Early Church History (Part 2)

The following notes are from Father's words, Hoon Dok Hae and other testimonies given January 5, 1999, at Punta del Este, Uruguay. I have selected portions concerning Father's life and early church history, with Father's guidance for devotion. I pray that you may find it as illuminating as I have, and I regret the inaccuracies. I have divided it into three parts.
ITN, Tyler Hendricks

A woman prayed for me at Hungnam prison, and I went to her house first in Pyongyang when I arrived there. My clothes -- prison clothes were cotton -- were almost rags from the ammonia. It was a ten-day walk from Hungnam prison to Pyongyang. I told her to bring my prison uniform to Seoul, but she couldn't and I really regret that.

There were concrete barriers to stop the advance of tanks around Pyongyang. The road from Hungnam to Pyongyang was blocked with them. Seeing them, I realized Pyongyang had prepared for war.

From October 24 to December 15 of that year. I visited the members, not my family. They had drifted away, so it was my responsibility to gather them. Won Pil Kim helped me. Some we could not find after a week. I could not divide out those who betrayed without trying for 40 days to find them. Until God said to abandon them and turn away, I could not abandon them on my own. I had to overcome all the wounds and hurt from their betrayal, to make a fresh start with new members. They and their descendants have to sympathize with me. So I have no shred of debt.

So people in some locations . . . There was one spiritual group that received a revelation from heaven. These spiritually prepared groups, if they had united, their strong foundation could have been preserved. But they could not understand and even wished for my death. But I survived, and they are the ones who perished. I tried to find them, but they were killed or disappeared. A famous minister was killed, with his family. God cleansed and clarified. The path of righteousness is the correct path no matter what circumstances. I can still remember those people who pledged to follow Heaven. I remember their names and I know what they are doing.

Some pledged -- I remember we had a pledge -- "even if I have to move Pekdu mountain and grind it into a mashed potato to serve you, I will do it." But God cannot force vengeance upon people. His situation is miserable.

Three ladies and one man followed me. I had to restore women who could indemnify the course of Eve and past mistakes. Otherwise the Cain-Abel problem cannot be solved. Won Pil Kim following in his teens is an historic event. By that one man and three women following, I had some closing victory, although the spiritual groups failed.

Four people escaped with me, plus one other. I commanded them to visit their homes before leaving. But we had to leave earlier than expected because of a sudden Chinese invasion. One man's whole family had abandoned him because of his broken leg. He was protected by a dog. I considered him my follower so I could not abandon him. I wanted to wait longer in Pyongyang. There were two men with the last name Moon, who pledged to follow, but the advancing Chinese armies forced us to retreat before they arrived. I determined to meet them someday, even in spirit world.

The Chinese force was right behind us. We left December 4. I wore the coat I had as a student. This jacket was very short, and I was carrying the broken legged man on the bike, so everyone was staring at me. The road was blocked several times. So we could not retreat. I felt that God cannot bless Korea except through me. I walked many difficult paths, through mountains and across rice fields filled with water. There were so many difficult incidents, but Heavenly Father protected us.

The most difficult point was how to find food. You cannot carry food as a refugee. You go into houses and take any rice that is left. But I did not want to be a thief. So I took only what was visible, the first thing I saw, and was grateful to God, and I did not search around house to house, as if pillaging. Jesus said the thirsty and hungry are blessed.

I was last to start eating and the first to finish. We were always hungry. My followers try to defeat me at this, but no one could. When I considered that we had to cross the 38th parallel, I thought of the defensive forces retreating and escaping. We had to go to a small island and from there cross the parallel.

Won Pil Kim was wearing a winter hat that was like a lady's hat, and he looked like a woman. Whenever we were searched they thought he was my wife, and he said he is a man, and they would make him strip his clothes.

We were starving for three months. Sometimes I received a revelation that food was waiting for us tomorrow, and it was true -- someone had prepared food. Many times I embraced Heavenly Father and shed tears. That depth of heart, no one can fathom.

On the path, we reached the Injin river. People rushed across the bridge there. I pushed us to walk all night to get there by 2 a.m. We were so tired, but I felt we had to cross it that night. Across the Injin river was South Korean territory. But the river had to be frozen. Our group was one of the last groups to cross the river. Soon afterward, the UN defensive line pulled back from that river. There is always a window of opportunity that closes. Knowing that, I had to push them.

I prayed with sorrow to Heavenly Father that I could not achieve the victory. If I cannot reach South Korea, I prayed, then send followers who can pick up my way. But if I can reach South Korea, surely I will bring victory and unify South Korea and North Korea with my hands. I had to leave behind my parents who were praying for me and looking for me. I pledged to come back someday.

I had short hair. In Seoul there is the former imperial palace. One man was dividing the crowd, right and left. Even though I was from prison, because I had short hair they thought I was an escapee from the South Korean army. I told them that I came from North Korea. Then they thought I was a spy. They researched me and stamped me for identification. Years after than, enemies accused me of evading the draft, and I was imprisoned for three months over that.

I had a three-month period as a refugee. Those cotton pants I wore are so glorious. When I was going to America, I asked you pray for the meaning of January 4. That is a sorrowful day, when I had a prayer with followers that we would meet together, but they all betrayed me. I wrote many letters, even up to three times to one person. They were returned to me. I re-read them. I wrote 20 letters. Before I could start a new page, I had to clarify, cleanse and make the proper conditions.

We walked to Pusan with a small bag in my hand. From Hamhong it took 57 days. We were so exhausted. I felt there was preparation for us. One lady's ancestor told her to prepare for a special guest, in ragged clothes. She recognized my face from her revelation.

When I first arrived, I asked a factory worker I met to sing. It was the first song I heard after arriving in South Korea. As a refugee, I had to go on the train from Kyungjoo to Pusan. I fought with the conductor to get the ride. We arrived January, 24, 1951. I was 31 years old.

It was a four-month trip. Can you imagine how dirty my clothes were? Army green clothes, I had to wear inside out. My hair was very short. Dark bluish pants that were so oily that the rain would just run off. Old ragged shoes, offering no protection. When the Heavenly Kingdom comes, these clothes will be great treasures.

When I met Won Pil Kim, he was 19. He started working at a restaurant washing dishes. Sometimes he would bring food to me. I also acted as a beggar. To beg, you have to know people well and have a fast wit to know if people will give. I met a hometown person while doing that, and he gave me 10,000 won, which was a lot of money. I said I will repay it 1,000 times. Later his wife came and asked for repayment. I felt bad because he had the mind to take care of his family and descendants, but her asking was not good. So I asked her to exact the highest interest, and paid it.

When we sleep in the sunshine, it feels good. A famous person in the Yi dynasty . . . I spent so many nights on the edge of a roof. Some ladies made red bean soup and I visited them and they would give me soup, and I would help them guard their money. I remember their faces, and how delicious the soup was. I had no place to stay, so I would sleep in the mountains on my jacket.

I started writing the Principle. There was a laborers tent and I had a small space or room there and started writing there. To make money I did all kinds of tasks. I dealt with people as subject in all circumstances. I had a philosophy to set a record with my life. No matter my terrible dark hole, I had to conquer it.

North Korean people who had money in the north came to South Korea with nothing, and had to work harder than the local South Korean people. They could not return to their hometown. They had strong desire, looking forward to returning to North Korea victoriously. With that spirit, the North Korean refugees struggled forward.

I started building the Pomnekkol house. It was near a cemetery. No one lived around there, but there were many rats. I had a hearth to bake dirt bricks. No one was willing to loan me a shovel. I had to use a small hand shovel. I dug a trench and put rocks in for drainage, and on top put dirt bricks. We had a small sitting table. I determined to be the number one filial son for Heavenly Father. I will attend Heavenly Father. I was hungry and without clothes, with a runny nose. In that most miserable situation, we cannot be depressed. Even one room is so precious, more than a palace. Father cannot invest in Satan's land.

I had incredible prayers in that hut. In those US army clothes, the shirt was Korean and I wore a Japanese hat. It was a mixture of east and west clothes, miserable, but a good starting point. I told members that if you cannot overcome this trial, you will have to shed blood. Even if we are pushed into the Pacific, we have to be the defensive line against Satan.

Praying on the Pusan dock, I looked across the waters for a vision from God. Sometimes God sent a huge boat, comforting me. I had long prayers at the harbor, looking at the ships passing by carrying munitions. I had a hobby of counting the number of ships from America. One day, there were more than 100. I tried to assess the situation of the war. If less material arrived, I thought the situation was better.

It was so precious to have one follower. When he left, I walked with him one km, and went one kilometer to greet him when he returned. Won Pil Kim comforted me. When he came home, he was closer than a lover would be. We had such precious heartistic unity. Won Pil Kim abandoned his parents and relatives to follow me.

We drew portraits of American military personnel. One picture was $4. They would buy it before going back to America, a portrait for their wife. Some days we received 30 or 40 orders, so it was hard to fulfill them all. Won Pil Kim did the quick sketch, and I colored, but gradually I did more of the art. I did not use the money for myself. I worked as a carpenter for three months. I never had been a carpenter, but I did it by remembering watching carpenters.

I felt that there is a barrier and if I can make a small hole, people will rush in shouting, "Teacher! Teacher!" But it takes time to make the hole. That is indemnity.

Sometimes I would wake up early, before the rooster crowed. I would wonder, where is the rooster? There were some families with whom I made deep relationships of heart, or tried to, and they looked down on me. But I remembered the heartistic connection. A normal person looks for his family and relatives, but I looked for followers. Rev. Won Pil Kim, Chi Sang Go, Grandmother Ok . . . Everyone else was opposing me. When you carry Divine Principle, you must handle it carefully. Imagine that there is only one copy of Divine Principle. What if I lose it? When I was writing the first draft, how serious I was. It was the book that people around the world will follow.

Three people prayed to start it. When I spoke, I did not imagine it as . . . Beside the house was a small well. People looked at us strangely because of our clothes. And when they spoke to us, we spoke on the worldwide scale. When they visited, I spoke about . . . They said you will start world unification from such a place? Some professor came to see a handsome man but concluded I was crazy.

When Heavenly Father meets even one child, what is His heart? That was the heart I had when I met her. One by one, I collected disciples again. She heard about the strange man on top of the mountain and decided to witness to me. She felt strange about me but came more and more often. In the history of our church, there were many miracles.

When I came to the South, I knew where my wife and son were. But I could not visit them until I took care of my followers, as I promised to Heavenly Father. When Sung Jin Nim's mother and Sung Jin Nim came, I could not greet them. Cain had to guide them. The "please come in" words have to be uttered by the members first, not me. Still, Sung Jin Nim mother says I am made out of wood, a man with no emotions. This is because she doesn't understand the Divine Principle standard. I hoped that and expected that even if I had to abandon my wife and son, she would raise up our son to respect me, but if I abandoned God for my own family, what would that be?

Also I experienced incredible persecution from the other churches at that time. She said I love you the most, I will work for you, all the woman . . .

When I prayed for a village, some one would prepare food for me. I visited all the spiritual groups in South Korea. Before meeting them, I would pray and invest a lot. Then if they rejected me, I could receive the blessing they had.

In 1953 I sent Rev. Kang and Rev. Yo Han Lee to Taegu. Taegu was the Jerusalem of South Korea, a very Christian city. They had no place to go. When you send out pioneers, give them no money, so they can experience the power of God and spirit world with them. Even if you have money, it is not for you but for the people in the place to which you go.

The 38th parallel marks the division of democracy and communism, Hebraism and Hellenism. The Korean people divided into these two sides. Why? I was very opposed to the armistice. Syngman Rhee's agreeing to it was wrong. Through the armistice, the division of north and south was more permanent, and this was not God's will. I blame Syngman Rhee.

I used Pusan as the fireplace to heat up the mission, the cooking oven at Pomnekkol. The word Pusan has a double meaning here. So even you feel insignificant, if you dedicate absolutely to Heavenly Father, you can be remembered by God. In retrospect, that holy rock has become our holy ground. The rock's situation is better than mine was. It is actually not the only place I prayed; there were many places, including trees. The tree has a root, and the direction of the root determines the history of the tree. The scholars who know about Father's prayer places are the most fortunate.

These books are collected from my speeches, chronologically arranged.

You don't know about spirit world. That's why you become tired and low-spirited. Heavenly Father desires the liberation of your family and all families. You have to pray not just for your own work, because God is working on cosmic level. Have the heart representing Heavenly Father. How much investment God has made! If you don't grasp this and go to spirit world, you will be in agony. You have to root out the fall, comfort God and be the co-worker with Heavenly Father. You long for people, the village and nation, because God's heart is reflected in you. Longing for the liberation of the spirit world and earth. Always know this. God never relaxes, but toils without ending. The more grace you received, the more unworthy you feel, and the more you want to do.

If you don't prepare here, you cannot prepare the realm of liberation. Your physical life will decide your fate for eternity, for hundreds or thousands of generations. So your life is not just your life. You have to pray for the liberation of humanity and pray for God. Think how much Heavenly Father offered and through His investment the realm of liberation is expanded, and representing humanity you have to go the way of the living sacrifice. That is the way for the blessed couple to go, so you cannot be tired or depressed.

Think about Heavenly Father and humanity, whatever you eat or drink, do for Heavenly Father and humanity, and think about them. One drop of rain is nothing, but gathered together the drops form the ocean. Then they evaporate and recycle. It is a course of life. If you do not prepare, you will drift away. Then you cannot inherit anything. Whatever you do, do together with God and move God's heart. Live for the sake of others, attain the heart of the parent and Heavenly Father. Then you have a reciprocal base with God. Then you can attain eternal life. You have to seek this and find joy in it.

When you come here, you complain it is far away and you have no money. The historical transition point is where we turn around and go back. You cannot complain about the distance or cost. Because centering on True Parents the realm of liberation will take place automatically. You have to prepare for July 1. Mobilize your relatives and second generation. If you prepare your tribe, they can inherit God's blessing more and more. Pray and pray and invest love and live a sacrificial life. Chung sang gwa sarang -- Devotion/effort and love. It means always investing your heart. How much you truly love God is the foundation for your eternal blessing and fortune. If someone loves you and you don't recognize it, the love is blocked. You need to recognize it. It can flow if you make a small hole. How great is the reservoir of God's love. I want to fill up the gap remaining in God's heart. The more you do that, the more God will recognize your value.

Filial sons, loyal patriots, the greater level people will come, beyond the national level, if you invest for the world. Then you will be a saint, and living for the cosmos you will be a holy son. If you invest your properties for the world, then God will give you the blessing. But you casually think, oh, I've received the blessing and all this will be mine. That is like a thief. You have to wait until the time comes and make the proper bridges and steps. Father has been making the path that God will follow. He will embrace and comfort me and give me everything He has. Search not after small things but after the greatest blessing of Heavenly Father. Parental heart cannot become tired; it has to be ceaseless, sacrificing everything for the sake of the children. You cannot afford to become tired. Invest and forget, three times. Then even if you run away, Heavenly Father will find you. Prayer is a report and proclamation. Satan cannot take it away.

When Father comes to South America, he does not long for his hometown and his family. It is for this nation, the four nations, and the whole of South America. For love, the sacrificial way is natural; it is the only way to go. But parents want the children to love each other more than they love the parents. Chung sang gwa sarang -- prayer, devotion and love. If you see someone going the wrong way, rather than pointed your finger, you should help his spouse, children and parents. The parental heart is not evil. Through that you can connect to anyone so they can receive God's blessing.

This year's motto is the cosmic expansion of the true Blessing and rooting out Satan's lineage. You have to pray with a prayerful and loving heart. How can we root out the historical heart of the fall? Even if God is resting, I will take responsibility for the most difficult situation. In Pantanal and Olympo it is so lonely, when I look at the birds and plants. God invested for the sake of love. God is investing to develop our hearts. Love the creatures to know God's heart and open the realm of liberation for the cosmos. That person's heart will resurrect.

So Father has to look from the beginning of history to now. This can be done only with a loving heart. Don't worry about the result. Don't have greed. What matters is whether you did it or not. If you have greed, all the things will drift away. "It is midnight and I still don't want members to go" -- that kind of loving heart.

Even if you are so tired you cannot move your mouth, trying to move it with a loving heart is most precious. This life is not centered on good food and clothes. God's situation is bad, so ours has to be the same to liberate God. The paragon of this is the Messiah. How can I do it? Not just jump in, but do a high dive, vertically straight in. In true love there is low pressure . . . To fulfill this you need prayer and love. If you stop praying and devoting there is nothing left. Love represents the correct path.

Even a thief does not become such without a desire for the sake of his loving wife or parents. So the root is not really evil. So don't think of . . . When I see such members, I don't evade, I just go straight. Members who drift away will go sideways (to the side?).

Appreciate Hoon Dok Hae, and you'll get closer to nature. The speeches are done by Father's proclamation. Your prayer and offering pulls God to your side. If you expect just blessing and benefit, you will go to hell. You have to understand the wretched heart of Jesus. God sacrificed martyrs for the sake of liberation. The children must go forward for the sake of the parents. You are going back home now, but if you hold onto this, you will develop.

When you see a person you think you knew before, don't lose that person. There is some reason you met him or her. Go beyond your understanding and connect with God through your prayer and love. The amount is your responsibility. Don't worry whether God's blessing will come; it will come naturally. Believe that you were born for this. If you feel you don't want to do it but you are dragged to do it, it is not an acceptable offering. If you want to do it, God will be moved.

If the direction of love changes, you have to be willing to cut off anything and change and follow. Pray and devote. Look for the most miserable family in your area and make equalization with them. Then that is the centerline for the whole area.

9-9-9 is Satan's number, and 10-10-10 is perfection. The motto is not just blessing, but true blessing. Cosmic expansion is the complete liberation of the han in God's heart. So have a prayerful and loving heart and mind. You are becoming the object of God, where God can reciprocate with you.

In your village, you want to visit house to house and give God's love. This is not a daydream. Don't think about receiving blessing yourself. If you did something good, made some sacrifice, don't be proud of it. In Korea, a wife attends her mother-in-law. It is difficult, but if the wife truly invests, her mother-in-law will be comforted.

You cannot have enemies. Don't look at an enemy's face, just his clothes. Don't leave a condition of hating or disliking someone. Never be mean to people, even to your enemy. Just be kind, invest and sacrifice. In breathing, there is going up and down. You have to learn to love the thing you least want to do. Take responsibility for the bottom, that is the best way to reach God. That is the preparation to meet God. No matter how great you are, if you haven't prepared, you will fade away. I hope and request that you can attend God as your way of life, and that God can be devoted to your love. Sons and daughters of Heaven have this path.

Women, don't speak out easily. Watch your mouth, your words and actions on the way of chungsong. Men too, but especially women. Watch the ears and mouth. The fall took place by whispering and talking and hearing. Ladies feel they have to speak out something. Hold onto your husband's handkerchief and hold back. If you create the environment of sorrow for someone else, it will come back to you. Women like to move around, so if you don't have the heart of devotion and love, you can easily make a mistake.

Ten is the returning number; three tens is 10,000. Those who want to do this, raise your hands. Thank you very much.