Faith & Life

Christian

Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. If you suffer, it should not be as a murderer or thief or any other kind of criminal, or even as a meddler. However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name. 1 Pe 4:12–16 Sometimes, we look for a prestigious title in the…

Alisa Szewcik from Seattle, WA, U.S.

100

The highest point on most exams is 100. When expressing something that is satisfied or full, the number 100 is used in a percentage. Even at 99℃, the water stays still, but when it reaches 100℃, it boils. So the number 100 is the final goal that cannot be surpassed or the highest score with no fault. There is a final goal for us as we work to save souls. Until all the prophecies of the Bible are completed, we must do our best to fill ourselves with 100% faith and 100% passion for the gospel, and change into a 100% beautiful character, so that we will complete the God-given mission of the gospel. It is difficult to accomplish the…

Return to God

When I was young, I worked out in the sea for a few years. Whenever I was out in the sea far from the land, I felt like I was growing away from God. Strictly speaking, I’d already grown away from God because I, once a fervent Protestant churchgoer, had stopped going to church; I didn’t really know what true acts of faith were. However, I hadn’t forsaken my faith; I always had a thought at the edges of my mind that I would return to God some day. To put my resolution into action, I quit my job in the sea and started an ordinary job on land. However, I couldn’t adapt myself to my life on land and…

Chu Myeong-guk from Changwon, South Korea

I Have Prayed for You

Whenever I went through hardships and trials in my life of faith, I always prayed, seeking God’s help and asking for strength to overcome all of them. One day, a member read me a verse that really moved me. “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” Lk 22:31–32 Even though Jesus foreknew Peter would deny Him even for three times, Jesus never hated him. Instead, He prayed for Peter not to be wavered by the situation, but to have faith so that he could carry out his mission as an apostle of the New Covenant.…

Arnaldo Codoy from Mandaluyong, Philippines

A Beautiful Story about the Members in Mmakau

By the grace of Father and Mother, I have many loving brothers and sisters around me, through whom I can realize the type of faith I need to have to enter the kingdom of heaven. In 2017, seven thousand churches were established, thanks to God’s grace and according to the prophecy in the Bible. A Zion in Mmakau, which is a small area in South Africa, is one of them. The Mmakau Zion is newly established not long ago, but the members there are so gracious and beautiful in faith. Whenever I listen to them speak of their gospel experiences, I come to smile. I’d like to share some stories about them. There is a four-year-old sister, and on the…

Pretoria, South Africa

The Worry That I Had for Nineteen Years Has Turned to Joy I Cannot Contain

“ . . . You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world.” Jn 16:20–21 “Grief turns to joy,” “The pain of giving birth to a child is tremendous but when the baby is born, she forgets the anguish because of her joy.” These are the verses that I liked and read often. I experienced the power of these words through my mother who was born again as a child of God Elohim nineteen years after she first heard about the truth. Mom…

Seo Mi-gyeong from Seoul, Korea

How to Get Debts Written Off

Often times, we may find it hard to forget our hurt feelings. Although I thought that I let go of my hurt feelings, they would come up again and resurface in my heart. “The servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go. But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded. His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay…

Kimberly Martinez from Los Angeles, CA, U.S.

If You Are Faithful to the Gospel Duty Given by God

When I was sixteen years old, I heard the truth about God the Mother. I was shocked, and after a few studies, I immediately became a member of the Church of God. I could not hold in this precious truth to myself, so I shared it with my best friend, Arnani. She became my spiritual sister, and led her mom to the truth. I was reminded of my mom, too, but I was worried about leading my mom, who lived apart from me, to Zion. Wishing that my family would eventually receive salvation, too, if I work hard for the gospel, I actively participated in preaching and volunteering. As I became part of the young adult group, I participated in…

Orange County, CA, U.S.

Wherever God Leads

[S]o David inquired of the Lord, “Shall I go and attack the Philistines? Will you hand them over to me?” The Lord answered him, “Go, for I will surely hand the Philistines over to you.” . . . Once more the Philistines came up and spread out in the Valley of Rephaim; so David inquired of the Lord, and he answered, “Do not go straight up, but circle around behind them and attack them in front of the balsam trees . . . So David did as the Lord commanded him, and he struck down the Philistines all the way from Gibeon to Gezer. 2 Sa 5:19–25 David asked God before going to battle against the Philistines. God promised David…

Lee Hyeong-hui from Lima, Peru

My First Salary

I checked the text message at a vibration of my cell phone. My salary was deposited. I was happy because it was the first salary in my life. ‘Is this really mine? How should I use it?’ I thought of many things on the way to the bank with excitement. ‘This is my first salary. I’ll give it to my mother. She has been sacrificed for me until today.’ I withdrew it in cash and handed it to my mother. I thought she would be much pleased, but she just looked at the envelope for a while. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry for having done nothing for you.” I was puzzled as her reaction quite different from my anticipation. I…

Kim Seon-wu from Seongnam, South Korea

For Perfect Product

A person drops a cell phone from one meter high, puts it in a 360 degrees rotating box continuously, and even pours water on it. What is more, a person who weighs about 100 kg (220 lb) sits on it or presses on a button over 100,000 times. The reason the cell phone is tortured this much is because of the quality test done by the cell phone company. In order to improve the quality of the product, this company files customers’ complaints, examines the usage pattern, and adds to the check list. Moreover, an airtight container company repeats flipping hinged lid over one million times as well as shaking the container with liquid in it for over 24 hours.…

God Does Not Despise a Contrite Heart

Whenever I saw members bearing gospel fruit every month, I was worried about myself as I did not reap any result. I thought to myself, ‘Maybe I’m still not after God’s own heart.’ “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. In your good pleasure make Zion prosper; build up the walls of Jerusalem.” Ps 51:17–18 David, who was approved by God as the “one after My heart,” always had a contrite and repentant heart. Furthermore, he gathered materials for Jerusalem temple, eagerly hoping to establish it. As a result, God loved David so much. I want to fill my heart with humbleness and repentance, fully realizing that I…

Andrea Bahena Valdés from Toluca, Mexico

The World Is Short-Tempered: Let’s Correct It at My Home First!

Nowadays, people become more and more impatient, being unable to control their anger. A driver, who was driving on a highway, got angry as another driver changed the lane, and stopped his car suddenly; the car behind him was able to stop before he hit the car, but five cars behind him collided with each other and as a result, one innocent driver died, and four people were seriously injured. Two people died as a man got angry because of the noise between the floors of his apartment and set fire downstairs. A son murdered his parents who were disciplining him. An office worker murdered his colleague whom he argued with. Such incidents caused by the inability to control their…

Find Their “One Lovely Point”

Sometimes, discovering just one charming feature of an object makes us grow fond of the whole thing. People are no different. When we find one thing we truly love about someone, their entire presence seems to shine a little brighter. This is known as the halo effect—when a single positive impression softens our view of everything else. By focusing on what shines, shortcomings naturally fade into the background. Even when flaws appear, they seem small and easy to overlook. Like flipping a switch that lights up a room, one lovely point can illuminate our affection for a person as a whole. This month, look for the “one lovely point” in each member of your family. Not only will your loved…

He Showed Them the Full Extent of His Love

“It was just before the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love.” Jn 13:1 I usually read this verse in Korean, and I thought it meant that Jesus loved them until His death on the cross, until I read it in the New International Version Bible, which says that He showed them the full extent of His love. He did not even spare His own life for His people because He loved them perfectly, 100%. Heavenly Mother, too, said to Her children, “You are everything in My life.”…

Lee Eui-seon from Quezon City, Philippines

Power of Unity: Many a Mickle Makes a Muckle

The members of the Church of God in Cape Town carried out a cleanup campaign. We were organized into four groups to meticulously clean up each allocated area. When the time to finish the cleanup came, all the members gathered. A truck went around the cleaned up areas to collect bags of trash of the day. It was a very large pile of trash. “Did we clean up this much just within two hours?” “It’s so much! It looks like we’ve cleaned up the entire city.” All the members were startled at the numerous bags of trash. ‘What difference could our cleanup possibly make?’ The thought we had before the cleanup changed completely. Individual efforts may be weak, but when…

The Church of God in Cape Town, South Africa

My Ugly Fingers

“I wish I had found you sooner when that happened. I should’ve let you have a surgery . . .” Today, too, my mother’s eyes get all teary, looking at my fingers. When I was little, my mother would stay up until late at night in the cold winter, making rice cake for the national holidays. I, a curious seven-year-old boy, took iron chopsticks from the kitchen in secret while my mother was preparing food. As I brought the iron chopsticks to the bedroom quietly, two small holes on the wall got my attention. I looked at them closely for a while, and stuck the chopsticks in those holes—Bam! I felt a great shock as if someone had hit my…

Lee Je-bong from Hwaseong, Korea

Grit Score

At Harvard Universityt, they had a study on 130 students. They designed a study and asked students to run for up to five minutes on a treadmill with the maximum speed set. Running was over just in few minutes, but the study lasted forty years. The research team had longitudinal studies on the participants every two years to check their recent state. As a result, the study confirmed that their level of vocational achievement, social satisfaction, and psychological adjustment were proportional to the grit score. Grit is a psychological term expressing patience and enthusiasm of pushing a little bit more when they reach the limit. It is found that the students, who received higher grit scores by not giving up…

For Eternal Life

Gulliver’s Travels is a prose satire written by Irish writer Jonathan Swift, which begins with Part I: A Voyage to Lilliput and leads up to Part 4. This satire was adapted into a children’s story and has been read by many children. When I was a teenager, I had a chance to read the full text of Gulliver’s Travels and there was a very impressive part. The third nation Gulliver goes to after traveling in Lilliput and Brobdingnag is a flying island, where he hears from a high official about the Struldbrugs, people who are immortal. Gulliver starts to admire them, but he soon changes his mind. At first, Gulliver envied them at the thought that they would stay young…

Choi Jae-ung from Incheon, Korea

The Reason That God Allowed a New and Beautiful Temple

London Zion has recently moved to a new location where we could accommodate more brothers and sisters in the London area. Giving thanks to God for Their grace, the young adult preaching members of London Zion made the determination to preach harder even late at night, to fill the new Zion Father and Mother have given us. One night, during the weekday, as it is common in the UK, there were not many people in the streets around. However, believing Mother would send us to our lost brothers and sisters, we went out to preach. We saw a young lady walking fast on the opposite side of the road. We asked her, “Have you ever heard about God the Mother?”…

London, U.K.