Reverend Sun Myung Moon,
June 13, 1980
Belvedere
Translator - Bo Hi Pak
As you all know, today we are celebrating Day of All Things. We are not the only ones celebrating, however; all of nature is celebrating together with us. People who live in the world today do not really know where they are coming from or where they are going. Most people think their life here on earth is all they can have. Mankind as a whole does not truly know who their Master is. Although some may recognize their Master, they do not know His true value. Furthermore, they not only do not know about God, but do not know the cause, or the course and schedule of history either.
Certainly when people are this ignorant, they have no way to know the value of all things created by God. Fundamental questions remain unanswered, such as why God created the sun and moon and all things, and what their true value is. The only group of people in history and in the world today who can definitely answer these questions is the Unification Church.
How does the Unification Church look at God? First of all, we absolutely know God exists. We are bringing a revolution to man's understanding of God. We have moved to another level, where we not only know God exists, but where we attend and serve that living God. Furthermore, our relationship with God is clear. Our relationship with God is inseparable because we are subject and object related by love.
What kind of love is that? That love is so deep and great that human reason cannot comprehend it. Some things cannot be described with words, such as the beauty of spring. In the same way, there is a realm of love that is beyond the realm of language. Once we attain such love, however, how happy would we be? English has many colorful words of exclamation, but even they do not suffice to describe the love of God.
The arts, such as dance and music, express love, but even these cannot express the full depth of that love. Then how can we express that love? What would be an adequate expression? To express total love, you have to use everything you have, mouth open, arms stretched, wide, with every possible bodily expression, and still it would not be enough.
We know that the sun is the source of energy for life on earth. When the sun rises and sends its rays to the earth, everything turns toward that source of life. Even the birds' singing becomes more joyous when the sun shines on them. No one can deny that the sun is subject and life on earth is object, in a position to communicate and return glory to the subject. This is why the birds sing differently when the sun comes up.
Normally people don't like the barking of dogs. But even that sound becomes delightful when a beautiful morning dawns. All the things of creation have their original pure nature, and all of them except man give their glory to the subject of creation. Man is the only creation which does not know where it belongs and what it is supposed to do. It is truly pitiful. Man has boasted throughout history that he is the supreme creation of God. But no matter how beautifully the things of creation express themselves, if there is no central point or subject to unite them, they are lost.
All the value of glorifying God starts when the central creation of God's world fulfills its position; i.e. when men are truly living as men, taking the initiative to praise God and His creation. Among mankind, should men or women take the initiative in praising God? Perhaps women should take the initiative, if praise starts from the insects, then from the birds and larger animals, then as we move on up that ladder, women come before men. Also, women were created to be beautiful like flowers, while men are more flat and plain. When I stand on the platform here, my attention is drawn to the area of color, which is where the women are sitting. Men and women should think that no matter how beautifully the flowers grow or the birds sing, in praising the glory of God men and women always have the central position. Do you have that pride?
In that role, women are to be ahead of the men in relationship to me. When you are dancing and singing in genuine purity, devoted to the glory of God, then no longer will the sun or singing birds be the center; you will be the center. How can you ensure that your singing and dancing will be supreme in God's eyes? No matter how well you sing or dance, unless you do it with love as the central theme your praise cannot be beautiful to God.
What do you think God's hobby is? God is the almighty creator, who can create whatever He wants. But the creation of the world was not God's central effort; it was created merely as an ornament to the central theme: the love of God, or the representative of the love of God, man. If the representative of God's love does not have love, then all creation has lost its central point and grieves in its heart at not having its true master. Man is the central point of creation's hatred as a result.
Suppose a married woman has many ornaments; they only have value when the woman has a subject, her husband, who loves her. If her husband divorces her, all those ornaments become mere reminders of that tragedy, and she would throw those ornaments away from her. In the Unification Church, therefore, our central theme is to grab the love of God, dominate it and become the personification of that love. When such a person becomes the master of all things, would God follow that person? God is chasing love, and if man possesses it, then God has to follow. Would the things of creation also follow?
God is in a position as locomotive, man as passenger cars, and creation as freight cars, all in one train. If this train is traveling all around the universe, is there anyone who wouldn't pay attention? Everyone would want to get on board. Even a sleepy person would want to be waked up when the train comes by. If that person is half awake when the train comes by, would he move toward it or away from it? If he only hears the sound of the train, would he complain that the sound disturbed his sleep? Would he welcome the sound of the whistle that wakes everyone up?
Under normal circumstances people would sue the train line that made all that noise, but when the heavenly train comes, people would want it to make even more noise. Even if you block your ears, your body would still hear that sound.
That train is the power of the love of God, where can you find the love of God among men? Because you are members, you say the love of God dwells in the Unification Church. Other people would say that love would never dwell in such a humble place as Belvedere, but would prefer the White House or the Hilton instead.
When you talk about love, the word "true" is very important. Where could true love dwell? It would have to be in parents. Parents cannot deceive or lie to their children; parents are the place where true love can start. We in the Unification Church are fond of using the word "true". We say True Parents, true brothers and sisters, true family. When people walk on two legs, do we walk on four legs? Is that truth? When we say that the everyday world is false, we mean that we should live in the opposite way. For example, the world is pursuing material things, not love. It is as though these people are trying to climb on the last car of the train, which is used for dumping human waste. But we insist on going to the head of the train. We are greedy people! We don't even want to be in a passenger car, but on the locomotive!
That is not a comfortable place to sit, and you smell the smoke and fuel there. There are no comfortable seats either; you have to shovel coal into the burner. Also, that is the one place on the train where there is a lot of noise. But the locomotive is pushing through all barriers to conquer the world. When you reach the final terminal, which part of the train enters first? The engine. Who will be the chairman of the welcome committee? God Himself.
The Korean word that sounds like God means black hat. A hat is always on top, so this is very meaningful. But most people have no desire to sit on the locomotive; they are trying to make themselves comfortable on the last car. God will be welcoming the engineer and fireman of the train, who are all smelly with sweat and coal dust, but God will say He loves their perfume. God will say that those passengers from the other end of the train smell like the devil and will not want to welcome them! God will welcome the people from the passenger cars as His children. This is very descriptive of life and human endeavor on earth.
There is a reason I have been pushing you to climb on the locomotive and become an engineer there, doing what look like the dirty jobs. There is no moment of idle time, or time to get bored. Do you like it? I like it because God likes it. We like it because that is where the true love of God is. The Unification Church motto is not just to "enter into heaven"; everyone thinks about that. We want to build the Kingdom of Heaven and live in that palace with God morning and night, receiving His love. Ordinary people cannot enter that palace; only those who can persevere and stand up for righteousness can dwell there. That goal cannot be reached by ordinary means.
If there is a couple who can show the world the true love of God, would nature be envious and love that man and woman? Amen! Amen! Amen means true man, victorious man. Children like Amen, God likes Amen, all things like Amen, but Moonies don't like Amen? So would you like to be Moonies? Why is the moon needed? For the sun. Your goal is to be Sunnies. Do you have pride as Moonies?
Apollo 11, manned by Armstrong, landed on the moon. We are heavenly astronauts, but our name is not Armstrong, or Legstrong, or Bodystrong, but Heartstrong. Armstrong landed on the moon, but we use the moon as a launching pad and go to the sun. You are called Moonies because you are one with me.
Why do I give you this kind of talk today? God has not obtained true love; man has not had that kind of love, and certainly nature has not tasted such love. You must fully realize today that ever since the beginning of creation that love connection has never been enjoyed by God with man, or man with nature. This love has been missing in God's creation, all because man, the link between God and creation, fell. When man fell, all things of creation, which remained pure, became superior to man. The original order became reversed, and nature is thus man's ladder, the link between God and man. Nature has been sacrificing in order to make this bridge for man.
Man has been struggling toward the goal of love, to achieve his original state. Thus, history has been only a history of struggle. I want you to understand that all things of creation have been a sacrifice to serve as a bridge between God and man. Nature's goal after being a bridge is to find one man who can be a guide and champion for all mankind in the love of God. That is the capacity of the Messiah. He will come and lead all mankind across the bridge.
When the Messiah comes there is certainly an order and sequence concerning who crosses the bridge first, it will be those who love God most. This has been a world of greedy people trying to grab influence and power. When greedy people near the bridge and see heaven on the other side will they think they are not worthy to cross over, or will they try to shoulder the Messiah aside and cross first themselves? When the time comes to cross, everyone will gather at the bridge, godly people, greedy people, and the Messiah, all wanting to cross the bridge first.
You can imagine that incredible chaos will take place, and that is precisely what is happening today. There is no segment of history more chaotic than today's. Certainly God is aware of this confusion, but not everyone can cross at once. God must give direction about who can cross first. When Moses led the people out of Egypt into the wilderness, at one point serpents appeared which bit and killed people. God told Moses to make a bronze serpent and lift it high and said that anyone who looked upon it would be saved.
In the same way, God will have ready a method to ensure that His people alone cross the bridge first. Suppose God shatters all the bridges, and only the Messiah knows how to make the jump across the gap, with a rope only he knows about. It might consist of a real serpent, with a tongue which burns. The greedy people will retreat when they see the serpent, while foolish looking people will seize the serpent and get across. I don't know whether Moonies are dumb or fearless, but they just cling to that serpent rope! But just as they are ready to cross their parents come, and by deprogramming them try to persuade them not to cross. I like deprogrammers because they give you the opportunity to become heroes. The fierce looking snake is actually the heavenly rope, but in order to grab it you have to be ready even to die if necessary.
If your faith enables you to hang on, the snake will wind around you and lift you up like a crane to the other side of the river. You will find an entirely new world on the other side of the river, with a glorious sun shining. When you arrive you have no time to look back because you are so busy running inside the gate of the palace. The person running out to greet you and embrace you is your father, and then you discover it is God who was waiting to welcome you. Then all you have to tell God is that you have fulfilled everything and finished it all. On the cross Jesus said, "It is finished," but that was premature. To finish truly you have to grab the entire love of God. Then you can say, "It is finished."
I am a propagandist for this great Kingdom of God. You are the recruiters who will recruit the entire world, and I am training you. Even when it is painful and tears are running down your cheeks you still march on. Even when you face incredible hardship, you go forward. That is the spirit I am training you in. This training is like an obstacle course. It doesn't matter how you proceed, even if you take all your clothes off, as long as you cross over the obstacles to reach the love of God. Then when God truly embraces you at the end you will say "A-a-a-amen!"
When you reach the palace with the love of God, that is still not the end. You see many people back on the other side of the river, who live in chaos and confusion, so you start designing a special bridge for them to cross over. That special bridge is home church.
Today, the Day of All Things, what do all things want? They are looking for their true master. Throughout all history the things of creation have been harassed by evil masters. Nature has been attacked and exploited by greedy men who brought them lower and lower to a ditch of misery. All things of creation have been grieving and crying out to God to send a man who can be their true master. In responding to that call, the rope God has been trying to throw to all creation is religion. You must know that creation wants to go step by step to God, not in just one leap. First they want to be governed by a servant of servants, meaning a servant of God's servant. Their next desire is to be possessed by God's true servant. This is the process to become the true master of creation.
Today my message focuses on the point that all things of creation are searching for their true master. There is no comparison between the suffering of black people at the hands of white people and the suffering of creation at the hands of the men who should have been the servant of God. Though people have governed in the name of God, they have not been the true masters, but just the temporary owners, and they have treated creation harshly.
Are you the servant of God, the adopted son of God, the true son of God, or the embodiment of God's temple itself? What is your criteria? Everyone begins the journey as the servant of servants, the Pfc. of the Unification Church. You have been mistreated and misrepresented, yet even when your leaders treated you harshly you were grateful to God. Then you could graduate from that level.
I know there is much talking in the Church about how people love me and would die for me, but they hate their leaders, or the Koreans, the Japanese, the Europeans, whoever. The Unification Church is the place where the principle of indemnity is applied, where we are paying the debts of the past by receiving beatings and suffering. Finally we will build the eternal monument. No one is an exception; I myself have gone this route from the very bottom. I started as a servant of servants, then servant, then adopted son. You only have to worry about yourselves, but I have to worry about all creation, all history and all spirit world, every debt under the sun.
I have had the burden of all that, but I kept going. When I look back on all this then I realize suddenly that I am now sixty years old. I studied in the University where God taught the courses, beginning at the very bottom. Finally I passed all the courses and wrote a dissertation, exploring the whole heart of God. My dissertation for a heavenly Ph.D. was on the topic of true heavenly love, and when it was done I was the only one who knew the heart of God.
Anyone who wants to write a Ph.D. dissertation on God's love will have to come to me for final approval, for I am the authority on the subject. The Unification Church is the only church in all history which has a museum where the whole story of God's love is being told. Being the only one in history, this is so precious that God cannot afford to lose it. Thus, any power that would harm it will be challenged by God. That principle is working now in America; there are many forces trying to destroy me, but I am unafraid, for God will never lose. God cannot allow this museum of love to be harmed.
Whenever I make just a little move there are cameras clicking. People pay much attention to me because knowingly or unknowingly they are pulled by the love of God. No one can be apathetic toward the love of God.
We have a covenant with all things of creation: when we are elevated, they are elevated also. When you are servants of servants and then are elevated to become adopted sons, nature is elevated also. When you become true sons and daughters then nature is elevated. When you become true parents then all nature will be governed by true parents, and ultimately nature will be linked directly to God. That is our covenant with all things.
When we gather in the name of the love of God, everything will be attracted to us, including even the insects. Even the Tarrytown dogs want to come do their business at Belvedere. People might think this is because satanic people live at Belvedere, but actually it is because the power of God is working here. Those dogs might think that their present masters are keeping them as slaves, and think that when those people die they want to go to Belvedere. We have a kennel here already, so we will accommodate them!
All things of creation have been waiting for their liberator, and for the first time we are proclaiming to the universe that we will liberate it from the bondage of greedy people and lead it to be linked to the heart of God. The original ideal of God's creation is to make this universe God's dwelling place, and certainly the dwelling place of God's children, a God-centered society, nation and world.
God picked America to be His champion and gave it great opportunity. Particularly after World War II America was in a position to influence the entire world, but instead of safeguarding what it was given for the sake of God, America has dispersed it. God wanted America to extend its influence even over Soviet Russia, which would have had to listen if America had been committed absolutely to the cause of God. But instead America has given everything away to the ungodly side. How much the free world has become weakened since the end of World War II.
All of heaven and earth curse America for failing to live up to its God-given calling and for wasting its God-given benefits. Because America failed its calling, punishment must be given. This is why there are so many problems plaguing America in its homes and economy. America is losing its economic opportunity and its young people. The Catholic Church in particular has assembled great buildings all over the world, but now Reverend Moon is buying them. Christians all over the world must repent for squandering the power and property God allowed them to gather for His purpose.
Now America is declining economically and socially. So much of America's fortune has been squandered that in four more years of this there may be nothing left to give. That is why God sent me as an emergency task force to America, to "ether the young people together as a bulwark against the coming avalanche. What is good about having a Ph.D. from Harvard if you are about to be demolished? In God's eyes America is a smelly cripple, yet this nation still thinks it is the supreme citizen of the world.
Therefore, when God denies America, the rest of the world will turn away and I will also deny this country. As a result America has hated me, holding a personal grudge and calling me a threat to America. Americans have tried everything to destroy or get rid of me, but when they evaluate my strength each year, they discover that we are increasing, and that our members are the only ones in the community with eyes bright with hope. They would have nothing to worry about if they could see this movement dwindling, but instead they see that they are full of aches and pains. Soon they won't care and will yield everything to us. If a healthy person visits them and asks what is wrong, they will say they feel so terrible that they have no strength to oppose the Moonies. Then they will ask what kind of medicine the other person is taking that keeps him so fit. And he will reply it is the Moon spirit, the DP pill, that helps him so much. Then the sick, tired person will want a DP pill himself.
The DP pill is different from most medicine in that it is sweet and easy to take; even if you don't eat for a week afterward you will feel wonderful. Once negative people see that the DP pill will cure them, they will come and then they will be in the right place to be greedy! When they discover it is Reverend Moon who is giving them new life you had better watch out because they will overtake you in their eagerness. Without doubt America will reach that stage.
I do not have an ordinary brain. You can see that I have a large head! I have a big brain and I know things that you don't know. Why do you fund raise? That is one required course for your Ph.D. Fund raising helps qualify you to be a master of all things. The people who don't like fund raising will ultimately lack the capability to be master of all things. You have to master the lowest level, first servant of servants, then servant, adopted son, true son, true parents, and then master God's heart.
All things of creation suffered under false masters, so their true master must really shed sweat and tears for them. So is fund raising good or bad? Those who like MFT, raise your hands. Those who have never been fund raising, raise your hands. There is one hand up; you should go fund raising; now you know the reason why.
What would the master do when he gets money? He would wrap it up and store it in a safe place. It is a Christian tradition to tithe one tenth for God. We give 100% instead, including whatever we have in our pocket, and bring it to God. Our safe is the godly kingdom. On the heavenly scale, whose safe is the largest, the Catholic or Protestant safe? On earth the Unification Church safe looks smallest, but in God's eyes it is larger than anything else.
I have the key to that safe. When I open that safe I never spend one penny on myself, but use it all for kingdom building. Not only do I give whatever is in the safe, I also give everything I have, every drop of blood and every drop of sweat. It has always been my standard and ambition to match the work of everyone else and then do more.
You must become the master and lord of all things, and then become the lord of all men. You might have started out at the very end of the train, but you move up car by car to the passenger cars. You will find that there is much noise and excitement in the passenger car, with all kinds of talk and commotion going on about Reverend Moon. You will find that most conversation centers on how to cut Reverend Moon off and destroy him, instead of focusing on constructive, positive things. Furthermore, you will discover that right behind the locomotive the seats are held by the arch enemies of the Moonies. They are a big barrier for you to penetrate if you are serious about reaching the locomotive.
Then you just make up your mind to be like a bomb, that even if you have to die you will penetrate that final obstacle. Then you will find that the barrier disappears. You give all your energy to break through the barrier, but if nothing is there then you simply turn around and board the locomotive. You may not think you can reach the locomotive that quickly, but your total, concentrated power will thrust you to the locomotive. Do you understand? Do you say "grave" or "great"?
It is a most dramatic and explosive thing that today we have a Day of All Things, a day never before celebrated in all history. We want to change all people into true lords of all creation, and that is the home church process. Each one of you will become a tribal messiah. That means you become a tribal parent. The very fact that we celebrate Day of All Things is evidence that we have the answer for all history. We celebrate it as a day of hope for all mankind, for God, and for all things of creation.
Today we must be absolutely clear in our hearts whether we have the qualification to be lords of all things. When you come to Belvedere and see the Hudson, the trees and mountains, you should be able to say that you came to love them as their lord. What a beautiful and dramatic life we live when we realize this, when we respond to the shining sun and singing birds with the love of God, when we respond to the wind and flowers and insects with the love of God.
If you live with the heart of lordship then even on a cloudy winter day you can command the clouds to get out of the way and stop blocking the sun. They will listen to you. When you hear a bird singing, you know that it has been longing for the love of God which it has never known; you can tell that bird to come closer to you and sing in order to receive the true love of God.
If even nature will respond that way, how much more will people respond? I have come all by myself with the true heart of God to give the blessing and love of God, inviting people of all races to come. Certainly the people will gather around me. Even though parents who have been hardened by life in the world may remain outside, their children will come. This is why the Unification Church has been known as a Church of young people. They see me as a powerhouse of the love of God and they want to reach out.
Many people criticize me for exploiting young people, but in actuality I have been exploited by you, who take much from me without asking and then leave. But I don't worry or ask you to leave a receipt, because no matter how big a portion you take, a love string connects you to the basket and no matter how far away you go, the string gets thicker and thicker. Then eventually you have to come back to the basket and become Moonies. This is the content I have, so it doesn't matter if the whole army and nation come against me. I will always be in the will of God.
Already two and a half hours have passed, and I'm sure people will ask how I can talk any longer in the bright sun. You are crazy because you still applaud; you have sampled a chunk of the love of God. For the sake of getting a chunk of the love of God you don't mind hardship. You want to eat a piece of love, sleep in a bed of love. Even the waste you pass smells of the love of God and ultimately you die as the embodiment of the love of God.
You women want a husband who occupies your heart and soul and mind so much that you would be willing to die for him. There is a Korean expression which roughly translates, "My happiness is so great that death is nothing compared to it," meaning death has no power to affect that happiness. When you feel that kind of happiness, what can you complain about? When you love someone that way, would you complain about his looks?
A good looking person makes a good looking facade, and has all his good qualities pasted up front. But an unattractive person has all his good qualities hidden inside. Would you put your most precious diamond in the show window, available to any thief, or would you put it in a secret place? Westerners look good, being fair complexioned and tall and thin. Western culture is a show-window culture but empty on the inside. Oriental people look small and dull, but they hide their treasure inside.
The most precious love is inside. God is invisible because otherwise He would be stolen. Moonies today look like the cousins of beggars because they dress humbly. I have lived my whole life like that. In Macy's, salesladies have told me I look like Reverend Moon but they know I couldn't be because Reverend Moon always dresses very well. They don't think I could be Reverend Moon because I dress so simply, in $9 shoes and corduroy pants. I am dressed up today only because this is a celebration.
Whenever I arrive at a McDonald's to eat, people never imagine I am the Reverend Moon who has shaken America. Is a diamond found in rugged granite boulders? No, it is found in plain, sandy ground. That's the way life is. A diamond exporter who wants to be safe doesn't need to hire guards and guns, but only needs to dress like a beggar and no one will bother him. If a thief sees a well dressed person asleep, he will assume the person's ring is a real diamond, but if he sees a smelly beggar asleep, he will never suspect that the basket next to him holds diamonds.
Moonies are the cousins of beggars; we dress humbly and look worn out, but we are the ones holding the basket of diamonds. I want you to go one step further and even be like real beggars and smell like fish. That's why I encourage you to work in our fishing industry. What's the problem as long as you have diamonds in your belt? You have not only diamonds but God's love in your belt. No man will come near you if you smell like fish, but God will follow you, telling everyone they can't touch you because you belong to Him. Do you like it?
How happy will the person be who lives his whole life declaring he is loving creation as a channel of God's love, giving every day of his life for creation and mankind? The consummation of history is here in that person, who for the first time in history fulfills the purpose of God's creation. Whoever can say that is Amen. Whoever is determined to be a channel of the love of God to mankind and all things, say Amen. God bless you.