Sun Myung Moon
April 3, 1977
Belvedere, New York
Translator - Bo Hi Pak
Due to the fall of man, we all need to be resurrected. The fall of man was our departure or our separation from the original realm of life, but we are destined to be restored into that original realm through the resurrection process. If there had been no fall there should have been God-centered parents, and you yourselves as God-centered children, surrounded by all the things of creation. Due to the fall of man, however, this sequence of existence has been reversed. When you fall from a tree your head usually hits the ground first. Similarly the fall brought man's spirit down.
When I say that the whole sequence is upside down I mean that from the standpoint of God the highest point is not occupied by men but by all the things of creation, or nature. Furthermore, through the fall a new master came into being who is not God; Satan has become the master instead. All the things of creation, all children, all parents, indeed all of the universe has been under the dominion of Satan. God created only one man and one woman, but He wanted them to hold the central position in the universe. Who is Adam? Adam is the visible form of God, the body of God.
The minds of men are invisible, having no form, but you know that they exist. You cannot see air either, but you definitely know that air exists. The mind is the place where God comes to dwell. In contrast, the body is visible like the earth. We cannot live without the elements supplied by the earth and the air. In the spirit world also there are elements of life, and without them our spiritual lives cannot be sustained. You may think that we need only food to eat and air to breathe, but we need one more clement like air, only spiritual in content.
The food we eat is the formation stage of sustenance, while the air we breathe is the growth stage. The perfection stage element can be called the eternal strength and vitality of life, which is supplied at a higher level than are food and air. Everything is made in three different levels. Look at your face. You have a mouth on one level, a nose on another level, and eyes and forehead on another level. Even in your little finger you can see three bones. Your eyeballs have a white element and a brown or blue element, then the pupil in the center.
What will bring you to God's side?
The realm of the fallen world has been dominated not by God, but by Satan. In order to restore the fallen element, we must go through the reverse process of the fall. Who is going to undertake such a task? Satan? God? Who caused the fall? Man did. Therefore man has to take up the major responsibility of restoration. Man cooperated with Satan and fell; therefore, in the reverse process man should take up the major responsibility and cooperate with God.
When you move one step to the left side then you stand in the satanic realm, but when you move one step to the right you are in God's realm. In which direction would you like to move? If you want to move to God's side then what should you do? If you mobilize your power and knock Satan out, will that bring you to the right-hand side? Can prayer alone bring you to the right-hand side, even pleading, "God, come to save me?" You can continue such a prayer for 1,000 years and still it would bring nothing.
Only prayer plus action will bring about restoration. Prayer is actually a pledge or covenant between God and men, and when you make a promise then you must deliver it. God will say, "I heard your prayer. Now is the time to act." Would God ever tell you to just sit still and wait for Him to do everything? That is not God's way. When a man brings a prayer to God then God will watch to see whether His child is just a man of words or whether he is one who fulfills his promises. God is awaiting your action.
Suppose you have offered a prayer and want to make a giant step toward God's side. You know you will meet resistance because Satan is still holding on to you. God is not yet connected to you and is awaiting the completion of your first step. How can you disconnect yourself from Satan and not be pulled from behind? There are only two ways: either you reject Satan or he leaves on his own. Satan is clever. When he recognizes that you are completely one with God and that nothing will change your mind, then he will decide he does not want to waste any more energy on you and he will leave.
There is one most principled way for God to test whether someone is truly a man of God. God will tell Satan, "Go test my son and see whether you can bring him down to your realm. If you fail, then he is my son." You must know that this is the universal formula, and always throughout history satanic attacks and tribulations have pursued the men of God. There is no other way for a child of God to prove himself. It is important to know for whom a man exists because in restoration he must go opposite from the worldly way. Who did man think about in the process of the fall? Man's selfish thinking about his own benefit brought the fall.
Is the American way of life today individualistic or public-minded? Does it represent hell or heaven? What about you? Man brought the fall upon himself, and as long as he continues in self-centeredness he has no way to restore himself to the side of God. Restoration or resurrection has no meaning as long as man persists in living on a selfish level. On April 1, I declared that man had not only become centered upon himself, but had also consummated love centered upon himself, wanting to reap everything for his own benefit. Everyone is thinking about himself and about how he can become the recipient of love.
We cannot go over the hill of resurrection until we ourselves excel Adam and Eve. Do you want to go to heaven or hell? Adam and Eve brought themselves into hell because they were self-centered. You must be different unless you want to go to the same place.
Who should become your center? You must become God-centered instead of self-centered, and love God more than you love yourself. Before you ever existed God already existed and was your entire being; God is your center and consequently you exist solely for God. You must want to become one with that center again. That center is eternal and unchanging, and once it is established it will not move. Once its axis is true, then the environment can be moved.
The center is unchanging God and you are the surroundings; in oneness with the center you can turn upon that unchanging axis. That God, that center, is your origin and your subject. As God's object you must make God the center, not yourself, and you must love God more than you love anything else.
What was the fall of man? Simply speaking, "I" became the center and "I" took everything, including all the different kinds of love. Since self-centered love brought the fall of man, you must move in the opposite direction. If you start by moving one step into the satanic realm then the entire weight of your body will be on your left foot. Satan has certainly become your master and center instead of God, and your body has become a satanic body, tied in satanic love. Therefore, you must separate yourself from the satanic world.
If you keep that Satan-centered body and way of life then you become entangled by the satanic family, society, nation and world, caught by many different ropes and chains and unable to separate yourself. If you are determined to become the most important and influential leader of this world, would we say that you are a heavenly leader or satanic leader? With that way of life you are still within the boundary of Satan's realm. You must really understand this. The most critical question concerns what position you are in. Have you already crossed the boundary completely and become situated 100% on God's side? Are you still in the process of crossing the boundary, or is your weight still on the satanic side, with your right foot just barely touching the ground of heaven?
Many of you are still in this process and not even touching the ground of heaven yet. You are still mulling over whether you should even go. I want you to know absolutely clearly what hell and heaven are, and what is the true way of good and evil. You should know clearly the definition of good and evil. If you can look at yourself and know that you are absolutely God-centered and that you absolutely love God more than anybody else then you are indeed in heaven, and are a good man in the sight of God. If you are the other way around, you are in the satanic world and destined to hell. Man is always fluid, constantly moving back and forth, back and forth.
Without the fall, self-centeredness would be God-centeredness
You must make up your mind firmly and not continue mulling over the question. If you straddle the boundary line between the fallen realm and the restored realm, then no matter how much you pray your prayer will not be answered. But once you make up your mind to be on God's side then nothing will be pulling behind you and you can go straight forward.
We all need food, but for whom? Do you eat your meals for God, or for yourself? What is different about saying you are eating the food for God? You must make your body a complete temple of God. If God is dwelling inside then when you eat you are not feeding yourself, but God. You must feel that way. Then you are doing a favor for God, and your meal is holy because it is God's meal. Y,/hen you go to the bathroom, are you still doing it for God? The same principle applies in whatever you do, even in going to the bathroom. The temple of God needs some give and take. Therefore you are obeying God's order and going to the bathroom to relieve yourself.
You are not breathing air for yourself, you are breathing for God. Do not ever think that you are listening for yourself. Instead you are listening to music together with someone. Do not ever think you are doing anything alone and that nobody sees you. That is impossible. When you meet people in the everyday world, who is actually talking to them? God is talking through you. Once you become completely one with God and make yourself God's own body, then when you do something for yourself it is not really for yourself. In that case, when you are serving yourself you are automatically serving God.
After you are totally separated from Satan and you absolutely become one with God, then thinking of yourself is not really thinking of yourself. Because you are a temple of God then your becoming a center means that God automatically becomes the center; if there had been no fall this would automatically be the case. Which life would be more meaningful? Would you want to be more God-centered or more self-centered? Actually it is more fun and exciting to be God-centered and it never becomes a burden.
Would you be most happy to have your money in your own pocket or in my pocket? Don't tell a lie! Do you really think, "No, God, even though you are important, my pocket is more important"? If Adam and Eve had not fallen then being self-centered and God-centered would be the same thing. God wanted to see Adam be greedy to become really perfect, really rich. If Adam were greedy like that he would say, "God, You are my Father, and I will never leave You, and don't You try to leave me for one second!" That would be greediness for God. It is selfish in a way if Adam wants to satisfy himself by loving God, but that makes God happy.
Without the fall or sin, Adam and Eve's way of life would be self-centered, but since the self without sin is equivalent to God it is automatically God-centered. Because of the fall of man God was separated from Adam, allowing Satan to come in and become master. As a result, the self-centered way of life has become alienated from God. However, if there had been no fall and absolutely no sin such that God and man were perfectly united, self-centeredness would not be sinful. Then self-centeredness would automatically be God-centeredness. Therefore, self-centeredness in the fallen world should not be blamed 100%. Once you become absolutely God-centered then a self-centered way of life would automatically become God's way of life. It is because we are departed from perfection that all the difficulty has come into being. If we were in perfection with God, then the center of self-centeredness would be God, and loving oneself would be loving God.
When love becomes your center, then loving your own children, your own mate and your parents would be beautiful in the sight of God, having nothing to do with envy or jealousy. Since we have become the prisoners of Satan all of our loving relationships are still connected with Satan; therefore, we need some revolutionary experience to separate ourselves from Satan and move into perfection. No perfection can be found in this realm of Satan. The process of separation is our job.
Re-creation of all things, children, and parents
You can see how the sequence of creation has been turned upside down by the fall. The things of creation are now closest to God, then children and then parents. Where should we begin in restoration? The work of re-creation is restoration, so let us think about the process of God's own first creation, which God accomplished together with the angels. Even though the archangel Lucifer became fallen, the other two important archangels are still there at God's side, along with the angelic world. In cooperation with the angelic world God made all the things of creation first.
Next God created His own children. If those children of God had grown into perfection, what would they have become? Parents. I want you to know clearly that the work of salvation we are talking about is the work of restoration; salvation, restoration, and re-creation are all one and the same thing. Through the re-creation process the realm of resurrection comes into being. When we advance with the work of salvation we are actually proceeding with the work of resurrection and re-creation.
God will start from the re-creation of all things first, because that is the order of His initial creation. Who should do that? Man was the one who brought the fall and for that reason man has the first responsibility. Nature holds a higher position than man since the fall, and consequently we must make an effort to become one with all things first. Based on this principle the practice of offering sacrifices came into being, particularly in the Old Testament era. At that time offerings were made of money, animals, and cereal grains, representing the three major aspects of the physical world-the mineral, plant and animal kingdoms. When Abraham made his offerings he brought a dove and a pigeon, a ram and a she-goat, and a heifer, three different kinds of offerings.
What is an offering? The making of an offering is significant because it is the process whereby men and the things of creation become one in the sight of God. The time must come when man can make offerings on the family, tribal, national and worldwide levels, in order to restore mankind as the center of all things. In other words, man's original lordship is restored when the offering is accepted by God. This has been the work of the Old Testament era, when offerings were made on the individual, family, tribal and national levels. That is the way Old Testament history progressed.
After that era was consummated by the recreation of all things, or the creation of the unity between all things and man, then man's lordship over all creation was restored. Upon that foundation the new era of children dawned with the coming of Jesus Christ. As a man who was a child of God, Jesus came upon God's foundation of all things to proclaim man's lordship. Ultimately Jesus became an offering himself, so that fallen mankind could be elevated to the level of children of God by uniting with Jesus. This became the New Testament era.
By shedding blood Jesus literally became a sacrifice on the altar of God. Jesus' desire to see his role fulfilled became his desire to see the day of the Lord of the Second Advent, which begins the era of the parents. By restoring all things of creation during the Old Testament era and re-creating fallen man as the sons of God during the New Testament era, the new era of the parents could be brought forth.
America's mission as the center of Christianity
Christianity is the foundation upon which this final altar of the parents can be created. America has become the center of Christianity and God poured upon this land a material blessing to adequately prepare it for the time of Kingdom-building. God blessed this Christian nation with material things and it was able to embrace people from all over the world, establishing America as the culminating point of the new dispensation. All of this reached a peak after World War II.
God poured out both the material power and the power of influence that would enable America to embrace the rest of the world. America contains an assortment of the world's races, truly being a melting pot. Why did God need to create America as a Christian nation? Solely to prepare for that one momentous time of His history, the Second Advent of the Lord. Through the Old Testament era God has restored all things and through the New Testament era God has restored the children, and upon that foundation God could give out the blessing for making a heavenly home. That marks the consummation of God's dispensation.
America is supposed to be a God-centered nation; American people should feel that the backbone of this nation is God, and all its wealth and material blessing is for God's purpose. The age for the installation of the heavenly parents is dawning; that is the meaning of the new age. If Christianity accepts the new era and the new messiahship then there will be no problem. However, if Christianity, in the position of the children of God, opposes the parents, then the parents will receive untold persecution. If Christianity opposes the installation of the new age, then the entire rest of the world will join together with Christianity in opposition.
In that case the parents installed by God shall go up to God's altar as the sacrifice for mankind. In light of the Principle, the Unification Church was born to lay the necessary foundation to prevent the damaging of God's providence by the satanic world. The Unification Church is the new breed of people who understand the truth about God and the original purpose of His creation. They know that God's history was first centered upon all the things of nature, then upon God-centered children and that upon all of this the God-centered parents will finally come into being as the center of God's ideal. Together their give and take of love will create a living Kingdom of God here on earth. The Unification Church knows that this is the ideal of God here on earth, and has brought a new terminology: True Parents. The True Parents are an important center of the Unification Church because they are the symbol of the New Age.
Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit are the center of Christianity. The Holy Spirit is a mother spirit, or the spirit of re-birth; therefore, Jesus and the Holy Spirit together have been in the role of the spiritual parents of mankind. Since Christianity has only spiritual parents, the salvation of Christianity is only spiritual, exercising no power over the physical world. But the Unification Church is different.
We have power because we have a physical as well as spiritual center, the True Parents. Therefore, for the first time in history, the unification Church has the power to save mankind physically as well as spiritually. Because of the fall everything has been upside down, but we are now in the process of restoring the original sequence: parents, children, and all things. In the Unification Church the True Parents, you as the children, and all the property and material that God has given to this church, together represent the three ages: Completed Testament, New Testament, and Old Testament. This is also symbolic of the entire universe. Who forms the center? At the center are the True Parents.
If there has been no fall then certainly the center of the universe would have been Adam and Eve as the parents of mankind. When Adam and Eve were perfected they were supposed to be the center not only of the family, but also of Adam's race, Adam's nation, Adam's world and Adam's universe. They were supposed to be the center of everything because they were to be the body of God.
God's original intention for Christianity
I want you to understand that the entire work of God is the work of re-creation. First God re-created all things, then God re-created His children, and finally God is re-creating God-centered parents. However, in this time of re-creation man plays the central role. This work of re-creation is harder than the initial creation because Satan is a blocking force. When God originally created man there was no Satan, but under our present circumstances we must succeed in the doubly difficult task of re-creation.
That is the road of salvation. When you are going uncompromisingly in the direction of God, you are inevitably placing yourself in a position to be attacked by Satan. Satan is not standing still either. This circle I am drawing represents the entire universe taken by Satan. Since we cannot restore the entire universe at one stroke we set up conditional restoration in a small point, gathering and restoring all the elements needed for the Kingdom. This is the beachhead or foothold of the Kingdom of God on earth. This is far greater in value than the entire satanic universe put together.
Next that beachhead must be expanded. In the Old Testament era that expansion only included material things, but it expanded onto the tribal and national levels. When the restoration of all things was accomplished on the scale of the chosen nation then God promised to send someone. Why? Establishing a chosen nation was merely groundwork and upon that foundation God wanted to start the restoration of the children, for which a God-centered son should come. Satan knew that the Messiah was coming as God's champion in order to declare God's Kingdom, and that once the Messiah could claim his own territory then the satanic world would come to an end. Naturally Satan focused his entire attack on the central figure of Jesus Christ.
Even though it was God's chosen nation, Israel was still under the dominion of the Roman Empire at that time, both politically and economically. Satan is clever. Even though the chosen nation might become completely one with Jesus, Satan had yet another string to pull: the Roman Empire. In other words, Satan still had the power to crush that kingdom.
If Jesus, the people of Israel, and all things of that nation had become totally one, then a sample Kingdom of God would have been formed. What kind of ideology should the chosen nation of Israel have had? They should have deeply felt that their nation was God's nation, and that their people were God's people, as well as all their material belongings being God's. But on the contrary, they thought of Jesus as a stranger trying to disrupt their own nation and their own religion.
Actually the people should have had even broader minds, thinking of the Roman Empire and the Roman citizens as belonging to God. They should have been praying for God to give them a central champion to rally around in order to unite the Arab nations so that they could even subjugate the Roman Empire for His purpose. Then upon recognizing Jesus as the Messiah, the son of God, they could have achieved such a goal. If that had been done at the time of Jesus then the different religious spheres like Christianity as the extension of Judaism, and Islam should not have been needed.
If Jesus and the nation of Israel had created a unified kingdom and absorbed all the Arab nations, then India, China and other Eastern nations would have been in the most suitable position to unite with Jesus' kingdom. They were afraid of the power of the Roman Empire, and in order to stand against Rome they would have needed such an alliance. At that time the Roman Empire was very weakened by internal corruption, just like America today, and could easily have been subjugated by God's force. If China and India had taken a position to support a united kingdom in the Middle East centered upon Jesus, then God's worldwide kingdom would have been seen.
God had already prepared India and China through the religions of Buddhism and Confucianism so that the people were trained, religiously speaking. The noble concepts of Jesus' philosophy and way of life could have been easily understood by the people of India and China at that time. God's original intention was for Christianity to move first toward the East-India and China-and to blossom there. Then Jesus Christ would have been elevated into the position of king of kings, spiritually as well as physically. Today Christianity is looked upon as a Western religion, but it should have been an Eastern religion first.
God's olive trees
Jesus was the second Adam, but he was perfected. Therefore he could have become the ancestor of sinless mankind. If that perfection had prevailed back then, do you think Jesus would have married or not? When we say that Jesus was supposed to have been the True Parent of mankind we mean that he should have married, and together with his bride become the true father and mother of mankind. Most Christians call us blasphemers for making such statements, but this is true. After Jesus was blessed by God and had begun the first family of God on the face of the earth, then Jesus' own tribe and race would have been established, forming one sphere. A second sphere of religious people and third sphere of non-religious people would also exist.
Those in the religious realm, the second sphere, are described as wild olive trees in the Bible, but God is at the center and accepts these wild olive trees. Those in the third circle are also wild olive trees yet with Satan at their center. Those in Jesus' realm are the true olive trees. Why is God the center of some of the wild olive trees? Simply because God can chop them down; in the religious world God can freely undertake revolutionary work and chop down the wild olive trees in order to graft them onto the true olive tree.
Through that grafting process the entire religious world would have become one with Jesus' world, together becoming true olive trees. Even those wild olive trees with Satan at the center should envy the beauty and accomplishment of the realm of the true olive trees, and hope to enter too. When that becomes their desire then God's kingdom can expand to embrace the entire satanic world.
Thus this entire world will gradually become God-centered, instead of Satan-centered. Do you understand now what the religious world meant in God's dispensation? The people of religion are wild olive trees, but they have God as their center. In order to graft onto the true olive tree the wild olive trees must be struck, but if they belonged to Satan he would say, "No, you can't do that. These are my olive trees."
If the chosen nation of Israel had truly followed God's will and become one with Jesus, do you think that the process of expanding the true olive tree throughout the entire religious sphere would have been possible at that time or not? India belonged in that realm because it was a religious nation, as well as China. The ultimate will of God is to form one world. However, after the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, the wild olive trees under God's control which were to be absorbed into the chosen nation were instead subjugated by the wild olive trees under Satan's dominion.
The other day I went to a big clothing store owned by a Jewish man. He knew who I was and he asked me, "I am supposed to be a member of the chosen nation, but I work hard just to keep myself alive. Why should the chosen people suffer this way? I truly don't understand." It is most apparent that the chosen nation of Israel was given the most glorious opportunity by God to have the parents of mankind become fruitful and successful in their nation, and to help install the heavenly sovereignty. But because of the rejection of Jesus by the chosen people both those missions failed and the son of God was crucified.
As a result, the satanic world came against them and at the same time God's foothold in the satanic world was eliminated. Through a great deal of failure and sin a great chasm opened that had to be filled and made whole again. A great deal of sacrifice has been paid by the chosen people and a great deal of slaughter and bloodshed has occurred; for example, six million Jews were murdered in Germany during World War 11. The chosen nation is in a sacrificial position, just as Jesus himself was a sacrifice for all mankind. Of all the peoples of the world, this one people has been paying the debt of the sin of mankind, but once that debt has been met they will be liberated.
Today's Moses
Because I say these things I have been condemned as being anti-Semitic, but that is far from the truth. Israel has been fulfilling a glorious mission and paying off the debt of the whole world, and even now they must accept Jesus. That is the culmination of their course because Judaism represents God's work on the formation level. The Jews must come to the growth level and then further to perfection. Until the Jews can transcend Judaism there is no way that the differences between the Arab nations and Israel can be resolved. They must become one with Christianity, and by doing so they can embrace the Arab nations and Islam.
Furthermore, there is no way that Christianity can survive without uniting with the Unification Church. The Old Testament era was merely the foundation for the New Testament era, which was the foundation for the Completed Testament era. This means that Judaism is the foundation of Christianity, and the Unification Church has been built upon the foundation of Christianity. Those who have a Christian background, directly or indirectly, raise your hands. Now you are moving out of the growth stage realm of Christianity and into the perfection realm of the Unification Church.
During the Exodus from Egypt the chosen nation suffered for forty years in the wilderness before reaching Canaan. That has been the pattern of history. By the same token, the Unification Church is now moving toward the land of Canaan, while suffering in the wilderness of modern day civilization for forty years since World War 11. The land of Canaan on the universal scale is ahead of us; that is the Unification Church culture. World War 11 began after the period from 1932-1939; 1981 will be the culmination of the forty-year period in the wilderness.
During the Exodus from Egypt the people separated themselves from Moses by criticizing and opposing him, and for this they needlessly suffered a great deal. All of the people who followed Moses out of Egypt faltered and died in the wilderness; God could not permit them to enter Canaan because they separated themselves from Moses, the leader whom God had chosen.
My role and that of the Unification Church is that of Moses, while Christianity is in the position of the nation of Israel. Unless the Christians become one with the Unification Church and unite with the Moses of today, they will suffer the same fate as those Jews who came out of Egypt. Only the second generation was able to enter Canaan 4,000 years ago, and in the same way the Unification Church today is reaping the second generation. These young people are going to arrive in Canaan. The entire first generation set out to go to Canaan, but instead they became the prey of eagles in the wilderness after they died. Today history is repeating itself, but on a different scale. God's providence for the chosen nation 2,000 years ago has now expanded to the worldwide scale.
America is like a house on fire and certainly fire fighters should come from outside because this nation does not have fire fighters within itself. America is like a patient needing a doctor, who must come from the outside. I have declared to America, "t came as a doctor to tend this patient of America. I came to put out the fire." No religious leader has ever made this declaration.
When arrogant people hear that they feel insulted, grumbling, "What is this Oriental man talking about?" If they knew God's purpose and God's will then they would realize that it is perfectly legitimate to speak out in that fashion. We are witnessing an interesting phenomenon in New York. Every morning when you go out to sell newspapers, more than 80% of the people you meet belong to an ethnic group, yet most of the rejections you receive come from white people. This is one sign that the ethnic groups are in a position to inherit the blessings God has given to the white people, should their arrogance persist.
White brothers and sisters of the Unification Church, your role and your mission is vitally important. You must bear the cross for the sake of the entire white race around the world. America must fulfill its position of embracing the rest of the world, which it had failed to do. What I have said makes people feel uncomfortable, but once they go to the spirit world they will see how true it is.
Christians today just do not understand God's truth, but even so they are convinced that the Kingdom of Heaven is waiting for them in spirit world. There is no question that the modem day churches are declining. However, even though America may decline and the rest of the world may crumble, as long as we adhere to God's Principle, the Unification Church shall survive and prosper. Christianity, which was originally intended to expand first toward the East, instead turned toward Rome after the crucifixion of Jesus. Rome received the blessing instead of Israel because Christianity ultimately dominated the Roman Empire after 400 years. We have to restore that blessing, meaning that we must go to the Roman Empire. Today's America is like that Roman Empire, and this new religious movement has been prospering and making a beachhead here.
Christianity must come full circle to Asia
Christianity's ultimate destination is Asia. It started in Israel, went to Rome, and then to Europe, England, and finally across the Atlantic Ocean to America. It is not going to stop here, but will reach its destination in Asia. In fighting World War 11 the Western powers overwhelmed the Asian nations. What is God going to do next? The culmination of Jesus' mission centered upon Asia, but since that was not fulfilled, the mission of Christianity will be culminated by the blossoming of the Second Advent in Asia. Centering upon that part of the world God will undertake the task of liberating the world.
The central nation of the new Christian movement is not going to be in Southeast Asia or Japan, but Korea. Korea today is the sacrifice of the modern day dispensation. Abraham's sacrifice was cut in half, and for the same reason the nation of Korea, the universal sacrifice on the altar of God, has been divided into two nations. A very symbolic court is located in Panmunjom, in which the satanic side and God's side are sitting together, bitterly accusing each other, saying, "Korea is our land." A battle of words is being fought in Panmunjom.
When God's side is victorious and can bring North Korea under a God-accepting ideology, then Korea will be united from that point on, and the entire communist world will begin to crumble. As the Christian nation, America's role is to successfully usher in this final dispensation of absolute support for Korea. That will enable Korea to become God's champion in order to re-capture the entire peninsula, so that the communists can be liberated.
If America abandons Korea then it is abandoning all Christianity, not only in Korea but throughout all of Asia, to destruction and death, and God's foothold in Asia will be wiped out. This is exactly what American foreign policy is heading toward. Should that happen then America will quickly crumble, even before Korea fails, and no power will prevent God from bringing down His wrath upon this nation. God can see the crucial time approaching, and because God is desperate to prevent America from failing its mission God sent His own messenger to this country, asking him to create a foothold here to keep the link between America and Asia from being severed. This is the scope of our work in the Unification Church.
America does not know that I am fulfilling a crucial mission to save this nation from the wrath of God. The interest and attention of Western young people is focused on Asia, isn't it? Through our being successful we will set a condition to indemnity the failure of America and God will have room to forgive this nation. Our success will cover up the failure of America, and as long as the Unification Church is alive and strong there will be a chance to recover Asia if it falls to communism.
Christian culture started in the Middle East, then moved to the Italian peninsula under the Roman Empire, to the island of England, and then to the continent of America. This has been the road of failure resulting from the crucifixion of Jesus, and from this point of restoration it has to go the reverse process. From the continent it must go to an island equivalent to England. That position is taken by Japan. To bring restoration through indemnity means to pay the debt and restore the original position. England lost its position in the providence of God, so in its place God is working through Japan as an island, and Korea as a peninsula equivalent to Italy. Ultimately the providence will return to the point of origin in the Middle East, completing the circle, and restoring the failure of Christianity.
The spiritual side will become subject over the physical side
World history is repeating itself except on different territory; in addition, events have a significance on the worldwide level, instead of only the national level. In a way the mission of God is to make a round-the-world tour. In the long process of changing its central point from Israel all the way to the United States, Christianity acquired the flavor of a Western religion, and has received a great deal of material blessing as the central religion; as the central nation, America has also been receiving tremendous material wealth.
During this time the Orient, representing the spiritual side, has always been subordinate to Western culture, representing the physical side. However, in the original concept of creation, the physical world should not have been subject over the world of spirit or mind. In the end God will give the new spiritual perfection to Asia. Western materialism has come to a deadlock and is longing for spiritual perfection; in order to find new hope the West must look for some solution from Asia, and ultimately the dominion of the physical over the spiritual will be reversed in the final dispensation. The new spiritual power will become the subject of Western culture. American interest is now focused upon Asia. California, for example, is physically closer to Asia, and more spiritually oriented young people are gravitating there. This is all heavenly strategy.
Korea's position is equivalent to Italy, which became a center of Christianity, having the papacy located in Rome. Because the papacy has spiritually governed Roman Catholicism all over the world Rome has been like a spiritual capital. Similarly, Korea is like New Age Rome and the world's spiritual capital will be erected there. From there God's entire spiritual kingdom on earth will be governed.
The Lord of the Second Advent is the only one who has the power to liquidate the ideology of communism by bringing a better solution for world problems. By winning over the communist ideology he can really give new hope and unified ideology to the entire world. It could almost be said that God is using communism as a tool to hasten the day of the Lord's victory; since he is the only one with the solution, the Lord can demonstrate his true authority by overcoming communism.
The communists have been saying that their ideology, not God, has the power to save mankind. They have been very aggressive and conquered many people but after coming this far they have reached a deadlock. People are seeking new solutions since communism has not accomplished its ideals. In that sense it is helping to hasten the fulfillment of the role of the Lord of the Second Advent, because when he comes the people will already be in despair. Having been disappointed with communism, they will be able to see new hope in God's ideology.
When the communists realize they are wrong and repent then they may receive God's blessing even before the Christian world. Christians are asleep to the world's situation, and because many are stubborn and arrogant they do not repent. The communists, however, may be in a better position to be repentant, and then God will disregard their past and give them His blessing. The Roman Empire was absolutely the enemy of God during Jesus' time, yet by surrendering to Christianity the Roman Empire received all God's blessing first. God will give His blessing to whoever comes to repent first instead of America. Maybe the communists will come to that point first.
The Unification Church has the power to melt even the hearts of the communists and bring them to repentance. American people do not want to be bothered with hearing the truth, but in spite of that I must speak out. Have you read anything like this in a library book, or heard it from a college professor? I began with explaining the most basic points about God's own creation. In light of this logic and principle, world history could be moving in no other way. This is really the core truth about God.
Do you feel fortunate to be in the Unification Church or not? Why don't you go away? Because of you I am being given a hard time. Perhaps I should advertise for all your parents to come and kidnap you and take you away. I want to prove how good you are by having you undergo the kidnappers' ordeal. God does not want the people who are afraid of deprogramming; God wants people who cannot be deprogrammed. They are the real sons and daughters of God.
I want to reach a conclusion. The work of God is the work of re-creation; therefore, in His place we are re-creating all of God's things of creation, God's children, and God-centered parents, so that together we can bring down the Kingdom of God here on earth. That is the road of restoration. This is very simple truth. If a product which leaves the factory is out of order, then in order to be fixed it must go back to the factory to be disassembled, fixed, and then reassembled. Do you think that before the fall of man God had been thinking about building His Kingdom somewhere in the air and having big banquets there? Do you think He has been planning to abandon the earth all along? That is an absolutely impossible fantasy, yet today many Christians believe it.
That kind of supernatural thing shall never come about. I have met God and Jesus in heaven and have seen and heard God's plan. In that respect I am a universal expert; I know all this is truth, not because I figured these things out, but because I have seen and heard them. Can the American people ignore this truth because they look down on me as being Asian? Could they say that they are waiting for someone else? It is arrogant to reject someone from another race because you never know who God will raise up as His instrument. America has reached the high pinnacle of a mountain, but is America humble enough to descend all the way to the valley to meet God, and then come out again? That could be a most beautiful sight. Don't just try to cling to the pinnacle of the mountain.
I would like to bring the American young people who have been on the peak of the mountain to true greatness. Your destination is not to progress to another high mountain, but rather to go down to the valley, the ditch of human misery, and experience suffering yourselves; if you can still be humble and grateful then you are truly great Americans. All those who can descend to the valley will have the added momentum and power to rise all the way up to a new height. When you bend more you can jump higher. That is the way I would like to re-create you, having you go far down into the valley and then spring way up into heaven. Do you welcome this method or not?
Why do people oppose us? They are fearful of us and feel threatened by our formidable power and energy. Judaism, Roman Catholicism and Protestantism used to be enemies, but some months ago three of their representatives got together and made a joint declaration against me. When that came out many people said, "That Reverend Moon must be something because all the religions are frightened to death of him! Well I like him." I received many responses like that.
Your re-creation of parents, children and all things
Now you know that with your own hands you will re-create all things, re-create the children of God, and bring forth the God-centered parents. Can you do it? The Unification Church is actually doing it. Fund raising is economic restoration, what we can call "restoration of all things." With your own hands you earn money for God-white peoples' money, black peoples' money, yellow peoples' money, even the money of laborers, communists and millionaires.
Even though we cannot earn all that is necessary solely by fund raising, that money becomes a condition, an offering representing all the remaining materials of the world. The money that you earn with your hands is not your money, but God's money. "Nothing belongs to me; I bring a small amount of conditional money from the wealth of the world and want to give it to God." In fund raising you accept this money as a representative of God and spend it for God's purpose. Are we doing this because we want to become rich millionaires, or because we want to speed up the work of re-creation, the work of restoration? The restoration of all things comes first, and for seven years we will do this to restore the whole 7,000 year history of God.
Regardless of how people criticize our fund raising we must just do it. The Unification Church members should be able to restore some conditional wealth from the world, representing the re-creation of all things. While we are doing this the representatives of Judaism in the Old Testament era and representatives of the 2,000 year history of Christianity have come against us. By having this universal opposition we can accomplish the restoration in a shorter time. I would rather face this opposition first.
By facing opposition we are realistically accomplishing this re-creation under adverse conditions. Opposition is inevitable because Satan is holding the world. Opposition against our fund raising and our witnessing is worldwide, with people being very protective of their children and their money, saying, "How in the world can you call Reverend and Mrs. Moon your True Parents? Are you crazy?" Shall we go on fund raising and running factories? Factory work actually has little meaning compared to fund raising, which involves heavenly collision and struggle with the satanic world. As you are trying to restore money for God's providence you are experiencing the deep meaning of God's struggle; God can feel that He is vindicating His entire history through you.
Even though people may give you money reluctantly, by their making an offering blessing can come to them eventually. Who will receive the benefit of their sacrifice? Ultimately the nation and the world itself shall benefit. The money we earn should not be dry money, but should be wet by tears and sweat. Only that kind of money can serve as a true offering. When that money is used 100% for God then it becomes holy. Usually when people see money it goes straight into their pockets, but we must be different.
Witnessing involves the restoration of the home and family. Adam's family had eight members, and representing Adam's family Noah's family also had eight members. Jesus had to bring three major disciples before he could marry; together with their wives they would have become six, plus Jesus with his bride would have fulfilled the number eight. You also must restore three spiritual sons. In that way you will elevate yourself higher than Adam, who did not have God-centered sons; later on you will be blessed and have your physical children, and then both spiritually and physically you will be higher than Adam.
By your own hands you must restore heavenly wealth and heavenly children, and offer them to God. Then God will receive them and return His blessing to you, and as children of God you shall disseminate that blessing to the world. That is the history of restoration. You shall be blessed as husband and wife, and together with your three children offer to God all the things you have. That represents the fulfilled history of the Old Testament, New Testament, and Completed Testament. Both vertically and horizontally you are making yourself the symbol, or center of that offering and bringing the whole thing to the altar of God; then the blessing and love of God will come down. In that love you will live forever with your family and God-centered material things, both here on earth and thereafter in heaven. We shall be entitled to both kingdoms, on earth and in heaven.
Why should we get married? We must be in a position to experience the love of parent, love of spouse, and love of children. In the spirit world the atmosphere you will breathe is the love of God, which consists of the love of parents, love of husband and wife, and love of children all together. In order to breathe such air you need to experience such love here on earth. That is why you need to get blessed; your earthly life is merely a workshop, a training center in which you can experience all three kinds of love. Unless you experience and practice such love here on earth then when you are elevated to spirit world you will not be able to breathe. You know what happens here on earth when you cannot breathe. From that point of view, do you have a desire to get married?
The message this morning is "The Realm of Resurrection," meaning the resurrection of all things, not as "mine," but as God's. In this meaning my children are not mine but the children of God and the universe. As subject and object, my wife and I together are not living our own lives, but we are living as representatives of God, as dwelling places of God. I am supposed to make myself a visible form of God such that whenever I move, my children and all the things of the universe will also move; then God is certainly walking together with me. That is resurrection.
You can declare to heaven and earth that you are a victorious person when you are victorious over yourself. God will recognize it by saying, "Indeed my son, you are victorious and I will give you the gift and reward of my love." After you have completely restored yourself then you are completely liberated and everywhere you go you can be absolutely free here on earth, in heaven, in God's home, and at God's throne. The heart of God and the vision of God can freely come to you.
This is the mission of the Unification Church. You are not only to make yourself completely free but you are to bring the rest of the world with you, letting everyone enjoy the same freedom. Ultimately, God needs to be resurrected and together with God we will make that happen. God has had no joyful moment because up to now God has been working only for His children's restoration and salvation. By accomplishing total resurrection we come to the level where no more liberation and resurrection are needed and then God Himself will be absolutely free. Finally God will have nothing more to do but rejoice over creation and receive His glory. This is how we will liberate God.
We are the hand-picked champions of God who are called to the mission of liberating not only ourselves and not only this world and mankind; our mission includes the liberation of God Himself. Don't you feel good when you hear this? Actually doing this is not easy. Truly it is even harder than dying, because you have to go down to the bottom of human misery to live. I have been walking that path for thirty years and I have secured my own liberation, salvation and resurrection. I do not need any more, but as I said, until I bring the world together and liberate God I cannot stop. No matter what persecution may come to me I shall go on; nobody can stop me.
Honestly speaking, this is not an easy path. The pain is so great sometimes that you want to curse everybody, curse God, curse yourself, and drop dead. Even when you sometimes suffer that kind of feeling you must persevere, being patient and thrusting yourself toward that goal. I want you to know that this life is not easy, but are you still willing to tackle it? You may die a miserable death, but do you mind? Suppose I dropped dead in the street. Would Americans mourn for me, or would they feel, "Finally that troublemaker's gone." What is realistic? I am sure you would weep, but everyone else would say, "That crazy guy finally died, and all you Moonies should drop dead too." None but a handful of people is on our side.
However, I want you to know that because your motivation in life is so unselfish and God-centered that even if you drop dead on the street, that is not the end of you; people may think it is the end of what we are doing, but instead that is the beginning of your glory. If you died giving your absolute best then you are entitled to a higher heaven than anybody else. Without exception every man of God in history has walked that path. It is our honor and privilege to participate in that way of life for the sake of God. That is my philosophy.
America is a comfortable place where you can enjoy all kinds of carnal pleasures and every kind of freedom awaits you. Why should you choose to go this kind of difficult path? What do you gain by doing it? If a bare-handed young man joins our movement, then in ten years he is still bare-handed; nothing happens. The only experiences you get are hunger, suffering and cold.
Some of you sisters are thinking, "I've already been here ten years and I'm no longer young. Even if I get married, I wonder if I could really have children. Father, please think about my age. We heard about ideal families in the Divine Principle, but I'm not even married! " Maybe the best thing for you to do is pack up and leave! I would drive you to death yet you still accept that fate; that is why people say you are crazy. Why should you do it? Only because we need the realm of resurrection. When a mother is giving birth to her child she feels a great deal of pain, and spiritually also it is a desperate struggle to give new life to this world. We are going through that kind of pain together, and we are bringing new life to this world together. That pain of birth is a desperate one.
God and all of mankind are suffering in this birth pain. Then all of a sudden when a child is born his mother forgets her pain, and God forgets His pain. Mankind can forget its pain and rejoice over the birth of the new child. That is our way of life. That is the day we are looking forward to. Shall we go on? Shall we go a mediocre and half-hearted way, or shall we go all the way? All right, do it then. Go the dramatic way. Let us pray.