The Words The Kwak Family
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The Words The Kwak Family |
Rev.
Kwak with World Mission Department and other members in New York.
To foreign missionaries attending the International 40-Day Workshop in New York
His comments give a deep insight into and some fatherly encouragement in witnessing to the people of the world.
I hope you have had many experiences with the living God since our last meeting and that your missionary activities have provided many occasions where God's power and love could be felt by all of your members. We are very lucky in that Heavenly Father's guidance and protection surround all our activities related to the providential dispensation.
Father and Mother stayed in Moscow only seven days but many events that happened there were very unusual. The most important VIP room at the airport was prepared for True Parents. Upon their arrival, national broadcasters were waiting for interviews about Father's feelings, which they telecast directly on the air. A police escort and state limousine were waiting to take them to their hotel. In Moscow, the streets have special lanes in the middle of the main road for top VIPs. Father and his entourage always traveled in this lane. Wherever Father went, he was guided by a police escort. True Parents' entourage included Hyo Jin Nim, Ye Jin Nim, In Jin Nim and their spouses. They stayed at the Oktobraskaya Hotel -- named in remembrance of the October Revolution. That hotel was used only for True Parents and the heads of state who attended the World Media Conference.
On April 10, many Soviet leaders attended the opening session and listened to Father's address. Later, True Father visited the Kremlin with the heads of state. There, President Gorbachev met with them for 90 minutes. Afterwards, True Parents met with the Soviet president in his private office; they had a very heartistic conversation and were completely open with each other. The closing of the World Media Conference coincided with True Parents' 30th wedding anniversary, with True Parents cutting their celebration cake in front of Russia's First Lady.
The intersection of Father's mission with Gorbachev's position was an historical event and where many people focused their attention. But the events surrounding their meeting are just the external points; I want to share with you the more internal meaning of these events. The internal dispensational condition of Father's one week in Moscow was that he shared God's Words publicly and privately with many top Soviet leaders. The contents of his speeches were most important. For example, in his founder's address, Father didn't try to please or placate the Soviet leadership; instead, he talked about God, True Parents, vertical love and Godism. In another speech, he explained how the Soviets need a spiritual revolution. In his closing speech, Father explained how the end result of atheism could only be conflict and destruction.
Father mentioned these points not only in his official speeches, but also when meeting with Soviet leaders. Many times the Soviet leaders wanted to ask special questions of Father, but Father never gave them the chance, for he wanted to use the opportunity to express God's words: You must open your society more -- perestroika and glasnost are not enough; you must make fundamental changes; you must provide spiritual and internal incentives for your people. Father warned them that money and material incentives are too little, too late. Even if all the money in foreign aid came to the Soviet Union tomorrow, it would take four or five years to build the needed factories and for the economy to get back on its feet. Father told them, "I never gave material benefits to my members -- only spiritual incentives and a God-centered ideology." But the fundamental point Father always focused on was, "What is your plan for your progeny who don't like communism? If the Western culture comes to your young people, what will you do? You should learn from Reverend Moon how to guide your youth."
After the opening session, some church members asked Father, "Yesterday the points in your opening remarks were too strong and too fundamental. This is Moscow, not New York. Don't you feel you need an attitude of praising Gorbachev?" Father answered, "My whole life of teaching victory over communism theory and my lifestyle have not been to benefit me personally or to support a particular political purpose; my life travels in this direction because of God's Will and His Providence. I came strictly in one way, one direction. To some, meeting President Gorbachev may seem to be a totally different direction from the past, but my direction always remains the same: I follow God's Will. My words cannot be found printed in any book in the Soviet libraries; no Soviet professor is teaching or guiding his students with the same content as what they heard yesterday. The Soviet people must continue to research and test these ideas."
I was constantly amazed at how confident Father was; I felt he was more comfortable in Moscow than he is at East Garden. Some leaders and participants were wondering, or had some peculiar or uncomfortable feeling -- but not Father.
While Father was in the Soviet Union the Soviet chapter of the PWPA was established by the Soviet professors on April W. Father was so happy. Maybe some of you remember when Father directed me to begin a professors' organization in 1973. The Soviet professors gathered an operating team to think of a name for this new organization. At this phase of their development, my input to them was to indirectly share Father's will and purpose. I was worried about how to advise them while they were discussing what the name should be, so I called Father. Father felt they had to consider two major points: they should use a title that includes the words "professors" and "peace". Although the title "Professors World Peace Academy" is rather long, there was no other possible title that would honor what Father said. In the communist society and ideology statements, there is always mention of "peace" -- their propaganda states they are seeking "peace". By using the word "peace" in the title of the Soviet chapter, the chapter will become a non-threatening forum where communist professors and scholars can state their viewpoints and research the founding ideology of PWPA.
Father also established a Holy Ground within the walls of the Kremlin and prayed in the national cathedral of the Russian Orthodox Church of the Ascension.
Sometimes our church members liken True Parents' meeting with President Gorbachev to the historical event of Cain or Esau welcoming Abel or Jacob. But in 1990, True Parents have achieved a worldwide historical foundation of victory so that there are no more Cain/ Abel, or Esau/Jacob figures in front of True Parents. In front of the True Parents there can only be sons and daughters. While our general response toward the Soviet Union is that of a distant, even an enemy, nation, the feeling emanating from True Parents' heart is that the Soviet people are no longer our enemies -- never again. Father gave a sermon on that very point. In front of True Parents, President Gorbachev is like the historical representative of the prodigal son. He is in this role by virtue of his position as president of the Soviet Union.
What is the character of a prodigal son? He doesn't like living with his parents, follows his own idea with confidence, leaves home and loses all the material wealth of his inheritance. The history of the Soviet Union is exactly like this: they denied God -- their parent; they confidently followed their own idea of communism and have misused and therefore lost the material wealth that God gave them in their natural resources. This corresponds exactly to the description of the prodigal son, in my interpretation. The Soviet Union is facing a financial crisis similar to that of the prodigal son. The prodigal son lost his own dignity, faced a serious situation and then returned to his own home meeting his parent at the entrance to the village.
We have not realized how important the worldwide foundation victory was in God's dispensation. This substantial worldwide foundation means the entire globe is True Parents' domain, implying that the Soviet Union is just a short distance from True Parents' house -- similar to the entrance of the village.
Many times Father's public dialogue with Gorbachev was like a parent talking with a prodigal son. During Father's stay in Russia, his unwavering thought was "Gorbachev needs me; this visit is not for me." In the case of True Parents, life could continue without meeting Gorbachev -- no problem. But Gorbachev absolutely needs True Parents, and Father's parental heart wanted to serve and restore all Soviet people.
According to Biblical record, the prodigal son's parent held a welcoming banquet. When I think of the father's heart, I can imagine his desire was to share all of his beautiful clothes with his son. The father's attention was totally absorbed with the prodigal son. The son of filial piety was confused and angry with his father. Who is in the position of this son? Of course, the United States and other developed nations. Father has urged the leaders of these countries to be open-minded and desire to support the Soviet people. The pious son didn't have a good feeling toward his brother and turned against the father in his heart. The welcoming banquet was held despite the feelings of this son, because all things belonged to the parent.
In the present world situation, if the leaders of the developed nations don't follow True Parents' advice, their countries' situations will become more difficult. Their prosperity and wealth were gifts from God, thus originally belonging to God. Based on the victory of their worldwide foundation, True Parents are the true inheritors of God's abundance. If the leaders of the world deny True Parents, God cannot bless such attitudes. We can understand the dispensational significance of the Moscow conference in light of this explanation.
At the end of last year, many East European countries became free societies, with the Soviet Union also making fundamental reforms. This "fall" of the Soviet Empire was interpreted by many in the Free World as meaning that capitalism had won. In a certain sense, this is indeed true. But communism and the communist societies were not defeated by capitalism. The communist system failed because they denied God, denied man's dignity and denied religion.
Their false idea defeated them.
What of capitalism and the free world societies? Because of their technological development and wide material foundation, the Free World appears gigantically successful with its covering of prosperity. But the reality of their internal spiritual situation is very serious: no moral standard, no value system, drug problems, AIDS, teenage pregnancies, violence, racial unrest.
For many conference participants this was their first visit to the Soviet Union and they could only see its worst points: not enough food or public transportation, and very undeveloped. They concluded simply, "There is no hope in the Soviet Union." Of course the economic crises are very serious for them, but the Soviet people's inner condition is much better than that of the American people. Therefore, neither the ideology of communism nor that of capitalism holds any hope for mankind. For this reason, True Parents proclaimed Godism and Headwing ideology. Father clearly declared the world's need of a new organization and new ideology.
This means that our members' position is so important to the world; we need more confidence and should educate our general membership to this dispensational viewpoint. From the Principled viewpoint, the Cold War of conflicting ideologies was the Third World War and is finished. We expect no more global wars and are only in need of one world under God. Therefore, the 1990s are a very important time period. Before we enter the 21st Century, we have to cleanse the world of its wars and resettle under an international and interracial system of ideas and tradition.
True Father has created many activities and movements, but the goal of all of them is one world under God with all mankind as brothers and sisters. This new world will be based on true love, with its most important element being the expression of true love in human relationships.
What is Father's plan now? Father has to proclaim True Parents worldwide. In Korea, Father recently proclaimed True Parents 13 times in very strong speeches. The amazing point is how everyone listened and accepted it. There were huge banners saying "Welcome True Parents" and also "Congratulations to True Parents on their Moscow Meeting." Father conducted huge rallies in major cities throughout Korea. They were very successful. Before Father's return to America, he asked that the whole country of Korea -- almost 280 regions -- conduct similar rallies. The rallies will be completed the end of June. Each one centered on "Welcome True Parents" and "Monsei True Parents." People listened. This has never happened before -- what miracles!
I went to my hometown province, and I also gave lectures in Seoul. The audiences listened well to another degree of the Second Coming lecture -- that True Parents are coming. I think we have to testify to the whole world about True Parents. We are fortunate to live in the dispensational era of testifying about true love and True Parents.
The next point I want to emphasize to our worldwide leaders concerns next year's important event of the "World Culture and Sport Festival." This name was chosen by Father and the festival will take place in the last 10 days of August 1991. Through this celebration, Father wants to share with all humanity an example of an ideal world event centering on true love. The Blessing ceremony will gather all races, nationalities and traditions. Many different conferences and sports events will occur during the festival.
How many blessing candidates have you already prepared? Father is expecting 100,000 blessing candidates from around the world to come to the next blessing. The conditions will be less restrictive: only to (1) attend a 40-day training session, (2) recognize True Parents, and (3) never divorce.
Because the external world situation is worsening each day, some members of the younger generation are seeking an ideal marriage and ideal future. We should find that kind of person. The 40-day training doesn't have to be during a continuous 40-day period, but a weekend lecture series or evening series of lectures could be done.
After True Parents' victorious worldwide foundation, all blessed couples have become tribal messiahs as an amazing benefit of this dispensation. You should know that if there were many tribal messiahs in your mission country, then the restoration of your country would be no problem. One tribal messiah can do amazing work in an area. Jesus Christ was one messiah -- a resurrected messiah. In his short life, he changed 2000 years of world history. True Parent's 40-year history has made amazing changes in this world. So if there are many tribal messiahs in your own small mission country, then you need not be concerned about its national restoration. So you must publicize the World Festival and many people should come.
For all missionaries your present conditions are not easy: witnessing is difficult, the national financial foundation may be weak, and so on. But you should know that during this dispensational era, Father has said many times, "I do not have any expectations from your witnessing; I will witness to the whole world." So now, Father's name is a witness in and of itself. After the Moscow Conference, True Parents were proclaimed and the Korean people listened. Father's worldwide efforts can witness by themselves. So please remain confident, continue witnessing and you should gain a good result. Please focus on gaining blessing candidates as future tribal messiahs for your nation. Heavenly Father's work will always focus there.
The experience of your own 40-day training session should be transferred to your members. God created mankind out of true love. So we already have true love; but because of our selfish desires, that love became impure. So we have to purify our love, then establish a clear standard and tradition. We must create our own vertical relationship with God; then we can have great expectations of results from our own efforts.
Moscow State University, member of the Academy of Science of the USSR and member of the Union of Writers of the USSR
Before expressing my impressions of this interesting and unusual seminar, which gathered more than 100 intellectuals from different countries, I want to explain why I took part in it.
Mainly I was motivated by our country's present spiritual situation. Recently people in our country began to pay attention to the intellectual and moral Unification Movement, founded by the highly respected Rev. Sun Myung Moon. The ISUM seminar's goal was to explain the structure of this movement, support its multiplication, and reach practical results.
My professional work is to teach humanistic knowledge and do scientific research in this field. Therefore my work is directly connected with the content of some of the speeches given at the ISUM. Definitely I could more easily understand those speeches because of the fact that I already knew about Reverend Sun Myung Moon's concepts, which finally have come to be highly and objectively recognized in the Soviet press and in the public sector.
Rev. Moon's program for spiritual change in the modern world is remarkable not only because of its noble moral ideals, which in themselves are beautiful, but because of its practical recommendations to people all over the world. This is so important in our time.
I especially liked the clear proposals to educated people: that each of us can concretely influence public morality and that we have the possibility and power not to tolerate the gap between politics and morality nor allow bad people, especially dictators, to rule peoples and states.
I could not fully agree with several speakers on some theological issues, but I could not deny the very humanistic purpose of the moral imperative. This confirmed to me the value of the human personality itself.
Probably not everyone can easily understand Reverend Moon's interpretations of well-known biblical stories and doctrines. But I think that time will help in this. It is not necessary to rely on fatalism, but rather to reflect on new arguments in theology and new factors in the form of movements.
In any case I am convinced that many participants (I count myself as one of them) saw the indicated connection between religion and practical spirituality, as well as economical, technological, cultural and other forms of cooperation between people of different professions, ideals and world views.
In conclusion, I honestly want young people to join this movement. I will tell my students and colleagues at Moscow University about the ISUM seminar and the Unification Movement. I hope they will express their readiness to understand the ideas of Reverend Moon, and realize them in their public and professional life and in their relationships between people, especially in family relationships, which are wonderfully defined in the philosophy of the Unification Movement.
I hope that I can help to translate the main works of this movement into the Russian language. Since I desire the 21st century to be humanistic, it is very important for me to support everything that prepares such a century. With this kind of understanding I positively relate to everything I heard and took part in near Prague in the beginning of May 1990.