The Words of the Burrowes Family

Is Sun Myung Moon the Christ?

Barbara Burrowes [van Praag]
August 1970


Barbara Burrowes

I was born forty years ago in Georgetown, Guyana, South America, the first of three children. By the time I was aged three I had been already baptized three times: first in the Moravian church because my father was studying for the ministry, secondly in the Catholic church because my mother was a convert to Catholicism and lastly at home, with water from the Jordan River, brought by an American tourist who was having her portrait done by my father. Naturally, all these baptisms did not prevent me from being Satan's target, In Fact, at a very early age, I already saw into the spirit world but only the lower spheres and one time even Satan himself appeared and duly slapped me because I screamed. I was plagued with horrible dreams and by horrible spirits all on sex. I was also able to identify evil people and the evil in people and very often predicted about death and sinister happenings. This was too much for my mother who had blessed me and made me sleep with a light. I had an active inquiring mind and the question I asked on the universe was then quite unanswerable. But, living in a home, frequented by learned men and Jesuit priests, gave me the possibility of listening to many things.

I was reared in Catholic schools by nuns and priests and very soon became an ardent bigot. When I was about ten years of age or thereabout, a strange phenomenon began to occur. At 3 a.m. I would rush to the window but on reaching it nothing has been and the noise ceased. This continued for year and I soon began sleeping for only four hours nightly. This made me more meditative and I began to frequent the church daily. I soon began drawing away from my parents and people.

I did not love from them, but on the other hand I was not an affectionate child. I began seeking the love I needed from Jesus and the attachment was so close that I began praying that he would let me feel his suffering and explain to me why he had to suffer. It was during this period that I intuitively felt that Jesus was not God but a man sent by God. The relation was so strong that I decided to become a Carmelite nun. But my father opposed this idea very strongly and began telling me what nuns and priests were really like. He told me that I must not try to escape life and that I would be able to do much more for humanity outside. By this time I was already a primary school teacher and had already taught in high school, Catholic schools. But I was not satisfied with my life, I was not happy at home. I felt that my parents were strangers and when the male of the species came near me and talked about being in love, I got rid of them quite quickly.

I told them that only God know how to love. I began making arrangements to leave home and in May 1953, I tearlessly said goodbye to the land of my birth and headed for England. In London I changed profession and became a nurse and midwife. I was offered a university scholarship for the purpose of becoming a sister tutor but I had to have another two year experience before entering. I left England and went to the United States of America where I did a post graduate course in nursing at the famous Mayo Clinic.

All this time I was a staunch Catholic but America shocked me so much that I was no longer a bigot. I discovered that even the priests and nuns were racists and the people who treated me best of all were Protestants. America made me think quite a lot and I began searching for a solution to its discriminatory problems to my disgust I found that most Americans hated some ethnic group or other. It made me quite upset because I realized the mental strain that everyone went through. In Guyana, I was accustomed to its six races living in comparative harmony (that was before communism came), in England, during the period that I was there, one was treated according to one's compartment and education. I therefore, sought refuge in reincarnation, for me it was the only solution. My mind now turned to singing and so I made plans to go to Italy and not return to England as I had promised. I thought that these were my plans, I discovered later that these were God's.

Before going to Italy I stopped in at Guyana, I wanted to stay three months. But my mother got wind of my father's plan of marrying me off and told me about it. So after one month's stay I sailed for Naples. I began studying music but by the end of April I was still without a job, and malnutrition began showing. I was sent a train ticket to London but I determined to stay, so I began a novena to the Virgin of Pompeii. On the eighth day NATO called me for a job which was never before given to a civilian. After three years, the job ceased, so I left for Rome.

In Rome I suffered from all the things that I had never experienced before: love, hunger and lack of faith in God and myself. It was then that Jesus came to me and told me to leave where I was living. He gave me communion with his own hands and bade me return to him because he had something wonderful to give me but it was necessary for me to keep very close to him.

I then decided to leave Italy for good, but just as I was about to leave, a friend whom I had in Naples invited me to share her lodgings with her. It was in this house I met Doris [Orme]. One evening we had a friend in to supper and all I could talk about concerned spiritual matters. The guest became quite bored and so as to make me change conversation said that she would introduce me to an American woman whom she had only just met and with whom I could discuss such matters. This was in May 1965.

As soon as I met Doris I told her about my belief in reincarnation and about the 3 a.m. phenomenon. She gave me Divine Principles to read. As soon as I opened the book I began swaying back and forth like someone in a trance and felt an enormous force of energy right above me. 1 became afraid. I closed the book. The next day Doris returned and I told her what had happened. She explained what it was and encouraged me to read on. I accepted two right away, and the sexual dreams which still troubled me ceased forever. When I read about Jesus, I accepted the logic of it all but I had promised my mother to remain Catholic. Doris advised me to pray about it.

I entered a church in Piazza Del Popolo and I lifted up an earnest prayer to God. I asked him to show me a sign that this was truth. I asked him to let me feel how Jesus suffered on the cross. Before long I felt as if someone was tearing my heart out, stabbing me mercilessly. I felt such great sorrow that I should never be able to explain it in words; then I began crying, but it was not me who was crying. The tears rolled in torrents and I could not stop them. I returned home and gradually came to the end of the book. Was I dreaming? Was the Christ really on earth? Was Sun Myung Moon the Christ?

Doris again advised me to pray. On the third night I had the most wonderful experience. Heavenly fire began burning me up, I begged God to take away this fire, nothing happened it only increased. I begged Jesus to take this fire away, again nothing happened and the fire increased. I remembered that Doris had told me that Sun Myung Moon had great power and that it was enough to call on him if I needed help. So I said, in the name of Sun Myung Moon take this fire away. It ceased. An oriental figure clad in gold appeared on my right seated in oriental fashion. I felt a great weight on the right side of my body. Behind me a big built man who looked like Moses appeared. I stood up and began singing taller and the room increased to three times its size, then a short little man with a silver salver came and offered to serve me. Later Doris showed me the picture of the Master who was without doubt the oriental man clad in gold.

I have had several experiences since. In one I was led to a house which became our first center. Right behind us Martin Porter, now leading in Italy used to live and a few streets away Marion Dougherty [Porter] who is turning the tables in a different direction for Father in Las Vegas.

Last year, after the Master and Mother visited Italy, I was asked to remain in Milan for a short while and then leave for Guyana. So for the third time I began preparing to leave Italy. However, the Master brought us such spiritual power that in a short space of time many people were studying deeply into Principle and there was no one prepared enough to teach and guide them. So once more I had to postpone my departure. I am working as a translator.

Heartfelt thanks to our beloved Master and Mother for this great day. Thanks to Doris for having brought me in.

In Their Precious Names

Barbara Burrowes 

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