The Words of the Selig Family
|
|
The Words of the Selig Family |
One of Father's major concerns today is how to mobilize the media to help God's providence and bring the undistorted truth to the world:
The power of the media is like the
power of love. It is the greatest power. It can be used for
tremendous good and tremendous destruction. When it is employed
properly, there is understanding, harmony, beauty and happiness. When
it is misused, there is great confusion and human suffering. That
great power must be wielded with wisdom.
Father at the World
Media Conference in Cartagena, Colombia, September 24, 1983.
Father conceived the fact-finding tour as a way to give journalists who participated at past World Media Conferences an opportunity to put into practice the ideas behind those gatherings and thus gain a new perspective on the world situation.
The first tour started in June in Central America. To counter the confusion and disinformation about that part of the world, Father brought about 130 journalists from 40 nations to spend three days at a CAUSA seminar and then seven days touring Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Costa Rica.
The success of this fact-finding tour inspired Father to call for three more seminars and fact-finding tours.
From October 14-25, the World Media Conference and CAUSA International conducted The World Journalists Seminar and European Peace Movement Fact-Finding Tour for 130 journalists and 60 French participants, including several renowned intellectuals from 21 different countries.
The project had three purposes: First, to present Godism or CAUSA world view as the way to revolutionize free societies and as a frame of reference to solve human problems. Second, to gather God-accepting forces against totalitarian communism. For this we have to teach about God. And third, to learn about the peace movement with a new pair of "glasses" provided by Godism.
For the first part of the program we assembled in Paris to hear lecturers Thomas Ward and William Lay on the CAUSA worldview, utilizing highly attractive and eye-catching visuals. Then Col. Bo Hi Pak, president of CAUSA, presented the internal part of the CAUSA worldview. In his opening remarks, he went straight to the heart of the matter:
"If God does not exist, then Communism may very well be correct. However, if God truly exists, then Communism is false. Since two contradictory beliefs cannot both be true, then there must be a showdown. Who shall win? Communism? The free world? No. Truth shall win! God or no God: one of the two must be a lie! Ultimately, the lie will be defeated and truth shall prevail."
On the third night, the film "Truth Is My Sword" was presented, and afterwards Col. Pak testified to Father, entertaining questions about funds, brainwashing, etc. Col Pak answered each one honestly and sincerely.
After the CAUSA seminar, the agenda focused on the peace movement fact-finding part of the tour. On October 18, the French government honored our group with an official reception at City Hall, hosted by Alain Juppe, deputy mayor. Col. Pak beamed with delight.
Marie-France Garaud, president of the Institute of Geopolitics, explained France's role in the Atlantic Alliance and the role of the French forces in the Western defense system. The secretary- general of the Institute of Social History and Sovietology, Nicolas Tandler, described how Soviet front groups have been able to infiltrate and manipulate the natural desire for peace especially among young people, but with the ulterior purpose to disarm the West while the Soviets continue their military buildup.
The second stop on the fact-finding tour was Germany. Though most of the group was unaware of it, many problems were coming up and being solved behind the scenes. For example, it wasn't even sure if we could land at the airport due to a big leftist propaganda campaign by our enemies. But Heavenly Father was with us and we were able to find a solution. It was about midnight when our plane finally touched grounds at Berlin's Tegel Airport.
The sight of the Berlin Wall is very moving. As you drive along, all of a sudden the wall appears, a cement wall about 10 feet high, plastered with anti- nuke posters and graffiti. At one location there is a platform for spectators to climb up in order to see the other side: barbed wire and emptiness. I felt a coldness grip me as past photo images shot through my mind, such as a picture of an old woman being pulled from above by the communists and from below by the free people. I said a prayer for the people trapped behind that barbaric wall. In the evening a German journalist denounced the wall as a "symbol of the failure of Communism."
The next day we visited the Checkpoint Charlie Museum and heard testimonies from two East German émigrés. These two young men had been wounded attempting to cross the border and were imprisoned for two years, simply for the desire to be free.
We crossed over into East Berlin in pairs and threes and spent the day in the communist city. The journalists were on their own and free to ask questions to anyone. Of course, East Berlin is a showcase city, but the first thing you notice are the lines. There are queues for everything: food, books, etc. You come to the shocking realization that these people are living in a hyung sang world, an officially atheistic nation. They cannot leave East Germany. They are prisoners of Satan's jail.
The next day we flew in charter jets to the Cologne-Bonn Airport to witness the peace rally. Thousands of young Germans listened passively as speakers such as Willy Brandt, leader of the Socialist International, and Petra Kelly, spokesperson for the Greens, a German environmentalist group, led attacks against Ronald Reagan and the Pershing II/Cruise missiles while barely mentioning the Russian SS-20 missiles already aimed at Western Europe.
Col. Pak wanted to see the rally first-hand. It would have been relatively simple to stand at the fringe area to hear the speakers, but with Col. Pal at the helm a few of us went almost to center stage. I felt he was the eyes and ears of True Father..
That evening we flew to Gatwick Airport, London, for the last leg of the trip.
The first briefing in London was by Brian Crozier, founder and former director of the Institute for the Study of Conflict and currently a contributing editor for National Review magazine. He spoke on "Soviet Destabilization of the West." Crozier described the folly of disarmament without an on- site inspection of Soviet military bases.
Alexander Zinoviev, Russian dissident and author of several books, spoke on "The Issue of the Peace Movement from the Soviet Point of View."
U.S. Gen. Robert A. Richardson, co-founder of "High Frontier," presented a film on military strategy. He believes that a new strategic doctrine for the 90s is needed for the West to replace the presently accepted policy of mutual assured destruction (MAD). It is a defensive strategy using space- age technology to target weapons instead of people.
In the evening a debate took place on the motion, "The modernization of the nuclear deterrent is a threat to the peace in Europe." It turned out to be the high point of the conference.
The audience, armed with the hard facts, could see through the emotional arguments so often proposed by the freeze and unilateral disarmament proponents.
Joseph Sobran, a senior editor of National Review, made some warm remarks at the closing banquet in London. He told an amusing story about his experience at the Bonn rally:
"At the demonstration I went to a table where all sorts of stickers of various kinds were being sold. And among many slogans in German were a few I could understand pictorially. There were pictures of Ronald Reagan with a skeleton for a body, there was Ronald Reagan with fangs, Ronald Reagan with a swastika, and so on.
"So I took one of each and I said to the young man who spoke English, `Are you out of the Andropov stickers?' He said hesitantly, 'Yes.' I said, I guess I came too late."
Col. Pak told the group: "CAUSA's effort can be summarized into one final sentence: 'You are not alone!' For those who want to worship God freely, for those who want to cherish freedom, for those who are striving for true human dignity and for those who want to manifest the total creativity of man, our message is clear: 'You are not alone."'
The seminar and fact-finding tour was a complete success. Many of the false myths surrounding Father were dissolved and many journalists began to see the world not only from their own point of view, but from God's perspective.
In the end, unity was achieved not only because of "facts," but also because of love. Heavenly Father's love brought us together. After ten days, it wasn't them and the Moonies, but just God's children.
Father is very pleased with the direction of CAUSA and the World Media Conference and excitedly awaits the next project.