The Syrian holy ground (September 3, 1965)
It took me over seven hours to choose and establish a holy ground in Syria, which is why the most memorable holy ground in the world is in Syria.
When I went there, they were opening an international trade exposition for countries in the Eastern European Bloc, and all the Soviet satellite countries were exhibiting their products. I will never forget the impression I got when I entered the Soviet exhibition center.
We could not select the holy ground during the day. As I had to select the holy ground at night, it took more time.
If a Christian were to stand and pray in the daytime, it would attract too much attention. So I decided to establish the holy ground with the help of a man from Serbia who was sitting next to me. The choosing of that holy ground seems like only yesterday to me. I did it this way because I wanted to find out at what spiritual level the Islamic culture was.
At the time, I prayed, “I will remember this holy ground the most; it is the most impressive and the most wretched one. I am sorry that we could not do this during the day and have had to do it by stealth at night, but I hope that it will bring greater blessings, in the end, to this nation.” The Muslim world began to move after that.
The Asian leg of the tour
When I travelled around the various countries, if I stayed at one place for two days, I would get a sudden and strong urge to give them everything I had. Once you are connected in heart, everyone becomes a child of God.
The value of a human being is not determined by his or her cultural background, historical environment or current status. Such things cannot be deciding factors in the value of a human being. People’s value can only be determined when they know heaven and earth, the purpose of heaven, the purpose of earth and their purpose.
The greatest difficulty I faced in South Asia was the heat. The greatest obstacle to my mission work was the hot weather. I stayed for a week in Calcutta, India, and the temperature topped 41 degrees Centigrade.
I had to sleep with a fan on, and though I had heard that you can get sick if you do that, I didn’t get sick at all. You feel better after taking a nap with the fan on! Would anyone here volunteer to go there?
In Japan, on the return trip
What is the mission that Japan needs to fulfill on the world level as the Eve nation? No matter what anyone may say, the way for them to succeed is to obey.
When they obey completely, they will subjugate completely. When they are won over 100 percent, they will win 100 percent. At that point, we will be able to make a move.
If you love Japan, you need to begin working there immediately. How can you possibly overcome the three great problems facing you, namely the problems of young people, communism, and religion?
You are in a more difficult situation than if you were in Korea. Koreans are absolutely against communism, so it will be more difficult in Japan than in Korea.
I have no choice but to leave you and go back. Rev. Nishigawa has to go to America. Once he leaves, Mr. Kuboki will need to take full responsibility. In light of this, I want to place great emphasis on the need to strengthen your organization and form closer relationships with one another.
Therefore, the most important thing is for you to establish strong communications and good administration within the organization, and to follow up well. In short, you first need organization, second, solidarity, and third, action. These are the three factors needed to move the world centering on Japan.
Establishing holy grounds in Korea
I sent the 124 couples all over Korea, and I selected holy grounds in each location. I asked them to focus on the holy ground, unite as a group, and go out to fulfill their missions.
Furthermore, I established four large holy grounds in the Seoul area. Including the east, west, south, north, and the central holy ground, plus the holy ground at the headquarters, I made seven in all.
To connect this victory to the world, I took earth and stones from these seven holy grounds on December 31, 1965, and January 1, 1966, and prepared to travel overseas…. For what reason would I engraft the Korean holy grounds to the whole world? To join the world’s land to Korean soil.
To expand this to a new level, I established holy grounds in forty nations during my travels. Although we incurred high expenses, I established holy grounds in those countries and brought earth and stones from them back to Korea. This was required according to God’s providence. Nothing like this has been done before in history.
Those one hundred and twenty holy grounds in forty countries can protect the realm of God’s chosen people. Even if they cannot protect people still in the flesh on earth, they protect those in the spirit world.
We have driven in a marker that enables God to work with us, and made the base from which we can fight, to establish the starting point for the fight that could bring about success in restoring a people. Like blessed couples, the holy grounds are sanctified, and the spirit world can help with those places.
Since the headquarters church is the central holy ground of the world, it is most effective to pray here. The headquarters church, as the central holy ground, is connected to the holy grounds in forty nations.
Even with a history of five thousand years, Korea is yet to have a stable sovereignty, which is why I am ultimately trying to establish a stable Heavenly sovereignty.
Every time I go where we have a church, I pray for the future restoration of the Abel-like foundation. I have chosen the holy grounds based on a providential plan to realize this. That is, the establishment of the holy grounds is also laying a base for the restoration of the economy.
In each area, we have to give Abel-like financial aid. That’s why, in all the countries I went to, I gave a donation in my name. That is becoming an important foundation for making an altar for the restoration of all things.
At the age of forty-five, I travelled around forty nations to select a hundred and twenty holy grounds. Other travelers were laden with cameras and made a fuss of taking as many pictures as possible when they visited other nations, but I was laden with trunks packed with stones and earth. I travelled around forty nations in search of holy grounds [Father laughs].
Whenever I passed through immigration on my way to and from airplanes, people thought I was a strange man because I carried around stones. Others also carried around heavy luggage, but I was the only one carrying nothing but heavy stones. Who could have fathomed the real reason for them?
They all thought I was crazy. Those holy grounds were selected after undergoing such difficulty, and now they have become the bases whereon all people can offer devotions together in front of Heaven.
When I toured those nations, it was not an easy time for the Unification Church. It was a time of trouble and woe. Now, however, they have become the cornerstones and the bases of a new history, haven’t they?
The fire must not die out in the one hundred and twenty holy grounds in forty countries. According to the changing seasons, you should also take care of these holy grounds. Korea has to become like a broadcasting station and send out spiritual waves to the world.
If the waves are sent out from Korea, the holy grounds of the world will receive them and send thanks to Heaven. God has a deep love for these holy grounds; how sorrowful His heart will be if His children don’t appear there.
Sun Myung Moon