True Mother met True Father in 1956, when she was 13, soon after her graduation from elementary school. Mother recalled what Father had told her about their first meeting, "Closing my eyes, I spoke to God in a whisper, ‘God, thank you for sending such an extraordinary woman to this nation of Korea.'"
For a long time, God made preparations to send the Returning Lord and Heaven s Bride. Then, through the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, True Father and True Mother emerged as the True Parents of humankind.
True Mother's Birth
Section 1. Background
Spiritual preparations
For God to send the Returning Lord, His begotten Son, to earth, He conducted a special providence. He did likewise to send Heavens Bride to be His begotten Daughter and the embodiment of the Holy Spirit. Heaven prepared many Spirit-led churches in order to send True Mother as the new Eve. Around the time of True Mothers birth, many spiritual churches emerged on the Korean Peninsula. With her family centrally involved in them, their purpose was to prepare for True Mother.
True Mother was born on the 6th day of the l5' lunar month (February 10) in 1943, at her maternal grandparents' home at number 26, Shineui village in the township of Anju, South Pyeongan Province. She was the only daughter of her father, Han Seung-oon, and her mother, Hong Soon-ae, who later received the title Daemonim.
1 When we look at the central figures of providential history, we can well understand how important the mothers role is. Abraham, Moses, Jesus and others blossomed and made a new history based on the role of their wife or mother. However, internally their personal histories were filled with bitter sorrow, misery and suffering. Where I stand today, I can see that nothing that happened leading up to my birth was a coincidence. Rev. Lee Ho-bin, who was well-known before the liberation of Korea, received a revelation that led him to arrange my parents' marriage. (True Mother, 1988/02/24)
2 Infants typically cry, "Wahhh!" as soon as they are born, but I was told that I sang "La la la!" instead. So, Jo Won-mo, my maternal grandmother, said, "It seems she will be a singer when she grows up." After eating the first seaweed soup after my delivery, my mother (Daemonim) fell asleep holding me in her arms; then she had a dream. In that dream, a darkish Satan with horns on his head appeared to her. He said, "Because of the birth of this child, I will have to die," and then he tried to kill me. My mother yelled out, "Get away, Satan! She is such a precious daughter to me; how dare you try to kill her!" My mother screamed so loud that my grandmother said, "You must be exhausted after giving birth." My mother replied, "No, it's not that. I screamed because Satan was trying to kill the baby." My grandmother said, "That is so strange." But my mother thought to herself, "Since Satan tried to kill her as soon as she was born, I have to raise this child with my utmost sincere devotion. I am going to raise her pure, beautiful and untouched by sin, and then offer her to the Lord." (True Mother, 1977/05/03)
3 My mother, Daemonim, told me that she had a mysterious dream right after she gave birth to me. At the time Korea was under the rule of Japan, and the war in the Pacific was at its peak. People dispatched by the Japanese governor-general's office in Korea raided every house and took all the grain and metal objects they could find, to supply food for the soldiers and make arms for the war. In her dream, all those things they had seized from Korea were piled up high in the land of Japan. Then all of a sudden everything that had been confiscated returned to Korea in a ship crossing the Korea Strait, and it was all piled up high, sack upon sack, in the front yard of our house. At this point, Daemonim woke up. As I think of it now, that dream symbolically showed the path that the mother must follow, reconciling and uniting Cain and Abel to move toward our Heavenly Parent. (True Mother, 2012/12/25)
4 In Korea there were many special Spirit-led churches. These were different from conventional Christian churches whose members were comfortable with formal worship and with the blind and simple faith that, just by believing in Jesus and the Bible, they would be able to go to the kingdom of heaven. These churches received numerous revelations from God that they should make preparations to welcome the Lord at his Second Advent and find the Lord's Bride. Such was the landscape of faith in Korea following the Second World War. I was born into a family that was spiritually prepared, whose preparation included participation in those Spirit-led churches.
Today as I reflect upon the circumstances of that time, I am drenched in sorrow. It is because I recall memories of the indescribable suffering endured by the churches to which my mother (Daemonim) belonged. The members of those churches lived entirely according to the divine revelations they received. These revelations directed them to walk an indemnity course in order to prepare an easier path for the Lord. It was an unbelievable course filled with difficulties and hardships. Some of those members died in prison.
Having been called by God to prepare for the Messiah, they overcame their difficulties by carrying with them only the hope that someday they would be able to meet him. So, with devotion and attendance, they made extensive preparations to welcome the Returning Lord. Among the things they did was to prepare everything for him, from spoons for him to eat with to clothes for him to wear. The revelations they received were so detailed that they knew even the size of his clothes.
Yet while they endured indescribable suffering to carry out these directions, unfortunately they died, one by one, unable to meet the Lord. However, their mission was passed down through three generations, and I was born at the culmination of their revelations. (True Mother, 1977/05/03)
Heaven's Bride prophecy
True Mother's birth was significant because it was the fruit of God's providential history. Her birth transcended the birth of an individual; it was the fruit of 2,000 years of Christian history, and it was linked to the Spirit-led churches that arose in Korea to welcome the Lord at his Second Advent. These churches produced this fruit through three generations: her maternal grandmother, Jo Won-mo; her mother, Hong Soon-ae (Daemonim); and finally True Mother herself.
Specifically, shortly after the birth of True Mother, Rev. Kim Seong-do of the Holy Lord Church died in prison from the torture she received there. Thereupon the mission was passed down to the Inside the Womb Church led by Rev. Heo Ho-bin. As Rev. Heo was also imprisoned, her mother, taking her place, testified to True Mother, who was six years old at the time. She blessed her, saying, "You will be Heaven's Bride." Even before the birth of True Mother there were prophecies about her, such as, "She will become the queen of the universe." Through this process, the foundation of these churches' conditions of devotion to receive the Lord at his Second Advent was passed down to True Mother.
5 My father, Han Seung-oon, was born in Anju; he worked as a teacher all his life. Although he was a strong and robust man with a large frame, he had an eye for detail and he was always serving others. Most notably, he was a devout Christian; he also worked as a leader at the New Jesus Church led by Rev. Yi Yong-do. As a believer and educator, his life was always busy. When my mother (Daemonim) moved to Anju with my grandmother, they attended the New Jesus Church in Anju to continue their life of faith. That is where my mother and father met and came to know each other, and eventually ended up marrying.
One day during the time they were living a devout Christian life, my mother received a revelation, "Daughter of Hong Yu-il, rejoice! If you give birth to a son, he will be the king of the universe, and if a daughter, she will be the queen of the universe." After she received this message, my parents married. My father was 26 years old, and my mother was 21 years old. After that, my mother made continuous and strenuous efforts to find the Returning Lord. Later, she joined the Holy Lord Church in Cheolsan, which required her to travel back and forth between Anju and Cheolsan. I was conceived nine years after my parents' marriage, as the fruit of their sincere devotion and devout life of faith. (True Mother, 1977/05/03)
6 When I was born, God gave revelations about his plan that the Lord at his Second Advent would be born on earth. These revelations were given to a woman named Rev. Heo Ho-bin. When I was six, Rev. Heo's mother met me and prophesied, "You will surely be Heaven's Bride." She had received that revelation about me though I was still just a young girl. In those days in North Korea there were quite a few Spirit-led churches that had been prepared and called by God. In fact, the Christian faith was so strong in Pyongyang that the city was called "the Jerusalem of the East." (True Mother, 1977/05/03)
7 In North Korea, as the power of the communist authorities grew stronger, the persecution of religion became severe. In August 1946, Rev. Heo Ho-bin was taken to the Daedong Detention Center in Pyongyang. While in jail she received a revelation that she would meet the Returning Lord. Around the same time True Father was arrested while evangelizing in Pyongyang and was taken to the same jail. While in the jail, True Father managed to send a note to Rev. Heo through her chief disciple. However, the note was discovered by a prison guard and True Father was tortured so severely that his teeth were broken.
It was during that time, before I came down to South Korea, that Rev. Heo's mother called me to go see her after receiving a revelation about me. I was then six years old. Rev. Heo's church was fulfilling the mission of the Bride of the Lord at the Second Advent, and Rev. Heo's mother gave me a benediction that I would take the position of that Bride. She said in her prayer that I was supposed to fulfill a great mission. I still vividly recall it: an elderly lady in a white Korean dress said that she had received a revelation about me from heaven and she called me to come into her room alone in order to give me that blessing. (True Mother, 1999/10/21)
8 Rev. Kim Seong-do's church was on the west coast of North Korea. After she died, Rev. Heo Ho-bin became its leader. True Mother's mother (Daemonim) was a devout member of that church. She first brought Mother to that church when she was four years old, and Rev. Heo's mother gave her blessing to Mother when she was six. That blessing symbolized the bequeathal to Mother, the succession of the mission to attend the Returning Lord.
When I first met Mother, I already knew about this succession. Everything that God had prepared was realized in 1960; that is how True Parents were able to emerge today. Based on this, it became possible to bestow the marriage Blessing on the church members so as to make them God's children. (052-186, 1971/12/29)
True Mother's name
Shortly after True Mother was born, her father, Han Seung-oon, named her Hak Ja, choosing hak according to a dream in which he saw two cranes. Hak means "crane" and ja means "son," and is often used to mean "child" in women's names. True Father gave a different interpretation, "She will come forth as the partner of God, by becoming the greatest scholar (another meaning for "hakja") of God's bitter sorrow." He said, further, "The last character of her name, ja symbolizes that she is destined to be bonded with God's prince."
9 I was told that at the time when I was born, my father had a dream-like vision in which he saw beautiful, bright sunshine beaming down on a thick forest of pine trees. In that forest, two cranes were dancing in harmony. So he named me Hak Ja. (True Mother, 1999/10/21)
10 True Mother's name is Hak Ja. These characters mean "crane" and "son." Cranes fly over the Himalayas and then land on the plains where they hatch their eggs. This symbolizes the mission that Eve is to fulfill. The character ja, meaning "son," symbolizes that she is the woman who yearns for the Son of God. True Mother's mission is to climb over the Himalayas and give birth to sons and daughters in the world of peace. Cranes do not eat just anything; they eat only clean things. They eat things that are nutritious but light. Once a crane starts to fly, it hardly changes direction as it flies high in the sky. For this reason, people in the East love cranes. (246-285, 1993/04/20)
Section 2. True Mother's Family
God's preparation
True Mother's father, Han Seung-oon, was born January 20,1909, and died on March 18, 1978. His father was Han Byeong-geon, his mother was Choi Gi-byeong, and he was the first son among five siblings. In May 1946, while working as a schoolteacher, he fled to the South. After that he worked as a teacher in elementary schools in Seoul and in Gyeonggi Province until February 1974. He dedicated 41 years of his life to being a teacher, in both North and South Korea.
Hong Soon-ae (Daemonim) was born on the 22nd day of the 2nd lunar month in 1914, into a devout Christian family. Her father was Hong Yu-il. Her mother, Jo Won-mo (who lived from the 7th day of the 11th lunar month of 1889 to the 3rd day of the 9th lunar month of 1962), bore him one son and one daughter. Daemonim was their first child. Jo Won-mo, True Mother's maternal grandmother, was a diligent and active woman like contemporary women. It is known that one of her ancestors, Jo Han-jun, built a significant stone bridge across the Dallae River at Jeongju in North Pyeongan Province, investing his entire fortune to build it.
1 I was born at dawn on the 6th day of the lsl lunar month in 1943, at Anju, South Pyeongan Province. It was not a remote village, yet there was a hill, and also a stream, right behind my house. The surrounding village had a very warm and cozy feeling, like a hen embracing her chicks. In the backyard was a cornfield that my family harvested for food. I remember how big those corn cobs were. In the area between True Father's hometown of Jeongju and my hometown of Anju there is a river. (True Mother, 1999/10/21)
2 My hometown, Anju, is in a strategic military and political location. It is one of the two important cities that Pyeong-an Province was named for. The character pyeong is the first character of the city of Pyongyang, and the character an is the first character of Anju. Anju is located in a natural environment of expansive plains that are good for agriculture. Historians say that the town existed in the time before the era called Gojoseon ("Ancient Joseon," 7th-1st centuries BCE). The Cheongcheon River that flows through this area separates North Pyeongan Province from South Pyeongan Province. Anju is about 60 kilometers from True Father's hometown of Jeongju and 75 kilometers from the city of Pyongyang. During the time Daemonim was offering conditions of devotion every day and searching for new words of truth, she would travel to the Holy Lord Church in Cheolsan, which was about 120 kilometers away. (True Mother, 2013/12/06)
3 True Mother's maternal grandmother Jo Won-mo was a direct descendant of Jo Han-jun. The character jo of her family name means nation. It signifies that Daemonim s mother was in the position of a mother of the nation. That is the way the generations of her family tradition connected through history. Here is a true story: After no one had repaired or maintained the Dallae Bridge in Jeongju for many decades, it started to deteriorate. Eventually it reached the point that people could not cross the bridge, and the road was blocked. Remnants of the broken bridge created an obstruction that caused the river to overflow its banks, and it was buried under the sand and mud of the river.
There was also a prophecy: If a rock carved like a totem pole that stood beside the bridge became buried, then the nation of Korea would fall, but if that rock was clearly exposed to the people, then a new heaven and earth would unfold in Korea. (455-261, 2004/06/26)
4 In order for Chinese envoys to travel to the seat of Korea's government, they had to cross the Dallae River at Jeongju. However there was no bridge for them to cross, and at that time the government did not have money to build one. So the government posted a bulletin, seeking someone to build a bridge there. That is when Jo Han-jun, my maternal grandmother's ancestor, built the bridge with his personal wealth. He made it a large stone bridge under which boats could pass.
When Jo Han-jun finished building the bridge, he had but three coins remaining to his name. He used those three coins to buy straw sandals to wear to the dedication ceremony the following day. Afterward he went to sleep, and that night he had a dream. An old man clothed in white appeared and said, "Han-jun, you offered distinguished service to your nation, and as a reward I wanted to send the son of heaven to your family. However, when you used those three coins for yourself, you did not completely fulfill heavens condition, so I will send you the princess of heaven instead." He woke up from that dream and ran to the Dallae River. There on a hill above the river he found that a stone statue of the Maitreya Buddha had appeared. (True Mother, 1999/10/21)
5 According to legend, when the people saw the stone Maitreya standing on the hill, they thought it had sprung up from underneath the ground. They built an open shrine for the statue so that it would not be exposed to the elements. Then the Maitreya statue began to grow. It grew bigger and bigger until it pierced the roof of the shrine, and the shrine had to be rebuilt. Then, strangely enough, the statues belly began to bulge, and when it did, so did the bellies of all the daughters in the Jo clan. This caused a big misunderstanding among the villagers, who thought that the unmarried girls had become pregnant out of wedlock.
Then, the Jo family cut off the stone statue's stomach to flatten it, but after that it began to bleed from its stomach. The mystical bleeding statue frightened them, so the Jo family quickly covered it with plaster to block the bleeding. Another local legend is that whenever someone passed by that statue on a horse, if the rider did not dismount and pay respect to the statue, the horse's shoes would stick to the ground and it could not move forward. Through such miracles as these, heaven raised the faithful Jo clan and sent my maternal grandmother, Jo Won-mo. God began preparing the spiritual environment starting with my ancestor Jo Han-jun and then connected that foundation to me. (True Mother, 2012/12/25)
6 True Mothers maternal grandmothers family name is Jo. Her family lived in a wealthy village, a community of tile-roofed houses where many government officials lived. True Mother's maternal grandmother, the third generation of her ancestral line, was a direct descendant of Jo Han-jun. Coming out of such a meritorious family tradition, both her maternal grandmother and Daemonim greatly loved True Mother and devoted special attention to raising her. Since Daemonim was often traveling all over the nation looking for the Lord, it was Grandmother Jo who actually raised True Mother. This family wanted more than anyone else to know all the secrets about the spirit world. (573-262, 2007/08/24)
7 Hong Yu-il, my maternal grandfather, was tall and handsome. When I first met True Father, he felt familiar to me because he looked so much like my grandfather. In those days my grandfather was so open to modern trends that he even bought high-heeled shoes for his daughter-in-law. Jo Won-mo, my maternal grandmother, was petite and pretty. She was diligent and active. Although she was not well educated, she was very much a modern lady. She even operated her own business selling and repairing sewing machines. (True Mother, 1999/10/21)
Cultural preparation
True Mothers ancestral home is located in South Korea, in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province. According to Father's explanation, Chungcheong means "a pure heart and a clear mind" and Cheongju means "a village that is clear and pure." When river or ocean water is clear, we can see fish and other things deep in the water. Likewise, Cheongju signifies a village of people whose hearts are pure and minds are clear, who seek to become the people of the Way. True Mother's family name Han, comes from the Cheongju Han clan, and it represents Korea, the Han nation, Hanguk. In addition, it represents the universe, since Han also signifies hana, meaning the first, or number one. That is why God prepared Heaven's Bride with the name Han from the Cheongju Han clan.
8 Korea has 4,300 years of history. This history includes the era of Gojoseon. The Korean people were called the Dongyi people, a people in the East who studied astronomy and interpreted the stars to ascertain heavenly fortune. In every era of its history Korea has upheld a national religion. In the eras of Silla and Goryeo, it was Buddhism, and in the era of Joseon, it was Confucianism. When we trace back to the earliest history of Korea, we find a record that the Han clan preceded even the Gojoseon era. There we can find the origin of the Korean people, from a time even earlier than the Gojoseon era. (615-173, 2009/08/22)
9 Korean historians state that before the Gojoseon era there was a nation governed by Emperor Hwan-ung. It was he who begat Dangun, the first ancestor of Korea.
The word hwan is an old pronunciation of the word that in subsequent Korean history came to be written hart. That is why people often refer to Hwan-ung by the name Han-ung. Of course, some people disparage this part of Korean history as mere mythology. However, hidden in the myth of Dan-gun is God's Will to choose the Han people as the people of heaven's lineage. Artifacts and related data associated with that era are being discovered, and they are proving that the mythology has a basis in fact.
Not many people know the origin of the word Han in the phrase "the Han people" or in the official name of Korea, Daehan Minguk. But in fact, the origin of this word can be found in the name "Han Clan Joseon." Thousands of years ago a vast territory that stretched from the northeastern part of China to the Korean Peninsula was ruled by members of the Han lineage; thus that nation was called Han Clan Joseon. The reason that we Korean people are often called the Han people and that our nation's name is Daehan Minguk originates from the Han Clan Joseon nation of long ago. Ultimately, what this means is that our nation was established by the ancient ancestors of the Han people. (True Mother, 2013/12/06)
10 When we search for the root of the phrase "the Han people," we find that it originates from han. This word denotes the unique name that our people were called from ancient times. It means the first people and a great people. It also refers to the people of heaven's lineage who will fulfill God's Will and make the world one. Therefore, the Han clan is known to be a royal and prestigious lineage with a long and enduring history. That is why it was from this lineage that God sought a woman to be the True Mother. (True Mother, 2013/12/06)
11 Han also is the word for the One, God, and the oneness of all things in the universe. In addition, it means vast, which implies embracing everything in the universe, fully and abundantly. It also means divine, number one in the world, and the origin or beginning of all things. Thus, we Han people are the people who will carry out the role of fulfilling God's Will on earth by spearheading human history and guiding humankind to truth. (True Mother, 2013/12/06)
12 We Korean people are known as the Baedal people, the white-clothed people. Baedal means "the bright country," and "the country that reveres heaven." Dan-gun is also called the King of Baedal, an ancient kingdom of the Korean people thousands of years ago. From the Bible, we read that God chose Noah and Abraham, and worked with them as central figures to prepare the Israelites as the chosen people to whom He would eventually send Jesus. Likewise, heaven chose the Han people as the people of heaven's lineage and raised them as His people with the Hongik Ingan teaching—the principle to widely benefit humankind—that was given by Dangun. Thus God prepared them to lead the providence when He sends the Returning Lord to them. Therefore, we must bear in mind that the Han people have been chosen by God to stand in front and lead the way to establish the kingdom of peace in the Era After the Coming of Heaven. (True Mother, 2013/12/06)
13 The Korean alphabet was revealed during the reign of King Sejong, who promulgated it as Hunmin Jeongeum, meaning "the teaching of correct sounds for the people." The name can be interpreted to mean that those who teach and learn what is right will continue on, even if their country falls into ruin. I came to learn that the Dongyi people (another name for the Korean people) have such a history and character.
It is generally believed that Korean history spans approximately 4,000 years, beginning with the Gojoseon era. However, the Han people already existed 3,000 years prior to the Gojoseon era, and their place of origin on the Korean Peninsula was Cheongju. I am now working to systematically organize all the material that I have compiled and publish a book about the ancient history of Korea, one that does not treat Korea in isolation but demonstrates its links with the history of other Far Eastern nations. (613-043, 2009/06/03)
Section 3. Spirit-led Churches
The providence of Spirit-led churches
Beginning around 1900, while God was initiating the providence to send the returning Messiah to the land of Korea, Spirit-led churches began to emerge. These were led by devout Christians who had advance knowledge about the providence of God. The work of these churches began with the New Jesus Church led by Rev. Yi Yong-do, was passed to the Holy Lord Church of Rev. Kim Seong-do, and culminated with the Inside the Womb Church of Rev. Heo Ho-bin. As these churches searched for the Returning Lord, they also created the foundation for God's providence to welcome Heavens Bride.
1 In the land of Korea, God has been conducting spiritual work focusing on Christianity. Focusing on certain spiritual Christian churches God prepared a foundation in the 1930s and 1940s before Korea's liberation from Japan. Those Christian churches had to understand God's internal circumstances and attend His internal Will, to prepare to receive the Returning Lord. God led this work through numerous families and pioneers. In Cheolsan, Pyongyang and Wonsan they did everything they could to prepare a good environment for the time of the Lord's return. Since Christianity was called to fulfill the Will to receive the Lord, God had these faithful believers prepare a spiritual environment to receive him. (028-058, 1970/01/03)
2 Among people doing this spiritual work was Rev. Kim Seong-do, who lived in Cheolsan. Another spiritual leader at that time was Rev. Baek Nam-ju from Hamheung, who was granted authorization by the Japanese governor-general's office in Korea to lead the Holy Lord Church. This was possible only because of guidance from the spirit world. The spirit world gave a message to Rev. Baek to walk barefoot from Hamheung to Cheolsan and meet Rev. Kim. Although the distance was some 240 to 280 kilometers, he walked barefoot and met Rev. Kim. In this way, east and west united.
God prepared this foundation of unity so that the Returning Lord would not be persecuted when he arrived. That is how the Holy Lord (Seongju) Church was formed. Its name takes seong, meaning "holy," from Kim Seong-do, and ju, meaning "the Lord," from Baek Nam-ju. However, a problem arose: Kim Seong-do viewed her position as higher than that of Baek Nam-ju and others. Kim Seong-do said, "Since I am the one whom heaven taught about Eve's mission, I am the one who must attend the Lord when He comes." (223-211, 1991/11/10)
3 When Rev. Kim Seong-do and her family failed to fulfill their responsibility for her mission, it was transferred to a woman who faithfully attended her, Rev. Heo Ho-bin. Rev. Heo's whole life was focused on the Returning Lord. Heaven taught her how sin could be removed, how to live a daily life of attendance to the Lord, and how children should be raised after the Lord's coming. Rev. Heo set up all the necessary traditions for living in attendance to the Returning Lord. Rev. Heo had to make these preparations before Korea's liberation from Japan in 1945. The Principle of Restoration is such that she needed to do this work during the seven years prior to the liberation. Then, God's plan for the Returning Lord could have been fulfilled at the time of the liberation. The Messiah could have inherited the foundation she had built and initiated a new history.
Rev. Heo stood one level lower than the Returning Lord. She did not stand in the same position as the Lord; rather she stood in the position of symbolically giving birth to him. Through her, the Lord could be born symbolically, this is according to the Principle of Restoration. Thus her mission symbolized that of Mary. (008-223, 1960/01/06)
4 Two thousand years ago in Israel, God made many preparations before the birth of Jesus. He prepared the people of Israel ahead of time to welcome Jesus. He prepared so that Jesus could have his heavenly family, unite the nation and then bring salvation to the world. However, the central figures of the providence at that time cared more about their daily lives than about God's circumstances or His profound Will. As a result of their not recognizing and attending Jesus properly, Jesus was sent to the cross. During the 2,000 years since Jesus' resurrection, God has been working through Christian culture to awaken and prepare people as brides to attend the Returning Lord. He called Korea to be His chosen nation.
Although Korea has but a short history of Christianity, God led the people of Korea to establish churches to make internal preparations to welcome the Returning Lord both before and after the country's liberation. God directly guided Rev. Heo Ho-bin and her husband, who established the Inside the Womb Church, to make internal preparations to attend the Returning Lord. This included making clothes that would fit him for every year of his life from birth to age 33.
This was to alleviate the bitter sorrow of Jesus, whose life of 33 years was so miserable. (True Mother, 1999/10/21)
Nurturing True Mother
True Father said, "The Holy Lord Church led by Rev. Kim Seong-do and the Inside the Womb Church led by Rev. Heo Ho-bin were connected to True Mother through Daemonim." Throughout her life, Hong Soon-ae (Daemonim) made many conditions of devotion to meet the Returning Lord. Also, when she joined the Holy Lord Church and the Inside the Womb Church, she dedicated herself to these churches. During that time, Rev. Heo's mother gave a blessing to True Mother, "You will be Heaven's Bride." This signified that the entire foundation of the conditions of devotion made by all these Spirit-led churches was bequeathed to True Mother through Daemonim.
5 As no tree is without roots, we need to understand the people in the past who constituted the roots of True Father and True Mother before they were inaugurated as the True Parents. It is significant that they created and maintained a good environment, good family and good lineage until the end of their lives. My mother, Daemonim, was born on the 22nd day of the 2nd lunar month in 1914, at Jeongju, North Pyeongan Province. She devoted her life completely to finding the Returning Lord and then lived her whole life in attendance to him. Christians up to that time lived with the hope of welcoming the Lord, but my mothers path was different. In order to meet the Lord she actively searched for him, rather than just hoping and waiting for him to come. (True Mother, 1989/12/02)
6 Thousands of years before Jesus came, God made many preparations for Israel to receive him that remain unknown to this day. In Korea as well, prior to the liberation He prepared many groups to receive the Lord at his return. Those groups carried out internal work for the providential history of restoration. My maternal grandmother and my mother searched everywhere for those groups. They lived their lives only for the Will, preparing for the day when they could meet the Lord. In the end, their sincere and devout life of faith led me to where I am today. Living a virtuous and pure life, they separated themselves from anything impure or evil. I learned this way of life primarily from my mother, but my maternal grandmother also greatly influenced me. (True Mother, 1999/10/21)
7 Grandmother Jo Won-mo was born in a Christian family. She had deep faith and love for her country, and was passionate about everything she did. With the explosive beginning of the March 1st Movement in 1919, she participated while carrying my mother, who was then five, on her back. I remember one time seeing a picture of her at a rally. Grandmother Jo was truly a remarkable woman, with a fervent life of faith that influenced my mother. They attended a Presbyterian Church until my mother was 19 years old. Later, they attended the Holy Lord Church founded by Rev. Kim Seong-do, even making the long journey to Cheolsan to attend a church there because it was very active. My grandmother and my mother joined that church and continued their life of faith. (True Mother, 2014/10/11)
8 In 1944, one year after I was born, my mother and grandmother Jo Won-mo joined the Inside the Womb Church, where preparations were being made to attend the Returning Lord. Rev. Heo Ho-bin told the members, "Each and every woman in the church should make at least one set of clothes for the Lord. Otherwise, when he comes you will be ashamed."
One afternoon, around 1:00 p.m., Rev. Heo asked my mother to make a set of clothes for the Lord and complete them before nightfall. It might be possible to make clothes for an ordinary person within several hours, but making clothes for the Lord required extra special care. Still, my mother obeyed and did her best. With trembling hands, she made the clothes with a heart of gratitude.
My mother wanted to be like Rev. Heo, who was living a spiritual life of attendance to the Returning Lord day and night. One day she thought to herself, "If only I could meet the Lord once, even in a dream, 1 could die and have no regrets." That night she had a dream. In her dream, she was wearing a white Korean dress. She was in a clean three-room house with a thatched roof. Having prepared breakfast, she was coming out of the kitchen, drying her hands on her apron, when Grandmother Jo said, "Not just anyone is allowed to come into this room." Still, she opened the door, and without saying anything, quietly entered the room and sat down. There she saw a man, physically well-built and wearing a headband, sitting at the table facing the east and studying. All of a sudden he turned around and looked at her, and said, "I have been studying hard in order to find you."
My mother later said that his remark touched her deeply and she was overwhelmed with gratitude, but at the same time she felt inadequate and could only shed tears, unable to utter even one word. She wept while holding his hand. Then she woke up. After waking up, she thought, "What an unusual dream! He must be the Returning Lord." That is how my mother had her first encounter with True Father, in a dream. (True Mother, 2014/10/11)
9 One day, Rev. Heo Ho-bin told my mother about a revelation that she had received. "I was told that you should go to Anju and buy new shoes for the Returning Lord and his Bride, and also a traditional Korean hat for him." My mother departed as soon as she heard this. She went to a well-known craftsman who made those items and asked him sincerely, "Please make them with your utmost devotion. I will pay you as much money as you want. Just make them to the best of your ability." She gave him the sizes for the items and left. One week later, my mother went to pick up the items. She was pleased with the shoes but not with the hat. As soon as the craftsman handed her the hat, she felt her arms starting to get numb and saw the sky turning yellow. Her entire body was paralyzed, she could not move at all, and her feet were stuck to the floor. When she said to the craftsman, "You must make it again," little by little her body returned to its normal state. My mother was very upset, and she scolded him for not making it properly. He was shaken, and he promised to try his best to make it right.
A week later, she went back to that craftsman. This time she was well pleased with the hat. She was relieved by this and, after paying for the shoes and hat, brought them back to the church in Pyongyang. Later when she shared her experience about the incident, Rev. Heo laughed with joy.
After about a month, my mother had another dream. She used to have very vivid dreams. In this dream the same man whom she had seen in her dream the previous month appeared again and said, "I need to go to the North and study more. So prepare your favorite sleeping pad and blanket; also a suit of clothes. Put them in my backpack for me to carry with me." She answered that she would do so, and returned home. Still in the dream, she entered her house, and amazingly, a clean blanket and sleeping pad were already prepared and waiting for her. There was even a suit of clothes; it was light-colored and the fabric was of excellent quality. Thinking, "How incredible! How can I ever express my gratitude enough?" she packed them in a backpack with wholehearted devotion and offered it to the man.
As he put it on his back, he said to her, "I will be back in three years. During that time, do not change your heart. Just wait for me!" He whistled a tune as he departed on his solitary journey. As she watched his back receding into the distance, my mother cried and cried. He looked so lonely as he departed to study in the North. She thought to herself, "Of course, my heart will not change. Although I am just an ordinary woman, this distinguished man sincerely requested that I not change my heart for three years." She was so overwhelmed by his loving heart toward her that she could not stop crying. Then she woke up. In this way my mother, Daemonim, met the Returning Lord ahead of time, in her dreams. (True Mother, 2014/10/11)
10 In August 1946, one of the Inside the Womb Church members defected to the communist authorities. Rev. Heo Ho-bin and other Inside the Womb Church leaders were arrested by the police and imprisoned at the Daedong Detention Center. During the interrogation, whenever they asked Rev. Heo, "When will the baby Jesus be born?" she kept on saying, "In a few days." That was what the messages from heaven had told her to say.
She had told the members of her church that the Lord of the Second Advent would be released from the prison, so every day about 20 to 30 members of her church clad in white clothes waited for the Lord outside the jail. In the meantime, internal security officers confiscated all the clothes that had been made for the Returning Lord over many years. Hence, heaven gave a message to the church members that they had to make them all again. It took them an entire year to make the clothes, yet even by then, Rev. Heo had not yet been released. (True Mother, 2014/10/11)
11 Sometime in June of 1946, Father left Seoul and went to Pyongyang in the North. He evangelized there and found a lecture room in Gyeongchang-ri where he could meet his followers. Around that time the communist authorities began to persecute religious groups. Rev. Heo Ho-bin and her main church leaders were incarcerated at the Daedong Detention Center, charged with operating a pseudo-religion.
Father was incarcerated at the same facility. He was charged with two counts: leading a pseudo-religion, similar to the charge against Rev. Heo, and being a spy for South Korean President Syngman Rhee.
The Inside the Womb Church was prepared in the position of the providential Bride, but it failed to come to True Father, who was in the position of the Bridegroom. From inside the prison Father twice sent messengers to Rev. Heo to let her know who he was, but she rejected those messages. Yet even in the prison God continued to work to bring her to Father. Father was imprisoned for 100 days, beginning on August 11. During that time he attempted to contact Rev. Heo Ho-bin several times, but she never recognized who Father was, even to the very end of her life. She rejected God's providential efforts to approach her and His loving heart to spare her life and ended up going the way of faithlessness and death.
On November 21, Father was thrown out of the prison, on the verge of death due to the severe torture he had undergone in the prison, and he survived thanks to God's grace. The other leaders of the Inside the Womb Church were also tortured at that time. All of them were later executed, some time after the Korean War began. This is a living lesson given to us from history: how severe and tragic the fate that befalls those who are called to a providential mission should they fail to fulfill the responsibility for which heaven has blessed them and showered them with grace. (True Mother, 2014/10/11)
12 My mother, Daemonim, and my maternal grandmother, Jo Won-mo, lived their entire lives with faith in order to receive the Returning Lord. They never compromised; they never settled into a comfortable family life. Instead, they totally immersed themselves in serving God with their utmost devotion. Since my mother walked a path of trials and tribulations in order to receive the Returning Lord, I naturally participated in doing so along with her. My grandmother, mother and I would sacrifice anything for the way of the Will. That is why God was continually with our family. (True Mother, 2014/10/11)
13 As we see from the life of my mother, Hong Soon-ae, we should live a life of which we can be proud. Out of the four persons who are parents of the True Parents, my mother is the only one who attended True Father until the end. For this reason True Father bestowed on her the title Daemonim. Before she received this title, she offered endless prayers, shedding tears of anguish. Her sincere devotion was a devotion that heaven alone could understand. Before she met True Father, she prayed that God would guide her to meet the Returning Lord. After she met True Father, she prayed even more deeply for the entire True Family, because she was well aware how hard Satan was trying to invade the True Family spiritually. She fought with Satan to protect the True Family; in fact, she kept on praying for them even during the ten years when she was suffering from failing health. (True Mother, 1989/12/02)
14 From now on none of you should accumulate wealth for yourself. It is good to be frugal, but I suggest that you be frugal so that you can make a greater offering for the Will. You should be able to invest all your savings for your clan, for your nation, and for the reunification of Korea. Do not think only of your own family. The only thing you need is a heart burning with love for God. Like Daemonim, you should live 24 hours a day thinking only of how you will fulfill the Will of God and True Parents. She had nothing else in her heart but that; she did not think of anything else. Because of this she deserves our utmost respect. That is why I bestowed on her the title Daemo, "Great Mother." (208-346, 1990/11/21)
15 After True Parents' Holy Wedding, Daemonim and True Mother had to work hard to deal with criticism from all kinds of women, ranging from the wife of the laborer to a lady from the line of the royal family. Mother could not endure this all by herself; three generations—grandmother Jo Won-mo, Daemonim and True Mother—had to face it together. Knowing Daemonim had fulfilled her responsibility in this, I gave her the title Daemo, which means "Great Mother."
The way of love that all women have to walk has high walls to overcome. Unless True Mother could take those walls down, women would come to blame her. Daemonim appealed to God, crying out that she could take all True Mother's burdens on her behalf, and she actually did so. She also ardently prayed that she could dissolve all the worries, bitterness and sorrows of the True Family.
Now, having passed through the painful path of sacrifices, we have come to the era when we can go over the national level and even the world level and proceed toward the world of unity and liberation. Hong Soon-ae truly accomplished all her responsibilities; hence, she deserves to be attended by all. That is why I named her Daemonim.
As an example to your families and descendants, all of you should inherit Daemonim's heart of single-minded loyalty and establish a proper tradition of attending God. This grandmother lived only to attend God. In attending God in your families you should fulfill the way of a loyal heart with single-mindedness even greater than hers. On November 4, 1989, in honor of Daemonim, I created a calligraphic tribute, Chungshim Bong-shin (195-152, 1989/11/07)
which means "with a
loyal heart she dedicated herself" to God and True Parents. Anyone, like her, who goes to the spirit world after a life of sacrifice lived with single-minded devotion will open the gate to receive blessings from God free from any accusation.
16 Daemonim's entire life of faith and devotion had only one objective. We must especially remember that from the beginning she was part of the new providential work that included proclaiming that the Returning Lord would be born on earth as a human being. She participated in the new churches that God created for that purpose. Rev. Kim Seong-do, founder of the Holy Lord Church, was the first generation; another line was represented by Rev. Heo Ho-bin of the Inside the Womb Church. Their work laid the foundation that was bequeathed to True Mother. They formed the mainstream history from which Daemonim inherited the tradition of faith; but she was the first of these forerunners to actually attend the Returning Lord.
By giving birth to True Mother, she completed the work of these women who had labored through three generations to carry out the role of Eve. She made preparations discreetly, knowing that the Will would bear fruit in True Mothers generation. Words cannot describe all the hardships she endured. The many ordeals she had to bear throughout her life are beyond description. No one, not her siblings, her relatives or her friends, was ever able to understand her. As she walked her lonely path of faith, she even subsisted on raw pine needles. Yet her belief never changed and her faith never wavered as she established the foundation for True Mother to meet me. (265-009, 1994/11/07)
Taken from Cheon Seong Gyeong (http://www.truelove.org/csg2/toc.htm)
No comments:
Post a Comment