Park Jin-young speaks out amid Firstfruits controversy: “We’ve begun to face persecution while being called a heretical cult...”

[Financial News] Singer and producer Park Jin-young has spoken out about allegations that the religious group he leads, Firstfruits, is heretical and a cult.
In a lecture video released on the Firstfruits YouTube channel on the 3rd, Park said, “We’ve now begun to face considerable persecution in earnest as we’re being called heretics and a cult,” adding, “We won’t resolve this in our own way, either. It will be resolved appropriately at the right moment.”
He went on to claim, “This isn’t something that can be resolved by arguing over doctrine or rushing in as an organized group to post comments. God will handle that resolution as well.”

That day, Park spoke about his experiences and faith under the theme “False Confidence and Proper Confidence.” He defined believing in his own abilities or in the help of capable people as “false confidence,” and relying on God as “proper confidence.” He also explained that one should rely on faith rather than outside help or an organized response, saying, “I’m against believing that my own abilities or a capable person will help me right away.”
He recalled, “When I turned 40, I experienced for the first time something that didn’t go my way. Before that, even if I failed, I would try again, and if I kept trying, I would eventually succeed. I lived that way for 40 years, so I didn’t need God.” He continued, “If you’re not worried, why would you seek God? If you believe you can do things well, why would you seek God?” He said, “I turned to God when I lost confidence after facing a desperate situation for the first time.”
On salvation, too, he said, “You should have no confidence in yourself when it comes to salvation. During the seven years when I thought I hadn’t been saved, I received a lot of advice from people around me, such as, ‘It seems you can’t be saved for this reason.’ I looked into my heart each time, but it didn’t resolve anything.”
He claimed that he experienced salvation after letting go of the attitude of trying to solve the problem through his own efforts. Park said, “I would say, ‘Oh, really?’ and examine my heart and try to change it, but it didn’t work. Later, I thought, ‘God would save me before I died,’ and that was when I was saved.”
Park faced similar allegations in 2018. At the time, he rebutted them on social media (SNS), saying, “The Bible study group has absolutely nothing to do with the Salvation Sect organization,” and, “I don’t belong to a church or denomination. I don’t want to be tied to a particular denomination.”
Meanwhile, Park cited a passage from 2 Corinthians saying, “The weapons we fight with are not of the flesh, but through God they demolish strongholds,” and one from Philippians saying, “I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength,” emphasizing that conviction grounded in faith is “proper confidence.”

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