No.163 / Apr 17, 2023
Adocumentary on Netflix, “In the Name of God: A Holy Betrayal”, has recently become a hot topic. This documentary is about a different religion than Christianity, Buddhism, or Islam, typically called the “cult”. There are four different cults in the documentary, however, Christian Gospel Mason (CGM), the first of them to be covered, has recently been involved in several incidents. JMS, a better-known name than CGM, is a name derived from the initials of Jeong Myung-seok, the leader, who created numerous unspecified victims along with various criminal acts.
The Netflix documentary “In the Name of God: A Holy Betrayal” revealed vicious criminal acts, such as unconditional leader worship brainwashing, raping female believers, attempted murder, breaking the passport law, and Interpol’s redemption. There are various innocent victims, in most cases, women forced to obey the church leader; there are many indirect victims in addition to these direct ones. Geumsan-gun, Chungcheongnam-do, where JMS is based, has effected with a lot of indirect damage, and the awareness of Geumsan-gun residents, not JMS, has deteriorated considerably due to the documentary and events. Many people misunderstood that the residents of Geumsan-gun are JMS believers, and there was a perception that they are criminals because of JMS’s actions. Therefore, there are many claims that JMS should leave Geumsan-gun, as shown in the banner. However, anti-JMS actions are unlikely to happen because of too many believers. Even if you hang up a banner, it disappears silently overnight. Let us clarify every situation about JMS in Geumsan-gun through the Q&A interview.
Kim Hwa-rang (False name / Resident of Geumsan-gun)
Q. Do you know about JMS and what they are doing?
A. Yes, I know it well. There are believers in Jinsan-myeon, Geumsan-gun, and they practice evangelism. But in Geumsan-gun, they do not reveal that they are JMS.
Q. Have you watched The Netflix documentary “In the Name of God”?
A. Yes, I’ve watched the documentary and I didn’t know it was that cruel. I think I got more negative thoughts after watching the documentary.
Q. Do you think their behavior affects Geumsan-gun?
A. I think it has a very large effect on Geumsan-gun. One of my friends went to university and said what was his hometown, but there was a misunderstanding that he is a JMS believer. So, he would hide what was his hometown and answer that his hometown is Daejeon the next time.
Q. Feel free to tell me about JMS.
A. You should know about the structure of JMS. They try to invite children by ordering them, and they try to embrace marriage as bait because only believers can marry. To tell you my opinion, I grew up in this environment from an early age and became an atheist. God does not exist for me. So, I think that it’s a bad idea to join any cult or church or any religion, including JMS.
The Republic of Korea is recognized for religious freedom. But if you look at the above, as it is so free, people should be able to choose carefully and according to their own beliefs, not simply get swayed by their surroundings.
By Kang Zee-woo, AG Cub Reporter
zeewoo9177@ajou.ac.kr