Church of God Jesus Witnesses
The Church of God was founded in 1964 in Busan, South Korea by Ahn Sang-hong. Ahn Sang-hong entered the Seventh-day Adventist Church in 1954 and was expelled in March 1962 after insisting that annual feasts such as the Passover should be observed in addition to the Sabbath.
The Church of God celebrates the Sabbath and the annual feasts such as the Passover, the Pentecost, and the feast of Tabernacles, and women cover their heads with towels during worship.
It is generally known to people that the World Mission Society Church of God(WMSCOG) is the Church of God founded by Ahn Sang-hong. However, the original name of the Church of God was the Church of God Jesus Witnesses(COGJW). When Ahn Sang-hong survived, it was a single denomination, but now it is divided into several denominations, and the largest of them is the WMSCOG.
In February 1985, the sudden death of the founder Ahn Sang-hong caused confusion regarding the succession structure within the COGJW. Eventually, as the Seoul Church, centered on Jang Gil-ja, became independent from the Busan Church, it was separated into two churches.
The Seoul Church attempted to seize the power of the church by appointing Gil-ja Jang as God the mother of the spirit and Joo-cheol Kim as the general president, but failed to achieve their will due to the opposition of the Busan Church. The Seoul Church, which was independent from the Busan Church, began to make new arguments doctrinally as follows.
- Ahn Sang-hong is God who came in the flesh and is the Second Advent Jesus Christ. Therefore, you must pray in the name of Ahn Sang-hong.
- Jang Gil-ja is God the mother appointed by Ahn Sang-hong, and you must believe in Jang Gil-ja together with Ahn Sang-hong to gain eternal life.
- The official name of the church shall be 'Church of God Ahn Sang-hong Witnesses'.
However, the Busan Church did not accept the claim of the Seoul Church and insisted as follows.
- Ahn Sang-hong is a prophet and should not be deified.
- Ahn Sang-hong thoroughly rejected the claim that God the Mother exists, and taught that the bride in the Bible means saints.
- The only name of the Savior is Jesus.
After the two churches were divided, the Seoul Church began to argue that the orthodox Church of God belongs to them as follows.
- In January 1985, Sanghong Ahn held a meeting at the Seoul Church and decided to move the address of the general meeting from Busan to Seoul.
- Ahn Sang-hong secretly and verbally left a will at the Seoul Church in January 1985 to make Jang Gil-ja the mother God and Kim Joo-cheol as the next general president.
However, the Busan Church refuted the claims of the Seoul Church as follows.
- From 1964 to 1984, the Busan Church was the headquarters of God's Church, and has served as a general meeting every year without exception.
- The meeting held at the Seoul Church in January 1985 was a meeting to register the church with the government and was not an official general meeting. Therefore, only members of the Seoul Church attended the meeting, and it was a meeting that many churches across the country did not know. When registering with the government, it was said that the address should be set to Seoul for business convenience, but the Busan Church decided to play the role of the actual general meeting. Furthermore, since the church's government registration was not carried out, all the decisions of the meeting were canceled.
- Ahn Sang-hong died suddenly from a stroke, so he has not left any wills on the succession structure.
The Seoul Church, which started as Church of God Ahn Sang-hong Witnesses in 1985, began to expand the church with the theory of time limit eschatology, and began overseas missions around 1997 and changed the name of the church to World Mission Society Church of God(WMSCOG). Since then, it has grown steadily and has entered 175 countries, and has established over 8,000 churches worldwide.
COGJW has kept Ahn Sang-hong's teachings unchanged since 1985 and believes that Ahn Sang-hong is just a prophet who fulfilled Elijah's mission. And COGJW believes that it is blasphemy to regard Ahn Sang-hong or Jang Gil-ja as divine beings, and that the last church must restore the truth of the early church and keep God's commandments and faith in Jesus.
COGJW values God's commandments as follows.
- Baptism by immersion
- the Sabbath day worship
- The cross is an idol.
- Women wear towels on their heads when worshiping or praying.
- Daily regular prayer time
- The Passover, The feast of Unleavened Bread, the feast of First Fruit, the Day of Pentecost, the feast of Trumpet, the Day of Atonement, and the feast of Tabernacles
- Feast dates must be set on the new moon in accordance with the Bible.
COGJW decided around 1992 that all biblical dates of the feasts should be set based on the new moon. However, there were some who insist the full moon must be the standard, and who left the church saying that they could not follow the decision of the General Assembly. Around 2002, when Ahn Sang-hong's younger son Ahn Kwang-seop joined to them, a separate church was established in Songpa, Seoul, whose name was the New Covenant Passover Church of God(NCPCOG).
When NCPCPG left COGJW in Busan, the only difference was whether it was based on the new moon or the full moon when calculating the feast dates. However, after Ahn Kwang-seop joined, they began to make new arguments about Ahn Sang-hong around 2007. They began to argue that they should believe in Ahn Sang-hong as God who came in the flesh, the Second Coming Jesus.
COGJW says that no one other than Jesus can be as a divine being and only Jesus Christ is the Savior. Therefore, COGJW says that there could be decisive errors different from the Bible in the teaching of Ahn Sang-hong. For example, you may find an article on the COGJW's official Internet homepage that the interpretation of the prophecy of the king of David's throne that Ahn Sang-hong claimed was wrong.
External links[edit]
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