Love Conquers All Hyung Jin Nim, May 30, 2010, Cheon Bok Gung, Yongsan Seoul Korea

Welcoming Remarks:
Yeon-ah nim:
Good afternoon brothers and sisters. (Good afternoon!) Good afternoon. It is so great to see you all. Welcome to the headquarters of the Unification Church. Even though as a human being we are weak, within Heavenly Father and True Parents’ love we can be strong. Today we sincerely hope and pray that we can be proud sons and daughters of Heavenly Father and True Parents with their true love. Aju.
Hyung-jin nim:
Good afternoon brothers and sisters. Let’s manifest the Principle first. Give and receive action; four position foundation; may I inherit the True love of God. Aju.
Today is Cheon Seong Gyeong 3:16, and Father speaks. He says, The core of the universe is human, the root of life is love and the root of love is God.”
When we as Unificationists say Aju, that is composed of two Chinese characters. As you know ‘amen’ was the traditional way of affirming a particular prayer or statement, and it means ‘truth’ and ‘so be it.’ Truly, it is an affirmation of what has been said. But True Father has given us Aju, which means in the Chinese characters, the Chinese character ‘me’ or ‘myself’ or ‘my,’ and the second character juinchuja, which is ‘Lord.’ So here, what we can understand is that whenever we say ‘Aju’ as Unificationists, what we are doing is praising the Lord. We are saying, “My Lord!” See, “Aju!” That is what we are saying.
So in the Korean congregation, the services, we have been doing a very fun exercise and training. What we usually do is say, “Hallelujah, amen,”—hallelujah is from the Hebrew which means ‘praise God’—“Na-e junim!” Na-e junim means ‘my Lord.’ “We praise you,” this kind of feeling is inside there. And then we say “Aju.”
So when I say “na-e junim,” you guys say, “Aju.” Ready? Na-e junim! (Aju!). Hey, you did it. See how wonderful that was? But whenever we do that we are actually affirming God. We are thanking him and lifting up our praise to him. So we don’t just say ‘truth’ and ‘so be it.’ Every time we feel the grace of God, we lift up our praises to heaven and return the glory back to Almighty God. Na-e junim! (Aju!) Oh yes! You guys learn very quickly!
Brothers and sisters, now we are going to meet one of our wonderful brothers and one of our families. As True Parents said, the core of human beings is life, the core of life is love, and the root of love is God. And here we can truly feel the pulse of God’s life and love in the wonderful families who really make a difference in our community. This is a wonderful family that we have known from Ma-Po Church. Just a tremendous family of faith; wonderful children. So through this video we are going to have a chance to meet Jo Hyeon-hwan and Kim Sam-sook’s family. Let’s take a look at this video.
Video :
Let’s hear the story of true love of the family of Jo Hyeon-hwan and Kim Sam-sook who apparently drove through the night in a cold briquette delivery van to come to receive the Blessing. “I am a proud member of the Unification Church.” This is Chun Wan Li, Chung Pyung Lake area where we have a lot of land and foundation. Mr. Jo is a member who is in charge of landscaping, construction work, and road maintenance and so forth on this land.
“If there is anything to boast about, my church life is fulfilling. When I was small I was made to go to Sunday Service without fail. We were woken up for five o’clock pledge and Chung Sung (holy songs), complete with holy robes. We kept a 21-day or, if longer, a 40-day condition of separation before we gave birth to our second generation, to our children. The 95% of responsibility from heaven is the 95% True Parents granted to us, but the remaining 5% jungsung, or investment, has to be offered by the Blessed family. When that jungsung becomes 100% you can conceive and give birth. But if you think vaguely about it like those in the outside world, I believe it may be more difficult to have children.
“We hear things like, ‘First generation parents may have gone through many hardships but I don’t want to do that.’ We hear these things a lot. But our second generation should understand what the parents have gone through. The second generation work less than their parents. In order for them to go the way of faith clearly, the first generation parents really went through much suffering. The hope is that the second generation can grow daily for the sake of the providence.”
This is Mrs. Jo, his wife. She is asked about donating for the sake of the construction of Cheon Bok Gung. She says, “I think we have to find a way, rather than just saying there is no way. After working until 6 pm I went straight to my job until midnight. That income was only 400,000 won but I put it in a dedicated account which people kept for us. ‘Heavenly Father, just give me a word,’ I thought, and He said to me, ‘Sam-sook, do your best, I love you.’ With that I was able to move on. With that kind of heart I kept working. But once I was sick for ten or fifteen days, and was laid up in bed. I became so worried, I didn’t know what to do. It was difficult to work during the day—even to eat and to live was difficult. But somehow I gathered my strength and started working on another job. There, I began to earn much more money: 1.6 to 1.7 million won. I felt God was alive at that time also. God had found me this job so that I wouldn’t have to work late at night all the time.
“At these times, at such times, I am so grateful and I do my best. But for the most part, if parents tell their children about their difficulties like this, the children… But I believe that if parents and children can talk heart to heart and understand what is going on, if there is good giving and receiving, we can become one. So I spoke to the children’s father first and said I would work part time jobs to make the donation to build Cheon Bok Gung. If dad was coming home late, I always waited for him. And if he came late, the children would go out and meet him on the way and bring him home. We gathered our jungsung in that way and we’re so grateful for this things.
“The children’s father is very grateful for this giving and receiving of heart and that the children can also know the heart of their parents together. Sharing heart, sharing circumstances, sometimes my own daughter becomes like my God, for example. I ask them, ‘What do you think? What do you think is good to do?’ When I ask them like this, I speak with the heart of reporting to my substantial God.
“Our eldest child is very humble. ‘Mom if I can get a scholarship,’ he said, ‘it would be good, but maybe I won’t be able to, right?’ And I said, ‘Well, why don’t you try harder and see? You always try hard with your studies.’ Then one day he came and said excitedly, ‘Mom!’ and I said, ‘What?’ ‘Mom I got a scholarship! Look at this! It really is one, isn’t it?’ So that was good, and that time at that moment I spoke to our son saying, ‘You work very hard for the sake of your father and mother, and you’ve got a scholarship. Something this important, though, should really be offered to heaven shouldn’t it?’ Anyway, I decided to offer the extra money to build the perfection stage Cheon Bok Gung. And he said, ‘Oh really?’ Then he thought quietly about it and asked, ‘Mom, then how are you going to pay my school tuition?’ And I said, ‘Well, think about it; don’t you think a way will open up if our motivation is good?’ And he said—’Yes, I understand.’
This is the daughter, Hyung Mi, speaking: “Based on the foundation the first generation has cultivated, our second generation will advance the Cheon il Guk and become the center and become the owners. Each of us should have a sense of mission and become able to testify to God and to our True Parents in our own positions, and do our best.”
“Brothers and sisters of the Unification family, we love you!”
Hyung-jin nim:
Let’s give it up for Jo Hyeon-hwan and Kim Sam-sook’s wonderful family, three children, beautiful kids—such a wonderful family!
Main Sermon:
Brothers and sisters, today I want to talk to you about a love that conquers all. Oh, you better get ready! Yes! Na-e junim! (Aju!) Yes! You guys did it. It’s better than hallelujah!
We will start with world scriptures first. Let’s look first at Christianity. This is I John, chapter 4, verse 8. Let’s read this together: “He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.” Aju.
This is Buddhism today: Nagarjuna, the Precious Garland; second century philosopher—very important figure in Buddhism—verse 437. Let’s read together: “Compassion is a mind that savors only mercy and love for all sentient beings.” Aju.
This is Islam; this is the Koran, 39th Sura, 10th verse. Let’s read together: “Those who act kindly in this world will have kindness.” Aju.
And this is True Parents’ words. This is from Cheon Sung Gyung 3:10. And let’s read this together: “What is the holiest thing in the world? It is true love. True love begins from love. God desires the path of true love above all, not any other path.” Aju.
And for a love that conquers all we are going to look at the primary scripture, from I Corinthians 13, we’ll start with verses 1 through 3. Let’s start by reading this together: “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.” Aju.
Of course there is probably nobody in this room that does not know this very powerful scriptural passage. This is from Saint Paul who was writing to the Corinthians, the Corinthian church, and he makes these statements: that even if I have a faith that can move mountains, even if I have the power that I give everything to the poor, and surrender my body into martyrdom, that it is nothing if I have not love. Here we remember the fact that the Unification church exists because of true love. Let me say that again: the Unification Church exists because of true love. Na-e junim. (Aju.) Yes! Oh, you’ve got it. That is because God so loved the world that he sent his son as a second coming. He sent True Parents to give us eternal life, to save us and bring us into the light as families. That doesn’t mean perfect families that means families that are constantly working to build God’s Kingdom. Here Paul reminds us that knowledge or spirituality or faith that can move mountains or service to the poor or even martyrdom without the sake of love is nothing. These things are meaningless without the power of love. But we often confuse what Saint Paul was talking about when he talked about love. Many times we will think that it is the common notion of love that we know in our normal lives, the love that we may feel between two lovers, or the love that we may feel for another person in a sort of emotional way in our hearts. But that is not the love that Paul is talking about. He is talking about the love of Christ. And the love of Christ is not just a warm feeling on the inside. The love of Christ is a love that lays down its life for his friends. The love of Christ is the love that Jesus exemplified on the cross. Na-e junim. (Aju.) Yes.
It is the radical love of Christ that here Paul is referring to. For us as Unificationists, this love has to go even one more step up. Where Christ said in John 15:13 that he who lays his life down for his friends, there is no greater love than that. In the life of True Parents, not only does the True Parent have to lay down his life for his friends, but for the children that have been stolen from God. The True Parents must lay their lives down over and over, and die and die and die, and descend and descend into hell, and descend over and over again, for the sake of the salvation of our souls, of our family, nation, world, cosmos ecetera. They must fulfill the indemnity conditions of all the eight stages to bring us to the gates of heaven, the promised land, the Kingdom of God. Aju.
See, this is what Paul is mentioning when he is talking about love. And it is only when we as Unificationists obtain and inherit this type of Parental True Love heart, with a desire to save the rest of the world—as Father has called us to me mini-messiahs, to have the heart of saving the world, laying down our life even if it is at that cost, to save the children that have been taken from God—it is only when we have that kind of heart of love do any of the good actions that we do have meaning is what Paul is telling us. If we do good deeds for recognition or praise, or good deeds for such things as rewards and plaques, then it is not the greatest good and it does not return glory to the Father, to God. The good deed is only a truly good deed when it helps others and at the same time increases God’s glory and joy. When He sees we are resembling His parental heart, that is when the good becomes the greatest good.
The only way to resemble this heart is not to increase in ourselves, to make our ego even larger, to feel that we are more powerful and strong—no, it is the opposite: To resemble this parental heart we must decrease in self and in ego, and we must let God become greater in our lives, greater in our minds and our hearts and our souls, and in our actions and all that we do.
You see, Paul says that the strongest are the weakest. We usually think that leadership requires strength—and it does of course. Leadership, we oftentimes will think that the strongest will survive. But this is not the case. What Paul says is that the weakest become strong in Christ. In weakness we open ourselves to the power of God. We don’t have this misconception that we can do everything and all things in our own ability. We don’t have that delusion. We understand that we are weak and have limitations, and so thus open ourselves to God. And it is only in that opening of ourselves to God that He can make us strong and He make our inadequacies adequate. And He can make us, the meek, into the ones that inherit the Kingdom of God. You see this is what Paul was talking about.
When David was a sixteen year old boy, he was a weakling—weak in body. But when he fought Goliath and he swung the stone with the sling, God imbued him with the power that he did not have within himself and gave him the power to slay even the greatest opponent. Na-e junim. (Aju!) Yes.
Even Abraham, when he was 75 years old, an old man, very old, no power in his physical body—weak! Very weak!—God asked him at that very advanced age, and strengthened his faith so that Abraham would be able to lead the children and the chosen people of God.
Joseph and Caleb had taken on the mission that Moses had taken on after the four hundred years of slavery in Egypt. Then they had to cross the desert for forty years. They were totally exhausted and wiped out, totally weak in the heat of the desert, and now they had to go into Canaan and overcome all the kings and the armies inside and enter into the promised land. On their own effort, no way could it be possible. But, see, we must remember that with God, all things are possible, my friends. For God made the Israelites, who were weak, he made them strong in faith, he made them strong in spiritual ability and he made them overcome the powerful Canaanites, the giants that ruled the promised land.
It is in this weakness that we ask God for help and that we don’t pretend to be ‘all that and everything in between’ or that we don’t need help or for Him to work through us to effectuate His will. When we do that then our God-given, individual, in-truth, incarnate nations, personalities, etcetera—then those things can be utilized for the will of God. Na-e junim. (Aju!) Yes, you see, that is what Paul is talking about.
Let’s move to the next portion of this. This is an extraordinary piece by Paul. This is verses 4-7. Let’s read together: “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” Aju.
Here we see one of the most powerful descriptions about the characteristics of love. Paul describes love as being patient, being kind, not envious, boastful or proud. What we can understand here is that love is not a noun. It is not a feeling inside that is just warm, and a feeling that we have towards another person. It is not that thing! Here, what we learn is that love is a verb! It’s a verb! It is an action. It is a discipline. It is a training. You see? He describes what love is: that love is kind, that love is patient, that love is protecting others, trusting others, never giving up hope, persevering. He describes these as the traits of love.
And at the same time he describes what love is not. He describes love as not being full of envy, not boastful, not full of self-pride, not being rude, not being self-seeking, not being easily angered or keeping records of wrongs, on how people hurt me. That is what love is not.
Here we can understand through Saint Paul that the discipline of not delighting in evil but rejoicing with the truth is (how he describes) love. Not delighting in evil but rejoicing in truth! Here the evil is that which separates us from the love of God, which is sin. Sin separates us from God’s love, His motion towards us. When we create sin in small areas or in great areas, that is what separates us from the power of God’s love in our life.
You see, we don’t delight in evil, in the sin, but we rejoice with truth: the truth that God has given His son; the truth that God has laid down His life through True Parents over and over, to save us, to save our souls, to bring us to eternal life, to bring our children to eternal life. Then we understand what rejoicing in truth can be. Many people mix this point up: when we love we don’t want to delight in sin. People get this mixed up! Sin is what separates us from love.
There are people right now that are preparing—people even in this room—that are preparing to go to the Blessing, young people and other Unificationists, whether they be first or second generation. If I ask them, “Now you are getting ready to be Blessed, would you commit adultery on your spouse?” If I ask them that, they would surely say, “Of course not! Are you crazy? Why would you even ask me such a thing? Why would you ask me if I would commit adultery on my spouse?” And then I would ask them: “Why? Why won’t you do that? Is it because it is God’s command? Is it because True Parents said for me not to do it? Is it because of the law? Or is it because I love my spouse and that’s why I won’t want to do something that would destroy and shatter her heart?” You see what I mean: it is the power of love that allows us to overcome the power of sin. Na-e junim. (Aju!) It is not by our own power but it is by the power of the love of God, the power that gives His life for us, and the power that we can obtain when we give our life to Him.
You all know, of course, Hoon-sook nim. She is the number-one premiere ballerina in Korea. Let’s give it up for her one time—number-one premiere ballerina in Korea! (Applause) We call her the ‘famous’ sister-in-law. She is really wonderful. Everybody recognizes her on the street. I can’t go anywhere with her. She’s really wonderful. She said one time, she was having an interview with a media outlet, a newspaper, and this interviewer was doubting her greatly, and he didn’t like our church so much. So, he asked her in a very sarcastic way, he said, “So, you don’t have a lover?” because he knew she had a spiritual marriage. “So, you don’t date?” he asked her in this very sarcastic tone. And being the person she is, always graceful and elegant, she did not respond by slapping him in the face. She should have! But she did not do that. She said, “You know what, I’m going to tell you something. I love my husband. I love my husband. And I believe this time and this life here is just a long engagement, and when I meet him on the other side, I’m going to live with him forever. That is why I don’t need to answer such a question.” Let’s give it up for Hoon-sook nim! (Applause) Oh, I’m making everybody cry with that! Oh, my goodness.
This is the same with God. So many people receive God’s forgiveness and God’s grace. But then they continue to commit the same sins that they have always done. “Oh, God will forgive me again.” You see, when somebody does that, because we understand that love is an action, when someone acts in such a way, we understand that such a person does not love God. Because if you really even loved your spouse you wouldn’t cheat on them, if you loved your spouse, you would treat them with kindness and patience. It is the same way with God. By our actions we show whether or not we love Him or not. Because love is not a noun; it is a verb. Na-e junim. (Aju!) Yes.
I heard a story about a farmer who was raising cattle, cows, and there was this one baby calf who was injured, his leg was injured. So he could not walk, and he had to walk about 500 meters to get to the barn. So, the cow was incapacitated and was on the ground, and the farmer saw him, and he picked him up… and the cow would not have any of it! The cow did not like the fact that he was being lifted two meters above the ground while his leg was in pain, so the cow started doing all sorts of moving and kicking and mooing and screaming—and all sorts of things. But the farmer knew he had to bring him to the barn so that he could fix him up and get him back to health. So he held him very tight and continued to press forward.
But all of a sudden he felt a very warm stream of water—or something—coming down his body. And he looked at his white shirt, and now it was a yellow shirt! Of course now he is sweating, he has to pick up this 200 pound cow and walk the 500 meters, so he is getting an enormous workout, sweating, plus he got all the urine on top of him: that is not a delightful scenario.
So the farmer gets to the barn. He puts the cow down. He bandages the leg, puts the brace on, even washes the cow—washes the cow first. He does not go into the barn and say, “Boy, I smell terrible! Cow, you wait here with your injured leg and I’m going to come back after I take a shower.” He first puts the cow down, bandages him up, puts the braces on—and washes the cow first, even though he’s soaking in cow pee-pee! He washes the cow first, and then after that he goes to wash himself. The farmer goes to the bathtub—which is an old-style bathtub, where you had to fill it with water, to get a bucket and pour it in—but there’s no soap! He has no soap! So, he is sitting in the bathtub, trying to rinse himself, but the more he rinses himself the more the water becomes yellow. So the more he cleans himself the dirtier he becomes! So the farmer has to get out, empty the tub, fill it up with water, while he is all messy. And he has to get in there and try to rinse off again, and then again and again—multiple times!
This farmer realized on that day—God spoke to him on that day; God spoke to him on that day when he was in the urine in the bathtub—he realized that God is just like him, the farmer; that God does everything in His power to save us who we are injured, who cannot make it on our own power back home, back to the Kingdom. And God will hold us, and even though we kick and squirm and scream, God holds us tight, so that we can get back home. And when we sin—the farmer realized—when we sin, we are making God’s white shirt yellow. When we sin, we are defiling Him. We are not showing our gratitude towards Him. We are defiling Him. And God, of course, in His grace, will continue to try to carry us home, will put us down, bandage up our leg, put a brace on and wash us first, even though He is all defiled. And He will go and rinse himself over and over. This is what the farmer realized: that this is God’s love; that when we sin we do what the cow did to the farmer.
And so it is out of love that we do not sin. Because we are greater in intellect and in emotion and in heartistic quality than a cow! So it is out of love for ‘the farmer,’ love for God, who saved us who are injured, it is out of our love that we don’t defile him, we don’t commit adultery against Him. It is the love that allows us to overcome the chains of sin.
Brothers and sisters, let’s end with the last part of this wonderful passage. This is verse 8-10. Let’s read together: “Love never fails. But where there are prophecies they will cease; where there are tongues they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears.” … “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” (verse 13) One more time: the greatest of these is? (Love!) Yes.
What does Paul say to us here? He says that love never fails. What is another way to say that? Love always wins. I will say that again. Love always wins! Na-e junim. (Aju!) Love always wins, because love doesn’t take a short-cut. It doesn’t take the short-cut route. It may take months, and years and even decades, it may take your whole lifetime to love somebody that is hard to love. But love never fails. He says ‘never fails.’ That means it always wins in the end.
All things, like prophesizing or speaking in tongues or knowledge, pass away. They become irrelevant, Paul says, because when perfection comes the imperfect disappears. When the returning Christ comes, there will be no need for imperfect prophecy or speaking in tongues or imperfect knowledge.
We will have the ideal of perfection, the heart of God’s essence, the true parental heart. A love that is so powerful that it can overcome evil and sin and death over and over and again, and it can rise and resurrect over and over, even though it sacrifices itself to die and die. A love that is so powerful that neither the grave nor the greatest evil can overcome it. For love never fails and always prospers.
Out of faith in God, out of hoping for God, and loving God, Paul clearly says which is the greatest. Out of having faith in God, hoping for God, and loving God the greatest of these three is loving God. Because it is exactly that love—in which he had to sacrifice his life for us so that we may have eternal life—it is precisely that love that saves us and it is that love that is the greatest when we return it back to the glory of God.
Jesus, through his powerful exemplification of love, changed the course of history, moved the course of history from bounding to the law to the overflowing of law into love and grace. And Jesus’ love has changed the course of the past 2000 years of history.
Nobody on this globe does not know the name of Jesus Christ. And nobody does not know about the love that Jesus had. Nobody does not know about the love that Jesus had. Jesus’ love, in that small Mediterranean city—from Nazareth—has changed the world; the power of his love, the love which he defined as the greatest love, which is the love that will lay down its life for its friends.
But, brothers and sisters, as True Parents have returned to fulfill the mission of Jesus that Jesus asked them to fulfill, they have walked not only the course of one death and resurrection, they have had to walk the course of seven deaths and resurrections, to exemplify not only the love for friends, that will sacrifice for friends, but a love that is of the parental heart; the love that is of God’s essence, which is God as the parent; a love that will die and die and die again, that will gratefully go to hell and to hell again for the sake that its children may be free and enter the Kingdom. And this is the love that True Parents have exemplified and God has succeeded in, in their lifetime. And this is the love that has influenced the course of history from now and forever. Aju! This is the love, brothers and sisters: the parental heart.
It is this love that will allow us as the Unification church to inherit the Old and the New Testament ages and to move into the Completed Testament age, in which all peoples come together into God’s family, to bring the world into the realm of heart of the True Parent—the parent: the true nature of God and the savior of our souls. Let’s give it up one time for God and True Parents and the great true love that they have given, for us, to us. (Applause) That is the power that we have, and that is the power that chases away sickness, and chases away weakness, and chases away disease, and chases away inadequacy, and chases away obstacles. It is not our own power but it is God’s power.
Let’s finish with True Father’s words, from Blessing And Ideal Family, 383. Let’s read together: “We must search for true love. Where are we to go to find true love? True love has no day or no night; it is eternal and unchanging. It cannot be true love if it is only for myself. True love cannot be my individual possession. True love is for all people and for the entire universe. True love is what connects family, society, nation, world and cosmos. If the whole world came to love each other with true love, even at the price of death, there would be a burning fire of rebirth.” Aju!
Hyung-jin nim’s prayer:
Let us close our eyes and, Brothers and sisters, let us take this time for prayer. Let’s raise our hands—it says in the Acts of the Apostles that we have holy hands in Christ. Let’s lift our hands up to the heavens and towards the nations as we pray.
Heavenly Father, we thank You so much for this day. Beloved True Parents, thank you so much for giving us true love, true life and true lineage, for we know that we have come from the servant of servant’s position to become your true children.
Father, You have lifted us up from the depths of hell so that we can be freed. You have paid the price so that we can enter into the Kingdom. You have paid the price so that our families can go with us to Your eternal resting place.
And, Father, we offer You grace today because we want to worship You and praise You this day. Father, we know that it is Your love that makes us strong, not our individual characters, not our abilities, or the things that we may develop in our life. For, Father, it is those who are weak before You, those who are meek that will inherit the earth. It is those who know that they cannot do everything in their own power, that come before You humbled, that You will use. We see it, because you used Noah and Moses and Abraham and Isaac and Joseph, and you used Caleb and all the saints. You used Jesus, who was born in meekness, in a manger. The world expected a Lord that would come and unify the tribes of Israel and come in glory and power but You sent him in meekness and weakness because it is through that humility that You would show Your power over death.
Father, we thank you so much, because today, we admit that we are not strong. We are not strong. If we are strong we should go home. Father, we are weak before You. We need You. We need a savior, forgiveness. Father, we cannot solve the problems that are great in this world—the current problem of North and South Korea—we cannot solve this on our own power, dear Lord. Father, it is when we acknowledge that we are weak, that we are just human, that we open ourselves to the glory and the divinity and power of Your Kingdom. Father, we pray that today we may acknowledge this, we may know this, and it is through that power that You may work through us and achieve miracles for Your sake.
Thank you so much; as You have offered Your life for us, we offer our life to You. Father, we do it with gratitude and in joy, because we do not delight in evil, as Paul said, but we rejoice in truth, for we always hope and we always have faith and we always persevere, Father. And we thank You today for giving us new power.
We pray these things in gratitude in our own names as central blessed families and in the name of True Parents. Aju!

Let's put the seniors in jail, and the criminals in a nursing home.

Let's put the seniors in jail, and the criminals in a nursing home.

This way the seniors would have access to showers, hobbies,

and walks, they'd receive unlimited free prescriptions, dental

and medical treatment, wheel chairs etc. and they'd receive money instead of

paying it out.

They would have constant video monitoring, so they could be

helped instantly, if they fell, or needed assistance.

Bedding would be washed twice a week, and all clothing would be

ironed and returned to them.

A guard would check on them every 20 minutes, and bring their meals

and snacks to their cell. They would have family visits in a suite built for that purpose.

They would have access to a library, weight room,spiritual counselling, pool, and education,

simple clothing, shoes, slippers, P.J.'s and legal aid would be free, on request.

Private, secure rooms for all, with an exercise outdoor yard, with gardens.

Each senior could have a P.C., T.V., Radio, and daily phone calls.

There would be a board of directors, to hear complaints, and the guards

would have a code of conduct, that would be strictly adhered to.

The "criminals" would get cold food, be left all alone, and unsupervised.

Lights off at 8pm, and showers once a week.

Live in a tiny room, and pay $5000.00 per month and have no hope

of ever getting out.  Justice for all.

Reflection on the visit of In Jin Nim and staff of the American Church to Brazil, from the 5th to 8th of June, 2010 by the National Leader of Brazil:

A living example of what being a true daughter of the True Family means!
We received In Jin Nim and her staff at the airport with flowers, and went directly to the hotel. Even at the airport, In Jin Nim wondered if everything was OK with me, if I was hurt somewhere. 
At the hotel, after the greetings, Rev. Shin  gave a brief report and I was asked to say something. Actually, I did not want to be tied up in the past, but look at the wonderful future that In Jin Nim certainly will bring to our church. I could feel from the first moment that her visit would be a blessing. 
On Sunday, the message of HDH was something that deeply moved all members present, when she gave a very detailed explanation of the meaning of the names of all true sons from True Family. She artfully described the characteristics of each brother and sister in her family, and showed that all the names of True Children´s have a providential meaning and purpose given by True Parents. Even choosing the name of the children was a step towards  restoration of humanity and all things. In the end, In Jin Nim emphasized how wonderful  our beloved True Parents are and that it is our responsibility as children to always  honor them with our proper attitude.
Already during the HDH it was clear that our movement is based on true love, whose core "is to live for the sake of others" and this should be the basis of all our actions. She also said that FFWPU has a legacy left by the True Parents, which is the culture of peace, brotherhood and truth. Violence, psychological pressure or  seizing power by force are not part of this culture.
As In Jin Nim was coming to perform the Seung Hwa Ceremony on behalf of True Parents - inheriting a legacy of peace - the headquarters staff members and volunteers worked day and night to prepare everything, while all members were being mobilized for the event. We are sorry that due to shortage of time we couldn´t have more VIPs to be honored at the ceremony. 
When the ceremony started around 10:00 pm, the temple was quite crowded by members, with over a thousand people present. First there was the official launching of  True Father´s autobiography.  In Jin Nim personally delivered it into the hands of 12 Brazilian representatives. 
The MC was Pastor Carlos (one of the Vice-Presidents of the church in Brazil). The opening was performed by the choir of the Unification Church of St. Paul. Rev. Shin made an opening prayer and Dr. Thomas Walsh, President of UPF International, explained the Legacy of Peace and the meaning of the Ascension. Taj Hamad presided over the offering of flowers to honor people at the Seung Hwa ceremony. Dr. Correa, Ambassador of Peace, gave some words of reflection and Rev. Christian offered a prayer. 
The Lovin' Life band made three exciting presentations. Especially during the second song  I saw many members crying. I could not hold myself and I shed tears, too.  In fact, for me this was the second time because also in Las Vegas I was very moved by their presentation. The three band members were able to melt the heart of the audience through their songs. 

The video presentation was about the legacy of peace, and then In Jin Nim introduced True Parents. Any parent in the world would be happy with an introduction done with such mastery and heart. In Jin Nim really honored the True Parents by every word uttered, and the members went delirious when she asked for a warm round of applause for True Parents, after she ended her speech for Pres. Simão to read the words of True Father. 

Flowers were offered to the True Parents, through their daughter In Jin Nim, after Simão had read the speech. Then  Rev. Josh Cotter explained some videos on the Manhattan Center, on the Lovin' Life Ministry and on the encouragement that In Jin Nim is giving to the arts.
After that  the arrival of two more members of the U.S. delegation was announced, namely Rev. Michael Jenkins and Bishop Stallings Jr., who immediately came to the stage and gave their short but exciting messages of support to True Parents and the providence of Brazil. 
Then In Jin Nim returned to the scene, this time to personally greet each member. She took a picture with them and even signed  Father´s autobiography book.  This session lasted over an hour and  In Jin Nim gave her heart, love, smile and understanding to many Brazilian members. 
After lunch In Jin Nim met with  three elder brothers, Mauriciu, Caesar and Waldir. As two of them were counselors (of the Superior Council), In Jin Nim after long hours of conversation demanded from both of them a public apology for their actions during the previous week. And they agreed. So on the morning of June 07, at HDH, Mr. Mauriciu Baldini publicly apologized for his mistake. He said that there was a lack of understanding about the real situation of Hyun Jin Nim’s family. 
In the HDH of 7th, In Jin Nim again focused on  the importance of educating the children. She explained about how much it is necessary to discover the potential of each child and to encourage them to strive for excellence in developing their talents, which will give them more confidence in the tough life´s decisions. She emphasized that she likes to see the musical and artistic education as means to individual discipline. 
After breakfast, there was a meeting with Brazilian leaders and national leaders of several Latin American countries, as well as with members or leaders of other sectors of our movement. In Jin Nim was very categorical in saying that in the past she adopted the policy of silence about the attitudes and activities of her brother, Hyun Jin Nim, but now there was no reason for this silence to continue, since he (Hyun Jin Nim) himself had created an event with international repercussions. As the meeting was opened to leaders, many points were clarified regarding the situation of Hyun Jin Nim. At the same time, there have been several reports that were made by leaders of the American staff, by the continental director Rev. Shin, by the national leader of Paraguay, the son of the National Messiah of Paraguay and by me. I think  leaders and members were enlightened and things became more clear. 
Throughout the time of the meeting, In Jin Nim heard reports and demonstrations, and on several occasions she interrupted to clarify or add something, always with a heart to show the truth, protect and defend the True Parents and blessed families. 
On this day lunch was at the barbecue restaurant and in the afternoon the meeting continued with Rev. Shin and with leaders and members of the American Staff. There were several reports, including  Jim Gavin showing the testimonies collected from people attending the Sunday sermon. 
Then in the evening In Jin Nim and the staff went to the Church of Santo Amaro, where they were welcomed with flowers by Pastor Inowan and his wife, in front of a big number of members. 
Pastor Inowan showed a report of activities, and then there was a dinner with pizza and other delicacies prepared by the church of Santo Amaro. 
At the beginning of the meeting, Josh Cotter presented the projects that In Jin Nim has been implementing in the U.S..  Then, the Lovin´Life band gave their musical presentation that the members loved so much.  In Jin Nim spoke for nearly two hours, again describing the value of the True Family and the importance of caring for our children. Everything was translated by Pastor Inowan’s sister, Mrs. Jun. 
After the sermon In Jin Nim  repeated  with members of Santo Amaro what she had done at the headquarters on Sunday, during the lovin' life ministry. She urged all members to come to talk to her and to take pictures with her. She really shared time with the members.  She paid attention to each member up to the last one who had approached her, and the members felt much gratitude and were inspired. She has a heart so loving and maternal.  In fact, she was truly a big mom in those precious moments. 
We left Santo Amaro and arrived at the hotel after 23:00 pm. Rev. Shin suggested that In Jin Nim do HDH in the hotel because they were all very tired, and she agreed. 
The next day we went to the neighborhood of Liberdade. The church there has a gift shop and I saw In Ji Nim choosing a gift for the wives of each member of staff. She really cared and was so concerned about the members. I witnessed it all the time, remembering one situation in Santo Amaro, where I saw her asking if the singer of the band, Ilhwa, had eaten something. 
After shopping, we went to a Korean restaurant, where once again I witnessed how she cared and expressed her concern for the members. In Jin Nim was very happy, had many good laughs and left very contented.  I felt that we were with the True Parents, and that really was a family under God. 
In Jin Nim was so active.  After  the restaurant we immediately went to the airport and we arrived there earlier than her scheduled time and she immediately checked-in and said goodbye to all. 
We lived a dream for three days with the true daughter of the True Family. I do not want to wake up to the reality. But life is not just made by dreams ... 
I am writing this report with the same sincerity  with which  I wrote the report about Hyun Jin Nim coming. However, I must say  that there is a profound difference between the two: At first I was in hell, and this, I feel, is heaven. 
We know who owns these two places (hell and heaven).  Everything that happened during the visit of In Jin Nim left a deep impression within me, the belief in the importance of the True Family and even more in the importance of the True Parents, absolute, immutable, eternal and irreplaceable.
We pray that the true love of True Parents can always reach the blessed central families through their beloved children! 
The visit of In Jin Nim was a blessing! The church in Brazil is eternally grateful for the concern and love of True Parents, by sending their beloved daughter and American staff to support and inspire us.  Our determination to serve God and True Parents and to protect their legacy has been strengthened. 
May all glory be returned to God and True Parents!
Aju!
Reported by:  Mr. Neudir Simão Ferabolli
                         FFWPU, Brazil´s National Leader

Liberating True Parents through practise of Cheong Song and Love May 25, 2010, Cheon Bok Gung, Yongsan Seoul Korea

Guest Speakers:  CBG Southern Region Pastor – Rev. Hong Seong Bok and CBG Northern Region Pastor – SeoYu Am Hoonsa

Welcoming Remarks:

Yeon-ah nim:

Good afternoon, Brothers and Sisters.  Welcome to the headquarters of Unification Church.  Everybody, please be careful with colds.  I have a cold, even if it’s getting close to summer. (…) We sincerely hope and pray that, in the name of Heavenly Father and True Parents, North and South can be united in a peaceful way. Aju.

Hyung-jin nim:

Good afternoon, Brothers and Sisters.  Let’s first manifest the Principle: give and receive action, four position foundation, may I inherit the true love of God, Aju.

In today’s Cheon Seong Gyeong, 10:11, Father speaks.  He says, “The church is a holy place that connects heaven and earth.  It is a gate to the world, enabling people to interact in relationships of cooperation, and as a spiritual pillar, for the church supplies strength in our daily life.” Aju.

Brothers and Sisters, we are living in a most special era.  The whole world is observing Korea, with the whole situation that is unfolding between the South and the North, for the unity of North and South Korea.  It’s so important that we understand that the unity of the North and the South is not going to come by the South just looking down upon the North.  No, but we have to really understand and see that they are also people, but they are behaving in a certain way, not because they’re inherently evil, but because as one of our presidents who is at Pyonghwa motors there says, “They don’t know any better, but they’re searching and they’re looking, and they desire something greater.”  So Brothers and Sisters, in this most uncertain time, we want to also reach out all our prayers today.  That’s what we are going to be focusing on in our one-on-one prayers today.

I want to invite you all to stand up now and let’s do Kajong Maeng Sae, Number Four today.  Let’s join our hands together and recite the Family Pledge Number Four:

Our Family, the owner of Cheon Il Guk, pledges to build the universal family encompassing heaven and earth, which is God’s ideal of creation, and perfect the world of freedom, peace, unity and happiness, by centering on true love.  Aju.

Good afternoon,  Brothers and Sisters.  Today, as you know, Cheon Bok Gung has moved into the four-district region, and last week we met our east and west region Hoonsa nim and Mok Sa nim.  And this week, we’re going to be actually kicking off the southern region and the northern region.  Today, representing the southern district, we have Rev. Hong.  Rev. Hong will come up and start the kickoff for the southern district of Seoul.  And then we have Seo Hoonsa nim. He is the northern district leader there.  He will come up for the last fifteen minutes and share the words and the kickoff for the northern region.  So let’s first invite Rev. Hong Sung Bok, and as he comes up let’s give him a really warm Unification Family welcome!  (Applause)

Rev. Hong Sung Bok – Southern Region

Hello everyone, Brothers and Sisters.  My name is Rev. Hong.  I’m the minister for the southern region.  First I’d like to introduce the women leaders who will work with me in leading the southern district to victory.  The first lady I’d like to introduce is the president of the Women’s Association for the southern district.  She has a great deal of experience in working in society,  Mrs. Kwang Jung Nam.  She also manages a branch office of Segye Ilbo.  Mrs. I Gyung Ga is working as a lecturer for second generation members.  And Mrs. Sato Rieko will be in charge of the Japanese wives in the southern district, who will work with and attend our international president and serve you in order to gain victory in the southern district.  Thank you.

First, I’ll read from the Hoon Dok of True Parents’ words.  Ladies and Gentlemen: we are living in a historic time of great transition.  It is a time for a great historical revolution to change history, to unite the spiritual and physical worlds and to create the ideal kingdom of heaven that God has longed for since the beginning of time.  We can no longer postpone or prolong the fulfillment of His wish.  I have already proclaimed that January 13, 2013 will be Foundation Day.  That day will be the actual beginning of Cheon Il Guk.  That day will be the origin.  An unavoidable time is upon us today, where we must invest ourselves completely with a life or death commitment for the remaining three years under the guidance of the True Parents, who carry out the Providence on Earth as the substantial representative of God, the King of Kings.  All the good spirits in the spirit world are mobilized and are already moving forward a step ahead of you.  Aju.

Today I would like to speak to you about the true hope that we should have as members of the Cheon Bok Gung, centering on the words of Father that we have just read.  I would like to speak briefly first of how I joined the church and worked as a minister.  I was truly guided by Father’s words of tears and by his prayers.  Father said that when he attended a school in Hook Sok Dong in Seoul, he prayed and he shed a great deal of tears, and I was actually guided to the church in that place of Hook Sok Dong.  And I decided to become a minister after I saw the way that Father spoke very deeply, and in tears, at the early morning services at the Headquarters Church.

I wanted to work until I was forty years old, having many different kinds of experiences and learning many different kinds of things, but when I saw the way that Father was unjustly sent to Danbury Prison, I decided to begin my work as a pastor immediately.  So for twenty-one years, I worked as a public official, starting as a minister in a pioneer center, and then as a church leader, going up the steps, and then working even as a church pastor in America for a Korean congregation.  During that time, I felt God’s guidance and True Parents’ guidance very deeply, and also the deep love of the members that I was working with.  I had many experiences where I felt, I saw, that the more I invested myself in my pastoral work, the more closely True Parents would guide me.

Our loving members of the Cheon Bok Gung, right now we are going through many changes because we are in the time after the coming of heaven, and we are now in the era of Cheon Il Guk.  Right now, we are being asked to practice our faith and bring results for our faith.  It’s important for us now to have a positive outlook on our faith, and also a hopeful faith.  I would like to speak first of what we must have for that.  We need to attend our True Parents in a new way in this era after the coming of heaven.  The world has changed a great deal, and also, many other things have changed. But our True Parents have not changed and the True Children have not changed.  We need to check ourselves, how we are attending our True Parents, who are the Messiah and the Lord of the Second Advent in this time, and how much am I trying, how much do I yearn to attend the True Parents in my heart?

We must remember how Father has said that he cannot close his eyes, he cannot pass away from this world until he has fulfilled the promise that he made to God.  We must see our True Parents with our spiritual eyes.  We need to rediscover our True Parents as MY True Parents, my own True Parents, and then go out into the world and testify to them.  Truly, our True Parents, who are now working and marching forward strongly towards 2013, are truly our True Parents and our hope.

And I would like to testify how I felt that hope as I attended our international president.  In October 2005, I was studying in UTS.  At that time, Hyung Jin Nim was leading a meditation service.   When I participated there, I was deeply moved because through the meditation and his teachings, he was telling us and showing us the possibility for us to recover and restore our original selves.  He was very humble.  He was very joyful towards the students who were participating in that, and he gave everyone very much hope.  It was very moving for me to see how he loved the students there with all of his mind and all of his heart.  And I prayed at that time truly with gratitude to our True Parents for his presence.

In 2007, I came to Korea briefly in order to receive my doctoral degree and to participate in events here.  I was moved again to see the way that Hyung Jin Nim addressed the Cheon Il Guk Leaders’ meeting.  At that time, he lectured from a perspective of comparative religion about how our True Parents and our community centering on True Parents are eternal.  His conviction and his confidence in his faith was very moving to me.  I finished my work in America and returned to Korea.  I worked for a while at the church headquarters and then at Cheon Bok Gung and then again, there, I had the experience to receive a great deal of hope.  I felt hope because I could see how God’s hope in His work was being realized through the life of Hyung Jin Nim and how Hyung Jin Nim had been prepared to do the work that he was doing.

And I would like to share with you the value of the Cheon Bok Gung.  The completed stage of the Cheon Bok Gung will be the third temple of Israel that God has been waiting for.  It will be a temple where people will be able to attend God and True Parents, transcending national boundaries, races, and religion.  This place will be a temple where we will be able to accomplish the ideal world of the returning resurrection.  Yes, in fact, in name and in reality, the Cheon Bok Gung will be the temple of Cheon Il Guk.

Our loving Brothers and Sisters, do you really believe that you yourselves are the primary actors, the standard-bearers of Cheon Il Guk and you are sitting in this place right now for that very purpose?  Do you feel proud that you are in that position?  Please let’s shout, “Aju” together for that purpose.  Aju!

You’ll remember, I’m sure, the way that Hyung Jin Nim prayed in the Cheon Bok Gung after he completed his 21,000 bowing condition.  In tears and in sweat he prayed and his prayer was, “I am sorry to True Parents,” he apologized, he said,” I am sorry to True Parents, but I am grateful to True Parents at the same time.”  We felt an incredible power of resurrection to hear him pray that way.  Just as True Parents have completed the course of resurrection as the absolute son in front of God, because our international president had established himself as the absolute filial son in front of True Parents and as leader of the Cheon Bok Gung.  This was a very incredible and very hopeful event that happened then.

The vision of Cheon Bok Gung is one that we create together.  In the process, there may be some trial and error, maybe some things that change.  There may be some things or times that are a little bit unstable, but we never have to be concerned or worried, because God and True Parents are always protecting and guiding us with their love, and because the True Children are creating the highest level of systems in this community that is centering on the Cheon Bok Gung.

Our international president is establishing the absolute center, centering on a horizontal and vertical spiritual discipline.  He is establishing the vision of the Cheon Bok Gung step by step.  This is an incredible thing that is giving us tremendous hope.

I would like to speak now about the third hope that we have in Cheon Bok Gung.  Our senior couples, who have dedicated their lives to live for True Parents, are our third hope in this Cheon Bok Gung.  They attended our True Parents and the True Family in those early days, when the persecution was so great.  They are our older brothers and sisters who sacrificed their own dreams and even their own self-respect in order to attend the church, the community at large, the nation and the world.  They sacrificed their entire lives in order to attend our True Parents and follow the Will, to follow that narrow path of the Will.  Because of their victory, because even despite persecution they followed the will, they deserve our respect.  Who in this age can recognize those senior couples and their sacrifice that they have made?  That is what we must do, as their younger brothers and sisters, as we attend our True Parents, and also respect them.  They have a living training.  They are the tremendous hope for our community.

So I would like to address our senior couples today.  Please have strength and please guide and protect us.  We, your juniors, will attend you and we will walk with you towards victory.  Now is the time for us to make a new determination.  We must inherit the tradition of absolute faith that has been passed from God to True Parents down to us.  Senior couples and junior members such as ourselves must become completely one in order to attend our True Parents.  On May 1^st, I was given the direction to go do the hometown providence by going to the southern district and begin doing pastoral work there.  I have not yet been able to accomplish the work that I promised I would accomplish to True Parents and to God when I began pastoral work 40 years ago.  We need to do everything we can to offer everything to God and True Parents for the victory of Cheon Bok Gung.

Yesterday, my wife and I received the honor of being able to offer bouquets of flowers to True Parents at the Cheon Jeong Gung at the Welcoming Ceremony on their return to Korea. I think that this honor was not given to me just as an individual, but representing all the pastors, the women leaders and the members of Cheon Bok Gung. When True Father shook my hand, then this honor was also not given to me as an individual.  It was to encourage us all to join together towards victory.

True Parents have declared that January 13, 2013 will be Foundation Day, the start of Cheon Il Guk. Even today, he is not resting.  He is continuing to work for the Blessing and also for the Seung Hwa, for us to be able to have resurrection and eternal life towards the Cheon Il Guk victory.

Loving Cheon Bok Gung members, our True Parents have spoken like this: “A warm and gentle wind must blow from the south in order to unite the Korean peninsula.” Koreans prefer to live in houses that face the south. Perhaps that is the reason why right now True Parents stay in Yeosu, which is on the southern coast of Korea. In the southern district of Cheon Bok Gung, we will create a gentle wind from the south that will lead to the victory of all. We will work hard with that sense of responsibility for the whole.

As I conclude I would like you to encourage us, so that we can have victory in the southern district. So, please shout with me: “With devotion and love, victory for the 210,000 congregation, southern district-fighting!” (Applause)

Seo Yu-am Hoonsa nim – Northern Region:

I would like to introduce the women’s leaders for the northern district. Not everyone is here, so we will introduce two people representing all. Chairwoman Choi Yoon-hae is a graduate from Sun Moon University’s theological seminary, and Mr. Ok Yoon-ho’s wife. Mr. Ok is a second generation pastor in Cheon Bok Gung.

First, let’s read from “The Way of God’s Will” and also from the Bible. “Have a renewed mind. In your life of faith, you must always rejoice and be thankful. When you rejoice in prayer and experience a constant welling-up of pride, your mind is a joyful mind.” Aju.

1 Thess. 5:16-18: “Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s Will for you in Christ Jesus.” Aju

Centering on these words, inheriting the true love of God, to create a northern wind, we will gain victory in the 210,000 congregation. This is the title of my remarks today.

I joined the Unification Church 45 years ago. For 40 years and eight months, I have been going only one way and that is pastoral work in the Unification Church. In 2008, I retired. After True Father went on his world tour, I became interested in doing this work, particularly with the pastoral work that is based on Jeongseong (devotion) and love. I was offering 120 bows. Although I retired, I continued that Jeongseong. I participated in the 120 bowing condition at the headquarters church. Through that connection, I was appointed as a Hoonsa in April 2009. I’m grateful again to God and True Parents for that honor, and I’m very grateful to our international president and his wife.

My family has received a very wonderful honor and glory from True Parents. Particularly our second daughter received much grace from True Family. Rather than feeling proud of that, we feel repentful and are humbled by that and offer even more Jeongseong. In every situation, we are living in gratitude towards heaven. We could see that instead of being indebted to heaven, we were always able to give gratitude to heaven.

As I participated in the early morning spiritual training, I understood that our international president had gained victory in terms of recovering and restoring his humanity through these seven years of training. He studied philosophy at Harvard University and also received a Masters degree in comparative religion at the Harvard University course. In addition to all his studies, he had gone through this period of spiritual training more than any pastor in the Unification Church tradition. It was on that foundation that he began his pastoral work in the Mapo church in 2007.

The topic of that time was “the new beginning”. He spoke then about creating a foundation of spiritual victory. From that time, he grafted this spiritual training and tradition of working in the early morning, onto what existed as the Unification Church tradition. On October 12^th, 2008, Hyung-jin nim received the mission to establish Cheon Bok Gung from True Parents at the King garden in Hawaii at the first Original Divine Principle workshop that was held there. I happened to be there at that moment and felt deep gratitude for that.

I believe very deeply that if we inherit our international president’s method of spiritual discipline, then anyone will be able to unite their mind and body. I could see the way for us to get rid of our fallen nature. We are also reciting “I’m alive, thank you!” If we do that once every ten seconds for 30 minutes, it becomes 180 times. So if we see our life itself as a spiritual training, then every 24 hours that we live must be 24 hours of giving gratitude. As I was going through this spiritual discipline and through the breathing exercises with our international president, I actually felt the grace of being able to breathe with God and to feel God’s love in those breaths.

I was also grateful that through that I felt spiritually that truly our True Parents are the Messiah, the Christ, the Second Advent and the Savior of the world. Already we have been given the growth stage Cheon Bok Gung and we are creating a new revolution in history today. We are already attending the four great saints in Cheon Bok Gung. True Parents have said that this year will be a historic year in which we will overcome all difficulties.

On God’s Day, True Father spoke about how we are now using the heavenly calendar, uniting the old and new calendars. Centering on the birthday of True Parents, he established the first day of the heavenly calendar. Through the Seung Hwa rallies, he has given us the incredible blessing of all mankind being able to overcome death. At the Cheon Bok Gung, we are dividing our area into four districts now, in order to make a new beginning in this new era.

Until now, I have been very busy attending the international president as a Hoonsa, but now, as the leader of the northern district, I’m sure that I will be very busy.  I don’t know what will be coming, but whatever comes, I will look upon it positively and I will work for victory. There is a great difference from when I was working in the rural area to now that I’m working closely with our international president. There is a big difference in the way the work is being done. We all need to receive these changes with a positive outlook.

We see in the Bible that every time a central figure changed, the providence also changed. In the Old Testament, there was the culture that was centering on Moses. In the New Testament, a new culture was brought centering on Jesus. Now, centering on the international president, we have a new culture of spiritual discipline. When we receive that new culture with a positive outlook, we create change within ourselves.

Beloved Brothers and Sisters, our international president’s couple is working every day as a filial child, patriot, saint and God’s divine son and daughter in the world in order to bring about the victory of Cheon Bok Gung. Let us all also be determined to attend our international president to bring about the victory of Cheon Bok Gung by accomplishing our task in witnessing. Aju!

Every time I see our Chuksajang nim (Yeon-ah nim), I feel a very quiet and strong love. She works very hard every day with our international president, always being with him like a shadow, always attending him.  I feel that we must learn from her and must also accomplish our responsibility towards the victory of Cheon Bok Gung in the same way. With big determination, let’s say “Aju!”

Until now, the international president and Chuksajang nim have worked a great deal for the Cheon Bok Gung. In order to accomplish the final victory of the 210,000 congregation, we must be determined to inherit his tradition of spiritual discipline and to work much harder than we have already. I’m sure that we will be able to gain this final victory of the 210,000 congregation if we work together. If we work together, we will be mobilizing the spiritual world.

Let’s finish by reading True Father’s words again: “Therefore, it is time for all people to be humbly obedient to Heaven’s decree. An unavoidable time is upon us today where we must invest ourselves completely with a life or death commitment for the remaining three years under the guidance of the True Parents, who carry out the providence on earth as the substantial representatives of God, the King of Kings. All the good spirits in the spirit world are mobilized and are already moving forward, a step ahead of you. Aju!”

All of our ancestors are moving very quickly ahead of us. We, as their descendants, have to try hard to follow them. So let’s work hard and run together!

We say that the king always resides in the north, and when we offer our prayers and bows, we face the north. The Cheon Jeong Gung where we attend God and True Parents is located in the northern district, so I’m sure that much grace and victory will come to this district. Let’s raise a wind of witnessing in the northern district and bring about the victory of 210,000!

Hyung-jin nim’s prayer:

Our Heavenly Father, dearest most beloved True Parents, thank you so much for this day. Father, we want to offer our prayers to You today and offer our hearts to You today. We pray for the wonderful and adorable love and hearts that our ministers showed today. We pray that You may help us in the southern and northern districts to help with the process of having all those people in Seoul who are prepared to come to Your heart. We pray that upon that foundation, the Abel U.N. can be established here in Cheon Bok Gung at the perfection stage level, and that we can truly have all the religions living together centered on the words and the vision of our True Parents. We absolutely want to pray and lift our hearts up today for those brothers and sisters in North Korea, and we pray that this situation in Korea now can come quickly to a resolution. We thank You so much and pray all these things in gratitude and offering our hearts and prayers to You this day. In our own names and in the names of True Parents. Aju!

Special Sermon:”Let Us be the Righteous Person of CBG” and “God’s Calling and our Mission” May 16, 2010, Cheon Bok Gung, Yongsan Seoul Korea

Guest Speakers: CBG East Region Pastor – Rev. Man Woong Cho and    CBG West Region Pastor – Hoonsa Yong Ha Kim

Welcoming Remarks:

Yeon Ah Nim:

Welcome to our international service!

Before we say anything, could we give a warm applause to our beautiful Japanese sisters for their beautiful song? (Applause)

Last week we were with True Parents in America for the world level ascension ceremony. We were so glad to attend True Parents, and it was so nice to see In-jin nim and In-jin nim’s family and American members. Today we sincerely hope and pray that through this worship service we can become better sons and daughters of True Parents and Heavenly Father. Aju!

Hyung Jin Nim:

Good evening brothers and sisters. Let us begin by manifesting the Principle: give and receive action, four position foundation; may I inherit the true love of God! Aju!

“You can reach the kingdom of heaven through the church,” Father says, “the family must pass through the church, so the church is a foundation for families to bring victories. It is a place where family laws emerge, a place where the nobility of character is recognized and it is a training ground for the kingdom of heaven.” This is from “The way of the spiritual leader” p 238 number 10, 12 and 13.

Brothers and sisters, we are really so blessed to be able to be in a community, to have people around us who share the same faith, who are walking with us on the path towards heaven. It is in that community that we can find so many riches and such wisdom.

Once a week we are meeting some of our wonderful Unificationists families who are in the background. These families are not necessarily in any leadership role in the church but they contribute so greatly to the community and they stand as examples within the community; so we love to highlight these beautiful families.

This week we are going to have the chance to meet Mr. Kim Tae-son and his family. He is a Korean husband ands his wife is Japanese. They have 5 wonderful children and through this video we are going to have the chance to meet them. Let’s go meet one of our Unificationists!

Video:

This is a copy of Mr. Kim’s Cheong Seong Gyeong. God’s words gave me a great shock. It’s not something that we take lightly. This is our weapon, a weapon among weapons so we need to be very bold and proud of this.

This is in Kyung Gi province, Go-Yang city and this is some award. This is a massage center. He is 46 years old, he was blessed in 1992 and he operates a massage center. He was a body guard for True Parents for a number of years and he has been copying the Cheong Seong Gyeong.

“I was very serious about the word of God because I had been living in a world that had nothing to do with God’s word. I was really in a position where I might die, but with the word I could live again. It made me very excited to think that way. It gave me a deep shock and stimulus. So I read the word all through the night. This kind of precious word – once I heard it I didn’t want to be the end of it, but I wanted to make it a part of me; I wanted to write it down with my own hand. That is how I began. Later I began working at Han Nam Dong, and after I worked in the day attending True Parents then I would always do this.

When we look at the words of our international president, he says that in the place where we are, we are far from God’s love, and I felt that very much, very deeply in myself. So what I can do is be close to God’s word and write God’s word, really delve into it and immerse myself in God’s word. These are words that we could continuously read for tens of thousands of years like that.

“True love and true family”.

I have 5 children. I intended to have five children and I had to convince my wife to do that. She is Japanese and she listened to my word and decided to do it.

Mrs. Kim:

He said that he wanted to do it that way so we did it that way. We had the first and the second. Till we had the third I was wanting but…

Mr. Kim:

She is very grateful; she is very wonderful, very straight. The way we were able to endure is because of the word, because we have the word. In that sense she is much greater than I am.

We are a true love family. Before, the mayor of Seoul, Lee Myung-bak, who is now president of Korea, invited multicultural families. We went there as a multicultural family, and as a man and woman who have good character. These kinds of families were invited by the major’s office. We wanted to say that we had to be true parents and have true children.  Parents have to be the model for everything and teach the children by being a model. The mayor said that he wished us well and said that all the parents gathered there that day should be models to their family. And he said,”Let us establish true love together.” So everyone stood up and applauded.

We also had a chance to take a photograph with him. At that time he was mayor and he realized, “Oh this is the kind of people that are in the Unification church!” He used the word “true family” in his remarks that day and I was very happy about that.

Words are weapon among weapons.

Some people ask me, “How did you come to join the Unification church?” I would say,”Well it’s a good place. Why do you say that? It’s not just a heresy.”  A heresy in Korea means the second level, third level, or fourth level. I testify to our Father, “You can tell what kind of person he is. He liberated the Soviet Union and he also went to North Korea. They say, “Oh! Is that what has been going on? Is that what happened?” They understand why I am a Unification church member.

When we go outside and when we talk about the Unification church, we have to be very proud because everyone knows. I don’t give a massage to a person who does not like the Unification church.

Please be reborn in the word. We love all members of the Unification church! (Applause)

My son asked me,”Why do you do this?” I said, “Because the word is precious and important”. My son told me that he is very proud of me for doing this.

Hyung-Jin Nim:

Let’s give it up for Mr. Kim Tae Son and Mrs. Kim. Mrs. Kim is up here. She is part of the choir today. (Applause)

It was not mentioned in the video but after he left Han Nam Dong where he was attending True Parents as a bodyguard, he felt so empty in his heart, so when he started his business and created his massage clinic he started writing all of True Parents’ words. He did Cheong Seong Gyeong; this huge text, he wrote it by hand. He wrote the Divine Principle four times by hand, the peace messages, – a very big text – he also did that by hand. He has really had his own spiritual practice all centered on True Parents’ words. We are so thankful for Mr. Kim’s family.

Hyung-Jin Nim’s introduction of guest speakers:

Brothers and sisters, today we have a special service. As you know the organization at Cheon Bok Gung is now four districts from the previous seven districts. We are organized now by East, West, North, and South. Seoul is now divided up into four regions. It’s divided up into these regions according to how True Parents divided up the four regions in the past; it also coincides with the education centers that they have in each district. For example, the police centers also separate the four districts in the same way that we have. It is very easy for somebody who is a new member or for somebody who is entering into the church to know which region they are in within the four districts.

So we have now four districts and today we are going to hear from the Hoonsa Nims, the people who are the head ministers of the East region and the West region. First we’ll be hearing from Cho Man-woong Moksa Nim. He has done ministry for over thirty- three years out of a total of being in the church 43 years; 43 years of working as a teacher and also a minister.

He retired last year. He was our regional director for Gangnam region which is a very important region here in Seoul, and he was the regional director there for many years. He has shown exceptional leadership amongst the ministers. When he retired, I was very saddened by that, so I asked him to please come and walk with us on the Hoonsa Nim training, on the Hoonsa track. “Even though you are done with ministry, please walk together with us on the Hoonsa track” which is of course as you may know 33 years of ministry, and then after that they have to walk 400 day training. And if you miss 3 days you go back to day one, so you can’t miss out any day. And it is every day at 2:30 in the morning that we start and train!

Moksa Nim has been walking with us, training with us for 307 days now and he is walking on the Hoonsa track.

He will come as the representative of East Seoul and of our brothers and sisters who reside there. He will speak to us for about fifteen minutes with some words of encouragement, particularly for the Eastern region, and in the next fifteen minutes we are going to have Kim Yong-ha Hoonsa Nim who is the regional pastor for the Western region of Seoul.

He has done over 33 years of ministry. He has completed the 400 day Hoonsa training so he was ordained as a Hoonsa Nim last year. He will then speak as the representative of the Western region for fifteen minutes.

So let’s take time now to now invite Mr. Cho Man-woong Moksa Nim. When he comes up, let’s give him a big round of applause! (Applause) Eastern region!

Cho Man-Woong Moksa Nim -East Region:

Hallelujah! I am glad to see you! I would like for Tim Elder here to convey to you all the content that I want to communicate to you today. First I will read to you quotes from True Father’s words and from the Bible.

True Father’s words:

“We have now entered a new age. What kind of attitude should we have? The conviction to restore independence to our homeland more than anything else should be burning in our chest. In other words you should become the standard bearers for building the homeland that God has been impatiently waiting for since the past six thousand years. You should take pride in being a pioneer in being the special forces sent into battle as the advance guard to reclaim the land and take responsibility for this incredible mission. Aju!”

Bible:

Genesis 18:26 The LORD said, “If I find 50 righteous people inside the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake.” 32 Then he said, “Oh may the Lord not be angry, and I shall speak only this once; suppose ten are found there?” And He said, “I will not destroy it on account of the ten.” Aju!

I entered the Unification church in 1963 in April in Chungnam province. I am working now as a pastor for 43 years. There are three points to the words that I would like to convey to you today. I have been called by our international president to train here as a Hoonsa and to work here in that capacity. There are a number of miracles that are happening here and I would like to introduce some of those to you.

Back in 1977 I went through a period where working as a public official was so difficult that I wanted to leave that position. I wanted to go to work in a company outside the church. But when I went to receive some counseling regarding that and I stood up, God struck me in the waist. For the next month I had to stay lying down. I could not get up. I was just lying down for a month.

Again in 2008 on February 26^th I had another trial. That was the time of our True Parents’ birthday, and we were conducting education sessions around the country. On the morning of the 26^th of February I tried to get out of bed but I had such pain in my waist! I went to the hospital, and received the diagnosis that I had a disc that was out of place. And it was even not in the primary stage but it was in the middle stage of my becoming crippled, and it was not easy to cure that.

That was also the time when Hyo-jin nim passed into the spiritual world but I could not go to the Seung Hwa ceremony because of that pain. Finally I did find a hospital that was able to treat my condition, to some extent, but not fully, so always there was a chance for it to recur. My doctor said,”Don’t walk a lot! Don’t stay seated in a chair for a long time!” He gave me a lot of limitations on my daily activities.

When I was living like that, on May 1^st of last year, I went into convulsions. It was right then that the international president told me that I should go the way of Hoonsa. I could not answer him right away at that point but I was struggling in my heart how to answer. How could I give one hundred and twenty bows in my condition? Also my wife had a problem with her knee, and she was having an operation. Hoonsa involves husband and wife doing it together, and both of us, husband and wife had situations that would prevent us from going the way of Hoonsa. So we struggled a lot with that issue.

During the service, the international president spoke out from the stage,”I want to meet you after the service”, and after the service, he took me by the hand and took me to his office. The first thing he said to me then was, “My meeting you is fate”. [Fate means that it is not a way that I could go because I did not want to or not go if I didn’t want to.] So my wife and I decided right then and there that we would go ahead and do this.

We had attended True Parents all the time and we decided that we would attend the second generation of True Parents’ family and go the way of Hoonsa. Beginning July 1^st we offered a hundred and twenty bows. We thought that we would never be able to offer one hundred and twenty bows but we were able to do it. And even as we were doing our training I was able to be in a situation where I was sitting down and leaning back and bend my joints in ways that I thought I would never be able to do. This was truly God’s miraculous healing of our condition.

Right now in Cheon Bok Gung many miracles are happening like this. So I want to tell you about those miracles during my time with you today. Right now in Cheon Bok Gung, the miracle of Cheong Seong is giving the spirit of salvation to all of humanity. We are attending the international president every morning and after the bows the international president strikes the gong, and he strikes the drum and another instrument that you bang. These are God’s sounds. These sounds resonate from here in the Cheon Bok Gung to the city of Seoul and to the people all around Korea and all throughout the world like a wave.

If there are any among you who have physical illness, come to the Cheon Bok Gung and pray and I am sure that you will be cured like a miracle. And if you are struggling over some problem come to the Cheon Bok Gung, offer your Cheong Seong, and that issue will be resolved.

So the first message that I want to give you today is that this Cheon Bok Gung is where miracles are born. And the second message that I want to give to you is that you are righteous people chosen by God for this time.

God established Noah, and he had Noah build an ark at the top of the mountain. Many people at that time did not believe in God and they made fun of Noah, “If you are going to build a boat, you should build it by the sea. Why do you build a boat on a mountain?” But God gave the flood judgment with rain for 40 days, and the water rose till it reached the top of the mountain. Then the ark began to float on the water. The rain was there and then the waves were calmed. And God saved the eight members of Noah’s family.

Abraham was also a righteous man. God told Abraham to leave his homeland. How can we so easily leave our homeland where we were born and raised? But Abraham left his homeland just after hearing that one word from God.

Lot was another righteous man. When God judged Sodom, He first told Lot and his family to leave Sodom before He passed judgment on that city.  There were many people living in Sodom but there were no righteous people. Not even ten righteous men could be found. Ten is not a large number. Among the hundreds who are gathered here today, ten would be a very small proportion. A “Righteous Person” means a person who is able to follow God’s Will and follows God’s Word, but not even ten righteous men could be found in Sodom.  And before God had to pass judgment on Sodom He first brought the family of Lot out of that city.

Unification church members, you who are gathered here today, you truly are the righteous people of this day! We have the responsibility to save this world in this era. We have the responsibility to build Cheon Il Guk. When Lot came out with his wife, God told them, “Do not look back!” I am sure that as they left Sodom they could hear their friends, their neighbors, and their relatives crying to them from behind. They could hear the city being destroyed, but they still had a feeling of attachment to the city. Finally, when Lot’s wife turned around to look at the city, she was turned into a pillar of salt.

As for us also today, we are often tempted to look back and to feel attachment to the world around us. We may want to have that honor, or power and authority, or to feel yearning for money and material. But it is more important for us to place God’s Word at the center of our heart rather than those secular things. So in that sense we can say that you who are here today are the righteous people of this age who are chosen for this age. We have a mission that is given to us. This is an incredible mission which is to build Cheon Il Guk.

My 3rd message is about our goal to first build a congregation of 21,000 members, which will be the foundation to receive 210,000 new members.  Our new organization in dividing Korea into 4 districts is a principled way to have God work with us. Similarly, in the Tongil symbol, 4 positions are also represented.   So according to where you live in Korea, please find out which district you belong and join the team!  True Father says that in the east, we see the sun rise first.  The sun represents God and hope.  So this will be our motto.  Our first goal is to witness.  In order to make the goal of 21,000 new members, we must witness continually without resting.  All unification members must do this.  True Father says we are in a new era.  We are pioneers.  Pioneers must continue to move forward no matter what difficulties they face.  With this attitude, let us claim victory!  Mansei!”

Kim Yong-ha Hoonsa Nim – West Region :

„I’d like to tell you my story in my early years in the church, while I was a missionary in Japan.  First, I’d like to read from Ephesians (Bible):  “As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spririt-just as you were called to one hope when you were called-one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” Aju

I joined in 1964 while I was a senior in high school.  I had seen True Father in a vision.  I experienced the Holy Spirit spiritually.  When I heard the Divine Principle conclusion for the first time, I was very certain that True Father was the Lord of the Second Advent.  Writing in my journal, I made a promise to God that I would testify to this fact.  So after I graduated high school, I started missionary work in the villages of Japan.  I thought I would be welcomed in sharing this exciting news of a savior, but I was mocked.  The villagers would not let me drink clean water.  They threw rocks at me and stole my clothes.  Yet I continued to serve them by teaching and tutoring the farm children who were not allowed to go to school.  I would also work in the fields for free.  I was able to bring in many new members, but my health declined due to malnutrition.  I thought the only way I could survive was to eventually leave my mission and the church.  So I packed my bags.

But that very night of my packing, True Father came to me in a dream and spoke to me, giving me his love and guidance.  He reminded me that when you take on the responsibility of being a missionary, you cannot abandon it.  The region of your work is spiritually depending on you.  Therefore, if you are still alive, you must never give up.  You must die trying to help and witness to the people.  Then when you die, they will erect a tombstone in your honor. After this dream, I awoke and unpacked my bags and renewed by determination.  But instead of improving, the persecution increased.  My health continued to decline.  So I packed my bags again!  When I tried to return to my own home where my parents were, I was turned away.  I ended up sleeping at a temple where I cried all night.  This time, True Mother appeared to me in a vision to comfort me, embracing me by nursing me at her breast.

After that vision, I never thought of leaving.  I realized that True Parents sacrificed not only physically but also spiritually for me.  In my 45 years of public service, I have received many special graces from them.  So I offered to help our international president by making 3000 bows while he was resting from his 21,000 bows.  Each of our bows was a commitment to bring in 21,000 new members.  By the way, Satan did not sit by and give us an easy time of it.  He tried every way to stop us!  But in the end, we had victory and won over him!  In the same way, True Parents have had victory over Satan in their 7 resurrections.  During our continuous commitments of service, we came to realize how True Parents sacrificed in this spiritual and physical way to pave the path for us members and for all of humanity.  They passed thru 8 stages of indemnity from the individual to the cosmic level, each level requiring more sacrifice than the one before.  So in order to receive peace and joy in my life, I have determined to support them in this endeavor.

As representatives of our True Parents, we wear the HoonnSa clothing.  This is very humble attire, which reminds us to become more humble and serving as we come close to TP.  As model members, we should keep our heads low and bow to others.  To train our bodies and minds, we do 210 bows every morning.  I may be sleepy, but after our bows I feel energized and ready to work.  To train our minds, we immerse ourselves in True Fathers words.  The affect is that all our personal troubles then take care of themselves.  Would you like to join us?

At our World Headquarters Center here in Korea, this is the place where God’s blessing is shared.  You can receive God’s salvation in a substantial way.  We also can return glory and joy to True Parents by visiting here.

As Unification members, we must first become unified ourselves.  If we can’t unite, then we will never bring new members.  We must resolve to serve more than any other church.  That’s why we have started a bowing condition at 2:00 am.  Every time I offer bows in the presence of the 4 saints (Buddha, Mohammed, Confucius, and Jesus) I think I have to go beyond what they did.  I have to serve more than they did.  If I can accomplish this, then the saints will help me.  People will start to join like waves of clouds!

God has called us to work to unite all religions.  We have to join together and offer our unique abilities.  Let us make a solid determination right now to make our 21,000 member congregation!”

Hyung-jin nim:

“I want to remind everyone that this effort is not about one person or one leader.  It will require everyone’s participation to move this nation.  So let’s pray now for our True Parents and give glory to them!  Today we heard from the East and West leaders.  Here in Seoul, let us make a foundation for our goal to establish 21,000 new members to expand to 210,000.  This will grow to become the largest sect of a religion in the world.  We want to build a holy United Nations as well.  Thank you, Heavenly Father, for speaking thru our leaders today.  Help us to see how we are all connected, especially while True Parents are still on this earth.  We pray for the victory and safety of all members around the world.  AJU.”

AS A PEACE-LOVING GLOBAL CITIZEN

R E V E R E N D  S U N  M Y U N G  M O O N

Excerpts from the 2009 English language edition

AS A PEACE-LOVING GLOBAL CITIZEN

REVEREND  SUN  MYUNG  MOON

Introduction to this booklet of excerpts from the English language edition, published in the USA

The autobiography of Reverend Sun Myung Moon, known to many UPF Ambassadors for Peace as Father Moon, and to his religious followers as True Father, and with his wife Hak Ja Han Moon as True Parents, was published in Korea in March 2009, by the well-known and highly respected Gimm-Young Publishers, consider by many to be the premier Korean publishing house. The female president took note of Rev. Moon’s contributions to world peace when she was studying in the US in the early 90’s. She says she realized that the bad publicity surrounding Rev. Moon's work was based on disinformation and prejudice. It is then that the idea of publishing an objective book about Rev. Moon entered her mind.

The president herself is a devout Buddhist. People close to her say that before coming to the decision to accept a book for publication the president does serious soul-searching by visiting the temple and asking Buddha whether this is the right course of action. In the case with Rev. Moon’s biography, she reportedly received the inspiration that this was a good and special book and that, yes, she should publish it.

The company is well-known in Korea for producing numerous bestsellers covering wide range of topics including those on historical and contemporary Christian figures. Some have even jokingly called it a “Christian publisher.” The company, however, states that its main purpose is to enlighten Korean society and in, this particular case, those under the spell of religious bigotry. Accordingly, this book, as others put out by GimmYoungSa, should be viewed as a contribution toward the creation of a fairer and more tolerant society.

The book quickly became a best seller in Korea and later in the year a limited English language edition, from which these excerpts are taken, was published in the United States of America.

The English edition runs to more than 340 pages. Rev. Moon not only recounts many events, but gives new insights into his motives and the reasons for his decisions and actions, from his earliest beginnings to today.

This excerpt contains Rev. Moon's Foreword and two sub-chapters, “The Peaceful Family Is the Building Block of Heaven” and “Dreaming of a Peaceful World”, also the chapter & sub-chapter headings to give some idea of the content. The English language edition, re-edited, for Western readers has been republished, and the book is currently being translated into Dutch. Contact UPF Nederland for more information.

We hope you will find this short excerpt interesting, inspiring and enlightening.

Willem A. Koetsier

Secretary General, Universal Peace Federation Nederland

Foreword

A steady spring rain fell all last night, ending a winter drought. It was so nice to have had the rain that I spent all this morning walking about in the garden. The ground had that fragrant aroma of moist earth I had missed all through the winter, and the weeping willow and cherry trees were showing signs of new spring buds. I felt I could hear the popping sounds of new life sprouting here and there around the garden. Before I knew it, my wife, who had followed me out, was picking young mugwort shoots that had managed to poke their heads up through the dry lawn. The night’s rain had turned the whole world into a fragrant spring garden.

No matter how much commotion there may be in the world, when the calendar turns to March, spring is on its way. The older I become, the more it means to me that in nature spring follows winter and brings with it flowers in full bloom. What am I that God, in each season, allows the flowers to bloom and the snow to fall, so I might know the joy of being alive? Love wells up from within the deepest recesses of my heart, and I am overcome with emotion. I am moved to tears to think that everything of real value has been given to me freely. In my life, I have circled the globe many times over in my efforts to bring about a world of peace, and yet it is here in this garden in spring that I am able to taste real peace. Peace, too, was given to us by God, but we lost it somewhere and now spend our lives looking for it in all the wrong places.

To bring a world of peace, I have spent my life going to the most lowly and secluded places. I met mothers in Africa who could only watch helplessly as their children died of hunger, and I met fathers in South America who lived by a river full of fish but couldn’t support their families by fishing. At first, all I did was simply share my food, but they granted me their love in return. Intoxicated with the power of love I went on to plant seeds and cultivate forests. Together we caught fish to feed hungry children, and these trees were used to build schools. I was happy even as mosquitoes bit me all over as I fished all through the night. Even when I was sinking knee-deep into mud, I was happy because I could see the shadows of despair disappear from the faces of my neighbors.

Seeking the shortest path to a world of peace, I devoted myself to inspiring change in the political process and to changing people’s ways of thinking. I met then-President Mikhail Gorbachev of the Soviet Union as part of my effort to bring reconciliation between communism and democracy, and I met then-President Kim Il Sung of North Korea for a serious discussion on how to bring peace to the Korean peninsula. I went to a United States in moral decline and played the role of a fireman responding to a call in an effort to reawaken its Puritan spirit. I dedicated myself to resolving various conflicts in the world. In my work for peace among Muslims and Jews, I was not deterred by rampant terror. As a result of my efforts, thousands have gathered for rallies and peace marches, with Jews, Muslims, and Christians all joining together. Sadly, however, the conflict continues.

I see hope, though, that an age of peace is about to be inaugurated in Korea. The Korean peninsula has been trained through endless suffering and the tragedy of division, and I can feel in every cell of my body that a powerful energy has been stored here and is ready to burst out. In the same way that no one can stop a new season of spring from coming, no human power can stop heavenly fortune from coming to the Korean peninsula and spreading throughout the world. People need to prepare themselves so that they may rise with the tide of heavenly fortune when it arrives.

I am a controversial person. The mere mention of my name causes trouble in the world. I never sought money or fame but have spent my life speaking only of peace. The world, though, has associated many different phrases with my name, rejected me, and thrown stones at me. Many are not interested in knowing what I say or what I do. They only oppose me.

I have been unjustly imprisoned six times in my life-by imperial Japan, in Kim Il Sung’s North Korea, by South Korea’s Syngman Rhee government, and even in the United States-and at times I was beaten so hard that the flesh was torn from my body. Today, though, not even the slightest wound remains in my heart. Wounds easily disappear in the presence of true love. Even enemies melt away without a trace in the presence of true love. True love is a heart that gives and gives and wants to continuing giving. True love is a love that even forgets that it already gave love and gives love again. I have lived my entire life intoxicated in such love. I wanted nothing aside from love, and I threw my entire being into the effort to share love with my impoverished neighbors. At times, the path of love was so difficult that my knees buckled under me, but even then I felt happy in my heart, dedicated to loving humanity.

Even now, I am filled with love that I have not yet been able to give. It is with a prayer that this love will become a river of peace saturating the drought-stricken land and flowing to the ends of the earth that I now place this book before the world. Recently a growing number of people have been seeking to know more about me. For the sake of those who are curious, I have looked back on my life and recorded my candid recollections in this book. As for the stories that could not be included in this volume, I hope there will be other opportunities for me to convey them.

I send boundless love to all those who have put their faith in me, remained by my side, and lived their lives with me—and especially to my wife, Hak Ja Han Moon, to whom I am deeply grateful for struggling with me to scale the most difficult peaks.

Finally, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to Eun Ju Park, president of Gimm-Young Publishers Inc., who poured out much sincerity and dedication in the process of bringing this book to publication, and to everyone in the publishing company who labored in editing the words I spoke so that the often complex content could be easily understood by readers.

Sun Myung Moon,

Cheongpyeong, South Korea, March 1, 2009

______________________________________________

The Peaceful Family Is the Building Block of Heaven

Many Western people live truly lonely lives. Their children leave home once they turn eighteen, and the parents may only get to see their faces at Thanksgiving or Christmas. Many children never visit their parents to just find out how they are doing. Once people marry, they live with their spouse, independent from their family, until their parents become so old they can no longer take care of themselves. At that point, they move into a nursing home. So it is understandable that some Westerners envy the culture of the East. Many elderly people in the West think, “In the East, the grandparents live in the family as the senior members of the family, and it is really wonderful. The children respect their old parents. This is how people are supposed to live. What good is it to be lying in a nursing home, not able to see my children, not even knowing what day it is, just staying alive?”

Unfortunately, though, the Eastern family structure is also gradually deteriorating. We too are abandoning traditions that have been handed down to us for thousands of years. We have thrown away our traditional clothing, our food, and our family structure. The number of senior citizens living alone in Korea is on the rise. Each time I see stories in the news of senior citizens alone, it makes me sad. The family is where generations live together. If family members are scattered and the parents are left alone, then that is no longer a family. The extended family system is a beautiful Korean tradition.

I recommend that three generations live together as one family. I do so, not simply because it is a way of maintaining our country’s tradition. When a husband and wife have a child, they pass on all they can to that child. There is a limit, however, to how much the parents can pass on. The parents represent the present and the children the future. The grandparents represent the past. So it is only when the grandparents, parents, and children live together that the children can inherit all the fortune of the past and present. To love and respect your grandfather is to inherit the history of the past and to learn from the world of the past. The children learn precious wisdom from their parents on how to live in the present, while the parents prepare for the future by loving their children.

The grandfather is in a position to represent God. No matter how intelligent a young man may be, he cannot know all the secrets of this big world. Young people cannot know all the different secrets of life that come to us as we grow older. This is the reason the grandfather represents the history of the family. The grandfather is a precious teacher who passes on to the grandchildren all the wisdom he has acquired through the experiences he has accumulated during the course of his life.

The world’s oldest grandfather is God. So a life of receiving the grandfather’s love and of living for the sake of the grandfather is a life of coming to understand God’s love and of living for His sake. We need to maintain such a tradition in order to open the secret storehouse of God’s Kingdom and receive His treasure of love. Any country that ignores its old people abandons its national character and ignores its roots.

When autumn comes, the chestnut tree gradually loses its moisture, and its leaves begin to fall. The outer shell of the chestnut falls off, and even the inner shell that surrounds the actual nut dries up. This is the cycle of life. Human beings are the same way. We are born as infants, grow up on the love of our parents, meet a wonderful partner, and get married. All this occurs in the chain of life made up of love. In the end, we become like chestnuts becoming dry in the autumn. Old people are not a separate category of people. We all become old. We must not treat old people disrespectfully, no matter how senile they may become. There is a saying, “Anything can be accomplished when there is harmony in the home.” When there is peace in the family, everything goes well. The peaceful family is the building block of the Kingdom of Heaven. The family operates on the power of love. If we love the universe as we love our families, then there is nothing to stop us from going anywhere we want. God exists in the center of love, as the Parent of the entire universe. That is why the love in the family needs to link directly to God. When the family is completed in love, the universe will be completed.

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Dreaming of a Peaceful World

For years I have called for a world where all religions live together as one, all races live as one, and all nations exist as one. For thousands of years history has seen the continuous increase of divisions. Each time a different religion was adopted or a new regime came into power, more boundaries were drawn and wars were fought. Now, however, we live in an age of globalism. For the sake of the future we must become one.

One way I propose to facilitate that is through the International Peace Highway, a huge undertaking. It will link Korea and Japan by an undersea tunnel and create a bridge across the Bering Strait that separates Russia and North America. These great links can unify the world. When the highway is completed it will be possible to travel by car from Africa’s Cape of Good Hope to Santiago, Chile, and from London to New York. There will be no roadblocks; the entire world will be interconnected as if by capillary vessels.

The world will become one integrated community, and everyone will be able to travel freely across international borders. Borders that give free passage to anyone will lose their significance as borders. Something similar will be true for religion. As the frequency of exchanges among religions increases, greater mutual understanding will arise, conflict will disappear, and the walls of separation will crumble. When different types of people live together in a single global community, barriers between races will come down. Interaction between races will occur despite differences in appearance and language. This cultural revolution will bring the world into one.

The Silk Road was not simply a trade route that people used in order to sell silk and buy spices. It was also a vehicle for the peoples of the East and West to meet and for Buddhism, Islam, and Christianity to meet. These different cultures intermingled and gave rise to a new culture. The International Peace Highway will play a similar role in the twentyfirst century.

Rome could thrive because all roads led to Rome. This illustrates the importance of roads. When a road is built, people use it to travel. It is used to transport culture and ideology. That is why when a road is built it changes the course of history. When the International Peace Highway is completed, the world can be physically bound together as one. The road will make this possible. I cannot overemphasize the importance of bringing the world together. Some may think that this is an idea ahead of its time. Religious people, however, foresee the future and prepare for it. So it is only natural that we are ahead of our time. The world may not understand us and may cause us to suffer, but religious believers must persevere to lead the way to the future. Completing the International Peace Highway will require the cooperation of many nations. China, which was a victim of Japanese aggression, may not welcome the idea of being connected to Japan by a highway. Japan and Korea, however, cannot connect to the rest of the world without going through China, so we need to make efforts to win China’s trust. Who will do this? Those of us who will take spiritual ownership over the International Peace Highway in the twenty-first century need to take the lead in this effort.

How about bridging the Bering Strait? It will cost a great deal, but this should not cause concern. The amount of money that the United States has spent in Iraq would be more than enough to build such a bridge. We must stop waging war and forcing people to suffer. It is perverse to start wars and squander hundreds of billions of dollars. The time has come for us to beat our swords into plowshares and our spears into pruning hooks.

The International Peace Highway is a project to bring the world together as one. To become one means more than simply connecting continents by tunnels and bridges. It refers to an equalization of the world’s standards of living. When someone monopolizes a technology and keeps the profit for himself, the balance of the world is upset. The International Peace Highway will rearrange the current inequality by creating access to existing natural and human resources. This will bring about a leveling of wealth. Leveling means that a little is taken off places that are high and added to places that are low. As a result, the two have the same height. This will require sacrifice from those with greater material possessions or knowledge. Building a world of peace cannot be done with one-time charitable acts or donations. Only sincere love and continuous sacrifice is capable of creating a world of peace. We must be willing to offer everything.

Building the International Peace Highway does more than just provide the world with a physical means of communication. Human beings are created so that their mind and body become one. Something similar is true for the world we live in. The world can be completely unified only when there is both physical communication and communication of heart.

The United Nations has done much for world peace. More than sixty years after its founding, however, the United Nations is losing sight of its original purpose and is now an organization that works for the interests of a few powerful countries. The U.N. was created to solve the conflicts that arise in the world, so it must put the world’s interests before the interests of one side or the other. It only leads to further conflict when a powerful country insists on its own way and uses force to pursue it. Unfortunately, the U.N. today is unable to do much about such situations.

In this light, I have proposed a restructuring of the United Nations as a bicameral institution. In addition to the General Assembly there would be a religious, or cultural, assembly or council. This body would consist of respected spiritual leaders in fields such as religion, culture, and education. The members of this interreligious assembly would need to demonstrate an ability to transcend the limited interests of particular religions and cultures and to speak for the spiritual and moral purposes of all humanity. I maintain that the two chambers, working together in mutual respect and cooperation, will be able to make great advances in ushering in a world of peace.

Some may oppose this, saying, “Why should religious people become involved in world affairs?” My answer is that the world today is in a period when the participation of religious people is crucial. Those who have achieved deep self-awareness through religious practice are needed now more than ever. It is only truly religious people who can stand up to the unrighteousness and evil of the world and practice true love. It is only when the knowledge and experience of political leaders are combined with the wisdom of interreligious leaders that the world will be able to find the path to true peace.

Again today I set out on my path with renewed determination to achieve that goal. My prayer is that every person on earth will be reborn as a peace-loving global citizen, transcending barriers of religion, ideology, and race.

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CHAPTER HEADINGS

1: Food is Love; What I Learned about Peace While Being Carried on My Father’s Back; The Joy of Giving Food to Others; Being a Friend to All; A Definite Compass for My Life; A Stubborn Child Who Never Gives Up; Loving Nature to Learn from It; Talking about the Universe with the Insects; Ardent Student

2: A River of Heart Flows with Tears; Between Fear and Inspiration; The More It Hurts, the More You Should Love; A Knife Not Sharpened Grows Dull; A Key to Unlock a Great Secret; Like a Fireball Burning Hot; Befriending Laborers by Sharing Their Suffering; The Calm Sea of the Heart; “Please Don’t Die”; A Command That Must Be Obeyed; A Grain of Rice Is Greater Than the Earth; Heungnam Prison in the Snow; U.N. Forces Open the Prison Gate

3: The Man with the Fullest Stomach; “You Are My Spiritual Teacher”; The Crazy, Handsome Man by the Well; A Church with No Denomination; Two Universities Expel Students and Professors; New Buds Grow on Scorched Branches; We Are Trained by Our Wounds; A Sincere Heart Is Most Important

4: Why We Work Globally; Paying the Ultimate Price to Follow God’s Path; Money Earned Honorably, Used Prayerfully; Power of Dance Moves the World; Angels Open a Path through a Dark Forest; World Tour Last Plane to America; Our Future Lies with the Ocean; Reverend Moon, Seed for a New American Revolution; Washington Monument, 1976; Cry Not for Me but for the World; “Why Does My Father Have to Go to Jail?”

5: True Families Create True People; My Wife, Hak Ja Han Moon; An Incomparable Inner Beauty; Promises That Must Never Be Broken; To Love Is to Give and Forget; The Peaceful Family Is the Building Block of Heaven; Ten Years of Tears Melt a Father-in-Law’s Heart; The True Meaning of Marriage; True Love Is Found in True Families; Leaving Behind a Legacy of Love

6: Love Will Bring Unification; The Power of Religion to Turn People to Goodness; The River Does Not Reject the Waters That Flow into It; “Allow Freedom of Religion in the Soviet Union”; Korea’s Unification Will Bring World Unification; My Meeting with President Kim Il Sung; The Land May Be Divided, but Not Its People; Not by Guns or Swords, but by True Love

7: Future of Korea, Future of the World; World Harmony and the Korean Peninsula; From Suffering and Tears to Peace and Love; The Ultimate Purpose of Twenty-first-Century Religion; Cultural Projects Express God’s Creativity; Master of the Seas and the Future of the World; Great Opportunity in the Oceanic Era; A Single Dandelion Is More Precious Than Gold; Solution to Poverty and Hunger; More Than Giving Bread, Teaching How to Make Bread

8: Message for Young People; Find Your Purpose, Change Your Life; Embrace the World; Everything We Have Is Borrowed from Heaven; Happiness Is a Life Lived for Others; Dreaming of a Peaceful World.

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Some testimonies from readers in Korea

“I am a Christian. My church tells me that Rev. Moon is a devil. I love to read GimmYoungSa books. I felt betrayed by the company, asked why did it sell its soul to the devil? Strange… This is the best company in Korea. It published so many Christian books, too. What a contradiction. They say the company spent three years preparing the publication. I had to find out for myself. So I bought the book. I couldn’t stop reading it. Was this stuff true or a fabrication? This is not one man’s life, this is an epic! I felt sorrow, sadness, pride – I was overcome by a whole range of emotions, and I could not lay down the book until I finished it at 4 o’clock in the morning. My conclusion – this man is real. Next question is – who is this man?! Whatever the answer is, everyone who loves peace and wants to do away with prejudice should read this book. I read it again and underlined all the important passages for myself. Who can persevere through so much persecution, prison, torture other than a saint? Thank you GimmYoungSa - I can believe in you again!”

“Once I started reading, I could not stop until I finished it all. It is not your regular page-turner – the book touches the depth of your soul, pierces your heart… I never believed people like Rev. Moon could live in this day and age... His attitude and the scale of things he accomplished go way out of the range of other contemporary outstanding individuals such as Cardinal Kim Su Hwan or monk Seong Cheol. I feel he is the first real, true religious person.”

“This book is going to be a great hit.  After reading this book myself, I went to the room where my middle-school-aged son was busy preparing for his tests. I gave him Rev. Moon’s autobiography and said, “Son, put down your textbooks, this reading comes first!”

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This booklet is excerpted from  AS A PEACE-LOVING GLOBAL CITIZEN by Reverend Sun Myung Moon, translated and produced in the United States of America, by The Washington Times Foundation, Inc., 3600 New York Avenue, NE, Washington, DC 20002

Copyright 2009 by The Washington Times Foundation, Inc.

All rights reserved. Except for use in reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical or otherwise, without the prior written consent of the publisher.

This edition is a limited advance release for presentation and review purposes, and not for commercial distribution or sale. Effort has been made by translators, editors and the producer to accurately represent the Korean edition, but this edition is not considered final.

Original publication was in the Korean language by Gimm-Young Publishers, Inc., Seoul, Korea, March 9, 2009

Thanks to Mission Foundation, Inc. of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, and Gimm-Young Publishers, Inc. for their permission and support of this English edition

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