The Words of Won Pil Kim
|
|
The Words of Won Pil Kim |
Think of some very famous person like George Washington or Abraham Lincoln. Why is it that people respect them so deeply and build statues to them? Think about it.
We have many good friends and neighbors. When we have a hard time, they help us and sympathize with us, But we don't think of building a statue to them; we only think of them as good neighbors.
There is a difference between famous persons and good neighbors. Famous people are thinking on the national and world scale; good neighbors only think on the individual level. Who is more significant? It is those with a broad consciousness that become famous and it is to them that we erect statues.
Everyone who comes to this movement thinks about and dedicates himself to the world. This makes our movement so important in the world, And because we think of the world, we have a great task. If one just thinks of himself, he does not experience much suffering, but on the scale that we are living we must really struggle and be willing to suffer, Our Leader is a man who is trying to accomplish something very great and wonderful for the world -- much greater than anything that anyone has done before -- so he must be the greatest man.
Let me tell of our Leader after he came to South Korea in 1951. We built a small hut at the seaside in South Korea, There was an old woman from Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea, who had served our Leader for many years and who was desperately searching for him, She had first heard about him five years before she met him, when a voice from heaven told her, "In five years you will meet the Messiah, You must prepare for him." So she had busily begun preparing food, clothing, blankets and all things. Five years to the day, she met our Leader. She was now separated from him by the war and continually asked the heavenly Father where he was. By His leading she was seeking our Leader.
As she was looking, her only son located Father in Pusan but was so grieved by our living conditions and poor hut that when he returned to his mother to tell her of our Leader he did not want to bring sorrow to her heart, so he said, "He has a wonderful large house!" But the heavenly Father's voice told her, "No, he lives in a poor, small hut.” She did not know which to believe. When she went to Pusan, she saw the poor, small hut and knew that Father was right. Whenever we desire to accomplish something, spirit world will assist us; but they will only assist us, they will not take over our responsibility,
In North Korea, our Leader had his separate, tiny room and lived apart from us. In Pusan, he and I would have to share the same small hut. When we consider a saint or famous person, we think of him in rather supernatural terms. But when we live closely with anyone, we can no longer separate ourselves from them in such a way. I was hesitant to live with and get to know our Leader too deeply for fear I would no longer respect him. It is easy to love and respect Jesus as the Christ 2000 years later. But at the time of Jesus, even his parents could not feel that way toward him. It would have been very difficult for us, probably.
In the tight, cramped conditions we shared, I did come to understand our Leader very deeply. Over and over again I was surprised when whole new aspects of his character would be revealed to me after I thought I knew him well. Contrary to my fears, the more I got to know our Leader, the deeper my respect grew.
We came from North Korea with nothing; we had no money. As our Leader was teaching, preaching, praying and working for the establishment of the kingdom of heaven, I worked in an office of the U. S. Army. Also during the night I would do oil paintings. So I worked until 6 p. m., then painted until 12. Then I slept until 4 a. m., when our Leader got up to sell my paintings and get to the office in time for work. But our Leader always went to bed after me and was up first to awaken me.
In the beginning, our Leader would watch whi1e I painted. But as time went on, the demand became so great for the paintings that I would paint the difficult parts and he would paint the rest. At that time, there were some members of Divine Principle that came to talk and discuss and be taught by our Leader. Sometimes they would be so tired as they watched us paint that they would fall over in sleep. Our Leader would awaken them and ask how they could sleep when we were working. If they could not physically help, at least they should spiritually support.
During 1952 and 1953 our Leader wrote the Divine Principle down. Each morning after 1 went to work, our Leader, sitting on the floor, began to write and would write all day. When I returned from work, he would be checking over the day's work, so I never saw how he wrote.
One night we didn't have to paint so I was sleeping. In the middle of the night our Leader called me to get up, get a pencil and paper and write what he said. We didn't have electricity, so in the darkness I wrote our Leader's words, which he spoke in a steady stream without even taking a breath.
So it is that the original Principle was written by our Leader working alone, with the exception of one chapter ("The Resurrection of Jesus"), which was written by the hand of Mr. Kim. Even now, I don't know why our Leader asked me to write this part, but I think that the heavenly Father wanted a witness so people can know how the Divine Principle was written. If our Leader got the Principle from his own head, he couldn't have spoken and written it without interruption. But it was done with the help of the heavenly Father. If I hadn’t written that chapter, there would have been no witness to the original composition of the Principle. Many times we ask people, "Can’t you believe the Divine Principle? Ask the heavenly Father; He will give you a clear, affirming answer.” Since God is true, and since Principle comes from Him, He will answer.
Mr. Eu is a medical doctor. His Family are all strong Christians, but he could not understand or believe in God. He was brought to the movement by some very spiritual friends and I taught him. I taught him only a rough outline, and he wanted to hear more deeply, so he was given the original copy to read. But this copy was really confusing so he had to study very hard. Once he asked me to answer a question which I couldn’t put into words, so I told him, "Pray and you will find the solution." So he prayed and received the answer in a vision. Mr. Eu was a very difficult man to bring in. He pondered, thought over and questioned everything, but now he is the president of the Association.
Many times I was awakened from sleep by the voice of our Leader crying out in prayer. Sometimes he would wake me up to go with him to the mountain in the early morning. On the mountain we would pray together.
Ten days after we arrived in Pusan, our Leader met the man he had roomed with in Japan while in college. This man -- of Buddhist background -- is now one of the top architectural consultants in the country. They had not seen each other for seven years. What should our Leader say in greeting? They were so glad to see each other, and he grabbed our Leader, slapped him on the back, and said, "It's so good to see you after so long! Come over and visit!"
In. Japan, when they had been in school, our Leader was very withdrawn. He didn’t go out with friends or play, and nobody knew he was a Christian. But they felt something deep, strange and very mysterious about him. Our Leader was happy to visit the couple and over supper he talked of the heavenly kingdom which is coming. They talked far into the night, and when the friend slept he dreamed: A beautiful lady came to him saying she was Jesus! sister: "I have a deep sorrow for my brother. I want to be happy. There's one solution which can resolve the sorrow. If I can open this door there will be joy." The door appeared and was opened; a second door appeared and opened. A third door appeared, but it did not open. "There is only one man who can open it. You know that man -- Mr. Moon."
In the morning, the friend asked our Leader, "Does Jesus have a sister?" Even most Christians do not know the answer for sure, but our Leader answered, "Yes, Jesus has a sister." Then the friend told his dream, and suddenly he was no longer a friend but sat up formally before his Leader and became a wonderful member. Before, he was a strained and tense man with the pressures of work. Now he has no more worries.
During the Korean war, refugees had to walk thirty to forty kilometers each day. It was in December and the temperature was around 15 degrees below zero Centigrade. One night, long after midnight, we stopped to sleep. We stopped in an old deserted house but we had to have a fire. I went out in search of some wood, but the town was stripped clean. Suddenly I came across one of the many graves that were everywhere. There were two sticks attached to the canvas that wrapped the body, so joyfully I grabbed them. I broke them and made a small fire in the kitchen of the house and the heat began to warm the floor where our Leader sat. "Won Pil!" he called to me. "Where did you get this wood?" When I told him he said, "You had better select more pure sticks for me." So many times I carefully consider even the everyday things that serve our Leader. Is it pure? For example, he cannot enjoy food if it is cooked hurriedly.
Our Leader stresses that the most important thing is heart. Food is not important; material things are not important; number of members is not important -- but that we do all things with our whole heart, this is the most important.