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Rev.David Yonggi Cho l Profile |
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Pastor Yonggi Cho was born on February 14, 1936 in Southern
Kyung-sam Province, Sam-nam district, Kyo-doeng area.
He was
the first born of five sons and four daughters of Mr. Doo-Chun
Cho and Mrs. Bok-sun Kim.
During his childhood he was greatly
influenced and trained in Buddhism, Confucianism, and eastern
studies.
Yonggi Cho graduated from middle school with honors.
However, his father failed in his bid for an elected office,
which also ruined his family financially.
So he went on to technical
high school to gain skills suited for finding work soon after
graduation.
An American army base was situated near his school
and he was able to learn English from the soldiers stationed
at the base.
His English proficiency level enabled him to be
an interpreter for the principal of his school and chief commander
at the army base.
When he was 17 and a sophomore in high school,
Yonggi Cho contracted tuberculosis, which put him at death's
door. Even as he neared death, he continued to study English
by memorizing the English dictionary and his lesson books.
Then
his sister's Christian friend visited him, and he accepted Christ
as his personal Savior.
As the disease continued to plague him,
Yonggi Cho went to his hometown to continue receiving treatment
for the disease.
One day he attended a crusade in Pusan led
by missionary Ken Tize, and he received the blessing of God.
After that he began helping missionary Tize with interpretation
as well as reading various Christian books, which helped him
understand the Christian truth in greater depths.
However, since he lacked firm conviction, Yonggi Cho struggled inwardly and
began to fast and pray.
Then one night while fasting and praying
he met Christ through a vision of light.
Through the vision,
he was filled with the Holy Spirit. The night he met Christ,
Yonggi Cho was called by God to study theology.
He came to Seoul
in 1956 and entered Full Gospel Bible College on a scholarship.
It was here that he met his future partner in ministry and his
future mother-in-law, Pastor Choi Ja-shil. |
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