Letters from the Spirit World

Sun Myung Moon
December 23, 1990

Recently, a letter came to Dr. Sang Hun Lee from his wife, Han-sook, who is in the spirit world. She wrote: "I had no idea of how wonderful the spirit world is or the preciousness of the Blessing. It is like a dream that we are a part of the heavenly Royal Family. It is so wonderful here that I am sorry for coming first. Please forgive me." In other words, because she went to the spirit world before her husband, and there had these dreamlike experiences – which came on the foundation of her Unification Church life of faith – she was sorry. Everything there was too good.

There are people who are also smart like me. Knowing the spirit world well, have I not lived my whole life in conformity with its program? We have come from one origin and we must return there.

Rivers are created by water that flows into the ocean, evaporates, rises into the atmosphere and then falls back to earth. We too must return to the origin. Life continues in everything through cyclical motion. Without circulation, everything decays back to its basic chemical elements.

What kind of being is God? He is like the mind of this world that exists here and now in the universe. He is like the mind of the universe.

Can you see your mind? The spirit world resembles the mind, but it is the place where the content of the mind is made substantial. It is a place transcending time and space. You can eat whatever you want. There is no need to worry about food, water or clothing. Spirit world transcends everything related to food, clothing and shelter.

Do you need cars there? Are there automobile manufacturing plants? Would there be factories for food, fabrics or clothing? None exist. Infinite distances can be traveled instantly. By what power? By the power of love. If you want to see someone you love, that person instantly appears.

Love travels at the highest speed and in a straight line. This is not secular love but divine love. Divine love is true love. Once within the realm of true love, because we will be able to move in a straight line at the highest speed, we will be able to operate on the stage of the universe. The universe will be under the control of our thoughts.

Knowing all these things, although I walked alone as a pioneer through the valley of pain and sorrows of this world, I never became bitter. Even now, I am still determined to walk this path until the day I die.

When we die, we will find a railroad track in the spirit world. The railroads in the spirit world are like those on earth passing across national borders. They must be neither too narrow nor too high. They must be the right fit. No religious teaching other than that of the Unification Church knows such things. However proud Christians may be, they are unaware of these facts. Did Jesus ever talk about the spirit world?

In this twentieth century era, we boast about our cutting-edge science. We pursue the formal logic of development, but there is no place other than the Unification Church where we verify the existence of God with a religious theory developed through formal processes.

The Power of True Parents' Name

Sun Myung Moon
December 29, 1990

The Bible says that humankind fell. So God must be liberated. Through the Fall, the sons and daughters, husband and wife, the nation, and even the world that was to be ours were forfeited at one stroke. True Parents must come, recover all things, children, families, nations, and the world, and return them all to God. Those who once belonged to God fell under the sway of false love after deviating from the true path of love. Although they were created on the principle of ownership based in love, they were destroyed by fallen love. Now they must be salvaged through the love of True Parents, and all things, children, husband and wife, nation and world must be offered again to God. Then, God will sing praises of that triumph, the return of His universe through true love, and then He will give those offerings to True Parents. They will become God's possessions and thereby True Parents' possessions. In becoming True Parents' possessions, they will become the possessions of the sons and daughters, and then again be distributed in the four directions. Without the world becoming such a place, the Kingdom of Heaven cannot appear on earth.

What is the local-level breakthrough (tong ban gyeokpa) we are pursuing? We must unite South and North and offer the Republic of Korea to God as the homeland of all humankind. This must be done in God's name and in True Parents' name, centered on the achievement of victory in all nations. This is why we have been investing everything. It is for this reason that we are now like a group of beggars. Why beggars? Because we already offered everything decades ago.

Now we must unite South and North, and in God's name and in True Parents' name we must take back all ownership historically claimed by Satan. We must restore the ownership to the throne of God, the Original Parent, so that Korea will emerge from this as the first ancestor nation among all nations throughout history. Working to bring this about is my final purpose of love.

Prayer: Please hasten our footsteps as we move forward

Sun Myung Moon
November 18, 1990

Photo date and location unknown

Beloved Father, in coming to Korea and witnessing such an environment that would only elicit curses from the beholder, I am once again compelled to praise Your greatness, Heavenly Father. I have discovered that You had no choice but to forget this, turn around and advise us to love, and that You are truly a Father worthy of our sympathy.

Many years have passed since the day I declared the unification of the entire world, while departing the land of my hometown with resolute determination to uphold Heaven's decree, but it seems like yesterday. No matter how long and distant history is, the past affairs of those who roamed in search of the path of love can be felt within the realm of the moment. In the same way, I charged through the later years of my life, which was an era full of youthful vigor overflowing and charged with energy, continuing until I was well past seventy. However, I am often saddened when I reflect upon the road that is still ahead. Unable to take any rest, I am reminded of how much there is left to do before I am able to come to You, Father.

When I think about how I am filled with bitter sorrow for being unable to witness the reunification of North and South Korea even at this age, and when I think that You, as well as me, and all the blessed families of the Unification family have these thoughts, I know that everything You promised will surely come to pass. Yet still, we should heighten the level of our loyalty to shorten that period and liberate the land of North Korea, which is like hell on earth. Without embracing and uniting with these people, who are like our older and younger siblings, the base of the kingdom of heaven cannot be laid in this nation. We who know this serious fact have discovered the position where we need to take on a heart rending struggle to digest the circumstances of a thousand years within the scope of a single day.

As unfortunate as it is, the position that each of us is placed in is something that we should regard with appreciation, because it is a position where, while investing for the sake of Your providence of restoration and of re-creation, we can comfort You, Father, in Your situation in which You console Yourself over the heart wrenching circumstances. Father, I sincerely pray and hope that You will bestow blessings so that You do not forget the heart of Your children who pledge to live for tomorrow, for a month, and for a thousand years as they have lived on this day.

I am reminded of the historic calling that pushes us to fulfill a historic mission, and that its purpose awaits us at the end of this road. We renew our determination as we walk this life course. Though sorrowful this life course may be, we should sprint through joyfully with urgent heart, knowing that Your love, Father, is waiting for us. As we raise both our hands and swear at this hour to once again resolve ourselves to a busy life, please allow us, even though we must become a group worthy of sympathy, to struggle onward through this long, long course with such a heart.

I pray that the footsteps of those setting out on this day, together with the words spoken today in this historic time, do not end up becoming conditions for judgment. The people living in the land of South Korea should offer their utmost devotion and loyalty in loving the people in the land of North Korea in the same way that we learned to love Cain. Please enable them to resolve in their hearts to love the people of North Korea more than they love their own children, their own relatives or their clans.

The people gathered here understand that without doing so they cannot break down all the walls that block North and South Korea. Thus, we have received the order from Heaven to carry out the responsibility of mobilizing North and South Korea. Hence, we should not become a group of people who leave behind on the path a trend of mutual distrust as a result of acting imprudently in carrying out that mission. While solemnly resolving to keep tomorrow's promise, I sincerely pray and hope that You will prepare a framework of love, like that of a sacrificial offering, which at this time can bequeath a condition that will assure a thousand year history.

Beloved Father, almost a year has passed since proclaiming "The Unification of My Country." Now we have some forty days remaining in this present year. During this time, I sincerely pray and hope that You, Father, can carefully prepare these people, enabling them to become valiant soldiers who can quicken their footsteps with an urgent sense of resolve as they move to bring about the unification of our country, which in the future can connect to the starting point of global unity.

I pray that they may remain free of shame in those final days and that they remember the fact that they each stand on a competing course under a horizontal and common goal, based on their own families and tribes. These are variously positioned to lay the foundation for the kingdom of heaven, together with their blood relatives, in this way establishing a family in the original form. Father, I sincerely pray and hope that they become Your children who strive to follow their path, invigorated in the spirit of a filial child, patriot, saint and divine child for the sake of Heaven. Just as You protected, blessed and guided me on this path, I once again request that You accompany and walk together with these people. All these things I bless and pray in the name of True Parents. Aju!

To become children of God we have to first separate from Satan

Sun Myung Moon
November 17, 1990
Children's Day, Chongpadong Church
Translated by Bernhard Quandt

True Parents blowout the candles on the Children's Day cake at Chongpadong

To become children of God we have to first separate from Satan. The family is the factory of God's children. In families centered on the true love of God, the people of God will be produced.

If Adam and Eve had not fallen the world of God would have started right then. God's desire is to see true sons, true daughters, and true grandchildren. Because of the fall, the true blood lineage could not be established; rather, a false love, false life and false blood lineage were multiplied.

Since man was not born from a true lineage, his purpose of life became unclear. God's original purpose was to establish a true and certain direction for man's life. Instead, body and mind were turned upside down. Now, centered on the True Family, the true way of life can begin. The era of struggle is now over on all levels.

Democracy should have given clear direction to mankind, but instead it became a stage for all kinds of social evils. The political ideologies of both the democratic and communist worlds have proved empty and unfit to solve the world's problems. Communists' intentions have been to overthrow democracy and to establish their own utopia, but now they have completely given up this dream. On the family, national and worldwide levels there is no alternative to these two failed ideologies.

The time when people could say "Believe in me, follow me" is over. None of the major religions can give convincing answers to the world's problems. Christianity believes Christ is the bridegroom for which the bride has to prepare herself, but how to concretely prepare is not clear.

The savior of mankind must solve the confusion in the spheres of love, life and blood lineage. The devil is the enemy of the love of God. Through adulteration of the blood lineage of God, Satan received his power. All men alive today suffer from the adulterated love inherited from God's enemy. Man's determination to escape from this adulterated lineage is what salvation is!

Separate From Satan

Why do people come to the Unification Church? You are not getting the Kingdom of God handed to you; you are only taught how to make it yourself. In order to receive salvation, struggle must occur from the individual level up to the worldwide level in order to separate oneself from Satan's adulterated lineage. The outcome of this struggle is determined by what one loves. If you love yourself, your family or your nation more than any higher level then you are stuck on that level.

One cannot fight the world of evil by loving evil. Therefore Jesus said, "He who wants to live will die, he who is willing to die will live." When we fight Satan it is a life or death struggle.

If we enter the struggle intending to live we die; but if we go into it ready to die, we can live. Jesus said, "He who does not take my cross is not my disciple." Loving is not enough; we must shoulder the cross. There is love in the family but it is egoistic love. Unless we cut from Satan, our love is always adulterated. Therefore a true lineage begins under persecution and suffering. The religion that can take the most persecution and keep going to the end of the world can achieve God's purpose. We must be willing even to shed blood. In the Old Testament the blood of animals was shed symbolizing men's blood. But the early Christians shed their blood under persecution.

The religion that can fulfill at the end of history is the one that can take the most persecution-even from God. Adam and Eve kicked God, so to restore this, religion has to be kicked by God before it can succeed.

When God's family is chosen, who will give the test questions to mankind? God or Satan? Look at the example of a school. If it wants to be the best should that school's president or the rival school's president decide the exam questions? It should be the rival school's president, as he will set the most difficult ones. Then the top students can be determined. By this principle Satan must set the questions. If one person can answer the questions then he must also be able to take responsibility for the answers. If he can do that he can lead the world.

Who are religions' founders? Christianity's founder is Jesus, Buddhism was founded by Buddha. Reverend Moon is the founder of the Unification Church. Does Reverend Moon know what he's doing in this area? Genghis Khan united Asia by the sword. I could have united Asia by the word if I had become a political leader.

The Path of Persecution

True Parents with Shin Won Nim make preparations before attending Children's Day evening entertainment

Who has received the most persecution from all sides? Rev. Moon! I was in prison everywhere. Has anyone received more persecution than me? Why did I do all those things? Because I had nothing else to do? In the United States there have been about 500 court cases against me. Most I won. Has anyone fought more court cases than me?

I'm willing to give my place to anyone who wants it, even for a month. Who will live the kind of life I live? In the spiritual world, they don't recognize thieves. In the history of the Unification Church there are many miracles. The first members came on their own-led by the spirit world. I didn't witness to them.

In order to win the world one has to give up one's own family, nation, and world. Satan is trying on all levels to stop God, especially in the field of family morals. Even homosexual marriage is now allowed in some countries! This is what Satan likes; he's laughing at the perversion of love. The behavior of young people together in public today is the result of the fall.

Adam and Eve should have grown to perfection first before uniting with each other. Adam and Eve were like God's body. What have you done with God's body? Eve gave God's body to Satan. Love is the most precious and the most dangerous thing!

Women have always given me such trouble! They were so crazy about me that it created many rumors about immorality in the Unification Church.

The unity of a couple, the unity of parents and children, or the unity of brothers and sisters, which does Satan hate the most? The unity between brothers and sisters, since this must happen before Parents can be united. The unity of Cain and Abel is most important.

If there is anyone who has never criticized me-raise your hands! Now, even parents and in-laws of members who hated True Father in the beginning have a very different attitude! To receive a son or daughter-in-law through Father's matching is a precious gift. What about you sisters? No matter who I give to you as a husband, will you say, "Father, that's who I have always wanted"?

When God can take your hand and say, "Oh, my beloved son"-isn't it a precious moment? So it's not a bad thing to receive opposition or persecution! If you study in good conditions, you forget the lesson easily; but if the conditions are difficult you will always remember it.

Heaven and hell are not somewhere else. They are all around me, depending on what I do. Why do we celebrate the Holy Days? Because there was no God-centered love, nor True Parents or True Children until now. Money, knowledge or power cannot defeat Satan-only true love!

The Way of Unification

Why have people come to the Unification Church? Not for power or money but to build a relationship of love with God in whatever you do. The relationship with Satan must be cut. The problem is can I become the son or daughter of God?

In the spirit world there is a hierarchy of love. One reaches a position based on the standard of love that one represents. If we understand that the most important thing is God's love and develop a vertical relationship with Him, we can go up to Him as if we were in a high speed elevator. In order to achieve this goal one must continually desire, work and live for that: today a little more than yesterday! Japanese leaders do you understand what True Father is saying? European and American leaders, do you understand? No, you don't!

When the time of unification comes, language must first be united. Those who cannot speak Korean can't enter! The time will come when we will have one billion members. What if they all want to have a piece of land in Korea? When I first bought land in Korea I paid 12 won a pyong. People said I was crazy because it was only worth 7 won. Now look at how much it's worth!

Koreans in Japan who had to suffer to learn Japanese were a preparation for the Japanese to learn Korean. You European leaders can't complain about learning Korean when True Father had to learn English at an advanced age. It's easy for you by comparison!

If you want to live, you'll die; if you want to die, you'll live. I went the way of death and bloodshed, but I lived! I'm victorious and I overcame!

What I tell you is not my word, but God's word. If I think "Kim II Sung has to go," within a few months he'll be in spirit world. I have to be very careful about my thoughts! Korea must prepare for a general election. Kim II Sung may suggest it, but who will be ready?

History will prove that the foundation laid by my sweat, tears and blood has changed the world. The fall of communism, the changes in the Soviet Union, and the Reagan revolution were all caused by me. I'm establishing a new view of life based on true love. I have completed the foundation for restoration of dominion of the first son, True Parents, and kingship-not with the sword, with knowledge, or with power, but with love!

Children's Day Declaration

So this 31st Children's Day, I declare that the spirit world and the physical world are liberated, because I have restored the first son's position. There is now a basis for the entire spiritual world to be subjugated by the True Adam. Also the spiritual world will come to dominate the physical world. The stage for evil, which was the second son's dominion, has now been taken away. Formerly, the spiritual world was working to stop people from coming to the Unification Church. Now all the different religious compartments which ancestors did not want descendants to leave, are broken down. The purpose of all religions is fulfilled with True Parents' coming so they have no more purpose to stop their descendants. From now on, activities that don't exist for the sake of the world will fail.

I'm approaching my eighties. If you march together with me, unification of North and South Korea is no problem. The number of people on earth is limited. There are far more in the spiritual world, and they are all listening to me. They will make the lives of those who oppose me in the future impossible.

We have to become people who live for God now, later will be too late!

The responsibility of returning my home country as a filial son must be fulfilled now. Our ancestors hoped one of their descendants would become a great man. I must fulfill their expectations. When I am 80, the whole world will respond to God and I.

The world is different now! Today a new tradition centered upon the dominion of Kingship, True Parentship and True Sonship must begin. Imagine how difficult it must have been for True Parents to bring about this day. Don't forget that!

Now the time has come when the right order of heaven and earth has been established. Now is not the time when North Korea will come to the South, but when the South will go to the North. Our people must prepare their hearts to return to their home country and embrace 13 million North Koreans.

The whole world must listen to True Father. The Soviets know that and now, more and more, the United States realizes that. If I want to move something I really can! The Church, Citizens' Federation and VOC must become one centering on the new Board of Trustees consisting of Rev. Young Whi Kim, Mr. Hong and President Kwak.

Those who will be kicked by Heaven 100 times and still be grateful, raise your hands! Restoration of the first son, True Parents and the dominion of Kingship has been completed by True Parents. Now all of the spiritual world will support us! Since all the conditions are set, it's my duty to teach you that and your duty is to march forward with that consciousness.

Message to Islam

Sun Myung Moon
October 27, 1990
Cairo, Egypt
Address to Council for the World's Religions' Middle East Peace Summit
Delivered by Chung Hwan Kwak

Grand Mufti Kuftaro of Syria presents Father with the Koran during the Second Assembly of the World's Religions in August, 1990

Honorable religious leaders, esteemed scholars, beloved guests. Thank you for your participation at this most urgent summit. By responding at such short notice to this call for peace, your presence here must bring great joy to God.

Of course you know that we are surrounded by tensions of frightening proportions. Political and economic rivalries and historical resentments have blossomed so fully that even those who see with only earthly eyes recognize that our very survival is threatened. In the face of annihilation, humans, like all created species, respond with emergency measures. This is why we now see such frantic activity in all spheres of human enterprise. In the effort to prevent unspeakable tragedy, leaders desperately propose solutions according to the orientation of their consciousness. Some seek military solutions, others political, or economic. While such proposals may participate in the establishment of peace, they can never generate the primary insights and analysis upon which lasting peace can be founded.

Only truly religious and spiritual people understand the nature and origin of conflict. And only those who know the true origins of disorder can bring about a solution. This is why, in this time of great emergency, I have requested your presence and participation. Of course peace on earth will ultimately require insights from all spheres of human enterprise -politics, media, and so on-but the root of peace is in God, and it can only come to this world through those who conform their lives to His perfect Will.

Realizing that world peace ultimately depends on the human response to the Divine Will, I founded the International Religious Foundation (IRF). From the earliest days of the Unification Movement I always devoted the greater portion of our resources to serving other religions. In the 1950s many Unification families did not have enough to eat, and members complained to me about the funds I devoted to the cause of inter-religious harmony. I suffered to see their hardships, but I begged their patience because I knew Satan would ultimately resort to racial and religious war in his effort to destroy mankind's future. For forty years I poured everything into inter-religious work, always insisting upon true love, harmony and cooperation among all religious believers. Now these great saints and peacemakers with IRF, from every high religion, have the Divine mission to thwart Satan's plan, and pioneer a future of lasting peace.

As you know, Satan always seeks to bring the greatest destruction and darkness upon the human race. Throughout this century his plan was perpetuated through the God-denying totalitarianism of communism. Through state oppression and torture entire generations were forbidden to hear the truth of God's Word. Countless millions were slaughtered in the name of building a society without God. This treacherous, satanic system flourished for sixty years, coming to occupy two-thirds of the world. Political analysts have yet to explain how this empire collapsed overnight. The spiritually astute, however, know with assurance that it was God's power, and the power of living in perfect accordance to Divine Law, that caused Satan to surrender and give up his evil reign of terror.

Satan's Final Plan

Now Satan has turned to his final offensive for the destruction of the human race. His strategy is through two central ways, even more fundamental and threatening than communism. This is through religious war and racial war. Anyone can see we are standing on the threshold of a conflict of such devastating proportions that our race, if it survived at all, would be cast into the deepest darkness, barely able to maintain life on a ravaged and devastated planet. If races, religions, and nations limit their thinking to self-benefit, the only one who will benefit will be Satan, the enemy of God and of the human race.

For this reason, the unending concern of God's Heart is related to these two points. Why did God reveal Himself to the Prophets and create the great religions of the world? Of course it was to enable the human race to return to Him, and then, in perfect oneness with His blessed Will, establish one peaceful world. Mankind must know God's original vision for the world, and know the reason why God revealed Himself to the Prophets. Surely no one expressed more deeply this original ideal of God than the blessed Prophet Mohammed, not only in word, but in deed.

God who is infinite compassion would not like to see even the littlest one perish. What would we be then if we tolerated, or even perpetuated inter-religious strife, knowing that this is the exact opposite of God's desire? We can never lend our hand so willingly to Satan's plan to destroy the innocent children, and cast mankind into unspeakable darkness.

The same is true of racial war. We are one family descended from common parents. God intended all races to live in harmony as brothers and sisters. Again the blessed Prophet knew this and history clearly records that he exemplified this understanding through the substantial deeds of his life. It is our unavoidable mission now to reveal God's whole plan for peace, and for harmony and cooperation between races and religions. Anyone who isolates only disparate portions of God's revealed truth, and preaches against others, goes against God. We cannot depend on the masses, or even political, economic and military leaders to understand the revealed Will of God as fully as we who have devoted ourselves to religious and spiritual leadership. Mankind must be educated about God's original, broad vision for peace and brotherhood. At this time in human history, nothing could be more painful and offensive to God than religious and racial war.

The Significance of the Middle East

Why are the greatest tensions on the planet centered on the Middle East? Because a single military aggressor happens to come from a Middle Eastern nation or because the area is rich in oil? No! Anyone offering analysis strictly at that level, no matter how much of a genius, or how profound their historical and political knowledge, lacks the necessary starting point to explain the deeper reality. The reason is that this is the arena of activity for God and Satan. All the Prophets of the three great covenants received their revelations in this region. Is this because God's message was destined only for the people of the Middle East? Of course not. God's Word is destined to be the guiding force for all human life, everywhere on this planet. Similarly the present tensions and conflicts here are not only a matter of concern for people from this region. The fate of the whole world depends on developments in the Middle East. Just as the great Prophets had to fight the forces of darkness to make the vision of God available for the whole world, your peacemaking mission is to deny the forces of evil who would delight in racial and religious war, and reveal the Divine Will for peace to the whole world.

I know that human history has been marked by the constant struggle between good and evil. This is natural in the process of restoring human life and society to oneness with God's love and heart. If we study this process closely we can see the principle by which the great saints and Prophets conquered the forces of evil. Satan always establishes his evil regime first, ahead of God. Then, with this mighty power, Satan attacks God's side, attempting to destroy the tender shoot of God's Word, and crush the lives of His gentle champions. Satan is always first. First with the established power, and first to attack. In fact aggression is the trademark of Satan. Being attacked first is the trademark of God's side. Yet God's side prospers according to this principle.

By being attacked first God's side builds up great wealth through suffering and sacrifice. Through paying this price and bearing injustice, God's side ultimately gains the victory. Perhaps you are most familiar with the mighty yet corrupt powers that ruled out of Mecca during the life of the blessed Prophet. When Muhammad brought his sweet message of peace and brotherhood among all tribes and peoples, these mighty governments of evil power mobilized themselves to take the lives of God's Messenger and his followers. The followers of Islam endured this aggression and injustice, and by thus conforming to God's principle of indemnity, Muhammad and his followers were able to bring even these mighty powers into complete surrender. In the end Muhammad walked unmolested, as the glorious victor, to the Kabaa and dedicated it to the one true God.

But his is not the only story which reveals this principle of God. The same is true for Jesus, the family of Abraham, and others. In fact, if you look at any mighty religion on the earth today, you will see clearly that it prospered by means of living out this very principle of indemnity and self-sacrifice. How foolish would we be if we dared to think that the perfect and true God changes His ways, as we might do. These truths never change: 1) Aggression belongs to Satan, and 2) God's side achieves victory by being attacked, enduring, paying indemnity and sacrificing. Both of these are true and lasting principles, principles that mock the size of armies, the wisdom of political science, the geology and economics of oil, and so on. Only one truth prevails and that is the truth of God and His laws of restoration.

Serve the Larger Purpose

Besides the principle of restoration and victory through indemnity, the second unchanging historical principle is that God always supports those serving the larger purpose. For example, if one person lived only for himself, and a second lived for his family, God would support the second one, the one who lived for the benefit of his family. The person living for himself actually sacrifices others for his own benefit. The one living for the family sacrifices himself for others. On the other hand, between one who lived for his family, and one who sacrificed his beloved family for the benefit of his community, God would support the one living for the community.

This too is an unchanging principle of God. Once again, we can use the Prophet as a supreme example of knowing and living according to this Divine Principle. Did the Prophet live only for his own clan or tribe or even only for Arab people? No, he always lived for the higher purpose, not limiting his message for only one group or race. The message of the Prophet was for every precious being into whom God breathes His spirit. Thus the greatest among us is the one who ultimately lives for the sake beyond even the world. The highest purpose is to live for God. The way to check one's closeness to God is to see if one's message and life are devoted to the greater purpose. All action must be for the greatest good of all mankind, never for the sake of only one group, one nation, religion, or race. The one who is closest to God is the one who lives for the sake of the whole.

Therefore, even though the contemporary situation in the Middle East is complex, we must resist the temptation to rely on all sorts of analyses and sophisticated interpretations. Our primary responsibility is never to forget God's unchanging, revealed principles: Aggression is satanic, and blessedness is to sacrifice the individual purpose for the sake of the greater purpose. Only religious leaders know these truths and these ways of peace. So we have no other choice than to be the bold pioneers, revealing God's Will and God's principles. Peace depends on us.

As we deal with the present situation and speak to our followers, including the political and military leaders who depend on our wisdom, do not think about which nation might benefit most, but think about what is best for the whole world. We must be the untiring voice calling for true love, the base for living for the sake of others. The greatest imaginable tragedy would be for war to erupt between Christians and Muslims in the Middle East. The whole world will have to realize this point: the United States, European nations, Middle East nations, and so on. That is why I am sending this message to leaders of all nations.

Everyone must live for only one goal, and that is to protect and safeguard this situation against the possibility of a religious war. As religious leaders ours is the greatest responsibility. We must do everything in our power to guide all players into a peaceful solution for this Middle East situation.

With my deepest heart, I pray day and night for the peace I have just described; all religious leaders must do the same. Once again, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your holy and noble love of God and God's peace. May God bless you and your families, and bring lasting peace to our world, our home.

Islam and the Establishment of World Peace

Sun Myung Moon
October 21, 1990
Cairo, Egypt
Address at a meeting of Islamic leaders at the Council for the World’s Religions (Given on Father’s behalf by Chung Hwan Kwak)

Photo date and location unknown

Honorable religious leaders, esteemed scholars and beloved guests:

Thank you for your participation in this most urgent summit. By responding at such short notice to this call for peace, your presence here surely brings great joy to God.

God is the origin of peace

Of course you know that we are surrounded by tensions of frightening proportions. Political and economic rivalries and historical resentments have flourished so abundantly that even those who see only with earthly eyes recognize that our very survival is threatened. In the face of annihilation, human beings, like all created species, respond with emergency measures. This is why we now see such frantic activity in all spheres of human enterprise. In the effort to prevent unspeakable tragedy, leaders desperately propose solutions according to their particular orientation. Some seek military solutions, others political or economic. While such actions may somehow contribute to the establishment of peace, they can never generate the primary insights and analysis upon which lasting peace can be founded.

Only truly religious and spiritual people understand the nature and origin of conflict. And only those who know the actual origins of disorder can bring about a solution. This is why, in this time of great emergency, I have requested your presence and participation. Of course, peace on earth will ultimately require insights from all spheres of human enterprise—politics, media and so on. However, the root of peace is in God, and it can only come to this world through those who conform their lives to His perfect Will.

Realizing that world peace ultimately depends on the human response to the divine Will, I founded the International Religious Foundation. From the earliest days of the Unification movement I always devoted the greatest portion of our resources to serving other religions. In the 1950s many Unificationist families did not have enough to eat, and members complained to me about the funds I devoted to the cause of interreligious harmony. I suffered to see their hardships and begged for their patience because I knew Satan would ultimately resort to racial and religious war in his effort to destroy humankind’s future. For forty years I poured everything into this effort, always insisting upon true love, harmony and cooperation among all religious believers. Now these great saints and peacemakers in the International Religious Foundation, from every major religion, have the divine mission to thwart Satan’s plan and pioneer a future of lasting peace.

As you know, Satan always seeks to bring the greatest destruction and darkness upon the human race. Throughout this century his plan was perpetuated through the God-denying totalitarianism of communism. Through state oppression and torture, entire generations were forbidden to hear the truth of God’s Word. Countless millions were slaughtered in the name of building a society without God. This treacherous, Satanic instrument flourished for seventy years, coming to occupy two-thirds of the world. Political analysts have yet to explain how this empire collapsed overnight. The spiritually astute, however, know with assurance that it was God’s power and the power of living in perfect accordance with divine law that caused Satan to surrender and give up his evil reign of terror.

Now Satan has launched another offensive for the destruction of the human race. His strategy employs two destructive forces even more fundamental and threatening than communism. This is through religious war and racial war. Anyone can see we are standing on the threshold of conflicts of such devastating proportions that they would cast our human race, if it survives at all, into the deepest darkness, barely able to maintain life on a devastated and ravaged planet. If races, religions and nations limit their thinking to self-benefit, the only one who will gain is Satan, the enemy of God and of the human race.

For this reason, the unending concern of God’s heart is related to these two issues. Why did God reveal Himself to the prophets and create the great religions of the world? Of course it was to enable the human race to return to Him, and then, in perfect oneness with His blessed Will, establish a peaceful world. Humankind must know God’s original vision for the world and know the reason God revealed himself to the prophets. Surely no one expressed this original ideal of God more deeply than the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), both in word and in deed. God who has infinite compassion would not like to see even the littlest one perish. What would we be then if we tolerated or even perpetuated interreligious strife knowing that this is the exact opposite of God’s desire? We can never lend our hand so willingly to Satan’s plan to destroy innocent children and cast humankind into unspeakable darkness.

The same is true of racial war. We are one family descended from common parents. God intended all races to live in harmony as brothers and sisters. Again the blessed Prophet knew this and history clearly records that he exemplified this understanding through the substantial deeds of his life. It is our unavoidable mission now to reveal God’s whole plan for peace and harmony and cooperation between races and religions. Anyone who isolates only disparate portions of God’s revealed truth and preaches against others goes against God. We cannot depend on the masses or even political, economic and military leaders to understand the revealed Will of God as fully as we who have devoted ourselves to religious and spiritual leadership. Let us educate humankind about Gods original, broad vision for peace and brotherhood. At this time in human history nothing could be more painful and offensive to God than religious and racial war.

The Middle East is the battleground between God and Satan

Why are the greatest tensions on the planet centered on the Middle East? Is it because a single military aggressor happens to come from a Middle Eastern nation, or because the area is rich in oil? No! Anyone offering analysis strictly at that level, no matter how much of a genius or how profound their historical and political knowledge, lacks the necessary starting point to explain the deeper reality. The reason is that this is the arena of activity for God and Satan. All the prophets of the three great covenants received their revelations in this region. Is this because God’s message was destined only for the people of the Middle East? Of course not! God’s Word is destined to be the guiding force for all human life everywhere on this planet. Similarly, the present tensions and conflicts here are not a matter of concern for people only from this region. The fate of the whole world depends on developments in the Middle East. Just as the great prophets had to fight the forces of darkness to make the vision of God available for the whole world, your peacemaking mission is to deny the forces of evil that delight in racial and religious war, and reveal the divine Will for peace to the whole world.

I know that human history has been marked by the constant struggle between good and evil. This is natural in the process of restoring human life and society to oneness with God’s love and heart. If we study this process closely, we can see the principle by which the great saints and prophets conquered the forces of evil. Satan always establishes his evil regime first, ahead of God. Then with this mighty power, Satan attacks God’s side attempting to destroy the tender shoot of God’s Word and crush the lives of His gentle champions. Satan is always first. He is first to establish power, and first to attack. In fact, aggression is the trademark of Satan. Being attacked first is the trademark of God’s side. Yet God’s side prospers according to this principle. By being attacked first, God’s side builds up great wealth through suffering and sacrifice. Through paying this price and bearing injustice, God’s side ultimately gains the victory. Perhaps you are most familiar with the mighty yet corrupt powers that ruled out of Mecca during the life of the blessed Prophet. When Muhammad brought his sweeping message of peace and brotherhood among all tribes and peoples, these mighty governments of evil power mobilized themselves to take the life of God’s Messenger and his followers. The followers of Islam endured this aggression and injustice and thus, by conforming to God’s principle of indemnity, Muhammad and his followers were able to bring even these mighty powers into complete surrender. In the end Muhammad walked unimpeded as the glorious victor to the Kaaba, dedicating it to the one true God.

Yet his is not the only story that reveals this principle of God. The same is true for Jesus, the family of Abraham, and others. In fact, if you look at any mighty religion on the earth today, you will see clearly that it prospered by means of living out this very principle of indemnity and self-sacrifice. How foolish we would be if we dared to think that the perfect and true God changes His ways as we do. These truths never change: one, aggression belongs to Satan; and two, God’s side achieves victory by being attacked, enduring, paying indemnity and sacrificing. These are true and lasting principles—principles that mock the size of armies, the wisdom of political science, the geology and economics of oil, and so on. Only one truth prevails and that is the truth of God and His laws of restoration.

Besides the principle of restoration and victory through indemnity, the second unchanging historical principle is that God always supports those serving the larger purpose. For example, if one person lived only for a self-purpose and a second lived for the family, God would support the second one, the one who lived for the benefit of the family. The former actually sacrifices others for personal benefit. The latter sacrifices the self for others.

On the other hand, between one who lived for the family and one who sacrificed the beloved family for the benefit of the community, God would support the one living for the community. This too is an unchanging principle of God. Once again, we can use the Prophet as a supreme example of knowing and living according to this divine principle. Did the Prophet live only for his own clan or tribe or even only for the Arab people? No, he always lived for the higher purpose, not limiting his message for only one group or race. The message of the Prophet was for every precious one into whom God breathes His spirit.

Thus, the greatest among us is the one who ultimately lives for a purpose even higher than the world. The highest purpose is to live for God. The way to check one’s closeness to God is to see if one’s message and life are devoted to the greatest purpose. All action must be for the greatest good of all humankind, never for the sake of only one group, nation, religion or race. The one who is closest to God is the one who lives for the sake of the whole. Therefore, even though the contemporary situation in the Middle East is complex, we must resist the temptation to rely on all sorts of analyses and sophisticated interpretations. Our primary responsibility is never to forget God’s unchanging, revealed principles: Aggression is of Satan, and blessedness is to sacrifice the individual purpose for the sake of the greater purpose.

The way to resolve conflicts between religions

Only religious leaders know these truths and these ways of peace. So we have no other choice than to be the bold pioneers revealing God’s Will and God’s principles. Peace depends on us.

As we deal with the present situation, and speak to our followers, including the political and military leaders who depend on our wisdom, do not think about which nation might benefit most; instead, think about what is best for the whole world. We must be the untiring voice calling for the true base for living for the sake of others. The greatest imaginable tragedy would be for war to erupt between Christians and Muslims in the Middle East. The whole world—the United States, European nations, Middle East nations and so on—needs to realize this. That is why I am sending this message to leaders of all nations. Everyone must live for one goal: to protect and safeguard this situation against the possibility of a religious war. As religious leaders, ours is the greatest responsibility. We must do everything in our power to guide all players into a peaceful solution for this Middle East situation.

With my deepest heart, I pray day and night for the peace I have just described. All religious leaders must do the same.

Once again, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your holy and noble love of God and God’s peace. May God bless you and your families, and bring lasting peace to our world, our home.

Keeping True Parents' Photograph and raising the church flag

Sun Myung Moon
October 15, 1990

We have to do three kinds of campaigns from now on. First, collecting membership forms; next, displaying pictures of True Parents and finally raising of the church flag. We have to do all three. When we do these three things, we can do anything. The flag represents the Unification Church, and the photographs represent True Parents. Next, the membership form means registration. A nation in which we can register will appear. From there on, a new beginning can be made. To attend True Parents means that your home has become one with True Parents. Then, what does the flag mean? It represents something in one's surroundings that signifies the worldwide members of the Unification Church. It signifies relationships. The flag represents you as an individual, but it also represents the husband and wife. It represents our families, but it also represents our tribes and our nations. It represents the entire Unification Church and all humankind.

You really must raise the flag. When you put up the flag, the same situation will occur as when the Israelites were leaving Egypt, when the first born of all the Egyptians were killed. The Israelites avoided death for their first born and survived by putting lamb's blood on their doors. It is just like that. When the Israelites were bitten by snakes and dying, while wandering in the wilderness under Moses, those who looked at the bronze serpent lived, didn't they? Likewise, when the satanic world was going to ruin, those who believed in Jesus lived.

On this earth, in order to take back all the authority Satan has had, you just have to raise the flag, hang up a picture of True Parents and register. This will change your affiliation. Thus, what I am especially emphasizing in our movement is to display True Parents' pictures and raise the flag. It has already been three years. I started this campaign because I knew that such a time would come. This is why I am asking you to have people fill out membership application forms. When you receive the membership forms, greet those who sign them, saying, "Please do well." Satan will not receive salvation unless he submits to Adam. The next step is to attend the Parents.

Until now you have not been able to attend True Parents, but you should attend them. You should put True Parents' pictures in the best place, a better place than for the pictures of your mother, father, or ancestors. It is good to value the pictures of your grandfather and mother, but you should not put up your parents' pictures first and then put True Parents' pictures next to them. True Parents are the ancestors. You establish the ancestors through this and you will be able to turn from the two-dimensional family foundation to the foundation of God's tradition. There, you will have no relationship with Satan. This is how the Principle is.

The tribal messiah is not a mission for some people that others do not have to do. If you do not do it, your whole family and all your relatives will be in trouble. If the descendants do not do it on this earth, the ancestors in the other world will curse them several hundred times more than they did Adam and Eve who fell. I cannot take responsibility for this. I cannot stop them from accusing you. You will be accused if you do not do it. You have to fulfill the five percent responsibility given to human beings. If you cannot do it, there will be no perfection.

When I think over the 70 years of my life, they seem like a dream

Sun Myung Moon
October 3, 1990
The Third Anniversary of the Foundation Day for the Nation of the Unified World Chongpadong Church

True Father prays at Pledge Service on October 3, 1990

Today is Chusok (Thanksgiving Day) in Korea, a day of gratitude for our ancestors. Also it is the third anniversary of the Foundation Day for the Nation of the Unified World.

In the same way as man is born and then gets older, history also flows and gets old. I, an ordinary man, was born in an ordinary family. Yet today I am the founder of the Unification Church and have become a person opposed by the world. Even in my own country I am called bad names and treated as an unworthy representative.

When I think over the 70 years of my life, they seem like a dream. Having only a bright sun in my vision before me, I have created the history of the Unification Church, while facing all the opposing forces of the world. Even though there are many members, no one truly comprehends my course.

The history of man has been one of suffering. But I am guiding the Unification movement to correct and reverse all the wrongs of the past and create a new history. Since the history of the Unification Church is the history of my life, you have to study my life and be interested in the path I have taken.

Even though I have been opposed, I have accomplished things which so unbelievable that the result is like a dream, a miracle, and I am like a legendary man.

Why have I been opposed and persecuted? Because I am an evil man? I have committed no crimes, and I am not evil. It wasn't a person or nation or the world that was opposing me -- it was the devil, Satan.

The world has to change 180 degrees. Democracy and communism, rightism and leftism should be redirected toward the head wing. The world is in a very confused state and needs new direction. If both left and right turn 180 degrees, they will face the head wing.

Do You Know God?

Where is history going? The prophets and saints are confused. Some say "I am a Buddhist, so I must go this way" or "I am a Muslim and should go that way." But they all must return to God. Some philosophers are even still wondering about God's existence. However, I have met God and know His heart.

Father's corsage falls down and he says, "Oh, the flower is having a difficult time, so it fell down. So also Unification Church members may fall away once or twice because being with Father is too difficult!" [Much laughter]

Let's ask those who don't know God, "Whom do you take after?" They will probably respond, "My parents." Then ask them, "Who is your father?" "My father is a male animal," they will say. "Who is your mother?" "My mother is a female animal," they will respond. A man will say he takes after a male animal and a woman says a female animal. Therefore the origin must have both male and female characteristics.

What is man's most favorite thing? It is woman. How about women? Their most favorite thing is man. Why? Because by becoming one, men and women become like God. Even though God has the characteristics of both man and woman, He is one.

All religions are waiting for the Messiah. But is the Messiah one person or many? The Second Coming can only be one. I am a person respected by many scientists and leaders and my ideas are being taught in universities. I have so much power that I could do whatever I decide, but I don't use this power because I believe in the natural process. The same for God -- He has great power but He always works through the natural process.

Being a member of the Unification Church is not easy. Attending is most difficult. Having a father-in-law and mother-in-law is easier than being a Unification Church member. Even living with the worst husband is easier than being a Unification Church member. But remember that the most difficult university tests are the best, and to go to the best university you have to study very hard.

We have to ignore our individualistic desires completely and throw the evil self away. I understand evil and know God's way. That is why I prohibit smoking, drinking, free sex, and homosexuality. These are evil. We don't need these things in our world.

This year's motto is "Unification of My Country." Did we do it? You don't know it but I did it, as history will testify. A religious way of life is a life attending God, knowing Him and doing His Will. The more we are opposed and persecuted, the more blessing we receive. I am a man who left his family and home for God. But I know that the day has now come for me to go to my home. I know it!

Did you follow me well? No, you didn't follow me well, but I guided you well. In my life I have shed many tears, but I have lived well. I have used my tears and effort in a good way.

Changing to God's True Dominion

Things are decided in the spirit world first and then reflected here on the earth. There has been no day in the world like this day, the Foundation Day for the Nation of the Unified World. What is the "one world nation"? God has never been the center of His sons' and daughters' love: everything was under Satan's dominion. To change that false dominion we need to be connected to the true olive tree.

Korean people really welcomed True Parents after the Moscow conference. We had rallies in 12 cities announcing the era of True Parents. They didn't know the concept of false parents and True Parents.

Fifty thousand couples are going to be blessed next year. How many days will it take if I match 1,000 couples each day? (50 days) Do you think I should match by picture or in person? I should match by picture, so I said to take a really good picture. Now, parents are thanking me for blessing their children. Some parents even come and ask me to bless their children.

There have been many saints and prophets, but no one has been able to solve the problem of unity of the mind and body, the family, and the world. Becoming one is very important. Your body and spirit should be one. The world is looking for a man and woman united in spirit and body -- a perfect man and perfect woman. They will become the king and queen of the world, the world's champions of true love, which is God's love.

When Mother and I met President Gorbachev, he was amazed by Mother's beauty, saying, "Oh, beautiful lady!" I didn't feel bad -- I was happy that he admired her. Similarly, the archangel was amazed by Eve's beauty.

The problem is not the unity of the world. The problem is one's self, "me." Unity starts from me. The unification of the world movement started from Rev. Moon. I became one, united in mind and body. All those who opposed me will deeply repent someday.

Now, when people talk about religion, they can't ignore the Unification Church. When they talk about famous men, they cannot leave out Rev. Moon. When they talk about the Second Coming, they think of Rev. Moon. They know that there is no hope for America except through Rev. Moon.

I took Mr. Kuboki and some other Japanese members fishing in Alaska. Eighty percent of America's fish are in Alaska. The Japanese are from an island nation and should know fishing, but Mr. Kuboki hates boats. He says that fishing is more difficult than delivering a baby.

Why is fishing important? Because we want to solve the problem of starvation. Each year 2 million people die of hunger.

We must start to help and should be busy doing that. The world leaders cannot solve that problem. Unification Church members should solve it. We must become the ancestors of peace.

Out of 170 Japanese members, only 22 passed the Korean language test. I took them to Alaska where they would come back from fishing at 10 p.m., have dinner and then talk until 2 a.m. or 3 a.m., though they had to wake up at 5 a.m. They slept for just a short time, and not even in a bed but sitting up, for 15 days. The most difficult training is to learn to overcome lack of sleep; the mind becomes confused and a person can lose consciousness. Spiritually we have to grow to be independent of eating, sleeping, and false love. Without doing that we can't escape satanic dominion.

Solve God's Pain

Today is the opening of heaven. The opening of heaven also should start from "me." "1" am the problem. Satan is still in the world because of "me." God is in agony because of "me."

We have to be members not to receive blessing or fortune, but to release God from pain and suffering. To liberate God we have to come out of our own problems. God has been shedding so much blood and tears in order to protect the Messiah. In the Old Testament era, things were offered. But the New Testament era is the age of offering sons and daughters. So, God's children should attend the True Parents, and the True Parents live to attend God.

I established the Universal Ballet Academy in America. The school's president was the head of the ballet company in the Soviet Union. It has 250 years of history and is the best in the world. Though he is Russian, he is Catholic, not communist.

He is a very spiritual person and has foreseen many things spiritually. He came to visit me in Hannamdong. In the future, people who need to meet me, like Kim Il Sung or President Roh, will come to Hannamdong. You have to believe that. I'm worried about your faith. You may feel bad to hear that but because you love me you feel good, right?

I have been working in all kinds of fields and my vision is for every aspect of life, so people are afraid of me. Korea and Japan have been blessed by God, especially Korea from 1978 to 1988. In those ten years Korea received great blessings from God.

[Then Father became serious and even cried.]

The Washington Times that I established has won two-thirds of the gold medals in the media competition. Did you hear that in Korea? The media in Korea didn't open their mouth to say a word about this. If you let people know these things, they will change.

Because I knew that to receive blessing one must go through persecution, I have persevered even though all religions opposed me. I never lost my hope or vision. You have to know that in the whole history of Korea, this is the first time that such has happened.

If you don't become one in spirit and body and as husband and wife, and if you don't become people who are taking responsibility for your tribes and following heaven's tradition, then you have no connection to this day. You have to take an initiating and pioneering position to liberate God. You have to work hard to make this day be your day.

I took the responsibility to liberate God as my destiny. Your path is still remaining: to become tribal messiahs. Be one in spirit and body and as husband and wife.

Those who pledge to God to practice and achieve this, raise both hands.

Thank you.