Shincheonji Church Begins Blood Drive to Ease South Korea's "Drought" in Blood Supply

    GWACHEON, KOREA, April 25, 2022 /24-7PressRelease/ -- A national blood supply crisis due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has plagued South Korea for several months. Officials called the lack of donor blood a "drought" known to easily impact the lives of those who need transfusions and supplementary blood while fighting and recovering from COVID-19 infections.

Over 2,100 volunteers from Shincheonji Church of Jesus donated blood in the Life ON campaign from April 18th for 3 days to overcome the blood supply shortage, and the church does not plan to stop there. Shincheonji is planning for 6,000 volunteers from all 12 tribes and 74 church locations to donate blood from April 18th to the 30th.

This is not the first time Shincheonji Church has donated large amounts of blood in response to the pandemic. In 2020, over 4,000 Shincheonji Church members volunteered to donate blood for use in hospitals with critical patients, and also for vaccine research. Much of the Shincheonji-donated blood was used in development of COVID-19 vaccines and home testing kits.

Officials of the Korean Red Cross are grateful to Shincheonji for their support which allows patients in critical condition to receive life-saving treatment. One official stated, "After the members participated in group plasma donation to develop a treatment for COVID-19 in 2020, we have recently decided to promote a nationwide blood donation campaign in a situation where we are experiencing a national level of blood supply crisis due to the recent spread of the Omicron variant." Woo Kwang-ho, the director of the Incheon blood center where Shincheonji's Matthew tribe held a drive, stated: "The participation of the Shincheonji volunteers in blood donation in this difficult time due to the Omicron variant will be of great help in stabilizing the blood supply."

The leader of Thaddaeus Tribe, Shin Gyu-soo explained the objective of this activity: "We started the first round of life-sharing blood donation campaign 'Life ON' with the desire to help even a little in a national crisis. As we learned the life-giving service spirit from Heaven, we became volunteers for the kingdom of heaven to practice this 'life-sharing' service that illuminates all parts of this dark world and conveys warmth."

With the help of Shincheonji's volunteers, the domestic blood reserve expects to jump from less than three and a half days to over five days, allowing for much more security in fulfilling the current 5,400 patient-per-day blood demand in Korea.

Shincheonji USA, which is also known as New Heaven and New Earth Church, is a branch of Shincheonji Church of Jesus Temple of the Tabernacle of the Testimony. Ever since the fall of man, God has been working to establish His kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. Shincheonji is organized into 12 tribes and its governing structure mirrors the hierarchical structure of God's throne in Rv 4. The kingdom and people of Shincheonji together comprise the culmination of God's efforts recorded throughout biblical history—God's eternal kingdom (Dn 2:44) and the kingdom for which we have all been praying when reciting the Lord's Prayer (Mt 6:10, Rv 21:1-3).

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