Today, in the capital city of Seoul you will find nearly a thousand churches. One of them has more than 9000 members. It has grown in the last 25 years from less than 20 members. These churches are built on the Word of God with great emphasis placed on prayer. It is customary in Korean churches to hold early morning prayer meetings everyday. Not everyone comes, but a great many do on their way to work. They come at 4:30 in the morning on summer days and 5:30 during the winter months. A pastor from California was vis iting the area and asked one of the Korean pastors, "I hear that you Christians are a great praying peo ple. How many do you have out at your prayer meeting?" The Korean replied humbly, "150 and some times 200." The minister from America observed, "Well, that is not so great. I have nearly that many in my prayer meeting in San Francisco every Wednesday night." The Korean minister was surprised, "Oh, you mean Wednesday night prayer meeting? I thought you were asking about our 4:30 in the morn ing daily prayer meeting. On Wed nesday night we probably have 1,200 people." The pastor from the States was somewhat embarrassed and properly humbled. We have lessons to learn from the Korean church. In Pakistan, where I have spent much of the last 16 years, there lived a young boy brought up in a Hindu family. His mother in the evenings would read him stories of the gods and goddessses of Hindu ism. When he was 17 years old his mother asked if he would like to go on a pilgrimage to the Hindu
holy temples. He was delighted. He travelled for many months with his mother, bathing in the Ganges, vis iting holy temples, pouring holy water for offerings before the gods. Yet, he never found the satisfac tion for which his soul was seeking. As he travelled from one place to another he was overwhelmed by a great emptiness. His mother real ized this and confessed, "I feel so empty, too!" Through the various pilgrimages she was seeking the peace that could bring her content ment. His mother did not live much longer. She was in the evening of her life and passed away in about a year. Still, this young man con tinued to search for peace of heart. Hinduism offered him a million lives in which to work out his own salvation. Still, there was no peace for now. He studied Buddhism on ly to find that it was an atheistic philosophy in which there is no hope of communion with God. He turned to Islam and discovered a belief in salvation by works. The only hope it offered was that if, at the end of his life, his good deeds weighed heavier than his bad deeds, he might merit heaven. He had not met any Christians up to that time. Then he was introduced to a young man who was a Christian. They became good friends. This young man had eye trouble. The doctor told him he would have to operate in an effort to restore his sight, preventing the loss of vision. His Hindu friend came to visit him in the hospital. The night before the operation he found the Chris tian somewhat concerned. He tes tified, "You know, the operation may not be successful. I may lose
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