During the COVID-19 pandemic, no other religious group was hit as hard as Shincheonji Church of Jesus. However, Shincheonji Church of Jesus used this as an opportunity to spread the revealed word globally, and as a result, the church grew by nearly 500,000 graduates within just five years.

This year alone, Shincheonji Church of Jesus produced an unprecedented 111,628 graduates, marking the largest such growth within one year by any religious organisation in modern history and sparking a wave of reformation in the religious world.

The growth of Shincheonji is reminiscent of the early days of the church when Christians were rapidly increasing. At that time, Judaism regarded the growth of Christianity as a threat and believed that persecuting them was serving God. Gamaliel, a respected rabbi at the time, warned that persecuting Christians could actually be opposing God, saying, “For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God” (Acts 5). These are words that Protestants who persecute Shincheonji today should take to heart.

This year's graduation ceremony was held in the face of unprecedented administrative tyranny by the Gyeonggi Tourism Organization. Shincheonji planned to hold the graduation ceremony at the Imjingak Peace Nuri Park in Paju on the 30th, but the Gyeonggi Tourism Organization suddenly cancelled the venue on the 29th. The Gyeonggi Tourism Organization cited the designation of the Paju area as a danger zone and cited a security threat related to the North, but this is an action that violates the Constitution that guarantees religious freedom. This act will go down in history as an example of a public institution succumbing to the pressure of a specific religion and violating constitutional rights.

Nevertheless, Shincheonji did not give in to this and quickly changed the location of the graduation ceremony to Cheongju Church and held the event as scheduled. It was Shincheonji’s extraordinary organisational power and unity that allowed them to prepare and successfully hold an event with tens of thousands of people in half a day.

A pastor who presented a graduation speech as a representative of this year's graduates appealed, “Even if dogs bark, the Shincheonji Express Train to Heaven will not stop,” and “Come and see.” Shincheonji Church of Jesus says, “Shincheonji is the kingdom of God created according to the Book of Revelation in the New Testament and is the ark of salvation.” Rather than trying to stop today's ark of salvation, it would be a wise choice to board on that train as soon as possible.

Source: https://www.newscj.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=3194484