The Words of Sun Myung Moon from 1984
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The Words of Sun Myung Moon from 1984 |
One day after Father's motion for a reduction in sentence was denied, he called international leaders of our movement to a conference at East Garden. Among them were the ten Korean regional leaders and the ten evangelists. What a painful and sad occasion to go and see Father. I thought: what should our attitude toward Father be? How will he and his family feel? With these thoughts and emotions swelling up inside I arrived at East Garden at 7:00 a.m.
About half an hour later, Father and the oldest True Children descended the stairs and assembled for breakfast in the dining room. Father behaved as naturally as ever, but Mother was rather quiet, and one could sense that her heart was disturbed. Around 9:00 a.m. all the Blessed children were called from their 21 day workshop at Belvedere to come and see Father. As soon as they arrived, Father rose from the table and rushed over to the main room to greet them. For one and a half hours he poured out his heart to them in Korean.
Watching the faces of the Blessed children, they were totally focused on Father, sometimes with tears in their eyes, sometimes laughing; it was clear they have a special connection with our Father and he with them, undeniable and beautiful. According to the translation of the Korean sister sitting next to me, Father spoke about building a complete new historical foundation, which has to be erected by the Blessed children themselves. He urged them to waste no time...and to unite with the Tine Children as well as among each other.
After a break, all the leaders assembled in the living room, and the regional leaders spoke about the rallies for religious freedom which had been held throughout the nation during the previous weeks. Again, Korean was spoken. About twenty thousand ministers had signed a proclamation for religious liberty and two thousand ministers have pledged to spend seven days with Father in prison for the sake of religious freedom.
A few days later, on July 21, the Interdenominational Conferences for Clergy (ICC) founded in Washington, D.C. the so-called Common Suffering Fellowship Institute [Tong Go Hwae] for those ministers who wanted to spend one week in prison with Father. Instead of physically going to the Danbury prison, these ministers could spend one week together in one of their churches, praying, singing, and demonstrating publicly for religious freedom. Also they would have a chance to come to know the real Rev. Moon, his teaching, philosophy and projects, by watching video tapes and listening to lectures.
Thus the spirit for saving America and reviving the spiritual foundation of this country and the discussion about religious liberty would be upheld, rekindled, and multiplied throughout the nation. Community service and fellow- ship among Christians and Unificationists is the type of tradition Father wants to establish. The first seminar was held on July 26 under the chairmanship of Rev. James Stewart, chairman of the St. Louis NCCSA chapter.
Father also advised members to study meticulously the Principle chapters on the Second Advent and Predestination.
He said that if members teach these well enough Christians would be able to understand and accept the entire Principle.
At the end Mr. Motoo Furuta shared about the movement in Japan. He started out by apologizing to Father in tears for what had happened to Father and repented that the Japanese movement had not done enough to help him. Then he reported about the heavy persecution members receive there from the communists and other groups.
On the other hand, Mr. Furuta said that the movement there is very successful in all areas, but not because they use certain techniques or methods, but rather because of applying internal principles and tradition. Another reason was also the purity and dedication of each member. Father afterwards asked all members to say a special prayer for Mr. Furuta every day. "This is the time to build and consummate our foundation until 1985," Father said.
The meeting ended around 5:30 p.m. with a special three cheers of Mansei for determination, commitment and love for Father. We all know that Father is not concerned about his own situation as much as he is concerned about us, and America's future. He trusts us completely to take on the burden for this nation and fulfill our missions, especially while he is gone. May we welcome him back from prison as soon as possible with all our accomplishments, and may God be our helper!