Sun Myung Moon
July 25, 1971 - Cheon Seong Gyeong, Book 5, Chapter 4, Section 1.8
No matter how strong a storm and wind may come, even if you are destroyed and dying, you should have a firm and resolute conviction, saying, "At least this conviction is absolute. If there is anything wrong, the fault lies with me, but God's will is absolutely right." It would be exceedingly foolish of you to dream of heaven while maintaining a faith wherein your belief in the morning is different from that in the evening.
What kind of path is the path by which you can approach heaven? It does not appear in a self-centered position. When you find that you are far away from heaven, you have to smash that which is called the self to pieces. Only when you denounce the self, will the path that can open up to heaven – or an indirect heaven – be opened.
However, those who try to make others adapt to themselves while asserting themselves, or place themselves in a proactive position and force others to follow them, will be unable to relate to heaven.
It is obvious that the realization of the Kingdom of Heaven starts with us. Even if the relational Kingdom were established, if we could not become people who are responsive to that Kingdom's call, we would have nothing to do with that Kingdom.
What kind of place is heaven? It is the place we go after subjugating Satan. It is not where we go by overcoming ourselves, or just the self. Heaven cannot countenance the realm of the fallen world or our habits or the habitual circumstances of the fallen world. As Satan chronically controls our habits and resides here, heaven can come only after we overcome those circumstances. Heaven will be realized at the place that mutually contradicts the contents of Satan's world. If any remnant remained, it could not be heaven. If such a place bore the name heaven, it would be nothing but a deception.
The concept of heaven can be established from the position of subjugating Satan, of denying and, further, eliminating everything to which he can relate. Heaven is affirmed on the basis of having denied and removed the negative historic relics of Satan and all the contents of a satanic lifestyle. Without removing those, we cannot present the contents of heaven.
Heaven is such a valuable thing. Although described as being aligned to the absolute standard, there is too much confusion over our concept of it. People are longing for heaven from an extremely self-centered standpoint. There is no doubt about that. Only when we overcome these circumstances with absolute faith, can the Kingdom of Heaven emerge; yet that alone will not settle the Kingdom. It will be realized only when we subjugate Satan, who brought God hardships for millennia and deceived humanity.
There can be no two ways about it. God's Kingdom cannot be realized through just submissively going along by faith. It can never be realized by having only a believing heart. Since Satan always challenges us to battle, the Kingdom is realized through overcoming that course of struggle. Here, we need sovereignty and numerous citizens. A large number of families should create a state system and overcome this battle for the sake of one purpose. In God's position, they must be able to be in harmony and unison anytime, anywhere, with their subject partner without any conflict. We may be able to feel in our mind the Kingdom of Heaven at the place where we are prepared to die and where we have faith, but that is not the substantial Kingdom. Even though a great price of martyrdom and suffering has been paid through the past two millennia, the Kingdom has not been accomplished in the sphere of reality. Thus, the Kingdom is not something that simply comes into being.
In the biblical phrase, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind," the Lord refers to one who is unforgettable and eternal. He is a being of absolute content. The Kingdom does not come through our believing in the Lord God, but through our loving Him. The Father's will is fulfilled not only by faith, but by love.
We need to realize how much our faith falls short and how far it has deviated from the Principle up to this time. Some of you may be here for the first time. With regard to the individual, you cannot go to a place where you can receive consolation. Although the Kingdom might exist in your minds and although God may have felt joy from you, that would not mean it has been established on earth. It might be an individual Kingdom of Heaven, but it would not be the Kingdom of Heaven in its entirety.
What God desires is not the individual Kingdom of Heaven. He does not rejoice over seeing its realization. Can we say that the Kingdom of Heaven is established just by seeing one person's joy? God sent Jesus Christ – the one person over whom He could rejoice – to the earth, to be the center for all nations to connect horizontally in seeking the Kingdom in its entirety. He thus sent the Messiah to the earth and sacrificed him. (46-74, 1971.7.25)