Shincheonji Church in Korea Says COVID-19 is the ‘Devil’s Deed to Stop the Rapid Growth of Shincheonji’

Earlier this year, Netflix dropped a binge-worthy drama, Messiah.

The drama follows the journey of a man who doesn’t seem to have a religion, but he somehow amasses a group of die-hard religious followers as the charismatic long-haired dude did things no humans could do: he saved lives and even walked on water.

Unlike some Singaporeans who need to write about their good deeds online, the man’s acts were all filmed by other people and uploaded online.

The man did more than just flipping science the bird; he even had the talents to manipulate others through his measured words.

Here’s a spoiler you didn’t ask for: apparently, he was trained as an illusionist since he was young.

Reader Bao: I’m here to read about Shincheonji leh, not some Netflix show

Oh, I’m sorry, Mr Bao. Guess I digress too much.

Reader Pow: Did you?

What is Shincheonji Church of Jesus?

If you didn’t already know, the sudden influx of confirmed cases in South Korea allegedly stemmed from two people:

One is a 61-year-old churchgoer from Shincheonji Church of Jesus in Daegu, and another from someone in a hall of a hospital during a funeral of Shincheonji founder’s brother near Daegu.

Out of the 346 cases reported, more than 150 were members of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus. 108 of them were linked to the funeral.

Well, things happen and we don’t blame anyone. It’s all a matter of bad luck.

Or is it?

Apparently, the founder of Shincheonji Church of Jesus disagrees.

Before that, let’s try to understand simi is Shincheonji Church of Jesus.

It’s not your usual church; instead, it’s often been accused of being a cult. Some people believed that internationally, it has about 300,000 members with 600 locations in 29 countries.

And here’s a little problem.

According to Shincheonji, which translates to “new heaven and land”, the founder, Lee Man-hee, has donned the mantle of Jesus Christ and will take only 144,000 people with him to heaven on the day of judgment.

Do the maths and you’ll see that “heaven” doesn’t have enough seats.

This allegedly led to members to be more competitive, and I’m sure heavens don’t look at your GPA to determine if you deserve a seat.

Then how?

It’s of course not revealed. However, last year, Rev Dr Wungnaoting Konghar from the Baptist Convention in Manipur, India, said this: “Once they are into this group (Shincheonji), they spend most of their time inviting people to join Shincheonji group and spend less time with their families, friends and churches and neglect and quit their studies or work.”

He’s not the only one who has warned others about the church; several other religious leaders have done the same thing.

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What’s interesting is that the group had previously said it opened a church in Wuhan last year in their website, but that information is now removed. It’s unknown if there is indeed a physical church in the epicentre of the virus at this moment.

Since the outbreak, Shincheonji has stayed relatively quiet. Although they have apologised and closed off their facilities, a statement on their website claims this: “Media are reporting as if we’re the main culprit of the virus spread, calling the way we do the service unique, whereas the reality is that we have to sit on the floor only to accommodate as many people as possible in a confined space.”

And yesterday, the church has found the culprit responsible for COVID-19.

Reader Pow: It’s not bats but owls, isn’t it?