Reverend Sun Myung Moon
April 20, 1998
Unofficial Notes from Tyler Hendricks
Translator: Peter Kim
East Garden, Irvington, NY
It is time to bring together the Unification Church and Christianity. About one decade ago, we started work with key white Christian leaders but there was little progress at that time. Centering on my Danbury release, black and white were united and Father wanted them to unite all the denominations here in America. Father also supported evangelical Christians, with hundreds of thousands of people. This was part of the plan to unite American Christianity as was the support for major political leaders but others created obstacles. But for their ignorance and obstruction, Father would not have had to go to prison. Because of government harassment, Father could not hold official meetings for a time. The situation changed but it has been a rocky road. Father took the risks because God sent him here.
Father has met many top Americans. Father was ready to move America. Then "the people of the United States" accused Father. Danbury was "the people versus Rev. Moon" but it was manipulated into being. The Justice Department concluded that there was no case but pressures were exerted. They wanted Rev. Moon to stay out of America as he was in Germany when the announcement came. The gist of the case was the bank account with Father's name on it.
Then in 1982 Father established The Washington Times. It was beyond the American membership's financial capacity. So other countries helped support it. Father selected State Leaders from the UTS [Unification Theological Seminary] graduates. He wanted to educate 30,000 elite leaders to move this nation but the UTS graduates stayed too concerned about their own living situations.
Father was 54 when he came to America. He campaigned throughout America, going to every state. Father made 3 teams of 72 members each, one week in each city. They fund raised and witnessed, to pay for the public speech, $40,000 to $60,000 per speech. You may remember this, but do you really feel it was your work?
Without having a strong newspaper voice, America could not have been saved from communism. So Father established the Times, which did a lot for America. The Voice of America used Washington Times articles for 65% to 70% of their material, broadcasting to communist countries. At that time the US had 1,700 daily newspapers, but they all got news from a few sources, mostly on the left, when the Times entered the conversation.
The Times stopped Gorbachev's entering the country to speak at the joint session of Congress. Then it supported the Contras. Father supported UTS graduate Lee Shapiro's film on the Miskito Indians. (See separate article on Lee Shapiro.) Then he subsidized Lee Shapiro's Afghanistan film, and during filming Lee was sacrificed, shot down by a Soviet gunship. Lee's work is still with us, because it was part of a package to Reagan to argue that the US maintain the SDI (the Strategic Defense Initiative nicknamed "Star Wars") funding. That was the turning point for the decline of the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union had 16 target countries for communization, so we sent fact-finding tours to those places, and the Soviet subversion was exposed in the western media. Also there was the internal side with missionaries working underground in the Soviet Union and China. We supported underground newsletters. This is how the eastern-bloc governments discovered our people and put them in jail.
Father never has an easy day. He sets almost impossible goals, then God and spirit world help. Don't be a slave of any situation; don't let money or family hold you back from your mission. To win, you need more guts and courage. Father produced 1,000 UTS graduates but if the country had supported the school's values, we could have had 5,000. Or if the graduates had a serious attitude, 300 graduates a year would have been possible.
Now American leaders are asking Rev. Moon for answers, apologetically. Many mayors and governors gave proclamations to Father in 1973-4 and if major churches had come out to help, Father could have shaken America. But communists again fouled things up.
Father tolerated your abandoning him, because he knew he had to face the persecution alone. In 1976 the media started to hit Father and his activities with hundreds of articles appearing. The president told the US embassies to suppress the Unification Church in each nation. Another problem was the conflict of the Japanese, American and German missionaries and eventually, even the embassies exploited this. But in Africa, we made a good impression by living with and serving the local people.
Now our church recognition is pretty good worldwide but the developed Christian countries still oppose Rev. Moon. Christianity is divided for and against Father. Now leaders openly praise Rev. Moon as the leader of opposing communism and assisting Christian unity and they see that what Father is doing is right. The fame of The World & I, for example, grew quickly and about 4,000 or 5,000 high schools are using it.
So, do you feel that the providence is progressing? Can you see it? To grasp it, you must be courageous. Others' projects have failed while Father's have thrived, such as the 3.6 million blessing. We must build reconciliation between different groups, such as Jews and Muslims, as this will affect America's future. If America can elect a president loved by God and True Parents, then we have hope.
America originally belonged to Asia, the Native Americans. If they were serious about what happened in the past they could attack and take revenge, but Father has comforted them. Father is blessing everyone, making them brothers and sisters. Among blessed couples, there is no race- there is one blood lineage, one color, except for the surface of the skin. Father wants to see four colors living together in condominiums. White, black, yellow and Korean, because Koreans are the most difficult to get along with.
Koreans can do several things at once and Reverend Moon is the king of this. A leader cannot deal with only one project at a time, but must direct hundreds of projects at the same time just as God created and controls all kinds of things at once. If you are responsible for several projects, prioritize them and go at them one after another. Try this with four at a time. Four represents all four directions, with the thumb wrapped up representing God. The distribution of tasks is good, but they have to be united in the end. That's why we use the term "unification."
Heaven wants to give the blessing to all Christians in America. God wants to eventually mobilize 3,000 ministers for education. Then each will multiply by 100, to make 300,000 ministers. American patriotic people and groups should provide substantial support for The Washington Times, which is the nation's newspaper, championing traditional Christian and family values. Christians together should launch a campaign to save America. Father will provide the education for them and a scholarship for youth leaders, and an international college for saving humanity. The time has come to accomplish these things.
To work with the Christian leaders is the UTS graduates' mission. Spearhead Hoon Dok Hae wherever you are. In DC, Pure Love Alliance's educational material can be used for ministers. 2,000 ministers have received the blessing, but many more are waiting and deserve to receive it. Our goal is to educate 5,000 Christian leaders by 3 weeks before June 13 (This was later increased to 120,000.) Then they can fully participate in the blessing of all marriages. National Headquarters can send a letter to all churches to receive the blessing. You give the blessing to the ministers and that way we can save America.
Practice Hoon Dok Hae everywhere. Give them the Hoon Dok Hae volumes, plus Divine Principle. Do Hoon Dok Hae with your friends and colleagues. In Korea we are promoting it from 4th grade on. Giving holy wine to pregnant women is called the Ceremony of Rebirth. If they receive it as children, it is called the Ceremony of Resurrection. Receiving it at a wedding it is called Ceremony of Eternal Life.
This holy wine is a life-saving emergency medicine. If you drink it, you instantly gain your life back from death. Thousands of evil spirits who are living with you will be eliminated. It is that serious; more than physical surgery. If you give life to many people through holy wine distribution, you will be more welcomed in the spirit world. They will be your spiritual children eventually.
No one can give an excuse about this. Don't say Father didn't tell you. Keep the Hoon Dok Hae tradition. If you keep at it, you will get closer to spiritual insight and your spiritual eyes will open. In the early years of the Unification Church, the members missed Father so much they forgot about eating and sleeping. With that condition of love, they could connect with spirit world.
The conclusion is simple: keep Hoon Dok Hae. At first, no one agreed with the idea, but it is now having a big effect, from Korea to Japan and America. Become children of filial piety, then patriots, then saints and finally, divine sons and daughters.