Return to Earth: Former Members Speak On Life Inside and Out The World Mission Society Church of God

Editor’s Note: This Story was orginally published on Lilyeve’s Substack on Apr 17, 2025

For Shakira Thomas, it all started with a knock at her door on a hot summer day at her home in the United Kingdom when she was only 14. 

Young and curious, she was intrigued by promises of salvation and knowing the meaning of life from a man and woman who claimed they were students working on a project, but turned out to be missionaries from a nearby church.  Little did Shakira know that this initial interaction would lead her barreling towards a path of estrangement from her friends and family, her confidence and former life would be diminished, and her next fourteen years of life would be dedicated to The World Mission Society Church of God (WMS).

Thousands of miles away in New Jersey, seven years prior, a college student named Raymond Gonzalez was approached by a group of people who said they were theology students conducting a survey. He would eventually become a leader in his church and head the church’s Internet mission. Raymond was forced to hold three daily services, cook, and clean to receive the blessings he believed he would need as “currency” to be accepted in the Kingdom of God. 

Colorado resident Esperanza Salazar, who joined the church in 2019, was married to a man she had never met or spoken to after joining the church. When she fell pregnant, she says she was forced by fellow church members to undergo an abortion because children are seen as “false idols” and an indicator of lack of faith, as the world could end any day.

Michele Colon, a well-known former member of the WMSCOG community from New Jersey, became the target of the Church because of her outspoken criticisms about criminal practices and cult behavior. The Church filed a lawsuit immediately after her departure, and her online email and social accounts were hacked by the church’s leaders who ran the internet mission. The Church began a smear campaign against Michele, claiming she was akin to Satan. Her ex-husband remains a member of the church today.

While some former members have connected after leaving the Church, many others have no idea of the existence or experiences of one another. Their lives and locations span all over the world, they are different ages, and they live hundreds,even thousands of miles apart. But the stories they tell are eerily similar, providing a window into what it’s like to be a member of a church known as the World Mission Society Church of God. While the organization is a US-sanctioned church with 7,500 chapters around the world, these former members and others allege control, coercion, and abuse.

Stephen Kent, Emirates Professor from the University of Alberta, is an expert on sociology and “New Religious Movements.” According to Stephen, a cult can be defined as “a socially deviant group that uses undue influence to create obedience and dependence.”

All these stories begin similarly — a lie is used to gain a prospective member’s trust and interest, then control of life with friends, family, and romantic relationships is slowly lost. Not long into becoming fully absorbed into the Church, everyone emphasizes the visceral fear they felt in not being good enough for salvation — and of the world ending. 

While each story ends the same by having left the Church, the aftermath sheds light on the difficulty of walking away from a life where you are taught that there is no meaning behind earthly affairs.

The World Mission Society Church of God was started in 1964 in South Korea by an elderly Korean man, Ahn Sahng-Hong, and his wife, Zahng Gil-jah.  Members believe they areGod the Father and God the Mother. It has grown to over 7,500 churches all over the world. Followers believe Ahn Sahng-Hong is the second coming of Christ and that when the world ends, the Spirit (God the Mother) will take only those who have earned salvation.  

Members are given titles and responsibilities, such as unit leaders or deacons. They are expected to preach and recruit new members, run church events, and pay a required tithe for at least 10% of their income. Preaching dictates that the Kingdom of God only allows 144,000 members into a heavenly afterlife, making salvation a fierce competition among members.

Early Days of Recruitment

Within the first few months of Shakira’s involvement, her brother came with her to a service. He was disturbed that the service took place at a private house and expressed deep concern about the apparent secrecy of the group. He noted how all the members exhibited strange behavior, like smiling all the time, and he felt it meant they had something to hide. 

The first conflict with her family arose when they learned that she was no longer allowed to celebrate Christmas, as it was seen as a pagan holiday. WMS views Christianity as paganism. In celebration, members were worshiping false gods. 

Christmas was a big deal in the Thomas family, but Shakira went to the Church instead because Saturdays are a day of worship. At the end of the service, Shakira’s parents picked her up and insisted she attend the family holiday dinner. She kicked and screamed that she no longer wanted to live at home and demanded to be brought back to the Church. 

Shakira cried. She wanted to go to heaven.

Shakira eventually earned a higher position in her church as a Unit Leader. “They expect you to be a certain way, you have to dress a certain way, you have to talk a certain way, and it was a lot of pressure,” she told me. One missionary, a Korean woman, would constantly point out things she didn’t like about Shakira. “She would talk about my weight, she would talk about how I dress, she would talk about my choices and my job.”

In New Jersey, 18-year-old Raymond Gonzalez was approached on his campus by church missionaries who pretended to be fellow students. They asked if he wanted to know his purpose in life, and as someone who had only recently moved to the United States, he found their question deeply compelling. Feeling vulnerable and seeking connection, Raymond was drawn in. The church members became his first real friends in the States, offering him a warm and supportive community that made him feel welcomed and valued.

Coming from a religious Catholic upbringing in the Dominican Republic, Raymond asked questions about the teachings. Other members were quick to say how they also had the same question, but  the Church had a teaching that would provide the answer. If the teaching still left him with questions, he was reprimanded for his lack of faith. He notes how they start with love, but over time become used to hearing that “sinners cannot expect love,” and that time on earth was essentially “jail.” What this meant is that all members, no matter how devout, were sinners and that nothing on Earth holds any real value.  Raymond understood that the more he believed in the Church, the more tenuous and fearful his hopes for salvation. 

Arranged Marriages and Childless Gospel Workers

Raymond became a deacon and headed the Church’s Internet Mission, which he described as the “tech room” of the church used to promote themselves and hide negative coverage on the internet. Raymond had a church appointed arranged marriage with a woman he had never met or spoken to, and a week and a half later, he was married to her.

“The only way to have a [romantic] relationship with people in the Church is an arranged marriage,” Shakira said.

As a “Unit Leader,” their term for a team leader in the Church, Shakira witnessed many arranged marriages. Members who had never seen or spoken before were given a prophecy said to come from God the Mother and would wed. 

“You start to view marriage in a different way because you see it as a blessing from God, rather than a choice that an individual person makes,” Shakira said. Marriage in the Church is to bind two members to create even more effective and devout gospel workers and, by doing so, accumulate blessings.

There was never a ceremony. 

One instance, Shakira recalls, was when a young woman was arranged to marry a much older man. Her family was in Vietnam, and she was going to be returning home to visit, so the Church had Shakira and other members create a fake wedding ceremony in a local Chinese buffet to take photos and make it appear like there was an actual ceremony. This was a common occurrence, where she had to help lie to members’ families.

Having children is also frowned upon since the church believes the world can end any day. Procreation, according to the Church, implies a lack of faith. Children are also seen as “false idols” and omit the blessings a person receives to be accepted into the Kingdom of God. The Church believes that all of a person’s life and focus should be on acquiring blessings, which are currency, into heaven when the world ends.

“I think a lot of them probably want children the way that they interact with the kids who are in the Church,” Shakira said. “It feels like, deep down, they wish that that was their child.”

Another former member, Esperanza Salazar, joined when she was 21 with a man she was seeing. The Church pushed her to leave her job at KO8 Channel 5 and dedicate her life to the Church. Six months in, she was married to a different man whom she had never met or spoken to. According to Church teachings, a woman must obey and please her partner. Esperanza recalls her ex-husband telling her that the Bible says a man’s wife should obey and, by doing so, the Father will be pleased. Esperanza says she was forced to marry into a highly controlling and violent partnership.

The night before her arranged marriage, she was told that if she became pregnant, she must have an abortion, as she could not continue as a “gospel worker,” their term for a church member, and would lose all her blessings.

Months later, she did.

Esperanza immediately called Planned Parenthood, a decision that she felt coerced into. “Something to know is that that’s not something that I would have done if I had freedom of my mind. I did have an abortion under the influence of the Church,” she told me. 

Esperanza knows other members who had Church officials drive them to get their abortions.

Legal Battles

Michele Colon is, by and large, the most well-known former member of the WMS. She and her husband divorced, but he stayed with the Church. 

The Church tells members that ex-members come after them, but the Church has been the one to first sue former members, something they admitted to on NBC News. Members were told Michele was a scorned wife who fell in love with the world and partying, leading to the downfall of her marriage. She was likened to Satan, and members are told not to go online to read about her because the internet is considered “eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.” 

Michele created a website called Examining the World Mission Society Church of God, where she documents everything about her story and the truth behind WMS. In response, the Church created a website as part of what she describes as a smear campaign against her. As head of the Internet Mission, Raymond helped the Church create the website. The website, at first, was misleading, appearing to be another site to criticize the Church. Michele made an account, and using her password, she alleges the Church hacked into her emails and social media accounts. Raymond was directed by the Church to assist in hacking Michele’s accounts.

In 2015, the second lawsuit filed against Michele was thrown out by a judge with prejudice, as the First Amendment protects critics of the WMS. The judge declared that they are a public entity, and “Whether a specific religious organization is akin to a cult, is a matter of public concern.” 

In a 17-page opinion written by the court, the judge also cites WMS’s inability to prove damages and noncompliance with court orders to produce relevant financial documents.  It was also noted by the judge that the net income increased from $1.8 million in 2009 to over $3.6 million in 2012, a period in which they claimed to have lost $5 million in revenue in the complaint filed in July 2012.

Michele countersued WMS and cited the following in the complaint: “Recruitment without knowing it was a global criminal enterprise, fraudulently extracted money, time, and energy saying it was used for nonprofit and charity, but was for profit and uncharitable enterprises.” They retaliated against her by allegedly hacking into her social media accounts and showing her picture to members, saying they should no longer communicate with her. The damages sought by her included fraud, intentional infliction of emotional distress, invasion of privacy, and related actions.

Michele is still in litigation with the group as they continue to delay the process. However, her steadfast and meticulous efforts have paved the way for other former members to speak out about their experiences.

And they have.

After leaving, Raymond became involved in ongoing litigation against the group. His complaint alleges that the Church forced him to drop out of college and focus entirely on his role within the Church. According to Raymond, he worked for Pastor Lee’s company, Big Shine, for little or no pay and was required to devote 100 hours a week to the Church, Big Shine, and personal duties — working all day Saturday and Sunday and late into weeknights. The Church also demanded large donations to WMS New Jersey and to fund Lincoln Grill, a restaurant owned by the pastor’s wife, Bong Hee Lee. Church leaders own several LLCs with unclear funding sources, raising concerns about the legality of using nonprofit funds for private companies and having members work for little or no pay.

Though a government-recognized church, the IRS has not investigated how WMS uses its funds for other businesses. While churches can have volunteers, any business making a profit must pay employees. Kent notes that the IRS has a history of dropping cases against Scientology for similar reasons. Despite evidence of misconduct, the IRS may be reluctant to investigate these groups due to the protections under religious freedom. Kent explains, “One of the advantages of having the Church registered is it can at least convince members that they’re volunteering for the religion, when, in fact, they’re volunteering for the for-profit, which is illegal, as far as I understand it.”

WMS has also faced allegations of kidnapping and sex trafficking, though investigations to date have found these claims unfounded. The Church is known for on-campus recruitment, with reports from UCCS in Colorado Springs detailing members of the Church inviting students into vans for Bible readings. To operate on campuses today, however, the Church must be part of a recognized club and is reportedly using front groups like the “WeLoveU Foundation” for this purpose. Previously, having pushed students to abandon higher education, they now use student members to create clubs and organize events, even those involving government officials.

A similar method applies to military recruitment, where members preach on bases, go door to door, and attend military events to gain new members. Some military recruits were allegedly told they could not continue attending church because they would face an Article 15, dishonorable discharge. The Church targets military people for their adherence to the strict lifestyle and ability to take orders. In time, however, the Church has asked military recruits to leave altogether to dedicate themselves full time. 

According to reports, members have been pushed into poverty, selling their homes, living without furniture, and are expected to leave their education and careers.

Failed Prophecies and Promises 

Shakira watched as 2012 neared the end, and all members were on high alert to be especially free of sin. This entailed preaching all the time, recruiting, and not listening to any music that wasn’t from the Church.  However, when 2013 arrived, the Church did not acknowledge the failed prophetic vision. The pastor gave his normal sermon and announced at the end that Passover 2013 was happening, and all members replied, “Amen.”

Members subsequently began to point out the failed prophecy and the failure to acknowledge it. The Church finally explained that it was a test for when it would really happen, like a fire drill, and that members were lucky it didn’t occur, because they would not have been granted access into the Kingdom of Heaven. 

Every year since, the group says, “pray this is the year we go to heaven.” This means that, according to the Church, only when members have done enough in faith, will the world end and they can be given salvation.

Espereanza explains how you constantly live in fear, wanting the world to end so you can go to heaven, but at the same time, you’re unsure if you’re good enough to make it if it were to end right now.

WMS predicted that the world would end in 2012, and God the Mother would return and save only those who earned salvation. 

Right before the end of the year, Raymond had visited his sister in Pennsylvania for the first time in over a year. Playing with her kids, seeing her life at home, he drove home with a stark realization: either forever give up ties with family and outside life, or leave the Church after all those years of devotion. Raymond became disillusioned by other leadership in the Church, realizing there was a lot they didn’t know. He allowed himself to start doubting. He meticulously went over verses, the original language from Ahn Sahng-Hong, and the history of the Church.

He had texted his sister, “I’m in a cult,” sat in bed, and broke down in tears.

Raymond was a deacon and leader in the tech room, and he had been married to his wife for three years already. He realized that he had to be strategic in his leaving the Church and taking his wife with him. In an interview with Great Light Studios, Raymond details how he and his wife finally left the church. Raymond told his mother-in-law that it was a cult and asked her to plan an “intervention” on him and his wife, hoping his wife would see it as a cult too. 

Raymond continued to hold services, engaged a therapist who specialized in cults, and began reading books on cult organizations. The Church was an hour and a half commute, so Raymond would listen to audiobooks on cults, telling his wife it was just part of his job as head of the WMS internet mission to ensure the group was not mentioned. His wife became increasingly interested in cults, so the two would watch and listen to stories about them. One story stuck with his wife, a cult in which mothers had poisoned their children. His wife was appalled, but when Raymond asked, “If you were asked to drink poison, would you?” 

She replied, “Yes.”

That was the moment it clicked for Raymond’s wife, and two days later, right before the end of 2012, the two left the Church together for good.

Next Chapters

Shakira had grown distant from her high school friends over the years. Throughout college, she devoted herself entirely to the Church, making no connections outside of it. By the time she turned 28, the breaking point came when she was told to change her hair color. 

The demand made her feel as though she was losing her sense of individuality, especially since her hair is such an important part of her identity. She realized that joining the Church meant sacrificing the person she once was. When the new year arrived, Shakira decided she no longer wanted to be part of it. She left while her friend remained a member, and Shakira went on to write a book about her experiences.

“There’s a lot of loss in the group. Who you were, friends, family, career, and in some cases, school. It all comes after.” Michele laments. The Church’s efforts to shut down Michele’s website and openly share her experiences have failed. She maintains contact with other former members, her career is budding, and she is engaged to be married.

Esperanza had been living on the Church compound, and she went to the Church officials to talk about the abuse she was facing from her arranged husband. While they did mention going to police, it was quickly retracted, and unadvised to do so because it would make them look bad.

“I was in a lot of danger with my arranged marriage, physically,” Esperanza said. “I got to a point where I thought going to hell would be better than being where I was.”

Esperanza ran away from the Church for a year, returning to the Church with new leadership that facilitated her divorce. She then left for good. 

Tearfully, she notes the difficulty of the aftermath of leaving WMS. While relieved and free, she lives with a tremendous amount of grief and guilt. The Church teaches that nothing on earth holds any true meaning, so to find meaning in life proves difficult. “I see people of all ages come in there, but it was extremely damaging to my life. I’ve been out for two years, and to this day, I’m trying to return to earth..”

Raymond secretly went back to school, taking night classes, and eventually graduated. On the day of graduation, Raymond asked his mom to lunch, and when he arrived wearing his cap and gown, his mother broke down crying.

“She thought she had lost me,” Raymond said.

Raymond has been married for fourteen years now with two children.

According to the Church, the worst thing a former member can do, besides leaving, is to become what the Church calls a “slanderer.”

Esperanza has found empowerment in speaking out about her experiences and embracing that WMS no longer holds an ounce of power over her.

In reflection, she leaves this message to the public:

“I think many people, when they hear about cults or hear stories like this, tend to react negatively, especially when cult members knock on their door and preach to them. They often slam the door in their faces or are rude, but I just want to say that this kind of reaction pushes them further into the group.” 

She continues, “I’d say the best thing to do if you are approached by this group or any like it is, be really kind to them and show them that true love actually exists outside of their group, and that humans are good and kind. We’re all waiting for them to come out and are ready to live life with them. Ask questions that get their critical thinking going and bring them back to themselves, like, How did you sleep last night? When’s the last time you had a good meal? It’s always a process for everyone when they get to the point of leaving, and it takes time. And there are a lot of pieces to the puzzle. You never know if what you say or do could be the last piece of their puzzle. So even if it’s the first one, the fifth one, it’s a piece that’s going to help them down the road; even if it’s in 10 years, it matters.”

Esperanza is healing through bringing awareness to this group and the trauma she suffered at the hands of it. She started school in January as a business major, and she can’t wait.”

The World Mission Society has not replied for comment.