LifeWay Christian Resources is awaiting results of a theological study of Olivet University before deciding whether to sell LifeWay Glorieta Conference Center to Olivet, even as media outlets debate whether the California-based university has heretical ties.
The potential sale of the 2,100-acre Southern Baptist conference center in New Mexico is receiving added scrutiny on the heels of media reports of longstanding accusations that Olivet’s founder, David Jang, promotes the heresy that he is the “second coming Christ.”
Marty King, LifeWay’s communications director, said LifeWay is well aware of accusations against Jang and Olivet.
“Those concerns are precisely why we engaged the National Association of Evangelicals to conduct a thorough review of their theological views to determine compatibility with ours,” King said in a statement to the media Aug. 16.
Christianity Today, in an Aug. 16 article, summarized results of several investigations of Jang’s activities:
4In 2008 the Hong Kong-based Independent Enquiry Committee, which included Chinese evangelical theologians, “unanimously expressed serious apprehensions and concerns” about the group and “could not exclude the … strong probabilities” that Jang’s followers “promoted doctrines similar to that of the Unification Church, including … the first coming of Jesus to the earth was a failure and … their pastor is the ‘Second Coming Lord’ or ‘Second Coming Christ.’”
4Following the Independent Enquiry Committee’s findings the substantial Beijing Haidian Christian Church in China “issued a statement terminating their relationship with the Young Disciples.”
4In September 2009 two of Korea’s largest Presbyterian denominations, the TongHap and HapShin, “voted to break relations with Jang’s organizations.”
(BP)
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