Deacon Yong-jae Oh (President, Emax Production; 1-4th Parish)

Months of torment from failure in stock investment

Fifteen years ago in 1991, I was running a small business but sustained a colossal financial loss from the failure in stock investment. I tried in vain to pay back the debts by seeking my parents' assistance and borrowing my younger brother's retirement benefits.
Without any choice, for the four years following 1992, I was forced to make ends' meet by living at my brother's home and driving a taxi cab. On top of this, I was fired after getting involved in a huge car accident while driving the cab. There was only manual labor left for me to do and I spent many days physically drained.

Led to the Lord by my wife's entreating with tears

At the time, my wife was leading a faithful and diligent life in Christ at Manmin Joong-ang Church. I made a problem out of everything she did, often hit her, and when I was consumed with anger, I would go to the church and made an ugly scene. Through it all, however, my wife Deaconess Yeon-ok Kim did not show any discomfort but only overcame everything by striving to serve and strengthen me even more. As she urged me to attend worship services whenever I could, the door to my heart began to open little by little.
In the end, I was so profoundly moved by my wife's patience and love and began coming to church once or twice a month. Each time I did come to church, I felt overwhelmed by unfathomable joy while listening to messages of Senior Pastor Rev. Dr. Jaerock Lee. So I began keeping the Lord's Day holy and my faith began to grow as I heard the testimonies of countless people who have received healing and blessings at home, workplaces, and businesses by the Senior Pastor's prayer in the name of Jesus Christ.

Receiving the prayer of blessings and experiencing God's work

Then one day in 1997 – I still had no steady job by then – I finally gave my wife a confession of faith. "Honey! I want to receive the Senior Pastor's prayer! I feel like something good is going to happen!"
My wife became immediately overjoyed. We prepared an offering with all our heart and went before the Senior Pastor and received his prayer. Three days later, I received a phone call from a former business associate. "I already have an office set up. Would you like to start a sales promotion and PR publication business?" I was so excited that I didn't know what to do. After experiencing God's work only after receiving prayer once, my faith grew day after day.
At the time, however, I faced many problems; my credit was in a bad shape and I did not have a large capital with which to begin a business. Each time I faced a problem, however, I went before the Senior Pastor to receive his prayer and, in prayer, strove to trust only in God. Then I soon had new clients, all my difficulties resolved, and even received back outstanding debts.

Starting a business; following strict principles

In 2001, I founded "Emax Production," a company that designed and produced posters with real-life photographs, in the eastern part of Seoul. In running a business, my priority became following the principles Senior Pastor Rev. Dr. Jaerock Lee had taught me in his messages. Instead of thinking only of short-term benefits, my goals were set on making an adequate margin of profits, serving the clients to the best of my ability, working diligently and timely to the clients' satisfaction, and building a good credit by making various payments on time.
Soon afterwards, a rumor spread out. "Emax is trustworthy and the quality of their work is indisputable." Almost all of the real-life-photograph market in the music industry soon became our share and starting in 2003, when we began expanding our business to the film industry, we had almost half of all the orders placed in the market.

God's blessings over my business; expansion and relocation service

In October 2004, when we relocated and expanded our business to Guro-dong, we invited Mrs. Boknim Lee, President of Manmin Prayer Center, for "The Founding Service." That December, I showed samples of Emax's products to the heads Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK) and celebrity management companies, both of whom were pleased with what we had, and experienced God's blessing of signing a deal worth over US$300,000 on the spot.
Today, I could not be more grateful as all our employees are of one heart in the midst of the ever-so increasing blessings. I give all thanks and glory to my Lord Jesus Christ and the Living God my Father who has led me to a life of true blessings.

[Just a Second!]

"The kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and violent men take it by force" (Matthew 11:12).

For God is love, He has allowed it for anyone who believes to take hold of heaven. However, if heaven were granted to an individual who led a life in Christ diligently and only seeking the benefits of others and another individual who was anything but, could we say that God is "the God of justice"?
When we work diligently, we are given good jobs, opportunities for promotion, and able to purchase good houses. In any given country, there are a capital city in which the president resides, secondary cities, suburbs, islands, and mountainous areas. By the same token, there are in heaven New Jerusalem in which God's throne is seated and boundaries. For this reason Jesus has told us, that "violent men take" the heavenly kingdom "by force."
New Jerusalem featured in Revelation 21 is the best dwelling place in all of heaven. This is an eternal city where people who have taken after our Lord's heart and become faithful in all God's household, such as Abraham, Moses, the apostles Paul and Peter, enter.
In what kind of heavenly dwelling place would people who barely receive salvation, who are like infants in spiritual terms, reside eternally? Like the criminal who was hung on a cross next to Jesus and repented, they will enter paradise, which is on the outskirts of heaven (Luke 23:43). Our God recompenses every man according to his deeds and allows us to reap as much as we have sown. Each of our heavenly dwelling places will be determined by the extent to which we have lived by God's Word, taken after our Lord's heart, and faithfully carried out our God-given duties.
This is why we read in 1 Corinthians 15:41-42, "There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown a perishable body, it is raised an imperishable body."

Please refer to The Measure of Faith by Rev. Dr. Jaerock Lee for more information.