Sun Myung Moon
January 27, 2004
Jamsil Stadium, Seoul, Korea
Photo date and location unknown
Commemorative Address by Chung Hwan Kwak
Distinguished guests, delegations from 180 nations, brothers and sisters around the globe connected through live Internet broadcasting, ladies and gentlemen: Standing as we are at an amazing point in history -- with the Proclamation of God's Fatherland and the Era of the Peace Kingdom coming on the foundation of the Coronation Ceremony for the Kingship of God and the Coronation Ceremony of the Kingship of the Blessed Families for the Parents of Heaven and Earth -- we are truly blessed to be here, participating in True Parents' birthday celebration together with our beloved True Parents.
Today we are attending a truly glorious ceremony to celebrate the 84th birthday of True Father, who is the Savior, Messiah and Lord of the Second Coming, and the 61st birthday of True Mother, within the grace of God's heartfelt love, blessings, comfort and praise -- and with the respect and admiration of the saints and sages in the spirit world who are centered around Heung Jin Nim, the supreme commander in heaven.
True Father was born amid unusual signs. It is said that as an infant and child he grew in remarkable ways. When he was 16, deep in prayer one morning at Easter, Rev. Moon was called upon by God. Jesus bestowed on him the mission of the Messiah, entrusting him with God's will to accomplish the salvation of humankind and realize an ideal world as envisaged by God at the time of creation.
Since then, the core of True Father's life has been to consistently carry out the will of God -- in other words, the liberation of humanity from evil and misfortune and the realization of a world of peace, which is the original ideal of creation.
True Father's life is not merely the life course of one individual. Father's life course is the providence itself, since he has lived only according to the divine will and has led humankind and history in revealing the heavenly way. Thus, not only the fate of the Korean people -- and of the Korean peninsula, the birth place of True Father -- but also the fate of all humanity, lies in the fulfillment or failure of our portion of responsibility. This is determined by how we welcome and receive True Father, who has shouldered the burden of fulfilling the will of God.
True Father has revealed all the fundamental secrets of life, of the universe and of history, which have eluded people throughout history. He has walked the lonely path of a pioneer without a mentor or guide.
Always, there were the raging winds of evil and injustice blocking the path of goodness and righteousness. Through his tears, sweat and blood he was able to gain victories in the bloody battles with Satan. True Parents, the Lord of the Second coming, the Messiah, our Savior, is a position that will be determined through receiving God's approval after being recognized by the spirit world, which is the original world of essence.
True Father has broken down the walls dividing the spirit world and is now educating the spirit world and bestowing the blessing of true love and true life to all its areas. Even now in his daily life, True Father gives instructions to the spirit world and also receives messages and testimonies from the saints and sages.
True Father has taught that without properly understanding God and the spirit world we will be unable to bring fundamental solutions to the problems we face in our world, and we will be unable to fulfill God's will and the hopes of humankind.
Fortunately, True Father's teachings have been published in Exposition of the Divine Principle and his collection of sermons now runs to 400 volumes, which has developed into a fact-finding report on the revival and perfection of human spirituality. Including Cheon Seung Gyeong and other compilations of selections from Father's speeches, there are some 450 volumes in total. These words must be read with care by all people as they contain the guidelines for restoring the original self, building the kingdom of God on earth and in heaven, and furthermore, on how to live in heaven.
True Father has educated us, saying that the basis of this truth is the practice of true love in the likeness of God.
True Father has pioneered the path of the True Parent, True Teacher and True Owner. He has consistently shown us the path of true love through his example. He has also explained goodness in terms of an altruistic life of living for the greater good and spreading true love.
True Father has always taken the lead in living for the sake of God and humankind according to the way of heaven. He has sacrificed his life as a living offering, giving everything that he has, even sacrificing the opportunity to spend time with his own children, for the sake of all humanity. And he has educated the Unification Church movement to invest and sacrifice itself for the sake of other religions and denominations. True Father has also taught that the path of each nation must be one along which each country can invest itself for the sake of the world.
Beginning with the Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity, which he founded in 1954, True Father has gone on to establish hundreds of international institutions and organizations, educating them so that they would devote their diverse activities toward establishing an environment aligned with the will of God. The number of organizations, and their diverse and important roles, testifies to an epoch-making event in history. All these organizations were created for the purpose of the ideal of the original creation, that is, to establish a world of love and peace. These organizations, global and international in nature, are truly remarkable in that they strive to accomplish the divine will, transcending race and religion. Barriers between nations, races and religions do not exist within God; it is the same with the True Parents.
Last year in December, a series of international, interracial and inter-religious peace initiatives were carried out under the guidance of True Parents in the Middle East, a troubled area that represents all human history and the world. They took place in Jerusalem, Ram Allah, and the Gaza strip. Drawing attention and praise from around the world, these historic peace initiatives -- which included international peace conferences, a peace march and rally and service projects carried out by young people from many nations -- were organized to promote repentance, forgiveness, reconciliation and tolerance. These efforts were welcomed by Israeli and Palestinian alike. They transcended the religious divide, notably among the central faiths of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. A coronation ceremony was also held, in which representatives offered a crown to Jesus Christ in repentance for the historical disbelief and mistakes of their ancestors. This was truly a landmark event, bringing about a historic reconciliation of Judaism and Christianity. How happy Jesus will be in the spirit world! Who else but True Parents could carry out such an event? It is a testimony to the practice of True Father's philosophy of peace.
Beloved True Father!
On behalf of all the people in heaven and on earth, I would like to express our appreciation to you for allowing us the grace to be born within the true life and lineage of heaven through the ceremony of rebirth, ceremony of resurrection and ceremony of eternal life, under your true love. Under the grace of these blessings, we thank you for letting us undertake the true family movement and the movement for implementing purity, pure lineage and pure-love sexual relations. We are truly grateful that you have opened the path for us to become the citizens of the Peaceful Universal Homeland of Cheon II Guk, the 4th Israel, where we can attend God and the Parents of Heaven and Earth as King.
We thank you for the education you have given us about the reality of the spirit world and on spirituality, and for the education on "Head-wing" ideology and the peace ideal based on "God-ism." We offer our deepest gratitude for the interfaith movement for world peace, for the elimination of national boundaries based on a model of true governance, for the Peace UN, for environmental movements that stem from genuine love for the natural world, and for the many service activities conducted through true love in each nation.
Belatedly, many world leaders who are renowned in their fields are beginning to recognize and accept True Father's cosmic achievements and philosophy for the salvation of nations and this world. Many righteous people throughout the world, indignant at the persecution and tribulation True Father has received from the Christian and Communist spheres, and from political authorities, are now extending words of comfort to True Father. True Father, please be comforted in knowing that this year, we are preparing events in the United States and in many nations of this world to serve and attend you as the king of righteousness, thinking of peace and the king of world salvation.
Dearest beloved True Father!
You alone are the seed and root of true love and true life. But how weary were those 84 years of persecution and tribulation within a history of ignorance, disbelief and betrayal! How can you ever be compensated for your precious life and time that was ruthlessly trampled upon and misused? We know that your heart is scarred with innumerable hurts and with grief who can mend the holes in your heart and comfort you?
Still, without betraying these emotions you have walked this lonely path, tirelessly bestowing true love and forgiveness. History has been naturally brought into line and the original hearts of all people bow down in reverence before these noble deeds. Our original hearts are humbled before you and all our pretenses automatically melt away in your presence. True Father, you have endured steadfastly throughout the myriads of tribulations and emotions, devoting your entire soul for the sake of liberating God's heart! Your majestic appearance is too high and lofty for us to reach, your character too deep to fathom! We who have followed you for many decades still cannot say that we fully know you. We live in happiness, intoxicated with joy, and our tears flow freely from our eyes whenever we touch upon even a part of your heart.
Distinguished guests, beloved brothers and sisters!
Today is also the birthday of our True Mother. True Mother has also inaugurated many institutions including the Women's Federation for World Peace, the International Relief and Friendship Foundation, the Aewon Volunteer Organization, Cheongshim Hospital, and a scholarship foundation. She has led a global movement of peace, service and love in action. She has spoken and shared words of guidance in front of top ranking leaders in the United Nations, Capitol Hill, the Great Hall of the People of China, the National Assembly in Korea and the Japanese Diet. And through hundreds of educational lectures worldwide, including tours of 40 different universities in Korea and the major universities of the United States, she has shared her vision and guided young people toward the right path. True Mother's relief and service activities of true love have reached over 180 nations, particularly in Africa.
True Mother is the co-founder of the Little Angels Arts Troupe and Universal Ballet Company, and the co-founder of the Sun Moon Academy -- a foundation dedicated to the cultivation of talent in primary, middle, high school and university students. Together with True Father, she has also founded and guided many youth organizations that will take a leading role in the 21 51 century, such as World CARP, the Youth Federation for World Peace and Service for Peace.
In August 1996, in Washington D.C., the capital of the United States of America, she helped True Father inaugurate the Family Federation of World Peace and Unification in the presence of more than 4,000 prominent international leaders, and continues to guide the True Family movement in some 185 nations. For the past ten years or so, she has been busy with many lectures and keynote addresses in international conferences in many nations. Despite her busy schedule she has also co-founded, with True Father, many international peace institutions that will guide the future of this world, such as the lnterreligious and International Federation for World Peace and the lnterreligious and International Peace Council -- the Peace UN. True Mother is thus the number one women's peace movement leader, woman religious leader, and activist for service and relief through the practice of true love!
Although these amazing practical achievements alone are remarkable, True Mother's true value is more internal.
True Mother is the one and only person who represents the earthly realm in fulfilling the original ideal of creation and the goal of God's dispensation for the restoration of humanity to that ideal. She stands as the representative of the entire earth in front of True Father.
Because of True Mother, God and True Father's ideal of true love could be fulfilled. The stature of True Mother as the ideal partner of God and True Father is something in front of which all people should bow their heads in gratitude. She is the great wife of True Father who is the substantial embodiment of God in Heaven and the True Mother who has admirably raised 13 sons and daughters.
In front of us, True Mother is always unchanging. Yet what thorny paths she has had to endure! On behalf of everyone I would like to express our appreciation and praise to our great True Mother who has overcome her portion of the cross, which has been unknown to us all.
Too great are the wounds and damage inflicted on the True Family by the attacks of Satan who worked through the evil environment when the providential foundations prepared by God had crumbled due to faithlessness. How deep is the pain in the heart of our True Mother, who is the source of truth, beauty and goodness. There is no way either for humanity, or for us who follow our True Parents, to merit forgiveness for the deep wounds and shadows we have inflicted upon True Mother's heart through our lack of loyalty and filial piety.
Despite such anguish, True Mother could not remain as an ordinary wife and mother. Her life has been one of accompanying and working with True Father, who lives only for the sake of God's will, with absolute faith in His divine will, not wasting even a second as he moves about heaven and earth. All her life, True Mother has accompanied True Father who influences the fate of God and humankind as he freely commutes throughout this world and the spirit world, transcending time and space. How great her internal and external difficulties have been!
No other person's life in this world can compare to True Mother's. Yet True Mother has always been the compassionate queen who warmly embraces and comforts the hearts of all people with her elegant smile. She is the cosmic True Mother, always giving warmth, hope and joy of revival as she receives the admiration of all people. Always happy to be at our sides, you, True Mother, are truly the eternal Holy Mother of all humankind.
Beloved True Mother! As the complete partner of heart to True Father, you always offer comfort and joy to our True Father. You are the one and only cosmic True Mother, now and forever. With you at his side, True Father, who has walked the lonely path to establish the heavenly way, can finally be filled with the joy and satisfaction of true love, and rest peacefully in happiness and contentment. Our holy True Mother, we thank you.
Although it is only known by some at present, the day is approaching when all will realize that they have been born into a new life through you and that the basis of the true love, true life and true lineage that is invaluable to them lies within you. On that day they will dance with joy and offer their gratitude to you, True Mother.
Dearest True Father and beloved True Mother!
On this day of joy we stand before you without anything to show, without any accomplishments to offer you. We can only offer you our congratulations, along with our resolve to go forward and uphold the absolute standard of fully implementing purity, pure lineage and pure-love sexual relations, to take pride in the kingship of our Cosmic Parent and the Parents of Heaven and Earth, and to build God's Fatherland.
We pledge to bring about that day when we can attend your heart, become like your second body, and, by going the original way as filial children, patriots, saints and holy sons and daughters, to serve you as the liberated Parents of Heaven and Earth.
We know that the lives of our dear True Parents have been a course of sacrifice and offering. We pray for your health and long life in the Peace Kingdom of Cheon II Guk, where you can be blessed on high with glory and praise!
On behalf of all people and in the name of all blessed families on earth and in heaven, I would like to conclude my address by once again congratulating our True Parents on their birthday.
Photo date and location unknown
Special Remarks by Reverend Sun Myung Moon
God's Fatherland and the Peace Kingdom
Respected Current and Former Heads of State, Distinguished World Leaders, Ladies and Gentleman, I would like to convey deep appreciation for your many expressions of congratulations on this occasion of the birthdays my wife and I. But this is not for us; I would like to offer all of this as glory to God who has protected us until today. Early in our lives we were called by God and have devoted our entire lives to fulfilling His will. Therefore I cannot accept your congratulations without including God in this celebration!
For my address this evening, I would like to talk about "God's Fatherland and the Peace Kingdom."
Ladies and Gentlemen, what kind of world would have been realized if Adam and Eve, the first human ancestors, had not fallen? Adam would have become the head of that family, the tribal leader of that tribe, and the king of that nation. That world would have begun from that ideal of Adam, and would have become Adam's world where only the tradition, language, culture, and lifestyle of Adam would have existed. That world would have been Adam's fatherland as well as God's fatherland.
But unfortunately, human history began with the fall of the first human ancestors. Our world was reduced to being under the dominion of Satan, a world that had nothing to do with God. Humankind was originally meant to establish and live in a peace kingdom for eternity, with God as their True Parent. But instead, the human race became enslaved to Satan, the origin of evil, residing in a world ridden with sin and suffering. This has brought great anguish to God.
Please think about this in the context of your own life. Contrary to the will of the Creator, our minds and bodies are in constant struggle and conflict. Has there been anyone who has completely unified his or her mind and body?
Among the six billion people of this world today, has there been anyone who has lived according to the original relationship, where the body is in complete submission to the mind? What about the societies and nations of today's world? The barriers of conflict and selfishness rooted in the mind and body of the individual exist even between societies and nations like an impregnable fortress. Human beings were supposed to live as brothers and sisters, yet the interracial strife that we see today still remains as a crucial problem threatening world peace.
Religions originally had the mission of reviving human spirituality, thereby accomplishing the will of God by bringing humankind back to Him. But religions have abandoned their original mission and instead are lost in the swamp of prejudice and conflict. This has escalated to the point where, today, we see them being used as tools for bloodshed and war.
Where does our original mind lead us? Does it indicate that we desire to live oppressed within the many walls and boundaries that surround us? It does not. The world that we desire is a place where no barriers or borderlines are seen. It is a world of freedom and peace. All people long for that kind of original fatherland. It is the fatherland that for thousands of years God has sought to establish. Likewise, it is the fatherland that humankind has longed for throughout history. Of course, when we talk about a "fatherland" it may denote a particular nation, but the original fatherland cannot be compared to any nation of the today's secular world.
To establish a nation there needs to be sovereignty, people and territory. When we look at history we can see the rise and fall of nations, the countless transitions of sovereignties and a great many lives sacrificed in the process.
All these martyrs died in the hope that the original fatherland would someday appear. But that does not mean that the United States, or Korea, or any other nation can become the fatherland which these people have longed for. It would be a place where there is neither democracy nor communism. Such a fatherland would have no need for any religion. It is a world that does not commit the folly of trying to measure the value of a person by the color of his skin. It is a place that does not allow any form of boundary or national border, including the barriers that divide the mind and body within each individual, bringing pain to them all.
Ladies and gentleman!
This very planet earth on which we live -- the entire globe -- is the very fatherland that humanity has longed for. It is the fatherland for which God has longed for tens of thousands of years. Humankind now has the responsibility to establish a global nation in line with God's standard and to remove evil from this earth by rendering judgment upon Satan who has been the arch-enemy in front of heaven until now. In so doing, a heavenly kingdom of peace on earth, with goodness at its center, will be brought about. We must never forget that this has been the desire of God, the desire of Jesus, and the desire of our ancestors who have contributed to the course of God's providence by going the path of martyrdom.
But that kind of ideal world is not created automatically. It is not something that anyone can have by just wishing for it. It is impossible to attain unless we, the offspring of the fall, receive a new blood lineage through the Marriage Blessing and practice a life of true love. Then what is a life of true love? In a nutshell, it is "living for the sake of others." It is living for the sake of others before you even wish for the other to do something for you. It is a life of living for the sake of the others and forgetting that you ever gave. It is not giving in hopes of receiving something in return. It is a life where you give and give, regretting nothing for not having given more. Even as you give, you bow your head in humility. Thus, Jesus said, "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." He also said that "For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted." Even our almighty Creator, God, would not engage in creation and destruction at whim in disregard of the very principles of creation that He Himself set up.
Therefore, this is the reason why I have been conducting the Marriage Blessing providence throughout the past several decades. Humankind, who had inherited false life, false love and false lineage due to the fall of the first human ancestors, had no choice but to live this false kind of life. Thus my wife and I began our God-given mission as the True Parents.
Throughout our lives we have walked a lonely path to carry out this heavenly decree to eliminate Satan, the devil, through the Marriage Blessing providence and, as the True Parents, to bequeath true life, true love, and the true lineage to humanity. We knew that God could not do anything about the false blood lineage because it had been planted by the false parents. Upon this victorious foundation of having fulfilled all the necessary indemnity conditions, my wife and I stand as the True Parents. We have been multiplying the true blood lineage by separating humanity from the blood lineage of the false olive tree and engrafting them to the true olive tree. A false olive tree will always remain as a false olive tree, even if a thousand years pass; only by engrafting to the true olive tree can the lineage be changed.
Ladies and Gentlemen!
The bright age of heaven is upon us now. Please accept my message with hope. The marriage Blessing history began with just three couples in the 1960s has now reached 400 million couples around the world. Furthermore, there are more than 120 billion blessed couples living in the spirit world. The field of the true olive tree has now overwhelmed the field of the wild olive trees. All these blessed families are united in the life of 'Living for the sake of others.' The life of the true olive trees, through the true blood lineage, is now spreading like wild fire throughout the entire world. In this way God's Fatherland and Peace Kingdom, a nation of joy and happiness, a nation of freedom and equality with no walls or national borders will be realized on this earth.
For this purpose I founded the 'Peace United Nations' in New*York, U.S.A. on October 3rd 2003. In doing God's providence, this 'Peace United Nations' is developing initiatives of a revolutionary dimension that will rock heaven and earth. By educating each and every one of the six billion people on this earth, and giving them the marriage Blessing, we are building God's fatherland, our fatherland, where the entire globe becomes our home, my home.
Our goal is already set. The flag of the Peace United Nation is already waving high. The battle cry of victory is erupting across the world. Victories are won in America, Europe, Jerusalem, Palestine, Japan and Korea. Nothing is impossible with God and the numerous martyrs, patriots, saints and sages in spirit world running with us at our side.
They say, "Blessed are those who have faith." On this meaningful day, I would like to ask you all to engrave this message in the deep center of your heart. I pray that you all join in the grace of the Marriage Blessing and create a great revolution of lineage. I dearly hope that you will all become the brave soldiers of heaven, courageously standing on the front line of God's providence in order to build God's fatherland on this earth, so that the Peace Kingdom can prosper for all eternity.
Thank you very much.