Black Heung Jin (Cleophas Kundiona) by Nan-sook Hong

Hi all, Can anyone please explain this to me? I have labored to read DP many times over 200 and this does not seem to fit into DP at all. …[referring to the attached chapter from Nan-sook’s Book] thanks, John C.

From: James Edgerly Sent: Monday, January 05, 2015 4:47 AM To: John Brady Subject: Black Heung Jin (Cleophas Kundiona) by Nan-sook Hong Hi John - … As I recall from my visit to Johannesburg in 1988, you were quite taken by “Black Heung Jin”. Can you contribute anything to the question raised by my friend John C.? We would appreciate hearing from you. Sincerely, Jim Edgerly

Black Heung Jin Nim Hello John C., My thanks to Jim Edgerly, who passed on your request for explanation to me (above). Jim remembered that I - at the time based in Johannesburg - was closely involved with Black Heung Jin Nim. It doesn’t surprise, that you can’t see the Work of God in Nan-sook’s critical report. However your asking is a bright ray of hope, which certainly deserves to be encouraged/developed. What appears as the defaming of a remarkable work of God, provokes me into breaking my silence and telling my side of this story. Hopefully one day God’s full view of this will be visible. Beginning That story began with hearing that a simple, normal, African Church Brother in our neighbor country/region Zimbabwe (by the name of Cleophas Kundiona – Cleophas being an unusual name, which they pronounced something like ‘Kloppus’) became possessed by the spirit of Heung Jin Nim (which seemed to be something like when a ‘medium’ channels a ‘spirit’ in esoteric-circles) – at first occasionally, later around- the-clock. Eventually around July 1987 we were informed that ‘Heung Jin Nim’ was inviting us to come there and be part of this. So after first getting the OK from international World Mission HQ, we went. We were impressed by the bright happy atmosphere of anticipation. Scores of Church members from that Region were there, even some from the international HQ. After introductions to Cleophas - whom I had not met before – it was obvious that he was in charge, thus we joined with everyone else sitting in the audience listening/attending. Very soon our skepticism vanished on hearing - through the voice and charming Zimbabwean-African English of a self-confident and passionate Cleophas - the guidance from Heung Jin Nim, talking about True Parents, about God, about the Principle, our life of faith, and about God’s plan for the world. After an initial period of getting used to it, we were only aware of the great pure spirit of Heung Jin Nim. A few days later we returned to Johannesburg. We of course double/triple checked this most unusual experience once again with international Headquarters, asking how we should respond. The feedback we got was also surprising: just open yourselves to this, support it and we’ll see where it goes - which we tried to do.

Eventually, Black Heung Jin Nim also came to visit us in Johannesburg for several days with a delegation of the leadership from that Region. Now here was the spirit of Heung Jin Nim sitting among us, eating together at the table with us, traveling with us in the car, touring our centers and projects, asking us how we were doing personally, calling us by name, looking in our eyes, listening attentively and responding, meeting our families, giving kind attention to our children, commenting on everyday things that touched our lives, but most of all giving us internal guidance for hours and hours. Among other things he would tell the sisters/wives, “Come sit by your husband. Share everything with your husband. You husbands, step down off your high horses and serve your wives. Listen to their concerns. Listen to their hearts.” He brought in a revolution like that, that especially sisters and mothers felt encouraged by. One thing we were continually astounded by: he would talk, give guidance almost the whole day, with deep detailed insights into Divine Principle and to the Bible, but he never studied. The few hours he slept – totally exhausted - we saw he had no time to prepare for those things. Heavenly guidance just poured out through him. Again and again, we confirmed, that this must be the pure spirit of Heung Jin Nim, because otherwise Cleophas could never have known all these things and couldn’t give such consistent, noble good guidance. In the following months there were several such similar meetings in their region and ours. We mostly all were in awe, supported and took notes. It was really as if a junior version of True Parents were with us in a sense. Most of us had experienced True Parents, but only from a distance and/or in huge gatherings on a stage where we couldn’t have personal give and take. But here we were in everyday circumstances with this holy man among us. We really didn’t know many details about Heung Jin Nim’s life or understand his position. Even as late as the beginning of 2014 - from Kwon Jin Nim’s eulogy, 30 years after Heung Jin Nim’s fatal accident - I began to understand better Heung Jin Nim’s position among the True Children. He was the one who stood out perhaps the most strongly – growing up in that Family that was so large it was more like a bustling ‘small town of relatives’ - with taking True Parents seriously and supporting them, protecting them, attending them as no other True Child. Reaching out around the world Then toward the end of 1987, we got the calling – confirmed by Intl. HQ - to accompany him on a world-wide trip. My wife and I joined the small group that accompanied him through Europe. I think we visited every country where there was an existing Church established. In most smaller countries it was a whistle-stop tour – one day, one country – there was unfortunately almost no time for sightseeing – he met/guided members, made some short memorial conditions (mostly at sites of great historical sacrifices) and we went on to the next place. Then we also went on an unforgettable tour to Russia - and that was the time before the fall of the Iron Curtain. We went first to Jerusalem (made several conditions there), and then from Israel to Russia - to Moscow and Leningrad (St. Petersburg). My wife and I were one of the couples in the small group. Externally/officially we were tourists, but he would also be guiding us to make Holy Grounds in parks in Moscow, Leningrad and other places. To try to make a Holy Ground - stand in four positions in a park in Communist Russia, where you know the KGB is all around; trying to look like you were just casually walking around the grass, when you were actually sprinkling Holy Salt and praying - was really challenging. But we did it, because we felt we were supporting important conditions Heung Jin Nim was making in preparation for True Parents to later come there. When in Leningrad, Heung Jin Nim shocked us by directing, “OK, now let’s all go door-to-door” - kind of like witnessing. We thought, “oh my God, we don’t want to end up in a Siberian

concentration camp” - but he was so confident and enthusiastic. So we complied. We went out in couples to some big high-rise concrete apartment block and rang doorbells. As an added challenge we had to find someone speaking English, because of course we didn’t speak any Russian. But after many attempts we found a youngish couple who invited us into their tiny apartment. It was quite nice; I remember the mood of our exchange. We just talked about what they did in everyday life; why the churches we passed were apparently used as store rooms, parking lots or swimming pools - things like that. Just getting to know each other, but well knowing that the KGB was surely watching us, thus we had to be very careful. But somehow it all worked out and all of us finally got out of Russia after making all of those conditions. As if God’s blessing accompanied Black Heung Jin Nim and us. Thereafter we went on to South America – I vaguely remember Columbia and Argentina - and then to America. I don’t remember in which order any more, but in America we had quite some time in the New Yorker Hotel, where our group also met Hyo Jin Nim and others of the the True Family and Church leadership. We weren’t with black Heung Jin Nim all the time when the True Family was around. Then he was absent for long periods with them, while we stayed behind. In Washington D.C. we had a big meeting for several days and in California at a training center north of San Francisco for quite a while. Those were very moving meetings where he gave internal guidance to the many gathered members. After our wives returned home, a smaller group of us continued the tour around the world. I think the stops were in Thailand, the length of Japan - from Okinawa to Hokkaido - big gatherings with big numbers of church members in several places, and then on to Korea for a couple weeks. Won Pil Kim(!) accompanied us in Japan and Korea. We also visited Han Nam Dong - True Parents house – for many hours. Our group stayed at a guest house somewhere in Seoul, where Won Pil Kim sort of functioned as our host. Everyday there were a lot of activities. We were amazed to observe Black Heung Jin Nim invited to sit at the table with True Parents, and the respect offered from all sides honoring the presence of Heung Jin Nim’s spirit, although the body was that of Cleophas. Good works (as in Matthew 5:16) As to the content of the guidance Heung Jin Nim was giving everywhere, it is impossible to give ample credit to hundreds of hours in this kind of short ‘overview report’. But just to mention a couple highlights/impressions: he really lifted the sisters up everywhere to equal positions with the brothers and the wives with their husbands. This was something which especially the western sisters felt immensely encouraged by. Furthermore he gave so many blessed couples – who felt they didn’t have sufficient spiritual conditions to start their families – the courage/confidence to go ahead and start. Thus generation- development of our Movement benefited a lot from his presence. Another thing that was really touching - especially in vague memories of sessions in Europe and Japan, where large numbers attended - Heung Jin Nim would ask if there were couples present that had already started their family, but could not have children, or they have been trying, but children did not come. He asked these couples to line up in front of the gathering, facing the audience. Those couples would shyly come forward and stand there all looking down; I was nearby and could see the tears of some of them dripping on their feet. Heung Jin Nim would then appeal to the crowd and asked, “can some couple give a child to one of these couples? We are family - please volunteer.” And amazingly - in the spirit of his heavenly presence - many came forward and volunteered. In the end it seemed as if all childless couples who had stood up got a child promised to them. It was inconceivable that any Church leader could have done that. I felt God’s incredible love and comfort coming through this great heart and intervention of Black Heung Jin Nim.

To his listeners, he never put himself in front of the True Parents, but always behind them. He was just the ‘Elder Brother’. But if he sensed unseen corruption, he wasn’t shy to reprimand as well. The impression I had was, that he was so concerned for righteousness, for attending True Parents with a clear and open heart, that he had little tolerance for nonsense. However by far the greatest emphasis of Black Heung Jin Nim was always the love of God and the goodness of God and True Parents. End When returning back to southern Africa from those world-wide trips, there was a question arising in the back of our minds: how long is this unusual situation going to go on? How will we know when Heung Jin Nim is there and when he is not? We felt very much out of our depth and were worried - we didn’t want to just follow any person who might be masquerading as Heung Jin Nim or might be misusing our trust. Thus in order to protect ourselves, our families and all brothers/sisters in the ‘extended family’ we were responsible for, our team decided to begin confirming every explicit instruction - that was coming through Black Heung Jin Nim to us – first directly with True Parents (independent from Black Heung Jin Nim) – through the hierarchal communication channels True Parents had set up. After the 1988 Summer Olympics in Korea – to which we leaders of worldwide Churches had been mobilized (without Black Heung Jin Nim) – we began first meticulously confirming every explicit instruction. As the weeks/months went by, we noticed a trend emerging - the quantity of instructions that got prior approval from True Parents which had started at 100%, then became less and less. In proportion, our internal ‘alarm bells’ started ringing louder and louder. I – the central contact person – would cooperate with instructions that got prior approval, but declined to cooperate when prior approval had been denied. The familiar voice to me on the phone from Zimbabwe was getting increasingly rough, eventually escalating to a point, at which we felt we had no other choice than to brake off any further relationship. Then even such spiritually-not-so-developed people as I, could clearly see: God’s pure son Heung Jin Nim – who had touched our hearts so deeply – had now distanced himself from the physical-body-channel of Cleopas - regretfully. The pure spirit of Heung Jin Nim – God’s model of a Heavenly Eldest Brother In retrospect it occurs to me that God was trying to support us with the physical presence of a model Heavenly Elder Brother, which had been missing until that time, and perhaps hasn’t been manifested so clearly since. Of course there were True Parents and we, the members, trying to restore the fallen foundation that we’ve come from, but the Heavenly Elder Brother was more a mediator between True Parents and us, like filling a void – helping these extremes to bond together. Kwon Jin Nim mentioned that even the development within the larger Family of his siblings might have also benefited a lot, if Heung Jin Nim had been more physically present. Borrowing on Jesus’ parable of the Prodigal Son – I could imagine that Heung Jin Nim was intended to be in the position of the brother who had always stayed at home and loyally served his parents. Once the prodigal son(s and daughters – symbolizing 1st Gens) returned, he/they required the coaching of that loyal elder brother, to learn how to attend the parents and harmoniously integrate themselves into the (heavenly) family. My assumption is that heaven intended for all mankind to live in peace as four position foundation families, and that – especially in large families – it would be extremely helpful if this development were supported by a ‘go-between’, an elder-brother/elder-sister, who is united with the parents, but takes especial responsibility for the everyday ‘coaching’ of younger brothers and sisters – encouraging them, giving them personal attention and love - which the parents might not always have time for - as well as occasionally drawing their attention to unacceptable behavior and calling

them to order. Could it be that this is what God was trying to support us with, through Black Heung Jin Nim? It could even be speculated, that God might have wanted not just to prepare Hoon Mo Nim/Dae Mo Nim for the Cheongpyeong providence, but also someone who could have represented Heung Jin Nim physically among us – who would help coach us on the personal and brotherly/sisterly level, and yet demonstrate an absolute clear standard for living an incorruptible life, not just passively watching things happen, but mustering more civil-courage to stand up for what our conscience tells us is right, following the standard and the model of True Parents. Our responsibility during our physical life on earth On the level of us physical people on earth, there seems to be a big lesson here (demonstrated by Cleophas) that I would like to share. Generally throughout the decades, I have observed several people (1st Gens and 2nd Gens) who started off by making admirable selfless efforts - on their way upwards toward achieving noble goals - then unexpectedly to ‘wipe out’. Continuing this ‘surfing metaphor’ (as in the photo below): in order to ‘catch the wave (of heavenly fortune)’ and ride it out, requires training to keep our balance ( 1 ) - putting God’s interests always first, and our own (ego) behind. We must avoid ‘wiping out’ ( 2 ) (as when a surfer loses balance, falls in the water and is suddenly left behind by the force of the wave) by voluntarily humbling ourselves before God – not just once, but countless times. If we should ever drift into taking God’s blessings for granted, we ‘wipe out’. Even naively following any strong personality, who might lead us away from God’s central providence, we also ‘wipe out’.

The Cleophas, the Nan-sooks - and numerous other strong/talented personalities - perhaps started out on a much purer ancestral foundation than most of us, but that didn’t guarantee a happy end. A nice start is/was maybe the easiest part. How well did they keep their balance over time? Especially at the crest of their (for us often unimaginably-big) ‘waves’? It is not our place to judge those who it seems ‘wiped out’, but rather empathize: “There, but for the grace of God, go I.”

I feel the calling here to most of all empathize with God – dry His tears, by concentrating on stably keeping our own balance – forever voluntarily humbling ourselves before God’s central providence through True Parents. Just as True Parents have taught us: God didn’t intend to place one Son (the Messiah) on a pedestal and thereafter have everyone just worship him, but rather He wanted us all to copy that model and become messiahs in our own 4-position-couples/families – multiplying that one example into billions of messiahs (God’s sons and daughters) - billions of ‘burning bushes’ (Blessed couples). Wouldn’t God also have the same desire concerning Heung Jin Nim and Dae Mo Nim? Shouldn’t we all be following their example - continually opening our hearts and inviting God to use us to do His work through us (not what I want, but – please God show me the much greater vision of - what You want; let me always attend Your needs first)? In this cold and frightened world, let us rather be contributors to spreading the security of the great warmth of God’s love. Sincerely, John Brady

January 2015 (after finishing this - a question: can it be just a coincidence that you asked and I was inspired to answer on another anniversary of Heung Jin Nim’s fatal accident?)