Dr. John Mulinde the founder and General Overseer of World Trumpet Mission ((second from left), and David Yonggi Cho, a South Korean Christian minister (extreme right) who passed on 14 September 2021. COURTESY PHOTO.
Several Christian leaders are paying tribute to the late Pastor David Yonggi Cho founder of Yoido Full Gospel Church who died of a brain haemorrhage on Tuesday 14 September 2021 in South Korea.
Yonggi is being remembered as a giant of the faith and “God’s general” who “fought a good fight.”
Reports show that Yonggi Cho stepped down from leading Yoido Full Gospel Church in 2008, but his presence continued to be felt as he retained the title of “Pastor Emeritus”. At its height, Christian Today stated the church had over 800,000 members.
Cho was married to Kim Sung Hae from 1965 until her passing earlier this year on February 11.
Dr. John Mulinde, the founder and General Overseer of World Trumpet Mission, is among those remembering Cho.
In a tribute via on his official facebook page Saturday, Dr Mulinde stated that Dr Cho “fought a good fight”, and urged Christians to prepare themselves “for the day of the Lord is at hand.”
“He is closer than ever before, and He is coming back for a spotless bride, are you ready?” Dr. John Mulinde wrote.
Moving on, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) lauded the ministry of Yonggi Cho.
He wrote:
“Several years ago, I visited South Korea because I heard of a man who had the largest Church in the world, he had a congregation of half a million people, by the time I visited him, he had an auditorium that could take approximately fifty thousand people, he was having seven services on Sundays. I heard him… telling the members who came one Sunday to please not come back next Sunday so that those who couldn’t come last Sunday can come next Sunday. I said God, so you can do this?
“Some years ago, I returned to South Korea, I had a meeting with the same man. The first time I was there, people like me could not come near the office but this time around, I went to his office at his invitation, when we met he said I have heard of you, will you please pray for me?”
Pastor Benny Hinn also published a touching tribute to the late Pastor.
“Even as I grieve Dr. Cho’s passing from this earth, I’m also rejoicing that he has graduated to his remarkable heavenly reward,” Pastor Hinn said. “I am praying for the members of the Cho family and the staff and membership of Yoido Full Gospel Church. I am especially lifting up Young Hoon Lee, who in 2008 succeeded Dr. Cho as senior pastor.”He went on: “This was a man who received Christ as Savior and Lord as a teenager, an evangelist whose zeal for souls brought millions to Calvary’s cross, a preacher who conveyed hope to the war-ravaged and despairing South Korean nation, and the leader of a worldwide prayer movement. He was perhaps best known as the proponent of small cell groups that eventually built his fledgling tent church in 1958 to more than 800,000 members, with 400 pastors and evangelists as well as 500 missionaries around the globe.”
Benny Hinn revealed that as a teenager, Dr. Cho was stricken with tuberculosis and began rethinking his Buddhist beliefs.
“He began reading a Bible given to him by a young female friend. Languishing in a hospital, he desperately cried out to God, “I want to live! Please help me!” After he was cured and released from the hospital, he openly gave all the glory for his healing to Almighty God. That led to Bible college in Seoul and a life of epic adventure as a groundbreaking Christian leader,” Benny Hinn narrated.
Billy Wilson, president of Oral Roberts University in Oklahoma, said Dr. Cho’s “ministry, writings and fatherhood blessed millions.” He asserted that Dr. Cho’s legacy and impact will continue for many generations.”
Dr. Cho’s funeral will be held on 18 Sept. 2021. He is survived by his three sons.
