Cham Bumo Gyeong: Episode 44

Cham Bumo Gyeong
Book 2: The Birth of True Parents
Chapter 3: True Father’s Childhood and Youth
Section 3: School Days, The Myeongsudae church
Section 4: Study in Japan, Paragraph 9

The Myeongsudae church

During the time True Father was living in Heukseok-dong, Seoul, he stood against the self-righteous churches that were administered under the system of Japanese rule. He opposed their way of doctrine-based faith. Instead he connected to the Pentecostal church that was leading the movement of the Holy Spirit in Korea. After attending that church in Seobinggo, he played a pivotal role in founding the Myeongsudae New Jesus Church in Heukseok-dong in the autumn of 1939.

Rev. Lee Ho-bin and Rev. Pak Jae-bong from the Pyongyang New Jesus Church frequently visited the New Jesus Church in Heukseok-dong and held revivals and Bible study classes. Whenever they visited, True Father attended them and deepened his relationship with them. True Father taught the students at the Sunday school, giving them his special love. Further, whenever he went to Pyongyang during summer vacation, he spoke to the Sunday school students at the Pyongyang New Jesus Church.

25  While attending school, I taught the students who went to the Myeongsudae Church in Heukseok-dong; I also did the same at the Seobinggo Church. At that time it was very cold, and at night as we crossed the frozen Han River we could hear the plates of ice cracking. It was a frightening sound to hear when I was on the river all alone. Nevertheless, I would cross the Han River in order to teach the Sunday School students of Seobinggo Church. I taught them about the Bible with much animation, so that it would be interesting. I even shed tears. I thought that the students might not like to see me crying, and that they might ask me to stop teaching them. Yet they did not want me to stop; instead, they followed me around and begged me to teach them more.

26  When I was a student, three of my friends and I started the Myeongsudae New Jesus Church in Heukseok-dong. I invested every penny of my tuition. There is still a trace of that church even now. I remember my evangelizing activities to bring many people to that church, before a new church opened in Seobinggo. At the peak of winter the Han River was frozen over, and the cracking sound of its ice was loud and terrifying. I have many memories about what I did during that period of Korean history, so filled with bitter sorrows.

27  I am someone who has offered bows even to very small children. I have attended three-year-old children with utmost sincerity, as if they were princes and princesses of heaven. I speak to you now only after having made internally and externally a victorious foundation that will be attested to throughout history. Part of that foundation was to win the hearts of children. I had to win the hearts of people from three generations, representing the past, present and future. I had to establish that tradition. I taught the Sunday school students who came to the Myeongsudae New Jesus Church, loving them sincerely and regarding them as the hope of my life. Some of them wanted to skip school and follow me around; this is because my mission was to pioneer the work of loving Cain.

28  The key leaders at the New Jesus Church in Pyongyang were Rev. Lee Ho-bin, Rev. Pak Jae-bong, and Rev. Han Jun-myeong. That church had a large membership, including several thousand students. It was a beautiful building and was well known. Whenever I came up to Pyongyang and visited that church, I was always welcome to take charge of teaching the students there. I was recognized as a good Sunday School teacher. I knew all the pastors and was popular among the students, so everyone wanted to invite me to their home.

29  I am well aware of the secrets of Rev. Lee Ho-bin, Rev. Han Jun-myeong and Rev. Pak Jae-bong of the New Jesus Church in Pyongyang. When I admonished them about their calling and their responsibility for God’s Will, they could not answer me. I advised them not to do certain things that they were involved with. Hence, they feared me more than anyone. I knew all the hidden truths of the Old and New Testaments even as a high school student. In my visits to the church I became such a famous student leader that its thousands of Sunday school students asked me to give sermons. They were mesmerized by my words. When I left, they made such a crowd at the railroad station that the pastors arrived and formed a line in order to protect me. Therefore, the three pastors always listened to my advice.

Section 4. Study in Japan

First days in Japan

To broaden and deepen himself in preparation for his mission, True Father went to study in Japan. On March 31, 1941, he departed from Seoul Station and took the Hikari line train to Busan. On April 1, he sailed to Japan on the Shokei Maru, a liner operating between the port of Busan and Shimonoseki. At the beginning of April, Father enrolled in the Waseda Technical High School, which was attached to Waseda University, and began his studies in electrical engineering.

1  From childhood I held the thought, “If my country (Korea) were stronger than Japan, its fate would have been different.” This was its problem. I felt deeply that my country’s weakness, especially the weakness of its external foundation, was the reason it could not avoid a miserable fate. Studying the countries of the world, I learned that the most powerful country in the world at the time was the United States. As a child I already knew that. I further thought, “The United States is a much larger and more powerful country than Japan, but it’s just the same there. Doesn’t it also try to take advantage of weak nations for its own benefit? Is there any righteous country anywhere which, as the representative nation of the world, protects and lifts up weak countries? If there were such a country, what would it look like?”

As a child, I thought that what had been historically impossible for human beings would be possible for the Creator. I thought that if He truly existed, He could do it. Therefore I resolved, “If the Creator, the Absolute Being, exists, I will partner with Him to do the work of saving my country and liberating its oppressed people.” But first I needed an answer regarding the existence of God. For this I searched within religions. I thought that if God really exists, then I must find a way to meet Him. As I was passing through my teens and approaching my twenties, I agonized over many issues on my journey of faith. I thought, “I have to go to Japan and then to the United States. I need to experience sorrow and persecution there as a representative of a people whose power is smaller and weaker.”

2  As I began my journey to Japan and was crossing the Han River Bridge, I shed many tears. I felt as if I were leaving the Korean people behind, like orphans. It seems it was only the day before yesterday when those tears poured down my face. On the train to Busan I wept bitterly all the way while covering my head with my coat. A Japanese woman saw me crying and said, “Young man, did your father or mother die? Everyone goes through that kind of sorrow.” She tried to comfort me, but my sorrow was something that sprang from a heart completely filled with love for my country. I tell you, people who cannot love their country cannot truly love heaven.

3  On my way to Japan I traveled from Seoul to Busan on the Hikari line train. While riding that train I asked myself, “What is it that I should learn in Japan?” Then I resolved, “I will liberate my country, and I will pave the way for the next generation to have hope and to prosper in an independent nation.” I still remember shedding tears as I held on to a handrail while crossing the Han River. At that moment I resolved, “By the time I return, I will no longer be shedding tears.”

4  In Busan I boarded a ship bound for Japan. I still remember vividly how I continuously shed tears on the way. As Korea was under Japanese rule, I thought, “Who will liberate this poor nation from its shackles?” I gazed at the stars throughout the night and longed for the day of my country’s and my people’s liberation. I tearfully prayed to God, “Now I am departing my country. 0 God! Please protect my country until I return.” That time is still fresh in my memory, as if it happened yesterday.

5  I attended evening classes at the technical school at Waseda University so that during the daytime I could work as a laborer to help other Korean students pay their tuition. You do not know all the difficulties I went through in Japan. Japanese people who are now alive must appeal with tears for their nation to be forgiven. Otherwise Japan cannot stand. Japanese people need to apologize for the shameful way they treated Korea and the other nations of Asia.

6  I had many Japanese friends when I was living in Japan. I treated them with utmost respect. Whenever they were in difficult situations, they came to see me to discuss their problems. Sometimes they asked out of concern, “How is Korea doing?” I did not want to be outdone by any of my Japanese friends. So when they spoke one word, I spoke two words. I generally speak very fast, but when I spoke with Japanese people I spoke even faster. I studied how to speak fast and trained myself to do so. I resolved I would someday lead Japanese youth and mobilize them for the sake of the world. So I practiced to gain the ability to discuss issues better than Japanese people could, by gaining deeper and broader knowledge in all fields.

7  In my childhood I used to speak slowly. However, after coming to Japan, as I was learning to speak better Japanese every day, I competed with Japanese people to see who could say more in one minute. If I was ever defeated I could not fall asleep, so I trained myself to speak even more rapidly. If in 30 minutes I could say 1,000 words speaking normally, by speaking faster I could say more than 2,000 words. When learning a language it is important to train yourself through practice.

Mind-body discipline

During the time he studied in Japan, True Father immersed himself in the task of researching and systematizing the Principle. He repeatedly pored over the Bible and compared it with the Principle that he had newly discovered, in order to verify it with the Scripture. Bibles in Korean, Japanese and English were always on his desk at the boarding house. The Korean and Japanese Bibles, especially, were so full of underlining in different colors that people could barely read the words on the pages. The process of finding and systematizing the vast and fundamental truth was a lonely path; there was no one to guide him through it.

Besides his academic studies, True Father pushed himself hard to have many different life experiences, among the working class, the middle class and the upper class. In order to prepare himself for his revolutionary mission, he tried to break through every limitation and accumulate abilities to deal with any circumstance that might arise on his way to the final destination. When he received money from home for his school and living expenses, he used it to help those in need; then he went out to do the work of a laborer. Among many other things, he carried an A-frame on his back and pulled a delivery cart. Shedding blood and sweat, he became a friend and brother to his fellow laborers, sharing their pain and their joy. Through training himself in this way, he personally experienced the teaching, “The one who would become a glorious king must be victorious over all kinds of pain.”

8  I did not reveal my thoughts about my mission to others. Even my friends did not know. I studied the Bible and read books on religion and philosophy, which ordinary people usually did not do. One of my friends majored in politics and economics at Waseda University. He was studying communism, and this led to a fierce debate between us. I once delivered a loud, impassioned speech on the side of the road. I did this where many people had gathered to view the cherry blossoms. I spoke strongly on the issues of the time, and urged the youth to act this way and that for the sake of the future. The predictions I made then are now coming true. Some of my friends happened to join the crowd; they were quite astonished when they saw it was I who was giving the speech.

9  After receiving a recommendation from my school in Seoul, I entered Waseda Technical High School. But I studied books about religion more than school-related subjects. I studied the Bible carefully to uncover its hidden truths. There was one particular Bible page I could not understand even after struggling for five years. That one page contained the root problem of human history. I had to completely and clearly solve the most difficult and complex issues in the Bible. This is how the Principle came to emerge into the world. Since, together with heaven, I unraveled the truth, heaven cannot ignore this. Heaven knows all about it.