Pyeong Hwa Gyeong (133) Book 8. The Reunification of Korea and World Peace CHAPTER 2. May Our Homeland Shine Forth
9. Carrying out a new movement of love
No one can touch Korea as long as God’s special protection is here. By God’s power, the powers that want to harm Korea are being broken down one by one. The recent defeat of Congressman Fraser, who sought to destroy Korea through the U.S. Congress, is a good example of this.
Ladies and gentlemen, God has protected our homeland Korea so that it can be the forerunner of a new era. Our long-endured difficulties have passed, and at last the day has come when we will step forward as leaders of this new era. However, the reason God called Korea is not to give life only to Korea; it is to save the whole world.
Korea needs to realize that it has been called to the task of saving the world. Since God called us, we need to become kings and queens of love who can be the first to sacrifice ourselves for God’s task of bringing salvation to the world.
To die for this holy task is to live, and to suffer for it is the way to glory. This is the meaning of Jesus’ words, “He who seeks to save his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for my sake will find it.” (Matt. 10:39,16:25)
Korea’s New Village (Sae-maul) Movement is a brilliant, monumental demonstration of self-reliance and revival. Such an achievement is without parallel in our history since the time of Tangun, the founder of Korea. There is no record of any other nation having such an achievement.
The present industrial development of Korea surpasses even the reconstruction of Japan and Germany after the war. The fact of this rapid growth has great meaning, especially when it occurs at the same time as Kim II Sung is probing, looking for any chance to attack the South.
The American people have tried to accuse me by saying that I have a close relationship with President Park Chung-hee, but in reality I never met President Park, not even once. It is not the way of a righteous person to refuse to recognize good acts for what they are. I firmly believe that President Park is a leader chosen by Heaven for this important era. I think that if it were not for him, it would be very difficult to endure the constant threat from Kim II Sung, and the reconstruction of our homeland would not be possible.
There is a reason why God has helped our homeland develop very rapidly by raising up such a leader at this time in history. It is because the time has come for Korea to guide the world. We need to take a great leap into the world as the nation that is creating a new spiritual culture. To do so, Korea should shed its past image as a poor and humble place. God wants to send Korea as an ambassador to the world, but God cannot send an ambassador in dirty, ragged clothes.
Rather, God wants to send our nation forth in full ceremonial dress. Korea needs to acquire the image of global leadership, both in name and in reality. Korea should become a model for the whole world, an object of admiration, which can be respected by others in every aspect. President Park is the person whom God has chosen in order to accomplish this task.
Korea’s New Village Movement ought to move ahead with the motto, “Let us live well,” and develop into a movement to make the whole world live well. Therefore, my initiative to develop the New Village Movement into the “New Mind Movement” is in line with God’s Will.
Just as the New Village Movement is a movement to enable the body to live well, the New Mind Movement is a movement to enable the spirit to live well. The backbone of this New Mind Movement is the spirit of loyalty and filial piety. If the New Mind Movement spreads throughout the world, the world will learn the true spirit of loyalty and filial piety from us.
However, this New Mind Movement has to progress to the next level. The movement that we ultimately should begin is the “New Love Movement.” The focus of the New Love Movement will be to love God as our Parent and to love our neighbors as ourselves. The crown of love is sacrifice. The New Mind Movement has to develop into a movement that teaches how to sacrifice for God, the world, the nation and all fellow citizens.
This is Jesus’ ultimate teaching, but historically Christianity has always fallen short of accomplishing what I mean by this New Love Movement. Any movement that lives only for itself will inevitably fail, while any movement that is willing to die to let others live will remain eternally. Because the chosen people didn’t understand this, they rejected Jesus. Rome enjoyed prosperity during the ascendancy of Christianity, but when it became self- centered, even that great empire finally collapsed internally.
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