323. Cheon Il Guk Foundation Day: Advancing Toward a Future Full of Hope

Book 3: Cheon Il Guk and Our Mission
Part 3: Our Mission for the Secure Settlement of Cheon Il Guk
Chapters 2 & 3: Cheon Il Guk Foundation Day: Advancing Toward a Future Full of Hope + The New Culture of Heart Revolution

Chapter 2: Cheon Il Guk Foundation Day: Advancing Toward a Future Full of Hope

This speech was delivered by Peter Hyo-yul Kim, vice chairman of the Mission Foundation, representing Hak Ja Han Moon on September 23, 2013, the 21st day following the Seonghwa of Reverend Sun Myung Moon, at Cheon Jeong Gung, Korea.

My beloved members, upon True Father's ascension, you all pledged in front of Heaven to do your best with deep love and devotion. We remember our hearts as we asked him to please not worry about what is happening in the physical world and to ascend to the spirit world comfortably. 

True Father, who fought against time

All his life, Father did not care about himself, but instead dedicated himself wholeheartedly to the liberation of God and the salvation of humanity. He, therefore, left behind him many remarkable accomplishments. Father liberated God by exercising the prerogative given only to the True Parents, and he opened wide the way for God to directly govern the earthly world and the spiritual world. With this single-minded heart and will, he lived only for the sake of others, not looking after his own body. Never wasting a single minute or second of his life, he lived every moment with the feeling that he did not have enough time.

Many were the times, therefore, when he missed meals. Father could not even think about taking the rest his physical body desperately needed. Since he was born with a healthy body, if Father had taken care of himself, he could have lived an even longer life. During the last few years, however, he would say that each day felt like a thousand years; that is how busy he was. 

He really did not want to go to the hospital at this time, and since he was in charge of everything, I could not help him in any way. In particular, when he was traveling abroad he traveled from east to west and back rather than from north to south. He should have avoided long-distance travel if possible; if necessary, he could have gone back and forth once every two or three years. That was the medical opinion. However, in the past year alone Father traveled to and from the United States eight times. Why did he lead such a life?

He had set the date for Foundation Day, but he knew that he would pass into the spirit world before that day. That is why his lifestyle was one of not wasting even a minute or a second of his life. Knowing this, I wished to stop him with any excuse I could think of. Sometimes, I told him that I wasn't well enough to travel with him. He would then reply that he would go by himself. In this way, he continued to live a taxing life. 

Beloved members, just as the cars we ride in and the equipment we use in factories need to be oiled and maintained to last longer, we also need to make effort to maintain our youth in any way we can before our bodies age. Such is the era we are living in, isn't it? Father, however, lived his life beyond all such cares. He followed a schedule of overexerting himself, speaking for more than ten hours during Hoon Dok Hwe sessions and visiting Geomun Island or Yeosu by helicopter. Overstraining himself repeatedly in such a way, in the end, he caught a cold. Catching a cold at that age is a most fearful thing.

Though he should have gone to the hospital and done something about it right away, some time passed before he would go. The cold worsened and developed into pneumonia. His lungs became weak, and in the end, his condition worsened and complications set in. Though he did not want it, finally he had to be admitted to the hospital, by which time he had become very weak.

I am sorry that I had to let him go without making him more comfortable

In early August, after all kinds of tests had been carried out over a period of ten days or so, he wanted to leave the hospital for a while. He found it difficult to stay in the hospital, saying that it felt like a prison. We had no choice but to have him discharged. That was on August 12. After leaving the hospital, during the one day he stayed in Cheon Jeong Gung, Father told his assistants, "I want to eat with Mother today.” I usually sat next to him during meals, but on that day, he said, "I want to eat sitting face to face with Mother so I can see her face. So, we set the table accordingly. However, Father stared at my face for a long time instead of eating. I believe he was engraving my face in his heart. I felt tears welling up inside of me, but on the outside I maintained a smiling face and asked him to try this dish or that, saying to him, "This one is quite good, and that is also delicious.”

After that experience, I became more serious than ever, and I strongly wanted to make him take a nap. He, however, pressed his staff members to accompany him as he hurriedly visited various parts of Cheon Jeong Gung. August 13 was an extremely sunny day. Despite the hot sun, and even though he had to be accompanied by an oxygen tank almost as tall as a man, he insisted on looking around the palace. Father did a tour of Cheon Jeong Gung. He visited the Cheong Shim Middle and High School and the nearby small park, and drove around the Cheong Shim Peace World Center and the Cheongpyeong training center.

He then came and sat in the sitting room in Cheon Jeong Gung and asked for a digital recorder. Holding the recorder in his hand, Father thought deeply for about ten minutes and then spoke while recording what he said. As you may know from having heard his recorded voice, Father gave the same message three times on that day—in the sitting room, in the master bedroom, and in Cheong Shim Hospital. He said, "Everything is done! Everything is done!" He then went on to pray, struggling for breath, "I will return everything to Heaven.” He emphasized, "I have brought things to conclusion, completion and perfection;” and he took my hand and said, "Mother, thank you! Mother, please take care of things!" What meaning could be attributed to his uttering such words? Every now and then, he said such things as, "The time has come for me to go. I know when I will pass away.” I am sure that during this time he was making his final preparations.

What I am relating to you is only a small part of what happened before Father ascended; in truth, I experienced much more with Father during those days. When we had our meals, we usually sat next to each other, and he would be aware of my presence and would hold my hand firmly in his as he ate.

Whenever I think about such things, I am very sorry, and it hurts my heart to think that I let him go without making him more comfortable. When I asked him to rest, he sometimes said, "I want to lay my head in your lap, Mother," and he would take a very short nap. Of late, he had been doing things he had never done when he was healthy. Father, who had lived his whole life more energetically than anyone else, wished to stay close to me at all times when he became less well, and needed me and depended on me like a child does his mother.

Repay the love and grace you received from True Father

Yesterday, I was told that a member had mentioned feeling empty after Father passed away and was missing him so much, and that if she could see my face she would be strengthened; so, she had communicated a sincere plea for me to come to Cheon Bok Gung. Why am I unable to go there? I am still in the middle of the 40-day period of preparing meals for True Father, today being the 21st day. Even while working in heaven, Father comes at mealtimes without fail. We have set the times to offer him meals as 7:00 a.m., 12:00 noon, and 6:00 p.m. While on earth, he had been unable to follow such a schedule, but after passing into the spirit world, he always comes on time. I can actually feel it.

Every day, I converse with Father. I explain to him about the soybean-paste soup and side-dishes he had enjoyed during his time on earth and ask him to please help himself to them. Since I am following a tradition to prepare and offer these meals to him three times a day, I have no personal free time. During Father's lifetime, I was never able to serve him his meals on time. That is why I must at least devote myself to this task during this time.

Dear members, at the moment of Father's ascension, I promised Father that I would work to fulfill all that he had desired to do for humanity until my last day on earth. That is why I am busy these days. I need to reorganize Korea's presently complicated situation, and I intend to establish the tradition of marching forward centering on spirit and truth in our Unification Church. With the goal of nurturing our church to become a spontaneous one, I am receiving reports from many of our church officials and leaders and making new plans. Therefore, I ask you to please wait just a little while longer.

Given that the Lord at his Second Coming, the Savior, the Messiah, and the True Parent who came to this world after a wait of 6,000 years has now ascended to the spirit world, do you think 40 days of devotion is enough? Would 100 days of devotion be enough? There is no limit to attendance through religious devotion. Henceforth, I hope you will understand that everything that is carried out in Korea from this day onward will be centered on True Mother.

Our first goal is to do our absolute best and fight at the risk of our lives to firmly establish Cheon Il Guk by Foundation Day. I hope you will not forget that the responsibility to bring this nation and all its citizens to receive the marriage Blessing from True Parents lies with you. Only by working a hundred times or a thousand times harder than before can you repay the love and grace you have received from True Father.

Dear members, we will now make our Unification Church a living and breathing church, as it was in the early days. We will develop it into a spontaneous, creative and dynamic church, unrestricted by numbers or systems. We will make it into a church centered on the Principle and on love, which will be like a nest with the warmth of a mother's embrace that will make all of us wish to go there all the time and always remain there. As in the beginning time, we will make it so that the sound of Divine Principle lectures is constantly heard in our churches.

I hope all of you will be grateful for the work you do day by day and that you will be blessed. Please achieve the best results of your life. Foundation Day is not far off now. Once again, I ask all of you to please become such people.


Chapter 3: The New Culture of Heart Revolution

This speech was given at a celebration of the 40th Anniversary of the Yankee Stadium Rally on June 5, 2015, on the lawn of the Belvedere Training Center in New York.

Beloved members, blessed families, Ambassadors for Peace, members of the American Clergy Leadership Conference, I am very happy to meet you here today. Since we have gathered today to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Yankee Stadium Rally, there is something I would like us to reflect upon. Let us think about what kind of hope Heavenly Parent and True Parents have for America right now.

After creating the environment for them to live in, God created our first ancestors, Adam and Eve, who were to fulfill His dream. He especially gave human beings their portion of responsibility. However, because Adam and Eve fell during their growth period, God's dream could not be realized. For God, who is omniscient and absolute, the beginning and the end must be the same. There can be no failure. That is why Heaven had no choice but to begin restoration through indemnity in search of human beings who would unite with God, while enduring a tremendous course of indemnity filled with suffering and hardships. Therefore, over the long course of restoration history, God established the Israelites as the chosen people.

Finally, after 4,000 years, God sent his only begotten son, Jesus Christ, who was to have realized God's dream and the ideal for human beings. However, his mother Mary did not fulfill her responsibility. Other people close to Jesus, Joseph's family, Zachariah's family, the people of Israel, and the Jewish people, also did not fulfill their responsibilities. Jesus, who lost this environment, worked until he was 30 years old as a carpenter's assistant and then began his public ministry. Yet the twelve disciples could not follow the path as Jesus' representatives. Jesus, who had lost everything, had to take the path of the cross. Before he died, he said he would come again and hold the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.

Jesus had come as the only begotten son of God. If the only begotten daughter of God had appeared at that time, Jesus would have been able to fulfill God's dream. However, that did not happen. The 2,000-year Christian history was the providential history in search of the only begotten daughter of God. Christians today are unaware of this truth.

When God gives responsibilities to or establishes a people, but they fail in their responsibilities, God does not continue His work through them. He finds a different people. Since 400 B.C., in Asia there was the Han kingdom of the Dongi people; Heaven chose a nation and a leader of the highest level from the fallen world. The Korean people loved peace and they loved freedom; they respected their parents and respected Heaven. Just as God prepared the Israelites for 4,000 years in the past, He chose and established the Korean people as the people among whom the only begotten daughter of God could be born.

Heaven's providential history

Please think about this. In 1945, Korea was liberated from Japan with Japan’s defeat in World War II. Before that, Korea did not have a significant international standing. However, at the time of its liberation, Korea was divided at the 38th parallel between communism and democracy. Soon after, in 1950, the Korean War broke out. I was born in 1943 as Heaven led the providence in search of the only begotten daughter which was central to the essential preparations for the Second Coming of the Lord. Through the foundation of Christianity in Korea, I was selected and I was born.

That is why Satan attempted to kill me, saying, "I am ruined because of your birth. I must kill you.” However, Daemo-nim battled with Satan spiritually and was victorious. I was born in what is now North Korea. When I was very young, Korea was separated into democratic and communistic areas at the time of its liberation from Japan, and the situation in the country was not stable.

Furthermore, Christianity had come to Korea just a little more than 100 years earlier. Nearly all the Christians at that time were waiting for the returning Lord to come on clouds. However, there were many spirit-led churches in the area around Pyongyang who believed that the returning Lord would come in the flesh. These groups believed that the returning Lord would come to Pyongyang. With Korea divided into North and South and the forces of democracy and communism still in conflict, it was not safe for me to remain in North Korea, so Heaven guided my maternal uncle to go abroad to study in Japan.

After my uncle completed his studies in Japan, he was expected to return to his hometown in the North, but instead, we received a telegram saying he had enlisted in the South Korean Army. Thus, my grandmother, out of maternal love, said we should go to him; so, my grandmother, my mother, and I, three women, traveled south. Two years after I came south, the Korean War erupted. What does this tell us? There are situations that we cannot solve with human effort alone. Heaven had to work to protect the position, the life, of the only begotten daughter who appeared for the first time in 6,000 years. That is why Heaven prepared that environment and led me to the South.

However, in that same situation, God told True Father to go to the North. Why was that? God also had to confirm the person in the position of the returning Lord, the position of the only begotten son of God. Jesus had appeared to Father when Father was 16 and asked him to complete Jesus' unfulfilled mission. In order to do this, Father had to restore through indemnity Jesus' 33-year life course. And during that time, he also had to uncover the message that God wanted to teach all of humankind. Father successfully completed all of these providential responsibilities, and in 1960, he met the only begotten daughter and the Marriage Supper of the Lamb was held. God's providence is truly profound.

It is time for a new culture of heart revolution

Heaven brought about the birth of the returning Lord and the True Parents, and laid the foundation in the satanic world for the providence to unfold. That was the motivation that led to America's preparation as a leading nation.

In the 17th Century, King James of England had the Bible translated into English so that common citizens could read it. Even then, Christianity was unaware of the true center of the providence, as if it were a shell without a core. Unaware of its role in the providence, Christianity developed various systems and laws under which people could not lead their lives of faith freely.

Therefore, the Puritans began following their own path, seeking a place where they could freely practice their faith and attend God. That is how America was founded. America had previous leaders before the Puritans came; however, Heaven took the side of the Puritans and blessed America abundantly so that the foundation for the returning Lord could be established. During the Second World War, Heaven raised America to a position in which it could embrace the entire world. America attained a status similar to that of the Roman Empire 2,000 years earlier.

America should have created the environment to receive and attend the returning Lord not only in America but also throughout the world. However, America came to be led by groups focused on their own interests rather than on working for the sake of God's Will and the overall welfare of the world. As America lost sight of its original nature and essence and became corrupt, True Parents came to reawaken America; they led the providence that unfolded in America in order to complete God's providence and the global providence.

Today we are celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Yankee Stadium Rally. Back then, Father invested his heart and soul into hosting rallies to give messages that would inspire and teach the young people and leaders of America, even though America’s environment at that time was paralyzed. I know that many long-time Unificationists who worked with True Parents on the front line at that time are here today.

What path should America take today? When we look at all the external issues arising, America is growing apart from God. What should you who are alive in this present era, do? What is Heaven's wish? Heavenly Parent's dream, True Parents' dream, is to realize one family under God, to embrace all 7.3 billion people of the world and to form a world of happiness and peace. For the first time in 6,000 years, the dream Heaven has yearned for can be realized through children who could be blessed due to the advent of True Parents.

The fastest way to accomplish Heavenly Parent's dream

It is time now for us to begin a new revolution to create a culture of heart so that the people of America begin living in deep gratitude to Heavenly Parent and True Parents for their hard work and love. It is time for Americans to live such a life and become such a nation, embodying filial piety and loyalty in front of Heavenly Parent's infinite love. America must not forget that it should be the center of this revolution! America has been proclaimed the eldest son nation by True Parents. True Parents are leading a providence that reaches more than 200 countries all around the world. Among all those nations, it is your country that stands in the eldest son position. To bring happiness to your Parent, as filial children, you should step up to fulfill your position as the eldest son by embracing and supporting all your brothers and sisters around the world. America must not focus on its own happiness. The eldest son should bring happiness to the Parents by uniting all the brothers and sisters and guiding them so that they can all live in happiness together. What do you think? Is that the direction America is headed in today?

While the Americans who are attending True Parents are moving in that direction, the country as a whole is not. Not all American politicians or citizens share this mind-set. Many of them are centered on their own interests, or those of their constituency or their own nation, rather than the needs of the world. However, America cannot prosper in the world in isolation. The whole world must prosper together. I hope that you can become people who can teach that. You should boldly testify about True Parents. Be proud of True Parents. That is the quickest way to realize humanity's dream and Heavenly Parent's dream.

When I came here today, my mind was filled with many thoughts. I hope all of you can become one with True Parents, and that this nation can fulfill God's wish and dream. However, I am aware that many issues still need to be resolved. I have determined that I will realize this dream without fail. What about you? Centering on Cheongpyeong, Korea, I will uphold True Parents' achievements so that they can shine brightly for all the people of the world, for your future generations and for the future world. Will you join me in this?

For all of us, each day is a day filled with hope, each day is a day of progress, each day is a day of happiness. I hope that all of you can share and take part in this life. Before Heaven, I offer my blessing on America and implore America to become a nation that Heaven remembers and a nation that all the world's people can be proud of.