Who Spread All Those Rumors about WMSCOG?

These days, some false rumors are hurting members of the World Mission Society Church of God (WMSCOG). It’s just false rumors about the World Mission Society Church of God(WMSCOG). In order to understand this, let me give you one example.

“Go-ryeo-jang” is believed to be a traditional Korean custom where grown-up children throw away their old parents on a mountain. Korea is known as a country of “Hyo” which generally means “To respect and take care of your parents,” but, even so, it is recorded in the Korean history books that “Gor-Yeo-Jang” was practiced in Korea during the time of Goryeo dynasty. “Go-ryeo-jang” is a very embarrassing piece of history that disgraces Korea, but thankfully, it is proven to be false by historians:
First, the word “Go-ryeo-jang” never once appears in any book written during the time of the Gor-yeo dynasty. Second, there was a practice of throwing away the bodies of the deceased, but this is entirely different to the practice of “Go-ryeo-jang” which is to throw away the body of a living person.

Then, who came up with the word “Go-ryeo-jang” to tarnish the reputation of Korea? William E. Griffis (An America orientalist, Congregational minister, lecturer and author [1]) used the word in a book he wrote – “Hermit Nation, Korea,” where he did not identify the source of information about “Go-ryeo-jang”, and he introduced Korea as a very strange country where Koreans don’t talk to each other during meals, because they want to eat more food.

Ironically, William E. Griffis had never once visited Korea in his life time. He wrote the book, based on what he heard from the people around him. False rumors about “Go-ryeo-jang” spiralled out of control, when Korea was under Japanese rule. Japanese wrote about “Go-ryeo-jang”, in books, like “Legendary Cho-sun” and “Cho-sun stories.” What was their intention behind all that?

In-Hak, Cho, a professor at Inha University, claims that Japanese wanted to illegally mine graves in Korea to get the goods that Koreans bury along with the body of the deceased. Koreans were very careful with the graves of their ancestors, so Japanese made false rumors about “Go-ryeo-jang” to justify their acts of illegally mining Korean graves.

The above example shows the way in which false rumors are spread and misinterpreted as truth in the mind of people. I also remember a time when I was once deceived; one time, I thought Dae-Jung, Kim – former Korean President, was Japanese, based on false information I’d gathered, from ignorant old people. I was so embarrassed when I’d realized it was just a rumor. But, who was to blame? It was entirely my fault to be foolish enough to believe such information from strangers. These days, false rumors can spread very quickly, especially through social media, and to our surprise, a great number of people rely on them for information.

Tak-Su, Hyeon – History lecturer at Gor-yeo University, explained as follows, concerning how rumors spread: Rumors tend to be simple, conclusive, biased and appeal to our emotions to control our mind. There are no talks and debates, and not much information is provided around rumors. What really matters is that politicians may misuse rumors to control social and political events in their favor with ill intentions.

Rumors, whether one may believe it or not, is always harmful. In Korea, some celebrities end their life because they can no longer stand being falsely accused of things they are not even aware of.
In the same way, false rumors are hurting members of the World Mission Society Church of God (WMSCOG). People believe almost any kind of information that strangers tell them about WMSCOG such as “World Mission Society Church of God (WMSCOG) is a cult”, “Members are confined in the basement of the Church in Bun-dang”, “Once you go to WMSCOG, you can never get out”, “They instigate mass-suicide”, and so on.

Those are just false rumors about the World Mission Society Church of God(WMSCOG). It’s so shocking to know that they have not even been to the Church of God, once. If you truly want to know if the Church of God is a cult, you can find out through the bible. If people are really confined in the Church of God, like in a prison as they claim, you can sue the church. One must never force beliefs onto another person.

I, personally, fear death and want to live a good, well-balanaced life. So I came to believe in God who gives eternal life. If you still cannot believe what I say, you can visit the Church of God and check out everything for yourself with your own eyes. If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything –Mark Twain-

[Reference]

[1] Brown, John Howard. (1904).“Griffis, William Elliot,” The Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans. Boston: The Biographical Society.