I caught a TV show while visiting Korea last year called, "One Thousand People". The producer surveyed a thousand people on different topics and invited experts to talk about the results. The show's survey that day concerned shamanism, and the guest for that show was a spiritualist. He said he was born to a shaman family and worked for 10 years as a fortuneteller after going through the ritual of "receiving the spirit". He said that fortunetelling was nothing more than a business, and advised against buying talismans and paying for rituals to cast out evil spirits or prevent misfortune. "People who go to fortunetellers are easy to manipulate. They ...

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As you know, our church does not accept people who are already Christians as new members. Although most of our church members approve of this policy, some are against it. They argue that the church, as a loving community, should accept believers who have been hurt by other churches and aren't currently members of any church at all. They frequently quote Jesus' parable of the shepherd who leaves ninety-nine sheep to find a lost one. I'm not sure that this parable applies to these people. The lost sheep in the parable refer to people outside the Kingdom - the unsaved. People who have been hurt by the church are usually believers who were disappointed ...

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We held the 50th House Church Seminar for Pastors two weeks ago. It was a busy seminar for me personally as I was the only speaker. On Thursday, I talked straight from 8 AM until 10 PM. I feel drained after seminars, not only because of the long talks I give, but because my audience consists of professional ministers. Some come because they're curious about the house church. Some come to get tips on improving their ministries. Some come reluctantly, being forced to go by their friends. Some even come to find faults with the house church. The first day is always the most difficult because I face a highly skeptical - sometimes hostile - audience. But ...

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Jesus said that when we serve righteous men, we will receive a righteous man's reward in heaven, and when we serve prophets, we will receive a prophet's reward (Mark 10:41). When we serve God's servants, we are granted the privilege of sharing their rewards. When we have guest speakers, we ask our church members to sign up to host them so that this privilege can be shared by as many people as possible. We post two signup sheets on the bulletin board, one for each worship service. And we don't allow people to host a guest more than once every 3 years. Let me share our policies regarding hosting guest speakers. When you sign up to host a guest ...

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The goal of the house church is simple: to reach non-believers and make them disciples of Jesus. But although it's simple, it's hard to accomplish. It's hard to meet non-believing Korean-Americans in Houston, because they are few in number. And it typically takes 2 to 4 years of intensive sacrifice and service to move non-believers and help them to accept Jesus. It's hard to wait and serve faithfully for that long. Knowing their difficulties, I have never demanded that our Shepherds grow their house churches rapidly or multiply often. If they ever felt the pressure to do so, it was self-imposed, and didn't come from me. Saving souls is the work of ...

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As Barack Obama becomes President of the United States, some Christians have expressed their concerns about his support for same-sex marriage. How should Christians treat homosexuals? With love. Christians must love them just as they love hot-tempered or arrogant people. At the same time, Christians must acknowledge that homosexuality is a sin, just as violence and pride are sins. The Bible calls an action sin when it deviates from what God intended. For example, sexual intercourse is a pleasure God gave to couples who vowed to remain connected in marriage until death. So physical sex between unmarried couples is called sin - fornification - ...

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"If God is love, how can He send people to hell and eternal damnation?" Non-believers frequently ask this question. Some Christians have the same question. And some say that there is no hell, and that non-believers simply cease to exist when they die. Others say that people are given a second chance for salvation when they die. The Bible is very clear on this point. People don't cease to be, and they aren't given a second chance to be saved after they die. People will spend eternity either in heaven or in hell. Heaven is where God's mercy, love, and goodness rule. If God rules our hearts, we experience heaven. If He rules our families or house ...

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