This week in history, April 5-11:

True Mother embarked on a 16-city speaking tour from April 1-16, 1998 under the banner: “Blessed Marriage and Eternal Life”.

April 3, 1995 New Hope Farm Declaration

True Parents offered a number of declarations in conjunction with their providential work in South America in the 1990s. One of the most important was the New Hope Farm Declaration delivered at 5:00 a.m. on April 3, 1995, in front of representative leaders of 160 nations gathered at the New Hope Farm in Brazil. It was in this declaration that True Parents declared the principle of “absolute faith, absolute love and absolute obedience,” which in 1998 was added as Pledge No. 8 to the Family Pledge. True Parents declared that New Hope Farm Jardim was a training site for practicing this principle; in loving the earth, water and nature; and in showing the world “a community of love transcending skin color, culture and nation.”

April 3, 1997 The Building True Families for World Peace Rally in Korea

The Building True Families for World Peace Rally in Korea concluded on April 3, 1997, in Seongnam, the twenty-second city where the rally took place. It began on March 13 with the rally in South Gyeongsang Province. In each city, True Father gave words of encouragement through the speech “View of the Principle of the Providential History of Salvation,” while True Mother gave the keynote speech titled “In Search of the Origin of the Universe.” True Father emphasized, “The Returning Lord will come in the flesh and form new relationships based on God’s lineage; he will do so through the international mass Blessing Ceremonies.” (Materials provided by the FFWPU History Compilation Committee)

April 3, 2007 Rally to Declare the Beginning of a New Universal Civilization of Peace

True Father declared a “Great Jubilee Year” in 2007. He said the reason for the declaration was the rise of the Pacific Rim Era. On April 3, True Father began a tour in Korea for the purpose of declaring the beginning of a new universal civilization of peace. He spoke in 25 locations of Korea. The first of the rallies took place on April 3 in the Changwon Stadium in South Gyeongsang Province. More than 9,000 Ambassadors for Peace from the province gathered that day along with guests, relatives and friends of the local members. The program began with entertainment, then a reading from the messages from the spirit world. A Holy Wine ceremony and Holy Burning ceremony were held for all the participants. True Father delivered the speech that he gave on March 17 in Kona, Hawaii, when he declared the dawn of the Pacific Rim Era to representatives from 120 nations. It was entitled “A Providential View of the Pacific Rim Era in Light of God’s Will: The United States and the Future Direction of the United Nations and the World.”

April 4, 2002 Ceremony for the Total Liberation of 6,000 Years of Providential History

On April 4, 2002, the Ceremony for the Total Liberation of Six Thousand Years of Providential History took place at East Garden, New York. This was a special ceremony that liberated the evil spirits that had blocked central figures within the providence of restoration from completing their responsibilities and one through which the eight levels of liberation were attained. On 2.22 on the lunar calendar, at 0:22 minutes 22 seconds, in connection with the Cheongpyeong Heaven and Earth Training Center, True Parents carried out liberation in a prayer. In the prayer True Father said, “Now that we have welcomed an era in which we can newly pioneer and organize, we desire to dedicate this sacred liberation ceremony of all indemnity.” (Materials provided by the FFWPU History Compilation Committee)

April 5, 1973 True Father Meets South Vietnamese President Nguyễn Văn Thiệu

On April 5, 1973, True Father met with the visiting president of South Vietnam, Nguyễn Văn Thiệu. According to Freedom Leadership Foundation (FLF) Special Assistant Mike Leone, “The meetings were very, very successful.” In the late 1960s and early 1970s, one of True Father’s main goals was “to prepare for the fight against communism.” Since 1969, the FLF had spearheaded the Victory over Communism (VOC) efforts in the United States for the Unification movement. Through the organization, True Father met numerous U.S. senators and congressmen in the early months of 1973, as well as President Thiệu. The meetings were an important step in developing the campaign to fight communism, something that would become one of the defining characteristics and focal points of the movement in the years to come.

April 7, 1989 Holy Weddings at the World Mission Center

Three special Holy Blessings were held in New York City in the Grand Ballroom of the World Mission Center on April 7, 1989. These Blessings were significant because there were three categories of Blessing candidates: matched couples, previously married couples, and individuals. The 42 Couples Blessing consisted of matched couples, connected to the 1,275 Couples Blessing in Korea. The 138 Couples Blessing and 57 Members Single Blessing comprised, respectively, previously married couples and individual members over 60 years old. There were 37 nations represented, and the oldest Single Blessing candidate was an 87-year-old sister from France.

April 8, 1997 Proclamation of the Era of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification

True Parents proclaimed the Era of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification at a rally at the Central Training Center in Guri, Korea, on April 8, 1997. Approximately 1,000 national messiahs and leaders from Korea and Japan were in attendance as True Father announced that the Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity (HSA-UWC) would officially change its name to the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (FFWPU). (Materials provided by the History Compilation Committee)

April 8, 2013 The Passing of Lady Margaret Thatcher

Former U.K. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher (1925-2013) was a friend of the Unification movement. In 2007, on the 25th anniversary of The Washington Times, she sent a warm video tribute. The following year she accepted the Universal Peace Federation’s Leadership and Good Governance Award, and in 2010, on the occasion of True Father’s 90th birthday, she sent a hand-written greeting expressing her hope that it would be a “splendid occasion.” Her appreciation stemmed from a common interest in combating global communism and promoting the values of “family, faith, and freedom.” She likely was unaware of True Parents’ pronouncements regarding an emerging era of women. Nonetheless, her career as a national and world leader provided a model that resonated with Unification values.