Shinchonji Graduation Speech

“Because the congregation members, whom I loved, were always on my mind…”

The story of one pastor who willingly became a harvest sickle for his congregation
members that he loved dearly

I was born as a farmer’s son. I pursued the life of faith my mother led. Although I was
young at the time, I served and worked hard for God in many ways and later on even
had a vision to preach the word. And as time passed by, I became a pastor.

I started my life as a pastor by re-opening a closed church up in the mountains and
guided service from then on. As I continued to guide the services for a period of time,
the church was revived, soon regaining its stability.

With a grateful heart, I promised to make more of an effort as a pastor in front of God,
and when I did, I moved to a bigger church to carry out pastoral duties. Anyone could
see that I worked hard

However, the more effort I continued to make, the more I would reach my limits. I was
guilty about myself because it felt like I was only making an effort on the outside.

And then one day, I heard unfortunate news that a pastor, whom I knew personally,
passed away. So, I went to visit the pastor’s wife. This is how she and I became close.
After the pastor’s death, his wife was the first to encounter this word of truth, and she
would ask me if I wanted to learn it as well. She was my precious harvest worker.

Of course, I had no clue about any of this, so it raised suspicions for me and my wife.
We both kindly rejected her proposal. However, she was persistent and in the end,
we gave in and decided to study with a somewhat assurance that God would guide us
according to his will.

The instructor would make his way to teach us by personally coming to the woman’s
house.

The first thought I had in mind was, “Isn’t this the teaching of a cult?” I put up
my guard with the suspicions and disapproval towards the word, but as I began to
understand the word, I was assured that the word was true! All this time when I studied
and examined the Bible, my thirst for the word was never satisfied; it was like digging
into a spring that had no water. I didn’t understand myself, yet I was teaching people the
teachings of man. I was a frustrated blind but once the words opened up my eyes, I was
overjoyed.

I still can’t forget the deep impression I received when I had the assurance that only
through the promised pastor, promised tabernacle and promised theology school can
God’s and our hope of heaven be fulfilled.

From the basic knowledge of the Bible to gradually going deeper into the study, I
realized that all this time when I thought I was preaching God’s word as a pastor, I was
actually a wolf in a sheep’s clothing preaching things that were mine. And, the reality
that the Christian world was full of untruth really woke me up. It was heart-rending and
troubling to hear that besides Shinchonji, God was not with the any of the churches. I
was embarrassed at my pathetic and miserable self.

Of course, there were many troubles and difficulties along the way because I couldn’t
give up my belief system, a frame I was stuck in. However, I was able to perceive in
repentance, gratitude and happiness within God’s grace.

Now, I couldn’t stay still when I perceived the word of life!

I decided I could no longer preach the teachings of man in vain when I plainly knew the
truth.

The instructor guided me in the studies and with what I learned, I taught the
congregation members.

I could see the change in the congregation member after learning the word. They
were becoming a true believer. I was so happy as if I had become a priest inside the
Bible. My wife, who was learning the word as well, had many doubts, questions and
earthquakes, but the more she learned, the more she came to realize and believe that this
work was not the work of man but the work of God.

It has been already four months since I started the study, and now I finally began the
work of harvest at the church I was guiding. Regarding this, my wife would respond,
“If you get caught, that’s the end to your pastor duties there.” My wife was worried,
but that didn’t stop me from making a claim. This was because as I was watching the
congregation members change according to the word, I saw a form of heaven.

It was one day when the Bible study was slowly coming to an end. An elder, who
opposed the idea of Bible studying and held seminars at three times, spoke to me one
day with a look of suspicion in his eye, “Pastor, you seem to be preaching well, but one
might mistake it to be teachings of a cult.” The moment I heard this I became uneasy.
However, I couldn’t quit the harvest work that I had been doing so far.

The elder hasn’t exactly lived according to the word, which this impropriety was later
on revealed to the congregation members, resulting in a lost of trust. So, the elder
and assistant pastor was looking for a fault within me so they could replace me with
different pastor.

Thinking this was their chance, they spread a rumor saying that the pastor joined a cult
and was trying to destroy the church. They told me to hold responsibility for this, then
they suggested for me to retire. Once this incident struck, my wife and two daughters,
who have passed over in the center, would say multiple times, “It was an inevitable
matter. Let’s go to Zion.”

However, it wasn’t an easy decision to make due to the thought of leaving the
congregation members, who did not yet know this word and whom I loved very much,
behind. In addition, I had to admit that I was troubled, considering the responsibility to
take care of the family and the financial difficulties that I had to face.

In the end, I made a decision to leave all matters to God and retired.
My fellow pastors
and along with people I knew, who were unaware that I had met the word of light, heard
the retirement news. They worried by saying, “You’re a fool for not having a plan.How can you just come out like that without a guarantee?”

However, I had hope in the
promise and thinking how Abraham left his motherland, I answered, “I will show how
God will lead me.” I made this resolution over and over again.

But what was a relief was that even in a difficult situation that we were in, my wife was
steadfast and did not look back like Lot’s wife. I was very thankful for that.

The result of relying and fully believing in God was that me, my wife and two daughters
were able to at last pass over and enter God’s kingdom, Shinchonji Temple of the
Tabernacle of Testimony. And although there were many difficulties and persecutions
faced in the process, 22 of us have successfully graduated through God’s full guidance
in grace and truth.

Moreover, coming to heaven and seeing harvesters receiving training and working hard,
happiness and hope in me grew. I felt terrible that everyone could not be harvested, but I
told myself that I won’t give up until the end. I will harvest and pray so many souls can
be led to heaven.

Hired pastors become corrupt because they are unaware that they are being deceived
by Satan’s power. They only care about satisfying their own needs.

The nation knows
they are under the teachings of man and their ecclesiastically authority and that this is
the wrong path. Yet they are unable to come to an understanding.

Healing the nation
through the word of truth is the path to atone your sins. Remember that this is the path
to pay back for the grace God bestowed upon you. I will work hard to learn the new
song and become a leaf of the tree of life that diligently conveys the word.

The life I led without the word of truth as a priest was wrong!

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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