Reverend Sun Myung Moon
March 20, 1983
Belvedere
Translator - Bo Hi Pak
According to the Divine Principle, everything goes through three stages of growth-formation, growth, and completion. The number three is quite important in the Divine Principle. In nature, we see the mineral world, the plant world and the animal world. There are three parts to your fingers; and your arms also have three portions. The same is true of your body.
Your face as well has three levels-that of the eyes, the nose and the mouth. When you clasp hands with someone, there are actually three elements involved-your hand, the other person's hand, and the combination of the two hands. Your eyes must focus using three points. The one nose has two nostrils, thus there are three elements. The same is true of the two lips and the mouth.
In Oriental thought, the universe contains three elements: chun, which is Heaven; ji, which is earth; and in, which is mankind. There are generally thought to be three levels of society-lower, middle, and upper.
In order to insure that you are drawing a straight line, you need to connect three points along it. Those points would be the beginning, central, and end point. A horizontal line and a vertical line are the standard for measuring an angle, whether it is 90 degrees or 45 degrees, or whatever. The horizontal line on a graph makes a perfect 90 degree angle with the vertical line. Four of those 90 degree angles create a complete 360 degrees.
There are three elements or levels to every part of your body. I noticed that the eyes of Western women seem to have a double eyelid on the top. When you blink, the upper lid is the one that moves the most. I tried to figure out why Western women seem to have an extra eyelid line on the top, and I came to the conclusion that it was because the Western eye is so much larger than the Oriental eye. When your eyelids come down, they must make a great deal of motion, compared to the Oriental eye which is very narrow and only makes a short movement to blink. When the Western eye blinks, it actually needs more of a cushion on top. Because of that, your eyes can blink just as fast as the Oriental eyes, even though they have to move a longer distance.
The Oriental way of looking at something is to observe from the inner to the outer part. However, big Western eyes tend to grasp everything from the outward part to the inward. Likewise, the ways of thinking in the East and West are entirely different. The Oriental way is to reserve and withhold oneself, not wanting others to know what you are thinking. But in the Western world, you tend to openly declare what you are thinking, as if you were advertising yourself.
The Oriental way of laughing is also very reserved and quiet, while people in the West usually just burst out laughing freely. I am not trying to say that either way is better or worse; they are actually complementary to each other. The ideal is to have three points-the Eastern, the Western, and the harmony of the two.
The most important concept in Oriental philosophy is that of seeking the central point, avoiding any extremes The middle point is the third point on a line. Time has the element of past, present, and future. As I speak these words in the present time, they immediately become par' of the past once they are spoken and then we move into the future. When a person eats a meal, normally there are three or more items in that meal.
The elements of human food are those of water or liquid, then plant or vegetable, and then meat or animal. These three elements compose the healthy human diet. Also we need air and sunshine. We use three different aspects of the universe-that of the ocean or the world of liquid; that of the earth, with the plants and animals; and that of the air, including the sunshine. People naturally seek out the ocean; we want to enjoy fresh air and spaciousness; and we enjoy nature. We deal with these three primary worlds. Why is that? It is because they complement mankind.
We have been speaking about natural laws. Let us look at God's dispensational or providential laws. God has been working through three different ages-the Old Testament era, the New Testament era, and the Completed Testament era. Through the Principle, we can see that the Old Testament era was like the formation time; the New Testament era was like a growth period; and the Completed Testament era is the time of completion.
Human beings go through three stages of life-up to the time of marriage is one stage, marriage is another stage, and becoming parents is the other. We know now that God's dispensation has followed the law of three stages. That law can be applied to natural phenomena as well as dispensational phenomena.
Let us look at ourselves from this standpoint. When you say "me" or "myself' you are talking in the present time. You are always dwelling in the present. However, you cannot ever totally separate yourself from the continuum of time, with the past flowing into the present and toward the future. You dwell in the present, but behind you is a long line of your ancestry to which you are connected. Likewise, you will be connected to your future descendants.
The central position is that of the present. the position of "I", which is linked to the past and the future. There is no such thing as an isolated "I." Likewise, in physical space you have the heavens above you and the earth below you. When you refer to yourself, you are including the concepts of those horizontal three points and the vertical three points. You are always in the center of those points.
If you love yourself, you are rightfully recognizing yourself as the center of this universe and the center of history. The Western world does not easily think of itself in terms that go beyond the present time. However, an isolated, independent existence is simply not possible in this universe. Let's pretend that your eyeball claimed, "I don't need anyone else. I exist totally independently and solely for myself." Is such a thing possible? No, of course not. The eyeball certainly has an individuality, but it must recognize that it is a part of the entire body. That eyeball can then claim that it represents the whole body. The nose can do the same; and likewise the mouth. The hand can also say that.
According to this same principle, we say that human beings are always related to their families. We have a spouse, parents, children and so forth; we have that vertical and horizontal family relationship. When you want to enjoy something, you must take into consideration your environment. You cannot just enjoy something in total isolation from others. You should be dwelling in a joyful environment, in which you too can be taking joy.
Therefore, "I" is always in the center, in the present time. "I" becomes like a relay station of history, a relay station for the give and take between heaven and earth. When you say "I" therefore, that "I" cannot exist in isolation from these other elements. You should envision yourself as the central point of the universe and of history. Therefore, each person is endowed with the natural desire to become the greatest, highest, most ideal center point. This is the direction of human ambition which each person naturally harbors. We want to be at the center as well as on the top, or in the highest position. Isn't that true?
That center point must be welcomed by its surroundings, otherwise it will eventually be rejected and kicked out by them. When you assume the top position, you must rest upon the foundation of support beneath you; otherwise, there is no such thing as a "top." When you climb up high, do you need a broad foundation or a narrow one? Naturally, the broader the foundation the better. Then you can build the tallest tower. You cannot say, "I just want to go up high but I don't want to build a broad foundation." Such a position will be eternally unstable.
When you have a broad base, you have an eternally stable position. Have you ever thought about why the tops of mountains are always pointed? It is because mountains are built by God for permanency; they exist upon a strong foundation. However, does man know he is built upon a permanent foundation? When a person thinks about securing a strong foundation, he might think of digging a little cubbyhole or cave just for himself. But such thinking will be disdained by all the rest of creation.
When an American citizen says "I" he includes the existence of his nation within that concept. On a smaller scale, each "I," when it acknowledges itself is also including the family, of which he is the center. So far' many people have naturally thought of themselves in relation to their families and on up to the level of nation. However, it is very rare that people think about the whole world and themselves in relation to it.
What is God's way of thinking? When God says, "I am God," does He just think of Himself as the God of one person or one family? No, He is the God of the entire Creation-the universe and cosmos. God looks at the entire cosmos as His foundation upon which He is positioned permanently at the top. When God declares to the entire cosmos, "I am your God," everything says, "Amen." They do not say, "Boo! No, You are not my God!" and spit at Him.
What about Reverend Moon? When I speak of myself, I acknowledge that I am the spiritual leader of the International Unification Church. The Unification Church exists today because of the actions of Reverend Moon; therefore, the center of that establishment is Reverend Moon. Because I am at the central position, whenever someone wants to criticize any aspect of the Unification Church he always says, "Reverend Moon, you are responsible!" Many American people feel they must fear me or compete with me. They say, "We cannot yield any part of our position to Reverend Moon! America must never come under any influence from Reverend Moon!" That is why they try to attack me directly. They want to crush this movement by crushing its spiritual center.
Amazingly enough, as people follow me around and try to crush me, all of a sudden they realize that there seems to be no end to Reverend Moon. They look up and they cannot see the top of Reverend Moon. They cannot find the measure or the scale by which to determine the size and scope of Reverend Moon. Even the computers cannot measure him. As people continue to seek ways of attacking Reverend Moon, they become more and more frustrated because they cannot grasp him. Meanwhile the Moonies are becoming more and more joyful and fulfilled day by day and our opponents are becoming more and more frustrated and miserable because they don't know what to do.
As new generations arise from past generations, they should naturally be better than their predecessors. At this time, the generations of the present are passing away. The democratic world is going away and also the communist world is passing away. The new age that is coming should be a better one, isn't that correct? This ties in with the number three which we have been discussing. We have the democratic world at one point, the communist world at another point and finally the harmonized world of those two worlds at the completion point. When the right side of the world combines with the left side, they create the central world.
Without recognizing some central point, we cannot talk about right or left. Thus when you talk about the world on either the left or the right, we must also talk about the world in the center. People in the central world should be able to digest and assimilate all the aspects of the left and the right-side worlds. Furthermore, that central world should be able to digest all the good and bad aspects of those worlds, refining and purifying them. God has been working to digest all the evils of this world, as well as dealing with the good within it.
The left and the right sides of the world have their own histories, and the center world must have its own history. Which history should be the longest-lasting and go on forever? No one could say that only the right-wing world should go on forever, neither should the left-wing world. However, it is easy to see that the central world should continue forever.
What is the governing factor of history? Human history is governed by the ideal purpose. Actually, even the communist world professes a belief in an ideal purpose for history toward which they are working; they call this materialistic idealism. The free world, on the other hand, espouses a kind of humanistic idealism.
What is the ideal purpose of the center world? The highest ideal is that of Unificationism and it is centered upon God. What is God's ideal world? It is simply a world of unity-one world, not two or more differing parts.
Let's say that the world of communism constructed a pyramid and the democratic world constructed another pyramid. How should the Unification world deal with such a situation? We should use those two pyramids as a base and then expand upon them, building upon the tops of both and moving up even higher than either. Therefore, we would then have one huge pyramid with the two smaller ones as its foundation. The distance from the pinnacle to the bases of the two smaller pyramids should be absolutely equal, in order to be completely fair. Otherwise people would complain.
If the central point of the big pyramid was not perfectly aligned and leaned, for instance, a little more to the left than the right, what would happen? The angle created would give the pyramid a larger right side than left, so the left side of the world would complain and refuse to accept it. Therefore, the central point of the Unification world has to be absolutely vertical to the bottom line. Only in that way can the pinnacle maintain its position fairly over all the lower portions of the pyramids. There can be no unfairness anywhere in that pyramid.
Likewise, within a man there must be an even division between the spiritual and the physical side, with God in the perfectly vertical position on the top. Such a man is a fair and good man; he is a natural man. A person should walk upright, not leaning toward one side or another. There is always only one straight way, not two or more. Although some people might start to walk in the straight direction, they might start to move slightly off-center and eventually get far away from the center. Where are you positioned? Are you in the center or are you off-center? If you are off-center, should you start to climb up toward the top of the pyramid anyway, or shouldn't you try to come to the central position first? Before you should climb up, you should move yourself into the center position. From that point, you can climb upward.
The Unification Church is pushing individuals toward that center point. Before you seek out a certain position in order to have greater status, you need to find the center point. In many cases a person will have a certain status or elevation in society, but Unificationism will ask him to go down to the bottom first. Would you resist going down before you go up?
The starting point or base for going up is not within an individual man or woman, but it is within the family. What do we mean by "True Parents"? The True Parents are the starting point where true love can spark for the first time in history. What kind of children would the True Parents have? They would have true children. What is the definition of true children? The true children are those who are capable of receiving True Parents' true love and can disseminate that true love into their environment. In order to receive that true love from the True Parents, you should cleanse from yourself all those conditions and qualities that are susceptible to satanic approach.
If mankind's history had started out with true parents and true children, would there ever have been a Satan? Once perfected true parents had given birth to true children, do you think there could have been any influence from a negative element, trying to pull those children away from the parents' love? No, such a thing could not have happened once perfection prevailed in human beings. But what about now, with fallen history having come this far? Yes, there is a strong negative element pulling at the children of God.
The Moonies are like a new breed coming into this world and trying to make ourselves rightful recipients of true love. Therefore, the rest of the world says to us, "What are you talking about?" This is the first time such a thing has occurred.
If no fall had occurred in the Garden of Eden, would there ever have been a thought of people looking for another set of parents besides their natural ones? No, but because of the fall everyone is born to parents who are fallen; therefore, we require another set of spiritual parents who are unfallen. That has been man's dilemma. Why is it that we are born into such a situation? It is because of the fall; the world has been governed by Satan and not by God.
Satan is the divider of everything-he has driven a wedge between parents and children, husbands and wives, brothers and sisters, nations and nations. The final point of Satan's efforts to divide everything is the time we call the end of the world. Until the advent of the Divine Principle, the end of the world was a very pessimistic term. The Divine Principle teaches that the end of the world also means the beginning of the new world, the world in which God will bring the many pieces of mankind together into unification. So we are approaching the time of a new history.
Where does that new world begin? It must begin at the root, the origin, and no other place. Who will lead this movement of bringing in the new world? Certainly, God is the initiator and He has chosen a mediator. That cosponsor is Reverend Moon. Together God and Reverend Moon have begun this movement. What is Reverend Moon's claim or declaration? Only one-that he will help God to make all these broken pieces of humanity into one; he is pledging unification. Satan, who has been controlling the world up till now by keeping it divided, will look at Reverend Moon as his arch-enemy. "I cannot tolerate you," he will declare. Therefore, Reverend Moon needs the support of more than half of the world's population. Until that time, we must continue to work fast.
God has known that the end of the world was coming; therefore He must have made preparation for this time so that He could initiate His new beginning to history. In order to meet this era properly, God has been working throughout history to create one block of people ready to receive the messiah. That block of people is composed of the religious people; the center of that group are Christians. All the foundation of the religious world, especially that of Christianity, exists today for the sake of welcoming the messiah and receiving him. What would have happened if this prepared world had accepted the messiah and united with him as they should have? Would there still be the division between two world camps? No, there would not.
The time right after World War II was a moment in history in which God gave a crucial chance to mankind. The messiah has appeared in conjunction with that time in history and he launched the movement of unification among the Christian world to be able to fulfill the goal of God. If the religious world had accepted the messiah at that particular time, before the expansion of worldwide communism, the rest of the world could have been centered around him as well.
As the representative of the entire Christian world, the United States was supposed to fulfill a central mission during this time. In 1948, three years after the end of World War II, the independent nation of Israel came into being. In the same year, Korea became independent. This was a great opportunity for world unity, centering upon these two nations. As early as 1948, Reverend Moon was declaring the way to liberate the communist world. At that time the job would have been very easy, compared to now. At this time, the communist world has expanded to more than half the world's population, but still God has hope that Reverend Moon will turn that tide around. How much easier that job would have been in 1948!
Since the unity of the free world did not occur, communist expansion was spurred. They moved aggressively and more completely divided the world into two camps. Those two pieces of the world both went against the central point-neither of them welcomed the messiah but both rejected their rightful center. Since this occurred and both camps of the world tried to push the messiah outside of the world, he had to go back to the very beginning, starting on the individual level and laying the foundation all over again. Since the Christian cultural sphere has not been fulfilling God's will, it has been declining in the world. Actually, the youth of the Christian world at that time were supposed to be the champions of building God's kingdom.
That is why such incredible moral perversion has occurred in the free world. The kinds of perversities that have happened are things which were unthinkable to God- yet they have become realities. This is because of the destruction of the law of love to the absolute degree. The supposed center of the Kingdom of God, the Christian society of America, has actually been victimized by Satan into the bottom of hell. Furthermore, the phenomenon of drugs has corrupted the pure minds of millions of young people. Every day more young people are destroyed in this way.
We are seeing the breakdown of morality, justice, order, and altruism. In their place, people are substituting "fun," or sensual pleasures. In order to live sensually, many people have to steal and commit crimes. This is doubtless the most degraded human society history has ever seen. Reverend Moon has been expelled by the world but he is coming back into it and creating a group who can wage the battle against impossible odds. Reverend Moon is resolutely going this way and is winning, step by step. I have come to declare a revolution of purification-to clean up all forms of immorality and perversion which offend God, such as homosexuality, drug abuse, and promiscuity. We are bringing new order, the God-centered purity of love, to this society.
Reverend Moon and the Unification Church have created a beachhead and have been expanding their territory, winning purified soldiers one by one and creating their own independence movement for God's Kingdom. That is the position of the Unification Church today. At this time, many American young people are looking for hope. They have tried everything and they can see no reason to continue the way they have been going. Therefore, American youth are becoming wanderers, particularly those with some degree of idealism. That is why the hippie movement could gain such momentum. Young people took up their backpacks and started to wander around the country and the world. Their appearance became almost like animals, with their long hair, worn out clothing, and unwashed bodies. They had to eat and sleep like the animals; they often didn't understand the preciousness of their own lives or see any intrinsic human dignity.
Some people simply throw themselves on the mercy of nature and let anything happen to them. Human beings have degraded their love lower than that of any animal. Animals have a certain inborn discipline; they only engage in sex for a certain purpose, at certain times. However, some people go after sensual pleasures night after night with different partners. They have absolutely no discipline or purpose to their sexual activities, unlike an animal which has the purpose of self-multiplication.
I know that Satan is going before the throne of God saying, "Look at the situation of the United States. Look at the streets of New York, the sidewalks of San Francisco. How do You feel about Your ideals and Your purpose of creation when You look at the USA?" Satan actually has a triumphant position in front of God on these matters. God doesn't even want to open His eyes and ears-He doesn't want to know what is going on. Satan tells Him, "God, You have the power to destroy them. You used that power at Sodom and Gomorrah, so why don't You do it again? Burn them up and destroy them all!" This is the precise time when Satan is saying these things to God.
Yet, suddenly someone is coming out of the shadows and leaping on Satan, like St. George the dragon killer, telling him, "Satan, what are you saying? Don't you know who I am? Go ahead and tempt me and do anything you want against me. Do you think I will depart from God's principles? You are the culprit, the one who started all the crimes on the earth. You were the one who first perverted the power of sex and love-you are the one who is enticing mankind now with drugs and liquor and all those temptations. Now the time has come for the failure of your power. Go ahead and test me!"
How would Satan respond to such a person? First he would laugh loudly at him, "What are you talking about? In all of history there have been no men and women, including Adam and Eve, who could escape being enticed and demolished by me. You think you are an exception? You are mistaken!" That was what Satan said when he tempted Jesus: "All you have to do is just one thing: bow down to me and then I will give the entire world to you. All you have to do is surrender to me just one time!" What was Jesus' response at that point? Was he uncertain and full of hesitation? Did Satan see that hesitation and tell him, "Don't worry, God is a God of forgiveness. If you just commit one sin, He will certainly forgive you."? No, Jesus had not even one moment of hesitation as he said, "Get thee behind me, Satan! You are the worst enemy of God and you are not going to have any sort of power over me. I will fight against you until I subjugate you!" The important quality of Jesus was that he did not have even one iota of hesitation before Satan's lies and temptations.
Satan did everything possible to tempt the mind of Jesus, but Jesus was not shaken one bit in his fidelity to God, even with all the power of Rome and the material world being offered to him. Do you think Satan tested Reverend Moon in the same fashion? Don't you think Satan tested Reverend Moon with money? Also, he must have tested him with the offer of fame and with the love of women.
Certainly if Reverend Moon made up his mind to do so, he could go out and win lots of money, power and fame, and so forth. But Reverend Moon rejected such pursuits absolutely and turned around to walk a different road, the road of misery, and began the dispensation in the worst possible situation. My declaration was, "I would rather become the laborer of laborers, the farmer of farmers, the servant of servants. From this humblest possible position, I am declaring war against you, Satan. I am climbing up, step by step, under the most adverse conditions possible to defeat you!"
Satan has held power over the entire universe. Reverend Moon has been kicked out of that universe and is clinging to some tiny point on the perimeter. But he has been moving toward the center step by step, from the level of individual, family, tribe, society, nation, world and cosmos. As each individual was won, that was a small realm to claim as God's world-the individual realm. I have been moving from the farthest outside point in the world toward the central point. As I gained the family level, a greater amount of territory for God was gained. Then the tribal level creates a larger territory and on up to society, nation, and world, step by step. That is a great distance which Reverend Moon has to travel.
Right now is the time when Reverend Moon is about to break through finally to the center, declaring a war against the worldwide enemy of God. That is why my goal is Moscow and the entire communist world. In order to prepare for this, we need about three years.
Today there are three major movements in this world- the communist, the democratic, and the Unification movement. Can we see true hope in the democratic world? No, because it has been so completely corrupted. Christianity has not been able to stop the free world's corruption and it certainly hasn't been able to deal with the communist world. Let us look at the communist world for a moment, particularly the Soviet Union. That nation is internally very corrupted. They must rule their country at gunpoint. Their tools are lies, threats and fear, and force. That is the power of communism, and the entire world knows about it.
Many people in the communist world have realized that their dream of a communist Utopia is nothing but a myth. Likewise, the free world can clearly see their own failure. Many communists themselves are quietly harboring the hope of something better than communism.
Meanwhile the world has seen the Unification Church condemned as the worst possible movement. In a way, this is Heaven's strategy because it will give protection to the Unification Church and preserve its purity. Only the purest people can remain in the movement because of this persecution. If members of the Unification Church met with no opposition from the world, particularly the drug abusing, self-indulgent people in society, what would have happened? We may have been influenced by secular people; our culture might have been overcome by their culture.
Let's imagine what would have happened if all levels of society in the United States had instantly welcomed Reverend Moon. Someone might have issued an invitation to me to attend a dance party, where the men wear black ties and the women wear long gowns. Suppose it had been a cocktail party, too. Reverend Moon would have had to attend and some woman might easily have asked him to dance with her. What could I do in such a situation? However, from the very beginning Reverend Moon was mistreated and rejected by such people. This was actually a great, good fortune for Reverend Moon; then he didn't have to put up with those kinds of situations!
From the very beginning, worldly people declared, "Reverend Moon is different from us!" I agree with them. They recognize it and we accept it, but the important question is this: whose culture will be digested by whom? You have joined with me, knowing that I am of a different breed and you are glad of the difference, isn't that correct? Now that you have been fished out of your old waters by Reverend Moon, you have been placed into different waters. You are now enjoying the purity and healthfulness of this new water and you can see how muddy and smelly is the water you came from. If I ask you, "Do you want to go back to that old water?" you always respond, "No, no!"
I want you to understand how difficult it is for you to change from the surroundings of the fallen world and dwell in a new environment. It is very difficult. You must make many sacrifices in order to maintain your purity.
Reverend Moon has become one of the most well known living religious leaders. From that position, Reverend Moon has been extending the arms of salvation to the leadership of the world-first to the intellectual people, scholars and scientists such as those who gather for our Science Conferences. Next, we have reached out to religious people-theologians and ministers. Furthermore, we have reached out to political and economic leaders, journalists, and so on. We have tried to reach leadership from all the different walks of life.
Many people are recognizing at this time that only Reverend Moon can reach out to so many different kinds of people. Although others might be able to gain plenty of money or fame, they could not do what we have done. Only because of the ideology we are bringing could we succeed as we have, and other people are beginning to see that. The Moonies are becoming a focal point to the world; we are becoming a social issue. The people of the world are recognizing that degradation and social destruction have gone beyond human control. Then they see the way of life of the Moonies, who are dwelling among all the devastating germs of the fallen world without becoming contaminated. You have preserved your purity and health and in that way you have generated enormous controversy. People are asking, "How could they do what they do?"
Sometimes people try to test the Moonies by putting you into a situation that is like a big pond of germs, to determine if you will become contaminated. But what happens? If you throw a Moonie into a pond of germs, all the germs will run away! Furthermore, when a Moonie becomes really hungry, he can just eat the germs for his food and gain nourishment! How do you like that!
Moonies can walk with pride and a well-established strength. All the germ-contaminated people will run away from us quickly, while those who stay behind will be restored by us. As soon as a person has been in the church for a while, he recognizes that he changed into a more responsible person. A person gains the dignity of an individual and the center of his family. He has a positive influence on society as the child of God with the right to claim his true dignity. Men and women feel, "I am a true husband," or "I am a true wife," and they know they are going to give birth to true children and nothing can change their God-given destiny. They have a new confidence that this is their rightful way of life. Perhaps such a person will climb up to the top of a mountain and proclaim to the world, "Look at me! I am a true man!" and the world will respond with the echo, "Amen! You are the true man!"
The opposite of true man is true woman. True man and woman united make the true couple. Next you become true parents and finally you become the true son and daughter of God. God will say, "Amen! You are my son and daughter. There is no limit to your kingdom. Everything that is mine is yours and no boundaries can stop you now."
How do you know Reverend Moon is the True Parent and not some high-quality swindler? Can you analyze me? Look at my face-my eyes are small and slanted. Can you trust that kind of face? How can you decide? You have made the decision to trust me on your own, isn't that correct? It is your fate, therefore, and you have taken on the responsibility for the outcome.
Those who don't complain when they are in hell deserve to go to Heaven. These next three years, you will be going into hell. We will see what kind of response you will have and what kind of men and women you will be at the end of three years. Will you complain? Do you welcome this or not? We will see, not by what you say now but by your actions over the next three years.
You women who have been mobilized, raise your hands if you received a telephone call from your husbands asking if you were truly going to go out. How did you answer them? Did you answer with a strong, confident "yes"? What if your husband says, "If you leave me and go out on this mission, you will not be my wife anymore"? Would you be able to tell him goodbye? That's too easy. You must say to him, "Get behind me, Satan! The will of God is first, before our marriage. God comes first in our home; that is our tradition."
I myself went through such a test period. Mother also went through it. Even after you get married, you have a three year period of purification. Mother and I did, too. For the first three years of our marriage, Mother lived in entirely separate quarters from me. Today's World magazine has reported in two consecutive issues about Mother's first seven years' course. You can read there that Mother absolutely followed God's will, without any deviation. She obeyed me completely; if she wanted to do a certain thing but I told her no, she accepted it absolutely.
If we draw a graph with a vertical line and a horizontal line, the world of men is on the right side and the world of women is on the left. The vertical line in the center represents the messiah, the True Father. If a man on the right side wants to go to the women's side, or vice-versa, they must first go through that center line representing the messiah. The only way right and left can reach each other is to pass through the center.
If True Father is the vertical line in the center of the graph, True Mother is the horizontal line. All women have to inherit the tradition of True Mother. At home, the mother is the center of family tradition. Therefore, in every home the mother governs the children. The children must go through their mother in order to go to their father. In many American homes, the women think they are the center and they try to push their husbands into a lower position. However, that is against the Principle and creates many problems.
A woman has the horizontal position. She naturally seeks the horizontal values such as beauty. Compared with a tree, a woman is like the leaves and the man represents the branch or the trunk. Woman represents the flowers and man is the seed. That is the universal principle, the law of nature. No matter what you do, you cannot change that law. If a woman could somehow go back into the womb and come out again as a man, that would be the only way she could become something other than what she is. You didn't make the decision to be born as a woman, did you? Who made that decision? God made you a woman, through the universe, through nature; therefore, that is your destiny and you should accept it with gratitude.
Women have different features from men-breasts, hips, and so forth. God made you with that figure for one purpose-He wants you to occupy men. That isn't a bad goal. Instead of wanting to be a man, you can conquer or occupy the heart of a man. Men are dumb, in a way, because when a woman beckons to a man, he can be pulled by her. In that sense, women are like locomotives, pulling men around everywhere. By what power do men go after women? It is by the power of love.
Love is the supreme value. When men and women pursue each other because they want to experience more of God's love, God will say, "Go right ahead." Men and women can control each other totally and absolutely-but only by the power of true love. What is that true love? It is the love that always moves according to the center line. When men and women cross over the center, do they find one or two center lines? They only find one. When they reach that center point and meet each other, they find total satisfaction and fulfillment. The husband and wife who never deviate from that central point feel shining joy and satisfaction; their appearance shines and others can see it. Such men and women pull others to them by a sort of magnetic power; their attractiveness is so great.
No matter what the media might say about me, it doesn't affect you because your heart knows the truth. Your heart is pulled by me and by Mother, beyond anyone else's opinion. On Sunday mornings you come to Belvedere and you are always happy to hear me speak, isn't that correct? Are you just as happy when I don't speak to you and you can listen to Col. Pak speak to you directly in English? Why do you prefer to listen to me, even though I must use an interpreter? Is it because I have mind control over you? No, I don't do anything special to you but you feel fulfilled when you hear and see me. When spring comes, nature doesn't have to advertise or do anything special, but all the little leaves and the seeds in the ground start to sprout. They want to see the sunshine and enjoy the spring. Likewise, each of you is like a little seed which is sprouting in springtime; you are being led by natural law.
When your heart dictates something, you naturally want to go in that direction. As you follow your heart you start to feel more and more joy and satisfaction. Before you men and women own each other you have to go through that center line. Who is that center line? God and the True Parents. There is always that center line between you and your spouse which you must cross to reach each other.
Suppose the center line directs you women' "Don't cross over now," but the man on the other side is calling to you, "Come over to me." Which one would you obey? You must listen to the center line. However, American civilization today does not know that the direction of the center line overrides the wishes of either the right or left side. For example, many American children will even lie to their own parents in order to do whatever they desire.
Men and women are not supposed to meet each other until that center line mediates between them. Who was the first to abuse freedom? It was Satan. Children may live their lives according to their own wishes and totally disregard the desires of their parents. But when they become parents themselves, they try to teach their children to listen to their guidance. Especially when their children start to become involved in love relationships, every parent wants to be consulted in order to guide them toward the best possible marriage. That is the parental heart-even if you disobeyed your own parents, when you become parents yourself you want to have control over your own children. This is parallel with the universal law that parents truly want to take responsibility for their children.
Before your love existed, the universal law existed. When you women are receiving two different directions, one from your husband and another from your parents, which one would you follow? It should be the parents', but why? It is because they are at the center line, that point which must be crossed first.
We have talked so far about the level of family. We can extend this to the level of nation; there is also a center line for the nation which each citizen has to pass through. As Americans you must have a passport to leave the country. Why is that? It is because the nation's law, the sovereignty, is the center line which you must obey. If a nation suddenly went to war, perhaps a man's wife would plead with him not to enlist in the service. However the nation would be telling him, "We need you." Which voice should he listen to? He should heed the voice of the nation, even though his wife might be weeping and pleading day in and day out. Universal law defines the natural order of sovereignty.
Beyond the line of the nation, there is another boundary marking the territory called the world. There must also be a center line for the world level, which each person must cross before going from one side to the other. If the direction of the nation is one thing but the world is giving another direction, which should you obey? Certainly the desire of the largest entity, the greatest public purpose and center, must be obeyed.
In addition to the world line, there is the line of cosmos in which the center is God himself. God might tell you, "No matter what the nation and world are saying, I want you to do this." Whose direction and desire comes first? Certainly, it is God's. Even if the entire world, your own nation and family come against you and reject you, as long you are listening to God and obeying His orders, that is fine. That is precisely the position of Reverend Moon today and that is why I have become the center of so much controversy in this country. I have not sought out controversy, but I have always obeyed God's order and put that above everything else.
I have followed God's direction, creating the foundation step by step, starting from outside the boundaries of the world and inching forward, beginning with the individual level, the family, tribe, society, nation and so forth, ultimately covering the entire territory of God. That is the path Reverend Moon has walked. God's goal is one united world, and that is what Reverend Moon has worked for.
While I have been struggling forward on the horizontal plane with the realities of the physical world, the corresponding vertical area has been accomplished. As the horizontal territory is established, so is the vertical and the territory becomes rounded, encompassing both the vertical and horizontal realms. This path is an absolute one; only by walking this particular way can I reach the center point. Therefore, no matter what other people might say, I have never changed my course toward that center.
An amazing correlation is that whenever I was able to claim a certain distance or territory for God, God would come down to that level. As I moved forward, God has come down to the corresponding level of achievement. This has been true all the way down that horizontal line. When I reached the center, God was right there waiting for me. At that point there was an explosion of love, a total uniting with God, like a giant spark which gave off intense light and warmth to the whole universe.
This is the meaning behind the statement that a perfect minus invites a perfect plus and vice versa. Whenever someone opposes the absolute plus, he separates and isolates himself. Each person must move toward the center along the path I have described. Suppose you reach a certain point and you say, "I am happy so I don't want to move forward any further." That is not good enough. I will tell you, "Keep going. You must move on to the center point and you are not there yet. Beyond that center point, you must then move all the way to the other side."
This is a beautiful secret and principle-as you cover the horizontal dispensational way, God will come down and meet you according to the distance you cover. In that way, the movement of God is controlled by your own accomplishment. For this reason, no power in the world has been able to touch or alter the course which I have mapped out and chosen to follow.
One very important point in my method is that I can absolutely guarantee the outcome-because God gave that guarantee to me. As long as I am totally obedient to God and as long as you bind with me, you are guaranteeing your success. Some of you might have wanted to change the direction, but can you give me a providential, God given reason why we should not go this way? Or do you just say, "My interpretation is different. As I see it, we should do something else." Perhaps your best justification is, "Well, you gave us the blessing and you told us you wanted us to live together, creating beautiful families in order to accomplish the heavenly will." I must tell you that during this emergency time period, there are different priorities. The emergency time is a different time from a non-emergency. We are being called upon to prevent a catastrophic situation by doing something very extraordinary.
The affairs of the family are overridden by the affairs of the nation; national affairs are overridden by worldwide affairs; and the affairs of the world are overridden by God's affairs. If someone claims he doesn't want to be bothered by larger affairs, he is actually saying that he doesn't care about the true center of his life. He wants to be his own center and therefore is trying to create a false center. However, there is only one true center in the universe and no one can deviate from that center.
I would like you to understand this very clearly. Western civilization has not had this vertical and central concept; for that reason, this civilization has been declining. All centers, whether the center of the individual, family, nation, world, or cosmos, are actually one and the same. What is that center? It is true love. When you are dwelling in accordance with true love, that true love will penetrate everywhere, all the way up to the level of cosmos. Does anyone have any objection to this?
God is a vertical existence. Therefore He alone cannot create a circle; He needs a horizontal existence. That is the reason why God created man in the first place-in order to have that horizontal line and to complete Himself in a circular existence. This illustrates how close you are to God; you are one with Him because you are born out of His ideal. You were created as the image of God, the extension of God. This is the most valuable knowledge you can have. Once you inherit the love of God, you automatically and instantly become the center of the universe because this is God's universe.
Therefore within the Unification Church, God's dispensation comes first, before the individual or family. The church's mission is parallel with the national, world and universal mission. We must elevate ourselves from the individual level to the family, society. nation and world levels. However, when you move up to each new level you don't have to change or adjust to a new center because the same center exists for each level.
It is important to determine whether your mission is in accordance with the central line. Always check yourself in relationship with the center. Is your relationship with the vertical line a 90 degree angle? How can you determine that? The 90 degree angle is determined by your obedience to God, nothing more. God is that vertical line and He will only ask you to fulfill 90 degree requirements. Therefore, when you follow such directions, you will automatically be in 90 degree relationship with the vertical line.
Once you slip off and lose your opportunity of relationship with the central point, you cannot so easily recover and come back. You must not make a mistake with your one opportunity. When you take an entrance examination to a school and you fail it, you cannot come back blithely the next day and try to take it again, saying, "Oh, I just had a headache yesterday so I want to take another test today." For the next three years, until 1985, you are being given a mission and an ultimate test. This is probably the most important test anyone can take in his lifetime. In order to gain entrance to college, you must show your diploma from high school. By the same token, if ;you want to enter into a higher mission, you must come there with your diploma of honor. We are still in the process of marching at this time and you have not yet received your diploma. Do you have any objections?
Both the left side and the right side of the world must go through the center line; when they do, they will survive and prosper. That is the way God is working and the way He is pushing the world. We must fulfill this path no matter what, for this is our destiny. When the time comes for you to receive your diploma, if you say, "Uh oh. I was wrong not to accept this mission three years ago. Father, will you please give me the diploma anyway?" you will not be able to get by. The universal law shall be your judge, nothing else.
This is the reason Reverend Moon has been walking this path, rain or shine, night and day, without deviation. The Unification Church has the capacity to digest all the evils of the free world and the communist world, but how will you go about it? First of all, we have the reasoning and the understanding which nobody can defeat. Even communists, who rely strongly upon "logic" and their persuasive power with words and propaganda, have been instructing each other, "Don't talk to the Moonies because you will lose." Likewise, many people of other faiths are telling each other, "Don't go to any of those Moon-sponsored rallies. Don't even go near the Moonies or talk to their lecturers." Why is that? They are admitting to themselves that they cannot compete with the Moonies in terms of logic and reasoning. As soon as they hear the truth which we speak they must instantly compare it with their old understanding and they can clearly see which one is correct. Therefore, in order to avoid that judgment many people avoid the situation of meeting with Moonies.
You Unification women all look very innocent and even naive and many men think, "That woman will be easy to entice. Just give me ten minutes with her." But once they encounter you, they realize that you are as tough as iron. They see that you are armed with impervious reasoning and logic. Is that the kind of women you are? I have heard that many well-established men have been disheartened by you Moonie women and they say, "I could always win the heart of any woman I desired, but that Unification Church woman was different. I wanted her but even though I gave her so much heart and soul and made so much effort to win her, she was like a rock and never gave in at all. What kind of woman is she, anyway?"
Furthermore, when that good-looking, distinguished man has pursued you and then he sees the husband you have, he may think he looks unattractive. But he also sees that you are serving your husband as if he were God! Then that good-looking man will say, "I'm doubly-crushed." Is that the pride or the shame of the Unification Church? Certainly it is our pride.
Let us reverse the situation. There have been many good-looking, well-accomplished women who have wanted to marry Reverend Moon. They have come to me and tried to overcome me with their tears, their charm, their perfume, and all sorts of things. But I have always remained like a rock, even in the face of the most well-known and attractive women. Therefore, many of those women turned around and became enemies to me. They fabricated rumors and stories against me: "Reverend Moon is not human; he is a beast." When love turns around, it becomes hatred. However, I always forgave such women, telling them, "You wait and see. I am doing what I am doing, not because I don't care about you but because I love God and the world most. Although you may not like me or follow me, the entire world will eventually understand me." That is beginning to happen now.
If I had not been centered upon God, I would have been able to make extraordinary achievements in the secular world. The Western world, including Western women, have tried to tempt me as well. Some have said, "Why did Reverend Moon marry Mother, who really isn't so well educated, and certainly can't speak English? I think I would make a better wife to him." However, those women never moved me. I have always gone by the Principle, not by humanistic standards. I want to see the Principle upheld in this world. Whenever I give certain instructions to you it is only upon the foundation of my having done it myself. Only because I have completed those requirements myself can I ask you to do them.
My life can be divided into three stages of twenty years each. The year I was born, 1920, was a year of terrible famine in Korea; there was tremendous suffering all over the country. In 1919 the Korean people had launched an independence movement to free themselves from Japanese rule so the Japanese were retaliating strongly. My great uncle was one of the Korean freedom fighters, so our whole family was subjected to tremendous persecution from the authorities. When I was born there was suffering on the external level-a national famine-and internally there was a national emergency in Korea. Until the age of 20, I never passed a day in which I wasn't hungry. My whole life up to that point was one of scarcity. Those were the circumstances of my early life-famine in the nation, internal suffering of the nation, and family suffering due to the work of my great-uncle.
Every sort of human tragedy befell our home from the time I was born. My brothers and sisters suffered from many strange diseases; even the animals, the dog and the cow, died under mysterious circumstances. One of my sisters died. One day our home caught fire for no known reason. The fire in our home began when a kettle of water was boiling on the stove and a tiny bit of fire somehow jumped out of the window and landed on the roof, which was made of straw. That fire was really induced by an evil spirit which wanted to torment our house; it was just too extraordinary to have occurred naturally.
On another occasion, my mother had been weaving a large piece of cloth. During one particular night, the thread from that cloth somehow blew out into the large trees surrounding our house and managed to wind around those trees. There must have been 500 meters of thread that wound around the trees, creating an incredible net.
Anything that Satan could do against our family, he did. That was because Satan knew that I had been born with an extraordinary destiny, and he wanted to stop me from going the route I was meant to go. However, by growing up in those extraordinary situations, I disciplined myself and broke through all the difficulties.
During the next twenty years, my struggle went from the family to the national level. After the age of 40, my struggle went to the worldwide level. That is the reason I chose America as the primary battlefield, since it represents the entire world. During this month of March that worldwide battle is reaching a focal point.
When average American people look at Reverend Moon, do they consider him a man of failure or one of success? One thing is for sure, whether people accept me or not, they can see that Reverend Moon is doing things which no other individual has done. What about you? Do you think I have been fulfilling all the promises I have given? In your opinion, did Reverend Moon fail or succeed in his purpose of coming to America? Could anyone, even the most powerful person in the country, take from you the ideology I have taught you? Do you think someone in the future could do that? What about the communist world, could they do that?
Do you think there is any power, anywhere, that could "brainwash" Reverend Moon into changing his course and turning in a different direction? No, this is permanent. Once this truth is embraced, there is no way of a change. If no power on earth can change us from following this truth and we know it, then we have already won our battle. It is only a matter of time, during which this ideology will spread through the entire world, without any force being used. Surely this ideology will bring the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. But how will it be done? There is so much evil power on the earth now, what can give you the conviction that our ideology can win the battle? The Kingdom of God shall be a reality simply because our movement first began upon a foundation established within the enemy territory, by winning the hearts of the enemies. If that is our tradition it won't matter how numerous our enemies are, because we already know how to turn them around.
You should understand that I have laid the foundation for this movement within nations which were formerly enemies to each other, such as Korea and Japan, Japan and the United States, and the United States and Germany. If the people within those formerly enemy nations could learn to love each other as brothers and sisters, how could we fail to accomplish the victory in the future? No matter what difficulties we may encounter in the future, we shall have the power to digest them. That is the reality of the Unification movement.
No matter from which viewpoint you look at it, this is the final option for mankind. Therefore, have pride and confidence. Satan must retreat now. He is the one who began human conflict by creating enmity between people. Adam and Eve were divided from each other; God and man were divided from each other; Cain and Abel were divided into enemies. Division and enmity were the foundation of Satan's kingdom. Now, however, Unificationism has come to the level of the nation and the world and has brought all different levels of enemies into relationships of friendship and family. By uniting people of Korea, Japan, the United States and Germany, we were able to digest the national level of conflict. Furthermore, the worldwide level of division has been digested by uniting people from both the free world and the communist world; within Unificationism there is room for harmony and unification of those two worlds.
The time will come when many communists will join the Unification Church and work harder than the other members; they will work even harder than they did for the sake of communism. You Western people work harder than anyone else in the free world once you join this movement. Why is this? It is because our goal is higher and nobler than anyone else's, so we have the added motivation to give ourselves more completely.
I know that certain aspects of your life in the church are not parallel with your American tradition. Certainly, I am rather a heretic from the viewpoint of typical American culture; I can accept that. The American tradition will not and cannot bring salvation to the world. Normally people do not want to give up their money, but when you go to them and fundraise, they joyfully contribute. Why is that? It is because they sense that by giving, they will receive something greater in return. When you joined the Unification Church and first met Reverend Moon, you seemed to be giving up everything, yet did you feel that you were losing? Or did you feel you were gaining something much greater? Are the activities of fundraising and witnessing the things you are gaining? Not really, but you understand that you are gaining something priceless from those activities. That is why you can joyfully apply yourself and even determine to do these things for the rest of your life. That is part of the new tradition I have brought and it is extraordinary.
Looking at money from the spiritual viewpoint, a dollar bill might say, "I don't want to be used for a small minded purpose by someone. I prefer to be money which serves the purposes of the world. Even more than that, I want to be used for the sake of God's Kingdom." That is the fervent yearning of money. If someone comes and says to that money, "You can now become a bridge between the individual, family, society, nation and the world. Would you like to do that?" the money would respond, "Yes, I welcome that role. How can I do that, Reverend Moon?" Then I tell them, "I will send someone to whom your current master can give you who will be able to dedicate you to a crusade to save the world for God. You will then become an instrument, a bridge which is uniting individuals with the world's largest purpose. You will become like an offering on the altar of God, representing all the monies of the world being dedicated to God. So far nobody has been able to bring you to God's altar in such a joyful offering, but there is a person coming now who can do that "
The money says, "Good! Hurry and send my priest." For that money to be offered to God, those priests must be the ones who give themselves in the face of persecution. MFT members gather money from all kinds of filthy places, such as from beggars, thieves, from corrupted men, prostitutes, even from the money paid someone to kill someone else. Sometimes a person will persecute one of our members very harshly, and then he will feel sorry and peel off a $10 bill and give it to him.
As soon as that money lands in the hands of the priest, that MFT member, it becomes resurrected and purified, with a new purpose. The priest feels that the money is definitely not his own, but rather he wants to take it to the chief priest. But until that chief priest decides that a certain purpose is good enough to spend some of that money upon, not even one penny should be misused. That money has become holy through its resurrection at that point. It must become an offering to God on His altar.
Money is a representative of all things; therefore, it can be the bridge by which all things are brought back to God. Money makes many different convolutions, but ultimately it wants to go to that one place-the altar of God. Any person or family who misuses that kind of money shall be destroyed; likewise, any nation. Money is a judgment. Therefore in our church, money takes on sacredness; we cannot fight over money. You offer the money you gain for the sake of God and give it to the chief priest; there is no justification in asking, "God, let me have it back." Money should never retreat; it should always be traveling to a higher and higher position, closer and closer to God's purposes.
There are some pragmatic members who complain, "Why do you spend so much money on the Conference for God, allowing 150 young people to travel around the world and enjoy themselves for two months? Why can't you spend some money to help us fix up our center and perhaps rent a better place?" However, I tell them, "You are wrong. This money has been offered to God, so you have no right to claim it for yourselves." As long as that money is being spent for the highest goal and purpose, all the smaller needs shall be eventually fulfilled. Therefore instead of spending money for the sake of our church, we spend it for the sake of the world and fulfill the greatest purpose. I don't even know about the budget of the Unification Church of America. The church in America simply has to come up with its own money and spend what they make. You Americans must sweat to earn the money you need here.
So far our efforts and investments have gone toward paying indemnity, but from this time forward all our investments, whether material or spiritual, shall reap reward. In the next three years we are going to win a great victory and we are going to lay our own foundation. Do you like it or not? We have been giving sacrificially so far for the sake of others; from now on, during the next three years, we are laying the foundation for ourselves. We have worked to build the foundation for the sake of the world, but now we are beginning to erect our own foundation. Isn't that necessary?
We want to tighten our belts and really fulfill in the most heroic way during this time. Do you agree? We are now in the final three years of the forty years' wilderness period-from 1983 to 1985. We must build our own strength so that we can move ourselves into the land of Canaan. Before the Israelites left Egypt they gathered all their resources during a three day period and then they began their exodus. Their goal in departing from Egypt was to enter Canaan, their blessed land. Where is our blessed land? Our Canaan is the entire globe. The Israelites organized themselves into tribes; by the same token, we must fulfill the ideal of Home Church before we can enter into our Canaan. We must go beyond the boundary of the nation; Home Church will link the entire globe, even the universe, into one unit. Once we have successfully brought the entire world under the Home Church system, we can break down all the different national boundaries and barriers.
The land of Canaan is not far away. Although we may be struggling now, the time will come when we will broadcast via radio and television for forty days and teach the Home Church concept so that all people can know the right path. Once this kind of attention is granted, it will only be a matter of months before the Home Church concept is completely accepted. That is the reason why the media has a very crucial role to play. Once media people attend the Media Conference and seminars, many of them gain a totally new understanding of Reverend Moon. Those people who wrote articles full of error and negativity can learn all of a sudden about the good work Reverend Moon is doing, who he is, and so forth. They are suddenly awakened to a new understanding about our movement. It hits many of them almost like an earthquake or a typhoon. This is a terrible blow against Satan, who just buries his head and says, "I don't even want to watch while the media is turning around!"
The time is here when these things are on the threshold. Are you saying, "Well, Father, just give me ten years. I want to go to school and get my Ph.D. and then come back; I will be a better man then." But that is not what is needed. There will already be plenty of Ph.D.s in ten years. I need you now; this is the time. Do you think I am speaking the truth?
I wouldn't be surprised if this sermon is heard by the CIA and the FBI tomorrow morning; I'm sure they want to know what I am saying. I have no objection to this; the more they listen to my sermons, the sooner they will be saying, "Don't bring me any more of those messages. I'm about to become a Moonie myself from listening to Reverend Moon." The same thing will happen to the KGB. As the KGB agents listen to me over and over again for years, their hostility will start to turn around. They will say, "Reverend Moon really understands a lot," and they will be unable to deny the truth of what I am saying. I'm sure there will be some converts from the KGB coming soon.
Many Christian and Jewish scholars who have been skeptical about our group will start to study Reverend Moon's words and find themselves saying all of a sudden, "This is what our people have been waiting for; he is bringing the ideal we have sought." Of course, those rabbis and scholars will be embarrassed to go in the front doors of the Unification Church, so they will want to enter through the back. Already august and distinguished scholars who have sent secret messages to Reverend Kwak, asking, "Do you have a couple of hours we could get together, without anyone else knowing?" These are not mediocre scholars I am talking about, either, but very highly esteemed ones.
Anybody who is a thinking person will not be able to disregard Reverend Moon. When the Unification movement went to Latin America, each small country mobilized its intelligence forces to study this new phenomenon. They studied Reverend Moon's doctrine, his record of achievement, and everybody has given their stamp of approval! Those small nations are welcoming our movement with open arms. Meanwhile the larger nations have been criticizing Reverend Moon outwardly, but slowly and surely they have been turning around and uniting with him. That is the way the world is going right now.
There were many Korean ministers who came to learn the Divine Principle who said at first, "This is not a doctrine I can ascribe to," but then they bought themselves a copy of Divine Principle. Every Saturday night, they would study the Divine Principle by their lamps and delivered their sermons the next morning based upon what they had studied. Each time they gave such sermons, all their congregation was inspired. When they failed to give Divine Principle-based sermons, it seemed that no one was particularly inspired! Therefore, they hid their copy of the Divine Principle under their beds.
The Unification Church can link with everyone, everywhere. The Divine Principle can penetrate all barriers. How about you? Do you just want to stand still, or do you want to grow up? You must be a part of the Unification phenomenon in the world. Is it too late? These next three years are the opportunity I am extending to you to allow you to grow up. Which is the more precious-getting married and experiencing romantic love, or doing the will of God? Do you men and women want to be exempted and given some special dispensation, or do you want to accept your "Mission Impossible?"
I want you to understand that we are directly connected to the spirit world. Would you prefer being a servant to Moses, or would you prefer to become an elder brother to him? You may appear to be a heretic for saying such a thing, but it sounds very good. This is an even more crucial question: do you want to be saved by God, or do you want to save God? You are really heretics for saying you want to save God! But you should respond, "I don't care whether you call me a heretic or not. If there is a way to liberate and save God, I shall go that way!" Do you agree?
Such a precious opportunity doesn't come around often; in fact, it has only come once throughout human history! It has come at the point when the world has reached its lowest point of degradation and the turning point is being reached. We are at that point where we can reverse the tide and turn the world back to God. When everybody turns around, away from Satan and toward God, the person who was traveling the fastest in the other direction will become like the "drum major" of the Heavenly direction, the first in line. As that person turns around with tremendous confidence in his new destination, he becomes a spark to the rest of the world. The responsibility of Reverend Moon is to teach you these things-where is the turning point, what is your new destination once you have turned around, and so forth. Have I taught you a clear destiny or a hazy one?
Once you turn in your new direction, you realize that everything seems very strange. All the behavior and customs are unfamiliar. You often feel tired and you may ask yourself, "Why should I go through all this?" Do you want to be that way, or do you want to turn around and shoot forward like a bullet toward your destination? Don't you want to be like a rocket on the launching pad? When the button is pushed, you can take off like Apollo 11, shooting up to the goal and exploding with incredible power.
What shall we do, then? Shall we run forward or shall we just lie down and stretch out in leisure? Will you turn around and look behind you, worrying about where your husband or your children are? Will you ask to be allowed to attend a nice picnic with a beautiful girl first, before you go on your way? No, there is no time for such things. You are like a bullet; therefore you must thrust yourself forward toward the target and spin at top speed. When you hit the target, will you just fall exhaustedly to the floor or will you pierce it with great power and even go on further?
As a Heavenly bullet, you must be so fast and so strong that you penetrate the barriers of the nation, the world, the spirit world and then thrust yourself forward into the heart of God. Isn't that exciting? In order to pierce through all those barriers, should that bullet be big and dull, or shouldn't it be thin and sharp like a needle point? That needle point has to be made of super-strong steel, nothing weaker.
At this particular juncture of human history, we are all in the position of flag-bearers. Do you like that or not? Because the Western civilization is predominantly white, I wanted to fulfill first by working through white people. But if they do not fulfill their responsibilities, I must turn to other people. If the black people do not fulfill then, I will turn toward the Oriental people of the world. If they fail, I will mobilize all the Korean people in America. The Korean residents here have become a very strong group. They have become the center of controversy because they have to work so hard to gain economic prosperity. They are in competition with other ethnic groups as well as the native white Americans, and they are winning the competition.
I heard that almost two-thirds of the many small corner stores in Washington, DC are owned and managed by Koreans. Many of those stores are selling the Washington Times. I heard a story recently about one Korean storekeeper, not a member of our church, who was selling the Washington Times. One of the windows in his store was broken, so he called a glass repairman. When that repairman came in, he laughed at the shopkeeper and said, "Why are you selling that stupid Washington Times?" The shopkeeper told him to get off his ladder and leave his shop. The repairman asked him why and the man told him, "Because of what you said against the Washington Times. You should apologize and you should buy every one of the copies I have left. Otherwise, I will kick you out and call another company to repair my window." The repairman apologized and bought every copy of the Times!
Why did the Korean man feel that way? He was not a member of the Unification Church, but he felt a bond with Reverend Moon because he is a Korean who must fight for acceptance in this country. Likewise, the Japanese people have felt sympathy with Reverend Moon because of their own struggles as Orientals. Black and Hispanic people have been doing the same. There is a strong trend of support among the minority people. The only remaining non-supporters will be the white people. That is too bad; they are coming too late. That is why you are going out to turn the white people around.
In spirit world, all the ancestors of white people are aware of the trends of time; they understand what is happening. Jewish ancestors, Christian ancestors and so forth are depending upon their white descendants to act here on earth. Through them they will be elevated in spirit world. They are looking and saying, "You white people, why aren't you supporting Reverend Moon now, while you can?" They certainly are not saying, "Ignore Reverend Moon since he is just an Oriental." Your ancestors in spirit world are certainly urging you to go out and do something for the sake of God's providence at this time. They understand what Reverend Moon is asking you to do and they are coming to me and saying, "Please shake up our white descendants! Push them out now!"
What about the black ancestors? They are saying, "Those white people used me as a slave in the South, but now they are really in trouble. But my boy is doing all right! How about that?" At that point, white ancestors have to bow down and admit that their white children are not doing as well as the black children. When those white children enter into spirit world, do you think their ancestors will give them a royal welcome, or won't they say, "Why didn't you do better while you were on the earth?" Not only that, they will kick you and call you a dumb rascal, saying, "That was such a unique time you were living in. Why didn't you do better for the sake of all of us?"
Do you black brothers and sisters here want to be behind or ahead of the white people? Until now, you may not have been so clear in your purpose and may have fallen behind, but now you have to work harder so you can stay ahead. Do you agree?
Who will liberate God and bring Him out of His pain? Will it be the white, black, or the yellow people? As individuals, you cannot compete with Reverend Moon, who is going ahead of you. But on the national level, which country will fulfill first? To which country would you like to escort God? So far, Korea hasn't done very well for God's sake. What country would have a little more elbow room for God to move around in? Yes, it is the United States. That is why I came here, in order to prepare this country for God.
The name "America" sounds like "a merry car," so you have to prepare a "merry limousine" for God to ride around in. America is famous for her grand parades, particularly here in New York. Let's put God in that merry car, that limousine, and give Him a ticker tape parade through the streets of New York! How would you like that?
In 1985, the forty providential years of wandering in the wilderness will be completed. Since that is such a climactic point, we must concentrate every possible bit of our energies toward achieving the victory. The time has come for the liquidation of fallen history and the beginning of the new history.
By 1985, our movement should have spread and gained acceptance all over the world, even in the communist realms. They will see hope in the truth we are bringing and will see that their own path is only leading them to destruction. People in both the free world and the communist world will say, "Reverend Moon is leading the way to salvation for all mankind. We must listen to him." Don't you think that time will come?
I am not saying arbitrary things or just speaking off the top of my head. God is the greatest scientist and in His planning, He has produced the figures which are in accordance with His original plan of creation, as well as His plan of restoration. It is not just an accident. For this reason, March 1, 1983, was declared the day of mobilization. The numbers 1, 9, 8, & 3 add up to 21. The first day of the third month equals the number four, which represents the Heavenly four positions. Everything corresponds, both horizontally and vertically. The worldwide turning point is now at hand. From now on, if you do well and fulfill your responsibility to the fullest, you will become even more than the "elder brother" of Moses. You will become like the father of Moses. You will gain the position of liberator of Jesus and God Himself. You are creating an incredible history.
I want you to feel the historical significance of this time all the way down to your bones. With that deep feeling, you must reach out to fulfill this responsibility you have been given. No matter what difficulties you might encounter, you must feel, "I shall go beyond what the world has ever seen before. I shall become a truly victorious person at this turning point in human history."
This is the time of the consummation of Judaism and Christianity within the Unification ideology. It is a new beginning for the world. We shall become the victorious persons throughout the three ages Old Testament era, New Testament era, and the Completed Testament era. This is the goal we are marching toward. I want you to understand that in the history of the dispensation of God, this is the most critical moment. In my entire life under God's dispensation, this is the most crucial moment. Likewise, in the history of the United States, this is the most crucial moment.
We are going out now to recruit more soldiers to consummate the Home Church dispensation during this special three years' mission. During ten years, you should bring 120 spiritual children in order to satisfy spirit world. Every three years, therefore, you need to bring in 40 people. In nine years, you should have the goal of bringing 120 spiritual children. Unless we do this, we cannot reach out to the rest of the world. We shall give our whole heart, soul and mind to this. Everybody should exert more energy than a mother giving birth to a physical child, because we are giving birth to the new United States of America and to the new world under God. How difficult that is!
We must commit our very lives to this battle. When you actually commit your life, you will find that you will not only live but you will become more and more prosperous. God will never let you die. But when you try to escape from difficulty and thereby save your life, you will not escape. Since we are in the wilderness period, you must, follow your leader, your Moses of this time. which is Reverend Moon. God will not abandon you. With that kind of commitment and conviction, we shall move forward.
At the time of the Garden of Eden, there was only one man and one woman under God. When they made up their God-centered family, they would have made evil impossible from the very beginning. However, the fall of man took place, so the messiah had to come within the Christian cultural sphere. What did God have to prepare here on earth? It was the bride for the messiah. From God's standpoint, the entire world is condensed within the microcosm of one man and one woman. The original Adam became "sickened" by the fall of man, so treatment had to come in the form of religion.
In spirit world, God could not recognize anyone's marriage so everybody had to go across the boundary as a single person. For that reason, until this time of the messiah the highest virtues of the major religions always included celibacy. This was because God did not want men and women stained further in the satanic lineage. How many men and women actually lived their whole lives as celibate priests and nuns? They remained single so they would not have any obstacle preventing them from crossing directly into God's realm in spirit world.
When the messiah came, he was supposed to simply gather all those people who had prepared themselves and crossed over the boundary into God's domain. From that point, he could just organize them. However, today the Unification Church has a much more tragic course than that; it is not that simple. We are going an extraordinary way.
I have to reach out and teach people from the very bottom, but I was supposed to be able to teach men and women who were ready and able to understand. I have had to educate people from the most elementary beginnings, then bring them over the line from Satan to God, and organize them. The habitual fallen ways are so deep in human beings. Those of you here are so much like the Israelites in the wilderness, looking back toward Egypt. You think, "When I was in high school I had a girlfriend and I had a great time." This kind of habitual looking back is very difficult to eliminate.
Where are those priests and nuns, monks and holy men who were supposed to be prepared to receive the messiah? They are actually opposing him. This is a tragedy. I want you to understand that I was supposed to receive welcome and support from people like that, but instead I had to start out from scratch and work with you to help you to cross over that line. I have had to travel a great distance m misery.
Do you want to continue to look back and envy your life in Egypt? You should move like a bullet now toward the destination which I have pointed out. You must go the straightest way. We are all walking on this one way street. Many leaders come to me with all different kinds of excuses for different people. However, if I tried to bend and accommodate and be sympathetic toward each situation, why should I have ever begun?
That is my determination and you have heard me, so you should go in the right direction. All you leaders responsible for business should listen to this. I did not come to America for the purpose of creating wonderful bookkeepers. I came for the sake of saving America.
You should go out and openly declare, "Satan, go ahead and come against me in any way you wish." After Satan has given you his worst and you haven't been shaken, you can say, "Satan, did you do everything you could?" He should respond, "Yes, and I surrender." That is the way you make Satan surrender-voluntarily. This is the way I have lived. Satan did everything he wanted to Reverend Moon and his family throughout my childhood, youth, and my public ministry. Now I can say to Satan, "Do you have anything more you want to do to me?" Satan says, "No, I do not. I surrender. Goodbye. I could not destroy you with all the power at my disposal."
This particular tradition will shine throughout history as the example to all mankind. When you are climbing the highest hill, no matter how weak you are, you must get over that hill. As soon as you go over by just one inch, you are the victor. You can say, "I have climbed up the highest possible hill." At that point you can install winches and pulleys and pull up more people trying to climb the hill but who aren't making it. Even if you have to hook them by the mouth and pull them up like a tuna, you can do that. At first someone will complain, "Ouch! What are you doing to me?" but you shouldn't listen to him. Once he gets to the top of the hill he will thank you because you saved his life.
Shall we leave America behind or shall we pull it up with our winches? I am like the winch motor and you are like the wires. That motor is always running and the wire has to be very strong. I will test you to see how strong you are, how about that? You say "OK"-K stands for key and O stands for open. Your "OK" is an "Opening Key." You can open any door with that key.
Three years from now I will say "OK" to you. I will take you anywhere I go, OK? During the next three years, I am asking you to bring 40 spiritual children each year. That is three each month, plus four. But then, I could say to you, "Why take three years? Why not do it in three months?" Once you make up your mind, you can move 40 people into our church in three months. Someone should say to me, "Father I have the pictures here of my 40 spiritual children who I brought in the last three months. Here is John, Susan, Cathy, etc." If those forty people agree that they are your spiritual children and they are willing to follow God's dispensation exactly, I will say "OK" to you. For the next two years and nine months, if you go and do anything you want-dance, travel or whatever-I will say OK to that.
You should become a Heavenly hurricane, not content to go the normal speed. You don't need a car because you have your own legs to carry you. You can go anywhere with those two legs. You can knock on doors and find those 40 spiritual children in the next three months! The person who is living without his own house is the luckiest one in this situation, because he can stay anywhere he is welcomed. He can move on from one spiritual child's house to another. My desire is that every one of you have 10 sets of video tapes of the Divine Principle. You should loan out all ten sets each week; that would mean 520 people heard the Principle each year, since there are 52 weeks in the year. If only 10% became members, that would give you 52 spiritual children. Can't you meet that many people?
That is basically what the Home Church providence is all about-a concentrated effort. Would you like to follow a three years' dispensation, a seven years' dispensation, or a three months' dispensation? The 40 years of wandering in the wilderness, starting from 1945, can be extended by as much as three years more. But I don't want to see that and neither do you. The actual time of the Israelites' slavery in Egypt was 430 years; for that reason, the dispensation could continue until 1988 but I definitely do not want that to happen. Furthermore, I would like to see it completed in less than three years. I would like us to finish the American dispensation by 1985 and then consummate the Moscow dispensation by 1988. This is the program in a nutshell.
Don't think about anything else. Eat your meals and then go out running toward your goal. Human life is rather simple-there is a time to sleep and time to be awake; you go to and from your work; you have the elements of good and bad. Those six elements can summarize the entirety of the human existence. You must center everything for the sake of God-sleeping and waking, going and coming, avoiding evil and doing good-all must be centered upon God, not yourself. Do you understand?
You must become the victor of the three ages. By doing that, you open the door that links the past, present and future. The spirit world shall open before you. The entire world will open up to the Kingdom of Heaven. Our children will move into the realm where there is no more war, no more killing, no more suffering. Therefore, we must consummate human history and become the victors throughout three ages. You shall become the tribal messiah, the messiah at your work, and the messiah to your children. That means you will liberate your ancestors in spirit world, you will liberate your clan or tribe here on earth and your future children shall live in the realm of glory.
God will not have to worry or suffer because of your tribe. In that way you will liberate God. Once tribes are liberated all over the world, the worldwide liberation of God will become possible. This is how we shall liberate God everywhere.
When you conclude your mission here on earth, you can liberate up to seven generations in spirit world, or 120 years. You can form tribes among your ancestors. It won't matter that you will be the latest arrival in spirit world- you will be like the Abraham of your clan. Everybody else's name will be listed below yours. The same thing will happen here on earth. That will be the new organization of tribes.
This is an extraordinary age we are in. Do you understand how important it is to become the victor throughout the three ages? The Old Testament era was the time of the offering of all things; the New Testament era was the time of the offering of the son; the Completed Testament is the offering of the True Parents. We are going to conclude the liberation of the world in our time.
How can you inherit the heart of true love of the True Parents? Your role is to become like Adam and Eve before the fall. You should not be invaded by any accusation from Satan. How can you be free from Satan? Only in one way-by going down into the world and fighting against Satan until he surrenders voluntarily. It is not easy. Satan is cunning and deceptive-he deceived Jacob ten times. The Pharaoh tricked Moses ten times. Jesus was repeatedly deceived by satanic elements. In my life I have been deceived over and over again by the satanic world, but we shall overcome that.
Without going this path, there is no way you can reach the realm of God's heart and the True Parents' heart. You must go out to the front line. All of God's heart will be attained at the front line, not in comfortable rear quarters. Reverend Moon is still standing in the front line. As you know, I have experienced persecution and pressures and hardships, but that is natural because I have been living on the front line. God has been tasting these agonies Himself and digesting them, so why shouldn't we?
Those people who are living a comfortable life within the Unification Church at this time are actually the cursed people. They will soon become the prey of Satan. How do you inherit the heart of True Parents? How do you know the agonies of God? By going out to the front line and coming face to face with Satan, fighting against him and subjugating him. The answer to the key question of how the members of the Unification Church can inherit the true heart of True Parents is this: you must gain the position of Adam and Eve before the fall, with absolutely no room for satanic infiltration. In order to do that, you must go out to the front line and overcome Satan face-to-face so that he has no more accusation against you.
No matter how long you pray, if you avoid going out on the front line, you will not accomplish anything. God will not respond to your prayers, even if you pray for hours and hours. But when you are going out to the front line, you don't have to pray so much; just close your eyes and say, "Heavenly Father," and He will be right there with you. I want you to learn the most important lesson-how to inherit the True Parents' heart. You cannot come to that level unless you subjugate Satan in your own life. If that heart was attainable easily, why should you be suffering so much? Why should I have suffered as I did?
As I have mentioned before, you could compare me with a powerhouse or a generator, with all the incoming power lines representing the levels from individual, family, nation, all the way up to God. Your responsibility is to connect those lines to enable them to conduct the electricity. This is not something which God or the True Parents can do for you-you must do it for yourself. It is your role and your responsibility. I have been the one to build the powerhouse and the poles which will carry the lines, in spite of all the difficulties and persecution.
The special way for each of you to fulfill your portion of responsibility is the Home Church providence. Each area of 360 homes represents the universe, so all you have to do is thread the electrical wire carrying the love of God on poles within your Home Church area. Then God can say, "I regard this as your accomplishment on the universal level." All you have to do is thread those wires and connect them to enable God's electricity to flow.
Everything is in place-the powerhouse, the generator, the poles-all you have to do is thread the wire. Someone might say, "I don't want to do that now. I would rather do it in spirit world 'but that is impossible. The Home Church area is the place where you will receive the signature of Satan on your certificate of fulfillment. He will give up on you. Without going through the Home Church dispensation, there can be no Heaven. Those wires must be strung to bring the electricity. The source of power will always be there, giving energy to the Home Church providence. This is how you will inherit the heart of God and the True Parents.
You could visit all 360 homes within a two-hour period. It took me sixty years to lay the foundation for this; for God it took 6,000 Biblical years, so how can you complain? There is no way for the heart of God to dwell in a place of complaint. Why do you need True Parents? It is so that you can become new, pure and unstained people. The Old Testament era represents the foundation of faith the New Testament era was the foundation of physical fulfillment; and the Completed Testament era is the time when you receive a totally new lineage from God, centered upon true love.
This is the reason why Old Testament offerings required cutting the animal into two pieces and draining the blood. How could I inherit the special right to initiate the new Heavenly lineage here on earth? It is because I was able to uncover all the secrets of Satan and win the victory over him, inch-by-inch, until he completely surrendered. You must be cut away from the root of the wild olive tree and grafted into the true olive tree. Your roots are from your own natural parents, but your leaves and flowers-your thinking-has come from the True Parents. The thinking of God, the True Parents, and yourself have become parallel because of this grafting process. That is the reason why you are entitled to give birth to true children-your thinking is the same as the True Parents, whose thinking is the same as God's. There is no way the satanic world can destroy this-they have already signed the certificate of surrender. It is not good to have children before Satan signs you off.
I want you to lay your victorious foundation within three nations. We are here and ready to unite the nationalities of Korea, Japan, the United States and Germany. How can you Americans digest the other three countries? Unless you have the capacity to digest these three nationalities, you cannot become a good front-line worker.
You probably never expected such a destiny! You may have thought, "Once I thought I would only live among white people, but now I see I have to deal with Black people, Orientals and Hispanics-what kind of life is that?" But you must do it. I want you to understand that you will become a representative victor-victor of the past, present, and the future, the Old Testament, New Testament and the Completed Testament. You will bring together the horizontal and the vertical. Your victory represents the central victory throughout the three ages. You want to win, don't you? Or will you say to me, "Father, that sounds good, but we Americans don't work that hard,"? Who is going to lead the way?
You should say, "Our country once allowed slavery. Therefore, I am going to work ten times harder for this mission than the slaves who worked for my ancestors." When you volunteer to become a slave, God will give you a free pass through the suffering. As long as you are really willing to go the road of suffering, God will not need to give it to you. If you feel you want to withstand hunger, you will find that there are many things to eat all the time. It is most important that you can go this way voluntarily and joyfully.
Reverend Moon has been giving his greatest effort, not because God has been chasing after me to do it. God simply showed me the way and the decision to do it was up to me. We must go forward, saying, "It doesn't matter, God, whether you give me a lot or a little of suffering. I will go forward." When I was handcuffed and taken away to prison in Korea, still I told God, "I haven't given up the fight even one iota. I will penetrate hell itself and still go forward. I will make our enemies surrender and repent." That is what happened when I went to prison. Wherever I go, I make the surroundings Heavenly even turning hell into Heaven.
Do you want to go to the front line, then? Do you intend to do it voluntarily? If you don't want it, don't do it. But when you get up to spirit world, don't come and complain to me, "Why didn't you push me harder?" You have no excuse now. Day and night I have prayed that you would experience a total spiritual awakening and voluntarily participate in this crusade to win the victory. Even if you have to sleep in someone's barn without any blanket, you will have chosen to go that way and you can say, "Thank you, God, I am living such a dramatic life. Now I can taste a little of what you have experienced for so long." God will say to you, "You are right, my child. You are not alone because I am walking right behind you."
God cannot walk in front of you along your path- that is the Principle. He can only stand right behind you. You must be the one to take the initiative. As God watches you, He can be so happy to see you going the right way. How much better is that than having God order you around, "Go that way; work yourself to the bone." Because you will take the initiative, God can say, "My child is going the right way on his own. He is truly my son. She is truly my daughter." How proud God can be!
Which road do you want to take? Do you want to go on the road that pleases God, or are you waiting for God to force you to go? If you go the road that pleases God, I guarantee that you will become the victor throughout the three ages. Those who say "I will do it," please raise your hands. Thank you.
