From the Washington Post's annual Mensa Invitational, in which readers to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting, or changing one letter, and supply a new definition. Here's one of the winners:
"Intaxication: Euphoria at getting a tax refund, which lasts until you realize it was your money to start with."
This came as the header for the latest Downsizer Dishpatch, DownsizeDC's newsletter. This letter was a nice short was, just talking about the new servers they would be getting and letting us all now that their July Buget decreased substantially because of the great deal they found on the new servers. It's the last day of the month, but they stil need just $563 USD more to pay for what they spent this month.
If you want to help out, you can contribute here.
It also talked about the other great progress they're making, with 50,000 messeges to Congress and 571 new DC Downsizers (DownsizeDC members) this moonth. Both are record breakers for the nonprofit political movement.
Mostly I just wanted to share that first quote though. Hope you enjoyed!
Sincerely, in Liberty and True Brotherly Love,
Christopher D. Osborn - Edgartown, MA.
Russetid på Kolbotn :)
Oslo, Norge
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Hyung Jin Nim Speaks on the Miraculous Helicopter Landing
Hyung Jin Nim's Sermon:
Miraculous Helicopter Landing
July 26, 2008, Chungpadong Hq, Seoul Korea
Yeon Ah Nim's Welcome Remarks:
Good afternoon, brothers and sisters! (Good afternoon!)
As always we are honored to have you in this sanctuary, and for those who are joining with us via internet, we are welcoming you as well.
It has been the most shocking week of our lives! I am sure you all heard about the helicopter accident. We can only say, "Thank You" to Heavenly Father that everybody is OK including True Parents. (Applause)
This morning we met them. We had breakfast together. They are on the way to recovery.
Please in this time, I would like to ask you all to pray for True Parents and people who were on board with True Parents. Your prayer means so much to True Parents and us, and we want to say one more time that we really thank you for all your support and love.
Thank you so much! Aju!
Hyung Jin Nim's Welcome Remarks:
Brothers and sisters, it's truly a miracle that we can stand before you today. Oh my goodness! It's been a crazy, crazy week! At the very least! But truly a miracle! I'm going to share with you a little bit more in detail later in the service. We are witnessing a true miracle at this time, brothers and sisters. We are living in a miraculous age, and truly, because of True Parents' sacrifice, that victory extends to us. That victory really gives us the potential, the strength, the ability to really, truly, shine before heaven and earth.
We want to talk a little more in the service. I'm going to keep my comments short at the beginning. But welcome everybody.
We really are in a tremendous time! My goodness! There were so many countless miracles, but I can't talk about it now. I just want to talk about it, but I can't do that. I'm holding myself.
Brothers and sisters, it's always good for us before service, to remember our value, our identity, our purpose here, that VIP, that very special VIP, Value, Identity and our Purpose!
Always remember that we are valuable in the eyes of God. When He sees us, He sees valuable children, He sees children of cosmic value, He sees children that are divine in value. He sees children with His identity. He sees children with His own face in us. In our destinies, in our lives, we have a purpose. We have a purpose for being in this world, (which is) to truly actualize the blessed life, which not only ends with blessing in our own lives, but becoming a blessing to this world.
Brothers and sisters, if we do that we will have that amazing VIP, we will have that amazing blessed life and be a true miracle, a miraculous hope for all the brothers and sisters around us.
I'm going to wait until service, until the word session, before I share with you, but it truly was a miracle! Let's give a big round of applause to God (Loud applause). We can only thank God from the bottom of our hearts. We have only gratitude. That's all we have.
We can only thank those brothers and sisters, thousands, for writing in, from around the world, Europe, Britain, the States, Australia, all over the world, Japan, Asia, Russia, all brothers and sisters, concerned, one heart, one mind, one thought. "Are True Parents all right? Are True Parents ok?" That tremendous mind! We see that we are one family, truly around the world, connected by True Parents. We are so grateful to all the brothers and sisters who have written in, who have encouraged us, told us to keep our head high, knowing that we're going to make it through this (to overcome).
I want to report to you that True Parents are doing fine. They did a 3 hour Hoon Dok Hae yesterday. Father spoke how many hours today? He finished at 11am today. Sun Jin was there until 11. I had to come out early because we had a 10:30 service. But just tremendous, amazing, amazing, miraculous moments! We are going to get to that a little later, but brothers and sisters, I'm so grateful. We are so grateful.
The whole True Family came out (to HDH). All the brothers and sisters of True Family came out. We're one of heart, mind, concern for True Parents. All we had in our minds was, "Are True Parents all right?" Everybody showed up. Everybody who's living showed up, everybody in the spiritual world showed up.
We saw a tremendous miracle, brothers and sisters and we are truly grateful. My sister always says, "All we have is gratitude" and that's what I believe today. All I have is gratitude, and I want to thank everybody around this world for writing in, who are concerned about True Parents, who love True Parents, who call True Parents their True Parents.
Brothers and sisters, let's give those brothers and sisters a huge round of applause! ( Loud applause) They are our family. They are our family!
Welcome once again! And I really, truly wish that this may extend to all the brothers and sisters around the world, and that we may truly have a great service.
Let's not only listen or observe today. Let's really participate. It is something to celebrate this week. And really I'm asking you to help me celebrate today because I am ready to celebrate. It was true miracle! Brothers and sisters, once again welcome and once again thank you.
Words of the first visualization and meditation practice:
Let's visualize a beautiful spring time stream, in the forest. We are there in spring time. We can feel the new spring coming. We can see that the leaves have just began to blossom. The flowers are just opening. We can feel the power of new birth, of new life all around us. We can feel the cold waters becoming warmer in front of us, that cool stream. We can notice on the trees, the beautiful cherry blossoms. We can see them gently opening, beginning to open for this new spring.
And as we receive this new resurrection, this new life after the harshness of winter, let us receive the power of this new birth. Let us close our eyes and feel the energy of rebirth all around us. In the water, every moment the stream is being reborn, changing, flowing. We can feel the trees, and the powerful rebirth energy all around. The grass, we can see new grass starting to emerge. We can feel the power of the natural cycle of rebirth. And let's feel that resurrection spirit, the spirit of new life, the power of this new cycle of birth,
And as we breathe in let us breathe in that new spring. In our hearts, let's say, "I am alive" As we breathe out, let us gently in our hearts say, "Thank You". One more time, as we breathe in, breathe in that new life, "I am alive", as we breathe out, "Thank You". One more time as we breathe in a new breath, a new life, breathing in, "I am alive", gently breathing out, "Thank You"
True Parents are always with us, whether we see, recognize or not. True Parents are guiding our footsteps. They are here with us in this sanctuary, in our hearts, wherever we may go, wherever our destinies may take us. Let us know that they always love us, let us always know that they believe in us and let us know that they will never, ever let go of us (never leave us).
Hyung Jin Nim's Prayer:
Brothers and sisters please join us for prayer.
Heavenly Father thank You for this day. Father, we have nothing but gratitude this day. Father, it is a truly miraculous moment in history. Father, this past week we have witnessed a true disaster. Father, True Parents were taken to the grave, but Father, they emerged victorious, Father, reborn, resurrected, overcoming the power of death.
Father, we see a miraculous time in history. We are living in this rebirth age, Father. We are living in this resurrection time. Father, we hope that in our lives this day, with every breath that we take, we may be reborn, with every breath that we inhale, Father.
Let us be resurrected to new life. It is Yours, Father. We are extending our gratitude to You this day. We want to celebrate You this day.
Thank You for all that you have done.(In tears) Father, thank You for saving True Parents, thank You for saving our children, thank You for saving our brothers and sisters on that plane. Father, thank You so much. All we have is gratitude. And Father, we know that all of us as Unification family, we were all on that plane that day, Father, we all experienced that crash. Father we went to the grave and following our True Parents, Father, we came out alive. Father we came out resurrected. Father, we came out with new life, facing our futures with confidence. Father, let us know that there is nothing that can stop us. Father, let us know that truly You are a miraculous, supernatural God.
And Father we know that You are in this place today. You are in our hearts, You are in our lives. Father, guide us. Father, direct us, give us the insight, Father, the direction, give us the path that we will have to take. And Father, we pray that each footstep may be illumed (illuminated), Father, each step that we take, may give glory back unto You.
Thank you Father for what You have done. Father we stand here truly open with our arms, opening our hearts, Father, with an everlasting love and an everlasting gratitude. And Father, with the confidence that You have given us through this experience, Father, we face our lives with confidence, with hope, with optimism. Father, we know that we will overcome any obstacle and we will truly live a victorious life for You.
Thank You so much and we pray these things with all the brothers and sisters around this world as one family connected by True Parents in our names. Aju!
Interesting story ( by Hyung Jin Nim):
You know, we always start with something a little interesting. I have to admit though that today I want to offer a real story. It's not a joke but it was an interesting incident. After the accident Mother was lying on the hospital bed, resting. The kids came in. By the way, they were playing, just the next day after the accident! And they were running around and now they came in to greet True Parents. And Mother is lying there and she sees the kids and greets them all. And my little boy - he is now two - comes up to True Mother and says, "Grandma, why you're lying down like that?" (Laughter). And True Mother said, "Oh my God! This boy is too smart!", and when he was right about to leave he said, "Anyonghi jumuseyo" which means, "Have a very good night tonight!" So I just wanted to share that with you.
Hyung Jin Nim's sermon/report:
Actually today, more than a sermon, I want to share some of the things that happened during this event (helicopter crash). I'm sure all of you heard a basic account of what happened. I'm sure you saw on CNN, AOL, that there was a helicopter crash and there were survivors etc... But I want to share with our World Unification Family a little more in detail.
On the day of the crash we service (in church), as you all remember. I was out having dinner with Sun Jin, my sister, and we were talking. As you recall, last week we talked about heroes. We talked about heroes and the heroic path. And as you recall, the heroic path consists of many things. It consists of a call to an adventure, a road of trials, obtaining the victory, then returning home, and then sharing that victory, spreading it, helping others, empowering others, etc.
And I really did not think that I would meet heroes that quickly. But on that day we were having dinner and I received a call from Hoon Sook Nim, and she said to me, "You have to sit down for this!" I said, "I'm already seated. Come on, tell me what's happening." She said, "You know, the helicopter went down!" and I literally got up and said, "What?! The helicopter went down? What are you talking about?" She said, "Everybody's ok. The kids were on it, everybody's ok, True Parents are ok."
So I'm hearing from Hoon Sook Nim, "It is ok, everybody's alright." So the first thought in my mind was saying, "Ok, it was not that bad, maybe a little bump. Maybe after take off they hit a twig or something."
And so we were fine. We immediately called a couple of (some) people, and they said, "Please come to the hospital right away." We went to the hospital. We drove to Cheong Pyeong immediately after dinner, and as we arrived we saw SBS, KBS, all the media, totally surrounding. You all know, when you go into Cheong Pyeong, the gates, right? So you have the path to the Cheon Jeong Goong (Peace Palace), the path to the Hope school and the path to the training center. All there, there must have been 10-15 different cars, different media coverage (media people), professionals etc... They were all over there, trying to take pictures, (from) who's coming in, who's going out.
At first, when we released a statement that everybody was ok ― Mr Yang released a statement that everybody is fine, that True Parents are fine ― the media did not believe us. They said, "We are not going to believe you! You guys are Unificationists, you may be hiding something!" (Laughter). See, that's why we've got to change our Unification status (reputation), brothers and sisters.
We have something to be really proud of. I'm going to share with you why we have so much pride in the Unification family, why it's such an amazing tradition! But let's get to that a little later.
The media coverage was all over us, asking us, "What's going on? What's going on?" Mr. Yang was the official head spoke's person. He spoke to the media. He gave them his personal phone number; they were calling until 2 in the morning! And he was explaining to them, "Everybody's fine," but they didn't believe him. So they waited till the fire department and the police department came to confirm, to make sure that everybody was ok, and particularly that Rev Moon and Mrs Hak Ja Han Moon were fine. The police department came out, gave the news to the reporters, "They are fine, Rev Moon is ok, Mrs. Moon is ok. They are recovering etc.." At that point (after this) the media people left.
The very next day, within hours, as you may know, the news were all over the world. It was on the front label of CNN.com. It was all over: AOL, NBC, ABC, everywhere, BBC, every media broadcast, in Korea: KBS, MBC, SBS etc. Everybody was covering this. And all around the world, "Rev. Moon survives a helicopter crash at 90 years old!" 90 years old! This went all over the world, all over in about a couple of seconds. AJU, brothers and sisters! Oh my goodness! (Applause).
I want to just give you some statistics we heard from President Joo: 90+ percent of helicopter crashes end in fatalities (deadly). And when you look at the statistics: A helicopter that crashes at this velocity (speed), with 16 passengers on board.... there has never been (such) a case that is recorded where all 16 people survive a helicopter crash with no major injuries! Brothers and sisters, it's a miracle! (Loud applause). God is good! Oh my God! God is great! (Continued applause!)
We have just been living in a miracle in this past week. As I reported to you all, True Father, yesterday morning: 3 hours Hoon Dok Hae, this morning 5 hours Hoon Dok Hae! He's already doing back flips, brothers and sisters. He's already doing his Jedi mastery! He is amazing! He is Master Yoda, flipping around already! (Laughter). I just could not believe it! You understand, 4 days ago, at tremendous velocity, 90 percent of the helicopter in flames, gone (destroyed). 4 days later: Father, 5 hours Hoon Dok Hae. This is what we're experiencing.
But let me explain to you a little more about the scene! It really did not hit me (I did not fully realize). When I first got to the hospital I thought, "This is not a hospital where a helicopter crash occured to (where you think of helicopter crash)." This is the first thing that came across in my mind. At a helicopter crash, I was told, everybody is crying, everybody is mourning, because everybody's life usually ends in fatalities. But here I come to the hospital, and everybody is celebrating, everybody's running around, there's baskets, there's fruits, there's things being thrown around. Everybody's having a celebration! So I come in. I see my children, they're all ok. They're all a little shaken up. Of course they give me hugs, and kisses, but then they start running around. They're doing playing, doing colouring books. I'm thinking, "What's this? A helicopter crash? Maybe a bicycle crash, (Laughter) but I don't know about a helicopter crash (but does not look like helicopter crash)!"
Our sisters there, we can't believe it! We saw True Parents. They're fine! They're all ok! One of the sisters went in for minor surgery. So we visited everybody. And Mr Yoon! Mr Yoon was walking around that very day! Three hours ago he was in a disaster zone, and now the man is walking around like nothing happened! Won Joo also was walking around like nothing happened! This is 11 tons of pure metal, brothers and sisters, do you understand?11 tons that dropped from the sky! If you can imagine, driving your car and falling 4 stories (down) in your car, straight down to the ground. You can imagine how much damage will occur to you. These brothers and sisters were walking around!! They are telling the story! I can't believe what I'm seeing! I'm thinking, "Ok, it's not that bad! Everybody's fine, everybody's ok, it's really not that bad, nothing to worry about!"
So we did Hoon Dok Hae with True Parents. Sun-jin, as soon as she saw True Parents, she's grabbing True Father's hand, and we're massaging his feet, saying, "Father, why are you flying in that weather?" Massaging his feet we said, "My God! A joy to massage your feet!" Mother, we're just holding her, kissing her, hugging her, hugging True Parents, hugging Father, kissing Father, saying, "Oh my God! It's a miracle. It's a miracle!" And Father, he's lying there, and he's saying, "It's a miracle from God!" and I saw him putting his hands together, "A miracle from God!" He was "lifting heaven" (with the movements of his arms); he was lying in his bed, doing "bench pressing heaven" (with his arms again). He was saying, "God, have mercy! God is good!" (Applause) It was amazing, amazing!
And so we thought, "Nothing big, nothing big!" We had to wait till the next morning. Too much fog that night. Too dark. We can't see anything. So we waited till the next morning. The next morning the security guards took us to the site (place of accident). It's closed off to the public at this point (at the moment). When we visited the sight, we heard the basic story. It didn't hit me, even seeing True Parents. They're so healthy. I mean I could not believe they experienced a helicopter crash! My children are running around. Mr Yoon is running around. Won Ju is walking around. And so I'm thinking, "It's a minor crash!"
We go in; we see the site and literally our jaws drop (we are shocked). It is a disaster zone! Disaster! It is like in a movie. I could not believe that I was standing on that hill. I was looking at the site, and I'm thinking, "This is not real! It's a movie!" I'm looking at the helicopter and think, "This is not real, it does not look real. It is like I'm watching a movie!" It does not look real!
So we finally go down. We went down the hill. We walked into the forest and that's when I started getting hit (when I realized). That's when it started hitting me. I started just losing control of my emotions, I started shaking. I never had that experience (of shaking. I started shaking, because I looked at the helicopter and I could not imagine that True Father, at 90 years old, had to escape a burning inferno, and my little baby children had to run out of that helicopter! Every time I saw that vision I started almost shaking.
And I remember just looking at that, and we were given the explanation. What happened was, the helicopter was ready to land. All of a sudden there's a phenomenon called a fog bank. That fog bank is a very quick-moving fog that's in a very thick strip and moves very quick. It moves separately from larger clouds. And that fog bank ... as soon as True Parents were coming down, they got the CLEAR, they got the ok (for landing) from downstairs (from the ground), from Cheong Pyeong, from Seoul aviation center, they released them, they had to sign, everything was ok. They saw down there the lights, and they're going down, (but) all of a sudden the fog bank covered the helicopter, completely covered the helicopter. The pilot said he couldn't see (even) one meter in front of him! He was literally blinded, literally blinded! All of a sudden he felt something. He is an experienced pilot. He is one of the most experienced here in Korea. He was the private assistant to the Samsung Corporation, etc, and he has the most flight time hours in Korea, etc.
This man, from his experience, he told us that they are trained to immediately pull up as soon as they hit a fog bank,, to pull out of the fog bank; that's what they're trained to do. And so he wanted to go to the right, to go to the soccer field, as you know, in front of the theological seminary.
As he was lifting up, all of a sudden he felt something from the back, he said. Something was pulling at the tail. The tail was hitting something. And as soon as he hit that, he knew that something was wrong. So he made the decision, "Ok, I can't pull up now", because, as you know, helicopters can't incline (go up) when their nose is up. Helicopters have to first put their nose down, create velocity, come down and then can go up. Can you all imagine that? You can all visualize that, right? It has to do with this kind of things. But it was like this (tail down) because something was pulling on the tail. So he tried to move out of that and he lowered the nose to bring the velocity up so he could pull out, and so he went (he tried that). All of a sudden, as he is dipping (going down), all of a sudden, out of that one meter fog, he sees about 20 pine trees. 20 pine trees!
Now, if you know anything about helicopter crashes: This is the end, as the pilot was explaining. He thought this was the end of his life. The trees, at that velocity! There is a only plastic glass ― only plastic is between him and the trees - the trees become deadly weapons. Even one branch can pierce solid metal. And he literally thought, he's gone (dead). He thought, "I'm gone! I see those trees. There're coming at me, those are deadly spears." He knew, "I'm dead!" He thought he was dead. They (the trees) started moving at that velocity, the trees emerged, they started coming towards him, but all of a sudden, almost like from heaven, they started disappearing!! They started disappearing from in front of him! What was happening? The propeller blade was cutting the trees!!
Give God a round of applause! (Loud applause) Woooo! Do you understand?
Of course this site is going to be a sacred site (in the future). It's going to be a pilgrimage site in the future, absolutely. It is a huge victorious statement of True Parents' providential course and their victory as the providential saviour.
But it was incredible! When you go there, there is decline of trees that are totally sliced, like a samurai cutting through bamboo. You understand? Totally sliced! He literally saw a highway open up before him. Trees, boom, boom, boom, boom, flying away! All of a sudden that helicopter hits the ground, boom. The first hit actually was the tail - they count that as the first hit - the second was this impact. So after the trees were cut, the helicopter went down and it hit the ground.
When it hit the ground, two passengers had their seat belts unbuckled. You understand the velocity of this helicopter. It can cover 100meters within 0.3 seconds. Two people, Lee Sang Soo Ajoshi (uncle) and Yoon Ki Byung Ajoshi had their seat belts unbuckled because they were radioing (signalling) down to the the cars to prepare for when True Parents would come off the plane. This is normal.
As they hit the ground, because it was rainy, they (the helicopter) jumped up and struck a huge oak tree. That impact sent these two men flying forward from the back. They were in the back. They literally were sent flying forward. In the helicopter there are walls and there's a central passage way. At that velocity if they are flown from the seat and they hit the wall, (they get) spinal injury! Over, it's over! Tremendous shock! There's no way they'll survive that impact.
Both of them flew right through the middle, Sang-soo ajoshi flew and fell down right next to True Father, and Mr Yoon fell - flop! - right on top of him. (Applause). Give it up (give applause) for God!
Now this becomes even more amazing! I'll tell you why. Big impact, boom, hit the oak tree, oak tree fell! The helicopter spins because of the velocity, it turns to its right, it flies up 4 stories because of the impact. 4 stories! Do you understand? We're on the 3rd floor, so that would mean one more story up. That's like 11 meters high. The helicopter flies up 4 stories. At this point one of the most dangerous things about a helicopter crash is when you lose control of the back propeller, the tail, which is the direction giver for the helicopter. It controls direction on the helicopter. That thing was lost! Because of the velocity of the propellers, the velocity will force the whole cabin to begin to spin. When the whole cabin begins to spin, there will be immense gravitation forces (G force) on the people inside. They will all pass out (die) because of this force.
So the first danger is the cabin spinning, striking something, exploding; there's fuel, there are fuselage tanks on the bottom. If that hits something, explosion! If it spins, those risks become enormously high.
The helicopter strikes the oak tree, it jumps up 4 stories, and it comes down. Let me explain to you. There used to be an old farm field. So in Korea, because it's mountainous, they cut the mountains, and then there's a level field, and then there's a mountain, a level field and a mountain. Right? You've all seen this? They struck the first level. The oak tree which slowed it down, it spun this way, and as it was falling. (Then) there was a Y-shaped tree, and the tail of the helicopter was caught in the Y-shaped tree. Do you understand? The tree caught the tail. Because it got stuck in the Y-shaped tree the helicopter could not spin.
The second problem is ... of course, if this happens.... the (propeller) blades are moving at hundreds of miles an hour! Those things are deadly. One strike... and anything will be cut in half. That was the biggest concern at that second. The blades were spinning, the tail was caught, and as it was coming down - it drew a tremendous impact - the blades then, because of the second incline (slope) and because this was a field - it was soft mud - so 3 of the blades, 18 meters long, shot into the second slope, boom, boom, boom, and stopped completely!! The power of those blades, brothers and sisters!! I want you to imagine, if a helicopter is spinning and it hits the ground, and those blades, rotating at that velocity, strike a rock, the helicopter body can be thrown. It can be thrown and explode.
So those blades were held tight, the Y-shaped tree held the tail tight and the helicopter just kind of boom boom boom boom boom, came down.
Amazing miracle? The door side was up! One of the most dangerous things, if you even survive a helicopter crash - which is 90+ percent chance you do not - if you do survive it, the next step is how you're going to get out. If you hit anything, metal bends like paper at that velocity, when you strike anything. If the door was bent, if it was damaged, everybody would be stuck in that helicopter.
As soon as they landed, everything is black, lights out, its total fog. The mechanic who is there at the door, he's disoriented, he was unconscious for one second. He said that he got up and he started reaching around. The first thing that he grabs is the door latch!!! (Applause). He grabs the door latch!! If you've been on a helicopter, there's no way that you can lift that thing (door) with all its weight, it's extremely heavy, and the distance is quite long. I don't know how he could stretch out to do it. We talked to him, and he said, "I don't know how I lifted it. It was almost like somebody outside was opening the door!" So the door opens. The helicopter is now set in a little cradle, that little flat place between the mountains, right there, and that's when everybody started moving. That's when everybody starts trying to find their orientation, where are they, what's happening, we've got to get out!
Before that I want to mention a couple of things. If that helicopter did not strike that oak tree - as I explained there are two inclines, there's a flat place where they landed ― if it did not hit the oak tree it would not have slowed the helicopter down. Within 0.3 seconds, it would have jumped; it was heading straight forward. Up on the second platform is a rock the size of this piano. In 0.3 seconds it would have struck that rock, and the percentage of the fuselage exploding is extremely high, if a rock strikes that metal body.
Because of that oak tree ... it spun the helicopter, slowed it down... then the Y tree, then the soft mountain and then the put down (to the ground). You see, brothers and sisters, I call that first tree "Hyocha Namu," filial piety tree. When we think about True Family, we lost Hyo Jin Nim this year, and you know, despite all his own circumstances and the things that he had to overcome in his life, he had a filial heart for True Parents. That was undeniable. Nobody would deny that, and he truly offered his life as a condition; we believe that it was a sacrifice. He conditionally sacrificed himself. If he did not go just a couple of months ago True Parents would have been in tremendous danger.
In Korea there's the saying that the 9th year is the most dangerous. The 9th year is when everything becomes very dangerous because it's right about at a new start, a new beginning, a new fruition, etc.. Father is 89 in Korean age. It was on the 19th that this happened. The man who was flying the helicopter and saved them with his directional, he was 59 years old. So many 9s coming up!
We saw in this crash so many incredible miracles. But we really saw that if it did not hit that oak tree, which I always call Hyo Jin Nim's tree, that's Hyo Jin Nim's tree .... with his power he stopped that thing. He stopped it! And as it came down next was a Y - tree. The Y - tree was Young Jin Nim, I believe it. Why? It's a Y. He caught that tail! (Applause) That soft hill was Heung Nin Nim. He is a soft guy, you know. He caught those blades, boom, boom, boom! They were all doing Kung Fu training that day! (Laughter). Oh my God! Just incredible, absolutely incredible!
So when this was all happening there were some movie directors taking vacation on Cheong Pyeong Lake, a couple of movie directors, famous people in Korea. They look up; they see the helicopter coming down. We got a call at the HQ from this movie director. And they tell us, "We have a testimony for you. I saw something when I was fishing near Cheong Pyeong Lake." This is not our member, do you understand? He is not a Unificationist. He calls us and tells us, "I was fishing with my buddy (friend) and we saw this helicopter coming. We did not know who was in there, but I had a vision. All of a sudden I saw the helicopter encircled in (surrounded by) a lotus flower rainbow." He's telling us this. And he said, "And then I saw all these things in white, flying around this helicopter." And he said, "First I thought they're birds. I thought they were birds." But I said, "How many doves are there in the sky today, flying near a helicopter?" And he said that he looked closer and that he saw people, forms, white garb, holding the lotus flower, and heading towards the Cheon Jeong Goong (Peace Palace). This is the man calling us.
We had another sister that had a dream that Hyo Jin Nim was holding helicopters, was catching helicopters, just a couple of days before. He was a baby and he was catching little helicopter toys! He was practicing!
So we heard all these things. The movie director came to the HQ. We have his testimony on video. He brought also his friend, an actor here in Korea, who also gave his testimony. He saw rainbows in the sky that day. And also very interesting: Ki Byung Ajoshi, who flew and flopped on top of Sang Soo Ajoshi, said that right before the impact he saw Hyo Jin Nim at the front of the plane (helicopter). He said that he saw Hyo Jin Nim at the front of the plane!
You see, we can see all these things, tremendous miracles, from the cutting of the trees to the miraculous landing, the hit of the oak tree that saved them from striking the huge rock, the Y - tree stopping the helicopter spinning, then all the blades rotating at tremendous velocity into the hill, then the opening of the latch. The first thing the guy did was opening the latch. He opens the latch and they come out, as soon as they make the second impact. This is what the helicopter pilot said. The helicopter pilot is not our member. He is not a Unificationist, but he told us that he is now going to join the Unification Church! (Clapping and cheers). Tell all your friends, brothers and sisters! I tell you why. This is what he said. This is what the man said, "I'm going to church now, and I'll tell you why. We can see all those miracles happened. None of those twigs struck one person..."
I forgot a huge thing. I can't believe I forgot this one thing: They hit the oak tree, they got caught in the Y - tree, and then the blades got into the mountain top. What happened when we looked at the site? There was a tree about this thick, that's like a spear, its cut. It came up right through the seat of the man who flew to the front. Do you understand what happened? The tree came up into his seat. If he was wearing his seat belt ... you know, the first man, Sang Soo Ajoshi, that flew to the front, the first guy ... if he was wearing his seat belt that tree would have come up and split him in half! He did not have his seat belt on, he flew forward, and a couple of seconds later, there is a huge tree sticking out of his chair! That was of course another miracle, I did forget that!
So all these things are piling up on top of each other. And so the pilot says ... of course, he's going to join the church. We have an immediate influx of members joining the Unification Movement! I can see the headlines now! (Laughter). But what he said was this: They had the black box analyzed, which is the radio, the sounds on the plane, the video etc.. What they found is that in about 10 minutes everybody evacuated the plane. In about 10 minutes everybody was out! What they were explaining is that this is impossible. Military trained professionals after 20 years of helicopter crash training cannot evacuate a crashed helicopter within 10 minutes, everybody organized, coordinated, and out of the door! What happened was amazing!
This is what the pilot said, "See, usually when there is a crash, there is an instinct in the human mechanism, in the body, that says, 'I have to survive.' It's called fight or flight. 'You have to survive!' That's the first instinct you get as a human being when you are in danger. So what happens is: There is a phenomenon called crowding. Everybody rushes towards the door to save their own neck. And there's chaos. People are stepping on each other; people are stumping on each other. People are trying to get out, squeeze out of the door, and by that time.... the helicopter usually explodes within 3 minutes of hitting the ground."
So he explained that there's this mob psychology that happens in a crash because of instinct. But this time, the door was opened after the impact, and the first thing everybody said on that helicopter was, "ABOJI !" Give it up! Give it up for True Father! (Applause). All those brothers and sisters on that helicopter did not think one second to save their own neck. Everybody's first priority was, "Where is True Father? Where is True Father?"
The men that were thrown to the front were the first ones, they literally just stood up. The plane was on the side, so Father was up on the ceiling, in his chair, hanging from his chair. They had to get up, take him down, put him on their backs and quickly evacuate. Father is 90 years old, brothers and sisters, 90 years old! Military specialists can't do this in 10 minutes! We had 90 year old True Father and baby children on that plane and got out in less than 10 minutes!
Father gets out. It took some time. Then Mother! Everybody ran to Mother, Won Joo Onni (elder sister), Kim Sajang (President), he unbuckled her. Her foot was caught between metal that was bent. So they had to yank her foot out, and then they evacuated Mother. They put her on their backs. Mother was out! Then immediately after True Father and True Mother, then who next did they all call? They're not even thinking of their own necks. They're in this inferno. Next thing they call, "Where are the grandchildren?" Two of my children were on board, my daughter, our third boy, fourth child, was on board, and our cousin, our niece was on board.
True Father, they helped him out, True Mother they helped her out, and everybody grabbed the grandchildren, out, out, out! Run, run away! First we have to run because there are explosions. If there are explosions, everybody's gone (dead). The pilot said that, as soon as True Father, True Mother and the grandchildren were out, it was like people just literally pouring out of the door, like in the military. Now I know why that Hoon Dok Hae training saves people's lives! (Laughter). These brothers and sisters were trained in Hoon Dok Hae for the last 20 years! They just evacuated one by one, boom boom boom, out of the door. Everybody was out. They escaped, ran to safety, ran down the hill. The thing was burning, boom, boom, there were bursts, fire, fire.
That's the picture of what's remaining of the wreck (picture comes on the screen) and there it is. We are standing on that second platform. There is a rock right behind us. Below us is the helicopter which is on that flat plateau and then there's another hill that comes towards the picture.
The grandchildren get out, chaos, burning. Everybody was one centered on True Parents. Everybody had clearly (this in mind), "We're going to save True Parents first, not even think about my neck" The pilot saw that. He said, "That was a miracle!" He said, "There were incredible miracles, absolute miracles, the fuselage did not burst etc., all those things, miracles, but what I witnessed was absolutely miraculous."
There is something in the Unification tradition, something about our faith that even in that kind of emergency situation, where there is mob psychology, "let me survive" psychology, still everybody was able to think of the other first. Everybody was thinking of True Father, True Mother, the children. And the pilot said, that's why he's going to join this movement! (Applause).
We really saw a tremendous miracle this week, even in our family. All the brothers and sisters came out to support True Parents, all of us with one heart, one thought, one mind; we are here to support True Parents. We're here to receive all the messages from all the brothers and sisters from all over the world, just expressing our gratitude.
All we have is gratitude!
This was an unbelievable miracle! To believe that this is coincidence requires more faith than to believe that it is a miracle. (Applause). One miracle after another! One incredible event after another! Unbelievable! Just unbelievable! When I saw the site I had nothing to say. Even people, very skeptical about Cheong Pyeong or the spirit world, when they saw that site, they had nothing to say.
True, tremendous, tremendous miracles! That's the only way we can explain it. That's the only way. Some of the aviation experts said, "There are invisible hands around that Reverend!" Just unbelievable!
What can we learn today, brothers and sisters? We can learn that God is a supernatural God. We can learn that this is a tremendous miracle in our tradition. Nobody can deny it. It was broadcasted around the world. Everybody saw it. Everybody saw this miracle. When everybody also understands the story behind this miracle, what actually happened, of course, it's even going to shed more light.
The greatest miracle of course is the faith of our brothers and sisters on that plane. See, I saw True Father acting like he was really an amazing Superman, just incredible, just never stopping. Just a couple of days after (the crash) he was doing Hoon Dok Hae, 3 hours, 5 hours. And we see the brothers and sisters on the plane. Mr Yang said today at Hoon Dok Hae to all the brothers and sisters, "We know that every single one of you would have done the same thing on that plane." He said that, we know that. We have confidence that we have that kind of tremendous ability, a tremendous faith, that allows us even to overcome ourselves, our instinct, and to help another person. He said, "I know that any one of our brothers and sisters would have done that on that plane."
Brothers and sisters, what can we learn? We were all on that plane that day. Every single Unification family member, from old to young. We were on that plane that day. Everybody around the world was shocked. Everybody was trying to figure out, "What's happened to Rev Moon? Is he ok?" All of our family, we were on that plane that day. We experienced a miracle, we experienced a true miracle!
We saw that attendance, that amazing attendance to True Parents. We saw that from those heroes on that plane. And if we go forward with that kind of faith while facing our destiny, facing our futures, facing our own lives and the obstacles there, then I do believe that every day we will have more illumination and we will have more peace. And brothers and sisters, we will have a miraculous life like the Superman and Superwoman of Heaven and Earth. Check this one out (True Parents as Superman and Superwoman on the screen)! Superwoman! Give it up! Give it up for True Parents! (Loud applause and cheers). Amazing! God be blessed!
God bless our Unification family! Aju! God bless True Parents! Ok Mansei! Aju!
Hyung Jin Nim's Ending Prayer:
Brothers and sisters let's come together! Let's join for prayer.
Heavenly Father, thank You for this day today. Father, we have encountered a miracle in our tradition. Father, your children, Father, we have moved through the course of indemnity. We have served our True Parents, attended them. Father, they have walked the path of blood, sweat and tears, Father, they have sacrificed everything for humanity. Father, even the sacrifice of our brother that went to the spiritual world. Father, we know that those conditions were called, those conditions were heard, Father. And Father, around the world, everybody on this planet realized that there is something amazing, something providential, Father, that your invisible hands are protecting True Parents, our family.
Father, each one of our brothers and sisters on that plane, each one of our Unification brothers and sisters, all around that world, Father, we were in that plane today with Mr Kim with Mr Yoon. Father we were on that plane with Won Joo, we were on that plane with Father and Mother, with the children. Father, all of us, as Unification brothers and sisters, we were there, Father. And Father, we know that in that situation we would do the same thing, Father. That is the tremendous power of your children, Father.
Thank you so much for giving us this miracle. Father, through this we realize that we are reborn. True Father went into the inferno of death, Father, and overcame even death. Father, we saw it with our own eyes. The world saw it. It is impossible to explain. Father, it is Your doing, it is your goodness. We are so grateful for this miracle. Thank You, Father, for showing us this to renew ourselves, to renew our faith.
And Father, allow us to truly live that blessed life that you have blessed us to live. Let us have more victory, let us have more illumination, let us have more peace in this world. And Father, let us be a blessing to this world for ever and ever as Your children.
Father, we pray these things as one family around this world in our names as central blessed families, thanking you so much! AJU! (Aju!) Thank You, Father!
Christopher D. Osborn - Vineyard Haven, MA
Miraculous Helicopter Landing
July 26, 2008, Chungpadong Hq, Seoul Korea
Yeon Ah Nim's Welcome Remarks:
Good afternoon, brothers and sisters! (Good afternoon!)
As always we are honored to have you in this sanctuary, and for those who are joining with us via internet, we are welcoming you as well.
It has been the most shocking week of our lives! I am sure you all heard about the helicopter accident. We can only say, "Thank You" to Heavenly Father that everybody is OK including True Parents. (Applause)
This morning we met them. We had breakfast together. They are on the way to recovery.
Please in this time, I would like to ask you all to pray for True Parents and people who were on board with True Parents. Your prayer means so much to True Parents and us, and we want to say one more time that we really thank you for all your support and love.
Thank you so much! Aju!
Hyung Jin Nim's Welcome Remarks:
Brothers and sisters, it's truly a miracle that we can stand before you today. Oh my goodness! It's been a crazy, crazy week! At the very least! But truly a miracle! I'm going to share with you a little bit more in detail later in the service. We are witnessing a true miracle at this time, brothers and sisters. We are living in a miraculous age, and truly, because of True Parents' sacrifice, that victory extends to us. That victory really gives us the potential, the strength, the ability to really, truly, shine before heaven and earth.
We want to talk a little more in the service. I'm going to keep my comments short at the beginning. But welcome everybody.
We really are in a tremendous time! My goodness! There were so many countless miracles, but I can't talk about it now. I just want to talk about it, but I can't do that. I'm holding myself.
Brothers and sisters, it's always good for us before service, to remember our value, our identity, our purpose here, that VIP, that very special VIP, Value, Identity and our Purpose!
Always remember that we are valuable in the eyes of God. When He sees us, He sees valuable children, He sees children of cosmic value, He sees children that are divine in value. He sees children with His identity. He sees children with His own face in us. In our destinies, in our lives, we have a purpose. We have a purpose for being in this world, (which is) to truly actualize the blessed life, which not only ends with blessing in our own lives, but becoming a blessing to this world.
Brothers and sisters, if we do that we will have that amazing VIP, we will have that amazing blessed life and be a true miracle, a miraculous hope for all the brothers and sisters around us.
I'm going to wait until service, until the word session, before I share with you, but it truly was a miracle! Let's give a big round of applause to God (Loud applause). We can only thank God from the bottom of our hearts. We have only gratitude. That's all we have.
We can only thank those brothers and sisters, thousands, for writing in, from around the world, Europe, Britain, the States, Australia, all over the world, Japan, Asia, Russia, all brothers and sisters, concerned, one heart, one mind, one thought. "Are True Parents all right? Are True Parents ok?" That tremendous mind! We see that we are one family, truly around the world, connected by True Parents. We are so grateful to all the brothers and sisters who have written in, who have encouraged us, told us to keep our head high, knowing that we're going to make it through this (to overcome).
I want to report to you that True Parents are doing fine. They did a 3 hour Hoon Dok Hae yesterday. Father spoke how many hours today? He finished at 11am today. Sun Jin was there until 11. I had to come out early because we had a 10:30 service. But just tremendous, amazing, amazing, miraculous moments! We are going to get to that a little later, but brothers and sisters, I'm so grateful. We are so grateful.
The whole True Family came out (to HDH). All the brothers and sisters of True Family came out. We're one of heart, mind, concern for True Parents. All we had in our minds was, "Are True Parents all right?" Everybody showed up. Everybody who's living showed up, everybody in the spiritual world showed up.
We saw a tremendous miracle, brothers and sisters and we are truly grateful. My sister always says, "All we have is gratitude" and that's what I believe today. All I have is gratitude, and I want to thank everybody around this world for writing in, who are concerned about True Parents, who love True Parents, who call True Parents their True Parents.
Brothers and sisters, let's give those brothers and sisters a huge round of applause! ( Loud applause) They are our family. They are our family!
Welcome once again! And I really, truly wish that this may extend to all the brothers and sisters around the world, and that we may truly have a great service.
Let's not only listen or observe today. Let's really participate. It is something to celebrate this week. And really I'm asking you to help me celebrate today because I am ready to celebrate. It was true miracle! Brothers and sisters, once again welcome and once again thank you.
Words of the first visualization and meditation practice:
Let's visualize a beautiful spring time stream, in the forest. We are there in spring time. We can feel the new spring coming. We can see that the leaves have just began to blossom. The flowers are just opening. We can feel the power of new birth, of new life all around us. We can feel the cold waters becoming warmer in front of us, that cool stream. We can notice on the trees, the beautiful cherry blossoms. We can see them gently opening, beginning to open for this new spring.
And as we receive this new resurrection, this new life after the harshness of winter, let us receive the power of this new birth. Let us close our eyes and feel the energy of rebirth all around us. In the water, every moment the stream is being reborn, changing, flowing. We can feel the trees, and the powerful rebirth energy all around. The grass, we can see new grass starting to emerge. We can feel the power of the natural cycle of rebirth. And let's feel that resurrection spirit, the spirit of new life, the power of this new cycle of birth,
And as we breathe in let us breathe in that new spring. In our hearts, let's say, "I am alive" As we breathe out, let us gently in our hearts say, "Thank You". One more time, as we breathe in, breathe in that new life, "I am alive", as we breathe out, "Thank You". One more time as we breathe in a new breath, a new life, breathing in, "I am alive", gently breathing out, "Thank You"
True Parents are always with us, whether we see, recognize or not. True Parents are guiding our footsteps. They are here with us in this sanctuary, in our hearts, wherever we may go, wherever our destinies may take us. Let us know that they always love us, let us always know that they believe in us and let us know that they will never, ever let go of us (never leave us).
Hyung Jin Nim's Prayer:
Brothers and sisters please join us for prayer.
Heavenly Father thank You for this day. Father, we have nothing but gratitude this day. Father, it is a truly miraculous moment in history. Father, this past week we have witnessed a true disaster. Father, True Parents were taken to the grave, but Father, they emerged victorious, Father, reborn, resurrected, overcoming the power of death.
Father, we see a miraculous time in history. We are living in this rebirth age, Father. We are living in this resurrection time. Father, we hope that in our lives this day, with every breath that we take, we may be reborn, with every breath that we inhale, Father.
Let us be resurrected to new life. It is Yours, Father. We are extending our gratitude to You this day. We want to celebrate You this day.
Thank You for all that you have done.(In tears) Father, thank You for saving True Parents, thank You for saving our children, thank You for saving our brothers and sisters on that plane. Father, thank You so much. All we have is gratitude. And Father, we know that all of us as Unification family, we were all on that plane that day, Father, we all experienced that crash. Father we went to the grave and following our True Parents, Father, we came out alive. Father we came out resurrected. Father, we came out with new life, facing our futures with confidence. Father, let us know that there is nothing that can stop us. Father, let us know that truly You are a miraculous, supernatural God.
And Father we know that You are in this place today. You are in our hearts, You are in our lives. Father, guide us. Father, direct us, give us the insight, Father, the direction, give us the path that we will have to take. And Father, we pray that each footstep may be illumed (illuminated), Father, each step that we take, may give glory back unto You.
Thank you Father for what You have done. Father we stand here truly open with our arms, opening our hearts, Father, with an everlasting love and an everlasting gratitude. And Father, with the confidence that You have given us through this experience, Father, we face our lives with confidence, with hope, with optimism. Father, we know that we will overcome any obstacle and we will truly live a victorious life for You.
Thank You so much and we pray these things with all the brothers and sisters around this world as one family connected by True Parents in our names. Aju!
Interesting story ( by Hyung Jin Nim):
You know, we always start with something a little interesting. I have to admit though that today I want to offer a real story. It's not a joke but it was an interesting incident. After the accident Mother was lying on the hospital bed, resting. The kids came in. By the way, they were playing, just the next day after the accident! And they were running around and now they came in to greet True Parents. And Mother is lying there and she sees the kids and greets them all. And my little boy - he is now two - comes up to True Mother and says, "Grandma, why you're lying down like that?" (Laughter). And True Mother said, "Oh my God! This boy is too smart!", and when he was right about to leave he said, "Anyonghi jumuseyo" which means, "Have a very good night tonight!" So I just wanted to share that with you.
Hyung Jin Nim's sermon/report:
Actually today, more than a sermon, I want to share some of the things that happened during this event (helicopter crash). I'm sure all of you heard a basic account of what happened. I'm sure you saw on CNN, AOL, that there was a helicopter crash and there were survivors etc... But I want to share with our World Unification Family a little more in detail.
On the day of the crash we service (in church), as you all remember. I was out having dinner with Sun Jin, my sister, and we were talking. As you recall, last week we talked about heroes. We talked about heroes and the heroic path. And as you recall, the heroic path consists of many things. It consists of a call to an adventure, a road of trials, obtaining the victory, then returning home, and then sharing that victory, spreading it, helping others, empowering others, etc.
And I really did not think that I would meet heroes that quickly. But on that day we were having dinner and I received a call from Hoon Sook Nim, and she said to me, "You have to sit down for this!" I said, "I'm already seated. Come on, tell me what's happening." She said, "You know, the helicopter went down!" and I literally got up and said, "What?! The helicopter went down? What are you talking about?" She said, "Everybody's ok. The kids were on it, everybody's ok, True Parents are ok."
So I'm hearing from Hoon Sook Nim, "It is ok, everybody's alright." So the first thought in my mind was saying, "Ok, it was not that bad, maybe a little bump. Maybe after take off they hit a twig or something."
And so we were fine. We immediately called a couple of (some) people, and they said, "Please come to the hospital right away." We went to the hospital. We drove to Cheong Pyeong immediately after dinner, and as we arrived we saw SBS, KBS, all the media, totally surrounding. You all know, when you go into Cheong Pyeong, the gates, right? So you have the path to the Cheon Jeong Goong (Peace Palace), the path to the Hope school and the path to the training center. All there, there must have been 10-15 different cars, different media coverage (media people), professionals etc... They were all over there, trying to take pictures, (from) who's coming in, who's going out.
At first, when we released a statement that everybody was ok ― Mr Yang released a statement that everybody is fine, that True Parents are fine ― the media did not believe us. They said, "We are not going to believe you! You guys are Unificationists, you may be hiding something!" (Laughter). See, that's why we've got to change our Unification status (reputation), brothers and sisters.
We have something to be really proud of. I'm going to share with you why we have so much pride in the Unification family, why it's such an amazing tradition! But let's get to that a little later.
The media coverage was all over us, asking us, "What's going on? What's going on?" Mr. Yang was the official head spoke's person. He spoke to the media. He gave them his personal phone number; they were calling until 2 in the morning! And he was explaining to them, "Everybody's fine," but they didn't believe him. So they waited till the fire department and the police department came to confirm, to make sure that everybody was ok, and particularly that Rev Moon and Mrs Hak Ja Han Moon were fine. The police department came out, gave the news to the reporters, "They are fine, Rev Moon is ok, Mrs. Moon is ok. They are recovering etc.." At that point (after this) the media people left.
The very next day, within hours, as you may know, the news were all over the world. It was on the front label of CNN.com. It was all over: AOL, NBC, ABC, everywhere, BBC, every media broadcast, in Korea: KBS, MBC, SBS etc. Everybody was covering this. And all around the world, "Rev. Moon survives a helicopter crash at 90 years old!" 90 years old! This went all over the world, all over in about a couple of seconds. AJU, brothers and sisters! Oh my goodness! (Applause).
I want to just give you some statistics we heard from President Joo: 90+ percent of helicopter crashes end in fatalities (deadly). And when you look at the statistics: A helicopter that crashes at this velocity (speed), with 16 passengers on board.... there has never been (such) a case that is recorded where all 16 people survive a helicopter crash with no major injuries! Brothers and sisters, it's a miracle! (Loud applause). God is good! Oh my God! God is great! (Continued applause!)
We have just been living in a miracle in this past week. As I reported to you all, True Father, yesterday morning: 3 hours Hoon Dok Hae, this morning 5 hours Hoon Dok Hae! He's already doing back flips, brothers and sisters. He's already doing his Jedi mastery! He is amazing! He is Master Yoda, flipping around already! (Laughter). I just could not believe it! You understand, 4 days ago, at tremendous velocity, 90 percent of the helicopter in flames, gone (destroyed). 4 days later: Father, 5 hours Hoon Dok Hae. This is what we're experiencing.
But let me explain to you a little more about the scene! It really did not hit me (I did not fully realize). When I first got to the hospital I thought, "This is not a hospital where a helicopter crash occured to (where you think of helicopter crash)." This is the first thing that came across in my mind. At a helicopter crash, I was told, everybody is crying, everybody is mourning, because everybody's life usually ends in fatalities. But here I come to the hospital, and everybody is celebrating, everybody's running around, there's baskets, there's fruits, there's things being thrown around. Everybody's having a celebration! So I come in. I see my children, they're all ok. They're all a little shaken up. Of course they give me hugs, and kisses, but then they start running around. They're doing playing, doing colouring books. I'm thinking, "What's this? A helicopter crash? Maybe a bicycle crash, (Laughter) but I don't know about a helicopter crash (but does not look like helicopter crash)!"
Our sisters there, we can't believe it! We saw True Parents. They're fine! They're all ok! One of the sisters went in for minor surgery. So we visited everybody. And Mr Yoon! Mr Yoon was walking around that very day! Three hours ago he was in a disaster zone, and now the man is walking around like nothing happened! Won Joo also was walking around like nothing happened! This is 11 tons of pure metal, brothers and sisters, do you understand?11 tons that dropped from the sky! If you can imagine, driving your car and falling 4 stories (down) in your car, straight down to the ground. You can imagine how much damage will occur to you. These brothers and sisters were walking around!! They are telling the story! I can't believe what I'm seeing! I'm thinking, "Ok, it's not that bad! Everybody's fine, everybody's ok, it's really not that bad, nothing to worry about!"
So we did Hoon Dok Hae with True Parents. Sun-jin, as soon as she saw True Parents, she's grabbing True Father's hand, and we're massaging his feet, saying, "Father, why are you flying in that weather?" Massaging his feet we said, "My God! A joy to massage your feet!" Mother, we're just holding her, kissing her, hugging her, hugging True Parents, hugging Father, kissing Father, saying, "Oh my God! It's a miracle. It's a miracle!" And Father, he's lying there, and he's saying, "It's a miracle from God!" and I saw him putting his hands together, "A miracle from God!" He was "lifting heaven" (with the movements of his arms); he was lying in his bed, doing "bench pressing heaven" (with his arms again). He was saying, "God, have mercy! God is good!" (Applause) It was amazing, amazing!
And so we thought, "Nothing big, nothing big!" We had to wait till the next morning. Too much fog that night. Too dark. We can't see anything. So we waited till the next morning. The next morning the security guards took us to the site (place of accident). It's closed off to the public at this point (at the moment). When we visited the sight, we heard the basic story. It didn't hit me, even seeing True Parents. They're so healthy. I mean I could not believe they experienced a helicopter crash! My children are running around. Mr Yoon is running around. Won Ju is walking around. And so I'm thinking, "It's a minor crash!"
We go in; we see the site and literally our jaws drop (we are shocked). It is a disaster zone! Disaster! It is like in a movie. I could not believe that I was standing on that hill. I was looking at the site, and I'm thinking, "This is not real! It's a movie!" I'm looking at the helicopter and think, "This is not real, it does not look real. It is like I'm watching a movie!" It does not look real!
So we finally go down. We went down the hill. We walked into the forest and that's when I started getting hit (when I realized). That's when it started hitting me. I started just losing control of my emotions, I started shaking. I never had that experience (of shaking. I started shaking, because I looked at the helicopter and I could not imagine that True Father, at 90 years old, had to escape a burning inferno, and my little baby children had to run out of that helicopter! Every time I saw that vision I started almost shaking.
And I remember just looking at that, and we were given the explanation. What happened was, the helicopter was ready to land. All of a sudden there's a phenomenon called a fog bank. That fog bank is a very quick-moving fog that's in a very thick strip and moves very quick. It moves separately from larger clouds. And that fog bank ... as soon as True Parents were coming down, they got the CLEAR, they got the ok (for landing) from downstairs (from the ground), from Cheong Pyeong, from Seoul aviation center, they released them, they had to sign, everything was ok. They saw down there the lights, and they're going down, (but) all of a sudden the fog bank covered the helicopter, completely covered the helicopter. The pilot said he couldn't see (even) one meter in front of him! He was literally blinded, literally blinded! All of a sudden he felt something. He is an experienced pilot. He is one of the most experienced here in Korea. He was the private assistant to the Samsung Corporation, etc, and he has the most flight time hours in Korea, etc.
This man, from his experience, he told us that they are trained to immediately pull up as soon as they hit a fog bank,, to pull out of the fog bank; that's what they're trained to do. And so he wanted to go to the right, to go to the soccer field, as you know, in front of the theological seminary.
As he was lifting up, all of a sudden he felt something from the back, he said. Something was pulling at the tail. The tail was hitting something. And as soon as he hit that, he knew that something was wrong. So he made the decision, "Ok, I can't pull up now", because, as you know, helicopters can't incline (go up) when their nose is up. Helicopters have to first put their nose down, create velocity, come down and then can go up. Can you all imagine that? You can all visualize that, right? It has to do with this kind of things. But it was like this (tail down) because something was pulling on the tail. So he tried to move out of that and he lowered the nose to bring the velocity up so he could pull out, and so he went (he tried that). All of a sudden, as he is dipping (going down), all of a sudden, out of that one meter fog, he sees about 20 pine trees. 20 pine trees!
Now, if you know anything about helicopter crashes: This is the end, as the pilot was explaining. He thought this was the end of his life. The trees, at that velocity! There is a only plastic glass ― only plastic is between him and the trees - the trees become deadly weapons. Even one branch can pierce solid metal. And he literally thought, he's gone (dead). He thought, "I'm gone! I see those trees. There're coming at me, those are deadly spears." He knew, "I'm dead!" He thought he was dead. They (the trees) started moving at that velocity, the trees emerged, they started coming towards him, but all of a sudden, almost like from heaven, they started disappearing!! They started disappearing from in front of him! What was happening? The propeller blade was cutting the trees!!
Give God a round of applause! (Loud applause) Woooo! Do you understand?
Of course this site is going to be a sacred site (in the future). It's going to be a pilgrimage site in the future, absolutely. It is a huge victorious statement of True Parents' providential course and their victory as the providential saviour.
But it was incredible! When you go there, there is decline of trees that are totally sliced, like a samurai cutting through bamboo. You understand? Totally sliced! He literally saw a highway open up before him. Trees, boom, boom, boom, boom, flying away! All of a sudden that helicopter hits the ground, boom. The first hit actually was the tail - they count that as the first hit - the second was this impact. So after the trees were cut, the helicopter went down and it hit the ground.
When it hit the ground, two passengers had their seat belts unbuckled. You understand the velocity of this helicopter. It can cover 100meters within 0.3 seconds. Two people, Lee Sang Soo Ajoshi (uncle) and Yoon Ki Byung Ajoshi had their seat belts unbuckled because they were radioing (signalling) down to the the cars to prepare for when True Parents would come off the plane. This is normal.
As they hit the ground, because it was rainy, they (the helicopter) jumped up and struck a huge oak tree. That impact sent these two men flying forward from the back. They were in the back. They literally were sent flying forward. In the helicopter there are walls and there's a central passage way. At that velocity if they are flown from the seat and they hit the wall, (they get) spinal injury! Over, it's over! Tremendous shock! There's no way they'll survive that impact.
Both of them flew right through the middle, Sang-soo ajoshi flew and fell down right next to True Father, and Mr Yoon fell - flop! - right on top of him. (Applause). Give it up (give applause) for God!
Now this becomes even more amazing! I'll tell you why. Big impact, boom, hit the oak tree, oak tree fell! The helicopter spins because of the velocity, it turns to its right, it flies up 4 stories because of the impact. 4 stories! Do you understand? We're on the 3rd floor, so that would mean one more story up. That's like 11 meters high. The helicopter flies up 4 stories. At this point one of the most dangerous things about a helicopter crash is when you lose control of the back propeller, the tail, which is the direction giver for the helicopter. It controls direction on the helicopter. That thing was lost! Because of the velocity of the propellers, the velocity will force the whole cabin to begin to spin. When the whole cabin begins to spin, there will be immense gravitation forces (G force) on the people inside. They will all pass out (die) because of this force.
So the first danger is the cabin spinning, striking something, exploding; there's fuel, there are fuselage tanks on the bottom. If that hits something, explosion! If it spins, those risks become enormously high.
The helicopter strikes the oak tree, it jumps up 4 stories, and it comes down. Let me explain to you. There used to be an old farm field. So in Korea, because it's mountainous, they cut the mountains, and then there's a level field, and then there's a mountain, a level field and a mountain. Right? You've all seen this? They struck the first level. The oak tree which slowed it down, it spun this way, and as it was falling. (Then) there was a Y-shaped tree, and the tail of the helicopter was caught in the Y-shaped tree. Do you understand? The tree caught the tail. Because it got stuck in the Y-shaped tree the helicopter could not spin.
The second problem is ... of course, if this happens.... the (propeller) blades are moving at hundreds of miles an hour! Those things are deadly. One strike... and anything will be cut in half. That was the biggest concern at that second. The blades were spinning, the tail was caught, and as it was coming down - it drew a tremendous impact - the blades then, because of the second incline (slope) and because this was a field - it was soft mud - so 3 of the blades, 18 meters long, shot into the second slope, boom, boom, boom, and stopped completely!! The power of those blades, brothers and sisters!! I want you to imagine, if a helicopter is spinning and it hits the ground, and those blades, rotating at that velocity, strike a rock, the helicopter body can be thrown. It can be thrown and explode.
So those blades were held tight, the Y-shaped tree held the tail tight and the helicopter just kind of boom boom boom boom boom, came down.
Amazing miracle? The door side was up! One of the most dangerous things, if you even survive a helicopter crash - which is 90+ percent chance you do not - if you do survive it, the next step is how you're going to get out. If you hit anything, metal bends like paper at that velocity, when you strike anything. If the door was bent, if it was damaged, everybody would be stuck in that helicopter.
As soon as they landed, everything is black, lights out, its total fog. The mechanic who is there at the door, he's disoriented, he was unconscious for one second. He said that he got up and he started reaching around. The first thing that he grabs is the door latch!!! (Applause). He grabs the door latch!! If you've been on a helicopter, there's no way that you can lift that thing (door) with all its weight, it's extremely heavy, and the distance is quite long. I don't know how he could stretch out to do it. We talked to him, and he said, "I don't know how I lifted it. It was almost like somebody outside was opening the door!" So the door opens. The helicopter is now set in a little cradle, that little flat place between the mountains, right there, and that's when everybody started moving. That's when everybody starts trying to find their orientation, where are they, what's happening, we've got to get out!
Before that I want to mention a couple of things. If that helicopter did not strike that oak tree - as I explained there are two inclines, there's a flat place where they landed ― if it did not hit the oak tree it would not have slowed the helicopter down. Within 0.3 seconds, it would have jumped; it was heading straight forward. Up on the second platform is a rock the size of this piano. In 0.3 seconds it would have struck that rock, and the percentage of the fuselage exploding is extremely high, if a rock strikes that metal body.
Because of that oak tree ... it spun the helicopter, slowed it down... then the Y tree, then the soft mountain and then the put down (to the ground). You see, brothers and sisters, I call that first tree "Hyocha Namu," filial piety tree. When we think about True Family, we lost Hyo Jin Nim this year, and you know, despite all his own circumstances and the things that he had to overcome in his life, he had a filial heart for True Parents. That was undeniable. Nobody would deny that, and he truly offered his life as a condition; we believe that it was a sacrifice. He conditionally sacrificed himself. If he did not go just a couple of months ago True Parents would have been in tremendous danger.
In Korea there's the saying that the 9th year is the most dangerous. The 9th year is when everything becomes very dangerous because it's right about at a new start, a new beginning, a new fruition, etc.. Father is 89 in Korean age. It was on the 19th that this happened. The man who was flying the helicopter and saved them with his directional, he was 59 years old. So many 9s coming up!
We saw in this crash so many incredible miracles. But we really saw that if it did not hit that oak tree, which I always call Hyo Jin Nim's tree, that's Hyo Jin Nim's tree .... with his power he stopped that thing. He stopped it! And as it came down next was a Y - tree. The Y - tree was Young Jin Nim, I believe it. Why? It's a Y. He caught that tail! (Applause) That soft hill was Heung Nin Nim. He is a soft guy, you know. He caught those blades, boom, boom, boom! They were all doing Kung Fu training that day! (Laughter). Oh my God! Just incredible, absolutely incredible!
So when this was all happening there were some movie directors taking vacation on Cheong Pyeong Lake, a couple of movie directors, famous people in Korea. They look up; they see the helicopter coming down. We got a call at the HQ from this movie director. And they tell us, "We have a testimony for you. I saw something when I was fishing near Cheong Pyeong Lake." This is not our member, do you understand? He is not a Unificationist. He calls us and tells us, "I was fishing with my buddy (friend) and we saw this helicopter coming. We did not know who was in there, but I had a vision. All of a sudden I saw the helicopter encircled in (surrounded by) a lotus flower rainbow." He's telling us this. And he said, "And then I saw all these things in white, flying around this helicopter." And he said, "First I thought they're birds. I thought they were birds." But I said, "How many doves are there in the sky today, flying near a helicopter?" And he said that he looked closer and that he saw people, forms, white garb, holding the lotus flower, and heading towards the Cheon Jeong Goong (Peace Palace). This is the man calling us.
We had another sister that had a dream that Hyo Jin Nim was holding helicopters, was catching helicopters, just a couple of days before. He was a baby and he was catching little helicopter toys! He was practicing!
So we heard all these things. The movie director came to the HQ. We have his testimony on video. He brought also his friend, an actor here in Korea, who also gave his testimony. He saw rainbows in the sky that day. And also very interesting: Ki Byung Ajoshi, who flew and flopped on top of Sang Soo Ajoshi, said that right before the impact he saw Hyo Jin Nim at the front of the plane (helicopter). He said that he saw Hyo Jin Nim at the front of the plane!
You see, we can see all these things, tremendous miracles, from the cutting of the trees to the miraculous landing, the hit of the oak tree that saved them from striking the huge rock, the Y - tree stopping the helicopter spinning, then all the blades rotating at tremendous velocity into the hill, then the opening of the latch. The first thing the guy did was opening the latch. He opens the latch and they come out, as soon as they make the second impact. This is what the helicopter pilot said. The helicopter pilot is not our member. He is not a Unificationist, but he told us that he is now going to join the Unification Church! (Clapping and cheers). Tell all your friends, brothers and sisters! I tell you why. This is what he said. This is what the man said, "I'm going to church now, and I'll tell you why. We can see all those miracles happened. None of those twigs struck one person..."
I forgot a huge thing. I can't believe I forgot this one thing: They hit the oak tree, they got caught in the Y - tree, and then the blades got into the mountain top. What happened when we looked at the site? There was a tree about this thick, that's like a spear, its cut. It came up right through the seat of the man who flew to the front. Do you understand what happened? The tree came up into his seat. If he was wearing his seat belt ... you know, the first man, Sang Soo Ajoshi, that flew to the front, the first guy ... if he was wearing his seat belt that tree would have come up and split him in half! He did not have his seat belt on, he flew forward, and a couple of seconds later, there is a huge tree sticking out of his chair! That was of course another miracle, I did forget that!
So all these things are piling up on top of each other. And so the pilot says ... of course, he's going to join the church. We have an immediate influx of members joining the Unification Movement! I can see the headlines now! (Laughter). But what he said was this: They had the black box analyzed, which is the radio, the sounds on the plane, the video etc.. What they found is that in about 10 minutes everybody evacuated the plane. In about 10 minutes everybody was out! What they were explaining is that this is impossible. Military trained professionals after 20 years of helicopter crash training cannot evacuate a crashed helicopter within 10 minutes, everybody organized, coordinated, and out of the door! What happened was amazing!
This is what the pilot said, "See, usually when there is a crash, there is an instinct in the human mechanism, in the body, that says, 'I have to survive.' It's called fight or flight. 'You have to survive!' That's the first instinct you get as a human being when you are in danger. So what happens is: There is a phenomenon called crowding. Everybody rushes towards the door to save their own neck. And there's chaos. People are stepping on each other; people are stumping on each other. People are trying to get out, squeeze out of the door, and by that time.... the helicopter usually explodes within 3 minutes of hitting the ground."
So he explained that there's this mob psychology that happens in a crash because of instinct. But this time, the door was opened after the impact, and the first thing everybody said on that helicopter was, "ABOJI !" Give it up! Give it up for True Father! (Applause). All those brothers and sisters on that helicopter did not think one second to save their own neck. Everybody's first priority was, "Where is True Father? Where is True Father?"
The men that were thrown to the front were the first ones, they literally just stood up. The plane was on the side, so Father was up on the ceiling, in his chair, hanging from his chair. They had to get up, take him down, put him on their backs and quickly evacuate. Father is 90 years old, brothers and sisters, 90 years old! Military specialists can't do this in 10 minutes! We had 90 year old True Father and baby children on that plane and got out in less than 10 minutes!
Father gets out. It took some time. Then Mother! Everybody ran to Mother, Won Joo Onni (elder sister), Kim Sajang (President), he unbuckled her. Her foot was caught between metal that was bent. So they had to yank her foot out, and then they evacuated Mother. They put her on their backs. Mother was out! Then immediately after True Father and True Mother, then who next did they all call? They're not even thinking of their own necks. They're in this inferno. Next thing they call, "Where are the grandchildren?" Two of my children were on board, my daughter, our third boy, fourth child, was on board, and our cousin, our niece was on board.
True Father, they helped him out, True Mother they helped her out, and everybody grabbed the grandchildren, out, out, out! Run, run away! First we have to run because there are explosions. If there are explosions, everybody's gone (dead). The pilot said that, as soon as True Father, True Mother and the grandchildren were out, it was like people just literally pouring out of the door, like in the military. Now I know why that Hoon Dok Hae training saves people's lives! (Laughter). These brothers and sisters were trained in Hoon Dok Hae for the last 20 years! They just evacuated one by one, boom boom boom, out of the door. Everybody was out. They escaped, ran to safety, ran down the hill. The thing was burning, boom, boom, there were bursts, fire, fire.
That's the picture of what's remaining of the wreck (picture comes on the screen) and there it is. We are standing on that second platform. There is a rock right behind us. Below us is the helicopter which is on that flat plateau and then there's another hill that comes towards the picture.
The grandchildren get out, chaos, burning. Everybody was one centered on True Parents. Everybody had clearly (this in mind), "We're going to save True Parents first, not even think about my neck" The pilot saw that. He said, "That was a miracle!" He said, "There were incredible miracles, absolute miracles, the fuselage did not burst etc., all those things, miracles, but what I witnessed was absolutely miraculous."
There is something in the Unification tradition, something about our faith that even in that kind of emergency situation, where there is mob psychology, "let me survive" psychology, still everybody was able to think of the other first. Everybody was thinking of True Father, True Mother, the children. And the pilot said, that's why he's going to join this movement! (Applause).
We really saw a tremendous miracle this week, even in our family. All the brothers and sisters came out to support True Parents, all of us with one heart, one thought, one mind; we are here to support True Parents. We're here to receive all the messages from all the brothers and sisters from all over the world, just expressing our gratitude.
All we have is gratitude!
This was an unbelievable miracle! To believe that this is coincidence requires more faith than to believe that it is a miracle. (Applause). One miracle after another! One incredible event after another! Unbelievable! Just unbelievable! When I saw the site I had nothing to say. Even people, very skeptical about Cheong Pyeong or the spirit world, when they saw that site, they had nothing to say.
True, tremendous, tremendous miracles! That's the only way we can explain it. That's the only way. Some of the aviation experts said, "There are invisible hands around that Reverend!" Just unbelievable!
What can we learn today, brothers and sisters? We can learn that God is a supernatural God. We can learn that this is a tremendous miracle in our tradition. Nobody can deny it. It was broadcasted around the world. Everybody saw it. Everybody saw this miracle. When everybody also understands the story behind this miracle, what actually happened, of course, it's even going to shed more light.
The greatest miracle of course is the faith of our brothers and sisters on that plane. See, I saw True Father acting like he was really an amazing Superman, just incredible, just never stopping. Just a couple of days after (the crash) he was doing Hoon Dok Hae, 3 hours, 5 hours. And we see the brothers and sisters on the plane. Mr Yang said today at Hoon Dok Hae to all the brothers and sisters, "We know that every single one of you would have done the same thing on that plane." He said that, we know that. We have confidence that we have that kind of tremendous ability, a tremendous faith, that allows us even to overcome ourselves, our instinct, and to help another person. He said, "I know that any one of our brothers and sisters would have done that on that plane."
Brothers and sisters, what can we learn? We were all on that plane that day. Every single Unification family member, from old to young. We were on that plane that day. Everybody around the world was shocked. Everybody was trying to figure out, "What's happened to Rev Moon? Is he ok?" All of our family, we were on that plane that day. We experienced a miracle, we experienced a true miracle!
We saw that attendance, that amazing attendance to True Parents. We saw that from those heroes on that plane. And if we go forward with that kind of faith while facing our destiny, facing our futures, facing our own lives and the obstacles there, then I do believe that every day we will have more illumination and we will have more peace. And brothers and sisters, we will have a miraculous life like the Superman and Superwoman of Heaven and Earth. Check this one out (True Parents as Superman and Superwoman on the screen)! Superwoman! Give it up! Give it up for True Parents! (Loud applause and cheers). Amazing! God be blessed!
God bless our Unification family! Aju! God bless True Parents! Ok Mansei! Aju!
Hyung Jin Nim's Ending Prayer:
Brothers and sisters let's come together! Let's join for prayer.
Heavenly Father, thank You for this day today. Father, we have encountered a miracle in our tradition. Father, your children, Father, we have moved through the course of indemnity. We have served our True Parents, attended them. Father, they have walked the path of blood, sweat and tears, Father, they have sacrificed everything for humanity. Father, even the sacrifice of our brother that went to the spiritual world. Father, we know that those conditions were called, those conditions were heard, Father. And Father, around the world, everybody on this planet realized that there is something amazing, something providential, Father, that your invisible hands are protecting True Parents, our family.
Father, each one of our brothers and sisters on that plane, each one of our Unification brothers and sisters, all around that world, Father, we were in that plane today with Mr Kim with Mr Yoon. Father we were on that plane with Won Joo, we were on that plane with Father and Mother, with the children. Father, all of us, as Unification brothers and sisters, we were there, Father. And Father, we know that in that situation we would do the same thing, Father. That is the tremendous power of your children, Father.
Thank you so much for giving us this miracle. Father, through this we realize that we are reborn. True Father went into the inferno of death, Father, and overcame even death. Father, we saw it with our own eyes. The world saw it. It is impossible to explain. Father, it is Your doing, it is your goodness. We are so grateful for this miracle. Thank You, Father, for showing us this to renew ourselves, to renew our faith.
And Father, allow us to truly live that blessed life that you have blessed us to live. Let us have more victory, let us have more illumination, let us have more peace in this world. And Father, let us be a blessing to this world for ever and ever as Your children.
Father, we pray these things as one family around this world in our names as central blessed families, thanking you so much! AJU! (Aju!) Thank You, Father!
Christopher D. Osborn - Vineyard Haven, MA
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
DownsizeDC.org's “One Subject at a Time Act”
My latest political activism has been involved with DownsizeDC.org. Here's an email I received from them after participating in a letter writing campaign with them.
That's all for tonight. I hope someone out there is reading and agreeing. God bless from Vineyard Haven, MA.
-Christopher D. Osborn
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---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Downsizer Dispatch
Date: Tue, Jul 29, 2008 at 5:53 AM
Subject: Thanks for participating!
To: mvfipher (mvbcdosborn)
Thanks for participating!
Thank you for participating in DownsizeDC.org's letter-writing campaign today. For your convenience, this e-mail contains a copy of the letter we sent on your behalf.
Don't forget to tell your friends about this campaign!
Make Congress pass DownsizeDC.org's "One Subject at a Time Act"
http://secure.downsizedc.org/etp/campaigns/83
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The Honorable Bill Delahunt
Rayburn House Office Building Suite 2454
Washington DC 20515-2110
william.delahunt@mail.house.gov
The Honorable Edward M. Kennedy
Russell Senate Office Building Suite 317
Washington DC 20510-2101
http://kennedy.senate.gov/senator/contact.cfm
The Honorable John F. Kerry
Russell Senate Office Building Suite 304
Washington DC 20510-2102
http://kerry.senate.gov/contact/email.cfm
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Please introduce DownsizeDC.org's "One Subject at a Time Act" (OSTA). You can find the text of the legislation here: http://www.downsizedc.org/osta-legislation.shtml It's not right that our legislatures so often have to choose between voting yes for a piece of legislation which also contains something they very much disagree with, or voting no and not being able to pass a very important piece of legislation because some other junk has gotten thrown in there.
It's time to give you, our legislature, the power to only pass legislation on one topic at a time. It's ridiculous that some legislators try, and succeed at, forcing their unpopular bills to get passed by stuffing them in with something very important which they know will pass.
If OSTA gets passed it will put an end to foolishness like the "REAL ID Act", something wich was apposed by the majority of Congress and we the people, getting passed only because it was attached to a more popular bill, the "Emergency, Supplemental Appropriations Act for Defense, the Global War on Terror, and Tsunami Relief." (May, 2005).
I want you to be able to vote on only what you truly believe to be good legislation rather than being forced to approve bills that you would rather not see pass in order to get something important done.
Sincerely in Liberty,
Christopher D. Osborn
fipher.blogspot.com
(My name, U.S. Street address, and email were here in the letter my congressmen received)
That's all for tonight. I hope someone out there is reading and agreeing. God bless from Vineyard Haven, MA.
-Christopher D. Osborn
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Saturday, July 26, 2008
How do I help my bisexual college friend?
I've been looking over old emails lately, emails which I've starred but never done anything with. I've decided I aught to start doing something with these and unstarring them. Today I found one of Damian Anderson's emails.
It was full of different stuff; Wango Wards Ceremony - April 21st 2007, TFVNews: Virginia Tech and the heartlessness of our media and therapy culture, TFVNews: Traffic Deaths a Global Scourge, Health Agency Says, Polity: Sherman's march, Hostages released in Paraguay after TV plea, The matter of Josette Sheeran Shriner, MEPI Report - Cracking the Walls of Hate and Fear - by Joy Pople, Announcement about Cheon Il Guk Horsemanship Challenge, and finally, Advice please - How do I help my bisexual college friend?
It is that last one wich caught my eye this time, wich I really thought could be good keep - not just for myself, for I currently have no friends struggeling with their sexual identity - but for anyone in this similar circumstance. So without further ado:
I hope posting this here can proove useful to someone some day.
Yours, from Tisbury, Massachussetts
Christopher D. Osborn
It was full of different stuff; Wango Wards Ceremony - April 21st 2007, TFVNews: Virginia Tech and the heartlessness of our media and therapy culture, TFVNews: Traffic Deaths a Global Scourge, Health Agency Says, Polity: Sherman's march, Hostages released in Paraguay after TV plea, The matter of Josette Sheeran Shriner, MEPI Report - Cracking the Walls of Hate and Fear - by Joy Pople, Announcement about Cheon Il Guk Horsemanship Challenge, and finally, Advice please - How do I help my bisexual college friend?
It is that last one wich caught my eye this time, wich I really thought could be good keep - not just for myself, for I currently have no friends struggeling with their sexual identity - but for anyone in this similar circumstance. So without further ado:
Questions and Answers about Unificationism
HomeAdvice please - How do I help my bisexual college friend?
by Damian Anderson
Sunday April 22, 2007On 2/26/07, BP wrote:
Dear Mr. Anderson,
You are probably really busy and I've already gotten some ideas from reading a few things I found on Unification.net, so I don't mind if you don't respond.
If you have time, though, here is my situation:
I am a BC in college and I have a friend who is bisexual (currently in a relationship with someone of the same sex) but is also really open to hearing about DP and discussing this issue of homosexuality in relation to politics and our different belief systems. She keeps asking me about it and trying to point out loopholes such as "what about the technology that we can now splice two eggs together and give the fertilized egg to a woman to carry?" My response was basically, "just because we can, doesn't mean we should." My basic argument is that it isn't in our design to be homosexual and that homosexuality happens because of spiritual influences, but that our design is that man was made for woman and woman made for man and that relationship brings joy, happiness, and fulfillment, not just in itself but in the context of having a family and raising children. My friend, however, doesn't seem to be satisfied with this answer. She thinks that a homosexual couple is just as capable of having a spousal relationship that brings joy, happiness, and fulfillment, even in the context of raising children (adopting?). I'm not sure what else to say. I've explained it from the perspective of "this is how God made us and He did it for the sake of creating a new unity after a separation." I touched on the idea that "it's not just about having a fulfilling relationship, but that you are fulfilling your design." but I'm not really sure she's hearing me, because then she said that her design is that she is bisexual and it should be okay for her to marry a woman.
I pray for her, and I try to understand her perspective when I talk to her, but even though I don't press the issue, she brings it up every now and then as if it will not rest in her mind until we agree with each other completely. Also, she says that she has been praying about her situation and is getting the answer that it is okay. I don't know if this is still a part of her own process of becoming okay with herself as she is, or if she is hearing herself telling herself she's okay, or if this is her hearing another spirit or if she is mishearing something or if what she's hearing is God saying, "Yes, I love you anyway."
I've run out of things to say when we have these discussions, and I was wondering if you have any advice for me for when our next discussion comes up.
Thanks so much!
God bless!
BP
Dear BP,
Sorry to take so long to get back to you. As to your question, Father teaches us that before we can teach people the truth, we have to serve them. This person is not yet ready to receive truth from you, because you have to make a foundation of trust and love first. In other words, we have to lay the foundation of faith before the foundation of substance. We have to establish our own personal connection to God and serve others in the position of a servant, before they can come to recognize us in the position of their Abel, their mentor, guide, spiritual parent. When your friend can come to accept you in that role, then you will be able to teach her truth, and not until then. If she is open, then read the Bible or Divine Principle together and discuss the content. Let Father's words and spirit teach her, even if you are not able to personally. That is my initial response. Also, pray for wisdom and the heart that you need to reach her. When you have the right heart towards her, with compassion and without judgment, God will give you the right words and insight to help her.
Why is homosexuality not the ideal? Simply put, God created all things in pairs, because it is in the reciprocal relationship of complementary pairs that God's love can manifest in the world. Whatever she experiences in a homosexual relationship is not God, or from God. My feeling about homosexual women is that it is almost always a result of a broken relationship with the significant men in her life, such as father, brother, uncle, grandfather. How is her relationship with her Dad? Did anyone take advantage of her sexually that caused her to fear or hate men? She needs to meet a Godly man for her original principled sexual desire to be aroused. Then she has to learn not to act on that desire until she is ready to make a commitment to one spouse and to take responsibility for the life which is the natural consequence of heterosexual love. At that point, you can educate her about the Blessing of marriage.
Sincerely,
Damian Anderson
I hope posting this here can proove useful to someone some day.
Yours, from Tisbury, Massachussetts
Christopher D. Osborn
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Iraq banned from Summer Olympics
This is a travesty! This does not only hurt the athletes, that's the very least of my worries. This hurts the Iraqi people! The Iraqi people need to be inspired, they need heroes, they need national pride. These things will help improve their country. Now they're being denied it.
I had a suggestion. I think I would cry if it happened, but I don't think it will. Anyway, my suggestion is that the U.S. Olympic Team add the Iraqi players to our team. The impact on the Iraqi people would be tremendous, for us to take in their athletes when their own government acts so stupidly would be an amazing gesture, especially if we had to put them on the team and replace an American who had already gotten on our team.
That would be tremendous, that would be what the Olympics are all about.
From CNN.COM:
I had a suggestion. I think I would cry if it happened, but I don't think it will. Anyway, my suggestion is that the U.S. Olympic Team add the Iraqi players to our team. The impact on the Iraqi people would be tremendous, for us to take in their athletes when their own government acts so stupidly would be an amazing gesture, especially if we had to put them on the team and replace an American who had already gotten on our team.
That would be tremendous, that would be what the Olympics are all about.
From CNN.COM:
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- A few months ago, it seemed liked nothing could stop Iraqi sprinter Dana Hussain from representing her country in the upcoming Summer Olympics.
Then, the International Olympic Committee banned Iraq from competing because of what it says is the government's political interference in sports.
Hussain cried for hours after hearing the news, which arrived in the form of a letter to Iraqi officials.
"She hasn't stopped. It's like finding out that a close relative has died," said her coach, Yousif Abdul Rahman.
Abdul Rahman attempted to console Hussain by assuring her that she could compete in the 2012 Olympics. 
Watch Hussain react to the news »
"In this horrible situation," she said, "who can say I'll even be alive in 2012?"
CNN received a copy of the letter sent to Jassim Mohammed Jaffer, Iraqi minister of youth and sports, and Ali Mohsen Ismail, acting secretary general of the Iraqi general secretariat of the Council of Ministers.
"We deeply regret this outcome, which severely harms the Iraqi Olympic and Sports Movement and the Iraqi athletes, but which is unfortunately imposed by the circumstances," said the letter, signed by two IOC officials. Watch an official explain the decision »
The move stems from an Iraqi government decision in May to suspend the nation's Olympic Committee and form a temporary committee to handle its duties.
The Iraqi government thought the committee had not been operating properly and as a result undermined the sporting movement there.
The government said the original committee held meetings without quorums and had officials serving in one-year posts for more than five years. Many of the officials also lived outside Iraq, the government said. iReport.com: See a cartoonist's take on the decision
Emmanuelle Moreau, a spokeswoman for the International Olympic Committee, said it suspended Iraq's national Olympic Committee in June after the government removed elected officials and put in people the IOC didn't recognize.
She said the IOC proposed to the Iraqi government that officials come to the organization's headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland, "to discuss possible solutions."
But she said they didn't respond. "We're extremely disappointed with the situation. The athletes have been ill-served by the government in Iraq," she said.
Moreau said Iraq missed a Wednesday deadline for the entry of athletes to compete in archery, judo, rowing and weightlifting.
She said there is a chance that track and field athletes could compete if the original committee is reinstated. The deadline for the track team to register is at the end of the month. The Games begin August 8.
A former official from the disbanded Iraq Olympic Committee said the IOC's decision was justified because the government interfered with the national committee by suspending it.
The former official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject.
He said he believed that the government suspended the committee out of "jealousy."
The national committee was making great strides, and the government, namely the Ministry of Youth and Sports, wanted control of it, he said.
The seven Iraqi athletes who were to travel to China for the Games' start in August are disappointed by the decision, officials said. They include an archer, a weightlifter, a judoka, two rowers and two sprinters, one of whom is Dana Hussain.
Her coach called the decision unfair and said he blames "everyone": the Iraqi government and the Iraqi and International Olympic committees.
In the end, Abdul Rahman said, the athletes are paying the price.
"It's a shame after all the efforts, ambitions, risks and dangers," he said.
"I wish from the bottom of my heart they would reconsider this unjust decision for the sake of the athletes."
CNN's Mohammed Tawfeeq and Jomana Karadsheh contributed to this report.
All AboutSummer Olympics • Iraq • International Olympic Committee
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Friday, July 11, 2008
Fwd: The Revolution March!!!
The Revolution March!!! |  |
| Posted: 11 Jul 2008 01:30 AM CDT For those of you that can't make it to DC, don't worry! Live coverage of the march will be provided by www.revolutionbroadcasting.com . Bummed you can't see your favorite speaker in person? Tune in to hear their speech live! Please contact your meetups and anyone else that can't be in DC and let them know we will cover the event for them. www.revolutionbroadcasting.com Don't forget, if you have not pledged to march, there is no time like TODAY to do so: www.revolutionmarch.com See you tomorrow! |
| Posted: 10 Jul 2008 05:39 PM CDT With the march just around the corner (2 days!) we wanted to extend a huge thank you to all of those who have contributed time, energy and finances to make sure this event happens without a hitch. To all of our supporters, to all of our donors, to all of our volunteers, THANK YOU. This would not happen without you! We are so excited for Saturday and can't wait to meet you all (and each other) in person. Thank you, thank you, thank you for all you have done and will continue to do for this march and this movement. If you have not had the opportunity to pledge, please do so at www.revolutionmarch.com. It is critical that we have an accurate count for the day of the march! You will also have the opportunity to purchase a uniquely numbered Commemorative Ticket during the pledging process. And on a side note: In a dyslexic moment I, Catherine, referred to our exclusive gold sponsor, GCN Live, as "GNC" Live. My sincerest apologies to them. Please send them a big warm thank you for supporting our event and be sure to visit them at www.gcnlive.com |
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I'm real sorry I wasn't able to attend, but I'll be there on the web!
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Alice
My dear friend Alice Hafner died of lung cancer this past Saturday night. I worked with her for three and a half years at Brickman's.
The three things I'll remember most about her is her strong belief in Jesus Christ as our savior, her unwillingness to pretend to be anyone other than herself, and her love of the color pink.
Here are the events going on in her memory, quoted from the Vineyard Gazette.
In memory of Alice for the ext couple days, and in light of the fact that I'll be gone this weekend, I won't be posting here again at least until Monday, July 7th. Perhaps I won't even post until after the Tisbury Street Fair, which is July 8th.
Goodnight.
The three things I'll remember most about her is her strong belief in Jesus Christ as our savior, her unwillingness to pretend to be anyone other than herself, and her love of the color pink.
Here are the events going on in her memory, quoted from the Vineyard Gazette.
Alice M. Hafner of Vineyard Haven died at her home on June 28. Visiting hours will be held at the Chapman, Cole and Gleason Funeral Home, Oak Bluffs, on Wednesday, July 2, from 6 to 8 p.m. Her funeral Mass will be celebrated on Thursday, July 3, at 10 a.m. in St. Augustine’s Church, Vineyard Haven. Burial will follow in Oak Grove Cemetery, Vineyard Haven. Donations may be made in her memory to the American Cancer Society, 1115 West Chestnut street, Brockton MA 02301.Alice, may you rest in peace, enjoy your new found freedom, and find your home in Heaven.
In memory of Alice for the ext couple days, and in light of the fact that I'll be gone this weekend, I won't be posting here again at least until Monday, July 7th. Perhaps I won't even post until after the Tisbury Street Fair, which is July 8th.
Goodnight.
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