My Impressions Of Reverend Moon In Prison -- An interview of Mark Batton

Angelika Selle
March 1985

Father's picture and his handwritten note was included in the letter packet sent to the ministers

In March, 1985, Mark Batton was released from Danbury. He later shared some of his experiences with Today's World. 'Mark Batton" is a pseudonym.

I am a Christian. I believe in God, but I am still learning. Before I came to Danbury, I studied graphics. There is a large turnover at Danbury prison; many people come and go. I sometimes visited Mr. Kamiyama in his cube, and I met Rev. Moon playing pool.

I never formed any bad impression of Rev. Moon from talking to him. He was always giving good advice, and he has very good intuition. Rumors tend to travel down the line and get out of control, and usually people don't know the truth.

One time I asked Rev. Moon: You are a billionaire, and also a religious leader. What comes first for you -- God, or money? He said that the money was owned by the church, and in all of his explanations of this situation he stayed within the Bible.

Rev. Moon told me that I was still like a baby. He told me to create a foundation: to develop a goal in life and go the right way. "Know who you are, what you are, and what you stand for," he told me. He advised me to help my mother first, and then go to school.

Playing Pool and Ping-Pong

In playing pool, I think that Rev. Moon's strategy is basically defensive, while mine is more offensive. Sometimes he really eyeballs the pool ball to focus his mind. He's got a heck of an eye. He doesn't really stroke, but just taps the ball lightly. Because he is so good, I figure he must have a table to practice on. He plays the game by the basics.

We played again the night before my release, and the score finished up 64 to 60 in Rev. Moon's favor. In Ping-Pong I am ahead of Rev. Moon, but in pool he can defeat me because of the precision of his eyes. When he plays, he makes many interesting sounds and visual effects with his body. A lot of times he is really enjoying himself, so I don't say much.

Rev. Moon said that he started playing Ping-Pong about six years ago. I know how to put topspin on the ball, and I would send him running at the other end of the table: it's very difficult for him to catch. He would hit it, but then the ball would go off the table.

Some days we would have really great games, and come out sweating and hot. Rev. Moon is in very good shape for his age. Sometimes we would play late into the night or early morning -- Bill Sheppard, Rev. Moon, and myself -- since the recreation room is open 24 hours a day.

In the morning I worked in the kitchen. Then from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. I worked in the T-shirt factory. There were 105 people working in the factory, but the goal is to get 120. The work is divided up into different grades: grade four pays $.44 per hour; grade three pays $.66 per hour; grade two pays $.88 per hour; and grade one pays $1.00 or $1.05 per hour.

In the beginning prison officials wanted me to work on a cleaning job outdoors for only $.07 per hour. I rebelled; I thought, why make any effort at all for so little money? Then they removed me from that job and gave me one that I liked. In the prison, you have to work; it's mandatory.

Inmates' Perceptions of Rev. Moon

Even though people didn't like Rev. Moon initially, they respected him for what they thought he had accomplished materially. In the beginning many people avoided him: they were afraid that if they were seen with him or attended religious activities together with him that the other inmates would think that they had become Moonies. They worry too much about what other people think. After I had spent some time with Rev. Moon, some of the other inmates told me, "You never read the Bible before you came here! He must have brainwashed you." They also insinuated that I was now attending religious activities just so that I could get out of prison sooner.

It's strange, but people always look for the worst in any situation. For example, there was one inmate who was a devout Christian. The others knew this, and always tried to find fault with him. He usually carried a small Bible in his back pocket, and wherever he went the inmates would deride him, saying, "Come on, that's a pack of cigarettes, isn't it?" People always seem to look for bad things and then glamorize them; by doing so, good things get lost.

Some of the inmates were envious of Rev. Moon. They complained, "Because of him, we don't get so much attention. Because of him, things get changed."

Around Christmas time an extended grace period was granted, and many said that it was because of Rev. Moon. But a lot of them benefitted from that.

No matter how he was treated by the inmates, Rev. Moon only did good things, so the inmates came to develop a real respect for him. I believe that Rev. Moon's intentions and the intentions of those around him are good. Also, there was always a mystique, an aura of mysteriousness around him.

Even when I left, however, many inmates still avoided him; they're afraid he'll convert them or something. Not many people would just come up to him and say, "Hi, Reverend!" I never went out of my way -- I didn't go looking for him; but I played pool and Ping-Pong with him, and if there were some question in my mind I would come by to see him. I'd talk to him, pat him on the shoulder, and joke around with him. He is a human being like Kamiyama, like my roommate, or anyone else. Of course I respect him -- how could I not? What he stand- for is great. But I see him simply as a man.

As I said before, I wondered initially about his ethics, but I found out that he is a very sincere man. He never gave me any indication of being insincere, and only gave me sound advice. If there was ever any question on my part, I would come to see him and find out the truth. 

Learn From My Way of Life

Sun Myung Moon
February 25, 1985
Excerpts
The Leaders Conference
East Garden
Translator: Bo Hi Pak

The message I have sent from Danbury is really most dramatic and shocking to the ministers who have received it. If the American Unification Church headquarters in New York City had sent out the books and videotapes to the ministers, they would have just put them on the bookshelf to collect dust. However, because the message is coming from prison, it has an entirely different impact.

Also the ministers have witnessed that Unification Church members are going after them, trying to turn them around even while their own leader is incarcerated. That's incredible spiritual boldness. The ministers compare our young people with those in their own churches, and they see that they are as different as heaven and earth.

My primary mission in coming to America is to re-ignite the Christian churches so that they can verve God's purpose. Now they are opening their doors and welcoming my message.

After leaving Egypt the Israelites endured 40 years in the wilderness before they settled in the land of Canaan. Similarly, after we pass through 40 years of the wilderness of the 20th century, our great movement will settle. Where are we going? Ultimately, God wants us to create and settle a new America. In order to revive America, I have to accomplish several momentous tasks together with you.

First, we must be victorious over communism. Second, we must put new energy into the Christian churches and awaken them. Finally, we must stop moral degradation. If we can do that, the American people will ultimately accept our teaching and create a new America. Then God's Will will be done, and my visit to the United States will be fulfilled.

Father and the American culture can be compared to two different pine trees. Father's pine tree has grown in a very cold weather zone. The American pine tree has grown in a tropical weather zone. The pine tree that grows in hot weather will bring forth a seed which is not sound and hard enough. The American seed has not yielded good fruit from generation to generation: all kinds of odd and perverted subcultures are blossoming in America, revolving around forms of moral decay, like homosexuality and free love. Such social ills are rampant now. What should we do? We should just chop this American pine tree and engraft it onto the heartier pine tree. The American people will protest, saying that the American pine tree is good and looks just the same as Father's, but the pine trees are different. Father's pine tree is hard and sound, and solid fruit will come from it. What kind of pine tree are you?

Life in Danbury prison holds many benefits for me. I have to live according to the American lifestyle and eat three American meals a day. Shut up in prison without any freedom, I am paying this indemnity gratefully. There is no rice or kimchi or kochichang -- just peas and butter and bread and meat. I don't like that kind of food, but by now I have grown accustomed to it and have totally indemnified my tastes. I am thinking that you should go to Korea and try living without any hamburgers, cheese or coffee, and pay the reverse indemnity. You can even try to change your pattern of life right here, without going to Korea.

Originally I wanted to eat very little food and survive on small portions, but then I realized what kind of impression the other inmates would get from that. They would think that Orientals eat much too little and are therefore small and weak. So, on the contrary, I decided to eat a lot, and I always take seconds, even if I don't finish. Faced with the leftovers, I think about how hungry the missionaries must be, and I pray that Heavenly Father will send such portions of food to those who are working so hard in far-off lands. At the garbage can I also pray this way, making even the trashcan a place of offering.

Normally the fiber of all the body systems change every six months. After six months on a diet of American food, I feel good. I have become much lighter, which is helpful.

Larry, who is sharing my cubicle and supporting me in place of Mr. Kamiyama, eats snacks all the time. He never goes to meals, but is always nibbling. However, I never eat snacks, but eat only at regular mealtimes: that is my discipline.

Good Health Management

I feel that the body is a good laboratory and I have tested out my own health in many different ways. I have come to the conclusion that snacks between meals are not good for health, and that the best pattern is to limit food intake to mealtimes. Three meals a day is adequate for maintaining good energy and body strength. Food intake should follow a certain formula and rhythm. American people have very undisciplined eating habits. Just eating and drinking, going about and then coming back again to the icebox for more has no rhythm, no discipline. Because of that you may sometimes get a stomach ache or fever. I particularly abhor seeing a person walking down the street and eating at the same time. People bring me fruit and biscuits and chocolate from the commissary, but I just excuse myself and invite the others to go ahead. I have explained my thinking to the inmates who are close to me and who are trying to be helpful. Now they know that I will never take a snack, so they don't ask me anymore. They just help themselves to all the food in my closet!

When Mr. Kamiyama was at Danbury, he had a foot ache which was very inconvenient. I taught him a special exercise, and after Mr. Kamiyama practiced it for a while, the foot ache disappeared. Even now as I am talking to you, I am not just idly standing; I am always exercising, everywhere I go -- even in the bathroom. Also, at Danbury there is one special, very uneven rock that I use to exercise and massage every part of my body.

When I finish serving in Danbury, the accumulated amount of time that I will have spent in prisons will be five years. How could I survive prison life for five years? It is because I have developed special methods of breathing and exercise, and practice them regularly. I am probably the eldest here among you, but in terms of physical strength, none of you can keep up with me. I can walk for miles, no problem.

There is always give and take action in the body. Whenever any of those give and take actions stop, you become sick. Circulation must be correct. Even when you have a bad cold with a stuffy nose, certain exercises will bring relief. We have a lot to revolutionize in our way of life. Have you ever thought about how many times you go to the bathroom? By studying the statistics in my own situation, I could derive some estimate about how long I will live. Even the frequency of urination has something to do with the state of your health.

Follow my way of life. The time will come when I will teach you all my secret techniques of good health management. You should always be learning and preparing for something greater in the future.

Studying American Way of Life

The prison is also a good laboratory for me to study the American way of life. Because there is so much time, the inmates are continuously talking -- and complaining.

Talking is the only freedom they enjoy, and from their conversations I can learn all about American life.

I can clearly perceive the behavioral cycles of the inmates. I have watched one prisoner who always fights periodically, without fail. I have observed how much the inmates love to win at Ping- Pong, and how much they show their unhappiness when they are defeated.

God is still keeping me in prison because I still have more lessons to learn about the American people, so that I can lead them in the best possible way. From God's point of view, I need a little more workshop. The more I can understand American culture and character, the more I can develop certain techniques for relating to American people. When I come out of prison, I will know exactly how to push you and motivate you so that you can become much tougher.

You are very lucky to meet Father; it is the greatest fortune of your life. I am now training and teaching you so that you will be able to move people whose personalities are already set and established, and mobilize and inspire them to do something much greater and nobler. That's the kind of leadership quality that I would like to implant in you.

Different Quality of Leadership

In Danbury I have met with many famous and interesting personalities. Ordinarily, they come initially to pay respect or express sympathy to me. Yet inevitably, within an hour or so, they become a kind of disciple! I can completely turn the tables on them. They are amazed at how dynamic I am -- that I never even feel I'm in prison -- and they leave with willingness to carry out the mission I have given them.

If the leadership in America were sound in this way, then America would not be sinking. Everybody said the Unification Church would not last long; Rev. Moon, however, has prospered, because the quality of his leadership is different. Like a living thing, it moves and continuously grows upward. Once you become still you go down without being able to stop. If everything were left to Rev. Moon, it would probably only take him half a year to turn the country around.

So you have a sacred and patriotic responsibility to create new leadership for the future of this country. You have to create the substantial foundation. Words cheat; deeds are what count. Today, your responsibility is to educate the ministers. How can you do that? The ministers are experts in talking, in giving sermons, but they don't know how to produce the results. For example, if there is a fight going on, they don't know how to stop that fight. The ministers' way of life is a one-way street, but the Moonies' way of life is four-directional. For God's purpose, we can even visit a bar or a house of prostitution, and learn to understand and win the heart of the people there.

The inmates have learned that I will never go against my own word. Sometimes they try to extract a certain promise or commitment from me; instead, I say that I will think about it, or that the future is really up to them. In this way, I inspire them. Even when they gang up to play a joke on me, they end up realizing that the joke was played on them. Although some of them, like Larry, love Father, they have come to know that I am not an easy man.

With quick wit, I can also make people laugh until they have a bellyache. When I am talking to important people, I can get to the crucial core of any matter in a short time, and force a showdown. I use so many techniques and methods. I can assess each person's strengths and weaknesses, hit the vulnerable point, and undermine all resistance. I would not teach you these techniques now, because you would become a swindler instead of a good Divine Principle member. Yet if each one of you were like Rev. Moon, America would have been saved a long time ago. Now while I am in prison and you are free, you must become more serious than the desperate situation of America, and determine to grasp and to solve all the problems of this country.

I have heard that members are going for therapy and psychiatric counseling. If you have faith and pray, you will have the solution, won't you? God is the solution for everything. What I learned did not come from a classroom, or a psychiatrist, but from faith and from understanding of God Himself. Do you understand?

You should be able to move between emotional extremes freely and easily. If someone gets very mad at you, you should react calmly and naturally. When you meet the person the next day, you can just act as if you don't even remember what happened. This will give you power, for the other person doesn't expect that kind of reaction and will be at a total loss to know how to deal with you. Then grab him and tell him that you understand his heart, his thinking, very well, and that he shouldn't worry about it at all. From that point on, that person will be faithful and obedient to you, and you will have conquered him with love. American people, however, are impulsive; they just act and react. This is a very difficult aspect of Western mentality.

Sometimes I would even secretly help a suffering family that was opposing me and our movement. I would help in such a remote way that they never knew what was really happening. Many years later the truth would come out, and then that whole family would just break down in repentance. I would be a kind of savior to them, even while they opposed me.

I am always looking at you: evaluating, testing, hoping. When you met me, did you become a new person, with new direction, new motivation and a new way of life? You must continue to advance. There's no better way than to learn from each other, serve each other, help and be helped by each other.

Perhaps you thought Rev. Moon is so fortunate and comfortable, living in a mansion, using an expensive car and so forth. But now I am in prison, living in the smallest cubicle, and I am doing better there. Did you know that aspect of Father? I am doing more and doing better in prison than I did at East Garden, and God cherishes the tears I shed in prison even more than the tears I shed at East Garden.

When Mr. Kamiyama was in Danbury, I asked him to read aloud all of my speeches which had been published in Japanese. At one point, Mr. Kamiyama completely broke down in tears, and was so touched by the Spirit of God that he could not continue. I saw that man and it was an unforgettable memory. It was probably the highest point of Mr. Kamiyama's life in the Unification Church. It was a priceless gift. I enjoy such deep, soul-searching experiences. I always looks forward to dramatic encounters, even those with suffering.

Such encounters never come while driving in an expensive car. They always come in a shabby, cheap place, in the circumstances of a pitiful ordeal. Prison is that kind of testing ground. Also, in prison you cannot help but become close friends with nature. I come out at night to observe the position of the stars and galaxies. They are so mystic, telling some kind of story, conveying mysterious messages. Happiness has nothing to do with opulence.

Of course, before going to prison, I had many telephone conversations with Mother -- but none like the telephone conversations from Danbury. They have a special, totally different kind of feeling; you can't imagine. Now I have been thinking how much more I would like to talk to the underground missionaries in the Soviet satellite countries. How about calling God, speaking God's heart over the wire? Maybe I would break down in tears, but then God would break down in tears too.

In that case, how could I comfort God? With one word -- what could that one word be? It would be a very serious word. When you have only happy times with your friend, that friendship will not last; but when you become a friend with someone under adverse conditions, such a friendship will indeed last. When I met the early pioneer members of the church, in such a difficult situation even one piece of bread was precious. When a member had a piece of bread, he could not eat it by himself, but would come to me and share it. Even that piece of bread would trigger tears and make for an eternal relationship.

Do that now with your ministers. Among all the congregation, be the one to serve a minister and his church the most loyally and the most lovingly. How many people are going to give up everything to try to follow you, as people have done for me?

At our meetings I always see five colors of people, all with tears in their eyes. How real are those tears? How long will those tears last? How unchanging are you? The relationship I am seeking is eternal.

It is my philosophy that, in the Unification Church, I would rather let you suffer and go through incredible ordeals before the age of thirty. By doing so, you dig the well, build the dam and harden yourself so that you will never retreat, but always go forward. The strength built when you are young will remain forever. God wants that kind of person. When you discover the truth, you must go for eternity without changing.

Throughout my life I have shed tears. When I pray aloud, my prayer never ends without tears. I am a strong man, but when I go into the heart of God, I become so vulnerable. The tears flowing down cleanse the relationship and the heart.

I would like you to be with me all the time, for eternity, but you must have the same vibration of spirit. Our goal is still far away, our training is still long; but we will not get tired -- we will move on. Win the battle, and reach my spiritual vibration. Look at me, follow my example, learn from my experiences, and become like me. There is nothing more that I can ask. Thank you.

Father returns to Danbury in the evening.

True Parents' Birthday

Sun Myung Moon
February 25, 1985
Excerpts
Noon Speech at Belvedere
Translator: Bo Hi Pak

As you know, I am a totally free man, but because of the circumstances of my environment there are many limitations upon my freedom. If someone asked me, "Looking back upon your life, did you live according to your own will?" It would be very difficult for me to answer whether I lived by my own will or whether I was under the pressure of someone else's will. What do you think? Do you think that I have lived my life entirely according to my own will?

The Original and the Restorational Will Of God

There are two different aspects of God's will. First of all, there is the original will of God; the will before the human fall took place. The other aspect of God's will is what we call the restorational will of God, which arose only after the fall of man. Which one do you think God has been living by -- the first or the second? Certainly, He has been living according to the second. When a person seeks to follow God's restorational, circumstantial will, can there be any room for the person to do things according to his or her own desire or whim? You answer "No" correctly, so you are very clever.

What kind of a life is it when you are living for the purpose of paying indemnity for restoration, without true freedom? Do you think that a very beautiful woman would be able to live her entire life according to her own whims, doing everything she might want to do? The answer is clearly no, but there is a serious issue involved in that question. Suppose you were the husband of a beautiful, loving wife. How much do you think you would be able to freely express the depth of your love and do everything you want to do with your wife? Let's say that each spouse is calling out to the other, "Come to me." Do you think that they could always drop everything and go, especially considering the circumstances of society today?

Let us ask another serious question. How many people in the world have understood that God's will has had to be divided into two kinds, before and after the fall of man? No one understood this. Therefore it is obvious that without a person who is capable of interpreting these different aspects of God's will, there is no way we can expect the will of God to be done on earth. If no one even understands God's will, how can that will be done?

Do you think that Adam knew completely, after his fallen action, what he had done wrong or what wrong had been done to God's plan for future history? How about Cain and Abel? Do you think that Abel knew God's will precisely? Noah was a faithful and obedient man, but did he know completely what God was doing? What about Abraham? He didn't know God's will precisely. Neither did Jacob, Moses, or John the Baptist. What about Jesus? Do you believe that Jesus knew God's will? Yes, he did. Then why didn't he tell the world everything he knew? Certainly, the people of his time wouldn't listen very respectfully to him, but he knew that he was speaking to history and that if he spoke the plain truth then the people of the future could receive it, eventually. If he had spoken the plain truth, fully, Christianity would never have become as confused as it has and the world situation could never have fallen down to its present level. The Christian nation of America would not be so morally corrupt as it is today.

Did Jesus know the will of God completely? Let us make it very clear. If he did not know, how could he have fulfilled God's will? He came as the Messiah, to fulfill the will of God, so if he didn't know God's will, how could he possibly accomplish that? The problem is, even if we know the will of God completely -- including every point along the way and God's timetable -- still it is not easy to fulfill. So many things can go wrong. But if there is no clear understanding of the will of God from the beginning, then it is virtually impossible.

Jesus as the Messiah must have known God's will, but there must have been some reason why he couldn't tell the whole truth. You say he didn't have the foundation, but what kind of foundation? The crucial point is this: Although the foundation is very important, the direct son and daughter of God must be in the position to not only know the will of God but also to fulfill it.

When God created Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, they were created to fulfill God's purpose of creation. That purpose was to be fulfilled when Adam and Eve became husband and wife -- but what kind of husband and wife? They were to be a true man and a true woman, united in the perfection of their love. This means that man and woman are to be completely one, harmonized in every direction -- vertically, horizontally, front, and back. How? True love is the power by which we can bring about total oneness, total harmony, total unification.

The kind of oneness we are talking about has a certain orderliness or logic to it. All the components have their own positions, as in the body, where the head is in the head's position, and the arm stays in the arm's position and doesn't try to take the leg's position, or vice versa. There must be a certain order, and according to that order proper harmony and unification occur. God had a certain concept of order, so when He created Adam and Eve He didn't tell them that anything at all they wanted to do was just fine. There was a certain discipline, a certain order they had to follow to do His will. This is why God gave the commandment to Adam and Eve not to eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Adam and Eve were given the opportunity to learn how to become the lord and mistress of creation; to have a good dominion dyer the earth. Thus they had to know all about the creation. Without going through this educational process, they could not take their position of dominion.

The true person is, first of all, centered upon God; furthermore, he or she is centered upon love and in that way becomes one, forever, for eternity. So what is the first component of a true man or woman? God. Next, love. Then, absolute unity. It's simple!

As Father lights the candles of their birthday cake, Mother looks on. To the right, Mrs. Youn Young Yang, who was an opera student at Ehwa University when she joined, sings a Korean folksong at Father's request.

The Most Crucial Question

The next question is, as you might expect, are you true men and women? The definition of a true man and woman is rather simple; the truth is always simple. The problem is always how to live and fulfill it. In the morning you get up and go to work, thinking, "I want to live as a true person." But that effort is an enormous challenge isn't it? And it is always very serious. Who should become a true person? Everyone. The most crucial question people have had throughout history has been how to become true human beings. Once this question is answered, all other questions can be solved. What about your own ancestors -- did they want to become true men and women? What about your descendants? Of course they will want to become true men and women. Thus this is a serious issue.

Will we become true men and women only after we die and go to heaven, or will we do it on earth? What about Jesus -- was he a true man? How do you know he was? The true man must be filled with true love. With that love he is inspired to unify others, to unite all of humanity. We know that Jesus came in the position of the second Adam. Thus he needed someone to be in the position of second Eve. Did he find his Eve in his time?

Did God create true man for his sake alone, or to serve true woman? Man was created for the purpose of service to woman. Thus the woman will see the man and know, "This is the man who is going to love me forever; I know he will not leave me but will always be with me, centered upon God and true love." She will testify to him: "You are my ideal man. You will never change. I know you will maintain your purity and unselfishness."

The man will look at that woman and will see beyond the externals of face and so forth, and will recognize that she has purity of love, the unchanging quality and desire to serve with joy. He can see that she is going to remain with him forever and that they will be one for eternity, centered upon God.

The man is the one who gives certification that the woman is a true woman; the woman is the one who certifies that the man is a true man. And when they are united, only then does God become a reality. It is that simple. That is the whole gospel.

No Model to Present

But we come back to the important question: Why didn't Jesus tell us the whole, unvarnished truth? He knew the whole truth and he was in the position to tell the world, but he couldn't tell the world. Why? It is because there was no model for him to present. He was not able to make the model, the living textbook; he couldn't give the formula. That is why. Jesus knew the truth but he could not fulfill it, so he could not speak of it. He could not leave behind him the tradition of true man and woman. He had to fulfill certain stages, certain steps of that truth before he could speak of it.

That is why the only alternative left to Jesus was to come again. By the very fact that he said, "I must return," you can see that he was the Messiah. It shows that he knew the truth, but he also knew he could not fulfill it in his own time. It is realistic that when he comes again, he will seek his own bride, to accomplish the Marriage of the Lamb. Jesus was indeed the Messiah, qualified as the son of God, without question. His qualifications were absolute. But he could not complete all he had come to do.

When Jesus comes again, first he must become a true man himself; furthermore, he must find and restore a true woman. They must unite together in the unbreakable bond of true love. At that point God will say, "My will is fulfilled." The model will have been given for all humankind to follow. Thus Jesus must have a woman and that woman must be in the position to say, "Jesus, my husband, is an ideal man. He is a man of true love." That particular statement must be uttered by a woman. Jesus must also be in the position to say the same about his wife. Then God will say, "That is indeed my son and my daughter, united together."

How would they become one in love? First of all, the man and woman must each become the embodiment of the love of God so that God's love is burning within them. When you are burning with that love, you cannot sit idle. The man and woman are so completely united that when God is in between them, He will be absolutely crushed. When God shouts out in joy, that will be the fulfillment.

Men and women have the nature to embrace each other and become one. But the problem has always been that they did not have God within them. Suppose two beauty queens are hugging each other, expressing intimate love between them. Is that natural? If other people see such a thing, they are repulsed and look away. The skin of one beauty queen might be milky white and soft. When such skin rubs against another soft woman's skin, that is unimaginable. It is almost as if God had created everyone with soft bones, just like the flesh. Think of it! That would be very strange. Is there any woman who desires a husband who is boneless? Naturally you women are opposed to a soft, boneless man.

What kind of man do you want? You like a man with a lot of muscle, with strong bones, and lots of hair. When his strong hand grabs yours, your hand just melts inside of it. That is the way nature is; that is the blueprint of God. Men and women are supposed to be different. Some American women are saying, "We want to be in the bone position. Let the men become the soft flesh." Today America is suffering from terrible confusion; people don't know which side is up. There is no understanding of right order, subject and object, or who takes initiative and who is responsive. What about you American Unification women, are you different?

In America, many women pull the men around behind them and the men just follow timidly. I have never seen so many boneless men as in America -- "Yes, dear, whatever you say." Do you women like that kind of man? If you women don't change that trend, there can be nothing but darkness for the future of this country. America will not survive. There must be God's order and sequence, a certain discipline. We must maintain that discipline.

Father arrives at East Garden on True Parents' birthday, February 25, 1985, and is greeted by his family.

How Expensive Was The Blessing?

Those who have been blessed, raise your hands please. Who gave you the Blessing? How expensive was that Blessing? It is beyond price, and you cannot exchange it for the entire world. Sometimes I feel regret for having given the Blessing. I want you to know why I have given you the Blessing. It was so that you could become true men and women, uniting as exemplary husbands and wives and model families in the sight of God.

Thus no one has the right to say, "I do not like that type of person for my spouse. Even though Father gave the Blessing to us, I don't really see its value." Who made the decision to bless you, God or you? There is no room for such self-centered, horizontal thinking. In order to make even one heavenly matching possible, martyrdom and suffering had to be endured for 2,000 years of Christian history. Although human history is represented in the Bible as 6,000 years, scientifically it is closer to many millions of years. All of this time, God has been seeking to bring about His one day of fulfillment, the day of true marriage between men and women. That is the historical, critical importance of the Blessing.

Don't you think Jesus Christ wanted to be able to give the Blessing to his own disciples? He wanted to, but he could not.

Thus in religious history, marriage was mostly frowned upon. Celibacy was always elevated as the most noble way of life. Only within the Unification Church, in the name of the True Parents, do we perceive true marriage as the culmination of human history.

What is the meaning of the word "unification"? It means the uniting of the love of God with the love of husband and wife and the love of humanity. This is why the word unification was adopted for our church. When you join the Unification Church and accept the teachings, how do you look at Rev. and Mrs. Moon? They are the True Parents to you. No religion before has ever spoken about the True Parents. What are the True Parents? The True Parents are the fulfillment of the will of God; the fulfillment of the unification of the love of God. That is why the True Parents' coming is so historically important.

But you do not know the real implication of the words "True Parents." You do not know how long, how hard the path has been to come to the point where those words could be spoken. Behind the words "True Parents" and "unification" there is a hidden history of suffering which you have not known about. Only upon the victory in the ultimate showdown with the satanic world could the word "unification" become a reality.

Place of Showdown between Heaven and Earth

You also do not know how much heaven and earth have already changed in the last seven months since I have been at Danbury. I want you to know that I am not at Danbury for a vacation. That is the place of the showdown between heaven and earth and I have been working harder than ever there. The power of evil has been steadily declining during this time, while the power of goodness has been going up. Eastern civilization has been moving upwards and Western civilization has been harmonizing and unifying with the East.

There are so many people who are changing their attitudes toward the Unification Church. People who were our ardent enemies, many leaders of the academic and religious communities, have come to visit me in Danbury. In many cases the first words they spoke were, "Rev. Moon, on behalf of my government, I apologize. I am ready to listen to you. I want to do your bidding. You are a great man. You are serving our country, preserving our religious freedom, and protecting us from the dangers of communism." One leader after another has spoken like this before me and Mother. The prison is the place for plain talk. I simply spoke the naked truth to them and said, "Do you agree with this or not? Will you do it, or not? Everybody, even some important men, pledged in front of me, using the word "pledge." "I pledge before you, Rev. Moon."

God certainly works in mysterious ways. If I had never gone to Danbury, these kinds of men would never have come to see me in the first place; in the second place, they would not have humbled themselves; and in the third place, they would not have pledged themselves. Do you understand? This kind of miracle is happening every day.

This first thing I did after going to Danbury was to ask Rev. Kwak to send out video tapes to 300,000 ministers -- "God's Warning to the World." I feel very good because that is all done now; that was an incredible operation. If you study biblical history, you will see that some of the greatest things happened when people were in prison. Much of the New Testament was written by people in prison, such as St. Paul. The videotapes were my message sent from the prison.

Highway to Heaven

Today I am feeling fulfilled. Earlier this morning, I prayed for a long time with Mother at pledge service. In that prayer, I asked God to give me the opportunity to create a broad highway to heaven here on the earth, so that anybody who got on that highway could go to heaven. This is a hellish world and prison is one of the worst places on earth. The prison represents hell on earth and from that place I am creating a highway all the way to heaven so anybody can reach it.

When the Israelites had been wandering in the wilderness for 40 years, Moses sent twelve representatives to infiltrate Canaan and reconnoiter. Ten of them came back and said it was impossible to win the land. The people despaired and wanted to return to Egypt. Joshua and Caleb alone said, "If the Lord delights in us, He will bring us into the land and give it to us... only, do not rebel against the Lord." God blessed their faith and they were the only ones of the first generation to enter Canaan. All the rest perished in the wilderness. It is the same today. This is the end of our 40 years of wandering in the wilderness. The final three-year crusade has begun. Who will be the present-day Joshua and Caleb?

The members of the Unification Church today, every one of you, are to be the modern-day Joshuas and Calebs. You are in the position to tell the people "Be bold and strong." That is going to be our motto: Be bold and strong. This is wartime, so you Unification Church members cannot be shaken. You cannot become fearful or restless. You mustn't say, "I want to forget my mission. I have to go back home and take care of my father's business." Or, "My uncle has just died; I must go and bury him." Our work is too important.

Now that 300,000 ministers have received the Principle videotape and book, every day they will be more and more motivated to look at it, even secretly. All the ministers now are in a very good position. When you shout out, "Let's go to the land of Canaan!" all they have to say is "Amen!" They can follow and we can all enter that land of Canaan together.

Now you know why Jesus, even though he was the Messiah and knew the will of God, could not tell the truth precisely. What about the message that Rev. Sun Myung Moon has been speaking during these past four decades? Is that a more complete disclosure than what the Bible has revealed? Jesus was capable of giving that, but he did not have the momentum or the time. How could I do it? It is because I am capable of creating my own environment. Furthermore, this period in history is a more universal time. We are working on the worldwide level; at the time of Jesus, the work was on the national stage.

I want you to understand that this is the crucial time in the history of religion. God's hope is always universal, so He is always trying to create momentum for the worldwide dispensation. There was only one time in human history when the worldwide environment was ripe, and that was at the close of World War II. At that time, the churches in Korea were divided into Cain and Abel sides.

One part of the church was underground -- those who, because of the Japanese occupation, had had to worship the true God secretly in order to survive. But there was also another part of the church which cooperated with the Japanese in order to survive. I was a member of the underground church. At the end of World War II, I tried to educate several key political leaders. If they had listened to me at that time, the world situation today would be entirely different. The dispensation has always required unity between Cain and Abel. At that time, the established Christian churches were in Cain position to the underground movement, which was in the Abel position. They were supposed to unite together.

The division between the first Cain and Abel of history began because of the failure of their parents, Adam and Eve. After the fall of Adam and Eve, the situation of Cain and Abel came about on the family level. But that Cain and Abel relationship has grown to the clan, tribe, national, and worldwide levels. World War II was the worldwide struggle between Cain and Abel. Actually, in the sight of God, that was the Armageddon described in the book of Revelation. According to the dispensational time schedule the work of uniting with the worldwide Abel should have begun when I was between the ages of 20 and 30. Within the Abel camp, there is always another level of Cain and Abel. Thus I had to win the Cain camps within the Abel side, one by one, and unite them into the larger Abel camp. If that had been successful -- that is, if the established Christian churches had united with and accepted the ideal of the True Parents at that time -- there would have been no condition for communism to take over so much of the world.

But what happened? Within the Abel camp, established Christianity never responded to the Unification Church. I was rejected everywhere I went. That is why that tine was a total failure. Originally God had expected that the circumstances and environment would allow me to be welcomed everywhere. Thus since that foundation was shattered, I had to go out into the wilderness for 40 years, where I had to gather up the remnants of people who would follow. I had to build up my own foundation, starting from the family level and going on to the tribe, nation, and world. That was done by pulling Abel-type remnants into our camp in the wilderness.

The True Family descends the stairs of Belvedere's main house to join in the pledge service with representatives of the Blessed couples. Father with Jeung Jin Nim is followed by Mother and Hyo Jin Nim with his daughter Shin Jeung Nim.

Ideology of Love

Our world today is divided into three main components: the free world, the communist world, and the Unificationist world. Both the free world and the communist world have treated me as their enemy. We are in between these two other camps, so we have two possible destinies: They will either crush us between them or we will push them away. Which will it be? The most important thing is that, since we are at the center, we must remain like a rock, not moving one iota to the left or to the right.

Our great weapon is ideology: a worldview centered upon God. It is an ideology of love -- Godism. When the two camps are trying to squash us from both sides, should we run for cover, or push ourselves harder than ever? Would you like to use every ounce of; our energy to push the enemy away, or just do it in a half-hearted way?

Who is your model for this fight? I have been called every bad name and have received every form of persecution in America, but I have never faltered at all. Finally I went to prison but I began a new fight, with renewed vigor, once I got there. I have not relaxed one bit in prison. I have been fighting for 40 years. I spent these past 40 years, since the liberation of Korea in 1945, in the wilderness pursuing this battle, and now the time has come for the consummation. Moses, after his 40 years of struggle in the wilderness, was not able to enter into Canaan; he could only look upon it and then he died in the wilderness. However, Rev. Moon will not falter outside of Canaan. He will move forward, like Joshua and Caleb, into the land of Canaan, and finish the task of building the Kingdom of Heaven on earth.

I was totally abused in America, although I came here to save this country. They put me in the clothes of a criminal and put me in jail. It is all right for them to do that, but they must pay the price. The Danbury camp is no jail for me; those doors do not shut me in. From Danbury hill the rays of salvation will shine out to the world; the new gospel will be heard by all of humanity. God works in mysterious ways. He has a new strategy; God will make gains under any circumstances. God is the victor, even in Danbury.

This is the year of our declaration, and so the CAUSA members prepared the CAUSA Manifesto on Godism for the recent International Security Council conference sponsored by CAUSA in Paris. About 120 admirals and generals from all six continents attended that conference.

The Communist Manifesto proclaimed, "Workers of the world unite." Now Rev. Moon has declared to the world, "Believers of the world unite." I asked that the following words be put in the final sentence of that proclamation: "In the name of God, we commit our lives and our sacred honor to the accomplishment of this noble imperative." There is a separate page upon which participants signed the proclamation. If those retired generals and admirals have committed their lives to fight against communism, how can you not do it also?

Each of you must decide. I do not want to decide for you. It is your life, after all. I made my own decision for my life, so you must do the same.

I will not remain in the United States all the time. I came to America for the sake of the world; soon I can go back to Korea, my home, to save my own country. Of course, I will leave behind millions of people in America who have committed their lives as I have. But I cannot abandon Korea much longer; I will soon go back. The time will come for you to lose your Moses. But he has to go Moses' course and fulfill his destiny. Moses has a mission to accomplish. But I will not leave this country until such time as new heavenly soldiers, such as those generals and admirals, are dedicated to guiding America to save the world. That is the foundation I now am building; I will fulfill that mission before I leave here.

We must be responsible for this world -- do you feel that to the bone? You haven't known my strategy. Everything has been worked out. I have initiated 250 IOWC's around the country, moving around from state to state, and now they are settling down. They are becoming the fortresses of our movement, linking us to the Christian churches.

During my legal battle and my time in prison we have been educating many ministers, each of whom is encouraged to contact ten other ministers. Our social work has burgeoned. You didn't know why I asked you to do the things I did. Even now you don't know many of the things I am doing. Therefore, don't say, "I need to know everything before I can act," because then you will never do anything. Just move, then find out. We are going to link things on a worldwide basis. The PWPA, a fine intellectual organization, is active in nearly every country. Also we have the World Media Organization, which we will link up internationally. Paragon House and a new magazine will also play an important role in world education.

This is, in a way, our heavenly cultural revolution on the worldwide level. You didn't realize this. You must just listen to what I say, follow the guidance I give you, and pray hard, crying out to God. In the meantime, everything will be accomplished, step by step. Go out to meet the ministers. Sometimes they will treat you with scorn. But then you must cry more and go out again. Continue no matter what. It is most exciting to turn around those ministers who were opposed to you. You feel such a great sense of triumph. America is a tremendous challenge; I therefore feel great excitement at the prospect of taming this country and turning it around. That is manly work. All you men should harbor that kind of ambition. You women have the job of being the "cheerleaders" -- supporting and applauding the men as they go out to fight. When the men are defeated, you have to cry to heaven.

True Father-Son Unity

You say you commit your lives. For what mission? For the sake of God and humanity. My mission is the same -- all that I do is for God and humanity. This is because Satan is holding humanity. Noah decided to make that kind of commitment. Abraham was willing to sacrifice his own beloved son for the sake of God's will. The beauty of that sacrifice was the obedience of Isaac, who never rebelled, but accepted his fate at the hands of his father. Through this true father-son unity in faith, Abraham was given the honor of becoming the father of faith.

Suppose Isaac had done differently and cried, "Dad, what are you trying to do to me? Why can't you just kill a lamb? How can you be so cruel?" and had run away. Then Abraham's family would never have established the central family of faith. Jacob risked his life for his mission, working for 21 hard years in Haran, and fighting the angel at the ford of Jabbok. Moses risked his life every day in the wilderness. God always works with people who commit their lives.

John the Baptist stuck his neck out, initially. What about Jesus? Did he risk his life? He gave his life. Today Rev. Moon is risking his life, and that is why God cannot leave me. God is always working with me. I have been in six different jails. All together I have spent five years of my life in jails.

A special kiss for Mother, whose birthday is on the same day.

March to Moscow

In 1976, I proclaimed our march toward Moscow and the world laughed. But I had already decided that even if I must lose my life in Moscow, I would march there. I want you to know that at this moment, your brothers and sisters are working underground in Moscow. Some of them are in prison right now. How can I reject the road to prison when my young people are suffering in jail themselves? One time I received the message that a member was sentenced to be executed at a particular time on a certain day. When that hour came, I solemnly prayed and remembered that person in tears. I pledged to God, "With my own hands I shall liberate Moscow." I prayed for that brother, and told him spiritually, "Be bold and strong. Fear not for your death. When I come to liberate your country I shall recover your body and bring it to Korea. I declare that there you will be buried in the same ground as the True Parents."

The Unification Church is not a fun place. If anybody has been mistreated, it is I; so I could be very cruel in return. But in the name of God, I have decided to forgive and love all the more in return. We have missionaries in communist countries, and I am opening doors to those countries through professors and so forth. Many people never even thought about such things. But while people were eating well and sleeping and pursuing their own interests, I have been working on all these things. The very stones at Belvedere could speak more than you about why have I shed so many tears at the Holy Rock.

The Greatest Birthday Gift

American youth may not realize much now, but I will awaken them. I want to give clear guidance to the young people of America, even though I have to suffer in prison. I do not regret having stayed in this country, for I have mapped the proper direction for America.

You cannot give me any greater birthday gift than if even one hundred of you will make up your minds and say, "I shall follow Father's path precisely. I will walk this way unto my life for the sake of the other countries of this world. As Father has worked for America, so I will work for the world." If you American young people can come to that realization and commitment, then America will truly save the world. Humanity will survive and prosper.

That is God's way, not only Reverend Moon's way; therefore, you will never perish by following it. You will prosper. For that reason, I am asking you to raise your hands in pledge.

When Mr. Kamiyama was staying with me in prison, I educated him with certain information and understanding that even the 36 blessed couples never heard, because I could not know what sort of dangers might be near. I told the whole truth to Mr. Kamiyama.

Unity between Heaven and Earth

A very serious ceremony was held at pledge service this morning. I prayed for the unity between heaven and earth. I prayed for a highway to be established between hell and heaven, so that we can achieve the total unification of humanity in the name of God and His true love. In January I gave you the goal of meeting with 120 ministers. Now you have to do it. Run after it and accomplish that goal. Will you do it?

The title of this sermon was "True Parents' Birthday." We do not have much more time today, since I have many things to accomplish before I leave. We don't know when we will see each other again, but it doesn't really matter. You have received the message; you know your responsibility. I trust that each one of you will do it. God is alive. God wants to live with each one of you. You must think, "The living God is with me." Say it aloud: "God is alive! He is dwelling with me!" Therefore, be willing to do anything. Raise your hands and say, "Yes, Father!" God bless you.

Let us pray.

Father ends his birthday speech with a short and tearful prayer.

Prayer

Beloved Father,

In the ongoing flow of time, how long, how long has the providence of restoration been, which You alone have known about, as You eagerly awaited the time of fulfillment. Recalling the unrevealed story of past history, this son can only offer himself in tears, committing himself to fulfill his mission at the risk of his life. Since Your son understands how miserable and sorrowful You have been and how unfairly You have been treated, he only wishes that Your true circumstances can be revealed before the public.

Father, although there have been times when he could only retreat because he was pushed away, Your son thanks You for guiding him into the era when he can stand on the summit of the world, and can be directly involved in discussing the world situation with leaders and deciding the destiny of humankind.

Now, Father, You are watching Your son continue his path after he has climbed over one great hill. He prays that You would be proud of him who walks his way with boldness, without any reservation in his heart.

Please have compassion with people in Danbury, and bless those who are now thinking of me there. Please also bestow Your blessings upon these young children of Yours here, whom I must now leave behind.

As we pledged this morning to fulfill the mission of leading the destiny of America and the entire free world, then wherever these people go, whatever they do, I pray that You protect them by mobilizing their good ancestors and other good spirits in spirit world.

I pray for all these things in the Name of True Parents.

Amen.

True Parents' Birthday

Reverend Sun Myung Moon
Belvedere
February 25, 1985
Translator - Bo Hi Pak

Everybody was hoping that we would have nice weather today but it was chilly and damp this morning. However, as the day progressed it became warm and bright for our celebration, so this is the first blessing from Heavenly Father today. Since the weather is so beautiful and everybody feels wonderful, I have to talk about something wonderful.

I'm sure that everyone of you has heard news about Danbury from Mr. Kamiyama, as well as hearing his testimony. Those who have not yet heard his testimony should get copies of it.

As you know, I am a totally free man but because of the circumstances of my environment there are many limitations upon me. Someone might ask me, "Looking back upon your life, have you lived according to your own will?" What do you think? Do you think that I have lived my life entirely according to my own will?

When we speak of God's will, we speak of two different aspects of it. First of all, there was the original will of God before the human fall. The other aspect of God's will is what we call the restorational will, which arose only after the fall of man. Which one do you think God has been living by-the first or the second? Certainly, He has been living according to the second. When God must live according to His restorational or dispensational will, can there be any room for His followers to do things according to their own wisdom or whim?

What kind of a life is it when you are living without true freedom, for the purpose of restoration by indemnity? What about a beautiful woman? Do you think that such a person would be able to live her entire life according to her own whim, doing everything she might want to do? The answer is clearly no, but there is a serious issue involved in that question. Suppose you were the husband of a beautiful, loving wife. How much do you think you would be able to freely express the depth of your love, doing everything you want to do with your wife?

Let's say that each spouse is calling out to the other- "Husband, please come here" or "Wife, please come here." Do you think that they could always drop everything and go, especially considering the circumstances of society today? These are rather serious questions.

Let us ask another serious question. How many people in the world have understood that God's will has had to be divided into two parts, before and after the fall of man? There have not been any people before who understood this fact about God. Therefore it is obvious that without a person who is capable of explaining these different aspects of God's will here on earth, there is no way we can even expect that the will of God can be done on earth. If no one even understands God's will, how can that will be done? That is a logical conclusion.

Let us look at Adam, the first man in history. Do you think Adam knew completely what he had done wrong after his fallen action and what damage had been done to the will of God? How about Cain and Abel? Do you think Abel knew God's will precisely? Noah was a faithful and obedient man, but did he know precisely what God was doing? What about Abraham? Abraham didn't know God's will fully and precisely; neither did Jacob, Moses, or John the Baptist.

Therefore, until history welcomes the person who really understands the will of God, the fulfillment of religion is virtually impossible. Jesus as the Messiah must have known God's will. Although he was rejected by the people of his own time, why didn't he give the whole message for the sake of the people of the future? Some true Christian today could be in the position to say, "Jesus, why didn't you tell us the full will of God, so that we could know our direction and we could have avoided this confusion and chaos?" This is the question: "Jesus, what exactly were you? Why didn't you tell us everything?"

There must be some reason why Jesus couldn't tell the whole truth, the naked truth. The important point is this- the will of God must be fulfilled first by God, then by the direct children of God. The direct son and daughter of God must be in the position to not only know the will of God but also to fulfill it.

God created Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden in order to fulfill His purpose of creation. When did God want that purpose to be fulfilled? What was His timetable? Did He expect them to fulfill that purpose immediately after their birth, while they were crawling around as babies?

What do we mean by fulfilling the will of God? The fulfillment of God's will would produce great joy and ecstasy in God. Furthermore, husband and wife were involved in that, but what kind of husband and wife are we talking about? This is the very problem. We are talking about true men and women with perfected love.

That means the man and woman are completely one, harmonized in every direction-vertically, horizontally, front and back. How can we make true oneness, true unification? It is only through true love. True love is the method by which we can bring about total oneness, total harmony, total unification.

The kind of oneness we are talking about has a certain orderliness or logic to it. All the components have their own positions. That is, the head is in the head's position; the arm stays in the arm's position and doesn't try to take the leg's position, or vice-versa. There must be a certain order and according to that order, proper harmony and unification occur.

God had a certain concept of order, so when He created Adam and Eve. He didn't tell them that anything they wanted to do was just fine. There was a certain discipline, a certain order they had to follow to do His will. This is why God gave them the commandment not to eat the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

When Adam and Eve were created they were given the opportunity to learn how to become the Lords of the earth, to take dominion over the earth. Thus they had to know all about the creation. Without going through this educational process, they could not take their position of dominion.

Were there birds in the Garden of Eden? Yes, there were. How about butterflies, ants, and so forth? Of course they were all in the Garden of Eden. What is your goal in life? Do you want to become an ant, or a bird, or a butterfly? No? You say you want to become a true child of God? What is that? Well, in the first place you have to be a human being. Your desire therefore is to become a true human being, a true man or woman, correct?

What is the definition of a true man or a true woman? The true man is, first of all, centered upon God; furthermore, he is centered upon love and in that way becomes united forever, for eternity. That is true man and true woman. Do you follow? The first component of a true man is God. The next is love and then, absolute unity. That kind of man or woman is a true man or woman.

As you might expect, the next question is, are you true men and women? Is this a gathering of true men and women, or of false men and women, or what? You are in training and you want the training, but you always flunk- that's the problem! Since you are under training and you don't want to flunk, do you want me to really push you hard and teach you today? "No matter how much hardship I may have to bear, I want to become a true man or woman. Father, please do anything you must do with me," those who say that, raise your hands please. You are so greedy!

The definition of true man and woman is rather simple; the truth is always simple. The problem is how to live and fulfill it. In the morning you get up and go out to your work, thinking, "I want to live as a true human being." But that effort is an enormous challenge, isn't it? And it is always very serious. Who should become a true man? Each person must say "I shall become a true human being."

The most crucial question of people in history has been how to become true human beings. Once this question is solved, all the other questions can be solved. What about your own ancestors? Did they want to become true men and women? What about your children and posterity? will they want to become true men and women? Of course, they will want that. Thus this is a serious issue.

Will we become true men and women only after we die and go to heaven? Or will we do it on earth? What about Jesus-was he a true man? How do you know he was? The true man must be filled with true love: with that love he is inspired to unify with others, with all of humanity. We know that Jesus came in the position of the second Adam. Thus there must be someone in the position of second Eve. Did he find his Eve in his time?

Did God create true man for his sake alone, or to serve true woman? The "commodity" called man was created for the purpose of service to woman. A woman should have a husband who is eternally united with her, centered upon God and true love. The woman will say, "This is the man who is going to love me forever; I know he will not leave me but will always be with me, centered upon God." In that way, that man becomes a true man, from the viewpoint of the woman. She can say, "You are my ideal man. You will never change. You will maintain your purity, your unselfishness."

When the man looks at that woman he sees beyond the externals of face and so forth and recognizes that she possesses purity of love, an unchanging quality and desire to serve him with joy. He can see that she is going to remain with him forever and that they will be one forever, centered upon God.

Therefore, the man is the one who gives the diploma to the woman as a true woman and the woman gives the man his diploma as a true man. And when they are united, only then does God become a reality. It is that simple.

Let us return to a very important question: Why didn't Jesus tell us the whole, unvarnished truth? He knew the whole truth and he was in the position to tell the world, but he couldn't tell the world. Why? It is because there was no model for him to present, no material. He was not able to give the formula. That is why. Jesus knew the truth but he could not fulfill it, so he could not speak it. He could not leave behind him the tradition of true men and women. He had to fulfill certain stages, certain steps of that truth.

That is why the only alternative for Jesus was to come again. By the fact that he said, "I must return," it shows that he knew the truth but he could not fulfill it in his own time. It is realistic that when he comes again, he will seek his own bride for the fulfillment of the Marriage of the Lamb. Jesus was indeed the Messiah, the son of God, without question. His qualifications were absolute.

When Jesus comes again, first he must become a true man himself; furthermore, he must find and raise up a true woman. And they must unite together as husband and wife, receiving the eternal blessing from God and dwelling in the unbreakable bond of true love. At that point, God will say, "I have fulfilled my will."

Thus Jesus must have a wife and that woman must be in the position to say, "Jesus is my husband; he is an ideal man and he is a true man." That particular statement must be uttered by a woman. Jesus must be in that position. Then God will say, "That is indeed my son and my daughter, united together."

How would they become one in love? First of all, the man and woman must each become the embodiment of the love of God so that God's love is burning within them. When you are burning with that love, you cannot sit idly. The man and woman are so completely united that when God is in between them, He will be totally embraced. That will be His fulfillment. There is nothing more. Men and women have the natural urge to embrace each other and become one, but the problem has always been that they did not have God within them. Suppose two beauty queens are hugging each other and expressing intimate love. Is that natural? If other people see such a thing, they are repulsed and they look away. The skin of a beauty queen is soft and spongy. When such skin rubs against another soft, spongy woman's skin, that is unimaginable. It is almost as if God had created people with soft bones, just like the flesh. Think of it! That would be very strange.

Is there any woman who desires a husband who is boneless? Naturally you women are opposed to a soft, boneless man. What kind of man do you want? You like a man with a lot of muscle, strong bones, lots of hair on the skin. When his strong hand grabs yours, your hand just melts inside of it. That is the way nature is; that is the blueprint of God. Men and women are supposed to be different.

Some American women are saying, "We want to be in the bone position. Let the men become the soft, spongy flesh." Today America is suffering from terrible confusion; people have no understanding of right order, who is subject or object, who takes initiative, who is responsive. What about you American Unification women, are you different? Who are the subjects, men or women?

In America, many women pull the men around behind them, shaking their hips and the men just follow timidly. I have never seen so many boneless men as in America- "Yes, darling, whatever you say." Do you women like that kind of man? If you women don't change that trend, there can be nothing but darkness for the future of this country. There must be God's order and sequence. We must maintain that discipline.

There is no one else saying this kind of thing except Reverend Moon, so no one can educate American women except me. Do you accept that? You do, and then you listen to me. You feel compelled to listen to me, recognizing the logic of what I say. Those who have been blessed, raise your hands please. Who gave you the blessing? How expensive was that blessing? It is beyond price and you cannot exchange it for the entire world.

Sometimes I feel regret for having given the blessing, rather than fulfillment. I want you to know why I have given you the blessing. It was so that you could become true men and women, uniting as model husband and wife, and model family in the sight of God.

Thus no one has the right to say, "I do not like that type of person for my spouse. Even though Father gave the blessing to us, I don't really see its value." Who made that decision, God or you? There is no room for that self centered, horizontal kind of thinking. In order to make one heavenly matching possible, there was martyrdom and suffering for the 2,000 years of Christian history.

I want you to understand that although human history is represented in the Bible as 6,000 years, scientifically it is closer to many millions of years. All of this time, God has been seeking after His one day of fulfillment, that day of true marriage between men and women. That is the historical, critical importance of the blessing.

Don't you think Jesus Christ wanted to be able to give the blessing to his own disciples? I want you to understand that in religious history, marriage was frowned upon in a way. Celibacy was always elevated as the most noble way of life. But only within the Unification Church, in the name of the True Parents, are we making marriage the culmination of human history.

What is the meaning of the word "unification"? It means the unification of the love of God with the love of husband and wife and the love of humanity. This is why the word unification was adopted for our church. When you join the Unification Church and accept the teachings, how do you look at Reverend and Mrs. Moon? They are the True Parents to you. No religion before has ever spoken about the True Parents; we are the first. What are the True Parents? The True Parents are the fulfillment of the will of God, the fulfillment of the unification of His love. That is why the advent of the True Parents is so historically important.

But you do not know the real implication of the words "True Parents." You do not know the long, hard path necessary to come to the point where those words could be spoken. Behind the words 'True Parents" and 'Unification" is a hidden history of suffering which you have not known about. Only upon the victory in the incredible showdown with the satanic world could the word 'Unification" become a reality.

You also do not know how much heaven and earth have already changed in the last seven months since I have been staying at Danbury. I want you to know that I am not wasting time at Danbury. That is the place of the showdown between heaven and earth and I have been working harder than ever there. The power of evil has been steadily declining during this time while the power of goodness has been going up. Eastern civilization has been going upwards and Western civilization has been harmonizing and unifying with the East:

The day of my release will come and after that people will realize that Reverend Moon was innocent, that there was no justification for him to have been put into jail by America. On the day that I went into Danbury, people thought they were getting rid of the trouble making leader of the Unification Church. But on the day that I come out of Danbury, the world will see not just the leader of the Unification Church but a man making history. Furthermore, America will find new hope. America will have no more excuses before me.

There are so many people who are changing their attitudes toward the Unification Church. People who were formerly ardent enemies as well as leaders of the academic and religious communities have come to visit me in Danbury. In many cases, the first words they spoke were, "Reverend Moon, on behalf of my government, I apologize. I am ready to listen to you. You are a great man. You are serving our country, preserving our religious freedom, protecting us from the dangers of communism." One leader after another has spoken like that before me and Mother.

The prison is the place for plain talk. There is no need for adjectives. I simply spoke the naked truth to them and said, "Will you do it, or not? Do you agree with this or not?" Everybody, even some important men, pledged in front of me. They used the word "pledge," and said, "I pledge this before you, Reverend Moon."

God certainly works in mysterious ways. If I had never gone to Danbury, those kinds of men would never have come to see me in the first place; in the second place, they would not have humbled themselves; and in the third place, they would not have pledged. This is the incredible miracle that is happening every day.

The first thing I did after going to Danbury was to ask Reverend Kwak to send out video tapes to 300,000 ministers: "God's Warning to the World." I feel very good because that is all done now. That was an incredible operation. If you study Biblical history, you will see that some of the greatest things happened to people in prison. Much of the New Testament was written by people in prison, such as St. Paul. The videotapes were my message sent from the prison.

Today I am feeling fulfilled. Earlier this morning, I prayed for a long time with Mother at the Pledge Service. In that prayer, I asked God to give me the opportunity to create a broad highway here on the earth so that anybody who got on that highway could go to heaven. This is a hellish world and Danbury is one of the worst places on earth. The prison represents hell on earth and from that place I am creating a highway all the way to heaven so that anybody can go to the goal.

When the Israelites had been wandering in the wilderness for 40 years, they selected twelve representatives to infiltrate Canaan and reconnoiter. Ten of them came back and said, "It is impossible to win." Only Joshua and Caleb said, "If God is with us, what should we fear? We can win!" God blessed their faith and they were the only ones of the second generation to enter Canaan. All the rest perished in the wilderness. You know about that history. You are in the same position today. This is the end of our forty years wandering in the wilderness. The final three year crusade has begun. Who are going to be the Joshuas and Calebs? This is the question.

The second of the final three years, which was 1984, was the most crucial. At the beginning of that year, Heung Jin was taken. Also I entered prison in July of that year. However, I knew that we would turn each situation into great victory through that indemnity. Heung Jin's Seung Hwa became much more than just a simple death. I offered it as a most crucial sacrifice to heaven, for the sake of unification. That is why the Unification Ceremony was conducted. The same is true of my own difficulties at the present time.

At the time of Heung Jin's death, I wanted to make the sacrifice a most victorious one. For that reason, until Heung Jin passed on I never shed one tear. Everything I prayed for in the Unification Ceremony has become a reality, one point after another. The members of the Unification Church around the world know exactly the meaning of Heung Jin's sacrifice and the role he is playing in spirit world today. 120 nations are coming into unity.

Like the accumulation of small streams flowing into one large river and culminating into a giant waterfall, this power cannot be stopped. What has happened since my incarceration? American public opinion has been changing, day by day. Many people were happy when they first heard that Reverend Moon was going into prison, but now more and more newspaper articles are coming out expressing a totally different attitude.

Furthermore, great numbers of ancestors are coming down from spirit world, helping people to see the truth. Reverend Moon has become a fearful character. Even the U.S. government approached my recent parole hearing like it was a "hot potato." Those people who were responsible for my being prosecuted and put into jail are now in a state of fear and insecurity, due to this change in public opinion. If they weren't that way on their own, spirit world would torment them until they felt that way.

The members of the Unification Church today, every one of you, are the modern day Joshuas and Calebs. You are in the position to tell the people, "Be bold and strong." That is going to be our slogan: Be Bold and Strong. This is wartime so You Unification Church members cannot be

shaken or become fearful and restless. You must not say, "Let's forget the mission. I want to go back home and take care of my father's business." Or, "My uncle has just died; I'll go and bury him." There is no time for that.

An amazing thing will happen. Now that 300,000 ministers have received the Divine Principle videotape and book, every day they will be more and more motivated to look at it. They may not want anybody else to know, so they may read it secretly.

This kind of a project would normally cost $20 million or more but because we are doing it ourselves, day and night, we are spending much less money and we are making a great impact around the country. The ministers now are in a very good position. When you shout out, "Let's go to the land of Canaan! ' all they have to say is "Amen." They can follow and we can all enter that land of Canaan together.

Now you know why Jesus, even though he was the Messiah and he knew the will of God, could not give the truth completely and precisely. What about the message that Reverend Sun Myung Moon has been speaking during these past decades? Is that a complete revelation, more complete than what the Bible has revealed? Jesus was capable of doing that, but he did not have the momentum or the time. How could Reverend Moon do it? It is because Reverend Moon is capable of creating his own environment. Furthermore, this time in history is a more universal time. We are working on the worldwide stage; at the time of Jesus, it was a national stage.

God's hope is always universal so He is always trying to create the momentum for His worldwide dispensation. There was only one time in human history when that particular environment was ripe and that was right after World War 11. At that time, the churches in Korea were divided between Cain and Abel. One part of the church was underground-those who worshipped the true God secretly because of the Japanese domination. But there was also a church which cooperated with the Japanese in order to survive. I was a member of the underground church.

At that time, I tried to educate several key political leaders. If they had listened to me then, the world situation today would be entirely different. The dispensation has always required unity between Cain and Abel. At that time, the Cain was the established Christian churches and Abel was the Unification Church. Both were supposed to unite.

Division between the original Cain and Abel began because of the failure of their parents, Adam and Eve. The Cain and Abel conflict started from Adam and Eve on the family level. But that conflict has grown to the clan, tribe, national, and worldwide levels. World War II was the worldwide struggle between Cain and Abel. Actually, that was the biblical Armageddon described in the Book of Revelation, in the sight of God.

According to the dispensational scheme, this work of uniting with the worldwide Abel should have begun when I was between the ages of 20 and 30. Within the Abel camp, there is always another level of Cain-Abel. Thus I had to win the Cain camp, one by one, and unite them into a larger Abel camp. If that had been successful, that is if the established Christian churches had united with and accepted the ideal of the True Parents at that time, everything would have been done. That means there would have been no room for communism to rise up in the world.

But what happened? Within the Abel camp, established Christianity never responded to the Unification Church. That is why that time was a total failure. Since that foundation was shattered, I had to go out into the wilderness for forty years where I had to gather up any remnants of people who could follow. Originally God had expected that circumstances and environment would welcome me everywhere, but on the contrary, after that time of failure I was rejected everywhere I went. Thus I had no choice but to go into the wilderness where I had to build up my own foundation, starting from the family, tribe, nation and world. That was done by pulling Abel-type remnants into our camp in the wilderness.

Our world today is divided into three main components: the free world, the communist world, and the Unification world. Until today, nobody has welcomed the Unification world, neither the free world or the communist world. Amazingly enough, the free world put Reverend Moon into jail and said, "Reverend Moon is our enemy." Of course, the communists declared me their enemy a long time ago.

What is our weapon? It is an ideology, a worldview which centers upon God. It is an ideology of love which we call Godism. With this ideological strength, we are pushing hard at both the free world and the communist world. You are in the position to push the world away, pulling God into our camp. Are you doing that? We have two possible destinies: we are in between the two other camps so they will either crush us between them. or we will push them away. Which will it be?

The most important thing is that since we are at the center, we must remain like a rock, not moving one iota to the left or to the right. We cannot cry, "The enemy is coming so let's take cover!" We must remain steadfast at the center. Satan thought, "Since the center of this ideology of Godism is Reverend Moon, let's pull him away from the center and put him into jail. Then the Unification movement will collapse and perish. We will melt them!" But are we being melted?

When the enemies are pushing us from both sides, should we try to make a little elbow room and push them away, or should we continue to be squashed in the center? Would you like to use every ounce of your energy to push the enemy away, or just do it in a halfhearted way? Shall we work with sweat, or shall we tremble with fear? Shall we say, "My legs are tired so I think I'll take a vacation"? Or shall we continue to push ourselves forward harder than ever? Shall we go forward or backward?

Who is your model for this fight? So far, I have been fighting this giant America all by myself. I have been called every bad name and have received every form of persecution but I have never faltered at all. Finally I went to prison but I began a new fight with renewed vitality once I went there. I did not relax one iota in prison.

I have been fighting for forty years. Since the liberation of Korea in 1945, I have spent the past forty years in the wilderness, pursuing this battle, and now the time has come for the consummation. Moses, after his forty years' struggle in the wilderness, was not able to enter into Canaan. He could only look upon it and then he died in the wilderness. However, Reverend Moon will not falter outside of Canaan. He will move forward like Joshua and Caleb and finish the task of building the Kingdom of Heaven on earth.

A few weeks ago, a prominent young man came to visit me in Danbury. He represented the young people of America. He said to me, "Reverend Moon, I have witnessed the most amazing phenomenon during these past five years-many young people between the ages of 16 and 25 have become very conservative and anticommunist. Young people are turning against the hippie attitudes and are embracing patriotism and traditional values. I couldn't have imagined such an incredible thing happening five years ago." I told him, "I predicted such a thing."

Here in America the conservative movement is growing. Reverend Moon appeals to those people. Christianity is the Abel group within the American conservative movement; therefore I am working to reach the ministers. You have heard about the Common Suffering Fellowship? They are the ministers who pledged themselves to suffer on behalf of Reverend Moon for one week apiece. I have a plan to educate 7,000 Christian ministers with Godism. Each of those 7,000 leading clergymen will unite with 10 peers apiece, meaning that 70,000 ministers will be mobilized. They can do it. The last time I spoke to you, I explained that each of you was responsible to educate 120 ministers

Another incredible chapter in the history of restoration has occurred during the past week. We invited 130 retired generals and admirals from the six continents to come to Paris to attend a conference called international Security Council. Those 130 generals and admirals came together under the sponsorship of Reverend Moon and talked about a worldwide strategy to stop the spread of communism and the Soviet Union. It was very successful. Americans are worrying about American security, but I am organizing a global security council. Actually, the U.S. government should be doing more but they are not; that is why I am doing it.

In order to strengthen this kind of posture for God, I am uniting with the Christian ministers. That is because they are the Abels of the Abel camp. At the same time, we must unite with such people as those retired soldiers, the police forces, the American Legion, the Veterans of Foreign Wars and other such organizations. The people most capable of understanding communism are the veterans who fought against it, defending their country. Christianity is often quite ignorant about communism so they need to be educated.

This is how we must unite the Abel people around the country. We need to tie them together with a "cable". We are going to unite with the Christian world as well as these retired soldiers and veterans and others.

I came to America with the commitment of my life and my sacred honor. I walked into my court trial willingly, knowing that jail was most likely my destination. I walked out through the jail doors this morning and I will go back through those doors this evening, but I feel no shame. I am proud to be in that jail, proud to be doing good for the sake of God and humanity. If going to jail is the way to do that, I would go to jail a hundred times. How about you? Would you do the same? Will you follow my example?

Yes, I was totally abused in America, although I came here to save this country. They put me in the clothes of a criminal and put me in jail. But that is all right. They can do that, but they must pay the price. Danbury is no jail for me; those doors do not shut me in. From Danbury Hill, the rays of salvation will shine out to the world; the new gospel will be heard by all of humanity. God works in mysterious ways. He has a new strategy; God will make gains under any circumstances. God is the victor, even of Danbury.

Are you committing your lives? This is the year of our declaration and thus I asked the CAUSA members to prepare the CAUSA Manifesto on Godism.

Dr. Pak: Father has asked me to read this paragraph from the CA USA Manifesto in conclusion: "CA USA does not hide its goals or aims. We seek the end of communism. We also seek to end, by a moral revolution, corruption and exploitation in the free world. We proudly proclaim our goal to liberate Moscow. Let the communists tremble before the march of Godism. They have nothing to lose but their chains. With God, we have a world to win." Communism has always said, "Workers of the world, unite." Now Father has declared to the world, "Believers of the world, unite." And there is a separate page upon which everybody in the conference signed the proclamation. Father asked me to put these words in the final sentence of that proclamation, "In the name of God, we commit our lives and our sacred honor to the accomplishment of this noble imperative." Those retired generals and admirals had already committed their lives to fight against communism, so Father was saying to them, "flow can you not do it?" How about you?

Father: Each of you must decide. I do not want to decide your life for you. It is your life, after all. I made my own decision for my life so you must do the same. Have you committed your life? Raise your hands if you have.

From the center, we must push out completely on both sides. I want you to know that I will not remain in the United States all the time. I may go away somewhere. I came to America for the sake of the world; now I can go back to Korea to save my own country. Of course, I will leave behind millions of people in America who will commit their lives, as I have. But I cannot abandon Korea much longer; I will go back.

The time will come for you to lose your Moses, but Moses has to go Moses' destiny. Moses has a mission for Moses to fulfill. I will not leave this country until such people as those generals and admirals, those new heavenly soldiers, are dedicated to guiding America and saving the world That is the foundation I am making now; I will fulfill that mission before I leave here.

Do you feel that without our work, this world will perish? We must be responsible for this world-do you feel that to the bone? You haven't known my strategy. I have initiated 250 IOWC's around the country, moving around from state to state, and now they are settling down. They are becoming the fortresses of our movement, linking us to the established Christian churches. Everything has been worked out.

While I was fighting my legal battle, I also created the NCCSA, the mobile IOWC, and so forth. You didn't know why. Even now you don't know many of the things I am doing. Therefore don't try to say, "I should know everything before I move," because you would never move in that case. You must move, then find out.

We are also going to unite people on a worldwide basis. The PWPA, a fine intellectual organization, is in every country. Also the World Media Organization will link together media people around the world. Furthermore, a new magazine project affiliated with the Washington Times will be published for the purpose of education of the world. I want to create a magazine that professors would be proud of; at the same time, it should be something which students would want to keep, like an encyclopedia.

This is, in a way, our heavenly cultural revolution on the worldwide basis. You didn't realize this. You must listen to what I say, follow the directions I give you and pray hard, crying out to God. In the meantime, everything will be accomplished step by step. When you go out to meet the ministers, sometimes they will treat you with scorn. But then you must cry more and go out again. Continue to do that. It is much more exciting to turn around those ministers who were opposed to you. You feel a great sense of triumph.

America is a tremendous challenge; therefore, I feel great excitement at the prospect of taming this country and turning it around. That is manly work, truly masculine work. All you men should harbor that kind of ambition. You women have the job of supporting and applauding the men as they go out to fight. When the men are defeated, you have to cry.

Today is my birthday but you are keeping me here for such a long time-you cruel people! You said you have committed your lives, didn't you? For what mission? For the sake of God and humanity. My mission is the same- for God and humanity. That is because Satan is holding humanity.

Noah made that kind of decision himself. Abraham made that decision; he was willing to sacrifice his own son for the sake of God's will. The beauty of that sacrifice was the obedience of Isaac, who never rebelled but accepted his fate at the hands of his father. That was true father/son unity in faith and through that Abraham was given the honor of becoming the father of faith.

Suppose Isaac had said, "Dad, what are you trying to do to me? Go get that lamb and kill it. How can you be so cruel? I will run away." If Isaac had run away, Abraham's family would never have come into being. Thus they truly committed their lives. Think about Jacob's life. He spent 21 long, hard years working in the land of Haran. Do you think he risked his life or not? He was deceived by his uncle 10 times. Moses stuck his neck out every day, from the time he left Egypt through the forty years in the wilderness. He was risking his life every day. God always works with people who commit their lives.

John the Baptist also stuck his neck out, initially. What about Jesus? Did he risk his life? He gave his life. Today Reverend Moon is risking his life and that is why God cannot leave me. God is always working with me. I have experienced six different jails. All together I have spent five years in jails. Now every time I move on, I go to greater challenges, the worldwide jail.

In 19761 proclaimed our march toward Moscow and the world laughed. But I was determined that even if I lose my life in Moscow, I shall march there. That was my decision. I want you to know that today, right now, your brothers and sisters are working underground in Moscow. Some of them arc in prison right now. How can I reject the road to the jail when my young people are suffering in jail themselves?

At one time I received a message from a member that he was sentenced to execution, at a certain time and date. When that hour came, I solemnly prayed and remembered that person in tears. I pledged to God, "With my hands, I shall liberate Moscow." I prayed for that brother and I told him spiritually, "Be bold and strong. Fear not for your death. I shall recover your body and bring it to Korea. In my will, I declare that you shall be buried in the same ground as the True Parents."

The Unification Church is not a fun place. If anybody has been mistreated, it is I; so l could be very cruel in return. But in the name of God, I decided to forgive and love in return. We sent a missionary to Red China eight years ago. We are opening those doors steadily through Japanese professors and so forth. Many people never even thought about such things, as they have been eating well and sleeping and doing what they wanted. But meanwhile, I have been doing all these things. The very rocks at Belvedere know more than you. I have shed so many tears at that Holy Rock.

American youth may not realize now, but I will awaken them. I want to give clear direction to American youth, even though I have to suffer in prison. I have no regrets to stay in this country in order to map the proper direction for America. You cannot give me any greater birthday gift than if even one hundred of you will make up your minds and say, "I shall follow precisely Father's path. I will walk this way unto my life for the sake of the other countries of this world. As Father has worked for America, I will work for the world."

If you American young people will come to that commitment, America will truly save the world. The world will survive and prosper. That is God's way, not only Reverend Moon's way and therefore you will never perish by going that way. You will prosper.

When Mr. Kamiyama was staying with me in prison, I gave him certain information that even the 36 couples never heard, because I could not know what sorts of dangers might be near. I told the whole truth to Mr. Kamiyama.

A very serious ceremony was held at Pledge Service this morning. I prayed for the unity between heaven and earth. I prayed for a highway between heaven and hell so that we could achieve total unification of humanity in the name of God and His true love. In January I gave you the goal of meeting with 120 ministers. Now you have to do it. Run after it and accomplish that goal. Will you do it?

The title of this sermon was "True Parents' Birthday." We do not have much more time today since I have many things to do before I leave. We don't know when we will see each other again but it doesn't really matter. You have received the message; you know your responsibility. I trust that each one of you will do it.

God is alive. That God wants to live with each one of you. You must think, "The living God is with me." Say it aloud, "God is alive. He is dwelling with me." Say it again. Therefore, be willing to do anything. Raise your hands and say, "Yes, Father!" God bless you.

Stony Path of Tears

Sun Myung Moon
February 1985

What is this stony path? It is the road of providence or dispensation. No one in history or in the world today readily volunteers to walk the stony path. No individual, family, society or nation likes to walk a stony path, for they want to have a smooth road instead. People would rather drive on a highway in a scenic area instead of a desert. In the Oriental concept, man's life is compared to a journey, and people think of life in terms of a happy and peaceful, or unhappy journey. Why are some people destined to walk a stony path? The reason is quite mysterious.

This desire for a carefree life is not limited to man, but includes nature. Grass wants to grow in fertile ground with lots of sunlight and nice rain, and birds look for a comfortable dwelling where they can be at peace. All of nature wants to live in peaceful circumstances. God also would like to have a peaceful existence. It is man who sets himself apart from nature in his suffering and struggles.

There have been many great and righteous people in the past. What kind of life pattern did they have? Usually, they lived in tears, toil and hardship. Did they volunteer for that life or was it forced upon them by circumstances? Though they did not volunteer, their environment brought a hard life upon them. They lived a life of difficulty in order to overcome humanity's unhappiness. Those who pioneered the righteous path in history did so in tears and sweat.

Where does true happiness begin? Where does true peace or the ideal begin? Do true peace and righteousness begin after a life of toil and tears, or before these things? Why are they only found beyond that hill? Something went wrong. That something was the fall. Religion came into being in recognition that human life is not as it should be. Without the recognition that there was some deviation from the original world, religion could not exist. The fall reduced humankind to an abnormal and unhappy state. Religion tries to overcome that unhappy state and bring man back to normality. Therefore, religion is on a collision path with man's unhappy state, trying to shatter it into pieces.

God Labors in Grief

Is religion based on the charismatic personality of its leaders, or on God? Religion must be based on God. Is God, who has to drive humanity onto this path of collision with unhappiness, a happy God? A human has only a limited life span, and in that brief time he has to go through much hardship and toil to overcome his unhappy state, but God has had to continue that struggle for thousands of years. Can you imagine His grief and misery in having to do so?

The fall of humankind is directly connected to the sorrow of God. Today we see people who live from day to day for fun and entertainment, but if they truly want happiness and righteousness they cannot continue that way; they must collide with their surroundings and rise above them. The first step in a life of religion is recognizing the tragedy of the fall, and trying to remedy that state. The fall brought misery not only to humanity, but to God. He has been living continually in struggle and unhappiness, but no man has recognized this.

Does the solution begin with humanity or with God? If it is only a human problem then we don't have to worry about God, and if it is only God's problem then we don't have to worry about humanity. But the problem is equally serious for both humans and God, and thus the solution must be structured in such a way as to include them both. Because the fall brought tragedy to both humanity and God, they must think along the same lines if they are to bring a solution. If God is crying then people cannot be laughing; if God is struggling over the hills then humanity cannot be skipping over flat ground.

If you are sorrowful and someone comes to comfort you, will your sorrow automatically go away? You have heard the fable about the ant and the grasshopper, in which the ant worked hard during the summer while the grasshopper enjoyed idle time. Could the grasshopper understand the ant's experience? The ant worked so hard that his waist became as thin as a thread, and he was exhausted with fatigue. Could the grasshopper comfort the ant if he never had experienced hardship himself.? But the father of the ant could understand how the ant felt because the father had worked even harder than his son.

This analogy applies to man and God. God has worked hard, like the ant, while man has been like the grasshopper. In America people eat, drink, and disco -- it's a grasshopper's life. How could such people say they understand God's suffering? Would God be comforted by them? The only way truly to comfort God is to work hard for God's will and understand what He has experienced. Then God might be comforted by you.

Did God begin the universe in joy or sorrow? During the process of creation God felt joy and said that His creation was good, but did He feel the same joy at the human fall? God's joy would have been complete if people had become perfect in the object position, but that never happened. Therefore, human history started in misery, and God's history was also miserable. There was no sound of joyful laughter, only tears. The echo of those tears has resounded throughout history down to the present day.

The sound of tears began history, continued through the centuries, and will be the future agenda of history unless we bring total change. This is the universal atmosphere surrounding our life, so if you are trying to be happy all by yourself it is futile. You are swimming in waters of unhappiness and it is impossible to get out by yourself. Does God have reason to grieve or not? His grief begins in the realization that if things had been different He would have been embraced in joy, but instead He is surrounded by sorrow. Is God's situation clear to humanity?

The Religious Life Is to Comfort God's Grieving Heart

People have restless, unhappy lives, but they don't know why they struggle so much for so little. God knows that bringing a solution to the situation won't be easy. His direction is to bring the solution by following a stony path, but religious people today shun the cross and ask God for blessing and money instead. To God's ears such prayers are worse than seeing the lazy grasshopper-kind of man. Not only do such people not comfort God, but they want to steal something from Him also. Religious people don't realize that they are driving one more nail into God's back each time they pray that way. Instead of comforting Him, it causes Him more pain. On the other hand, if there is a group of people who can say they understand God's situation and who want to take care of His sorrow, will they be closer to God?

Americans like pets, especially puppies. If one day there is a big fight between a husband and wife and the husband throws his wife out of the house, just by licking her hand and wagging his tail the puppy will give her more comfort than her husband. The relationship between humanity and God is somewhat the same. Humanity and God have been in conflict, with people defying God and demanding to know why they should go a stony path. God really needs the comfort of even a little puppy.

Those intellectuals who study God in books will never come close to God without suffering. Maybe they think they have better things to do than to bear the cross, but anyone who thinks in that fashion is a thief. Is the study of books or the way of the cross closer to the heart of God?

If you are trying to be comfortable in a religious life, it cannot work. You have to shed tears; your eyes should not be dry, for there is no such thing as a true religion without tears. You do not know how much I have shed tears in prayer, like the flowing of a stream. You have to cross that creek of tears to meet God. If you shed tears out of self-pity, there is no way God can connect with you, but if you shed tears for humanity and the sorrow of God, He will be linked with you.

God Aspires to True Love

If God exists, what do you think He will be like? What is His goal? Will He run for the United States presidency to show people how powerful He is? Or will He try to become a millionaire like the Rockefellers to show how much money He has? Does God have a hungry stomach and work to get a good meal, or does He merely aspire to have some candy bar from the corner store, like a little child? God must have some aspiration, some goal and ambition. What do you think it is? It is the realization of love. In God's sight, love is the highest and most noble thing.

Where can God find love? Can God love all by Himself and happily laugh and smile and joke with Himself? Will God say, "Here I am. My arms, legs and face are so pleasing to me?" What a crazy idea that is! The person who is trying to be joyful all by himself is ridiculous.

While you women are sitting in front of the mirror making yourself up do you say, "Oh, I'm so pretty. I love myself. My ears and nose are just right!" Are you completely intoxicated by your beauty, or would you rather have someone else praise your beauty? Of course, you wish that someone else would come and say, "Hey, your face is beautiful." Why are you like that? Where does that characteristic desire come from? Do you resemble your parents or friends in that way? No, those are God's traits and characteristics. God cannot sit in front of the mirror admiring Himself.

No matter how big a hand God has, He still wants to touch the beautiful features of others. He wants to appreciate the beauty coming from His object, not from Himself. God's vision is infinite and He can see through everything in the universe, yet even with that vision, God wants to behold some loved one, no matter how small he may be. God has infinite hearing and He can listen to all the incredible sounds of the universe, yet God aspires to hear the sound of love. God can speak with authority that can create and destroy the universe. His word has that power, yet God wants to use His mouth to whisper love.

God has five senses of sorts. With His spiritual eye He wants to look at the beauty of love; He would like to smell a loving smell; He would like to taste a loving taste; He would like to hear loving voices and loving music; He wants to touch a loving object. That is God's sole aspiration. If God is not that kind of God and His aspiration is only for power or money, what a tasteless God He would be. He would be like an African desert, all vast and powerful but without beauty.

Heaven and Hell

What is the definition of Heaven and hell? Heaven is the place where you become joyful centering upon God, serving Him and dwelling with Him. Hell is where you are sad and empty centering upon Satan. The master of Heaven is God. What is He like? Does He welcome the man who brings money, knowledge or power with him? No, God is looking for something else. Those who are relying on those things will be like pebbles in the Kingdom of Heaven. God is looking for the joy of love, for someone whom He can love and who will bring Him something to be loved.

What is hell? Hell is the place where money and power are valued as ends in themselves and where you yourself become the powerful center. We want to give and receive love so that we can feel joy. Directly opposite to that way of life is hell, where people crush others in order to make themselves kings. Even though someone ends up in hell he doesn't lose the original desire to receive love; that trait will remain even in hell. Even those in hell know what the true aspiration is, and because they cannot achieve it there, they live in agony and torture.

In heaven you yearn for love and you can fulfill it. You can receive God's love and give love to God, over and over without limitation. That is Heaven. Heaven is really wonderful and good, so much so that even if you say thousands of times that it is good you can never truly express how good it is. In Heaven you can live intoxicated in love. When a wave of that love hits you, you are suddenly electrified. A dozing person wakes up and his vision, hearing and sense of smell are sharpened and he will be whispering of the beauty of love for thousands of years. The story of love will never end. Even though every organ of your body is fully active and functioning perfectly, still you feel you want more love. You can become a drunkard of love.

The love God is speaking about and trying to give is profound, infinite love. The love which is worthy of God is not cheap, Hollywood love. Is there any good love in today's world?

Do You Aspire to True Love or to Worldly Love?

I'm sure that in your life you have come to several crossroads and had to make many different choices. You probably took one road and came to a dead-end; then you came back and started on another road but found another dead-end. No matter where you turned in this world, you found no satisfaction, until you tasted God's love. All worldly aspirations pale in comparison. After having tasted that love, you want to become a true person worthy of possessing God's true love forever.

Maybe the best human aspiration is to get a Ph.D. from Harvard? America is the land of opportunity, so why not become a billionaire? Is that your dream, or would you rather become so powerful that everyone has to yield to your wishes? What is your true aspiration? Our goal is the same as God's -- true love. How patient can you be until you find the love you are seeking? Is it an easy goal to attain? Can you just sit down and call for love to come to you? Are you searching for cheap love or noble love? Is true love everywhere to be found and easy to have in America today? Can true love be found through casual sex and a series of love affairs in a search for the perfect lover, or in a place like this where we avoid premarital relations and work on changing ourselves into true men and women?

Where is a true man most likely to be found, with rich people or poor people? When you see the structure of our society, do you think the upper, middle or lower class would be more likely to have a true man or true love? Does true love start with crowning glory in the highest place, or in the lowest possible place and then work its way up?

True love comes into being when you practice the highest possible love in the lowest possible place. There you deal with impossible people and try to raise them into the highest possible people by showing them the highest possible standard. There is where true love can be found and can start.

Would you prefer having true love or cheap love? A person who thinks he is clever might prefer taking the easy way. That is why Jesus said that for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven is far more difficult than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. Jesus meant that it would be practically impossible, even if the rich man lost all his wealth and sank into poverty. If a poor man could easily enter heaven, why would a rich man never be likely to make it? Once a person becomes self-centered and arrogant, even though he may falter and become penniless he will usually remain self-centered. That quality will not quickly vanish. Poor people, however, have flexibility. Because they have nothing, they are more willing to go anywhere and do anything.

We Meet God in the Place of Tears

Who is true God? God is the One who is searching after His true object to whom He can give true love. God forgets Himself completely and only works for the wellbeing of the entire creation. Visualize God going after this fallen world. Is He coming with joy, laughing every day and calling "Here is true love. All my fallen children, please come'? Or is He grieving, going after fallen man with tears? Why is the true God the one who is seeking His children with tears?

It is significant that tears come to our eyes on two different occasions -- when we are utterly happy and joyful, and when we are utterly sad and sorrowful. God has been crying as a broken-hearted God. When He suddenly finds absolute joy, will He start laughing or keep crying? Imagine lovers who have been separated by war, tearfully searching in hopes of finding each other. They shed tears because of sorrow at having lost each other, but suddenly upon finding each other their tears become tears of joy and they cry even harder.

Then in what circumstances does God want to meet His loved ones? God will meet His loved ones in a tearful place, in a tearful way. If you are absolutely sorrowful and are shaking with sobs then you are not only shedding tears, but fluid is coming from your nose and mouth as well. Have you ever cried in that fashion? If you have never experienced such tears, you have not yet tasted true love. If your expression of tragic sorrow is so deep that it cramps your insides and almost chokes you, in the moment you find your long-lost loved one, what happens? The shock of his return might be so dramatic that you would pass out! That is truly a dramatic encounter. Is that the most dramatic love of all, or is it still not quite at the center of true love?

When you know God's true characteristics do you think He is a God of glory sitting on a throne looking down on the world, happily dispensing His blessings? So far, the Christian world has described this kind of benevolent God, but we in the Unification Church are not looking for such a God. We are seeking the God who is desperately looking for a dramatic encounter with His loved ones. When God is heartbroken and sorrowful and tearfully searching for His family He has no time to think of Himself, and He certainly doesn't worry about His own fame or honor.

God looks very miserable in His search for true love, but that God is truly noble and loving. No one could see God that way and scoff, "What kind of God are you? How can you be so miserable and foolish?" A God of that heart must be praised for giving Himself in an utterly sacrificial way for the sake of His children.

Imagine a loving couple who truly care for each other unselfishly. If suddenly the wife dies then her husband is completely heartbroken and really cries. If that man happens to be the President of the United States, do you think the citizens will say, "What kind of man are you? As the President how can you show such deep sorrow?" Will people criticize him for showing his genuine grief at the loss of his wife? No. That pure expression of love is a thing to be praised.

We said we are working toward better and higher goals. What are they? The best goal is the desire to be wherever true love can be found. We cannot find true love in the place of glory, however, because God never found it there. We must find it in a tragic situation.

What way of life did Jesus Christ live? He lived the life of the cross and was finally crucified. For whom did he die? Did he die on the cross aspiring to become a Roman emperor or governor of Israel? No, he died gaining salvation for others. All his effort was only to save people. Jesus lived the life of God, desperately seeking His loved ones. Although he gave out his very life for the people, by living in that way he fully occupied God's true love.

Among All Possible Roads, Choose the Road of the Cross

There are many roads meeting at the crossroads. How can we distinguish whether a certain road is wrong and not leading to the ultimate goal? We look at every road from the point of view of true love. If true love doesn't come alive on a particular road, you won't find any satisfaction and you will know it is the wrong direction.

If a child is drowning, a parent jumps into the water to save his child and will even die in his place. What kind of love is that? It is sacrificial, true love. Suppose a friend is drowning and another friend saves him and dies in his place. What kind of friend is that? Of course, he is a true friend. Is this the same on the national level? If America is sacrificial in trying to save a small nation such as Vietnam, does the same theory apply? Did America meet the standard?

Where is the Unification Church? Established churches have lots of money, honor and fame, but all of a sudden the Unification Church has emerged and challenged them all, saying, "We want to go in a completely different direction." Usually churches take a collection at service on Sunday mornings and a devout Christian tithes one tenth of his income, keeping his home and whatever extra money he needs. We don't have any extra money, however. We go out to raise money, giving our blood, sweat and labor to save the world. Just like Jesus, we want to give ourselves to save the world, and in the process we are willing to sacrifice and die. We know how to live comfortably like anyone else, but we gave up that life. We are here to sacrifice. We live the simplest way of life and eat humble meals. We don't spend money but work hard, and the fruit of that labor is given for the sake of the world.

You know how to live well and eat well. We all know how to wallow in luxury. Let the world live that way. We don't do it, because we are willing to sacrifice for the sake of the world. We embrace the sacrificial way of life that was established by Jesus. We are the people who forget ourselves and cry out for others, praying for heaven to bless them. We want to be in the position to give ourselves up for that purpose. We choose that way of life.

Our life style is parallel to Jesus' life. Therefore, we can evoke such heartfelt passion in the heart of God. As I said, God is coming down to humanity in a tearful, heartbroken way. if you go this way, then the moment He meets you is the moment He truly has hope, comfort and encouragement. God came all the way down and has finally found people who understand Him. Here He has true comrades and champions, and God feels comforted. We want to give God a shock of joy. When He meets you, let Him find someone who suffers and is more sorrowful than Himself. Then He will be comforted. God will want to champion you and comfort you and will no longer be sad. Let us surprise Him by comforting His heart.

Repentance on the Road

Do you pray? How do you pray? If your prayer is centered mostly on personal requests, it is neither valuable nor powerful. When you are too self-centered and only want individual advancement, God just cannot listen to that prayer. The first thing is to determine a righteous direction and to work toward the goal, repenting in daily religious life. God will always listen to the needs of such a person. Actually, ninety percent of prayer is not about doing this or that, because you and God already know what must be done; ninety percent of prayer is repentance. This parallels Jesus' teaching to repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. Repentance is very valuable if you do it correctly.

Since your goal is already set very high, you always know on which days you don't reach it. Repent on those days, saying, "God, I'm sorry about today. I really wanted to come much closer to the goal today but I failed you. Please forgive me. I will do it tomorrow." That's the way you should pray.

Someday you may be witnessing when some big guy strides up to harass you, yanking your necktie and shouting, "You stupid Moonie. " At that moment perhaps you can't stand the difficulty anymore and you snap, "Yes, I'm a Moonie. So what?" Then you come back and pray, "God, I'm sorry. That was not Your expectation. You want me to do better than that, don't You?"

The next day may find you having to repent again. When you set your goal very high you cannot reach it easily, and every day you repent. That's a beautiful thing. Every day is a new day and a new beginning. You have a lifelong journey and every day is a day of repentance. That's a beautiful life to live. That is far better than feeling, "Now I'm the leader, and I give the directions around here. " The other way is a far more beautiful way of life.

God has never boasted, "I'm Almighty God so you have to listen to Me." Then how could we who are trying to comfort that heartbroken God say that we are somebody? We have not come that far yet. The person who repents every day makes progress, even without knowing it. Anyone who thinks he is a high-standard Moonie and a good example for others has already stopped growing. Would you like to go the road of repentance?

I want you to realize that even after lifelong repentance no one will have paid his debt. On the road of repentance every day is a new beginning. That is the road of your very own cross, on which you are going only upwards and will never fall down. Many times Jesus secluded himself in the mountains, fasting and praying tearfully. Even for him, every day was a new day of repentance. That's the one sure way you can guarantee you will make progress and never falter.

Today my topic concerns the crossroad of life and death. What road do we take? We can choose many, but let's take only one -- the road of the cross.

The Road of America is Leading to Hell

Another way is the road of selfishness. There is a road for the benefit of your home and another for your country. American citizens can be classified into three categories: those who live for themselves, those who live for the well-being of their own family, and those patriots who are trying to advance the cause of the nation. Where do the majority of Americans belong? Maybe more than ninety percent are self-centered. Who is going to be responsible for the homes and nation of such people?

The road of unselfishness is God's road, and you can reach Him only by going in this direction. Because of self-centeredness there is a barrier between God and America. Can Americans find God? Then is this nation the Kingdom of Heaven or hell? The logical conclusion is that ninety percent of Americans are living in hell. The fact is that Americans today are proud of their civilization, but do you know what kind of civilization you have? It is a jungle which is seething with all kinds of criminality and immorality. We are desperately trying to get out of that jungle. Everyone's mind has been contaminated there, to the point where they sometimes feel very comfortable and accustom to living even in such a wretched jungle.

Where do you want to live, here in America or in Africa'? Africa may have a physical jungle, but perhaps Africans live very simple and unselfish lives, thinking more about their own families and tribes and nation than about themselves. If that is the case, do you think it is better or worse than America? If it is better. then naturally you would want to live in Africa.

You have been programmed by a contaminated world and become accustomed to it. Selfishness is everywhere -- in the homes, nations and even religions. Even religion has not survived in purity. America was founded by people of great faith, but most of today's churches are broken down. America had strong families who built a righteous nation, but all that is breaking down. If the nation is crumbling, what is its destiny? The ultimate consequence can only be destruction and despair, and there will be no hopeful future left. If America continues on this path, then not only this nation but the rest of the world will crumble. Furthermore, by continuing this way of life, America will make God's work fail. America is going over the cliff, and someone must come to apply the brakes and stop it.

We are the ones whom God has called to apply the brakes. We must revitalize this country's mainstay, which is religion, and give it a new tradition. We are confronting a great tidal wave, but we will push it back. This nation has been pursuing an abnormal way, so we are here to apply the brakes and turn it around 180 degrees.

This is the crossroad of life and death. The road of life is really the way of death, while the road of death is really the way of life. It is practically impossible to change a place of death into a place of life, and merely surviving requires a desperate struggle, but we will not give up or die. We will suffer and overcome death and turn it into life.

The Road to God Requires Self-Denial

Who here has experienced tears during prayer? Which kind of tears did you shed -- sad tears because you were tired and felt you couldn't go on? Have you shed tears for God? How do you know God has shed tears? Your experience with God has been indirect. How can you relate to God? How can you change and be linked directly to God?

In relation to God the key word is Father. Even at the time of Adam and Eve God was invisible, but Adam and Eve were created to be the visible form of God. They were like the body of God, and God was like their mind. In spirit world as well Adam and Eve would have been the visible form of God. God created man and woman so He could manifest Himself in a visible form; He wanted to have a visible form to communicate with. Second, God created man and woman to fulfill love. God is our Father. Human beings are temples of God, and inside the temple dwells a mind which is a microcosm of the infinite God.

How far is God from you? He is as near as your mind, for that is His dwelling place. God knows good and evil, and your mind also knows what is good and what is evil. Your mind knows whether you are headed for Heaven or hell. Your mind is a proper guide, but the problem is whether your mind is strong enough to pull your body toward the goal. If the body fails to obey then you go to hell. You resemble this infinite God because you possess all the elements of that God. In order to be His child you must be like Him.

All of history hinges upon one word -- restoration -- because Adam and Eve never became God's dwelling place. Right now, your body is always pulled in the satanic direction, so your mind has to be anchored to God and be able to conquer your body. Your little mind must become big in order to do that job. Right now there is a race between the two, and when your mind overwhelms your body there is no chance your body can go astray. The person who can discipline his body most will grow fastest. You have to make it a habit to subjugate your body to your mind, a process that takes about three to seven years.

Therefore, you should do whatever your body dislikes. Since the body always goes in a satanic direction, you should do whatever it doesn't want to do. This is why we do many things our bodies don't like. Our bodies don't like to fund-raise or fast or witness, but that's what we do.

America has a very promiscuous society in which men and women have a free lifestyle and can do anything. In this society full of temptations you must keep yourselves pure. That one effort alone is like a life-and-death struggle. By the age of thirty most Americans may have been married three or four times, but you are withstanding temptation and sustaining your purity up to that age. In the everyday world you can make a girlfriend in one night; with an absolute stranger you can do all kinds of crazy things overnight. But here even husbands and wives sometimes have few opportunities to be together. This kind of discipline takes a drastic effort, and you feel that you are practically dying, but I want you to know that you are truly living for eternity.

Do you go the flat path or the stony path? Have you ever imagined how rugged the stony path is? You women want to many handsome, elegant men, don't you? You are so silent all of a sudden! Your eyes are cunning in a way because they recognize when a man is handsome and tall, and then you hope he might become your husband. But you must deny what your eyes see and what your body wants. Ask God for the ugliest possible man so that you can look at him as being in the image of God and serve him. People always say, "Yes, yes, yes," except for one thing. That "except" is always the problem.

It is my experience that God is the champion at disguising Himself. He tries to give you the utmost love, but in order to ensure that you are qualified for it He will disguise that love in the form of the ugliest person. When you truly love that person as you love God and give God your thanks, then God will slowly reveal Himself through that person. There is always temptation behind a beautiful face, so watch out. Goodness dwells behind the ugly facade, and furthermore, no one will look at that person except you!

Some of you may think I say this because I already have a beautiful wife. But actually I really asked God to give me the ugliest, woman in the world. I was totally ready to receive a 250-pound wife because I thought God might want me to appreciate His bigness. If you have a small wife, then you can think God wants you to enjoy His charming side.

Can you overcome what your eyes tell you? You weren't given eyes so you could look at the world in a secular way, but so you could shed God's tears. That's the most precious way to use your two eyes. You like to hear sweet words, don't you? You have to cross over the hill of your ears also. Maybe your husband is not only ugly, but every day he grumbles and complains. What would you say? In order to separate your thoughts from Satan, you have to think that the grumbling is sweet music from God. When your husband keeps snapping and nagging, give him his breakfast and tell him to nag afterward. At night, tell him to sleep and then nag tomorrow. Do that for forty days, and then he will say it is no fun nagging because there is no response from you.

Your nose is very sensitive. Everyone likes and dislikes certain smells, but you should train yourselves to like unpleasant odors -- such as a toilet smell, or your husband's body odor. Overcome the hill of all your senses. How many exams have you passed? You can always come up with excuses. Some people might say they can't get up early because their hips are too small and they don't have strength in their back. Another person might say her hips are so big she can't carry them early in the morning! Your body always makes excuses.

Your hand knows what your body wants, so your hands reach for the nicest food before anyone else gets it. You should tell your hand to reach for the things other people don't like. A woman's body offers a certain temptation and has a certain craving to be touched, and so women have to cross the hill of hips and bosom. Men also have their own hill to cross. You have to transcend temptation and not do what your body wants.

There are seven tests to go over -- eyes, ears, mouth, hands, nose, legs, bosom and hips. Keep a list and cross off each test as you pass it. But denying temptation is only the beginning. Then you must utilize all these organs to cry out in understanding God. Have you experienced having not only tears running down your face, but saliva drooling and your nose running as you cry in prayer? If someone tries to talk to you at that time, you don't hear them, and if they touch you, you don't feel it. Furthermore, with that heart you want to shed every drop of blood for the people. God wants to see your whole body dripping sweat as it works for humanity.

I Have Lived to Liberate God from His Tears

God has been shedding tears all these years, not for Himself but for humanity and the world. Therefore, we shed tears for God and humanity, not for ourselves. The secular world sheds tears, but heavenly tears should be greater than those tears. Knowing that the dispensational path had to be walked, I never cried for myself, or for my family and parents. I cried for God and humanity. My tears soaked all my clothes, even my thick winter clothes.

That's the only way I could inherit God's kingdom and lay the foundation for the Unification Church. Those tears are the root of the Unification Church. I would like to change the tears of people sorrowful for themselves into heavenly tears shed for God's circumstances. Neighbors and brothers tried to kill me by sentencing me to a prison where prisoners were worked and starved to death slowly. But I shed tears and overcame death. Even in prison I never complained. I never begged God to ease my pain. My only worry was that my blood and sweat were shed for God's sake.

My path has been nothing but a way of misery, many tears and much hardship. Do you think I am insensitive or dumb? Any time I take a beating or see some sorrow, I must shed tears for God. When those situations come to me I always think of God first, that I am the person to liberate Him. Then I cannot help but comfort Him and tell Him I am fine. I know also that God has shed many tears because of me, and that is why He cannot forget the Unification Church.

People who communicate with the spirit world sometimes ask to know about me, and the answer comes to them in the form of desperate crying for days and nights. I cannot be described without tears. If you are without tears in the Unification Church, you cannot successfully go this way. I cannot feel close to people who do not know the taste of tears. Only those people who know tears can understand me.

Fallen humanity has been burdened by a debt of blood, sweat and tears. If you ask God to tell you some of His experiences since the fall, there is nothing else He can tell except a story of sweat and tears and blood. He has no other history but that. Today's Christians truly don't know what God is all about. They imagine Him sitting on a glorious throne enjoying life, but that is not true at all.

Someone has to liberate God, and He cannot do it Himself. The agony of parents, or of husband and wife, cannot be solved by themselves alone. The agony of parents can only be solved by children; the agony of a husband can only be solved by his wife, and the agony of a wife by her husband. The only way to liberate God from His sorrow is by becoming a son of filial piety to take over His agony, or by becoming like a wife who takes over the agony of her husband.

Even if you are not the children of certain parents, or the wife of a certain man, if you serve those people more than their actual children or wife do, you will actually be closer to them than their own family. The only way to help is to show more filial piety and genuine devotion than their own children or wife would do. The same truth applies to our relationship with God. If you give more sacrificial love to God than I do, you will be closer to Him than I am. I suffered all my life for God, but if anyone of you can do better than certainly God will be closer to you. If God loves you more, will I be jealous at how you are doing better than I am? No, I will be happy to follow such people.

God wants to be with anybody who has such love. If you shed your sweat, tears and blood all your life for God, then because of you God will be able to shed tears of happiness and hope for the first time. What other honor could you ask for? You won't have to worry about going to heaven; God Himself will personally escort you to the highest place. The greatest path in history is the path of liberating God from His sorrow.

A true son of filial piety will move his parents' heart to tears. The true loyal subject will move his king to tears. If many subjects can give their lives for their king and queen, they will certainly be moved to tears. That is my goal -- I am giving all my devotion to the task of liberating God from tears of sorrow and moving Him to shed tears of happiness. That is the root of the Unification Church.

Our Tears Will Restore the Tears of History

Adam shed tears, Cain and Abel shed blood, Seth shed tears, and they all passed these tears down to history. In order to make restitution, Noah shed sweat, blood and tears for 120 years in truly sacrificial devotion. That's why God can use that faith to wipe out the world of tears, sweat and blood. When Abraham left his home he shed tears; his son Isaac was offered to be a sacrifice, conditionally shedding blood; his grandson Jacob really shed sweat. This is the pattern of pioneering the dispensation.

Moses was thrown out of the Pharaoh's palace, and many times he shed tears. Jesus shed blood on the cross. The Lord of the Second Advent will shed the most sweat in finally building the Kingdom. It was sown at the time of Adam and Eve and is reaped in this way throughout history.

Someone must liquidate the sorrowful blood, sorrowful sweat, and sorrowful tears of history, and then build a new history of joy in laboring for the Kingdom. At the time of the Lord of the Second Advent restitution must be made totally; therefore, the Lord must be a king of sweat, tears and blood, paying the debt of all history.

In the midst of tears, can you harbor hope for Heaven? Jesus bore the cross at the age of 33. Our determination is to bear the cross, but to bear a living cross instead. For whom will you do it, though? For God and humanity. With tears of sorrow Adam and Eve brought the fall and brought the tears and tragedy which humanity has suffered for many thousands of years, but tears for God and humanity will not only bring you up to heaven, they will also liberate God.

We shall overcome the stony path of death and find life. This is why Jesus said that he who would save his life would lose it, and he who would give his life would save it. When we cross over that path of tears and the people of the world can shed tears of happiness, God will finally be able to shed tears of happiness. God is looking at this room, with five colors of skin gathered in one common love, for one common goal, shedding tears of joy and hope as parents and children, and that scene brings God tears of joy and hope.

God bless you. Let us pray. 

Stony Path of Tears - Reverend Moon's Message to 300,000 Christian Pastors in America from Danbury Prison in February 1985

What is this stony path? It is the road of providence or dispensation. No one in history or in the world today readily volunteers to walk the stony path. No individual, family, society or nation likes to walk a stony path, for they want to have a smooth road instead. People would rather drive on a highway in a scenic area instead of a desert. In the Oriental concept, man's life is compared to a journey, and people think of life in terms of a happy and peaceful, or unhappy journey. Why are some people destined to walk a stony path? The reason is quite mysterious.

This desire for a carefree life is not limited to man, but includes nature. Grass wants to grow in fertile ground with lots of sunlight and nice rain, and birds look for a comfortable dwelling where they can be at peace. All of nature wants to live in peaceful circumstances. God also would like to have a peaceful existence. It is man who sets himself apart from nature in his suffering and struggles.

There have been many great and righteous people in the past. What kind of life pattern did they have? Usually, they lived in tears, toil and hardship. Did they volunteer for that life or was it forced upon them by circumstances? Though they did not volunteer, their environment brought a hard life upon them. They lived a life of difficulty in order to overcome humanity's unhappiness. Those who pioneered the righteous path in history did so in tears and sweat.

Where does true happiness begin? Where does true peace or the ideal begin? Do true peace and righteousness begin after a life of toil and tears, or before these things? Why are they only found beyond that hill? Something went wrong. That something was the Fall. Religion came into being in recognition that human life is not as it should be. Without the recognition that there was some deviation from the original world, religion could not exist. The Fall reduced humankind to an abnormal and unhappy state. Religion tries to overcome that unhappy state and bring man back to normality. Therefore, religion is on a collision path with man's unhappy state, trying to shatter it into pieces.

God Labors in Grief

Is religion based on the charismatic personality of its leaders, or on God? Religion must be based on God. Is God, who has to drive humanity onto this path of collision with unhappiness, a happy God? A human has only a limited life span, and in that brief time he has to go through much hardship and toil to overcome his unhappy state, but God has had to continue that struggle for thousands of years. Can you imagine His grief and misery in having to do so?

The Fall of humankind is directly connected to the sorrow of God. Today we see people who live from day to day for fun and entertainment, but if they truly want happiness and righteousness they cannot continue that way; they must collide with their surroundings and rise above them. The first step in a life of religion is recognizing the tragedy of the Fall, and trying to remedy that state. The Fall brought misery not only to humanity, but to God. He has been living continually in struggle and unhappiness, but no man has recognized this.

Does the solution begin with humanity or with God? If it is only a human problem then we don't have to worry about God, and if it is only God's problem then we don't have to worry about humanity. But the problem is equally serious for both humans and God, and thus the solution must be structured in such a way as to include them both. Because the Fall brought tragedy to both humanity and God, they must think along the same lines if they are to bring a solution. If God is crying then people cannot be laughing; if God is struggling over the hills then humanity cannot be skipping over flat ground.

If you are sorrowful and someone comes to comfort you, will your sorrow automatically go away? You have heard the fable about the ant and the grasshopper, in which the ant worked hard during the summer while the grasshopper enjoyed idle time. Could the grasshopper understand the ant's experience? The ant worked so hard that his waist became as thin as a thread, and he was exhausted with fatigue. Could the grasshopper comfort the ant if he never had experienced hardship himself? But the father of the ant could understand how the ant felt because the father had worked even harder than his son.

This analogy applies to man and God. God has worked hard, like the ant, while man has been like the grasshopper. In America people eat, drink, and disco -- it's a grasshopper's life. How could such people say they understand God's suffering? Would God be comforted by them? The only way truly to comfort God is to work hard for God's will and understand what He has experienced. Then God might be comforted by you.

Did God begin the universe in joy or sorrow? During the process of creation God felt joy and said that His creation was good, but did He feel the same joy at the human Fall? God's joy would have been complete if people had become perfect in the object position, but that never happened. Therefore, human history started in misery, and God's history was also miserable. There was no sound of joyful laughter, only tears. The echo of those tears has resounded throughout history down to the present day.

The sound of tears began history, continued through the centuries, and will be the future agenda of history unless we bring total change. This is the universal atmosphere surrounding our life, so if you are trying to be happy all by yourself it is futile. You are swimming in waters of unhappiness and it is impossible to get out by yourself. Does God have reason to grieve or not? His grief begins in the realization that if things had been different He would have been embraced in joy, but instead He is surrounded by sorrow. Is God's situation clear to humanity?

The Religious Life Is to Comfort God's Grieving Heart

People have restless, unhappy lives, but they don't know why they struggle so much for so little. God knows that bringing a solution to the situation won't be easy. His direction is to bring the solution by following a stony path, but religious people today shun the cross and ask God for blessing and money instead. To God's ears such prayers are worse than seeing the lazy grasshopper-kind of man. Not only do such people not comfort God, but they want to steal something from Him also. Religious people don't realize that they are driving one more nail into God's back each time they pray that way. Instead of comforting Him, it causes Him more pain. On the other hand, if there is a group of people who can say they understand God's situation and who want to take care of His sorrow, will they be closer to God?

Americans like pets, especially puppies. If one day there is a big fight between a husband and wife and the husband throws his wife out of the house, just by licking her hand and wagging his tail the puppy will give her more comfort than her husband. The relationship between humanity and God is somewhat the same. Humanity and God have been in conflict, with people defying God and demanding to know why they should go a stony path. God really needs the comfort of even a little puppy.

Those intellectuals who study God in books will never come close to God without suffering. Maybe they think they have better things to do than to bear the cross, but anyone who thinks in that fashion is a thief. Is the study of books or the way of the cross closer to the heart of God?

If you are trying to be comfortable in a religious life, it cannot work. You have to shed tears; your eyes should not be dry, for there is no such thing as a true religion without tears. You do not know how much I have shed tears in prayer, like the flowing of a stream. You have to cross that creek of tears to meet God. If you shed tears out of self-pity, there is no way God can connect with you, but if you shed tears for humanity and the sorrow of God, He will be linked with you.

God Aspires to True Love

If God exists, what do you think He will be like? What is His goal? Will He run for the United States presidency to show people how powerful He is? Or will He try to become a millionaire like the Rockefellers to show how much money He has? Does God have a hungry stomach and work to get a good meal, or does He merely aspire to have some candy bar from the corner store, like a little child? God must have some aspiration, some goal and ambition. What do you think it is? It is the realization of love. In God's sight, love is the highest and most noble thing.

Where can God find love? Can God love all by Himself and happily laugh and smile and joke with Himself? Will God say, "Here I am. My arms, legs and face are so pleasing to me?" What a crazy idea that is! The person who is trying to be joyful all by himself is ridiculous.

While you women are sitting in front of the mirror making yourself up do you say, "Oh, I'm so pretty. I love myself. My ears and nose are just right!" Are you completely intoxicated by your beauty, or would you rather have someone else praise your beauty? Of course, you wish that someone else would come and say, "Hey, your face is beautiful."

Why are you like that? Where does that characteristic desire come from? Do you resemble your parents or friends in that way? No, those are God's traits and characteristics. God cannot sit in front of the mirror admiring Himself.

No matter how big a hand God has, He still wants to touch the beautiful features of others. He wants to appreciate the beauty coming from His object, not from Himself. God's vision is infinite and He can see through everything in the universe, yet even with that vision, God wants to behold some loved one, no matter how small he may be. God has infinite hearing and He can listen to all the incredible sounds of the universe, yet God aspires to hear the sound of love. God can speak with authority that can create and destroy the universe. His word has that power, yet God wants to use His mouth to whisper love.

God has five senses of sorts. With His spiritual eye He wants to look at the beauty of love; He would like to smell a loving smell; He would like to taste a loving taste; He would like to hear loving voices and loving music; He wants to touch a loving object. That is God's sole aspiration. If God is not that kind of God and His aspiration is only for power or money, what a tasteless God He would be. He would be like an African desert, all vast and powerful but without beauty.

Heaven and Hell

What is the definition of Heaven and hell? Heaven is the place where you become joyful centering upon God, serving Him and dwelling with Him. Hell is where you are sad and empty centering upon Satan. The master of Heaven is God. What is He like? Does He welcome the man who brings money, knowledge or power with him? No, God is looking for something else. Those who are relying on those things will be like pebbles in the Kingdom of Heaven. God is looking for the joy of love, for someone whom He can love and who will bring Him something to be loved.

What is hell? Hell is the place where money and power are valued as ends in themselves and where you yourself become the powerful center.

We want to give and receive love so that we can feel joy. Directly opposite to that way of life is hell, where people crush others in order to make themselves kings. Even though someone ends up in hell he doesn't lose the original desire to receive love; that trait will remain even in hell. Even those in hell know what the true aspiration is, and because they cannot achieve it there, they live in agony and torture.

In heaven you yearn for love and you can fulfill it. You can receive God's love and give love to God, over and over without limitation.

That is Heaven. Heaven is really wonderful and good, so much so that even if you say thousands of times that it is good you can never truly express how good it is. In Heaven you can live intoxicated in love.

When a wave of that love hits you, you are suddenly electrified. A dozing person wakes up and his vision, hearing and sense of smell are sharpened and he will be whispering of the beauty of love for thousands of years. The story of love will never end. Even though every organ of your body is fully active and functioning perfectly, still you feel you want more love. You can become a drunkard of love.

The love God is speaking about and trying to give is profound, infinite love. The love which is worthy of God is not cheap, Hollywood love. Is there any good love in today's world?

Do You Aspire to True Love or to Worldly Love?

I'm sure that in your life you have come to several crossroads and had to make many different choices. You probably took one road and came to a dead-end; then you came back and started on another road but found another dead-end. No matter where you turned in this world, you found no satisfaction, until you tasted God's love. All worldly aspirations pale in comparison. After having tasted that love, you want to become a true person worthy of possessing God's true love forever.

Maybe the best human aspiration is to get a Ph.D. from Harvard? America is the land of opportunity, so why not become a billionaire? Is that your dream, or would you rather become so powerful that everyone has to yield to your wishes? What is your true aspiration?

Our goal is the same as God's -- true love. How patient can you be until you find the love you are seeking? Is it an easy goal to attain?

Can you just sit down and call for love to come to you? Are you searching for cheap love or noble love? Is true love everywhere; easy to find and have in America today? Can true love be found through casual sex and a series of love affairs in a search for the perfect lover, or in a place like this where we avoid premarital relations and work on changing ourselves into true men and women?

Where is a true man most likely to be found, with rich people or poor people? When you see the structure of our society, do you think the upper, middle or lower class would be more likely to have a true man or true love? Does true love start with crowning glory in the highest place, or in the lowest possible place and then work its way up?

True love comes into being when you practice the highest possible love in the lowest possible place. There you deal with impossible people and try to raise them into the highest possible people by showing them the highest possible standard. There is where true love can be found and can start.

Would you prefer having true love or cheap love? A person who thinks he is clever might prefer taking the easy way. That is why Jesus said that for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven is far more difficult than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. Jesus meant that it would be practically impossible, even if the rich man lost all his wealth and sank into poverty. If a poor man could easily enter heaven, why would a rich man never be likely to make it? Once a person becomes self-centered and arrogant, even though he may falter and become penniless he will usually remain self-centered. That quality will not quickly vanish. Poor people, however, have flexibility. Because they have nothing, they are more willing to go anywhere and do anything.

We Meet God in the Place of Tears

Who is true God? God is the One who is searching after His true object to whom He can give true love. God forgets Himself completely and only works for the wellbeing of the entire creation. Visualize God going after this fallen world. Is He coming with joy, laughing every day and calling "Here is true love. All my fallen children, please come"? Or is He grieving, going after fallen man with tears? Why is the true God the one who is seeking His children with tears?

It is significant that tears come to our eyes on two different occasions -- when we are utterly happy and joyful, and when we are utterly sad and sorrowful. God has been crying as a broken-hearted God. When He suddenly finds absolute joy, will He start laughing or keep crying? Imagine lovers who have been separated by war, tearfully searching in hopes of finding each other. They shed tears because of sorrow at having lost each other, but suddenly upon finding each other their tears become tears of joy and they cry even harder.

Then in what circumstances does God want to meet His loved ones? God will meet His loved ones in a tearful place, in a tearful way. If you are absolutely sorrowful and are shaking with sobs then you are not only shedding tears, but fluid is coming from your nose and mouth as well. Have you ever cried in that fashion? If you have never experienced such tears, you have not yet tasted true love. If your expression of tragic sorrow is so deep that it cramps your insides and almost chokes you, in the moment you find your long-lost loved one, what happens? The shock of his return might be so dramatic that you would pass out! That is truly a dramatic encounter. Is that the most dramatic love of all, or is it still not quite at the center of true love?

When you know God's true characteristics do you think He is a God of glory sitting on a throne looking down on the world, happily dispensing His blessings? So far, the Christian world has described this kind of benevolent God, but we in the Unification Church are not looking for such a God. We are seeking the God who is desperately looking for a dramatic encounter with His loved ones. When God is heartbroken and sorrowful and tearfully searching for His family He has no time to think of Himself, and He certainly doesn't worry about His own fame or honor.

God looks very miserable in His search for true love, but that God is truly noble and loving. No one could see God that way and scoff, "What kind of God are you? How can you be so miserable and foolish?" A God of that heart must be praised for giving Himself in an utterly sacrificial way for the sake of His children.

Imagine a loving couple who truly care for each other unselfishly. If suddenly the wife dies then her husband is completely heartbroken and really cries. If that man happens to be the President of the United States, do you think the citizens will say, "What kind of man are you?

As the President how can you show such deep sorrow?" Will people criticize him for showing his genuine grief at the loss of his wife? No. That pure expression of love is a thing to be praised.

We said we are working toward better and higher goals. What are they? The best goal is the desire to be wherever true love can be found. We cannot find true love in the place of glory, however, because God never found it there. We must find it in a tragic situation.

What way of life did Jesus Christ live? He lived the life of the cross and was finally crucified. For whom did he die? Did he die on the cross aspiring to become a Roman emperor or governor of Israel? No, he died gaining salvation for others. All his effort was only to save people. Jesus lived the life of God, desperately seeking His loved ones. Although he gave out his very life for the people, by living in that way he fully occupied God's true love.

Among All Possible Roads, Choose the Road of the Cross

There are many roads meeting at the crossroads. How can we distinguish whether a certain road is wrong and not leading to the ultimate goal?

We look at every road from the point of view of true love. If true love doesn't come alive on a particular road, you won't find any satisfaction and you will know it is the wrong direction.

If a child is drowning, a parent jumps into the water to save his child and will even die in his place. What kind of love is that? It is sacrificial, true love. Suppose a friend is drowning and another friend saves him and dies in his place. What kind of friend is that?

Of course, he is a true friend. Is this the same on the national level? If America is sacrificial in trying to save a small nation such as Vietnam, does the same theory apply? Did America meet the standard?

Where is the Unification Church? Established churches have lots of money, honor and fame, but all of a sudden the Unification Church has emerged and challenged them all, saying, "We want to go in a completely different direction." Usually churches take a collection at service on Sunday mornings and a devout Christian tithes one tenth of his income, keeping his home and whatever extra money he needs.

We don't have any extra money, however. We go out to raise money, giving our blood, sweat and labor to save the world. Just like Jesus, we want to give ourselves to save the world, and in the process we are willing to sacrifice and die. We know how to live comfortably like anyone else, but we gave up that life. We are here to sacrifice. We live the simplest way of life and eat humble meals. We don't spend money but work hard, and the fruit of that labor is given for the sake of the world.

You know how to live well and eat well. We all know how to wallow in luxury. Let the world live that way. We don't do it, because we are willing to sacrifice for the sake of the world. We embrace the sacrificial way of life that was established by Jesus. We are the people who forget ourselves and cry out for others, praying for heaven to bless them. We want to be in the position to give ourselves up for that purpose. We choose that way of life.

Our life style is parallel to Jesus' life. Therefore, we can evoke such heartfelt passion in the heart of God. As I said, God is coming down to humanity in a tearful, heartbroken way. If you go this way, then the moment He meets you is the moment He truly has hope, comfort and encouragement. God came all the way down and has finally found people who understand Him. Here He has true comrades and champions, and God feels comforted. We want to give God a shock of joy. When He meets you, let Him find someone who suffers and is more sorrowful than Himself. Then He will be comforted. God will want to champion you and comfort you and will no longer be sad. Let us surprise Him by comforting His heart.

Repentance on the Road

Do you pray? How do you pray? If your prayer is centered mostly on personal requests, it is neither valuable nor powerful. When you are too self-centered and only want individual advancement, God just cannot listen to that prayer. The first thing is to determine a righteous direction and to work toward the goal, repenting in daily religious life. God will always listen to the needs of such a person.

Actually, ninety percent of prayer is not about doing this or that, because you and God already know what must be done; ninety percent of prayer is repentance. This parallels Jesus' teaching to repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. Repentance is very valuable if you do it correctly.

Since your goal is already set very high, you always know on which days you don't reach it. Repent on those days, saying, "God, I'm sorry about today. I really wanted to come much closer to the goal today but I failed you. Please forgive me. I will do it tomorrow." That's the way you should pray.

Some day you may be witnessing when some big guy strides up to harass you, yanking your necktie and shouting, "You stupid Moonie…" At that moment perhaps you can't stand the difficulty any more and you snap, "Yes, I'm a Moonie. So what?" Then you come back and pray, "God, I'm sorry. That was not Your expectation. You want me to do better than that, don't You?"

The next day may find you having to repent again. When you set your goal very high you cannot reach it easily, and every day you repent. That's a beautiful thing. Every day is a new day and a new beginning. You have a lifelong journey and every day is a day of repentance. That's a beautiful life to live. That is far better than feeling, "Now I'm the leader, and I give the directions around here." The other way is a far more beautiful way of life. God has never boasted, "I'm Almighty God so you have to listen to Me."

Then how could we who are trying to comfort that heartbroken God say that we are somebody? We have not come that far yet. The person who repents every day makes progress, even without knowing it. Anyone who thinks he is a high-standard Moonie and a good example for others has already stopped growing. Would you like to go the road of repentance?

I want you to realize that even after lifelong repentance no one will have paid his debt. On the road of repentance every day is a new beginning. That is the road of your very own cross, on which you are going only upwards and will never fall down. Many times Jesus secluded himself in the mountains, fasting and praying tearfully. Even for him, every day was a new day of repentance. That's the one sure way you can guarantee you will make progress and never falter.

Today my topic concerns the crossroad of life and death. What road do we take? We can choose many, but let's take only one -- the road of the cross.

The Road of America is Leading to Hell

Another way is the road of selfishness. There is a road for the benefit of your home and another for your country. American citizens can be classified into three categories: those who live for themselves, those who live for the well-being of their own family, and those patriots who are trying to advance the cause of the nation.

Where do the majority of Americans belong? Maybe more than ninety percent are self-centered. Who is going to be responsible for the homes and nation of such people?

The road of unselfishness is God's road, and you can reach Him only by going in this direction. Because of self-centeredness there is a barrier between God and America. Can Americans find God? Then is this nation the Kingdom of Heaven or hell? The logical conclusion is that ninety percent of Americans are living in hell. The fact is that Americans today are proud of their civilization, but do you know what kind of civilization you have? It is a jungle which is seething with all kinds of criminality and immorality. We are desperately trying to get out of that jungle. Everyone's mind has been contaminated there, to the point where they sometimes feel very comfortable and accustom to living even in such a wretched jungle.

Where do you want to live, here in America or in Africa'? Africa may have a physical jungle, but perhaps Africans live very simple and unselfish lives, thinking more about their own families and tribes and nation than about themselves. If that is the case, do you think it is better or worse than America? If it is better, then naturally you would want to live in Africa.

You have been programmed by a contaminated world and become accustomed to it. Selfishness is everywhere -- in the homes, nations and even religions. Even religion has not survived in purity. America was founded by people of great faith, but most of today's churches are broken down. America had strong families who built a righteous nation; but all that is breaking down. If the nation is crumbling, what is its destiny? The ultimate consequence can only be destruction and despair, and there will be no hopeful future left. If America continues on this path, then not only this nation but the rest of the world will crumble. Furthermore, by continuing this way of life, America will make God's work fail. America is going over the cliff, and someone must come to apply the brakes and stop it.

We are the ones whom God has called to apply the brakes. We must revitalize this country's mainstay, which is religion, and give it a new tradition. We are confronting a great tidal wave, but we will push it back. This nation has been pursuing an abnormal way, so we are here to apply the brakes and turn it around 180 degrees.

This is the crossroad of life and death. The road of life is really the way of death, while the road of death is really the way of life. It is practically impossible to change a place of death into a place of life, and merely surviving requires a desperate struggle, but we will not give up or die. We will suffer and overcome death and turn it into life.

The Road to God Requires Self-Denial

Who here has experienced tears during prayer? Which kind of tears did you shed -- sad tears because you were tired and felt you couldn't go on? Have you shed tears for God? How do you know God has shed tears?

Your experience with God has been indirect. How can you relate to God? How can you change and be linked directly to God?

In relation to God the key word is Father. Even at the time of Adam and Eve God was invisible, but Adam and Eve were created to be the visible form of God. They were like the body of God, and God was like their mind. In spirit world as well Adam and Eve would have been the visible form of God. God created man and woman so He could manifest Himself in a visible form; He wanted to have a visible form to communicate with. Second, God created man and woman to fulfill love. God is our Father. Human beings are temples of God, and inside the temple dwells a mind which is a microcosm of the infinite God.

How far is God from you? He is as near as your mind, for that is His dwelling place. God knows good and evil, and your mind also knows what is good and what is evil. Your mind knows whether you are headed for Heaven or hell. Your mind is a proper guide, but the problem is whether your mind is strong enough to pull your body toward the goal.

If the body fails to obey then you go to hell. You resemble this infinite God because you possess all the elements of that God. In order to be His child you must be like Him.

All of history hinges upon one word -- restoration -- because Adam and Eve never became God's dwelling place. Right now, your body is always pulled in the satanic direction, so your mind has to be anchored to God and be able to conquer your body. Your little mind must become big in order to do that job. Right now there is a race between the two, and when your mind overwhelms your body there is no chance your body can go astray. The person who can discipline his body most will grow fastest. You have to make it a habit to subjugate your body to your mind, a process that takes about three to seven years.

Therefore, you should do whatever your body dislikes. Since the body always goes in a satanic direction, you should do whatever it doesn't want to do. This is why we do many things our bodies don't like. Our bodies don't like to fundraise or fast or witness, but that's what we do.

America has a very promiscuous society in which men and women have a free lifestyle and can do anything. In this society full of temptations you must keep yourselves pure. That one effort alone is like a life-and-death struggle. By the age of thirty most Americans may have been married three or four times, but you are withstanding temptation and sustaining your purity up to that age. In the everyday world you can make a girlfriend in one night; with an absolute stranger you can do all kinds of crazy things overnight. But here even husbands and wives sometimes have few opportunities to be together.

This kind of discipline takes a drastic effort, and you feel that you are practically dying, but I want you to know that you are truly living for eternity.

Do you go the flat path or the stony path? Have you ever imagined how rugged the stony path is? You women want many handsome, elegant men, don't you? You are so silent all of a sudden! Your eyes are cunning in a way because they recognize when a man is handsome and tall, and then you hope he might become your husband. But you must deny what your eyes see and what your body wants. Ask God for the ugliest possible man so that you can look at him as being in the image of God and serve him. People always say, "Yes, yes, yes," except for one thing. That "except," is always the problem.

It is my experience that God is the champion at disguising Himself. He tries to give you the utmost love, but in order to ensure that you are qualified for it He will disguise that love in the form of the ugliest person. When you truly love that person as you love God and give God your thanks, then God will slowly reveal Himself through that person.

There is always temptation behind a beautiful face, so watch out. Goodness dwells behind the ugly facade, and furthermore, no one will look at that person except you!

Some of you may think I say this because I already have a beautiful wife. But actually I really asked God to give me the ugliest, woman in the world. I was totally ready to receive a 250-pound wife because I thought God might want me to appreciate His bigness. If you have a small wife, then you can think God wants you to enjoy His charming side.

Can you overcome what your eyes tell you? You weren't given eyes so you could look at the world in a secular way, but so you could shed God's tears. That's the most precious way to use your two eyes. You like to hear sweet words, don't you? You have to cross over the hill of your ears also. Maybe your husband is not only ugly, but every day he grumbles and complains. What would you say? In order to separate your thoughts from Satan, you have to think that the grumbling is sweet music from God. When your husband keeps snapping and nagging, give him his breakfast and tell him to nag afterward. At night, tell him to sleep and then nag tomorrow. Do that for forty days, and then he will say it is no fun nagging because there is no response from you.

Your nose is very sensitive. Everyone likes and dislikes certain smells, but you should train yourselves to like unpleasant odors -- such as a toilet smell, or your husband's body odor. Overcome the hill of all your senses. How many exams have you passed? You can always come up with excuses. Some people might say they can't get up early because their hips are too small and they don't have strength in their back. Another person might say her hips are so big she can't carry them early in the morning! Your body always makes excuses.

Your hand knows what your body wants, so your hands reach for the nicest food before anyone else gets it. You should tell your hand to reach for the things other people don't like. A woman's body offers a certain temptation and has a certain craving to be touched, and so women have to cross the hill of hips and bosom. Men also have their own hill to cross. You have to transcend temptation and not do what your body wants.

There are seven tests to go over -- eyes, ears, mouth. hands, nose, legs, bosom and hips. Keep a list and cross off each test as you pass it. But denying temptation is only the beginning. Then you must utilize all these organs to cry out in understanding God. Have you experienced having not only tears running down your face, but saliva drooling and your nose running as you cry in prayer? If someone tries to talk to you at that time, you don't hear them, and if they touch you, you don't feel it. Furthermore, with that heart you want to shed every drop of blood for the people. God wants to see your whole body dripping sweat as it works for humanity.

I Have Lived to Liberate God from His Tears

God has been shedding tears all these years, not for Himself but for humanity and the world. Therefore, we shed tears for God and humanity, not for ourselves. The secular world sheds tears, but heavenly tears should be greater than those tears. Knowing that the dispensational path had to be walked, I never cried for myself, or for my family and parents. I cried for God and humanity. My tears soaked all my clothes, even my thick winter clothes.

That's the only way I could inherit God's kingdom and lay the foundation for the Unification Church. Those tears are the root of the Unification Church. I would like to change the tears of people sorrowful for themselves into heavenly tears shed for God's circumstances. Neighbors and brothers tried to kill me by sentencing me to a prison where prisoners were worked and starved to death slowly. But I shed tears and overcame death. Even in prison I never complained. I never begged God to ease my pain. My only worry was that my blood and sweat were shed for God's sake.

My path has been nothing but a way of misery, many tears and much hardship. Do you think I am insensitive or dumb? Any time I take a beating or see some sorrow, I must shed tears for God. When those situations come to me I always think of God first, that I am the person to liberate Him. Then I cannot help but comfort Him and tell Him I am fine. I know also that God has shed many tears because of me, and that is why He cannot forget the Unification Church.

People who communicate with the spirit world sometimes ask to know about me, and the answer comes to them in the form of desperate crying for days and nights. I cannot be described without tears. If you are without tears in the Unification Church, you cannot successfully go this way. I cannot feel close to people who do not know the taste of tears. Only those people who know tears can understand me.

Fallen humanity has been burdened by a debt of blood, sweat and tears. If you ask God to tell you some of His experiences since the Fall, there is nothing else He can tell except a story of sweat and tears and blood. He has no other history but that. Today's Christians truly don't know what God is all about. They imagine Him sitting on a glorious throne enjoying life, but that is not true at all.

Someone has to liberate God, and He cannot do it Himself. The agony of parents, or of husband and wife, cannot be solved by themselves alone.

The agony of parents can only be solved by children; the agony of a husband can only be solved by his wife, and the agony of a wife by her husband. The only way to liberate God from His sorrow is by becoming a son of filial piety to take over His agony, or by becoming like a wife who takes over the agony of her husband.

Even if you are not the children of certain parents, or the wife of a certain man, if you serve those people more than their actual children or wife does, you will actually be closer to them than their own family.

The only way to help is to show more filial piety and genuine devotion than their own children or wife would do. The same truth applies to our relationship with God. If you give more sacrificial love to God than I do, you will be closer to Him than I am. I suffered all my life for God, but if anyone of you can do better then certainly God will be closer to you. If God loves you more, will I be jealous at how you are doing better than I am? No, I will be happy to follow such people.

God wants to be with anybody who has such love. If you shed your sweat, tears and blood all your life for God, then because of you God will be able to shed tears of happiness and hope for the first time.

What other honor could you ask for? You won't have to worry about going to heaven; God Himself will personally escort you to the highest place. The greatest path in history is the path of liberating God from His sorrow.

A true son of filial piety will move his parents' heart to tears. The true loyal subject will move his king to tears. If many subjects can give their lives for their king and queen, they will certainly be moved to tears. That is my goal -- I am giving all my devotion to the task of liberating God from tears of sorrow and moving Him to shed tears of happiness. That is the root of the Unification Church.

Our Tears Will Restore the Tears of History

Adam shed tears, Cain and Abel shed blood, Seth shed tears, and they all passed these tears down to history. In order to make restitution, Noah shed sweat, blood and tears for 120 years in truly sacrificial devotion. That's why God can use that faith to wipe out the world of tears, sweat and blood. When Abraham left his home he shed tears; his son Isaac was offered to be a sacrifice, conditionally shedding blood; his grandson Jacob really shed sweat. This is the pattern of pioneering the dispensation.

Moses was thrown out of the Pharaoh's palace, and many times he shed tears. Jesus shed blood on the cross. The Lord of the Second Advent will shed the most sweat in finally building the Kingdom. It was sown at the time of Adam and Eve and is reaped in this way throughout history.

Someone must liquidate the sorrowful blood, sorrowful sweat, and sorrowful tears of history, and then build a new history of joy in laboring for the Kingdom. At the time of the Lord of the Second Advent restitution must be made totally; therefore, the Lord must be a king of sweat, tears and blood, paying the debt of all history.

In the midst of tears, can you harbor hope for Heaven? Jesus bore the cross at the age of 33. Our determination is to bear the cross, but to bear a living cross instead. For whom will you do it, though? For God and humanity. With tears of sorrow Adam and Eve brought the Fall and brought the tears and tragedy which humanity has suffered for many thousands of years, but tears for God and humanity will not only bring you up to heaven, they will also liberate God.

We shall overcome the stony path of death and find life. This is why Jesus said that he who would save his life would lose it, and he who would give his life would save it. When we cross over that path of tears and the people of the world can shed tears of happiness, God will finally be able to shed tears of happiness. God is looking at this room, with five colors of skin gathered in one common love, for one common goal, shedding tears of joy and hope as parents and children, and that scene brings God tears of joy and hope.

God bless you. Let us pray.

Prepare For a Moon Landing

Sun Myung Moon
January 2, 1985
Excerpts
The World Leaders Conference
World Mission Center
Translator, Dr. Bo Hi Pak

Who is going to be responsible for our world? That is the crucial question facing us today. So far communism has been growing, based on materialism coupled with humanism. Under this ideology, man has put himself in the supreme position and considers matter to be the essence of the universe. A conflicting theocratic ideology exists however, and the time has come when we have to reexamine the very existence of God. History is coming to its final chapter, the point of showdown.

When you recognize the existence of God, God must not be merely a conceptual God, but the living God, related to every facet of human life and all the happenings of the universe. God must be related to the material world, to people, and to history. We can then discover a God that will lead us into the future.

Such a God must play an integral part of our way of life here on earth. Religion has been isolated from reality; it has not produced useful knowledge or practical solutions; it has not brought forth an understanding of God as an integral part of His creation. Religion has failed to expound on this relationship. If there is a movement that will survive and prosper at the end of the world, it must define God as a contemporary God as well as a historical God, related to all of His creation, past, present, and future. This kind of God- centered ideology will help us master the future. If God is the one who is responsible for the creation as well as the beginning of history, then God must be working today. He must have a plan for the future, a certain purpose and culminating goal. We have had a history of division, but in the end there must be a history of unification.

Forces Going Against God

There is an entity that has always been fighting against God, defiling His creation. The reality of the fall of man becomes very apparent when we witness forces going against God, trying to divide the godly world and take it over. Therefore history has harbored spiritual problems that cannot be overcome without spiritual solutions. This battle is not going to be waged between a good God and an evil god, or Satan. This battle will be waged by their chosen champions on the earth plane, in the midst of our human civilization. Earth is the battleground.

The basic question remains: Is mankind ruled by spirit or matter? Which will play the subjective role? All the battles and conflicts occurring in human society are nothing but the reflection of the struggle between good and evil, or on the fundamental level between God and Satan. They both need material, territory, and human beings as their champions; and they are each pushing their champions, bringing them to clash with each other. This manifests as the struggle of civilization.

So the crucial question can be understood as one of ownership. Who, ultimately, owns the planet earth? It belongs to itself and to the Creator. At the end of the world an ideology must come and proclaim that the world belongs to humanity under God.

Satan would like to take over the earth and all humanity. Satan's strategy is to take over material resources and human populations as much as possible. Governments, master politicians, and rulers throughout history have always contemplated how to conquer the world. All of their wisdom and knowledge has been mobilized to gain influence and power.

How do we define communism as a satanic power? Satan is spirit. He is following along the path of God, trying to put obstacles in the way and block His dispensation. Religion is the focal point of the battle. It is God's tool to restore Hi, original ownership. So from the satanic point of view, religion is the worst enemy; Satan fears and abhors religion most of all. Therefore he must come up with a strategy that will deny religion itself.

In these modern days, humanity is in confusion. There are so many people who do not even know whether there truly is a God or not. Intellectuals reject God; unbelievers say that only weak people go after God. Some theologies have even declared that God is dead.

Amidst this confusion Satan is trying to prove scientifically that there is no God. That is the fundamental claim of communism. Accordingly, matter is the center of truth and the essence of the universe, and the notion of spirit is an illusion which has poisoned humanity. This God-denying ideology has been running rampant, claiming to be scientific. If this ideology were to be accepted by humanity, then Satan would govern and God would be thrown out. To the people it may not matter if there is a Satan or not; nevertheless the planet would become his. This is the most alarming strategy. However, God is real and He must devise a strategy to reaffirm His existence in the minds of the people.

Once you come to realize the existence of God, the next thing you must logically realize is that people and the earth must also belong to God. The forces of communism are beginning to see that the cosmic plan, the dispensation, is unfolding, and their ideology is no longer making as much progress.

It is now going downhill; it cannot survive. Then who is going to inherit this planet earth and this humanity? God Himself cannot reclaim His ownership: the representative of God must expose and subjugate Satan, and receive the inheritance. The only hope of the world lies with the people who come to the realization that they are God's chosen champions. They must subjugate Satan on the individual, family, tribal, national, and worldwide levels, and ultimately try to restore God's sovereignty from the hands of Satan.

On December 7, 1984, Red China declared to the world that Marxism is antiquated. The entire world, and especially the third world, has been shaken, because one of the greatest communist powers on the face of the earth stated that communism cannot solve the problems of the modern day. Who will step in, then, to take dominion? The democratic world has no ambition to govern; it does not have any concept of saving this godless world. Democracy is prospering here in America, but its goals are narrow and limited to a national scope; America has no sense of global purpose or mission.

A Burning Ambition for Conquest

In a short 67 years communists have overtaken the largest portion of the world because they have a burning ambition for global conquest. They have a determined goal and a plan of action: they want to cover the world with their ideology. If that goal is achieved, you cannot imagine the magnitude of the tragedy that will cause for mankind -- truly the end of the world.

Thank God the Unification Church emerged at this crucial time. It is not a coincidence. The religious world is fragmented; it has no unified purpose or global solution; and therefore it has no power to counter communism. God organized the Unification Church, which has a plan for God-centered unification and a purpose to insure the well-being of all humanity. Its most important goal is to satisfy the will of God.

The worst problem of the democratic world today is its bankruptcy of ideology, while the very strength of the communist world lies in its ideology. Its ideological leaders are also its political planners, who define their global goals and purposes and mobilize its offensive strategies. But the free world is on the defensive and destined to crumble. Even if the third world is shaken ideologically by China, it will not necessarily turn from its rebellion to side with America or with capitalism. What is most needed is a fundamental declaration of the existence of God. But America is now morally wounded and spiritually corrupt. So our most urgent and immediate task is to declare to the world, in the shortest possible time, the very existence of God -- logically, scientifically, with commitment and integrity -- even to the communist world.

We must come up with a new worldview that can defeat Marxism from the point of view of the existence of God, and harmonize Christianity. With such a worldview we can teach the Christian community a new conviction that can have a revolutionary impact and change the world.

American Christians have been opposing me and the Unification Church; they condemn us as heretics. How long can they afford to do that? They have come to the limit and cannot go any further. Satan's strategy has been to mobilize the Christian as well as the communist powers to try to destroy me. In a way, Christianity has been getting the cooperation of communism to defeat me. But I knew that the time would come when they would have to make a choice: either communism or Unificationism.

We have been fighting communism consistently with ideology; we have been trying to harmonize with Christianity. Under adverse conditions of persecution and attack the Unification Church has been growing steadily in all directions. How then can God bring the Unification movement into full blossom on the worldwide level? What is God's strategy?

We Are Necessary To Their Survival

One strategy would be for the whole Unification movement to retreat completely. The Christian churches would be left exposed and, all of a sudden, communism would confront them. Christianity would come to realize that the Unification Church has been sheltering and defending them; they would realize that we are necessary for their survival. As the leader of a God-centered movement, I am thinking about how to avoid such acute danger and reverse it for God's advantage.

Ever since I entered Danbury, I have been working and praying for the unification of all minorities. Christianity has begun to turn around, centering on the religious liberties issue and the fight against communism. Through CAUSA and PWPA, third world countries, particularly in South America, are coming to the realization that our new ideology is their only hope and that Rev. Moon can be trusted. So many religious, national, and world leaders, who come to seek out solutions from me, miss me and realize my value. Once I disappeared from the frontline of American life, they immediately saw the danger coming to them from communism. This was the golden opportunity.

Our goal for CAUSA/IFVOC in America is 45 million. This goal is going to be easy, because unity with all the minorities has been accomplished already. Now, with the Christian churches, we will attain far more than 45 million.

We have been mobilizing resources for a super-structural type of organization with the newspapers, PWPA, CAUSA, Tongil, the science and media conferences, and so forth. Few of the members or leaders have supported me in this; they keep wondering why I don't put more effort into church activities. You just worry about going on day by day, and some of you become disillusioned and lose hope.

There are so many people in the Christian churches, but so far with their foundation they could not deter the power of communism. Do you think we will win by just building up step by step? I expect to go forward in a miraculous way, by leaps and bounds, like a moon landing. That kind of thinking alone can succeed in establishing the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. Now everybody will come to realize how all of this is coming together for the common goal. All the skeptics and agnostics in the Unification Church will come to the poignant realization that I will really win, that I mean what I say.

Now top leaders -- from the media, the academic world, business, everywhere -- are coming to me, asking if they can help. They see that I have succeeded in recruiting young people, a task which no one has even dared to think about. About one third of the 240 million in this country are young people. These leaders are looking for the kind of committed, motivated young people that are in the Unification Church, but they cannot find them. We have thousands all over the world. I feel confident that I could take a ten-year nap, and that when I awoke everything would be accomplished. I am that confident for two reasons. One: You have inherited my tradition and my spirit; you are second Sun Myung Moons and you will move on no matter what. Two: I built this foundation under opposition; you will not have that opposition, so you have got to succeed.

I Have Finished the Task in Danbury

I am still in prison. Jesus' final words on the cross were: "It is finished." When I come out of Danbury I will declare to the world: "I finished the task in Danbury. My responsibility is done." We must read God's timetable: Now is the time when all things must be finished. This is indeed the end of the world. It is time to digest communism; it is time to digest the free world. We need courage and determination, and we have the guts to do it.

We have been involved in the religious liberties movement. But we are not going to rest there. I know that as soon as I come out of Danbury that issue will die away, because its power comes from my imprisonment. The president of the United States is going to declare: America is a land of religious freedom; we will amend the rules. There will be no more excitement. Therefore, before that time comes, we shifted the gears. I founded the CAUSA movement, the "God or no God" movement, mobilizing the entire Unification movement around that focus.

All kinds of situations have arisen since I went to prison. John Paul II finally declared that all priests who are united with the Nicaraguan government or who are propagating liberation theology no longer belong to the Catholic Church: they must make a choice. The Catholic University of La Plata in Argentina gave me a doctoral degree "honoris causa," the highest honorary degree that can ever be given to anyone. The Vatican tried to stop it, because it was almost as if John Paul II were endorsing Reverend Moon. But the school president said that he would confer this degree while I was in prison at any cost.

Nothing will stop me -- no misery, no hardship -- until the American people come to the realization of the truth and bow down with respect. God prepared everything. God prepared them all. God is ready for you as soon as you are ready. He is depending upon your determination. The mission and will of God is the priority.

The Nature of the Media

I have been experimenting with the VOC concept, Godism, and last year CAUSA became a worldwide movement. In particular I tested it out with the media people. None of them believe in God; their nature is very skeptical. However, we witnessed that in three days they were turned around with our truth. If the most skeptical of all people, the media, can be turned around, then professors, school teachers, scientists, politicians, housewives -- everybody can be turned around. That is my conviction.

The conclusion is that God is the Creator: He has an ideal and purpose. However, the fall of man came. Evil tried to propagate the "no God" concept, trying to divide the world. The world has become so confused. Now the time has come for God and Rev. Moon and the Unification Church to bring forth the ultimate ideology that will insure the declaration of God's existence. From then the turning point will be made; history will be consummated; and the original concept of creation will prevail.

Satan has been working tirelessly, trying to block my advance for 40 years. Like the phoenix I have risen from the ashes to build anew. Finally Satan exercised his power to put me in jail. But I am not defeated. Do you think that from the moment I was put in prison the ideology of heart has been changed? The future world is determined by the Principle ideology and worldview. Ours is the ideology of the love of God, true love. And the solution will be in winning the people.

The people at this meeting here today represent the Unification Church of the whole world. If the people here say, "Yes, Father," then they are going to march forward and win the battle. When this is done, there will be no more battles. I gave you the essence of the message. You are serving me here on earth. That is a privilege not too many people can claim. This opportunity never existed in the past, and it will never exist again in the future.

Whom Shall I Trust?

I have a special mandate from God, and I know that danger is everywhere. Therefore I am always saying to God: "God, You have to protect me, for if I go, there is no one to take over for me. Until my job is done You have to keep me." Whom shall I trust? I have to trust each one of you. That is my duty. You must not betray me; you must not let me down. Are you my branches? Are you part of the same tree? I am the root and trunk, and you are the branches.

Our movement is shaped in the image of mind and body. From the brain stems the nervous system. The ministerial work will function like the nervous system. Each member should approach 120 ministers. The 45 million for the CAUSA/IFVOC network will function like the body. The regional directors know about the detailed plans. We will apply a chain-reaction principle. The mind and body must work together and harmonize to accomplish the goal.

Jesus said: "It is finished." From Danbury I am in a position to say: "It is finished." Let's get down to work. We have made our pledge to Father and Heavenly Father, and we will move on with determination.

Letter to 300,000 ministers in the United States

Sun Myung Moon
January 1985

Rev. Sun Myung Moon
Danbury, Connecticut

Rev. Adam H. Wood
36 Castle Creek Rd.
Binghamton, NY 10390

Dear Reverend Wood:

My sincere Christian greetings to you from Danbury, Connecticut. This may be the first time you've ever received a letter from a minister in jail; therefore, it may take all the forbearance you can muster to even finish reading what I have to say when you realize this letter is from Sun Myung Moon.

As you may be aware, I was incarcerated here last July 20th for allegedly trying to deprive the U.S. government, by the government's own computations, of less than $7,500 in taxes.

I can assure you that nothing could be further from the truth. The Unification Church has brought millions of dollars into the United States from other countries for charitable projects. We have no reason to deprive the IRS of such a small sum of money -- not for any reason.

In 1972 when God called me to come to America to start our ministry here, our members chose -- because we were just beginning -- to place international church funds in a bank account under the name of their pastor, Reverend Sun Myung Moon. I was to assume responsibility as a trustee of these church funds.

This is a procedure and practice at least as old as John Wesley... and is still being practiced today by leading Catholic bishops and other esteemed members of the clergy. We went out of our way to conduct our affairs as good Christians should. I did in fact pay income tax on all of the funds that were withdrawn for my own living expenses. But this common procedure of church practice evidently made us vulnerable to the secular forces in the IRS who decided it was time to "get Moon."

They set a dangerous precedent in church-state relations in this beloved land by insisting that I personally owed income taxes on the interest that our church's funds had accrued in the years that the funds were held under my name. Rather than giving me the chance to explain or even pay what taxes I allegedly owed, the IRS decided to make an example of me because of the controversial nature of our church.

By forcing me to accept a trial by jury instead of a judge -- a jury that had been barraged with anti-Moon disinformation from the media and who were not prepared to understand the complexities of this tax case -- the Justice Department knew full well that they would have little chance of losing this historic case. Furthermore, the trial judge aggravated the situation by instructing the jury not to give primary consideration to the fact that I was a minister. They decided this matter simply as a secular tax case. In the opinion of many knowledgeable sources, this was grossly wrong!

By working in this way, the IRS has succeeded in getting around the restraints placed on them by the First Amendment in the Constitution. And they have set a dangerous precedent that may have placed the freedom of every religious group in the United States in serious danger.

If they can place the leader of a new and controversial church into prison for conducting the financial affairs of his church with the same time-honored procedures used by older and well-established groups, then the day is not too far distant when they can do it to the leaders of other religious movements -- including yours. We must not allow this to happen.

Now this brings me to the purpose for writing to you. I don't know what you've heard or read about me, or what preconceived opinions you may hold about Sun Myung Moon and the Unification movement.

If your mind is closed and you believe that I am a sinister Korean "crook" who came to convert Americans, to "brainwash" young people in America into becoming religious "zombies," that I reject Jesus Christ as being the true Savior, or that I am out to destroy traditional Christianity... if you believe these things and don't want to hear what I have to say, then there's nothing I can do but love you in spite of these false assumptions and continue to pray for you and this beloved America.

But if you are a pastor who is willing to show Christian compassion, I feel we can build upon the precious things we share and believe in common... and work together to raise up the standard of morality and justice in America and drive back the forces of communism that are trying to eradicate faith in God from this planet.

I don't have room in this letter to tell you all that we in the Unification movement believe, but recently the church sent you a gift of videotapes and literature that spells out in great detail the beliefs of our movement. I assume these materials did reach you or will in the very near future.

If you have had time to review them, I believe you can see that we are not what our adversaries have represented us to be and that we share many of the same beliefs that you cherish.

If you haven't had time to view the videotapes and read the literature, I pray that you will take the time to do so. I think you will find that we in the Unification movement are sincerely Christ-loving, patriotic, and family-oriented people who desire the fellowship of all, like yourself.

We are not out to change anyone's personal religious views. We feel our primary calling is: 1) to promote love and unity in the Body of Christ around the world, 2) to restore the family, and 3) to counteract atheistic materialism with a God-centered viewpoint. We want to lay to rest once and for all the cruel and malicious rumors that have caused our members to suffer much the same persecution that some other groups have faced in the past.

Writing to you from prison like this reminds me of the great Apostle Paul -- who wrote much of the New Testament while in prison for his faith and was often misunderstood. I have felt the presence of God in a mighty way while here. And I now understand more deeply the words that Paul wrote in Philippians 4:12-13:

I know both how to be made low, and I know how to abound: everywhere and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

You see, pastor, after my encounter with Jesus Christ on a mountain in Korea when I was a teenager, I had to face nearly three years in a communist death camp -- a ghastly place where few escaped with their lives. As a minister, I was able to lead many dying Koreans to realize the compassionate heart of God and Jesus and to be a comfort to these suffering people.

My faith in Christ sustained me through that horrible ordeal until I was rescued by United Nations soldiers and that faith still sustains me today. I know the time will come when God will totally exonerate me, and I have tried to be a model prisoner while serving out my sentence in this prison.

But until that day of exoneration comes, I ask that you pray with me and that you speak out for and defend religious freedom for all God- loving people in America. For if God-denying secular forces are given free reign, all religions will have their blood-bought freedoms eroded away. And the vacuum of faithlessness and immorality that will ensue will ultimately lead to communism.

It always has... and always will.

So as one who has survived through the experience of living under the ruthless, godless system called communism, I feel I have been given a mandate by our Creator to help strengthen religious faith in America, so that ultimately America can rescue the hundreds of millions of innocent men, women, and children that are enslaved by the Marxist-Leninist atheistic system of communism.

I am eternally grateful to the many religious groups and others who filed amicus briefs with the courts on my behalf. It is because of this great outpouring of support by so many religious groups who do not necessarily know what the Unification Church believes, that God has directed us to share our beliefs with you through videotapes and books.

Whether you agree with us or not on every single point of doctrine really doesn't matter. What really matters is that we better try to understand each other's positions and that we work together in cooperation to hind a God-centered America.

In fact, Reverend Wood, could I pray with you right now as your brother in Christ? It would be such an honor for me.

Almighty God, I thank You today for the ministry of Reverend Wood. I pray You will bless him and his congregants -- giving them great effectiveness against the forces of darkness as they labor there in Binghamton.

I pray, dear God, that You will lead Reverend Wood to realize that we in the Unification Church want only to work together with him in the fight for religious liberty for all people, as well as for an ultimate victory of our God-honoring beliefs over the godless system of communism that is threatening the very survival of our Judeo- Christian heritage--a heritage that we all love very much.

Lord, please forgive those who have unjustly incarcerated me here in Danbury prison. And You know, Father, that I would be willing to pay whatever price is necessary to wake up America and bring to her a spiritual revival.

Please quicken the heart of Reverend Wood, and empower him with your Holy Spirit, and make him your champion. Thank You again, Heavenly Father, for your goodness, your greatness, and your boundless love.

In Jesus' Precious Name, Amen

Thank you again, Reverend Wood, for taking the time to read this letter. May God bless you abundantly, and I hope to hear from you soon.

Gratefully,

Reverend Sun Myung Moon

PS I have asked my staff to enclose with this letter a form that is very important to me. I truly want to know your opinions on the materials we sent you. And, most of all, we want to know that you are praying for religious freedom for people of all faiths. Would you please return this form to me in the postage-paid envelope my staff has also enclosed?

If you should have any constructive criticism of our materials, or a word of encouragement, please feel free to express yourself. We really value your opinions and your comments, and everything you say will be brought to my personal attention.

If our material did not reach you, just mark the appropriate box and my staff will send you a set immediately.