Dialogue and Alliance

Sun Myung Moon
November 16, 1985
Americana Great Gorge Resort, McAfee, New Jersey, USA
Assembly of the World’s Religions

Photo date and location unknown

Honorable chairman, scholars and leaders from religions around the world, ladies and gentlemen: I welcome you from the bottom of my heart to the Assembly of the World’s Religions. Our gathering here is not an ordinary event. It is itself a great accomplishment that we, from eighty-five countries and with such a diversity of religions, cultures, traditions and nationalities, can come together to open our minds, to harmonize with each other, and to share our concerns about the future of humankind. I am sure that God also is delighted with this historic event.

Humankind has yearned for eternal true love, happiness and peace

We come from different religious backgrounds. Our answers to the fundamental problems of human existence are not identical. Our understandings of the causes of human suffering do not have the same frame of reference. Our ways of seeking world peace are diverse. Yet we still have common ground. All of us try to solve problems in the context of our relations with the Ultimate.

Throughout East and West, North and South, people living in the situation of sin, disbelief and confusion have yearned for love, happiness and peace that are true and eternal. They have been making every effort to overcome the temptations that entice their evil desires and, by following their good desires, to find the happiness with which their original mind will rejoice. Although human experience throughout history cautions us that pursuit of such ideals is rarely successful, people’s original minds are not likely to give up. All humankind, irrespective of its diversity of nationalities and traditions, pursues this ultimate goal.

If we human beings are not able to fulfill such a purpose by our own effort, then we can depend only on the eternal, true, Absolute Being beyond ourselves. We know that we are finite beings. Since we cannot determine our own destinies, we are bound to depend on the Absolute to whom we ascribe supreme power. We believe that since there is an Absolute Being who wills true love, peace and happiness, all these things can surely be realized only with Him. We need to know more about this Absolute, the source of the ideals that humanity is seeking.

I have become familiar with the content of the spirit world through my own spiritual experiences and through deep communication with the Absolute. I have learned about God’s Will, love and heart. Religion is not merely truth or ethical teaching; it is rooted in people’s original impulse to find that which they can absolutely depend upon and relate with.

True religious intuition meets the Absolute and the Infinite. Through this intuition, we can hear God’s call to each of us. Such a state of original communion with the Absolute transcends any particular religious system or form. Only in this state do humans reach perfection and happiness. This God-human relationship is one and universal. Because the transcendental power is one, and humanity’s capacity to enter into the relationship that it offers is universal, the ultimate goal of human beings cannot be more than one. The goal of an individual is one. The goal of a family consisting of such ideal individuals is one. The goal of the ideal nation and world is one. All ways run toward God’s ideal world of love, happiness and peace. The ideal of love, happiness and peace is not possible for an individual in isolation. It can be found only in relationship with another. Even the Absolute Being cannot fulfill the ideal without relationship.

The ultimate goal of religion is to construct the ideal world of peace

If God is alone, who is there for God to love? In what is God to find His ideal? In this light, we can understand God’s motive for creation. God created humanity in order that He might realize His ideal and fulfill His love. Only in human life in the world can God realize ideals such as love, happiness and peace.

In this sense, how precious is the original human being! Human beings are not on the same level as God. However, God and human beings are supposed to be in a relationship and ultimately are to become one. In other words, God and human beings are in a parent-child relationship. Just as God is eternal and absolute, human beings also become beings of absolute and eternal value as the children of God.

Furthermore, human beings are object partners for the realization of God’s ideal. God’s eternal and absolute Will is consummated where He becomes completely one with humanity. Thus, the purpose of human life is also absolute and eternal.

God is eternal, unchanging and absolute. God’s purpose of creation was also eternal, unchanging and absolute, and was to found one ideal world, united through one purpose. Today’s world of sin, conflict and disbelief came into being because humanity fell from the original way. God has worked through the world’s religions to restore fallen humanity to its original state. The salvation of fallen humanity will be completed by God’s providence through the Messiah.

As God’s purpose of creation is absolute, the purpose of God’s restoration providence absolutely must also be fulfilled. We cannot leave the messianic hope of an ideal world only as a vague dream. We need to make it a substantial reality in our lives. Likewise, the purpose of all religions is to realize God’s Will in our daily life on earth. For the purpose of the whole providence, God has been broadening the foundation of goodness through many religions, each appropriate for its own age, people and environment. However, the ultimate purpose of all these religions is only to realize God’s Will, that is, the ideal world of peace and happiness. Religions need to be concerned with God’s Will for world salvation more than with the salvation of the individual or the welfare of their own denomination. I think that now is the time for all religious bodies together to search again for the true Will of God.

As far as I know, God is not sectarian. He is not obsessed with minor details of doctrine. We have to liberate ourselves quickly from the theological conflict that results from blind attachment to doctrines and rituals, and instead focus on living communication with God. I think we urgently need to purify the religious atmosphere into one in which believers can have living faith and every soul can communicate with God. In God’s parental heart and His great love, there is no discrimination based on color or nationality. There are no barriers between countries or cultural traditions, between East and West, North and South. Today God is trying to embrace the whole of humankind as His children. Through interreligious dialogue and harmony, we need to realize one ideal world of peace, which is God’s purpose of creation and the common ideal of humankind.

An interreligious movement and practical service

Respected representatives of the world’s religions, when we take an honest look at reality today, we come to see that it is time not only for belief but for action as well. Why do we find such serious problems prevailing in our societies, problems including confusion in value systems, moral corruption, drug addiction, terrorism, racial discrimination, genocide, war, unjust distribution of wealth, disregard for human rights, and totalitarian communism? These vices are the natural outcome of hedonism, atheistic materialism and secular humanism that deny the relevance of God. All these are the effects of the declining faith and the spiritual exhaustion of this generation.

Who can take responsibility for today’s world? Can the military or the politicians? Can businessmen or people with new technologies? Never. God is asking religious leaders, today’s prophets and priests, to solve these problems.

All religious people must feel responsible for the shaky spiritual foundation of this generation and repent. Throughout the long history of religion, we have not been a convincing witness for our living God. We have not been sincere in the practice of love. Our past hypocrisy has allowed atheism to prevail. We ought to feel deeply responsible for this.

Today God is calling us. All religious people, standing on the internal foundation of deep self-reflection, must challenge the prevalence of all evils and work creatively in order to realize God’s Will on earth. The living God does not want to relate with us merely in the context of scriptures and rituals. Instead, God hopes to dwell in the hearts of people who keep God’s Will in their minds and live it in everyday life.

After long prayers and reflections on the future of the world and humankind, I have begun to feel that God’s enthusiastic hope and the Holy Spirit’s strong power are sweeping through the whole world. Today the world has to be renewed. Religious leaders all throughout the world must join together and encourage a movement of purification in every religion.

There needs to be repentance and the renewal of true commitment. The world must change! There needs to be a new Reformation! The banners of “living faith” and “practical faith” ought to be waving everywhere around the world. Every religion must work beyond consideration of its own benefit to liberate the world from poverty and disease. By the practice of love and the burning conviction of faith, our witness will convince even atheists of the truth of the living God. Only through a religious and spiritual revolution bringing great harmony, love and compassion will we finally realize the ideal world of peace.

The value of harmony between religious denominations

Respected representatives! In response to God’s sublime call, the world’s religious bodies have to emerge from the quagmire of hostility, misunderstanding and ignorance. With mutual respect and friendship they need to build a large, cooperative community of religions. Then together, we will be able to show our religious will in action and practice everywhere on this planet.

Religion is not merely oriented to the world beyond. The earth is God’s creation, and it is on this earth that God’s Will is to be realized. If the kingdom of heaven, or as Buddhists say, Sukhavati, is God’s ideal place, we cannot go there merely by hoping. Rather we ought to live for, love and care for our brothers and sisters and the things of creation. It is through relationships with others that we can realize the ideal.

Even though religion transcends ordinary social ethics and social policy, we cannot ignore its function in society. Religious people ought to be concerned with actual problems and apply God’s Will to their practical solution. Moreover, religions need to stimulate spiritual renewal and give an elevated value perspective to those in charge of politics, the economy, social programs and education. People can solve the problems in their fields only when the Holy Spirit enlightens their minds. God is calling for religious people with living spirituality to uphold the truth of religion and to relate it to the situations in their societies. People who are grounded in truth and in living communication with God are bound to influence others and bring about a revival of spirituality everywhere. True religions do not follow the trends of the secular world. Emphasizing God’s Will, they enlighten the world and lead the people, even in the face of opposition and persecution.

The movement for interreligious harmony and unity, and for living faith, may go through a lonely path for some time, but it will soon receive tremendous support from many fresh-minded people who see things from a historical and global perspective.

I have been putting all my energy into reforming the world and realizing God’s ideal on earth in accordance with the direction of God’s providence. I have been mobilizing the total energy of the Unification Church to work first of all for world peace through interreligious harmony. I sincerely hope your religions also actively cooperate and join in this path, not because I want to reduce my effort or spare the financial resources of the Unification Church, but because I hope to see as early as possible a total mobilization of spiritual resources and creativity from all religious traditions in the direction of God’s providence. This path will lead to the realization of the world of peace.

The Assembly of World’s Religions will achieve the realization of God’s Will on earth As you may know, the Assembly of the World’s Religions is a project with historic significance. While even the secular world is seeking harmony through the United Nations and similar organizations, how can religious bodies fight each other? I have long been expecting certain leaders of the elder religions to initiate an assembly of the world’s religions. After a long period of waiting, I have initiated this project because I believe it must be done at all costs. While this first event itself is a meaningful accomplishment, the Assembly will, I hope, become increasingly significant with each successive meeting.

I have three hopes for this Assembly. First, world religious traditions must respect each other and at least work to keep in check any interreligious conflicts and wars. Second, the Assembly will hopefully serve the world by becoming a cooperative community of religions. It will hopefully agree upon and make resolutions calling religious people to practical action, encouraging all people to live by God-centered values, and fostering the development of the human mind and spirit. Third, the Assembly needs, I believe, to develop into an organization in which the major leadership of all religions participate. The Assembly needs to lift up the highest values and purposes of life and offer them to all religious people, all groups and all nations. Only in communion with the Absolute and with love for one another can individuals, groups and nations prepare for and become a part of the kingdom of God on earth.

I hope all of you, as representatives of your religions, find spiritual unity that can be the foundation for a bright future and for a new religious reformation that can lead the world. Through presentations and discussions, during plenary sessions or in committee meetings, in artistic performance, meditation and prayer, please respect each other’s faiths and contribute as much as possible to the harmony of the whole. Let us all march forward to fulfill the world-historical mission of religions: the realization of God’s Will on earth.

I thank all members of the Planning Committee for their efforts in planning and preparation and all the staff serving the Assembly’s practical needs for their hard work.

May God bless this historic conference and each of you representatives.

The Will of God

Sun Myung Moon
August 20, 1985
Omni Shoreham Hotel, Washington, DC, USA
God and Freedom Banquet on the day of True Father’s release from prison in Danbury

Photo date and location unknown

Honorable chairman, members of the God and Freedom Committee, distinguished clergy from all parts of the country, ladies and gentlemen: I am truly grateful for and humbled by the profound way in which you, representing all areas of the United States and so many denominations, are welcoming me back from prison. I would like to extend my sincere appreciation also to those of you who have supported me during my court battles, in the filing of amicus briefs to the Supreme Court, in the meetings and rallies for religious freedom, in prayer meetings, in the Common Suffering Fellowship and in the CAUSA Ministerial Alliance. Also, I thank you for your prayers and for the many letters you sent me while I was in Danbury, which I will never forget.

God’s Will and the perfection of human beings

I have suffered imprisonment six times in my life. As in the past, I had moving experiences with God during this time in prison. I was not there because of my personal actions or mistakes, yet I did not brood with resentment or hatred for those who persecuted me, nor did I spend my time in prison pleading my innocence. Rather, I dedicated my time in prison to prayer and meditation to understand what America needs to do to fulfill God’s Will for the world.

My entire life and ministry have been motivated by my determination to relieve the great and long suffering of God. Since the world is ignorant of God’s heart of suffering, my work and the work of the Unification movement have long been misunderstood and we have been persecuted. However, I understand the urgency of my mission before God and, despite the lack of understanding on the part of my family, not to mention the general public, Christian churches, nations, or even the whole world, this persecution has not really mattered very much to me. Throughout my life, I have communicated deeply with God, and through numerous spiritual experiences I have come to know His heart and His love. I have always testified to this. To me, God is not a vague concept residing in the realm of imagination. God is alive, and I relate to Him directly in my heart. I experience Him in every cell of my body.

I know that I am addressing clergy who also have been participants in the fulfillment of God’s Will. Your welcoming me here today, as you and I know, is not a personal welcome for the individual, Reverend Moon; it is a testament to that Will of God for which I have lived my life. Our common and utmost concern is to do the Will of God. Therefore, I would like to share with you some of my insights about God’s Will.

Our living, personal God is eternal, absolute and unchanging. Therefore, His Will is also eternal, absolute and unchanging. When God created human beings, He must have had a purpose and an ideal. God’s purpose and ideal are to establish a world united through true love, with God as the Parent of all people. Under the true love of God, all people would be brothers and sisters living in one harmonious, worldwide family. God’s ideal, then, is the creation of one world under God.

God, who is the essence of love, fashioned all of creation for the purpose of love. An isolated individual cannot express love; it takes both a subject partner and an object partner to express love. Therefore, God absolutely needs an object partner whom He can love. God created the universe motivated by love. Especially human beings, who are created in His own image, as we read in Genesis 1:27, are the visible and substantial object partners of God’s love.

God is the eternal, invisible and internal Parent and ancestor of all humankind. Once Adam and Eve had perfected their character, they were to be the eternal, visible and external parents and ancestors of all humankind.

The greatest, holiest love takes place when subject and object partners unite through giving and receiving love, maintaining God at their center eternally. In this realm of true love, perfect unity comes about naturally, all life interconnects, and God’s ideal is realized. God’s original Will was that His beloved children, Adam and Eve, would become the living, visible reflections of their invisible Creator, and thus would share eternal love, consummating the ideal of love and life.

It is commonly thought that the Creator and the created being can never be equal. If that were the case, then God would never be able to fulfill the ideal of love. God’s ideal of love was for His children, Adam and Eve, to become His visible, substantial object partners who would become one with Him. Indeed, as is stated in 1 Corinthians 3:16, God desires to dwell in us.

The ideal of love of the invisible God is realized when the essential natures of men and women become perfected. When a person places God in the central position and achieves complete unity between mind and body, then he or she attains maturity of character and becomes a true object partner of God. This means that he or she becomes an eternal object partner of God’s love, life and ideal.

If Adam and Eve had attained this ideal as God’s true, substantial children, they would have naturally created an ideal family, and from that family an ideal society, nation and world would have eventually developed. As a result of humankind’s complete response to God’s absolute love, everyone would have attained the highest joy in life, the ideal of happiness, and eventually the kingdom of heaven. God created Adam and Eve on earth so that the kingdom of heaven would be realized first on earth. After living on earth, the spirits of those who led ideal lives in this world would go to the kingdom of heaven in the spirit world, where they would live eternally.

All things are created in pairs and exist for the sake of relationships with human beings. This enables all things to dwell in harmony under the principle of love. With God’s love flowing through human beings, all of creation participates in fulfilling God’s life and ideal.

When Adam and Eve were growing up, all things of creation essentially formed a textbook of love for them, displaying an endless variety of manifestations of love. Adam and Eve, representing God’s masculinity and femininity, were to gradually awaken to love through their life within God’s textbook of love, which is nature. They were to become perfectly mature and realize the ideal of marriage. That was God’s ultimate purpose of creation. God directed His love toward the vertical relationship between Himself and human beings and, after the perfection of vertical love, also toward the horizontal relationship between Adam and Eve. God, who has existed as the invisible subject partner ever since the beginning, was yearning for someone who would respond to His love. He was waiting to meet His perfected visible object partners, man and woman. How stimulating and fulfilling that love would have been!

That moment was the very moment when God, the internal Parent, was to have resided within Adam and Eve, the external parents, to be completely one with them. In that moment, the ideal of love would have been accomplished. The invisible Parent, God, would have resided in the visible parents, Adam and Eve, and would have become the eternal Parent in the visible world. In this manner, Adam and Eve were to have become the True Parents, the true original ancestors of all humankind.

The history of salvation is the history of engrafting onto God’s lineage

So precious was this true love that to violate such love was the ultimate crime, a crime of universal magnitude. Immorality, juvenile delinquency, the breakup of families, incest, homosexuality, and crimes inexpressible in words, are the world’s reality today. God agonizes over this. The ideal of creation is to achieve a perfect family, founded on noble and eternal love, so how did today’s tragic reality come about? As the Last Days draw near, the crime of the Fall is manifested clearly in society. We are reaping what was sown.

I do not have time to discuss the details of the Fall, but I will say that I struggled for years to discover the truth of the Fall, and I testify that its cause was immoral relationships involving the first human family and an archangel.

In the Unification Principle, Satan is not a conceptual being or hypothetical entity. He is a real being, the very villain who destroyed the ideal of love and shifted the human lineage from God’s dominion to his own dominion. Jesus himself said very clearly, as recorded in the eighth chapter of the Gospel of John, that the devil is the ancestor of humankind. The devil, Satan, is the very adulterer who ravaged the ideal of love that God intended to realize through Adam and Eve, the love that would have raised Adam and Eve to the position of God’s own external self.

This understanding may be new to many of you, yet it is the truth. I discovered it by enduring through hard-fought struggles in the spirit world, as I sought for answers to the fundamental problems of life. If you pray seriously and deeply, you will receive confirmation of the truth of these answers.

Then why has it taken so long for God to punish Satan for his crime? Satan stole the ideal of love from God and controls humankind as a false parent through false love, usurping God’s position. Therefore, God had to begin by reclaiming human beings from Satan’s dominion by changing their lineage.

Because of the Fall, the relationship between God and us was severed. Consequently, the righteous relationships between people, through give-and-receive interactions centered on true love, was also lost. Harmonious unity among people, based on true love, and the joy of life were destroyed, and people became enemies of one another. The world became hell, filled with mistrust.

In the process of creation, God’s plan was to create men and women as true olive trees and make the earth a garden of plenty. Instead, the Fall allowed Satan to have dominion over the human ancestral lineage, creating a wilderness of wild olive trees. God wants to cut the wild olive trees and engraft them into the true olive tree, which is Christ. However, God cannot cut and engraft those wild olive trees, which Satan possesses, without some foundation being made. The very reason God established religion was to create His own garden in which He could cut the wild olive trees and engraft them into the true olive tree. On the foundation of religion, God would send the Messiah and engraft humankind into His lineage through the Messiah, the true olive tree. This is the essence of the messianic ideal.

From this viewpoint alone can we correctly understand the biblical doctrine of rebirth. God pulls people away from the false dominion of Satan, giving them rebirth through a love that is much stronger than Satan’s love. Since all people are born from parents and ancestors of false love into a lineage of false love, all people have to be born a second time, this time from Parents and Ancestors of true love into a lineage of true love, becoming true children and people of God. The blood of Jesus and the Holy Communion both relate to the process of the change of human beings from Satan’s lineage to God’s lineage.

All people have to be born again. This is the destiny of all fallen people. No matter how difficult it may be, all of us have to tread this path. Salvation cannot be obtained except through rebirth, being taken out of Satan’s lineage and grafted into God’s lineage. Since we are born into Satan’s lineage, the process of rebirth requires total self-denial, including willingness to deny our possessions, our own tradition or culture, and even our concepts about the world. God cannot recognize our possessions in Satan’s realm. We have to renounce them to be born again. To engraft ourselves to the true tree, we need to sever ourselves from everything else.

Jesus, who came as the true olive tree, is himself the True Parent. Since he came as the True Parent to give us rebirth, he told us to sever all our old relationships and attachments before coming to God. In Matthew 10:36-37 Jesus warned that a person’s enemies will be members of his or her own family, and that a person needs to love him more than loving his or her own parents and family. We can understand this in light of the fact that the family represents the false lineage.

Christians are privileged to live and die for God and the Messiah

My dear clergy, our task is to learn about God’s Will and to carry it out. We have to become men and women who are living in God’s hands. We need to become those who are willing to respond to God’s call. We must never ask God only for our individual salvation or personal heaven. As true Christians, is it not our privilege to respond to the Messiah’s call and to live and die for him and his cause?

Our religion and our denominations have to exist for the Will of the almighty God, not just for the propagation of narrow views. God cannot reside within narrow views. God is nonsectarian and looks far beyond denominationalism. He is not confined within exclusivist dogmas. He is, rather, a Parent of us all, and His boundless love makes no distinctions between races or colors of skin. He does not recognize the walls of nationalism or cultural exclusivism. He is trying His very hardest today to embrace all of humanity.

My dear clergy, do you think it is mere coincidence that in America, the haven of religious freedom, a nationwide movement for religious freedom flared up as a result of Reverend Moon’s imprisonment? Truly, this is not an accident. This is God’s dispensation working behind the scenes. And would you consider it a coincidence that America, as a nation that carries the banner for the free world, and which has come to scoff at the real threat of communism, is now becoming aware of the seriousness of the present danger through the CAUSA Ministerial Alliance? CMA is a truly interdenominational movement, without walls, which has spread like wildfire across this nation. Can we call it a mere accident?

America is a nation founded on the spirit and love of God. Especially after World War II, God raised up America as a leader of nations for the salvation and unity of the world, based on the love of freedom. Internally, He was preparing this nation for the Second Coming of the Messiah, and to be the country that cares for the world.

Unfortunately, this country continues to ignore the monumental Will of God. America is withdrawing more and more from its global responsibilities, preferring to enjoy false comforts as if this nation were a world unto itself. This attitude, of course, merely multiplies America’s problems, both inside and outside its borders. Serious racial problems; deterioration of social, ethical and moral values; decline of religious life and Christian faith; and the rise of materialism and communism will not disappear just by ignoring them.

God called me to come to America because of these problems. Christianity needs to repent with great anguish and unite. We clergy have to reexamine ourselves and repent as well. We are recapitulating the time when Jesus came to earth and called the world to repentance. That call is being repeated now. We have to fulfill the worldwide mission that God has bestowed upon us. Without question, America has to change. A new religious reformation has to take place. Christianity needs to transcend denominationalism and ascend to a higher dimension. We need to realize and consider seriously the mission of Christianity to lead a supra-denominational cultural revolution on a worldwide scale.

To commemorate this reunion tonight, we need to make the determination to pursue the original path of Christianity. We have to march forward on that path, that we might receive our coming Messiah and help fulfill the Will of God.

May God's abundant blessing be with you, with your families and with all the churches of America

In the Hope that You Will Participate in the Unification Movement

Sun Myung Moon
February 28, 1985
Federal Correctional Institution
Danbury, Connecticut, USA
Letter from Prison to the American Clergy

Photo date and location unknown

Dear Pastors,

I send my sincere greetings to you and your congregations from Danbury. I am Rev. Sun Myung Moon. You may be surprised to receive this letter, which I am sending you from here in prison.

Revelation from Jesus on Easter morning at age sixteen

I believe you may have heard about the religious movement I founded almost thirty years ago in Korea. What you have heard or read about it is, in all likelihood, a distortion of the truth, tinged with ill feelings. This misunderstanding breaks my heart terribly, and I very much want to resolve it. But more important than that, and setting aside the opinions you may or may not have about me and the Unification Church, I earnestly wish to discuss with you my heartfelt views with regard to this United States, which is a global nation and at the same time a Christian nation. I do not expect you to agree with everything I tell you; all I hope is that you will carefully consider and deliberate on what I have to say.

I was born into a devout Confucian family in a village in what is now North Korea. When I was about ten years old, my entire family converted to Christianity. My conversion changed me profoundly. I became attached to this new faith and loved Jesus more than anyone I had ever loved before.

At the age of sixteen, I went through a singular experience. On Easter morning, I had been praying tearfully for a long time when Jesus Christ appeared before me and gave me revelations and teachings. He spoke a long time about profound and amazing things. He said that God is sad because of humanity suffering in anguish, and he asked me to play a special role in God’s work on earth.

Many things have taken place in the forty-nine years since then. As I continued my study of the Bible, Jesus imparted profound words that he wants all people to hear and understand. As a result of teaching those words to others, I was arrested several times, imprisoned, and even tortured severely. For three years I was in a North Korean death camp. Most of this prison’s inmates did not last a few months before they left as corpses, yet the Lord protected me for three years, allowing me to survive extreme suffering. After my escape, I again had the chance to propagate the Word to many others for a number of years, and the Unification Church has come to have roughly three million followers in more than 120 nations.

Today, God has three major headaches. The first is atheistic totalitarianism, especially the expansion of communism. Communism is a false religion, an institutionalized ideology that opposes traditional religions and works to eradicate belief in God. During the past sixty years, it has taken the lives of a staggering 150 million people. As I mentioned, I personally endured torture and hard labor almost to the point of death in a communist prison. Communism is spreading worldwide and is threatening to obliterate religion and those who believe in God.

The second headache for God is moral decline, in particular the degenerate state of young people across the entire world. The downfall of the traditional family and the influence of a corrupted mass media lead young people to abandon any sense of duty. Millions of American youth are losing faith in God, respect for values, and even self-respect. Drug abuse and sexual immorality are rampant. Young people represent the future of this world. If they are corrupted, who in the next generation will believe in religion and serve God?

Last, what makes God most sad is the rancor and disunity within the Christian faith. There is only one God and there is only one Jesus Christ. However, this day and age is inundated with hundreds, even thousands, of competing Christian denominations. In some parts of the world, people who claim to be Christians are killing one another in the name of God. In some cases, churches live together in peace, but the power of Christian faith is diluted and its impact on the world deteriorates as the days go by. The Christian faith languishes and is unable to meet the challenges and address the problems of this present world.

In the universal fight between the forces that are good, merciful and just, and the forces of evil, God has bestowed special blessings on this nation, the United States. He established the United States as the place where Christianity is to recapture true faith and form families of the kingdom of heaven centered on God’s love. He loves the United States exceedingly. The greatness of the United States lies neither in its vast natural resources nor in its remarkable prosperity. It lies in the very founding principles of this nation. Brave men and women came to this United States to found “one nation, under God, with liberty and justice for all.” The United States is the only nation in the world where people from various ethnicities and backgrounds have come together to form a harmonious whole. All people, be they white, red, black, brown or yellow, are brothers and sisters in the one family of humankind. We can realize this ideal when we recognize God as our Father.

The reason God called me to the United States

To resolve these headaches, in 1971 God called me to come to the United States and guide a movement to revive the vision of Christianity. Following Him, I spread the Word of God and stirred the American people in order to unite Christianity, restore morality and destroy atheistic communism.

The United States is truly a nation chosen by Heaven, a nation chosen as an example of Christian love and unity as well as a nation chosen to sacrifice for and serve others in a world immersed in anguish. However, today’s United States is at a perilous crossroads. On the one hand, there is the voice of God, caking for the revival of Christianity, the restoration of God-centered family values and morality, and resistance against atheistic communism. On the other hand, a malicious intolerance of religion is also rooted here. Throughout this great United States, people of faith are continuously persecuted, fined, arrested, imprisoned and judged guilty. Paradoxically, this great society is reviving the ideals of religion while at the same time succumbing to the forces of evil and rushing toward atheism, immorality and corruption.

You may be surprised to hear this, but I am grateful to God even though I am in prison today. I am absolutely sincere in saying this. It is because, through this difficult course of imprisonment, I have been given a chance to say these words to you, to warn you about the crisis you are facing, and to share with you the blessed opportunity that has been given us at this historic moment.

I would like to explain to you very briefly how I came to be in this prison. I don’t care about my own happiness and comfort, and if my imprisonment can in any way help the Will of God, I could ask for nothing more. However, what is clear is that the American government persecuted me and discriminated against me. What we have is the American government showing alarming signs of increased animosity toward the religious impulse.

The IRS indictment is an abuse of power

I will share something about my historic trial. When Unification Church missionaries began to arrive in this nation, they set up a bank account to receive donations from their countries. Following a timehonored American tradition, the members asked me to manage this fund on behalf of the church. I handled it transparently and did not in any way try to hide it. In fact we deposited the money in a major bank in New York. No evidence suggests that the account was anything other than a church fund used for church purposes.

Despite this, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) began to make strenuous efforts to indict me. Caving to pressure from the public and even from Congress, it launched a large-scale investigation. In the end, after spending millions of dollars in taxpayers’ money, the IRS indicted me for not paying taxes on the interest that the account earned. In fact, I did pay personal income tax on the portion of the account that I withdrew for my family expenses, but the American government ignored this. According to the government, the total amount of tax I failed to pay was between seven thousand and fourteen thousand dollars. Now, as I said, the custom of a religious leader trusted to handle church funds personally is an old and honored one. Many churches, from Catholic to independent storefront churches, follow this custom.

What happened here was that the government indicted a religious leader whom it decided was unpopular.

If I were to expose all the abuses of governmental power employed to persecute me, there would be no end to it. The people on the side of goodness and justice are aware of this abuse of power and, despite the fact that the Unification Church is controversial, they mounted an unprecedented protest against my indictment and the guilty verdict. More than forty organizations supported the petition I submitted to the Supreme Court as “Friends of the Court.” Eminent organizations and individuals submitted sixteen briefs expressing serious concerns about the government’s abuse of power to attack religion.

The Friends of the Court that supported my petition include the National Council of Churches, the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, the Presbyterian Churches of the USA, the American Baptist Church, the National Evangelical Association, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the American Association of Christian Schools, the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the Christian Legal Society, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the American Civil Liberties Union, among others. These diverse and eminent organizations spoke with one voice that if the IRS is allowed to prosecute a minority church today, the freedom of all religions will be threatened tomorrow. I am praying hard that the IRS’s abuse of power against me and my chinch will gain the attention of the American people, who love justice and freedom. And I request you to be a part of this holy endeavor to revive this great nation and return it to its Christian founding principles.

We fully realize the importance of the United States and the urgency of renewing Christianity and traditional values, and the Unification Church movement is contributing toward this goal. Through projects such as the International Religious Foundation, the New Ecumenical Research Association and conferences on “God: The Contemporary Discussion,” we are bringing together theologians and clergy from all religions in order to promote and further a shared understanding of God and each other.

In addition, we are also bringing God’s voice into the academic world. The International Cultural Foundation supports annual meetings on the unity of the sciences and absolute values. We involve scholars in organizations such as the Professors World Peace Academy, Paragon House Publishers and the Washington Institute for Values in Public Policy in Washington, DC. The religious ideal is manifested best in serving those in need, and we have begun enterprises such as the International Relief Friendship Foundation and Project Volunteer. For the work of saving all people from the ideology of totalitarianism, we have founded organizations such as the International Federation for Victory over Communism, the Collegiate Association for the Research of Principles, and CAUSA (Confederation of Associations for the Unity of the Societies of the Americas). In order to establish a standard of responsibility for the mass media, we have founded the World Media Association and News World Communications. The latter publishes several newspapers. Among them, we established The Washington Times to present alternative proposals with respect to national policies. This enterprise alone cost more than $100 million.

Innumerable projects to benefit the United States

These projects require hard work and sacrifice given through the love of my church members, including the offering of financial resources. We have invested billions of dollars in the United States. We did so because this nation is going to determine the fate of the world. In terms of my movement, the United States is a recipient, not a provider of funding. We are working with the conviction that if the United States is lost, the world is lost. God can depend on this nation and no other. Understanding the scope of my work, can you possibly believe that I came to the United States to defraud the government of a few thousand dollars in taxes?

I hope you and your congregations will henceforth participate in the Unification movement. It is a joint effort to achieve the Will of God on earth. I too am aware that the faith and practice of the Unification Church have led to misunderstandings and misconceptions. I earnestly hope that the upstanding people of the United States will hold constructive conversations with us in this Unification movement. Surely we all desire understanding and cooperation. I cannot explain everything about the faith of the Unification movement in this letter, so I have asked the church leaders to send you videotapes and printed material detailing our beliefs and practices. If you have not received this gift yet, you will in the near future. I hope you will take the time to evaluate this gift and to deliberate on my words. Our fundamental mission is to bring the entire world to love and unite in Christ, to restore the family, and to overcome atheism with a viewpoint centered on God. If you are serious about these ideals, I believe you will benefit from what we are sending you.

Thank you so much for reading this letter and for considering my words attentively. Regardless of whether you agree or disagree with what I have said, I pray with all my heart that we will love and respect one another and join hands to serve the Lord. May the blessings of God be forever with you.

Sincerely,

Rev. Sun Myung Moon
February 1985

Prayer: Please Let Us Straighten Out and Go the Way of Heaven by Offering Ourselves Completely

Sun Myung Moon
February 25, 1985

Photo date and location unknown

Beloved Father! I know well that there is no way but for this son to offer my life to you with tears, while reflecting once more on the historical ages in which no one knew how to comfort you, during the tedious history of restoration which you alone knew about as you waited for the age, and no one has known about all the missions of the ages that you are administering while time flows by.

I thank you that you have protected me on the way as I have gone straight towards the day of being able to straighten out and go the way of heaven which is the duty of your public good by offering myself and attending you and by resolving your grief over having been miserable, angry and mistreated. I thank you for having allowed me to reach an age in which the destiny of the world can be decided directly, when I can discuss the world while standing in a position at the summit of the world, after historical ages in which I was driven out, and could not help but retreat and which continued until today.

Since I am going forward like a strong man who is bold and magnanimous, and who does not feel shame in front of you, Father, who is protecting the way where I must overcome a crisis, I ask, Father, that you will protect that way and be proud of me. I have humbly prayed all these things in the name of the True Parents. Amen.

The Good Spirit World and the Evil Spirit World

Sun Myung Moon
January 1, 1985

The spirit world is divided into two realms, the satanic realm and God's realm. If we lay out a way that enables people to move quickly from the satanic spirit world to God's world of goodness, then the situation on earth will naturally be resolved. What kind of way is that? As long as we have a special method to enable the transfer of all satanic individuals, families, tribes, and nations to the heavenly side, it is possible. When such a time comes to the spirit world, it will be reflected on earth. As a result, all kinds of transformation will quickly occur and sweep through that world.

…

It is impossible to properly understand the spirit world without an overview of how it develops, acts, and relates with the earth. The spirit world can be divided into two realms, good and evil. The spirit world really exists, despite humankind's general lack of awareness of it. Good and evil spirits are fighting each other even in the spirit world. There's a battle going on in that world too. Good spirits battle continually to lead evil spirits to good places, and evil spirits are doing everything they can to prevent good spirits from going to good places. Evil spirits are connected to Satan, and people living on earth today are under their influence. Why is that? Regardless of whether they were good or evil, all our ancestors passed away to the spirit world. Good spirits stand on the good side, not because they are completely good from God's point of view, but because they have set the condition of having distanced themselves from satanic influence on earth. On the way towards God's original ideal world – an ideal realm of goodness to which original people can go – good spirits are fighting to advance toward it, and evil spirits are struggling to block the way. The evil spirit realm and evil earthly world are connected and in constant communication. Good spirits are those who on earth were opposed by and confronted by the evil world and who were also religious people.

Rev. Moon's special authority in relation to the spirit world

Sun Myung Moon
January 1, 1985

Most new developments in the civilized age are connected to patent rights. Yet they are all different. There are patents for making clothes. Everything is patented. If you own a patent, then you can assert your ownership of it anywhere you go. That is the way it is in the world. There is such a law in the spirit world. There is no law stating that only white people can register patents nor is there any law that prohibits black people or Asians from doing so. This holds true anywhere.

There were many founders of religions and other religious people in history who labored to gain a patent for going to the Kingdom of Heaven, but who among them holds the patent? How will you recognize the person with the patent for going to the spirit world? Since the motley group that is gathered here is saying in unison that they will climb up to any heights and that is good enough! Then what about God? Can He tell me that I cannot do that? He may say, "Without Rev. Moon's signature, it is no good." Even the great president of the United States, or any king, or any saint, or any founder of a religion, will have to come and bow down to me when they need my signature.

To obtain a doctorate, you must even wash your thesis professor's bottom and thank him even if he kicks you, in order to get his signature. If you do not, he may not sign. You might want to say, "I am much better looking. I have a nicer nose, face, stature and everything else. If we were to wrestle, I would win. I can eat more than he can. I can beat him in any competition. I am better than him in tens, even hundreds of ways. Yet he thinks that he can withhold a doctorate from me just because I do not know that one thing." None of this, though, will do you any good. I might have such special authority in relation to the spirit world.

When I went to prison there were many weird rumors, and people thought that I would be ruined and completely disappear. Now, I am still alive and speaking boldly. I have an antenna that allows me to see, hear, and know everything; therefore I can confidently speak out with a loud voice.

Even God would like to see my endorsement before giving His approval. He will look to see if my signature is there, and if it is, He will say, "Okay," and if not, He will say, "No." It is easy to say this, but can you realize how difficult it was to make this possible? If I actually have such a patent, then the conclusion is that, in the future, the entire spirit world will move within my hands, and the physical world's path will narrow until they have no choice but to follow.

God's Will and Korea

Sun Myung Moon
December 16, 1985
IFVOC Rally
Chamshil Gymnasium
Seoul, Korea

My fellow citizens, distinguished guests, fellow colleagues working for Victory Over Communism here at home and abroad, ladies and gentlemen: I would like to express my deep appreciation that so many of you have come here today to participate in this rally, contributing your time at this most busy season of the year. The title of my message is "God's Will and Korea:' and in it I want to clearly show that Korea is the focal point of God's providence and that the key to the solution of the problems of the world today is to be found in the Korean peninsula.

Looking at the situation of the world at this time, there is no one among us who cannot but feel disappointment. In spite of humanity's cherished hopes for freedom, peace, and security, the world is becoming more and more confused each day. The future of humankind seems to hold no hope.

Despite the constant efforts of world leaders, the problems of the world are becoming more complicated and more difficult to solve. No religion or philosophy, and no political ideology, neither democracy nor communism, has proven capable of solving any of these problems. And the reason is that none of them understands the will of God. Because human history is the history of God's restorational providence, no fundamental solution to world problems is possible without understanding God's providential will.

The Historical Significance of Korea

God is promoting His providence for the world by focusing on the divided Korean peninsula. Therefore we must understand the significance of the division of the Korean peninsula. The demilitarized zone on the 38th parallel which divides the peninsula is the line of confrontation between the dictatorial system of communism and the free world system of democracy, between the left-wing forces on the side of evil and the right-wing forces on the side of goodness, between materialism and idealism, and between atheism and theism. From the standpoint of ideology and the socio-political system, we see the world at present divided between a democratic bloc and a communist bloc with the United States and the Soviet Union as their respective leaders.

The situation in Korea represents a paradigm case showing in miniature the division of the world; that is, the situation of the world is an expansion and elaboration of the Korean situation. Herein lies the deep significance of God's plan. God's will is to first accomplish the unification of the Korean peninsula, which represents the world in miniature, and then, by applying the same method to the world, accomplish the ideological and sociopolitical unification of the whole world.

There is another providential significance to the 38th parallel: it marks the separation and confrontation of two civilizations. One is the Judeo-Christian culture which has inherited the Hebraic tradition of Israel, the other is the communist civilization which is the culmination of Hellenistic culture. The Hebraic tradition and Hellenism should have been united by Jesus in Rome. But because of his crucifixion, the center for unification was lost. As a result, until this day Hebraism and Hellenism have coexisted in parallel lines of development, sometimes one predominating and sometimes the other, without ever being truly united. Today they confront each other across the DMZ. It is God's will that these two currents be united on the Korean peninsula. Understood in this light, this line of tension is of great providential significance.

Geopolitically speaking, Korea is at a disadvantage because it is surrounded by four major powers. Providentially though, Korea has the advantage, in the sense that success achieved here can quickly be expanded throughout the world by the major powers because of Korea's position as the focal point of God's providence.

Then by what means will God accomplish the unification of the Korean peninsula? He will establish a central figure through whom He will promote His providential will so that God's love may be put into practice. That love is not only the love of neighbor or country, but love for the entire world, transcending national interests, and love even for enemies on the worldwide level. God's love is love which prays for the enemy and which is willing to sacrifice even its life for the sake of the enemy, if necessary. Jesus, who two thousand years ago came as the Messiah, was the very hero of this love.

Confrontation of Good and Evil

Jesus loved his enemies even to the point of allowing himself to be crucified. As you know, two thieves were crucified with Jesus. The thief on the left accused Jesus, but the thief on the right testified to Jesus and defended him, admonishing the thief on the left. Thus, the thief on the right came to represent the side of goodness, while the thief on the left came to represent the side of evil, and in this way the crucifixion was the focal point in the confrontation between God and Satan. There is deep providential significance in the fact that Jesus, who was the way, the truth, and the life, loved even his enemies, and suffered on the cross with good and evil on either side. This reveals the principle of reconciliation or unity, centering on God's love, and indicates to us that all kinds of struggle and conflict can be reconciled and united through sacrificial love. We can also learn from this the lesson that any sinner can be led to repentance, if we practice God's love no matter how difficult the situation.

We must also understand that the two thieves represent seeds which would bear the fruit of the actual confrontation of good and evil at the consummation of human history. That is to say that the appearance in the Last Days of the right wing, or the free world camp, as the side of goodness, and the left wing, or the communist world, as the side of evil, originated at the crucifixion of Jesus. Moreover, this confrontation between the two thieves became the prototype of many subsequent conflicts and struggles. The historical origin of the names for the right and left wings in the present day actually lies in the thieves on the right and the left of the cross.

The thief on the right testified to Jesus while opposing the thief on the left at the risk of his life. Consequently, after his death, he was resurrected and entered into Paradise. This indicates that if the United States, which is in the position of the thief on the right, maintains to the last moment a strong ]stance against communism, which is in the position of the thief on the left, then it will receive God's recognition and be able to enter the Kingdom of Heaven on earth.

The actual situation of all the conflicts and struggles of today, whose prototype was the opposition between good and evil at the crucifixion, is intensely expressed by the present line of demarcation across the Korean peninsula. Therefore, this line of demarcation separating North and South Korea represents the cross which the Korean nation must bear in order to providentially redeem the division of the world. The Korean nation corresponds to Jesus on the cross as well as representing the foundation for the Second Coming of Christ. Why does God work His providence in such ways?

Bearing the Cross of History

God allowed this nation to be crucified in order to call its people to His mission. The Korean people have been called by God because they have a tradition of reverence for God and because they have overcome long trials by the exercise of their moral purity and their peace-loving spirit. They have become the sacrificial offering of providential significance with the purpose of saving humanity in the Last Days.

The Korean people, who have gone through a history of hardships for several thousand years, have become the sacrifice for the salvation of the world, and, while bearing the world-historical cross of the division of their nation, they are still overcoming all kinds of trials.

The Korean people must realize that this is a glorious blessing for the Korean nation and at the same time a fearful and heavy burden. For if they fulfill their responsibility as the people of the sacrificial offering, they will receive a glorious blessing, but if they do not, then the heaviest misfortunes will befall them. It is well known that the Jewish people met with great misfortune throughout history because two thousand years ago they failed to fulfill their responsibility. In order to fulfill the mission as the sacrificial offering of providential significance which has been laid on this nation's shoulders, the Korean people must practice love, and at the same time they must come to know the truth of God.

Jesus, as a substantial body centered on love, said that he was the way, the truth, and the life. He was crucified as the embodiment of love and truth. This means that love and truth are necessary to reconcile both good and evil sides and to lead enemies to come together in repentance. The "truth" refers to God's word of love rather than to secular truth. God's truth is sent to earth as revelation which comes through certain providential persons. God's truth is the absolute truth, which is an all-powerful key capable of solving any problem, no matter how difficult.

I have encountered the living God through a long lifetime of prayer and meditation, and have been given this absolute truth. Its remarkable content clarifies all of the secrets hidden in the universe, and all the secrets of human life and history. When this truth has been applied to society, social problems have been solved, and when applied to the world, world problems have been solved. The unsolved problems of religion can also be resolved through this truth. And especially when it is applied to the critique of communist theory, all the falsehoods of communism have been brought to light and a counterproposal to communism has been established.

This is a new view of life, a new view of the world and the universe, and a new view of the providence and history, which have never before existed. It is also a principle of integration that can encompass the whole world into one unity, while at the same time preserving the individual characteristics of all religious doctrines and philosophies. I have named this truth Unification Thought or Godism and have initiated the Unification movement and the Victory Over Communism movement on a worldwide scale, and they are now spreading like wildfire.

So far I have explained that the practice of God's love and the truth of God are necessary for the reconciliation and unification of all. The unification of the divided Korean nation will surely be accomplished if we embrace those on the side of evil with love, while teaching them to understand the errors of their thought with the truth of the side of goodness.

Living For Others Is The Only Solution

Now I will speak more concretely about love. To love is to benefit one's counterpart rather than oneself. Love is established when there is a mutual relationship between subject and object. Love comes out of one's counterpart. Love without a counterpart cannot last. All of creation is meant to benefit the other; each creation exists for the sake of others. Not only human beings, but also animals, plants, and minerals exist for the sake of others. Even the realm of atoms exists for other beings and the movements of all the heavenly bodies are movements for the sake of other beings. In light of their physical structure, men exist for the sake of women, and women exist for the sake of men. Likewise, parents exist for the sake of their children and children exist for their parents.

This principle of existence for the sake of the other applies to school, to one's place of work, and to the nation. But love should not be limited to the boundaries of the nation; people should love the world beyond their own national boundaries and should even love their enemies on a worldwide level. Therefore, the principle of living for the sake of others, that is, the principle of love, is the principle of Heaven or the Way of Heaven. If we practice the principle of love, even in the midst of hardships, then we will be sustained by the power of the universe and will never perish. If a person lives a comfortable life without observing this principle of living for others, he or she will soon decline. The saying, "The one who disobeys Heaven will perish and the one who obeys Heaven will prosper" is a truth spoken out of this heavenly principle.

Korea is bearing the cross on the national level. No matter how difficult it may be to unify this nation, we must follow a life of living for the sake of others, as individuals, as families, as a society, and as a nation, in accordance with the Way of Heaven united with the center of truth And we must expand this t, the international level. If we do this, then not only the unification of the Korean peninsula but also the salvation of the whole world will surely be hastened. For this way of living is in accord with God's providential will focused on Korea. Not only will the unification of North and South Korea be promoted but the method of unification will become a formula for the whole world to follow. Through this movement of love and truth, then, all the difficult problems of the world will be solved and humankind will be liberated for the first time from its long nightmare of unhappiness and confusion, and everlasting happiness and peace will come for all.

Our fatherland, Korea, has been deceived and made to suffer throughout history; therefore, there is no better way for us to go but to depend on God. So far, I and the members of the Unification Church have been making incredible efforts in foreign countries to establish a victorious foundation on a worldwide level. Today I have returned to this country in the hope that this victorious foundation may be connected to Korea and that Korea may make a great leap onto the world stage. I sincerely hope that you will extend your kind cooperation to make this connected foundation more secure.

Finally I pray that God will bless your families, our fatherland, and the world.

Thank you very much.

Two Telegrams From Japan

Read by President Osami Kuboki at the IFVOC Rally

Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone

On the event of Rev. Moon's victorious homecoming, I offer my congratulations and my prayers for the future prosperity and good fortune of those in attendance who have worked so tirelessly for world freedom and peace.

Former Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi

To Rev. Moon and to the representatives of each nation of the world who have gathered for Rev. Moon's homecoming, I send my congratulations from deep within my heart. After 40 years, even with the efforts of so many people for the cause of freedom and peace for mankind, I know very well that communism still exists on this earth and continues to launch terrorism and violence. I firmly believe that mankind's happiness can be realized not by violent revolution but only through peaceful methods -- through loving one another. I think now is truly the time for those of us who believe in and who love freedom to concentrate our efforts.

I have met many people throughout the world and have experienced many things. I have always thought that politicians should not be dominated by matters in front of their eyes, but should create policies of far-reaching importance and deal with all matters bravely so that their countries can progress towards a bright future. 

The Path of Korea For The Sake Of the World

Sun Myung Moon
December 11, 1985
Convention Center, Hilton Hotel
Seoul, Korea

Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen: You have assembled here from all parts of the world, leaving all kinds of situations behind you, just in order to welcome me and to encourage me on my return home. I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to you for that.

To see the beautiful mountains and skies of my homeland again and to be able to stand in front of you tonight evokes emotions in my heart that are hard to describe. I believe that you have come here tonight in order to welcome a man who has dedicated himself for the will of God and the ideal of "living for others" rather than an individual called Rev. Moon. It is this fact that makes this meeting today a truly historical event.

The very order of existence in the universe is basically one of living for others. A world of true ideals, true love, and true peace is God's ideal of creation and at the same time man's desire. The origin of ideals, and the origin of happiness and love, is found in living for one's counterpart. If we look at the universe, there is not one single thing which exists only for itself.

A Fundamental Law of the Universe

The mineral world exists for the sake of the plant and animal worlds, the mineral and plant worlds exist for the sake of the animal world, and the whole of creation exists for the sake of man. Then for whom does man exist? Man exists for the sake of God. God created all things and enables them to grow and develop for the sake of others. The basic law of the universe is that man is not born into the world as an end unto himself. Instead he is born for woman. The converse is true for woman. From the moment a husband and wife are married, each spouse should live with the thought: "I was born for you, I live for you, and I will die for you. The couple that does this can be called an ideal husband and wife. Living for others is a fundamental law of the universe. It is from this point that true love begins.

All beings exist for other beings. A truly pious son should live for his parents. Thus the love of true parents, the filial piety of true children, and the love of true husband and wife all originate in living for others.

If we extend this principle, we can conclude that a true people should live for the sake of the nation, and a ruler should live for the sake of his people. We can all find true happiness if we live according to this principle. Since this is the law governing all beings in the universe, true men that have lived for others will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, or Paradise, the world where God lives and where the same rule of living for others applies.

This is the reason why all religions teach about self-sacrificial service and the realization of love for the sake of others. The position of a person who lives for others naturally becomes the central position and a position that commands respect. For example, if the youngest son in a family gives generously of himself to the other family members he naturally becomes the focus of love and monopolizes their affection and admiration.

True Parents and Dr. Bo Hi Pak during the playing of the national anthem.

God Sent the Messiah to Show the Way

Living for others does not stop with the individual; if the family lives for others, then the family heaven can be established. If we extend this principle to the national level then we can realize the national level heaven. On the world level, when the whole of mankind lives for others then we can realize the ideal world of harmony and happiness. In this way we can bring about the world heaven. The ideal world is an eternally unchangeable world where God is the parent and we are brothers and sisters living for each other, a harmonious family of man. In order to realize this world, a man was sent as the leader of God's Providence. He is called the Messiah or Savior. He comes to show the way to build the highway of love in this world where true love does not yet exist.

Jesus came as the Messiah on the foundation of Judaism and the nation of Israel in order to save the world. While he was trying to awaken them for the sake of the world he was rejected by them and nailed to the cross. Jesus' hope was for Judaism and

Israel to live for the world, but they desired a God and a Messiah who existed only for themselves. The resurrected Jesus, however, spiritually guided Christianity as it expanded throughout all nations.

The United States is a nation chosen by God as a representative of world Christianity. It should be centered on God and take the leading role in the salvation of the world. The United States has the important mission to spread the Christian spirit and Christian ideals. The blessings which God has given the United States are not for the sake of the United States alone. They are for the sake of the whole world. America does not exist for itself, but for all people.

Knowing that this view reflects God's innermost heart and providence, I felt compelled to go to America. For the last 13 years I have been working like a madman to awaken that nation. While attempting to deal with the circumstances resulting from the Second World War, the United States often forgot its mission to work for the whole world. When America failed to live up to God's expectation, the foundations of the free world were shaken. Numerous problems arose within the nation: racial problems, drug abuse, immorality of young people, destruction of the family, violence, crime, and the infiltration of communism.

There might be numerous reasons for these problems but, ultimately, it comes down to the spiritual and moral deficiency of the United States. God's expectations for America were bitterly disappointed. The internal problems of the United States have added to the sorrow of God. God has hoped for the appearance of one man and family in America who could totally dedicate themselves for the sake of the world, and for America to become a country exemplifying the principle of living for the sake of others. But in reality no such individual and family could be found, and the faith of the nation of America is shaking in its foundations.

President Jae Suk Lee, president of the Unification Church of Korea, offers a triumphant Mansei!

My Mission in America

God called me to America from Korea to fulfill this goal. The mission that heaven has given me is not something that I may relinquish whenever I wish or when things do not work out. My mission has been to continually search for a prepared foundation and to awaken people to reality. However, instead of repenting America rejected me. In spite of the severe persecution and derision aimed at me during my 13 years in the United States, I have worked to create loving individuals, families, and communities. My task was to raise up new people who would be able to live for the sake of the world.

God does not want people to just believe in Him. God wants us to fulfill our responsibility. Because I know God's will so clearly, I have dedicated my entire life to the accomplishment of this heavenly mission.

In the first place, during the last 30 years I have gathered together scholars from all over the world in order to teach and make this God-centered thought universal. As a result, a secure foundation has been established in 100 nations. Secondly, since the Kingdom of Heaven is not composed of spiritual elements alone, we had to invest a great deal of money and effort into technical and scientific development. We have since reaped much fruit from these investments.

Thirdly, we are establishing a worldwide economic foundation for the realization of God's will, developing different economic areas and researching into the possibility of international cooperation for a future monetary order. Fourthly, we have built up a worldwide media organization in order to provide society with honest and moral journalism. In addition, we are promoting activities in various other fields, all of them directly related to the task of realizing God's will on earth.

As you know, in August I was released from prison in America. The case against me had been fabricated and I was imprisoned, but throughout the 13 months I never stopped praying for the future of America and the world. I prayed for God to forgive America and help me fulfill my mission. I also initiated and directed countless events to rekindle the spiritual and religious foundation of the United States.

To fulfill the Christian spirit of service our movement bought 250 large trucks to be used for community service work. From prison I also began many kinds of new projects. Among these were international professors' conferences to discuss how to overcome communism, a movement for religious unity, a weekly news magazine, and a monthly magazine. An Unbelievable Path of Adversity

Even while receiving unprecedented persecution and facing unjustified imprisonment, centered on God I did more for America and loved America more than any individual, group, or religious denomination. Furthermore, while carrying out that heavenly mission, I have walked an unimaginable path, more stained with blood and tears than any other person. But since it was a path for the world and to save America, I went through this suffering path gratefully, and overcame it. Since I received the call of God, my life has been full of hardships. During the time of the Japanese occupation of Korea I took part in an underground student organization and was imprisoned for my activities. When I was evangelizing in communist North Korea I was accused of being a spy and almost died in a labor camp in Hungnam. In the early days of my mission in South Korea I was held in Sodaemun Prison here in Seoul, accused of heresy. And, most recently, I was the victim of racial and religious discrimination in America. In this way, my life has been a continuous string of hardships.

In spite of a tornado of opposition and persecution, I did not waver from the heavenly way of living for others, and I have returned, having fulfilled the conditions of the providence. This victory is not my victory alone, but also a victory for God and righteousness. Do you think it was easy for such a victory to be gained while the whole world was coming against me? I am not trying to praise myself. If it hadn't been for God I would not have survived. I only glorify God.

As an unimaginable miracle unfolds in front of us in this moment, all of you have become partakers in this miracle. I hope you will treasure the memory of having been present at this occasion, commemorating a historically unique victory. I also hope that you will not be content to just be amazed by these accomplishments, but that you will try to find out the exact providential meaning of this event and connect yourselves to it and take this opportunity to make a great leap forward in your own spiritual life.

I recommend this to you not only for yourselves, but also for your nation and your country. If Korea does not turn its back on the foundation I have laid, it will rapidly become a leading nation in the world. When we look from the standpoint of God's will, we see that the Korean people are a people chosen by God and that the Korean nation is a central nation in God's providence which should provide the world with a model of living for others. Many historical and unknown events in God's providence are intertwined and centered in Korea. This nation has the mission to take responsibility for the world and has set numerous spiritual conditions in providential history.

God's Expectations for Korea

Although the Korean people have an excellent natural character and culture, they have walked a path of suffering which cannot be compared to that of any other people. Their suffering must be understood in view of the heavenly providence. The challenges and tribulations that Korea experiences are part of God's providence, and He waits anxiously for the nation to overcome them.

East and West and North and South meet in Korea, and spiritualism and materialism, theism and atheism are also concentrated here. It seems that this whirlwind of ideas in this country is the labor pain before the birth of a new era. The Korean nation cannot solve its national difficulties apart from the will and providence of God, and a solution cannot be achieved by Korea alone, but only in connection with the world. In order for Korea to provide spiritual leadership for the world, Korea will have to overcome its difficulties by awakening to the will of God and by following the person whom God has sent.

My foundation and that of the Unification Church has been established by strictly following the will of God and by completely living a life for others. Now the Unification Church and I have gained the victory and overcome all persecution.

If the Korean nation, on the foundation of my worldwide victory, lives for the world, then Korea can not only overcome its suffering, but can also become a center of love, truth, and peace before the world. It will receive an even greater blessing than America received.

Rev. Moon is not weak. He will not rest on his past merits nor yield before an unrighteous world. Even though the road may be long and the task of accomplishing the world of heaven enormous, I will continue on my way.

Ladies and gentlemen, on this occasion, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude for your support and faith in my innocence during my court battle in America.

I pray for God's eternal blessing upon your family and our fatherland.

Thank you.