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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The secret is revealed, October 11, 2000
This book contains the words that seem to desrcibe in detail every aspect of the heart of every human being. I went to church since I was a kid and thought I knew what it meant to believe in Christ. I was taught to follow Jesus with my efforts and if I fell short, to just ask for forgiveness and try harder next time. Through many ups and downs, I slowly began to realize that a person like me could never fulfill the requirements that the laws in the Bible demand. This only brought condemnation to me and the guilty conscience which had only driven me farther away from church and God. This book doesn't tell you to do something, but shows in detail what Jesus Christ has done for us all. This book offers the only true rest for the souls of those wondering in this restless world. It may not be worded well, but the content is real and with out a doubt the most fascinating book I have ever read.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Making your own efforts to build up your own righteouss?, June 6, 2001
So did I. As most charitians, I had been trying so hard making my own efforts to build up my own righteousness (in front of God). I wanted to be recognized to Him for what I did. I had been self condemned whenever I felt that I was hopeless sinner and I was not meeting the requirements the laws of the Bible. I never gave a chance to Jesus to work for me. There was no rest in my life which Jesus promised to give me 2000 years ago. And I met this book.This book reminded me and made me understand most important messages in the Bible which God gave us to save souls. It is not any kind of so called 'tweaked version' of the Bible. The messages have been always there in plain language and most of us were just passing by. Read for once. You'll know.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Ock Soo Park Cult, February 22, 2008
My GF is a believer in Ock Soo Park, his church is called the good new mission. They are a heretical group of Christians based out of Korea. In Korea they are considered a cult under the umbrella Gu-Won-Pa which translates to Salvation Sect. After reading this book I went to the church in LA to speak to Ock Soo Park's nephew who is a pastor. This is the interview I conducted:
T(Travis): Is the Good News Mission the only path to Salvation?
P(Pastor): The Good News Mission is not the only path salvation. The path to salvation is through faith and faith alone.
T: What makes you think that your church has Faith and other do not?
P: You go to another church and they make you repent and ask for forgiveness. If you were a true Christian then your sins would be washed as white as snow. To ask forgiveness means there is guilt in your heart you have doubts that Jesus' work is complete meaning your do not have faith in him. No man enters the gates of heaven with sin in their heart. God does not want Christians to constantly pester him with asking forgiveness.
Look at Hebrews 10:16-18
16"(A)THIS IS THE COVENANT THAT I WILL MAKE WITH THEM
AFTER THOSE DAYS, SAYS THE LORD:
I WILL PUT MY LAWS UPON THEIR HEART,
AND ON THEIR MIND I WILL WRITE THEM,"
He then says,
17"(B)AND THEIR SINS AND THEIR LAWLESS DEEDS
I WILL REMEMBER NO MORE."
18Now where there is forgiveness of these things, there is no longer any offering for sin.
It clearly says in the bible, and that is all we go on is the Word in the bible, that God does not see Christians as sinners, he does not remember our sins, therefore why are we asking for forgiveness. It is an insult to him and it is a reflection that you have guilt in your heart and you lack faith in Jesus because you do not truly believe that your sins are washed clean.
T: You're saying if I pray for forgiveness but I have all my faith in all other matters in Jesus, I'm not saved?
P: No you are not saved because you lack faith that his work is done. Jesus said "it is finished." (John 19:30) Yet you still lack faith that that is so.
T: But Jesus does ask for us to pray for forgiveness, even the most popular Christian Prayer, when the disciples asked Jesus how to pray he answered:
Our father which art in heaven
Hallowed be thy name
Thy Kingdom come
Thy will be done
In earth as it is in heaven
Give us this day our daily bread
And forgive us of our trespasses
As we forgiven those who trespass against us...
P: Two things, first the Lords Prayer was taught by Jesus before his death and resurrection. And second read Matthew 6:7
But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.
The Lords Prayer is just inane repetitions. (looking at his watch) listen it is late...
T: No wait don't go I have just a few more questions to ask.
P: Okay
T: Is the Revelation of John going to happen in our life time?
P: Personally I believe it will happen in our life time. The signs of the End Times are upon us now.
T: Is this the position of the church and Pastor Ock Soo Park?
P: Nobody knows then the second coming will happen for in the Bible is says that nobody will know. But yes many here believe that the second coming is upon us.
T: Is Pastor Ock Soo Park a Prophet a Messiah, I ask because in your sermon last week you said he can see the future?
P: No he is not but through the Word he can see the future.
T: Can a member of the Good News Mission leave the church and still receive salvation?
P: Yes as long as that person truly believes in the Word and the has Faith in Jesus. But rarely do people leave this church.
T: Is the Good News Mission Part to the "Gu-Won-Pa"? (which believes pretty much the exact same thing according to everything I can find, the same cult that committed suicide)
P: No we are not
T: How does the Good News Mission feel about outside dating?
P: We do not encourage it. We believe that the sacred union between a man and his wife should be ordained by the church.
T: So you are saying that your church does arraigned marriages?
P: Yes that is how I met my wife. A panel of pastors get together to pray, and through their prayer they couple the believers together.
T: Don't you think it's wrong to make two people marry who are not in love?
P: No, it is through faith in the people making the arrangement and faith in God. People Married in our church never get divorced.
T: My girlfriend's mother was divorced and belonged to your church (little did he know that it was because the church Tammy's mother was divorced, it was over the amount of money and time he wanted to give the church)
P: I mean it is very rare that couples in the church get divorced. Usually couples who get divorced come here and get remarried and stay married.
T: I believe that the pastor and Tammy's mother are trying to get her into an arranged marriage. I feel very disturbed about this thought, I mean the church is too controlling, it just doesn't seem right to me that they would do that while I'm in the picture.
P: Are you sure that this is that case, I can find out for you.
T: Never mind that. I'm just scared that this church is too controlling. How would you feel if you were in my shoes to me this looks like madness.
P: I can see that you are upset, that you are possibly confused and depressed. Your heart is like stone, you need to open your heart up, stop thinking so much and let God enter your heart.
T: No I will not stop thinking, yes I'm depressed, yes I need God. But I fear for this relationship I fear the control of this church. Why are you so separated from the church community, Christians are the body of Christ, why are you isolated?
P: We try to preach the Gospel to other churches but they kick us out, they say get out of here.
T: Are there any churches that you know of that teach what you teach?
P: Yes there was one in Bakersfield
T: What was the name I would like to contact them.
P: Ummm. I don't remember.
T: So you're saying for all the two thousand years of Christianity, only in 1960 when Ock Soo Park started teaching his interpretation of the bible were people saved, if this is true heaven is a very empty place.
P: No, Pastor Ock Soo Park is not teaching anything new. When I teach people the true Gospel old men say, yes, this is how my grandparents taught me the bible. So this is true gospel has been around since the beginning. In the past the Presbyterians and other Protestants were teaching the true Gospel, it was only recently that they have all deviated from the Word to tell people what they want to hear.
T: Last Question, how is this church run? Is there a elected governing body, who is accountable for where the money is being spent?
P: There is a governing body of high clergy, at the top is Ock So Park. But us pastors never see the money we are not even allowed to touch the donation box. Travis, your heart is cold and closed, you must lighten up and let God in. You will be set free, you are a slave to you feelings and thoughts, you think you are free but you are listening to yourself not god.
T: You're right, I do believe that I should listen to God will and through that I will be set free, I'm just unsure about your church. I will pray on this. Thank you for taking the time and sorry for interrupting your dinner. I hope you have a safe trip to Australia.
P: Thank you for coming by and I hope to see you again here.
After talking to the Good News Pastor I felt a little bit better. I began to realize that this group of Christians were probably not too crazy and too dangerous. Some of what I learned was alarming. The whole thing about not asking for forgiveness makes sense to me but at the same time I do not believe that if you do it shows a lack of faith that Jesus washed your sins clean thus not having salvation. But there are other conservative Christian groups who believe that there interpretation of the bible is the only true correct one like the Jehovahs, Mormons, Seventh Day, Quakers and any other fundamentalist group.
What is really concerning in the amount to control they have over the lives of the followers namely in the form of arranged marriages. This again might be a cultural difference that I'm unfamiliar with. The Korean Culture often does this kind of thing even among friends who do setups with the purpose of marriage. As Americans we are unfamiliar with the mentality of Koreans when it comes to love and marriage. When I asked Tammy last week if she would consider an arranged marriage if I was out of the picture she said yes, if it's God's will.
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