Based on extracts from his speeches throughout his life
Earlier installments are available for reading.
Part 86
Continuous Initiative and Expansion Worldwide
Father speaks about further initiatives in the church and IFVOC, and business expansion.
Expansion of the Sutaek-ri factory
It’s been exactly three years and four months since we built the factory in Sutaekri. In the beginning we had only a few trucks but now we have a huge fleet. We have been living miserably. Now in Sutaekri, however, we have built one of the most modern facilities in Korea. In the future we should have a higher standard of living than others.
However, you probably thought that all of this came about on its own. You are not aware of how much hardship has been gone through in order to break through the complicated atmosphere in Seoul. Whenever problems arose, I took on various adventures in order to unite my convictions with God’s.
Therefore, in preparation for such times, I have been building machines for four years now. We began this venture without any knowledge of machines. However, what we had planned to do in three years, we accomplished by building two machines in a year and eight months. In this way, after three years, more than 90 percent of the machines in our factory are being built by our own hands. We can easily build, on our own, machines similar to those we imported from Japan at a of cost 15 million won each. Ours perform just as well.
Therefore, even if we no longer make air rifles at the factory, it will operate without rest, and workers are able to live there. You must understand that I had worried, taken risks, and made decisions in the background that led to our reaching this level.
Forty-day winter witnessing and VOC activities (December 20, 1969–January 31, 1970)
This has been a year to resolve all enmity. Let’s indemnify this during the ten days before 1970 begins. This time is a watershed period.
I am planning to begin a speaking tour around January 6 next year. On that occasion I will distribute some new money to you. That money will become a historic treasure. Husbands should visit the area where their wives are engaged in witnessing at least once. Women can go out witnessing from forty days after their babies are born. Let’s achieve brilliant results in the 1970s.
You are in a better position than Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Jesus and the Holy Spirit were unable to go witnessing with their own children. Going witnessing while separated from your children means you can establish the condition that you have loved Cain more than you have loved Abel. If you do so, Cain will surrender.
The 1970s will be the era when we can open the gate to the world. Individuals must sacrifice for the families; families for the nations; and nations for the world. Tears shed in many parts of the country at the beginning of a new year will become tears of hope.
International Federation for Victory Over Communism (VOC) rally in Japan (October 1969)
Our Japanese members held a national VOC rally at Hibiya Park in Tokyo on October 7. The news media covered it. More than three thousand people reportedly participated and they responded with applause.
Until now, Japanese communists have confidently believed that Japan would be communized. However, a small group from the Unification Movement appeared in front of them, hoisting an anti-communist flag. This became an issue among the Communist Party leaders in Japan and in the Japanese government. Why is it necessary for us to carry out such activities? Through such a campaign, we can quietly instill the belief in the people that they can confront communism even under the present circumstances in which no worldview or organization in the world today can deal with it.
A purpose-built workshop center opens (February 10, 1970)
It is important to plant trees today. You must plant trees with sincere heart. When these trees grow, your descendants will come here and rejoice when they see them. I am thinking of building a university here in the future. It is important for us to have educational institutions. Even if we move to some other place in the future, we will move the trees from here to the new place or plant the seeds from these trees.
In that sense, this land of ours is the basis upon which we can give our love, centering on the internal reality, for the purpose of saving and protecting the future. We have purchased the land here and other land, in Cheongpyeong, for the purpose of continued development, after working for a long time based at our church in Cheongpa-dong.
Since we have constructed the training center[1] with the approval of the Gyeong-gi Province[2] governor and police chief, we can say that this center has been established for the sake of the province and the nation. We have built it to contribute to the Republic of Korea. This does not mean giving something left over after we have finished with it. It means lighting a light and giving something of value. You must know that from the providential point of view, the 1970s are an important period for us to have the character needed to pay indemnity both internally and externally.
The most pressing matter at hand for us is the problem of manpower. If we go the right way about it, we will be able to open unlimited ways of resolving the human resources problem. This is why I have personally gotten involved in this and have worked hard night and day until I dropped from fatigue.
We built the Sutaek-ri Training Center in twenty-eight days. I personally supervised forty-some people in building that center. We leveled a hillock and reclaimed the land. There was a twelve-foot dip, and I supervised the work of filling it in. It would have taken others at least six months, but I said, ¡±Six months? We don’t have six months,¡° and we finished the work in twenty-eight days.
From the beginning of the year, we have talked about holding a workshop. The director of information at the Gyeong-gi ProvincePolice Department knows about us very well. He also knows that anti-communist activities can’t be carried out without an ideological framework behind them, such as found in the Unification Church’s Federation for Victory over Communism. He has worked in this field in various provinces; as a result he has become firmly convinced that only our organization can succeed in this task.
That’s how he came to speak to our Incheon Church leader, which motivated the police chief to help us. He said he would have no difficulty bringing in the provincial governor as well. Because things were happening on a larger scale, he needed to talk to someone higher up than a church leader, and that’s how he came to contact me. I asked him how many people he wanted to mobilize, and he said it would be about five thousand people. I then asked him over how many months he wished to educate them, and he said six months. That is a very long time. That’s why I made him promise three times that he would make this happen. After making him promise that he would bring those people to attend the workshop, we began to quickly build the training center.
I originally intended to hold the dedication ceremony for the training center on April 17[3] because that would have been Easter. While I was praying over the preparations, however, I understood that we must have the ceremony on April 16. So we hastily prepared for that day. Thanks to God’s intervention in this way, it was possible for our church and the nation to meet both in an internal and external sense.
Joining the Association of Religions in Korea
Before I love my children, I should bring the religions to submission through love. Otherwise, I have no right to love my children. I need to stand in the position of having loved my enemies more than my own children.
As you know, our church joined the Korea Religious Association on April 15. Of course, we have put a lot of effort into making an association of religions, but the Association of Religions in Korea includes seven major faiths. At first, three religious denominations were at odds with our church becoming a member. Yet we continued along our path, telling them to oppose us if they wanted to. In the end, the religious denominations that had opposed us came around. Thus, we came to form a connection with the seven great religions, and our church has now joined the association as the eighth.
To be continued…
[1] The Central Training Center was the church’s main training center for decades. It was located in Sutaek village, later absorbed into the city of Guri. It was also the location of the Ilhwa Company’s factory before Ilhwa moved to a larger facility near Chuncheon.
[2] This province surrounds the city of Seoul on all sides, and stretches to the west coast.
[3] Father’s reference to Easter is based on the actual date he met Jesus in 1935. Christians celebrated Easter that year on March 29, 1970.