Park Jin-young calls heresy allegations 'persecution,' says God will resolve them

"We began to face real persecution — being called a cult, a heresy."

Singer-producer Park Jin-young has described the heresy and cult allegations surrounding his religious group, Firstfruits, as "persecution." In 2018, when questions arose over his alleged involvement in a gathering linked to the Salvation Sect, Park drew a clear line, saying he belonged to no church or denomination. Eight years on, he now stands at the pulpit of what he calls a church with legitimate roots.

In a sermon titled "Wrong Confidence vs. Right Confidence" — a video running just over an hour and seven minutes posted Tuesday to the YouTube channel Firstfruits — Park addressed the recent wave of allegations. "Resolving this is not something we do in our own way," he said. "It gets resolved at the right moment, in the right way." He urged followers not to engage in doctrinal arguments or flood critical videos with organized comments. "That resolution is something God does," he said.

The video began as a regular worship sermon before turning to the allegations. Its central message: set aside confidence in your own abilities and place your confidence in God instead.

The sermon opened with eschatology. Park drew a parallel between Nimrod — the biblical hunter he described as ruler of humanity's first unified kingdom — and "the Beast," whom he cast as the ruler of a final unified kingdom. His interpretation held that after the Rapture, a seven-year tribulation would follow, during which the Beast would govern the world by solving problems of food and security. He identified AI-equipped robots as the engine of that future productivity. "I am not saying Elon Musk is the Beast," Park said. "I am saying the world is moving in that direction."

Park traced his faith to a period of despair around the age of 40. "Before that, even when I failed, I kept trying and things eventually worked out — so I thought I didn't need God," he said. "Then, for the first time, I stood before a hopelessness I had no idea how to face. I lost my confidence, and that's when I sought God."

The sermon's core message centered on living a life of evangelism. "As a singer, I should strive to be the best singer. As someone running an entertainment company, I should strive to build the best company," Park said — but he cautioned that wealth must never be the motivation for excellence. "We must overcome persecution and evangelize," he said, calling on doctors, nurses, mothers, firefighters and others to become the best in their respective fields.

Park also told followers to avoid social gatherings where alcohol flows and secular conversation dominates — alumni reunions, hometown get-togethers and the like. One slip at such an event, he said, would make it impossible to evangelize the people there. With the year-end social season approaching, he said it was important to quickly establish a reputation as someone who simply does not show up to those events.

Above all else, he placed the church first. "Even if someone who could help you close an important deal says Wednesday evening is the only time they're available, tell them that doesn't work," Park said. "Church comes first — that goes without saying."

Park's faith first entered public debate in May 2018, when a media outlet reported that he had led an evangelism gathering on March 21 linked to the Christian Gospel Baptist Church, commonly known as the Salvation Sect. The allegations spread quickly after JYP Entertainment acknowledged that Park's spouse is a niece of Yoo Byung-eon, the late chairman of the Semo Group.

Park posted a personal testimony on social media the day the report was published, denying the claims and hinting at legal action. In a follow-up post the next day, he wrote: "I do not belong to any church or denomination, because I do not want to be tied to any particular sect." He explained that his group had started four years earlier as a Bible study with two friends at home, that it met regularly with about 30 members, and that it operated as a discussion-based study with no preacher. The Christian Gospel Baptist Church also issued a statement five days later saying Park was not a member of their denomination and did not participate in their church activities.

In a 2020 appearance on MBC's Radio Star, Park again said he had no denomination and that the group was still "just our own Bible study." In June 2022, it emerged that Park had been delivering Bible lectures on the YouTube channel Firstfruits, which had been set up in October 2020. In the first video made public at the time, Park was careful to note: "I am not a pastor. I have never studied theology at a seminary."

The turning point came on Sept. 19 this year. Park uploaded a video to the same channel — one hour and 12 minutes long, titled "What denomination is your church, Mr. Park Jin-young?" — and introduced Firstfruits as "a church that, surprisingly, has clear roots and a clear lineage." He explained that the group drew its understanding of how to obtain eternal life from Wesleyan Methodism, and its interpretation of whether eternal life once obtained can be lost from the tradition of American independent Baptist pastor Peter Ruckman. When asked about reports that some members had come from Shincheonji, Park replied: "Just because there are former Shincheonji members doesn't mean our church is Shincheonji."

The "Bible study among ourselves" had, in the meantime, taken on the full shape of a church. According to the Firstfruits website, the organization operates as a nonprofit corporation under the name Firstfruits. Centered on a worship hall in Songpa-gu, Seoul, it holds services at eight locations — Busan, Daegu, Paju, Gwangju, Jeju and Los Angeles and Orange County in the United States — with Wednesday evening and Sunday morning services. Regional congregations join the Seoul service via video link.

No official ruling from the Protestant establishment has yet been issued. The Presbyterian Church of Korea, one of the country's largest Protestant denominations, has been conducting a formal review process — including written inquiries — after the Busan Presbytery petitioned its 108th General Assembly in 2023 to study the question of heresy in relation to Park. The findings are scheduled to be reported at the regular general assembly in September 2027. Until the denomination reaches a conclusion, there will be no official determination on whether Firstfruits constitutes a heresy.

Park currently serves as chief creative officer of JYP Entertainment and co-chair of the Presidential Committee on Popular Culture Exchange.