World Mission Society Church of God – part 2

World Mission Society Church of God – part 2

 In part one of this article blog series, I presented a partial summary of beliefs within the Church of God. The belief in the mother god and the belief in a second Christ named Ahnsahnghong. As I also pointed out within the first article, the COG also believes that we as human beings are fallen angels. I will be exposing this belief in light of scripture and more doctrinal beliefs within the COG, in particular the influence that Ahnsahnghong has had on many millions of followers. Let’s begin by looking at the idea that we as humans are an actual state of fallen angelic beings according to the Church of God.

One of the main passages that COG uses for backing up their belief that all humans are fallen angelic beings comes from Proverbs 8:22-31.

²² “The Lord made^[a] me
at the beginning of His creation,^[b]
before His works of long ago.
²³ I was formed before ancient times,
from the beginning, before the earth began.
²⁴ I was born
when there were no watery depths
and no springs filled with water.
²⁵ I was delivered
before the mountains and hills were established,
²⁶ before He made the land, the fields,
or the first soil on earth.
²⁷ I was there when He established the heavens,
when He laid out the horizon on the surface of the ocean,
²⁸ when He placed the skies above,
when the fountains of the ocean gushed out,
²⁹ when He set a limit for the sea
so that the waters would not violate His command,
when He laid out the foundations of the earth.
³⁰ I was a skilled craftsman^[c] beside Him.
I was His^[d] delight every day,
always rejoicing before Him.
³¹ I was rejoicing in His inhabited world,
delighting in the human race.

Here is the argument that COG put forth in their belief that we are fallen angels. ““In the above verses, “I” designates Solomon, who was the third king of Israel. When he wrote the book of Proverbs, he stated that he already existed before the creation of the earth. From this, we can see that he existed as a spiritual being before he came to this earth─that he lived in the angelic world, the kingdom of God.” © WMSCOG English WATV.org - Accessed on 24/11/2013.” Assuming that the “I” used is referring to Solomon, the COG misunderstand the personified meaning that this is purely God’s wisdom expressed. When we observe the beginning of Proverbs 8, we can see that this proverb is personified in its form.

“Doesn’t Wisdom call out?
Doesn’t Understanding make her voice heard?
² At the heights overlooking the road,
at the crossroads, she takes her stand.” Proverbs 8:1-2

By observing scripture from the premise of knowing the author’s written intentions and what the author has intended to convey, we can distinguish between eisegetical and exegetical language. A good way to begin with scripture is by asking yourself “what is the author’s intentions of this passage? Is my interpretation biblically accurate?” If you struggle interpreting scripture in a biblical way, observe commentaries that might help you understand the meaning of the scripture.

 As for Ahnsahnghong, I had done a little research on this man. And a lot of the information that is available is written in Korean. There was a massive problem when I started investigating who Ahnsahnhong was. The reason for this is that I wanted to essentially uncover the reason behind his preaching of the ‘mother god’. However when I found some info on this, Ahnsahnhong never supported the teachings of a ‘mother god’. During the time that Ahnshanhong was alive, a woman by the name of UmSooln apparently claimed to be the ‘mother god’. After Ahnsahnhong’s death in 1985, it was the WMSCOG that gave a new name to the ‘mother god’, ZhangGilJah. Ahnsahnhong never claimed to be the second Christ as what I first indicated in part one of my blog entries; instead he claimed to be the prophet Elijah (still quite strange if you ask me). The reason it’s so hard to profile Ahnsahnghong is because there’s a lot of information that reveals the inconsistencies of the Church of God’s doctrine. For more information, I recommend visiting this site http://www.examiningthewmscog.com/. This site has citations and some of Ahnsahnghong's writings have been translated into english.