Ahnsahnghong-All Nations! Praise Elohim God with a New Song!

All Nations! Praise Elohim God with a New Song!
DATE 2006/06/18

The 20th New Jerusalem New Song FestivalLet everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD (Psalms 150:6).Now the Church members are getting more passionate about establishing of the realm of the gospel throughout the whole world. The fervent members gathered together at a festival to praise God with new songs and renew their determination to preach the gospel worldwide.

The 20th New Jerusalem New Song Festival was held at the Okcheon Go&Come Training Institute on June 18th, a month after the 4th Departure Ceremony for Overseas Missions. Over 12,000 members nationwide and 100 overseas members from nine countries in Asia attended the event. It was the largest New Song Festival ever.During the rehearsal, the beautiful songs of the choirs filled the main hall of the Institute; the songs were all new, and the hearers felt refreshed and godly as well. All the new songs which were sung this day were composed in a simple and easy manner so that all members around the world could easily learn the songs, engraving the importance and blessing of singing a new song.The total number of members in 10 choirs was 1,500; each team consisted of 150 members. Each choir is formed by some members of several Churches that belong to the same Association. So many members had to travel long distances to come together and practice. For this reason, we've not practiced a lot. Though we didn't have many opportunities to practice, we shared much brotherly love while singing a new song together. As a result, we bore many fruits during the practice period, said the choir members. The opening worship service began at 1p.m. Mother gave thanks to Father for giving the children of Zion an opportunity to gather together. Mother prayed to Father, Please bless this festival, so that all participants may become one with new songs and the overseas members who keep their faith in difficult circumstances may be filled with the burning fire of the Holy Spirit.Mother said, Let us follow Gods word with perfect faith like the forefathers of faith, so that everything we hope for can come true. Mother reminded the members that they, as Gods children, should please God because He gave them the citizenship of heaven and salvation.The Bible says that without faith it is impossible to please God, and that God is most pleased when we lead a dying soul to the kingdom of heaven. Mother said, Father has opened all the doors towards the world so that the whole world can receive the gospel. Let us move God with 100 percent faith, so that we can fulfill 100 percent of our hope. As the members were encouraged by Mothers words, they were determined to fulfill the world missions with perfect faith.After the service, the main event began with a cappella song. The Go&Come A Cappella singing group sang in Chinese for the overseas members, and their song deeply touched all the attendants.
The first choir to go on stage was the Elohist Choir. Before each choir began to sing, a video of each team was played, which showed the members' practicing and their resolution. The attendants could see each choir's characteristic and unity though the videos.The Elohist Choir was followed successively by the Isaac Choir, the To Heaven Choir, the Aineo Choir, the New Continent Choir, the David Choir, the World Mission Choir, the Heavenly Angels Choir, the Big Smile Choir, and the Linen Choir. All the attendants were captivated when they heard each choir singing in beautiful harmony and with bright smiles.The festival atmosphere became more heated by some special performances. A beautiful ballet performed by the Childrens Choir reminded all the attendants of the heavenly angels flying freely. After that, there was a cheerful dance and song by high school students, and it was followed by the young adult members energetic dance and song. Then the overseas members sang a new song, by which they expressed their emotions they felt through the Holy Spirit in the arms of Jerusalem Mother. The audience gave them a big round of applause.After all the choir teams finished singing, while the results were being collected and tallied, the attendants watched a play and some videos. The play showed the actual problems which the young adult workers, university students and soldiers face while preaching the gospel. It also suggested the solutions to those problems, and gave the attendants a realization that where they are right now is the best place for the gospel work.Through a video entitled Lets Go to the New Continent of the Gospel and another video entitled Resolution Rally for Self-Supporting Mission Overseas, the attendants engraved in their hearts again the gospel mission that is to be fulfilled by Gods children in this last age.Lastly, the awards ceremony was held. Before awarding the choir teams, Mother especially complimented those who had worked hard to compose new songs and granted some of them special awards.
Among the new songs composed during the last couple of years, some songs that made a deep impression on the members were selected, and 20 lyricists and composers of those songs were given awards. The lyricists gave glory to God, saying, The best writer in the whole universe is God who wrote the Bible and the Books of Truth. One of the awarded composers said, I only tried to bear the fruit of repentance, but God blessed me for that. Id like to produce fruit in keeping with repentance through new songs that express the glory of Father and Mother.After the special awards for some lyricists and composers, the 20th New Jerusalem New Song Festival Awards Ceremony began. Three teams received the Incentive Awards, three teams the Bronze Award, and two teams the Silver Awards. Among the two teams left, the Grand Award was given to the World Mission Choir which sang praise to God with a new song entitled Like Cedar. The choir members delightfully said, We practiced, relishing the lyrics, and we prayed a lot. We want to spread the fragrance of Christ with unchanging faith like cedar that emits more fragrance as time passes. Pastor Byeong-Un Choi in charge of the World Mission Choir expressed his impression, I give thanks to God for allowing us to praise the new name with a new song. It was a result of the members unity effort they made during the practices.When the awards ceremony ended, Mother complimented all the choir members and said, Please reveal the glory of Father through gracious songs. Mother appreciated the efforts of those who had worked hard for the New Song Festival to be held, and also encouraged the overseas members.Chief Pastor Joo-Cheol Kim stated that the 20 New Song Festivals had been held and grown so much. He desired that more gracious new songs would be made and that choir members would increase in number. He added, All those who praise Elohim God are worthy to receive awards. Please work hard for the gospel so that the holy name of Elohim God can be glorified through new songs among all the nations.A new song is a song of thanksgiving to God that the members of Zion sing with their spiritual voice. Through this festival, the members realized more deeply how meaningful and important new songs are and prayed for the sound of singing Elohim God to fill the new continent of the gospel where the new covenant is being preached. The overseas members who attended this event said, We felt as if we had been in heaven. We could feel that we are truly the heavenly family, and we understood Mothers infinite love for Her children. We will keep this feeling and realization even when we go back to our physical home country, and will please Mother by working harder to find the heavenly family.The sound of singing the new songs, which began from the east ends of the earth, will fill the whole universe on the day when the realm of the gospel is established all over the world.