Spirit of Jesus Church

The Spirit of Jesus Church (イエス之御霊教会, Iesu no Mitama Kyōkai) was registered in 1941 in Japan by Murai Jun.

There he instructed his disciples to preach the gospel and baptize the believers, and promised the power to perform miracles, cast out demons, speaking in tongues, and heal the sick.

Organized as an independent group in 1941, this institution, like many other Christian denominations in Japan, have not experienced significant growth until after World War II.

The preaching methods of the Spirit of Jesus Church tend to reiterate the pledges of the spiritual and material blessings for the true believers, with the belief that God complies faithfully to their promises.

The Spirit of Jesus Church engages in "spiritual warfare" against the Japanese traditional religiosity and condemns the practice as "idolatrous".

They link salvific work in the spirit world and the notion of "household" salvation to the supposed ritual of vicarious baptism referred to in 1 Cor.

[3] This church claims that through the ritual of vicarious baptism (先祖の身代わり洗礼) that the blessings of individual salvation can be extended to past generations as well.

A member simply states the ancestor's name, announces his or her relationship to the deceased, and then undergoes baptism by immersion on their behalf.

They claim that "through this ritual the good news of the forgiveness of sins is communicated to the dead, and their spirits are transported from hades to heaven.

A pastor of this church in Okinawa explained that prior to the ritual of vicarious baptism many of the members had disturbing visions of the wandering spirits of the dead.

According to a church representative, the significance of this service is that it allows living believers to join with the spirits of the dead in common prayer to Jesus.

Although the Spirit of Jesus Church continues to report thousands of baptisms, these claims are not accompanied by a serious increase in "active" members.