Juri Han came to Saeronam Schwimteo (which means “rebirth resting place”) a NEWSTART healing center in Korea with thyroid cancer, hypothyroidism, scoliosis, nasal inflammation, sinus infection, and many other symptoms because of the autoimmune diseases she had. She also had severe depression and a marriage that was falling apart.
She and her husband, an ordained pastor, had decided that if their marriage didn’t get better by the following year, he would resign from the ministry. In good conscience, he felt it was not right for him to be telling others about the Gospel and how it changes lives when it wasn’t changing their lives or their marriage.
Call On Jesus' Name
Now, what the director and his wife taught at the NEWSTART healing center was very simple. There are two types of thoughts: thoughts from Satan and thoughts from Jesus. They told Juri to reject all the thoughts from Satan. Choose Jesus and call on Him. So, she wondered, How do I call on Him? And they said, “Keep calling on His name.” So, from then on, she made up her mind to begin calling on Jesus’ name moment by moment.
The Bible says, “Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me” (Psalm 50:15). “The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe” (Proverbs 18:10). And another writer says, “Satan trembles and flees before the weakest soul who finds refuge in that mighty name."1
Up until that time when she received the friendly counsel, Juri didn’t know that she had so many thoughts running through her head. As the thoughts continued to come, she determined to call on Jesus. After a while, this thought came to her: Is this chanting like what the Buddhists do? But then she remembered what the director’s wife had told her. She had said, “All your thoughts are wrong. Choose Jesus and call on His name.” So she began saying, “All my thoughts are wrong, Jesus. All my thoughts are wrong, Jesus.”
Kept Calling On Jesus
She got through the first day and reached the second day. On that day she did something that she never thought was possible. The thought came to her that she should ask her husband for forgiveness. This was odd because she felt that she should be the one to receive forgiveness from her husband. Where did this thought come from, that she should ask him for forgiveness? She had no idea what she had done wrong to him. As she kept calling on Jesus, she realized that she had always kept a record of her husband’s faults. Whenever he would make a mistake, she would remind him of all his past mistakes and failures. And she would criticize and attack him. For the first time, she realized that what she had been doing was wrong.
She had always thought that the reason she didn’t have a great marriage was because her husband was a very reserved individual. But she came to realize that their poor relationship was the result of her choosing Satan’s thoughts. When she apologized to her husband, he said that he was also sorry because he too was at fault. She insisted, “No, it’s all my fault.” After sincerely apologizing, she felt a huge burden had been lifted off.
Long story short, Juri ended up meeting Jesus and had a powerful conversion experience. The Lord also brought to her mind other individuals that she needed to call in order to make things right with them. And over the next few weeks, God healed her of all her illnesses.
For the first 13 years of her marriage, Juri could not recall a day that she and her husband didn’t fight. But since learning to call on Jesus, the couple has now gone 12 months without fighting. Her story has inspired many others in Korea to call on the name of Jesus, who alone has the power to help us control our thoughts and emotions.
Call to Action
The Bible says, “Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you” (James 4:7, 8). The easiest way to do this is by looking to Jesus and calling upon His name.
All scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
- Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages (Mountain View, California: Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1898), 130.