When I was ministering in Dae-Goo, our church was very poor and we were in a difficult situation. One time, there was a couple who received the salvation by listening to the gospel from me. They were Elders in their big church. Every time I went to their house for a bible study, I was treated very kindly. Every Tuesday evening I went to their house to lead the bible study. The couple already had a table set up to start the bible study. As I sat on the cushion laid out for me I would ask them, “did you finish the homework I gave you last week? And they would answer “yes, we finished them”. I can see that they were very devoted in this bible study.After about two hours of bible study, we would then move to the next room. In that room, there were strawberries and bananas laid on the table. These were very rare fruits at the time because it wasn’t in season. After eating the fruits, he handed me two flat crisp thousand won. He said, “Use this as your car fare Pastor”. At that time, two thousand won was enough for a week expense in my family. Throughout, the couple and I shared many good fellowships together.

At one point, the couple separated themselves from their old church to come to our church. He was an Elder in his old church but not only that, he held a high official position in the military as well. They attended our service for the first time. After the second service, he wanted to have a word with me. I told him to speak freely. He stood in front of the whole congregation and began to talk. “Have you ever seen a Pastor like our Pastor? Does it make sense for him to get paid only six thousand won a month? I heard Pastor’s testimonies that he prays to receive food or car fares. Now, why does he need to pray for these things? He shouldn’t have to pray for these things, instead he should pray for us! We should make sure so that he doesn’t have to pray for food or money”. Since that day he decided to pay me two hundred thousand won per month. At that time, only those big church Pastors in Dae Goo city got paid two hundred thousand won a month.
The refrigerator was first coming out at that time and not many household had the refrigerator. The couple bought a new refrigerator from Samsung called Highcold and put one in my house. My kids often made sugar ice cubes from the freezer.

One day Brother Lee called me to go to the city with him. He wanted to go see the land for our new church. We had discussed earlier about building a new church. Brother Lee was a rich man who owned many lands in that region. He showed me many different lands and he asked me, “Which one do you like the most?” I told him, “I think this one is okay” and he made the decision to build the church there right away. He said to me, “Pastor, I can’t compare you to any other Pastors I know so, you should take advantage of what I can do for you. In the future, I will build a new church, your house and I will buy you a new car. While ministering, if you want to study abroad then you can do that, I will take all the financial responsibility. My wish is to make you the best Pastor in Korea”. After listening to him, I began to think, “Wow, maybe God is opening up the way for me”.

Everything was good till this point, but I can see that little by little Brother Lee acted as if he was an Elder in our church. This felt uncomfortable in my heart so I went up to him and quietly said, “Brother Lee, you’re not an Elder in our church you know that right?” There was no reply from him. I told him, “You should’ve been embarrassed for being an Elder when you weren’t even born again but Brother Lee; in the future I hope you can be a true Elder from the ways in the bible. In order to become a true Elder you first have to throw away your old ways”. I continued to talk to him as I opened up the bible. After the conversation he said, “Pastor Park, thank you, I know it isn’t easy for you to say these things to me but I thank you for sharing”. I was very happy to hear this from him and I went back home with a good heart. As soon as I came home, I got a phone call from his wife. She said, “my husband is throwing a fit right now he is yelling ‘who does this Pastor think he is’”. Then I knew, brother Lee wanted to make me a well known Pastor and establish himself as a well known Elder. The problem is if God establishes us then we can be established but brother Lee wanted to do it himself. I couldn’t allow the church to be made into an organization dictated by Elders or any politicians. Because of these differences between Brother Lee and me, we got into arguments almost every day. “Brother Lee, why are you like this? Isn’t this what the bible says?” He would reply, “Yes Pastor and I know it’s not easy for you to say these things but I know your saying this because you care for me” Then he would turn around and complain, “what does he know about ministering, that Pastor is still young” I can see that his heart was drifting away from me because I wasn’t following his plans. The offers from Brother Lee such as, building a new church, house or studying abroad, buying a new car all disappeared in thin air. Even my raised pay of two hundred thousand won had disappeared too. Everything returned to the way it was before. I mean, I am a human who need money and food to survive. It would be nice to have a new car or a new house and to be respected from everyone but there was one reason why I can’t live that way. The reason is God who lives within me was not happy with those things. Lord was uncomfortable with those offered by Brother Lee. Sometimes I would listen to his suggestions and agree with him at the moment but when I come home to think about it, it didn’t fit in with the bible. Then I would go back and explain to him, “Brother Lee, what you said last week, the bible says it’s this way” Then he would always say, “Oh okay Pastor Yes, thank you” but he would turn around and say totally the opposite.
He complained saying, “Pastor Park is inexperienced, and he doesn’t know anything. Other Pastors always heed to my suggestions but this Pastor Park, who does he think he is!” Brother Lee always complained behind my back. I once told him, “If I am the servant of God, you can’t overpower me, so don’t try to overpower me but try to obey to the words from God. This is the blessed way for you”

Ultimately, he left our church and drifted into the world because he was unable to deny himself. He passed away living a painful life outside of church. At that time, his wife said something that I can never forget. She told me, “My husband would not die like this if he’d only listen to you, he couldn’t deny himself… he was so stubborn…”

We cannot walk the life as the worldly people do. It would be wonderful if God allowed us to go with the flow of the world. If we were to partner up with the world, there would be no persecutions. If I were to go hand in hand with those well established worldly churches then who can talk bad of our church? If I put my consciences aside and went under those associations and tell them, “Yes, yes this church is correct” and spend few years studying theology then maybe we may get a little recognition. There were so many Pastors from other church who received salvation through me. Among them, many offered me to join into their association. There is one clear reason why we can’t join them. Once we are born again we are remade to live only by the faith of believing in God.

If you want to change a gas range that used LPG to a LNG you must changed the whole gas range. Once it’s changed you cannot go back in using LPG anymore. Just like this, people who are born again cannot live according their ways any longer. They should live only by the faith of believing in God. Before receiving salvation, nothing could be done with faith but now, we can’t do anything without faith.
“As it is written, the just shall live by faith” (Romans 1:17)

Thankfully, God did not allow the humans to be established in our church, nor to compromise with ways of humans. He established our church so that nothing other than Jesus Christ can be praised.