Near the end of 1971, I went to the United States again. I had certain tasks that absolutely needed to be accomplished there, but getting there was not so easy. It was not my first time to go to the United States, yet I had to wait an unusually long time to receive my visa. Some members suggested that I delay my departure, but I could not do that. It was difficult for me to explain to the members, but it was important that I leave Korea on the designated date. So I decided to go first to Japan and apply for a U.S. visa while in Japan. I was in a hurry to leave Korea.

America in the early 1970s was embroiled in the Vietnam War, and activists were protesting. It was a country seriously divided. Young people searching for meaning experimented with alcohol, drugs, and free sex and in the process were neglecting their eternal souls. Mainstream religion, which should have provided guidance to such young people, was not performing its role. It could not help them end their aimless wandering and return to proper ways of living. The hedonistic, materialistic culture dragged many young people down, because they had no place to rest their hearts.

Soon after I arrived in the United States, I toured the country, speaking on the topics “The Future of Christianity” and “God’s Hope for America.” In front of large audiences, I spoke about the weaknesses of America in a way that no one else would.

I proclaim that America was founded on the Puritan spirit and had grown to be the strongest country in the world in just two hundred years because it received God’s boundless love and blessing. I reminded the audiences that America’s freedom comes from God but that today America had cast God aside. “America has a great tradition,” I said. “All you have to do is revive it.” I went to the United States to awaken America’s spirit, to save America from destruction and to urge the american people to repent and return to God.

Let us unite in the spirit of forgiveness. Unite in the spirit of love. Now is the time for national repentance. Love is the power to unite. America once knew how to come together to create a powerful nation for goodness upon the face of the earth. America is a beautiful land to behold, a nation of all nationalities, all races, and all religions united together into one working whole. The source of power has been love and faith in God and in one another.