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HE CALLED HIMSELF "JESUS-HOLIC." THE CHURCH LEADERS SHUT THEIR DOORS ON HIM.

The invitations stopped coming.

It was 1932 in Korea. Just a year earlier, Lee Yong-do had been the most sought-after revival preacher in the country. Churches had packed out to hear him. Now, one by one, they were closing their doors.

Church leaders were uneasy with him. His meetings were too emotional, too intense, too full of tears. He prayed for hours. He wept as he preached. He spoke about Jesus the way a man speaks about someone he cannot live without. He even had a word for it. He called himself "Jesus-holic."

Some called him dangerous. Some called him a heretic. But the people who had sat in his meetings knew what they had seen.

Lee Yong-do was born on April 6, 1901, the third son in an ordinary Korean family. His father drank heavily and mistreated his mother because of her Christian faith. Young Lee watched her suffer for Jesus, and he never forgot it.

When he was 19, Korea rose up against Japanese rule in the March 1st Movement of 1919. Lee joined the protests and was thrown into prison. He was arrested again the next year, and again the year after. Altogether, he spent about three years behind bars, where he was tortured.

When he came out, his school principal, a missionary named A. W. Wasson, saw something in him and urged him to train as a pastor. But at seminary, his lungs gave way. He fell seriously ill and had to stop his studies.

Then, at a small-town revival meeting with two friends, he had an experience that changed him forever. He said he saw Christ on the cross. His illness eased, and he gave his whole life to the Lord.

In January 1928, he was sent to a struggling little church in Tongchon, on Korea's east coast. Nothing seemed to work. So he went up a mountain and prayed for ten days. On Christmas Eve 1928, he spent the whole night in fierce spiritual battle in prayer.

On Christmas Day, the church broke open. People wept and repented, and the congregation began to grow fast.

From then on, he could not be held back. Between 1931 and 1933, he led revival meetings in more than 100 churches across Korea. His message was simple: repentance, prayer, tears, and a burning love for Jesus. He said, "Prayer is my life," and "Suffering is my teacher."

One night, he stood before a packed church and his weak lungs failed him. No words would come. So he stood there and wept. The people wept with him, and sinners broke down and repented. He later wrote in his journal: "These tears are my sermon."

But by 1932 and 1933, the doors were closing. He was condemned, criticized and pushed out.

His body was failing too. Lee Yong-do died in 1933, still in his early thirties.

His ministry lasted barely five years. Korean Christians still remember him as one of the great revival preachers of their history.

Lessons From His Life:
- Loving Jesus wholeheartedly will not always be understood
- Prayer is not a part of ministry, it is the heart of it
- Suffering can become a teacher, not just a burden
- A short life burning for Jesus can light a fire in a nation

"These tears are my sermon." Lee Yong-do, in his journal

"I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord." Philippians 3:8

He called himself "Jesus-holic." The church leaders shut their doors on him, but they could never shut out the fire he left behind.

Follow this page for more forgotten stories of faith, sacrifice, and the people history left behind.

Researched and written by Christian Ekeneme