Founders of Korean Religions - Korea's Unification Church Spreads Out to the World

Newsmaker Magazine
June 3, 2008

The following article was the first in a series of five articles that were printed over the course of five weeks (May 6 -- June 3, 2008) by Newsmaker, a weekly news magazine published by Kyunghyang Newspaper in Korea.

Started as the Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity in 1954… the name of the church was changed in 1994

On April 18, Rev. Hyung Jin Moon, the youngest son of the Reverend Dr. Sun Myung Moon, was inaugurated world president of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (FFWPU) and president of FFWPU Korea.

The Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (known as the Unification Church) officially began in 1954. The original name of the church was the Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity. When the Reverend Dr. Sun Myung Moon put up the first church sign, he said, “the day that we take this sign down must come soon.” In 1994, the sign was finally taken down and the name of the church was changed to the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification.

On April 18, Rev. Hyung Jin Moon, the youngest son of the Reverend Dr. Sun Myung Moon became the official representative of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification. He had inherited the position of world president and president of the Korean church. His older brother, Kook Jin Moon, is the chairman of the foundation that oversees Unification Church businesses. Within the Unification Church, Rev. Hyung Jin Moon’s rise to leadership is seen as an historical event that advances the “providence” one step closer to “realization.”

The Unification Church was the first among religions founded in Korea to spread out to the world and it has spread further than any other. The Reverend Dr. Sun Myung Moon, who established the Unification Church, was born in Sangsa-ri, Deokeon-myeon, Jeongju-gun, Pyung-annam-do in 1920. His birth name was Yong Myung Moon. Born as the second son out of eight children, he studied Chinese literature in the local village school as a youth. At age 15, he transferred to the Osan Elementary School, where he learned Western literature. In that same year, his family converted to Presbyterianism and he became a Christian.

In 1935, while he prayed on Easter morning, Reverend Moon is said to have received a revelation directly from Jesus. According to The History of the Unification Church, Jesus told Reverend Moon that he failed in his work of saving humanity and repeatedly asked Reverend Moon to take on that mission.

At that time, the [Japanese colonial forces in Korea] oppressed all forms of religious worship, including Christian, and instead strongly enforced compulsory shrine worship. Christians consider this time period to be one when they were thoroughly bereft of their religious rights. It is worthy to note that Reverend Moon’s religious awakening happened at such a time.

Dr. Jaeha Lee, head chaplain at Jung Ang University, who majored in historical theology, explains,

“Christianity in the late 1930s was being spiritually raped by imperialist Japan. When existing religious teachings couldn’t function, some went on a passionate search.

Some people risked their lives saying that they saw things that no one else had seen at that time. Those who believed them said that they had received revelations from God, but those who opposed them claimed that they had come in contact with the spirit of Satan. Whichever of the two was the case, it remains a fact that those people had strong religious experiences.”

The Reverend Dr. Sun Myung Moon, who graduated elementary school at age 19, went to Seoul to study electricity at the Kyeongseong Practical School of Commerce and Industry, where he completed the middle school course. During this time, he attended the Myeong-su-dae Church in Heuk Seok Dong and started an active life of faith. He became a Sunday school teacher and was devoted to the point of witnessing on the street near Changgyeong Palace and Seoul Station.

Immediately after Korean liberation, in October 1945, Reverend Moon entered the Israel Monastery in Paju-gun, which is in Kyeonggi province [in South Korea]. There, he prayed and studied the Bible. While he stayed there for six months, he worked as a guide in the Sangdo-dong Assembly Hall, which was connected to the Israel Monastery. The Israel Monastery was ostracized from established Christianity because of its tendency toward mysticism. Its leader, Baek-moon Kim, wrote Theology of the Holy Spirit and The Fundamental Principle of Christianity, in which he espouses a unique interpretation of the Bible. Some say that the roots of Unification Church doctrine Exposition of the Divine Principle (Exposition) come from him. The Unification Church rejects such claims.

On June 6, 1946, Reverend Moon went to Pyongyang in North Korea. It is said that God guided him to go to that city. In the entire Korean peninsula, Christianity had been the strongest in Pyongyang up until that time. Christianity was very active there, to the extent that Pyongyang was nicknamed ‘Jerusalem of the East,’ and mystic movements proclaiming that Jesus would return to Korea were widespread. Some made every preparation for the Lord’s return, including the preparation of clothes and meals for Jesus at his return.

Reverend Moon evangelized in Pyongyang, but he ran his church without a sign on the door. In this church, which was called the ‘Wilderness Church,’ he taught a new interpretation of the Bible to his followers while worshiping with them. However, a few months after he started his church, he was arrested on charges of disturbing public order and kept in custody for 100 days. The North Korean government must have found it suspicious that Reverend Moon was running a church with no sign on its door and with different beliefs than those of conventional Christian churches.

Reverend Moon started his pastoral work again after being released from custody. However in early 1948, he was arrested under the same charge and sentenced to a five-year imprisonment with hard labor. One of the main reasons he was imprisoned was that many people reported on him. He was luckily liberated when the Korean War broke out during his time in Hungnam Prison.

While in refuge in Beomnae-gol, Busan, Reverend Moon wrote Exposition, which would become Unification Church scripture. In Exposition, the need for a new truth is explained in this way: “It may be displeasing to religious believers, especially to Christians, to learn that a new expression of truth must appear. They believe that the scriptures they have are already perfect and flawless. Certainly, truth itself is unique, eternal, immutable and absolute. Scriptures, however, are not the truth itself, but are textbooks teaching the truth. They were given at various times in history as humankind developed both spiritually and intellectually. The depth and extent of teaching and the method of expressing the truth naturally varied according to each age. Consequently, we must never regard such textbooks as absolute in every detail.” Simply put, the Bible teaches the truth, but it must be newly interpreted in light of new discoveries made in each age. The claim is that Exposition was made for such a purpose.

When the doctrinal system of his church was completed, Reverend Moon, who had come out of refuge to Seoul, established a religious body called the Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity on May 1, 1954 in Bukhak-dong, Seongbuk-gu, Seoul. One year after he started evangelizing in earnest, something happened which grabbed the attention of the society.

The Unification Church, as it claims, answers questions that Christianity has been unable to. It gives positive answers that resolve questions young people in advanced civilizations have about conflicts between religion and science and contradictions between faith and reason. The Unification Church evangelized using logic, reason and a modern interpretation of the Bible as its weapons. As a result, Professor Sang-rae Park and students of Yonsei University converted to the Unification Church. Professor Yun-yeong Yang and tens of students at Ewha Womans University did the same. These were known as the ‘Yonsei Incident’ and ‘Ewha Incident.’

In these incidents, not only students, but also professors, of major Christian private universities run by Protestant churches had converted to the Unification Church. Even Professor Young Oon Kim of Ewha, who was sent to investigate the Unification Church, converted. The Christian world was turned upside-down. Yonsei University dismissed one professor and expelled two students. Ewha Womans University dismissed five professors who were involved and expelled fourteen students. The Protestant church, feeling the danger of the situation, branded the Unification Church as heresy and actively confronted the Unification Church.

Moreover, in 1955, Reverend Moon was held in custody together with church elders for violating military service law. He was released in three months when he was found innocent but public opinion started to condemn the Unification Church. Once the Unification Church started to receive attention in society, it started evangelizing in earnest. In 1957, 116 missionaries were sent to 116 regions and in the next year missionaries were sent to Japan and America. After overcoming the criticism of established churches within Korea, the Unification Church started to gain a foothold in its foreign missions from this time.

In keeping with the situation of the time, when North and South Korea were in an ideological conflict, the Unification Church put forth its Victory Over Communism ideology. The International Federation for Victory over Communism (IFVOC) was structured and worked hard to disseminate anti-communist ideology. Finally, IFVOC was established throughout Korea through the dissemination of its ideology.

The Unification Church declared that the battle of ideologies was the final battle for humanity. This is how it’s explained in Exposition: “…one final and inescapable conflict remains before us, the war between democracy and communism… Therefore, in order for God's providence of salvation to be completely fulfilled, this new truth should first elevate the idealism of the democratic world to a new level, then use it to assimilate materialism, and finally bring humanity into a new world.”

The Unification Church turned its interest internationally from the 1960s. Reverend Moon visited over 40 nations at that time and went to America in 1972 to start his full-scale activities in America.

Even those with no interest in religion were deeply impressed by the images of Unification Church international marriage ceremonies. Starting in 1961, when 36 couples were married in a ceremony officiated by Reverend Moon, every year these marriages have continued, creating hundreds of thousands of international couples. The claim made is that international marriage ceremonies are the beginning point of world peace and the way to unification.

Just as the official name of the Unification Church changed in 1994 to the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, the Unification Church teaches that the family is the minimum-size unit that can be saved and the basic unit through which God’s providence can be fulfilled. The Unification Church also teaches that world peace can come about through peace between family members.

After enduring numerous twists and turns, Reverend Moon proclaimed the opening of the nation of the unified cosmos on October 3, 1988. In the proclamation speech, he said,

“North and South will be liberated, Asia will be liberated, the world will be liberated -- not only the earthly world, but also hell in the spirit world -- and through that True Parents’ hopes will be fulfilled and the world of God’s true liberation can be established. Therefore, we now raise the flag of love in 120 nations, with a new brightly-burning beacon of unification.”

The Family Federation is aiming at establishing the Kingdom of Heaven on earth, where the principles of God’s creation and His providence can be completely fulfilled. The Kingdom of Heaven is also the dream of all people who have been struggling through suffering in their lives. We will have to wait and see if the great dream of the Family Federation will become reality on the earth. 

Inauguration Ceremony for Dr. Chang Shik Yang as the President of FFWPU-Korea

Hyung Jin Moon
May 26, 2008
FFWPUI

The inauguration ceremony for Dr. Chang Shik Yang as the president of FFWPU-Korea began from 10:30 am. on May 26, 2008, at the 8th floor of the FFWPU-Korea Headquarters Building.

More than 600 people were present that day including Rev. Hyung Jin Moon, FFWPU International President, Mr. Kook Jin Moon, chairman of the Foundation, executives of providential organizations and companies, church elders, national messiahs, church leaders and key members from the metropolitan area.

Rev. Gyu Sam Lee, Director of the General Affairs Department, was the emcee for this day's ceremony. Before the start of the official ceremony, Rev. Lee briefly explained how the ceremony was being held according to True Parents' instructions, and how Dr. Yang will be supporting Rev. Hyung Jin Moon.

Dr. Yang, Rev. Hyung Jin Moon, and Mr. Kook Jin Moon spoke on this occasion.

Before delivering his official inaugural address, Dr. Yang shared his reflections about returning to Korea after offering 14 years in the public mission in America. He talked about his reflections in participating in the first anniversary of the Wonjeon Ceremony for Rev. Hyo Won Yu who had passed into the spirit world thirty-eight years ago. He also introduced stories of his meetings with the early church members, thanking them for being the elder brothers and elder sisters of the Korean Church and the Unification Movement as a whole.

Dr. Yang, filled with emotion, spoke about how he wanted to leave something behind for the American members that could give them ownership when it was decided that he was to leave America after many years attending True Parents in the last stretch of providence in America. He explained how America, as a Christian nation, had the providential mission of welcoming the lord at his second advent. Yet, when True Parents came to America in 1971 they were faced with a difficult situation as there wasn't any foundation prepared for them.

Despite this adversity, True Parents went a long way to establish the Universal Peace Federation saying that its headquarters should be installed in the midst of the US Congress in Washington D.C. Dr. Yang emphasized that without Christianity the very purpose of America's existence in God's providence would be lost.

Dr. Yang also shared his reflections of his experience of attending True Parents during their fifty-state tour, which among many venues took them to Harlem Church and the US Congress building. He stressed that the epitome of all these endeavors was the Coronation Ceremony held in the Senate Building in Washington D.C. on March 23, 2004. This was a historic event culminating the 34-years of True Parents' work in the United States of America.

Dr. Yang also spoke of the new direction of vision in which the first and second generation members of the movement will work centering on the True Children in opening a new era. He introduced the activities of Dr. Hyun Jin Moon centering on UPF's International Leadership Conference, and of the activities led by Rev. Hyung Jin Moon and Mr. Kook Jin Moon emphasizing that the era of indemnity has come to an end.

Dr. Yang expressed his commitment to the promotion of spirituality and growth of the church and his plans for incorporating a new system for developing the church and in creating a model for all mission nations of the world.

Following Dr. Yang's address Rev. Hyung Jin Moon came to the podium to speak. The International President explained that Dr. Yang was appointed by True Father to this new mission. Hyung-jin nim mentioned that Dr. Yang had studied extensively on the conception, growth and establishment of the “mega-churches” in America. He asked for all members to re-discover that burning passion and heart they had when they first joined the movement and to take part in creating a church that they can be proud of.

The Chairman of the Foundation for the Support of HSA-UWC also spoke this day congratulating Dr. Yang in his new mission. Kook-jin nim emphasized that the church needed to strengthen its fundamentals in order to attain greater growth and expressed how he believed that the incoming president would do a good job in his new mission.

The ceremony ended with three cheers of eog-mansei by Dr. Sun Jo Hwang, president of UPF-Korea.

Dr. Chang Shik Yang had arrived on the 22nd of this month. Upon arrival he immediately went to the former headquarters church of Korea, a symbol of True Parents' investment in the early years of our church, where he offered a heartfelt prayer for a substantial amount of time. Later on the 25th Dr. Yang went to the Wonjeon and paid his respects in front of the grave of Rev. Hyo Won Yu, the first president of HSA-UWC.

Dr. Chang Shik Yang was born on July 28, 1953 in Ham Pyung Jeonnam, Korea. He joined the movement on July 4, 1971 at Ham Pyung. His spiritual parent is Mrs. Gil Ja Sa Yu. (Wife of Rev. Hyo Won Yu). On October 14, 1982 he was blessed to Gum Sook Ahn through the 6000 blessing. Between them they have three sons and six daughters.

Dr. Yang attained a Bachelors of Art in Philosophy at Korea University in Seoul, Korea and a Masters of Divinity at a Methodist seminary in Korea. Dr. Yang received a Master of Religious Education degree at the Unification Theological Seminary in Barrytown, NY, followed by a Doctor of Ministry from the New York Theological Seminary. He also served as a professor of Sun Moon University in Cheonan, Korea. He was awarded an honorary PhD by the Sun Moon University.

In Korea Dr. Yang served as a church leader in Jinsan and Yeongi, and as a regional leader in Gyeongnam and Jongro. During the 1980s, Dr. Yang was one of the founding members of the International Christian Student Association (ICSA), an organization dedicated to promoting inter-religious harmony. In August 1994 he went to America and served as the church leader in New York, regional leader of Washington and Continental Director of North America.

Dr. Yang is also chairman of the American Family Coalition (AFC), the American Clergy Leadership Conference (ACLC), the University of Bridgeport, and the Unification Theological Seminary. Additionally, he chairs the New Yorker Hotel Management Company and True World Group. 

60. Self Empowerment For God (May 24, 2008)

Hyung Jin Moon
May 24, 2008
Headquarters Church
Chungpa Dong, Seoul, Korea
Transcribed by: Cathy Quebral
Edited by: Bruno Klotz

Welcoming Remarks:
Yeon Ah Nim:

Good afternoon brothers and sisters. Outside is little bit hot but we still believe that this is a perfect day to celebrate True Parents and God, don't you think so? Aju (Aju!) We're always happy and honored to have you all here in this sanctuary. And for those who are joining with us via internet, we're also welcoming you as well.

Hyung Jin Nim:

Brothers and sisters welcome for this spring day. I'd like to share with you one quote from Father, this is page 826 of Cheon Seong Gyeong, "Mind and body cannot be achieved without true love. Thus, the mind sacrifices itself for the body and forgets, repeatedly. The mind is in the position representing God and thus is your greatest teacher. The mind is your center that God sent as His manifestation. It is the vertical you."

I really love that. When I think about that, it's so important in our life that we can appreciate our mind, that we can appreciate the creativity that God has given us that we can appreciate the originality He's breathed within us. This so important.

When we see God we can see that He is great and He is very creative etc. We have the same characteristics also alive within us, in our mind, His representation of Him, that manifestation of Him.

Brothers and sisters let us always move forward. Respect your mind. Respect the creativity that you have. Respect your originality. You are a masterpiece. God has made you to be totally unique. When we see ourselves in that light, we see ourselves with a victorious mindset, we see ourselves from the perspective of God, and we can see ourselves with tremendous value. We won't say, "Oh I'm terrible and I can never reach perfection. I try everyday but I am always inadequate."

Yes, everybody has weaknesses but it's important to not only see that side. Always, when we come to service, it's so important that we frame ourselves and start, once again, remembering who we are and whose we are. Its' so important that when we see ourselves that we see that we are valuable. "I am valuable. I have divine value, I have cosmic value, and I’m unique and totally original. I'm a unique creation."

When we start seeing ourselves like that, we can start empowering ourselves, we can start to bring back the eyes of God that are placed within us, we can start seeing our life with more victory, more illumination and more peace in the future.

Brothers and Sisters its wonderful to see you on this spring day and I hope you are all fresh today. Let's really enjoy the service today. It's a great day to praise True Parents and God. Thanks for coming.

Yeon Ah Nim Message:

Since my husband, Hyung Jin Nim, became the World President of this movement many things have been changed. One of his biggest obstacles he's facing is that, whenever True Parents come to Korea for Ahn Shi Il, he has to pray in front of True Parents and members in Korean. Imagine yourself praying in front of True Parents not with your mother tongue, but in Korean. So it's really a challenge for him.

Today is Ahn Shi Il. So this morning we went to Cheon Jeong Gong at Chung Pyung. My husband had to pray in Korean again. So before the ceremony he kind of asked True Father, "True Father, do I have to pray today?" and True Father said, "Of course, you have to do it!" (Laughter) and he was like, "Ahh, OK". But True Father said, "You know what, actually last time that I heard you praying in Korean you got lot better than long time ago." (Laughter and applause)

At that moment my husband regained confidence to pray in Korean and he did it today. It was successful. Just in case you want to check it, it is at ipeacetv.

When we think about it we're just unworthy to accept and speak with an official title but one thing we keep in our heart is, that we're always grateful to our members. They're encouragement and support. So without it we cannot stand here as who we are. So brothers and sisters, in life let us also give strength to each other and encourage each other. We love you so much brothers and sisters. Thank you so much. Aju!

Every time before we start the words, I would like to start with something little interesting. In Divinity School, we would like to see the funniest side of religion. It is good to be able to laugh about yourselves once in a while. I heard a story about an elderly man. He had a heart problem; he ended having had a heart bypass surgery. So he ended up in the care of the nuns. The nuns asked him, "How will you pay for this hospital bill?" And he said in a very raspy voice, "I have no health insurance." They asked him again, "Well, do you have any money in the bank?" He said, "No money in the bank." They asked him again, "Well, is there anybody who can help you?" And then he said, "I don't have any relatives. The only person I have is a sister and she's alone and lonely. She's a nun." And the nun said to him, "We are not alone and we are not lonely for we are married to Almighty God." And at that he said, "Then send the bill to my brother-in-law." (Laughter and applause)

Alright brothers and sisters, get on up…come on, get on up. Oh, you like that one today (Continuous applause) Oh, my goodness. Alright, come on; let's do our True Parents' declaration. Let's do it. Left hand on our hearts and right hand up.

True Parents' Declaration:

These are my True Parents, the Eternal King and Queen of Peace and Liberator of God's Heart. They have saved me from my past. They have blessed my future and they give me true love, forgiveness and happiness today and I choose to receive it! My mind is awake, my heart is open wide, and from this moment I will change forever! In my name, Aju! Thank you.

Main Message -- Hyung Jin Nim:

That was quite exciting. Oh, that was one of the most exciting and interesting stories you have had . I would like to talk to you today about Self empowerment for God. In order to live the blessed life, it is so important to be able to empower ourselves, to improve ourselves, to become happier, more mature, more victorious, more successful, etc.

Too many people live their life making excuses about why not to improve, “I don't have the power, maybe not the right connections. I am really nobody. It doesn't make a difference anyway." Some people will even go so far as to say, "I really don't want to focus on myself. That would be selfish. I want to focus on other people, help change other people."

It is so important to really understand that if we want to truly be able to bless other people, if we want to truly be able help others change, we must be more mature and more advanced than them in that area of change. Just like if I want to teach somebody to do art or carpentry, I need to study those arts, I need to practice those arts in order to teach others.

In the same way, if we are to help others to become happier, more mature, etc. then it is important that we ourselves are continually empowering ourselves, improving ourselves, throughout the course of our lives. This is so important, because at times in our lives we may feel very down. At times we may feel that the whole world is against us. We can't even get up, it is just hard to get up. You have neck pain and back pain and all that kind of thing but even in those times we have got to start telling ourselves, "Hey, I'm gonna do this, I have great potential. I have an awesome future waiting for me."

We have to bring that empowerment back into ourselves. One of the greatest, most important areas of practice that we can do is to learn from others who are greater than us. If we do find people who are more mature, who are better than us in a certain area of change, one of the most mature things we can do and one of the greatest ways to receive blessing is to acknowledge that they're maybe more advanced than us in that area of change, and also to accept their advice and their wise counsel. When we look at the Principle, I looked at Chapter One this past week during our Wednesday service, and we talked about the Purpose of Creation.

The purpose of God creating everything was for happiness. God wanted to give happiness and receive happiness. He wanted to give and receive it. In the end God wanted to have happiness, to share happiness, to give and give and receive etc. And so the goal of human beings according to the Principle is to find happiness, to be also able to give and receive it. Notice: To give and receive it.

One of the things the Principle teaches us is that we have two types of bodies. God created us in two different types of bodies. One is the Individual Truth Body and one is the Connected Body. A very fancy word for saying a very simple thing. Individual Truth Body simply says that we are very unique. All of us have individual identity. We have a special personality. We have unique traits that are unique only to us and that represent a very unique aspect of God. That simply is what it means. What connected body means is that each one of us is connected to other people. We are interconnected to other people. We are interconnected with the world. We are interconnected to our nations. We are interconnected with our spouse, our children, etc.

When we look at it more deeply, it essentially means that we ourselves are actually not ours. I hear some people say that in their lives they could do some negative behavior because they thought, "It's my life, it's not hurting anyone else, I can do this, I can do that."

But that does not understand the nature of our reality. We are connected bodies. So in the end, I myself am not only fully mine. I am also my wife's. I am her husband, right? And I am also my children's parent. In some aspect they are connected to me. In some aspect they have ownership over my fatherhood or my husband-hood etc. I myself am not mine alone. And because we are connected bodies, when we do act negatively with anger or violence or greedily, etc. Then we are contributing negatively to those people who we are connected to. And this is the key. Ultimately, we end up harming ourselves. When we treat our wife badly, then we end up hurting that relationship of which we are a major and significant part. In the end, we end up hurting ourselves. If we yell at the children out of anger, in the end we end up hurting that relationship over time. They may feel resentful towards us. They may not want to deal with us. We're gonna be hurt in the end. What does connected body teach us? It teaches us that, if we do things negatively to others it eventually always comes back. If we are connected, it is going to return back to us. That is such an important principle in our life.

I was talking to a sister. She's an elderly woman and she said that when she was young she got blessed and she had a habit of nagging her husband a lot. She thought she wanted attention. She wanted love from him. But she ended up just nagging him so much and so when he was coming back from work, she would say, "Why is your suit wrinkled all over? Why can't you fold your clothes? Didn't your mother teach you how to fold your clothes? Why are you so overworked?" She continued to nag him.

Actually, in the heart of heart, she truly missed him. She really missed being with him that day. And so it was a way she wanted to get attention. But when she reflected on herself, when she reflected on that first marriage, she realized that she was hurting that man. He has been hurt, he felt that he was unappreciated, that he was being judged for petty things and that he worked all day for his family, but he was being unacknowledged…unappreciated. He came home later, later and later, after work, 6 O'clock, 7 O'clock, 9, 10, 2 am in the morning. Somehow, their relationship, of course, became worse and worse and they ended up having to move on past that relationship.

When she reflected on that she could remember how many times he would say to her, "I can't stand this constant commentary. I can't stand this constant commentary on what I am doing. I am working so hard for you, why can't you acknowledge the work that I am doing?" And he felt so rejected, unaccepted, he felt unloved. But she continued to blame him saying, "You are avoiding me. You don't want to communicate with me, etc." The marriage did fall apart.

20 years later she looks back and she says, "I should have appreciated him more. I should have said nicer things. I shouldn't have nagged him so much. They actually have 3 children. I shouldn't have said nagging things." Now she realized that when she hurt him, she in the end hurt herself. You see, in the end, since we are interconnected bodies, when we do harm other people that are around us, even if it is small thing, over time we end up hurting ourselves.

When I think about the whole story and notion of the connected body -- we can also call it interconnected body -- when I think about interconnected body, or connected body, I think of the story of Joseph. He was sold into slavery by his brothers and for many, many years, as you all recall the story, 10 years he was going through so many things in his life. He was in prison for three years, for a crime he didn't even commit. He was in the palace and then in the dungeon. All of a sudden he gained favor from the king and he was made the second most powerful man in all of Egypt, basically that means the second king. He was basically put right under Pharaoh.

And you remember the story when there was a huge famine and all his brothers and sisters ended up coming for food and grain to Egypt. They're from Canaan. They are coming and they are begging for food. "Please help us, we're starving in Canaan." And you remember the story when he sees them. What does he do? As soon as he sees them, he doesn't tell them that he is Joseph. The first thing that he does is ask them about his family, "Who was lost in your family? Do you have a younger brother? What happened to that brother who died?" -- They had said their younger brother died. They were referring to Joseph that they had sold into slavery -- “And what about your father, is he alive and well?" And he put them into prison, as you recall.

Once again: 10 years ago, Joseph's brothers, when they sold him into slavery, never thought he would come back. They never realized that we are connected bodies. Eventually we see that this came back to them. They ended in prison in Egypt.

But Joseph knew that he was a connected body. He had that knowledge, "Wait a minute… I'm interconnected with my brothers. I know if I harm them it's gonna come back to me." And he did the wiser thing. He didn't get revenge on his brothers. He could have done so but he didn't. Remember the story where he says, "Bring your brother Benjamin!" And Benjamin comes. And Joseph says, "Now bring your father." Right before the father comes, he weeps and he breaks down and he tells all his brothers, "Hey, actually I'm Joseph."

And as you recall they had a huge feast. At that time Egyptians and Hebrews didn't sit together but Joseph as the second king sat down with them and he fed them, he served them at the table. They were so surprised! What did he do? He went out of his way. He was the bigger person. He understood the knowledge, the wisdom of being a connected body. He forgave them. He helped them. He gave them food, shelter and, as you recall, big parts of land in Egypt. He gave to them, he blessed them, and by being that better person, by being that more mature person, not seeking revenge, he did help his family. He helped them materially. He helped them emotionally. He helped them spiritually. He ended up having received much more than he gave.

All he wanted was an apology. He got that apology, of course. But he also got something much greater than the apology. He got from his brothers and sisters gratitude, admiration, he got respect. He got love and something even more powerful. By forgiving his brothers, he was able to forgive himself. And that was really an important thing because for 10 years Joseph lived in anger towards his brothers. He was waiting for the day, "When can I get revenge?" I am sure those thoughts passed through his mind a lot. "When can I ever see them again? Now that I am under the Pharaoh, now I can go chase after my brothers and attack them" He could have thought those kinds of things.

But Joseph was able to forgive his brothers and to really help and support them. In the end he was able to forgive himself for all those years of anger; he was able to really free himself from his own pain.

You see, when we understand the notion of a connected body, then when we hurt others, we end up hurting ourselves, we're connected to them. At the same time, the other more beautiful part of this connected body notion is that, when we improve ourselves, we improve those relationships, we offer hope into those relationships. When we improve ourselves, when we become happier, when we become more mature, when we become more successful, more victorious, we become more mature spouses. We become happier brothers to deal with. We become happier parents to deal with, happier children to deal with, etc. To become happier, more mature, more loving, more successful, is in the end, if we do it right, not a selfish activity. When you succeed, then you are able to provide to your connected relationships a happier, a more loving, a more mature and victorious resource, to your spouse, to your parents, to your children, to your brothers and sisters. You see, it is all connected. I really love this notion of a connected body.

If there is anything we can learn today, then it is that notion. In the end, yes it is important to understand our value as individual truth incarnations. We are very precious. We are valuable. It is important to see ourselves with God's eyes. Every morning when you get up, you shouldn't say, "Oh, I had a terrible day yesterday!" The first thing you should say as you get up and see yourself in the mirror is this, "I have divine value, I have cosmic value, I have unique value." Then the problem or the mistake you maybe made yesterday is not so great, and today you can do make it better.

Today you can leave the home with hope. It is important to see ourselves in that light. We are precious individual truth incarnations. We uniquely represent God and True Parents. But at the same time we are connected bodies. That means that we don’t live as islands because we are connected. Because I am my wife's husband. Because I am my children's parent. If I improve myself, I can improve those relationships. If I improve myself, if I empower myself to become happier, more successful, more loving, more empathetic, I offer a better, more happy, more empathetic, more forgiving resource to my brothers, to my sisters, to my spouse, to my child, etc.

When we understand this concept, then we understand that investing in ourselves, developing ourselves, improving ourselves, empowering ourselves, is not a selfish activity. If we only do that, of course, it can become self-consuming. But if we understand the notion of a connected body, if we understand that the more mature we become, the more a mature resource we can be to our loved ones, then we can understand that that is not a selfish but a selfless activity.

Brothers and sisters, if you understand this, then everyday, everyday, when you wake up tell yourself those things. See yourselves with the eyes of God. Envision yourself in a new way. See your relationships in a fresh new way. See your future with new hope.

When you do that, you start to change your future. Your start to change your destiny. You start to do your 5%. You start to move in the direction that God wants to bring you to. If you do that, if we become happier in ourselves, if we invest into ourselves, then also we improve our relationships, then we will be able to offer that to our families, to our nations, to our world. We will offer that back to Almighty God. Brothers and sisters, if we do that I do believe we will find more victory, more illumination and more peace everyday in our lives and we will live that blessed life that True Parents have blessed us to live. If you can receive that let’s give a holy applause to God and True Parents. (Applause)

Thank you so much.

Before we end our service, we always like to include everybody in True Parents family. All you brothers and sisters around the world, that also includes you. Let's turn to them, brothers and sisters, let's turn all of them. Can we turn to the camera back there? All of us let's give a big wave. Let's tell them Sarangheyo (we love you)!!! Yes, we love you, brothers and sisters.

Once again, it is always important to return back. Let's say a brief prayer together.

Hyung Jin Nim prays:

Heavenly Father, thank you for joining us here this day. We are not only here in this sanctuary Father, but we are connected throughout the world. We have brothers and sisters in Russia, in Africa, Father in Lithuania, in the Arab world. We have brothers and sisters in the Americas, in all of the Asian countries and we are connected to them, Father, this day.

We understand that you have blessed us with being a connected body as well. We understand that we are precious individual truth incarnations. Up to this point, Father, we have made some mistakes. Let us repent that from our hearts deeply at this moment, Father. Let us offer that back up to You and receive Your forgiveness Father. Thank you so much for all that You have done. Please make us the palace of Your peace, the palace of Your love and the palace of Your lineage forever and ever.

We pray this in all our names as blessed central families.

Aju!

Hyung Jin Nim's concluding words:

Brothers and sisters if we always keep True Parents enthroned in our hearts of glory, we will find more victory, more illumination and more peace than we ever, ever possibly thought. 

59. Changes in the Regional Presidents (May 18, 2008)

Hyung Jin Moon

May 18, 2008

Ref. No. FFWPUI 2008-14

To : Regional presidents, national messiahs, national leaders

CC : All heads of providential organizations worldwide

From : FFWPU International Headquarters

Date : May 18, 2008

Re. : Changes in the Regional Presidents

We pray for God and True Parents' blessing and love to be with all regions, nations and providential organizations as we enter the era of "Mansei for the Ssang Hab (combined) jubilee years, the 7th and 8th years of Cheon Il Guk based on the Universal Peace Federation."

This is an announcement of True Parents’ instructions given during Hoon Dok Hae on May 18 regarding personnel changes of regional presidents. Regional presidents and national leaders should actively prepare for these forthcoming changes in the administration, and do their best to succeed in the tradition of serving and attending True Mother, and True Parents, in their nations.

1. Personnel Changes (Transfer)

Affiliation

Name

Details

Effective as of:

International HQ

Joon Ho Seuk

Relinquished position as Regional President of Northeast Region

May 18, 2008

Appointed as Vice President, World Mission Headquarters

″

Byung Hwa Kim

Relinquished position as Regional President of Asia

″

Appointed as Regional President of North America 1

″

Chang Shik Yang

Relinquished position as Regional President of North America 1

″

Appointed as President of FFWPU–Korea

″

Chung Shik Yong

Relinquished position as Regional President of Oceania

″

Appointed as Regional President of Asia

″

Dong Woo Kim

Relinquished position as Vice-President of FFWPU–USA

″

Appointed as Regional President of Oceania

″

Katsumi Ohtsuka

Relinquished position as President of FFWPU–Japan

″

Appointed as Regional President of Northeast Region

″

Eiji Tokuno

Relinquished position as Regional President of Africa

″

Appointed as President of FFWPU–Japan

″

Hee Sun Ji

Relinquished position as National Leader of Kenya

″

Appointed as Regional President of Africa

2. Clarification

Korea, Japan, America, the three key providential nations, were categorized as ‘regions’ according to True Parents’ instructions given on July 16, 2006 (Official Memo: FFWPUI 2006-42). Since then the president of FFWPU-Korea served both as the regional president of Korea and as the president of FFWPU-Korea (however, this has not been the case in Japan and the United States). Since Rev. Hyung Jin Moon took office as the 12th president of FFWPU-Korea, Mr. Dong Han Lee, vice-president of FFWPU-Korea, has carried out the president’s responsibilities on his behalf. However, True Parents have now appointed Dr. Chang Shik Yang, regional president of North America 1, to be the president of FFWPU-Korea. As the new president of FFWPU-Korea, Dr. Yang will carry out his duties supporting Rev. Hyung Jin Moon.

Hyung Jin Moon

International President  

58. God Holds Our Time (May 17, 2008)

Hyung Jin Moon
May 17, 2008
Headquarters Church
Chungpa Dong, Seoul, Korea
Transcribed by: Beatrice Clyburn
Edited by: Bruno Klotz

Welcoming Message:
Yeon Ah Nim:

Good afternoon brothers and sisters. We are honored and happy to have you all here in this sanctuary, and for those who are joining with us via internet, we are also welcoming you. Welcome brothers and welcome sisters.

Hyung Jin Nim:

Welcome brothers and sisters. I want to share with you on this very summery spring day something from Father’s words. We are here on page 1023 and Father says, “If you love the members who have just joined, then they can quickly set the conditions for indemnity. The reason the church is not able to make progress is because this is not being done. This is the reason why God said to love each other and live in harmony.” True Father really hit it right on the point.

I really do believe that it’s so important that if we are to be mighty in this land, if our church is really to thrive and if we are to shine before the world as proud blessed families, then it is so important that we learn to live and to have an atmosphere of love, and truly when people come into the movement they can feel the love of True Parents, the love of God in this resting place.

Brothers and sisters when you are out here, and when we come out to service, I really do feel, really do feel the love of God. It’s in each and every one of your smiles, it’s on your aura of victory that you have about you, right?

We are so happy to see you guys out here today. You know when we gather out here for service, we come out, we take time to honor God,then He always, always will recognize and give us credit. He will help us attain those victories that He is setting up for us to attain. So it’s so important that we come together and see each other. Your brother and sisters are here with you. Brothers and sisters we want to invite you and welcome you to service and let’s have a great celebration and worship service today. Thanks so much!

Yeon Ah Nim’s Words:

Once I heard a testimony about one sister, about when she got blessed. In the beginning she had many conditions about her future spouse, something like, “at least he has to be taller than me” or “I don’t expect him to come out of a great college but you know at least he has to come out of a decent level so that I can introduce him to my parents” or “you know he has to have a good character” etc..etc.. However after hearing True Father speaking for 12 hours, not eating 2 meals and not drinking any water, and kneeling down many, many hours with many other candidates, in sweaty rooms, she had one thing in her mind, she said, “True Father please pick anybody; anybody will do.” (Laughter) 30 plus years later she is a happily married blessed couple.

Brothers and sisters, in life, let us know that God wants to bless us. So He always loves us and He wants to bless us. But not necessarily in our lifetime when we want, but in His timetable when He thinks we are ready to receive it. So let us believe in His timetable and be our best. Brothers and sisters we love you so much and we believe in you. Aju!

Hyung Jin Nim's Interesting Story

Brothers and sisters once again, give it up for Tworivers Choir. Oh my goodness! Boy, O Boy! You may be seated if you can. If you can be seated please be seated! Oh my goodness! It's always exciting to praise the Lord like that! Oh my God!

Before each service I like to start with something a little interesting! In the divinity school we liked to look at the funnier side of religion.

I heard a very interesting story about a wonderful mother. She was inviting a lot of friends over for dinner. And so all the friends came, she welcomed them so warmly, and they sat before the table, they all sat down for dinner and it was a beautiful feast that was prepared. She leaned out to her six year old daughter and she said, "Honey would you like to give the blessing?" And the six year old daughter looked up to mom and said, "Mom I don't know how to pray, I don't know what to say". The mom said, "Don't worry, just say what mommy says, you'll do fine." And the child bowed down her head. She began to pray, "Dear Lord! Why did I invite all these people?" The mommy got up and said, "Honey, God is calling you in the kitchen. Get over here!"

Hyung Jin Nim's Sermon

Brothers and sisters, I'd like to talk to you today about the fact that God is holding our time.

In order to live the blessed life it is so important to know that God is in control of our time, and we have to understand that time always flows constantly, just as our lives do. Our lives constantly flow, they constantly move. And it's so important to understand that our lives don't necessarily flow on OUR timetable, but our lives will flow on the timetable that God has set forth.

Of course, our actions can alter the timetable, of course our actions can have an impact, but in the end God will decide when we arrive where we are supposed to be.

Sometimes we want to fight time, we want to say, "Why don't I have more time? Why don't I have more time to do this work or get this relationship in order or more time to live?" Or maybe sometimes we want to lose time, "I want to get through this circumstance quickly, this is a very tough obstacle. I want to move through it quickly. God, let me lose time." But we have to understand that God is in control of time. God is holding the clock of time, and He decides when we are ready for the next step. Our responsibility is to keep at being our best, knowing that we are going to move forward through these obstacles, knowing we are going to move through any types of situations that are holding us back, through any thinking in our minds that is holding us back, and that we will come to new levels of victory, new levels of illumination, new levels of peace.

It's so important to understand this principle. When my brother Young Jin Hyung passed away, I began a 21 year course and I didn't expect anything at that time. I began, and every day I was getting up at 2:30 in the morning and doing meditation practice, prayer practice, really trying to train my mind, my body etc... And I never advertised that I was doing it. Nobody knew I was doing it. It took about 3-4 years for word to get out that I was doing this kind of training. I did it day after day, and I remember, so many days it was so hard to just continue on, "Why am I doing this?" I had so many doubts in my mind, "What's the purpose of all this?" But I knew that it was a promise that I made to my brother, and I needed to discipline myself spiritually.

And when I received criticism for becoming a Buddhist monk, or for "leaving" the tradition or "separating" from Father, I realized, "This is a great opportunity for me to practice, it's a great opportunity to train my mind even more." When I received those criticisms it was important to see those criticism as an opportunity for me to practice my patience, my discipline, my concentration that I was training in my meditation practice etc.. forbearance, forgiveness, etc..

All of a sudden, many years later, in 2005 Father said, "I want you to oversee the religious side of the movement" and a lot of people were shocked, including myself. I had no idea. Father just announced this in Korea. And if you recall, at that time I was still bald, I was still in my 7 year course, I still looked like a Buddhist monk, but Father asked me, he put this thought out, he put this declaration out.

And so many people at that time, I remember so clearly, came to me and told me that I need to start getting involved more, I need to get into the organizations, and I have to sit everybody down and say, "Hey! I want you to report to me because I am now going to oversee the religious side, so I want your organizations to report to me." And then I had even people say to me, "Hyung Jin Nim, Father wants you to ask, he is waiting for you to ask him for a position, for a title. He just can't sleep because he is just anticipating you're going to come and ask him." Or people would say to me, "Without a position, the proclamation is nothing, it's going to go up into smoke."

But in my heart I knew I wasn't ready. In my heart, I followed my conscience. I never asked Father for a position, I never asked him for a title. I knew that if Father wants to do that, he'll decide when that's appropriate. I'm not going to be the one to decide that. So in my heart I said, "Let me just be the best person I can be, let me continue to train myself. Let me live a life that is authentic, that is worthwhile." And that is more important than any title that I can hold. And this is more precious than any position that I can hold.

And this is why I believe True Parents did ask me, in the end, a couple of years later, even three years after that declaration, to then take responsibility for overseeing the church side, the religious side. And eventually it was on Father's timetable that he gave me some title. But I know in my heart of hearts, that my title is not my victory nor is it my destiny. My victory and my destiny will be being my best, being the person that God created me to be, and to understand that I need to do that constantly, to continue to develop, to continue to grow, however big or however small God wants to use me. That's what I need to do.

And we met very many families doing my ministry. We met families whose blessed children have left the church, who have even married outside. We met blessed children who don't want to get blessed etc.. and the parents exhibit a lot of concern. The parents really are worried, and I see so many parents blaming themselves, saying, "I couldn't fulfill my responsibility. I really was a terrible parent. I really cannot actualize the four position foundation."

And they also ask us, "What shall I do?" And I tell them, "I don't have a simple answer for that question, but I do believe that God has a plan for your children's lives. I do believe that God is working in their lives and that He has a timetable that He works on. It may not necessarily be our timetable, it may not necessarily be when we want it to happen but God works on His time line. He knows when the time is right to have that person come into maturity."

And I personally met many 2nd Generation who have left the church. They are successful and have accomplished many things. But they told me that for many different reasons they feel in their heart of hearts, "My identity, my purpose is 'Unification church member'. I am a Unification Church member. I can't deny it. This is my church. I have children here, I need them to understand their value. I need them to understand their identity, and I need them to understand their purpose. And now I see the value of the church community, of the church support network, of the church support groups."

And just like True Parents never gave up on the True Family, never gave up on each and everyone of their children, it's so important that we don't give up on our children. It's so important that we know that even though we may not have all the solutions, even though we may not have it all planned out, even though we may not even know how it's going to happen, that that is OK. Because in God's own time, He will allow things to match up so that our children, so that we, can actualize the full destinies that we have planned for us.

I really do believe God is in control of time. He really is controlling our timetables and it is on His timetables that our destinies will become actualized with our proper effort. And I really felt this kind of thing. This morning, actually when I was preparing this service, I was walking by a guitar that was in the hallway, and I asked, "Whose guitar is this?" and one of the staff member said, "This guitar is this and this person's, this ajoshi's (uncle's) guitar. And I said, "Oh it's that ajoshi's guitar!" and my wife turned to me and said, "You can't call him 'ajoshi', YOU are an ajoshi!" See, in Korea, if you call someone ajoshi, you're much younger than him, but I'm actually around his age.

And I realized, "Yobo, I think you're right, you're absolutely right. God is in control of time, and it is now my time to become an ajoshi." I was a little depressed, I have to admit (laughter), but I do accept the fact that God is in control of that timetable. And maybe it is the right time for me to become an ajoshi, and I don't see that as a negative thing. There are many great ajoshis in this world (laughter) and I do believe that I can continue to actualize God's dream and vision in my own life as an ajoshi. No problem!

When I think about timetables and about time, I also think about the story of Samson in the Bible. For many many years the Philistines ruled over the Israelites and one day a mother was out in the fields and she was visited by a holy angel, a man who was brilliant. His whole body was shining. And the angel told her that she was going to have a son, and this son was to be a Nazarite.

Now for anybody who knows what that means, it basically means that it's a person who will be set aside for God, that will do great things and that will save the people of Israel from the Philistines. But there was one condition. One of the main conditions was that you were not supposed to cut his hair. The hair was supposed to be left in its purity.

Many, many years later Samson was growing, he was doing many mighty deeds in the land. He was conquering enemies etc.. He was very successful. And the five Philistine kings -- they were the ones that were really oppressing the Israelites -- they sent 300,000 men to the town of Lehi to kill him, to accuse Samson and to capture him. And he was in a cave all by himself, and with the jawbone of a donkey he overcame 1,000 of those enemies, and for 20 years, he led the Israelites against the Philistines, for 20 years! 20 long years he fought against them!

And how frustrated the Philistine kings must have been! They wanted him out of their picture, they wanted him to get out of their way, they wanted him to move out so they could continue to oppress the Israelite people. But Samson stayed strong. He knew that every day, for 20 years, was a battle. He knew that every day he had to get up and muster up his strength to say, "I'm going to go on, and I'm going to defeat this day, I'm going to return it back unto God." He had to stand to up every day with that victorious spirit, not with a defeat mentality, "I can't do this, it's taking too long. It's been over 10 years now, there's no chance for it to happen now. The prophecy is not true." Instead of doing that, he controlled his mind; he knew that he had to control the war in his mind, the battle in his mind, and he continued to press on, to press forward.

The five Philistine kings were very devastated. They couldn't defeat him. He was their main enemy. So they went to his wife Delilah, and they asked Delilah, "Hey, Delilah, we really wish to see Samson. Please figure our his weakness for us. We'll give you 1100 pieces of silver if you tell us his weakness. And Delilah, she loved Samson, but for some reason or another she ended up betraying him.

Every day she would ask him, "Samson, what is the key? What is the secret to your strength?" She'd ask him, "How do I make you weak?" And he would say for example, "If you tie me up in bowstrings you'll make me weak." She tied him up in bowstrings and the next morning, he snapped them off, like thread. And she said, "OK". He said, "No, you actually have to tie me up in new rope", and so she tied him up in new rope, and the next morning he got up and it snapped like thread. This continued on and on until one day she said, "Samson, don't you love me? Why do you keep telling me one thing and it's not true? Why do you keep telling me these things? Please tell me the secret to your strength."

And a little frustrated, Samson eventually ended up telling her, "It's actually from my hair that I have this super power". And so, one day, that night, she gathered his 7 locks and she cut them, and in the morning they bound him and he was totally weak. The Philistine kings finally got him and they were celebrating in the temple of Dagon to one of their gods, in the Philistine tradition. And Samson was there; he was being paraded around like a trophy. All the Philistine kings were so happy, "Look at Samson! 20 years we fought this evil man, and finally we captured him. Finally we now overcame him." They even pocked out his eyes, so he couldn't see. Samson was blind and he was totally weakened. They were laughing at him, mocking him and they were parading him around.

Samson asked a little boy, "I'm so tired, let me lean on one of these pillars." And as you all know he stood next to one pillar, grabbed another pillar and pulled it down with all his strength. His hair had grown back by then, and his strength had come back, God had come back into him, and that temple came collapsing down. All the oppressive kings and lords, those five Philistine kings were destroyed in that setting and one day the prophesy that was told when he was born, that he would free the Israelites, he would free them from their oppression, finally came true.

But when you look at that story of Samson, we have to realize that in our own life we also have a secret power, we have secret abilities, we have secret talents that God has placed within us. It may not be a super power, or superman Herculean strength, but it may be your wit, it may be your smile, it may be the love that you share to another person. It may be your empathy, your ability to be patient with people. It may be your warmth, your benevolence, etc... It may be those kinds of things that may be your special divine abilities. And you have to know in your heart of hearts that you will be mighty in this land, that we will be successful in whatever we put our hands to. It may not happen in one night, it may not happen the instant we'll begin a task but if we are consistent, if we are persevering and allow these traits to come out, God will let us and He will decide when it's our time to shine.

Samson was very strong; he was very powerful, but look at the story. He was betrayed by one of his most trusted individuals, the person he loved most, Delilah. And in our lives, just as Samson, when we are also betrayed, it is so easy for us to fall into anger. Samson could have been so frustrated. I am sure he was frustrated. I can see him totally angry, totally betrayed, totally humiliated. He could have said in his mind, with a defeat mentality, "There's no future for me. I lost everything. I lost my wife, I lost my family, I lost my strength; even my eyes, my sight, my precious vision, I've lost."

And he could have blamed everything on God, saying, "God why have You betrayed me? Why did You promise me one thing and not let it come to pass? Why did You prophesy such a great prophecy and never let it occur?" He could have done that, he could have fallen into that mentality. But what did Samson do? He knew that he had to fight that battle in his mind. He knew that he couldn't let himself lose in his mind. He knew that when he looked in his future, even though he couldn't see with his own eyes, he had to see with his eyes of faith in his future. He had to know that God and His prophecy would come true through him and that that promise would come to pass.

There are so many times in our own lives where the archangels like the five Philistine kings will sap you of your strength; they will steal your strength. You'll be working so hard at work, or at school and all of a sudden you'll have somebody totally betray you, "What happened? How can I trust him?" And that will totally take out your strength.

It may be five co-workers that are ganging up against you, maybe talking behind your back at work. When you look at your life, you may see those "Philistines". Those could be things that are trapping you in a certain place in your life, it could be a situation, it could be a circumstance. It could be a particular relationship that is really trapping you. It could be your finances, a sickness that the doctor said you have. It could be a limited mindset when you look into your future. It could be negative thoughts. It could be anything, any one of these things could be "Philistines" in our lives.

We have to know that God wants us to succeed, but not necessarily the people around us want us to succeed, especially small-minded people. When you start looking into the future with hope, they start telling you, "That's impossible, you can't do that. You don't have that ability." Many times those archangels will start coming out of the woodwork to try to get you down, to stop you believing in the future, "You have no hope, you have no potential."

It's so important that we defend ourselves from those kinds of "Philistines" in our lives, from any of those limiting concepts, from any of those strongholds that can hold us back from where God is trying to take us. It's so important that we free ourselves from those chains.

It is important to know that if we stay on the course, if we don't give up on our dreams, our desires, on the promises that God has put in us, He will bring them to pass. It may not be on our time line, it may not be tomorrow. We want it done next week, but it may not be next week, it may not even be in 10 years, but like Samson, 20 years later. But in the end, as long as we keep working at it, as long as we be people of excellence, as long as we put forth our best stride our best foot so to speak, as long as we put in our effort and really work with our abilities, God will bring our time to pass.

It is important to know that as we press through life, we are pressing through those "Philistines", those archangels that are all around us, and one day the prophecy will come true just like Samson. We will be in a position where we'll bring that temple down and we'll be victorious for God. Even if we are blinded or weakened in our energy, sapped of our strength, we need to know that God is not over with us . He is still working a miracle through us. He is still working a miracle through your children, He is still working on them, on them, on us in His own way, in His own time.

And it's so important that we understand this and don't say, "I need it done now, I need this dream to come to pass now or I won't be happy." We need to say, "I'm going to work and be my best. I'm going to move forward with hope, and I know that dream is going to come to pass. It may not be on my timetable. I know it's on God's timetable but I know it will come to pass"

So what lessons can we learn today, brothers and sisters?

We all have a secret ability just like Samson. You all have super power strength in some aspect of your life. You may not have physical super power strength, you may not be a huge titan like he was, that could bring down a stone temple with your bicep curl but you have something within you, an ability within you. It is something that is so divine, special, that you have to hold true to that. If you know what that is, if you develop that, if you continue to nurture that, and you move forward with strength, God will bring each and every one of your promises, one dream by one dream, He will bring them to pass.

But remember, the dreams that come to pass are not necessarily done on the times that we may set. It's important to set plans, it's important to make goals, it's very important to do that, to direct our lives and have a purpose, but we have to, in the end, stay flexible, "It may not happen 3 months later, as I plan on my goal page in my planner. It will happen on God's time."

If we can remain diligent, patient with our dreams, and also stay hopeful for our futures, hopeful in our potential, hopeful in our identity, hopeful in our values and in our purposes, God will start to bring each and every one of those visions, those dreams, and those hopes to pass. If we live like this, if we come into new levels of strengths in our heart, keep the battle in check in our mind, and move forward with this kind of understanding, knowing that God is in control of our time, and that He will bring us to the proper point of destiny, to the proper point of victory, then I do believe our lives will be more victorious, will be more illuminated and will be more filled with peace, and we will live that blessed life that True Parents have blessed us to live.

Brothers and sisters if you can receive this message, let's give a big round of applause to God and True Parents (Applause)

Thank you so much. We always like to make the end of this service the time when we can return back into True Parents' family, into True Parents' home. So I'd like to all invite you and all of you across the world who are joining here with us in Headquarters Church in Korea. So let's take this time for just a brief prayer.

Hyung Jin Nim's Prayer:

Heavenly Father we thank You for this day that You have blessed us with. We know that You are here in our presence, directing our lives and You are guiding our steps. Father we know that is it not necessarily on our own timetable that things will come to pass, but we know that You will have a time frame that is operating, Father. We know that You will bring each and every one of the dreams that You have placed in our hearts to fruition. Father let us hold true to those dreams, let us not let anyone or anybody steal those dreams from our hearts. Let us hold true, move forward with hope and become all that You have wished us to become.

Heavenly Father thank You for this day. If now there is anything that we have done wrong, we wish to repent before You. Let us take this time to truly, Father, apologize for such wrong doings. Father we pray that You will bless us with Your forgiveness, with Your love, Father, that You will make us the palace of your life, Your love, and Your lineage.

Father bless each and everyone of the families here gathered with us throughout the world. We pray these things in all of our names, in unison as blessed central families, Aju!

Brothers and sisters if we keep True Parents enthroned in our heart of glory, always every day that we get up, we know that this will be a great day, it will be a victorious day, a VIP day. We will have more Victory, more Illumination and more Peace than we can possibly imagine.

57. A Natural Affinity - Hyung-Jin Visits The Leader Of The Jogye Order Of Korean Buddhism (Ken Doo - May 13, 2008)

Ken Doo
May 13, 2008

In commemoration of Buddha's May 12 birthday, the following day, Hyung-jin nin, Yeon-ah nim and a group of senior members made a courtesy call on the Supreme Patriarch of the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism and solidified the friendship between the two faiths. [The largest Buddhist order in South Korea, comprising 90 percent of Korean Buddhists] The Supreme Patriarch resides at Hae-in Temple in Hapcheon. South Gyeongsang Province, some four hours drive from Seoul. The group arrived at the temple grounds at 2:00 pm. Upon their arrival, the temple's chief of staff led them on a tour of the temple grounds. Hae-in Temple is located in a large park. Around a hundred smaller temples exist in the general vicinity of Hae-in temple, with around forty of them within the park proper. Following the tour, the chief of staff led the way to the annex where the Supreme Patriarch, Venerable Beop Joen, resides.

At the annex, Hyung-jin nim and his party offered three full bows to the Supreme Patriarch. Cups of schizandra berry tea, kindly prepared by the staff, were brought and there was time to study each other's faces for the first time. At that very moment, as if to break the lengthening silence, we heard loud peals of thunder and hail as big as beans fell from the sky.

As if he had been waiting for the thunder, the Supreme Patriarch asked Hyung-jin nim, "How and where did you learn about Buddhism?" Though they had not met before, it seemed Venerable Beop Joen knew that Hyung-jin nim had immersed himself in Buddhism at one time.

To this question, Hyung-jin nim replied, "My Korean is still not good enough for me to read about Buddhism in Korean texts, but I learned about Buddhism through English translations" He went on to say, "Through the death of my brother, I came to realize the ephemeral nature of life, which led to my becoming deeply interested in Buddhism." He expressed his gratitude to Buddhism for enlightening him.

As the conversation deepened, the Supreme Patriarch handed to Hyung-jin nim a book he had written and some others he enjoyed reading. It is not possible to exchange many words in a short time, the Buddhist leader explained, so he asked that Hyung-jin nim read the books because they contained all he wanted to say. He added, "If you become attached to the image or form of something, its essence will be hidden from you." He further explained, "If you hold fast to appearances, you will forget the essential aspect, so always empty your mind and embrace all of heaven and earth as your own home." He then blessed Hyung-jin nim's future path.

The Supreme Patriarch also explained the importance of meditation, quoting the words of Confucius: "If you cultivate your mind in the morning, it is all right to die in the evening." Hyung-jin nin knew that the Supreme Patriarch had continued to meditate even during the Korean War bombing raids and asked him about it. He answered, "True meditation is achieved in the complicated secular world, not in a quiet environment."

Hyung-jin nim was inaugurated international president of the Family Federation on April 18; this visit took place a few weeks after and is consistent with the tradition of True Father, who has promoted and invested himself in interfaith activities. The Buddhist hierarch asked Hyung-jin nim about his father's health. "He is still strong enough to start his work early in the morning," Hyung-jin nim replied. By the time the meeting ended, laughter could be heard coming from the annex; the thunder and pouring hail had ceased, and quiet came to the residence of the Supreme Patriarch. Venerable Beep Joen told Hyung-jin nim that anytime he wanted to learn about meditation based on Zen teachings he was welcome to come to Hae-in Temple, the center of Korean Zen Buddhism. The Patriarch personally saw Hyung-jin nim out. Not a trace of the walls between religions could be found between the two.

After the meeting, the group was shown around Janggyeong Gak, a large hall on the temple grounds, which is registered with UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, because it is where the eighty thousand woodblocks of the Tripiinka Korrinur are stored.

For dinner, we were served a temple meal cordially prepared by the staff.

As we were about to leave, the chief of staff invited us to stay the night but because of Hyung-jin nim's schedule, we said our good-byes and promised to visit again.

Hyung-jin nim's visit to Hae-in Temple did not come about simply by chance. In his early twenties and despite some criticism from those around him, Hyung-jin nim shaved his head and underwent strict Buddhist training for five years. In the course of his pursuit of understanding, he personally met with the Tibetan Buddhist leader, the Dalai Lama, and received teachings from him. Furthermore, he made a call of condolence, wearing monk's attire, in September 2005 at the time of the passing of Venerable Beop Jang, a figure analogous to the prime minister of the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism.

Based on the precious connection thus formed, we hope that the global religions of Buddhism and Unificationism can work together and realize a world of peace and benevolence. 

56. Changing Your Destiny (May 10, 2008)

Hyung Jin MoonMay 10, 2008
Headquarters Church
Chungpadong, Seoul, Korea
Transcribed by: Pamela Stein
Edited by: Bruno Klotz

Welcoming Message:
Yeon Ah Nim:

Good afternoon brothers and sisters. Today is a beautiful day to celebrate Heavenly Father and True Parents. We're so happy and honored to have all here in the sanctuary. And for those who are joining with us via internet, we're also welcoming you as well. Welcome brothers and sisters!

Hyung Jin Nim:

Brothers and Sisters I want to share with you from Cheon Seong Gyeong page 113, just at the bottom of that page,

"We should feel that all creatures of God are objects of our love. We should be people who can love and be loved by even the smallest forms of life, not to mention human beings, as well as everything visible and invisible in heaven. When a birds calls, 'chirp, chirp, chirp' in the morning, instead of saying, 'You pesky sparrow, I am trying to sleep late. Why are you chirping about?!' say in your mind, 'Oh thank you. You came to wake me up. You're telling me that an important guest is coming to see me.' The outlook is different. This is a great thing."

Brothers and sisters, I always want to encourage us to have the right outlook in our life. It's so important that, whenever we look at our future, whenever we start fearing a little bit about what in our future is going to happen, it' s important to have the right outlook, to know that God is in control, to know that He is guiding us and directing our path, to know that He is walking with us on this path of faith.

It's so important that, while we're doing that, to always understand our value. So many times the world will challenge you, saying, "Do you really believe you have value?" And it's so important in our life that after getting up everyday, that we declare in front of the mirror in the morning, "I have value. I have cosmic value. I have divine and unique value".

As the Principle teaches us, it is so important to hold this viewpoint in your hearts. If you keep that view point you'll have more victory in your life. This is so important in our life in order to have more illumination. It's important to know that our identity is that we're Unificationists, we're Blessed Families, we're the fruit of six thousand years of God's tears and His work -- how great a fruition that is, how great a final price that is to show before the world.

And it's so important that when we look at our lives, that we see our objective, that we understand that we have purpose. We're blessed families with a purpose. In order to have peace in our hearts, we need to know our purpose, and that purpose is that we're blessed. We're blessed in our life and that blessing is not only for ourselves but to become greater blessings to this world. If we know our value, our identity, our purpose, we will have more Victory, more Illumination and more Peace in our life.

Brothers and sisters, once again good to see you all here in this service today. God really sees and honors each one of us as we honor Him and return praise to Him. Welcome once again.

Interesting Story:

Before we start the sermon we like to start with something a little interesting. We always like to look at the funny section in religion when we study. I have a very interesting story.

It was a beautiful spring day... at the insane asylum. Everybody just finished lunch, they were really enjoying themselves. Everyone was gathering in the lobby, it was a great party. All of a sudden, the first patient got up and said, "I am Napoleon!" At that there was a big silence. The second patient got up and said, "Who told you that?" The first patient said, "I heard it from God." A third patient got up and said, "I never told you that! Sit down Napoleon!" (Lots of laughter)

Sermon: Changing Your Destiny

Today I'd like to talk to you about changing your destiny. In order to live the Blessed Life, it's so important to realize how much tremendous power we have. In the Principle we learn that human beings have 5% responsibility. That means that God is preparing our destiny. He has planned it out. But God is going to do the majority of the heavy lifting, he's going to do 95% of effort to help it come to pass. We have to help him and finish that 5%. That really is one of the most freeing concepts in the Principle, because it teaches us that we are not predestined for failure or success but that we have a say in our destiny.

In order to fully optimize our lives, we have to be open to a change that is required to actualize the blessings of God. In fact, how we move through change, how we navigate through change can often change our destinies. It's so important that when we look at change we are able to see it in the right perspective.

When we look at nature, we see seasons come and go; we see winter come, we see winter go; spring, summer, autumn, etc. Some of you today are going through changes, through different seasons in your life. It may be in your relationships, in your friendships, it may be at school. Maybe you are going to college, to graduate school, it could be at work, it could be in the place where you live, or maybe you moved to Korea or back to the States, etc.

But whatever these changes may be, we have to always remember that during times of change there may be effort required to plough through these changes. Even though it is a plowing season right now, that doesn't mean it always will be plowing season. If there is a plowing season in the future, there is always a harvest. That's how nature works, that is also how the cycles of life move.

When we look at these processes, I hear the words of the sages in my mind, "Without a departure there's no arrival. Without plowing there's no harvest. Without winter, no spring." Really, what is that saying? That in our lives there is the inevitability of change; that there is the naturalness of change. Accepting this on our part is freeing in our lives. It is opening our potential for the future. It is opening our mind for the future. Whenever change occurs, many feel a loss of control over life. We may even feel that loss of control over relationships. We may have had a great friendship and it didn't turn out right and now that friendship is sour, and when we see each other it is uncomfortable, etc. We have to always remember, that, regardless of these changes, even though right now it may require some plowing, some hard work, some effort, we have to know that in our future God is planning something better for our lives.

He loves each and every one of us and he wants us to live the Blessed Life. He wants us to be victorious in our lives. Whenever these changes come, we don't necessarily fight these changes. Changes are inevitable, everybody grows old; everybody at some point will have to pass into spirit world. These are changes in our lives. Our lives are always continual changing processes. When we are moving through life, it's important to accept the fact that there will be changes in our life.

When I think of changes and changes of destiny, I think of the story of Jacob. When Jacob started out, he was a happy farm boy; he was enjoying himself in the field, his brother was out there hunting, and he was enjoying himself gardening, etc. One day his mom comes to him and says, "Jacob I want you to deceive your father." If you know the meaning of the name "Jacob", it actually means "deceiver". The first thing he had to do, the real challenge, the call to conscience, that he has in this early part of the story, is to deceive his father. He has to take the birthright from his brother Esau and then he has to trick his father in order to receive that.

After that happens, his life changes again. Now his older brother wants to kill him. His mother says, "You have to flee. I want you to go to my brother Laban." Jacob has to go to a different city, he has to work under Laban almost as a slave. For 21 years, if you look at the scripture, for 21 years Jacob was under Laban's toil. He was totally under Laban's rule; and ten times Laban changed his wages. What does that say? Basically, Laban one day said, "If you work hard I give you $10;" but then Jacob said, "I did the work, so I'm here to receive my $10." "I never said $10! It's $8. Or $5." Laban kept changing. How frustrating that must have been (for Jacob)! For 21 years Jacob strove; for 21 years he served Laban. He eventually inherited Laban's land, his farms and his animal stock, etc.

After all that was done, he received a revelation: "Jacob, now after you have worked for all this, now after you have gained everything, I want you to go back home to Canaan and give it all to your brother." Again a big change in Jacob's life. He had to accept that. He had to move on the course towards Canaan. He fought the angel. We know from the Principle perspective, that this was again the third blessing where he had to actualize dominion over creation. In the end, he had to offer all that he worked for to his brother.

I can imagine how Jacob must have felt at the very beginning when his mom told him, "Jacob, I need you to plot, I need you to deceive your father, you need to receive this blessing," or how he felt every time his uncle started changing his promises on him, "I promise you this, oh no, actually, I promise you that." How frustrating that must have been for Jacob, who was really sweating, working so hard for his uncle. Imagine how Jacob must have felt: He had to toil under this uncle so far away from home with no supportive environment, no money, no hope for the future, etc. I'm sure there were days in his mind when he was thinking, "What was I thinking? I should have never listened to mom, I should have never stolen that birthright from my brother, I don't know what I was thinking, I would be much more comfortable at home, doing the farming, walking with the sheep etc."

Imagine, once again when all that was done -- he was now a victor, he inherited all the land from his uncle -- and then God says, "OK, now go back and give it away." Again a big change in Jacob's life. He had to work through the fear, work through the doubt. I can see him, sitting there maybe under the stars at night, thinking, "Why did I work for all this? Just to give it away? I slaved away 21 years to give it to a brother who gave me his birthright for a bowl of lentil soup." As you recall, he traded lentil soup for the birthright of his brother.

In our own lives, when we encounter times of change, we may also feel that it's overwhelming. We may also feel that we are giving up so much. "I had great success, why now the change?" But God is asking us in those moments of change to trust Him. He's asking us to believe and have faith in our future, to believe that although right now is not our best day, but still our best day is to come in the future. God is saying that even though you may plan, even though you may have goals that you want to achieve -- and those are good -- still it's important to stay flexible because no one can be certain for the future. Sometimes God will change the course of our lives, He will bring us through change so he can bless us in a greater way.

When facing big changes, the battle is in the mind. When we are facing change, we may feel the fear in our hearts, "What if this change is for the worse, what if I don't make it through this change, what if I'm worse off after this change than when I started this change?" Whenever I start feeling this -- I feel this quite often -- I always come back to what Father told me, "Don't worry so much! Don't worry, be humble and move forth, and people will help you along your way."

It's so important to accept, that fear and uncertainty are part of change, are natural part of change. It's very important to not condemn yourself when you feel a little fear or uncertainty. It's OK to feel that type of uncertainty about the future, because in the end we can't predict the future. However, it's important to not let it control us to the point that we are immobilized, to the point that we can't even think because we are paralyzing our lives. It's important to not start conversing in our own minds, "Why should I even bother, I can't see the future, it's not going to happen, I don't know how this is going to come to pass, I might as well not even try to live a blessed life."

Let's always remember, God asks us to do the 5%. Many times we may feel uncertainty, but if we keep our mind life healthy, if we keep it moving in a positive direction, if we keep having faith in our future, believing in the potential of our own selves and that God is with us, then God will open up those doors that we are not able to see at that exact moment. In order to live the blessed life, how we think today is the best predictor of how we will live and think tomorrow. When we look at a time line, we see that the past is gone; we see the present is right here; and we see the future is ahead of us. We can't predict that future. How then can we live so that we can at least have the best chance of living a greater future?

That comes right here, where we are right now at this moment. What kinds of thoughts do we allow ourselves to be overtaken by? What kind of thoughts, what kind of life are we living today? This is important. If we begin to analyze and see what kinds of thoughts we're having, what kind of life we're leading today, then we can generally predict, that tomorrow we will live or think in that same manner.

It's so important to start looking into what kind of thoughts we are having. Will we live in fear today? Will I fear or dread the future? Will we live depressed, maybe feeling that nothing is going to work out well in the future? Will we live resisting change, which is inevitable, or will we accept that change? Or will we see our future with realistic optimism? That means, will I look into my future and feel hope? Will I, even though I know there's going to be struggles, will I still have hope? That's realistic optimism.

Many moms feel this when they have their first child. They have time in their adolescence, they grow up, they marry and get blessed; they feel very independent. But all of a sudden they have a young child and all of a sudden that sense of independence... they have to attend this child! Many times many moms can feel very depressed, "I had a lot of free time for myself, but now I have to take care of this baby, and the baby cries every two hours and I have to feed it every two hours." So many times, a lot of moms will feel stressed, in particular during this time of change. How we choose to accept this new reality in our lives, how we choose to move through this change, can also change the destiny that we have with this child.

Its' so important that when we are moving through those changes with our children, that we are moving through those changes with acceptance that things will improve. If things are not looking so great right now, hey, change is always real in our lives, it can always improve. That's the hopefulness of change. When we see ourselves thinking in that manner, we can predict with the best indicator that we will live a better life tomorrow, as long as we live well and think well today.

Remember the Archangel Lucifer, remember any of the archangels in your lives, in your work or school, any of these people that want to bring you down, remember, they're never going to fight you for your past. That's already gone. They're going to fight you for your present joy and your future potential. It's so important never to give that away. Don't ever give that future potential to those archangels. It's so important to protect those, to preserve those hopes and desires, to preserve those dreams and visions that God has placed within your hearts.

When we look at uncertainty, when we are moving through change, we might start to focus on the past. Many times it can be very nostalgic. I find myself doing this a lot. I have a big workload now, I have no free time. Even preparing sermons is difficult for me at this point. I find myself nostalgically looking at my "glorious" past when I had more time, thinking, "It was better in those good old days. I had a lot more time, especially when I was in school. I could just focus on school work, think, and write essays, etc."

Now we have meetings and decisions and all this kind of crazy stuff. I guess you all know what I mean. I can see myself doing this in my mind: Looking in my past and sort of glorifying it, idealizing it, saying, "Hey, those are the good old days, I even wish I could go back to when I was four years old!"

Its so important to understand that the past was good, it was great, and God pushed us and pulled us through a lot of difficult things. We had great joys and sorrows and things we had to overcome. But that's not our greatest yet. We have to remember that even though the past was great, we're going to have a greater future. We're going to have more victories, a path that is brighter and brighter.

I found myself looking in the past, and what happened? I started getting sick. I started looking to the future, seeing uncertainty, "What's going to happen? Can I really fulfill these responsibilities? I don't know," etc. I could see myself looking into the future with fear, and into the past with nostalgia. All of a sudden my physical body just started breaking down. I started getting sick. I couldn't control it anymore. One thing that I always had and that was precious to me was my health. That was something I felt I could somehow control. All of a sudden I couldn't even control one of the greatest things I felt that I had.

I realized that God was trying to tell me something. He was saying, "You have to accept this change. Stop looking at the past, stop saying 'Oh those good old days.' Stop looking into your future being scared. I'm going to guide you through this. I love you. I'm going to be with you, I'm going to bring you through this." I said, "You know what, God, I give up, I'm not going to fight this change anymore. You're too big to fight! I can't fight You! I'm going to just trust that You have the best outcome for me, I'm going to trust You to bring me through this, I'm going to trust that You have a better plan, that you are waiting for me to actualize this plan. Please give me my health back and I hope that I can get better."

What happened? I was going to the hospital. All this prescription medication, it just wasn't working. Strangely, I met a certain doctor, an acupuncturist. I met this acupuncturist and he gave me this acupuncture technique. I had a lot of pain in my sinuses and he gave me acupuncture right through my nose into my sinuses. I could literally feel the pain start to dissipate. It's so interesting, because I don't believe I would have met that person if I wasn't able to say, "God, I give up, I'm not going to fight this change. I'm going to let You guide me through it. I'm going to believe that You will hold my hand and lead me through this darkness."

In life, it's so important not to dwell on those glorious past memories, but to know that God has prepared a greater future for us. He's preparing a better day, a brighter day, that we can move towards, move through, and live out in our lives. What can we learn today? If we can learn anything, it's that God wants us to remember that He loves all of us; He wants us to be blessed in our lives; He wants us to be victorious. In times of change, He gives us two words, "Trust Me." What He's saying to us is that when we're going through change, when anything changes in our lives and we feel uncertainty, trust Him. Trust that you're in the palm of His hands, trust that He's guiding you through this ordeal, trust that your future will open up and you will have a brighter and better day.

Remember that God is on our side; He's our parent. He has waited 6,000 years for His blessed families to be finally on this earth, to finally celebrate. It's so important to remember that identity, to know that when we're moving through life, "I'm not alone." I may be lonely at times and maybe there's not a lot of people around sometimes, but I'm never alone. I'm going to work through this, move through this, and I will see a better day.

As you all remember, what is the best predictor of living a great life tomorrow? It's how we live and how we think today. Are we looking towards our future with hope? Are we looking towards our future with realistic optimism, knowing that there will be struggles, that there will be difficulties and challenges, but that we will overcome those challenges, that we have the potential to move through and defeat those archangels, that we have the potential to actualize the dreams that God is giving us? If we do that in our mind life today, that is the best predictor that we continue to live a blessed life tomorrow.

Lets always remember that at times of change we may have to plough and work through a cold winter, but remember, after winter there's always spring. After plowing season there's always harvest. Don't give up during plowing, during winter. Know that it's going to come to pass. As long as you keep moving, as long as keep believing in your future, believing in your potential, knowing that you can make it through this and that you are not alone, God will see you to the brighter day, and you will have that harvest season.

Brothers and Sisters, if we live like this today, I believe in our lives we will have more Victory, more Illumination and more Peace each and every day.

If you can accept this, let's give a big round of applause for God and True Parents! (Audience applauds)

Closing prayer:

Heavenly Father, thank You for this day that You have given to us, Father, for the many blessings You have surrounded us with. Father, today if there's any wrong doings that we wish to confess, let us offer those up here at this time in our hearts. Father, we repent, we are sorry for the things that we have done that bring You pain. We know that You continue to believe in us, Father, and that You continue to live through us, and Father that You will dwell in us at all times. We know that You are in our midst, that You are guiding and directing our steps; and please make us the palace of Your love, Your life and Your lineage forever. Thank you for these blessings. We pray this in all our names, as blessed families, Aju.

Brothers and Sisters, if we always keep True Parents enthroned in our hearts of glory, if we move through change to maturity, knowing that we can overcome any change that is in our lives; if we do that, we will find more Victory, more Illumination and more Peace. We will live that blessed life that TP have blessed us to live. 

55. Keeping God and True Parents Enthroned (May 3, 2008)

Hyung Jin Moon
May 3, 2008
Headquarters Church
Chyungpadong, Seoul
Transcribed by: Annie (Mary) Hapeman
Edited by: Bruno Klotz

Welcoming Message:
Yeon Ah Nim:

Good afternoon Brothers and Sisters! We're so happy and honored to have you here today in our sanctuary, and for those who are joining with us via internet, we're welcoming you as well. Welcome, brothers and welcome sisters!

Hyung Jin Nim:

Good to see you, brothers and sisters. It's a nice day. It's summer already. It's spring, but its summer already. We have a beautiful ceremony in Chung Pyung and so I know that lots of students are over there participating in that ceremony. But for all of us here, we're still here to worship God and True Parents. We really give them honor and we receive that honor back in return.

Hyung Jin Nim's Message:

Let me share something from the Cheon Seong Gyeong. I was casually reading it and found myself on page 1406. And I found this wonderful statement where Father -- he was giving the Blessing in a ceremony of Blessing of Marriage -- said to Heavenly Father, "I stand before them on this occasion which You have long desired and I bless them to become Your children who from this moment can inherit Your will to build Your kingdom on earth and in heaven as true individuals by uniting mind and body, husband and wife, as parents and children and with their siblings in the blessed world. Please be with them and bless them as they march forward to the place of victory and glory."

See, brothers and sisters, here True Parents are exactly telling us what the power of the blessing is that True Parents have given us. They're telling us that the path is the path of victory and glory. And it's not only for our own personal glory but it is to glorify and magnify the name of God and True Parents.

If we do that, if we keep that in our hearts, if we move forward with that conviction, we're gonna receive Blessing. People will want to help us. They will go out of their way God will prepare the right people that are coming in our path to really help us along the path, who really wish to help us.

I love that because this really reminds us of who we are. This reminds us of the value of the Blessed Family, on the individual level and on the church level. This reminds us of our value, that we have cosmic value, that we have divine value, that we are unique in our value.

And that's so important to remember. Because, when we look at the fall, the fall was not seeing from God's viewpoint. The archangel could not see God's children with God's eyes. And so he judged them as people who were in his way. But let's see with God's eyes. God sees His children as tremendously valuable, tremendously divine with cosmic potential. And I really hope that you can see that in yourself today.

Get up every morning and look at the mirror and say, "I have divine value, I have cosmic value, I am unique in my value. I'm one of the kind. I'm an original." When we do that we start finding the potential that God is placing within us. We start drawing out our God given talents and gifts, and we can stay humble about it, but we can continue to develop those talents. And really we will see more and more victories, more and more glory, and we will return it to God and True Parents.

Brothers and Sisters, good to see you here today. Let's have a good time, we will have a nice family worship today. It's a smaller group but its OK. Small groups are always good. We will still worship and have a good time, brothers and sisters. Good to see you. Welcome!

Yeon Ah Nim's Message:

For us this and hectic. Many ceremonies, meeting after meeting. And we reminded ourselves that without True Parents this church would not exist. And we believe that without True Parents being the center of this movement, we cannot flourish. However, if we keep True Parents and God in the center of our movement, of this church, we will be victorious. No matter if we succeed or fail in the short run, we will flourish. Brothers and sisters, thank you for coming today. We love you so much and we believe in you. Aju!

Hyung Jin Nim (Interesting story):

Thank you brothers, and sisters, please be seated. I'd like to start with something interesting. At the school of divinity, we sometimes like to find the very funny stuff of religion, so I thought of a very interesting one.

There is a story of a Rabbi, a Hindu priest, and a preacher, who were in the countryside, traveling. And all of a sudden lightning started and clouds emerged, it started raining really heavy, with lightning and thunder. So they quickly ran to a little farm house that they saw before them. They knocked on the door and said, "Farmer, please help us. It's pouring rain out here, and we have nowhere to rest." He said, "Okay, I have two rooms for you, two of you have to stay in the house, but one of you has to stay in the barn." So the Rabbi said, "I'll be merciful, my God is merciful, my God is a good God, I'll go to the barn, and you guys stay in the house."

A couple of minutes later, there was a big knock on the Farmer's door, and when the Farmer opened up the door, the Rabbi was there, and he said, "I can't stay in the barn, there's a pig in there, it's not Kosher, I can't stay there. I have to come in."

Then the Hindu priest said, "Okay, Rabbi, I will be compassionate to you, you come on in, I'll take the barn, I have nothing wrong with pigs," and he went to the barn. A few minutes later there was a knock on the door, and the farmer opened the door, and the Hindu priest was there. And the Hindu priest said, "I can't stay in the barn, there's a cow in there. It's against my religion. I have to be inside the house." And then the preacher said, "Okay, well, my God is a good God, He's an almighty God; so I'll go to the barn." So the preacher went over to the barn. A couple of minutes later, a knock was at the door. The farmer opened up the door, and there was the cow and the pig, and they said, " We can't go to sleep; the preacher won't stop talking!"

True Parents' Declaration:

Alright, brothers and sisters, let's get on up; let's get on up, and give the True Parents Declaration. Come on, let's get on up and put your left hand on your heart, and your right hand up in the air.

"These are my True Parents, the eternal Kind and Queen of Peace, and Liberator of God's heart. They have saved me from my past, they have blessed my future, and they give me true love, forgiveness, and happiness today; and I choose to receive it. My mind is awake, my heart is opened wide, and from this moment, I will change forever. In my name, Aju."

Hyung Jin Nim's Main Message:

Thank you brothers and sisters. Please be seated. Today I would like to talk to you about always keeping God and True Parents enthroned, on the throne of glory. In order to live the blessed life, it's so important that we are able to keep True Parents and God enthroned in our hearts of glory. Too many people live life with success, but thinking that it's their own doing that brought them the success. Many times we can succeed, and on the path to success, we are praying, "God, help me get that promotion, God, help me defeat this disease." But once we get those things that we asked for, suddenly we forget about God.

And that is a really interesting tendency, but we've got to stay strong in our minds, we have to always remain sure that we keep our minds with God enthroned in our lives. Remember that there is no one who has succeeded without help or some circumstance or some advantage. God places these things in our lives; whether or not we know it, and whether we deserve it or not, God will place these things in our lives. He wishes for us to succeed; He wishes for us to become blessed in this land; and mighty in this land. And so, He will give us those unnatural breaks. He will give us those things that will help us in our careers, help us in our lives, help us to really start moving into society and convincing others that the Kingdom of God, Cheon Il Guk, is really here.

It is so important that we remember the real problems of the fall. From a principled perspective, we see that the fall was composed of four main factors. Four main factors, right? The first one was failing to see from God's view point. The Archangel saw Adam and Eve, and he only saw people that were in his way… in his way, blocking God's love for him. But he shouldn't have done that. He should have seen from God's viewpoint; he should have seen children of God, holy children, that he was to raise and to help to be one day even closer to God. And through that, if he did that, he would have received so much more love. He would have received the love of Adam and Eve, God's children, plus all of God's love and trust, and hope. It's really important that we remember that that was the first problem of the fall.

The second one of course, was leaving the proper position as the Archangel did. The third was reversing dominion, and the forth was multiplying evil. You see, in life we have to be careful, not to fall into that trap. Because, when we succeed... and we WILL succeed, because God has given the seeds of potential in our hearts; and as we develop them, we will continue to have success in our life. Even though there may be difficulty and obstacles, we will have success in our lives. But it is very important, that when we do succeed that we keep the right perspective, that we keep God's viewpoint in our eyes, that we see that we are succeeding so that we can contribute to building His kingdom, that we don't leave our proper position when we succeed, thinking that WE did it all, or forgetting God's help. (It is very important that) we keep our proper position when we succeed, and say, "God, You helped me to succeed, You helped me get this glory, and I'm going to return it all to You, because I know that You got me here, and to the next success that is waiting, I know that You are going to get me there as well."

It's so important that we don't leave our proper position and to see that God is leading our paths.

And it's so important -- the third point -- not to reverse dominion. In our lives, when we succeed, we may place ourselves above God. "I don't need God; I can do it myself." once we have accumulated enough success. But it's so important in our lives, that we don't do this process of reversing dominion; that we remember who is in dominion of our lives, who is working and controlling 95% of our destiny. It's so important that we keep the dominion straight "God, I'm going to keep You up here, and I'm going to keep working for You, I'm going to keep building Your kingdom, I'm going to keep being the best I can be, and to flourish and bring pride to You."

When we continue this, then, instead of multiplying evil -- in the fall that was the fourth problem -- then we start to multiply goodness. We start multiplying the ability to return glory to God. When we do that, we become a true power house, a well spring of hope, a well spring of energy for those around us, and a well spring of humility to the God, who is leading us through all of these things.

God is very smart. God wants to help us get all the advantages we need in our lives. He wants to help you succeed. He wants to help you overcome those obstacles that you are facing right now. He wants you to overcome those circumstances that you may be facing with your families, or in other areas of your life. He wants us to succeed so greatly and He will help us.

At times in our lives, maybe when we are young, we may not recognize that He is helping us. We may be a little immature at that time, but remember, God is faithful. God stays with us, He doesn't leave us. As the song says, He doesn't forsake us, He is now there. True Parents have lifted Him now to the throne. He can now reign over us, with His love, with His abundance. It is so important, that, as blessed families, we know this, that God is on our side, that He is directing our future, that He is opening up the paths before us, that He is making the way that looks like no way into a way.

It is so important that when we look at ourselves, into our lives, that we can always have this sort of consciousness, that we know that God is patient, that He is waiting for us, that He is helping us succeed. And when we succeed, it is so important to acknowledge God, and say, "God, I am thanking You, thanking You for this promotion. God, thank You for bettering my health, that You just healed me."

On a personal level, for the last couple of months, I've been dealing with a lot of physical ailments, it is very strange, particularly during these last 40 days, when we were making offerings to Hyo Jin Yon Nim, who just passed to spirit world. We were doing offerings every morning, after morning practice. And all the brothers and sisters, also the elderly brothers and sisters, came, and we offered food and prayers for Hyo Jin Hyon, everyday for the last 40 days. And it was so strange, because before that I was having all this coughing. All of a sudden, when I started to minister, I was coughing like crazy. And of course we have construction work going on. I started having whooping cough, I had to go to the hospital two or three times, to check it out, but the prescription wasn't working, I couldn't stop the coughing, couldn't stop this pain in the lungs, in the chest. And I got the x-ray. The x-ray said that everything was fine, but my lungs were swollen, and my throat was swollen, and things like that.

To make matters worse, the Archangel came, and he started to give me a little more problem, he hurt my rib, and then to make matters a little worse, he started to give me a lot of sinus pressure in my head. And so, I started having these major headaches from 12:00 noon until 7:00. My head was literally about to fall off. I went to the doctor; he told me that I had chronic sinusitis. He told me, "You need to take this medicine". I took the medicine; it was not helping. And so, at this point, my body was falling apart. I've been healthy up until now, I've been in good shape, and I've been trying to exercise, and I thought, "I don't know why I am falling apart like this."

And really, I felt it was a spiritual battle. It really felt all the legions (of the Archangel) were trying to take me down, wipe me out and prevent me from reaching the next stage. And at some points, I felt really depressed; I could not get rid of this pain and this headache, or the inflammation in my lungs. (I felt) I'm not going to overcome this so soon. So, at one point I said to God -- I was sitting there, and my head was pounding -- I said to God, "God, I am tired, please, please help me. Help me, heal me, please." I prayed that to God; that's my secret. But I prayed that to God. And my wife, she told me that she also prayed. She saw me sick. I'm usually a healthy guy, and then all of a sudden I was sick, really having problems, physical ailments. And my wife, she prayed a prayer for me. She said, "God, please take care of his health."

All of a sudden, almost like a miracle, we found a doctor. The doctor was an acupuncturist. I grew up in the States, and I really don't believe in acupuncture. We grew up on Western medicine, I buy Tylenol and that stuff, I don't really see the benefit in having needles poked in you. So, for myself, I was thinking, "Okay, the acupuncture man is coming, and my head is about to fall off, I'll try anything at this point. Please, acupuncture man, do something."

He came in, and he gave me a very unique therapy. He acupunctured right up into my sinuses. And he acupunctured me right through the ribs, and back; and these were big needles. They were not small. And he was twisting them, and twisting them. And I could feel the energy and the electricity going all the way through. And I've done this now three times, and I have no sinus pressure (anymore). I have no pain in my head. I'm now exercising again. And I don't believe it would have happened, if I weren't bold enough to say that prayer. If I weren't daring enough to say, "God, I want Your help now. I can't do this on my own. I'm falling apart. I can't continue ministering like this. I can't even listen to meetings while my head is falling off. Please, God, I'm asking You for help." And I knew that I had to step up (dare) to say that.

It was almost like magic. God came in. He sent the right person at the right time. He sent the acupuncture needles, so they came right up into my sinuses; and now I feel so much better.

Restoring my physical health is something that I always treasure, and when I saw it falling away, slipping through my fingers, I really felt that I was losing control of my life, losing control of my health that I was able to preserve so well. Now, as I am able to return, now, as God has shown me who is really in control, I really now know, that whatever success we have, we have to offer it back to God. That is the only way God will continue to give us success in life. That's the only way He'll continue to let us be a blessing in our lives.

I know a brother, who in his own testimony was talking about how he grew up as a blessed child. He was very successful, he was very smart. He got a PhD. He eventually got his law degree. He eventually went and started his own company, a huge success on Wall Street, a huge success; millions and millions of dollars, he was jet-setting back and forth between cities. He was so successful, so successful. And as a blessed child, he felt, "Yes, I'm doing it; I'm getting success, and status, etc." But he recalled, how at one point in his life, while he was getting so successful, how one day he turned around, and he looked at his children, and they were grown up. He turned around and he looked at his wife, and he realized that he didn't really know her anymore. One day he was supposed to be back for dinner, and he told them he would come back. But when he came back at 10:00 at night, way past dinner, all of them were crying at the dinner table, a cold meal sitting on the table, and none of them were eating. He realized, "Wait a minute; what am I doing? What am I working like this for? Who am I working like this for?"

At that time, his business was going into bankruptcy. He was starting to look back at his life, and he started to realize, "Hey, I'm starting to lose everything. I'm losing all my relationships. I'm losing my precious wife; I'm losing my children, I'm losing my business, my success. I'm losing my friends, I'm standing here with nothing."

And at that point, he said he realized that he only had one thing left, and that was God and True Parents. That was all that he had left. And he started with that. He started with what he had left. He picked that up, and he said, "God and True Parents, I now know my lesson. I know who is in control; and I know that whatever I do now, I give credit to You. I'm going to bring glory back to You."

He started with that. He started working on his relationships. He started apologizing to his wife. He started keeping his promises. He started coming back for dinner, when he promised to come back for dinner. He started making amends with his children. He started trying to invest in them more. Now their family is stronger. Now his business is coming back to life. What is happening? God is blessing him again. Because why? Because he is keeping God at the first place in his life. He's keeping True Parents in the proper position. He's remembering that if we make success, it is not only because of us. There is a Divine help that is helping us. There is a historical divinity that is within our lives that is guiding our path.

What am I saying, brothers and sisters? I am saying that when we succeed in life... and you all will, you will. God has put the seed of success and genius within you, and you will succeed in your lives. But it is so important that when we do succeed, that we continue to give that glory back to God. Then God has no problem with your success. He knows that you will not worship power, fame and wealth as gods, but that you will keep Him as God, and that you will use those for His kingdom. And if you do that, God wants to bless you with success. He wants to bless you with fame, He wants to bless you with power; He wants to bless you with authority, so that you can do great things in your life. And you will. I do believe it. Brothers and sisters, come one, you don't believe today? You've got to give me a shot of applause. Come on.

As you know, at this time in my life things have turned around. I gave a lecture a couple of weeks ago about how our best days are ahead of us, and how our lives can change in an instant. I told you before how I really believed that; but I didn't know it was that quick, the very next week, Father, all of a sudden, out of the blue, said "Hey, you have two days to prepare to become the President of the FFWP."

And I'm sitting there, saying, "What have I done? Who am I to deserve such a thing?" And I have been receiving so many letters of congratulations from around the world, so many brothers and sisters, so many continental directors, writing and saying congratulations; and I am so grateful for that. But also, at the same time, I know who I am. I know it is not because of me. I know that it is not because of my own effort that God is giving me this responsibility.

In my heart I can say I did my 5%; at least I tried to fulfill my 5%; but God and True Parents, they did 95%. So that is who really did the work, who really made the foundation. We stand on top of a great foundation, as blessed children of the next age. We stand on top of a huge success that our first generation sacrificed for; that our True Parents shed blood, sweat and tears for. We stand on a worldwide foundation, the most successful religion in all of history, while the founder is still alive. We don't find this in history. I studied religion. We don't see it. And we stand on top of this foundation, and so there is no way that we can say, "We did it." There is no way that I can say, "I deserve this." I don't.

And it's my tremendous honor that True Parents have asked me to do that. But I know that I am never True Parents. I am an employee of True Parents. I work for True Parents. I know who I work for.

Whenever God asks us to come to a higher level, when He is challenging us to step up to a new level -- and maybe we don't believe that we can do it -- when He's asking us, "Believe, you can do it; have faith, and your future will open up," you may hear people saying things, this or that -- don't worry, keep walking, keep believing, keep following that light that is in front of you. God is asking all of us to do the same thing in our lives.

Brothers and sisters, we had ceremony after ceremony during this last week, just constant. And my sinus pressure was starting to come back, but at one dinner ceremony someone leaned over and said to me, "Hey, it's amazing…you're the next True Parents. You're the forth Adam. You have this whole church now that you can lead." And I said, "Oh, oh… no, no, my friend." I had to stop him right away. "I studied theology. We cannot say, 'I am True Parents.' From the theological standpoint that is impossible. From a theological standpoint, there is no forth Adam. I can't be that, because that would suggest that the third Adam had failed; but Father is succeeding. He has enthroned God on the throne. We are only his children from now. We are here to bring light to his kingdom. We are here to bring glory to his kingdom."

I said, "Please, it is so important. When we look at the history of Christianity, Paul was one of the great evangelists of the early Christian era. He was there in the early times, he was running around, and he built the early church in Corinth, and all over the place around the Mediterranean Sea. He was so successful as a preacher; he was so system oriented. He was building church after church after church, managing all these things. But can you imagine, if Paul, all of a sudden would have said, "Hey, you know what? You're not supposed to believe in Jesus, you're supposed to believe in Paul."

That would be a big error, a fatal error. And for me it is important to not make that theological error. It's so important, because when I am given this role, everybody is watching. Then it's a big pressure to start feeling that you're about to be some kind of a new True Parents. What I know is that I am never going to be a new True Parent. I am always going to be a son to True Parents. I'm always going to be a Dad to my children, and I'm always going to be a husband to my wife. And I try to keep it in perspective in my own mind: Father has asked me to do this not because of me, not because of my talents or abilities. This is only because I am a tool, a piece, in the puzzle, that God is asking me to contribute to.

It is so important in our lives, that we are able to do this. I really feel this in my life. I've had interviews in the last couple of weeks. This upcoming week I have some more interviews to do with the media here in Korea; and I told them straight up, "Look, previously in other churches, and in other historical religions, we may think that the new person who is in that position wields absolute power, that he is able to make all the decisions." And I told them, "I'm not doing that. I am deliberately trying to reduce my power. I am deliberately trying to reduce my authority." And I told them the story of The Lord of the Rings.

All of you may have seen that movie The Lord of the Rings. I'm just Frodo Baggins, I am. I've got hairy feet. I'm a hobbit. I'm walking up that mountain, seeing the fire of Mordor. I'm just Frodo Baggins; that's all I am. I know who I am. I know where I come from. I love the little rolling hills of the hobbit land, I love nature, I love the forest. I like to meditate there. That's where I want to be; but God is asking me to do this, and I'm going to do this for Him. I know where I am going. We and our whole team are so intent. We know that "the ring of power" is so dangerous when we put that on. You saw in the movie. You put that on, and you start believing, and you start getting possessed by it. And I really believe that's true. I believe that J. R. Tolkin was a prophet telling us to always be wary of that ring of power. We know that, and we are moving forward. In everything that we do, we are trying to reduce the tendency for absolute authority.

Even in my role as the president, I am trying to acknowledge that I am nowhere near True Parents; only True Parents could wield that power, only they were able to control that. Not any other person in the history of our movement will be able to control that. No other person in the next generation, starting from our generation, will be able to control or to handle that level of authority.

Our whole plan is still a vision. It has not come to pass yet. Right now in our whole team, with Kook Jin Hyung Nim and the Tongil group team, with our whole administrative team, we are starting to analyze -- we have not even done analyzing yet -- but we are starting. We are starting with that goal in mind, that we are able to make a church that is able to truly balance power, so that no person can wield absolute power. Because there is such a tendency, that leaders, in any nation, in any organization can become corrupted by that power, and can become egotistical by that power.

In a democratic nation the president is not a king with absolute power. When he has to make a decision, he has to consult the Congress. In the same way, we have to make sure that decisions are not made for the benefit of individuals, but that they are made for the benefit of the whole, for the nation, for each country, for the whole Unification Family.

It is the same for our church. I really believe that this process is so important, that we are able to put the checks in place, so that one day I can step out, our team can step out, and another team can step in, and still the system can continue to work, the church can continue to grow, the legacy of True Parents can continue to bring glory to the center, which is True Parents.

Brothers and sisters, this is so important in our role. Father has asked us to look at the church and envision and create a church that really can protect the legacy of True Parents; that means to always keep True Parents at the center, that means for us as leaders to not start believing that we are True Parents, that we are the new messianic leaders, but to always know our proper positions -- as we saw with the four main points of the fall -- to know our proper position, and to always return glory back to God and True Parents.

I've heard people say, "Okay, so you can continue to do ministry, and maybe you'll be like the Dalai Lama, but then Kook Jin Hyung behind the scenes will control everything." And I've heard some people say that. But then I say, "Hey, let me tell you why that is not true." I have seen what kind of organization he has made. When I look at the Tongil Group, it's transparent, the results are shown, performance is shown: There is a whole decision making chain; any one of the managers can step in and block a decision, if it is not in the interest of the entire Tongil Group. And then Kook Jin Hyung can't even approve it. So his role is only to approve the decisions. But he deliberately made the system like that so that he cannot control everything with absolute power, that he has to listen to wise advice. He has to listen to his managers, he has to listen to people around him, he has to hear what is best for the organization.

Of course, he is a genius, he has organizational and management talent, so that when I see his organization that he made, I can see it is transparent, and I can see it is result-oriented. I can see there is a decision making chain that prevents self-interest; it creates a mentality that we will only make decisions that are beneficial for the group. And when you see those mature decision making processes, when you see those organizational structures, then you can say, "I can trust that, and I can see how that will benefit the church."

Think about that day in the church, when all the finances, all the donations that members make, will be shown, where we are using them, where they are going. That's transparency. People can then trust where they are tithing to. It's so important, not only on that level, but on all other organizational levels. Even ministers should be accountable before their membership.

Even myself, if I become egotistical, if I become tyrannical, the True Family has the right to chase me out.

That's how we are working, we are working as a council. We are working so that not a single person can become tyrannical. No single person can control what True Parents have controlled. And it is great wisdom to understand our proper position and to understand what we can and cannot do. It is a very important wisdom. And so for us, as we move forward organizationally, as we move forward spiritually, it is so important that we always acknowledge, respect, and adhere to the real position that we are in, and that is: We are not new True Parents, I am not new True Parents. True Parents are always one, God is always one. And I am only here to serve them.

And if we can do that, I do believe that we will have, step by step, a more sufficient church, we will have a Korean church that can stand on its own. We are working towards that goal; that becoming a church doesn't have to depend on the Japanese church; that we can start relieving the burden of Japanese members. We are continuing to move in that process.

But of course, brothers and sisters, it's a HUGE church, and things take time. And we are working day in and day out to make it happen. It's not going to happen overnight, but I do know, that in our lifetime we will have what we are talking about, we will have a church that is equitable, that is fair, that is transparent, that truly promotes those who serve the members, who serve the public. Those people will be elevated to positions of authority. And those natural processes will become more and more clear as the organization takes shape.

In the end all the glory is to God and True Parents. Whatever success in life we may have, whatever promotion God may give us, whatever challenge He may give us, let's always remember to keep the right position. Don't reverse the dominion, keep the right dominion.

God is in control, God is directing our path. He is the king, He is enthroned, True Parents are enthroned. And if we keep that in our hearts, if we keep True Parents enthroned in our hearts of glory, as we attain success after success, we will find more victory, we will find more illumination, and we will find more peace, everyday, more and more, all the days of our life.

Brothers and sisters, if you can accept this message, can you give a big applause to God and True Parents? Thank you so much.

We always like to end by bringing everyone back into the family of True Parents, all of those brothers and sisters who are joining us via the Internet. Let all turn our attention to them, and give them a nice wave, everybody. We always want to include you brothers and sisters, and we want to invite you back into our home. Let's pray together with our brothers and sisters across the seas; say a brief prayer together:

Father, we thank You for this day that You have blessed us with. Father, we know that You are in our presence, that You are in our midst. You are directing our lives, Father; You are in control. Father, for 6,000 years You have been taken off Your position of glory, Father. But through True Parents' victory, Father, You are now back on the throne of God. You are now almighty; Father, up on the throne again. Father, we know that You may bless us, that You may give us success, Father; and You may give us victory, so that we may become greater blessings to this world. Please allow us to always repent for our wrong doings, Father, and if we have any wrong doings, Father, in this place today, we repent to You. Father, please come into our hearts, please be enthroned in our hearts, in glory. And we know that You will make us the palace of Your love; the palace of Your life, the palace of Your lineage, to bring great glory to Your name, and to all the stages of history.

Father, we thank You for this day, that You have blessed us with. We pray these things in our names, Aju.

Brothers and sisters, if we always keep True Parents enthroned in our hearts in glory, if we keep the right position in our hearts, I do believe, I truly do believe that you will have more victory, more illumination, more peace, than you can ever possibly imagine.

Brothers and sisters, let's enter into our final meditation.

Let us now visualize ourselves, not in this sanctuary, but in a beautiful meadow that we are walking upon. And let us feel the softness of the grass that we are walking on top of. We can hear the bird's song, and we can feel the cool wind -- a summer wind.

Let's take a couple of slow steps, as we walk, slowly, slowly walking. Feel the heel and the toes pressing into the earth. Let us now look to our left, and see a beautiful stream, and we can see beautiful birds playing in the stream. We can see the sun rays passing through the transparent water. And as we move forward, let us look forward and see the beautiful forest; pine trees, cypress, cedar wood. We can smell the fragrance of that natural forest, feel the energy of nature around us.

I invite you to look up and see the beautiful blue sky. You can see soft clouds floating along, and as we look forward, we can see our True Parents waiting for us. Let us walk towards True Parents. As we arrive before True Parents, let us be seated.

And True Father, with his right hand, places his hand on top of our head. True Mother, with her left hand, places her hand on top of our head. They are anointing us; they are blessing us this day. Feel the power of the blessing move through you, like a wave of energy, from the top of your head, all the way down to your feet. Feel your entire physical body coming back into health. Any sick cells are healed, and cells that have impurities are completely made clean. Feel that wave of energy move through you.

Notice that your spirit self is also illuminating, shining bright, in all the directions. As you receive this blessing, in our hearts, as we breathe in, let's say "I am alive," and as you breathe out, "Thank You." As we inhale, "I am alive," as we exhale, "Thank You." One last time, as we inhale, "Father, I am alive," and as we exhale, "Thank You."

May you always be blessed, may you always be well, and may you always be safe. May you always be freed from suffering, from pain; may you be kind to yourself and others with ease. And may you always have peace in the heart of True Parents.

Please join me for prayer: Father we thank You for this day that You have blessed upon us. Heavenly Lord, we know that You are now back on the throne of glory, Father. For 6,000 You have been waiting, and You have had to walk the path of suffering. You have had to walk the providential path of tears, but Father, with the advent of our True Parents, through their substantiation, Father, of the victory here on earth, Father, we know that now, glory has been returned to Heaven. And Father, we know that now You can stand as King. Father, now the dominion is in Your place. And Father, we now know, in our hearts we will always keep You enthroned in our lives. Father, as a reminder that You are always with us in our hearts everyday. So thank You, Father, with all our hearts, in all our names, Aju.