Sun Myung Moon
Circa 1984
If you asked God, "What pleases You the most?" how would He respond? Would He say, "I like diamond rings the most!"? No, God has no need for any such thing. But God created humankind for a reason. Why were we necessary? God needed to create humankind in order to fulfill His love. It is for the sake of love that human beings are the supreme creations. God's love is the original giving love; it is the unselfish, agape love.
We need food, shelter, clothing, knowledge, power, money and so on, but our foremost need is for love. Isn't that true? Are the love of God and the love of people essentially different things? They are the same thing in essence, but God's love is subjective, unselfish, giving love and humanity's love is an objective, receiving love.
Human nature causes men and women to desire certain relationships of love. It is very logical and natural for the members of any unit, for example a family, to desire to receive the love and attention of the head of that unit. Thus children desire the love of their parents. On the level of the nation, the citizens want to be cared for by their leader, their president or queen. Is that a natural desire of only white people, or do black and yellow people have the same desire? We can see that the craving for love is a universal desire, regardless of race, nationality or culture.
People like to talk about equality, but there is really no true equality in society because everyone is different and on different levels. But there is at least one fundamental point of equality with which every human being is endowed, and that is the capacity to receive love, specifically the love of God. In this respect, all people are equal.
The most important thing for both God and humankind is love. When there is equality in love, there is equality in everything. There is a definite relationship between the two loves. Why is God trying to save humankind? Why can't He just forget about us or even destroy us? God lost His first relationship of love with Adam and Eve because of the human fall. Adam and Eve were not only the recipients of the first love of God, but they were also created as His very own son and daughter. Therefore, God can never abandon them, even though His love was lost through them. Their redemption became God's goal.
God and the Ideal of Marital Love
When God sees His son and daughter, do you think He would have an intense craving to be with them and dwell within them? What about men and women? Knowing that God's love is foremost and supreme, don't you also want to be totally bound with that love? God wants to enter into His children and the children want to enter into God.
It is natural that men and women would instinctively know how to welcome the love of God within themselves. You would never want to lock yourself out from the love of God. In fact, you would want to open yourself totally and without a shred of reservation to receive it. Let's say you have a certain secret territory within you. When the love of God approaches, would you want to maintain that secret place? Would you not want to open every secret place to Him?
God wants to dwell inside His children, within their most sacred and holy places. He doesn't want to stay on the surface or anyplace else. There is no place that the love of God cannot penetrate. It can enter your eyes, nose, mouth, and all of a sudden you feel such an incredible sensation. God's love can penetrate every single cell of your body.
Human bodies are composed of cells, and it is the inherent nature of those cells to enjoy and desire love. You have a physical body which you can touch and also a spiritual body, which you cannot touch. But that spiritual body is the subject. Your whole system, body as well as spirit, is constructed so that it craves love. When your body and your spirit become perfectly united, you cannot avoid being approached and entered by true love. True love is like the welding agent which binds your body and spirit together.
When people are in their teen years, they are getting ready for love. Teenagers are very romantic; they are usually intense poets. That is the sign that they are opening up to the fullest sensations of love -- body, mind, and spirit. They are saying, "I am ready to receive you, love. Please come into me." There should never have been a fall; thus every experience of love would have been Heavenly and joyful. The problem is that those teen years became a time of satanic love, not God's love.
Your eyes are in the position to oversee everything, and thus they are symbolic of God. When a baby is conceived, its eyes are the first things to develop. Within the eyeball, the white part represents your physical body; the iris represents your spiritual body; and the pupil, the black dot in the center, represents God. Actually, the eye is a beautiful example of how a person should live. Centered upon God, we have a spiritual body and then a physical body. The opening in the center could be called God's love dot. When God looks somewhere, the spiritual and physical bodies also look there. In other words, God's direction is identical with the direction of the spiritual and physical bodies.
Both men and women should have their eyes of God's love. When they looked somewhere, where would they normally look? Would a woman's eyes look primarily at the animals and the trees? No, she would naturally be attracted to look at a man, even if he were ugly or clumsy. The form of a man is attractive to a woman's eyes. How about a man's eyes? He is not primarily interested in the plants or the blue skies. He is interested in looking at the curves of a woman! Electricity builds up between a man and a woman; God would generate more and more voltage between them. Finally, quivering with thousands of volts, they would unite together in a tremendous explosion, creating a huge fireball.
When they are surrounded by that fireball of love, are only the man and woman within, or is God also included inside? Yes, God is there with them. What would God feel? He wouldn't say, "I'm just bored." He would say, "I'm satisfied now!" When God is totally satisfied, he is intoxicated. In love, you can be molded into any form or shape, like bread dough. God, too, will be completely pliable. That dough will have God at its core.
That is the ideal of creation which God longed to see. God's ideal of creation is fulfilled in the relationship between perfected, unfallen men and women, in their love centered upon God. That is the way in which men and women intermingle with God. Love was designed to be the most glorious, supreme and beautiful thing, but because of the human fall, love became the dirtiest, most corrupt and degraded thing.
Where do the mind and body come together in unity? Human beings are polarized into plus and minus, men and women. In electrical wiring, you need plus and minus parts fitted together to create a circuit. Men and women have their own unique sexual organs where every nerve system is concentrated. Those are the most important organs. If they are used properly, that is good; but if they are misused, that is very wrong. The man's love organ is located at the center of his body, as is the woman's. These organs are ultimately connected to their power stations, which is God. When plus and minus meet together, there is a circuit and the power flows. When they meet, they produce a spark; that spark signifies unity and also creativity.
When that spark occurs between men and women, a magnetic field of love is created. In that spark, the entire creation vibrates together with that magnetic field, flowing down from God. Therefore, the entire creation is like a love machine. God created human beings to be the internal part of the machine, while the universe is the external machine. Both vibrate together with the same wave of love.
Women naturally want to protect the most private parts of their bodies, particularly their bosoms. But you don't want to stay covered and hidden throughout your entire life; you want to open that part of yourself at the proper moment of your life. When do you have the desire to open yourself? It is when your true love approaches; then you want to open yourself up. Once you meet with your true love, that is permanent; there can be no alternative love.
The ultimate stimulation and fulfillment of men and women is that of true love; there is nothing greater. That is like the anchor of your life. You do many things, going here and there, but you always remain connected to that central anchor in your life. Once your earthly life is over, you can take that anchor, that stake upon which your whole life was hung, and go to spirit world with it. There you can anchor it into the heart of God. That is the only thing you can take with you to spirit world. Once anchored in the heart of God, husband and wife can feel satisfied and fulfilled.
If there had been no fall, physical love between men and women would always have been the most sacred act.
But that most holy place of men and women was taken by Satan and became the most dirty place. In the Temple of Solomon there was a holy place and a most holy place. The most holy place was closed at all times except to special people, the priests and holy men, who could enter for the purpose of prayer and ceremony. By the same token, a husband and wife are supposed to open their most holy places only to each other for the fulfillment of heavenly love. They are never to defile them by allowing a stranger to enter.
When the love of husband and wife is consummated to this most holy degree, God is dwelling with them all the time. In that condition, self-denial is not necessary; one's body and mind are the most holy places. By loving oneself, one loves God. Self-denial became a necessity in religious life because the most holy temple came to be occupied by Satan. Thus, when one loved himself he was also loving Satan. That is why men had to deny themselves to remove Satan from themselves, for the ultimate purpose of putting God within. That is the whole religious process. From the point of view of the ideal of creation, however, every person's body and mind were supposed to be the dwelling places of God.
Love is More Precious than Life
Every man and woman possesses his or her own holy, holy place. Can someone purchase that holy place with money? Even in the secular world, people recognize that love cannot be bought with money. How much more valuable is love in the Heavenly world'? A fundamental question is whether life or love is the most precious. You say love, but why? No matter how long you live, your biological existence has no value unless you are experiencing love. Life does not automatically connect us with the most holy place, but love does.
Do you men live for the purpose of eating three meals a day? Or perhaps you only care about sleeping eight hours a night? No, it is for the sake of love that we live. That is how God created us. Therefore, men and women are willing to sacrifice their own lives for the sake of their loved ones. The word "holy" must be connected to love; it is only in the context of love that the word "holy" has meaning. For example, any husband who is able to sacrifice himself for his wife's sake is a holy husband; the reverse is true as well. The person who is willing to die for the sake of his parents is called a child of filial piety; he is a holy son or daughter. The person who gives his life for his nation is considered a holy patriot. Likewise, the person who gives his life for the sake of all humanity is a holy saint.
Love is the supreme value. Therefore, your love is not yours alone, but it exists for the sake of others. All must bow down before love. It is only through love that you can connect yourself to God, the central plus of the universe. Therefore, love has power and dominion over all things.
Equality in Love
With this point of view, how can any man ever be scornful toward the holy body of a woman, whether she is beautiful or ugly? Can the white man claim that love is only white? Or perhaps the yellow people think love is yellow? Human beings are being elevated to the position of recipients of the love of God; in that way, you are gaining your true human dignity. Does love have a particular color? Centering upon God, love truly bestows equality to everyone.
We could compare the value of two people, a pretty woman and a plain woman for example. Suppose the plain woman had more truthfulness and genuineness. We must have a discerning eye, capable of telling the difference between people. We must be able to see when a person has more quality than another, even though that person might be physically less attractive than others. It is true that the woman who has a less beautiful appearance often tends to have more love within her than a woman who is extremely beautiful. Perhaps you men might say, "I would like a good quality woman who is also beautiful! " However, chances are that you cannot have both; it is either/or. There is a Korean adage that says, "There is no truly blessed woman who is beautiful."
When a woman is beautiful in her youth she will often try to maintain her beauty even after it is gone. She may also continue to be boastful and aggressive as she was when she was young and beautiful. When such a woman approaches, people are daunted by her. On the contrary, the woman who is just average-looking will not be obsessed by her looks but will focus upon her internal beauty. Everything is relative -- if a woman has one quality, she usually won't have the other and vice versa.
Suppose we had a lump of 24-carat gold and a sculpture of George Washington, also made of 24-carat gold. The lump is very rough and dull, as if someone had retrieved it from a trash can. Suppose both items weighed the same, say one pound. Which has more value? In terms of the gold, they both have the same value. But then let's say that the sculpture was only 18-carat. Which would be worth more money then? It would be the ugly lump because it was pure gold. We are not so much concerned about how gold looks or what shape it is in, but rather about its quality and whether it is truly 24-carat or not.
Similarly, there are all kinds of people -- different shapes, sizes, colorings, different types of character and personality, and so forth. However, the most important quality of any person is his or her truthfulness. The value of a person is determined by how genuine he or she is.
Above all your other qualities, your true love must be genuine. Thus you must look at people and things with your eyes tuned in to true love. Do you look at your spouse with the eyes of genuine love? What percentage of your life do you see your spouse through the eyes of true love? Perhaps only 50% of the time? Or maybe only 10% of the time'? You can evaluate yourself -- if you only look at your spouse with eyes of true love 10% of the time, then you can know that you are 90% impure. You know you have to change if you have that much impurity Ask yourself seriously how pure you are.
The Corruption of Secular Love
The ideal of love within the Unification Church is truly magnificent in its beauty and dignity. Viewed from the Unification concept of love, the American standard of love is impossible. For example, a man might have a relationship with different women every day, or even more than one. The most beautiful women often feel that men are their servants; they think they can maintain relationships with dozens of men, night after night. Many people have the attitude that love is something that is just for fun. But those people are the worst criminals in the sight of God; they are defiling the most holy places of other men and women.
According to the Old Testament, when someone full of sin and corruption tried to enter the most holy place of the temple he would be punished immediately by God with instant death. By the same token, if someone within our society transgresses against another person's most holy place, knowingly or unknowingly, the entire universe will inevitably punish him or her.
Looking at the secular society from this viewpoint, we can see incredible evils and immorality happening everywhere. There is so much to be cleaned up. I want you to understand that the human fall wrought total destruction upon God's dream of love and degraded the most holy experiences into the most shameful. The original love was supposed to be men's and women's ticket into Heaven; but on the contrary they purchased tickets to Hell through illicit love. We must cleanse the love of the world and stop the multiplication of the consequences of the human fall.
Because of the human fall, human beings must stand in shame before the lowest forms of creation. The supreme creation of God was degraded to a point far below that of the animals, plants and minerals. Americans today think that they can continue to pursue a degraded form of love and enjoy greater and greater prosperity, but that is not the case. From God's point of view, the way of life in secular America today deserves a worse judgment than fire and brimstone.
It was because of an illicit relationship of love that the fall occurred. We can say that the last days predicted by the Bible will be the time when selfish, individualistic love reaches its perfection. When we see that most people are living solely for themselves, that must be the last days, because that is the perfection stage of the fallen act. In such a world, anything other than individualistic love is scorned. There is no room for the love of the country, love of humanity, and certainly no room for the love of God.
Such a trend began in the adult world but it has now come down to the realm of teenagers. That is why we have the so-called "me generation." You can see that this is happening in today's society; thus you know that we have come to the end of this world. There is virtually no way of controlling the promiscuous immorality of many of today's young people. Parents cannot control them, teachers are powerless, and society cannot do anything, either. American society has degenerated to such an extent that it is making Sodom and Gomorrah look trivial. The "gay liberation" movement is gaining tremendous momentum, but that is a tool of Satan by which he seeks to destroy the most precious, fundamental values of God. The gay movement seeks to justify itself through gaining legal, political and ultimately moral power, but this is disgusting in the sight of God.
When you are stimulated by love, particularly first love, it is an overwhelming experience. When you are in love you talk all night and still are not bored. You are temporarily blinded and can't think of anything else. For the sake of that love you would willingly sacrifice yourself. That is noble love. But today's Americans don't even think about finding a true love for which they could sacrifice. If they want to find out whether the other person truly loves them or not, they face a dilemma. Men and women come together just for convenience or fun, and there is no true love there, so even after several years a person cannot really know if the other person loves him.
Are there any children who like to see their parents get divorced? Does anyone get married with the knowledge that he will get a divorce in the near future? Why does divorce come unexpectedly and against their will? In many cases divorce comes because of another love affair. Because there was no concrete love in the first place, the foundation of love easily breaks apart.
Divorce has even become a business in this country and good-looking young women go into a marriage for some strategic purpose. They find a rich man, marry him, and then get divorced in order to get a chunk of his money. Increasingly the custody of a husband's money and his wife's money is a secret they keep from each other. If they revealed everything then the other person might want a divorce to get part of it!
Today's American young people look for nothing but fun and self-satisfaction, and they are blind to anything else. Their parents even encourage this fallen culture. When they see that their teenagers don't have girlfriends or boyfriends, they get worried and tell them to go out with several people and pick one they like. Is such education advocated in the Bible? Would any righteous religion teach such a principle? That kind of habit is part of a doomsday culture and it deserves judgment. America is totally blinded and becoming more aimless every day.
If America keeps going in its present direction, the time will come when the rest of the world will abhor America. A man with any conscience could never tolerate what America is doing today. What is the so-called glamorous life being led by Hollywood stars? They are basically self-centered. Are their love affairs pure and upright? I feel such a strong urge to reach out and clean up the kinds of things that happen in places like Hollywood.
If any nation or community lives a dog-like life, it is bound to decline because God's principles are uncompromising. In the Bible it is recorded that Sodom and Gomorrah were judged by brimstone and fire because dog-like people lived there. They were totally immersed in a sensual life and interested only in satisfying their physical appetites. God could not tolerate such people, who were totally destroying their love. The Roman Empire was once mighty, yet it collapsed, not from outside force but from within. From the emperors down to the everyday people, everyone was pursuing a sensual life. Some of you may have visited Pompeii in Italy, which was destroyed by a volcano. Archeologists have uncovered evidence by which they can reconstruct life at the moment the volcano erupted and covered the city, and it was truly dirty and lustful, totally morally corrupt.
We Must Follow a Religious Life to Purify Love
Someone has to step forward to clean this mess up. But human effort alone cannot do such a task. God must the human body, there is no way for the pure love of God to come and dwell there.
How can you cleanse your stained blood? You have to die to yourself first and be reborn as new men and women. This explains the paradoxical nature of much of the Bible's teachings. This is why Jesus told his disciples, "Those who seek to gain their lives will lose them, but those who lose their lives for my sake will find them." They were being told that they had to die to themselves.
All of human history has occurred on the foundation of the stained blood lineage. Regardless of how many people there are on the earth -- 4 billion or 10 billion -- we must return to the root and cleanse it. Then we can begin anew, according to the unstained, purified lineage. Basically, that has been the work of God in history.
Behind every single person on earth today is a long lineage, tracing all the way back to his roots. You have the concept, "I am a white person in America," or whatever, but God is saying that you must eliminate from your mentality the "I am" attitude. You must get rid of whatever self-concept you have now in order to become a new self. A new "I am..." must be given room to be born.
This is the reason religion has always taught self-denial. Regardless of what great work you might do, if you cannot succeed in this requirement you will end up in hell. This is why Jesus said, "If you love your parents or your spouse or your children more than you love me, you are not worthy of me. " That is because everyone besides Jesus sprang from the satanic lineage; if people loved them more than they loved the son of God, they could not be worthy to be with him.
Regardless of your position or title, the most important requirement is that you love Christ more than you love love. That is the result of Unification Church discipline. People in the Unification Church understand that the ultimate restoration is that of their love. You know that you will someday receive the genuine, pure, agape love of God. But you also know that you must purify yourself and get rid of your stained aspects. By the power of your determination, you go through a purification period. As godly men and women, you must be able to resist all temptation of satanic love.
This is the destiny of all people. No one can avoid it, but it is not an easy path. That is why so many religions have arisen throughout history to help man walk the reverse direction toward God.
True Love is the Purpose of Life
The title of this sermon is pointing to something very simple. Human beings are created from love and go back to love. All things take place at one beginning point and are then multiplied. Thus all women started from one woman; all men started from one man. The process of development and multiplication started at one point and will continue forever.
The purpose of our life, both coming and going, is simply love. We begin as embryos, we develop and then we experience life. In our lives we are destined to return to that point of unity in love, through which another embryo is formed. Every person is born alone, and grows up and forms a couple, but then each person dies alone.
Everyone is born from two parents; no one is his own origin. Centering upon the parents' love, the children come into existence. The cells of the embryo multiply hundreds of billions of times to form a new baby. What is the value of that child? His value comes from the fact that he is a participant in and a part of his parents' love. Our lives depend entirely upon the love of our parents; if our parents did something to exclude us from their love, we would never have existed. There is no form of life which does not naturally seek to produce its fruit, its offspring.
Since the child is a part of the love between the father and mother, he inherits all his vital elements from them. When the parents look at their children they can see everything of value within themselves because those children are the embodiments of themselves. Also the love from the past, present and future are contained within those children.
Children want to embrace and cling to their parents, not because somebody teaches them to, but because of the force of nature. That is what the universe is propelling them to do. Likewise, the law of the universe dictates that parents love and nurture their children. Even without our being aware of this law, we are guided by it. Of course, people do neglect and hurt their children because of the invasion of Satan. Fallen people are the helpless victims of Satan, and this is the source of their agony.
In spite of humanity's invasion by Satan, there is a natural tendency for people to protect and support mothers with children. Likewise, when hunters see an animal who is caring for its offspring, they will not kill it. That is because of the influence of universal law, springing from God. We can look at another example. There are men who have been convicted of terrible crimes and sentenced by society to die. Even though such a man did a terrible thing, his mother will weep for him and wish his life could be spared. Society will naturally respect and sympathize with the feelings of that mother, regardless of how terrible the crime her son committed. The man may go to the electric chair, yet his mother's heart will never change and the universe itself will protect her and seek to comfort her.
When a baby is inside the mother's womb, it receives everything it needs. It is developing every part of itself -- eyes, hair, limbs -- within that womb. The contribution of the father and the mother enable the baby to develop everything it needs to become a functioning human being. As the baby grows and the mother gets bigger and bigger, the husband doesn't resent his wife's size. Instead, he will do everything to show his respect and try to protect her. In fact, that is one time when a man really enjoys "ugliness" in his wife. She may be unshapely, but she is about to give birth to the seed of their love. Every part of her is swelling up, yet for all of that the husband appreciates her even more. That is because his wife's body is fulfilling its purpose. No husband of true love will ever be angry with his wife for losing her shape because of pregnancy. Nothing can surpass the sacredness and value of that woman giving birth to the fruit of their love.
God created everything within the universe for the purpose of love. He did not seek for greater material wealth, more knowledge, or more power over others. Just like us, God needs love. Thus, we can clearly understand God's agony. Although He created mankind, He has never received the fruits of His love.
As the absolute subjective Being, God needs an absolute object. Who is that supposed to be? Man and woman. Why were men and women created with both a physical and a spiritual body, instead of just one or the other? God as subject wanted to be able to communicate with the spirit of man, which was to be subjective over the physical body of man. The spiritual body of man was supposed to vibrate in resonance with the love of God, giving direction to the actions of the physical body. True love is the vibrating power with which God reaches out to man, trying to guide him into resonance with Him.
Humanity's ability to respond to the true love of God was lost because of the fall. People cannot even recognize God's true love, much less vibrate with it. The whole purpose of salvation is to restore that ability of human beings to vibrate with the love of God. Once the spiritual body of man can receive the vibration of God's love, his whole self will resound with it. His entire physical body will respond to God's stimuli. That would be the total satisfaction of love. Nothing more could be desired by anyone.
God created Adam and Eve in the same way as the other forms of life -- from embryos. Only after a child grows up can he truly become one with the rest of the universe; until then, he is incomplete. As Adam and Eve reached puberty, life began to take on new meaning. Just like teenagers today, they felt the newness of romantic, poetic yearnings. They began to think about exploring the entire world and searching for adventure. They began to think about love, as well.
A man and woman truly in love will feel like engulfing each other, penetrating each other totally. God feels the same desire. Had Adam and Eve not fallen, God, Adam, and Eve together would have been intoxicated with love. God would have embraced Adam and Eve with the strongest power of true love. Nothing could have separated them at that point.
The love between the spouses meets at the central point and the children's love toward their parents joins with them. The love between people is the minus aspect. Once that minus aspect reaches the central point, the plus element of God's love will automatically come down to join with it. This is how the purpose of life was to be fulfilled.
Heaven is to be occupied by the fruit of these seeds. In spirit world these fruits automatically achieve unity and harmony with God. There will be no element which goes against God. The only purpose of being born into this world is to bear the fruits of love. As soon as a person does that, he can go to spirit world and live eternally. Life on earth is like a flicker of a second compared to the eternal life in Heaven.
We can see this purpose exemplified in the trees. They do not bear blossoms all 365 days of the year. Their time to blossom is only very short, a matter of days; then they bear their fruit. Since fruit requires all the nourishment the tree can draw from the earth and the sky, trees absorb all the nutrition they possibly can from their environment. They must absorb it with a harmonious, loving spirit; they do not have the ability to take from their environment with a spirit of selfishness and destructiveness.
Whether it is a plant, an animal, or a man -- or even God -- everyone exists in the direct line of love. They all center upon love in the process of bearing fruit. Positive and negative elements must come together with the attitude of love if they are to be consistent with the direction of God's love. Thus the spirit world is the world of love because it is the continuation of this world. The spirit world is filled with the air of love. As long as you have perfected your seed and fruit, you are welcomed and free anywhere you go in spirit world. No element there will reject you. But unless your seed is perfected, you are a foreign element there.
If Adam and Eve had not fallen, humankind would never have experienced such agony. The children would only have had to follow the parents in their love, and when the time came, the children as perfected fruit would automatically live in eternal happiness in spirit world. This was the original path for which humanity was created. Thus, no religion was supposed to be necessary; the difficult ways we endure now would never have been necessary either.
To Overcome the Secular Standard of Love, Love Your Enemies
Certainly we see love in the satanic world; in fact, it permeates that world. But we see a different kind of love in the Heavenly world. The love which is outside of God's realm knows only how to retaliate against one's enemies. Those who love each other fight against their common enemies. But in God's world, we love even the enemy and we never retaliate against others. When we love even our enemy, Satan must run away because he has no foundation to claim anything as his own.
Humanity has this problem of love to solve before it can reach the ideal. This is what Jesus tried to teach. He was telling people that if they wanted to go east, they should go west. If they wanted to live, they had to die. If they wanted to die, they would live. This paradox can be understood once we understand the difference between the original state and the way it became inverted. Although everyone may think they are moving toward the west, it is actually the east they are pursuing and vice versa. So we know enough now to go the right direction.
As Christians, we should love everybody. First we should love our enemies, whether some personal enemy or some enemy on the family level. We should love them more than anybody else. The same is true for the country -- a country should love its enemy country more than any other country. Otherwise we cannot go to Heaven because Heaven will reject us.
According to this reasoning, what is the biggest enemy, greater than any other? It is the enemy who put the entire universe into chaos and destruction, the biggest enemy of all -- Satan. We should love even that enemy. We should love him because God has been loving him; that is exactly God's position. Satan robbed God of His love and His family; he destroyed the possibility of God's country and God's universe. Satan is truly God's archenemy. Since God is omnipotent, He could ruthlessly destroy Satan if He wanted to. However, God did not and would not do that because His love never operates out of hatred and destruction.
By our own power alone, we cannot possibly break out of Satan's bondage. Satan is holding man so tightly; we could say that, on a scale of 1 to 10, Satan's power is a 9. The source of Satan's power is satanic love which is illicit but still very powerful over human beings. The only power greater than satanic love is that of God's love. That love is 100% powerful; it is a 10 on the scale. This 100% love cannot be found any other place except with God. Salvation can only come from the original, 100% love.
Original love is the only hope for humanity because no other power can break our bondage to Satan. Even though he is the fallen archangel, Satan cannot oppose the original love. When you approach Satan with original love, he has two options: either to surrender to you, or to go away and never bother you again. This is the covenant between God and Satan, based upon the original principles of the universe. It is the law which binds Satan as well as God himself. Therefore the religions of history have had the basic purpose of pursuing that original love.
Directly or indirectly, all men and women have sought to regain the original love; that has been the dream of humanity. Idealistic people have always dreamed of societies, nations, and a world centered upon original love.
God knew that the power of religion would be the force to eliminate Satan at the last days. However, religion always has the tendency to become diluted by secular powers. For that reason, God promised that He would send the Messiah. The Messiah comes to bring the fulfillment of God's ancient covenant and law -- he brings original love. Centered upon that original love, he will organize original families, societies, and nations; he will establish a new earthly order. This is the very purpose of the Messiah.
The foundation for the Messiah has to be Christianity because Christianity is the only religion to understand that the true nature of God is that of Father. Jesus was the only holy man who called himself the only-begotten son of God. That means Jesus alone knew God's original love. Jesus was indeed the Messiah because God was his Father and he was His only-begotten son. Thus the religion that he founded must become the foundation for the second coming of the Messiah, when God's original love will be fulfilled.
Christianity had to become the most widespread religion in the world because God has a big stake in it; He has a plan for fulfilling His dispensation through it. Unfortunately, traditional Christianity is divided and confused, and there are many mistaken ideas, such as that Jesus came only to die. Likewise, many Christians are content to worry only about their individual salvation, disregarding the matters of this world for one's own little cubbyhole "upstairs." The concept of being saved by faith alone is not right either; one must fulfill love in order to go to Heaven. Without the power of love, one can never be separated from satanic bondage.
Vertical Love of Parents, Children, and Grandparents
Life comes to this earth, starting from love. As it develops, it makes many connections, like a tree developing branches and leaves. While a person is growing, he is learning to love. A husband learns to love his wife, and a wife her husband; together they learn to love their children; and the children learn to love their parents. By experiencing all these facets of life, each grows and eventually returns to where he began to love. This is the purpose of our life here on earth; it is where we have come from and where we are going.
We must realize the principle that is governing this universe. Even animals will protect their children at the sacrifice of their own lives. Certainly that feeling is much stronger in man. If any loving parent has a choice between dying himself or letting his child die, certainly he would prefer to die himself. The vertical relationship is so important that it enables man to sacrifice his horizontal existence. The relationship between husband and wife is horizontal but the parent and child have a vertical relationship. A person will prefer to give up his horizontal relationships for the sake of the child. Likewise, the horizontal axis must adjust itself to the vertical one.
Therefore, we have the commandment to love God more than anyone, including our spouse. That is because God is the source of the vertical line and the conjugal relationship is a horizontal one. After loving God that much and then loving your spouse, your horizontal line will automatically create a 90 degree angle and find its balance. Each of the parents should love their children more than they love each other. This is for the same reason. They should love each other only on the foundation of loving their children more.
Whatever God loves the most, you also will love the most. Since God loves the children more than the couple and because He loves the "whole purpose" more, then we also love them more. First we love our parents; then we love our children; finally, we love our husband or wife -- in that order. This order will be reflected through the levels of family, clan, nation, and so on to the cosmos.
Many modern Americans have the attitude that children are a burden to the pleasure of the husband and wife. They think that their own enjoyment is the purpose of their life. But if that way of thinking becomes dominant within a culture, the society will quickly decline. We must return to God's principles. God's way is actually the way that works the best in a practical sense, as well. The most general way of stating God's principles is "Live for the sake of others, not oneself."
Your grandparents have the tendency to love you even more than they love their own offspring. This is because the grandparents are one step closer to God than the parents. In God's culture, the grandparents would be like the king and queen to the family. The children would greet the grandparents first in the morning. With such a pattern, God and the universe can preserve that family. No matter what, we can never forsake our parents or our children. Although it's possible to get a divorce from your spouse you can never be divorced from your vertical lineage; thus you must respect and preserve it. This is the law of the universe.
How far away this proud American culture is from God's way of life! You too, wanted to have parents who would sacrifice everything for your sake, but most of you did not have such parents. Too many husbands and wives only think about embracing each other, creating their own heaven. But in that "heaven," their parents and their children are crying for their love. Certainly that is hell, not heaven. We clearly know what must occur. It is nothing less than a revolution. You must quickly change the prevailing attitudes to the original one.
Every form of love is found within the family. Within that realm, God dwells. If this is realized perfectly, those family members do not need to search for anything more. They are qualified to live forever in the heavenly Kingdom.
Such a family will extend their love toward all things. They will love animals, the plant world, and all of the creation. Before God ever created human beings, He created the world of creation. That was because humans were supposed to gain the sensation and knowledge of God's love from the animals and plants. Everything is directed ultimately for love -- the birds and all of creation are there to remind us of love. The natural world is a textbook of love.
Connect yourselves with your parents and your grandparents to such a degree that your grandparents will grab hold of you and say, "I cannot live without you." Likewise, your parents will say, "I can give up everything but not you." When you become the fruit of true love within such a family, you can go anywhere and be completely welcome. You can even jump up on the head of God and He will love you all the more. But in order to make your parents and grandparents love you in such a fashion, you must first love your parents, your grandparents, and your children with the same intensity. Your spouse must be willing to love and serve your parents.
There is no room in the Unification Church for senior citizens homes.
You must clearly understand what to expect from your grandparents. A baby wets his diaper and makes a lot of mess, and similarly, when people are old and about to go to spirit world, they may behave like babies once again. They may even wet their diapers again. We are expected to take care of them just as we take care of our own babies. There is no difference except that the grandparents are even more precious. Those who care for their parents and grandparents in such a way will find themselves well prepared for the spirit world.
The whole purpose of life here on earth is to learn how to love. You should love your parents, your children, and your spouse with the intensity of pure, first love. That will bring total fulfillment to you and to your environment. How beautiful it is to embrace your elderly grandparents! In spite of the great age difference, you can love each other as if you belonged to the same generation. The value of such love goes beyond any amount of money or any other thing. When God sees such a loving scene, he will bow down his own head in thanks.
It is such a beautiful sight to God when 90-year-old grandparents are embracing their great-grandchildren, who are just babies. But in modem society in America, many parents discourage the grandparents from taking an active part in the lives of the children. They complain about the children being "spoiled" and so forth, but that is going against the law of nature. Children need the love of grandparents and vice-versa.
Each person needs his passport of love enabling him to enjoy total freedom when he goes to spirit world. Where can we get this passport? Only through our own children's, parents', and grandparents' approval. They have to tell us we are worthy of Heaven. Can you name any other kind of love which I didn't mention today? All the types of love are included within the family -- including the love of country and the universe.
Understand that you are creating the foundation for the fulfillment of your life's purpose, which is to connect your love to everyone in the world. That means you must love your enemies. If you are white, then you must love black and yellow people. If you are German, you must love Americans and vice-versa.
If any of you couples have had the habit of fighting among yourselves, you should stop that. There is no other happiness except within your own family; the Kingdom of Heaven must be realized there. If the whole world were dwelling in peace but you and your spouse were in conflict, you would have nothing to do with the world's peace. Everything happens within your own family, the unit of the Kingdom of Heaven.
God bless you!