Sun Myung Moon
December 11, 1985
Welcoming Banquet for True Parents' Victorious Homecoming
Hilton Hotel, Seoul, Korea
Photo date and location unknown
Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, thank you for assembling here from all parts of the world, behind your various situations in order to welcome and encourage me on my return home. I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to you for that. To see the beautiful mountains and skies of my homeland again, and to stand in front of you tonight, evokes emotions in my heart that are hard to describe.
You have come here tonight not to welcome an individual named Rev. Moon, but to welcome a man who has dedicated himself for the Will of God and the ideal of living for others. It is this fact that makes today's meeting a truly historical event.
Living for the sake of others is the starting point of the ideal
Living for the sake of the other is the basis for the order of the universe. It is the basis for a world of true ideals, true love, and true peace that is God's ideal of creation and also the desire of men and women. The starting-point of our ideal, and the starting-point of happiness and love, is found in living for one's counterpart. If we look at the universe, there is not one single thing that exists only for itself.
The mineral world exists for the sake of the plant and animal worlds, the mineral and plant worlds exist for the sake of the animal world, and the whole of creation exists for the sake of human beings. Then for whom do human beings exist? We exist for the sake of God.
God created all things and enables them to grow and develop for the sake of others. It is a basic law of the universe that a man is not born into the world as an end unto himself. Rather, he is born for a woman. The same is true for a woman. From the moment a husband and wife are married, each spouse should live with the thought: "I was born for you, I live for you, and I will die for you." The couple that does this can be called an ideal husband and wife.
Living for others is a fundamental law of the universe. It is from this point that true love begins. All beings exist for other beings. A truly dutiful son or daughter lives for his or her parents. The love of true parents, the filial piety of true children, and the love between a true husband and wife all begin with living for the other.
If we extend this principle, we can conclude that true people live for the sake of the nation, and a true ruler lives for the sake of his or her people. We can all find true happiness if we live according to this principle. Since this is the law governing all beings in the universe, when true human beings that have lived for others enter the kingdom of heaven, or paradise, the world where God lives, they will find that same rule of living for others applies there.
This is the reason all religions teach service and self-sacrifice, and that genuine love is to live for the sake of others. A person who lives for others naturally arrives at the central position and commands respect. For example, if the youngest son in a family generously gives of himself to the other family members, he naturally becomes the focus of their love and captures their affection and admiration.
Living for others does not stop with the individual. If the family lives for others, it can establish the family heaven. If we extend this principle to the nation, we can realize the national level heaven. On the world level, when the whole of humankind lives for others, then we can realize the ideal world of harmony and happiness. In this way we can bring about heaven on earth.
America has forsaken God's Will
The ideal world is an eternally unchanging world where God is the Parent and we as His children are brothers and sisters living for each other in a harmonious family of humankind. In order to realize this world, a man was sent as to lead God's providence. He is called the Messiah or Savior. In this world where true love does not yet exist, he comes to show the way to build the highway of love.
Jesus came as the Messiah on the foundation of Judaism and the nation of Israel in order to save the world. While he was trying to awaken them to live for the sake of the world, they rejected him and nailed him to the cross. Jesus' hope was that his religion of Judaism and his nation of Israel would live for the world. However, they desired a God and a Messiah who existed only for their sake.
The resurrected Jesus spiritually guided Christianity as it expanded throughout all nations. The United States is the nation God has chosen to represent world Christianity. It should center on God and take the leading role for the salvation of the world. The United States has the mission to spread the Christian spirit and Christian ideals. The blessings God gave the United States are not for the sake of the United States alone. They are for the sake of the whole world. The United States does not exist for itself, but for all people.
Knowing that this view reflects God's innermost heart and providence, I felt compelled to go to America. For the last thirteen years I have been working without ceasing to awaken that nation. While attempting to deal with the circumstances resulting from the Second World War, America often forgot its mission to work for the whole world. When America failed to live up to God's expectation, the foundations of the free world were shaken. Numerous problems arose within the nation, including racial problems, drug abuse, immorality among young people, the destruction of the family, violence, crime, and communist infiltration.
There might be numerous causes for these problems, but ultimately it comes down to America’s spiritual and moral weakness. 'God had hoped for the appearance of an American man, who with his family could together totally dedicate themselves for the sake of the world, and raise America to become a country exemplifying the principle of living for the sake of others. In reality no such individual or family could be found, and hence the foundation of the nation's faith is shaky. God called me from Korea to America to fulfill this goal.
The uncharted path of submission to Heaven's Will
The mission that God has given me is not something that I may relinquish as I wish or abandon when things do not work out. My mission in America was to continually search for a prepared foundation and to awaken those people to reality. However, instead of repenting, America rejected me.
Nevertheless, despite the severe persecution and derision I experienced during my thirteen years in the United States, I worked to create loving individuals, families and communities. I made it my task to build up new people who would be able to live for the sake of the world.
God does not want people to just believe in God. God wants us to fulfill our responsibility. Because I know God's Will so clearly, I have dedicated my entire life to the accomplishment of this heavenly mission.
In the first place, during the last thirty years I have gathered scholars from all over the world in order to teach them this God-centered thought and make it universally known. As a result, I was able to establish a secure foundation in one hundred nations. Second, since the kingdom of heaven is not composed of spiritual elements only, our movement invested a great deal of money and effort into technological and scientific development. We have since offered the fruit of these investments to the world. Third, I am building a global economic foundation for the realization of God's Will. I have been researching developments in different areas, including how I could encourage international cooperation in monetary policy for human betterment.
Fourth, our members have established the World Media Association in order to provide society with honest and ethical journalism. In addition, we are promoting activities in numerous other fields, all of them directly related to the task of realizing God's Will on earth.
As you know, in August I was released from prison in America. The case against me had been fabricated, yet throughout the thirteen months of my imprisonment I never stopped praying for the future of America and the world. I prayed for God to forgive America and help me fulfill my mission.
Even in prison, I initiated and directed countless events to rekindle the spiritual and moral foundations of the United States. Out of the Christian spirit of service, our church bought 250 trucks and donated them to churches for community service work. From prison I also inspired the inception of other new projects, including international professors' conferences to discuss how to overcome communism, a movement for religious unity, a weekly news magazine, and a monthly magazine.
Even while receiving unprecedented persecution and facing unjustified imprisonment, centered on God, I loved America, and I did more for America than any individual, group, or religious denomination. While carrying out that heavenly mission, I walked a more unimaginable path, stained with blood and tears. Because it was a path to save the world as well as to save America, I went down this suffering path gratefully, and overcame it.
Since I received my calling from God, my life has been full of hardships. During the Japanese occupation of Korea I took part in an underground student organization and was imprisoned for my activities. When I was evangelizing in communist North Korea I was accused of being a spy and almost died in a labor camp in Hungnam. In the early days of my mission in South Korea I was held in Seodaemun Prison here in Seoul, accused of being a heretic. And, most recently, I was the object of racial and religious discrimination in America. In this way, my life has been a continuous string of hardships.
Despite the storms of opposition and persecution, I never wavered from the heavenly way of living for others. Now I have returned, having fulfilled the conditions of the providence. This victory is not my victory alone; it is also a victory for God and for righteousness. Do you think it was easy for me to gain such a victory while the whole world was coming against me? I am not trying to praise myself. If it hadn't been for God I would not have survived. I only glorify God.
Korea is the central nation of the providence
An unimaginable miracle is unfolding in front of us at this moment, and all of you have become partakers in this miracle. I hope you will treasure the memory of having been present at this occasion, commemorating this historically unique victory. I also hope that you will not be content to just be amazed by these accomplishments, but that you will try to find out the exact providential meaning of this event and connect yourselves to it, and take this opportunity to make a great leap forward in your own spiritual life.
I recommend this to you for your personal benefit, and also for your nation and your country. If Korea intends to become the leading nation in the world in a short time, it should not turn its back on the foundation I have laid. When we look from the standpoint of God's Will, we see that the Korean people are a God-chosen people and that Korea is a central nation in God's providence. You should provide the world with a model of living for others. Many historical and unknown events in God's providence are intertwined and centered in Korea. This nation has the mission to take responsibility for the world, and for that it has set numerous spiritual conditions in providential history.
Although the Korean people are endowed with an excellent character and a fine culture, they have walked a path of incomparable suffering. Their suffering should be understood in view of God's providence. The challenges and tribulations Korea has been experiencing are part of God's providence, and God is waiting anxiously for the nation to overcome them.
East and West, North and South, converge in Korea. Idealism and materialism, theism and atheism, are all concentrated here. It seems that the whirlwind of ideas sweeping this country is the labor pain before the birth of a new era. Korea cannot solve its national problems apart from the Will and providence of God. Furthermore, Korea cannot overcome its difficulties on its own, but only in cooperation with the world.
In order for Korea to provide spiritual leadership for the world, Korea will have to overcome its difficulties by awakening to the Will of God and by following the person whom God has sent. My foundation and that of the Unification Church has been established by strictly following the Will of God and by completely living my life for others. Now the Unification Church and I have gained the victory and overcome all persecution. If the Korean people, on the foundation of my worldwide victory, live for the world, then Korea can overcome its own suffering and can also become a center of love, truth, and peace in the world. It will receive an even greater blessing than America received.
I am not a weak person. I will not rest on my past merits or yield before an unrighteous world. Even though the road may be long and the task of accomplishing the heavenly kingdom enormous, I will continue on my way.
Ladies and gentlemen, on this occasion, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude for your support and your faith in my innocence during my court battle in America. I pray for God's eternal blessing upon your families and upon our homeland.
Thank you.