Prayer: Please grant that we may participate in victory under Your Will

Sun Myung Moon
September 26, 1982

Photo date and location unknown

Beloved Father, I have returned to my homeland, which has always been in my thoughts. Please take responsibility for the future of this nation, Father. I know that the inexperienced members of the Unification Church have shed tears day and night for this nation and its people. I know that their fervent prayers are connected to victory and are also connected to the final glory. I also know that fervent prayers follow intense difficulties and call for sacrificial blood and tears.

We know that our mission as a people still remains and this mission entails triumphing over ourselves, overcoming the cross of the family, going beyond the levels of the tribe and the people and overcoming the way of the cross centered on the nation. We also realize that after this the severe way of the cross awaits us, the way of marching toward the summit of the historical cross at the world level.

Moreover, we also understand the amazing fact that we need to pioneer the course of Your heart centering on the spirit world, and we need to open the way for future generations through our current path of the cross. We are well aware that, starting humbly from the position of individuals and going through the family, people, nation and world and even the spirit world, the path that leads to Your presence is not a welcoming path, but rather one we need to pioneer in an environment of persecution and misery.

In the past, countless people of faith were ignorant of this path; therefore they collapsed while going the way of the cross on the levels of the individual, family, society or nation. The Unification Church members gathered here have realized that they need to overcome this and forge the final way of the cross centered on Your heart. I know that, while working here in Korea, they have endured tremendous difficulties and sacrifices. Please bestow Your blessings on them. We hope You enable them to become a glorified group of people who can participate in the victory of Your Will together with the hope of tomorrow.

Please be with us here and now. Please grant that all the words I have shared may be rooted in the hearts of all people as Your joyous words. We sincerely hope, Father of love, that You embrace with equal grace and love all Your children, the Unification Church members around the world who are looking toward this place, binding their hearts together and offering prayers. We thank You for granting us Your grace in this place, and we request that You receive all our offerings. I pray all these things in the name of True Parents. Aju!

The Ocean and a New Way of Life

Sun Myung Moon
August 28, 1982
God's Will and the Ocean - Ocean Church and America
Provincetown, MA

You used to be only concerned for "me, me, me." But now you are thinking, "what can I do for the sake of God, for mankind, for others?" You used to try to find value in life with a self-centered views, but since you joined the church you now look for value in a much greater sense. Your future has broadened. Today you are not limited to where you stand; you now possess unlimited potential. Your future was limited, however, now your future is without any limit.

Once you may have thought about your own nation, but, now you think about the entire world and beyond. Therefore, at some point, America will welcome such people as you. In the past, all your sweat and tears and hard work were only for yourselves, but now all that same effort is for the sake of mankind. This is really the dawn of a new era and new history for you and your nation. It is truly the new beginning for the world.

It is the generations to come that will look at what we have done. These people will truly look up to and respect you. It is for them that we are living today. Therefore, our work has to have a vision of the future. We have to create a tradition that thousands of others can respect and follow for generations to come. So, today our purpose has to be for that better future. We must become a victor, not a loser for the sake of future generations to come. All of my life has been like this.

While I was working in the early years, everyone came against me; everyone misunderstood me. But now, as some look back and see what I have done, they admit that I was right. The same can be said for you. Sixty years from now, people will look back at your life. People looked at my projects with such a small eye at first, but as I continued, their eyes got bigger and bigger. My work didn't stop in Korea; it has expanded to America, South America and Africa and beyond. I may be somewhat of a mystery to others. However, within myself, I have a crystal clear plan; the goal is very exact.

Let me ask you something. Since you came here, did you like the strong winds or did you hate them? Did you feel on a windy day just like you do when you are meeting your fiancée or wife? No? Why are you laughing? In the start of the morning when you see a windy day did you say, "Today there will be something great out there waiting for me!" Did you feel like that? You have to cultivate your interest in life, even beyond the windy day. You have to see through it. Every young man is afraid of a storm. Have you ever studied why? Do you really feel stimulated and interested when some big wave comes over the bow into your boat? Do you see any hope there? Are you interested in that big wave? A man of the sea really tries to find hope in something like that. A small boat going through the wave is so dramatic. When you see your boat going through a wave, crashing over onto the other side, you really have to think, "Ah, here is hope for the future."

Don't hate the waves. You will only become like them. We have to accept everything, cold water and stormy skies. Always welcome the water with your hands, your feet, everything of your body. Do you do that every day? On the flat calm day look at yourself in the mirror of the ocean and realize the power of the water. On a calm day that flat mirror looks so peaceful, but the next day it could tower above you like a twenty foot mountain. The ocean is only taking a rest on those calm days, but its power remains constant.

Man is the same as well. You can be highly excited and stimulated, but then you calm down and your heart maintains a humble, quiet, appreciative standard. It is also the same within women. You can see your face reflected in the peaceful water, even so, the ocean is always moving. It has to for the sake of the fish. The wind moves the water and this movement allows for the oxygen that the fish need to live. God gave life into the ocean; and this is how the fish live.

If you look at a drop of water, it has no color. But if you gather more water, a beautiful color begins to emerge. How beautiful it is. In the water are so many species of fish; the ocean contains all kinds of fish and life. Water is life giving; more than 70% of man's body is made of water. When the water hits your face, it scratches your eyes because it's so salty. How do you feel at that moment? You spit it out, don't you, and try to shut your eyes? Ocean water has a basic taste; it is the natural taste of life. So when you go out again, you will feel and taste the water differently won't you?

Sun Myung Moon Speaks to the 8,000 Couples in Madison Square Garden, NY

Prayer: Let us all become one centering on Home Church

Sun Myung Moon
January 1, 1982

Photo date and location unknown

Our Father in heaven, center of the entire universe! You created the whole world to manifest Your ideal. Please bring about the completion of Your sacred Will to realize the home of love in this cosmos, the home desired both by You and by us -- we who are the center of the entire universe through our connection to Your love.

In the presence of our Father, You who strove to accomplish the work of creation with that objective in mind, our first ancestors, who were meant to fulfill their responsibilities as parents on earth, fell and wove a history of bitter grief.

Your ideal was violated, and the world was nailed to the cross. Therefore, Father, we apologize on behalf of our ancestors in the face of Your historical endeavors. Not only did human beings perpetrate this, but they then spread out in this world. Today many people say You do not exist. They do not know You and so betray You. The expanding influence of communism, which claims that there is no God, is confusing the standard of goodness. It rages all about, claiming that everything is built upon falsity and injustice.

Still, You looked with compassion upon the human race as it suffered the consequences of all this sorrow, and allowed us to establish the Unification Church. Our Father, You have worked hard on earth until now to bring the individual, the family, into order. You worked to bring order to the confused human condition, to tribes, peoples, nations, the world and cosmos. We hope You will forgive us for the fact that all historical sages and even Jesus, who came to accomplish that, came and went without being able to finish the task. Thus the True Parents have had to walk the path of suffering in the era of the Second Advent.

Because we know and fear that the suffering of the present generation may be passed on to later generations as conditions of indemnity, we are making a resolution to go beyond the individual to the family, tribe, people and nation, and to march forward with full force centering on Home Church. We are truly grateful for Your grace that allows us to launch this initiative. We are celebrating God's Day this morning with a new dawn lighting up this world. We sincerely hope that You will allow Your glory to be revealed and Your Will of victory to be abundant throughout the cosmos, so that our shouts of praise will ring out on earth and reach heaven.

Please allow all these central families of the Unification Church, who have gathered here today from all around the world, to take on this mission and stand at the forefront to teach the heavenly traditions and practices to all the world. We sincerely hope You will permit them to race forward to be the vanguard. May they complete their responsibilities and fulfill their desire to create the environment through which the entire world can follow those traditions as well.

Please accept today's ceremony with gladness, Father. All religious leaders and believers within the spirit world, who pursue goodness on the basis of the four major religions, are observing us closely here today. All spirits under Christianity and Jesus, Buddhism and Buddha, Confucianism and Confucius, and Islam and Muhammad, are watching us. Since they are wishing for the embrace of True Parents in the hope of realizing Your one true purpose, please bless them so that the spiritual and physical worlds can be joined together. We sincerely pray that You will bless us so that the Unification Church can become one in heart with them, so that Heaven can rejoice and earth can be harmonized as we continue to indemnify everything in history.

Father, please remember the members of the Unification Church scattered around the world. We sincerely hope and pray that You will bestow new historical blessings upon all the Unification communities who are observing this ceremony, praising the name of True Parents and venerating the family of Heaven, enabling them to reveal Your victorious glory. Please accept this occasion in Your holy way.

On this day, we have pledged the victory of Home Church in order to make it possible for You, our Father, to become one directly with the earth as well as with all the good elements of the spirit world. The world that Satan organized was built up on the basis of evil forces holding the physical world under their domain. With the Unification Church's Home Church activities as the starting point, we all wish to be united, transcending geography and nationality as we initiate the movement now destined to eliminate Satan's world.

Just as You, Father, are moving into the direction of the Home Church providence, please allow us to become one in heart on the basis of that providence on earth. Please allow us to fulfill our duties of filial piety before You so that we can bring joy to You and create an environment in which the spirit world can freely provide help. We earnestly hope that, because of our doing so, You will bless our efforts with the result that Satan's evil world and even the evil communist sovereignty will yield and begin accepting the guidance of the conscience, transcending all national boundaries. We also hope that they will subsequently become part of the nation and family of our Father. We earnestly hope and pray that in this way You will permit us to establish the moment in which all nations in the world, following the lead of Korea, Japan, America, and Germany, can unite in praising Your glory with one accord.

Please bless all that is accomplished on this day and please bestow Your blessings on the whole of this year. We sincerely hope and pray that You will allow this day, this month, this year, and the 1980s to be a time when we can sing in praise of Your victory. Please accept this ceremony with joy. Please permit Your eternal and everlasting victory to expand from this day forward and forevermore. We have prayed all these words in the name of True Parents. Aju!

Prayer: We thank You for Your protection and for surrounding us with love

Sun Myung Moon
January 1, 1982
God's Day, Midnight

Photo date and location unknown

Loving Father,

This is the very starting moment of the new year 1982. We have left 1981 in Your care, and now, from this moment forward, we enter the new year. We thank You for giving us Your protection and direction and surrounding us with Your love throughout the providential course.

Even though countless forefathers have made sacrifices throughout the long and tiresome course of restoration, still it is the destiny of us today and of our descendants to go through the way of indemnity. We thank You when we think of how hard You had to work because of the fall of Adam, in order to enable us to transcend the time differences of past, present and future.

Also we thank You when we reflect on how hard You have worked to achieve the perfection of Adam on the individual, family, society and national levels, by sending the second Adam. Because of Adam's fall, mankind had no true first ancestor. To restore this through indemnity, Jesus came to Israel in the position of True Parent; therefore, Israel and Judaism should have become one in order to receive him. To accomplish his mission and fulfill Your will, the messiah had to go through three years of public ministry. But since Jesus died on the cross, for 2,000 years You have been raising up Christianity as the new religion. These 2,000 years of Christian history have been filled with blood and sacrifice. Thus, by going through the way of death, the Christian church wove the history of indemnity.

Although in order to receive the coming messiah, the Christian culture was destined to unite, centering on America, Christians were so hostile to their destiny after World War II that the path of indemnity necessary to restore everything on the worldwide level was amazingly difficult. When we reflect on this difficult task, we come to realize how hard You have been working.

After World War II, Korea, America and England should have joined together to carry out world restoration, uniting Christianity and the Unification Church. This destined course was hindered, however, by the Christian Church's repeated prolongations. When we think of this disastrous way of indemnity, again we come to realize how hard You have been working.

Here I stand as Your son to restore Your goals through indemnity. Your expectations for the 1930s and 1940s have had to be postponed until the 1970s and even 1980s. Now we are at the end of 1981, having victoriously finished the first three seven-year courses. We thank You for allowing us to begin the second three seven-year courses. Loving Father, at the dawn of 1982, please allow us to gather here in the spirit of oneness.

In his place, we, the five races of mankind, become one representing all the races from around the world. This is also the place where the Unification Church built the foundation of victory centering on our True Father and True Mother. Now on this worldwide base, we have been able to begin our dispensation of home church activity, to open the way through which our children can inherit the victorious foundation on the family, society and national levels. At this moment, we are moving one step forward into the transitional stage of history, having overcome Satan's persecution; we are marching forward to another stage of worldwide welcome.

Father, I am asking Your permission for 1982 to be the year in which the Unification Church makes home church its center, forming a new historical era which will be the source for the establishment of a new tradition.

Through home church we will be able to victoriously resolve the deep resentment of our ancestors on every level. I ask You to allow us now and our descendants in the future to realize the seriousness of this way of victory.

Now we have gone past the position of servant of servant, past the position of adopted children, and past resentment, becoming able to bring joy to heaven. Thank You for placing us where we can build an era by living for seven years centering on home church activity.

I ask Your blessing on the second three seven-year courses. In 1982, when the new home church movement is being ushered in, I ask for Your permission to establish a new tradition. Now the world which is centered on Your love will again have to take up a fighting course of love in order to overcome everything and receive heaven's blessing. Heaven, give us your blessing. The time of sadness, fighting and struggling is past; thank You for making this era's atmosphere one of vision and longing. Father, please give us Your blessing.

Now in front of heaven this Unification Church can lift its face and receive praise from everyone in this four dimensional era which we are passing through as if in the twinkling of an eye. Father, I beseech You to give us Your blessing.

Forgetting the long hard course of restoration through indemnity, now I give my blood, sweat and my most sincere heart on the stage of home church. Wherever my feet have not touched, may I touch those places and enter all doors with the most sincere heart, in order to make You the master of the environment. After they become one with me, I will bring all things of the universe and all of Cain's children before You. Also today we are entering the new year, the year when Mother becomes 40 years old. Though young in years, she has been like a teacher and a parent; she serves her husband, who is sometimes like her parent or elder brother. Today You cannot help but love her, for she has undertaken and endured so well the burning way of the Unification Church.

With her big heart, she has been in a position to love many children in addition to her own. Now at the beginning of this second three seven-year courses, because of the historical mission of uniting the blessed families with True Parents' family, Ye Jin's family and Hyo Jin's family, I come before You, Father, with sincerest gratitude that the surprising event of this engagement and marriage can take place according to Your will. Father, the families of this son and daughter are not fully aware of their historical mission of becoming unified families. Surrounded by the blessed families, these two couples which the angelic world cannot defeat are working wholeheartedly to resolve historical resentment; they are forming a barrier around everyone, coming before heaven with seriousness and showing You filial piety. Thus, they can stand in the position to teach others.

Please bless the children True Parents have been longing for -- children who are in a fighting and lonely position; sharing the same mind with them, we are moved to tears. If there are heavily burdened people op the course of indemnity, I repeatedly ask Your blessing on them.

Now, facing a new land in which we can dwell in love, we must go out, according to Your order, asking Your blessing for the world of home church. Please bless our home church areas with Your glory and divine protection. I pray for Your glory and divine protection throughout the 1980s, from beginning to end; and I thank You for all the things You have taken care of throughout the past year, 1981.

All these things I submit to You and ask of You.

Amen.

The Secret Of Total Success

Reverend Sun Myung Moon
December 19, 1982
Belvedere
Translator - Bo Hi Pak

This is the time of Christmas; so are you thinking of your hometowns and missing them? If you say no, you are not being honest. Why does everyone naturally think about their homes at Christmas time? It is human nature to return in our memories to our past whenever something special happens, whether happy or sad. We think back to our homes because that is where our parents were, our brothers and sisters, and all our relatives. We grew up in that place. Our physical bodies, as well as our spirit and soul, were brought up in our hometowns, so we always return there in our memories.

Whenever you look at old pictures of your family, you can clearly see the family resemblance among the parents, brothers and sisters. All the memories of your youth are contained within your hometown-from childhood, through adolescence and on to young adulthood.

As a baby you were taken care of by your parents, who changed your diapers, bathed you, and so on. Later they went through all your growing pains with you. I know many of you remember being spanked sometimes by your parents. You gave them problems at times and were bad boys and girls. All these experiences form your memories. Perhaps you fought with your brothers and sisters, hitting them and so on. All such bad things actually become part of the pleasant memories of the past in your mind.

In your hometown you could feel comfortable asking a friend for some extra-special favor and everyone would think it was perfectly normal. Sometimes you might have insisted strongly on something from your relatives or neighbors and it was considered normal. When you started a fight with your brother and hit him first, perhaps you were the one to cry first so you got the most sympathy!

The hometown can be characterized by warmth and love; once you leave it and go out into the larger society, you discover that warmth is lacking. Society is very impersonal and cold. If you make some mistake or do something wrong, you receive punishment without fail; there is no forgiveness. If you borrow money, you have to pay it back-with interest. You cannot expect sympathy or an easy time from people in the larger society. Your hometown is the place where you feel embraced by the people and everything there.

Once you are grown up, you reach the time to get married. If you had to choose between getting married and going back to your hometown, which would you choose? Certainly anyone would prefer to have an ideal mate, rather than just going back home. Why is that? Nowadays in this secular society, men and women can be happily married one day and the next day have a quarrel and start thinking about divorce. Since you abandon your hometown in order to get married, you expect the marriage to be better. In what way should the marriage be better?

In the Orient whenever men and women get divorced they always go back to their parents' home. That is true here sometimes, too. It is a natural thing for people that when they leave their homes, they go to live with their ideal mates. The realm of give and take between marriage partners, then, is supposed to be better than that in your hometown.

A child can behave badly and get a spanking from his parents; then, within a short time, he has completely forgotten the incident. That is a precious quality of a child. The younger the child, the greater the ability to forget. This is one of the qualities which Jesus was referring to when he said in the Bible, "Unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven." There is no cynicism or sarcasm in a little child; he responds genuinely and simply. When you are kind to a child, he is happy and kind in response. When you are angry with him, he will run away from you. He is absolutely honest in his response.

The husband and wife relationship is supposed to be better than any in childhood. That means although husband and wife fight sometimes, you should be able to put it behind you. No matter how much you love someone, if you have an attitude of holding grudges you can never have total success in that relationship.

What is the definition of a good husband and good wife? It is important to have a clear definition of those terms. How can the good student in school be determined? By his performance on tests. It doesn't matter how handsome his face is, how tall he is or how much he weighs. The good student is determined by the tests. In the same sense, the good husband and good wife are determined by tests and how well they do. The husband gives the tests to the wife and she has to pass them; and vice-versa.

Would you like to be tested every day or just once in a while? Does anyone actually enjoy taking tests? No one likes taking tests, but they are a necessity which we must go through. Which is the better test-the difficult test or the easy one? What is the standard of good and bad membership in the Unification Church? How do we define those things? Again, it is by passing different tests. In our church there are many different kinds of tests; fundraising is one, witnessing another, fasting is another, and receiving the three indemnity blows is another. When you see that a new, more difficult kind of test is coming to you, is that a good or a bad sign?

God is looking at His children and telling them, "I want you to be the very best child." What is the standard by which God determines who are the better children? How can He decide? What kind of test would God devise? God created all things in the world-diamonds, gold, etc. He doesn't lack anything, such as wealth, wisdom or power. What would be the criterion by which God would determine which of His children has the highest possible standard? When a teacher makes a test, he wants to check to see whether the students have learned the most vital, basic information. Thus God will make His tests to find out if His most important subject has been understood by His children. What is that subject? It is true love.

What is true love? What is the difference between true love and any other kind? The most simple criterion of true love is that it is a giving love more than a receiving love. Parents want to give to their children, out of their heart of love. Should the children just continue to receive from their parents? Women always want to just receive love from everyone, isn't that true? Women always wait to receive more and more love, but at a certain point you start to give that love back. What time is that? It is when you become mothers. It is the mother who expresses the most love in the beginning toward the children, rather than the father. The mother gives her love more intensely to her children because it is the woman who has been receiving so much love throughout her life.

There is a basic law of nature illustrated in the way we breathe. When you inhale to your fullest capacity, can you continue to drink in more and more air? Certainly not. You must exhale after you have inhaled. Breathing out is just as important as breathing in. Likewise, when you receive, you must also give. When you eat food, you must also eliminate waste products.

God loves and enjoys true love, the kind of love which gives to others. Who initiated that love-man or God? It was God, because He was the parent and as the parent, He is the cause of love. The causal being initiates the resultant being. The cause must take that initiative so the result can become a reality. Who gave you your hair and your eyeballs? It was the first cause. We are all results of that cause. Thus you can never say, "I am all by myself, alone and unique in the whole universe." The resultant being can never take the causal position; the resultant being is in the passive position. Thus, the resultant being must search after his cause and seek interaction with that cause.

How should we return to our origin, our cause? Since that cause initiated giving love, we can return to that cause by returning or reciprocating that love. Commonly in our world today, people think of themselves from an independent and selfish point of view. Yet no one is just "myself,' but is the result of a cause. You are always connected with that cause. Therefore, people must find unity with that cause. Since we received the most precious gift from that cause, in order to return we must take an equally precious gift to the cause.

You received life from your cause: therefore, when you return you should return with the most brilliant life. You received love; therefore, when you go back you should bring your most brilliant love. You must realize that your life is precious because that first cause of your life is most precious. It is your duty, therefore, to cherish your life. You want to be worthy of receiving love from that first cause; that love is precious and noble, so you naturally want to be equally precious and noble in order to return love of equal importance to Him.

The primary problem of the world is lack of awareness that man is a resultant being; he is an objective being rather than a subjective one. Have you ever thought that you were a resultant, objective being accountable to someone else, or do you normally think, "I am free and independent; don't bother me!"? The latter is the most general way of thinking in the world.

There is nothing wrong with wanting to be independent, since you have your own direction and goal to return to that first cause. As long as that is the motivation of your desire for independence, it is justifiable. It is all right to seek to be left alone in order to go back to your cause.

What do women need? Women need men. Do you women agree? How much do you need men? That relationship is on the horizontal level, with man in the plus position and woman in the minus position. American women don't think that way, but it is true. Why can't the woman claim the plus position? You are born to fulfill the minus position. Men are created as pluses. In the Oriental philosophy, men represent the heavens and women represent the earth.

All people are resultant beings with a vertical journey to pursue-our unity with our origin. Then we have another journey-the horizontal one toward our horizontal cause. Evil originated in the lower place, which is earth. You women have the tendency to receive love all the time, but when you are called upon to give love, you protest, saying, "No, that is not my duty. Let somebody else do it." Even the East Garden children have that tendency. Whenever I look into the drawers of the girls, everything is well organized and well stocked; everything that could be needed is there and accounted for. When I open up the boys' drawers, they are messy and disorganized. They don't even particularly care what they have; if somebody wants to borrow something from them, they just tell them to go ahead and help themselves.

The girls accumulate many things and keep them organized. When the time comes for marriage, they pack everything up and take it away! If they present their possessions to their husbands without any reservation, that is totally okay. This is because the earth was supposed to present all things in offering to Heaven, to God. Thus women are supposed to make that kind of offering through their husbands.

The beauty of universal law is that when you make an offering to God, you are not losing anything. The more you present to God, the more you increase yourself. It is a mutual prospering for both you and God. God's mind is one of ideal love; He is an infinite reservoir of that love. The more God consumes, the greater amount He returns. Whoever gives to God will always be replenished by God. What can be lost? The more someone gives to God, the greater will be his return. This leads us to the clear understanding of why we, as resultant beings, need a relationship with the original, causal being. That is the only way we can grow to maturity and prosperity.

Leaves on the very top of a tree cannot grow unless they have an interaction with the lowest part of the root, which is their origin and cause. Likewise when men have give and take of true love with God, their cause, they grow and prosper without end.

You love God, don't you? How much do you love God? Do you love Him more than you love yourself? He is more than you, greater than you and the owner of yourself; therefore, it is good to love Him more than yourself. He is the owner of true love, so we naturally like and love Him.

If you assert yourself in an aggressive, stubborn way for the sake of returning to that first cause, your deeds can be justified. According to the same principle, you women should pack up everything you own and give it, along with your own heart and body, to your husband. There is no way in which you will diminish when you do such a thing, according to the principle of true love. You will prosper together and grow together.

Husband and wife have dominion over each other out of love, not in any other way. Therefore, the most important criterion is this: more than you love your husbands, you women should love God. The same is true for men; God must come first. When you are united horizontally as husband and wife, you can go upward to the vertical level.

The first cause divided himself up-God is divided into masculine and feminine-so in order to return to God, the two divided parts should come together as one unit. There is no other way. Men and women move toward each other and this is entirely natural. Unless you unite with your ideal mate here on earth you shall have no way to move vertically toward God.

Why is marriage necessary? Is it because you need to receive love from someone? No, you marry because you want to form that unit which is responsible to God. Now you have the answer as to why men and women marry. Why is it good to have children? The ultimate destiny of mankind is to return to God, so having children is a necessary aspect of that. Each of you is looking forward to having a spouse, but that spouse is actually the intermediate instrument for returning to God.

When the vertical and horizontal interact, their motion creates circular movement. In such motion, the heaviest elements settle in the center and the lightest elements go to the outside. The cause of causes is the heaviest element, God, who forms the center. What is the center of God? It is true love. Thus, the center of centers is true love.

In the center of the universe is the universal plus, surrounded by smaller minuses. Among those minuses, there are also small pluses which unite with them to create larger and larger entities. These united plus and minus entities resemble the original cause. All together these entities are a "super-minus," surrounding the "super-plus" in the center.

In yourself there is mind and body. Which is more important? It is the true mind, which is in the center of your being. Anybody who has nothing to do with true love will eventually be rejected by the universe. God didn't want anyone to be rejected by the universe; therefore, in order to sustain life here on earth, men and women must come together. That's why marriage is God's institution.

The plainest truth is that when the plus and minus of man and woman unite together, they create a bigger minus in front of their cause, God, who is the biggest plus. In that way plus and minus interact. That is the only way mankind can be sustained. Why do we need children? Children are necessary because through them, people can experience truly unconditional, sacrificial love toward them. That experience is actually training for people which allows them to understand God better and allows them to return love to Him. We receive parental love from God, so by understanding the intensity of that love we can be motivated to return it to Him.

The criterion for loving is within your family. You must love God, the ultimate subject, more than your husband or wife, more than your children; when you do that you are doing what is right. God is the first cause and must be loved above all. When the love of God comes to you, it includes all the different aspects of love-men and women, parents and children; everything is included within that love. Your love is intense for your husband or wife. You must come to realize that you love God even more than that. Then God will tell you that you passed the test.

Only through your spouse and the love of your children can you return to your origin, God. Universal truth is based on this. The heaviest center is God; the center of God is true love. When you reach that core center of God and become united with Him, you become a part of Him. You become like Him and become an original magnet. pulling everything toward you. From that position you can push and pull and every action you do is one of harmony and goodness. When you have been away from your lover for a long time and you suddenly meet up with him or her again, what do you do? You come together and feel like squeezing each other to death. You should think of God like your lover, so you feel like squeezing Him, too. God loves that and He will tell you that you have passed His test.

God loves you-every part and function of you, including your eyes, nose, ears, everything. Husband and wife should focus more and more love toward each other, not seeking for themselves. The more intense your love, the closer you are getting to the center and by that you can interact faster and faster. The closer two objects are to the center of a circle, the closer they come together and the faster they can have give and take. Now we know why men and women must get together in marriage and have children; our central goal and purpose is to return and unite totally with our central, original cause, God.

If Adam and Eve had completed their love and traveled this route, they would never have fallen. The same is true of you. Some of you think, "Why did Father have to match me to such a person? Everybody else got good husbands, but not me! Mine is ugly and not so good." But that is your universal test, the hardest test God could give you. Since that is the ultimate test, if you pass it, you will jump into the center of God immediately.

Your five senses represent the most holy, sacred love. When you touch your lover with your hand, it is like God touching him or her. That is wonderful and holy. Why shouldn't we refer to each other as, "My holy spouse"? Anything godly is holy, so our husbands and wives should be regarded as holy, too. The saintly couple is such a couple. What is a saint? The saint is the one who concentrates on returning true love to God, his origin. A saintly man and woman make a saintly couple. When such a husband and wife get together, isn't that better than returning to your home town?

The Christmas season has come and I have been thinking about what I could give to you. This morning I am opening my "true love" package for you, my gift to you.

When husband and wife conceive a child, they are brightened up by ecstatic joy and happiness. God created women deliberately to be greedy for love, always seeking to receive from others so that when the time comes, He can demand that you give that love forth to your children. When you become pregnant, you women often become very sick and weak, losing your appetites and energy. It is almost like a sickness, and pregnancy lasts for nine months. However the pregnant woman is happy anyway, even though she can hardly walk with her huge stomach. Once she comes near to her term, she is so full she can hardly sleep; her breathing becomes difficult and so on. Even though she knows it is because of the child that she is so uncomfortable, no mother will curse and blame the child. She just thinks of that child with total love and devotion! She can hardly wait to see him. That is the love of the mother.

The child is really a "bloodsucker," in a way. The mother's blood nourishes the baby when he is in the womb and then when he nurses, she continues to nourish him. Childbirth is normally a very painful experience for the mother, but she immediately forgets the pain when she sees her baby and wants to nurse him at her breast. The woman who was so greedy for love becomes totally giving and unselfish toward her child. God is fair. He knew that He was demanding a lot from women, so He allowed women to be a little greedy when they are young. For that reason, also, He created women last-you are the "latest model," very delicate and sophisticated instruments. You are the latest minus for the ultimate plus, God.

The essentiality of God is based upon true love. This is why He can require of the world that we love Him. Loving Him is like loving yourself because it is the only way you can prosper and continue for eternity. God requires us to love Him so that we can receive love, too. Once we understand this fact, we can have bubbling enthusiasm.

The ultimate reason for love is to return to God and become one with Him; there is no other reason. This earth and universe surround us like a second "womb," and we are preparing here for another, ultimate birth. When you were in your mother's womb you received all the ingredients you needed through the umbilical cord. By the same token you are growing through the channels of the universe-water, food, air-which are supplied to you. In order to meet your requirements, the universe is continually serving you with tremendous sacrifice to itself.

The natural principle of survival of the fittest serves the purpose of returning to God. The lower forms of creation are actually honored and privileged to serve the higher forms so that they can return to God. Food, water and so forth are all created by God to serve the higher beings and aid them in their search for the love of God. By serving the higher being they are serving a higher cause. When you eat an animal as food, that animal is serving a higher purpose by becoming a sacrifice to you. That animal becomes a part of the cells in the higher being, you. It actually becomes part of a higher cause in that way. By doing so the goal of that animal has been fulfilled.

That principle should work the same in the human world. For the sake of a higher cause you say to God, "Yes, Father, I can give my very life as a sacrifice for your purpose." That is a natural tendency. All creations of God have the same goal and purpose: to journey toward their ultimate center, which is the true love of God. Once they reach that goal, they are reaching a relationship with the entire universe.

When you eat you become indebted to that food because that vegetable or animal has sacrificed itself for you. You must fulfill their purpose by elevating them to a relationship with the highest being. You are like an ambassador for the entire universe; all of creation needs you to gain a relationship with God. You should look at the birds, the running water, the animals and so on with such a viewpoint.

You should look at the universe as a gigantic museum and. all the things of creation as exhibits in it. At the Louvre museum in France, many people can observe the painting Mona Lisa; it is considered to be of priceless value. However compared with God's museum, the Mona Lisa is nothing; the things in God's museum are not only beautiful, they can also multiply themselves forever. No matter how wise a person you may be, you could never duplicate even one small thing which God has created.

If you asked a blade of grass, "How old are you?" he would answer, "I am older than you. I was there in the Garden of Eden, long before you men were." Ask that grass, "Who created you?" and he would answer, "The King of Art, Science, and Wisdom-God Almighty- created me." Even the tiniest ant was created by God. What about the rattlesnake-would he bite God if he could? Even the snake has the ability to love. The male and female snakes certainly have give and take of love; they don't bite each other!

Knowing all these truths, the universe appears to you in an entirely different perspective. You can say, "All this is God's creation and I am, too. Since I am a representative of God, I should appreciate all these things." When you see everything as God's creation, then there is nothing which is not lovable. You can love the mountains, the grasses, flowers, pebbles, animals. Everything is a lovable artistic work of God.

Since you are a representative of the true love of God, everything in the universe will seek to be close to you. The flower will say, "Please take me and hold me. Put me in your house where I can be appreciated by you and your family."

Always remember that God is the cause and we are the result. As resultant beings, our journey in life is to go back to that cause. Your first home was in your family, which is the wellspring of true love for your life. For Unification Church members, Christmas time is a time when you like to gather at Belvedere and hear a sermon. Even better, you would like to go to East Garden and be with Father and Mother and the true family. Since school is recessed now, the children went with Mother yesterday for a short trip; I was supposed to join them but I decided that I would rather stay here with you children at Belvedere this Sunday.

The mysterious secret of total success is to become men and women able to communicate true love with all things. By give and take between the vertical cause and the horizontal effect, you shall achieve everything in total success.

Don't ever forget this teaching today. Use your five senses with this point of view. Every action of your body, every day, should be done with the purpose of returning to the first cause. You can only return to that first cause with true love. Once you undertake this journey of true love, the universe will cooperate and help you. Nothing will hamper you, even national boundaries, cultural and racial differences.

We are engaged in a marathon race toward the goal of our cause of true love. We must make a relationship with everything in the universe and steer ourselves continually toward that goal. For this reason, the Unification Church is interested in every field and every aspect of life; we go everywhere geographically-east, west, Africa, South America, Asia; we do fishing, laboring, agriculture, mining, aviation. There is no area in which we are not interested. That is because this universe is our home, our "mother's womb" which we want to use to prepare for our future life.

When men and women are truly in love, they occupy each other. The man is completely occupied by the woman and vice-versa. By the same token, we could say the same thing about God. When you have a true love relationship with God, He will be occupied by you. You will find your resting place right in the center of God.

Where can you find the love of God? You have that longing feeling for the love of your husband or wife which you cannot forget at any time; such a feeling of longing describes God's love. For this reason, you are precious and unique in this universe; you have total dignity and authority to represent God.

Men and women must go through the center of their lives, which is God. Every person starts from different angles and different beginning points, but you are all aiming to get to that central point, your ultimate destination. Everybody wants to be Number One; that is, we want to get to that central position.

Mother and I have 13 children now, so do you think God will say, "That's enough. I am happy with that."? The numbers of cells in one human body equals about 400 trillion. Therefore, 4 billion members of mankind must be too small a number for God.

Children always want to receive the love of their parents. Therefore, all the people in the world are reaching for that central point of the universe, God. When a person directs his love toward his parents, he exhibits filial piety. When he directs love toward his country, he is a loyal patriot. When he directs his love toward God. he becomes a saint. The love is the same. For each of you to become a pious son, a patriot and saint is within your realm; in fact, it is your goal. You should become even more; you should gain the title of son and daughter of God. What more could you want?

When I speak to you, do you divide my words into two parts-that which you want to hear and that which you don't want to hear? Or do you listen to everything equally? Sometimes I test you. God certainly has tested me. Many times God has called to me, "Reverend Moon, are you truly my son?" I answer, "Yes, Sir." He replies, "Then l want to test you to see if you really are." Do you think I said to Him, "No, Father, don't test me!" NO, I told God to go ahead and give me the toughest possible tests.

I could foresee the types of tests I would have to meet, so I solved problems before they arose. Then I could tell God, "I already finished that test a long time ago." Finally God said, "I have no more tests for you." Then I said to Him, "Father, let me test You this time!"

The Moonies are persecuted now and scorned by the world, but we are truly a great people, with great dynamism and honor. Who understands these basic truths now? The distinguished Harvard University professors don't know it, the president of the U.S. doesn't understand it. Only you small handful of humble people have been able to understand it. How grateful we must be!

The mother's womb is not a glamorous or beautiful place, but that is where life is conceived and grows. It is like a factory; factories are not clean and lovely places. That most holy place, the womb, has a lowly appearance. By the same token, Belvedere appears very humble, but this is the holy place where new life is being vegetated and nurtured. This former garage is the place where God is teaching His wonderful message.

Husband and wife should look at this world like they were looking at the Garden of Eden, in which there is only one man and one woman. What if Adam had happened to be crippled? Would Eve have complained to God, "Oh, no, I want another man!"? Eve didn't have that kind of choice. If Adam had been running around and had fallen down on a bush, he might have become blinded in one eye. Would Eve have said, "God, I don't want a one-eyed husband!"? Consider yourselves as Adam and Eve for whom there is only one possible mate; it is your destiny.

You men should look at your wives and think, "She is the only woman in the entire universe; she is the only Eve." You may have been thinking about how ugly your husband or wife was, but when you start to look at your spouse from the proper angle you will see universal beauty in him or her. You should look at each other with universal eyeglasses and then your husband will look like a Heavenly Rock Hudson. With universal eyeglasses, nothing looks ugly in God's creation.

In the eyes of the secular world, life in the Unification Church may look miserable but looking with eyeglasses of universal true love, our life appears beautiful, sacred, holy and prosperous. Now that 1983 is coming, prepare for the new year with the determination to wear those universal true love eyeglasses. Look at the entire world with those eyeglasses; proudly proclaim yourself as a child of the True Parents and march forward to win the ultimate victory.

God bless you.

Emergency Time Period

Reverend Sun Myung Moon
December 12, 1982
Belvedere
Translator - Sang Kil Han

In the English language just a small difference between "y" and "e" changes "emergence," meaning "to come forth" to "emergency," which means a critical time. One letter creates a drastic difference in meaning.

In the history of God's dispensation, there have always been critical time periods during which indemnity had to be paid. Sacrifice is always required during these critical time periods. The people in Abel's position are always the ones who must make the sacrifices and pay the indemnity. Abel's ability to do this can lead the dispensation forward or their failure can bring a halt to the dispensation.

God's substantial restoration began with Israel, starting with Jacob on the individual level and leading up to the national level. Israel means "the victor." There was a 21-year time period for Jacob's indemnity condition. For Moses' mission there was a 40-year time period of indemnity. Jesus was supposed to fulfill at least 40 years of life, which would have been his condition of indemnity.

On the foundation of Jacob's victorious family foundation, the tribal level of dispensation could begin. Moses' mission brought the tribal or racial level to the beginning of the national level of dispensation. On that foundation, Jesus started the dispensation toward the world level.

If Jesus had been able to go to Rome and teach the people there, the dispensation would have been carried on to the world level. That never happened, so after 2,O00 years we are still working on the level of the nation and once again moving forward to the world level of dispensation. Today America is in the position of Rome and is in the same position to welcome the messiah and move the dispensation forward. Now is the dispensational time period to restore the entire physical world and the entire spirit world.

Until this time, the physical world and the spirit world have been separated and in conflict with each other. Persons in spirit world could only work with specific religious leaders or those of similar beliefs. Today, with the advance of the Second Coming, spirit world can relate directly with the entire physical realm, not just on a limited basis.

Now is the time for restoration of relationship between God's realm, the realm of Adam and Eve, and that of the archangel. In the original scheme, those four would have been united harmoniously. But since the fall took place, those four realms have been replicated by the satanic side: Satan, in God's position; evil men and women; and evil angelic world. The pure, original standard became contaminated with evil elements. There are good men and women centered on God and there are bad men and women centered on Satan. How many more bad people than good exist in the world? Certainly evil takes the strongest, most active role in the world and is the most numerous. Who are those few who are centered on God and are situated clearly on God's side? Simply stated, they must be the genuinely religious persons of the world.

In the realm of religion there are both Cain and Abel elements. By the same token, in the realm of secularism not all people are so bad; some are in the Abel position and some in the Cain. The Abel people on the satanic side can be drawn into God's realm; likewise, those Cain persons on God's side can be pulled over into Satan's realm. It is a common occurrence that people are dropping away from their religions and embracing the satanic standards, while those who have been non-religious are drawing closer to God's side.

While one possesses a physical body, it is rather simple to move from Satan's side to God's side, or vice versa; however, once a person is in spirit world it cannot be done. It is only possible with a physical body. Why is that? Only the physical body spans both the world of body and of spirit.

In the Heavenly realm, the Abel people are closest to God and the Cain people are next to them. Then there is a borderline and beyond that is the realm of Satan. Closest to the borderline are the Abel people in Satan's realm and closest to Satan are his Cain people. Thus, God continually tries to win those Abel people on Satan's side and Satan is trying to do the same with the Cain people on God's side.

Within each individual, there is that borderline between God and Satan. Perhaps one person has every part of himself on God's side, with only one foot straddling the line over to Satan's side. Or maybe he has only his big toe hanging over into Satan's realm and he thinks he is OK. But Satan can loop a string around that toe and try to pull him all the way over to the other side. Once Satan successfully pulls half of him over, he will claim the whole person. Satan will use winches and ropes and drag him completely over and God cannot do anything to prevent it.

Between hostile nations, the borderline is watched very carefully. If someone steps over the line with just one foot, he is considered to have invaded the other country. He might argue that he was mostly on his own side, but that would not prevent the other country from claiming an invasion. By the same token, when a person sets one foot on Satan's territory, he is claimed by Satan and God cannot do anything.

According to this viewpoint, are you clearly on God's side or are you still on the borderline, moving back and forth? If you are standing on God's side, do your eyes still wander over to the satanic side? Now it is the Christmas season and you are involved in your mission work, which means that you probably have to make the sacrifice of not seeing your family during this special time. By dedicating yourself now' you know you are offering that sacrifice for the sake of God and the world

When Lot was commanded to leave the city of Sodom, he had no idea of where he was going or what he was going to do. He and his family were leaving behind familiar, comfortable surroundings and heading towards the unknown. When Lot's wife was tempted by her past situation and she looked backward, she turned into a pillar of salt.

This is a time of fundraising. Do you think everyone went out willingly or reluctantly? The Korean word for a highly changeable person is pyun duk. If you were such a person, you would move back and forth across the border line several times an hour. Sometimes a person will set one foot over the border once a month, just to see what it's like. Another person might do that once a year; another, once every ten years; another, only once in his life. Or someone might never, in his whole life, set foot on Satan's side. According to this broad spectrum, to which category do you belong?

If you are a person who changes and leaves Cod's side frequently, suppose you were to pray fervently to God. How would God respond to such a prayer? Just from an objective point of view, should God listen to and grant such a person's prayer or shouldn't He wait until that person has become more stabilized?

God is called the God of love. Does that mean no matter how many times a person does something wrong, God will just blindly forgive him without some consideration of that person's sincerity? If an incredibly changeable, untrustworthy person prays to God piteously, does God come closer to him or would He have to move further and further away from such a treacherous person? God looks at you with an eye of deep love, but if you squint at Him with a satanic eye and say, "God, I love you," does that mean God should feel loved?

Today millions of religious persons are praying to God. Certainly none of them is praying for the demise of America but instead pray for God to help America and the world. However. America is falling into a worse and worse condition; therefore, God is not granting those prayers. Likewise, every Christian prays for the proliferation and prosperity of Christianity but is that happening? On the contrary, Christianity is becoming weaker and weaker. That means God has not granted those prayers.

What does this mean? Prayer is the most fundamental element of our religious life. When we pray, we must stay far away from that borderline between God and Satan in order to be answered by God. You must be cleansed and pure of past ambiguities before you approach God in prayer. Many people claim, "I prayed and prayed, but it never produced anything." If someone is strongly within Satan's domain and praying to God for satanic purposes, how can he complain that God doesn't listen to his prayer? Why should God listen to such a prayer? God is a God of justice, so how can He just answer every person's prayer, regardless of the quality or where it is coming from?

How many really good Christians do you think exist who spend all of their efforts moving toward God's side, not paying any attention to Satan's realm? When God was about to demolish Sodom and Gomorrah, He told Abraham that if there were just fifty righteous people there, He would save the city. Abraham begged to God and He agreed that if there were only ten righteous people in the city, He would spare it. That means there were not even ten good people.

Even within the Unification Church, how many people are totally clear of the borderline and are, without a doubt, true sons and daughters of God? How about you, yourself, as a Unification Church member? Are you very confident to proclaim yourself as a citizen of Heaven, as God's son or daughter? If very few of you can say that, what a serious situation this is for God. God created religions to save not only individuals but eventually to restore the entire world; this is not a concept but is reality. If, when God looks at you closely, you are not sure of yourselves, how miserable God would feel!

This time period is a true time of emergency for God. God is asking, "Who is helping me in my time of emergency? Who will help me save the world?" God is in agony over this situation. When you deeply understand this, you cannot help but resolving, "I would rather spend my life in jail, as long as I can stay with You, God. If I am free, perhaps I would be tempted over the borderline, so I would rather stay in prison in order to guarantee my relationship with You." How many of you feels so deeply the desire to be on God's side that you do not even mind staying in jail and being beaten every day, as long as you are guaranteed of being on God's side? Or are you the kind of person who thinks, "I want to do things the way I want; I don't think about God so much."? This is a very serious question.

When you look at yourself from this standard, you should even feel ashamed for the way you have been praying in the past. "God, I was praying all the time out of shallow habit, but now I have come to see that I was in no position to pray to you. I am ashamed."

This is not only the emergency time for God, it is also the emergency time for the world; also it is a dire emergency for all religious people. Are you confident about yourself as a religious person or are you still the target of the satanic world? You, your family, your society and nation are very much involved in this emergency time. Do you think this is an exaggerated picture, or is it reality?

Religions are struggling and panting amidst the satanic world now, but the day will come when religions, centering on Christianity. will be the predominant force for cleansing the world. When is that day going to come? That time was supposed to occur in the past-when the U.S. won in World War 11, they were supposed to sweep over the entire world carrying the Christian spirit, under God's banner. But America lost that chance. At that time, China, England, and all the powerful countries of the world were sided with America and Russia didn't have anything.

We cannot change the past but we can see the events clearly. After World War II, America had the greatest potential for evangelizing the entire world. She never had the ability before that and since that time, she has gone into a sharp decline. That was the highest level for America-a God-given opportunity to do His long sought-after will.

Looking at the 2,O00 years of Christian history. we can see that millions of Christians have prayed deeply and unselfishly to God. In the beginning of Christianity, what do you think was the predominant prayer? Their constant plea to God was, "Oh, Lord, please send Your son again as You promised." That was very different from the kinds of prayers most people are praying today: "Lord, please help my family to be prosperous; bless my church," etc.

We can imagine that Christians prayed consistently and strongly for hundreds of years for Christ to come again. Certainly that is God's desire, too, so when would God do it? He would send Christ at the most opportune time for the world-the time when the Christian spirit was at the highest and there was every possibility that the world could be evangelized. That was the very time after World War 11. It is a reasonable thing to assume, just by logic. Of course, no one knew the preciousness of the moment because if they had, they would not have failed; but God knew clearly.

Christians have been steadfastly waiting for Christ to come again-on a cloud. If he came on a cloud, perhaps wearing a parachute, he would come in the position of messiah, undoubtedly. But isn't there any chance at all that he would not come on a cloud, but would appear as a regular person? What kind of a messiah would mankind need: one who descends from the clouds as a supernatural non-human being; or one who is one of us, with the same flesh and the same mind? Certainly, people need a real person to relate with in the position of Christ.

Jesus described himself as, "The way, the truth, and the life." It really didn't make any difference which manner he came into the world-even if he had come on the clouds, or whatever, they were not the way, the truth and the life. It was Jesus himself who was important' nothing else. However he came to the world, he taught clearly about the way to live, the truth for mankind and how to gain life. ALSO, Jesus was "the love," which was not recorded; he did not say that, perhaps because he could not go all the way, but he was the love for the world.

Would mankind prefer to receive a messiah who came dramatically on a cloud, without teaching and being all those things which Jesus was, or a messiah who came normally but was able to convey those precious understandings? Certainly, mankind would value the second kind of messiah.

Considering the realities of this world, when the true messiah emerges it is almost inevitable that everyone, including the religious world, will oppose him. Those who firmly believe that Jesus will come again on a cloud have rejected the Unification Church.

Satan will do everything to stop and destroy the Unification Church. He is very accomplished at killing people and destroying goodness; that is what he consistently does. When God sees this situation, He feels like saying to Reverend Moon and the Moonies, "Be strong and healthy and please bring my world back to me."

If it is true that the Moonies are the only hope of God, yet they themselves are vacillating back and forth over the borderline between God and Satan, are those kinds of Moonies worthy of their name? They are more worthy of being struck by lightning, isn't that true?

Are you proud of being a Moonie? Perhaps when you first joined the movement, you were reluctant to identify yourself as a Moonie. Have you gotten over that now? When I was in the courtroom, I was totally confident that I was doing exactly what the universe needed. I never thought I should get some sympathy from the judge or anyone. No matter where I go, whether it be a prison or a palace, I must preserve the dignity of God's position.

You must be able to see the borderline but you must determine that it is out of the question that you will ever cross over it. God knows that Reverend Moon has had nothing to do with that borderline; therefore, do you think God trusts me? That is something no one else understands, so when others give me advice I must be the one to decide, ultimately, which is the one way toward God's direction.

Is it so unbelievable that an entire country would oppose me? Actually, it is a natural occurrence, given how sinful this world is. If the entire world of religion comes against me, I know it is because they are ignorant of what they are doing. It is common knowledge today that there is only one person who has been opposed by everyone, by the whole world. Yet what evil did he do to cause everyone to go against him? Therefore, I must be the champion of receiving opposition; perhaps it is in the Guinness Book! Is that because I am so selfish, or do I receive opposition because I am so faithful to God?

Have you taken the same stance as I have? When Jesus went to the cross, all his disciples fled. Have you ever felt, "If Reverend Moon goes to jail, we will all go with him?" Jesus could not trust his own people. who were all of the same race and culture. You Americans are of a totally different race and culture than me, yet you say you will follow me wherever I lead. Can I trust that?

You are from an individualistic culture; "I" is always capitalized. Compare yourself with the disciples of Jesus; their culture allowed them to believe in Jesus wholeheartedly because they did not have training in individualism. Yet you are the product of individualism; you look at what I say and do with a skeptical eye. You take what suits you and then discard what doesn't because you feel you have that "right." According to this situation, to what degree have you believed in me? You can easily say, one hundred per cent, but is it true?

When you become aware of how far you are from the standard of a true Moonie, you will want to lower your head in humility. But from that position, are you going to give up and back away from God's will, or move forward. It is very difficult to move forward, so do you really want to go? This is the reality of Jesus' telling people that if they wanted to live, they would die, but if they were willing to die, they would live.

Can you glimpse how difficult it has been for me to come to this point? If I go to jail, it is possible for all my followers to drop away from me and I will have to start all over again. I have seen this happen before and not just once. It happened in my own home country of Korea; so how can I trust that the people of America won't do the same? If you can give some indication that you might be able to follow me 100%, I can have consolation. Yet, look at your situation: do you have a life of faith with tears? Most people do not see such a thing in Americans. How can you be worthy of being trusted?

Does the path become easier as you go along, or more difficult? Many Americans joined without knowing anything about this situation; they just "tagged along" with the movement. Therefore, once things became really difficult they said, "This is too hard for me, so I will escape." This is always a possibility. The attitude we must have is, "As hopeless as it seems now, what does God want?" Do you think God would like Reverend Moon to forsake America because it is utterly impossible to educate? Certainly not. This is very serious, both for God and for me.

I have seen that Americans are very well-educated and knowledgeable, yet very individualistic and analytical. You must satisfy yourselves before you can do anything. I must weigh your potential with that of the African people, most of whom are uneducated and very simple and the South American people who are in-between. I must ask if they will function better for the sake of God's dispensation than the North Americans.

In the Bible it says that it is more difficult for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to go to Heaven. In the same way it is as difficult for a rich nation to go Heaven. To realize the Kingdom of Heaven on earth through American people is just that difficult. However, it will be easier for a poor nation and culture, such as South America and Africa. Do you think my observation is well-founded?

The only way to overcome this problem would be for you Americans to throw off the effects of all your education and sophistication and give yourself up in sacrifice for the sake of others. With that, we can have hope for North Americans; but if you want to keep everything you have and try to follow God, it won't work. If you voluntarily take on a miserable situation, maybe there is hope for you. In fact, if you did that, the Kingdom of Heaven on earth could emerge very quickly. Even if we could establish the ideal in Africa or South America, still we must return to North America to do the same thing. Therefore, no matter how difficult it is, we must use North Americans for God's dispensation-this is God's will and it is what Reverend Moon and Moonies in the whole world want.

How does this sound: we must live on the same standard as the African people, eating and living the same way they do. Can you do that? I know you Americans don't want to do that. But I know God's ways; therefore, what if I determine to make your lives miserable like the Africans? Will you welcome that?

America is in the highest position, materially. Americans try to take the most trouble-free path to greater and greater levels of comfort. But God wants to redirect your paths temporarily, in a way that will cause you more difficulty. You want to continue to go upward, but the law of the universe requires that you must first go down, then move up higher and higher. If all Americans decided that they should adopt the spirit of God and Christ and start sacrificing themselves, that would be very good. That means that they would have to start living with a much lower standard than they are familiar with. At that lower point, they would experience greater unity and cohesion among themselves. When they started to go up again, they would go up much higher than they were before.

You have always learned to try to progress toward easier and more comfortable ways of living; yet according to that way, you become less and less significant to God's work. Ultimately, God has to leave you if you just pursue that way. God would have to leave this entire country.

At this time of emergency, should our way of thinking be to get an easier and more comfortable way of life each day? Or shouldn't we determine that each day should be a little more challenging than the one before? At this time there is only one way for America to continue its prosperity under God-by voluntarily tightening their belts and inch by inch lowering their standard of living.

You may understand that what I am saying is correct, but you need to know the reasons why to support you in the future when you are trying to live by it. Until 70 years after the end of World War I and 40 years after the end of World War II, the whole world has been in turmoil. There has never been such a confusing, tumultuous time in history to compare with this time period. Especially since 1960 as the peak year of transition, things have been changing so rapidly most thinking people do not know what to expect. John F. Kennedy, Dag Hammerskjöld, and other public figures who had a righteous influence on the world died shortly after 1960. America plummeted from its loss of leadership.

Intelligent, realistic people in the world do not see any hope for America. It seems to be a certain prey for communism. Therefore, many intelligent, but not so righteous American media people are deserting the sinking ship and supporting what they see as the coming communist domain here. Some intellectual professors honestly believe that communism is the only hope for the future, so they are helping to promote that. In this difficult atmosphere, Carter came into the presidency; during his term, 14 more American allies were sold out. Now Reagan has started to redirect the country in the right way, but he is receiving much unrighteous pressure from many quarters. The stronger the communist influence becomes here, the more Reagan will be opposed.

Consider the conflict between the liberals. who are greater in number in the government, and the conservatives. What will happen here if liberals win in the struggle for power? The country must see the emergence of a group of dedicated, intelligent people who are opposing communism, proclaiming that with their lives they will cause communism to be eradicated from the earth. Who is that group? It is the Moonies. Even though we are just a handful of people, if America were inspired by us, the situation would be different. In reality, as a handful of people we are trying to achieve such a large goal and the majority of the country is going against us. It is logical that communists would want to stop us, but even the free world is trying to stop us. Where will this world go? Can Reverend Moon be solely responsible for that?

Does Reverend Moon have a country of his own? Even Korea is not following along with me. There are only a handful of people around the world who are supporting me. I determined that these few people and I are going to sacrifice and dedicate ourselves for the sake of the world. Because of that, God has a tangible hope for the future of the world. Through this one condition, God can accomplish many more miracles.

The situation of the Moonies is like God's situation, desperate. Yet we know we can do it. Even when we are suffering on the point of death, if we can pray for God's liberation and victory and forget our own situation, that is a miracle for God. As Moonies, we are opposed to communism because we want to bring all people over the border into God's world. Can that possibly be an easy way to go?

This is why we are living in an utmost emergency situation for God, this country, and the whole world. Jesus was described as the lamb who carried the sins of the world. Today, Reverend Moon should be described as the person who has the power and the duty to liberate the entire world and God. This is the reality. We can clearly compare the time of Jesus and the time of the Second Advent. Which was more difficult: the situation Jesus faced. or the one which the Unification Church is facing? Today's situation is more difficult.

When you visit the catacombs in Rome, you can learn a lot of things. Early Christians were so strong and faithful they would go willingly to be eaten by lions. Today we should literally do better than they, in order to liberate the entire world. We must determine that we would be able to die for the sake of the world, just as the early Christians did. You must make up your mind, "I am the independent soldier for the liberation of God and the world." Unless each and every one of the members of the Unification Church do that, we cannot achieve our goal and truly be the hope for the world. This is the responsibility of the members.

This is the 37th year since the end of World War II. America's entire future will be decided in the next three years. President Reagan is providing hope for this country. What about the Unification Church? All Moonies must determine to change the tide of public opinion toward us in the next three years, or else America will be lost. I have my own strategy on how to achieve the goal of saving this country. I decided that through the court battle, I would change the public opinion of Moonies.

For seven years, the American government has been scrutinizing and investigating Reverend Moon and everything I have done. If they proclaim that I have not done anything wrong, no one could say anything against us. There is no higher level of battle than this one, against the governmental authorities.

You are following me, so you must determine that you can go through whatever difficulties or court battles you may encounter, anywhere you might encounter them. With that determination, the world will once again have hope in you. When such a determined attitude emerges' God will seriously open up a way for us to march toward Moscow and reach the Russian people. With God's help. victory will be on our side.

I know God will be with us when we go to Moscow. This has been God's goal. which He tried to achieve through Christianity; but Christians didn't fulfill their opportunity after World War II. As a result, Christianity has declined sharply since then. Therefore, the Unification Church has emerged to accomplish that purpose of God.

People who look at me without the knowledge of all these things cannot help but think I am a crazy person. Once they understand my reasoning, however, they will bow down and weep. Only God and Reverend Moon know how strongly God wants to see the liberation of Moscow and Russia. If you pray sincerely, God will tell you this truth.

Are you the kind of person who just agrees with me with your mouth? Or do you really feel, "Father, your goals are my goals for life, as well." You must prepare yourself to meet the challenge of achieving God's goals. Perhaps you feel that you have been dedicating yourself very sincerely for many years, but now you must concentrate on starting your family and that relationship. Instead, you must realize that this is no time to focus on yourself, but it is an urgent time. You must be willing to take your new pregnant bride with you, on foot, marching to Moscow if necessary, instead of planning on flying in comfort there.

Do you expect that I will take good care of you and buy an airplane to fly you to Moscow in? Which has more value and leaves behind the highest tradition for the world-if you flew in comfort on an airplane to Moscow, or if you marched barefoot there?

Why do you think God allows the world to persecute us and make us suffer? I think it is good training for Moonies to go through, but it is only the beginning. Are you ready to face the truly harsh situation of walking to Moscow? Just because you have been in training, does that mean you are not also in a war? Maybe the war is just going on in America, but the world is at peace? No, the whole world is at war.

Eldridge Cleaver is now traveling around the college campuses with CARP speaking out against communism, shaking the students into awareness. He is a very effective enemy who seemed to come out of the blue sky, so those communists who were trying to be discreet have come out publicly, even wearing T-shirts proclaiming their ideology. It is becoming very obvious now who are the communists. Therefore the communists are also facing an utmost emergency time, not just the Moonies! I have provided inspiration for the CARP members; even though I do not go myself to the campuses, [ have inspired the battles there.

When I pray, do you think God responds? At the time of the early Christians, their standard of sacrifice was so high. Can the Moonies have a standard any less high? We have to be able to pray, even on the verge of death, "Oh. God, please send us to Moscow." We can't afford to wait thousands of years for that to happen, so we must be very intense at this time. If we tell God we are different from the Christians who have been praying to Him for thousands of years, He might respond, "I don't see any difference. Your prayers aren't any more intense than the Christians." Then you will have to confront God, "No, God, we are different. Even though there have been millions of Christians praying intensely, they were praying for a smaller purpose-for the well-being of their denominations, their families, and their own salvation. We are praying for the salvation of the entire world and for Your own liberation."

You can tell God, "Father, you don't have to send me to Heaven; that's not what I am here for. I may go to hell, but I will be satisfied as long as mankind and You are liberated." Will such a person be sent to hell? Never. That is the standard of the true Moonie-is that what you are?

Are you capable of giving up the people and things who are closest to your heart, in order to accomplish God's will to save Russia and liberate the people there? What if God told you that the only way to do that would be for you to send your wife to Russia and never see her again? Are you capable of taking her to the border and kissing her good-bye, saying, "I never thought I would do this but if you leave me, God will be able to bless the entire world, so good-bye and God bless you." Would you be crazy or wonderful? If there is a person who thinks that way and is ready to literally do such a thing, wouldn't God like to live with him for eternity?

We know that this is the utmost emergency time. It is just like the time of the match between David and Goliath. David threw his stone with a simple faith in God; today, you are much more knowledgeable than David. You know the entire history of the dispensation and you understand why God must support you. David didn't know why God supported him, but he had the confidence that he was going to liberate his own nation. You, however, have the world to liberate and your mission is more important. If God helped David, wouldn't He be very anxious to help you? You have to have pride and confidence in that fact.

Very soon the day will come when Americans will have to bow down in repentance for what they did to the Unification Church. When that time comes, our sole business will be to care for America. Have you planned what kind of responsibilities you will have in 20 or 30 years? As you rise up in society, you will have certain positions of influence. We will reach that point in the future, and that is why we are working so hard today. Are you determined to rise to this emergency time? Can you say, "Even if I lose my eyes, or my limbs, or my life, I will never stop short of my destination." You should have no other goal in your life than to liberate mankind and God.

One of my children told Mother and me the other day. "Because you are so completely public and the parents to the entire Unification Church, I cannot feel sometimes that you are my own parents." Our children candidly feel distant from us sometimes. I thought about it and had to admit that such a thing must be true. Even if Mother said, "The children are right, Father. It's not fair for your family, so why don't you make yourself available for more family activities?," my response would be to say. "No, I will not do that yet. If I had achieved my goals, maybe I would be able to do that, but I haven't. Therefore, I cannot commit myself to anything else yet." Do you understand?

What if my family did not follow me? That would not stop me. If I had to choose between forsaking them and following God's will, or the other way around, I would never forsake God's will. I know that is the only way God approves of my being a family man. God can tell the entire world, "Reverend Moon has even forsaken his own family for the sake of the cosmos." What about that? Was my decision right? What is your decision? Can you split your attention in half at this time, or direct it completely toward the ultimate purpose?

Are you going to follow my pattern, even more than I? If you do that, the world will come to life. The hope of God and the world is connected with such a commitment.

No matter how humble your individual family may be, the important thing is what kind of attitude you have. I know that even if I cannot take care of my family, God will protect them and help them to understand the situation. Therefore, I can be relatively free of worry.

There is no better place than America for the accomplishment of God's will. There is no room for consideration of another person's race or nationality when we are all working together for the sake of God, at this emergency time. Whenever Moonies get together. we will discuss the best ways to bring results for the sake of America and the world. As people of five colors of skin and all different nationalities come together in discussion of ways to liberate God and mankind, the world and God have hope. Without us, they have no hope. When we realize this fact, there is no room for any other attitude.

Only by living this way will we digest this emergency time. This is the central thought of the Moonies. This emergency time of the world is very real. When we grasp this situation and we pray earnestly to God, God always responds and helps us. How much sin have you committed according to this standard? How much have you been up and down, changeable and undependable? Even other people do not approve of changeable people, so how can you expect God to approve?

As Moonies, you have an understanding of God that is far superior to anyone else's in history. If you are dedicated to the service of mankind, God can accomplish His goals, even though you are few in number. What a wonderful realization this is! You must know that this ability is the most precious thing you own-not even your own spouse is more precious.

If you carry out your mission, you can possess the Creator and all of His creation. How wonderful that is! Will you do it? If so, then God bless you.

Original Race From One Lineage [Part 2]

Sun Myung Moon
December 1, 1982
Belvedere
Translator - Bo Hi Pak

People admire champion athletes. But do you know who was the greatest wrestling champion of all? It was Jacob, whose opponent was an angel. God was the umpire of that competition. When you ask other people who is the most famous boxing champion, they might think of the movie Rocky, but we in the Unification Church think of biblical characters such as Jacob. How different the two are! There is no comparison.

If there were a tournament for religious leaders, don't you think I would be an extraordinary champion? In any competition, the important point is who will be the judge. Who will decide whether I am the champion? Jesus was the chosen contender and he fought in the ring, but did he win the battle? My opponents have always been nations or governments. In Korea, I faced the government, in North Korea it was the communist government, and here in the United States, the legal battle is defined as the United States of America versus Reverend Sun Myung Moon. Ultimately, when I go to Moscow, I will contend with the Soviet government.

Today I am definitely struggling with the U.S. government. It is like Reverend Moon and Uncle Sam are wrestling! You Moonies form an incredible cheering section. Uncle Sam's group shouts out, "Uncle Sam, you cannot be defeated. Go on. Hit him!" "Boo," the Moonies reply. Who is the umpire? It is God. Even if the United States declares a victory, God will say, "No, you made a misjudgment. That is not the correct verdict." Who will be the ultimate winner? The key question is always who will be the judge.

To be a religious person, you need some religious purpose in your life. Is the Unification Church the right place to come? Among religious doctrines, does my teaching come first or last? Who knows? God knows. No matter how loudly you may declare it, I won't believe you if you are the only ones saying it. But if God declares that my teachings come first, I will trust His word.

I am a religious leader, but that does not mean I focus only on religion. I may speak about business, health, art, literature, science -- every aspect of human life. All human pursuits, even journalism, should serve the highest purpose.

The United States is a country with a free enterprise system. There are an incredible number of wealthy people and wealthy groups such as the Rockefeller Foundation, the Mellon Foundation, and the Ford Foundation, who should be serving this country. Therefore, when Washington, DC, the nation's capital, ended up with only one, very liberal newspaper, The Washington Post, I waited for some rich people with a lot of resources to come forward and publish a patriotic newspaper there. Since no one did, I stood up and said, "Let's do it."

Was creating The Washington Times a good or bad thing to do? For whose sake was the paper created? It was to serve America and the largest purpose. Ultimately, God shall be served. Did I get any personal benefit from it? No, but that is perfectly all right because I am not seeking personal benefit. I am a religious leader, but every day I have to deal with finances because there am so many projects that need money. People always come to me requesting funds for one project or another.

There is a lot of money in the Chase Manhattan Bank, in the Bank of America, in the various Swiss banks, but my bank is a pocket bank! That's the only bank I have. My pockets are always empty, however, because the needs are always larger than the pockets! I am always looking for more funds to support our various projects.

When I wondered what I should do to support our projects, God said, "Reverend Moon, don't you know there is a beautiful solution? We have great young people. Let them go out and bring in the necessary funds." What kind of attitude should you have as you raise funds? Will you go in slow motion, or run and challenge the goal? Actually, the ideal motion is that of a fighting spirit.

Also, since we need more people, I am sending you out to witness. Suppose God said, "We need not only a Washington Times but also a Boston Times or a Baltimore Times," how should I respond? God is telling me we need all kinds of Times, so maybe we can create a Times Club-the Times Club News Companies! This is plural thinking, rather than singular thinking! Is it a good way to think?

Such a connection of heart fills us with joy. We are happy people because even though we receive all kinds of persecution as we go out, when we get together we can laugh with heavenly humor, rejoicing over the truth.

When God looks around, what location will He find most amusing? None other than Belvedere. Why is God's attention so drawn to this place? Nowhere else can God find so many Westerners sitting in front of one Oriental leader and laughing. This in itself is an extraordinary vision of unity. Another aspect of Belvedere's humor is that the Western world is a chair-culture, but here nobody cares about chairs. You can sit on the floor for hours and hours and enjoy yourself! So God must really love to look down at this unusual setting.

Most pastors worry keeping their services short enough. Their sermons rarely exceed 15 minutes because they say no soul is saved after 15 minutes! They feel that the entire service should not exceed 40 minutes. But you come here and don't even look at the clock. One hour, two hours, three and even four hours pass, and you still laugh. So God must find this a fun place to be!

Is God really interested in this place? Where else can He find such an unusual assembly of people who work hard but give every ounce of their energy to serve the world? Where else can He find people who raise funds and never keep one penny in their own pockets? If there is a God, He has to be on our side. The conclusion is that simple.

Let me ask you another tough question: To whom will you listen, your spouse, me, or God? Suppose I tell you that since you are over 30 you should start your family life, and then God suddenly overrides me. Whose direction should you follow? Certainly, if I give a certain instruction and God says no, you would follow the higher order. If you have a rare opportunity to go to the theater with your wife and suddenly I call you, would you still go on your outing? Would you cancel it?

Would you like to live deeply indebted to others or be debt-free? One couple may borrow money to go to a movie, but another husband and wife make a love-pact and then leave for separate missions. Which life would you prefer? Are you sure you want the second one?

This morning I have been explaining the universal principle that the mind and body need to unite and harmonize, centering upon truth. When you extend mind and body to the ultimate scale, they become the spiritual world and the physical world, or heaven and earth. One is internal and the other external. When they are harmonized, everything in between becomes harmonious and free from contradiction.

I have also been helping you understand the significance of your face. Every day when you rise, look at yourself differently in the mirror. After listening to this morning's sermon, look at your eyes in particular and by examining them, you can tell if your thinking is lowly and physical, or more lofty and spiritual. The eyes are clear indicators. Because the eyes represent God, their shape and their brightness reveal your story. When you ask your eyes whether they like this world of truth and spirit, they should say, "Yes, yes, that's it!" When you have MFT duty and you tell your eyes you are going fundraising, will they cry or laugh?

Your nose represents Adam and Eve, therefore, you should be straight, true and faithful. The nose develops last on the face, because Adam and Eve were the final beings created. Because the nose represents the center of the universe which is able to communicate with God, it is vertical. Also, the function of the nose is breathing. That is a symbol of mankind inhaling both the physical and the spiritual elements.

Why do people get married? A nose functions properly when it has two nostrils. By the same token, a single man or woman is not complete. All your organs should function for the sake of truth.

You should tell your mouth to speak the one truth. You have only one tongue, not two. Looking in the mirror, tell each organ you want to take in only the truth and digest only the truth. Don't listen to anything that is lowly or ungodly. You are responsible to control the organs of your body.

There are seven openings in your face, plus your hands and feet, making 11 items. Tell your hand not to touch anything except godly things. Your original, pure mind says your hand should not touch a woman's hand until you are married. Your eyes should look only in the right direction, your nose should smell only the right things, your mouth should eat only the right things, your hands touch only the right things and so on.

As soon as a man and woman see each other, 12 different organs, or instruments, are mobilized. The opposite sex is the most effective mobilizing force! If a woman asks her eyes what they would most like to see, would they answer another woman? No, they want to see a very rough, hairy man! What do your eyes exist for? They seek an object. Likewise, the nose seeks an object to smell. It is most logical that the organs of your body function for the sake of your object, not for yourself.

Is a woman supposed to live for the sake of another woman? A woman's original purpose of creation is for the sake of man. And a man exists for the sake of a woman. Therefore, men and women need each other; they have to meet.

In what phase of your life do your faculties reach their peak function? It is when you have the greatest sensitivity to love -- in your youth.

American women usually don't want to be in the lower position; they want to take the upper position and have power. They want to be in control. But biologically, God made women as a container. Therefore, in order to fulfill that function, you need to be in a low position. Only love brings a man and a woman together. A new baby, new life, is conceived in the very center of a man and a woman. This is where each of us originated.

This brings us back to today's theme: the original race from one lineage. Where did each of us come from? We came from the center of love of our parents. Which comes first: life or love? Love gives meaning to life, now let us ask which comes first: love or God? This is a very huge question, but the explanation is very simple: God also exists for love. Without the reality of love, there would be no reason for God to exist.

This is clear from an observation of life. Human life didn't precede love; it was love which created life. Where does consciousness originate? It is the same answer: consciousness starts from love. Even your eyes originate from love. Your eyes, ears and nose all look forward to living with love and going to a loving place; your entire body is heading towards the destination of love. You are searching after love.

It is entirely natural for you to search for love because this was how your life began. When a newborn baby cries out, it fills the father and mother with joy. Would a mother criticize her newborn for crying? Even wet and messy diapers are a source of joy; the parents are glad to serve the baby by changing them. Do you write down a charge slip for every time you change a diaper or feed your baby so you can present your child with a bill later? Would you tell your child, "It took this amount of money to raise you, so please repay me"? A parent's mind does not function that way. Parents always want to give mom and serve mom; they find joy in giving.

As you keep on giving, do you find yourself depleted and empty? No, you will be replenished over and over, beyond what you have given. When you invest energy you receive some return. In the physical world, it is impossible to obtain 100 percent return on your energy output. The output is always greater than the return. However, there is one exception and that is the power of love. In the realm of love, you always get back mom than you give.

God is eternal and cannot be diminished. For thousands of years He has been pouring out His love without becoming any weaker. By giving love, God has prospered. According to the laws of physics, fuel and energy are always needed to operate a machine, and eventually the supply of energy runs out. God has been operating this entire universe from the beginning until now and He has always been spending without receiving. He has been pouring out Himself, but He has never become empty because in the realm of love, the more you give, the more you receive. Therefore, everything balances out and a revolving action can exist.

This replenishment of love is an incredible new discovery. Because of this, eternal life can be seen as very logical, even scientific. In the world of love, by giving you become more active and by receiving you be-come more prosperous. Therefore you can go on for eternity. You were born in love and you live and grow in love; you will continue for eternity in a love that will never diminish. This is the most beautiful secret in the universe. Do you follow?

Eternal life is made possible only with love. That is why the philosophy or creed of the Unification Church is always to give out to the world. Can anyone of you say you have nothing to give? No, you can always give love true love that will never be depleted, true love that will never diminish.

Think of it. When you know someone is giving you 100 percent genuine love, you want to reciprocate, don't you? What's more, you don't want to reciprocate just 50 percent of what you received, but more than 100 percent. That's love. According to the principle of love, when you receive 100 percent, you want to return 100 percent, or even 150 percent.

Eternal love is created in the family. When individuals are joined as husband and wife and live together for eternity, their interaction is a spiraling motion that goes to the core and then heads outward. It is always circling in and out, in and out, like breathing. There is a mother's side and a father's side, but there must be some circuit of interaction between them; otherwise a child could not be conceived.

The father and mother breathe in harmony and rhythm. Father and mother experience ecstatic joy when the child is conceived and take delight and satisfaction in its birth. We are born as individuals and grow up with brothers and sisters; then we become husband and wife and live with the universe. So we experience three levels of life while on earth. The final stage of life is linked to universal consciousness; human beings are the center of the universe and dwell in love forever.

What kind of world is the spirit world? It is the eternal world. It has no air like ours on earth but its atmosphere is love. There people breathe the air of love. All human beings are meant to experience this.

The original race comes from the same bloodline. We all go through three stages of life. These three stages create the heavenly four-position foundation. We experience brotherly love, parental love, and ultimately divine love. Along the way, we become husband and wife and develop conjugal love.

We start life in the watery atmosphere of our mother's womb where we receive oxygen and nourishment through the umbilical cord. However, even inside the mother's womb, lungs are developing for breathing air, which is the atmosphere of the next life. Do you follow? The unborn baby has a nose, but since the umbilical cord provides oxygen the nose doesn't function until birth. However, along with the lungs, the nose perfects its capacity to function within the mother's womb.

When the time of birth arrives, the baby experiences a revolutionary shakeup! The previous system for receiving oxygen and food-the umbilical cord-is cut and tied. Since the former existence is severed, as far as the baby is concerned it suffers a kind of death! The end of the world has come! All its previous environment-the placenta, the umbilical cord-is broken, and the fluid that surrounded the baby drains away.

But birth means entering a new womb -- that of the universe. We are all living now in the universal mother's womb. In the previous life, we lived in a liquid atmosphere; here we breathe air. While surrounded by amniotic fluid, we were preparing for this present atmosphere. By the same token, while living in this universal mother's womb, we are breathing air but also we are developing our capacity for love. We are preparing for one final stage.

Before birth, many of the baby's capabilities we re latent; the nose and the lungs had developed, but they remained dormant. By the same token, the capacity to live in love, which we must nurture while we are on earth, remains dormant until we experience another birth. This new birth is a revolution like our first birth; it involves some destruction as well.

In the spirit world we don't need a physical body, a physical atmosphere, or physical clothes. There, we take off our shackles and see new horizons as our latent capacities begin to function. We put our ability to breathe love into action. In the sight of God, what people call death is actually a new birth and our entry into eternal life.

To be able to live in that atmosphere of eternal love, we have to prepare our "love lungs" here. Thus in our short time here on earth, we must nurture our capacity to love and our sensitivity to it. Eventually, we will leave this universal physical womb and be born into the divine womb -- the spirit world, the universe centered upon God. God exists at the core of love, so when we awaken into the new world, we too, can exist at the core of love. We can become. the center of love.

When we are elevated to the sphere of God's divine love, we have total freedom. We can have a body if we like; or if we don't want a body, we don't have it -- we can be like God and function exactly like Him. Love is an absolute prerequisite for this; without love we would choke to death there. Once we are the center of the universe, we can go to the realm of perfect resemblance to God. Ultimately, every person is entitled to be exactly like God; when we move into the divine realm, God is in us and we are in God; we are inseparable.

A seed represents a circle. A seed has a covering called a seed coat. Inside there are two parts called cotyledons and between them, in one comer, an embryo. An embryo contains the mystery of life. When it germinates, the two cotyledons provide its initial nourishment. Before you were born, who was the source of your nourishment? Your mother. Now, who is your nourishment? It is the universe.

Like the seed, everything in this world exists in relationship: there are men and women, plus and minus, subject and object. People are like embryos nestled within this world. The child grows and flourishes, blossoming during the teenage years. Men begin to seek women and women seek men. Love-centered activity ultimately bears fruit: a child, which is another seed.

The Unification Church teaches the incredible truth that God exists in dual essentialities. So we might say that God is like a big, super seed! Within God is the embryo, the life essence. In our life's journey, we begin as an embryo, are born and grow throughout our lifetime so we can ultimately return to God and be like Him.

We need to have give and take with the universe, but how can we keep it up for eternity? It is only by love. The virtues of meekness and humility will sustain love for eternity, because when one is meek and humble he meets no resistance. He can keep giving out and move wherever he wishes because there is no opposition. So the secret of being able to move without resistance is meekness and humility.

Why must we be sacrificial? It's not an easy thing. There is no better way to develop our capacity to breathe the atmosphere of love in the next world than by leading a sacrificial life. Sacrifice is the most dramatic and intensive way to complete the love lungs we need in the next world.

All living things go through the same basic process of growth. When seeds germinate and receive sunlight, moisture, and various fertilizing elements they start to sprout. Plants go through three stages, animals go through three stages, and human beings also go through three stages. This is entirely logical.

Look at a cricket. This little insect comes in the summertime and sings loud songs! The egg was laid perhaps in some warm place underground; it hatched into a larva, became a pupa and finally an adult cricket. The ultimate stage of the cricket is the flying, singing stage.

Mankind also grows through three stages. When you reach the spirit world you will realize why you had to live this way on earth. Our ultimate goal is to become like God -- to become perfect like Him and become friends with Him. The fear of death can be eliminated because there is no more death. In the truest sense, death is a new birth! Those who try to deny the existence of spirit world are pitiful people.

Think of the launching of the Apollo and Columbia spacecraft. Once in orbit, they reach a zero gravity stage. They need no additional fuel to maintain their orbit because they meet no resistance at all. By the same token, once we are elevated into the spiritual plane of life, we will find no resistance. We will be able to travel throughout the entire universe in a moment, at the speed of thought.

If there is a star made out of diamonds, wouldn't you want to go see it? Perhaps there is a planet made out of gold and silver. These celestial bodies may be billions of light years away, so even by traveling at the speed of light you would not be able to reach them. But in the spiritual realm, you can go there on the spur of a moment by thinking you can be there instantly. So would you rather live here in this clumsy world for eternity, or upstairs?

Each blessed couple has received a special kind of energy from me. When I gave you the Blessing, I actually gave you a special commission. The Blessing is like plugging into the outlet of the True Parents. As soon as you turn on the switch, You receive the energy of  True Parents which enables you to fly throughout the universe without any limits. That is what the Blessing is all about: commissioning people as heavenly "supermen" and "superwomen." Isn't that good?

I am eager to explore every corner of the cosmos. Given the physical distances of this universe, it might take many billions of light years, but in the spirit world everything is right in front of you. If you want to see something, it appears before you; you don't even have to wait!

Life on earth is a time of preparation. When you are elevated into the spirit world after your life in the Unification Church, will you look for me? In the spirit world there will be two types of people seeking me: those who really served God, True Parents and mankind here on earth and those who didn't. If you are the first type, you can call me when you enter the spirit world and I will embrace you immediately. But if you didn't live this way and didn't develop your love lungs here on earth, I won't be able to embrace you automatically.

My responsibility is to guide you to pass the standard of the spirit world. No matter how difficult it may be, my duty is to push you out so each of you can meet its qualifications. Inside its mother's womb, the baby is preparing to dwell in the atmosphere of air. By the same token, while you are here on earth, you should be preparing your love lungs for the next world. Are your preparations complete? I want you to attain the highest value. Will you be the center of the universe? Will you live for the sake of God, mankind, brotherly love and True Parents?

When you are fully resurrected, you attain the same value as God. The creation of a human being is actually the creation of another God! This is an amazing truth. That is the true, absolute value of mankind. Today, people have lost that value. People have reduced themselves to dirt, below the level of even insects. Do you like that kind of life? So do you want to undergo this training?

Some women in the Unification Church are very conscious of their beauty. "I was born a beauty queen," they say; "but Father gave me this ugly-looking man for a husband. I can't accept that. I just couldn't live with him. Them are lots of handsome men out on Fifth Avenue in New York. Why couldn't God and Father pick one of those for me?" Is that how you think?

In some cases I matched a very sensitive woman to a dull, insensitive man. If she can love that man, her love lungs will really develop. When a sensitive woman can make a dense man become sensitive, she becomes a master genius! Actually, the all-knowing God created only 95 percent of our being, and He asks us to create the remaining 5 percent. So a woman can go to God and say, "You gave me 95 percent of a husband, so I will create the remaining 5 percent, making him a whole being." The ideal woman resolves to create her husband.

What do you think I am doing this morning? I am remolding, recreating you. That is the secret behind the ideal, to remake men and women. All morning long, I have been working so hard to remold you! Because love is the motivating factor, I am not even aware of how much time passes. I don't think of hunger, either. When I speak like this for three hours I am working intensely to remake you, and I don't feel any fatigue. But as soon as I return to East Garden, both my legs give out. Only love and desire could generate such intensity; I could never do this out of a sense of duty.

We can reach perfection and become ideal people by passing through the three stages we have spoken about. Therefore we have to adjust our life according to those three stages. The original race means the race connected by the same blood lineage linked together like the features of the face-eyes, nose, ears, and mouth. All races and all people are supposed to be linked like that.

The eyes represent grandfather and grandmother, the nose husband and wife, and the mouth truth. This forms one family, one blood race in which everything is connected and no one is isolated. I exist for the sake of my grandparents, my parents, and my children. Grandparents exist for the sake of their children and grandchildren. These bonds must develop on earth, which is our workshop for perfecting these relationships.

The original race is very precious. You are born with a certain face. Would you ever want to replace your eyes? No. For your grandparents to divorce and remarry would almost be like replacing your eyes, wouldn't it? Your father and mother are like your nostrils. Would you like it if they were to separate and remarry? That would be almost like chopping the nose in half and replacing it. Don't you want your brothers and sisters to be of the same blood race? You long for your original brothers and sisters.

Something that is original has undergone a continuous process, from beginning to end. The original essence never diminishes or disappears. In conclusion, what is the meaning of perfection? In order to be perfect, you must master all the relationships within a family. You should be able to put up with all kinds of grandparents: bad, good, talkative, cheerful, whatever.

If your grandmother cannot take care of her bodily functions and you have to clean up her urine and stools, can you do it without complaining? You should be able to deal with such a grandmother joyfully and happily. That is a sign of a perfect person. Your grandfather may be the most tough, stubborn, arrogant and demanding person, but you should be able to digest everything he does. You should become the kind of person that your grandmother will reach out to when she is dying, in order to thank you for serving her.

You men may have a wife who fights you or even bites you -- someone like Socrates' wife or Lincoln's wife but if you can digest her, control her, and work out a solution, she will eventually surrender before such genuine love from her husband. Or you women may have a husband who is ill tempered; if so, you should be able to win him over.

You should be able to gain the victory in the six different stages of love: grandfather and grandmother, husband and wife, son and daughter. The number six represents a satanic number, so there are six stages to overcome in your family. In the Bible Jesus said that your enemy is within your own family; your closest relatives can be your biggest obstacles. But later they will remember that they gave you too hard a time, and at the moment of their death they will say, "You are number one. I am indebted to you. I will give you everything because you deserve it." Men and women who win such love are perfected people.

Do any of you protest this conclusion? Do any of you think God will come down and say, "No, Reverend Moon, you are wrong. You are not conveying my teaching. You are giving your own teaching"? Or do you think He will say, "Reverend Moon, your definition of perfection is absolutely correct"?

God's perfection is similar. At the end of their life, all people will say, "God, please take everything I have; it is all Yours. My only desire is for You." So God is in exactly the same position. Now you can understand that when people are hard on you, it is not necessarily bad. They are playing the role of difficult grandmother or grandfather, husband or wife, son or daughter. You can say, "Thank You, God, for this opportunity to develop dignity and authority."

Jesus Christ's goal was to become a perfected man. The greatest saints followed this route he took. Today I am striving to achieve this goal of perfection. Since Mother is too kind and good, I need other women to give me a hard time. That is why I get such a hard time from you American women!

What kind of person do you want to become? You should strive to develop the kind of universal mind God has. If you can think like God and act like Him, you will be perfected men and women. Even Satan will acknowledge your perfection. Then God can "I accept you."

Every day, all kinds of people come to Robert Morton, the editor of The News World, to complain about something, to demand favors, or to argue with him. They take his time and energy. Should he try to deal with them on their level, or should he just love them? If he can treat each person as his grandparent, parent, or child, eventually everybody will say, "He is very unusual, an extraordinary person!" Do you follow me?

The family is your workshop, training you to pass the heavenly test. What an incredible opportunity it presents you! Once you have attained the highest possible standard, you will serve everybody as if they were your grandparents, parents, spouse, or children, and you will be welcomed, accepted, admired, and loved wherever you go. When you continue such a process in the next world, your dwelling will be heaven.

Now you understand the training process which the original race from one lineage must complete in order to become perfected people and reach the Kingdom of Heaven. Would you prefer to hold on to your narrow way of thinking or adopt this gigantic perspective? You must make up your mind and then act on it. Will you do it?