Noah Brown: January 2020

Shincheonji Volunteer Group's Coastline Clean-Up Operation for the Korean New Year, Eastern Busan (Cheonji Ilbo)

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On 22nd January 2020, Cheonji Ilbo published an article entitled ‘Shincheonji Volunteer Group’s Coastline Clean-Up Operation for the Korean New Year, Eastern Busan’. This is a translation of that article. ⭐️60 volunteers participate in a cleanup operation Shincheonji Volunteer Group, Busan branch, led a cleanup operation for returning...

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Shincheonji Volunteer Group Hosts ‘Rice Cake Soup Giving Event of Love for Neighbors’ (Cheonji Ilbo)

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On 27th January 2020, Cheonji Ilbo (Daily) published an article entitled !Shincheonji Volunteer Group Hosts ‘Rice Cake ...

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Lunchbox Donation: 'Pink Cloth with Love' Initiative (Ilyo/Sunday Seoul)

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On 22nd January 2020, Ilyo Seoul (Sunday Seoul) published an article entitled ‘Lunchbox Donation: 'Pink Cloth with ...

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“The Promised Prophecy and Fulfillment of God and Jesus” (Shincheonji Church of Jesus)

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#Shincheonji #Openbible #Beliefs #sin #fulfillment #God #Harvest As a congregation member of Shincheonji Church of ...

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“To the Brothers of Faith who Carry Out Their Walk of Faith Looking Towards Heaven and Eternal Life in the Bible” (Shincheonji Church of Jesus)

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#Shincheonji #Openbible #Beliefs #sin #fulfillment #God #Harvest As a congregation member of Shincheonji Church of ...

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On 23rd January 2020, JoongAng Ilbo/Daily published an article entitled ‘"May good health and fortune be with you!" New Year’s Greetings from Shincheonji Church of Jesus’. This is a translation of that article.

Shincheonji Church of Jesus, The Temple of the Tabernacle of the Testimony announced on the 22nd January, 'New Year to all Koreans. May good health and fortune be with you.'

Shincheonji Church of Jesus said, "We, Shincheonji Church of Jesus, believe that the Republic of Korea will prosper this year and people will live in harmony and peace with one another. We've achieved a growth of 100,000 people under God’s guidance. History was made as more than 100,000 people joined Shincheonji Church of Jesus, where they heard and believed in the New Testament promises of the Bible."

"Shincheonji Church of Jesus also held dozens of Open Bible seminars nationwide to preach 'Gospel Fulfilment', and its congregation members became trumpets of God sounding these words to people. Shincheonji Church of Jesus' mission to create 'true faith in the Bible', clearly answering the question 'Who am I in the Bible?' - instead of having a 'superficial faith' - is what resulted in great success last year."

"We will do our best to help more people understand and believe in God's promise to return to dwell with creation on earth, as is recorded in the Bible. Our prayer is that people will discern between good and evil through the words of the Bible, remove prejudices created by people with vested interests, and understand and perceive how the promises of the Bible are being fulfilled so that they can receive all the blessings God wants to give."

Finally, Shincheonji Church of Jesus said, "Scripture can not be broken. The Bible proves that God is living and we hope that we can take a great leap forward this year in spreading the true word of Shincheonji Church of Jesus. I pray that you will receive many blessings and experience a New Year filled with grace and love."

To read the original article in JoongAng Ilbo/Daily (Korean only), please click here

⇨https://bit.ly/2Geac3k

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Shincheonji 2020 Slogan: “The Year of the Reign of God, the Last, Seventh Trumpet Sound, and the Completion of the Creation of the Multitude in White”

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Every New Year's service, the chairman of Shincheonji Church of Jesus, Man Hee Lee - who is the promised pastor who ...

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Shincheonji Church of Jesus’ Zion Mission Center in 2020

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Shincheonji Church of Jesus, The Temple of the Tabernacle of the Testimony (hereafter ‘Shincheonji Church of Jesus’) ...

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On 18th January 2020, 1000 members of the Human Rights Association for Victims of Coercive Conversion Programs (HAC) and citizens attended the 2nd anniversary memorial service for the late Ji-In Gu in Geumnamro Park, Dong District, Gwangju city.

On 9th January 2018, Ms. Gu was asphyxiated to death by her parents in her fight against receiving 'coercive conversion' education from pastors. Following her death, a 120,000-strong rally was hosted in Seoul by HAC - an organisation founded in 2007 to support victims of human rights violations and protect one's freedom of religion - calling on the government to ban coercive conversion, punish pastors and shutdown the Christian Council of Korea (CCK). Rallies were held worldwide in dozens of cities including Washington D.C. and New York, with publicity from 221 US media channels including ABC, and 25,000 HAC members and citizens gathered outside the CCK's HQ in February 2018. 140,000 people signed a petition to the Blue House (Korean Presidential dwelling) calling for a ban on coercive conversion. At the 41st UN Human Rights Council held in July 2019, the European Council for Freedom of Conscience (CAP-LC) officially issued a condemnation statement on forced conversion in South Korea. On July 24th 2019, an open letter to the South Korean President Jae-In Moon, signed by 15 international NGOs including Human Rights Without Frontiers (HRWF), read, “South Korea may well be the last democratic country in the world where deprogramming is still tolerated”. The letter urged the president to “investigate in-depth accusations of forcible deprogramming, put a stop to this obnoxious practice, and hold those responsible fully accountable.” In August 2019, at a ministerial conference at the US State Department building, it was officially pointed out that Korea is the only democratic country where forced conversion is tolerated. Later on, in 29th November 2019, 80 legal experts, journalists and civil society representatives gathered in Seoul to participate in an human rights seminar entitled 'Intolerance and Discrimination Against New Religious Movements: An International Problem' hosted by Center for Studies on New Religions (CESNUR) and Human Rights Without Frontiers (HRWF) for the protection of religious minorities' rights, with a particular focus on 'coercive conversion'. Despite international pressure, the Korean government has done nothing to punish pastors, ban coercive conversion or shutdown the CCK. What makes this even more deplorable is the fact that, from 2008-2018, pastors affiliated to the CCK have been found guilty of 12,000 crimes including fraud, burglary, forgery, defamation, drink-driving, arson, sexual assault and murder. All this in a supposedly democratic country where freedom of religion is guaranteed within its Constitution.

It is, therefore, only right that these issues were raised on 18th January 2020. Preceding and following the memorial ceremony in Gwangju, HAC members - the majority who are themselves victims of the coercive conversion programme - held a campaign to inform and educate citizens on the seriousness of the practice through various booths.

Coercive conversion is a practice whereby pastors affiliated to the CCK, desiring power and money, deceive families into believing that their loved one has joined a cult. Upon the pastor's counsel, the family feeds their loved ones sleeping pills, drags them to a secluded location, robs them of their phones, confines them in handcuffs and subjects them to physical and psychological abuse until they renounce their beliefs and consent to receiving Presbyterian ‘conversion education’. Because pastors label this programme 'counselling', they mask their true intent for financial profit and evade the law, thereby bringing legal punishment on deceived family members. In Ms. Gu's case, it was the parents who were held fully responsible for their child's death.

According to an HAC report, the total number of coercive conversion victims from 2001-2019 was 1534, including assault (861), forced 'conversion education' therapy (1280), forced absence from school or work (1338), divorce (43), forced admission into mental wards (43) and deaths (2).

At the memorial ceremony, Mr. Kye-hwang Jang, chairman of the Historical Territorial Foundation of Korea, said, “Free will granted by God to human beings, and the freedom of human rights granted by the state to the people, are the rights of individuals that no one can infringe upon. Nevertheless, the life of Ms. Ji-In Gu was tragically taken. One's God-given freedom of religion was abused and human rights ruthlessly trampled on as they remain unprotected by the state." One college student in her twenties said, “I'm shocked that peoples' human rights have been abused to the extent that someone died in Gwangju - host of the World Human Rights Cities Forum. I hope that our country and all its citizens will continue to speak out so that such a tragedy will never recur.”

Coercive conversion is a criminal practice implemented by a criminal organisation that disguises itself behind the veil of religion. As this article goes out to print on 21st January 2020, dozens of people throughout South Korea are suffering silently, confined against their will in remote locations, for refusing to renounce their religious beliefs. Please help raise awareness.

News Articles (Korean)

Cheonji Ilbo-강피연, 고 구지인 2주기 추모식… ‘Remember 9 기억하고 외치다’

⇨http://bit.ly/38kKbvh

Gyeongin Today News-전남 광주시, 강제개종 희생자 ‘故 구지인 2주기 추모식’… ‘Remember 9, 기억하고 외치자’

⇨http://bit.ly/36bFJ0l

Jeonnam Internet News-강제개종 희생자 ‘故 구지인 2주기 추모식’… ‘Remember 9, 기억하고 외치자

⇨http://bit.ly/2G6jkXX

Cheonji Ilbo-강제개종 희생자 ‘고 구지인 자매 넋’을 기리며

⇨http://bit.ly/2Rzq6ed

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36th General Assembly of Shincheonji Church of Jesus Declares 2020 “The first year of God's reign” (Cheonji Ilbo)