WORD SPREADS ABOUT ‘GOD OF MOTHER’

A puzzling statement to read, and one just as puzzling to hear – to most Americans, an idea fairly abstract. For this is not a concept elaborated upon or even mentioned by practically any other Christian denomination.

None, except one. 

Across the greater Portland area, and reported all across the country now, people yell and throw up the phrase on colored signs. The three words, printed on glossy pamphlets. The statement has even reached the MHCC campus.

With several encounters having been described by students, there is both a natural sense of equal parts curiosity and concern regarding the presence of a new faith-based movement in our midst. 

Is there a reason to worry, after all?

The belief in question belongs to a specific sect of Christianity thought quite new in the grand scheme of Protestant history: the World Mission Society Church of God (or WMSCOG) was founded in South Korea by a man named Ahn Sahng-hong in 1964, and after a couple decades, its leadership was passed onto a man named Kim Joo-cheol and a woman, Jang Gil-ja.

It is Gil-ja whom so much attention is thrust upon in the preaching of the denomination.

As “God the Mother,” it is believed that she had been married to Sahng-hong, who is himself considered a second coming of Jesus Christ by his followers. Having considered to have fulfilled the certain necessary prophetic steps, Jang Gil-ja is now seen as the feminine counterpart to a holy rule, a “Heavenly Mother.”

The organization’s official webpage, WMSCOG.com, elaborates on a particular reasoning for a motherly god’s existence: “Children can only have life if there is also a mother because it is the mother who gives birth. Christ showed us to pray to our Father in heaven because, as children of God, we also have God our Mother.”

Though of course one particular interpretation of scripture, specifically the Hebrew bible, this direct explanation of the logical conclusions the group adheres to is one described without hesitation or doubt. It is a belief, through-and-through, after all.

From its inception in a mid-Cold War world, to the modern day, the belief has amassed over 100,000 followers with many centers for worship across numerous countries. While that number is nothing to scoff at, quick growth for the religion only began after the late nineties, according to the church, beginning its spread in the United States from Los Angeles.

So why might their followers’ close proximity and influence make us feel almost… uncomfortable?

As their vocality has spread even further into the corners of our daily lives, so has a growing suspicion of their intentions: Student publications, from Portland State University to Arizona State University and the University of South Carolina have all formally published their own observations and concerns regarding the sect’s rising presence in their communities, with concerns of possible connections to human trafficking arising several times.

It may not be such a wonder why it all might just make us feel uneasy: The entire globe has been the stage for an endless series of bloodshed and conspiracy masked by religious process. It’s scary enough to think about the denominations that already have existed for hundreds of years, and now, one that has existed only a few decades?

Perhaps it is still too early to speculate confidently what yet another Christian branch may have in store for the rest of the international society in which it was born. Regardless, one should remember that while time as we perceive it is linear, human intention and action is not – no matter what kinds of blessings may be had in mind.

Advocate Staff