Dr. Pak explains the providential difference of this 30,000 Couples Blessing compared to all the previous ones. He shares his profound experience as the emcee of such an important event and concludes with exciting news about creating new Holy Grounds in Korea.

This Blessing of 30,000 couples was the first since the proclamation of True Parents. Of course, it is true that the previous Blessings were also given by True Parents-this is the tradition we have observed since the Blessing of the 36 couples. But this International Holy Wedding was the first major Blessing ceremony to be held since True Parents proclaimed themselves as messiah in front of all the world. Until this time, the Blessing ceremonies were Unification Church affairs, held within the church. This one, however, had tremendous significance. Following the proclamation of True Parents in front of all the world, it was a universal, worldwide, historical event. It was fundamentally different.

There were more than 1,000 journalists in the Olympic Stadium covering this Blessing ceremony. Some press people were using helicopters from the day before the ceremony. This had never been seen before: American and Japanese television filming the Blessing from the air. This Blessing was a world-shaking event that turned the whole world upside down. I think that is the special meaning of this Blessing.

And then there was the historical proclamation that gave special meaning to this event. Every 30 minutes throughout the day, the American CNN television network broadcast the scenes of Father and Mother coming down the stairs wearing their crowns and of the brides and grooms lined up in the stadium.

As you know, I was the emcee for this Blessing, and it seemed to me that a heavy weight I had been carrying for 35 years was lifted from my shoulders. Whenever I finished a sentence, it was with the proclamation, "...presided over by the Reverend and Mrs. Moon, the True Parents of mankind!" In Japanese this is "makodono kokosama," and when I pronounced this phrase I thought to myself. "Wow, now the whole of Japan, 120 million people, are listening to this!" I could not have felt better. And then I said it in English. The Americans have heard the words "Reverend Moon" a lot, but they probably heard the expression "the True Parents of mankind" for the first time. I proclaimed this in front of the five billion people of the world! It was received over the airwaves throughout the world.

Having made this breath-taking proclamation after each verse -- "the Reverend and Mrs. Moon, the True Parents of mankind" -- I can die any day and not have any regrets. I emphasized in every paragraph, "Now there are 30,000 couples including those in 10 other countries who are participating in this Blessing simultaneously via satellite." This was to make it absolutely clear that this was a historical Blessing for the whole global village.

Then there was the scene when the brides and grooms bowed to True Parents and everybody thought, "Well, now they are honoring the True Parents; they are paying respect to the officiators," but then the emcee said the words, "Brides and grooms who are participating in this Blessing via satellite, stand facing Korea!"

This is a small digression, but when I was a child during the time of the Japanese occupation, we had to bow every morning toward the palace of the Japanese emperor. This was called "Eastward Worship." The time has now come when the world performs "Northward Worship" and "Westward Worship." The time has now come for the world to bow toward the place where the True Parents are.

I told the world to officially bow to True Parents -- Africa, Brazil, the Philippines, everywhere. "Brides and grooms who are participating in this Blessing via satellite, stand facing Korea!" After these words, when I gave the command to bow, I was telling the people of the whole world to bow to True Parents! What a grand feeling! It is hard to put this into words. This was a ceremony when the brides and grooms from all over the world, representing all mankind, bowed toward the fatherland of their faith, Korea, and received the Blessing of True Parents.

We printed all these words in the Segye Times. We even mentioned the point about the participants in the Blessing bowing toward the nation of True Parents. I talked about this earlier; the elder generation still remembers the "Eastward Worship." But because True Father was born in Korea, the people of the world are now bowing toward Korea. Whether they are Unificationists or Christians or Buddhists, no matter what their religion, all who belong to the Korean race could not help but get excited at this moment. It was an occasion to instill great patriotic pride in all the people of this nation.

All the other newspapers carried stories about the Blessing this time, but the Segye Times gave it front page coverage. The press and the government were shocked that such a ceremony could have been held. Even though our ceremony was the greatest, only seeing is believing. The scale of this event had to be shown, and that is what our Segye Times did. We had a picture of True Parents giving the Blessing and above it, in large type, the Chinese characters of Father's name: Moon Sun Myung. The opening paragraph began with, "Four hours of splendor and emotion, on the day of the greatest ever international joint wedding of 30,000 couples; the rain stopped and the sky turned brilliant clear, the Blessing of God, the Blessing of God..."

As we found out later, many Christians had prayed to God for it to pour with rain on that day. Elders, deacons, and pastors prayed in all-night vigils. But on the day, although it was raining all over Korea, in Seoul the sun was shining brightly. On the day before the ceremony during the rehearsal, I announced, "Whether it rains or snows, even if a storm blows up with thunder and lightning, we will hold the Blessing ceremony!" But Mother said as she left: "Tomorrow it will not rain. Don't worry. Father prayed for God's special intervention." After I heard these words I fully believed them and didn't prepare even one umbrella. The rain kept pouring until 4 o'clock in the morning, but when I awoke it began to clear and it became a really beautiful day. Father's prayer was answered so well that my face even got sunburned. All the brides and grooms had red noses the next day.

More than a thousand journalists reported on this Blessing. The major newspapers and magazines from America and other nations sent their correspondents. Something like that would never have been possible in the past. I have the editorial page of the Segye Times here with me. It carries the headline: "The World Is One Home, Mankind Is One Family." This editorial was not written by Dr. Son Tae-oh or one of our family members. The editorial department decided to carry such an editorial because "this event gives our newspaper's president the greatest victory of his life; therefore we agreed to unite with the purpose of our founder." This is a fundamentally different newspaper now compared to six months ago when 130 people resigned from the paper in protest against Father's decision not to allow them to establish a labor union. I am truly grateful to God and True Parents.

There is nobody on earth who could have achieved such an amazing feat. No religious or political organization could have done this. Only the messiah, True Parents, armed with the Divine Principle and its power, are able to bring about a unified world. Breaking down sectarianism and racism, overcoming national and ethnic barriers, and bringing all mankind together in this grand union of world peace-who else could have accomplished that? Could the king of one nation have done it? Could the president of the United States or the prime minister of Japan have done it?

On the day before the Holy Wedding, Father gathered more than 700 VIPs from all sectors of society and from all over the world and, in front of them all, proclaimed himself as the messiah. The next day all of them came to the Blessing ceremony and witnessed the event. There were 22 former presidents; about 100 prime ministers, ministers of state, and ambassadors; 114 leading representatives of the world's media; religious leaders; scholars and experts in various fields from all over the world. Do you think they could get much sleep after Father had proclaimed his messiahship the day before? There were many who stayed awake all night, and when it was time to go to the Blessing ceremony, they were getting on the bus one hour before departure time! Usually when there is an international conference, about half of the participants do their own sightseeing rather than join the officially scheduled tour. Because there were 114 media people we had ordered only three buses, thinking there would be plenty of room left. But finally we had to order another bus. The reason was that foreign ambassadors to Korea, embassy counselors, and foreign media representatives residing in Korea came and wanted to ride along. After all standing room on the buses was filled, we had to order an additional bus.

Also all the former heads of state who stayed at the Lotte Hotel came. There must have been many among them, too, who could not sleep the night before. But they all felt that they had to participate in this event no matter what. They had breakfast early, and some of them put on their gala uniform with black bow tie and everything, just as if they were the bridegrooms.

The former Egyptian prime minister, Aziz Hegazy, came as the chairman of the Summit Council. This person was so impressed by the dignity of the ceremony that he said to his wife: "Let's go out and join in the ceremony. How can we just sit and watch such a solemn celebration!" He was so astounded by the event. Later, some journalists who had heard him say these words told us the story.

Then there was the prayer, and the atmosphere in the stadium elevated. Then the bridesmaids and groomsmen entered. This was truly a sight not from this world. The 30,000 couples lined up, and after one holy song, during which the bridesmaids and groomsmen walked down to their positions, the announcement was heard, "The officiators, the Reverend and Mrs. Moon will now enter!" But they didn't come out. It is not an easy thing for the Lord to appear on the earth. The Christians have waited for 2,000 years, but some in the VIP seats just could not wait anymore and were staring impatiently up at the sky. But finally, Father appeared, walking solemnly in his white gown, through the golden gate with its blue backdrop. The very second the True Parents appeared, a thundering applause blended with the sound of the holy music. It was an exhilarating experience.

Usually True Parents step up to a podium, but this time they came down from heaven. All of these things completely captured the hearts of the people in the stadium. When Father read the four wedding vows, the 30,000 brides and grooms who were there in Chamshil Stadium responded in Korean by shouting "Yeh." When this "Yeh" soared from the bottom of their hearts, resounding throughout the stadium, it took everybody's breath away; it was just so overwhelming. My soul was completely shaken. I was literally trembling. When Father gave the Founder's Address at the opening of the Media Conference, he spoke of "the creation of God's army of peace." When our guests saw this scene, they felt it to their bones that this was in fact the "army of peace" Reverend Moon had been talking about.

After that came Father's Consecration Prayer for the Holy Wedding. The VIPs may not have understood the words of this prayer, but they felt as if, for the first time in their lives, they were hearing the voice of God coming down from heaven. Father's words touched their heartstrings. The words of Father's prayer washed away all the dark and dirty things in the hearts of all the people present. He made them pure like snow. And then Father made the Proclamation of the Holy Wedding. Father first made the proclamation in Korean, but because these words were so important, they were repeated in Japanese for all of Japan to hear, and then in English too. The Japanese people heard it in Japanese, and the Western people heard it in English. At that moment, all the people who were there other than the brides and grooms felt: "Next time it's my turn, next it'll be my turn!"

All the presidents and former prime ministers and ambassadors there felt like that, including the lady ambassador of Ecuador. She said that she had been thinking that she would never be able to marry in her life, but now she had met a man who would Bless her and find a husband for her. She had heard that Father also matches by picture, so she would start preparing her pictures that same day. That's what the atmosphere was like there.

Brothers and sisters, this was a gathering of the world media people, of top world leaders, all the top representatives of mankind were there. These people were all so positive, so inspired. They were shaken by something to the depth of their souls. They were completely drawn into it. It made them think: "Now we have to study the Divine Principle!"

In the evening of that day, we had a special meeting back at the hotel. The participants wanted all their questions answered. So, for over eight hours, we explained to them. They also asked why it was necessary to have such a proclamation at this event. So we explained it to them.

This proclamation of Father actually came 40 years late. Because Christianity did not receive Father, and because we, who are following him, were not able to prepare a sufficient foundation for him earlier, the proclamation, which should have been made 40 years ago, regretfully came so late. This is how the explanation session went.

This time, the Japanese media covered the event in amazing depth, with live broadcasts. Especially because the famous actress Sakurada Junko was among the brides who were Blessed to grooms Father had chosen, the scenes of the Blessing were broadcast live in Japan. The hearts of 120 million Japanese were turned upside down. Do you know why? Japan has been courting the materialistic civilization, immersing itself in the philosophy of the supremacy of materialistic values. This is blatant hedonism, and this hedonism has brought about a collapse of sexual morality.

There is a really evil American preacher going by the name of "Father David" who established a new religion in Japan called the "Family of Love." The teaching of this "Family of Love" is this: God did not give man his sexual capability merely for the purpose of making children and multiplying the human race, but as a way for men and women to find pleasure. They are preaching that for this purpose it is all right to enjoy sex with any man or woman one likes. This movement, which has been spreading in Japan since 1987, was written about in a very popular magazine called Munyechoonchoo, and when the young people of Japan heard about this they thought, "Well, look at that; that is an exciting religion!"

In this atmosphere of sexual permissiveness, the famous Japanese actress named Sakurada Junko called a press conference. She is the Elizabeth Taylor of Japan. The American Elizabeth Taylor has been married six times. The minds of the Japanese people are full of concepts about actresses. So all of Japan thinks that if someone is an actress she is like that.

Japan has so many good things, doesn't it? But because the Japanese like Western things too much, they don't discriminate and take on the bad customs together with the good ones. The bad tendencies from America are invading Japan.

But the Elizabeth Taylor of Japan said during her press conference, "Reverend Moon is matching the couples this time, and I don't know if I am worthy to get a partner from him. But if I am given the glorious opportunity to participate in the Blessing, I will do so." That was what she proclaimed. The reporters had come to the press conference expecting that she would merely confess to being a member of the Unification Church, so as soon as they heard this bombshell announcement-that this famous young woman would participate in the mass wedding-they ran to their telephones and told their news desks at their newspapers, their magazines, or broadcasting stations, "Hold everything, we have a top news article coming for the front page." Then they went back to the press conference to get the full story.

In Japan, where sexual immorality is rampant, this woman, who is like an idol in that society, said that she would do "Mee Ai," which means "find a spouse through a matchmaker."

They say that in California 75 percent of couples who marry get divorced. All over America there is a divorce rate of 50 percent. Many children born in America now can't use the names of their father and mother. That is because they don't know who their father or mother is. Almost half of the children in America come from broken families. Japan has not gone that far, but it is no doubt going in that direction. It is such an immoral society. So what's the use in meeting a hundred or a thousand potential spouses, having dates with them, and trying to choose one's husband from among them? One can only see the present. One can see neither the future nor the past. But Reverend Moon, whom I follow, not only sees a person's present state, he sees their past ancestors as well. He matches people in this way. What method of choosing one's spouse is more ideal, more scientific, than that? After a press conference like that, you can imagine how shocked the Japanese were. They must also have felt a sense of shame.

The True Parents are the only ones who can restore this fallen world. Sakurada Junko was God's instrument. Dozens of Japanese TV cameras were focused on her at the Holy Wedding ceremony. From the time she joined, God used her like this, and in the future Sakurada Junko, as she understands Father's purpose, will be able to spread the Principle to all of Japan and even proclaim it all over the world. This tremendous worldwide victory shows that the completion of Father's providence is in sight. We are in the era of perfection! What good fortune for us that we are able to live together with, and be disciples of, the substantial representatives of God in the society of men, our perfected True Parents. From now on we have to lead the world, beginning with the 40 million Koreans.

We have the responsibility to lead all of them to the Blessing. The final thing I want to report to you is the fact that with this Blessing, Father has laid the cornerstone for the unification of North and South Korea. Father selected those members with special merit from among the brides and grooms and sent them on a pilgrimage to Jung-ju in North Pyongan Province.

This is a symbolic beginning. On August 31, at 9:30 a.m., they will gather in Nagoya and from there they will fly to North Korea. The Unification flag will truly fly toward Pyongyang. Father has named our brother Hideo Oyamada as the leader of the group. I think he was chosen because he can understand Korean and he speaks excellent English. So even though he is Japanese, he is a leader who can record all the details of this trip and report them accurately. Of course, the overall leader of the members in Japan is Takeru Kamiyama, but because President Kamiyama has a mountain of work to do in Japan, Father made this decision.

Nine months ago, Father met Kim Il Sung and the vice prime minister, as well as Chairman Yoon Ki Bok, and when he spoke at the Assembly Hall, he said: "The way for you to survive is this: designate Jung-ju and Hungnam, and in the future also Anju, as Holy Grounds and open them up. For us these places are Holy Grounds, but you may also call them tourist sites. When the members of the Unification Church come here on pilgrimages, and worship at these places, your country will have a way to survive."

In fact there was an economic conference planned, but, brushing that economic conference aside, Father said, "This is economics. If you do this, your economy will also survive. So hand over Jung-ju!" Kim Dal Hyun turned ash grey and could not open his mouth. This is something only Kim Il Sung could decide. Kim Dal Hyun or Yoon Ki Bok are not the people to decide such a thing.

When Father met Kim Il Sung, this conversation took place at the table: "Ah, this time you visited your hometown, I heard." Father answered: "Yes, I went there." "I hear that the house you were born in is well preserved. How did you like it?" Then Father said: "I really had not imagined that my house would still be there, but you have preserved it like that. I am very grateful that you have made all this effort and had the house repaired and newly painted and even had new sand spread in the courtyard." Kim Il Sung was smiling: "That house is a very precious treasure. I have already ordered our people to preserve that house well."

Chieftain Kim Il Sung had already heard and seen what Father had said the day before, and had decided to designate this as a Holy Area and to present it to Father as a gift of love. Kim Il Sung said this during the talks with Father.

Before Father visited Jung-ju, there was no paved road to his home town. The people of that village and district must have worked for one whole week without sleeping to construct the road. The paint had apparently been applied the night before Father went into the room in which he had been born and prayed. When he came out, the paint on the door post stained his coat. They had been in such a hurry to please Father. Kim Il Sung did not say this, but, according to his aides, he had warned them not to make it look better than Man Kyong Dae, the place where he himself had been born. He said that Father would understand that, but because Father looks a hundred and a thousand years into the future, he doesn't think it important how these things are done now. History will decide which place is more important. Will it be Man Kyong Dae? Or will it be the home of Father in Jung-ju? Think about that.

There are plans to make the grave of Father's parents into a place where everybody can worship and pray. The spot where Father received the call of God on Easter Sunday at the age of 16 will become the holiest of holy grounds. This was not possible on this occasion, but in the future, when our members leave donations there, a museum can be built there, where pictures of Father can be shown. All the people of the world can visit.

Unification Church members who go there will leave donations. We hear that they have already prepared a collection box. They say it is made from marble and weighs two tons. It reportedly took the strongest truck in all of North Korea to get it there. Do they have cranes or good machinery like that in North Korea? It seems it took hundreds of people to shoulder it and lift it down from the truck. So they put this collection box in front of Father's paternal home and it seems they are preparing to make this into a holy area with the donations of the Unification Church members. When Father went there somebody was still living in the house.

There are also three houses where his relatives used to live. They made one of the relatives the manager of the area, and he is supposed to be the guide for the visitors. But more important than that, because it is impossible to go by helicopter every time from Pyongyang to Jung-ju, a bus route had to be prepared. The roads used to be very bad, but in the last few months they made enormous effort to build a road. Now the Moon family in North Korea has been raised to the status of nobility. In their thinking, Kim Il Sung is the great chieftain, the "Sun of the East," and now that the great Sun has joined in brotherly ties with Chairman Sun Myung Moon, right after the Chieftain's own family Father's relatives are treated like "family."

The last time I went there, I met a man who had studied much about Father's family. He asked me about the origins of the Unification Church. So I talked about Father's life from his birth and so on, but he said that I flunked the test and that he was more of a Unificationist than I was. Then he told me what the origins of the Unification Church were, and what he said I heard for the first time. Before Father was born, a pair of yellow cranes came to his home town, and whenever they came to roost some tragedy struck the village. Always somebody died. But then when Father was born, the birds disappeared without leaving any trace, and from that time on there were no more tragic deaths or accidents. This, he said, was the origin of the Unification Church.

The second story he told I had heard from Father before. After Father was born, there were no more tragedies concerning people, but a series of misfortunes with animals began. Dogs died, cows died, pigs drowned where it seemed impossible for a pig to drown. Father had told us that these kinds of things happened in his village. But as this man told the story, he added that this series of misfortunes to animals continued for 16 years-until after Father had accepted the call of God on the Easter Sunday when he met Jesus.

When Father met Kim Il Sung in Hungnam, the very place where Father had gone through unspeakable trials in the prison camp, it was as if the process of restoration through indemnity was made absolutely clear. The people there had tried to avoid a meeting between Father and Kim Il Sung in Hungnam, but the place that Kim II Sung chose to receive Father was, strangely enough, precisely Hungnam. So on the way to Kim Il Sung's residence, Father drove past the Hungnam fertilizer plant where he had spent his prison camp days. The North Koreans also know about the Hungnam story. During the Korean War, B-24 bombers attacked Hungnam, and people were being killed in the bombardment. After running back and forth to escape the bombs, the prisoners realized that the place where Father stayed was never in danger. So, although nobody told them to do so, whenever the sirens sounded, the prisoners all gathered at the place where Father was standing. Father spoke about this already this morning. Within a radius of 20 meters of Father, nobody was hurt at all. The North Koreans also knew this story.

In this way the North Korean people already know the origin of the Unification Church. This man told me to tell this story after going back to the South, and that he would tell it also to the Unification pilgrims who would come to the North.

This time our tour group will not go all the way to Hungnam. However, some members of our church have been to the Hungnam fertilizer factory before. The local government is now thinking about building a special monument there commemorating the history of Father's indemnity at that time.

This man told me that the people of North Korea have heard these facts by word of mouth. Truly amazing things are happening there. This time President Oyamada thinks it might be good to take photos of Father and this Blessing Ceremony along and give them to the important people there. Actually, would it be possible to hold such a historical Blessing as this, with people from 131 countries participating, under the "Juche" ideology? Short of listening to Principle lectures, there is nothing that can testify to Father more than this Blessing. I wanted to finally emphasize the fact that this event is connected directly to the unification of North and South Korea.

This time, many newspapers carried our story, and they reported the facts without distorting even one word. Father said that the Segye Times had put pressure on the other media. He proclaimed the formation of a moral media that is able to exert pressure on the media in Japan and around the world. On the day when a moral media proclaims Father's words to the world, Father's kingdom will appear in front of our eyes. I will end my report with profound gratitude, and a passionate round of applause, to Father and Mother.

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