Summary
Shincheonji used to teach that the “sealed” 144,000 Kingdom and Priests will be selected first, and after this, the Great Tribulation would begin.
What happened in reality:
The Great Tribulation began before the completion of the sealed 144,000 Priests.
18 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their fellow Israelites, and I will put my words in his mouth. He will tell them everything I command him. 19 I myself will call to account anyone who does not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name. 20 But a prophet who presumes to speak in my name anything I have not commanded, or a prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, is to be put to death.”
21 You may say to yourselves, “How can we know when a message has not been spoken by the Lord?” 22If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the Lord does not take place or come true, that is a message the Lord has not spoken. That prophet has spoken presumptuously, so do not be alarmed.
Let us take a moment to look at one aspect of Revelation 7. In Revelation 7 there are 144,000 from the 12 tribes who are sealed. There are also winds being held back in verse 1, and it states in verse 3 that these winds will not be released until the 144,000 have been sealed.
Do not harm the land or the sea or the trees until we put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God. (NIV 1984)
Let us better understand the reality of the events of Revelation 7, with some excerpts from some articles Lee Man Hee wrote:
Article 1191 ‘The Fulfillment of the Prophecy of Rv 7, the Creation of the Priests of the Twelve Tribes’ (360822 – 22 Aug 2019)
After sealing 12,000 in each tribe, there comes a great tribulation. Through this great tribulation, a great multitude in white, the believers, come out from each nation, tribe, people, and language (Revelation 7:9, 14).
‘To all the congregation members of Shincheonji’ (370229 – 29 Feb 2020)
I want to speak about the sealed 144,000 of the 12 tribes in Rv 7. We may have 300,000 congregation members, but there must be 144,000 who are actually sealed in God’s view, not just 300,000. What happens once the 144,000 are sealed is the great tribulation. And it is written that it is after the great tribulation that the multitude in white will come so this is the order in which this will be fulfilled.
Both the Bible and Lee Man Hee testify that the great tribulation does not take place until the 144,000 (12,000 in each tribe) have been sealed. Then, how much of this has been fulfilled today? Let us turn to the words of The One Who Ate the Opened Scroll to hear Lee Man Hee’s testimony of the fulfillment of Revelation.
‘To all the congregation members of Shincheonji’ (370229 – 29 Feb 2020)
We are now facing this great tribulation and the whole country is facing this great tribulation.
‘Creation of God’s New Kingdom, New Era, New People’ (370404 – 4 April 2020)
The fact this great tribulation has come (Rev 7) is the evidence that 144,000 of 12 tribes have been sealed.
‘The Re-Creation of Heaven and Earth, the Hidden Things from of Old, Prophecy, and Fulfillment’ (380915 – 15 Sep 2021)
Additionally, it is recorded that after the 144,000 are sealed, the trial that will come upon the whole world, that is, the great tribulation, will take place for the creation of the multitude in white, but this great tribulation (the Covid-19 pandemic) has currently begun.
‘To all the saints of the 12 tribes nationwide’ (380922 – 22 Sep 2021)
Now is the time of the great tribulation as mentioned in the Bible.
Lee Man Hee is clearly testifying that the great tribulation is currently taking place, and that this means the 144,000 of the 12 tribes have been sealed.
Here is the problem: The Bartholomew tribe does not currently, and has never in the past, had 12,000 members.
Below is a graph from the Year 36 General Assembly Yearly Report.
It may be hard to make out but if you look closely, Bartholomew tribe had approximately 5000 members in 2019. Unfortunately, due to COVID-19 there has not been a similar tribe member report from the General Assembly for 2020. However, as we can see from the above quote Lee Man Hee said the great tribulation started from at least February 29, 2020. Therefore, according to Lee Man Hee there should be 12,000 sealed per tribe before February 29, 2020. This would require the Bartholomew tribe to evangelize and seal 7000 members in 3 months, half the time it takes to complete center classes. But we do not even have to analyze the Bartholomew tribe’s numbers to see the 144,000 were not sealed before the great tribulation started, because Lee Man Hee wrote in April 2021 that there were still 7 tribes that did not have 12,000 sealed.
‘The Prophecies of Revelation and the Four Gospels’ (380411 – 11 Apr 2021)
It is said in the Bible that “from each tribe 12,000 were sealed.” It is incorrect to say that 12,000 includes those who are not sealed. This is because it says, “those who were sealed.” Thus, the 12 tribes are taking Bible exams in order to confirm [who has been] sealed; those who receive a passing score on these exams are the ones who are sealed. However, there are 7 tribes that have not completely filled the sealed 12,000.
Quick side note
It could be argued that the article had to be translated and therefore could have been written before the great tribulation started. There are two problems with this argument:
- Lee Man Hee’s articles are translated as quickly as possible because they contain the “food at the proper time” and are considered water flow and;
- The article references the Bible exams taking place to confirm who has been sealed and these were conducted early-mid 2021.
This confirms that the article was written close to the date it was translated and significantly after the start of the great tribulation.
Let us recap and summarize what we know:
- The order according to Revelation 7:3 and Lee Man Hee’s testimony is:
First the 144,000 are sealed; Then, the Great Tribulation takes place. - Lee Man Hee says the Great Tribulation has been taking place since at least February 29, 2020.
- Lee Man Hee said that 7 tribes had not filled the sealed 12,000 on April 11, 2021.
- The Bartholomew tribe does not have 12,000 members, and therefore cannot have 12,000 sealed.
Is there any explanation for this glaring discrepancy?
Let us cover some counterarguments to make sure there is not something we are missing.
The 144,000 have been sealed, we just don’t know who they are yet.
Answer: The 144,000 is the exact same thing as the 12,000 per tribe – for the 144,000 to be sealed there must be 12,000 sealed per tribe. Lee Man Hee himself said in April 2021 that 7 tribes hadn’t filled their 12,000 and Bartholomew has never had 12,000 members. Thus, knowing which members are sealed is irrelevant because it has been confirmed by Lee Man Hee that 7 tribes did not have 12,000 sealed as of April 2021, and Bartholomew has never had enough members to have 12,000 sealed.
A member’s tribe can be changed, so perhaps some members will transfer to Bartholomew tribe to increase their numbers over 12,000
Answer: Even if those members moved today, it would not affect what we are talking about. All 12 tribes needed to have 12,000 sealed members before the start of the Great Tribulation (around 29 Feb 2020) according to both Revelation 7:3 and Lee Man Hee’s own testimony. The fact they did not have 12,000 sealed as of February 29, 2020 is the problem.
Perhaps there is some kind of spiritual explanation.
Answer: There needs to be 12,000 physical members with the seal of God in each tribe.
‘The Difference Between the First Heaven and First Earth and the New Heaven and New Earth’ (370619 – 19 Jun 2020)
This number was 144,000. This is an event in the physical world.
There simply is no way around it. Lee Man Hee’s current testimony that the Great Tribulation is taking place contradicts the order of events he testified. The fact there is at least 1 tribe (Bartholomew, and 6 others according to Lee Man Hee) which has not sealed 12,000 members cannot be ignored. To end this section, here is a quote from one of Lee Man Hee’s sermons, taken from a booklet of Lee Man Hee quotes:
The reason that I speak about the 12,000 so often is because the 12,000 per tribe must be filled for the great tribulation to take place and the great multitude in white to come. This is the order that is in the Bible.