What is Disaster?
The Christian Gospel is the one and only way to lead to salvation of mankind to prevent human destruction, and Christians are like milestones to guide to the way of salvation in the world. However, such Christianity is not presenting the right milestones for salvation instead it is presenting wrong ones that lead to other ways. In other words, Christianity has not fulfilled its duty and responsibility for 2,000 years and it is wandering aimlessly without its essence up to now. What is the meaning of a series of tragic events occurring today like a number of disasters, terrors, starvations, wars, etc. and who is responsible for all these? Christianity should be totally responsible for all these and the cause of these is due to the spiritual ignorance of ministers.
Christianity is a spiritual religion which is led by the Holy Spirit. Like parents who directly teach and guide their children, the spiritual guidance means that the Holy Spirit, the spirit of God and Jesus Christ, directly teaches and trains the Church and believers, and reminds them of God’s will (1Co 2:13 & Jn 6:45). To be guided by the Holy Spirit is the word of God and‘ Christians’ can be defined as the people who only believe in the word guided by the Holy Spirit, serve and act according to them.
The mission of Christians is to fulfill God’s word guided by the Holy Spirit i.e., the will of the Father in faith and they should testify that the word of God is living and everlasting through the accomplishment of the will of the Father. Therefore, the Bible says that the people who do not follow the will of the Father are evildoers.
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’” (Mt 7:21-23).
Although up to now many have performed a certain type of power, miracles, and wonders, acted as prophets and witnessed a great number of people through so many revival meetings in churches, they are evildoers if they do not follow the will of the Father. Therefore, ministers should have excellent spiritual power in distinguishing the will of God, but they did not receive the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the will of God, due to their spiritual ignorance. As a result, they have been dependent on worldly wisdom, knowledge, their own experiences, educations, etc. Consequently, they made God incompetent and covered the glory of God. Even some worldly people claim that ‘there is no God, and God is dead.”
Evildoings of ministers who failed to receive the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the fellowship with God, have resulted in a great number of natural disasters, terrors, wars, etc. throughout the world today. As these are God’s judgment on evildoings, Sodom and Gomorrah are the most prominent examples of evildoers destroyed by God’s judgment.
What kinds of sins did Sodom and Gomorrah commit so that they were suddenly and totally destroyed? The Bible says, “Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore, I did away with them as you have seen” (Eze 16:49-50). Also, their lewd conducts were pursuit of sexual pleasures and physical lewdness; and their spiritual lewdness was to exclude and leave God, namely they became friends with the world using only human wisdom and knowledge, thus God destroyed them. From ancient times to the present, God has reminded all the descendants of Sodom and Gomorrah’s downfall as a warning example. Then, what about this modern society?
Today, most of modern people worship money and science as their religion of faith. In other words, instead of God, they think that money and science can certainly guarantee the security for the present and the future and they emphasize more on functional education for accumulation of wealth rather than on education for humanity. Consequently, it has been a long time since people have begun to live in a society of pursuing only physical desires with a destroyed conscience and soul.
● Human conscience is a sensory organ to feel and sense happiness
As human conscience is a sensory organ to feel and sense happiness, the destruction of conscience brings deprivation and destruction of perfect and true happiness. Accordingly, the deprivation of each individual conscience is the same as deprivation of happiness. As ethics and morality are the minimum requirements for conscience, the destruction of them is the total destruction of the conscience of inner self. This means that conscience which is a sensory organ for sensing happiness becomes insensitive. As a result, people try to find happiness through only momentary and instantaneous physical senses. Such intemperate physical desires should lead to only pleasure-loving culture. Therefore, the world becomes more and more addicted to pleasure, sports, sex, alcohol, drugs, etc., and this is called the last days. In the last days, there will be definite signs in the world so that anyone can notice them.
The first signs: (1) People will be lovers of themselves, (2) lovers of money, (3) boastful, (4) proud, (5) abusive (6) disobedient to their parents (7) ungrateful (8) unholy (9) without love (10) unforgiving (11) slanderous (12) without self-control (13) brutal (14) not lovers of the good (15) treacherous (16) rash (17) conceited (18) lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God (19) having a form of godliness but denying its power(2Ti 3:1-5). Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold (Mt 24:12) and the abomination that causes desolation will stand in the holy place (Mt 24:15). Abnormal trends and social phenomena will spring up like bamboo shoots after rain and the righteous shall suffer.
The second signs: nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be great earthquakes, famines and pestilences in various places, and fearful events and great signs from heaven (Lk 21:10-11).
Such phenomena show that “the last days” is near, and there has been “the last days” in every generation in human history and it is the end of age. Jesus said that the time of harvest was the end of the age, and the weeds that caused sin and all who did evil would be thrown into the fiery furnace at the time of harvest. The last days is the time to weed out everything that causes sin and all who do evil (Mt 13:40-42). Accordingly, ‘the last days” is to destroy wickedness through disasters and the history of disasters, which is God’s judgment, has been part of human history.
1. Why do disasters occur?
Disasters are the results of sins and evildoings. As whips of God, disasters are warnings to keep the truth which is the law of God. Disaster literally means ‘a whip or a rod’. Like parents’ whip to educate their rude children, disaster is a message of tears and supplications, which is love of God, asking wicked mankind to return to the bosom of God. The bosom of God is love which is the order of creation by God and love is law, truth, and goodness. God the Creator created a man in his own image (Ge 1:27), and the image of God is love (1Jn 4:16).
Love [patient, kind, not envy, not boast, not proud, not rude, not self-seeking, not easily angered, keeps no record of wrongs, no delight in evil but rejoices with the truth, always protects, always trusts, always hopes and always perseveres (1Co 13:4-7)] is the truth and the completion of the goodness. Accordingly, living a life, conforming to the purpose and order of human creation, is to think and act in love and never to leave love in any circumstances. Likewise, only when mankind returns to love which is the order of creation, will perfect happiness and all of mankind’s yearning and pursuit of an ideal world will be given. Only then, can we have fellowship with God and walk with God.
On the other hand, disorder against the order of creation is unrighteousness, evildoing, sin, and evil. Evil takes place in the opposite world of love such as curse, death, misery, distress, plague, disaster, suffering, despair, frustration, war, etc., and the Bible calls it the sinful nature [sexual immorality, impurity, debauchery, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and the like (Gal 5:19-21)]. Mankind chose evil departed from the good, which is love, i.e., the image of God, due to the incident of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. As a result, God could not be with evil because God was good. The evil means man was departed from love, the image of God, and became the flesh. Love can not be assimilated with the flesh. Therefore, God clearly declared the reason why God could not be with man.
“My Spirit will not contend with man forever, for he is mortal” (Ge 6:3).
After man was banished from the Garden of Eden due to the incident of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, man independently built his own world that had nothing to do with God, and developed the world, enjoying his civilization. Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God (Jas 4:4). As a result, the price given to man for this is to live in anxiety, fear, misery, failure, distress, and disaster, being obsessed with the power of death. Like this, the physical life of people who are departed from love, the order of creation, becomes the cause of endless tribulations and disasters by themselves.
“Why should any living man complain when punished for his sins?” (La 3:39).
2. Types of disasters
Judgment will be followed according to all the results departed from love and the only way to avoid judgment is to live within love, the order of creation. As previously mentioned, the life of the flesh is evil and evil will be justly and fairly judged according to the weight of sins and man pays the price for his sins in his life through pains, frustrations, despairs, tribulations, disasters, etc.
God’s judgment on the wicked has been expressed as anger and wrath. God’s wrath is cast on the wicked according to the price for their sins as tribulations, disasters, wars, etc. This is the Judgment. God’s judgment can be realized to individuals through the judgment on spirit and the flesh and to nations through wars. Moreover, God’s judgment on mankind has been executed as countless natural disasters such as earthquakes, tidal waves, floods, fires, infectious diseases, etc.
● Judgments on individuals
Judgments are appropriately executed according to the price of individual sins and there are countless variations regarding the kinds of judgments. For modern people, fear, terror, and sufferings without satisfaction in spirit are spiritual punishments, whereas various physical diseases are physical punishments. All the people in modern society live with fear whether it is big or small. This means that they have already been punished. Fear is a punishment for their sins (1Jn 4:18). Likewise, tribulations and sufferings always follow in spirit.
If one problem is solved, then another problem pops up shortly right after. Also, there is always anguish, concern, anxiety, fear, despair, failure, frustration, loneliness, uncertainty for the future, terror, fear for the ruin of settled happiness even if they were happy, and endless efforts to maintain happiness, which make the spirit of people tired. In addition, when they come home, their spouses and children do not recognize their hard works and efforts. It seems that there is always an invisible screen, which makes them so lonely as if they were all alone in the world. Like this, they feel hurt at home as well as at work. Such unfavorable circumstances sometimes happen around them.
Moreover, people can not open their mind to their friends, relatives, siblings, parents, coworkers, and neighbors nor can they believe those people. Communications have been blocked, and there are only superficial and pretentious talks among people. People who cannot tell the truth to anyone become hard-hearted in their spirit and the affliction which comes from such hard-heartedness makes those people build a wall around them. Affliction happens in a situation that people have to be separated from the people whom they love the most. Namely, separation or no benefits from what people believe or what people depend on; constant troubles in living due to lack of materials; absolutely unfulfilling minds in spite of wealth and success; breaking off relationships with neighbors and everything that people trust and depend on; all of these bring the feelings of vanity, emptiness, regret, loneliness, etc., and the state of mind is affliction.
Although people earnestly hope and desire to be always respected, recognized, and loved by their neighbors, families, friends, and co-workers, they are rejected by all things and in the most extreme case, they end up committing suicide. Mind diseases such as suicide, mental depression, mental disorder, panic disorder, and sleep disorder are all spiritual diseases. As God’s whip, these spiritual afflictions and tribulations happen to the people who are departed from the truth, the law made by God as a result of their sins and evildoings. With regard to the physical judgment, people are judged through diseases which are physical pains.
● Judgments on nations
In the Bible, there are descriptions of God who governs wars, jealous God, etc., which are contrary to love and these attributes of God do not go with love. The battle is the Lord’s (1Sa 17: 47). There are great wretchedness, screaming, ghastliness, agonizing pains and heartbreaking pains, etc. through wars. Therefore, once in a while, even Christians doubt about a loving God who has allowed such wars. It takes at least one generation, 50-100 years, to heal the wounds caused by wars between nations and there is hardly any greater tragedy than such wars. This is a national disaster and it is God’s whip as well as God’s rod of chastisement. The whole nation pays the price for its sins at the same time at once.
The rise and fall of a nation depend on its own sins. God took the Israelites as example and he has clearly shown people through 2,000 years of Israel’s history how retributions for sins have been taking place until salvation through receiving Jesus Christ by faith. They denied Jesus Christ due to their stubbornness and refused the truth of salvation by crucifixion of Jesus Christ. As a result, they were scattered throughout the world and wandered everywhere for the last 2,000 years. Finally, they could pay the whole price for their sins through the Holocaust of 6 million Jews by Hitler. Moreover, they miraculously recovered their homeland, but once again they have been damaged by their sins because they still do not know the truth.
Today, Israel is the most dangerous country in the world. Resentment and bitter curses with bloodthirstiness of Arabians have overspread Israel like clouds of thick darkness. There can never be absolute peace and prosperity in the future of Israel until they unravel even a single thread of the resentment. The Bible says that if you do not forgive and tolerate, you cannot be forgiven and tolerated. Likewise, the truth is applied to all things. Namely, God is also considered to be God of the Gentiles. Christians should remember this, and they should not fall into the trap of thinking that God is only their own God. God will liberate people from their grudges and plead the cases of all people whether they are Christians or non-Christians (Mic 7:9). In addition, people should pay attention to Indonesia from now on. Why do they see so many terrible things happen such as natural disasters, etc.? It is due to bitter grudges and curses of East Timorese people against Indonesia. Therefore, Indonesians could never be released from the spiritual slaves of East Timor until those grudges and curses disappeared.
The borrower is the servant to the lender (Pr 22:7), thus the borrower is deprived of his right by the lender. Even if he tried to make his best efforts, he cannot be liberated from lender’s grasp until he pays back all his debts. That is why you are told not to commit sins, and not to do anything to be cursed or complained by others. All who draw the sword will die by the sword (Mt 26:52) and men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken (Mt 12:36).
Likewise, in the world, there is the law of retribution known as “you reap what you sow”. This is the law as well as the truth, which runs the universe, and it was made by God, the Creator. All things and mankind are under the influence of this law, whether they like it or not and no one is free from this law.
However, what is the reason why the super-powers, which committed so many evildoings, are still going strong without downfalls as Christian countries? The reason for this is due to the gospel-preaching. The Bible says two ways to cover over a multitude of sins, and these are love and gospel preaching.
"Remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him from death and cover over a multitude of sins" (Jas 5:20).
"Love covers over a multitude of sins" (1Pe 4:8).
The gospel preaching of missionaries could prevent their Christian countries, the super-powers, from sins. In other words, most of the super-powers were devoted to gospel preaching and pioneering for the worldwide evangelism. There is no other greater blessing than evangelism of Christ to restore mankind to Adam prior to the Fall. Without their evangelism, those countries were enough to be perished long ago. Thus, they could have been maintained as advanced countries by God’s blessing for their evangelism. However, now the effect of forgiveness of sins for their countries, which was given by gospel preaching of missionaries from the advanced countries, will pale into insignificance and the power of forgiveness will not be shown anymore. All the blessings, which had been saved, were completely used up. Therefore, from now on, judgments will be strictly, fairly and justly carried out according to God’s law.
● Judgments through nature
Judgments are also made through natural disasters such as earthquakes, tidal waves, floods, droughts, volcanic eruptions, abnormal weathers, etc. God allows us to know his will through the creation of the world (Ps 19:1-4, Ro 1:20). Accordingly, natural phenomena and natural disasters are the only voice and warnings of God that man can perceive. The Bible says,” Undoubtedly there are all sorts of languages in the world, yet none of them is without meaning” (1Co 14:10). However, modern people approach these disasters scientifically and only consider those as natural phenomena or man-caused accidents due to their carelessness. As a result, they make these God’s voice and warnings worthless and meaningless. If only such scientific measurements are applied, Moses parting the Red Sea, the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire in the Bible should not be miraculous things nowadays but mere natural phenomena occurring at any time.
However, God the creator is alive. God the Father naturally expresses his intentions through his creations, all things in the universe. At anytime, God accompanies miracles, wonders, strength, powers, and authorities and God is the Absolute and the Decider of mankind’s destiny such as life and death, and good and evil. The Bible says, “All these blessings will come upon you and accompany you if you obey the Lord your God; however, if you do not obey the Lord your God and do not carefully follow all his commands and decrees, I am giving you today, all these curses and destructions like diseases, blindness, and droughts will come upon you and overtake you” (Dt:28).
Likewise, the Bible is the book of promise and the law (the truth) that God will give people all the curses and disasters through natural disasters if they do not obey the Lord. As the promises written in the Bible will be continued and carried out without disappearance of the smallest letter and the least stroke of a pen up to date, God allows us to know that only God is the Absolute even at this moment.
Now, the disasters taking place everywhere in the world are the judgment of God toward the wicked. Disasters can never be stopped by human wisdom, knowledge, power, and effort. Although a disaster can be accidentally stopped, a new disaster will happen one after the other, and this will bring suffering to people. As long as there are sins in the heart of mankind, he will live in this endless vicious cycle. Then, how can mankind avoid these disasters?
3. Disasters and the Christian gospel
● Disasters can be avoided only when people return to love through receiving the gospel
At present, the way for mankind to avoid disasters and sufferings is to receive the gospel of Jesus Christ and return to love which is the order of creation and this is the one and only way for mankind to avoid numerous sufferings and painful disasters in the future. The Christian gospel which preaches that Jesus Christ is the only way to salvation seems to sound very self-righteous and arrogant. However, people have to obey the law whether they like it or not without choice because it is the law of God, the Creator who created all things and the command made by God. If people do not obey the law, it is evildoing and disobedience as well as revolt against the Creator.
Therefore, the Bible says, “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness” (Ro 1:18). Like this, the wrath of God is revealed to the unrighteous, namely all the things against love which is the order of creation. Accordingly, people can not avoid disasters, the wrath of God until they receive the gospel and return to love.
The gentiles insist that they are innocent or they are not ashamed at all. However, the standards that they insist on being righteous are mostly based on their religion or social regulations such as ethics and morality and these are done by observing only basic criteria but those have nothing to do with God. Moreover, they cannot say that it is unfair because everyone should be exposed to the gospel of Christ at least once.
The gospel of Christ was the trumpet of salvation to escape into the refuge of God, whoever preached the gospel to them. In other words, whoever they may be, what the situation it may be, whether they are children, gentiles, believers, or non-believers, the trumpet of God’s salvation, returning to love, is the gospel through witnessing. Such gospel preaching has been spread all over the world during the last 2,000 years, but the gentiles would not accept the gospel of Jesus Christ. The Bible says, “Light has come into the world, but men love darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil” (Jn 3:19).
There is the light that gives light to every man in every spirit. It is longing for the true love, and it is obsessed with vague longing for something as if it were the soft haze of a spring day but its reality is mystery. As it grows, it comes down to love between a man and a woman, but people can never be filled up and solve this vague longing, but bear it in their mind and simply die without knowing what it is. Its identity is love which is the true nature of human beings created as the image of God and the vague longing is love for God, which exists in the blood of mankind.
Like this, God drew a map of love inside of every human being and wants him to seek and return to God; therefore, nobody can make any excuses. The Bible says, “The true light that gives light to every man was coming to the world. The world did not recognize him” (Jn 1:9-10). The only way for mankind to live is to return to love. God will be jealous, get angry, and continuously bring disasters until they return to love, the bosom of God.
Accordingly, the Christian gospel to preach is none other than returning to love, the order of creation. However, nobody can return to perfect love at the time of creation for himself. This is the reason why Jesus Christ came to the world as Messiah. Although man does not have any power and ability, if whoever may want to return to love and cry to seek, God will help him to reach perfect love by sending the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus Christ. Therefore, people have to believe in Jesus Christ to be saved, and there is no salvation apart from Jesus Christ.
Christians, who are saved by faith in Jesus Christ, should reach the completion of love. Love consists of 15 elements (1Co 13:4-7) and the completion of love shall be achieved when these elements perfectly unite with faith, hope and love. The completion of perfect love is directly followed by fulfillment of the Holy Spirit. The sprit in the fulfillment of the Holy Spirit is already in heaven, the kingdom of God and the Garden of Eden, and this means to be saved. Christians should maintain such fulfillment of the Holy Spirit. If even one out of 15 elements is incomplete or missing, then this cannot reach to the fulfillment of the Holy Spirit and perfect salvation.
Accordingly, God’s judgment will be strictly, fairly and justly brought to the Gentiles as well as their children who believe in Jesus Christ. The criterion of the judgment only depends on whether perfect love is achieved or not without discrimination. If they achieve the perfect love, their spirit which is conscience must be in the Holy Spirit, the kingdom of God and the heaven of righteousness, joy and peace, namely, the utmost happiness that all human beings are pursuing although their bodies naturally live and breathe in this world. If they do not, they live a life in tribulations and pains under the power of death in the life of the flesh, gasping for breath due to being caught in a web of sin as if a dragonfly caught in a spider web struggled to be free.
The one and only way to escape from disasters and pains under the power of death is to return to love. Accordingly, the gospel preaching, to be saved by faith in Jesus Christ, is not an ordinary word but the word of life that all mankind must hear. Now is the time for gospel preachers to certainly blow the trumpet of the gospel. It means that people should reach perfect love and live in heaven by being clothed with the wonderful power of the Holy Spirit, the power of Jesus Christ, and being helped.
● The Christian heaven is the utmost happiness that all mankind is seeking
Heaven, i.e., the Garden of Eden which is the kingdom of God is the world of perfect love as well as the utmost happiness of all mankind. As the kingdom of God is the world where God lives together in joy and sorrow and reigns, the Bible says, “‘Here it is’, ‘There it is’, because the kingdom of God is within you” and “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Lk 17:21, Ro 14:17). At this time, mankind can reach the perfect and complete utmost happiness and this is called the kingdom of God, heaven, the Garden of Eden, Immanuel, the New Heaven and the New Earth, the New Jerusalem, etc.
Consequently, as heaven is not the world after death but the world made in my present life, it is the world made by the power of the Holy Spirit, the spirit of Jesus Christ in my spirit. In other words, heaven is in the spirit of people even in the cruel reality of the present regardless of circumstances. Therefore, Christianity should no longer turn heaven as afterlife after people die but testify the living God of the living by applying thoroughly to living in the present.
If heaven would be the place to go after death, should the Garden of Eden in the Bible be an imaginative world? Then, it is the same as the proof that the Garden of Eden did not really exist. However, the Garden of Eden was an actual physical place and it still exists in the present life. In the gospel of the future, Christians should not preach the heaven after death but preach love which is the reality of heaven made in living spirit and they should testify that the one and only way to avoid sufferings and disasters is to return to love. Accordingly, ministers should not distort the gospel, but shout for people to escape from disasters by opening their spiritual eyes to see the truth.
● Distortion of the Christian gospel was derived from the spiritual ignorance of ministers
The reason why Christian gospel has been distorted for 2,000 years is due to spiritual ignorance of ministers who could not see the truth as it really was.
In other words,
(1) Ignorance of ministers who have depended on their own will, experience and knowledge without immediate obedience to the word of God at each moment such as the inspiration and the word guided by the Holy Spirit, etc.
(2) Ignorance of ministers who have had to work of both the Holy Spirit and evil spirit due to their dull conscience by neglecting self-examination.
(3) Ignorance of ministers who have been unable to be perfectly led by the Holy Spirit due to mixing of the spiritual words and revelation together with their own knowledge and wisdom.
(4) Ignorance of ministers who have misunderstood that only gospel preaching is the best thing without knowing their true missions, which leads to distortion of gospel and mass-production of today’s Christianity.
As Christianity is a faith to begin and end with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, all Christians serve God according to their conscience. If their conscience becomes dull, they cannot be perfectly guided by the Holy Spirit due to doing the work of both the Holy Spirit and evil spirit.
Accordingly, repentance through self-examination should form a foundation of Christian faith; therefore, lack of repentance makes selfish faith. As selfishness is a total set and a complete core backbone of the flesh, it is a convincing proof that selfishness stands on the other side of God.
Love has unity with everything. Love is harmony, peace, fellowship without blocking and interruption, mutual communication, unity, and agreement, whereas selfishness has the nature of separation without harmony and unity due to its own greed. Thus, selfishness appears in the form of modern Christianity such as sectarianism, dogmatism, clericalism, authoritarianism, expansionism, prosperity faith, etc. Although they cry out the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit will be present and work only in the people of love. Accordingly, the modern Christianity derived from selfishness has only just managed to survive by drawing from their own will, experience of faith, knowledge of the world, human studies, etc. rather than the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, this has produced nothing but futility that is the faith of the flesh.
In addition, Christianity has utilized all kinds of human means and ways instead of wisdom, knowledge, power from heaven through the guidance of the Holy Spirit. This is complete betrayal and apostasy against God since these acts do not reconcile with God but break off the relationship with God. Therefore, no matter how beautiful and wise it is to mankind, if it is not God’s way and means, it has nothing to do with God as act of faith and it should be evildoing (Mt 7:23). Furthermore, it results in disobedience which is to deceive God, insult and blaspheme against the Holy Spirit.
Therefore, the Bible says, “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain, their teachings are but rules taught by men” (Mt 15:8-9). Likewise, as spiritual ignorance is a substantial harm, it is the reality which has deceived many for the last 2,000 years and the internal enemy which makes spiritual servants blind. To become spiritually blind as spiritual servants means that they did not seek only love.
(Cf.)
Love: Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres (1Co 13:4-7).
The Flesh: The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, and debauchery, idolatry and witchcraft, hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, and envy, drunkenness, orgies, and the like (Gal 5:19-21).
They did not exactly keep and fulfill the two commandments of love, the commandments of God: the first commandment of God is to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind”, and the second commandment is to “Love your neighbor as yourself”. As a result, they became spiritually blind to see the truth about God and all things.
Spirituality means to see, hear, feel and know about God. In other words, God is still at work in his creation even today and allows his plans and will to be first known through his servants and once again to be confirmed through his creation. Like this, knowing about God is spiritual. To become spiritual, the servants should be filled with not just theological doctrines but the Holy Spirit, the completion of love.
Accordingly, ministers should have complete love in their heart regardless of the reason, which makes their spiritual eyes opened so that they can be consistent with the will of God. However, they could not be united with God since they tried to approach God by different ways and means without love. As a result, Christianity has become a completely different religion.
The one and only way to be awakened to spirituality is to return to love. Regardless of situation, environment, and circumstance, perfect love must be completed without fail by the help of the Holy Spirit (1Co 13: 4-7). However, Christian ministers abandoned this way and have taken different human ways. As a result, they have become spiritually blind.
As spiritual blindness is the most severe curse for God’s servants, the judgment of Jesus Christ is to let the blind see and let those who see become blind. Therefore, God’s judgment has already begun (Jn 9:39). Spiritual blindness is the greatest curse that has come upon God’s children and his servants and this is the same as being deprived of all duties as if soldiers were deprived of their badges of rank. Accordingly, only when ministers return to perfect love in their spirit through total repentance, they can escape from spiritual ignorance. Only then, they can carry out their own duties as ministers.
● Duties of ministers
First, ministers should carry out their duties as watchmen who have to testify the will of God to their faithful flocks and the faithless world through constant new guidance of the Holy Spirit. As the people of the world are like indiscreet troublesome children, ministers have to warn the people not to be closer to sins, teach them about good and evil, persuade and sincerely educate them whether or not they are prepared, whether or not they hear and these are the roles of watchmen.
Second, ministers should have the authority to forgive sins of their flocks and even sins of the world as the duties of the priests of the Old Testament. Jesus said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven, if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven” (Jn 20:22-23). Likewise, they should carry out their duties as cleaners by cleaning all dirty and ugly sins of all mankind through forgiveness of sins with the power of the Holy Spirit.
Like the men of Nineveh could avoid disasters by their total repentance at the preaching of Jonah, ministers should carry out their duties as watchmen of the world. Without fame and without glory, they have to incinerate daily pouring sins of the world and deal with them on behalf of all mankind by repentance through intercessory prayers with the power of the Holy Spirit. By doing so, they should become perfect scapegoats for the purification of the world. However, so far, ministers did not carry out these duties properly due to their spiritual ignorance. As a result, this world is overfilled with sins, which brought disasters. Therefore, ministers are responsible for all disasters in the world.
Accordingly, from now on, all the people in the world should not think lightly of sufferings and disasters but the movement of sincere repentance should be started by Christianity. Furthermore, it should be God’s servants who first realize God’s warnings. On the other hand, people should not ignorantly think anymore that disasters occurring in the world are inevitable natural phenomena such as climate changes and diastrophism. Only God’s servants can stop these disasters in the world through sincere repentance. Therefore, ministers should go back to their own duties and find a way for mankind to live.
● God proclaims to all mankind living in this world today
Starting from the 21st century, this is the time when people have to bear the fruits of last 2,000 years and pay the price for what they owe, namely this is the Last Days. This is the time when you should pay the price for your debts, give other people what they deserve, and take what you deserve, which means the time of bearing the fruit. As the fruit, people should find evidence that the truth, the word of God, is alive with full power, and it is working righteously. Through it, people should be aware of the living God and fear, thus they should stop committing sins. Then, how can mankind stop coming disasters and sufferings in the future?
Now, people should ask for help from their own gods whom they believe. Why don’t self-proclaimed messiahs save the world without being bystanders with folded arms? All religious people should call their gods for their salvation! Now, people should free themselves from such foolishness and stubbornness. Salvation is absolutely impossible except through Jesus Christ. If whoever does not repent, he harshly pays the price for his debt. Then, he will accept that God alone is the true Creator and he will not depart from the truth. Therefore, there will be continuous disasters, sufferings, wars, afflictions, etc. in the world until people find out that their life would be decided as the life of happiness or unhappiness according to their own deeds by the law of retribution known as “you reap what you sow”; that evildoers are destroyed without fail; and that such law was made by the Lord God and Jesus Christ is the only Messiah.
As people of the world today are so far away from love which is the truth, they are deeply and thoroughly soaked in sins. Although plenty of materials are available, the bloodshed which is the price for material prosperity should bring suffering, hopelessness, vanity, emptiness, failure, frustration, loss, and adversity to people in their lives in a variety of ways. In addition, their spirit should be trapped in thorough instinctive life with fear, horror, and distrust, which resulted in deprivation of happiness. Moreover, there is the prevalence of unknown diseases, wars, being deprived by depriving, and being pressed by enjoyed. The entertainments of modern people are like toys of happiness, enjoying for a short time. After all, it will be paid off by complaints, irritation, pains, displeasure, insult, shame, etc. This is inevitable since they have lived in sins, departing from the good. Now, is the time of the Judgment for mankind by the law of God. Mankind should not be whipped anymore by God but be saved by Jesus Christ through repentance. In other words, mankind should accomplish perfect love with the fulfillment of the Holy Spirit, and be saved by returning to the bosom of God.
The grass withers and flowers fall, but the word of the Lord stands forever!
Hallelujah! To whom be glory forever and ever. Amen!