“The Church of God the Mother” is a self-proclaimed, illegal organization.

Recently, in Nghe An province and some localities across the country, groups of people have been found illegally practicing religion under the name of “The Church of God the Mother”. These activities, which are not permitted by law, go against the good customs and traditions of the Vietnamese people, are anti-cultural activities, deviate from social ethics, and affect public order and the normal life of a part of the population.

Origin and illegal activities

In 1964, Ahn Sahng - a man from a Buddhist family in Korea who converted to the Seventh-day Adventist sect, founded an organization called "The Church of God that Testifies to Jesus".

In 1985, after Brother Xang Hong passed away, the church was divided into two groups, one of which was called "The Church of God, Witnesses of Brother Xang Hong." In 1997, this group changed its name to "The Church of God, World Mission Society."

Because the Church's interpretation and practice of the Bible is different from the general Christian community in many ways, and believing in "God the Mother" is considered blasphemous by Protestant organizations, Protestant organizations consider it a "heresy" and call it "The Church of God the Mother" to distinguish it from other Protestant Churches of God.

Group of people participating in "Church of God" in Nghe An. Photo. Contributor

Presently, "The Church of God the Mother" is taken over by Kim Joo-cheol (President Pastor) and Jang Gil-Ja (Brother Sang-hong's spiritual wife) after Brother Sang-hong passed away in 1985.

"The Church of God the Mother" developed in Vietnam since 2001, from a number of Korean missionaries working in Vietnam and a number of Vietnamese people who returned after working and studying in Korea. In 2005, 2006, the first group point was formed in Ho Chi Minh City. Around 2013, this organization began operating in the North. Currently in Vietnam, this organization has developed about 5,000 followers in 25 provinces and cities. The headquarters is at 352/5C Le Van Quoi, Binh Hung Hoa A Ward, Binh Tan District, Ho Chi Minh City, with Nguyen Van Hoa as Head of the Board.

In Nghe An, the "Church of God the Mother" began to take shape around the beginning of July 2016, as some local people working and studying in some provinces and cities across the country participated in the "Church of God" activities.

Currently, in Nghe An (according to data updated to May 4, 2018), there are about 80 people participating in the "Church of God the Mother", the majority of followers are in Vinh city and a few in districts such as: Hung Nguyen, Thanh Chuong, Tan Ky, Yen Thanh, Quynh Luu, Cua Lo town, Thai Hoa town (in addition, there are some students from Ha Tinh and Nam Dinh provinces studying at universities and colleges in Vinh city); the number of followers includes many different groups (most of whom are students and women); headed by Hoang Van Thang (born in 1989, from Vo Liet commune, Thanh Chuong district).

Handling multiple group points

Since 2016, a number of incidents related to the activities of the "Church of God the Mother" have been discovered in Nghe An: At 9:00 p.m. on August 2, 2016, an interdisciplinary working group of the People's Committee of Doi Cung Ward, Vinh City, inspected apartment 234, Doi Cung Ward Apartment, and discovered 21 subjects (mainly students from universities and colleges in the area) gathering to illegally participate in the "Church of God the Mother" activities, chaired by Hoang Van Thang (born in 1989, from Vo Liet Commune, Thanh Chuong District), residing at apartment 234, Doi Cung Ward Apartment, Vinh City.

Nghe An police inspect a "Church of God" activity site. Photo: Archive

The inspection team made a record of the incident, suspended the illegal religious activities and requested their dissolution; made a record of the confiscation of 5 books of "New Testament" and "Old Testament", 8 books of "New Song"; 1 book of "Guests from the Angelic World" and 1 notebook recording religious content and required Thang to write a commitment not to organize further activities.

On October 31, 2016, Hoang Van Thang and Phung Minh Hieu (born in 1993, hometown Nam Cuong commune, Nam Dan district) continued to organize activities at house number 82, Nguyen Du street, block 14, Ben Thuy ward, Vinh city.

The People's Committee of Ben Thuy Ward established a working group to conduct an inspection and discovered that 31 subjects were watching a film titled "The Bible is Truth" and singing songs from the book "New Song". The working group requested that the above activities be stopped immediately, a record was drawn up to reflect all the violations, and a number of related documents and objects such as laptops, projectors, and scriptures were temporarily seized.

On January 6, 2018, Dien Chau District Police and the district town police arrested 10 people who were organizing activities of the "Church of God the Mother" at Muong Thanh Hotel, Dien Chau town.

On April 29, 2018, Vinh City Police caught 12 subjects (the oldest of whom was born in 1959, the rest were mostly born between 1992 and 1997, 3 of whom claimed to be students of the National Economics University and Nghe An University of Economics) illegally organizing activities of the "Church of God the Mother" at house number 501-01, Golden City 3 apartment building in Nghi Phu commune, Vinh city.

This group is led by Hoang Xuan Quynh (born in 1980, architect, from Yen Thanh town, Yen Thanh district) as the homeowner and leader. At the scene, the authorities discovered and seized many documents and scriptures related to the illegal preaching of the "Church of God the Mother".

On May 2, 2018, through information from the people, the authorities inspected the scene and discovered at the house of Ms. Nguyen Thi Van in Hamlet 4, Nghia Trung Commune, Nghia Dan District, there were subjects and some documents related to propaganda activities, attracting people to work for the "Church of God the Mother".

Through the investigation, the ringleader confessed that Phan Thi Suong (born in 1992, residing in Kim Thanh commune, Yen Thanh district) rented a room under the pretext of expanding the market for high-quality paper, spring rolls... but the purpose was to attract people in Nghia Dan district and Thai Hoa town to participate in illegal religious activities.

The list of participants shows that the subjects are students from some universities and colleges in the province, born in 1990 or later. Previously, on March 27, 2018, Phan Thi Suong also had similar activities in Nghia Khanh commune, Nghia Dan district, but was discovered and handled by the authorities and local government.

(To be continued)