More than ten years ago, I became a member of the Church of God. The words of the Bible were marvelous that I led my two sons, who were elementary students at that time, and my second older sister to Zion.
I learned a certain amount of the Bible and heard compliments from the members, so I was confident that I had faith. However, I could not accept God who came with the ordinary physical body that was not different from ours, so I eventually left the truth.
Ten years after that, the trials came without notice and even broke my will to life. I was totally exhausted in body and mind, and even the words of people whom I had relied on could not console me. When I could not find any reason to live and thought of death, surprisingly, I got a call from a Zion family member. Suddenly, I thought God did it, so I asked her to come to my house right then. She came right away and said that she thought of me and called me while she was resting for a while due to the side effect of the wisdom tooth treatment. Hearing the news of Zion in a long time, I had a lump in my throat. “Please pray for me. Please take me to Zion,” I said.
From the next day, I went to Zion and studied the Bible. I learned them long time ago, but the words felt new and very interesting. They were sweet like honey. While I continued to have Bible studies every day and got revitalized, the date of my trip to Malaysia approached. At first, I was just planning to meet my old friend who lived there, but then I added a plan to preach the truth to her and left for Malaysia.
She had been attending a Protestant church in Malaysia for twenty years. Even on weekdays when there was no worship, she participated in various church activities and lived her life of faith diligently. I showed her a booklet that had an article about the Church of God and preached the words of the Bible to her. She didn’t like me preaching to her at first, but then she gradually showed interest. And one day, she confessed that she felt frustrated because it seemed like her church had no truth.
I sensed that her heart was open. Even when I returned to Korea, I prayed for her and sent her the words of the truth through text messages from time to time. She read my text messages carefully and said that she hadn’t read the Bible this much in her life, and began to pray in the new name of Jesus.
Soon after, she told me that she would come to Korea for a few days on vacation. She wanted to receive the blessing of salvation in Korea. There were many twists and turns before she decided to do so, but she said it felt like someone was praying for her.
Her wish came true before she came to Korea. There was Zion at an hour away from her house. She was immediately born again as God’s child, and she was really happy to be able to keep the Sabbath with the Zion family members. The good news did not end there. The Malaysia Zion set a goal to build a Zion in an area where the gospel was not yet preached, and I found out that it was her neighborhood. It hasn’t been long since she became a heavenly family member, but she is already hoping to make her house a church.
While she came into God’s arms, my family too returned to Zion one by one and became the members of the heavenly family. When I showed a monthly magazine with church articles at a once-a-month family gathering, my second older sister, who had left Zion, showed her interest, asking me if I was going to church again. Through that opportunity, my sister took our mother to Gimhae from Busan and led her to the truth, and they kept the Sabbath together. My second son, too, is growing his faith in God again.
All of this is thanks to God. I’m grateful to God for forgiving me who betrayed Them in heaven and ignored Them on this earth, and for allowing the grace of salvation even to my family.
“I think God really has come to this earth. No, I mean, God has come!”
This was what I said to a sister. The only reason God has come as a mere man in the exactly same appearance as ours is to save His children. It took me about ten years to realize God’s love because of my arrogance and stubbornness. Now I want to fulfill the mission God has given me with a heart full of repentance and gratitude. I want to let the whole world know that God has come to this earth for us.