The Blessing of forty-three couples
During my world tour, I blessed many couples in America, Germany, and Japan.
Why did I give the Blessing during my tour in my second seven-year course?
I did it to indemnify the failure of Jesus, who could not fulfill his worldwide mission even though he came as the second Adam.
So, I established forty-three blessed families representing the world. The number forty-three includes the number forty, which symbolizes the standard of four thousand years, the period before the time of Jesus…. Forty-three couples correspond to the four hundred and thirty couples.
In other words, I connected the four hundred and thirty couples with the forty-three couples from ten countries. By doing that, the environmental foundation corresponding to the world was established.
For the Blessing this time, I had married almost everyone as international couples. Americans were matched to Germans, and French people to British people. I married the couple in that way.
I did not match people of the same nationality. To restore the world, people must have a global sentiment that transcends love for a particular race. That is why I made them international couples this time. They all were happy, and I was happy seeing them happy.
Women over forty-two years old are usually already married. Yet, a thirty-three-year-old bachelor volunteered to marry a woman of that age. Western members cherish honor and achievement very much.
He is that type of man. To him, a person’s personality depends on how much honor and achievement he or she has. They differ from people in the Orient in that respect.
This man, Teddy, pioneered the Netherlands. He was a lathe engineer who graduated from a technical school that is famous in America. After he joined our church, he went to the Netherlands for pioneer witnessing. He established a church center there and became the spiritual ancestor of the Netherlands.
When I asked him, “With whom do you wish to be blessed?” He said, “When I was in America, I worked with a woman truly faithful to God’s will. I want to be blessed with her.” He told me her name was Pauline. She had joined the church eight years before when she was thirty-two years old.
She was in a trinity with a woman named Doris. To establish the Unification family tradition in the Netherlands, Teddy insisted that he would need a woman like his mother, who would genuinely love the country and could embrace everything, good and bad, internal and external.
When I held the first Holy Blessing Ceremony in Europe, I told the participants, “Try to live an interesting life, and you will surely have good sons and daughters.” The next time I visited England, the woman brought her baby to me. As I had predicted, the baby looked so smart and cute that I would have liked to have taken him home with me!
Instructions during a visit to Japan, April 18–May 2, 1969
When I visited Japan in 1965, I spoke with a high-ranking government official. I strongly asserted, “If you continue to have a feeble attitude, as you do now, in the end you will not be able to stand up to the communists.”
In fact, with the beginning of the 1970s, the communists began preparing for a revolution centering on university campuses across the nation. Even as we speak, they are creating confusion, not only on the campuses but also in Japanese society, with the university students at the front of their activities.
This fact tells you plainly that they are aiming for more than just creating confusion on campuses.
Places like Osaka, Nagoya, and Kyoto are now under communist influence. Our CARP students have risked their lives in carrying out desperate activities in these cities. As a result, all Japanese economists have come to realize that they need to fight against the communists.
Thus, they have formed a nationwide supporters’ organization, remaining in the background, but providing funds for CARP activities. There is a world of difference between the activities of communists and of CARP, which both take place on university campuses in Japan. Indeed, God’s work and Satan’s work are being carried out simultaneously. Therefore, we need to confront communists, even if it means sacrificing ourselves in the process.
Considering this, we need to realize the urgency of the situation. If Japan is communized, no matter how much Korea may boast of being an anti-communist kingdom, Korea would be no better than a rat in a trap….
I visited a diplomat in charge of public information at the Korean Embassy in Japan and told him, “I know that you have criticized the Unification Church, but Japan is now in need of us. Nevertheless, you are still opposed to our church, aren’t you?”
He replied, “That will not be the case from now on.” We are now preparing to organize nearly 60,000 to 70,000 healthy young people into a strong organization to fight the Japanese Communist Party.
During my stay in Japan this time, I spoke with prominent leaders and exchanged opinions on how to bring down the Communist Party. I made plans for that purpose and came home….
The United States cannot even think about retreating in the fight against communism. I have emphasized the need to work in every way possible to defend the battle line in America. It is up to CARP and the Federation for Victory over Communism to carry out this work.
In Israel
When I visited Jerusalem during my recent tour, I went up the Mount of Olives and saw a three-thousand-year-old olive tree. Two thousand years ago, Jesus took three disciples, Peter, John, and James, with him to the garden of Gethsemane and prayed three times.
It is most likely under that very tree that the three slept while Jesus prayed. This is an incredible place. Jesus rebuked his disciples there, and there Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus. Yet, the people who come there simply think that the lord came to die, that he came to die for my sake, and that his death was a victory. I was at a loss for words at seeing that site.
Overcoming hardship
I went through major battles and struggles during this world tour. I could not be more exhausted. Since most members met me for the first time after longing to see me for many years, they had no time limit.
No matter how late at night, whether it was midnight or 1 a.m., they wanted to be with me for as long as possible. Since I knew what they had in mind, I could not neglect them and go to bed even though I was exhausted.
I visited the United States, Germany, and other countries in Europe. I visited Asia and ended up in Japan. I was able to complete the tour because I was supported by spiritual forces. Otherwise, I would have collapsed in the midst of it all.
A global prayer condition June 1–September 30, 1969
Currently, the Unification Church is in Abel’s position, facing the danger of being struck. So, we must invest all our sincere heart into our work before being struck.
Accordingly, you must understand that it is urgently necessary for you to offer special prayers, bearing responsibility for this nation’s destiny, with a heart of prayer for Cain’s good fortune. That is why I came back rushing as soon as I had completed the world tour.
For four months, from the first day of June, you must invest your sincere heart for Korea’s sake, which is the fatherland of faith for our members around the world….
You should also know that our Japanese members in CARP and the IFVOC are fighting at the risk of their lives. You must pray and begin anti-communism activities in Seoul in June. We cannot avoid doing these two kinds of activities.
Everyone should witness
If you are a Unification Church member, what kind of responsibility should you bear? You must bring one new person each month. Do not bring in two. Just focus on bringing in one person a month and set conditions.
Don’t go to other houses, just focus on one house. Set conditions daily and convey the Principle every day to restore one person a month. If you can do that, how many will that be in a year? Isn’t it twelve?
I am saying you should bring in just twelve people. I will prevent anybody who fails to bring in one person a month from coming here. Some may say that they are responsible for a company and therefore are unable to do this, but I will not accept that. Managers here today are no exception.
You all must take responsibility and do this. Rev. Yo-han Lee must also do this. You can sit here and give sermons, but you should make time to witness. I have already given the order worldwide to witness to one person a month. I will collect statistics to see what percentage of its goal Korea achieves.
Until now, each district has spent 300,000 to 350,000 won each month. That’s so much money; you cannot imagine! When God created human beings, He created the body first and then implanted the spirit.
Accordingly, in the process of restoration, we should first restore material things completely and then spiritual things. Yet, we have been unable to do that. This nation is also struggling without being able to get out of economic difficulties.
For the nation to get out of difficulty is impossible because it has not prepared the necessary environment. Then, how are we to finally establish an economic foundation? First, we must economize.
If we don’t economize on material goods when we can give and receive them freely, without being able to fulfill our responsibility, the Unification Church will have to experience a second round of suffering. To prevent that, we must take new measures.
Instructions at a district leaders’ meeting (July 19, 1969)
Each department in the headquarters must oversee the activities of local district departments. For example, each district is publishing its materials. Those local publications should be curtailed.
Instead, add some local news and information to the publication produced by the headquarters. Change the system of publishing the Seonghwa newspaper so it comes out a week before the publication date. You should focus on this newspaper by sending monthly reports and other articles to it.
When you send your monthly district reports to the headquarters, you should send a copy by mail and bring a copy to submit directly to the headquarters staff with you.
The district leaders’ meeting is on the third day of the month. So, you should compile your monthly report by the twenty-fifth of the month and see to it that it arrives at the headquarters by the thirtieth.
You must bring at least a hundred and twenty members to attend your district church services. Through Victory Over Communism activities, you should connect as soon as possible to the local police.
Give lectures to policemen and the staff members of public offices. To do those things, you must establish associations comprising those people who are supportive. Let’s pioneer in that direction and achieve good results.
Indicators of serious times
Why is a summer witnessing period necessary? To put you in a position where you have to make decisions. In other words, those of you mid-way between God and Satan must become able to decide to act on the side of Heaven. During this period, you must set a condition of finding three spiritual children.
The world today remains in a state of very high tension. We have conquered the Moon as the first stage of the goal of conquering space. The direction of the United States’ policy has been revised and is now more inclined to pursue American interests than to address ideological issues.
I designated a 120-day prayer from June this year. I spoke to you about this, but I have invested more serious devotion than anybody else regarding the issue of how we should approach August this year. I have been going to bed at midnight and getting up again at one or two in the morning, prostrating myself in prayer until the break of day.
First National Seonghwa Student Association Convention
Today is the last day of September. It is also the last day of the 120-day prayer condition at Cheongpyeong. You must finish this day well.
Today, the minister heading the Ministry of Culture and Information presented the Unification Award to one person from each province in the Republic of Korea. One of our family members, Jong-gu Park, received this award. He proudly told me that he was given 40,000 as an additional prize. This is joyful news!
It’s time for leaders to go to college
What kind of people have I been mobilizing? I have mobilized high school students because they represent the growth level.
The Unification Church must be responsible for the history of restoration. Because high school students represent the growth level, which must become the center of the history of restoration, I’ve mobilized them.
The people who participate at this time have overcome that critical point of preparing a foundation in that environment. That is why you must take the lead now. I intend for these people to continue their studies even if it means establishing a university of my own.
I had asked them not to go to college because the time was not ripe. Desiring something before the right time motivated the Fall. You must understand that college student members could only be treated as stepchildren until now because of this.
District and regional leaders who have been working hard must now be sent to college, and they must graduate. I have put them through hardships without having even sent them to school. I must take responsibility for them.
By whatever means, I want the hardworking district and regional leaders who have only completed high school to be able to receive a college diploma as soon as possible.
Those who went through hardships are in an Abel-type position, and those who went to college are in a Cain-type position. You must all be in the Abel position, take care of those who have gone before you, and send them to college with the heart of enabling them to study.
You should then step forward, willing to bear the remaining crosses. Otherwise, there is no way for you to survive. You should be aware of this.
National defense and the air rifle business
Our members started the restoration of all things [raising funds] in 1967, when we first used the slogan, Let’s complete the foundation for economic restoration.
Before that, I asked you not to think about money. However, while I was pushing you to experience hard times, behind the scenes, I was one step ahead of you about the matter of earning money. Thus, we made the air rifle factory.
Although I have worked to develop the factory for over twelve years, our business has dedicated itself more than any other business in Korea. God knows this. With firm resolve, I have been able to make Satan retreat. This is so. I am not doing business with a self-centered motivation.
God is governing the fortunes of the Korean Republic. In that the growth of the Korean economy is under God’s administration, more than anyone else in Korea, I am putting aside self-interest and pursuing that goal in a public way. The air rifle business helped me pioneer and take the lead for the sake of God’s will.
Korea’s heart is besieged by three enemies. In the future, we must protect the nation and its people by establishing the correct ideological perspective. Therefore, we should be responsible for an ideology promoting national and Asian defense.
Looking at Korea’s actual situation, surrounded by enemies on three sides, protecting the nation by establishing a proper ideological perspective is imperative.
Judging from the nation’s situation, the time will surely come when the Republic of Korea will regard the defense industry as important. For the past ten years, I have been preparing for that. The time has come. Since the government announced it will strengthen the nation’s military, people are busy building factories here and there.
Bold mission plans
In the future, we must go out into the world. By the end of this year, or at the latest, next April, we will have missions in forty nations. You may not be aware of this, but missionaries have already gone out to Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Greece, and other locations.
If I tell them where I had designated holy grounds during my world tour, they will go there. We have missions in some African countries. In the future, within three or four years at the latest, we will have missions in 360 foreign locations.
I will send missionaries to those unknown nations, nations that are not registered with the United Nations. How will I send them? They cannot take money. They can take our air rifles with them to sell.
Expansion of the Sutaek-ri factory
It’s been exactly three years and four months since we built the factory in Sutaekri. Initially, we had only a few trucks, but now we have a huge fleet. We have been living miserably. Now in Sutaekri, however, we have built one of the most modern facilities in Korea. In the future, we should have a higher standard of living than others.
However, you probably thought that all of this came about on its own. You are not aware of how much hardship has been gone through to break through the complicated atmosphere in Seoul. Whenever problems arose, I took on various adventures to unite my convictions with God’s.
Therefore, in preparation for such times, I have been building machines for four years now. We began this venture without any knowledge of machines. However, what we had planned to do in three years, we accomplished by building two machines in a year and eight months.
In this way, after three years, more than 90 percent of the machines in our factory are being built by our hands. We can easily build, on our own, machines similar to those we imported from Japan for 15 million won each. Ours performs just as well.
Therefore, even if we no longer make air rifles at the factory, it will operate without rest, and workers can live there. You must understand that I had worried, taken risks, and made decisions in the background that led to our reaching this level.
Forty-day winter witnessing and VOC activities (December 20, 1969–January 31, 1970)
This has been a year to resolve all enmity. Let’s indemnify this during the ten days before 1970 begins. This time is a watershed period.
I am planning to begin a speaking tour around January 6 next year. On that occasion,n I will distribute some new money to you. That money will become a historic treasure.
Husbands should visit the area where their wives are engaged in witnessing at least once. Women can go out witnessing forty days after their babies are born. Let’s achieve brilliant results in the 1970s.
You are in a better position than Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Jesus and the Holy Spirit were unable to go witnessing with their children.
Going to witness while separated from your children means you can establish the condition that you have loved Cain more than you have loved Abel. If you do so, Cain will surrender.
The 1970s will be the era when we can open the gate to the world. Individuals must sacrifice for the families; families for the nations; and nations for the world. Tears shed in many parts of the country at the beginning of a new year will become tears of hope.
International Federation for Victory Over Communism (VOC) rally in Japan (October 1969)
Our Japanese members held a national VOC rally at Hibiya Park in Tokyo on October 7. The news media covered it. Well over three thousand people reportedly participated and they responded with applause.
Until now, Japanese communists have confidently believed that Japan would be communized. However, a small group from the Unification Movement appeared in front of them, hoisting an anti-communist flag.
This became an issue among the Communist Party leaders in Japan and in the Japanese government. Why is it necessary for us to carry out such activities?
Through such a campaign, we can quietly instill the belief in the people that they can confront communism even under the present circumstances in which no worldview or organization in the world today can handle it.
A purpose-built workshop center opens (February 10, 1970)
It is important to plant trees today. You must plant trees with a sincere heart.
When these trees grow, your descendants will come here and rejoice when they see them. I am thinking of building a university here in the future.
We need to have educational institutions. Even if we move to some other place in the future, we will move the trees from here to the new place or plant the seeds from these trees.
In that sense, this land of ours is the basis upon which we can give our love, centering on the internal reality, to save and protect the future. We have purchased the land here and other land, in Cheongpyeong, for continued development, after working for a long time based at our church in Cheongpa-dong.
Since we have constructed the training center with the approval of the Gyeonggi Province governor and police chief, we can say that this center has been established for the sake of the province and the nation.
We have built it to contribute to the Republic of Korea. This does not mean giving something left over after we have finished with it. It means lighting a light and giving something of value.
You must know that from the providential perspective, the 1970s were an important period for us to have the character needed to pay indemnity both internally and externally.
The most pressing matter at hand for us is the problem of manpower. If we go the right way, we will be able to open unlimited ways of resolving the human resources problem. This is why I have personally gotten involved in this and have worked hard night and day until I dropped from fatigue.
We built the Sutaek-ri Training Center in twenty-eight days. I supervised forty-some people in building that center. We leveled a hillock and reclaimed the land.
There was a twelve-foot dip, and I supervised the work of filling it in. It would have taken others at least six months, but I said, ¡± Six months? We didn’t have six months,¡° and we finished the work in twenty-eight days.
From the beginning of the year, we have talked about holding a workshop. The director of information at the Gyeonggi Province Police Department knows about us very well. He also knows that anti-communist activities can’t be carried out without an ideological framework behind them, such as found in the Unification Church’s Federation for Victory over Communism.
He has worked in this field in various provinces; as a result, he has become firmly convinced that only our organization can succeed in this task.
That’s how he came to speak to our Incheon Church leader, which motivated the police chief to help us. He said he would have no difficulty bringing in the provincial governor as well.
Because things were happening on a larger scale, he needed to talk to someone higher up than a church leader, and that’s how he came to contact me. I asked him how many people he wanted to mobilize, and he said it would be about five thousand people.
I then asked him how many months he wished to educate them, and he said six months. That is a very long time. That’s why I made him promise three times that he would make this happen. After making him promise that he would bring those people to attend the workshop, we began to build the training center quickly.
I originally intended to hold the dedication ceremony for the training center on April 17 because that would have been Easter.
While I was praying over the preparations, however, I understood that we must have the ceremony on April 16. So we hastily prepared for that day. Thanks to God’s intervention in this way, it was possible for our church and the nation to meet both in an internal and external sense.
Joining the Association of Religions in Korea
Before I love my children, I should bring the religions to submission through love. Otherwise, I have no right to love my children. I need to stand in the position of having loved my enemies more than my children.
As you know, our church joined the Korea Religious Association on April 15. Of course, we have put significant effort into making an association of religions, but the Association of Religions in Korea includes seven major faiths.
At first, three religious denominations were at odds with our church becoming a member. Yet, we continued along our path, telling them to oppose us if they wanted to. In the end, the religious denominations that had opposed us came around.
Thus, we came to form a connection with the seven great religions, and our church has now joined the association as the eighth.
Christian leaders attend Divine Principle lectures
We sent out invitations in the name of the Unification Church president to more than two hundred well-known pastors of other churches in Seoul, inviting them to come to attend the Divine Principle Open Lectures scheduled to take place at Academy House, November 26–28.
Those pastors would faint at the mere mention of the Unification Church, and when they hear that they have been invited in the name of President Kim of the Unification Church, they will likely faint and fall.
People like Elder Park are in the position of our enemies, but when he was imprisoned in Seodaemun Prison, I tried hard to free him. Those people do not know about this. This, however, is how we need to act, for otherwise we cannot be in the position of Abel.
A six-month special condition
In 1970, we must especially invest our sincere hearts for six months from May 1 through October. We should know that this is a significant time and offer prayers with special devotion.
When you return to your local churches, you should pay more attention to the members of other churches and work for them harder than even their pastors do.
You should mobilize all our members to support the other churches, and when they hold revival services, you should go there and help them witness.
Forty-day summer witnessing
For your families to fulfill their responsibilities as Abel families, you must restore the Cain families. You must become tribal messiahs. Today is July 19. Tomorrow you must leave in four directions.
Those of you who have babies must go, carrying them on your shoulders. This time, in particular, you must go out with a serious mind. In the past, you may have gone out as a matter of habit. This time, however, the situation is different.
You are responsible for overcoming the nation’s crisis. Therefore, you must fight with all your sincerity during this period, regarding it a great honor for the members of the Unification community to be able to offer everything for the sake of the nation.
The death of Hyo-won Eu, the first president of the church, on June 21, 1970
I knew that President Eu’s body, being crippled, had been a painful burden during his life. He died not because of the operation he had undergone, but because of another illness discovered during the operation. He had not known that he had cancer. Furthermore, he was suffering from a serious deterioration of his lungs.
Considering all these facts, I feel that President Eu was overcoming all his physical difficulties with his spirit, even though he must have been suffering a lot physically. Although I asked you to pray for him, I was already offering a final prayer for him.
In God’s providence the second-born were always in trouble. Many times the second person, the second family or the second nation who took responsibility was put into difficulty. From the standpoint of God’s will President Eu’s family is the second family. Since he was in that position, I made him responsible for everything.
I am more clearly aware than anyone else of President Eu’s internal and external pain and suffering and his struggle to devote all his sincere efforts despite his crippled body.
I keenly feel to my bones how much he helped me at many difficult times, such as during my Seodaemun imprisonment. I cannot say how many incidents of this type we had.
When he was dying, I said to him, “Ever since you met me, you have been living your life like this. How are you going to conclude it?” President Eu said that he would never change his mind, and then he passed away. You also must be like that.
World Anti-Communist League Convention at the Nippon Budokan Hall, Tokyo on September 14, 1970
In Japan, the communists are having students from Chosun University, which is affiliated with Jochongryeon, go to the classrooms to incite people to bring down the Federation for Victory Over Communism.
When you hear about such things, you can understand that these are truly serious issues.
I have been raising the issue of a triple alliance about the situation in Asia. Japan, as the central axis, should unite with Korea. Centering on Japan, we should restore Taiwan. That is why when Rev. Kuboki of Japan went to the United States, she came back through Taiwan; he got into contact with the Taiwanese government.
On the day that Korea, Jap, an and Taiwan unite, the Adam, Eve, and Archangel nations shall be restored. As a result, Asia will fall under this sphere of operational authority. Next is the world. We should advance to the world after laying a successful foundation based on the Asian cultural sphere.
Wasn’t Japan an enemy of our nation? However, we are now working to save Japan. In saving her, we are saying that both nations should live together.
An international anti-communist convention is being held right now in Japan. The convention will open at 1:30 pm today. A senator from the United States will come and give some congratulatory remarks at this convention.
Members of the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan, even people who once served as prime minister, got involved in my operation and are dancing with joy. They are the first to be excited.
There is no way that Korea can survive if Japan becomes pro-communist. That is why I have been planning this for ten years and have carried out this bloody and tearful struggle.
VOC seminar for parliamentarians (December 1970)
When I last visited Japan, I instructed the Japanese leaders to hold a seminar, inviting parliamentarians from Korea, Free China, and Japan. Recently, they held it, and it was a great success.
President Kuboki from Japan is here. Stand up, President Kuboki! [Applause] We are doing what even governments cannot do. The Japanese government cannot stand without our International Federation for VOC (IFVOC); neither can the Korean government nor the government of Free China.
Blessed wives and their families become sacrificial offerings
From early December, notifications were sent out for the mobilization of the 777 blessed couples. Moreover, the time has come to mobilize all the families centered on the 777 couples.
What is the reason for the mobilization of blessed women in 1970? Jesus, in his three-year course, failed to fulfill his mission because of a woman, and as a result, the people and the nation were lost.
Consequently, you women need to relieve Jesus’ bitter sorrow over his three-year public course by following a three-year course yourselves. By preparing the foundation on which the people and nation that have been lost, and the world, can be restored.
This period is similar to that of my three-year imprisonment in North Korea. Christianity and the Christian women, who should have been blessed by Heaven, failed to follow me; thus, I was forced to take a suffering path. This time is important because, during this period, the suffering needs to be resolved.
If you told a mother who is delivering a baby, “If it’s too difficult, just hold it in,” what would happen? Both the mother and the baby would die. Even though she is in pain, you need to glare and shout at her, “Push harder! You need to push harder!”
In childbirth, the person who glares fiercely at the mother and shouts at her mercilessly to push harder is the person who loves her the most. We are instantly now when I need to be as merciless as I can toward you.
The married women of the Unification Church are leaving their families to go out to witness because living for your nation is more for the public good than living for just your family. This great, historic incident ought to be recorded in Korean history.
Women in teams of ten will be sent out to 120 mission places to witness. They need to be dispatched to our district headquarters, regional headquarters, and even county headquarters.
By 1972, we need to secure at least 120,000 internal elite church members. Fortunately, they are not going to their mission places alone. Originally, you were meant to go by yourselves, but the world is just too dangerous and so you will go out together with your fellow members.
If you try to do things in a self-centered way and end up fighting one another, or if a problem arises, it will become a massive problem. [To the older members:] Moreover, if you team leaders from the thirty-six couples, seventy-two couples, or 124 couples get into a fight, it will be an even bigger problem.
The team leader will have to take full responsibility for that. In addition, the 777 couples that were blessed a while ago have recently attended a twenty-one-day workshop, so they are spiritually uplifted. Thus, if you continue to practice a lifestyle of doing whatever you please in front of them, they will reject you.
The first person who needs to work hard is the team leader, and her first task will be to find a way to unite the ten members of her team. Thus, you should indemnify the disunity of Jesus’ twelve disciples.
The women need to do what the men failed to do, working in their place. Therefore, you need to unite completely, centering on the providence.
I have spoken strongly to the Unification Church blessed families across the nation: “Our country has reached a point when its destiny is bleak. A state of emergency is imminent.
If the Korean people are to survive, we cannot just go on as usual. You must follow the path of defending the nation even at the sacrifice of your family.” Upon my emphasizing this, they went out for three years.
It was a critical moment because North Korea’s Kim Il-sung was preparing to invade the South. We needed to lay a foundation based on that environment. In other words, to become the citizens of heaven, the Korean people need to love their country as much as the members of the Unification Church do.
Sun Myung Moon