Unification News for January 2000

The First Blessings

by Linna Rapkins

How could one seven-year period be so important? How could it contain so much? So many things happened between 1960 and 1967 that we would have to write a book to tell about it.

As we have already seen, True Father and True Mother were blessed in marriage on March 16, 1960, and Mother went through her seven-year course of testing and suffering. Also, Father sent the members out to all the villages and cities for 40 days to witness and teach.

At the time of their own blessing, Father created the first holy day, Parents’ Day. The reason he could do this was because of all the suffering of the members and their great faith in God and True Father.

Before 1960 was over, Father also created Children’s Day, so we could celebrate Heavenly Father’s love for his children.

Also during these seven years, True Family was growing. Five of True Parents’ children were born during this time. In addition, another daughter, Hye Jin-nim, was born and went to spirit world.

And then, in 1963, after Ye Jin-nim and Hyo Jin-nim were born, the Day of All Things was begun. This was the time to celebrate all the wonderful things God had created.

The seven-year period ended on the last day of 1967. On the very first day of 1968, True Father said we should start celebrating God’s Day, and for the first time in history, we celebrated the most important day of all—the day dedicated to God Himself, our Heavenly Father.

Now our stories take us to another important series of events during this seven-year period—the first weddings after True Parents’ wedding.

The 3 Couples are Blessed

It had been an unforgettable day—an unforgettable wedding. As they went back to work, the members felt something different in the air. For the first time in all the world and in all history, they had REAL parents. The world looked a little rosier somehow.

"We have been to the marriage of the lamb prophesied in the Bible," they sang in their hearts. "We have shared his banquet and sung his new songs."

They went back to their missions with new zeal. Bringing many new people to share in this great joy was more important than anything.

They didn’t ask, "Well, when will we be married?" They just took it for granted that there would be no time for marriage and raising families in this lifetime. Creating the Heavenly Kingdom on Earth was their number one job, so they expected to stay single the rest of their lives. They would live like monks and nuns. Anyway, who felt worthy to be blessed? No one.

Yet, mysteriously, the offering table was not taken down after True Parents’ wedding. The decorations were left in place, too.

Then, something happened that explained it. Several days after his own wedding, Father met with a small group of his oldest and most devoted members.

He talked about many things, but after awhile he started talking about perfection. "If you give up everything you own and work as hard as you can and get hardly any sleep and are absolutely determined, you MIGHT become perfect in about 70 years," he said. "Furthermore, that could only happen if you had been a good person all your life and if your ancestors were good people, as well."

"Not much hope of reaching perfection before we die," thought the members.

Father continued, "And you know by now that becoming perfect yourself is the first blessing, and getting married is the second blessing. If you are married before you are perfected as an individual, your marriage will have many problems. Ahl-ah-yo?" (Do you understand?)

"Ne (Yes)," they nodded.

"But, we have a problem here," said Father. "If we wait until you are fully perfected, no one will ever get married while on earth, at least not until you’re too old to have children. Yet Heavenly Father cannot be happy until he has blessed families all around him."

This appeared to be an impossible situation. You have to be perfect to be married, but God can’t be happy if you aren’t blessed in marriage.

Father’s eyes focused on one person and then another as he looked around the room to see if they understood. "So," he continued, "Heavenly Father wants a few of you to be blessed now."

This news was surprising to the point of being shocking, yet they sat quietly without expression as they waited for his next words.

"There will be three couples who will be in the position of my three closest disciples. You will be something like Jesus’ three major disciples. He depended on Peter, James and John for everything, and he really needed their full support. I also need this kind of support. Only instead of three disciples, I will have three couples."

And so it was, that on March 21, 1960, just five days after his own wedding, there was another holy wedding. The first couple was Father’s beloved first disciple, Won Pil Kim, who was blessed with a quiet and serious lady. Then, there was Mr. Hyo Won Eu, Father’s trusted lecturer and helper. He was matched with a dynamic young student who had been expelled from Ehwa University and now had her own pharmacy. Gil Ja, he called her. And finally, there was another faithful member, Young Whi Kim, who was matched with another student who had been expelled from Ehwa University. She was one of Father’s cooks at the Chongpadong Church.

Preparations for the wedding were made quickly. The men wore the same white robes they had worn for True Parents’ wedding, with a corsage of flowers on their chest. The three women wore white chima chogoris (Korean dresses) with crowns of flowers on their heads and lace veils reaching to the floor, similar to Mother’s. They carried small bouquets of flowers. Although long veils were a tradition in the United States, many Korean women liked to wear this kind of veil, too.

Once again, the floor was covered with the white cloth. Now it was clear why the decorations and offering table from True Parents’ wedding had not been taken away, for they were used again for this wedding.

Father spoke to them about the importance of their marriage, and he ended by saying, "I want you to pledge that you will never leave me; that I can always depend on you to support me and work with me."

They made their commitment, "Ne, Sonseng-nim, we promise."

This wedding happened so unexpectedly and so quickly that none of the parents knew about it; therefore, there were no parents or other relatives attending this important occasion.

With True Mother by his side, Father blessed them in holy marriage.

The 33 Couples are Blessed

After the blessing of the three couples, life went on as usual for about a year. The 40-day witnessing campaign came and went, when everyone went out to the villages and countryside to witness and teach. This was followed by more witnessing campaigns and training sessions for the new members.

Little did they know, there was another surprise in store for them. One spring day in 1961, Father announced, "There will be another blessing."

"Another blessing?" The room became absolutely still as their silent questions floated through the air. "Will he bless three more couples like he did the first time? Or perhaps nine more to make a total of twelve—just like Jesus’ twelve disciples? Will he bless only single people? Or maybe only older members?"

During the next few days, Father met with members who might qualify to be blessed. One by one they were called to Father’s room. First, some men; then some women; then more men; then more women. When their names were called, there was usually a feeling of surprise. "Who, me? Are you sure? But I’m not ready. I’m not qualified enough." These kind of thoughts raced through their heads.

They came like shy children, not knowing what to expect. Father interviewed each one. He studied their faces to see what kind of people they were. He reviewed their record in the church. He talked to older members who knew them.

Soon, he had matched three couples. Then twelve. Still, he kept matching. For two or three days, it continued. No one could figure out what the qualifications were, because those who were matched were all so different. Some were old and some were young. Some had been married and some had remained single. Some had been in the church for years, and some had just joined. Some had accomplished a lot in the church, and some had only begun.

Then Father sorted them into three groups. First, twelve couples were put together who had been married before, either to each other or to someone they had since divorced.

Father explained, "Some of you in this group of twelve lost your husbands and wives when you joined our church. Now you will have a new mate—your heavenly mate for eternity. Some of you joined the church together as husband and wife. Now you will be blessed to each other. All twelve couples will represent the first Adam."

Then Father met with nine couples, "You have never been married, but at least one in each couple has had some kind of relationship before—maybe you were engaged or something like that. Most of you are older members in the church and have accomplished many things for God. Some of you are the women who were expelled from the universities when you joined the church. You are a very special group."

The nine couples wondered why there were only nine instead of twelve. As if reading their thoughts, Father added, "The three couples who were blessed last year will be part of this group to make a total of twelve couples. And you will represent the second Adam, Jesus."

As Father finished matching the third group, he looked for members who had never had any boyfriends or girlfriends or any relationships like that at all. Father called them in. He looked them over, and the first thing he noticed was that they were mostly very young. Should he choose such young people to represent all blessings in the future? These would be the most important couples in history.

Father saw another problem. "There are so many young members," he thought. "They all look good. I must find reasons for choosing some and not others.

There was one young man, for example, who had joined in a small village. Father had never met him before. He looked nice, he seemed sincere, but so did many others. So he asked this fellow’s spiritual mother, "What is he like? What has he accomplished?"

She answered, "His name is Sung Phyo, and his father is a medical doctor, who loves him dearly. He sometimes sends him money. Whenever he does, he chooses good quality bills and even irons them so they’ll look extra nice. When Sung Phyo receives them, the first thing he does is to donate some of them to the church. He chooses the best looking bills and treats them like they are the most holy bills in the world. I always feel very touched by his attitude."

This was a good condition for choosing this young fellow, and Father matched him with a very nice young lady. A few years later, Sung Phyo was put in charge of the Tong Il factory, and 20 years later, two of his children were blessed with Ye Jin-nim and Hyo Jin-nim. We know this couple as Mr. and Mrs. Hong.

When this last group of twelve couples had been matched, Father explained, "You are the third group of twelve couples. Most of you are very young. Many of you are still university students, and some are even high school students. You are also young spiritually, and you haven’t accomplished so much in the church yet. But you have been chosen for your faith and purity. You represent the third Adam, the Lord of the Second Advent."

To everyone, Father announced, "The blessing will be on May 15. The men will wear their holy robes, and the women will wear new chima chogoris and long lace veils, just like the first three couples."

Quickly, the women of the church got to work helping the couples prepare. They sewed, they cleaned, and they cooked. Entertainment was prepared. Decorations were put up. The floor was covered with white cloth. A beautiful backdrop for the front of the room was painted with two phoenix birds, the bird so loved by Koreans. Little flags of the world were hung from the ceiling.

There were indemnity conditions to be made, and then the holy wine ceremony. The wedding day came quickly.

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