Grace Road Church claims in paid advertisement the reason for COVID-19 outbreak is the imprisonment and slandering of its leader

The Grace Road Church is claiming in a paid advertisement in the Fiji Sun that the reason for the COVID-19 outbreak is the unjust persecution, imprisonment and slandering of its leader Reverend Okjoo Shin as a cult.

It made this claim in the paid advertisement titled "The Judge of God - Judgement Has Now Begun".

Under the sub-heading - "COVID-19 : What is the reason?" Grace Road Church said, "We believe the reason for COVID-19 outbreak is because of Spirit of Truth was slandered as a cult, persecuted and imprisoned".

The leader of Grace Road Church Reverend Shin is mentioned in the advertisement as "The Spirit of Truth Reverend Okjoo Shin".

Shin Ok-Ju

The advertisement further says "Furthermore, some Christian leaders of the world, who use the Bible, transgressed against God.

Many plagues have emerged since creation, but this prevailing COVID-19 is completely different.

COVID-19 is God's Warning to turn from lawlessness and unrighteousness, God's sign to show the end of the time for the wicked with their works and God's Sword to judge this wicked world!"

The same advertisement has also been shared by Grace Road Church on its Facebook page.

The World Health Organization, the Health Ministry and health experts have stated coronaviruses are a large group of viruses, with six of these viruses known to cause a range of illnesses from the common cold to the more serious Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS).

The Health Ministry and WHO have stated that COVID-19 was discovered in late December 2019 after an unusual cluster of pneumonia cases was noted in Wuhan City, Hubei province, China.

On December 31st last year, China alerted the WHO to several cases of unusual pneumonia in Wuhan, a city of 11 million people.

The virus was unknown.

Several of those infected worked at the city's Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market, which was shut down on January 1.

As health experts worked to identify the virus amid growing alarm, the number of infections exceeded 40.

On January 11th, China announced its first death from the virus, a 61-year-old man who had purchased goods from the seafood market.

Treatment did not improve his symptoms after he was admitted to hospital and he died of heart failure on the evening of January 9.

We are currently trying to speak to the Grace Road Church, Media Industry Development Authority and Fiji Sun on the publishing of the advertisement.

We are also asking MIDA if this conforms to the Code of Ethics for Advertising in the Media Act.