A truly great man arrived in Washington, DC. Rev. Jim Flynn and I were able to welcome Mr. Machida to Fairfax, Virginia, near Dulles Airport. We had dinner that evening, as he is just completing his trip from San Francisco to Washington, 3000 miles on foot. I must say that when I saw his tan complexion, bright smile and healthy appearance, he probably is the most healthy person in the United States right now. But most importantly, he is a person that has a truly beautiful heart for God, True Parents and all humanity.

As we shared over dinner concerning his life course and especially his calling to do the Walk for Peace, it became very clear that this was no ordinary man. Having lived 14 years in the United States, he came to love America deeply. Then he moved to Japan with his family as an 1800 couple and continued to work for the providence there. It was in the year 1998 when he heard Father¹s speech calling all members to demonstrate for truth and righteousness and to stand up proudly for True Parents that something special touched his heart.

He began a walk across Japan from the north to the south, even taking a ferry from the south to Okinawa, then from Okinawa to Hokkaido. He completed his north-south journey walking across Hokkaido Island. In the year 2000, something told him again that he must walk as a condition of prayer and sacrifice from the east to the west of Japan, but this time he felt he had to go to every prefecture of the nation. In 2000 he completed that journey.

On the high mountaintops in the northern part of Japan, in the snow, as he reached the peak of one summit, he felt the spirit of God touch him and remind him of the fact that his father had been a military policeman in Seoul, Korea, at a time when Korea was severely oppressed by the Japanese. Something stirred in his soul and he felt that just walking in prayer across his own nation was not enough to really call the power of Heaven to protect and to lift up our True Parents before the world. He felt he had to go to Korea, but this time he had to go to Korea to repent as the son of a military policeman. Therefore, in the year 2002 he walked across Korea, going from the northern part of South Korea to the southern tip. Quietly, silently, without any fanfare or expectation of recognition, he simply walked for peace and walked in prayer, knowing that somehow his prayers would be answered.

As he completed this journey in Korea, his wife was sacrificing in Oklahoma City as a missionary--one of the thousands of Japanese missionaries who came to America with a mother’s heart. Feeling the call from our True Parents that to indemnify the history of Japan as an enemy nation to America, the Japanese missionaries had to come to America and serve and love and sacrifice for the Christians, winning their hearts and bringing them to the Blessing. Through these missionaries, combined with the national messiahs and our blessed families in America, the spirit of God moved and a most important condition in history was set in which 144,000 Christian leaders partook of the holy wine, thus becoming engrafted into the lineage of Heaven.

Upon completing this victorious course, his wife returned to Japan and met with her husband, who, inspired by his walk in Korea, then felt called by God to go to North Korea. Having just served America, his wife felt deeply in her heart that he could not successfully make this journey in the north and contribute to the unification of the Fatherland without first making a walk and prayer for peace to America.

Father Moon has made it clear that the only way the father of a family can truly be uplifted is when the mother and the son cooperate together based on Heaven’s direction. With this theme in mind, Mr. Machida realized that representing Japan he had to also embrace America as his wife did. With the spirit of victory coming from the elder son nation, he would then be able to walk through North Korea and hopefully contribute to the unification of North and South. That was the spirit behind his coming to America.

On June 1, starting from the holy ground established in San Francisco, he began this long, arduous journey. But truly Mr. Machida is a man of joy, a man of love and a man of peace. Because of this humble loving spirit, in which he appreciated even the smallest act of support, he touched the hearts of our blessed central families and American members, as well as those of the American people. He said to us at dinner the other night, "I am just so grateful that the American members did so much to help me on this journey. Everywhere I went, they offered me food, a place to rest and wanted to walk with me." He felt the Abel side of America represented by our members who truly supported his historic prayer. But also the general public came out, representing the other aspect of America, representing all the people of this nation. They also came out and supported in every city. There was virtually no incident of anything but support for him. Our young second generation leader, Mr. Jesse Berndt, drove all the way from Nevada to Washington, DC, protecting and praying for Mr. Machida’s walk for peace.

Everywhere Mr. Machida went people came out, offering water, offering food. Two days ago a biker pulled up, pulled $20 from his pocket, and gave it to Mr. Machida and said, "God bless you." When people sacrifice for the sake of others, they draw out the sacrificial spirit in the people. America is especially sensitive when people give love and sacrifice. I believe that Father and Mother’s sacrificial spirit for America is going to begin to touch the hearts of the people of this nation.

Mr. Machida¹s one prayer is that the purity and innocence of True Father will now be publicly understood. When he began his journey, he proclaimed that God has called him to set some condition as an elder brother, as a blessed couple, to somehow address the fact that True Father had been innocent throughout his course in America. As the major Christian denominations and Senator Orrin Hatch from Judiciary Committee proclaimed, "Father Moon had done no wrong and should not have been convicted of any crime." With their support as well as the support of major denominations, innocence was proclaimed, but the court record has not been corrected.

We know that this is our course and our responsibility as God-loving people. Any misrepresentation of God’s representatives in their work for America must be corrected. Just as our heart is truly to go to the Middle East and correct the misunderstandings between Jesus and his own family, we face those who misunderstood the work of Rev. Moon, and in some cases sought to imprison him or kick him out of this country.

Mr. Machida’s walk and prayer is certainly shedding light on all of this, for this quiet and almost forgotten issue concerning Father and Mother Moon came to the forefront again during his walk for peace, when news reports highlighted the Crown of Peace award on Capitol Hill. With the international news that Father Moon was honored by religious and political leaders, many news reports also repeated the fact that Father Moon went to prison in America. However, we are reminded that Jesus went to prison, St. Paul went to prison, and Martin Luther King went to prison. Virtually every historic figure that truly stood as God’s representative went through the prison course.

Therefore, during Mr. Machida’s walk for peace, reports brought out the fact that Father Moon had been in prison. However, this truly must have been the work of God, because it allowed us to share with all of America’s top leaders the findings of Sen. Hatch and the Judiciary Committee, as well as the statements of the National Council of Churches, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the American Civil Liberties Union, the African Methodist Episcopal churches, and many civil rights leaders who upon meticulous review of the facts proclaimed that Rev. Moon was railroaded, misunderstood, and falsely convicted.

We never know how Heaven will work when someone really commits his mind to serve God, and with a loving heart sacrifices for the sake of the people.

When Mr. Machida arrived at the Lincoln Memorial, it was moving to see him standing before Abraham Lincoln today, and then walking through the Korean War Memorial and to the Pacific section of the World War II memorial, where he prayed that Japan and America as former enemies will now reconcile forever and become pillars for the work of peace in history. We then walked with him over to the Washington Monument, where on September 18, 1976, Father Moon was received by over 300,000 Americans, and proclaimed that the end of communism would come as God’s people united together. Now Father Moon is proclaiming that the end of darkness and evil will occur as Muslims, Christians and Jews unite together not only in America but also in the Middle East and throughout the world. He says that this interreligious unity and harmony will give inspiration and guiding light to the parliaments as nations of the world promote peace among and with their neighbors.

From the Washington Monument we walked to the holy ground in front of the White House. When Mr. Machida greeted Dr. Yang, Father Moon’s representative in America, he burst into tears. This phase of his journey, from the West Coast to the East Coast, had been successfully completed, and now with Dr. Yang he could offer it to Heaven. Mr. Machida wept with joy and also with a deep heart of love. At the holy ground Rev. Jenkins reviewed the history and the course of the coronation of Jesus on December 22, 2003, and the Crown of Peace awards to Father and Mother Moon on February 4, March 23 and again on August 20, the day of True Father’s liberation from Danbury prison. On that day Rev. Moon offered a prayer for all people that all humanity, all races, all nations, all peoples, and all religions would receive the grace of God, be liberated from any stain or barrier or difficulty from their past history, and be free to stand in the light of God as a new body of believers, with the full power to come together as one family before God and build the Kingdom of God on earth, where there will be no more war and no more bloodshed, and where the prophecies of the Bible will be fulfilled.

Mr. Machida stirred the soul of America. Tonight we celebrate with a banquet his victory in this phase. The next portion of his journey will begin on September 1, during which he will walk from Washington to New York City, to East Garden, and then on to Danbury itself, offering his prayers to God that the work for reconciliation and peace and the history of True Parents’ love for humanity and sacrifice for America will be made known. The wishes of those millions of Christians represented by their denominations, wishes of millions of Muslims represented by the sheiks, and the wishes of millions of Jews who felt the grace and love of God as these three faiths have been coming together will now be fulfilled. Peace will come, and God’s truth will be revealed concerning Father and Mother Moon.

The essence of Father and Mother Moon's ministry and life work is living for the sake of others with the heart of true love that knows no boundaries or barriers, that has no preference or bias. Such love is distributed by God for all children of all races and religions. This is God’s love.

Thank you, Mr. Machida, for your beautiful spirit, for lifting up America, and for giving your inspiration now as we go to the Middle East. With the power of God’s love with us, we will bring peace on earth.

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