Cham Bumo Gyeong: Episode 71

Cham Bumo Gyeong
Book 3: The Beginning of True Father's Public Course and the Founding of HSA-UWC
Chapter 3: Founding the Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity
Section 5: Missions to Japan and the United States, Paragraph 02-17

2  When the Unification Church attempted to register as a church in Korea, there was a big struggle in the government. That was in 1963. I knew that such a day would come, so in the late 1950s I made a condition before heaven to prepare for it. This is why I sent out foreign missionaries. I prepared, knowing that if Abel is constrained Cain can lead the course of restoration through indemnity.

Long ago, Cain killed Abel, but now we could form a Cain-type altar based in foreign nations in order to support and save the Abel-type altar. In order to make such unseen connections between countries in different parts of the world, even though we were chased and beleaguered, we sent missionaries abroad. Taking a serious risk, we sent three people to America and one to Japan.

In Korea, the Unification Church grew despite opposition from the Liberal Party of Syngman Rhee, which controlled the government. That regime thought we would disappear. They never imagined we would prosper as much as we did. Behind this growth, however, there is a history filled with bloodshed. There are so many stories that defy imagination. I anticipated opposition on the national level, so I had to make internal preparations to deal with it. The condition I made was to send missionaries to America, Japan and even Germany.

3  We need a strategy to do world-level work. The mess that the world is in has to be straightened out centering on True Parents. In order to go through the course of restoration through indemnity on the world level, we have to fulfill our portion of responsibility. Having established a national foundation through the 40-day outreach campaigns throughout Korea, we sent missionaries to countries around the world.

We built our foundation in Korea, which is like Israel in Jesus’ day, and then we went on to build a foundation in America, which is the center of the world, much as Rome was in Jesus’ day. Our situation is different from that of Jesus, who was beleaguered by the religious leaders and people and bore their persecution. You know how the things I spoke about for the last few years have turned out. It would be an honor if we could die fighting against billions of evil spirits and have our bodies buried in the land of Canaan.

4  We have to accomplish the mission, not only for Korea but for the world. In order to develop the Unification Church, I had to send missionaries to Japan and America even while being persecuted by the Liberal Party of Korea. Unlike today, in those days the Korean government opposed and persecuted us. So I sent a missionary to Japan on a smuggler’s boat. But I did not feel any guilt about that at all. This is because I looked at the situation from the perspective of God’s providence. If I had not done that, we could never have made the victorious foundation we have today.

5  In order to save Korea, and then Japan and the world, I needed to find a way for our strong religious teachings and philosophy to be adopted by the people living in the major cultural centers of Japan. The question was how we could educate the Japanese people and establish ourselves in the subject position, as opposed to going there and being condemned. I believed that this was the only way Korea and Japan could overcome communism. The young missionary who went to Japan and lived there in hiding pioneered the Unification Church and established that new foundation.

In Japan, we focused more on making inroads with Japanese leadership than on creating a nationwide movement. Somehow we had to connect Japan and America to Korea. The Japanese Unification Church began in this way, with the purpose of influencing Japan.

Japan

In the early morning of May 30, 1958, in a garden in the pine woods behind the Gapsa Temple on Mt. Gyeryong, True Father spoke for the better part of two hours with Choi Bong-chun (Choi Sang-ik). He then decided to send Mr. Choi as a missionary to Japan. Father made this decision out of his overwhelming love for Japan; he was determined to save that country.

Missionary Choi left Busan on July 15, 1958. After traveling for some time, he arrived at the port city of Hiroshima with a heart full of expectation and deep emotion. Upon his arrival, the Japanese authorities arrested him over his immigration status. He had to go through suffering and innumerable hardships before he could finally arrive in Tokyo and begin to propagate the Word. His method included handing out leaflets with the name “Tokyo Church of the Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity.” He soon found new members. The first church service was held at 85 Nichome, Totsukacho, Shinjuku, Tokyo, on October 2, 1959. Thus the Japanese HSA-UWC was born.

6  If I look at Japan from my own point of view, it is my enemy. I was tortured many times under Japanese rule. But God commands us not to strike our enemy. Rather, if the enemy does not have clothes or is starving, He says to take care of him. This is why I sent Choi Bong-chun as a missionary to Japan. I knew that the whole of Japan and Korea was against us. But I also knew that in a few decades, it would become clear that this work was for their benefit. I knew that someday the people of both nations would clasp their hands together in respect and thank me. So I sent him to Japan despite the costs and the risks.

The persecution directed against the Unification Church was at its peak, and it was during such a time that I decided to send out Choi Bong-chun. Nobody understands the suffering we endured to send just one person to Japan. We sent this missionary at a time when not one person could be spared, and we held back our tears as he left. The achievement he made by putting his life on the line can never be erased from the history of Japan. Now Korea is thankful to Reverend Moon.

God loves Japan. I love Japan more than anyone in the history of Japan. I love Japan more than the Japanese themselves. If God loves Japan, I want to love Japan with a deeper heart than even the Japanese.

7  Even though Japan is my enemy, I have loved that country more than anyone else has. Because of this, Japan can respond as my object partner and work for God’s Will throughout Asia in the future. Otherwise, I would not be able to find a country to serve as an object partner to the subject partner country. Because that is Japan’s destiny, in a show of love for Japan stronger than anyone else’s, I borrowed money to send a missionary to Japan and thereby save Japan.

8  In 1958 when we sent the first missionary to Japan, the Liberal Party of Korea was in power. It was vehemently opposed to the normalization of diplomatic relations with Japan. What could I do to ensure the survival of Korea? I knew that the Soviet Union and China were supporting North Korea and Kim Il-sung. For certain we had to find a way into Japan. This is the reason I sent the missionary to Japan. At the time, because diplomatic relations between Japan and Korea were not yet established, it was not easy to send a Korean national into Japan to do missionary work.

9  If we are trying to fulfill God’s Will for the whole world, then we have a responsibility to do the same for the neighboring nation of Japan and many other countries. Thus, we have to send out missionaries to the world, even though we are still on a suffering path ourselves. We cannot wait until we have money to spare. We have to do it under difficult circumstances. Thus it happened that when we pioneered Japan, we borrowed money to send our missionary there. I did this because I knew I had to set the condition of having loved the enemy nation of Japan more than any other person has ever loved it.

Upon the missionary’s departure, I told him, “You must give everything you have to Japan in order to save it.” It seems like only yesterday that I sent this man off, telling him he had to go even at the cost of his life. We did not even have enough money to make ends meet, yet I borrowed the money to send him. At the time, no one could understand why I did this. The path of God’s Will is difficult. It is not the path of happy times, nor is it a smooth road over level ground.

10  I said to a missionary going to Japan, “I will pray for you and set conditions for you. I will not sleep until you arrive in Japan. Do not come back until you have completed your mission, even if it means death.” Upon arrival in Japan from Busan he was arrested and sent to Omura Prison. He was transferred to several facilities until finally he was scheduled to be sent back to Korea. But he felt he simply could not come back, even if it meant his death, since he had already risked his life to go there after I gave him his ticket. While he was on the train to Shimonoseki, he thought of jumping from the train but it was too fast and there were too many tunnels. So he arrived at the prison in Shimonoseki and waited to be sent back to Korea. But he knew that if he was sent back to Korea, everything would be lost. So he used his wits and started fasting. One week, then ten days of continual fasting eventually made him sick, whereupon a doctor diagnosed him with heart disease. He was sent to a hospital for treatment, from which he escaped. This is how he pioneered Japan and eventually trained many brave Unification Church soldiers.

11  I sent out a missionary to Japan. Heavenly fortune seeks you out when you go beyond manmade systems and laws. Because I know how heavenly fortune works. I have to prepare accordingly, and that generally means that my path is full of danger, pain and persecution. If you always please others, there will not be any persecution. But when you are trying to do what is right for God, then you will be in conflict with others, and if they are in authority they will obstruct you. Despite this, Unification Church members are going heaven’s way.

12  When I sent the first missionary to Japan, I told him, “Love the Japanese people more than anyone else does. Love them even while you are shedding tears and even when you are trapped in a corner. Love them even while you are being chased out. Love them to such a degree that the evidence of it will force them to testify to the fact that you loved them.” When a foreigner demonstrates loyalty beyond the level that Japanese people show to their own country, then the Japanese people have no choice but to bow their heads before him. This is an ironclad rule. While following this rule, Missionary Choi was taken to prison, but he managed to escape and started to witness. Some may think what he did was wrong from the viewpoint of conventional behavior, but the Japanese people will remember it gratefully for years to come. At the time, they may have opposed us and judged us negatively, but with the passage of time, their descendants will embrace this phase of history tearfully and take it as a source of inspiration.

The United States

On January 2, 1959 church members gathered with True Father at the Yeouido Airport to give a send-off to the first missionary to the United States, Professor Young Oon Kim. She had been a professor at Ehwa Woman’s University until she was forced to resign in March 1955 for being a Unification Church member.

When Professor Kim arrived in the United States, she found employment as a researcher at the University of Oregon. However, she soon quit her job and began witnessing full-time, working as an emissary of heaven. She wrote several Divine Principle books in English and delivered the Principle teachings in places where people who were thirsting for new truth and spiritual experiences gathered. Thanks to the devotion of True Parents and the hard work of Professor Kim, on September 18, 1961, the American church received legal certification as a corporate entity from the state of California under the name Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity. It was approved as a tax-exempt entity by the federal government in April 1963.

13  Because history advances through parallels, a Second Israel was bound to emerge. This is based on spiritual truths. Today’s Christianity is in the position of Judaism 2,000 years ago. Christianity gave birth to democracy, and democracy carries the responsibility to realize a God-centered world.

Korea is in the same position as Israel, and America is in the same position as Rome. Korean Christianity is in the position of internal Judaism, which represents the internal Israel, and is therefore the microcosm of world Christianity. So Korea is in the position of the internal Israel. In much the same way as Israel was a vassal state of Rome, Korea is influenced by American culture and economy.

Had the Korean people and Korean Christianity united with the Unification Church, I could have indemnified the inability of Judaism to unite with Jesus during Jesus’ time on earth. But because of Korea’s disbelief, the Unification Church was forced to go the path of Golgotha, just as Jesus did. Nonetheless, we emerged victorious. Our official registration as a religion in America is the manifestation of our victory in the struggle against Christian opposition. Now that we are a registered religion in America, we can begin to establish the original family centered upon the four-position foundation.

14  We must quickly engage in worldwide mission work. But first, we have to start with America. Say what you will, but when we look at the globe today, America is the center of the world. Economically, politically, militarily, in every respect, America is the center. Of course, Europe pioneered the advancement of western culture, but now it has yielded the leading role to America. When you talk to young people in England, you can tell they yearn for America. British people have a conservative personality and are proud of their country, but they envy America as the new leader, and they want to go there.

It is the same with Germany and France. This sentiment is the same at all levels of society, but it is especially prominent among the youth. They want to know how they can follow America’s lead. Seeing how everyone in western countries yearns for America, we can take this as clear evidence that America is playing the leading role in the world. The question now is, how will America carry out its leading role?

15  Professor Young Oon Kim was sent to America as a missionary. One way she witnessed was to visit spiritualists. She witnessed to them by saying, “Here, take this book and pray about it.” What a creative way to witness! She also told them, “Please pray about who Young Oon Kim is.” If they prayed as she asked them to, the spirit world would give them strict and precise directions, “When she enters the room, stand up straight, honor her with a full bow, and follow her. She does not have much money, so give her money.” This is how the Unification Church of America began.

16 I sent out missionaries to the East Coast and the West Coast, as well as the American Northwest. I sent a man to the East Coast; a woman to the West Coast; and a man to the Northwest. The man sent to the East Coast represented Adam, the woman sent to the West Coast represented Eve and the man sent to the Northwest represented the archangel.

Eve was the first to arrive in America. She had to come first to lay a path for Adam and the archangel, and then to accomplish her mission, which was to unite the three of them. This is how I saw things. This is the viewpoint of the Principle. Unless they united, it would not work. They could not influence the destiny of America, the archangel nation, if they remained separate. During the tumultuous 1960s, I sent these missionaries to America to accomplish this providence.

17  It is time for America to wake up. The sun must rise anew in America. You must take responsibility for every state in the nation. Your activities must spread from this state into other states. Even though there are not many of you, you must each be responsible to accomplish this task. Something terrible may happen if you do not fulfill this responsibility. If you cannot fulfill your task, then America, which is in the Abel position, will face significant difficulties from the governments of the communist nations, which are in the Cain position. The free world will come under attack. But if you fulfill your responsibilities, you will save democracy and secure its freedom.