1. The 1971 Doomsday Prediction of the World Mission Society Church of God

Ahn Sahng-hong was baptized in the Seventh-day Adventist Church in 1954 and was active there until he was expelled in 1962 over doctrinal disputes. In 1964, he founded the World Mission Society Church of God. Seven years later, in 1971, he officially proclaimed the church’s first doomsday prediction. This claim was based on an arbitrary interpretation of the Bible and the absurd logic that “7 years since the church’s founding = 7 days of Noah’s Ark.” To justify his doomsday theory, Ahn forcefully connected unrelated biblical events. The development of his reasoning is as follows:

Ahn interpreted Moses keeping the Passover with the Israelites and the Exodus as the process by which his followers would be saved from the “sinful world.” He claimed that Moses parting and crossing the Red Sea symbolized Jesus’ resurrection, constructing a framework of Passover → Exodus → Crossing the Red Sea → Resurrection. In reality, these doctrines were not originally discovered by Ahn but were copied from Seventh-day Adventist teachings.

He further linked Moses receiving the Ten Commandments forty days after crossing the Red Sea to Jesus’ ascension forty days after his resurrection. Moses’ receiving the Ten Commandments on Pentecost was matched to the New Testament’s Pentecost event of the Holy Spirit’s descent. Especially, when Moses came down from the mountain and found the people worshipping a golden calf, leading to the breaking of the Ten Commandments, Ahn equated this to the early church’s corruption, the rise of Catholicism, and the ensuing 1,260-year religious dark age.

Ahn also connected Moses fasting and praying for 10 days before receiving the second set of Commandments to the 10 years of William Miller’s Adventist movement in 19th-century America. He argued that the founding of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in 1844, after Miller’s movement ended, corresponded to the Day of Atonement, and that the 167 days it took to complete the Old Testament temple should be counted as 167 years from 1844, arriving at 2011 as the “year of the end.” Changing 167 days to 167 years is a classic example of literal distortion and number manipulation.

Ahn then quoted a verse from Matthew about “the days being shortened for the sake of the elect,” subtracting 40 years from 2011, which led to the forced conclusion of “2011-40=1971.” The number 40 here was arbitrarily inserted with no biblical basis.

He further connected the seven days Noah gathered animals into the Ark before the flood to the seven years since the church’s founding, thus concluding that 1971 would be the year of the end. All of this interpretation ultimately relied on the illogical equation “7 years of the Church = 7 days of Noah’s Ark.” Ahn’s doomsday prediction involved arbitrarily linking major biblical events and symbols, and fitting numbers to fabricate a date for the end. The result was the church’s first false prophecy declaring the world would end in 1971.

Of course, the world continued as usual in 1971. When his prophecy failed, Ahn quickly evaded responsibility, claiming, “I was deceived by the Adventist interpretation.” He did not admit any error, instead blaming the Adventists and ignoring the true nature of his failed prophecy. Considering Jang Gil-ja reportedly joined the church around 1968, it is likely she was also influenced by this false doomsday prediction. Jang Gil-ja and the church leadership used the failure of 1971 as a prelude, repeatedly recycling doomsday predictions afterward. The 1971 doomsday prediction was the church’s first incident of scriptural distortion and deception of its followers. Although this false prophecy critically damaged the church’s credibility, Ahn never admitted failure and instead continued to lure believers with new doomsday predictions. The 1971 experience became the starting point for the church’s repeated pattern of “date-setting,” false prophecy, denial of responsibility, and exploitation of members. It is now time for society to clearly recognize its dangers and reinforce public vigilance.

2. The 1988 Doomsday on Shaky Grounds: The Church’s Second Lie

The church’s second major doomsday prediction was spearheaded by Um Soo-in. In 1978, Um published a book titled “God Who Came in the Flesh,” deifying Ahn Sahng-hong as the Second Coming of Jesus and fabricating a “King David’s 40 years” doctrine as the theoretical basis for another doomsday prediction. She claimed that just as King David reigned for 40 years, Jesus too must complete his gospel for 40 years; since Jesus was crucified at 33, the “Second Coming Jesus” must complete the remaining 7 years. Ahn himself left a note predicting he would preach the gospel for 37 years from 1951 and ascend to heaven in 1988. After Ahn’s sudden death in 1985, Kim Joo-cheol further deified him, claiming he died at the “prophesied age of 67 according to David’s prophecy.” Then, in 1988, the idea that “Ahn will return in three years to take the believers” spread nationwide. Kim and Jang held mass gatherings at Biryong Mountain in Jeonui-myeon, Chungbuk, and at Seoul’s Yeouido and Olympic Stadiums, distributing tens of thousands of doomsday leaflets with slogans like “1988 is the year of salvation and judgment.” Members were pressured to make sacrifices and donations to avoid judgment.

When the prophecy failed in 1988, the leaders neither apologized nor explained; instead, they blamed the believers. While some left the church, many continued to rely on the new doctrines from the leadership amid confusion. The 1988 doomsday was not merely a doctrinal misinterpretation. The mass gatherings and distribution of leaflets caused public anxiety and severely damaged the church’s credibility. Leadership’s evasion of responsibility, exploitation of members, and distortion of scripture revealed the church’s structural problems. The 1988 prophecy set the template for the church’s repeated date-setting: exploiting believers’ fears and faith for donations, and always shifting blame for failed prophecies. The 1988 doomsday event is a prime example of organized exploitation using systematic scriptural distortion. The leadership expanded its influence by leveraging the faith and fear of its members and prepared new false prophecies without repentance or accountability. This incident starkly reveals the church’s transformation from a faith community into an organized scam disguised as religion.

3. Never-ending False Prophecies: The Truth about the Church’s 1999 Doomsday Prediction

Even after the 1988 prophecy failed, the church never gave up on doomsday predictions. The leadership sought to calm restless members and maintain internal trust by insisting, “the end is just delayed for a short while.” Kim Joo-cheol and Jang Gil-ja, referencing Ahn’s book, “The Bridegroom Was a Long Time in Coming,” assured members that “the end will definitely come before 2012,” thus postponing the doomsday further. They cleverly combined biblical interpretation, doctrine, and social anxiety to deceive members yet again. In 1999, as the world panicked over the Y2K crisis, the leadership capitalized on the fear, declaring, “the world will end before the year 2000.” December 31, 1999, midnight was set as the exact moment of the end, with the dubious logic of numerology linking the previous 1988 prophecy and the next one in 2012 via a “12-year” gap. Anxiety, fear, and urgency dominated the members. The cost of this false prophecy was borne entirely by the members, as the church cited scriptures like “store your treasures in heaven” to encourage heavy donations. Members sold their homes and hoarded daily necessities, medicines, and emergency supplies, suffering severe psychological and financial burdens. Family relationships and social trust were seriously damaged.

As expected, nothing happened on December 31, 1999. Yet, the leadership offered no apology or explanation, instead blaming the members: “Will you be a wicked servant who only looks for the date?” While shouting about the impending end, they were actually building a 10-billion-won megachurch in Imae-dong, Bundang-gu, set for completion in September 2000. This double-dealing — preaching the end while accumulating wealth — destroyed members’ trust even further. The 1999 doomsday event went beyond religious error; it was a textbook case of using public fear (Y2K) to manipulate members. Even after the prophecy failed, the leadership never accepted responsibility, but rather tested members’ loyalty with another prophecy. The pattern from 1988, 1999, and even into 2012 exemplifies systematic fraud and exposes the church’s structural issues. The 1999 doomsday crisis was a criminal act where the leadership combined Ahn’s writings with social panic to exploit believers. Even after the failure, they showed no reflection or accountability, instead spinning new false logic to perpetuate the damage. The result was a steep decline in public trust and greater vigilance against further end-times scams. The World Mission Society Church of God can no longer continue its unaccountable date-setting business in the name of faith.

4. The 2012 Doomsday Prediction: The Repeated Fraud of the World Mission Society Church of God

After the failure of the 1999 doomsday prophecy, the World Mission Society Church of God put forward 2012 as the “new year of the end” to prevent member attrition and strengthen internal unity. Throughout this period, the church fostered anxiety and fear to control its members, all the while focusing on amassing enormous economic gains. In 2004, they provoked members with the slogan “Let’s move to heaven!” and in 2006, they shifted to “Let’s take off for heaven!” to maintain apocalyptic tension. Even national crises like the Yeonpyeong Island bombardment in 2010 were exploited as “signs of judgment.” When the 2009 movie 2012 heightened public anxiety, the church took advantage by insisting, “Even the world is proclaiming the end,” further stoking members’ fears and expectations. While they avoided specifying any concrete dates—thereby evading responsibility—they continuously demanded members’ devotion and sacrifices. They distorted Bible verses such as “Store up treasures in heaven” to induce members to donate their assets. Between 2010 and 2013, the church concentrated on acquiring properties nationwide, amassing a vast amount of real estate. Outwardly, they preached the end, but in reality, they were obsessed with increasing their wealth and expanding the organization. When 2012 passed uneventfully, the church created a new absurd excuse, claiming, “The final inspection for the Kingdom of Heaven is ongoing,” to cover up their failure. Nevertheless, members were deceived again by the church’s sophistry and continued their dedication. In 2014, under the pretext of the “50th anniversary,” the church gathered 10,000 members at midnight at the Okcheon training center for a “jubilee performance,” and some actually believed they would ascend to heaven that night.

On the same day, a victims’ group (Hapimo) staged a large-scale protest, publicly criticizing the church’s doomsday fraud and asset plundering. The church claimed, “We never preached about the end,” and filed a defamation lawsuit against Hapimo for spreading false information, but the court acknowledged that the church’s doomsday prophecy claims were true. As a result, the World Mission Society Church of God was branded a pseudo-religious group both legally and socially. The 2012 doomsday incident is a representative case of the church exploiting apocalyptic faith to manipulate members’ beliefs and assets. Far from taking responsibility for their failed prophecy, they kept changing their logic to deceive and mislead the members. This is not a simple religious error but a calculated, repeated act of fraud. In order to prevent further victims, society as a whole must awaken and strongly condemn these actions.