Reverend Sun Myung Moon
May 23, 1982
Belvedere
Translator - Bo Hi Pak
Because of the events during the past week, many of you have gone through extreme turmoil and sadness, but I want you to know that the things which have happened are all part of God's providence. I want you to understand, too, that the most important consideration is not what is happening externally at the present moment. The main thing to consider is the true providential meaning behind an event; also, it is most important whether or not God is on our side. As long as God's providence and will are with us, we have nothing to fear or worry about; in fact, we can always rejoice. Therefore, the key question is whether or not God is with the Unification Church. The answer is an absolute yes.
If God is with the Unification Church, those who oppose us cannot also be on God's side. The US government and the Unification Church are in a Cain and Abel situation. Within the nation, the government and the US people are also in a Cain and Abel situation. When a government fails to fulfill the Abel position, the people of that nation should not accept it; they should follow where the will of God leads them. Throughout history, one nation after another has encountered struggles when governments tried to lead in a certain direction which the people did not desire. When the central leaders of any nation consistently fail to go in a good direction the general population will eventually oppose that government. Whenever a government has adamantly continued in an unrighteous direction, either the people have rebelled or they were ruled under tyranny, or else God has used a third power from outside that country to change the situation. This has been an almost unfailing formula throughout history.
Let us consider a family as an example of this principle. The parents, who are in the central position, may commit some grave mistake without realizing it. In such a case the children of the family would naturally band together and try to change their parents' course in order to help them. If the parents responded to their children, the situation would be remedied and the family would be preserved. However, if the parents stubbornly refused to listen to their children, some outside force or third party would invariably come along and disrupt the family. They might even be completely destroyed.
If one family within a community fell victim to severe disunity and fighting among themselves, they would eventually be rejected and ostracized by that community. Within the individual, the same principle applies in the unity between mind and body. If a person's mind starts to go in an unhealthy direction, the body should stop it. When the mind and body are working together in harmony, the individual can live in health and happiness. But if some conflict arises and the mind and body cannot work together properly, that individual will be brought to destruction.
Religion is absolutely necessary because it is a way in which people can reach out to God and allow Him to intervene in human affairs. Another necessary element within society is the teachers and elders who can be trusted to intervene in a good way within people's lives. The internal intervention for goodness in man's life is religion, while external intervention comes in the form of teachers and respected elders. Together, these two elements can work to solve the problems of any society.
Within the Unification Church, there is total harmony between myself and God. Regardless of what the government says or what public opinion is, God is not happy to see Reverend Moon taking a beating. As long as God approves of what I am doing, nothing else can matter. I feel no shame to come before God; nor do I feel any shame looking at the world. No matter what the United States government has accused me of, I feel no shame for anything. Certainly the verdict in the court will not alter the direction of the Unification Church in any way.
Do the events of the past week change the relationship between you and me? Our relationship is not only the same externally, but internally it is even closer and stronger. Since Reverend Moon and the members of the Unification Church are one in heart, the difficulties I endure only make the bonds stronger between us. If I should no longer be with you, you would be able to fulfill my role because of our deep unity. If I were not here, you would have to lead the people of the United States toward God's direction. You would be in the Abel position, while the government which is opposing you would be in the Cain position. God would work with you and through your efforts, and the government would ultimately change their perspective.
As a member of the Unification Church of the United States, your sympathy for me is not needed at this time. What I need is your stronger commitment and your renewed determination to fight the same battles for righteousness which I have been fighting. This is the only way the salvation of America is going to be achieved. Without some breakthrough in that way, some third party or power will intervene and destroy this nation and its heritage.
Around the world, the United States is being backed into a comer. The proud Anglo-Saxon race is deeply in trouble as well. Great Britain, the United States and Canada are basically Anglo-Saxon in their heritage. At this time the war being waged between Argentina and Great Britain over the Falkland Islands could be described as a racial war between an Hispanic power and an Anglo-Saxon power. Behind the scenes, international communism is also in action.
The real value of the Falkland Islands themselves is almost negligible. The winners of this war will also have to be the winners of world opinion. England's history has been one of colonialism and the world is well aware of the many grievances against the way England treated her colonies in the past. Because England dominated her colonies without a Godly perspective, those she governed suffered while England prospered. God will be on the side of those who suffered, not the ones who inflicted the suffering.
The world is in a state of extreme confusion at this time. Recently Billy Graham went to Russia and made a remark about religious freedom that brought him a lot of criticism, even among his followers. Another attempt was made recently to attack the Pope, exactly one year after he was shot. Although this was a crazy incident, the Catholics around the world cannot be described as totally united with the Pope. Also, Ronald Reagan's policies are being attacked by many of the people of America and he is losing a lot of his influence. It seems that the major leaders of the world are being attacked for one reason or another-people are rejecting Billy Graham, the Pope, Ronald Reagan, and Reverend Moon, as well.
One very important question is this: among all these leaders, which of them are acceptable to God? No matter what people think at the present moment, which of them is behaving in a blameless way? God desires to see a group which can proclaim His will to the world and bring all of mankind into unity. The current struggles of the major world leaders reflect a tremendous disunity within their following. The whole world is confused and struggling in ignorance of right and wrong. Mankind needs the direction and guidance of the Unification Church at this time because we are proclaiming the way for the world to find peace and unity. The only major world group which has banded together even more tightly in the face of criticism of its leader is the Unification Church.
After the jury returned a guilty verdict this week, the public was more interested in seeing what it would do to my followers than to me. They were expecting to see the church dissolved in despair, but what they saw was the church drawing even closer to me and becoming stronger and more committed. When they saw that, they saw the real truth of the Unification Church. In this worst situation, the truth shines out: God is with the Unification Church. The Unification Church has always had the foundation upon which God could dwell, but this particular event allowed that fact to be manifested to the entire world.
You should evaluate yourself today and consider if what I say is true within your own heart. As United States citizens, you actually feel apologetic towards me when your government mistreats me. Should I be the one to apologize to you? After all, I was the one who was condemned. Because you recognize the injustice being done, you arc a different kind of American citizens; you will be the ones to bring salvation to the rest of the country. If I were to leave here and embark upon a crusade to the African continent, would you try to go with me? Would you wave me goodbye, thinking, "Now I can relax and take a vacation"? The way you should think is, " I will take over your job, Father, and save this country. I will work ten times harder than you have to accomplish that." If you worked ten times harder than I have, you might all end up in jail! My thinking is not to take all my followers with me wherever I go. When I leave this country, I want to leave you behind to complete the mission.
This is a time of incredible confusion for the world; the differences between good and evil, right and wrong are very unclear. I want you to understand, however, that we are the people who can show the world exactly what is good and what is evil because we have an historical principle as our guide. If I went to South America, you North American members would have an instant heartistic unity with that continent. The only way to link North America with South American nations is through heartistic unity. If I went to Africa, the same thing would happen to the members of Europe; they would feel intimately linked with Africa because I would be there. We are all one people, no matter where we are. We are instantly linked all around the world. No secular power can achieve such a thing. When I am in Korea, there is an automatic linkage with the entire world; the Korean government certainly doesn't have such a linkage.
I want you to realize that never before in history has there been a movement like the Unification Church, with a membership throughout the world united as one family regardless of race, nationality or geography. We are one family under one parenthood. The most dramatic demonstration of our unity came last week in the way you behaved after the guilty verdict. The moment the jury proclaimed their verdict, the Unification movement around the world drew together, solidly as a rock. Through this experience, God has bound our movement into one tight bundle of unity. Because of this trial, all of our members have shed tears - black, white, and yellow people have all shed the same kind of tears in a universal display of unity. Why did you shed those tears? More than for the sake of Reverend Moon, you have shed tears for the sake of mankind and for God, knowing that all three purposes are linked together.
At this time, we are going over the hill of crucifixion of the heart and we are moving toward new horizons. The purpose of God's dispensation has been to achieve the restoration of all things of creation; the restoration of all mankind, in the position of children; and the restoration of the position of parents. Here in the United States, every step of this path has been blocked. In this way, America has unwittingly linked itself with the goal of the communists.
There has been concerted effort on the part of some governmental people to stop our movement from fundraising. Recently the US Supreme Court upheld our right to fundraise, after we had fought a long legal battle. Even though the government tried to stop us from restoring the material things of creation, God opened the way for us. Likewise, the efforts of "deprogrammers" became very strong in America and many of our members were forcibly removed from the church. The ultimate goal of such activity was to stop our membership from growing. In the early part of 1982, we won another victory in the Supreme Court when they ruled that a member of our church had the right to sue his abductors for violation of his religious freedom.
The United States government totally rejects the concept of true parents; therefore a systematic attempt is being made to remove the True Parents from this country. However, those two very important and basic victories have already been won by the Unification Church: the right to fundraise and the right to proselytize. As long as we have these two victories as a foundation, even if the True Parents leave this country, no one can sever the relationship you share with them.
If Mother and I traveled to the top of the Alps, you would still be connected to us and would want to receive our direction. The US government might try to stop you from following me because your loyalty is supposed to belong to them. Would you listen to them? You would have the right to say to the government, "You are bound by the US Constitution to preserve my sacred right to religious freedom. Don't bother me!" Even if the government succeeds in ejecting Reverend Moon from this country, the two most important victories have already been won. If this trial had occurred before those decisions, probably it would have been more difficult to win those victories. The legal struggles pertaining to our right to fundraise and witness have been going on for several years. God knew they had to be resolved victoriously before the end of the trial in May, so the decisions came within two months of each other at the beginning of 1982. Certainly God must have a computer!
I have absolutely nothing to worry about or fear. Even if I am sentenced very severely, it would not affect our destiny at all. Perhaps I will establish the Unification headquarters inside the prison! America is becoming more and more disliked around the world; therefore, anyone who is disliked by America will be cheered by the rest of the world. I am telling the government to wait and see what happens. Even if I am put in jail, our home church work and witnessing will succeed. My own life would actually be much easier if I were in prison; I am so busy when I am at East Garden, I can only sleep for two or three hours a night. In prison, I could take some rest and relaxation! In my lifetime I have endured the most unimaginable kinds of prisons; therefore, you should not worry about me.
When Jesus was hanging on the cross, people were weeping for him. He told them not to weep for him but to weep for their children. Likewise, I tell you not to feel sorry for me; feel sorry for this nation and its future. For the sake of God's providence, I have mobilized and spent many millions of dollars on such projects as the Science Conference, the creation of the Washington Times and the movie Inchon. I have been doing these things for the sake of this nation and the world and virtually all of the expenses were met by our movement in other nations. Yet, the US government believes that I am trying to take money away from it. This is truly an historical mistake. Year after year, century after century, the records of this trial will be a source of embarrassment for this country.
Have you made a new resolution today? You must be willing to show to the world your support for Reverend Moon and the Unification movement. From today forward we must clearly demonstrate our strength and commitment. There are 53 days from today until July 14, when the sentencing is given. We must mobilize to proclaim to the people of the United States the truth about our movement. We must speak to the people until our mouths cannot work anymore; our eyes will be bleary; our legs will be weak, until we tell the whole nation and world the truth.
God has given us this period of time in which to make the solid foundation of victory for this country. I have asked you in the past to witness, but how much have you actually done? Have you done your home church work as much as I expected you to do? If you do not fulfill your responsibilities, I am the one who must pay the indemnity. Instead of having each of you suffer, God asks me to suffer and make restitution. That is the focal truth of the restoration; Abel is always in the most sacrificial position. The one in that position must not complain at all but must simply obey. I have no complaint and no excuses. Although others have shed tears for me, I do not shed any tears for myself; I want to comfort God, knowing how He is grieved whenever I have to suffer. You must be willing to adopt that attitude and comfort God by taking responsibility. Will you do that?
During this period of time, we must mobilize thoroughly to awaken this nation to the truth. From now until July 14, we must bring total victory in those areas which we have not been able to accomplish before. We need to gain more strength and manpower. Therefore, I want to see us increase our membership three-fold during this next 53 days. Our goal has been to bring one spiritual child each month and this 53-day campaign involves May, June, and July. No matter what your mission may be. if you try to claim you have no free time to witness it is only an excuse. There must be some way to achieve this goal, once you have made your resolution. If you have laid a good foundation in your home church area, you should be able to bring not only three spiritual children but thirty. During this time, even the MFT will have a special program by which to accomplish this goal. You can write letters to your friends and relatives in order to witness. From this moment, I am directing a total mobilization of our efforts toward this goal. Are you going to do it?
What is the fundamental will of God? God desires the completion of the ideal of creation. What does that mean? It means the completion of the heavenly four-position foundation. The heavenly four positions are filled by God, the two parents, and the children. The line between God and the children is along the vertical line, while the parents' relationship is necessary to provide the horizontal line. God is the overall plus, the father is a plus, the mother is a minus, and the children are in the overall minus position. Along the vertical line, God is most directly linked to the children's position. Along the horizontal line, the parents must be perfectly harmonized and united for that vertical line to be straight and secure between God and the children. Before the children can receive their connection with God, the parents must provide the intermediate minus and object position. Only the power of love between the father and mother is able to thrust that love of God all the way down to the children.
The love between men and women, as plus and minus, creates a minus before God. This is why conjugal love is important. However, in the current fashion, people come together in love only for their own sake; this is not right. Since their love is self-centered it cannot stand in the object position to God. Only when a couple comes together as perfect objects to God can the vertical line of the heavenly four-position foundation be established. Out of their God centered love, children will be created. Those children who are born under the dominion of heavenly love cannot wander randomly in their lives; they must come under the direction of that central, vertical line of God's love. The parents have the responsibility to maintain the stability of that vertical line until the children grow to adulthood. In American society it is common that children leave their parents as soon as they reach the legal age of adulthood, but according to heavenly law this is not good. The children should stay with their parents until they form their own four-position foundation in marriage.
It is natural for God to dwell within the family where the parents dwell with the children. God always operates within three generations - God, the parents, and the children - in order to fulfill the four-position foundation. This is a stable foundation which will prosper wherever it goes.
Within the heavenly four positions. God's natural movement is toward the right, positive side. Even though God is the overall plus, there is no repulsion between the two plus charges. In fact, plus charges naturally come together until they meet with a minus charge; at that point, they begin to repel each other. For example, until a man is married, he usually finds his best friends among other men; but once he gets married he isn't so interested in other men. The repulsion between similar charges, then, is for the sake of preserving the give and take between opposites. It is by this principle that lightning and thunder occur. For the tremendous clash to come about between positive and negative, many positive electrical charges had to first accumulate. Thus, the universe itself naturally turns toward the right, plus direction. The natural direction in which people usually draw a circle is toward the right, in a clockwise direction.
The give and take between positive and negative charges is actually motivated by the negative charges. For example, lightning could not occur unless there was a low pressure area for it to go to. Normally, low pressure is created before a high pressure area exists. Thus, the minus electrical charge actually engenders the movement of the plus charge. By the same token, when a man and woman come together the love is engendered by the woman first. Women are very sensitive to love. As a young boy grows into a young adult, he does not look extremely different, just larger. However, for a young girl to become a woman requires many changes in her proportions. Women also smile and respond to their environment more easily than men. Young girls are usually very prone to giggling and talking a lot among themselves. This is the way in which women convey to the world that they are open; they are issuing an invitation to men. Women love color and beauty in everything including cosmetics and clothing, because your senses are more developed and open. Since you are in the minus position you are in the position to engender the motion of the plus. Woman is the motivation of the action of the man. The minus is in the lower position within a circle; in order to move up, it requires extra energy. It is easier for the positive element to come down toward the minus; therefore, the minus encourages and motivates the plus to come to it.
Many people think that men are always the ones to take initiative and be aggressive, but in the love relationship between men and women, the woman gives the first motivation. Women naturally enjoy being embraced by others; it is more comfortable than doing the embracing yourself. This is part of universal harmony.
In the sight of God, the children of Adam and Eve are more important than Adam and Eve themselves. Why is that? Until the children are born to them, Adam and Eve cannot truly feel parental love. Within the relationship of Adam and Eve and their children, God can come to dwell totally. Those three elements are necessary for the total fulfillment of God's love; anything less than that is not complete. When the three basic forms of love are complete - parental, conjugal, and children's - the ideal of creation is realized. This is the heavenly four-position foundation.
The question arises as to which of the three forms of love is primary. The love between husband and wife can be destroyed; but the relationship between parents and children is eternal. If people had to choose between their spouses and their children, they would naturally choose the children. The order of importance in love for any individual is his parents' love first, his children's love second, and his spouse's love third. The parent-child relationship is part of that vertical line extending down from God, which is the unchangeable trunk line of the universe. When that vertical line is protected within a marriage by serving and loving parents and children, that marriage will invariably be stable. However, many young couples in American society feel resentment toward their parents and do not desire to have children. They think they can enjoy the "good life" together as husband and wife and hate the idea of taking responsibility for any children. This kind of selfish motivation is totally contrary to the Principle of Creation. When someone tries to maneuver his way around the Principle, he finds that his path is continually blocked and frustrated. He can never be accepted and embraced by the universe. Because the trend of American society today is contrary to the laws of the universe, it is in deep trouble. People don't even want to hear how far they are from the ideal; they only want to continue pursuing a self-centered "fun."
The parental position in society can be seen in other places besides the family. The president of a company is in the parental position to the employees. The school principal and teachers are in the parental position to the students. Satan hates this age-old institution of God, the parent-child relationship. This is why communism, as an agent of Satan, strongly attacks the nuclear family and the authority of teachers as part of "class oppression." They are the first things communism tries to eliminate whenever it takes over a society. Any ideology attempting to destroy the relationship between parents and children and the nuclear family is a satanic ideology, not a God-centered ideology. The Unification Church has declared war against communism because it is the most evil, satanic ideology mankind has ever known.
No grandparents want to be deserted by their children and grandchildren; they naturally want to enjoy a love relationship with them. Three generations within a family make it whole, both vertically and horizontally. The ideal is for the grandparents, the parents, and the children all to be united in a harmonious relationship. Certainly the most desirable kind of mate would be a person who enjoyed that harmonious relationship with his grandparents and parents as a child. Children who grow up in that kind of wholesome environment experience a balanced and harmonious life; they learn about the width and depth and all the dimensions of loving relationships. Their families are a training ground for the balanced, global experience of all kinds of love.
The experience of love in all directions is absolutely necessary for a person to live happily in spirit world. Once you enter spirit world, you are a part of the society there. If you have learned how to love and relate to all kinds of people-children, old people, your peers-you can go anywhere and be accepted and welcomed. Thus, your grandfather on the earth is in the position of God. As you serve your grandparents, you learn how to serve God.
What is the position of the True Parents? They are in the position of ancestors to God-centered mankind. Thus, in every home True Parents are in the parental position. Each of you is in the position of children.
The most basic teaching of the Unification Church is to live your life for the sake of others. By doing this you can automatically relate with anyone and everyone, becoming the central figure wherever you go. Unless one learns how to love others and live for their benefit, he cannot attain peace in his life; he will always encounter conflicts and struggles. We must live our lives practicing this credo. My own life has been dedicated to this standard. When I came to America, I loved it more than I loved Korea; more than I love this country, I love the universe. This is the will of God.
One fact is true, and you can tell this to others with confidence: the True Parents have brought you into a relationship with God. Through your relationship with us, you have come to know the love of God. The fall of man made it impossible for the original parents to link their children and descendants to the love of God. A blockage was created along the vertical line. It is important that you love and respect your physical parents. However, you need the True Parents because you need to be linked with the absolute love of God. Who are the True Parents? Simply speaking, they are the man and woman who have the ability and authority to link everybody to the love of God.
You have all received much criticism; people say you have abandoned your physical parents and have been "brainwashed" by Reverend Moon. This is not true. What you are doing is very simple and clear-you are going where the love of God resides. Is it more righteous to follow where God's love leads or to pursue only secular love? The universal principle dictates that man must find the love of God. No matter how much your physical parents love you, they cannot escape from the grasp of sin; in other words, they are incapable of totally linking you with the love of God.
Therefore, seeking after the True Parents and striving to link yourself to the love of God is the ultimate social responsibility. No matter what secular society may say about you, what you are doing is eternally just and proper in the eyes of the universe.
The Unification Church today is trying to fulfill the ideal of creation. Although you are striving after this ideal under tremendous opposition now, once you go to spirit world you will inherit eternal love and freedom. You will have absolutely no regrets for living your life this way. People were born to live with relationships of eternal love, not just temporal love. Right here on the earth we are learning to live by this eternal law of the spirit world. When everyone lives by this principle we will live in the Kingdom of Heaven on earth as well as in spirit world for eternity. The two realms will operate exactly parallel, under the same universal laws.
This earthly world moves upward and re-creates itself in the spirit world. When someone has lived by the Principle, he experiences no barriers to his life in spirit world. If a person believes himself to be righteous on the earth but has not actually been living by the Principle, he will encounter innumerable problems and barriers to his happiness once he gets to spirit world. A person's secular knowledge, power or wealth has absolutely no bearing whatsoever on his freedom and happiness once he goes to spirit world.
The Unification Church is teaching the ideal of the heavenly four-position foundation. The creation of this God-centered, loving family is the most crucial and extraordinary achievement of the Unification Church. This achievement will prevail forever, both here on the earth and in heaven. Therefore, no matter how difficult it may be, we must walk this path of principle. Students in school must make a passing grade, regardless of how difficult the course work may be. You cannot tell your teacher, "I know everything, so don't test me. Please just give me a 100% grade." The teacher will never allow such a thing. Likewise, you cannot say to me, "Father, I have been a church member for a long time, so please don't give me any tests now."
Some people evaluate their fiancés according to their own partial viewpoint of that person. If your fiancé is shorter than you prefer or seems different from your ideal, you might want to reject that person. However, consider Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. There was only one man for Eve and only one woman for Adam. Even if Adam happened to be ugly and crippled, Eve would not have been in the position to reject him. Certainly God pre-arranged their matching! You must understand clearly why you are marrying in the first place. It is not primarily for your own gratification, but for the sake of the vertical line between the parents and the children.
Once you have given birth to children, they would never reject you if you became crippled; they have no right to do such a thing. Also, parents cannot "send back" a child if he is damaged in some way. Nothing can sever the relationship between parents and children; it is eternal and unchangeable.
Anyone who claims, "I don't want my fiancé," is not really standing in the position of child to God. It is only because of God that love occurs between men and women. When you deny that vertical line and ignore the fact that God is the reason for your marriage, you are denying your linkage with God.
Within a home, God's love comes down in a vertical line through the parents, then to the son. When the son takes a wife, she comes to join that family and make it whole. The daughter-in-law or son-in-law should not cause division between parents and children but harmony and wholeness. When a man and woman are blessed in marriage by the True Parents, they are not in a position to divide themselves from the True Parents. That will never produce good results.
Why do we say this is an evil world? Is it because there is not enough money, or national power, or relationships? No, the world is evil because it has no true love. God is going after men in order to implant in them the seed of true love. He wants to see the individual of true love, the family of true love, the society of true love, the nation and world of true love. Each of you, as well, desires to see this ideal come about on the largest level. The desire for a universe of true love is a natural part of each person. God, as the infinite plus, is the power which is pushing the universe into the position of infinite minus. Once the vertical love of God meets the horizontal reality of the universe in a perfect 90° angle, the result will be a perfect spherical movement of true love on the universal level. No matter how huge such a universal sphere of love is, each individual will be able to navigate freely within it and feel at home anywhere. The love of the universe will be your love as well. In the spirit world, you will be able to enjoy total freedom of movement-vertically, horizontally, diagonally, any direction.
In order to move up the ladder of development from individual of true love to family of true love and so on, extra effort must be exerted at each stage. You must make greater and greater effort to become a larger and larger minus before God. As a larger and larger low pressure area comes to exist, a high pressure atmosphere will be pulled in from all four directions.
In order to pursue this kind of life, we must be able to move around freely from place to place. That means you cannot be held down by all kinds of baggage and belongings, but rather have simple, easy-to-move belongings. We are living in the age of the new Exodus and everyday we are moving closer and closer to Canaan. Moses, as the leader of the Israelites in the wilderness, was confronted every day with all kinds of complaints. "Moses, it's too hot! We need water! My husband is sick, what can I do? My family is in terrible shape!" They all wanted to blame Moses instead of considering that those problems, such as disease, were happening because of their own course of indemnity.
At this time, Dr. Durst is traveling around the country and appearing on every possible radio and television show, speaking the truth about our movement. He has met some ex-members of our church whose attitudes have amazed me. In the past, most of the people who left always blamed the church and me in order to justify themselves, but now they are not doing that as much. They are saying, "I left the church, but I still love Reverend Moon. It was just too difficult for me to follow their standards." Other ex-members have the excuse that their particular leader in the church was impossible. What about you? Are you men and women of complaint, following a zigzag course, or are you moving straight and steadily toward the goal? You must realize that this is still our time of exodus through the wilderness. During this time the best husband and wife will have the attitude, "I am not worthy of my spouse. I want to serve him/her better in order that we can both achieve our goals. I want to overcome all my shortcomings for that purpose." However, there is another kind of couple who thinks, "I am a great person. If my spouse is not worthy of me, I will just kick him or her out." Of these two types of couples, which is the more beautiful? Certainly the first.
You never know what will happen in your life in the future. Although some of you women may not think your future husbands are very appealing, some day each of you will realize how much your husband is your savior. And vice-versa. There are always more common, average people in any group than brilliant ones. Moses' flock was also composed of many more common, grass-roots type of people than brilliant ones. When I look at our members, I feel very cautious about those men and women who think they are very special and good-looking. Such kinds of people are not very likely to endure the most difficult, suffering aspects of our church life. On the other hand, those people who are humble are more earnest in seeking my guidance for everything, including the choice of their mates. These people are most likely to stay and endure all the way to our ultimate goal.
Before you complain against your fiancé you must meditate and search very deeply within the Principle. Once you give up the Principle and your relationship with God, you can only encounter one difficulty after another; and you will have no defense against them. If you have an unhealthy, self-centered mind, any children you might give birth to will not bring glory to God or to you. It is an amazing fact that no matter how hard you try to deny the Divine Principle you simply cannot disprove it. Even though you don't want to think about it, you can never really dismiss the Divine Principle.
If you are a very attractive, capable young person, put yourself in God's place. Consider the fact that God has to work with this entire world which is filled with many more degraded human beings than superior ones. There are far more ugly, ignorant, low people than any other kind. You should seek to become a friend and savior to such people of the world.
If there is a marriage between a handsome man and a beautiful woman, their relationship may tend to be more intense on the horizontal plane than the vertical. But if a handsome man marries a less attractive woman, it is a foundation for a vertical connection, since one is higher and one lower. When that handsome man goes down to a lower level, he must deny himself. In so doing, he creates a greater width and depth for himself and his relationship with his wife. He must sacrifice for the sake of greater love.
There are all kinds of blessed couples. Certainly God takes the greatest joy in observing those couples in which the most extreme contrasts are harmonized. Within the black and white couples, their harmony is symbolic of harmony between midnight and noontime; thus the 24-hour daily cycle is harmonized. If your ideal is to marry someone just like yourself, you are not thinking the way God does. If you resist making harmony between extremes, you are in line with satanic thinking. When the Unification Church is living up to this ideal of harmony, there can be hope for unity of the whole world.
Although some of you might think you want a good-looking spouse, once you have been married for a short time you will realize how unimportant are a person's looks. The only thing which can sustain a good marriage is the internal quality of you and your spouse. You cannot see those internal qualities at this time. Also, you should realize that a handsome husband or beautiful wife has a certain liability. After all, you have to worry whether someone else might not try to take him or her away from you. But if your spouse looks like an Idaho potato, you don't have to worry about such a thing!
When an ugly man is married to a beautiful woman, he will think, "She is much better than I deserve. God has given me a wonderful gift in her." That man will love and serve his wife throughout their life. Any woman should be grateful to have a husband who can appreciate her like that. The children who are born to such a couple will inherit a wonderful tradition from their parents. A beautiful family will be created which will be blessed abundantly by God. Too often, people evaluate the beauty of others only according to the beauty of the face, but the face is only one portion of the body. You should consider the beauty of the entire person.
The value of the letters of the alphabet is in what they can communicate. Each letter is a symbol and no matter how perfectly formed each letter may be, that is not as important as the meaning behind it. When a great artist is painting a person's face, he pays tremendous attention to the background for the portrait. That background is crucial for the enhancement of the face. Considering a couple as a portrait within a frame, if the wife is very beautiful the husband should be her rough, less-beautiful background. He can bring out the beauty of his wife. If the face in the foreground is very ugly, then the background should be bright and attractive; this achieves harmony. Therefore, one ugly spouse and one beautiful one is a lovely, artistic combination.
When someone takes a nap in the middle of the day, he seeks a place of shade, not some bright, sunny area. Thus shade deserves appreciation as well as sunshine. People naturally want to work in the daylight, but they want to find their peace and rest in the shade.
Reverend Moon has come to bring harmony and unity between the cultures of East and West. This is also a dramatic combination. At this time, more and more Western people in the secular world are seeking their mates from the Eastern culture. This is a good thing, basically, but such unions are not easy. In order for them to succeed, they need to be founded upon true understanding. When a person marries someone from an opposite culture, his viewpoint will begin to change. He will begin to like what he used to dislike and vice-versa.
Our conclusion, then, is that the establishment of the heavenly four-position foundation is the completion of the ideal of creation. It is ideal to see two extreme poles combine into harmonious oneness. The family is the fundamental base of that ideal. People look at you as crazy people. Everyone else in America chooses his own mate according to his own tastes, and the two of them decide the date of their marriage. If they want to divorce, they do so whenever they choose. But you in the Unification Church are living within a different kind of culture. Here you wait for the date of your wedding to be set by the True Parents. This in itself is a miracle. I know that every day you wonder when the date will be set. Why are you so eager? Because you want to live in accordance with the Principle and fulfill the ideal of creation.
The longer you have to wait between your engagement and your marriage, the more upheavals and emotional turmoil you have to go through. I'm sure that during this long waiting period, you have called each other at times, saying, "Hello, my darling, how are you?" Yet, during your conversation, some disagreement arises and you argue over the telephone. Finally, you hang up in anger, thinking, "I'll never call you again, you so-and-so!" Then a day passes and no call comes; another day passes; and a third day goes by without a call. Finally, you are very worried and you find yourself on the phone again, saying, "Hello, darling, how are you?" These are the kinds of convolutions you have probably all endured. This is part of the upward progress of a relationship.
Above all else, you should be proud of each other for doing the work of God. You should be asking each other, "How did you do today in fund raising?" or "How many people did you meet in your home church area today?" You should share with each other, advise each other, and experience the joys and difficulties together of living the Principle. Between the two of you, have a competition over who will bring the most spiritual children before the day of the heavenly wedding. If you both work very hard, you can gain many spiritual children and they can all come to your wedding ceremony, showing praise and love to you as their spiritual parent. That is a great asset you can bring to your marriage. With spiritual children all around the world, you could even take a global honeymoon and have it arranged by them! You must work with this kind of bubbling enthusiasm.
As an individual, you must become the individual messiah. When you look at yourself, can you truly trust yourself? The individual messiah must be of unchanging quality. Can you inspire another person's trust in you as well? You must be confident that you will not change or betray the things you believe or the people who believe in you, not only now but also in the future.
If you cannot even trust yourself, how can you expect to be trusted by a spouse or an entire family? If you are not worthy to be trusted, you are not worthy of marriage. The messiah is a person who comes down to the bottom levels of society; he can trust himself completely and others can trust him. He trusts other people, as well. From that individual level, the messiah can expand to all the higher levels.
What is your foundation? It is a very serious question. When you cannot be absolutely sure of what you would do in the future, how can you hope to deserve the trust of other people? You have said that you trust and believe in me, but if you cannot really trust yourself, how can I trust your statements of faith? 1, too, have to be able to trust myself before I can tell God, "I trust You." I started my mission with an absolute determination to continue on this path forever; nothing was able to divert me. You must become men and women who cannot be stopped by anything, even death.
I have been loving and trusting America. No matter what happens, even though America has treated me badly, I cannot change my loving attitude toward America. I want you to understand that the beginning point of fulfilling the role of messiah is achieving that unchanging quality; only in that way can a person trust himself. Once you have come to believe in yourself, your surroundings will believe in you. Can you trust your own eyes, your ears, the judgment of your mind? Our marriage in the Unification Church is the fulfillment of the messianic ideal. How can you marry until you can say that you can trust yourself? If a couple marries without that kind of standard, how can they be trusted? This is basic and fundamental.
You must make a solid foundation at the individual level before you can move up to the family-level of messiah, then clan, society, nation, world and cosmos level. Without that fundamental basis being solid, the rest of the levels cannot be stable. Many of you have been thinking of your long-time membership in the church and how you deserve to a have higher position and status. However, rather than thinking of your position, you should be striving to become a trustworthy person. You must become the kind of individual who can be trusted by your spouse, your children, your tribe, nation, universe and cosmos.
Who will evaluate whether your faith is good enough? You can evaluate yourself according to the light of the Principle; you know how much you are worthy of trust. What is the standard to determine whether you are trustworthy? First of all, determine whether you are walking on the road of truth. Second, you must walk with love. Once your mind is sincerely seeking the way of truth and love, you pass the test.
The individual must be standing upon the foundation of absolute truth and love and then move up to all the higher levels. All the levels are linked together. At each step, you are taking responsibility for achieving messiahship on every level. Ultimately you will enter into the spirit world upon that foundation. God is God on every level. His truth and love are unchanging and absolute; His standards never change. What kind of messiah are you? Before one can reach the level of worldwide messiah, he must complete all the levels supporting it. We talk about the cosmic level of messiah, which includes not only the physical universe but also the spiritual universe. For yourself, it may not be possible to think in terms of cosmic level messiah, but you should be thinking in terms of individual, family and tribal level messiah in a practical way.
Within an individual, once the mind and body are harmonized, truth can dwell within. Once truth can dwell within an individual, the love of God can dwell there as well. When the father and mother within a family are united in true subject-object oneness, truth comes to dwell on that level, and then the love of God as well. When there is unity between the parents and the children. trust and God's love will be there. The children can trust the parents and the parents can trust the children for eternity. This can happen only because trust and God's love are dwelling within that relationship.
On the clan level, when the central family imparts good influence to the others, the clan level of messiah is fulfilled. When there is a central clan which is the subject of goodness within a society or nation, the national level of messiah is fulfilled. The same thing must happen on the level of world and cosmos.
Do we have our own nation within the Unification Church? We have achieved the clan level, but not yet the national level. At this time, we are in the process of elevating our level of messiah to the level of the nation. This is the role of home church. We are making the base of the tribal messiahship within America. All over the nation, there are clusters of tribes fulfilling this role. We are doing this in every nation of the world, so eventually one nation will emerge totally successful in the home church dispensation. At that point, the national level of messiah will be born. By the same manner, we will move on to the worldwide level. We are working on many levels at the same time-individual, family, tribal-with the goal of moving up to the national level in one country where the messiah can be accepted.
The situation in Korea is very shaky at this time. The economic and political scene is in great turmoil. At the same time that the Unification Church is undergoing massive tribulation, the nation of Korea is suffering as well. The only solution to the problems of Korea is the Principle, although they do not realize it at this time.
Why do we do home church? By doing it, we can inherit the blessing from God; it is our common destiny. We must achieve the level of messiah on every level all the way up to the cosmic. We must build a bridge from one stage to another. As representatives of the United States, you need the messiah. The whole world needs the messiah.
Consider a big tree; Jesus is like the root, all of Christianity is like the trunk and all the Christians of the world are the different branches and leaves. All are part of one tree, growing up from one root. If one of the branches is cut off and is allowed to root elsewhere, the same tree can be duplicated. This is what the Unification Church is doing.
Our topic today deals with the present situation, centering upon the dispensation of God. The present situation of the Unification Church is that of enduring persecution. We are enduring so much persecution at this time because we do not yet have a national-level foundation. If we had achieved a national or worldwide foundation, certainly America would not be in a position to persecute us. Where will we find our nation' We must give our entire energy to restoring one nation. We must find one nation where we can truly fulfill the ideal of God. Whenever I am mistreated. I look forward to the attainment of that ultimate goal.
All the State Leaders are here this morning. If each of you fulfills the role of messiah to your state, there will be no reason for me to suffer persecution from this state. You must muster your strength and move forward toward the victory. Once you become the kind of individual who can trust himself absolutely, the rest of the world will rally around you. Therefore, the victory must begin inside each one of you. Then the world which has had no one to trust will be able to trust you. Through the work of the Unification Church, we are all working to become messiahs for the world.
Whenever two or more people get together, there is always a central figure through whom harmony can be created. When two or more persons live together, each person's good points and bad points are known to all the rest. The person who works the hardest and gives the most will become the central figure; this is heavenly law. We are here to fulfill the messianic ideology. The earth and all of mankind are in need of such an ideology.
The world is roughly divided between the democratic and the communistic realms. Those who can bring harmony between these two opposing camps will have the position of messiah. The two camps are deeply divided and each is fighting for its own self-centered reasons. We must mediate in this world and bring harmony, out of a totally unselfish motivation. In that way we are a third party of goodness. The more time passes, the stronger we become and the greater our impact on both worlds.
The messiah is in the parental position. Parents can only be secure in their position when the two children, Cain and Abel, are harmonized with each other. Abel must be the one to take initiative to create that harmony, out of his sacrificial service to Cain. Therefore, the Unification Church must take the initiative to serve the entire world. We are in a position like judges, pointing out the goodness and short comings of both the democratic and communistic realms. By bringing a God-centered point of view, we can create harmony between the two realms.
Each of you must be well educated in the doctrines and ethics of Christianity. Likewise, you must understand communist ideology and know where each is right and wrong. Our ultimate goal is unification of the two camps; we are teaching Unificationism. From the providential point of view, the one thing truly needed by the world at this time is Unificationism. The world is in chaos; without a central truth, the world cannot be saved. We are bringing not only central truth, but also central love; both are necessary factors of the messianic ideology.
In conclusion, let me emphasize that we cannot be defeated today by our present situation. We must overcome these recent difficulties and go forward in order to teach these two key factors to the world-central truth and central love. We must expand the realm under which these can prosper. This is what God wants, what Reverend Moon wants and it is also what mankind wants; it is our duty and responsibility to accomplish this. Let us make a new beginning today. With the great power of love and truth in our hands, we have nothing to fear and no reason to hesitate. Those who want to do this, please raise your hands.
During the next 53 days, you know what your goal is and you know how to achieve it. Do your very best to fulfill that goal. Everything which seems to be an obstacle at this time will be melted away; your path will be clear. I'm sure you are praying for me and this legal situation; that is good. But more importantly, you must go out to the world and bring in more spiritual children so that we can strengthen our foundation. We will show to the world that the Unification Church is not dead, but is alive and strong and running forward today for that new horizon, the world of God.
Let us pray.