Why are human beings male and female?
While people might think that this question is one for biologists, it was actually the focus of an international Bible seminar that I attended in South Korea last week.
I was one of more than 100 members of the World Mission Society Church of God from 25 countries — including Canada, the U.S., Australia, Singapore, Peru, Finland and England — who attended the event at the Go & Come Institute in Okcheon, Chungbook, along with about 700 locals.
Biblical evidence that supports the existence of a female Christian God was presented from the point of view of an aerospace engineer, an expert in international political relations and a professor with a phD in neuroscience.
Let us make man in our image, in our likeness
Most Christian churches believe in one God, commonly described in male terms as the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, but the Church of God believes the Bible testifies that two Gods exist: God the Father and God the Mother.
In his keynote speech, General Pastor Kim Joo-cheol addressed one of the “enduring questions of the scripture” published by Reader’s Digest in the Mysteries of the Bible: Why does God say “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness,” during the creation in Genesis, instead of saying, “Let me?”
The church teaches that since the Bible testifies that men and women were both created in God’s own image, God actually has two images: the male spirit and the female spirit. In other words, there are two Gods – Heavenly Parents – who together created human beings in Their likeness.
The fact that there is no biological necessity for physical life to be given by mothers caused Deacon August Kruesi to wonder: what was God’s will in creating the human life system in this way?
In his presentation, the technical principal for aerospace at Aerojet Rocketdyne, a U.S. company that “provides propulsion and energetics technologies,” said that scientists have so far failed to discover the origin of life on Earth, or in space, while the Bible offers a clear answer.
While many people place their trust solely in science when they want to know where life came from, Mr. Kruesi pointed out that key steps in the “primordial soup” theory remain unexplained and impossible to recreate, and scientists have yet to find any signs of life beyond our planet.
Mr. Kruesi argued that God’s divine nature and the existence of God the Mother, the source of eternal life, is clearly shown through all creatures on Earth that require both male and female to reproduce. He believes that God created the world this way to testify to the existence of both a female Creator, and a male Creator.
Scientists have discovered that mitochondria — known as the energy factories of cells — are only passed down through the maternal line. God made it so that the “power source” for reproduction comes from mothers in order to further testify to the existence of a life-giving spiritual mother, Destinee L. Chambers said.
And God uses the hormones oxytocin and dopamine to deeply embed an intense maternal love in the psychological makeup of women from the moment of conception in order to teach human beings about the undying love God the Mother has for mankind, the professor of psychology at America International College said.
And because the Heavenly Mother is the embodiment of love and peace, She is the key to solving all of the world’s problems, Deacon Paul Richard Wilcox said.
As the Republic of Korea & Democratic People’s Republic of Korea Country Manager for United States Pacific Command based in Hawaii, Mr. Wilcox strives to find ways to promote peace and stability in the world. But the former fighter pilot, who spent 30 years serving as an active duty military officer, said he only started to develop patience, understanding and humility after he found out about God the Mother.
“Knowing the love of God the Mother brings the balance we seek,” he said.
Above all, the church members aspire to practice the love of God the Mother who teaches the importance of serving others with a humble mind, just as Christ did 2,000 years ago.
As a result, the church has been recognized for carrying out volunteer activities around the world with the devotional love of Mother. The church hosts blood drives, environmental cleanup campaigns and helps with relief efforts for victims of natural disasters.
When High River, Alta. was flooded last July, members from the Edmonton branch church drove down to help with the cleanup, and they gained a reputation for being able to clear a basement in “record time,” the CBC reported.
The Church of God has received about 1,000 awards for its volunteer efforts in nations around the world and even received the prestigious President’s Call to Service Award from the U.S. in 2011.
The members are motivated to change their personalities and serve their communities because of their belief in God the Mother, who guides the church, and has come as a human being to set an example for mankind — just like Jesus Christ did 2,000 years ago — Mr. Wilcox said.
The Church of God was established in 1964 in South Korea by Ahnsahnghong, who members believe fulfilled the prophecies about second coming Christ who comes again as a man. The church started in a small house in South Korea, but since the world evangelism began in 1997, 2,200 churches have been established in 150 countries around the world, and more than 1.86 million members believe Ahnsahnghong is the second coming Christ who restored the Biblical new covenant that Jesus preached and practiced, but was changed after the Apostolic Age.
“Jesus was a Jew, and then we make this big leap to Catholic. What happened in the middle?” Jeffrey Jacques had wondered during his college years. Without a satisfactory answer to that question, he stopped attending regular worship services for about 15 years. He was “on the way to not believing in God,” when the electrical engineer started studying the Bible at the Church of God in Washington, D.C., and found the answers to his questions.
The Church of God emphasizes the importance of worshiping God according to the example that Jesus set 2,000 years ago, that is recorded in the Bible, rather than following traditions that were adopted by churches after 100 AD.
Mr. Jacques said he was grateful to find a church that is based “purely on the word of God,” and that keeps the same seven feasts of the new covenant that Jesus kept according to the Bible, instead of celebrations that are commonly known to have pagan origins, such as Christmas.
And decades after he asked his father why they go to church on Sunday, even though the Bible says that Jesus read the scriptures on the Sabbath day, Mr. Jacques said he was amazed that even the Catholic church had acknowledged that the church’s doctrines contradict Biblical teachings.
“You may read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, and you will not find a single line authorizing the sanctification of Sunday. The Scriptures enforce the religious observance of Saturday, a day which we never sanctify,” James Gibbons, archbishop of Baltimore, wrote in The Faith of Our Fathers in 1876.
While most Christians hold worship services on Sundays, the Church of God keeps the Christian Sabbath as well as the new covenant Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month of the sacred calendar, just like the Bible testifies Jesus did.
Deacon John Dyck remembers asking his Christian pastor why his church celebrated eucharist when Jesus said to keep the Passover as a “lasting ordinance.” But the then-10-year-old boy was told not to worry about it.
He stopped attending regular services during college and for 25 years visited a church only a handful of times. But about eight years ago, he was amazed to hear about the church that actually celebrates the Passover and the other feasts of God that were restored by Ahnsahnghong.
“I get to follow the perfect truth,” he said.