Pentecost in Euijeongbu

Heung Tae Kim
April 2012

Some of the spiritualists who came to Euijeongbu Church participate in a three-day workshop under the guidance of Pastor Heung Tae Kim (seated at front). Jeong Ju Moon, a lady who had a profound conversion experience, is fourth from left.

This story begins in 2007, when a small church just north of Seoul with a membership of about fifty souls experienced an unusual phenomenon.

"I had been working at the church in my hometown of Euijeongbu for two or three years when about thirty spiritualists' suddenly visited the church within the space of about ten days." With these words, Rev. Heung Tae Kim, the church leader of this small town, to which he had returned in 2004, begins this story. "What was interesting was that none of them knew each other. They had all come because they had received a revelation to go to Euijeongbu Unification Church. Upon arrival, they introduced themselves to one another, saying such things as "I am one who offers prayer on Mt. Dobong." They mostly wore ordinary clothes and looked the same as anyone you might meet.

Assistant church leader Chan Kyum Kim clarified, "The spiritualists already understood that True Father was the Messiah. They have all received revelations from the spirit world that True Father is the son of God, and they testify to that. We thought their coming to our church was a miracle, and welcomed them warmly."

Mr. Kim further explained how, for three months, the spiritualists had continued to come to the Euijeongbu church. "However, they were used to receiving communication and direction from the spirit world, and not so used to following an earthly leader! That revelation had brought them as far as our church. But from that point, of course, they were meant to receive guidance from True Parents' earthly representatives. They would only move based on personal revelation from the spirit world. They found it very hard to follow our church tradition."

An earthly church leader who did not always show much respect for their spiritual gifts proved a challenge for many of the new associates.

"They had a certain pride," reminisced Mr. Kim. "Some felt they had certain missions, for example the mission of Noah, or of Moses. Some had revelations about the central role of the nation of Korea, or about reunification....

"They said things about our church being small, and not having many members; they were expecting something bigger. They never really followed the church leader's instructions. Rather than committing themselves, they just came from time to time."

It was interesting to learn that such devoutly religious people could receive such understanding and yet remain at a distance from the main thrust of the movement's work.

Rev. Heung Tae Kim said, "Most spiritualists believe they are better than others and that they are always right! The group worked as a team for the first three months, but after that they began to put their own desires first and one by one they began to fall away."

Left: Chil Seong Choi, a spiritualist interviewed for this article; Right: Rev. Chan Kyeom Kim, assistant pastor at Euijeongbu Church

However, not everyone disappeared. Some maintained their relationship with our church. "Remarkably," he continued, "on October 2, 2010, forty-four people came to our church again. Half of them were completely new people, and the rest were from the original group. The remarkable thing is that the forty-four people came from different religions, such as Confucianism, Christianity, Buddhism and even Korean Islam. They all believe that True Parents are the returning Lord and the king of kings. They came to Euijeongbu church as people connected to each of their faiths, to testify to True Parents."

Euijeongbu church is unremarkable in its external appearance -- three floors of a small five-story building on a corner in a quiet part of town. But the assistant church leader explained that a core of forty determined families had for some years come every morning at 5:00 AM and offered Hoon Dok Hae and prayer in the large prayer room, where holy candles burned twenty-four hours a day. Moreover, as Rev. Kim explained, on one occasion Father had asked him the population of Euijeongbu. "When I told him it was about 400,000, Father instructed that our church distribute at least 10,000 copies of the autobiography." The small group of families have now far exceeded that goal. One Christian minister in the town liked the autobiography so much that he bought twelve copies for his church library and encouraged his congregation to read it.

Rev. Kim felt that it was because the members offered such conditions that the church in Euijeongbu (they had even scraped together the money to buy the building), had drawn these spiritually gifted folk toward it like moths toward a light.

One of the new group, a Mr. Chil Seong Choi, had already known Rev. Heung Tae Kim personally for many years. Of his life as an ascetic he said, "We have the vision that when we travel to all parts of Korea and pray, the kingdom of God can be established. When it will be established depends on our prayers." He explained that his prayers were for others:

Many other countries sacrificed their young men to help us, and that's how this nation developed to what it is now. I got a list from Yongsan [War Memorial offices] of all the soldiers who participated in the war, and I prayed to send them all to good places in the spirit world.

In my religion -- Cheon Ji Gyo [Heaven and Earth Religion] -- we endeavor to save those in the spirit world who were killed in the past. By doing so, this nation can become stronger and more stable. On that foundation, we can inherit the hard work of those who sacrificed them- selves for Korea. The best we can do is to offer prayers and return glory to God and encourage Him.

Rev. Kim explained that some of those who had come in the first group had not lived a Principled life and the spirit world had struck them; some died in car accidents or had ended up in prison. Overall, some fifteen among them disappeared one way or another. "However," he said, "the second group came and around ten of these had been educated by the spirit world through God's guidance; they read from the eight textbooks."

Just a week after the new group arrived at the church, the October 10, 2010 Blessing Ceremony was to take place. "I told them that a Blessing Ceremony was scheduled to be held the following week, on October 10," Rev. Kim explained. "I asked them if they were aware of why God had suddenly called them. I pointed out that some of them had been educated for a year or two by the spirit world, and asked them to raise their hands if they knew the value of the blessing. About fifteen among the group put up their hands. The spirit world had educated them to such an extent. Among them, six received the blessing the following week. Others were preparing.

Spiritualists attended some of the Divine Principle lectures that the Euijeongbu Church holds on a regular basis.

"One thing this group had in common," Rev. Kim added, "was that they all spoke about True Parents' realm of heart. They'd say, 'What matters most is whether we understand True Parents' heart or not.

Chil Seong Choi said of Father, "I've heard President Moon speak in person several times. When I saw him speak to high school students, to elderly people and to college professors, I realized that he was not speaking to a particular part of the audience. Each word he spoke was about true love. I admire him for his being able to speak on three levels."

Among the spiritualists who came to the church in October 2010 was one lady named Jeong Ju Moon, whose family name is the same as Father's and whose given name sounds like True Father's hometown in North Korea. Rev. Kim pointed this out to her. She had been a Christian church deaconess, and an ascetic, and had opposed Father for thirty years. However, "when Jeong Ju Moon read the autobiography, she realized that she had been wrong, so from that time on she started calling him Father Moon, because she is also in the Moon family; she repented of her past. After that, she read the Divine Principle, which explained all that she had read in the Bible. She then read a book of Father's prayers, and as she read that book she burst into tears and sobbed deeply."

Jeong Ju Moon told this story at a meeting Rev. Heung Tae Kim organized so that the spiritualist group could hear the testimonies of the wives of the great religious founders. She also explained how she had persecuted Father Moon in the past but that now she was determined to testify to him and repent of her sins until she died.

Another spiritualist, Hong Shim, who testified at the same meeting said that he had been practicing an ascetic life here and there when he came to our church three years before. Since he knew it took money to build the Kingdom of God, He had traveled to China to contact businessmen; but then he realized it was more important to learn about God's word, and so for the next two years he had stayed in his room, read the eight textbooks and learned them by heart. He concluded that we needed to become one with True Parents' realm of heart.

Hyun Shil Kang, whom True Parents had blessed to St. Augustine, was one of three wives of the great saints who then came out to testify. Mrs. Kang spoke about how she met True Father in Beomnaetgol in Busan and how several spiritualists had come to testify to Father every year during the 1950s and 1960s. She remembered the precise dates and hours of their appearance, and even their names. She even gave details about what each of them had said. And then she asked the group of spiritualists present why they had been so late in coming!

According to a headquarters report of the meeting, the spiritualists recognized that their task was to make conditions for the peaceful reunification of Korea centered on True Parents.

Rev. Kim has hopes that, late or not, because this group of spiritualists represents such a variety of faiths, they will enable people from their own religious background to repent, attend Divine Principle lectures and receive the blessing.

It is not enough, he emphasizes, that they visit the church and testify to members about their latest revelations; members already know that the Messiah is on the earth! It's the rest of humankind they must speak to. Rev. Heung Tae Kim also spoke to the spiritualists at the meeting:

God summoned you to offer devotions for twenty, thirty or forty years, and you left your children at home with your spouses while you wandered around. The time has passed, providentially speaking, for just making conditions and praying. Through your direct revelations you know True Father is the Messiah and the True Parent. So you must come down from the mountains and stand in the forefront of testifying to True Parents. You must do so by returning to your hometowns, becoming tribal messiahs and carrying our grass-roots witnessing activities.

Rev. Kim has recently asked twenty of the spiritualists to read the one-hour lecture book a hundred times as a condition to prepare for this. They are now in the midst of this. Rev. Kim has set up an organization for the spiritualists called the Korean Peninsula Planning Team, and based on their having received revelations about the central role of Korea, they will have an organizational base from which to disseminate such understanding.

This story does not end here, for it remains to be seen what will happen next. Will more of the spiritualists work closely with the movement or will they remain at a distance? For some, surrendering their solitude, and perhaps temporarily letting go of the spiritual gift that has guided them, would be like sacrificing their own Isaac. We pray that they will have the courage to use the knowledge that has been thrust upon them to support God's providence in this time.