Be Aware of The World Mission Society Church of God (WMSCOG)

I need to send out a bit of a warning of a quickly growing ‘church’ group that we as Christians will probably be interacting with more and more.

The group is called the World Mission Society Church of God. Here in the United States they are growing significantly and are greatly focused on reaching women and college students. On college campus’ they are known as the Seven Thunders.

It would be one thing if this was simply a new church denomination but it’s not. Their theology is flawed and unbiblical. Several things must be highlighted about their beliefs

1. They believe that Jesus second coming has already happened in a Korean man named Ahn Sahng-hong Christ. Ahn Sahng-hong began preaching  in 1948 and died in 1985 fullfilling none of the biblical prophecies of the second coming.
2. They believe that there is a heavenly Mother, named Zahng Gil Jah, prophesied of in the Bible who still lives in Korea and was Ahn Sahng-hong’s wife (pictured). She still lives in Korea and the members of the church make a point to try and visit her.
   1. They believe that it is through the heavenly mother that people are given the everlasting water.
3. They believe the new Jerusalem has already been established in Korea.
4. They reject the trinity accepting a modalistic view of God in which he has shown himself first as God the Father, then as Jesus, then as the Holy Spirit who is Ahn Sahng-hong.
5. The cult ostracizes people including families who have left or are against the church.

Also, I should mention my previous blog which gives you a checklist of what a cult looks like. In my experience to this point this church fits almost all of the groups.

The church was started by Ahn Sahng-hong and has continued on without him. Ahn Sahng-hong himself actually rejected any belief in a heavenly mother and wrote against the doctrine but that seems to have been lost among the church today. In fact another church called the New Covenant Passover Church of God which actually follows the original teachings of Ahn Sahng-hong and split away from the WMSCOC in order to follow those teachings. The Passover Church believes that we are saved only by Christ, that Ahn Sahng-hong was not Christ, and rejects a belief in a heavenly mother.

As of 2017 the church boasts nearly three million members and 700 churches in 175 countries, so you can see that the church is growing rapidly. Part of this is due to their very aggressive evangelistic tactics. My own experience was quite wholesome with the group talking on campus  and even attending on of their ‘bible studies’, but there are many accounts of women being confronted aggressively in Wall-Mart parking lots and even fears of connections with sex trafficking. I could not confirmed that there is any actual connection with sex trafficking but aggressive evangelism tactics are clearly true.

Currently the group is on several campus’ in Colorado, CSU, CSU Pueblo, UNC, MSU, CU Denver, CU Colorado Springs, and probably a few more. As far as the actual church they are located in Colorado Springs, Denver and Northglenn. I was told that they have a church in Fort Collins now but I have not been able to find the location.

Source Links:
From WMSCOG:
Youtube playlist from WMSCOG
Trinity teachings

Other Sources:
Aggressive evangelism

People Magazine-ex members

Court Case revealing money issues

Shunning