Cham Bumo Gyeong: Episode 203

Cham Bumo Gyeong
Book 7: True Parents’ Course of Suffering and Victory
Chapter 3: Suffering In Danbury Prison And True Parents' Victory
Section 6: Learning from Suffering, Paragraph 13-25

13  I have lived a righteous life in the service of God's Will, while keeping myself whole under the shade of His protection. That is why I could remain alive despite experiencing prisons more bleak than anything in Satan's fallen society. Even in those wretched prisons, God was my refuge. 

You have no idea how many tears my mother and father cried when I entered prison. My parents had provided me with everything for my schooling, saying that I would help save the nation with my education. But after graduating from school, I ended up incarcerated. Can you imagine how they felt? 

In a sense, I sought out prison. I went to live in North Korea under the communist regime, and while in prison there I studied and analyzed communism more than has anyone else. Besides the prisons in North Korea, I experienced prison life in Japan, in South Korea, and even in America.

14  I experienced prison life three times in North Korea. It was heaven's strategy to put me through this so I would not have even the slightest lingering attraction toward communism. It was also God's plan that I would not be interested in the type of Christianity that was allowed to exist under the communist regime. God wanted me to utterly repudiate anything influenced by communism, so I would not trust the Christian churches under the sway of communism or in any way trust the nation of North Korea. It was God's strategy for me to reject it all. Even persecution from South Korea and America was God's strategy, so that I would not have any unnecessary attachment to the false values in those societies. 

Now thinking about the past after going over all those hills, I realize that all those experiences were heaven's strategy to give me something more precious than I could ever anticipate. I count those suffering times as God's blessings, because thereby He would bring me something greater, something even more valuable, something infinite—the honor of pioneering the path to give the Blessing to all humankind. They enabled me to secure a position that no one can usurp. Indeed, it was heaven's love that I went through those paths full of ordeals, because they were the conditions by which I could claim everything from Satan. Everything that Satan had taken from heaven came back to me.

15  It is not because I enjoy receiving persecution that I have been doing this work. I have not been working like this because I enjoy being insulted and abused. Honestly, I do not enjoy it at all. Yet I am doing it because I had personal experiences in the spirit world where I tasted a joy more wonderful than anything else. It is so real and intense, that I can feel it as I reshape this world. That is why I continue this work. 

You might think that the reason I can work so tirelessly is because I was born different, as if my body were made of steel, but that is not the case. Why would I do this work if it brought me nothing that I liked? Try and do work that you do not like for one or two years. That is like dying. There is a reason I am doing this, despite all sorts of hardships; it is because there is something so real, something so worthwhile, that is calling me to continue.

16  God loves me. I know this very well. Yet while I kept faith in Him and loved Him all my life, there were more than a few times when I felt like complaining to Him. Sometimes when I was in a life threatening situation, God acted as if He did not know anything about it. However, think of how heartbreaking it must have been for a parent, especially the Heavenly Parent, to say, "I did not know about your suffering plight." Parents could never stand idly by while their child's hands and feet were tied up. They would do whatever it took to untie their child's bonds and free him. But if God had intervened, then the person known as Mr. Moon of the Unification Church would not have been able to accomplish his responsibility, which he had to do on his own. So God had no choice but to stand by as if He were a third party.

17  When I felt lonely as I walked this path for the Will, I recall God who had called me and said, "Sun Myung, you know that I am with you, don't you?" Then walking a lonely path became no problem. I said to Him, "For a while I thought I was all alone, but truly You are with me," and then I went on with new strength. 

There were times when I would weep when I saw a beggar on the street, thinking, "What if that beggar were my Father who had come to find me? What would I do?" You should all become people of such heart, so you would even hold the hands of a beggar in tattered clothes and weep for him without letting him know why. I have had many such experiences. 

In the midst of pain and loneliness, I sometimes felt, "Heavenly Father, You are so cold-hearted. You are so merciless. You only give me responsibility, but You do not take care of me." But as soon as I said that to myself, God said to me, "Look, I was right there with you when you held the hand of that beggar. In the midst of your misery, when you were shedding tears with those sorrowful people, I was with you there." So how can I not but continue on this path? Now we can understand why Jesus said, "I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me." (Matt 25:35-36)

18  God's strategy is to be struck first and then claim what is His. Satan's way is to strike first and take what he wants, but eventually he falls into ruin. In both the First and Second World Wars, the side that attacked first was defeated. The third world war is similar; it is a war of ideology in which communism has been attacking the world. Many of its attacks have been aimed at me. 

The Republic of Korea opposed me, the United States opposed me, and so did Japan and China. They are still doing so. Virtually the whole world united against me. However, I have emerged from all this and am now receiving blessings from the entire evil world. The Devil cannot keep all the blessings of heaven and earth. In the Last Days, Satan has to hand over all the blessings to the True Man.

19  I never doubted God's Will. Nevertheless, without training myself, and without exploring and understanding more and more about the great mysteries of the here and the hereafter, the foundation I built could have been lost. In order to inherit a foundation on a higher dimension, it was imperative that I pay an appropriate level of indemnity. This is why I received persecution. Persecution is not a bad thing, actually. It helped me reach perfection. 

That is why going to prison was not a problem. Nor was facing life-and-death situations. I already knew that if I died while living in adversity, I would go to the most precious place imaginable. So I had no basis to complain.

20  When I was in prison, beaten so badly that I collapsed and vomited blood, I still did not pray in a way that would cause God to worry about me. I endured, silently pledging, "God, I am different from other saints, even Jesus in ancient times." If I prayed asking God to save me, that would be a weak prayer. As God's central person, I did not want to be petty and unmanly. Hence, I never prayed for anything for myself; I only prayed for God's sake. 

God had put all His expectations and hopes on me to shoulder a cosmic responsibility. So how could I come pitifully crying for Him to save my life and free me from prison? I was arrested and locked up by the Japanese imperialists, by the North Korean communists, and even by the democratic world in South Korea. Even so, I kept advancing toward the world. I will keep moving forward, no matter how much they might persecute me or shun me.

21  Before Jesus was crucified, he prayed in the garden of Gethsemane, saying, "My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt." How can there be "my will"? Satan tried to catch him on this point. What I am saying is that at that time, Jesus' will and God's Will were not perfectly one. Because I understood this, even when I found myself in circumstances where I was tortured and vomiting blood, I thought to myself, "I am different from Jesus. I am determined to offer my blood for Your Will, without any hesitation." Truly, I was willing to offer all my blood for God alone. That is why, no matter how difficult my situation, I never pray for myself.

Heaven already knows my situation, so I do not pray, "God, please save me!" I have trained my body to go the sacrificial way that will enable all humankind to live. By focusing on the goal, I ultimately emerged as a man of absolute faith and absolute love. Whenever I have to go through the valley of the shadow of death shedding tears and blood, I go only with my love for God, and with my heart and mind in absolute oneness with God.

22  Alone, I carry out the work of a lighthouse that guides people in the night with its light. A lighthouse is important to those who travel at night by sea. Yet, no one regards a lighthouse as important during the day, and people do not much appreciate the lighthouse keeper. Yet that is the role I have taken on. 

People do not appreciate the light from a lighthouse in the daytime. So the question is, how can I make my light become like the daytime sun? The way is by taking up the task of restoration through indemnity. What I am trying to do is to shine a light that will help people change to become God's eternal, original stars whose light will shine in this world. It was incredibly challenging to change my lighthouse lamp into the shining sun. Yet with this as my goal, I have come thus far. 

Even as I entered the first prison, I asked myself, "Where will prison number two be? Where will prison number three be?" I am the type of person who, as I entered prison number six, was thinking about prison number seven. After all, I still had a mission to fulfill in the Soviet Union and China; thus, I thought that in the years ahead of me I might have to go to prison in those nations.

Since I was preparing myself for this path, God protected me and I did not need to go. However, I was determined that before I died I would visit the countries that could be worse than any prison. Thus I went to the Soviet Union. Many people around me advised against my trip there; they begged me not to go. However, I went to that prison of the day in order to dissolve the prison of the night. In fact, by going there, I brought daylight to that prison.

23  I have been shunned and persecuted all my life, but I have not perished. This is because I always go in the original direction. I do not act in a self-centered way. The reason I have been setting this standard is to help people become better, to help them advance to be in a better situation and to have a greater future. For this purpose, I have been educating people and setting the example of living by that standard. As a result, I have been persecuted, but both heaven and earth are protecting me. 

There is a fundamental law and principle that defines the path we must walk. A man must walk the path of a man, and a family must walk the path of a family. When we live 100 percent in accord with that fundamental principle, all of heaven and earth will support us, and nothing can cause us to fail. If we were to fail, heaven and earth would fall apart. The principles and standards of nature would fall into chaos, and heaven and earth would face destruction.

24  In order to enter the kingdom of heaven, I must stand in the position of the perfected Adam, and in that position give out so much blessing that even the Archangel will protect me until the end. Because such a standard exists in the Principle, you have to meet the condition of overcoming Satan's accusation and loving your enemy. Otherwise you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. If you do not love your enemy, you cannot go there. 

That is why I too have been striving to meet this standard in the work I have done throughout my entire life. It is what I did when I went to Danbury Prison. Although the government and people of America cheered when I was sent to Danbury, I loved them from inside the prison. Because I loved them truly and fully with the original love of God, Satan's world cannot lift its head. This is how I overcame them and emerged victorious. From that point, a new world could open up.

25  I am the central person in a world where every nation has lost its direction. Day and night I have been pioneering the new direction that will set each nation aright. When I walked the path of indemnity, I had no awareness of myself. Jesus, too, had no awareness of himself when he was nailed to the cross. That is why he prayed to God, pleading with Him to forgive those who crucified him, as they did not know the serious crime they were committing. In this way, he made the condition for Christians to conquer Rome in the future. 

It is the same with me. I went through the crucifixion of prison under the Japanese, in North Korea, in South Korea, and in the United States. However, I never forgot God's guidance that I must not sever the net of love that will save them. So, even in prison, I hauled in people with the net of love. 

This can be likened to a light bulb that will always remain lit if it is connected to the power station by a live electric line. If the electricity of God's love is connected to the spiritual electric line, that light will shine everywhere. If you are connected to God's love, the electricity of His love can resurrect you and give you new life.

This is how you can see a clear path of hope. This can be your joy. It will make you such an amazing person that you can smile even while going over the path of the cross. Then Satan will flee without looking back. When you become such a person, we can conclude that restoration has been completed.