The mind lights up radiantly with the joy of Heaven.
God preaching at the Twenty Thousand Altar, the Chunbukyo Church in Chungamdong, Seoul (circa 1957)
God said the Holy Dew Spirit and the Water of Life are the supreme blessings that give salvation by changing the hearts of many into something as beautiful as lilies. Among the many testimonials in proof of these blessings we have selected those that give a taste of the joy of Heaven and create Heaven in the mind.
When the Korean War ended and I was 34 years old, I began to look around for the church on my own. At that time, I had hard times at home and my mind was quite troubled. As I heard that if I go to church and believe in God, I will have a peace of mind, I started going to the Presbyterian Church in Hampyung-eup.
I got married at the age of seventeen. Since then, I had not a single day which was peaceful. Even though I worked hard to make a living, my husband sold the grain we harvested and squandered the money every year. During the Korean War, I was driven out of the house with my daughter, as my husband left taking refuge alone with the money mortgaging the house. And after he had his long-suffering leg amputated and replaced with a prosthetic leg, he became irritated with every thing and even beat me severely, thus making every day troublesome and painful. However, in order to feed my husband and my sons and daughters, I went to the market to do business and continued to go to the church, praying earnestly that my heart will be at ease with belief in God.
Then, in 1964, we moved to Seoul and I started going to the Twenty-Thousand Altar, the Chunbukyo Church with a seating capacity of 20,000.
During the service, guided by Elder Park Tae-sun, we sang the hymn, “As my soul gets clothed with the grace and gets rid of the heavy burden of sin, even this sorrow-stricken world gets transformed into the Heaven.” As I sing this hymn, my past life appeared kaleidoscopically.
At that time, our family members were living scattered due to the difficult situation. When I thought about my sons and daughters having hard time away from me, away from home, my heart got hurt unbearably. As, however hard I tried and struggled, the situation would not improve, I even felt that this world was not worthwhile to live. During the day, I worked hard to make a living, but at night, I prayed, “God, please take me.” I recall myself sighing. And one day, as written in the lyrics of hymn, I felt desperately that it was a sad world, and tears began to flow. I usually don’t have tears, but on that day tears gushed out uncontrollably. The part of the lyrics which says, “If my soul gets clothed with the grace, even this sorrow-stricken world gets transformed into the Heaven,” touched my heart. And at some moment when I said earnestly, “God, please give me the grace,” all of a sudden, a warm and cozy feeling encompassed my whole body and I smelled strongly a sweet fragrance coming down from above my head. From then on, tears flowed more and more uncontrollably and soaked up my skirt I wore on that day.
Afterwards, whenever I worshipped at the church, I became full of joy and delight with the constant smile, and began to have the hope that if I try hard without getting discouraged the situation would definitely improve. The more I go to the church, the more strongly I feel, “This is a good way, this is the way I live and this is the way I will pursue.”
Kim, Kwi-im, Senior Deaconess
(transcribed from Testimonials of Faith, Installment 437)
The Chunbukyo Church made me come out of darkness,
Made me full of joy and delight,
The days of smile and laughter are increasing,
I began to have a hope that the difficult situation would improve.
Following this path after meeting God,
all fears and anxiety have vanished
never to be found anywhere.
God said the Holy Dew Spirit and the Water of Life are the supreme blessings that give salvation by changing the hearts of many into something as beautiful as lilies. Among the many testimonials in proof of these blessings we have selected those that give a taste of the joy of Heaven and create Heaven in the mind.
Born the last of eight siblings and losing both parents before one, I had a tough time growing up. After living with my married brother’s family I got adopted by a family in Junjoo but it didn’t work out there, either, and I had to leave. After I turned 16 I became a live-in maid at other people’s homes doing all their housework, always minding my language and manners lest I should be put down as ill-bred from growing up with no parents.
I was a live-in at a home on Shinmoonro in Seoul when I started going to the Twenty-Thousand Altar, the Chunbukyo Church with a seating capacity of 20,000. During the dedication service in April 1957 God laid hands on everybody and this was the first time I had hands laid on me. When his hands touched my head, I felt a waterfall tumble down and crash all over me, drenching the whole body from head to toe, which was cooling and refreshing beyond words. Astonished, I felt my head and clothes only to find them quite dry, puzzling me no end. From then on the air was redolent with sweet fragrance, resembling expensive perfume at some point or the aroma of sesame oil pressed at another. Returning home after the service I kept smelling the pleasant fragrance as if it was trailing me. I could walk hours wrapped in the fragrance without tiring, as joy soared like the sun rising from a bed of clouds. I was nineteen at the time.
After going to the Twenty-Thousand Altar many people asked me, “Something good going on?” Noticing my frequent smiles so unlike my previous sulk they would say that they had no idea I was a person of so many smiles.
With nobody to open up to after the decease of my parents I had been quite lonely. Washing clothes at the stream in mid-winter and staring at the children my age chattering away as they went to school I wiped tears with frozen hands, wondering “Why am I motherless?” It was tough and sad to have nobody to rely on.
But after starting to go to the Chunbukyo Church I laughed and smiled a lot. The fragrance pervading the air during the service made me ecstatic. “Here I come to be at peace beyond words!” I had been adopted once to have new parents but what I felt then didn’t compare with what I felt now at the Church. As if I had the whole world I felt no envy for those who had parents or property. My heart overflowed with gratitude for the blessing of peace and joy I felt.
Lee Bok-rye, Senior Deaconess
(transcribed from Testimonials of Faith, Installment 440)
In October 1957 I attended the services at the Twenty-Thousand Altar, the Chunbukyo Church in Seoul with a seating capacity of 20,000. Laying hands on each of the countless crowd of people at daybreak service everyday He would say, “Stand up, the sick among you who have been cured!” Amazingly, the mute found their tongue and started speaking haltingly, while the crippled stood up and other miracles took place one after another endlessly. Here and there the talk was about the sicknesses healed and the blessings received but I was mortified because even after a few days I didn’t get anything. Then in the middle of His sermon God ordered us to pray aloud and soon the whole sanctuary rang with the clamor of the congregation praying aloud. On the floor, on my hands and knees, I also prayed, when all of a sudden I felt a searing fire enter me near the heart and everything inside the stomach exiting through the mouth. So real and vivid was this feeling that I raised a hand to the mouth but there was nothing to be felt or grasped. From then on, as if inside all emptied out, I felt light and refreshed fit to fly.
After that blessing, nothing caught my eye however grand places I might visit nor did I desire to possess anything, however attractive it might seem. As if blown up by an air pump my heart was inflated with gushing joy and delight I wouldn’t have bartered for anything in the world. They were the kind of joy and delight never documented before nor imagined, which kept renewing and recharging.
As I looked back to the Pacific War and the Korean War I had lived through in my teens, I was haunted by vague fear and worry about “how to live through the tough times ahead.” Then after meeting God and following this path all dread and fret vanished without a trace and I have lived a happy life. Heaven and earth may change but not the words of God, the Creator, according to which I will live beautifully and pray earnestly for that day when at last I will be able to behold Him, be it from afar.
Lee Gyo-sun, Senior Deacon
(transcribed from Testimonials of Faith, Installment 352)
*Glossary
light up : 환하게 피어나다
supreme blessings : 최고의 축복
circa 1957: 1957년 경 (사진 설명에 나오는 것)
siblings : 형제 자매
live-in maid : 입주하고 살면서 일해주는 사람
ill-bred : 버릇없이 자란
the Twenty-Thousand Altar : 이만제단, (영어 독자에게 천부교회라는 것을 알려주기 위하여 the Chunbukyo Church with a seating capacity of 20,000 라고 부언하였음.)
dedication service : 개관 집회
lay hands on… : …를 안수하다
waterfall : 폭포수
drench : 적시다
beyond words : 말로 표현할 수 없이
puzzle me no end : 끝없이 당황케하다
sweet fragrance : 좋은 향기
redolent : 향기가 나는
aroma of sesame oil pressed : 참기름을 짜는 냄새
sulk : 부루퉁함, 샐쭉함
chatter away : 재잘거리고 지나가다
ecstatic : 황홀한, 희열에 넘친
daybreak service : 새벽예배
the mute : 벙어리
speak haltingly : 더듬거리며 말하다
the crippled : 불구자, 앉은뱅이
mortify : 굴욕을 느끼게 하다
clamor : 떠들썩함
searing fire : 뜨거운 불
gushing joy and delight : 넘쳐 흐르는 기쁨과 즐거움
barter… for…. : …을…과 교환하다
haunt : 시달리다
dread and fret : 공포와 초조
without a trace : 흔적 없이, 간 곳 없이
be it from afar : 멀리서라도