Reverend Sun Myung Moon
March 1, 1983
Belvedere
Translator: Sang Kil Han
Darwin had a point in his theory of evolution when he showed that the stronger eat the weaker in development. When the stronger eats the weaker for the sake of connecting to a higher level, there is a moral justification for that. Is it a sin for a man to slaughter a cow or a pig and eat it? If a man eats that animal in order to be able to work for the sake of God and His love, certainly that is in accordance with the law of existence. Everything will condone his actions, even the animal he slaughtered.
When Unification Church members are living for themselves and I tell them that they must go out and work for the sake of the world, does this stand to reason? For the sake of the larger purpose, I can give you that kind of direction. Do you want to go to a lower or a higher place in the universe? You must give yourself to the world. The more you sacrifice the closer in love you become with the people of the world.
A patriot is one who works the most for his country. A filial son is the one who works more than any of the other brothers for the sake of the parents. Do you feel enthusiastic about the discovery of the right laws of existence before God? This is the point, which is described in the Bible passage, "Those who are willing to die for my sake, will gain their lives." Those people who are willing to sacrifice themselves for the sake of the largest purpose will gain their lives. Those who want to cling to their own small purpose and ignore the big purpose will perish. They will gradually retreat more and more and eventually die.
I have talked to you sometimes harshly, disciplining you with my words. Do you think I should just use words, or should I bring a big stick and drive you out that way? Sometimes a child may be stubborn and refuse to go where the parents want him. He may kick and protest, but the parents will drag him against his will. They can be so strong because they are trying to bring the child to a great feast. When he finally arrives at the feast, he will see delicious food everywhere and he will smile from ear to ear. When parents know something strongly, they will do everything to push a child into the right place because they know it is good for him.
How do you rate me? Am I a good teacher or a bad one? Am I a loving father or a hateful one? Should I leave the lazy children alone now and allow them to be punished later, or shouldn't I do everything at this time to push them forward so that later they can be rewarded? Some parents are unable to be harsh even when they want to be. What about me? Do you think I have that problem? Or am I able to push anybody toward what I know is right? Certainly, I can. Without that, how could I fight single-handedly against American and Oriental persecution? Do you think I have guts? If someone has no guts he certainly cannot proclaim a war against the Kremlin!
I know that if you do not live in a worthy way now, you will really suffer in the spirit world. Since I know that, I would rather make you do things well here on earth.
What do you leaders think of man's portion of responsibility? I have been saying again and again that if headquarters helps a center when it is going through difficulty, it is not good for them in the long run. Their indemnity stops at that point. If a center is really going through incredible difficulty and about to die, then the center should think, "I don't mind if I die, but I want to make sure that something bigger than I will benefit from my death."
A state leader exists for the sake of his state, but if he thinks that since he is the head of that state everyone else should come to him and help him, he will never succeed. Such a method would not work for Jesus and it certainly won't work for anyone else. First we must go out and sacrifice ourselves, giving love and service to others. After that they may offer help to us and we can receive it and offer it to God.
America is a big, established country with many customs and traditions. However, the only ones which are worth following are those which are based upon the universal principles. Therefore, I do not endorse the activities of any state leaders if they have been doing things, which are not in accordance with the principle. When a leader does things in his own way which is not in alignment with principle, that leader is not a heavenly leader. Those who do not work hard in their states because of difficulties there are already retreating.
I did not drop everything because of the incredible difficulties of the court case. Instead, while I was fighting that battle I also inspired the establishment of the Washington Times and many other things, among them the CAUSA movement.
I am emphasizing these principles to all of you because this is my own way of life. I have never asked for help from any individual, family, or country, even from Korea. I want to be in the position to do something for the sake of Korea, not to receive something from them. It violates my own portion of responsibility to receive such help.
There are many millionaires in this country but I have never asked them to help in this cause. Instead, I have given help to America. In the midst of persecution and lack of cooperation, it took $60 million to make the Inchon movie. Did we do that because we had nothing better to do? Did we do it for our own sake? Certainly not. Whether Americans accept this movie or not is up to them, but the fact remains that it was produced with the utmost pain. Money and sleepless nights were spent for the sake of America -- these are facts which nobody can change. The reason we produced this movie was to make American people aware that they need strength like MacArthur's in order to revive their country today. Without such a revival, America will stop where she is.
I am determined to make you the best, not mediocre members of the Unification Church. I will train you and make you so strong that within a few years you will be better persons in every way -- better personalities, better character, better educated, and better disciplined than any congressmen or senators of this country who are not God centered people. This is the reality of our movement today. Such things are very noble and good things.
As long as there are Americans who will listen to what I am saying and who realize that what I am saying and doing is right, I know we can succeed. If the white people don't accept what we are doing, there are others: Black, Spanish, Oriental people, for example. If they accept what we are doing then I know we can succeed. If I cannot succeed during this generation, the next generation will have to do it. It would be up to you to succeed in my place. Do you understand? I cannot retreat. America was originally inhabited by Indians, who are of the Oriental race, so this is my cousin country.
I chose this first day of March to launch a new movement in our church. My strategy and purpose is not to benefit the Unification Church or myself, but to make all Unification Church members people who accomplish man's portion of responsibility.
State leaders have the responsibility to make their state one, which can be lovable by God. As a state leader one must travel constantly, covering the whole area. There should be no village, which the state leader has not visited you, must feel such concern for the state. Of you 50 state leaders, who of you have visited the entire state? You have to appeal to the people, "If you don't listen to me, you will all perish!" Those of you, who have cried for yourselves out of misery, raise your hands. Does that mean the others of you have never cried for your own situation? Does that mean you have been that happy? Those who have never cried for any reason, raise your hands. You all have cried in the past, haven't you? For whose sake have you cried? If you weren't crying for the world and the country, then you can conclude that you cried for yourself.
Human history began many, many years ago. When it began it started with tears. For whose sake did Adam and Eve shed tears? It was for themselves. When they were expelled from the Garden, they left with tears. What about God? Was He happy because they were shedding tears and deserved it? We must understand that God was equally, if not more, tearful because He had to expel them. We have to indemnify that. Is it possible to repent with laughter? No, we can only repent by crying out in tears.
Jesus and John the Baptist proclaimed repentance because the Kingdom of Heaven was at hand. The Unification Church is crying out the same thing at this time. We must repent because the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. What does repentance accomplish? Adam and Eve wept for their own sake. In the place of Adam and Eve, should the Unification Church members weep for themselves too? No, they should weep for the sake of God and for mankind. The best attitude for a Unification Church member is not to care about himself and whether or not he goes to Heaven or Hell. You don't have to think about that, but you should cry and pray to God for the sake of mankind. Tell God, "I will cry for them. I am not worried about whether or not You will send me to Hell. I am only concerned about stopping Your tears, God. By doing this work, I want to save mankind in the future."
Some leaders come to me and say, "We want to do this cheerfully and joyfully." However, there is no such thing as 100 percent joyful and cheerful. You don't understand God -- if God is crying with a wounded heart, how can any Unification Church members be happy all the time? No, that is the wrong concept. If someone feels that he can only do God's work when he is feeling happy, he must understand where true happiness comes from. The only way to find your happiness is to do the work, which will stop God from shedding tears, and will stop mankind from perishing. Do it and do it right -- that is where your happiness will lie. There can be no other happiness except that.
We want to be loyal citizens and filial children. Such people can only do what their parents or their ruler needs for them to do. God is our parent, so we must faithfully do whatever He needs us to do. In that way we will be doing our mission properly. Such people are called holy, sacred people -- saints. That is exactly what we ought to be. All Unification Church members must become saints before they are eligible to be sons and daughters of God. Sons and daughters of God is a level, which is above that of saint, not the other way around. Therefore, we must surpass the level of the saints.
This is what my life has been focused on. Year after year, day after day, my life has been filled with tears. I pray to God, "I pray that by my shedding tears Your tears can be stopped and those of all of mankind, I don't mind shedding tears if that can happen." I am confident now that Unification Church's members will no longer shed tears for themselves.
When my first wife betrayed me, I shed no tears. When my own relatives treated me badly, I never shed tears; but I never prayed without tears. Those are holy, sacred tears and we cannot accomplish anything without such tears. Since tears originated from the fall of Adam and Eve, I did not want to cry in the same way. The only reason I have wept is to stop the tears of God and mankind.
Many different kinds of complicated situations have existed within my family, including financial problems, but nothing of that sort ever caused me to shed tears. I thought that Satan would sometimes deliberately test me. As a representative of the world and mankind, one might weep from such a serious viewpoint and be justified. You must understand that if you cry tears only for your own sake, it has nothing to do with indemnity or the restoration. You cannot cross the eight levels of indemnity crying for your own sake. Do you understand?
Again we see that those who want to die for others will live and those who want to live selfishly will die. Even someone who does good things and brings good results but whose motivation is for his own sake and not for mankind or for God, will not end up in Heaven but will very likely be in Hell. On the other hand, if someone else does something less but he does it for the largest purpose of God and mankind, then certainly he will be destined for Heaven. Do you understand?
Do you think I am saying that the Unification Church is nothing but a succession of misery, with no time for the members to laugh and be joyful? Certainly not, but keep in mind the goal of God. Become successful. When there is a lull, we can laugh and enjoy ourselves, but at the next moment we must take on the next task to be done.
Every morning when we go out to the world to work, we are filled with anxiety about how we are going to accomplish our goal. We are not really worried but we are filled with expectations and we have confidence that if we work with all of our might, Heaven and spirit world will help. With such an attitude, you will have good results at the end of the day.
I know that you are prepared to take on difficulties, but how much difficulty? Every day is a day of concentration, a life or death situation. After a number of years of living that way, you feel you were born for such a life. I don't want to look back on the past days of misery. The course of restoration is a long, agonized, tedious time.
Once you win something the hard way, you really appreciate it and you do not want to lose any part of it. You feel you would rather die at that point than retreat or give up any of your victory. You would want to fall forward when you collapse so that your head can move up a few inches more. Have you American leaders had that kind of seriousness? All of you must repent because you were not serious enough. From this moment on, American leaders and members must take the road of shedding tears all day long for the sake of God and mankind. When that happens, you will be able to inherit what the Parents have and God's blessing for you.
If you are really faithful and serious to this way, you may look back later and tell yourself, "I was indifferent to the response of my wife and my children. I lost my common sense and because crazy at that time." This is the history of the Unification Church; it is the foundation you are standing on. I know this because I am the one who pioneered this path. Knowing these things, how can I just let you take it easy?
I still remember how harshly I treated my own son; that is the standard I should apply to every other Unification Church member. That was the harshest I could possibly be, so I apply this standard to all Unification Church members so that they will have no chance of failure. Everyone will obtain success. I can think about my first wife and child and say, "Because of you, I was able to establish the absolute criterion which was later able to save hundreds of lives of the Unification Church members. Therefore, I am grateful to you." That is the way I truly feel. I was not harsh to my wife so that later I could enjoy a good family; I wasn't concerned about that. I only did what I did for the sake of God and the future of mankind. I can be grateful.
The liberation of mankind and the liberation of God are more important to me than anything else. All Korean members must start shedding truly serious tears now. If America does not inherit that tradition, then no matter what you do you will have nothing to do with my tradition. Do you understand? This is serious. I will not live in America forever.
I have decided to launch a campaign during the next three years, during which I will plant God's tradition in the soil of America. How will you encounter God, who has been seeking after His lost children? Do you think you can just casually meet, like two strangers shaking hands and saying, "How do you do?" You must shed the deepest tears possible; only by such tears can God and the newly recovered people meet each other.
Therefore all leaders must weep for their areas, for the state they represent and serve. You must shed those tears in the place of God and for the sake of all unknowing mankind. If you did that, you wouldn't have to worry about witnessing; the people would come to you on their own. I had a very vivid experience during an intense time when I was deeply weeping for God and the future of mankind. Many people came to me directly, guided by spirit world. I didn't even go out to witness to them. I cried so much that those around me were worried about me. I disregarded eating and getting dressed. All I did was cry, so the people came to me and fed me and clothed me. This was the beginning of the Unification Church in Korea. People told me, "I will go out and witness for you, Father." That is the typical formula or pattern for the Unification Church.
The first step of the Christian faith is repentance. Since Adam and Eve fell with tears, we must cry again not for ourselves but for God and mankind. That is the beginning of the Christian faith. Those of you, who are native-born Americans, please raise your hands. Are you truly Americans? Is your country on the verge of perishing or prospering? Christianity once flourished here. Where are those Christians now? If some American people take on this responsibility for God, maybe America will survive. If you are willing to say, "No matter how difficult, I will take this way and I will do it until my death," America has hope.
What kind of decision have we arrived at today? We must reach a decision which will make God happy and comfortable. Who will liberate God's situation? Not everyone understands God's situation, but the Moonies know about it. Can you take care of God's situation? As long as you are taking that position of responsibility, the Unification Church is guaranteed to prosper.
We need more members of our church in this country, as you know. There are so many dens of prostitution and such things; they are multiplying rapidly. Who is going to put an end to this miserable situation? Reverend Moon, the one whom Americans hate so much, is the very one who is cleaning up the terrible moral problems here. Who cares the most about Christianity in America? The very person who is hated and persecuted so much by Americans. Reverend Moon is the only one who cares enough and is able to do something about crime, homosexuality and lesbianism, alcoholism, and all the social evils here.
Those young people who are becoming addicted to drugs are melting their own brains, like butter. They will not live very long, or if they do they will live like vegetables. Their numbers are increasing every year. Drugs are peddled on the city streets in broad daylight. Who in the world is going to put a stop to all this? Where does the trend of free sex originate? The movies, television and so on are stimulating it. Reverend Moon and the Unification Church members must stop these evils from influencing the morality of young people here. We must also put a stop to those gambling places, which trap people in another form of addiction.
Certainly American Christianity has the responsibility to stop all these evils, but are they actually capable of doing it? No, they have not been able to prevail over them. What about the communists? Will they do something to stop it? No, they will encourage the acceleration of evil here because they want to destroy America. Nobody has the power to stop communism here, either. Reverend Moon is the only one who is "insane" enough to say to America, "You must protect yourselves from communism or you will be in peril within a few years." Why do I do this? It is because these are the things, which are the origin of God's sorrow, the things, which stop mankind from becoming better.
Why do you think I matched black and white people in marriage? I knew this would be the source of great difficulties. Do you think I did it for the sake of fame or reputation? Certainly not. We are seeing the first stages of a racial confrontation, which is certain to come in the future unless the true religious spirit flourishes. Black and white people will fight against each other and so much blood will be shed. To prevent such an occurrence, I took the responsibility to bring black and white people together in marriage. This is the solution to those racial tensions.
Anyone with a reasonable mind will be able to see that what I have been doing all these years springs from a deep conviction and principle. Do you Unification Church members take this time casually? You have eyes and ears but do you hear the scream of this world, which is on the verge of dying? It is like a giant animal crying out in pain and agony. Your ears must be able to hear that cry.
Satan blinds people to their true condition and convinces them they are happy. To protect the world from further mistreatment from Satan, we must liberate the young people. Otherwise Satan will have the world in his hands, a world like a living corpse. Do you love America? Your love for America means nothing unless you take this task seriously. Only when you are serious about saving America can you truly say you love America.
When a cancer starts the victim hardly notices it. As it progresses, he notices it only a little bit. However that person will certainly die unless the cancer is stopped. America is in the same situation. I have been telling you American members that you cannot remain idle or indifferent. You cannot just think about your own life and your own family's blessing and going to Heaven eventually. What would be the difference between you and conventional Christianity?
Go out and appeal to the people, go to the governor; tell all of them what is happening to America. This is our mission to cry out and proclaim the truth. If they absolutely refuse to listen, then they are already buried by their sin. What else can you do? There is nothing else to do but burst into tears. At that point God will listen to your prayers. If you just pray calmly, God will not respond. If you pray while you are being persecuted and working hard, God will respond.
Today is a big day for Korean people. On March 1, 1919, Korea declared independence. Japan was occupying Korea and changing the language and culture, even changing the name of the country -- and the Korean people had no weapons except their fists. Still, they came out and proclaimed their independence.
A year ago today, the Washington Times began. On January 1, 1982, 200 people began the project and after only three months, the first newspaper rolled out. No one thought it would be possible or effective. They were thinking that even if we did print something, it would just go into the trashcans. However, the impossible was not only possible but also successful. I know that such an impossible miracle can only occur within the realm of principle.
What is the position of the Washington Times now, after one year? There are about 1750 daily newspapers in the country. Many times they write, "The Washington Times says . . . Many times newspapers attack the government's activities because the media is so leftist today. When something makes communism look good, they report that but not anything that makes the government look good. However, the Washington Times not only reports honestly about the good things that the government is doing but also they speak out against anything the government does which is wrong. The government actually appreciates such a stance. People in government have lost their positions because the Washington Times pointed out wrongdoing, which no one else was pointing out. Newspapers are powerful tools to be reckoned with.
Starting today on this occasion, we must decide to clear up all the misunderstanding of our own church leaders and make a brand new start toward establishing the genuine, correct tradition of God and True Parents in our church. How do you like that? For one thing, I would like to see Heavenly tears rolling out of those American blue eyes. Until now, I have seen only brown-eyed tears. When I see that, I can say, "How wonderful you Americans are."
The era of perfection does not come through laughter, joy and glee. Instead, we must go over the hill of misery and tears before we can bring in that era. This is the time for us to go through those tears and sorrow to accomplish that great era. By working this way, we will fulfill man's portion of responsibility, the restoration through indemnity. Only through shedding tears will the restoration through indemnity take place. Then we can move into the time of joy and laughter.
Home Church brings together all these elements. Although there will usually be a period of persecution in Home Church, after a reasonable period of time people will understand what we are trying to do. Gradually we will win their trust and expand their understanding. After those things happen, we will have completed the period of indemnity. You are being grafted into the True Parents' tree, then wherever you plant yourself you sprout up as the same tree as the True Parents. Your fertilizer comes from those people who oppose you; you need that fertilizer. Persecution is your fertilizer.
Do you welcome indemnity? The principle of indemnity requires that the smaller purpose be sacrificed for the larger one. The individual offers himself for the sake of the family, the family for the sake of the nation, and so forth. We must do this because it is the truthful way of restoration. No matter how long it takes and no matter who you are, you must go this way. We have church members who have been important in secular society, people with recognized ability and government positions, and so forth. When such people join, do they go to the front or the back of the line? If President Reagan someday joins the church, even he will be the last in the line. That will make you feel great because you will be in front of him! You will really feel you are somebody then! In the past, you may not have been very happy doing the things you were called upon to do; but from now on will you understand better and be happy, following me step by step along the same course? Will you be happy to do it? Is this the right or the wrong way to go?
We can conclude that doing the right thing is the happiest way to go. We have to remind ourselves of this as we follow the right way. It is not enough to just know what is right; we must do it. Do you want to do what is fight? Shall we march on? Those who pledge to do that, please raise your hands. God bless you.