to also take notes on how a number of things that were being taught didn't seem to be aligning with God’s word.

In my small group or with my “study buddy” or even with my friend (1 of the teachers who was also 1 of the leaders) I often felt pressured to give answers to certain questions I did not want to answer, as I was still just trying to process all of the information that was being given to us. The last thing I wanted to do was just blindly agree with what was being said, & absentmindedly say, “Amen, to that, yes.” That was another thing, we were encouraged to frequently respond & say, “Amen" a lot!

In my opinion, even though the information seemed repetitive, there was a lot of information being thrown at us & there was far too little time to truly process anything that was being said & taught. I needed time to pray, to digest, & search the Scriptures myself (& somehow that was frowned upon). The classes felt entirely rushed & very forced (in a manipulative way).

Whenever questions were asked by students it seemed like round-about answers were always being given, which left you feeling even more confused & more dependent upon them for further understanding. Leaders would say things like, “We’ll go over that at some point,” “Not yet,” “Be patient.” They used Ecclesiastes 7:8, “Patience of spirit is better than haughtiness of spirit.” And “food at the proper time” was also a very common phrase that was thrown out. At one point I was also told by my friend (1 of the teachers & leaders) to just “believe.”

If you said you needed more time to reflect, to pray, & to seek God for yourself & to search the Scriptures for yourself, that was frowned upon & it was even said that a person who does such things like that is actually prideful & “beastly.” And yet what does Acts 17:11 tell us? To be like the Bereans & to search the Scriptures to see if what is being told to you is true.

And to have “beast” like qualities in their eyes was to have no understanding of God’s word. It was also said that a “beastly” person is one who is very emotional & not rational …

• If you found it to be stressful that these leaders were requiring more & more of your time, you were being “beastly” or exhibiting “beast” like qualities. They had a specific lesson regarding this concept they had taught us beforehand.
• There was very little room or grace when it came to “things happening” outside of this Bible Study, regarding life events or other life commitments or things that would just come up & such that could potentially prevent participants from attending these classes. And if you could not attend a session, you were being “beastly” & you were choosing to not effectively prioritize God. You also had to then make up any class you ended up missing.
• If you were thirsty during one of these Bible Study classes, & you wanted to take a sip of water, you were being “beastly” & even disrespectful, because 1 of the leaders said we were not allowed to drink water whenever class was in session. I remember thinking, "Oh, that's so wrong ..." It felt very controlling ...

Because these classes were held over Zoom, you had to have your camera on. If you did not have your camera on right away you would get pinged by 1 of the leaders & an automated message would pop up on your screen saying something like “So & so is requesting you turn your camera on.” 

The 1 & only time I did not turn my camera on at all was because I had been out for hours in a really bad snow storm. I had to help my parents shovel & clean off their cars. I debated on skipping Bible Study that evening, but ended up attending. Within minutes of the class starting I had several leaders ask me why my camera was off & I even had 1 of the leaders call me two times in a row asking the exact same question, all the while I’m literally just trying to pay attention to the lesson at hand & take notes.

I observed a lot of hypocrisy. Just 1 example of this was when 1 of the leaders quite harshly reprimanded us about not having our cameras turned on … & yet she RARELY had her camera on & only showed up to 1 in person fellowship event. At 1 point I even thought she had just left the Bible Study altogether because she seemed to have just disappeared. What was odd was that while she was reprimanding us she kept saying that she loved us, but what I found myself thinking internally was, “Well isn’t that quite hypocritical for someone to berate someone else for doing something that you yourself aren’t even doing?” (Matthew 7:3-5). But then again, I’m just a fellow wretched sinner at the end of the day, so who am I to judge others, right? At least that was my default argument whenever I would find myself questioning what I was experiencing.

For these Bible Study classes we were told maybe a few months in, I’m not sure, that we had to dress up & look really nice. If you failed to do this then you were being disrespectful & irreverent towards God, & in 1 of the leader’s words, “You were refusing to give God your very best.”

Sometimes the leaders would perform rehearsed skits (in my personal opinion, to further chastise us & break us) regarding how we ought to show up & present ourselves over Zoom when attending these classes & how we ought to conduct ourselves, almost like we were just a bunch of unruly 10 year olds.

It seemed like NOTHING was ever enough …

• This Bible Study seemed to be very man-centered, & had to do with ALL that you needed to do for God, & that if you failed to do X, Y, Z, then you actually did not love God — And if you do not belong to God, then you’re not a true believer in Christ, & if that’s the case, then who you do belong to is Satan!
• We were reprimanded countless times, & for what I’m not even entirely sure, but in their own words we were being reprimanded for being lazy & for not prioritizing God. But just as God lovingly disciplines His children with His rod (the word of God), so too these leaders must deal with their students in a similar manner (that at least was the rationale that was provided to us).

The fact that this Bible Study seemed to be very man-centered & very works-based caused me to spiral even further — because obviously as a Christian whatever you end up doing for God is NEVER going to be enough, & that’s the whole point! Because if what we could do would ever be enough to atone for our sins & obtain salvation, then that would mean that Christ died a senseless death. But of course, Satan likes to whisper continuously & remind you of all the ways in which you fall short … So needless to say that there was a lot of spiritual warfare occurring internally, within my mind & my heart, for sure.

And there seemed to be very little humility, & several times we were told to remember just how much time & effort these leaders were “freely” putting in to help us “understand” the Bible (for free without any sort of monetary fee) so that we could “be saved” — because in their words, “We want all of you to be able to go to heaven.”

If you disagreed with anything that was being said that meant that you were not a true believer & that you are not going to heaven (because you don’t have a right understanding of God’s Word). And it was actually said that just because 1 of the leaders knows all this information & that she is going to heaven, that doesn’t mean that you get to go to heaven by proxy (by just being associated with her).

If you couldn’t remember certain things from the lessons — which again, there was way too much information to be retained all at once & not nearly enough time at all to review any of that information adequately — then that meant that you weren't truly loving God, that you weren't truly saved & that you had allowed the “evil bird” (Satan himself) to come & snatch God’s seed from your heart.

If you didn’t fully understand certain prophecies or parables the way in which they wanted you to understand them, that also meant you were not saved & that you were spiritually blind & that you possessed NO understanding of God’s Word — & therefore, you could NOT receive atonement of one’s sins, thus you could NOT receive salvation. Note: Friends, beloved brothers & sisters, please remember there is only ONE TRUE Gospel, but that there are also many other “false gospels” — Acts 4:12; 1 Corinthians 15:1-4; 1 Timothy 2:5-6; Galatians 1:6-9. Therefore, discernment from the Father is ESSENTIAL!

Sometimes what I perceived to be snide remarks would be thrown out by a leader like, “Turn to ‘such & such Scripture,’ anyone know that one or have that verse memorized? Haha!” OR “Do you know where ‘such & such’ book in the Bible is? Haha!” 

The Gospel was NOT preached or even shared with participants, even though it’s more than likely that at least 1 person if not multiple people out of that entire group may not be saved, & who knows if they have ever heard of the Gospel or if they even have a true understanding of the Gospel. 

Furthermore, there was no discussion of how one is actually saved, & the Gospel was NOT shared or explained or even broken down (i.e., salvation, reconciliation, justification, being born again, & sanctification). And none of these leaders even believe that the Gospel is what truly saves an individual!

The Scriptures that were used (the verses) were not expounded upon nor explained. EVERY Scripture was taken out of its original context, & even if there was a right understanding of the verse or verses being given, you still cannot take any of the Scriptures out of their proper context, because context truly does matter — regarding the grammar being used, the history, the culture & the verbiage of the day in age in which something was written.

A lot of times only a portion of Scripture was used to justify a point that was being made, but if you continued to read the rest of that verse, that verse in its entirety would contradict what they were saying. And 1 of the leaders even said at one point that you have to be careful when trying to understand verses in the Bible because context doesn’t always matter.

A lot of what was shared was very much being read into the text, so regardless of what these leaders would say, what they were trying to impart to us was their own interpretation of the Bible. I remember 1 of the teachers saying, “Well, I’m not saying that, this is what the Word of God is saying.” And I remember saying to myself instantly in that moment internally, “This is exactly how cults get started!”

And because they were really not receptive to students’ questions & we were often told to just wait or we’ll go over that later, I felt like they were strategically gate-keeping God’s Word. And 1 of the teachers even said she & the other 4 leaders were like a “mini Zion,” & that if salvation is really here, if God’s opened Word is truly here, you wouldn’t leave would you!?

They also wanted us to leave our churches & to stop serving, because no one else outside of them possessed a true understanding of God’s Word. Because all these leaders go to “Mount Zion church,” yet they wouldn’t tell us what that meant or where their “church” was located. But rather, we were told to wait & to be patient & keep attending classes … so that eventually “at the proper time” they would reveal to us where this “Mount Zion church” was located.

It seemed like these leaders were claiming to be the only ones who possessed TRUE understanding of the Bible. And it was even said by 1 of the leaders that no one can read the Bible on their own or understand it, which is a total lie because every true believer in Christ who's been born again possesses the Holy Spirit, & it is Holy Spirit who is able to teach us & guide us in all of God's Truth (John 14:16-17; John 14:26; John 16:13-15; 1 Corinthians 2:10-13; 1 John 2:27).

These leaders also said we couldn’t share what we were learning with others, & that we had to have headphones in & ensure that no one around us would be able to overhear what was being said. Their rationale for this was if someone heard something that was said out of context, like, “Jesus says to hate your father & mother,” then that would cause the person who isn’t a believer who is overhearing what is being said to think of Jesus as being a hateful person. And I'll be honest & say that I said to myself, "Well, yes, that makes sense," because people who aren't believers do struggle to understand God's true character & nature (& that was me at one point!). But of course in retrospect, I realize that that was such a red flag, because there were layers of secrecy regarding what we were learning that were being encouraged.

But what you could do & what you were very much encouraged to do was to establish a “banker & customer” kind of relationship for these leaders, on their behalf. This meant that they wanted you to have 1 of the leaders speak to someone else you know & love who wants to grow in their faith, so that they can then begin meeting with that person & impart to that person "true" understanding of God’s Word. What I realize now in hindsight is that they wanted us to recruit on their behalf other people to join this Bible Study. And please know this: I WOULD NEVER RECOMMEND THIS BIBLE STUDY TO ANYONE!

These leaders also talked about “having to be sealed.” This means to “seal” yourself (or your heart) with the information they were giving to you so you could be born again, & 1 of the leaders (who was 1 of the teachers) said we needed to pray for a fast sealing angel to come to us so that that angel could seal us with God’s Word (What!?). But again, true Christians know this is not how being born again works, & that to be born again is solely a supernatural work of God.

Shortly before I left these we were still going through the parables in the Bible & we had several weeks left. And then these leaders told us that we would be required to take an exam, but that they were going to start give us the answers to this exam, word for word, which were “their answers,” & you then had to write down their answers word for word, verbatim, & that this was a way of “sealing yourself.” They did this so that every one of us would receive a 100% on the exam. In their minds this was a way for us to obtain salvation, & perhaps they really believe they’re trying out of the goodness of their hearts to save people. I don't know ... But what I do know is that that is NOT how salvation works!

Overall this Bible Study felt very dangerous & it seemed like these leaders were very controlling & demanding — & in my opinion, whether it was intentional or not, I would even say that these leaders were abusive, & if not abusive, then extremely manipulative.

Whether it was intentional or unintentional, these leaders manipulated their students when it came to their emotions & I’d say that even certain shaming tactics were used that were predicated upon fear with an intent to intimidate or even berate you at times. But of course this was all done under the guise of extending “tough love,” because even God disciplines those whom He loves, right? That was one of our memory verses we had to memorize, Hebrews 12:5-6.

They also tried to confuse & mislead their students, because if you felt emotional or if you felt like something was off, or if you couldn’t understand what they were saying, or if you actually disagreed with them, then that meant that you were “earthquaking.” And a “spiritual earthquake” (in their own words) would occur whenever there was something within your heart that was preventing you from understanding the truth of God’s Word, & that whenever you experienced a "spiritual earthquake” that meant that you were choosing to disagree with what God’s Word is saying. They would say often, “Get ready for another spiritual earthquake,” whenever they were about to present a topic or concept that would “appear” to come across as being controversial to us.

I hit my breaking point right when they were just starting to give us those Exam questions & answers. I couldn't physically bring myself to attend these Bible Study classes any longer, & I started to feel so sick to my stomach. I couldn’t sleep & I’d pray continuously for God to give me the strength to just leave but for Him to also protect me. It was hard because I sort of lost my mind & I didn't even know what to think, so I was just trying to make sense of everything I was experiencing.

Multiple times I had tried to google some of the lessons we had (which was not allowed). I would plug in key words or certain things that were being taught but nothing specific would come up. I finally told 1 of the leaders (my friend) that I can’t attend this Bible Study anymore because my conscious feels violated, & I did tell her their view on salvation is wrong & that it is the Gospel that saves. I also shared the same thing with 2 other Bible Study participants because I had their phone numbers — those people were 2 “study buddies” that 1 of the leaders (my friend) paired me with … And the 2nd "study buddy" I got paired with towards the end like a week or so before I had called it quits had actually already gone through the Bible Study course once before, & I thought that was interesting ...

It made me so sad (& still grieves me), because even when I would bring up the Gospel to my friend (1 of the teachers) & to my 2 other "study buddies" just in casual conversation, it was almost like whatever I was saying was just not really being received or even internalized.

Upon leaving, I ended up googling again pretty much the same things I had tried to Google when I was still in the Bible Study. This time though I found a lot of Reddit threads that talked about SCJ (Shincheonji). A lot of what I experienced & the lessons mentioned in those posts line up, but again, before I had left they had never revealed anything outright pertaining to Shincheonji (& there was no mention of Lee Man-hee), so I can’t 100% say that this Bible Study was related to Shincheonji, but I feel like there’s a real good possibility that that is the case … If anyone has had a similar experience, please let me know.

I’m still outraged & even disgusted that this is even a thing, even though the Bible does warn us countless times over & over of how there will be false prophets & false teachers who seek to deceive God’s elect. I feel betrayed & I feel like I’ve been spiritually violated, & yet at the same time I also feel extremely grateful that God is so unbelievably faithful. I kept being reminded of John 10:27-30 ("My sheep hear My voice, & I know them, & they follow Me; 28 & I give eternal life to them, & they will never perish; & no one will snatch them out of My hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; & no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand") & later once I left I was reminded of John 10:4-5 (4 "When He puts forth all His own, He goes ahead of them, & the sheep follow Him because they know His voice. 5 A stranger they simply will not follow, but will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers").

I also feel so scared & very grieved for those who have gotten wrapped up in what I very much believe to be a very dangerous & destructive cult of some sorts. I keep reminding myself that God & God alone is the only one who can save, that we're just messengers, & that it's God who grants the increase & causes one's faith to take root & really flourish.

If you've made it this far, I’m so sorry if you’ve experienced something similar to what I’ve experienced. I pray that we all seek to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ (the ONE & ONLY TRUE Gospel that can save any sinner!), that we remember that we do not war against flesh & blood (Ephesians 6:13), & that we continue to pray for those who are deceived. I pray that God helps us all to be as shrewd as serpents & gentle & innocent as doves. I pray that we all remain in His Word & that we continue to ask the Holy Spirit to guide us in all of God's Truth. O LORD God, help us all & continue to envelop us in Your loving arms, & continue to strengthen us & protect us from the evil one. It’s in Your precious & holy & beloved Son’s name I pray, Amen.