King Saul's spirituality

The original Korean text: https://blog.naver.com/stevision/220004957869

 

"When they came to Gibeah, behold, a band of prophets met him; and the spirit of God came mightily upon him, and he prophesied among them. And when all who knew him before saw how he prophesied with the prophets, the people said to one another, >>What has come over the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?<< (1 Sam 10:10-11)"

 

"Now the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord tormented him. (1 Sam 16:14)"

 

"And he went from there to Naiothin in Ramah; and the Spirit of God came upon him also, and as he went he prophesied, until he came to Naioth in Ramah. And he too stripped off his clothes, and he too prophesied before Samuel, and lay naked all that day and all that night. Hence it is said, >>Is saul also among the prophets?<< (1 Sam 19:23-24)"

 

"When David had finished speaking these words to Saul, Saul said, >>Is this your voice, my son David?<< And Saul lifted up his voice and wept. He said to David, >>You are more righteous than I; for you have repaid me good, whereas I have repaid you evil.<< (1 Sam24:16-17)“

 

Is Mr. Cho also among the pastors?

 

Mr. Cho has a calm voice evoking a feeling of trust when he gives religious speeches. His sermons are full of confidence. Christians are deeply moved when they listen to his sermons. However, no one can deny that he has muddied the well of the church in Korea. Cho's selfish faith-first religious ideology is at the top of all the ugly deeds caused by the greed and desire for honor of pastors of large churches.

 

I judge that the spirituality of that man is Saul's spirituality, when I look at the wide gap between the theory of his sermon and his practice of his sermon, because he preaches like a great Christian leader but his ministry reveals such greed.

Saul was forsaken by God for disobedience, and God sent evil spirits to devastate his spirit. But Saul prophesied like a prophet for a while when he, hearing that David, his political opponent, was with Samuel the prophet, went to Samuel to arrest David, but received the Holy Spirit on the way. A prophet(!) can't kill David, a good man God loves. So Saul went back home without killing David.

 

Saul again frantically sought to kill David, but David had a chance to retaliate. David didn't kill Saul, but let him know that David could have killed him. Saul turned good man weeping for his fault, because he was filled with Holy Spirit for a while then. Can a man repent in tears without the work of the Holy Spirit?

 

Such come-and-go fullness of the Holy Spirit, such a schizophrenic personality, such dual personality, and such hypocritical spirituality, I call them Saul's spirituality. The same is the dual personality of leaders of heretic sects who pretend to be holy religious leaders but are secretly ugly kings of money and sex.

 

When it comes to dual personality, we can't leave out Mr. Cho who once had 700,000 saints(, which I can't believe to be true). Mr. Cho, listen to Samuel's confession which he made when he stepped down from the position of the leader of Israel. >>"Here I am; testify against me before the Lord and before his anointed. Whose ox have I taken? Or whose ass have I taken? Or whom have I defrauded? Whom have I oppressed? Or from whose hand have I taken a bribe to blind my eyes with it? Testify against me and I will restore it to you." They said, "You have not defrauded us or oppressed us or taken anything from any man's hand." (1 Sam 12:3-4)<<

 

Mr. Cho, let me ask you. "Didn't you steal the members of other churches and make your church bigger and bigger? Didn't you collect a lot of money from the saints of your church so that you, your wife, and your sons could live very well?" And you got a fine of 5 billion won for embezzling church money. Perhaps you have to pay the fine of 5 billion won with the money for which the saints must work very hard, which means you even rob the saints of the other money. As a matter of fact, you're a thief, because you established a university, a newspaper, and a charity organization with the money the saints earned, and hired your family members as employees of the institutions and paid a lot of money. However, you received already enough money from the church to support all your family. Isn't it actually theft when a minister takes more money from the church than he needs? Isn't it a normal servant of God who thinks so? Isn't it in fact a theft if a man spends the money the saints earned by hard works to exalt himself as a religious man? How good it would have been if you had given the jobs which the institutions that you'd established offered to the jobless members of your church, instead of your family members! You, possessed by an evil spirit of greed, couldn't even think of the hearts of the jobless members of your church.

 

The whole nation knows that your sons are men of profligacy and immorality, and, perhaps in order to rationalize yourself, you've said "Samuel, too, had bad sons." Of course, some very great men had bad sons. But I suspect that your sons became such immoral prodigal men when they saw your double attitude. And Samuel lived an upright life unlike you, so you'd better not mistake yourself for a great servant of God. All the Israelites respected Samuel, but you're the last man all the people of Korea, Christians and non-Christians alike, would like to respect.

 

You're so brazen.

 

You have Saul's spirituality, I think.

 

God forsook Saul and sent him evil spirits. But he gave the Holy Spirit to Saul for a while when Saul tried to harm God's people, so that Saul might be filled with the Holy Spirit and might not do evil things, or sometimes gave him a deeply repentant spirit so that he might not commit sins for a while. So they said, "Is Saul also among the prophets?"

 

Jesus compared this to the weeds (Mt 13:24-30). Concerned that early elimination of Saul would cause great political chaos in Israel, God kept Saul alive and sometimes sent him the Holy Spirit until David finished his king-lesson and won the hearts of the Israelites. It was to God's benefit that God didn't pull out the weed Saul immediately.

 

God needed to encourage a group of good saints who thought Mr. Cho to be a great servant of God, so he didn't stop Mr. Cho from working for God diligently, and sometimes sent him the Holy Spirit in order to comfort the saints and strengthen their faith.

 

However, God didn't remove Cho's greedy heart, to the fall of his house. Mr. Cho doesn't even really repent. He always rationalize himself. I don't doubt that the Holy Spirit usually keeps aloof from him. The Spirit of repentance that sometimes made Saul repent his sins must have never come upon Cho!

 

There is a great contrast between Paul and Cho. Both worked hard to spread the gospel, but Cho was abandoned by God while Paul lived as God's great servant until death. What's the key? It is this: >>"It is right not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that makes your brother stumble. (Rom 14: 21)" "I pommel my body and subdue it, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified. (1 Cor 9:27)" "Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ. (1 Cor 11:1)"<<

 

What caused Mr. Cho's fall? This: >>"For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own likings, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander into myths. (2 Tim 4:3-4)" "... peddlers of God's word ... (2 Cor 2:17)"<< Many believers followed Cho because they liked his word, "If you pray to God for anything you want to the end, you'll at last get it." (Mr. Cho has hardly preached self-sacrifice for God and church.)

 

Mr. Cho, whom do you think the people see in you, a Jesus or a greedy religious swindler? While you're alive, ask any one, whether Christian or non-Christian, to tell you frankly what you look like. 50% is not enough. You may a little feel comfortable if at least more than 95% of the people say that they see a Jesus in you. Abandon hypocrisy and double personality, and be humble before God and man, and be sure to repent publicly before death!

 

Looking at the shabby Cho in his later years, I think about again good attitudes of a servant of God.

 

1. Beware of disobedience. (There were obviously voices of opposition in many places when Mr. Cho began to seek a large church. Even though it was God's voice, Mr. Cho ignored the voice and went his own way, and became a shabby man like Balaam. It is great disobedience and bad faith to continue to pray despite God's "No!" Put yourself in God's shoes, and imagine how God would get stressed if you persist in your false prayers every day!)

 

2. Consideration for others. My outward success could make others weep.

 

3. Beware of money demons

 

4. Ask yourself seriously why you should live above the average living standards of your church members. Are you in a normal mentality when you send your sons abroad to study with the donations like the blood of the saints of your church? You seems to squander the money of the saints because perhaps you haven't labored hard for some money. A man would have to almost hurt his body if he has to work to earn money needed for your son's studying abroad.

 

5. Beware the desire for honor

 

6. Don't give money to sons and daughters who are prodigal, lazy, and immoral. It's wrong to pay for the livlihood of the grown sons with donations from the saints. If your son is not a good son of a pastor, you should abandon him and choose God, and drive him out of your house. God will correct your son if you take that attitude.

 

From now on, there must not be false greedy Christian religioners like Mr. Cho in this country, a very beautiful land! Dear reverend servants of God in this country! Your later years will be miserable and shabby if you are called by God like Saul, but are forsaken because you disobeyed God as a servant of God, and nevertheless keep doing God's work with Saul's spirituality. I hope you are good instruments of God from beginning to end.