Sun Myung Moon
April 4, 1988
Evening Talk
East Garden
Translator: Sang Kil Han
The day before Father left America for Korea, Father met with third-year UTS graduates and other leaders at East Garden. He began speaking at 8:30 pm on April 4 and spoke until 2:30 am. He asked that everyone remain at East Garden and pray in repentance, and then he began speaking again in the morning and continued his talk right up to the point where he had to leave for the airport.
Who among educated Americans would have imagined that an Oriental could come to America, teach all of you young men and women, and make you into what you are today? After 15 years here, there is nothing I have not taught you. You know everything I know. There are 518 UTS graduates. If you had all completely dedicated yourselves to unite together, so much work could have been done by now.
I always warned you that America was declining and going to perish. Now do you see that? Why is all this happening -- the immorality, the drugs, the selfishness? It is because people do not know the value of a human life. When I spoke out and said, "I will be the one to save the entire population of the world," who believed me? No one understood me in this country. Even you reborn, recreated Americans don't understand your own value. You are concerned only with your spouse and children and have reduced your lives down to nothing. If I had concerned myself just with loving my wife, do you think I could do what I am I doing now? I went beyond that, so why can't you? There are people outside our church who respect me more than you do, who understand more fully what I can do for this country.
An Agonizing Decision
Every single year, out of so many candidates, I selected each of you to attend UTS. After you went through three years of study, I expected you to have a certain standard. But the way you are today is certainly not the standard I hoped to see in you. I had to make an agonizing decision -- whether to send you to school or to send you out to the streets. It was a great sacrifice to let you spend three precious years in school at such a critical time, when the persecution of our church was so great. In those three years you could have gone out and preached and witnessed to many people, and the deterioration of America would have been halted to a much greater degree. In a sense, tens of thousands of people were simply sacrificed because you were not available to witness to them. So now, after three years of education, have you resolved to do everything possible to pay back what was given to you and sacrifice yourselves for the sake of this country? Or are you thinking, "Now that I have had three more years of education, I can get a better salary"? Is the outcome of these precious three years that you are doing just a few meager things? Appeal to your own conscience. This a very serious point to think about.
Why do you think I sacrificed the most qualified members and sent them to Barrytown in 1975, just before we had to do the critical Yankee Stadium and Washington Monument campaigns? Mainly because I knew you needed to be trained to be able to educate American young people. America needs to be saved by Americans. I wanted you to hold on to the true standard and be the locomotives in all 50 states. If you had fulfilled that, America would have kept its advantage; America would not be where it is today.
Have you ever become so desperate that you ran out to the street with tears to save America? Look at yourselves -- you handful of Unification Church members. Can you save America when it seems even the American government cannot? Which country do you think should be saved first -- America or China? Which country do you think will perish faster? Isn't it America? So how can we justify trying to save America? You must realize that I put all my golden years into this country. I have been pragmatically and realistically fighting a war, not daydreaming. But should I continue to wrestle with an unwilling America to no end?
Brothers and sisters praying in repentance.
Why Do You Think I Was So Serious?
Do you think I will always stay here in America? You must have known that I would devise a plan to cope with America's problems when I could not be here. That's why I created Barrytown. After I opened the school, for three years I went there almost every day to pray and speak. But now I never go to Barrytown, because long ago I saw that even after three years of education, class after class, not a soul came up to my expectations or standard.
All these years, did you regard the Japanese leaders as highly as your own American leaders? You wanted to do everything all by yourselves, didn't you? Didn't you wonder, "Why do we need these people who don't make any sense?" Yet don't you think they had to go through great difficulties just living together with you? If all the Korean and Japanese leaders and members were to leave America, what would you do?
When I came to America, did I just take it easy or did I pour my whole being and everything I had into this country? Was I as small-minded as you, or did I come having in mind the restoration of the whole country, the whole of heaven and earth? Why do you think I was so serious about nurturing you to become public people? When I see each of you behaving like a private person, even below the standard of a private person, can you imagine how I feel? Don't you think I've had an urge to kick everybody out, to chase everybody away?
I tried to forgive and forget every day. Every time I crossed over one hill, another hill was waiting. Whenever you experienced difficulty you came to me and complained, "This is so difficult!" But has any one of you stopped to think what my difficulty was? I had to deal with all the problems in America, but I never received any sympathy from you. In a public situation, I never scolded anyone to this extent or complained about you, but now for the first time I am publicly complaining about the situation of the American members.
Achieving the Elder Sonship
Do you think that if I spent another 15 years here I could achieve something through you in America? There is a Cain/Abel relationship between the West and the Orient. Korea is my own country. I left that Abel country and chose to come to this country and suffer, pouring everything I had into America. I sacrificed Abel to serve Cain in order to restore the elder sonship. I achieved this through Danbury.
When the elder sonship is achieved, where does the son go? Back to the Garden of Eden, back to the homeland. That is the Principle viewpoint. That is why I went back to Korea and prepared an association to make a foundation for the unity of North and South Korea. Now, shouldn't the country in the archangel's position go to Abel's country and help restore it?
I fought that fierce battle all by myself in America to achieve the elder sonship. But I didn't just leave America after doing so; I had to bring everything together meticulously and set the right course. I sent videos to 300,000 ministers and invited 7,000 ministers to Korea. I educated people in all different fields and connected them to each other.
The Washington Post fears that Rev. Moon is getting stronger, but it is not Rev. Moon who is getting stronger -- America is getting stronger. Can't you see that? But America's religious communities have to become even stronger, and the Unification Church members have to become stronger. But are the American members so strong? This is a very serious question. America's future is at stake.
Who has the spirit to save this country? Do you? How can you expect me to believe that? There isn't proof enough. You've got to present some proof that you can save America. You must have some grounds to be able to say to me, "Yes, Father, we can save America." How do you propose to do it? You say you will follow my pattern, but do you really understand my pattern? Only in words, maybe, but words cannot attain my pattern. This pattern is like a mathematical formula. It is of heaven, but heaven is not your level.
You educated people, you should be the decision makers. Should I continue to put so much money, time, and energy into America? If you were to be given a choice to either stay here in this dying country or go and get fresh hope in China and through your effort there save the world, which would you choose?
Should I Implant Your Tradition?
If God leaves a spot, I am the kind of person who will just follow God without regret. I won't even look back. This is not an idle time. This is a serious situation. Should we save America or save the world? Which is about to perish now? America, yes, but the world is perishing too, and America is very much responsible for that. America has long ago given up on the world; Americans are only living and working for themselves. Shouldn't I just forsake America and move quickly toward the world level?
How about you? What are you going to do? What would happen if I brought you with me to Asia? Can I implant your tradition in Asia and hope that Asia will benefit? Do you have the confidence that you can speak to the people and influence the Orient in a better way? I know you. If something bothers you, you always complain; you cannot retain it within yourself. But in Oriental culture, if something is bothering a person, he keeps it to himself. You will not be able to persuade anybody merely by what you say, but by your deeds. Do you have confidence that the people of the Orient can learn something from you? Why should the Koreans follow you? Compare yourselves with the Korean culture. Which people listen to God more, accept God more, respect God more?
I am not saying these things to please anyone. This is my frank opinion. The way I am going and the way American members think they can go are two different directions. If we are bound to separate, we might as well separate now. The ones who complain the most, I feel, are the Americans. Complaint goes directly against any religious way of thinking.
I am fighting with my life at stake. This is serious. Because you didn't fulfill your portion of responsibility, Heung Jin died, and I had to go to Danbury. I knew that if we didn't fulfill our responsibility, this would happen. During all these years do you think I have been able to sleep peacefully at night? I have worked as if I were waiting for the day of my execution.
Whenever I suggested that you do something, you criticized me and blamed me, saying, "Father, what more can I possibly do? To do more than I am doing now is not my way. It's the Oriental way, perhaps, or your way, but not my way." I was never treated in such a manner by my own family. But when I heard that, I didn't counter it; I still had so many things to accomplish here. I came here to save you, to do everything for you, yet I was treated in this country as if I were lower than the lowest person. So I chose to swallow any harsh words and just waited and persevered. But now I am opening my mouth and telling you these things straight. I have heaven's dignity to keep.
I Have Been Taking the Blame
I regret that the Japanese members here have had to work so hard. How much persecution they received, and how much they suffered! Many even lost their lives in this country. You owe them so much. You should be so ashamed that you can't lift up your faces. I have been taking the blame for you; that's the only way you have been able to go forward. If I hadn't done that, you wouldn't be able to do anything, you would feel so ashamed. Do you understand?
From 1984 and even before that, I instructed all members to fulfill 1-1-1, but did anybody do that? Without undoing the situation faced by Jesus, you are going into blessed marriage. Do you think that Blessing can hold? Restoration through indemnity -- are these just empty words?
You should all work nine times harder than I worked here for these 15 years; then America might have some hope. Until the end of 1988 I will continue to take responsibility for America, but I am going to say good-bye for now. While I am out of this country, you American members must work super hard, especially Barrytown graduates. Take initiative. Each one of you must redetermine yourselves at this moment.
If you pledge to me that you will take responsibility from now, then I will pay attention to you during the rest of 1988, but if you yourselves have no hope or confidence, there is no need for me to even continue to make any more effort here the rest of this year. You had better hurry up and fulfill your responsibility now or nobody else will.
I am still pioneering my own path; so you must also. You should each understand what you must do. When I go to Korea, I have to find and bring forth the good people in Korea; then Korea will become stabilized.
The Final Liberation
The East is where we must go. Even Newsweek magazine just announced that the Pacific Era is coming. God is trying to raise up Korea now, because of His dispensation in that country, while America is trying to undermine that by the influence of the secular humanists, who are being manipulated by the communists. Korea is America's last and strongest ally. Korea has always supported America no matter what. Americans should help the noble effort to bring South and North Korea together and do away with communism. If they do not help, how can they avoid suffering?
The North Koreans have a great need; the people are starving. One day you may be in charge of distributing food to the needy people of North Korea. America has a lot of surplus that is just dumped into the ocean. You need to organize a way to distribute it. America is going in the wrong direction and doing the wrong things; so the only way to offset that is if we do the right things now. Then heaven cannot write off America; Satan cannot accuse America.
There are nearly 10 million people living in North Korea. They have all heard of Rev. Moon and, living under such a repressive dictatorship, they would dearly welcome me there. The people living in the Soviet Union would love to have me come there too. But the people of the free world don't care about me.
Why? They live too well. Think about it -- who would God want to help the most -- America or the communist world?
When the people under Kim II Sung's regime, the last foothold of the satanic world, are saved, at that point Satan must let go. Satan will be liberated. That's the end of all liberation, do you understand? That day is coming to us.
Your Second Front Line
From now, you must take action. Now is the time to restore the right of the true elder brother. To do this you must go to your hometown. Make yourself a friend of the second generation. Witness to all of your relatives in your hometown, especially your own parents. Korea will be the first front line, and your hometown will be the second.
First, make the churches in your hometown more beautiful places. Next, improve the schools. Third, go to the homes of your relatives and educate everyone. Revive your family, revive your tribe -- that's the way to revive America. At the same time reach out to the families of other ministers; in this way you can unite your Abel and Cain home church. Combined into one, this will establish the parents' foundation. That is the Principle.
In your native place, plant a tree there as a tree of life. Heaven will cherish that tree for thousands of years. If you have fostered that tree well, I might come and visit you. When I come, you could throw the biggest feast that town has ever experienced. Imagine how precious it would be if I visited your town and your tree! I know the members in Brazil are trying very hard and praying so that I can come and visit them and live with them. Do you really know that I am that kind of Father, that I have that kind of value?
How difficult it was for the early Korean members to persevere for 40 years and keep on believing! During that time the Korean members worked hard, getting only three hours of sleep and eating only one meal a day. You here in America cannot imagine their suffering, no matter how clearly I try to explain it to you. You are lazy and eat too much, and yet it is they who are praying for you all the time.
How often I prayed at night for you! I educated you so you could save the people! But you never understood God's miserable situation. Whenever I hear about a member getting killed in an accident, I can never get it out of my mind. Many people think, "Oh, that Rev. Moon -- he must be a happy guy. He's got money, power, everything. He's got a pretty easy life." But that is Satan's lie. Is my way easy? Can you understand what kind of a life I lead, trying desperately to liberate you? Do you really know me? Do you really know how hard it is to cleanse the historical sin of mankind? You don't know how hard my way has been. You only know your own small way.
A Heart of Desperate Longing
When I leave for Korea will you miss me? Actually, you should miss me as much as if nothing else remained on the earth. Unless you can feel that degree of longing, you will never understand how difficult it was for me to search for God when there was only barrenness and loneliness all around. I looked for God's heart desperately in an empty world, and I finally managed to find Him. You can tell how far from the true standard your spirit is if you don't miss me that much. So do you feel fortunate to have met me? How much would you pay to have me stay here with you? Even if all the American members got together and begged me to come back, unless it was the proper occasion, do you think I would just come? If you think I am just an ordinary person, you are wrong.
Did all of you come here on time today? If you really wanted to see me, you would be ready to come here 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, in case you were called. If you had that attitude, you would never have arrived late.
American people do not really know how to serve others. They don't know how to live for the sake of their elders, sacrificing for them, doing everything to make them comfortable, trying to understand their heart. We call this attitude moshinda. That means to cherish your parents and serve them in a vertical way, not a horizontal way. You have no word or concept for that in English. That is why you must learn Korean, or else you will never truly understand the deep meaning of what I am saying. Now your spiritual eyes are very much closed and you cannot see things very well. Only the power of love towards heaven can lift the blanket of satanic love off your eyes. Unless we experience God's heart, love cannot take bud in our mind.
Naturally women, because of their nature, can reach this level of heart much faster than a man. The reason why is that through Eve's fall, Eve lost God's love and her husband's love and her elder brother's love -- three loves. Through me, a woman can restore everything she lost. She can feel that I am her father, her elder brother, her husband. A woman may be very close to her own father, she may have an exceptionally good brother, and she may love her husband very much, but when I appear, her original mind is immediately drawn in that direction. This is the Principle, not my idea. But you can't have that experience of love if you're hiding anything. No matter how much you may research about true love, no one will ever find out what it really is or how it happens except through the way I am explaining it.
I have tried very hard to take all these ugly brothers and make them into worthy husbands. The best way is to allow them to go through suffering. If your hearts don't come close to each other through suffering, then there is no way you can feel close to me. If you reject the suffering way, more and more distance will come between me and you. So you must be glad for the opportunity to suffer. When I scold you, be happy, for at that moment I am paying indemnity for you, taking that amount of burden from you.
Preparing for Eternity
We are a group of people preparing for eternity. Without joining in true love with each other, we cannot exist. We must all join in true love, and True Parents must be the center of that love. You should feel, "These are my brothers and sisters, and what I am doing is a labor of love. We will all be together for thousands of years. I will go this way for eternity; there is no other way for me." If you don't feel this way, train yourself right away to feel it. That's true love. And if you hate someone, you'd better quickly come to like him, because there can be no enemies in heaven. This is not a theory; we have to do this.
What Satan has been saying to God is, "You and Adam must love me before heaven can be opened -- that is the Principle. For even though I fell and became what I am, Your original plan was to love me, and that cannot be changed."
Jesus had to do what Adam did not do -- love Satan; that's why he forgave the Roman soldiers. The only way to get into heaven is to love the archangel.
Until this age, the gates of heaven were shut. To open them I had to complete my portion of responsibility to love Satan (Cain) on an individual, family, tribal, national, and world level by making indemnity conditions. In establishing the foundation of faith on the world level, the central figure was myself, the offering was the Unification Church members, and the time period was 40 years. During this period the members suffered greatly, offering themselves for the sake of the world, and many even lost their lives. So as an offering, can you open your mouths and complain?
To get to heaven, you can't go alone. You have to go as a blessed couple, and you have to be able to know how to love. I precisely researched the righteous, narrow way to get into heaven. One mistake along the way and Satan is waiting to cut your neck. I knew that if I myself made one mistake, all the membership would crumble. That's now serious I have been.
This was a serious talk tonight, with lots of practical guidance. From now you must take the responsibility into your own hands. You have to suffer for the sake of this country much more seriously now than ever. You should work so much that you never take off your shoes and sleep only because you can't survive otherwise. From early morning, go out and reach the people. Yearn for people and really miss them in your heart.