The pagan teachings of Yonggi Cho
Have you had difficulty explaining the dangers of David Yonggi Cho’s teachings to friends or family?
The teachings of David Yonggi Cho’s ‘Fourth Dimension’ has infected millions of churches around the world. Many church leaders are not aware how foreign these teachings on “faith” are from the historical Christian faith.
In this article, we have attempted to capture the complicated Fourth Dimension teachings of Yonggi Cho into a “simple” diagram. We hope this resource helps people discern the blatant pagan mysticism in David Yonggi Cho’s “Laws of the Fourth Dimension” philosophy. (All quotes in this article are taken from Yonggi Cho’s book ‘The Fourth Dimension’ Volume 1, 1979.)
Keep in mind these beginning quotes from David Yonggi Cho and ask yourself throughout this article:
- Does he contradict himself?
- Does the “Holy Spirit” that gave him this fourth dimension revelation contradict the Holy Spirit that wrote the scripture?
- What specific scriptures do you think can refute some of the things he says?
“I was amazed coming to America and reading the books some American ministers gave me, for these books had almost made the subconscious into an almighty god, and that is a great deception. The subconscious has certain influence, but it is quite limited, and cannot create like our Almighty God can. I have begun to see in America the Unitarian Church try to develop the subconscious, the fourth dimension of the human spirit, and put that human spirit in the place of Jesus Christ; this indeed is great deception, and a great danger.” pg. 30
“I fasted and prayed, seeking the faith of the Lord, and His answers. Then a glorious revelation came to my heart, and I received a clear explanation. And from that time on I began to explain these things through my lectures in my church in Korea. Now I can give a satisfying reply to any of those questions, and I can easily give explanations, explanations as clear as a sunny day. Let me explain it to you.” pg. 26
THE TEACHINGS OF THE FOURTH DIMENSION IN DIAGRAMYou’ll notice that once all the Christianese is removed, the Fourth Dimension doesn’t come across remotely Christian. To help encapsulate his teaching, we will break this diagram down so you can see how Cho teaches on the Fourth Dimension.
1. First dimension…
“When you study geometry you put up two points, one here, and one there, and if you draw a line between the two you call it one dimension. It is just one line between the points, one dimension.” pg. 26-27
2. Second dimension…
“But if you add line upon by the hundreds of thousands, then one dimension naturally creates a second dimension.” pg. 27
3. Third dimension…
“And if you stack up planes one upon another then it becomes cubic; this is called the third dimension. The material world and the whole earth belong to the third dimension.” pg. 27
4. Fourth dimension…
“This chaotic world belonged to the third dimension, but the Holy Spirit, who is pictured here incubating on the third dimension, belongs to the fourth dimension. So the spiritual kingdom of faith belongs to the fourth dimension.” pg. 27
5. The human heart penetrates all dimensions…
“Then God spoke to my heart, “Son, as the second dimension includes and controls the first dimension, and the third dimension includes and controls the second dimension, so the fourth dimension includes and controls the third dimension, producing a creation of order and beauty. The spirit is the fourth dimension. Every human being is a spiritual being as well as physical being. They have the fourth dimension as well as the third dimension in their hearts.”” pg. 28
6. We incubate things from the fourth dimension into the third dimension…
“So men, by exploring their spiritual sphere of the fourth dimension through the development of concentrated visions and dreams in their imaginations, can brood over and incubate the third dimension, influencing and changing it. This is what the Holy Spirit taught me.” pg. 28“The Bible says that faith is the substance of things hoped for, a substance which first has a stage of development- of incubation- before its usage can be full and effective.” pg. 1
7. The four basic steps to the process of incubation (the law of faith)…
“There are four basic steps to the process of incubation.” pg. 1
8. a) … “Envision a Clear-cut Objective” pg. 2
9. b) … “Have A Burning Desire” pg. 13
10. c) … “Pray for Assurance” pg. 14
11. d) … “Speak the Word” pg. 18
12. There are three types of spirit in the universe…
“In the universe there are three types of spirit – the Holy Spirit, the spirit of the devil, and the human spirit.” pg. 26
13. The three languages of the Holy Spirit are faith…
“There are, however, certain ways your faith works, and links you to the Heavenly Father who dwells within you… First, to use your faith you must be able to envision a clear-cut objective. Faith is the substance of things, clear-cut things, hoped for.” pg. 1-2
14. … Visions and dreams…
“But we are so limited in space and time, and the only way for us to incubate is through our imaginations, through our visions and dreams. This is the reason the Holy Spirit comes to cooperate with us – to create, by helping young men to see visions, and old men to dream dreams. Through envisioning and dreaming dreams we can kick away the wall of limitations, and can stretch out to the universe.” pg. 31“Visions and dreams are the language of the fourth dimension, and the Holy Spirit communicates through them.” pg. 32
15. There is an evil fourth dimension and a divine fourth dimension…
“The Holy Spirit said to me, “Look at the Sokagokkai. They belong to Satan; the human spirit joins up with the spirit of the evil fourth dimension.” pg. 28. “People would come and challenge me, “We can do the same miracles.” I would say, “Yes, I know you can. […] You are linked to the evil fourth dimension.” pg. 29.“While we do recognize certain realities and truths in these teachings, it is also important to realize that the devil occupies an evil fourth dimension.” pg. 30.
DAVID YONGGI CHO’S CONCLUSION
“Miracles come not by blindly struggling. There are laws in the spiritual realm, and you have endless resources in your heart.” pg. 20
“I cannot carry out my ministry of winning souls by simply knocking on doors, struggling and working myself to death. I use the way of faith, and the church is growing in leaps and bounds.” pg. 36
“God wants to manifest Himself through you today, just as He manifested Himself through Christ 2,000 years ago. He is just as powerful as He was before, and He is depending upon you. I claim that I could build a church which has more than 10,000 members very easily in the States, as well as in Germany or in Tokyo, for the vision for a church is not built in the external world, but inside a man or woman.” pg. 20
