David Yonggi Cho - The Fourth Dimension

This book is dedicated to the many people who are seeking, searching, and struggling

to find and walk a consistent

road of faith in their Christian lives.

CONTENTS

Foreword

I count it a great honor to write these words as a foreword to this exciting book by my brother in Christ, David Yonggi Cho. I am personally indebted to him for spiritual strength, and for insights I have received from God through this great Christian pastor.

I was ministering to his huge congregation in Seoul, Korea, when we received a telephone call that our daughter was tragically injured in a horrible traffic accident in Iowa. Accompanying us to the plane as my wife and I left in haste was our dear friend, David Yonggi Cho, prayerfully supporting and sustaining us. And when I arrived some hours later to sit through the black night hours at the pain-wracked side of my daughter, whose left leg had just been amputated and whose life had just been snatched from death, I found myself reading page after page of the unpublished manuscript of this book for which I now, with enthusiasm, offer a word or two.

I discovered the reality of that dynamic dimension in prayer that comes through visualizing the healing experience. Line after line, of the original manuscript, was underlined by this travel-weary pastor, this suffering father, I can only hope and pray that many Christiansand unbelievers too!will find this book coming into their hands and drawing from it the amazing spiritual truths that its pages contain.

Dont try to understand it. Just start to enjoy it! Its true. It works. I tried it. Thank youDavid Yonggi Chofor allowing the Holy Spirit to give this message to us and to the world. God loves you and so do I!

Dr. Robert Schuller

Preface

I n the chaos that followed the Korean Conflict, I was among the many struggling for existence. Poor but persistent, I held several jobs in the course of a single day.

One afternoon I was working as a tutor. Suddenly I felt something oozing up from deep inside my chest My mouth felt full. I thought I would choke.

As I opened my mouth, blood began to gush out. I tried to stop the bleeding, but blood continued to flow from my nostrils and mouth. My stomach and chest soon filled with blood. Severely weakened, I fainted.

When I returned to consciousness everything seemed to be spinning. Shaken, I barely managed to travel home.

I was nineteen years old. And I was dying.

Frightened, my parents immediately sold enough of their possessions to take me to a famous hospital for treatment. The doctors examinations were careful, their diagnosis: incurable tuberculosis.

When I heard their assessment, I realized how badly I wanted to live. My desires for the future were to end before I even had the chance to start fully living.

Desperate, I turned to the physician who had pronounced the grim diagnosis. Doctor, I plead, isnt there anything you can do for me?

His reply was to resound often in my mind. No. This type of tuberculosis is very unusual. It is spreading so fast that there is no way to arrest it.

You have three, at the most four, months to live. Go home, young man. Eat anything you want. Say good-bye to your friends.

Dejected, I left the hospital. I passed hundreds of refugees on the streets, and felt a kindred spirit. Feeling totally alone, I was one of the hopeless.

I returned home in a dazed condition. Ready to die, I hung a three month calendar on the wall. Raised a Buddhist, I prayed daily that Buddha would help me. But no hope came, and I grew continually worse.

Sensing that my time to live was shortening, I gave up faith in Buddha. It was then that I began to cry to the unknown God. Little did I know how great an impact His response would have on my life.

A few days later a high school girl visited me, and began to talk about Jesus Christ. She told me about Christs virgin birth, His death on a cross, His resurrection, and salvation through grace. These stories seemed nonsense to me. I neither accepted her stories, nor paid much attention to this ignorant young female. Her departure left me with one emotion: relief.

But the next day she returned. She came again and again, every time troubling me with stories about the God-man, Jesus. After more than a week of these visits, I became greatly agitated, and roughly rebuked her.

She did not run away in shame, nor retaliate in anger. She simply knelt down, and began to pray for me. Large tears rolled down her cheeks, reflecting a compassion foreign to my well-organized and sterile Buddhist philosophies and rituals.

When I saw her tears, my heart was deeply touched. There was something different in this young girl. She was not reciting religious stories to me; she was living what she believed. Through her love and tears I could feel the presence of God.

Young lady, I entreated, please dont cry. I am sorry. I now know about your Christian love. Since I am dying I will become a Christian for you.

Her response was immediate. Her face brightened into a glow, and she praised God. Shaking hands with me, she gave me her Bible.

Search the Bible, she instructed. If you read it faithfully you will find the words of life.

That was the first time in my life I had ever held a Bible. Constantly struggling to gasp air into my lungs, I opened to the Book of Genesis.

Turning the pages to Matthew, she smiled: Sir, you are so sick that if you start from Genesis, I dont think you will last long enough to finish Revelation. If you start from the Book of Matthew, you will have enough time.

Expecting to find deep moral and philosophical religious teachings, I was shocked at what I read. Abraham begat Isaac;Isaac begat Jacob;and Jacob begat Judas and his brethren.

I felt very foolish. I closed the Bible saying, Young lady, I wont read this Bible. This is only a story of one man begetting another. I would rather read a telephone directory.

Sir, she replied. You dont recognize these names right now. But as you read on, these names will come to hold special meaning for you. Encouraged, I began reading the Bible again.

The Living Lord

As I read I did not find any systematized philosophies, any theories of medical science, or any religious rituals. But I did find one striking theme: The Bible constantly talked about Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

The imminence of my death had brought me to the realization that I needed something greater than a religion, greater than a philosophy, and even greater than sympathy for the trials of human existence. I needed someone who could share my struggles and sufferings, someone who could give me victory.

Through reading the Bible I discovered that someone to be the Lord Jesus Christ:

The Person Jesus Christ was not bringing a religion, a code of ethics, nor a series of rituals. In a profoundly practical way, Jesus was bringing salvation to humanity. Hating sin, Christ loved the sinner, accepting all who came to Him. Deeply aware of my sins, I knew I needed His forgiveness.

Christ healed the sick. The ill and infirm came to Him, and He healed all He touched. This put faith in my heart. I became hopeful that He might heal me, too.

Christ gave peace to the troubled. He urged, Have faith in God! Dont be troubled! There is no reason to fear! Christ hated fear, showing man that he was born to live by faith. Christ gave confidence, faith and peace to those who came to receive help. This tremendous message thrilled my heart.

Christ raised the dead. I never found one incident in the Bible where Christ conducted a funeral service. He brought the dead to life, changing funeral services into magnificent resurrections.