Understanding True Mother’s Life Course
At the monthly National Headquarters staff meeting, held this month on July 2 at the New Yorker Hotel, Dr. Ki Hoon Kim, continental director of FFWPU, shared his heart and understanding of True Mother since reading her July 1, 2014, Hoon Dok Hwe in Korea. During this study of scripture, True Mother shared a great deal about her life before and after meeting True Father and she announced the appointment of her daughter Sun Jin Moon as the director-general of FFWPU International. Click here for True Mother’s complete Hoon Dok Hwe.
I would like to spend some time illustrating True Parents’ heart when they traveled around the 48 states and to 55 cities in 43 days to create Holy Grounds across America. How True Father pushed himself. Everyone on this trip couldn’t even bring their luggage or any extra suits or shirts. Some brothers who traveled with True Father at that time didn’t even have the chance to don a tie; they only had time to put one short-sleeved shirt and a light jacket which they found time enough to purchase on the way. Think about San Francisco weather and North Dakota weather. The two extremes in weather are like heaven and earth: different as day and night. One deathly hot, the other bitter cold. That was True Father’s course for 43 days.
When we study True Parents’ course, we find it’s always a story filled with life-or-death situations. True Father risked his life for the sake of God. This is True Parents’ life. Nobody expected it when, on February 12, 1965, True Father landed at San Francisco airport, filled a small station wagon with five to seven people and drove the entire expanse of America, eating breakfast, lunch and dinner in the car the whole way and sometimes even sleeping in the car.
Even though we are trying to copy True Father’s trip of nearly 50 years ago, it’s really not the same: We have a luxury bus, and in the motels there are only two to three sleeping in a room. We find ourselves complaining about unimportant things, like too many sandwiches over too many lunches. We can’t ever fully re-create the experience that True Father and that handful of Unificationists had nearly 50 years ago, but this revival tour is a unique experience of its own, especially for American blessed families. It’s so precious, and we are so blessed to understand True Parents even a little through our experiences with them. They lived on American soil for 40 years. Think about how blessed we are because of that, how much they cultivated the American soul and American culture for the sake of God’s providence.
America is really a blessed country. In studying True Father’s life, his entry into America especially was a life-or-death situation. In 1971, True Father finally received a U.S. visa—from Canada, though, not Korea. They rejected him so many times. Even True Mother received a U.S. visa before him, but True Father tried and they rejected him, so he tried to get one in the U.S. Embassy in Japan and they said, “Why are you trying to get an entry visa to America from Japan? Your homeland is Korea.”
Father then came to Toronto after a layover at Los Angeles airport. In Toronto True Father and True Mother stayed in the humble third floor of the church center. Members invited them to a hotel, but True Father said, “No, I must stay here.” He met with the local Unificationists for two days, knee to knee, sitting down and talking. That is True Father’s life of condition. If he were looking out only for himself, he would have stayed in a hotel while waiting for the visa. But True Father is not that kind of person. Each morning they went to the U.S. Consulate in Toronto but were rejected again and again. Finally the U.S. consul came to the waiting room. Many people were waiting there. He shouted to True Parents, “We cannot give an entry visa because you are a strong communist.”
Father stayed calm and put forth some effort to explain that he wanted to come to America because this was God’s direction. He later shared with some Korean elders that this was to be his last attempt; otherwise he would go back to Korea. This was a life-or-death situation. Really God works without our understanding. Later the U.S. consul never mentioned about accusing True Father of being a communist in front of many people, and we found out why. We contacted some members of Congress in Washington, D.C., and several senators actually had helped out by showing the U.S. Consulate what Father had done for the anti-communist movement and the foundation he had set for it.
At the last moment God helped True Father receive his entry visa. Finally, on a small plane they flew from Toronto to Washington, D.C. This was True Father’s course to get into this country. True Parents were welcomed in America for the first five years; then later on, once they had established churches across the states, some politicians attacked and stirred up controversy and even threatened their lives. In 1965 and 1970, the same thing happened in Korea. Day and night their lives were threatened. There were people constantly coming into the picture attacking True Father and True Parents. All these things happened when True Parents decided they must go to America as God’s messenger. Everybody felt comforted because they thought that True Father was going to America, a very safe place.
I heard Young Hwi Kim’s testimony about that time. They were very relieved that True Parents were going to the United States—the most advanced country—thinking they would be protected. It was critical that True Parents come to America to fulfill God’s providence for restoration for the sake of the world. The providence in America is at the heart of God and Satan’s conflict. This history is the providence of True Parents for the sake of this country.
All these things were happening here and in Korea. Therefore, America is very blessed. America is the center of God’s hope. This is the reason that we decided to re-create the 43-day trek across America on this bus tour.
Yesterday True Mother gave her bimonthly Hoon Dok Hwe (study of scripture). True Father called for Hoon Dok Hwe every day at 5:00 a.m., but True Mother holds it two days a month. She released all the Unificationist leaders to conduct Hoon Dok Hwe with their families at 6:00 a.m. This is True Mother’s direction.
At this time she spoke of many things of which we all should make ourselves aware. Today I want to address the second anniversary of True Father’s Seonghwa (ascension) ceremony. This year it falls on August 12 by the lunar calendar, which is 41 days from today. How can we prepare for this ceremony?
The first condition we can make is to know our True Parents more deeply. It is because of our True Parents that we can be blessed central families. However, as blessed central families, our standard is not the standard of True Parents and Heavenly Parent, so we must catch up to where God wants us to be raised up. God made a standard, but who can say they are qualified men and women and blessed central families? We all have our own thinking and own ideas that are separate from Heaven’s standard. Please take these 41 days to repent before Heavenly Parent’s great true love. Try to unite your mind and body and offer deep prayer conditions. With this condition we can repent and try again to be the resilient people True Father was raising us up to be.
Please, everyone, read True Mother’s July 1 Hoon Dok Hwe. In it. She shares so much about herself. True Mother shared about her own family tree, about her great-grandparents and how their lives were prepared in spirit by our Heavenly Parent. She speaks about the foundation to find the only begotten son, but what about the only begotten daughter—our True Mother? How had these 6,000 years of history prepared to find her? You can learn what True Mother says about this in her Hoon Dok Hwe. She also speaks about Hyo-jin and Heung-jin Moon, her sons, and what it was like for her to give birth to 14 children! This session of Hoon Dok Hwe will give us a greater understanding of who she is as a woman, as the prepared daughter of God and as our True Mother. Please read it.
She implores us to do more to understand True Mother’s position and asks that we fully support True Mother and attend her well for our sakes. True Mother has arranged everything, and now she says it is our responsibility that is left to be done. Please try everything for the sake of the providence as tribal messiahs to fulfill the mission you must fulfill. True Parents always are thinking about how to save the 7 billion human beings around the world because they are the True Parents. How can we not support them? Even those who do not know the Divine Principle or understand Rev. and Mrs. Moon as True Parents say to True Mother, “Please forget everything and enjoy a comfortable life.” They do not understand her heart, so she is asking us, as blessed families, to please understand her heart.
Mother repeated during Hoon Dok Hwe that there is no perfection in ignorance and fervently asked us again, as tribal messiahs, to please testify about True Parents to our nation and to the world. That is our responsibility now.
We have just 41 days until August 12, so let us bring about unity of mind and body and unity with True Mother. Let us spend these next 41 days collectively holding a special prayer and outreach condition to witness and testify to the glory of True Parents’ work on this earth. We have to have one voice as we do this. Let us show True Mother, as we could not show True Father, that we can do this while we have our True Mother with us on the earth.
Let us prepare ourselves as blessed central families for this second Seonghwa anniversary, and let us strive to find ourselves as one mind and one heart for the third year. This is God’s hope. Please don’t give any space for Satan to invade or accuse you anymore. Leaders and all families, let us unite with True Parents. When you do that, as True Mother said once, “We cannot but succeed.”
Thank you.