Berea

Overview

Berea is a body of teaching named after the Berea Academy, a Bible course founded by Pastor Kim Ki-dong. Kim founded Seoul Sungrak Church in 1969 and became known as a pastor who cast out demons and healed the sick. He belonged to the Korea Baptist Convention. After a controversy over alleged heresy, however, he left the denomination in 1987 and founded a separate body called the "Korea Southern Baptist Convention." This denomination has no connection with the Southern Baptist Convention in the United States. Because ministers from other denominations also studied at the Berea Academy, Berea is regarded as having had a broad influence on the Korean church. Kim died on October 22, 2022, at the age of 84.

Principal Claims and Doctrines

Critics identify the following as Berea's characteristic doctrines:

• Demonology: Demons are understood to be the spirits of unbelievers that remain after death. The teaching holds that the natural human lifespan is 120 years and that unbelievers who die before reaching it act as demons for the remainder of that period.
• View of illness: Illness is attributed to demons attaching themselves to the human body. Illness must therefore be healed by casting out demons (exorcism). This view is also connected to the way divine healing is understood.
• Dual Adam theory: The claim that human beings were created before Adam. Genesis 1:26 is cited as the supporting text.
• Other teachings include a theory that the Nephilim were angels and a doctrine of Hades (claims concerning the place where the dead reside). Critics also object that Kim regards the Trinity as one person rather than three persons.

Rulings by Major Korean Denominations and Ecumenical Bodies

• Korea Baptist Convention: The denomination to which Kim belonged is reported to have declared him heretical around 1987. As grounds, it cited his overemphasis on personal experience and personal claims, which it said undermined the authority of Scripture.
• Presbyterian Church in Korea (Kosin): Declared him heretical at its 41st General Assembly in 1991.
• Presbyterian Church in Korea (Hapdong): Declared him heretical at its 76th General Assembly in 1991. Both denominations found problems in his doctrines of God, Christ, revelation, creation, humanity, and Satan.
• Presbyterian Church of Korea (Tonghap): Declared him heretical at its 77th General Assembly in 1992 and reaffirmed the decision at its 80th General Assembly in 1994.
• The Korean Methodist Church, the Korea Evangelical Holiness Church, the Presbyterian Church in Korea (Hapshin), the Presbyterian Church in Korea (Gaehyuk), and the Christian Council of Korea (2003) are also reported to have declared him heretical. The years and assembly sessions of these resolutions vary slightly among sources.

These decisions formally targeted Kim Ki-dong as an individual. In practice, however, they are understood to apply to Seoul Sungrak Church and its affiliated denomination and seminary as well.

Position and Response of the Group

At a meeting with the press on October 2, 2006, Kim protested that the heresy rulings were unjust. He explained that his demonology was merely his own research project and personal view and had nothing to do with Baptist doctrine. He also maintained that the doctrine of Berea Graduate School of Theology, which he founded, was the same as Baptist doctrine. Regarding the rulings themselves, he suggested that certain heresy researchers had driven them for political reasons. He countered that his critics had labeled his teaching the "dual Adam theory" without ever hearing him out. He further argued that established doctrine fails to deal adequately with the paradise mentioned in Scripture and with the existence of unbelievers after death.

Public Controversy

Around 2017, Seoul Sungrak Church split over financial issues involving Kim's family. Members opposed to Kim formed the Church Reform Council and pursued legal action (church disputes). Kim was indicted in 2017 on charges of breach of trust and embezzlement. In July 2019 the trial court sentenced him to three years in prison. On February 17, 2021, the Seoul High Court, on appeal, sentenced him to one year and six months in prison. The breach of trust recognized by the appellate court involved Kim's sale of a building he owned in Busan to the church at above market value, followed by the transfer of its ownership to his son. Taking his health and age into account, neither the trial court nor the appellate court ordered him taken into custody. Kim's side contested the ruling and appealed to the Supreme Court.