The False Teachings and Lies of Joo-Cheol Kim (Pastor of the Church of God)

Introduction: this video is for Church of God members and their loved ones

Mike opens by addressing three audiences: current CoG members who have unanswered questions, loved ones of members, and people who encounter CoG recruiters on campuses or at malls.

Background recap: CoG teaches 'God the Mother' is a living Korean woman named Zhang Gil-ja

Mike's third video on CoG. Prior videos covered God the Mother and the group's founder Ahn Sahng-hong. A video was taken down via legal complaint and Mike was banned from YouTube live streams for three months.

Ahn Sahng-hong: CoG teaches he was the Second Coming of Christ, the Holy Spirit, and the Father

The founder of CoG. Mike did a separate video showing Sahng-hong did not even claim to be Christ — he thought he was Elijah.

Joo-Cheol Kim is the real architect of modern CoG doctrine — he introduced God the Mother and the Christ claim for Sahng-hong after taking over the group

After Sahng-hong died, Kim separated from Sahng-hong's biological family and took control. Prior to his leadership, neither the God the Mother teaching nor the Christ claim for Sahng-hong existed in the group.

CoG recruitment playbook: destabilize with questions about Passover or God the Mother, invite to all-day Bible study, frighten with 'pagan Christianity' rhetoric, then rush-baptize

Mike describes the standard recruitment pattern based on multiple testimonies from former members.

Kim's book frames itself as practically bearing God's very word — every issue is treated as a salvation issue except the actual gospel

Analysis of 'My Sheep Listen to My Voice.' The introduction says studying the book diligently will bring God's grace and blessing through 'his words.'

CoG teaches Saturday Sabbath-keeping is required for salvation

Chapter 1 of Kim's book. Page 15 states Sabbath must be kept 'to enter eternal rest.' Page 25 states rejecting the Sabbath brings God's judgment; teaching against it earns hell.

Christians are not under the Mosaic law — Sabbath observance is a liberty, not a requirement for salvation

Mike's rebuttal to Kim's Sabbath-as-salvation teaching.

Kim selectively applies Old Testament law — takes Sabbath but ignores everything else in the same passage (Ezekiel 22:26)

Kim quotes Ezekiel 22:26 as proof that disregarding the Sabbath profanes God. Mike shows the verse also mentions distinctions between holy/common and clean/unclean — the entire Levitical system.

Kim's hermeneutic: rip a single word from a verse, build a doctrine on it, ignore the surrounding context — this prevents members from reading the Bible properly

Summary statement on Kim's overall biblical interpretation method.

Kim misreads Acts 18:4 as a command for all believers to gather in synagogue every Sabbath; Mike shows it is merely a description of Paul's evangelistic method

Kim uses Acts 18:4 — 'he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath' — as a New Testament proof-text for mandatory Saturday church attendance.

Kim redefines the Sabbath as a list of behavioral rules for church attendance — show up on time, keep kids quiet, keep church clean, smile — rather than the biblical concept of rest

End of Kim's Sabbath chapter. He gives specific Sabbath rules that are entirely about corporate presentation.

The early church gathered on both the Sabbath and Sunday (first day of the week) — Acts 20:7 shows Sunday communion; Kim tries to explain this away as a once-a-year event

Mike presents early church gathering patterns; Kim's rebuttal in his book.

1 Corinthians 16:2 shows early Christians gathering on the first day of the week; Kim claims this proves they went to work that day, not that they worshiped

Mike cites 1 Corinthians 16:2 — 'on the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up' — as further evidence of Sunday gathering.

Kim builds straw men to argue against — e.g., fabricating the objection that Saturday worship is cultish, then refuting it, to avoid real criticism of his actual false teachings

Kim's apologetics section in the Sabbath chapter, around page 47.

Kim claims Christmas is simultaneously six different pagan festivals — the internet is thick with misinformation about Christmas origins

Chapter on Christmas in Kim's book. Kim says celebrating Christmas means unknowingly worshipping pagan deities and ultimately Satan.

Refutation of the six Christmas-pagan claims: Baal was not a sun god and had no December 25 festival; Nimrod was never deified with a December birthday; Saturnalia ended before Dec 25; winter solstice is Dec 21; Mithra's Dec 25 birth is a modern myth; Sol Invictus December celebration may postdate Christian observance

Mike goes through each of Kim's six claims one by one.

Even if December 25 had pagan associations, God does not reject sincere worship of Christ offered on that day — the idea that a date determines whether God accepts prayer is biblically baseless

Mike makes the theological argument that the day of worship does not determine its validity before God.

CoG claims Passover is the central truth of the Bible and the number-one command of God — without their Passover observance there is no salvation

Kim's book page 135. Kim says most people don't know 'the central truth of the Bible' — which in his framework is the physical Passover observance, not the gospel of Christ.

CoG claims Passover was 'completely destroyed' at the Council of Nicaea in AD 325 and no one has been saved for 1,600 years until Ahn Sahng-hong restored it

Kim's book page 149. This is described as the 'weird core teaching' of the group.

CoG's 'Passover' is identical to ordinary Christian Communion — the only differences are calling it 'Passover,' requiring women to wear veils, and holding it on a secret date

After two months of research and speaking with former members, Mike determined what CoG actually does at Passover.

CoG uses the Passover plague narrative (Exodus) to warn members that not participating in their Passover will bring plagues upon them

Kim draws on the Exodus Passover story — the lamb's blood protected Israelites from the death of the firstborn — and applies it as a literal threat to those outside CoG.

CoG is a doomsday cult — they predicted the end of the world in 2012, scrubbed those predictions from the internet, and are reportedly making new end-times predictions

Additional facts about CoG beyond Kim's book. Based on testimony from a recent former member.

CoG claims legitimacy from the phrase 'Church of God' appearing in the New Testament — this is a shallow name-based argument that proves nothing

CoG calls itself 'the Church of God' and cites New Testament passages that use that phrase (approximately 5-6 occurrences) as proof of their divine legitimacy.

Kim identifies heretics by three criteria — not observing Passover, celebrating Christmas, and having a cross — none of which relate to Jesus or the gospel

Chapter 4 of Kim's book. Pages 113, 115, and 117.

CoG uses the Queen's Award for Voluntary Service as propaganda to signal divine legitimacy — Jesus explicitly condemned this kind of public righteousness display

CoG prominently features the Queen's Award on its website and presents it to members as evidence they are the true Church of God.

Kim has recently begun teaching that all humans are fallen angels who pre-existed in heaven and sinned there before being born on earth

A new teaching Mike heard that day, translated from Korean. Not yet widely distributed in English.

Practical advice for former CoG members: discard everything Kim taught, start fresh, go deeper in theology and critical thinking, and be suspicious of any teacher who talks to you like a child

The 'hope' section Mike promised at the opening. Directed at former and questioning CoG members.

Genesis 1:27 does not teach two divine images (male and female) — it teaches one image of God in which men and women both participate, with God referred to as masculine

Q&A: question from Teresa Barrio about God the Mother and Genesis 1:27.

CoG leaders may be self-deceived rather than consciously lying — self-deception is possible and does not eliminate moral culpability

Q&A: question from Tim G about whether CoG leaders know they are deceiving people.

CoG leaders are motivated by power, money, and worship — the group targets wealthy Americans and sends members on pilgrimages to Korea to venerate Zhang Gil-ja

Q&A about what leaders gain. Based on testimony of a former member who traveled to Korea.

When talking to someone deep in CoG, prioritize biblical arguments over external historical claims — pick a focused topic (like God the Mother), prepare for their expected responses, and meet them in Scripture

Q&A: Austin asks for a 5-10 minute conversation strategy for someone deeply invested in CoG.

The simplest test for distinguishing true from false teachers is the identity of Jesus (who is he?) and the means of salvation (how am I saved?) — 1 John and Ephesians 2:8-9

Q&A: question from Zipa Duck about how new Christians can identify false vs. true teachers.

People deceived from childhood into false belief are still accountable, but God's judgment is calibrated to what they genuinely could have known — general revelation (creation, conscience) remains available to everyone

Q&A: question about accountability for someone deceived from before the age of accountability.

Jesus took only the bread and wine from the Passover meal — the Lord's Supper is the fulfillment of Passover, not its continuation

Q&A: Damien asks about the relationship between Passover and the Lord's Supper.

Exposing false teaching is inherently evangelistic — all evangelism involves correcting wrong beliefs about Jesus and salvation

Q&A: Naomi King asks whether one should actively expose false teaching to save others.