It matters not that we do not use weapons, martial or ranged. What matters most is what is in our hearts. Here we are, fighting, not for national boundaries. Not even for our mortal lives do we stand and march to defend. What we fight for is greater than any of this.

What we fight for is peace, liberty, and justice; what we are fighting for is the survival of our families, for One Family Under God; what we are fighting for is the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth; what we are fighting for, is Cheon-Il-Guk.

Let the battle begin, and let it end without a drop of blood being spilled.

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Picture of the Day: Tired of Weddings

A friend of mine sent me a link of a very unfortunate "Picture of the Day" at rokdrop.com. Many of the comments were rather rude, but I like to think most were simply misinformed.

There was so much that I wanted to respond to, that I felt like making a blog-post would be more appropriate.

Here is what I wanted to say, coupled with some of the comments that I found needed to be expanded upon by someone more knowledgeable of the Unification movement. The commentors "names" and their comments are colored in green, while my opinions and explanations are in black.


#1; LG DACOM Stinks, Royally:

“She sleeps while listening to either an mp3 player or her cell phone during her supposed wedding. The Moonies are a cult and Moon Sun Myung is a fraud. These guys, Scientologists, and LDS are all cut from the same cloth.”

The headphones are probably attached to a radio which is receiving a translation of what is being said on stage. This is very common, because although Father Moon does speak and understand a lot of English since he lived in the States for many years, he still highly prefers to speak in his native language, Korean. At large events such as a wedding, we are often told to bring a portable radio. Then they will usually have two radio translators on two different open stations. One will be translating from Korean to English. The other will be translating from Korean to Japanese.

As for her tilting her head down at a funny angle with her eyes closed, I can’t really say for sure but I really doubt she is asleep considering she, along with everyone else, is standing. Maybe she’s praying silently during a pause in the program, or maybe she’s streching her neck, but I highly doubt she is sleeping.

Finally, Scientologists, LDS’, and Unificationists are quite different. If I’m not mistaken: Scientologists beleive life on Earth was started by extra-terrestrial beings; LDS’ believe that Jesus resurrected again in North America, thus giving forth the gospel anew to the local Native American inhabitants; while Unificationists believe that all the major prophets were inspired by God, but Jesus was special in that he was meant to establish a family without original sin (false sex centered on Satin instead of “Absolute sex” between a mature heterosexual couple centered on God’s love) in order to bring all of humanity back into God’s lineage, and that Father Moon (along with his wife, Hak Ja Han) has the mission to fulfill Jesus’ messianic role.

#9; Tom Langley:

“Zilchy, I believe that the Moonies have had these mass weddings in the US so it’s not just an Asian thing even though the Moonies are based in Korea. Even though they claim to be strongly anti-communist they helped the NK set up a factory to produce a Fiat knock off car. It’s all about money & power.”

Indeed, they don’t only do it in Korea, we have members all over the world. I’m full American, my wife is half Norwegian. We have friends who are French/Norwegian+Brazilian/Japanese, French/Norwegian+Korean, French/Norwegian+African/Canadian, Austrian/Norwegian+Korean, American/French+Norwegian/British, Austrian/American+German, German/Norwegian+Swiss...

We are also indeed very anti communist. In fact, Father Moon was imprisoned in a North-Korean a political/religious concentration camp during the Korean War because of what he was teaching. He almost died, but UN troops freed him and his fellow prisoners. We also indeed have several business ventures in North Korea, including car manufacture and tourism. We also maintain a “Peace Embassy” in Pyongyang, and a museum in Father Moon’s original home town. Once in a while we even send a soccer team or a ballet group up north for some peaceful exchange. It was indeed Father Moon’s efforts which opened the way for South Koreans to be allowed to visit their families in the North.

The reason why we have been able to form such a good relationship with North Korea, one that is so close that people from the Unification movement have been able to travel there even at the height of the nuclear crisis, if because of Father Moons philosophy of peace. He knows that the only way to ever have lasting peace is not through war, or even non-violent protests. The only way to true peace is through loving the enemy even more than you love your own family. This is why Father Moon’s family has suffered so much despite his wish to create an ideal family as a model for the world, and this is why so many Unificationist families have suffered in their personal and financial lives. It is because of our philosophy that we will never have true world peace unless we sacrifice ourselves completely for God and humankind. Kim-Il-Sung, the man who was president of North Korea during the time Father Moon was imprisoned in North Korea, was able to embrace Father Moon in brotherly love because of the eternal and unchanging love that Father Moon could give despite their stark differences in ideology. The idea comes from the fact that God is our eternal True Parent who loves every single human being as His child no matter what, and that we should love our fellow human beings the same way God does.

#17; LG DACOM Stinks, Royally:

“They owned the Washington Times until this year and consistently tried to pass it off as a true competitor to the Washington Post.”

This just in, a group laying to Father Moon was recently able to purchase it back for $1 in exchange for responsibility for paying down all it’s debts.

#20; Vince:

For a further explanation of The Little Angels: it is a dance troupe made up of mostly of the children of rich, non-Unificationist parents. The dance school they attend, however, was founded by father Moon. This year they were sent by Father Moon around the world to thank the veterans who fought, bled, and died in the Korean war to preserve freedom on the Korean peninsula. Next year they will be visiting the nations who contributed to the war in other ways, such as Norway’s gift of a floating hospital.

Finally here is to the comparisons between Koreans and Unificationists. Actually, while traditional Korean culture does contain many aspects which made it possible for them to become the new Chosen People, to be Korean is not the same as to be Unificationist. One thing is the Koreans, just as the Japanese, tend to be very racially closed-minded. Even Unificationist Koreans have a harder time with international marriages than Unificationists from the west.

Another thing is that Love is exceedingly important for a Unificationist marriage. God wants us to be married so that He can experience love through us. The ideal for a Unificationist is to first find perfect mind-body unity centered on the mind, then form an individual loving relationship with God, and then centered on that love for God - get married and love your spouse just as deeply as you love God. Finally, families should enjoy, love, and take care of all of creation. If all individuals and families were able to do this, there would be no need for religion or government as we see these institutions today. With our own direct relationship to God, we would need no government or religion to tell us what is right and wrong. With perfect, loving, God-centered families, we would not need religion to teach us how to love, nor government to support us or organize our lives. People would live in harmony with each other, God, and with nature. This would be the Kingdom of Heaven. A marriage without love is destined to fail miserably and to cause misery.

In Liberty, centering on True Love,

Christopher D. Osborn
posting from Ski, Norway

Friday, November 5, 2010

A Victim Treats His Mugger Right

One of Father Moons core teachings is that if we are ever to have world peace, we must love our animies more than we love ourselves or even our own family. Well, a friend of mine just shared an NPR story that proves exactly how this works. This is the sort of attitude Able should have had when his elder brother Cain threatend him. Here's the story below. Enjoy, and be inspired:

NPR: A Victim Treats His Mugger Right
March 28th, 2008

Julio Diaz has a daily routine. Every night, the 31-year-old social worker ends his hour-long He was walking toward the stairs when a teenage boy approached and pulled out a knife. subway commute to the Bronx one stop early, just so he can eat at his favorite diner.

But one night last month, as Diaz stepped off the No. 6 train and onto a nearly empty platform, his evening took an unexpected turn.

"He wants my money, so I just gave him my wallet and told him, 'Here you go,'" Diaz says.

As the teen began to walk away, Diaz told him, "Hey, wait a minute. You forgot something. If you're going to be robbing people for the rest of the night, you might as well take my coat to keep you warm."

The would-be robber looked at his would-be victim, "like what's going on here?" Diaz says. "He asked me, 'Why are you doing this?'"

Diaz replied: "If you're willing to risk your freedom for a few dollars, then I guess you must really need the money. I mean, all I wanted to do was get dinner and if you really want to join me ... hey, you're more than welcome.

"You know, I just felt maybe he really needs help," Diaz says.

Diaz says he and the teen went into the diner and sat in a booth.

"The manager comes by, the dishwashers come by, the waiters come by to say hi," Diaz says. "The kid was like, 'You know everybody here. Do you own this place?'"

"No, I just eat here a lot," Diaz says he told the teen. "He says, 'But you're even nice to the dishwasher.'"

Diaz replied, "Well, haven't you been taught you should be nice to everybody?"

"Yea, but I didn't think people actually behaved that way," the teen said.

Diaz asked him what he wanted out of life. "He just had almost a sad face," Diaz says.

The teen couldn't answer Diaz — or he didn't want to.

When the bill arrived, Diaz told the teen, "Look, I guess you're going to have to pay for this bill 'cause you have my money and I can't pay for this. So if you give me my wallet back, I'll gladly treat you."

The teen "didn't even think about it" and returned the wallet, Diaz says. "I gave him $20 ... I figure maybe it'll help him. I don't know."

Diaz says he asked for something in return — the teen's knife — "and he gave it to me."

Afterward, when Diaz told his mother what happened, she said, "You're the type of kid that if someone asked you for the time, you gave them your watch."

"I figure, you know, if you treat people right, you can only hope that they treat you right. It's as simple as it gets in this complicated world."

Produced for Morning Edition by Michael Garofalo.


In Love and Liberty from Siggerud, Ski, Norge,

Christopher D. Osborn

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Human Rights Leaders Protest Abduction of Women in Japan at New York Consulate

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/human-rights-leaders-protest-abduction-of-women-in-japan-at-new-york-consulate-104814079.html

NEW YORK, Oct. 12 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Several human rights leaders and Christian pastors, stoked by a recent documentary on Japanese human rights abuses that aired on Korean television station SBS on October 6, held a press briefing today outside Japan's Consulate in New York to proclaim their discontent with the Japanese government.

Dr. Luonne Rouse, United Methodist Church Pastor, delivered remarks. He was supported by Luke Higuchi, president of the Survivors Against Forced Exit, the Rev. Michael Jenkins, chairman of the American Clergy Leadership Conference, and the Rev. Jesse Edwards. Several victims of Japanese abduction and attempted deprogramming attended the event to share their stories and answer questions. Numerous members of the Korean and Japanese media attended.

The documentary titled "Kidnapping and Confinement in the Unification Church – Kiyomi Returns Home After 13 Years" inspired today's protest and detailed the abduction and confinement of several members of the Unification Church, a matter of persecution that occurs daily in Japan at the hands of religious deprogrammers. The documentary has garnered a large amount of attention in Korea and is gaining notoriety within the Korean-American community.

"The Japanese government is turning a blind eye to this persecution," said Dr. Rouse. "It's time to stop the abductions and free the victims. We must protest religious freedom and human rights."

The protest concluded with Dr. Rouse and supporters walking into the Japanese Consulate and hand-delivering a letter directly to an aid of the Honorable Shinichi Nishmiya, the Consulate General. The letter requests a meeting between the Ambassador, human rights leaders, and several of the Japanese victims currently living in the U.S. to share stories of persecution and discuss steps to remedy the current situation.

Over the past 40 years, an estimated 4,300 members of the Unification Church have been subjected to human rights violations of this nature. Between ten to 20 Unification Church members are currently abducted each year in Japan to undergo forced de-conversions.

In the U.S., American citizens are being encouraged to sign a petition encouraging Congress to hold hearings on human rights violations in Japan. Specifically, the hearing would be held by the Tom Lantos Commission on Human Rights, co-chaired by Rep. James McGovern (D-MA) and Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA).

For more information on the Japan abduction issue: http://stopjapanabductions.org/

Follow us on Facebook: Stop Japan Abductions

About ICRF

The International Coalition for Religious Freedom is a non-profit, non-sectarian, educational organization dedicated to defending the religious freedom of all, regardless of creed, gender or ethnic origin.

SOURCE International Coalition for Religious Freedom

Back to top RELATED LINKS
http://stopjapanabductions.org

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Fredsfesten avlyst :(

Fra Universel Fredsforbundet:
Bold
Hei.
Pga. en uforutsett situasjon måtte vår gjestetaler trekke seg. Vi har derfor bestemt å avlyse fredsfesten (17. oktober
kl 1600). Beklager!

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Universal Fredsforbundet Fredsfest på 17.10.10

Universal Fredsforbundet holder en Fredsfest med Tema: “Sjelens psykologi” søndag, 17. oktober 2010, kl 1600 på Grorudvn. 39 (underetasje), Oslo i Familieforbundets lokaler.

Gjestetaler er Thomas Weys (som snakker på engelsk), med innlegg også ved Knut Holdhus, og sang ved Victor mm.

Weys vil bl.a. ta opp hvordan vi bedre kan nytte vår spirituelle kraft.

Her er en link til invitasjonen: https://docs.google.com/fileview?id=1dQS6N9G6QmJZseAsdlHnPM741Z3o77D3Lw4oJvT62V6v9JpZr0u7Pi46ZwI4&hl=en&authkey=CIfoj40J

Det høres interessant ut, og jeg serfrem til det!

Mvh,

Christopher D. Osborn
Ski, Norge

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Petition to support religios freedom in Japan

Below is the content of an email witch I received via church today:
Stop Japan Abductions !

Petition for Religious Freedom in Japan


Sign our petition and urge Congress to hold hearings before the end of the year about religious and human rights abuses taking place in Japan – one of America’s great trading partners. These hearings should be held by the Tom Lantos Commission on Human Rights, co-chaired by Rep. James McGovern (D-MA) and Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA).

Religious freedom is fundamental to the ability of civilized peoples to live together peacefully. Individuals around the world should be able to exercise their inherent right to express their faith and live a life grounded in convictions of their hearts and souls without government coercion or interference.

For too many years, the Japanese government has abused the fundamental principles of religious freedom by turning a blind eye to atrocities against individuals who practice religion not sanctioned by the government. As one of America’s great allies and trading partners, Japan must put an immediate end to religious persecution.

The U.S. State Department’s Religious Freedom Report has published complaints every year since 1999 that Japanese authorities are not enforcing their own laws regarding kidnapping, physical restraint and physical abuse of Unification Church members.

By signing this petition, tell the United States Congress to hold hearings on these religious freedom and human rights violations and hold the country of Japan accountable.


To sign the petition, please click on: http://stopjapanabductions.org


FOREF Europe
Forum Religious Freedom-Europe
Office: Seidengasse 28/4,
1070 Vienna, AUSTRIA
President: Prof. Dr. Christian Bruenner
Secretary General: Peter Zoehrer
Phone: +43 6645238794
Skype: zoehrer7
E-mail: manager@foref.info
Website: http://foref.info
Blog: http://religiousfreedom-europe.blogspot.com/
Facebook-Group: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=101116579943644
ZVR: 429267353

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Truth Demands Honest Transparancy

An open letter to the authors of How Well Do You Know Your Moon and Done With Moon:

Hi, my name is Christopher David Osborn. I'm a 2nd gen. Unificationist born from two ex-Catholic American Unificationists. I was born in Washington D.C. and lived there until I was 8 and attended New Hope Academy in Maryland. I then moved to Martha's Vineyard off the coast of Massachusetts.

I was Blessed with Lisa Widenhofer of Norway at East Garden (New York) on December 26th 2004. I have now been living with her in Norway off and on (mostly on) since September 2006 and we're expecting a little 3rd gen. (a boy) around May 11th of this year.

If you wish, you can learn more about me by reading this blog, following me on twitter, or checking out my other blog called Min Sanhet.

Though I do still have strong faith in God, True Parents, True Family, and the entire Unification Movement; I respect your efforts on your blog to spread what you believe to be the truth. I have my own theories about the accusations you make, and I will get into why I still believe another day. I desperately wish that True Parents and/or the True Children would answer once and for all these very important questions that you and many others bring up.

However, I want to say this, that I would respect you a lot more if you did not post anonymously. There are other people in the Anti-Unificationist movement than you whom have been open about who they are. Have any of them been hunted down and harassed? Any Unificationist who upon learning your identity, sought you out to harass you, would be going against strong Unificationist tenants of loving your enemy, even dying for the sake of sinners over and over again as we are taught True Father has through the "7 Deaths and Resurrections". So I am asking, why do you and your writers hide yourselves?

Centering on True Love,

Christopher (Fipher) D. Osborn
Siggerud, Ski, Akershus, Norge
Google Oversettelse fra englesk til norsk bokmål

PS: Please do not count me as a "Moonie Apologyst". I am a Moonie (Unificationist) and I will never apologize for it; nor will I ever apologize for any person, entity, action, or thing outside of my personal direct dominion.

PPS: Heheh, wow, I just sounded just like my dad when I told the cat to get "down" from the holy table. She's always knocking something over.

Friday, February 12, 2010

God's Day Sunday

With Father Moon wanting to entirely to a lunar-calander celebration of Unificationist holy days, we'll be celebrating God's Day for a second time this Solar-year, this Sunday!

Explanation of God's Day http://kathryncoman.home.att.net/dayinfo/01-1godsd.htm

Norwegian Family Fed will be celebrating together at our Grorud location at 11 AM. Refreshments are "spleiselag", so everyone who comes is encouraged to bring a little something to share. Go to the bottom of this page to see information on how to join us there: http://enhet.no/norge.php

I'm trying to find something on the internet about the change of the Unificationist holy-day calender, but no luck so far. I'll edit this post if I ever find something.

Have a happy God's Day!

- Christopher D. Osborn

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Helping Our Family in Haiti

Believe it or not, the Unification Church/Fammily Federation for World Peace and Unification actually has a community in Haiti, and they're not much better off than the rest of the Haitians in the earthquake zone. It looks like not a single member of our community there was seriously injured. However, they still have no roof over their heads, no water, and very little food.

If you want to help, first and foremost please make a donation via Lovin Life Ministries.

Second, you can join Helping Unification Church in Haiti on facebook to stay updated on their situation.

Below are two letters. This first is from Rev. Michael Lamson, the founder and administrator for "helping unification Church in Haiti" on facebook.

Haiti UC Update

Dear brothers and sisters,

I am sending information as it comes in so we can understand our members situation. I believe that even if we can not help financially we can use the power of prayer to send many absolute good spirits to help.

Phone and internet are difficult to come by at this time but our brother Paul is sending us updates as he can and our sister Evelyn Drake in Florida is also helping us collect information.

Tonight we learned that most members along with others are living in an open space behind the now destroyed church center. There is little food and no water. Most people have not been able to bathe since the quake hit. They have shared that the most prominent smell comes from those who have died. I can not imagine.

Theodule Paul the National leader, his wife Fugiko and their three children were in the center with members when the quake hit. When the quake hit Theothane their 6 year old daughter ran into the room where her mother was with their new born daughter. Fugiko could only run out of the house with the new born and one of the walls fell on Theothane.
Rev. Paul was able to escape with other members and his 3 year old son Theothile. It took them over an hour to dig out Theothane who was bleeding from her head and eyes.

The Japanese Embassy was able to relocate Fugiko, Theothane and their new born daughter to Dominican Republic. We are not sure how they are doing in Dominican Republic.

We are not sure how other members are but it looks like only Theothane was seriously injured.

It is possible that some of the banks will reopen in Port-au-Prince and we can start sending funds directly to the church account there. For now lets work together to help make sure the members can have basic food and water and help raise money to rebuild the church and mission in Haiti.

Rev. lamson
This second letter is from the national leader of the Unification Church in Haiti, Theodule Paul.

Dear Brothers and Sisters

9 days after the earthquake, we are still waiting for some help from the government or international community, we are about 100 people living in the yard of Unification Church with nothing: no water, no foods, no blankets, no tents, and we are on breathing death... our place is like a huge cemetery, children are crying but parents can not do anything.

We only listen on radio that help has come but we do not see nothing, the coordination is not made well, people must fight in order to find some foods or water.

we are living with many injured people who are also suffering from water and foods.

We do not have electricity, many of us do not take a bath since that tragedy, we are breathing all kind of thing particularly we are breathing the death.

we really need your help, your donation in order to face all this tragedy.

Many people are brcoming crazy because they have lost everything. they do see the value of life.

please help us.

may God bless you.

Theodule
The sooner the Unification members and Church can stand back on their own feet, the sooner they can get back to their mission of helping the Haitian people to inherit God's heart. Please donate to help members get food and water and rebuild the church and mission in Haiti via the Lovin' Life Ministry's "Haiti Relief Fund". If you can't, and even if you can, prayers are of course also welcome to be sent their way, as well as for the entire nation of Haiti.

Thank you,

Christopher D. Osborn
Siggerud, Ski, Akershus, Norge

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Happy New Year and Happy God's Day 2010!

Here in Norway we celebrated New Years and God's Day at Nordtangen, a cabin owned by the Norwegian Scouts.

Below is the new motto for the Unification Movement for the year 2010. If you click on it you can see a picture of the original calligraphy.

"Mansei for oneness with True Parents' pure heart and with all their victories in the realm of the Cosmic Sabbath centered on true love!"

- FamilyFed.org

Click here to see a video of Father Moon's 'God's Day 2010' address.

In other news about the new year, the UPF (Universal Peace Federation) is calling for a the '10's do be a decade of peace. While the UN's millennium development goals are meant to be accomplished by 2015, the UPF is working to achieve significant goals by 2013.

You can check out a PDF presentation of the UPF's highlights for 2009 here: http://www.upf.org/images/stories2/highlightphotoessay-upf2009.pdf

Again, happy New Year and happy God's Day 2010! I pray we truly can make this a decade of peace.

Centering on True Love,

Christopher D. Osborn
Siggerud, Ski, Akershus, Norway

2012 Motto for the Unification Movement

Cheon-gi 3 (2012) Unification Movement/Tongilgyo/Cheon Il Guk Motto:

"The Era of the Victory, Liberation, and Completion of the True Parents of Heaven, Earth and Humankind"

Click here to read a translated transcript of Father Moon's 'True God's Day 2012' midnight prayer.