Sun Myung Moon
October 4, 1978
What is the task that the returning Lord should carry out? He must win over Satan and then win over all the people in the spirit world. There are many spiritual masters today who brag about who they are in heaven and earth. However, in expectation of the time to come, they should not merely be making spiritual efforts, no matter how sincere, without knowing how to resolve the world that came about as a result of the Fall.
We should be victorious first over the satanic world, which is a visible world rather that an invisible world, and then over the spirit world. Without fighting in the visible world and defeating Satan, no road will emerge by which we can make progress in the spirit world. Without this, we would surely face obstacles; then what would happen when we entered the spirit world? We would not be able to enter, and even if we could, we would not be able to win the battle.
So we should attain victory within the satanic world, and next enter the spirit world and attain victory there, subjugating all religions from the least to the greatest – to Christianity, if Christianity is the highest of the mainstream religions. What this means is that we must inherit everything these religions have. When we have fought this battle and received official recognition of our victory over heaven and earth, God will say to us, "You are the victors over Satan and the spirit world!" Then we will begin to take action here on earth. Such a history remains to be made.
Then what does the returning Lord have to do? He has to subdue Satan and subjugate, one by one, myriads of spirit people, religious leaders and leaders as a whole. As he guides them with God's character and true love, they will come to understand the true reality of religion and the universe and they will surrender. This will happen because all beings in this universe desire to be absorbed into the sphere of a lord of love on earth who is higher than they. Even birds and dogs will go to a village that loves them more and takes care of them. It is the same for all beings. Therefore, we should subjugate them through true love and inherit all their authority. We should inherit that unified world. This is the responsibility that the Messiah must fulfill on earth.
Uniting Christianity will not suffice. Christianity may be unified on earth, but this is not enough to create the all-encompassing cultural sphere. That sphere includes the Buddhist cultural sphere and the Islamic cultural sphere, which together form the background of the spirit world. As long as cultural barriers remain on earth and are not all removed, and as long as the source of unity is not created in the spirit world, the root of all these diverse cultures, we will not be able to bring them into unity.