Based on extracts from his speeches throughout his life
Part 43
Earlier installments are available for reading.
Stepping into Freedom and Cataclysmic War
Visiting the “Inside the Belly” Church
As I was leaving North Korea, I visited the mother of Huh Ho-bin. Since this elderly lady was the overall leader of a religious group, I went to visit her and met her for the first time. The lady had already received a revelation that she should treat a gentleman in Gyeongchang village with respect. Therefore, all her followers came out to greet me wearing white clothes.
Even at that time, had this group exactly followed the directions I gave them, I would not have had to go the way of suffering. This was a substantial, divinely inspired group. Since the members of the group had been trained for years to be mobilized at the command of the returning Lord, they could have been able to advance the providence by leaps and bounds.
The Holy Lord Church, the Inside the Belly Church and the New Jesus Church were similar in the sense that they would have united easily had they been able to accept me. How would that be possible? Through the Principle. But since these people had become too comfortable, they did not recognize what was happening. They could not interpret the revelation given them.
Ministers who had opposed me
While I was in the communist North, about eighty ministers from established churches came together and signed a resolution to get rid of Moon so-and-so from the Unification Church. They must have felt relieved when they heard the news that I had been sent away to a death camp. Did I die, though? Why would I have? In the end, those who conspired to kill me reaped what they had sowed. The communists killed them all. How ironic that the man who was destined to die in the labor camp survived while those who sent him there ended up with such a fate. God is indeed unforgiving when it comes to His providence. I looked for each one of these individuals. I was willing to embrace them, offer them forgiveness from their past and a direction for a future they could be proud of. However, my search always ended with the same result—these ministers were dead.
In Pyongyang, a church minister whose last name was Nam was behind my imprisonment. I don’t remember his first name. This minister lost all his children. It went that far. Such is the settlement from Heaven. In spite of all of this, you should not think, “That is the punishment you deserve.” Since the person’s descendants are still alive, you should think, God, “Please do not harm this lineage anymore and bless these people on my behalf.”
This is the thinking of a righteous person. You should know that such is the path God has trodden until now.
Members who left the path
I have been betrayed by many people since I started my providential course. I remember each and every individual who had ever pledged to follow me to the end but went astray. Not only do I remember the content of each pledge, I know exactly how each of these former members is doing today.
There were many women in our church at the time I received the Hungnam sentence. One of them might pledge her absolute loyalty at that time saying, “I am willing to die and resurrect time and again just to be able to write a wish-paper[1] for the sake of my teacher’s well-being. If I had to choose between being different kinds of flowers, I would be a rose or a lily; why be a pumpkin flower?”
Another person might say, “Even if I had to live on top of Mt. Baekdu and make a living by planting potatoes in the rocky ground in order to serve my teacher, I would never give up.” However, when they heard from me about “going the way of death,” the usual response was “Wait, let me think it over.” People cannot be trusted.
Many women betrayed me. However, what is more important is that many have betrayed God. God could not take revenge over such traitors as Adam and Eve, the angel and all those others who betrayed Him in the long course of history, because God is pursuing the absolute standard of love. “Why doesn’t God do anything about His enemies?” one may ask. The answer is, “He cannot do anything.” Because God has set the standard of absolute love, there is no way He can seek revenge. He has to bite the bullet, saying, “We will see. Wait a little more.”
Absolute love has no choice but to wait. Can you imagine the depth of God’s suffering in this situation? We should be aware of this. We should appreciate God’s perseverance amidst all the suffering.
Members from the Pyongyang period
In Pyongyang, I restored three women and a man.[2] Without such a foundation, the providence of restoration could not possibly be completed.
God lost women from three significant generations. Therefore, unless three women representing these three lost generations are restored, we cannot expect to witness the unity of a Cain and Abel who were born as the result of a union of a true married couple. These three women were needed as a condition of indemnity. I knew of this necessity and went to North Korea with this goal in mind. In fact, this is my one and only achievement in the North.
I restored three women out of North Korea in order to restore by indemnity the mistakes of three generations of women. Also, the fact that Kim Won-pil attended me before he became twenty years old was of crucial significance. Since he was in the position to represent the communist world, he had to exhibit absolute obedience in attending me. No excuses were to be granted. That is why Won-pil attended me at all times even while I was in prison.
To restore one person in Kim Baek-moon’s position,[3] the respective number of members that followed me before I went to prison and the number of members after I returned had to be the same.
One person, Kim Won-pil, stood in the position of Kim Baek-moon. Three women were also significant. Because of them, I was able to restore the four people I originally planned to restore from Kim Baek-moon’s group.
I went to the enemy in the North and found these people among them. This means that I was able to regain the four-position foundation there. This foundation of a son and daughters, gained amidst the struggle in the North, became the starting point for expanding the providence of restoration. From the viewpoint of the Principle, without this accomplishment I would not have been able to make a fresh start.
Sudden evacuation
Apart from these four followers outside prison, I was able to restore four groups from the circle of my inmates, and I took one man from each group with me when I returned to the South. It is because I was able to secure this particular number of followers that I could start my spiritual work in the South. This is how the Unification Church began. All that happened from that point onward was a new providential dispensation.
When I arrived in Pyongyang after my release from the labor camp, I sent the four men that came with me from Hungnam off to visit their hometowns. I told them to come back by a certain time on a certain date, but they just missed the appointment because of the commotion caused by army troops and refugees retreating southward from the north. So what happened in the end? There was another man. He had followed me in prison and had been released earlier than I. His name was Park Jeong-hwa. He lay in his home in Pyongyang with a broken leg, abandoned by his siblings who had fled to the South leaving him behind with only a shepherd dog for a company. I cannot forget the moment I visited him at home and decided to bring him south on the back of a bicycle.
Also, when it was time to leave Pyongyang, I sent somebody to bring my mother to our place. I sent for Won-pil’s mother also at that time. I sent for my mother to come because I knew that the situation in the North might take a long time to be resolved. The person I sent to her left but did not return—he may have been caught or did not make it for some other reason. I did not have much choice but to send Moon Jeong-bin to bring Won-pil’s mother to us. A trip there and back should have taken only two days, even if he walked all the way. But he never returned.
By that time also, the situation in the North was growing worse by the day. There was a real danger that we might become surrounded. We thus had no alternative but to set out from Pyongyang. Mr. Moon, who had pledged to follow me at the risk of his life, could not come with us.
To be continued.
- [1] Buddhists write out a wish or prayer and offer a donation so that it will be realized.
- [2] Ji Seung-do, Ok Se-hyeon, Jeong Dal-ok and Kim Won-pil, respectively
- [3] For more on Rev. Kim, see Today’s World November 2008, p. 9; August 2008, p. 8; September 2005, p. 14; July 2005, p. 17; June, July 2001, p. 33