Sun Myung Moon’s Life - Part 38 : Maturity through Sacrifice

[대태양/김현수]

Sun Myung Moon’s Life In His Own Words

Part 38 Maturity through Sacrifice

International Federation for Victory Over Communism (VOC) rally in Japan (October 1969)

Our Japanese members held a national VOC rally at Hibiya Park in Tokyo on October 7. The news media covered it. More than three thousand people reportedly participated and they responded with applause.

Until now, Japanese communists have confidently believed that Japan would be communized. However, a small group from the Unification Movement appeared in front of them, hoisting an anti-communist flag. This became an issue among the Communist Party leaders in Japan and in the Japanese government. Why is it necessary for us to carry out such exploits?

Through such a campaign, we can quietly instill the belief in the people that they can confront communism even under the present circumstances in which no worldview or organization in the world today can deal with it. We can say that we are already engaged in fighting in Asia today. We cannot sheathe the sword we have already drawn in Japan.

One of three original main buildings of the Central Training Center; two of the three are still in use today.

A Purpose-Built Workshop Center Opens (February 10, 1970)

It is important to plant trees today. You must plant trees with sincere heart. When these trees grow, your descendants will come here and rejoice when they see them. I am thinking of building a university here in the future. It is important for us to have educational institutions. Even if we move to some other place in the future, we will move the trees from here to the new place or plant seeds from these trees.

In that sense, this land of ours is the basis upon which we can give our love, centering on the internal reality, for the purpose of saving and protecting the future. We have purchased the land here and other land, at Chung Pyung, for the purpose of continued development, after working for a long time based at our church in Cheongpa-dong.

Since we have constructed this training center with the approval of the Gyeong-gi Province governor and police chief, we can say that this center has been established for the sake of the province and the nation. We have built it to contribute to the Republic of Korea. This does not mean giving something left over after we have finished with it. It means lighting a light and giving something of value. You must know that from the providential point of view, the 1970s are an important period for us to have the character needed to pay indemnity both internally and externally.

The most pressing matter at hand for us is the problem of manpower. If we go the right way about it, we will be able to open unlimited ways of resolving the human resources problem. This is why I have personally gotten involved in this and have worked hard night and day until I dropped from fatigue.

We built the Sutaek-ri Training Center in twenty-eight days. I personally supervised forty-some people in building that center. We leveled a hillock and reclaimed the land. There was a twelve-foot dip, and I supervised the work of filling it in. It would have taken others at least six months, but I said, "Six months? We don't have six months," and we finished the work in twenty-eight days.

From the beginning of the year, we have talked about holding a workshop. The director of information at the Gyeong-gi Province Police Department knows about us very well. He also knows that anti-communist activities can't be carried out without an ideological framework behind them, such as found in the Unification Church's Federation for Victory over Communism. He has worked in this field in various provinces; as a result he has become firmly convinced that only our organization can succeed in this task.

That's how he came to speak to our Incheon Church leader, which motivated the police chief to help us. He said he would have no difficulty bringing in the provincial governor as well. Because things were happening on a larger scale, he needed to talk to someone higher up than a church leader, and that's how he came to contact me. I asked him how many people he wanted to mobilize, and he said it would be about five thousand people. I then asked him over how many months he wished to educate them, and he said six months. That is a very long time. That's why I made him promise three times that he would make this happen. After making him promise that he would bring those people to attend the workshop, we began to quickly build the training center.

I originally intended to hold the dedication ceremony for the training center on April 17 because that would have been Easter. While I was praying over the preparations, however, I understood that we must have the ceremony on April 16. So we hastily prepared for that day. Thanks to God's intervention in this way, it was possible for our church and the nation to meet both in an internal and external sense.

As part of the effort to promote understanding of our church among those of other faiths affiliated with the Association of Religions in Korea, Father invited leaders from those seven religions to our church headquarters and spoke to them on July 15, 1970.

Joining the Association of Religions in Korea

Before I love my children, I should bring the religions to submission through love. Otherwise, I have no right to love my children. I need to stand in the position of having loved my enemies more than my own children.

As you know, our church joined the Association of Religions in Korea on April 15. Of course, we have put a lot of effort into making an association of religions, but the Association of Religions in Korea has seven major faiths among its members. At first, three religious denominations were at odds with our church joining. Yet we continued along our path, telling them to oppose us if they wanted to. In the end, the religious denominations that had opposed us came around. Thus, we came to form a connection with the seven great religions, and our church has now joined the association as the eighth.

Religious Leaders Attend Divine Principle Lectures

We sent out invitations in the name of the Unification Church president to more than two hundred well-known pastors of other churches in Seoul, inviting them to come to attend the Divine Principle Open Lectures scheduled to take place at Academy House, November 26-28. Those pastors will faint at the mere mention of the Unification Church, and when they hear that they have been invited in the name of President Kim of the Unification Church, they will in all likelihood faint and fall down. When you meet people, however, you find that one person is the same as the next.

People like Elder Parks are in the position of our enemies but when he was imprisoned in Seodaemun Prison, I tried hard to free him. Those people do not know about this. This, however, is how we need to act, for otherwise we cannot be in the position of Abel.

Father speaking at the second workshop for matching candidates preparing for the 777-Couple Blessing Ceremony; on the blackboard: 1. Membership number 2. Local church 3. Name 4. Date of Birth 5. Date of joining the church 6. Length of time in a public mission 7. Number of spiritual children 8. Educational level 9. Current occupation

A six-Month Special Condition

In 1970, we must especially invest our sincere hearts for six months from May 1 through October. We should know that this is a very important time and offer prayers with special devotion. When you return to your local churches, you should pay more attention to the members of other churches and work for them harder than even their own pastors do. You should mobilize all our members to support the other churches, and when they hold revival services, you should go there and help them witness.

Forty-Day Summer Witnessing

In order for your families to fulfill their responsibilities as Abel families, you must restore Cain families. You must become tribal messiahs. Today is July 19. Tomorrow you must leave in four directions. Those of you who have babies must go, bearing them on your shoulders. This time, in particular, you must go out with a serious mind. In the past, you may have gone out as a matter of habit. This time, however, the situation is different. You are responsible for overcoming the nation's crisis. Therefore, you must fight with all your sincerity during this period, regarding it a great honor for the members of the Unification community to be able to offer everything for the sake of the nation.

President Hyo Won Eu's funeral, in the days before we had the benefit of the Seunghwa Ceremony; the white sackcloth garments were traditionally worn by those close to the deceased, though it is less common today

he death of Hyo Won Eu, first president of the church, on June 21, 1970

I knew that President Eu's body, being crippled, had been a painful burden during his life. He died not because of the operation he had undergone, but because of another illness discovered during the operation. He had not known that he had cancer. Furthermore, he was suffering from serious deterioration of his lungs.

Considering all these facts, I feel that President Eu was overcoming all his physical difficulties by his spirit even though he must have been suffering a lot physically. Although I asked you to pray for him, I myself was already offering a final prayer for him.

In God's providence the second-born were always in trouble. Many times the second person, the second family or the second nation who took responsibility was put into difficulty.... President Eu's family is the second family from the standpoint of God's will. Since he was in that position, I made him responsible for everything.

I am more clearly aware than anyone else of President Eu's internal and external pain and suffering and his struggle to devote all his sincere efforts in spite of his crippled body.

I keenly feel to my bones how much he helped me at many difficult times such as during my Seodaemun imprisonment. I cannot say how many incidents of this type we had....

When he was dying, I said to him, "Ever since you met me, you have been living your life like this. How are you going to conclude it?" President Eu said that he would never change his mind, and then he passed away. You also must be like that.

World Anti-Communist League Convention at the Nippon Budokan Hall, Tokyo on September 14, 1970

In Japan, the communists are having students from Chosun University, which is affiliated with Jochongryeon, go to the classrooms to incite people to bring down the Federation for Victory Over Communism. When you hear about such things, you can understand that these are truly serious issues.

I have been raising the issue of a triple alliance with regard to the situation in Asia. Japan as the central axis should unite with Korea. Centering on Japan, we should restore Taiwan. That is why when Rev. Kuboki of Japan went to the United States he came back through Taiwan; he got into contact with the Taiwanese government. On the day that Korea, Japan and Taiwan unite, the Adam, Eve and Archangel nations shall be restored. As a result Asia will fall under this sphere of operational authority. Next is the world. We should advance to the world after laying a successful foundation based on the Asian cultural sphere.

Wasn't Japan an enemy of our nation? However, we are now working to save Japan. In saving her, we are saying that both nations should live together.

An international anti-communist convention is being held right now in Japan. The convention will open at 1:30 PM today. A senator from the United States will to come and give some congratulatory remarks at this convention. Members of the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan and people who once served as prime minister got involved in my operation and are dancing with joy. They are the first to be excited. There is no way that Korea could survive if Japan became pro-communist. That is why I have been planning this for ten years and have carried out this bloody and tearful struggle.

VOC Seminar For Parliamentarians (December 1970)

When I last visited Japan, I instructed the Japanese leaders to hold a seminar, inviting parliamentarians from Korea, Free China 9 and Japan. Recently they held it, and it was a great success. President Kuboki from Japan is here. Stand up, President Kuboki! [Applause] We are doing what even governments cannot do. The Japanese government cannot stand without our International Federation for VOC (IFVOC); neither can the Korean government or the government of Free China.

The 777-Couple Blessing Ceremony took place in the Changchung Stadium in Seoul on October 21, 1970. According to an article in the American magazine Time, in which was recorded: "Master Moon intoned: 'Will you swear to love your spouse forever?'

Blessed Wives And Their Families Become Sacrificial Offerings

From early December, notifications were sent out for the mobilization of the 777 blessed couples. Moreover, the time has come to mobilize all the families centering on the 777 couples.

What is the reason for the mobilization of blessed women in 1970? Jesus, in his three-year course, failed to fulfill his mission because of a woman, and as a result the people and the nation were lost. Consequently, you women need to relieve Jesus' bitter sorrow over his three-year public course by following a three-year course yourselves. By preparing the foundation on which the people and nation that have been lost, and the world, can be restored.

This period is similar to that of my three-year imprisonment in North Korea. Christianity and the Christian women, who should have been blessed by Heaven, failed to follow me; thus, I was forced to take a suffering path. This time is important because, during this period, that suffering needs to be resolved.

If you told a mother who is delivering a baby, "If it's too difficult, just hold it in," what would happen? Both the mother and the baby would die. Even though she is in pain, you need to glare and shout at her, "Push harder! You need to push harder!" In childbirth, the person who glares fiercely at the mother and shouts at her mercilessly to push harder is actually the person who loves her the most. We are at a moment in time now when I need to be as merciless as I can toward you.

The married women of the Unification Church are leaving their families" to go out to witness because living for your nation is more for the public good than living for just your family. This great, historic incident ought to be recorded in Korean history.

Women in teams of ten and will be sent out to 120 mission places to witness. They need to be dispatched to our district headquarters, regional headquarters and even county headquarters. By 1972, we need to secure at least 120,000 internal elite church members. It is fortunate that they are not going to their mission places alone. Originally, you were meant to go by your selves, but the world is just too dangerous and so you will go out with your fellow members.

If you try to do things in a self-centered way and end up fighting one another, or if a problem arises it will become a very big problem. [To elder members:] Moreover, if you team leaders from the thirty-six couples, seventy-two couples or 124 couples get into a fight, it will be an even bigger problem.

The team leader will have to take full responsibility for that. In addition, the 777 couples that were blessed a while ago have recently attended a twenty-one-day workshop, so they are spiritually uplifted. Thus, if you continue to practice a lifestyle of doing whatever you please in front them, they will reject you.

The first person who needs to work hard is the team leader, and her first task will be to find a way to unite the ten members of her team. Thus, you should indemnify the disunity of Jesus' twelve disciples. The women need to do what the men failed to do, working in their place. Therefore, you need to unite completely centering on the providence.

I have spoken strongly said to the Unification Church blessed families across the nation: "Our country has reached a point when its destiny is bleak. A state of emergency is imminent. If the Korean people are to survive, we cannot just go on as usual. You must follow the path of defending the nation even if your families are sacrificed."

Upon my emphasizing this, they went out for three years, leaving their children behind in orphanages, or in the house of their foul-mouthed relatives with a note saying something like, "This child is my son. Please take care of him for three years until I come back." They left for their mission, leaving behind various tragic situations.... The mothers in blessed families knew that if they did not take this path, their descendants would suffer much more, so they let go of the children clinging to their skirts, closed their eyes and ran for miles and miles. Who knows the situation of those mothers? Who can know the situation of those parents, who ran over a hill, so that when they were out of sight they would not see their crying children anymore?

The children had to be placed in a situation of being abandoned because the Korean nation had opposed the Unification Church and obstructed the path I had to forge. Those who took care of the abandoned blessed babies made possible the indemnification of the Korean nation's failure. When they saw the babies and young children without mothers to care for and feed them, they felt sympathy for them. I know that out of that heart they fed them. Their acts became the conditions for having the sins of the Korean nation forgiven and for indemnifying the nation's failure, because they cared for the children representing the whole nation.

It was a critical moment because North Korea's Kim II Sung was preparing to invade the South. We needed to lay a foundation based on that environment. In other words, to become the citizens of heaven, the Korean people need to love their country as much as the members of the Unification Church do.

Mobilized blessed wives are among those witnessing in Go-ryeong, Gyeongbok Province

Entering The Era Of Global Activities

Now we have entered the 1970s, we must lay a foundation for global mission work.... Within a few years I will no longer be living in Korea. I am now preparing to go and live overseas. I did not tell you before but in Japan they are preparing funds and even if I go to live in the United States they have said they will build a house.

The Unification Church is sending out missionaries to approximately twenty nations. Within this year we will send missionaries to forty nations. I will do this however much the Republic of Korea opposes us. Are the things that I am doing wrong? It is evident that I have not been wrong until now. So holding on to that history I will go forward.