Truth is My Sword, Volume II

by Bo Hi Pak

Chapter 16 Preparing for Yankee Stadium

New York, New York
February 1, 1976

With preparations for Yankee Stadium in full swing, Father has asked Mrs. Won Pok Choi to visit and give her testimony to the members. When she concludes, Dr. Pak shares about the value of working for God's providence, using as an illustration a meeting in the 1960s with Arthur Ford, the famous American medium.

More than anyone else, Mr. David Kim scares me! [Laughter] This morning I do not intend to give you any additional sermon of any kind. It is certainly not scheduled, it is certainly not my intention; but more important, above all, is listening to Mrs. Choi. She has such a beautiful testimony, which is stronger than any other message coming from the brain or mind. It is coming from the life she lives. There is no more powerful testimony than your own personal experiences with God and True Parents. This is why Father, before he left, personally instructed her to come. I'm very fortunate that I could be with you this morning to listen to this portion of her testimony.

Even though I lived through this period of Unification Church history and have served True Parents and Mrs. Choi for many years, this beautiful testimony revealed to me many things that were new. I'm sure I heard this testimony before in Korea. At that time, however, I wasn't spiritually mature enough to grasp its meaning. Now everything comes to me with such a bubbling new enthusiasm. It gives me a new height of understanding of God and True Parents.

How truly great our True Parents are. In one word, how great we are simply because we belong to the True Parents. Not because of our own right, but because of the Master, the son of God. Truly God is centered upon this one man. The world will change in accordance with the will of God as revealed through this one man.

No matter what America is saying against him today or how they quibble over his words and say nasty things about him, I want you to know that this is the opportunity that God has given to us to stand up for our great cause and the great Parents. So that up in heaven someday, when we all end up there in the one great family of God, we have something to say in front of our Heavenly Father. We have something to be proud of in front of the throne of God. I welcome this severe confrontation in America before Yankee Stadium, because, in a sense, it is a great blessing. It's a different form of blessing. God has given us this particular opportunity so that we can stand up for Him. He's giving us a chance to sacrifice ourselves in the name of God.

Think of it, Mrs. Choi being thrown out of her school. Despite receiving persecution and unwarranted treatment by the school, the society, and the government, she was jubilant because she had tranquility and true peace with God. There was no power that could deter her march toward the kingdom of God. She has a beautiful testimony. In future generations, she will be used by God as a living example so that everyone can really see God and His love through her life.

No Smooth Path

In our way toward heaven, we must not expect a smooth and rosy path. This is not the blessing. That would be, in a way, a curse. We must expect a hard path from God. This is where we can prove ourselves worthy of God.

Throughout my life in the Unification Church, God and True Parents have been very good to me. I'm not worthy of such treatment. I'm grateful, but at the same time it is my prayer every day that God will bestow hardship on me so I can prove myself in His sight.

The other day we had a grand strategy meeting for Yankee Stadium at the 43rd Street headquarters. I simply stated to our members gathered there, the leadership, that we must be prepared to be sacrifices for the success of Yankee Stadium. For us, we have already conquered death. Death cannot deter us or stop us. Eternity has already started. Don't expect your eternity will start the day you die here on earth. Not at all. Eternity started when we met the True Parents. And eternity is maturing every day.

So, whether the physical body drops dead someday, or even tomorrow, it doesn't make any difference; we are in eternal life. But the important thing I am praying for is, God please use this body. This particular bullet is the most useful, most effective weapon for You. I don't want to just drop dead. Father, I want to be willing to die for You for a meaningful purpose. My prayer is that Father will give me an opportunity to explode like an atomic bomb, so that it can affect millions of people at one stroke. Father, I want to die that kind of death. Father, if You can use me for that kind of opportunity, that kind of sacrifice, I'll not only be willing but it will be a great honor.

We must feel the same way. We are giants, not because we are great but because True Parents are great. God is great. Because we are so close to God, you see, we are giants. Each one of you is a radiant segment of God, the sun of the spiritual heaven, or small suns.

A Shining Sun

When you open up your spiritual eyes, you can see that Reverend Sun Myung Moon is a shining sun. I do not have these kinds of spiritual experiences. But I do know, through my experiences and learning the Divine Principle, that this is true. I will give you one example. I do not know how much you have heard about Arthur Ford. He is deceased now, but Ford was known as the foremost American medium, with the capability to communicate between the spirit world and this world. He wrote a book about the world unseen-the fantastic phenomena that Mrs. Choi touched on. There are unseen phenomena in a reality that exists alongside this physical world.

It is pity that physical eyes just don't see this world, but that does not mean it does not exist. Actually, the visible world we think is real is not the real world. Our world is the world of shadow. The real world is the world of spirit, in which we are going to live for eternity. But there are some gifted people who can communicate with or can see that world, and Arthur Ford was indeed one.

Some years ago, in 1965, Father made his first visit to America. I was in Washington, leading the Washington center. I was a missionary in Washington, D.C., and was very honored to have Father come to our center, which was actually my home, for three months. That was a most precious opportunity. Of course, Mrs. Choi was alongside Father, assisting him at every moment. One day we visited Philadelphia to see all the historical sites that were the cradle of this nation. Then, upon an invitation, we went to meet Arthur Ford. Ford suggested he have what he called a sitting.

He wanted to communicate, to see what the spirit world would say. This is written in his book, so I'm not going into detail. I'm sure many of you have read it. The moment Ford put a handkerchief on his head, lying back in a chair and breathing deeply about three to five minutes, the atmosphere become solemn, dignified, and very strange and mysterious.

I was so curious about what was happening. I was like a three-year-old child. My eyes were popping out like this. The first word Ford spoke, his voice had changed; in other words, he was not speaking but was unconscious. He was speaking as an instrument of the medium, an instrument of the spiritual person in the other world, whose name was Fletcher. Fletcher used Ford's lips and organs, and his voice was entirely different from Ford's a few minutes before.

As Fletcher spoke, Ford's lips moved. He said, "This whole room is shining in a radiant sun. In the Bible, God ordered Moses to take off his shoes before he was given the revelation, because that was a holy place." Fletcher told all of those in the room to take off their shoes, because they were in the presence of a great master of God. He said the whole room is radiant like the sun and you would not be able to open your eyes if you really could perceive the strength of this light. You would be blinded by the light, its intensity is so strong.

When Father speaks, the entire spirit world sees that he is radiant, like a sunbeam. By living such a life-such an intense life that gives true power, energy, and life-we in turn, become radiant light. This is what the Divine Principle teaches.

When the spirit man is in formation stage, it is not quite mature, so you are like a transparent body; you can see through it. There is no real substance in it. But when you come to the growth stage, you are like a moon, becoming radiant but not yet giving off your own light. When you become a divine spirit, however, you will become a radiant sun, a life-giving soul. That is the goal of life. We want to mature into that kind of life-giving person, a radiant sun.

Talk To God All Day

Here in America, our movement does not talk too much about miracles, strange experiences, and so forth. But they are happening. Furthermore, the more difficulty we face, the greater the revelation will be. When our hardworking fund-raisers are out in the street, there is no leader, there is no one to speak to, no one is really friendly; you are out in the desert, one-to-one with God. All day long, you can call on the name of God: Unless You help me, I cannot accomplish my mission. This is how our brothers and sisters really discover God's presence so close. This is a wonderful blessing.

At the same time, about 300 pioneers are working in the field. I met one pioneer working in Washington, D.C., yesterday. His name was Eugene Kenedy. He was riding a bike, and he had on a heavy coat. He was moving from one street to another, witnessing from morning to night. When I saw him, he had no home, no real place to go, only a sleeping bag with him. But his face had such radiant, sparkling eyes; I have never seen a man so healthy looking. I shook hands, and we had a wonderful chat. He witnessed to me and I witnessed to him.

Yes, don't you know, even after becoming members, we must witness to each other. Do you see that? This is very, very important! Mrs. Choi this morning witnessed to you. And you witnessed to yourself or to others. We must grow and mature. Don't ever think, since I sent in my application to the Unification Church, I'm already in heaven. Not at all. That is merely a condition that you are entitled to, enter heaven, but you haven't yet.

So we must witness to each other. How beautiful it is if we meet on a street corner. Somebody approaches you, not knowing you are already a member of the Unification Church, and tries to talk about Reverend Moon earnestly, to talk about the new revelation, the new world coming, the true love of God. You will be on cloud nine instantly, just from looking at the living example.

So, we are never alone. I thought the United States was a pretty big country. Now I bump into our members on every street corner! It is not a big country after all. Really, you go out and bump into our members at every corner. Particularly, when Yankee Stadium comes closer, we will bump into each other 10 times, 100 times a day. How will you feel? Oh, one brother is already covering that corner, and my sister is covering that street corner. Over there is my elder sister. There's my leader fighting very strongly. The whole city will be covered completely, so that not even one small peanut can leak out. That kind of feeling is so wonderful. We witness to each other. So I had a chat with Eugene Kenedy on the street, with his bike. Soon we will bump into our members in every corner of this world.

I want you to know True Parents arrived safely in Korea. At the very moment of their arrival, they took up their heavy burdens. He will come back with great news. I have great anticipation. I am leaving tomorrow for Korea. I will serve him as much as I can while I am in Korea. I prepared a good report for him. Most important, I will report about this testimony, your gathering here, and so forth.

In the early days of the church in Korea, I was not the earliest member. Mrs. Choi was there, and Mr. David Kim, our dear elder brother. When I came, I was truly like a little baby; I was very young. I was a young-looking Korean officer. They said, "baby officer." I had very big cheeks. Anyway, I came and mingled with the early pioneering church members in 1957.

In those days, there was such beautiful harmony and brotherly love. As Mrs. Choi indicated, there was pure brotherly love morning to night. It was truly heaven. We miss those days very much. However, we must recreate such scenes here in America. We are pioneering today. America is celebrating its bicentennial. Actually, the Unification Church is in the early first century of the movement in America. You are the pioneers! So, there is no reason why we cannot duplicate such a beautiful tradition such as that back in 1950, 1955, or 1957 here in America. Let's have no dull moments; there is no such thing in our life as routine. In life with God, there is no routine; there is no repetition of anything. Every day is a new creation, a new challenge.

I would like to challenge you. Until Father and Mother come back, please pray hard. Already a 120-day prayer vigil has started. Yankee Stadium is a little over 100 days ahead of us. We're getting closer. I really want you to get yourself ready until Father and Mother's return, so that they will feel that we are truly ready for the great victory in Yankee Stadium. This is your job. I'm leaving tomorrow morning for Seoul. We have a conference today, and we'll gather all the reports.

As you know, Father and Mother's birthday is January 6 on the lunar calendar. On the solar calendar, it's February 5. Literally in every word, every sentence, Father and Mother were predestined by God 6,000 years ago. They were born on the same day, although 23 years apart. God prepared it that way.

Whatever cards you make, whatever wishes you want to convey, no matter how big my package would be, I would be most happy to carry them. In addition, I will carry to Korea your spirit, your zeal, to present to the True Parents and at the same time share with the Korean brothers and sisters.

So thank you very much, once again, our dear elder brother David Kim, for giving me a very charming introduction, which I do not deserve. What he's saying is that you should live up to that introduction, so I will do my best. Meanwhile, I would like you to enjoy the testimony of Mrs. Choi in the following weeks. Do not miss this meeting. It's very, very important. By listening to her, when Father comes back you can enjoy Father's message. You can understand him far better. This is truly a great opportunity that I want you to grab. Take advantage of this particular period, and let us truly live up to our True Parents' expectation.

Thank you very much!

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