True Parents' History for Children

Let's play a game then.

Just you and me.

Let's do it this way:

We'll pretend you're not who you are; you're a different person. You're a Korean person, and you live in Seoul, Korea, and it's a long time ago when your parents were the age you are now, probably the late '50's or early '60's. Got that right?

It's summertime, and it's really hot. You're walking fast, because you have to be somewhere special, and you can't wait to get there. There aren't any cars or buses in this area, and you have to walk a long time to get anywhere. You're almost there. You're walking fast, and you pass a little store on the corner where the old man sells fruit and dried fish out of wooden boxes. You look for him, because the streets don't have names or signs, but you know that when you see him you're almost there.

You wave and say "Sugo hasayo, Halaboji," which means "You're working hard, grandfather." He's not your grandfather, but that's how you always say hello to him and all older men. You come to the little side street, and you turn into it. Children are playing some kind of game in the dust. Down the little street is the house you've been looking for, the place where the crippled man teaches about God.

He's a special man. There's a sign hanging in front that says, "The Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity." It's a big name for such a little church. In a way, it's not even a real church. It's a broken down old house, where the teacher lives. It's where people meet to learn about the teachings called The Divine Principle.

You run to the door, and someone opens it even before you knock, because to them you are special, and they've been waiting and praying for you a long time. You feel good. They're terribly poor, these people; but you love them dearly, and they love God. They call Him "Heavenly Father."

They're so excited to see that you have come, and they bring you into a room with a chalkboard on the wall like in school. But this chalkboard is hung close to the floor, because the man who teaches here can't stand up very well. Sometimes, he leans on his cane to teach, but often he has to sit. Sitting on the floor is also difficult for him; and sometimes he even lies down while teaching. Strange, isn't it?

When he sees you, he tries to get up, but you quickly bow to him and sit down to save him the trouble and pain. The teacher is Mr. Hyo Won Eu. He's a real person, and in real life he was our church's first lecturer of the Divine Principle. What that means is that he was the very first person, besides True Father, to teach the Divine Principle to people. A lecture is a talk about something. A lecturer is someone who teaches.

You sit there waiting for the other people to get settled, and you think, "What if he gives a lecture about Jesus today? The way he tells it always makes me cry, because it's such a sad story. But it also makes me realize how much God loves us all." Then you have an idea. "Perhaps today I should get up enough nerve to ask him about his own story. I'd really like to know more about him. Maybe when his regular lecture is done, I should ask him. Maybe he'd be surprised. Probably, people don't ask him about his own story; but maybe he'd really like to tell it but is too modest to volunteer."

Mr. Eu's life had been difficult. He had wanted to know about God so much that it almost made him crazy at times. He was a very educated man. He had a logical and scientific mind. That means he could think things through and figure things out. It was hard for him to believe anything unless it made clear sense to him. So he studied and learned; and he had many, many thoughts going through his mind. "How do things work in this world? Why were things created this way? Why were they created at all? Did God create them? If there is a God, why can't I see Him?" And so on and so on.

Mr. Eu had an inquiring mind and liked to learn about everything, but the most difficult thing for him to study was the Bible. So many things in the Bible seemed mysterious to a scientific person such as he. It didn't always make sense to him, and it didn't seem to fit with what he knew about science.

Mr. Eu also had a disease in his bones that made him crippled, so he couldn't do much work. In fact, he could hardly even walk. Much of his time, therefore, was spent studying and thinking.

He thought about God a lot, and he wished he could be a person God could use; but how could God ever use a crippled man for much of anything? It was very frustrating to have a mind so bright, and a body so weak. Many times, he felt that there was no hope for him in this world; and many times, he even thought he might just give up and kill himself.

At those desperate moments, he would always remember something. When he was a little boy, his mother had loved him so very much and had prayed for him every day. She believed in him. Thinking of her, he would then decide not to take his life.

Then one day a friend came to him and said, "I met a very interesting man, Hyo Won. His name is Moon Sun Myung. He's a teacher, and the things he teaches about the Bible are astounding. He seems somehow to know the answers to all the mysteries in the Bible. You should check it out."

Mr. Eu wasn't too interested. No one could understand the mysteries of the Bible.

Later, his friend sent two older women to visit him. Perhaps they could convince him to go hear these teachings. As soon as they explained a few things to him, he started asking questions. His questions were so difficult that they didn't know how to answer them. They tried, but they were simple women and couldn't answer such a smart and educated man. They started crying. They stood over him and just cried and cried and silently prayed for him.

He sat there thinking, "Who are these women, anyway? And why do I feel this strange feeling going through my body? Like heat. Like electricity. My heart is pounding. I feel like crying; but I mustn't. Men don't cry."

Finally, he felt he just had to go with them. But why? He couldn't answer that, but the inner tug got stronger and stronger. His mind wasn't touched, because they hadn't answered any of his questions; but something spoke to his heart. He went with the old ladies to a small house. He couldn't just get up and go, of course. The house was on a hill, and the hills in Pusan are very steep; so he had to have two men carry him. They brought him into the little house, and he had to lie down on the floor, because sitting was too painful.

The group of people who followed Father at that time were few in number. Mrs. Kang was in Taegu, and Father was in Seoul. That left Mr. Aum who was away at his job a lot, a few older women, such as Mrs. Oak, and Won Pil Kim who was very young.

Since Father was gone, Won Pil Kim was the only one available to teach, and to Mr. Eu he appeared to be just a kid. Won Pil Kim seemed rather nervous, and when questions were asked, he didn't seem confident to answer them. Mr. Eu didn't know what to think. "Are these teachings worth listening to or not?" he asked himself. "Why am I here? Where are the old women?" But he kept feeling that strange tugging on his heart and that strange sensation of heat and electricity.

Mr. Eu's inner struggle showed on his face. Won Pil Kim noticed it and felt badly that he couldn't lecture as well as Father. He really wanted Mr. Eu to understand that the Divine Principle was God's most wonderful message in the world.

Then he had an idea, "Mr. Eu, would you like to borrow these notes on the Divine Principle and study them for yourself?"

Mr. Eu's face brightened. "Could I?"

"Yes, of course. It was written by Moon Son-sengnim. It's the only copy we have, but I would really like for you to study it."

Mr. Eu took it home with him. He read it. He read it again. He studied every word. It made sense! It did explain the mysteries of the Bible! It explained the mysteries of life. He still had a lot of questions, but he knew he wanted to join this small group and work full-time for God. He was the very first person to join without first meeting Father.

Mr. Eu eagerly looked forward to meeting this great teacher. When Father came for a visit from Seoul in December 1953, Mr. Eu met him for the first time. He was quite surprised to see that Father was younger than himself; but it wasn't long before he saw that age didn't matter. He asked Father directly all the questions that were on his mind, and Father answered them all.

After Father's Christmas visit, Mr. Eu felt he should move to Seoul with Father. This he did right away.

After helping Father find a small house with a room for meetings, Father spent many hours with Mr. Eu, teaching him, training him, helping him to understand The Divine Principle. As Mr. Eu developed diagrams and descriptions that would make it easier for people to understand, Father was by his side, making sure everything was accurate.

Mr. Eu soon became the official lecturer. Even though his body hurt, he gave lectures all day long, every day. Over and over, he taught God's Truth. Even if nobody came, he continued lecturing the Spirit World. A person might look in and see him teaching an empty room and wonder what he was doing. Sometimes, he stood with a cane; often he sat. Sometimes, he even had to lie down to teach because of the pain in his body. In the beginning, Father listened to all the lectures, and sometimes, he helped Mr. Eu explain some point or answer a question. At times, he would cry. Sometimes Mr. Eu would cry and continue lecturing through his tears. It was alright for a man to cry.

Finally, Mr. Eu took all his lectures and all the knowledge he had learned from Father, and he wrote The Divine Principle book. It was the first time Father's notes had been made into a book so that people could read it for themselves.

Mr. Eu later became the first President of the Unification Church. Therefore, we call him President Eu.

He loved Father, and he always felt badly that he couldn't bow to him. In fact, he loved him so much, he went out and had a special operation just so he could bow to Father at least once in his lifetime.

The life of this educated crippled man had been completely changed. No longer did he think of killing himself. Even though his body was weak, God could use his bright mind to teach others the Divine Principle. God always has a way of using a person, if that person really wants Him to.

In 1970 President Eu went to Spirit World. But whenever you hear a lecture on the Divine Principle, or whenever you see the Divine Principle book, you can think of him. And somewhere in Spirit World, he's standing on his own two feet, strong and straight, and he's teaching the Divine Principle to all your good ancestors, and probably mine, too.