Cham Bumo Gyeong: Episode 189

Cham Bumo Gyeong
Book 7: True Parents’ Course of Suffering and Victory
Chapter 2: The Ehwa University and Yonsei University Incident and Suffering in Seodaemun
Section 2: Seodaemun Prison, Paragraph 10
Section 3: Bearing Society's Sin, Paragraph 04

10  People wanted me to die or come to ruin, but I didn't. Why didn't I? I was insulted and isolated, but the more people cursed me and drove me into a corner, the more people shed tears for me and comforted me. 

Our members fought for a place in line to visit me in prison. Visiting hours began at 8:00 a.m., but our members waited in line from 1:00 a.m. to get a pass. Seodaemun Prison had never seen such a thing in its history. Some people even waited in line more than 24 hours.

11  When I first arrived at Seodaemun Prison, people disparaged me as "Moon of the Unification Church." It sounds odd, but in prison everyone thinks he is a prince. Everyone thinks he is better than the others. However, whenever inmates spoke to me in a derogatory way, I kept silent. From the first day, I did not say a thing. I could stay that way for one or two months. However, after one or two weeks, the inmates started to regard me with some kind of awe. When they woke up in the morning, they saw me praying. Who could stop me from praying? 

One inmate was giving everyone a headache, and the other prisoners wished he would die. However, I took him under my wing and started speaking with him. People said that after I came to the prison, this troublesome man changed. When, after some time, that inmate no longer said anything to insult the other prisoners, the rumor started, "That troublemaker listens to Moon very well."

This happened because I try to have the heart that the president of Korea should have. My heart prompted me to live for the sake of all the prisoners. I believe that it is the right heart for a loyal citizen of this nation; it is the heart that all the people of Korea should have. So I prayed, shedding tears for that prisoner. In other words, my heart was the heart of an owner. That is why he bowed his head to me. It is heaven's principle that people bow their heads in front of a good person who takes responsibility for them.

12  I can still picture the faces of those who tormented me when I was in Seodaemun Prison. Vicious rumors about me circulated inside the prison, but I did not say a word in response. Despite the negative environment, my cellmates came to like me very much. Also, I had many visitors. Some of those who came had bad intentions toward me. Aware of their intentions, I admonished them, "In the future, do not visit me with such a heart." 

There was an inmate who used to be a pastor. He called me a heretic and an enemy, and angrily challenged me, shouting, "What you teach is no good!" But after hearing me, he came to see me on a regular basis and we became very close. 

The rumors about me spread quickly, so much so that even the warden wanted to meet me in person. In the meantime, my disciples who were imprisoned with me served and attended me wholeheartedly. Then the people there started to say, "Many people insult and accuse Reverend Moon of the Unification Church, but he withstands it so well. Truly, he is an extraordinary person." 

In this way, even though I was in the lowest place, I upheld my position as God's representative with integrity and authority. I had to, because there was no one else who could take my place. There is no one else, no matter how much worldly power he has, who can take over my responsibility before heaven.

13  People looked at me with jaundiced eyes and said, "That guy Moon is no good." Yet I am not ashamed of anything in my past. The question is: Did others fabricate this image of me, or did I create it by my own deeds? It is either one or the other. If others fabricated it, it is their fault and they will perish, even as the one who is unjustly criticized will prosper. Evil perishes but good prospers. You will never perish when you stand in a position that is true, pure, and attested to by history. 

When I was in handcuffs, Christian women passing by would look at me out of the corner of their eyes and grimace. I thought to myself, "Now your path seems holy, and this man whom you look upon seems miserable. But you cannot tell the outcome because you do not have the standard for comparing my situation with yours. When that is revealed, the judgment will come as to who is right and who is wrong." With these thoughts in my mind, I could come this far.

14  I should have been able to guide the Republic of Korea centering on the Unification Church, but instead I was put in prison. Yet even in prison, I was not anxious about when I would get out. I was calm and peaceful, because I regarded prison as my path for the sake of the Will. I was resolved to stay on my path no matter how many years I might spend in jail, even to the end of my life. This is one way that I am different from others. Even in that situation, I focused on spiritual self-cultivation.

What kind of self-cultivation? I meditated on how to resolve the situation of the Republic of Korea, which had lost a glorious opportunity. I contemplated how I could create a path of hope for the nation, one that would bear fruit. It was as if I was surrounded by mountains, and I had to look for ways to drill through them one after another to make a tunnel and build a highway.

I thought that if I happened to collapse, God would take responsibility. However, as long as I had energy to go on, I would not ask God for help. Therefore, I did not pray for myself. Without asking God for help, I gave out all of my energy, knowing that by doing so, God would surely help.

15  As the Unification Church advances, the question is, within the limited time you have every day, how much can you wholeheartedly invest yourself for the whole purpose? We will rapidly advance and win victory if the standard of our life is higher and deeper than that of the early Christians. It is good to taste the sorrow of loss. Experience shame and suffer humiliation to such a degree that you cannot lift up your face. 

I had such a time. In the courtroom before going to Seodaemun Prison, an ex-member said to me, "You were in jail in North Korea, and here you are again. You just cannot give up the old habit." I cannot forget those bitter words. 

While going in and out of prison, I carried on the fight to dissolve all of God's bitter grief. Although I faced many painful, even resentful situations on the way, I knew that if I kept going, the time would come when it would all be dissolved. That is why even now I cannot afford to grow weary. Though my lips are blistered and my body suffers aches and pains, I will move forward until the day I defeat the enemy Satan, until he lies prostrate and I am standing with my two feet upon his back. I will fight him all the way to the end.

 

Section 3. Bearing Society's Sin

All charges dropped

On October 4, 1955, True Father was found innocent and released by the Seoul District Court. The members were overwhelmed with joy to welcome him back. Three days later, they moved the church from Jangchung-dong to Cheongpa-dong, and on October 10 the church celebrated Father's release from prison. Everyone sang "New Song of Inspiration," which True Father himself wrote in Pyongyang, and reflected deeply on the meaning of his ordeal.

1  The whole nation was in an uproar in 1955 due to such incidents as the expulsion of students from Ehwa Womans University. Under the influence of Syngman Rhee's government, they arrested me and tried to expose me for crimes, but I had committed none. They charged me with all kinds of heinous things, but there was no crime with which to implicate me. When I came down from North Korea, I had short hair. I went to enroll in the armed forces, but they investigated me, thinking I had been in the North Korean People's Army. As a result, they did not allow me into the armed forces. That is the reason I was not accepted. Since those were my circumstances, my accusers were not able to implicate me as a criminal. Therefore, I was released with the verdict of innocent. 

Christians did not know that fact at all. At that time, we could have proclaimed that fact as we do now; however, back then it was not the time to do that. On my path, there was a cross I had to bear on a worldwide scale. I could not be proud just because I had become the victor in the individual battle on the path of the cross. I could not forget that on the victorious foundation of the individual level, the cross of the family level was next.

2  Newspapers played up the story that I was imprisoned with banner headlines. However, when they wrote about my release after the not guilty verdict, they printed only one sentence in small letters. Hence, no one knew about my acquittal. 

When I came out from prison, some people told me that we should fight about this matter. But I did not fight. By not fighting, we made a condition to pull out the root. Anyone who opposed me by fomenting this historical injustice will be uprooted in the end. Their children may believe that their parents were good pastors who were loyal to the nation, but eventually they will understand that their parents were betrayers. When they realize that their mother and father stood in the position of betrayers who opposed the great Parents of Heaven and Earth as they strove to fulfill their duty in front of heaven, they will want to dig up their parents' graves. These are not empty words.

3  During the administration of the Liberal Party, five cabinet ministers tried to knock me down. President Syngman Rhee issued a special directive to five departments to eliminate the Unification Church. This included the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. After a perfunctory investigation, they used the rumors to fabricate stories about me and the Unification Church. For instance, they accused me of the crimes committed by the founder of the Pure White Sect. Thus, they tried to tarnish me with all kinds of allegations. 

Yet when I was brought to court and investigated, they could not find any fault. Although they brought me to trial, they could find no evidence that would prove their case, and after 90 days I was acquitted and released. 

In those days, Korean society truly believed I was a criminal. Later this became the basis for me to be accused throughout the world. Still, I have been silent these 40 years. Why? I knew the principle that after being struck, I can claim what I am entitled to. They believed Reverend Moon was the worst person and tried to knock me down. Yet I thought, "You are bound to perish! Go ahead and strike me! One day you who strike me will be driven into a corner and shattered into pieces." I could say that because I had done nothing wrong.

4  We put up the sign of the Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity in 1954. In those days I was opposed by the entire nation of South Korea. An incident occurred which resulted in my imprisonment. Within any three-year period there is always indemnity to pay. There is no way to avoid the restoration through indemnity. It is a formula, and it works without fail. 

In those days, the government of the Republic of Korea tried to knock me down; they took all kind of measures to eliminate me. Christianity and the government joined forces for this purpose. However, when my case came to trial, I was found not guilty and released. Thus, the Unification Church could continue, and it remains to this day.