The Value of the Truth I Realized Again

My dream was to run God’s errands in Europe ever since I was a student. My dream was fulfilled in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, in the following month after I finished my military service a few years ago.

I was excited that I was finally fulfilling my long-standing goal, but worried at the same time. It was because I heard quite a few times that preaching the gospel in Europe wasn’t easy.

As soon as I arrived in Amsterdam, my concerns turned out to be reality. I could hardly communicate with them because of the language barrier, and it was very hard to meet people who would pay attention to the Bible. Even when we met someone who listened to the word, we never saw them again. As if the weather was also rejecting us, it was either stormy or hailing for over a week from the day we arrived there.

It was one windy day. A lady let us in when we told her that we came from Korea and wanted to explain to her about Heavenly Mother testified in the Bible. But even before we sat down on the chairs, she said something very surprising.

“You are Christians, right? Did you know that Christmas is not the birthday of Jesus and there is no Sunday service in the Bible?” We managed to calm down and answered her, “We do. That’s what we are here to preach about. But today, we will tell you about Heavenly Mother first as we mentioned to you earlier.”

She had a good knowledge of the Bible. Whenever we showed her a verse, she checked it with her German Bible, English Bible, and Dutch Bible. She also had many questions. We had to call the missionary because we couldn’t answer all her questions with our language ability. She resumed the study with the missionary and it lasted for almost three hours. She was very amazed, and wanted to study more, but since a lot of time had passed, we made an appointment and left. When we came out, we saw the blue sky. It was the first clear sky that we saw in eight days since we had arrived in the Netherlands.

The day we met her the second time, she didn’t look so happy. It turned out that after we left she searched websites out of curiosity and saw some slanderous remarks about the truth. We helped her distinguish the truth from falsehood one by one through the Bible. By the time we finished explaining about a few things, again three hours had passed. Then she wanted us to explain the truth more just like the first time we met.

She seemed like a different person the third time we met. She listened to the word like a gentle lamb without insisting on her knowledge of the Bible, and that day she studied about Jesus’ new name and was reborn as God’s child.

Afterwards, she tried hard to keep worship service and always brought a pen and paper to write God’s word and engrave it upon her heart. Giving thanks to God for the grace of salvation, she participated in preaching right away. She told us that she stopped going to church because her previous church didn’t even teach the Bible and because she was tired of the church members who would get angry whenever she asked them a question, let alone teach her. Saying that she was the one staggering from sea to sea, searching for the word of God in the Book of Amos 8, she showed her excitement about having found God and the truth.

Her joy for the truth was fully shown through her words and actions. She liked reading the Bible. As I asked her why she liked the words of the Bible, she answered, “Some people say the word of God in the Bible feels oppressive, but it feels like love to me. God must have said strongly because He loved us so much and wanted to save us. God’s commandments in the Bible are love. I’m so happy that I am receiving God’s love.”

When she studied about Melchizedek, she suddenly cried and confessed,

“When I saw how Melchizedek blessed with bread and wine, I knew that Melchizedek was a figure who represented Jesus. But when I mentioned this in my previous church, nobody believed me. Everyone laughed at me and made fun of me, but I still believed it.”

Whenever she couldn’t fully communicate with the Korean brothers and sisters, she said, “I’m not sure what you mean exactly, but I can feel it because we’ve received the same Holy Spirit in Father and Mother.”

Every Sabbath day, she brings homemade food to share with the Zion members, and wants to offer whatever Zion needs. Now she has one wish. It is to visit Korea and see Mother. She really wants to say to Mother, “I love You. I am sorry,” and so she is studying Korean hard.

In the Netherlands, there are souls who truly love God and are thirsty for the water of life. What hasn’t been there was my faith.

Through the sister, I’ve realized once again how precious the truth of the new covenant is. I’m ashamed that I didn’t know the value of God’s grace and love because I received them for free. Just like the sister, I will give thanks to God and walk with God all the time.