Seven years ago, Sister Zhou almost fell into the snare of the Korean cult “Shinchonji”, and this story remains fresh in her memory.
Back then, she eagerly hoped her son to return to the Lord. She found a church with a majority of young people who came through many inquiries and made great efforts to contact a girl surnamed Wang who was a schoolfellow of her son. After chatting on QQ and getting to know each other initially, Sister Zhou felt that Wang loved the Lord, so she let her guard down.
Zhou learned that Wang's church would go to Tsinghua University on weekends to preach the gospel and “sweep the building”, which meant going to each student's study room and distributing questionnaires. The purpose of this so-called “sweeping the building” was to get the students' information in order to further contact with these “little lambs”. Sister Zhou immediately applied to participate in it. To be cautious, she asked to go to Wang’s church to attend a Sunday worship, listen to the sermon first, and feel it. Wang agreed to her request.
On the Sunday morning, Sister Zhou arrived at the church ahead of schedule. It was actually an large room about 80 square meters in an office building. The young people who came to the gathering accounted for more than half, which made Zhou very happy. She imagined that one day, her son could return and believe in the Lord. With these peers he would definitely get along quickly.
Sister Zhou felt that everything was alright with the following Sunday worship procedure, praise, sermon, witness and other links, except that the young attendees were rather dull, and some of them never smiled. Maybe it's because they were under too much academic or work pressure, thought Zhou.
After the service, Wang and some young attendees took Zhou to the student dining room at Tsinghua University for a meal. After that, they went separately to “sweep the building” (to distribute questionnaires), and hardly missed a classroom. The general content of the questionnaire was to simply answer a few questions, such as “Have you ever heard of Christianity?”, “Are you a Christian?”, “Which generation of Christians are you?”.Then they asked the students to leave their contact information. Most students filled it up truthfully out of courtesy.
At the end of the day, hundreds of valid answers were received. In Sister Zhou's opinion, these young attendees were not only well trained but also hardworking and conscientious.
After that activity, Zhou returned to Wang’s residence, a three-bedroom apartment in the downtown area. Wang shared the apartment with two other girls, one room for each of them. During chat, Zhou learned that their expensive rent is paid by the higher authority.
Then, Wang told Zhou about her experience of believing in the Lord. For more than an hour, Wang was as logical as if she had been professionally trained. While Zhou was listening to this, a thought suddenly flashed in her mind: “How come it feels so similar to MLM(multilevel marketing, as well known as pyramid sales system)?” Later, Wang was quite proud to say that she had been continuously promoted because of her remarkable work achievements, and she also got a bonus from the headquarters, which was used to pay her tuition. Sister Zhou was confused, but she did not ask any more questions.
Later, Wang posted a fund-raising link on QQ, saying that the rent was about to expire, and there was still RMB 80,000 yuan left. After Sister transferred her RMB 200, Wang quickly replied that the rent had been fully provided by the higher authority. Later, Wang blocked Sister Zhou on QQ.
Now, after reading many reports, Zhou knows that she was almost involved in the “Shinchonji” cult that year. According to the report of the Global Times, the Korean cult has an organized and systematic management to attract young people who has got lack of faith by "caring" for them. By taking advantage from the pressure of young people who cannot afford to buy a house or get married, “Shinchonji” vigorously advocate for them to become believers to be redeemed. The ultimate goal of “Shinchonji” is to master student groups from universities, which is more effective than street work. As inexperienced college students, freshmen, and newly graduated young people have pressure in their studies and employment, so they are easier to be contacted and preached.
Zhou told her personal experience to the church pastor, who said that in the face of heresy such as “Shinchonji”, the church should focus on the truth, not heresies. The more believers understand the truth, the less susceptible they will be influenced by the heresy. The more believers study the truth attentively, the less likely heresy is to work.
Then, her church set up a youth fellowship to strengthen the teaching of the basic truth. On weekends or holidays, the full-time co-workers in the church would lead the young people to go out for activities, such as spring and autumn trips, picnic, rock climbing, etc. These trips will help to establish stable relationships with young people to understand their actual needs, to care for them and help them through the difficulties.
At this point, Zhou felt sorry for the young people like Wang, and also thanked God for keeping herself and her son from falling into the snare of “Shinchonji”. She stopped looking for the church, but instead she devoted herself to the study and ministry of the church.
(This is a contributionc article written by a freelance author, who is a seminary student in Yunnan.)
- Translated by Oliver Zuo
七年前，周姊妹曾与新天地擦肩而过，至今想起来仍是记忆犹新。
当年，一心盼望儿子早日归主的周姊妹，经多方打听，找到一间年轻人居多的教会，又费尽周折，联系上一位跟她的儿子在一个院校的王姓小姊妹。经过在QQ上聊天，初步了解后，周姊妹感觉那位王姊妹还是挺爱主的，便放松了警惕。
有一次聊天后得知，王姊妹所在的教会，在周末会去清华大学“扫楼”传福音。所谓“扫楼”，就是挨个儿去学生的自习室发放问卷，目的是留下学生的联系方式，以便进一步联络这些“小羊们”。周姊妹当即申请参加。谨慎起见，她还提出，先去王姊妹所在的教会参加一次主日崇拜，先听听道，感受一下。王姊妹答应了这个请求。
主日那天的早上，周姊妹提前到了那间教会，其实就是一幢写字楼的一个约80平方米的大开间。来聚会的年轻人确实占了一大半。周姊妹很高兴。想象着有一天，儿子能回转信主，跟这些同龄人在一起，一定会很快融入进来的。
接下来的主日崇拜的程序、赞美、讲道、见证等各个环节，周姊妹听起来都没啥问题，只是看到来聚会的年轻人比较沉闷，有的人脸上始终也没有笑容。也许是现在的孩子们学业或工作压力太大的原因吧，周姊妹也没有多想。
聚会结束以后，王姊妹和几个年轻人，带着周姊妹，去清华大学的学生餐厅吃个便饭，饭后马上就分头去“扫楼”发问卷了。他们几乎一间教室也没有落下。问卷的大致内容就是简单回答几个问题，比如，你听说过基督教吗？你是基督徒吗？是第几代基督徒？然后就是留下联系方式，大多数学生出于礼貌，还是如实填写了问卷。
一整天下来，收到上百份有效答卷。在周姊妹看来，这些发问卷的小弟兄小姐妹不仅训练有素，而且不辞劳苦，兢兢业业的。
活动结束后，周姊妹随王姊妹回到她的住处，是在市中心繁华地段租的三室一厅的公寓，王姊妹跟另外两个女孩子合住，一人一间。闲聊中得知，她们不菲的房租是统一由“上面”付的。
然后王姊妹就跟周姊妹讲自己的信主经历，一个多小时的讲述，就像受过专业训练一般，逻辑性强。听着听着，周姊妹脑子里忽然闪过一个念头：怎么感觉跟传销有些相似呢？随后，王姊妹还颇为自豪地讲起，她因工作果效显著，不断晋升，还得到总部的奖励金，支付了自己的学费等等。周姊妹听得一头雾水，但也没去多问。
后来，王姊妹在QQ上发了一个募款链接，说是房租快到期了，还差8万块钱。周姊妹转了200元后，王姊妹很快回复说，房租已经全部筹到了，还是“上面”总部提供的。再后来，王姊妹就拉黑了周姊妹。
如今，周姊妹看了很多报道后，已经知道她那年是跟新天地擦肩而过了。据《环球时报》的报道，新天地采取组织化和体系化的管理，通过给信仰缺失的年轻人“关怀”，来吸引他们，利用年轻人面临买不起房、结不起婚的压力，大力鼓 吹成为新天地信徒就会得到救赎等等。新天地的终极目标就是掌握各大学的学生团体，这样做比街道传教更有效。因为涉世不深的大学生、新生和刚毕业的年轻人在学业和就业方面会有压力，更容易接触并进行传教。
周姊妹把自己的亲身经历告诉了教会牧者，牧者说，面对新天地等异端，教会要把重点放在真理上，而非异端那里。因为信徒越明白真理，就越不容易受异端的影响；信徒越用心学习真理，异端就越不容易发生作用了。
接着，周姊妹所在的教会成立了青年团契，加强教导基要真理的同时，在周末或者节假日，由教会里专职负责的同工，带领年轻人外出活动，在春游、秋游、野餐、攀岩等等活动中，建立起比较稳固的关系，了解他们的实际需求，关怀他们，帮助他们度过难关。
至此，周姊妹为王姊妹等年轻人感到惋惜的同时，也感谢神，保守自己和儿子没有陷入新天地的网罗里。她也不再乱找教会，而是投入到教会的学习和服侍。
注：本文为特约/自由撰稿人文章，作者系云南一名神学生。
http://www.fuyinshibao.cn/article/index/id/62328
那年，她与新天地擦肩而过
Seven years ago, Sister Zhou almost fell into the snare of the Korean cult “Shinchonji”, and this story remains fresh in her memory.
Back then, she eagerly hoped her son to return to the Lord. She found a church with a majority of young people who came through many inquiries and made great efforts to contact a girl surnamed Wang who was a schoolfellow of her son. After chatting on QQ and getting to know each other initially, Sister Zhou felt that Wang loved the Lord, so she let her guard down.
Zhou learned that Wang's church would go to Tsinghua University on weekends to preach the gospel and “sweep the building”, which meant going to each student's study room and distributing questionnaires. The purpose of this so-called “sweeping the building” was to get the students' information in order to further contact with these “little lambs”. Sister Zhou immediately applied to participate in it. To be cautious, she asked to go to Wang’s church to attend a Sunday worship, listen to the sermon first, and feel it. Wang agreed to her request.
On the Sunday morning, Sister Zhou arrived at the church ahead of schedule. It was actually an large room about 80 square meters in an office building. The young people who came to the gathering accounted for more than half, which made Zhou very happy. She imagined that one day, her son could return and believe in the Lord. With these peers he would definitely get along quickly.
Sister Zhou felt that everything was alright with the following Sunday worship procedure, praise, sermon, witness and other links, except that the young attendees were rather dull, and some of them never smiled. Maybe it's because they were under too much academic or work pressure, thought Zhou.
After the service, Wang and some young attendees took Zhou to the student dining room at Tsinghua University for a meal. After that, they went separately to “sweep the building” (to distribute questionnaires), and hardly missed a classroom. The general content of the questionnaire was to simply answer a few questions, such as “Have you ever heard of Christianity?”, “Are you a Christian?”, “Which generation of Christians are you?”.Then they asked the students to leave their contact information. Most students filled it up truthfully out of courtesy.
At the end of the day, hundreds of valid answers were received. In Sister Zhou's opinion, these young attendees were not only well trained but also hardworking and conscientious.
After that activity, Zhou returned to Wang’s residence, a three-bedroom apartment in the downtown area. Wang shared the apartment with two other girls, one room for each of them. During chat, Zhou learned that their expensive rent is paid by the higher authority.
Then, Wang told Zhou about her experience of believing in the Lord. For more than an hour, Wang was as logical as if she had been professionally trained. While Zhou was listening to this, a thought suddenly flashed in her mind: “How come it feels so similar to MLM(multilevel marketing, as well known as pyramid sales system)?” Later, Wang was quite proud to say that she had been continuously promoted because of her remarkable work achievements, and she also got a bonus from the headquarters, which was used to pay her tuition. Sister Zhou was confused, but she did not ask any more questions.
Later, Wang posted a fund-raising link on QQ, saying that the rent was about to expire, and there was still RMB 80,000 yuan left. After Sister transferred her RMB 200, Wang quickly replied that the rent had been fully provided by the higher authority. Later, Wang blocked Sister Zhou on QQ.
Now, after reading many reports, Zhou knows that she was almost involved in the “Shinchonji” cult that year. According to the report of the Global Times, the Korean cult has an organized and systematic management to attract young people who has got lack of faith by "caring" for them. By taking advantage from the pressure of young people who cannot afford to buy a house or get married, “Shinchonji” vigorously advocate for them to become believers to be redeemed. The ultimate goal of “Shinchonji” is to master student groups from universities, which is more effective than street work. As inexperienced college students, freshmen, and newly graduated young people have pressure in their studies and employment, so they are easier to be contacted and preached.
Zhou told her personal experience to the church pastor, who said that in the face of heresy such as “Shinchonji”, the church should focus on the truth, not heresies. The more believers understand the truth, the less susceptible they will be influenced by the heresy. The more believers study the truth attentively, the less likely heresy is to work.
Then, her church set up a youth fellowship to strengthen the teaching of the basic truth. On weekends or holidays, the full-time co-workers in the church would lead the young people to go out for activities, such as spring and autumn trips, picnic, rock climbing, etc. These trips will help to establish stable relationships with young people to understand their actual needs, to care for them and help them through the difficulties.
At this point, Zhou felt sorry for the young people like Wang, and also thanked God for keeping herself and her son from falling into the snare of “Shinchonji”. She stopped looking for the church, but instead she devoted herself to the study and ministry of the church.
(This is a contributionc article written by a freelance author, who is a seminary student in Yunnan.)
- Translated by Oliver Zuo
That Year, She Almost Fell Into the Snare of Shinchonji Cult
