Blessing `98 in Baltic Lithuania

by Gunnard Z. Johnston-Lithuania

The Baltic nations of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia are tucked between Poland to the south, Belarussia to the east, the Russian oblast region of Kaliningrad to the southwest, far western Russia (St. Petersburg area) to the north, and the Baltic Sea to the west, facing Sweden and Finland. It’s not surprising then, with so many bordering nations, that the geographical center of Europe is 20 kilometers from Vilnius, the capital city of the Republic of Lithuania. On a clear day, one may see dozens of high-flying commercial airliners passing overhead, most at 7,000 meters or more altitude, as they connect the East-Moscow, Peking, Tokyo, and Seoul-with the West-London, Paris, Frankfurt, and Copenhagen.

We are really at the center of East and West here, but to look at the peaceful countryside, with miles and miles of farms and predominantly flat countryside, small cities of 20,000 to 40,000, and even smaller towns and villages, you would never know that we are such a hub of centrality. On the other hand, there is a spiritual aura of "centralness" about the Baltics, the feeling that these peoples represent a strong sense of the character of the original European stock of people. Elements of the different characteristics of German precision, English manners, French beauty, and even a trace of Italian fire (though just a tad!), are seen here. I don’t mean to leave any nationality out of the mix I described here, but this is the best way I know to portray this little-known part of the world. In short, it is quiet, peaceful, simple, and beautiful, with many ancient customs still very much alive. The city of Vilnius has been designated by the United Nations as a "model traditional city", and UNESCO works to preserve its classic architecture and landscape.

Giving God’s Blessing here has been a special experience. We have Blessed high government officials, television personalities, professors, and clergy. We have Blessed couples walking to or from their own church weddings, and their entourages. We have Blessed couples with their children, friends, and relatives, in the fields cutting hay, fishing by the river, or sunbathing by the sea. We have Blessed people in their homes, on the street, at the beach, in the parks, at city and town plazas, at meetings of civic groups, school committees-in short, we have Blessed couples in just about every imaginable situation.

When it became clear that this year’s goal for our nation was going to be much higher than last year’s-more than ten times higher!-we had no idea how we were going to accomplish this. In fact, while we could Bless sixty thousand last year, we had the most precious assistance of many Japanese sisters, who came in waves from the Mother country. All together, forty-three Japanese sisters, from fifteen years old Second Generation to more than seventy years old senior elder sisters, expended considerable time, money, and love to come here for the sake of Lithuania. Organized by our Mother country National Messiah, Mr. Masayuki Kachi, these beloved sisters came here-some for a few weeks, some for several months-and gave so much heart and love to Lithuania. Often, as Family Federation workers, we meet people who say, "Oh, yes! The Japanese women’s group!" These sisters and their beautiful hearts really made a lasting impression on this country, one that will not be forgotten.

So this year we had to find a way to do ten times more Blessings, but with only one-tenth the number of workers!! And people say they’ve never seen miracles!! How else could we do it?

When we started earnestly in early May, we began as we did last year, by looking for couples walking together down the street, or in their homes. We would find a couple, then offer them the full treatment: the Four Vows, Holy Wine/Juice, Indemnity Stick, and Certificate, which explained what they had just done. We took their name, address, and phone number. But, with an average of only five people giving such full treatment Blessings, the most we could give in one day was a hundred and twenty couples. There are only so many married couples walking around together these days! Our national population is only 3.7 million people, so we have maybe 700,000 married couples all together. How to reach virtually all of them was going to require some creative thinking.

Enter reports from other countries: first, we heard of giving Blessings to only one half of the couple, either the husband or the wife. We did that, and our numbers started to go up dramatically, but still not any where near the pace of 5000 per day we would need to make the goal Father had given us. What to do now? Then, we heard that we might use Holy Candy-candy which had Holy Wine in it-as long as we also gave every newly Blessed couple a longer, more descriptive certificate, explaining the association with True Parents, and some facts about the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification. Thus armed, we set out to meet as many people as we could, and give them these precious connections to True Parents and their Blessing.

At a critical juncture of the campaign, when we were about one half of the way to our goal, a most unflattering television program came out on a Russian station, and quickly multiplied to Lithuanian newspapers and other media outlets. Suddenly, we were being confronted by angry people on the street: "What are you doing, giving out that candy with all that terrible stuff (the Holy Wine) in it??", they cried. Some people were genuinely agitated! I had to speak strongly to a few women who began to follow me and were yelling to other people on the crowded street. They threatened to call the police, to which I said, "Yes, please do!! I want them to see how you are harassing me and preventing these good people from receiving a Blessing from God." The police came, and, acting out of obligation to the call they had been sent on, asked for my "documents" on the candy. Fortunately, I had brought both the bill of sale from a well-known candy factory, and a health certificate, proclaiming the candy safe. These police politely thanked me, and left me alone.

We had prepared this way after a serious attack the week before, when we attempted to give Blessings at the biggest summer festival of the year. We were doing very well, Blessing people at the rate of ten thousand per day, when suddenly one member of the police department came down in an extremely altered state upon my wife, Satsuko Masuyama Johnston, and tried to physically grab her. Fortunately, my wife is a veteran of the exciting days of communists on campuses in Japan back in the late 60’s, so she knew how to just slip away from the fellow, who was left talking to himself. Unfortunately, he must have made a call to his headquarters, because suddenly, in the middle of a great run of giving Blessings to a huge crowd of people, each and every one of our six members was arrested and taken into police custody. I myself was taken by police jeep to a police station, and faced with questions from an angry sergeant who spoke no English. My Lithuanian is still too poor to converse well, so I was very uncertain what would happen in that dark and dingy police house. After showing my passport, and doing my best to tell him that the candy was manufactured right in the same city where we were-I even implored him to call the factory director-he decided to let me go, with the warning that if he caught me doing this again, it would be jail for me!! Now, where have I heard these kinds of words before, I thought to myself, with a little chuckle in my heart.

When we heard late in July the deadline Father had set for August 21, we really became even more desperate. We already were giving Blessings at phenomenal rates-each member giving 3000 Blessings per day-but now we had a shortened deadline, and were several hundred thousand Blessings short of our goal! So, we had to streamline everything-travel from town to town, city to city, sleeping in the van, eating on the run, using gas stations to shave and get cleaned up-where again had I seen this all before!!? It’s good to know that MFT experience was useful for something besides old war stories.

When all was said and done, Heaven had blessed us with safety and good health, and we had given Heavenly Father’s Blessing to over 600,000 couples and individuals!! If you asked me if this would have been possible even two months earlier, I would have said, "Well, it’s going to take a miracle!" So, I guess that’s what we had, a miracle. We made our goal, a few days after the August deadline, but soon enough to bring that result to our continental meeting in Moscow in September. Through it all, each one of us-Mrs. Masako Kachi, Norie Kachi, Aistis Vaicekauskas, Ina Dobrovolskaya, Beata, Viktor, Danguole, Birute, Justina, my wife, and I-felt the tender love and support of True Parents all the way. Even in the police station.

Amazon Journey: It's a rainforest out there

by Larry R. Moffitt-Buenos Aires, 27 October, 1998

The phone rang. It was the first week of October, 1997. Dong Moon Joo was calling Buenos Aires from Washington to ask if I could recommend a qualified journalist to travel with Father, Mother and a small group of people on a trip from one end of the Amazon River to the other.

He said something about the purpose of the trip being to examine business possibilities, but that was about it. When we hung up I still had no idea as to the itinerary, what we would be doing and how or why, or who would be in the group. The instructions couldn't have been more vague, which according to my back-of-an-envelope-notes were approximately:

Amazon River tour with True Parents to study environmental, fishing and forestry projects. Have the reporter in Manaus by the morning of October 23. Tell him to bring mosquito repellant. Thanks.

If Mr. Joo knew anything more, he wasn't talking.

I don't know which journalist Mr. Joo had in mind - nobody specific most likely - but as I thought about the general qualifications of such a person I considered that, assuming the writer's professional skills were in order, it was probably not an absolute necessity that he or she be a specialized environmental or agribusiness reporter. Most of the issues can be learned without too much difficulty by a good generalist, and besides, my experience told me the nature of the trip could turn out to be more on the order of a God's Providence for the Amazon look-see than a serious sleeves-rolled-up study of proposed projects for fish farming, spiritually oriented multinational communities and the like. Whoever went would have to be comfortable with not knowing exactly what was expected of them and equally sanguine to find out that whatever they started out thinking the trip would be about - this was probably not it at all.

I thought the foremost criteria would be that the journalist have at least a minimal appreciation for the mission of the True Parents. I could think of very few reporters outside the membership of the unificationist movement who possessed the level of tolerance that would be required for them to be happy on a trip that included an aspect of unquestioned adoration of the True Parents and that possibly would seem to have no real purpose other than a hyperactive vacation cruise, regardless of what might be happening spiritually.

Within unificationism I came up with several journalist candidates including, immodestly, myself. As I was living in the neighborhood of the Amazon, was already emotionally bonded to the continent, interested in environmental matters, and would very much enjoy being with Father and Mother in such an intimate setting, I faxed Mr. Joo a note proposing that I be the accompanying journalist. He accepted and I was in. Later it occurred to me that he may have expected me to do this from the beginning. But one can never tell. If Mr. Joo played chess he wouldn't lose many games.

Still, one generally assumes that some sort of preparation is necessary before going to the Amazon. Was this going to be a hike through high-canopy forest, camping in tents along the river at night? I spent way too much time thinking about irrelevant things, like whether to buy a "jungle knife," a big nasty steel bugger with serrated teeth along the back side so I could saw my leg off if I was bitten by a water moccasin. What if we're attacked by a jaguar and I need to go mano-a-mano with it to save the others? Which vaccinations should I get? I turned myself into a minor authority on dengue fever.

No need to bring the laptop computer, I thought. It would be a poor defense against jaguars, and where would I find electricity in the jungle? In the end I opted not to get the knife, but did buy a small tent, backpack, flashlight, raingear, mosquito repellant, a small metal mirror for shaving in the bush and a few similar survival items - almost none of which was necessary. All I really needed was the bug spray.

I made a few calls to the church headquarters in Brazil and found out most of what I needed to know, including that we would be staying in civilized hotels. Father and Mother would begin earlier somewhere in Colombia, closer to the source of one of the Amazon's tributaries. Myself, Mr. Joo and Vicki Yokota would join the party in Manaus, considered to be the heart of the Amazon. We would all spend a day and night there and fly eastward along the river in Father's corporate jet, stopping a day each in Santarém, Macapá and Belém. At each stop we would tour the river and fish a little before spending the night and heading out again the following morning. From a hardship perspective this was going to be a piece of cake.

I left the survival gear at home. The hardest decision now was whether to go ahead and take the laptop, which I finally decided not to do. Too much weight, too many location changes, probably a packed schedule that would not leave much time to set it up and write. Too many people per hotel room and no place to put anything. Notebooks and pens would be more appropriate it seemed. I turned out to be right on all counts.

I arrived in Manaus in the wee hours of Thursday, October 23. [Throughout this report I will include italicized excerpts from my handwritten notes, made during the trip.]

Miércoles, 22 de octubre de 1997 - (American Express flight lounge at Ezeiza Airport, Buenos Aires) Waiting for Varig 941 to São Paulo and another to Manaus. Keen sense of adventure...The question is why are True Parents undertaking this research themselves? Why is this particular part of the front-line of God's Providence the place he needs to be at this time?...With True Father being 77 years old, the question of where he spends a day takes on added value with each passing month and year.

Jueves, 23 de octubre de 1997 - 9:00 AM arrived at suite 3001 to greet True Parents. Both looked well and Mr. Joo gave his report. Father and Mr. Joo sat quietly by the window while the others sat on the couch and floor nearby. Vicki Yokota took photos.

At some point Father looked in my direction and began speaking Korean, half looking at me and half at Mr. Joo. I knew he was talking about me, so I tried to look alert and waited patiently for the translation. When Father finished speaking, Mr. Joo said, "Larry, after we finish surveying the Amazon and Paraguay Rivers Father wants you to focus your attention on heads of state and diplomats. Work with Ambassador Sanchez to prepare a way for Father to meet all the Latin American heads of state." Then Father spoke to Vicki...

True Father asked Vicki if she was raising her children well. "I'm trying to," she replied. Father gave her a big smile.

And then again to me...

Father asked me what I thought of the river and being here. I replied that it is a great honor and that it fulfills a dream of mine to one day see the Amazon.

He asked about my Spanish and I said, exaggerating slightly (or slightly more than slightly), that my Spanish had improved greatly over the past year. Father said that I must become one with the Spanish culture to the bottom of my soul. I told him that everyone at Tiempos del Mundo corrects my Spanish and this helps me learn. I added that my children learn the language much faster than me.

Father said, "You have been working so hard at Tiempos del Mundo that you have lost weight and become skinny." I thanked him for the opportunity to lose weight and said my wife thanks you as well. Father laughed.

The group included True Parents, Dong Moon Joo, Koo Bae Park, Won Joo McDevitt (assisting Mother), Ki Kyung Yoon (Father's spear-carrier and fishing companion), two brothers from Korean UC Film Department (videotaping the tour), Victoria Yokota and me. In addition, Hideo Oyamada and Heung Tae Kim from the Brazilian UC headed separate teams that leapfrogged ahead of us to make arrangements for hotel, cars and boat a day ahead of our arrival in each place. Their organization was superb. They missed nothing and we felt very well taken care of. At each city a group of Japanese sisters prepared meals in the kitchen that comes with a presidential suite in any good hotel. In Manaus, the table in Father's suite was too small to accommodate everyone for lunch, so Vicki and I and a couple others ate in another room off the main dining area.

After lunch we drove down to the river and boarded a large tour boat, fifty feet long, with two decks and lots of interesting cabins and space to walk around. Usually when I have been fishing with Father, everyone has been in smaller boats. Father much prefers the smaller ones. A boat this size, with air-conditioned rooms and a big airy upper deck, was a pleasant surprise to me.

3:00 PM - It just occurred to me how wonderfully low-tech is a pen and paper. (God this river is beautiful!) We are on the Solim'es, probably near Careiro da Várzea or Iranduba, around the bend and upriver from the famous line in the water where the Negro River (darkened by organic matter) merges with the Solim'es to form the Amazon. We are anchored next to the shore. Mother is fishing off the upper deck a few feet away, and Father, along with Mr. Joo and Mr. Yoon are farther upriver in an open, unshaded dingy. Most boats on this river have a canopy roof running the length of the boat to protect from the fierce sun.

Our big boat towed a small dingy with an outboard motor. It's mid-afternoon and we are tied up next to the bank. I am watching Father as he sits in the dinghy in shorts and
t-shirt, putting sun block on his face before he heads out from our big boat with Mr. Joo and Mr. Yoon to troll around, stopping here and there to drop their lines and drift.

He puts a small glop of block in his hand and goes to work on one leg and uses what's left on the other. Quiet, purposeful, it's obvious his mind is already out there on the river. In his ball cap and what looks like an undershirt, he looks a lot different than the Father of the Belvedere sermons or the Father of the VIP receptions. This Father is older, much older, and mortal. It suddenly strikes me in a way it never has before, how old Father has become. I have always thought of him as indestructible and eternally vigorous. At that moment though, he looked to be every one of his 77 years. I realized in my gut something I heretofore acknowledged only in my mind - Father is physically finite. He will go to the spirit world one day.

But more than that, I realized that before he dies, his body and mind will slowly melt in front of us as do the physical shells of everyone's grandparents. Father will likely go through the same winding down process of infirmity, memory blanks and the slow, shortened steps of every other person in their 80s and 90s. His body will get old, fall apart and die like yours and mine. When I think of Moses and Ezekiel, I picture wise, elderly gentlemen being lifted into heaven on a cloud, fully intact, fully aware - muscled, gnarled and weathered like Lebanon's cedars. I don't see my Biblical heroes getting liver spots and arthritis. I don't see them suffering the indignity of incontinence or having a stroke that destroys their mind but leaves them lingering in a hospital for six months before they actually die. That stuff is for me and you.

The fortunate among us go quickly when we go. Maybe that will include the True Parents. Even so, nobody gets a completely free ride on life's "back nine." Only victims of accidents bypass the down side of aging, the down side that almost certainly affected Moses and Ezekiel too. Sitting on the boat in the late afternoon tropical sun, watching him put on sun block, I felt the first inkling of something I am sure to be thinking about more in the coming years. I thought seriously for the first time how it might feel to be around Father during the endgame, the fading of his physical existence and its incremental transition to new youth in the spiritual world. Father is not superhuman or supernatural. He's a man who has been and done extraordinary things undreamed of by others.

On the trip back to Manaus, Father and Mother sat on the top deck enjoying the sunset and the breeze. The rest of us sat close by. Father asked someone to sing. He sang and then Father asked another. Usually in these situations I am not requested to sing, but we were only about ten people and this was a couple-hours ride and so I figured my turn was going to come. I tried to prepare a song in my mind but suddenly I couldn't remember the name of a single thing outside of Happy Birthday. Nothing. I took a deep breath, thought happy thoughts. Still nothing. Happy Birthday. I am so pathetic. Where are those ministering high spirits when I really need them?

Then sure as shootin', Mother looked at me and said, "Larry?" I stood up, and the second I did, "Amazing Grace" flew into my brain. Not just the title, but three or four complete verses, enough to put together a credible tune. On one hand, I'm grateful to my guardian angel team for supplying the song and the sheet music, but on the other hand I can't help but think they sure took their own sweet time doing it.

A small digression if I may. Amazing Grace was written by John Newton (1725-1807) and the inscription on his tombstone in England reads, "John Newton, Clerk, once an infidel and libertine, a servant of slaves in Africa, was, by the rich mercy of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, preserved, restored, pardoned, and appointed to preach the faith he had long labored to destroy."

Like with Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol," it is tales of a scurrilous blackamoor finding redemption and forgiveness, the turning of evil into good that resonate most closely with me and most resemble the pattern of my own life. Newton was a slave trader who was nearly killed in a storm at sea. As it is said drowning men often do, he saw his life and his sins played before him. He returned to England, became an Anglican minister and spent the rest of his life repenting. From the depths of John Newton's penitence, came one of the simplest, most eloquent of all Christian hymns. To hear it played by a band of crying bagpipes is to feel a sinner's remorse.

John Donne's poem said, "I am involved in mankind." A part of the whole, I am connected to the same evil that brought slaves from Africa to the New World, including Brazil. The bell tolls for me too. While standing there singing, about halfway through, I began to think of all these things and much more. More than think them, experience them. I connected with something. As I sang, I felt redeemed.

Father and Mother sat in front of me, side by side, listening with their eyes closed. We glided along the river, covered in the orange glow of the day's end, and the bagpipes played...somewhere.

Amazing Grace

Amazing grace! How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found;
Was blind, but now I see.

'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
And grace my fears relieved;
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed.

Through many dangers, toils and snares,
I have already come;
'Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far,
And grace will lead me home.

The Lord has promised good to me,
His Word my hope secures;
He will be my shield and portion be,
As long as life endures.

Yea, when this flesh and heart shall fail,
And mortal life shall cease,
I shall possess, within the veil,
A life of joy and peace.

The world shall soon to ruin go,
The sun refuse to shine;
But God, who called me here below,
Shall be forever mine.

When we've been there ten thousand years,
Bright shining as the sun,
We've no less days to sing God's praise

Than when we'd first begun.9:25 PM - We are back at the hotel. Father (with Mother) is speaking to the Manaus UC members, most of whom are seeing the True Parents in person for the first time.

Father spoke strongly and softly. He growled and purred, pushed and pulled, emphasized, empathized, cajoled and twinkled his eyes for three hours, lifting the spirits of the Manaus members. He strutted, stomped, posed, stood and sat. The old man on the river had regenerated into a young human fireball. We who made up his traveling entourage were bobbing and weaving from fatigue and too much sun. I was fading badly, barely able to keep my eyes open. Occasionally Mr. Joo nudged me and suggested I step into the small bathroom a few feet away to splash water on my face. I'm glad I was sitting in the back of the room.

The next morning we had Hoon Dok Hae at 6:00 AM (Won Joo read in Korean), ate breakfast, checked out and went to the airport. We were in Father's jet, a 12-passenger Challenger. It comes with two pilots and a flight attendant. The pilot managed to get permission for us to fly along the river at an altitude of only 900 feet. What's more, we poked along at under 200 miles per hour. Mr. Yoon worried about us flying under the aircraft's specified speed minimum but maybe the instruction book that came with the jet called for minimums higher than what the pilots knew to be the real thing, a concession made to the lawyers perhaps.

Short of floating along in a hot air balloon, it is hard to imagine a more magnificent way to view the Amazon River and the endless carpet of tree tops in every direction from horizon to horizon.

Viernes, 24 de octubre de 1997 - Spent the day on the river at Santarém. We rode three hours downstream to fish and swat mosquitoes for an hour. Then four hours back upstream, returning to the city.

The excerpt above, from my handwritten notes does nothing to convey how magnificent this day was.

We didn't actually get started on the river until about 1:00 PM and I will never forget the beauty of the surrounding plants, river, the afternoon sun, air - everything - as we sailed out to where we were to fish. Especially memorable was the sun, bathing everything in those good old warm tones that somehow intensify the color in everything that is green. On the Amazon you are never far from green.

Mother and Father laid down on a double bed in the front cabin and napped for about an hour. I chatted with people and spent long periods just watching Mother Nature's show. After a while I climbed onto the roof of the boat with my legs dangling over the front, where I could be away from all people and as far from the sound of the engine as possible. It was so quiet.

I sat in absolute serenity.

Cruising along in the middle of the river, with the breeze in your face, is the only time in the jungle where you are free of the heat and insects. Being in a tropical zone, the Amazon region has only two seasons - dry and wet - relative terms to be sure. In reality one season is hot and wet. The other is hotter and wetter. October is the so-called "dry" season, supposedly the cooler period with fewer mosquitoes. If that was so, we could only imagine how hellish the hotter and wetter, more mosquito-infested season must be.

There is no place you can stand that is free of mosquitoes, whether it's the middle of the jungle or the balcony outside your hotel room. As far as I can tell, this holds true for every inch of the Amazon's drainage basin, which takes up one-third of the continent, including half of Brazil and parts of Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela. That's 2,722,000 square miles. If that number is too difficult to wrap your mind around, think of Texas times ten.

Now hold that thought while we do some math. A square mile contains 27,878,400 square feet. Let's say I occupy nine of them, one square yard of space (a bit less than a square meter) which includes room to cross my legs and a place to set an orange Fanta. This means a square mile can hold 3,097,600 people, each with their own personal space and personal orange Fanta. At a square yard each, the number of people you can put into the Amazon basin is almost eight-and-a-half trillion (8,431,667,200,000 to be exact).

I was swatting mosquitoes the entire week I was there. Presumably all eight trillion-something people would be swatting along with me. On the two occasions I tried counting, I found eight blood smears on my arms, neck and socks after about 20 minutes (they easily bite through clothing) and it seemed that six of the eight were instantly replaced by enraged kin, maddened by grief, who felt they had nothing more to lose.

They came in waves, unmindful of their own safety, hitting high then low, diving fast out of the sun. Their goal was to keep me constantly slapping myself, and they were really quite good at it. It must have been hilarious to watch. When I managed to tag one it would leave a big smear of my own blood all over my arm or face. The squashee would immediately be replaced by a relative bent on avenging the memory of his slain comrade.

If you just count the eight I sent to bug heaven, and their six replacements, I figure I was dealing with a total of 14 mosquitoes no matter where I was in the Amazon. It would still be conservative to assume that if people completely filled that continent-size basin, sitting knee to knee, everyone would get their standard allotment of 14 mosquitoes.

Therefore, I am pleased to announce that the entire Amazon basin contains exactly 118,043,340,800,000 mosquitoes. That's 118 trillion, 43 billion and some change.

Mother and Father fished briefly while the rest of us dealt with our personal dive-bombing swarms that found us the second we tied up at the river bank and the wind died down. They caught fresh-water stingrays and assorted crud fish, all of which they released. These were not fish you would normally eat so I can understand tossing them back, but as essentially a non-fisherman I wonder about catch-and-release. Why bother to fish in the first place? As fishing, it seems the equivalent of kissing your sister.

Texas Republican and U.S. House Majority Leader Dick Armey, once offered a fish's perspective on catch and release. "Think about that poor bass," he told a group of reporters. "Put yourself in his place. You go into Denny's and you sit down and somebody puts your hamburger in front of you and you pick it up and you take a bite. All of a sudden, somebody grabs you by the mouth, drags you around the store, drags you outside, pulls the hook out of your mouth and throws you back into Denny's."

Got to admit I hadn't thought of it that way, and now I understand catch-and-release even less.

It was dark as we rode back to Santarém. Father, Mother, Mr. Joo, me and one or two others sat in chairs on the prow of the boat as we made the journey home. Conversation was sparse. Long silent periods were filled only by the muffled chugging of the engine below and the three-dimensional, textured blackness of the starry nighttime sky. Except for the pilot occasionally turning on the roof-mounted spotlight to get his bearings, we rode in total darkness. The stars were huge and we could see billions of them. To the other tragedies of urban life, you can add that most of the majestic wholeness of the night sky is simply lost to city dwellers.

The spotlight went on once in a while for a minute or so at a time. It's beam was focused to a few feet wide and illuminated an area a hundred feet or so in front of the boat. What's more, a blizzard of insects filled the beam, not just mosquitoes but an inconceivable variety of flying bugs. Oh, to be a bat in the Amazon.

The ride back was a parcel of time, so peaceful, so complete, I wished it could have been an all-night journey rather than a few hours.

Mr. Joo and I spoke part of the time about possible newspaper articles that could come out of this trip. We passed the phrase "key issues" back and forth a couple of times, as though it had some meaning and as though we knew what we were talking about. A reminder of "key issues" to look into later, from the handwritten journal...

The Amazon's dilemma; its future; its value for education in medicine, agriculture and race relations (integrating the Indians into the advancing civilization).

Inescapable, unstoppable reality: so called "civilization" is coming to the forest, rivers, people and wildlife of the Amazon. There are those, and you shall know them by their web sites, who preach that the best development is to do nothing at all. Limit traffic, stop slash-and-burn agriculture, farming - leave it pristine. An appealing sentiment, but you might as well try to stop the Pony Express or find a cure for gold fever in mid-nineteenth century America. Has the focus of debate really shifted from the "keep it pristine" argument to a discussion on the management of encroachment?

How to integrate the Indians? What about the "cultural imperialism" argument? Destroy a centuries-old culture, replacing it with urban madness and white man's diseases?

Upon arrival at the hotel I went to the restaurant to buy a bottle of water before going to the room. Our two pilots and Mary the flight attendant, were having a late supper. "Air Mary," some of us affectionately called our private airline. We talked for a while about our respective adventures. The pilots described what they did to prepare for the next morning's flight and Mary recounted the problems of foraging in an alien culture for food to serve us on the plane.Sábado, 25 de octubre de 1997 - Macapá lies exactly on the Equator. According to Mr. Joo, it is one of only five cities in the world placed exactly so. I believe Quito, Ecuador is one also.

Sailing across rough water, we arrived at a wide tributary (rivers and parts of rivers crisscross everywhere here at the Amazon's mouth). We sailed a few kilometers up a smaller river. Rough "machete jungle" grew to the water's edge. A man who ran a boat engine repair shop along the river said he has seen (and killed) anacondas ten meters or more in length. He and his wife offered us coffee, water and hearts of palm. He said, "I don't like cities. People are hungry in the cities. Here we have no hunger." He described the palm tree fruit, fish, hearts of palm, pumpkins, etc. that grew in the jungle around his home.

Our reason for stopping was to buy bait. Their engine repair shop was part of a small community that included a few houses, workshops, a saw mill for local use, an Evangelical Church of God, outdoor toilets and docks sticking out to the water's edge. All the buildings were mounted on stilts and connected one to another by raised boardwalks, also on stilts. This close to the Atlantic, we were in an area affected by tides, and rain-borne floods. The tide was low during our visit so we climbed ten feet of stairs from the river's edge up to the docks. Boats that would be floating elegantly a few hours later, now lay sprawled in the mud, tilted at grotesque angles.

We buy some bait, say goodbye and push off in our dinghy to rendezvous with Father's group on a somewhat larger boat, a smallish cabin cruiser. We hand off some of the bait and head out on our own to take pictures and fish. In my boat is me, Vicki and the two Korean UC videotapers who are recording our every gesture and utterance. There are also the guide/boat driver and his friend, another shirtless and hatless local guy who doesn't say much but knows his way around a fishing tackle box like nobody I've ever seen.

The silent river and the jungle around and overhead, surrounds us the way the man's anaconda stories have enfolded themselves around my mind. The afternoon sun brings increasing contrast to the light and begins to work its magic again, separating all the things you would ordinarily just call "green" into countless distinct shades and variations. If the Eskimos have sixteen words to describe different kinds of snow, I wonder if the people here have fifty to tell one kind of green from another. I can appreciate now where Paul Gauguin must have found the colors for his Polynesia paintings.

Trees taller than an 8-story building stand pregnant with coconuts and pods of some kind of fruit. One stand of trees is completely covered by parasitic kudzu-like vines whose broad leaves starve them of sunlight and slowly snuff out their lives. The appearance is of someone having thrown a luxurious blanket over them. Beauty and death work so well together here.

Not only am I looking at a small piece of the largest forest in the world, but this land has always been forest, generally thought to be the oldest permanent vegetation growth on earth. Maybe my earliest ancestors didn't climb down out of the trees, but their friends probably did - the great-great-something-something-grandparents of those trees right in front of me.

Half the known species of birds and more kinds of butterflies than anywhere on earth are here. Crawly things, bugs friendly and scary - bugs we've never even met - are everywhere. There are spiders so large they make their living catching and eating birds. We sit in the boat with the motor off, drifting silently. Every creature is putting out a mating call, a warning cry or just a song, as they flitter around on their way to eating and being eaten. The rainforest at rush hour is indescribable. Heaven will have to get up pretty early in the morning to top this for beauty. I keep hearing my own voice, filled with awe, whispering quietly, "my God...my God...oh my God."

Our boat turns off our tributary onto a smaller creek about 20 feet wide. Someone decided we needed more bait or better bait or different bait. The light is gorgeous and Vicki is ecstatic as she burns through roll after roll of film. I have been with Vicki on other photo assignments in Brazil, North Korea and other places, and she is always this wired. She works incredibly hard, demanding absolute perfection from herself and her equipment. Rebuking herself for the half-dozenth time for not having brought the other camera body, she whips a hand into her canvas bag as we suddenly come upon a spectacular piece of river that calls for an instantaneous switch from a long lens to a wide. But we're moving. We're on a boat that's moving, on a river that's moving, photographing animals, backlit foliage, ripples, reflections - all of them moving. The light is changing, the angles are changing, leaving forever. We're skimming along, just two seconds away from this whole scene being nothing more than a memory.

"Tell him to stop! Tell him to stop!" Vicki screams at me.

I turn to tell the boat driver to stop. He doesn't speak English but he caught her tone and her look, and is already reversing the engine. Like his scrawny brown assistant, he has come to fear this mad woman and they both watch her like you would watch an unfamiliar doberman.

She is relentless, projecting her passion onto the shooting environment, demanding cooperation from the sunlight and the alligators. Sometimes God delivers the goods, sometimes He doesn't.

I've learned there is not much I can do to help Vicki other than stay out of her way. Most of the time she declines my offers to carry her equipment. The gear is heavy but she would rather throw her back out than have to endure the extra ten-second delay of me locating and handing her the 50-to-200 zoom. Vicki's photos have won some prestigious awards but I think she assesses herself to be a better photo editor than a photographer. I think she's phenomenal at both. I truly enjoy watching her in action.

I scribble a few thoughts in my notebook, like the fact that it and my pen weigh only a few ounces compared to Vicki's 35-pound load. I tell myself that either media can record pictures just as well. The afternoon is ecstasy and I wallow in it. I haven't the faintest idea where we are. We come upon a grass shack on the edge of the creek.

In a tiny, but navigable tributary we met an old gentleman who lives in a palm frond shack with two barking dogs. He wore a never washed t-shirt in tatters and boxer shorts. It didn't look like he owned anything else.

The old man didn't have any bait for us. He told us the wind is coming. We talked for a while, gave him a Coke and some oranges and left.

We met up with Father's boat just before we headed back as it began to get dark. He told me, Vicki and the camera crew to get into his boat and for all of us to sit on the floor of the lowest part and to stay there. So we did. We found out why when we left the feeder river and entered the main body of the Amazon for the several miles trip across it. The water had grown rough and we could see waves rising above the side of the boat. The wind had indeed come. The dinghy we had been in had too many people for such rough water, and the guide and his assistant would have an easier time with a lighter load. Father wanted us sitting down so as to keep the boat's center of gravity as low as possible.

Macapá is a city at one of the two major mouths of the Amazon. The river is wide and strong here, pouring out so much water that the Atlantic Ocean is fresh water for many miles out to sea. It's still the river, technically a tidal estuary, but waves kick up that can compare to those on the ocean, certainly high enough to swamp small fishing boats like ours.

I don't know how much actual danger we were in but it was bumpy and the waves towered over us when we were in the troughs. On the other hand, the stars were enormous. Again, an opportunity to die dramatically amid great beauty.

When we got back to the dock, the local UC members were waiting, welcoming, expectant. More of them stood at the entrance to the hotel with their children, all dressed in their Sunday best. They had never seen him before in person. It was late, but Father's smile said, "ya'll come on up," and they trailed after him. That evening, as tired as Father surely was, he spoke to the Macapá members. He reached into wherever it is he keeps his energizer bunny, and he gave them every bit of it.Domingo, 26 de octubre de 1997 - 5:00 AM Pledge and reading of Father's words in his suite at the Novotel Hotel in Macapá.

Afterward, we set our suitcases in the hall, where the local members loaded them into cars. In a flash we were aboard Air Mary for a brief, low, slow trip across the delta to the city of Belém (Bethlehem), located on the Amazon's other gaping mouth. We checked into the hotel and met in Father's suite.

For ten minutes, from 10:35 AM until 10:45 AM, Father sat three feet from me (him in a chair, me on the floor) and gave me the distilled, concentrated essence of a new mission. The feeling is that each spoken word contained volumes of instruction. I am being handed a dense element weighing tons per square centimeter. I must now break it apart and smelt it so I can understand what it's made of, can lift it and carry it home to my heart. Maybe then I can figure out where step one should be placed.

Father turned his attention to Mr. Joo, with me seated beside him, and continued speaking in Korean for another hour. At one point, Father said my name and began a long set of what seemed to be instructions in Mr. Joo's direction, but punctuated each thought with a direct look at me. Father paused to take a sip of water and Mr. Joo asked me, "How much of what Father just said did you understand?"

"I understood 'Larry,'" I told him.

Father asked Mr. Joo to explain to me what he had been speaking about. Mr. Joo told Father we were sharing a room and asked if it would be okay if he filled me in later. Father nodded. A few minutes later, Father broke into his heavily-accented English to unload some of his disappointment that in all these years I have never learned to speak Korean. I understand his feeling. It is frustrating in the extreme to pour out your whole heart to someone and have him just sit there, staring at you like a cigar store Indian.

At lunch I sat at the opposite end of a small table for six. Father looked at me and began speaking in Korean again. Mr. Joo said that Father was expressing his concern that I had lost too much weight in my face. He said my stomach is still ample and that maybe I could find some way to lose some of the belly and get some back in the face. Overall, he said I was losing too much weight and he would give me some Chinese medicine to help. I thanked Father for his concern.

After lunch we headed down to the boats for our last day of fishing.

Fishing this afternoon was more like a boat party than serious fishing. We went only a little way upriver and tied up next to the shore all afternoon. I don't think anyone got even a nibble. Everyone was talking. Vicki listened to her meditation tapes with headphones. There was no great urgency to remain silent lest we scare the fish - since there were obviously no fish in the area.

Father looked at me sitting on the roof of the boat and asked, "Larry, are you happy with your wife?"

"Yes, very much so," I replied.

"Do you wish you had gotten an American wife instead?"

"No, Father. I don't think of Taeko as being of any particular race. She's just my wife and her character has a lot of different qualities I admire. I love her very much."

He nodded his head and I continued.

"Father, no matter what bad things may come my way, I feel I can never complain about my life because I have been so fortunate to have Taeko as my wife."

This was an immensely satisfying exchange for me. I had wanted to say that to Father for 18 years.

Lunes, 27 de octubre de 1997 - This is the fourth anniversary of my mother's passing into the spirit world.

We fly out after breakfast, headed south to Montevideo. Father's and Mother's chairs are across the aisle from each other, facing forward in the narrow cabin. Mr. Joo sits in a chair facing Father and Mr. Park sits in a chair facing Mother. Father has his shoes off and his feet resting on Mr. Joo's knees. Mr. Joo is massaging Father's feet. Mother, likewise, has her shoes off and her feet on Mr. Park's knees. Mr. Park is massaging Mother's feet. Everyone looks as contented as they can be.

As we pass over the headwaters of the Paraguay River near Cuiabá in southern Brazil, the pilot takes the plane down to under a thousand feet and we coast along. Father, Mother, Mr. Joo and Mr. Park talk among themselves.

The landing in Uruguay was in particularly turbulent conditions, caused by a thunderstorm. A shroud of clouds reduced us to zero visibility. The plane not only bounced like a trailbike, but it slammed from side to side as crosswinds played ping-pong with us. I have been in turbulence before, even on commercial airlines where True Parents were on the same flight. One might assume that flying with them would eliminate all fear of harm - either angels would hold up the plane or, it if did go down, you would have one very excellent spokesman when the group arrived at St. Peter's gate. But that's not the case. In the moment it's still scary as hell.

Mother looked concerned as we bounced along the sky, but Father grinned and laughed after the most severe jolts. I wondered if Father is just being macho or after a lifetime that has included torture, starvation, prisons and being stalked by Kim Il-Sung's death squads, he simply doesn't fear whatever might await him on the other side or whatever it might take to get him there. Father gives the middle finger to Mr. Death.

In Montevideo we are taken to our rooms at the Victoria Plaza Hotel. I spend some time going over my notes, listing things Father has asked me to do and assigning priorities to everything I can.

In the evening, we gathered for dinner in Father's suite. Sitting around the big dining room table were Father, Mother, Mr. Joo, Mr. Park, Mr. Yoon, Vicki, two National Messiahs from Venezuela, the two film guys, maybe one or two others.

After dinner Mother whispered something into Father's ear. Then Father pulled out his wallet, smiled and said in English, "Larry, come here." Father opened his wallet and handed me everything in it. He didn't even count it or look at it. He just pulled out whatever he had and gave it to me.

This moment was an experience with Father I will remember for the rest of my life and beyond. Besides being a microcosm symbol of Father's relationship with the world, it stunned me that someone could love me and invest in me this much. Gratitude, love, truth, judgment, acceptance, repentance, peace - all the emotions one can imagine, came over me and down upon my head. Father gave me everything he had to give.

A few minutes later, Father asked me to share my impressions of the Amazon and what kinds of news stories I thought could come from the experience. I spoke about 10 minutes, with a certain amount of rambling. It ended well I thought, on a note of personal gratitude to Father and Mother. Then Vicki, Mr. Yoon, Mr. Park and Mr. Joo all gave their impressions of the trip.

The next morning we went to the airport and waited awhile together in the private terminal waiting room. The Uruguayan members were standing around. Father called me over and I squatted on my haunches in front of him and Mother. He spoke for a bit urging me to work hard and be good. He ended with a big smile, a thumbs-up sign and a little click-click with his voice, the sound a rider makes to encourage his horse to keep moving. I smiled, thumbed-up and click-clicked back at my Father.

Shortly after, we parted ways as I left to walk over to the main terminal to get a commercial flight for the hop over to Buenos Aires. At the door I turned and we waved again.

Alaskan Adventure: Moose Hunting with Hyun Jin Nim

by Jinhyo Kwak-New York

This article is reprinted courtesy of Today’s World magazine.

On the evening of Aug. 9, Hyun Jin Nim and eleven second-generation members, including the heads of the Second Generation Departments from Korea, Japan and Europe, left East Garden for special training in Alaska. It was Hyun Jin Nim’s desire to train and educate those in responsible positions to fully recognize the desire and direction of True Parents and True Family so that they will be better prepared to guide all other blessed children. And he hoped that this physically and mentally challenging experience of hunting and fishing in Alaska would be a means through which to build the internal qualities required for young people to become qualified future leaders.

It took seven days of hard driving for our two vehicles to reach Anchorage. Every day of the trip was a valuable time of learning and reflection, through Hyun Jin Nim’s guidance and following the Hoon Dok Hae tradition, among other things. Once we arrived at Kodiak, we spent the next 40 days fishing and hunting, where we were continuously guided by Hyun Jin Nim as well as True Parents.

Hyun Jin Nim spent part of the training time to hunt for a Yukon moose, the largest species of the deer family. He invited three people on this trip to yet another part of Alaska called Ilyamna: Ian Reid, an American member with much hunting experience, In Bong Lee, a second-generation member from the Korean Headquarters’ Culture Department who was to videotape the trip, and myself.

After preparation of food and gear, the four of us first flew to Anchorage and then to Ilyamna. From there we were to reach our campsite on the southern part of Ilyamna Lake in a small single-propeller, four-seater Cessna. To our dismay, however, we were informed by the pilot just minutes before our flight that we would have to leave behind a significant amount of weight and volume from our supplies. We scrambled madly through the ten day’s supply of food and gear to reduce its volume, and to stuff as much as possible in the boxes. After the initial chaos was over and everyone had reached the base camp by the beach, what had originally been eleven boxes was reduced to only three. Furthermore, we realized that one of the boxes with smaller pieces of equipment on top was filled with chocolates and candies underneath.

After such a rough start, Hyun Jin Nim and the three of us headed inland, and from early the next morning began the extremely challenging process of hunting for the trophy moose the local hunter had told us about. And for the next seven days, we would leave the camp as early as 3am and return to base as late as 2:30am.

One of the reasons this hunt was very tough was the terrain. The area was filled with patches of marsh, lakes, hills and valleys of soft mossy ground, and heavily wooded brush. And because there were no tall mountains to give us a high-elevation vantage point to scan and shoot, it was necessary to constantly walk around in search of the moose. It was typical for us to walk 10 to 15 miles a day in that rough terrain with equipment on our back. A moose has keen hearing and sense of smell, and sharp vision, and is very adept at hiding itself in the thick brush.

Despite every day’s ceaseless effort, each day’s hard hunt resulted in futility, as we could not even sight a single bull moose. Various techniques such as bull- and cow-calls as well as hiding out in a covered area also did not seem to work. It was even more physically challenging because of our extremely short food supply, not to mention hordes of mosquitoes and blood-sucking gnats, and being constantly soaked because of the marshy terrain. We could only afford to have a packet of oatmeal in the mornings, chocolates and beef-jerky for lunch, and some canned food for dinner.

As our food supply dwindled to only bread and some butter, and as the last day of the moose season drew near, Hyun Jin Nim seemed very disappointed-and the three of us had almost concluded that there was probably no moose in the area and that we should just end the seemingly fruitless effort. Yet, Hyun Jin Nim told us that he was not about to quit and he would stay to find that trophy moose even by himself.

When the pilot arrived to pick us up the next day, which was the last day of the moose-hunting season, Hyun Jin Nim told him to fly back in the following day so that he could hunt until the day was over. We set out for one final attempt at finding the moose at 4:30pm. We had only about three hours to find and shoot the moose before sunset.

Having walked for about 45 minutes, Hyun Jin Nim told In Bong and myself to wait while he and Ian searched for the moose. We sat and waited for about two hours. As it was beginning to get dark, we began to wonder why they were not coming back. Then at that moment we heard the first gun shot. There followed a second, a third and a final shot. Not knowing what to make of those shots we waited a long 30 minutes for any news. Then to our elation we heard Hyun Jin Nim calling from a distance. We ran toward his voice and there was Hyun Jin Nim, very excited and exhilarated, who told us that he finally shot a very big bull moose.

When we ran to the site, we saw a huge, dark animal with enormous antlers such as I had only seen in postcards. Hyun Jin Nim and the three of us were extremely happy and grateful. Hyun Jin Nim patted the moose, thanking him and Heavenly Father. It was quickly getting dark and we began to take all the edible meat from the moose, as required by regulation, which totals over 800 pounds from a 1,300-pound animal. By midnight, we had filled our back-racks with 100 to 150 pounds of meat. And we began the most difficult phase of the moose hunt-carrying those enormous loads back to our camp, miles away.

With such a load on our backs, it was impossible to stand up on our own. One person had to take off his back-rack and help another person up, and that person would help the other people stand up. The top-heavy load also made it difficult to balance oneself. In such rough terrain and in pitch dark with only one small flashlight, taking even one step was a grueling challenge. We had also practically run out of food that day. Yet, we took one step at a time toward the base, sometimes tripping or falling on our backs. We were sweating buckets and our arms were becoming numb due to the heavy pressure on the shoulders. But every time it almost became unbearable to take any more steps, Hyun Jin Nim strongly encouraged us: "Don’t think about the pain. Forget the pain and concentrate on moving your legs forward."

By the time we arrived at the base it was 2:30am. After some rest we had to make two more such trips to bring back the rest of the meat, and the moose rack (antlers). When the plane landed on the lake at about 6pm, we had just finished the final trip and had begun packing our gear to go back.

We left Ilyamna and arrived at Anchorage the next day. We learned that True Parents were also coming to Anchorage and were expecting Hyun Jin Nim’s return. Many Alaska members gathered at the airport together with Hyun Jin Nim for their arrival. When True Parents got off the plane, they were extremely happy to see Hyun Jin Nim had returned safely and especially with a huge trophy bull moose. Soon they had to fly back to New York and Hyun Jin Nim’s group headed back to Kodiak for the rest of the training.

Despite the tremendously challenging and difficult nature of this experience, I was truly grateful to Heavenly Father for protecting everyone on the trip, and especially for having provided us with the biggest bull moose in the area. Hyun Jin Nim mentioned that such blessing could only come about because of the perseverance and unyielding effort. Heavenly Father was, in a way, testing us to see whether the futility of the first six day’s efforts would cause us to give up and not see it through until the final moment. Although the three of us were ready to give up, I believe Hyun Jin Nim’s perseverance allowed God to finally bless us greatly in the final hour of the final day of the season.

Jinhyo Kwak is the second son of Rev. Chung Hwan Kwak. He and his wife Soon-Ok were blessed in the 200-couple second-generation blessing in 1992, held in Seoul. They have one daughter.

The Mission of the Elder Son Nation

by Rev. Takeru Kamiyama

This is from a speech given at the Boston Family Church, October 31 It was transcribed by George Howe from impromptu notes taken as it was delivered and with translation from Japanese to English. Please study it with this in mind.

True Father told me the other day, we need to follow the formula course. With the formula course, the History of Indemnity is condensed to seven years. By going through it, we then restore ourselves. True Father's worried, the importance of the formula course has been forgotten by members. Many members are proud about the amount of time they've been members in the church but length of time is not important. What is important is the content of that time.

All must go through this Seven Year Formula Course; all Unification Church members must go through it-all 36 Blessed Couples, the president,... everyone must go through it. If one does not go through it, they are not worthy of the Blessing.

We must learn the content of the Seven Year Formula Course. Through the conditions True Father has set, he has condensed 7000 years into seven years. Only within seven years, we can go through 7000 years. This is a highway to the Kingdom of Heaven. The only thing we must do is go through this way. Rev. Kamiyama has been going this way for 40 years. If you ask for some bargain less than even seven years, this is the mind of a thief.

When you determine to go this way, you find there is a separate force going against you. The moment you determine to go, your environment goes against you.

You will soon know Satan is trying to destroy you and your determination. We must make the determination to go through seven years and that we never repeat what Adam and Eve did. Pray in seven years that "I" reach the level that God intended us to be.

What is the content of the Seven Year Formula Course? What is the goal? With the Fall of Adam and Eve, in their place, we need to return to God and unite with all things. To accomplish this restoration, True Father has condensed this into seven years. This is also the course to restore the parent's position and children's position.

Let's read True Father's words about his expectation. True Father wishes for us all to become True Parents. "This is not just theory, this is the course I have gone through from the individual to the cosmic levels." Our task is to restore ourselves to True Parents position.

How do we raise up the next generation to serve God? All who have received the Blessing wish for beautiful children. Is there anyone who expects a lower standard in their children? Everyone expects a better standard than themselves; isn't that true? True Parents hope and expect this as well.

Have you heard the Japanese expression, "Sparrows giving birth to Eagles."? True Father has gathered and raised up "sparrows" to receive the Blessing and he wants to produce eagles. He is trying to produce eagles through tired sparrows. From God's point of view, we are tired sparrows. From us, eagles are to be born and reared. The American symbol is the eagle. Americans respect eagles very much. In Alaska there are a lot of eagles. If you shoot one, you can be fined $50,000 and go to jail. God's plan is to produce the first most beautiful children in Human History without Original Sin.

Content of the Formula Course

We know this is the goal but there are forces that constantly press against us-invisible forces-Satan. We must have condition to repair ourselves and to chase away these forces. Our battle is a battle against these invisible satanic forces.

True Father says that with the Seven Year Formula Course we must establish the condition where we can repair what has been damaged. How to establish and accomplish this goal is the content of True Father's words and life course. The Seven Year Formula Course is a contract that has been made between Satan, God, & True Father. True Father wants us to establish that condition as soon as possible. That must be done through the Seven Year Formula Course. The first 3.5 years is economic restoration (restoring things of creation). The second 3.5 years is for restoring people. All together that makes 7 years. If God takes anyone to His side without condition, Satan will not acknowledge that person and will accuse.

First, we must establish the proper condition which is an indemnity condition and a condition to restore oneself, and all Human Beings from the individual to the cosmic levels. That's why when we receive the Blessing, seven day fasting is done which makes an indemnity condition to be claimed by God. What did you feel three hours before the end of the seventh day? So hungry? Being hungry is the truth of truths. If you can still love God more than your desire for food, God can accept your offering. After fasting seven days you don't die. How many have done seven day fasting? At the end of it, you should forget your hunger and love God.

Second, we need to establish condition for restoring all things. This can be done through Mobil Fundraising Teams for example.

Restoration of Children's Position

Third, condition needs to be established for restoring children. We all wish to have great children but Satan hates this idea. We must repel that force of Satan. How do we do that? What kind of course do True Parents follow? We need three spiritual children. The position of children can only be restored by uniting Cain and Abel children. Through your relationship with your spiritual children (Cain), indemnity condition for your physical children (Abel) can be established.

With Jesus Christ, three disciples were absolutely essential. True Father tells us, three spiritual children are absolutely essential. In the Garden of Eden, three archangels were there. What happened? The three angels failed to follow God's children, Adam and Eve. We must make condition to restore that failure. The three angels were supposed to follow but the archangel Lucifer seduced Eve who then seduced Adam and all fell. How is this restored in order for the originally intended history to truly begin?

Our responsibility is to restore three spiritual children through loving, guiding, and having dominion over them. Through a restored love relationship between Abel and Cain, an indemnity condition to restore children can be established. With the wife having three and the husband having three, both together can restore the position of physical children. With the Fall, the archangels did not follow therefore they must first be restored, then the Fall-the source of these pressing forces-can be restored. We can not otherwise chase Satan's force away in this world.

Through the Blessing, all of Human History-the Old Testament, New Testament, and Completed Testament Ages are all to be restored and from there a new history is to begin. Three restored spiritual children represent the three ages restored, as well.

Also we restore the first family lost with the Fall. The husband with his three spiritual children and the wife with hers, makes the total of eight all together. Eight restores the number of the Garden of Eden. There was Cain and Abel; Cain killed Abel, then there was Seth. Together with Adam and Eve, there were to be three sons and their three wives all totaling eight. We need to restore the number eight through restoring these particular relationships.

From God's Will & the World there is another passage, "What are spiritual children? They represent the angels in the Garden of Eden. Because the angels disobeyed Adam and Eve, we must set up the condition with three spiritual children loving Adam and Eve, or parents, at the risk of their life."

To your spiritual children you represent Adam and Eve. With them you must create the realm of heart where they can sacrifice themselves for the sake of their spiritual parents. We must create such an environment. Restoration of heart can be done by guiding the spiritual children to give themselves up to the parents.

As members of the Unification Church, you can not live free from Satan's attack, without having three spiritual children, thus setting up the condition of three angels helping you. The family will remain still in Satan's realm where Satan can still drag you. Without this condition, no one can go to God's side. This topic is painful for those who are without three spiritual children. It must be spoken though.

What does it mean to remain in Satan's realm? Those children are still in an environment where Satan can touch them whenever he wants to. Without spiritual children, we can not receive the Blessing. This order has been reversed by a lot of brothers and sisters therefore we must correct that.

With absolute unity established between parents and three spiritual children, a foundation for a new history can be secured. God seeks for each one of us here to establish the quality of character within ourselves for doing this. How we are to build this character can be done only by practicing True Love. This can only be built through giving and living for others. It can not be done in the mountains. Absolute unity of three spiritual children can only be done through love. In order to do so we must invest seven times the effort than raising our own physical children. We must teach ourselves the absolute necessity of bearing three spiritual children.

In Japan, few brothers and sisters have accomplished raising three spiritual children this way. With the birth of our physical children, we need this unity of Cain (spiritual) and Abel (physical) children in absolute oneness. First responsibility for this to happen lies with the Mother, to unite the children. Then the Mother connects the children to the Husband and he brings all to heaven. Through all of this, the Royal Family is established.

Restoration of Parents' Position

Fourth and finally, the indemnity condition to restore True Parents' position is to be established, by uniting the Cain and Abel children this way. True Father wishes all of us to establish the position of True Parents. This must be done in seven years. Three spiritual children should wait for and yearn for the physical children of the spiritual parent as if they are waiting for the Messiah. They need to respect and revere those children even while they are in the Mother's womb. Then we can repel Satan. These spiritual children can even give up their property for the children. That much they must love and respect the children.

Education can not be accomplished only by the parents. The archangel positions are absolutely necessary. The parents might attempt to educate the children but if they were to push the children away and their relationship were to snap, it would be over for that family. With the physical children being taught by archangels then even if their relationships snap, the child can still come to the parents. When being trained by archangels, the children may complain about them but the parents still must direct the children to the archangels anyway. Parents can not do it alone.

When we look at the Unification Movement as a whole, very few have accomplished this. If we establish this condition then Satan can have no power to claim anything. I've seen many parents who say they received the Blessing from True Parents but their children went an other direction. Then they complain to True Parents. They do not understand that this is not True Parent’s responsibility

Even animals seek a safe environment for their children. When I went to South America I saw a waterfall. There was a bird that would fly through the waterfall to reach its nest and babies because it was the safest place to build the nest and protect its young. True Father clearly knows Satan's force and tries to make us go to this position where Satan can not touch us. We are much better than animals and we must create this safe environment for our children.

If you can not see or know this force, it is best to follow True Father's course. It is our great task and our 5% responsibility to follow True Parents' course. In reality this has not been done. This is the position we are in today.

Satan mercilessly goes to God and accuses the Blessed Couples. True Parents are here surrounded by many layers of Blessed Couples. What is Satan saying now? "OK True Parents are here but where are the True Children and the beautiful world? There is no condition for this." Satan says this to True Parents and God.

Jesus' Victorious Standard

Let's think 2000 years ago to Jesus' time. The condition that was needed at that time was unity between Jesus and the Israelites. If Jesus Christ were successful in doing this, then he could have built the new world. Satan accused Jesus Christ saying, "You did not accomplish this condition of unity so I claim the Israelites representing the whole world, as mine." He went to God with this claim.

God would not lose everything and He consoled Satan to wait. Jesus Christ became an offering of propitiation and for this purpose, he went to Satan side. God received incredible accusation from Satan's side. The Israelites always acted selfishly. Through all of this, Satan wished to destroy Jesus once and for all then his world could prosper again without any interference.

Jesus Christ's first trial was at Gethsemane. Only three of his disciples remained with him. Where were all the others? Jesus Christ told the three, "I am sorrowful even unto death." He begged the three to please unite and "pray with me." No more than thirty meters away, the garden was not so big, Jesus Christ prayed with bloody sweat. That's a very serious prayer.

The Bible records Jesus Christ prayed two kinds of prayer. At first he prayed, "Let this cup pass from me." Then secondly he prayed, "Not my will but thy will be done." At first, in his heart, some part of himself remained. From there, he switched everything over to God. If Jesus Christ had prayed only his first prayer, everything would have been lost to Satan. Instead he got victory, claiming his position apart from any accusation of Satan.

For three times he prayed but with each of those prayers, the disciples dozed off. If Jesus Christ had made absolute unity with his three disciples then the way of the cross could have been avoided. With their lack of unity though, Jesus Christ had no other way to go but the cross.

The Bible also has clear record of how Jesus Christ went through a miserable course of ridicule. On the cross Jesus Christ cried, "My God, why have you forsaken me?!" Right after this cry though, Jesus Christ prayed with a heart of forgiveness for the Israelites, stating they did not know what they were doing. Once again, there were two options. If Jesus Christ ended his prayer with only the forsaken cry, Satan would have completely claimed all. Jesus Christ set the standard, "I give myself to you but please do not touch the children." Three days later Jesus Christ resurrected leaving no condition where Satan could accuse. Christianity started not from the cross but from the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

True Parents in the Position of God

Let's compare this situation with our True Parents' present circumstance. Satan has now accused God, that we are not doing what we are supposed to be, that True Father has stolen the Blessed Couples from Satan's side, and that without their unity with True Father, they have no condition to remain. With Blessed Families' not fulfilling their responsibility, Satan has accused God like this. At the same time, God knows that if the Blessed Families were to be taken by Satan, the future would be miserable. Once again, as with Jesus Christ's time, God will not have this and has told Satan to stop. God is in the position where he has had no choice but to allow Satan to stir up True Parents' family. If Satan could destroy True Parents, then the world of Satan would go on.

We must clearly know that True Father and True Parents are in the midst of trials from God. True Father told us that he asked God to know the kind of tears He shed at the Fall. Satan heard this prayer. He comes in front of God accusing, "True Parents have not fulfilled their own mission."

This is like the story of Job in the Bible. Job was a man richly blessed by God. Satan went to God accusing that Job was so loyal only because he had been blessed by Him. If those blessings were taken away, he would curse God. God said that this was not so and put him in Satan's hand to win over any trials Satan gave him. Consequently, all of Job's property was taken away. His physical body was even hit, from the top of his head to the bottom of his feet, with sores. Job took a stone to rub off his skin. Even his own wife asked Job why not curse God. Job answered that he had received so much blessing from God in his life, that he was born naked and he was ready to return naked as well. Job uttered not one word of curse to God after which God, once again, blessed him with even greater abundance out to the end of his life.

True Parents now are right in the midst of Satan's attack, shedding the exact tears that Heavenly Father shed in the Garden of Eden at the Fall. God has given Satan permission to do this, allowing Satan to attack the True Family. True Father has determined to shed no tears for his own situation, thus the tears he sheds are Heavenly Father's tears.

True Father repeatedly has taught us about Absolute Love, Absolute Faith, and Absolute Obedience. Before teaching this, True Father has established the condition of this himself before God. We must know True Parents have two options: one could be, "What about my children?" while two is, "Your will be done." When Heavenly Father lost Adam and Eve, He was so desperate to restore them back. I have recently witnessed the desperation of True Parents to restore the True Children back. If they were to follow the first option, placing their concern for their family before the Dispensation, all would be lost.

What would you do if one of your own children blocked the whole Dispensation of Restoration. Moses struck the rock twice. True Parents display Absolute Love, Absolute Faith and Absolute Obedience. In the area of Absolute Love, there is part of True Parents that concerns their immediate children. For True Parents to turn to their own children in anger and snap the relationship is exactly what Satan wants. Instead, True Parents must stand in the exact position as Heavenly Father at the Fall in the Garden of Eden.

If we are totally united with True Parents, we will not give trials to them. Jesus Christ said you must love your enemy. I struggle with this. I think why not destroy them and create the true world in their place. If they are enemies, why not chase them away and realize the ideal? This has been the content of Fallen Human History. The physical energy might be settled but the spiritual force still remains. So why love the enemy? This is the very reason why.

True Father has taught the exact Principle reason why. "Towards your enemy, if you have the heart of revenge, the whole providence will be reversed. Why we have to love our enemy is the deepest problem of religions and they have been unable to teach this clearly. Both philosophy and religions have been unable to teach this. Now we need to understand why."

"God created the angelic world first. Then God created Adam and Eve. Although the angels were created to receive God's Love, Adam and Eve received God's Love figuratively 100% while the angels received His Love only 60%. Lucifer seduced Eve and the Fall occurred. Lucifer came to God and said, 'You created us, you should love us!' God agreed with Satan completely; Satan was absolutely right." [sorry, the source & script location of this quote is not noted]

With the restoration process, God loves Cain through Abel and restores Satan's spiritual power through this. God is in the position to meet the standard of love that Satan demands, through man, then all is restored to God. This invisible force of Satan can only be made to surrender through love. In the restoration process, Cain always appears as an enemy figure to Abel.

Loving the Enemy of Love

From God's point of view, Satan has always been the enemy. Satan is the Enemy of Truth. God said, "Don't eat!" Satan said, "Eat, eat!" Therefore, Satan is the twister of truth. The entire universe was to come to God through man, but Satan stole it all away. Therefore Satan is the Enemy of the Universe. Finally, Adam and Eve, as God's son and daughter, represented positions to fully receive God's Love. Satan took that away; therefore he is the Enemy of God's Love. Satan demands God's Love. With Satan behind Cain, Cain appears to Abel as the enemy of love, truth, and all things. Unless we have the authority to say we forgive the enemy Cain, Satan's force can not be solved.

To do this is a very difficult task. Let's look at forgiving an enemy of truth. That is not too difficult to forgive. Look at Jesus with the scribes and Pharisees. Or an enemy of things. If someone takes something from you it is still easy to forgive that person. What about an enemy of love? Say that I rape your daughter and throw her in the trash-what will you do? [Kill you!] We must realize a standard of love to even forgive this unforgivable. To enter the Kingdom of Heaven, we must have the authority to forgive the enemy of love. This is very difficult.

Heavenly Father knows this. The Divine Principle says we can not enter the Kingdom of Heaven unless we establish the authority to forgive the enemy of love. With Human History as a reference, Heavenly Father knows how difficult it is. Thus Heavenly Father has us establish many small conditions, gradually raising us up to have the power and authority to forgive the enemy, especially the enemy of love. By following this way, we restore this heart of forgiveness.

Therefore True Father gives us many directions with this in mind. True Father directed 4200 Japanese sisters to South America and another 6000 to work around the world, three years ago. He gave direction that they should leave their families and spend three years doing missionary work. This was during the end of the 40 year wilderness course.

Consider the content of such a sacrifice. You have prepared a beautiful true family environment, then you are called away from it for three years. This seems to be breaking up your family. True Father represents the enemy of love, but it's still in God's domain. With such a direction come three types of response: First is #A that says, "Yes, sir-I'll go!"; then, there is #B that postpones the direction, understanding it but finally not going; lastly, there is #C that pack their bags and escape, leaving the Unification Church and creating their own world. Which category are you; A, B, or C?

6000 were called to move out of Japan for three years but 6000 did not go. In other words, God gave the opportunity for hearts to grow but that opportunity was lost for many. Apparently too many. Satan went before God and said that authority to forgive could not be recognized. In turn, God said, "Wait, don't touch the Blessed Couples!"

True Father's Victorious Standard

From this position, Satan has attacked the True Family and True Children. Perhaps you saw the video cut with Un Jin Nim denying True Father's Messiahship. Also, how she has been attracted to and married a 54 year old man. From True Father's point of view, Un Jin Nim is his object of love, his daughter. What about the 54 year old man? What is he to father? He is an enemy of love. If True Father had resentment toward the 54 year old man, the providence would end. A Mafia boss, if he lost his beautiful daughter to someone, he would kill him. True Father however can not do this. If he does, the Providence would be reversed.

What kind of position is True Father now? True Father is unchanging. He should never have been put in the position he is in now. The True Parents are in this position due to our shortcomings. True Father has two choices: 1) to destroy the enemy of love, or 2) to continue his offering towards the ultimate fulfillment of God's will. True Father is determined to walk the path where he leaves no condition for Satan's accusation and that leads to Satan's surrender.

With such a True Father we must unite. 2000 years ago, the subject of Jesus Christ's prayer at Gethsemane was, please don't touch Israel-forgive them, they don't know what they're doing. If he had the unity of even his three main disciples' prayer and support, the crucifixion could have been averted. A true world could have been built and God's abundant blessings could have come through their unity. We must learn from the mistakes of Human History. We can't make the same mistake made by the disciples. We must have Absolute Love, Absolute Faith and Absolute Obedience and go over this hill, then the new Providence will come.

Many are now coming, attacking True Father from a humanistic viewpoint stating, "You teach True Love but look at your children!" We must stand in a different position, understand our failures, and unite with True Parents.

As far as True Father's attitude in daily life, I have seen, he just marches on. A normal person could be crippled. The outside person might also say, "Before you preach to the world, you must preach to your own family." In spite of all of this accusation, True Father keeps marching on, continuing to preach to the world as he has always, and rejecting this element of selfishness thus standing in God's position. In times like these, we must unite completely with this attitude.

Brothers and sisters are being sifted. True Father says, "All Blessed Families have been caught in a net. Satan is ready to attack True Family and only the leaders can make the necessary indemnity conditions to solve this. Whatever attack, I will never say anything! If so, Satan could attack everything, from the 36 Blessed Couples on out. So I must continue to march on!"

Now is the time we must uphold the standard of Absolute Love, Absolute Faith and Absolute Obedience. The only thing that Satan wishes to destroy is True Parents. He attempts to do so through those closest to them, the True Children.

True Father said in the Garden of Eden, it was so difficult to restore Adam and Eve because God was invisible while Adam and Eve were visible. Now it's easier because True Parents are visible now. If we unite with True Parents, the cold ice will melt back to the original situation. Now is the time we must truly repent deeply. I give a warning to you, let's never repeat the same mistake of the three disciples. We all must march on!

New Hope Garden of Eden and Absolute Faith

by Rev. Ki Hun Kim-Chicago, IL

This is from a sermon given by Rev. Kim, 10/18/98 at the Chicago Church, just after returning from the 40 day workshop for National Messiahs in Jardim

St. Peter wrote a letter to Christians during a time when they had no central figures and been scattered and told them to have faith in God (I Peter 1:21-25). He mentioned that the hope of faith will occur when we live in God's word, the truth.

When we went to New Hope Garden of Eden, True Father told us that this was not a workshop, but a training session. I'm not sure how they are different, but he was very clear that they were.

After I returned from Brazil, Rev. Pak called me and asked me "Are you OK? Mentally that is." He had heard many stories after National Messiahs were returning about how difficult it was so I replied "I am full of TF spirit and mentally OK." Many National Messiahs returned to Korea after Brazil very sick. It was almost all men, except for 1 woman. There were many elder brothers and older members and we younger men were worried about many elder members, their health and the tough schedule. We would wake up at 4am, then we would have breakfast at 5am and go fishing at 6am.

After we were out on the river, we would have local people drive us so we wouldn't become lost because the river had many side streams. The weather was very hot, it was so hot that we jumped in the water with our clothes on in order to cool off. But after 1 hour our clothes were dried off. Three or four times a day we would jump in to cool off. We would fish until 6pm and then we would return. Then at 8pm we would read Hoon Dok Hae with True Father until 1am or 2am.

We lived in a small house; 100 people crowded into 1 small hall for everything. We slept and ate and studied there. 1 restroom was used by everyone, even the True Children. Everyone was so busy that even True Children didn't even have time to do anything outside the daily schedule.

Father is very serious about Hoon Dok Hae. Without truth no one can live in hope and faith.

Olympio is in the north of Paraguay. It was a big shock, living in one room and kitchen. TF doesn't care about external conditions. Raining or hot he doesn't care, he just goes fishing everyday.

If you invest you will prosper. Without absolute faith, love and obedience no one can attend the messiah. Everyone who wants to understand must understand these 3 elements.

Travel to Olympio takes a long time. It was 9 hours by plane from Chicago to Sao Paolo. Then it was another 2 hour flight to Campo than a 4 hour drive to Jardim. Then we had to take another 4 hours by bus to the river and from there is was 3 to 7 hours by boat to Olympio.

Many people struggled with the $3000-$4000 cost to attend the workshop. TF said it takes total faith and absolute investment. Father said that if we don't attend my country will struggle with me as NM.

TF wants us to catch 40 each of 4 different fishes. It is a 4 year course 40 days each year. During the 4 years we must finish the condition. But during the 40 days I couldn't even fulfill finishing even 1 of the 4 fishes. I caught a total of 46 fishes. So Father told me I could come back again. Sitting in a classroom and studying and hearing testimony and going fishing is not so bad. I don't know when I will go back, but I will.

The water is clean. Water pigs live in the water, did you hear about them? Very large animals. Many people got cut fingers, the fish have big teeth. Every day it would happen even though we were lectured to about this and we knew the situation. Someone gets excited when they see the big fish they just caught and they would just grab for it and get their fingers bitten.

Father wants to live in an unstained world. The population there is about 2000, the locals are called Indios, descendants of the Spanish and local indians. I skipped fishing 1 day and went to the nearby village. The families live in 1 room for everything. Father said that we don't need TV or fancy furniture. The last thing Father asked me was when I can move into this area.

The Paraguay region needs a visa. I only had a Brazilian visa but got the local authorities gave me permission to come in and stay for 30 or 40 days. Everyone around there knows True Father. Centering on Jardim for 400 kilometers around TF is purchasing land. If no national government accepts us we can prepare our own are to build. Every time a small plane flies by the natives point and say "Rev. Moon is coming!" They all know Father.

I want to encourage all Family members to attend. It is 'Not optional'. There you will receive your registration into the kingdom of heaven. You need to attend as husband and wife together. If you do then True Parents will take a picture together with your couple. This photo is your registration in the Kingdom of Heaven. Even though TM was sick they sat for hours and took pictures with 700 couples.

I believe that now True Parents don't just visit South America, they live in South America.

I felt that the 40-day training theme was when Father mentioned the first night about absolute faith, love and obedience. The first declaration at Jardim, 4/31/95, says that God created all things through absolute faith, love and obedience. It means we must deny ourselves and follow. Whoever invests himself in an unlimited way will prosper forever. Absolute faith, love and obedience are the main thought to receive the 2nd coming of the Messiah.

The Second Declaration at Jardim, 8/7/98, says that God is absolute, unique, eternal and unchanging. We must stand as absolute, unique, eternal and unchanging children. We must live at absolute, unique, eternal and unchanging couples. We must become absolute, unique, eternal and unchanging parents. And we must live as absolute, unique, eternal and unchanging families.

In the Third declaration at Jardim, 8/21/98, Father said that the blessed families are in the 3rd creator position, God is the 1st creator, Adam & Eve are the 2nd creators and the Jardim workshop families are the 3rd creators.

The 4th declaration at Jardim, 8/28/98, said that Heavenly Father and the Blessed couples are in a Parent and child relationship. So we cannot betray God.

The 5th declaration was the 4.4 commencement, 9/8/98, and means human beings began centering on a satanic 4 position foundation. Now it is changed. We are building a 4 position foundation centered on God.

Registered families should follow the 1 to 5 declarations. True Father said this is the requisite to be citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven.

Father mentioned one heavy point, this is the problem of the education of young people. PLA, Father is inspired by them and said to do this in every country, do rallies and demonstrations.

Next year in Taiwan or Japan a big blessing of young matched couples. The goal for the US is 1000 couples to bring to Japan or Taiwan. Chicago's goal is 200 couples or 400 people. Go World Travel told me they have already made the reservations.

It would take 50 days to explain my 40 days in Brazil. Time of struggles, happiness and joy. One day we would see True Parents in a happy mood or a serious mood, then the situation could quickly change.

So, keep hope. If we lose hope we will disappear. St. Peter wrote to the Christians to encourage them in troubled times.

Who are the people who will remain in this world? They are the people who are burning with faith, hope and passion. We should examine every page of history and investigate the rise and fall of nations and look for the people who held fast to faith and fidelity. The people who are burning with hope and zeal and do not hesitate to risk their lives for the sake of God are the ones who are close to God.

Total Providential Conclusion

Reverend Sun Myung Moon

This is an excerpt from the sermon given on September 20, 1998, at Belvedere, New York. Rev. Peter Kim was the translator and these are unofficial notes taken by Dr. Tyler Hendricks. by Rev. Sun Myung Moon

Your mind and body are fighting. They should be subject-object. But they go different directions. They cannot make absolute husband-wife relations. If we have that, we can register for the Kingdom of God.

(On the 90 degree connection able to travel everywhere. On the absolute love connection with the opposite sex. A long discourse on the many aspects and applications of absolute.)

Why is Father so busy between North America and South America? Why was the universe created? For love. Did God need a period to mature? He did, to become the absolute God, through three stages, equivalent to children's period, brother period and conjugal period. God Himself centered on True Love, through which He grew into maturity.

The center of all things is parallel to the center line of the universe, vertically and horizontally. The distance from the center of the universe to the thing determines its distance to God, who is closest to the center, closest to true love. Horizontally, the center of all things is on the same plane as the horizontal line of the universe. Human beings touch that line and become the center of the universe.

In the world are three stages, mineral, plant and animal. They are all in the pair system, because they came from love. Plus- minus came from the paradigm or ideal of man and woman. Without two poles, there is no action. Without exception, existing beings have plus and minus, male and female, which combine to multiply. There is no way for an existing being to continue without going through the gate of love and order of love.

How do we open the gate of true love? We do so in the family where we multiply our children. The order of love is that smaller serves the larger. Darwin saw this but did not understand the whole picture, so his theory is incomplete. He didn't know the concept of love, by which the smaller offers itself for the larger. The desire of all things is to reach toward the love of God. All things want to become part of something closer to God. The final terminal point is human sex organ.

But in the fallen world, there is no love concept, but rather killing and taking. So all things are lamenting. But all things are created for the sake of the larger, so they are suffering. God is subject and all human beings are object. The family is the unit to build true relationships with God. Based upon that comes the tribe and nation. To make it faithful, the key is the father-child relationship. God is father to every generation. This is eternally unchanging. None of the four realms can be altered.

At the time of Adam and Eve, there was only one couple and no divorce concept. But a triangle does not create a sphere. The four position foundation had to come about. Then, centering on God, there are six directions. The four position foundation becomes a sphere that can roll everywhere. It looks safe and settled from each angle. It will roll if it has a clear center and the center is love.

The poles presuppose each other. Subject requires an object. An absolute subject requires an absolute object. Everything exists for others and is moving to form a sphere. The sun, moon earth, and entire universe are round. This is all subject-object for the sake of love.

The body should follow the mind. The flesh is the shape of a bowl. The direction of life is toward love.

Father is a mediator between God and humankind. He doesn't claim that he made everything. He is simply representing God. This is not Father's truth. It came from God. Then, can Father deviate from his own course? Can he be a heretic? Father has been carrying the label as destroyer of human character, family, world and nation. If Father is destroying these things in the fallen world, he must be from God and must be able to rebuild them. Father never conformed to America, but Americans of all colors conform to him. Free sex people are just overnight phenomena.

God on the top with man and woman only, as a trinity, will not roll. That is why we need children. Also, you should not be separated from your grandparents, our parents. The old people are bored doing nothing because they cannot visit their children. Their lives are destroyed and their society and nation are being destroyed, and they just laugh and joke around, ha ha ha. Satan enjoys this world, not God. Does God dwell in the Empire State Building? God has been supporting America. He was there when the Empire State Building was built to help America lead the world to God. But now it is Satan's. Satan's side people driving in their cars.

But the CIA says to Rev. Moon, don't go home, we need your concepts of true family values and America existing for the sake of the world. Meanwhile, the world says Yankee go home. Someone wants to shape the American future using Unificationists because we are hopeful and give people hope.

Father is investing enormously every year to save America. Has any wealthy American sacrificed money to save America? Father cannot run for office here. He has not drawn a salary from American businesses. He has been acting like a fool from an economic point of view. He has devoted his life to reviving Christianity, the bone of America. Saving America means reviving Christianity. It is not a matter of politics.

People say, okay, why don't you do it in Korea? It is because Korea is not the central Christian nation. Think of the impact of a huge investment every year in Africa. If you have money, you should use it for the sake of your country. I have been mobilizing the resources of the world for America, every penny. Strictly speaking, you are indebted to Father and should pay him back for what he has done for America.

The world someday will follow Rev. Moon. It will realize that no one but Rev. Moon has been devoting his life to world peace. So the center should be the axis of God and True Parents, and around this axis the globe should spin. God, Adam and Eve have become a four position foundation. If it expands into three dimensions, then you cut off the corners and make a sphere. Then the love organ is restored into the palace of original life, love and lineage. Inside there is no divorce concept. (About the absolute value of the sex organ, the value of all men and all women.)

When Father returns to Korea, you will look for him. He is the one who has brought the core reality of spirit world, physical world and human world. He loves God, man, land and ocean. He introduced this love to humankind. So he brought Korean National Messiahs to lowest point for ocean challenge and representative blessed couples to Jardim. The Korean National Messiahs are Abel-side kings of their countries and the blessed couples are Abel-side citizens. The divisions wrought by the fall have to be restored in these 40 day workshops. Since Father has walked with absolute faith, we must as well.

We do not have Father's foundation, only Father does. We are floating. He has been persecuted by the world. When the Jardim blessed couples start their new life, they have no opposition or persecution. Come to Jardim to be educated and blessed anew. After the 360 million blessing, this course will be accomplished immediately. The education tears down all boundaries.

To register, we need to restore 160 to 180 families through 7 generations. So the Pantanal national Messiahs are to catch 160 fish from four different species. This "four" meaning also was brought to the north through the 4.4 Commemoration. South America is where blessed couples are connected to the True Family.

Most people are afraid of water, but Father is bequeathing to them his love for the water. We should come there and inherit the traditions. We must bring 160 families there, too. Four is a core of heavenly dispensation. So by 1988, there arose 160 nations in the UN, with #161 being South Korea. The end of cold war came at that time. It was the meeting point of the two blocs. Soviet Russia won first place, representing the communist world. Unified Germany was 2nd. America was 3rd and South Korea was fourth.

Old Testament = all things, New Testament = children, Completed Testament = parents. The future is the era of liberation with God. That is the kingdom of God, the completion of God's will.

160 for ocean, 160 for land, 160 for humankind, and 160 for God. 16 nations protected Korea. Therefore, make an offering of 160 or 1,600. Upon the completion of these workshops, the realm of liberation opens and we can fly. They are preparing our offering table. Put together, the four stages of liberation, reaching 160 and These are providential numbers.

Centering on our families, restore the four eras of history. Before the blessing, Adam and Eve were not to possess anything. They had no ownership. And the blessing of God never came, so Satan took everything. So we should own nothing, vacant, then we get the blessing and ownership. Now everything should be turned over to God. (On wives giving up their husbands and taking their true husband at the second advent.) We are to indemnify every level of ownership-individual, family, society, nation, world, cosmos. Everyone here should make an offering. Do you want to give 160, 1,600, 16,000? When west becomes day, the east becomes night. The world is moving to one culture.

The 1st Jardim declaration centered on the ethic of absolute faith, love and obedience. The reason relates to God's status as creation, lost at fall, and now Father restores it to bring recreation. The 2nd Jardim declaration had to do with God's four major attributes being recreated in His perfect complete object, the family. We will suffer in hell until we recover that standard, four attributes fulfilled by each of the four family components (parents, husband-wife, children and the entire family). We inherit this at Jardim. After the third session, the location of this workshop may change. Jardim is a bridge between the land, the hunting world, and water, the fishing world. The 21st century is the century of the family centering on God's true love. You are in position of Adam prior to the fall. The blessing guarantees you will not end up in hell. That is the minimum guarantee.

The Third Jardim proclamation is that our children are the third creator. God is first and parents are second. God grew centering on love. He created himself invisible and the creation of the universe unfolded in His own image, from baby to child to adult. Then He created children who were to become adults and have children and so forth. When we meet someone face to face, we feel most excitement. The grandchildren of God allow God to feel the joy of His children as parents. Each generation call God, Father. From this point of view, parents and children are equal.

We have to understand the value of the family, which reveals the invisible course of His own creation, together in three dimensions, also the course of Adam and Eve's creation is replicated. That's why when we look at the family we see God, grandparents, king, parents, and future world, our children, spirit world, the present world and future. Everything is compacted in the family structure. We each eventually become the king of each level. This is the dream of humankind.

We can serve God as children serving our parents and grandchildren serving our grandparents. Thus, the unification of heaven and earth is possible. The family is the center fulfilling the Kingdom of God vertically and horizontally. Adam received only vertical love from God, but made no horizontal love, hence there was no godly third generation.

Fulfilling the three object purposes. Dr. Lee explains about this, having God behind it. This is the building block of the spirit world.

After WW2, Protestants and Roman Catholics could have united as Cain and Abel. In 1992, WFWP was established, and then there is 7 years from 1992 is 1999, so the completion has to be made by then, to bring the blessing to all humankind.

Due to fall, God had no grandchildren and no four position foundation. The grandchildren level has been established through the history of restoration and hence Father could proclaim 4.4 Commemoration. This is the beginning point of the Kingdom of God on earth and heaven. All blessed couples are in the grandchildren's position. The three generations are God, True Parents and blessed couples. Therefore as blessed couples, we should set the offering table condition, offering $16,000. This is to offer everything we own, which belonged to Satan to God. By offering it, we will receive God's blessing back. Connect your property to the nation and world. It is restoring the four position foundation in many ways. It places us in God's lineage, as their grandchildren.

The fourth Jardim declaration states that from God's viewpoint, the family is a set of relations that cannot be changed, hence it is fate, inalterable forever. Even God follows this concept of absolute fate. But in the secular world the family relations do not reach that standard of fate. Those relations were to have been built in the garden, but were not. Now as blessed couples, we are not original branches but are engrafted branches.

The relationship of parents and children is absolute and should be fulfilled even after we die. Hence, Jesus has been working to complete it even in Spirit World, even if it takes forever. Father in one generation is embracing the entire world and turning it around. Even to restore one family is almost impossible and Father has to turn the entire world around. Difficult! Therefore, we need absolute faith. Our lives have been wishy washy, but after this point of great transition, we must be absolute. It was God's night and Satan's daytime, but now is Satan's night and God's daytime. It is a different world now. Don't you think we need to prepare ourselves for his era? Like those who pack everything and flee as if from a war zone.

In front of True Parents, Japan and American women are sisters. Migration will continue as it has for the past centuries. Africans and whites reverse their localities. Birds that migrate are stronger than those that don't.

In heaven, marriage is fate. It never ends. There is no divorce. The fourth declaration is of the liberation of the four realms of heart relations from the loose, relative relations of the fallen world, into eternal relations that exist in the Kingdom of God.

These four proclamations were given in Jardim and then Father gave the 4.4 in Kodiak, and that can be considered the 5th declaration. You were not there, so I share it with you now as the elder brother nation, so that you can eliminate free sex and homosexuality. There is an abundance of waste here, but you should save even one cent to send to the needy. Millions die of starvation each year. If 200 people team up to help one starving person, that person can be saved. I've been preparing for this for four years. This cannot take place overnight. I came up with fish powder.

Father cannot guarantee when he comes back. High level people are begging him to come here and there. But he doesn't want to get involved in politics. Father's life is so complicated, but yours is simple--just follow Father's footsteps.

Today's title is "Total Providential Conclusion." We go through three stages including water and land. Nutrition from the mother's body or earth. The five senses necessary for the next world are prepared in the world preceding it. We enter the world with a burst of crying. We learn from our physical parents how to utilize our five senses. Our parents are even more powerful than God is.

In the Physical World, we develop our spiritual senses. Then we break into the Spirit World. We experience love food, love clothes, etc. This is an ascension, not a funeral. The butterfly has 3 stages: water, cocoon, flying. We have three parents: our mother in womb, nature in this world, and God in Spirit World. Breathe love there.

November 1998

Reverend Sun Myung Moon addresses the Third International Ocean Challenge in Kodiak Alaska, September 9 through October 18, 1998. Peter Kim translates.

Ki Hyun Kim shows True Family Values literature to Reverend Moon at Olympio, Paraguay, circa October 1998.

Sun Myung Moon watches a soccer match at Jardim, Brazil, circa October 1998.

True Parents with Korean National Messiahs at the Fuerte Olimpo workshop, South America, September 1998.

Reverend and Mrs. Moon with their son Hyun Jin, holding the antlers of a moose 1300 pound killed by Hyun Jin near Ilyamna Alaska. Photo taken at Anchorage Alaska, August 1998.

Hyun Jin Moon, In Bong Lee, Jin Hyo Kwak, and the moose that they just killed near Ilyamna Alaska, August 1998.

Hyun Jin Moon speaks at the Tokyo Headquarters of the Unification Church during his tour of Japan and Korea, circa October 1998. Takeshi Fruita translates from English to Japanese.

Lecture at International Ocean Challenge workshop, Kodiak Alaska, September - October 1998.

Rev. Michael Jenkins addresses a True Family Values seminar in Chicago Illinois, October 1998.

Giusi Johnson, 7/19/53 - 10/5/98. Beloved Italian member of the Unification Church.

Rev. and Mrs. Joong Hyun Pak on the Salobra River in South America, November 1998

Ki Hun Kim with Dorado and Backu caught near Olympia Paraguay, circa October 1998.

Ki Hun Kim with fishing gear standing infront of Rev. Moon's home in Olympia Paraquay, circa October 1998.

Displaying the catch at the International Ocean Challenge workshop, Kodiak Alaska, September - October 1998.

Witnessing and inviting people to the blessing, National Plaza, Vilvinus, Lithuania, circa 1998.

Blessing workshop, held in Vilvinus Lithuania, circa 1998.

Blessing workshop at Unification Church Headquarters in Vilvinus, Lithuania, circa 1998.

True Family Festival held in Luthania, circa 1998.

Rear view of New Hope East Garden, near Jardim, Brazil, circa October 1998.

Front view of New Hope East Garden, near Jardim, Brazil, circa October 1998.

On the Paraguat River at Fuerte Olimpo, Participants of the National Messiah's Workshop, September 1998.

Sun Myung Moon writes on the board while speaking as Won Hyo Eu looks on, Korea, circa 1954.

Reverend and Mrs. Moon in Alaska, October 1998.

Total Providential Conclusion (Sun Myung Moon)
New Hope Garden of Eden and Absolute Faith (Ki Hun Kim)
Mission of the Elder Son Nation (Takeru Kamiyama)
Alaskan Adventure: Moose Hunting with Hyun Jin Nim
Amazon Journey: It's a rainforest out there
Blessing `98 in Baltic Lithuania
Book review: The Cell Church
Book Review: The Children
Brazil Religious Freedom Meeting Finds Common Ground for 'New Millennium'
Come Break a Leg with CARP
Elizabeth - Film Revue
How To Have A Healthy & Happy Marriage
In Memoriam Giusi Johnson
Invitation to submit Holy Songs
It’s More Blessed to Give and Receive
Let Us Document the Completed Testament Pentecost
Mom, I think I’m starting to get bigger!
My Experience at Jardim
New Beginning in Seoul
New Hope East Garden
Ocean Challenge in Kodiak with True Parents
One Flesh Theology
PLA Storms San Francisco
Pure Love Alliance Activist Casebook
Recent Activities of True Parents in South America (Joong Hyun Pak)
Sun Hak Choir Sings to 20,000 with Celine Dion in Seattle
TFV Seminars and International Night in Chicago
The Love, Life, Lineage of God and You and I
Third International Ocean Challenge Workshop
Tom and Kitty Wojcik have Liver Operation
Unpopular Culture
Wanangwe Project
WFWP – Into the Future
WFWP FAQs
WFWP Gift and Fundraising Items
Why Christ Came and Why He Must Come Again

Word Poem

Christopher Seidel

Mortal man maimed by tempest treason
Scarlet scions searing steadfast reason
Tulips transpire tuneful odors
Beguiling breezes brush baleful boulders
Paradise proposes perplexing paradox
Misbegotten mind mocks heaven’s fox
Sweet silence surmises pallid proposition
Torrential tears challenge immutable inhibition
Forsaken fighter fondles frivolous fate
Ephemeral eternity ensconced on God’s Gate