Early Years Chaos and the birth of True Father

Father speaks of his Early Years

Grandfather Moon Ji-kook

(9.2, 1870 -?)

My grandfather was illiterate. He didn't go to school or to a village study class, but he knew the story of the Three Kingdoms from the first to the last page. Once he started something, he would continue nonstop until the end. He had the ability to hold listeners spellbound. Once someone started to listen to him talk, he would never leave until the story ended.

Our house is located just along the village's main road, and if you visited grandfather Moon's house, sometimes you could find about thirty guests in the guest room. My mother had a strong character, but she attended my grandfather her whole life without a single word of complaint. Because of my great-grandfather's influence, my grandfather, who occasionally drank and smoked, finally stopped smoking. After my great-grandfather passed away, my grandmother started smoking because she was lonely. She also stopped, though, because she was spending money on cigarettes instead of on feeding the hungry.

Great-Uncle Rev. Moon Yoon-kook

(1.30, 1877 – 1.2, 1958)

My grandfather was one of three brothers, the youngest of whom was a minister. He was in charge of the North Pyong-an Province organization during the March 1, 1919 Independence Movement. With other leaders throughout the country, he helped decide on the movement's plan of action. He led demonstrations against the Japanese government with the teachers and students of Osan School and his church congregations and other local citizens, waving flags and marching throughout the streets of Pyongyang. Eventually, he was arrested by the Japanese police for leading a demonstration. He served two years in prison. After he was released, he could have lived with his family in his hometown, but instead he wandered in a part of Korea that was unfamiliar to him in order to avoid Japanese police harassment. He died in Jeongseon in Gang-won Province.

In those days, W70,000 was a very large sum of money, but he sent all that money to the provisional government in Shanghai. To carry on such activities, he had to wander until he finally passed away in an unfamiliar province.

With such lifelong achievements, he could establish a foundation on which God could work. He sacrificed his family -- in fact his church and his own life -- for the purpose of saving the country, and he carried a heavy burden throughout his years as a wanderer.

When I came to South Korea, he was the only relative I had here. My cousin Yong-gi later had a dream in which my Great-uncle Moon Yoon-kook appeared to him and told him how he had passed away and where. My cousin went to that place and found that it was just as Moon Yoon-kook had said in the dream.

Moon Kyung-yoo, my father

(7.11., 1893 - 10.11, 1954)

I would say my father was a very honest man. If he borrowed money in an emergency, he couldn't do anything until he had paid it back with interest within the time he had promised. In any case, he was a man who kept his word. I'd say he was a champion in being as good as his word. He had a clear conscience.

My father had a four-hundred-page hymnbook. He took good care of it but didn't carry it with him when he went to church. One day I asked him, "Why don't you bring your hymnbook, father?" He answered, "It's a bother to carry that book. Also, I'm afraid I might lose it. It's better to leave it at home." [Laughter] "How can you sing without it?" I asked. "How? I sing with others who are singing. If I don't know a song I can look at it in the page of someone else's hymnbook," he replied. He had, in fact, memorized the words to all the hymns.

My body is tough and strong. Really, I am strong. My father was strong enough to go upstairs carrying a bag of rice like this. I am from such a strong line that I am healthy even though I am already over seventy.

Mrs. Kim Kyung-gye, Choong-mo nim: (Loyal Mother] 

(10.15, 1888 - 1.7, 1968)

I'd say my mother was a female general -- yes, a woman general. She was considered an enterprising person. I am afraid that doesn't accurately describe her, but in every situation she did play an active part. I am like my mother in many ways. At first glimpse, I am a man with a large, sturdy build. I am a man of great strength and a man of muscle.

My mother was a woman of strong character. When she flogged laziness out of a boy with a switch, she didn't stop halfway. I am a stubborn, unbending person like my mother. Once I have made up my mind, I never give up. Indeed, that's what I'm like.

My mother gave birth to thirteen children. My wife had thirteen children too. It seems to have been transmitted from one generation to the next. Having many children is a family tradition. Many of my siblings died early, but eight brothers and sisters out of thirteen managed to live. [Including Yong-soo (Daehyung-nim), Hyo-soon, Yong-myung (the name Father was born with), Hyo-shim, Hyo-su and Hyo-sun (Father's sister who is still living in North Korea)]

Can you imagine what a difficult job it was for my mother to marry off her six daughters? I thought it was such a pity for a bride to get married into another family while burdening her family members and relatives with preparing the wedding. Though she had to get married, the bride may, I thought, be full of rancor on her wedding day against having been born a girl who is compelled to go into another family, leaving a heavy burden on her own family.

In marriage, the status of the bride's family is evaluated by the gifts that are prepared for the groom's family. In my hometown, they are called "courtesy gifts." Clothes and a lot of other things had to be prepared to make up a bundle of presents. In Pyong-an Province, they used to count how many yards of first- class cotton cloth the bride brought to her new family. Every family had to try to send good gifts in order to establish good standing with the groom's family.

People have to eat food and wear clothes. Food and clothes are essential and so these are usually prepared for a daughter's marriage. In the case of a woman marrying a man of noble birth in a home with many elders... Women didn't have nylon stockings in those days; all clothes were made by women who picked and ginned cotton, spun it into thread and then wove it on a loom. My mother was a champion in doing those tasks. She was tough and strong. The average woman wove three or four fangs (sheets) a day, but my mother did twenty jangs in two days. When my elder sister married, my mother wove one pil (roll of cloth) per day. The situation was so urgent that she couldn't let a second slip away. She did the work in an instant. I was born with such a gift of being good at doing things quickly, as you know. [Laughter]

My mother and father loved me very much. It is natural for every mother to love her children, but for my mother I was very special. If I were to go on talking about this subject, you would cry many times.

Mr. Moon Yong-soo, elder brother

(3. 5, 1915 -?)

My older brother was so deeply spiritual that he knew ahead of time that Korea would be liberated and that the Korean War would break out. He had the attitude of solving all problems he faced according to guidance from the spirit world. He suffered from ill health, but he had never even dreamt of curing himself with the help of medicine. He tried to overcome it through prayer and faith. Finally, through his religious life, he recovered. For my older brother, I was somebody. He thought highly of me as the greatest younger brother in history. Whatever I asked him to do, he never failed to do for me. Whatever I told him, he absolutely believed.

I was forced to part from this affectionate brother. The country was divided into North and South.... I think all my family and relatives must have lived through a series of ordeals and disgrace before they died... From a historical viewpoint, it was an essential course for them to pass through because of me.

God prepared the eldest son

I have a different origin. To say it once again, my origin, I think, is different from those of you here in Korea. Our ancestors were special. Are you upset? Are there any Mr. Moons among you? Raise your hands!

You might say, "How dare you neglect us? We are also the children of blessed families." Yet my birth was on the basis of stronger conditions, under Heaven's plan. The standard necessary for God to allow me be born was on the basis of a preparation of the lineage beyond that of those of you born from blessed parents.

For decades, I struggled to uncover absolute truth. Along the way, I suffered more than you or anyone ever could imagine. Such blessing cannot be inherited without a foundation. It is contrary to reason. If you were born in a family, you have to love the representative -- who might be your parent or the king of the country -- to the point that the mark your love leaves is admired by your descendants forever. Then you can be a family heir. That is the principle of inheritance; so it cannot just be done any way you think fit.

Therefore, the day will come that people will love the Moon tribe. I mean, the day will come when they will respect the Moon tribe and attend other members of that tribe as you attend me. You should stand on God's side and pray to God. This practice should be set up as an unchanging tradition.

There should be the eldest son with the birthright of Heaven. The heavenly birthright! In order to connect to the world the Moon tribe had to go beyond the national level. The eldest son of the Moon tribe with the birthright is like the high priest and should become a leader of all the world's representatives.

What will become of a man who is making effort for others' sake? He will become a central figure. If you keep on working in your country's public interest, you Moons will come to constitute the central tribe, and the day will near when the Moon tribe can inherit heavenly blessings. [Applause] Any volunteers who want to live like that with me, raise your hands and let's pledge to do it together!

Chaos and the birth of True Father

Modern history since World War I is composed of a succession of imbroglios and wars throughout the world. You have already learned that history does not proceed in an accidental manner, but moves in relation to the indemnity conditions people set. Judging from that viewpoint, it is natural to conclude that God surely does prepare for a new age in the middle of this chaotic situation, the Last Days. Therefore, World War I was a challenge to humankind on the global level, a matter of life or death for all the people of the world.

Usually everything becomes clear within three years of a major incident occurring. From that point of view, the fact that I was born in 1920 is... I was born three years after 1917, in 1920. Even though I am now known as Rev. Moon, I was not Rev. Moon then.

Our trials and the March 1 Independence Movement

Korea was then Japanese territory. It could be said that I was born in Japan. Japan ruled Korea for forty years. So I was born under Japanese sovereignty. Because the new Adam was to be born in Korea in the near future, Japan desperately persecuted Korea.

The 1920s was a time of privation in Korea. The country was experiencing difficulties because of three years of bad harvests. And an uprising, the March 1 Independence Movement, of Koreans fighting against Japanese domination, occurred around that time. I was born in the second year of those three years of poor harvests, which began in 1919 when the March 1 Movement broke out. In the middle of that severe trial, on the foundation of my family's suffering, connected with the March 1 Independence Movement, I was born.

The leaders of the March 1 Movement were religious men. They were, for the most part, Christians. They had an eye for a new direction, not toward Imperialist Japan but toward America, and followed America. Going through the process, Korea soaked up Christian culture rapidly and deeply.

The patriot Yoo Gwan-soon, who died a martyr for the cause of Korean liberation at the age of sixteen, was in the same position as Eve before the Fall. She was Eve in Adam's country. The corpse of the patriot Yoo Gwan-soon, who was in the position of Eve, was divided into six parts. The number six belongs to Satan. The patriot Yoo Gwan-soon was actively engaged in the Independence Movement, sacrificing herself out of loyalty. I was in the body of my mother as the 1919 Independence Movement swirled into motion.

I shouldn't emerge in a country that wasn't independent. There was a war with my life at the center. Ten months from that time, I was born in 1920. [In Korea a woman is said to be pregnant for ten months.] It was on behalf of all Korean women with the heavenly heart to indemnify Eve's sin and to preserve the land of Korea that Yoo Gwan-soon died. From the providential viewpoint, God carried the providence to Japan on the basis of the national foundation created.

Troubles in the family

I often heard stories of my family having to live on pine tree bark... That pine bark was the food they lived on while I was in my mother's womb. It seems that God loves me nowadays. But why was He so harsh in the days when I was born? He pushed my family into a deep ravine and harried them to death, all the members of my family... That is our history. Because I am aware of the law of indemnity, I can understand the real state of things. If I wasn't aware of it, I should say that everything must be a lie. All the relatives in my family -- from my cousins to my third uncles -- paid indemnity. With my birth, my house went to ruin. Until I was fifteen years old, my family and relatives experienced trouble.

Birth of the heavenly baby 

(1.6, 1920), Gregorian calendar: February 25, 1920

When looking on at True Parents' birthday party, with people from countries all over the world filling a hall, does God envy me, or not? [Not at all.] Why should He be happy? Because I am God's son. Therefore, far from envying me, He must love it that you are celebrating my birthday. Just as you are happy when preparing for your child's birthday, God is also happy to celebrate His son's birthday.

Who knows if the children not born due to the practice of birth control could have become the representatives of all their ancestors or have taken care of the heavenly will on behalf of their nation? If my father and mother had practiced birth control, would I have been born? [Laughter] My mother gave birth to thirteen children.

I might be identified as the little kid from the "Osan House." Because I had small eyes, if anyone said "Osan House Little Eyes," all the villagers knew that meant me. My eyes were so small that, right after she gave birth to me, my mother examined my face to see if I even had eyes. [Laughter] Finding my batting eyes, she felt relieved. [Laughter] Such eyes are necessary for me. My small eyes show I have the aptitude to be a religious leader. When the lens of a camera is contracted, the focus is on things in the distance. Take a look at my nose. From its shape, you can see I will not listen to anyone. [Laughter]

I seem to have been a handsome baby. When I got on the train on my mother's back, people would gather around me and want to hold me in their arms.

In those days, there were no hospitals in rural areas. We had to take the train to go to a hospital in Sonchon from Chongju. There was a hospital founded by a Christian Church. One day my mother took me there by train. People saw the infant nestling in his mother's arms, and one lady said, "What a lovely child he is! I wish I could hold him in my arms! If I could, my family would be blessed." Perhaps she was a woman who was really looking for a child, or a barren woman. But she really wanted to hold that baby in her arms.

Meaning of the name Sun Myung Moon

Sun Myung Moon is my name. Moon means truth, and sun means to reveal itself clearly. The character for "sun" is a compound of the characters for "land" and "sea." How about the character for "myung"? It combines the characters for the sun and moon. These meanings are relational. Sun and moon must be bound up with truth, as must the land and sea. They should then make one world. Sun Myung, my given names, mean to be aligned with the proper order with the quality of purity that cannot be criticized from any corner.

Then what does "True Father" mean? It is for someone who is everyone's father. What will you become by loving the father of all humanity? You will inherit from the father.

No what am I? At the same time as being Father, I came with kingship. The kingship over the country must be set up and then...

It is said that on the day Chung Do Rung comes, he would receive tribute from seventy countries or so. The book seems to have pointed out the Unification Church itself. [Right! Applause]

And there is another book named Kyugamyurok. It came out after the Chonggamrok. It predicted my name from that early day.