The preparations for the beginning of True Father’s public mission in 1945 included the battle to win the hearts of specially prepared Christian leaders, many of whom already had a strong sense of the direction of God’s providence. Here, True Father explains the spiritual and providential reality in the background.
The Messiah can begin his ministry only on a national and world-level foundation.
Since these foundations have not been established, they truly must be built in the Last Days. Otherwise, the sphere of global victory cannot be established. Therefore, people like the people of Israel [in Jesus’ time] must appear.
What nation must appear to accomplish what the nation of Israel and Judaism could not? A renewed Christianity centered on a specific nation must go through a course of tribulation. In the end, this chosen nation must emerge.
Through this chosen nation, Heaven must indemnify the failure of the first Israel and accomplish the providence on earth. Which nation is this? The Divine Principle asserts that this nation is none other than Korea.
Forty years of the suffering of the Korean people
Until the end of World War II, Japan ruled Korea. Among Korean patriots, many fought against Japanese colonial rule. As you learned through the Divine Principle, God was deprived of the four-position foundation.
Therefore, God’s purpose has been to recreate the four-position foundation. Thus, we often come across the number four in the Bible and God’s providence. There were many indemnity periods of 40 or 400 years. Restoration through indemnity is carried out according to the Principle.
How did Japan dominate Korea for forty years?
Eve, on the satanic side, knew that in the future Adam, on the heavenly side, would appear. Satan already knew of the coming of the true Lord; he knew the coming of the Lord as the culmination of four thousand years of history.
Therefore, Japan occupied Korea to destroy that possibility. That is why Japan invaded Asia. From this standpoint, we can understand that Korea is a providential nation centered on God’s will.
We know that it is a principle of development that before the appearance of what is true, what is false appears. That is why the devil invaded Asia and ruled it for forty years.
Thus, the satanic forces brought Korean women aged from twelve to forty, who greatly cherished their purity, into sexual slavery to stain the national character of the Korean people.
Persecution of Christians and patriotic activities
The satanic side dominated the Israelites and Christians both spiritually and physically. Similarly, Japan physically ruled Korea for forty years. Spiritually, however, because of the spirit of those people who took part in the Independence Movement for the sake of their nation, God was able to connect His providence to the Korean people.
Those who considered Christianity important became leaders and united the people in their fight. They risked their lives for their nation during the forty years under Japanese control. This was significant, both historically and providentially.
As the end of World War II drew near, persecution became increasingly severe, particularly against Christians. While many Christians were killed, some went into hiding, escaping into the Manchurian wilderness or fleeing to Russia.
Many Koreans believed in God and desperately hoped for emancipation from Japanese dominance. Nevertheless, many other Christians obeyed the Japanese government of Korea and lived under Japanese rule.
Meanwhile, numerous patriots and devoted Christians continued fighting and kept faith until the day of liberation. In the final months of 1944, Christians underwent extreme cruelty at the hands of the Japanese occupiers. On August 15, 1945, Japan surrendered.
If they had surrendered later than August 17, two days later, many thousands of Christians would have been killed. The Japanese military had a plan to kill Christians on that day. It would have been a huge massacre.
They intended to eradicate Korean Christians. This illustrates that when the degree of atrocity Satan is about to commit reaches its zenith, God can always change the situation in His favor.
Spiritual fire and internal Christian revival
No matter how cruelly subjugated the Korean people were, some spiritual manifestation of the subjective, Adamic authority had to appear. What kind of work was to be done? Spiritual works.
Groups emerged in which this spiritual activity could take place. Japan, the Eve-type nation on the satanic side, was oppressing Korea. Nevertheless, since God had a plan for His future providence, He had to make necessary preparations even while Imperial Japan ruled Korea. For this reason, Christianity made progress even in those days.
First, Western missionaries came in the 1910s and the 1920s, but they were unwelcome. They had to go back. From 1930 to 1936 was a golden age of Christianity in Korea. Through Korea’s traditional Christian churches, God has been conducting spiritual manifestations to this day. During the 1930s and 1940s, He built a foundation even before Korea’s liberation.
The Apostles, who at first did not follow Jesus because they lacked faith, later worked very hard to establish the Christian foundation. On that foundation began the history leading to the Second Advent of the Lord. Before Korea’s liberation, many people were able to communicate with the spirit world and referred to themselves as biblical figures such as Peter, John, Paul, or Abraham.
The spirits who represented all those prophets, who had come and gone throughout history, manifested themselves on earth all at once through these spiritual groups in Korea. As a result, many groups formed that were focused on the restoration of Eden.
Among the groups intent on restoring Eden, one represented the Old Testament Age, one the New Testament Age, and one the Completed Testament Age. Within that preparation, there was a heavenly program to cleanse sins, so participants overcame tremendous obstacles.
Correlative activities of men and women
We know there is a heavenly providence focused on the Korean Peninsula. A movement with an internal mission has to start from there. Men have to take responsibility for external activities, and women have to take responsibility for internal developments. In the course of the Fall, Eve dominated Adam.
Therefore, in the course of restoration, wives, rather than husbands, are responsible for achieving internal objectives. Similarly, because Adam was dominated by Eve, men are responsible for achieving external objectives in the course of restoration. In this way, they have to seek to attain the standard before the Fall.
But to establish a foundation of victories that can absorb all general activity, there must be some decisive authority. That is the returning Lord, endowed with the character of the Third Adam, who alone can provide a solution.
The eastern and the west halves of the Korean Peninsula have distinguishing characteristics. The east is mountainous; the west is dominated by plains. The east side of the country is masculine, whereas the west displays a feminine aspect.
God’s providence, too, has characteristics similar to the geographical features of the Korean Peninsula. In other words, God’s providence for the eastern half had masculine characteristics, while in the west, it had female characteristics. In the west, in Cholsan, women were doing spiritual activities, while in Wonsan, which is in the east, men were doing practical activities.
In three stages, women had to prepare for the heavenly providence. Why? Because Eve fell first, God had to call women first so they would know how the Lord would come.
Three generations had to prepare those providential activities. In those days, there was great confusion. As you know, going from Mrs. Kim Seong-do to Mrs. Heo Ho-bin and on from there covered three generations.
Thus, the course passing through Mrs. Kim Seong-do, Mrs. Heo Ho-bin, and Pak No-pa, the lady who claimed to be the wife of Jehovah, followed the women’s work. Pastors Paek Nam-ju, Lee Yong-do, and Kim Paek-moon led the work being done by the men.
The established churches and the new spirit-led groups
What developed through Judaism is entirely different from what happened in Joseph’s family. Likewise, in Korea, what was taking place in the mainline Christian churches and the phenomena manifesting in spiritual groups differed.
God made it so that the spiritual groups that could fulfill His will would have a mission similar to that of Joseph’s family. Briefly stated, the spiritual groups were meant to lead the established Christian churches.
The Christian churches and the spiritual groups represented Cain and Abel, respectively. The satanic side had a claim to all the historical misery. So, these groups and the churches had to unite.
Though the history of the groups that appeared in this era through the numerous historical courses did not last longer than ten or more years, behind that history lay the content from the six-thousand-year span of the providence.
If they had been able to connect completely to the newly coming Lord, therefore, and unite with the larger society and environment, thereby becoming the one shield and axis that could act as the foundation on which they could perfectly protect him, it would not have been difficult to begin a new history.
If this had been realized, it would not have mattered whether Christianity believed it or not.
If representative Christian groups had united among themselves, Korea could have asserted Adamic authority, protected its citizens, and prevented Satan from inciting Imperial Japan to acts of armed aggression and religious persecution. Here in this picture, Koreans worshiping at one of 1,141 Shinto shrines built in Korea
The preparations for the beginning of True Father’s public mission in 1945 included the battle to win the hearts of specially prepared Christian leaders, many of whom already had a strong sense of the direction of God’s providence.
Kim Seong-do (1883–1944)
You have all heard of Grandmother Kim Seong-do from Cholsan. She was Chung Seok-on’s mother. This Grandmother Kim had the mission of the Korean Eve. She was an exemplary woman who opened the gate to the providence of Korea’s restoration.
She could not have lived an ordinary life, just marrying and having a family. She had to go through a unique course. There is a division into the heavenly side and the satanic side. Restoration is impossible except in connection with that lineage.
From the viewpoint of the Principle of Creation, husband and wife were created to become one body. The place to realize this purpose of the Creation is where the bride and groom come together.
The Lord, as a man, represents heaven, and his wife represents earth. The husband and wife, as one body, are at the highest level. Hence, many call themselves lords even though they are women.
A revelation from God
Mrs. Kim’s husband did not want his wife to become a Christian. Moreover, she always got up at one o’clock at night and prayed until morning. Nobody could understand her behavior.
Even when her husband opposed her, she continued her practices. She was prepared to give up her life for her faith. So, in the spirit world, she was specially recognized as a very devoted Korean Christian. She had direct conversations with God. She received many revelations.
She received so many teachings from Heaven. She heard the exact date of Korea’s liberation. She also heard that the Lord would come to Korea as a man in the flesh, at his Second Advent.
She thoroughly understood that the coming of the Lord was a great privilege for Korea. She also understood that God would restore the world through Korea.
Heaven had prepared this foundation around Cholsan; through the spirit world, Heaven taught her many things, such as how Eden could be restored and why Eve had fallen.
Among the newly emerging religious groups, Grandmother Kim Seong-do’s group focused on maintaining gratitude. We have to be aware that this group had to become a representative, absolute group, achieving a lifestyle and tradition of total gratitude.
Thus, we should be thankful in various ways. If you become a person who gives his or her whole life for the sake of God, He will resurrect you in the kingdom of heaven and will be proud of you.
Those people embodied thankfulness. They were grateful for everything. This is the right way to think. Satan cannot invade those who are grateful. Even if Satan invaded such a person, he or she would escape. When you are in trouble, you should always think, “It is so that I can pay indemnity for the whole that God is giving me this trial.”
Mr. Chung Hang-jun persecutes his wife
Kim Seong-do’s husband strongly opposed his wife’s work. Why? It is by the law of indemnity. When, under Satan’s dominion, a woman tries to work for God, it is natural that she be opposed and persecuted.
Her husband persecuted her to the extent of threatened her with a knife to her neck. For her to move the providence of restoration forward, this harassment was inevitable.
It was a miserable destiny. It was almost impossible for an ordinary woman to endure, but she had to be strong and remain faithful. She was in the position of a new daughter, chosen by God. So she had to represent women throughout history.
She had to separate herself from her husband and keep her purity. Only by doing so could God love and accept her. This difficult course lasted for more than twenty years.
What was the responsibility of Grandmother Kim Seong-do, who had to receive such persecution? She had to absorb all the ill-treatment. The man was meant to surrender to his wife.
In line with the Principle of Restoration, since Eve dominated Adam in the Garden of Eden, Kim Seong-do’s husband had to obey his wife. He had to follow her blindly and do everything she wanted.
In that way, God could bless them by the law of restoration through indemnity.
However, her husband persecuted her too much in front of Heaven. As a result, his death was not natural. He took some medicine and died. Have you heard that? [Yes.] This is the reality.
Kim Seong-do’s sons
Grandmother Kim had two sons. She had to have at least two sons because, through her family, the Cain–Abel indemnity left unpaid in Adam’s family had to be paid.
If these two sons had united and had supported their mother, this family could have established the foundation to prepare for the Lord to come. But the elder brother Chung Seok-cheon, Chung Su-won’s father, could not fulfill his responsibility. What then happened to this family? The father and the mother had to pay indemnity again.
Grandmother Kim’s daughter-in-law was the daughter of a certain minister, a very devoted Christian. She, too, had many spiritual experiences, so she understood the revelations her mother-in-law had received from Heaven. The oldest son somehow believed in his mother, but he did not participate in her ministry eagerly.
This old lady told her son and daughter-in-law not to have sexual relations; the son did not obey his mother, however, and they lived as a husband his wife—and as a result, his wife was taken to the spirit world.
In those days, this old woman did not explicitly understand the principle of indemnity, but because her husband had persecuted her so severely, she thought she had to atone for her husband’s behavior.
Pastor Paek Nam-ju (?–1948)
Mr. Paek Nam-ju from Wonsan had done research on Swedenborg’s spiritual endeavors and translated his books. He received revelations from God that the Messiah would come to Korea.
He decided to prepare for the coming Lord. To pay indemnity for Jesus’ suffering, he walked barefoot to Cholsan to meet Kim Seong-do and apply to register Grandmother Kim’s group under the name Holy Lord Church. He was the first person in Korea to have a John-the-Baptist mission.
Furthermore, in those days there was a woman who was in correspondence with this man. Her name was Yoo Myung-hwa. Jesus Christ appeared to her, and Jesus spoke to Mr. Paek through her. Yoo Myung-hwa told him, “The Lord is with me; the Lord is speaking through me.”
Mr. Paek fell to his knees, saying, “Please tell me what you want to say!”
From that point, troubles began. All that had happened to them was reported to Christian ministers, who, on hearing it, began to persecute both Yoo Myung-hwa and Paek Nam-ju. Thus, the Spirit-led groups and established churches started fighting.
Conflict between the groups
In the satanic world, it is not fair that a woman has to fight alone, representing a nation. A woman should fight in concert with men. Men and women should work together and have a unified foundation.
Did Mr. Paek Nam-ju work in that way?
He did. They should have been completely united, but they weren’t. Mr. Paek was also aware, through revelations from the spirit world, that Korea would become a nation with a special, God-ordained providential course, but he did not know how it would come about.
They met in Cholsan and held discussions, but they could not agree with each other. They separated. Then problems started in the first generation of the providence of Korean restoration. As a result, their mission had to move to the next generation.
God’s will was that the foundation for pioneering should be prepared through a representative of women, Grandmother Kim Seong-do, from Cholsan, but the first generation could not fulfill its mission, so the mission passed to the second generation.
The Suffering of the Holy Lord Church
The problem women faced in the family expanded to society through mainline Christian ministers, and later it became a nationwide problem. Chung Su-won’s grandmother, Mrs. Kim Seong-do, was also in that kind of situation.
All the established churches became hostile toward them. This was when the oppression by the Japanese was at its cruelest. A while later, members of the Holy Lord Church received revelations that the Japanese would be defeated.
They had begun making yearly announcements of the substance of their revelations. The revelation regarding Japan’s defeat became widely known.
Needless to say, mainstream Christian ministers also heard it, and because they wanted to destroy these spiritual, upstart groups, they went to the Japanese government officials in Korea to inform them of those facts. As a result, Grandmother Kim was imprisoned. She suffered torture, and although she was eventually freed, she died soon afterward.
The years that Father’s testimony covers were difficult ones for Korea, especially in rural areas. These photos were taken in the 1930s.
The preparations for the beginning of True Father’s public mission in 1945 included the need for prepared Christian leaders to step forward. Father explains how many of these already had a strong sense of the direction of God’s providence and how God trained and prepared them directly.
Pastor Lee Yong-do (1901–1933)
The movement in the west transferred to Mrs. Heo Ho-bin, and the movement in the east came under Mr. Lee Yong-do. Paek Nam-ju had been the Adam-figure, but because Paek failed in fulfilling his responsibility, Pastor Lee came onstage.
Pastor Lee’s church was different from Mrs. Heo’s. Originally, they were united. For a while, they cooperated, but then they separated. What did Pastor Lee do? He established the Jesus Church.
Mrs. Heo Ho-bin was the director of the Central Theological Seminary. In 1930, Pastor Lee Yong-do appeared in Korea with fire like that of Elijah.
People who listened to him speak felt overwhelmed by Heaven. God’s grace poured out of him like water. Why did heavenly grace flow from him? Just as the people of Israel had to achieve oneness with Judaism to oppose Rome, Christianity had to carry Korea to drive away Japan and establish Heaven’s authority. That battle remained. God bestowed energetic fire on him so that he might work out a way for all branches of Korean Christianity to become one.
Only if all of Korean Christianity had united would they have completely avoided being compelled to practice Shintoism, Japanese traditional worship.
If everyone had been completely united and fought against the Japanese, the Japanese would not have been able to carry out armed aggression. Why? Because those united people would have been in a position to claim Adam’s authority.
Pastor Lee Yong-do’s Death
The established churches of the day opposed those who had special missions. Representative among those who opposed them was Kim Rin-seo (1894–1964). He opposed Pastor Lee in writing. He stirred the entire nation against him.
Heaven sent Lee Yong-do as a messenger to unite all Christians, yet Kim Rin-seo did such a thing. Of course, many Christian leaders were behind him.
Pastor Lee Yong-do started the Jesus Church in Pyongyang. He died in 1933. [1] Do you know how old he was at that time? He was just thirty-three years old. He lived as long as Jesus did. Without God’s help, it would have been impossible for Pastor Lee, who was so young, to cause such a cyclone in the Christian community in Korea.
There were two kinds of spiritual movements, one internal and the other external. Two churches, the “Inside the Belly” Church and the Jesus Church, both of which had been receiving teachings from Heaven, should have united.
Toward that end, the group from the west traveled to meet the group in the east. Nevertheless, they failed to unite, so God had to establish a new movement. He needed pioneers in a new field, which is why God wanted to have another new person who would follow His directions. This person was from the Kim clan.
The women who mourned Lee Yong-do
Here are some interesting facts. When a spiritual person dies, some people pray for the person. Mr. Lee died alone in Wonsan, but at the very moment of his death, God chose women in faraway places and told them to offer special prayers.
Rival Christians may have said it was a good thing and danced in joy at this death, but many put on white garments and prayed for him for three days.
You have to understand that because He would rather not abandon His nation or His people. Thanks to those women who prayed with all their hearts behind the scenes, God’s providence could continue through successive generations.
I looked at many people in the spiritual churches, which is why I am well aware of their activities. I also know many things about the work of Mrs. Gil Son-ju and Pastor Lee Yong-do.
I clearly understand what kind of mission they had in those days. When the period of their responsibility was over, there had to be someone who could take over the mission.
The “Inside the Belly Church”
The meritorious deeds of the Chung Family were so great that God loved them and gave them His grace to the extent that when the children did not accept His will, the mission could be transferred to someone else.
The woman who took over her mission had loved and served Kim Seong-do, Mr. Chung’s grandmother, with all her heart and soul. She was Mrs. Heo Ho-bin. This did, however, mean that the providence had to decline by one level.
Mrs. Heo testified that she was not supposed to be the Lord’s wife; her mission was to give birth to the Lord. In other words, she said that the Lord would be born through her womb. Hers was the mission of Mary. While Mrs. Kim had Eve’s mission, Mrs. Heo had Mary’s mission.
Originally, Adam and Eve constituted God’s body. God was their direct father. That is why, from God’s standpoint, Mrs. Heo’s husband, Lee Il-dok, was in the position of a traitor. Historically, men have been exploiting women.
To restore the proper relationship, through indemnity, her husband had to do things that no man in his right mind would ever do. He had to do everything He was told; he was even ordered to take off all his clothes and run around naked.
What was this couple taking responsibility for? Their course was similar to that of Joseph and Mary. Grudges and resentment remain to this day because of Joseph and Mary’s failure, because of John the Baptist’s failure, and that of others at that time. Those had to be reversed.
Revelation from Jesus
Since revelations were received through Mrs. Heo Ho-bin’s belly, this group was called the “Inside the Belly Church.” The group did not name itself that; it just became known by that name.
The group wanted to take over Mrs. Kim’s mission, so they prayed, fervently asking for God’s help. In those days, Jesus appeared to Mrs. Heo. Jesus started expressing his teachings to this couple. Jesus asked them to accept his will and endure all difficulties under any circumstance.
Mrs. Heo’s entire life was completely centered on the Lord. Jesus first taught her how to get rid of sins. Second, he taught her about a proper lifestyle. Later, she learned how to educate children. By those instructions, Mrs. Heo made rules and regulations necessary for those who would love and attend the Messiah.
Because she had the mission of Mary, she had to know about the life of Jesus in detail since his birth. Because Jesus had to die at the age of thirty-three without actualizing his will on earth, everything had to be prepared; all the indemnity had to be paid to dissolve his pain.
Inside the Belly Church had to make thorough preparations to attend the Messiah.
It had to dissolve all the bitter pain Jesus accumulated during his lifetime. Next, they had to prepare everything so that the returning Lord could have the best life on earth….
They were taught in detail how to make the Messiah’s clothes. They were asked to make suitable clothes for Jesus to wear from his birth to the age of thirty-three. They had to make many clothes, enough so that Jesus could change his clothes every three days—Korean traditional clothes at times and Western clothes at other times.
Furthermore, while they were making his clothes, they were not permitted to use a sewing machine. They had to tie off the thread after sewing three stitches. To do this work, they had to keep the rooms very tidy. Once they started making one set of clothes, they were not allowed to stand up, even to go to the restroom, until they had finished it.
God told them, “Even though you have made such sacrifices, you will likely not be able to meet the Lord.” If they made a mistake, Heaven harshly reprimanded them. This forced them to follow Heaven’s directions.
Larger clothes had to be made as Jesus grew. After they finished making clothes for Jesus, they were asked to make clothes for the coming Lord. They received revelations that they had to pay closer attention and invest more care and love than they had for Jesus’ clothes. They also prepared his meals three times a day.
Meat was cooked for each meal.
Mrs. Heo heard from Heaven about the Lord’s educational background. Thus, the members of her group were waiting for the day when they might meet the Lord.
They were anxiously waiting every day. Until the day they died, her followers were very determined to wait. They were prepared to offer their lives.
This providence was related to Eve’s mission. Because Mrs. Heo had inherited Mrs. Kim Seong-do’s mission, Mrs. Heo’s daughter was also prepared to meet the Lord. There were even twelve disciples. It is very intriguing to know that these preparations were made.
Do you have any idea how often they had to bow? They usually bowed three thousand times a day. They sometimes bowed seven thousand times. It took five to six hours to bow three thousand times, and at least ten hours to bow seven thousand times.
They had to keep bowing from morning until night without eating. It was indeed harsh training to attend the Lord.
September 9, 1945: Seoul citizens hailing American troops as they march from the main government building. It was here that the U.S. received the Japanese surrender in Korea.
Erected by the Japanese, the building remained standing until 1995, when it was demolished. (In its later years, it had served as the national museum.) The United States military governed Korea until the new republic was born in 1948.
Completing the internal preparations for the public mission
I grew up during the period of colonial rule and oppression. In those days, even if we had many hopes and dreams, we could not express our inner hearts. Even if we had different ideas and wanted to express them, we had to remain silent, observing our surroundings.
It was very difficult to speak about a particular ideology or philosophy, even if it was great. Under those circumstances, I had to struggle, unknown to anyone, to prepare for the course of restoration we have learned about in the Divine Principle.
I prepared the Divine Principle that I teach today while I was in my twenties. Look at the situation now! What I spoke about fifty years ago has been fully realized. This is not something I am saying for the first time. In those days, the nation we now call Korea did not exist. How sad the situation was then!
Korea’s liberation foretold
Mrs. Heo predicted that Japan would surrender 1945 on August 15 (the seventh day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar). She often spoke out in public about what she had heard from Heaven, so she was arrested.
She had already received a revelation about when the announcement of the surrender would be broadcast.
Everything she received from Heaven came true, so people could not help following her. Thus, they knew the day of Korea’s liberation. To them was also revealed that “When Japan collapses, you will be able to meet the Lord.”
At the time of their release from prison, they danced with joy, but as before, they continued to be persecuted by mainline churches.
This God-inspired work began at the formation-level with Mrs. Kim Seong-do. Mrs. Pak No-pa inherited this work from her through Mrs. Heo Ho-bin.
Day of liberation (August 15, 1945)
On that day, Koreans could rise out of their desperate, hopeless situations and become a people who could meet a day of new hope; the hopes of families and individuals were renewed.
If you merge the hope of a nation, the hope of families, and the hope of individuals into one, it makes a foundation for national-level victory. This was the day of hope, in which we could recover the country; it paralleled Jesus’ time, in which the opportunity to gain a country was lost.
The day of Korean liberation in 1945 was the day of hope for recovering the lost race and the lost family.
After liberation, patriots who had spread out all over the world returned to Korea; groups arrived from Japan, China, America, and Russia. As you know, fighting broke out among the communist Kim Il Sung faction, the Kim Ku faction, Dr. Rhee’s faction, and the China faction, and a time of confusion ensued.
At that time, I couldn’t shout “Mansei.” Everyone else was so happy because they had been liberated, but even though I wanted to raise my hands with them, my hands just wouldn’t go up. Everyone else was dancing joyously on August 15, but I was in a tiny room praying in tears.
I was tortured a lot by the Japanese, but when the war ended, I gathered all of my friends who were planning to take revenge on the special police agents who had tortured them and said, “The Japanese have lost the war and are wretched. God will punish those who beat people; they have lost sovereignty over Korea and are begging on bended knee for forgiveness.”
I also quietly called some Japanese who were being pursued in Korea and helped them pack their bags, saying, “Go home quickly, before you are tortured.” Nineteen forty-five was a pleasant year for the Koreans, but it wasn’t for the Japanese, who had lost the war; for them, it was a sad year. We need a day on which all the people of the world can rejoice together.
The seven years following Korea’s liberation
The military ruled Korea immediately after liberation. It took three years, until 1948, to establish a [Korean] government. The three years immediately after the liberation were a buffer period.
The second Israel had to be established on the foundation of the first Israel.
America, the representative nation of Christianity, the second Israel, facilitated Korea’s independence.
Based on this independence, which came via the second Israel, the problems of the first and second Israels had to be solved, and Korean independence had to stand on the resulting foundation. That was the situation at that time.
What would have happened if Christianity and Korea had welcomed me? I could have absorbed Protestant America over seven years. And if I had begun working on the world level after the seven-year course finished in 1952, I would have mobilized all the world’s statesmen by the time I was forty years old, leading them in one direction, toward the goal of making the kingdom of heaven on earth.
That was the original providential plan. Christianity has made a unified, global territory after four thousand years of Judeo-Christian history. If Christianity had followed me, a unified physical and spiritual world would have come about.
US military government and the Christian cultural sphere missed their chance
The occupying forces’ military governor of southern Korea, General Arnold, took over all the Korean government offices. The translators the American military government used were all former Christian ministers or other people who had studied theology.
They worked for the government as translators but ignored God’s will, though it was by God’s will that the historical foundation to make an Abel-realm political party had been prepared. They became one-centered on the country but not centered on God’s will.
Through mistakes within the Christian cultural sphere (the Korean Christian church, Korean leaders, American leaders and missionaries) the platform for the returning Lord’s ideal—the achievement of which would have brought about Heaven’s blessing and the holding of a glorious banquet, and developed into the victory of the kingdom of heaven—began to crumble.
The United States was in the position of the eldest son, but did not fulfill the responsibility to be an offering that would have been able to restore the foundation of the father and mother of Korea.
Korea’s demarcation and Christian disbelief
God knew that Christians might oppose His will. He therefore prepared, internally and spiritually, many Spirit-led groups. But no matter how many internally prepared groups there were, Christianity externally already had the form of a nation, so it was a matter of course that on the day they began to oppose us, we returned to the same situation as when Judaism and the nation of Israel opposed Jesus. Then, the same destiny was unfolding.
I was one of five people who formed the Liberal Party. I was fully aware that things wouldn’t work without creating a foundation centered on a political organization.
At that time, as a young man of twenty-five or twenty-six, I was about to start joining hands with high-level Koreans.
I intended to start with a broad base, centered on the Defense Minister at that time, Shin Seong-mo, but the plan did not work out. I was going to start on the highest level and go out to the world.
If only Dr. Rhee and a few members of his party—between three and twelve of them—had supported me, the United States, the Cain leader of the democratic world, would surely have been connected with this nation, and I would have been able to move in that direction.
I had received God’s permission to start from the highest position, but everything was blocked because of two Christian ministers. I was cut off by a very senior minister, so I had no choice but to start the course of restoration again from a lower position.
At that time, one person who had formed a close bond with me and was working at the forefront was the famous minister of an established church. Nevertheless, he betrayed me because he wanted to have more power for himself.
Spiritual groups divide, and established churches grow in power.
The person who was to become the president of Korea should have represented Abel. In Abel’s position, he should not have used Christian ministers who had had an easy life.
He should have excluded all those church ministers and chosen instead those Abel-type people who had been in prison or who had suffered in the underground liberation movement. Then he should have reeducated those people to establish the country in the right way. If only this had happened then!
At that time, I knew all the people at the ministerial level. I had met all the well-known people in the Korean underground.
They also knew who I was. If that had happened, centering on the Abel group, which focused on national independence, we could have automatically started in a new direction and advocated a new way for the world.
The country could only have been saved if the underground churches and the churches that were being re-created had united and represented the Abel realm, had become one with the Cain realm’s established churches.
And the Old Testament Age spiritual group,p, bent on the restoration of Eden, should have followed the New Testament Age group that had a similar focus, but it didn’t realize this.
I thought it was the best group. Because a center is needed to carry out any activities, in the East or West, if the center doesn’t appear, everything collapses. North and South collide; East and West collide. I brought these people together.
Sun Myung Moon