Four years passed since the time the Soviet Union was liberated. On March 26, 1994, at Reverend Moon's invitation, Mikhail Gorbachev, former president of the Soviet Union, visited Seoul, South Korea, for the first time. The first stop on his itinerary was Father's residence and working headquarters at Hannam Dong. When Gorbachev arrived, he and Father exchanged a warm handshake of reunion.

As promised, Father had invited Mr. Gorbachev to Seoul. He received the Gorhachevs as his honored guests when he officially opened the second International Conference of the Federation for World Peace, at which the former president was scheduled to deliver the keynote address.

The day the Gorhachevs arrived, the residence in Hannam Dong was busy. Mrs. Moon, eager to return the hospitality that she and Father had enjoyed when visiting the USSR, prepared a special luncheon of traditional Korean food. Besides the Gorhachevs, several prominent church officials were also invited.

Mr. Gorbachev worked up quite a sweat as he attempted to use his chopsticks and spoon in eating the traditional Korean way. But try as he might, it was simply too much for him, and in the end, Mrs. Moon brought him a knife and fork, upon receiving which he expressed. his thanks, saying the now familiar "Subashiha, suhashiha." His voice sounded just the same as when the Moons visited the Kremlin palace. He then attacked his meal of traditional Korean bulgogi (broiled beef) and chapchae (a vegetable noodle dish) with relish. After finishing off the lunch with some sujeong kwa (a kind of cinnamon punch, usually drunk as a dessert), he declared that traditional Korean food was truly magnificent.

Right after lunch was finished, Mr. Gorbachev said there was something he wished to talk with Reverend Moon about in private.

Father took him to another room where they could talk. The only others there were Mrs. Moon, of course, and also Mr. Ricoltal, special assistant and interpreter for Mr. Gorbachev, and myself, as special assistant and interpreter for Reverend Moon.

Once we arrived in the other room, the expression on Mr. Gorbachev's face became very serious. After some moments of silence, he began to talk.

If it hadn't been for your prayers, I would be dead right now. Moreover, I know well the things you did to preserve my life. I owe you my life.

You could see something glistening in Mr. Gorbachev's eyes.

At this point, the reader may feel a bit dubious. What could Mr. Gorbachev have been referring to? The truth is contained in another behind-the-scenes story.

After Reverend Moon completed the historical summit at the Kremlin and returned to the United States, the first enterprise that he established to support the Soviet Union was an education project. He invited elite Soviet students to the United States for weeklong seminars to educate them in Godism and the headwing ideology. Three thousand students who could speak English were invited from all over the Soviet Union, beginning with Moscow University. The project began in June 1990 and within a year, twenty seminars in all were successfully completed. The young elite members of Soviet society who attended these seminars came to know God for the first time in their lives. They tasted true brotherly love, shed many heartfelt tears, and experienced participation in the Unification movement. By the time they returned to their country, they had pledged to rescue the Soviet Union from communism.

When Reverend Moon heard the news of the August 1991 coup d'etat, he immediately sent instructions to the three thousand student leaders directing that they stage demonstrations in opposition to the coup. These students played the core role in the popular wave of resistance that resulted in preserving President Gorbachev's life. They captured the Soviet army tanks in the name of God. The army, of course, could not kill all of the demonstrators, there were so many. With their spirit broken, the mutineer troops then divided into two camps. When this crack appeared in the coup elements, tens of thousands among the general population joined the demonstrations. This became the main force that brought down the coup. What this means is that the work of Reverend Moon is actually present behind the solutions to the incidents that arose at that time. Although it is not well known, Reverend Moon again rendered great service.

Thus former President Gorbachev's true purpose in visiting Korea was to directly thank the person who had been responsible for saving his life.

Mr. Gorbachev continued. "Shortly after I met you in Moscow, there was a coup. I was as sure as dead. The reason I am alive today is because God protected me, and the reason God protected me is because of the prayer you prayed for me that time in Moscow.

"I remembered those words you spoke to me when you visited me at the Kremlin, and I kept them in my heart. When I look back on what has happened since, everything went just as you said it would. So, I think you owe me a bit of praise -- I followed your words to the letter, 100 percent!" said Gorbachev, breaking out into a loud laugh.

"Mr. President," Reverend Moon replied. "You accomplished a great and incredible thing. You gave up the position of president of the Soviet Union, but you have become a "president of the world." That presidency is for life. Nobody will decry your long term in power, either. The name that will remain forever honored in Russian history is not Karl Marx, or Vladimir Lenin, or Joseph Stalin. No, the most honored name will be Mikhail Gorbachev.

`But even more important than that, you have now become an eternal apostle of world peace. Through your wisdom and courage, world peace has been accomplished without war. You have liberated the people of the world from the horror of a terrible nuclear holocaust. Do not feel sorry for yourself, thinking that you have lost something. You have obtained the biggest thing imaginable, an eternal thing, a beautiful thing, a great thing. You have accomplished the will and purposes of God."

"I think the fact that you are alive is a miracle. We should really give the glory for that, and our thanks, to God. It was God who protected you. I'm truly grateful. This was the reason why I simply had to meet you in 1990. It was so that you could inherit the protection of God and providential destiny."

"Mr. President, you are a son of God and He loves you. You are a hero of peace."

Reverend and Mrs. Moon hosted former President Mikhail Gorbachev at their home in Seoul on March 26, 1994.

Once again, you could see tears glisten in President Gorbachev's eyes.

"Reverend Moon, you have comforted me greatly with your words today. Your words give me strength. I intend to dedicate the remainder of my life to working for world peace, and I have established the Gorbachev Foundation in Moscow. Reverend Moon, I believe in you. Please lend your support to this foundation so that I can be a good worker for the cause of peace. I am deeply moved by the work you do. The reason I came to Seoul, in fact, was out of my respect for you."

Reverend Moon concluded their talk with the following words. "President Gorbachev, I am your friend forever. I am also your supporter. The work of peace is something we must do together. Let us all forge ahead for the sake of true peace for worldwide humanity. I won't forget to pray for you."

It was an emotional meeting, a powerful summit no less moving than the one which took place at the Kremlin in Moscow years before. In the end, the talks at the presidential office on April 11, 1990, had changed the face of the globe. Clearly, Reverend Moon's meeting with President Gorbachev in the Kremlin and the prayer he offered for him there was an important condition that preserved the Soviet president's life. It was just as Reverend Moon expected. Aha! How wondrously the providence of Heaven is woven into history! Who could deny that God truly exists and works in human events?

The next day, March 27, at 10 o'clock in the morning, the second World Peace Conference was convened at Seoul's famous Lotte Hotel. Mr. and Mrs. Gorbachev were seated with Reverend and Mrs. Moon on the main stage at the head of the hall.

That day, Reverend Moon delivered his founder's address, "The Fundamental Principles of True Peace," which was followed by former President Gorbachev's keynote address, "Entering the Twenty-first Century." Mr. Gorbachev called for world peace in the future while offering recollections and reflections from the time he was in power. That period of history extended from his rise as general secretary of the Soviet Communist Party in 1985 until the demise of the Soviet empire. It was an eloquent speech.

After the keynote address, there was a ceremony conferring a medal on former President Gorbachev. It was, once again, the AULA's Latin American Order of Liberty and Unity, exactly the same medal that President Gorbachev had been awarded back on April 11, 1991, in his Kremlin office. Up until the time of the second Conference for World Peace, however, the fact of this award had been kept secret from the world. To remove the veil of secrecy, the award ceremony was being held once again, this time formally, publicly. This man, once the most powerful individual in the Soviet Union, the core and suzerain of the entire Soviet empire and supreme communist leader, now received the Great Cross again, this time as a Nobel Peace Prize laureate (1990), as an "apostle of world peace," and in the position of "world president." For both former President Gorbachev and those of us who observed the ceremony, it was a moving moment, unique and exceptional.

In closing this chapter, I'd like to take another, more comprehensive look at this particular question: "Why did the Soviet Union receive Reverend Moon?"

I have written in detail about the background to the Moscow Convention, about how the convention proceeded and about the fruits that it bore. However, whichever way you look at it, the course of events was amazing, almost fantastic. It was not what anyone would expect. It remains as one of the greatest miracles -- greatest puzzles -- of the twentieth century.

My conclusion is as follows: "It was the work of Heaven. The Will of God made it so."

However, there is nothing accomplished by God that is done unilaterally and without connection to humanity, for humanity lives in this physical world. God always works by placing people in the vanguard and working through them. God Himself works in accordance with the "conditions of goodness" that human beings themselves must establish. This is the ideal of Heaven, and it is an ironclad law of the universe. For this reason, the portion of responsibility to be executed by human beings is always a decisive factor. Looking at the history recorded in the Bible, we can see just how many of God's plans have met with failure. In every one of these instances, however, it is not Heaven's failure -- not God's failure-that is recorded. The reason for failure is to be found in the fact that although God always fulfills even up to 95 percent, there is a portion of human responsibility, say 5 percent, that the people fail to fulfill.

When human beings do not fulfill their responsibility and fail to work in accordance with God's plans, there is no choice but for God's Will to be postponed. This is the reason why God's history of salvation for humanity has been extended for over six thousand years (biblically speaking). And for the entire duration, God has been living in sorrow. For Him, the pain has been deep and hard. As the parent of children lost and gone astray, God has been constantly grieving. Rev. Sun Myung Moon clearly and unmistakably perceived this heart of God, and it is his determination that he must liberate God from those very tears of grief.

Dr. Pak introduces his wife, Mrs. Ki Soak Pak, to the Gorbachevs.

Was there ever anyone else in this wide world who uttered the words "the liberation of God"? For most of the world, which does not know for certain that God even exists, the notion of liberating God is almost unimaginable. If even only for this fact alone -- his heart for "liberating God" -- Rev. Sun Myung Moon qualifies fully as Messiah, and fully as the True Parent of humanity. That has always been my conviction and faith.

How, then, was the liberation of the Soviet Union accomplished? How did it come about? Rev. Sun Myung Moon, representing humanity here on Earth, fulfilled completely the 5 percent human portion of responsibility. This then was matched by Heaven, by God's 95 percent portion of responsibility.

But let's put the concrete facts in order.

Rev. Sun Myung Moon moves his focus to the United States.

He conducts a movement for the restoration of the founding spirit of America.

He works and brings about the successful election of President Reagan.

The AULA's Latin American Order of Liberty and Unity medal was bestowed on former President Gorbachev as an "apostle of world peace," at the second International Conference of the Federation for World Peace held in Seoul, Korea, on March 27, 1994.

He establishes the Washington Times.

He successfully facilitates the adoption of the SDI as United States policy.

He advances the CAUSA movement, and promulgates the education of Godism and the headwing creed across the entire globe.

He brings about the successful election of President Bush Sr.

He establishes the International Summit Council (ISC).

He comes up with the "carrot policy" concept and facilitates its being adopted as U.S. policy toward the Soviet Union.

He visits the Soviet Union and meets with President Gorbachev, thus opening a new chapter in history.

Just quickly listing the facts, one comes up with at least the points mentioned above.

Each one of these accomplishments was, for Reverend Moon, a touchstone. Each one of them, a bitter struggle filled with blood and tears. And the fight was always fought by him at the risk of his own life, in the face of personal danger, for he achieved each one while constantly being targeted (and more so than any other person) by the communist forces worldwide.

Vitaly Kobysh, adviser and speech writer to President Gorbachev (he was also chief editor for the Izvestia newspaper) made the following meaningful statement when he visited Japan:

For forty years, we here believed that communism was right and good. But Reverend Moon already knew, forty years ago, that communism was wrong, mistaken. Now that we know, from the results of testing communism for seventy-three years, that it is indeed mistaken, we have to agree with him, and we cannot but recognize that Reverend Moon has been right all this time. This fact is very painful to us.

Then, as if spitting out each separate word, Mr. Kobysh continued. "The path that the Soviet Union must now go is not the path of capitalism. It is the path of headwing thought. We have come to learn of the many errors and fallacies that capitalism contains. For us, then, if we devote ourselves to the headwing creed and practice it more than the capitalist world, then I think that it is even possible for the Soviet Union to take the lead over the free world, and prosper even more. In the midst of our disillusionment, this thought gives us great hope, and even makes us feel a bit good about things."

What a clear, what a lucid, conclusion! Kobysh was such a man of clear wisdom. His support was surely one of the important reasons that President Gorbachev achieved as much as he did.

We can say without exaggeration that this headwing thought was the very reason the Soviet Union was attracted to Reverend Moon and why it accepted him.

Headwing thought overcomes the imitations of both communism (left wing) as well as liberalism, democracy and capitalism (right wing). When humanity has come up against the limitations of both right wing and left wing, then a third alternative that can break through has to appear. That third alternative is the true way, and that is exactly what headwing is.

In September 1989, General Secretary Gorbachev spoke to the General Assembly of the Central Committee of the Republic of Ukraine. He scathingly criticized the Soviet style of socialism that existed up until then, saying he thought that it was "highly imperfect and childishly Utopian." Later that year in November, he published an article in Pravda, the official media organ of the Soviet Communist Party, under the title "Socialist Thought and Revolutionary Perestroika." The article expressed a viewpoint critical of Marxism-Leninism, citing the following reasons:

Marx underestimated capitalism's ability to develop.

Marx failed to foresee (a) the scientific and technological development of the capitalist society, and (b) the democratization of the political system under capitalism.

With the advance of perestroika, President Gorbachev came to search for a new ideological system that would suit Soviet society. What he wasn't looking for was Western democracy, liberalism, or capitalism. For the leadership in the Kremlin, and the leaders in communist China for that matter, there was a source of anguish in their minds. (This was particularly true of President Gorbachev.) They were worried that if they declared that communism was wrong and simply imported the secular democracy, liberalism, and capitalism of the West, then their society would become just as corrupt, with egotism and materialism flourishing, with the same drug problems and AIDS problems sweeping through the population. If on top of that, the principle of free competition were simply left as is, then the law of the jungle would prevail, and even greater discrepancies between rich and poor would develop. Any resolution of the North-South economic divide or ecological problems would he impossible.

For this reason, the leadership of the Soviet Union was vehement in their search for a third alternative. And that was when Reverend Moon's headwing thought came up on the screen. It was this thought, this vision, that made Vitaly Kobysh declare, "We have crossed the ideological divide. We and Reverend Moon are allies. We have become companions of the Unification movement."

There is one related fact about the liberation of Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union that pained Reverend Moon intensely. When the nations of Eastern Europe discarded communism like an old shoe, when they craved for an ideal society and eventually returned to the bosom of the free world, what was it that the free world gave to them? The first thing that the free world exported was AIDS, drugs, free sex, and pornography. And quick on the heels of these were the heartless, self-interested entrepreneurs. They took trashy products that they couldn't sell in the West, then sold them at three, four, five times as much to the newly liberated nations. In the streets of the great cities of the East, brothels and red-light districts stood side by side, prostitutes dressed in gaudy clothes and lured passersby with seductive looks. These were the first fruits of the Western culture that the free world, and particularly the United States, exported.

Who stood forward to welcome those suffering souls, so recently freed from the iron chains of communism? Who reached out to comfort them? They were hungry, starving, but who reached out and handed them so much as a warm piece of bread or some soup? Did anyone go up to them and say, "These are the ethics, the morals, we live by"? Did anyone offer to show them a true way of life?

The fact is that Western civilization, trembling and groaning under the weight of godless, secular humanism, had nothing to offer the liberated communist world.

"Freedom"... Yes, well it could give them freedom. But in the world of western civilization where we currently live, that freedom has become license and self-indulgence. The freedom of drugs, the freedom of AIDS, the freedom of homosexuality, the freedom of abortion. These are the freedoms we are overflowing with. Irresponsible, selfish freedoms. "Responsible freedom" that keeps the ethics and morals that create a good way of life for all people, this is nowhere to be found. People act as they want, any way their desires lead them. There is no spirit of self-control or self-discipline. The standard of absolute value has collapsed, and society has become a place where anyone does as he wants, where good and evil can no longer be distinguished.

Currently, the number of babies born without married parents in the United States each year exceeds one million. The divorce rate is soaring from 50 percent to 75 percent. The concept of two parents is disappearing from among the children of America. More than half of them do not live with their fathers. The concept of a daddy is disappearing like a morning mist under the sun. How can you teach about an invisible Heavenly Father to people who do not even know their own fathers? This is today's reality.

After liberation, the ex-communist world fell directly into disillusionment. "Is this really what we longed for all those years? Is this the freedom we risked our lives and fought for?"

In many cases, they felt anger rather than disillusionment.

There is a saying, "Better the devil you know than the devil you don't know." But for them, the devil they knew was communism. And so we find that, in less than five years after the liberation of communism, movements have arisen in both Eastern Europe and in Russia for reestablishing the Communist Party. What they are saying is that even the old days under communism were better than what they have now. There are nations in Eastern Europe where the Communist Party has been restored to power. Even in Russia the Communist Party is threatening to take power again. Looking at this situation, Reverend Moon feels the most cutting of pains and the deepest anguish.

The free world has to really reflect and examine itself. It has to find the third alternative. It goes without saying that the third alternative is not left wing or right wing, but heading. The world has to be liberated again. Both the liberated communist world and the free world are the same. They both have to be reborn from secular humanism into the sphere of Godism. A new cultural revolution has to occur through the application of headwing thought.

In closing the chapter, let me quote from Alexander Solzhenitsvn, a winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature who now resides in his home country of Russia. These words were spoken on October 17, 1982, while he was visiting Japan. At the time, he was delivering a lecture on the crisis of collapse facing both civilizations, East and West. In the speech, he expresses that without finding God, there is no way to prevent the confusion that now exists in the world. I took the words from an article printed in the Yomiuri newspaper.

Right now, our entire world has a disease. Within the two systems we call America and the Soviet Union, the common factor is breakdown. The breakdown of the family, the loss of desire to work, the deterioration of education, etc. The cause of this is that both systems have held godless humanism (secular humanism) as their starting point. If we do not have what is perfect and noble (God), it will not be long before the world collapses, even if the threat of communism is removed.

We have come to the time when the Soviet Union has already collapsed. Now, it is Western civilization's turn. Anyone can see the symptoms of the breakdown that secular humanism and irreligious capitalism has brought. It is time for our world to change boats, and the boat we have to catch is Godism, the headwing way. Is there any other way? I have yet to see one.

Do we have enough wisdom to avoid destruction, to find the path that will lead to our survival?

The Soviet Union, head of the communist empire, has ended, but this does not mean that communism has ended. Communism has just changed clothes, and continues to live on by means of stealth. Communism is still washing around our society as secular humanism, as materialism.

Let me quote again Solzhenitsyn: "Whether we call it communism or humanism, whenever we cut off God, the result is always the same. We only bring about our own destruction."