Dan Fefferman, “I had a powerful experience with Jesus, sharing his Passion”

I joined the "Unified Family" in November 1968. Like many early members I had been strongly prepared. I came from a secular Jewish family but began searching for God when I moved from Los Angeles to Berkeley to attend the University of California in 1967. I was a musician as well as a student. I first experienced God directly while listening to George Harrison's "Within You, Without You" from the Sergeant Pepper album. A few months later, on my 19th birthday, I had a powerful experience with Jesus, sharing his Passion. I studied the works of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and listened to the recorded sermons of the great preacher, C.L. Franklin, Aretha Franklin's father. On New Year's Day, 1968, the first God's Day, I was meditating in my room and had a vision in which key parts of the Divine Principle were revealed to me. The spirit world introduced me to my Spiritual Master, whom I sensed was the Messiah of this Age. I knew I was destined to meet this man in the flesh, but it would take nine months of desperate searching until my spiritual mother finally met me one evening on the Berkeley campus. I heard the Principle over the next few days and moved in at the end of the week.

From Tribute, 101.

Clark Eberly, “A Toast to the Kingdom of Heaven”

I was going to the University of Arkansas in 1972. I was in my second year, and I met the church. There was one main missionary in Little Rock named Merlinda. I heard the Principle, but it went in one ear and out the other. I didn’t have a dramatic change of heart, but I liked her as a friend. I thought she was such a good person. When she invited me to functions I would come. This went on for six months or so. It must have been frustrating for her. She asked me to do a 21-day prayer condition and I felt like, well, I have to do this. At or near the end of the condition, one of the last days, maybe as late as 10 pm, she called. I was with my parents. Finals were coming. The phone rang. Merlinda said, "There’s a van going to California with our members. Would you like to go with them?"

The funniest thing was I felt intuitively "I have to do this." I said to my parents, "Merlinda is inviting me to go to California tomorrow. I have to find out if Rev. Moon is the Messiah."

My parents helped me pack and I went with their blessing. I am forever grateful for that. I went through an anxious and troubling time. Listening to the lectures was difficult. I was trying to understand if I should make a dramatic commitment in my life. I was very serious. I had no desire to save the world or leave my comfortable habits. But I was very serious, and knew it was absolutely important to determine if the DP was true. The format each day included Young Whi Kim speaking, and Father spoke too. It was in Berkeley, California.

Towards the 6th or 7th day, I went to the room assigned to me, which was just big enough for one person. I turned off the light. I was standing and put my sleeping bag on the floor. Then a clear and powerful presence was with me, speaking in the back of my mind asking me, with what you know now, what is your decision? I answered, "I don’t really want to join, but I don’t have any choice." I then saw an amphitheater, with terraced seats. There were a number of people there. I didn’t recognize any of them, but I knew they were my family. They were indicating their approval or profound relief that I decided to commit myself. The fact that they wanted me to be there was comforting. I feel close to them but haven’t seen them since. That experience has been the most treasured experience that I have. I can go back to that "rock"; it left me no question about Father and Mother.

The workshop ended with a banquet. There was a crowd of people, and I was standing by choice at the back. David Kim was translating for Father, who was at the podium. I had just a day or so prior been given this wonderful gift (described above) but I started to worry again. So I started to pray to God: please give me one more sign to confirm the message I got the other day. I was praying at the back of the crowd of people. For some reason, it occurred to me to pretend to drink a glass of water. I thought, this is crazy. I’ll look silly. But I did it. I went through the pantomime, and I drank the invisible glass of water. Father had two glasses of water on the podium. Then as I was doing this crazy pantomime, I noticed that David Kim and Father were just lowering their glasses as I was. I was kind of joining in a toast to the Kingdom of Heaven.

From 40 years in America, p

Christine Froehlich, “This is It”

I headed down 63rd Street toward Central Park. Just at that moment, a very short Japanese lady named Tomiko came up to me. She was very confident and friendly. I thought she was very brave to come up and talk to me, a stranger, in the middle of New York City when was having difficulty speaking English. That made me think she must have something very important to say. I liked her immediately. She was a real “no nonsense” type of person. In the first few minutes that I met her, she asked me, “Are you searching for the truth?” I said, “Yes!” She invited me to take a walk up 5th Avenue, towards the building where the Unification Church was located at that time. I walked into the building on 71st Street and felt like I had entered the United Nations! There was every nationality and language there before me: German, French, English, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Belgian, Mexican and so on.

I felt such a peaceful atmosphere and a sense of being in the right place at the right time. I thought right away, “Who is the leader who could bring people together like this?” I turned around as I looked about the room, and there was a picture of Reverend Moon. “Who is this man?” I wondered to myself. His face looked so peaceful. Then Tomiko asked me if I believed in God and began to speak about God’s hopes for humanity. She said that something tragic had taken place for God and tears involuntarily came down her cheeks. I was really surprised. I had never met anyone as sincere as she was. When she asked me to listen to a lecture, I said no at first. I was sick and tired of lectures, having just graduated from college. But I could not say no after a while because she was so sweet, and I didn’t want to hurt her feelings.

The first thing I heard that day was called “God’s Ideal of Creation.” It struck me then that I must not only know who God is, but God’s will and desire. The lecturer, a Dutch woman, drew a diagram on the board of the “Four-Position Foundation,” the ideal of the family with God at the center as the basis for harmony in the family, society, nation and world. This was when I heard as a shout in my mind, “This is it! This is what you have always been seeking—and not only you, but all of your ancestors have always been searching for this!” I began to feel a great flood of tears coming up, but I did not want to cry in front of others.

She finished the lecture and I was just quiet. It struck me with such a peace inside. I thought, “This is not an ordinary truth. This is not the postulation of a theory, not a defense of a position, or the argument of someone’s opinion, or just some information about life and the world. This is really a message, some words from God.” That is what I felt. It was a truth about life, rooted in the heart of God, not just an intellectual exercise. I just cried with joy. I had found a spiritual oasis in the desert.

From I Am in This Place, pp. 47-48.

Christel Werner, “Christ has returned. He is now on earth”

I was born on a Sunday, November 10, 1929, the firstborn of five children, in Duisburg, located in the Rhine/Ruhr Valley ofWest Germany. I married Paul Werner in 1951, and we emigrated to Canada in 1953 and later to the United States in 1957.

In 1961 Paul and his partner decided to move their business to Sacramento, California. After a disappointing experience with the partner, Paul decided to study at a business and engineering college and a real-estate school in Sacramento. He received diplomas and licenses in both. He then started his own business as a contractor, investor and real-estate broker. He had duplexes and apartment houses under construction, and our financial situation was secure. We all loved sunny California and already had made plans for an early retirement. I worked full time for IBM and really liked my job and the working climate there, thinking: "This is where I would like to stay for years to come." I didn't know then that this was just wishful thinking on my part.

We were a close-knit family and always attended parties together, never one of us alone. This one time though, during the summer of 1963, one of our secretaries at IBM was leaving and I, along with all the other girls, was invited to her farewell party. I accepted the invitation and intended to be home by 10 p.m. To my surprise, one of my former co-workers, Sandy Pinkerton, showed up too. I hadn't seen her for some time and we had a lot to talk about. When it was nearly time for me to leave the party to be home on time, Sandy offered to take me back to the IBM garage to pick up my car. She usually was very talkative, but now she was quiet and started crying. I was at a loss of what to do and asked her how I could help. Sobbing she told me: "Christ has returned. He is now on earth."

I was so shocked and started to explain to her that, according to Bible prophecies, certain events had to take place before his return and to our knowledge these prophecies were still unfulfilled. We discussed different aspects of the Bible, and I realized this would take many more hours to explain, and I was already late, knowing that Paul would get very nervous. Unfortunately, we had no cell phones at that time, and I had to head home. We agreed to meet again soon.

Needless to say, Paul was very upset about my arriving so late. He had already called the police and the local hospital to find out about car accidents in the area and was in no mood to listen to my explanation. After he calmed down the next day I told him about my experience with Sandy and his reply was: "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Well," I asked him, "how could I?"

Al, it turned out, these two simple sentences changed our lives forever. Sandy knew we were good Christians and were actually waiting for Christ's return. We, on the other hand, knew she was involved with the Edgar Cayce group and interested in other New Age groups springing up in California. Paul's first reaction was, "Let's talk to her and set things straight. Apparently she has fallen for one of those many sects and needs help." When we invited her for Sunday afternoon coffee, three people showed up at our house. Sandy had brought along her husband, John Pinkerton, who also was a co-worker of mine at IBM, and Pauline Philips Verheyen. Al, we were very familiar with Bible quotes concerning the return of Christ, fireworks really erupted as soon as they started explaining highlights of the Principle. Certain parts, like everlasting life after our physical death, spirit world, and prophecies of the Bible, were in accord with our Christian beliefs.

But most disturbing were their statements about Jesus, our Savior. How could they dare tell us that Jesus didn't come primarily to die for our sins but to take a bride and form a True Family, thereby fulfilling God's Ideal of Creation and that he wasn't able to fulfill God's primary purpose because of the disbelief of his people? They told us that by going the way of the cross, Jesus brought spiritual salvation, but in order to bring physical salvation as well, he would return in the flesh as a man to completely fulfill his mission. But, as stated in the Bible, he will have a new name. They told us that God's promise has now been fulfilled by sending his son, Sun Myung Moon, to this earth, and he and Jesus are one in mission, comparable with John the Baptist, who, according to the Bible, came in the spirit and power of Elijah.

The confrontation got so intense that I felt quite uncomfortable. I had a good relationship with John and Sandy and didn't want to hurt their feelings, but the sparks kept flying. We believed in the Bible as the word of God and expected Jesus to return in the clouds. Logically this was not possible by human reasoning, we felt, but with God nothing is impossible.

Our struggles during the following weeks and months are hard to describe. Just thinking about it now, I'm reliving this difficult time period, overcome by emotions. We studied the Principle, prayed, fasted, and cried to God and Jesus for help. We wanted to be true to our faith and serve the Messiah at his second coming. But how could we be sure? We waited for the return of Christ and didn't want to make the same mistake of 2000 years ago. According to the Bible, he would have a new name. Could it be Sun Myung Moon?

As we continued to attend Sunday Services in our Lutheran Church, and I prayed desperately during the service for guidance concerning the Principle and Father, Jesus embraced me and told me: "I love you." This was comforting and confusing at the same time. I needed a clear answer.

I had to go to work daily, but Paul checked his construction sites just briefly and returned home trying to come to a decision. He studied the Divine Principle in reference to the Bible and prayed and prayed. When I came home in the evening, trying to maintain at least part of our family life for the sake of our 11-year-old son, it was extremely difficult. Even at dinner time the discussions continued and the atmosphere was so heavy.

Very soon, Pauline, John, and Sandy moved into our home and really took over. They practically decided what should be done and when. Life at our home was upside down. How could I protect our child who wasn't sure of what to make of these drastic changes in our family life? At his young age he needed a stable environment and enough rest to manage his school life. He was so patient and supportive, and all I could do was pray for his protection and try to help him cope as best I could.

True to his character, Paul's struggles in prayer were very intense, and his conditions of indemnity were dramatic, as you know from his testimony. It was heart-breaking for me to watch his suffering and not be able to help. After his decision to join the movement, he decided to subjugate his physical body in order to reach perfection very fast, or so he thought. Along with other extreme conditions he took his daily bath in ice cold water, literally containing ice cubes, and I feared for his health. But he wouldn't listen to reason. Half a year later, on our way to Germany, the effects of these conditions became obvious, and he had to seek medical treatment in New York before boarding our ship to Germany.

My nature is just the opposite, and my indemnity conditions were not so extreme. I studied, fasted, and my deep prayer life carried me through these difficult times. Deep in my heart I knew that my intimate relationship to God and Jesus would guide me.

Then Miss Kim came to Sacramento for a two-day workshop. We attended all sessions and were very impressed by her lectures and her personal testimony. Up to that point we had no idea that she had been a professor of theology in Seoul. The atmosphere was very high, and we felt God's presence. During the following question-and answer-session, Paul really bombarded her with questions, quoting Bible prophesies concerning Jesus and the second coming. Finally her patience reached its limits, and she said: "Do you think I'm that stupid to accept something that isn't true?" There was an uneasy silence and Paul kept quiet. She then concluded the workshop.

The meeting with Miss Kim actually marked the turning point in our struggles. Her lectures were down to earth and yet spiritual at the same time. While studying her English translation of the Divine Principle, we were amazed about the new horizons opening up. This could only be the work of God explaining His plan of salvation. We also understood that we were prepared through generations of ancestors to be among the first in the Western world to follow God's call.

Having endured much pain and sorrow throughout our lives, here in California we finally had made a good life as a family, and I knew that accepting Christ at his Second Advent meant total sacrifice of everything dear to our hearts, meaning all our dreams and plans and above all, our life as a family. Even to this day I can never sing the Holy Song "Light of Grace" without shedding tears: "Though clouds may come, hiding His face, hiding the smile of my God; though clouds may come, still He is there, shining brightly, God is love. I'll give my life and my love unto the one God of love." It's one thing to sing this song, but to actually do it is a different story. As Paul often told new members, once you give your life to God, it belongs to Him and you can never take it back. It's a very serious decision.

From Tribute, pp. 365-70.

Charles Phillips, “God’s wondrous and mysterious work”

Upon listening to introductory seminars on Divine Principle in my twenty-first year, I had a Wesleyan experience of the warming of the heart and a personal spiritual experience with Jesus. This powerful transforming experience left me with little doubt concerning the authenticity of this “new truth” as genuinely Christian and directly approved by Jesus. Excitedly, I wrote about my experience with the Divine Principle to my mother and grandparents, who had always encouraged my spiritual pursuits. My letter crossed a letter from my mother in the mail. Enclosed in her letter was a clipping of a paid advertisement in the local newspaper concerning the Watergate crisis, called “Forgive, Love, Unite!” Deeply touched that a foreigner would come to America and demonstrate the Christian response to the moral failings of our president, she was convinced this was a message from God for the American people. Upon receiving my letter, she marveled to discover that I had met the movement inspired by the same person who had brought this Christian message of forgiveness, love, and unity to the American people. For our family, this was a testimony of God’s wondrous and mysterious work, both within our lives and within the world.

From I Am in This Place, p. 65.

Bob Gauper, “I shaved my beard, cut my hair, and joined the Unification Church”

During the workshop, one night while I was lying down, I tearfully asked God if I should stick around with the “Moonies,” or continue on to Alaska. That night I had a dream in which I was sleeping in a dumpster amongst the trash. I could see a giant walking towards me. As he approached me, I could see that the giant was Reverend Moon! In the dream, he reached down and gently picked me up and placed me in a beautiful garden. While in the garden I could feel a deep sense of peace. I felt God’s love. I felt reborn! The next morning, my pillow was soaked from my tears. That day I shaved my beard, cut my hair, and joined the Unification Church.

From I Am in This Place, p. 77.

Betsy Jones, “I finally had found my spiritual home”

I came from an Irish-Catholic family from a small town outside of Boston. My older sister became a nun, and I seriously thought about becoming a nun as well. I studied nursing at Boston College and resolved not to be a nun but a missionary after I graduated. I completed one year of volunteer nursing in the West Indies. I thought it would satisfy the deep desire I had to "do something for God."

After returning from the West Indies I planned to go to New York City to attend a Master's program in nursing, even though I still had this persistent spiritual question. Before I left, I remember shaking my mother in the kitchen holding on to her arms saying "What am I supposed to do for God?" She patted my arm and said, "Just go to school, and it will get clearer." Soon after I arrived, I went to the school counselor at Teachers College, Columbia University, telling him also I had a strong sense that I needed to "do something for God!" He took avid notes for 15 minutes then referred me to someone else.

In the fall of 1967, I came to the church center on several evenings to listen and to discuss the ideas of the Divine Principle. Most of it I could support, but of course, the conclusion caused conflict. What if it were true? How could I know? I did not want to lose the close relationship I had with Jesus, yet at the same time I wanted to know if God was leading me to something new through these unique and humble circumstances? The center at that time was a small apartment near Times Square in Manhattan.

After studying in New York, I went to Washington, D.C., to meet more members at the Upshur Street residence. I met Nora Martin Spurgin, Farley Jones, Phillip Burley and many others. As I made my way out of Upshur House, I tried to appear only mildly interested in what I had heard when saying goodbye, yet all of a sudden a torrent of tears came, and I cried like never before. I felt like I finally had found my spiritual home.

From Tribute, pp. 160-61.

Alice Fleischer, “I encountered a cosmic presence … of pulsating golden energy”

My parents were faithful member of the American Theosophical Sociery (Adyar Branch) and raised their family in that tradition. This faith tradition was begun by Madam Helen Blavatsky in the 19th century and is a blend of Hinduism, Buddhism, spiritualism, and spiritualized evolutionary teachings.

I was raised as a vegetarian and imbued with the teachings of reincarnation, karma, and spiritual world. At the same time my spiritual grounding was devoid of any understanding of sin, a Messiah, or a personal God for, in my concept, God was a cosmic consciousness, a cosmic mind possessing no heart.

The first significant spiritual event that prepared me to meet the True Parents occurred when I was around 12 or 13 years of age. At that time I was grappling with such dilemmas as whether to pursue a spiritual life, whether God really existed, or whether to seek worldly success and advancement. In pursuit of a resolution to my desperate internal struggle, I often spent time in the midst of my "normal" life snatching moments of meditation in earnest pursuit of my spiritual quest.

During one such meditative time a momentous event took place. I had climbed up into the loft of the garage that my father had built, ostensibly to practice my violin bur actually to continue my spiritual quest. In the midst of a soul-directed meditation, my spiritual senses were opened and I was transported into a mystical dimension in which I encountered a cosmic presence/being/ consciousness whose "body" consisted of pulsating golden energy - I met God. Even though this youthful encounter with God did not enable me to grasp the core essence of God, that loving and broken heart of our Heavenly Parent, I could absolutely testify that God is real and does exist. What was even more remarkable in this encounter was the response that exploded from within my very core - I was euphoric and so joy-filled that I knew without a doubt that the purpose of my life was to become one with God for eternity.

Those anguish-filled questions regarding my life's course had been resolved and the path that I should follow had become crystal dear to me; I would pursue spiritual perfection (for I understood that to be a perquisite to attaining oneness with God) at whatever the cost. Following that experience, based on discussions with my father regarding the substance of a truly worthy life course I arrived at another monumental decision. I determined to become a Bodhisattva, or one who would forgo reaping the fruits of my own spiritual perfection in order to save others.

Fast-forward seven or so years: I was a student at San Francisco State College while also in the midst of another spiritual quest. This time I was seeking to personally confirm whether Theosophy was in fact the highest truth; crucial because I knew reaching spiritual perfection could only be accomplished in conjunction with the highest spiritual truth. I didn't want to stay with my childhood faith tradition just because it was my parents' belief. I was in the beginning of my spiritual journey to study all existing religions and faith traditions, including Theosophy, in order to discover the ultimate truth when I met the Unification Church.

I spent about three months studying and fellowshipping with the San Francisco Unification Church community but, when pushed to join, always refused, until one significant weekend workshop. This particular Friday night, after arriving at the center for a weekend of study and yet again refusing to join, I excused myself and found an empty sisters' sleeping room. I sat softly down on the rug and quietly asked God the following question: "So, what do you think of the Unification Church?"

That was all my Heavenly Parent was waiting for: I found myself again transported into a mystical dimension, into a vast expanse of dark, empty space, though off in the distance I could see a golden shape. Then, suddenly I was in the very center of this golden shape - our Unification Church 12-gates symbol - and the God whom I had met as a young girl let me understand that the only way to become one with my Heavenly Parent (symbolized by my standing in the inner circle of the symbol) - was through the Unification Church (symbolized by the 12-gares symbol). I have no idea how long this experience lasted, but when I emerged from my trance I ran to find my spiritual mother and demanded that she let me "join the Unification Church right now!" That was November 2, 1968.

From Tribute, pp. 109-112.