Rev. J. H. Pak
On behalf of God and True Parents, I would like to offer my thanks and gratitude to all of you who contributed in any way toward Blessing '97 at RFK Stadium. I feel love and respect for our community of members which made it all possible.
The Blessing legacy bequeathed to us by God and True Parents is beyond all belief. While we worked tirelessly for many, many months, still to God and True Parents goes the honor and glory for the success we had. Let us examine some dimensions of God's and True Parents' victory.
(1) Six top religious leaders were on stage with True Parents. So all included was seven. In human history, how often have we seen so many different spiritual leaders uniting together? Who has had this idea for the world religious community, plus the means to put it into practice? Some in history have held ecumenical meetings for leaders of the same faith, but November 29 drew leaders of all faiths together in the name of True Parents, True Families, True Love, True Peace and True Harmony and Unification. There was no room for conflict.
Archbishop Ioan of the Orthodox Church of Mother Mary, on stage said, "...through true parents, true love and true families, we can start the twenty-first century, the New Millennium." Many ask: "What is the New Millennium? What is different about it?" Spiritual leaders and scholars themselves have wondered what it will be like. The physical universe is the same since the beginning of time; nature remains in its original perfected state; the planet Earth is the same; the spiritual Heaven is the same; all ancestors since the beginning of time have remained there. Then, what is the difference to come? The New Heaven and New Earth means that, centered on True Parents and True Love, families will become True Families, making True Societies, True Nations, a True World and Cosmos, eventually with all sin eliminated. Only love and happiness will reign. God will have the Family of True Love for which He originally longed.
We are talking about a spiritual restoration within people, a resurrection of spirit, heart, mind and body. It was humankind that fell. The pollution of the physical world came about because of the pollution within the hearts of fallen people. We fell into imperfection; now we must rise to perfection. We need an internal change, by which we become pure and clean and new. Once people are renewed, we will have a New Earth and a New Heaven. Through drinking the blessing ceremonial nectar we are conditionally engrafted into True Parents, as explained so thoroughly in True Parents' speeches; our blood lineage is being changed from Satan's to God's. This means we are engrafted into God's heart. By the year 2000 we will see a change in the world. It has already begun.
How can all of this happen? Because True Parents are among us. The power of love is released, the power of truth and love are encompassing the globe. On the stage at the Stadium, Reverend Chung Hwan Kwak read the words of True Parents, announcing the beginning of the Blessing of couples in the spirit world. Simultaneously, many in the spirit world, who have waited so long, were being blessed. How wonderful. Great spiritual power will soon be unleashed.
Knowing all these truths, we ourselves are well prepared to explain to people the meaning of the beginning of the New Millennium. The Third Adam, the Lord of the Second Advent, will usher in the New Millennium.
Minister Louis Farrakhan, in his contributing speech on stage November 29, said, "Through God, we can overcome all obstacles and become true parents, creating true children and true families, which will build a true society, true nation and true world."
(2) The media, in general, gave good coverage to the Blessing and all other activities surrounding November 29. We can say the reporting was positive, with good articles and good photos. Most articles reported that 30,000 blessing couples were in attendance at RFK Stadium and that 70 million couples were involved worldwide. Television was generally fair in its reporting; CNN especially reported well worldwide. AP News Agency did well also. In fairness, we have to say that coverage by all forms of media was favorable. Times have changed.
The press, in an interview with Minister Farrakhan asked, "Why do you stand with Reverend Moon?" Minister Farrakhan replied, "Because Reverend Moon teaches truth and practices truth!"
Participants who may have been skeptical about the presence of Minister Farrakhan came away impressed with his sincerity and his obvious genuine interest in the plight of his people.
God and True Parents are bringing change to people. They are changing people's hearts. Barriers are being broken down and family love is being established. Those who may still be offended must understand the heart of God and how He is mending and healing the broken hearts of His children at last. That time is here. Our mission is to embrace all people as ONE FAMILY UNDER GOD, making ONE WORLD UNDER GOD.
(3) Anyone who follows God and True Parents receives heavenly protection. To this date, we have blessed worldwide over 70 million couples. We reached more than 20 times our goal. Is that not a victory for God's family? God's method of restoration is stage by stage. Remember, the 30,000 couple Blessing was formation stage; 360,000 was growth stage; 3.6 million couples was perfection stage. So 36 million is growth stage on the next level and True Father did that at the same time as 3.6 million, so now we are on the way to 360,000 million couples, to be culminated in May! How rapidly Heaven is moving now. Please keep up! Please deepen your faith! Please change your attitude if you who do not understand the victory we are tasting!
We are on the way to glory! We must be fully prepared to present that faith and face to others. Do not concern yourselves with small petty annoyances or errors that might have occurred November 29. Do you think that other large events, even with all their big budgets, such as the Olympics, do not make many errors? It is natural to do so. We must not focus on those small things. We look at the victory.
On the evening before the Blessing, at our Washington, DC hotel, Mrs. Pak and I, along with Dr. Hendricks, officiated the pre-blessing ceremony for some of the participants from the academic seminars that were held that week. We were expecting just a small group, but in walked 300 people! We were surprised. This is victory.
We must also realize that most of the 70 million blessings around the world were accomplished during the last two to three months before November 29. This is the speed with which Heaven is working. So of course True Father is expecting 360 million couples by spring. Why not? Now our real work begins! No problem. We can do it.
(4) Let's think a moment about God's control over the natural world. When Moses needed to get the people to the other side of the Red Sea, what happened? The waters were parted! We can read many accounts in the Old and New Testaments of such phenomena. As we know, late November is unpredictable, sometimes with a lot of rain, snow and cold temperatures. Some people were very nervous when the Blessing was scheduled for that time, but True Parents knew best. It was not very cold; it did not rain; and we heard from the camera crew that the best videos are taken when it is overcast, not sunny. Sun presents a problem to good viewing. Those in other parts of the world who received the event via satellite were thrilled at the perfect, beautiful transmission they got. The rain came before and the rain came after, but not during the event! God was truly in control. He did well. He is with us all the way in such obvious ways. Is this not victory?
We all experienced the phenomenon of the burst of sun through the clouds only while True Father was offering his prayer. We must record this in historical records for future generations to see and know about. It should most certainly go into a movie when we record the Acts of the Completed Testament.
(5) The Blessing in the spirit world was being held simultaneously with the RFK Stadium Blessing. Dae Mo Nim, at Chungpyung Training Center, sent a message for all those who attended the workshops that this Blessing went very well and that we could look forward to the impact on Earth of this spiritual transformation.
We had wonderful entertainment at the Stadium. Everyone enjoyed it. The fireworks and laser show display at the end were newly-designed ones that we had never seen before. Everyone stayed until the end. The helicopter circling above us the whole time was providing sattelite transmission to the world.
All seminars, concerts, exhibits and sports events held throughout the week were well attended. All programs of the World Cultural and Sports Festival were media-friendly.
We must now educate everyone. A video tape of the event has been prepared to show everyone, especially those who could not be present. To hear True Father's final prayer and benediction is how their Blessing is completed. For most of our newly-blessed couples we offered minimal education, if that. Now we can begin good education so that all of them can grow into good sons and daughters and families of God. We can educate the couples concerning the blessed family traditions, by which God can truly bless and protect them through their spiritual growth to perfection. The after-care must be carefully considered. Through happy new couples we will naturally reach the 360 Million Blessing in May.
Let us join True Parents from 6 AM to 7 AM daily and have hoon dok hui (reading and teaching) True Father's words. True Parents themselves are doing this wherever they happen to be, on land, on water, or in the air. We can go deeper into the heart of God by studying truth which True Father has spoken through the years. We will grow deeper in spirit as we read the difficult and grieving path of God and True Parents, forever reaching out to us, the rebellious children. We will become more repentant and determined to bring victory as we see how consistent Father has remained in his faith in God and his own mission, and how faithfully and ingly he is leading us to the new millennium and eternal life. As we do this reading and teaching each day, for our family and for our tribe, we will find ourselves becoming empowered. We can quickly fulfill by covering our nations with blessed couples.
One sister from California blessed 3,000 blessed couples! She is 64 years old. Her husband was killed during World War II and she carried much bitterness in her heart. After becoming a member of Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, her heart was healed and she felt it right to marry once again. Though she could have chosen her own mate if she desired, instead she requested that True Father choose her husband. She asked for a Japanese husband! Mysteriously, Heaven chose a man who was apparently Western, with a Western face. But after learning more about this man, an Australian, it was discovered that his father was Japanese! How perfectly Heaven works.
We were so privileged to have True Parents in Washington, DC, for the Blessing. We have tasted victory. Now we can really get down to work for the next Blessing of 360 million couples. By giving good quality education and attention to our newly blessed couples, we will be giving them the opportunity to learn the precious value of their family, how to guard it, how to make it grow in love, and how to offer that family to the service and glory of God. They, in turn, will joyfully bless others. In that way, God can fill the Earth very quickly with True Sons and Daughters, True Families. There is not a moment to lose.
The new millennium ushers in the Era of Kingship. As we read in the booklet "Dawn of the New Millennium" (Rev. Joong Hyun Pak, January-February 1966):
"The original family of Adam and Eve should have established God's true authority of king. Adam and Eve should have created the true quality of parenthood. Then they would have brought forth the true spirit of an elder son in their children. These spiritual powers crossing three generations would have been the basis for a society, nation and world of true love. Adam and Eve's central family lineage would have been the absolute standard of God's tradition, as were the Levites in Israel. Therefore, the original true family is the foundation for the true nation and world. Due to the fall, the foundation of three generations was lost to Satan. It was corrupted by the practice of false love. This led to false kings, false husbands and wives, and false brothers and sisters. The Messiah, coming as the new Adam (I Cor. 15:45), must restore the original true family. The original true family includes the positions of true elder son, true parent and true king. Once restored, these become the birthright of all humanity. By one true man's work, the position, right and authority of true elder son, true parent and true king is established for all humankind. This is the meaning of the terms Elder Sonship, Parentship and Kingship. This is why the Bible refers to the Messiah as the Lord of lords and King of kings."
Well, it is no longer "the dawn of the new millennium." We are now entering the new millennium. We are already walking down the entrance hall to the year 2000. Exceptional care must be taken now to keep ourselves pure and spiritually clear. Everything we do now must be for a heavenly purpose and careful records be kept of activities and results. We will keep records of every detail of our offering to God and True Parents. Clear records on Tribal Messiah activity and good records of all activities concerning the new blessings for the 360 million couples will be our eternal treasure.
May God and True Parents' love and protection be with each of us as we work to bring overwhelming results for the next Blessing, to be held in only six months. Heaven is moving at an extraordinarily fast pace now so we must move quickly to keep up.