Authors
An Atmosphere of Faith
Devotion, faith, and blessings
True Mother spent most of her childhood at the house of her maternal grandmother, Jo Won-mo, because her mother, Hong Soon-ae (Daemonim), was leading a life of faith devoted to receiving the Lord at the Second Advent. Both her mother and her grandmother raised her to inherit the core of this life of faith.
Daemonim strove to raise Mother well. While they were living in the North, Daemonim often had dreams in which she saw Satan trying to harm her daughter. These dreams continued until Mother was six years old. In another dream, Rev. Kim Seong-do appeared to her and told her to raise True Mother well because she was not her Child but God's.
Hence, Daemonim devoted herself to raising her as well as she could in the position of her daughter's nanny. Since Daemonim walked such a path of trials, True Mother also had to walk that path alongside her until she could stand as Heaven's Bride.
1. About one month after my birth, my mother had a dream. Rev. Kim Seong-do of the New Jesus Church appeared to her in white clothes on a white cloud, and said, “Soon-ae, you must have worried a lot about your baby. But don't you worry? She is the daughter of the Lord, and you are like her nursemaid. Make sure to nurse her and raise her well.” My mother engraved those words deep in her heart. When I was growing up, I was very different from other children. I could speak and walk before I was a year old.
When I spoke, my pronunciation was obvious. This is why my grandmother said, “This child is different.” I had a good mind, and I was never the slightest bit untidy. (True Mother, 2014/10/11)
2. Throughout their lives my grandmother and my mother lived their lives of faith preparing to receive the Returning Lord. They did not compromise with the world.
They were dedicated to heaven 24 hours a day. They offered their utmost devotion to make preparations to receive the Lord. Their life of faith was not like the ordinary faith of those who stayed comfortably in their homes. Since my mother's investment in her life of faith caused her to be rarely at home, I lived mostly with my grandmother. So I naturally inherited my faith from my grandmother. (True Mother, 1999/10/21)
3. My grandmother knew God's Will for me, so she cared for me with sincerity. She raised me in purity, untainted by the world, so that I might become the precious daughter whom heaven could use. My grandmother repeatedly told me, “Your father is Heavenly Father.” Thus, when we discussed my father I always thought about Heavenly Father rather than my physical father. Whenever I thought of God I always had a warm feeling. Anyone who looked at my family from an external perspective would have found it incomprehensible.
Yet, growing up in it, I never felt anything lacking; nor did I have anything to complain about. I lived with a feeling that something or someone was embracing me, and I felt free in my heart. I never asked my mother or my grandmother anything about my physical father, such as why my mother and father lived the way they did.
Throughout my life, I never had any hard feelings or complaints whatsoever about my physical parents. (True Mother, 1999/10/21)
4. Until I was six, I lived in Anju, South Pyeongan Province. During those years Satan would appear in my mother's dreams trying to kill me. For six long years, she had to fight Satan. However, my mother did not yet understand the profound meaning of this. She only wondered, “Why is Satan continually trying to kill my baby?” (True Mother, 1977/05/03)
5. My mother first followed the New Jesus Church, then the Holy Lord Church, and finally the Inside the Womb Church. In that church, she fervently prayed with longing for the Lord to return. When I was about four years old, I began to make conditions of devotion with her, by offering bows at her side. At the church, everyone observed the official times for offering bows, which were twice a day, in the morning and the evening. Some people also offered bowing conditions at other times, such as in the middle of meditation. This lifestyle did not change until I was six years old when we moved down to the South. (True Mother, 2013/12/06)
6. I believe that my childhood was a period for me to keep separate from the evils of the world, so I could become the Bride of the Lord. My original personality was not extroverted; I was inclined to enjoy my inner world, away from the secular world.
True Father once said that my grandmother and my mother dedicated everything to bequeath the way of heaven's heart to me. They did not mind even if their flesh was torn or their bones were broken; they kept on walking the path of absolute obedience with unchanging, loyal hearts. Father also said that so that I would not be in contact with circumstances full of worldly temptations, God led me to a life that was separated from the world. (True Mother, 2014/10/11)
The Korean War
In 1948, when True Mother's, maternal grandmother, Jo Won-mo, her mother, Hong Soon-ae (Daemonim), and True Mother herself were attending the Inside the Womb Church in the North, that church came under religious persecution by the communist authorities. There was an incident in which Jo Won-mo and Daemonim were detained for 11 days. As the persecution became more severe, Grandmother Jo suggested that they go to the South.
Around that time, heaven gave Daemonim a revelation that they should move to the South. The South was foreign to the three of them, but since they heard that the first son of Rev. Kim Seong-do of the Holy Lord Church in Cheolsan had already gone to the South, they decided to join him there. Furthermore, Daemonim wanted to see her younger brother, Hong Soon-jeong. He had returned to Korea in the middle of his studies in Japan due to the war situation, joined the South Korean army, studied pharmacy at the Korean Military Academy and, at that time, held the rank of first lieutenant. So they departed in the middle of the night and traveled to South Korea at the risk of their lives. After surmounting many difficulties, they safely arrived in the South.
7. When I lived at Anju, my mother was rarely home because she was investing herself in an ardent life of faith. Given that situation, I grew up under the care of my mother's family. My father was also a devout Christian. In 1946, he was the first of my family to move down to South Korea to evade threats from the communist authorities. I vaguely remember that my father visited my mother and me at our home and asked us to leave with him. (True Mother, 2004/11/23)
8. It was very difficult to live a life of faith under the communist government. So my grandmother, my mother, and I journeyed to the South. We were to join Hong Soon-jeong, my maternal uncle who was living there. As we journeyed south, we three women of three generations continued our bowing condition for the Returning Lord.
My maternal grandfather, Hong Yu-il, wanted to stay in Pyongyang to protect that city because he had received a revelation that Pyongyang was the Palace of Eden. We never saw him again.
(True Mother, 2013/12/06)
9. The journey to South Korea was not easy. We had to walk on the uneven ground of the plowed and furrowed rice paddies, and the mud stuck to our feet. We shivered in the cold weather as we continued walking toward the South. When at last we arrived at the 38th parallel, we were captured by soldiers of the North Korean People's Army, which was tightly guarding the area. They locked us up in an empty barn along with others whom they had arrested. The soldiers were rough with the men but treated the women and children better.
The grown-ups told me to give food to the soldiers who had to guard us despite the cold weather. I was nervous with fear, but keeping myself poised I brought food to the soldiers with a smile. After I did that a few times, the soldiers' hearts softened. One night they released us and told us to return home. The power of love brought us from the brink of death to life. (True Mother, 2013/12/06)
10. My grandmother was with me all the time. Whenever we walked on the street, people treated me affectionately, saying I was adorable. So at a time when people were not free to travel as they desired, I could freely go about and do errands for others. For this, I was greatly appreciated and loved. It was the same when we were journeying to the South. Because I, a little girl, was accompanying the women, the North Korean soldiers who captured us were more lenient with us. They even released us on the way, and hence we could safely continue our journey and cross the 38th parallel.
It was when we had just crossed the 38th parallel that we ran into difficulties. The noise we made as we walked attracted the attention of South Korean soldiers. They were pointing their guns toward us, but at that moment I started singing a song. At the sound of my singing, they put down their guns. Then they greeted us warmly, saying, “You must have had a hard time traveling with such a beautiful daughter,” and let us go southward. (True Mother, 2004/11/23)
11. While my mother was attending the Inside the Womb Church, her brother, my uncle Hong Soon-jeong, returned home from studying abroad in Japan. He then went to South Korea and joined the army there. My uncle was a dignified and charming person. In those days, many intelligent people agreed with the ideology of communism, and he too thought that communism was good. But he was disappointed with the communist system, as its reality was so different from its teaching. This is why he went to South Korea and joined the military instead of returning to North Korea where his parents were. He realized that the reality of communism contradicted its theory.
My grandmother very much missed her son while he was serving in the military. One of the reasons my grandmother, my mother and I came to the South was to see him. We went to Seoul and settled there.
When we first arrived in Seoul we lived at Hyochang-dong, and that is where I entered elementary school.
I was popular wherever I went and grew up receiving much love from the many people around me. This is why I later thought, “If I had not married young, I could have been lost to the secular world. Maybe this is the reason God brought me to the Holy Wedding early in life and embraced me in His arms.”
(True Mother, 1999/10/21)
12. Heaven led and protected us even in Seoul when we were searching for my uncle. We suffered tremendously to cross the 38th parallel and come to the South, but we had no idea how to find my uncle once we arrived in Seoul. My grandmother and mother asked around for him without really knowing how to locate him. It was not an easy task. But miraculously, we met a friend of his. It was indeed due to heaven's help and guidance.
At that time, my uncle was living in an army tent near Seoul, and he was pleased to see us when we visited him. He said he was glad we came because he had been worrying about his family back home. My uncle quickly found a house where the three of us could live. Later I discovered that our house was very close to our church headquarters in Cheongpa-dong. (True Mother, 2013/12/06)
13. I was eight years old (by Korean reckoning) when the Korean War broke out. We were living in Seoul so we had to flee from there, and my uncle helped us tremendously. As a medical officer in the army, he knew in advance that the Han River Bridge was going to be blown up. He had a pass to cross the bridge, and he drove my grandmother and me across it in a military vehicle so we could flee further south.
Daemonim did not come with us; she thought only about meeting the Lord, for whom she continued offering her sincere devotion. As soon as we crossed the bridge, my uncle told us to get out of the vehicle and take cover. We did as he said. At that moment, the bridge was blown up, and many soldiers who were also crossing the bridge fell into the river and lost their lives.
Although we were safe because of my uncle's help, even now, whenever I cross the Han River Bridge I feel great pain from the memory of that incident. Indeed, most Koreans in my age group suffered hardships from the war; however, I was always protected by God's grace. I remember the time once when I caught a cold while we were fleeing south and my mother put a piece of taffy in my mouth to keep me from coughing. I also remember when she placed a mixture of rice and cactus on my wounds to heal them. (True Mother, 1999/10/21)
14. After the Han River Bridge blew up at 3:00 in the morning on June 28, 1950, my family continued fleeing south to escape the advancing North Korean troops. We stayed in a refugee camp for military families in Jeolla Province. We returned to Seoul after it was retaken on September 28 and lodged in a vacant house where a Japanese family had lived. Then China entered the war and Seoul fell again, this time into the hands of the Chinese army. Hence, on January 4, 1951, as the South Korean army retreated from Seoul, we again had to leave our home and flee. We were able to board a special train for military families that left Seoul ahead of the civilian populace; we went down to Daegu.
The Korean army moved its headquarters to Daegu as well, and we lived near my maternal uncle's home.
I always realized how God was with us, even in the midst of our chaotic journey as refugees. As God had protected us when we left the North to journey to the South, He was also with us when we fled from the battles of the Korean War. (True Mother, 2014/10/11)
Education and Encounter with Father
Heaven's guidance
After coming to the South, True Mother attended Hyochang Elementary School in Seoul. After she to the city, she continued her schooling, even though she moved several times to Daegu, Seoguipo on Jeju Island, and Chun-cheon in Gangwon Province. Her report card from Bongeui Elementary School in Chuncheon records that she was “very pure, kind and polite, shows a noble attitude, the most feminine among the students in the class.” When she graduated from that school, she was given an award as an honor student.
True Mother then attended Seong-jeong Girls Middle School from April 1956 to March 1959.
This school was purchased by True Parents in April 1987, at which time it changed its name to Seonjeong Middle School. In March 1959, True Mother entered Saint Joseph's Nursing School in Seoul, which today is the Catholic University Nursing School.
1. After coming to the South, we rented a room in Hyochang-dong in Seoul, and I entered Hyochang Elementary School. I continued in school when we moved to Daegu and then to Jeju Island. My mother moved us to Jeju Island in 1954 to raise me in a pure environment. There I attended Shinhyo Elementary School in Seoguipo, which is Hyodon Elementary School today. I transferred into the 5th grade. Then we received a letter from my maternal uncle. He had been transferred to Chuncheon and was posted as chief of the supply depot there. He asked us to move to Chuncheon, and we did.
We rented a room in Yaksa-dong near my uncle's house in Hyoja-dong, and I transferred to Bongeui Elementary School in Chuncheon. I soon became a 6th grader, and I graduated the following year, on March 2, 1956, in the school's 11th class.
Afterward, with the help of my uncle, on April 10, 1956, I entered Seongjeong Girls Middle School, located in Sajik-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul. I graduated as a member of the school's third class, on March 25, 1959. During that time, I lived with my uncle's family at Donam-dong and Shindang-dong and commuted to school in Sajik-dong. (True Mother, 2014/10/11)
2. In middle school, I was the head of the Student Activities Council. I remember the time when I had to stand on stage and explain the council's decisions to all the students of the school. I later heard that after my speech, my Korean teacher and other teachers remarked, “Wow! Hak Ja, you were great!”
People around me always had the impression that I was a quiet and well-mannered student, someone whom it was difficult to be close to. I guess they were surprised that a person such as me could give a public speech, although it was only a simple presentation. This was my first experience speaking in front of many people.
(True Mother, 1991/11/10)
3. Recently, one of my old friends visited me. She and I once lived in the same town and attended the same middle school. Her father loved me very much. Another of my friends was my senior by one year.
She cared deeply for me and used to say, “You are dignified and pretty.” She later moved to Canada and often sent me letters. When she had opportunities to visit Korea, we would meet each other. One day, I visited my old school and found that the teacher of my Korean class was still there. I can still recall his face. Furthermore, I remember that my mathematics teacher cared for me very much.
(True Mother, 1999/10/21)
4. When I started high school, it was not very long after the Korean War had ended. I remembered how all the streets had been filled with people injured because of the war. Children orphaned by the war, and even children with parents, suffered greatly from hunger and disease. People were unable to get any treatment when they fell sick. I felt so sorry for them. I wanted to heal their pain; that is why I decided to attend nursing school. I wanted to find a way to help them.
(True Mother, 2013/12/06)
5. My teachers loved and protected me at every school I attended. I am not sure whether it was because I gave them the impression I was reliable and modest, but for some reason, my teachers cared for me. Some teachers said, “You are not like most children these days. Go out and get involved.” It was not that I had plenty of worries on my mind. I just liked to sit and stay quiet. Even during adolescence, when I was growing into womanhood, I never worried about my life because my grandmother and mother, who were always attending heaven, taught me to live in faith.
Under my mother's strict education, I spent my time immersed in reading books of various kinds. For a time, I thought that I wanted to lead a country life with a couple of my close friends and plant fruit trees.
My friends said, “Although you are very prim and proper, you will be the first of us to marry.” I have not thought much about my student days since the Holy Wedding, so I cannot remember much about that time. Besides, I have not had an opportunity to think back. Recently, some old friends visited me, and that brought back some of these old memories. (True Mother, 1999/10/21)
6. I was known as a student who liked reading and music in a comfortable and quiet atmosphere. Furthermore, people had the impression that I was quite intellectual. I was not extremely emotional or excitable. Come to think of it, I might have given a first impression of being a little cold. In the dormitory, I lived like a nun. My life was sheltered from the secular environment, like a flower blooming in a greenhouse. Only later did I realize that my life was that way to separate me from the fallen world. It was heaven's preparation so that one day I could meet the Lord at the Second Advent and become his Bride. (True Mother, 1977/05/03)
7. Until 1960, I lived mostly in seclusion, as if I were buried inside my clothes. God led me to lead a simple life that did not require me to compromise with the secular world. God set up circumstances that thoroughly protected me as if He did not want me even to breathe the air of Satan's world. In such surroundings, I eliminated my worries and just led my life by letting God alone guide me. I used to write a diary.
Amazingly enough, although I did not write with much thought, it was something like “Urie sowon-eun Tongil,” meaning, “Our cherished hope is for North and South Korea to be reunited.” Later, when I heard Father's words on the subject, I recalled what I had written in my diary and found it very meaningful. (True Mother, 1999/10/21)
8. Mother is so natural on stage. The first time she sang a song in front of an audience was in her second year of high school. She was renowned for her singing. Regardless of the audience, she stood tall onstage like a champion.
(227-022, 1992/02/10)
9. To me, Mother is flawless. I see nothing but goodness in her. This did not happen just overnight.
Whenever she meets people, if they are men, she compares each one with me and thinks, “This man has a quality just like True Father.” By thinking that way, she can be openhearted toward them. It is so beautiful. Look at her eyes and hands.
They show how observant and sensitive she is. When she hears me speak a sentence, she analyzes its structure what the subject is, what the object is, what the clauses are, and so forth. What I am saying is that she is smart and analyzes things well. In her teens, her friends said she was an impressive and unforgettable girl, and I think it is because of her powers of observation. When she went places, she was prudent about the route she chose. She would travel only on the route that she felt comfortable with. (435-020, 2004/01/31)
Encounter with Father
Rev. Kim Seong-do, the founder of the Holy Lord Church, gave these last words to her first son, Jeong Seok-cheon, “If I cannot fulfill the mission that God gave me, it will be fulfilled through someone else. That representative of God will also be misunderstood, like me. The church he leads will be misunderstood and persecuted as a church of fornication, and he will suffer imprisonment. If you find such a church, know that it is a true church, and go to that church.”
Mr. Jeong went down to the South with his older sister Jeong Seok-on. They carried with them the belief that the Will of God that was not fulfilled in their mothers' generation would Father's accomplished in the next generation or a future generation. They continued worship services in their home and looked around for where that was being realized.
One day, they read a newspaper article about an incident at Ehwa University in which many students were expelled from the school. That is how Jeong Seok-on and her daughter came to visit the Unification Church, thinking it might be the church their mother, Rev. Kim Seong-do, had spoken of. At that time, it was located in Jangchung-dong in Seoul. On October 4, 1955, True Father was released from Seodaemun Prison with the verdict that he was innocent of all charges.
After True Father heard what Rev. Kim had told Jeong Seok-cheon, Father visited Mr. Jeong's home on Dongseong Street in Daegu. Jeong Seok-cheon then wrote a letter to Hong Soon-ae about his encounter with True Father and encouraged her to meet him. That is how True Mother and her mother Hong Soon-ae came to meet True Father.
10. After True Father was released from Seodaemun Prison he traveled to Daegu, where he held revival meetings to inspire the members. Around that time, my mother, who was then living in Chuncheon, received a letter from Jeong Seok-cheon. His letter said, “I found a church that is just like the Holy Lord Church. The founder of that church is speaking here in Daegu.
Come as soon as you can and listen to him.” However, my mother's circumstances were such that we could not immediately go to Daegu. A month later, in December, she went there and visited Jeong Seok-cheon. He told her, “I finally found the one we have been looking for, the Lord at the Second Advent. He came to Daegu, and I heard him speak.”
He told her that Father had returned to Seoul. He also said that the Father's teaching was the same as the teaching of the Inside the Womb Church. My mother was happy with the thought that when she went to Seoul, she would finally meet the person whom she had yearned to see for so long. Yet for some reason, she also felt unworthy of seeing him.
That is why she invested her efforts to prepare her heart. Then that night she had a dream. In the dream she saw a pair of golden dragons; they were hunched over and looking in the direction of Seoul. My mother thought to herself, “When I was preparing to come here to Daegu, I had a dream in which I saw a white dragon. Now, as I am about to leave Daegu, in my dream I see a pair of golden dragons. How strange!”
Immediately she set out for Seoul. There she visited the former headquarters church, which was located in Cheongpa-dong, where she met Father for the first time and paid her respects. She was surprised, for he was the very man whom she had seen in the two dreams she had while attending the Inside the Womb.
Church. There he was, the Lord whom she had yearned to see and whom she had dreamed about. My mother told me she was so overwhelmed that she did not know how to behave in his presence. (True Mother, 2014/10/11)
11. I did not meet True Father in North Korea. The first time I met him was in Seoul after I came down to South Korea. At that time, I was 13 years old and had recently graduated from elementary school. The meeting happened shortly after my mother and I joined the church. I was then living in Chuncheon, far from where True Father lived in Seoul.
My mother held me by the hand and brought me to the Cheongpa-dong church in March 1956. That was when I met True Father for the first time. After that first encounter at the church, my mother and I continued attending that church on Sundays. During that time, I graduated from middle school and went on to high school. (True Mother, 1977/05/03)
12. I can still vividly recall the moment True Father saw me in my student uniform and closed his eyes in gratitude to God for guiding me to him. I always had the feeling that God prepares everything that He deems necessary, especially when I think of how He shaped my character and guided the way I had been living my life.
When Isaac went up the mountain with Abraham to make an offering to God, he asked his father where the offering was. Abraham simply replied that God would provide. Yet, although Isaac was just a young boy, he had already figured out his situation.
Likewise, from my childhood, I intuitively sensed that I must fulfill something important in the future. I would say that subconsciously I understood that I was being prepared to become the Bride of the Returning Lord. My path was already decided, and I was born with the destiny to go that way. Other women could not have borne the weight of my position, but I could because of all that I had faced previously and overcome. (True Mother, 1999/10/21)
13. I guess you are curious about the conversation that True Father and I had at our first meeting after he decided to accept me as his Bride. In those days, our church members loved Father, but they feared him as well. Yet, I had no fear of him. I felt that True Father was exactly like my maternal grandfather and would not get upset with anything I said. I suppose some people around me might have thought, “For such a young lady, she is incredibly bold.” Yet at that moment, I felt as if True Father were my grandfather, father, groom, brother, and even my son. (True Mother, 2004/09/16)
14. Adam and Eve fell when they went against God's Word. Yet, I thought of it this way: Even if God had not warned them, they should have had the thought, based on the working of their original minds, to observe God's Word, since they were living at a time when they could directly converse with God. I grew up already thinking about God's providential history.
So when I met with True Father at the age of 17, I had already made this resolution, “I will end, within my lifetime, the history of restoration through indemnity that God has walked in suffering; I will do this myself” I did not think this way because someone taught me to; I made this resolution on my own. The reason I could do so was because I knew God.
(True Mother, 2012/01/07)
15. When I met True Father, I already knew providential history. I had not studied the Principle, but I knew about the history of the providence of restoration through indemnity. That is why I thought to myself, “For True Father to be able to proclaim that he has completed and concluded his mission as the Messiah, I must offer him my effort in support. I will not shift that responsibility to any other person.
As for myself, I will accomplish that responsibility. I will advance the Will for as long as I live and bring it to pass. Undoubtedly, I will defeat Satan.” It is for this purpose that I have dedicated my mind and body and sacrificed my entire life. (True Mother, 2013/08/24)
Life of Faith
True Mother came down to the South with her maternal grandmother, Jo Won-mo, and her mother, Hong Soon-ae, in 1948. They moved several times from Seoul to Daegu, then to Jeju Island, and then to Chuncheon, where they continued their life of faith. When they were staying temporarily at the home of her mother's friend in Daegu, right after arriving in the South, a stranger who saw True Mother described her, “She is the most divine young lady in heaven and on earth.” It was this way wherever True Mother went: She caught people's eye, and people received spiritual messages testifying to her.
16. Rev. Kim Seong-do, founder of the Holy Lord Church, passed away after she was released from prison. Although the remaining members of her family continued in that church, the providential mission to prepare for the Returning Lord passed to the Inside the Womb Church led by Rev. Heo Ho-bin.
The Holy Lord Church could not take root under the communist regime in North Korea. Rev. Kim's first son, Jeong Seokcheon, went to the South and became involved in a mining business. Later he purchased a house on Dongseong Street in Daegu and started a business that sold rice and fuel.
During the Korean War, when we moved to Daegu, we had a reunion with Jeong Seok-cheon. We were gathered with his family at his house and talking about this and that, when they said, “When we were in the North attending the Holy Lord Church, we received much grace from the New Lord (Kim Seong-do).
We also experienced great works of the Spirit when we attended the Inside the Womb Church of Rev.
Heo. They were preparing for the Lord at the Second Advent to come to Korea. Let us pray continually and earnestly to find him.” Mr. Jeong called his older sister Jeong Seok-on to come up from Busan. She also joined their family gatherings, which were filled with intense prayer. In this way, as we continued our life of faith. (True Mother, 2014/10/11)
17. When I was very young and my mother was running a small store in Daegu, one day an enlightened Buddhist wearing a bamboo hat passed by and saw me. He gave the remarkable testimony, “This daughter is so precious that not even ten sons can match her. So please raise her well. When she reaches 17, she will marry a man who is much older than she is. She will live in great wealth, was its fortune from the land, sea, and sky.”
My mother was amazed at his testimony and asked him what it meant. He answered that I was born with that destiny. Hearing this, my mother resolved even more strongly to live a diligent life of faith as she searched for the truth. In addition, she resolved to raise me in purity until we could meet the Returning Lord.
That is why she took me to Jeju Island. There she cultivated her spiritual life and subjected herself to harsh rigors, including eating nothing but uncooked food. Later, when she met True Father, she thought about how she could raise me to be an important worker in the Unification Church. Such are the extreme and tearful stories hidden within the providence before I was brought to God as a pure offering for God's Will. (True Mother, 2013/12/06)
18. My grandmother Jo Won-mo led us in daily family worship. She made a point of staying away from evil influences in her daily life. She told me many Bible stories. She read the Bible seriously and led a sincere life of faith with her utmost devotion, always keeping the Bible within her reach. Naturally, I read the Bible with her and lived a life of faith guided by our Heavenly Parent.
We continued this life while we lived as refugees in Daegu, when I transferred to the school on Jeju Island, and later in Chuncheon, after the Korean War. When I was attending Sunday school at a church in Daegu, I often sang for the congregation as a representative of the students at the Sunday school.
(True Mother, 2013/12/06)
19. While living in Daegu as a refugee during the Korean War, my mother met Jeong Seok-cheon, the first son of the founder of the Holy Lord Church, Rev. Kim Seong-do. After speaking with him, she came to believe that the New Lord would come to South Korea. She prayed hard to meet the Returning Lord while keeping to an ascetic diet of raw pine needles. I was an elementary school student at that time. I was a good student and was very popular with the other students.
However, my mother did not feel comfortable that I had become a focal point because there were revelations about me saying I would become the Lord's Bride, the Lord's daughter, and other similar testimonies.
As a result, in 1954 my mother and I moved to Jeju Island. She wanted to protect me for the day when she hoped we would meet the Lord at the Second Advent. I remember suffering from seasickness during the trip to Jeju Island.
(True Mother, 2013/12/06)
20. Because I had been given the blessing to be Heaven's Bride, Daemonim's main concern was to raise me pure and untainted by the world. So the year after the Korean War ended, when Korea was in chaos, my mother and I departed from the Korean mainland and went to live on Jeju Island. We lived there for about nine months. Jeong Pyeong-hwa, the second son of Rev. Kim Seong-do, the founder of the Holy Lord Church, was a man of such fervent faith that he wanted to experience the pain of Jesus.
He even re-enacted the crucifixion and wore a crown of thorns. Daemonim joined him and led a more arduous life of faith than ever before. Every day she worked in the fields, eating nothing but raw food, and every night she exerted herself to the utmost in prayer. (True Mother, 2013/12/06)
Chosen by Heaven
Three generations of preparation
According to True to Words, appropriate providential conditions had to be met for a woman representing the entire foundation for the Bride to be chosen to become the True Mother of humankind.
First, she had to possess an internal bond of lineage that could overcome the accusation of Satan's world. The woman chosen to represent all womankind and be elevated to the position of True Mother had to be from a family that had been prepared behind the scenes for three generations with only one daughter in each generation. True Mother's lineage met this requirement through her maternal grandmother, Jo Won-mo, her mother, Daemonim, and Hak Ja Han herself.
These women were their families' only daughters, and they were separated from the world so that they could be on God's side. Their families were not large, and they did not have many relatives.
Hence, they could live, a simple life and make conditions to purify to prepare the foundation for Heaven's Bride.
1. Not anyone could become a True Mother. The conditions to advance the providence to raise a woman to become a True Mother were connected with predestined relationships in the providence that focused on the work to restore Eve.
This required three women to meet internal and external conditions. After all the conditions were met, True Mother could appear before the Lord and be joined with him in marriage.
These three women were of three generations, representing the formation, growth, and completion stages.
The unity of grandmother, mother, and daughter was like connecting the Old Testament Age, New Testament Age, and Completed Testament Age. On that basis, heaven could inaugurate the era for establishing the True Parents. Among those women, True Mother is the center.
The person representing the formation stage is not the center, nor is the person representing the growth stage. In the ages of history, all must pass through three stages. In the horizontal ages, all can stand on the level of perfection only with the fulfillment of the third stage the completion stage. (212-076, 1991/01/02)
2. True Mother represents all the women of the world. Only one woman representing all the women of humankind could be chosen for the position of True Mother. Three generations had to be connected behind the scenes to prepare a True Mother.
It is an original requirement that a True Mother must be an only Daughter. Adam was the original only Son; Jesus was the only Son. The Lord at the Second Advent is also the only Son from the perspective of God's Will. Since the man through whom God accomplishes the Will is His only Son, the woman must be His only Daughter.
From the viewpoint of the providence of restoration, that man and that woman must be joined as a couple and become one. Then they must win over Satan's world and inaugurate the heavenly kingdom. (223-241, 1991/11/10)
3. For a True Mother to be born into this world, there had to be three generations of women born as only daughters in their families, and they were required to build a meritorious foundation for the Returning Lord.
When you look at Mother's family tree, her maternal grandmother, Jo Won-mo, her mother, Hong Soon-ae, and Mother herself were each only daughters in their families. Furthermore, Mrs. Hong was trained as a leader in the Inside the Womb Church, one of the Spirit-led churches that had the mission to prepare to receive the Lord at the Second Advent.
That is why around the time they fled the North and went to the South, the mother of that church's leader, Rev. Heo Ho-bin, blessed Mother to become Heaven's Bride.
Mother received this blessing because heaven had prepared her for that position. (220-337, 1991/10/20)
4. Three generations of True Mother's family attended the Spirit-led churches that were preparing to receive the Returning Lord. Her history extends that far back. Do you know how much those churches were opposed by the Protestant churches and the Catholic Church? Do you know how much Rev. Yi Yongdo was persecuted for founding the New Jesus Church?
All of this led to Mother receiving the blessing on the foundation of her connection to all those spiritual works and the essence of the Korean people. It was also important that she come from a clan consisting of not more than 12 people. (210-301, 1990/12/25)
5. The Inside the Womb Church believed that the Returning Lord would come in the flesh and that he would select his Bride and 12 disciples. Hence, it trained its members in how to attend the Lord. True Mother was trained in that special spiritual group. The mother of the founder of that church called Mother when she was six and gave her a special blessing.
When I met Mother, I realized that she had already received all the blessings necessary to become the Bride. Furthermore, it was fitting that no men were involved in her spiritual preparation and that in her family she was the only daughter.
(191-254, 1989/06/25)
6. Rev. Yi Yong-do was one of the representatives of Christianity who had been prepared to welcome the Returning Lord. When the existing Christian churches expelled him, he founded the New Jesus Church.
He connected to Rev. Kim Seong-do in Cheolsan when Rev. Baek Nam-ju connected the spiritual churches on the eastern and western coasts of Korea. That is how, in Daemonim's family, her husband attended the New Jesus Church founded by a man, while Daemonim attended the Inside the Womb Church founded by a woman.
Daemonim was a leading figure in that church. While Daemonim was attending the Inside the Womb Church, she even left her home to search all over for the Lord. She received blessings from the pastors of the New Jesus Church and also from the Inside the Womb Church.
This is what I discovered when I looked into True Mother's family. It had to be that way.
Preparation as Heaven's Bride
God, who sent the Returning Lord as His only-begotten Son, also prepared Hak Ja Han to be Heaven's Bride and His only-begotten Daughter. Even when she was very young, there were occasions when people testified about her, that she would become Heaven's Bride. As the day for, the Marriage Supper of the Lamb drew near, several, church members had dreams that Hak Ja Han would become Heaven's Bride.
Her mother, Daemonim, also had such a dream. In her dream, she was entering True Father's room, and she looked back and saw women in white holy robes holding bouquets of pink flowers.
Then Daemonim thought, “Ever since God lost Eve, for 6,000 years He has been looking for a woman.”
True Father was seated; then she saw her daughter walking toward him. As she approached him, there were peals of thunder, and lightning lit up the sky as if to announce their joyous union. She saw numerous people looking at the scene with admiration but also with envy. Daemonim did noon y understand the meaning of her dream. Still, as she raised her daughter, she continued making conditions of devotion for a long time so that her dream could come true.
(403-239, 2003/01/23)
7. True Mother's mother (Daemonim) walked a historic path of suffering to receive the Returning Lord.
During that time Mother, as her daughter, also received such training.
I needed a woman who would, as a wife, follow with all of her heart and mind a husband who was committed to the Will. I also needed her to be from a prepared family and lineage. Thinking in this way, I chose True Mother.
(121-213, 1982/10/27)
8. Daemonim had gone on a course in which she attended three persecuted churches. She attended the New Jesus Church, then the Holy Lord Church, and the Inside the Womb Church, before finally coming to the Unification Church. Her history of attending these three churches before meeting me qualified her lineage to be the lineage from which True Mother could come.
Before Daemonim gave birth to True Mother, she based her life on commands she had received from heaven. There were spiritual works like this going on in the background. I could not choose just anyone to be in the position of True Mother. (539-060, 2006/09/17)
9. To produce a True Mother, a family of three generations had to offer themselves representing the three ages: the Old Testament, New Testament, and Completed Testament Ages. The family had to have a line of only daughters. After True Mother was conceived, Daemonim set out on the path by herself.
Throughout history, three ages have sought the pure Bridegroom. These three women representing the three ages had to raise the pure Bride by carrying the cross over many hills. Not just anyone can be chosen as the True Mother.
To True Mother, I, True Father, stood as her grandfather and father as well as her husband, and also as her older brother. So when she related to me, she regarded me as her older brother, as her father, as her grandfather, and even as her king. Knowing this, I had to raise her starting from the position of a younger sister. I had to elevate her to the position of my fiancée, then to the position of my wife, and then to the positions of mother and grandmother, all the way to the position of queen. (484-085, 2005/01/20)
10. Everyone cannot help but respect True Mother. She emerged after passing through three spiritual churches. Over and over, she heard from her mother that the Lord would come in the future and that when she met him, she must attend to him this way and that. Daemonim repeatedly taught her so many times that her teaching was infused into Mother's bone marrow. This is how she was educated to become a True Mother.
This daughter, who was 17 years old when she was blessed to me, must become the queen. She must advance to the position of the queen of the heavenly kingdom.
Therefore, after our Holy Wedding, she had to pass through the positions of wife, mother, and grandmother, and rise to the position of queen.
When I refer to her as True Mother, it is because she is the mother who represents the heavenly nation.
When I say she is my wife, it means that she represents the king and therefore must be attended as if attending the king. (593-216, 2008/06/16)
Trials and Victory
Silent suffering
True Mother walked the path to victory by overcoming all manner of difficulties, both before and after the Holy Wedding at which she became Heaven's Bride. She was the absolute object partner before God, the Absolute Subject Partner. She walked the model course of absolute faith, absolute love, and absolute obedience. For the sake of providence, he demonstrated a strength of spirit that allowed her to break through all obstacles. She recalled, “The path I walked was a succession of ordeals, each one so difficult that it is painful to think about.”
1. Since you understand who Father is, all of you may think I am pleased. You may simply think I am perfect in every respect. You may think, “Because God created you to be like that, and since from the beginning you were born perfect, you were chosen for the position of True Mother without needing to make any effort of your own.” Your general view of me might be that since I am married to a Father, and I am the True Mother of the entire cosmos, I must have a happy family and be enjoying my life.
This is far from the reality. Father walked the path of the cross and suffered immensely to stand in his position. Therefore, I in my way also had to carry a difficult cross. No one can understand my course and the unbearable suffering it entailed. I was not a perfect person from the outset; rather, I had to walk a path toward perfection. The standard I had to attain was very high.
Occasionally, I even thought it was impossible to continue on my path and reach the goal. I had to suffer through very difficult trials and maintain absolute faith to complete my mission and meet God's expectations. Such was my position.
When I look back and think about my circumstances in those days and the course I walked, I cannot hold back my tears. My weeping becomes uncontrollable. To discuss my past life is very painful because the memories of my trials and tribulations vividly reappear. (True Mother, 1977/05/03)
2. It is unbearable even to think about the path I walked. It was a succession of trials that caused suffering difficult to endure. Just as God tested Father after He chose him, God did the same to me, again and again. And just as Satan tested Father and Jesus, he also tested me. Women may be weak compared to men, yet still, I had to pass through severe and intense trials, comparable to what the Messiah passed through.
Occasionally, I felt like a small boat tossed about on the raging ocean. Yet, these were also the times when God came to visit me and I felt His grace most deeply. It was when I was suffering that God personally came to me and gave me revelations and guidance. When He did not give me direct guidance, He continually guided me through people around me who loved me and strove to protect me.
So, although in such times I had to persevere through the harshest suffering and the bitterest ordeals, they were also truly the most beautiful times, filled with the grace of God, times when I was able to feel that God was with me.
Now I have finally arrived at the standard that God desires. I have finished my time in the growth period, a time filled with constant struggles as I headed for perfection. Now when I look back, all the memories of that time, so filled with suffering, are changed into joy.
Since then, I have always been able to converse deeply with Father. Father and I have conversations on endless topics. The understanding between us is vast, and our sharing overflows with limitless trust. Even when Father and I do not exchange words, we can deeply understand each other's situations. The reason what I went through so resembles the circumstances Father faced and the path he walked. It is a mystery how my course and Father's are so much alike.
Both Father and I deeply understand the one common goal and purpose that we share. For that reason, I endured all my suffering and fought through it with faith to finally arrive at the level of perfection. Now I feel victorious because I have climbed to the standard where Satan can no longer invade me. When Father and I exchange glances based on this victory that we mutually feel and share, I can receive unlimited comfort and peace. (True Mother, 1977/05/03)
3. Through many experiences with God, I came to learn a great deal about how He accomplishes the Will.
In my life, I truly have traveled to both heaven and hell. I came to realize that both kinds of experiences, not just one or the other, were necessary to completely mature my character and make me the person God expects me to be. If I had experienced only the joys of heaven, I would not be able to deeply appreciate the taste of life in the kingdom of heaven, and therefore I would not be grateful for it.
I had to travel even to the very bottom of hell and experience its bitter taste. Countless times I said, “I do not have the strength to continue on this difficult path anymore. I absolutely cannot take another step. It's impossible. God! Why are You telling me to go this path?” I was required to have endurance and determination. I needed to have truly unwavering faith that would never fray. These qualities, I believe, are what made me who I am today.
I am telling you that when you are on your way to the kingdom of heaven, you should not expect to experience only the aspects of heaven. You must anticipate experiencing aspects of hell. You must anticipate that you will also travel to the rock bottom of hell, to the dungeons of hell. But I can assure you that these experiences are truly the most precious, for they will guide you to feel God's grace.
When you go through such a course, you will be able to stand more firmly and be a more mature person.
Your character and your spirituality will become well-rounded. And you will be able to feel the kingdom
of heaven deep down in your bone marrow. Such personal experiences will always be your pride. Truly the record of your victory and endurance in those situations will become your pride. (True Mother, 1977/05/03)
True Mother's victory
A True Mother is a loving and caring woman. Sometimes she weeps with her motherly heart, thinking of other people's suffering, and sometimes she enjoys the world with the pure smile of a young girl. When she has something serious to say, people find themselves drawn to listen.
True Father said that it was only through True Mother's victory that he could complete, conclude, and consummate the providence of restoration. He also emphasized that “her selflessness was truly the key to her victory.”
True Father gave an award to True Mother on June 14, 1999. The text of the Award to Congratulate the True Parents and Proclaim Their Cosmic Victory states that True Mother came with the mission to be “God's original daughter and the True Mother of humankind.” She came to earth “according to God's command, bearing the fruit of the providential history of restoration.”
Moreover, she “fulfilled her missions to be a true daughter before heaven, a true wife to her husband, and the True Parent to all humankind as her children.” True Mother's difficult course of restoration through indemnity is something that God alone truly understands and remembers. Yet, she gained victory and thereby established the eternal tradition as a True Parent.
4. As the rightful True Mother, Mother is the mother of her family, the mother of the church, and the mother of the cosmos. As such, she carries a greater responsibility than any woman in history has ever carried. Given her heavy burden, Mother has special strengths and abilities, compared to other people.
First, she was born with keen spiritual intuition. She is extremely insightful and observant about people and things, and her judgment is very accurate and clear. So what comes to her mind is always true.
Second, Mother's heart is loyal toward me, True Father. No matter what others say, she is deeply determined to do whatever needs to be done for the sake of the Will. This is Mother's faith; it is also Mother's conviction. With this kind of faith and conviction, even in the most trying times, she demonstrated remarkable endurance to fulfill the goal. And with that, she gained victory.(1977/02/23)
5. As the True Father, I am deeply grateful that Mother possesses a special disposition toward the Will.
She is never selfish. She always wants to give something not only to her children but also to you, the members of her church family. Whatever precious things she has, she finds joy in giving them to others.
Many people in the world may think that True Mother takes pleasure in possessing many clothes and jewels, but this is quite untrue. Whatever good things she has she wants to give to others, to make them happy.
There were even times when she could not find suitable clothes in her closet because she had given away so many of them to others. One day when the weather suddenly changed, I wanted her to go out with me, but she could not find appropriate clothes for the weather. Of course, she would not be able to follow my tradition unless she lived that way. But I tell you, Mother lives even more frugally than I do. (1977/02/23)
6. Mother fought for seven years in pursuit of the standard of perfection. Those seven years were filled with all kinds of accusations, slanders, false rumors, and misunderstandings that swirled around her, attacking her position in the True Family. All that she endured during that time caused her heart to bleed.
Yet in fact, all of it was necessary. The issue was whether she could overcome everything and be victorious.
Mother was victorious over all of it. She had to remain silent and patiently endure. Amid those circumstances, Mother just waited for those days to pass. No matter what happened, Mother kept silent and endured with faith. Persevering, she made herself an offering with indomitable faith, a faith she maintains to this day.
Eventually, the circumstances turned around, and instead of criticizing her, all the members bowed their heads before Mother, thinking, “She is truly the Mother of the cosmos.” In this way, they came to attend to her with respect. (1977/02/23)
7. Some unbelievable things happened back then. In the end, those people who had accused Mother fell away one by one. But back when those situations were occurring, I was well aware of how to deal with them because I knew the Principles.
I knew how to fulfill my mission as the leader of the Unification Church to bring the final victory. If Mother had not known the Principle, she would have been at a loss, not knowing what to do.
Ultimately, love is the issue. Love is the center of everything, and everything is related to the problem of love. However, this issue of love can drive people to take the wrong direction and even go to extremes. I came to subjugate fallen love and rectify it. This is also to restore the hearts of human beings toward God.
Truly for Mother as well, it has been the cross of love. However, even while enduring all manner of ordeals due to the issue of love, Mother did not utter even one word of excuse. Mother understood, on her own, the significance of these challenges, and just endured. This is why she could be victorious in the end. (1977/02/23)
8. I can testify to Mother; I can testify that she truly brought victory through faith. She has absolute faith in me. Her mother also achieved victory; both are victorious.
After this victory was achieved on the cosmic level, I as True Father decided to give Mother the honor that was her due. Further, her mother is also entitled to receive the respect and honor appropriate to her merit for the rest of her life. If she dies without receiving it, her merit will pass to her descendants.
The fact that I am now relating to Mother differently than in the past is to the Principle.
The process of restoration she completed was that difficult, and her victory was spectacular. So was the victory of her mother (Daemonim). You have no idea how difficult it was. These two women were chosen for the greatest honor and to be in positions of the greatest responsibility. Yet, they joined the Unification Church in the lowest position and started on their paths from the lowest place.
From this, we can learn a lesson: We must not expect to receive God's blessings in the most glorious and exalted place; we receive them only after we overcome the lowest and most miserable situations that human beings can ever know. Only then can His blessings stay with us eternally and expand to embrace all humanity. (1977/02/23)
Dr. Sun Myung Moon