Chambumo Gyeong - 328. Addresses on Capitol Hill
True Father was invited to speak by members of the US Congress on two occasions. As interest in True Parents rose in the early 1970s, members of the Senate and House of Representatives invited Father to speak. On October 8, 1974, at the Dirksen Senate Office Building, True Father delivered an address entitled "America in God's Providence" to 185 members of Congress, including senators and congressmen, who listened attentively. All of this was arranged on the basis of an invitation letter to True Father dated September 13 and signed jointly by 12 members of the House of Representatives and the Chair of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. An official invitational memo was sent to all senators and congressmen. True Father spoke a second time on December 18, 1975, in response to an invitation from members of Congress, to an audience of 200 at the Caucus Room in the US Capitol, on "God's Plan for America." 1 I have been visiting the US Congress in preparation for my upcoming speech. For six months, we have focused our attention for the sake of this goal. I am going to speak to Congress on October 8,1974. Now people in American society are saying that Reverend Moon is a mysterious person. We have to come to a point where if a congressman or senator who never heard any of my speeches goes somewhere and talk of Reverend Moon comes up, they end up embarrassed because they do not have anything to say. Interest in my work is increasing as a result of the Madison Square Garden rally. If a senator is not able to come, their office will send an assistant. I heard a report that they are sending people because they need to know what I am saying. That is why I am certain that when I say, "Senators, please support Reverend Moon!" they will surely approve the Washington Monument rally. (073-277, 1974/09/29) 2 What will happen on the day the White House, the Congress and the citizens of America are all empowered with Unification Thought? This will become the driving force to revive Christianity, revive broken families, revive the youth, lift up morality and restore all things. Christianity was at the center when this nation was built, but now it is declining. As an individual, if you become a person empowered with Unification Thought, you will represent the world. If your family does so, your family will represent the world. If American citizens do so, they will be citizens like none other in history, because they will represent many nations. And if America does so, the world will have no choice but to become one within America's sphere of influence.
You congressmen and senators should not even think in your dreams that this is Reverend Moon's thought. It is not Reverend Moon's thought. You must know that it is God's Will, the revealed truth that should be declared to humankind and applied by the Congress. Surely on the day you adopt this thought as the nation's principles before the citizens of your nation, America will become "One Nation under God," not just in name but in reality, a nation in the subject partner position to the world. America will inevitably become the kingdom of heaven on earth. In this nation, there will be true ideals, true love, true happiness and ultimate truth. (073-328, 1974/10/08) 3 For the sake of the future of America and of Korea, it is important to build a foundation that the American government and its citizens can understand and respect. For this reason, I commenced activities not just in the UN but in Congress, which invited me to give a speech. However, I knew that a media foundation was also needed in order to exert a real influence on public opinion. As a result of making that foundation, now I have become famous in America.
When I first met American leaders and asked them, "Would you believe me if I told you I will become a sensation in two years' time?" they laughed. They are prominent figures now in the Senate, after working hard for 20 years to get there, so they laughed and thought, "How can this rookie named Reverend Moon, from another country, do anything in America in the space of two years?" However, now I have become someone whom they believe, and they are no longer skeptical. I had not done much before that time, and I knew I would never develop by just expecting to receive their sympathy. I had to help them. That is why I did many things to help them, using the means I had available. (079-042, 1975/06/16) |