Words at Hyung Jin Moon's Inauguration As Pastor of Headquarters Church

Kook Jin Moon
December 1, 2007

Hello brothers and sisters.

Thank you for gathering here. I'm really grateful to see you all again. Thank you for helping the Korean church. I always have to speak after the church president, or after my younger brother, but this is actually a burden for me. I'm not a great speaker by nature and I don't like to speak. Always when I speak I feel so ashamed, that I don't even know what to say.

And yet with all my inadequacies I'm always being pushed to the front, so you can't imagine how difficult that is for me. I tell you honestly. I work here not because I want to. If I could do just as I please I'd be continuously working in America. The job I was doing there was actually what I wanted to do; it made me happy.

Even now I don't quite understand how It happened that parents caught me and brought me to Korea. So I'm doing this job because I was told to, but I personally have no ambitions to work in Korea. If parents told me tomorrow or even now, "Kook-jin, go back to America", I'd be truly happy. If I hear such words, I'll bow to father with a smile and tell him, "Thank you, Father, for liberating me."

However even though I do this work because I was told to, in the process I can meet you, share meals with you, talk to you. And since we became much closer to each other, I'm really grateful for these human relationships. I am actually a person who'd hide behind. I hate to stand in front of people. Also I didn't receive much love, so I don't know much about love.

However you love me; and strangely I became popular among you, so I do feel somewhat strange about it. I cannot quite understand it. Therefore I realized that I don't know so much about people. A person who will lead the unification church in the future should know people very well. Such a person can become the president of our international organization.

We all had hard times following our True Father. You also toiled a lot. The way of indemnity is not easy. I as well as our elder families here know well how scary Father can be. When I was younger I went fishing together with Father. It was so scary. I got scolded for every little wrong move. When we bowed to True Parents I was afraid not to keep a straight line. Not only Father, but my elder brothers are all scary.

Actually I don't have anything except that in my life, and so I don't have much to say. I just kept toiling through my life.

But sometimes you just need to go through difficulties (crying) only through this you can understand that Father's work is undoubtedly connected with God. We don't want to suffer, but we've been going through difficulties. We've been going through difficulties for more than 40 years.

If you read what the bible says about Moses, you'll see that the way of those who follow Father is similar to the way of those who follow Moses. Have you calculated this? Do you know how many kilometers is the distance from Egypt to Canaan? Maybe not even 100 kilometers (laughter). Isn't' it very close? But it took Israelites 40 years to get there. What kind of a leader can lead his people for 40 years on the way that is just 100 km long? Hard to understand, right?

I'm not extremely healthy, but even I can walk 100km in a week. So this way is similar to ours.

Our history until now was similar to the history of people who followed Moses. We have been sacrificing and paying indemnity. But now a different era has come. So far, we have been toiling and moving, we've been doing difficult things (crying); we've been fighting, shedding blood and sacrificing, but now the time has changed.

This is the time when we are entering Canaan. This is the problem. The question is how do we, Unificationists, live in Canaan? We cannot live by fighting. Even while living here in Korea, I had to fight a lot. I fought many battles and I won most of them. I was never defeated. No matter how dangerous was the way I put my life at stake and walked this course. I embraced danger and took responsibility by myself. That's how I lived and succeeded. I didn't fail.

However the path our Unification Church must go from now on is not that of struggle. This is the path of love, love towards each other. That's what we should learn. So the thing that we as church members, as families, as Unificationists should learn is how to love one another. (Crying, applause)

Because of this, I feel truly happy and light hearted to yield this podium to my younger brother. I ask you to please help him in this important undertaking. (Applause)

If only we can work together, we'll build the nation of Cheon Il Guk without fail.

Thank you once again for receiving me. I'll do everything in my power. Thank you.