New Hope for God’s Providence in America

Pyung Hwa Kim (also known as Byung Wooh Kim and Christopher Kim)
June 22, 2008
Sermon at New Hope Family Church

I was very moved by brothers’ and sisters’ sincere participation this morning. My name is Pyung Hwa Kim. Pyung Hwa in Korean is peace. But in Asia usually I use my English name, Christopher Kim. So Dr. Joo said to me recently, “Columbus Christopher, you are coming to America. Welcome.” Anyway, my name has evolved many times, at the battlefield, on the front line in Asia, and in the years of my youth. When I was 38 years old I went to Thailand as a missionary, serving Father’s providence 24 years and two months and then coming to America.

Actually I wanted to start my mission in America very quietly and humbly, but already I have been overwhelmed by your warm welcome at the Washington headquarters church and New York Headquarters at 43rd Street. I was warmly welcomed, though I didn’t do anything yet. I just keep observing the situation in America now. I am learning and studying what I have to do for the providence of God’s nation -- the elder son nation, this great country of America.

You have been serving and dedicating your lives for your mission, to serve God’s providence in America. You worked very hard. I already said at my inaugural ceremony in Washington that you are unsung heroes and real patriots of this country. I thank you for your hard work and for your dedication. Please give yourselves warm applause. Thank you for your hard work.

Until this morning I did not know that this place is called New Hope Family Church. I thought today’s service would be in the same place as last week, the Washington Cathedral. I didn’t know actually this is New Hope Family Church. My topic is New Hope for God’s Providence in America, a good match for this New Hope Family Church.

I like to sing the song “Father, you went through the night alone” for Father. I love this song so much. Later I would like to sing it together with you. We don’t call today’s gathering a service. We usually call this Sunday family gathering “reporting time to Heavenly Father,” about what really happened last week. We have to report and share what we have done for God’s providence. We have to communicate with each other and make a new determination. So this morning my topic is “New Hope for God’s Providence in America.”

First I would like to read Father’s words:

Your dignity in the spirit world will be determined by the number of citizens you have brought into the Kingdom of Heaven. They will be your asset, your eternal asset. Now the time has come to take stock of this. The time will come when millions of people will be witnessed to in a day. The Unification Church has such tremendous potential. Look at the world; how many people are wandering about restlessly, like raving lunatics, agonizing over whether to live or die, questioning life and committing suicide.

When you go to spirit world, the only thing that you can be proud of is your witnessing result. In the spirit world your earthly wealth cannot be an object of pride. Moreover, you cannot boast about how much power you possessed in this world. The only thing to be proud of is how many lives you have saved. The question is how many people, transcending your life, how many races you connected to new life. This is your asset. This is your only asset. The purpose of witnessing is to create my second self. When you are doing witnessing, you will feel joy. On the other hand, without witnessing, happiness will not come. I am also carrying on this work because I feel great pain if I don’t do it. When I do witnessing, I feel great joy, even when I am being cursed.

Even Father himself tries to witness to many people. Without witnessing, Father feels great pain also. So when I came to America, I observed the whole American situation: many projects going on, many activities going on; also all our members working very hard. What should I do? My wife and I deeply considered and thought over and over. Finally, I received some certain inspiration in my mind about how we can bring witnessing renaissance in America.

When I arrived at the 43rd Street headquarters building in New York, my first word to all the staff was, how can we bring a witnessing renaissance in America? That was my first word. How can we increase our membership, and also how can we upgrade our leadership? And how can we raise our second generation? Our second generation will be our new hope for God’s providence in America, our only hope. So I really believe this academy was built to have the name “New Hope Academy.”

How can we multiply our human resources, our members, increasing our witnessing result? Not just working on the clouds, how can we bring the practical result of increasing membership? All that America needs now is to increase membership. You and I can agree about how important witnessing is.

Looking at our destiny and responsibility, what comes first? What is our highest priority activity? Always we are so busy doing projects. I am also so busy, coming and going, back and forth, always working on something. But always we feel empty. What is the most important thing in our family? Without children, even a loving couple feels empty. What do we really need in America? We need children. Multiplication, not just happy being busy. Without spiritual children, there is no spirit at all, no excitement.

Let’s think about the mission of America. After I received a warm welcome in Washington, D.C., I was warmly welcomed in New York: two times inaugurated. I wanted to start very quietly, but all leaders and members warmly welcomed us. Thank you so much. The twelve district directors and headquarters staff had a good meeting with us, and we shared what we have to do in the future for America.

You already heard about our movement in Nepal. Actually Nepal is a very new nation for our movement; for just ten years we poured out effort to raise up members and leaders. The leader of the Unification Movement in Nepal is really amazing. Though he is 33 years old, already he is recognized as an important leader in the nation. There are 30 million people in Nepal, a country everyone knows because it has Mt. Everest, the world’s highest mountain. Nepal is an important nation, located between China and India.

I have just returned from Korea, having attended an important International Leadership Conference meeting, and the second anniversary of the opening of the Cheon Jeong Gong and coronation of True Parents as king and queen of peace in heaven and earth. A very, very solemn and graceful meeting was held there.

As you know, some leadership changes have been made recently. Now we have two worldwide leaders. One is Hyung Jin Nim, the youngest son, is the International President of the Family Federation for World Peace and CARP. And also Hyun Jin Nim, directly related to the American providence, is Co-chairman of UPF. One side is more internal, more religious; the other side is concerned with the restoration of the nation and the restoration of the whole world. Rev. Kwak is working more behind the scenes but remains as Co-chairman of UPF. Also a number of continental directors were changed. All these newly assigned continental directors, as well as our worldwide chairmen, Hyun Jin Nim and Hyung Jin Nim, received awards with their new assignments. This is the first time we received such a thing.

At this time I invited three district directors to come to Korea to join in this important ceremony. This was a very serious moment in Korea. All dignitaries from Korea and around the world, and the church leadership gathered at the lunch banquet, where Father spoke for four hours. The banquet atmosphere was totally changed. The food got cold; some guests were distracted. All participants were shocked. After four hours Father didn’t eat lunch, no program, no eog mansei, which was very unusual.

Really we could feel that Father wants to give his love and his inspiration continuously. This experience reminded me that Father’s time is short. He is 89 years old, by Korean age. We really don’t know when he will go to the spirit world. We believe he will live more than 120 years, but we really don’t know. I could feel that Father’s time is too short. He spoke for four hours in one speech, with a lot of explanation and giving a lot of spirit to the participants.

There were many other events and activities, but I remember only Father’s face, his suffering time, his agony and sorrow with God, speaking for four hours.

After I returned to America I thought, we really need more members. What can we do? Everybody knows witnessing is not easy. The highest priority is witnessing, but it is not easy. We have to break through and bring results. This is our destiny, but still I know nothing. I don’t know your way of thinking, your lifestyle, your strong points, or your weak points.

Last week my wife and I thought that we had to go to Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico is a territory of the United States. Why did that providence emerge? In New York I saw a Puerto Rico Day parade on Fifth Avenue. I saw so many “fish” there. How can we catch them? I checked the Internet. I asked the South American continental director, Rev. Cho, to please return Puerto Rico to the North American region. I carefully, humbly approached him. An unusual phenomenon happened. He said, “Why not?”

Later my wife reported to True Mother our discussion about Puerto Rico. She was surprised. Shouldn’t Puerto Rico belong to North America? At the dinner table she raised this issue with True Father. “Father, Puerto Rico still is assigned to South America. Something is wrong.” Father agreed. This is a very important point. Puerto Rico is a central point of the Caribbean nations. I was very happy at this time. The morning after I returned to America, I flew to Puerto Rico. You didn’t know how beautiful this territory is, right? I’ll show you.

Puerto Rico has everything. The Caribbean Sea is very romantic, right? There are many, many islands between North and South America. Like Hawaii, they are a central point between North and South. Ten years ago True Parents visited Puerto Rico with my wife. How providential it was. They were flying from Paraguay to New York, but en route the plane developed a problem. They had a stopover in Puerto Rico and stayed three days while the plane was repaired. Then they continued on to North America. At that time my wife was the only leader with them. After ten years we visited Puerto Rico as the new continental directors. This is an unbelievable phenomenon.

No other Caribbean nation has a capital like San Juan; it is really American. There are two older members there who welcomed us. We are looking for a center now. I already sent a Korean missionary there, Rev. Sang S. Kim. There are many yachts in the harbor, boats with even three decks. So now Puerto Rico has returned to the North America region. We will catch “fish” there.

Why does Father spend a lot of time fishing? Why does Father recommend you also go fishing? Fishing is related to witnessing. I learned a lot from the ocean providence in Asia. How can we catch big fish, small fish? It’s all related to witnessing. If we challenge the ocean providence, a lot of lessons can be learned. I’d like to tell what we did with the ocean providence in Asia.

We are doing the ocean providence in three nations -- Taiwan, Philippines, and Thailand. Thailand is the only nation in the world where we are doing the ocean providence by ourselves. We have what we call the Koh Wai Coral Resort. Recently we built a three-story building called the Ocean Learning Center. I call it Cheon Jeong Goon on the ocean. The resort offers fishing, snorkeling, tourism, and projects restoring coral and sea turtles.

We have four boats there -- the Julia White 1, 2, 3, and 4. The sea is calm, silky, and crystal clear. Many tourists visit there, especially from Europe, Sweden in particular. They like our Julia White boats. My wife’s name is Julia, and the boats are white; hence, Julia White. In Korean my wife’s name is Jeong Hae. When you arrive at the resort, you will see “full-time members” (small fish), tens of thousands, working at our resort. I love these “full-time members” so much. They devote themselves for our ocean providence. I’m so grateful to them.

You can go snorkeling and swimming in front of our resort. I want to invite you there. I will bring the people who can catch many, many “fish” there. Originally one’s shape in the mother’s womb is like a fish. We came from the water in our mother’s womb. Through fishing, Father teaches us how to catch people. Even 2,000 years ago Jesus told his disciples to catch fish, saying he would make them fishers of men. Jesus was a fisherman. Father is also a fisherman. We are fishermen. How many fish do we catch?

Does it seem beautiful when you see these pictures? Already I miss this place. Why did Father send me here? I really don’t know. In 24 years Father kept my couple there. But after 24 years Father moved us to America. Why? I gave up everything and came to America with bare hands. I have to start pioneering again. Why did we go to Puerto Rico? To catch fish. Even small fish are okay. Not big fish -- shark, blue marlin. First we need small fish as full-time members. Otherwise I cannot move. I didn’t go to Los Angeles or Chicago but first to San Juan to catch small fish. Everything starts at the bottom, making a foundation. Then we will build a tall building later.

Why am I talking about this ocean providence? One of the most important projects we are doing in Thailand is coral cultivation. We met one professor who invented a method to cultivate corals. Nowadays because of global warming so many corals are dying. This professor came to our resort, and together with him we started this coral cultivation project. Our resort is an experimental ground under the sea. Tens of thousands of new baby corals are growing. This is very, very successful. UN environmental officials have visited there, and the Thai government has paid some attention. This project is famous already. We founded the International Cultural and Educational Foundation.

We also have a green sea turtle farm there. When the hatchlings are two years old, they are released to the sea. Eventually they will come to Puerto Rico. How can we protect endangered marine animals? We raise corals, raise turtles, raise members. These turtles are very important. After 21 years turtles return to the beach where they were hatched -- to their “hometown.” They go down to the sea only at night, and after a 21-year course they come back to be tribal messiahs. How wonderful. Real Unificationists are turtles, actually. We really love this gentle, beautiful creature that has a long life.

Why did Father ask us to go fishing? Fishing leads to witnessing. This is one example. In the Philippines now our movement is growing because we overcame strong national persecution. Everybody knows Unification Church. We are very proud of our Unification Principle. No people can stop us, I can testify to you.

I would like to show you one thing now. In the Philippines whole villages welcome our Unification Church. Ten thousand people in a village have been to the three-day workshop, the seven-day workshop, and the twenty-one-day workshop. We are doing that continuously now. One entire town of 10,000 has joined our Unification movement. The entire town welcomes True Parents. Not because of me but because of True Parents’ foundation. Each home has a flag and has received the blessing; all children have attended our workshops. One model town has appeared.

The mayor of one city in Mindinao welcomed us and said he would educate all his citizens about Unification movement. One model city appeared. Then the governor of one province gave Principle lectures to his entire staff at the province headquarters. He was inspired to share this vision with the entire province.

Actually I wanted to make one model province for witnessing, but I was moved to America. Father has said that in one day we can inspire a million people to be part of the Unification movement. That time has come. This is harvest time, fishing time. Even small fish are fine.

We invited Hyun Jin Nim many times to address audiences of 25,000, especially students. Now we are catching big fish. There are many big fish in the sea near our coral resort area. Fishing is really important for us. Why did Father recommend that we go fishing? Fishing is related with witnessing. In order to catch fish, we need good equipment -- a good rod, good bait, and good location where the fish are. If we meet a good boat captain, we can catch big fish. I learned a lot through the ocean experience: how to catch a fish, how to connect with True Parents’ heart, how to make a substantial, practical foundation.

I’ll tell you one story about how Rev. Dong Woo Kim became the continental director of Oceania. Before I was assigned to America, I joined the fishing tournament for striped bass on the Hudson River. My wife and I spent almost one week with him. On the final day, he caught a 42-inch striped bass. Because of this fish, he was assigned as continental director for Oceania. Father feels that this man must have ability, good ancestors, good fortune, something like that. If we go fishing with True Parents and don’t catch any fish, always we feel very guilty -- “The fish never come to me, don’t like me, what did I do wrong?” Many stories came to us.

That day, my wife caught the first fish, a 36-inch striped bass, which is quite big. The captain asked whether she wanted to release it, since Father’s tradition is to release the first fish he catches. My wife said it should be released. Immediately afterward, Rev. Dong Woo Kim caught the 42-inch striped bass. Without my wife, he couldn’t be continental director! If you want to be a continental director, please catch a big fish. We start with small fish, learning, learning, and then finally we will catch big fish.

Let me show you some pictures from Asia.

The top leader of the Philippines requested that her couple receive the blessing from True Parents. She welcomed them twice. One high elected official accepts True Parents and also received the Ambassador for Peace Award. The Philippines parliament recognizes that the Family Federation is important for bringing world peace and harmony among the religions. Our movement in the Philippines is officially recognized by the government and congress.

Whenever Hyun Jin Nim comes, the government mobilizes a military escort. For the Global Peace Festival in December 2007, we had 3,500 soldiers present to support the event.

This newspaper is the biggest in Manila, and it carries Father Moon’s Ambassador for Peace Award as a big news story.

I don’t share this for my personal pride or glory, but True Parents were very happy about this. When I left the Philippines, the deputy chief of staff of the Philippine armed forces arranged my farewell party. He invited 300 dignitaries and arranged catering for this farewell party at the officers club. The president sent a plaque of appreciation: This is a certificate of recognition, signed by the president of the Philippines.

Why am I showing this? We have to witness to big fish. Many generals were mobilized for our movement’s steering committee, coming to the monthly meetings with our movement’s leadership. Military side, media side, political side, women’s side: All sides participate in our steering committee meeting. This is the model.

The president of India, with a population of 1.3 billion, welcomed True Mother and Hyun Jin Nim. He said, “I know Father Moon received a lot of persecution. Always saints and great men received this kind of persecution. I know him very well. Even his name itself, with Sun and Moon, is already great. Without sunlight and moonlight, living things cannot survive. All living beings need light.” This man is a scientist and the most popular president of India. When he stepped down, he carried only two bags, all my property, he said. Mostly there were books inside.

The top leader of Sri Lanka received the Ambassador for Peace Award. We had education inside the parliament. We proclaimed that God exists, that He is the parent of all humankind, and proclaimed True Parents in this Buddhist country. Buddhists never talk about God. I proclaimed in that Buddhist nation that God is our true parent. There was a live TV broadcast of that seminar.

The first lady of Malaysia, former prime minister, is the founder of Malaysian development. The nation with the most Muslims in the world is Indonesia, and its president welcomed True Parents. And in Afghanistan, the president and vice president welcomed our movement there.

The president of Taiwan and prime minister of Nepal became Ambassadors for Peace. The prime minister of Nepal received True Parents’ medal. He was so happy that he called cabinet ministers, senators and congressmen to gather in an official setting to see him receive his commission as Ambassador for Peace; about a hundred were there.

We called another parliamentary conference in Nepal’s congress this year in January. Father and Hyun Jin Nim were very happy about this parliamentary conference on UPF peace principles.

I would like to make one conclusion. Some model providential activities in Asia and the witnessing providence in the Philippines, Ambassadors for Peace in Nepal and the Philippines, a model blessing providence in the Philippines, the renewal of the United Nations providence in the Philippines, International Leadership Conferences in Sri Lanka and Nepal, the ocean providence in Thailand, the Family Party in Nepal, the Global Peace Festival in the Philippines: Why did I show all this? Nations everywhere can duplicate this model. All this came not because of my couple but because God worked through True Parents’ foundation and True Family’s leadership. We just helped a little bit. The major figures were Heavenly Father and True Parents. We have to learn from this, and we can see a whole village, a whole town, a whole province receive True Parents’ blessing and the Divine Principle. This phenomenon will happen here in the near future.

I would like to offer you my humble testimony of starting as a missionary in Asia. I was sent to Thailand in 1984 with my bare hands; I carried only one Divine Principle book. At that time Father told me before I left, “If you give Divine Principle lectures very well, you can make a tremendous foundation.” When I went there, I gave Divine Principle lectures every day. The weather was so hot, but I determined that at least once a day I had to give a lecture. I visited the campus every day for witnessing and Divine Principle lecturing. We started with only twelve members. We prospered because of the power of Divine Principle, because True Father’s words can create energy.

First we need members, and then everything will follow. Without small fish, big fish will never come. This is the natural order. Without a witnessing foundation, we cannot do anything. Gradually our movement got bigger and bigger. We opened a video center in front of the campus. So many students were around there. Every day we gave lectures. Twelve members became 120,000. We never imagined that Thailand could host the World CARP convention -- usually that event is designated only for Korea, Japan, or America. Thailand is a Buddhist country, and no one imagined it could host this convention.

Hyo Jin Nim came in 1988; just four years after I pioneered, the fifth World CARP convention was held. After that event, the Thailand movement grew faster and faster. This is really True Family’s power. After the convention finished, I went to Hannamdong, and True Parents signed a poster of the event. We got a special prize from True Parents for world missions that year.

We have to share the Divine Principle with people. That is the essence of what touches peoples hearts. Our programs make it easier for them to understand the Principle. Without the Divine Principle, the fish will go away. How to give the Divine Principle to their hearts, to their spirits -- that is very important. Everything comes from the Divine Principle. How much do we love the Divine Principle book and practice Divine Principle lectures? At least all our blessed central families must be Divine Principle lecturers. You have to give a Divine Principle lecture once a day. If you don’t have a guest, give a lecture to your children. That is the authority and duty of blessed central families. Practice from today. Divine love, Divine Principle. Reading the Divine Principle is a good lecture, actually. Everything starts from Divine Principle study. I can testify to this.

I received a lot of prizes and appreciation from Father and Mother and True Family, but I feel ashamed. It is not because of me, but because of the Divine Principle and True Parents’ guidance.

Our final goal, our fundamental goal is actually witnessing. You know this already, right? After catching small fish, big fish will follow. Big fish never come without small fish gathering. Yes or no?

When Hyun Jin Nim speaks, how powerful, how charismatic he is! All of the True Children are amazing masterpieces of True Parents’ family. They will now work together with us. They are our central figures. We can have so much hope.

Now our peace principles seminar in India is actively moving forward. This is a picture of our Peace Center on the university campus. We did one-day seminars at the Peace Center. City leaders and faculty members gathered for this one-day seminar.

After being 24 years in Asia, I thought I would die there. We just started working on the India providence. But Father moved us to America. Please help me know what to do here.

Once more I would like to read Father’s words. “Your pride in the spirit world will be determined by the number of citizens you have brought into the Kingdom of Heaven. They will be your eternal asset. Now the time has come to take stock of this. The time will come when millions of people will be witnessed to in a day.” Father says that he is carrying on this work because he feels great pain if he does not. “When I do witnessing, I feel great joy, even when I am being cursed. Everybody has a conscience. Your conscience will tell you what you have to do. Conscience is our original teacher, original parent, original owner.” Father has stressed many times the importance of the home church movement, tribal messiahship, and tong ban kyok pa, witnessing to one new member each month. Actually you and I did not do that.

Again, True Father’s time is too short. From now there are only four and a half years, a very limited time waiting for us, until January 13, 2013. If we die in five years, what shall we do? We have to think about this. This time Father begged and begged, gave and gave continuously, seeking for the nation. Before thinking about what to eat, drink, or wear, first find the kingdom. The name of blessed central family is so great, so what do we have to do?

I found True Mother’s Ohio proclamation, from May 28, 2007. She visited Ohio State University, and afterward she said, let’s start again a witnessing revolution in the United States of America. On that historical day, Memorial Day, Father caught the biggest striped bass on the Hudson River.

So far True Parents have showed us through their life course how to lead our lives of faith. Father started from the bottom of hell and reached the top of the world. He now stands as king of kings. How about us? Father already built God’s palace. How can we enter? How can we relate with Father’s highest providence? Many people misunderstand and think, if I just follow, follow, someday I will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. No. Practically, substantially we have to make the foundation by ourselves. Father is just showing the exemplary course, the model course. We have to go step by step. We have to make a practical foundation by ourselves. Otherwise we have no relationship with Father’s victorious foundation.

Now I come to America with you. I met with the district directors, and we shared together and talked, deeply considering honestly everything. The only solution is witnessing. Then America can revive and be a great elder son nation. We can start from the basic, fundamental solution first. I really believe we have new hope for America -- that is the second generation. How can we nurture, how can we raise up our second generation? Our only hope is the second generation.

In Korean, an antique is most valuable, most cherished treasure. In that sense the older members are like the most precious treasures or historical items. We are antiques already. I am a 62-year-old antique! My only hope is my second generation. How can we nurture them and bring them into the front line to lead the American providence? Otherwise there is no hope.

This congregation is the New Hope Family Church. My sermon topic is “New Hope for the American Providence.” Our new hope is the second generation. Second generation, please stand up. Give them a big hand, to encourage them, to push them to join the new providence in America.

This is my hope. I have four children, three of them boys. The first one is 33 years old. My youngest boy is 16 years old, born when my wife was 46 years old. Is that amazing or not? Now my boy carries two bags to school -- one for schoolbooks, another for holy books. In that bag is Cheon Seong Gyeong, his Divine Principle book, The Will of God, and a Divine Principle notebook. He carries them every day. My wife and I have designated him the “family pastor”. He is my family pastor, always guiding us. “Papa, you have to come here, pray first.” Always he guides me, and I love it. “This is my weapon. In the satanic environment at school I can survive, I can win, I can really do it in school. I’m a proud Unificationist,” he proclaims everywhere. He is Justin Kim, new hope for my family.

This kind of phenomenon, this kind of generation will determine if America can be changed. Antiques cannot change it; we can only become fertilizer. I have talked too long. Let us go forward with the second generation. Thank you very much. God bless you.

Now instead of my prayer, we will sing together. These are the lyrics:

Father, you went through the night alone,
Opened the way to free the world.
Father, together we will work hand in hand
And settle peace down on the earth.

It’s a new dawn. I see it grow
Stronger and clearer, day by day.
Saving the people,
Bringing the whole wide world into new hope.

This is my favorite song.

Thank you. May God bless America!