A TEASER FROM THE INTRODUCTION OF TAKING GOD SERIOUSLY

by Laurence Baer

…In the late 1990s, our movement began a new type of Marriage Blessing - one which extended that sacrament to couples in the spiritual realm. My wife and I participated in this effort. As conditions were successfully set by Rev. and Mrs. Moon, this grace was able to expand to more and more generations of our ancestors. In 2012, the way was opened up to liberate and bless up to 210 generations. In December of that year, we held a celebration at our home for some 1600 couples of our ancestors whom we had blessed. 

At that time, I had the inspiration to organize them into committees. We appointed three co-chairmen to oversee the committees, and we wrote up clear assignments for each committee. A dear friend of ours, George Detlefsen, PhD, a prominent physicist who died in 2005, had participated along with us in 1982 at the Madison Square Garden Marriage Blessing. Since none of our ancestors had ever known Rev. or Mrs. Moon personally, I prayed and asked Dr. George to serve as a senior advisor to those committees. I diligently updated each committee’s assignments two - three times per year, and I prayed for them daily. 

For my first 40 years in our movement, I never had what I would consider direct communication with God. I prayed regularly and consistently, and sometimes I would have strong intuitions that turned out to be accurate. I could see God working regularly in situations around me and, on a few occasions, I felt God’s spirit and was moved to tears. But even though I was originally interested in parapsychology, I honestly never had what I would consider “communication” with any spiritual beings, people or angels, nor did I have any actual conversation with God. Nor had I ever had any visions. The closest I came to some kind of spiritual communication would be when I was writing songs. On occasion, I would hear a melody, or sometimes, part of a lyric would come to me.

In 2015 that began to change. A friend of mine had had a good experience attending a seminar by Ron Pappalardo, an Associate Pastor in the Spiritualist Church, who was introducing people to various exercises to learn to communicate with God. My wife and I drove from Columbia, Maryland to Columbus, Ohio for a weekend workshop August 1 – 2 of that year. For two days, Ron guided us through numerous exercises, and meditations to try to communicate with God, or to at least become more in touch with our own spiritual senses. I found it quite frustrating. All around me, many of the participants were having legitimate and inspiring experiences. In my case, much to my own disappointment, nothing seemed to have any effect on me. However, at the end of the workshop, he tried one final exercise, which he called “journaling”. It simply involved meditating for a bit, and then writing a sincere note from my heart to God. Once we finished that, we were then to begin writing a note back to ourselves from God. Ron instructed, “Just write whatever comes into your heart.” Here is my first journal with God, dated 8/2/15. I transcribed God’s “voice” in bold italics: 

Dear Heavenly Parent,

Thank you for this seminar. It has made our connection so much more intimate, even though I still feel like I’m swimming through a pool of molasses and in a stupor trying to connect to you consciously. I’m sorry for being so thick.

What Ron just said about connecting with his own children – I am continually shocked by the resentment and sense of threatenedness that come back at me from my children.

I feel like I am completely unaware of the ways in which I threaten and hurt them. At this point ,they are all married, so in that sense I should certainly chill and just sit back and celebrate them and support them. Are you confident to take responsibility to reach out to the next generation without pressure and guidance from me to my children?

I understand that you have been working through history, longing for three generations to be connected to you. So, I would hate to fail you somehow and let this opportunity slip away because of my own lack of discipline to train our children successfully. On the other hand, it would be so much more joyful just to love them and endorse them, and let them live their own lives with confidence that they have received all that I can teach them and knowing that you will work with them, and even more so with their children, to guide them going forward.

 I have done my best to organize our spirit world to support them and their families too. Did I do it effectively or are there ways I could improve? Is it enough? I would sure relish some feedback and guidance. Let’s be a team, with active give and take on the strategy level. In the time I have left on Earth, I could sure get a lot more done for you and the providence if we could develop that active give and take.

I’ll stop here and listen.

My dear son, thank you for all your efforts and hard work. You sure have grown over the years, and now, as a grandfather, you are beginning to understand my heart more. Each person has their own course. There is only so much you can guide them. However, if you love them unconditionally, the time may come when they will ask you for guidance. When that happens, then they can receive it more. People like to discover things for themselves. No one likes to be pushed. When you give something to someone who is longing for it, it is not a push, it is a gift. You are quenching a thirst. That is the exact opposite. That is why I wait until people long for me. To reach out to someone before then is counterproductive. And even then it is important to be measured on how much you give. If you keep giving after an appetite is satiated, it quickly can turn to pushing.

Focus on unconditional love. Celebrate your amazing children. Ask them how you can support them in their dreams. Love them with my love. Let’s do this together.

Wow. That’s a paradigm shift! Please help me hold onto it in the moment.

Please continue journaling. I will welcome the opportunity to dialogue with you in this way. Let’s do great things together.

When I showed Ron what I had written, he was very excited. He said “this is clearly in a different voice. I believe this is actually God speaking to you.”

I thought about it for a few days, and finally decided, “No, I’m not going to play games and pretend I’m actually talking to God.” And I filed it away.

Then a few weeks later, on August 28, 2015, I turned 63. That morning, just as I had been doing for nearly two decades, I prayed for well over an hour before breakfast. Only, this morning was different. The moment I completed my prayer, I suddenly had a remarkable vision.

My life flashed before my eyes. It was divided into three 21-year courses. Each of those was divided into three 7-year courses. I was clearly shown the meaning and purpose of each of those 7-year courses. And then this vision focused in on the years 1994 – 1997, and I heard a voice explain, “These were the most difficult three years in your life. That was because they were the first three years of your third 21-year course, and you had to set a foundation. After that, you could receive great blessings. And that is exactly what Rev. and Mrs. Moon had to go through after Rev. Moon died.”

It was stunning. It was very powerful. It was definitely not my imagination.

In fact, for three years beginning in 1994, our family truly struggled financially. The company I had started failed, and we were broke. However, 1997 was the first year in which members in our church were authorized to offer the marriage blessing to neighbors, friends, and family. I was the community leader in Laurel, Maryland at the time, and I prayed for guidance on how to help the couples in my community to respond to this new opportunity. I got the inspiration to meet with the Manager of BWI Airport in Baltimore, and he graciously received me at the top of the tower there. I explained that I wanted to set up a table in the airport to offer marriage rededication ceremonies. To my great surprise, he agreed. He gave me the only table in his airport which was set aside for outside groups. 

Each couple was given the goal to bless 185 couples. We quickly completed ours, there in the airport, and I helped some 40 other couples to also achieve their goals. One of those couples was the Salonens, and I was soon hired as Neil’s Executive Assistant for the next four years. You could say I had a “Joseph experience”, going from the dungeon to the Prime Minister.

I did not process that “63rd birthday” revelation with much maturity. Of course, I felt very loved by God. I felt very special. But I didn’t think about it any more deeply. Clearly this was a birthday present from God, recognizing and honoring my three 21-year courses on this earth. What more could there be to it? I asked a few friends, “Did you ever receive a revelation from God?” When they replied “no”, I smiled back, “well actually, I did”, trying not to sound too proud of myself, although of course I was so very proud.

Three years later, in 2018, I started having a very strong desire to hear some kind of a report from Dr. George and our ancestral committees. I had been praying for them for six years. I had been asking for help from my ancestors, especially regarding several projects that I wanted to launch for the sake of peace and prosperity in the world. 

In addition, by 2018, on the foundations of the sacrifice of Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon and our global movement, the providence of ancestral blessings had been expanded to 430 generations, and our couple had been able to complete those ceremonies. And so, our committees had grown. But now, in 2018, as had been the case 21 years earlier in 1997, couples were being asked once again to share this marriage blessing with family, friends, and neighbors. This time with a goal of achieving 430 couples. 

Finally, on Sept 15, 2018, we had our first reading with Dr. George and our Ancestors, with the help of a dear friend who is an extremely gifted medium and who has trained and refined her skills for decades. During that reading, George explained that all the resources I needed for my projects would be forthcoming, but I would never find them if I didn’t complete our goal of blessing 430 couples.

That was a surprise, and also a confrontation. I had felt that having helped 40 couples in 1997, I probably didn’t need to do any more such blessings. Here’s a relevant excerpt he shared:

“We're being led by the Holy Spirit in the flesh. And we don't need to understand what she's saying. We don't need understanding why she's saying it. It’s like we’re little kids in kindergarten and if our mother says you cannot go out without your shoes! ‘But I want to go barefoot’ - You have to put your shoes on. ‘Why?’ Because I say so. So sometimes we just have to do what we're told - even if we don't understand it. By and by, we’ll understand later on because a mother has access to information that we do not and sometimes she goes through certain gyrations that to us look like ‘what is this all about?’ 

But she actually does know what she's doing, even if we don't. We don't need to understand it. It's OK. 

I just saw you with this little stainless-steel tray - a nice little edge on it. I think you can buy them at the Dollar Tree – with the holy wine - like you're at a cocktail party serving people. But with the little cups. There is a number somehow doing that 430. It will help us. It's not just for those people; it's for us too. It will help us move through to another dimension, to another level.”

Based on that guidance, our family completed our full goal of 430 couples in a few months, and soon after we completed 43 couples who qualified as full members. We were among the first couples in America to register as Cheon Bo Victors, which we did at the first induction ceremony held in Korea on October 10, 2020.

Between September 15, 2018 and August 16, 2021, we had a total of six readings with Dr. George and our Committees, with the help of my friend, the medium. The content of those readings is profound and historic. But I will publish them in a separate book. However, on September 30, 2021, on the occasion of our seventh scheduled reading, something unexpected happened…

photo from Laurence Baer