(*Translation note: The title is asking those who reigned as kings in any specific area in the past what they are doing now. The meaning of the title becomes clearer as you read the rest of the message. The exclamation mark and question marks are there are clarify the sentence.)
- Revelation 2:10 (Recite only the key point) “Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you life as your victor’s crown.”
Even if they reigned as kings of politics or religion in the past, if they are living as servants now, they are treated like servants. And even if their lives were fancy as kings in the past, if their spirits are in Hell after death, then [the life] they lived in the past as kings becomes a life they lived in order to go to Hell in the end. Especially as for the wicked kings of the world’ and leaders of cults – when their bodies die, their spirits go to Hell. – Even if their bodies are alive, their spirits live as the spirits of death. Still, their followers are like people living in a deep cave that is a thousand feet deep. So they are locked up in there being unable to see out to the reality and the spiritual world.
That is why they have no idea whatsoever that the leaders they believe in and follow have gone to the wicked spiritual world or to Hell. They think that both their bodies and spirits will turn out well and go to a good world. They live continually believing that 100%.
In this world, people are greatly impressed by the things that are visible. However, even if they were ‘kings of politics’ or ‘kings of religion’ in the past, the spirits of evil kings who did not believe in God, lived claiming to be God themselves, did not think about God and did as they pleased are 100% surely in Hell. Even though they were kings’ in the world, they are treated like trash or filth in the spiritual world. Even if you did well in the past, if you do poorly in the present, then ‘the good job you did in the past’ is worthless. Furthermore, there are people who are not doing well in the present even though they did well in the past as if they were reigning as a king in a specific area. Yet, they keep boasting only about their past, try to receive royal treatment from people, and even ignore the people appointed by the Lord. People like that are people who live immersed in the past. You cannot ‘treat a fruit as a good fruit’ if it is rotting in the present even if it may have been growing as a good fruit in the past. A person was ‘considered and treated as a good person’ when he was good in the past. But he can’t be treated good if he has turned bad in the present. On the other hand, even if a person may have done badly in the past, if he is doing well in the present, he is treated according to his good behavior of the present and not according to when he did poorly in the past. God also treats and uses people based on the immediate present. Whether it was in the past or in the present, whether you did well or poorly, whatever ended has already ended and thus, it cannot even be reenacted. [What you do] each day while alive right now is [what is] important.
As a result of the present, the past can be seen positively or negatively. As a result of the present, the future can become either good or bad. A week ago in the past, you scrubbed all the dirt and dead skin off your body, ate some food, made yourself beautiful, and were glamorous. But a week later when you looked at yourself, your body was dirty, your clothes were dirty, and you went around without being able to eat well. Even if you were glamorous in the past, you have to wash yourself clean and eat [well] in the present. In this way, even if you lived as a king in your specific area in the past – how you are in the present is what things are based on. In life, faith, and in front of God and the Lord too – what is considered is: – ‘how you lived in the past’ and ‘how you are living now.’ Even if you did poorly in the past, if you do well now, you are used valuably now. On the other hand, even if you may have done well in the past, if you don’t do well now, you have to get treated, repent, and beautify yourself again. The things of the past were used up on maintaining the past.
Among all of you too. There are people who worked hard in the past and there are people who did not do well’ in the past. However, the present is more important. [The rewards for] working hard and reigning like a king in the past – you gained, used, and enjoyed at that time for your existence. However, if you don’t do well in the present, with just what you enjoyed in the past, you cannot keep using them even in the present for your existence.
You gain, use, and enjoy [what you gained] by working hard even in the present. You reigning as a king in the past benefits your spirit and your spirit takes [some of] it. However, there are also ‘things that end after you enjoy them only for that time. If you want your spirit to take with it the past, in which you reigned as a king, and the things you did well in the past as merits or you want to gain, use, and enjoy [the things you gain] in the present, then you must do well in the present. Even if you had a billion won or ten billion won in the past/a million or ten million USD in the past, if you don’t have them now because you spent them all at that time, then you don’t have anything now. The problem is do you have it now too and do they exist now too. The same is true with faith, love, and missions.
You must do well in the present instead of only boasting about the things of the past or exalting yourself by talking only about what you did well in the past.
You cannot repeat the past because you have already lived it. The past is dead. For those who are living in the present, you have to show them you exist well and are working diligently in the present. Then they will be moved, inspired, and respect you. If you’re not doing well in the present, saying things like, “You know, at one time I was…” is worthless.
You have to say things that pertain to the present. People who tell stories of the present and at the same time tell stories of how they are reigning as a king in the present are ‘people who possess things in the present and are enjoying them even in the present.’ Such people are people with young hearts even if they are old, they are people always united with the Lord and have been running together with the Lord in the present as well as in the past, or people who are young, in their teens, twenties, and thirties. Every day, ‘the things of your past, present, and future’ are determined in the immediate present, and thus, you succeed by turning out better, or you fail by turning out worse. It is to always ‘do well at this time when things are in progress in the present.’ Then your fate will tilt toward ‘a successful life’ in the future too.