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Saturday, February 22, 2014

ETERNAL LIFE CHAPTER 8 OUR REAL FATHER WHO PERSONALLY HEALS ALL OUR DISEASES

       Let’s look at The Key to Happiness chapter 8 beginning on page 94, “Our Real Father Who Personally Heals All Our Diseases.”
       If you look on page 95, Jeremiah chapter 9 verses 23 and 24 [Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, let not the mighty man glory in his might, nor let the rich man glory in his riches; but let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD, exercising loving-kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight,” says the LORD.]      
       Yes, thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, because I gave him that wisdom. Let not the mighty man glory in his strength and in his might, because I also gave that; nor let the rich man glory in his riches for the silver and gold are mine. But let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord. For in these I delight says the Lord.”
       Who does God love the most? He loves those who glorify Him the most. He really loves those who boast about Him. Do you want to receive God’s love? I hope that you will boast about Him. God says that He loves those who boast about Him the most. Why does He love those who boast about Him? It may seem as if He is so self-centered and greedy, that He only likes those kinds of people. But when you talk about God and boast about His love, it becomes eternal life to those who boast about Him and to those who listen to such stories. It’s not because He is so self-centered or greedy that He likes people who boast about Him, it is because it saves us and it will save others. So when you go out, I hoped that you will not speak the things of this world but speak about our Father’s love.
       People say that Jesus of two thousand years ago healed people and He was filled with the Holy Spirit. Yes, Jesus did heal the sick and the Holy Spirit did heal the sick, but in this hour, we will learn that it is our Real Father who personally heals all our diseases, and about how He heals our diseases.   
  If Jesus two thousand years ago had come from heaven as God, using His divine power to raise the dead, heal lepers, walk on the sea, and make the sea calm, could we follow Him or not? No, we could never follow Him. But Jesus did not come to this earth as God; just as He was God in heaven, when he came down to this earth He came as a man. And yet people say, “Can we follow Him or not?” There is a saying, “The sparrow that tried to follow an eagle had its legs split open.” If Jesus had come as God, how could we follow Him? That’s why because Jesus came as a human, He Himself had no power to heal the sick, to rebuke the sea, or raise the dead. So let’s see whether or not it was Jesus who healed or whether it was our Father, let’s return to the Bible.
       [Is any among you sick? Let him pray]. (Jam 5:14) Is any among you sick? Let him go to the hospital? Is there any among you sick? Let him go to the drugstore? Is this the way it is written? It says, “Is any among you sick? Then let him go to our Real Father. When it says to pray, it means to go to our Real Father.  [As a father pities his children, so the Lord pities those who fear Him]. (Psa 103:13) This is a Bible verse which Jesus used the most.
       As a Father pities His children so the Lord pities those who fear Him. And [miracles, wonders, and signs ... God did through Him (Jesus) in your midst, as you yourselves also know]. (Act 2:22) With the power of God, He (Jesus) [went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him]. (Act 10:38)
       So who is it that healed the sick? Let’s read this again. I will read it again, “Miracles, wonders and signs … God did through Him (Jesus) and used them as a channel in your midst, as you yourselves know. With the power of God He (Jesus) went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.” Who did the healing? Who did the work? It was not Jesus but it was the Father who was in Jesus. Yet people don’t even know that and say Jesus did it all. No one knows that it was actually the heavenly Father who came and did the healing, they only say it was Jesus.
       [Now Jesus went about all Galilee … healing … all kind of disease among the people…. And they brought to Him all sick people who were afflicted with various diseases and torments, and those who were demon-possessed, epileptics, and paralytics, and He healed them.] (Mat 4:23-24) And Jesus said, [When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know … that I do nothing of Myself; but … My Father.] (Joh 8:28)    
       [I am in the Father, and the Father in Me, the Father who dwells in Me does the works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me; or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves] – the healing of the sick, the mighty works and wonders. [I can of Myself do nothing.] (Joh 14:10-11, 5:30)
       When Jesus came, He healed many sick people, but did He say that He healed even one person? He said, “I can do nothing of Myself, it was the Father in Me.” Do you believe Jesus’ words? As I mentioned before, if it was Jesus who healed the sick and the lepers, walked on the sea and calmed the sea, then we could never follow Him to heaven. But just as He was God in heaven, when He came down to this earth, He came as a man. He came as our example and He is telling us that if we just have God in our hearts, we can also follow Him, we can also go to heaven. So He came as our example for us to follow.
       “The mighty works that I did in healing the sick, raising the dead, and calming the sea were not what I, a man Jesus did, but the Father who sent Me and who always walks with Me.” Yes, as He had been a true God before He came to this earth, so was He a true human, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of a carpenter. Therefore, it was not the human Jesus that raised the dead, removed the maladies that were afflicting His children, and rebuked and calmed the sea. The mighty works and power that flowed out from Jesus were performed by the power of the Almighty God, the Father who was in Him: God Himself did all the works through His Son. That is why Jesus said, [Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself.] (Joh 5:19) [My Father has been working until now, and I have been working.] (Joh 5:17) [He is kind to the unthankful and evil.] (Luk 6:35)
       So the life of Christ represents what we can also do when we accept the divinity of God. What Christ received from God we can also receive. Jesus healed the sick but it did not come from Jesus Himself, it was the power from God. That’s why He said, “I did not heal anyone. I didn’t do anything; it was the Father who was in Me who did everything.” Because He committed Himself wholly to the will of the Father, He only revealed the Father through His life. And when Jesus calmed the sea, the power of His word was the power of God. In this battle with Satan, we can also receive all the help that Jesus received. We can overcome more through God who loved us so much and gave Himself to us in His Son.
       People, whether long ago or today, can’t believe unless they see with their own eyes. They do not believe what they can’t see; they only see Jesus and think that Jesus did everything. But Jesus clearly said it was the Father who was guiding Him and healed all the real children through Him, though they couldn’t see it with their own eyes. Are you sure now that it was not Jesus of two thousand years ago who healed the people but it was the Father? Will you believe that? You say “Amen” now but later you will say, “Ah, but it was Jesus. In the Bible it says that it was Jesus who healed the sick.” Then, did Peter and John not heal the sick? Did they not raise the dead? They revived someone like Dorcas and healed someone who was lame from birth. It is written in the Bible that Peter and John healed them. Then did Peter and John heal them with their own power? No. When it said in the Bible that Peter and John healed them, it means that God used them as instruments to heal them. In the same way, when the Bible said that Jesus healed the sick, it was not Jesus Himself who did the healing; it was God who used Him as an instrument, as a channel to heal the sick. Will you believe this? But after this hour is over, you will say, “Ah, but still it was Jesus.”
       Let’s look back to thousands of years ago before Jesus came in the time of Elijah and Elisha. Did Elijah and Elisha heal people? Did they also raise the dead? Then does that mean they come from heaven? Just as Jesus came to this earth and accepted the Father and healed the people, men like Elijah and Elisha received God and accepted Him and they also healed people. So whether it was before Jesus came or after He left, it doesn’t matter, it has always been the same. Our Father is always by our side healing us.
       Even today, there are millions of people who are sick and bedridden, but there is not one who was healed and got up whom our Father did not heal. Even if someone is a graduate from medical school and finished his internship, it doesn’t matter. After giving the medication, what more can they do? They cut and take out whatever is not good, then they sew you back again and give you medicine, that’s it. After that, it is our Father who heals them and cures them. Then who receives the money? Even if it’s our Father who healed them, it’s the doctors who take all the money and receive all the praise. It’s the people! And that’s the way we have lived up to now.
       Then let’s look at when Jesus was a baby. Who healed the world then? It was our Father. How about when He was dead on the cross, who was still healing people then? It was our Father. And after Jesus left this earth, who healed the sick then? It was our Father. So whether thousands of years before Jesus came, even before in the time of Genesis, or in the time of Moses and after, whether before Jesus or after Jesus, it was always our Father who has been by our side healing us. Will you believe this? And that is why when Jesus came two thousand years ago, He said, “I did not do anything but it was My Father who did everything.” He said, “If you just accept the Father like Me, you can also be a savior to the world and also heal the world. He lived a life as an example for us.” Yet people don’t even know that and they say, “Jesus did everything” and the Christians nowadays act as if they know so much, but in reality they know so little.  
       Then whether in the past or in the present, people must see with their own eyes in order to believe, but Jesus’ disciples knew where the love and where that power came from, that it wasn’t from Jesus but from the Father. Why? Because Jesus told them, so they knew and you all know now. But who else knows? All the Christians in the world could never even imagine in their dreams. They only think that Jesus did the healing. Then let’s see who the disciples prayed to after Jesus left. Did they pray to Jesus or did they pray to the Holy Spirit?
       Let’s read page 97 in the bottom, this is after Jesus ascended to heaven. [They raised their voices together in prayer to God, “Sovereign Lord”] – who is the Sovereign Lord? They reached out to the sick person, then they all gathered together and prayed to God, “Sovereign God, stretch out Your hand,” whose hand? It’s our Real Father’s hand. [Stretch out Your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of Your holy servant Jesus.] (Act 4:24, 30, NIV). And the God of infinite love answered their prayer. [And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit] (Act 4:31), and went about healing the sick.
       Once on the way to the temple, Peter and John saw [a man lame from his mother’s womb] (Act 3:2) and healed him. [And all the people were … filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.] (Act 3:9-10) And seeing them glorify the disciples and not God, Peter exclaimed, “[Men of Israel, why do you marvel at this? Or why look so intently at us, as though by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk? The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers] healed this man in the name of Jesus, and they [glorified His Servant Jesus.] (Act 3:12-13) So who did the healing after Jesus left? There was a man who had been lame from birth and who healed him? It was our Father. I hope that you will also be like the disciples of Jesus and pray to the Father, to be healed by Him. Because our Father begot us, He never leaves the side of His sick children.
       Let me tell you about my experiences. When I was living in the city, I received my Father’s Word to move to the countryside, so I moved to a remote mountain area. There was no electricity, no doctor, and no drugstore. There was no one who could even give acupuncture. But one day, my mother-in-law came to visit us. She has two daughters. Her older daughter lives in Kwang-ju City and the younger one is my wife. Her older son-in-law is very rich and makes a lot of money, but this younger son-in-law is only taking her daughter around in the countryside, in the mountains. But she loved this son-in-law so much that she preferred living with me. There was no doctor, no hospital, no drugstore, and no one who could do acupuncture, but she became sick all of a sudden. I had never seen anyone become so sick as this before. I had only heard stories about it, but it seemed as if she would die. I didn’t know what to do. She was not even that old. Then someone said, “Oh, in this situation, she must drink some honey water.” At that time, our church leader had bees for honey production and he brought me some honey. She tried to drink it, but as soon as she swallowed it, she coughed it out again. She couldn’t take any medicine and it seemed she would just have to die. Then someone else said, “Oh, if you take fresh cow dung and feed it to her, she will be healed right away.” How could I wait for a cow to excrete fresh manure? It was summer at the time and they usually pasture the cows in the fields, so they would eat and sleep outside. It was night time and I came out with a lantern. There was a cow outside and right at that moment, it defecated, “Oh! This is God’s will.” Many people mistake “chance” as God’s will and misunderstand that. There are people who believe in such things as Jonah did. When he was betraying God and running away, there was a boat suddenly and he said, “Oh, this is God’s will,” and he went on that boat.
       Anyway, at that time when I went out with a lantern, I saw that fresh cow dung and I took it. My mother-in-law is a very clean and hygienic person, but because she was about to die, she didn’t think twice about drinking that mix of water and dung. She tried to swallow it but once again she coughed it all out. She had to take in the medicine for it to take effect, but she couldn’t swallow a drop. She began to give her last bedside speech. “My daughter, there is some money in my bag, you can use it when I die.” I didn’t know what to do. I had married her daughter only to make her suffer, and now my mother-in-law was going to die in my house. So I went out with the lantern in desperation because I didn’t know what to do. As I was walking and almost reached the neighborhood, suddenly I stopped abruptly in shock. “What am I doing? I’ve never done this before. God is in my very room, isn’t He!” I turned around and with a repentant heart, I came back home. I put the lantern away and the whole family gathered to pray. Of course my whole family is just my wife and I. We knelt by our mother and prayed. I said, “Our Father who is here with us….” [But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.] (Heb 11:6) We must believe in God and acknowledge him. “Our Father who is here with us right now, please behold your daughter who is about to pass away…” and I gave a very short, sincere prayer, just a few lines, and I said “Amen,” and when I said “Amen,” my mother-in-law got up together with us and she was completely healed! Even now she says, “You know, I was healed because of your prayer that time.”
       Do you know why I’m telling you this story? It is because you may make the same mistake as I did. People say that, “Foolishness comes first and cleverness comes later.” I hope that you will not go to the hospital and to the drugstore when our Real Father is in the very room with you. And when you pray to Him, He will tell you what to do, so only afterwards you may take medicine or do according to His guidance.
       Does the Bible say, “Is there any among you sick, let him get fresh cow manure”? You should go to our Real Father. Before Jesus came and after Jesus left, when Jesus was born, when He was a baby, and when He died on the cross, it was our Real Father who always healed us. Our Father has never left our side for even a moment. That is why Jesus said to not treat God like some idle Being who just sits in the heavens. He is our Father who is by our side and counts the hairs on our head. He is a kind God, so we must believe His words.
       One time, after the seminar when I was living in Kangwon Province, my wife had a worried countenance as she greeted me. She usually greeted me so warmly, but that day something was different. I found out that my older daughter, her name is Hyun-joo, was on a swing and she fell backwards off the swing. On the hill of a neighbor’s house at the edge of a cliff, there was a big chestnut tree and because there was no playground, I had made a swing for my children. When she swung, she would swing so high that her feet touched the branches. The field below had corn that had just started growing and Kangwon Province is famous for their rocky terrain with fields filled with stones. The corn had just barely sprouted so the land was still rocky. Anyways, people were working in the fields when they saw her fall backwards. They said “Oh, she’s falling!” and she fell on the ground with a thud.
       My wife said, “She fell backwards. I think her arm is broken. We don’t take medicine and we don’t take antibiotic shots, but we should at least take her to the hospital for an X-ray.” I looked at her and merely smiled in bemusement. I said, “Just listen to me. Go and get a box, a cardboard box. Get some clean dirt and put her arm in there.” After that, she was completely healed and runs around today without even a scar.
       Do you know why I looked at my wife and smiled? Jesus said, “Because I always do those things that please My Father, He never leaves Me alone.” This son is going through such hardships day and night in order to save these children in the world, so do you think my Father would allow me to be shamed by having my daughter maimed? Not at all. It says in Psalms 121, [The God who keeps Israel does not slumber nor sleep and will keep me in my going out and my coming in.] I knew my Father, that’s why I just smiled at her. Falling from such a high place, she should have either broken her neck or her shoulder, but no harm had come to her, not even her head, and she was fine. Do you know why? It is because our Real Father caught her. I hope that you will believe in our living God. If we are going to die, we should die gloriously, there is no need for us to actually try and live in disgrace.
       Next, there was once a very fierce woman I knew in the Adventist Church and she used to curse me and the Elijah Gospel Missionary Institute all the time, saying “Oh, he is a fanatic, he seduces people who goes to his meeting.” She used to curse at me like that, but her husband’s temperament was even worse. Though she was such a fierce and coarse woman, she could never say even one word in reply to her husband even after they got married because he was even more fierce and violent. He was a black belt in Judo and Taekwondo. If she said one word in reply, the walls would crack and he would overturn the dining table. But anyway, she used to say bad things about me. One time, her husband went somewhere and he came back and said, “You know, I came back from Teacher Park’s seminar.” She turned her back on him but he said, “Everything we heard about him was all false, it’s all false rumors spread by those churches. Why don’t you also go there. I attended the meeting.” But she wouldn’t believe him. She thought that he was just trying to act as if he had changed, so she kept on bothering him and trying to make him angry. If he had been her husband of the past, he would have already punched the wall or overturned the table. But nothing happened. He wouldn’t get mad no matter what! She was so astonished and thought to herself, “What happened to him? He is someone who could never change. Who changed him? It must be the living God because no one else could have done it.” And because only God can transform a sinner like him, she repented. Her husband who had been so cold all of a sudden hugged her and said, “You know dear, I love you.” And when she got on the bus to attend the meeting, he was waving at her. He had never been like that before; she never imagined that her husband could be such a kind and wonderful man. When she came here, she cried and prayed so much. Later she said, “Teacher, you know I cursed you so much, please forgive me.” “Oh, there’s nothing to forgive.” “Oh, forgive me.” “I already forgave you!”
       This woman was actually very sick. She had an incurable stomach disease. When everyone else was asleep during the night, she used to grabbed her stomach and roll around in pain. But she came here, ate brown rice, she digested all that coarse food and she became healed. I did not lay my hands on her and pray for her. Later, she said, “I’m proof that God is alive,” and she went back home. If you receive that kind of love, you must keep your chastity to the end. We should not become like Ahab but follow God to the end.
       One time there was a very wealthy man from Tokyo, Japan. I think he was a lawyer. He was a very wealthy man, but his character was so fearsome. When his family got together, everyone trembled in fear when he made an entrance. He was quite a frugal man, but he also did a lot of charity work. This man had cardiosclerosis, a heart disease. With this disease, if he did not take his medication as soon as he felt the symptoms of pain, he could die instantly. He could die even while trying to open his medication. Even though he had so much money, there was no hope of a cure even with surgery, so he only lived in anxiety all the time. He had a brother-in-law who had attended this seminar, and he told him that he would be healed if he attended this meeting. He said “Don’t go through so much pain, come and attend this meeting. If you come here, you will meet the living God and you will be healed.” Since this man was a rich man in Tokyo, there was no medicine he had not tried no matter how expensive, and he had gone to all kinds of hospitals, but all to no avail. He was always carrying his bags of medication, filled with anxiety. Finally he came here, wondering, “How am I going to sit here for ten days without going to the hospital?” But he didn’t take one pill and he became completely healed. Who healed him? Our Real Father healed him. He was such a fierce man who had never shed a tear in his entire life, but he said, “Ah, I don’t know why I’m crying so much since I met my Real Father.” And when he went back home, his family saw how much he changed, so his family also came. He lived for a couple months, and in the end he did pass away, but he died with such a peaceful face, with the face of an angel. His children also came and attended the seminar. His wife has come this time as well. Who healed him? Once our Real Father heals us, we should never go back and follow the world, we should only follow our Real Father.
       My family is not free of sickness and disease either. Our Father is fair. Sometimes, the righteous can receive the tribulations and sicknesses of sinners and sinners can receive the blessings of the righteous.
       One time, my wife said she had a very sore throat, “Dear, I have a sore throat, it’s swollen.” “Hmmm,” I wasn’t so worried because we have our Real Father. I didn’t even pray for her. Then a few days later she said that she couldn’t eat. I just thought to myself, “Well, if she can’t eat, she can fast. It’s no big deal.” And then a short while later, she said she couldn’t drink water. “Well, even if she can’t drink water, she should be alright.” Then she said that she couldn’t swallow her saliva. Now here she was, she couldn’t eat, drink water, and she couldn’t even swallow her saliva. “Well, if she can’t, that’s too bad. We have our Real Farther.” But then she said that she had a headache. It had started from her throat and now she had a headache. Where would she have to go next? She would have to go to the mountains and die. (It is a Korean custom to bury the dead in the mountains) My attitude changed when I heard that because having a headache meant the virus had gone to her head and she could die. So I sat her down and I read to her 2 Chronicles 16:9, [For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong in behalf of those whose whole heart is loyal Him.]
       The eyes of the Lord run to and fro all throughout the whole earth to show His power on behalf of those whose whole heart is fixed on Him. Let me tell you, when she had a sore throat and it was swollen, all she had to do was go to the drug store and take an antibiotic pill; it would have been healed right away, isn’t that so? Here we have many people who are doctors so they would know. We could say, “Ah, I will just take medicine this time and then I will do it Real Father’s way next time.” But whether we kneel to the demon once, whether we kiss the idol once or a hundred times, it’s the same.
       Antibiotics, cobalt treatments and other such radiation treatments should never be put into our bodies, because not only does it destroy the disease but also destroys the life force inside us. And that is why those who receive that kind of cancer treatment, even if they come here, they end up dying. So I hope that you never put antibiotics and anti-cancer drugs into your body. But it’s alright to use oriental herbal medicines, and you can use medication that you apply on your skin. Medication used externally is alright, but it’s better and proper to not take internal medicines.
       So I said, “Will you entrust yourself completely into the hands of God?”
       And she said, “Yes,”
       “Then shall I call our doctors of natural healing?”  And she said, “No. They are too far away. Let’s just pray and leave everything up to Him.”
       And I said, “Okay. So let’s pray.” Do you know what I prayed? “Our Father who is here with us right now, please look, your daughter here is sick. Father, if she goes to the drugs store and just buys some antibiotics, she will be healed. I know that, but how can we put that kind of drug that You don’t want us to take and put it into our holy temple, even if we die we can’t do that, so whether You have her die, whether You heal her, it’s up to You and according to Your will. But I know that You love her so much and that You will heal her because You are our Real Father.” And so the next morning, I woke up to drink water and my wife opened the door to the room and she said, “Dear, you know a miracle happened.” “What miracle?” We had tried everything and all kinds of things to try and heal her but it hadn’t worked. She hadn’t been able to drink water, juice, or even swallow her saliva for already quite some time, but from the night she began to sweat. Through the sweat coming out, our Real Father was taking out all the poisons, the toxins from her body. And because her face was swollen, she couldn’t even lie on her side, she just lay still as she slept. But the next morning when she woke up, she could move her neck and swallow her saliva; she stood up and she was completely healed. Who healed her? It was our Real Father. So the night before, she could not swallow her saliva, but at breakfast she was eating such a big breakfast.
       Once there was a woman who had been a Catholic for twenty seven years. She was sick. As she was about to enter the hospital, someone who knew her said, “Why don’t you try going to the Elijah Gospel Missionary Institute in Kangwon Province and let’s listen to God’s Word.” So the Catholic woman asked her, “What religion is that?” “I think it is a Protestant affiliate.” “It’s a Protestant Church? Well, even if I die, I’m going to die as a Catholic.” “It doesn’t matter. Let’s just go and listen.” She said she would die as a Catholic, but she changed her religion at the very first hour and became completely healed. Right now, she is married and living very happily. She is even here today. Who healed her? Our Real Father healed her.
       Another time, they said that a millionaire came from the city of Daegu to attend the seminar. I don’t have anything in common with wealthy people, so I only said, “Oh, is that so?” and I didn’t think twice about it. But a short while later, this very nice-looking man walked in. He was the president of a company. He was that millionaire and he said, “Teacher, I brought a patient whose life is in danger.” It was his wife. She had cancer all throughout her body. As the wife of a rich man, you can imagine all kinds of famous pastors had come and prayed for her and fasted for her, but nothing had worked. No matter how much they had prayed for her and laid their hands on her, nothing had happened. So they told her later, “Oh, you should go to the hospital,” so she went to the hospital, she received all kinds of cancer treatments and shots and her skin was dead; she could not even sleep at night, all she did was scream out in pain. And at that time, after trying everything, someone told them to come here, so they had come.
       This millionaire said, “There is a patient. Will you lay your hands and pray for her?” So I said, “Do not think this place is like those other prayer places. This is not like those other prayer places where we go around laying our hands and praying for people. I do not go around laying my hands and praying for people. If you want her to become healed, the only thing that will heal her disease is not a hand which is laid upon her. It is the Word of the living God who created heaven and earth, and when you accept that Word, that Word will heal and revive her. It is not the hand of any human that can do it. Don’t misunderstand this place to be like those other prayer places.” He thought that I would say, “Oh, okay, let’s go pray.” But I just sat there at my desk and told him, “If you want your wife to be blessed, I hope that you, as the head of the household, will received the Word and be a channel, an instrument of blessings. So you should listen also to the full ten days and then let her be healed.”
       Sometimes wealthy people don’t really love their wives so much and I thought that he would just leave his wife and go on his way, so I was very cold to him. But he became so desperate and anxious. He had thought that as someone who leads an international seminar like this, I would say, “Okay, I’ll pray,” but as he saw me, I didn’t even stand up when he walked in my room, only saying, “I don’t pray for people.” So he took out his business card, “Oh, this is me.” I took it and saw that he was the president of a certain company. I only said, “Oh, really? I am just a farmer, I don’t even have a business card.” He was so shocked, he had heard that I led an international seminar and he thought that I would have a card and say, “Oh, this is me,” but I had nothing. He had to walk out of the room but his wife was about to die.
       Captain Naaman long ago thought that Elisha would come and put his hand on him and heal him, but he only said, “Just go and wash in the river.” So with his wife on the verge of death, this wealthy man had hoped I would do something for her, but when I just sat there, he finally stood up and said, “Teacher, let me write my wife’s name,” he was hoping I would remember her and pray for her. “Okay, go ahead,” and he wrote the name of his wife on the back of his card. After saying our good-byes, he left. But I saw in his heart that he really loved his wife, so I determined, “I will pray for her.”
       Though he was the president of such a large company, he didn’t go back home but sat through all ten days of the seminar that began from five in the morning. His wife had cancer that had spread all throughout her body, and on the first night, people couldn’t sleep because she kept on screaming. After two days, I went down to where the patients were, and the nursing deaconesses were so overjoyed because I had come. There was this overweight woman lying down over there, and when she heard that Teacher was coming, she thought that a very significant-looking and marvellous person would walk in, but as she saw me, I was so skinny and it looked like I had starved for many days. She took one look at me thinking a great man would walk in, but she was disappointed and just shut her eyes and didn’t even bother greeting me. She just kept her eyes closed, thinking, “Bah, I didn’t think that someone like you would walk in.” Her husband had told her that I would not pray for her and as I walked in, I was a disappointment, so she just shut her eyes. But whether she closed her eyes or not, I had not come because of her, I had come to visit her for her husband’s sake, so I sat down and I said, “You have been deceived by the world, deceived by medicine, deceived by churches and religion; you have been deceived by everyone and everything. If you cannot meet the living God here, then you are finished, so will you obey me?” And she immediately sat upright and said, “I will obey you.” “Do not think of this place as being the same as those other prayer places. We do not lay our hands and pray for people here. The only thing that can save you and heal you is the Word from the mouth of God. Only the power of that Word, when you accept that Word, will heal you. Then you will be revived and live. Even if you are not healed, if you just accept this Word for ten days, even if you die you will be resurrected. So no matter what pain you are in, I hope that you will listen to this seminar from five in the morning until to nine at night. Will you do that?” She said, “I will do it.” “Okay.” Because they were rich, they had brought their own television which was installed in the patient room. And though she was in so much pain, she wanted to obey me, so while listening, she would say, “Ouch! Amen. Ow! Amen.” So even though she was in pain, she just kept saying, “Amen, amen.”
       After about three days … how long do I ask you to be patient? Only three days. So after three days, as I was going home after the day’s lectures, the nursing deaconesses came and said, “Oh, yes, she’s broken, she’s broken!” I thought maybe she had died. So I asked, “What do you mean she’s broken?” “She’s broken.” She had finally come to realize how deceived she had been by medicine and false religion, and now she was so happy that she met her Real Father. She didn’t scream in pain anymore, all her pain had disappeared, and her skin became restored and the color came back. Truly she was healing. Who healed her? Our Real Father, it was our Real Daddy.
       People in the churches say, “If you come to our church, you will be healed. Bring me your money.” I hope that you will not be fooled by those deceivers. Coming here, did you ever see this Teacher Park Myung Ho going around and praying for people and healing diseases? No, I did not go around praying or laying hands on the sick. If you just return to our Father, even if you don’t ask, our Real Father heals you. How could those people today say, “Oh, pay me money, give me money and I will pray for you. Pay me money and I will lay my hands on you”? How could there be such deceivers like that in the world? I hope that you will not be deceived by them.
       When Jesus comes again, who are the ones that will die? All those who laid their hands and all those who prayed and cast out demons in the name of Jesus and prophesied in His name, and those who spoke tongues, all such beings will be destroyed. [Many will say to Me in that day, “Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?” And then I will declare to them, “I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!”] Will you believe these words in Matthew 7:22-23? I hope that you will not be deceived by them but return to the truth.
       So this president attended this lecture from beginning to end with his wife. Later, his wife said that it was a miracle. Her getting better was a miracle, but her husband sitting there through the ten-day seminar was also a miracle. She said that her husband was such a proud man. He would never even bow his head to most people in greeting, and even though so many people had taken care of her, never once had he said “Thank you.” It was a miracle that he sat there for ten days, to be transformed into such a humble person. During the seminar, he would come running to me and say, “You know, my wife got much better.” He used to come to me after each hour, like a little child, he was so happy. One time, he came to me and said, “Teacher,” he had an envelope, “I know that you will scold me but this is just a little expression of my gratitude,” and he left this envelope and quickly went away. “Oh, no, I can’t take this,” but he only ran out. So I used his money for our brethren who were chased out of their homes for following this message.  
       At the end of the meeting, he came up to me and said, “Teacher, if you have some time, could you meet my wife?” Of course he couldn’t ask me to pray for her. So I told him I would. All the blessings of God are given to us under the condition of obedience. God would never heal such people who ate pork and dog meat. First, you must eat the diet of sages, and when you obey His Word, only then does He help us. It is not God who heals those people who eat pork and all kinds of meat. It is the demon who heals them. Why? Even if they are healed, they will die again and they will die for eternity. Do not be deceived by those false miracles and signs. What kind of God will heal those kinds of people who get sick eating pork and meat? What God will heal them so that they can go out and eat meat and commit sin again? When God heals, He looks to see whether these children will be a blessing or curse to the world. Do you think He just heals anyone? Churches in the world will pray and heal anyone who comes to them.
       Because this couple had obeyed me, I immediately brought them together and said, “Just as you obeyed me here, will you also obey when you go back home?” and they said, “We will.” “Just do what I tell you to do. I’ll send a team that will take care of you. Do not let anyone else, any of those doctors or pastors, come to you. You may have been deceived before you came, but now that you know you were deceived, I hope you will never again meet those kinds of people but keep your chastity to God. Except for the angels which I send, don’t let anyone come to you and lay their hands on you. You must commit yourself wholly to our Real Father. Will you do that?” “Yes, we will!” They promised. But when they went back home, this wife started calling those strange people again and forgot all that they received here. These people came to her and said, “Oh, everything you learned is wrong.” She began to scream again and ended up dying in the hospital. Why are you so disloyal? God who begins His work will complete it. Yet why are you so foolish? God does not give His love to those who are double-minded, He only displays His power to those whose hearts are fully committed to Him. So even though she died, her husband could not forget me and said, “I would like to attend that seminar again someday.” If you have received such a great love from Him, I hope that you will keep your chastity to Him to the end.
       I went visiting in Choongbuk Province, in a little town called Miwon, when I was greeted by someone with such a happy face. I asked, “Who is he?” and found out he was someone who hadn’t believed in Jesus.
       He had been a complete gentile non-believer, an atheist. He had been a young man who made a lot of money as the leader of a town involved in the New Community Movement. He had lost his mother when he was very young, and all he did was work and make money for his younger brothers and sisters. He finally got married and had two children. After such a life of hardships, he then became sick. He had a back problem and couldn’t even sit up; he could barely move his toes.
       He was like a vegetable. No matter what kind of medicine he took, they were all useless. But someone said, “Let’s attend the seminar.” “What do they do there?” “Oh, it’s a good place, let’s go. It’s very quiet and it’s in the mountains.” “Oh, really!” He did not know God and he did not know that it was a seminar, so he wrote a will and he came to the mountains thinking that he would die here. So he just left a will for his father and his wife and came by himself.  He was sleeping in the temple and there was no one who could feed him, so he just starved for a couple of days. But though he did not know God, while listening, he accepted our Real Father and became healed. His back was completely cured.
       When I saw him, he was carrying this big log down from the mountain. He had carved it and it looked very nice. I asked him if that had been his job before and he said it hadn’t. Anyways, if he came back healed, shouldn’t his father say, “Oh, where did you go that you are healed? Who saved you and healed you?” He should be so thankful, but instead his father became so furious and said, “You came back crazy, get out!” And he was kicked out of his own house. All the money that he had worked so hard for all his life, his father took away, and he only had a few hundred dollars. He was living in Miwon completely healed, carving logs from the mountains. Who healed him? Our Real Father healed him.  When you take care of your children when they are sick, is there any parent that waits until his child begs, “Oh, Mother, buy me medicine. Please help me.” Instead, the parents first say, “Oh, you look sick, what’s wrong?” Parents know their children are sick before they are told anything. God is not One who heals you only when you cry out and beg for healing. It is when we receive our Real Father’s Word and accept Him in our hearts that God heals our sicknesses as an additional grace.
       But I have a request for all of you. I hope that you will never tell people this is a place where people can come to be healed. I hope that you will not say a single word like that, please promise me. Will you promise me? You must keep this promise. People say, “Amen,” and yet when they go back home, they tell people, “Oh, if you go there you will be healed.” I did not come to this world to heal people of their physical diseases. I came here to spread God’s Word. It is only when you receive His Word that you will live forever.
       Jesus two thousand years ago did not come to heal people, he came to spread the truth and give them eternal life. If people come here not interested in listening to the Word and only in being healed, then even if they go back home all healed and cured, they will only become greater sinners. In other words, we are just making healthy sinners. We don’t need those kinds of people. If you go around telling people, “You can be healed if you come,” then this temple will be filled with sick people, and you will not be able to sit here and listen. So please do not bring such people who are not even interested in seeking the truth.
       There are some people who do not even listen to the Word and are walking around during the lectures. If you are sick, you should sit down or lie down and listen to the Word. Those who don’t care about listening to the Word should be chased out of here. Whether they are sick or not, if they don’t want to listen, they should be chased out. People who are sleeping in their rooms during the lecture hour should leave here. If you want to sleep, you should sleep in your own house, why do you come here to sleep? You should only bring those souls who really want to learn the truth, who want to listen to God’s Word whether they are sick or not, whether they are Christian or not, whether they are an atheist or not. There will be no room for you to sit here if you tell people this is a place of healing, so do not ever say that or we will only have a place filled with sick people not even interested in discovering the truth. We cannot even chase out people who have already come here like that. So will you promise me? Please keep this promise and don’t bring such people, because if such people come, you yourself will not be able to listen, and even if such people are healed, they will only go back home and sin again. There was a man who came with a heart disease. He had gone through a nervous breakdown, he had eye disease, cataracts, cystitis, bronchitis, arthritis, gastric ulcers, almost twenty diseases in total. But when he came here, he became completely healed. He is here in this meeting even today.
       There are many living witnesses. Who healed him? That which is impossible with man is possible with God. Even if all the medical doctors in the world had come, they would have said, “Oh, he cannot be healed. Why? Because if you try to heal this kind of disease, it just gets worse. But when he came here, he was completely healed. Truly our Father is so wonderful, isn’t He? You may be thinking, “Wait a minute, what about me? I’m not healed, it’s already the third day. Oh, God has forsaken me!” Please do not be disappointed.  For God to heal you slowly is also His love. Even in the past, there are those whom Jesus healed right away and those whom He said, “Go to Shiloam,” and made them travel for a couple of days. And there are those whom He put clay on their eyes, and those whom He treated with a word. He treated them according to the state of their soul.
       Apostle Paul said that there was a person who went to heaven 14 years ago and heard the indescribable language of angels. He was talking about himself. He did not want to reveal himself, so he said, “Oh, there was someone….” Paul had been a persecutor but he became converted from that former church to the small church of Jesus. He was beaten and persecuted himself but he spread the Gospel regardless. And because God loved him so much, He showed him heaven. Did God love him so much? Yes, he wrote so much of the Bible. There’s no one who wrote more of the Bible than him. But he had really a bad eye disease. Though he preached and spoke everyday, when he opened the book to read, he couldn’t read it. There were always tears in his eyes, everything looking foggy to him. It says he prayed three times. In other words, he prayed a hundred thousand times, for three is the number of completion. He said, “Father, if You just heal my eyes, then I could work and preach a hundred, ten thousand times more.” But he wasn’t healed. At the end, what was His answer to him? He said, “My grace is sufficient for you, for when you are weak My grace, My strength will be shown,” and He didn’t even heal him. And when he became much older, he was finally healed and continued to work diligently until he died.
       Even if you are not healed right away, I hope you will believe that your body is especially favoured, like Apostle Paul, and be more thankful though God may heal you slowly. At any rate, if you just accept our Real Father’s love, then even if you die you will live, so do not worry. Aren’t the diseases of your character being healed? Yes, they surely are, so do not worry about your physical disease.
       Do you think I am loved by God? Though I have not received as much love as you, I also am love by God. When I was a baby, I could not drink my mother’s milk because she gave birth to me when she was quite old. I was the sixth child out of seven in our family and she had severe breast inflammation. She could have died from that. Though she tried to give me milk, there was only pus coming out from her breast, so I couldn’t drink her milk. She ended up making rice porridge for me mixed with sugar, that’s what I ate and it ruined my stomach. What do you think happened to me? My intestines and stomach became weak. Even after I grew up, I would get diarrhea constantly, and once it became severe, it would sometimes last for twenty, thirty days. My wife is a witness. Even if strong men had diarrhea for ten days, all day long, they would collapse. But for me, once I started to get diarrhea, it would last for twenty or thirty days. In the medical world, it is worse than cancer to have this kind of diarrhea because it is as if your stomach and your intestines are melting, and it seemed incurable. Even while preaching the Word, I would get diarrhea for twenty or thirty days, so I prayed, “Father, please make my intestines as strong as leather, because if You do, I will be able to do Your work even ten times harder,” but no matter how much I prayed, He didn’t listen to me.
       Since He did not answer my prayer, I just thought to myself, “Ah, forget it. I’m not going to pray anymore. He doesn’t even answer so it’s no fun.” I didn’t pray and only kept on preaching. Yet even though I had diarrhea, the power of the Word was still strong. “Yes, My grace is sufficient.” Years have passed since and now it has disappeared. When I prayed He didn’t heal me, but when I didn’t pray He healed me. So whether He heals you now or later, I hope that you will thank Him. Anyway, even if you die with the disease, you will still go to heaven.
       There was once a young girl who received this light. This young woman had breast cancer and had received radiation treatment. We cannot heal those who have gone to the doctor. We can only heal those who go to our Real Father. Those who go around with pastors and have them lay their hands on them, I do not even pray for such people.
       So this young girl was a Christian, a Protestant, but she met our Real Father and became so happy.
       And there was also another young girl. After receiving this light, she passed away. Before she died I told her, “Go first, I will follow right behind.” And as she was dying she said, “Mother, please tell my Teacher I’m sorry that I am dying first. Please tell him I’m sorry.” You know, saints who are prepared can sleep in such perfect peace and happiness. Do you know why those pastors and Christians don’t want to die and they cry out in fear? It’s because they are not saved. Even if you are stoned to death, crucified on the cross, or die of a disease, death is just a peaceful sleep for those who are saved. I hope that you will be like that young girl. Can you die in peace now? I hope that you will not be worried but just be happy and thankful because if God is your Real Father, you will never die.  So whether before Jesus came or after He left, our Father has always been by our side to heal us. Yet we’ve never expressed our gratitude to Him, instead only thanking Jesus or the pastors. I hope that you will thank our Father who has healed you and taken care of you up to now.  Truly our Real Father in heaven healed us Himself two thousand years ago through His Son and through the disciples. He is also healing us today, in the hospitals and in our homes.  [But they did not know that I healed them]. (Hos 11:3)   How many among all the children of God in this world are there who appreciate and praise Him for His grace and love, for curing and delivering them from their painful diseases, and for being constantly concerned and caring for them. Surprisingly, there are so few. How sad the angels must be at the sight! There are many among the healed who feel grateful to Jesus. But it seems that there are almost none who give sincere thanks to the Father who in reality deserves to receive the greater gratitude from His children.
       How lonely and deserted He must feel when He sees no response of love or thanks from us! But without the slightest look of complaint or displeasure, He still lays His healing hands of love upon you and me even today, caring for us with steadfast love and tenderness. He continues to say to us, [I am the Lord who heals you]. (Exo 15:26) It is our Father who has healed us and our children up to now. Are you finally aware of this? I hope that you will thank our Father more than Jesus or those pastors.  
       Dear brothers and sisters! Although it is late, let us now give thanks to our heavenly Father. [Praise the Lord! For it is good to sing praises to our God.] (Psa 147:1-3) [Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits … who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from destruction, who crowns you with loving kindness and tender mercies, who satisfies your mouth with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.] (Psa 103:2-5) [Oh give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever. Oh give thanks to the God of heaven! For His mercy endures forever.] (Psa 136:1, 26)  He is our Real Father who personally heals all our diseases.   Praise the Lord!                        

Saturday, February 15, 2014

ELIJAH 3 - A MAN OF OBEDIENCE

Good morning. Yesterday, we ran out of time and stopped in the middle, so let’s continue today. First, we’ll review what we learned yesterday. We learned that Elijah always obeyed God’s commands 100%. When he entered Ahab’s palace alone, he knew that he would not be able to make it out alive. It was a very dangerous mission because there were no other prophets that ever survived. So Elijah knew that he would not be able to make it out alive, but still he went to that foolish leader to rebuke him. When he just barely made it out, God did not command him to go home and rest, but instead He sent him to the Brook Cherith where there was no bread, water, and no one waiting there for him, yet he just obeyed. He did not ask, “Is there a place for me to stay? Is there food for me to eat?” he just obeyed God and went. When he arrived, because of the drought, even the brook had dried up. Then he was sent to the land of Gentiles, to a young widow in Zarephath, and that was our Father’s great providence. He sent such a holy man as Elijah and had him live with a young widow for three and half years. But it was to teach these last Elijahs a very important lesson. People couldn’t understand it at the time of course, but God had a reason for sending Elijah to live with a Gentile widow.
All throughout history, God would often have His servants, His workers, go on paths that no one could understand, but still they were required to simply trust Him. This was our Father’s amazing providence. Only after time passes are we able to understand that it was truly God’s will. Elijah had lived his life in such holiness, but why was he suddenly made to live with a young widow? It may have seemed shameful, but it was a lesson that we must go to all those widows, those churches, that left their true Husband, and lead them back to God. It is our mission to save all of humanity that have wandered away from our Real Father, that they may return into His arms. That is why God sent Elijah to that house of a widow and an orphan.
Another lesson God wanted to teach us was that we must keep ourselves holy no matter what situation we find ourselves in. Also, Elijah didn’t understand why God sent him to a Gentile widow and at first, he could not sleep, eat, or live properly because he was so uncomfortable. But at that time when religion and government had joined together to kill Elijah, our Father knew they were trying to kill him, so He sent him there and kept him safe. No matter how they sought for Elijah, they could not find this man of God. So no matter how God leads us, though we may not understand immediately, we should just obey and follow wherever He leads. There is another lesson, a very important lesson, for these last Elijahs who are to ascend just like the first Elijah did. They must be found without blemish in words, heart, and character. Only those who have no guile in their tongue, who are without spot in character, and who are not defiled with women, will be the ones who will ascend to heaven. So to keep oneself undefiled with women, we should not join ourselves to the churches that have joined themselves to Satan, but stand firm on the side of righteousness, like the tribe of Levi that never compromised with the prostitute.
It also means that we should reach a spiritual level of not committing sin even in our thoughts, especially concerning the members of the opposite sex. During the three and half years that Elijah lived there, had there been even one unrighteous act in the sight of God, He would never have used Elijah again, forsaking him as Moses was forsaken after making one mistake.
Had Elijah made a single mistake, his work would have been given to Elisha. But after being with that widow for three and a half years, he was immediately sent to Mt. Carmel to do a greater work. Just by seeing that, we can be certain he lived a most holy life while being with that young widow. Likewise, men and women should be holy in the sight of God in their relationships, only then can they ascend to heaven. Even now, if we sinned in our thoughts and they were impure, we would never be able to ascend to heaven, because there is so much to eat in heaven, we would always be filled with energy and vitality. Men and women would be living together all the time, so if we had impure thoughts when we are there, heaven would instantly become defiled. We must realize how unfit for heaven we would be then. So during this period of grace while the intercession is still being given on our behalf, we must quickly come out as holy and perfect beings.
The three and half years at the house of the young widow in Zarephath was a comfortable time for Elijah. He had not been understood or sympathized by his family or the church, and he had nowhere to go being chased out by them. Truly he had nowhere to lay his head until he met the young widow and her son. They were devoted to Elijah, and probably if that widow’s husband were alive, he could not have taken such tender care of that young widow and her son as Elijah had. Though he had been so tough and firm before King Ahab, he was such a kind and gentle man with the young widow and her son. In fact, probably no one would have believed that Elijah could scold the king like that. He took care of those souls like a dimly burning wick that was about to go out. Such a person is called “a man of God.”
Nowadays, there are those religious leaders who are afraid to lose their position and power, and they mistreat other members and abuse their authority; such are not the “men of God.” People who go to church these days swear to be faithful unto death, but their faith and courage is not that of Jesus but of a courageous hunted animal. Hunting dogs can have great courage and will not retreat in front of any wild animals like bears or wolves. Yet they just obey its owners regardless without knowing whether their owner is a thief or a robber. We must have the courage of Jesus, to say wrong is wrong and call Satan for who he is. Meanwhile, we should also be able to bind up and heal the wounded souls. During the three and half years, though Elijah may have lived in peace, all the churches and the entire nation were seeking him to kill him because they had fallen apart. They wanted revenge against Elijah, so government and religion all joined together to kill Elijah. This will happen again in these last days. Wait and see whether my words are true or not. If you stand firm as true Elijahs, you will see history repeat itself.
When curses fell upon Ahab and his people, they did not realize that it was because of their sins, thinking only that it was because of Elijah. It will be the same in the last days as well, all people will try to get revenge on these last Elijahs and come after you. Though everyone wanted to kill Elijah, what did God say? He said. “Go to Ahab.” So he went, and he was filled with the Holy Spirit. It is written that Elijah was like the king and the king instead seemed like a lowly man. That is why a human king cannot stand before the man of God. Though Ahab had all of the government and religious leaders behind him, yet when they gathered together on Mt. Carmel, Elijah alone gained such a sweeping victory.
He saved all of Israel. After that victory, Elijah was exhausted and fell asleep in exhaustion on the ground in front of Ahab’s palace. Then while fighting against Jezebel, he was struck and was defeated by her. He had risked his life and been victorious on Mt. Carmel, but that night he was defeated by a weak woman. He became afraid for his life and ran away to save himself. Now Elijah had betrayed God.
When all of God’s people followed the demon, Satan, and became an impure church, the only one that God could trust was Elijah. But even he now betrayed God and was running away from Him. How inexcusable it was of Elijah. Then did God take a big stick and chase after him because He was so upset? Did He say, “I trusted you and you dare to betray Me?” No, God did not say that. He did not beat him. God rather followed after that Elijah who was betraying Him and running away from Him. Elijah ran and ran and he became so exhausted that he collapsed and fell asleep. Our Father went to him and caressed the sleeping Elijah, saying, “Elijah! If you’re going to run away from Me, you’ll have to go far. You might collapse and die on the way so eat something. Even if you’re betraying Me, at least eat before you go.” And our God is One who fed this very son who was betraying Him. That is who our Real Father is. He is our God of love. He does not forsake us just because of a small mistake that we make, nor is He One who will keep reminding us of our sin that we committed long ago. He is not that kind of God.
So after eating because he was so hungry, Elijah fell asleep because usually when you eat something when you are very hungry, you get sleepy afterwards. So he ate and fell asleep. Again our Father came to him and said, “Elijah, if you want to betray Me, you’ll have to run for forty days. If you want to run for a month, for ten days straight, I’m afraid you might faint on the way, so eat before you leave to betray Me.” And so our Father continued to feed Him again and again. This is the kind of God our Real Father is. He is the true God.
If you think about the fearful God they teach of in the world, truly He is terrible. He is a God who only wants to kill and judge and mercilessly destroy. I hope that you will never depart from the true God, our tender and loving Father, ever again. Though our Father fed Elijah with such a great love and he ate the food God gave him, still he betrayed God, just like Judas who walked out and sold Jesus with the very feet Jesus had washed. That is why it is so important to take that right first step. Our first step of stubbornness and hardness of the heart may send us to our deaths. However, if we change our hearts, it will guide us to eternal life. So a moment’s choice can determine our future. That is why they say even a thousand miles begins with one step. If you go on the path of betrayal, then there is no way for you to turn around.
As Elijah went on that path of betrayal, though he had been such a wonderful and beautiful son, still he betrayed God while even eating the food that God had prepared for him. He ran away for more than a month, for forty days he went to the mountains, to a cave in the mountains. He went to this cave where he felt he was safest. But let me ask you, what is the best medicine? Even if you take the best medicine in the world, how can it allow you to run for forty days? They say that ginseng and other medicines are good, but can you take two servings of that medicine and run for forty days? You probably couldn’t even last a couple of days.
With the food which our Father gave, with that energy he was able to run for forty days. Surely when the tribulation begins, you also will be able to eat the food that Elijah ate. There are people in the world who have prepared food for the time of tribulation. They have stocked up five years’ worth of food. But actually, people who are like that are like orphans without a father. I hope that you will be faithful and loyal to our God, because He will feed you in the time of tribulation. So Elijah went to the cave where he thought he was safe, but he was not safe. It ended up being a cave of anxiety, despair, and death. It was the cave of his soul.
On Mount Carmel where he thought it would be so frightening, he was safe filled with love, joy, and the peace of heaven. There he was able to overcome and defeat the eight hundred and fifty prophets of Baal. But in this cave where he thought he would be safe, because God had not sent him there, he was so restless, nervous, and filled with despair though not a single enemy was there. To Elijah, it was a cave of death.
There is a lesson to be learned here. Though a path may seem dangerous to you, if it is the place God wants you to go, then there is safety, victory, and the guarantee that your life will be preserved. However, if you go to a place where you think it is safe but God does not want you to go, then no matter how safe it may seem, it will be a cave of death. Elijah was so confident without fear before his enemies gathered on Mount Carmel, but in this cave, though there was not even one enemy, he was shivering in fear. So no matter what, you should always be in the place and position God puts you in.
God followed Elijah even to the cave where he was crouching in fear. Our loving Father came to him and said, “Elijah!” Elijah was so surprised; he didn’t think the Father had followed him there. So our Father said, “Why are you crouched here with a face full of fear and despair?” And this was Elijah’s excuse, he answered, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God of Hosts. The children of Israel and the church have forsaken your covenant, set Baal up on the altars, and killed your prophets by the sword. I alone am left and they are trying to kill me as well.” “Oh, really? Then who is the one who begot you and nurtured you? Who fed you, clothed you, and protected you up to now? Who gave you victory when you went to Ahab’s palace? How about the victory on Mount Carmel? Who gave you bread and the energy to come all the way here?” Elijah was startled at himself. He realized that our Real Father had never left him and had been with him always. Though he was victorious in front of all those enemies, he found himself embarrassed and ashamed for running away from that one woman.
So God said, “Elijah! Come out of the cave.” Elijah had betrayed God and run away from Him, his face filled with despair and anxiety. Our faces would always be bright if we did not leave God. Why is it that all those people in the world who should be filled with heaven’s love, joy, and peace, walking around with happy faces, are rather only looking for money with dismal countenances? It’s because they have departed from God and from the rock of truth. That is why there is no happiness in them. They are wandering in the cave of death, wandering without the truth. It is up to you to let them know about eternal life, to lead them out of the cave and into the light that they may meet our Father. Thus, our Father brought Elijah out of the cave of death, despair, and darkness. He put him on a rock in front of a mountain. That’s what we must do: take all the people to the mountain – the rock of truth which is Christ.
So the King of heaven, the LORD of Hosts came down and had a revival meeting just for that one son, Elijah. Isn’t that amazing? God came down just for that one son. It is because He is our Real Father. There is no way to understand this Bible if you do not realize God is our Real Father. Can you believe that the King of the universe came down to hold a revival meeting just for that one son? First, a great wind passed by and rocks were thrown down. Elijah thought, “Oh! God must be there.” But God was not there, it was just a wind. Then there came a great earthquake and the whole earth shook and the earth was divided into two then joined back together again with a crash. “Oh! God must be there!” But God was not there, and it was just an earthquake. Then there was a fire. It was so fierce that it seemed it could melt the whole earth. Elijah was afraid and thought, “Oh! God must be there!” But God was not there. Finally, there was a still, small voice which was the word of God saying, “Elijah, I am here.” That was the end of the revival meeting. Truly the great truths of the universe which our Father teaches us can be taught in a moment. That which you could not learn for a thousand years He can teach in a day.
He could teach us in mere moments. All that I am teaching you during these ten days are lessons I learned in brief moments. At last Elijah understood. He had displayed himself and been so proud, thinking, “I am a man of God. I am His servant.” But it was all just like the passing of wind.
Look at the churches today, are they like that or not? They build huge and grand buildings and wear nice-looking robes with a huge crowd before them. But God is not with such pompous beings. They jump up and down and scream, speaking in tongues. But God is not with them. And what is the earthquake? It symbolizes the unregenerate tempers, but God is not with them. How about the fire that can symbolize ardor and zeal? God does not use the wood that is burning and smoking, He only uses the wood when it is all burned and has become charcoal. God is not pleased with fire-like ardor and the unregenerate frenzy of so-called zeal. Elijah had thought God’s work was making the fire come down from heaven, or going to the palaces and rebuking kings, but that was not God’s work. How did Jesus do God’s work? Then what is the true work of God? God’s true work is to transform a sinner into God’s image so that he can live in heaven for eternity.
Therefore, scolding King Ahab was not God’s work. Having fire come down from heaven was not God’s work. How did Jesus do God’s work? He was like a lily and had the fragrance of his life. People were attracted to Him by the fragrance He gave out. Quietly and solemnly he spoke to the people of God’s Word. He transformed their inner heart and soul – this was God’s true work. It is the only work that can be called “God’s work,” that can prepare people so that they can go to heaven.
Nowadays, people think that jumping up and down is receiving the Holy Spirit. But what is receiving the Holy Spirit? Isaiah chapter 42 verse 1 to 4, [Behold! My Servant whom I uphold, My Elect One in whom My soul delights! I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles. He will not cry out, nor raise His voice, nor cause His voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed He will not break, and smoking flax He will not quench; He will bring forth justice for truth. He will not fail nor be discouraged, till He has established justice in the earth; and the coastlands shall wait for His law.]
Those who have received the true Holy Spirit will not be arrogant or loud or jump up and down; rather they will speak words of truth quietly in a gentle way. And no matter what enemies should rise up and strike them, they will not be discouraged but proclaim this truth to the ends of the earth. We must discard all false pompousness and fanatical zeal and return to our Father’s truth. In this way, when Jesus communicated the truth, our Father’s words to the multitude, they were attracted by the fragrance of His life, and Jesus transformed and regenerated them. This is God’s true work.
Elijah understood all of this and realized his mistake. Up until yesterday, just a few days ago, all the people at Mt. Carmel had been fooled by the false religion and thought Elijah a false prophet. But they realized Elijah’s God was the true God and they had shed tears in repentance, returning to God. Elijah should have continued to speak of God’s word to the people who had returned to God so that their hearts could be transformed – that would have been God’s true work. But instead of doing the work he should have been doing, he had run away.
To Elijah who truly repented of his mistake, God immediately sent him back to his position, to the very place where he had betrayed God. In the army, when the soldiers in training do something wrong, they are told to retreat “back to their positions.” Upon seeing Elijah repent, our Father who is so tender and kind, took his son who had betrayed him and put him back to his original position. That is why our Father is not like some military instructor; he is like a kind coach who teaches us in love.
Let us look at 1 Kings chapter 19:15 to 16, [Then the LORD said to him: “Go, return on your way to the Wilderness of Damascus; and when you arrive, anoint Hazael as king over Syria. Also you shall anoint Jehu the son of Nimshi as king over Israel. And Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel Meholah you shall anoint as prophet in your place.]
As soon as Elijah came to understand his mistake, our Father sent him back to his original post. But Elijah was human, he was a man of flesh with two legs and though God had fed him and he ran for forty days, he was still exhausted, so he could have said, “Father, please let me rest just this one day.” He had to run again for forty days, so he could have said that, but he only said, “Yes,” and immediately after repenting, he returned. What a beautiful son he was. There’s no mention here that God even fed him anything this time; for God’s command is our power and it is our strength.
Until now while doing God’s work, I have been invited more than a hundred times to give this seminar, and sometimes my health is very poor. At times I would be healthy and at times I would not be in such good health. But I would always ask God, “Should I go to the seminar or not?” And if His answer was, “Go,” then I obeyed no matter what, for within that command was guaranteed all strength, power, and victory.
Secondly, though he ran back another forty days, there is no record of God feeding him, of Elijah carrying a pot around to cook for himself, or that he stopped somewhere to buy some food. When God’s command is given, you must obey immediately without any delays in the middle.
[And Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel Meholah you shall anoint as prophet in your place.] This command was rather a harsh one. Until now, it was Elijah who had gone into Ahab’s palace, and to Mt. Carmel, and he was told to go before that King Ahab who had for three and a half years wanted to tear him to pieces and kill him.
Whether ten times or a hundred times, whatever request was made of him with his life on the line, Elijah had obeyed without question. And he had been the one to lead all of Israel back to God. But now, just because of a single mistake, God was saying, “I can’t use you as My prophet anymore. Give your job to Elisha.” In other words, God was saying, “I am discarding you.” How heartbreaking it is. But Elijah was not offended in the slightest bit and only said, “Yes, Father. Whatever You want. I’m just overwhelmed with gratitude that You used me until now.” And he gave the job of prophet to Elisha, saying, “You must increase and I must decrease.” Blessing Elisha like that, he left. As I think of Elijah walking away with his hands in his pockets, how lovely he seems to me. He was truly selfless. This is the kind of person you call a “man of God.”
These days, in order to be chosen as a head pastor, those pastors trample on each other and attack each other, even spending money for lobbying … truly how disgusting it is! This is what those politicians in the world do, those presidents and congressman may do that, but how can those who call themselves servants of God be like that? I hope that you will take yourself out from such a place. I cannot bear to look at them. If they are truly God’s servants, they should be saying, “Oh, pastor! You should do it, not me,” and they should yield to one another. But instead these pastors curse each other and bring out their pasts, attacking them like that and using money for lobbying … it’s truly unbelievable. We must learn to give all the glory to our brethren and bless them as Elijah did, to be possessors of such a beautiful character.
But even though Elijah came out having passed on his position as the prophet, God used him yet again on a deadly mission. Let’s look at 1 Kings chapter 21 verses 17 and 18. [Then the word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, “Arise, go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, who lives in Samaria. There he is, in the vineyard of Naboth, where he has gone down to take possession of it.”] God was sending Elijah once again to pronounce a death sentence upon Ahab and his household. Though Ahab was the leader of God’s people, he had not led the people to God, instead leading them to the demon and to evil spirits. He was bringing all of Israel to ruins. So in order to forgive him, God had sent Elijah and revealed His power on Mt. Carmel, giving Ahab an opportunity to repent by seeing God’s divinity. There is no one that does not repent before God’s divinity. As long as you are not mentally deficient, all will repent and be penitent in tears, saying, “I will also stand on the side of Elijah’s God.” When all of Israel repented and returned to Elijah’s God, Ahab did so as well. But when he went home, his wife said, “Were you deceived by that heretic as well?” He was embarrassed, so he said, “Oh, I’m sorry. I just went to look, do you think I would actually follow Elijah?” And he obeyed his wife and betrayed Elijah. It was at that moment that his conscience completely died. There is no salvation for those who fall again having once partaken in divinity.
[For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame.] (Heb 6:4-6) The reason is that a greater God than He who was revealed to you must come in order to save you, but there is no greater God in the universe. We must be careful that we don’t become people like that.
We must never become such infidels with no integrity. When Ahab repented before God’s divine presence, then returned home to his wife and entrusted his soul to evil, his conscience completely died and no hope for him remained. After that, he no longer had any insight as to whether his actions were evil or sinful, and he became Satan’s medium, Satan’s channel. In other words, he completely became Satan’s agent.
One day, as Ahab was taking a stroll, he saw a beautiful vineyard in front of his palace. It was a time for harvesting grapes and truly they looked so wonderful set in a background of lush green leaves and scrumptious grapes hanging in full season splendor. At sight of the grapes, Ahab became greedy. The vineyard belonged to Naboth and Ahab immediately called him. “Hey Naboth, I will give all the money you ask, sell your vineyard to me.” It was the custom of the Israelites to pass down the inheritance of their ancestors down to their sons for generation after generation. You could not buy or sell something that was an inheritance. This very vineyard was an inheritance of Naboth that had belonged to his family for generations. So he said to Ahab, “O King! I’m so very sorry. I would offer this vineyard to you without a penny, but it is an inheritance passed down from our forefathers, so I cannot sell it. I am so sorry.”
Even in Korea in my hometown, there was a huge mansion and you had to go through many gates in order to reach the main house. It was fourteen generations old but had to be torn down because of a government order since they were building a big reservoir there. Later, the owner died of mental depression because his inheritance that had been passed down from generation to generation was lost in his time while he was alive.
So anyways, after being refused, Ahab was so upset and he wouldn’t eat, just sitting there sulking. Then Jezebel his wife came in, “O King! What’s wrong with you?” “Bah, I just asked that Naboth to sell me his vineyard but he refused.” Then Jezebel replied, “O King! Aren’t you the king? Don’t worry. I’ll get it for you.” Ahab and Jezebel were like-minded. You cannot live together unless you are the same. So this evil pair devised a scheme to take the vineyard away from that good, hardworking farmer. Ahab was so rich, he had two ivory palaces, the nation was his, the whole world was at his feet, but he was greedy for that poor farmer’s sole vineyard, even now planning to kill him.
So he called Naboth to his palace having chosen some of the most heinous gangs in the city as well. He told them that Naboth had sinned against God and insulted the king. After falsely accusing him like that, Naboth was struck down and killed. Without paying a cent, they killed that innocent man and then plundered his vineyard. What would become of the family of that righteous man? He who was supposed to be the leader of God’s people, a shepherd to lead them, did such a horrifying thing. They had done it secretly thinking no one knew, but God had been a witness to that slain righteous son. And while Ahab exulting at his success, was taking a walk in the vineyard, at that very hour God called Elijah and commanded him, “Go and proclaim the death sentence upon Ahab and his household.”
Of course, to Elijah, this was a deadly errand once again, in which his life could be forfeited. Once the king or a president goes somewhere, there are armies, police, and guards that follow. So for this shabby man to declare to the king his destruction, you wouldn’t be able to know which knife or sword would strike him down first. Surely he would be cut into pieces, yet that is where God was telling him to go.
What’s more, Elijah wasn’t even the official prophet at the time, it was Elisha. His position had been transferred to Elisha for that one mistake he made, but instead of using the official prophet, God was using Elijah once again. The reason is that God liked having Elijah do His errands. We must also become such charming beings as Elijah whom God likes and loves to follow around. Elijah didn’t say, “God, You discarded me saying You didn’t want me anymore, so why don’t you go and use Elisha. I won’t go. You always have me do the dirty work while having Elisha do only the nice things. I won’t go.” He could have said that, but even though Elijah knew he would be cut into pieces and killed, he only said, “Alright, Father. If You need to use me one more time, then I will go.” What a wonderful son he was! You couldn’t find anyone like him in the world. Brethren he would send to safe places while he himself went to the place of death. To say, “The path of life for brethren, the path of death for me,” this is what it means to love your neighbors as your own self, and to love God with your whole life; this is the life of fulfilling the Ten Commandments.
So without a word of complaint he went. He went to that evil sinner to sentence him to death, saying, “Destruction has fallen upon you and your household. Where Naboth’s blood fell will Jezebel’s blood fall.” And while that weaponless shabby person was giving this death sentence, not a single person dared lay a hand on him as they only turned pale and trembled in fear. They were frozen before Elijah’s dazzling divinity.
Long ago when the priests of Israel claimed their church to be the Orthodox church with millions of worshippers, displaying themselves with such majestic appearances and worshipping with exaggerated formalities, how they despised Jesus and His followers of a hundred or so, looking down on him as the mere son of a carpenter, an ignorant being who did not even come out of theology school, a fanatic. But when Jesus went to the Jerusalem temple and overturned all the tables and drove away all the sheep, rebuking them and saying, “How dare you make My Father’s house a den of thieves!” those priests ran away before His divinity, forgetting their dignity as they were unable to endure His presence. They were truly thieves and robbers.
When multitudes came to Jerusalem to worship, those priests bought sheep at wholesale prices and then sold them for such huge profits that all went into their pockets. At least thieves are honest about their identity and say, “I’m a thief,” they had a conscience. But these priests wore the robes of a clergyman as they stole from the people. God had established them to transform the pitiful people and lead them to eternal life, not to collect money for themselves. So when Jesus, whom they had always scorned, chased them away calling them thieves, as they faced Him with His divine countenance, they were unable to endure it and ran away barefooted. After running for some time, they suddenly stopped, saying, “Why are we running away like this from that carpenter’s son, Jesus!” and when they returned in haste despite their embarrassment, Jesus was there as if nothing had happened, continuing to heal the pitiful, weak, and wounded souls.
In the same way, when Elijah appeared before Ahab, though Ahab had looked down upon him and despised him, before God’s divinity he trembled in fear and no one dared to raise a sword against him as he simply walked out after pronouncing the death sentence.
People say that they have attended the seminar at Elijah Gospel Missionary Institute, that they agree with everything, “It is correct and there’s nothing wrong, it is the truth, it is God’s word from heaven.” But just agreeing does not mean you are saved. Only when you accept God as your personal Real Father, only when He abides in you and His divinity is in your heart, only then can you be saved. To simply say, “Oh, it seems correct,” cannot give you salvation.
[But the angel of the LORD said to Elijah the Tishbite, “Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria, and say to them, ‘Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going to inquire of Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron? Now therefore, thus says the LORD: You shall not come down from the bed to which you have gone up, but you shall surely die.’” So Elijah departed.] (1Ki 1:3-4)
Here is a story of another shepherd of God’s church, his name was Ahaziah. God had made him king to be a leader of His people, but once he became sick with an incurable disease, instead of going to the living God who was with him, he called his ministers and said, “Oh, I’m getting sicker and am on the verge of death. There’s a famous sorcerer in Ekron so ask him if I will be healed or not.” This was the state of the leader of God’s church at the time. Can you imagine how our Father must have felt all throughout history? These were the very beings who were supposed to know God’s deep heart and His love, and lead the people to Him, to the path of eternal life. But rather they were being dragged around by demons.
So these ministers obeyed the king’s command and were going to that sorcereror in Ekron. But God told Elijah to stop those ministers from going and proclaim the death sentence, saying, [Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going to inquire of Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron?] This, of course, was also an errand that put Elijah’s life at risk.
Long ago in the military, if a military police messenger received an order from his commander to detain even the lowest-leveled general, if he detained this general for more than a few minutes, he could be punished, even though he was only doing his duty. So how much for Elijah in facing the king of a country – this shabby man who was not even the official prophet, was going to proclaim that the king will die upon the bed he lied in, so would the king’s ministers and subjects leave him alone? They would behead him in an instant.
Even though Elisha was the official prophet, God was once again sending Elijah out on this deadly errand. Truly God liked having Elijah do His errands more than He did Elisha. God loved Elijah so much and couldn’t live without him! We also must become such charming last Elijahs.
God has feelings and emotions just like us. He is happy, He loves us, He likes us, He even longs for us and becomes lovesick for us. We must become such charming sons and daughters that God and Jesus love so much They can’t live apart from us.
So Elijah who was truly worthy of receiving God’s love, simply replied, “Yes,” and went. Truly what a lovely relationship between this Father and son! Elijah appeared before those ministers of the king and scolded them as to why they were going to the god of Ekron, was the God of Israel dead? They turned pale with fright and ran away as fast as they could.
Ahaziah was lying on his bed when his ministers came in whispering amongst themselves? “What’s the matter?” “O King! We were going over the hill when this man showed up and said, ‘Is there no God in Israel that you are going to inquire from that demon of Ekron? Go to your king and tell him he will surely die on his bed and not come down from it.’” Even without having to ask, it was obvious who it was. All throughout history, only Elijahs could rebuke the king and leaders of the world of their sins. We have to become Elijahs.
Nowadays in the churches, if there is some professor or pastor who rebukes the corruption of the churches, suddenly their wages are cut and they lose their position, so they stop speaking. God does not use such cowards. Only those who can stand up to and rebuke the corruption of the churches and the world, risking their lives a hundred, a thousand times in order to save the world, are Elijahs.
Now this was God’s second command to Elijah, to pronounce the death sentence upon Ahaziah. It was a life-risking errand once again. How could you go to the bedside of the king of a nation, to dare pronounce a death sentence against him? To do such a thing, even your corpse would disappear without a trace. But this life-risking errand God was having Elijah do, not Elisha who was the official prophet at the time. God always gives the deadly errands to Elijah. Why is that? The first Elijah is a sample for the last Elijahs who will also do the errands that will put their life at risk.
If you look at the work that I’m doing now, truly I am also risking my life. Am I not exposing all the deceptions and hypocrisy of today’s churches? It seems that I am breaking up families that were living so peacefully, but they are all actually falling into ruins. I denounce all countries, families, religions, and education. But this is the only way they can be saved. Even though I have done this meeting up to now, no one has been able to touch me. I am perfectly safe as long as I am doing God’s appointed work. No one can touch me, no one can harm me. Though they may even try to kill me, every single meeting I am at risk. Who knows when someone will come into my room with a knife or a gun in their pockets. Even detectives and policemen have attended this seminar. But while I am obeying God’s command, not a single person has the power to touch me.
When Moses went before Pharaoh, he could have died, but God said, “I will fill the number of your days.” As long as we are obeying God’s command, there is no one that can touch a hair on our heads for that set time. Let us obey the commands of the Jehovah of Hosts with our hearts rest assured.
Elijah finally entered King Ahaziah’s palace. Since he had come under God’s command, there was no reason for him to ask permission from the secretary of state or anyone. He went to the bedside of the king and said, “Is there no God in Israel that you should inquire from that demon of Ekron? You will therefore die upon the bed you lie.” And after saying that, as he was walking out, not a single person could raise their sword against Elijah. Had anyone even touched Elijah’s robe, that palace would have fallen into ruins. Dazzling with divinity, as Elijah walked out with bold steps, never mind striking him down, no one could even dare touch his robe. Though all the nations of the world and all religions will unite as a single force to kill these last Elijahs, no one will be able to touch a single hair on your head without God’s permission. I hope that you will obey God’s commands with perfect peace of mind and all go to heaven.
After fulfilling all his missions that put his life at risk, he walked out hand in hand with God. Then God called Elijah again. “Elijah!” “Yes?” Now Elijah’s days were all filled up. He had fulfilled all the missions entrusted him. God could have buried Elijah and raised him up at Jesus’ Second Advent to take him to heaven. But God could not bear to be separated with this adorable son who obeyed Him 100% for even a second. So He said to Elijah, “Elijah! I just can’t live without you. Why don’t you come with Me, let’s go to our home now.”
When Elisha was called to be the official prophet, he said, “O God, let me have a farewell party with my family.” So he left his family after holding a farewell party. But when Elijah was called, there was nothing like that. He only said “Yes” every time. Moses had refused again and again when he was first called and God became so upset that He scolded him, but with Elijah, he had always only said “Yes.” He began with “Yes” and ended with “Yes.”
There was no one in the Bible as obedient as Elijah. In these last days, only those who say “Yes” will be the last Elijahs. Those who say, “Let me think about it, let me pray about it,” and weigh their prestige, honor, and paycheck, will never be called. I hope you will become the lovely Elijahs without whom God cannot live for even a minute, who will just say “Yes.”
When God said to Elijah, “I can’t live without you so let’s go home together,” Elijah didn’t reply, “Well, let me say goodbye to the widow who fed me for three and a half years. Let me go home and say goodbye to my family.” As he had always done, he only replied, “Yes, Father, if that’s what You want,” and he left. Though Moses had been buried before being taken to heaven, Elijah ascended to heaven without a grave. Let us also become those without a grave.
Churches today say that when Jesus comes, they’ll go to heaven on a cloud. How ridiculous they are! They are dreaming! Please tell them to stop dreaming and wake up. God will never take such rotten, smelly churches and put them on a cloud to heaven! They only seek money and honor. What God will take them to heaven, such sinners that do not live for God’s glory, only living for their own gain and glory! What God will take such beings to heaven? The Elijahs that God will take to heaven are the ones who will risk their lives for God’s glory; even if they lose their lives ten or a hundred times, they will exalt God and glorify Him. Is there any among the corrupt churches of the world that can be taken to heaven? Can anyone that sins go to heaven? No.
Was there anyone that saw Moses ascend to heaven? Was there anyone that saw Enoch ascend to heaven? Only Elijah, like Jesus, was seen ascending to heaven in glory. It’s written that God will give glory as much as glory was rendered Him (John 13:32). Elijah had rendered the greatest glory to God, and that’s why God bestowed the greatest glory to Elijah. Likewise with the last Elijahs, it’s because you will render the greatest glory to God that you will ascend to heaven on the chariot of clouds most gloriously before all of heaven and earth.

Let us all become such Elijahs.