Chapter 30
Address at the Eighth Anniversary of the 777 Couples Blessing
October 22, 1978 -- Soo Taek Lee, Korea
Earlier I spoke about Home Church -- the final barrier that we in the Unification movement have to go through. Since we cannot fulfill our mission without going through this last gateway, let me speak again on this topic.
Originally, if man had not fallen, there would have been no necessity for even the words "Home Church." The completed, perfected family of Adam and Eve would have become the family which could have directly attended God, and naturally communicated with the angelic world. This family would have produced children, formed their tribe and their nation, and eventually the whole world would have become the world of Adam's family.
Then what happened because of the fall? By falling, Adam and Eve were separated from God and cut off from the angelic world. They lost everything. They were expelled from the Garden, which means they lost the standard of true human beings, the true family standard, and the true national standard. Who was responsible for that? It wasn't God, nor was it the angelic world, nor the world of creation. It was the responsibility of mankind.
Therefore, we are destined to follow the course of the providence of restoration. A person cannot go this path alone. He or she needs the help of God and the spirit world. Therefore, God and the spirit world have been mobilized to help fallen man on earth complete the history of recreation.
God created man after He had created the physical world. Therefore, the restoration of man must start after the restoration of material things. In order to restore material things, people in the Old Testament Age made offerings to God using things from the creation. Such offerings united God, the spirit world and the creation into a substantial foundation. Through these successful offerings, the foundation to restore a substantial Adam was begun.
This foundation of offering was supposed to be established worldwide. To do that, a particular nation, Israel, was elected. It was God's hope that Israel would become the most important nation in the world, so that when the foundation was completed there, it would represent all the world. On that kind of foundation, perfected Adam and Eve would be able to stand.
The way of the cross of love
The New Testament Age started when Jesus Christ, who came with the purpose of completing God's will, became the offering. This offering expanded worldwide as Christianity grew and prepared the environment for the restoration of all mankind. Therefore, among all religions, Christianity became the central religion. However, its foundation is only on the spiritual level.
If man had not fallen, the original standard would have been the perfection of both body and spirit. So, since Christianity has only a spiritual foundation, the matter of the Second Advent becomes important. God has been developing Christianity, the second Israel, on a worldwide basis in order to lay the foundation to receive the Messiah, who will come as a substantial person. His task is to restore through indemnity the foundation of perfected Adam, who is the center of the whole world, and to unify both body and spirit, physical and spiritual.
The Unification movement arose out of the need for a perfected person who can unify body and spirit on the foundation of worldwide Christianity. That person stands in the unfallen position and has the responsibility to establish the ideal of God's love worldwide. In the Old Testament Age, blood was shed through offerings. In the New Testament Age, martyrs shed blood, offering their lives to advance God's will.
In this age of the Unification movement, "blood" is shed through sacrificial love. Due to the fall, mankind lost God, the angelic world, and a true relationship with the physical world. People lost their grip on true love. To reach the goal of that true love, we have to go the way of sacrifice, which is in a sense the shedding of heartistic "blood." That is the mission of this movement.
You must understand that the path which I have been following on behalf of the individual, the family, the nation and the whole world is the way of the cross of love. If this movement fails to follow the way of the cross of love, it cannot complete God's will. But if it gains the victory, it can promote God's will and bring about the age of the Heavenly Kingdom here on earth.
Then what is the family? The family is the place where God can be welcomed. Originally, the family was to create the central foundation to attend God, but this was lost at the fall. Also, because of the fall, people could not establish a vertical relationship with the angelic world. Therefore, we must restore a direct relationship with the spirit world during our horizontal physical lives. The family is the place for doing that.
In the family we can also prepare the foundation for the restoration of material things and stand in the position representing perfected Adam, or God's true child. And finally, centering upon God, through becoming substantial parents, we can fulfill our responsibility to perfect the unity of spirit and body, that is, God's sphere of unified heart. That is the internal responsibility of the Unification Church.
What is the difference between the Unification Church and traditional religions? The primary purpose of the existing traditional religions has been the salvation of individuals. Many religions developed and expanded by preaching only about how to perfect the ideal personality. But the Unification Church was formed to bring the perfection of the family. In the past, in order to be saved through any of the individualistic religions, all that was required was that a person offer and dedicate himself on the individual level. But this is now the age of the perfection of the family, which will happen only if we are able to make an offering of our own families.
Family representing mankind
Unification Church members do not start their family life immediately after they receive the Blessing from God. After they are blessed, they are supposed to start an official three-year course of separation. Before we can have our own families, we must make indemnity conditions to restore the historical background of fallen families and the many families today who are not God-centered. Then what is the relationship between your family and families in the secular world? To use the terminology of the Unification Church, your family is the internal, Abel-type family, and the secular families are the external, Cain-type families. Before Unification Church members were given the Blessing, the division into Abel and Cain was on the individual level. But with the advent of the Blessing, the division into Abel and Cain was established on the level of families
The sphere of families centered upon God expands through the Blessing By attending our True Parents, these families inherit the internal heart of heaven. As these families expand horizontally, they form tribes and nations. Furthermore, you may be Korean, but your family is not limited to the Korean people; it is worldwide, transcending national or cultural boundaries. So even if your family is Kim or Park, its members are not just individuals but representatives of mankind and the whole world. In other words, you must understand that your families represent the whole world, beyond tribes, beyond nations, beyond cultures. You have been given that kind of responsibility. Centering upon True Parents, our family foundation has advanced from 36 families, to 72 families and so on, expanding the foundation of restoration through indemnity up to the worldwide basis.
The third seven-year course
After you receive the Blessing, you still have to walk the path of witnessing and the way of faith. The fact that we have been blessed does not mean that we have achieved a stronger position than the secular world. When we formed blessed families, there were already clans and tribes in the secular world. Even if we establish a sphere of God's dominion on the national level, the secular world has already established nations and they already have their own world. Therefore we still have the task of establishing God's domain on the level of the world.
God's Blessing has been given within this world of satanic dominion. Therefore, there are still stages for us to go through. Individual blessed families must go on to the levels of tribe, society, nation and world. The final level we must reach is that of the Heavenly Kingdom.
You may think that the Blessing is all you need, but that is not true. When you received the Blessing you were not in the position to overcome the secular world completely and go beyond it to the Kingdom of Heaven. You were blessed within this satanic world, and your Blessing establishes Abel-type families. The Cain world, which is ahead of us externally, will not immediately acknowledge and obey someone whose position they consider inferior. They will certainly try to persecute us and crush us. We have to go through a process to win them over.
My Holy Wedding ceremony took place in 1960, but my family was not formed on the foundation of victory over this world and the spiritual world. Even though it had a victorious foundation, it was merely the national-level foundation of Korea. It inherited the position of Jesus Christ who did not complete His mission. Therefore, unless the Korean nation could support me, I was destined to be persecuted by Satan and the satanic world on my way to forming a new tribe, nation, and world.
Our family's destiny is to go beyond the fallen world during our lifetime by restoration through indemnity. To indemnify history, we must fulfill this task within a certain period of time, with certain conditional objects and with Abel-type people in Adam's place.
In my own case, the important thing is to establish certain conditions within a providential time period on the level of the nation and world. So in the Abel position, I have to go through persecution on the level of individual, family, society, nation, and world. I have to survive this persecution and prepare the victorious foundation to connect this Abel-centered ideology with all of these levels.
The Unification Church established three seven-year courses since 1960 centering upon me, in order to indemnify the 2,000 year history of Christianity and the struggle between the spirit and the body. The death of Jesus on the cross was the sacrifice of the physical body for the spiritual foundation. Therefore, the spirit and body were not able to unite, and they have been in conflict with each other. Traditional Christianity is based upon a spiritual foundation, while the Unification Church is based upon a foundation of both spirit and body. That is why we have been struggling through Christian persecution and opposition up to now.
The course of restoration for blessed families
The United States is the representative of worldwide Christianity. We went through all kinds of struggles there for three and a half years, from April 1, 1973, to September 1976, when we achieved victory. This victory established the worldwide victorious foundation for the Unification Church centering upon both spirit and body.
On February 23, 1977, we proclaimed the beginning of a new age. Now we can never perish, no matter how hard worldwide Christianity comes against us. We are entering the age when the more they oppose us, the more they lose and the more we gain. The spiritual and physical foundation and material blessings from the secular world will come to the Unification Church.
The blessed families in Korea have been unaware of many of the things going on in the world. Instead of sacrificing themselves for the sake of God, blessed families have been living for their own sake, because of ignorance. This keeps them from transcending their national boundaries. Not knowing how to live as blessed families, they thought that just by believing and following me, they would prosper and I would take them to the Kingdom of Heaven. But that is not the case. You yourselves must follow the path of restoration through indemnity centering upon your family and your nation, just as I have done. Everyone has to go this path. If you follow my path exactly, although it is tremendously difficult, you can inherit the foundation which has already been established, and you can be engrafted to it.
I sometimes hear members say, "I am too busy to do home church work," but this is because they don't know its real meaning. Home Church is not what you do because you like to do it. Unless it is fulfilled, you cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
To establish God's providence, you must go through the Abel-type foundation. You must become an individual Abel, a family Abel, a tribal Abel, a national Abel, a world Abel, and then you must become the perfected Abel who can receive God's love. Originally, this should have been done within the one generation of Adam and Eve, but it took God 6,000 biblical years to make this kind of foundation.
God's heart is unchanging. If God loses a beloved person, He will still have a heartache 1,000 years later. God is the being who transcends time and space. Therefore, no matter how much time passes, God's heartistic pain has the same intensity from beginning to end. We must understand and inherit God's heart. For that reason, the Messiah comes on the worldwide Christian foundation and connects the world through this nucleus of God's heart. Thus he brings together the present world, which is the horizontal plane, with the historical world of God's heart, which is the vertical plane. By so doing, the entire sphere of restoration is completed; the cosmos is connected with its proper center.
The Blessing at the risk of life
The Messiah comes in order to complete the historical providence and to connect all the ages, horizontally and vertically. Although he comes as an individual, he represents Christianity and the Christian nations of the world. He also represents the individuals, families, tribes, peoples of the Christian world. Since he has such a responsibility, his mission is worldwide. His mission starts from his family, because all the fallen elements began in the family of Adam and Eve. It was Adam and Eve who drove God out of the family. Because of their mistake, the angelic world was divided. Adam and Eve lost the world of material things, human value and human love, because they made a mistake as man and woman. From the point of view of the Principle, only when man and woman meet properly can they be restored properly.
What is the Blessing in the Unification Church? It is the union of man and woman centered not on selfishness but upon God. Everything was lost because man and woman came together wrongly, so by reversing this relationship and setting it on the proper foundation, we can come back to God. This is the meaning of the Blessing of the Unification Church. Who gives the Blessing on behalf of God? The Messiah must do it.
The Lord of the Second Advent of Christianity comes as the bridegroom to meet his bride. Although he takes his bride as an individual, still it has significance on the world level. Their union is the junction of the vertical and horizontal ages and the death sentence of the satanic world. Therefore, all of the satanic world will mobilize to prevent the Messiah and his bride from achieving success.
Unless the religions of the world unite and support the Messiah, they will be taken over by the satanic side. If they remain silent, they will also be taken over by the satanic side. Since the established churches in Korea did not support the Messiah, Satan could invade the foundation of the nation and the church. The Messiah had to secure his position under maximum persecution and attack -- the greatest battle ever fought. That was in 1960 through the Holy Wedding. The Blessing of the 36 Couples also took place under desperate circumstances. The Blessings of the 36, 72 and 124 Couples laid a foundation on earth. By the time of the 777 Couple Blessing, we had established a foundation to expand worldwide. That is the history of the Unification Church.
After 21 years we will open the gates so that all humanity can be connected, the gates through which all five races or colors can enter.
Restoration of Canaan
The Unification Church made a new beginning and became a worldwide church with the Blessing of 430 Couples. That Blessing corresponds to 4,300 years of Korean history. Also 430 is the number of years which the Israelites had to suffer in Egypt in order to restore Canaan. Christians set out to restore the worldwide Canaan centered on the individual, not the family. The Christians, the Israelites of their time, upheld celibacy as a great virtue. The family level remained in the realm of Satan. So from God's point of view it was the age of restoring Canaan on the individual level.
For the first time in history, the family level movement of the restoration of Canaan is taking place worldwide, through the Unification Church. Korean, Japanese and American Unification Church members have been traveling around like gypsies, unable to settle down. Then where is the Canaan for the Unification Church? It is nothing less than the Heavenly Kingdom on earth. When the planet Earth has entered Canaan we will call it the Heavenly Kingdom on earth. The Israelites were headed towards a particular nation they called Canaan. For us, Canaan is the whole world. The Canaan of the Israelites was centered upon individuals, while the joyous world of Canaan we are seeking is centered upon the family.
Now we are walking the path of the 21-year course. If we have faith and follow in heart and spirit, within 21 years we can prepare the foundation for the worldwide restoration of Canaan. Then, within 40 years, we can make this whole world a peaceful Heavenly Kingdom. Forty years after 1960, by the year 2000, the Heavenly Kingdom will have been completed. So where are we in the Unification Church now? Are we going to be like the Israelites who wandered around in the wilderness for 40 years or like those who should have gone directly to Canaan within 21 days? Our Canaan is worldwide. If we cannot go within 21 years we may have to wander around for 40 years, perhaps witnessing worldwide destruction.
When we think of this possibility, we must succeed in 21 years, expanding God's territory centering upon America, which was prepared by God as the center of the world. We must begin in that country, where the five colors of people are included. Centering upon America the whole world will be connected to God.
The 430 Couples are the ones who connect all the families of the world, uniting the five races of the world. It is very significant for the Unification Church to have a wedding ceremony centered upon the number 430. There were 430 Couples blessed in Korea and a total of 43 Couples blessed in Japan, the United States and Europe, corresponding to the 430 Couples in Korea. The original three blessed families were connected with them as well. That Blessing established the national foundation in Korea, representing the whole world; now all Koreans from all stations in life have the foundation to dwell in heaven on earth. The representative number 43 is the foundation upon which all the nations of the world can enter the Heavenly Kingdom.
This was the foundation for the Blessing of 777 Couples. By that Blessing the worldwide gate was opened, connecting all the races, nations and families with God. By going through the gate of the 777 Couples, which the Unification Church has made, all people can go to heaven. Therefore that Blessing can make a new worldwide start.
The three-year witnessing campaign
From 1970-72, many of the blessed families participated in a campaign to establish the foundation for the worldwide blessed land of Canaan.
Not only in Korea but also in Japan and other countries, blessed members left their homes and returned to their native provinces and villages to witness. Centering upon Korea all the blessed families worked for three years.
For that reason, I myself went to America, which is the center stage of the world. Up until then I had spoken at our small church at Chungpa Dong, but I had never appeared in a public place. All the revival meetings had been conducted by my disciples. But because it was time to transcend the national level and begin my mission on the worldwide level, I left Korea in 1971 and went to America. For the sake of God I gave up myself, my wife, and my children during those three years. In the same way, in Korea wives gave up their children; husbands went to the north, wives went to the south, and children went to the east; everybody was separated.
Then what is the foundation for Korea to receive the Blessing? When I asked the blessed families to follow such a difficult and severe path, I was denounced. The blessed couples all complained. Some people predicted it would destroy the Unification Church. When the blessed members left for their missions, they left their children with their parents or other relatives in Korea.
This action brought much criticism and accusation. People said, "The man named Moon is colder than wood or stone. Even tigers know that they should take care of their offspring. That man Moon gave the Blessing to his disciples and told them to live a joyful blessed life, and then when the members started their family life, he ordered them to separate from each other, husband and wife and children, and go in all different directions: north, east, south and west. He is a terrible man."
Most of those parents and relatives had opposed the Unification movement, yet they could not help but take care of our members' children. By caring for the children of our members, those Koreans fulfilled the condition of taking care of the children whom God loves on behalf of the nation of Korea. Because of their condition, Korea could avoid being punished by heaven.
When did the economic recovery of Korea begin? In 1972, when the Unification Church families went out on their missions. Because of that condition there was a way for the Republic of Korea to receive the blessing spiritually. Check the facts to see if what I have said is true.
In 1972 I started a public speaking campaign in America, and within three and a half years, I became world famous.
What does "Pak" of Bo Hi Pak mean? It means round or revolving, and "Bo Hi" has the general meaning of being pleasant or pleased. "Bo" means wide and "Hi" means bright. Therefore, his name indicates that he brings something good to Korea and to America. Round Pak becomes bright and brings happiness to the whole world. He is a representative of the Republic of Korea and he himself goes around, bringing happiness and fortune to Korea. My name is Sun Myung. The word "Sun" means brightness with no clouds -- a very fresh and pleasant blue sky, clear, clean and bright.
The battle in America
The Unification Church has now reached the blessed land of Canaan on the family level; however, more burdens and difficulties lie ahead. Therefore, it is better not to purchase houses until the 21-year course is over. We need to have our own nation in order to have our own house.
The Republic of Korea can enjoy a Sabbath only when she has fulfilled her responsibility of inspiring the world and helping it to live according to God's will.
What kind of country is America? It was established by Abel-type people who came from Christian countries throughout the world. When Protestantism was born in Europe, Catholics tried to kill and persecute the Protestants in every nation. Therefore, many Protestants escaped from their countries at the risk of their lives and sacrificed everything in order to attend God and work for God. Many of them came to America and established this country. Providentially, if America moves, it can make the world move. We are advancing our 21-year course in a new country, on a new worldwide foundation, while other nations are abandoning God and Christianity is failing God's providence.
If God could have definitely recognized America as the ideal nation there would have been no reason for the Unification Church to exist. But God could not do that. Only the Unification Church could penetrate beyond national barriers and beyond communism and head toward the ideal world of God. When we go forward centering on God, regardless of the trials and difficulties that come our way, we will surely achieve victory. If we lose courage or fail to make a breakthrough then we will be defeated.
At the time of our fight with the Fraser Committee of the United States Congress, if I had not taken decisive action, we would have been completely defeated.
The mission of blessed families
Without such a victorious foundation, you blessed families would have had to go through the same course I did. But representing you, I have established the way, so you must be grateful to me. Therefore, centering on your Blessing you are in the same realm as I and can feel the same way I do. When I feel sorrow, you feel sorrow with me. Have you done something special for the sake of my victory in America? Have you made a special altar in your home, and are you praying in front of it? There is no question that you made efforts to bear children, raise them, and take care of them. Also there is no question that you have had a poor and suffering life. But beyond that, you should cherish the True Parents and unite with their heart. This should be the goal of the blessed families during the third seven-year course.
Can you afford to quarrel and fight? You feel horrible when your child bleeds from some minor cut. In this desperate time when the world may perish, when the country may perish, the tribe may perish, are you concerned about only your children and spouse? You should have dedicated yourselves even at the sacrifice of your lives, demonstrating your devotion and pledge to God. If you did not do that, today you should repent.
Here in Korea I do not feel easy or restful, so I cannot help saying things to scold you. Those of you who are seeing me for the first time may wonder why I am like this. Originally, I was not like that. When parents have no money to feed their children when they are sick and dying, they feel anguish. Have you ever thought seriously about God's problem? You have been living your own way, while I was suffering and having a hard time in foreign countries. Those who did nothing but quarrel with their spouse, those who neglected God's will, or failed to do their best should indemnify or cleanse all those failures. Do you understand that?
I am not saying this to be cruel. Please reflect on your devotion to God's will and how central it is to your daily life. If you fight or quarrel, God will leave you. I came back to Korea from my victory. in America to bring the worldwide blessing to this country. I fought abroad and returned, just like a victorious army general returning from an overseas campaign. I have brought all the glory in the world back to this country. Those who helped me during that period will receive the reward of their actions.
Did I come back to give you suffering and pain. or to give you a good time? Because the 777 Blessed Couples represent the whole world, the indemnity must start from the 777 Couples. Are you still willing to receive the blessing in spite of the pain you may have to endure? [Yes] Then you can receive the Blessing.
Crossing the Jordan River
Brothers and sisters, please practice what I have been doing so far. You need to become engrafted onto me. If the body is dead you can regenerate it by becoming engrafted onto me. Our unity should be stronger now than it was at the time of your Blessing seven years ago. Your family should be bonded to the True Parents' family, so we can restore the worldwide Canaan together. If you cut yourself off, you will perish.
As Moses represented the 600,000 Israelites, I represent the Unification Church, centering on the blessed families. Don't focus on yourselves. If you are asked to go abroad, you should not refuse because of the situation of your children and your spouses. You must remember Moses' course. When the time comes, you must cross the river. You may have to swim across, pulling your children with a rope in order to keep them from drowning.
The Israelites who left Egypt perished and could not cross the Jordan River. The Jordan River represents the boundary between the satanic world and heavenly world. The parents have to pull their children across the river. Both husband and wife must be one with God's will and engraft their family to the True Parents. You are blessed families but there is still no family tree within the Unification Church. As a couple, unite in heart and body around the heart of God and True Parents.
Crossing the Jordan River is like crossing the Red Sea. When God divides the water and opens up the dry ground, step forward. If you miss the chance, you will drown. Many Unification Church members are not aware of the awesome nature of this time.
Bear the family cross
Since we are meeting after such a long separation, I expected you to rejoice together with God, shedding tears, dancing and singing with joy. But I found the atmosphere very secularized. I feel very disappointed, like an army general who returns from the front line expecting a hero's welcome only to discover that his wife has deserted him and his children, and married another man.
The Republic of Korea is the Adam country, and our achievement here cannot be inferior to that of the Eve country or the archangel country. What are you doing? Are the lecturers and educators sleeping in their lecture halls? Kim Il Sung is looking to invade this country by any means, so how can we sleep under those circumstances? From the northwest and the north, communist China and the Soviet Union are aiming at this country. Are you sleeping while communism is encircling you? All our members must do their best to join North and South and East and West, sacrificing themselves for the cause. The Unification movement is responsible for the destiny of this nation and for pioneering the way that will bring life to the world, yet many of you are concerned only about your own life. You fight among yourselves, and yet you tell me, "Please come back"!
You wives ought to urge your husbands to do their best for God's will. But instead you complain that they don't love you and don't earn enough money. If your husband is a full time leader or center member without an income, you tell him to go out and get a job. You husbands must have heard this kind of advice from your wives.
I am leading the third seven-year course and have been enduring much suffering. So the blessed families also go through the way of suffering. Unless you bear the family cross, God cannot be with your family. When you receive salaries, are you going the way of God's will? God would prefer to see families being sacrificial rather than eating nice food and living a happy life in the name of Heavenly Father. Those who sacrifice their families for God's will could receive much more blessing. I do not feel much attachment to those members who work for companies and who are not able to help me.
Those of you who are not able to help me and give up things for the sake of God's will, don't you realize how much persecution the Unification Church has received because of your lukewarm support? I hope you will become more willing to sacrifice, getting by on less sleep and food, and not using heavenly things for private purposes.
For the sake of God
This is the family-level course to restore the worldwide Canaan. We are facing the Jordan River and the Kingdom of Heaven on the other side. You must know that your responsibility is to bring the victorious family foundation into the Heavenly Kingdom. Moses died looking across the Jordan River from the top of a mountain. The first generation Israelites became prey of eagles in the wilderness. Such a tragedy could also happen to us.
Since I know that, I am working at the risk of my life. I have no time even to get sick; I have no time to take rest, even if I want to. If you do not fulfill your responsibility while I am alive, you will have no excuse in the spirit world. You must be clearly aware of that. Unless you can offer to God the suffering your wife or children may have to endure, you cannot follow this path. I myself had to follow the path even without giving one grain of rice to my family. I could give nothing to my children; I did not save even a penny for my family. Therefore, you must be ready to follow my path.
Because you have been blessed, you have the foundation to overcome hardships. You 777 Couples represent the whole world; therefore, if you endure suffering now, you will receive heaven's blessings on behalf of the world. Such a precious gift does not come to you in a high and glorious position, but in a humble, sacrificial place. When you offer up your family, you can receive God's greatest blessing. Therefore, please continue on this course, especially when I am not here. Create unity in the family and in the church. Please follow this path so that God can remember you and bless you.
This is an occasion for repentance. Korea must follow this path so that the people of the world will have sympathy for Korea. Husbands and wives must become united and show the example to their children. You should be able to tell them, "Since your parents are completely one in heart and follow the path which pleases God, please follow our example." By being sacrificial as a family and reaching out to others, you will receive God's blessing and you can welcome God into your home.
You blessed families should develop and mature and fulfill the dreams God had for Adam's family. Then you will be able to welcome God and His angels into your home, and all good things will automatically come to you. If you live this way, you will never starve. God has been feeding and taking care of even the satanic world; therefore He will never allow His hard working children to starve.
I have been fighting on behalf of our country and the world. God has always helped me. Thanks to His unfailing help, I have been able to walk this path. Some of you care more for your children or spouse than for God. Offer your family for the sake of your tribe, your tribe for the people, the people for the nation, and the nation for the world. Finally, the world must be sacrificed in order to eliminate hell.
When the way before you is so clear, it is foolish to hold back because of your children or wife. If you are so foolish, you will lose everything. Our whole life is for the sake of God. Regardless of the difficulties we may face, we must devote our lives to God, the True Parents, and the whole world. That is the way of the Unification Church. Otherwise, you will wander in the desert like the Israelites. The ship that has lost its compass must locate the North Star to determine its position and plot its course. Likewise, if your life is not focused on God, you will lose your way in the desert of this world.
The tradition of my family
Those of you who came with your spouses, raise your hands, let me look at you. You wives are the ones who initiate the quarrels and give your husbands a hard time, right? Tell me frankly. Your faces reveal the answer. Because your husbands are calm and quiet, you do not feel good unless you fight at least once a week! You should cherish your husbands and love them as you love God. Take good care of them. They hold fast to God's will, so you should not fight with them.
God's will is for you to build the Kingdom of Heaven first in your home. What is the Kingdom of Heaven? It is the kind of place where a passing beggar feels welcome to take a rest, where birds like to make their nests, where village people like to visit. Such a place is the heavenly home or the Kingdom of Heaven on the family level. God will be attracted to such a home and want to make it His dwelling. You should be able to make your home like this.
When you have guests, don't hope they will leave soon because it costs money to feed them. Blessed families must take good care of their guests, even if they have to sell their own clothes to raise money to care for them. Those who do that will be blessed in the future. If you sell your clothes, far more will be given to you. This is one tradition which has been handed down from generation to generation in my family. We were raised to take good care of guests, even travelers passing through our village. When my grandfather was the master of our house, if a beggar showed up on a cold winter day, he would give the man all the food on his table. Then my grandmother would complain. Suppose you were a beggar. Would it be easy for you to beg door to door on a cold winter day? Therefore, if someone comes asking for food you must feed him.
You are the ones who are walking the path of God, developing a heavenly heart. You must understand that the beggars live day to day at the risk of their lives. If you understand their heart, you will let them eat as much as they want. My grandfather thought that beggars were more important than his own wife in a sense, and that he had to serve them for the sake of his descendants. My father also felt that way. He, too, would give someone his whole meal. Because of that I often saw him quarreling with my mother, not because she did not want to help them, but because she was not serving them fast enough. But I am sure that God will never forget such a scene.
The head of the household is responsible for helping others. If the husband, the head of the household, doesn't help others, the family will suffer. So the center directors and the national leaders must take good care of their guests coming from abroad. Even when you don't have enough food for yourselves, you must give food to your visitors. If you do that, then one day when you are really starving, somebody will come and feed you.
Become a good example for your children
Why do some wives give a hard time to the poor husbands of the Unification Church? That is not the true way of God's family. Already seven years have passed since the 777 Couples were blessed, but up to now most of you have just quarreled with your husbands. So beginning today, Oct. 22, 1978, make a resolution not to quarrel.
As we build the family of the Kingdom of Heaven, the emphasis is on our children. You must become good examples for your children. If you are self-centered, then your children will become self-centered as well. They will learn everything from you. How tragic if sinless sons and daughters have to go the way of suffering because of their parents! If parents quarrel and fight in front of their children, the Blessing of the Unification Church loses its meaning and withers away. I have never quarreled with my wife and I never will. Will you promise me not to quarrel?
You must know that your own sons and daughters will become the official witness on earth and in heaven to testify that their parents never fought and that their parents were the best of parents. Do you want your children to say that? If you have already established that kind of family foundation, then why do I have such an unpleasant feeling after coming back to this country this time?
Go back to your local churches and tell the members there what I have said. Apologize to them. Since you are the 777 Couples you must do your best to fulfill your calling. It is better to be separated for three years than to fight even once. There is a saying that it is as easy for a husband and wife to quarrel as it is to cut water; but within the Unification Church fighting between husband and wife should be even more difficult than cutting iron. Please make a determination in front of God and in front of me that you will never fight with your spouse.
I did not come here today to scold you. What would I gain by that? It only gives me pain. So if you repent before God, He will forgive you. If blessed families of the Unification Church set poor examples, your ancestors will scold you. Can you become one in heart with your spouse and with your children? Even people in the secular world make efforts to become like this, so don't you think we should try harder? Only when a husband and wife become one in heart can God dwell with them. That is the Principle. If a subject and object become completely one, then the central core will emerge. The center of the subject and object is love. The goal of human history had been to establish this nucleus of love. When love overflows and permeates the entire family, tribe, society, nation and world, the history of restoration will be completed.
When you go back home, tell your children, "You may have seen your daddy and mommy fighting or arguing, but from now on, we'll not do anything like that again. Please forget all of that." I'm going to tell the students of the Little Angels School that if they have seen their parents fighting before, from now on things will be different.
The higher goal
At your blessed family meetings, you should counsel each other. You are responsible for establishing the good tradition of husband-wife unity. Make your blessed family meetings significant and meaningful for the whole membership. Such meetings are necessary in order to develop your filial piety and faithfulness.
In the history of restoration, I have been establishing the conditions of indemnity on behalf of the whole, but you must be engrafted to me in order to inherit them. Before you can become one with me, you have to become one as husband and wife, and as parents and children. Then your whole family needs to be bonded to me. If you can do so, you will be the first to receive the blessings accumulated by me.
I came back to Korea at this time so I could extend all these blessings to you, but I found many of the blessed members, even the 36 Couples and the 72 Couples, living a life centered not upon God, but upon themselves. There is no excuse for you to continue this way, knowing how urgent the will of God is. Please understand this clearly and become fathers and mothers who can pledge loyalty to God. Be exemplary individuals and families, capable of inheriting heavenly tradition. I hope that you will make every effort to do that.
Your family must be able to set the heavenly tradition for your descendants to inherit. It is not good if you say to your descendants, "You should not become like us."
At this time, Hyo Jin and In Jin, even though they are in Korea, are still unable to meet with their own father. I feel sorry for them from the point of view of their parent. It is natural that children want to stay with their parents, but I cannot help the situation. I must make them understand that despite their own sadness, their father and mother are working for the sake of the whole, for the sake of all human beings.
You too must show your children that you are working not for your own benefit, but for the sake of the whole. If you do that, your children will be given blessings. So, women, from now on when your husbands come home tired, tell your children why. Explain to them: "Your father and mother are different from the fathers and mothers of other children. We are living like this for the sake of God, for the sake of mankind, and we are making history. Normal husbands and wives would quarrel if they were suffering as much as we are, and even separate and get divorced, but still your father and mother are patient and have hopes that God will give us blessing. We are living a life of gratitude to God. Because blessings come when we do our best, we give our utmost loyalty and sincerity to God."
When you bring up your children that way, they will be able to inherit your teachings, and your descendants will prosper from generation to generation. Your family should live for the sake of the world and for the sake of eternity. Expand your foundation of love to bring light and hope to the world, longing to reach out everywhere, to heaven and earth, and all the people for the sake of God. This is my greatest hope for your family. If your family becomes like that, even if the communists come and try to take over, God will protect you.
The realm of family victory
Up until now, I have been pushing you to the front line and I know you have been really suffering. And just as I myself have been slandered and persecuted, people will do the same to you. All this we have been doing for one purpose, to accomplish God's will. We have pledged to gain the victory. The glory of final victory will belong not just to certain individuals, but to everybody. If you really believe this, you can accept suffering with a humble heart, grateful to God and mankind. If you have such a heart then God will surely bless you.
Since I am that way, God can never desert me. No matter what difficulties come my way. even if I am overwhelmed by their burden. God blesses me and keeps me alive so that I can become His pride. He will do the same for you. I know that for a fact.
Build your family on this foundation. When you see your spouse sleeping in exhaustion, feel sympathy and pray for him or her. Mother is also miserable. Yesterday, she had only two hours of sleep and she doesn't feel well today, yet I brought her here for you to see. In her position, she cannot sleep just because she feels tired. Her position is sometimes not a happy one. She has to come here because she is in a responsible position for the sake of the whole And yet, she does not complain.
I am very strict publicly. Mother knows that. She knows that I am willing to go forward even if I die on the way; and she follows willingly. Even if you cannot fulfill all your public responsibility, still you must make some conditions to surmount difficulties. Mother came here today to demonstrate this point.
You know what indemnity conditions mean. You have been following the path of indemnity conditions. Those who are mere bystanders will suffer. If you follow me with a responsible heart, you will surely be given blessings and your children will naturally follow the path of God's will. The older they become the more cause you will have for gratitude. Good things that used to happen only once a month will come to happen every day.
My path has always been a lonely one, but I know that the more I do, the more things I am grateful for. Your blessings come from within your family. I long for you to inherit the victorious sphere of family victory.
Living for all the people
The family of the Messiah represents the whole world. That family can understand and give love to the whole world. All five races will want to join that family, because it is the center of the realm of heart. Through that family, all people can come to the central point and then reach out to all directions. The Heavenly Kingdom cannot be established unless there is one central family.
The family Kingdom of Heaven also must be established with one man and with one woman in complete unity. In order for an individual to establish the Kingdom of Heaven within himself, his heart and body must be completely one. Likewise, in order for a family to become the Kingdom of Heaven, the husband, wife, and children must be completely united, enjoying complete give and take with one another. In other words, they must be completely united with God's will.
God's will is to live for the sake of other people. Focus upon God and live for the sake of others; then your family can be connected with God. That is the way the blessed families should live until the whole world is restored. Become the family that can love all the people on behalf of God. Then you can save all the families of mankind. For this purpose you were blessed.
God is the center of the family. From the family, the tribe begins. And from the tribe that lives for the sake of God, the nation begins.
And from the nation that lives for the sake of the world, the heavenly world is established. From this point of view, the family has immense significance. Whether or not the world is blessed in front of God will be decided by whether the family can reach the ideal. You must clearly understand that. The Unification Church must be like one worldwide nation or tribe, one worldwide family harmonizing all five races. Wherever you live, you blessed families are the Abel-type families. Live for the sake of others. When you invest everything, even your blood if necessary, they will naturally want to follow you and be your Cain The way to heaven begins from there.
Restoration of the birthright
Originally, every member of the family -- father, mother, elder child, younger child -- was to belong to God. But Satan claimed all people, all the whole world, because of the fall. The father, the mother, and the elder son became Satan's representatives, and restoration had to take the opposite direction.
Therefore, the way of Abel and the way of Cain are different. The way of the secular world and the way of the people of the Unification Church are different. The heavenly world is the opposite of the satanic world. In the satanic world people fight and struggle with each other in order to have dominion, while God's people offer their lives, even shedding their blood, to redeem the world.
I started to take the offensive right after the Washington Monument rally in 1976. Up until then, we were often attacked, but we never took the offensive. In the original struggle between Cain and Abel, Abel did not attack; he was attacked. Through enduring Cain's attacks, Abel had to show a heart that would bring Cain to overcome the fallen heart of the archangel. On the foundation of this individual victory, Abel's family can restore Cain's family through the same process of being attacked and winning over the heart of the Cain family. The same process will restore all levels from the tribal to the worldwide level.
Then where does Home Church come from? In order to establish the Abel nation, Abel himself must be trained in everything in the satanic world. For that purpose, God called Abel-type people and inspired them to give up everything here on earth and separate themselves from the world. That's why true religions required that believers give up everything in order to follow the path of religion, always focusing on the larger purpose, rather than themselves. Many religious people have given up their lives in order to pursue the way of truth, trying to set an example for the world and win it over naturally.
The position of Cain is that of elder brother on the family, tribal, national, worldwide and universal levels. Therefore, people in the Abel position have had to win the heart of people in all those positions step by step. They trained for that purpose and when they came back to the satanic world they had be victorious even if it meant giving up their lives. That has happened throughout human history.
Resurrection can take place only when Abel wins over Cain's world by shedding blood and establishing the victorious foundation. For that reason, up until the Washington Monument rally, I kept silent publicly, even though I had been so unjustly denounced. I just kept praying and patiently accepted the blows. Because I knew that God's will must be done by following this path, I did not take the offensive. Up till then God was unable to take the position of parents to the world, and God-loving people were unable to take the position of elder brother. We were the ones who had to bear the burden of the younger brother's position. From the position of younger brothers we have to restore the rights of parents and the rights of elder brothers. Because of the fall, the parents' position was lost and the elder brothers' position was lost, and thus the younger brothers, the people in the Abel position, had to bear all the responsibility. Therefore, people in the Abel position have to win their own parents over. In that way, if the Abel sphere can expand to the worldwide level, it can save the world.
This is why religious people have always had to shed their blood as they struggle against the power of the secular world. That kind of history comes to an end when Abel achieves the victory on the family, tribal, national, and worldwide levels, and subjugates the satanic elder brother. For the first time, everybody, elder and younger brothers alike, can all claim to be God's children. Until that kind of unity is established, the parents cannot be with them.
The heavenly way is established only when the elder brother exchanges his position for that of the younger brother. The younger brother has to convince Cain to follow him, even if the laws and rules of God's kingdom are different from those of the world in which he had been living in the past. The willingness by the elder brother to follow and attend the younger brother opens the heavenly way and is the basis for heavenly ethics. When a normal relationship between elder brother and younger brother is established, the elder brother can receive his proper birthright.
To achieve this, God encouraged and helped Jacob take the birthright from Esau. For the same reason, the Unification Church has to gain the birthright. In order to protect their birthright, the Israelites also had to overcome many difficulties. Just like Jacob at the ford of Jabbok, they had to overcome those who were controlling the elder brother position, and after doing that, form a nation in the position of elder brother in front of heaven.
Mainstream of a new age
In this way, when Abel takes the position of elder brother and establishes a victorious worldwide foundation, he establishes the position of parents, representing the heavenly way on the worldwide basis. Through the parents, people can then receive their Blessing. People can enter the Kingdom of Heaven only by attending the parents, who represent the new heavenly foundation. Those who attend their parents enter the Kingdom of Heaven together with them. In the Unification Church, the True Parents are already in the dominion of God and have blessed many families in the course of worldwide indemnity restoration. And yet, blessed families are still not all they are supposed to be.
There are Cain-type blessed families and Abel-type blessed families. Those two must become one. In order for the heavenly way to be established, there must be the heavenly elder who can teach the younger brother with proper authority. In accordance with heavenly ethics, the elder brother can lead the younger brother on behalf of the parents. In the past, evil people in the position of elder brother were able to dominate other people. Together with the True Parents, we need to achieve victory in the struggle over the birthright. When the parents gain the authority of God, the elder brother can also establish his rightful position. Then the age of Cain will be over and the age of Abel will start. When Abel becomes the elder brother in authority, he can, with authority of heaven, subjugate Satan.
In America I have been fighting to expand the authority of the younger brother so we can win over the elder brother. Our goal is to gain the elder brother's position and give internal direction to the Cain-type elder brothers. In the past in the satanic world, the Cain-type elder brother struck the Abel-type younger brother, but we are taking the reverse course; we have been attracting good younger brothers from the Christian world and winning over elder brothers and bringing them into the Kingdom of Heaven. People from Satan's side have changed and are now desperately seeking goodness.
On Feb. 23, 1977, we entered a new age. The Unification Church is in the mainstream of the new age, so no matter how much the world opposes us we will never perish. Unification Church members have been shedding tears of righteousness and have gained the sympathy of the righteous God.
In the past it was necessary to be persecuted and attacked. Unification Church members may have a lot of reasons for resentments, but please be patient, knowing that the time will come when I will be joyfully accepted by all the people. You young members who have been patiently working so hard day and night are establishing the basic foundations for Kingdom of Heaven on earth.
Home Church and the birthright
You need a certain conditional foundation to participate in all this. That is Home Church. Home Church is the altar of God, the microcosm of the worldwide victorious foundation. Your 360 families represent the 360 tribes and nations of the world. They also correspond to time and space. The number 36 is three times the number 12, the product of three and four. It symbolizes the Old Testament, the New Testament, and the Completed Testament.
One year consists of 12 months or 360 days. During the course of restoration, most days contained failures. The loss of one day may cause the work of restoration of five years, 10 years, or even 100 years to end up in failure. Also the number 360 symbolizes the day of resurrection of the earth. In representing the world, the number 360 also symbolizes Cain. Your Home Church area is the Cain world, which stands in the position of elder brother.
If you want to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, you as the younger brother must win over the elder brother and restore the birthright. Otherwise you cannot stand with the True Parents. I have achieved the victory on the worldwide level and want to pass it on to you: Your condition is to win Cain, who represents the world, within the short period of 31/2 years. As sons and daughters of True Parents, you can now have substantial dominion on the basis of our victorious spiritual foundation.
Home Church is supposed to establish the position of parents, beginning from the position of servant of servants and rising to the position of servant, adopted son and true son. That is the essence of home church activities. In other words, it is the one altar upon which all the historic conditions for the restoration of the birthright can be consecrated. It is so amazing that at this time within the Unification Church the foundation has been laid which can bring the Heavenly Kingdom here on earth. What light and hope to this world of misery this news brings!
Please be hopeful and repent for what you have not fulfilled in the past, with renewed determination to do your best in your home church activities. You can indemnify all the past history by fighting a good fight against Satan. For 3 1/2 years invest your most sincere effort. Husbands, work so that people will say, "Please bring your wife as soon as possible. We will prepare your house, your furniture, everything." Wives, work so people will say, "Please bring your husband. If you need anything, we'll be responsible for those things." When both of you have areas like this, they will become the territory for your clan. Centering upon the blessed couple, 720 families in your home church areas will form a tribal sphere. Wherever you go, people will ask you to teach them the heavenly way. That means a new Israel, the Heavenly Kingdom, is going to begin. From that tribe, you will grow to form a new nation.
Tribal messiah
After becoming a tribal messiah in your home church, you can go back to your hometown and become the tribal messiah for your relatives. When these two realms, the internal Cain and external Cain, become one in heart and in spirit, you will become their tribal messiah and true parents.
Unless you establish the conditions to truly love your spiritual children, you cannot love your own physical children. I myself had to abandon my family and go to North Korea in order to establish the condition of loving other people. Only then could I return to my family in the South. Countries must be won over, on the individual, family, tribal, national, and worldwide levels. For this reason the Messiah comes representing the whole world and achieves worldwide victory.
The 33 years of Jesus' life on earth and Unification Church history have been condensed for you into 31/2 years. That is your period for restoration through indemnity.
We have now gone over the national dimension to solve the resentment of Jesus. For this reason today the Republic of Korea welcomes my return, even if established churches still oppose us. From now on in the Republic of Korea, there will be many people who are willing to fight for Reverend Moon of the Unification Church.
If we blessed family members become completely united and if the Republic of Korea can be completely united with God's will, then it can absorb North Korea which is the Cain country.
Once such a nation is established centering upon the heavenly tradition of love, everybody will long to come to Korea. Following the third seven-year course and after the additional three-year period until 1984, no matter what kind of ambitions North Korea may have, it will be impossible to attain them.
One national altar will be prepared, and the whole nation will march forward hand in hand with all the nations and peoples of the world. You must do Home Church so you can enter the Kingdom of Heaven and become a tribal messiah. You have the privilege of indemnifying what Jesus did not complete on the tribal level. You have the opportunity to establish the national foundation and connect it with the worldwide level. The age of persecution against the Unification Church will soon be over. We must bring it to an end during the third seven-year course. No matter how much Americans may criticize, it will be over.
Therefore, I hope your families will become the example in this nation of Korea. Within the Unification Church, especially the 777 blessed families have this mission. You must become good examples. Most of you are under 33 years old and are at a good age to do leadership work. Don't imitate the failure of your elder brothers and sisters in the past. They spent much time at home with their children. You can do your work carrying your children on your back. Are you willing to do Home Church in that way?
Home Church and the new family tree
Spacecraft may be able to travel to the moon but not to the Kingdom of Heaven. Home Church is the base from which you can fly up to the Kingdom of Heaven.
Home Church is a historic idea. If you go to Africa and start home church activities for 360 families there, that means you have transcended your nation. The whole world may oppose me, but if one country in Africa welcomes me, we can start the new world from there. In the future, numerous countries in the role of John the Baptist will appear. In that truly amazing time we can march forward in a brightness even greater than daylight.
Is Home Church difficult? Here you can work freely and we have no language problems in this country. You have no excuse not to achieve victory in your home church area.
Whether you can enter the Kingdom of Heaven or not will be determined by your dedication to your activities. For those who seek God and religion, that is the truth, the tradition and the way. Those who want to go this way may do so, and those who do not want to, don't have to. If you refuse, other people will move in. Those people among the established churches who now oppose the Unification Church will find their way of spiritual survival through the people they once persecuted. The time will come when all the people in this secular world will work together with the blessed members of the Unification Church.
Centering upon the True Parents and those who have gained the birth- right through their victory of Home Church, the Unification Church family lineage will be established. If you inherit the birthright and dedicate your sincere heart in the presence of True Parents you will be included in this family lineage.
When world peace is established and love prevails, all the people of the world will rejoice and remember you. So even if you are a person over 30 years old, you must strive to make more effort than others to establish this victorious tradition in which God can dwell. God remembers everything, so never do things the mediocre or lukewarm way. So far, all of you have been like refugees, or gypsies. Now is the time to establish the eternal tradition through what you do in your life to plant heavenly ethics and love in the fallen world. That is the responsibility of our home church work. You have to inherit the birthright of the elder brother. You must inherit this in the right way, the heavenly way. I hope you will succeed in achieving victory for Home Church, so you can pass on your heavenly tradition as true elder brothers.