I once wrote an article titled “Break Away from Mystical Excess,” and this is how I wrote the introduction.

A few years ago, when I was ministering in China, one of the matters I considered most important was helping believers who had neither the assurance of salvation nor spiritual power to receive the Holy Spirit and begin living a life of faith in the power of the Holy Spirit. In traditional churches, there was often strong resistance to such practices as praying aloud, praising God with clapping, or speaking in tongues. As a result, crying out in prayer to receive the Holy Spirit was itself unfamiliar to many of them. Conservative Christians also tended to resist change itself, whether it concerned the Holy Spirit or anything else.

On the other hand, believers who had received the Holy Spirit and begun to exercise spiritual gifts frequently failed to use those gifts wisely or misunderstood them. This often led to unnecessary conflicts within the church. In one region, after helping believers at a meeting place receive the Holy Spirit, I returned several months later only to find that the meeting place had separated from the church to which it belonged. In other cases, those who had received the Holy Spirit were unable to endure persecution and eventually denied what they had received.

The ministry of helping believers receive the Holy Spirit gradually spread to more and more regions of China through missionaries sent from various countries, as well as through Chinese evangelists influenced by them. As a result, compared with the past, it now seems much more common in China to hear people say that believers should receive the Holy Spirit, or that those who receive the Holy Spirit can speak in tongues.

Yet another problem has emerged that is no less serious: the problem of mystical excess. As people who have received the Holy Spirit place great importance on their personal spiritual experiences without being properly grounded in the Bible, we increasingly hear of those who are unable to distinguish between the work of the Holy Spirit and the work of demons, and who go beyond the bounds of Scripture. It is certainly a problem to reject the Holy Spirit and His power altogether. But it has now become an equally serious problem that a lack of understanding concerning the work of the Holy Spirit is giving rise to extreme forms of mystical excess.

Considering the spiritual situation in China, it is therefore necessary to teach believers how to exercise the gifts and power of the Holy Spirit in accordance with Scripture. With this in mind, I selected several subjects that were especially important to address in China at this time. The following list was based on Semuon’s preaching and teaching, as well as on my experience in China and my conversations with souls there. I believe that these subjects may eventually be developed into a book titled “Break Away from Mystical Excess.” I have already shared the list with ministers in China, and some leaders who had been struggling with these very issues expressed their gratitude that such needed material had been prepared.

At a time in Korea when mysticism and those who strongly opposed it were in sharp conflict, Semuon keenly recognized the need for the Berea Movement. By bringing together in harmony the two pillars, “Let Us Return to the Bible” and “Let us Live a Spiritual Life,” he raised up numerous spiritual leaders. I believe that the Berea Movement can demonstrate its value in China as well.

You see what I mean, right? We often point out the problem of denying the power of the Holy Spirit and holding only to the Word in an abstract, intellectual way. But Semuon once emphasized that one of the reasons he felt so strongly about the need for the Berea Movement was that he had seen people who did not properly understand the work of the Holy Spirit and had fallen into mystical excess.

When I actually went to China, I saw that the situation was very serious. The movement of receiving the Holy Spirit did not begin within China itself. It was brought in by missionaries from Korea and the West. But among some of the Western missionaries who brought this movement into China, there were also very strong mystical tendencies—much stronger than we might imagine. And those missionaries were very active in their work. So before long, the various forms of mysticism that had existed in the West also made their way into China.

There were also reports of things such as “gold dust falling from heaven.” During some meetings, people claimed that gold dust would appear on their clothes or even in their hair. It may be difficult to picture what I mean, but there were many such claims. Many meetings were held around claims that such things were happening. I have never witnessed them myself, so I cannot speak from personal experience, but I have seen photographs and videos. They claimed that after a meeting, gold dust could be seen scattered around.

Then people began to think, “If gold dust appears, the Holy Spirit is working. If it does not appear, the Holy Spirit is not working.” Once they began thinking that way, they began pursuing the gold dust itself. Quite a number of churches in China began going from place to place looking for it.

In connection with these claims about gold dust, people would sometimes also say that gold teeth appeared. I have never experienced anything like that myself, so I do not know how it was supposed to happen. In any case, they claimed that after a meeting someone had suddenly developed a gold tooth. Then they called this the work of the Holy Spirit, taught it as such, and worked very hard to make it widely accepted.

Such things may certainly seem mysterious or extraordinary. But just because something is extraordinary does not mean that we should pursue it. What have we always said in Berea? “No matter how much grace something may seem to bring, if it is not in the Bible, we do not do it. And no matter how little grace it may seem to bring—or even if it feels burdensome—if it is in the Bible, we do it.” That is the Berea Movement.

When it comes to extraordinary spiritual experiences, there are probably few who have experienced as many as Semuon. Yet in the church he founded, he exercised remarkable restraint concerning such experiences. He did not speak about them in his testimonies, nor did he ever say, “God told me to do this.” How many people are able to maintain that kind of restraint? That is not possible simply because someone has abundant spiritual inspiration. It also requires integrity—a character free from falsehood. A person lacking such integrity, even after having the very same kind of experience, would quickly begin saying things like, “God told me to do this,” or, “God told me to go there.”

Semuon has had more than enough experiences to speak about in that way, and yet he has not done so. Surely Jesus Himself experienced many extraordinary things, but He never spoke that way either. He always spoke according to what was written. Because such a solid foundation was laid for us, it is remarkable that we have been able to live a deeply spiritual life without falling into mystical excess. That is something truly distinctive about us.

But when some people take this teaching and spread it in China, something different can happen. They may have learned the teaching itself, but because they did not learn from Semuon’s character and received the teaching through other intermediaries, the teaching can already become distorted and altered. It can turn into mystical excess. That is why many groups influenced by Berea have ended up in mystical excess.

The same thing happened in Korea. There was a pastor who served as the first director of our Berea Academy. He was a highly accomplished and respected figure in society, having served in prominent cultural and academic positions. He had originally been an elder in our church, and when Semuon traveled abroad, he would sometimes ask this man to preach in his place even though there were other pastors available. That shows how highly regarded and capable he was. Later, however, he left and planted his own church after becoming dissatisfied over a certain matter. The church grew quite large. I had heard a great deal about it myself. Eventually, the church was handed over to his son, and it later joined another denomination and completely lost its former identity.

Years ago, when I was still working at a company, I shared the gospel with a woman who did not believe in Jesus. Later, while going through personal difficulties, she went to visit her older brother in the United States. There she came to believe in Jesus and received the Holy Spirit. Afterward, she contacted me and told me how grateful she was. I would have preferred her to come to our church when she returned, but her brother had introduced her to another church, and it happened to be the church I just mentioned. Since it was still within the broader Berea circle, I felt reassured.

Later, however, she came to me for counseling. By then she had already been attending that church for a year or two. As I listened to her, I realized that she had become deeply immersed in practices that seemed almost shamanistic. And I began to see that the church itself had that tendency. They had studied the same Berea Academy teachings, received the Holy Spirit, and practiced casting out demons. Yet somehow it had all turned into mystical excess. She spoke freely of things such as, “God told me to do this,” and placed great importance on dreams and other experiences of that kind. The Word of God was no longer central; her own feelings had become far more important. I regretted it deeply and thought, “I should have brought her to our church, even if I had to insist.”

This is what makes the matter so painful for us. We may carefully lead people who have never experienced the work of the Holy Spirit into a life of faith where they receive spiritual gifts and experience His power. But if we fail to guide them properly afterward, they can end up falling into mystical excess. Then all that effort can go to waste. It is a truly regrettable outcome. In some ways, they can become worse off than before. Having received the Holy Spirit, they now have spiritual experiences of their own. From that point on, they can become extremely stubborn because they are convinced that their own experiences must be right. Then they move further into mystical excess. Eventually, they may even come to deny or resist the work of the Holy Spirit, grow increasingly proud, and begin doing all kinds of strange things.

There was also the case of a well-known television personality in Korea. He appeared on television saying that he had received the gift of tongues and later began laying hands on people. I eventually came across one of his sermons on YouTube, and I saw the same pattern there. He may have received the Holy Spirit, but he had no grounding in the Word. What he spoke about was almost entirely based on his own feelings and experiences. I remember thinking that it was dangerous, and eventually serious problems followed in both his ministry and personal life. None of this was edifying, and even his understanding of the Word itself was deeply confused.

This is why, after laboring so hard to help souls receive the Holy Spirit, we cannot simply leave them there. If we fail to guide them in what comes afterward, they can easily fall into mystical excess.

Without such guidance, people can eventually be drawn into groups such as Shincheonji or Eastern Lightning in China, known in Korea as the Church of Almighty God. These groups are very active and highly skilled in the way they present themselves. They even produce dramas and other media for platforms such as YouTube. In the past, groups like these have been associated with serious allegations involving deception, abduction, violence, and other abuse. In more recent years, however, they have often presented themselves in a much softer way, appearing to do good and to help people. That can make them all the more difficult to discern.

There is also a group in Korea commonly known as the Church of God, which traces its teachings to Ahn Sahng-hong. They are very organized and effective in what they do, and they have established centers in many parts of the world. Not everything they teach sounds obviously false; some of their teaching can even sound quite convincing. But at the heart of their doctrine is the belief in “God the Mother,” identified with a particular woman. They do not necessarily begin by speaking openly about this. Instead, they may first emphasize service to society, counseling, or other positive activities. So someone who appears completely ordinary may already be deeply involved in such a group.

Why does this happen? Even when everything appears normal on the surface, people can be led astray through mystical excess because they have no clear standard by which to judge what they experience. That is why we cannot stop after emphasizing power and being filled with the Holy Spirit. If all our effort is not to go to waste, we must also teach people to guard themselves carefully against mystical excess.

And sure enough, as time passed, the same problem began to appear in China. At first, I thought, “These people are so resistant.” They would not accept the work of the Holy Spirit, and it was extremely difficult to help them change. But once they began to experience that change, another problem emerged: mystical excess.

Some began claiming to interpret tongues while giving prophecies, or saying that what they spoke through the interpretation of tongues was the Word of God. But in many cases, it was not really the interpretation of tongues at all. They would speak in tongues and then present whatever thoughts came to mind as the interpretation. Once they start doing this, they can easily be deceived. Then they keep doing it until eventually it becomes, “Do this. Do that. God told me to do this.” This pattern appears again and again.

Even in our church, we place restrictions on the interpretation of tongues. In China, I believe even greater caution is necessary because people there often have very strong religious tendencies. From what I know, the situation is similar among people in South America who come from a Catholic background. The same can be true in places such as the Philippines, where Catholic influence is strong and mystical tendencies are already deeply rooted. When we bring the Berea teaching into such settings, we are bound to encounter these tendencies, and mystical excess can become a major obstacle.

That is why we need to address this issue carefully. We still do not have a separate book devoted entirely to this subject, but Semuon spoke about it many times. So I gathered together what he had taught concerning mystical excess. This material was not put together all at once. As I encountered different situations in the field, I kept making notes little by little: “This is a real problem. This needs to be addressed. This needs to be taught.” Later, those notes were organized into the list we have now. The material was translated into Chinese and distributed in 2007, and the response was very positive. It was also used to teach churches in China. I believe this kind of teaching is needed in other language groups as well.

As soon as we begin dealing with subjects like these, many people may feel challenged or even uncomfortable. But precisely because these issues touch areas that people are deeply attached to, the teaching may also strike them powerfully and help them see the problem more clearly.

Let us go through the topics in this outline together. It begins with “Conviction and Faith,” which deals with a very basic distinction. Then there are “Religion and Faith,” “The Written Word,” “A True Israelite,” “What Is Faith?” and “Fatalism,” which addresses the idea that God has predetermined everything in a fixed way.

Next is “False Prophets.” Scripture says that prophets would cease. In Zechariah, the point is that when Jesus comes, prophets would be removed. But in some Bible translations, the word “false” is added, leading people to think, “False prophets have ceased, but prophets still remain.” Yet the prophetic office itself has ceased. The word “prophet” does appear in the New Testament, but the same word does not necessarily refer to the same role. These are some of the issues we deal with.

Then there is “Be Filled with the Holy Spirit,” which explains that the Holy Spirit works according to the truth. We also deal with “The Gifts of the Holy Spirit” and “The Direction of Faith.” This includes the problem of taking thoughts that arise in one’s own mind, presenting them as the will of God, and saying, “God told me to do this.” These are the kinds of matters covered in this material.

People do not accept these teachings easily. Whenever we address such issues, there is usually resistance. They have their own reasoning, and they also have biblical passages that they use to support their views. But we already know what passages they are likely to bring up, so we address those passages as well and show that what we are teaching is firmly based on the Word. When we do that, most people come to understand. We have already used this material in actual ministry. Since we are only beginning to distribute this material now, you may not yet feel how necessary it is. But as you continue in ministry, I believe you will come to see its importance more and more.

Let us pray that those we serve will not fall into mystical excess.