“For Korea and Japan, the Pantanal is at the other end of the pole. The Pantanal is at the end of the earth. But the Original Holy Ground, Root Holy Ground, and Holy Ground of Victory can all be found there. This is something tremendous. The Original Holy Ground is set up in our hotel in the Pantanal.” (Rev. Sun Myung Moon 304-110, 1999.9.10)
There is a story in the Pantanal of a historical meeting between God and Lucifer. It is the story of the Second Coming who opened the gates of hell through endless love and forgiveness and completed the Providence of Restoration, culminating with Satan’s natural surrender in 1999.
It is a story that must be told by our Brazilian brother, Peter Paulo Alves Pinheiro, who was the main witness of the historic meeting of God, True Father and Lucifer on May 14, 1999 in room 14 of the Hotel Americano in Nabileque and of the events at Salobra that led to this meeting.
Paulo had met True Father when he was a young boat captain at the age of 21 at Salobra Hotel, the first property that True Father purchased in the Pantanal wetlands. Paulo was the boat captain that served True Father for all of the fishing trips in Pantanal. Although he was not a church member at first and was not educated in Divine Principle, Paulo saw and experienced the actual spiritual activities of True Father in Pantanal. He was the main witness appointed by True Father. In 1998, True Father blessed him and his wife, Marcia Cristina Alves Prado Pinheiro, as the first of the 360 million couples.
Through Paulo’s testimony, we can understand why True Father called these undeveloped wetlands the Original Holy Ground, Root Holy Ground, and Victorious Holy Ground. We receive immeasurable blessing in forms of ancestral liberation and blessing with very little indemnity paid in Korea, but we must also understand why we are able to receive such blessing. It was because True Father opened the Gates of Hell in these holy grounds and shortened our indemnity course of 1,000 years to cleanse our lineage.
OHS 2021.6.4
(Original editor/translator’s note: The original testimony was recorded in Portuguese in May and June of 2021. It was transcribed then translated to English with the approval of the author.)
By Peter Paulo Alves Pinheiro
Part 2 (Click to read Part 1)
As time passed by, I felt more and more that these people did not truly understand this person called Rev. Moon. The more I spent time with True Father, the more I realized that people who surrounded Him did not believe in things that He was talking about.
Each morning, after my boat was prepared at the dock, within 5 minutes, Rev. Moon would appear and was already on the boat. But we had to wait for other people. It was very stressful for me to deal with this situation because other people did not follow Rev. Moon’s routine.
After the 3-day period, True Father again left, probably to Alaska. When He came back again to Salobra, He appeared totally different. He was more serious.
Opening the gates of hell
One day, True Father hooked a fish but the fish was tangled with some branches in the river. I dove underwater to untangle the fish and brought it back to the boat. Then He said to me, “half of the fish is mine and the other half is yours because you helped me. Every time you help me, it will be half and half.” This happened many times. Every time His fish or hook was stuck, He would never order me to go into the water. I asked Him, “Can I go?” and went into the water of my own free will. But the water got deeper and it was more difficult and dangerous because the water was at different temperatures and there were more alligators and piranhas. He never told me to go in; it seemed very natural for me to dive into the water.
During these fishing trips, the condition for 360,000 couples began, and soon afterwards, for the 360 million couples. True Father asked me suddenly about my Blessing one day. He matched me with my wife inside the boat with her photo and He told me to go to New York to make it official. Because I did not have my passport and did not want to leave fishing to do this paperwork, I said I wished to stay and continue fishing. Then He told me to go to Jardim and receive the Blessing there. He told me this was the number 1 of the 360 million couples.
Also during this period, True Father saved the religious leaders, the saints and the criminals in the spiritual world. There were 34 blessings including Jesus, Buddha, Hitler, Mussolini, Mao Tse Tung. I had many spiritual experiences fishing with True Father during this time.
When I dove into the water to go after the fishes that were tangled underwater, I had a spiritual experience every time. I followed the fishing line into the water. It was like I was holding on to True Father and I had to go deep inside the water but in a completely another environment, like a battlefield. Each fish had different characteristics and represented a different person. When True Father caught a fish representing Buddha, He had a ceramic Buddha doll by the lake. I thought it was strange. I hardly knew what True Father was doing at the time but I saw many spiritual things. True Father did not say anything. He just put His finger over His lips, telling me not to say anything about what I had seen. He put His hand over His heart, telling me to be calm and to go slow.
These experiences started when we fished for pacu. Inside the water, I saw spiritually, a street where a naked man marked with many swastikas, the symbol of Nazism, was running from a group of people who were throwing rocks and sticks. He could not hide anywhere. I was following the fishing line, and then I saw that this naked man held the fishing line in his hand also. I then shook the line and the environment changed suddenly and found the fish. I returned to the boat and placed the fish inside the boat. I then went to measure the fish, and saw that the fish was all scratched up and marked with swastika symbols.
Each of the fish that came up represented someone. In the case of this fish with swastika markings, True Father took my hands and prayed. I could not tell anyone about this situation, because otherwise people would think that Rev. Moon brainwashed me. I also did not want to get off the boat, because I knew that Rev. Moon needed help and people did not understand Him. He needed someone who had enough physical strength and courage to dive into the dangerous water.
I also did not understand about spiritual conditions at the time, but I knew that this person was in need of help. Because I saw things in the spiritual realm, I found it very interesting to be with him. I am of a descendant of the indigenous people here, and I was already expecting someone like True Father to arrive.
True Father started to talk about going to Fuerte Olimpo in Paraguay. True Father asked me to go together to Fuerte Olimpo and so we started fishing from there. The situation was very different there, and I had to be more patient. I felt like a lambari (small fish) in the middle of a group of piranhas. Other people did not want me there, probably because I was a Westerner and was also close to True Father on the boat everyday. There were other people who wanted to take my place. One time, True Father said to one of them, “If you want to take his place to drive the boat, you can. But only if you can do what he can do.” What I was doing for True Father was not just physical, but it was also spiritual.
I was not really a member of the church yet since I did not have any knowledge of the Divine Principle. For me, when Rev. Moon asked me to do something, I needed to follow it even when He was not there. I tried not to be influenced by other people when I followed Rev. Moon’s orders. Other people said to me, “When Rev. Moon is not here, I am in charge.” But I did not care and always followed True Father’s instructions. I believe that the true value of a person appears in how he or she acts when no one is looking. I had a lot of difficulty with preparation for Rev. Moon’s fishing because many people began their preparation seriously only when Rev. Moon was about to arrive.
It was during this time when we were going back and forth between Nabileque and Salobra, when True Father told me to come to the prayer room and listen to hoondokhae. I believe it was Mr. Park Koo-bae who was reading a paper that talked about Maria Park. I heard that it took two years for True Father to forgive Maria Park. Then he needed to search for her in the spiritual world. He had to make conditions to forgive her and then he searched and rescued her. The condition for forgiving Maria Park was completed in Salobra in 1997. It was in Salobra where He stayed for 21 days and caught 36 fishes, including pacu and other kinds of fish living in the wetlands. He prayed and was victorious on that day when He completed the condition.
In 1997, True Father opened the gates of hell. Until then, one could go and visit someone in hell, but could never rescue them from there. But True Father opened the gates of hell in Salobra, and now the spirits in hell can be rescued. True Father declared Absolute Obedience, Absolute Faith and Absolute Love in Jardim, but it was started in Salobra.