Christmas In Heart

Sun Myung Moon
December 25, 1973
Belvedere International Training Center
Tarrytown, NY
Translated by Bo Hi Pak

Today, as you know very well, the whole world is celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. My topic for Christmas, 1973, is "Christmas in Heart."

Jesus Christ came to the earth to save the world as the Messiah. That was necessitated by all the sin and iniquity caused by the fall of man. If Adam and Eve had not fallen, the whole world would have become the realization of the ideal of God; the purpose of creation would have been accomplished, and all mankind could have experienced God as a living reality, literally creating the kingdom of heaven upon the face of the earth.

This world would have been the world of happiness, true love, freedom, and true joy and excitement. And that is the world in which the ideal of every man will be realized on every level; as an individual, as a family, as a tribe, clan, nation, and the world. God wanted to love His ideal individual and ideal family, and He wanted to love an ideal people, nation, and world. That would be the realization of God's creation.

Because of the fall of man, God's ideal was not realized. Therefore, ever since the fall of man, the work of God has been the work of restoration. God is almighty; He is determined to restore the fallen world to the original one, and the realization of His ultimate will is going to be accomplished. His work has been salvation, which is restoration. To use an analogy, the fall of man can be compared with an unhealthy person, a patient; we are all in an unhealthy state. Therefore, God sends the Messiah to change our unhealthy state into an original, perfected state; in other words. He cures mankind.

In this work of restoration God cannot do everything at one stroke. He must approach this problem step by step, stage by stage. Therefore, He must begin His work with one individual. Even to begin with one individual, God has to have a preparation period. The history of God's preparation is shown in the history of the chosen people of Israel. The chosen nation of Israel was the planting ground for the Messiah -- it was prepared as fertile land for the coming of the Messiah.

Then what is the Messiah? The Messiah comes as the model of perfection on every level -- as an individual, as a tribe and family, and up to the nation and world. The work of restoration is re-creating man into perfection. In order to re-create us God has to follow His original principle of creation. In his original plan for creation, God intended Adam to be perfected first. The Messiah comes in that role, as the perfected Adam. And Adam is the model example that was lost. However, Jesus Christ, the Messiah, was the restored Adam, who was the perfected Adam and the model example for perfection.

In the Garden of Eden, a disaster was created by the fall of man. Who is responsible for this fall of man? Adam is responsible, because he was the one who was in a position to control the whole situation. He was in a position to control Eve. Instead, he was subjugated and controlled by Eve. Then the Messiah is the one who is the perfected Adam. He is coming in the role of perfected Adam. This is the true identity of the Messiah. If the Messiah came 2,000 years ago and the chosen people of Israel united with the Messiah, then there would have been no problem for this perfected Adam to take a heavenly bride. Then there would be no problem to establish the first heavenly family.

From then on, the heavenly tribe, nation, and world would have been no problem. In other words, he would have been the model or pattern for the individual, family and tribal level, and each level of perfection would have been achieved and fulfilled by the coming of the Messiah, Jesus Christ, 2,000 years ago. Then the literal kingdom would have been established upon the face of the earth, so that Israel would have become the first place where the living reality of God's presence was evident, and they would have united with Christ and become one with him. Then, with the people of Israel united with the Messiah, one ideal nation would have been a reality at that time upon the face of the earth. Through that nation, other nations and groups of nations would have been restored.

If the nation of Israel demonstrated unity with the Messiah 2,000 years ago, then all other nations would have followed the same pattern. If they had followed the pattern of Israel, united with the Messiah as the center, all the heads of state, kings and queens, and all the top leadership of the world, would have united with one Messiah 2,000 years ago. In that case the entire world would have come under God's heavenly sovereignty of the Messiah 2,000 years ago. The whole world at that time would have been the Garden of Eden, the literal Garden of Eden, in which all men and women would have found true son-ship and true daughter-ship in the sight of God. No sin would prevail, and only the love of God would prevail. And we would be living in heaven since that time. It was for this day that God had worked so hard during 4,000 years to prepare the chosen people of Israel.

We know now that this realization of the literal and ideal kingdom of heaven upon the face of the earth was not achieved 2,000 years ago because of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. This is something which conventional Christianity never knew. This is something only we know. Many people believe that Jesus came to die on the cross for our sins. What would have happened if the people of Israel had accepted Jesus and united with him? Then no one would crucify him, would they? The environment and circumstances would have been created in which Jesus Christ could take command, in the position of commander-in-chief. Then Jesus Christ would have fulfilled the plan which God gave him-the realization of the ideal family, the ideal tribe, society, ideal nation, and ideal world.

God created the foundation by his 4,000 years work with the people of Israel. Then God sent the Messiah at the appointed hour. But the people rejected him and killed him. That was the shocking reality. Those people who were at the top of the hierarchy of the Jewish faith at that time, those are the ones who would have worked as the close disciples of Jesus Christ. Who became the apostles and disciples of Jesus? Fishermen, ignorant laborers, tax collectors, harlots -- those people, lowly people were the only ones who followed Jesus. If the people of Israel as a nation and a people welcomed and accepted the Messiah, this would not have happened.

Why couldn't they believe him? Today we must know clearly. The people couldn't accept Jesus Christ as the Messiah because of the Old Testament. It is ironic, but the word of God, recorded in the Old Testament, was the primary obstacle in the ministry of Jesus.

Why was this so? Why was the Old Testament an obstacle? Malachi 4:5-6 contains the prophecy: "I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers...." Then who was Elijah? God promised to have Elijah come first. About 900 years prior to Jesus Christ, Elijah came as a prophet; he fought evil; then he ascended into heaven in a chariot of fire. Since the Old Testament predicted the return of Elijah, the people of Israel of Jesus' time expected that Elijah would come from the sky, because the Bible recorded him as ascending into the sky. Then did Elijah come? No. According to the Jewish faith, no Elijah had appeared.

Then one day, all of a sudden, they heard the great shocking news: the man of Nazareth, this humble figure from Nazareth, began proclaiming, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand"; "I am the son of God." People were shocked, because they had not yet heard the news that Elijah had come. Many Christians believe that these prophecies will be fulfilled at the time of the Lord of the Second Advent. But this is not so, because Malachi's prophecy is for the First Coming, Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ himself said in Matthew 11:13, "For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John."

Then the problem is: did Elijah really not come? Let's get the answer from the words of Jesus Christ, because he is the truth. Jesus said that Elijah had already come. Then who is Elijah? When you read Matthew 17:10 and beyond, there is a description about a disciple of Jesus coming back to Jesus with the question, "Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?" because Jesus' disciples did not know much about the Old Testament. They were rather ignorant. So when they went out to preach the gospel of Jesus, all the scribes rebuked them by saying, "If your master is the son of God and the Messiah, where is the Elijah? Show me the Elijah." They were embarrassed because they could not answer this question. So one day they came back to Jesus and asked the question: "Master, what happened? Why do people say that Elijah should come first?"

Then Jesus said, "Elijah is coming; and I must tell you Elijah has already come." It was really shocking news, even to the disciples. At that time the disciples understood that Jesus was speaking of John the Baptist. It was the first time they knew the answer. All the others -- the chief priests, elders, and rabbis, the scribes and Pharisees -- they had no sign of the coming of Elijah. But Jesus alone said, "Elijah has already come." Of course Jesus' disciples could accept the words of Jesus in full faith because they believed in him as the Lord. However, they simply had no way to convince the people of Israel that John the Baptist was Elijah -- no way.

At that time it was virtually impossible for the faithful Jews to accept Jesus Christ as the son of God and believe his words, that John the Baptist was Elijah, because their 4,000 year tradition was too much to give up. But they could not just neglect Jesus Christ, because Jesus Christ was teaching in power and authority. So they could not disregard it. So the Pharisees decided, "Well, then, let's make a settlement. Let's settle this question once and for all. Let's go to John the Baptist; let us ask him." And they did. In John 1:19-21, the Pharisees asked John the Baptist, "Are you the Christ?" He said, "No, I am not." "Are you Elijah?" -- a very critical question. Then John the Baptist answered, "No, I am not." "Then are you the prophet?" Then he said, "No."

At the Jordan River John the Baptist bore witness to Jesus Christ as the son of God. So John the Baptist's answer denying his being Elijah put Jesus in a position of a liar. So let us examine John the Baptist and what he believed about Jesus. One day John the Baptist sent his disciples to Jesus as messengers, who asked Jesus "Are you he who is to come, or shall we wait for another?" What a shocking question this was. Do you think it was an expression of his faith? What he is really saying is, "Are you he, the Messiah, or shall we wait for somebody else?"

At this Jesus became indignant and swelled up inside him. So Jesus rejected answering him either "yes" or "no." Jesus said in Matthew 11:6; "Blessed is he who takes no offense at me," which is to say, "John, you poor John -- you are taking offense at me. You don't know me. You testified from your own mouth who I am. Now you are denying it, you man of failure." That is what Jesus is actually saying. And then Jesus, speaking to the crowd concerning John, said, "What did you go out into the wilderness to behold? To see a man clothed in soft raiment? Those clothed in soft raiment are in kings' houses. Why then did you go out? You went out to see a prophet. Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet." But they failed to discover that person who was more than a prophet.

Then further down in Matthew 11:11, Jesus said, "Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has risen no one greater than John the Baptist; yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he." This is a controversial verse. Today, conventional Christianity does not have a clear understanding of this verse, because it misses the whole point. Now through the Divine Principle alone we can interpret why the greatest prophet of all, John the Baptist, is least in the kingdom of heaven. Why?

The mission of the prophets throughout the ages was to bear witness to the Messiah. But most of the prophets in history have had this mission prior to the Messiah. However, John the Baptist alone was to bear witness to the Messiah in person. He had a tremendously privileged position and honor, to bear witness to the living Messiah. So mission-wise, John the Baptist's mission was the greatest. If John the Baptist bore witness to Jesus Christ as the son of God as he did at the Jordan River and faithfully served the Messiah, then indeed John the Baptist would have become the greatest of all time.

All the prophets in spirit world knew who Jesus was. They knew that Jesus was the son of God -- the Messiah. But John the Baptist, even though he was walking together with Jesus, did not know, and he doubted and was suspicious about Jesus' identity. So he hesitated. Therefore he has become the least of all in the kingdom of heaven. In Matthew 11:12 Jesus said, "From the days of John the Baptist until now," -- Jesus made clear the time limitation -- "from... John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and men of violence take it by force." This is the final conclusion of an analysis of John the Baptist from the point of view of Jesus.

John the Baptist was elected to become a chief disciple of the son of God, the Messiah. If John the Baptist had followed and had become the chief disciple of Jesus, then all the 12 apostles would have come from John the Baptist's own followers, and the 70 disciples would also have come from them. Then what would happen? Then no one in Israel would have rejected Jesus Christ as the son of God, because at that time, John the Baptist's influence was felt in every corner of Israel. The power of John the Baptist could influence the entire nation. That means Jesus Christ, the nation of Israel, and the Jewish faith -- all three could become one. Then what would have happened?

Then Jesus would have created the first heavenly family at that time. And Jesus would have created an ideal people of Israel, a restored people of Israel. Then God, through Jesus, would have created an ideal society, an ideal first nation under God, and one heavenly sovereignty would have been established with the chosen people of Israel. But Jesus was rejected, not accepted. Therefore, he had to start from scratch with no foundation. He went out, picking, one by one, his own disciples. When Jesus was going around to all those areas of Israel preaching the gospel, he and his followers looked like a party of beggars, because they were so poor and miserable. People just pointed fingers at them saying, "They are outcasts. They are the heretics. They are beggars. They are poor people." Such was the situation.

So, look at it from God's point of view -- how sorrowful, what a grieving thing it is. For 4,000 years, God worked so hard for that one appointed hour, the coming of the Messiah. Then the Messiah was rejected by the chosen people, and none of them received Him. How sorrowful God was! God wanted to have His people accept the Messiah. But God knew now that all His anticipations and all His hope were destroyed by the chosen people.

The people of Israel drifted away from God -- further and further toward Satan's side. They took advantage of the Roman power, trying to put up an even greater force against the son of God, Jesus. Then God, looking down and analyzing the situation, came to the conclusion that as it was Jesus would be unable to turn the tide of the people. So He made another decision. God decided to reduce the mission of Jesus Christ. Jesus came to bring spiritual redemption as well as physical redemption, which is redemption of the body. However, God knew that full realization was impossible. So God asked him to carry out only spiritual redemption. The spirit of Jesus represents the spirit world; the body of Jesus represents the physical world.

And God saw that if the situation worsened the whole mission of Jesus would be in peril. Therefore, God decided to give Jesus' body as a sacrifice so that spiritual redemption, the way of spiritual salvation, would be possible. So the cross, the way of crucifixion was not planned in the beginning. This was a change in the mission. It was not the original will of God.

In Luke 9:30 there is a description of the Mount of Transfiguration. "Behold, two men talked with him, Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure, which he was to accomplish at Jerusalem." In other words, this is the occasion in which God sent Moses and Elijah as messengers, informing Jesus of his crucifixion at Jerusalem. Christians today do not know that the crucifixion was decided upon at that particular moment. God instructed Jesus to alter his mission.

Peter's reaction to this news was to reply, "God forbid. Lord! This shall never happen to you." Do you know what Jesus said to him? He said, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me; for you are not on the side of God, but of men." Christianity, and in general all Christians, theologians and ministers, interpret this thusly: "Look, even Peter was scolded by God. Why? Because Peter opposed the crucifixion, which was the will of God." This is their interpretation. The crucifixion was a predestined course of Jesus. But people do not know that this was after God informed Jesus of his altered mission, which was the crucifixion. This is why Jesus now pursued this altered course and Simon Peter did not know the true heart of God.

In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus made an agonized prayer, saying, "My soul is very sorrowful, even to death." Then he said, "My father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me," -- not only one time, but He prayed three times that most anguished prayer. Also, Jesus said about Judas, his betrayer, "Woe to that man who betrayed the Son of man. You would have been far better off if you had not been born."

Jesus knew that his body represented the physical body of all mankind. Therefore giving up his own body meant giving up the whole of mankind's body. Jesus knew this grim reality as a fact. And yet Jesus paid that price in order to secure the spiritual redemption of mankind by means of the resurrection after his physical death. We must know that the crucifixion of Jesus on the cross was not the original intended will of God.

We must also realize that through the crucifixion on the cross, God and Jesus lost everything. And God lost the 4,000 year foundation of the Messiah, the foundation of faith of Israel. And God lost at that moment John the Baptist, who came upon the face of the earth to straighten the way of the Lord. And his mission was completely in vain. And God knew because of the crucifixion, that the intended mission through the family of Joseph and Mary was not completed. Finally, God knew at that moment that all the disciples that Jesus worked so hard for three years to gather together would run away. At that moment of crucifixion, nothing was there -- nothing -- no nation of Israel, no Jewish faith, no disciples, no family, none at all, no Christianity. There was no redemption; there was no salvation; and there was no beginning, no beginning of Christianity. So there on the cross, salvation was not given.

Today, the Unification Church members must know this truth. Today, Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. We must grimly realize, and rededicate ourselves, knowing first of all, that Jesus did not come to die on the cross. So we must not celebrate a false Christmas in which we believe that Jesus Christ was destined to die on the cross. We must celebrate Christmas as welcoming the birth of the Messiah, the son of God, who came upon the face of the earth to be the realization of God's ideal.

Today, no church, no nation, no group of people, no group of Christians, celebrate Christmas as the birth of the Messiah, the Lord of glory. Therefore, our group must reflect God's celebration of the birth of Christ as the Lord of glory, as an individual, church, nation, representing the world. The salvation of mankind, the salvation of the individual soul, does not come from the cross, but comes from the resurrected Jesus. Through the resurrection alone we have the power of salvation. The beginning of Christianity came after the resurrection when Jesus assembled all the broken pieces into one so that Christianity could begin.

Christians all over the world believe in the Holy Father, Holy Son, and Holy Ghost; this was the reality after the resurrection -- not before. After the resurrection, the Holy Spirit descended at Pentecost. The Son was then in the position of spiritual father; and the Holy Ghost, which has no physical form, has the role of mother spirit. We must know today very clearly, that Jesus Christ, the son of God, the Messiah, did not come to die on the cross. That was not the way to save the world.

Today, it is very shocking when we understand that the people of Israel couldn't believe Jesus. But it is also shocking and really unbelievable that John the Baptist, God's elected prophet, who was sent specifically to straighten the way of the Lord, denied Him. If John the Baptist had not only accepted and witnessed to Jesus Christ as the son of God, but had followed him, becoming his disciple, then their destinies would have coincided. Jesus and John the Baptist would rise together and fall together -- their destiny should have been one, not two. History demonstrates the failure of the mission of John the Baptist.

I would like to add one more thing. There is another reason why Jesus could not be believed, which was that the people expected the arrival of Jesus on the clouds of heaven. When you read Daniel 7:13, it reads, "I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven... the son of man." In other words, Daniel is saying that the coming of Jesus, the son of God, must be on the clouds of heaven. The people expected his arrival on the clouds of heaven; so when Jesus appeared in the flesh it was very difficult to accept him. So at that time, there were arguments among Jesus' disciples and the faithful of Israel. "Well, if your master, Jesus, is the son of God, how could he appear as a man, in the flesh -- impossible! How could he be the son of God? We know him; he is the son of Joseph, the son of Mary. How could he be a son of God? He must come on the clouds of heaven."

Two thousand years ago, the situation was such that the people expected Elijah first; Elijah did not come. They expected Elijah to come from the blue sky; he did not appear in that manner. Again they expected the son of God on the clouds of heaven; this also was not fulfilled. So how could they accept Jesus? On what grounds? Those who believed the letter of the Old Testament not the spirit could miss the whole thing. What they are saying is, "He is a heretic." The Jewish faith never recognized Christianity. Today, we must know the truth, and the truth will make us free.

Then how will the Lord reappear in the last days? We are in a situation exactly parallel to that of the time of Jesus Christ. If we become slaves to the word of the New Testament, instead of the spirit of the New Testament, we would be committing the same crime which the elders, scribes, and Pharisees committed 2,000 years ago. Two thousand years ago, God promised Elijah; but God didn't send him in a miraculous way. He sent him as John the Baptist. Two thousand years ago, God promised the Messiah; but the Messiah did not come on the clouds of heaven. Today, Christians are expecting the arrival of the Lord of the Second Advent on the clouds of heaven. If we are slaves to the letter of the New Testament, we will be in a position to commit the same crime as the Israelites.

When you read Chapters 9, 12, and 16 of Isaiah, they contain prophecies of the glorious Jesus, or the Lord of Glory. Chapter 53 of Isaiah is the prophecy of the suffering Christ. Today there are two prophecies concerning the coming of the Lord of the Second Advent. One is his arrival on clouds of heaven. The second is his arrival as a thief at night. Part of Christianity is saying: "It is convenient for me to accept this prophecy," so they are looking up to heaven. What would they do if the Lord appears suddenly, as a thief at night? Then they would reject him and cause him suffering. Because of their ignorance and crime, the chosen people of Israel have had no nation for 2,000 years of history. A tremendous sacrifice has been paid throughout history. Today's Christianity is in the exact position as the Jewish faith of 2,000 years ago. If we do not recognize the arrival of the Lord of the Second Advent, our destiny will be the same.

God intended to realize His ideal at that point. However, it was not realized. God has been working throughout history, and leading up to another extraordinary moment of history. By this time the extent of the dispensation has increased. However, the method and principle are the same.

Then what is the mission of the Unification Church? We of the Unification Church are preparing the landing pad of the Lord of the Second Advent. The Lord of the Second Advent is coming to bring the fulfillment of perfection -- the perfection of the ideal individual, ideal family, ideal tribe, clan and nation and world. We are his base. The entire world of Christianity is in rapid decline. Their spirit is dead; the church is dead. The time of the Lord of the Second Advent is imminent. Therefore, God is asking one new group to prepare the base. Today we must know that once one recognizes the truth, one must demonstrate absolute loyalty. There is no personal will, because the will of God and the will of the Lord is our will. If he wants us to go in any direction, we go.

The Lord of the Second Advent is coming as a model of perfection of the individual to the world. Therefore, all we have to do is copy his pattern. Then perfection is yours, and your family's perfection, your nation's perfection, and your world's perfection. We must realize that we are living in an important and critical time, and we must be thankful. After 6,000 years of biblical history, God is finally accomplishing perfection of one man. And if Christianity accepts this one perfection as central, then the whole world can be instantly restored. If Christianity takes a position of opposition to this one model of perfection, then the one perfected model has to organize his own foundation on the individual, family, and tribal levels.

Today, the Unification Church is on that road, because Christianity took a position of opposition, instead of welcome. Therefore we are now creating that base as a foundation. We must realize that at the time of Jesus the disciples should have marched toward Rome, because Rome was the hub of the world. By winning Rome, they could win the world. By the same token, today the Unification Church movement -- even though the Christian church is opposed -- is now moving toward the Rome of today. America is the Rome of our world, in the position of Abel [relative good]. Soviet Russia, is in the position of God-denying Rome in the role of Cain [relative evil]. We accept God's ideology and freedom. Those activities of God's people, such as the news media, free speech, and all free organizations, are all protected by law.

Today no one has to shed blood. Without shedding blood, you can accomplish your mission, because we are standing on the foundation of 2,000-year-old Christianity; many Christians paid a price in order to erect that foundation. Once we create a true worldwide base here in America, the Abel-like Rome, then our final showdown will be made with the Rome of Cain, that is the center of the Communist world.

In the three year period 1972-74, we are now mobilizing our entire force and energy, our heart and soul in order to create a beachhead for the Lord. This is the hill of Calvary for all of us. It is not easy -- the tribulation is hard, the test is great, and many people will definitely fall. The prayer of Gethsemane will be our prayer. However, we should not pray, "God, please let this cup pass from me." Rather we will say, "God, use me as your sacrifice; do your will." Then we have a base; we don't have to pray the same prayer Jesus prayed, because Jesus was to die on the cross. But we are in a position to win. Your ambition, your will, and your dedication are your only limits.

Jesus did not have any possibility of avoiding the cross, but we do. We have already avoided it. You don't have to go that path. All we can do is win the victory. Your future is nothing but glory and victory. And if you are completely loyal to the coming Lord of the Second Advent he will bring you, your family, your tribe and your nation into perfection. We must know that we are going through the most critical moment. Even though you are one individual, you represent the entire world; and you are fighting for universal salvation. Your work and dedication is not just for yourself, but is for the entire universe. There is one time in human history when one can be in a position to save one nation, the whole world, and the universe, hence the prediction in the Bible that the coming Christ will rule the world during the millennium.

After 6,000 years of intense searching, God found one true man upon the face of the earth. However, by following him and being obedient to him, you can restore not only yourself but also your family, your tribe, your nation, and the world. This is a most glorious moment in human history. In this age, we must not be self-centered. We must be totally unselfish. If you have such determination and faith, you can not only go beyond the Garden of Gethsemane, you can go beyond the Mount of Calvary and beyond the cross-you shall be victorious.

We are truly living in an extraordinary time in human history. We are in a position to save and liberate Jesus Christ and end his anguish. We can be in a position to liberate even God. We are the ones who can assure God His happiness, His joy, and His peace. We are going to liberate the heart of God and His anguish and sorrow. And by doing so, we are liberating all mankind and its burden and sorrow. Finally we can push the entire satanic realm out of the world. This is normal, because we are bearing our cross as living beings. In our situation complaining could be possible. But we must go beyond that. We must affect a miracle, such that without dying, we can accomplish this goal -- this is the miracle. If you have this faith, this commitment, then when you go, God is with you. His power is yours. God is with me when I have this intent, this faith, and this love. God was with me each step of my way. The same God shall be with you.

God has been working with Jesus at each step with such absolute intensity. Today, the same God who has been following Jesus is following you; and the same intensity can be with you. We all are standing at the top of the pinnacle. We must bravely march forward. Then all obstacles will be shattered. All evil elements will no longer have power. We need one nation as a base. As soon as we have one nation as the base for the heavenly dispensation, the world will be easier to win. If America becomes that first nation in the dispensation, the rest of the world will be instantly restored. Are all of you American citizens? For those of you who are not legally American citizens it makes no difference; you are here as American people to save this nation. And you are even to do more than American citizens, because you came as champions from other lands.

So today is December 25,1973. There are many million people celebrating Christmas. But no other people, no organization is celebrating Christmas in our spirit. We know for what purpose Jesus was born, for what purpose he worked, and what was the real meaning of the crucifixion. All these things are now no longer dark for us -- we are in the light. Now the whole world is singing Christmas carols and having tremendous parties and banquets. But here your celebration under this humble roof in this small room -- is where God and the hope of Jesus is dwelling.

Do you know that point is this place? And the hope of God is centered upon this particular occasion. This is the occasion that all the saints, apostles, righteous people, those martyred people are anxiously looking forward to. So you are in an envious position. You must feel closeness with Jesus Christ -- skin to skin, face to face, heart to heart. If Jesus Christ in person was here, he would be more than happy, more than joyous to embrace you, each one of you. Jesus is in the position of our elder brother. We are the only people who truly understand the heart of Jesus, the anguish of Jesus, and the hope of Jesus. So if we celebrate Christmas in the truest sense, then the whole heavenly salvation is with us.

Our three years, 1972, 1973, and 1974 -- this three-year ministry is equivalent to Jesus' three year public ministry 2,000 years ago. As you know, we are in the middle of the Day of Hope tour in 21 American cities. We have completed two-thirds of it. This represents 200 years of American history and also it is equivalent to the three seven-year courses of our Unification Church members, which make 21. We are now creating a firm foundation, so that we can successfully conclude the second seven-year course. Then we can launch a most victorious and dramatic third seven-year course.

And I know that in America, Mr. Moon will be known all over. In less than two years, actually in just one full year, we have done so much. There are many things going on behind the scenes which will be made public much later in history; we cannot do it now. But I want you to know that God is working in all directions. And we have erected foundations in Korea, Japan, and Free China (Taiwan). On those foundations, for which our members truly shed sweat and blood we can now launch this worldwide movement here in America. Now we come to the moment, when even in one day, we can truly change the course of history in America and the world. Under adverse conditions, we erected those foundations for the worldwide movement.

All the Little Angels, little girls, tiny faces are here. They do not know the true meaning of this day. However, these girls are blessed, and they are going to be blessed, and grow up in blessing, and they shall be great women, leaders of the world.

We will have a performance at the United Nations General Assembly Hall, which is unprecedented in history. The Little Angels are going to be the stars on that stage; and for this occasion, the whole of North Korea, along with the entire Communist world is really embarrassed and shocked. However, that whole formidable Communist world is being threatened by these little girls. You know, actually, a weapon is meaningless; no matter how good a weapon is, how good a machine gun is, how good a gun is -- it is meaningless. It is only as good as the marksman; the person behind it is the problem, because that rifleman is the person who can put a bullet through the bull's-eye. These little girls are like bullets of love. The important thing is with what spirit we are firing them. Our purpose is different, and the universal goal is there. So on a pure, genuine, and universal scale, this program has been launched -- this is what is important.

In the future, I may create our own people who will create all artistic forms; they can master it in the spirit of the Divine Principle. And they can do it in a matter of a few years. The leadership of the Little Angels, whether they realize it or not, are connected with this program. Whether this is happiness or unhappiness is up to them. They can make it either absolute happiness, or they can make it absolute unhappiness. However, once this is accomplished, I hope they realize the significance of this occasion, so that they can make this occasion one of great happiness.

After the 21-city Day of Hope tour is over, I will come back to Belvedere. I will work behind you. So be ready for that day. You won't have day, you won't have night. All 24 hours, just working for one purpose. Look forward with great anticipation -- I want you to have great anticipation. In the year 1974 formidable and great and extraordinary things will happen. And on this extraordinary occasion I don't want you to be just observers. I want you to be actors. Which would you prefer? Would you want to be just a bystander, or an actor? [ACTOR!]

I want you to be different from the apostles of Jesus. From God's standpoint, one saw despondent disciples of Jesus, disillusioned and weak. God is looking at you young people, with shining eyes, charged with determination -- and He sees an entirely different group, because we are involved in a different mission, and we are in a different age. God looks at Jesus' army 2,000 years ago -- despondent, retreating, sacrificing, shedding blood, etc. But today God is looking at you -- at the glowing army, glorious, shining, filled with commitment, winning one victory after another. I want you to be such leaders and champions. Would you like to be that? [YES!]

I have been speaking to you today on the Christmas day, 1973, on the topic "Christmas In Heart." Think about it -- for 2,000 years Christmas has been celebrated in one way, but now you are celebrating Christmas in a unique way. This is the time we are inheriting the mission of Jesus Christ himself. He is now handing over the credentials to you, so that he is asking you to bravely charge forward into the world and fulfill the mission that Jesus Christ left undone 2,000 years ago. In every respect we are ready. Because we know we have truth. You know more than anybody else in this world about Jesus -- his life, his anguish, his hope, and his death, and the mission He left undone. So we now inherit the victorious stand upon which we can bring perfection.

First of all, we must be thankful and grateful that God summoned us, this feeble body, this feeble spirit, and made us champions in spite of this feeble spirit and body, to use in this unprecedented history. It is wonderful; we must be thankful this day. And secondly, we must give our pledge to God that we shall fulfill the expected mission. This is a most wonderful, formidable occasion, on which we celebrate Christmas 1973. We celebrate this Christmas in heart.

Scanned by Hans-Juergen Hutzfeld, 14.01.2008-Duesseldorf.

Forgive, Love, Unite

Sun Myung Moon
November 30, 1973

Appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, and many other newspapers

Ever since I was 16 years old, I have constantly encountered the presence of God. I have been able to share with the world numerous insights that He has shown me. On January 1, 1972, God spoke to me again in my prayers. He told me to go to America and speak to the American people about hope and unification.

In obedience to God's call, I came and began the Day of Hope tour. In 1972 I took this message to seven American cities. The current nationwide speaking tour began in Carnegie Hall, New York, on October 1, 1973, and will go to 21 American cities, declaring a message of hope and unification.

After New York, I spoke in Baltimore, Philadelphia, Boston, Washington, D.C., New Orleans, Dallas, Tampa and Atlanta. The kind welcome I received in these great American cities deeply moved me. I am especially grateful to the mayors and other officials who responded by proclaiming "The Day of Hope and Unification" in their communities.

My travels in America have shown me a troubled land. The moral and spiritual decline is tragic and shocking. Many people are no longer proud to be Americans. The American nation seems mortally wounded in spirit and soul by the tragedy of Watergate. We are witnessing a crisis probably unprecedented in American history. The situation is very serious.

It is more than a political, social, and economic crisis. It is a crisis of the human soul. This is not only the problem of the man in the White House; it is a crisis for all of us.

On November 10, 1973, I took two weeks out from my tour and returned to Korea. I used that time for prayer and meditation in a desperate search for an answer and new hope for America.

Today we hear so much about America's troubles -- what is wrong and who is to blame, what should be done and what cannot be done. Vicious accusation is becoming a daily staple in the American diet. Hatred and bitterness are killing the human soul. Some people cry out "Impeach the President." Opinion is divided, and the people talk on. Should the President remain in office? Should the President resign or be tried?

We were all witnesses to America's assassination of her President, John F. Kennedy in 1963. But today, without many realizing it, America is in the process of slowly killing her President once again.

A bullet killed Kennedy, yet the nation united in a common feeling of sorrow and repentance.

This time the "bullet" of hatred and accusation is capable of destroying not only the President, but the nation with him in a war of hatred, no one is the winner.

All thinking American people feel grave concern for the future of their country. Some even believe America has been struck a fatal blow. However, at this critical moment in American history it is disappointing and strange that no one is asking, "What is the will of God?" If America was conceived as "One Nation under God," then the answer must come from Him. Have we stopped asking?

I bend my head and place my ear upon the heartbeat of America. I hear no one seeking the solution from above. We keep on criticizing and the nation sinks; we criticize some more and the nation falls even farther, deep into greater peril. Now is the time for America to renew the faith expressed in her motto "In God We Trust" This is the founding spirit that makes America great and unique. God blessed America because of this spirit. Furthermore, America is fulfilling a vital role in God's plan for the modern world. God is depending on America today. Therefore, the crisis for America is a crisis for God. An answer must come from above, from God, from the one who has the answer. I have prayed to God earnestly, asking Him to reveal His message.

The answer came. The first word God spoke was "Forgive."

America must forgive. Whatever wrongs have been done, whatever mistakes are being made, and America has a noble deed to perform. America must forgive. The Watergate affair is an error: not only the error of a few men, but the error of humanity, the error of the American people. The Lord's Prayer says, "Forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors." If we want God to forgive us, we have to forgive each other first.

The Watergate is not merely a test of the President. The Watergate is a test of America's faith. How will this nation stand before God in the midst of moral crisis? Can this nation, which was founded 200 years ago based on Christian tradition, uphold that same tradition today? Can this nation prove its generosity and mutual forgiveness? Can it love? This is the test for the American people. Long ago the American settlers on the New England shores made many grave mistakes. But with their trust in God they came through many crises. They could then lead America to prosperity.

The Bible speaks of the time the scribes and Pharisees tested Jesus. They brought him a woman to be stoned. She had been caught in the act of adultery. Mosaic Law demanded retributive justice. But Jesus' message was forgiveness. "He stood up and said to them.'Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.'... But when they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the eldest, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. Jesus looked up and said to her, 'Woman. Where are they? Has no one condemned you?' She said. 'No one, Lord.' And Jesus said, 'Neither do I condemn you: Go. And do not sin again.'" (John 8:3-12) Nobody dared to cast the first stone!

Who among you will be the one to cast the first stone? This is no time to cast stones upon your leader. This is no time to cast stones upon one another.

I have been praying specifically for President Richard Nixon. I asked God. "What shall we do with the person of Richard Nixon?" The answer did come again. The second word God spoke to me was "Love. It is your duty to love him." We must love Richard Nixon. Jesus Christ loved even his enemies. Must you not love your President?

What do you do when a member of your family is in trouble? Do you criticize him and tear him apart? Of course not. You guide him. You comfort him. You love him unconditionally. You belong to the American family, and Richard Nixon is your brother. Will you not then love your brother? You must love the President of the United States.

This nation is God's nation. The office of the President of the United States is, therefore, sacred. God inspired a man and then confirms him as President through the will of the people. He lays his hands on the word of God and is sworn into office. At this time in history God has chosen Richard Nixon to be President of the United States of America. Therefore God has the power and authority to dismiss him. Our duty and this alone, is that we deeply seek God's guidance in this matter and support the office, itself. If God decides to dismiss this choice of His, let us have faith that He will speak.

I continued in prayer, and the third and last word God spoke to me was "Unite." America must unite.

Let us unite in the spirit of forgiveness. Unite in the spirit of love. Now is the time for national repentance. Love is the power to unite. America once knew how to come together to create a powerful nation for goodness upon the face of the earth. America is a beautiful land to behold, a nation of all nationalities, all races, and all religions united together into one working whole. The source of power has been love and faith in God and in one another.

The crisis in America today can be overcome. We must rekindle our faith in God and reunite ourselves in love. America's destiny is inseparable from the destiny of the world. America's well-being affects the plan of God. God chose this nation as His champion in his modern day dispensation. With the bicentennial celebration a few years away, God is testing America through the Watergate problem. America must demonstrate unity in love and forgiveness. Let us renew our faith in God, for this has been the wellspring of America's power. America must live the will of God. She has no alternative.

Who am I to say this to the American people? I am not even a citizen of the United States. I am a Korean, a guest.

However, I do this because I love America as much as my own country. This is a country God loves. And I love God and He is our Father in heaven. Wherever God my Father dwells, there is my country. Indeed, the Father's country is also the son's. America belongs to those who love it most. I am as concerned for America's well-being as for my own. This is the foundation of my courage to speak out on this issue.

Furthermore, I waited. I waited long. I anticipated that some great American spiritual leader or evangelist would rally America around God above the Watergate at this stormy and depressing time.

However, there has been no American spiritual leader speaking out for unity. I heard no articulate voice in the wilderness crying this to Americans. By this time, God spoke to me again, "Fear not! Remember Jonah in Ninevah. Speak out!" and I obeyed.

And this is why I am doing this.

As Founder of the Unification Church International, I have declared the next 40 days, starting December 1. 1973, as a period of prayer and fasting by our members all over the world.

In this we are determined to awaken our nation to this national emergency. America must unite in her Christian tradition of love and forgiveness in the face of the grave crisis created by the Watergate. We hereby launch this National Prayer and Fast for the Watergate Crisis as the only way to heal and unite this nation.

This is indeed the day of dismay and moral crisis. Yet, this is also a great opportunity for America, an opportunity in which the American people can demonstrate America's true greatness in faith and courage. Historically, great peoples have proved their greatness not during normal situations hut in crises.

This is the time the American people must act as a great people who put trust in God. Then this day will he a day of new hope and unification.

"In God We Trust." In these four words lie America's key to survival and prosperity. America must live the will of God, and God's command at this crossroads in American history is Forgive, Love, and Unite!

Sun Myung Moon
Founder. Unification Church International

Modern Science and Mans View of Moral Values

Sun Myung Moon
November 18-21, 1973
The Second International Conference on the Unity of the Sciences
Modern Science and Moral Values
The Imperial Hotel Tokyo, Japan
Closing Address

May I extend my heartfelt congratulations on the very successful Second International Conference on the Unity of the Sciences where today's great scientists are present. I feel greatly honored to have the opportunity of making some brief remarks at the close of this conference held in the most modern city of the Orient -- Tokyo, Japan.

First of all, my deepest admiration and gratitude go to the eminent professors of the executive committee who rendered such painstaking efforts to hold the conference and make it a success. Please allow me to express my profound respect and appreciation to this committee, who decided to adopt the subject of "Modern Science and Moral Values" as the theme of the conference, and especially to the professors who in response to the invitation have deeply researched on the respective topics that have been brought forth and discussed with positive enthusiasm.

Once again, I want to extend my deepest congratulations to and appreciation of this epoch making conference. I am going to express my views about the theme under the topic of "Modern Science and Man's View of Moral Values." I suppose that the conference adopted and handled the question of science and moral values because the situation in today's society urgently demands the handling of such issues which, I am sure, have been thoroughly discussed here. I think not only myself but also many other people have the impression that modern science now shows undesirable side effects even though it has so far contributed tremendously to promoting the welfare of mankind with unceasing and outstanding development. As I see it, men of today are losing their subjectivity over science and it looks as though man's ability to control scientific technology, which he himself has developed, is gradually being weakened. If this situation persists it would be difficult for us to guarantee against any undesirable situation which may arise in the near future.

The reason for man's loss of subjectivity is that science, by nature, is apt to allow scientists to exclude the questions of humanity and man's moral values in the process of scientific development. As time elapsed, science has gradually fractionated with each field becoming more and more specialized, inclining to be more analytical and materialistic, utterly ignoring the questions of morality or values. Thus, man's subjectivity and dominion over science began to be either weakened or lost. I am sure it is not erroneous to think that out of many possible motivations of scientific research the ultimate and most important one is no doubt to realize man's common welfare, prosperity and peace. Nevertheless, as the fields of science became more subdivided and the methods more analytical, its development deviated from the right direction which is towards a state of moral value in which man's common welfare can be guaranteed. Men originally expected and anticipated the common welfare and happiness of man, who is in the subject position over the environment. But on the contrary, scientific achievements have so far resulted in the improvement and development of the environment and new means of life which are in the object position to man. That is to say, while man's original desire was for science to achieve the welfare of man who is the subject, scientific achievements have appeared as the improvement and development of the environment which is the object. This unconformity and discrepancy between man's desire and scientific achievement finally caused the weakening or loss of man's subjectivity. However, it is desirable for science to deal with the question of man's subjectivity as well as the objective problems such as the improvement of the environment and the development of the means of life. My ardent wish is that all scientists develop their respective fields on the basis of a solid view of moral values thus exalting human dignity by adopting also the spiritual and unified method as well as the materialistic and analytical one. If we had created the climate of science centered on human dignity the formidable problem of pollution would have been prevented.

Here arises the question of man's original image, that is, man's nature. My view is that man's original image is the harmonious oneness between his mind and body. The original man should be a being of unity and harmony between his spirit and body centered on the purpose of goodness or value. I view the original character of science as embodying in unity the two sides of spirit and body resembling man. This means that science should assume a unified character dealing also with the field of moral value. It may be appropriate to call this synthesized science "Cultural Science" However, in order for science to handle this view of moral value, another question of what should be the standard of value appears. In general, the standard of value has changed according to age and environment. There is a vast difference between the standard of value in the ancient times and that of the modern age. And again the standard of value in the Orient differs from that of the Occident. Therefore, to establish a true standard of value for the common benefit and welfare of all mankind we cannot but set up as the standard some universal and absolute element that can apply at any time and any place. The establishment of this absolute standard signifies the establishment of a new view of moral value. 'Me essence of this absolute standard should be the love which makes the basis of the ethics of the family system. This is because the true love in the ethical relationship of the family is an absolute love-agape love-which emits heartwarming joy to all mankind just as the sun emits its light to all creation. And this love alone has never changed through history whether in the East or West. At this point we can think of the one absolute being who is the only subject of this absolute love. I believe it is most desirable for this absolute being to become the ultimate standard of the new view of value.

In my view, this absolute being is not at all any conceptual being but rather a substantial entity which has hitherto revealed Himself throughout human history. We know that in history many sages and saints including so many religious leaders have appeared in different times and in different places. These people, without exception, appealed to the human conscience and heart urging the practice of love. When men responded and followed their teachings the people and nations enjoyed peace and prosperity but when they were obstinate they fell into confusion or decline. Even today the whole of mankind is in confusion and chaos waiting either consciously or unconsciously for the appearance of modem sages and saints to realize this love. All these facts signify that history has developed in the direction to realize this love. Therefore we cannot but realize that in history there has been one central axis functioning consciously in a certain direction. I want to define this substantial being who has played the role of the axis as the "Absolute Being." We can see that behind the scenes of human history this Absolute Being has planned to establish the world of moral values by actualizing the love through the saints, righteous men and conscientious leaders. Accordingly my conclusion is that if the whole of mankind will accept this Absolute Being as the axis of human history the world of moral values will be realized without difficulty.

Lastly I extend my heartfelt wishes that the wonderful presentation of your research and discussions at this conference will produce epoch making results to contribute to the true peace and prosperity of mankind. Thank you very much.

On Leadership

Sun Myung Moon
November 9, 1973
Atlanta Directors Conference
Translated by Won Pok Choi

I appreciate your painstaking efforts to make our speech tour successful. You are representing the heavenly side appointed to important roles. Whether or not you are carrying out your mission will decide our success. So my topic this morning concerns the person in charge of the group.

"A leader" means a central figure. If you are in the center, playing the role of the central figure, you must not be inclined to one side or the other. The central figure will decide the balance of all those placed in different directions. In order for you to be able to keep that balance, you as the central figure must stand up straight and be balanced yourself. You must be like an upright tree. If the trunk is straight, the branches extending to every direction will be well balanced. And the roots are also affected. So in a word, you must not be inclined to just one side; you must keep good balance.

You will be getting information from all directions, and you must not be too attentive to one side, neglecting what is coming from the other side. You must be good listeners, and you must be able to analyze and criticize in the best way. First of all, you must be good listeners so that you can judge correctly. Those who are under your leadership will live or die dependent upon one word coming from you.

However unhealthy a branch may be, it should shoot out towards heaven, towards the sky; so you must nourish those under you well. In order for you to be entitled to scold the people under you once, you must appreciate ten things they are doing right, and then point out two or three things they have lacking. If you just strike them for what they have not done right, they will be broken. The problem is how, for instance, with 20 people under you, you are relied upon and trusted. In order for you to be liked or loved by them, you must love them first of all.

Again, I must say that you are the trunk of the tree. Over many things, you are the one who must be responsible. Seen from that standpoint, we must sincerely say that anyone who is in the leader's position does not exist for himself. You are apt to dwell on your authority as the leader. However, the authority of the leader must not be set up by you yourself, but by those people under you. If you think of yourself as powerful and authoritative, that is not the right feeling. You must rely on others, your members, and it is they who must think of you as a powerful leader, an authoritative leader.

In the local churches, this is always the problem. You must know that authority is decided upon by your members, not by yourself. The people around you or under you will estimate your power highly because of the deeds you have done. Your utterances, your heart, your acts -- there must not be a difference between what you say and what you do. In speaking, too, you must not speak of two things at the same time. You must not be saying two things different from each other, or opposite to each other. So those three -- heart, action, and words -- must be in accordance with each other.

For instance, I give words when you are invited to the training course, or gatherings like that; and then you go back to your own posts, and you convey the message to your members. Then you must not only convey the message to the members, but act it out. What you are instructed by the central figure, or your leader, will be something like in the case of Noah when he was told by God to build the Ark. You receive the message from Master, and you convey it to your members. But if you don't act it out, the words will be valueless.

You are the trunk, and you must have the branches upward like this, as close as possible to the trunk. If you don't carry out your mission as you are instructed, it means that you have your branches scattered and far apart. The branch tips must be headed for heaven, the sky. When you transmit the message from Master, you must always dwell upon what he said and remind yourself of the message again and again in prayer and before acting.

In order for you to grow, you must have nourishment from the soil and from the air. The roots will absorb the nourishment from the soil, and the leaves must absorb the nourishment from the air, sunlight, and everything else. The roots represent your members. The leaves mean things coming from the spirit side. So without those helps coming from above and beneath, you cannot stand up straight. You are in the center, and you must get cooperation from the members under you and from the spirit side, or you cannot stand up straight, well-nourished and healthy.

Leaders are in a more or less dreadful position. I as the leader have sometimes been afraid of my being apt to commit mistakes. However authoritative and powerful I may be, if I don't get the balance from beneath and from above with myself in the center, my work will be a failure. For instance, I always prepare before going out on the stage to speak. I have gone through many speeches by now, so I know the contents by heart.

But the most difficult and important problem is how to be one with my words and how to be one with God in heart. And I want to be truthful in uttering the words, and when I do that, my spirit goes out to the audience, projecting that spirit to the hearts of the people. Nothing will result or come into being without a cause. You must be enthusiastic, you must be full of heart in giving words to the people, or else your words cannot move their hearts. You will see how important your words are.

If the listeners are attentive to what you say and absorb your words, it will change their lives. And if they fail to receive these words, they are destined for hell. It is a grave matter. You must be responsible about what you say. If you don't have God standing before you, whatever you say will be a failure. If you have God standing before you, then you as the instrument will be the spokesman through whom God can speak. Then what you say will be fruitful, and if it is going to be a failure, then God will take the responsibility for that, and not you. If you speak with the heart of God, even though your utterances may be the stumbling block to the people, you will not bear the responsibility -- heaven will do that.

If you as the leader speak out, and you forget about your being the instrument through whom God is speaking, then what you say will sometimes be fruitful, but mostly it will not be fruitful. And in that case, those who fail to receive the words will accuse you of your mistakes to eternity. If you are like that, however hard you may struggle to win members, you will fail to win them. And even though you win the members, they will fall away easily. So you leaders are in the position to be judged before anyone else.

I speak every evening, but my feeling before going out onto the stage is that of a criminal before being executed. I am that serious every time. I feel so grave because I know that multitudes of lives will depend on me. If I am God-centered, and God is with me, and myriads of saints are helping me out, then I speak fluently. And not only do I speak fluently, but what I say will be fruitful in the hearts of the people. If not, then not only the audience present at the meeting, but their descendants also, will accuse me of failure.

If you, as the leaders, are not able to carry out your mission, your descendants will be affected, too. So you are in a dreadful position. It is something like you are walking on razor blades. That is the position of the leaders. Whenever I have someone who says that he has something to inform me of, then I am worried. After hearing about something unsuccessful, I think that I might have caused that man to fail, something like that. You must love and care for your members, and day and night you must be thinking of them, praying for them, and seeking to nurture them.

God is the Center. And in leading the people, you are in the position of the center. Then the person in the center must be giving out all the time. You must invest your whole being one hundred percent, and then you can expect a good outcome. Without giving to them, you cannot expect any crops from the people. You may be without a penny. You may not have material things to give them, but you have heart. By giving your heart, you are not going to lose anything. You must always be conscious of your living for the members under you. So if you are given rich things to eat, you must be thinking of your members first; and if you have good things to put on, you must be thinking of them first; and if you have a good place to sleep, you must be thinking of your members first.

After three years of your leadership, some will be successful and some will be failures. And those who failed to carry out their missions will have a headache. After having long been a leader, you are apt to criticize people without your carrying out your own mission. You will easily order other people to do something, but you will not do things yourself. My philosophy is to do things myself, and then to let others do them. The principle is simple: you sleep in a humbler place, you eat poorer things, and you wear poorer clothing. Leaders will have many opportunities to appear in public scenes, so your members will be considerate and have you put on good clothing and look nice, and that is what your members should do for you, not you for yourself.

Our movement's future and whether or not we will prosper in the United States will solely depend on you as the leaders. Even in case what you are doing is successful, you must not be boastful of your being successful, because the success did not come because of you, but because of the members. You must be thankful to God and to the members for their cooperation. Without that notion in your mind, you cannot progress. You must hate to be indebted to your members, and you must endeavor to have them indebted to you.

If you as the leader find yourself being indebted to the members, you must retreat from that position -- that is far better. If you go on like that in the same role, then God will strike you. You will be a failure, and you will feel disgraced before the members. You must really experience all those things. And you know too well whether or not you are indebted to the members, don't you? If you are indebted to the members, you must repay it. That is why you must be running in the vanguard of all the rest of your family, and you must work harder than they, and you must have poorer things to enjoy. You cannot go on all by yourself, so you must get the cooperative power pushing you ahead.

In the Bible we read, "Love your God with all your might, all your sincerity, all your soul. There is no commandment excelling that." It sounds simple. Whether you are indebted to others or have them indebted to you will decide your success or failure. First of all, you as the leader must give your members words. And you must next show them the way. Then you must exemplify how to live, how to live the words, the truth. You must have your members always feeling like jotting down what you say. What you say should be so important to them that they feel like writing it down. And you must be able to get the cooperation from your members because you are working so hard that they feel like helping you all the way. And you must have your members follow your example because they feel you are always acting out what you say.

The way I instruct my members is always this: when you are given gifts, don't touch it, and think it over because you are apt to be not qualified enough to have that. In case you use it and take it for granted, then it is poisonous to you. If the person who is giving you the gift has poured out one hundred percent sincerity and love there, and you receive it with ten percent of that person's love, then the rest of the ninety percent will accuse you, and the heavenly fortune coming to you will retreat from you. When you are given a gift, you must offer it, dedicate it to God first, and be given from Him.

Your members are pouring out their energy, sweat, blood, and everything in making money by selling flowers and other things. And then if you use the money, taking it for granted it is a sin. If you tell your people to do this and that without yourselves working more than they do, then you are liable to judgment. Always be conscious that the money is not for you, but for the public, for all the family. So if you have money, you must first of all use the money for the public purpose. In using money for myself, I am very stingy. I have never entered one of the tea rooms. I have never eaten lunch for myself. In order to take my members to the restaurants, I would go; but otherwise, I wouldn't. But when I use money for the public purpose, I am not stingy, I am generous. I am ready to use many times as much money as needed. My philosophy is that I use the money I earn myself.

The factories and many enterprises we have in Korea, even though the persons responsible for those factories would go to sleep early and get up late in the morning, I would go to sleep late and get up earlier than they. I would visit the place and instruct those people every day. The round trip between the headquarters in Korea and Sootaek-Ri takes three hours. I established the record of having visited three times a day. I would visit there once a day at least to those places; twice was very common. That is because I wanted to pour out my energy and heart into the businesses. Unless I pour out my energy and heart into the business, if I am going to use the money coming out of the business, I am a thief.

For instance, when I speak, I know that using the microphone I can speak just in a soft tone. But my philosophy is to have to sweat when I speak. A stream of perspiration just pours down my back. In speaking, I am pouring out my heart to be planted in the hearts of others. You must weep when you speak. I am using the interpreter, so it bars the way. But if I am speaking in English or Korean, there are many places where I have to weep. I must have the feeling of a man being drowned and asking for help. I am that serious, so before going on the stage to speak, I prepare my heart instead of preparing the manuscript. So you can imagine how grave and serious I am when I talk. If you are like that, cooperation will come from the heavenly side, and it will touch the hearts of your audience.

In giving lectures, don't just memorize and utter the words, but pour out the heart through the lecture. If you are going to have people spellbound, you will sometimes yell and pour out your soul into the souls of the others. What you are doing is something like that, and it will penetrate the hearts of the listeners. When I do this, the listeners will speechlessly fall back.

Without cause, there will be no result. You as the cause must be powerful in order to influence the people. You are in the position of the subject. You are in the position of the center. And you must be zealous to carry out your mission. As the leader, how many times did you wake up early in the morning, earlier than other people and jump out of bed, and almost at the thresh hold you prayed before God that your faith that day would be fruitful? In the doorway, how many times have you been waiting for the people to come? Have you been working like that? You must imagine that there are many souls waiting for you to reach out to them, and you must be anxious to meet those people. You must remember the biblical verses, "Seek and it shall be given; knock and it shall be opened to you."

Without witnessing to as many people as you planned, how can you go to bed, lying down with easy hearts? You must not feel like going to bed in pajamas. In that case, I would sleep just as you are, with your clothes on. In beginning to pray, I would fall asleep, but I would never feel like getting into the bed. We cannot afford to relax like that. If you have new members, you must be praying hard for them, and then you will be given visions and dreams about them. And the next day you can tell them that they have such and such disadvantages, and things like that, and they will be awakened to the fact. Many times you will be able to predict things, and when you point out the fact that a person is thinking this or that in his heart, that person would be astonished and would ask you, "How do you know?" "When I prayed, I saw it." And he will be thankful that you are so concerned about him and take such care of him. In light of all these things, you must judge your own selves.

Wherever you are, wherever you go, you must be with God. You must have your God stand before you, and follow Him. It is a very difficult thing to be leaders. On the spiritual level, you are responsible over the lives of the two hundred million population of the United States. If you are appointed to be responsible over one state, your responsibility is to let every one in the state know that you are there at least. Within these three years, my task is to let the people of the United States know that I am here. I am so anxious to reach out to the people with the message; and thanks to God, the mass communication world are focusing their attention on me.

The mobile team members have the responsibility to let the people of their cities know; every one above seven years old must know that we are here for them. I am anxious to let the people of America know that I am here within the period of three years. It is for that that I sent the state representatives and mobile teams into each state. First of all, we must let the people know that we are here with the message, and then our next job is to set them in the right direction. That is why I need you, and they need you.

You must tell them the direction. You must go in the direction yourself. And you must act out what you say. People have the sense of comparison, so if they know that what we are saying is the truth, and by joining our movement they will gain something, they will join our movement. For instance, when the state representatives have visitors, in the visitors' eyes, would you be living in heaven so that they would envy your way of living, and they will see light shining out from you?

The first-comers must find in you what is lacking in their own parents, and something that is more than the members under you have, more than their teachers in the world. If the people see that you are living in good harmony and unity, and you have something they don't have, then they will be attracted to you. If there is trouble between the leader and the members, you cannot attract the people. There must not be disharmony between the mobile team commanders and the state representatives. If there is disharmony between the commander and the members, or the state representative and the members, it is always those in the leader's position who will take the responsibility.

If you find a certain member, a certain element causing disharmony among the group, you must have the heart of the Father, and call the person in secret and take him out to one of the restaurants or to one of the theaters, and after giving him something good, then you must talk with him and discuss the matter. Then he will come to like you, he will come to love you, and you are in the position of the Parents. And wouldn't your children want to follow you wherever you go? You must create that kind of atmosphere in your family. You must be able to create that kind of feeling in the hearts of your members, so that they will like you from the bottom of their heart, and serve you from the bottom of their heart.

Here is another important thing for you to carry out, to bear in mind: as the leader, when you hear something from A, you must not convey it to B. If one of your members has committed some mistakes, you must keep it to yourself, without publicizing it. It will defame your own family. When the family is defamed, the central figure, the leader, is always responsible, and must take the responsibility for that. In ordinary daily life, it will not be too conspicuous. But if you go on a trip, or if you are in a difficult situation together with the members, the members will find out whether or not you are a qualified leader right there.

Especially on the international mobile teams, when you have to pack every day and move about from place to place, then your disposition and your qualifications will become very conspicuous. Even the leaders will not like the idea of having to move about from place to place too often. If you don't like that, you must be sympathetic with the members. You must pray for them from the bottom of your heart.

You must share the difficulties of your members, and you must console their hearts when they are in trouble. And you must encourage them, without just giving them commands and scolding them or punishing them when they fail to do something. I appointed American members as the commanders and the SR's. And in your team, especially in the international mobile teams, there are many members from all nationalities. And you must be, as an American, responsible over them.

It is under my command that they are here working for this nation. They are, in a way, guests, and you are the hosts. How can you ill-treat them? You cannot roar at them, you cannot scold them; you can never do that. If they don't move properly, why don't you go ahead and move yourself in their vanguard. They will be touched, and then they will move following your example.

For the white members, I warn you to be nicer than anyone else to the Negro people when they come here. You must be humble to them. Those who are underprivileged and those who have been trampled upon are apt to be hurt very easily. It happened a few days ago, that one of our members encouraged a Negro woman with a baby to be seated in the rear, and she was hurt and left. And I thought that she could instead have taken care of the child, babysat the child, and let the mother hear the speech. The information was that she got hurt and left. Then those people will not return. And who can be responsible for the life of that woman and child? It is an important problem. The life of a man is so important that you must take good care of it. Your life is dear to you; then the lives of other people are dear to them. You must know that.

In witnessing to the people, you must not discriminate against old people or black people. You don't know who is connected with them, and who is in their ancestry. And in witnessing to the people, you must be fair to all the people. Young people being more absorbent, more touchable, will come in more numbers.

I am the central figure of the Unification Church, but I have never once thought of myself as the authoritative and most powerful one, being able to do anything I please to my members. In what way heaven will judge me is always the important problem to me. And if I don't take good care of the members, always loving them and caring for them, they will leave me sooner or later. In my prayer, I cling to Father and pray that He will give me strength to love my people, and if I am indebted to my members, I know that our movement will not progress further. I, as the leader of the group, must have the members indebted to me, not I to them. You must be cooperative among yourselves as the leaders first, and then have your members indebted to you instead of your being indebted to them. Creation is to invest your whole energy and whole being in those in the object position.

If you have 40 to 100 members under you, you must at least be praying for three hours every morning for them. Have you done that? You must take care of them as you would your own children. In the night when you wake up, you must look around and cover them with blankets if they are cold. You should be nurturing them as carefully as though they were plants, using fertilizer or nourishments, and watering the plants; if you are not doing that, they will not grow properly.

For seven years from the early days of our movement, I wouldn't sleep at night. I would sit up the whole night nurturing the members and giving them truth to raise them. I wanted to sleep; I was tired. Still, I wouldn't. So many times I had a nose bleed from exhaustion. Still, I would just talk on and on. My eyes would get red, and I could not look up at the sun in full daylight. If there is God at all, He could not but be sympathetic with me.

From our surroundings would come persecution; and in the tribulation and hardships, I was imprisoned many times. And in the midst of all those difficulties, I would just think of the members and pray for them. What do you call it: when you are too tired, there is a sore that comes out on your tongue? (Canker sores, sores on your tongue.) I had sores on my tongue. You just don't know what I went through in those days. Because I had such attitude and made such efforts, even the newcomers, when they came, would just weep before me. Sobbing, they would confess what they had gone through in their past.

It is no coincidence that your members are under you, and in the background there is historical power working and their ancestry working. If you fail to nurture them and make them solid members, then if they fall back, the whole ancestry of those people will accuse you. For some of the early members, their ancestors would appear in their dreams or visions and bow down before me, and they would be awakened to the fact that I am such a person. The spirit men are all anxious to have their descendants be strong members in our movement, to set up good deeds in our movement, because in that way they will be elevated to the next standard. Heaven will not be cheated; you cannot tell a lie to God; it cannot be hidden.

Those who are in the leader's position must play the role of servants to the rest of your family. Think of your own parents; they served you all the way. If you fail to do that as a leader, putting yourself in the position of parents, you cannot go on taking the job. But if you are a parent to them, you cannot but have your members increase.

During the first seven-year course, I would not wear this kind of suit. I wore just a shirt for several years, and then I would wear a sport jacket. And it is only some ten years ago that I began to wear a gentlemen's suit. I wanted to experience the hearts of the laborers by myself being in that position; and I wanted to experience the hearts of the middle class people and the upper class people by myself experiencing those same things.

If you visit the small mud hut I built myself in Korea, you will find it to be such a miserable hut that you cannot quite call it a house. In those days, I would wear Korean "paji," Korean trousers, and an American G.I. shirt. And I didn't have a pair of shoes; my shoes were not mates. My way of living was lower than that of pigs. In that situation, I prayed in tears for the presidents and top-level people. Through my prayers, I would have them indebted to me. And they are in the position to repay me. If they don't repay me, heaven will snatch away what they have and give it to us. I was not anxious to elevate my standard of living, but God would have me do that.

The staff members of our church would come to me weeping and begged me to permit them to buy a house for me, and I told them to give me the money, that I had places to use the money. But God did not scold me or punish me for that. God's blessing over me would be doubled or tripled or more. All through my life, I have never thought of building my own house, or buying one. Only after having bought the churches and the houses for the members, then I think it is my turn to buy my own house or build one. When I bought the Yoido Island site [in Seoul], I was penniless. And now the price of the land has risen to $2,500,000. We made the design, blueprint for the world headquarters, and after that, my intention was to buy or build a school and training center and resort for the members to go on furloughs; and then I will do something for my own self.

You must not be unfair or doing too much in God's sight before dedicating anything to God. Again, I must say that leaders are in a dreadful position. After scolding or punishing one of your members, you must sit up the whole night praying for that person in order for that person not to get hurt. And then the next morning he will wake up feeling grateful to you. To raise one member is more difficult than raising three children of your own. It is such a difficult job. You must live and die together, or die in advance of that person.

Now that I have laid that kind of foundation in my own country, I now work on the worldwide foundation, and I cannot go through the same thing because it will delay the work. You must at least pray three times a day: as soon as you get up in the morning, at noon somewhere in the day, and in the evening before going to bed. My way of praying is very simple: Let me sacrifice myself for these people, and let these people sacrifice themselves for the rest of the world. That is the contents of my prayer to God. Since my prayer is that way, and very ardent, I know that God will answer my prayer. So I am confident to talk to the people of the world that they should do the same. And in that case, I feel confident.

We have got to make a good solid foundation in three years' time by mobilizing many members from countless nationalities. That is what I have in mind. What we do and what is taking place within this three years' time will be recorded in the history of America. We are concentrating our battle in America, but from this beachhead, it will spread out to the whole world. During this period, if our members from all nationalities cannot be united in true harmony, then we cannot dream of making a world of oneness and harmony. The more members we have in our family, the more members from more nationalities we have in our family, the more difficult our job is going to be. So while our members are few in number, we must practice unity here. And if we quarrel among ourselves, it will be a tragedy.

There are European leaders here: the leaders from England, France, Italy, Holland, Germany, and Austria. Well, what you have done will be forever recorded in the history of our movement, and when you die, you must tell the story of how you fought to your descendants. You must be proud of your deeds in the past, or else you are going to be a failure, and you are going to be put to shame. When you leave your will to your descendants, you must show them your own example, and tell them that they must love all mankind, transcendent of national boundaries, as I have so far done.

And out of your descendants will come world leaders, because they followed your example, your tradition. Then God will continue to raise up personages from your lineage in the future generations to inherit what you have done. So you must know the importance, you must feel the importance of what you are doing in this country. You left your own countries. Your own countries are almost empty without your leadership. But that is no issue compared to the greatness of what you are doing here.

Just imagine what a great work you are doing. God is working directly with us. Master is here working directly with you, and you are appointed as the leaders in the respective states or on the mobile teams. This is a great thing taking place in our movement, and later on people will look up to you for your participation. This is the first of such opportunities in the whole history of mankind. There will never be a point like this in the future. You are commanders-in-chief. It is more than defense ministers, or any such people. You must be aware of the fact that you are leading myriads of armies forward to the frontline. And you cannot sleep easily. You must be responsible over all these people in making decisions. And in commanding the people under you, you must be very careful, and very alert.

How much you contribute in building the foundation of our movement is the problem. Recently, I had letters from Dennis Orme of England begging me to have some of his members return to England, because he opened up the new paint business, and they are suffering from the shortage of manpower. The European members here are working on a broader stage for more important missions. So if the British members go back to their country and leave a remnant of people working here, then they will be defeated by the members from other nationalities. They must be aware of the greater importance of this mission than the enterprise in their country.

You are here laying the foundation for your own nationalities in the joint army fighting in this nation, and who will be responsible for the British army here? If the leaders leave for England, who will take care of them? I am going to set up the solid tradition for your own countries' sakes, and your ancestry and your descendants will be affected by what you are doing. So it is a very grave task. You must be all-serious so as not to want to sleep, not to eat, not to do anything for your own self, but work for your nation, to set up the tradition for the people of your nation. If you feel like going back to your country, what about those under you? The members from your nation will be vacillating, feeling like going back.

Well, I am going to have a few weeks' break and go back to Korea, but as soon as I get there, I am already thinking of coming back. You must be like that as leaders. If I drive you hard and I retreat to a cozy place and get relaxed, what would you think of me? You must speak the truth, act out the truth, and live it. If I am here sweating for this nation, bleeding, toiling for this nation, how much more, how much harder you must be working. If I were in the position of the American members, I would never dream of saying that I was in difficulty.

If you have a normal way of thinking, how can you complain while the members from so many other nations are here working for this nation? If I find anyone like that, I will eliminate him. I designated some state representatives and commanders-in-chief who left their positions without carrying out their missions, and I would just let them go. When they come back, I will never appoint them to important positions. They are destined to come back, I know. I will never choose them again to be used in that kind of important position.

It is natural for me to be in favor of the Japanese members working so hard, almost bleeding all the way through, and never sleeping more than three hours. Can the American members complain about it? When I pray for them, I always become tearful. I was told that some of the Japanese members would go out selling flowers, and they would doze off while walking along. I sometimes feel like a sinner to drive them like that. They are from well-to-do families. They have their loving parents and brothers and sisters. Why are they here to labor so hard? It is because of my command that they are here. So I feel more responsibility over them, for those coming to America.

If you American members complain on the way, then your blessing will be snatched away. You must feel fearful of that. If you don't treat the Japanese members properly, their ancestry will accuse you of what you have done, of your misdeed. Those from countries other than America, hold up your hands. You American members must work harder than the European members. It is natural for me to say that, don't you think so? (Yes.) This is the first event of its kind happening in the history of mankind, and we will never see such a thing taking place in the future world. You must mobilize your whole energy to visit people from door to door, without missing any one in this country during this time.

The conclusion is: don't get indebted to other people. If you are indebted to others, you must really bow down your heads before them. In other words, I especially warn you not to be indebted to the members from other countries. You are being indebted, in fact, but you are going to repay it some other time. So, if I am pushing you hard, pushing American members harder than other members from other nations, don't complain. Do you follow me? (Yes.) How do you know "algo isseo"? When I said "algo isseo", you responded immediately. How do you understand Korean?

In other words, those who are in leaders' positions are in dreadful positions, and in responsible positions; in other words, you are in a position to be pitied and sympathized with. And you will be loved by God, you will be respected by the people, by your ancestors and by your descendants in later days. I love you, and I do not intend to neglect you, so you must give out forcefully, sweating all over. When I prepared for a lecture, I would hate to have any visitors bothering me, disturbing me." I would just concentrate my whole efforts at preparing for the lecture and praying for the success of the lecture, and I perspire all over. I am that serious, and you must follow that example. You must be ready to give out the best part of what you have to others, preparing in prayer for that. To stand in public and give the lecture without preparation is something like being in the field, in the frontline and fighting without a shield, or without armor. You must be that serious.

Again, I will say that you must be able to get cooperation from God and from the members under you. And it is the same with me. I cannot work without you; I must get cooperation from you and from God. And in that case, those who are helping me will benefit by what we together have done. You have been cooperating with me to put me on the stage for the speeches, and when people respond well, you are all overjoyed, and God is pleased at the sight.

Then, I feel I deserve being loved by you and being loved by God, and I am happy to satisfy God and satisfy you. The speeches are centered on God, and will please the people; and even though they repeatedly listen to what I say, they will be glad to hear me again and again. Haven't you experienced that even if you know what he is going to say, if he repeated it again and again, the more you listen to his speech, the more touched you are in your heart, because God is working with him and saying things through him.

If God were not working, you wouldn't feel like that. Don't you ever forget: in your speech or in your giving lectures, God must be with you, or else your lecture will not be successful. You are in the position of a judge, you are in the place of the president of your country, in place of God or Master. Sometimes you have to play the role of attorney, and you must be in the position of Jesus Christ and Master. If you cannot carry out your mission, you are going to be a failure! God cannot use you, and you are apt to be fired. You are in the most dreadful position, as I said before, and there is no cheating possible before God.

Our lectures on the Divine Principle will judge the people of the established churches, so don't ever try to give lectures all by yourself without God working with you. With the truth, with the heart, and with yourself as the example you must reap the crops, and what you do will be fruitful somewhere in the future.

I will give you instructions first, and then have you make reports on what you have done.

Scanned by Hans-Juergen Hutzfeld, 14.01.2008-Duesseldorf.

How To Be A Leader

Rev. Sun Myung Moon
Atlanta Directors Conference
Master Speaks
November 9, 1973
Atlanta, Georgia
Translated by Mrs. Won Bok Choi

I appreciate your painstaking efforts to make our speech tour successful. You are representing the heavenly side appointed to important roles. Whether or not you are carrying out your mission will decide our success. So my topic this morning concerns the person in charge of the group.

"A leader" means a central figure. If you are in the center, playing the role of the central figure, you must not be inclined to one side or the other. The central figure will decide the balance of all those placed in different positions. In order for you to be able to keep that balance, you as the central figure must stand up straight and balanced yourself. You must be like an upright tree. If the trunk is straight, the branches extending to every direction will be well balanced. And the roots are also affected. So in a word, you must not be inclined to just one side, you must keep good balance.,

You will be getting information from all directions, and you must not be too attentive to one side, neglecting what is coming from the other side. You must be good listeners, and you must be able to analyze and criticize in the best way. First of all, you must be good listeners so that you can judge correctly. Those who are under your leadership will live or die dependent upon one word coming from you. However unhealthy a branch may be, it should shoot out towards heaven, towards the sky; so you must nourish those under you well. In order for you to be entitled to scold the people under you once, you must appreciate ten things they are doing right, and then point out two or three things they have lacking. If you just strike them for what they have not done right, they will be broken. The problem is how, for instance, with 20 people under you, you are relied upon and trusted. In order for you to be liked or loved by them, you must love them first of all.

Again, I must say that you are the trunk of the tree. Over many things, you are the one who must be responsible. Seen from that standpoint, we must sincerely say that anyone who is in the leader's position does not exist for himself. You are apt to dwell on your authority as the leader. However, the authority of the leader must not be set up by you yourself, but by those people under you, If you think of yourself as powerful and authoritative, that is not the right feeling, You must rely on others, your members, and it is they who must think of you as a powerful leader, an authoritative leader.

In the local churches, this is always the problem. You must know that authority is decided upon by your members, not by yourself. The people around you or under you will estimate your power highly because of the deeds you have done. Your utterances, your heart, your acts -- there must not be a difference between what you say and what you do. In speaking, too, you must not speak of two things at the same time. You must not be saying two things different from each other, or opposite to each other. So those heart actions and words must be in accordance with each other.

For instance, I give words when you are invited to the training course, or gatherings like that; and then you go back to your own posts, and you convey the message to your members. Then you must not only convey the message to the members, but act it out. What you are instructed by the central figure, or your leader, will be something like in the case of Noah when he was told by God to build the ark. You receive the message from Master, and you convey it to your members. But if you don't act it out, the words will be valueless.

You are the trunk, and you must have the branches upward like this, as close as possible to the trunk. If you don't carry out your, mission as you are instructed, it means that you have your branches scattered and far apart. The branch tips must be headed for heaven, the sky. When you transmit the message from Master you must always dwell upon what he said and remind yourself of the message again and again in prayer and before acting. In order for you to grow, you must have nourishment from the soil and from the air. The roots will absorb the nourishment from the soil, and the leaves must absorb the nourishment from the air, sunlight, and everything else. The roots represent your members. The leaves mean things coming from the spirit side. So without those helps coming from above and beneath, you cannot stand up straight. You are in the center, and you must get cooperation from the members under you and from the spirit side, or you cannot stand up straight, well nourished and healthy.

Leaders are in a more or less dreadful position. I as the leader have sometimes been afraid of my being apt to commit mistakes. However authoritative and powerful I may be, if I don't get the balance from beneath and from above with myself in the center, my work will be a failure. For instance, I always prepare before going out on the stage to speak. I have gone through many speeches by now, so I know the contents by heart. But the most difficult and important problem is how to be one with my words and how to be one with God in heart. And I want to be truthful in uttering the words, and when I do that, my spirit goes out to the audience, projecting that spirit to the hearts of the people. Nothing will result or come into being without a cause. You must be enthusiastic, you must be full. of heart in giving words to the people, or else, your words cannot move their hearts, You will see how important, your words are.

If the listeners are attentive to what you say and absorb your words, it will change their lives. And if they fail to receive these words, they are destined for hell. It is a grave matter. You must be responsible about what you say. If you don't have God standing before you, whatever you say will be a failure. If you have God standing before you, as the instrument will be the spokesman through whom God can speak. Then what you say will be fruitful, and if it is going to be a failure, then God will take the responsibility for that, and not you. If you speak with the heart of God, even, though your utterances may be the stumbling block to the people, you will not bear the responsibility -- heaven will do that.

If, you as the leader speak out, and you forget about your being the instrument through whom God, is speaking, then what you say will sometimes be fruitful, but mostly it will not be fruitful. And in that case, those who fail will receive, the world will accuse you of your mistakes to eternity. If you are like that, however hard you may struggle to win members, you will fail to win them. And even though you win the members, they will fall away easily. So you leaders are in the position, to be judged before anyone else.

I speak every evening, but my feeling before going out onto the stage is that of a criminal before being executed. I am that serious every time. I feel so grave because I know that multitudes of lives will depend on me. I am God-centered, and God is with me, and a myriad of saints are helping me out, then I speak fluently. And not only do I speak fluently, but what I say, will be fruitful in the hearts of the people. If not, then not only that audience present at the meeting, but their descendants also, will accuse me of my failure.

If you as the leaders, are not able to carry out your mission, your descendants will be affected too. So you are in a dreadful position. It is something like you are walking on razor blades. That is the position of the leader. Whenever I have someone who says that he has something to inform me of, then I am worried. After hearing about something unsuccessful, I think that I might have caused that man to fail, something like that. You must love and care for your members, and day and night you must be thinking of them, praying for them, and seeking to nurture them. God is the Center. And in leading the people, you are in the position of the center. Then the person in the center must be giving out all the time. You must invest your whole being one hundred percent, and then you can expect a good outcome. Without giving to them, you cannot expect any crops from the people. You may be without a penny. You may not have material things to give them, but you. have heart. By giving your heart, you are not going to lose anything. You must always be conscious of your living for the members under you. So if you are given rich things to eat, you must be thinking of your members first; and if you have good things to put on, you must be thinking of them first; and if you have a good place to sleep, you must be thinking of your members first.

After three years of your leadership, some will be successful and some will be failures. And those who failed to carry out their missions will have a headache. After having long been a leader, you are apt to criticize people without your carrying out your own mission. You will easily order other people to do something, but you will not do things yourself. My philosophy is to do things myself, and then to let others do them. The principle is simple: you sleep in a humbler place, you eat poorer things, and you wear poorer clothing. Leaders will have many opportunities to appear in public scenes, so your members will be considerate and have you put on good clothing and look nice, and that is what your members should do for you, not you for yourself.

Our movement and whether or not we will prosper in the United States, will solely depend on you as the leaders. Even in case what you are doing is successful, you must not be boastful of your being successful, because the success did not come because of you, but because of the members. You must be thankful to God and to the members for their cooperation. Without that notion in your mind, you cannot progress. You must hate to be indebted to your members, and you must endeavor to have them indebted to you. If you as the leader find yourself being indebted to the members, you must retreat from that position -- that is far better. If you go on like that in the same role, then God will strike you. You will be a failure, and you will feel disgraced before the members. You must really experience all those things. And you know too well whether or not you are indebted to the members, don't you? If you are indebted to the members, you must repay it. That is why you must be running in the vanguard of all the rest of your family, and you must work harder than they, and you must have poorer things to enjoy. You cannot go on all by yourself, so you must get the cooperative power pushing you ahead.

In the Bible we read, "Love your God with all your might, all your sincerity, all your soul. There is no commandment excelling that." It sounds simple. Whether you are indebted to others or have them indebted to you will decide your success or failure. First of all, you as the leader must give your members words. And you must next show them the way. Then you must exemplify how to live, how to live the words, the truth. You must have your members always feeling like jotting down what you say. What you say should be so important to them that they feel like writing it down. And you must be able to get the cooperation from your members because you are working so hard that they feel like helping you all day. And you must have your members follow your example because they feel you are always acting out what you say.

The way I instruct my members is always this: when you are given gifts, don't touch it, and think it over, because you are apt to be not qualified enough to have that. In case you use it and take it for granted, then it is poisonous to you. If the person who is giving you the gift has poured out one hundred percent sincerity and love there, and you receive it with ten percent of that person's love; then the rest of the ninety percent will accuse you, and the heavenly fortune coming to you will retreat from you. When you are given a gift you must offer it, dedicate it to God first, and be given from Him. Your members are pouring out their energy, sweat, blood, and everything in making money by selling flowers and other things. And then if you use the money, taking it for granted, it is a sin. If you tell your people to do this and that without yourselves working more than they do, then you are liable to judgment. Always be conscious that the money is not for you, but for the public, for all the family. So if you have money, you must first of all use the money for the public purpose. In using money for myself, I am very stingy. I have never entered one of the tea rooms. I have never eaten lunch for myself. In order to take my members to the restaurants, I would go; but otherwise, I wouldn't. But when I use money for the public purpose, I am not stingy, I am generous. I am ready to use many times as much money as needed. My philosophy is that I use the money I earn myself.

The factories and many enterprises we have in Korea, even though the persons responsible for those factories would go to sleep early and get up late in the morning, I would go to sleep late and get up earlier than they. I would visit the place and instruct those people every day. The round trip between the headquarters in Korea and Sootaek-Ri takes three hours. I established the record of having visited three times a day. I would visit there once a day at least to those places; twice was very common. That is because I wanted to pour out my energy and heart into the businesses. Unless I pour out my energy and heart into the business, if I am going to use the money coming out of the business, I am a thief. For instance, when I speak, I know that using the microphone I can speak just in a soft tone. But my philosophy is to have to sweat when I speak. A stream of perspiration just pours down my back. In speaking, I am pouring out my heart to be planted in the hearts of others. You must weep when you speak. I am using the interpreter, so it bars the way. But if I am speaking in English or Korean, there are many places where I have to weep. I must have the feeling of a man being drowned and asking for help. I am that serious, so before going on the stage to speak, I prepare my heart instead of preparing the manuscript. So you can imagine how grave and serious I am when I talk. If you are like that, cooperation will come from the heavenly side, and it will touch the hearts of your audience.

In giving lectures, don't just memorize and utter the words, but pour out the heart through the lecture. If you are going to have people spellbound, you will sometimes yell and pour out your soul into the souls of the others. What you are doing is something like that, and it will penetrate the hearts of the listeners. When I do this, the listeners will speechlessly fall back.

Without cause, there will be no result. You as the cause must be powerful in order to influence the people. You are in the position of the subject. You are in the position of the center. And you must be all-zealous to carry out your mission. As the leader, how many times did you wake up early in the morning, earlier than other people and jump out of bed, and almost at the thresh hold you prayed before God that your faith that day would be fruitful? In the doorway, how many times have you been waiting for the people to come? Have you been working like that? You must imagine that there are many souls waiting for you to reach out to them, and you must be anxious to meet those people. You must remember the biblical verses, "Seek and it shall be given; knock and it shall be opened to you."

Without witnessing to as many people as you planned, how can you go to bed, lying down with easy hearts? You must not feel like going to bed in pajamas. In that case, I would sleep just as you are, with your clothes on. In beginning to pray, I would fall asleep, but I would never feel like getting into the bed. We cannot afford to relax like that. If you have new members, you must be praying hard for them, and then you will be given visions and dreams about them. And the next day you can tell them that they have such and such disadvantages, and things like that, and they will be awakened to the fact. Many times you will be able to predict things, and when you point out the fact that a person is thinking this or that in his heart, that person would be astonished and would ask you, "How do you know?" 'When I prayed, I saw it." And he will be thankful that you are so concerned about him and take such care of him. In light of all these things, you must judge your own selves.

Wherever you are, wherever you go, you must be with God. You must have your God stand before you, and follow Him. It is a very difficult thing to be leaders. On the spiritual level, you are responsible over the lives of the two hundred million population of the United States. If you are appointed to be responsible over one state, your responsibility is to let every one in the state know that you are there at least. Within these three years, my task is to let the people of the United States know that I am here. I am so anxious to reach out to the people with the message; and thanks to God, the mass communication world are focusing their attention on me.

The mobile team members have the responsibility to let the people of their cities know; every one above seven years old must know that we are here for them, I am anxious to let the people of America know that I am here within the period of three years It, is for that that I sent the State Representatives and mobile teams into each state. First of all, we must let the people know that we are here with the message, and then our next job is to set them in the right direction. That is why I need you, and they need you. You must tell them the direction. You must go in the direction yourself. And you must act out what you say. People have the sense of comparison, so if they know that what we are saying is the truth, and by joining our movement they will gain something, they will join our movement. For instance, when the State Representatives have visitors, in the visitors eyes, would you be living in heaven so that they would envy your way of living, and they will see light shining out from you? The first-comers must find in you what is lacking in their own parents, and something that is more than the members under you have, more than their teachers in the world. If the people see that you are living in good harmony and unity, and you have something they don't have, then they will be attracted to you. If there is trouble between the leader and the members, you cannot attract the people. There must not be disharmony between the Mobile Team Commanders and the State Representatives. If there is disharmony between the commander and the members, or the state representative and the members, it is always those in the leader's position who will take the responsibility.

If you find a certain member, a certain element causing disharmony among the group, you must have the heart of the Father, and call the person in secret and take him out to one of the restaurants or to one of the theaters, and after giving him something good, then you must talk with him and discuss the matter. Then he will come to like you, he will come to love you, and you are in the position of the Parents. And wouldn't your children want to follow you wherever you go? You must create that kind of atmosphere in your family. You must be able to create that kind of feeling in the hearts of your members, so that they will like you from the bottom of their heart, and serve you from the bottom of their heart.

Here is another important thing for you to carry out, to bear in mind: as the leader, when you hear something from A, you must not convey it to B. If one of your members has committed some mistakes, you must keep it to yourself, without publicizing it. It will defame your own family. When the family is defamed, the central figure, the leader, is always responsible, and must take the responsibility for that. In ordinary daily life, it will not be too conspicuous. But if you go on a trip, or if you are in a difficult situation together with the members, the members will find out whether or not you are a qualified leader right there. Especially on the international mobile teams, when you have to pack every day and move about from place to place, then your disposition and your qualifications will become very conspicuous. Even the leaders will not like the idea of having to move about from place to place too often. If you don't like that, you must be sympathetic with the members. You must pray for them from the bottom of your heart. You must share the difficulties of your members, and you must console their hearts when they are in trouble. And, you must encourage them, without just giving them commands and scolding them or punishing them when they fail to do something. I appointed American members as the commanders and the State Representatives. And in your team, especially in the international mobile teams, there are many members from all nationalities. And you must be, as an American, responsible over them. It is under my command that they are here working for this nation. They are, in a way, guests, and you are the hosts. How can you ill treat them? You cannot roar at them, you cannot scold them; you can never do that. If they don't move properly, why don't you go ahead and move yourself in their vanguard; and they will be touched, and then they will move following your example.

For the white members, I warn you to be nicer than anyone else to the Negro people when they come here. You must be humble to them. Those who are underprivileged and those who have been trampled upon are apt to be hurt very easily. It happened a few days ago, that one of our members encouraged a Negro woman with a baby to be seated in the rear, and she was hurt and left. And I thought that she could instead have taken care of the child, babysat the child, and let the mother hear the speech. The information was that she got hurt and left. Then those people will not return. And who can be responsible over the life of that woman? It is an important problem. The life of a man is so important that you must take good care of it. Your, life is dear to you; then the lives of other people are dear to them. You must know that.

In witnessing to the people, you must not discriminate against old people or black people. You don't know who is connected with them, and who is in their ancestry. And in witnessing to the people, you must be fair to all the people. Young people being more absorbent, more touchable, will come in more numbers.

I am the central figure of the Unification Church, but I have never once thought of myself as the authoritative and most powerful one, being able to do anything I please to my members. In what way heaven will judge me is always the important problem to me. And if I don't take good care of the members, always loving them and caring for them, they will leave me sooner or later. In my prayer, I cling to Father that He give me strength to love my people, and if I am indebted to my members, I know that our I movement will not progress further. I, as the leader of the group, must have the members indebted to me, not I to them. You must be cooperative. I am telling you to serve as the leaders first, and then have your members indebted to you instead of your being indebted to them. Creation is to invest your whole energy and whole being in those in the object position.

If you have 40 to 100 members under you, you must at least be praying for three hours every morning for them. Have you done that? You must take care of them as you would your own children. In the night when you wake up, you must look around and cover them with blankets if they are naked. You should be nurturing them as carefully as though they were plants, using fertilizer or nourishment, and watering the plants; if you are not doing that, they will not grow properly. For seven years from the early days of our movement, I wouldn't sleep at night. I would sit up the whole night nurturing the members and giving them truth to raise them. I wanted to sleep; I was tired. Still, I wouldn't. So many times I had a bleeding nose from exhaustion. Still, I would just talk on and on. My eyes would be reddened, and I could not look up at the sun in full daylight. If there is God at all, He could not but be sympathetic with me. From our surroundings would come persecution; and in the tribulation and hardships, I was so many times imprisoned. And in the midst of all those difficulties, I would just think of the members and pray for them. What do you call it: when you are too tired, there is a sore that comes out on your tongue? [Canker sores, sores on your tongue.] I had sores on my tongue. You just don't know what I went through in those days. Because I had such attitude and made such efforts, even the newcomers, when they came, would just weep before me. Sobbing, they would confess what they had gone through in their past.

It is no coincidence that your members are under you, and in the background there is historical power working and their ancestry working. If you fail to nurture them and make them solid members, then if they fall back, the whole ancestry of those people will accuse you. For some of the early members, their ancestors would appear in their dreams or visions and bow down before me, and they would be awakened to the fact that I am such a person. The spirit men are all anxious to have their descendants be strong members in our movement, to set up good deeds in our movement, because in that way they will be elevated to the next standard. Heaven will not be cheated; you cannot tell a lie to God; it cannot be hidden.

Those who are in the leader's position must play the role of servants to the rest of your family. Think of your own parents; they served you all the way. If you fail to do that as a leader, putting yourself in the position of parents, you cannot go on taking the job. But if you are a parent to them, you cannot but have your members increase.

During the first seven-year course, I would not wear this kind of suit. I wore just a shirt for several years, and then I would wear a sport jacket. And it is only some ten years ago that I began to wear the gentlemen's suits. I wanted to experience the hearts of the laborers by myself being in that position; and I wanted to experience the hearts of the middle class people and the upper class people by myself experiencing those same things. If you visit the small clay hut I built myself in Korea, you will find it to be such a miserable hut that you cannot quite call it a house. In those days, I would wear Korean "paji," Korean trousers, and then an American GI suit. And I didn't have a pair of shoes; they were not mates. My way of living was lower than that of pigs. In that situation, I prayed in tears for the presidents and top-level people. Through my prayers, I would have them indebted to me. And they are in the position to repay me. If they don't repay me, heaven will snatch away what they have and give it to us. I was not anxious to elevate my standard of living, but God would have me do that.

The staff members of our church would come to me weeping and begged me to permit them to buy a house for me, and I told them to give me the money, that I had places to use the money. But God did not scold me or punish me for that. God's blessing over me would be doubled or tripled or more. All through my life, I have never thought of building my own house, or buying one. Only after having bought the churches and the houses for the members, then I think it is my turn to buy my own house or build one. When I bought the Yoido site [in Seoul], I was penniless. And now the price of the land has risen to $2,500,000. We made the design, blueprint for the world headquarters, and after that, my intention was to buy or build a school and training center and resort for the members to go on furloughs; and then I will do something for my own self.

You must not be unfair or doing too much in God's sight before dedicating anything to God. Again, I must say that leaders are in a dreadful position. After scolding or punishing one of your members, you must sit up the whole night praying for that person in order for that person not to get hurt. And then the next morning he will wake up feeling gratefulness to you. To raise one member is more difficult than raising three children of your own. It is such a difficult job. You must live and die together, or die in advance of that person.

Now that I have laid that kind of foundation in my own country, I now work on the worldwide foundation, and I cannot go through the same thing because it will delay the work. You must at least pray three times a day: as soon as you get up in the morning, at noon somewhere in the day, and in the evening before going to bed. My way of praying is very simple: Let me sacrifice myself for these people, and let these people sacrifice themselves for the rest of the world. That is the contents of my prayer to God. Since my prayer is that way, and very ardent, I know that God will answer my prayer. So I am confident to talk to the people of the world that they should do the same. And in that case, I feel confident.

We have got to make a good solid foundation in three years time by mobilizing so many members from so many nationalities. That is what I have in mind. What we do and what is taking place within this three years time will be recorded in the history of America. We are concentrating our battle in America, but from this beachhead, it will spread out to the whole world. During this period, if our members from all nationalities cannot be united in good harmony, then we cannot dream of making a world of oneness and harmony. The more members we have in our family, the more members from more nationalities we have in our family, the more difficult our job is going to be. So while our members are few in number, we must practice unity here. And if we quarrel among ourselves, it will be a tragedy.

There are European leaders here: the leaders from England, France, Italy, Holland, Germany, Austria. Well, what you will have done will be forever recorded in the history of our movement, and when you die, you must tell the story of how you fought to your descendants. You must be proud of your deeds in the past, or else you are going to be a failure, and you are going to be put to shame. When you leave your will to your descendants, you must show them your own example, and tell them that they must be loving all mankind, transcendent of national boundaries, as I have so far done. And out of your descendants will come world leaders, because they followed your example, your tradition. Then God will continue to send great personages in your lineage in the future generations to inherit what you have done. So you must know the importance, you must feel the importance of what you are doing in this country. You left your own countries. Your own countries are almost empty without your leadership. But that is no issue compared to the greatness of what you are doing here. Just imagine what great work you are doing. God is working directly with us. Master is here working directly with you, and you are appointed as the leaders in the respective states or on the mobile teams. This is a great thing taking place in our movement, and later on people will look up to you for your participation. This is the first of such opportunities in the whole history of mankind. There will never be a point like this in the future. You are commanders-in-chief. It is more than defense ministers, or any such people. You must be aware of the fact that you are leading a myriad of armies forward to the front line. And you cannot sleep easily. You must be responsible over all these people in making decisions. And in commanding the people under you, you must be very careful, and very alert.

How much you contribute in building up the foundation of this movement will be the problem. Recently, I had letters from Dennis Orme of England begging me to have some of his members return to England, because he opened up the new paint business, and they are suffering from the shortage of manpower., The European members here are working on a broader stage for more important missions. So if the, British members go, to their country and have a remnant, of people working here, then they will be defeated by the members from other nationalities. They must be aware of the greater importance of this mission than the enterprise in their country.

You are here laying the foundation for your own nation fighting in the joint army, fighting in this nation and who will be responsible for the British army here? If the, leaders leave for England, who will take care of them? I am going to set up the solid tradition for your own countries' sakes, and your ancestry and your descendants will be affected by what you are doing. So, it is a very grave task. You must be all-serious, not to want to sleep, not to eat not to do anything for your own self, but work for your nation, to set up the tradition for the people of your nation., If you feel like going back to your country, what about those under you? The members from your nation will be vacillating, feeling like going back.

I am going to be away for a few weeks, break and go, back to, Korea, But I am already. thinking of, coming back. You must be like that as leaders. If I ,drive you hard what would you think of me? You must speak the truth, act out the truth, and live it. If I am here sweating for this nation, bleeding, toiling for this nation, how much more, how much harder you must be working. If I were in the position of, the American members, I would never dream of saying that I was in difficulty. If you have a normal way of thinking, how can you complain while the members from so many other nations are here working for this nation? If I find anyone like that, I will eliminate him. I designated some State Representatives and commanders-in-chief who left their positions without carrying out their missions, and I would just let them go. When they come back, I will never appoint them to important positions. They are destined to come back, I know. I will never choose them again to be used in that kind of important position.

It is natural for me to be in favor of the Japanese members working so hard, almost bleeding all the way through, and never sleeping more than three hours. Can the American members complain about it? When I pray for them, I always become tearful. I was told that some of the Japanese members would go out selling flowers, and they would doze off while walking along. I sometimes feel like a sinner to drive them like that. They are from well-to-do families. They have their loving parents and brothers and sisters. Why are they here to labor so hard? It is because of my command that they are here. So I feel more responsibility over them, for those coming to America.

If you American members complain on the way, then your blessing will be snatched away. You must feel fearful of that. If you don't treat the Japanese members properly, their ancestry will accuse you of what you have done, of your misdeed. Those from countries other than America, hold up your hands. You American members must work harder than the European members. It is natural for me to say that, don't you think so? [Yes.] This is the first event of its kind happening in the history of mankind, and we will never see such a thing taking place in the future world. You ' must mobilize your whole energy to visit people from door to door, without missing any one in this country during this time.

The conclusion is: don't get indebted to other people. If you are indebted to others, you must really bow down your heads before them. In other words, I especially warn you not to be indebted to the members from other countries. You are being indebted, in fact, but you are going to repay it some other time. So if I am pushing you hard, pushing American members harder than other members from other nations, don't complain. Do you follow me? [Yes.] How do you know "algo isseo"? When I said "algo isseo", you responded immediately. How do you understand Korean?

In other words, those who are in leaders' positions are in dreadful positions, and in responsible positions; in other words, you are in a position to be pitied and sympathized with. And you will be loved by God, you will be respected by the people, by your ancestors and by your descendants in later days. I love you, and I do not intend to neglect you, so you must be giving out forcefully, sweating all over. When I prepared for a lecture, I would hate to have any visitors bothering me, disturbing me. I would just concentrate my whole efforts at preparing for the lecture and praying for the success of the lecture, and I perspire all over. I am that serious, and you must follow that example. You must be ready to give out the best part of what you have to others, preparing in prayer for that. To stand in public and give the lecture without preparation is something like being in the field, in the front line and fighting without a shield, or without armor. You must be that serious.

Again, I will say that you must be able to get cooperation from God and from the members under you. And it is the same with me. I cannot work without you; I must get cooperation from you and from God. And in that case, those who are helping me will be benefited by what we together have done. You have been cooperating with me to put me on the stage for the speeches, and when people respond well, you are all overjoyed, and God is pleased at the sight. Then, I feel I deserve being loved by you and being loved by God, and I am happy to satisfy God and satisfy you. The speeches are centered on God, and will please the people; and even though they repeatedly listen to what I say, they will be glad to hear me again and again.

Haven't you experienced that even if you know what he is going to say, if he repeated it again and again; the more you listen to his speech, the more touched you are in your heart, because God is working with him and saying things through him. If God were not working, you wouldn't feel like that. Don't you ever forget: in your speech or in your giving lectures, God must be with you, or else your lecture will not be successful. You are in the position of the judge, you are in the place of the president of your country, or in place of God, Master. Sometimes you have to play the role of attorney, and you must be in the position of Jesus Christ and Master. If you cannot carry out your mission, you are going to be a failure. God cannot use you, and you are apt to be fired. You are in the most dreadful position, as I said before, and there is no cheating possible before God.

Our lectures on the Divine Principle will judge the people of the established churches, so don't ever try to give lectures all by yourself without God working with you. With the truth, with the heart, and with your life, you must be reaping the crops and what you did will be fruitful somewhere in the future.

I will give you instructions first, and then have you make reports on what you have done.

God prophesied in two contradictory ways in the Bible

Sun Myung Moon
October 28, 1973
Excerpt
God's Will and the World
The Future of Christianity

The glorious ministry of Jesus when the people accepted him as the Son of God, as the king of kings:

"For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government will be upon his shoulder, and his name will be called 'Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.' Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David, and over his kingdom, to establish it, and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore." (Isaiah 9:6-7)

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

"Surely he has borne our grief and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that made us whole, and with his stripes we are healed." (Isaiah 53:4-5)

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

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

Jesus gave sight to the blind and made the lepers clean. He healed the lame and blessed the deaf with hearing. Jesus raised the dead. He did these things only because he wanted to be accepted. Yet the people said of him,

"It is only by Beelzebub, the prince of demons, that this man casts out demons." (Matt 12:24)

What a heartbreaking situation! Jesus soon saw the hopelessness of gaining the acceptance of the people. In anger and desperation he chastised them:

"You brood of vipers! …" (Matt 12:34)

He did not hide his wrath, but exploded in anger.

"Woe to you, Chorazin! woe to you, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes." (Matt 11:21)

And he wept when he drew near the city of Jerusalem.

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

Who has ever understood the broken heart of Jesus? He said,

"Would that even today you knew the things that make for peace! But now they are hid from your eyes." (Luke 19:42)

By that time Jesus knew there was absolutely no hope of avoiding death. Yet he pleaded with God in Gethsemane, and he pleaded with God on the cross:

"My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" (Matt 27:46)

Thus Jesus died on the cross, not of his own will, not of the will of God, but by the will of men. Christ was destined to return from that moment on. He will return to consummate his mission on earth. Mankind must await his Second Coming for the complete salvation of the world.

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

We must therefore come to this solemn conclusion: The crucifixion of Jesus was a result of the rejection by the Jewish people. The major cause of their rejection was the betrayal of John. Thus we have learned that Jesus did not come to die on the cross. If Jesus had come to die, then he would not have offered that tragic and anguished prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus said to his disciples:

"'My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here and watch with me' And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, 'My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt.'" (Matt 26:38-39)

Jesus prayed this way not just once, but three times. If death on the cross had been the fulfillment of God's will, Jesus would certainly have prayed instead, "Father, I am honored to die on the cross for Your will." But Jesus prayed asking that this cup pass from him. If his prayer came out of his fear of death, such weakness would disqualify him as the Son of God. We have witnessed the courageous death of many martyrs throughout Christian history and even elsewhere people who not only overcame their fear of death, but made their final sacrifice a great victory. Out of so many martyrs, how could Jesus alone be the one to show his fear and weakness, particularly if his crucifixion was the glorious moment of his fulfillment of the will of God? Jesus did not pray this way from weakness. To believe such a thing is an outrage to Jesus Christ.

The prayer of Jesus at the Garden of Gethsemane did not come from his fear of death or suffering. Jesus would have been willing and ready to die a thousand times over if that could have achieved the will of God. He agonized right up to the moment of death, and he made one final plea to God, because he knew his death would only cause the prolongation of God's dispensation. Jesus wanted to live and fulfill his mission. It is a tragic misunderstanding to believe that Jesus prayed for a little more earthy life out of the frailness of his human soul. Young Nathan Hale, in the American struggle for independence, was able to say at the time of his execution, "I regret that I have but one life to give for my country!" Do you think Jesus Christ was a lesser soul than Nathan Hale? No! Nathan Hale was a great patriot. But Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

Think this over. If Jesus came to die on the cross, would he not need a man to deliver him up? You know that Judas Iscariot is the disciple who betrayed Jesus. If Jesus fulfilled God's will with his death on the cross, then Judas should be glorified as the man who made the crucifixion possible. Judas would have been aiding God's dispensation. But Jesus said of Judas,

"The Son of man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born." (Matt 26:24)

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

Right now I am making a bold declaration. Jesus did not come to die. Jesus Christ was murdered. Let me repeat: Jesus Christ was murdered, and his own people had him killed. Even the Roman governor Pilate wanted to release Jesus. He did not find any fault with Jesus. But Christ's own people rejected him and forced Pilate to release Barabbas instead. What a pity! What a tragedy!

This may be shocking and astounding news to you, but if you are only surprised, then you have missed my purpose. I am revealing these things because of my duty to bear witness to the truth.

It was the chosen people of Israel, the chief priests, the elders, the scribes, and the faithful, who shouted at Pilate's court. "Crucify him!"

"'Here is your king,' Pilate said to the Jews. But they shouted, 'Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!' 'Shall I crucify your king?' Pilate asked. 'We have no king but Caesar,' the chief priests answered. Finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified."(John 19:14b-16)

The people living at the time of Jesus Christ made a terrible mistake.

The Future of Christianity

Sun Myung Moon
October 28, 1973
New Orleans, Louisiana

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much for coming tonight. My topic this evening is, "The future of Christianity."

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

Sometimes testimony to the truth is a painful task. Yet it is a mission that it is my duty to fulfill. The content of my message tonight may be contrary to your previous understandings. Some things may be very new to you. May I ask you to think over seriously what you hear.

Unless I had something new to reveal, I would not come here to speak to you at all. Why should I come if only to repeat the things that you already know? I would like for you and me to spend this time together in open mindedness so that the spirit of God can speak directly into our hearts. Jesus taught in his Sermon on the Mount:

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. (Matt. 5:3, 5,6)

Tonight I humbly ask you to be the poor in spirit. I ask you to be the meek, and I ask you to become those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. Then we will all see the Kingdom of Heaven, and we shall all be satisfied. Now let us begin.

Christians, and Christianity itself, have a final hill to cross. Biblical prophecy states that Christians must pass through the end of the world and face the judgment of fire at the great and terrible day of the Lord. The Bible says we are going to see many extraordinary phenomena, in heaven and on earth, as the end comes near.

When Jesus promised his Second Coming, he conveyed a feeling of great imminence. From the day Jesus Christ ascended into heaven, Christians have been watching for his return to earth. For the last 2,000 years of history, it has been the hope of every Christian to see the returning Christ. But this extraordinary event has never occurred. Many people tired of waiting. Some finally decided this Second Coming would not happen literally. They came to think, "This is just one of God's methods to keep us alert."

Tonight we must clarify the meaning of the end of the world as the Bible prophesies it. We must also know how the Lord will reappear when he comes in the fullness of time.

We should first of all understand that God did not create the world to end. He always intended the world of goodness to last forever. The God who does not create for eternity cannot be an almighty God. The present world must end, however, because the fall of man initiated a history of evil. The end of the world is necessary because we have not achieved God's intended world of goodness. Instead of becoming children of goodness, we have in reality become creatures of evil.

The Wrong Direction of History

Adam and Eve fell in the Garden of Eden. They were not at that time in a position to have a clear understanding of the will of God. They entered into a state of confusion and made the wrong choice. They were confronted with either obedience to God, which would have brought about the good world, or obedience to Satan, which did in fact bring about their fall. Between two clear choices, Adam and Eve made the wrong one. They brought evil into the world. God's original intention was to create His ideal world--a good and prosperous world He determined to last for eternity. But man fell, the good world of God ended abruptly, and human history started in the wrong direction.

The history of mankind is therefore a history of evil. God sowed good seed, and He intended to harvest a good crop. But Satan stole His crop before it was ripened and reaped a harvest of evil. Human history is a crop of weeds.

Then what does the end of the world mean? Just what is going to end? Evil is going to end. God will put an end to all evil. Out of God's new beginning will come a new opportunity for man. And the goodness God intended in His original ideal can be made real.

In the Garden of Eden man fell into evil instead of developing his goodness. Man was subjugated by Satan and became the child of sin. Therefore the Bible says:

'You are of your father the devil...' (John 8:44)

If the fall of man had not occurred, then the true ruler would be God. But He is not today the king of this universe, because Satan is sitting upon God's throne. God has to remove all results of the fall of man before He can truly reign over the world.

Now I will give you clearly the definition of the end of the world. The end of the world is the moment in history when God ends evil and begins His new age. It is the time of the cross junction between the old history of evil and the new history of good.

In light of this definition, why does the Bible predict extraordinary heavenly phenomena as signs of the end of the world? Will the things predicted really occur? The Bible says:

'Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken' (Matt. 24:29)

What does this mean? What are we to expect?

First of all, please rest assured that these things will not happen literally. God will not destroy anything in the universe. God often expresses His truth in symbols and parables, and these biblical sayings will be accomplished symbolically. Secondly, God has no reason to destroy the universe. It is not the universe, but man who has committed sin. Only man deviated from the original plan of God's creation. Why should God destroy the animals, or the plants, or anything in creation which fulfilled His purpose as He intended? God would not destroy those innocent things.

The Bible there says,

'A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever' (Eccl. 1:4)

But in Revelation we read:

'Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away...' (Rev. 21:1)

That new heaven and new earth refers to the coming of a new history of God, a time of new dominion. After you buy a house, won't you move in your family and possessions? Then you will say that you have a new home, and you are the new master of the house. In the same way, when men of God occupy this universe, it will become a new heaven and a new earth.

We know that when winter ends, spring begins. But can we say at precisely what point spring starts? Who can pinpoint the exact instant of transition? You cannot know because the passage from one season to another takes place imperceptibly, quietly. The end of winter is similar to the beginning of spring, so there is no discernible moment of transition.

At what moment does the old day end and a new day begin? Although the change occurs in darkness, there is no doubt that we do go from one day to the next. The change is unnoticeable at first, but it is also inevitable and irrevocable. Although three billion people live on earth, not one among them can point to the exact moment when the old day passes and the new day begins. So we understand that from the human point of view we cannot always know the precise moment things happen. But God knows when winter passes into spring, and God knows when night opens into day. And God can point to the transition into new history.

Our step into new history is like a glorious dawn emerging out of the blackest night. The crossing point between good and evil is not obvious. You will not notice it when it happens, but it will definitely take place, just as surely as the sun will rise tomorrow.

God's Servants and Prophets

Then how can we know when the end is approaching? God will not hide this moment from man; He does not suddenly bring judgment on the world without warning. God will announce the coming of the great and terrible day through his prophets. Amos 3:7 says,

'Surely the Lord God does nothing, without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets.'

God chooses His instrument and through him God announces His plans. This has been the case throughout Bible history.

The person to be chosen as God's prophet must be one of the people living in our evil world. But he must be a man of faith who can demonstrate that he is worthy to be used by God. He must show absolute faith. To do this he must give up all worldly success and completely separate himself from this evil world. He must purify himself by cutting off all evil attachments. He will not be popular in the evil world. God is absolute good and therefore the exact opposite of evil. That is why evil always persecutes a man of God.

Noah was such a man chosen by God and scorned by the evil world. God instructed Noah to build a ship. He sent Noah to the heights of a mountain instead of down by the riverside or to the seashore. God's command was so ridiculous in the eyes of the evil world that many people laughed at Noah. He was ridiculed, not because people thought him a particularly funny man, but because he followed God's instructions so faithfully. The eyes of the world could not understand the way of God. In this manner, with such implausible instructions, God could test the faith of the man he had chosen as His champion. This is what happened in Noah's day.

And at the time of Abraham it was no different. God called Abraham, the son of an idol-maker, and commanded him, "Leave your home at once!" God does not allow for any compromise. God takes a position where evil can be totally denied. In no other way can good begin.

God has said He will start a new history, in which no element of evil will remain. God demands complete response from man. Those who follow God's direction must begin from absolute denial of the evil world. That is why Jesus Christ taught:

'He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for my sake will find it.' (Matt. 10:39)

He also said,

'... a man's foes will be those of his own household.' (Matt. 10:36)

You may ask, what kind of message is this? This is God's way, to choose His own people and put them in a position where they will be rejected by evil. Otherwise His champion can do no good for God. From the point of view of God's standard, then, modern Christians have been having a very easy time. This is very strange, because there is no easy way indicated in Christian teaching. I wonder how many Christians are really serious about following the path of God? God's demand is absolute. It allows for no middle ground.

Then how can we know clearly the path of God? Let us examine the history of God's providence. Today we are anticipating the end of the world. God has made previous attempts to end the world. For example, the time of Noah; that was a crossroads in history, when God wanted to bring an end to evil and begin the world of goodness. Noah was the central figure chosen in God's dispensation. To better understand Noah's mission and the meaning of the end of the world, we want to know more fully how the evil history began.

In the Garden of Eden, God gave Adam and Eve a commandment. That commandment was the word of God. Then Satan approached and enticed them with a lie. And that lie was the word of evil. Adam and Eve were in a position to choose between the two words: The truth was on one side, and a lie was on the other. They chose the lie.

Because this was the process of the fall of man, at the end of the world God will give mankind truth. The words of God will come through His prophet. When man accepts the words of God he will then pass from death to life, because truth brings life. Man has died in a lie, and in truth he will be reborn.

The Judgment of Words

Therefore judgment comes by words. These words of God's judgment will be revealed by His chosen prophets. This is the process of the ending of the world. Those who obey and listen to the new word of truth shall have life. Those who deny the word will continue to live in death.

God chose Noah to declare the word. Noah's announcement was, "The flood is coming. The salvation is the ark." The people could have saved themselves by listening to Noah's words. However, the people treated Noah as if he were a crazy man, and they perished--because they opposed the word of God. According to the Bible, only the eight people of Noah's immediate family became passengers on the ark. Only these eight believed, and only these eight were saved.

God had said to Noah,

'I have determined to make an end of all flesh; for the earth is filled with violence through them; behold, I will destroy them with the earth.' (Gen. 6:13)

Did this actually happen? We know the evil people perished, but was the physical world demolished in the process? No. This passage was not literally fulfilled, and God did not destroy the earth. God did eradicate the people and destroy evil the sovereignty, leaving only the good people of Noah's family. This was God's way to begin to restore the original world of goodness through Noah.

If God had fully consummated His restoration at that time, then we would have heard no more about the end of the world. Once the perfect world of goodness is realized, another end of the world is not necessary. Nothing could then interfere with the eternal reign of God's perfect kingdom.

But the very fact that we anticipate the end of the world today is proof that God did not succeed at the time of Noah. What happened to Noah after the flood should be fully explained, but I cannot spend too much time on that subject tonight. To make a long story short, once again, sin crept into Noah's family through his son, Ham. God's flood judgment was thereby nullified, and evil human history continued until the time of Jesus Christ.

With the coming of Christ, God again attempted to end the world. Jesus came to start the new Kingdom of Heaven on earth. Thus, the first words Jesus spoke were, "Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand." Indeed, the time of Jesus Christ's ministry was the end of the world. That great and terrible day was prophesied by Malachi, about 400 years before the birth of Jesus:

For behold, the day comes, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evil-doers will be stubble; the day that comes shall burn them up, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch! (Mal. 4:1)

Was the judgment of Jesus Christ done by literal fire? Did the day come at the time of Jesus when everything literally turned to ashes? No, we know it did not. Since these things prophesied did not literally happen at that time, some people say that such prophecy must have been meant for the time of the Second Advent. But this cannot be the case.

John the Baptist came to the world as the last prophet; Jesus said:

'... all the prophets and the law prophesied until John... ' (Matt. 11:13)

The coming of John the Baptist should have put an end to prophecy and the Mosaic Law. This is what Jesus said would happen. The purpose of all prophecy before Jesus was to prepare for his coming, and to indicate what was to be fulfilled up to the time of his coming. These prophecies are not for the time of the Lord of the Second Advent. God sent His son Jesus into the world, intending full and perfect salvation to be accomplished. The Second Coming was made necessary only by lack of fulfillment at the time of the first coming.

Why then was the time of Jesus the end of the world? We already know the answer. It is because Jesus came to end the evil sovereignty and bring forth God's sovereignty upon the earth. This was the end of the Old Testament age and the beginning of the age of the New Testament. Jesus brought the words of new truth.

How did the people receive the gospel which he brought? The Jewish leaders accused Jesus and had him crucified. They were prisoners to the letter of the Old Testament and could not perceive the presence of the spirit of God in the new truth. It is ironic that Jesus fell victim to the very prophecies that were to testify to him as the Son of God. By the letter of the Mosaic Law he was judged a criminal. Blindly the people nailed him to the cross.

At the time of Jesus many learned people, many leaders of churches, and many people prominent in society who were well versed in the Law and the prophets were waiting for a Messiah. How happy they would have been to have their Messiah recite the Old Testament exactly, syllable by syllable and word by word! But Jesus Christ did not come to repeat the Mosaic Law. He came to pronounce a new law of God. People missed the whole point. And Jesus was accused. The people of Israel said to him,

'We stone you for no good work, but for blasphemy; because you, being a man, make yourself God.' (John 10:33)

The Bible states: "And they reviled him (one of Jesus' disciples), saying,

'You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.' (John 9:28-29)

This was the way they looked at Jesus. Those people who diligently obeyed the letter of the Mosaic Law disobeyed Jesus Christ. The most devout of the Jewish faithful were the first ones to be judged by Jesus.

Now at this time I would like to clarify the meaning of "judgment by fire."

We read in the New Testament:

... the heavens will be kindled and dissolved, and the elements will melt with fire! (II Peter 3:12)

How can this fantastic prophecy come true? Will it happen literally? No. The statement has symbolic meaning. God would not destroy His earth, His stars, and all creation without realizing His ideal on earth. If He did so, then God would become the God of defeat. And who would be His conqueror? It would be Satan. This can never happen to God. Even on our human level, once we determine to do something, we see it through to its completion. How much more so will God almighty accomplish His will. When God speaks of judgment by fire in the Bible, He does not mean He will bring judgment by flames. The significant meaning is a symbolic one.

Let us now consider another biblical passage which speaks of fire. Jesus proclaimed,

'I came to cast a fire upon the earth; and would that it were already kindled!' (Luke 12:49)

Did Jesus throw literal, blazing fire about? Of course not.

The fire in the Bible is symbolic. It stands for the word of God. This is why James 3:6 states, "... the tongue is a fire... "

The tongue speaks the word, and the word is from God. Jesus himself said,

'He who rejects me and does not receive my sayings has a judge; the word that I have spoken will be his judge on the last day." (John 12:48)

In contemporary society, the word of the court executes judgment. The word is the law. In this universe, God is in the position of judge. Jesus came as the attorney with authority to oppose Satan, the prosecutor of man. Satan accuses man with his words, but these are false charges. Jesus champions the cause of believers, and his standard is the word of truth. God pronounces the sentence: His love is the standard, and love is His word. There is no difference between the earthly court and the heavenly court, in that both conduct their trials by words, not by fire.

So the world will not be burned up by fire when it is judged. The Bible says "... the Lord Jesus will slay him [the evil one] with the breath of his mouth..." (II Thess. 2:8)

The word of God is the breath of his mouth. Jesus came to slay the wicked by the word of God, and "... he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked." (Is. 11:4)

What then is the "rod of his mouth?" We take this symbol to mean his tongue--through which he speaks the word of God.

Let's resolve this point completely. Look to where Jesus was instructing the people: "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears my word and believes Him who sent me, has eternal life; he does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life." John 5:24) Men pass from death to life by words of truth. God will not send you the Messiah to burn you up. He will not send you the Messiah to set your houses afire or destroy your society. But if we reject the word of God spoken by the Lord, we leave no choice open except to be condemned by judgment. Here is the reason why.

In the beginning God created man and the universe by His word-logos. Man denied the word of God and fell. Spiritual death has reigned ever since. Through His salvation work, God has been recreating man. Man fell by disobedience to God's word, and man shall be recreated by obedience to the same word of God. The word of God is given by the Lord. Accepting the word brings life out of death. Such death is the hell in which we live. Thus the word of God is the judge, and it will bring upon you a far more profound effect than the hottest flames.

If Israel Had Accepted Jesus

Now at this time we can examine another important point. What would have happened if the people of Israel had wholeheartedly accepted Jesus Christ? Imagine the nation of Israel united with Jesus. What would that have meant? First of all, Jesus would not have been killed. People would have glorified Jesus as the living Lord. They would have then marched to Rome with the living Christ as their commander-in-chief, and Rome would have surrendered to the Son of God in his own lifetime. But in the sad reality of history, it took four centuries for a band of Jesus' disciples to conquer Rome. Jesus never won the chosen people of Israel, and he never gained the support he needed from them. He came to erect the Kingdom of God on earth, but instead he had to caution his disciples even to keep his identity a secret because people did not accept his legitimacy as the Messiah, and he therefore lacked the power to be the king of kings.

Today we have much to learn, and we must not believe blindly. We must know the hidden truth behind the Bible. Jesus was crucified, not by his own will, but by the will of others. Rejection by the chosen people of Israel killed Jesus Christ.

Right now I am making a bold declaration. Jesus did not come to die. Jesus Christ was murdered. Let me repeat: Jesus Christ was murdered, and his own people had him killed. Even the Roman governor Pilate wanted to release Jesus. He did not find any fault with Jesus. But Christ's own people rejected him and forced Pilate to release Barabbas instead. What a pity! What a tragedy!

This may be shocking and astounding news to you, but if you are only surprised, then you have missed my purpose. I am revealing these things because of my duty to bear witness to the truth.

It was the chosen people of Israel, the chief priests, the elders, the scribes, and the faithful, who shouted at Pilate's court. "Crucify him!" Saint Paul said, "None of the rulers of this age understood this; for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory" (I Cor 2:8)

The people living at the time of Jesus Christ made a terrible mistake. But do you think they were so much more ignorant and less aware than we are today? No, not at all. They learned the Old Testament word by word and memorized the Mosaic Law. Based on their understanding, Jesus did not meet the qualifications to be the Messiah.

The Jewish people were in a very difficult position. If they wanted to believe the Law and the prophets, they had to abandon the Law of Moses as they understood it. Four thousand years of tradition had been based on the Old Testament. It was very, very difficult for people to just wake up one morning, turn away from the Law, and totally accept Jesus Christ as the Son of God. Because people had their eyes riveted to the letter of the Law, the spirit of the Law simply passed them by.

Let us look into the Old Testament and examine the prophecy of Malachi:

'... I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers...' (Mal. 4:5-6)

The people of Israel knew God's promise clearly. They knew it by heart. And they expected the coming of Elijah before the Messiah appeared. When the Messiah did come, naturally they asked, "Where is Elijah?"

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

The Question of Elijah

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

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

The disciples of Jesus were not educated in the Old Testament. Many learned people rebuked them when they went out to preach, asking, "Do you not know the Old Testament? Do you not know the Mosaic Law?" The disciples were embarrassed when they were attacked through the verses of the Law and the prophets. One day they came back to Jesus and put the question to him:

'... why do the scribes say that first Elijah must come?' He replied, 'Elijah does come, and he is to restore all things; but I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not know him, but did to him whatever they pleased. So also the Son of man will suffer at their hands.' Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them of John the Baptist.' (Matt. 17:10-13)

According to Jesus, John the Baptist was Elijah

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

Read the Bible: 'And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, 'Who are you?'... And they asked him, 'What then? Are you Elijah?'

He said, 'I am not.' Are you the prophet?' And he answered, 'No'. (John 1:19-21)

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

John made it almost impossible for the people to know that Elijah had come. But Jesus declared the truth anyway. He said,

'... if you are willing to accept it, he [John the Baptist] is Elijah who is to come' (Matt. 11:14)

Jesus knew that most people could not accept the truth. Instead they questioned the motivation of Jesus. In order for Jesus to seem like the Messiah, Elijah had to come first, so the people thought he was lying for the purpose of his own self-aggrandizement. The Son of God became more and more misunderstood by the people. This was such a grave situation. In those days, the influence of John the Baptist was felt in every corner of Israel. But Jesus Christ was an obscure and ambiguous figure in his society. Nobody was in a position to take Jesus' words as the truth. This failure of John was the major cause of the crucifixion of Jesus.

John the Baptist had already seen the Spirit of God descending upon the head of Jesus Christ at the Jordan. At that time he testified:

'I saw the Spirit descend as a dove from heaven, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him; but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, 'He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit' And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.' (John 1:32-34)

Rumors About Jesus

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

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

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

This was long after he had testified to Jesus as the Son of God. How could he even ask, "Are you he who is to come as the Son of God?" after the testimony of the Spirit to him? Jesus was truly sorrowful. He felt anger. Jesus refused to answer John the Baptist with a straight yes or no. He replied instead,

'Blessed is he who takes no offense at me.'

Let me paraphrase what Jesus meant: "John, I am sorry that you took offense at me. At one time you recognized me, but now you doubt me. I am sorry your faith has proved to be so weak."

After this incident, Jesus spoke to the crowds concerning John. He put a rhetorical question to them:

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

What Jesus was saying here was this: "John, you went out to the wilderness to see the person more than a prophet--the Messiah, the Son of God. You have seen everything but missed the vital point, the core of your mission. You indeed failed to recognize me and failed to live up to God's expectation. It is God who expects of you 'to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.' You have failed."

Jesus concluded:

'Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has risen no one greater than John the Baptist; yet he who is the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he' (Matt. 11:11)

Conventional Christian interpretations have never fully explained the meaning of this controversial verse.

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

Jesus said,

'From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and men of violence take it by force.' (Matt. 11:12)

John the Baptist was the chosen instrument of God, destined to be the chief disciple of Jesus. He failed in his responsibility, and Simon Peter, by the strength and force of his faith, earned that central position for himself on his own merit. Other men stronger and more violent in faith than John the Baptist fought relentlessly with Jesus for the realization of God's kingdom on earth. The devout men who righteously followed John the Baptist could not become the 12 apostles and 70 Disciples of Christ, as they were to have been. If John the Baptist had become the chief disciple of Jesus, those two together would have united all of Israel. But the truth is that John the Baptist did not follow the Son of God.

One day John's followers came to him and asked,

'Rabbi, he who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you bore witness, here he is baptizing, and all are going to him' (John 3:26)

They carried concern in their question: "Look at all the people going to Jesus. What about you?" John the Baptist replied,

'He must increase, but I must decrease.' (John 3:30)

Usually Christians interpret this passage as proof of John's humble personality. This is an incorrect understanding of the meaning of his words. If Jesus and John had been united, their destiny would be to rise or fall together Then Jesus could not increase his reputation while John's own prestige diminished! The lessening of his own role was what John feared.

John once stated the Messiah was the one '... whose sandals I am not worthy to carry...' (Matt. 3:11)

Yet he failed to follow Jesus even after he knew that Jesus was the Son of God. John the Baptist was a man without excuse. He should have followed

Responsible for the Crucifixion

God sent John as a forerunner to the Messiah. His mission was clearly defined,

'...to make ready for the Lord a people prepared' (Luke 1:17)

But because of John's betrayal, Jesus Christ had no ground upon which to start his ministry. The people had not been prepared to receive Jesus. Therefore, he had to go out from his home and work all by himself, trying to create a foundation on which the people could believe in him. There can be no doubt that John the Baptist was a man of failure. He was directly responsible for the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

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

We must therefore come to this solemn conclusion: The crucifixion of Jesus was a result of the rejection by the Jewish people. The major cause of their rejection was the betrayal of John. Thus we have learned that Jesus did not come to die on the cross. If Jesus had come to die, then he would not have offered that tragic and anguished prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus said to his disciples:

'My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here and watch with me' And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, 'My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt.' (Matt. 26: 38-39)

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

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

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

A Tragic Misunderstanding

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

Think this over. If Jesus came to die on the cross, would he not need a man to deliver him up? You know that Judas Iscariot is the disciple who betrayed Jesus. If Jesus fulfilled God's will with his death on the cross, then Judas should be glorified as the man who made the crucifixion possible. Judas would have been aiding God's dispensation. But Jesus said of Judas,

'The Son of man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.' (Matt. 26:24)

Judas killed himself.

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

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

God warned them and chastised them; He persuaded them and scolded them, pushed them and punished them because He wanted His people to accept His Son. One day the disciples asked Jesus,

'"What must we do, to be doing the works of God?" Jesus answered them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent"' (John 6:28-29)

The chosen people of Israel did the very thing God had labored to prevent. They rejected the one He had sent.

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

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

Jesus gave sight to the blind and made the lepers clean. He healed the lame and blessed the deaf with hearing. Jesus raised the dead. He did these things only because he wanted to be accepted. Yet the people said of him,

'It is only by Beelzebub, the prince of demons, that this man casts out demons.' (Matt. 12:24)

What a heartbreaking situation! Jesus soon saw the hopelessness of gaining the acceptance of the people. In anger and desperation he chastised them: 'You brood of vipers!... ' (Matt. 12:34)

He did not hide his wrath, but exploded in anger.

'Woe to you, Chorazin! woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.' (Matt. 11:21)

And he wept when he drew near the city of Jerusalem.

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

No Hope of Avoiding Death

Who has ever understood the broken heart of Jesus? He said, 'Would that even today you knew the things that make for peace! But now they are hid from your eyes.' (Luke 19:42)

By that time Jesus knew there was absolutely no hope of avoiding death. Yet he pleaded with God in Gethsemane, and he pleaded with God on the cross:

'My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?' (Matt. 27:46)

Thus Jesus died on the cross, not of his own will, not of the will of God, but by the will of men. Christ was destined to return from that moment on. He will return to consummate his mission on earth. Mankind must await his Second Coming for the complete salvation of the world.

Many people may now ask, "What about the prophecies in the Old Testament concerning the death of Jesus on the cross?" I am aware of those prophecies, such as Isaiah, Chapter 53. We must know that there are dual lines of prophecy in the Bible. One group prophesies Jesus' rejection and death; the others, such as Isaiah, Chapters 9, 11 and 60, prophesy the glorious ministry of Jesus when the people accepted him as the Son of God, as the king of kings. For example:

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government will be upon his shoulder, and his name will be called 'Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.' Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David, and over his kingdom, to establish it, and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore... (Is. 9:6-7)

This is the prophecy of the Lord of glory, Jesus as the king of kings, and prince of peace. On the other hand, we can read:

'Surely he has borne our grief and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that made us whole, and with his stripes we are healed.' (Is. 53 4-5)

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

Then, once again, why did God prophesy in two contradictory ways in the Bible?

It is because God has to deal with men--fallen men-- in His dispensation. And fallen man is wicked and untrustworthy and possesses the capacity of betrayal.

Man Stands Between God and Satan

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

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

In the case of Jesus, if the chosen people of Israel demonstrated faith and united with him, then he would be accepted. The full realization of the prophecy of the Lord of glory would result. On the other hand, if the people rejected the Messiah when he came, inevitably the second prophecy, that of the suffering Christ, would be fulfilled. And history shows that the chosen people took the second way. Therefore, the prophecy of the suffering Lord became reality instead of the prophecy of the Lord of glory. Thus the crucifixion and the story of the suffering Christ became the course of history.

Since the prophecy of the suffering Christ became fact in the time of Jesus, the prophecy of the Lord of glory has been left unfulfilled. And this is the prophecy which will be fulfilled at the time of the Lord of the Second Advent.

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

For 30 years Jesus lived in great rejection and humiliation. There were many events and circumstances which grieved and agonized Jesus. He was a truly misunderstood person--in his own society and even among his own family. Nobody, absolutely nobody, treated him as the Son of God. He was not even accorded the common respect due to any man. His society ridiculed him. God's heart was very deeply grieved by Jesus' life. If I revealed just a glimpse of some of the situations of heartbreak and sorrow in the life of Jesus, that obscure figure, the man of Nazareth, you would not only be shocked and stunned, but you would burst into tears of sorrow.

God did not wish mankind to know the tragedy, the heart breaking reality of the humiliation of Jesus Christ. The death of Jesus was neither his will nor his fault. The death of Jesus was murder, and his body was taken by Satan. Our salvation in Christianity comes not from the cross but from the resurrection. Without the resurrection, Christianity has no power The crucifixion itself was a criminal act of faithlessness. However, the resurrected Jesus brought new hope, new forgiveness, and a new power of salvation. Therefore, when we place our faith in Jesus Christ of resurrection and unite with him, our salvation comes.

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

Then let us examine when the end of the world will come. This is very important to us. The gospel says that in the last days God will separate the sheep from the goats. What is the difference between these two kinds of animals? Sheep recognize their master, the shepherd, while goats do not follow a shepherd. Today you know that our world is divided into two opposing camps. One is the democratic world, the other is the communist world. Our free world says, "There is a God." We accept our shepherd. The communist world says, "God does not exist.?' They deny their master. Thus the free world may be symbolized by sheep, and the communist world by goats. At the time of the formation of these two conflicting ideological worlds we can know we have come to the end of the world.

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

They were simply following the Bible prophecy written down in Daniel 7:13:

'I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him.'

Because of the great prophet Daniel, the people of Israel had every reason to expect the arrival of the Messiah with the clouds of heaven. Christians are expecting the arrival of the Lord of the Second Advent in the same way today, from the clouds of heaven.

John said, '... many deceivers have gone out into the world, men who will not acknowledge the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh; such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist.' (II John 7)

The Bible says that many people were denying the appearance of Jesus Christ in the flesh. And John condemned those people as the antichrist. But let us not forget the Old Testament prophecy of the coming of the Son of God in the clouds of heaven. Unless we know the whole truth, we, like the people of Jesus' time, become victims of the words of the Bible.

Then, may I ask, what would you do if the Lord returned to earth not in the clouds but as a man in the flesh? What would you do? I am telling you, the Lord of the Second Advent will in fact appear as a Son of Man with flesh and bones. The first thing you may want to say is, "Reverend Moon, you are a heretic."

How God Looks at the World

It is important to know on which side God will be and how God fulfills His plan. It is not important whether a man or his views are considered heretical or not. It does not matter how I look at the world or how you look at the world. It only matters how God looks at the world. And in God's view, we once again find in the Bible a dual prophecy concerning the coming of the Lord of the Second Advent. Revelation 1:7 definitely prophesies the arrival of the Lord of the Second Advent with the clouds. However, I Thess. 5:2 states:

'For you yourselves know well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.'

There are then two opposing prophecies. What shall we do? Would you simply choose the prophecy which is most convenient for you?

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

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

In the Last Days, the Bible says, do not believe just anybody. Do not believe me, and do not believe your church elders. Do not believe your ministers, and do not believe famous evangelists. Heaven is so near, and you can be lifted up by the spirit so high, that you can speak with God and receive the answer directly from Him if you are earnest enough.

There are many ministers in New Orleans, many clergymen, and many church elders. How many of them are really listening for the voice of God? These ears of ours do not mean much, nor these eyes serve any useful purpose, unless we have spiritual ears and spiritual eyes. Jesus said, 'He who has ears to hear, let him hear' (Matt. 11:15)

And he said to his disciples, 'But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear' (Matt. 13:16)

He was not referring to physical sense organs.

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

We know that even after Adam and Eve fell in the Garden of Eden, they were still able to communicate directly with God. Do you think that after the days of the Old and New Testaments, God has for some reason become deaf and dumb? No, God is very much alive, and today we can talk directly to Him. God can speak to you, and you can have a direct confrontation with Him.

The book of Acts of the Apostles says that in the Last Days, '... your sons and your daughters shall prophesy and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams... ' (Acts 2:17)

We must know the truth. We have to know how to apply for citizenship into the Kingdom of God. We have to know when the Lord will come, and how he will arrive.

Even with clear guidance in our lives, there is still the chance of failure to reach the goal. But today people have no guidance, and no direction people feel confident to follow.

Let us look to our Bible and clarify how the Lord of the Second Advent will appear. In Luke 17:20-21, Jesus was asked by the Pharisees how the Kingdom of God was coming. He answered,

'The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed;... the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.'

Jesus then told his disciples, 'The days are coming when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, and you will not see it'

But if the Lord comes in the clouds of heaven, how could we not see it? Revelation 1:7 says, '... every eye will see him, everyone who pierced him...'

What can this mean? Why would we not see him? The only way we might miss that day is if we look for the Lord to come from one direction, and he appears from another direction in an entirely unexpected manner, just as Elijah did at the time of Jesus. This is the reason you may not see the Lord at the time of his Second Coming.

Who Would Dare Deny Him?

Another mysterious prediction was given by Jesus Christ himself. He declared about the Lord at the Second Coming: 'But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.' (Luke 17:25)

If Christ at his Second Coming appears in the glory of the clouds of heaven, who would dare deny him? Nobody would cause him suffering and pain.

The only way this prophecy can be fulfilled is if people expect his return from the clouds and he suddenly appears as a humble man in the flesh. Do you not think that Christian leaders of today would make the same mistake that the priests and scribes and elders committed at the time of Jesus? Yes! They may very well deny him and reject him, because the manner of his coming would be very difficult for Christian leaders to accept. However, in this way the Bible will be fulfilled. He will First suffer and be rejected by this generation.

Jesus once asked a most important question: 'When the Son of man comes, will he find faith on earth?' (Luke 18:8)

How does this question concern us today, when Christian faith covers the face of the earth? It is because although we do have faith today, it may be mistaken faith--a belief which expects the Lord must come on the clouds of heaven. There are few men on earth with the kind of faith ready to accept the Son of Man even appearing in the flesh. If this were not the situation, the Bible would not be fulfilled. Please note that Jesus did not say there would be no believers, but he said there would be no faith.

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

This prophecy cannot be realized if his Second Coming is on the clouds of heaven.

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

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

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

The Lord will not appear miraculously in the clouds of heaven. Why? Because God is sending His Son to restore the things that once were lost. The first ancestors lost the Kingdom of God on earth. Satan invaded the world and took Eve to his side, and then Eve took Adam away, leaving God alone and separated from people. All people have therefore suffered under the bondage of evil. God must send a new ancestor for humanity, to begin a new history.

Adam Must Restore a New Eve

The work of God is restoration, always in the opposite direction from His original loss. This means that God first needs to find His perfected Adam, and Adam who instead of betraying God will become one with God. And then Adam must restore his bride in the position of Eve. Perfected Adam and perfected Eve, united together, will be able to overcome Satan and expel him from the world. In this way, the first righteous ancestors of mankind will begin a new history.

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

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

The Kingdom of Heaven is to be literal and tangible. Jesus gave Peter the keys to the kingdom of heaven and said, '... whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.' (Matt. 16:19)

So accomplishment on earth must precede fulfillment in heaven; the Kingdom of Heaven will be first achieved on earth.

At this time only an intermediate place in the spirit world is open. That is called Paradise. Jesus and his disciples dwell in Paradise, and even they cannot actually enter the Kingdom of Heaven until it is established on earth. One reason for this is because the Kingdom of Heaven is prepared not for individuals, but for the family of God for the father, the mother, and God's true children.

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

We cannot doubt that Christianity today is in a definite crisis. This is a crisis parallel to the time of Jesus, when the established religious institutions failed the Son of God. We recognize this crisis of our time; but we can also see through the haze to the brightly shining day of new hope.

The end of the world is at hand, not only for Christians but for all people throughout the world. The new history of God will begin with the arrival of the Lord. Blessed are those who see him and accept him. It is the hope of Christianity to recognize, receive, and accept the Lord of the Second Advent. The chance has arrived for all of us. The greatest opportunity in any man's lifetime is now knocking at our door. Please be humble, and open yourself to great new hope!

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

Today is my last day in this city. I hope you will investigate these matters thoroughly. There is opportunity in New Orleans to come to our church and study, or attend our workshops and explore the truth of the Divine Principle. I would not have come here if I did not bring with me new things to tell you. I am revealing new truth. This alone should be a compelling reason for you to look into the depths of this message.

I hope that, as I said in the beginning of our evening together, you will consider these ideas seriously, and pray to God. He will answer you.

Thank you very much. 

Path of Repentance

Sun Myung Moon
October 21, 1973
Excerpts from God's Hope for America

We must examine then, what is the will of God? Why does He give His people such a hard time? Individual salvation is certainly important in the sight of God. God does not neglect that. However, that is not the ultimate purpose of God's work. God's will is the salvation of the world! God needs an individual to be His champion for the ultimate goal of world salvation. God summoned one family to be an instrument for the salvation of the world. God summoned His people to achieve the salvation of the world. God wants to have a nation as His champion, for the ultimate fulfillment of world salvation.

If Christians today think only of their own salvation, their own heaven and their own well-being, then they are not living in accordance with the purpose of God. If we are only concerned with the salvation of our own families, we are not worthy of God's blessing. When you become God's champion for world salvation, your own salvation is guaranteed.

God cannot be pleased with man if we live in a self-centered way. I met Jesus personally, and I received a revelation through which I learned that God's grief is great.

Today God is working ceaselessly for the ultimate salvation of all mankind. He needs His champion to succeed in this work. The purpose of God's church is to save the entire world. The church is the instrument of God, and it was this very fact that the chosen people of Israel forgot at the time of Jesus.