Based on extracts from his speeches throughout his life
Earlier installments are available for reading.
Continuous Initiative and Expansion Worldwide
Father speaks about further initiatives in the church and IFVOC, and business expansion.
Part 87
Christian leaders attend Divine Principle lectures
We sent out invitations in the name of the Unification Church president to more than two hundred well-known pastors of other churches in Seoul, inviting them to come to attend the Divine Principle Open Lectures scheduled to take place at Academy House,[1] November 26–28. Those pastors would faint at the mere mention of the Unification Church, and when they hear that they have been invited in the name of President Kim of the Unification Church, they will in all likelihood faint and fall down.
People like Elder Park[2]are in the position of our enemies but when he was imprisoned in Seodaemun Prison, I tried hard to free him. Those people do not know about this. This, however, is how we need to act, for otherwise we cannot be in the position of Abel.
A six-month special condition
In 1970, we must especially invest our sincere hearts for six months from May 1 through October. We should know that this is a very important time and offer prayers with special devotion. When you return to your local churches, you should pay more attention to the members of other churches and work for them harder than even their own pastors do. You should mobilize all our members to support the other churches, and when they hold revival services, you should go there and help them witness.
Forty-day summer witnessing
In order for your families to fulfill their responsibilities as Abel families, you must restore Cain families. You must become tribal messiahs. Today is July 19. Tomorrow you must leave in four directions. Those of you who have babies must go, carrying them on your shoulders. This time, in particular, you must go out with a serious mind. In the past, you may have gone out as a matter of habit. This time, however, the situation is different. You are responsible for overcoming the nation’s crisis. Therefore, you must fight with all your sincerity during this period, regarding it a great honor for the members of the Unification community to be able to offer everything for the sake of the nation.
The death of Hyo-won Eu, first president of the church, on June 21, 1970
I knew that President Eu’s body, being crippled, had been a painful burden during his life. He died not because of the operation he had undergone, but because of another illness discovered during the operation. He had not known that he had cancer. Furthermore, he was suffering from serious deterioration of his lungs.
Considering all these facts, I feel that President Eu was overcoming all his physical difficulties by his spirit even though he must have been suffering a lot physically. Although I asked you to pray for him, I myself was already offering a final prayer for him.
In God’s providence the second-born were always in trouble. Many times the second person, the second family or the second nation who took responsibility was put into difficulty. From the standpoint of God’s will President Eu’s family is the second family. Since he was in that position, I made him responsible for everything.
I am more clearly aware than anyone else of President Eu’s internal and external pain and suffering and his struggle to devote all his sincere efforts in spite of his crippled body.
I keenly feel to my bones how much he helped me at many difficult times such as during my Seodaemun imprisonment. I cannot say how many incidents of this type we had.
When he was dying, I said to him, “Ever since you met me, you have been living your life like this. How are you going to conclude it?” President Eu said that he would never change his mind, and then he passed away. You also must be like that.
World Anti-Communist League Convention at the Nippon Budokan Hall, Tokyo on September 14, 1970
In Japan, the communists are having students from Chosun University, which is affiliated with Jochongryeon,[3] go to the classrooms to incite people to bring down the Federation for Victory Over Communism. When you hear about such things, you can understand that these are truly serious issues.
I have been raising the issue of a triple alliance with regard to the situation in Asia. Japan as the central axis should unite with Korea. Centering on Japan, we should restore Taiwan. That is why when Rev. Kuboki[4] of Japan went to the United States he came back through Taiwan; he got into contact with the Taiwanese government. On the day that Korea, Japan and Taiwan unite, the Adam, Eve and Archangel nations shall be restored. As a result Asia will fall under this sphere of operational authority. Next is the world. We should advance to the world after laying a successful foundation based on the Asian cultural sphere.
Wasn’t Japan an enemy of our nation? However, we are now working to save Japan. In saving her, we are saying that both nations should live together.
An international anti-communist convention is being held right now in Japan. The convention will open at 1:30 pm today. A senator from the United States will come and give some congratulatory remarks at this convention.[5] Members of the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan, even people who once served as prime minister got involved in my operation and are dancing with joy. They are the first to be excited. There is no way that Korea can survive if Japan becomes pro-communist. That is why I have been planning this for ten years and have carried out this bloody and tearful struggle.
VOC seminar for parliamentarians (December 1970)
When I last visited Japan, I instructed the Japanese leaders to hold a seminar, inviting parliamentarians from Korea, Free China [6] and Japan. Recently,[7] they held it, and it was a great success. President Kuboki from Japan is here. Stand up, President Kuboki! [Applause] We are doing what even governments cannot do. The Japanese government cannot stand without our International Federation for VOC (IFVOC); neither can the Korean government or the government of Free China.
Blessed wives and their families become sacrificial offerings
From early December, notifications were sent out for the mobilization of the 777 blessed couples. Moreover, the time has come to mobilize all the families centering on the 777 couples.
What is the reason for the mobilization of blessed women in 1970? Jesus, in his three-year course, failed to fulfill his mission because of a woman, and as a result the people and the nation were lost. Consequently, you women need to relieve Jesus’ bitter sorrow over his three-year public course by following a three-year course yourselves. By preparing the foundation on which the people and nation that have been lost, and the world, can be restored.
This period is similar to that of my three-year imprisonment in North Korea. Christianity and the Christian women, who should have been blessed by Heaven, failed to follow me; thus, I was forced to take a suffering path. This time is important because, during this period, that suffering needs to be resolved.
If you told a mother who is delivering a baby, “If it’s too difficult, just hold it in,” what would happen? Both the mother and the baby would die. Even though she is in pain, you need to glare and shout at her, “Push harder! You need to push harder!” In childbirth, the person who glares fiercely at the mother and shouts at her mercilessly to push harder is actually the person who loves her the most. We are at a moment in time now when I need to be as merciless as I can toward you.
The married women of the Unification Church are leaving their families[8] to go out to witness because living for your nation is more for the public good than living for just your family. This great, historic incident ought to be recorded in Korean history.
Women in teams of ten and will be sent out to 120 mission places to witness. They need to be dispatched to our district headquarters, regional headquarters and even county headquarters. By 1972, we need to secure at least 120,000 internal elite church members. It is fortunate that they are not going to their mission places alone. Originally, you were meant to go by your selves, but the world is just too dangerous and so you will go out together with your fellow members.
If you try to do things in a self-centered way and end up fighting one another, or if a problem arises it will become a very big problem. [To the older members:] Moreover, if you team leaders from the thirty-six couples, seventy-two couples or 124 couples get into a fight, it will be an even bigger problem. The team leader will have to take full responsibility for that. In addition, the 777 couples that were blessed a while ago have recently attended a twenty-one-day workshop, so they are spiritually uplifted. Thus, if you continue to practice a lifestyle of doing whatever you please in front them, they will reject you.
The first person who needs to work hard is the team leader, and her first task will be to find a way to unite the ten members of her team. Thus, you should indemnify the disunity of Jesus’ twelve disciples. The women need to do what the men failed to do, working in their place. Therefore, you need to unite completely centering on the providence.
I have spoken strongly said to the Unification Church blessed families across the nation: “Our country has reached a point when its destiny is bleak. A state of emergency is imminent. If the Korean people are to survive, we cannot just go on as usual. You must follow the path of defending the nation even at the sacrifice of your families.” Upon my emphasizing this, they went out for three years.
It was a critical moment because North Korea’s Kim Il-sung was preparing to invade the South. We needed to lay a foundation based on that environment. In other words, to become the citizens of heaven, the Korean people need to love their country as much as the members of the Unification Church do.
To be continued…
[1] A hotel and conference center; twenty-six pastors attended the Divine Principle seminar
[2] Park Tae-sun, whose new Christian movement following numbered at least a million at its height. His movement later splintered and virtually disappeared.
[3] An organization for North Korean residents of Japan
[4] Osami Kuboki was the first president of our church in Japan
[5] U.S. Senator Strom Thurmond spoke on the Future of Anti-Communist Countries and Free Asia
[6] The name Free China, used for what today we refer to as Taiwan, reflects the cold war temperament of the 1970s.
[7] December 25–30, 1970, in Tokyo
[8] Some 1,200 women took part as True Father mobilized all the blessed wives, from the first 3 couples on, to make conditions for Korea. Many from earlier Blessing Ceremonies had children.