LAND OF THE RISING SUN by Tong Dong Pil

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Oct 9, 1913

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 90, No. 41.

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FISHING-BOATS ON THE INLAND SEA OF JAPAN

LAND OF THE RISING SUN

By Tong Dong Pil

Believe and Understand

A Korean’s Experience

“Rejoice and be glad”

I THOUGHT that heaven, earth, rivers, and mountains came forth of themselves, and that there was no lord over them. For twenty years in my mountain village I lived and believed that the trees and stones were the only gods. My only desire was to have plenty to eat. While searching into the world’s knowledge, I did not find a line telling about eternal life.

Like a sheep without a shepherd I was when the year 1909 came. Having got some pages of the Gospel of the Kingdom [the Bible], I read them many times, since therein it tells of eternal life. Through sin we shall die; but “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” “Rejoice and be glad!” yea, rejoice! Through this word we now have hope of the kingdom of heaven. The times of our ignorance God winked at; “but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent.”

I went to a place some twenty li [seven miles] from my home. During the meeting which we held, twenty persons — parents, sons, and daughters — repenting of sin rejected the shadowy things of this world, and will seek to become men and women of God. All hope to receive the blessings of eternity. TONG DONG PIL.