May 20, 2018 Choose Blessings and Life

Blessings are for the Body and Life is for the Soul

God gives blessings and life to mankind.  When people hear the words, ‘life and blessing’, they usually think of physical breath and material abundance.  Those who do not know the spiritual realities will never understand the words beyond this simple frame, but the real value of God’s life and blessings extends far beyond that.

The life that God gives is different from the life of a physical body.  The body cannot exist without breath, and in much the same way, a personality cannot exist without a body.  When Christians refer to a man, the word ‘man’ generally includes his soul as well as his body. The word soul encompasses the breath, the flesh, and the personality.  Before Adam, when men stopped breathing, they ceased to exist, just like animals disappear when they die.  But, God called Adam, the first man, and breathed into him the breath of life; Adam became a living being(Genesis 2:7).  In other words, God gave him a spirit and he became a spiritual being.

When God selected Adam and made him a living being, all the rest of mankind that was left on the earth in those days were all left out; they are called the Nephilim(Genesis 6:4).  Because The Nephilim did not have a spirit, their souls disappeared the moment when they drew their last breath.  But the soul of a living spirit is eternal because of his sprit, even after he draws his last breath. Therefore, although the body is important to any living person, the spirit is much more important than the body.

God gave ‘blessings’ to mankind for the sake of their bodies(Genesis 1:28).  And God also gave man the fruit of the earth as food for the body(Genesis 1:29).  But a man’s spirit cannot live on those things.  Man’s spirit needs the life which comes from God.

Commandments That Give Blessings and Commandments That Give Life

How does God transfer life and blessings to men?  Just like the medicines that carry the ability to suppress germs, God’s words are the source of the life and blessings that come from God.  And like the needles that administer the medicine to the body, the Word of God is administered to a man in the form of commandments.  When a commandment is given, men can choose to either obey or disobey.

The words in the Bible are divided into those that command ‘blessings’ and those that command ‘life’.  If you obey the words of blessings, you are blessed; if you obey the words of life; you obtain life. If you give tithes and offerings according to the word of God, you gain the blessings, not life(Malachi  3:10).  The commandment that God has given us in order to have life is Jesus Christ(John 14:6).

Before Jesus came, the Israelites were subject to the law.  They were blessed as long as they kept the law.  But those were just earthly blessings.  That is because the law is about external regulations and ruling over the flesh.  The new commandment which God gave us for our souls in the place of the law is Jesus Christ.  The law is the commandment we must keep, but Jesus Christ is the commandment we must believe.  Even those who are blessed because they keep the law cannot escape the punishment of hell.  The only way escape the punishment of hell and to enjoy eternal life in heaven is to believe in Jesus.

There is a difference between life that pertains to the body and spiritual life.  A long life is part of the blessings that accrue to our flesh. Long life is just one part of the blessings of the flesh.  People value long life on the earth.  But it is far more valuable to have eternal life.

Jesus once told a parable about a man who harvested a bountiful crop from his fields and he said to himself, “I will tear down my barns and build bigger barns to store my grain. And I will say to my soul, ‘Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.’” Then God said to him, “You fool! Tonight your life will be required of you, then whose will those things be which you have prepared for yourself?” (Luke 12:16-21)

You can find examples for this in the church today.  One case involved a man who struggled for 40 or 50 years and he finally built himself a nice house.  Unfortunately, soon after he moved into the house, he learned he had cancer and died not long after that.  Honor, status, power and money can be had for a while, but you will not be able to hold them forever.  It is foolish to waste your life, which you only have once, for such temporary things.

John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”  God gave us Jesus Christ so that we may have eternal life, which we cannot lose even if our lives are cut short.

Worldly Religion and God-Centered Faith

There are many religions in the world.  People follow them to maintain their peace of mind by cultivating themselves according to certain societal norms, and because they want everything to go well for them by some mysterious power of those religions.  Before Jesus came, these characteristics were common in those who were ruled by the law.  But we are the people who believe in Jesus Christ.

God did not send Jesus Christ to this earth so that His followers could merely lead a life of high standards in this world.  No matter how hard a man tries to keep the law and how much self-control he has, he will go to hell in the end.  God sent Jesus Christ to make atonement for the sins of mankind, and to save whoever believes and is baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.  Through baptism, we have buried our old man who was destined to go to hell, and, through our union with Jesus Christ, God’s only begotten Son, we can share everything that God prepared for Him.

Every religion has its own scripture, but no other scripture is called the book of life by those who believe in it.  But, the Bible is the book of life.  From the book of Genesis to the book of Revelation, all sixty-six books in the Bible speak about life.  Therefore, wherever you open the Bible, there is blood.  Leviticus 17:11 says, ”For the life of a creature is in the blood, it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life.”  The old testament speaks in types and shadows of the blood of Jesus Christ, and the new testament speaks about the evidence of the blood of Jesus Christ.  The Bible is not written with ink but with blood.  The Bible introduces us to eternal life, which the world cannot give.

Many people try to find the meaning of their spiritual life in their moral perfection. Such a person will exercise control over their mind and actions to comply with certain norms in order to obtain peace of mind.  Such persons belong to the world.  On the other hand, those who know the truth belong to heaven.  Jesus said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3)

The Commandments of the First Covenant and the Commandments of the New Covenant

Jesus Christ shed His blood on the cross and died because the first covenant cannot give life to a man.  The only things that a man can gain from the law which comes from the first covenant are curses and death.  The same is true for those who rely on their own conscience instead of the law(Romans 2:14-15).  Some people think that it is the duty of Christians to live according to their consciences.  But the role of conscience is not to save people but to judge them, just like the law.

No matter how strongly a man asserts that he thoroughly kept the law or followed his conscience, his claim is subjective.  No one can avoid the judgment of the law and of conscience.  That is why Romans 3:9-10 says, “For we have previously charged, both Jews and Gentiles alike, that all are under the power of sin. As it is written, “there is none righteous, no, not one.”

Jesus Christ fulfilled all of the requirements of the first covenant and has established a new covenant. The new covenant gives us eternal life by believing in Jesus Christ rather than making us subject to the law and conscience.  That is why God sent Him.  Jesus Christ sent the Holy Spirit to us so that we can experience the new covenant and abide in Him.  Therefore, we must obey the Holy Spirit.

You must not reject the grace which God has given to us through Jesus Christ.  Those who disobey the law have the opportunity to repent, but there is no repentance for those who rebel against the Holy Spirit(Mark 12:31-32).  God, who raised Jesus Christ from the dead, will also give us life by His Spirit which lives in us(Romans 8:11).  Therefore, we must be filled with the Holy Spirit.

The foundation of faith is not a man-centered philosophy that strives for moral and ethical perfection, but it is based on the God-centered attitude that knows the will of God and strives to please Him.  Christ’s church has been and will be persecuted in the world.  Those whose faith is  man-centered will crumble when they encounter persecution.  On the other hand, those with a God-centered faith will not deviate from their path regardless of whatever persecution comes their way.

If you keep the commandments of the first covenant, your flesh will be blessed.  But, you must not trade eternal life that your spirit should have for earthly blessings.  You must give up trying to be righteous according to the law and conscience.  Rather, you must receive Jesus Christ and receive His grace.  Then, your spirit will be saved, and you will share the glory that God gave to Jesus Christ in Him.  If you must give up earthly blessings in order to obtain eternal grace, do it.  Choose eternal life.  You must persuade your descendants choose eternal life as well.

About the time when the spring comes, and the leaves that sprout from the boughs of the trees covers up the skies – whilst walking on the road that goes up the high mountain – I received the calling of God. And from that time on, I became an evangelist. Since then, I have been constantly walking on this single path, and without realizing it, it has already been 56 years. To say it in other words, it has been over half a century.

During that time, throughout the whole country, I went from place to place. I testified to the word, and I witnessed many signs appear. I had, also, witnessed the great love of the saints. A nobody like me had received the treatment like that of a king. However, once I was called by God and from the moment that I performed God’s workings, I received both persecution and mistreatment. Wherever I went to do God’s work, I carried a single copy of the Bible, and I received invitations from all over the country. Wherever I went, there was not one place where I did not shed all the sweat from my body. In the cold winter, I was soaked in sweat, and sweat was dripping from my body as if I had dipped in a shower. On my black suit, there were the large, whitened marks of dried up sweat. I was forced to even fold up my underwear, that was soaked in sweat, and put it in my bag when I went back home.

During that time, I fully understood the work that I needed to do. I lead revival crusades, and signs and wonders started to manifest. It was truly overwhelming. Just as it was recorded in the Bible, the same healings, signs and gifts of the Holy Spirit came pouring down like a rainstorm. Because of this, persecution starting to come fiercely. From that time on, I discovered that there was a problem in the Christian churches in South Korea, and I realized and understood the work that I needed to do for the rest of my life.

All churches desire to live according to the Bible. But as time has passed, the things that the Lord Jesus promised in the Bible – those great gifts and powers that even now He promises to shower down from heaven – have now been completely disregarded. This is the very problem. I do not oppose the teachings and views of other churches and denominational sects. However, they have thrown away the absolute working of universal power that comes to all that believe, and this is what I discovered and wanted to give back to the churches in South Korea.

There has not been one day that I have regretted this motive. I discovered it, and accordingly, with all my strength, I have advocated and argued that the gifts of the Holy Spirit and the healings of Jesus Christ are absolutely universal. I have not cared about whoever has tried to persecute, slander, or disregard me. Just as it is exactly recorded in the Bible, and just as the Lord Jesus has commanded, I have taught that wherever there is the word of God, there will surely be the following workings of God, and I have constantly testified to this.

Therefore, the passage in 1 Corinthians 4:20 that states that ‘The Kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power’ is overwhelmingly true. We must not throw away the word of the Bible that states that ‘After the Lord Jesus went to heaven, He worked with them by confirming and testifying to his word with the following signs’ (Mark 16:20).

For my whole life, I have not preached any word that I have doubted, and I have not taught any word that I myself have not believed. I cannot let any of the souls that have gathered to me go back to the grasp of the devil. I have laid down my life, and I am a man that performs the workings of God and gives my testimony. Not once in my life have I departed from this path.

Coming Soon

Outline translated by Sarah Lee
Letter translated by John Kim
Interpretations by Daniel Hong
Korean Summary by Ki-Taek Lee