Shinchonji

= Shinchonji (religion) =

Shinchonji or Shinchonji, Church of Jesus, the Temple of the Tabernacle of the Testimony was established in 1984 by its chairman named Man-hee Lee. It is a newly-created Christian denomination in South Korea with a total number of 60,000 congregation members. Shinchonji has 45 satellite churches and approximately 90 Bible centers worldwide. Shinchonji, the Temple of the Tabernacle of the Testimony is a place that testifies about the betrayal of theTabernacle Temple. The Tabernacle Temple was once a newly-rising church centered around Gwacheon, South Korea in the 1960s and later became conspicuous and widely known in the South Korean Christian community.

Contents
1 Ecclesiastical power
2. Doctrine
3. Biblical viewpoints

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1 Ecclesiastical power

Approximately 0.7 percentage of Protestant believers in Korea consists of Shinchonji congregation members (membership est. 60,000).

Shinchonji has 12 tribes according to the Bible; each tribe is accountable for completing 12,000 believers. The following are the locations of the tribes in South Korea. Five tribes are located in the Seoul and Kyounggi regions, and three tribes are located in Youngnam province and Jesu island. Two tribes are placed in Honam province. Kangwon and Choongcheong provinces own one tribe each. More than one-fourth of the entire congregation members belong to the tribes in the Jeola province. Considering the proportion of total Shinchonji membership to Shinchonji congregation members in each region, the Honam region appears to have the most religious influence relatively; the Yongnam region appears to have the least religious influence.

---- 2. Doctrine

Shinchonji teaches that the spiritual world will descend on the earth when the 144,000 priests in Revelation are all completed in number. At the time of the completion of the number, Satan will also be captured and put into the Abyss. For one thousand years, the 144,000 priests will proclaim the word of God across the globe and evangelize people. Satan, however, will be released one thousand years later and will collaborate with those who deny Shinchonji. Together with them, Satan will wage war against Shinchonji but he will be defeated eventually. The only entities remaining on the earth at that time will be God, the 144,000 people of Shinchonji, and the great multitude in white robes -- they will live on the earth forever and ever.

The 144,000 people will take the role of priests, the great multitude in white robes regular people, and the others will be the subjects of hell. The great multitude in white robes are the ones who at first do not know Shinchonji but later realize that the spiritual world has descended upon it. At the time of heaven descending upon Shinchonji, the great multitude will become the people in the kingdom of God. If people turn away from Shinchonji despite having known it once, they will become the subjects of hell.

Shinchonji believes in Jesus' work of redemption through his blood. They also believe in the resurrection and eternal life. They proclaim that Jesus was a pastor chosen by God. In addition, they believe that Jesus will not come back in the flesh, but he will come in the state of a spirit at the time of the second coming. They preach that the spirit of truth, who comes in the name of Jesus, will be in a person (the scripture in John 14:17 refers to it as "you," which applies to flesh), and that person is the founder, Man-hee Lee. They also claim that angels that belong to God can be referred to as holy spirits.

Following are the entities found in the spiritual world: The one who overcomes (Jesus), the 24 elders, the seven spirits, and the four living creatures with six wings each. Just as Revelation presents the entities in the spiritual world, Shinchonji has been systemized with workers who reflect each entity in heaven. Shinchonji has also formed 12 tribes. Each tribe has one tribe leader, 24 department heads, several instructors (instructors dispatched to satellite churches usually hold another position as head pastors), and hundreds of assistant instructors. Each tribe has 24 departments that maintain churches.

Unlike other Christian doctrine, Shinchonji teaches that the 144,000 people will marry the souls of the martyrs when the number is completed and that the new Jerusalem -- the temple in the spiritual world, which Jesus promised -- will come to Shinchonji.

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3. Biblical viewpoints

Shinchonji categorizes biblical generations into three. Below is how they view the generations.
▣ Physical Israel (It is also referred to as Moses' generation ranging from the beginning of the world until the time of John the Baptist, which was right before Jesus' first coming)
▣ Spiritual Israel (It refers to the generation that commenced with Jesus' first coming until the establishment of Shinchonji, the Temple of the Tabernacle of the Testimony)
▣ New Spiritual Israel (It refers to the generation that has commenced with the establishment of Shinchonji, and that has been continued thus far)

Physical Israel was a generation when God passed judgment on people physically and people brought physical offerings to God. Shinchonji proclaims that the words given to people at the time of Physical Israel were merely shadows and copies (Heb 10:1). They also claim that God gave people his words in part at the time of Physical and Spiritual Israel (1Co 13:12). At the time of New Spiritual Israel, however, God allows people to have the word of completion and perfection (Jn 16:25).
They also point out that the reason why Jesus spoke in parables at the time of Spiritual Israel was to prevent the wicked from seeing and understanding. For this reason, the Bible was sealed in allegories and symbolic expressions (Mt 13:10-15).
At the time of New Spiritual Israel, the words sealed in allegories will be revealed, and the kingdom of heaven will descend upon the earth.