True Father’s 1000 day Memorial Celebration took place on May 30, 2015, the first official event held at the International Peace Education Center (IPEC). More than 2,000 people attended the event in Las Vegas. So many people were eager to see the newly finished center that four overflow rooms were completely packed.
“This was a really big deal,” commented Shinyoung Chang, Editorial Director for the National Ministry Team. “The fact that the vision for this building was actualized in just three short years, in time for True Father’s 1,000 day ascension ceremony, and the fact that America was able to unite together under True Mother’s direction and make this happen, is worthy of celebration!”
The event started out with an introduction video, describing the process of building the IPEC and thanking those who donated. A musical group of young Unificationists from Albuquerque, New Mexico, the 5-0-5s, performed the songs “Elias” and “Stand By Me.”
True Mother awards American Unificationists for their service.
Dr. Balcomb, President of FFWPU USA, welcomed guests from all over the world, and those watching over broadcast. He then introduced a video that outlined True Father’s life and mission.
“It’s not possible in ten short minutes to encapsulate 93 years of love and dedication,” Dr. Balcomb said. “True Mother is now encouraging us to move forward and move on. We are so lucky to welcome True Parents here in Las Vegas, where Father invested the final four years of his life. We are happy to dedicate this building to him.” Dr. Balcomb then invited the Emcee, Dr. Michael Jenkins, the Director of Business Investment and Asset Development for FFWPU-USA.
Dr. Jenkins spoke about the significance of this particular celebration: one thousand days since True Father ascended. In the Korean culture, the number ten represents a new beginning, and once a baby is born, their 100 day of life is celebrated as a “real beginning,” as is the 1,000th day. Dr. Jenkins explained that the celebration of True Father’s glorious, victorious ascension is marking his life in the spirit world as a new beginning. True Mother wanted to hold the celebration in America to kick-start the nation.
Archbishop George Augustus Stallings, co-chairman of the American Clergy Leadership Conference, gave the invocation. “Even though True Father’s body lies asleep in the earth,” he prayed, “his spirit has returned to You, and that he and You are one. Wherever You are, so is he. And You are ever-present with us. In his final prayer, True Father said that everything is accomplished. The table is prepared. And now we must invite all of humanity to experience True Parents, to share in the joy and the peace, prosperity and happiness that is brought with the True Parents of Heaven, Earth and Humankind.
“May the True Parents ever inspire us to work for everlasting peace and live for the sake of our enemies, so that we can bring about the era of Cheon Il Guk.”
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Dr. Ki Hoon Kim, Continental Chairman for North America, gave the welcoming remarks. He reminded the attendants that True Parents have invested in America for more than 40 years, and have loved the city of Las Vegas for a long time. “After True Father’s ascension, True Mother told us that we must complete the IPEC by any means.” He also took a moment to thank True Parents, without which the IPEC would not have been possible. He also thanked the Japanese blessed families who gave without hesitation, because they knew that the IPEC was True Parents’ will. He also thanked all of the donors in America, and the contractors, consultants, and the local community, including the Fire Marshall for helping the IPEC become a state-of-the-art facility, both in safety as well as in performance.
“When I look back over the last three years, I am so grateful and amazed at the guidance that True Mother has given us,” Dr. Kim said. “IPEC is just part of the story,” he continued. “True Mother has been investing so much in the future generations, by beginning the Universal Peace Academy, supporting CARP and Cranes Club, generously giving scholarships, and compiling the holy texts for future generations.”
Rev. Mari Curry gave a tearful reading of an excerpt from the first chapter of the new Cham Bumo Gyeong Holy Scriptures, and former congressman Dan Burton gave the congratulatory remarks. “True Mother’s urgency inspired us to commit our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor to ensure that America fulfilled its God-given responsibility to achieve peaceful unification of the Koreas.” Congressman Burton went on to list True Parent’s great achievements, not least the Holy Marriage Blessing Ceremony. Congressman Burton had participated in the Marriage Blessing Ceremony with his wife Samia in March, and he laughed when he said, “My wife tells everyone that I have become a better husband since we participated in the Marriage Blessing. Our marriage has been enriched and strengthened since that day.”
Unificationist Matt Hill offers the song “Oh Danny Boy”.
After two more videos, one giving a summary of True Mother’s recent words, and another reporting on her recent victorious travels to Europe and New York, Unificationist Matt Hill performed the song, “Danny Boy,” which is one of True Mother’s favorite songs.
Sun Jin Moon, FFWPU International President, introduced her mother. She thanked the attendants for being there, and called True Parents’ investment in Las Vegas and IPEC a testament to their hope for America. “Let it be a beacon of hope. Let us live our lives centered on the truth,” she said.
Sun Jin Moon, FFWPU International President gives the opening remarks.
True Mother was then warmly welcomed on stage. People had travelled from near and far to welcome her to the completed IPEC building, and she seemed so vibrant and healthy on stage. She asked us very seriously to think about America’s responsibility, especially the unification of Korea.
After her address, True Mother gave gifts to people who have worked very hard for the providence in Korea, Japan, and America, and she especially made effort to thank Second Generation Unificationists for their dedication. The celebration came to a close with a banquet meal, and more musical entertainment.
The staff, having stayed up much of the night in preparation, expressed gratitude (and a little exhaustion) at being a part of such a historic event. Benjy Uyama, the volunteer coordinator, called the weekend a “fantastic experience. We were so grateful to prepare to receive True Mother at the IPEC. In the evening yesterday, some people finished preparations around midnight—some people stayed here all night—but everyone was still smiling, cracking jokes with each other. So that was a good sign.”
True Mother’s Full Speech: Our Blessed Responsibility
In attendance to Heavenly Parent and also to celebrate the 1000 day memorial of the ascension of True Father we have gathered here in Las Vegas on this special day. We are so lucky and happy to be here today from all over the world; at this moment many Unificationists are remembering that special day. All Blessed Families, are you happy to be here with us?
When we move to a new house, in order to adapt to the new house, we need a lot of time to adapt to the new surroundings and that’s how we feel today; this new home is our home, in our hearts and bodies. Today is the 1000 day memorial. It is a special service of Jeongseong (devotional offering) for True Father’s ascension memorial. Of course, when you think about it, you realize how much Heavenly Parent and True Father have yearned and prepared for this very moment. Have you thought about it?
Expanding the Sphere of Goodness
Until now, the history of the providence of restoration through indemnity has been carried out by the Heavenly Parent. The Heavenly Parent is omnipotent and omniscience. He needs to be welcomed and attended by humanity as a king of kings, however, He has been lonely. why is that? Because His beloved children fell. Can you speak of a king without the people? Yes or no? So as we celebrating the 1000 day memorial of True Father I really hope that all of you will be able to liberate your ancestors in the spirit world. True Father has mentioned that you need to liberate 210 generations. So what is the meaning of Father’s words?
We need to liberate up to 420 generations of our ancestors. The spirit world has, until this point, followed the fall. It has taken 6000 biblical years to get to this moment. What a long period of time. The spirit world is filled with fallen history. The fallen people do not know God’s Providence, but thanks to the True Parents we have received the Marriage Blessing and as Blessed Families, are you aware of the providence or are you ignorant of the providence? If you are aware of it, my hope then is that all of you can liberate all your ancestors and lead them to the Marriage Blessing and I hope you can accomplish this mission of making your ancestors absolute good spirits.
This is the responsibility that you have been blessed with as Blessed Families. Do you understand? That is why we need to expand the good spiritual heavenly sphere and we do this by increasing the people who are on the side of God, the people who are living centered on True Parents. This is our blessing, our responsibility. Depending on whether we accomplish this responsibility or not, True Father can expand his influence all over the world and be more active around the world
Restoring God’s Dream
There are 7 billion people in the world who do not know True Parents, and to these people we need to show them the path to life, the path two love all over the world. More and more people are being born but we are also witnessing more natural calamities. For example, in Nepal there was a really terrible disastrous earthquake, but also in the Philippines there was a great typhoon. In America we also had many natural disasters. When we see these things happening, how do we think about dealing with them? Are we going to be self-centered? Are we going to think about our personal lives, our personal families? Are we just going to put our comfort as our priority? Do you think that living such a life will lead you to an exalted position in the spirit world?
God had such a wonderful ideal when He created the universe. His wish was to realize His ideal through humanity. He expected human beings to become True Parents. However this wonderful dream by God was destroyed by Adam and Eve. Because of the fall of human beings, it took 6,000 years for the True Parents to appear, however despite this setback, heaven could not let go, not forsake humankind; the beginning and end must be the same. Therefore, when God created human beings He had an ideal, and therefore He carried out the providence of restoration.
The providence of restoration was so filled with pain and was so difficult that is was so painful to find one person who could be called God’s son. You have no idea how painful and difficult it was for heaven to raise that person going from the individual, the family, and the tribe and to the nation. In order to raise the national foundation, heaven had to suffer through 4000 years of painful biblical history. Heaven underwent this painful history and heaven tried to work through the chosen people and God sent His begotten son to that people; however, what happened? The messiah could not be recognized around the world; instead he was crucified on the cross and promised to come again. And when he comes again, what will he accomplish? He would host the Marriage of the Lamb. That means that the Messiah wanted to hold the holy marriage, and in order to have this marriage you need a partner. That’s why when we look at the 2000 year history of Christianity, it’s been a history to find the only begotten daughter of God. You need to be clearly aware of this.
America’s Blessing
Dear brothers and sisters, as you know from Divine Principle, whether it’s the individual, tribe, or nation, if heaven grants a mission to a person and the person fails in his responsibility that person is not used anymore. We know this very well from the Bible, and we also know that when heaven does works, it does so through indemnity. For a long time in history heaven has worked in the orient and prepared the Korean peninsula. When we look at the 2000 years of Christianity, it began in the Italian peninsula, expanded through the European continent, went to the island of England, it flourished in the European continent and among these people and we can see that American history traces its roots back to this continent. Isn’t that true? When we look at the American continent, it is blessed with this responsibility. What is that responsibility?
It is not for America to live for it’s own sake but to live for the sake of the world, of others, that is why God blessed this nation of America; however, America has had many challenges in fulfilling this responsibility. That is why True Father came to the American continent and really worked to help America to fulfill this heavenly responsibility. For 40 years True Father invested his blood, sweat, and tears in America.
All of you are the children standing before the True Parents. When you look at your personal lives how exemplary life of filial piety have you lead? We need to repent for our shortcomings. When we look at the history of the providence, the providence has worked through the American continent and it has expanded across the pacific civilization back to Pacific Rim and on to Asia through japan, which is the Eve nation, an island nation. Heaven selected Japan and after that the Korean peninsula, which was selected as the fatherland of faith, as the fatherland of God. Heaven prepared these nations through the history of the providence, however this history of the providence was filled with pain and suffering. This is the 70th anniversary of Korea’s independence. It is also the 70th anniversary of the founding of the UN. This is the year of the 70th anniversary. Think about it, how many people are aware at this moment of heaven’s providence? The UN was founded for the mission of welcoming and testifying about the only begotten son of heaven, True Father. This was heaven’s plan for the UN. At that time, True Father launched the history of the providence and he went back to North Korea, facing difficulties. He risked his life and was even imprisoned in North Korea. He went to Heungnam Prison. He was liberated the day before he was scheduled to be executed. The UN liberated him following the WWll.
So at that time China was a great communist nation and America represented the democratic world by itself. If heaven had not worked this miracle at that time, the 16 nations of the UN could not have come to the rescue of Korea after the WWll. When we look at the providence of restoration and True Father, True Father had the mission of completing and perfecting the entire history of the providence. Unless True Father did that, God could not be liberated.
I do not want to make any political statement however I believe that America had the responsibility to preserve Korea as one united Korea. Korea should not have been divided. I believe this is another mission America has been blessed with.
Fulfilling Your Blessed Responsibility
When we look at heaven’s history in the providence, heaven is always victorious in the end. That is why all the blessed families around the world at this moment need to be at the mainstream of God’s providence. We need to be at the mainstream of the world with confidence and testify about the True Parents to the world. We need to reveal that True Parents are on this earth, and centering on True Parents the history of the providence is taking place. That is how humanity and this world can be saved; that is how this world, that is how the future of this earth, that is how the future of humanity can be connected with True Parents and we can have hope for this entire universe. Do you agree with me?
Following the human fall so many peoples and civilizations have been formed; however, among all these nations, do you think any country compares to America? Do you think that these nations listen to the UN? In one way, all the nations of the world are brotherly nations and at the center we need to have the True Parents who can unite all these brothers, all these nations, and when True Parents stand at the center they can solve all the world’s problems. We need to be aware of this. Furthermore, America stands at the forefront of the providence. It is the elder nation, it is the eldest son, and when America fulfills its God-given responsibility all of the world, all of humanity can unite and in so doing, we can have one united world centering on Heavenly Parent. It can become One Family Under God. This will take place without fail.
To bring this day forward I hope that we will all work together. We can all resolve to do this. So will you do is?
Today is a special day. True Father is here with us, and he is looking at all of you with a very happy heart and he is wishing all of you can fulfill your blessed responsibility and will, without fail, be centered on Heavenly Parent and together realize one world centering on Heavenly Parent. We are going to do our very best! Do you resolve to do so? Thank you