Keeping the Promise
Reverend Won Pil Kim Speaks at UTS
Reverend
Won Pil Kim, the first disciple of Reverend Moon, visited UTS on the afternoon of April
9th. The following is an edited version of unofficial notes taken by UTS student Mark
Snell.
I think you know many of the old stories already, so today I would rather focus on
important points that can help you to understand True Father more. In the early days, many
attended Father because God called them. However, even though those people received
revelations from God, they did not know logically why that happened to them, according to
the Principle.
When Father was first arrested, it was a Sunday morning when people were preparing for
Sunday Service. Even though Father didnt say anything to us, some spiritualists said
that we should come to church the night before, to prepare to receive Gods word. In
that type of situation, Father was arrested. I was arrested also, along with True Father.
The spiritualists thought that 2000 years ago, the disciples were arrested but because of
angelic help, the jailer was blinded and the disciples could escape. Therefore they
thought that since Father was the Messiah, then surely God would blind the jailer. Why
didnt this happen? This negative thinking grew, until the spiritualists separated
from True Father. Father said spiritualists are like blind people following the sound of a
bell in the darkness. The sound of the bell is Gods word, so as long as they hear
that, they will follow. If the ringing stops, they wont know where to go. Therefore,
they should stand on the base of the truth. There are many episodes in Fathers life
which demonstrate the importance of standing on the base of truth.
In Heung Nam Prison, we know Father suffered a lot from starvation. Even healthy people
could not survive there for more than seven months. We heard Father gave half of this food
to other people for one month. That half was a gift from God to enable Father to survive
for 5 years. After one month, Father started to eat all of the food. In this way, he
trained and strengthened himself. In that kind of situation, Father witnessed to one
person in the prison. This person denied Fathers word three times, but God gave him a
revelation, so he became a disciple. That person was Mr. Pak, as you know.
Now this is an important story. Mr. Pak afterwards became the leader of 2000 prisoners.
When he was given that assignment, he thought he should consult with Father first and he
informed the commandant that he had a teacher he had to consult. He asked Father if he
could accept that position and Father said yes, so then Mr. Pak gained power in the
prison. Though he was only a prisoner, he could arrange food and jobs. Therefore he asked
Father whether he should give the easiest jobs to him. Father rejected his offer, and
instead asked for the heaviest job in the prison. Father took that work, and so was
awarded the Best Worker title three times.
When you hear this story, you might think Father was different from us. Please remember
that Satan took Father into prison. The prison was the place where he could use his power
to kill Father. No one knew Father in the prison, so if Father were killed, it could be
blamed simply on sickness. We should realize that even in that situation, if you make a
condition Satan cannot use, then he cannot touch one hair of your head. This is the point.
So in the situation of no food and heavy work, Satan wanted to hear Father asking for more
food or less work. He was expecting Father to say such things, but Father gave half of his
food away, thinking the remaining portion was a gift of God. Father thought,
Heavenly Father loved me, so he gave this food to me. So when he started to
eat all his food one month later, then he thought, God loves me twice as much
now. Thus Satan was thwarted.
2000 years ago, Satan tested Jesus through the 40 Day Fast. Satan gave up at that moment,
in terms of tempting Jesus with food. God told Mr. Pak that Father was the Messiah. Then
God put him in a top position, and Satan used that point. So when Mr. Pak offered the
easiest job, Satan tried to make Father think that this was from God. But Father rejected
this offer, and instead chose the most difficult work. This is a very important point.
Whenever Satan tries to test us, he is going to try to use Divine Principle or Gods
word. Satan is so clever. So Father separated from Satan like this, and thus gained
victory. Since Father rejected those temptations, Satan could not touch Father anymore.
God liberated Father from prison, but Father motivated God to do this. If Father had any
condition through which Satan had invaded, he could not have been liberated from the
prison. This is a common test in our daily life. Suppose you are fasting. A spiritualist
may say, God told me you dont have to fast. Then what are you going to
do? We have to always understand the Principle centering on God and True Father. Heung Nam
was like many similar experiences in Fathers life.
Keeping the Promise
As you know, Father went back to Pyongyang for 40 days after being liberated, and visited
all the members.
Fathers family was living not far from Pyongyang. But he never visited his family.
It means Father loved the Cain tribe more than the Abel tribe. Father knew in prison that
his Pyongyang followers were falling away, but he never thought they were betraying him.
He thought that they became like this because he was in prison. He thought that if he was
in Pyongyang, this kind of thing wouldnt happen. So he prayed 3 times a day for
those members.
So then he began meeting them. He said I came back alive. Whether they
followed Father or not was their own responsibility. Fathers responsibility was to
inform them he came back. Father is really a principled person; even if people dont
believe in Father, he believes in them. Though others may break their promises, he will
keep his.
Usually, if we have a 20-year friendship, if the friend betrays you, the relationship will
be broken. Father was not like that. Everything started from the first promise between God
and man. Between families and nations, it all started from the promise. When you
dont keep the promise, then war occurs. Look at Fathers standard of love. We
sing holy songs, but some of the authors of those songs already left the church. So in our
case, we wouldnt want to sing that song. We would throw it away. But Father
didnt want to do that. Why not? If one person keeps the promise, then what happens?
Even though the other person breaks the promise, if one keeps it, the promise-breaker may
return, or another better person may come to replace him. Why is that? If you give 10 and
the 10 didnt come back, but you determine to keep giving, then your love is higher
than before. Therefore, if another person comes, that person will be a better person.
Adam and Eve broke their promise to God. If, at that time, God also broke the promise,
there would be no salvation. Why is the providence for restoration possible? The reason is
that God kept the promise, and never gave up. Do you understand? Therefore, the third Adam
is much better than the first Adam.
The authors of the holy songs loved those songs. However, Father loved the holy songs more
than the author loved them. Everybody has an original nature and wants to come to the
person who loved them the most. We want to make that person my own subject. Nobody loves
the universe more than God and therefore God is the subject. Though the author of the holy
song left the church, if you ask the holy song who should be its ruler, the song will
answer, Father. Therefore the song became Fathers song, not the song of
the person who left the church.
If Father abandoned the holy song, this would mean Father abandoned God. Therefore, if
someone leaves the church, if that person really loved something, that heart will remain.
Therefore, we have to keep his work. Thats a very important point to remember. We
have to understand this aspect of Fathers thinking. Whenever Father sees people, he
thinks That person is standing on the foundation of his ancestors. Based on
their good ancestors actions, they are standing on a historical foundation and they
could be guided to True Father.
Then such a person came and worked hard together with True Father, but then he left the
church. Still, the foundation he and his ancestors made remains. If we cut off everything,
then we cut off all kinds of good foundations from God. So you can cut the bad evil
foundations, but if you cut good things, you will be cut. So this is very important, and
you have to be very careful. So though people left Father, he could not cut them because
their good foundation remains. That belongs to God. You need to understand this.
Father is always looking at us with an unchanging heart and mind. Because of this, because
Father has faith in us; even though people left the church, they can come back.
Thats the point I wanted to make. In the outside world people respect the wealthy,
and mistreat beggars. Father doesnt make these external distinctions. Father is
always looking at people from Gods viewpoint. We say many times we attend God and
True Parents. An important point we miss is that Heavenly Father is attending us. This is
our great misunderstanding. To understand this point, let me tell you a story from 2000
years ago.
Gods people must gain recognition
Why did
Jesus have to die? The people didnt accept him and therefore, he had to die. If he
was recognized, why would he have to be killed? Therefore, being recognized is very
important. Because Jesus was not recognized, Jesus had to tell his disciples not to spread
the fact that he was the Messiah. If you are not recognized by the people and you say you
are the messiah, you will be killed. In the same way, after being blessed, we have a wife
and husband relationship. If we have children, we have the title of father and mother. If
you bear children, actually that is only a title. You have to become parents, you have to
become a wife and husband. We have to be recognized by each other.
What does it mean to be recognized? When a husband says There are many wives in the
world, but you are the first one for me, that is recognition. There are many
husbands in the world, but you have to be recognized as substantial by your wife. When you
are not recognized, the possibility for divorce exists. Even in the relationship between
parents and children, if parents or children dont recognize each other as the best,
the relationship can be broken. After your blessing, thats only a name or title. You
have to become a real blessed family. Even signing a membership card doesnt do much.
You must become a real, substantial Unification Church member. Unless God and True Father,
who established the Unification Church, recognize you, you are not really a Unification
Church member.
Jesus three year ministry was the process of gaining recognition. 12, 70, 120
disciples represented Judaism and the world and he loved them with this attitude. Whenever
he spoke to a disciple, he spoke about his own experiences of Gods guidance.
Therefore, before the crucifixion, when Jesus gathered his disciples, he himself washed
their feet. He showed through this that that he loved and served them symbolically as the
Messiah. This is why he told them that they had to show true love toward all people.
Think about True Parents and True Father. 50 years ago, because of Gods revelation,
we attended Father. At that time, what kind of love did Father give to his disciples? He
gave true parental love. That means he loved them like True Parents. The message is,
therefore, that you also have to love people with true parental love. You cant say
that if you only give servants love, you expect them to respond to True Parents love.
Through serving people through true parental love, eventually Father could be recognized
as the Messiah. Before that, he couldnt say anything. So the people who received
that kind of love could recognize him as the Messiah.
This is why Father was able to announce his messiahship in 1992. He proclaimed the
identity of the True Parents. Before that moment, it was all preparation; that was the
Eight Stage Indemnity Course. Unless we are recognized by people, we cant act like
that. So in our Blessed Couples, we make many mistakes like this. You have to be
recognized. Therefore, you have to love totally with the attitude that Ill
live for you or die for you. Our couples must love like this.