TRUE Father's journey to the south began on January 4, 1951, and was truly a miserable one. For three weeks he lived as a refugee in a life or death situation. Placing his trust in God he continued on his way and arrived in Busan on January 27, 1951.

True Father's course until the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of our church has been a lonely and thorny path of sor-row interspersed with hard-ships beyond description. Looking back, it seems such a long time.

Father made a promise to our invisible God. He was determined to fulfill God's will and build God's nation. Toward this end, he invested everything. God's will alone filled Father's heart when he was penniless, without a house or clothes, even wearing winter clothes in summer. From the mud-walled house at Beomnetgol, Busan to a small room in Busan's Sujeong ward, Father moved many times before finally settling down in a house with two rooms in the same ward.

Father's way was such that he invested his entire being-disregarding his prestige or dignity-in whatever was necessary to establish and fulfill God's will. He harbored such a love; it touched God, compelling Him to be with Father. Whenever Father prayed, he prayed with an anxious state of mind as if driven by something.

The church was founded in Seoul's Bukhak ward, at the House of Three Gates. It was there that Father first hung the church sign. At the time, he said that our church originated not from the mind of man but from God; it began not by the will of man but by the will of God. He said that he does not do anything on a whim or on the spur of the moment, and that there was a profound spiritual significance to the founding of the church. In other words, the church was founded for the sake of God in response to His command and with His guidance. Father said that as this was a special church, he was not going to make it like the existing ones.

Father stated that he would unite global Christianity through holy spiritual works and build a world of goodness, a world of love-one world centered on God. Thus, he named our church the Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity.[1] Some suggested he shorten the name, but Father said not a single word could be removed from "Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity." He said to keep it as it was.

 The church had three gates in its surrounding wall and only two small rooms. Compared to the church building itself the name of the church was rather grand. It was talking about the unification of world Christianity and, further, the unification of religions. After the sign was made, Father was extremely happy. A look of pleasure spread across his entire face. From then on, the struggle between God's side and Satan's side began in earnest and Father felt satisfaction at being able to convey the new truth to the satanic world. From then on, Rev. Eu Hyo-won began to give Divine Principle lectures with increased purposefulness. I visited Christian ministers and spiritual teachers. Father told me to declare war and announce that the new truth had come. I mainly went around the provinces of North and South Jeolla. What strengthened my conviction even more at that time was my meeting Paek Shin-myeong in Daejun. When I showed him a picture we'd taken when we founded the church, he pointed to Father in the picture and said that that person would unite the world. He said that despite the difficulties now, the path would soon be clear and people from not only Korea but from the rest of the world as well would become interested in and flock to our church. He told me that my mission was to be the trumpet of the archangel and that I was not to fear but to boldly testify to this person who would unite the world. In joy I cried out alone that Father was truly the Lord of the Second Coming as promised in the Bible-from this experience I found even greater conviction.

In 1954, in Iri [present-day Iksan], North Jeolla Province, I met Lee Soon hoe, a deacon of the Holiness Church. He received many revelations and spoke in tongues. For this his church kicked him out. I told him to pray about certain topics. I asked him how the Fall had occurred. After praying, he answered that the Fall had occurred because of an illicit sexual relationship. I asked him how the Second Coming would come; he answered that the Lord of the Second Coming would come in the flesh as had Elijah and John the Baptist of old.

I met a deaconess named Oh Cheon and told her to pray about Father. Her answer surprised me. She said, "Heaven will fall and the earth will rise. The new Jerusalem will be created in Korea, and the Lord of the Second Coming will appear in the flesh as a man who will eat with a spoon just as we do."

Wherever I went I was alone, yet God was behind me and I gave thanks for His help. Fifty years later, it truly is like a dream to see missionaries being sent to 190 nations, building churches and engaging in activities. Yet it is not a dream, it is a tremendous miracle that amazes heaven and earth. All this is the result of True Parents' blood, sweat and tears. Overcoming six imprisonments and numerous struggles with death, Father now wears a crown of victory.

For a couple of months before his being sent to Seodaemun Prison in 1955, plainclothesmen would come to the church to harass Father and curse at the members. One day, a woman came to the church and struck Father in the face with her rubber shoe. Yet in the face of countless insults, persecution and beatings Father did not see those who persecuted him as enemies, but rather he prayed for them.

As in the Korean saying, "Justice will assert itself," we are now seeing the reverse happening in our time. Countless saints and sages were never recognized during their earthly lives. Yet, True Parents, who live in the twenty-first century, have been acclaimed by many people as great prophets, the Messiah, Savior, Lord of the Second Coming and True Parents.

The reason for this is that what Father said fifty years ago is now being fulfilled, and what he has said is certified by God as the truth. Father is performing a new type of righteous deed never before seen on earth.

There is no way to describe Father's lofty ideology and philosophy. It cannot be measured or weighed in any way. True Parents, who love all the people of the world as their children, have given more love than anybody else in the world. Father's faith toward God is absolute and cannot be measured in human terms. Among the countless saints and sages who have lived on earth, none has shown greater faith in God than Father has. I am convinced that there will also be no one with greater faith in the future. Holding the blueprint of this cosmic and grand providence in his heart, Father has walked a lonely path toward the liberation of God.

Some have called him a heretic and many have persecuted, opposed, slandered and employed violence against him. Father has been persecuted more than anyone else in the world. In the face of persecution and the arrows of opposition, Father stood before God as His proud son and, in thanks, found victory on the path of the cross. Now he stands firmly in the position of an extraordinary hero and an international religious leader.

He has always emphasized that we who are born from the satanic lineage cannot be saved on our own. He has taught us the way to liquidate the satanic lineage and transfer to the lineage of God. He has also taught us the philosophy of pain. He has told us that we cannot become citizens of heaven without pain. He stated that the secret of occupying the world is found in becoming expert in the philosophically based practice of going through suffering for the sake of the world. He has said that suffering is the weapon needed to subjugate both the sides of God and Satan. The intensity of True Parents' heart of fidelity toward God cannot be found anywhere else in the world. True Parents have put God on his rightful throne as the true God. Thus the trail of True Parents' blood, sweat and tears is even greater than the toils of God. God was astounded and the world was awed at the Holy Marriage Blessing Ceremony of the Parents of Heaven and Earth Opening Cheon Il Guk and the Coronation of the King of the Blessed Families of the Peace and Unity of the Cosmic True Parent and the True Parents of Heaven and Earth. There is no way to repay True Parents' grace in letting us inherit this blessing.

Now True Parents' desire and dream is to see the building of God's kingdom through the liberation of His fatherland. How will this be accomplished? All the people living in the wards and neighborhoods in the Republic of Korea must be recreated by the word. Father has stated that the system for effecting this re-creation is hoondokhae.

Ever since the Fall, mankind has longed for the coming of the word for recreation in the Completed Testament era. Through hoondokhae, we can resemble God, who is the origin of the word, and True Parents; and we must become second true parents. In those places that practice hoondokhae, God will reside, those from the spirit world will be mobilized and miracles never before seen in history will occur with numerous good spirits coming down to earth.

If we can break through in our neighborhoods at this time, everyone without exception can be restored as true children by True Parents' teachings. Then God's nation will be established on earth and True Parents will be elevated as the king of kings in heaven and as the Parents of Heaven and Earth on earth. That is God's will and desire, and the greatest desire of our True Parents.

I am sure that Jung Dal-ok [2], who is in the spiritual world, understands and fervently feels Father's desire more than anybody else does. I have respected her for a long time. I am sure that if we on earth remember her, she will help us from the spiritual world. She had absolute faith in True Parents. Father has said many times that Dal-ok was the model member of the Unification Church.

Once she had a bandage over her hand. Father asked her about the bandage and joked that she may as well cut off her hand if she was going to wrap it up like that. As soon as she heard this, she brought a pair of scissors and calmly asked Father how much of her hand she should cut off. Father said, "I can't make a joke in front of Dal-ok."

Her absolute faith in Father is something that would win the respect of all people. She consummated her life as a truly filial daughter, with a devotion to to God's will and a sincerity that are hard to imitate.

It is not easy for us to walk straight on the way of God's will. Because God, True Parents and those in the spiritual world see through us, we cannot fabricate things, tell lies or practice deception. We cannot recklessly live our lives. Once when I lived intoxicated in God's will and the word, I was stopped as I was walking down the street by a fortune-teller who read faces. He said that I possessed a great truth and that I would be welcomed by the world. I could thus carry on through the present difficulties. I was half in doubt that a time like that would actually come.

Not only that, a lady selling sweet potatoes on the street also told me that I wasn't just walking on the street, I looked like an angel flying over it. When my heart was really alive, many people-even the creation-would stand on my side and protect me. With the conviction that I wasn't alone and that the living God was with me, there was nothing that I could not overcome. Once we begin our life of faith, we should keep at it to the end. This is the attitude necessary to have absolute faith, absolute love and absolute obedience. Only when we put our life on the line will God come to us and work. He who loses his life will gain it, and he who seeks his life will lose it. As long as our ego or self remains, God and True Parents will never come to us. Only when we completely deny ourselves will God come and will those in the spirit world perform good works. How much we empty ourselves determines how close we are to becoming one with God.

And when we reach the highest state in relation to God and True Parents' will, God and the spirit world will be moved. God will not leave His children alone. If we can turn our entire heart to God and True Parents, they will take responsibility for everything. When we give, the return will be tens and hundreds of times greater than we expected.

Father always asks how much we have practiced true love and how much we have lived for the sake of others. He has said that God can be with us if our heart of offering for God's will takes precedence over our spouse, parents or children. Looking back on these fifty years, I am ashamed to say that there is nothing that I can say I have done well. Whichever direction I look in, I can only remember things that I regret. I have even thought that if I could go the path of God's will again, I would try to live in greater righteousness.

Although I received an award from True Parents for fifty years of service on the path of the providence, I am still filled with shame before them. I do not know how much longer I will live, but I would like to discuss and resolve all these issues with True Parents.

Let us not retreat before the path of offering our lives. Let us work hard on becoming members who laugh in the face of death and, in high-spirits, overcome it.

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Endnotes

1 In the title, "Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity" the words Holy Spirit (Shin-ryeong) do not refer to the Holy Spirit (Song-ryeong) mentioned in the New Testament of the Bible but, rather, to divine spiritual works or power.

2 Jeong Dal-ok is the wife of Rev. Kim Won-pil. She ascended in 2000.