Do It As If You Were Making a Work of Art

With whatever we do, we have to add an artisan’s touch to it even if it is simply to do something we are told to do.

While I was developing Wolmyeongdong, God told me to work on it as if I were developing an art piece. The reason He told me that is because making a work of art and just working on something are completely different.

A person who works here in Wolmyeongdong as if they were making an art piece contributes more to this place than a regular person who has worked for 50 days. This is the difference when you work as if you were making an art piece before God.

However, for those who simply work, their work has no special value.

Things like houses cost a lot because they are made as works of art. Some art pieces cost over 2 billion dollars even though only 100 million dollars were invested into them. With whatever it may be, if you make it into an art piece, it becomes that much more valuable.

The podium used for morning services is expensive because it has been made into a work of art. It would not have had any value if it were just cut and made.

This is something that people do not know well even though I’ve continually taught about it.

Here in Wolmyeongdong, because we make and raise even the pine trees as works of art, people who see them go, “Wow!” and are surprised.

When you go to sculpture parks, the art pieces you see look like they could have been made by elementary school students. They’re not eye-catching, and you can’t even tell what they were trying to make. However, people still go around to see those works of art.

Yet, because they have not been dedicated to God, I wonder, “Can these things really be called works of art? There’s nothing to see…”

~Excerpt from a message Pastor Jung Myung Seok delivered on September 1, 1998

Do Things as Much as Your Abilities Allow

I remembered that the summer retreat that was held in Wolmyeongdong in 2010 was held during a time when the rain was pouring. At that time, I promised, “I will have a building constructed so that you will not get anymore.” As I continued praying, the Holy Son told me, “You must do as you promised. It was a promise I made as well.”

Following the Holy Son’s inspiration, we worked on the design of the Holy Son’s House of Love and launched its construction in full force. At that time, after praying, I said, “Design it again in a way that an assembly hall can be included and then show me again.”

Two months later, the new blueprint arrived. After looking at it and praying, I thought that it was still lacking. As I continued to offer deep prayers to the Holy Son, I clearly heard a voice that said, “As it is being made from the very beginning, make it beautiful, intriguing, and wondrous.”

So I added more than 12 pillars to the design, each at least two armfuls wide.

I also made sure there was a cafeteria on the first floor, a place for an art gallery and shops on the second floor, and a meeting place where more than 1200 people could fit on the third and fourth floors.

After about six months, the design was polished and the Holy Son approved it. So I said, “Let’s build it!”

With that, with the help of the various departments from the college students to the family members, the construction was launched in full force.

Isn’t that amazing?

The Holy Son certainly carries things out as He has spoken.

In September of last year, I said, “Colder days will come in the winter, and it will snow a lot as well. So let’s not hold the Rock Festival this year. Instead, let’s set up boulders around the sports field and press on with the construction of the building.”

So we pushed forward with the construction until the winter came. We did it like that because Wolmyeongdong construction is absolutely, absolutely not allowed when it is cold. We resume when the weather becomes warmer.

In the end, this is how we came to build the Holy Son’s House of Love to be as beautiful, grand, and wondrous as it is today. Now that the construction has finished, even if no one introduces it, everyone who sees it will say, “Wow, that building is so beautiful, majestic, and wondrous!”

Even if you may think that the work you are doing is done by you alone, there are always people who are contributing behind the scenes. Those people may not even be able to talk about what they are doing. They simply record history and move on.

Church leaders as well as other leaders as well, if you do things by yourselves, you will make mistakes and cause errors, so it’s not good.

Since the Holy Son positions each person in the appropriate place according to their talents, when you work, each of you should do things in various areas as much as your abilities allow. This is the last key point of today’s message, which you should always reflect on as you live your life.

~Excerpt from the Wednesday message on February 13, 2013 by Pastor Jung Myung Seok

The Symbol of My Holy Foot

When I asked the Holy Son to give us a rock in Wolmyeongdong that would astound anyone who saw it, the Holy Son made us find other images besides the already-existing images we knew of at that time on the Holy Son Rock.

The Holy Son said, “Finding is treasure.”

He meant that the act of finding is in itself a treasure.

In Matthew 7:7, it says, “Seek and you will find.”

The Holy Son made me seek so that I would realize about this Word once again.

He told me, “The Trinity and the Lord are all treasures for those who seek them.”

He then told me, “Look at the back of the Holy Son Rock.”

When I looked at it in detail, I spotted a large foot with seven toes. However, the toes were crushed and made short as if they had been cut into pieces.

I confessed, “It’s an image that leaves something left to be desired.”

But the Holy Son replied, “This foot symbolizes my holy foot. It symbolizes my toes that have been completely worn out from following around everyone in the earthly world as I tried to save them. If you look at the color of my sole, it’s red, isn’t it? My sole has become drenched in blood. The color of the rock became discolored, turned red, and became the color of my blood.”

When he said that, my heart was so pierced that tears surged from my eyes.

I immediately confessed to the Holy Son, “I truly thank you and love you.”

The fact that there were seven toes symbolizes the Holy Son’s perfectness because seven is the number of perfection.

~Excerpt from the Sunday Message on Nov 17, 2013; Pastor Jung Myung Seok

Make Yourself Following the Times

The Wolmyeongdong Natural Temple has been developed with beauty, majestic, and wonder in mind. However, in the past, it was nothing but a tiny village in the mountain.

Wolmyeongdong is a mountainous region, so in the past, there was only a small amount of space for rice paddies and fields. So, it was difficult to farm, and since it was surrounded all over by mountains, if you took even one step in any direction, you would already be on a mountain. It was so cramped that it was difficult to live there. In contrast, Seokmak-ri, the region below Wolmyeongdong, was a flatland, so it was great for farming.

Seokmak-ri was such a great place that Wolmyeongdong couldn’t even begin to be compared with it. However, ever since my disciples and I developed Wolmyeongdong, the situation has completely changed.

Now Wolmyeongdong has become such a precious land that cannot be compared with the flatland, Seomak-ri. Hiking trails were created, and the mountain was developed to have walking trails and gardens as well. All of the surroundings were developed and made into what is called the Natural Temple today.

Now Wolmyeongdong has become like a city.

In this way, for individuals too, if you develop and improve yourself following the changes in the times, you will transform in a better way as much as it was disadvantageous for you. That is why you have to make yourself as much as the time period has changed.

When developing Wolmyeongdong, if we had developed it without any design in mind, we would have ruined this masterpiece. However, I left the mountains as it was without forcibly changing it and developed it according to God’s design.

This applies to people as well. If you forcibly change a person without thinking about their own unique traits, you will ruin an artwork of life.

If individuals develop and raise their level, their destiny and situation will completely change and become different. Therefore, I hope you will live your life making and developing yourself in order to  raise your level.

– Based on Pastor Jung Myeong Seok’s morning message on October 30, 2014

My Dream

I had a dream during the initial stage of Wolmyeongdong’s development.

In the dream, peacocks, ostriches, deer, sheep, and all kinds of animals came out of the forest from all directions and headed for Wolmyeongdong. However, since the grass, weeds, and thorn bushes had overgrown, the animals had a hard time coming to Wolmyeongdong. When I saw that, I realized that I should cut the grass and make a path for them.

After having that dream, I trimmed the mountains surrounding Wolmyeongdong so that people would have an easier time traveling to Wolmyeongdong.

This is a revelation the Holy Son gave me through my dreams.

The animals that I saw in my dream symbolize people who are like peacocks, people who are like ostriches, people who are like deer, and people who are like sheep.

In response to the dream, I cut all the grass, weeds, and thorn bushes that had thickly grown around Wolmyeongdong and neatly paved a path.

Now, from all over the world, people who are like peacocks, people who are like ostriches, people who are like deer, and people who are like sheep have been gathering in Wolmyeongdong.

God, the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Son developed this place which was like a wilderness and made it into an ideal world. This is how Wolmyeongdong became a holy land.

– Based on Pastor Jung Myeong Seok’s Sunday message on June 15, 2014

According to God’s Instructions

While I was walking around yesterday, I noticed how the rock landscape was able to stand firmly even though the rain was pouring down. Since the rocks were not going to be affected much, I just left them there. The rest of the bigger boulders remained erected where they were set up.

It was okay because I placed them in a clever way exactly according to God’s instructions.

In the very beginning when we built the foundation with rocks, the rocks crumbled. Do you know why the rocks crumbled even though the foundation was made with rocks? It was because the mountain was too steep. When members climbed up the landscape, they said it was scary.

So, the next thing we did was completely reshape the mountain with civil engineering. When we reshaped the mountain and set the foundation with stones, it became safe.

When erecting rocks like these on the Ambition Masterpiece, the design and construction must be done well. The circumstances change depending on whether a mountain’s slope is shaped vertically at 25, 60, or 90 degrees or shaped horizontally at 15 degrees.

Even if rocks are erected on top of dirt, if the ground is even, then the rocks will never fall. However, rocks that are erected on top of an angle will never be able to stand because the dirt will eventually slip and slide.

~Excerpt from the morning message of July 7, 1997; Pastor Jung Myung Seok

Learn While Observing

I told the head pastors to learn by being next to me. Regardless of which family you are from or whether your status is high or not, those who have learned carefully from me will turn out to be great. You have to stick close to me and learn.

How was it when you learned in detail?

I almost do all things till perfection. There’s nobody who has done the job I have done here this perfectly among all the landscape architects in Korea. I make sure to do a lot of prep work before placing any boulder.

When I see you come to service, you seem to come without really preparing, as if you were in a hurry. You should not be like that.

I am always in the process of getting ready and preparing before I do anything. Whenever I place a boulder, I ask God whether He likes the way the boulder has been placed. Since God is always watching, I can work with perfection. I push myself to do my best whenever I place a boulder. It’s to the point where I can’t do any better. If someone asked me to take the boulders out and reposition them, I wouldn’t be able to place them any better.

That’s why I ask you to watch as you stand beside me. However, some people only look at me without noticing the work I was doing, that the boulders were perfectly matched with one another. So I felt frustrated.

You have to learn a lot.

~Excerpt from the morning message of September 7, 1996; Pastor Jung Myung Seok

Just start. All you have to do is begin.

When I began developing the rock landscape on Chestnut Tree Mountain, I thought, “Just set the first rock. The work is halfway done when the first rock is set.” However, it took 20 days for me to place the first rock.

Taking action is that difficult.

Even though I prayed, it was that difficult. It took me 20 days while I cried to God, “God, I tried to do it today, but I couldn’t. God, I couldn’t do it again today.”

I set the first rock after 20 days. Even though I said that it was okay to spend one day to set up the first rock, I still could not set that rock even on the following day.

I realized, “It is about igniting the flame. When the fire is ignited, you will feel the heat.” When you make a fire, it pushes you to run around to collect firewood in order to keep the fire going, right? The fire starts with a single match.

In the same way, for all of you as well, it is about starting. All you have to do is begin.

God said this to me as well, “Start. Preach. Speak.”

~Excerpt from the morning message of March 12, 1988; Pastor Jung Myung Seok

The Holy Son Rock

The Holy Son Rock is a treasure that contains a deep meaning, a deep story, and a deep Will from God. Since it is a rock that involves the Heavens and has a history with me, it is a treasure that is more valuable and meaningful than any other rock in the world, and its story will be a topic of conversation for many years to come. ~ Pastor Jung Myung Seok

You Mustn’t Do Things Simply

Living a life of faith is equivalent to building the house of your heart. As you live, your house of faith is being built.

For rebuilding the house I was born in, there’s actually two designs that I have in mind. For the past year, I have been trying to make a design, but I haven’t come up with a satisfying one yet.

My first idea was to build a very, very small house that also has a separate office space that I could work in. My other idea was to build a big house from the beginning, but then I realized that no matter how big I built my house, it would never be able to accommodate all the people in Providence, yet alone the head pastors. After coming to that conclusion, I thought that I shouldn’t overthink things.

One of the architects told me, “If you can’t decide, then the house can’t be built. You should just go for it and see! If you don’t like it afterwards, just demolish it and rebuild it.”

If you get bored with a house after living in it for a while, you can always rebuilt it differently, so you don’t need to worry like me. That’s why I tell people at times when I’m overseas to simply show me the house they are building after it is finished. But I don’t like to do sloppy work.

I do things according to the Bible. There are certain things that I can’t stand. When I’m lighting a stove for instance, I can’t stand the thought of doing a half-hearted job of starting the fire by simply throwing in long pieces of wood in the stove. If I do that, it’ll only smoke. If you do things in a half-hearted way, you will not be able to receive even one won, let alone salvation.

I work at an almost perfect level. I feel relieved only when I think that things have been done perfectly.

You too mustn’t do things simply.

Since you will be paid according to your deeds, you will all die if you work without care.

~Excerpt from the morning message of March 14, 1998; Pastor Jung Myung Seok