Cham Bumo Gyeong: Episode 36

Cham Bumo Gyeong
Book 2: The Birth of True Parents
Chapter 2: True Mother’s Birth
Section 2: True Mother’s Family, Paragraph 10
Section 3: Spirit-led Churches, Paragraph 8

10 When we search for the root of the phrase “the Han people,” we find that it originates from han (韓). This word denotes the unique name that our people were called from ancient times. It means the first people and a great people. It also refers to the people of heaven’s lineage who will fulfill God’s Will and make the world one. Therefore, the Han clan is known to be a royal and prestigious lineage with a long and enduring history. That is why it was from this lineage that God sought a woman to be the True Mother.

11 Han also is the word for the One, God, and the oneness of all things in the universe. In addition, it means vast, which implies embracing everything in the universe, fully and abundantly. It also means divine, number one in the world, and the origin or beginning of all things. Thus, we Han people are the people who will carry out the role of fulfilling God’s Will on earth by spearheading human history and guiding humankind to truth.

12 We Korean people are known as the Baedal people, the white-clothed people. Baedal means “the bright country,” and “the country that reveres heaven.” Dan-gun is also called the King of Baedal, an ancient kingdom of the Korean people thousands of years ago. From the Bible, we read that God chose Noah and Abraham, and worked with them as central figures to prepare the Israelites as the chosen people to whom He would eventually send Jesus. Likewise, heaven chose the Han people as the people of heaven’s lineage and raised them as His people with the Hongik Ingan teaching—the principle to widely benefit humankind—that was given by Dangun. Thus God prepared them to lead the providence when He sends the Returning Lord to them. Therefore, we must bear in mind that the Han people have been chosen by God to stand in front and lead the way to establish the kingdom of peace in the Era After the Coming of Heaven.

13 The Korean alphabet was revealed during the reign of King Sejong, who promulgated it as Hunmin Jeongeum (訓民正音), meaning “the teaching of correct sounds for the people.” The name can be interpreted to mean that those who teach and learn what is right will continue on, even if their country falls into ruin. I came to learn that the Dongyi people (another name for the Korean people) have such a history and character.

It is generally believed that Korean history spans approximately 4,000 years, beginning with the Gojoseon era. However, the Han people already existed 3,000 years prior to the Gojoseon era, and their place of origin on the Korean Peninsula was Cheongju. I am now working to systematically organize all the material that I have compiled and publish a book about the ancient history of Korea, one that does not treat Korea in isolation but demonstrates its links with the history of other Far Eastern nations.

Section 3. Spirit-led Churches

The providence of Spirit-led churches

Beginning around 1900, while God was initiating the providence to send the returning Messiah to the land of Korea, Spirit-led churches began to emerge. These were led by devout Christians who had advance knowledge about the providence of God. The work of these churches began with the New Jesus Church led by Rev. Yi Yong-do, was passed to the Holy Lord Church of Rev. Kim Seong-do, and culminated with the Inside the Womb Church of Rev. Heo Ho-bin. As these churches searched for the Returning Lord, they also created the foundation for God’s providence to welcome Heaven’s Bride.

1 In the land of Korea, God has been conducting spiritual work focusing on Christianity. Focusing on certain spiritual Christian churches God prepared a foundation in the 1930s and 1940s before Korea’s liberation from Japan. Those Christian churches had to understand God’s internal circumstances and attend His internal Will, to prepare to receive the Returning Lord. God led this work through numerous families and pioneers. In Cheolsan, Pyongyang and Wonsan they did everything they could to prepare a good environment for the time of the Lord’s return. Since Christianity was called to fulfill the Will to receive the Lord, God had these faithful believers prepare a spiritual environment to receive him.

2 Among people doing this spiritual work was Rev. Kim Seong-do, who lived in Cheolsan. Another spiritual leader at that time was Rev. Baek Nam-ju from Hamheung, who was granted authorization by the Japanese governor-general’s office in Korea to lead the Holy Lord Church. This was possible only because of guidance from the spirit world. The spirit world gave a message to Rev. Baek to walk barefoot from Hamheung to Cheolsan and meet Rev. Kim. Although the distance was some 240 to 280 kilometers, he walked barefoot and met Rev. Kim. In this way, east and west united.

God prepared this foundation of unity so that the Returning Lord would not be persecuted when he arrived. That is how the Holy Lord (Seongju) Church was formed. Its name takes seong (聖), meaning “holy,” from Kim Seong-do, and ju (主), meaning “the Lord,” from Baek Nam-ju. However, a problem arose: Kim Seong-do viewed her position as higher than that of Baek Nam-ju and others. Kim Seong-do said, “Since I am the one whom heaven taught about Eve’s mission, I am the one who must attend the Lord when He comes.”

3 When Rev. Kim Seong-do and her family failed to fulfill their responsibility for her mission, it was transferred to a woman who faithfully attended her, Rev. Heo Ho-bin. Rev. Heo’s whole life was focused on the Returning Lord. Heaven taught her how sin could be removed, how to live a daily life of attendance to the Lord, and how children should be raised after the Lord’s coming. Rev. Heo set up all the necessary traditions for living in attendance to the Returning Lord. Rev. Heo had to make these preparations before Korea’s liberation from Japan in 1945. The Principle of Restoration is such that she needed to do this work during the seven years prior to the liberation. Then, God’s plan for the Returning Lord could have been fulfilled at the time of the liberation. The Messiah could have inherited the foundation she had built and initiated a new history.

Rev. Heo stood one level lower than the Returning Lord. She did not stand in the same position as the Lord; rather she stood in the position of symbolically giving birth to him. Through her, the Lord could be born symbolically; this is according to the Principle of Restoration. Thus her mission symbolized that of Mary.

4 Two thousand years ago in Israel, God made many preparations before the birth of Jesus. He prepared the people of Israel ahead of time to welcome Jesus. He prepared so that Jesus could have his heavenly family, unite the nation and then bring salvation to the world. However, the central figures of the providence at that time cared more about their daily lives than about God’s circumstances or His profound Will. As a result of their not recognizing and attending Jesus properly, Jesus was sent to the cross. During the 2,000 years since Jesus’ resurrection, God has been working through Christian culture to awaken and prepare people as brides to attend the Returning Lord. He called Korea to be His chosen nation.

Although Korea has but a short history of Christianity, God led the people of Korea to establish churches to make internal preparations to welcome the Returning Lord both before and after the country’s liberation. God directly guided Rev. Heo Ho-bin and her husband, who established the Inside the Womb Church, to make internal preparations to attend the Returning Lord. This included making clothes that would fit him for every year of his life from birth to age 33.

This was to alleviate the bitter sorrow of Jesus, whose life of 33 years was so miserable.

Nurturing True Mother

True Father said, “The Holy Lord Church led by Rev. Kim Seong-do and the Inside the Womb Church led by Rev. Heo Ho-bin were connected to True Mother through Daemonim.” Throughout her life, Hong Soon-ae (Daemonim) made many conditions of devotion to meet the Returning Lord. Also, when she joined the Holy Lord Church and the Inside the Womb Church, she dedicated herself to these churches. During that time, Rev. Heo’s mother gave a blessing to True Mother, “You will be Heaven’s Bride.” This signified that the entire foundation of the conditions of devotion made by all these Spirit-led churches was bequeathed to True Mother through Daemonim.

5 As no tree is without roots, we need to understand the people in the past who constituted the roots of True Father and True Mother before they were inaugurated as the True Parents. It is significant that they created and maintained a good environment, good family and good lineage until the end of their lives. My mother, Daemonim, was born on the 22nd day of the 2nd lunar month in 1914, at Jeongju, North Pyeongan Province. She devoted her life completely to finding the Returning Lord and then lived her whole life in attendance to him. Christians up to that time lived with the hope of welcoming the Lord, but my mothers path was different. In order to meet the Lord she actively searched for him, rather than just hoping and waiting for him to come.

6 Thousands of years before Jesus came, God made many preparations for Israel to receive him that remain unknown to this day. In Korea as well, prior to the liberation, He prepared many groups to receive the Lord at his return. Those groups carried out internal work for the providential history of restoration. My maternal grandmother and my mother searched everywhere for those groups. They lived their lives only for the Will, preparing for the day when they could meet the Lord. In the end, their sincere and devout life of faith led me to where I am today. Living a virtuous and pure life, they separated themselves from anything impure or evil. I learned this way of life primarily from my mother, but my maternal grandmother also greatly influenced me.

7 Grandmother Jo Won-mo was born in a Christian family. She had deep faith and love for her country, and was passionate about everything she did. With the explosive beginning of the March 1st Movement in 1919, she participated while carrying my mother, who was then five, on her back. I remember one time seeing a picture of her at a rally. Grandmother Jo was truly a remarkable woman, with a fervent life of faith that influenced my mother. They attended a Presbyterian Church until my mother was 19 years old. Later, they attended the Holy Lord Church founded by Rev. Kim Seong-do, even making the long journey to Cheolsan to attend a church there because it was very active. My grandmother and my mother joined that church and continued their life of faith.

8 In 1944, one year after I was born, my mother and grandmother Jo Won-mo joined the Inside the Womb Church, where preparations were being made to attend the Returning Lord. Rev. Heo Ho-bin told the members, “Each and every woman in the church should make at least one set of clothes for the Lord. Otherwise, when he comes you will be ashamed.”

One afternoon, around 1:00 p.m., Rev. Heo asked my mother to make a set of clothes for the Lord and complete them before nightfall. It might be possible to make clothes for an ordinary person within several hours, but making clothes for the Lord required extra special care. Still, my mother obeyed and did her best. With trembling hands, she made the clothes with a heart of gratitude.

My mother wanted to be like Rev. Heo, who was living a spiritual life of attendance to the Returning Lord day and night. One day she thought to herself, “If only I could meet the Lord once, even in a dream, I could die and have no regrets.” That night she had a dream. In her dream, she was wearing a white Korean dress. She was in a clean three-room house with a thatched roof. Having prepared breakfast, she was coming out of the kitchen, drying her hands on her apron, when Grandmother Jo said, “Not just anyone is allowed to come into this room.” Still, she opened the door, and without saying anything, quietly entered the room and sat down. There she saw a man, physically well-built and wearing a headband, sitting at the table facing the east and studying. All of a sudden he turned around and looked at her, and said, “I have been studying hard in order to find you.”

My mother later said that his remark touched her deeply and she was overwhelmed with gratitude, but at the same time she felt inadequate and could only shed tears, unable to utter even one word. She wept while holding his hand. Then she woke up. After waking up, she thought, “What an unusual dream! He must be the Returning Lord.” That is how my mother had her first encounter with True Father, in a dream.