This is a story about a priest who traded 27 years of his life as a priest with 27 years of
Shinchonji for the truth.
This content is on page 9 of “City of Truth Beautiful Shinchonji” advertising
newspaper.
I was born in an atheist family as the third son out of five children. Since I was little,
I dreamed of giving up my life to help the neglected people. Later on, I became a
Catholic before any of my family members and soon received a calling as a priest.
First of all, I wanted to evangelize my family, but it took about not 14 days but 14
years for my family to believe. After meeting the conditions the Theology school was
demanding, my family was able to begin their own life as a priest.
In this world, it’s not normal to find a guy in a skirt. A person having to restrain from
everything in the world, to be honest but poor, to be pure, to wear absolute clothes of
obedience, to entirely sacrifice one’s youth and passion and to promise to live alone
unmarried is a Catholic priest.
The path of a priest to me is a special and holy path pursuing the truth on the neglected
people’s part.
For 13 years, I was with the children on the streets and then returning to my homeland,
I finished my duty as a priest in the Parish Church. After, living with beggars for 6
years, I made plans for my new dream. I was awaiting good news that would help the
neglected people.
However, as much as to my surprise, it all started with my sister-in-law and youngest
brother.
One day, my sister-in-law said to me, “When you know the seed, greed for this world
will disappear. You see Heaven. You can meet the truth God! And when the leaf on the
branch prospers, the holy spirit will come flying to make a nest.”
As it went differently than expected, I could’ve have refused to listen to it, but this
interpretation of the Bible was new and fresh to me.
My sister-in-law told me that anyone was allowed to study being ecumenical, even a
Buddhist monk was studying for that matter. So, without any suspicions, I decided to
study.
However, I did not expect 27 years of my life as a priest to be traded for 27 years of
Shinchonji at all.
The day I made the choice to leave the parsonage to be born again through the word of
truth, and the day I also made a painful decision, coincidentally, it was the anniversary
of my father’s death.
Anyway, that’s how I started the study. Thinking back now, it was a miracle and I don’t
think I could go through with it again even if I tried. Reason being is that I met the
instructor at the parsonage. Every time the words were interpreted into their rightful
meaning, it was hard to keep my tears of shock and surprise in.
Until now, I have attended Mass everyday in sacrifice and service. I fervently hoped for
many souls to be saved as bread and wine became Jesus’ flesh and blood. There were
many believers who came to confess their deeds, so I gave them the sacraments and
recited the Scriptures of Absolution to remove their sins. And I believed this to be the
path of salvation, but I have now learned that it was merely a shadow, not the real thing.
No matter how true the word may be how could you make the ancient traditions of
Catholicism go up in smoke in just one moment? This regrettable incident forced only
an empty laughter out of me.
So, as there is a difference between God’s thoughts and man’s thoughts, God’s path and
man’s path differs as well. ‘
But it was a first to feel this hopeful as my spirit was being born again through the
word. I couldn’t help but admit that everything that I had possessed were merely the
teachings of man, and as I lowered myself being in front of the truth, I could get a taste
of real happiness which I couldn’t have tasted before.
Then one day studying at the parsonage, a nun must’ve suspected something. “Priest!
I heard Christian praying in the halls!” she said with suspicion. I hid my baffled mind
and covered up the awkward situation by telling her that I was studying Divinity
Psychology.
This is was because the Bible was needed to study Divinity Psychology; however, there
was no place to study in Catholic besides Rome, so the instructor who I learned from
was introduced to me as an exchange professor from Rome.
I was good at studying, so I went overseas to study at Rome, Italy. This place
was actually Zion Christian Center at Busan. The study at center deepened my
understanding day by day, and at last, it came to a point where I could no longer preach
the morning sermon using false truth.
However, after 87 nuns and 800 students listened to the new sermon, they began to
offensively ask questions. “Priest! Where did this doctrine come from?” “Please, just
continue with your previous divinity sermon’s!” they said as their faces turned red.
There was a time when I toured the nation preaching Divinity sermons, but now, in the
mornings I was studying at the Center, in the afternoon I was listening to the lecture
tapes, and at night I was memorizing verses. Therefore, I was confused to which one
was my Divinity sermon but couldn’t find it as a result.
I prayed, “God, please!” Please allow me to preach my Divinity sermons at the Morning
Mass like I did before!” However, God would steal my lips and every time he did, the
nuns came our more aggressive. Leaving my body to the floor, I would lie down the
whole day feeling horrible.
Amidst this confusion, I was browsing through the internet until I came coincidentally
came across a Shinchonji slandering video by a person who once belonged to
Shinchonji but left. His logic on slandering Shinchonji seemed reasonable. And the
style of the instructor’s interpreting of the parables were exactly the same as it was in
the video.
What is happening? Are you telling me I have fallen into a cult?
In a baffled state, I called my youngest sibling right away. “Hey, you! Are you and
sister-in-law trying to ruin my life? I said. My brother would tell me that the person was
speaking lies, that there was a reason behind God’s calling of a fervent priest. So, he’d
tell me to bear with it a littler longer and I will soon find out when I continue the study.
However, I was in such a baffled state, I would look up Shinchonji, which was so new
to me, on the internet every single day. My guidance leader would have compassion on
me, and prayed in tears for me everyday.
Fortunately, like me, my guidance counselor used to be a Catholic, so she understood
what I was going through and we were able to work it out. Slowly, I was able to recover
my state of mind.
‘Yes, the word is the truth! The word is healing us!
The life I pursued without the word of truth as a priest was all wrong!
It was a life I wanted to life even if I had to shave my bones? But the answers I could
not find there I was able to find here!
In a situation like so, the word of truth nourished my soul making it healthy, and I have
never evangelized anyone but with the help of the heavens, I was able to guide a couple
from Busan and one from Seoul. Currently, they are diligently learning the word of
truth.
While working hard to save a soul, there were times where I’d experience pain as if
my body was crumbling, but thinking the suffering the promised pastor, who walked
this path first, had to go through, the pain I was feeling became nothing and I was just
grateful.
I will work harder to fully understand the words of life of the promised pastor, and
inscribe each verse in my heart and mind.
Concluding, I want to thank my sister-in-law, my youngest brother, instructor and
guidance leaders who anxiously walked with me until I was able to graduate with
honors, the seniors who prayed for me, tribe leader and especially my fellow graduates,
I love you!
Even if I had all the words in the word, I wouldn’t be able to express how I feel right
now. But there is one thing that I want to say. “Everyone! We were destined to live
forever!” I thank and glorify God, our father, and Jesus who helped me meet the true
teacher who is putting his life down to work hard. I end my graduation speech here.
Thank you.
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