Sun Myung Moon
June 13, 1983
Excerpts
Talk To European Leaders
Belvedere
True Parents congratulate Tyler Hendricks for being the first brother who successfully completed his Ph.D. On the same day, Father gave Tyler a new mission as the leader of Ocean Church. According to Father, there will be a new course for Ph.D. graduates. After completing their studies, they'll go through Ocean Church, CARP, become a state leader and finally a mobile team commander.
The task remaining is to integrate the organizing of the European churches with perfecting our tradition. In the instance of the Brazil Unification Church, Rev. Hyun Tae Kim received first award. He went from Korea to Brazil and set up the tradition consistent with the standard in the Korean Unification Church, which was learned directly from Father.
When Father gives a direction, it is received by Mr. Kim in no time and transmitted to every lower level of the church, to each of the thousands of individual members, and implemented within an hour. This is what Father calls "tradition," and this has been well established in Brazil, in addition to their witnessing and gaining thousands of members.
You do not know what a special time this is now, and since Father gives instructions according to the time, they should be implemented within a very short time, or else the opportunity passes. Using this example, what remains to be done in the European church is to take the Brazilian pattern and make the tradition clear in Europe as well.
Europe's significant role in influencing other countries lies in its position as the senior mission area. The earliest missionaries were sent from European churches, so the rest of the world is watching to see what you do. Especially at this time, they are keeping an attentive eye on you, and if you fail to do certain things in some circumstances, they will follow that pattern.
So what the European churches need to do is center upon one country, connect to the tradition and quickly connect all other countries.
Too many times European leaders have pondered Father's instructions, and then failed to act on them. American members have been watching, and have been affected undesirably and adversely, learning many bad habits. Father now has begun to renew the American church and transform those bad habits into the traditional practice of our church.
Why Is Tradition So Important?
Do you really understand why Father must place so much importance on "tradition"? In all the monumental works Father has done in the past, he needed all the spirit world to assist him. So long as we follow in the same traditional way, spirit world can reproduce the same power which helped Father 10 or 20 years ago. Spirit world has already established a tradition of cooperation with Father, and once a perfect standard such as this is set, it can be repeated successfully.
Those great works were done in the presence of God and Satan. Through cooperation of the spirit world with Father, the victory pattern was established by God, with Satan forced to recognize he had no place there.
Until you and your nations reach that standard of tradition, the spirit world cannot help you. Spirit world is waiting for us to reach the same intense level of heart and determination that Father reached. This is why tradition is so important.
The Christian churches provide a clear example of the importance of tradition. In the early church of Jesus, we find the Christian tradition of the Pentecostal experience. But why has it been repeated so infrequently since then? Without the intensity of people's yearning and heart, that level was not often reached, and Christianity consequently has drifted further and further away from that tradition. At one time Christians knew God was right beside them. Now they are even not so sure God exists. You leaders must understand these essential words for advancing your churches in Europe.
Father is the one who established this traditional beginning, so you must unite with Father in the same degree as early members in Korea united with him in working for the common purpose. Father sent President Young Whi Kim from Korea for this purpose so you could learn this from him.
Your prayer should become so intense that spirit world would just burst into cooperation with you, and you European leaders would gather together in desperation about the dispensation, crying for the people, literally becoming one. Truly we have one mission and one goal.
By not understanding the critical importance of tradition, maybe most of you just didn't know why President Kim should be in Europe, since he didn't know so much about the culture.
Whatever Father does he does for a reason, and you leaders should have figured out the reason. You should have gone to President Kim and directly asked him to teach you the early church tradition. Maybe you think that he's "Oriental" and your countries are Western, but East or West, our tradition and our lifestyle under God should be identical. We are the very same, Koreans or Western, do you understand? So quickly change your minds, and once you are convinced of this, then you will start developing.
Your present goal is to do the same as the 36 Blessed Couples. Take a look at yourselves, and you will see how far you are away from this heavenly standard. You and the 36 Blessed Couples are virtually at two different extremes.
Father's Way of Witnessing
In the early times, when witnessing was begun, Father didn't go out and witness as you do. Instead, spirit world told people to come to the center. Father himself worked and prayed very hard, thus gaining the help and support of God and spirit world. This became a tradition.
When people came to the center, then, he didn't take it easy but worked even harder and more seriously than the spirit world. He not only very much respected the new members, but also respected the incredible effort of God and spirit world who guided them to him. In other words, Father's attitude toward God, the spirit world and the members, plus his hard work and the united efforts of many members caused the spirit world to continue its support, which brought yet greater results and allowed yet greater goals to be attained. This way of witnessing is Father's tradition.
If he had been relying only on spirit world, taking for granted that they worked for him, their support would have stopped immediately. But Father worked even harder than the spirit world in order to maintain their assistance. If Unification Church leaders and members inherit this tradition, the church can develop naturally.
This is why tradition is important. No matter how hard you work, or how well-established you think your position is, it is meaningless without connecting to Father's tradition. Once you truly connect, you don't have to be there all the time supervising, telling members what to do. As long as the tradition is maintained in your country, providential church activities will be carried on automatically.
This is a historical statement that Father is making today. That is to say, as long as this tradition is kept, for thousands and thousands of years the spirit world can continue working in the same way, through the same miraculous foundation. But when a person departs from this tradition, even though he was strong at one time, he will gradually perish. Satan may not be able to destroy that person directly, but Satan may work through confusing his children, so that they stray, or through his wife, who may leave him.
Even though Abel feels secure and safe, that may not be true for those in the Cain role. Father has been working to set up necessary indemnity conditions for his children, but when a leader makes a false move, the spiritual well-being of his family is threatened. This is a law. We must recognize it and emphasize it as a principle.
Father maintained his tradition not thinking about himself, but thinking about God. You must leave no room for your own thinking. Your head must be filled with God's thoughts and with what True Father is saying. Empty yourselves completely and be filled with the attitudes of Father alone. Think, "Whatever Father is thinking now, I also am thinking." When you do this you receive the tradition. These words can substitute for Father himself.
Tradition Brings Unity and Achievement
Through proper tradition all the members become one with you. Until then, how can you achieve anything in your country?
Whenever a leader, even if it's Mr. Kim, knows that Father thinks one way, but still has his own complacent way of doing things, even if that leader prays very hard, he won't really bring much accomplishment. The reason is that he wasn't within the tradition.
Think about the early foundation of Tong Il Industries. Father used to make the hour-long drive there as many as three times a day, every day for years. To be prosperous yourself, you must stay within that tradition of total investment.
You don't just sit and wait for the fundraisers to come home with the money. You must go yourself. And other times, you should at least go out to meet them when they return. Your mind must begin working in this manner.
Father didn't explain the meaning behind sending President Kim to Europe, so maybe you have an excuse for saying you didn't understand. If Father tells you this, and you still don't follow, then you have to take full personal responsibility. Why? Because you would be working with Satan directly.
Now is a good time for an assignment change, and if you can understand all this correctly, repent and change your attitude, then even if Satan has been around you a lot, from this point on he must leave you. All your members also must receive this teaching so they will follow you with proper understanding. Then Satan will have no more accusation, and bad spirits will leave.
You don't think so much about restoration through indemnity, or that you are right in between God and Satan, each wishing you would go in his direction If this is the case in our religious life, if there is little condition for you to remain where you are, would Father just reject you all because you are so far from Father's tradition?
Please realize we must always keep repenting and trying to understand our errors. This is our way of removing ourselves from the midway position, and this is our way of survival.
We must show the existence of God and the spirit world to all people, down to the last man, before they can be converted. It is not enough merely to understand. What you are trying to explain to your members, you must show to them.
The directions Father gives to the Japanese leaders are so high that the Japanese have never heard the like of them before. But Japanese members, even if they think the directions are difficult, always try to repent. And they complain, but not to God. They complain to themselves that they have so little ability and goodness.
They search themselves to discover why they are not so Abel like. They torment themselves and try to repent for their fallen condition. They pray sincerely to God, "I am so weak, and I should do so much more, so please, God, help me." They do that before they go into action. This is not a concept but is a practical technique that works.
In spite of having worked so hard and prayed so much, and in spite of knowing that God must accomplish everything through you, you may have wondered why nothing happens in your church. You may have wondered, "Why didn't God help me? Why didn't spirit world help me?" Now you know the secret.
Connecting Tradition To Future Generations
Through this tradition, God can continue to work in the same way He worked with Father, and He will work this way with you and with the next generation of members. You have a responsibility to your own sons and daughters -- to your descendants as well as to your members. You are the connecting point.
The 36 Blessed Couples are mainly responsible for fulfilling this connection with you, and also the 72 Couples and other senior couples representing Father. By extension, all the blessed couples become the connecting point of tradition between Father and the coming generation.
The simplest way of explaining how we are connected is by saying, "When Father tells you something to do, you accept that 100 percent and carry it out!" That is the tradition. Pledge yourself, and declare to the world, that this is what you are going to do.
Once you do that, what you eat, when you sleep, how you dress, even your love-making is connected to that goal. Let the goal be everything, and by clearly adopting that purpose, you know that you are on the side of God's tradition, and then even making love will not be in the satanic realm.
You must know how to simplify your life, how to make your life orderly. You may wonder how to live according to such a purpose, and yet we never saw Father getting tired of living that kind of life. This is because Father knows so deeply that this is the most crucial life-or-death matter. How can he get tired?
During the next three years you have the responsibility to teach this tradition to the ends of the world, even to villages of only two or three families. To the most remote corner of the country, we will do nothing but teach this tradition.
Tradition Comes From Korea
The tradition started in Korea. So when you go to Korea, don't just go sightseeing or something like that. You have to be desperate to find that tradition. When you see Holy Ground in Pusan, you should not be able to turn around and come back. Instead, you should burst into tears there, thinking about what Father had to go through many years ago. At that time, Father did not pray for Korea, but for you. Because of that, you are in the Unification Church. So we should connect ourselves very much with what Father had to go through at that time in Pusan.
Why You Must Be Here
As an European leader, you feel your country needs you, so why do you have to come to America and work? Dispensationally, Father sees from above. From heaven's point of view, America, as a Protestant nation, is the Abel country, while Europe, upholding the position of the conventional church, is in the Cain position.
Three or four hundred years ago, the people who were persecuted (Abel) were expelled, and they all came to America. Coming from the Cain country to the Abel country, they must have been very happy and glad, which is only natural. Like them, you should come here and work.
By establishing an association (like a Swiss-American association) in America, your country in Europe will automatically come into the realm of grace, according to the law of indemnity. In that association, we will recognize no boundary, just as Unification Church members already have no boundary. Extending this, then, the world will see no boundary anywhere.
We are in a period of 40 years in the wilderness, and we have the last three years remaining. We must make full use of it. When the Cain country supports the Abel country, the condition is established so that God can bring restoration to every nation in the world. God needs that condition met.
Cain-type countries must bring wealth, people, and material into the Abel country, as Japan has been doing for many years.
So you see why Father must bring you from Europe into America. If you go back, all your members, all your descendants, and all the future people of that country will ask why their ancestor didn't participate in this great campaign.
Father cannot make it compulsory for you to do it. But now that Father has explained it, will you leave or stay? Following the same pattern as those Europeans who were the first colonists of America, European leaders should now come and invest themselves totally in this Abel country.
Winning Cain's Forgiveness
Through conforming to Principle, indemnification of the whole world really becomes possible. This 40 years is the time for total separation from Satan. You must be very confident that these next three years will complete a perfect 40-year period, establishing the condition for bringing everything under God's power. We arrive at the conclusion that even if you worked hard in your country, you must still work three times harder in this country. Then everything will be accomplished.
You must really do the good work of Cain now. Then all the mistakes of the past made by Rome, and others, can be forgiven. Cain always plundered someone. This time, Cain must reverse his tradition and do good things to indemnify the past. Do you think Father has thought this up in just an intellectual way, or do you think Father didn't even have to think very hard, that this is Principle and everything is correct?
The Day of All Things is the time of making an offering. You should have saved up money during the year, even if it was very little, and offered it, representing your country with lots of heart and prayer.
Father never says that you must do this because any offering is primarily something that you want to do. Offering has this important meaning.
Are you clear now what you must do? Even if your church is suffering back in your own country, it really isn't so important, even if it declines. Most important at this time is to set a new and crucially important tradition here -- the world-level tradition. Father has never spoken more important words before.