The Words of the Kim Family from 2009 and 2010
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The Words of the Kim Family from 2009 and 2010 |
Before I read God's words from True Parents:
"Why do we need a summer witnessing period?" It is so that I can place you in a position to determine your place; by that I mean is, that you stand midway between God and Satan's side and decide to stand with heaven. All human beings must be able to become true people and do what Satan cannot do; therefore at the same time as you restore authority of human beings as it was originally intended in front of heaven, you must indemnify the standard of heart that had caused the harm. In so doing you must raise the standard in your daily life environment so that you will once again attend the heavenly parent. Otherwise you will not be able to become citizens of the heavenly Kingdom. This is the heavenly principle.
Aju!
I would like to read together Father's words about 40-day witnessing and the importance of three spiritual children. Let us read together!
"We decided on 40 days because there are 40 hills to be surmounted. What must you all do to make an indemnity offering? First, you must have a Central Figure. Second, you need a Time Period. Third, you need an object of the condition. For this reason such a time period is essential. Then what is next? You need an object of the condition. The condition you each need to establish is that of finding three new spiritual children. You should find them during the course of this 40-day period. You must offer all your dedicated effort during this time. That is the issue at hand: finding three spiritual children!
Aju!"
Now let us read the Bible! Hebrews, Chapter 11, verses 1 to 3:
"Now faith is being sure of what we certainly do not see". This is what the ancients wrote. By faith we understand that the universe was formed by God's command so that what is seen was not made of what was visible.
Aju!
I am very glad to meet you today, our respected members. We are now at the 4th Sunday of July and with you today I would like to discuss about gaining victory in this summer 40-day witnessing through the offering of our sincerity and dedication. On the 20th of July at 3 pm we had a ceremony; it was a beginning ceremony for the 40-day witnessing and about 150 members of the Cheon Bok Gung congregation attended and today also I hope that this service will have that significance as well as this beginning ceremony; like the providence of the start of this 40-day period.
I would like to be able to speak to you in English in order to convey my heart to you directly in English and I feel very sorry that I am not able to do that. So during the 1st and 2nd services Hyung-jin nim gave sermons with the same content, but I would like to speak centering on Father's words regarding this 40-day witnessing period.
This is, clearly of course, the warmest period of the year; already we are sweating a little bit but we have this tradition in our church of spending 40 days each summer focusing on witnessing. Some people may feel that it is a burden to their hearts that we have this tradition every year, but if we look at Heaven's heart, the True Parents' heart, it may actually lighten your outlook of heart. The 40-day summer period of witnessing began as a tradition in the early days of the church. Reverend Choi, actually was a beneficiary because he was witnessed too during the 1960's. The mother of Reverend Kim's spiritual parent witnessed to him during the 40-day witnessing period in the summer. So from that aspect, especially for Reverend Kim, this 40-day summer period of witnessing was an opportunity for him to meet God and True Parents and to begin attending Them in his life and to receive the Blessing.
In 1960, Reverend Kim came through witnessing, and for a period of one year had many spiritual experiences and many dreams; one person would appear to him in a dream and would teach him many things about the Principle. He didn't understand who that person was that kept coming to him in his dreams. After a year True Father came to the southern coast of Korea where he was a member and True Father visited that church. When Father came to the church, Rev. Kim saw that Father was the person who had been appearing to him in his dreams. Therefore he understood that Father was the Messiah and from that point he dedicated himself completely to attending True Parents.
So it is God and True Parents that led him to the position where he stands today. If we are going to witness, we need to offer sincerity and dedication (Jeong Seong). We had one 40-day period of Jeong Seong from June 7th to July 16th. That was one period and for 40 days we offered a vertical Jeong Seong to God but now this new 40-day period that we have now that began on July the 20th is a horizontal time; we can offer Jeon Seong in a horizontal way. We can now receive words from the Divine Principle and we invite these words and we practice love to people around us horizontally.
You are now living in Korea and so you also need to understand what providential direction the Korean church is taking, so please understand that it is the content I will be delivering to you today. This 40-day summer witnessing condition has been a tradition in our church and will be a tradition this year. Please say "Aju!" Thank you.
In order for us to participate in this witnessing period we first have to understand about faith and the life of faith. The word "eternal life of faith" means that we believe in God and we uphold God. In religious life, part of it involves ceremonies and rites and in our consciousness we confirm ourselves as an object partner to the absolute being who is a supernatural being and our subject partner. If we say someone has a strong faith or weak faith what is the standard in judging them? That is the heart that that person has, how closely his/her heart is connected to God, how much does he/she believe in God, as the invisible God, as his subject partner and as his Father. How strict he believes in that helps you to determine whether that person's faith is strong or weak. There are three things that are central in a life of faith. We need to have faith, of course, we need to have hope and the third is we must have love. In our life of faith we must have these three things: faith, love and hope. We cannot miss any of these three points.
Faith: It is a parent and child relationship; you put emphasis on this vertical relationship to deny yourselves and what sprouts out of this relationship is faith. If you look at the Bible we see in Hebrews: Ch. 11 verses 1 to 3 that we have just read that it says that faith moves what was unseen and gives it form and brings it to reality. What comes next in that verse is to testify to that which is unseen so there is the thing that is invisible but to testify to that, to give proof to that means to bring it so that people can see it. To make it, so that which is unseen can be made into something that is seen, is FAITH.
For example, we can look at Noah. For a 120 years Noah had faith in God's word to build the ark, so finally his faith came out as the ark; that was the visible form that his faith took.
Also in Moses, God told him to take the people of Israel to the land of Canaan. The process of changing Satan's land into God's land was the visible form of his faith.
When we live with faith, then there has to be some manifestation of that faith. Faith has to become visible in some way. To make that visible manifestation, that is faith. So, one year, two years or 10 years you have faith, but just going back and forth from home to church, home to church, home to church and that's all that relationship is, somehow there must be some manifestation to show your faith. Then when people see that manifestation, then people may say, "Oh! This person has strong faith or weak faith". So, how about your faith? Do you understand what faith is?
From July 20th to July 24th, Korean pastors went to Japan to see the witnessing activities. They visited South Saitama district and also the Gunma district in Japan. These 2 districts, both in terms of donations and also in witnessing are leading all the other districts in Japan. So, the International President said that also in Cheon Bok Gung we need to witness to people in order to create a congregation of 21000 and told us, "So go to Japan and figure how the Japanese members are doing their witnessing and figure out what we can learn from them!"
So 24 members of the leadership of Cheon Bok Gung went to Japan for a four-day period. I would like to report a few of the important things that we saw there. Actually the environment that the Japanese church has around itself, in terms of witnessing environment, is not a good one. Especially in Japan, because in the past it colonized Korea, so to say that the Messiah is a Korean, that a Korean is the Lord of the Second Advent this is not a popular thing to say in Japan. Yet, they are witnessing much better than in Korea and more members are joining in Japan than in Korea. What is the secret? That is the important thing that we wanted to learn in Japan from the Japanese Church.
In Reverend Kim's analysis, in their consciousness, in their thinking they understand that by January 13th of 2013, "I, my church has to do something, what is it that we have to do?" So, it is very clear in their minds what is it that they need to do by January 13th 2013. How can they offer all their faith, focusing all their faith and efforts on what they think they have to do before January 13th 2013? Their level of thinking is much higher than the level of Korean members' thinking.
And the second point is that they understand that they need to receive the cooperation of the spiritual world. They are completely convinced that they can obtain the cooperation of the spiritual world. So, spiritual phenomena are occurring and they understand what is occurring so they go out witnessing with that kind of heart and also for the donation providence as well. And also I saw that they are one in terms of Cain and Abel relationships. They express absolute love and obedience in terms of Cain and Abel relationships. They follow the directions given by their Central Figure and express complete obedience to that direction. This is a tremendous weapon for the Japanese Church.
The way they are witnessing, sometimes they go door to door. Mostly they go door to door witnessing asking to clean the toilets and offering their services that way. That way they form personal relationships with people in their neighborhood. They develop relationships through their Jeong Seong so that that person can be led to God and True Parents.
All our members around the world are busy, but some of the Japanese members are doing witnessing every day, some people do it three times a week, some do it four times a week. Japan is actually harder than Korea. When we speak about 40-day summer witnessing condition the Korean members say "Oh it is so hot!" How are we going to witness?" Actually when Reverend Kim's group went to Japan on July 22nd, the highest temperature was 38 degrees Centigrade and when we saw the evening news that day we heard that because it was so hot 9 people died that day because of the heat. It was in the news.
The next day was the day that his group was going to go out witnessing with Japanese members and sure enough it was again 38 degrees. On television there was a warning but they went to witness in the afternoon when it is the hottest time of the day. They went door to door offering their entire energy to witnessing activities. Their goal was to visit 21 families in a day. It may sound to you like it is not very much to visit 21 families. You need to understand that their condition is to ring the door bell three times. Someone has to answer and you have to have some conversation; so if you can have some conversation with the person inside then that is one family. If no one answers then that doesn't count so in order to get 21 families you may have to visit 40 homes. Some families call their Central Figure, " I finished 7 families what shall I do?" When things are not going well they make a report and then, if there is a new direction from the Central Figure, they continue so as to accomplish their goal for the day.
They would invite people to seminars, give people the autobiography, encourage people to learn about the Unification Church and that is how they were witnessing. That day it was so hot! Just standing still I could feel sweat rolling down my body. I shed a lot of sweat that day! But the Japanese members, if they sweat, they just wipe the sweat off their brows and run to the next house. They are working so hard to witness! We were thinking, "Wow! This is incredible!" We were worried about them. They are always smiling when they meet people and witness. No matter how much persecution they receive they keep smiling and go to the next family.
Let us give a round of applause to the Japanese members who are working so hard in this way! So what I want to talk to you is on how all the Korean members can be mobilized during this 40-day period and to report to you on how the Japanese members are doing this.
As we go our course of faith, we need faith because we need to take that which is invisible and manifest it into something that is visible because the accomplishment of God's purpose of creation depends on human's portion of responsibility and also because history began as a history of evil and we are in the process of changing that into a history of goodness. So we need the restoration through indemnity and we need to go through the process of fulfilling our portion of responsibility so as to manifest the faith that is within us.
Restoration through indemnity is very difficult. In the Bible it talks about the restoration through indemnity as going through the reverse course. The reverse course means that we have to go through the exact opposite order that things were done in the beginning. For example in the Bible in Matt 10:37, Jesus says that anyone who does not leave his parents and leaves his life to take up his cross to follow Jesus is not worthy of Him. So if you look at this from the perspective of society in general this does not make any sense. Jesus is saying you have to love me more than you love your parents more than your brothers and sisters; who in that age when Jesus lived, who could believe in such words. How about you? Nobody would take that kind of thing seriously if someone said that. But Jesus said through those words opened up the way for restoration through indemnity and for Heaven's providence.
Again in Luke it says those who seek to save their life will die and those who seek to lose their life will live. So these kinds of paradoxical statements are often found in the Bible; people in the world, because they are living in the world, in the context of evil they are living for the sake of the world, and for the sake of that evil world. However the lives of Unification church members are different. We are trying to change this evil world into a world of goodness. So we have to go the way of accomplishing our portion of responsibility.
We look at the course of faith as a way of creating a new view of human life. There is a certain plan of life that exists in Buddhism. So if a person studies Confucianism, they are making a Confucius' plan for human life their own. When people believe in Jesus they are making Jesus' plan for human life their own. Also the plan for human life that is the teachings of the Unification church are the teachings for human life and the universe and history that the True Parents have given to us. So that is why we need to go this difficult course.
So even if it is difficult, even if it is a 40 day period of witnessing we need to understand the importance of this period. In this period we need to find three spiritual children. The need for this period of witnessing is because we are standing between God and Satan and we need to make a decision to stand on God's side. The 40 days is "40" because we lost the four position foundation times 10. So the 4 position foundation is restored on 10 levels for that reason. In this 40 days time, we need to find and establish and witness to three spiritual children. That is what we need to do. The reason that each member needs to establish three spiritual children is that the faith of the Unification Church is to establish a condition for restoring Adam's family. That is the beginning point of our faith. The reason for that is that God first created the Angelic world; Lucifer, Gabriel and Michael were the three archangels. God's plan was for these three archangels was to protect Adam. These three archangels were necessary as a foundation of faith. But Lucifer did not do that and was involved in the fall with Eve and Adam. So we need to have three spiritual children in order to have that foundation of faith.
Jesus came as the second Adam and when we look at the circumstances of his birth, there were three wise men of the east bringing three different gifts to where he was born. They brought incense and myrrh to his birth and they testified to him as the Son of God. What this meant is that they created the form of the angels being restored at the time of Jesus' birth. If these three had been one with him, Father said, Jesus would not have had to go the way of the cross. These words are recorded in the Way of God's Will and the Ideal Kingdom of Heaven.
So Father has said that if Jesus' three disciples had become one with him then he would not have had to be crucified on the cross. True Parents also had to first establish their own three spiritual children before they received their holy wedding. They blessed those three couples first then carried out their own holy wedding. Therefore, all blessed families need to witness to three spiritual children before we receive the blessing. I am sure that some have witnessed to tens of people before you were blessed and others of you received the blessing without witnessing to anyone.
Blessed families need to have at least three spiritual children as a basis for receiving the blessing and we need to understand that this is the law of heaven. Looking at the Bible, we see many places where the number three appears. In the Principle, we say that the number three represents completion. We look at Father's words through a life of faith, so when we have three spiritual children, we say that those three spiritual children have the importance of a level of ten. In Father's words, he says that his words are recorded in God's Ideal Kingdom; it says that three spiritual children are as if receiving the Messiah.
So if fallen human beings are to be saved, we need to meet the Messiah. Without meeting the Messiah we cannot receive salvation. Father has said that it is just as important to have three spiritual children as it is to meet the Messiah. In the same book, God's Will and the Ideal Kingdom, it says that if you don't have three spiritual children then the completion of the providence is impossible and also your salvation is also impossible, it cannot be done, Father said. This is very important isn't it? All members need to understand that this is the importance of having three spiritual children. So if you don't have three spiritual children you cannot have salvation.
In volume 95 of speeches, Father says, "You have no idea how hard I have worked to witness to people. I offered Jeong Seong for 7 years sleeping only two hours a day in order to witness." In volume 128, page 173 it says that when we witness it brings about the liberation of God. If we don't witness then God cannot be liberated. An example; God's liberation, True Parents liberation, so how does this happen? There are many, many sons and daughters of God that are in the fallen world and if these people are not restored to God then God and True Parents cannot be liberated. They have left home; so until they return home the parents cannot be liberated. If your children have left home and you are struggling and very worried about your children then how are you going to be liberated from that worry? Well that child has to come back home and then that is when the parents are liberated.
So in the same way if we just let this evil world stay at it is then parents cannot be liberated. So, when we witness and the people of the world receive salvation; that is when God and True Parents are liberated; God's liberation and True Parents liberation. That is the reason we need to have this forty day witnessing condition. Also through direct witnessing activity is the reason we have this period.
Because you are living in Korea and we have this tradition here, we ask that you also share in this tradition and share in this heart. We hope that if you understand that, you will also cooperate and participate in this activity. We need that attitude. We need to offer a Jeong Seong for sincerity and dedication. The effect, according to Father's word, is that witnessing comes about by bringing 40% in spiritual atmosphere and 30% Principle and 30% actual practice and action. If we have only the Principle and go out and witness we cannot witness if we don't have the foundation. That is why we need Jeong Seong. We need to offer our sincerity and dedication.
In the Korean church we are offering Jeong Seong with 40 bows each morning. That is the standard of Jeong Seong we are offering now. So even if you are not able to go witnessing you can participate in this offering of Jeong Seong every morning. You can contribute to the success of this forty day witnessing period. Our Hoonsas are offering 210 bows every morning for our Hoonsa nims; sweating every morning offering 210 bows, for the development of the Cheon Bok Gung. They are offering this Jeong Seong.
Also we participate in Hoon Dok Hae. Hoon Dok Hae is the opportunity for us to inherit God's word and True Parents word into our hearts; so we can embody that into our hearts. Just as if you don't eat meals you cannot have form, if a person is living a life of faith just coming to church once a week, it is not enough. In your family you need to read God's Word and come into contact with God's Word on a daily basis through Hoon Dok Hae so you can develop your Shim Jung, your heart. So if there are difficulties in your family, you can overcome those difficulties through your faith. If you want to participate in witnessing you need to do so with the heart of a parent because you sincerely want to give a person life. So go out witnessing with that kind of heart.
In the Korean church we have a goal for this 40 day period; not just doing our Jeong Seong and witnessing. It is for each member to witness to one person who is not yet married and to a couple that is already married. There are a number of ways; they will be awarded by lecturing and by doing a lot of witnessing. In the pastor's association they are making various plans for this witnessing activity. There has to be a weapon you can use to find spiritual children.
The best weapon you have available is the autobiography of our True Parents. So if you take that autobiography and distribute that, God will work with you. That will work for your witnessing, if you don't speak Korean well. If a foreign person goes to a Korean person, they don't reject it but receive whatever the foreign person gives them. If you give the people the autobiography and they read it, then they will be witnessed to as a result. So why don't you try it? More and more people are walking into the Cheon Bok Gung after receiving copies of the autobiography. They are coming to the Cheon Bok Gung on their own.
So the goal of the Cheon Bok Gung on the growth level is to have 21,000 and on that basis to create a 210,000 member congregation and we are very serious about how to accomplish those goals. So the person who does the best witnessing and the most witnessing is the one that seems the most beautiful to us. If you were in the pastor's position you would feel the same way, don't you think? Don't you think that you would think that way? So we need to create something will give us God's Blessing and His Love.
Father intends to have a blessing on October 10th. So we have a portion of responsibility for that; it is to have 1,500 already married couples participating in that event. Can you do that without power? I don't think so. Unmarried people are also our goal for that event; first and second generation. Father has said we have a deadline of January 13, 2013, so we have to put that into our minds, always be thinking of that. What am I going to do? What part am I going to play? In the preparation for this deadline, what is our family going to do? So I am sure that doing God's work miracles will happen. I am sure.
Respected members, I say that the way and the life of our life of faith is a process of creating visible things. With a heart of offering Jeong Seong let us go. We must think who is waiting for me? Who is waiting for me to lead them to God? Let us go out and find these people who are waiting for us. Let's at least think about that and then our ancestors will help us if we go out. Our ancestors will help us and we will bring as many as possible to the Cheon Bok Gung; that is the way we have to go.
Heaven has always been trying to bring fruit and all the fruit is ready to harvest, but if that fruit falls to the ground because there is no one to harvest it, then how terrible heaven will feel about that. So in the Bible there are these kinds of words. Matthew 7 says ask and you will receive, let's say that together. Ask and you will receive. Knock and it will open. So let's ask and let's knock during this 40 day period. Please become participants and cooperators in this period, and then I am sure that God's Blessing and True Parents love will overflow in your families.
Let us pray.
Our loving God we thank you. In the providence that you have given us you save us but without us Heaven's work cannot be carried out. When we love other people we know that You can make things visible through our belief and through our faith. We pray for the sons and daughters who are present today who have come from far away countries and are living in great difficulty here in Korea but are going through these difficulties with the hearts of gratitude. Love please the members. We pray that Your blessing and love will always be with them.
We believe that You love these members and that You have always given us Your faith. We pray that heaven's unlimited faith and blessings will be with all the families of our foreign members today. That all these offerings made today will be a basis for Your love. We offer gratitude for Your unlimited Love and Blessing. We offer this that it may be recorded in Your eternal book of life.
Aju.
1: Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
2: For by it the men of old received divine approval.
3: By faith we understand that the world was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was made out of things which do not appear.
4: By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he received approval as righteous, God bearing witness by accepting his gifts; he died, but through his faith he is still speaking.
5: By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death; and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was attested as having pleased God.
6: And without faith it is impossible to please him. For whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
7: By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, took heed and constructed an ark for the saving of his household; by this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness which comes by faith.
8: By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place which he was to receive as an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was to go.
9: By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise.
10: For he looked forward to the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
11: By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised.
12: Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born descendants as many as the stars of heaven and as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.
13: These all died in faith, not having received what was promised, but having seen it and greeted it from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.
14: For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland.
15: If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return.
16: But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.
17: By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was ready to offer up his only son,
18: of whom it was said, "Through Isaac shall your descendants be named."
19: He considered that God was able to raise men even from the dead; hence, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back.
20: By faith Isaac invoked future blessings on Jacob and Esau.
21: By faith Jacob, when dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, bowing in worship over the head of his staff.
22: By faith Joseph, at the end of his life, made mention of the exodus of the Israelites and gave directions concerning his burial.
23: By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid for three months by his parents, because they saw that the child was beautiful; and they were not afraid of the king's edict.
24: By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter,
25: choosing rather to share ill-treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin.
26: He considered abuse suffered for the Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he looked to the reward.
27: By faith he left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king; for he endured as seeing him who is invisible.
28: By faith he kept the Passover and sprinkled the blood, so that the Destroyer of the first-born might not touch them.
29: By faith the people crossed the Red Sea as if on dry land; but the Egyptians, when they attempted to do the same, were drowned.
30: By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days.
31: By faith Rahab the harlot did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had given friendly welcome to the spies.
32: And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets --
33: who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, received promises, stopped the mouths of lions,
34: quenched raging fire, escaped the edge of the sword, won strength out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight.
35: Women received their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, that they might rise again to a better life.
36: Others suffered mocking and scourging, and even chains and imprisonment.
37: They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword; they went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, ill-treated --
38: of whom the world was not worthy -- wandering over deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.
39: And all these, though well attested by their faith, did not receive what was promised,
40: since God had foreseen something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect.