The Unique Perspective of Obedient Love – Part 1

True Mother’s mother, Grandmother Hong Soon-ae, gave the following testimony at the Unification Church Headquarters in Tokyo, Japan on December 21, 1973. She provides her unique and poignant perspective of the events and situations she experienced from even before she gave birth to True Mother.

Part 1

My mother was an earnest Christian. When I was born, I was named “Soon-Ae” (“Obedient Love”) by the minister of her church. My mother guided me to become a Christian and trained me for three years under the guidance of Rev. Lee Young-do. After that period, I moved to another church because I was no longer satisfied with our former church and needed a new church on a higher spiritual level.

Many unknown people created conditions for the returning Messiah

Next, I met Mrs. Kim Sung-do (whom we called Grandmother Kim) and became her disciple. For fifteen years I was taught by this elder woman who I think had the mission of John the Baptist. One-day Grandmother Kim received a revelation and said to another lady senior whose nickname was “Kamsa Halmoni” [“Grandmother Thanks”], “The Heavenly Kingdom is going to be established in Korea. From your house there must appear a man and a woman to fulfill the mission of Joseph and Mary.” She also said that her own brother was in the position of Joseph and that his wife was in the position of Mary. But they could not accomplish their mission. As a result, the wife was taken into the spirit world, and the husband’s situation became difficult.

Next, God chose Mr. and Mrs. Lee II-deuk, a couple who were the members of Pokjung Kyo (Inside-the-Belly Church) and gave them the mission of Joseph and Mary. They were supposed to resolve the resentments of Jesus.

Through revelation, Mr. and Mrs. Lee of the Inside Belly Church knew about Jesus’ sorrowful heart. In order to resolve all this heart, they prepared and offered all of the things that Jesus would have needed from the time of his birth to the time when he was 12 years old.

Then Mr. and Mrs. Lee then received another revelation: “Now that you have relieved the painful heart I had until the age of 12, you should make preparations for the Second Advent of the Lord.”

So all the believers of the Inside-the-Belly Church, some 300 in number, united in making preparations to welcome the Lord at the Second Advent. Just when all the preparations had been made, True Father came to North Korea. I was waiting for the Lord’s Advent, too—with my three-year-old daughter (True Mother).

The revelation True Mother’s father received

Mother was born in a village in the Anju County in what is now North Korea at 4:30 am on the 6^th day of the 1^st month by the lunar calendar in 1943, when I was 30 years old. Her father had been a disciple of Rev. Lee Young-do when he received a revelation: “Marry the daughter of a man named Hong Yu-iI. Her baby, if it is a boy, will become the king of the universe; if a girl, she will become the queen of the universe.”

In my family lineage, there were seven generations that did good works. Three generations of the seven had only one daughter. I had a younger brother, but he was studying in Japan, and it was not certain whether he would ever come back to his house. So, my parents wanted my husband (Mr. Han, Mother’s father) to be adopted into my family. But, he was rather independent-minded. He rejected the offer and left me. It was when I was seven months pregnant. He did not come back to me even after the baby was born because my parents did not want to give up the baby to him.

The child Satan wanted dead

In Korea it is the custom that women who have just finished delivery drink seaweed soup. When I was drinking it, Satan came to me and said, “If you leave this baby girl as she is, the world will become terrible in the future. So, you must kill her now.” I embraced the baby, saying, “How can I kill my daughter?” At that moment my mother [Grandmother Cho Won-mo] came to me and asked what was happening. I told her that Satan had come and ordered me to kill the baby. One week after the incident, when I was wondering why Satan wanted to take my daughter’s life, Grandmother Kim Sung-do appeared to me from the spirit world and said, “Soon-Ae, this baby is the daughter of the Lord. You must raise her as if you were her nurse.”

Exodus to the South

When Mother was six years old, I was arrested by the communist regime in North Korea. We had to stay in prison for 11 days. In those days, I received through revelation that the Lord of the Second Advent was in the South. I keenly felt that I would have to go to find the Messiah. My father told my mother and me to escape to the South. Mother was a very pretty girl with a strong body. She had a nice manner of speaking, and spoke very carefully so that no one could say anything against her. Even the communist government officials were kind to her and sold her apples and other goods, although they were not kind enough to sell anything to us adults!

My mother, my daughter (Mother) and I left our residential area at midnight and walked to the border between North and South Korea. When we were about to cross the borderline, Mother asked me, “Do we still have to sing songs praising Kim-Il Sung? Can I sing the songs of South Korea?”

When I said, “Yes, you can,” she started singing. While we were walking in the border area, the soldiers of the South were alerted and might have shot at us. But when they heard Mother’s singing, they put down their weapons. We told them that we had come from the North. They welcomed us warmly, saying, “You must have had many difficulties coming all this way with such a cute child.” They even gave us money to travel to Seoul, the capital of South Korea.

Everything guided by God

Although we had many difficulties on our way to the South, God constantly protected and guided us. Knowing that the Lord of the Second Advent lived in the south, we often offered three bows on the way south, even on the road.

We came to Seoul for the first time in our lives. Fortunately, my younger brother was staying there as a soldier. Wondering how we could meet him, I offered prayer as soon as we arrived at the city. Then a friend of my younger brother happened to pass by on the street, and through him we were able to find my brother.

We stayed with my brother in Seoul. Mother began to go to an elementary school. After a while, however, the Korean War broke out. We had to escape to the southern part of the country. Families of soldiers were allowed to take special transport ahead of others. As soon as we left Seoul and crossed the Han River, the bridge over the river was destroyed. We went to Daegu and lived there until Mother reached the 4^th grade in elementary school.

Going to Jejudo Island

Since I had received the revelation that “This child is the Lord’s daughter,” I made efforts to raise her to be pure and untainted with sin. The older she grew, the more beautiful she became. She did so well at school and was so popular that she was always the object of attention. I knew boys would try to tempt her, so I brought her out of school when she was a fifth grader. I took her to Jeju Island, where we lived a life of prayer and ate only vegetables.

As I had received revelations that the Heavenly Kingdom on Earth would be realized in Korea and that the Messiah would come to Korea, I raised Mother in such a way that she could meet the Messiah. In other words, I took a child of a playful age to an isolated island and trained her spiritually. After a while, I was told by revelation to bring her to the city of Chuncheon where my brother was then living. We stayed at his house. Mother went to elementary school in that city and eventually graduated.

Joining the Unification Church

Soon after we came out of Jejudo Island, I met the Unification Church. When I read the Divine Principle, I found many similarities to what I had learned through the Inside-the-Belly Church. Therefore, I thought the author of this book must be an extraordinary man. I went to Elder Deong, the brother of “Grandmother Thanks,” for consultation. He said, “The Unification Church teaches the same things as I was taught in the Inside-the-Belly Church. The central figure of the Unification Church is a young man. He is handsome and often sings songs!”

I said to him, “Is he not the one who is to come?” Shortly after that, I became a member of the Unification Church.

To be continued