[Special 1_The Church God Loves] God Demonstrates Heaven
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 13319 |
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October 07, 2012 |
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"Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you. For behold, darkness will cover the earth and deep darkness the peoples; but the LORD will rise upon you and His glory will appear upon you. Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising." (Isaiah 60:1-3)
 Rev. Dr. Jaerock Lee
- Chairman, The United Holiness Church of Jesus Christ
- Permanent President, The World Christianity Revival Mission Association
- Joint President, Association of Lovers of National Assembly and Prayers for the Country
- Founder & Board Chairman, Global Christian Network
- Founder & Board Chairman, World Christian Doctors Network
- Founder & Board Chairman, Manmin International Seminary
- Founder & Board Chairman, The Alliance Holiness Theological Seminary
- Doctorate of Ministry, and Honorary Doctorate of Divinity
- Senior Pastor, Manmin Central Church
- His sermons were broadcast by the Christian Broadcasting System and the Far East Broadcasting Company
- His Christian columns appear on The Chosun Ilbo, The JoongAng Daily, The Dong-A Ilbo, The Hankook Ilbo, The Seoul Shinmun, The Kyunghyang Shinmun, The Munhwa Ilbo, The Korea Economic Daily, The Korea Herald, The Shisa News, and The Christian Press.
- He conducted crusades in New York City, Washington D.C., Baltimore, Maryland, Los Angeles, and Hawaii of the USA; Japan; India; Pakistan; the Philippines; Argentina; Honduras; Peru; Russia; Germany; Tanzania; Kenya; Uganda; the Democratic Republic of the Congo; Jerusalem of Israel; and Estonia.
God is in heaven, which refers to the spiritual realm, and we, mankind, live on the earth. The earth doesn't just refer to the ground of the earth that we stand on, but also it includes the whole tangible, physical space. Men who belong to the earth can't see God who belongs to heaven. Man cannot understand Him either. But God has given us a lot of grace in order that we on the earth can feel heaven.
In the mysterious order of all creatures and through the Bible, we can feel God the Creator. He also reveals heaven through God-sent men: Some people witness the spiritual realm like Heaven and Hell through spiritual experiences and testify to them. The reason God reveals heaven to us is to let us understand we have to become men who belong to the spiritual realm. He desires us to press on to become His true children with whom He will share true love forever and to take a better dwelling place in Heaven by force with faith and hope.
Heaven is invisible to human eyes. For the past 30 years, however, God has revealed heaven to Manmin. By this, God proved His love for this church and achieved His will and providence. Then, what does it mean that God demonstrates heaven to us?
First, He reveals heaven through the Word
When Manmin was established, it laid its foundation on the Word of God who is spirit. it is based on the fivefold gospel of holiness—Regeneration, Sanctification, Divine Healing, Resurrection, and Second Coming. Now is the time of the Holy Spirit when the Holy Spirit has come into the hearts of believers after the Lord's resurrection and ascension and those believers wait for the return of their Bridegroom the Lord adorning themselves as His brides. The Lord's Second Coming and resurrection of believers are actual occurrences that will take place.
Thus, I have preached about the resurrection and the things that will happen after the resurrection as recorded in the Bible. I also explained about Heaven and Hell. These things sometimes caused my church to be wrongfully judged as a church of 'Christian mysticism'.
What is the reality of the current situation of many of today's churches? Most of them don't preach about either the Lord's Second Coming or His resurrection. Some of them may touch on the subjects at times as a matter of formality. But, this church has tried to deliver all the facts of the gospel and the teachings of the Bible without any addition or omission. I have taught them not only 'The Message of the Cross' that reveals the secret of salvation hidden since before the ages but also the providence of human cultivation and spiritual world through the Lectures on Genesis and Revelation. So our members have tried all they could to avoid every kind of evil and sin in hope for resurrection and Heaven and endeavored to live according to God's will (2 Peter 1:4).
The Word of God that explains about different dwelling places, rewards, and glories in Heaven accelerated the members' growth in faith. They have pressed on to reach New Jerusalem where the throne of God is located, and tried their best to become God-like children.
Through the messages on "Hell", they have driven away temptation of sins, kept themselves away from worldly things that will soon perish, and focused on adorning themselves as the holy brides of the Lord. How blessed it is to clearly know about Heaven, our future home and the spiritual world!
The greater blessing given to us through the spiritual, deep messages is that we have come to clearly understand about God. By listening to the messages, we gained realization on how holy and perfect God is, how mighty His power is, and how much He loves us. Since I met God and became a pastor, my desire to understand the will of God has gotten stronger. So I kept fasting and praying day and night no matter whether it was scorching or freezing. God listened to my prayers and revealed His will embedded in the difficult passages of the Bible by the Holy Spirit's inspiration. The representative fruit is my book The Message of the Cross, which has been translated into 65 languages and published in 37 languages.
Just as 1 Corinthians 2:9-10 reads, "But just as it is written, 'Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not entered the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love Him.' For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God," God has shown us heaven and the glory of God who is in heaven through the spiritual messages revealed through the works of the Holy Spirit for the past 30 years.
 Secondly, He reveals heaven through His power
Psalm 62:11 says, "Once God has spoken; twice I have heard this: that power belongs to God." Thus, the fact that His power takes place in this church offers the most conclusive proof that God is with us, and that the spiritual message delivered in this church comes from God Himself.
Another important reason that God reveals His power in this church is that He wants us to know that heaven, which is the spiritual realm, really exists and has no limits, and how almighty God the ruler of the spiritual realm is. God's powerful works have offered a decisive chance for many believers to meet God the Creator and the Lord and to possess true faith. Since the founding of the church, His powerful works have unceasingly taken place in overseas crusades and pastors' seminars as well as at revival meetings.
Moreover, the works of power together with the holiness gospel have been spread over the world via GCN TV, which broadcasts its programs in approximately 170 countries via satellites, cable TVs, and public TVs and whose Internet service and 24-hour mobile web service enable anyone to watch the programs anywhere anytime.
Via GCN, my prayer for the sick is broadcast worldwide three times a day. Through the prayer, many viewers have experienced God's power through healing or answer such as: "I received the prayer just via TV, but my tumor in the last stage was gone," "My dead optic nerves and acoustic nerves were regenerated! I came to see and hear well by the prayer," and "My baby in my womb had stopped moving, but he began to move again by the prayer." Such amazing testimonial letters have been received from every corner of the world. In-Victory readers and TBN Russia viewers regularly have sent their prayer titles which were numbered in hundreds and at times thousands. I just lay my hand on them and pray for them from the pulpit without calling each one of them. Nevertheless, many of them have received answers and healings, and sent their testimonies back to us.
Among the testimonies received, only a comparatively small number have been delivered to church members through Manmin News, the church weekly newspaper, Manmin Magazine, the church weekly video news, and the annual International Christian Medical Conference of WCDN (World Christian Doctors Network). Around 550 Korean editions of Manmin News have been published, around 750 episodes of Manmin Magazine have been presented, and WCDN's conference has been conducted nine times. Whenever those testimonies were introduced, our members rejoiced together and gave glory to God. They shed a lot of tears full of thanks and emotion due to our living Father God who works with us.
The testimonies presented are as various in kind as the testimony givers. Sometimes it was an individual or a whole family who experienced the powerful work and other times it was a church or even a country. Through those testimonies, they could understand that God manages men's lives, deaths, fortunes, and misfortunes, and that God supervises human history. God told me more and more leaders of nations would ask me to pray for their national problems. By praying for them, we will preach God the Almighty and the existence of the spiritual world to more souls.
2000 was the first time we saw clouds coming in and going out at a specific point in the sky. Some clouds poured out from a spot in the sky and then disappeared at the same point. Some clouds appeared and were soon swept away as if someone had let the clouds go for a moment and then suddenly re-absorbed them again. It was God's message telling us that there are other invisible realms different in dimension from our visible world.
Afterwards, God showed a variety of wonders that use the spiritual realms. The typhoons that were bearing down on the locations of our summer retreats and crusades changed their courses or just disappeared. When I arrived at a place where conflicts arose due to long-lasting droughts, sweet rain started to pour down upon the area. During the summer season when heat wave warnings were issued, Manmin enjoyed cool breezes like that of air conditioners at the summer retreat. A large swarm of dragonflies came through the spiritual realm and made the retreat places pleasant by getting rid of bugs. They sat on the members' bodies in a friendly way. Father God also has shown us multiple rainbows—double, triple, and quadruple rainbows and extraordinary rainbows which confirm God's love and promise towards us. Stars even moved fast and danced across the night sky by using the spiritual space.
From 2011, God started to show us the spiritual world in more detailed way through colorful aurora-like lights. In the beautiful lights appear images of New Jerusalem, angels, heavenly fruits, flowers, fish, the sword of the Holy Spirit, and musical instruments, which add hope for Heaven to us. The heart-, ring-, and bouquet-shaped lights are God's expression of love to us. Other aurora-lights manifest the fire of Hell, messengers of Hell, and skulls being tormented in Hell.
All of them are God's love that helps us be awakened and lead our Christian lives well. I can't cite every work of God here, but God let us feel the spiritual realms and the existence of God who is in heaven through such extraordinary works as though we saw and touched Him. We came to feel the real and tangible qualities of New Jerusalem and have been able to lead more earnest Christian lives.
Thirdly, God reveals heaven through performance culture
From the church opening, Manmin Central Church recognized the importance of the ministry of Christian cultural arts including praise and dance. Performing Arts Committee was organized through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and it has made steady development and now represents the spiritual world through various genres of performances. They have made noticeable growth in praise, dance, instrumentals, use of video techniques, costumes & wardrobe, and props. They have demonstrated gorgeous Heaven where beautiful lights and sound overflow, where praises flow endlessly, and where the lights of lamps and even the sun are no longer needed because God's light is shed upon all areas!
By watching the performances in worship services, Manmin members came to feel how happy and joyful the heavenly life is and have greater hope for Heaven. Their performances in overseas crusades let the attendees open their hearts widely and accept the gospel more easily. In particular, God gave us pure praises through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. How moving the God-given songs' melodies and lyrics are!
The church events, including Easter Performance and Anniversary Celebration are planned with God-given titles and flow. Through them, Manmin is getting to know more clearly about God who is in heaven. We also realized what kind of aroma of heart we should offer up to God until we reach New Jerusalem and we can feel vividly what kind of fragrance we will offer up to Father God in Heaven. As recorded in Isaiah 43:21, "The people whom I formed for Myself will declare My praise," to God who gave the heavenly praises to us, I give all thanks and glory!
God has unceasingly revealed heaven to us for the last 30 years. None of them have been given to us 'for free'. If they had been, the enemy devil and Satan would have brought accusation saying that we came to have great faith because God unjustly revealed the spiritual world without cost. So God let the exact price be paid according to His justice. God led church leaders and believers to pass through fiery trials and afflictions in a same way that the Israelites had done during the march of the Exodus. Through these, many believers came to have the faith of gold (1 Peter 1:7).
Dear brothers and sisters, the God-shown spiritual realms in this church allow for us to realize that His heart and His love for us have no end. Thirty years ago, just 77 days after the Opening Service we offered the Founding Service with 170 people. By 2012, we became a mega-sized church with about 10,000 branch and associative churches throughout the world and we have proclaimed another opening. God who is spirit will never stop His work, and through this church that He loves, He will gather all nations and kings to His bosom. I give all thanks and glory to our Father God of love.
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