Sun Myung Moon
October 15, 2003
Inaugural Assembly of the Headquarters of the Interreligious and International Peace Council (IIPC)
Seoul, Korea
Respected and distinguished guests:
Wherever we look today—ahead or behind, left or right, to the east or west, south or north—we see a world of hopelessness filled with war and disease, racial conflict and religious struggle, and immorality and corruption. With more than 200 countries, large and small, scattered across the five oceans and six continents of the world, and struggling against each other, which country could possibly solve the problems humanity faces today? What has happened to the United Nations, which set out some fifty years ago as a model for peaceful world governance? It has become a forum only for people suffering from extreme selfishness who are slaves to political power relationships and are frantically pursuing the interests of their own countries. It has become so crippled that it is incapable of taking even one step forward. It is not just incapable of bringing about world peace; the United Nations can neither present solutions nor offer hope in response to the totally unpredictable situations confronting the world today.
Ladies and gentlemen, as I stand here today, my heart is filled with excitement and inspiration. Let us all first give thanks to God. A new day of hope is dawning for humanity. The dawning of the peaceful Cheon Il Guk1 (God’s Kingdom) where His grace and love will shine on all the world, is being announced with a great cry that is shaking the Earth to its core. Today, I would like to convey to you one part of God’s Word for all people living in this age, by speaking on the topic, "Let Us Perfect the Peace Kingdom through the Peace United Nations."2
Humankind at the Meeting Point of Good and Evil
Over six billion people are living in the world today, but no one has clear knowledge about the origin of humankind. History began through some indistinct process—whether it was good or bad, we don’t know. That history has continued to the point where today the world’s population exceeds six billion. Since the origin and process are unclear, the end can only be unclear as well. Thus, in the world today, we see continuous disorder and confusion. If humanity had found the correct path in the beginning, we would have traveled on a one-way path to the Kingdom of God on earth and in heaven, without any confusion or disorder. The fate of humankind, after losing sight of this one-way path as a result of the Fall, however, has been to drift down the river of history as something good at times while evil at other times, rising at times while falling at other times.
Why would a path that human beings traveled in goodness suddenly start to go downhill? We did not want to go downhill, yet went down nevertheless. This is the issue. We wanted goodness to continue, but we went down. Why would goodness decline? When human life violates the absolute, fundamental principles of goodness, it will deteriorate. What does this mean? It indicates an intersection of good and evil. All kings and presidents in this world live without any knowledge of when their sovereignty will rise or fall. All sovereigns want things to be good forever. Any sovereign who is not in harmony with or aligned with the standard of true goodness, however, will certainly be defeated and perish.
Who, then, is in charge of good and evil? We know that even the most powerful royal dynasty cannot influence good and evil by its supremacy. In other words, no sovereign, on his or her own, can adjust good and evil according to his or her own wishes. We cannot deny that good and evil are determined by some unseen power lying in the background.
Each nation has its own laws. National laws exist to establish goodness. Each nation’s constitution was enacted for the purpose of safeguarding goodness, and there are no laws that were established for the purpose of destroying goodness. That is why anyone who breaks a nation’s laws is sent to prison. The problem, though, is that in any given country the standard of goodness can be applied incorrectly, depending on the temperament of the sovereign. That is the reason that humankind has always languished at the crossroads of two paths until this day, with one path leading to prosperity and the other to ruin.
The Universe Protects United Subject and Object Partners
Human beings have a dual structure. The mind is a "positive" (plus) standing on the side of Heaven, and the body is a "negative" (minus) standing on the side of Satan. Mind and body were originally intended to form a complete oneness automatically, but this did not happen because of the Fall of our original ancestors. Instead, the body attempted to take the position of another positive, and this brought mind and body into mutual contradiction. Ultimately, this led to Satan conquering the human body. By means of the Fall, Satan took the bond of love, connected humanity to the satanic lineage, and let human beings multiply themselves. This is the problem. This struggle between mind and body has become a chronic ailment more terrible than cancer or AIDS. That is why we must, no matter what the cost, push the body back into the position of negative. By the law of the universe, poles with the same charge repel each other. When a pair of subject and object partners forms a complete oneness, however, they receive heavenly fortune and the universe automatically protects them.
An Absolute Subject Entity Gives Rise to an Absolute Partner
If there is an absolute subject entity, an absolutely objective entity that is a partner to that subject entity, will come into being. This can be seen in the course of my life. America and the entire world stood in opposition to my life as absolute subject, which began when I received Heaven’s command. Yet, the side that struck the absolute subject eventually became the negative realm and was absorbed. This is because anyone who receives opposition while standing on the side of goodness is protected by his or her surroundings, that is, the universe. It is because I knew this principle with certainty that I was able to fight and win in the struggles involving individuals, the struggles involving nations, and the struggles involving the world. We see in history that God always proceeded in the direction consistent with fundamental principles, that is, toward the purpose of true love, but that the Devil has used forces opposed to this to establish himself as a destructive enemy power. Satan struck the first blow by causing the first human ancestors to commit the Fall, and he has come to control families, tribes, nations, and the world. The first people to go to hell were the first ancestors of humanity, Adam and Eve. They could not enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Please understand that the created world first came to be occupied by the satanic realm.
What, then, is the Devil? He is a being that attempts to take God’s people, make them his own and control them. He is a shameless criminal that kidnapped someone else’s child, turned that child into his own, and then tried to claim legitimate ownership of that child. Now he is worried that all his sin may be exposed and that he will lose everything, so he sits blocking the plans for the future that God, the author of Creation, is being led by His conscience to carry out. In so doing he is blocking the liberation of God and humanity. He has occupied the bodies of all human beings, and has completely spoiled love, which God considers of such importance that He treats it as His first ideal. The free sex that you see in the world today is an example of this. The Devil creates confusion on the path of love, and prevents us from exercising total control over our consciences. These are two of Satan’s strategies and tactics.
Ladies and gentlemen, free sex is Satan’s trap. People in the world who have a lot of money are falling into the trap Satan dug for them because of their riches. These people enjoy sensual pleasures, but they are dying. To establish his defensive line, Satan gives material blessings to evil people, so that they can never escape from the quagmire of moral decadence. You need to understand that alcohol, tobacco, drug abuse and free sex are Satan’s four main weapons. Satan uses these to put people into a stupor of carnal satisfaction, and then he has them board the train to hell. This is the reason I teach that people must stop this tragic advance into hell, become true people who are not accused by their own consciences, and return to the life of true love. This is the only way that people can make their mind and body one and board the train to heaven.
Despite indescribable opposition and persecution, I have lived my life of more than 80 years walking the path of sacrifice, at times at the risk of death, to realize peace through the recovery of true love. I have never faltered, not even for a moment. Even when Satan threatened to kill me, I maintained an absolute "plus" position and overcame everything. This made it possible for me to acquire the absolute "minus." In a word, it has been a life of following the original fundamental principles of Creation.
The Absolute Necessity of True Parents
I have lived according to the fundamental laws of the universe. I am a single-minded man who has walked Heaven’s path, absolutely refusing to compromise even in the midst of the worst hardship and adversity. I could do this, because I knew for a certainty from the outset that when I have followed this path to the position of the victor, God and all of creation will greet me with joyful cheers.
Satan has always mocked Heaven and me, and boasted of his domain of power: "My weapons will never rust. Even the omniscient and omnipotent Creator God cannot defeat me in this fight. See how the side that is focused on the body completely tramples the conscience. Love has been completely degraded, just as I planned. Has this not become a world of fun, where grandfathers pair with granddaughters and sons with mothers? How can such a world of evil ever be reestablished as God’s ideal world? Who could accomplish such a task?"
God, though, has shouted back in this way: "Just a moment, Satan! Isn’t it true that through the active work of Rev. Moon, the True Parent, true love’s realm of influence in the earthly world is increasing? The True Parent is the owner of true love. He is the king of true love. Satan, is it not true that you are helpless in the presence of true love?"
Ladies and gentlemen, how are we to restore true love? This is the responsibility of the True Parent. The True Parent must establish the original world where the conscience is always victorious, that is, the world of absolute goodness that is most treasured by humanity. The secret for accomplishing this is simple. When faced with True Parents, true love, true life, and true lineage, the false parent, Satan, is completely helpless, no matter how much he may kick and struggle. To align ourselves completely with God’s Will, God and human beings must form eternal relationships as subject and object partners, centered on true love. Satan has no way to wedge himself into such eternal relationships. When you begin to live by altruistic, true love, you will receive the Holy Marriage Blessing and be connected to the true lineage. Then your eternal life will be assured. True love, true life, and true lineage will expand eternally through your descendants. True Parents are absolutely necessary in this process.
All people without exception are descended from the Fall. As a result of the Fall, we have become like those whose eyes look normal but who are actually blind. Can the blind save the blind? Someone sent directly by God must come. This person must be someone who stands in a position unrelated to the Fall, closely examines the world, and has the ability to save humanity from the path of death. I have come in that precise position. God sent me with His seal of approval as the Savior of humanity, the Messiah, the returning Lord, and the True Parent. Humanity needs only to restore the absolute realm of the conscience by following the teachings of the True Parent. Then, absolute ownership will also be recovered. The realms of absolute love, absolute life, and absolute lineage will also be recovered.
You must first find the path leading to oneness with God. How is this possible? Where does the foundation of love for the sake of others originate? It originates with your love organ. Your reproductive organ is your palace of love, palace of life, and palace of lineage. Until now, humanity has lived without knowing the truth that it is through the love organ that bonds of life are created, love is realized, and the connection of lineage is established. Now we see that no truth is more precious than this. Satan has controlled humankind for thousands and tens of thousands of years by means of the reproductive organ. He turned things around 180 degrees in order to bring about the human Fall. If the Fall had not occurred, there would be no need for such words as "Savior," "Messiah," "Lord of the Second Advent," and "True Parent." Because the True Parents of humankind have returned to this earth, humanity can now be liberated from Satan’s yoke. It has become possible to recover all that was lost through the Fall. Through the original mind, it has become possible to recover the original value of human beings. We can accomplish a worldwide realm of absolute goodness that will not tilt toward Satan ever again.
Inherit the True Parents’ Realm of Victory and Become Tribal Messiahs
What does the True Parents’ realm of victory mean? It means that complete victory has been achieved in the fight against Satan. Victory was achieved in the realm of individuals. There was victory on the level of families. Complete victory was achieved on the level of tribes, societies, nations, and the world. It was a steep path that was never easy. I overcame every difficulty and won the victory however, and on January 13, 2001, I dedicated to Heaven "The Coronation Ceremony for the Kingship of God," which accomplished the miracle of liberating even God. On the world level, I am also the one who is rooting out communism and pouring life into Christianity in America. This is a part of the True Parent’s responsibility. The True Parent forgives with true love and embraces even the collapsed communist countries. I am liberating and pouring life into the communist realm.
Ladies and gentlemen, beginning some ten years ago, I have been commanding all blessed families to become tribal messiahs. This means they must become the new ancestors of their tribes. All your ancestors throughout history have cherished the hope and earnest desire for tribal messiahs. The True Parents who have won all the victories as the Messiah of humankind bequeath to you their foundation, and on this foundation you must become victorious messiahs on the tribal level. Families that have received the holy marriage blessing from me and have joined the ranks of blessed families must now become leaders who guide the world and saviors who save humanity as tribal messiahs. You must become devoted children and patriots that erase the grief of God, who has been waiting for this time for thousands and tens of thousands of years. You will work in all countries of the world as the vanguard, expanding the realm of victory gained by True Parents, who have been victorious over Satan’s vicious opposition and persecution and have now bequeathed everything to you. You will liberate the world and establish it anew before Heaven. In relation to the Messiah of humankind, a tribal messiah is like a branch growing from the main trunk. When leaves sprout, blossoms bloom, and fruit ripens on these branch messiahs, that fruit will possess 100 percent of the value of the original Messiah. You will advance into the realm of protection, where good spirits can protect you.
Refugees Who Lost Their Homeland
Ladies and gentlemen, humanity is in a position of having to recover its homeland. A person who temporarily leaves his homeland can return, but a person who has lost his homeland cannot return whenever he chooses. At the moment that history began, we lost our homeland. We were expelled and have lived as nomads. We have not been in a position to return, and we have not even known the way back. So we have lived as wanderers without a homeland, roaming aimlessly for thousands of years. Those who came alone from North Korea as refugees and now live as people without a homeland will know this mortifying and weary life. All your friends, siblings, and even your parents were taken from you. You know your homeland exists, but it is not a homeland that you can go to anytime you choose. You don’t even know the way there. People in this position must carry on their lives under extreme circumstances. It is a position of extreme sadness, where you must start from point zero and build a new life for yourself without the benefit of any foundation. Even if you have the good fortune to become rich and become prominent in society during your life as a refugee, nothing can take away the sad longing, deep in your heart, to return to your homeland.
In the same way, people who have become lonely orphans as a result of the Fall, committed by the original ancestors, have lived until now in the pitiful position of people who have lost their homeland. God, who is the owner of our homeland, solemnly waits for our return, but until now we have lived without even the desire to return. We have become such a shameful sight that we dare not even lift our heads before heaven and earth. During the course of the world’s population expanding to more than six billion, people have experienced such misery in their lives as to be unable to discern night from day. The feeling in God’s heart must surely leave Him unable to speak as He looks upon the distress His children are in. When a child meets with tragedy, no one feels more sorrow and pain than the parents. God created us as His children.
What, then, is God’s heartfelt desire? It is to liberate His children by any means possible, so they can find their way back to their homeland. Religion is God’s strategy to open this way. Through religious movements, He laid a foundation so that we could return to the homeland together, transcending our various environments, languages, cultures, ethnic backgrounds, ideologies, systems, and philosophies. He has countless times come to see the situations in which each of you lives. He waits anxiously for the day when you can return to your homeland.
You must understand that God is the vertical True Parent who has conducted His providence in ways that were appropriate to each historical period and culture. He did not do all this for the benefit of any particular religious body or any particular country. It was a manifestation of God’s true love for the sake of your liberation. It was an effort to lay a bridge that would allow you to return to your homeland in freedom. So please remember that you each stand in the position of representing not only your families but also your country and all of humanity, and even all your ancestors in spiritual world and all the descendants who will be born in the future. We must achieve this precious, liberated state and fulfill our responsibilities before Heaven and humankind.
We have such longing for our homeland, because there is love there that exists for our sakes. The love of our mother and father, of our older brother and sister and of our younger siblings, the love of our wife and children and of our relatives can be found everywhere in the homeland. In the homeland, all these relationships and bonds are connected in altruistic love; we want to embrace them all at once. The traveler who yearns for his homeland longs to return home as a proud liberated person, so that he can embrace the mountains, rivers, grass, and trees, give love to his family and relatives, and sing joyous songs. Having been vanquished and expelled from the homeland, and having lost the connection of heart rooted in their homeland, people have been unable to return and have been doomed to wander through eternity on a lonely path until eventually going to hell. Now, however, we can be liberated, and the path to the homeland that we can never forget, even in our dreams, has been cleared. This is surely the day of greatest blessing for humanity. You are going to recover the homeland lost by Adam and Eve.
The Family of Four Generations Living in Harmony
When you go to your homeland, you do so in the position of the perfected Adam, the perfected Jesus, and in the position of a representative of the returning Lord. God will reside in your family. The four generations of grandparents, parents, children, and grandchildren will live together in harmony. The grandfather must be attended as the ancestral root. The root of history lives in such a family, and the root of the heavenly kingdom extends itself into such a family. This would be a family where the Kingdom of God on earth has taken root. Also, the root of the kingship that will continue forever will be put down in such a family. The roots of the past, present, and future are represented by the grandparents, parents, and grandchildren, respectively. The root of the past represents the spirit world, the root of the present is a palace representing the present world, and the root of the future will establish the grandchildren as princes and princesses living in a palace of peace representing the two worlds—that is, the spirit world and physical world. The mission of the tribal messiah is to establish the families of God’s kingdom of Cheon Il Guk, where four generations—grandparents, parents, children, and the children’s children—live as one family that is attending the eternal God. This is also God’s heartfelt desire. The mission is to establish families that God, if He were to go to another land, would want to return to. It is to prepare families where God can feel comfortable visiting anytime, just as a parent would visit the home of a child. That is a life of service to God. In such a family, God becomes, vertically, the subject being of conscience. Your own mind will follow this vertical subject being and bring your mind and body into unity as your own vertical subject being. In this situation, parental love, conjugal love, children’s love, and sibling love—that is, the four great realms of love, or four great realms of the heart—will be perfected. This is how a family must be in order to exist eternally through continuous spherical movement connecting up and down, front and back, and left and right as one.
Ladies and gentlemen, why is it necessary to marry? We marry in order to obtain the position of owner. A man or woman alone can only be half a person. That is how it works in God’s Creation. That is why God separated the ownership and placement of the reproductive organs, which are the love organs. The husband is the owner of the wife’s reproductive organ, and the wife is the owner of the husband’s reproductive organ. If they are to establish themselves as each other’s owner, they each must stand centering on a love that is for the sake of their partner. It is to obtain this position of ownership that people marry. For what purpose, then, do we want to obtain the position of owner? It is to use that position to occupy God. God is the subject being of the three great loves. As the owner of the cosmos, He is the teacher of true love, owner of true love, and parent of true love. These are the true "three great subject ideas." All these teachings and truths will be realized centering on the lives of true families. When they are expanded, societies, nations, and even the world and cosmos can be changed to form the Peace Kingdom.
The tribal messiah who returns to his or her homeland must have an imposing and resolute demeanor. There can be no complaining. It is our destiny to go this way, even if we must go weeping bitterly. Those who understand the circumstances of the Father—how for thousands and tens of thousands of years He waited with a heart filled with grief for the loss of His children—cannot travel this path without shedding tears. Your steps, as you go to plant the seeds of love, must be filled with hope. Once these seeds of true love are planted, no one will be able to steal them. They are the seeds of the heart of true love. The families and countries where these seeds sprout will remain forever in God’s possession: those families will become distinguished families of Heaven producing God’s representatives generation after generation, and those countries will become great nations under Heaven.
A Time of Fruition in the Providence
Ladies and gentlemen, we have come to a providential time of great urgency when God’s providence for human salvation must be brought to a conclusion. God’s heart and love for humanity has been the heart of a parent who loves a child. God could not ignore the immorality and wickedness of this world, so He finally sent me to correct these things and to tear down the barriers of war and conflict for all eternity. In doing so, He gave me the qualification to be the Savior, Messiah, returning Lord and True Parent who appears in the world as the substantial body of God Himself. Recently, God Himself sent me a letter in which He comforted me on my difficult life and offered me encouragement. In addition, many people in spirit world, including the five great saints, many prophets and kings who appeared in the course of history, and even notorious murderers such as Hitler and reprehensible Communists such as Stalin and Lenin have received my teachings, repented, and sent me letters expressing gratitude.
Looking back on my life, I can say that humankind, which should have properly attended and served the True Parent, Rev. Moon, with absolute faith, absolute love, and absolute obedience, instead made him go through a wilderness course lasting some eighty years, interspersed with persecution and suffering. I am not the type of person who would ever let such things discourage me or make me give up, however. If I were, God would never have sent me to earth as His representative. As I clawed my way through indescribable suffering and adversity, I never once reproached God or turned away from my mission. I always worked for the ultimate fulfillment of God’s Will. You who do not know Heaven’s providence have probably lived your lives only for the purpose of fulfilling your own desires. By contrast, I have lived my life in accordance with Heaven’s Will and as a public person of the cosmos. Without the slightest deviation, I have lived by practicing the true love of a True Parent so as to gain victory in the course of indemnity needed for the salvation of humankind.
Respected and distinguished guests, humanity has now entered a historical realm when we only need to focus on the future and march forward forcefully with hearts filled with hope and desire. We have seen the birth of the "Abel-type United Nations,"3 which will lay bare the unreasonableness and the absurdities of the existing UN and provide fundamental solutions to the various problems facing humanity today. On October 3, more than 1,500 leaders from around the world who follow my vision gathered in New York, U.S.A., and accomplished the founding of this historic and providential "Abel United Nations."
An Abel UN is a Peace UN
It is already 38 years since I met former United States president Dwight D. Eisenhower and explained to him the necessity for an Abel United Nations. Because of the ignorance of those in charge who could not understand the significance of the hour, the fulfillment of that aspect of the providence was delayed until today. Now, Heaven can wait no longer. This year, by the demands of the providence, many righteous people who follow me made a stand to rid themselves of their enmity for each other. Religious leaders who had previously refused even to sit down together—Jewish clergy representing the First Israel, Middle Eastern clergy representing Islam, and American clergy representing Christianity—gathered in Jerusalem. These traditional enemies took each other by the hand and announced the Jerusalem Declaration. Next, a large number of religious leaders from across religious boundaries gathered in Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States, which represents Christianity, the realm of the Second Israel. These religious leaders proclaimed a resolution from the earthly world in response to the resolution adopted by many leaders—including the five great saints—in the spirit world. On the basis of these declarations in Jerusalem and Washington, a third declaration, the Seoul Peace Declaration, was adopted in Seoul, Korea, on August 15 and announced to the world by its Jewish, Islamic, and Christian clergy signatories. Please bear in mind that these steps were the providential preparations for the founding of the Abel United Nations.
"Abel United Nations" means "Peace United Nations." The existing United Nations is a Cain-type United Nations, a United Nations of strife. In contrast, the Abel United Nations will be a structure that guarantees world peace. This is nothing less than the most revolutionary and wondrous event to happen since God created humankind. Now the world will begin to change rapidly. More than 120 billion blessed couples on the side of goodness in the spirit world have been mobilized. On earth, tens of thousands of Ambassadors for Peace and millions of other leaders around the world are carrying the torch of the Peace United Nations.
Humanity now has the responsibility to work through the Peace United Nations to build, on the earth, the Peace Kingdom that God and all people have longed for. Attending God as our King, and, aligned internally on Cheon Il Guk and externally on the Nation of the Fourth Israel, it is our responsibility to build a world of peace that represents both the spiritual and earthly realms and that transcends religions and nations.
Realizing World Peace Through the Peace UN
I want to make it clear to all the world that I will gladly transfer to the control of the Peace United Nations the entire foundation that I have built with blood, sweat, and tears over more than eighty years. To begin with, the Family Federation, which now has missions in 191 countries, and dozens of other groups and organizations founded by me will be placed under the control of the Peace United Nations. All media organs, including the Washington Times and United Press International (UPI) in the United States, the Middle East Times in the Middle East, Tiempos del Mundo in Central and South America, Segye Ilbo in Korea, and Sekai Nippo in Japan, will promote the work of the Peace United Nations. Moreover, Sun Moon University in Korea, the University of Bridgeport in the United States, Sunhwa (Little Angels) Middle and High School, Sunjung Girls Middle and High School and other educational institutions will be dedicated to the purpose of educating leaders capable of carrying out the lofty purposes of the Peace United Nations. In the area of sports, too, the Ilhwa Cheonma Soccer Team that has become the premier team in the Republic of Korea, and Sorocaba and CENE, which have become prominent professional football teams in Brazil, will dedicate their energies to the same purpose.
Ladies and gentlemen, I have no lingering attachments to this world. I received Heaven’s command as a young man of 15, and I have pursued this throughout my life until now, when I am more than 80 years old. I will spare no effort in dedicating the remaining years of my life to God and to fulfill the heavenly mandate. Working through the Peace United Nations, I will without fail resolve God’s anguish and build God’s Kingdom of freedom, peace, unity, and happiness based on true love, on earth and in heaven.
Distinguished guests, please, even now, open the gates to your hearts and receive your calling from Heaven with a spirit of one heart, one body, and one mindset with God. Follow the tradition of the True Parents to practice the life of a true teacher, true owner, and true parent. This path will lead to your becoming representatives and heirs of Heaven and True Parents. It is the path and mission of true love that builds the Peace Kingdom.
Distinguished guests, I pray that Heaven’s great blessings will be upon your journey as you preciously place deep within your hearts the bond created today by our sharing these wonderful words of Heaven, and that from this time forward you will pioneer a life that is on a new and higher level. With this thought, I will now have my prayer of report read by a representative and offer this gathering before Heaven.
Thank you very much.
Footnotes
1 The (Korean) term Cheon Il Guk means God’s kingdom of true love.
2 The term "Peace United Nations" refers to the Interreligious and International Peace Council (IIPC), inaugurated on October 3, 2003.
3 Rev. Moon refers often to the character of "Abel" in the Bible, a man who was faithful to God, yet who was killed by his elder brother, Cain. The word describes a person or entity that exists for the sake of others and seeks the realization of the greater good.