New Impetus For The Providence In America

Sun Myung Moon
January 1 -- 7, 1983

SunMyungMoon-830107-1.jpg

During the week following God's Day, our seemingly-tireless Father spoke several times to gatherings of church leaders in New York, anxious to stimulate new vitality in our movement in western countries. The following is not an actual transcription of Father's words, but a presentation of the major points, adapted by Joy Pople from Joy Garrett's notes.

General Leaders' Conference

On January 2, Father met with international, American, and New York leaders in the World Mission Center. He began by talking about the role of Korean (and Japanese) leaders. The elder Korean members who have been serving as itinerant workers on various continents will now devote most of their time to assisting the American movement; as regional directors they will push members to achieve the 1-1-1 goal. Father also announced a mobilization of Korean and Japanese wives living in America and implied that he will be staying in the United States during the next three years and concentrate much effort on building up the American movement.

In comparing styles of leadership, Father finds western leaders more businesslike and horizontal when they give reports; they seem spiritually dry, he observed. In contrast, eastern leaders, especially the Koreans, often talk about spiritual revelations and insights. They are better intermediaries, Father feels, between the spirit world and physical world, connecting current situations to the history of the providence and the development of the Unification Church.

Korean leaders are also vertically strong, Father added, and are not easily shaken; people don't find it easy to relate to them horizontally. "You can get strength by going through them; because of their spiritual depth, they can embrace your culture," Father promised.

Father wants western leaders to be trained under the fullest, vertical tradition of the Korean church, although he realizes that western pride makes it difficult to accept oriental leadership. Still, he emphasized the providential necessity of this relationship; without these leaders, members cannot become part of the main trunk of the Unification Church tradition. "I do not mean that Korean culture should become American culture," he cautioned, "just that Koreans are closer to the heavenly tradition."

Father is thinking of assigning a Korean (and/or Japanese) leader to work with each American or western leader -- in order to establish the tradition he wants. This is not to be a permanent arrangement, however; it would continue long enough for the tradition to take root -- perhaps five years. Westerners have deeply ingrained habits, he explained, which may take a long time to change.

Then Father said he had been postponing certain drastic changes until the persecution in the United States abates. "But the time has come for major changes." As long ago as 1978, he had decided that "westerners couldn't cope on their own." He referred to the membership goal which was supposed to have been achieved by 1978, and the 1-1-1 motto, which he has continually stressed. There is no easy way to accomplish that goal -- just sacrifice.

After reflecting for a long time, Father selected Japan as the best Asian country in which to create the center of spiritual tradition; thus he has been putting Mr. Kuboki, Unification Church president, and Mr. Furuta, Happy World president, through heavy training. The Japanese family has been sacrificing itself almost totally for the sake of the world. In a recent conversation with Mr. Furuta, Father suggested that the Japanese church invest more of its resources in Japan, but Mr. Furuta refused, convinced that to ensure the well-being of Japan, members have to give sacrificially for world-wide causes. His attitude impressed Father.

When Father asks something, the Japanese members jump into action, and if they cannot fulfill a goal, they deeply repent, make a new resolve, and try again. But Father sees in the western leaders a kind of complaining, ungrateful heart that hinders his ability to work with them. The American church in its present form cannot be the model for western civilization, Father asserted, and in this conference he challenged Mr. Kamiyama and Dr. Durst to resolve to make a new beginning. For many years, other nations have sent members and resources to aid the American church -- which should be not only self-sufficient, but able to support the providence in other countries as well.

Then Father talked with each of the European leaders, giving them suggestions and getting each one to make a commitment of how many new members they will gain by the end of the year. He asked some European leaders, including Dennis Orme and Reiner Vincenz, to return to America, and assigned several Unification Theological Seminary graduates to leadership responsibilities in Germany. The meeting closed with reports about American CARP from Michael Smith and Mr. Matsuzaki, and about the Washington Times and CAUSA from Col. Pak.

It was late at night, and Father left the room. Col. Pak took out a thin black book, in which Father writes the outlines for his speeches and sermons and sometimes detailed plans. Father had just written down a list of our movement's objectives and future strategy. Col. Pak translated these into Japanese and English, and those who were present took notes.

SunMyungMoon-830107-2.jpg

Meeting with U.S. state leaders

At East Garden the following morning, Father began by describing how difficult it is for Koreans to learn English. Even though the new Korean IW's may not speak English, he challenged the state leaders who will be working with them to open up their hearts, seeking to understand them on a heart level, and make what for some will be their first experience with Americans a positive, unforgettable time.

These Koreans have lived many years with Father and are being sent out to "live as Father lived." Father warned the state leaders that the IW's would probably impose more discipline on them, making them rise earlier, perhaps, and pray more. Could they welcome that pressure?

Father referred to his advice to the CAUSA staff when they began teaching Unificationism in Latin America a couple of years ago. "Regardless of what attitude you take, your efforts will be instantly prosperous, and you will gain instant results. But if you do this without heart, the results will diminish bit by bit, and in the end very little will be left. However, if you take up the task with the deepest heart and best attitude, the initial effect will be similar, but the results will become greater and greater, as you advance in heart."

Two speeches or two letters identical in appearance may produce different effects, depending on the level of heart invested in them. Father described the different impacts made by a letter written without deep feeling and a letter written in tears. Even a beautifully- worded letter will soon be forgotten, if its writer shed no tears. Father repeated an often-stressed theme: "Prayer is absolutely vital to your development. The reason why you don't develop more is not because of any lack of ability, but lack of heart. When there is no heart, heaven cannot work with you."

Father compared our task of witnessing and raising people with a farmer's toil in raising crops. "You plow the soil and cultivate it through heart and prayer. However, you cannot plant the seed. Even someone of extraordinary personal ability can never plant the seeds. Only heaven can do that."

He suggested that state leaders visit their state capital and look at the capitol building. [Members can focus this kind of heart on any historical building.] "Think of the past patriots and of all those who labored to construct the building. Before you, there were people who loved that state [city, country, etc.] and sacrificed for its sake. There were many people who cried when they thought of its destiny, and they offered deep prayers for its future. Now you have to dig up that history and link it with the present time. You are the only hope that sustains the past and links it to the present and future. With desperation -- as if a member of your own family were at the point of death -- forget yourself and cry out to God, 'Heavenly Father, do something about this state.' Then God will hear you and work miracles."

Father then apologized for his inability to speak English well, but stressed that he is trying to convey to us something much deeper than words, levels of feeling which we must learn to read. Because of these deep feelings undergirding his speeches, even though we don't understand all his words, we feel drawn to him.

Father stressed that leaders should develop some special quality, which will make people feel attracted to them. Anyone who proclaims God's words should spend three hours in prayer as preparation for every hour of speaking. This was the advice Father gave to the CAUSA staff, and they have been applying it with good results. Father said that when he has prayed for a place, he usually spent seven hours in a row, in the same posture, praying -- sometimes even twelve or fourteen hours in succession.

The most precious thing is intense feeling in prayer. "If you think of this world as a desert, don't try to be a rock, but be a cactus. Birds and animals never go to a desert rock to rest, but to a cactus; even though it has thorns. inside is water which they can drink and through which receive life."

Father urged members to pray using the outline he gave on January 2, pledging to become the foremost ancestor in their home church area. He stressed the need to have some such point or points on which to focus our standard of heart, such as this outline or the yearly motto. Our prayers, sermons, etc., can explore the meaning of this year's motto, "Home Church Is Our Land of Settlement."

Father urged each state leader to establish a video center. The Japanese family has been using video centers for teaching Principle, with considerable success in winning new members, and Father wants to try this in America. He talked about the upcoming national witnessing effort. He also urged the leaders to transmit what Father is sharing with them to their members; the leaders should convey Father's heart to the members, enabling the members, in turn, to pour out their heart and tears for all people.

Celebration of In Jin Nim's birthday

Father doesn't usually give a talk at a birthday celebration, but this time he spoke to everyone who had gathered at East Garden for the January 6 ceremony. "It's time to draw conclusions about recent reports," he said, and he elaborated on the qualities of leadership. Leaders may be externally capable, but Father said his concern is that they be internally prepared. What they say and what they do should match. The leadership in our church reflects on Father; if people see arrogance in Unification Church leaders, they assume that Rev. Moon is arrogant. Before the public sees Father, they meet his assistants. Likewise, Father said he always evaluates leaders through his contact with the people who were trained by them.

Father then paid unusual tribute to Mother and praised her for being "almost greater than me, because she is so benevolent and wonderful." Mother is responsible for educating the children, and they represent and reflect her. In observing the fruit of her wonderful qualities in the church, Father sees a leadership potential he would like to cultivate.

Many members have been out fundraising, and Father urged those who stayed behind -- "keeping the home fires burning" -- to cultivate a mother's heart towards those who went out sacrificially. Also, he reminded leaders always to cultivate the ideal vertical connection with those above them and those below them, and to maintain both kinds of relationships.

Father commented about some of those present, teaching lessons through them. He urged leaders not to compete for closeness with him, not to criticize the church leaders of other nations (only Father may do that), and when returning to their center or office, to hear public reports before spending time with their wife. He also remarked that no matter how good a public relations job leaders may do in order to sell an idea or project to Father, he knows the truth about the situation.

During the remainder of the meeting, Father discussed Unificationism as a strategy and as an ideology. "I have proclaimed Unificationism, and we have to go through the battle until it is accepted. Our organization is moved by philosophy, heart, people and ideology; but the center of these is heart -- the heart of harmony and compassion. This is what we have to share with the Christian world. The ideology of Unificationism we offer to the communist world. Our challenge and mission is to unite everyone under the banner of Unificationism.

"Americans in general don't want to hear VOC; sometimes they feel frightened of us. But Unificationism is not anti-anything. We are talking about unity. Idealistic people will see it as a way to unite and will adopt it as their ideology. Through CAUSA, Unificationism has had a big impact in Latin America, and I want it to spread to North America as well. People don't have to change their religion to be a Unificationist: one person may be a Catholic Unificationist, another person a Jewish Unificationist, etc. The root of Unificationism is Rev. Moon and the Unification Church, and people will eventually be drawn to the root."

Father asked various department leaders to pave the way for spreading Unificationism in America -- New Future Films should prepare videotapes, for example. During this year, Father wants his message to be more widely publicized, and he plans to travel around the country, meeting with people who understand something of his vision and encouraging them to speak out on his behalf -- and perhaps give speeches himself. 

Let It Be A Good Year

Sun Myung Moon
January 2, 1983
Excerpts
World Mission Center

SunMyungMoon-830102-1.jpg

When a new year begins, an older person will think back with regret about becoming one year older, and a young person will look forward with anticipation because he is becoming more and more mature. A teenager welcomes another year because it brings him closer to adulthood. As young people leave their teens, they feel they are coming into a broader and deeper world of new fulfillment and excitement.

However, as people become older and those memories of youthful excitement begin to fade, they hate to see the years go by. As a person gets older, many things begin to depart from him. First of all, the children get older and move away, leaving the parents at home alone. Then one or the other of the spouses passes away. Loneliness sets in, because of the departure of loved ones. Old people can see the sundown of their lives on the horizon; they know their own day of death is approaching. When a person reaches 60, he usually starts trying to put his affairs in order; he wants to prepare properly for his last days here on earth. Getting ready for death is usually not so pleasant.

God is invisible, and everything about Him is invisible. In order to share in the love of God, people must have some invisible aspect as well. In order to move from visibility to invisibility, some revolutionary change must occur, a transformation that requires pushing the visible world completely behind you. That particular drastic moment when you reach the point of invisibility is what people call death.

This is not a destructive or diminishing activity, but an elevation to a higher plateau in which one can directly receive the invisible love of God. This transformation from the visible to the invisible enables a person to become a direct counterpart of God, enjoying direct give and take with the invisible God.

People are meant to undergo this transformation at some point, leaving this world behind and forgetting it. Therefore, as people get older, they often complain about losing their memory. Actually, this is simply a sign that God is preparing them to forget this world. The diminishing eyesight of older people is another sign from God that they will eventually forget all vision of this world and move into a vision of a husband.

It is part of innate human nature to want to command others and also be commanded by others. According to the principle of changing positions, the upper position goes to the lower and vice versa; the right side will travel to the left. This kind of turning cannot happen based merely upon force or power; only through the realm of love is it possible. Everybody should be able to switch positions freely, from higher to lower. The person who can adjust himself to any new environment, always changing positions and willing to work in lower as well as higher responsibilities, is truly a person of harmony.

Life's Balance Sheet

The balance sheet of your life is determined by what portion of it has been lived for the sake of others. When American wives go shopping, do you get things first for your husband or for yourself? I think that American women tend to spend almost all their money on themselves, and if there is a little left over, they spend it on their husbands. On the other hand Oriental women will often spend money for their husbands and children, without giving a thought to their own needs.

I have a responsibility to educate American women, particularly you blessed couples. You must come to the realization that you were horn for the sake of others; your physical functions were designed in that manner. Men as well as women must think of benefiting not themselves but others.

Once all of you inscribe what you have heard this morning on your hearts, you are guaranteed of having a good year. To go through certain difficulties and dangers is not completely bad, because then you can create an exciting history. Danger always comes when one reaches the pinnacle or summit. As you go down, you gain momentum to climb up the next pinnacle. Some people only want to jump from the top of one hill to the next, but you have to descend into the valley before you can climb the next hill.

Life's High Noons

Only the power of love enables a person to move freely up and down, from life's "high noons" to its valleys. As you descend, you can pick up more momentum for your ascent of the next hill if you go together as a couple; even more momentum is gained when your children join you in these cycles.

Do you want to increase and prosper, or decrease and decline? If you want to prosper, you must invest more and more in life. Do you think my life is simple, as I lead people from all over the world? No, I must endure tremendous difficulty. By ordinary human preference, nobody would volunteer to live such a life. Were it not for the power of love, neither would I!

Many members think that as our movement expands, we will no longer need to go down, that we will just begin world, they can enjoy a joint relationship with God.

Thus, here on earth we are preparing for one more "birth," into an ecstatically joyful new life where we can be consummated with God's universal love. The kingdom of heaven in heaven is the world of "high noon," where God and man can meet without any shadow in a total union filled with brightness.

This universe is always moving in wavelike cycles toward and away from high noon. If there is such a high noon in this world, how much more intense it will be in the spirit world! The intensity of a person's love determines his value or virtue, because in the ultimate world, love alone is the criterion of absolute value. Our lives here on earth are meant to prepare us for the awaiting supreme high noon of love.

A Good Year Needs Good People

Our topic is "Let This Be a Good Year." What should be the contents of a good year? A good year must be filled with love. In order to make 1983 a good year, you must begin with a good state of mind, you must become good men and women. Good men and women live not only for themselves but for the sake of others. Don't look at things selfishly, but with a desire to give love. Look upon a person who hates you with love, and eventually he will change. Begin sending out messages of love to those around. Pull out your old vision and replace it with "new eyeballs" of true love. Change your old nose into one which can absorb the worst odors with forgiveness and tolerance.

Go to senior citizens' homes and take care of them -- bathing their bodies, changing their bedpans -- exhibiting true love. When you were a baby, your parents took care of you, changing your diapers and wiping you clean. They didn't have any feelings of discomfort as they did that for you. You should be able to take care of your grandparents in that manner. That is the beauty of give and take.

American young people want to leave home for selfish reasons. They long for their own freedom and identity. They should be willing to visit with their grandparents and take care of elderly people. When young people start to have that attitude, a new kind of America will emerge. Your grandparents represent more of God's image, so when you serve them, you are serving God. Through them, you can learn how to serve God, because you experience more of God's love through them.

Everybody wants to receive true love, but if we all just stand apart, demanding that others give love to us, nothing will happen. Many leaders have had the attitude, "I'm Abel, so you members should bring everything to me." That is absolutely wrong. The Abel figure is the one who is supposed to initiate the giving action. In particular, the wife of a Unification Church leader should be the one who gives first. She should have the attitude of being willing to carve out her own flesh to give to others; she should give far more than her husband.

It is part of innate human nature to want to command others and also be commanded by others. According to the principle of changing positions, the upper position goes to the lower and vice versa; the right side will travel to the left. This kind of turning cannot happen based merely upon force or power; only through the realm of love is it possible. Everybody should be able to switch positions freely, from higher to lower. The person who can adjust himself to any new environment, always changing positions and willing to work in lower as well as higher responsibilities, is truly a person of harmony.

SunMyungMoon-830102-2.jpg

Life's Balance Sheet

The balance sheet of your life is determined by what portion of it has been lived for the sake of others. When American wives go shopping, do you get things first for your husband or for yourself? I think that American women tend to spend almost all their money on themselves, and if there is a little left over, they spend it on their husbands. On the other hand Oriental women will often spend money for their husbands and children, without giving a thought to their own needs.

I have a responsibility to educate American women, particularly you blessed couples. You must come to the realization that you were horn for the sake of others; your physical functions were designed in that manner. Men as well as women must think of benefiting not themselves but others.

Once all of you inscribe what you have heard this morning on your hearts, you are guaranteed of having a good year. To go through certain difficulties and dangers is not completely bad, because then you can create an exciting history. Danger always comes when one reaches the pinnacle or summit. As you go down, you gain momentum to climb up the next pinnacle. Some people only want to jump from the top of one hill to the next, but you have to descend into the valley before you can climb the next hill.

Life's High Noons

Only the power of love enables a person to move freely up and down, from life's "high noons" to its valleys. As you descend, you can pick up more momentum for your ascent of the next hill if you go together as a couple; even more momentum is gained when your children join you in these cycles.

Do you want to increase and prosper, or decrease and decline? If you want to prosper, you must invest more and more in life. Do you think my life is simple, as I lead people from all over the world? No, I must endure tremendous difficulty. By ordinary human preference, nobody would volunteer to live such a life. Were it not for the power of love, neither would I!

Many members think that as our movement expands, we will no longer need to go down, that we will just begin jumping from one summit to another. However, we will always have to descend into the valleys in order to reach higher peaks.

Every seven years, the Unification Church completes a kind of cycle. Leaders become servants and the members become leaders. This interchangeability is necessary. For seven years we go up, for another seven years we go down, and another seven years up. This is why 21 years in the Unification Church is an important factor.

Why do you think I constantly emphasize the importance of unconditional giving? When you give unconditionally, an indestructible nucleus will form within yourself. As you strive to give of yourself, even to the point of death, you reach a supreme, indestructible and unchangeable level of love. That central resolve is your nucleus, and that nucleus has a direct vertical connection with God and eternity.

Hit The Nucleus Of Love

In American history, there must be an eternal nucleus point, a supreme demonstration of the love of country. That nucleus point cannot be focused on power, knowledge or wealth -- only on altruistic love. As you try to give more and more, that nucleus becomes stronger and stronger, never diminishing.

Your ultimate goal in hitting that nucleus is to unite with the almighty God, making yourself a minus before Him. As your nucleus has give and take with God, together you will create a brand-new nucleus. From that point on, the kingdom of God on earth will emerge.

The numerals of 1983 added together equal 21. Twenty one means three cycles of seven: one up, one down, and another climbing up. Anyone who only wants to remain on the highest level will be demolished; he will inevitably have to endure another seven years of downward course. Generally, when people who have a great responsibility that was shifted to another person, they feel offended or resentful. However, we must remember that we are living for the altruistic goal, from the individual level all the way to the highest level. Always there is a greater purpose ahead of us; the family is greater than the individual; society is greater than the family; etc. There is one altruistic way of life, but there are greater and greater levels of living it.

This year, whatever your physical body may dictate that you do, you should do the opposite. You may have a tremendous urge to eat lots of good food; therefore do the opposite and eat humble, even tasteless food. Satan's way is always to seek the seat of honor, the place of prestige. This year, when you feel that urge, take the humblest possible seat instead. Wear fresh, clean clothes, of course, but at least prepare someone else's clothes before you clean your own. Wives, make sure your husband's clothes are clean before your own.

How many of you really like home church? From the satanic point of view, home church is the worst thing; within the Unification Church as well, it is the toughest job. People say, "The Unification Church is very good; however, I don't like fundraising. I don't like witnessing. And I certainly don't like home church!" Throughout your whole time in the Unification Church, you have never heard me tell you to go off and take a rest. The secular world has the decency of giving you at least a few days off now and then, but you can say, "I have been in the Unification Church for ten years and Father has never given me even one day off!"

SunMyungMoon-830102-3.jpg

Do The Opposite Of The Satanic World

A good year is our goal, but remember that our environment is satanic; therefore, whatever this world encourages you to do, do the opposite.

Are you confident that you can make 1983 a good year? That means those who are fond of sleeping long hours should deny themselves that pleasure. Those who have never wanted to go fundraising should see this as the year to go fundraising. You women who enjoy jewelry should take off your rings and earrings. If you like to wear colorful dresses, why not resolve this year to wear only gray and black? Someone who is very fond of soft, hot breads should determine to eat only cold, tough bread.

If you decide to stop eating your favorite kind of bread, first buy a big basketful of that bread and eat the whole thing. Stuffed like that, you will feel terribly full and unable to move freely. You will find that being hungry is preferable because then you can at least move! You need to experience both extremes of living.

This year we must go opposite from the way Satan is leading. You know your own mind; you like certain things and dislike others. It is important to have good friends; friends affect your love. Knowing your own weaknesses, you should seek out friends who can advise you well and a leader who will give you correct guidance.

People want to be prosperous and have dignity and status in society. Therefore, we must go the opposite direction and humble ourselves, doing things for the sake of the world. Resurrection is possible only when you go the exact opposite direction from Satan.

Normally, nobody wants to go through suffering and death; therefore, God provides you with added impetus: persecution. Persecution places you in a position that gives you no choice but to suffer and be willing to die. Faced with persecutors, you may feel the need to respond aggressively. Far greater is the attitude of willingly looking forward to that persecution and suffering. When you receive suffering voluntarily, you are not only paying indemnity but also moving forward and making progress for heaven.

The Taste Of God's Presence

Your way of life should not be just to pay indemnity passively. Once you have made up your mind to voluntarily travel the road of tribulation, asking for difficulties, the greatest indemnity condition is accomplished. All the tribulation will become the means of your receiving more and more blessing.

Do you get up early in the morning to pray? You have to know the taste of prayer and prefer it to your body's desires. You should be longing for that hour of prayer. In prayer, you can feel the taste of the presence of God. Then when you go out to work, you can maintain that sense of God's presence. The world may treat you very harshly, but when you sense God's presence and go the opposite direction from Satan, you are living the best way of life. By doing the opposite of your body's desires, you fulfill all the indemnity conditions; once you make up your mind to live your entire life that way, you will not have to meet any other requirements.

You must make one showdown, one true confrontation with Satan. Without that, you will never succeed. Is the heart you put into your home church work stronger than that which you put into your studies? Is it stronger than your heart for your job? You should chase after home church work even more strongly than you pursue your own lover. Anything less than that standard will be a condition for Satan to infiltrate.

Perhaps you have very little time because you must earn your own living and take care of many other things. If you pray earnestly for God to accept even one hour of work in your area and you do it with great sincerity, God will look at it as 24 hours of work. Many people put their outside jobs first and home church second, but that is not acceptable in the Unification Church. If your church mission prevents you from doing home church, that is unavoidable, but if you are trying to earn a lot of money in an outside job and cannot do home church work, that is not acceptable.

Home church is the place for you to meet God and love Him. Therefore, it is most logical for you to devote more time to home church than to your school, your job, your beloved. If the intensity or our love for home church is at that level, God's protection will be added to you and Satan will have no way to infiltrate.

When I first open my eyes each morning, I think about God's providence. There is no moment, even during my sleep, when I am not thinking and concentrating upon the providence. That is how my life has been conducted. That is why God has blessed everything I have done. Sometimes when I have a seemingly impossible task from God, I feel it may take a longer time, but I put my whole heart into it. I want you to understand that God cannot bless you and your work until you demonstrate a higher standard than any satanic standard.

SunMyungMoon-830102-4.jpg

I Have Created An Altar

Jesus said people had to love him, the Christ, more than they loved their own spouse, parents, children, etc. Otherwise they were not worthy of him. You have no idea how impenetrable the indemnity barriers are and how difficult they are to dissolve. For six thousand biblical years God has been working to restore one single person, one pure Adam. Think of it. If I can restore during my lifetime one Eve, children, and all mankind, what a great accomplishment that will be in the sight of God and history! I have broken down that incredible indemnity barrier and created an altar before God.

In the United States, everyone will be able to welcome Rev. Moon on the foundation of the home church tribal messiah. Then the national messiah will emerge. When that foundation is accomplished, the worldwide messiah will emerge. Jesus Christ came as the messiah, but his fulfillment was thwarted even on the level of family; thus the higher levels were out of the question. The position you are inheriting -- to become a tribal messiah -- is greater than the level which four thousand years of Judaism anticipated.

By receiving the position of tribal messiah, you are automatically receiving the right to exceed the accomplishments at the time of Jesus. The victory of the tribal messiah is the equivalent of the victory over Rome, two thousand years ago. Therefore, after that victory, you can claim the victory over the entire world, including the communist world. This is why I can immediately set the goal of the Moscow rally.

Your victory in home church as the tribal messiah is indispensable. Upon that foundation, the national messiah will come, and then the worldwide messiah. In order to inherit the tradition of messiahship, you must begin at the tribal level -- the ground level. It is an incredible privilege and honor. This is the time for which many millions of martyrs and religious people and saints shed their blood.

I have been receiving direct persecution from the United States for ten years. Now the time has come for you Americans to vindicate me-1983 is the year to do it. The place for that vindication is home church. By vindication I am not talking about destruction or violence. I am talking about saving America, restoring this nation. Our only form of revenge will be to return love for the hate we have received. I came to America of my own volition and have endured the persecution for ten years. Now you American citizens must march voluntarily toward the home church providence and win the vindication for the sake of the world.

This is the year for you to make your victory in home church. I would like to make this year unforgettable by organizing a home church demonstration -- by creating victory in home church. Make your showdown this year. From that point on, new leaders of this nation will emerge. Through the mobilization of righteous religious people, this nation can be restored.

A Believing Member Or An Action Member?

What kind of member of the Unification Church do you want to be? One who only believes in the Principle, or one who can also actively bring results? The kingdom of heaven on earth can only emerge by the actions of believers, not by belief only. Go ahead and expand your influence of goodness as widely as you can. Once your foundation of self-discipline is strong, there is no need for Rev. Moon to be here in America.

If you have been only a believing member of the Unification Church, begin from now on to be an action member. When Unification members follow my instruction to the precise letter, I know the end result of 1983 will be one of goodness. When December comes, we will be able to say, "It was truly a good year."

You have been listening for a long time; the message boils down to one simple statement. Those of you who can say, "I have made up my mind to follow your direction and bring the success; I will not let you down: please trust me," raise your hands and say Amen. We are marching on that road. Amen. 

Let This Be A Good Year

Reverend Sun Myung Moon
January 2, 1983
World Mission Center, New York City
Translator - Bo Hi Pak

Usually when a new year comes, an older person will think about the passage of time with some regret. However, a young person will look at it as a good thing because he is becoming more and more mature. The teenager welcomes another year because it brings him closer to adulthood. Why do young people feel joyful to welcome the new year and older people regret the quick passage of time? When a boy and girl reach their teens, they open the door into a new world-that of knowing each other in love. As young people leave their teens, they feel they are coming into a broader and deeper world of new fulfillment and excitement. However, when a person becomes older, those memories of excitement in youth begin to fade. This is why older people often hate to see the years go by.

When a person gets older, many things begin to depart from him. First of all, his children get married and leave home. That means the parents are left alone in the home. Then one or the other of the spouses will depart; husband or wife will die first. Loneliness sets in because of the departure of loved ones. Old people can see the sundown of their lives on the horizon; they know their own day of death is approaching.

According to my observations, people below the age of 40 generally do not worry very much about their own deaths. They have no sense of dying. However, when a person is older than sixty, he usually starts trying to put everything in his life into order. He wants to prepare properly for his last days here on earth.

When a person is preparing for something new, he has a lot of hope and vitality. On the other hand, if he is preparing for his death and putting things into order for that, it is usually not so pleasant. When you are young, -your work is the preparation for something greater. When you are old your work prepares you to phase out of this life smoothly.

Each day can be divided into two parts. Up to the noon hour, your activities are basically in preparation for the day, but after noon you start to wind down and eventually to meet the end of the day. When you face the sunrise in the morning, your shadow falls behind you, toward the west. The sun moves from the east to the west, so the direction of movement in the morning is toward the west. From high noon, your shadow starts to change positions and starts to move toward the east. The sun doesn't change its direction; it just passes over you along its normal route.

In spirit world, the direction of east is very important because the east is always the direction of ascension toward movement and hope. Once the sun begins to fall toward the west, the sunlight starts to become weaker and weaker. Why do you think I named East Garden as I did? It was because the east is a symbol of rising, planning and moving toward the ultimate goal.

By the same token, young people enjoy being young because it is like being in the east-moving and rising toward a prosperous future. A teenager feels his life rising up and he always wants to strive forward toward the highest point of his life. Thus the teen years are the most exciting ones. The highest point of life is reached when a person achieves the prime of his growth and he enters into his married life. At high noon, you don't have any visible shadow because the sun is directly above you. The sun is absolutely vertical to you.

In the universe, the same principle is at work. When one side is moving up, the other is moving down, and there must be some universal position of "high noon." The action of waves is that of rising up, then falling down, over and over again. Going up is not the only goodness and going down is not necessarily bad. Going down enables the waves to go up again; it is impossible to go up without going down. Everything exists in complementary give and take.

Imagine two people dancing. If every motion they made was identical, with no contrast, that would not truly be dancing. There is a wave-like, curving motion even to dancing. Your mouth cannot stay shut tightly all day long. In fact, it is always working and moving. Even if you are not talking or eating, your mouth still moves. Sometimes you breathe through your mouth. When you close your lips, are your upper and lower teeth completely clenched? No, there is a certain amount of complementary action occurring within your mouth, even when no one can see it. Either you are pulling in your tongue, or moving the parts of your mouth in relation to one another.

This is the principle we see throughout our universe. Whether it is in the way we breathe, or the action of the waves, it is the same. Human life is like a wave, with youth being one aspect and old age being the other. Yet old age is not the end; it is part of the wave. Youth and old age are part of the rhythm of the wave so it is not necessarily gloomy to become old.

God is part of the universe so this same principle can apply to Him. What is the point of "high noon," the point where God and man can meet like east meeting west? There must be a moment or place when Heaven and earth can stand together in high noon, without any shadow. There must be a position where God is in man and man is in God.

Two people in love achieve that position when they are completely united, spiritually and physically. The husband is the wife and the wife is the husband; there is no separation between them. High noon is the time of the brightest sunlight. There is no darkness anywhere, only brightness pervades the atmosphere. It is the condition of fullness-there is nothing lacking.

God and men must be able to stand in a similar position like high noon where they feel total satisfaction and fullness, without anything lacking. Then what is supposed to happen? Do God and man stop right there and just stop their motion all of a sudden? No, they must begin moving on the downward side of the wave so that they can begin another climb toward the top. That downward time is not necessarily a painful period. Husband and wife are always moving and weaving in their relationship; it is part of the excitement of interaction.

Husband and wife represent heaven and earth. Sometimes heaven is in the high position, sometimes the earth is; they exchange their positions freely, centering upon their love for each other. There is nothing more that is needed.

When a teenager gets some food, perhaps he will be completely satisfied just to feed his own stomach. Normally he is not very concerned about whether or not his neighbor is eating; he is just busy feeding himself. However, once a person gets married, even eating is no longer just a solitary matter. He has to first consider whether his wife has eaten. Suppose the wife starts to eat very rapidly and she sees that her husband is eating more slowly. She will want to slow down, too, to keep pace with him.

Everything in the universe is imbued with this harmony. Why did God make men taller than women? It was to create harmony. The man looks down and smiles at the woman; the woman looks up and smiles. This is complementary give and take by which everything exists in the universe.

When you understand this principle you know that old age is not necessarily a bad or gloomy thing. Everything in the universe is designed to fulfill love. Does love only involve men and women, or are there other elements involved? There is the reality of the love of God. When are we supposed to receive that particular love? You cannot see love and you cannot see God or His love, either. How can you be so sure you received that particular love?

God is invisible and everything about Him is invisible. In order to share in the love of God, people must also have some invisible aspect. How does a person move himself from his visible nature into some invisible nature? In order to move from visibility to invisibility, some revolutionary movement must occur. It is a transformation that requires pushing the visible world completely behind you; you have to forget this world entirely in that transformation. That particular drastic moment when you reach the point of invisibility is what people call "death.,'

The definition of death, then, is the movement of a person from the visible body into an invisible self. This is not a destructive or diminishing activity because a person is being elevated to a higher plateau where he can directly receive the invisible love of God. Thus death actually transforms a person from the visible form to the invisible form so that he can become a direct counterpart of God, enjoying direct give and take with the invisible God.

Furthermore, God exists in the dual essentialities, so in order to fully resemble Him, you must be elevated into relationship with Him as a husband and wife together. Alone, neither of you can fully reflect or resemble God. When a man and woman are together, they totally reflect the image of God. Men and women are that much of a necessity to each other.

We know that God exists in both masculine and feminine essentialities, positive and negative characteristics. However since God is the universal Subject, we know through the Divine Principle that this is characterized as a masculine aspect. Therefore, God would be most sensitive to the "tender touch" which is a characteristic of women. When men and women are transformed into spirit world, the man is like the bones of the body and woman is like the flesh. Women create the touch which is given to God.

Anyone who touches you touches your flesh. No one touches your bones. No one says, "Your bones are so lovely." Instead people are pleased by your tender, soft skin. Nowadays the fashionable thing in secular society is for women to diet and be skinny, but that removes the flesh. A woman who has very little flesh just has bones and skin. Perhaps this is the result of women striving to be equal to men. Since men are in the position of "bones," women are trying to lose their flesh and become more and more bony. In a way, the woman who is truly "equal" to a man must be a woman who is disliked by men; she must be just the same as he is.

Men do not look for a skinny, bony woman; they always seek some soft, tender woman. If you women want to diet and get really thin, you are actually seeking to become a woman that men dislike. Skinny women do not inspire men to seek to live with them throughout eternity; they simply are not that attractive to men. God provided you women with your natural "cushion," your buttocks and hips. When men and women come together in love, the man doesn't want to feel like he is touching a piece of wood. The blessing of love cannot come to a woman who has no flesh; she must be more than just bones and skin to receive that love. If you want to invite the blessing, you must be the kind of person who has a "cushion" upon which love can be comfortable. But skinny people are always jumpy and moving around and do not provide that point of comfort and stability.

If a woman has a tremendously large bosom, with a very narrow waist and hips, she is unbalanced. Korean women often wear long skirts. In ancient times they even padded their clothes with lots of cotton to make themselves look really fluffy-they wanted to contain plenty of blessings. They put together twelve different pieces to make their skirts. When the husband would come in from the cold, he would want to run and wrap himself in the skirts of his wife to warm up. Those skirts were like the wings of a hen. Inside those wings, the woman had enough room for her husband and her twelve children! When all her "brood" is inside her skirts, that mother should have lots of cushioning to give off the warmth and softness of her love. Nobody would like to touch a mother who was like a piece of wood-it is too harsh. Woman are not supposed to treat others with harshness.

Therefore, you women are privileged to be made by God with large hips, a rounded bosom and a narrow waist. That is the beauty of balance in the woman's body. The flesh of men is mostly muscle; it is more harsh than woman's flesh. Women seek to touch masculine flesh; they look for contrast.

Once I went into a factory which cuts diamonds. Since the diamond is the hardest stone on earth, I was curious to know what has the power to cut it. Some people might think that only something harder than a diamond would be able to cut it. On the contrary, I discovered that diamonds are cut by grinding with copper. It is amazing that the hardest of stones can be cut with a metal which is relatively soft. When the shaft of an engine is turning, it must be supported by a ring. You would normally think that ring should be made of the hardest metal, but that is not the case. It is made of a soft metal. This is a reflection of universal truth.

All people are meant to be transformed at some point from the visible realm into the invisible one. That is the point we leave this world behind; we forget this world. Therefore when people get older they often complain about losing their memories. Actually that is simply a sign that God is preparing them to forget this world. Also the eyesight of older people normally starts to get worse, but this is another sign from God. They will eventually forget all vision of this world and move into a vision of the new realm. The teeth of older people also tend to get weak and fall out. At that time, they should realize that God is preparing them to leave behind coarse, material foods. The day is coming when they will only take in the invisible food of the invisible realm and they won't need their teeth to chew.

People are often termed to be going into their "second childhood" when they become older. The child's nature is not to worry about anything. The way that God plans everything is dramatic. When a child is born into this world, he grows up to meet with all the physical, horizontal realities. When a person goes into his second childhood, he is preparing to go into the invisible, infinite reality, the vertical world. Therefore, death is not a negative thing. It is the transformation into the vertical world.

As men and women get older they prepare to go into that vertical realm together. As a horizontally united couple, they meet with the vertical unit of God. The ultimate beauty of that vertical world cannot be experienced until we die, so death is not something to be hated. Were you born because you wished to be born? No, you never willed yourself to come into being. Childbirth and the cutting of the umbilical cord is like a "violent death" to the infant. The infant is moving from one womb to another-the universal womb.

There are many parallels between the mother's womb and the womb of the universe. In the mother's womb, the baby lives as an isolated individual. In the universal womb, men and women must live in pairs and grow together. In the mother's womb the baby receives all his necessary nourishment for growth. By the same token, we are supposed to receive the nourishment of love from the universal womb. The mother's body provides everything for the sake of her child totally unselfishly. That child is the representative of love and is the "second self" of the mother. By the same token, the universe looks at you as a second self and it wants to give you everything it has to allow you to grow to maturity.

Why, then, do we have to get married? It is because God exists in dual essentialities and men and women must reflect those essentialities. Therefore, men and women must come together and unite in total resemblance of God's image. That is why marriage is one essential factor in your total growth; without it, you would be crippled.

The baby inside the womb doesn't breathe through his nose but instead receives oxygen through the umbilical cord. Therefore, he is "breathing" through that cord. The moment comes when a new system is begun-the system of breathing air through the nose. That occurs at birth. We are now breathing air through our noses but actually we are preparing ourselves for another system. That will be the system of breathing love.

An amazing parallel can be drawn here. Inside your mother's womb, your belly was the place where you received nourishment but all the while your lungs were being prepared to receive the intake of air at the moment of birth. By the same token, while we are breathing this air within the universal womb, using our noses and lungs, we are already being prepared to use another set of lungs which will breathe the love of God. You are actually preparing yourself to have the capacity to breathe love.

While you were inside your mother's womb, the environment of air was already prepared and waiting for you when you emerged. By the same token, while we are living here on this earth, God has prepared another environment which is filled with love. Love is our air in that environment. We shall all be born into that world one day.

When men and women are totally blended into one in spirit world, their two noses become as one nose. The man's nose becomes the right nostril and the woman's becomes the left nostril. Therefore, men and women are supposed to grow together to achieve a balance here on earth. If you go to spirit world in a totally unbalanced state, your whole face will wiggle in a very unharmonious way. Unbalanced growth here on earth between men and women produces imbalance when you go to spirit world; God doesn't enjoy the touch of such people. Sometimes the spirit bodies of unbalanced men and women have eyes pointing outward strangely, noses in the wrong place and so forth.

Marriage is for the purpose of blending men and women into God-like figures, to put people into the image of God so that when they are elevated into spirit world they can enjoy a relationship with God together. We come to the clear conclusion that God created all things and human beings for the purpose of consummating His love. Where can that love be consummated? It can be done while we are here on earth, in the relationship between husband and wife, in the family. Therefore, marriage is the most important event of human life.

Teenagers greet the new year with great excitement because they are moving toward the prime of their lives- their married lives and married love. Older people are moving toward their transformation from the visible world to the invisible world where they can unite with God; therefore, they too have another "high noon" to look forward to.

In this world, men and women come together in horizontal unity and blend into the oneness of love; then they move toward their transformation into the next world. There they encounter the dramatic consummation of vertical love. That is the time when people can truly exclaim, "Manse)!" At that point we will alter our traditional three cheers from "Aboji Mansei" to "Saran" Mansei," or "Love Mansei!"

We are preparing here on earth for one more "birth," into an ecstatically joyful new life where we can be consummated with God's universal love. What is the Kingdom of Heaven in Heaven? It is the world of high noon, where God and man meet without any shadow-a total union filled with brightness. This universe is always moving in a wavelike motion toward and away from high noon. If there is a high noon in this world, how much more intense will it be in the spirit world! The supreme high noon of love is awaiting us. God has prepared for us that wonderful high noon; our lives here are to prepare us for that. You are interested in learning these things, aren't you? The intensity of a person's love determines his value or virtue. The person who sacrifices himself for the sake of his parents is called a son of filial piety. The one who dedicates himself for the sake of his nation is called a patriot. The saint is like a patriot on the world level; he wants to give himself for the sake of all humanity. The highest title anyone can receive is that of son or daughter of God-those who want to give everything possible for the sake of God. The intensity of a person's love determines the degree of his value. This is because the ultimate world is made in such a way that love alone determines value. This world is the world of result so it follows naturally that it would reflect those values of the world of cause.

You American women look directly at me and answer this question: do you want to live for your husband, or do you want to die for your husband? You say "both," but that is too greedy. Everyone must die sometime, so if you are willing to die for your husband you are going beyond all limits in your love. That kind of standard is an eternal one; that kind of love lasts forever. If your whole purpose is to live in love, then your attitude is closest to wanting only to receive love. But when you say, "I am ready to die for my husband," that means you are ready to give everything without limit. This is the same principle as in the Bible, when it states that those who want to live for their own sake will lose their lives while those who are willing to die, will gain their lives.

Now you can answer me with a clear perspective. Do you want to live or die for your husbands? This morning we are witnessing a great revolution which I have ignited here in America. White, skinny, beautiful American women are sitting on the hard floor and telling me they are willing to die for their husbands! You rascal men, you don't deserve such great wives! You are so selfish and greedy. You must match your wives' determination with your own.

Love is connected to death. Why is that? It sounds pessimistic but it isn't, really. Ultimate, eternal love exists in an invisible form, so in order to reach such an invisible plateau, death is necessary. The ultimate consummation of love arises out of the willingness to die for those you love. Therefore this earthly life must not be clung to so strongly. The person who gives up his life for his spouse, his country, for the world, or for God will be immediately transformed into a correspondingly high place in spirit world. Such a sacrifice is actually the ultimate, supreme way of life. There need be no regrets about it.

You are hearing such serious things at the very outset of this new year, but does it make you feel bad? I am actually telling you to go ahead, die for the sake of the love of others. There is no greater life, no more saintly action.

Suppose there is a tremendously independent, aloof American woman who is determined not to give in to any man and get married. If her parents forced her somehow into marriage even against her will but she suddenly discovered the joy of love, wouldn't she feel grateful to her parents? The same thing is happening here. Perhaps you don't want to hear the kind of talk I am giving to you today; you feel it is too harsh. However, if you really take me seriously and live up to this teaching, the only result in the end will be the total consummation of love. This is why I always teach you the naked truth without any hesitation or formality. Do you welcome that kind of attitude?

We are living a dramatic way of life, walking across the bridge of love. The things I am teaching you are very serious and important. You may think sometimes that I am a creative genius who just speaks in an interesting way. However, there is much weight behind what I am saying. The older people in the audience with white hair must feel a sense of new hope when they hear these words today.

Our topic this morning is Let This Be a Good Year. What should be the contents of a good year? A good year must be one which is filled with love. We are people who are pursuing such a goal in our lives; no better goal can be found for men and women. We are living such a dramatic life!

We must use our five senses here on earth to observe the universe from the viewpoint which I have been discussing. Your eye must look forward to the vision of eternal love-that is the reason for your eye's existence. Your ear is meant to hear the sound of eternal love. Your nose is created to smell that eternal love. Your mouth is meant to kiss with eternal love; when you kiss with that purpose, you are kissing God too.

When you men and women embrace and touch, the woman's bosom touches the man's chest. God shows His romantic nature in the way He formed the shapes of men and women. The bosom of a woman extends outward while her sexual organs are inside. The man has a flat chest but his sexual organ extends outward. This is the balance of physical shapes. God is truly a romantic lover, a great scientist. We cannot deny God's existence once we observe the harmony and balance between men and women.

The breast of the woman is not only a symbol of love but also a source of life for her babies; through the breast, she feeds life to her child. The breast is large and rounded, but in the center the nipple is a different color. This illustrates God's dramatic character; He wanted to focus attention on that nipple, the central point. Perhaps you think this is a most amazing sermon you are hearing! When a man looks at a woman he naturally looks at her bosom - God made men that way and it is not bad. That is the most mysterious area to a man and his attention is naturally drawn to it. If a man has no such an urge or interest, that person is not really a man.

The mother's milk is a creamy white color. Do you think that a black woman will produce black milk from her breasts? No, the black mother feeds her baby with white milk, just like every other woman. The contrast between dark skin and the creamy white milk is much more dramatic than the white woman whose white breast produces white milk. God is very artistic and romantic. He appreciates contrast in beauty.

We seem to have lost track of the time! The focal point of this morning's message is that death shall be death no more. Death is simply the point when we are thrust into new life. Bo Hi Pak is getting white hair, so he is being given a sign from nature that his time for transformation is getting near! A person must seriously prepare his life for that one great transformation from the visible world to the invisible one.

When you are transformed from your visible body into your invisible one, do you think you will still need transportation like airplanes? Will you need the Columbia space shuttles to travel the universe? No, you will enjoy total freedom of movement. There are heavenly bodies all over the universe; multitudes of vast galaxies abound, with thousands of light years between them. The universe can be compared to the human body; each cell among the billions of cells is like one star. There is a sophisticated system of relationship between all your different cells.

The universe exists in interrelationship just as everything within the human body is interrelated. There must be some star made entirely of diamond. Can you travel there if you want to? There must be a star made of pure gold, too. There are billions and billions of stars in the universe- every kind you can imagine. They are all yours and you don't even need any money to claim them. All you have to do is claim them with love. Love is the standard of value in spirit world.

However vast the universe might be, everything within it is moving toward that center of love. The center of love is God, so God has true dominion over all things in the universe. Each of you is the object of love to God so what God owns, you own. When we come to this realization, the position of Almighty King is the position of Almighty love. Once you have possession of that Almighty love you gain dominion over all things.

However cold and unresponsive a woman may be, once she is touched by Almighty love she will be immediately ignited. Every part of her starts to respond to that love-her eyes, nose, ears, everything. The human body is a small universe which is totally activated by the touch of Almighty love. When that happens, it makes the loudest sound in the universe. It is not an unpleasant sound, but rather a joyful, romantic sound. How wonderful that is!

In order to make 1983 a good year, you must begin with a good state of mind. That is where everything begins. To have a good year, you must become good men and women. What is a good man and a good woman? They are people who do not live only for themselves but for the sake of others. When you look at something, your eyes should not look selfishly but should have the desire to give your love. Suppose someone hates you. If you look at him only with love, he will eventually change. Do not look at an evil person with a dirty look; instead look at him with extra compassion and love. True love has the capacity to digest all evil things. Love is power and energy.

You must begin to send out messages of love to those around you. That means you must change the way you look at things. Pull out the old vision and put in "new eyeballs," with the vision of true love. Change your old nose into a new one, which can smell the worst smells with forgiveness and tolerance, giving back love. This new nose can only be fulfilled in that way. We can transform all the smells of the universe into the fragrance of love.

Practically speaking, you men and women who are willing and ready to go to senior citizens' homes and take care of them-cleaning their bodies and replacing their bedpans-are exhibiting true love. When you were a baby your parents took care of you, changing your diapers and wiping you clean; they didn't have any feelings of discomfort to do that for you. You should be able to take care of your grandparents in that manner. That is the beauty of give and take. It is the responsibility of young people to take care of the elderly.

Most American young people today are eager to leave home for very selfish reasons. They only want to gain their own freedom, their own "identity." They should be willing to visit with their grandparents and take care of other elderly people. When young people start to have that attitude, a new kind of America will emerge. Your grandparents represent more of God's image, so when you serve them you are serving God. Through them you can learn how to serve God because you can experience more of God's love through them.

When the Unification society gains its sovereignty here on earth, you won't have to do the things you are doing today, such as witnessing and fundraising. What will you do then? You will serve others. Young people will serve their elders.

The purpose of your five senses and all the organs of your body is for imparting true love to others. From this moment forward, you should train yourself to think in that way. When you talk, talk of love; smell only love with your nose. Look at your eyes and mouth with the same viewpoint. All your senses must center upon giving love. Walk and speak for the sake of love. I believe that anyone who is totally functioning for the sake of love day in and day out will not have a susceptibility to disease because he will be surrounded by a shield of love. Even germs are susceptible to love and they don't want to contaminate a completely loving person!

Everything and everybody will surrender to God because He is the essence of true love, imparting nothing else, so He cannot inspire dislike in anyone. Even the most irascible, closed person wants to be governed and dominated by true love. Love has the power to dominate everyone. You married women want to be embraced and hugged by your husbands so tightly that it almost hurts, don't you? Certainly you are not stimulated by some formal, stiff touch. True love has the characteristic of domination.

A political dictator is usually known for using other people for his selfish purposes. Although love has power over you, you don't consider it a dictator because it makes your life sweet and whole when it comes to you. Everybody desires to be ruled by a genuine dictator; the greatest dictator is God, but His power over us comes out of His true love. When your eyes are ruled by true love they are totally fulfilled.

It is not by power, wealth or knowledge that we truly dominate others. It is only by true love that we can conquer others; when true love is in action, conquering is not a bad thing. Men conquer women and women conquer men through the give and take of true love. Therefore, true love is totally concentrated control-you can even dominate God with true love because its power is so great. Everyone has within him this power of dictatorship. Without true love, dictatorship becomes an ugly, criminal thing; with true love, it is beautiful.

How can we determine if someone is living with true love? The person who lives totally unselfishly for the sake of others is the one who is living with true love. Consider the eye. Is it made for itself or for something else? The eye isn't even made for the sake of the person; after all, your eye doesn't look at you, but it looks at others. The only way it could be made for yourself is if it had a long antenna that stuck out and turned around to look at you! Your nose is not created for your sake, either. It is always smelling the world outside of you. Your ears are meant to hear others; your mouth is meant to talk to someone else, not yourself.

Why are all the five senses dedicated to experiencing the world outside of yourself? It is because you must receive love coming from outside of you. Love comes from someplace other than yourself; your senses are meant to receive that love.

All of God's senses are also functioning for the sake of others and for experiencing His objective world. God himself exists for the sake of others, specifically people. People live for the sake of other people and God. This turning action of give and take has true love at its central point.

Everybody wants to receive true love but if we all just stand apart, demanding that others give love to us, nothing will happen. There must be a process of give and take. Who initiated the giving action first and is the subject? Between Cain and Abel, which we talk about a lot in the Unification Church, which one is supposed to initiate the giving? In many cases, people in our church have totally misunderstood what is right. Many leaders have had the attitude, "I'm Abel, so all you members should bring everything to me." That is absolutely wrong. The Abel figure is the one who is supposed to initiate the giving action.

Particularly, the wife of a leader of the Unification Church should be one who gives first. She should have the attitude that she will carve out her own flesh to give to others; she should give far more than her husband. There is no room for such an attitude as, "You must serve me." She must give everything of herself.

Everybody in the Unification Church bows and pays great respect to Reverend Moon, but that is not my interest. I am always ready to do anything which is necessary for the sake of the providence of God.

It is part of innate human nature to want to command others and also to be commanded by others. According to the principle of changing positions, the upper position goes to the lower and vice-versa; the right side will travel to the left. This kind of turning cannot happen based only upon force or power; only through the realm of love is it possible.

Look at human life. When a child is young, his parents have control or dominion over him. When he is mature, the parents start to listen to him and even be controlled by him. You leaders who have been the "big shots" and giving out orders-I want to transform all of you into servants. How about that?

Everyone should be able to change positions freely, from higher to lower. That is the beauty of the give and take of love. The person who can adjust himself in any new environment, always changing positions and willing to work in lower as well as higher responsibilities, is truly a person of harmony.

The whole balance sheet of your life is determined by what portion of your life has been lived for the sake of others. When American wives go to the market and shop, do you buy your husband's things first or your own first? I have been thinking that American women tend to spend almost all their money on themselves and if there is a little left over, then they spend it on their husbands. Is that true? You say no, but you must admit to having that tendency.

On the other hand, Oriental women will often spend money for their husbands and children without giving a thought to their own needs. That is generally the Oriental tradition. American men are being drawn to marry Oriental women rather than American women for this reason. The men can't be blamed for this-it is natural. The responsibility rests on the shoulders of American women.

This nation is supposed to be a Christian nation, yet here is the land where such fads as "free sex" originated. Between men and women, men are born with the greater sense of dominion or need for power. The man is in the plus or subject position but the woman also has the potential or ability to take the plus position. However, when plus and plus come together they repel each other. The nature of a woman is basically objective, in the minus position. Women may claim their ability to take the plus position in all but one area-you cannot deny that your bodies, namely your sexual parts, must take the minus position. That is one case where you cannot take the role of plus.

Some women seek to satisfy their sexual needs but then go out and try to take the plus position in everything again. As soon as a man tries to take dominion over them, they immediately reject him. That has to change. I would like to see those American women who join the Unification Church igniting and leading the revolution here in America to make new American women.

Women who live for the sake of their husbands and children are living for the sake of others. That means you are also living for the sake of the society, the nation, and world. Such a woman is fulfilling the ideal which God envisioned. When you are living in such an unselfish manner, your husband will have to follow your example; he will have no alternative.

I have a responsibility to educate American women, particularly you blessed couples. You must come to the realization that you were born for the sake of others; your own physical functions were designed in that manner. Likewise, men must not think to benefit themselves but to benefit others. There must be harmonized give and take which is totally unselfish between men and women. When that happens, it is most beautiful. That is true love. That is universal truth and there is no escaping it. You must follow universal law.

Once all of you inscribe what you have heard this morning on your hearts, you are guaranteed of having a good year. When you go through certain difficulties and dangers, it is not a completely bad thing because you are creating an exciting history. Danger always comes when you reach the pinnacle or the summit. As you go down, you gain momentum to climb up to the next pinnacle. The universe moves according to this law, so you should, too. Often people only want to go higher and higher, impatiently trying to jump from the top of one hill to the next.

When you are hiking and reach the top of one particular hill, you may have the urge to jump from one hill to another, but it is impossible. You must climb down to the bottom of that hill, into the valley, before you can climb up the other hill.

It is only the power of love which enables a person to move freely up and down, from the "high noon" of life to the lower point. As a couple, a man and woman can gain greater momentum when they start to go down after reaching the pinnacle of an experience. Even more momentum can be gained when your children join with you in this up and down movement.

Do you want to increase and prosper or decrease and decline? If you want to prosper, you must invest more and more in life. Is it good for a couple to have lots of children, or only one or two? What do parents normally feel? It is natural to want to have lots of children. Is that true even for you American women? Why do women in the secular world often use birth control and hesitate to bear children? Often it is because they simply don't want to be burdened with children.

Think of it-I am leading people from all over the world, so do you think my life is very simple and I have plenty of time for myself? No, I must go through tremendous difficulty. According to ordinary preferences, nobody would volunteer to live such a life. I, myself, would not volunteer for such a life except for the power of love. Only the power of love enables me to live like this.

All of us can gather together at the top of the hill like a giant snowball which, when it rolls down, gains tremendous momentum. It is not going to be easy to turn the world around, so we need that kind of momentum and power. Many members think that when our movement becomes bigger we won't have to go down at all, that we will just begin jumping from one summit to another. However, that will not be the case. We will always have to go down to the valleys in order to go up higher.

Every seven years, therefore, the Unification Church completes a kind of cycle. The leaders will become servants and the members will become leaders. This interchangeability is necessary. For seven years we go up, then for the next seven years we go down; then another seven years of going up completes twenty-one years. That is why 21 years in the Unification Church is an important figure. There is another reason why 1983 should be a good year. When you add together 1, 9, 8, and 3, they total 21.

We are saying today that we will overcome every difficulty, even death, and climb upward from there. Why do you think I constantly emphasize the importance of unconditional giving? When you are giving unconditionally, you will find a nucleus formed within yourself which is indestructible. What is that nucleus? As you strive to give of yourself, even to the point of death, you reach a supreme level of love and that is indestructible and unchangeable. That central resolve is your nucleus; nothing can be higher than that. That nucleus has a direct vertical connection with God and eternity. Nothing can ever diminish it.

Women become pregnant in different circumstances; however, the most ideal way is when husband and wife are together experiencing the highest point of ecstasy in God's Love. When a child is conceived under such circumstances, he will be a most brilliant one. Because of the fall of man the focus of love has been blurred and confused. For that reason, children are conceived without God being at their center; therefore, brilliant children are almost never conceived. Only when the love of God is their source can such a thing happen.

Pregnancy occurs when invisible love becomes visible at the nucleus, center of life. You must give and give, more and more, so that you can reach that universal nucleus of love. As you give totally unselfishly and when a husband and wife are giving to each other with such a mind, you can hit that nucleus of love. You achieve every level of love-love for the nation, the world, all of humanity. In other words, that nucleus is the highest point, which encompasses all other points.

In American history, there must be that eternal nucleus point-that supreme demonstration of the love of country. That nucleus point cannot be focused on power, knowledge or wealth; rather, it must be centered on totally altruistic love. That is the kind of nucleus America can develop. When you try to give more and more, that nucleus becomes stronger and stronger and will not diminish.

This is why horizontal people want to be united with unselfish, altruistic love. They want to make themselves into a bigger "ball" so that when they roll down into the valley, they can use their momentum to climb up higher and higher. Thus the greatest love is demonstrated through self-sacrifice.

Normally people try to figure things out pragmatically, saying, "Why can't I devise a method that will benefit me first, as well as the greater cause?" That won't work. Serving the greatest purpose is something that will remain for eternity; serving one's own purpose will not endure. There is a nucleus of the individual, but greater than that is the nucleus of the family, the society, the nation and the world.

What is your ultimate goal in hitting that nucleus? You want to unite with the almighty God; thus you are making yourself a minus before Him. Your nucleus can have give and take with that of God and together you will create a brand-new nucleus. From that point on, the Kingdom of God on earth shall emerge.

After the realization of this truth, any person who continues to strive hard for his or her own sake is a foolish person, indeed. It is exemplifying a most unworthy, ungrateful attitude.

As we mentioned, the numerals of 1983 are added together to equal 21. 21 means the three cycles-one up, one down, then another climbing up. Anybody who only wants to stay at the highest level will be demolished; he will automatically have to go another seven years' course downward. Generally, people who have a great responsibility and find it shifted to another person often feel resentful or offended. That is common human nature. However, we must remember that we are living for the altruistic goal, from the individual level all the way to the highest level. Always there is a greater purpose ahead of us-family is greater than the individual, society is greater than the family, etc. There is one altruistic way of life but there are greater and greater levels of living it.

I am going to announce revolutionary changes today in our leaders' meeting. Anybody who goes down into a lower position and fulfills his responsibility well will eventually climb up again toward another pinnacle. Climbing up is not the only way to go. In the secular world, people only want to climb higher and higher but such an attitude is directing them to hell. In the Heavenly world, people strive to go down and down, assuming the lower position of service for the greater purpose. This is the year we will walk such a way. You must resolve not to think about receiving praise and honor. For the public purpose, think, "Father, I want to be treated harshly, criticized every day and burdened. That will be my routine for the whole year."

In the Garden of Eden, God commanded Adam and Eve not to eat. Satan said, "Now, now, don't listen to that commandment; it's not true. Go ahead, eat all you want." Adam and Eve received two different forms of advice. Whose side are you on now, God's or Satan's? You want to be on God's side, isn't that true? That means you must cross through Satan's side.

What is the most basic characteristic of Satan? He always wants to do what God doesn't like. Therefore, you must go completely opposite from whatever pleases Satan. Satan is always thinking of himself as the center of everything; he is also very proud. He will always try to eliminate anything that goes against his will. People who want to live an easy life and not work for what they get are being influenced by Satan. They must say, "Get behind me, Satan. I'm going to work hard and I don't even care if I receive any reward for it!"

Satan wants to receive lots of praise and tribute. That means you must seek to receive more criticism and hardship. Satan always encourages you to desire good clothing and to be boastful about yourself. Therefore, you must turn the other way. A beautiful woman or handsome man might be encouraged by Satan to try to become a famous Broadway star. In order to go against him, you would have to seek a humble, meek life.

This morning I came in here a few minutes before six and the room was almost two-thirds empty. Why was that? People were listening to Satan saying, "You don't have to go down to the Grand Ballroom so early. You can sleep thirty more minutes." You did that, didn't you? Satan is always whispering into your ears. The Heavenly way is to reject him 100% and turn exactly toward the opposite direction from where he is urging you to go.

My thinking is that whenever someone tells me "Father, I want to do this," I advise them to do the exact opposite. If you think you want to do certain things, I will often give you the opposite direction. That is because when "you" want to do something, it is usually what Satan is suggesting to you. I spoke a total of eight hours yesterday and now I have spoken for three hours today. The normal advice I receive is, "Father, you don't have to speak so much and work so hard." Therefore, since that is the "normal" way, I do the exact opposite and speak longer and longer.

As I speak more and more and the time passes, it is very usual that the most important part of the message is contained within the last part of that speech. I am looking at the front one-third of this gathering and I feel that those who most intensely love me are usually seated here. One reason that is apparent is that those who are in the front never fall asleep, while in the rear area I sometimes see people actually snoring soundly. Today is January 2, so Satan must have sent some spies into this meeting to find out what Reverend Moon is planning to do this year. Those people will not be sitting right in front, close to me, but rather will be way in the back.

You should make your resolve for 1983: anything which your physical senses or organs push you to do, do the exact opposite. You women who feel a tremendous urge to experience the love of men should make the opposite resolve-think, "I want to give my purest love to another woman, rather than a man." That is not to say that I am trying to encourage homosexuality or lesbianism-I am speaking of the most altruistic love for each other.

This year, whatever your physical body may dictate that you do, you should do the opposite. You may have a tremendous urge to eat lots of good-tasting food; therefore, in order to go the opposite way you should eat humble, even tasteless food. Satan's way is always to seek the seat of honor, the place of prestige. This year, when you feel the urge to take the important seat at some gathering, go instead and take the humblest possible seat.

Since you naturally desire to wear clean, fresh clothing, do you think I am saying that you should wear only dirty, unwashed clothes? Not necessarily, but before you dress yourself with fresh, clean clothes, prepare someone else's clothes so that they are clean and nice. Be sure your husband's clothes are clean before your own; then you can make effort to clean your own.

A good year is our goal but we must remember that our environment is satanic; therefore, whatever this world encourages you to do, you should do the exact opposite. Those of you who really like Home Church, please raise your hands. Actually, Home Church is not a pleasant thing; nobody really enjoys it. From the satanic point of view, Home Church is the worst thing; also, within the Unification Church, it is the toughest job.

Many people say, "The Unification Church is very good; however, I don't like fundraising. And I don't like witnessing; and I certainly don't like Home Church!" Many members say, "I like Father!" but in the next breath they say, "But Father's words are not so great to me." Everybody wishes that I would just content myself with teaching the Divine Principle and not push them to do fundraising and witnessing and encourage you to sleep a little longer every day. Then, you think I would be just a wonderful, perfect Father!

However what kind of a Father am I, truly? You have never heard throughout your time in the Unification Church that I told you, "Go off and take a rest." The secular world has the decency of giving you at least a few days off now and then; but you can say, "I have been in the Unification Church for ten years and Father has never given me even one day off!" Look at my own life. Not for just ten years, but for my entire life of more than sixty years, I have never taken even one day "off."

On ceremonial occasions, I wear a dress suit and tie; but as soon as I return to regular daily wear, I am back in an inexpensive suit and shirt, with no tie. I do not like to look well-dressed. I prefer to look humble and unassuming. Many men and women, once they are in the privacy of their own homes, take off almost all their clothes in order to relax. But even within my own home, I have never in my life gone around in an indecent manner. The home is God's temple. We want to make a good year out of 1983 and you have received some very practical advice from me so far. Now you know that you are susceptible to the satanic world and close to that realm.

According to the Oriental way of thinking, when it is hot outside the best thing to drink is something hot. In cold weather, drink something cold. Hot can be counteracted with hot; cold with cold. Normally in this culture people try to drink something cold on hot days. Your body may be asking for something cold but instead you should give it something hot. When you sleep in a chilly room in cold weather, your body will normally be healthier than if you sleep in a warm or hot room. When do you catch a cold? Usually it is when you abruptly change from a hot house to the cold outdoors. Abrupt change in temperature will bring disharmony and disease to your body. You have to go opposite from your bodily desires.

Are you confident to make 1983 a good year? That means those who are fond of sleeping long hours should deny themselves that pleasure. Those who have never wanted to go fundraising should see this as the year to go fundraising. You women who enjoy wearing jewelry should take off your rings and earrings and go plain. Women normally enjoy looking at themselves in mirrors. Why don't you make a resolve for this year: "I will not sit even once in front of the mirror in 1983."? If you like to wear colorful dresses of yellow and red and so forth, why not resolve that this year you will wear only gray and black?

Someone who is very fond of soft, hot breads should determine that he will eat only cold, tough bread. Most Americans love to eat steak, really thick and tasty. Why don't you resolve to eat thin, tough steak throughout this year? Do the exact opposite from what your body likes.

Many people seem to be unable to smile. The person who never smiles should kick out the satanic influence and learn to smile broadly from ear to ear. I have done many exercises like that in my life. When I was a young man, I was very sensitive and enjoyed seeing movies and theater productions. Knowing how vulnerable I was to being affected by such things, I resolved that I would not see movies any more. In order to make my resolve very dramatic, I first went to movies for several days in a row, all day long, sometimes watching one movie five times. Then I cut myself off entirely from movies.

If you decide to stop eating your favorite kind of bread, first buy a big basketful of that bread and eat the whole thing! You will feel so full you will be in pain! When you are stuffed like that, you are unable to move freely. Compare that feeling with the one you get when you are empty and hungry-you will find that being hungry is preferable because you can at least move! You need to experience both extremes of living.

This year we must go opposite from the way Satan is leading. Without doing that, we cannot create a good year. You Americans, do you love your parents and your grandparents? How do you feel about the smell that very old grandparents sometimes give off? It is not so pleasant. You know your own mind; you like certain things and you dislike others. It is important that you have good friends; friends affect your love. You need friends and you need a good leader. Knowing your own weaknesses, you should seek out friends who can advise you well and a leader who will give you correct guidance.

In the Bible, Jesus says, "He who seeks to gain his life will lose it, but he who loses his life for my sake will find it." Why should that be? Jesus understood precisely how the satanic world functions. Reverend Moon is also living among the satanic surroundings and Satan is always trying to invade or occupy Reverend Moon.

Normally men want to possess and control others, rather than being controlled. Also people want to be prosperous and have dignity and status in society. Therefore, we must go the opposite direction and humble ourselves. You should be doing things for the sake of the world, nothing less than that. Resurrection is only possible when you go the exactly opposite way from Satan. Instead of living, you should die-die well for the sake of the resurrection. Each day is part of the dying process, in a way.

Normally nobody wants to go through suffering and death; therefore, God provides you with added impetus: persecution. Because of persecution from others, you are put into a position in which you really have no choice but to suffer and be willing to die.

When you face your persecutors you may feel you need to respond to them in an aggressive way. Far greater is the attitude of willingly looking forward to that persecution and suffering. In other words, when you receive the suffering voluntarily you are not only paying indemnity but also moving forward and making progress for Heaven. Thus there are two ways of receiving persecution. One way is to receive it entirely passively, or the other way is to voluntarily reach out for that persecution and suffering.

If Reverend Moon had stayed in Korea, he would be comfortable today. Nobody would be bothering me or persecuting me now. However, I came to the United States voluntarily, inviting the persecution which lay in wait for me. My own body says to me, "Why do you put yourself into such uncomfortable and painful situations?" However, my mind simply rules out the desires of my body and continues to seek out the difficulties. Because I voluntarily go this way, there is always progress and achievement.

Perhaps after ten years here I should be ready to settle down in America. However, my goal is not here but Moscow. I am asking for trouble, in a way. But I know I will not be destroyed in this way; rather, I will gain many achievements for Heaven. Unless I went this way, Satan and his forces would surround me.

The Unification Church doesn't spend its money for the sake of itself. Our church is actually very poor, yet we spend a lot of money for interfaith, inter-religious work. I will never ask you to do your best for the sake of the Unification Church. Rather, I will ask you to sacrifice yourself for the sake of the country and the world. When you serve those larger entities, the Unification Church automatically receives the blessing.

This current court battle is not something I enjoy; nobody enjoys going to court. However, I willingly returned to this country and never thought of dodging the situation. I determined to play the most active role in that particular drama. No matter what, I will go on. I will continue until communism is completely subjugated. My life is truly dramatic and extraordinary.

Two sets of spectators surround me-Heaven's spectators and Satan's spectators. From the viewpoints of both sides, Reverend Moon's drama in life is very exciting. I have been chosen as the leading actor in this Heavenly drama. When my acting is very good, Satan is very displeased but God is very happy. How wonderful that is!

Your way of life should not be to just pay indemnity passively. Once you have made up your mind to voluntarily travel the road of tribulation asking for difficulties, the greatest indemnity condition is accomplished! All that is left is for you to receive a blessing. All the tribulation will become the means of your receiving more and more blessing.

All you leaders, do you do your prayer at five o'clock in the morning? You probably hate to get up so early every morning, but still you do it. Since your body hates it, you know that it is good to do. You have to know the taste of prayer and prefer it to your body's desires. You should be longing for that hour of prayer. In prayer, you can feel the taste of the presence of God. Then when you go out to work, you can maintain that sense of God's presence. The world may be treating you very harshly, but when you have that feeling of God's presence and you are going the opposite way from what Satan wants, that is the best way of life. Nothing is better.

Why do you have to go the opposite way from what your body desires? That is the way of eliminating all the indemnity conditions. Once you have made up your mind to live your entire life that way, you won't have any other requirements to meet. Satan can oppose you or welcome you-it won't matter to you, because your own mind is already made up.

Elder leaders of the church come to East Garden from all over the world. They may be invited to breakfast with Mother and me and then stay all day long. When midnight comes, even though they don't say it, I know they are wishing I would go upstairs and sleep so they can retire too. I see them sneaking looks at their watches. Last night after the God's Day performances, I attended a leader's conference; it was very late and I could read the minds of those leaders. They were strongly wishing I would retire for the night. That is the way I live my entire life-anything I do, I don't want to be behind anyone else. Even if I am climbing a mountain, I want to get to the top first. I want to be the one to take the toughest, most difficult path.

I think exactly the opposite from the world's way.

Sometimes I travel around the country and I see different sights. I might sit right down on a dirty bench somewhere; other people would try to clean it off, but I just sit right down. When Koreans give a banquet, unlike the American way they just serve everything in the center of the table for everyone to take from. If I see a particularly delicious item and one that is quite untasty, I will put my plate in front of the untasty one and resist the delicious one so that everyone else can enjoy it. Whenever I visit with a friend and stay overnight, I will ask my friends to wear my good clothing while I wear my older clothes. I want others to enjoy better things than 1. I forget about the gifts I make to others, while those who receive don't forget.

Do you think I wear expensive shoes? I am wearing well-made shoes, but the only reason I bought them was that they were on sale-for only $29. I had a pair of shoes which I wore for over three years and I still didn't want to get new ones. Those old shoes were ragged and worn, so Mother or somebody in the house hid them from me. Therefore, I was forced to wear these new shoes this morning. I often wear old worn-out clothing over and over again. Mother is very busy, hiding things like that from me.

I know that somebody at East Garden has the job of doing the laundry and she is working very hard for the family. I don't like to give her too big a burden. I don't mind wearing a shirt for three days, or even one week. Those people who are serving Mother and me at East Garden don't want to work anywhere else. They want to stay there because they feel the warmth of the love coming from True Parents. I never worry about small things or chastise anyone for something petty. Sometimes a sister in the kitchen will drop and break a dish and she will feel terribly sorry. In order to alleviate her suffering, I will just ignore the event and look in the other direction. If I looked at her, she would feel much worse.

The satanic world sees things from the opposite viewpoint. They are always trying to find a reason to criticize others. We are living in the midst of a world which is ruled by selfishness, therefore we must protect ourselves from any encroachment by Satan. When you married couples meet with each other, your love is sweet like honey. However, since you have a mission you sometimes have to be tough with your desires to be together and harsh with yourself. Mother knows I am capable of being cruel, in a way, in terms of our relationship. Although I am very warm and loving, when it necessary for me to be separate from her I refuse to compromise at all. I just draw the line and nothing will make me cross it.

The only way to survive in the satanic world is by going the Heavenly way. I go a way which is very clear-cut and absolute in its reversal of the satanic standard. Every moment of the day I am aware that the satanic world is around me. Do you understand this now?

Once you have made up your mind to voluntarily take up the cross of suffering and go the opposite way from the world, your indemnity conditions are fulfilled. A long time ago I announced the Home Church crusade and told you it was your road of tribal messiah. However, virtually no one wants to go to Home Church. Why is that? It is because there are many evil spirits, particularly evil ancestors of people in the area, who go to the area and wait for you and give you a hard time. Those enemy ancestors do not want to see you succeed; they see you as the offspring of God, who is their enemy. However, good ancestors also come down and help you to make the offspring of those evil ancestors your spiritual children.

Evil spirit world is the true source of the persecution and difficulty you encounter in your Home Church area. Therefore, if you refuse to retreat in the face of persecution but instead fight against it and bring victory over it, your reward and benefit will also be transferred to your good ancestors.

Because I have an international foundation and am well-known around the world, once people accept your teaching and believe that Reverend Moon is a good man, you have won a total victory. That is because you are carrying with you the worldwide foundation of victory which I have already achieved. The only people who will consistently oppose you will be the communists because they are the only ones who have special motivation to do so. Once your Home Church people realize this, they will support you and oppose the communists' attempt to stop you.

No matter what, you must make one showdown, one true confrontation with Satan. Without that you will never succeed. Is the heart you put into your Home Church work stronger than that which you put into your studies? Is it more than you do at your job? You should chase after the Home Church work even more strongly than you pursue your own lover. Anything less than that standard will be a condition for Satan to infiltrate.

You must have a strong, anxious desire to do Home Church. Perhaps you have very little time because you must earn your own living and take care of many other things. If you pray earnestly for God to accept even one hour of work in your area and you do it with great sincerity, God will look at it as twenty-four hours of work. Many people put their outside jobs first and Home Church second, but that is not acceptable in Unification Church. When you are prevented from working in your area because of your mission in the church, that is unavoidable; but when you are trying to earn a lot of money in an outside job and cannot do your Home Church work, that is not acceptable.

Home Church is the place for you to meet God and love Him. Therefore, it is most logical for you to work in Home Church more than you spend time on school work, on your job, or for your own lover. If the intensity of your love for Home Church is at that level, God's protection will be added to you and Satan will have no way to infiltrate.

When I first open my eyes each morning, I think about God's providence. There is no moment, even during my sleep, when I am not thinking and concentrating upon the providence. That is the way my life has been conducted. That is why God has blessed everything I have done. Sometimes when I have a seemingly impossible task from God, I feel it may take a longer time but I put my whole heart in it. I want you to understand that God cannot bless you and your work until you demonstrate a higher standard than any satanic standard.

Jesus said clearly that people had to love him, the Christ, more than they loved their own spouse, parents, children, etc. Otherwise they were not worthy of him. You have no idea how impenetrable the indemnity barriers are and how difficult they are to dissolve. For six thousand Biblical years, God has been working to restore one single person, one pure Adam. Think of it. If I can restore during my lifetime one Eve, children, and all mankind, what a great accomplishment that will be in the sight of God and history. This is not just theory I am speaking about-it is reality. I have broken down that incredible indemnity barrier and created an altar before God.

In the United States, everyone will be able to welcome Reverend Moon on the foundation of the Home Church tribal messiah. On that foundation, the national messiah will emerge. When that foundation is accomplished, the worldwide messiah will emerge. Jesus Christ came as the messiah but his fulfillment was thwarted even on the level of family, thus the higher levels were out of the question. The position you are inheriting-to become a tribal messiah-is greater than the level which was anticipated by the 4,000 year history of Judaism.

By receiving the position of tribal messiah, you are automatically receiving the right to exceed the accomplishments at the time of Jesus. The victory of the tribal messiah is the equivalent of the victory over Rome two thousand years ago. After that victory you can claim the victory over the entire world, including the communist world. This is why I can immediately set the goal of the Moscow Rally. Therefore, your victory in the Home Church as the tribal messiah is necessary; without that, we cannot move forward.

Upon that foundation the national messiah will come. Then the worldwide messiah can come. The tribal messiah is the formation stage, the national messiah is the growth stage, and the worldwide messiah is perfection. In order to inherit the tradition of messiahship you must begin at the tribal level which is the ground level. It is an incredible privilege and honor. This is the time for which many millions of martyrs and religious people and saints shed their blood.

In today's world communism is the largest and worst form of Satan's power. From the communists' point of view, who is the most formidable adversary-traditional Christianity or the Unification Church? Certainly it is the Unification Church. In a few decades the church has come up to this level of direct confrontation with the communistic world. World Christianity and other religions will be following the good leadership of the Unification Church.

The spirit world consists of hell and Heaven. Since communism is hell's representative on earth and we are battling it, we will be elevated to the very forefront of the Kingdom of Heaven, once we go to spirit world. At the fore-forefront of Heaven, God is residing. Therefore, the way of the Unification Church represents the best possible goodness; communism represents the worst possible degree of evil.

Reverend Moon came this far in twenty years' time. Think about the advances we will make in the next twenty years! In twenty years of progress, we will be able to achieve greater things than anyone in history. Already great things are happening in South America. Heads of state are trying to entice me to visit their countries-they know I can bring good influence to those countries. When I have worked for only one year in such a situation of positivity, our accomplishment will be unparalleled.

When I hold rallies and meetings, heads of state will attend. The press will see the value and cheer what we are doing. Think about such a dramatically different situation. Each day, whole nations could turn toward Unificationism. There are twenty-six nations in South and Central America, If Reverend Moon is invited to hold rallies and influence people there, the whole continent will be changed. When all of South America is solidly united behind me, I will proclaim to North America, "Well, Uncle Sam, do you still call me 'the controversial Reverend Moon?"

Many people want to come to the United States but the U.S. embassies in most countries are very reluctant to issue visas. People in South America wait in long lines for visas. However, the time will come when Moonies will proclaim, "Open the doors between North and South America. We should be one country, one continent, not two." The time will come when, since Reverend Moon will be in South America and there will be so many Moonies here in the U. S., there will be a tremendous crush to go from North to South America-opposite from what it is now! People will be lined up to get out of the United States so they can see Reverend Moon! As long as this country opposes Reverend Moon, there can be no benefit here at all.

I feel completely confident that North and South America will follow God's direction. Someone might say, "In what capacity do you say these things, Reverend Moon? What is your foundation?" My answer is, "Just wait and see. The trend of history will bear this out. What I am saying will come to pass."

Under incredible adversity during the past ten years, our movement has laid this strong foundation. The United States will eventually have no power in their opposition.

America has no reason to be fearful of Reverend Moon. They only need to heed my advice-if they would listen to what I am saying, they would no longer be fearful. I can offer America a way of educating the public to become God-centered men and women, armed with an ideology which would totally uproot the power of communism. Instead, the U.S. has been trying to destroy Reverend Moon in a very cheap way; they have dragged me into the courtroom, thinking they could stop and destroy me in that way. They can never send me to hell; the destiny of hell is never decided by the U. S. government. God is the one who decides who goes to hell; therefore, I have nothing to fear and no reason to retreat. I came here for a straightforward confrontation.

Perhaps you American women feel I speak too harshly to you sometimes. Nevertheless, you like to hear a man of guts and conviction, based upon God. I'm sure my words are often unpleasant to your ears, but I speak the truth.

The most formidable group in the world are the Moonies, without question. I have unquestionable power, but it is not from Satan; rather, I am working for God and goodness. Therefore, my entire method and strategy is a peaceful one.

I have been receiving direct persecution from the United States for ten years. Now the time has come when you Americans must vindicate me-1983 is the year to do it! The place for that vindication is Home Church. By that, I am not talking about destruction or violence. I am talking about saving America, restoring this nation. Our only form of revenge will be to return love for the hate we have received. I came to America totally on my volition and endured the persecution for ten years. Now you American citizens must march voluntarily toward the Home Church providence and win the vindication for the sake of this world - vindication of the name of Reverend Moon.

The forces of evil have tried to harass you all the time with methods such as leafleting and so forth. Why shouldn't you adopt similar methods, only with good intentions- why can't you wake up the people to God's providence and direction? If this cannot be done successfully, I will be forced to pull all the members of the church from their missions, including the newspapers, and mobilize them to do nothing but Home Church.

This is the year for you to make your victory in Home Church. Make your showdown this year. From that point on, new leaders of this nation will emerge. When your Home Church area responds favorably, you can bind together with ten other areas and elect your own congressman. As you become larger and larger in your influence, you will be able to elect a God-centered good leader for senator or governor, for city councilmen and state senators. Is there some part of the Constitution that says that because you are members of the Unification Church, you will be deprived of the rights of the Constitution and that you cannot run for public office? Can you not become the president of the US or a congressman because you are a Moonie? That is not the law of the land.

The leaders of the Unification Church are not prohibited by the Constitution from becoming leaders of the Republican or Democratic parties. You know that Reverend Moon came here in order to give education to the president of the U. S. You members of the church will be in the position to educate senators, congressmen, mayors, government officials. What is wrong with that? Right now, those people are not listening to me so I have had to make my own foundation to achieve the same goal. Therefore, I have been organizing people from different professions such as lawyers, scholars and theologians, scientists, and the media. At this time, we could assemble top grade leadership from those organizations such as the Professors World Peace Academy and offer excellent leaders for this nation. We are not looking at this from a "political" viewpoint; this is the way God is looking at this nation and the world. God wants to see certain things happen in this country.

As you know, the power of communism is organized under the International Communist Party. However, the free world does not have any such thing to match this atheistic organization. Therefore, all the religious people of the free world, including the Pope, should be brought together for this purpose. That is the reason all religious forces must be mobilized. Right now in Florida, many theologians and philosophers are gathering at the Conference on God to discuss this idea. All famous scholars and theologians must be brought together in unity under one system. In order to hasten the day of true peace-the Kingdom of Heaven on earth-we must mobilize all religious organizations into one common alliance. In that way we can confront the power of international communism. No other force in the free world has the power to do that.

I have a plan and method of fulfillment of that plan. Through the mobilization of righteous religious people, this nation can be restored to political righteousness. You women whose husbands get elected to the senate or congress or precedent could even become the First Lady of the nation. Who ever said it couldn't be done? That kind of event is not so far off.

The time will come when all the smallest minorities will become important in this country. I have created all kinds of organizations in this country, but there is only one for which I have set aside an endowment fund-the Minority Alliance International, for which I allocated $2 million. Without the mediation of Reverend Moon, there can be no permanent healing of the rift between white and black people. Unificationism is the only power with a universal ideology and way of life. You must have that kind of consciousness-that Moonie consciousness.

Therefore, in the fight against communism nobody else but us will be the front line forces. 1983 is the very year in which we shall proclaim that war-and we shall win the victory. I have a plan to take care of drug addicts. Through the CARP movement we can teach martial arts to students, which is an excellent form of discipline and a way of cleaning up the moral climate of the campuses. That kind of thing is very good for America. By doing all these good activities in 1983, it will be a very good year for America.

At this time, since the municipal police forces are too small to fight the wave of crime in this country, every Home Church area has the capacity to organize its own voluntary police forces. Moonies are becoming part of those voluntary police forces; that is good for you to do. Because you will work the hardest and give yourselves the most, you will set the standard for the police forces. We will cleanse them in such a way.

What kind of a member of the Unification Church do you want to be? One who only believes in the Principle, or one who can also actively bring results? The Kingdom of Heaven on earth can only emerge by the actions of believers, not by belief only. Go ahead and expand your influence of goodness as wide as you can. Once your foundation of self-discipline is strong, there is no need for Reverend Moon to be here in America. However, some United States officials believe that if they can kick Reverend Moon out of here, they will eliminate their "problems" because of him. However, they are already too late for that.

If you have been only a believing member of the Unification Church, you must begin from now on to be an action member. Another job needs to be done, that of cleansing and eliminating the prostitution districts in New York City. Why is Reverend Moon thinking about these things? It is for just one reason-to save America. Actually, what does Reverend Moon owe to America? [ could be praying for revenge against this nation, but every day my prayer is how to save it.

I instructed the Japanese members to learn martial arts very well; wherever there was a V.O.C. gathering or meeting, the communists would try to destroy it. However, since our members were experts in martial arts, the communists would be unable to stop our rallies. Even the thinnest, shortest members could knock out bigger, stronger communists. Therefore, the campuses were taken out of the hands of the communists and CARP gained tremendous influence in one campus after another.

The communists in Japan were defeated by Reverend Moon, so they wanted to gain revenge. They spread the reputation of Reverend Moon as a "dictator," "brainwasher:' etc. That kind of terminology was created by the communists in order to launch a character assassination against me. The American media just gobbled up that kind of terminology; that has been going on here for ten years.

My conviction was to have no fear in waging this battle. As long as truth is on our side, we shall prevail over the lies of communism. All lies will eventually be shattered by the truth. The media has thought they could destroy Reverend Moon by using their "smoke screen" method and spreading lies about me but after ten years what are they saying? They are having to admit that all their efforts have only made Reverend Moon famous in this country! Their problem is that Reverend Moon has consistently spoken the truth, even though they don't like to hear it. Furthermore, the predictions I have made have come to pass. That is a big problem for the media and the U.S. government.

Now Reverend Moon has inspired the founding of the Washington Times. Until this time the conservatives in Washington had no voice. When we initially tried to create a new newspaper, everybody said it was impossible and many groups organized to try to stop the efforts of Reverend Moon. Now, though, look what has happened there. Those formerly negative conservative groups are calling it "our" paper now, "our" Washington Times.

The Reagan administration looks upon the Washington Times as a great ally; it is a favored newspaper. Reagan gave the paper an interview, as did several members of the Cabinet and high government officials-why? It is not because they like Reverend Moon; rather, it is because they know they need the Washington Times. Even though many American leaders do not like me personally, they like the Washington Times; this is ironic.

Those people who act in deeds rather than just talk shall be the ones who gain the victory. I want to see those victors. Do you want to become such victors? Will you be people of action from now on? We are like soldiers going into the front line of the battle, not for the sake of ourselves or even for the sake of America, but for the sake of the world.

As you know, the Unification Church is the greatest adversary of communism. Therefore, anyone who tries to destroy Reverend Moon-for example, the U.S. government-is actually aiding communism. However, soon all these groups will understand the truth and the truth shall make them free.

Home Church is the first-and the last-battleground for the victory of God. The Home Church providence was launched by me, a person with very thin, small eyes. However, these small eyes will continue to watch until they see the victory in the Home Church providence. Actually, the battle of the Unification Church is finished. Why do I say that? It is because you Moonies are capable of digesting America but America is incapable of digesting you. Also, the Moonies can digest communism but communism has no power to digest the Moonies. Therefore, the real showdown has been won. It is simply a matter of growing ourselves and expanding more and more. Don't you want to join in this battle in which the victory is truly guaranteed?

All you need to do here in America is resurrect the name of Reverend Moon. Suppose we mobilized 1,000 members for Home Church; each member will have 360 homes. That will mean 360,000 homes will be included. Suppose each home will hold four people. That means 1,440,000 people will be included within the Home Church areas. They can also mobilize their relatives and friends and at least 3,000,000 people will be included-that could be done in the New York area alone. These people can unite under one common belief: that they need Reverend Moon here in America. These people could therefore resurrect the name of Reverend Moon. The mayor of New York would have to be approved by these people in order to get elected.

I have no personal interest in American government; however, I want to see you American citizens elected to leadership positions in this country. What is wrong with that? You are entitled to that right by the Constitution.

All the court entanglements will soon be over. Even if I have to go to jail for a period of time, I am thinking that it will be a very exciting period. All the Moonies will come there to visit me; every morning you will hold a prayer service and demonstrate to be allowed to see me. You will line up for blocks to see me. You will want to write in your diary, "Father was suffering in jail and I went to visit him on this day." That will be an historical occasion. Not only the Moonies will want to come but you will also bring your parents there, telling them that they must apologize to Reverend Moon.

If I go to jail, will the Professors World Peace Academy be suspended? No, the heads of all the chapters in fifty countries will come to the jail to meet with me and receive direction. Also, if I call for the chairmen of the Science Conference to come to meet with me, they would come too. At that time, the media would be watching to see who visits Reverend Moon; they would attach a permanent reporter at the front gate of the jail. All those prominent theologians from the Conference on God might be called to meet with me. Would they come?

We want to be successful within the New York City area. Through the Home Church system we shall achieve our success. Reverend Moon is certainly not a passive religious leader; I am an activist, in a way. I am teaching action, not just belief.

When we won the victory in the New York Supreme Court which entitled us to tax exemption here, the judge stated that although people criticize the Unification Church as a political or a business organization, he saw after digging down to the bottom that all those activities have been motivated out of a deep and supreme religious conviction. Therefore, they are part of our religious activities. Thus the church is entitled to the same tax exemption as any other church.

Actually, the Unification Church has no intention to meddle into politics but we have the desire to educate people in every field so that they can become God-centered people of righteousness and nobility. What is wrong with that? The Home Church providence itself is basically an educational activity. We want to stop immorality and educate people into God-centeredness and push them into leadership roles. In that way new leadership will be created for this country. The Unification Church is an organization of "exercise"-no one can just stand still; either you run or jump or do something active.

From now on, you must take on some type of exercise-some type of action. When will you do that? When Unification members are following my instruction to the precise letter, I know the end result of 1983 will be one of goodness. When December comes, we will be able to say, "It was truly a good year."

My great dream is to educate someone to become a truly God-centered president of this country. Do you think American people would welcome such a goal? Those really caring, patriotic Americans will petition me, saying, "You are the only one to correctly educate the leaders of this country." Imagine if the U.S. president were here and smiling from ear to ear as he listens to this sermon, how would God feel? Wouldn't God be pleased to see such an event? Suppose all the senators from the fifty states came here and sat in one block, listening for a six hour sermon and forgetting themselves. Would God take delight to look upon such a scene?

When you women dream of an ideal husband, would you look for someone like me? What can you do about that? There is only one of me and there are 1.5 billion women in the world. There is only one way-you women put your husbands under my care and I will train them and remold and shape them into someone like me and then return them to you. How do you like that? Would you leave your husband in my hands? Or would you try to whisper your own opinions into his ears? Those who would want to leave your husbands in my hands, please raise your hands now. Even you married women? You men heard what I have said-your wives have given you to me. I want to make you into replicas of me, since your wives want it, God wants it, and the world needs it. How about that?

Revolutionary changes will come during 1983. I am truly going to start a new year. Now, it is the men's turn: what will you say if I chastise you hard when you fail to live up to my expectations and continue to do things your own way? Would you accept my chastisement? With the American way of doing things, it might take ten years for victory, while with my way it will take only one year. We don't have much time. This new year is a year of action.

Even though I have been doing my absolute best and have persevered through many ordeals, if I do not live up to God's expectations I too will be cut off from God's blessing. That is the kind of judgment we are all facing. 1983, in particular, is such a crucial year. Many things are geared up for their consummation in this year. The tensions between East and West, particularly Soviet Russia and the United States, have come to a crucial point now. Russia has been ahead of the U.S. militarily for several years; now President Reagan is trying to close that gap. However, some liberal politicians and media forces have been trying to stop him.

From the Heavenly point of view, the greatest battle in this country is that between the U.S. government and Reverend Moon. The government and the media have come together and tried to push Reverend Moon into an isolated little corner. Now, however, the battle has shifted. The government and the media are not as united as before. Reverend Moon is gaining the support of some media people; also support has come from the religious community now.

This year which adds up numerically to 21 will be the year in which Reverend Moon will stretch out his wings and fly. "Let this be a good year"-that is a prayerful statement but it also means that we are going to make this a good year ourselves. Undoubtedly Reverend Moon is a famous person. During 1982, I shocked the entire world with the two mass weddings. What shall we do in 1983? I would like to make this year unforgettable by organizing a Home Church demonstration-by creating victory in Home Church. Do you think we could have a rally at Central Park for 500,000 people? We could do that easily, particularly with the work of the Minority Alliance International and our Home Church work. Let us harbor an absolute hope for victory.

Those of you who would like to become publishers of newspapers in the future, please raise your hands. You are pretty greedy! Do you want to create a company from scratch, or are you waiting for me to give you a company so you can just sit in your comfortable armchair? If you want to create your own newspaper company, you will need much, much money! That is not so easy. Do you want such a difficult job? It is easy to say yes, but doing it is different.

Why do you think I make things so complicated here in America-why do I bring over Koreans and Japanese elders? Wouldn't it be much simpler if I just picked American leaders to do everything here? I cannot use only American leaders, even though it would be most convenient for the members. Actually we have created a club of enemies-Korea and Japan were bitter enemies of each other. Japan and the U.S. fought a war against each other and the U. S. and Germany fought two wars. Do you look upon each other with those facts in mind? Think about why I do such seemingly impossible things-why should I bring together all these enemy countries and try to harmonize them? There are incredible cultural and language barriers between them. Why do I do it?

God uses Cain's position as much as Abel's in history. There must be a victorious foundation on Cain's side, as well as Abel's. God always sacrifices Abel for the sake of Cain. Therefore, we must love our enemies. In the last days, before the completion of the restoration, God is using enemy territories, enemy countries in which to lay the foundation to restore His own country. Therefore, in order to bring all the enemy countries together, only the United States is eligible to do this. Korea could not achieve such a thing. If we tried to bring Japanese together with Koreans in Korea, I know many bitter Koreans would kill the Japanese. Also, if we tried to bring together everyone in Japan it would be impossible. That is why God prepared this "melting pot" nation for the last days, where all colors of skin and nationalities have come together.

Therefore all the different leaders such as Korean, Japanese and American have come together here for the purpose of achieving true unity. Korea is in the Adam position providentially, Japan in the Eve position and America in the Archangel position. Who made those positions? God did not create them; they came into being through the activity of the providence. In order to fulfill this restoration drama, certain countries took certain roles.

There is only one Adam and Eve, but there is the Heavenly archangel position and the satanic one. The archangel country must love the Eve and Adam country, otherwise restoration cannot occur. Here in America, there is no real master or leader. The central position of this

country can go to anyone; anyone who is born here can become the president regardless of his ancestry. The Adam and Eve countries are ones of homogeneous heritage, while the archangel country is a mixture of all heritages. This heterogeneous country of America is being requested to unite with the Adam and Eve countries.

The archangel was supposed to unite with Adam and Eve according to their standards, but he enticed them to depart from the principle and do things his way. I selected Mr. Kamiyama as my financial advisor; he has been doing this for almost 10 years. In every home, the role of the mother is to take care of the material things; she also is responsible for feeding the children. She gives birth to the two sons-the Cain and Abel positions. At this time, the U. S. is in the position of the Abel archangel and Germany is the Cain archangel in Europe. Eve's role is to bring Cain and Abel together at her two breasts; without the unity of those two sons, Eve cannot return to her husband. That is why so much support is coming to our movement from Japan; Japan is "feeding" America and Germany. When Japan has brought together these two nations, she can be accepted by the Adam country, Korea.

America is protecting Korea's national security; this is most crucial. America must not neglect this responsibility. Since 1978, Japan has risen to become an internationally respected economic power; that is the plan of God. In order for the mother's position to be fulfilled, she must be healthy and able to give nourishment to the children; she must have plenty of resources.

Japan also has the responsibility to protect Korea. I asked Mr. Furuta, the manager of the Japanese church's economic affairs, to bring Japanese people to Korea through the Korea-Japan Cultural Association. He should show them around and take them to the Little Angels School for a performance. That is providentially very important. It will contribute to the joint dependence of Korea and Japan and will be significantly important for national security. I have asked Mr. Furuta to do this without fail.

The most important internal strategy is that here in America the leadership from Korea, Japan and America must unite and work together. Also many marriages have taken place between those nations, which is a fulfillment of the providence. Even if you blue-eyed Americans are tearful, saying, "We don't want this!," you must go this path. Therefore, Korean and Japanese elders are an absolute necessity here in America and I will not pull them out. This is an historical requirement. Do you understand?

When I sent out the missionaries to different countries, I selected one each from Japan, the U.S., and Germany. Japan is in the mother's role among the three, so the Japanese missionaries should have fulfilled that mother's position. When the three missionaries were united together totally, only then could they come and have an audience with me. I told them they should come back to see me after seven years were over. On May 1, the seven years will be complete. Meanwhile the worldwide foundation has been laid. Japanese people are now dispersed over six different continents.

There are more women members in Japan than men; that is God's plan, too. Therefore, 500 brides had to go overseas to find their husbands; in that way, the Japanese can link themselves to the entire world. Japanese women have the capability to adjust themselves to different cultures.

The Unification Church is an exciting place, isn't it? We have homes in which there are Japanese, Korean, American and German people living together. United States citizens are in the Heavenly archangel's position, which is comparable to Abel's position. Abel should be in the serving position to the Cain people. Also, Abel must serve the parents; that is the viewpoint of Principle. The parent countries are Korea and Japan. That means American people have to love Cain-the German people, and also the parents-Korea and Japan.

Many American leaders have accused Korean and Japanese elders, but that is taking Satan's position. The Heavenly order of responsibility is Korea first, then Japan, then America, then Germany. Therefore, Japanese leaders cannot argue with Korean leaders and Americans cannot argue with Japanese leaders. Do you follow me clearly? Until now you have had many problems with Oriental leaders, but that kind of situation is what pleases Satan.

If I decided to make my sermons in English, I could do so. However, if I did that it would not encourage all of you to learn Korean. It is you who are supposed to be learning the mother tongue, not the parents who are supposed to learn the children's language. Think of how great it would be if I could just speak in Korean without an interpreter. When I made a joke, everybody could laugh in unison. How historical that would be! I am determined that such a thing will happen; you may not do it, but your children will be able to understand me. Do you want to leave it to your children, or will you do it yourself? All right then, do it.

God has been enduring tremendous suffering throughout history which until now no one has understood. Jesus' heart on the cross at Calvary has never before been understood until this time, when Reverend Moon could come and reveal the heart of God. Jesus knew the heart of God and even though the Roman soldiers pierced his side as he hung on the cross, he could forgive them and say to God, "They do not know what they do." How could he say that? He was thinking of the future of the nation, not just of those few Roman soldiers.

This is the time when God has assembled this one Christian nation of America, in the position of the Roman empire. He is forgiving them, giving them their last opportunity to unite with the other providential countries in order to fulfill God's will and God's goal. Asian people have come to America to set the new tradition. I have come here temporarily but it is not my permanent mission. When American and Japanese people are in Korea they are not motivated to believe in the Unification Church. Likewise when Americans and Koreans go to Japan, they are not inspired to accept the Unification Church. Therefore, God's providence directed that Japanese and Korean people should come to America to witness temporarily to the American people; they must lay the foundation. The Japanese and Koreans will become the spiritual parents of many people. Even if those Americans are told not to go to Korea or Japan, they will not be stopped; they will want to do anything to see the countries of their spiritual parents.

Unless the United States links herself to the culture of the East, this nation will perish. In the English language, a nation has the feminine gender but when I talk about Korea, it is a "he" nation. The "she" nations need a "he" nation. That is natural.

You first-class American citizens, are you going to be defeated by all these Japanese people? As the members of the archangel country, you should learn tradition from Eve's country; so you should hold on to them, imitating them and learning their methods. Heavenly tradition is not set by the archangel; it is set by Adam and Eve. Therefore, Adam and Eve's actions must become the archangel's actions. No matter how great your civilization may be, you do not have the Heavenly tradition here. Do you want to inherit that tradition? That means this country needs the Adam and Eve nation very much. Therefore, you must follow and respect those nations. Am I saying these words because I am an Oriental man? No, I am not. You cannot make any excuses about this; this is the truth. If anyone tries to excuse himself from this way, he is excusing himself from Heaven. Be very clear about this and remember from now on.

This is the time for action so 1983 is the year of action. We are gathered together, all the different enemy nations-Japan and Korea, the United States and Germany -to set the example and the tradition for true unification. That is good for God, but it is bad for your nationalistic pride.

We must be thankful to God; He always prepares our situation for us. The Unification Church does not use birth control; we bear as many children as God gives us. Mother and I have set the example and Mother has already given birth to 13 children. Having more and more children is another way in which our movement can grow. Since America is so wealthy that you have special foods for dogs and cats, that wealth can be channeled into feeding good human beings. With the kind of multiplication we will be seeing, imagine how large our population will be in fifty years!

You have been listening to me for a long time today; now it is boiling down to one simple statement. Those of you who can say, "I have made up my mind to follow your direction and bring the success. I will not let you down; please trust me," raise your hands and say Amen! We are marching on that road to success Amen'

Home Church Is Our Land Of Settlement

Reverend Sun Myung Moon
January 1, 1983, Midnight
World Mission Center
Translator - Bo Hi Pak

Father's Prayer at Midnight:

Our Loving Father,

The year 1982 is behind us and we are at the threshold of the whole new year of 1983. The entire world is greeting this moment. Please guide all people who are planning their lives for this year so that their hearts will be in alignment with Your will. Let all religious people be united and let their lives freely develop following Your will.

In the midst of ordeals and persecution, the Unification members throughout the world marched towards Your final dispensational goal during 1982. Please remember those suffering children who are praying with longing hearts for the year 1983 to be a year of hope.

Guide the Unification members through this year and towards the time when the new history will begin. Let those who represent history be loyal, on behalf of all historical figures. Also, guide them so they dwell in the depths of Your heart. As soldiers who are establishing the Kingdom of Heaven, may they dwell in Your heart as unforgettable people, worthy of being called Your sons and daughters and deserving of Your abundant love.

As our members bid farewell to 1982, a year filled with ordeals, their hearts are tearful and their folded, prayerful hands are pointing in the direction of New York and America, where the True Parents are. These places where our members are gathered together are solemn places, where ardent prayers are offered. Please forgive each individual and receive the hearts of those who had given hopeful promise to bring the victory in 1982, but who were unable to fulfill it. I pray and beseech You to bless them, so that this new year will be a year of victory, one which they will be able to go through and look back on with gratitude.

At this time all the Unification members, representing all mankind, are making a new resolution: to be more deeply loyal and pious in 1983 and to be more united in one heart and one will. Let them pledge to become brave soldiers on the advancing line of the salvation of mankind. Let them determine to become victorious in securing both today and tomorrow. Let them resolve to become unforgettable people in Your heart. Please receive the resolution they are making at this time.

Ever since the day of infamy, the day in which the human ancestors fell, You have been laboring in man's place. Laden with sorrow and loneliness, You have been trying to restore the lost history which is filled with many untold stories. In our place, You have voluntarily taken the path of sorrow and agony, lingering ever behind the scenes, watching over mankind and going through the historic path of indemnity with all Your strength. We think about You and all the things You have gone through and reflect

about the unrepented wrongs which our ancestors committed throughout history. Please permit us now as Unification members to pledge to You our loyalty and piety, on behalf of all mankind. This group of people knows that to follow Your way means to take the path of sorrow but they do not draw back. Neither do they mind enduring the path of persecution and oppression.

The historic paths of Abraham and Jacob were alike as they followed Your way. It was the same with Moses as he guided the journey of the Israelites. Jesus knew Your will and he was supposed to have built the victorious Heavenly Kingdom by subjugating the Roman Kingdom; but instead he lost the support of the chosen nation and had to take up the suffering path and under the name of Christianity extend it to the whole world. We reflect deeply about these historical events.

Your will was prolonged for the two thousand suffering years of Christianity, during which the efforts to recover all the years of history have been stained with tears, sweat and blood and filled with deeds which must be repented for. We are going through this lonely journey with You and overcoming this sorrow. You have seen people who prayed, even at the point of death, for that one victorious day in which Your will can be accomplished. We are reminded of Your painful broken heart, looking upon those people who are praying for the day in which the world will realize Your will.

Today in this time of the last days, Christianity should have fulfilled its responsibility so that the world could stand in the realm of victory. Then, instead of following a path of sorrow, Christianity's course would have been a glorious one of attending and revering their Heavenly Father. Christian civilization, not just on the individual level but also as families, as a society, as a nation, and as a world, should have developed and taken shape, centering on the long-desired sovereignty of Heaven. Then they could have returned glory and victory and praise to You.

Again we reflect on the historical fact that the Unification Church, which was chosen to carry out Your will, had heaped upon it the burden of sorrow and obstacles called the way of historical indemnity. Persecution comes from individuals, from families, and from societies and nations as well. Now even here in the center of the free world, America, these members gathered here who revere and follow You have received rejection from religious people, those who are supposed to be following Your way. We know very well that behind the tear-stained sacrifices which we have made in order to pioneer and establish this foundation, lies Your much more sorrowful history. Assembled here together we are pledging to advance and progress and to be the kind of church that will never disappear in despair, but will bring the victorious day to the free world.

We are grateful for Your grace which infuses us with pride and confidence to take up the worldwide pioneer mission of laying the victorious foundation, upon which we can make a new settlement in this new time period. In this building in the center of New York, we have been the object of persecution, judgment and ridicule coming at us from all sides. But from this day at the beginning of this new year, Your children who are gathered here will be united in one heart and one body and will restore Heaven's dignity and honor. As independence soldiers, we will establish the sovereignty of goodness and bring about the Heavenly Kingdom. As they rally together for this cause, please help them to be proud and valiant before Satan.

Father, please have hope in the Unification Church. We are not on the edge of twilight and facing the night, but rather on the verge of dawn, waiting to greet the rising sun. Heavenly Father, I pray that during 1983 You will settle on this earth and uphold all our work in pursuit of the Heavenly Kingdom with dignity and authority and protect it with a shield of victory. Please grant us the determination as we greet this new year to create the foundation on which Your victorious power can be manifested on this earth.

Please extend Your arms in blessing upon Korea, Japan, America and Germany, those nations representing providential roles. I plead for You to allow this year 1983 to be the boundary mark so that from now on in those countries, people who oppose will be weakened in their opposition and people on the side of goodness will prosper.

I ask for the entire spirit world to help make this year 1983 one in which the Unification Church members, representing all the nations on earth, will be united with their ancestors and march on together to secure the worldwide victory. Let the entire spirit world be mobilized to suppress the powers of evil which oppose this victory so we can leap forward. Also let this beginning hour be one in which we command the development of a new history. Countless religious figures and righteous people have been longing for the day of victory on earth; please allow them to participate in our efforts and work though their direct lineage in order to fulfill their long-cherished desires. Let them bring their descendants to this Unification banner, even though their descendants may be unaware of their help, in order to realize the victorious ideal world.

Korea, Japan, America and Germany and the other 127 nations are stained with the tears of the ones You love, as they make indemnity conditions with pleading prayers for the sake of bringing Your victory on this earth. I pray that this new year will establish the foundation for us to bring about the mobilization of tribes, nations and all mankind.

This year's new motto is "Home Church Is Our Land of Settlement." With this motto, we have a confident beginning point. God, please declare this year as one in which You can take command, mobilizing the saints and religious men, uniting all religious groups on earth.

I believe and I know that from this beginning hour of the new year the command will be given from Heaven and carried out on the earth: to march toward the one victorious day and to establish the victorious sovereignty of goodness and the victorious Kingdom of Heaven. Please declare this. I pray for all this with gratitude for Your grace in allowing us to pray these things. I bless and I pray all these things in the name of the True Parents.

Amen. Amen. Amen

Father Speaks

Most religious people in the world today think of God as an almighty, omnipotent, omnipresent being who simply enjoys His glory, as He sits upon His throne wearing His crown. That means they feel that God has nothing to do with pain, agony and suffering. Yet still Christianity calls God "Father" when they pray to Him. This is a contradiction in the Christian faith of our time.

In the last days, those religions which are parallel with the will of God shall remain, but those religions which are not will diminish. What kind of a being is God? That is the most fundamental and important question to ask. Does He truly have just a glorious position and enjoy every minute of the day?

When we look at the histories of all religions, we see that there was no real peace. Always religious people have had to endure bloodshed, tragedy and suffering. Why have religious people throughout history gone the road of suffering and martyrdom? It is because they believed it was God's will for them to go that way. Another common principle persists throughout religious history: any time a religion is receiving persecution it prospers and doesn't decline. Also it is true that during a time of persecution whenever religious people prayed with sincerity, their prayers were more readily accepted and granted.

Another thing which is obvious in history is that whenever a religion becomes established and settled, being respected and admired by the society at large, God seems to turn away from that religion. It starts to lose its deep fervor and enthusiasm.

Therefore we can see that God has remained with religions during their periods of persecution but once they became comfortable, God seems to have turned away from them. Why is that? God established certain religions in history; people within them had to go through the individual level of persecution. Again, the key question to ask is whether those individuals who were persecuted were receiving it for only themselves or for the sake of humanity. The particular individual receiving persecution might be bearing it as a representative of 240 million American people, or 4 billion people in the world, or just as one individual, representing no one other than himself. That is an important question.

Whenever God ordains a certain individual to take on religious persecution, that person must take on representative persecution for the sake of the whole world, not just for himself. We can realize that whenever God supports a religious person who is receiving tremendous persecution, that individual must not be an ordinary individual but must be representative of all mankind.

What is the reason why God permits persecution of religious people? God tells them that by winning the victory over persecution they can win the victory over the entire world. When God chooses an individual and the world persecutes him, the world displays its evil; if this were a good world, it would not persecute him. By winning over the persecution coming from the evil side of the world, that individual must be winning a victory for righteousness and for God, not just for himself alone.

What is the definition of the evil world? The evil world is the one which does the work of Satan. Since the evil world is controlled by Satan, it is exactly opposite from the world which God intended. Satan's desire is to safeguard every one of his children in the satanic world and not to allow any to leave and go to God's side. However, Satan knows that God's intention is to pull men out of his hands and to bring them to His world, where He can create the opposite realm from the satanic.

Those who are selected to be God's champions have to struggle very hard against the satanic environment and be victorious over it. Without that, those individuals cannot return to God's side. The Bible tells us that man became a fallen creature; the people who were supposed to be children of God transformed themselves into satanic men and women. Therefore, the simplest definition of the fall is the deviation from the original, healthy form to sickness. Satan is always working very hard to prevent God from mending mankind back into health.

Once a person is restored to perfect health he always has a certain immunity. Even if germs invade, a strong, healthy body will be able to resist them. That particular person with such immunity would not be contaminated, even if he went to the Orient, Africa, or anywhere Therefore, any satanic opposition toward you must be worldwide and universal in scale; the larger the scale the better.

God has been seeking of an individual who will be able to struggle against and prevail over all satanic persecution and become invincible over the entire satanic world. How does the process of persecution work? Persecution always comes through other people -from individuals to other individuals. Satan also knows how to best mobilize his forces. He has certain superior forces: people with wealth, intellect, power and influence and he can use these kinds of people for his purposes of persecution.

In the secular world, every nation has its own sovereignty through which it exerts influence and power. Therefore, we can understand why throughout history most of the persecution of religion and religious people came from governmental and politically sovereign powers. Then what would be God's tactic? Would He choose one champion who would be opposed by governmental power, become a martyr and be finished? No, God would continue to raise up more and more champions and go from the individual level to the family level, to the clan, society and national levels, etc. Therefore it is most logical that those people who have been chosen by God to be champions must endure all different types and levels of persecution-from the individual all the way up to the world level.

A sign of the last days is the division of the world into two distinct camps. One of those camps proclaims that God does not exist and the other proclaims that He does. Today we see the existence of the free or democratic world and the communist, atheistic world. The world which accepts the existence of God is centered upon Christianity, which started from the historical background of Judaism. First, all of Christianity was under Catholicism, then Protestantism began; now the new level of Christianity has begun, the Unification Church.

Each level of religion had to resist certain types of persecution. Judaism, for example, resisted national persecution; Christianity has resisted worldwide persecution; and the Unification Church is resisting universal persecution. According to history, that would have to occur because any new religion which went beyond traditional Christianity would be in the position to receive universal persecution.

The history of the Jewish nation is recorded in the Old Testament. They received persecution continually; they wandered about and everywhere they turned, they received persecution. When Christianity came, it was the religion of the world; therefore it had the duty to confront worldwide powers. At that time, the Roman Empire was that power; it represented the entire world and it persecuted Christianity. The world of God's major activity during that time was limited to the European and Middle Eastern locale. China and all the far Eastern regions were not affected by those areas and they were basically unaware of them.

Where is the Unification Church today? Is there any part of the world which is unaware of us? No, we are receiving persecution from the entire world, the truly universal level. There is no distinction between east and west, north and south; every six continents have seen persecution against the Unification Church. Just by observation of this historical phenomenon in such a short time, we can see that the Unification Church is truly the central providential religion of our time.

The Unification Church today captures the essence of Christianity; likewise, Christianity captured the essence of Judaism. What is that essence, that center? It is the messiahship. Judaism has claimed throughout its thousands of years that they are heralding the coming of the messiah. Christianity says that the messiah has come but they are awaiting the second coming. Unification Church today is claiming that the second coming has occurred.

When Judaism was talking about the messiah, they had a vague concept of the definition of that messiah. Christianity, even though they believe in the first coming of the messiah, has an imprecise understanding of the messiah. What about the Unification Church? Do we have a clear concept of the messiah or a vague one? We have a clear one.

Under what circumstances should the messiah come? Should he appear after all the persecution has been endured, or during the persecution, or before the persecution even begins? Look at the time of Judaism, the time of Christianity, the time of the Unification Church. When did the messiah appear?

If you say that the messiah should come before or during the persecution, you are saying that he is supposed to be right in the middle of the persecution. Ideally' the messiah should appear upon the foundation of victory over persecution. If this is true, then all the religions such as Judaism and Christianity should never dodge persecution, saying, "I'm only interested in meeting the messiah and being saved. Let somebody else suffer persecution." That is the wrong attitude to have.

We must understand that it was God's plan to send the messiah only upon the foundation of victory on the individual, family, tribal, national and worldwide level. That was clearly God's intention. At the last days, then, we must expect to see the appearance of one religion which is saying, "Let us take on the burden of universal persecution so that we can make the foundation to receive the messiah."

What about you Moonies; do you like to receive persecution? You could ask me the same question and what do you think I would answer? The same as you: no. Do you think God likes persecution? I'm sure He would answer with a big, huge, NO. That is natural. Why, then, do we willingly accept persecution? It is for the sake of the salvation of the world. You might ask why we have to go through this persecution. Isn't salvation possible without it? No, we must go this way.

The world is like a sick patient. When God sees that sick patient Lying on the bed, does He think, "Wonderful! I'm so happy!" No, He suffers heartbroken anguish for the sake of His children. Were the first human ancestors, Adam and Eve, the servants of God or His children? They were His children. There was no phony artificial relationship between God and Adam and Eve. He created them in His image, as the bone of His bone, the flesh of His flesh.

Physical parents who must see their children Lying seriously ill in bed feel more grieved than those children The sick patient doesn't understand what is going on inside his own body; he only knows that he is in pain. The parents who must watch him suffering will suffer even more in heart.

Christianity today believes God is glorious and sitting on a throne somewhere, but if God is truly the Parent of all mankind and His children are sick in bed, how can He enjoy sitting on a throne? Wouldn't God, as our Parent, forget all about the glory of His throne and crown as He works to help alleviate the suffering of His children? God feels the emergency so deeply, He would even kick His throne and crown away and run down to embrace the world, still wearing His pajamas, like a father in the middle of the night.

Therefore we can see that the general Christian concept of a totally glorious God of joy is the wrong understanding. Judaism believes in God and His glory; they also believe in fearing God and His power. Christianity believes in a God of love, but one of total power and glory. The Unification Church has come and is saying, "God is a God of suffering heart because His children are dying." Is that a right or a wrong concept?

What do you think the spirit world thinks? Are the people there telling God, "You are the only one who cares about that fallen planet, so You go down and try to help them. We just want to enjoy ourselves here."? No, they have declared an emergency for themselves as well, parallel with God's.

When you members of the Unification Church receive persecution, do you feel regret or not? When people ask you, "What church do you belong to?" do you try to dodge the question? When they say, "Your church must have a name of some sort," do you answer, "Well, it is an ecumenical church."? The fact that you are laughing now means that you have done this. You said you don't like persecution, but now that I have explained the meaning of persecution you can accept it as a necessity. Through persecution, you can return to God and receive the messiah; therefore, it is like a privilege.

Now that you have heard this, how will you respond? Perhaps you will go out to the street on Eighth Avenue and proclaim, "Everybody listen to me! I'm a Moonie and I welcome persecution! Give it to me!" I have been discussing all the different levels of persecution, from the individual to the universal. Once you have gone over the hurdle of inviting the universal level of persecution you have completed the test all at once. Therefore, that is the easiest way out, in a sense.

Today we Moonies are living in the era of the universal stage of persecution. Are you proud to be living in this era, receiving this kind of persecution? Do you think Reverend Moon is dumb or wise, sharp or dull? What will happen to Reverend Moon? He looks so dumb because he goes everywhere and receives nothing but persecution. You may think he is almost impossibly dumb because he wasn't satisfied to receive the persecution of the entire nation of Korea; he had to go to Japan and invite more. Even that wasn't enough-he came to America and asked for more persecution, and the Americans gave him a big dose. That wasn't even the end of it because then he said he would go to Moscow!

Our topic tonight is about the land of our settlement. God and the messiah need to be able to settle somewhere on the earth. So far in history God has been a wandering God and the messiah had to wander also. There was no land for them to dwell in; therefore history must come to that point of final settlement. When the messiah comes he must settle; his immediate family will settle; his nation will settle down, as well.

By the year 1976, the entire world was persecuting me: all governments, all religions, all races, all the established powers. That was the highest point of persecution. At that time everybody thought Reverend Moon would be finished. But what has happened since 1976? Reverend Moon has emerged step by step as a victor; more and more people are seeing him as possibly the messiah.

It is obvious that any human's efforts could not have succeeded in this way. Only with the assistance of God could we have come this far. In the span of 10 years, Reverend Moon has established himself on the basis of the entire world.

Satan has been the source of the persecution of Reverend Moon but God has been the power which resisted that persecution and gave him the blessing. Without God's blessing, I could never have come this far. That means the Unification Church is a God-centered, true religion. We have a philosophical and theological foundation which is universal.

What kind of a man is Reverend Moon? Am I fearful, or evil, or good, or mediocre? There are two definitions of Reverend Moon-one is Satan's and one is God's. From Satan's point of view, Reverend Moon is the most fearful man the world has ever encountered. From God's point of view, however, Reverend Moon is the man who pleases Him more than anyone else in history.

We must come to the conclusion that there are two categories of those who like Reverend Moon. One is God and the other is the Moonies. What about the 600 million Christians around the world? Does God care more about numbers of so-called religious people, or about the quality of faith which people exhibit? God is more interested in quality than quantity.

The greatest phenomenon in the advanced civilization of America today is that the most clever young people are following Reverend Moon and refusing to allow anyone to pull them away, even their parents and families. It is truly a source of great interest and curiosity. When Reverend Moon first came to America and proclaimed his message, most people said, "That's OK, let him continue. America is the melting pot, so within six months, we will melt Reverend Moon, too." However, what has happened? Ten years later, American historians have witnessed that, instead of America melting Reverend Moon, America is being melted by him!

You are the children of this culture which has always taught you to sit on chairs. However, now you have changed and you feel comfortable to sit on the floor. I think you can sit longer than I can! I have even heard that when some of our members go back home to visit, instead of choosing to sit on a couch or chair, they tell their parents they are more comfortable sitting on the floor. You have brought the "Moon culture" to your homes in this way and your families cannot understand what is happening!

Nobody seems to like you because the American establishment is not accustomed to your new-found culture. You are making money and you only want to spend it for the sake of your mission, rather than buying things or putting it in a savings account. When the Christmas and New Year holidays come, everybody else is thinking about having fun and going to parties; but we Moonies look at the season as the best time for fundraising!

It is very important in the American culture that young people date and go out with the opposite sex. Many people also think that drugs are fun and harmless. Often parents are urging their children to have lots of dates and an active social life. But in the Moonie culture women who are even 30 years old don't know anything about dating and social life. Their parents think this is very strange. However is there any Unification Church man or woman who cannot get married? No, we can all get married-in one day!

From the satanic point of view, the Unification Church is just impossible and Satan has declared this a time of emergency. However from God's point of view it is a wonderful thing to see. God is pleased to see that for the first time He has some people on the earth who will not be shaken by Satan; He sees that He has some children of His own.

People who thought our movement was bad believed we wouldn't last more than one or two years. However, after ten years in America Reverend Moon and the Unification movement is going stronger than ever. When people try to tell you that you are being brainwashed and used by Reverend Moon, you do not respond by believing them. Instead, you become angry with them and tell them off! No real Moonie will stand still to hear such comments.

None of the efforts of the secular world will work on the Moonies, so they came to the conclusion that you must all be brainwashed. When the Unification Theological Seminary graduates seek their Ph.D.s at major universities, the first thing their professors do is give them an eye test to determine if they really have the glassy eyes. They want to determine if Moonies are really zombies and robots who cannot think or talk for themselves. While those professors have been entertaining all these sensational ideas, Reverend Moon has already embraced the entire academic world, the scientific and theologians' world. There are no really prominent and eminent professors any more who do not know about Reverend Moon on very good terms.

Right now, some very highly esteemed theologians and philosophers are gathered at the Conference on God, in Florida. That particular group of scholars used to be afraid of Reverend Moon, but now they are attending a conference sponsored by him and they are hearing talks on Reverend Moon's ideology. Now when they hear the name or the teachings of Reverend Moon, their heads are lowered in respect.

The American media managed to completely topple President Nixon within a year and a half. The President of the United States capitulated to the power of the media and got kicked out of the White House. That is something the Washington Post is very proud of. So they thought, "Reverend Moon will not last more than six months." However instead of capitulating to them, Reverend Moon is moving forward more and more strongly. All the attention of the media only succeeded in making Reverend Moon famous. People magazine listed Reverend Moon as one of the "25 Most Intriguing People" for 1982.

Look at me now. Am I a good-looking, handsome man? When you look at my Oriental face with your Western eyes, do you really enjoy it and feel good about it? My face normally looks strange to Westerners. I don't rely on appearances to be likable. Maybe many people don't think I am anything special to look at. However, I know that you love me because of something within me, not because of how I look. Isn't that correct?

How do you and I know that is true? When you pray and meditate and when you have dreams, sometimes you meet with me and Mother. I would never visit with any of you in your dreams or prayers if our relationship were not one of genuine care and love. How many of you have met with me in your dreams or prayers? It appears that almost 100% of you have. How many of the hundreds of millions of Christians have dreams and visions of Jesus?

You are truly a different kind of people; you are very strange in a way. Therefore you feel the desire to marry someone from the Orient or someone from another culture. This is very extraordinary for Americans. The Unification Church families will be most colorful in the future. On one bosom, the mother will hold a white baby, on the other she will hold a black baby and the third child will be a yellow one! Suppose a white woman had three children, one white, one black and one yellow. It happened that the black and the yellow child loved their mother more than the white child. Would the mother reject those children because they were a different color than her and prefer the white child? No, the mother's eyes do not see color; they only see love.

God looks at the earth the same way. Do you think He says, "I prefer white children more, so you white ones can come to Me first, then the yellow ones and finally the black ones."? No, God will welcome His children according to the intensity of their love for Him. White, yellow and black make no difference to Him.

Suppose you were an Oriental woman married to a white husband with some black ancestors. You would be a mixture of everything in your family! You might have one white, one yellow, and one black child! That would be a beautiful, multi-colored family. In the recent Korean matching, I matched many Japanese women to black African men; this caused tremendous commotion in Japan. The parents are complaining against me but I am telling them, "What is the problem? As these men and women come together in love, mankind will be brought closer together in love; furthermore, God takes great delight in this. Therefore, I have no shame about it."

The majority of the couples in the recent blessing on October 14 came from Japan. This marriage caused a tremendous, earthshaking response in Japan. Most people took it very favorably, saying, "What a sacred way of marrying! What a beautiful way to start the race of God!" Many parents were very pleased to see that their children had gone to take part in that blessing; but then, their daughters came back with a black husband. However, they had already applauded the value of the blessing, so they couldn't take it back!

Many Japanese are thinking that Reverend Moon's mass marriages are truly a wonderful idea. Even the government has resigned itself and accepted it. Initially they thought that Reverend Moon was very evil, but observing his actions they have changed their minds. They have begun to accept that Reverend Moon must be a good man. People have seen that instead of trying to take revenge on the American media, I have created the Washington Times and invited all those negative media people to take a better job with us, to contribute something of value to the country.

1982 was an extraordinary year. The U.S. government tried to destroy Reverend Moon in the courtroom, but instead of seeking revenge, I have turned around and tried to do many things to help and save the destiny of this nation. Many comfortable Washington political bureaucrats who have had their beautiful offices inside big marble buildings considered Reverend Moon and the Unification Church as insignificant as peanuts. However, now they have found themselves having to respond to the Washington Times; they are reading it and trembling at some of the stories. They find themselves having to take advice from the Washington Times!

Those who are dedicated to the destruction of the Unification Church find the Washington Times the worst thing possible. They are thinking, "Reverend Moon must be a genius to come up with this idea. We were hitting him through the media and he responded by creating the Washington Times!" Traditionally America has been a basically conservative nation; recently, however, there has been no effective conservative newspaper in the nation's capitol. When the Washington Times first appeared, people just called it "the Moonie paper." However, now conservative people in Washington are calling it "our paper."

In the winter time, honeybees don't have the ability to find honey so the beekeeper has to feed them with sugar. All winter long they stock up on sugar, but once spring comes and the real honey appears, the bees are so intent on sucking it they are not even aware if someone comes along and tries to pull them away. They might even be pulled in two pieces, but their heads would keep sucking the honey! Something like that is happening now in Washington. People are reading the Washington Times and are oblivious to being "hit" by others; they are saying, "So what! This is honey!"

Actually, we are the happiest people under the sun. We are leading the most exciting life. Now, during this Christmas season perhaps some of your parents are worrying about you and thinking that you are leading a terrible lifestyle. On the contrary, you are the most vital, happiest people. Also we are very excited because we know that we have the ability to mold the future for the nation and the world. We can create a new moral society on the earth; we can put an end to immorality and drug-abuse. Because of this, Moonies are people of great confidence.

We consider the whole world as our stage. Many young people are becoming victims of the drug culture; they try to deaden their senses and obliterate the world's influence. But we want to contribute to the whole world; we want to learn all the languages-French, Spanish, Korean, Japanese, etc. This is because we want to be able to survive and prosper wherever we go, anywhere in the world.

The most important quality we possess is that we are not doing these things because we are being forced to; we are doing them voluntarily and joyfully. How wonderful you are, even though your parents may be thinking, "How miserable and fearful those Moonies are!"

We have a hope and a pattern for the future; God is preparing it for us. That is what our life is all about. Each of you is heading for that goal which you must be qualified to reach-citizenship in the Kingdom of Heaven. This means you must be willing to go through the worst possible training period during your life on earth. Every day you experience difficult situations for this very reason.

What is the uniqueness of Reverend Moon? After all, there have been many religious leaders who went through the road of persecution because they were obeying God. However, very few succeeded on every level. Reverend Moon is the man who not only endured tremendous persecution but who also won the victory on every level- individual, family, society, national, worldwide and universal levels. This is what God has been waiting to see throughout human history; finally He has found a winner.

The key word is victory. Somebody has to sign the victory certificate and who is that? Satan must be the one. That victory sheet for God is the surrender sheet for Satan. If this is really true, those of you here have really hit the jackpot. When someone plays "Blackjack" at a gambling casino, the owner of that casino never wants to see anyone get a "21" or blackjack. However, if someone gets that, the owner is obliged by the rules of the game to pay him for his chips. Satan is in the same position. However reluctant he is to surrender, he will be forced to when you win the victory.

At what point will Satan surrender? He will give you his absolutely strongest persecution and if you endure it and show that your love for God is stronger than his persecution, you will have won. Satan will see that no matter how intensely he persecutes and punishes you, you will never surrender and he will feel that he is wasting his time with you. In such a case, Satan will leave.

What is Reverend Moon's uniqueness, then? I knew this secret about Satan. I knew how to hit the blackjack against Satan. I brought this secret to the different levels of relationship-individual, family, and so forth-because the principle is the same, regardless of the level. Satan surrenders only under one condition: that you love God more than the worst persecution he can give you.

All of you are listening to this sermon. but so is Satan! He is jumping up and down in frustration, crying, "Oh no, Reverend Moon, you did it to me again! What will I do?" Once you know Satan's secret, your way is very simple. You will become men and women who are invincible and no one will be able to stop you. Regardless of what anyone tells you, including your brothers and sisters, your mother and father, your society, your employer, it won't make a difference in your faith. Even if the communists try to kill you, you will be unmoved.

Therefore, once you know this secret, you can look at persecution as a suspension bridge, across which you have to walk from Satan's realm into God's realm. That bridge will carry you across the wide chasm dividing them.

This is like a "blessed couples season," because we see lots of couples talking very intimately with one another. One wife may be saying to her husband, "My dear, you have been a member of the Unification Church for ten years now. You have done your share. For a change, let's just take a little vacation together." Then there is the wife who gives her husband a motherly admonition, "Dear, you didn't learn very much and Father says we must be very wise. Therefore, why don't you drop everything and go back to college and get your degree?"

You women, without your even realizing it, can be used as a tool of Satan very easily. When you start talking about all the mundane, practical things of your life, you can easily be led into complaining, which can grow and grow. This kind of process is almost inevitably a poison. At first your husband might resist your complaining and tell you to stop. However, if you persist, after a while he will eventually give in to you.

What do you say to that, you men? Will you be that kind of husband? You husbands must be able to tell even your wife, "Get behind me, Satan." What about you women? Can you also say to your husbands, "Get behind me, Satan."? If you can agree to doing that, even though you might have made mistakes in the past, God will be able to forgive you and give you a new beginning at this new year.

Home Church is our land of settlement; that means Home Church is the final stage of the providence. After I have received persecution from all different levels and gained the victory over them, my certificate of victory is Home Church. That certificate is given by Satan as well as God; it must come from both sides. Home Church is the place where you can inherit my victories and you can also conclude your indemnity You can separate yourself from indemnity and find your final, ultimate land of settlement. That is Home Church.

God called Abraham out of his homeland and told him to travel; he had to live like a gypsy. Jacob also had to work throughout much of his life in a foreign land, the land of Laban. Moses left his home and went into the Pharaoh's palace. Christianity had to leave Israel and go to Rome. The Unification Church today has had to leave its homeland. I had to leave my country, just as many of you did. I left my homeland and came to America where the persecution has been great; however, I have not stopped my journey. I must go toward the ultimate goal of Moscow. In 1976 I declared that the next goal was Moscow.

I am the front-line soldier against communism. Many people fee] very uncomfortable when they hear that Reverend Moon's next goal is Moscow. They think I am making very dangerous statements and that someone might try to kill me. Even my close assistants have not understood how we would be able to accomplish the goal of our Moscow rally. Yesterday morning I sat at the breakfast table, surrounded by church leaders, and I talked about how I planned to achieve the Moscow rally. For the first time all those close leaders told me, "Now we understand why you made that declaration to go to Moscow. It makes sense, Father." I won't tell you the plan here because you will think it's too simple and easy. Perhaps you will think you can just relax and not work hard. Also, I can't release such information too widely because there are spies who hear these sermons, not just our faithful members.

You women, if I directed you to go to Moscow, would you go? Today there is no country on the face of the earth in which there is not a member of the Unification Church, including Soviet Russia and the satellite countries. You may have noticed that one of your brothers disappeared all of a sudden and you thought, "Maybe he was tired and left the movement." In many cases, that person went to a foreign country. Even some blessed couples have willingly parted from each other for the purpose of serving in another country.

What about you? Are you only thinking, "We got the blessing now. All we have to do is create the Heavenly four-positions, so I want to relax and settle down now." Do you need an ordinary life now, or do you need a mission? You must think, "Mission is first, second, and third in my life."

I always go to the Holy Ground every day to pray at 5:00 in the morning and sometimes earlier. It is not easy for Mother, but she accompanies me. Mother has her own accomplishments; she is only one woman and she has brought thirteen brilliant children into the world. That is very extraordinary and I could easily become sympathetic toward her situation for that reason, but I don't allow myself to do that. I tell her, "You have your accomplishments, but I have my own suffering, too. My path is equally and even more difficult. Therefore, let us move forward without hesitation."

Sometimes I don't feel very well; I get headaches and soreness throughout my body. Whenever that happens, I push myself harder. Normally people say, "I need another two hours rest, perhaps a whole day's rest, and I'll be Al right tomorrow." However, when I don't feel well I push my body and say, "Get moving." What happens? I find that my pains and headache disappears.

Those leaders who regularly come to East Garden come early in the morning and stay until I go upstairs to bed. At night they often feel very tired but they don't want to say so. Instead they say to me, "Father, I think you must be very tired. Don't you want to go upstairs and get some rest?" I answer them, "You rascals! Get behind me, Satan!" Then I usually stay downstairs even longer than usual.

Normally I go upstairs around one or two o'clock in the morning, but that is not the end of my day. I often sit at my desk and read reports and work on papers. Often I spend the entire night on that chair. Five o'clock comes very quickly and I always go to the Holy Ground to pray.

I can sleep at any time or place. If I sit down for just five minutes, you will hear me snoring very soon. My body is always tired, but I am still pushing myself. Many members think, "Father's body is special. His bones are made of iron and his flesh is not really like everybody else's." That is the way many people try to justify themselves.

Sometimes my own children feel regret for not having received unlimited love and attention from Mother and me; their hearts are pained by this sometimes. I know they have every right to feel sad and claim that they did not receive enough attention from us, but then what have we been doing? We have worked hard and suffered for the sake of the entire world and humanity, something greater than our own children. Therefore I have no pain in my conscience. Since I have been pursuing greater and greater accomplishments, my family has received care and protection.

Reverend Moon doesn't have a land for settlement; he is still a sojourner in a foreign land, living like a gypsy. I am still living this way because God has not yet found His own land of settlement. When God settles, Reverend Moon and the Moonies will settle with Him. This is the most crucial segment of human history-the settlement of God, Reverend Moon and the members of the Unification Church.

From 1945 to 1985 will be the forty years of wilderness for the Unification Church. We are still marching in the wilderness toward the goal of the worldwide Canaan. We shall move forward into Canaan and leave behind this wilderness. These 40 years are the most crucial ones for the Unification Church because it is the time period during which we must pay every possible indemnity condition that needs to be paid. We must be completely free of accusation from Satan so that he will have no condition to claim against us.

Reverend Moon is like the elder statesman in the land of darkness, but the dawn is coming. Now I am emerging in the new morning light; this is the end of the 40 years. Right now a big contrast is clear between North America and South America. North America is strongly persecuting me; all the media use negative adjectives to describe me, such as, "controversial Korean evangelist-industrialist," or sometimes they say, "charlatan," and so forth. But now in South America many people are looking at me as a source of new hope. The media write about me as, "the internationally famous Reverend Moon."

When one side of the globe is in darkness, the other is enjoying the sunlight. While the U.S. is persecuting Reverend Moon, the Orient is starting to see me as one of the greatest Oriental men who ever lived. They are calling me a patriot and so on. Certainly the yellow race is the most numerous throughout the world. Japan is giving great pain to Western civilization because they are outdoing them in everything, such as computers and automobiles. This is the result of the natural turning of the universe.

The period of persecution against the Moonies is not going to be permanent. That is the time of night and it has to turn toward the time of light. The period of persecution will be approximately 40 years. When the dawn comes, how long will the time of welcome last for the Moonies? The showdown has been made, so we will be embraced for eternity. It will be final.

Reverend Moon wants to bring all the victorious achievements to you upon the foundation of Home Church. You will be able to receive this inheritance whether you joined the church ten years ago, one year ago, or just today. During World War II, some people fought from the beginning to the end, while some joined only on the last day. Still each person on the winning side could enjoy the victory at the end; each soldier could call himself a veteran. The greatest of all blessings is coming to all the members of the Unification Church, who shall have the right to attend God, Jesus and the True Parents and settle together in the land of Canaan. That is the privilege and honor of the members of the Unification Church.

Because of the fall of man, all levels of love were lost and need to be restored. You must love God first, before your husband or wife and children. Home Church represents God to you, so you must love Home Church first. Then you should love the True Parents and finally you can love your spouse and children. Four types of love were lost: love for God, love for true parents, true love between husband and wife, and true love for children. These must be restored in the proper order.

In Home Church you must receive the welcome of everyone, including Satan. In that way you will be granted the right to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. This morning at breakfast, Mr. Pak told me that we need to witness more to young people who will be committed members to replace

the older members. I told him that was important but Home Church is more important. As the head of Washington Times, he should give out his name card to people, especially when he travels back and forth on the airplane shuttle. He could tell people, "I am responsible for the new paper, Washington Times. Aren't you interested to hear about Reverend Moon and the teachings of our church?" Witnessing to people is doing Home Church, too. All the leaders should think in such a fashion.

The accomplishment of this Home Church providence is a life or death matter. When something is so serious, there is nothing you cannot do; nothing should make you hesitate. Husband and wife should go together with their children on their arms, visiting their 360 homes. While you are winning the Home Church area, you will be winning spiritual children as well. You must make your Home Church area a place in which you have a free pass everywhere. You are taking God, the True Parents, your husband and wife, and your children with you. This is the gate through which you must be able to pass.

From now on there are no boundaries between spirit world and the physical world. You can communicate freely back and forth. The land of settlement is almost like Cape Canaveral, with rocket ships leaving regularly.

God has been holding on to a small, leaf-like boat on the Pacific Ocean, but He is finally finding some dry land. That is the kind of joy which God feels toward Home Church. If you only talk about doing Home Church but you never really get serious about it and do it, when you die and go to spirit world you will feel much regret; but by then it is too late. You cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven until you somehow create your own Home Church base here on the earth. It might take millions of years.

When you blessed couples spread throughout the world and become very numerous, will you open your doors to welcome the True Parents and True Children, night or day? By the same token, you shall be welcomed in your Home Church area. You have to create the base for that kind of welcome.

With this formula and tradition established, the Moscow Rally will be absolutely no problem; in fact, it will be simple. The time has come in which I must settle. I have done everything that needs to be done for the sake of the free world. 1983 is going to be a crucial year for you and for me; we are going to bring victory together this year. The court battle shall be won during this year. Perhaps if you don't fulfill what is needed and expected of you, God will have to leave you behind because you will become like a roadblock.

Perhaps for a change I will mobilize all scholars. If the white people cannot accomplish, I will use other people. Perhaps Oriental people or some other ethnic group will have to come over here to work. If that isn't successful, I will mobilize all the Korean people here in America; they will be asked to provide the funds necessary for the American providence.

Once I make up my mind to do a certain thing, it can be organized within a short time. Will you accomplish your responsibilities, or will you say to me, "I'm in a special situation, Father. I work for the newspaper" or "My mission is different from everybody else's."? That excuse will not work.

Now you know the slogan and goal for 1983-Home Church Is Our Land of Settlement. We must dedicate our heart and soul toward the fulfillment of this goal and win the victory. Last year's slogan was Victory of Home Church. How much victory did you win? The slogan of the previous year was Home Church Is My Kingdom of Heaven. How much of the Kingdom of Heaven did you actually build and organize? Before that, we had Home Church Is the Base of the Kingdom of Heaven, and Home Church Is the Completion of the Kingdom of Heaven. However, throughout all these years, nobody has achieved the goal. This year should not be the same as those in the past. This year should be different. All you leaders must be aware of the responsibility you are bearing to mobilize everyone this year, without exception.

Without this attitude, you will not have your settlement but will always be wandering like gypsies, not only in this life but also throughout eternity. When you enter the spirit world, you will not be able to be near me unless you succeed. In the Christian faith, no matter how much they believe they can only go as far as Paradise. By the same token, unless you fulfill a certain program here on earth, you shall enter only into a paradise level of existence. In that place you will receive all kinds of accusation from those closest to you-your own spouse, your children, and so forth. They will complain, "Why didn't you push me harder while we were on the earth? Because of that, we didn't work hard enough for Home Church and we couldn't enter the Kingdom of Heaven." I want you to understand that the accusation of Satan is painful, but the accusation from your own spouse and children is even worse. You cannot truly love and embrace your spouse and children without doing your mission.

This is the reason I have given my entire life, day in and day out, to accomplish my mission. This morning, since you know the truth and you know the slogan, let us pledge to Heaven that we shall march forward to the accomplishment of this slogan and achieve the victory this year. Those who make that pledge, raise your hands and say Amen! You have made so many pledges in the past, but this particular one shall not fail. With that attitude of determination, raise your hands again. Amen! Thank you.

God's Day

Reverend Sun Myung Moon
January 1, 1983, Morning
World Mission Center
Translator - Bo Hi Pak

Hananim, the Korean word for God, contains the elements of hana, which means "one," and nim, which is a title of respect, such as sir. That is the definition of God-He is the One, the Unique, to whom we pay the greatest respect.

Generally speaking New Year's Day is supposed to be a happy, fun-filled holiday; but in the Unification Church, God's Day is a very tough day, filled with difficulties. Everyone of you feels sluggish and tired this morning, don't you? I get sluggish, myself. You received a powerful message early this morning already, beginning at midnight, so do you think you need any more messages today?

Most people celebrate holidays with lots of food, such as cookies and cakes; we celebrate with lots of words-the word of God! Physical food, when you take in more than a normal dosage, will always give you a problem with your stomach, but what about an overdose of the word of God? It certainly doesn't give you stomach trouble!

Consider God's situation. He already knows what Reverend Moon is going to speak about this morning; since He does, will He decide to go off and take a nap instead of attending the speech? Or does He intensely want to be here? Certainly God knows everything I am about to say, so the content of the speech will not be anything new to Him. However, God is very much interested in observing the audience and their reaction to these words. He is thinking, "I know the people in this audience have been having particular problems and discouragement, so I hope this message will renew them and bring them back closer to me."

Therefore, God has an intense interest in you, the listeners, and also God knows precisely where you are spiritually. He has been hoping and thinking, "My son and daughter have not been doing too well; I hope they can become a new man and woman from listening to Reverend Moon this morning." He is watching closely what goes on here, every minute during this sermon. When the sermon covers a certain topic, God knows it is intended for that particular son or daughter. What if, when that topic comes up, God looks at those particular persons and they are dozing? God would certainly feel unhappy and frustrated with you. No matter how benevolent and sympathetic God may be toward you, at that particular moment He would really feel like hitting you on the head to shake you up!

Do you want to be in the position to receive a hit on the head from God on this New Year's morning? God may have a secretary who is recording every aspect of this message in a Heavenly diary. Would you like to be recorded in that diary as, "He was snoring at the particular moment when the message was meant for him."?

When God feels like bringing His fist down on your head at such a moment, how do you think spirit world feels? Your ancestors, especially, have been in spirit world for a long time, waiting for this time; they feel so proud that you, their offspring, are able to be here and listen to this God's Day message. If you fall asleep all of a sudden, your ancestors will try to do anything to wake you up; they will feel like knocking you over! At that particular moment, your great-great-great-grandfather will say to you, "You rascal! You let me down!" He might feel like pulling out your two eyes because you aren't using them properly.

Today is God's Day. Why do we designate it that way? Is it God's birthday, or some day that God did something special? What kind of a day is God's Day? It is a day of joy, that is true; but why should this day be particularly joyful? After all, God can meet with His beloved ones any day and enjoy any day He chooses, not just January 1. Since we don't celebrate God's birthday any particular day, we have this day to dedicate to God.

This is supposed to be a good day for God. Does He want to encounter good or bad people on this day? Are you qualified to call yourself a good person in whom only goodness resides? You say no. God wants to meet an absolutely good person, but you cannot fulfill that standard. Therefore, no matter how much God wants to bless you and celebrate this day with you He actually has no one qualified to receive that blessing.

People all over the world are celebrating this first day of the year, but where are there people who are celebrating it as God's Day? It is only among the members of the Unification Church. Therefore God would want to be with us on this day, since we are the only ones who recognize it as His day. If God is giving His presence to our God's Day celebration, what about spirit world? They too would want to be here.

Do you think that all the U.S. presidents in spirit world would want to go wherever God goes on God's Day? Maybe we would only accept one representative from those presidents, rather than all of them. How would they decide which president would be the one? George Washington is the best-known president of the United States. Could anyone claim himself more qualified than George Washington? There is probably at least one. How about Abraham Lincoln? He might accuse George Washington, saying, "When you were president, you allowed many slaves to be imported here from Africa, but when I came into office, I emancipated all of them. Look at the Unification celebration-all five colors of skin are there together. Therefore, George, I am more qualified than you to attend that God's Day celebration." That is a strong argument, don't you think?

What would George Washington say to such an argument from Abraham Lincoln? Would he dispute it, or would he agree to it? He would probably have to agree to it. If Abraham Lincoln was chosen to attend, where do you think he would sit? Would he try to push Reverend Moon off the stage and claim the central position, since he was the former president of the United States? Suppose a big argument arose between Reverend Moon and Abraham Lincoln over where Abraham should sit. As a spectator, which one would you support?

If Abraham Lincoln were defeated in the argument with Reverend Moon, would he accept it humbly, or would he go out cursing and denying the value of being here? Maybe after the argument, I would give him permission to stay but he would have to sit beside the trash can. Would he then say, "No! I am president of the United States and I won't sit there!" What would you say then? Would you be willing to give Lincoln your better seat, since he was a president, and be willing to take his seat by the trash can? Even if you tried to do that, I would tell you to remain where you are because it is your seat.

This is all very imaginative but I am trying to illustrate for you the reality of spirit world. There are so many people there who want to be here and take any seat, regardless of how miserable, because they want to join in your celebration of God's Day. When God is attending this celebration, all spirit world sends representatives. What kinds of gifts do you think they would bring? Since God's Day is the most important day of the year, wouldn't they bring the most valuable gifts here? It wouldn't be just some average kind of gift, but something wonderful and absolute.

Abraham Lincoln wouldn't come here empty-handed; he would carry a tremendous gift, as a representative of all the other presidents. He would look at you, the citizens of the United States; if he sees you coming in empty-handed, would he be happy? What kind of gift did you bring? Are you bringing a sleepy head that dozes throughout the sermon? Did you bring the gift of fatigue?

Did you at least wear clean underwear today or did you wear your everyday underwear that you just took casually out of the drawer this morning? Or did you begin to prepare that underwear a long time ago, even one year ago? Did you put it out and look at it and plan, "This is the underwear that I will wear on God's Day next time."? Did you pray, sing and do your Pledge in front of that special underwear? Did you put that kind of value into your tee-shirts and underpants for God's Day?

Even now you could begin to prepare your underwear for God's Day in the year 2000; you could pray in front of it and so forth starting now, putting all your heart and soul into it. You could wash it every day from now until the year 2000. Would God say, "You are wasting your money, your time and energy! Go to prison!" When God's Day 2000 finally comes, seventeen years from now, and you have been washing it every day, you may put it on and discover that it is full of holes! When you wear those ragged underclothes, what would God say to you-that you deserve blame or praise?

Why would God say you deserve praise? Does God like that kind of holy underwear? God would want to reward you because of your sincerest heart and prayer which you dedicated to that underwear for that special day.

Suppose Jeung Jin Nim, who is only six months old now, decides to prepare her underwear for that God's Day when she reaches 100 years of age. She would wash it constantly, praying over it and so forth. Don't you think God would determine that He would never allow her to be taken from the earth before that special 100th year comes? Even if Jeung Jin Nim did nothing throughout her entire life except devote herself to that special underwear, what would God think? After washing those underthings for 100 years, they would literally be shredded rags when that special God's Day came, impossible to wear at all. The only way she could take them to the celebration would be to wrap them up in a package and carry them.

Suppose that when she came to that special God's Day celebration, when she was 100 years old, I asked everybody who was wearing specially-washed underwear to stand up. Jeung Jin Nim would feel qualified to stand up, even though she wasn't actually wearing the underwear. Suppose then that I asked everybody to take off their outer clothing and show off their specially-dedicated underwear. Well, Jeung Jin Nim would have to stand there stark naked while everyone else would be covered by their underwear. Would God declare Jeung Jin Nim unworthy of being there then, since she was so terrible to stand there without any clothes on? No, God and everyone else would recognize that she was the one most worthy of being there and attending the celebration.

Then we would have another problem-when everyone sees Jeung Jin Nim receiving all the praise and recognition for standing there naked, they would all want to be naked, too! We would have to clarify the situation and allow only those who washed their underwear for 100 years to do that.

Do you want to start on your 100-year program now for your "underwear religion?" Certainly a person with such a sincere heart would immediately be lifted up into the Kingdom of Heaven when he went to spirit world.

Although this is a funny topic, there is a lot of truth in the idea. Do you think you can have a casual attitude toward God's Day and just attend any celebration you want, at any time? There will come the time when special professors and scholars will wait for ten years in order to be admitted to the God's Day celebration. How can you think you can come here now and doze off? When the representatives of entire nations and heads of state come to hear these words on God's Day, they will be lit up like lanterns of inspiration. They will want to write down every word and put it on videotape to take back to their home country to share with everyone there.

Knowing this precious value of God's Day, anyone who just routinely attends the celebration and dozes lazily will be chastised by spirit world. You will be specially tormented by your own ancestors.

What kind of gift did you bring to this God's Day? Can you offer this day to God? God is not interested in some material gift, but rather the kind of heart and sincerity you can offer Him. With what kind of heart did you prepare yourself for this special day? Compare the kind of heart and soul you would have toward your own marriage day and the kind of heart you have toward God's Day. Which one should be more intense and deep? God's Day should.

Do you attend the God's Day celebration with the desire to receive something, such as the good Korean lunch at the World Mission Center? Do you try to use God's Day as an excuse to escape the forty days fundraising condition? That is certainly not a healthy motivation. Some people might arrange to get together with their spouses by using God's Day as a reason. People with such poor motivation are most likely the ones who are dozing in the sermons because they really have no interest in God's Day itself.

We must celebrate God's Day with a solid content. We must come to the realization that we set aside January 1st. as God's Day not because of money or power, nor for the sake of the Unification Church or even the True Parents. We do it solely for the love of God. God has never before had the chance to fully manifest His love throughout history; but because of God's Day, God now has the opportunity and reason to show His love to His children. Therefore, the celebration of God's love is the meaning of this day.

God has been suffering for so long, waiting for this opportunity. Today is the time of fulfillment of God's love. Love, which was supposed to be God's property but which was stained and given away to Satan, has been misused and perverted by Satan for his own purposes. God has been desperately seeking the day when that love would be purified and returned to Him. Finally that moment of restoration has come in which God has gained the opportunity to purify love.

In the Unification Church, we have four major yearly celebrations. Beginning forty days before each celebration, you should set aside certain conditions to which you devote your heart and, soul for the sake of that celebration. That is the only way you can truly come here with a valuable gift to offer.

We have Parents' Day, Children's Day, Day of All Things, and God's Day. No matter how honorable or good some people may be who are dwelling in spirit world today, none of them could escape the lineage of Satan. They had absolutely no way to be born from true parents, in the lineage of God and had to be born with the stained blood inherited from Satan. Therefore, the entire spirit world has been waiting for the appearance of the True Parents' Day, since they never had the privilege of being born into True Parents lineage.

The people here on earth are in the Abel position to those in spirit world; therefore, you should feel more privileged than they to be participating in these holidays. You should be making deeper heart and soul conditions than anyone in spirit world. All of humanity has been agonizing, waiting to become true sons and daughters of God. Religious people have paid incredible indemnity, such as martyrdom and terrible earthly suffering. All of that was to fulfill the day when they could become the true children of God, under the lineage of True Parents.

All men and women will be competing with each other to become the most pious children of God because True Parents have appeared for the first time. This is the one time they can set the record; anybody who really knows the meaning of this day will dedicate themselves totally to becoming children of filial piety.

In order to bring the truest heart and soul condition in preparation for these holidays, you need a mate who will be your partner in helping you to accomplish those conditions. Men and women come together as a pair of subject and object to accomplish this.

In order to make an offering, you need an altar. Once an offering is placed upon the altar, it stays there permanently. However, people fluctuate frequently in spirit-sometimes high, sometimes low. Therefore, you must have some offering in order to be really acceptable to God. It will have value according to the depth of heart and soul you put into it; through that alone can God acknowledge your sincerity and integrity and accept your offering.

In the Old Testament era, all the things of creation were offered on the altar to God. In the era of the New Testament, the Son of God was offered. In the Completed Testament era, the Parents are the ones who are the offering.

In the Old Testament, lambs, doves, and so on were cut in half and the person making the offering bowed before it. At the time of the New Testament, Satan crucified Jesus on the cross, which became the sacred altar for all of mankind, before which everyone bows down. At the time of the Completed Testament, the True Parent must be the living sacrifice, bearing one cross after another in everyday life.

In order for you to prepare properly for God's Day, you must begin in advance; you must plan what to offer out of the depth of your heart. You must bring your spiritual children as an offering. At this time of the Completed Testament, you are combining the offerings of the past and are offering everything at the same time. Your gift is offered as the fulfillment of the Old Testament era; your spiritual children consummate the New Testament era. When you offer yourself in the parental position, your offering becomes total.

For that reason-sanctifying and consecration of this kind of offering-God's Day has been set aside. We did not come here today just for festivities and having a great time; that is not the spirit at all. After today, God's Day will be over, but that particular offering you made will continue every day and will grow in value. When we continue to accumulate such grateful offerings of heart, with each day added on for hundreds and thousands of years, we will be sanctifying this earth and we shall make the Kingdom of Heaven finally. That is the way the transformation comes.

The order of celebrations, therefore, occurs like this: first Parents' Day, because without true parents no new life can come, nothing can happen. Then the parents give life to true children, so Children's Day comes next. By restoring the true children we can restore the things of creation, so we celebrate All Things Day. After that, finally we can celebrate God's Day.

The time will come eventually when, once all these things have been consummated, I will be able to offer all these things to God in their original positions. God will then be in the position to accept them and claim them as His own. The priest of the Unification Church is in the position of receiving all the gifts coming from the world, as the representative of God. My position is that of chief priest.

Eventually the different parts of the world will prepare special gifts with great heart and soul and offer them for these four great celebrations of God. When a gift is being transported by airplane, for example from Brazil to Korea, all the people on the land in Brazil should bow down when they see that airplane passing overhead. All the Brazilian radios and televisions should report exactly where that plane is along its path; when it starts flying over Japan, the people there would respect that particular plane, too, because it is carrying a gift to God.

That is the true meaning of a celebration; we are going to set that kind of tradition. In the Old Testament era, the people worshipped in temples; each temple contained a tabernacle in which there was the holy place and the most holy place. Only the chief priest was qualified to enter that most holy place; the regular priests were not even able to do that. There was a certain sacred, procedure in which the offering could be made to God. Any offering had to be made with the proper procedure and could only I be touched by the appropriate religious leaders.

I An offering is not limited to the one time in which it is I made. It becomes the gift of all things of creation, the gift of the children, the gift of oneself-everything becomes a part of it. Not only all things, but also your children are a better offering; yourself is the very best offering. Together you represent all the fallen generations and when you are coming back to God through the high priest you ask him to receive you as a pure offering.

All things represent the Old Testament offering; the children represent the New Testament era; True Parents become the Completed Testament era offering. These three offerings come together on God's Day; we ask God to accept them all at once as our total gift.

Unification members should not be indebted to others, even in a material way. We should always be moving forward dynamically; we should not be a burden to anybody. The material world has been sanctified through the Unification Church, so Satan cannot claim those things which we own because we have always offered them to God. Always in the past Satan has been able to invade the material possessions of people; but here in the Unification Church, material has gained sacredness. We never consider any material thing as "my own;" we recognize it as God's property and because of His love, we are allowed to have stewardship of certain things.

While you are here on the earth, you must attend the True Parents in your daily lives. If you fail to do that while they are on the earth, when you enter into spirit world you will be accused by everyone there. The life we lead here on the earth is for the purpose of creating a truly proper offering to God. Any offering which cannot communicate with the love of God will be rejected by Him.

Once all things are offered to God, He will give stewardship of certain things to you. When you receive it as a gift from God, you can use it for the sake of your own children, for example. This is because your ultimate offering will be your children and in order to create the Heavenly four-position foundation, you are using certain material things for fulfilling your total offering to God. That is the only way we can justify the use of God's materials.

Any offering must be connected with the love of God; even material things have that connection. Certainly children have that connection and you yourself have to be connected with God's love. Only when all those positions are offered to God can God accept your gift.

You must see everything, at all times, as connected with the love of God. All the material things you use must be seen as having that connection; your children are connected and you, too, are connected. That is the way you must look at them, every minute of the day.

You must look at every day as the preparation to welcome the parents into your home. You must prepare your things, your house, your furniture and together with your children, you should be ready to welcome the parents. When True Parents come to visit you, they will feel completely at home and completely united with you.

When the grandfather prepares to meet his death, he is in the position of the chief priest of his family. He will gather together all the younger generations-his eldest son, grandchildren, etc. He will tell them, "I upheld the principles and the love of God. You must continue to do so; I am now giving you that right to carry on." The one who inherits that position becomes the master of the house. That is the kind of home tradition which must be created.

Many Americans say, "The things Reverend Moon and the Unification Church are teaching are only the Korean and Oriental way," but that is not the case. We are teaching God's way. When you come to enter the holy or the most holy place, you must be harmonized among husband and wife and children. Men and women who are dedicating their entire lives for the sake of making a proper offering to God-all things, their children, themselves- will still feel humbled and not enough; they will always want to bring a greater offering. When such people die, they go straight into the highest possible Heaven.

Just as God created all things, He has given stewardship to His children; therefore, you have the right to take care of those things, with the heart of appreciation to the Creator. A person who has lived such a public life may be elevated into spirit world without having been able to receive his proper reward from God. Once he is there, God can reward that person with everything he desires.

We have only one way directly to God-through the way of true love. Once you truly fulfill the position of restored Adam and Eve, you will take all the things of creation under your care and connect them to the love of God. Then there will be no more boundary between God and you. The very reason I am teaching this principle today is that I have the obligation to nurture you and make each of you a Heavenly person while you are here on the earth; this is your only opportunity. Once you pass away, you have no more chance. This is the very time to become a Heavenly person.

The clothes you are wearing are not yours; your own physical body is not even yours. Your husband or wife is not yours. There is only one way these things can become yours-by connecting them and yourself with the love of God. When you are totally a part of the love of God and can relate the love of your husband and children with that vertical love, everything will become yours.

The Principle of Creation tells very clearly that God created men and all things because of His love. Therefore your right to ownership can be determined by your connection with that true love of God. The Unification Church is a very privileged church with a special honor because we have a way in which we can legitimately claim others and all things. You are in the position to return to God.

Unless you fulfill this process while you are living here on earth, there will be no bridge between you, the physical world and the spirit world. Everything in the Unification Church is done in the name of God. Even our marriages are done in the name of God; they are not for our own sake, but for God's sake. I want you to understand clearly that you claim all things in order to come closer to God; you want to have something to offer to God. You want to get the marriage blessing because you can possess more of the love of God in that way. You want to have children so that you can consummate the love of God. Everything is connected with the love of God.

We are walking the original path for man; even your marriage is a part of that path. For the Unification Church marriage is essential. The husband and wife love relationship must be one which is saintly and sacred. When a woman is embarrassed, she often covers her mouth which is a most holy place and which she wants to protect. How do men and women begin to express their love for each other? Naturally, you come together in a kiss; thus your mouth is a most holy place.

Women have three levels of holy places through which they express their love. One is the mouth, which is the formation stage; the next is the bosom, which is the growth stage; and finally the sexual organs, which are the perfection stage. All these three are truly holy places. Therefore, nobody can touch them without having the special key, special permission. That key is held in the hands of the husband. No one else has the particular key to fit the particular holy places of that woman. Anybody who gives out more than one key is giving out a key to Satan; perhaps Satan will have two or three keys. That absolutely degrades the person.

The only way a woman or man can open up their most holy places is by going to their husband or wife. When the priest, which is your spouse, comes to you and prepares to enter your holy places, you naturally welcome him or her and just open up freely. Many people consider sexual activities to be dirty or ugly, but actually they are the most holy activities. It is Satan who made them dirty.

Because those places are so holy, the holiest of products will come out of their use in love - your children They are the most supremely holy things you can create and they are the result of your love. When your children come, you see them as the flesh of your flesh; you want to give everything to them. The child does all kinds of dirty, smelly things, like messing up his diapers, but it doesn't make any difference to the parents. They welcome it. When your own son or daughter dirties their diapers, it smells like perfume to you, but perhaps as soon as your husband uses the bathroom it is a very offensive smell; it certainly isn't perfume to you. That is because your husband is still someone other than yourself - a foreigner - although you can join together in love. However, the child is the bone of your bone, the flesh of your flesh.

When you go to the toilet, do you suffer incredible torture from the smell? Of course not, because it is part of your own bodily functions and you love yourself. Therefore you are not offended by your own smells. Husband and wife should feel the same toward each other. When a couple gets up in the morning and the husband goes to the bathroom first, suppose the wife comes in and cries, "What are you doing! You are polluting the entire house! Open the window, I can't stand it!" Such a wife would be a very poor one. When there is true love between husband and wife, you will open the door where your spouse is using the toilet and you will feel you are smelling a perfume.

Love has the power to transform bad things into good-bad smells into good smells, bad tastes into good tastes. Love can sweeten and sanctify everything. An example was Jesus' love. Even though Judas showed such ugliness toward him and betrayed Jesus for money, Jesus never hated him at all. Jesus' love had the power to digest that ugliness in Judas and turn it around into something sweet.

Love is a miracle. When a person falls into the kind of love which is wrongly directed, it will shatter that person into pieces. However, when your love is redirected in the proper way, you can jump right into the bosom of God. Love is miraculously powerful.

God had virtually no limits on Adam and Eve; He gave them total freedom, except for the commandment not to eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. "The day that you eat of it, you shall die," was God's warning. Such was the power of love and the danger of the misuse of it. When you make only one misstep regarding love, you will be brought right down to the bottom of hell; but with the right steps, you can jump directly into the bosom of God. That is the power of love.

You cannot exercise love by yourself; you must have a partner and you must have parents, children, brothers and sisters. That is the only way for love to manifest truly. The "free love" system is truly a satanic strategy to bring people down into hell. Therefore there are millions of broken families in which the wife or husband or both have been immoral. The mission of the Unification Church is to bring about a revolution in love; we must restore the proper direction to love.

Why does God let us suffer so much, if He loves us so much? It is because God wants us to find the deepest, sweetest, most perfect love. By going through such ordeals as fundraising, witnessing and so forth, you will be able to experience that kind of truest love. Our fundraisers go out and face opposition from every direction; your parents and family give you a hard time. When you return to your centers, you bring your offering to the altar of God and you cry out to Him, "God, you are a suffering God and I want to make this offering. You have been waiting for an offering of true love, but no one else has been able to give such an offering."

You can say to Him, "Heavenly Father, I will go out for the toughest mission-MFT or anything-and I will go as a representative of all of mankind; I want to bring some comfort to You as a gift of love. I will not fail in this gift of love." That is the way in which you bring all things to the love of God.

Then you go out to the world and you tell God, "Heavenly Father, you have been looking for your true children; without them, your heart has been broken. I will go out now to represent your love and bring as many spiritual children as possible to become your sons and daughters. I want to do your will and I will not hesitate to take on any hardships to accomplish it."

It is truly the champions of God, wonderful men and women, who can say to God, "I brought you the offering of my fundraising; I gained spiritual children for you. Now is the time in which I want to consummate my heavenly four-position foundation, so I need to get married. I want to bring true children into the world, free of sin, for you."

After you are consummated as husband and wife, you can walk the road of restoration of all things, children, and parents. Your home becomes the place for your "love workshop," in which you experience all the different levels of love-parental, conjugal, and children's. By doing so, your accomplishments will never diminish, even when you are elevated into spirit world. What a wonderful and dramatic life we are living!

You are becoming the kings and queens of God's Kingdom; you are like the royal family of God. By fulfilling all these conditions, we can enter into the royal inner circle. What kinds of kings and queens are you? You are true love kings and queens. Adam and Eve were supposed to be the first king and queen of true love. We shall recreate that same kingship of true love here on earth and will be elevated directly into the Kingdom of Heaven in Heaven.

The Unification Church is uniquely privileged to celebrate these holidays. Each of them is incredibly important-Day of All Things, Children's Day, Parent's Day, and then all together we consummate them on God's Day. Each year we return to celebrate God's Day. You come back one year with your husband or wife; the next year you come with your children; finally you come with all the things of creation. You come together and you are given the passport to the royal palace of God.

God's Day is the ultimate celebration of the year. Before you come to God's Day, all your ungodliness must be repented for and swept away. You must repent if you have quarrels among your family and you must cleanse these things and create harmony before you attend the celebration. The Bible teaches that before a person makes an offering to God, he must first go and settle his differences with his brethren; otherwise, he is not worthy to make that offering. This is exactly what I am telling you. You should be able to offer your children; if they are not worthy, they cannot come, either, to celebrate God's Day.

Do you think the teachings of Reverend Moon this morning are just my own, or are they principles straight from the Heart of God? They are pure, genuine principles. When you receive these principles, do you accept them with a totally obedient heart? There is no room for exceptions. It is nature's law that when you are hungry, you need food; when you are sleepy, you need sleep. By the same token, when you are spiritually imperfect, you need the right principles to live by; it is by principle that your spiritual hunger can be satisfied and you can be made whole.

We are speaking of the most supremely important principles of all. If you were to become very, very hungry and you just grabbed some food and totally forgot about God for the moment, you would have to lay down your fork and repent, "God, I forgot about you; I loved this food momentarily more than you. I'm sorry." Since 1978, the rules of the Unification Church have been somewhat loosened; I couldn't feel confidence in even the leaders. I have been observing what the Unification members are doing; from 1983 on we are going to tighten up. There will be no more halfway-type living in the Unification Church. Shall we do this?

We shall pledge to God that we will be worthy of attending this God's Day celebration without any shame or pain in our consciences. That is the way we want to prepare ourselves, isn't that right? Before bedtime tonight, you must make a covenant between God and you. Tell Him, "God, I pledge to You that I will fulfill my promises. Please help me to accomplish these things." Once you have made a covenant with God, nothing must stop you. Even your husband or wife should not stop you; your own children, or even the entire world must not stop you. No matter what, you should fulfill that covenant.

When you move straightforwardly toward your goal, you will give great delight to God; but if you take a zigzagged way, God will not be with you. Think about yourself and repent: you always remember your own birthday, or your spouse's and children's but how much did you do for God's Day? What have you done to remember God? For so many years, I celebrated my own birthday by fasting. I wanted to give all honor to God. The person who fails to properly celebrate any of the major holidays has no right to celebrate his own or anybody else's birthday.

Everybody in the church always wants to make a big celebration when my birthday comes, but I always tell them not to. I don't even want to dress up nicely; I would rather dress like a laborer and spend the entire day fasting. This is because I know precisely the providence of restoration and what it requires. Unless you hit the bottom, you have no right to climb up to the pinnacle of the mountain. If you really want to taste the love of God, don't try to go up; instead, dig down to the bottom of life. That is where the deepest love of God can be found, not in the highest place of beauty and honor. That is why I always push you men and women down into the lowest situations of difficulty.

Throughout history, this principle has persisted; in order to reach the highest point, you have to go down to the very bottom first. Are you prepared to do that? Usually everybody just wants to take the easiest way to the top looking for loopholes. In that way, they are already caught by Satan's hooks.

The road of persecution is the real bottom line and that is why I have gone this way. Actually I never wished to become a famous man, but God pushed me into that position. This is because God knew that Reverend Moon was the only champion here on earth for the honor of God. In order to make His influence wider, God has pushed me out into this position. I never wished to have a lot of money or wealth, but God has blessed me with tremendous resources. Why is that? Because God knew very well that I would direct the spending of that money for His purposes. All things of creation have been waiting in agony for the appearance of their true master who could exercise proper dominion over them. Therefore, God has blessed me with many things.

Reverend Moon never really wanted to have to deal with all different kinds of people, but God knew that I would be able to harmonize all people into the one race of God. Therefore, God is pushing everybody toward me, and I am relating with people of all races and cultures. These kinds of things are not the personal wishes of Reverend Moon, but my concern is for one thing: how can I connect the true love of God to all things and all people.

I feel so much anguish and wrath when I observe the way in which some leaders have actually chased the pure lambs of our membership away. Many members become lost because of the poor demonstration of the leaders of the Unification Church, who are so far away from True Parents' spirit. For that reason, I am very angry with them. However, the principled conclusion is this: the more they become familiar with Reverend Moon, all things shall be directed more and more toward me; all people shall inevitably come to love Reverend Moon.

Everybody wants to go through Reverend Moon's "gate;" they want to touch him. That is the way all of you are thinking, so eventually all mankind will be thinking that way, too. Also all the things of creation will want to be touched by Reverend Moon. Why is that? Because Reverend Moon is representing the true love of God. God wants to touch him, as well. God is thinking in the same fashion.

Therefore, the members of the Unification Church who are led by Reverend Moon shall never diminish or decline; they shall go forward to that ultimate goal of God's desire. Think of it: even under incredible persecution, we have continued our progress and development up to now. Once society changes and begins to welcome Reverend Moon, what will happen? There will be such a rapid multiplying effect. The time will come when everything and everybody will welcome Reverend Moon.

Under the utmost opposition and persecution, Reverend Moon still made 45 degrees worth of progress upward. Therefore, when there is no more obstruction and people start to welcome Reverend Moon, what will I be able to do? That time, however, will be too late for you to meet with me. Once I am moving totally vertically, it will be too late for you. The sovereignties of many countries, such as in Central and South America, are already wanting to meet with me and have invited me to visit them. They want to give me honors and permanent citizenship. Meanwhile, North America wants to kick me out.

Whatever direction Reverend Moon takes becomes the destiny of a certain country. If I turn away from some place, it will decline; if I turn towards a certain place, it will prosper. That is what is happening already, with North America declining and South America moving forward.

Abraham received his mandate from God: leave your hometown at once. He obeyed without hesitation. God might give that same mandate again to Reverend Moon: take off, and take off with the Moonies. What would you do? Would you immediately obey God? When God sent the Israelites out of Egypt under Moses' leadership, He gave them a precise timetable of three days. But those who failed to comply would become the victims of Egypt. That is the teaching of history.

Have you ever thought that this 1983 God's Day celebration might be the last one with Reverend Moon here in America? That is a possibility which no one can deny. God could give me the mandate and I would be gone to the place where God sent me. That is what I am prepared to do. If I take off to another place, you will have to gain my permission in order to go with me. Even to participate in any of those future celebrations you will have to have my permission. Once I leave here, it won't be easy for you to see me. You want to be invited, don't you? You shall have the invitation-if you are qualified.

Whenever a new class in school begins, everyone in the class starts at the same time, including the teachers and the students. But within the span of one year, some students succeed and some students flunk out. Teachers are bound by the rules; even if the teacher loves a particular student, if he doesn't make the grade, the teacher cannot pass him on to the next higher class. It doesn't matter how much the teacher loves the student; he must go through the test and pass on his own. Can the student who fails claim, "My father is a very well known politician and he gave a big contribution to this university."? Such an effort would not help the student. Nor will it help to say, "My mother is a very beautiful woman and my father is very handsome."

You American citizens might try to make a similar claim such as, "I am a citizen of America, so I am a first-class citizen." It makes no difference; you still must pass the course. You must realize that freedom and equality come under a new definition in the land of God. If you try to continue only by your own definition, it will never work.

I have always spoken of both the horizontal and vertical disciplines. Equality does not apply to the vertical discipline, but only the horizontal. History always recognizes the vertical chain of command rather than the horizontal. The Western civilization, particularly the American, is a horizontal civilization. If it remains based only upon the horizontal discipline, it will decline; there is no other way for it to go. The vertical must come first; it sets the tradition and discipline. Then the horizontal prosperity can come.

Let's say you have a horizontal pole; it must have a center in order to turn in a harmonized circle. Without that, it would turn wildly and without order. Suppose you just wanted to claim your own center at any particular place. No matter what, there is only one true center.

The custom here in America has produced children who say, "So what about my parents? I am completely equal to them and I am equal to everybody else as well." However, according to the vertical chain of command, father and son cannot be "equal"; there is no such relationship between them. The center is absolute; it harmonizes everything in a balanced way. All distances are the same from the center to the perimeter. The center of the circle cannot position itself somewhere in the corner of the circle; and there is only one center, not two or three.

I want you to understand that what you have here in America and the Western world is a horizontal culture. This cannot continue to prosper without meeting with the vertical discipline and principle. That is what Reverend Moon's teaching is all about. In the American culture, the love between men and women is all-important, but there is little recognition of the love of parents, grandparents and elders. Such a culture will decline, without question.

Therefore Reverend Moon came to rescue America by bringing the vertical discipline to this civilization. You may not want to hear this, but you have to hear it. When you are a patient in the hospital, you don't want to hear your diagnosis if it is bad. You never want to hear the doctor tell you, "You have cancer." You only want to hear, "No more problems." Even though cancer may be consuming your body, you only want to hear that you are fine. Reverend Moon has given you the correct diagnosis because that is the only true way to bring some hope to you. Only in that way can the disease be treated.

At Yankee Stadium, I proclaimed to the American people that this country is like a sick patient in need of a doctor. Always your doctor will come from somewhere outside of your own home. Also I said that America is like a home on fire; you need a firefighter to come from outside, not inside, to put out the fire. This disturbed people deeply; they didn't want to hear it. People say to me, "Reverend Moon, you have no right to call yourself a physician or a firefighter. You are a blasphemer to say such things to this healthy country!" In the arrogant minds of some people, they are thinking, "You are just a Korean, Reverend Moon, from that underdeveloped country. How could you say such things to this cultured country?"

Many white people in this country have been selfish and taken advantage of all the colored people. Reverend Moon has committed no sins against America, yet the white people are trying to destroy him. Even though I have established a worldwide movement, still they seek to destroy me. What about those underprivileged Africans, South Americans and Middle Eastern people who come to this country? They have no power or influence and they are not well-treated by white people; in fact, they are discriminated against. When God looks down at this, He cannot tolerate it.

Therefore the white culture needs to repent with tears for their selfishness. If they do not have that repentance, wait and see what destiny will befall them. This means Reverend Moon will not fall under that same destiny and be destroyed; when Reverend Moon leaves this country, even more decline will be seen. When the day comes for Reverend Moon to depart, it will be a dark day for America. But you must commit yourselves, saying, "Father, I will not let you down. I will fulfill your role here in America to instruct the people and carry out your tradition."

I want you to understand that Reverend Moon did not come to America because East Garden Estate is very beautiful, or because of some comfortable Cadillac, or for the sake of delicious American food. All these things hold no attraction for me whatsoever. I came here to do my mission, period, until the last minute possible. If I cannot find fifty honorable people throughout America, I will still seek to find even five honorable people through whom I can save America.

The time has come, however, when there is some hope. Americans are no longer blindly accusing Reverend Moon, as they were in the past. They are beginning to recognize something of value. Even the media is beginning to change. Exactly one year ago today, January 1, 1982, I spoke to 200 men and women out of this congregation and asked them to go to Washington and create the newspaper Washington Times by March 1. Everybody was incredulous, including Bo Hi Pak. He told me, "This is impossible!" I told him, "You are of little faith! Just do it," and he obeyed totally. What has happened?

Of course, I knew it would be impossible to do everything in Washington within two months, so I instructed Bo Hi Pak to create the paper in New York and fly down the negatives to Washington every night. 240 million Americans had been completely unworried about the liberal media such as Washington Post and the New York Times; but as soon as Reverend Moon, Bo Hi Pak and the Moonies come on the scene, they got worried.

You know we didn't have enough money for this project, but we gave our blood and sweat to make it happen. Today is our first year anniversary. Looking back, do you think it was the right or the wrong thing to do?

This is the way the life of Reverend Moon has gone, day after day, moment after moment. Always I am thinking of only one thing-the salvation of America, the salvation of mankind. Therefore, I declared an emergency. I live day by day in the context of emergency. How about you? You always complain and try to find excuses for yourselves. God does not want that. This is serious. Do you think the same way as I do?

When I look at everything from this emergency point of view, how unworthy you are to deserve my attention! This is 1983. At this time, we will decide the destiny of our movement, this nation and the free world. Either we will go down or we will go up. It is up to you to decide that destiny.

In a powerhouse, all the lines of electricity are connected to the generator; the important thing is that someone must flip the switch and turn on the energy. Who will do that job? Electricity cannot be turned on halfway.

This God's Day we have come here for a celebration, but really we have come for an awakening, a new determination and commitment. That is the true meaning of God's Day. In that respect we are celebrating the most important celebration. That is the only way we can make this day worthwhile to celebrate. I am saying all these things today and some people might think I am being very severe. Why am I doing it? I am saying these things because I love you; I do not want you to decline but to become qualified and glorious in the sight of God.

In 1985, the forty years of Unification wilderness period will be over. But we have to shift into high gear starting today; next year will be too late. This year is the determining year. Those of you who say, "We will not let you down. We will do it!" raise your hands. Let us all say, "Amen! "

Once again, let me see your raised hands. Thank you.

God's Day

Sun Myung Moon
January 1, 1983
Morning Speech
Excerpt
World Mission Center
New York, NY

SunMyungMoon-830101-1.jpg

New Year's Day is supposed to be a happy, fun-filled holiday, but in the Unification Church, God's Day is a very tough day, laden with difficulties! Most people celebrate holidays with lots of food; we celebrate with lots of words -- the word of God. Physical food, when you take in more than a normal amount, will always give you stomach problems; but what about an overdose of the word of God? No indigestion.

Consider God's situation. He already knows what I am going to speak about this morning; so will He decide to go off and take a nap instead of attending the speech? God is very interested in observing the audience and their reaction to these words. He is thinking, "I know the people in this audience have been confronting problems and feeling discouragement, so I hope that this message will renew them and bring them back closer to Me." God has an intense interest in you and knows precisely where you are spiritually. "My son and daughter over there have not been doing too well," He thinks. "I hope they can become a new man, a new woman, from listening to Rev. Moon this morning." God knows what topics are intended for which son or daughter, and when those points come up, He looks for that son or daughter to see whether or not they are dozing.

What kind of day is God's Day? For God, it is a joyful day and a good day. He wants to encounter good people on this day. He wants to bless you and celebrate this day with you, but actually, He has no one qualified to receive that blessing. All around the world people are celebrating this first day of the year, but only members of the Unification Church celebrate it as God's day. Therefore, God wants to be with you this day.

What Is Your God's Day Gift?

When God attends the celebration, all spirit world sends representatives as well, each bearing his or her most valuable gift. Can you have a casual attitude towards God's Day and just attend any celebration you want, at any time? Time will come when special professors and scholars will have to wait for ten years in order to be admitted to a God's Day celebration. Representatives of entire nations will come and be lit up like lanterns, upon hearing a God's Day message.

What kind of gift did you bring? A sleepy head that dozes throughout the sermon? Did you at least wear clean underwear? If so, was it your everyday underwear, or special underwear which you began preparing even one year ago? Actually, God is not interested in some material gift, but rather in the heart and sincerity you can offer Him. Compare your attitude of heart and soul towards your wedding day with your feeling about God's Day. Which one should be more intense and deep?

We must celebrate God's Day with a solid content. Never before has God had the chance to fully manifest His love throughout history. God's Day gives Him the opportunity to show His love to His children. God has been suffering for so long, awaiting this opportunity. Love, which was supposed to be God's property, was stained and given away to Satan; ever since, it has been misused and perverted by Satan for his own purposes. God has been desperately seeking the day when that love would be purified and returned to Him. Finally, that moment of restoration has come.

In the Unification Church, we have four major celebrations each year. Forty days before each celebration, you should set certain conditions through which you can devote your heart and soul for the sake of that celebration. Only in that way can you truly come bearing a valuable gift.

People on earth are in the Abel position to those in spirit world; therefore, you should be making deeper heart and soul conditions than anyone in the spirit world. All humanity has been agonizing, waiting to become true sons and daughters of God. Anyone who really knows the meaning of this day will dedicate himself totally to becoming a child of filial piety. To help you accomplish those conditions, you need a mate; for men and women must come as a pair to make these offerings.

In order to make an offering, you need an altar. People frequently fluctuate in spirit, sometimes up, sometimes down. But once an offering is placed upon an altar, it remains there forever. So you must have some offering in order to be really acceptable to God. The offering will have value according to the depth of heart and soul you invest in it; only in that way can God acknowledge your sincerity and integrity, and accept your offering.

In the Old Testament era, things of creation were offered; lambs, doves, and other animals were cut in half, placed on the altar, and the person making the offering bowed down before the altar. In the New Testament, the son of God was offered; Satan crucified Jesus on the cross, which became the sacred altar for all mankind, before which the faithful bow down. In the Completed Testament era, the parents become the living sacrifice, bearing one cross after another in everyday life.

Long in advance, you must begin to prepare for each new God's Day, planning what to offer from the depths of your heart. In this Completed Testament era, you make offerings which combine all three levels. Your material gift is offered as the fulfillment of the Old Testament era; your spiritual children consummate the New Testament era; and when you offer yourselves in the parental position, representing the Completed Testament, your offering becomes complete. Your children make a better offering than things; but you yourselves are the very best offering. An offering is not limited to the time in which it is made. It becomes the gift of all things of creation, the gift of the children, and the gift of one's self.

In the Old Testament era, people worshipped in the tabernacle or temple. The temple contained a holy place and a most holy place; only the chief priest was qualified to enter that most holy place, to offer a yearly sacrifice on behalf of all the people. A certain sacred procedure had to be followed in making an offering to God. Today you represent all the fallen generations when you come back to God through the high priest and ask him to receive you as a pure offering.

In order to sanctify and consecrate this kind of offering, God's Day was established. We did not come here today just for festivities and having a great time. Tomorrow, God's Day will be over, but the particular offering you made will continue every day and grow in value. As we accumulate such grateful offerings of heart, we sanctify this earth and bring the kingdom of heaven closer. That is the way transformation comes. When everything has been consummated, I as chief priest will be able to offer everything to God, and He will be able to accept it all and claim it as His own.

God Will Give You Stewardship

Once all things are offered to God, He will give you certain stewardship over them: He will make you a caretaker or administrator of all things. When God gives you something to care for, you can use it for your children, for example because your ultimate offering will be your children, you can employ material things to fulfill your total offering to God. That is the only way we can justify the use of God's materials.

Any offering you make, even material things, must be linked to the love of God. Certainly children have that connection, and you yourselves have to become one with God's love. Only when all those positions are offered can God accept your gift.

You must see all things, at all times, as linked with the love of God. All the material things you use, your children, and you yourselves have to be connected with God. Look at every day as preparation to welcome True Parents to your home; then, when we come to visit you some day, we will feel completely at home.

The clothes you are wearing are not yours; your physical body is not yours; your husband or wife is not yours. There is only one way these things can become yours -- by connecting them and yourselves with the love of God. Our marriages are formed in the name of God -- not for our own sakes but for God's sake. You want to have children so you can consummate the love of God.

Men and women who dedicate their entire lives to making a proper offering to God will always feel they have not offered enough and always long to bring a greater offering.

After living this way, when people reach the point of death, they should gather together the younger generations and tell them, "I upheld the principles and love of God. You must now carry on." When such people die, they go straight to the highest possible heaven.

God created all things and gave the stewardship over them to His children; therefore, you have the right to take care of those things, with the heart of appreciation to the Creator. If you live such a public life, even without receiving a proper reward from God while on earth, God will bestow upon you everything you desire when you are elevated to spirit world.

There is only one direct way to God -- the way of true love. As restored Adam and Eve, you will take care of all the things of creation and connect them to God's love. Then there will be no more boundary between God and you. I feel obligated to nurture you and make each of you a heavenly person, while you are here on the earth; this is your only opportunity.

The Principle of Creation clearly teaches that God created people and all things because of His love. The Unification Church is a very privileged church, because we have a way to legitimately claim other people and all things. But unless you fulfill this process while on earth, there will be no bridge between you, the physical world and the spirit world.

SunMyungMoon-830101-2.jpg

Love's Transforming Power

Love has the power to transform bad things into good. Love can sweeten and sanctify everything. For example, Judas showed so much ugliness toward Jesus and betrayed him for money; but Jesus' love had the power to digest that ugliness in Judas and transform it into something sweet.

Love works miracles. Whoever falls into wrongly-directed love will be shattered into pieces. However, when your love is redirected in the proper way, you can jump right into the bosom of God.

God put no limits upon Adam and Eve. He gave them total freedom -- except for the commandment not to eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Such is the power of love and danger of its misuse that if you make only one misstep of love, you will be dragged to the bottom of hell.

You cannot exercise love by yourself; you need a partner. You must have parents, children, brothers and sisters. Free love is a satanic strategy to bring people down into hell. The Unification Church aims to affect a revolution in love.

Why does God let us suffer so much, if He loves us so deeply? Because He wants us to find the deepest, sweetest, most perfect love. By going through ordeals such as fundraising and witnessing, you will be able to experience that kind of truest love.

How To Make Offerings To God

When you fundraise you face opposition from every direction; your parents and relatives give you a hard time. But when you return to your center, you bring your offering before the altar and cry out to God, "God, You are a suffering God, and I want to make this offering to You. You have been waiting for an offering of true love, but no one else has succeeded in giving it. Heavenly Father, I will go out to the toughest mission, as a representative of all mankind, and bring some comfort to You, as my gift of love. I will not fail in this gift of love." That is how you can bring all things to the love of God.

How do you offer children to God? When you go out to the world, tell God, "Heavenly Father, You have been looking for Your true children; without them, Your heart has been broken. I will go out now to represent Your love and bring as many spiritual children as possible, to become Your sons and daughters. I want to do Your will, and I will not hesitate to take on any hardship in order to accomplish it."

Finally, you can say to God, "I have brought You the offering of my fundraising; I gained spiritual children for You. Now I want to create my heavenly four-position foundation. I need to get married. I want to bring into the world true children, free of sin, for You."

After you are consummated as husband and wife, you can walk the road of restoration of all things, children and parents. Your home becomes your "love workshop," in which you experience all the dimensions of love. By living this way, you become like the royal family of God, entering the royal inner circle. You become love-kings and love- queens.

We celebrate Day of All Things, Children's Day and Parents' Day; but all these celebrations are consummated on God's Day. Each year we return to celebrate God's Day. One year you come as husband and wife, next year with your children, and finally with all things of creation. Then you are given the passport to the royal palace of God.

Before you come to God's Day, repent of all your ungodliness and sweep it away. If you have had quarrels in your family, cleanse them and create harmony, before attending the celebration. You should be able to offer your children; if they are not worthy, they cannot come to celebrate God's Day. The Bible teaches that before a person makes an offering before God, he must first go and settle his differences with his brethren; otherwise he is unworthy of making an offering. This is exactly what I am telling you.

Make A Covenant With God This Day

I am expounding pure, genuine principles. When you hear them do you receive them with a totally obedient heart? When you are spiritually imperfect, you need right principles to live by. These are supremely important principles. If you become very, very hungry and grab food, totally forgetting about God for the moment, you have to lay down your fork and repent, "God, I forgot about You; at the moment, I loved this food more than You. I'm sorry."

Since 1978, the rules of the Unification Church have been somewhat loosened; I couldn't feel confidence, even in the leaders. I have been observing what the Unification members are doing, and from 1983 on, we are going to tighten up. There will be no more halfway-type living in the Unification Church.

Let us pledge to God that we will be worthy of attending this God's Day celebration, without any shame or pain in our consciences. Before bedtime tonight, make a covenant between God and yourself. Tell Him, "God, I pledge to You that I will fulfill my promises to You. Please help me accomplish these things." Once you make a covenant with God, resolve that nothing will stop you -- not your husband or wife, not your children, not even the entire world. No matter what, you should fulfill that covenant.

How Can I Connect God's Love To You?

I never really wanted to have to deal with all different kinds of people, but God knew that I would be able to harmonize all people into one godly race. Therefore, He has been pushing everybody towards me, and I am relating with people of all races and cultures. My concerns are not personal, but for connecting the true love of God to all things, all people and all children.

I feel so much anguish and wrath when I observe the way in which some leaders have actually chased away the pure lambs of our membership. Many members become lost because of the poor demonstration of Unification Church leaders, who are so far away from True Parents' spirit.

Still, the more familiar people become with me, the more all things will be directed towards me and the more people will be attracted to me. All of you want to go through my "gate"; eventually all mankind will think that way. All things of creation will long to be touched by me. Why? Because I am representing the true love of God. Even God wants to touch me!

Therefore, Unification Church members who are led by me will never diminish or decline; they will go forward toward the ultimate goal of God's desire. Even under incredible persecution, we have continued to progress and develop. Once the opinion of society changes, think what will happen! There will be a rapid multiplying effect. Once the obstruction is cleared away and people start to welcome me, it will be too late for you to meet with me! North America wants to kick me out, but in Latin America, people want to meet me and welcome me.

Have you ever thought that this 1983 God's Day might be the last I will celebrate in America? God could give me a mandate tonight, and I would take off for whatever destination He indicated. That is what I am prepared to do. Once I leave here, it won't be easy for you to see me. You will have to be qualified, in order to receive an invitation.

I have often spoken about horizontal and vertical disciplines. Equality applies only to the horizontal discipline, not the vertical. History always recognizes the vertical chain of command, rather than the horizontal. Western civilization, especially American, is a horizontal civilization. There is little recognition of the love of parents, grandparents and elders, for instance; the love between men and women is all-consuming. If western civilization remains only horizontally-based, it will decline. The vertical dimension must come first, setting the tradition and discipline, and then horizontal prosperity can come about.

I came to rescue America. A hospital patient may not want to hear his diagnosis, if it is bad. Even though cancer may be consuming his body, he only wants to be told that he is fine.

I have given you the correct diagnosis, because that is the only way I can bring you hope and the only way I can treat the disease.

White people in this country have been selfish and have taken advantage of all the colored people. Africans, South Americans, Middle Eastern people come to this country; they have no power or influence, and they are not well-treated by white people. When God looks down on this discrimination, He cannot tolerate it.

The white culture needs to repent with tears for its selfishness. If people cannot repent, you will see what destiny will befall them. If I am forced to depart from this country, it will be a dark day for America. You should make a commitment, "Father, I will not let you down; I shall fulfill your role here in America, instruct the people and carry out your tradition."

There is some hope, however. Americans are no longer blindly accusing me, as in the past. They are beginning to recognize something of value. Even the media are beginning to change.

Always I am thinking of only one thing -- the salvation of America, the salvation of mankind. Therefore, I declared an emergency; I am living day by day in the context of an emergency. How about you? Maybe you are always complaining and trying to find excuses for yourselves. This is serious. Do you think the way I do?

This is 1983, when the destiny of our movement, this nation and the free world will be decided. We will go down or we will go up. It is up to you to decide that destiny.

We came here to celebrate God's Day, but in actuality, we have come for an awakening, a new determination and commitment. That is the true meaning of God's Day and the only way to make this day worth celebrating. In that respect, we are making the most important celebration. Some people might think I am being very severe, but I am saying these things because I love you. I do not want you to decline; I long for you to become qualified and glorious in the sight of God.

In 1985, the forty-year wilderness period of the Unification Church will be over. Starting today, we have to shift into high gear. Next year will be too late. Those of you who say, "We will not let you down; we will do it!" raise your hands. Let us all say, "Amen!"

Father's Prayer

Sun Myung Moon
January 1, 1983, Midnight

SunMyungMoon-830101-m.jpg

Our loving Father,

The year 1982 is behind us and we are facing the year 1983. We are at the threshold of the whole new year 1983. The entire world is greeting this moment. Please guide all people who are planning this year, so that their hearts will be in alignment with Your will. Let all religious people be united, and let their lives freely develop, following Your will.

In the midst of ordeals and persecution, the Unification members throughout the world were marching towards Your final dispensational goal during 1982. Please remember those suffering children who are praying with longing hearts that the year 1983 may be a year of hope.

Guide the Unification members through this year and towards the moment when the new history will begin. Let those who represent history be loyal, on behalf of all historical figures. Also, guide them so they can dwell in the depths of Your heart. As soldiers who are establishing the kingdom of heaven, may they dwell in Your heart as unforgettable people, worthy of being called Your sons and daughters, and deserving of Your abundant love.

As our members bid farewell to 1982, a year filled with ordeals, their hearts are tearful and their hands are folded together in prayer, pointing in the direction of New York and America, where True Parents are. These places where our members are gathered together are solemn places, where longing prayers are offered. Please forgive each individual and receive the hearts of those who had given hopeful promises to bring the victory in 1982, but who were unable to fulfill them. I pray and beseech You to bless them, so that this new year will be a year of victory, one which they will be able to go through and look back on with gratitude.

At this time, all the Unification members, representing all mankind, are making a new resolution to be more deeply loyal and pious in 1983, and to be more united in one heart and one will. Let them pledge to become brave soldiers on the advancing line of the salvation of mankind. Let them determine to become victorious in securing both today and tomorrow. Let them resolve to become unforgettable people in Your heart. Please receive the resolution they are making at this time.

Ever since the day of infamy, the day in which the human ancestors fell, You have been laboring in man's place. Laden with sorrow and loneliness, You have been trying to restore the lost history, which is filled with many untold stories. In our stead, You have voluntarily taken the path of sorrow and agony, lingering ever behind the scenes, watching over mankind, and going through the historic path of indemnity with all Your strength. We think about You and all the things You have gone through, and reflect about the unrepented wrongs which our ancestors have committed throughout history. Please permit us now as Unification members to pledge to You our loyalty and piety, on behalf of all mankind. This group of people knows that to follow Your way means to take the path of sorrow, but they do not draw back. Neither do they mind enduring the path of persecution and oppression.

The historic paths of Abraham and Jacob were alike, as they followed Your way. The same with Moses, as he guided the journey of the Israelites. Jesus knew Your will, and he was supposed to have built the victorious heavenly kingdom by making the Roman Empire submit; but instead, he lost the chosen nation and had to take up the suffering path, and under the name of Christianity extend it to the whole world. We reflect deeply about these historical accounts.

Your will was prolonged for the two thousand suffering years of Christianity, whose efforts to recover the four thousand years of history have been stained with tears, sweat and blood and filled with deeds which must be repented for. We are going through this lonely journey with You and overcoming this sorrow. Sometimes You have looked upon people who even at the point of death are praying for that one victorious day to come in which Your will shall be accomplished. We are again reminded of Your painful broken heart, looking upon those people who are praying for the day in which the world will realize Your will.

Today, in this time of the last days, Christianity should have fulfilled its responsibility so that the world could stand in the realm of victory; then, instead of following a path of sorrow, Christianity's course would have been a glorious one, attending and revering Heavenly Father. Christian civilization -- not only on the individual level, but also as families, as a society, as a nation, and as a world -- should have developed and taken shape, centering on the long-desired sovereignty of heaven; then it would have returned glory and victory and praise to You. Again, we reflect on the historical fact that the Unification Church, which was chosen to carry out Your will, had heaped upon it the burden of sorrow and obstacles called the way of historical indemnity.

Persecution comes from individuals and from families, societies and nations as well. Even the world has joined in the persecution. Now, in the center of this free world, America, and even here in the heart of America, this fathering of members who revere and follow You has received rejection from all religious people, who are [supposed to be] following Your way. We know very well that behind the tear-stained sacrifices which we have made in order to pioneer and establish this foundation lies Your much more sorrowful history. Assembled here together, we are pledging to advance and progress -- and to be the kind of church that will never disappear in despair, but will bring the one victorious day to the free world. We are grateful for Your grace which infuses us with pride and confidence to take up the worldwide pioneer mission of laying the victorious foundation, upon which we can make a new settlement in this new time period.

In this building in the center of New York, we have been the object of persecution, judgment and ridicule coming at us from all sides. But from now on, from this day at the beginning of the New Year, Your children who are gathered here will be united in one heart and one body and will restore heaven's dignity and honor; as independence soldiers, we will establish the sovereignty of goodness and bring about the heavenly kingdom. As they rally together for this cause, please help them to be proud and valiant before Satan.

Father, please have hope in the Unification Church. We are not on the edge of twilight, facing the night, but rather on the verge of dawn, waiting to greet the rising sun. Heavenly Father, I pray that during 1983 You will settle on this earth and uphold all the work with dignity and authority, pursuing the welfare and prosperity of the heavenly kingdom, and protecting it with a shield of victory. Please allow us to greet this New Year with the determination to create the basis on which Your victorious power can be manifest on this earth.

Please extend Your arms in blessing upon Korea, Japan, America and Germany, upon those nations representing providential roles. I plead for You to allow this year 1983 to be the boundary mark, so that from now on, in those countries, people who oppose us will be weakened and people on the side of goodness will prosper.

I ask for the entire spirit world to help make this year 1983 one in which the Unification Church members representing all the nations on earth will be united with their ancestors and march on together to secure the worldwide victory. Let all the spirit world be mobilized to suppress the powers of evil which oppose this, so we can leap towards victory. And let this beginning hour be one in which we command the development of a new history. Countless religious figures and righteous people have been longing for the day of victory on earth; please allow them to participate in our efforts and work through their direct lineage, in order to fulfill their long-cherished desires. Let them bring their descendants to this Unification banner -- even though their descendants may be unaware of their help -- in order to realize the victorious ideal world.

Korea, Japan, America and Germany, and the other 127 nations, are stained with the tears of the ones You love, as they make indemnity conditions with pleading tears and prayers, for the sake of bringing about victory on this earth. I pray that this new year will establish the foundation for us to directly command the mobilization of tribes, nations and all mankind.

Now this year's new motto is "Home Church Is Our Land of Settlement." With this motto, we have a confident beginning point. God, please declare this year to be one in which You can take command, mobilizing the righteous and religious people, uniting all religious groups on earth.

I believe and I know that from this beginning hour of the new year, the command will be given from heaven and carried out on the earth: to march toward the one victorious day and to establish the victorious sovereignty of goodness and the victorious kingdom of heaven. Please declare this. I pray all this, grateful for Your grace in allowing us to pray these things. I offer this prayer of blessing for all these things in the name of the True Parents. Amen. Amen. Amen.

Jesus and the Second Coming

Sun Myung Moon
Circa 1983

SunMyungMoon-830004.jpg

I am going to speak about some new revelations from God which are very vital to the understanding of all Christians. I will also frequently mention the chosen people of Israel. I am sure there are many Christians and Jewish people in the audience. I dearly love all Christian brothers and sisters, and I have high esteem for the Jewish people. I beg you to understand before I begin that what I will say in no way reflects my personal feeling. I am only bearing witness to the truth.

Sometimes testimony to the truth is a painful task. Yet it is a mission it is my duty to fulfill. The content of my message tonight may be contrary to your previous understanding. Some things may be very new to you. Sometimes it seems as if in the providence, God enjoys seeing people clash. Jesus was a messenger of God who criticized people for being blasphemers and being like serpents and he certainly made some people angry. If Jesus had told the people of his time that they were wonderful children of God, would he have been killed? Without exception the other saints like Confucius and Mohammed also declared to the world something it didn't want to hear. May I ask you to think over seriously what you hear.

What would have happened if the nation of Israel had wholeheartedly accepted Jesus Christ? Imagine the nation of Israel united with Jesus. What would that have meant? First of all, Jesus would not have been killed. People would have glorified Jesus as the living Lord. They would have then gone forward to Rome with the living Christ, and Rome could have received the Son of God in his own lifetime. But in the sad reality of history, it took four centuries for Jesus' disciples to win Rome. Jesus never won the chosen people of Israel, and he never gained the support he needed from them. He came to erect the Kingdom of God on earth, but instead he had to caution his disciples even to keep his identity a secret because people did not accept his legitimacy as the Messiah, and he therefore lacked the power to be the King of kings.

Today we have much to learn, and we must not believe blindly. We must know the hidden truth behind the Bible. Jesus was crucified, not by his own will, but by the will of others. Jesus Christ was killed because humankind would not have faith in him as Messiah.

I am making a bold declaration. Jesus did not come to die. Jesus Christ was murdered. Leaders of the most prepared religion delivered him to be crucified. The Roman governor Pilate wanted to release Jesus, but he was forced to release Barabbas instead. What a pity! What a tragedy!

This may be shocking and astounding news to you, but if you are only surprised, then you have missed my purpose. People living at the time of Jesus Christ made a terrible mistake. But do you think they were so much more ignorant and less aware than we are today? No, not at all. They learned the Old Testament word for word and memorized the Mosaic Law. Based on their understanding, Jesus did not meet the qualifications to be the Messiah.

The nation of Israel at that point was in a very difficult position. If they wanted to fulfill the Law and the Prophets, they had to abandon the Law of Moses as they understood it. Two thousand years of tradition had been based on the Old Testament. It was very, very difficult for people just to wake up one morning, completely revise their interpretation of the Law, and totally accept Jesus Christ as the Son of God. Those leaders who had their eyes riveted to the letter of the Law simply missed the spirit of the Law.

Let us look into the Old Testament and examine the prophecy of Malachi: "... I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers... " (Mal. 4:5-6) The people of Israel knew God's promise clearly. They knew it by heart. And they expected the coming of Elijah before the Messiah appeared. When the Messiah did come, naturally they asked, "Where is Elijah?"

Elijah had been a prophet who performed miraculous works about 900 years before Christ. And it was written he ascended into heaven in a chariot of fire. Since Elijah ascended into heaven, he was expected to return from heaven. Did such a miracle happen before the coming of Jesus? Did the people hear any news about the arrival of Elijah? No, they did not. But what they did hear one day was the voice of Jesus Christ declaring that he was the only begotten "Son of God." And Jesus spoke not timidly, but with authority and power. Such a man could not be ignored.

This presented a great dilemma for the people. They immediately asked, "If this Jesus is the Messiah, then where is Elijah?" They earnestly expected the Messiah at that time, so they were also waiting for Elijah. They believed he would come straight down from heaven, right out of the sky, and the Messiah would come soon after, in a similar manner.

So when Jesus proclaimed himself as the Son of God, the people who heard him became puzzled. If there had come no Elijah, then there could be no Messiah. And no one had told them that Elijah had come. Jesus' disciples were also confused. When they went out to preach the gospel, people persistently denied that Jesus could be the Son of God because the disciples were unable to prove that Elijah had come. They confronted this problem everywhere they went.

The disciples of Jesus were not educated in the Old Testament. Many learned people rebuked them when they went out to preach, asking, "Do you not know the Old Testament? Do you not know the Mosaic Law?" The disciples were embarrassed when they were attacked through the verses of the Law and the prophets. One day they came back to Jesus and put the question to him: " '... why do the scribes say that first Elijah must come?' He replied, 'Elijah does come, and he is to restore all things; but I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not know him, but did to him whatever they pleased. So also the Son of man will suffer at their hands.' Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them of John the Baptist." (Matt. 17:10-13)

According to Jesus, John the Baptist was Elijah.

This was the truth. We have determined the truth according to the words of Jesus Christ. But the disciples of Jesus could not convince the elders and chief priests and scribes of this fact. The only authority that supported such a notion was the word of Jesus of Nazareth. That is why the testimony of John the Baptist was so crucial. But alas, John himself denied that he was Elijah when he was asked! His denial made Jesus seem to be a liar.

Read the Bible:

"And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, 'Who are you?'... And they asked him, 'What then? Are you Elijah?' He said, 'I am not.' 'Are you the prophet?' And he answered, 'No.' " (John 1:19-21)

John himself said, "I am not Elijah." But Jesus had said, "He is Elijah."

John made it almost impossible for the people to know that Elijah had come. But Jesus declared the truth anyway. He said, "... if you are willing to accept it, he [John the Baptist] is Elijah who is to come." (Matt. 11: 14) Jesus knew that most people could not accept the truth. Instead they questioned the motivation of Jesus. In order for Jesus to seem like the Messiah, Elijah had to come first, so the people thought he was lying for the purpose of his own self-aggrandizement. The Son of God became more and more misunderstood by the people.

This was such a grave situation. In those days, the influence of John The Baptist was felt in every corner of Israel. But Jesus Christ was an obscure and ambiguous figure in his society. Who was in a position to take Jesus' words as the truth? This failure of John was the major cause of the crucifixion of Jesus.

John the Baptist had already seen the Spirit of God descending upon the head of Jesus Christ at the Jordan River. At that time he testified: "I saw the Spirit descend as a dove from heaven, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him; but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, 'He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.' And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God." (John 1:32-34)

Yes, John the Baptist bore witness, and he did the job that God intended for him to do at that time. But later on, doubts came to him, and he finally succumbed to the many rumors circulating about Jesus. One such rumor called Jesus fatherless, an illegitimate child. John the Baptist certainly heard that rumor, and he wondered how such a person could be the Son of God. Even though he had witnessed to Jesus, John later became suspicious and turned away from him. If John the Baptist had truly united with Jesus Christ, he could have moved his people to accept Jesus as the Messiah, for the power and influence of John was very great in those days.

I am telling you many unusual things, and you may ask by what authority I am speaking. It is the authority of the Bible, with the authority of revelation. Let us read the Bible together, and see word by word how John the Baptist acted.

Now when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, "Are you he who is to come, or shall we look for another?" (Matt. 11:2-3)

This was long after he had testified to Jesus as the Son of God. How could he ask, "Are you he who is to come as the Son of God?" after the testimony of the Spirit to him? Jesus was truly sorrowful. He felt anger. Jesus refused to answer John the Baptist with a straight yes or no. He replied instead, "Blessed is he who take no offense at me." Let me paraphrase what Jesus meant: "John, I am sorry that you took offense at me. At one time you recognized me, but now you doubt me. I am sorry your faith has proved to be so weak."

After this incident, Jesus spoke to the crowds concerning John. He put a rhetorical question to them: "What did you go out into the wilderness to behold? A reed shaken by the wind? Why then did you go out? To see a man clothed in soft raiment? Behold, those who wear soft raiment are in kings' houses. Why then did you go out? To see a prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is he of whom it is written, 'Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, who shall prepare thy way before thee.' " (Matt. 11:7-10)

Here Jesus affirmed that John was Elijah, the one called by God to turn the people to the Messiah. He praised John from this perspective, concluding with the words, "Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has risen no one greater than John the Baptist; yet he who is the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he." (Matt. 11: 11) Conventional Christian interpretations have never fully explained the meaning of this verse.

The missions of the prophets through the ages were to prepare for or testify to the Messiah. Prophets had always testified from a distance of time. John the Baptist was the greatest among prophets because only he was the prophet contemporary with the Messiah, the prophet who could bear witness, in person, to the living Christ. But John failed to recognize the Messiah. Even the least of the prophets then living in the heavens knew Jesus was the Son of God. That is why John, who was given the greatest mission, and failed, became less than the least.

Thus, Jesus was saying, "John, you went out to the wilderness to serve as the greatest of prophets -- you went to find the Messiah, the Son of God. You have seen everything but missed the vital point, the core of your mission. You indeed failed to recognize me and failed to live up to God's expectation. It is God who expects of you 'to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.' You have failed."

Jesus said, "From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and men of violence take it by force." (Matt. 11:12) John the Baptist was the chosen instrument of God, destined to be the chief disciple of Jesus, not by "force," but by providence. He failed in his responsibility, and Simon Peter, by the strength and force of his faith, earned that central position for himself Other men stronger and more violent in faith than John the Baptist fought relentlessly on the side of Jesus for the realization of God's Kingdom on earth. The devout men who righteously followed John the Baptist did not become the twelve apostles and seventy disciples of Christ, as they were to have been. If John the Baptist had become the chief disciple of Jesus, those two together would have united all of Israel. But the truth is that John the Baptist did not follow the Son of God.

One day John's followers came to him and asked, "Rabbi, he who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you bore witness, here he is, baptizing, and all are going to him," (John 3:26) They carried concern in their question: "Look at all the people going to Jesus. What about you?" John the Baptist replied, "He must increase, but I must decrease." (John 3:30)

Usually Christians interpret this message as a proof of John's humble personality. This is an incorrect understanding of the significance of his words. If Jesus and John had been united, their destiny would have been to rise or fall together. Then Jesus could not increase his reputation while John's own prestige diminished! The lessening of his own role was what John feared. John once stated that the Messiah was the one "... whose sandals I am not worthy to carry;..." (Matt. 3:11) Yet he failed to follow Jesus even after he knew that Jesus was the Son of God. John the Baptist was a man without excuse. He should have followed Jesus.

God sent John as a forerunner to the Messiah. His mission was clearly defined, "... to make ready for the Lord a people prepared." (Luke 1: 17) But because of John's failure, Jesus Christ had no ground upon which to start his ministry. The people had not been prepared to receive Jesus. Therefore, Jesus had to go out from his home and work all by himself, trying to create a foundation on which the people could believe in him. There can be no doubt that John the Baptist was a man of failure. He was directly responsible for the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

You may again want to ask me, "With what authority do you say these things?" I spoke with Jesus Christ in the spirit world. And I spoke also with John the Baptist. This is my authority. If you cannot at this time determine that my words are the truth, you will surely discover that they are in the course of time. These are hidden truths presented to you as new revelations. You have heard me speak from the Bible. If you believe the Bible you must believe what I am saying.

We must therefore come to this solemn conclusion: The crucifixion of Jesus was a result of human faithlessness. The most egregious and destructive lack of faith was to be found in John. This means that Jesus did not come to die on the cross. If Jesus had come to die, then he would not have offered that tragic and anguished prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus said to his disciples: " 'My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me.' And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, 'My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt.' " (Matt. 26:38-39)

Jesus prayed this way not just once, but three times. If death on the cross had been fulfillment of God's will, Jesus would certainly have prayed instead, "Father, I am honored to die on the cross for your will."

But Jesus prayed asking that this cup pass from him. If his prayer came out of his fear of death, such weakness would disqualify him as the Son of God. We know of the courageous deaths of many martyrs throughout Christian history and even elsewhere, people who not only overcame their fear of death, but made their final sacrifice a great victory. Out of so many martyrs, how could Jesus alone be the one to show his fear and weakness, particularly if his crucifixion was the glorious moment of his fulfillment of the will of God? Jesus did not pray this way from weakness. To believe such a thing is an outrage to Jesus Christ.

The prayer of Jesus at the Garden of Gethsemane did not come from his fear of death or suffering. Jesus would have been willing and ready to die a thousand times over if that could have achieved the will of God. He agonized with God together in the garden, and he made one final plea to God, because he knew his death would only cause the prolongation of the dispensation.

Jesus wanted to live and fulfill his primary mission. It is a tragic misunderstanding to believe that Jesus prayed for a little more earthly life out of the frailty of his human soul. Young Nathan Hale, in the American struggle for independence, was able to say at the time of his execution, "I regret that I have but one life to give for my country!" Do you think Jesus Christ was a lesser soul than Nathan Hale? No! Nathan Hale was a great patriot. But Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

Think this over. If Jesus came to die on the cross, would he not need a man to deliver him up? You know that Judas Iscariot is the disciple who betrayed Jesus. If Jesus fulfilled God's will with his death on the cross, then Judas should be glorified as the man who made the crucifixion possible. Judas would have been aiding God's dispensation. But Jesus said of Judas, "The Son of man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born." (Matt. 26:24) Judas killed himself.

Furthermore, if God had wanted His son to be crucified, He did not need 4,000 years to prepare the chosen people. He would have done better to send Jesus to a savage tribe, where he could have been killed even faster, and the will of God would have been realized more rapidly.

I must tell you again, it was the will of God to have Jesus Christ accepted by his people. That is why God labored in hope and anguish to prepare fertile soil for the heavenly seed of the Messiah. That is why God established His chosen people of Israel. That is why God sent prophet after prophet to awaken the people of Israel to ready themselves for the Lord.

God warned them and chastised them; He persuaded them and scolded them, pushed them and punished them because He wanted His people to accept His Son. One day Jesus was asked, "What must we do, to be doing the works of God?" Jesus answered them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent." (John 6:28-29) Israel did the very thing God had labored to prevent. She rejected the one He had sent.

Jesus had one purpose throughout the three years of his public ministry: Acceptance. He could not fulfill his mission otherwise. From the very first day, he preached the gospel without equivocation, so that the people could hear the truth and accept him as the Son of God. The word of God should have led them to accept him. However, when Jesus saw that the people were not likely to receive him by the words of God alone, he began to perform mighty works. He hoped that people could recognize him through his miracles.

"Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name." (John 20:30-31)

Jesus gave sight to the blind and made the lepers clean. He healed the lame and blessed the deaf with hearing. Jesus raised the dead. He did these things only because he wanted to be accepted. Yet the people said of him, "It is only by Beelzebub, the prince of demons, that this man casts out demons." (Matt. 12:24) What a heartbreaking situation! Jesus soon saw the hopelessness of gaining the acceptance of the people. In anger and desperation he chastised them: "You brood of vipers!..." (Matt. 12:34) He did not hide his wrath, but exploded in anger. "Woe to you, Chorazin! woe to you, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes." (Matt. 11:2 1) And he wept when he drew near the city of Jerusalem.

"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, killing the prophets and stoning those who are sent to you! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not!" (Matt. 23:37)

Who has ever understood the broken heart of Jesus? He said, "Would that even today you knew the things that make for peace! But now they are hid from your eyes." (Luke 19:42) By that time Jesus knew there was absolutely no hope of avoiding death. Yet he pleaded with God in Gethsemane, and he pleaded with God on the cross: "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" (Matt. 27:46)

Thus Jesus died on the cross, not to fulfill his own ultimate hope, not because of God's original plan, but by the will of sinful people. Christ was destined to return from that moment on. He will return to consummate his mission on earth. Mankind must await his second coming for the complete salvation of the world.

Many people may now ask, "What about the prophecies in the Old Testament concerning the death of Jesus on the cross?" I am aware of those prophecies, such as Isaiah, Chapter 53. We must know that there are dual lines of prophecy in the Bible. One group prophesies Jesus' rejection and death; the others, such as Isaiah, Chapters 9, 11, and 60, prophesy the glorious ministry of Jesus when the people accepted him as the Son of God, as the King of kings. For example: "For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government will be upon his shoulder, and his name will be called "Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David, and over his kingdom, to establish it, and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore..." (Is. 9:6-7)

This is the prophecy of the Lord of glory, Jesus as the King of kings, and Prince of Peace. On the other hand, we can read: "Surely he has borne our grief and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that made us whole, and with his stripes we are healed." (Is. 53:4-5)

This is the prophecy of the suffering Christ. It is indeed the prophecy of the crucifixion.

Then why did God prophesy in two contradictory ways in the Bible? It is because God has to deal with us -- fallen human beings -- in His dispensation. And fallen people are wicked and untrustworthy and possess the capacity of betrayal.

In a way God fears us, and Satan fears us also because of our ability to betray. God is absolute good, and He never changes His position; Satan is absolute evil, and he never changes his position either. In this respect God and Satan are similar. However, we are a mixture of good and evil. We stand between God and Satan and have the ability to change. Therefore, we are unpredictable. One day a person may profess untiring faith in God and desire to serve Him; and the next day the same person may curse God, unite with Satan and become his slave.

Since God did not know how the people would respond to His providence for the Messiah, He had no choice but to predict two contradictory results -- dual prophecies, each possibility depending on human actions. Thus the people's faith was the factor determining which one of the two prophecies would be fulfilled.

In the case of Jesus, if people demonstrated faith by uniting with him, then he would be accepted. The full realization of the prophecy of the Lord of glory would result.

On the other hand, if people lacked faith in him and rejected the Messiah when he came, inevitably the second prophecy, that of the suffering Christ, would be fulfilled. And history shows that there was insufficient faith in Jesus when he came. Therefore, the prophecy of the suffering Lord became reality instead of the prophecy of the Lord of glory. Thus the crucifixion and the story of the suffering Christ became the course of history.

In the Old Testament religion, the priest had the qualification to kill the offering, put it on the altar, and ask God to accept the offering. There must be someone who cuts the offering into two and puts it on the altar; then it can be accepted by God. The priest of all priests was Jesus Christ. He was supposed to put the whole nation of Israel, the chosen nation, in the position of the sacrifice. He has to sacrifice the whole nation; and the nation should not have complained, being in the position of the offering. But they did, and their disbelief in him led Jesus to die in their place as the offering. God is not a person who wants to see bloodshed. But in order to save fallen humanity, God had to do that. Because Jesus as a human being shed his blood, God had a reasonable condition to restore humanity. That's why He was forced to send Jesus to the cross.

The Bible does not provide much record of the life of Jesus prior to his public ministry, except for the story of his birth and a few accounts of his childhood. Haven't you ever wondered why?

For thirty years Jesus lived in great rejection and humiliation. There were many events and circumstances which grieved and agonized Jesus. He was truly a misunderstood person -- in his society and even among his own family. Nobody, absolutely nobody treated him as the Son of God. He was not even accorded the common respect due to any man. His society ridiculed him. God's heart was very deeply grieved by Jesus' life. If I revealed just a glimpse of some of the situations of heartbreak and sorrow in the life of Jesus, that obscure figure, the man of Nazareth, you would not only be shocked and stunned, but you would burst into tears of sorrow.

God did not wish humankind to know the tragedy, the heart-breaking reality of the humiliation of Jesus Christ. The death of Jesus was neither his will not his fault. The death of Jesus was murder. Our salvation in Christianity comes not from the cross but from the resurrection. Without the resurrection, Christianity has no power. The resurrected Jesus brought new hope, new forgiveness, and a new power of salvation. Therefore, when we place our faith in the Jesus Christ of resurrection and unite with him, our salvation comes.

Jesus' greatest declaration was that he was the only begotten Son of God. What is a begotten son? He is the trunk line, the only object or recipient of the full love of God. Jesus proclaimed that he came in the position of bridegroom to all humanity, but he also placed himself on the horizontal level, relating to everyone as a neighbor, teacher, brother and friend. When you read the Bible, it is obvious that Jesus is the trunk line of God's truth and love.

Jesus knew the heart of God, and when he was crucified he said, "Oh my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" The crucifixion brought tremendous grief to the heart of God; God had sent him down as His only begotten son, and God deeply wanted to see Jesus as the center of His only begotten family, only begotten society, national and world. That was God's hope. When that hope was crushed by the rebellion and faithlessness of the people, it became God's desire to send another Messiah, a second son here on earth. Once God conceives His will can He give it up simply because of the situation on earth?

Jesus could not give up the will of God by resenting the adamant opposition to him. Jesus certainly could not abandon his mission at that moment by hating the people. He was a true man because he perfectly lived the life of God. He was a walking God, the fruit of the truth of God's Logos. There was no separation between God and Jesus, and because no one can destroy God no one can destroy Jesus Christ. The crucifixion was not his destruction; God manifested the power of resurrection so that the world could see that Jesus was never destroyed.

Christianity has spiritual parents. Jesus is in the spiritual father's position, and the Holy Spirit is in the spiritual mother's position. We are given rebirth by following a spiritual father and spiritual mother, but we can only receive spiritual salvation. Therefore, the Christian tradition has been denying the physical world. With Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit working together we cleanse our sins and are given rebirth on the spiritual level. After the crucifixion of Jesus the Christian foundation could only be a spiritual one, although initially God intended a physical foundation as well.

Today many Christians put exclusive emphasis upon salvation by the blood of Jesus. How mistaken that is in the sight of God! In the Bible is recorded the story of a prostitute who was condemned to death and about to be stoned. Jesus said to the people gathered around her, "Whoever is without sin, let him cast the first stone." Everyone self-consciously dropped their stones. After everyone had drifted away in shame, Jesus spoke to the accused woman, saying, "Has no one condemned you? Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more."

What does this mean? By his own words Jesus offered forgiveness. Even before Jesus shed one drop of blood there was already forgiveness from sin. No one had to wait for Jesus to die. There was this path to salvation in accepting the world of Jesus even at that time. That's in the Bible. He did not give a rain check by saying, "I will forgive you and save you, but wait until I die on the cross." Jesus could open the way to salvation to everyone by the Word of God. God's plan of salvation does not require bloodshed by necessity. Salvation means that the Garden of Eden shall be here on earth, with living men, women and families. What we need is living consummation, realizing the love Jesus brought, not alienation, bloodshed and death.

Many Christians today truly misunderstand. They preach resurrection, but resurrection does not mean that dead bodies will rise again. That's a misconception. Death came when human beings departed from God, through the misuse of the love of God. Human physical bodies remained alive after the fall. Resurrection means accepting the word of God to become the possessor of God's love. Suppose Jesus appeared here. Would you want to have only the spiritual salvation which came through the shedding of blood, or would you want to have the living, working salvation of soul and body? Would you want spirit and body restored together by the living Jesus?

Then to what degree should we be like Jesus? You have to reach the point where you are one with Jesus in flesh and blood. That's why he set up the condition of the sacrament: Christians must feel they are actually eating Jesus' flesh and blood. They should actually feel Jesus' life and love more than anything else when eating the bread; and when drinking the wine they should really feel they are drinking his blood. Without such feeling salvation cannot begin at that moment. This was Jesus' method to bring humankind to pass from Satan's world into God's, thus uniting himself with the believer through actual, real sense experience. It means Satan is cut off and humanity is engrafted to Jesus -- a consummation with him resulting in one flesh, one blood, i.e. one humanness. Then we can feel this oneness. From that point on the person receives God's love and life. But Christianity further envisions people going through total salvation, both on the physical and spiritual levels. With Christianity as it now stands, we cannot be saved on both levels. That's why Jesus has to come again; and only around the mission of the Second Advent can we gain physical salvation, fulfilling the prophecy of the Lord of Glory. Since the prophecy of the suffering Christ became fact in the time of Jesus, the prophecy of the Lord of glory has been left unfulfilled. And this is the prophecy which will be fulfilled at the time of the Lord of the Second Advent.

Please ask seriously in your prayers guidance on these matters. Ask either Jesus Christ or God himself. If Jesus had lived and fulfilled his primary mission of bringing the Kingdom of God on earth, Christianity would never have been what it is today. The purpose of Jesus' coming was for the salvation of the world. The chosen people were to be God's instruments. However, salvation was not intended only for God's chosen people. For every soul upon the face of the earth, Jesus is the savior. He is the savior of all humankind. Since Jesus left this world prematurely, he also left us the promise of his second coming.

The Christians are the second Israelites, but the Messiah has not arrived yet. In the Christian world, there is no such thing as a national foundation because there is no nation of God's choice on the physical level. If you compare the first Israelites to the second Israelites, the Christian world, which is of more value? The nation of the first Israelites, though small in territory, had sovereignty on both the physical and spiritual levels, and it was in that sense greater than the second Israelite nation, which on the spiritual level has covered almost the whole world, but has not been able to set up anything like a true nation on the physical level.

Should the Messiah come to the Christian world alone, or to the whole world? What God, together with the Christians, must do is cover the whole world both on the spiritual and physical levels. In light of those things, do you think the Messiah should come in the flesh or just in spirit?

In the ideal world we are going to build, we will be liberated from sin both on the physical and spiritual levels, under the actual guidance of God as our parent. The Lord must come again in the flesh to accomplish his mission of saving the physical world. If he comes on the clouds of Heaven, spiritually, he cannot accomplish his mission of restoring the whole world both on the spiritual and physical levels. The problem is the sin and corruption of this world, and not of heaven.

How will the Lord come at the second advent? Our position as Christians exactly parallels the position of the elders, scribes and priests at the time of Jesus. In those days, the people were waiting for Elijah and the Messiah to arrive on the clouds of heaven. Why did the people think this way? Why did they hold this kind of belief?

They were simply following the Bible prophecy written down in Daniel 7:13: "1 saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him." Because of the great prophet Daniel, the people of Israel had every reason to expect the arrival of the Messiah with the clouds of heaven. Christians are expecting the arrival of the Lord in the same way today, from the clouds of heaven.

John said, "... many deceivers have gone out into the world, men who will not acknowledge the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh; such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist." (II John 7) The Bible says that many people were denying the appearance of Jesus Christ in the flesh. And John condemned those people as the antichrist. But let us not forget the Old Testament prophecy of the coming of the Son of God in the clouds of heaven. Unless we know the whole truth, we, like the people of Jesus' time, become victims of the words of the Bible.

The people 2,000 years ago expected the Lord's arrival on the clouds of heaven; so when Jesus appeared in the flesh it was very difficult to accept him. So at that time, there were arguments among Jesus' disciples and the faithful of Israel. "Well, if your master, Jesus, is the Son of God, how could he appear as a man, in the flesh -- impossible! How could he be the Son of God? We know him; he is the son of Joseph, the son of Mary. How could he be the son of God? The son of God must come on the clouds of heaven."

So how could they accept Jesus? On what grounds? Those who believed the letter of the Old Testament, and not the spirit, could miss the whole thing. Then how will the Lord appear in the last days? We are in a situation exactly parallel to that of the time of Jesus Christ. If we become slaves to the letter of the New Testament, instead of free in the spirit of the New Testament, we will commit the same crime which the elders, scribes, and Pharisees committed 2,000 years ago.

Then, may I ask, what would you do if the Lord returned to earth not in the clouds but as a man in the flesh? What would you do? I am telling you, the Lord at the second advent will in fact appear as a Son of man with flesh and bones. The first thing you may want to say is, "Rev. Moon, you are a heretic." But listen for a moment.

It is important to know on which side God will be and how God fulfills His plan. It is not important whether a man or his views are considered heretical or not. It does not matter how I look at the world or how you look at the world. It only matters how God looks at the world. And in God's view, we once again find in the Bible a dual prophecy concerning the coming of the Lord of the Second Advent. Revelation 1:7 definitely prophesies the arrival of the Lord with the clouds. However, I Thess. 5:2 states: "For you yourselves know well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night." There are then two opposing prophecies. What shall we do? Would you simply choose the prophecy which is most convenient for you?

Perhaps the Lord will appear with a loud noise in the clouds of heaven, because the prophecy says so. But on the other hand, the Lord may appear like a thief in the night. If he comes on the clouds, he surely cannot slip into the world unseen like a thief. Tremendous attention would surround the spectacle of his coming on the clouds. I cannot imagine how such a thing could be hidden from your eyes.

Then just what is the truth? We have a crucial question before us. What is the truth? When you see the signs of the Last Days, the Bible urges you to go into a dark room and pray. Who can tell you the time of the Last Days? The angels do not know that day. Jesus said not even the Son of man knew when that day would arrive. Only God knows the time of the Last Days. That is why we have our answer from God. I am not saying you must believe me -- not at all. I am just revealing what I know to be the truth, but you must verify this truth with God.

Most Christians today do not know the position they have. They simply believe in Jesus Christ and accept the words of the Bible. They feel that someday Jesus will come on the clouds of heaven, and all true Christians will be lifted up in the air. Somehow they will have a rendezvous with Jesus and have some kind of millennium up there. That is horrendous, empty, hollow. Religion is not out there, up in the stratosphere.

I am testifying that the Lord cannot appear in that kind of supernatural fashion. Jesus Christ could not return that way because the work of God is to be done here on earth. The mission of the Messiah is a physical, realistic one. As a man he must come up from the bottom of human misery. He must come to the most miserable nation and lift the human status from the slave position, to the servant position, to the adopted child position and to the direct child position by physically putting together the Kingdom of Heaven here on earth. That is the mission of the Messiah.

In the Last Days, the Bible says, do not just believe anybody. Do not believe me, and do not believe someone just because of his or her official status in church or society. Famous leaders will not necessarily give you the guidance God would want for you. Heaven is so near, and you can be lifted up by the spirit so high, that you can speak with God and receive the answer directly from Him if you are earnest enough.

There are many ministers in America, many clergymen and many church elders. How many of them are really listening for the voice of God? These ears of ours do not mean much, nor these eyes serve any useful purpose, unless we have spiritual ears and spiritual eyes. Jesus said, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear." (Matt. 11:15) And he said to his disciples, "But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear." (Matt. 13:16) He was not referring to physical sense organs.

When you use your spiritual senses and listen for the Word of God, you will find His direction and guidance. But it is not easy to become a citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven. It is very difficult for a foreigner just to become a citizen of the United States. How much more difficult it is to remove ourselves from our corrupt life and transfer ourselves into the Kingdom of Heaven. But we can achieve this very thing.

We know that even after Adam and Eve fell in the Garden of Eden, they still were able to communicate directly with God. Do you think that since the days of the Old and New Testaments, God has for some reason become deaf and dumb? No, God is very much alive, and today we can talk directly to Him. God can speak to you, and you can have a direct confrontation with Him. The Acts of the Apostles says that in the last days, "... your sons and your daughters shall prophesy and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams;..." (Acts 2:17) We must know the truth. We have to know how to apply for citizenship into the Kingdom of God. We have to know when the Lord will come, and how he will arrive.

Let us look to our Bible and clarify how the Lord of the Second Advent will appear. In Luke 17:20-21, the Pharisees asked Jesus how the Kingdom of God was coming. He answered, "The Kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed;... the Kingdom of God is in the midst of you." Jesus then told his disciples, "The days are coming when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, and you will not see it." But if the Lord comes in the clouds of heaven, how could we not see it? Yet Revelation 1:7 says. "... every eye will see him, everyone who pierced him;..."What can this mean? Why would we not see him? The only way we might miss that day is if we look for the Lord to come from one direction, and he appears from another direction in an entirely unexpected manner, just as Elijah did at the time of Jesus. This is the reason you may not see the Lord at the time of his second coming.

Another mysterious prediction was given by Jesus Christ himself He declared about the Lord at the second coming: "But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation." (Luke 17:25) If Christ at his Second Coming appears in the glory of the clouds of heaven, who would deny him? Nobody would cause him suffering and pain. The only way this prophecy can be fulfilled is if people expect his return from the clouds and he suddenly appears as a humble man in the flesh. Do you think that Christian leaders of today would make the same mistake that the priests and scribes and elders committed at the time of Jesus? Yes! They may very well deny him and reject him, because the manner of his coming would be very difficult for Christian leaders to accept. However, in this way the Bible will be fulfilled. He will first suffer and be rejected by this generation.

Jesus once asked a most important question: "When the Son of man comes, will he find faith on earth?" (Luke 18:8) How does this question concern us today, when Christian faith covers the face of the earth? It is because although we do have faith today, it may be mistaken faith -- a belief which expects the Lord must come on the clouds of heaven. There are few men or women on earth with the kind of faith ready to accept the Son of Man appearing in the flesh. If this were not the situation, the Bible prophecy we are discussing here would not be fulfilled. Please note that Jesus did not say there would be no believers, but he said there would be no faith.

Jesus also said: "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?' And then will I declare to them. 'I never knew you; depart from me, you evildoers.' " (Matt. 7:21-23)

This prophecy cannot be realized if his second coming is on the clouds of heaven.

At the time of the second advent, people again will be crying out, "Lord, Lord." At the same time they may be in the process of trying to crucify the Messiah if he appears in a manner different from their expectations. They will then be the worst evildoers.

This is the Bible. Those who truly have eyes will see Those who truly have ears will hear. Throughout history God has sent His prophets before the time of fulfillment. He warns the people of His plan. No matter how devout Christian faith is today, no matter how many millions of people are in the Christian churches, they and their churches and their world will decline once they fail to accept the Lord, however he may appear. This was the tragic fate of Israel and the Roman Empire when they denied Jesus Christ, regardless of their righteousness otherwise.

We must therefore also be open to a new message. Jesus Christ did not come to repeat the Mosaic Law. Just as Jesus revealed himself with the new expression of truth, the Lord at the second advent will reveal himself with God's truth for our time. That truth will not be simply a repetition of the New Testament.

The first ancestors lost the kingdom of God on earth.

Satan invaded the world and took Eve to his side, and then Eve took Adam away, leaving God alone and separated from His children. All humankind has therefore suffered under the bondage of evil. God must therefore send a new ancestor for humanity, to begin a new history. The work of God is restoration, always in the opposite direction from His original loss. This means that God first needs to find His perfected Adam, an Adam who instead of betraying God will become one with God. And then Adam must restore his bride in the position of Eve. Perfected Adam and perfected Eve, united together, will be able to overcome Satan and expel him from the world. In this way, the first righteous ancestors of humankind will begin a new history.

God's first beginning was alpha. This was invaded by evil, so He will restore the world in omega. Jesus is referred to as the last Adam in I Cor. 15:45. God wanted to bless Adam and Eve in marriage when they were perfected. As a heavenly couple, they could bear children of God. This life was not realized in the Garden of Eden. That is why Jesus came in the position of Adam. God intended to find the true bride and have Jesus marry. The True Parents of humankind would have been inaugurated in the time of Jesus, and they could have overcome and changed the evil history of the world. Since that hope was not completed by Jesus, after 2,000 years he is returning to earth as a man to complete in full the mission he only partially accomplished. The Kingdom of Heaven on earth will be established at that time.

Christians are looking for God just in their thoughts, very vaguely, on the spiritual level alone. They cherish the hope of going to live in the spirit world, and glorify it alone, without minding the physical world. Of course, the true Kingdom of God on earth will be both the spiritual and physical levels. When Jesus prayed at Gethsemane, he begged and begged God to let that cup pass from him, because he knew only too well that if he died on the cross, the will of God both on the spiritual and physical levels would be left unaccomplished. In the Old Testament Age, when the Israelites chosen by God were preparing to receive the Messiah they formed a nation both on the spiritual and physical levels. But when Jesus came, he could accomplish his mission only on the spiritual level, so the physical level is left for the Lord to accomplish at the second advent, in order to realize the Kingdom of God on earth both on the spiritual and physical levels.

The question is, who is going to accomplish God's will on the physical level? It is natural that the Lord at the second coming who will come representing Jesus should accomplish that mission, just as Jesus came as the Messiah representing Adam. Jesus was the second Adam, and the Lord at the second advent will be the third Adam. This messiah must work upon the foundation of Jesus Christ, so he's going to do on the physical level what Jesus did on the spiritual level.

The new history of goodness will thus begin. With the truth of God and True Parents for humanity, a new alpha in God's history will begin and continue for eternity. The ideal of God is to restore the first perfect God-centered family on earth. With this one model as a center, all the rest of the world can be adopted into this family. We will become like them, and the first heavenly family will be expanded, multiplying into the tribal, national, and worldwide Kingdom of God on earth.

The Kingdom of Heaven is to be literal and tangible. Jesus gave Peter the keys to the Kingdom and said, "... whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." (Matt. 16:19) So accomplishment on earth must precede fulfillment in heaven; the Kingdom of Heaven will be first achieved on earth. At this time only an intermediate place in the spirit world is open. That is called, "Paradise." Jesus and his disciples dwell in Paradise, and even they cannot actually enter the Kingdom of Heaven until it is established on earth. One reason for this is because the Kingdom of Heaven is prepared not for individuals, but for the family of God -- for the father, the mother, and God's true children.

If in the Christian world people cling to the old traditions, can they go with the Messiah to the world of new dimension? Up to the present moment people have been safe in believing in Christ -- just in belief, they are settled in belief. But when Jesus Christ appears again they must not only believe in him but follow him. If you receive Jesus Christ, would he want you to just accept him as the Christ and believe in him, or would he want you to know him, understand his heart, and follow him? He would want us to know him and understand him, his heart. And he would even want you to act in place of him, doing what he would have you do. The Lord will not appear miraculously in the clouds of heaven, because God is sending His son to restore the things that were lost on earth. Would humankind prefer to receive a Messiah who came dramatically on a cloud, without teaching and being all those things which Jesus was, or a Messiah who came normally but was able to convey those precious understandings? Certainly, we would value the second kind of Messiah.

Up to now, most people thought of Christianity in terms of their own group, their own nation, but from now on our scope must become larger than that, encompassing the whole world. The scope of our thought must be broadened so as to get the whole world involved. In the Christian churches we must deal with problems of the world transcending national boundaries in order to receive things of new dimension. We must even create a new dimension of culture. The Lord at the second advent comes for the whole world, for the salvation of the whole world. Then those who follow him must receive his idea and think of things in terms of the world, not of the individual. If Jesus were here, when he saw that a vast number of denominations had been created, would he be glad? Christianity started from his teaching, which was one, not many. Then when they find many Christian denominations in disharmony among themselves, God is not happy over that and Jesus Christ is not happy over that. God did not send Jesus Christ to create so many denominations. Then when Jesus sees that there are so many denominations created after him, he must feel responsibility for that fact. Then if there appears a group of people who will think of the salvation of the whole world and work for that goal, Jesus will be happy about that fact and will come to aid them and God will also come to aid that group. People may not know the particulars and details of the group, but since there is God's will working in it, both God and Jesus will work through the group, in the group.

I believe my message is absolutely clear and simple. God intended to begin the history of goodness in Adam and Eve. But they fell. God worked to restore history and begin anew in Jesus Christ. But the people of his time lacked faith and did not give him a chance. Therefore, Jesus' promise of his return will be fulfilled. The Messiah is destined to come to earth as the Son of Man in the flesh. He comes as the third Adam. He will take a bride and thereby bring about the most joyful day of heavenly matrimony, referred to as "the marriage supper of the Lamb" in the book of Revelation. They will fulfill the role of True Parents. True ancestry from God will be established and heaven on earth can then be literally achieved.

The foundation for the Messiah has to be Christianity because Christianity is the only religion to understand that the true nature of God is that of Father. Jesus was the only man who called himself the only begotten son of God. No other religion is founded upon such a teaching. Jesus was indeed the Messiah because God was his Father and he was His only begotten son. Thus the religion that he founded must become the foundation for the second coming of the Messiah, when God's original love will be fulfilled. Centering upon original love, Christianity creates the godly family of Father, Son, brothers and sisters in Christ -- this family concept had to be the mainstream of Gods' dispensation up to the time of the ultimate fulfillment.

Christianity had to become the most widespread religion in the world because God has a big stake in it; He has a plan for fulfilling His dispensation through it. Unfortunately, traditional Christianity was misled by incorrect theology. There are many mistaken ideas, such as Jesus came only to die. Likewise many Christians are content to worry only about their individual salvation, disregarding the matters of this world for their own little heaven. The concept of being saved by faith alone is a very partial view; along with having faith one must fulfill love in order to go to Heaven. Without the power of love, one can never be separated from satanic bondage.

For this reason, God promised humankind that the second Messiah would come as the representative of His original love, bringing liberation from satanic bondage. How can you recognize the second Messiah? The Messiah will teach this principle exactly, point by point, spelling it out. The Bible promises that when the end of the world comes, we will no longer have to be taught by symbols and parables but we will learn plainly of the Father. (John 16:25)

That is what the Unification teaching is all about; that is what you are receiving.

At the heart of Christianity is the relationship between the bridegroom and bride. In a spiritual sense, the Christian churches are to prepare themselves with the attitude of a bride. When the Messiah does come in the end times, he will be a living bridegroom to be received by all humanity. Even though we may have understood this concept, we are not living up to our responsibility. Jesus' will and God's will have been very much misrepresented for 2,000 years. The churches have fallen short of the will of God. Therefore, in preparation for the coming of the Messiah, a new Christianity must emerge, and the present churches which have deviated from the will of God must revitalize themselves. That true Christianity must come about. What form must that new Christianity take?

The new Christianity must be the highest form of religion, perfectly fitting the criteria of God's true religion. Christians must fulfill both the wishes of the Messiah and the wishes of God. In order to do so they must elevate themselves to the position of messiah and literally save the world. Their attitude must be: "For the sake of the world I must be a sacrifice. For the sake of God I can sacrifice my Christian church." Centering upon God is absolute obedience, we Christians must bring unity between God and humanity in reality here on earth. As restored Adam and Eve, we must go beyond the level of fulfillment in the Garden of Eden; in order to restore their failure, we must make ourselves superior in obedience, in trust, and in love. Therefore we must go beyond the limit of our life.

When Jesus ascended into heaven, he brought down the Holy Spirit, which is the spiritual mother. Eve gave birth to sinful children, but the Holy Spirit comes to give us spiritual rebirth.

Through the power of love a father and mother create new life, and it is the same in the rebirth process. Each person must go back to the origin and be born again, beginning as flesh and blood and bone in the Father. So you must go back to the body of Jesus in a sinless, sacrificial life. If you love Jesus and know that he is your spiritual father, then you must want to bring yourself inside his heart and be born again as his flesh and blood. That's the desire you must have.

Through sacrificial love you can go back to the origin, the very source of your life. Once you were flesh and bone of your father and mother. If You love Jesus so much that nothing else in the world matters to You, you can absolutely give your heart and soul to him. At that point the Holy Spirit can come to you and give you rebirth; they you are reborn as a spiritual son or daughter of Jesus. That is the whole process of rebirth in Christianity. It is the essence of Christianity, but it will elevate a person only to the level of adopted son or daughter.

We are not created in spirit alone, but with a body. The ultimate step left to be taken is to be born again, not just in spirit, but in spirit and body together. For that purpose Jesus' body is needed and he must return as a living person in the flesh. So far Christianity has offered only the possibility of rebirth in spirit. Now in the new age, when Jesus comes back as the second messiah, we shall be given the power to be born again in the body as well. Each person needs this physical rebirth before going to the spirit world. Furthermore, the requirement to enter the Kingdom of God in heaven is that you become elevated as sons and daughters of God, loving the world as God loves the world.

We cannot doubt that Christianity today is in definite crisis. This is a crisis parallel to the time of Jesus, when the established religious institutions failed the Son of God. In the present world tradition has become a shackle, and religions have no way to advance; their former disciplines or traditions are too small to embrace the world. This is why young people are so rebellious in their search for a more open atmosphere. When we see the imbalance and contradiction between the secular world and religious world, we can only conclude that if God is involved at all with this world then the time has come for Him to undertake some extraordinary, revolutionary action to change completely the format of religion.

God must have some universal religion in His mind. Because the world is ready, this is about the time that God will inspire such a religion. Without this religion the present world cannot have any hope for the future. God must have a solution for both the religious and secular worlds together, since He is responsible for them both. Which course shall we take? We have to change either the secular world first or religion first. Certainly religions today must lead the way, through the emergence of a new, universal religion.

The first problem facing this religious revolution is the resolution of religious division and antagonism. Would God want all religious people united together? The universal goal of humankind is world brother and sisterhood -- the human family. A new religious movement with that vision and goal should come into being.

Religious people are always a problem to those in power. God is always their goal. Therefore, they can go beyond national boundaries, racial boundaries and cultural boundaries. They are just impossible people to deal with because the accepted sense of judgment does not apply to them. Throughout history, sovereignties have always felt threatened by new religious groups. They are such difficult people to deal with because they cannot be controlled. To say, "We will kill you!" is not a threat to them. They answer, "Go ahead, do it!"

Therefore, as new religions emerged throughout history, governments usually opposed them. They always wanted to liquidate the religions before they got too big. A sovereign nation worries only about the integrity of its own territory, but religious people go beyond the boundary of the nation. Religious people don't care if an enemy is next door. They might even open the door to the enemy camp. This worries the governing people. Rulers of nations usually look at religious people as a very sticky problem.

And yet, today, young people are searching for spiritual values. There is absolutely no other way they can find what they want. Furthermore, the growing interest in religion is reflected in the rising enrollment in church-run schools. This is one indication that the people who could not find secular solutions are coming all the way back to seek out a religious life. Long ago I predicted that this would indeed happen and that the year 1976 would be a turning point of American history. From now on the search for spiritual rather than material solutions for this nation's problems will intensify. We recognize this crisis in our time; and we can also see through the haze to the brightly shining day of new hope.

We are truly living in an extraordinary time in human history. We are in a position to save and liberate Jesus Christ and end his anguish. We can be in a position to liberate even God. We are the ones who can assure God his happiness, His joy, His peace. We are going to liberate the heart of God and His anguish and sorrow. And by doing so, we are liberating all humankind and its burden and sorrow. Finally, we can push the entire satanic world out of the world.

We are bearing our cross as living beings. In our situation complaining could be possible. But we must go beyond that. We must effect a miracle, such that without dying, we can accomplish this goal -- this is the miracle. If you have this faith, this commitment, then when you go, God is with you.

His power is yours; God has been with me when I have this intent, this faith, and this love. God was with me each step of my way. The same God shall be with you.

This is the time for unprecedented spiritual awakening. I want you to open your eyes and ears to perceive the truth. This is my hope, that by sharing this message with you, we might unite to prepare for the glorious day of the arrival of the Lord. Let us see the God of history, let us understand the God of Providence, and let us embrace the living God in our own lives.

The major criticism Christians have is their contention that I pose as the Lord of the Second Advent. But I never said that. They created rumors like that. Christians have been waiting all these years for the second coming, so they should have had the courtesy to come and find out for themselves whether our members have valid reason to spread such a rumor. If they had earnestly done that, Christianity today would be entirely different. Some Christians say that we are heretics, but I tell you that this is not just ordinary heresy. I am a super-heretic in their eyes, and the amazing thing is that God likes this super-heretic.

Children have been born all over the world since Jesus died. Even though they are sinful children, they are still children of God and need to be restored, but there has existed no tree of life for them to physically graft themselves onto. The end of the world is at hand, not only for Christians but for all people throughout the world. The new history of God will begin with the arrival of the Lord. Blessed are those who see him and accept him. It is the hope of Christianity to recognize, receive, and accept the Lord at the second advent. The chance has arrived for all of us. The greatest opportunity in anyone's lifetime is now knocking at our door. Please be humble, and open yourself to great new hope!

No knowledge, no position, no wealth, no anything, nothing can please God except for your heart of love for God alone, which will make Him cry -- that alone can touch His heart. If you are ready to do anything at all for Him in order to ease His heart -- if you can deny yourself, sacrifice yourself, and be ready to comfort His heart, His grieving heart -- then only, with tearful eyes, will God trust you and love you. If you are ready to die, if you cry out to God, "Whatever place you have for us to die, I will go to that place, and I am ready to deny myself, I am ready to die in the place of other people for the sake of Your cause," and if you really dash to that point, ready to sacrifice yourself, then God may be able to trust you. In that case, you are in a position similar to that of Jesus, praying in the Garden of Gethsemane: "My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt." And if you are utterly going to do things for the sake of God's will, then alone will He believe you. Even though He has been betrayed by so many people, when Jesus prayed before God, saying: "You may do anything You please, and I will follow You," then God could cry out to Jesus: "You resemble me; you restored yourself in the image and likeness of Myself." In that case alone, God can trust the person.

Even though God may have to lose the whole world, the whole nation, whole tribe, whole clan, whole family -- if He has one person left with that kind of attitude, that devotion to the love of God, and oneness with God, forming the foundation in God's love, God will be pleased with that person. Starting right from that person, He can broaden the scope of His love and loving sphere, reaching out to the whole world again.

In other words, we must resemble God to the fullest extent. If we analyze God or dissolve God there will be one thing left, and that is love, God's love. We must be ready to sacrifice ourselves for this great love. Even if we may have to die on the sea, die on the mountainside, die in the deep valley of darkness, wherever we may have to die; or if we are killed by other persons for this great cause, we must be ready to do that, and this is going to be our determination. That is why in the Bible Jesus said, "Whoever wants to gain his life will lose it, and whoever is ready to lose his life for my sake, will gain it."

I hope that you consider these ideas seriously, and pray to God. He will answer you.