Book Nine - Blessed Family
Chapter Three - The Providential Significance of the Blessed Couples
Section 9. The 30,000 Couples

Last year, 30,000 couples received the Blessing in an international wedding transcending nationality, geography, religion, and politics. Think about it -- 30,000 couples mean 60,000 people. It's not a small number, is it? That many people were married, not in the duration of, say, ten days, but in a single day. They did not even come from just one nation.

People of all races -- white, black, and yellow -- from more than 130 nations across the world participated in that Blessing. Though skin color may differ, our way of life is the same; there is but one. The lifestyle of living for the sake of others is the same for everyone. Though you may lead humble lives, everyone is living for the sake of others and such families will now spread out around the world.

Consider this for a moment: Twenty years from now, people like us will be occupying most of the earth and we will have established one world, one nation. Such a time is coming. (248-183, 1993.8.3)

What day was August 25, 1992? It was the day of the 30,000 Couples Blessing. Before then, it was very difficult for members to receive the Blessing. There were some who passed on to the spirit world after leading lives of celibacy for twenty years without receiving the Blessing. Then what happened at that time? We treated a week as seven years. Whoever acknowledged during the period of one week that he or she had, without a doubt, the body of Satan and believed that the True Parents would convert his or her lineage was blessed. Those are the people who used to belong to Satan. They could not become the owners of their nations as they were; hence, the right of ownership had to revert. (251-259, 1993.10.31)

The 30,000 Couples Blessing represents the crossing of the final crest of indemnity. The 30,000 Couples represent the number three which originates from the three eras of formation, growth, and completion, and the three Ages of the Old, New, and Completed Testaments. Through the three eras and three ages, they can cross over the number six correspondingly. Through them, we are crossing the number six in the dominant realm of the number three. Based on their involvement in World War II, Britain, America, France, Japan, Germany, and Italy must be indemnified. (245-280, 1993.3.7)

You must understand that the 30,000 Couples Blessing should be accepted as one of the greatest and most historic events ever. How great is the historic background behind it? The event involves the whole world. After conducting the 30,000 Couples Blessing, there is no need for me to perform any more Blessing ceremonies. (234-287, 1992.8.27)

This year's 30,000 Couples Blessing holds great significance in that it is being hosted along with the World Culture and Sports Festival, indicating that human society should equally develop both its spiritual and physical aspects. As we approach the 21st century and a new historic era, this unprecedented joint wedding involving 30,000 couples gathered from 130 nations around the world transcending nationality and race is a grand project which displays the great cause of peace for all humanity in our efforts to realize world peace through God-centered harmony. (234-237, 1992.8.22)

On this coming August 25, around 30,000 couples from all over the world will receive the holy Blessing and commit themselves to establish a new God-centered family tradition. The family is the basic unit of the nation and society. The resolution of social issues begins with the resolution of family issues. (234-225, 1992.8.20)

The 30,000 Couples are connected to the number three signifying formation, growth, and completion, thus representing wholeness. It is a sanctifying number. Hence, through their Blessing, the Kingdom of God on earth and in heaven has been completely opened. (265-176, 1994.11.20)

As Japan, America and Germany are the Abel realm in relation to the True Parents, they can exercise the birthright of the first born. Henceforth, we will hold global blessing ceremonies focusing on Japan, America, and Germany. In 1992, I conducted the global Blessing of the 30,000 Couples. The number three represents perfection and is a heavenly number signifying formation, growth, and completion. The 30,000 Couples Blessing was global. After it, people opposing Unification Church joint weddings turned around 180 degrees.

The 30,000 Couples Blessing created a closely connected international community. Through it, nationality, international borders, race, and culture became meaningless. Until now, when marrying, people could not surmount those barriers, preferring to marry someone of the same nationality with whom they already had a relationship; now, however, all this has completely opened up. We have begun a marriage movement, unprecedented in history, as brothers and sisters, demolishing all barriers separating countries, races, skin colors, religions, and cultures, through international joint weddings. (269-300, 1995.5.1)

After the 3, 33, 72, 120, 430, 777, 1800, 6000, and 6500 come the 30,000 Couples. The number 30,000 is unitary and therefore global. We had to traverse the formation, growth, and completion periods. The 30,000 Couples were in the position of setting out from the Old, New, and Completed Testament Ages. We were then crossing over into the era of global Blessing. (302-130, 1999.6.12)

The Blessing of 1992 was held on August 25, was it not? I matched and blessed the 30,000 Couples within a week. From this viewpoint, when combined with the three great ancestors on an equal basis, the five billion people of the world are all included. I am offering the Blessing equally. Thus, those who have attended the seven-day Blessing workshop can be blessed, and thereby restore through indemnity the wrongdoing of Adam's family with regard to the conjugal love relationship and enter heaven together. (253-80, 1994.1.7)

When I was blessing the 30,000 Couples on August 25, 1992, I gave their parents who were also in attendance the privilege of being family messiahs, centering on their families as the tribal messiahs. Thereby, the children could recognize their parents as centers. As such, even those who had no understanding of the Divine Principle could also receive the Blessing, as long as they believed in the True Parents; understood what went wrong with their lineage; pledged to convert without fail their lineage, right of ownership, and realm of heart; and became the kinfolk of the True Parents, all within one week. (251-224, 1993.10.17)

From this day forth, you do not need anything else but the true love of the True Parents. The task left for you to fulfill is to connect true life and lineage with true love. All of you must therefore be blessed by the True Parents. This is not a wild fancy. When I announced that I would bless 30,000 couples last year, pastors of established churches all laughed at me, saying "Ha! Ha! Ha! Listen to that dreamer, that half-crazed man!" (245-160, 1993.2.28)

Among the 30,000 Couples, I even blessed those already married who did not know anything about the Divine Principle, as long as they had attended the seven-day workshop. So I raised them to the positions of the Messiah, Adam, and Christ at his Second Advent. That is how we have reached the present situation. (242-205, 1993.1.1)

August 25, 1992 was the day I conducted the 30,000 Couples Blessing. Thereby, the fallen parents were liberated and elevated to the same level as their children, and so all fallen descendants could also attain that level of faith and came to stand on an equal footing. This Blessing represented the formation, growth, and completion periods.

At the 30,000 Couples Blessing, I blessed everyone who attended the week-long workshop and took the vow. The meaning of this is that, since their parents were liberated, the children were also liberated along with them, and so they have been enabled to hold a position of equal value and status. Since this standard can only be practiced and established logically, this is how the True Parents can stand as the sovereign of all families in the world. (249-137, 1993.10.8)

At the 30,000 Couples Blessing held on August 25, 1992, everyone who came was blessed in the same way. As long as they attended a seven-day Divine Principle workshop and pledged that they believed in the True Parents, they were eligible for the Blessing. Since they came from the fallen lineage and were not true children, they entrusted everything absolutely to the True Parents. Since Satan had deprived God of the right of ownership through the Fall, they needed to return everything back to God through the conversion of the lineage, right of ownership and realm of heart, and pledge to become the children of the True Parents without fail.

It was the 30,000 Couples who accomplished this task. That does not mean, however, that by receiving the Blessing, they were done with the task. They must not forget that they were blessed on the foundation inherited from their elder brothers and sisters under the rules of the Blessed Family. Once you inherit something, you must assume an attitude similar to its testator and maintain, safeguard, and cherish it. Thus, we must inherit the realm of heart similar to our ancestors of old. Unlike in the past, the satanic world has now been liberated. If all brothers and sisters unite, they will have no problem in attaining that state.

I have performed the 30,000 Couples Blessing and from now on blessing 3.6 million couples and even 360 million couples will not be a problem. Even the blessing of 3.6 billion couples can be conducted at the same time in thousands and tens of thousands of places across the world through satellite broadcasting. In that way, the whole of humankind throughout the world can be blessed. As the three great ancestors are now standing in the position of having received the Blessing after having been liberated, they can be connected to their descendants in a parent-child relationship. Hence, they can exchange these positions of vertical relationship through love. We are now living in the era of horizontal equalization of being able to freely shift one's position. Satan cannot obstruct us any longer. (257-205, 1994.3.15)

We are now living in the era when we can bless everyone at once. Therefore, anyone can be blessed after one week of education, corresponding to the number seven. I announced this at the time of the 30,000 Couples Blessing. That does not mean everything is completed within one week. That is like the connection formed in the six hours of incoming tide. Once the water starts to ebb away, it will take six hours of expending all your effort just to stay where you are. Thus, you need to be trained in the traditional teachings of the Unification Church and engrafted, but as long as you have survived and are still with us, there is no need for anything else. This is all logical. It is not a sham. (258-210, 1994.3.17)

Since Adam and Eve married wrongfully, a realm unifying all countries must be established through the Blessing. We are finally conducting weddings in God's name. I personally blessed all couples up to the 30,000. Through horizontal equalization, all the participants in the 30,000 Couples Blessing entered the same privileged realm; for the first time, even those who had only attended a week-long workshop were included in the ceremony as long as they had absolute faith.

God is driving out those on Satan's side, gaining control over the world, and, for the first time ever, laying the foundation extending from the cosmos to the world, nation, race, tribe, and family. By virtue of this, God can finally descend upon the earth, and thereupon, together with the returning Lord, create the origin of families that will drive out Satan. The global era representing such families is the three-year period from the time of the 30,000 Couples Blessing. (269-11, 1995.4.6)

On August 25 of the year before last, I conducted the 30,000 Couples Blessing. If the time it took us to reach the present stage of Blessing from the beginning can be likened to six hours, be assured that it will not take another six hours to complete the task. From here, it will take only a few minutes. Now all that is needed is for Blessing candidates to attend a week-long workshop; acknowledge the True Parents; and make the resolution to convert their lineage, right of ownership and realm of heart. All they need to do is pledge to accomplish all these things through the Blessing. (259-84, 1994.3.27)

Among the 30,000 Couples, I blessed even those without accomplishments to their credit. The reason for this was so that I could send them as tribal messiahs to liberate their relatives. Their parents opposed the Unification Church until now, as did all their relatives. In fact, the people who opposed the Unification Church most vehemently were the parents of its members. We are liberating those parents who opposed us. (242-104, 1993.1.1)

Intermarriage is the only way Japan can obtain the best circumstances as the owner -- the circumstances of joy. How many times have we conducted Korean-Japanese intermarriages? This time was the second one, wasn't it? It was the greatest struggle ever. At the time of the 30,000 Couples Blessing, Japan opposed it most desperately. Satan engaged in a full-scale offensive with the whole of Japan behind him, but I did not even budge an inch. Anyone who came to know the truth of the matter would have been completely won over to our side like the leaves turning red in autumn. They would think, "Wow! A mass wedding -- that is so amazing!" NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation) broadcast about eighty percent of the ceremony on that occasion. (237-249, 1992.11.17)

The participation of 17,000 couples from Japan in the 30,000 Couples Blessing on August 25th last year caused uproar in Japan, with people claiming that I was going to take over their country, and for a year they pounded me. They tried to beat me to a pulp by mobilizing the mass media, declaring, "The Unification Church will no longer exist by this August. It will be disbanded so completely that in no time at all it will disappear without a trace, like the flowing river!" They did not realize that if that were possible, I would not even have begun my work in the first place. (248-276, 1993.10.3)

We must completely overturn historical traditions. You have your physical grandparents and parents -- so who on earth are the True Parents? In spite of this paradoxical logic, all conscientious youths in the world are sticking to it like glue, which is why the 30,000 Couples Blessing was possible. I matched approximately 3,700 couples per day. In the future, I'll be able to match even 30,000 couples in a day. Such is my mental capacity. No ordinary person could do what I have done; all the more so since this work involves one of the most important aspects of life: love. Indeed, I am no ordinary man. I have something special that others don't. That is why I can be the founder of the Unification Church. (241-121, 1992.12.20)

How many of you here are university graduates? I heard that about ninety people who participated in the 30,000 Couples Blessing are here with us today -- raise your hands if you are one of them. All of those with their hands raised are very young, aren't they? Didn't a big row erupt back in Japan because of you? The Japanese police authorities, influenced by right-wing groups, thought that if 30,000 Japanese and Koreans intermarried, Japan would become a nation subordinate to Korea. Furthermore, the older generation all came together to oppose us; they united with the press and persisted in their opposition for four months. (240-108, 1992.12.11)

It was a blow to the so-called great men of Christianity. They received this blow to their heads on August 24 and their heads went "Bang!" Then on the twenty fifth, they saw 30,000 Couples get married together and finally admitted, "None other than the Messiah can accomplish such a feat!" and went back to where they came from with a complete change of mind. (235-191, 1992.9.20)

If I listened to the words of Mother, my children, and you all, I would not have been able to work at all. I have to go ahead, pulling you. You did not know the way to go, but now you know where you are supposed to go, don't you? Anyone would know by now -- it is straightforward. From this day forth, there will be no life-and-death struggles nor will you be persecuted. With the 30,000 Couples, everyone's view on the Blessing has been completely revised. I now have 30,000 new sons and 30,000 new daughters: they cannot all be crazy or stupid. Included in them are great scholars and all kinds of talented people; hence, they will not be disregarded. (235-139, 1992.8.29)

Through the 30,000 Couples Blessing, the world has been silenced. Isn't there a rumor going round that I am no ordinary man? Hence, I could proclaim myself as the Messiah. I could accomplish all that I have done because I am the Messiah, the Savior. (240-250, 1992.12.13)

There is only one day in the whole year when the sea level reaches its highest point because of a particular high tide. This phenomenon occurs only once a year; it doesn't last for a few days, but happens on just one day. Similarly, I performed the 30,000 Couples Blessing at the point of highest tide in history. There is only one time when the standard of perfection for the realm of heart in the Garden of Eden can be established, just like the highest tide. If you do not participate in this, it may become impossible to find another opportunity. Thus, however fallen people might have been, as long as they attended the seven- or three-day workshop, they were included in the Blessing. (237-247, 1992.11.17)

To the extent that all the 30,000 Couples stood on an equal footing at the time of their Blessing, the True Parents assumed the responsibility of elevating all humankind to a liberated position. Anyone can be included in the Blessing as long as they have attended a seven-day workshop; pledged to convert their lineage, right of ownership and realm of heart; and understood that human beings fell and that through the Blessing, the True Parents can indemnify all of human history and liberate them. (249-248, 1993.10.10)

At this last Blessing of the 30,000 Couples, I directed that even those who attended only a three-day workshop could take part in the ceremony. This was not the rule, but through this small condition, participants were blessed and told to return to their families as tribal messiahs and for three days educate their parents, who had married without God's permission due to the Fall. Thus, by listening to their children, those parents could be blessed and restored to the positions of Adam and Eve. With their children representing Cain and Abel, the parents received the grace of taking part in the Blessing in the position of Adam and Eve, the restored parents. Though they might have done nothing to deserve it, the fact that they have listened to the Word was enough to elevate them to those positions. I cannot bestow such blessings only internally within our church without extending them externally to the satanic world as well. (240-246, 1992.12.13)

No one opposed me when I proclaimed myself as the True Parent and Savior from July 3 to August 24 because, as I explained in terms of what the Lord would be returning to achieve, no one had been able to do what I had accomplished for the world. As such, Christians from the established churches could not gainsay it. Then I held the 30,000 Couples Blessing, which means that 60,000 people were blessed. Before the ceremony, those Christians opposed it in every possible way, claiming it was all a downright lie, but when I actually performed it, they were dumbstruck. Once they had actually seen me conduct the ceremony, all the established churches that had until then been spreading lies about us and opposing us on all sides were silenced for good. (239-274, 1992.12.6)

I can select the right spouses for everyone in the world. I have no difficulty in finding the right spouse for people. I know who is good for whom at a glance. You would not be able to find the right spouses for your children in ten years, but on one occasion I matched fifteen couples in ten seconds. I have the head for it -- I know the world inside out and so am able to do this kind of work. You believe me, don't you, since I blessed 30,000 couples last year? In secular society, there are people who call themselves matchmakers, but I am not one. Marriages are originally meant to be arranged by one's true parents, but because human beings lost their true parents, I must deal with this in the position of the world's parent to engraft everyone; being the only one who knows how to do that, I have no choice but to take care of it myself. (245-241, 1993.3.7)

I matched the 30,000 Couples using their photographs before proceeding to bless them. This is amazing. Such a thing does not exist in the satanic world. It means to stand at the point of being absolutely zero when getting married; that is, those couples stood in the position of having absolute faith. Eve was unable to have absolute love because she fell, but those couples receiving the Blessing crossed national boundaries in seeking the path of love, the like of which can never ever be found in the satanic world. They have shown that they love me absolutely. To indemnify Eve's inability to love God absolutely, they had to stand in the position of loving me absolutely. It must be recognized that they stood in the position of having totally denied themselves. (277-131, 1996.4.7)

Prior to the 30,000 Couples Blessing, Kwak Chung-hwan said, "Thirty thousand couples! That is five times the number of the 6500 Couples. How can we accomplish that?" We had had enough trouble bringing together 6500 Couples. On top of that, I had instructed that these 30,000 couples needed to be ready for the Blessing not in ten but in just three years. When I told him, "You must transcend religion and witness to whoever you can, whether Muslims, Buddhists or Confucians!" he said he couldn't do it. His eyes were like cement. Do you know what I mean by that? Cement eyes are those that look frozen. He said we couldn't do it, but in fact we actually exceeded our goal. (294-151, 1998.6.14)

Kim Il-sung was very interested in the Blessing, and asked "Are you really going to conduct a mass wedding of 30,000 couples?" He could not figure out how we would go about blessing 30,000 couples. I told him, "Thirty thousand couples is nothing." I could tell they were thinking that if I were ever to bless 30,000 couples, they would very much like to see photographs of the ceremony. So I sent photos of the event and they were shown to Kim Jong-il and Kim Il-sung. The photographs of the 30,000 Couples Blessing are not displayed in the Blue House (Office of the President of South Korea), but they are hanging on the office walls of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il. Was I right in doing that or not? As a result, the gates to China and Russia were opened. Now all that remains for me to do is to open the gates to North Korea. (239-42, 1992.11.23)

Kim Il-sung promised me that he would allow the reunion of the dispersed families of all displaced people from North Korea. He promised a North-South interchange. He proposed, "Bring all the 30,000 couples to the North and we will welcome them with open arms!" It was summer at that time. Do you know the Songdo Beach Resort, where you cross fields of pine trees and sweetbriars to reach a white sandy beach lined by endless rows of pine trees? He said we could put up as many tents as we needed on the white beach and said, "If you want, we will welcome all of the 30,000 couples to North Korea!" It was the government in the South that was opposed to this idea. (273-320, 1995.10.29)

The topic of our conversation moved on to the wedding of the 30,000 Couples and I asked, "Elder Brother Il-sung, would you be willing to open the thirty-eighth parallel if I were to bring the 30,000 Couples to North Korea?" He answered, "Of course, of course! Wow, that is splendid!" He actually invited me to bring the 30,000 Couples to North Korea. So I replied, "But there aren't any hotels here." He then told me, "The Songdo Beach Resort is very famous worldwide and hundreds of thousands of people can be accommodated in the pine fields there. So if you brought one tent for every ten people, you wouldn't have any problem." What he said was true. He said we should bring our own food as well and that he would open the port of Wonsan for us, so that we could bring all we needed by boat. (239-42, 1992.11.23)

I was planning to have the 30,000 Couples visit the Songdo Beach Resort in North Korea, taking with them tents, each for ten people. It was a time when everything could be out in the open. The North Korean government even said, "We will do whatever you want." I also notified the present South Korean government of this plan. Who prevented me from carrying it out? It was our government in the South. Still I did not perish. The bright morning sun dawns on the path that follows the heavenly way, but once you leave that path, you will be enveloped in total darkness. You will be plunged into complete and eternal darkness. (238-266, 1992.11.22)

Kim Il-sung invited all the 30,000 Couples to North Korea. He said, "Rev. Moon, if you want, this is the best chance ever to open the thirty-eighth parallel. We will welcome all the 30,000 Couples!" The people of South Korea did not know of this. Such was the attitude of the North Korean authorities. They said, "We will welcome the 30,000 Couples!" But how would we take them there? Let's say we would use buses, fifty people to a bus, then how many would that be in total? Since there are 30,000 couples, it would mean we would need 1,200 buses.

If 1,200 buses carrying fifty people each were to drive to North Korea in single file, how many kilometers would that line stretch, from the first to the last bus? Think about if, if such an incident had actually taken place, would that not have started massive demonstrations for the unification of North and South Korea? However, that is all in the past now. I know very well which people prevented this event from ever taking place. My sources in the United States informed me about that. I am not a person just passing through. In time, I plan to publish a book, a record of who did what. (238-161, 1992.11.22)

Now everyone has to know about the Unification Church. It has become such a matter of common knowledge that those who are ignorant of it would be considered as having no common sense. It is true. People who haven't heard of the Unification Church would be considered to be good-for-nothings. You will experience this all too well if you go abroad. If they ask you where you are from and you answer, "Korea!" they will automatically ask you, "What is this I hear about the 30,000-Couple wedding?" If you were not present at the ceremony, you should say at the very least, "I saw it on television." If they ask you, "How was it?" you cannot just say, "It was magnificent!" and stop there. When they ask you, "So it was magnificent, but who was there?" you would have to describe to them every aspect of the ceremony, wouldn't you? The same is true for me.

Three days ago, when returning from a banquet held at the Little Angels Performing Arts Center, I was informed that over 400 people had not been matched as yet and that they were gathered at some place waiting for me, even though the wedding was scheduled to take place the following day. So I went straight there and matched them until 4:00 a.m., and as I left the hall, it started to rain in torrents. "If I were to have 30,000 couples standing to attention as I blessed them in such weather, with torrential rain and flashes of lightning, it would truly be a historic event!" As this thought flashed across my mind, I was rather pleased and encouraged. (234-289, 1992.8.27)