"You Are the Heroes God Wants"
On November 13, the morning following the Peace Starts With Me Rally at Nassau Coliseum, hundreds gathered at the East Garden Estates in Tarrytown, NY for a breakfast celebration with Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon. Several religious leaders had asked for the chance to share their reflections with those gathered in the presence of Dr. Moon. Among them was Pastor Joel Barnaby, Senior Pastor of the Greater Philadelphia Church, who shared the following sentiments:
“Greetings and good morning my fellow brothers and sisters and greetings to the lovely elegant Dr. Moon. I am happy to be a part of such a great move of God on planet earth. In my endeavors to try to bring unity to the earth and among religious peoples it is important that I have peace within myself and then minister that peace to others. There’s war going on within the minds and hearts and spirits of religious peoples and we must make peace. It was my honor to come and serve Dr. Moon in preparation for yesterday’s major event and I was thankful that I could be a chauffeur for some of the people that have labored so many years for where we are today. I was also willing and eager to give up my bed to sleep on the floor so that the Unificationist missionaries from Japan could have a better place to rest as they gave so much of their own lives.
I am moved with compassion this morning because of all the energy that’s in this collective body right now. In being selected by Dr. Jenkins to speak with the Korean media two days ago, I felt inspired by the Lord to quote from the Psalms of David, Psalms 46:4: There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God.
Thank you, Dr. Moon, for pushing and creating this river; there is a river and tributaries in the streams of Christianity and Hinduism and Buddhism and Catholicism are coming together into a mighty river. We’re all adding into the river and coming into the world as one true family in the form of a mighty thing that God is doing on the earth.
The words of Martin Luther King come to mind; he said ‘War is a terrible way to chisel out peaceful tomorrows.’ We’re not men of war. We are men and women of peace. I was so pleased and it settled right within my spirit to see on the big screen yesterday afternoon ‘Mother of Peace.’ What a fitting title for an elegant lady. Thank you for allowing me to share my heart.”
Pastor Barnaby’s tearful words touched the hearts of everyone in the room and were followed by several more testimonies in Korean and Japanese. To close the breakfast gathering, Pastor T.L. Barrett Jr., the pastor at Mt. Zion Baptist Church, stood up to offer a song but before doing so, he explained to Dr. Moon, “I’m going to sing a version of the song that I usually sing to you but I can’t sing it like I usually sing it because the Holy Spirit has changed a word of the song. I used to sing ‘You are so beautiful to me’ but after yesterday and after seeing all that God has done through you—and hearing the plans that God has for you to do throughout Africa and the world, I can no longer sing ‘You are so beautiful to me;’ Now I have to sing, ‘You are MORE beautiful to me.” Pastor Barrett’s sentiments uplifted the room and his song offering inspired Dr. Moon to share once again God’s desire to see America fulfill its destiny as a nation for God.
“There is about 200 million people in America alone and if we can really mobilize the people of America to engage them in the true family values movement and bring them to receive the Marriage Blessing Ceremony, what tremendous change will that bring? This is the path that God wants this nation to follow and you are the heroes that will bring about God’s providence in America.”
The pastors gathered that morning pledged to continue to visit churches and push harder in their outreach activities enhanced through the Peace Starts With Me Rally at Nassau Coliseum.