A view of Pyongyang, now the capital city of North Korea, during the latter part of Japanese rule. In those days, Pyongyang was such a center of Christian activity, with numerous churches, that Christians called it the Jerusalem of the East.
True Father’s public mission began in 1945. In this installment, Father speaks about a particular John-the-Baptist figure whose support for his Messianic mission at that time could have been key.
True Father’s mother and older brother
You don’t know how much my mother loved me! Her mind was occupied by thoughts of me. She knew I was the only member of the Moon Family whom she could believe in. She may have already known I would become a great man.
Furthermore, she used to do whatever I asked her to do. Therefore, our mother–son cooperation was perfect even though she did not know about restoration through indemnity.
Furthermore, my older brother cooperated with me. Thus, the foundation to indemnify Cain’s position was completely established. There were numerous older and younger brothers throughout history, but my older brother understood that his younger brother was a historic person. So he obeyed me in everything.
If I said, “This is right,” he thought so and believed in me 100 percent; he did not doubt at all. Therefore, what about the restoration of Cain? Was it accomplished or not? It was completely established. Moreover, was the mother–son cooperation completed or not? This was completed as well.
The responsibility of family and clan
It would have been good if my great-uncle had worked in politics, but he was a simple Christian minister. My great-uncle was a much-needed person when Dr. Rhee was trying to establish the country anew. He excelled in classical learning and modern studies as well.
During his time in Jeongseon, a helicopter was sent to pick him up no less than three times. But he said, “I would rather not get involved in politics. A religious leader involved in politics…..“ So he didn’t join up with Dr. Rhee.
If he had, how good it would have been for my mission! Centering on God’s providence, if I had just persuaded my great-uncle to accept the Principle, it wouldn’t have been difficult to absorb Dr. Rhee’s clan and all the Christian leaders.
Korea and the established churches set Sung-jin’s mother against me. She didn’t know I had a global mission on my shoulders. She and her mother united in their opposition to me, saying, “Whoever says the Lord will come in the flesh is the enemy, the Antichrist.”
It was the same as when John the Baptist did not believe the teachings of Heaven and didn’t follow Jesus. From the viewpoint of the providential will, even if a woman represented Christianity, which had the mission to be the bride in the course of the Providence of Restoration, once I met her, she should have surpassed John the Baptist and supported me.
Yet, she didn’t. This is when problems started happening. The time had come, and I had to begin my mission, but hostile feelings against me had started to spread.
The course of re-indemnification
Because of the Fall, which occurred in the family and at the top of the growth stage, from a providential, historical standpoint, I had to hold the wedding within fourteen years after Korea’s liberation.
Those fourteen years after liberation (August 15, 1945–1960) were seven years to represent the Old Testament Age and seven to represent the New Testament Age, following which came seven more to represent the Completed Testament Age (1960–1967).
Because I had passed through the three ages—Adam’s, Jesus’, and the returning Lord’s—I could connect these three stages of the historical path, represented by three seven-year courses, to each other.
I made things that had been separate into one. That is why there were three seven-year courses (1960–1981) in the Unification Church.
During that twenty-one-year period, I had to untangle everything that had been tangled throughout history and connect everything to the tribe, to the race, to the country, and the world. I had to make God’s highway.
So I have led all the families to the world stage. You must realize that my being able to declare the second set of three seven-year courses (1981–2002) was a truly remarkable and historical event.
God intended to unite the Christian cultural sphere within the seven years from 1945 to 1952. However, because Christians did not understand God’s will and did not unite with me, I had to indemnify, again, four thousand years of history in one generation by 1992.
This was the forty-year period in the global wilderness. Forty years from 1945 would be 1985, but an extra seven years passed, and then it was 1992.
Kim Baek-moon and the Israel Jesus Church
Kim Baek-moon (1917–1990) was one of the three main successors to Rev. Lee Yong-do. He led an exemplary life of faith. This group had the status of a John-the-Baptist group. He heard the voice of God instructing him to create a religious retreat. He heard God’s voice telling him to prepare for the returning Lord.
Kim Baek-moon and I were in the position of Cain and Abel; John the Baptist and Jesus. That’s why we hear the name Kim Baek-moon. Some people say that Rev. Moon was Kim Baek-moon’s disciple. What would that lead to? He was a Christian, and according to his Christology, Jesus was God.
He didn’t know the fundamental Principle. However, when it came to being spiritually attuned, he was on the highest level of faith among the Christians of that time. Because Kim Baek-moon was close to Dr. Syngman Rhee, Kim was a John-the-Baptist figure. God’s will could have been realized at that time. But it didn’t come to fruition.
I visited this group because I knew it was connected to God’s will. It was soon after liberation, in October 1945. I started along this path in 1944 or 1945. At that time, I was teaching the church members in the Sangdo-dong church.
What did I do for the more than six months that I was there? I behaved as a servant. I knew everything about God’s will, but to inherit it properly, I lived a life of devotion and prayer without telling anyone about it.
You can’t imagine how earnestly I prayed at that time. My tears stained the floor where I prayed, and there was no day when the floor was dry.
I was unable to take people secretly out of this group as might be done in the secular world. Because the truth is the truth, I had to wait for a time when I could find people in that group who possessed the qualities required for God’s restoration work. That’s why I acted as a servant within that group without saying a word.
Testimony of women and Kim Baek-moon’s blessing
If I could have restored from that spiritual group one man and three women who had aligned themselves completely with that man, I could have established all the conditions to restore Eve.
In the Old Testament is analogous to an old woman, a spinster. The New Testament is analogous to a woman who was engaged but was unable to marry.
Those two are like a grandmother and a mother. The Completed Testament is like a daughter. She would be like Jesus’ sister.
Before Mr. Kim blessed me, three women in that group had testified that I was the Lord. After six months, Mr. Kim received a revelation from Heaven. He put his hands on my head and gave me a blessing that all of King Solomon’s glory in the world would be passed on to me.
Then, in March, at Easter, Heaven’s phenomena manifested among his followers.
That is why he blessed me in front of all his followers. It was the same as John the Baptist giving notice of inheritance. He was wearing white clothes at the time.
From the viewpoint of the Principle, if Abel doesn’t persuade Cain to unite with him, there is no way to go. If they unite, they unite the world of men, and the Old Testament Age, the New Testament Age, and the Completed Testament Age become perfectly connected.
If that happens, the vertical history until that time can be established horizontally, and the victorious foundation of complete restoration through indemnity is established.
After he blessed me, all the devout and spiritual people in that group received a revelation from Heaven telling them not to follow Mr. Kim but to follow Mr. Moon.
At that time, I didn’t promote myself or try to explain things; I just waited quietly. God had already prepared everything.
Kim Baek-moon said I had the same mission as King Solomon and blessed me, but he did not understand the significance of what he was doing. He didn’t ask me one word about me, and I was unable to volunteer the information on my own free will.
He should have asked me everything about myself. That was his 5 percent portion of responsibility. Even so, he blessed me, so I inherited everything he had.
To accept a new spiritual movement, people always have their responsibility to fulfill. I knew about all of Kim’s misconduct and mistakes, but I didn’t say anything. We have a responsibility to protect the people we know. This is the attitude that religious people should have when they walk the path of faith.
The result of Kim Baek-moon’s disbelief
If Kim’s group had united with me, it would have immediately become a perfection-level group. Then I should have sought other Christian groups.
Together with those groups, I should then have connected with ministers from other established Christian churches. Next, I should have connected with the government. That would establish the number three.
Three women testified for me. They should then have united with me, but they didn’t. That’s why I had to go to North Korea. I had to establish all the necessary conditions to restore three women and one man.
Whether Mr. Kim accepted me or not, from my standpoint, I couldn’t make a new beginning based on heart without first warning him and wiping the slate clean. So I wrote him eighteen letters. Yet, he tore all of them up.
Thereafter, I had fulfilled my responsibility, so I left for Pyongyang. Without doing this, I couldn’t have gone to Pyongyang.
Sun Myung Moon