The World Mission Society Church of God

A church founded in Busan, Korea, in 1964 by Ahnsahnghong, whom it holds to be Christ come a second time; it also teaches God the Mother, keeps the Saturday Sabbath, and takes the Lord's Supper once a year at the Passover.

watv.org, Church Introduction (World Mission Society Church of God, English)

watv.org, Truth Introduction (English)

watv.org, History (English)

watv.org, Passover (English article)

watv.org, Which One Is Right between the Feast of Tabernacles and Thanksgiving Day?

watv.org, We Believe in God (English article)

watv.org, Order of Worship (Guidelines on the Life of Faith)

watv.org, About Worship (Guidelines on the Life of Faith)

watv.org, Thirteen Teachings of Heavenly Mother (Teachings of Mother)

watv.org, General Assembly Worldwide

Church of God Knowledge Encyclopedia (the church's own wiki), World Mission Society Church of God

Church of God Knowledge Encyclopedia, Ahnsahnghong

Church of God Knowledge Encyclopedia, God the Mother

Church of God Knowledge Encyclopedia, Baptism

Church of God Knowledge Encyclopedia, Passover

Church of God Knowledge Encyclopedia, Sabbath

Church of God Knowledge Encyclopedia, Women's Veil

ahnsahnghong.com, Is the Name Ahnsahnghong Written in the Bible? (FAQ)

ahnsahnghong.com, God the Mother (teaching index)

Massimo Introvigne and Holly Folk, "World Mission Society Church of God," World Religions and Spirituality Project (Virginia Commonwealth University), 13 Oct 2017

Ramirez v. World Mission Society Church of God, No. 2:14-cv-01708 (D.N.J.), Opinion & Order, Doc. 107, 5 April 2018 (govinfo.gov)

Ramirez v. World Mission Society Church of God, No. 2:14-cv-01708 (D.N.J.), Opinion, Doc. 289, 1 April 2024 (govinfo.gov)

Ramirez v. World Mission Society Church of God, No. 2:14-cv-01708 (D.N.J.), Opinion & Order, Doc. 303, 3 Dec 2024 (govinfo.gov)

Radio Free Asia, "Vietnam orders People's Committees to eliminate controversial church," 19 Sept 2023

Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church, vol. 2, section 62, "The Paschal Controversies"

Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church, vol. 2, "The Lord's Day"

Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church, vol. 3, section 17, "Legal Sanction of Sunday"

First Council of Nicaea (A.D. 325), canons and Synodal Letter (NPNF translation, at New Advent)

The church began with one man, Ahnsahnghong, a Korean who spent years among Seventh-day Adventists and left them over the Passover and other points. He founded his own church in Busan in 1964 and died in 1985. After his death, the scholars Massimo Introvigne and Holly Folk write, most of his followers recognized a woman, whom they name as Zahng Gil-jah, as God the Mother and Kim Joo-cheol as General Pastor, and from Seoul that body grew into the church described here. The dates below are the church's own where the church gives them, and Introvigne and Folk's where it does not.

Among the Seventh-day Adventists

Ahnsahnghong was born on 13 January 1918 in Jangsu County, North Jeolla Province. By Introvigne and Folk's account he returned to Korea from Japan in 1946, began attending Seventh-day Adventist services in Incheon in 1947, and stayed because he was "firmly persuaded that the day of the Lord was Saturday and no other church in Korea was Sabbatarian at that time." He came to hold that the Adventists missed "the need for celebrating the Passover and for renouncing the use of the cross as a Christian symbol and the celebration of Christmas." In March 1962 he was excommunicated from the Adventist church.

Ahnsahnghong's baptism, and a dispute over its date

The church's own timeline says: "Christ Ahnsahnghong was baptized. (Nakseom, Incheon, Korea)" in 1948, and its encyclopedia gives the day as 16 December 1948. The date matters to the church because it teaches that Christ come again was baptized at thirty and preached thirty-seven years, completing the forty years it reads in David's reign. Introvigne and Folk report that the Seventh-day Adventist Church and a Korean counter-cult coalition said in 2011 and 2012 that the baptism was on 9 October 1954, and that the World Mission Society replied that both groups have an interest in contesting its claims about Ahnsahnghong.

The Church of God is founded in Busan

The church says it "was established by the Second Coming Christ Ahnsahnghong, in the Republic of Korea, at the ends of the earth in the east, in 1964." Introvigne and Folk give the day, 28 April 1964, and the first name, the Witnesses of Jesus Church of God, in Busan. By 1980 it had thirteen local churches in South Korea.

The Um Soo-in dispute and a booklet on the Bride

Introvigne and Folk report that around 1978 a disciple, Um Soo-in, claimed to be the Bride and the Divine Mother, and that Ahnsahnghong wrote a booklet in 1980 answering her. The booklet, they say, held that "there is no Bride" and that the biblical references to a bride mean all the saints. A group that kept to Ahnsahnghong's family and the Busan premises after 1985 reads this booklet as a rejection of a Heavenly Mother. The World Mission Society says the booklet's subject was the veil, that Ahnsahnghong taught of the Heavenly Mother before and after it, and that he "closed the door to the truth about Heavenly Mother in 1983 in order to drive away the hindrance from the false Bride." The two readings are reported side by side because the scholars do.

Ahnsahnghong dies, and the church divides

The church's timeline says: "Christ Ahnsahnghong ascended." He died in Busan on 25 February 1985. Introvigne and Folk report that his followers then divided: "a majority that recognized Zahng Gil-jah as God the Mother, and the leadership of Kim Joo-cheol, and a minority that followed Ahn's widow and three children." The World Mission Society holds that Ahnsahnghong himself had shown Zahng Gil-jah to be the Heavenly Mother in 1984 and 1985, by moving the 1984 Passover from Busan to Seoul, where she lived, and by moving the headquarters there in 1985. The minority denies that he was Christ come again and that there is a God the Mother. The larger body set up its headquarters near Seoul.

The present name and the first overseas churches

Introvigne and Folk date the change to the name World Mission Society Church of God to 1997, the year the church's own timeline gives for its first three churches overseas. The church's encyclopedia says the mission in North America began in Los Angeles and that the church is now established in all fifty states.

The New Jerusalem Temple

The church's timeline for 2000 reads: "The New Jerusalem Temple was established. (Bundang, Seongnam, Korea)". The church's encyclopedia says that building is now the New Jerusalem Imae Temple, and the timeline records a second New Jerusalem Temple, at Pangyo, in 2016. The 2000 entry also notes the founding of the Messiah Orchestra.

Two Korean court cases over the church's reputation

Introvigne and Folk report two cases in Korea. In 2002 the church sued a leading Korean counter-cult writer, Tak Ji-won, and on 8 July 2005 the Northern Seoul Regional Court found for Tak. By their account it said his writings contained "inappropriate," "excessive" and "incorrect" statements but that he had good reason to believe them, and it believed he had found a flyer announcing the end of the world for 1988, which members say was fabricated. The church then sued four relatives of members, led by a Mr. Jeong, and on 23 and 24 November 2006 the Korean Supreme Court found for the church, declaring their allegations untrue and accepting the church's claim that it had never announced dates for the end of the world. These are the scholars' summaries; the judgments themselves were not read for this chart.

The General Assembly of pastors

The church says its pastoral staff "all around the world gathers in one place for the General Assembly held on the first day of the first month in the sacred calendar every year," in Korea.

Ahnsahnghong

Founder. The church calls him "Christ Ahnsahnghong" and holds that he is the Christ who came a second time. It says he was baptized in 1948 and "ascended" in 1985, after thirty-seven years of preaching. The scholars Introvigne and Folk note that "Ahn never clearly said that he was Jesus Christ," and that the church rests that claim on his "veiled language" and on what his closest disciples testified.

Zahng Gil-jah

The church's English pages call her "Heavenly Mother" and "God the Mother" and, in the pages read for this chart, do not give her name. The scholars Introvigne and Folk identify her as Zahng Gil-jah, born 29 October 1943, recognized in the church "as God the Mother" with "ultimate authority in matters of doctrine," and chairwoman of the International WeLoveU Foundation, a charity that is not limited to church members. The name is theirs, not the church's.

Kim Joo-cheol

The church names him as its General Pastor. Introvigne and Folk write that he "is in charge of the day-to-day operations of the church," which has "pastors, elders, senior deaconesses, missionaries, and deacons and deaconesses."

Not the other Churches of God. Several unrelated churches use the name. The Church of God (Anderson, Indiana) is one of the Holiness bodies on this site's Holiness chart. The Church of God (Seventh Day) is a Sabbath-keeping body of Adventist background, named on this site's chart of the Armstrong churches. This church shares the Saturday Sabbath with the second, and it too has roots among Adventists, but in the scholars' account its history runs from Ahnsahnghong's own years in the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Korea to the church he founded in 1964, and not through either of those bodies. Its teaching on God the Mother and on its founder is its own.

Court cases and official actions. The only lawsuit read here from the court record is Ramirez v. World Mission Society Church of God, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey in 2014 (No. 2:14-cv-01708). Michelle Ramirez, whom the court in 2018 described as a member of the church for six years, alleges that she "was financially defrauded and subjected to psychological harm and trauma." In the 2024 summary-judgment opinion the court describes her claim as that the New Jersey corporation "coerced her into joining the organization based on several false representations and nondisclosures." These are allegations. On 1 April 2024 the court granted the defendants' motion in part and denied it in part: "Count I for intentional fraud based on false representations survives against World Mission New Jersey and Pastor Lee; Count V for negligence survives against World Mission New Jersey." No other count survives, and the court dismissed the Korean church, Kim Joo-cheol and Gil Jah Chang, who are named in the record as defendants, because they "were never served." The court also wrote that on the claim about the identity of church leadership it would not "encroach on the autonomy of religious institutions when they inquire into ecclesiastical law and governance." On 3 December 2024 it denied the defendants' motion to change the dismissals in that order from "without prejudice" to "with prejudice," and noted that the parties might "proceed to trial on the remaining claims." As of that opinion, the last in the federal repository, the two surviving counts were unresolved. The live docket was not read, so anything after 3 December 2024, including whether the case has been tried, settled or dismissed, is unverified. The defendants' position in the record is that the court should apply the church autonomy doctrine; no public statement by the church about this suit was read. In 2018 the same court described an earlier New Jersey case by another former member, Colón v. World Mission Society Church of God, as one that "was decided in the defendants' favor": on 29 November 2016 the Appellate Division, in a non-precedential decision, agreed with a trial judge who had dismissed many of that plaintiff's claims "under the First Amendment's Free Exercise Clause." The Appellate Division's decision itself was not read. Other suits named on the internet could not be checked against court records, and they are left out.

Vietnam. Radio Free Asia reported on 19 September 2023, citing Vietnamese state media of 17 September, that the Ministry of Home Affairs ordered People's Committees nationwide to "take resolute measures to eliminate" the church, which RFA described as "already outlawed in the country." RFA said the church's headquarters in Seoul did not answer its request for comment. What has happened there since was not checked.

Sources to weigh. The church's own pages are written to teach, and the church's encyclopedia is its own wiki. Introvigne and Folk's profile is the main outside account. They say they drew on interviews at the church's New York premises, and much of the profile repeats the church's own account, so it is used here for dates and for the claims of the church and of its critics, each attributed. The membership figures are the church's own counts.

The Bible alone, the church says; and in the same pages, Ahnsahnghong as Christ come again and a living God the Mother.

The church states plainly that the Bible is its judge: "The Bible is the only standard of judgment." It adds that the test is "not a church's doctrine or a person's opinion." It also teaches that "Ahnsahnghong is God the Holy Spirit—Christ who has come a second time," and that God the Mother has come in human form in this age. The church holds these to be what the Bible says when it is read correctly. Introvigne and Folk report that the church has no holy books beside the Bible and "claims that all its teachings can be found in the Bible, if it is correctly interpreted." They also write that Zahng Gil-jah, whom the church calls God the Mother, "has ultimate authority in matters of doctrine." The church publishes thirteen teachings of Heavenly Mother, which its members read as instruction for daily life.

The Bible is the only standard of judgment.

For those who believe in God, the standard of judgment between right and wrong is not a church’s doctrine or a person’s opinion.

Jesus is God the Father Jehovah who came as God the Son in the New Testament times, and Ahnsahnghong is God the Holy Spirit—Christ who has come a second time—in this age according to the prophecies of the Bible.

What members read. The church's English pages are built from Bible verses set in short articles, and a new member is led through them as a course. The church's encyclopedia, its articles and its sermons explain the verses. The Mother's thirteen teachings are short sayings, each with a page of comment, such as "As God always gives love, giving love is more blessed than receiving love."

What is not stated. The English pages read here do not say how a disagreement between a member's reading and the church's reading is settled, or who may revise a teaching.

Pre-existence. The comment under the first of the Mother's teachings speaks of members as having been angels in heaven who were "driven to the earth after committing grievous sins in heaven." Introvigne and Folk report the same teaching: souls were created as angels, and those who rebelled "had to incarnate on Earth."

Faith and baptism by immersion in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, with belief in God the Mother and keeping the Passover.

The church teaches that a person is saved by believing the gospel and by being baptized. It says: "If one believes the gospel but does not get baptized, he or she is no different from the person who doesn't believe." Baptism is by immersion: the church's encyclopedia says the Greek word means "to dip, to immerse," and that baptism "is the first step and necessary practice to receive salvation." The church requires that "true baptism is to be done in the names of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit," and that "one must believe in God the Father and God the Mother before they are baptized." Because the church holds that Ahnsahnghong is the Holy Spirit, Introvigne and Folk report that the baptism is given in the name of God the Father, Jesus and Christ Ahnsahnghong. The Passover is also tied to salvation: the church says that by eating the Passover bread and drinking the wine "we can be protected from the last disaster and receive eternal life."

If one believes the gospel but does not get baptized, he or she is no different from the person who doesn’t believe.

Baptism is a ritual in which a body is immersed or soaked in water, and is the first step and necessary practice to receive salvation.

So we can be protected from the last disaster and receive eternal life by eating the Passover bread and drinking the wine

Who is baptized. The pages read here describe baptism for those who believe; they do not mention infants.

The formula. The church's page says baptism "can be valid only when it is given in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit just as Jesus Christ said." It adds that "those who are baptized have their citizenship in heaven as the true people of God."

The Passover and salvation. Introvigne and Folk report General Pastor Kim Joo-cheol as saying that "the Passover contains the promise of eternal life" and that "through this ceremony, we receive God’s flesh and blood and are allowed to call God Father and Mother." They also report the church's teaching that "No one can be saved without keeping the Passover."

Rebaptism and the name. The church's encyclopedia says that "those who have been baptized in a church that does not know the Spirit and the Bride must be baptized again in the church that believes in the Spirit and the Bride who are the Saviors," and it cites Paul's rebaptism of John's disciples in Acts 19. The church's site on its founder says that "Christ Ahnsahnghong is the Savior who came with the new name of Jesus in the age of the Holy Spirit."

Once a year, at the Passover, after foot-washing: unleavened bread and wine as Christ's flesh and blood.

The Lord's Supper is the Passover of the new covenant, and it is kept once a year. The church says it is "celebrated at twilight on the fourteenth day of the first month in the sacred calendar." The evening begins with the foot-washing, and the bread and wine follow: "After the foot-washing ceremony, following the example of Jesus Christ, we have the Holy Supper by eating and drinking the blessed bread and wine." The church says "Jesus, His disciples, and the members of the early Church celebrated the Passover," and that it was abolished at the Council of Nicaea in 325 and restored by Ahnsahnghong. Introvigne and Folk write that the Passover "is the only day of the year in which members take communion with bread and wine." The church says that through it members "receive God's flesh and blood and become God's children."

After the foot-washing ceremony, following the example of Jesus Christ, we have the Holy Supper by eating and drinking the blessed bread and wine.

The Passover that makes “disasters pass over” is celebrated at twilight on the fourteenth day of the first month in the sacred calendar.

Every year, the Churches of God in 175 countries celebrate the Passover.

The order of the night. The church's encyclopedia says that on the evening of the fourteenth day "the Foot-Washing Ceremony is conducted first," and that it "is then followed by the ceremony of eating and drinking bread and wine, which represent the flesh and blood of Jesus, who is the reality of the Passover lamb." Introvigne and Folk add that the bread is unleavened.

The meaning. The church reads the bread and the wine as the fruit of the tree of life of Genesis, which is given to those who keep the Passover, and as the covenant blood that makes members of one family. The church's pages read here say the meal is a covenant meal; they do not describe a change in the elements.

A worldwide staff of pastors, elders, missionaries and deaconesses under one General Pastor, trained in the church's own seminary.

The church is one body with one head office and one General Pastor, Kim Joo-cheol. Introvigne and Folk describe "a structure including pastors, elders, senior deaconesses, missionaries, and deacons and deaconesses." The church's order of worship names who may lead a prayer: "the Presider, an Elder, a Missionary, or an Elderess." Pastors are trained in the church's own seminary at Okcheon, Korea, which "was created for the development and training of the pastoral staff," and the pastoral staff of the whole world meets every year in Korea at the General Assembly. Introvigne and Folk write that the General Pastor "is in charge of the day-to-day operations of the church," and that doctrinal authority rests with Zahng Gil-jah, whom the church holds to be God the Mother. Congregations do not govern themselves; the pages read here describe no local council of elders.

It is used to educate and train the future pastoral staff who will lead the Church of God

The pastoral staff of the World Mission Society Church of God all around the world gathers in one place for the General Assembly held on the first day of the first month in the sacred calendar every year.

Depending on the circumstance of the church, the Presider, an Elder, a Missionary, or an Elderess can lead the prayer

What is not stated. The church's English pages do not say how a pastor is appointed, whether the General Pastor can overrule a local pastor, or how the offices of elder and elderess are filled. The account of the General Pastor's authority is Introvigne and Folk's, not the church's.

Seminary. The church's encyclopedia says its training institutes and seminary are in Korea and are used "to educate and train the future pastoral staff."

Saturday Sabbath and Tuesday evening service in a set order, with the seven feasts and the women's veil.

The church worships on the days it finds in the Bible. "The days we should worship God" are the Sabbath, which it keeps on Saturday, and the annual feasts: the Passover, Unleavened Bread, the Day of Resurrection, Pentecost, Trumpets, the Day of Atonement and Tabernacles. A second weekly service, the Third-day service, which the church says "purifies us," is held on Tuesday evening. Each service follows a standard order that begins with silent prayer and a New Song, includes prayers, an optional choir, the sermon, offerings, announcements and the Prayer of Our Wishes, and ends with silent prayer and a closing declaration. Members pray and sing standing. Women wear a veil during prayer and worship, and men do not cover their heads. The church has no cross, keeps no Christmas, and says the purpose of worship is the forgiveness of sins and blessings.

Following the Bible, we hold Church services on Saturday the Sabbath day.

All worship services have an established order of worship.

Singing a New Song to God while standing together with all members, giving glory and thanks to Him for His grace (Rev 5:13).

Music. The order lists two songs, both called New Songs, and a special choir that is "good" to have but may be skipped by a small church. Whether the congregation sings with or without instruments is not stated on the pages read here. The church has a Messiah Orchestra, founded in 2000, which Introvigne and Folk list among its artistic and musical performances.

The veil. The church's encyclopedia says: "Women's veil is a regulation for Christians to keep when they worship or pray to God, and it is mentioned in 1 Corinthians 11."

Preaching. The sermon is called "the word of God" and the church says "it is very important that members pay attention to the sermon."

The Holy Spirit is Ahnsahnghong, Christ come again; the Spirit and the gifts are received through the feasts.

The church says it believes in the Trinity, but defines it this way: "The Trinity means that God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are one and the same although God works with different names in each age." It teaches that in this age the Holy Spirit is Ahnsahnghong. It holds that the Holy Spirit is received through the feasts: "Each feast contains God's blessings of eternal life, the forgiveness of sins, resurrection, and the Holy Spirit," and in one of its articles a speaker says, "We must keep the Feast of Tabernacles in order to receive the Holy Spirit from God." The English pages read here do not speak of tongues, prophecy or healing as gifts given to members today.

The Trinity means that God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are one and the same although God works with different names in each age.

Each feast contains God’s blessings of eternal life, the forgiveness of sins, resurrection, and the Holy Spirit.

Wow! We must keep the Feast of Tabernacles in order to receive the Holy Spirit from God and become the materials of the heavenly temple.

Not stated. Gifts such as tongues, healing and prophecy are not discussed in the church's English pages read for this chart, and nothing is said about the Spirit's gifts being given to ordinary members. The chart states no more than the sources.

Christ has already come a second time, in Ahnsahnghong; the Spirit and the Bride, the Father and the Mother, lead humankind to the heavenly home.

The church teaches that the second coming of Christ has happened, in Korea, "at the ends of the earth in the east." It says: "God prophesied that He would appear a second time on this earth for the salvation of humankind." Revelation's "Spirit and the Bride" are read as God the Father and God the Mother, who "will lead humankind to salvation." Heaven is a family home: "Father and Mother are preparing this wonderful place for us." Introvigne and Folk report that the church teaches that after death the soul sleeps in the grave and will be raised at the final judgment, and that souls first lived as angels in heaven. The church warns of "the last disaster" and says the Passover protects against it.

God prophesied that He would appear a second time on this earth for the salvation of humankind.

The last chapter of the Bible prophesies that the Spirit and the Bride—God the Father and God the Mother—will lead humankind to salvation.

Father and Mother are preparing this wonderful place for us.

Not stated. The pages read here do not give a day for Christ's return or describe a thousand-year reign.

God the Mother

God has a male image, the Father, and a female image, the Mother, who has come in human form.

The church teaches that God is Father and Mother. It reads "Our Father in heaven" and "the Jerusalem that is above is free, and she is our mother" as the two names. It finds the Mother in the creation of man in God's image, male and female, in the plural Hebrew word for God, and in the "Spirit and the Bride" of Revelation. It teaches that the Mother has come in human form in this age. The church's English pages call her Heavenly Mother and God the Mother and do not give a name. Introvigne and Folk name Zahng Gil-jah as the one the church recognizes. Its General Assembly page carries the theme "Save Mankind with Mother's Love."

The Bible, which God has given us for our salvation, testifies about both God the Father and God the Mother (Mt 6:9; Gal 4:26).

The Church of God believes that God the Father and God the Mother have come in human form to save all mankind in the Age of the Holy Spirit, not only existing as spirits.

So in this verse, the Spirit is God the Father, and the Bride who is giving the water of life with him is God the Mother.

And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. And God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

Which things contain an allegory: for these women are two covenants; one from mount Sinai, bearing children unto bondage, which is Hagar. Now this Hagar is mount Sinai in Arabia and answereth to the Jerusalem that now is: for she is in bondage with her children. But the Jerusalem that is above is free, which is our mother.

And there came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls, who were laden with the seven last plagues; and he spake with me, saying, Come hither, I will show thee the bride, the wife of the Lamb. And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God,

Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself up for it; that he might sanctify it, having cleansed it by the washing of water with the word, that he might present the church to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.

Scripture does use a mother's tenderness to picture God, and the church is right to say so. But it never names a second divine person, a Mother, and never tells anyone to pray to her. Genesis says God made man "in his own image," in the singular, and that male and female bear it; it does not say God is male and female. Paul calls the Jerusalem above "our mother" inside an allegory of two covenants, and the bride John was shown, "the wife of the Lamb," is "the holy city Jerusalem" (Revelation 21:9-10); Paul pictures the church as a bride for whom Christ "gave himself up" (Ephesians 5:25). When a crowd took Paul and Barnabas for gods they tore their clothes and cried, "We also are men of like passions with you" (Acts 14:15), so a living woman called God is a claim the apostles themselves refused.

The fuller case. The church's strongest verses are Genesis 1:26-27, Galatians 4:26 and Revelation 22:17. In each one the reading it needs is the very point in question. "Let us make man in our image" is God speaking in the plural of fullness, as the Old Testament often does; it does not name a second speaker. In Revelation 22:17 "the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And he that heareth, let him say, Come": the bride is the church that calls to the thirsty, as the next clause shows. Jesus taught his disciples to say "Our Father," and Paul wrote, "to us there is one God, the Father" (1 Corinthians 8:6). The church's teaching also leaves the apostles' preaching of the cross behind it, for the only name the apostles give for salvation is Jesus: "in none other is there salvation" (Acts 4:12).

Ahnsahnghong as Christ come a second time

Christ returned in the flesh in Korea in the twentieth century, as the Holy Spirit of this age.

The church teaches that Christ appeared a second time in the flesh as Ahnsahnghong, born in Korea, "at the ends of the earth in the east." It reads Jesus' baptism at thirty and ministry of three years against King David's accession at thirty and forty-year reign, and holds that the second Christ was baptized at thirty and preached thirty-seven years, from 1948 to 1985, to complete forty. It says the most important reason for believing is that he restored the Passover, so that he "gives eternal life to humans who are all mortal beings." The English page teaching God the Mother says that Ahnsahnghong "testified about Heavenly Mother, the Savior who would appear after Him." Introvigne and Folk report that Ahnsahnghong did not clearly say he was Christ, and that the church rests its claim on what his closest disciples testified.

The Church of God was established by the Second Coming Christ Ahnsahnghong, in the Republic of Korea, at the ends of the earth in the east, in 1964.

The most important reason the Church of God believes in Ahnsahnghong as Jesus who has come a second time is that He gives eternal life to humans who are all mortal beings.

He restored the truth of the New Covenant and testified about Heavenly Mother, the Savior who would appear after Him.

who also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye looking into heaven? this Jesus, who was received up from you into heaven shall so come in like manner as ye beheld him going into heaven.

Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is the Christ, or, Here; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. Behold, I have told you beforehand. If therefore they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the wilderness; go not forth: Behold, he is in the inner chambers; believe it not. For as the lightning cometh forth from the east, and is seen even unto the west; so shall be the coming of the Son of man.

And inasmuch as it is appointed unto men once to die, and after this cometh judgment; so Christ also, having been once offered to bear the sins of many, shall appear a second time, apart from sin, to them that wait for him, unto salvation.

And then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is the Christ; or, Lo, there; believe it not: for there shall arise false Christs and false prophets, and shall show signs and wonders, that they may lead astray, if possible, the elect. But take ye heed: behold, I have told you all things beforehand.

The church's case rests on a reading of the Bible that the Bible does not make. No verse says the second Christ will be a Korean man baptized at thirty and dead at sixty-seven, or that Jesus' ministry was meant to last forty years; the arithmetic of David's reign is the church's own. The Lord will come "in like manner" as the apostles saw him go, "on the clouds," as "the lightning cometh forth from the east, and is seen even unto the west," so that no one needs to be told "Lo, here is the Christ" (Mark 13:21). Jesus warned that "false Christs" would arise (Matthew 24:24), and Paul says Christ, raised from the dead, "dieth no more" (Romans 6:9), yet the church's own timeline says Ahnsahnghong "ascended" in 1985, and Introvigne and Folk record that he died that year. A church that says it follows the Bible alone must show this man in the Bible, and it cannot.

The east. Matthew 24:27 compares the Son of man's coming to lightning that is seen from east to west. The point of the comparison is that it cannot be hidden. The church takes "east" as a country, but Jesus' own next sentences warn against anyone who points to a place, such as "the wilderness" or "the inner chambers."

"Once." "Christ also, having been once offered," Hebrews says, "shall appear a second time, apart from sin, to them that wait for him, unto salvation." The writer says nothing of a second life, a second death or a second sacrifice.

Credit. The church is right that Christ will come again and that his people are to wait for him. It is right that salvation is through Christ's blood alone and not our works. It errs in naming the one who comes.

The Passover of the new covenant, and the seven feasts

The Passover and the other feasts of Leviticus are held to be the new covenant, lost at Nicaea and restored.

The church teaches that Jesus kept the Passover with bread and wine on the fourteenth day of the first month, that the apostles and early Christians kept it, and that it was abolished at the Council of Nicaea in 325 under Constantine. It says that for over sixteen hundred years no one kept it, until "God Himself has restored this feast" through Ahnsahnghong, and that "only the Church of God has been observing it all around the world." Besides the Passover it keeps the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Day of Resurrection, Pentecost, Trumpets, the Day of Atonement and Tabernacles. It teaches that each feast holds blessings of eternal life, forgiveness, resurrection and the Holy Spirit.

Jesus, His disciples, and the members of the early Church celebrated the Passover (Mt 26:17; 1 Co 11:23–26), but it was abolished at the Council of Nicaea summoned by Emperor Constantine in A.D. 325.

At the Council of Nicaea in A.D. 325, the Passover was abolished, and since then people no longer kept the seven feasts in three times described in the Bible.

We keep the New Covenant such as the Sabbath day and the Passover just as the early Church of God did.

Purge out the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, even as ye are unleavened. For our passover also hath been sacrificed, even Christ: wherefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of a feast day or a new moon or a sabbath day: which are a shadow of the things to come; but the body is Christ’s.

but now that ye have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how turn ye back again to the weak and beggarly rudiments, whereunto ye desire to be in bondage over again? Ye observe days, and months, and seasons, and years.

By which will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest indeed standeth day by day ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, the which can never take away sins: but he, when he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; henceforth expecting till his enemies be made the footstool of his feet. For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.

The church is right that Jesus kept the Passover with bread and wine, that Paul says "let us keep the feast" (1 Corinthians 5:8), and that churches in Asia kept a Christian Passover on the fourteenth in the second century. It is right, too, that Nicaea ended that date: the council's letter says that those "who formerly followed the custom of the Jews are henceforth to celebrate the said most sacred feast of Easter at the same time with the Romans." But the council moved the feast to a Sunday and did not abolish it, and Philip Schaff calls the quarrel "purely ritualistic and disciplinary," involving "no dogma." Whether a date binds is settled by the apostles, not by Nicaea: these days are "a shadow of the things to come" on which no one is to be judged (Colossians 2:16-17), and Christ's one offering has "perfected for ever them that are sanctified" (Hebrews 10:14), so no feast can be required for eternal life.

What Schaff says about Nicaea. Schaff writes that the Roman practice "was established by the council of Nicaea in 325 as the law of the whole church," and that the council "ordained that Easter should always be celebrated on the first Sunday after the first full moon succeeding the vernal equinox (March 21), and always after the Jewish passover." The council's canons say nothing of Easter or of the Passover; the ruling is in its Synodal Letter, which proclaims "the agreement concerning the holy Easter." Schaff adds that the Asian Christians who kept the fourteenth, the Quartodecimans, kept it with a solemn fast and then "the communion and love-feast, as the Christian passover," that after Nicaea they were "universally regarded as heretics," and that "the last traces of it disappeared in the sixth century." So the church is right that a fourteenth-day Passover was ended. What ended was the date of a yearly feast. The feast went on as Easter, and the Lord's Day went on as what Schaff calls "the weekly commemoration of his resurrection."

Credit. The church is right that Polycarp kept the fourteenth and that the Asian churches appealed to "the authority of the apostles John and Philip." Irenaeus, Schaff reports, protested to the Roman bishop Victor and helped prevent a schism, and in another fragment cited the apostles' order that we should "judge no one in meat or in drink, or in respect to a feast-day or a new moon or a sabbath day."

The weekly meal. What the early church kept every first day was a different practice, and the Supper section of Part 4 weighs it.

The Saturday Sabbath

The seventh day is a holy day to be kept until the end of the age, and Sunday worship came from Constantine.

The church teaches that Saturday, the seventh day, is the Sabbath, that Jesus kept it as the Sabbath of the new covenant, and that the apostles and early Christians kept it. It teaches that Sunday worship began with the Roman emperor Constantine. It says: "The Bible tells us that we must keep the Sabbath until the end of the age."

We keep the Passover of the new covenant and observe the seventh day Sabbath on Saturday, according to the example of Jesus Himself.

The Bible tells us that we must keep the Sabbath until the end of the age.

It was this that caused the Sabbath worship to completely disappear and be replaced with the observance of Sunday worship.

And upon the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul discoursed with them, intending to depart on the morrow; and prolonged his speech until midnight.

Upon the first day of the week let each one of you lay by him in store, as he may prosper, that no collections be made when I come.

One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let each man be fully assured in his own mind. He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord: and he that eateth, eateth unto the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, unto the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks.

The first Christians met to break bread on the first day of the week, and Paul told the Corinthians to lay by money on that day. Schaff writes that the celebration of the Lord's Day "dates undoubtedly from the apostolic age," long before Constantine. Constantine's law of 321 did name "the venerable day of the sun," as Schaff reports, but it restricted work on a day Christians already kept and did not begin their worship. Paul says no one is to judge another "in respect of a feast day or a new moon or a sabbath day" (Colossians 2:16). The church is right to take the Lord's day seriously, but it binds a day that Paul leaves to a person's conscience.

What Schaff says. In the second volume he writes that the fathers "did not regard the Christian Sunday as a continuation of, but as a substitute for, the Jewish Sabbath," and in the third that Constantine in 321 "forbade the sitting of courts and all secular labor in towns" on what he called "the venerable day of the sun." The church's claim that the emperor spoke of the sun is correct. Its claim that Sunday worship began there is not.

The women's veil

Women wear a veil in prayer and worship, and men uncover their heads, as a command of Christ.

Women wear a veil during prayer or worship, and men wear nothing on their heads. The church bases this on 1 Corinthians 11 and says the rule was kept by "all the Churches of God." It says the rule "is a teaching of Christ," was "established to keep order in the church," and reflects God's providence of creation.

Women wear veils during prayer or worship, but men do not wear anything on their heads.

Women's veil is a regulation for Christians to keep when they worship or pray to God, and it is mentioned in 1 Corinthians 11.

But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God. Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonoreth his head. But every woman praying or prophesying with her head unveiled dishonoreth her head; for it is one and the same thing as if she were shaven.

But if any man seemeth to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither the churches of God.

Here the church takes Paul at his word where many churches pass over the passage. He writes that "every woman praying or prophesying with her head unveiled dishonoreth her head" (1 Corinthians 11:5), and his closing line, "we have no such custom, neither the churches of God" (1 Corinthians 11:16), shows that the practice was general in the apostles' churches. On this point the church is nearer the pattern than churches that have dropped it. The veil is a sign of order in the assembly and not a means of salvation, and the pages read here do not make it one.

Credit. The church takes the apostles' words about order in the assembly seriously, and it applies them to women and men alike. That is more than can be said of many churches that treat the passage as optional.

No cross and no Christmas

The cross is held to be an idol and December 25 a sun god's birthday.

The church has no cross in its buildings and does not celebrate Christmas. It says the cross was a symbol in ancient religions and an execution tool, that having it breaks the second commandment, and that "December 25 is the birthday of the sun god." It values "Christ who sacrificed Himself on the cross and the meaning of His precious blood."

We reject the worship of the cross because it is an idol according to the Bible, and we do not celebrate Christmas because December 25 is the birthday of the sun god.

The Church of God rejects the images of the cross because it is an idol, and values Christ who sacrificed Himself on the cross and the meaning of His precious blood.

For the word of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us who are saved it is the power of God.

But far be it from me to glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world hath been crucified unto me, and I unto the world.

Who art thou that judgest the servant of another? to his own lord he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be made to stand; for the Lord hath power to make him stand. One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let each man be fully assured in his own mind. He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord: and he that eateth, eateth unto the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, unto the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks.

Nothing in the New Testament tells Christians to keep Christmas, and the date of Jesus' birth is not given. No image of the cross is commanded, and the church is right about that. But Paul does not turn from the cross: "the word of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us who are saved it is the power of God" (1 Corinthians 1:18), and he will "glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Galatians 6:14). The church keeps the word of the cross while refusing the symbol, and that much is its own liberty. But a symbol no one is told to use or to refuse, and a day such as Christmas, are matters on which Paul asks, "Who art thou that judgest the servant of another?" (Romans 14:4). The church calls the one an idol and the other a sun god's birthday and lists both among the marks of the true church, and there it judges where Paul does not.

Credit. The church's concern that no human tradition should stand beside Christ's word is Paul's own concern. Its pages say Christ's blood is the ground of forgiveness, and in that it agrees with the gospel.

The test is the same for every body: what the New Testament shows the first-century church doing and teaching, set beside what the church holds today. The World Mission Society is not a body on this site's lineage chart, because it holds that its founder is Christ come a second time and that a living God the Mother is its highest teacher. So each placement here rests on the rubric's rungs, and the reason is given with it. The church stands nearest the New Testament in its immersion of believers, its real supper of bread and wine, its veiled women at prayer and its love of the Bible. It stands furthest where it names a man as Christ and a woman as God.

Every scripture inspired of God is also profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction which is in righteousness: that the man of God may be complete, furnished completely unto every good work.

But though we, or an angel from heaven, should preach unto you any gospel other than that which we preached unto you, let him be anathema. As we have said before, so say I now again, If any man preacheth unto you any gospel other than that which ye received, let him be anathema.

Beloved, while I was giving all diligence to write unto you of our common salvation, I was constrained to write unto you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered unto the saints.

God, having of old time spoken unto the fathers in the prophets by divers portions and in divers manners, hath at the end of these days spoken unto us in his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the worlds;

The church says the Bible is the only standard and asks to be judged by it, which is the right standard. But the Bible does not carry its main claims: Ahnsahnghong is Christ, and a living God the Mother has "ultimate authority in matters of doctrine," as Introvigne and Folk report. The church writes that the test is "not a church's doctrine or a person's opinion," and then rests its founder's identity on its own reading of David's reign and of the word "east." The faith was "once for all delivered unto the saints," God "hath at the end of these days spoken unto us in his Son," and any gospel "other than that which we preached unto you" is accursed. On the rubric, a standing teacher whose word decides takes the lowest rung, whatever the book says it is.

Credit. The church puts its reasoning in print, quotes chapter and verse, and invites inspection. The Bereans were praised for "examining the Scriptures daily, whether these things were so" (Acts 17:11), and this chart does what they did. The church's claim to the Bible as sole judge, if held alone, would stand at the line.

And Peter said unto them, Repent ye, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ unto the remission of your sins; and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

And Paul said, John baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people that they should believe on him that should come after him, that is, on Jesus. And when they heard this, they were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus.

Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized into the name of Paul?

And in none other is there salvation: for neither is there any other name under heaven, that is given among men, wherein we must be saved.

The church baptizes believers by immersion and calls baptism necessary to salvation, which is nearer the New Testament than churches that sprinkle or deny that baptism is for forgiveness: "Repent ye, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ unto the remission of your sins" (Acts 2:38). The departure is in whose name the baptism is given and what faith it seals. The church requires belief in God the Father and God the Mother first, teaches that Ahnsahnghong is "the new name of Jesus," and baptizes again everyone baptized in a church "that does not know the Spirit and the Bride," where Paul asked, "were ye baptized into the name of Paul?" (1 Corinthians 1:13), and the only men baptized again in Acts were those not yet baptized "into the name of the Lord Jesus" (Acts 19:5). On the rubric that is a middle rung for who is baptized, the line for how, and a high rung for what it is for; the placement moves one step further because the church places eternal life in a second Christ, where Peter said "in none other is there salvation" (Acts 4:12).

The pre-existence of souls. The teaching that people were angels who sinned in heaven and were sent down has no support in the Bible. Paul says of Jacob and Esau that the children were "not yet born, neither having done anything good or bad" (Romans 9:11). Nothing in Scripture shows souls to be fallen angels.

Credit. The church teaches that Christ died for sin and gives eternal life, and it takes the command to be baptized as binding. That is a large agreement.

For I received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which he was betrayed took bread; and when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, This is my body, which is for you: this do in remembrance of me. In like manner also the cup, after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood: this do, as often as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink the cup, ye proclaim the Lord’s death till he come.

And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread and the prayers.

If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that ye also should do as I have done to you.

The apostolic church broke bread on the first day of the week (Acts 20:7), and Paul passed on the Lord's words: "this do, as often as ye drink it, in remembrance of me" (1 Corinthians 11:25). The church keeps a real meal of unleavened bread and wine, and in that it is nearer the pattern than churches that keep no meal at all. But it keeps the meal once a year, on a fixed night of the Jewish calendar, where the apostles' example is every first day, and that is charged in full on the question of when. It also teaches that by the bread and wine members "can be protected from the last disaster and receive eternal life," and that none is saved without the Passover, which lays on the meal a saving power beyond proclaiming "the Lord’s death till he come" (1 Corinthians 11:26). The placement rests on the yearly rhythm and on that saving power, with no move.

What a year-long gap loses. Paul wrote that "as often as ye eat this bread, and drink the cup, ye proclaim the Lord’s death till he come" (1 Corinthians 11:26). A meal kept once a year proclaims that death once a year. Christians in Troas gathered on the first day "to break bread," and Luke gives it as their purpose.

The foot-washing. The Lord gave the washing as "an example" (John 13:15), and the apostolic churches counted it a good work of the home, beside hospitality: "if she hath washed the saints’ feet" (1 Timothy 5:10). Paul delivered the Supper as he "received of the Lord" with no washing joined to it (1 Corinthians 11:23). To bind the washing as a ceremony before the bread adds a rite, as the Adventists' chart also finds, and it is weighed under worship.

Credit. The church keeps both the bread and the wine, and it does not make the bread into a sacrifice. That is nearer the New Testament than Rome.

And when they had appointed for them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they had believed.

For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that were wanting, and appoint elders in every city, as I gave thee charge;

Tend the flock of God which is among you, exercising the oversight, not of constraint, but willingly, according to the will of God; nor yet for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; neither as lording it over the charge allotted to you, but making yourselves ensamples to the flock.

But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your teacher, and all ye are brethren. And call no man your father on the earth: for one is your Father, even he who is in heaven. Neither be ye called masters: for one is your master, even the Christ.

The apostles appointed "elders in every church" (Acts 14:23), a company of them in each congregation, who were to tend the flock and not lord it over it. The church has a worldwide staff of pastors under one General Pastor, trained in its own seminary and gathered each year in Korea, and the sources read describe no local council of elders. On the rubric that is a hierarchy above the congregation and a clergy class, and it takes a high rung. The placement moves one step further, as for any body whose living head binds doctrine of its own: Introvigne and Folk report that the final word on doctrine rests with Zahng Gil-jah, held to be God. An elder is to be "holding to the faithful word which is according to the teaching" (Titus 1:9), not adding to it, and Jesus said, "one is your Father, even he who is in heaven" (Matthew 23:9).

Credit. The church uses New Testament offices: Introvigne and Folk list elders, deacons and deaconesses among them. The New Testament places elders over each congregation, not over the world, and gives no office whose word decides doctrine.

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts unto God.

But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth: for such doth the Father seek to be his worshippers. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship in spirit and truth.

For there is one God, one mediator also between God and men, himself man, Christ Jesus,

Much of the church's worship is right: members sing, pray, hear a sermon and give, in an orderly service, and Paul tells the church to teach and admonish "one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts unto God" (Colossians 3:16). Whether instruments are used is not stated, so nothing is charged for it. The church adds to the assembly a foot-washing bound as a ceremony before the bread, which Paul did not deliver with the Supper (1 Corinthians 11:23-26), and a Tuesday service that it says "purifies us." And its prayer goes to God as it names him, teaching that God the Father and God the Mother "have come in human form" as its founder and a living woman, where Paul knew "one mediator also between God and men, himself man, Christ Jesus" (1 Timothy 2:5). The binding of the Sabbath and the feasts is weighed under authority and in the distinctives, as on the Armstrong chart, so the placement is a high rung for acts added and for to whom prayer is offered, with no move.

Credit. The members sing standing together, pray in silence and in turn, and hear the word preached with Bible verses cited. The reverence with which they come is to their credit.

But the Comforter, even the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said unto you.

Beloved, believe not every spirit, but prove the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: and every spirit that confesseth not Jesus is not of God: and this is the spirit of the antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it cometh; and now it is in the world already.

Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are diversities of ministrations, and the same Lord. And there are diversities of workings, but the same God, who worketh all things in all. But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit to profit withal. For to one is given through the Spirit the word of wisdom; and to another the word of knowledge, according to the same Spirit: to another faith, in the same Spirit; and to another gifts of healings, in the one Spirit; and to another workings of miracles; and to another prophecy; and to another discernings of spirits: to another divers kinds of tongues; and to another the interpretation of tongues: but all these worketh the one and the same Spirit, dividing to each one severally even as he will.

in whom ye also, having heard the word of the truth, the gospel of your salvation,—in whom, having also believed, ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is an earnest of our inheritance, unto the redemption of God’s own possession, unto the praise of his glory.

In Scripture the Holy Spirit is the Comforter whom the Father sends in Christ's name, who dwells in believers and seals them when they hear and believe the gospel (Ephesians 1:13). In the church's teaching the Spirit is a name for God in this age, and in this age the name belongs to Ahnsahnghong. A man who died in 1985 is not the Spirit whom Jesus sent two thousand years ago. The church also says the Spirit comes through keeping the feasts, where Paul asks whether the Spirit was received "by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith" (Galatians 3:2). The placement is authored: the English pages say nothing of tongues or healing, so nothing is charged for them, but naming a man as the Spirit puts it on the far edge, and John writes, "prove the spirits, whether they are of God" (1 John 4:1).

The Trinity. The church says it believes the Trinity, but its definition is that one God works under three names in three ages. Scripture speaks of the Father, the Son and the Spirit at once: Jesus is baptized with the Spirit descending and the Father speaking. They are not three seasons of one person.

and then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven, with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we that are alive, that are left, shall together with them be caught up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

And inasmuch as it is appointed unto men once to die, and after this cometh judgment;

The apostles teach that Jesus will come again on the clouds, that the dead will be raised, and that judgment follows. They do not teach that the second coming has already happened in a man. The church says it has, and it ties safety from "the last disaster" to the Passover of its own keeping. It also teaches that souls lived as angels before birth, where the Bible says "it is appointed unto men once to die, and after this cometh judgment" (Hebrews 9:27). The center of its hope, that Christ has returned and that life comes through the Passover he restored, sets it far from the apostles' hope.

Credit. The church holds a real resurrection and a real judgment and a heaven where God lives with his people. It is not a body that denies the future.

The World Mission Society and the New Testament agree on much. The church honors the Bible, quotes it at length and asks to be tested by it. It baptizes believers by immersion for salvation. It keeps a real supper of unleavened bread and wine. It holds that Christ died for sin and will come again, that the dead will be raised, and that there will be a judgment. It takes the apostle's words on the veil seriously, and its members serve their neighbors in volunteer work. Paul's call to keep the feast of the new covenant "with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth" is a call the church hears.

The test falls hardest where the church is most distinct. It names Ahnsahnghong as the Christ come a second time, and the Lord said "false Christs" would arise and that his coming would be seen by all. It names a living woman as God the Mother, and the apostles knew one Father, one Lord and one Spirit, and refused worship offered to men. It ties salvation to a yearly Passover and the keeping of Levitical feasts, and the apostle says these are a shadow and that Christ "perfected for ever them that are sanctified" by one offering. It says that Nicaea abolished the Passover, and Philip Schaff, who read the council's own letter, shows that it fixed the date of Easter.

These verdicts rest on the text, not on the sincerity of the people. The members who baptize in water, break bread and open their Bibles are doing things the apostles did. The way back is the church's own first claim: that the Bible is the only standard of judgment. Held to that, the claims about Ahnsahnghong and the Mother must be found there, and they are not.

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