The Words of the Seuk Family
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The Words of the Seuk Family |
Excerpts of Dr. Joon Ho Seuk’s Explanation of the 21,000 Bows (From the monthly Tongil Saegye, Monthly Unification Church Magazine in Korea, September issue). Published in Kodan News 2-0363 September 26, 2009.
We received the greatest gift recently: the spirit of true love of “Resurrection from the Seven Deaths, Completion of the Eight Stages” of True Parents, which was revealed through Rev. Hyung Jin Moon, International President of FFWPU.
Rev. Hyung Jin Moon has offered sincere devotion for 10 years after his brother, Young Jin Nim, passed away in the United States. He gets up at 2:00 am every day, and trains himself from 3:00 am. First, he practices deep meditation for 30 minutes, regardless of cold windstorms in winter or swarms of mosquitoes in the middle of summer. Then, he offers 120 bows.
He has offered sincere devotion for 10 years, but until recently he was bothered by the question of how True Parents’ true love was greater than Jesus’ love, Buddha’s mercy, or Muhammad’s love and obedience to God.
In his struggle with the question, Rev. Moon got an inspiration from heaven. Just as the disciples of Jesus realized Jesus’ love through their “spiritual eyes,” when he saw True Parents’ life course in his own spiritual eyes, he deeply realized True Parents’ true love. His inspiration follows from the realization that Jesus went through the way of death once, whereas True Parents have died seven times and resurrected, thus “Resurrections from Seven Deaths.” True Parents went through the path of death seven times in order to save the children who were groaning in the bottom of hell. He suffered torture and imprisonment six times. He also survived the helicopter accident on July 19, 2008, through which he almost died; he went to the gate of death and substantially resurrected. He has overcome death seven times. In order to save the fallen children who were in agony, True Father was tortured, and his flesh was torn. He went to the bottom of hell in order to save the children.
What Rev. Hyung Jin Moon saw spiritually was that True Parents were not only physically tortured. Their spirit selves also went down to the bottom of hell, were torn, and vomited blood, but they still said to Satan, “Give back my beloved children at the price of torturing and killing me.” He saw True Parents go a fiercely difficult way out of a single-minded desire, saying, “Even though I die and die again, I will bear the burden of all sins of my children. Even though I die, I will save my children going down to the bottom of hell.” Rev. Hyung Jin Moon witnessed True Parents resurrecting from the seven deaths and opening the eight stages for completion: the stages of the individual, family, tribe, people, nation, world, cosmos, and finally God. Our brothers and sisters, this is a great, true love of True Parents.
Let’s give True Parents a big hand.
Rev. Hyung Jin Moon wept bitterly and endlessly after realizing the true love of “Resurrections from Seven Deaths, Completion of the Eight Stages” from heaven. In order to inherit and embody such a great true love of True Parents and also to pass on the true love to our members, he made an offering of 21,000 bows during seven days from July 29 to August 4. He later decided to complete 21,000 bows within three days by offering 7,000 bows a day. It was not easy to offer even 120 bows every day, but how difficult it was to offer 21,000 bows within three days! Rev. Hyung Jin Moon started to carry out the plan beginning at 3:00 am on July 29.
Usually, it takes more than four hours to offer 1,000 bows. Therefore, in order to offer 7,000 bows, it takes 28 hours with no rest. In the beginning, he hurried to complete 1,000 bows in one hour 10 minutes. However, immediately, his leg was cramped and paralyzed. He barely recovered from it by acupuncture and massage.
Again, he stood up clenching his teeth, holding out by his mental power, and completed 1,000 bows in one hour and 50 minutes. His leg was again paralyzed, and he felt pain in his leg. After that, he felt terrible pain in each knee. Finally, on the first day, he completed 4,000 bows, and collapsed.
On the second day, he completed 2,000 bows with great difficulty, clenching his teeth. On the third day, he had a high fever and severe pain, so he turned off an air conditioner and electric fan. He offered sincere devotion of 1,000 bows, although he was soaked with sweat because of the heat in the middle of summer. From the next day, it took more than one minute for him to offer one bow. However, he pushed forward with bows carrying out his original purpose, saying, “I have to overcome this degree of pain to really inherit True Parents’ true love of the ‘Resurrection from the Seven Deaths.’ True Parents experienced all these pains in prison and finally brought a victory.”
From the fourth day, it took more than 13 hours to offer 1,000 bows. Hoon Sook Nim visited the headquarters church, and gave him an idea to protect his arms and knees by the bandage which ballerinas often use. He followed it, and finally he completed sincere devotion of 21,000 bows on August 7 after he gave his best, struggling with great pain, paralysis, and high fever.
On the last day of August 7, 2009 at 9:00 pm, after finishing 21,000 bows, he came out to the chapel of the Headquarters Church with unsteady steps and wrote a big calligraphy, “Resurrection from the Seven Deaths. I will follow true love” in front of our members. After the official event, he quietly went back to the room behind the chapel, and took out 30 cc of his blood to write his determination in his own blood with determination and resolution to go the way of filial piety and loyalty, “Resurrection from the 7 Deaths, Completion of the 8 Stages. Thank you very much, True Parents.”
The 21,000 bows were also sincere devotion for the victory of offering 21,000 people for the growth-stage Cheon Bok Gung. He offered sincere devotion with the heart to offer each bow for each person. He pledged to do witnessing of 21,000 people by the end of this year to enter into the growth-stage Cheon Bok Gung together.
Now, we have to be more serious. Now, we are promoting the movement to double our membership, but we need more people to attain the goal of 21,000 people by the end of this year.
We have to do witnessing with ownership.
After I attended Hoon Dok Hae at Cheon Jeong Gung on August 16, I went around the Nam-Yanju church and then attended the 5th Sunday service at the headquarters church. Rev. Hyung Jin Moon gave sermons throughout that Sunday.
It was the fifth service, but he tirelessly gave a powerful speech. In his prayer he wept bitterly from beginning to the end.
I joined our church 44 years ago, but I never heard such a prayer with a bitter wailing. Rev. Hyung Jin Moon prayed with tears of repentance and gratitude, “True Parents died seven times for us. In order to save us from death, they went down to the bottom of hell seven times, being torn and shedding blood, and they went the way of ‘Resurrections from the Seven Deaths.’” Now, we have to repent. We need to repent for our lives which have been far from True Parents’ heart, without understanding the great love of True Parents. Also, we have to be thankful for True Parents’ devotion of going the way of death seven times, from the bottom of our heart.