Providence (religious movement)

Providence is a Christian religious movement most notable for its bible study formerly called the 30 lessons, for the controversies surrounding its founder, and its fast growth. From the time it was founded 30 years ago^[when?] in Korea, Providence churches have been established in 50 nations including United States, England, France, Germany, Japan, Taiwan, Korea, Canada, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, and New Zealand.^[1] The movement was originally founded in South Korea which is still where it has the most members. The organization has experienced a lot of negative publicity in Asia and is widely referred to by the media as a cult. Much of the publicity is about the controversies and the trial of it's founder Jung Myung Seok.^[2]

Other names for the church include Jesus Morning Star (JMS) (the most known name in South Korea), Christian Gospel Mission (CGM, official name in South Korea), Setsuri (that means "providence" in Japanese), International Christian Association (ICA), Morning Star Church, The Bright Moon Church, Ae-chun Church, Young-dong Church, Nak-seong-dae Church, and Seoul Church.

Providence members also run various Providence secular organisations for recruitment purposes.

Theology

All Providence teachings center on the Lord's imminent second coming. The re-occurring theme is that the most critical thing to do in this time period is to be prepared spiritually by living a life of faith while physically alive in the body. Another common theme is that believers should prepare in our daily life of faith by maintaining a bride level relationship of spiritual love with the Lord as preached in the Matthew 25:1-13 ^[3]

Though Providence churches share fundamentally the same doctrines as most Christian denominations, it distinguishes itself by interpreting many traditional aspects of the bible far less literally. Rapture, resurrection, advent, and even the Lord's second coming are understood to have both a physical and mental aspect, but also a fundamental spiritual aspect - unlike most traditional Christian bible interpretations which teach a strictly physical resurrection, rapture, and second coming.

Due to a neglect of spiritual needs in the world Providence churches emphasize the daily responsibilities of living a life of faith. This directly influences the lifestyles of members who are known for waking up early for prayer and for attending service often.^[4]

One of the key differences between Providence and the churches of this time period is that Providence stresses that the Lord Jesus Christ will not come back in his physical body at the second coming, but will come in spirit and must be received in spirit. ^[5]

A great controversy surrounds the organization because there exists a stark contradiction between what former public media broadcasts as well as what Internet critics say about Providence and what the actual teachings in Providence churches say about its founder, Joshua Jeong Myung Seok. In the past, news media broadcasts falsely labelled Providence as a personality cult and listed its founder, Joshua Jeong Myung Seok, as a "second coming claimant", creating a contradiction between public perception and actual doctrine preached in Providence churches. Pastor Joshua Jung Myung Seok often preaches only God and the Lord Jesus Christ can be considered "Lord", and that any person that claims to be Jesus, God, the Holy Spirit, or the Lord of second coming is false and idolatrous.^[6] The contradiction between public perception and the organization's actual teachings often causes problems for the members of the church.^[7]

In Korea, Providence filed a suit against the Korean news and the court ruled in favor of the church, ordering the following: 1) the media must not use one-sided material provided by the informer and others; 2) the media must inform the organization 48 hours before broadcasting; 3) the media must guarantee 5% of the broadcasting time to [the Church] so that their rebuttal will also be aired; 4) if these orders are violated, the media must pay damages in the amount of 30 million won (about the equivalent of $30,000) for each violation. The court decision acknowledging the media’s errors and biased reporting was not made widely known to viewers. But a similar case was filed in Taiwan and the Taiwanese news media that broadcasted the report made a public apology.^[2]

These misunderstandings are now coming to surface as more and more Providence sermons are being made publicly available online.^[1]

Police activity in Japan

Police have raided eight Providence facilities in Chiba, Japan on suspicion a senior member illegally obtained residence status.^[8] They also searched a facility in the city’s Chuo Ward. The police believe Jung used a room inside to sexually assault female followers.^[9]

Media attention

This is the media attention concerning the religious organisation Providence. There is more media attention concerning Jung Myung Seok's crimes and alleged crimes, as well as mostly positive media relating to the events held by the secular organisations run by Providence.

The organization's international modeling group, Peace Model, did a 2 minute performance at the inauguration of the new U.N. Secretary General, Ki-Moon Ban, in January 2007.

Korea

EXODUS founder's father after the assault

One reported event was the attack on the 64-year old father of the founder of EXODUS on October 23, 2003. EXODUS is an organisation formed by former members of Providence set up in response to the rape allegations concerning Jung. A doctor confirmed the victim's account that he was bombarded with weapons such as iron pipes, and concluded he could have been killed if the blows landed directly on his head. The attack permanently shattered his left facial bones, and severely damaged his facial nerves.

When interviewed in prison, the individuals responsible said they were not told to assault him. However, several other similar events have been reported in the Korean media. Police discovered that the culprits were all Providence members and had planned out the assault. This was the third attempt. It was ruled a retaliatory attack against EXODUS.

Seven Days reports that former members Young-Soo Kim, Doe-Hyung Kim, Choi and Park have all been attacked by Providence members. (Kim is a common last name in Korea.) The office of EXODUS has also been trashed.

A former member named Hyun-Jin Kim was attacked by Providence members, who he reports said to him, "how dare you speak ill of our teacher". As a result, he needed several stitches on his head. Kim said that he believes they were either trying to maim him to make an example out of him, or were trying to kill him.

Korean police confiscated a computer disc from the perpetrators. It contained plans to deal with critics of Providence. One section was labeled "sal sang boo" (list of people to be killed). The disc contained personal information, such as addresses, phone numbers, work places, and family member names of 206 people. The list included members of EXODUS, critics of Providence, as well as the producers of Seoul Broadcasting System.

Japan

Providence was first reported in Japanese media in late July 2006. While most reports were about the sexual allegations, the Asahi Shimbun commented on the Providence group (known in Japan as Setsuri) in their August 19, 2006 editorial. It reported that Providence is "causing serious social problems in Japan", labeling it as a "cult" and "sect". It reported,

“	The followers are required to pledge absolute submission to the founder and are forced to live communally and take part in mass weddings among members. ...Followers are evaluated according to the amount of money they donate to the sect. Many young members fall into financial trouble because of their large contributions to the group. ...a close look at the sect's activities would show it is nothing but an antisocial group that tries to manipulate the followers' mind and bamboozle them out of their money."	”
—Asahi Shimbun, Editorial/ Another problem cult

Hong Kong

The religion has been reported about in Hong Kong, known as "月明教會" (The Bright Moon Church) there. In October 2006 a former member, under pseudonym "Geung"(阿強), told Oriental Daily News that the church targets university students and in particular Christians to recruit on university campuses. He also said that the church has about 100 core members in Hong Kong, many of whom are medical graduates, while some are assistant professors. In church Jung is called "Joshua Jung", and leads church services via video stream. Geung found that the church gives Jung's photos to the members and asks them to worship the photos. When Geung finally left the church, he was threatened and harassed by the church's student members. Though the church has been in Hong Kong for years, the slow development made it fairly unknown until its media exposure to the public. To attract youth, the church tried to create an organisation to run various community activities, known as the United Culture and Arts Network (UCAN). The organisation's webpage was deleted in May of 2005.^[10]

There is also one reported case of the parents of a female medical student seeking help from Hong Kong Christian Short Term Mission Center. The parents complained that the student's behavior changed completely after joining the church and she left home and never came back. Instead, she devoted herself to church's development and donated all her income to it. Her family found a photo of Jung in her wallet.^{[11] [12]}

Taiwan

The organization's earliest activity in Taiwan was in 1988. ^[13] The organization is commonly known as Jesus Morning Star church (JMS), "晨星會" (Tongyong Pinyin: chéeng sīn hùei. The literal translation of Jesus Morning Star church), "攝理教" or "攝禮教" (shè lǐ jìao).

The organization itself rejects these common names, officially registered as "中華基督教新時代青年會" (China Christian Youth Association, CCYA), and sometimes calls itself "攝理教會", and Providence Church.^[14]

In November 2001 the Taiwanese version of Next Magazine published the article "Korean cult leader raped over one hundred Taiwanese female college students". Allegedly involved National Taiwan University, Fu Jen Catholic University, and National Chengchi University all denied the report, stated that there were no cult activities in their campuses at the time. NCCU acknowledged that there had been such activities many years ago. There had been similar reports in 1997.^[15] Members of EXODUS soon came to Taiwan and held a press conference with an involved woman.^[16]

In October 2005 Apple Daily (Taiwan) reported that many student clubs in National Central University and other campuses are recruiting for Providence Church. These clubs hold a wide variety of activities including the "Eagle Cup" soccer tournament in Taipei city and regular model training. The paper quoted an undisclosed former church member, that the church's "modeling department" is in fact a channel of recruiting sexual partners for Jung Myung Seok. The paper obtained three audio recordings of dialogs of some female members, which say that Jung have had sex with ten female members by mutual consent, most of them college students from the modeling department.^[17]

In June 2006 Jung commissioned a friend to file a private prosecution against a former church member named Wang Wen-yi (王文益) along with many media in Taipei. During the trial Wang admitted that he released three unverified audio recordings to the media. Keelung District Court's judgment is that Wang's statements of "Jung sexually violated female college students" are defamations, media's reports during 2005 October 13 to 16 are untrue, and Wang was sentenced to 30 days of detention with two years of probation. ^[18]

Since Japanese police opened investigation on the church's Japanese branch, they believe "the second in command" of the branch had fled to Taiwan in 2006 after allegations of rape were reported by Japanese media. She is currently wanted by Japanese police for immigration violations.^[19][20]

See also

• Jung Myung Seok
• Global Association of Culture and Peace

References

1. ^ ^{a b} [www.GospelofProvidence.com "www.GospelofProvidence.com"]. www.GospelofProvidence.com. 
2. ^ ^{a b} "Trial: Providence Churches against Korean News Media". ProvidenceTrial.com. http://providencetrial.com/christians-on-trial-jeong-myeong-seok/. 
3. ^ "Sunday Message Sermon: Prepare the Oil". Sunday Message Sermons preached in Providence Churches. gospelofprovidence.com. http://gospelofprovidence.com/2009/03/prepare-the-oil/. Retrieved March 1 2009. 
4. ^ Jeong, Joshua. "Sunday Message Sermon: Your Lifetime Job Is to Mold This One Life of Yours". GospelOfProvidence.com. http://gospelofprovidence.com/2011/03/sun-msg-your-lifetime-job-is-to-mold-this-one-life-of-yours/. Retrieved March 13, 2011. 
5. ^ Jeong, Joshua. "Sermon: Listen to My Word and Believe in the One I Sent Then, a Great History Will Take Place". Gospel of Providence. http://gospelofprovidence.com/2011/02/sun-msg-listen-to-my-word-and-believe-in-the-one-i-sent-then-a-great-history-will-take-place/. Retrieved Feb 6, 2011. 
6. ^ "Providence Church Responds to the Question of Cults". Excerpt from the message titled, “Only God and Jesus is(are) the Lord(s) and can be the Lord(s).”. ProvidenceTrial.com. http://providencetrial.com/providence-church-repsonds-to-the-question-of-cults/. Retrieved December 7th 2008. 
7. ^ "Providence Church answers the question of Cults". ProvidenceTrial.com. http://providencetrial.com/2010/01/providence-church-responds-to-the-question-of-cults/. Retrieved 22 March 2011. 
8. ^ "Police raid Setsuri cult facilities in Chiba". http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20070120a2.html. Retrieved 2007-02-07. 
9. ^ "Police raid Setsuri cult facilities in Chiba". http://asia.news.yahoo.com/070118/kyodo/d8mnppj00.html. Retrieved 2007-01-19. ^{[dead link]}
10. ^ "韓邪教港核心成員逾百" (in zh-hk). Oriental Daily News. 2006-10-02. 
11. ^ 范偉潔 (2006-09-20). "韓邪教襲港 吸大學尖子　變身「月明教會」 醫科生家人求助" (in zh-hk). Hong Kong Economic Times. http://www.hket.com/hketonline/app?sp_reqParamEnc=BIG5-HKSCS&sp_remoteURL=/pilot-doc/hketarc/ws/hket_doc.php&did=200609200300126&searchid=&pub_date=20060920&hl=%C1%FA%A8%B8%B1%D0%C5%A7%B4%E4+%A7l%A4j%BE%C7%A6y%A4l%A1%40%C5%DC%A8%AD%A1u%A4%EB%A9%FA%B1%D0%B7%7C%A1v++%C2%E5%AC%EC%A5%CD%AEa%A4H%A8D%A7U&section_id=005.  (Database. membership required)
12. ^ 陳倖嫚 (2006-09-20). "香港教會懷疑南韓異端攝理教在港活動" (in zh-tw). Central News Agency (Republic of China). http://cna.com.tw/mnd/mndread.php?id=200609200279. 
13. ^ "總會長的點點滴滴--海外宣教" (in zh-tw). 總會長的點點滴滴. 中華基督教新時代青年會CCYA（攝理教會）. Archived from the original on 2006-03-28. http://web.archive.org/web/20060328012607/http://www.ccya.org.tw/history07.php. Retrieved 2006-04-22. "台灣的宣教活動自從1988年開始" 
14. ^ "立案證書" (in zh-tw). 中華基督教新時代青年會CCYA（攝理教會）. http://ccya.21ccea.org/files/ccya-id.html. 
15. ^ 李美嬅, 陳洛薇 (2001-11-09). "宗教染指　上百女生受害？某周刊指韓國攝理教會教主涉嫌引誘非禮　遭點名臺大、政大、輔大否認" (in zh-tw). Central Daily News. p. 8. http://210.69.89.131/cnaweb/showframe.asp?recordnum=12&RltIndex=11&database=1,&user=321&databaseNum=12,&pagenum=1&ID=862821&P=中央日報&D=90/11/09&T=8. 
16. ^ 陳志東 (2001-12-10). "攝理教韓受害女性控訴教主　記者會火爆口角衝突" (in zh-tw). ETtoday.com. http://www.ettoday.com/2001/12/10/218-1234524.htm. Retrieved 2006-04-22. ^{[dead link]}
17. ^ 黃白雪 (2005-10-13). "踢爆邪教魔爪校園再現" (in zh-tw). Apple Daily (Taiwan). http://www.appledaily.com.tw/AppleNews/index.cfm?Fuseaction=Section&Sec_ID=5&Loc=TP&ShowDate=20051013. 
18. ^ 楊惠琪 (2006-06-22). "攝理教主性怪癖 ？ 教友亂爆料" (in zh-tw). United Daily News. p. C4/北市綜合. http://udndata.com/ndapp/Story?no=1&page=1&udndbid=udndata&SearchString=vkep%2BqpSK6TptME%2BPTIwMDYwMjA4K6TptME8PTIwMDcwMjA4K7P4p089wXCmWLP4&sharepage=10&select=1&kind=2&article_date=2006-06-22&news_id=3449691.  (Membership database)
19. ^ "Police: Setsuri cult no. 2 in hiding in Taiwan". http://www.gaijinpot.com/read_news.php?id=9813&time=1. Retrieved 2007-02-07. 
20. ^ 黃菁菁 (2007-01-20). "助教祖性侵 攝理教女幹部遁台" (in zh-tw). China Times. p. A15. 

• Korean section: Seven Days SBS news report 13 June 05
• Japanese section: Asahi Shimbun August 18 2006 editorial