Witnessing, Education, and Revivals

Witnessing conditions

The 40-day summer witnessing and education, which began on July 20, 1960, for Parents after True Parents' Holy Wedding, ignited our membership nationwide for the cause of restoring the Korean people.

A total of 659 members were sent out to 413 areas in Korea. In Seoul, door-to-door visits and Divine Principle lectures were organized, and witnessing took place in the major parks, including Pagoda Park.

During this period, the Unificationist family united in heart with True Parents. They ate meager meals together with True Parents for 40 days and overcame all kinds of hardships and persecutions.

1. The 40-day witnessing period was established as a condition to indemnify the 4,000 years of history from Adam to Jesus and the 4,000 years of history from Abraham until now. In crossing over this summit, no matter how wide or long the road is, there is only one road. It is the fastest road, the road of indemnity.

There is the journey of 4,000 years and the journey of 40 years. Both center on the number 40. To go over this summit, we must create a shortcut. This representative period is none other than the 40-day witnessing period. (024-115, 1969/07/13)

2. The 40-day witnessing periods, which were carried out both in summer and winter, will go down in history. In these periods, we had to pass over a summit that no one had been able to conquer before. We had to travel a stretch of road that has been impassable until now.

This is the issue. You must walk that road, if not during your lifetime, then after your death. People who seek the heavenly path are always lonely, and people who bear heavenly responsibility are always serious. As Unificationist family members, you may find it easy to be a follower, but those who have to lead can never sleep deeply.

Victory or defeat depends on the actions of the responsible one.
(024-158, 1969/07/27)

3. The Unification Church began carrying out 40-day witnessing conditions in earnest from 1960. This is because, instead of living our lives bound by our daily circumstances, we needed to push outward, expanding into the future. To accomplish this, we needed to connect with every sphere of life in the world.

All human beings symbolize not only the era in which they live but also the future and their environment, as well as the past – all these together. What this means is that you are a living representative of the past, of your historical age, of this world, and of the future. People who live such a life are worthy indeed.
(167-207, 1987/07/19)

4. You should eat barley rice during the 40-day summer witnessing period. You need to be a sacrificial offering. A sacrificial offering has no self-awareness or concept of ownership.

After passing through the position of servant and the position of adopted son, we need to advance to the position of sons and daughters. Jesus was a sacrificial offering.

He tried to become the high priest, but because of the disbelief of the people, he died as a sacrificial offering. The Lord at the Second Advent comes in the capacity of the high priest. Thus, we can advance to the position of children.

On the morning of January 1, 1960, I said to you, “For three years, you must stand in the position to serve. Carry the heart of parents in your mind, and stand in the position of a servant. You should become a sacrificial offering by shedding blood, sweat, and tears.

By doing so, you advance to the position of high priest to bear the responsibility of atonement, and you advance to the position of sons and daughters to represent Father and judge Satan!”

This is our motto and the main principle of our practice, as sons and daughters who think like Father, your blood, sweat, and tears must saturate the road as they connect the village with the village.
(011-175, 1961/07/09)

5. To become sons and daughters of True Parents, you need to establish the condition, by the principle of indemnity, for rebirth through the bone marrow of the Parents. Only then can you be in the position of sons and daughters?

The 40-day witnessing periods spanning the three years from 1960 through 1962 were indemnity conditions for this. During these periods, we ate barley rice. Why did we have to eat barley rice? It was because those three years were a time of paying indemnity.

These were the periods to restore and go beyond the four-position foundation, centering on True Parents' direct children. It was the period for you to establish the Cain-Abel relationship centering on Parents and, in this way, to unite Cain and Abel. (026-310, 1969/11/10)

6. There is a path by which we take responsibility for the sorrowful history following the liberation of Korea and for the hope our people have held. That is the path of unification. And if there were such people, they were none other than the members of the Unification Church.

This is the reason the Unification Church has come forth and cannot perish. When we went out to witness, everyone of all ages cornered and attacked us. We were filled with grief when we were ridiculed. Our hearts are filled with sorrow. Tears gathered and fell like dewdrops.

As we gazed at the sunrise, we pinned our hopes on tomorrow when we would greet the bright sunlight of a new day. With that hope, we endured today as a day of sorrow and perseverance.

The approaching night was, for us, a time to bear the cross. Living each day in this manner, many years have passed. Our Unificationist group, which was hounded in the past, has somehow come to be recognized for loving the nation and loving the people.

It is now acknowledged that we are fighting and endeavoring for this country. Therefore, today, when people speak of religious groups, they cannot exclude the Unification Church. We have laid a foundation such that the people who persecuted us are now on bent knees, welcoming us with tears. (028-296, 1970/02/11)

True Parents' regional tours

During the 40-day summer witnessing campaign of 1960, True Parents traveled around Korea for 21 days, from July 30 to August 19, visiting the witnessing locations and giving encouragement to the education team members.

The witnessing teams who were pioneering received the True Parents' party with tears of gratitude. True Parents spent time with the members, listening attentively to their reports, sometimes staying up all night because they were so absorbed, speaking to them, and sharing their meals of boiled barley. True Parents continued to make regional tours for three tours.

7. I vividly remember the time in 1960 when I sent you out to witness and tour around to visit you.

Today, when I go on a tour, and people hear I am coming, numerous members line up on the path to greet me. But more than with them, God makes the connection of heaven and earth in the mind of the person whom He sees standing anxiously alone in a place where the cold wind blows.

When the people I sent out, looking like sentinels in the world of death, still raise the flag of heaven, pledging their lives and bowing their heads to pray with devotion – God is with them. In light of this, we can see that a connection of heart with God is formed when we are in a difficult situation.

When people hunted and pursued Elijah, he appealed to God, saying, “I am the only one left” (1 Kings 19:10), God was with him in heart. Since God was with him, the decisive power of victory was newly given to Elijah. (017-083, 1966/11/12)

8. At the time I toured the districts in Korea for 21 days, I prayed, “This road is now a rough mountainous road, but in the future, the Unification Church family members will make a road here that many motorists will call the best road there is.” This road is not just the road of an individual.

It is the road that continues for all. Among you, there may be some who strut down it, thinking it is a temporary road. But I am not like that. It is not a temporary road. This is the road that people, all humankind, those in the spirit world, and even Heavenly Father must walk.

When the individual, family, society, people, citizens of the nation, those in the spirit world, and even God travel on this road, they will say, “My sons and daughters will find this road very smooth!” (012-162, 1963/03/16)

9. When I toured the local districts, I often slept outside. In the time of pioneer witnessing, everyone did so. I would ride in a jeep 24 hours, night and day. There was no place to sleep, so we slept in the jeep.

I had that kind of training. If I slept out in the open, I would be wet with dew by morning, so I slept in the jeep. The time I spent in it was a time for resting. If my destination was even 30 minutes away, I would close my eyes and fall asleep immediately. (227-191, 1992/02/11)

10. When I tour the district churches, I see that the Unification Church members are living in very miserable places. Every time I see that, I pray to God, “Heavenly Father, please be with them!

When I lived in such circumstances, You were there with me, and when I stood in such a position on Your behalf, didn't You encourage me, saying that there is still a way I can go? Please form such a connection with them, too.”

Do not use the word “miserable” to describe the place you are in now. Even in a miserable place, you need to appear as a person who can sing a triumphant song of goodness. To do so, you need to become princes and princesses of God who can judge the evil world.

You need clearly to understand my position as the Teacher, the one who had no choice but to drive you out to the place where sharp winds blow and stormy waves crash.

When you know that you love God and that He loves you, you will leave the precious and comfortable position that fulfills your hope in this world and go out to the place where you can hold on to God's heart and appeal to Him. (016-255, 1966/06/19)

11. When I go on a regional tour, many times I face the members with tears. When I see how they endure the most difficult situations, I am filled with sorrow. But, the more miserable you are, the more you can become one in heart with God. God is deeply moved when He meets you in the place where you declare that you will suffer for Father's sake, the place where you call out His name even while you are starving.

In the place where you are confined behind bars and beaten while working for God's Will, where you shed tears as you are tortured, that's where the heart of God bursts.

While you are in such a place, you need to pledge that you will win the titles of filial child and loyal patriot in front of Father.

Since no one in history has been like that, you should comfort God, saying you will liberate history's sorrowful martyrs. Once you understand God's historical heart, you promise the martyrs, “This is the road you walked. I, too, will walk this road to comfort you and resolve your sorrow. I promise to do so now, without fail.”
(156-322, 1966/12/25)

12. I toured around Korea often. I thought as I drove over the rough roads of Gangwon Province, “If only this road were a little wider, even by a foot!” This was something that the driver felt as well.

Therefore, when we pave our road, it should not be a narrow one that can be traveled only by an individual or a family. When we are building a road, we should make it wide, even if it means we have to work much harder and sacrifice more.

Then what kind of road should be paved by the family members of the Unification Church, who are pioneering the road of historic destiny? You are the pioneers who work for our people and all humanity.

You hold invisible pickaxes and rakes in your hands. You would rather not receive criticism from your descendants, such as “If only they had improved this little!”

Instead, you should construct a road that will make them look back and wonder, “How on earth did our ancestors build a road such as this?” You are the pioneers who are meant to make such a road. (012-161, 1963/03/16)

13. Once, in 1960, I went on a 21-day tour. I want Japanese members to explore these roads I traveled. I will tell them, “I took a 21-day tour on narrow, bumpy dirt roads riding a shaky jeep. This was during the period of pioneer witnessing, a time of persecution. Now, these roads have become holy ground, so you should walk on them with your shoes off.”

When I tell them this, they will walk down those roads barefoot. When they do that, the people who are waiting for them to pass by will fill the roads in the small and narrow places of the Korean Peninsula.

After the Japanese members have done that and have returned to their country, I will have the American members come and do the same. It will be a competition between them. When that happens, those with a sense of urgency will fly here in advance and wait for the others.

There will come a time when I will have people walk barefoot along the course I have toured. You should be grateful that you do not have to take your shoes off when you walk that road because such a time will come.

Christian pilgrims touring Jerusalem walk the roads with care and look as if they have come into an entirely different world, the kingdom of heaven. When you see that, can't you picture how wonderful a country this nation of Korea will become?

Even Mecca of the Muslims, a place in the desert, is constantly visited by pilgrims.

Korea will become so much greater than this in the future. Therefore, we need to make Korea a prosperous country. (046-184, 1971/08/13)

Workshops

The first witnessing workshop was held from January 10 to February 20, 1959. Thereafter, witnessing workshops were held on numerous occasions to educate core witnessing members.

In the case of those who had day jobs, they obtained the same qualification by attending a 10-week evening program. Particularly at the 9th National Witnessing Workshop held from November 5 to December 14, 1961, True Parents emphasized that the most important thing was for them to know about God and His Will and, for that, they had to know history, the present f tour's future.

True Parents also asked the workshop attendees to remain eternally as members of the Unification Church and to become leaders in word, action, ideology, life, and heart.

14. The purpose of learning the Word is to train our character and prepare our hearts. We must become people who, understanding the heart of God, can defeat Satan and bring those on Satan's side over to ours.

Only then can we triumph over Satan and enjoy the glory of that victory. I am trying to make you into heavenly soldiers who can embrace feeling shame, sorrow, or bitter grief; who can pledge to win without fail, unite perfectly, and fight until our enemy completely surrenders. (010-300, 1960/11/11)

15. Even if you are in a difficult environment, you should not criticize your situation. You should be able to digest every circumstance and condition. Since you have set out pledging that you will do so, you should not complain.

You need to stand in the public position and not think only of yourself. You are in a historic position in the universe, in which you represent heaven and earth and the will of the whole.

Therefore, as you stand in this position of responsibility, you need to make a resolution and pledge. After being trained for outreach activities, you need to go out as a leader. (010-296, 1960/11/11)

16. You workshop participants who are in a position of extreme sorrow need to discover yourselves. You need to feel this keenly. You are the sorrowful ones who are the focal point in solving the problem.

Since you are the descendants of a sorrowful history, you need to take responsibility for resolving God's sorrow on His behalf. When judgment is taking place, you should comfort God in His bitter sorrow and say,

“Don't judge these people who have become evil!” You should be able to say, “We are Your loyal patriots and filial children, so, in looking at us, please find it within Yourself to forgive those who are with us!” This alone allows you to remain in the new age.

To comfort God in His pain, you, too, need to be in a position of pain. To comfort God in His sorrow, you, too, need to be in a position of sorrow. Sinful history will end only when His sons and daughters say, “Let us go forth to attend God, who is infinitely sorrowful.

Let us go forth to console God, who is infinitely sad. Let us go forth to resolve the vexation of God, who has infinite bitter grief.” You must know how to harbor a heart that burns with indignation toward Satan while praying for the world and humanity. (010-299, 1960/11/11)

17. God searches for His children on the front line. He searches from the lowest point and comes up from there. God needs followers who believe in the concept of the chosen people of heaven. You need to set out from the position of being at the bottom of society. Look clearly at this world.

Since the affairs of the world turn in accord with the movement of heaven, you need to have faith. I am pioneering this path and training you in this period of three years to make you the final victors. (011-043, 1960/12/20)

18. Even though we harbor sorrows, we should not lament over them, for we know the sorrows of God. If there is a group that stands up before society, saying, “Tell us your sorrow so that we can take responsibility for it and banish your grief through our perseverance, sacrifice, and even death,” that group will be living, substantial embodiments of God's Will, owners who can judge good and evil on this earth.

God has been waiting for 6,000 years, wondering what people or what religious denomination will emerge to do this. He has suffered more than us, hovered on the verge of death more times than us, and gone through more trials and sorrows in His heart than us. He has struggled and endeavored and yet failed to find a place of rest. We need to know our Heavenly Father as He is.

Knowing Him as He is, we should also understand the fact that Heavenly Father has worked throughout history because of us, that He is working for the Will of providence in this age because of us, and that He is endeavoring with hope for the future because of us.

It is our destiny to become filial children in front of a Father who works hard for our sake. Only the people who can set out, saying that they will take responsibility for this on behalf of all people, can become the workers of the new age, those who can lead and manage heaven's work in the new age.
(010-242, 1960/10/16)

19. Now that the witnessing workshop has come to an end, your participants need to depart to places throughout South Korea. People who feel concern for their country are patriots, and people who feel concern for God are His sons and daughters.

People who work for their country give birth to children who also worry about the future of their country. If you study the world, you will see that a country that possesses such people and such citizens does not perish. Only such people can set right the old, wrongful history.

You need to become people who are in accord with the heart, hope, and circumstances of God. Do not worry about the survival of your body and mind. Be concerned first about the village you are going to.

You can find the hope, circumstances, and heart of God in that place. Your main concern should be to transform the sons and daughters of sin into the sons and daughters of God. You should never forget that God is worried about today's individuals, societies, peoples, nations, and the world. I have not once forgotten these during the 40 years of my life. (012-100, 1962/12/10)

Lecturing throughout Korea

For four weeks, from September 16 to October 13, 1963, Autumn Special Revival Meetings were held in 1,420 places to harvest the results achieved on the foundation of the three-year witnessing campaign and to prepare the basis for a fresh new start.

The eight districts in Korea were divided into two regions, north and south, with four districts in each. The revival meetings were concentrated on the district level, with the first series held September 16 to 22 in 300 locations in Gyeonggi Province in the northern region and in 250 locations in North Gyeongsang Province in the southern region, with a final series ending on October 13.

True Parents clarified that Korea needs to be born anew through the Unification Principle and encouraged the members, telling them to hold on to the 30 million people of Korea and run forward. If they stumble, they should quickly stand up and keep moving forward again so that Korea can become the central nation in the global providence, recognized as such by the rest of the world.

In addition, Divine Principle lecture meetings were held frequently in places of True Parent's special interest, including a series of Divine Principle lectures held over seven days, December 5 to 11, in Daegu.

20. For 28 days in September and October 1963, we divided Korea into northern and southern regions and held special revival meetings across the nation. When will this nation take root and establish itself?

It will happen only after the teachings that heaven is working to establish have taken root. It cannot happen before then. Heavenly law is like that.

This country cannot secure its position until God secures His position. God's Will is with them, but if the many religions that lead the spirit of these people cannot stand before the Will of God, then these people will not be able to secure their position either. (013-042, 1963/10/16)

21. In April 1964, a Divine Principle lecture meeting was successfully held in Daegu. Since God is with us, we need to gather our courage and fight. We need to have the conviction that, even if heaven and earth change, we will not change.

To create the history of heaven, we must burn with the conviction that we will indemnify with our painful bodies the bitter sorrow of Abel that pierces history, heaven, and earth.

We must be filled with the conviction that we will resolve the bitter sorrow of God and that we will accomplish His Will in Jesus' stead. All heaven and earth belong to God and simultaneously to us as well. The general tendency has now changed. Nobody can persecute us anymore.

The misery of the people living in the mountainous districts, suffering and going hungry, is akin to that of God in the past. When we look at the miserable people, we should grab their hands and weep bitterly.

Since those people, who should have become the children of God, are being oppressed by the enemy, when we see that misery, we should weep bitterly.

Even if you go hungry, you should not despair; instead, become loyal patriots who weep bitterly for them. The children who know how to weep bitterly on behalf of the heart of God and their goals Parents are true children. Today's hunger and misery will change into the glory and joy of the future.

You need to love the nation and the people. You need to resemble the unchanging mind toward heaven that Parents have harbored their entire lives. You should not become exhausted or lament during this springtime of your life. Instead, you should shed tears, blood, and sweat with an unchanging heart.
(014-038, 1964/04/28)

22. During the 40-day summer witnessing period, everyone, or at least as many people as possible, should be mobilized. I hope you will not miss this opportunity to participate so that you can achieve the goals of body Heaven's elite troops who have been entrusted with positions of responsibility. Now that we are in the year 1964, we are anxious to tour around the Korean Peninsula.

Therefore, last April, I reassigned the district leaders after the Divine Principle lecture meeting. These days, True Parents worry over how we can prepare to fight during the coming year, 1965. At that time, we will also mobilize more than 2,000 to revive the Korean people. (014-130, 1964/07/17)

23. We need to become examples of loyalty and filial piety in front of heaven for the sake of the people and all humanity. To do so, the lives we lead must conform with the goal and view of heaven and resolve historical sorrows.

Though the Divine Principle lecture meetings were held for only a short period, we were victorious. We need to win over Christianity just as Abel wins over the Cain-type world so that we can make God the God of cosmic historical victory.

If Cain surrenders to Abel, the archangel returns to his original position, and the original Will for creation is accomplished. Unification Church believers must accomplish the Will and win the hearts of the Christian faithful.
(014-037, 1964/04/28)

24. The place where we are with God is the most difficult. We should offer our youth loyalty in front of God. When becoming filial children, it is better to do so while we are young. With the heart with which I held on to God and prayed, you also should practice loyalty and filial piety for your people.

The people who join our church from now will be different from you, who were loyal while enduring difficult circumstances. I dedicated everything during the springtime of my life, and you also should do so in front of God during your youth.

In Daegu, I was unable to hold a Divine Principle lecture meeting like this one until now because the time was not right.

Now that we have spiritually tied things up in Daegu through this Divine Principle lecture meeting, you should return to your districts and win over Christianity by suffering hardships on its behalf. Christianity is Cain, both in spirit and flesh. Christianity has a foundation that has been laid over thousands of years.

You need to have the wisdom with which Jacob won over Esau to win it over. (014-038, 1964/04/28)

25. All Unification Church members should unite to fulfill the responsibility of True Parents in their stead by protecting the family and embracing this people and nation in their hearts.

Establish your position through practicing the Unification teachings. I have instructed that every one of you mobilize and take responsibility in front of heaven to extend and continue the standard with which Parents have lived for God.

These Divine Principle lecture meetings, which will begin throughout Korea on October 1, 1964, are the one time during which you can fulfill your responsibility. You can establish conditions that make up for what you, as a people, have left unfinished in front of heaven.

I have a strong mind to shout out in front of the people and the leaders of Korea to teach the multitudes, move the Korean Peninsula, and resolve its destiny. But I have only them and am unable to do so.

This has been a reason for the sorrow in my heart. Therefore, those of you who are in your 40s, just as I am, should represent me and relieve me from this sorrowful heart by taking the heavenly burden onto your shoulders.

During the six months of the Divine Principle lecture meetings, you should set the indemnity conditions and dedicate yourselves to fulfilling them.
(154-240, 1964/09/18)

26. On the one hand, we can say that the work I have done in the 21 years before 1967 was that of enduring hardships to prepare the stage on which we can carry out our activities in the wider society. There was no other way to achieve this.

When the work I have thus accomplished receives public recognition, that is, when the people of Korea become aware of it, they will intuit that there is enormous content in the background.

From that point, God actually will be able to move history. Therefore, I am calling the Unification Church members to undergo hardships. The results achieved through my guiding them will be reaped in society.

To do this work, you should not be an everyday person but rather the core worker God prepared that human resource pool from early on. Through such preparation, we need to achieve the external standard and complete the internal standard.

Henceforth, no matter how many other churches oppose us, things will not go as they plan. From now on, we will continue holding revival meetings until we make them realize that they misunderstand the Unification Church. Thus, we will expand the environment in which heaven connects to society.
(017-332, 1967/04/30)