Prayer: Key to Revival

I've had this book on my list for a long time, not because it has taken me long to read, but because it is a book that I constantly reread. I first read it over 20 years ago, and absolutely loved it. Paul Y. Cho is a pastor in Korea, and he attributes the fast growth of his church to prayer. He details in the book how he prays, how his congregation prays, and gives examples of types of prayer. I turned several of my friends on to this book, and we all loved it and talked about all the time how prayer changes lives.

A few months ago I picked up the book to read again. I had not read the book since it has become so easy to search online for information. Was I discouraged at what I found! Paul Y. Cho now goes by David Y. Cho because he had a vision from the Lord to change his name. Apparently his ministry has expanded and that he now has quite a following, almost cult like. He has also had some sort of falling-out with his son over the direction of the ministry.

I am reminded of Francine Rivers' book And the Shofar Blew. Rivers details the life of a young pastor, on fire for the Lord, who comes and turns a dying church upside down. In doing so, he becomes godlike and obsessed with money and power. (Of course, this change takes many years; it does not happen overnight.) After almost losing his career, his children, and his wife, he faces what he has become and makes the changes that he needs to in his life. This book, while it does not make the reader sympathetic to the main character, it does make one realize how these things happen and more understanding of the Jimmy Swaggarts and Jim Bakkers of the world.

Has Paul Y. Cho become another televangelist who has become enamored of himself and lost focus on what is right? I hope not, and I am certainly not supposed to judge him. But I was so disturbed by what I found on the Internet, that I will not be teaching this book in a small group setting (a friend and I were tossing around this idea), nor will I be recommending it to others.

I will still continue to reread this book occasionally and take it for what it was to me back when I first read it. However, I will read the old copy that I have and will not be buying the "new, revised" edition. I am saddened that this book which has probably touched so many lives has become a part of what seems to me to be a cult following of Cho and his teaching.