True Parents - Mrs. Moon's April 1998 Tour

This is the text of the introduction given on Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon’s American Hoon Dok Hwe Speaking Tour, April 1 - 16, 1998.

Ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters. It is my privilege to share with you some excerpts from the teaching of the Reverend Sun Myung Moon, taken from speeches which he gave from the 1950s through the 1990s. We can sense consistent themes which are very important for our lives and our world today. I pray that I may be able to convey them to you with my whole heart.

The term "true parents" is a simple term but has astonishing content. No libraries in the world have contained such content. Please reflect upon why it has taken Christianity 2,000 years to announce the simple fact that since our ancestors fell, they became false and bad parents, and that only parents who are not fallen can be true and good parents. History has waited until this moment for the declaration of this fact.

There may have been some person who thought of the term true parents, but that person had no way to discover what stands behind that term. By understanding the content of the Divine Principle, we can comprehend why no one could just decide to use the term "true parents." It is magnificent that we have a clear explanation of history through the Divine Principle, through which we can know the root of the original human nature.

What can we understand through knowing the meaning of the term "true parents"? We can understand that the fall of our first ancestors occurred through an illicit love relationship. We can understand that the Fall left us with a blood lineage unrelated to God, and with no true parents trying to realize the ideal of creation. This means that we are of a false lineage.

Therefore, we use the term "true parents" centering upon two ideas. One, that we will cleanse the history of our false blood lineage. Two, that we will connect to the new root of the original nature through love, life and lineage centering on God.

The origin and meaning of truth

Who in this universe is the original "true" person? He must be absolute. In Korean, we call the absolute being "One and only Lord." When it is shortened, "One (hana) and only Lord" becomes "Hananim" – God. God is our one and only Lord.

A true person should love not only one whom he likes, but even his enemy, who tries to kill him. He should be the person whom we can trust fully, with whom we want to share our problems, and with whom we can dream everything.

"Trueness" is not limited to individuals. "Trueness" must be everywhere because it is something which everyone loves and seeks. We should come together not for our private purpose, but for the sake of the whole. We should exist not for ourselves, but for the family, tribe, nation and world. Before trying to make yourself "true," you should first make your family "true," and the nation and world should also become "true."

The origin of trueness is God. Together with God, trueness can be realized. When God departs, trueness also departs. There comes into existence something not true. This is the origin of evil.

A true result can be realized only when there is an origin in truth. In other words, God’s ideal can be realized only together with God. Therefore, words such as "true" or "good" were made not centering upon human beings, but upon God.

From this perspective, too, we can tell that trueness is not something we can conceive based on ourselves. Trueness cannot be controlled by fallen humanity; rather, trueness should control us. Therefore we should always be obedient to the truth. We should prize it and follow it. Observing your physical life and your consciousness, you cannot deny the fact that truth belongs to Heaven.

When we pray, we very often pray habitually, "Precious Heavenly Father, our true God." But there has been no absolute trueness before today. Therefore, the origin, to which trueness is to be related, is not within the history of humankind but is located outside of history. Everything starts from there. The origin should be sought beyond circumstances; religions should not form beliefs centering upon a human being.

The origin of trueness cannot be grasped in relationship to human beings alone. Trueness must be an absolute standard. Questions of God or the Absolute must therefore enter the discussion. Why is it so? It is because there has been no "true" love on this earth. Man cannot find the motive to seek for truth solely within himself. At each turning point of human history, God intervened. The Absolute Being is necessary in such moments.

Therefore, the origin of trueness is not in the hands of man but should be in the hands of the Absolute being, God. Authentic religions cannot exist without God. Ethics correctly identifying "trueness" cannot deny God.

Where then is the truth established? Of course, Heaven, the origin of truth, will try to establish it on Earth. This is God’s Will. The next question, then, is, "Where among humankind will it be established?" It will be established within our ordinary life. Jesus therefore said, "The Kingdom of Heaven is in the midst of you." The Kingdom of Heaven, the "true" country, is within our hearts. It is in a deep valley where there are no evil motives.

Brothers and sisters, if you have something you hold most precious, where do you want to keep it? You may want to keep it in a place no one knows about, where no one can touch it, and where you yourself can absolutely protect it. Where is that place? It is somewhere deep within your heart. Bury it in the deepest recesses of your heart. Place it where you feel it is very safe, as in a drawer for valuables. Trueness should settle in the deepest recesses of your heart.

The standard of truth

It is the "true" heart that does not change. This is why without it you cannot set a true standard and you cannot render true judgment. If you do not have a true standard, everything valued according to whatever your standard is will float away.

A measurement, such as the meter, has a primary standard. We can measure any deviation from that standard. We refer to that original standard whenever we need to settle an argument about distance.

There is neither revolution nor change in love. Changeability means imperfection. Diamonds are treasured for their unchanging hardness. Gold is precious for its unchanging color. A pearl is precious for its unchanging harmonious elegance. Why do we base the standard for physical value upon the constancy of an object? It is because that is the universal standard for evaluation.

On Earth there is a standard location for measuring latitude and longitude. Zero longitude is located at the astronomical observatory in Greenwich, England. It is unchanging. The point where longitude and latitude meet at 90 degrees should also be an absolute standard.

We can say that love is created by God; however, He cannot possess love by Himself. Love can be possessed only by two persons. Even God cannot realize love alone. Accordingly, the fundamental standard for evaluating everything in the universe and in the eternal world is indeed love. True love is not affected by any changes.

Therefore, is there or has there ever been a true man among all humanity, a man whose color did not change for thousands, ten of thousands and hundreds of millions of years? That is the question. Has there been a true woman? What do you think?

Religions understand that humanity fell. Religions have different backgrounds, of course, but all of them are seeking a new person of value in order to find salvation. They have always pursued this, for they could not attain the image of the true original person. It was the same hundreds of millions of years ago. It is the same now and will be in any future environment. No matter the time, religions are to pursue this.

Each one of you is also searching for that true person, for the true man and true woman. All the men and women who came into the world throughout the ages of history were destined to strive for it, even at the risk of their lives.

The Messiah and True Parents

When God led the people of Israel in the wilderness, did they not follow a pillar of fire and a pillar of cloud? (Ex 13:21-22) The pillar of cloud guided them during the day and the pillar of fire guided them during the night. What do these represent? They symbolize the coming of parents in the Last Days, whom the chosen people are to follow. As with Israel in the wilderness, those who do not follow the guidance of these pillars will perish.

God called Moses to Mt. Sinai, to give him two tablets of stone after his forty-day fast because He worried that the people of Israel might die if they lost their direction in the wilderness. You should know that these two tablets of stone symbolize Adam and Eve, the true parents. That is why the tablets were placed in the ark of the covenant. (Ex 40:20)

What do we desire? We desire to be the beloved sons and daughters in the place where God, the vertical (non-temporal) parent, and Adam and Eve, the horizontal (historical) parents, become one and rejoice. It is our deepest sorrow that we have not been able to do this. Everyone fervently desires to receive such love once and for all. All the religions seek this.

Have there been any parents who could love on the horizontal plane in unity with the vertical God? No, there have not. Because of the Fall, all became false parents. Since all became false parents, such parents of perfect love never existed. True Parents need to appear in history.

Who is the being denoted by the term "True Parent," who is to carry out such a historic mission? This is the being called the Savior, the being called the Messiah. When we say "save," what is to be saved? He is not coming to save the body, but rather to fulfill our desire for true love.

To do that, what has to be done? For salvation to be accomplished, as what kind of being must the Messiah come? It is without question that the Messiah needs to come as true parents.

Christianity believes in Jesus as the Messiah, as the Savior. Then what does it mean to be a Christian? Christians seek to become the children of God and establish a beloved family. Thus, Jesus said that he was the only begotten son of God.

It would be a serious matter for the only begotten son to live alone. There must be an "only begotten daughter" of God. Therefore, he had to search for the only begotten daughter, and they had to marry in a place of happiness centering on God. They had to marry, becoming the bridegroom and the bride who could rejoice as horizontal parents, with God rejoicing as the vertical parent, and multiply children on Earth. Then their tribe would start to expand. Is that not what could have been?

Therefore, there was something Jesus had to find above all, even at the risk of disobeying the nation of Israel and Judaism. What was it? And what is the subjective motivation that enables him to seek it again? It was certainly a woman. There must be a woman to relate to a man.

Jesus referred to himself as the bridegroom, and Christians are the bride, but he died unable to accomplish the Marriage of the Lamb. (Mt 9:15; Eph 5:25-27, Rev 21:2) This is why Christianity has been struggling to become the bride, waiting 2,000 years for Jesus the bridegroom.

What is Christianity’s standard? It is the Messiah in the position of true parents. That is the meaning of the Marriage of the Lamb.

The love of God, man and woman

If there had been no Fall, God would have become the Parent in the internal position and Adam and Eve would have been the parents in the external position. Where internal and external parents become one through love, we attend the internal Parent and have external parents. With the cooperative relationship of love between God and human beings, true parents, the perfected man and woman, are to be established. Without that cooperation of love, there can be no perfected person.

Our original ancestors, the original man and woman whom God created, should have been true parents. We should have been born from such parents–parents with divine nature. Then we would have inherited God’s divine nature and our parents’ human nature.

The perfection of Adam and Eve appears externally only when they are connected to the love of God. Without that connection, their love is not good. The point at which God’s vertical love and human physical love connect was to have been the root of our ancestral lineage. That point was to have been the beginning point of our ancestors’ lineage. All of humanity was to have descended from there.

The Fall separated the love of man, woman and God. Because of the Fall, the love of man, the love of woman and the love of God were disconnected.

When you review the ages in the providence, you find that the providence for restoration is completed through the Last Days. The closer to the end it comes, the nearer the time when the purpose of religion will be accomplished. The final moment, in which the purpose of religion will be accomplished, is the time when true parents appear.

Where did the Fall begin? It began with one pair, Adam and Eve. All the problems came about because Adam and Eve fell and became false parents. Because of this, the problems of heart, lineage, personality, language, daily life, nations and the world came about. The original lineage begins centering on true parents; original personality begins centering on true parents; language returns to its original position centering on true parents; life can return to its original form centering on true parents; the formation of a nation and world according to the ideal can be established only centering on true parents.

The realization of mature individuality

Is the body or the mind more important? The mind is important and the body is also important. However, much more significant than either of them separately is the unity between them. That is important. Those who cannot accomplish this unity will be in the wrong even if the world is fully unified.

Now, the body is different from the mind, and the mind is also different from the body. So when can they be united? Neither today nor at any time in human history could anyone declare that he had unified his conflicting body and mind.

Where does the conflict between mind and body originate? To describe the kind of person God is, He is the vertical subject of love, which becomes the origin of this universe. If a heavy burden has fallen on the earth, God cannot lift it simply by thinking. Even God, to pour out His love on the horizontal plane, needs a power that can lift it up.

Where does God enter? He must enter through vertical love. For vertical love to have value, a horizontal foundation must be established. This applies to both men and women. Until the age of discretion, you do not understand anything; however, upon growing up, women want to possess the world and men do as well. To have the world, what do we do? When should we meet? We should grow up completely and become mature; then we can meet. To do so, we have to reach the stage at which we can say that the world, through true love, is ours.

What can enable God, as the internal, invisible mind, and a person, as the external, visible body, to live in oneness? It is not power, knowledge or authority. What is it? It is love. The individual is the model for the unification of internal and external characteristics. Therefore, the origin must have the characteristics of a father who is likened to the body and also of a father who is likened to the mind. Then, the internal father’s position is the position of God, and the external father’s position is the position of the first ancestor of humankind.

Then in what sort of place do the first ancestor and God become one? Where do they unite? They should unite in the core of the sphere of love. This means that man and woman meet each other horizontally, centering on vertical love.

Through True Parents we meet God

The concept of true parents implies the idea of salvation. This means the liberation of hell and the evil, satanic world. Think about this. You are standing in Satan’s world, in the place of death, and true parents can become the power which can shield you from death. Because of this, how glorious it will be when Heaven and Earth recognize true parents formally and history recognizes them officially. The true parents are protected by God and history!

You should know how the term "True Parent" came about. It does not mean that the Reverend and Mrs. Moon decided to be true parents and then started this work. It means that this work cannot be done without true parents, therefore we are compelled by our consciences to do it.

Even if all our ancestors were to revive and praise the glory of their resurrection, their praise and glory could not rise beyond the realm of the Fall. However, we should be proud of the term "true parents." We should also know that by meeting true parents, the way to meet God is opened. Further, the place where you meet the Unification Church connects you to the way on which you can find, in the near future, the kingdom of God, the homeland for which all humankind is longing.

Who is the Messiah? The Messiah is Adam who has fully substantiated God’s love. Therefore, he has the qualification to be the original father. God’s original love, centering on father’s love and mother’s love, is the center of this foundation. Building on this foundation, by centering on true love, the right of true loving ownership for all individuals, families, peoples and nations is returned to God through the Messiah. Then true, godly ownership will expand for nations, peoples, families and individuals.

Based upon this, please realize how great, among all words in history, are the term "true love" and "true parents." They are the only basis for breaking through the realm of the Fall and the satanic world. Therefore, we all are grateful for the term "true parents."

We lost our original hometown because of the Fall. We also lost our original country and world. We even lost God and His love. The one starting point from which we can search for these enormous things which we lost is this amazing term "true parents."

From God’s viewpoint, what is the goal of the providence? For what has God longed throughout history? It is the standard of true parents. For what has He been enduring the history of indemnity, from the human fall to this day? It is the search for true parents. Many Christians are waiting for the coming of the Lord at the Second Advent; it is because of this goal. Many religions are longing for this day, because this is the goal of history. From this fact, you must know that the birth of true parents is a formidable event.

True Parents divide good and evil

The term "true parents," which is used in the Unification Church, is an amazing term. False parents had false love, reflecting Satan’s love. On the other hand, true parents appear centering on God’s love; therefore, they naturally create the world of true love.

Then why do we desire to find this love? It is because love is a great thing, and love is the same eternally. We just hear the word love and we can be immediately lifted up to a higher plane. A woman who does not even know how to spell and a man who is a world-level scholar are equal in the realm of love.

You should know how amazing it is that we came to this earth with the term "true parents." Those words are the most blessed words in this world. For fallen humankind, seeking the words "true parents" is more important than seeking a nation or the entire world. It is more precious than anything on Earth or in Heaven.

Why is Satan afraid of the term "true parents"? If people believe in this term and follow it, then they will destroy everything satanic and defeat Satan. That is why these words are very frightening to Satan.

Satan always hinders true parents’ progress, and he hopes that we will fall and become evil. Therefore, you will have difficulties if you follow the way of true love, however much you believe in and are obedient to the true parents. Once you take a stand going this way, you should do your best for God’s Will and go forward joyfully. You should know deeply that there is no other way to go.

The Gospel of Gospels

Through studying the providence for restoration, we know that for God’s Will to be fulfilled, true parents, not fallen parents, must exist and come to the Earth. You should understand that the term "true parents" was discovered in a situation far beyond what you can imagine. You will never encounter this term by following this world’s traditions. The emergence of this term is more than revolutionary. It is a miraculous event. You are able to learn and speak the words "true parents" because the true parents have actually emerged, with absolute love which surpasses the love of the billions of parents this world has seen. For the first time, you can receive the love of true parents, which is comparable to God’s love. You can stand in an ideal position which Jesus could only imagine.

Where does true love start? It starts from true parents. This is the Gospel of Gospels. No matter how many good words exist in this world, and no matter how wonderful the term "husband and wife" is, there is nothing better than the words "true parents." After all, if true parents do not emerge in the fallen world, true husband and wife cannot come about.

Historical sorrow and the indemnity which demanded the sacrifice of life are vindicated when the true family is found. Throughout history, miserable conditions for indemnity had to be established. Accordingly, the emergence of the true family made possible by so many sacrifices is the most valuable and happiest event.

There must exist true parents in order to establish a true family. For that, a true couple must emerge. After the true couple is established, true children must be born.

True parents cannot leave any condition by which Satan can accuse them. True couples are not to moan, trapped by a condition which Satan can accuse. Children of a true family cannot be true sons and daughters of this family if they leave any condition of accusation in the satanic world.

You already speak the words "true parents" and know the meaning of the adjective "true." Throughout history, no one was able to call out the word "true parents" or even conceive of it. Accordingly, we should understand that we are standing in the happiest and noblest position that has existed in human history. So many sacrifices were made in order to prepare the foundation for true parents. We should know that the most precious Gospel for all humankind is that of "true parents."

When you think about the term "true parents," and that the starting point from which we can enter a new world has been established by true parents, and that the internal condition through which we can subjugate Satan has been established by true parents, and that with true parents we can subjugate Satan, who has dominated the external world, and finally that for the first time ever the center has been founded upon which we can liberate God, you should appreciate the amazing grace of being able to live with true parents, and you should learn from what they are doing.

If you stand in the position to serve on behalf of true parents and your nation, and if you think that your nation and your people can find happiness through your heart, then you will know that it is you, holding the banner of true parental heart, who can revive human history. You can be the vehicle to realize the world for which we are longing.

Our historic responsibility

God’s providence must have a focus. Through that focus, God’s ideal can be established. That is the very point at which we meet true parents, who were sacrificed. Therefore, that focus is the center of everything. Try to think how important it is. All the saints fought to gain this point as their foundation. God thinks it is significant, as do all the spirit persons in the spirit world. Therefore, all people on this earth will recognize that it is important.

This foundation will be starting point for the future. From here, the past history will be completed, the present history will be preserved, and the future world will begin. If you can understand this point, this position, you can conquer everything as an individual. Are you such a person?

Then, how great is the value of this position? How wonderful is it? How much do you love it, admire it, respect it and revere it? This position should be the apex of all history. No matter how great the great people of history may be, they bear no comparison with it. If you come to see it, you will undoubtedly be so moved.

The content which can solve the problem of becoming substantial true parents in Heaven and on Earth accomplishes many things. It clarifies Heaven and Earth, liberates all historical entanglements and pulls out the nails which were pounded into God’s heart. The liberation of love which God desires is for giving joy to others, dancing and laughing while warmly embracing, and for loving joyous sons and daughters. Do you not think that the creation must be filled with joy, and that its voice must be full, from the level of all things to the level of the entire cosmos, for one thousand and ten thousand years?

True Parents cannot appear on earth without presenting affirmative alternatives to the limitations of the past. This is so dreadfully serious that Jesus, Confucius and Buddha gathered and gave me an examination. I triumphed in the test and God approved my answers.

God has an indescribable heart with respect to His ideal of creation. As he grows to maturity, Adam must realize God’s Will and make Satan surrender voluntarily. He must be a sovereign of liberation. The person who is the ruler of all nations, who is the master of salvation, and who is the elder son among all brothers, is the true Adam. Since God is the judge, he must receive God’s judgment that he is righteous. It was only after receiving this judgment of righteousness that the Reverend Sun Myung Moon began his ministry.

How can you dedicate your appreciation for God, for true parents, and for your new creation? Human beings inherited the satanic blood lineage through the Fall. This is the problem. We inherited the satanic blood lineage, which is not God’s, passed down for thousands of years. How can we atone for it? How can we clean up the dirty lineage bequeathed through the Fall?

The true parents appear centered on true love, true life and true lineage, to indemnify the Fall. We were brought into this world through the satanic lineage. However, in the era of new resurrection, we will find new life through true love: God’s love, life and lineage. From here, God is with us and we can separate from Satan eternally.

No one thought that God has pain in His heart. Because He appeared in history, and has appeared through us now here, and has clarified the profound responsibility we all have, we can understand it. How amazing this is! Jesus told us that he could not say what was in his heart. (John 16:12, 25) No other religious leaders understood the secret of the cosmos, which was suppressed. True parents appeared in the world and revealed the secret of the cosmos.

Ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters, I hope we can all consider and reflect deeply upon what Reverend and Mrs. Moon asked me to share tonight. Thank you for your kind attention, and God bless you.

True Mother’s Tour Ignites True Love Revolution in Boston

by Rev. Jea Seok Kim & Richard Buessing-Boston, MA

The New England Region was ignited with the spirit of True Mother as she came to Boston on Friday, April 3, the third city of her 16-city tour. On the foundation of over 70,000 Blessed Couples in New England, a 40-day all-night prayer condition headed up by General Mrs. Kim and Rev. and Mrs. Jea Seok Kim, and the unity of all brothers and sisters in all departments, the event at John Hancock Hall was the best ever in the history of Boston.

The first miracle was in finding John Hancock Hall. Our Regional Director, Rev. Jea Seok Kim, began inquiring about a church for True Mother to speak in, beginning in late January. About two and a half weeks before the event, after looking at many churches and receiving some rejections, we were able to secure Kings Chapel in downtown Boston. Kings Chapel, a Unitarian Church building, was the first church building to hold services in the New World in the Boston area. However, even though we secured it, we came to realize that it was not suitable for a video setup, an adequate stage, or proper facilities for all that we needed to accomplish. We started to look again, this time at hotels.

After calling every hotel in Boston and finding no space, we finally found the John Hancock Hall. It was perfect for us. It had been newly renovated and when we went to sign up and looked in the date book, someone had just canceled out a few days before. It was truly reserved by God. In fact, later on we discovered that it was the same hall in which True Father had spoken 25 years ago on the Day of Hope Tour in 1973.

More miracles

A second miracle was that not only were we able to fill the hall, but people were standing up because the seats were all totally filled. This was accomplished even without the help of so many of our Japanese sisters who were on a special condition in Japan. This was the first time ever that the one Japanese sister, Mrs. Yukiko Fairbrother, who is always in charge of serving True Parents in Boston, was away (she had left for Japan a week earlier). However, Mrs. Jea Seok Kim, Yoshie Takahashi, Aiko Onoe, Kinnio Edgerly, Cynthia Myers and Marjorie Buessing (with the help of many Japanese sisters) did a tremendous job in making True Mother’s stay so special and warm.

The third miracle was making it possible for True Father to listen to True Mother’s speech and celebration after the event. Little did we know that even though we had paid to get phone lines to transmit True Mother’s speech to East Garden, because we were one floor downstairs the equipment couldn’t transmit the speech out with the equipment Dominic Barber brought from New York. Dominic didn’t arrive till late Friday afternoon. Through much maneuvering, he could at least hang a phone over the curtain so it was near a speaker from the ceiling. It was very unorthodox, to say the least. However, the big problem was the cake-cutting room, where True Mother would go after the speech for the celebration. At 7pm our brothers went out to find a 300-ft. extension cord to run from up- to downstairs. The first brother returned unsuccessful, so Rev. Seok Kim sent another brother, Peter Roy, to look. After looking in many places, not giving up, Peter finally found one in the very same store the first brother had already looked in so desperately before. It was a miracle we could make it work in such short time. We knew, no matter how good the event went, it would be a hollow victory if True Father couldn’t celebrate with True Mother over the phone hook-up.

Wonderful guests

In all, over 700 guests attended the event, with 36 VIPs signing a promise of support for our True Parents and fulfillment of Blessing ’98. One of our distinguished guests, Rev. Dr. Albert Welch, a Congregational minister for 50 years, gave the invocation. He is a direct descendant of the Pilgrims on the Mayflower and his Pilgrim ancestors were the first to intermarry with the Native Americans. At the celebration he gave beautiful congratulatory words to True Parents, thanking them for the work of establishing True Families.

Also present were two representatives of the Nation of Islam. Rev. and Mrs. Kim and other representatives of the Unification movement attended the Nation of Islam Unity Sunday in Boston on March 29, 1998. The leader of the Boston Chapter of the Nation of Islam, Minister Don Muhammad, and all members, were invited to attend True Mother’s speech. Minister Don Muhammad was scheduled to be one of the recipients of True Parents’ speech volumes. However, due to a death in the family and another death in the community, Minister Muhammad was unable to attend. Instead, Minister Jabbar Muhammad received the books in his place. Minister Jabbar Muhammad shared with us later how inspiring the entire event was, and that when he closed his eyes, he had the same feeling he had when attending Unity Sunday. He was particularly impressed with the telephone hookup between Father and Mother after the speech and how True Parents shared with each other. He asked us for the remaining dates and locales of Mother’s tour to announce on the local Nation of Islam radio program, so all members could pray for the tour. He also asked for contact addresses in the remaining cities, saying he’d encourage members in those cities to attend Mother’s speech.

One school teacher of 25 years attended the event because a friend invited him. He had heard many things about our movement, but when attending Mother’s speech he found it so different from what he had ever heard. He found the speech so enlightening and so deep. He said the speech was simple but profound and was moved to find our more about the Divine Principle. He always felt his life was going along all right, but after Mother’s speech he realized that for eternal happiness you have to be married, and to receive true love you need a spouse. For the first time in his life he realized how lonely his life has been.

Another guest was a six-term Massachusetts state senator who got up and testified to the work of Rev. and Mrs. Moon, thanking them for their efforts to create true families. He then sang a song for True Parents; because of the words of the song, everyone in the room was laughing. He was also a recipient of True Father’s speech volumes.

Celebration

Mother’s final words to us were that we should not think just "One Nation Under God," but New England should ignite the revolution of "One World Under God." She said we must bring over 2 million couples to the Blessing from New England because of the great success brought by our members in New England blessing over 70,000 couples.

All of the brothers and sisters of New England were full of joy in celebrating the victory of True Mother in Boston. Special thanks go to Rev. and Mrs. Jea Seok Kim for their spiritual guidance and inspiration, to Sam Wada from Saeilo for his organization, to Mrs. Jea Seok Kim, Yoshie Takahashi and Mrs. Onoe for serving Mother, to Mike Myers for coordinating the details of the entire event, to Andrea Higashibaba and Gerhard Weisinger for stage production and sound, to Dominic Barber and Peter Roy who saved us by arranging the phone setups, to Mary Zinno and Carol Osborn for all the floral arrangements, to Phyllis Loum and Vince Carty for their VIP guests, and most importantly to all the brothers and sisters who contributed their prayers, time, energy and resources to help Heavenly Father and our True Parents to make this event a success.

True Mother in Oakland, California

Pastor Kevin Thompson

"I'm the Mother of Oakland but Mrs. Moon is the True Mother of the World" declared special guest Mary Anne Wright at the celebration following True Mother's victorious Hoon Dok Hwe event in the Jewitt Ballroom of the Marriott Hotel.

The audience was captivated by the dignity of True Mother and the depth of Father's words which penetrated all of our hearts. Mother commented about the receptivity of the audience and the atmosphere in the ballroom.

True Mother's party swept into the Bay Area on the wave of victory upon victory all across America and we were determined to deliver a victory in Oakland. Under the guidance of our Regional Director Rev. In Hoi Lee and with the spiritual power of Mrs. Onni Durst and our new KEA director Rev. Dong Woo Kim, all brothers and sisters united to give our best effort to secure a great victory.

True Mother spoke briefly to our church elders before lunch and inspired us all to try harder and do more than ever before. She told us that there are many elder members of our church who have already gone to the spiritual world and their level or position there is determined by their efforts here, how hard they worked for God's providence and how much they connected to the heart of God and True Parents. Father has warned us that we should be prepared to die properly, with no regrets, having used our life for the greatest purpose. Mother encouraged us that we should keep the Hoon Dok Hwe tradition and then eventually we will become the embodiment of the word. Even we have areas of regret in our life but by following this tradition we can let God's word's clean us up.

Mother said that the divisions within Christianity are caused by not having Jesus' direct words, only the words of the disciples. Our Blessing is to have Father's direct words in 300 volumes. Out of those 300 volumes the 15 volumes are the essence and we can be reborn through these words. Then id there are points we want to research more deeply we can research further in the 300 volumes.

At the event itself we could all feel an air of expectation and wonder. Mother delivered Father's words and the audience responded, urging her on, and the connection was made deeply.

Book recipients included the Institute for the Study of American Religions located at the University of Santa Barbara, Graduate Theological Union Library, consortium of 9 seminaries located at Berkeley, the Bishop of the Church of God in Christ in Oakland, Minister Keith Muhammad of the Nation Of Islam and of course Mother Wright.

Mother Wright made up a song to sing to True Parents at the victory celebration and she summed up the whole evening with these words- "It was richer than rich, greater than great."

True Mother in Chicago

by B. Russell Sucharoff-Chicago, IL

In Chicago we prepared for True Mother’s visit by bringing together our Committee of Department leaders under the leadership of our regional director Bishop Ki Hun Kim. What has worked well through the past campaigns is our unity centering on the Christian Churches of Chicago.

What is changing is that many of our existing churches are opening up the doors to many new churches. While in years past we have connected with many key ministers through the ICC trips to Korea and the CAUSA conferences, our WFWP conferences, our True Family Values conferences and the Blessings have been opened up to the entire congregations. This has made a dramatic difference in our work with the churches.

For the past several years, each Tribal Messiah Couple has taken responsibility for a specific church. On every second Sunday we visit that church regularly as well as attending Wednesday night bible study and other special anniversary services. In essence we are becoming an integral part of their congregations.

Our campaign really began with the follow-up from the RFK Blessing. Our celebration on December 27th attracted over 1,000 participants and featured an address from Rev. Joong Hyun Pak.

In addition to this we have developed a monthly meeting with our key ministers on the final Saturday of every month. This began with about fifteen ministers and is ever developing. Our meeting at the end of March had over 200 participants and concluded with the blessing of all in attendance.

Our basic strategy was to mobilize the church community. We have the experience of gathering the church congregations through bus pick-ups.

In conjunction with the churches we focus on several areas of key individual and VIP guests. Through the month leading up to Mother’s speech, we attended our churches every Sunday and then met as a community every Monday night.

This campaign offered a couple of unique challenges. First of all, our campaign leader under Rev. Kim, Rev. Michael Jenkins was asked by True Mother to be the M.C. for the program and travel with True Mother for the entire 16 city tour. This meant that many other members had to stand up and take more responsibility. Rev. Reiner Vincenz lead the guest mobilization working hand in hand with Chicago’s two great campaign ladies, Yukimi Lemont and Maria Helena Tonneyck. These two sisters have been continuously able to care for and love our key ministers. As a result the holy spirit has been able to come down with incredible results.

Great support

I apologize for not mentioning every name that helped-it was reported to True Mother that over 100 Tribal messiah families participated in the campaign. John Ogden once again managed the bus pick-ups. For this event over 50 churches filled up 39 busses. Since the event was on Friday night at 6:00 PM, Bob Wagner arranged for every guest to have a box lunch as they rode to the hotel.

And this event was not just on Friday night, but actually on Good Friday night. This imposed a special challenge in that nearly every one of the churches had their own Good Friday service scheduled. But through the miracle of the Holy Spirit and our own loving and serving of the church communities nearly all of our ministers were willing to re-schedule their services to an earlier time or consider Mother’s speech as their Good Friday Service. I remember that someone insisted that we could never bring people to RFK if we had to leave on Thanksgiving night-yet we brought 2500 from Chicago. Likewise, the obstacle to having Mother speak on Good Friday night presented a challenge which God was able to overcome through our determination, persistence and absolute confidence.

In the end, Mother confirmed that over 3,000 guests had filled the Grand Ballroom of Chicago’s downtown Marriott Hotel to overflowing. Representatives from the U.S. Congress, the State of Illinois, the City of Chicago, the Nation of Islam, the Sikh Community, the Lutheran Church, the Baptist Church and the Church of God in Christ lined the stage to receive the gift of 3 of True Father’s speech volumes from True Mother. Proclamations were lined up across the stage held high by proud second generation brothers and sisters. These letters of greeting proudly proclaimed and honored the Founders of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, Rev. Sun Myung Moon and Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon. In all, 11 Proclamations and Letters of Greeting came from the Archdiocese of Chicago, the Governor’s Office, the City of Chicago, the Mayor of Chicago, our U.S. Senator, U.S. Congressmen, the Coalition of Religious Leaders for Northern Illinois, and the South Shore Ministerial Alliance.

The program itself went beautifully guided by Rev. Jenkins and Mr. Salonen. Dr. Hycel B. Taylor, from Evanston’s reknowned Second Baptist Church delivered the invocation. Mrs. Myra Stanecki especically flew in to Chicago to read the speech entitled "True Parents" and did an excellent job. Then it was our True Mother’s turn to take the stage.

The congregation was geared up and ready to receive her. Ever since the RFK Blessing, so many of these guests have had the single minded desire to receive True Parents in their own Home Town-Chicago. True Mother read her powerful speech to a resounding and continuous chorus of Amen, Praise the Lord and Hallelujah. When she finished she received a standing ovation throughout the entire ballroom.

Mother then received a beautiful bouquet of flowers from one of our RFK newly blessed couples, Dwayne and June Luckett as well as 2 special plaques from the Archdiocese of Chicago and the Coalition of Religious Leaders, a group of over 30 of the most eminent religious leaders in Illinois.

Mother then gave out the eight gifts to our distinguished guests and then invited them all to immediately join our celebration.

Celebration

The cake cutting, phone hook up with True Father, testimonies, singing and dancing lasted for hours. Our U.S. Congressman, a graduate of CAUSA, Religious Freedom and Parents Day events, joined us and spoke lovingly and gratefully to both of our True Parents. Major General Ted Sorensen, the Illinois President of the American Freedom Coalition and himself a Korean War veteran joined many of the ministers, guests and Chicago’s growing second generation as we once again filled the celebration room to overflowing.

One after one, starting with Dr. Amos Waller, who was responsible for bringing over 600 guests from several of his Baptist Coalition of Churches, the ministers began to sing gospel songs for True Parents.

Rev. C.L. Sparks offered a beautiful rendition of Amazing Grace, Pastor Connie Banza and her sister Sheila Sims equally sang and praised our True Parents and then everyone broke into song and dance.

The evening concluded with several songs from our True Parents, both in Korean and in English. When we finally began to sing Tong-Il, we were interrupted as True Father began singing yet another song even though True Mother was imploring him that it was late and time to go to bed.

Saturday morning found us all gathered in Mother’s suite for Hoon Dok Hwe. The room was filled with CARP members who had brought 3 busses of university students, professors and members of the Filipino community. In addition, the CARP members visited all of the embassies in Chicago. Afterward Mother spoke to us for 30 minutes about the importance of learning Korean and the importance of educating our children from the earliest age in the language of the True Parents. Mother was totally serious and gave us exact instructions.

Once again, the City of Chicago provided a Police escort for True Mother’s motorcade to and from the airport. Thus, immediately after breakfast, photographs and program signing, Mother was whisked off to the airport.

Mother waved good-bye and after taking several more pictures in the airplane, Mother was airborne, bound for the next days program in Seattle.

Now the ministers are focusing of the Madison square Garden Blessing on June 13th. We are planning a celebration banquet as a kickoff event as we march forward 2 months from today toward the Victory of the 360 million couple blessing.

True Love Rally in Newburgh, NY

by Gale Alves & Ina Conneally-Newburgh NY

Was it that hourly condition of reading Father’s speeches which convinced us to have a rally "all of our own" right here, in our adopted hometown, right now?

This city of Newburgh certainly was the right environment for what we suddenly envisioned in our minds: to have a revolution, nothing less than that, marching down the main street together with religious leaders, parents, teachers and maybe even the Mayor herself. We would stand right where George Washington had his soldiers gathered, waiting for the final peace treaty between the British and his own troops. Just the two of us-it seemed a bit much, though.

Making up a flyer was not so difficult, and we had one brother helping us on the computer. The next step was to get a permit from the city and from George Washington’s headquarters. With a baby in one arm, we went back and forth between the police and the fire departments, to deliver the permit personally. The original had gotten lost, and we didn’t have much time to lose, for within only a couple of weeks the rally was to take place. But the hardest part was yet to come: it wasn’t really clear to us who exactly would participate in that rally which we had so proudly advertised all over the city. The secretary from Orange County College gave us the third degree: she wanted to know who, by name, those sponsors were that our flyer had described as "members of the religious community." Well, there was Nettie from the Baptist Church and another woman from a mosque and, yes, a Buddhist monk had said he would come, too. At least it was ecumenical, but who would want to walk down Broadway with two women and a monk? We decided we would hold that rally under all circumstances.

A youth pastor from the Catholic Church was rather surprised: an event like that, she said, usually takes months of preparation, with many churches and organizations involved, committees created and funds raised. We realized we had none of all that, but we would still have that rally!

The first rays of hope shone when suddenly another priest called and responded with interest to the flyer we’d left, without much expectation, at his church. He was very concerned about today’s moral standards. Especially here in south Newburgh, with prostitutes parading up and down the streets at night-yes, he would come and bring his youth group on Saturday.

That gave us new energy, but still many churches had to be contacted. We could see how much spiritual foundation members working here previously had made, and how much more we ourselves could have invested. Many guests from Women’s Federation events and True Family Values workshops were re-contacted, but in some cases the freshness of an ongoing relationship was missing. "Haven’t seen you for a while-how many months has it been?" But we also felt that people were happy to see us again.

However, not all churches could immediately relate to the theme of "Purity Before Marriage and Fidelity Within." One Episcopalian minister handed us a letter of protest against welfare cuts in response to our flyer. One Presbyterian pastor was not sure whether purity was something he could identify with. ("After all, are we pure ourselves?") But he said he would walk with us.

Since our church is part of the Ministerial Alliance here in Newburgh, we are somewhat protected and have the status of being the "underdogs"-which is a friendly gesture, in a way, because ministers can see the persecution our church had to suffer. On the other hand, who wants to be an underdog?

Going back and forth between Hispanic, black and white churches, we felt like two balls bouncing all over the place. Since the Catholics seemed more inspired about purity and fidelity than the Protestants, we gave it another try at Mt. St. Mary’s College. During that same week, there was an AIDS Awareness Program on campus. We walked by an office which counsels gay and lesbian students and went over to a building where retired nuns live. Would they march with us? Well, they were already past the age of marching, one friendly sister advised, regretfully, and showed us her leg.

On Sunday morning we drove to the Unification Theological Seminary in Red Hook. What we had to say was basically "Can’t you all come, pleeeease?" We hoped especially for the African brothers to join us as an inspiration for our black community in Newburgh.

We also got the number of one brother working at a radio station nearby. We called him up and were able to advertise our rally. One day later, another radio station asked to do an interview with us. As two concerned mothers, we were looking for morality in the media, in schools, health institutions. The interview was friendly and we were congratulated for our efforts.

Saturday came, and the weather was foul. The balloons we had blown up were taken over to the priest’s office, and there they floated feebly over his desk.

Fortunately we had set a rain date, March 28. The good thing was that now we had more time to prepare to contact more people. And besides, it was True Parents Day, which we could celebrate simultaneously with the rally. Michael Balcomb and Robert Kittel from the Pure Love Alliance, who promised to come, might find it easier to drive up here from Belvedere and possibly to bring other families with them. We had already received seven megaphones from them; another substantial contribution consisted of 22 creative signs (from the Red Hook Sunday School) for the march, with slogans like "Fidelity Forever" and "Save Sex NOT Safe Sex." One sister from our own community had also contributed a front banner.

Finally True Parents Day (worldwide) and True Love Day (locally) arrived. While we had taken our children out sledding the previous weekend, this Saturday we felt inclined to take out our beach chairs-if not for the rally!

A tropical breeze blew through our 36 balloons as we carried them over to the parking lot where we would meet all those righteous, pure-minded people. While we had walked all the way down Broadway ourselves to see how long it takes, we made up slogans to shout for the march. "Don’t be a fool: purity is cool!" "That’s the rule: marriage is a jewel!" These slogans were handed out first to the imam with his masjid’s youth group, along with balloons. "Glory, glory, Hallelujah" was a base of ecumenical unity beyond differences of Christian and Muslim, for example. A few minutes later, the priest arrived with his group, bringing along their banner. One after another, people came together while five police cars waited for us to start the rally. Of all the sixty participants, twenty Unificationists were present. Pres. David Kim appeared, taking pictures and wishing us much luck. It was time to get started.

We looked at each other and felt suddenly the pressure and responsibility of it all. Boy, we hadn’t done anything like this before. Couldn’t one big brother, Robert or Michael maybe, just take all those people down Broadway, with us marching behind? But the police car had already entered Broadway and we had to keep up.

Right behind the front banner, the imam, priest, evangelical minister, Mormon bishop and Buddhist monk walked. People came out of their shops to see what was going on while cars drove slowly by. Since our group was very diverse in character, it wasn’t easy to have everyone sing and shout at the same time, but we knew already that this wasn’t going to be like one of those strongly unified Pure Love walks-it was rather an "of the community, for the community," potluck type of march. Half an hour later, we arrived at George Washington’s headquarters. The stony stool which Washington used to mount his horse was now our speakers’ podium. First we greeted everyone and then read a proclamation of our "revolutionary army" calling for a God-centered, true-love, true-parents and true-children society with purity and fidelity as the two pillars holding America up. The speech ended with George Washington’s final words to his officers on March 15, 1783: "Had this day not been, the world would have never seen the last stage of perfection to which humankind is capable of attaining."

Father Bill then weighed heavily upon our hearts as he told the story of a pure young girl who had been killed by her schoolmate because she didn’t want to have sex with him. The Imam Muhammad, having worked for some time in prison, pointed out the relationship between a lack of parental love and the search for premature sexual love instead.

Between the speeches which the clergy gave, Diesa Seidel from Red Hook, a second-generation sister, freshened up the spirit of gravity by her testimony. Finally, Michael Balcomb concluded the purity-fidelity circle by saying that without absolute values, America will continue to have overwhelming problems. Other churches, which couldn’t participate themselves as such, had orally expressed support and were mentioned, too. More people had arrived by then, so we counted between 70 and 80 participants.

After a last prayer was offered, the group dissolved, and everyone went home by car. After the rally we had a light luncheon together in one of our homes, with almost all speakers present.

We both felt that, though small in number, this "declaration of a moral revolution" was truly significant. Almost everyone who had participated was personally invited; these people weren’t just mere bystanders, but almost all of them were activists in their own religious and moral-educational fields.

Thinking of how doubtful we ourselves had been at times, when our dream seemed not much more than a nice idea, we realized once again that without God as our general and True Father’s strategy to rely on for spiritual support, we wouldn’t have been able to make this rally a success. But with cooperation among family, friends, networking and mutual inspiration, all obstacles can be overcome and battles can be won.

The Origin of Human Conflict and Suffering

Volume Two. Part Five.

Thus far we have seen that the Fall somehow involved not just Adam and Eve, but also the angel Lucifer. Yet who was this angel, Lucifer? And what are angels? Let us look at the angelic realm.

Belief in friendly, invisible spiritual beings has been a part of human culture since time immemorial. Their presence is recorded in the early chapters of Genesis (two angels ate with Abraham) and recently Billy Graham has written a best-selling book on the topic, called Angels.

In this area also, however, we must distinguish fact from fiction. We have only to look at much religious art to discover what is the traditional belief regarding the angels' appearance. They have been portrayed as being glorious man-like beings with huge swan's wings, often times carrying harps or hymn books.

Is this really how they appear? Genesis 19:1-5 makes reference to a time when Lot was visited by two angels, and the people of Sodom mistook the angels for men. Similarly, the Gospels of Luke and Mark refer to the angelic visitors to Jesus' tomb as "men" (Mark 16:5, Luke 24:4).

From such Biblical accounts we can conclude that the angles appear differently from what most medieval paintings would have us believe. In fact, man and angels look alike. The difference is that angels are created as pure spirit, whereas human beings are both spiritual and material.

The Mission of the Angels.

Angels in the Old and New Testaments serve three distinct purposes. The first was to be servants to God: "Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to serve, for the sake of those who are to obtain salvation?" (Rev. 1:14)

Beyond being created to minister to God and man, the angels also serve as messengers. Throughout the Old and New Testaments there are reports of God sending His angels to communicate with men.

For example, angels appeared to Abraham telling him that Sarah would have a son named Isaac (Gen. 18:10). It was also an angel who told Mary of the coming birth of Jesus (Luke 1:31).

More than act as servants and messengers, however, angels praise and give glory to God. Their function here might be compared to a military honor guard paying formal tribute to a nation or its flag.

John of Patmos, the writer of the Book of Revelation, records: "Then I looked, and I heard around the throne..... the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands and thousands, saying with a loud voice, `Worthy is the lamb who was slain...."' (Rev. 5:11-12)

Servants not Children

What is the difference between man and the angels? Beyond the fact that angels exist only as spiritual beings, there is also a difference in roles. God created the angels as His servants and messengers, but He created mankind as His children. The ultimate joy and purpose of creation was manifested in man.

Since God created man as His child, His servants, the angels were intended to serve not only God but His children as well. As God's child, man was intended to rule over the angels.

To say that man was to rule over the angels many seem to be a radical statement. After all, within the Christian tradition angels have always appeared to be glorious and superior beings. Reinforcing this view, there is the famous Psalm: "What is man, that Thou are mindful of him...Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels." (Ps, 8:4-5).

According to Divine Principle, man was actually created on a higher level than any of the angels and now exists on an inferior plane only because of the Fall. The roles which scripture ascribes to angels would indicate that they were created as servants of God, whereas men were designed to be His children.

The true relationship between men and the angels is more accurately reflected in the apostle Paul's famous assertion: "Do you not know that we are to judge the angels? (1 Cor. 6:3)

Eve and Lucifer

The book of Genesis indicates that man was the first of God's creations. We are told that first God created "the heavens and the earth," and successively, day and night, sky and water, land and vegetation, fish and animals, and finally, man. In this process the spirit world-the world where the angels dwelled-was created before man.

After the completion of the angelic world, God placed an archangel to rule over the entire angelic kingdom Just as God gave a blessing to Israel through one man, Abraham, so God's love for the angelic world was given through one angel. According to the traditional understanding of many within the Judeo-Christian faith, this archangel's name was Lucifer.

Before the creation of man, Lucifer was the supreme, being in the heavenly hierarchy and was the greatest singular recipient of God's love. He appeared to be closest to God and even seemed to be God's favorite.

According to Divine Principle, Lucifer was placed in the Garden with the young Adam and Eve to serve them and guide them in their growth. As he pursued this mission, he noticed that something had changed. He began to realize that Adam and Eve were receiving more love from God than he.

His situation can be compared with that of a child who is suddenly displaced by a newborn baby. Until the new infant arrived, the older sibling was the sole recipient of his mother's love. Now, however, he may feel that his mother's love for him has decreased and he may become burdened with feelings of rejection and envy.

Such was the feeling of Lucifer after the creation of man. Because Adam and Eve were created as God's children, not His servants, they received more love from God than Lucifer did. Lucifer was unaware that God loved him as much as He always did but that He simply loved Adam and Eve more.

Lucifer was jealous of God's attention to His children and felt particularly envious toward Adam who was male as was Lucifer. Lucifer knew that when Adam reached his full maturity, Adam would have dominion over himself.

Other holy books ascribe such feelings to Lucifer. In the Koran, for example, the angel says "What should I serve them? They are but of dust while I'm of fire." Why, he thought, should God degrade a servant who had always been faithful?

Unprincipled Love

At the same time Lucifer saw Eve as a very beautiful and attractive figure. Since the source of beauty of God is His love, those who receive more love from God reflect the most beauty. As Eve grew, she became more and more beautiful and Lucifer was naturally attracted to her. In addition, feeling a loss of love, he sought to receive more love from Eve.

The more Lucifer was with Eve, the more their relationship grew. Wanting to preserve his supremacy, Lucifer sought to win Eve's heart. From her side, Eve was attracted to the angel. As the "angel of light" he was wise beyond anyone, and she was flattered by his attention.

Even though Lucifer knew his intent was absolutely against the will of God, Lucifer's desire for Eve began to grow beyond the fear of law or death. Finally he was determined to defy even God, if God stood between him and the object of his desire.

Because of God's warning to her, Eve initially rebuffed Lucifer's advances:

"And the woman said to the serpent. "We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden. But God said, "You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die." But the serpent said to the woman, "You will not die. For God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." (Gen. 3:2-5)

As her initial resistance crumbled, Eve became confused by Lucifer's words. God had given Lucifer to Adam and Eve to guide their growth; yet now he was telling her something that was absolutely opposed to God's direction. Instead of attempting to get further advice from God, or even consulting with Adam, Eve allowed herself to be wooed.

Her love grew and her desire for Lucifer's promised knowledge increased as well. At last she allowed herself to be persuaded that God was misleading her and she consented to a sexual relationship with Lucifer. This sexual union between the spirits of Lucifer and Eve brought about the initial spiritual Fall of Man.

The Meaning of Pledge #8

True Parents Birthday, February 2, 1998, was celebrated in Seoul, Korea. On that day, Parents gave us a special gift! Not one of diamonds or gold, but something more precious than that--the content of the Family Pledge, section 8.

With this gift, it is now our responsibility to study this new addition and understand its deep meaning, for this is important spiritual food.

You may be asking, "Will there be a No. 9 or No. 10 yet to come? When? Next year? Well, I actually asked Father the question and he answered me: "No. 8 is the last" he said. It is our heavenly obligation to carefully and deeply understand the entire Family Pledge Nos. 1 through 8.

The Family Pledge is our road map to the Kingdom

The Family Pledge is the blueprint of the Kingdom of God. Our goal in our life of faith is to reach that Kingdom. The Family Pledge is also the road map to enable us to successfully arrive there. It is indeed a precious gift to all humanity.

We know from this blueprint that it will not be through individual salvation that we will reach the Kingdom of Heaven, but only through the restoration of our family. Through establishing the family foundation we expand the Kingdom from the level of the family to the cosmic level. Traditional religious teachings are usually ones of individual salvation. However, no matter how devout an Orthodox Jew may be in his faithfulness to the Torah, he must take his family into the Kingdom, not enter just as an individual, The same thing applies to Traditional Christians or any other devout persons, no matter what their religion they simply cannot enter the Kingdom except as families. The Kingdom of Heaven is made up of families--harmonious, wonderful families.

Adam and Eve were created to be a family. Because they fell, humankind became individualistic. To get back on track and reach our goal, we must have a family road map, this Family Pledge road map. When we fulfill Pledge No. 8 we have reached the goal line. If we understand and fulfill all verses from No. 1 through No. 7 but do not fulfill No. 8, then we lose the preceding seven numbers as well.

We Pledge to attain the Kingdom of Heaven

Pledge No. 1 reads: "Our family pledges to seek our original homeland and establish the original ideal of creation, the Kingdom of God on Earth and in Heaven, by centering on True Love." This is the first step toward the goal in which we pledge to attain the Kingdom of Heaven. Pledge No. 8 is the concluding step; the final step we must reach.

When God created Adam and Eve they were not automatically perfect, for if they had been and then fell as they did, we would have to say that God is not perfect. But rather, Adam and Eve were to pass through three stages: formation, growth and perfection to reach the level of maturity, that total Oneness with God and Completion (see accompanying chart). Just as Jesus told us, "Therefore, you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect" (Matt. 5:48). Of course, there are many details within each period of growth, but these three stages represent the overall picture of how each of us grows.

Adam means "mankind" which includes Eve. The first Adam was to have grown through the three stages reaching the level of completion. The perfect Adam was to pass from indirect to direct dominion of God. This is the responsibility of each human being. Because of the Fall, Adam lost direction and did not get beyond the growth stage. Adam and Eve failed; so God must restore them (humankind) and bring them back to the top of the growth stage so that they may proceed on from there. That applies to each of us.

We lost the first Adam. Adam and Eve should have absolutely believed, loved and obeyed God's Words "not to eat the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil (Gen. 2:17)." To do so would not simply have been "obedience" but ultimately "oneness" with God, feeling and understanding God's heart. They had to completely understand the purpose of creation and then take responsibility to reach the perfection level.

The key message of the Old Testament

They lost God's Words, God's Commandment. As a result of this loss, God gave the Old Testament age, with Moses and the Torah. The key message of the Old Testament is the prophecy of the coming of the Second Adam. Humankind would then have to follow and be engrafted into the Second Adam; follow and obey and unite with the Second Adam, in order to become people of original nature. This was the purpose of the Old Testament.

Very unfortunately, those living in the New Testament age killed Jesus Christ, the Second Adam. People did not believe in him, did not love and follow God's Commandment. So he must come again. This became the message and deep meaning of the New Testament age--the coming of the Third Adam. The New Testament teaches us that when the Third Adam comes, we must obey and follow him, fight the battles alongside him, even protect him by fighting the battles for him, and become victorious together with him.

Who is the Third Adam? True Parents. We absolutely believe that. We love them and follow them. True Parents have given us the Completed Testament which is the Divine Principle. The purpose of the Complete Testament is to reach the perfection level with the Third Adam. This is the fulfillment and completion of the dream of human history.

Think of it. We can now reach our completion. Confucius, Socrates, Buddha, Mohamad --all the historical saints, suggested the possibility of this goal, but yet even they could not reach that goal. Now humble you and I can reach the perfection goal. This is very special!

While the entire Family Pledge, Nos. 1 through 8 is the road map for fulfilling the Kingdom of Heaven, still that is not enough. With True Parents, the pioneers, the role models, who have cleared the wilderness path to the Kingdom, we must now climb up the rope which they have provided for us. This is 1998. True Parents began announcing the arrival of this era, the age of the Complete Testament, in 1992. 1992 through 1998 is seven years.

How is it that the age of perfection is available to us? It is because True Father has attained the Fourth Adam position, fulfilling the Four Position Foundation. Adam No. 1 fell and created the most miserable situation possible for all humanity to follow. Adam No. 2 died on the cross; he came to restore Life but the disbelief of the people brought death instead. Adam No. 3, the True Parents, paid such enormous indemnity and sacrificed for the entire restoration and for the failure of the first two dispensations as well; they followed the way of the cross also, but this time it was the cross of love. They paid the physical and spiritual indemnity for the restoration, our resurrection.

True Parents and True Family had to go through such depths of indemnity, being beaten down so many times, over and over again, that they bore all the scars of all the Adams, Nos. 1, 2 and 3, and finally arrived at the level of the Fourth Adam, the original Adam and Eve position, pure and clean with no blemishes. and no struggles.

The dream of Jesus

The position of Fourth Adam, the Completed Testament, was the goal of the first Adam; it was the dream of Jesus and it is the position which is very necessary for the completion of humankind.

You and I are not yet at the place of True Parents. Is it always to remain so? Will it remain like that throughout eternity? Of course not. We also must arrive there. In 1992, True Parents blessed 30,000 couples; in 1995, they blessed 360,000 couples. In 1997, they blessed 40 million couples. This year, 1998, True Parents will bless 360 million couples. They are inviting us, saying "My sons and daughters, please come quickly." By the year 2000--less than two years away--we should reach our destination.

Perfection, according to the Divine Principle, is to "enter the direct dominion with God" (Exposition of the Divine Principle, p. 34). God will be dwelling in us and we will be dwelling in Him. We will be the "house" for His spirit to dwell. When we pray, "Our Heavenly Father, I love you, please come to me," God will answer, "Yes, my son, yes, my daughter." When that sound comes, not from the blue sky, but from inside ourselves, that then is the direct dominion.

The three great conditions of attendance

To become like the Fourth Adam, to be engrafted into him and to become as him, ultimately bearing no scars, no blemishes, we can fulfill the three great conditions of attendance:

1. Absolute Faith

2. Absolute Love

3. Absolute Obedience

These are three very important conditions of attendance. In the first place, what is the meaning of "absolute"? It means "true, stable, unchanging." If we speak of relative love, for instance, that is love which can change. But in absolute love, there is only one vertical line, unchanging. The meaning of absolute faith, absolute love and absolute obedience is that we have unchanging, true, vertical love for God and True Parents. To say "I love you absolutely" means I love you with an unchanging vertical love (which then stabilizes and makes absolute our horizontal love).When we feel absolute faith, absolute love and absolute obedience, then we can say we are on the perfection level. Adam and Eve received God's will, direction and love but they did not follow and attend God, So they fell. When we overcome the fall of Adam and Eve, it means we have gone in the opposite direction, not the way of free love and free sex. If we achieve God's ideal, then we will be in His direct dominion, having attained perfection.

In America right now we exalt everything which is "free"--free love, free sex, and so forth. So "absolute" to some people might seem like slavery. They don't like the sound of it. But God created Adam and Eve with His absolute love. He sacrificed many millions of years for the creation of humankind and for the re-creation and restoration of humankind to be achieved. God Himself was obedient to His ideal. It is not enough to just have faith, love and obedience. We must understand why True Father uses the word absolute.

Father said that once we reach the level of "oneness with God, oneness of humankind with God," that means God is in us and we are in God. If we use Chinese characters we can make it more clear. How do we arrive at oneness with God? Centered on love and faith (as a spiritual element) and obedience (as the physical attitude), we have give and take in spirit with the direct dominion of God. God is a spiritual being--human beings are physical. We need each other. So centered on True Love, we have give and take with each other and become one.

In the Family Pledge, each number from one to eight, concludes with "by centering on True Love." True Love is the center of give and take. True Love motivation is give and take. The purpose of True Love is give and take. True Love's center of power is give and take. We must really be centered on True Love, and believe in True Love and practice True Love. We practice True Love by being obedient. This is the physical practice of True Love.

When God created Adam and Eve, He needed their physical bodies to house His own Spirit. The substantial physical life is so very important. So the physical practice of True Love is the purpose of creation. We and God become one. So many spiritual leaders and philosophers have this goal. Our goal is to become the image of God; to become as the Living God. You can say "when I am walking down the street, God is walking down the street; when I am sitting in this room, God is sitting in this room; my city is the city of God," like that. This very important level is Shin In Ae Il Che --the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth and the Kingdom of Heaven in Heaven. This is the Kingdom of God.

The Statue of Liberty symbolizes liberation from tyranny

Father often uses the word "liberation." What is the meaning? Well, this world has been the kingdom of Satan, Satan's sovereignty, Satan's people, Satan's land. When we overcome this satanic world and bring back God's sovereignty--this is liberation. In America, at the entrance to the harbor of Manhattan, New York we have the Statue of Liberty. What is the meaning of this statue? What does it symbolize? It symbolizes liberation from tyranny. Two-hundred years ago, in America, the ancestors rejected tyranny and fought against it and brought back the people's sovereignty, the people's dominion, the people's government. This was the liberation from oppression of the British monarchy.

In the same way, we must overthrow and overcome Satan's dominion and reach God's dominion; this is liberation. Centered on love, the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth and the Kingdom of Heaven in Heaven have give and take; that is, the spiritual world and the physical world have give and take and through this we reach the Kingdom of God. This means the power of dominion is true love, not fallen selfish love. Unselfish, unique, eternal, sacrificial love, "investment" love, "invest and forget" love, "dominion" love, all of these.

And of course, to bring this dominion about, we need absolute faith, absolute love and absolute obedience, our three great acts of attendance. The Completed Testament age is the age of attendance. By the practice of these three great commandments we reverse all the failures of the original fallen Adam and Eve.

By believing in God's ideal of creation of love and by practicing it we will fulfill this ideal of love. If we practice this, everything is available to us. In this year of 1998 we can practice by fulfilling the 360 million couples. This is our attendance. Our practical goal is very simple: invite people to the Blessing. If we believe in True Father's goal of the Blessing then we must practice it. This is the key point of Family Pledge #8. We can achieve what True Parents have achieved by practicing what they have done. We follow their pattern, their path, their tradition, and then we, too, can become people of perfection, the images of God.

True Parents are always teaching about God and inviting everyone to come and celebrate in the Blessing, not based on religious beliefs but through True Love. Jesus always taught about God. His disciples challenged him "Show us the Father and we shall be satisfied" (John 14:8). Jesus said to Philip "Have I been so long with you and yet you have not come to know me? He who has seen me has seen the Father..." (John 14:9). We also must come to the point when we can say those words of Jesus. People should be able to see God in us if we practice absolute faith, love and obedience. Our external positions have no meaning; only how we practice absolute faith, love and obedience, that is what makes us begotten sons and daughters of God.

We have to cut off Satan's blood lineage. We have to cut off our bad habits and lifestyles. We receive God's blood lineage and live God's tradition. St. Paul said "Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you"? (I Cor. 3:16). We become saviors. We do this by inviting many people to the Blessing. The spiritual atmosphere has changed and it is easier to accomplish. Many positive elements are existing now, like a change in the attitude of the public and the media.

Let us make our personal motto this year: "Cut Satan's lineage!" Many people are becoming concerned this year with how they are going to celebrate the turn of the century in 2000. Advanced reservations are being made at restaurants and many places of celebration. Should we bring in the Third Millennium by toasting with expensive champagne? No. Instead we are producing "holy wine" (holy juice) to toast in new blessed families! This holy juice is being mass produced in wonderful tiny individual containers that can be popped into the pocket. This is our liberating tool. With these containers we can go about changing the blood lineage from Satan to God in men, women and children.

Before the year 2000 we can dramatically change this world

Two thousand years ago, Jesus Christ sacrificed for God and humankind. So many Christian martyrs and pioneers sacrificed too. Power, knowledge and money will not bring in the Kingdom--only cutting Satan's blood lineage. Before the year 2000 we can dramatically change this world. For this, Father gave us Family Pledge No. 8. This is the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth. We are fortunate to be living in this age.

In addition, we have the tradition of Hoon Dok Hwe, another gift from True Father, which serves to empower us spiritually as we read and learn the Word. So we have the power and we have the power tools. Now let's make 1998 our great year for attendance to True Parents and humankind.

The Matching

Kathryn Coman

The most wonderful thing had happened to me, I was to assist Father in the matching of candidates for Blessing 97. At the same time, the most terrible thing had happened to me; I was in charge. If there were any problems (and there always are), they were ultimately my responsibility. Thank God I was too busy doing what needed to be done. If I ever stopped to think about what I was doing, I wanted to run and hide. In those moments when I did think about it, I could only put my faith in God.

I was concerned that I did not speak Korean. How can I be in charge of something like this? Father speaks Korean. The continental leaders speak Korean. The church elders present speak Korean. If there are problems, they will all be speaking Korean. How can I know what the problem is, so I can solve it? I remembered learning from one Korean that there is a sixth sense necessary to speak Korean. I prayed long and hard that somehow I would be able to use my spiritual senses to tap into this sixth sense and understand. Low and behold, it worked! On every occasion, somehow I knew what was being said. Always my intuition as to the content of the conversation was accurate.

The Matching

True Parents came and began. It was slow at first, then Father began to work so fast that whole armloads would be brought out of the room to check. Looking in the room, the sight was amazing.

A group of about a dozen people were gathered around Father. He would step sideways, and they would step sideways. Whatever the length of his step, so would be the length of theirs. It was like watching a ballet minutely choreographed.

Father would pick up a sister's photo and then look for the brother's photo to match them together. Sometimes this would go quickly. Sometimes the leaders would make a suggestion; sometimes Father would agree with the suggestion, sometimes not. Father seemed to be training them for some point in the future when they would be making matches. For now, though, all matches were made by Father. Every once in a while, Rev. Kwak would ask the staff at the computers, "How many couples?" On the average, Father matched over 2000 couples in a day.

One time I was assembling a box for the matched photos to be put into. I was bent over getting the parts of the box out. I began to stand up and turn with the box, which would have caused it to arc relatively high in the air. All of a sudden, I heard a clicking noise. I stopped to see where the noise was, and found Mother walking by. She had made the noise. Had she not done so, I would have hit her with the box. I was so grateful that she had known exactly the right thing to do that would avoid a totally embarrassing moment for me.

In general, though we were there to assist them, True Parents looked after us. They made sure we had food. Halloween had recently been celebrated, so there was plenty of treats for everyone--in addition to the splendid Korean food prepared by the East Garden kitchen sisters. Some evenings the Korean leaders would retire to Father's apartment to watch the Asian Cup soccer games--especially exciting when the Korean team beat the Japanese team.

Second Generation Matching

The second generation matching was even more special than the first generation. The staff members in the matching room were replaced by second generation staff, under the direction of Kim Young Jin, director of the International Second Generation Office. Only certain designated leaders were allowed into the matching room. Some parents hovered outside and in the Pink Room, wondering and waiting for news. In general, the procedure was identical. This time, the photos were not arranged by continent. All photos were mixed together, and displayed only by birth date. Of course, brothers and sisters were separated. Results were revealed a day later, after the continental lists were printed and distributed.

One point of interest to myself was that there were quite a number of second generation candidates with physical problems ranging from Down Syndrome to much less serious problems. Later I had the opportunity to ask Rev. Kwak whether any of them were matched, and indeed many were -- though I don't know the exact number count. Having a chronically ill child myself and knowing others much worse, I have always wondered what would happen when they became old enough for the blessing. Now I have a much better idea.

Basic Process

Matching applicants submit applications, photos and HIV test results to their leaders -- along with a donation. The leader must sign the form, vouching for the member. This is then sent to the national leader who also signs the form. Some leaders then input the data from the form into a computer program designed for this, then forwarding the data on disk with the above-specified information to the International Blessing Office. Those leaders who cannot input the data (for whatever reason) send the specified information to the International Blessing Office.

At the International Blessing Office, the multitude of applications are processed in preparation for the matching. This means that those who are sent with a disk are imported into the database, those who do not come with a disk are typed into the database. Obviously, those who come with a disk are added to the database much quicker than the others--a much preferable way to do things when dealing with thousands of applications.

Once in the database, the computer performs several checks, immediately reporting errors to the operator for decisions. These checks are: (1) compare the individual with those of previous blessings to make sure someone is not being reblessed without the proper authorization; (2) compare the individual with those of previous matchings (related to this particular blessing) to make sure they have the proper authorization; (3) check for duplicate individuals in the database; and (4) check that all pertinent data is present.

When all this is completed, labels with bar codes and pertinent date are printed to apply to each of the photos of that individual. The photos are then kept together by continent, until notification is received to prepare for the matching itself.

The Matching Room

The matching room is setup with large easels in long rows. Each easel had room for 3 rows. The rows we created at East Garden could hold 200 photos. We had about 8 rows in the room, and thus the potential for 1600 photos to be on display at one time.

In preparation for Father and Mother's arrival, the continental leaders organize the photos. Brothers and sisters would be separated. The brothers' photos would be organized by education--college graduate, some college, high school graduate (no college), primary education, no education--and then by age within the education. The sisters' photos would be organized in the same manner.

Korea being the Adam nation, and Japan the Eve nation--they would display their brothers' photos on the boards first. If there was space, the Asian continent would also put up the photos. The brothers' photos would be the only ones put on the boards in the order previously stated. As board space would clear, each continent would be given the go-ahead to put up their brothers' photos. When the brothers' photos were put on the boards, the sisters' photos would be piled on the floor (in the appropriate order).

Those of you who were matched in a room full of people may remember that the room was organized in a similar manner. Brothers and sisters on opposite sides of the room. Those with college degrees in one location in the room, with some other educational divisions. Badges on each person and special markings for health problems or special situations that need to be considered.

The photo organization is identical, except that it usually doesn't get as jumbled up as the people would. After all, everyone wants to sit with their best friend. Photos don't usually wander off.

Though my description seems clear and simple and is in theory, in practice it is not. The leaders struggle with what to do when their are more brothers than sisters or vice versa, how to get someone with health problems the "right" match.

The Moment Arrives

Finally, the moment arrives. Father and Mother come into the room. Together they walk through viewing the displayed photos. A group of staff--consisting of continental leaders, church elders, and other International Blessing Office staff--follow them around ... waiting for the first matching to take place. One individual from the particular continent will hold the stack of sisters' photos. Father and Mother chat between themselves, making comments on the photos and talking with the leaders. The leaders sometimes offer comments on the individuals' photos at which TPs are looking.

The matching begins. Father makes the first matching, as he lays the first sister's photo on top of a brothers' photo. The staff members pick up the group and staple the photos together. The couple is then handed to another staff member who checks to make sure that there are no problems with the matching--i.e. both individuals are sickle cell carriers, or some other incompatibility. When a group of photos are gathered (the size depends upon how fast Father is working), the pile is brought outside the room to another group of staff.

This group again checks for incompatibility. Guidelines for incompatibility include: both being sickle cell carriers, both being reblessing situations, the wife's height being much greater than the husband, the wife's age being much greater than the husband, Rh incompatibility, thalessemia carriers. Individuals who have children are generally matched with individuals who have children. Those who were married before are usually matched with those who were married before. Any problems are sent back into the room and brought to the continental leaders' attention. Standards of what is incompatible varies according to the culture of the individual. The leaders may question Father about a particular case.

After this check, the couple is then passed to an individual who stamps a unique number on the photos. The stamps are designed such that they will stamp the same number four times before changing to the next number. This is necessary as there are four photos to be stamped (2 from the husband and 2 from the wife).

The couple is then handed to a computer operator who inputs the stamped number and scans the bar codes on the label. The computer again checks and compares the data, looking for the same types of incompatibility mentioned previously, along with checking to make sure that a person has not already been matched or is somehow otherwise not authorized to be matched. When it clears this check, they are now recorded as a couple and the photos are set aside.

Later, when Father has finished, the staff gathers and begins to separate the photos. They are divided so that the standing photo of the brother is stapled to the portrait photo of the sister, and vice versa. The photos are then sorted by continent, according to the portrait photo, and eventually by nation (though usually later). When the photos are sent to the candidates, the sister will receive the standing photo of her potential spouse, and he her standing photo.

At this point in time, they decide whether to accept Father's matching. If one chooses to refuse, the other's photo may go back into the room. The photo of the one who refuses is withheld from any further matchings--except in certain special situations, such as one of the above incompatibilities having been missed in the checking process. Any matching cancellations are entered into the database so that all data will be ready for the next matching.

The Preparation

I had the most wonderful staff, recruited from various locations. Russell Lockmiller was my technical assistant and general jack of all trades. He and I had begun gathering the information on what was needed in August 1996 from the Korean Computer Center under the direction of Mr. Shin Young Ho. With his guidance, we were able to put together the computers needed for this task. He and members of his staff, Kazuyoshi Hayashi and Tomohisa Hirano, came from Korea to install the special software for the database.

We discovered during the course of their stay in New York, that the most universal language in the world is "computer." We had no need of translators as long as we talked in computer terminology. This was important, as they spoke no English and we spoke no Korean. Still...we got the job done and understood each other quite well.

I recruited Taru Graef Rasmus from Korea, a valuable resource as she had worked on the 1995 matching preparation and speaks fluent Korean and English, along with her native Finnish. I honestly believe she thinks in Korean. I also recruited Julian Gray from Rev. Kwak's international staff in Korea. This was quite a coup, as he also speaks fluent Korean and is well known by the national leaders.

I and my staff spent weeks preparing photos for the matching, verifying the data. Often the information was incomplete. We would have to check on medical information. Sometimes medical information was missing and a photo would show a deformity of arm or leg, thus necessitating further communication with the national leader to verify cause and the extent of the problem. Always having to hold out the completion of that individual's application until clear information was received.

Just a few days before the matching, nations began sending and bringing photos and applications that had made no attempt previously. One nation showing up with more than 800 to be processed in just a few days. Mr. Shin came with his staff members--Mr. Hayashi and 2 others--to man the computers for the matching. At every opportunity, we put anyone to work who dropped by the office--even my 13 and 14 year old children were drafted at times. My son, Rilaw, became quite an expert at putting the labels on the photos. He was even given the responsibility of teaching other recruits how to do it correctly.

All of a sudden, we received a phone call from East Garden. The leaders' conference was breaking up and setup for the matching would begin immediately. We scrambled to do the final steps necessary in the database, and do the last minute packing and loading the vehicles. My son, who was helping out that day, was put in the van with the equipment with instructions to the driver (who lived in New Jersey) to take him home when the opportunity came about. I am certain that Rilaw made the trip back and forth between NY and East Garden several times, along with helping load and unload boxes at both ends. Eventually, that night the driver was released and could go home--taking my son to our home.

Thus the evening of the setup for the second matching began. Paul Fontaine had done a wonderful job of creating the easels for the photos, and was setting them up. The continental leaders were pouring over their photos, working at resolving any last minute problems, and dealing with last minute changes. The Korean Blessed Family Department had brought a beautiful banner, as we had requested, to hang in the room. As time went on we resolved all the problems and the room began to take shape. Rev. Chung Hwan Kwak asked for counts as to how many brothers' and sisters' photos were ready for the matching.

Meetings were held to make sure everyone understood the process. Many of the continental leaders had been so for the matchings in 1995, but everyone needed a refresher course. As the evening and preparations wore on, those who completed their organization began to relax on the sofas in the Pink Room-- causing it to be nicknamed "The Open Mouth Room."

Finally, everything was set up and ready to go. It was very late in the evening (or early in the morning, depending upon your point of view). We were all able to go home, knowing that upon our return the next morning Father would begin the matching.

Conclusion

All total Father matched more than 6200 couples for the blessing at RFK Stadium, including 59 couples done at the last minute in his suite in Washington, DC. Some truly beautiful matches were made. Among the 59 couples, Father matched a Japanese sister with an American black brother. This was the only black/Japanese matching--an impossible thing to do by photo. It could only have been done in person.

Each night when Father was finished, it was clear that he was totally exhausted. He gave his all to create the best matches possible for these candidates. He looked after each and every one of us on the staff--seeing that we had whatever was needed.

One night I had not had dinner and was working to setup. Someone had left East Garden to get something for me to eat, but had not returned yet. In the meantime, I was getting crankier and crankier. I began to argue with my central figure--getting more and more "Cained-out." Just as I finished rolling my eyes at something said, I turned and realized that Father was standing there. I instantly knew that Father had seen everything.

What did Father do? He turned to the kitchen sister there and instructed her to get food for everyone. I then also knew that not only had he seen, but he also knew that my attitude was due to a lack of food--something I am not always cognizant of--and had taken care of the problem.

We had two matching sessions at East Garden, and then went to Washington DC for any last minute matchings there. I had been blessed with the return of Mr. Hayashi and two other members of the Korean Computer Center staff, Mr. Joo In Ho and Miss Sin Min Jung. They were an indispensable addition to our staff and great fun to work with.

While in Washington, leaders would drop by our office and ask, "Will there be another matching?" I could only respond, "Ask me that on November 29th at 11 am." We had to be ready for Father's call at any time. We were and he did. The result being the 59 couples matched in person on the night before the blessing. They received holy wine in a tent just prior to entering the stadium.

When we assembled on the field of RFK Stadium, it was such a moving experience. Taru and I would spot a person whose photo we had worked with, commenting, "Look there's the 3-D [insert name]." It was an amazing experience to have had a hand in the matching of so many couples.

It was not an easy task, but we rose to it and fulfilled it. All problems were overcome. God worked constantly to guide us in so many ways. I am grateful to Rev. Kwak for having the confidence that I could handle the task. His support, internally and externally, is so much appreciated. The daily support from Shunichiro Yoshida was even more important to the success of my responsibilities. More importantly, I thank those who worked with me on this task. I wish them all the best on their life of faith.