[Benin World Camp] Preaching the Gospel to the President of Benin

“The Spiritual Life in God & Ethic should be Top Priorities for a Leader.” July 27th, Saturday. 2nd Day of Benin World Camp. In response to the invitation from the President, Pastor and his entourage visited the Presidential Palace of Benin to have a conference with the President around 1 o’clock in the afternoon. Other dignitaries, including the Ministries of Health, Youth and Innovation, were also present at the conference with the President of Benin, President Thomas Yayi Boni. After a brief introduction of Pastor Ock Soo Park to the attendees, Pastor Ock Soo Park expressed his gratitude.

Pastor Ock Soo Park: “With help from the Minister, the World Camp is going well. We are IYF. IYF is an organization nurturing the youths today to grow with healthy minds to lead tomorrow. As I read the Bible, I discovered the promise of God inside the Bible. I’ve looked into how David became a king. His heart was one with God’s. The heart of God was flowing into David. When my heart became one with God, I was also changed. Many youths are suffering with problems like AIDS and drugs, and I appreciate your support in opening the Camp for them. Do you know that Beninese students are the nicest in the world? However, when the country becomes better off with economic growths, the youths will come to possess greater desires and turn rough and evil. Benin still has a lot of good, healthy-minded students.” When pastor spoke this far/much, the President replied with a smile.

The President: “I thank you, Pastor, for your works, and I am interested in them all. They are something we needed in Benin. You came here at a crucial moment. You are surely a servant of God. Nothing is impossible in Him, and I can see how God will work with faith. “I believe that Pastor will preach something very important to the students. It will be a good opportunity to enrich the youths with faith as well as ethical and spiritual value. I expect that they will learn to respect people and society, and, above all, to revere Beninese each other. When we have heart to respect God, we can believe in God and receive His power. When we accept others, we can also accept God. When we learn to love each other, we can also love God. However, where is the World heading to now? The Earth is suffocating. At G20 Summit, I mentioned the importance of the spiritual value. We need a turning point to the spiritual life, and it must be done through a systematic organization. If not founded on the spiritual basis, even a plan for the new world would be meaningless. We should give the spiritual life priority. Yet it was never done. God had created the Earth. God had humans to keep and tend the Earth. However, men have failed. That’s why the world is divided into the rich and the poor, and infested with tragedies like terrorism.

We truly need you, Pastor, in Benin. There are the rich and the poor. Among the rich, there are thieves, trampling on the poor. There are many youth, yet being unemployed, many feel uncertain about their futures. They haven’t been able to believe in God. I endeavored to establish ethical and spiritual values among the Beninese. They started to notice that I possess a different mind. With God, nothing is impossible. For the sake of peace, the youths need the Words. As a leader, one should keep his focus on ethic and the spiritual life. Our father is God. We must teach the young to progress with the country. If we do not protect the young men, they will soon turn their back against God. Pastor should come to Benin annually. If you wish, you could also live here forever. Before you return, I hope you could teach them a lot and leave them with a great memory.”

Then Pastor Ock Soo Park followed to preach the Gospel to the President through the words in Isaiah and 1 Corinthians. “As a young man, I suffered from sin, yet I came to realize that our sins are forgiven through the words in Isaiah 53:6. The Lord has laid on Jesus my iniquities. Also through 1 Corinthians 6:10, God tells us how he has sanctified us.” Each time Pastor opened both Isaiah and 1 Corinthians, the President enjoyed saying that he also I like the verses. While listening to the words, the President hugged pastor twice. Also he mentioned that he would like to keep exchange with Korea and make a peaceful world. Continued, the Gracias Choir performed. The President greatly enjoyed it as he was signing along. The President commented that he hopes all people will leave in peace and that Pastor Ock Soo Park’s coming to Benin was for the world peace. He hoped to continue working with IYF> He asked the choir to sing another song so they performed again. Julio Gonzales, Hyemi Choi, and Jinyoung Park of the Gracias choir sang “Victoire Hallelujah” (praise the Lord who has resurrected and won victory) and Beninese song called “Eh Yahwe Kumama” (a prayer to the Lord for His help). After the performance, the President asked Pastor Park where he was staying and treated him with heart.

This conference was arranged by a son of the President of Benin, who returned from attending the World Camp in Korea. The President’s son also attended the opening ceremony of Benin World Camp, and the Ministry of Youth actively supported Benin World Camp as well.