Rev Moon's Testimony bring me to tears

Superintendent Pastor William Ephriam

"All of the things that I had been reading about him—I understood immediately that they were..."

Biography

I am pastor of the Progressive Church of God in Christ, founder of New Hope Outreach Ministries. Twenty years ago, I would have never thought that I would be standing before anyone talking about Reverend Moon. I had the pleasure to experience being in his presence, I believe, in the latter part of 1983, at the Senate hearings in Washington, D.C., when many religious leaders were being persecuted for their beliefs. Reverend Moon happened to be one of them, and I was part of the religious freedom movement. I was part of the Colorado Coalition for Religious Freedom at the time. We were invited to go to Washington, D.C. to the Senate hearings. Some of you may remember those hearings. Dr. Jerry Falwell and other religious leaders were testifying before the Senate committee.

My first encounter with Rev Moon

As I sat in that great hall, listening to the testimonies from each religious leader, I was deeply impressed. But I had not yet seen Reverend Moon. Finally, after everyone else had testified, I noticed that over on the far side of the room, there was a stirring, and a gentleman was led in whom I could not see well. As he sat and read his testimony, men all over the room began to cry, including me. Hard-core Baptists and staunch Episcopalians and Presbyterians, and even men who had no religious faith of any kind, began to cry because of the sincerity that came through as Reverend Moon testified. I was impressed, but not really changed by his words.

I Need You!

I was with a young man whose name was John Bellevance. He said, “Reverend Ephriam, come out here in the hall and maybe we will have a chance to see Reverend Moon as he passes by.” So we went out in that great hallway, and I was standing there, and as Reverend Moon came out, the news media was crowding around him, snapping pictures. We were standing about ten to fifteen feet away as he passed us. If John had not caught me, I would have fallen to the floor. I thought that he stopped and paused for a moment and looked at me and pointed at me and said, “I need you!” But he never really stopped. Every time I give this testimony, I come to tears. I am saved, sanctified and filled with the Holy Spirit. That doesn’t mean that I’m perfect, but I’m saved. The spirit within me knows the spirit of God when it feels it. When Reverend Moon stopped and spoke and said, “I need you,” he poured into my mind everything that he was about. I understood immediately who he was. I knew this — that he loved Jesus, he loved America, he loved people, he loved God, and that is what he was about. All of the things that I had been reading about him—I understood immediately that they were not true. The spirit within me related to the spirit that was in him, and from that moment on, there was a troubling inside of me. I knew who he was and I knew what he was about, but I could not have previously conceived see credit for it. But I know, and many thousands know, that had he not done that, the wall would not have come down like it did.

He is the Prince of Peace

A real man of God is not looking for praise, for he lives for the sake of others. I want to say this to you as I close. If you really want a prince of peace on this earth, it has to be Father Moon. Everything that he has done has been to bring about peace. Now he is working on a peace initiative in the Middle East (MEPI). You never see anything on the major news networks about the peace initiative that is going on over there that he is sponsoring. But I would imagine that there must have been over fifteen to twenty peace conferences and initiatives over there in the past year that he has sponsored. They are bringing together people of all faiths and races, proving that you can come together. And he is doing this in the midst of the battle zones. No one else is doing this except Reverend Moon. So I feel honoured to be working with Reverend Moon. He is worthy of honour.