Authors
Fall of the Soviet Union
True Father had long predicted that the communist world would fall. While in Danbury Prison, he asked Professor Morton Kaplan to make “The Fall of the Soviet Empire” the theme of the upcoming Second International Congress of the Professors World Peace Academy held in Geneva, Switzerland in August 1985.
Also, while in prison, True Father developed The Washington Times and promoted other activities for the sake of world peace; most notably, he encouraged Nicaraguans who were working to prevent communists from overrunning Central America.
1. On at least three occasions while in Danbury Prison, I spoke with Professor Kaplan, who was responsible for the upcoming International Congress of the Professors World Peace Academy, and persuaded him to give it the title, “The Fall of the Soviet Empire.”
At first, he urged me to use a different title, saying, “Please let's not say ‘the Fall.' Instead, what about saying ‘maybe' it will end?” I asked him, “What will you do if communism does end in the next five years?” Within five years it happened.
I am the only one who knew when the communist world would collapse. Neither the academic world nor the religious world, nor the media knew.
The entire world opposed me, but I am the one who foresaw when it would happen. It was also in Danbury that I proclaimed the opening of the gate to heaven. (414-016, 2003/07/26)
2. America opposed me, but I love America. I cannot fulfill the history of restoration unless I am more patriotic than the American people. There will be no path open to restore America unless I make the condition of loving America more than its citizens and patriots who lived for the sake of their nation.
For this reason, when I established The Washington Times, I authorized the first payment while I was actually in the courtroom facing the trial that would send me to Danbury Prison. I founded The Washington Times to save America, even while America was in a rage against me and trying to bring me down.
(175-023, 1988/04/06)
3. The weapon that I possess is love. That is why, even though I was incarcerated in Danbury Prison, I called the leaders of The Washington Times to begin publishing Insight and The World & I magazines.
I established six other organizations as well. My purpose in all of this was to revive America. It is because of the foundation that I made while in prison that we could establish today's worldwide foundation. (184-315, 1989/01/01)
4. President Reagan submitted to Congress a bill authorizing $14 million to aid the Nicaraguan Contras.
However, Congress rejected it. Why do you think that, out of the 240 million people who are living in America, God would wake me up in the middle of the night in my cell in Danbury and give me an urgent command regarding this matter?
He ordered me to do it right away, so I called True Mother at once. I told her that The Washington Times had to solve this problem of support for freedom. I said they had to be determined to succeed, and even stake the future of the newspaper on it.
At that time, President Reagan was in Germany and not on US soil. I called those in charge of The Washington Times to create a fund-raising campaign with the American people to generate $14 million for the Contras.
I told them that the newspaper should encourage people to step forward and take responsibility for it. This kind of thing was inconceivable in the world of media, but I told them they had to do it.
I told them that if they were not willing to do it, within a month I would find the money to fund the Contras myself. I said, “Write an editorial and publish it.”
A great leader makes things happen while not taking the credit. I asked the newspaper leadership to contact the editor-in-chief of The Washington Times directly and ask him to initiate a fund-raising campaign to mobilize all the American citizens who wanted to support the Nicaraguan Contras.
Thanks to God's help, within seven weeks American public opinion completely reversed, and a majority supported the Contras. Congress again took up the matter and this time it passed a bill authorizing $27 million in aid. (138-036, 1986/01/13)
5. God blessed America to build the kingdom of heaven, with North and South America as His base. Nicaragua was in a critical situation; if it fell to communism, God would face a situation in which He might lose all of South America.
Have you ever thought about God's miserable heart when He came to me while I was in prison and told me I must save the Americas, even though there are many capable people such as the US president, Christian leaders, and the like?
You may doubt my direction, but if had I doubted God's direction and thought, “I'm not sure if this is God's command; let's just wait and see,” what do you think would have happened? God directly gave me an order, and it had to be carried out.
We could not be even one or two days late. It was Saturday night and the next day was Sunday, when the entire US government was not working. God knew this situation.
If we had waited until Monday night, rumors probably would have spread that The Washington Times was conspiring with the White House. (146-285, 1986/07/20)
6. Even when I was in prison, God continued to give me directions. He ordered me to carry out all kinds of tasks to resolve the Nicaraguan issue. As a result, American public opinion supporting the Nicaraguan Contras grew, and the aid bill that Congress had put aside was passed.
The US government needed to provide $27 million of support to the Nicaraguan Contras; otherwise, Nicaragua might well have fallen under the control of the Soviet Union.
If that had happened, then five other nations, including Mexico, Guatemala, and Honduras, would also have been attacked by communist forces and a major war could have broken out.
The aid bill had to be passed. Since Congress knew I was prepared to raise the support myself, which would have been a great embarrassment for America, Congress had to pass the bill. (146-149, 1986/06/08)
7. While in Danbury Prison, I established six organizations in nine days. This work, which I did in a very short time, was to promote religious freedom and to save America, although America had taken the position of my enemy.
Nevertheless, these organizations, which I established to play a pivotal role in this nation, became an issue for Americans. Americans were not supposed to oppose these organizations; they were supposed to support them. So I had to make a condition for Americans to welcome them.
America is the leading nation of the free world, yet Satan was blocking America from returning to its founding spirit. Therefore, I had to make a condition in front of God to love America more than the Americans love their nation.
I received God's affirmation that I had done so. With God as my judge, I fought to set the condition of having the highest standard of love, and I succeeded.
(175-024, 1988/04/06)
Uniting Christianity
On May 30, 1984, at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Washington, DC, members of the clergy from 40 denominations participated in a rally to protest the US government's prosecution and imprisonment of True Father as religious persecution.
It was followed by a conference at the Sheraton Hotel in New York on June 11.
True Father then worked with the religious leaders who gathered to support religious freedom and religious tolerance to develop further activities for the revival of American Christianity.
Moreover, while True Father was incarcerated in Danbury Prison, he prepared educational materials and sent them together with his letter dated February 28, 1985, to more than 300,000 American clergy.
In his letter, he urged them to stand for religious freedom and religious tolerance. Each minister received a copy of Divine Principle, a Divine Principle lecture video, and a copy of God's Warning to the World. Father also set up seminars for 7,000 Christian leaders, inviting them to Korea and Japan to study the Unification Principle.
8. We must gain victory over the American government before we can enter the promised land, the land of Canaan. It is that simple. I understood this before I went to trial. So even now my focus is on making all the necessary preparations to lay the foundation by which I can influence the government to go in the right direction.
I am determined that I will not be defeated like Moses was in the Old Testament Age; I will not be like Moses who died and could not enter the promised land.
Now the time has come when I can restore all that was lost with Jesus' death on the cross. Christianity today is in the same position as Judaism at the time of the Roman Empire. I am in the same position as Jesus of that time. When Jesus carried the cross, Judaism and Rome were estranged.
However, when I was walking the path of the cross, the Unification members did not run away from me; my 12 disciples did not run away from me. Even Christianity did not oppose me.
On the contrary, 40 Christian religious bodies united and welcomed me, pledging to support me in my fight. Therefore, if the American government says even one word in support, everything will be done. (132-025, 1984/05/19)
9. Jesus was not welcomed, either by Judaism or by the nation of Judea. They persecuted him and worked to destroy him. His situation was as a third party, an outsider, fighting to restore the standard whereby Judaism and the nation of Judea would cooperate with him. Under those circumstances, he ended up dying on the cross.
Likewise, I was not welcomed, either by Korea on the national level or by Christianity on the worldwide level, and I too was driven to the position of a third party, an outsider.
It was to overcome this situation that I came to America, but I have been opposed to America as well. Now I am faced with the prospect of being hung on the Danbury cross. I must reverse this entire situation of opposition.
It is an unsettling truth that because John the Baptist failed to attend Jesus, not only did the nation of Judea and Judaism oppose Jesus, but Rome joined them in opposing him.
The opposition of Christianity and America came about because the Unification Church was unable to establish a strong enough foundation in Korea to overcome the persecution there. To make matters worse, we are receiving opposition from communism, which has a worldwide foundation.
This puts us in a position exactly like that at the time of Jesus. The opposition of Rome was the same as the opposition of America, which represents the free world.
Because of this, even if it takes going to prison in America, I will have to mobilize Christian churches and establish a coalition movement. If we cannot do this, it will be a serious problem for us. (146-121, 1986/06/08)
10. The purpose of my coming to America is to save Christianity. God's Will is to unify world Christianity. So, whatever it takes, we must influence the Christian ministers and guide America and the world in the direction that God desires and connect them to God's Will.
After the people of Israel finished their 40 years in the wilderness, the time came for them to migrate to a new land and settle there together. Where can the Unification Church go to settle?
God's desire is for the Unification Church to settle in America and create a new America. I came to America because I knew that God wanted to build a new, ideal nation in America.
To create a new America, we will have to be victorious over communism, prevent the breakdown of families, stop the moral degradation of young people, and revive Christianity. There is no way apart from this to revive America.
(134-090, 1985/02/25)
11. Christianity is losing ground in America and can do very little to combat the ideologies of humanism, materialism, and communism. These forces are influencing this country. Lately, I have come to realize even more that the US government is Christianity's enemy and opposes Christianity.
Congress is antagonistic toward Christianity and often overturns legal provisions favorable to religious groups. It is pulling the country to a place distant from God.
The government prosecution of me that put me in Danbury Prison served as a good opportunity to create a coalition of Christian faith groups, of clergy working together for religious freedom and raising awareness about these problems.
I had been making preparations to build a movement of Christian clergy and Unificationists working hand in hand even before I went to prison. I continued working for this after I was incarcerated.
For America to deal more effectively with the communist threat, I linked CAUSA (Confederation of Associations for the Unification of the Societies of the Americas) to this new movement to revive the churches, centering on the work of the Divine Spirit. This is the movement that I am aiming to establish, and that we, the Unification Church, are striving to build. (146-122, 1986/06/08)
12. America has been existing for her own sake, but this is wrong. America should exist for the sake of the world; it should guide the way to save the world and serve the world. Yet, it wants to place the world under itself, and in seeking its benefit it even abandoned God.
America lost the vision of building a world of peace for all people throughout the world. It is because of this selfish motivation to misuse the victorious foundation it inherited at the end of World War II that God's work has declined in America.
America was supposed to create the base upon which God could act on a global scale, but it did not do that. This is the reason America is gradually declining.
As a result, Cain is invading. The Cain side is moving in by promoting habits and lifestyles in the secular world that are rooted in Cain-like values and traditions. America has its traditional values, and lifestyles based on those traditional values, but they are being overwhelmed.
Cain's foundation of secular, worldly values is seeking to put itself above Christianity and Christian values. This is the reason the US government is attacking Christianity and eroding the right to religious freedom.
This onslaught of secularity is also the cause of many other problems that are becoming increasingly serious, such as prohibiting school prayer and withdrawing aid for religious schools.
These issues all reached their peak around the time I was incarcerated in Danbury. Although they had been pressing for some time, it was my imprisonment that awakened people to these issues. (148-145, 1986/10/08)
13. In Jesus' day, he lost everything. He lost his disciples, he lost Judaism, he lost his nation, the world, and heaven and earth. However, now with the victory that I gained upon my release from Danbury Prison, we will enter the time of heavenly fortune when we can recover all that was lost. From now on, we should be able to build up our substantial authority such that we can lead and guide the world.
You learned about the indemnity course of eight stages, but who did it, and when was it done? You were unable to make the necessary indemnity conditions to restore the position of the elder son, so I did that mission.
Representing the Abel position, I restored the position of the elder son. You have borne witness to it. Now that I have restored the elder son, centering on me, the Unification Church is ascending from the position of the younger son to the position of the elder son.
This means that the one who was the elder son in the past must go down to the position of the younger son, thus reversing their positions.
In other words, Christianity, which represents the elder son, needs to support and follow the Unification Church by taking the position of the younger son. It cannot abide by heaven's principles unless it does so.
True Parents can revive the world only after accomplishing through indemnity the reversal of the positions of the elder and younger sons. This is based on the Principle of Restoration. Only with this condition can they emerge as the Parents with the authority to lead the world.
This is now done. I fought Satan and regained the birthright of the elder son; as a result, the elder and younger sons have been restored to their proper positions.
I went to Danbury Prison on July 20, 1984. When I entered prison, a prominent black Christian leader, Dr. Joseph Lowery, and a prominent white Christian leader, Rev. Timothy LaHaye, came together to
support me. In Jesus' time, the two thieves quarreled while he was on the cross. However, in my time, the two became one. This has built the best bridge to enable the white world and the black world to advance in harmony. (135-183, 1985/11/13)
14. Many Christian believers are awakening to this conviction: Since Christianity is on the side of God, we Christians should not permit ourselves to be led around by the government or influenced by secular humanists, communists, or materialists. We need to bring America back to its founding principles, which are based on Christianity.
This kind of awakening is taking place in America right now, and it is happening because I went to Danbury. I educated 7,000 Christian clergy by sending them to Korea. After coming to Korea, they realized that America does not have the best God-centered Christian movement.
They had thought America was unsurpassed; however, they had to change their view when they witnessed how Christianity in Korea was growing, at least externally. (148-146, 1986/10/08)
15. While I was imprisoned in Danbury, 7,000 Christian clergy participated in a Christian coalition to support me. They are similar to the 7,000 men in the Old Testament Age who supported Elijah.
During Jesus' time, if 7,000 people had become one with Jesus, they could have moved the nation of Israel. I am now re-enacting this on the stage of the free world.
In Jesus' time, it was on the national level, but now it is on the world level. That is why I am now carrying out a campaign to reach 70,000 clergy worldwide. (135-179, 1985/11/13)
16. If the 7,000 followers of John the Baptist had united with Jesus, Jesus would not have been killed.
That is why, with approximately 7,000 American clergy as the core, we taught the contents of the Unification Principle to 320,000 members of the clergy. We prepared and distributed the book, God's Warning to the World. All the Principal's secrets are included in that book.
I fulfilled my responsibility. Representing the realm of Abel, I, the younger son, brought victory over the realm of the elder son, Cain.
Since my coming out of prison, theologians have concluded that “only Reverend Moon can give a new direction to Christianity.”
After I presented them with my blueprint for the future of Christianity and America, they also came to realize that without the teachings of Reverend Moon, the US government and its people would not be able to put the nation in order. (207-279, 1990/11/11)
17. I have been making indemnity conditions on the world level that are parallel to the course of indemnity that Jesus walked on the national level.
Thus, I had to make an indemnity condition of carrying the cross just as Jesus had carried it, but on the world level. This was why I was put into Danbury Prison.
Likewise, just as God told Elijah that he would find 7,000 men in Israel, I have to fulfill a similar task.
For a time, Christianity and the US government opposed me; they plotted to get rid of me, hoping that it would be the last of me. They could not put me to death, although if the system had allowed it they would have found a way to do so.
While in prison, I gave the direction to educate 7,000 Christian clergymen. We did further outreach by sending out a package with several books: Divine Principle, Unification Thought, Critique, and Counterproposal to Communism, and lastly God's Warning to the World, which I compiled in prison.
That book conveyed the essential content of my sermons.
As a result of my imprisonment, Christians in America began to realize that the government was suppressing religion. Therefore, a movement arose, beginning with clergy from over 40 religious bodies uniting in solidarity with me.
They organized the Common Suffering Fellowship, holding demonstrations in which they symbolically put themselves in jail for one week, proclaiming that they were incarcerated together with me. This movement became well-known throughout America. (164-132, 1987/05/10)
18. We started to teach 7,000 Christian leaders while I was in Danbury Prison.
Furthermore, we actively developed the CAUSA movement; it reached 70,000 Christian clergy. We did that for four years. This was my plan to lay the foundation to restore Christianity.
We are in the position of Abel, and Christianity is in the position of Cain. By uniting the Christian leaders in America and the Unification Church into one, Cain and Abel can unite as one.
By Christianity and the Unification Church becoming one, they assume the Abel position and the US government assumes the Cain position. We will then unite them with God's teaching, which is True Parents' teaching. This is God's purpose.
Once we lay this foundation, America will be on the side of God as was originally intended. America's ultimate purpose is to build God's ideal world, the original kingdom of heaven on earth.
This is its final goal. It must become America's goal and the goal of Christianity, as well as the goal of the Unification Church. If we can develop this foundation, it will be no problem to educate all humankind all over the world.
(146-293, 1986/07/20)
Sun Myung Moon