Reverend Sun Myung Moon
February 25, 1979
Belvedere
Translator: Sang Kil Han
Man has always yearned for the ideal and a life of everlasting happiness. If there had been no fall then human history could have started on the basis of happiness, and men would have lived together with and served the one True God. Because of the fall, however, people have even questioned whether there might be such a thing as an untruthful or false God who created evil.
After the fall the original God could not live the way He intended. Instead He had to be the God who constantly fought His enemy Satan. An enemy is one who is always undermining and disturbing the peace and happiness of other men. Through what condition can God's happiness and peace be invaded? We find that God is not being disturbed directly; Satan is disturbing God through man, who was to be the object of God's happiness.
We know that God wanted to find His true happiness and ideal through men Through love God will find everything and be able to assume His true position. This is the true God and His original course in goodness. We know that God has not been able to live in that way as a true God, however. Instead God has always been waiting to assume this position, slowly advancing towards it by finding and restoring what He has lost. This is the history of restoration and recreation.
God has not been seen as the God He really is because He has constantly had to fight and recover what was lost. Therefore, His position has been that of an almighty and judging God, not the God of parental love. He has been working through the Old and New Testament eras to reach His objective, always striving for victory, but His purpose has been frustrated over and over again. During the years of His struggle God has become burdened with despair and disappointment and this theme has been interwoven through history. Now knowing this to be God's own struggle, mankind has called history the struggle between good and evil. Man has not clearly known that when he stands on the side of goodness he is helping God's work and broadening God's foundation, but if man puts himself in a position of evil then he is undermining God's purpose and even helping Satan. Like a scale that moves up and down before balancing, man has always been swinging back and forth, trying to decide what to do. Your scale always wants to tip heavily to the side of goodness, but always there are failures and temptations waiting to push you the other way.
In man's lifetime there is always a pattern of, repetition, swinging up and down. How do God and Satan fight this war? It may seem that God is fighting against Satan, but that is not the case at all. Man is the central problem of all this fighting, and his whole environment is involved. Each man as an individual as well as the society, nation and world are all at stake during this fighting.
We may say that someone is a good or bad man, and centering on that person we may say that his family is good or bad as well. A whole neighborhood or even a whole country may be viewed as good, meaning that it is comprised of generally good people. If someone is able to be completely objective then he will be able to compare the East and West and say that one may be better than the other. We speak in the same terms whether we are talking about one person's life or the life of a country or even about the world.
What kind of things are men proud of? When people have nice clothes to wear they are very proud, but the important point is how they obtained such finery. There are all different ways. A person may be given clothes as a gift from his king for service to his country, and then he can wear them with pride. Others may have stolen their clothes and be proud of their cunning and success. Someone else may have worked very hard and bought that clothing for himself, wearing it with pride in his hard work. People may be wearing identical clothes at the same time, but the history behind each of them is totally different, so some of the wearers can be more proud than others.
Two people may be doing basically the same work, but their backgrounds and reasons for doing it may be totally different. For instance, one may volunteer, or be inspired by his surroundings or be forced to do it. When we eat nice food we feel good, but even food comes to us in different ways. Was it given to us as a reward, or was it stolen, or did we earn it? Although it is something nice to eat and gives us pleasure, if we stole that food is it good or bad? Even the thickest, juiciest steak can be a bad steak under certain circumstances.
A lovely house is not such a nice house to live in if it belongs to a burglar. The same thing goes for a country. A country may be very prosperous, with eight lane highways, modern apartments, and factories, but if that country has become rich by exploiting other people, can we say that it is a good country?
Is America good or bad? Imagine a small country whose citizens are struggling to achieve the highest standard of goodness. They are very conscientious and though they suffer and remain poor they keep on trying. Is that a bad or good country? The size or wealth of that country is an unimportant consideration.
Can it be said that a king is good or bad depending on how big his palace is, how many people are around to wait on him, or how big a realm he governs? Even if his status is taken away, does that determine whether he is a good or bad man?
What is God like and how does He live? One thing we know is that God is the center and master of Himself, the family, society, nation, world and the entire universe. He has been forced out of the center, however, and lives in a very small and miserable situation. After being expelled from his palace by the enemy, He found Himself all alone, but He has been expanding His territory gradually and recovering what was taken from Him. He cannot forget how His brilliant world was taken away and He was forced to live in such a small and terrible place. Since He is unhappy, what must He do? He must reclaim what its already His. In other words, salvation and restoration actually mean that God is reclaiming what was already His, bringing it all back to be with Him.
God will restore His country to be His own and restore the original world back to Himself. Has God ever lived in the original world in His rightful position? He has always been pursuing that ideal. We must realize that God has no actual foundation for living in that world. He has a foundation only in the sense of His thinking and ideal, but not in physical reality.
As the result of being brought up in a certain way, people tend to think of themselves in certain categories such as nationality or race. Since this has been man's habit for so long, can God easily raise him out of that environment? It is a difficult job because people remain very attached to their familiar surroundings. This is the unfortunate reality. Everyone has to be pulled out of his own particular hell, and even when he is pulled out he still retains many of his old attachments. Each person feels he must still live in certain ways and cannot do anything else. In this sense everyone has built his own wall so high that you cannot see over it.
When Jesus came and said, "Come follow me," it was his godly mission to liquidate all of those barriers. If he said, "Come follow me but continue to do everything as you have been; be nice to your family and meet all your obligations to your surroundings,' we could not regard him as the one who was sent by God. Instead, he said, "Leave everything, even your life, and come with me." The messiah's mission has many aspects, but this point is crystal clear.
If the messiah came today would he approve of everything'! He comes to give approval to heavenly things, but first he must take the position of denying all worldly things. That is his original mission. Otherwise, he would not be the messiah. Looking for the person who meets this requirement is another way of locating the messiah. Is there any indication that such a person ever existed here on earth? Was there ever a man who denied everything 100%? We can say that Jesus was such a person and can conclude that the messiah was indeed here on earth.
Did Jesus tell his followers to cherish everything and be nice to everyone? On the contrary, he said, "Do not think I have come to bring peace on earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword." Even John the Baptist said, "Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand." Why didn't he say, "Rejoice, for the Kingdom of Heaven is coming"? True repentance is not easy. First you have to repent for the historical mistakes made during the dispensation, and then do what was left undone.
The strict requirements of Jesus' teaching are contrary to what we want to hear and in opposition to what we want to do. Compared to today, 2,000 years ago was a very spiritually dark and closed age, yet even under those circumstances Jesus said, "He who loves father and mother more than me is not worthy of me." Do you think the people of that unenlightened time would have welcomed Jesus?
If Jesus came today he would proclaim that people should love him instead of the President. He would walk into a wedding and say that it is better to live singly and forget about marriage in order to love Jesus. It is not surprising that people wanted to stone or club Jesus to death for the things he said. What if he had said, "I don't want you to wait for marriage for eternity, just until I say that it is possible." Do you think that the man who was presiding over the ceremony would have said, "Jesus, you are right. This couple should wait to marry"? No! They all would have said he was crazy and wanted to toss him out of the church. The people of Jesus' time thought he was a crazy man who was unfit to live in society.
Reading the Bible with this understanding can give us much hope. For the first time we can find a clear and unmistakable explanation about Jesus' teaching. Is this my farfetched explanation, or am I merely explaining the truth without compromise? If man hadn't fallen then this would be false, but because mankind has fallen this is the reality.
Is there such a thing as happiness on this wide earth? Happiness can exist where there is a guarantee of eternal love and eternal ideal. Can we find something eternal today? No matter how many thousands of years ago it was started, can we find an ideal here today? Is there anything which is lasting, even the smallest thing? Can the True Parents guarantee happiness for everyone? If people knew there was eternal happiness in the Unification Church then even God would have a hard time stopping the avalanche of people who would be coming here. People pray every day for their ideals and happiness, but only if they are based on eternal love can we realistically talk about the ideal and happiness.
Happiness can be achieved only through truth and the ideal. We may have an ideal for the sake of love. A woman dreams of eternally relying on her husband. Her ideal includes love which will last forever. Where can we go to find eternal love and happiness? Only to God. Can we imagine an ideal world without love? Would love be found in the country where people have nice clothes, nice food and the best homes? For those people love would only seem like an accessory. These days many people live in apartments and frequently move from place to place, but do you think they are happy that way? If a man moves from apartment to apartment, going from one woman to another, is he bound to find love eventually?
There is a love which God approves and a love which Satan likes. There are also two kinds of ideal and happiness. What is the difference between them? The love God chooses is directed toward the eternal ideal, while the other is temporary, going first in one direction and then another. Which one did you choose to pursue? You may think you are seeking an eternal goal, but don't you sometimes think back to the happy days when you were dating someone you liked? Do you give yourself a severe reprimand and forget those memories, or do you entertain that thought with yourself? Just like you would shake off noxious insects, you should run a mile away from those memories. I know it is not an easy thing to do, but it must be done and you can do it.
The true religion is concerned about eternity, with God at the center. God is always in the center of the one true religion. There may be many things in life which look so alike that we cannot tell one from another, yet even among these things there is only one which is true. They may all have similar elements, but there is only one which is true. Is the Unification Church a religion at all? Is it a true or false religion? The true leader is one who always makes you do something that you don't particularly like. I am consistent in doing that, and you may have decided it is because I am from the Orient.
Recently one leader worked hard to prepare a good plan and brought it to me with many suggestions, but I refused to accept it. He had made many preparations before he asked to do all these things, but I turned him down completely. He had many sleepless nights afterward thinking about why he was turned down, imagining that perhaps I could not understand him because we were not the same age. The only reason why I refused his plan was because it centered around himself and not around God. In this matter I am uncompromising and unyielding.
God likes us to go up and down instead of only one direction. A person who prefers only going up and refuses to go down cannot be called a true man because even God is not like that. When a man sets out in search of love, he will do better to go to the lowest place and absorb more suffering because then his love will become brighter.
It is good if you can recognize the opportunity to give up everything, repent and proclaim that the Kingdom of Heaven is near at hand. What do you gain by giving up everything? By relinquishing your own goal you gain God's ideal and family and country.
How can eternal happiness be achieved? Through true love and ideals. If you have eternal ideals in you then when someone comes and chops off your head will your eternal happiness go away? Does your eternal ideal remain with you even if your head is separated from your body? Do you have that eternal ideal within yourself now? If your parents or even the President kidnap you and beat you to the point of death would you still keep the eternal ideal within you?
You have to have that kind of desperate experience in order to know what you will do. Who will give you a certificate saying that you have passed that kind of test? Not me, but Satan. If Ted Patrick kidnaps you and uses all his methods but still you don't budge, he will have to sign your certificate and say, "I have nothing to do with this person." If Congress investigates you but finds no way to change your mind and your eternal ideal, then Congress will issue you a certificate claiming they have nothing to do with you.
When your case comes before God and He asks, "Do you really believe that this man has an eternal ideal," Ted Patrick will reply, "Yes God, I really tried to change him but I couldn't." God will ask the government if they are really certain about this person and the investigators will have to admit they couldn't find a flaw. Then God will proclaim that if there is no objection He will admit you to heaven. Satan is the first one to sign your passport or ticket to heaven. This is the reason why all worthy religions will go through persecution. Persecution indicates only that you are trying to do something in a different way than others want to do it. Opposition is painful, but it purifies you and makes you stronger.
An exam is the best thing that can be given to a student. You might think that exams are not good because they are painful, but actually they can make you more capable. If someone takes an examination without really being ready and flunks it, can we say it was good to give him a test? For those who studied very hard the examination is good, but for those who haven't studied, the exam is like hell. Studying hard means making sacrifices. You have to study while others are enjoying themselves, which means giving up many activities.
As you may have heard, there are many blessed wives who are leaving their children in the nursery and going out on the bus teams. The couples may talk among themselves about how certain people didn't go out, and question why they should have to sacrifice. Perhaps they think the wives are needed at home to take care of things. You be the judge. Do you think that what I ordered them to do was too harsh? Then is trying to avoid going out good or not?
When people around the world see our members leaving their young children to go out and witness, they change their thinking about our movement. They expect to see the engaged couples get married and settle down with nice families, but when the babies finally come they see the mothers leaving them behind and going out to other parts of the country to witness. When they see that our families are separated again people think, "I will never try to understand them again." That hardship is what Satan has been trying to focus their attention on. Satan is watching the ties you have with your physical father and mother, thinking that if you are persecuted enough by them that maybe you will change your mind, but you never change your mind! Ordinary people are thinking that once you have your children you cannot endure leaving them behind, but then they find out you have gone witnessing 3,000 miles away!
Satan is closely watching the husband whose baby and wife are both gone. If that man thinks that I ask too much of their family, Satan will be right beside him, saying, "That's right. I told you so!" But the man who is left alone can have a different attitude, smiling to himself that the little creature who disturbed his sleep at night is gone. His attitude should be, "He is not here for me to take care of any more so God must be with him. Now I can work even harder, and when I come home at night I can rest in peace." Will God be angry with him, or be happy and think that for the first time He has found someone who could pass the examination of heart?
On the other side, if the man starts complaining, then God is really worried, not knowing how he is going to pass this test. Satan will be really happy, though. "This is the last test and I knew that he wouldn't pass it." Can you imagine the scene where God and Satan are right beside you, watching how you behave? If a husband can give up his wife and children and have nothing left to lose, Satan has no claim on him any more and he is a free man.
If I am smart then will I make a man give up everything in order to make him a free man? There is no better way than to get rid of everything. Do you welcome this thought? What about those bachelors who are saying that it doesn't really matter so much, or the fathers whose babies have gone to the nursery? You may think that you can let your wife go away, but when you come to the nursery and see your child you may feel that he is not eating properly or is not spiritually well. If you worry about your wife and think that she is not well and may be ill, Satan has hope to find something to accuse with.
If the baby had a mind like a grownup would he welcome his father worrying and carrying on like that? If the child had a mind like a grownup he would say, "Don't come near me. You are worrying about yourself and not about me." Then the father wouldn't lose any time in going to his home church because the baby would not be crying; he would even say, "Instead of visiting me you should be going to your own home church!" Do you think this is my own peculiar idea? Would God look down on me and say that I am pushing you too hard?
Many people have successfully followed Jesus' teachings except in this one area: "He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and he who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and he who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me." So far no one has been successful in that area, and as a result everyone has been blocked from heaven. Apart from that criterion, many would have gone to heaven before now. However, most people have stopped thinking about it altogether. Would God be happy for the person who managed to cross that barrier for the first time in history? You can imagine how the rest of mankind would talk about such a person, calling him inhuman. In the Unification Church husbands and wives are often separated, and even when they have children, often leave them behind to do their missions. I know that the public criticizes me for telling our couples they must live this way, but I am not afraid of criticism. Should I feel this is too hard for you and not ask it of you? No, I want you to go over this barrier.
Some examinations have many questions, and one question may be worth one one-hundredth of a point, but this question of leaving your wife and children will be given credit for ninety points. If you are a smart student then you will concentrate your effort on solving this big question. Then if you are wrong on all the other questions you will still get ninety points, but even if you solve all the smaller problems you will still get only ten points. Would you rather study under the teacher who can show you the answer to the big problem, or the teacher who concerns himself with all the smaller details? When you are ready to take the cosmic examination, which teacher would you rather prepare with?
Do you like the teacher who encourages you to sleep all you want, or would you prefer a strict teacher who kicks and disciplines you? Even if you get up at 3:30 you will find such a teacher already up. He may tell you, "Now that you have gotten up so late, you'd better start moving fast." When midnight comes and you have been working all day, this teacher will say, "How can you go to bed so early?" Teaching you in this way gives me as much pain as it does you, but if you are going to pass then someone has to push you that hard. It certainly is not for my benefit. I already have assurance of going to heaven, but what about the rest of you people?
I already know what it is like to live that way because I did it long ago. I started out from scratch in the barest surroundings, not just once but over and over again in different countries. If I didn't know what it was like and only made the members do it, would Satan have kept quiet? I have pushed Mother very hard and even sent my own child into an orphanage. If I hadn't done that myself then my conscience would bother me constantly.
The first 36 couples are living together now, but they can do so without their consciences bothering them because years ago they were separated for a long time. Also, ten and twenty years ago the situation was much more difficult than it is now.
Even though externally America is comfortable and affluent, I know the difficulty that you must be going through being separated from your families. Once you know the Principle and realize how to live it, you should be competing to see who is going to do it first. Those who wait until the second or third opportunity comes will have more difficulty than the one who does it first. This is something that we should jump out to do and get over with. If you are prepared to do this for the rest of your life then you can stop sooner. Do you plan how you can get out of doing it, or do you want to be the first one to do it? Once you finish you are allowed to come back and there is nothing which is more difficult for you to do in the future.
Satan will always be encouraging the person who hangs back. Satan knows this is difficult for you and he is always trying to tempt you. One American member wanted to report his concerns to me about various matters concerning the nursery. I was very stern with him and asked if he had ever worked harder and poured out as much heart as the people working in the nursery. If he had, then I felt I could listen. I had a clear idea about his own attitude. If a person is worthy of taking responsibility for this country, then he would lead this country in maintaining this standard and understanding. I asked him about this.
Before he came to speak he should have spent much time in prayer and thought about the situation to be sure of what he was saying. I told him it is better to give a good spiritual atmosphere in the school than to give the children the best food and clothing. It is better for the children if someone is really praying for them and being with them. In a regular nursery children might have better care externally, with one adult caring for three children and working only eight hours. Here we have one person for every five children, but these people are pouring out their heart and love to them. This is the crux of the problem. External things aren't so much of a concern, but money will never provide the love and prayer the children need.
We are always challenged to make decisions about happiness. Anything and everything that begins with yourself at the center is bad. That which does not center around yourself is eternal anal good. The father who gives of himself for the sake of the family is a good father for that family. If that family sacrifices for the sake of the clan, that family will suffer the most, but everyone will say that family is the best in their clan.
America is made up of many races and clans. If one clan really works together to help America in a crucial way, the whole nation will praise and respect all of them. If America will do that for the world, submitting to suffering to help other nations, then the world will live. All people would look up to America just as they did years ago. Will America be considered a bad country or a good country?
Many religions follow certain rites and practices, but none are thinking of the ultimate solution for the world's problems. We will never be second best because we are uncompromising in our standard. What will the world religions say when the Unification Church attains its goal? They will recognize that the Unification Church is better than they are. They are already beginning to see that we are more active and more effective, and as they understand us more they will like us more. Of course, we have to allow some time; we cannot expect all Americans to be able to understand us in a few days. How long must we live like this? This will be our way of life until America can follow and reach the goal. When we look back a few years it is clear that we have passed the peak of persecution.
Years ago I predicted that 1978 would be the peak year of persecution. Now the communists and religious groups are increasingly fighting among themselves. The Unification Church faced its most difficult fight against injustice in 1978. Senator Dole's hearing was held on the last day of the lunar calendar. Even up to the last day we had persecution, but now it is coming to a conclusion.
Are we waiting for eternal happiness to come to us or are we going to build it? Is it not yet discovered, or are you going to build it? Once you resolve to do something you have to devote all your power to accomplishing it. How difficult it is!
You may have heard that giving birth to many children is very difficult. Is it more difficult to build the heavenly kingdom, or to give birth to a child? If it is as difficult as giving birth to 1,000 babies at the same time would you give up and fall behind, or would you follow? Those women who have already given birth to babies know how difficult it is, but you men will never know.
Should I accept your sincerity automatically, or should I seriously check you? Will the Unification Church survive when things become difficult? Are you honestly the ones to build the Kingdom of Heaven on earth? Would such a person doze off here in the morning? Those of you who have never dozed off here in the morning, raise your hands.
Once we have a clear goal and are confident to reach it then we are much freer to do everything. We can go to the theater or a show, to a bar and watch people drink. If you are working for a goal you are free to do that, but if you do it just centering on yourself, you will find yourself in hell.
Your balance scales are always swinging back and forth, depending on whether you have good motivation or are acting in a selfcentered way. As I said before, even your clothing can be good or bad depending on how you obtained it.
If you are following the right purpose then you can even go dancing, but without a heavenly purpose your dancing is bad. No one but heaven can see your motivation just by looking at you, but your purpose determines the value of everything you do. If we think about building heaven are we only going to include people who are rich, famous or powerful? We should be able to embrace them, but we also have to think about people in bars, houses of prostitution and so on.
If I spent the night in a house of prostitution, people would think the usual things about me, but God would know the content of what I did there. If I went there and talked all night to save the people then it doesn't matter what other people think. God knows what I did. It all depends on the content.
I have started all kinds of social activities, schools and factories, and now I am even making a Hollywood scale film. If I didn't do these things, people would say that I built heaven on earth only for religious people, not the people in the streets, the shopkeepers or the factory workers. Though we do many secular activities, they have a spiritual content.
Unification Church members go everywhere, not as Americans but as citizens of the heavenly kingdom, to research all that goes on. We will visit every house, not to criticize or look for something bad, but to know every family so we can raise everyone to goodness and clear out undesirable things. It doesn't make any difference if people jeer at us. We will not stop going because of that.
We are not doing this for ourselves but for the sake of the young people, to give them guidance and care. Nothing we do is really just for ourselves. We marry just as other people in the world do, but with different purpose and content. You said you are seeking eternal happiness, but do you have the ability to do it? Before you can make a machine you have to have the necessary skills. Are you skillful enough in doing home church work to save the nation? Is that job easy or difficult? How difficult? Saying that it is very difficult is the same as saying you can't do it. As long as you have the idea that it is very difficult, you will find it difficult to succeed. Though you honestly think it is difficult, if you know you can do it somehow then you have some possibility of success.
It was difficult for me to work here in America, but I never felt overwhelmed by the obstacles and I always knew that I could do it. I just kept on going, and the result shows that I succeeded. Do you understand what I am trying to say? If I know a task is very difficult then I set my mind to go one step further, and then I always reach my real goal. I always think that, even though I have to die some time, I will never die before the task is done. Though I am opposed today, I feel I will conclude that opposition before going on to something else.
If you are serious about accomplishing something then you must prepare for it. You may pinch yourself to see how much pain you can stand, but when someone else pinches you it always feels more painful. You can test yourself by getting a champion wrestler to pinch you and see if you can tolerate it. Then go all the way up to God; His pinch will be so hard that there will be a hole in your arm. If He causes you the worst possible pain but still you won't give up, God will say, "This person is out of my hands." Then He will give up testing you. That is the way God works.
You hear me talk about having a serious attitude, but you can never understand how serious I am. By nature I am a very serious man. I will build heaven with my very own hands. When I planned to make my own family, I determined it would be the ideal family which could set the example. I wanted to create the best family and have five races included. Mass marriage was started as a result. There is a chance you will be blessed with someone you like, but what if you are matched with someone you really don't like?
When I was in Europe I met many white members. Many of them were very nice and could do many things, but actually I did not think so much of them. Then one German sister came to me, saying she had discovered something in black men that was the most genuine and most pure of all. She found such a kindness and genuineness in them that she had never found in the white people. She said very seriously and sincerely that she had made up her mind to marry a black brother if I approved. 'That was the first time I could really bow down to a white woman; I never thought it would be possible.
I saw that couple the other day in New York because they are visiting here, and when there is time I want to take them to dinner. I respect them because they are pioneers in building the heavenly kingdom on earth. Even God could not help but respect them for their seriousness and sincerity. Since I am also working for the heavenly kingdom I can recognize the value of what they did, and when they are successful then it is like my own success.
Once you become dead serious about this task you can realize how difficult it is. Anyone who says that he can do it easily does not really know what he is talking about, and may actually be very close to Satan. A serious man will think deeply all the time and the contents of his actions will be completely different from anyone else's, even though their external activity may be the same. The inevitable conclusion is that it is actually God who is seeing through his eyes. When that person is moving his hand, it is not he alone who is using it but God. At first he may not be so certain of this, but as time goes on he can gain confidence that God is doing work through him.
Although we may not have adequate education or preparation according to the worldly standard, long as we have that serious kind of mind God is always with us and we will always be successful. We may not see success with our own eyes, yet we will never perish; God will be with us all the time, even at the moment of death. This is most natural and matter of fact because only through that kind of man will God realize His ideal. If God does not help such a man then God will never achieve His ideal. It is obvious that God will be there with him.
Does eternal happiness remain with this person or will it be found somewhere else? We know now that eternal happiness stays with the person who builds it himself. Doesn't that stand to reason? The question is not so much whether a person simply wants to live in eternal happiness, but whether he is determined to make his eternal happiness. This deep desire goes hand in hand with eternal happiness and with God's eternal love and ideal. As long as love and eternal ideal are part of this desire, eternal happiness will be found there. This is the only criterion for any happiness at all.
You have discovered that you do this together with your Parents. Now you have confidence and are not just dreaming. Everyone hopes for happiness, but few people come near the goal. We are not brilliantly educated or good-looking and fashionable, yet we have come close to this ideal. As long as we are living with such confidence, we can come nearer to the eternal happiness and show it to everyone else. With such pride and sincerity nothing will hold us back. This is the ordinary path and attitude of the Unification Church member.
I can gauge how much heaven on earth is being achieved by the measure of how much we totally devote ourselves to its creation. According to the amount of sacrifice we make in building this ideal and how much sweat and tears we shed in sympathy and agony for mankind, we can measure how successful we are in building eternal happiness on earth.
The worldly concept of happiness is directly the opposite: most individuals care only about their own enjoyment, regardless of how much other people suffer. This is a commonplace thing. In the worldly point of view, anyone who tries to go beyond that is jumping down the river.
The leaders of communist nations are very vicious and free world nations maintain armies to fight them. Other nations never send armies to help the communists. If the communist powers are rampant and no nation sends any army to check them then Unification Church members will go to the front to fight them. Will God say that the Unification Church is too busy with its own business and shouldn't send members to help fight the communists?
Why are we so opposed to communism? If the communists dominate the world do you think any religion, good or bad, will remain on earth? Can God have anything to do with mankind without the true religion? Should we stop communism ourselves, or just watch communism prosper and let nature take care of it? It is apparent that if communism prevails it would completely annihilate religion and then God would have no chance whatever for restoration. God has been waiting for the outcome, but I stepped forward and said, "God, You have no responsibility for this. I volunteer myself. You have never given an order to fight the war, but I will fight communism on my own initiative. I will wipe out that ideology so that it will never bother any God fearing people" I will bear that responsibility and carry it out once and for all.
Even when America was not willing to send any troops to Vietnam, Korea sent troops to fight with Americans in the name of freedom. Could Americans later say that the Koreans were fighting on their own? Or would they encourage the Koreans to go ahead and do what Americans were not able to do?
In this thinking I am different from ordinary religious leaders. Even though I don't carry out all my ideas, I stretch my imagination to the extreme. As a religious leader I cannot encourage people to kill communists. If there is no effort made to stop communism, however, then certainly there is no chance for any religion to survive, including Unification Church, and no way for God's ideal to be realized. This is really a critical moment. If some of our members didn't even report to me but just went on their own to fight and wipe the communists out, what do you think I should say when they are successful? Should I say, "I never told you to start a war!" Or will I be happy at what they did and say, "That is the one thing I wanted to tell you to do, but I could never speak directly"?
It is our strength and blessing that we have a consistent and accurate view of history and the world. When I started a factory in the early days of our Church I decided it should be a machine parts factory, even though that business is not very profitable. Everyone in Korea knew that, and members said, "Why don't you start a paper factory and we can make millions overnight?" But I insisted otherwise. I thought that if America was overrun by communism and unable to defend itself that I would make the necessary guns with my own hands to support America. Would Americans question why I gave them free assistance?
If any person thinks seriously about why people oppose Reverend Moon and the Unification Church, they can find absolutely no answer that makes any sense. It is completely ridiculous. It is always helpful to receive some aid, but you have to have adequate strength to defend yourself. This is why some of our members in Korea and Japan are learning karate or taekwondo. We train and prepare ourselves, but we hope we don't have to use these skills. If we do use them it won't be for ourselves but for the sake of everyone else. This proved to be necessary in Japan because the communists are quite violent when they have rallies. As a result, other students don't want to get anywhere near, but the Unification Church members are strong and when our members go together to confront them the communists are afraid.
Power by itself is neither good nor bad; it only becomes so according to how it is used. If the Mafia and other such groups use violence for their own selfish purpose, people think that all power is bad. But if strength is used by God it is good. If you use it to wipe out evil then it is even better.
What is your thinking-do you think New Yorkers want to eliminate prostitution, or do they want to keep it? If you preach and lecture that it is against God's ideal, will it be eliminated? No, these people have heard preaching before. The only way to change them is to use force.
The beautiful Unification Church women should train in karate. Then they can stand on every corner on Eighth Avenue and if someone comes to make a pass at them, it is just too bad! If there are fifty such casualties on Eighth Avenue, then no one will go there even if you invite them. Those who are not beautiful don't have to learn karate!
If a person is determined to save America and New York then shouldn't the citizens of New York welcome him, no matter how extreme his actions? The average American is not treating me even as well as a prostitute. You Unification Church members have to realize and feel a certain anger about America's lukewarm attitude toward this injustice. Even if only a few people stand up, they will soon become a big group, and then a small stream and finally a big river. This has come to pass.
Even though David was small he killed the giant Goliath. How can you say he did a good deed? You have to look at the whole situation. With that one deed he helped save 3,000 years of God's work; otherwise, it would have been washed away. David did not win just an ordinary fight like we see in the streets. If David had been a rabbi then the people would have accused him for killing someone, but do you think that God was happy to see him fight Goliath and win?
The same principle applies to me. If I confronted communism with armed force and won, would God be happy, even though many people were killed? Place yourself in God's position and see whether or not you would be happy. You should be very sure about this. How would God react if you gave up your religion so you could be free to fight? Certainly all religions must do their spiritual work, but now the communists are threatening and no one is defending God or religion. The religious man can never afford to be stupid. How can a religious person, seeing communism destroying the churches, say, "I am a religious person so I must sit down and pray. God will take care of it because He's omnipotent."? That kind of religion will be swept off the face of the earth. What could God do with that kind of religion?
The Unification Church is bound to prosper at this time in history because it fits the requirements for God's work. Both God and the world need the Unification Church, so it cannot help but prosper. There is no other way for us to go. If there is any life in this country of America then it is founded in the love of justice. No one else may care about justice, but Americans will care. Will people of justice stand by while someone kicks you and steals from you?
If Jesus had been more powerful than the Roman emperor when the soldiers were sent to arrest Jesus, do you think he would have submitted when they grabbed him? Suppose after Jesus had been arrested and put on the cross the soldiers wanted to fight for him and take him down; would Jesus have said, "No, I don't want to come down. This is where I belong. Why do you interfere with my mission"? Nevertheless, Christians today think Jesus came to die and would have remained on the cross even if the soldiers had tried to save him.
If the soldiers had rescued Jesus from the cross and enthroned him like a king, what would have happened at that time? If the Kingdom of Heaven had come at that time do you think there would be many different Christian denominations fighting against each other today? Let's face it; the Christians don't know any more than anyone else about which way to turn. God is not talking to them directly.
Even though we are on the side of good, we still need power in order to erase evil; we will never use it for our individual purpose but only to save America, to benefit the world, and most of all, for the sake of God. How do we attain power? We must start at the lowest point, persevere there and go up through every experience successfully. This is why the first thing, Unification Church members learn is to persevere through any difficulty. We don't make decisions centered on ourselves but with public minds. What matters is content, not external appearance.
Does God instigate war, or does He intervene only after men start conflicts? Men start wars, but God helps the good side to win and reach the goal they fought for. God certainly doesn't want to bring the world into unity through use of arms, and neither do I. It is through love that the world must come into one under God.
How different the thinking of the Unification Church is from the rest of the Christian world! Shouldn't the world champion wrestler be in the Unification Church? He wouldn't come to be a decoration, but to knock out the enemy. Is it good to knock out someone else? It is only justified when public good will result from it. If nothing else will be effective then it is good. We need strong teams in wrestling, soccer, baseball and all sports.
Will some member who is not a part of the team complain, "I work so hard fund raising and witnessing and don't have the best food. Look at those members of the wrestling team. They eat big meals and sleep all night to train for wrestling. Why do I have to fund raise and witness?" Even though you don't say anything, will you keep a grudge inside and secretly hope our champion loses his match? A real champion would want him to win, forgetting his grudge; if you realize he is fighting for the same thing you are, you will cheer him on. If that champion is a Mr. Kim, will the world say, "Mr. Kim won or the Unification Church champion won"? It's natural that a champion must be given certain special considerations when he is training. Because he doesn't fight for himself but for the Church, the whole Church has to back him up.
The same is true for the Olympic teams that compete every four years. All of America follows the achievements of the American team and supports them. When one champion wins, all 240 million people will rejoice because he represents their nation.
When a war is fought, don't you think God enjoys it when the good side wins? Young boys like war games even though they have no concept of killing. When given a toy pistol, even good children will tell people to put their hands up, and be happy when they do. It's very apparent that this is an expression of a competitive sense. I like war movies very much because the fight against evil is very real to me.
Even Christians have regarded themselves as a heavenly army. We are no exception. All armies go to the front line to fight. More than anyone else, we have been entrusted with the mission to advance the front line of goodness. At Barrytown all the seminarians, both men and women, have regular karate lessons. If one of our Barrytown graduates sees two men fighting, then even though he is ordained as a religious leader he will tell them to stop. If they turn on him and snarl, "What's it to you, then he will say, "I said to stop it!" He will take off his coat and in a few minutes they will both be flat on the ground. If they don't make peace with each other then he will strike again.
Suppose a Christian minister comes by and two men are fighting. He may say, "It's not right to fight. Stop it." They reply, "You shut up or else we will knock you out." He has no training, so what can he do? He will have to retreat and pretend he didn't see it. If God watches both these scenes, which one will He really enjoy?
I am unique among religious leaders, including Christians, because they have no idea about using power for goodness. If I go to the farm I am a good farmer. When I go into the fishing business I become one of the fishermen. I can eat raw fish and even their guts out of my hand. There is nothing I can't do. If I go to a mine, I will dig day after day just as if it were my vocation. I can go to the slums and talk to the people and win their hearts. Without doing all these things how can you know what your objective is? Only after graduating from all those experiences could I think of coming to the United States to do anything meaningful. I have done nothing wrong. If it is bad to make the young people come away from drugs and walk straight toward God's goal, then I am bad. But everything indicates it is good; from the dispensation point of view, this movement is vitally necessary.
Many ministers think that when I die the Unification Church will disintegrate. Not at all. When I reach spirit world I am determined to push all Unification Church members ten times harder. No one minds that? Now you have promised. You continue on your own, and if that is not sufficient then I will push you.
Those who are determined to build eternal happiness are the pioneers, and such people must go through all sorts of experiences. In one sense I am a very loving person, but I am also a person to keep an eye on because if I give a direction there are hundreds of people ready to do impossible things. Yet I am completely unlike the communists or people like Jim Jones; as long as the work of justice needs doing I will proclaim so and go head on.
The free world needs this kind of leadership now. The world needs the person who strives for the ideal that is deep inside himself and who can never be inhibited. There are three kinds of people to be seen in building the kingdom of heaven: the people who really fight with everything they have, feeling no regret and winning victory for history; those who will die fighting because they are short of power; and those who retreat because the fighting is difficult and they are afraid to die.
In which category would you like to be? Number one is best. Number two is permissible, but that doesn't mean I am encouraging it. We should never be attacked and killed simply because we antagonized people in our zealousness. That's not a worthy death. Your death will have merit when it could not be prevented, and when heaven and earth can acknowledge that. If you can avoid death, do so by all means. Heaven is intended for those who win over the circumstances, who persevere and keep on trying. The kingdom cannot be formed unless you survive the fiercest fights. Like the Bible tells us, we must be wise as serpents in order to survive.
We persevere so that one day we can go on the offensive most effectively. Those people who only persevere but never strike out for good are not helping God's providence. Through experience we can distinguish the time to attack from the time for retreat. All Unification Church members must be wise in perceiving when to attack head-on and when not to.
In the home church you will have to teach everything to the people. If someone is opposing the Unification Church, don't go to his house and try to get even. Keep a record of the untruthful things he says about you and teach everything you know, and if after hearing everything you have to teach he is still opposed, then go and fight him. He will be weak internally by that time and only need a little push. But after fighting, you must become friends with him. Otherwise, there is no sense in fighting.
Even though we may need to fight the communists, afterwards we have to tell them why communism is wrong so they can change their minds and have godly thinking. This is why we have Victory Over Communism theory. If Christians are against us, we must show them why they are wrong; this is why we have Divine Principle. We have a complete explanation based on the Bible to show them how they are mistaken. If they repent, it's fine, but if not then we need to make more effort to win them over. God first teaches people and shows them an example, then passes judgment. He always wants to teach still more, but He can't wait eternally if they won't listen.
We cannot build heaven all by ourselves, but must teach other people so that they will understand and participate. We must do it first, and then with our experience we must teach them well before we can expect them to follow us. You have to be a good teacher and not rush them, or expect them to respond if you are unable to teach them very much. A person must like you first and then he will listen to what you have to say. Then he has to like what you tell him. Teaching people is not just a matter of talking. After they like you personally and like what you say to them, they must like you for your deeds. You have to make them like you in these three ways and then they will copy everything you say and do. That is how the heavenly kingdom will expand. We have to teach them by our personality, word and deed.
Do you like the fishing business? Why? After I went to sea I talked so much about it that now you are enthusiastic about fishing too. I stayed out many days tuna fishing, and now since I like fishing so much and you like me so much, you like fishing also. One day all the sisters said they wanted to be captains of fishing boats. I'm not just talking about loving fishing, but showing it by my example. We have been building boats for over a year now, and I also bought a boat of which I am captain. When storm warnings are posted and everyone advises against going out, I still go anyway. When the waves are rough, everything inside the boat is tossed around. In the beginning I held on to the railing, but after being tossed around for a few hours, I found it was easier just to get bumped around and I forgot about holding on. In rough weather the crew is tossed around and the furniture slides from corner to corner. Now I enjoy watching them move around; otherwise, there would be nothing to do. Since I have already showed the example, I am sure you will like that too, and even like going to sea in a storm.
I remember very well the day I took the Little Angels on the boat. First they sang up on deck and wrote letters about their experience. When the waves got bigger they thought that was exciting and jumped up and down, but as the waves got even bigger they started throwing up. One older sister held a sick younger girl on her lap, but then the older sister got sick too. Finally all of them were sick. The boat was still heading out to the fishing ground, but their only desire was to go back to land! But how can you catch fish if you go back? I knew what they wanted, but should I have turned around and gone back to land'.' l had to clear a path between them to walk back and forth, ignoring them to concentrate on catching fish. l didn't take them with me just to sympathize with them, but to fish together. They understood that we were there to fish so they didn't mind being pushed around and didn't complain.
We're all here to build the Kingdom of Heaven, but if the going becomes rough should I say it's too hard and send you back to rest, or push you to keep going? People can adjust. After being seasick for three days people get bored and want to get up and do something. Gradually they adjust and become immune to seasickness. Then they can eat and have energy to move around. New members always feel they can really see heaven. No one has ever been to heaven and they are excited, but soon they find that our boat sails through typhoons and that people persecute and spit at us. Some of them feel completely knocked out.
Many people don't go to work when it snows but can we stop working in bad weather? We go out anyway and work harder. That is our training. Now there are rockets that can take people to the moon, but do you think heaven is closer or farther than the moon? Once a rocket is launched can it come back and land and start over again? Can you say, "Let's wait and rest here"? It really doesn't make any difference what you feel; a rocket will just keep on going until it reaches its destination. Once you take off, God will adjust your course and have you land when the proper time comes. If you have only a little more distance to cover, yet you feel like getting off, how would God feel? Once we get on the rocket we just keep on flying, leaving everything else to God. This is what we are doing now.
I have come here from Korea and Japan, and soon I will leave this country and go to yet another place to do what I have done here. Can you protest that I should stay in America? When the time comes to go I will go, and you have nothing to say to me about that.
The amount of effort we invest in the heaven we are making will determine how happily we will live there. Who bought Belvedere, East Garden and the New Yorker? Soon I will build my own residence in America, better than the White House. You will not earn the money for that. I am also determined to build schools and universities. When I say I will build these things, will I do it? There is nothing I have said I would do that I didn't accomplish.
There is no time in each day to rest your head. Many nights I fall asleep in a chair at two or three in the morning. Then Mother wakes me up and brings me to bed. I sleep fewer hours than you do because I never want to depend on you. Even when the Korean members need more money for a factory in Korea they ask me. Yesterday I invested more money in our factories there. I am doing that for your future and for the future of the world, so I give directions about every detail of where and how to build the factories and schools. Those are complicated matters. Do you think that is an enjoyable or difficult task?
Is your brain happy when you make it work day and night? Is the person who works all day long a happy person or a pitiful person? He might not be happy in the beginning, but as he keeps working his happiness will become greater and greater. I know you don't always like what you do, but you do it anyway and gradually you will come to like it. At first you don't like it, but then you train yourself.
Once we set out to do something, like erect a building, are we going to build it slowly or quickly? While we are building this heaven we shall live under one ideal and love and establish it the way God originally intended. We will keep on working and building with our own love. Without doing so there is no basis for eternal happiness to be built. How does that sound?
Are you more interested in working hard like this or in getting married? When I am talking for a long time like this many people doze off, but as soon as I mention marriage their eyes pop open. What does that show? Is it greater to get married or do this work? You have to understand which comes first. If you have never made this foundation yet you get married, can you forget about having to finish? That's why it says in the Bible, "Woe to those who are with child in the last days." It means that even those who are married must go pioneering and do this work on earth. If they were unmarried, it would be a lot easier. Even though they are married, they must set aside their family ties and go do that work.
Is it better to do this work and build a home church while you are single and then get blessed and start a family, or to start a family now and separate while going to the home church? A baby can be a nuisance because his parents are no longer free. Your most precious time is taken up caring for the baby, and then you would wish you hadn't married before you had completed your home church work.
Since I conducted an engagement and blessing in Europe and Japan and an engagement in Korea, you probably think there will certainly be a marriage here too because otherwise it would be unfair. Don't you think that way? How long can you say no? Until 1980 or ten years from now? You must think about finishing the work first and think about marriage after it's done. That's the best way.
We have set out to build the foundation of eternal happiness. Everything is for this purpose. Would you invite me to come visit when you have finished? Let's set the date now; when do you expect to be finished? What if I leave this country before 1981? That's up to you.
When I first came to this country the movement here was in chaos. I had to gather everyone together and train them, send them out, then bring them back again. We are now standing on the foundation of a lot of work. Now it's up to you how long you will take to be successful enough to invite me to your area. Don't you want to be successful in this? Then you must have some idea when you can invite me. It won't depend on me but on your progress. Once you make up your mind, you have to promise before God with the seriousness of having a dagger stabbing you in the side, "No matter what happens to me, nothing will stop me. Once I make up my mind I will go straight forward to the goal." If at all possible finish it by June 1981.
I feel that you could do it rather easily within that time. If I had to do it, I could do it much earlier than that. You have to make a meticulous plan in order to establish the foundation of heaven, outlining each step so you can see where you are.
You all want to go to the same place where I go, and all your home church members should look up to you the same way and wish they were going to the same place as you. You have to have them be so attached to you that they want to follow you, and in order to do that you have to devote all your heart to them.
If you didn't have to go to home church you would like to work together with me wouldn't you? Your home church members should feel the same way about you. This can happen because there is an ideal and unchanging love there. That's why you long to be close to me and work directly with me. If you really miss me then I will come to you in person. You will occupy that same position in your home church, and everyone will miss you and want to see you.
In order for them to feel this close, you will have to devote all of yourself to them and then you will understand me. You will walk and walk, wearing out many pairs of shoes. Every household has a history and aspiration, and everything you invest in them will be inscribed there. Perhaps a certain family opposed you very much but later finally welcome you. Every scene of those events is a source of pride for what you did. You should make them so anxious to help you that they are eager to do many things for you after you are married. They will feel more happy than at the time of their own marriage and want to do something for you. You must make them feel so deeply about you that they want to carry you on their shoulders like football heroes.
You have to plan ahead if you are really going to do these things. We have to continue through rainy days and sunny days without letup. If you can't bear to leave your area and you stay there awake all night then spirit world will visit those 360 homes for you. Spirit, world will show each one of them that you are standing in the neighborhood and not going back to your home because you miss them so much. After having this dream or vision, when they open up their door you will be standing there. This can actually happen. Just as spirit world, Adam, Eve and God must work as one before the Kingdom of Heaven is realized on earth, you also will have to experience this before heaven can be realized in your area.
Everything you do should be centered around your area. If you have to go to the bathroom, go there. When you cry, you must shed the most profound tears in your area. The best things that happen in your life should happen in your area, things that you cannot forget for eternity. When you become old and look back and say those were your happiest days, you will have the foundation for eternal happiness. That is where God's love and ideal will be left. I experienced that while I was in prison, and even now I can feel the same everywhere I go. These things are happening even now, not only at the early times. The standard is the same for you as for me, but it will work only if you are complete in your feeling of love for that area.
The experience of suffering is a very subjective thing. American people may suffer a little yet think that they are suffering a great deal, but in a poor country like Korea where people have had tremendous suffering they feel that such hardship is easy to bear. Looking down objectively at these circumstances, what would God think if Americans said they were already doing their best? What if they insisted they only knew the democratic way and wanted to do things that way? If asked who liked indemnity, no one would volunteer under the democratic system. You can imagine how difficult it would be to find volunteers.
Americans are big people, bigger than the Japanese, for instance. The Japanese are working as hard here as they did in Japan, and Americans know clearly that they are not working as hard. Do Americans feel shame because of that, or don't they care so much? Is that something easy to take, or do you feel you can't allow that record to continue? You have to have some pride in what your own country can do.
Is it better to have the Japanese tell you to do something or have me tell you'! Why me? Which brings more indemnity-failing at a task that I tell you to do, or "'ailing the same task when told to do it by the Japanese? The choice is very obvious. If both Americans and Japanese engage in the same activities in this country, which nationality would I rather see winning? I make the Japanese work hard in order to teach you indirectly to work harder than they do. You must always work harder than they. Even if the Japanese rest, the Americans should not rest because they have to catch up. You should listen to this with the attitude that you can learn from it, rather than feeling that you hate to hear such things.
When I go to Japan, I always praise the Japanese leaders, but when I come back to America I tell the American leaders they are not up to par and should work harder. When I call a leaders' conference, they come with heavy legs, feeling I will scold them once more. After I do that three times, they want to collapse. They need some release from that feeling and say that democracy and the American way of education are not like that. Don't you feel that way'.' Only a few of you are saying no, and those who say no perhaps don't know so deeply. Do you think I don't know about democracy and the American way of doing things? I already know about America. I already have evaluated which ways don't work and that's why I am going a way none of you have ever tried. If' your way worked, America would be prosperous by now.
How many times do you wish I would push you ahead when you feel you lack power to go on'! Do you think ten times would be enough for you'! It someone is really concerned about you, such as your parents, then they will push you even while you are in grammar school and expect you to study hard. They will push you throughout middle school and high school and even through college, and even then think it is not enough and want to push you further.
If a student becomes impatient or arrogant and tells them that he'll do it by himself, he has come to have false confidence and will probably fail I will continue to push you even after I think you can take care of yourself, and give you a shove until you fly instead of walk. I will take no chance on your failing. It is a happy thing to have someone behind you making sure you reach the goal.
If the indemnity of 6,000 years is employed in a horizontal way, it will take 6,()00 years to fulfill. We are trying to condense it even into sixty days, so you cannot expect to go at the same speed that would take you 6,000 years. I am quite serious about making you fly in order to cover that distance. Is this bad thinking or good thinking? With that in mind, keep a record of how many times I have pushed you. Keep statistics in your diary and count up to 2,000 times or 20,000 times. The more pushing the better because more history will be accomplished through you. Each time I give you a push your name will be inscribed in history.
I know that this will be the source of happiness and because I know it I can keep doing it. Thus, I will give you the most precious things. This is why I can keep on pushing over and over and over again, to fulfill the tradition of love.
Even though I have fulfilled my portion of responsibility, I cannot just leave you alone to do your work because I know what's ahead for you. I will keep after you, paying attention to every detail, as if this were my own responsibility. This is the only way to set you on the right course without taking unnecessary risk. The people who don't like that are the ones who will let America drift into chaos. Such a person is not only untrustworthy, but will one day mislead the American people and in the process destroy himself too. I am always aggressive toward that kind of person and I will give everything in the hope of waking that person up. That's the only way.
I have always intended to involve as many Americans as possible and drive them into as much suffering as possible. America has failed more than she has succeeded, so the greater the number who are involved the better; they will serve as a condition for God to forgive everything America has failed to do. If I don't do that, there is nothing anyone can do to help America. No one can pray about America and expect that prayer to win God's sympathy unless I make Americans suffer for the sake of God's providence. On that basis I can pray to God, saying, "Father, please regard them with love because they didn't rebel against me or against You. Take that merit and forgive whatever they have failed to do." God will listen to that prayer.
That is like Abraham's prayer for the city to be there were ten righteous people to be found in it. God said if there were even only three righteous people He would not destroy the city. If there are ten such righteous men in America then I won't want to leave this country, and that means God will stay in this country also. However, if I give harsh words and push but you complain and don't respond, then I won't be inclined to stay here. If I leave this country, God will leave too and then what can we expect?
As I told you, when I first came to this country I had to work all by myself because no one understood what I wanted to do. I have to untangle all the difficulties in this nation and you are the ones through whom I must do that. All Americans are opposing me in an outrageous way in the sight of God, but if the Unification Church members will never rebel against me for passing that burden to them then that will become condition enough to liquidate all the opposition rendered toward me. Then there is a chance for heaven's forgiveness to be given. Everyone must understand the meaning of these ties of love between the young people of America and myself. When I become close with everyone of you, an altar will be created to receive your sacrifice for the sake of America. The altar and the sacrifice exist for the benefit of the country. America is big and you know how impractical it is for you to reach out to 240 million people. There is a way to condense it by making a proper condition, however.
When I look at one state leader, I don't see him as an individual but see millions of people standing behind him. When I scold him, my words are directed to the millions of people behind him, and when I pray, that prayer goes to those people. The state leaders think of themselves as individuals and feel that the blame they are given is too harsh. They don't think strongly that they are representing the millions of people, but they should. Although I know it's difficult to bring ten people, I never praise them for doing well if they have accomplished that much. Rather I say, "How are you going to witness to millions of people at this speed?" They have to understand that with a million people waiting behind them ten is nothing. The responsibility to turn America in the right direction rests between all of you and me. Our relationship does not involve just yourselves and me; our purpose is to establish a condition for America to be restored. So this is a public life we are leading.
I know that on Thursdays the leaders meet at the World Mission Center, but these days I have been trying to retrain from being there. Many times I have almost gone, but then didn't because I know I will scold them like a machine gun and they won't like it. Even though someone may be knocked out, I still continue shooting at him. Would you leaders like me to come to your meetings or have me stay away? If I go and scold you and you don't like that, a rift develops which grows bigger each time I go. If I clobber you with my words yet you overcome it then you will come closer to me, but if not, there will be a greater rift. Nevertheless, the cold path of indemnity still remains. I am inclined to think that I can't do this to Americans, so I think I will give the worst beating to Koreans in hopes that they can tolerate it. I cannot lead Americans directly so I give the Japanese leaders the responsibility, pushing then hard and hoping that the Americans will come up to the standard. If I give the same beating to Koreans, Japanese and Americans, I expect that, although the Americans can't endure it, the Koreans and Japanese will tolerate it, obey and keep going strong. If I leave America, do you think you will still need someone to lead you?
Forget about clinging to your education and your traditional ways; they aren't important because they have the least to do with God. The path that God implemented and that I myself and the early followers all followed will be much more effective, even though it seems very different from what you are accustomed to. Much indemnity can be paid and love can become deeply rooted in this way. I have been consistent in implementing this way here in America. If you don't do this while you are on earth, you must understand you are not free from responsibility once you leave this world. It is no exaggeration when I tell you it will be a million times more difficult later. You must understand that in the spirit world it is very difficult to make up for complaint against me. It's a lot easier to do while in the flesh.
After you bring success with home church, many Americans will understand the Unification Church and will be revived. Even after America is restored I will never compliment you, but will drive you out to every corner of the world. Until we teach and liberate the entire spirit world, we cannot stop going along this path. Can you get to the end without me? Can you reach there if I tell you to take it easy?
If you are fifty years old then you never know how much longer you have to live, but when you have an historical task in front of you how can you help but work hard for it? Those members who are fifty or sixty years of age may think they are exempt from responsibility, but I cannot say the older people should take it easy and the younger people should work. Older people have more business to take care of than young people so I should drive them out even more. The only reason I don't push the older people more is that if I do, they will run away. I feel free to speak to you young people because I know you won't run away.
Is it good or bad for me to push people? There is a reward waiting for those who respond when they are pushed. You will become the ancestors of your lineage, who are honored for doing this historical work. If you don't achieve this then your second generation will take that position of honor instead. I am determined to make you become such ancestors while you are alive, not after you go to spirit world.
Since this is the situation, you must always remember that there is a wall of indemnity between all of you and me. There is also such a wall between God and me. Even after all I have done, God has never once told me I have done enough. All the time God says to me, "This is a busy time. Do more." I understand that, and if I were Heavenly Father I would say the same thing. To reach the standard required by heaven there is a long way left to go, so how can you say you have already done much? Even while God has been ruthlessly driving me out without a warm word, He has been supplying me with love. God sends people who come and cry, saying, "Thank you, Father, for what you've done for us."
Even though I push you just as ruthlessly, Americans will come and repent to you, saying they were wrong in persecuting you, and you will be much rewarded. You must understand that there is historical indemnity remaining between the leader and the people led. It is always the pattern that God will make everyone who is close to Him suffer because His purpose is to save the people who are far from Him. I am pounding on the Unification Church members as if you are the enemy, but the objective is to restore all Americans. This is why the Unification Church members are precious in the sight of God. What would their value be otherwise? When a Unification Church member is suffering it isn't for himself but for the sake of America, and in God's sight it is holy and precious.
If America can be restored because of your suffering, then your struggles are nothing. If I am beaten and shed tears but billions of people are saved because of my suffering, the benefit on the side of goodness is so great that the suffering seems to be very small. Though we are living in a cold climate now, we have a clear idea in mind. Spring is approaching and soon we will be enjoying that warm climate. Once spring comes we will be able to forget all misery.
I know what I have been saying is not pleasing to your ears, but this is why it's so important for you to understand. I can never be more serious than I am when I talk this way. I know the hours have gone by and after so much time a sermon should end, but indemnity can be one result of going on. Sometimes I determine to talk until a certain person falls asleep. I am tired too, but feel it is indemnity. To sit here for five or six hours on the hard floor and listen to bitter talk will make up for the eagerness of people leaving quickly after hearing brief sermons in Christian churches. With all I have gone through yesterday and last night I am very tired and would like to rest my legs, but still I go on, watching people's eyes. Last year I talked for 14 hours at one conference, but I was constantly watching how the people responded.
Unless you understand the truth about God, you cannot understand what we do or what I am doing now. When everyone is dozing and only a few remain alert, then I talk about the most important things. Now the most important talk begins! It's not a simple thing either. When you make an error, you may lose many years' earnings in blessings, whereas if you go the right way at this point you can gain many years of hard work. I am especially watching those who are closest to the stage to see who will doze off; those who are sitting up front arrived at 3 o'clock, so if one is dozing I think that is too bad because his seven hours of sitting here is in vain. Those who are not dozing are better off than those up here. If you use a pin to keep yourself awake then any marks that remain on your skin are a visible record of how you encouraged yourself.
Don't think you are perishing when you suffer; the reverse is true. If you are a leader and go through suffering successfully, all your members will benefit from it as well. If all the 1,000 people here went away except for one man, that one would inherit what all the others left behind. We have been talking about suffering, but I know you don't understand suffering or how I suffered because I have never told anyone. Instead, I will make everyone go through it and then they will understand. I apply this same principle to my own children. I don't feel my own children are any more precious than others.
I must also plan ahead. If you persevere through this suffering maybe it will be enough to last for ten years, but what happens after that? I will give all the tests you would expect to go through during ten years in a short period of time. I could even do that in a few days, and once you are successful then ten years' indemnity will be paid. I really look into what needs to be done in order to fulfill the of God in America.
Sometimes I give a person a scolding even though he has made no mistake, just to see what his response is. This is very practical and can be helpful in planning what he can do in the future. I am quite serious about receiving some earthly treasure in the right way. If I do it in the wrong way I will be pursued in spirit world and asked why I left it to a person who fails.
I must always use a formula, like a law, which applies to everyone. No one is to be favored at random. In that manner, if I want to give you more and more responsibility, I will. If it is better not to do so, that's up to me. I do it in a very fair way, but still the decision rests with me.
A person may be doing fine but then one day I slap him for no apparent reason and without explanation. I don't know how he will receive it, but will just have to wait and see over several years. I don't do that because Heavenly Father did it to me, but because sometimes it's the only way to make sure about a certain person. Without doing that I cannot know. Heavenly Father did that to me all the time for the same reason. There is no explanation given, and in that case people sometimes get upset.
Did you know that God promised me all the best things in the world, and the next day I was sent to prison? Someone else might have said, "God, You promised me good things. What kind of promise are You keeping?" But I received a silent answer long, afterward: "I gave it to you. Find it in the prison." Heavenly Father wasn't lying. He indeed gave me something that was to be found only in prison so I was sent there. Once I understood that, the second time I went to jail I had high hopes. Sure enough, when I got there, everything was prepared for me spiritually. When I was really starving, someone was preparing delicious food for me.
Knowing this, can you conclude that God sent me to prison out of hate or out of love? In the same way, if I beat you, is it because of hate or because of love? If you know the answer and persevere, you will become great and achieve great things. Wherever Unification Church members go, their sole purpose is to build the Kingdom of Heaven.
While I was in prison I couldn't witness openly without being punished or even executed. Since spirit world knew that, spirit world did the witnessing and people came to me that way. To those people it was the greatest joy to escape the guards and sneak to my cell to say good morning. If one person was able to do that, he was jubilant all day long. If one of those people walked by my cell at exercise time and could say hello with his eyes, he felt honored that day. My most precious memories center around those days and I often remember them. Now when I see spiritual phenomena, I recall that time.
Your experience of working so hard that there is no time to think of anything else becomes the most precious memory. I need to impress a few members like that for the sake of America's future. If I give a really harsh scolding which no one can bear, but one members cries and really repents, that stays deep in my memory. Then I want to see if he will shed tears again if I come and give an even stronger scolding. If he continues to shed tears the third time then because of him I cannot scold any more. The path of restoration should be tread that way.
Is it good to scold or bad to scold? Is it good or bad for parents to strike their own children to make them study? The parents will know what the future will hold, so he will push his children even at the risk of causing pain.
Over twenty years ago I told the Korean members that the whole world would oppose us as we became successful in doing the will of God and that they should be confident that the time was coming near. But I told them that if we digested that with gratitude and pride, never being beaten, then worldly blessing would follow immediately after. Haven't I been called bad names and persecuted as I predicted? That period is pretty much over now because everything has been said that there is to say and no one can find any more accusation. I know the great blessing is getting near.
We must understand that the forthcoming blessing is not for one individual but will go to all parts of the world. You are the public figures to receive that, but before I can pass that blessing along you will have to be persecuted by me; then people cannot ask why you got the blessing instead of them. People of all five colors of skin are here being pushed and persecuted by me. A great blessing will come which will be spread out among the five races. Who will be the first to show enthusiasm and win the race-white, yellow or black? I have no preference. If the black people come forward after all their suffering and persecution and remain humble then they will receive the major blessings. The yellow people have the same opportunity. If the white people do that, I will feel they can continue to lead mankind as they have done for many years. I watch the different races through these eyes alone.
This is not a dream but reality. I have studied science and know that scientific explanations can't be spiritual but must have solid logic and be proven many times over. You know that the people with the best minds will join the Unification Church. The greatest professors can come to the Unification Church because they will be able to understand what I mean and what I am doing. If they ask questions, I can explain everything they have tried to know about their lives and about history. No blind faith is necessary. If a person has made God a part of everything he does, as though there were a rope tying them together all the time, would that person only be average, or would he have a sharp mind?
Viewed according to my own standard, I have not really driven you hard enough. If I drive you harder, would that be all right with you? Have you brought one person a month yet? Then You have to do that right away. This is the word of judgment. Time and time again I told you to do it. It will be the source of great regret if you don't do it. If you do it, a wonderful blessing will come to you. I already told you to sell fifty copies of News World every day. A long time ago I told everyone that they should leave the World Mission Center and go to live in their home churches by September. Have you done it? I already gave you thirty copies each of Divine Principle tapes and transcripts to distribute in your homes on a rotating basis. Did you do that? You made a resolution to witness to 3,000 people in forty days. Have you accomplished that? If you didn't do these things, you should always be repenting and preparing to do them.
What will your excuse be if you go to spirit world and are asked why you always said you would do things but never did them? We said that by 1979 we would have 30,000 members and mobile teams traveling all over to influence America and the world. 1979 is already here but did we do that? I also told you to write to all of your closest friends to tell them what you are doing and what the Church stands for. Have you done that? Maybe a few accomplished these things, but what about the majority of you? There are many things you promised to do.
I already said that the basic course for each member should be three years of fund raising, then three years of witnessing, but many members are trying to avoid that course because they want to go an easier way. I have already explained to you in detail what the reasons are for going this way. God first created all things, then man and love. God lost all things as a result of the fall, and in order to restore that we are restoring money and possessions. On that foundation we will restore all men who are lost. This is why the course of restoration involves a certain formula and standard. More important than the money we bring in is the value of laying this course so that those who come later can follow it more easily. You will not only set the tradition by doing that correctly for three years, but will come to appreciate material things because you know how difficult they are to earn. By doing this even while you are being persecuted you will develop your heart and see how much more precious one crippled man who is helping God's work is, compared to others who are living for themselves. In this activity you are able to learn many practical things and train yourselves. That is the foremost front line where Satan and God come into contact.
When you go witnessing after that, you know you are snatching a person from Satan's front line. Satan is watching all the time to see how an individual will decide.
Only a few members have been kidnapped and know what it feels like to have escaped and returned to the Church. Only those who have been kidnapped and have overcome the ordeal of deprogramming know how precious it is to be here. When you are kidnapped you have to pray to God to remain strong. Do the rest of you know how torturous it is to be forced to believe something you know is wrong'.' When you overcome all that and can come back, you feel so confident that you know you can go over anything, no matter what happens in the future. From the Principle point of view kidnapping is good for the Unification Church. I wish the President of the Church and all the state leaders would be kidnapped once. Those who go through kidnapping and then escape and renew their determination are most precious.
You might have tried to avoid responsibility or looked for the easy way, but if you are kidnapped you are desperate to get away so you can carry on God's work, feeling, "God needs me. I must get out of here." Your escape is a great experience. If I could disguise myself, I would like to kidnap certain crucial persons and bring up the things I know they hate most and challenge them, "The Unification Church is that way, so why go back?" Then I will see how they respond.
I know you do things under what seem to be impossible circumstances, but look at my position. Your working hard actually is insignificant compared with the goal. Even though you don't sleep in order to study for an examination, what good does it do if you fail? If you fail, should I say, "Well, you did your best. Try harder next time"? The only time you can be approved is when you meet the criteria and the standard.
You have accumulated much failure in the past, so I am thinking that we will indemnify past failure within this year and eliminate that debt. Is that good or bad thinking? So should I just shrug and say that you've done your best, or keep driving you and make you understand why you need to be pushed?
I know you have tried hard and yet you failed, so you have to be driven out much more before we can expect to achieve success this time. Home church came into being only last year, and by being successful there we can indemnify all the past failures I have just pointed out. Everything that you left undone will be offset by home church success. Don't take many months or years, but do it in the shortest period of time. Make a plan and accomplish the goal. If we can set many records within this year then later members will have a much easier time and America will become livable again. America is about to go down the drain but your success can prevent any further deterioration. This is why time is so precious. I am expecting to have many people who will establish records during this one year.
Yesterday Heung Jin came back from a school field trip with a swollen foot from walking so much. I thought that this is the standard we must set for this year. Even with a swollen foot he had to go back to school the next day. I feel that great poetry will come out of your home church activity, as well as great literature and a great history. Writing a diary you may say, "Today I am in no condition to go out. It's raining but I still must go out because this is the call of God. If it weren't for God I wouldn't do it." There is no greater poetry than that simple feeling, no better writing than that. All you have to do is carry this out and record what you felt.
When we see someone in a movie walk into a wilderness, we are attracted because that is exactly how we are about to set out. There are a million people living around us but there is not one whom we can call a true person. It's like being in the wilderness looking for human contact. You can keep a diary of the corrupted person you were teaching and how in time he came to trust you. Maybe you think it will take three years to rehabilitate him, and if you can manage to do that in one year it will be a miracle. Write down your idea about him. Are you keeping a record?
Do you set out for the home church in the morning with a happy mind, or are you almost in tears to have to go out there? The only way you can go out to home church is with great expectation of finding a treasure of a person, to find your lost relatives. Do you think this is only dreaming or make-believe? No, the person who is successful in home church is the one who recovers the lost people, the lost country, the lost spirit world. Everything that was lost will be recovered by the successful home church workers.
How do we go to heaven in spirit world? On the basis of home church. You must leave love behind you so that the home church people will be eager for you to come again. Once you leave the foundation of that love behind you, even though you have gone to spirit world you can come back and start working again in the spiritual way.
Your country and your spirit world are condensed in your home church. You may think home church is only a witnessing idea, but this is the formula and law, not something that changes. It is more significant and precious in the spirit world than you can imagine. Throughout history there was no such thing as this arrangement of home church. As soon as the foundation is set, like a tree setting down its deep roots, you will see the satanic world crumble.
Expect some miracle in the home church. When the Christians come to support you, what will the world be like? The world will come to God very quickly. When we are successful, everyone will realize who is on the side of evil and on the side of good. Do you think anyone could remain in the evil area for long after we become successful in home church? That's where the eternal foundation for happiness will remain on earth. The very home church work you are doing now is the foundation I have talked about this morning.
Since I decided we must indemnify everything during this year of 1979, I appointed Col. Pak to lead you for this all-out campaign. Since the blessed wives left here they are much freer to work; without their husbands or children they have nothing to worry about but can dedicate everything to God. Then they will have nothing to regret from previous years and can indemnify all the things they didn't do; the husbands won't have to worry how to get along with their wives but can work harder independently. They can sleep better without a wife or child and then go out and give their total commitment. If you look at it that way, is there any reason to complain about being separated from a spouse or child?
Half of American marriages are breaking up because couples don't care about each other or their children, but only about themselves. But Unification Church couples separate for the sake of everyone else. Don't you think God can use that as a condition to offset all the wrongdoing in America? Are there any grounds for complaining about your family not being with you?
You may feel uneducated and simple, but you can't help but feel very insecure at the course America is taking. There is no intelligent reason to be optimistic. All the newspaper reports are bad. But if this can be stopped quickly and if America can be turned around as a result of what you are doing now, can you refuse to do this? Let's put it another way: Sooner or later people will have to recognize that everything is hopeless and no one is doing anything meaningful about this country except the Unification Church. When that happens, you will be the flag bearers and then Americans will ask, "You are the members of the Unification Church. What do you think we should do?" Then you won't have to lecture them but just tell them, "I have been doing the home church, loving the people and teaching them. If you do that, America and the world will come alive once more." Your work won't stop there but will expand and expand to include spirit world.
Home church seems to be simple and humble, but this is the only way for God to live. You can explain that step by step with no problem. If everyone does that in America, this country will live. Senators and Congressmen don't have to make long studies about the problem of how to benefit America. They don't have to go to school and study for years. All they need to do is turn their eyes toward home church and the Unification Church members will show them the way. If they follow that pattern all throughout the United States, this country will live.
If this is a reality then shouldn't I send you out to suffer for a few years in the prime of your life? Even though you are not well qualified in the worldly sense, if all you need to do is go out and do the job, should you hesitate to go, or should I hesitate to send you? I know you won't refuse and you know I won't hesitate. As a result, there will be an explosion big enough for all America to hear and for the first time there will be true hope. Discriminating eyes will see that the foundation for eternal happiness is beginning.
Heaven on earth will start at this very moment, at this very point. Even with these small numbers. don't you think America can begin to see the real path through which she can revive once more? There is no question in God's mind that this small number of people is good enough. When God says, "I approve it,' Satan will have to go away.
Where do home church and eternal happiness begin? They begin on the hill of where Jesus prayed. Jesus prayed three times to God Home church should also start at Golgotha where Jesus bore his cross. When Jesus was at Gethsemane and Golgotha no one was sympathetic or understood him, but now there will be 100 other people watching you who realize how much easier it is than what Jesus had to go through.
Jesus wanted a handful of people who would understand him and say, "Jesus, you stay here and I will do it for you." But he did not have even one. Now, 2,000 years later, we find ourselves free to do anything we want. You can go out in Jesus' position to seek those disciples who will want to bear the cross for you. You are free to meet the people, to train them and serve them. You have to feel how fortunate your situation is compared to the time of Jesus before you can go out to work in the home church realistically.
It is already one o'clock and I am hungry, but I have one purpose in giving you a seven hour sermon. Don't forget this. You must understand this message and try hard so that when you go to spirit world you will have something to report to Heavenly Father. Without doing that, there is nothing you can say in the spirit world. We have to try and try to set a condition to gain more time for America and let God take care of the result. Keep asking God to postpone the end of America for one year or two years. "During this year I will commit myself totally and get things done in America." We must pray that way to God, asking for an extension.
There is no other way I can explain why we must do home church and what the result will be. Now it is up to you to digest and carry out. Your success will be America's success and God's success. If the Unification Church fails, you can imagine the future of America in a few years. Maybe you can say that America will fade away just as it was suddenly born 200 years ago,
but the world will die also if America fails. At least be responsible for the world. Where will God go, where will Christians and religious people go in the face of communism? I have been telling you again and again that this is the most critical year in all of human history. What does it mean? This is a year of indemnity. By doing home church the right way, we will make up for all the failures of the Unification Church.
In London all the leaders have gotten together and are witnessing together in order to support America. To support the American effort Japanese members work many times harder than MFT members in America to raise funds. Last year the Japanese totally dedicated themselves and sent millions of dollars here. Can you say you can't do the same? Because this is your country you should think that you can't be outdone.
As soon as we gain 30,000 people we will organize and go all around America stimulating the people and saying that we must do something to reverse the present trend in America and revive the pioneering spirit. We often hear about emergencies in the world, but now this country is in such an emergency that martial law should be declared. Will I say it is not necessary to do anything, as though this were peacetime?
I urge you to understand this situation very clearly and through pioneering home church to make the foundation for the world's eternal happiness. Everywhere you go, throw the bomb of love and ignite the people's minds, giving them hope. Show them the way to live.
When the seminarians came to London, before they even had a chance to eat I told them about the serious situation and instructed them to go out and find a place to stay and start witnessing. When I finished speaking it was nighttime, so where could they go? Many stayed in the train or subway stations, but within one week the last one managed to find some place to stay. They introduced themselves and started working from there. By the end of April all of you will go out like that too. Those who determine to do it, raise your hands.
Let us pray.
