[Story] Only the Godly saint can build a house for this nation

Only The Godly Saints Can Build a House For This Nation

Psalm 127:1; Proverbs 29:1-4; 11:30-31; 25:25; 13:12 

 

Preface from True Peace, November 1980

 

Korea was liberated on August 15, 1945. From then until the 1970s, and in harmony with the nation’s leadership alongside the people’s wisdom and tenacity, the self-assurance and conviction of “anything is possible” became deeply rooted into the consciousness of the people. It was undeniably the confidence of believing, “We can do it,” that has enabled the national restoration to sprout and bloom to what it is today.

I believe that the living God will work through our nation, the Republic of Korea. The powerful steps of rapid growth freed us from the restraints of painful and tearful poverty of the past 5,000 years. Today’s prosperity is the fruit of our people’s strenuous effort devoted with diligence, self-help, and collaboration. It is the result of the sweat, tears, and blood that our people shed as they worked like ants. The progressive minds of our people have led their abilities to shine out all over the world.

However, Korea has entered a financial storm. Have we perhaps failed to broaden our perspective, or have we mispositioned ourselves in global affairs? Right now, our nation is suffering from financial chaos due to the oil crisis. Our economic growth wasn’t from windfall profits, so how could our economy suddenly plunge and our export competition weaken to such an extent? This is indeed the heartbreaking reality, and we have reached a critical phase where we must pull ourselves together. It will be difficult to overcome today’s economic recession without reawakening our people’s unity and will. Today’s monumental achievements have been obtained through long years of frugality and hard work. Yet, if we let it fall at this point, it will be a great misfortune not only for our own generation, but also a shame for future generations, as well as an irremediable sin. 

In order to receive the blessing of prosperity, we must run on the path of life with faith in the living God, so that everyone—from the president all the way down to the child of a good-for-nothing from the slums—can unite in one mind and one goal to support this nation and its people. 

Through dialogue, entrepreneurs and employees must restore the drive to revitalize companies together as one. Employers need to consider that their companies are not their own, but belong to the nation and its people, while employees should faithfully—and with a sense of ownership—carry out their jobs with the heart of, “This is mine.” Only then can each individual and the nation receive the downpour of blessings. We cannot idly neglect the reality of our economy as though we are enjoying some nightscape from afar. There is a saying, “Do not discuss life with someone who has never starved.” People who have never experienced the sorrow of poverty may think that the riches of today just fell into their laps. Imagine if all our citizens thought, “Nothing else matters as long as I am comfortable.” To hell with this mindset! Do we focus on only one situation while we forget about the other urgent and pressing matters? It is time for our saints to open their eyes and face reality. Let us be faithful to our calling.

Do you know the tricks of the murderous communists? We must never put our guard down. We must eradicate communism at all costs. As long as communism exists on earth, there can never be peace. We can wipe out communists by believing in the Almighty God and dedicating our lives to our nation by faith alone. 

Let us be alert and love our nation and the people as ourselves before the red flood of communism engulfs us.

As a human, how can I even dare to say that I know something? But if things seem clear even to me, who knows nothing, then it is undoubtedly too big of a problem to ignore. In short, politics must not ignore what happened in world history. To this generation that becomes more aware each day, our government must be found praiseworthy anywhere in the world, and our people must be alive in faith.

Man is a rational being. What governs history is neither oppression, hierarchy, nor sword. Rather, it is our duty. When we are not transparent in fulfilling our duties, we tend to cover up everything. We will only adopt policies to cover up and pretend that there is no issue. But how long we will be able to hide? Some might reason that things were done to avoid upsetting the public sentiment, but this a foolish way to think. When the public gets upset, politicians only worry about their own positions, not our nation. Creating new history requires transparent politics. Foolish rulers always make people drunk and fall asleep, and they do more of the same exploit to the very end when they just come to ruin. The truth must be told as it is. All problems can be solved by the spirit and mind, not by trickery. Such a spirit and mind that creates a new history never belongs to one individual but to the whole. Citizens must demand from their president to never tolerate the authorities who steal under the pretense of politics and leadership, thus hindering the creation of new history.

Godly saints have eyes, ears, and mouths. 

Only the fearless can see the truth. We must not be trapped in our small selves, but step into our bigger selves in order to get rid of fear. May our saints defend their positions, remain as innocent citizens, and take the world of conscience as their own domain. The most important thing is to open our hearts. If we cannot open our hearts, then all are futile even if we meet someone a million times. It is very difficult to open our hearts once we rise to a position of authority because we start living in a different dimension.

We are godly saints. Thus, we must not forsake each of our places.

We are not battling other people. We are fighting our own individual battles with ourselves (Rom 7:15-19). I am just one of the crying bugs in the grass. Just as when one cricket begins to cry and the rest of the hundreds and thousands cry together, I am just a tiny bug in the grass roots. I am just a tiny branch in the forest of history that trembles at the wind from the west.

Dear living saints!

We must raise up our nation. Aren’t we going to build a house? We must raise our nation just like erecting a house with lying timbers and scattered rocks and dirt. A nation is not a nation if it cannot stand. Just as people cannot live under a falling roof, people cannot exist in a nation failing nation. Let us unite our hearts. We can survive only when we trust each other and raise up our nation together. A true nation is autonomous. Hence, each believer must stand up on his own. A house is built with dead timber, so the ground must be dug to erect the pillars, and they are joined with cement and nails. But a house built with dead materials cannot be alive. It’s just a dead house.

But our nation must be a living house. Everything is brought together to build one, and each building block is alive with its own personality. Only then can the nation stand as a house of life, that is, a house with living history. Our people must join hands. Dead timbers can be dovetailed and nailed, but not a nation. Nations that have been built in such a way have all collapsed. There is no unification without vision and freedom. Each individual may be doing one’s own duty well, but we must be holding hands in order to be unified as one. The warm blood flowing through our clasped hands is what creates a human society, the living nation that will not collapse in any tribulation.

Politicians always say that laws make up the nation and the system makes up society, but such words are more befitting carpenters who build dead houses to sell. A society is formed by the compassion that flows out from willing hearts. A mechanical society entwined with self-interest in businesses may seem solid, but it is hard-hearted. A nation starts to fall apart when the society of warm compassion dies and turns into a mechanical society entwined with contracts, lacking in cooperation and the sacrificial services of blood, sweat, and tears. Therefore, by faith we must go hand in hand and heart with heart to restore a just society; only then can we build a strong nation. 

Beloved saints, we must open wide the doors of our hearts. Unification is important for our country, but that does not necessarily have to mean an outward unification. We must be unified from within. Various body parts all exist within one body, yet they do not interfere with each other; they harmoniously form one body. That is unification. It is the same with our nation. We are all different from one another, yet, we are one. Therefore, in order to be a one-minded society that becomes one with open hearts, we must speak with one another. We must build a society where we can speak with freedom. The only thing that can raise up a nation are the godly saints who speak while moving toward the gates of heaven with a vision.

Beloved saints! We must seriously reevaluate the ultimate essence of our lives. We must insightfully decide our path to life and the actions to take right now.

First, we must learn from the global economic crisis in the early 1930s. Even in the Western world, where democracy flowered, people were devoted to building the economic stability and growth at first.

Today’s economic growth, amid many adversities and struggles, must be sustained. Now is the time to unite in courage and wisdom and resolutely take charge in overcoming today’s financial crisis.

Second, a new spirit and a new heart for a new age are possible only by believing in the living and working Word of God. A perpetual precept for our daily life must be building a new self through the mighty and powerful spirit of Jesus from on high. Loyalty, filial duty, and propriety all begin from one root, benevolence (仁). From this stems the love for humanity, by which our people can unite, cherish, and care for one another. This love will then eventually sublime into the root of life.

Third, the heinous North Korean communists pretend to be liberal, democratic and legitimate, when really they aim to exterminate liberty and democracy and infringe upon human rights by fostering internal confusion and destroying our constitutional order. We must realize that all their virtues are only facades and part of their wicked scheme. 

To fight against such North Korean Communists, it is crucial that we unite in faith toward God and have nationwide solidarity. They are aiming for weakness within us: social turmoil and economic paralysis. It is so obvious that they will always invade when they see a loophole among us. I believe that a modern warfare is a full-scale war without front-line or rear battles, for it will instantly consume the entire nation.

Beloved saints! Let us keep in mind that the unwavering resolution to protect the nation in unity, as well as total unity of the people, is the only path to victory in modern war. In order to prevent the tragedy of a fratricidal war and achieve peaceful reunification, we cannot just spectate as the communists work toward their ambition for a forceful unification under communism. Rather, we must take the reins to induce them.

We have seen the cruel aspect of international politics during the Vietnam War, that with no autonomous defense system, national unity, and strong national security awareness, then we cannot receive any support from our allies. We are primarily, actually entirely, responsible for our country’s defense. We are no longer in the time where we can depend on other nations for national defense. If we do not have the determination and the ability to protect on our own, the collective security system is useless and meaningless.

Only the godly saints can raise the nation.

 

 

*This post can also be read in 'Champyungan'. (http://champyungan.com/en/)