On September 27 (the first day of the seventh month in the sacred calendar), the Sacred Assembly of the Feast of Trumpets—the first of the autumn feasts—was held in all the Churches of God throughout the world at the same time.

Mother gave thanks to Father for having established the feast of life, and prayed that Her children all over the world, who were celebrating the feast, would receive atonement for their sins by repenting sincerely and would blow the trumpet of repentance loud, so that they could be completely as God’s children whom God would be well pleased with. Then She blessed them so that their efforts for the gospel would bear abundant fruits to fill the heavenly barn during the autumn feasts. She also asked them to “repent completely and to lead dying souls to the way of repentance, the way of salvation.”

ⓒ 2011 WATV

General Pastor Joo-Cheol Kim said in his sermon, “The whole city of Nineveh was saved when all the people, including the king, repented of their sins, even though God’s judgment had already been pronounced upon them. Likewise, repentance brings forth God’s great blessings and grace.” Saying that, he hoped that all the members would experience God’s mercy and love during the feast by confessing every single sin they had committed. Then he mentioned the parable of the prodigal son (Lk 15:11-24), through which he defined sin as the “act of turning away from God to follow the desires of the sinful nature” and repentance as the “act of changing one’s mind and coming closer to God.” Additionally, he asked the members to renew their minds and spirits by repenting of their sins and to live a beautiful life of repentance by leading all people in the world to God (Eze 18:30-32; Lk 13:1-5; Isa 55:6-7; Ro 8:5-8).

ⓒ 2011 WATV

From this day to the Day of Atonement, the Prayer Week was held; early in the morning and in the evening, the members offered the prayers of repentance for the sins they had committed in heaven and on earth. They prayed wholeheartedly for repentance on behalf of the whole world as well as themselves. They also led many souls to repentance by loudly proclaiming the voice of Christ like a trumpet: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.”