Lee Jae-Rock Takes New York

God has apparently intervened with a miraculous advert for a new Christian TV station. Over to Dan Wooding and ASSIST:

It was just before midnight Thursday, August 31, when a glowing cross suddenly appeared in the darkened sky above the towering Empire State Building in New York City.

The alleged miracle was spotted by a group of international broadcasters:

…The group was there for the official launch of the Global Christian Network (GCN) with programming airing in the New York market via WEBR — Channel 17 and reaching over 300 cities and more than 14 million households across the United Sates via La Familia Cosmovision cable network.

…After the excitement of seeing the sign of the cross, the group then went down to the GCN broadcast facility on 82nd floor of the Empire State Building to witness, on the stoke of midnight, the first broadcast of GCN’s first 24 hour signal via low power television, WEBR, Channel 17, which will reach nearly 12 million people in the greater New York City area with GCN’s unique programming lineup.

…The broadcasters that included Boaz Lee, president of Manmin TV in Seoul, Korea; as well as representatives of the 100,000-member Manmin Joong-Ang Church who have been instrumental in the development of the project, then joined hands and thanked God for the fulfillment of a vision that began sixteen months previously when many of them gathered in Seoul for the inception of GCN.

Manmin is the base of South Korean faith healer Lee Jae-Rock, who has been puffed by ASSIST regularly in the past, and he is described as being the chairman of the new channel. As I blogged a year ago, Jae-Rock is a somewhat controversial figure back home; his congregants once stormed a television studio which planned to air a critical documentary. Jae-Rock’s religious orthodoxy has been questioned by some Christian sources, while I was singularly unimpressed with an alleged “miracle healing” pic carried by ASSIST a while back (as was James Randi, to whom I forwarded it). Jae-Rock holds meetings in various countries around the world, and last year was crass enough to call on Germany to repent for the Holocaust. Unsurprisingly, Jae-Rock looms large in the “unique programming lineup” that appears on the (slightly overdone) GCN TV website:

…Chennai. The Site of Miracle
2002 India Church Leaders’ Conference Miracle Healing Prayer Festival with Rev Dr. Jaerock Lee ended up successfully in India from Oct.10th to Oct. 13th, estimated at over 3 million total attendance.

Power of God
Rev. Dr. Jaerock Lee’s life-filled spiritual words and works of God’s power are spreading all over the world. Clear evidences of the living God are shown through his ministry…

As well as:

People who love God
People who love God – Part 2 will tell you a bout the news of powerful works of God that showned [sic] in the “Philippines Handkerchief Prayer Meeting”.

The rest of the lineup is not quite so “unique”: news provided by Pat Robertson’s Regent University, and other standard televangelist fare.

Although Jae-Rock is the GCN’s chair, the executive director is Nestor Colombo, former president of the Hispanic National Christians Broadcasters. Speaking suspiciously like a press release, Columbo explained the channel’s background to ASSIST:

“The Global Christian Network is a Georgia-based, not-for-profit, charitable, religious, and educational organization incorporated on June 2, 2004,” he began. “Its purpose is to produce, distribute and broadcast high quality, international, Christian and family-value programming to local and regional affiliate stations and networks around the world, first in English and eventually in as many as five different languages. The vision of the network is to directly impact the cultural, social, and spiritual quality of life for viewing families and individuals with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”

Christian Today reported on the opening of the Georgia office back in January:

The Global Christian Network (GCN) will open its headquarter offices in the Metro Atlanta area in January 2005.

GCN will join television giants such as CNN, TNT, TBS Superstation, The Weather Channel, Cartoon Network, and other broadcasters, including Christian media ministries such as In Touch Ministries, Leading the Way, and Back to the Bible.

The Network purchased the 10,000 square feet structure in November 2004 which is located on 2 acres of land. Final preparations are being completed for the facilities, which will accommodate administrative offices, production studios and broadcast facilities.

…The Global Christian Network was founded by a group of visionaries around the world, including South Korea, Russia, Australia, England, Spain, Latin America, and the United States.

Jae-Rock’s own Manmin website give more details about who these “visionaries” are:

Mr. Nestor Colombo, former President of HNRB, and his wife Lolly Colombo, Representative of CTN; Mr. Esteban Handal, JBN TV, Honduras; Luis Fernando Solares, President of Guatemala’s CH27; Mr. Igor Nikitin, President TKV, Russia; Mr Neil Elliot, Managing Director of ACC, Australia; Mr. Lisardo Cano, President and Managing director of RTVA, Spain; Mr. David Lozano Perez, President of La Luz Radio, Peru, Mr. Dan Wooding, Founder and Representative of Assisted News Service and his son Mr. Peter Wooding, Sr. News Editor of UCB TV.

(Erm, Dan, do you think you should have mentioned your official role in the venture in your report at all?)

Nestor Colombo’s association with Jae-Rock goes back several years. In 2002 he sang the South Korean’s praises at a crusade in Honduras, as the Manmin website also reports:

Nestor Colombo, President of Hispanic Religious Broadcasters (HNRB) who had traveled from Atlanta with his wife Lolly to witness the crusade, said, “I have a deep conviction that the Gospel is not just a form and it is necessary that it be demonstrated with a message like this — that it be accompanied by power. The gospel is not just words and what I like about this ministry is that there is power.”

And “wife Lolly” is a force in her own right, according to the site of the Christian Media Corporation:

She is co-founder of CMC – The Christian Media Corporation in Santiago, Chile, and in New York State (1990) as a 501(c) 3, whose vision was to produce quality Spanish-language Christian and family-value television. During that time she also served as the National Coordinator of OBIRD, Operation Blessing Relief and Development, in Chile and raised an extensive community service program through the organization and implementation of medical crusades, at-risk youth programs, massive material assistance programs, and disaster relief. In 1997 she was honored with the U.N. World Peace Prize for Chile for excellence in community service. Since 1999, she has consulted for In Touch Ministries, HNRB (Hispanic National Religious Broadcasters,) and the NRB (National Religious Broadcasters) in the areas of media service, public relations, and event planning. She currently serves as an Outreach Director for CMC, the Georgia Director for OBIRD, and is president, co-founder and managing partner of CMC Agents Inc.

Jae-Rock is clearly a very ambitious player in the new generation of Pentecostal evangelists, and he’s managed to rope a number of other significant figures into boosting his ministry. But can a man who claims to have sinless blood, to be able to form photos of Jesus with his hands, and to have cured diseases such as AIDS, really make much impact on New York television? Or will New Yorkers be bowled over by this?:

cross-over-empire-state-building

7 Responses

  1. Your view is very correct and gives great value to the Christians who are new to this Korea-generated cult group. Please visit my site. I also made a scrap for your previous article. Lee Jae Rock : Germans must Repent! It is much cool aspect for this matter.
    Also please visit to see TV documentary, aired in 1999 by Korean TV company MBC for this cult group to know the mystic deification phenomemnon of this cult : http://www.geocities.jp/gcn_watch May I have your email for detailed discussions for this matter. I know several persons who deal the matter of Lee Jae Rock and Manmin.

    Have a nice day.

    Sincerely

    John

    Web link for MBC TV Documentary is as follows. http://www.geocities.jp/gcn_watch/mbc_tv_documentary___manmin_gcn.htm

  2. […] The conference was organised by the World Christian Doctors Network, which, despite its grandiose title, exists exclusively to promote the ministry of the Korean faith healer Lee Jae-Rock. I’ve discussed Jae-Rock’s dubious claims to supernatural power – as well as his somewhat eccentric theological beliefs, which have led to his expulsion from the Korean Christian Association – several times before on this blog: see here and here. […]

  3. […] photos of strange phenomena that prove his supernatural powers; I placed one of these on my blog here. There are various Christian websites which critique Lee and have some interesting information, […]

  4. […] to perform a range of miracles, of which dramatic healings of the sick is just one kind. Wooding previously reported that when the Global Christian Network was launched in New York, God advertised the event with a […]

  5. […] is a bit credulous when it comes to faith healers, and it has on one occasion lapsed into conspiracy-mongering, but this is the first time I’ve […]

    • Despite critics it is a wonder and miracle that Manmin Church with its Senior Pastor Rev. Dr. Jaerock Lee is fast growing as one of the largest Church in the world. There are genuine miracle healings and manifestations of Gods mighty power working in the spread of the word of God through its Missions.

  6. I experienced healing of Jesus Christ when Dr. Jaerock Lee is praying.
    Not only me there are many who experienced same things.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.