Cham Bumo Gyeong
Book 2: The Birth of True Parents
Chapter 4: True Mother’s Childhood and Youth
Section 1: An Atmosphere of Faith, Devotion, Faith and Blessings
Section 1: An Atmosphere of Faith, Paragraph 11

Chapter 4 True Mother’s Childhood and Youth

Section 1. An Atmosphere of Faith

Devotion, faith and blessings

True Mother spent most of her childhood at the house of her maternal grandmother, Jo Won-mo, because her mother, Hong Soon-ae (Daemonim), was leading a life of faith devoted to receiving the Lord at the Second Advent. Both her mother and her grandmother raised her to inherit the core of this life of faith. Daemonim strove to raise Mother well. While they were living in the North, Daemonim often had dreams in which she saw Satan trying to harm her daughter. These dreams continued until Mother was six years old. In another dream, Rev. Kim Seong-do appeared to her and told her to raise True Mother well because she was not her own child but God’s. Hence, Daemonim devoted herself to raising her as well as she could in the position of her daughter’s nanny. Since Daemonim walked such a path of trials, True Mother also had to walk that path alongside her until she could stand as Heaven’s Bride.

1  About one month after my birth, my mother had a dream. Rev. Kim Seong-do of the New Jesus Church appeared to her in white clothes on a white cloud, and said, “Soon-ae, you must have worried a lot about your baby. But don’t you worry. She is the daughter of the Lord, and you are like her nursemaid. Make sure to nurse her and raise her well.” My mother engraved those words deep in her heart. When I was growing up, I was very different from other children. I could speak and walk before I was a year old. When I spoke, my pronunciation was very clear. This is why my grandmother said, “This child is different.” I had a good mind, and I was never the slightest bit untidy.

2  Throughout their lives my grandmother and my mother lived their lives of faith preparing to receive the Returning Lord. They did not compromise with the world. They were totally dedicated to heaven 24 hours a day. They offered their utmost devotion to make preparations to receive the Lord. Their life of faith was not like the ordinary faith of those who stay comfortably in their homes. Since my mothers investment in her life of faith caused her to be rarely at home, I lived mostly with my grandmother. So I naturally inherited my faith from my grandmother.

3  My grandmother knew God’s Will for me, so she cared for me with sincerity. She raised me in purity, untainted by the world, so that I might become the precious daughter whom heaven could use. My grandmother repeatedly told me, “Your father is Heavenly Father.” Thus, when we talked about my father I always thought about Heavenly Father rather than my physical father. Whenever I thought of God I always had a warm feeling. Anyone who looked at my family from an external perspective would have found it incomprehensible. Yet, growing up in it, I never felt anything lacking; nor did I have anything to complain about. I lived with a feeling that something or someone was embracing me, and I felt free in my heart. I never asked my mother or my grandmother anything about my physical father, such as why my mother and father lived the way they did. Throughout my life I never had any hard feelings or complaints whatsoever about my physical parents.

4  Until I was six, I lived at Anju, South Pyeongan Province. During those years Satan would appear in my mother’s dreams trying to kill me. For six long years, she had to fight Satan. However, my mother did not yet understand the deep meaning of this. She only wondered, “Why is Satan continually trying to kill my baby?”

5  My mother first followed the New Jesus Church, then the Holy Lord Church and finally the Inside the Womb Church. In that church she fervently prayed with longing for the Lord to return. When I was about four years old, I began to make conditions of devotion with her, by offering bows at her side. At the church everyone observed the official times for offering bows, which were twice a day, in the morning and the evening. Some people also offered bowing conditions at other times, such as in the middle of meditation. This lifestyle did not change until I was six years old, when we moved down to the South.

6  I believe that my childhood was a period for me to keep separate from the evils of the world, so I could become the Bride of the Lord. My original personality was not extroverted; I was inclined to enjoy my inner world, away from the secular world.

True Father once said that my grandmother and my mother dedicated everything to bequeath the way of heaven’s heart to me. They did not mind even if their flesh was torn or their bones were broken; they kept on walking the path of absolute obedience with unchanging, loyal hearts. Father also said that in order that I would not be in contact with circumstances full of worldly temptations, God led me to a life that was separated from the world.

The Korean War

In 1948, when True Mother’s maternal grandmother, Jo Won-mo, her mother, Hong Soon-ae (Daemonim), and True Mother herself were attending the Inside the Womb Church in the North, that church came under religious persecution by the communist authorities. There was an incident in which Jo Won-mo and Daemonim were detained for 11 days. As the persecution became more severe, Grandmother Jo suggested that they go to the South.

Around that time, heaven gave Daemonim a revelation that they should move to the South. The South was foreign to the three of them, but since they heard that the first son of Rev. Kim Seong-do of the Holy Lord Church in Cheolsan had already gone to the South, they decided to join him there. Also, Daemonim wanted to see her younger brother, Hong Soon-jeong. He had returned to Korea in the middle of his studies in Japan due to the war situation, joined the South Korean army, studied pharmacy at the Korean Military Academy and, at that time, held the rank of first lieutenant. So they departed in the middle of the night and traveled to South Korea at the risk of their lives. After surmounting many difficulties, they safely arrived in the South.

7  When I lived at Anju, my mother was rarely home, because she was investing herself in an ardent life of faith. Given that situation, I grew up under the care of my mothers family. My father was also a devout Christian. In 1946, he was the first of my family to move down to South Korea to evade threats from the communist authorities. I vaguely remember that my father visited my mother and me at our home and asked us to leave with him.

8  It was very hard to live a life of faith under the communist government. So my grandmother, my mother and I journeyed to the South. We were to join Hong Soon-jeong, my maternal uncle who was living there. As we journeyed south, we three women of three generations continued our bowing condition for the Returning Lord. My maternal grandfather, Hong Yu-il, wanted to stay in Pyongyang to protect that city, because he had received a revelation that Pyongyang was the Palace of Eden. We never saw him again.

9  The journey to South Korea was not easy. We had to walk on the uneven ground of the plowed and furrowed rice paddies, and the mud stuck to our feet. We shivered in the cold weather as we continued walking toward the South. When at last we arrived at the 38th parallel, we were captured by soldiers of the North Korean People’s Army, which was tightly guarding the area. They locked us up in an empty barn along with others whom they had arrested. The soldiers were rough with the men but treated the women and children better. The grown-ups told me to give food to the soldiers who had to guard us despite the cold weather. I was nervous with fear, but keeping myself poised I brought food to the soldiers with a smile. After I did that a few times, the soldiers’ hearts softened. One night they released us and told us to return home. The power of love brought us from the brink of death to life.

10  My grandmother was with me all the time. Whenever we walked on the street, people treated me affectionately, saying I was very cute. So at a time when people were not free to travel as they desired, I could freely go about and do errands for others. For this I was greatly appreciated and loved. It was the same when we were journeying to the South. Because I, a little girl, was accompanying the women, the North Korean soldiers who captured us were more lenient with us. They even released us on the way, and hence we could safely continue our journey and cross the 38th parallel.

It was when we had just crossed the 38th parallel that we ran into difficulties. The noise we made as we walked attracted the attention of South Korean soldiers. They were pointing their guns toward us, but at that moment I started singing a song. At the sound of my singing they put down their guns. Then they greeted us warmly, saying, “You must have had a hard time traveling with such a beautiful daughter,” and let us go southward.

11  While my mother was attending the Inside the Womb Church, her brother, my uncle Hong Soon-jeong, returned home from studying abroad in Japan. He then went to South Korea and joined the army there. My uncle was a dignified and charming person. In those days many intelligent people agreed with the ideology of communism, and he too thought that communism was good. But he was disappointed with the communist system, as its reality was so different from its teaching. This is why he went to South Korea and joined the military instead of returning to North Korea where his parents were. He realized that the reality of communism contradicted its theory.

My grandmother very much missed her son while he was serving in the military. One of the reasons my grandmother, my mother and I came to the South was to see him. We went to Seoul and settled there. When we first arrived in Seoul we lived at Hyochang-dong, and that is where I entered elementary school. I was popular wherever I went and grew up receiving much love from the many people around me. This is why I later thought, “If I had not married young, I could have been lost to the secular world. Maybe this is the reason God brought me to the Holy Wedding early in life and embraced me in His arms.”