Based on extracts from his speeches throughout his life
Part 24
Earlier installments are available for reading.
Spiritual Battle to Prepare the Way for True Parents
The preparations for the beginning of True Father’s public mission in 1945 included the battle to win the hearts of specially prepared Christian leaders, many of whom already had a strong sense of the direction of God’s providence. Here, True Father explains the spiritual and providential reality in the background.
The Messiah can begin his ministry only on a national- and world-level foundation. Since these foundations have not been established, they absolutely must be built in the Last Days. Otherwise, the sphere of global victory cannot be established. Therefore, a people like the people of Israel [in Jesus’ time] must appear.
What nation must appear to accomplish what the nation of Israel and Judaism could not? A renewed Christianity centered on a specific nation must go through a course of tribulation. In the end, this chosen nation must emerge. Through this chosen nation, Heaven must indemnify the failure of the first Israel and accomplish the providence on earth. Which nation is this? The Divine Principle asserts that this nation is none other than Korea.
Forty years of the suffering of the Korean people
Until the end of World War II, Japan ruled Korea. Among Korean patriots, there were many who fought against Japanese colonial rule. As you learned through the Divine Principle, God was deprived of the four-position foundation. Therefore, God’s purpose has been to recreate the four-position foundation. Thus, we often come across the number four in the Bible and in God’s providence. There were many indemnity periods of 40 or 400 years. Restoration through indemnity is carried out according to the Principle.
How did Japan dominate Korea for forty years? Eve on the satanic side knew that in the future Adam on the heavenly side would appear. Satan already knew of the coming of the true Lord; he knew the coming of the Lord as the culmination of four thousand years of history. Therefore, Japan occupied Korea in order to destroy that possibility. That is why Japan invaded Asia. From this point of view, we can understand that Korea is a providential nation centered on God’s will. We know that it is a principle of development that prior to the appearance of what is true, what is false appears. That is why the devil invaded Asia and ruled it for forty years.
Thus, the satanic forces brought Korean women aged from twelve to forty, who greatly cherished their purity, into sexual slavery with the intention of staining the national character of the Korean people.
Persecution of Christians and patriotic activities
The satanic side dominated the Israelites and Christians both spiritually and physically. Similarly, Japan physically ruled Korea for forty years. Spiritually, however, because of the spirit of those people who took part in the Independence Movement for the sake of their nation, God was able to connect His providence to the Korean people.
Those who considered Christianity important became leaders and united the people in their fight. They risked their lives for their nation during the forty years under Japanese control. This was significant, both historically and providentially.
As the end of World War II drew near, persecution became increasingly severe, particularly against Christians. While many Christians were killed, some went into hiding, escaping into the Manchurian wilderness or fleeing to Russia. Many Koreans believed in God and desperately hoped for emancipation from Japanese dominance. Nevertheless, many other Christians obeyed the Japanese government of Korea and lived in accordance with Japanese rule. Meanwhile, numerous patriots and devoted Christians continued fighting and kept faith until the day of liberation. In the final months of 1944, Christians underwent extreme cruelty at the hands of the Japanese occupiers. On August 15, 1945, Japan surrendered.
If they had surrendered later than August 17, two days later, many thousands of Christians would have been killed. The Japanese military had a plan to kill Christians on that day. It would have been a huge massacre. Their intention was to eradicate Korean Christians. This illustrates that when the degree of atrocity Satan is about to commit reaches its zenith, God can always change the situation in His favor.
Spiritual fire and internal Christian revival
No matter how cruelly subjugated the Korean people were, some spiritual manifestation of the subjective, Adamic authority had to appear. What kind of works were to be done? Spiritual works. Groups emerged in which this spiritual activity could take place. Japan, the Eve-type nation on the satanic side, was oppressing Korea. Nevertheless, since God had a plan for His future providence, He had to make necessary preparations even while Imperial Japan ruled Korea. For this reason, Christianity made progress even in those days.
First, Western missionaries came in the 1910s and the 1920s, but they were unwelcome. They had to go back. From 1930 to 1936 was a golden age of Christianity in Korea. Through Korea’s traditional Christian churches, God has been conducting spiritual manifestations to this day. During the 1930s and 1940s, He built a foundation even before Korea’s liberation.
The Apostles, who at first did not follow Jesus because they lacked faith, later worked very hard to establish the Christian foundation. On that foundation began the history leading to the Second Advent of the Lord. Before Korea’s liberation, many people were able to communicate with the spirit world and referred to themselves as biblical figures such as Peter, John, Paul or Abraham. The spirits who represented all those prophets, who had come and gone throughout history, manifested themselves on earth all at once through these spiritual groups in Korea. As a result, many groups formed that were focused on the restoration of Eden.
Among the groups intent on restoring Eden, one represented the Old Testament Age, one the New Testament Age and one the Completed Testament Age. Within that preparation, there was a heavenly program to cleanse sins, so participants overcame tremendous obstacles.
Correlative activities of men and women
We know there is a heavenly providence focused on the Korean Peninsula. A movement with an internal mission has to start from there. Men have to take responsibility for external activities, and women have to take responsibility for internal developments. In the course of the Fall, Eve dominated Adam. Therefore, in the course of restoration, wives rather than husbands are responsible to achieve internal objectives. Similarly, because Adam was dominated by Eve, men are responsible to achieve external objectives in the course of restoration. In this way, they have to seek to attain the standard before the Fall. But in order to establish a foundation of victories that can absorb all general activity, there must be some decisive authority. That is the returning Lord, endowed with the character of the Third Adam, who alone can provide a solution.
The east and the west halves of the Korean Peninsula have distinguishing characteristics. The east is mountainous; the west is dominated by plains. The east side of the country is masculine, whereas the west displays a feminine aspect. God’s providence, too, has characteristics similar to the geographical features of the Korean Peninsula. In other words, God’s providence for the east half had masculine characteristics, while in the west, it had female characteristics. In the west, in Cholsan, women were doing spiritual activities, while in Wonsan, which is in the east, men were doing practical activities.
In three stages, women had to prepare the heavenly providence. Why? Because Eve fell first, God had to call women first so they would be aware of how the Lord would come. Three generations had to prepare those providential activities. In those days, there was great confusion. As you know, going from Mrs. Kim Seong-do to Mrs. Heo Ho-bin and on from there, covered three generations. Thus, the course passing through Mrs. Kim Seong-do, Mrs. Heo Ho-bin and Pak No-pa—the lady who claimed to be the wife of Jehovah—followed the women’s work. Pastors Paek Nam-ju, Lee Yong-do and Kim Paek-moon led the work being done by the men.
The established churches and the new spirit-led groups
What developed through Judaism is completely different from what happened in Joseph’s family. Likewise, in Korea what was taking place in the mainline Christian churches and the phenomena manifesting in spiritual groups differed. God made it so that the spiritual groups that could fulfill His will would have a mission similar to that of Joseph’s family. Briefly stated, the spiritual groups were meant to lead the established Christian churches. The Christian churches and the spiritual groups represented Cain and Abel, respectively. The satanic side had a claim to all the historical misery. So, these groups and the churches had to unite.
Though the history of the groups that appeared in this era through the numerous historical courses did not last longer than ten or more years, behind that history lay the content from the six-thousand year span of the providence. If they had been able to connect completely to the newly coming Lord, therefore—and unite with the larger society and environment, thereby becoming the one shield and axis that could act as the foundation on which they could perfectly protect him—it would not have been difficult to begin a new history.
If this had been realized, it would not have mattered whether Christianity believed it or not.
To be continued next week.