Cham Bumo Gyeong: Episode 31

Cham Bumo Gyeong
Book 2: The Birth of True Parents
Chapter 1: True Father’s Birth
Section 1: True Father’s Hometown
Section 1: Background, Paragraph 17

True Father’s hometown

The Korean Peninsula is a providential land. Having the role of a bridge between the civilizations of East and West, it is where preparations were made for the birth of the Lord at the Second Advent. According to True Father, Jeongju (定州), Father’s birthplace where God’s love came to earth, was the place that God had predestined to be the starting point of a new future for humankind. Also, the name “Sangsa-ri” (上思里), the village of True Father’s birth, denotes a land whose people yearn for and revere God. Sangsa-ri will become a holy ground for the people of the world.

9 Located in northeast Asia, the Korean Peninsula is geographically positioned to connect the civilization of the Asian continent to Japan, which embraced the modern civilization of the West. To connect with a continent, a civilization will often go through a peninsula rather than going directly to the continent. That is why peninsulas always foster cultural exchange. In this sense, the Korean Peninsula has the role of a bridge to bring Eastern and Western civilizations together and bear their fruit. Thus it makes sense that God will lead His providence for the world centering on the Korean Peninsula. For this reason, Korean people must be equipped to embrace both civilizations and digest them. In the end, what enables a civilization to bear fruit is religion.

10 To which nation will the Messiah come? From the viewpoint of the Principle of Restoration, he should not come to an independent nation. This is because originally Israel, and Judaism with its influence on the nation of Israel, should have welcomed the Messiah and become his foundation. When they were not able to do so, the foundation of the nation and of Judaism was lost, and as a result the Jewish people would later lose their nation and be scattered throughout the world. From the standpoint of Jesus, the nation and the religion that should have supported him were gone; thus Jesus had to start his ministry from a position where he had no relationship with either the nation or the Temple.

Therefore, through the 2,000 years of history since Jesus’ death, God worked to prepare a nation having circumstances similar to those of the nation of Israel and then connected that nation to the providence preparing for the day of the Lord at the Second Advent. Since the people of Israel began a history full of misery and separation, in order to deal with this problem God was required to find a nation enduring the same suffering. From the perspective of history, the nation in that position was Korea. Indeed, the Korean people have many striking similarities to the Jewish people in terms of where they are situated in their region and in terms of their history.

11 From the historical point of view, what nation has a people with a burning faith? Although the Korean people were not familiar with the Christian term “God,” and although they did not receive prophecies from the biblical prophets, strangely enough throughout their 5,000 years of history the Korean people always deeply revered heaven even without knowing why. That such a small country in the Eastern Hemisphere survived era after era to this day, maintaining itself through 5,000 years of history is nothing short of a miracle. If you look at the history of Korea, it underwent numerous trials, including being invaded many times by neighboring countries.

Nevertheless, the Korean people were able to overcome such obstacles because of something deep within their national spirit. With that spirit, they always looked forward to a hopeful tomorrow. Because they possessed this spirit, because this national spirit could take hold and become the prevailing spirit on the Korean Peninsula of the Far East, they were able to come out on top through all their battles. Isn’t it fitting that the Messiah come to a people who have endured, always advancing with this kind of spirit? On the emotional level, no people in this region are more passionate than the Korean people.

Korea has also been called the eastern land of propriety. Buddhism, Confucianism and Christianity each claim to be the religion of faith and righteousness, but now they have reached their limit. However, just as the Korean people have upheld their spirit of hope for their nation, they are the kind of people who can be fired up with the truth for the sake of the world. When this happens, their inherent passion for truth will burst out from deep within their hearts.

12 Korea has made many sacrifices during its 5,000-year history. Koreans have had a great influence on China. Dwelling to the east of China, the Korean people took no pleasure in invading other nations. They were a peace-loving people. That is why some Chinese people left their mainland nation and moved to the Korean Peninsula. Even Confucius praised these people. He said that a holy people resided there and expressed his desire to go and visit them. If you study Korean history, you will see that the Korean people did not invade other countries. Although they were invaded numerous times, they never invaded another country. However, when they were attacked unjustly they were like fire; no one could defeat them. They are a people literally burning with righteousness. If a Korean should happen to die while traveling in regions such as Manchuria or Siberia, nothing would be found on his body except a tobacco pipe and a flint. People from other countries carried swords or other kinds of weapons, but Koreans did not possess anything like that. That is why if a Korean traveling in Russia or China knocked on the door at night, most Russians and Chinese would welcome him in. Korea is indeed a country worthy of being the place where I could appear.

13 My hometown is Jeongju, in North Pyeongan Province, North Korea. I have many stories to share about that place, and many anecdotes from my childhood. In the future, the people of the world will regard my hometown in the same way Muslims regard Mecca and Christians regard Jerusalem. Therefore, I urge you to visit my hometown in your lifetime. If you do not, when you go to the spirit world, people there will accuse you, pointing their fingers at you and saying, “What in the world did you do while you were on earth?”

14 You should be able to say, “I attended the True Parents from the beginning to the end.” Otherwise, how can you become citizens of God’s kingdom and build up the royal family in the heavenly kingdom? That is why you must return to where the True Parents were born. Originally the Garden of Eden should be your home; Eden is where the True Parents were born. Due to the Fall, humankind lost the land of that original home. However, now that the True Parents have become the owners of the Garden of Eden, the place where the True Parents were born has become humanity’s hometown. Hence, the place where the True Parents were born is also your hometown.

Birth omens and name

Auspicious signs appeared around the time of True Father’s birth. In 1919, before the March 1st Movement began, a golden bird flew to a tree in front of True Father’s house and sang. After a dream in which he saw a pair of dragons ascend to heaven, his great-grandfather Moon Jeong-heul named True Father Yong Myung; yong (龍) meaning dragon and myung (明) meaning light. However, immediately after Korea’s liberation from Japan in 1945, as True Father embarked upon the course of his public ministry for the providence, heaven gave him a new name, so he changed his name to Sun Myung, in accordance with the purpose of his providential mission.

15 When my mother was pregnant with me and her delivery date was nearing, she journeyed to her hometown of Daesandong. Right beside my mother’s hometown is a large mountain. From all directions, nothing obstructs the view of this mountain, which is called Mt. Jeseok. It is a mystical mountain. While my mother was waiting for the day of my delivery, she had a dream: The weather had become terribly fierce. A heavy storm blew in and dark clouds covered her village. Then from out of the clouds came a streak of light. From the top of Mt. Jeseok a golden dragon appeared. It encircled the waist of the mountain, and then flew upward. My mother in her vision followed the dragon as far as the mountaintop, then sat up there and enjoyed the sight of it as it flew about. Suddenly the mountaintop turned into an ocean. In that ocean two golden dragons appeared, twisting and gliding and splashing their tails in the water. Then with the words, “Farewell, my beloved world,” they ascended into the sky.

My mother kept these things close to her heart. When I was eight she told me the story and said, “No matter how hard I think about it, I can only conclude that it is about the mission that you must undertake.” Once you come to know the Will, you can understand the promises of God that are revealed in such symbolic dreams. My mother received many revelations. Whenever something special was to occur or a difficulty might arise, she knew it in advance and made conditions of devotion to prepare for it. This is how I know that by bringing heaven and earth together we can solve any problem.

16 I can never forget something that my mother told me one day. She said that my great-grandfather, my grandfather, and even one of my sisters-in-law had the same kind of dream about dragons. I cannot forget the words that my mother uttered, “Whatever way I think about them, I know that all those dreams are about you, the substance of the dragon.” In one of her own visions, two golden dragons descended from the top of Mt. Jeseok and stood in front of her house. Each held a magic pearl as it ascended into the sky. She said that she actually saw them with her own eyes. Although the rain was pouring down that day, when she looked at the mountain she could see all of that happening.

17 The Chinese character sun (鮮) in my name is the combination of two characters, symbols of a fish (魚) and a sheep (羊). They can also mean the ocean and the land, or the water and the earth. The character sun also means bright and cheerful. When the morning sun shines radiantly after a night of rainfall, we say in Korean, sunmyung-hada, which means “it is bright and clear.”

The character myung (明) is a combination of the sun (日) and the moon (月). Thus, placing the two characters sun and moon together signifies that clarity and brightness will pervade both heaven and earth. Heaven represents man and earth represents woman, so when they become as one, all will be bright, clear and cheerful.

The character moon (文) which is my family name, refers to truth. I am doing the work that my entire name stands for. That is why throughout my life, whenever I look at my name I think to myself, “I must act and live accordingly. I really must.”