Exploring the Chambumoron, Lectures and Discussion Part 4 - 30th November 2024

So, one thing which annoys me intensely is when people say God blessed America. I think, does God like Americans more than anybody else? No. Are only Americans the people worthy of receiving God's blessing? No. Does God want to bless every nation in the world? Yes. What determines the extent to which God is able to bless a country? The extent to which they've created the foundation to receive God's blessing, which requires a spiritual community, freedom of speech, and freedom of religion. All these things allow God to work. Without freedom, there is no space for God to be able to work. For various historical reasons, America created that space, enabling God to work through all these extraordinary things they've invented. They are still inventing extraordinary things, and all different religious communities exist in America, etc.

The first blessing is Mind-Body Unity as an individual with God at your centre. The first blessing in a country is freedom of religion; you have to be able to worship God in the way you want to worship God. That only appeared relatively recently; otherwise, you had to do it the way the church said you had to do it. So, freedom of religion means you have the freedom to worship God how you want, believe about God what you want, and say what you want without being afraid of being put in prison. The second blessing is about family; it's about the four great realms of heart and three great kingships. What does that mean? The four great realms of heart are the relationships between parents and children, husband and wife, and siblings. You have to love all your children equally and treat them fairly. If you love one of your children as your favourite more than the others, does that help? No. We have evidence for that in Cain and Abel, Jacob and Esau, and Joseph getting the nice coat while not his older brothers. It doesn't work.

Within the family, there has to be justice, love, and justice in the way husbands and wives treat each other, and how parents treat their children, and how children treat their parents. If you're the youngest one, can you behave like you're the oldest? No, you get put in your place. If you're the oldest one and you're not going to be the older brother or sister, which means having some sense of responsibility for your younger brothers and sisters, does that work? No. That's just the way it is. This has to expand to a national level, which means it has to be a just society in which there is the rule of law. The establishment of the second blessing is the rule of law, which means that people have the freedom to move where they want, live where they want, etc.

The third blessing is over creation. How does that work? It has to be private property, so the state can't come along and confiscate people's houses, homes, farms, and factories. You have a free market, which means people can come up with all kinds of ideas and inventions, build a factory to make them, and sell them. Then you get a free market economy, and the country becomes very wealthy and prosperous. So, which is the first country in the world to establish the three great blessings? Britain. That's why England was the Eve nation; it had freedom of religion developed in the 16th century. You became Catholic, then Anglican and Protestant, with lots of fighting and arguments going on. But eventually, in the 17th century, there was complete freedom for religion, so people could think freely. The Quakers and all kinds of different sects appeared, and the Church of England was upset and annoyed, but they couldn't do anything about it; they had freedom of religion.

Then you had the rule of law, which goes all the way back to the Magna Carta in 1215. The king can do this, this, and this, but he can't do this, this, and this. If you're going to be put in prison, you have to be found guilty of breaking the law. The king or an official can't decide whether you've broken the law or not; there has to be a jury of your peers. That's justice; that's the rule of law. That means people could do all sorts of things as long as they weren't breaking the law, and they couldn't be thrown into prison legally. Sometimes, of course, they were. Along with this, you had free market, private property, and all that happened, which is why the Agricultural and Industrial revolutions happened here. That's why we ended up with this Empire, a quarter of the world's population. You look at the map of the world; this tiny little island controlled a quarter of the world because it became incredibly wealthy and prosperous, spreading these blessings to the world. Christian missionaries went out all over the place, bringing justice, rule of law, and parliamentary democracy to many countries.

Later on, England gave birth to the first Israel in 1948, the Balfour Declaration of 1917, and then later became the British Mandate of Palestine from 1920 to 1948, when the state of Israel came into existence. This gave birth to the second Israel, which refers to the United States of America in 1776, and the third Israel is Korea. All of these were painful and didn't work out the way they could have and should have. We can see that in Israel today; it could have worked out differently, but it became complicated after the Second World War. The United States should have treated the Americans differently, and they wouldn't have rebelled. The British were very wise after America became independent and lost all the colonies, which cost Britain a fortune. There was a public inquiry to find out where they messed up, and the inquiry concluded that they wanted to have their own Parliament. If we had given them their own Parliament, they would have accepted it. They went with 'no taxation without representation.' We should have given them representation either in Westminster, as the French did, or allowed them to set up their own Parliament within the colonies. Then they would have said, 'Okay, we can go with that; we have representation, and we can do things the way we want to do things.'

The commission said that next time a colony decides that's what it wants, we'll give it to them. So when the Canadians, Australians, New Zealanders, and South Africans said they wanted to have their own Parliament, we said, 'Yes, you can have it.' That's why the king is still the head of state of 16 different nations. We learned that lesson. It's good to study history to understand; let's not repeat the same mistake in the way we treated the Americans and the way we treat the Canadians, Australians, and New Zealanders. I don't know why I'm prattling on about this. Oh yeah, many colonies were part of the Empire, which spread Christianity and technology. Who do you think built the railways in Switzerland? British engineers. All this technology and all the printing presses developed and created here were exported. Other countries were allowed to buy it, and British technicians and engineers went to other countries so they could inherit that foundation of agriculture. Because of agriculture, that's why there are so many people living in the world today; we can feed this kind of population based on the agricultural evolution and the way things developed here, which then spread throughout the world.

The British Commonwealth of Nations consists of 56 nations, liberal democracies. Interestingly, our father said he should have married an English princess. That's interesting. If he had married Elizabeth, then he would have been the husband of the Queen of England, who is the head of state of 16 nations. The queen is the head of the church, so he would have been, along with her, the head of the Anglican community, which, after the Catholic Church, is the second largest international community. Unfortunately, it's falling to pieces now. The question is, should the father have said the Bride of the Messiah should have been born in England? Well, he said the true mother would have come out of the Christian realm. If things had turned out differently, perhaps she would have been a British woman. Why not? Once a worldwide foundation had been accomplished, I would have picked the true mother on the world level. Imagine if the royal princess of England had become the true mother. I'm only interested in one thing: how to restore the world.

He goes on to say that because our movement was rejected by Korean Christianity, our boundaries became so limited. If we had been supported by the Korean movement, it would have immediately become insignificant because the movement would have become worldwide and universal with no boundaries. Let's say that the true mother had come from Great Britain, the source of the English-speaking culture. The US is in a position of the son to Great Britain, well, not a very good one, but anyway, it would have been very rapid and easy for America to humble itself to Britain. Well, that's a bit optimistic, but certainly President Reagan listened to Mrs Thatcher's advice and guidance in a very good way. So, that's interesting, isn't it? That's what father thought. Again, father is looking at the whole historical process and thinking, 'Okay, this is how things have turned out, but could they have turned out better?' I thought about this a lot. Father thought he could have married an English princess. How's that going to happen?

To marry an English princess, he would have had to come to school here, to Eton or Harrow School, and mixed in those social circles. He could have met a British princess. Being the kind of person he was, which was something extraordinary, I'm sure without a shadow of a doubt he could have won the heart of an English princess and married her. I have no doubt about that whatsoever because of the kind of person he was. But that could only have ever come about if he'd actually had the opportunity to meet such a person. Well, that opportunity didn't exist. It's not because England failed; it didn't fail. That opportunity never came about. So, the question is, why? Well, from 1905 until 1945, Korea was occupied by Japan. Should that have happened? Forty years of occupation? Should that have happened? Well, because it happened, it was impossible for father to come here, go to school here, and for that to work out. So, why did Japan occupy Korea? They wanted to occupy Korea because they wanted to expand their empire into Manchuria. Was it possible for such a thing not to have happened? Well, up until the middle of the 19th century, Korea was under Chinese oversight, you might say. They had to pay tribute taxes to the Chinese emperor. Anyway, China had a bit of a conflict, the Opium Wars with Britain, and so China became weaker. In the middle of the 19th century, many European powers were trying to expand their empires. Russia was moving east because it wanted to have a sea port in the east and ended up in Vladivostok. Russia was also interested in Korea; it was even better than Vladivostok and Port Arthur, which they had from the Chinese for a while but lost. They were moving east, and there were Russian Orthodox missionaries in Korea trying to get in there. Japan wanted to go west, and China was getting a bit weak. There were French missionaries there, which I will come back to in later lectures. One day, I think in 1866, a Russian naval fleet appeared off the coast of Korea. The Korean court was worried about what the Russians wanted to do, and of course, what the Japanese and Chinese wanted to do. The Koreans wanted to be an independent nation, but if you are squeezed between Russia, China, and Japan, it's very difficult to maintain your independence. It's really intense how to maintain that balance. At that time, there was a French bishop in Korea, and I think there were about a dozen French Catholic missionaries working underground because being a Christian in Korea was against the law; you would be executed. All these underground missionaries were there, but they also had quite a lot of influential connections in the Korean court. As happens, there were quite a number of Koreans who converted.

The bishop contacted Korean officials in the Royal Court with an idea to involve the French and the British in Korea's protection against the Russians, Chinese, and Japanese. He suggested that Korea could become a British-French protectorate, which would have brought missionaries, technology, and various blessings that were emerging in Europe at that time. However, Korea rejected this proposal, leading to the arrest and execution of the Catholic bishop, French priests, and about 10,000 Korean Catholics. The notion of religious freedom in Korea is misleading, as the greatest persecution of Christians in the 19th century occurred there. This rejection of foreign protection led to Japan's intervention, resulting in hardship for Korea rather than the blessings it could have received from Britain and France.

Had Korea become a British protectorate, it is likely that well-educated young people from good social backgrounds in the colonies would have been invited to study in England. Many leaders from various countries, such as Gandhi and Lee Kuan Yew, studied in the UK and returned to lead their nations towards liberal democracy. I believe that, due to God's Providence, Father would have also had the opportunity to study in England, possibly at a prestigious institution like Eton or Harrow, where he could have interacted with future religious and political leaders. However, this plan did not materialise due to mistakes made in Korea, not in Britain.

The position of the only begotten son remains significant. If one considers Jesus as the only begotten son, the legacy of His victory over 33 years remains, and the foundation for His first coming has been left open. The one who inherits this foundation is the second coming Messiah, who comes to complete the restoration that Jesus could not fulfil. The second coming Lord will be present on the foundation of the fundamental Providence of Victory established by the Heavenly Parent until Jesus reached maturity. This aspect is somewhat unclear, but it is essential to understand the role of the second coming Messiah, Reverend Sun Myung Moon, who was called by Jesus to walk this path.

It is noteworthy that while Moses and Muhammad had encounters with angels, there is no record of Jesus meeting an angel in the same way. This distinction raises questions about how Father came to see himself as the second coming Messiah. True parents are manifested when the second coming Messiah and the only begotten daughter receive holy marriage, which Heaven ordained. The question arises whether Father could have married someone else from God's perspective. Plan A was Adam and Eve, and Plan B involved potential brides during the time of Saul, David, and Solomon, but circumstances did not allow for these plans to succeed.

Father married a woman named Son Il Cho in 1944, who came from a noble Christian background. However, their marriage faced challenges, particularly during the Korean War when Father went north to North Korea without informing his wife. When he returned, she tracked him down, but their relationship did not work out. One of Father's closest disciples, Won Pil Kim, expressed regret over the situation, wishing he had acted differently to support both Father and his wife. This tragic outcome could have been avoided if circumstances had been different, as Father and his first wife shared similar backgrounds and ages.

Plan E involves Father and a woman named Miang Hee Kim, but details about their relationship remain unclear. There is no record of a marriage ceremony or certificate, and it is uncertain if they were ever officially married. They had a son who tragically died in a train accident, and various rumours surround Miang Hee Kim's later life. Plan F refers to Father's marriage to Hak Ja Han in 1960, but there were other women Father hoped to marry, and for various reasons, those relationships did not materialise as intended. The question arises about how to classify these women and their theological significance in relation to Father.

True Mother is regarded as the first coming of the only begotten daughter, born after 6,000 years. She is seen as the only woman who could receive Heavenly Parents' love as the first coming of the only begotten daughter, connected by blood lineage to God. This concept of blood lineage is metaphorical, reflecting the covenant made between God and the people of Israel, where blood was symbolically used to signify a relationship with God. True Mother, born on a Christian foundation, represents a culmination of historical opportunities for the Messiah, particularly in the context of the Reformation and the religious conflicts that followed.

Luther, the other half in the South, became Catholics, and the emperor had all these Catholics and Protestants and wanted to know where they were going. He asked Calvin, who was a French Protestant that later moved to Geneva to write a book on how to reform the Church. He wrote this book in 1543, which was presented at a council called by the Holy Roman Emperor to try and resolve this problem. A lot of it was about how to worship God, not in the way the Catholics worshipped God, but in the right way.

The only begotten daughters were born on the foundation of Korean Christianity, which continues the legacy of the Protestant Reformation and the Presbyterian Church. In 1866, when a horrendous event happened to the French Catholics, there was a Scottish person living in a tiny seaside village in the north of Scotland. He wanted to become a missionary, so he went off to China, learned Chinese fluently, and then heard there were some Koreans who were Christians but did not have any Korean Bibles. He started translating the Bible into Korean.

There was also a Welsh missionary from a tiny seaport in the south of Wales who felt called to go as a missionary. He was sent to China to do missionary work and preach. They heard that there were Christians in Korea who did not have Bibles, and it was against the law to take Bibles there; if you did, you would be executed. He collected some Bibles and went traveling on a merchant ship to Korea. The Koreans rejected the merchant ship, which ran aground and caught fire, forcing everyone to flee. This missionary had all these Bibles, which he distributed to the Koreans, even as they were executing foreigners. The last Bible he gave out was to the man who beheaded him.

Bibles are made of paper, and paper is expensive. Many Korean peasants, instead of burning the Bibles as they were told, took them home and used them as wallpaper. When it was cold and wet, they would read the walls, and many became Christians. This is how the Presbyterian Church started in Korea, through this Presbyterian missionary who was executed but whose Bibles led to the conversion of many Koreans. By the time Father was born, Christianity was present but very small. I have been to Presbyterian churches because I was a missionary in Venice for a year and a half, and to be honest, I found the long sermons quite boring.

True Mother was born as the only begotten daughter and made her own decisions. She grew up knowing God through her parents and developed a natural, intuitive communication with a Heavenly Parent without formal learning. True Mother made her own judgments and advanced her position of completion. She was told that God was her father, which made a deep impact on her self-understanding. From what I understand, she did not grow up with her father, which allowed her to develop a relationship with God, feeling that God was her dad.

True Mother is a person of extraordinary intelligence. Growing up without formal learning is not terribly helpful, as it helps to have a formal education. That's the end of this part of the lecture. If anyone has questions, please feel free to ask. Joanna mentioned that True Mother did not have formal learning, but she followed her grandmother and mother, who were evangelists on the street. Her understanding of God and God's love was deep and great. Although she eventually went to school, it was during a very unsettled time in the nation due to the war.

Father talked about his own education, which was mostly confusion and very old-fashioned. He received an extraordinary amount of depth in Confucian symbols and philosophies, which was great, but it would have been beneficial if he could have attended school in Korea instead of Japan. If he had come here, he would have received a much better education and had the opportunity to learn from leading scientists and theologians of the time. I felt sorry for him when I read about his educational experiences, and I would say the same for True Mother. It would have been nice if she had had a broader education.

If you read in Father's testimony, he was someone with endless questions, continually digging and seeking answers. For that reason, I am somewhat suspicious that he would have gone very far with English education, as most professors would have had enough of him. However, British education was not like that at all; they would have encouraged him to become a university lecturer. I don't think he would have been treated poorly here. Does anyone else have questions?

Raymond expressed gratitude, and someone asked how long the break would be. I was asked why all this is coming up now and what difference it will make to our principal way of life. I don't think it will make any difference to our principal way of life whatsoever because this is just theology; it is not about how you live but about what you believe. I have thought about these things for years, and it is a good question why it is coming up now. It seems to be a topic that we thought we could leave behind a long time ago.

Jeff mentioned the Welsh missionary, Robert Germaine Thomas, and his story can be found online. The church building in Korea is quite small and still exists, where Koreans sometimes go to pay respects to the person who brought Presbyterianism to them. When Korean missionaries came over last time, I offered to drive them to see the place, but they did not take me up on the offer. I was disappointed because if you come from there, you should want to visit. It is frustrating when individuals do not appreciate the history of God's Providence.

When Father came here, he was genuinely interested in the history and wanted to appreciate and show respect for the foundation that enabled him to do all he did. Unfortunately, his sons did not share that interest, which I believe is not a good move. I wanted to take the second-generation Korean missionaries to South Wales to see where their faith came from, but they were not interested. I think this reflects poorly on the education they received at the university before coming here. If they had received a good education, they would not be so indifferent to their roots.

As for the slides, they are all from Korea and were translated. Julian was involved in editing the English part. I am trying to expand on what is there to help us understand it better. There is one more question about future presentations. I don't know if there will be any more this year, as I am currently undergoing chemotherapy. This is my third round, and as it progresses, my brain will deteriorate further. I hope to be able to resume in January or February. I appreciate your engagement and hope you found this enjoyable and worthwhile.

Many of you came along very touched. We thank you for giving us cause to move our brain cells today and to think about our relationship with True Parents. We are trying to understand why things are moving in the way they are today in this world. Heavenly Father, please guide everybody here as they move forward with their thoughts. Help them to understand more deeply what Father really wanted and what we can achieve as individual human beings.

We love you, Heavenly Father, so much. We really want to do whatever we can, no matter how little, to help you find the world of peace, happiness, and joy that you envisaged when you first created Adam and Eve. We know that today this world does not exist, and you are desperate to have this. Your heart cries for this, and you are trying to help us understand how to accomplish it. Please let us be open to that guidance. This I pray in our names, M. Hero and Naomi, as husband and wife, parents and grandparents of the central blessed family.