Monday of this week, I was greeted at the door by a couple of missionaries. This was the first time I’ve ever had the opportunity to talk with cultists in this face-to-face personal context since my JC meeting over three years ago. It was an exciting experience to be sure.
One of them was a smiley Asian man with braces, accompanied by a Caucasian woman who stood off to the side. The man barely spoke English as he offered to show me a video on what looked like an iPad (I had no idea cults were getting this high-tech these days, ha!). The very dramatic presentation he had to show me raised the question âIf there’s a God the Father, couldn’t there be a God the Mother?â Of course, like most of these questions cult propaganda raise, it was a rhetorical one, and their answer became rather obvious as the video went along…
Now, I started out by assenting to the fact that the Holy Spirit is sometimes thought of in the feminine as the Shekinah glory is grammatically femine in Hebrew. And it is a tempting conclusion to draw, considering within the revealed Triune nature of God we have the Father and the Son, and this third person we call the Spirit. If the Son was born into the world through the conception of the Spirit (just as Mary bore Christ out of her womb 9 months after that), wouldn’t it be logical to think that perhaps the Spirit could be thought of as God the Mother?
On the other hand, I immediately pointed out that the language of scripture never actually employs such terminology, and so in essence the conclusion is extra-biblical speculation. And the important thing is that when we consider God in the totality of His nature, He is always masculine. Why? Because, we ourselves are feminine in comparison. As the Bride of Christ, the Church is the feminine counterpart to our masculine God.
Upon later study, it seems these folks were from the World Mission Society Church of God. They never identified themselves, and I initially thought after speaking with them that they were from the Unification Church (a.k.a Moonies). When I finally found the video they had shown me online, I realized my error.
Now, since it seems that this cult absolutely needs this doctrinal assertion to validate its further conclusions (i.e. that Ahn Sahng-Hong’s wife Zang Gil-Jah is the incarnation of God the Mother), then it’s understandable that the discussion did not end there. And instead this womanâat this point her companion was remaining silentâcontinued to argue for âGod the Motherâ as though it was an established fact in scripture.
She started with Genesis 1:27, âSo God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.â
âSee?â she asked. âThe image of God is both masculine and feminine, for ‘male and female He created them’!â
âAh…â I started, âbut notice the semi-colon we put here in the text? These are ultimately two distinct thoughts that are related enough to join together in one sentence, but distinct enough to necessitate a semi-colon.â (Punctuation has fascinated me for some time, for all of its nuances have been a challenge for me to master). âIn order to exegete this passage properly, it seems more likely to me that the antecedent of the thought here with ‘male and female’ is not so much about God’s ‘image’ but rather simply how God ‘created him’. It would be reaching to insist it necessarily implies anything more that God created both male and female individually in the image of God.â
Seeing that I was not convinced, she started by making an argument that when one sees a term in scripture he can not simply assume that its referent is the same in every context. Quickly going on to John 21:15 where Jesus said to Simon Peter âFeed my lambs.â
âJesus was the lamb of God, yes?â she asked excitedly.
âYes,â I replied dryly.
âBut Jesus wasn’t saying ‘Feed my Jesuses’ was He?â she asked somewhat condescendingly.
âYes, of course He wasn’t,â I replied, trying valiantly not to roll my eyes. And at this point, I wasn’t entirely sure where she was going with this line of thought.
So she went on to Matthew 22 and rather hurriedly gave a summary of the parable of the wedding feast (without reading it), and asked the question insistently âWhere is the bride here?â
Thrown somewhat off-guard, I replied something to the effect that the bride hadn’t arrived, and asked her what her point was exactly. She went on to assert that the Bride had not come down out of Heaven yet, and that this Bride is in fact God the Mother.
So, I informed her that she was making an argumentum ex silentio. There’s simply no mention in this text of any âmotherâ, the whole thing is entirely a parable, and there’s nothing in the text to refute the understanding in Orthodox Christianity that the Bride of Christ is the Church. Now, we didn’t get to debate this passage of scripture much at the time, before she just wanted to move on enthusiastically to another one of her proof texts about which she was clearly exuberant: Galatians 4:26.
Here we read âBut the Jerusalem that is above is free, and she is our mother.â Aha! Our âmotherâ! âOur mother!â she emphasized dogmatically. So at this point, I explained how âthe Jerusalem that is aboveâ is clearly referring to the Church, and if we interpret âmotherâ here figuratively, it’s understandable as the Church is greater than any one of us individually. And I pointed out how the video her companion showed me asserted that no one else seems to understand this âmotherâ motiff, yet Roman Catholics are fond of referring to their organization as their âmotherâ (just as the Watchtower is of theirs), for they believe it to be the Universal Church itself Paul was referring to here. Both the Unification Church and the Church of Jesus Christ and Latter-Day Saints also teach about “God the Mother” or “Heavenly Mother” quite explicitly, the former matching this cult’s conception to a tee, but we didn’t get into that at the time.
Now, at this point, she did her best to be cordial and kind, but said something akin to âWell, I would rather go with what the Apostle Paul actually has to say…â To which I tried my best not to groan.
Around this time, they informed me their âride just arrivedâ, but I did manage to request and schedule an appointment with them for a study before they left. I should have the opportunity to talk with them again in a few short days. In the mean time, I felt that with this entry, I would share some points I didn’t get to make in the spontaneity of the moment.
So, suffice it to say, the key verse that is used to support this whole âGod the Motherâ concept is Galatians 4:26. Like cultists often do, the context is completely neglected when interpreting this passage, so let’s examine what’s being ignored now…
âFor it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise. Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children. But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.â – Galatians 4:22-26
So, when we read the verse in context, it becomes quite apparent why âJerusalem which is aboveâ is referred to as a âmotherâ. For what Paul is expressing he says himself is in the context of âallegoryâ (verse 24). The âbondmaidâ Agar (a.k.a Hagar) is the mother of those âborn after the fleshââthe natural Israelites. Meanwhile, the âfreewomanâ (Sarah) is âthe mother of us allâ, for she allegorically depicts the new covenantâremember that the two women âare the two covenantsâ.
Now, if we insist that we must interpret the âmotherâ of the last verse literally and conclude that Paul is affirming that this âmotherâ is a person or aspect of God, then what exactly does he mean by the âJerusalem which is aboveâ? If âJerusalem… above… is the motherâ, then how exactly is this mother a city? We can not escape that one must be a figure of the other. Either Jerusalem is somehow a metaphor for a literal mother, or the mother is a metaphor for a literal city.
There is absolutely good reason to assert the latter. In our own language, we often hear expressions of âthe father landâ or âthe mother landâ. These days it is not uncommon in environmental movements to hear much talk of âMother Earthâ. The land that sustains us is easily understood as a maternal metaphor.
Not to base our conclusions solely on contemporary usage of terms in our language, however, if we simply examine the text itself it’s quite clear that the counterpart to the âJerusalem which is aboveâ is the literal city of Jerusalem on Earth. It only makes sense that if one woman (Agar) represents a city, that the other woman (âthe motherâ) would represent a cityânot the other way around.
When we go outside this passage to the rest of scripture, we see this is not the first time we have feminine metaphors employed like this. In Proverbs 1:20-21, wisdom is personified as a woman who cries aloud in the streets. Again, considering Paul is making allegorical comparisons, it only makes sense that this woman too would be the personification of something more impersonal (viz. the Heavenly Jerusalem).
While Revelation is a book that is admittedly written in figurative language, one has to wonder why in Revelation 21 the dimensions and attributes of the heavenly Jerusalem are described in meticulous detail. Is this really the description of God the Mother? It’s hard to see how âgatesâ (v.13), a âwallâ (v.14), specific measurments (vs.15-17), and particular stones for its construction (v.18-20) could all be applied to what is in reality a person. Are these different aspects of God the Mother’s psyche or something? It seems much more likely, that again, the mother is a metaphor for the cityâthe city is not a metaphor for the mother.
Paul is commonly thought in much tradition to have written the book of Hebrews, and there Paul again describes âthe city of the living Godâ in very spatial terms, where it’s hard to see how this âheavenly Jerusalemâ is in full literal reality a person…
âBut you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks better than the blood of Abel.â – Hebrews 12:22-24
It is simply the consistent witness of scripture that the âbride of Christâ is His people. In the Old Testament, God’s people were depicted as His bride: âI took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORDâ (Jeremiah 31:32). So too, with the âcovenantâ, Christâwho is God incarnateâhas His bride: the Church. And like natural Israel that has its land, spiritual Israel has its own land as well: the heavenly Jerusalem. It is the motherland.
So, in regards to Matthew 22, the bride has not yet âappearedâ, for it has not fully formed. I related this analogy to the two missionaries at one point in the course of our conversation: We all start out in life as single-cellular organisms within our mother’s womb. As we grow and grow, we finally become mature enough to emerge from the womb and make our appearance into the world.
Now, like all analogies, it has to be applied in context and it has its limitations and shortcomings. Certainly, in one sense we could say it is God that nourishes us in His spirit and could be related to the âmotherâ in that analogy. Jesus Himself said âO Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wingsâ (Luke 13:34). And this is an important quote, as we note that Jesus not only compares Himself to a female organism (a hen), but at the same time speaks of Jerusalem having âchildrenâ.
So, while God in certain aspects can be conceptualized in feminine ways, He is always to be understood in His totality as the ultimate Masculine to the feminine Church. The Church is greater than any of its constituent members, and has its orginâand perhaps its greatest number of membersâin Heaven. Just as natural Jerusalem has its âchildrenâ, so too are we Christians the children of heavenly Jerusalem.
âGod the Motherâ is simply and completely foreign to the Bible, and like so many seemingly innocuous doctrines first presented by cultists, it is used to justify something even more aberrant and diabolical. For instance, as I’ve come to find out in some preliminary research, “God the Mother” is considered in this cult’s theology to be a separate god altogether from “God the Father” who is the one to appear in the various “roles” of Father, Son, and Spirit. Thus we have the heretical Modalism (most prominent in Oneness Pentecostalism) combined with a blatant affirmation of polytheism (as in Mormonism).
Currently, my appointment is scheduled for Monday, and I’m looking forward to discussing some of these thingsâas well as much greater objectionsâin the days and weeks ahead.
Hi, I’d just like to thank you for all your write-ups on World Mission Society Church of God.
I’m a Christian that lives in Singapore and I was approached by two members from their branch in Singapore. They came across as rational, good-hearted, warm people. So I decided to meet up with them to understand how such rational and loving people could believe in something so radical.
I did a search on them and found only one other website that had apologetics in relation to their beliefs! I absolutely resound with the experience you had with them! I sensed that condescending tone throughout the conversation, and that strange excitement.
They hold to the belief that they have the absolute truth and the perfect interpretation of the bible. So no matter how much I tried to show them other interpretations, they just seemed to ignore it by pointing elsewhere to other verses. Which led to a rather pointless and circular discussion because they simply don’t accept others interpretations.
I’m am rather dismayed because they seem like really nice people but I don’t know what to do for them.
Well, you can certainly pray for them and hope for the best. If it is God’s will, there is nothing that will keep them from Him. I’ve been doing more research on the cult myself, and once I have something substantial I’m going to have another article put together on the subject and perhaps call up this missionary with whom I conversed before. Suffice it to say, I’m looking to get a hold of some old books this Ahnsanghong figure wrote before he died. Apparently the man himself never actually claimed to be Jesus and everything he wrote was about predicting Christ’s return–not declaring that He already had. The WMSCOG has suppressed publication of these older books and is currently waging an online propaganda campaign.
Look forward to some updates in the near future. In the mean time, thanks for your reply and may the Lord bless you richly! :)
I did not have time to read the article and only watched the video above and just wanted to point out how I am taught that though known as God the Father, God has no gender and no physical form so does any of this really make sense. Anyway just a thought!
God has one physical incarnation in the person of Jesus Christ, but in His Essence, God is Spirit and thus sexless, yes. However, that does not necessarily mean genderless (gender is a linguistic term after all). We conceptualize God in the Masculine, just as the Church is in the Feminine as Christ’s Bride.
Hi, I had a Bible study with three girls from this church yesterday. They talked about how Ahn Sang-hong was Jesus but died a few years ago and how all the members of the church would be still alive when the end comes. This was based on a verse in Revelation where it talks about four winds and they were sure that the four winds represent world war one and two. Also something about stars falling from heaven like fig leaves and that stars and figs represent Jews and all the stars falling from heaven meant the holocaust.
All of this was very new to me, which impressed me since I’ve debating hundreds of people from all kinds of religions for years. Kinda scary for me because I thought they belonged to my church so this was a huge change that come quickly and out of nowhere.
So, do you have any more thoughts on this subject? Did you meet them again and have you written anything about that?
Best wishes,
Halldor
I need to get back to posting on this site, as I do have some more articles planned. In the mean time, yes Halldor, I have written two other articles besides this one. Here’s the section on this site for the WMSCOG –> https://yacawa.org/category/cultresearch/world-mission-society-church-of-god/
Hey, sbutle must be your middle name. Great post!
Thank you for this post. I was searching Google for clarification after two missionaries knocked on my door. One was an Asian woman who did not speak, the other was a mixed-race woman who did all of the talking about “God the mother.” They never identified themselves to me either, but also requested to make an appointment with me after reading the above passages.
I wasn’t sure how to feel at the time. I didn’t want to be rude, I didn’t want to meet with them, but I felt obligated to schedule an appointment. Now I’m not sure what to do. They inquired about my beliefs and made me feel inferior because my beliefs differed from their own (which of course I was not happy about because here they are, on MY doorstep). I don’t want to meet and I’ll probably call to cancel.
Thank you for pointing out who these people are so I know not to answer the door in the future!
thank you for the enlightenment. it’s plain weird that their website doesn’t even have anything about them!
ForGod is Spirit john 4:15 this can’t be argued the ihe who adds or takes from the bible. In this verses does not say Gil anhshonghong….. And also when the angel of the Lord appeared to marry he said the holy spirit would come upon. So does that mean Gil anshanghon got marry pregnant I don’t think so….
Gen 1:2 The earthwas formlessandempty,anddarkness covered the deep waters. And the Spirit of God was hovering overthe surface of the waters.
Gen 6:3 Then the LORD said, “My Spirit will not put up with humans for such a long time, for theyare onlymortalflesh. In the future, their normal lifespan will be no more than 120 years.”
Gen 41:38 So Pharaoh asked his officials, “Can we find anyone else like this man so obviouslyfilled with the spirit of God?”
Exd 28:3 Instruct all the skilled craftsmen whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom. Have them make garments forAaronthat will distinguish him as a priest set apart for my service.
Exd 31:3 I have filled him with the Spirit of God, giving him great wisdom, ability, and expertise in all kinds of crafts.
Exd 35:31 The LORD has filled Bezalel with the Spirit of God, giving him great wisdom, ability, and expertise in all kinds of crafts.
Lev 26:19 I will break your proud spirit by making the skies as unyielding as iron and the earthas hardas bronze.
Num 11:17 I will come down and talk to you there. I willtake some of the Spirit that is uponyou,andI willput the Spirit upon them also. They will bear the burden of the people along with you, so you will not have to carry it alone.
Num 11:25 And the LORD came down in the cloudandspoketoMoses. Then he gave the seventyelders the same Spirit that was upon Moses. And when the Spirit rested uponthem,theyprophesied.Butthis never happened again.
Num 11:26 Two men, Eldad and Medad, had stayed behind in the camp. They were listed amongthe elders,buttheyhadnot gone out tothe Tabernacle. Yet the Spirit rested uponthem as well, so they prophesied there inthe camp.
Num 11:29 But Moses replied, “Are you jealous for my sake? I wish that all the LORD’s people were prophets and that the LORD would put his Spirit uponthem all!”
Num 24:2 where he saw the people of Israel camped,tribe by tribe. Then the Spirit of God came uponhim,
Num 27:18 The LORD replied, “Take Joshua son of Nun,who has the Spirit in him, and lay your hands on him.
Deu 34:9 Now Joshua sonofNun was fullofthe spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands on him. So the people of Israel obeyed him, doing just as the LORD had commanded Moses.
Jdg 3:10 The Spirit of the LORD came uponhim, and he became Israel’s judge. He went to war against King Cushan-rishathaim of Aram, and the LORD gave Othnielvictoryoverhim.
Jdg 6:34 Then the Spirit of the LORD tookpossession ofGideon.He blew a ram’s hornas a calltoarms,andthe menofthe clanofAbiezer came to him.
Jdg 9:23 God sent a spirit that stirred up trouble between Abimelech and the leadingcitizens of Shechem, and theyrevolted.
Jdg 11:29 At that time the Spirit of the LORD came uponJephthah,andhe went throughout the land ofGileadandManasseh,including Mizpah in Gilead, and from there he led an army against the Ammonites.
Jdg 13:25 And the Spirit of the LORD began to stir him while he lived in Mahaneh-dan, which is located between the towns of Zorah and Eshtaol.
Jdg 14:6 At that moment the Spirit of the LORD came powerfully upon him, and he ripped the lion’s jaws apartwithhis bare hands. He did it as easily as if it were a young goat. But he didn’t tell his father or motheraboutit.
Jdg 14:19 Then the Spirit of the LORD came powerfully upon him. He went down to the townof Ashkelon, killed thirty men, took their belongings, and gave their clothingtothe menwhohadsolvedhis riddle. But Samson was furiousaboutwhat hadhappened,and he went back home tolive withhis fatherandmother.
Jdg 15:14 As Samson arrived at Lehi, the Philistines came shouting in triumph. But the Spirit of the LORD came powerfully upon Samson, and he snapped the ropes on his arms as if they were burnt strands of flax, and they fell from his wrists.
1Sa 10:6 At that time the Spirit of the LORD will come powerfully upon you, and you will prophesy with them.Youwillbe changedintoa different person.
1Sa 10:10 When Saul and his servant arrived at Gibeah, they saw a group of prophets coming toward them.Thenthe Spirit of God came powerfully upon Saul, and he, too,began toprophesy.
1Sa 11:6 Then the Spirit of God came powerfully uponSaul, and he
I had the same experience just last night at my college! The “evangelists” I spoke with used these same arguments and COMPLETELY caught me off guard! Thank you for posting this! I really enjoyed reading it. they gave me this website if you wanted to investigate their belief’s further solely for study purposes of course. http://WWW.UCCSPACE.NET