Indonesians talk of joining Korean religious ‘sect’

The Jakarta Post/March 7, 2023

By Yohana Belinda

Indonesia is no stranger to religious movements that derive from Abrahamic religions. Here, The Jakarta Post delves into the origin of a religious movement in South Korea that has been dubbed a cult, as well as its presence in Indonesia. Former local members also share their insights into the group, and how to protect one’s faith.

(This is the final part of a two-part story. Part one was published yesterday.)

What is Shincheonji?

Lenta Enni Simbolon is the executive secretary of the Indonesian Communion of Churches (PGI), which was founded in 1950.

But Lenta said the oldest Christian organization in Indonesia had no authority to determine whether Shincheonji was a cult or not.

“We are not like the Indonesian Ulema Council [MUI], which can issue a fatwa,” she said, adding that the PGI was also not “in a position to offer a statement [on] whether a particular church is a sect or heretical”.

But what is Shincheonji, exactly?

Formally called the Shincheonji Church of Jesus, the group was founded by Lee Man-hee in 1984 in Anyang in the South Korean province of Gyeonggi, which surrounds the capital Seoul.

The group claims that its founder Lee is the pastor promised in the New Testament and that only he can decipher the secrets contained in the Book of Revelation.

Today, Shincheonji is one of the world’s fastest-growing religious movements, and the group had at least 200,000 members in South Korea alone in 2020, according to The Guardian.

It deviates from established Christian teachings in some aspects. According to a test paper from the group’s Bible class that former member Jay shared with The Jakarta Post, it alleges that the Book of Revelation was completed at the Tabernacle Temple in Gwacheon, at the base of Mount Cheonggye outside Seoul.

According to traditional Christian history, the book was written by John the Apostle on the Greek island of Patmos.

Prior to founding Shincheonji, Lee was a member of another religious group called Olive Tree, founded by Park Tae-soon, a former elder of a Presbyterian church in South Korea.

Park proclaimed he was the Messiah, and the Olive Tree was reportedly the “fastest growing and largest of the Korean syncretistic religion” in the 1950s and 1960s. The Olive Tree also spawned a variety of Christian sects in the country.

Shincheonji was spotlighted during the COVID-19 pandemic when it became the epicenter of the Korean outbreak. At the time, the country was home to at least 120 other religious movements with self-styled messiahs, according to The New York Times.

Some of these “messiahs” were detained for fraud and disgraced. One of these was Sun Myung Moon, the founder of the Unification Church, infamous for a three-day sex ceremony that involved prescribed positions performed in front of his portrait.

While the initial COVID-19 outbreak in South Korea was centered in the city of Daegu, a 61-year-old Shincheonji member known as “Patient 31” infected other members at several church events, causing a surge in infections. By March 18, 2020, Shincheonji was accountable for at least 60 percent of all cases in South Korea, reported Reuters.

On Aug. 1 that year, founder Lee was arrested for violating the country’s law on infectious diseases, but on Jan. 13, 2021, he was acquitted by Seoul’s Suwon District Court. However, he was convicted of embezzling 5.6 billion won (US$4.7 million) and obstructing public services and sentenced to three years in prison, but still remains free on a four-year probationary period.

Entry to Indonesia

Not many reports are available on Shincheonji’s activities in Indonesia. According to Jay, the group operates in Indonesia under the name “the tribe of John”. 

He also said the group’s local existence is apparent through its community service activities and involvement with nonprofit organizations, such as the International Women’s Peace Group (IPWG).

Shincheonji is also behind the Heavenly Culture, World Peace and Restoration of Light (HWPL), another nonprofit that holds various public events in Indonesia as well as across the globe, with Lee as its chairman.

In article on Shincheonji by ABC News Australia, Kyung Moon Hwang, a professor of Korean history at the Australian National University in Canberra, said: “It’s a very subjective perspective to call something a cult or not a cult, there’s a fuzzy boundary.”

Hwang also noted that the group was becoming more secretive as a result of being labeled a cult by Korea’s mainstream Christian groups, and that it had created rifts in families whose children decided to join the group.

Shincheonji Church of Jesus apparently has not reached out to the PGI thus far.

And while Lenta was recently made aware of the controversies surrounding the group, the PGI has refrained from labeling Shincheonji as a cult. It also emphasizes that if the group was interested in joining the organization, it was welcome to start dialogue.

The organization has several requirements for a church to become part of the PGI: It must have at least 10,000 members, maintain good relations with the houses of worship and communities surrounding it, and it must have a letter of recommendation from other PGI members. Finally, the church has to adhere to the doctrine of the Unity of the Church, that every church must respect and accept one another as bound by the gospel.

The organization has several requirements for a church to become part of the PGI: It must have at least 10,000 members, maintain good relations with the houses of worship and communities surrounding it, and it must have a letter of recommendation from other PGI members. Finally, the church has to adhere to the doctrine of the Unity of the Church, that every church must respect and accept one another as bound by the gospel.

Mario Andrew Huwae, 42, another former member, advises people to always be cautious about unknown religious groups.

“Just remember, always ask which denomination of churches they are part of, and most importantly: Do they believe in the Holy Trinity?” he said.

“Pray, ask for guidance. That’s the key.”

Several attempts were made to contact the group through multiple channels, but the Post only received an email from an unnamed Indonesia representative who merely referred to the Shincheonji website. Although the Post also emailed follow-up questions as requested, the representative had not responded by the time of publishing.

With additional reporting by Sheena Suparman