December

It had been a tradition of the Korean church for Unificationists to take part in summer and winter 40-day evangelical campaigns, later termed “pioneer witnessing” in Japan. However, on December 1, 1970, one hundred and twenty teams consisting of 1,200 women who had received the Marriage Blessing of the Unification Church went to 120 locations throughout the Korean Peninsula for three years. This necessitated a great deal of sacrifice, and in some instances, mothers placed their children with relatives or even in orphanages.

The purpose of the mobilization was to consolidate the church’s foundation in Korea as a basis for True Parents to launch their global ministry. There was a good deal of public negativity at first, but according to True Father, “After two years passed, public opinion was unanimous that if all the Korean people loved their country as much as [Unificationists], then indeed the nation would be saved.” He noted that Korean Unificationists had “successfully fulfilled their course” and “I could come out of Korea for the worldwide dispensation.”

Unknown to most, Unificationists had cultivated contacts within the Muslim world since the early 1980s. While conventional mission work was exceedingly difficult, the Middle East Times gave the movement a presence in the region. In addition, the Professors World Peace Academy (PWPA) held a series of six highly successful conferences that brought together Arabs, Israelis, Greeks, and Turks on a variety of topics. On the foundation of these meetings, the Council for the World’s Religions convened several conferences of high-level Muslim religious leaders, including the grand muftis of Syria and Yemen.

As a result of several audiences with True Parents, the Grand Mufti of Syria agreed to send forty core followers to New York for a forty-day Inter-Religious Leadership Seminar (IRLS) that included three cycles of the Unification Principle, beginning December 2, 1990. The Grand Mufti of Yemen, along with forty participants from his country, took part in the second IRLS from April 21 to May 31, 1991. They were followed by separate Egyptian, Jordanian, Turkish and Sudanese groups.

These activities culminated on April 10, 1992, when forty-two Muslim couples took part in a Holy Marriage Blessing Ceremony in Seoul, Korea. True Father termed the participation of Muslims in the wedding “a miracle.” In effect, it broke an interreligious barrier, enabling True Parents to extend the Blessing to people other than Unificationists.

True Father’s ministry to North Korea, which began in June 1946, ended on December 2, 1950, when he left Pyongyang for the South in advance of the invading Chinese army. He departed with Won Pil Kim, his “first disciple,” and Jung Hwa Park, a follower from the Heungnam prison camp who had a broken leg and whom True Father alternately carried and pushed on a bicycle on the route south.

True Father had been released from Heungnam on October 14, spent ten days walking to Pyongyang and forty days there seeking former followers, most of whom he didn’t find. Won Pil Kim testified, “As we left Pyongyang … the city seemed to be totally on fire because of the many secret, confidential documents being burned. As Father looked around, he cried to see the condition of Pyongyang.” True Father previously had told them, “I came to make Pyongyang the second Jerusalem, but it rejected me and sent me to prison.”

A dedication ceremony for the Unification Church at 1610 Columbia Road NW in Washington, D.C., occurred on December 4, 1977. Two hundred members attended this ceremony, at which True Father spoke on the topic “Let Us Renew Ourselves.”

Among other things, True Father said, “We need to know that all heaven and earth, the entire world, and even America is on the path through a process based on providential numbers.” The Unification movement purchased the building and property from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and had it remodeled before dedicating it to God.

The third Cosmic Assembly to Proclaim the Substantial Word That Firmly Establishes the True Parents of Heaven, Earth and Humankind was held in Seoul, Korea, on December 4, 2010. The assembly, which began at 2 p.m. in the Main Sanctuary of the Cheong Bok Gung headquarters church, drew three thousand participants, including distinguished social and religious leaders and Ambassadors for Peace.

The purpose of the assembly was to transfer the victorious providential fruit reaped from the rallies in Washington–New York, and Hoover Dam–Las Vegas. True Father spoke as if delivering his final will and testament to all humanity. He said that all people must restore their spirituality, which was lost through the Fall, and that the process of re-creation has to go through three stages as did the original Creation. True Parents signed the written declaration and sounded the peace gong, which marked the conclusion of the first Cain-Abel UPF rally of the third Cosmic Assembly to Proclaim the Substantial Word That Firmly Establishes the True Parents of Heaven, Earth and Humankind.

True Parents met North Korean President Kim Il Sung on December 6, 1991. Their meeting was the high point of a week-long visit to North Korea that had begun on November 30. It also culminated more than four decades of True Father’s public work as he returned to the land of his birth, upbringing and call to ministry. More than that, it encapsulated and vindicated True Parents’ life course as they turned a former enemy into a friend. True Father stated on his return:

“No one can claim more justification than I for harboring feelings of ill will against North Korea. I received severe persecution from the current government of North Korea because of my position as a religious leader and my unswerving anticommunist principles. I was tortured harshly and then imprisoned for nearly three years in a labor camp. There I witnessed the deaths of many who also had been imprisoned without cause. …

Now I have visited North Korea in the spirit of true love. True love is love that loves even that which cannot be loved. …

As I set foot in Pyongyang, my heart was as clear as the autumn sky. I did not feel that I was entering the house of my enemy, but rather that I was returning to my hometown to visit the house of my brother. I carried with me to North Korea the principle that I have always lived by: that is, to forgive, love and unite.”

Still, it wasn’t easy. North Koreans were shocked by the manner and extent to which True Father criticized their ideology. Besides saying, “Juche ideology is not going to work. … The world is not this small. … You people are in … [a] cave,” True Father made several staggering proposals. In one meeting he asked the government officials in the audience to persuade Kim Il Sung to place a large announcement in the North Korean newspaper instructing that the 30,000 to 40,000 spies and agents in the South surrender to Rev. Moon and be instructed in his headwing ideology. In another session, True Father stated that he had to be the initiator and leader of reunification efforts, with Kim Il Sung and South Korean President Roh Tae-woo working as deputies under him.

North Korean officials who had dealt with True Father were fearful of a disastrous encounter with their leader. However, their fears were misplaced. Kim Il Sung directed that True Father’s speech at an opening banquet be published in North Korea’s only newspaper, Rodong Shinmun, and it was, word for word, including all references to God. He also overruled his subordinates and insisted that he wanted not only to meet Rev. Moon but also “to have lunch with him as well.” According to Dr. Bo Hi Pak, “The big man recognized the big man.”

Significantly Kim Il Sung chose to meet True Parents at his Hamheung palace, about one hundred and fifty miles from Pyongyang, near Heungnam. In fact, the route from the state guesthouse to Kim Il Sung’s residence passed right by the Heungnam prison and fertilizer plant where True Father had been imprisoned for two years and eight months from 1948 to 1950. Dr. Pak speculated that this was a symbolic apology for earlier mistreatment.

On meeting, True Father and Kin Il Sung gave one another “a big bear hug.” Their private 90-minute conference went exceedingly well, with True Father cordially presenting his ideas for Korean reunification and Kim Il Sung reportedly initiating applause and saying “thank you” three times. They exchanged hunting and fishing stories during the two-and-a-half-hour luncheon and afterward strolled hand in hand down a long hallway for official pictures.

The Pyongyang newspaper carried a large front-page photo of them holding hands with big smiles on their faces, something that North Korea experts regarded as extraordinary. Later, the Segye Ilbocarried the same photograph. Kim Il Sung reportedly requested True Father to arrange a meeting with U.S. President George H.W. Bush. He also offered True Father first rights to develop North Korea’s Diamond Mountains as a tourist area. They both agreed to cooperate in establishing a place where members of separated families could meet and in facilitating the exchange of mail. Kim Il Sung told True Father that he would preserve his birthplace as a shrine and that he was welcome to return any time.

On the morning of December 7, 1941, the Imperial Japanese Navy launched a surprise military attack against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The Japanese sank or damaged all eight U.S. battleships, three cruisers, and three destroyers. One hundred eighty-eight U.S. aircraft were destroyed; 2,403 Americans were killed and 1,178 others were wounded. The following day, December 8, the United States declared war on Japan. President Franklin D. Roosevelt proclaimed December 7, 1941, “a date which will live in infamy.”

During the war True Father was enrolled in Waseda Koutou Kougakko, a technical engineering school affiliated with Waseda University in Japan, while active in the Korean student underground independence movement. He began his public ministry with the defeat of Japan and independence of Korea in 1945.

True Father’s December 7-9, 1974, San Francisco Bay Area Day of Hope tour stop was the greatest success since Madison Square Garden. The December 7 kickoff banquet, held at the Fairmont Hotel, brought out 1,160 San Franciscans. A letter of welcome from California Governor Ronald Reagan was read, and proclamations were announced from San Francisco, Berkeley, Oakland, San Leandro, Concord, Burlingame, San Mateo, Stockton, Menlo Park and Hayward. The city of Oakland proclaimed December 9 as Sun Myung Moon Day and presented True Father with a tie tack and cuff links in the shape of an oak tree.

The December 9 talk brought 5,000 people to the 3,200-seat San Francisco Opera House, with the overflow directed to the Municipal Auditorium a block away.

True Parents conducted an “Interreligious and International World Peace Blessing and Marriage Rededication Ceremony” on December 7, 2002. It was the fourth in a series of clergy and interreligious blessings conducted during that year. This Holy Marriage Blessing, also referred to as the “National Blessing for Reconciliation,” marked the 61st anniversary of the Japanese bombing raid on Pearl Harbor. It included some 300 Japanese leaders who expressed their wish for reconciliation among former enemy nations.

More than 1,200 couples filled the Marriott Crystal Gateway in Arlington, Virginia, which was the main Blessing venue. The Rev. Dr. E.V. Hill, a nationally famous pastor and friend of presidents, participated and said in his public remarks, “God meant for me to be with you. All races and religions are here. I am meant to be with you and know you and become your brother.” There was a reconciliation ceremony for three representatives of the Abrahamic faiths and others for representatives of the communist and democratic worlds, white and black pastors, and for Native Americans. It was noteworthy that American Clergy Leadership Conference (ACLC) pastors formed a highly effective outreach team in supporting the Holy Marriage Blessing.

The Korean Cultural Foundation was established in Seoul on December 9, 1969, in order to support the Little Angels, who had been enhancing the nation’s prestige by promoting Korean culture around the world.

In obedience to True Parents’ instructions, Korean elders created a foundation to manage the Little Angels. They obtained permission from the Ministry of Culture in December 1969. The Little Angels troupe has visited more than seventy nations, performing more than six thousand times, and, acting as an emissary of peace, has met top-level leaders in more than fifty nations. (Courtesy of the History Compilation Committee.)

The first-ever speech of True Mother in South America took place at the Naun Plaza Hotel in Brasilia, Brazil, on December 9, 1993. At this speech, part of True Mother’s “True Parents and the Completed Testament Age Tour,” the president of Brazil’s Congresso Nacional warmly welcomed her. She spoke about the importance of the mother’s role in the Completed Testament Age, and the audience responded with warm applause. The South American leg of her speaking tour continued through Montevideo, Uruguay, on December 10, Buenos Aires, Argentina, on December 11, and Lima, Peru, on December 13. (Courtesy of the History Compilation Committee.)

On December 9, 2018, the first-ever Unification Church building in the U.S. to be built from the ground-up, celebrated its grand opening and dedication. Since its ground-breaking on May 20, the Minnesota Family Church dedicated itself to the realization of the $3 million project, more than three years in the making. Having spent more than two years of searching and failing to with offers to purchase an existing church building and having reviewed over 50 potential plots of land, the current site was found next to a beautiful park not far from the church’s previous location.

At the dedication, District 9 Pastor Rev. Hyungtae Ha expressed his appreciation to North America Continental Chair, Dr. Ki Hoon Kim for his prayers and joenseoung for the community. He noted that Minnesota was Dr. Kim’s first assigned district as a leader in the 1980s. Dr. Kim obtained True Mother’s approval for the project, was present for the ground-breaking and joined in the dedication. The new building was designed to contain a stunning sanctuary, a social hall and a youth education zone. Rev. Ha emphasized that members were not only constructing a new physical church but also creating a vision for the future, supporting True Mother’s direction for witnessing, blessing and youth education. He also offered thanks for donations that poured in from around the country. It was noted that the beautiful and modern building will serve as a model and reference for any communities who are planning to build a church of their own.

Super Typhoon Haiyan—one of the strongest storms recorded on the planet—smashed into the Philippines on November 8, 2013. The deadliest Philippine typhoon recorded in modern history, it killed at least 6,300 people. The international community responded generously with monetary aid and aid workers. One Unificationist city leader was killed and 100 members in the Philippines’ central region were left homeless.

After hearing reports about the situation in the Philippines on November 15, True Mother gave a direction that one million dollars should be sent to the Philippines, and the Korean Family Church designated November 17 as a “Day to Support Members in the Philippines,” fasting in the morning and kicking off a campaign to collect donations and relief supplies until December 10. Korean FFWPU President Kyeng Seuk Lu visited the Philippines, bringing with him 200,000 dollars in donations collected by Korean church members and delivering a message of encouragement. More than 5,000 Philippine church members who had participated in international marriage blessings were living in Korea, and another 7,000 in Japan.

The German Unification Church was the first to be established in Europe, and its founding is considered also to be the beginning of the European church.

The roots of the European and German church go back to 1961, when several Germans who lived in the United States joined under Dr. Young Oon Kim in San Francisco. After three years, several returned to their home country.

The first was Peter Koch, who arrived on June 11, 1963, in his hometown of Muenster, Germany. Following him were Ursula Schuhmann, Barbara Koch (Vincenz), Paul and Christel Werner with their 11-year-old son, Klaus, Elke Klawiter, and Peter Politzki. The first member who joined in Germany was Reiner Vincenz, who joined in the summer of 1964.

Accompanied by Mrs. Won Bok Choi, Rev. Young Hwi Kim (president, HSA-UWC Korea) and Mr. Mitsuharu Ishii (director, HSA-UWC Business Enterprises, Japan), True Parents arrived in Los Angeles, California, on December 11, 1971, to begin a new phase in their global ministry. However, things did not go smoothly: They were denied visas, ironically, because of alleged communist affiliations. As a consequence, the group flew to Toronto, Canada, the next day.

This problem was straightened out over the following week, thanks to high-level contacts that U.S. Unificationists had cultivated through the Freedom Leadership Foundation (FLF). Cleared to enter the United States, True Parents arrived in Washington, D.C., on December 18. It was there that True Father announced his plan to hold revival meetings in major U.S. cities. As the Unification Church in America to this point consisted of disparate missionary groups, it is appropriate to date the birth of the church in America from True Parents’ arrival. And since True Father had not spoken publicly either in Korea or Japan, the birth of the U.S. church coincided with the beginning of a new phase in his public ministry.

The “Danbury Course” was decisive in sparking widespread grassroots support for True Father across the United States from minority communities and those concerned about religious and civil liberties. In fact, a broad spectrum of 1,600 clergy and prominent laypeople welcomed True Father back from prison at a “God and Freedom” banquet held in his honor at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C.

A similar event occurred in Korea on December 11, 1985, when some 2,300 dignitaries from a diversity of fields, including a former prime minister of the Republic of Korea, attended a welcoming banquet at the Hilton Hotel Convention Center to pay tribute to the conclusion of True Father’s 40-year ministry and to welcome him back to his homeland. Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone of Japan and five former presidents of Latin American countries presented gifts and plaques of appreciation.

From this point, True Parents initiated activities in Korea through the Korean Root-Finding Association, the Citizens’ Federation for the Unification of the Fatherland, the Segye Ilbo newspaper, business investments and cultural work that would culminate in his meeting with North Korean President Kim Il Sung in 1991.

The Unification Church conducted six major “Peace King” coronations, also referred to as “crown of peace” ceremonies, from 2003-05. These were undertaken as sequels to the January 13, 2001 “Coronation of God’s Kingship” and held for the purpose of substantiating “heavenly kingship” on earth.

The first of these was a coronation of Jesus as “King of Peace” in Jerusalem as part of the Middle East Peace Initiative on December 22, 2003. This was followed by a second coronation of Jesus in Washington, D.C. on February 4, 2004 at which time crowns also were presented to True Parents represented by their son Hyun Jin and his wife. A third crown of peace coronation of True Parents was conducted at the Dirksen Senate Office Building on March 23, 2004. A fourth “crown of peace” coronation was conducted in the Korean National Assembly Library on August 20, 2004.

Afterwards, True Father directed that the Unification Church conduct blessing registration and “crown of peace” ceremonies in forty nations and on all six continents by the end of 2004. This culminated in a fifth “crown of peace” ceremony in Washington, D.C. on December 13, 2004. True Father delivered his speech, “Our Mission in the Last Days of Providential History” to more than 3,400 leaders from around the world. A sixth and final “crown of peace” ceremony was conducted at Cheong Pyeong Lake in Korea on February 14, 2005.

True Father issued his “Answer to Watergate” on November 30, 1973. He then organized the National Prayer and Fast for the Watergate Crisis Committee (NPFWC), which organized vigils, rallies, letter-writing and leafleting in all 50 states in accordance with its “Forgive, Love, Unite” theme.

A highlight was the December 1973 National Christmas Tree Lighting at which President Richard Nixon turned on the lights of a new permanent national Christmas tree near the White House. According to one press account, the president “was greeted by several thousand wildly cheering young supporters who carried signs that read ‘God Loves America. God Loves Nixon. Support the President.’”

Unificationists gathered later that evening at Lafayette Park across from the White House for a candlelight rally during which President Nixon emerged from the White House and crossed over to the park with a security escort to greet and thank them. NPFWC President Neil Salonen presented the president with a poster-size Christmas card and a huge candle which he told the president was big enough to burn for the duration of his term.

True Father launched CAUSA International in 1980, when he asked Dr. Bo Hi Pak to visit political leaders of countries in South America and offer a unique form of assistance both in the defense against communism and in bringing about a renaissance of morality and virtue. At the same time, True Father selected a group of graduates of the Unification Theological Seminary—including Thomas Ward, William Selig, Beatriz Gonzalez, Juan Sanchis, Jean Jonet and Paul Perry—to study intensively with Dr. Sang Hun Lee in preparation for offering programs patterned after Dr. Lee’s Victory over Communism presentations. The threat of further communist inroads into the Americas, following the fall of Nicaragua to the Sandinistas in 1979, was a driving force behind the development of CAUSA. True Father took this situation seriously enough to cancel his 60th birthday celebration—normally an important occasion in Oriental tradition—in favor of CAUSA preparation.

The first country to request onsite CAUSA training was Bolivia. On December 15, 1980, U.S.-based CAUSA lecturers traveled to a tiny hamlet in the mountains of Bolivia to lecture to 45 students who previously had been indoctrinated in Marxist theory. Prior to their departure, True Father guided the lecturers, telling them:

The CAUSA movement is an ideological movement, not an academic one. If you don’t bring about a revolution in people’s heart and character, you will have failed. To bring the revolution, you have to move their hearts. Don’t just lecture but revive people’s souls. Prepare for a two-hour talk by praying for six hours. What I’m saying is, use spiritual power to bring about a reformation in the people. You should take leftist sympathizers and make brave VOC fighters out of them.

The overwhelming success of the 10-day program led to seminars in Paraguay, Uruguay, Chile, Argentina and Brazil. The CAUSA providence greatly expanded in the years ahead to the remainder of South America, Central America and the United States.

Having been denied visas on arriving in Los Angeles on December 11, 1971, because of alleged “communist affiliations,” True Parents traveled to Toronto, Canada. There, due to the intervention of U.S. Senator Strom Thurmond (R-SC), who was familiar with True Father’s Victory over Communism work, their situation was clarified and they arrived in Washington, D.C., on December 18.

Dr. Bo Hi Pak, who welcomed True Parents, stated that it “pained” him that he and others had not made “the necessary social and political preparations” for True Parents. However, it comforted him that the Little Angels were scheduled to perform that very night at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and they were all at the airport to greet True Parents. True Father, he said, “was extremely pleased with this unexpected welcome.”

That night, True Parents’ party sat in the VIP section of the balcony at the Kennedy Center. Dr. Pak noted, “More than a hundred senators, congressmen and other notables were there with their families, including Sen. J.W. Fulbright [D-Ark], Secretary of Defense Melvin R. Laird, and several other Cabinet-level officials.” There were ambassadors from around a hundred countries, he said, with more than 2,200 people in the sold-out crowd. Dr. Pak commented, “In a symbolic sense, the Little Angels’ invitational performance was a welcoming banquet held in celebration of Reverend Moon’s arrival in America that day. … It could also be said that Reverend Moon was the real host of that performance.” At the conclusion, Dr. Pak introduced True Father as the Little Angels’ founder and invited everyone to welcome him with a round of applause.

According to Dr. Pak, “the leading figures from all walks of life in the United States were receiving the Lord for the first time and, symbolically, were giving him an enthusiastic welcome.”

The Inter-Religious Federation for World Peace (IRFWP) sponsored an important conference, “Realizing the Interfaith Ideal: Action beyond Dialogue,” in Washington, D.C., from December 18 to 20, 1998. The “concept for the conference,” according to its coordinator, Dr. Frank Kaufmann, “revolved around an initiative for religious leaders to work formally with the United Nations.” Dr. Kaufmann described the response of UN representatives present as “gratifying” in that they acknowledged the conference initiative to be “inspired, timely, necessary and doable.”

True Father’s banquet address at The Washington Times expanded on the UN theme. He stated, “The path to world peace will be incomplete if we rely merely on the political, economic and military functions of the United Nations. … The more internal and spiritual aspects can be reached only through religious teaching and through the unity and united actions of the world’s religions.” The conference was significant in that it planted the seed for True Father’s call for “a religious assembly, or council of religious representatives, within the structure of the United Nations” less than two years later at Assembly 2000.

The church headquarters first published the monthly magazine Tongil Segye on December 20, 1970. Its registration number at the South Korean Ministry of Culture and Public Information was Ra 1388. True Father congratulated them on publishing Tongil Segye and wrote its name (統一世界) in calligraphy. As the monthly magazine of the Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity, Tongil Segye has featured pictures from major events, True Parents’ messages, feature articles, interviews and reports, church news, and articles contributed by members. In doing so, it has been leading the culture of heart that the Unification Church aims to realize. Its current issue is the 524th, and it has a standing history of 45 years. (Courtesy of the History Compilation Committee.) 

A little more than a month after the tragic events of 9/11, True Father hosted Assembly 2001, “Global Violence: Crisis and Hope,” in New York City from October 19 to 22, 2001. It convened 380 political and religious leaders from 101 nations. During the conference, True Father met with Abdurrahman Wahid, the former president of Indonesia and longtime head of the Nahdlatul Ulama, the largest independent Muslim organization in the world. True Father also met with Nation of Islam leader Minister Louis Farrakhan and urged the two to work together.

A month later at a breakfast meeting with Unificationist leaders, True Father suddenly insisted, “Muslims should hold a peace meeting before the end of the year. Ask H.E. Wahid and Minister Farrakhan if they will convene such a conference. I will help if needed.” Dr. Frank Kaufmann reported, “Within 22 days, 180 Muslim leaders from 51 countries sat in the ballroom of the newly opened JW Marriott Jakarta to welcome speakers for the opening plenary of the World Summit of Muslim Leaders discussing Islam and a future world of peace.” Minister Farrakhan and H.E. Wahid acted as co-conveners ably supported by IRFWP staff. Amid the confusion and retaliatory “war on terror,” True Father was constant in his emphasis on interreligious and international cooperation. This was evident in the Middle East Peace Initiative (MEPI) organized by the Universal Peace Federation and associated peace efforts in the post 9/11 era.

The Unification movement’s National Prayer and Fast for the Watergate Crisis Committee (NPFWC) organized vigils, rallies, letter-writing and leafleting in all fifty states to publicize its theme and to obtain signatures of people promising to pray and fast for the Watergate crisis.

Eight U.S. senators and fifty-three U.S. congressmen either signed True Father’s Watergate Statement, “Forgive, Love, Unite,” or responded with messages of support. Congressman Guy Vander Jagt (R-Michigan) read True Father’s statement into the Congressional Record of December 21, 1973.

In order to progress toward fulfillment of Vision 2020, True Mother restructured FFWPU USA into five sub-regions and appointed sub-regional directors for the sub-regions during a visit to the U.S. on December 21, 2017. She subsequently restructured Korea and Japan into five sub-regions. True Mother’s intention was that the three providential nations “unite under one system, one organization, and help one another advance” towards the goal of national restoration. She spoke of revealing “a Family Federation for a Heavenly Korea, for a Heavenly America, and for a Heavenly Japan whose members have been successful as heavenly tribal messiahs to the world.” The Family Federation for a Heavenly America as a continental region was restructured into Northeast, Southeast, Midwest, Southwest, and Western sub-regions.

Moon, True Parents’ second son, was critically injured in a car accident on Route 9 just north of Poughkeepsie, New York, on December 22, 1983. He was traveling south from Unification Theological Seminary in Barrytown with two companions when a tractor-trailer jackknifed on an icy stretch of road and collided with the Honda Civic that Heung Jin was driving.

Though seriously injured, his two friends survived because, as they testified, Heung Jin swerved the car at the last moment to take the brunt of the impact himself and save them. Heung Jin suffered massive head injuries and lingered in a coma for ten days before expiring at 1:18 a.m. on January 2, 1984. He was seventeen. By all accounts, he was an exemplary son. Rev. Moon described him as “the most exemplary, obedient son, with the greatest piety … the most comforting son to Mother and me.”

True Parents were out of the country at the time of the accident, conducting a series of Victory over Communism rallies in Korea. A number of spiritualists had communicated to them that December 1983 was a “very dangerous time” and that True Father “must absolutely be careful.” True Father later testified that at the last rally in Kwangju, a left-leaning city with a reputation for rebelliousness, 36 terrorists were prepared to attack but were prevented from doing so because “the auditorium was already completely packed by the time they arrived.” With another 5,000 people outside, they “had absolutely no way to enter.” During True Father’s speech in Kwangju, Heung Jin Nim’s accident occurred. According to True Father, “Satan lost his condition to attack me and then turned his attention to the next best, my second son.”

True Parents set important conditions, centered on the American Clergy Leadership Conference (ACLC), for the reconciliation of the Abrahamic faith traditions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. In 2003, True Father called upon Christian clergy to “exchange the cross for a crown” as a foundation for traveling to the Holy Land and reconciling with their Jewish brethren. Some 131 members of the clergy did so and went to Jerusalem, where they met a like number of Israeli rabbis and jointly signed the Jerusalem Declaration, which repented for “dark parts of our past” and sought a “bright future” together.

Dozens of subsequent pilgrimages were conducted as part of the “Middle East Peace Initiative” (MEPI). True Father called for a “major providential mobilization” centering on December 22 as an Interreligious and International Day of Prayer for Peace in the Middle East. The day’s centerpiece was a rally at Jerusalem’s Peace Park which included a coronation of Jesus.

For Unificationists, this was a condition that “the chosen people of Israel embraced and welcomed Jesus and crowned him as the King of Peace,” an action that “reversed all that occurred 2,000 years ago.” Two Muslims presented a Jewish professor with a golden menorah as a symbol of reconciliation with the Jews. After that, Christian leaders presented a robe to a Muslim representative, symbolizing the confirmation that Muhammad is God’s prophet. Michael Jenkins, the rally’s master of ceremonies, proclaimed, “Jesus, Moses and Muhammad are one. The era of conversion is over, and the Era of the Peace Kingdom is now realized.”

True Mother’s Beijing Rally was held in commemoration of the establishment of the Women’s Federation for World Peace on December 23, 1992, in the Great Hall of the People. True Mother gave a speech titled “Women’s Role in World Peace,” the first Korean woman to give a speech in the Great Hall. Four hundred members of the Wives’ Association of the Great China listened attentively.

On the 22nd, the day before the event, True Mother met Deng Pufang, the eldest son of Deng Xiaoping, who at the time was the most powerful political figure in China, and discussed about mutual cooperation between the two nations. (Courtesy of the History Compilation Committee.)

The first God Conference, entitled “God: The Contemporary Discussion,” was held from December 26 to 31, 1981 on the island of Maui, Hawaii. Dr. Frederick Sontag, distinguished professor of philosophy at the University of Pomona and author of Sun Myung Moon and the Unification Church (Abingdon, 1977), suggested the conference as an “internal” equivalent of the annual International Conference on the Unity of the Sciences (ICUS). The conference attracted 170 participants from 33 countries and all major religions traditions. Seventy-five papers were presented, twenty-two of which were selected for inclusion in a resulting book,God: The Contemporary Discussion (1982).

The Youth Seminar on World Religions (YSWR) emerged out of the first God Conference. From 1982 to 1984 it sponsored annual seven-week around-the-world pilgrimages to sites associated with the religious traditions of Buddhism, Christianity, Confucianism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism and Unificationism for 150 students and professors. This expanded the movement’s ecumenical and inter-religious network and involved religious scholars of the highest rank, including Huston Smith, author of The World’s Religions and one of the country’s foremost authorities on world faiths, who with his wife co-chaired the first two Youth Seminars and served as chair of the fourth God Conference.

True Father conceived the idea of forming a Korean children’s dance troupe “as a means of promoting world peace and sharing the Korean culture throughout the world.” He asked Dr. Bo Hi Pak to take responsibility for assembling the group. Dr. Pak agreed, and he traveled back and forth between the United States and Korea in developing the “Little Angels” from 1962 to 1964.

The Little Angels’ inaugural tour of the United States in 1965 was difficult, and in many cases “the performers outnumbered the audience.” However, their tours were increasingly successful, and by 1971 they had performed on national television, at the 1968 Summer Olympic Games at Mexico City, and before numerous heads of state including U.S. President Richard Nixon and President Park Chung-hee of the Republic of Korea, as well as at a Royal Command Performance before Queen Elizabeth II, who broke with protocol by receiving the performers and greeting each of them, escorted by Dr. Pak.

On December 27, 1973, the United Nations opened its General Assembly Hall for the first time for a cultural performance, a gala benefit for UNICEF by the Little Angels. TheNew York Times reviewer wrote, “Judging from the standing ovation the children received, their performance of sometimes exotic national dance to music played on replicas of ancient Korean instruments has a universal appeal.” True Parents also received a standing ovation when they were introduced as The Little Angels’ founders.

True Father understood Cheon Il Guk to be the nation of cosmic peace and unity. As such, it encompassed not only the visible world but the totality of creation, both physical and spiritual. As he expressed it, “The world has entered an age in which the spirit world and physical world can become one and communicate freely with each other.” Communication with the spirit world was nothing new to the Unification movement. In fact, since 1935 when he encountered and experienced a divine call from Jesus, True Father had carried on a ministry to spirit world in parallel with his ministry on earth. For most of that time this was not a matter of public knowledge. With the proclamation of Cheon Il Guk this changed. True Father insisted that messages from the spirit world be disseminated as widely as possible.

The most prominent of these was “The Cloud of Witnesses,” a collection of messages which derived from “seminars” in the spirit world, initially for four religious founders (Jesus, Buddha, Confucius and Muhammad) and subsequently for leaders in their traditions as well as for famous communists. The “Cloud of Witnesses” messages culminated in a “Letter from God,” addressed to “My beloved True Parent” and dated December 28, 2001. If True Father’s lifelong goal was “to melt the block of ice frozen in the heart of God,” the letter indicated that he had succeeded.

God, who self-identified as “Jehovah, the God of all humankind,” stated: “My gratitude and appreciation for you is beyond words. The word ‘love’ is inadequate to express My feelings. … I want to embrace you in My bosom and never let you go! I would carry you on My back and never let your feet touch the ground! I would hold you, and we would talk together all night long.” Apart from this, God validated True Father’s position, stating, “You have been victorious on every level and have restored to its proper position everything that had fallen. … Hence, Jehovah, the God of all humankind, hereby bestows upon His beloved True Parent the title King of all kings.” The Unification Church subsequently published “The Cloud of Witnesses” and “Letter from God” in space purchased from leading newspapers in all fifty states.

True Parents conducted a Gyocha, “cross-cultural” Marriage Blessing between all cultures, races and religions on December 29, 2005. True Father also opened the gate for all who were blessed but lost their spouse due to divorce to be re-blessed. Grace was opened for all. True Father matched second-generation Unificationist couples and first-generation Unificationist couples and gave the responsibility to all continental directors of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (FFWPU) to heal the families through matching of previously blessed couples with one another and allowing them to be blessed. The Gyocha Blessing of 1,147 Couples was conducted at Cheongpyeong Heaven and Earth Training Center.

True Father pursued the Holy Ground providence between December 31, 1964, and January 4, 1966. He said that the establishment of the Holy Grounds had to involve three different years and that the re-creation of the substance of the word and the beginning of the standard of heart could be achieved centering on them. Another purpose was to connect Korea to the world through the exchange of earth and stones. True Father took earth and stones from seven Holy Grounds in Korea on December 31, 1964, and January 1, 1965, and prepared to travel overseas. He proceeded to establish 120 Holy Grounds in 40 nations, including 55 in the United States.

Creation of a media network was not originally part of True Father’s thinking or planning for the American mission. However, the print and electronic media increasingly vilified his work. This created a climate of extreme hostility and frustrated the Unification Church’s witnessing efforts. True Father, in turn, recognized the “awesome power” of the media “to create or to destroy.”

Therefore, in October 1976, he assembled a dozen or so Unificationists with journalism degrees and “set the deadline” for producing the first issue of a new daily newspaper in New York City on December 31, the last day of the United States’ bicentennial year. The vision of ushering in the United States’ third century “with a new era of modern journalism” was compelling. Nevertheless, according to one account, “It seemed impossible to start a daily newspaper literally from scratch, using inexperienced people, in dilapidated offices, in less than three months.” Still, “second-hand desks and typewriters were purchased,” and in November “the few who had journalism degrees … gave the first staff of about sixty a crash course in journalism.” On December 31, the presses rolled early in the morning and the first issue of The News World hit the streets of New York.

Replete with a color photograph featured each morning on the front page and a motto that described it as “New York’s oldest daily color newspaper,” The News World was a twenty-four-page general-interest daily with a staff of 200, the bulk of whom were Unificationists. It was eventually housed in the former Tiffany Building on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, which Unificationists purchased. 

The News World was the only paper to publish during the New York City power blackout of 1977 and during a later three-month newspaper strike, when its circulation soared to 400,000 daily. The paper’s boldest move was to predict a “[Ronald] Reagan Landslide” in a banner headline on Election Day, November 4, 1980, followed by an equally large banner headline the following day which read, “Thank God! We Were Right!”

The News World gave birth to several other New York papers, including Noticias Del Mundo, a Korean-language daily, a Harlem weekly, and a press service, Free Press International. It later changed its name to New York City Tribune and eventually gave way to the media network’s flagship newspaper, The Washington Times.

At True Mother’s recommendation, Rev. Demian Dunkley was appointed president of the Family Federation for a Heavenly USA and HSA-UWC by its board of directors on December 31, 2018. Rev. Dunkley previously served as City Pastor of Las Vegas (2010-13), Director of Evangelism for Family Federation for World Peace (2013-), and Northeast Director of the Family Federation for a Heavenly USA (2018-). Possessing a degree in Multimedia Arts and Communications, his ability to communicate effectively using media was recognized an important asset in developing the work of Tribal Messiahship in the US. Rev. Dunkley succeeded Rev. Richard Buessing who served as FFWPU USA President from July 26, 2017.