Jaerock Lee (born 1943, Muan County, Jeollanam-do, South Korea) is the senior pastor of the Manmin Central Church in Seoul. His followers have offered personal testimonies of his alleged ability to heal through prayer, including curing diseases like AIDS and leukemia. However, his ministry is controversial, and he has been accused of being a cult leader. He claims to have 100,000 followers throughout the world in 8,000 member churches.
Controversies
Lee himself was excommunicated from the Church of Holiness in May 1990, and his organisation was ejected from the
Christian Council of Korea in April 1999 over "heretical claims". On June 2004, Korean Presbyterian Churches Union has published a book named
Orthodoxy and Heresy and denied the CCK’s claims in 1999. The book states: "Our union have clarified that Rev. Dr. Jaerock Lee is pastoring with faithful doctrines based on the pure Gospel." Leaders of the
Korean Missionary Association in Uganda have also accused him of being a cult leader, pointing to an alleged July 1998 statement by Lee that he was "sinless and exempted from dying". However, in a September 2009 interview with the
Jerusalem Post, Johnny Kim, the director of Lee's church TV station stated that "Dr. Lee obeys God, and God has blessed [him] with these powers. He is not different than any other man, only in his devotion." Kim went on to claim that Lee did not consider himself divine. A professor at
Texas Christian University compared Lee's tactics of organisation-building to those of
Sun-Myung Moon, leader of the
Unification Church.
In 1999, Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation, a South Korean television broadcaster, aired a documentary critical of Lee,; in response, 300 of his followers invaded the television station, attacking security guards and breaking into the station control room to cut the power, while another 1,500 organised a sit-down protest in a nearby street; 600 riot police were needed to restore order. The station had previous been prevented by court order from airing a story on Lee's sex life.
In December 2005, Lee was denied permission to enter Egypt; he arrived at Cairo International Airport on a Korean Airlines flight with 20 of his followers. He was scheduled to have Christian event in Cairo together with Egyptian Christian organization in the season of Christmas.
Events
In February, 2006, Lee visited Kinshasa, DR Congo and led miracle healing festival.
In July 2006, Lee went to the
United States to lead a three-day "Salvation Miracles Revival Crusade" at
New York City's
Madison Square Garden; local
Korean American ministers organised protests in response, calling it a "satanic movement".
Major League Baseball player
David Wright,
third baseman for the
New York Mets, was tricked into doing a commercial for Lee's crusade; Wright agreed to appear on camera and offer an endorsement because he believed that the event had already been approved by the Mets, but in fact, the advertisement, which featured unauthorised uses of the Mets' logo, was being put together by a reporter who misused his press credentials to gain access to Wright and film him. After the misuse came to light, broadcasting of the advertisement ceased, and Wright publicly apologised. The crusade, which was also endorsed by
New York senator
Rubén Díaz and
New York City Councilman
Hiram Monserrate, attracted large numbers of
Latinos and other members of
immigrant groups.
He founded WCDN (World Christian Doctors Network) and hold The International Christian Medical Conference annually.
In September 2009, Lee visited Israel. While there, he held a crusade, the "International Multi-Cultural Festival", at the International Convention Center in Jerusalem.; among the crowd was Israeli minister of tourism Stas Misezhnikov and Jerusalem mayor Nir Barkat. and claimed that it brought the most people to this arena in the Christian history of Estonia.
Books
Lee authored "The Message of the Cross","Heaven"(1,2)"Hell","The Power of God", and “There Is No Law Against Such Things”.
Awards
Lee holds an honorary
Doctorate of Ministry from Kingsway Theological Seminary in
Iowa, awarded in 1996.
References
External links
Photos from Lee's 2009 crusade in Israel, from the European Pressphoto Agency
Another photo of the Israel crusade from Reuters
7th International Christian Medical Conference held at the Conference Center of Hotel Sheraton in Rome, Italy from the European Pressphoto Agency
Category:South Korean ministers
Category:People excommunicated by Christian churches
Category:Living people
Category:1943 births
Category:South Korean Protestants
![This Hung Shing Temple is the oldest temple in Aberdeen and Ap Lei Chau areas. It was built by local residents in 1773[1] It is a Grade I historic building.](http://web.archive.org./web/20110505181800im_/http://cdn.wn.com/pd/d3/41/202d7ead7d4cc271dfab99da0424_grande.jpg "This Hung Shing Temple is the oldest temple in Aberdeen and Ap Lei Chau areas. It was built by local residents in 1773[1] It is a Grade I historic building.")
![This Hung Shing Temple is the oldest temple in Aberdeen and Ap Lei Chau areas. It was built by local residents in 1773[1] It is a Grade I historic building.](http://web.archive.org./web/20110505181800im_/http://cdn.wn.com/pd/d3/41/202d7ead7d4cc271dfab99da0424_thumb.jpg "This Hung Shing Temple is the oldest temple in Aberdeen and Ap Lei Chau areas. It was built by local residents in 1773[1] It is a Grade I historic building.")
