At first, people said that it would be better to leave Wolmyeongdong as it was without developing it, but Pastor Jung Myeong Seok thought, How much must they enjoy nature to tell me that it’s better to leave it as is? They do not know what they are saying.

Pastor Jung also told us that we should not leave our bodies which God has given us as is either. If our nails are long, we should clip them. If our hair is long, we should cut it. If our eyebrows are too long, we should pluck them. If our beard grows, we should shave it. If there is hair on our body, we should pluck them and make ourselves beautiful.

We won’t change without doing anything.

You will look different if you dress up well and neatly.

A long time ago, there was a lady who could not find any guys to match with.

So later, she went to a salon and asked the hair designer to make her hair beautiful because she was going to participate in the Miss Korea Contest.

After that, the day after she took a stroll around town, she got married.

In this way, everything turns out according to how you make it.

It was the same with the valley of Wolmyeongdong.

In the past, Pastor Jung paid 3,000 won* per pyeong*, bought the land piece by piece, and developed it.

(Translator’s note: Won is Korean currency. 1 pyeong is 35.6 square feet.)

Then once it was made, it became a tremendous place.

If people were to hear that even ten pyeongs of Wolmyeongdong’s land was on sale, they would try to buy it right away and build houses. In the past, when Pastor Jung was developing Wolmyeongdong, the owner of the 400-pyeong land around Wolmyeongdong said he was going to build his house there and would rather die first before selling the land.  So Pastor Jung had a difficult time buying that land from him.

We have to use the Wolmyeongdong temple cleanly without contaminating it.

Even for a big assembly, we have to keep it clean.

처음에 사람들은 월명동을 개발하지 않고 

자연 그대로 놨으면 좋겠다고 했었습니다. 

그러나 정명석 목사는 

‘사람들이 자연을 얼마나 좋아한다고 

자연 그대로 놔두라고 할까? 

잘 알지 못하는 소리다’라고 생각했습니다. 

정명석 목사는 하나님이 우리에게 주신 몸도 

그냥 놔두어서는 안 된다고 말합니다. 

손톱이 길면 깎아야 하고, 머리카락이 길면 잘라야 하고, 

눈썹이 너무 길면 뽑아내야 하고, 수염이 나면 밀어내고, 

털이 있으면 뽑아내서 멋있게 만들어야 합니다. 

그냥은 안 되는 것입니다. 

옷도 멋있게 입고, 빤빤하게 하고 돌아다니면 다릅니다.  

옛날에 어떤 사람이 중매 주선이 들어오지 않아 

나중에는 미장원에 가서 미스 코리아 나간다고 

멋있게 해달라고 해서 단장하고 돌아다녔더니 

금방 다음날 결혼하게 되었습니다. 

그렇게 만들어 놓기에 달려있습니다. 

월명동 골짝도 그렇습니다. 

전에는 한 평에 3000원씩에 샀는데 개발하여 

만들어 놓으니 엄청나게 되었습니다. 

월명동 열 평만 판다고 해도 사람들은 얼른 사서 

집을 지으려고 합니다. 

월명동을 개발할 때 여기 400평의 땅을 가진 주인이 

자기는 집을 짓는다며 죽어도 안 판다고 해서 

정명석 목사가 아주 애를 먹었습니다. 

월명동 성전은 오염되지 않게 깨끗이 사용해야 합니다. 

대 집회를 해도 깨끗하게 관리해야 합니다. 

- 1996년 10월 21일 정명석 목사님의 아침말씀 中 -