I Am Relating with Two Worlds

Sun Myung Moon
September 20, 1959
Former Church Headquarters
Seoul, Korea

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15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18 For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do -- this I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. 21 So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God's law; 23 but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? 25 Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.
Romans 7:15-25

Prayer

Father! Please help us realize in this hour that we are not walking the path we should walk in our lives, even though we know we must.

There are those who live centering on their bodies, those who live centering on their minds, and those who live centering on Heaven. Please help those of us who have come to participate in this occasion to understand which category we belong in.

We feel deep in our hearts that we must become the central figures who can bring joy and alleviate sorrow in all crucial affairs. Father, we long in our hearts for the self we can be truly proud of; the self who can critique all affairs accurately. Even if our bodies must be brought into submission, please help us recover that self. Please help us understand that although we have been struggling and fighting to restore that self, the battle still is not over, and we face the fate to put our lives on the line and continue our struggles.

Father! Please come to us in tranquility. Father, please command us. Please let us understand that the central purpose of our lives is to seek the moment when we are captured by Your voice, the moment when we move in unison with You, and the moment when we can rejoice with You. As we reflect how in the course of history our ancestors never had a moment when You could share joy with them and with other faithful believers, we cannot help but deeply lament.

Father, we lie prostrated before You on our knees with our hands clasped. Please allow us to penetrate into Your subtle heart. Please let this be an hour when You can hold our hands and say, "My beloved sons and daughters."

All that we believe in and experience in the world is transient. That which we believe and fight for in our minds, that which we sing of in our minds, and the world where we connect with You in our minds is infinite and eternal. When we are asked how and when we are going to become people who can be proud of themselves, if we show no confidence, how sad will God be?

We are miserable ones who cannot show ourselves before Heaven and earth. Please let this be the moment when we sever ourselves from our purposeless, unfeeling past; when our minds can become one with the Father's mind, and when our hearts become connected to the heart of the Father.

Although we have experienced everything in the world, we have never lived centering on the Father. This is what we desire, so please take us into Your hands and perform the works of re-creation. Beloved Father, this is what we desire from the bottom of our hearts.

We know that we cannot understand Your situation without the words of truth. Before understanding this situation, we cannot fathom Your heart. Please give us the one truth which will allow us to connect to Your situation and heart. Please allow us to become one based on the truth.

We pray with utmost sincerity that this hour will be a moment when we can hear Your tranquil words in peace and offer bows to You in joy. Let it be an hour when we can feel our hearts surge as we listen to the words of truth.

Please be with everyone who honors You with sincerity. Extend Your grace equally to the lonely members who are bowing before You in the countryside.

We entrust this entire occasion from the beginning to the end to You. Please govern it. Allow the hearts of the listeners to be one with the heart of the speaker. Praying that this will be a moment when we can be in complete harmony with Heaven, we pray in the name of the Lord. Amen.

Human Beings Live in Two Worlds

No matter how much happiness a person may enjoy on earth, there has not been even one person who lived in true joy and happiness of the heart. We can conclude that because we could not feel joy and happiness in our hearts, God or Heaven, who stands as subject partner to us and is guiding us, has not felt joy or happiness.

If we think that we are to live in this world for our own sake, that is a misunderstanding. We know clearly through our lives that our minds are pursuing some purpose and destination in life. Thus, we cannot deny that each of us is connected to a world of some purpose. For this reason we should understand that we do not live for our own goal or for our own sake, but for some other purpose. Hence, we are all both infinitely small and infinitely big. We know that we have traveled through history based on this relationship.

In our feelings, worldviews and lifestyles, there are complementary and contradictory aspects. We cannot ignore this reality. In other words, even in living for some purpose, there are contradictory and conflicting aspects as well as complementary ones. These phenomena are in society; they are in the trend of thought in the world, and some of these phenomena are in Heaven.

When we analyze Heavenly principles and worldviews, we cannot deny that some being exists who transcends our concepts and guides us in great detail. We do not feel this being through our concepts, and this being does not originate from within us.

We have to understand clearly that this position we stand in is not limited to one world but is connected to two worlds. The world that our minds desire and the world that our body desires, these two worlds, are unfolding within us. For this reason, while our minds desire joy and happiness based on some ideology, we cannot deny that there are pleasures and joys that we feel physically through the five senses of our bodies.

The Human Fall Seen from the Viewpoints of the Heavenly Mind and the Human Mind

We commonly say that we have a mind. We say that we have a human mind. There is also a heavenly mind. The heavenly mind and the human mind should have complemented each other within us, guiding our lives based on heavenly law and order. Yet we have not established the order which can clarify the standard for our lives. The heavenly mind and the human mind cannot unite. This is the Fall and the source of our lament.

That which abandons the human mind and betrays Heaven or the good mind is commonly called the evil mind. When we reflect upon ourselves, we find that the heavenly mind enters through our minds, while the evil mind enters through our bodies. From ancient times all saints and holy men have mourned over the conflict they found themselves in. Because St. Paul also suffered in the midst of the chaotic battle between the laws of the mind and the laws of the body, he said, "I am a wretched man." (Romans 7:24)

What kind of world have we been rejoicing in and what kind of world do we want to rejoice in? You probably cannot deny that this world is not a place where our minds and bodies can enjoy true happiness, a world which is in harmony with the truth in our hearts. You are struggling and agonizing in this environment. When we fathom this situation, we can conclude that even though the heavenly mind should rule the human mind, there has never been a moment when the heavenly mind was in complete oneness with our human mind and when it manifested itself and produced joy in our lives.

If there is a God, would He want to dwell in our minds only for a day? God wants to dwell in our minds for eternity. However, we find ourselves in the chaos of the battle between our minds and bodies. If we ask whether or not Heaven can dwell in such a mind, the answer is negative.

God is good. Goodness is eternal, unique, and unchanging. However, because we do not possess unchanging, unique and eternal principles of life, we cannot penetrate into the mind which is orientated toward goodness.

For this reason, even though God can work through our consciences, He cannot work through our views on life. Because God could not guide us with the universal truth, human history until now has remained in the realm of evil. Hence, this world cannot build an eternal relationship with the heavenly principles. This is why this world must be judged. People living in this world also must be judged.

Religions Pursue the Heavenly Mind

If there is a movement which transcends the human mind in pursuit of the heavenly mind, what would that movement be? It is religion. Religions have made their best attempts to pursue the heavenly mind.

Religions have made great contributions to the cultural history of humanity. They have initiated movements to inspire people's consciences to be oriented toward the heavenly mind and have carried out new revolutions and a new history. When centering on the human mind, the evil mind and the material mind join together to defeat the heavenly mind. It was destroyed. We cannot deny this history.

For this reason there is a common saying, "Live a conscientious life." Can everything be resolved with that alone? Even if one lived by one's conscience, if the rest of the universe did not live joyfully based on the conscience, and if one did not share joy with Heaven, that situation would need to be corrected. Isn't this true? If you really live a conscientious life, then you will experience events that stimulate your mind.

Although people have consciences, they are not in a position to enjoy life based on the purpose of that conscience and the heavenly principles. People who have the fate of the Fall want to reach the goal of the heavenly principles. Having lost the purpose and freedom of the conscience due to the Fall, in other words losing the purpose and freedom of a life based on the conscience, is the source of lamentation. You must understand this.

If the first human ancestors had laid the foundation to enjoy life in a place of goodness centering on the good purpose, their descendants also would have been able to experience joy in their minds and Heaven's mind. However, due to the Fall, human beings could not become connected to the purpose of the mind and life. This is how they fell. When they fell, what was the center of their actions? They fell centering on their bodies.

For this reason your mind and body are in conflict within you. You are subject to these kinds of difficulties. If you have a sincere mind, there should be a time when you try to resolve this. However, have you ever built such a relationship with history? Have you ever built such a relationship for one year, for several decades, not to mention for the course of your life? If you have not, then you stand in a position to betray the heavenly mind.

If you cut off the heavenly mind and pursue the path that the body's pleasures lead you on, you will self- destruct. We find in this world a philosophy which seeks truth in the direction of the body's pleasures and a philosophy which seeks truth in the direction of the mind's happiness.

Human beings are extremely small, but they are micro-universes. Thus, even the fights that take place in their minds have the form of a world-level conflict. Something must emerge which can resolve this, yet nothing has emerged. Moreover, a model which can transcend the individual level and bring a solution for the people, the nation and world has not appeared.

The Person Who Will Stand Fast until the Last Days

Because the world turns around us, the fight between the mind and the body continues in our life. In this fight between mind and body, those who cannot sing a song of victory centering on the mind can never become citizens of Heaven. Those who harbor the ambition to conquer the world will be judged together with this world. Those who try to move this earth centering on their own ideas will perish together with the earth. However, those who hold onto and ceaselessly seek the ideals of Heaven will survive.

Since the world of the mind is unchanging and unique, it can communicate with the world of infinity. Because only this mind can become the base upon which to communicate with the heart of Heaven, those who embrace it in their lives will escape the day of judgment.

Jesus said that the Kingdom of Heaven is in our hearts. This Kingdom is infinite. If there are heavenly principles or the heart of Heaven, those who can invite this heart into their consciences and honor it as the motivating force in their lives, living in harmony with it, will become princes who can build the Kingdom of Heaven.

Heaven is waiting for the day of judgment. He is waiting for the day when the universe will be judged. You have to understand that historical judgment has been carried out, and each one of you are being judged in this hour.

Faithful people of the Last Days fear the day of the great judgment. Who can escape the great judgment? They are probably the people who have resolved conflicts within themselves and declared victory. Yet people today do not know that similar conflicts are taking place in families, among peoples and in the world.

What is the cause of these phenomena? It is because the time has come when the conflict between the heavenly mind and the evil mind will come to an end. This is the reason we have desired to possess the authority of the great judgment. We long to cast judgment on our enemies.

To become such people, we must be able to conquer our own selves. We must completely conquer our body under the leadership of our mind. We must eradicate all elements which may oppose the mind. Before prevailing over our bodies based on our faith, we cannot perform the act of judgment.

Those who are triumphant in the judgment of individuals are worthy to judge families. Those who are triumphant in the judgment of families are qualified to judge the society. Those who are victorious in judging the society will be able to judge the nation. Those who are victorious in judging the nation will be able to judge the world. Those who are victorious in judging the world will be able to judge the universe. They will have such authority.

When we examine ourselves, we find ourselves in the middle of two worlds. The Kingdom of Heaven dominates the higher realms of our mind. Hell dominates the lower realms of the mind. These two worlds have formed a parallel. In other words, on the upper side of the parallel in the spiritual world of the mind is Heaven. The lower side is hell.

Ladies and gentlemen, there are those who feel increasingly intense fear as they near the Last Days. In contrast there are those who are filled with joy. It is inevitable that such movements will emerge. You may have thought that there are only extremely evil people; yet there are extremely good people. Extreme evil cannot invade an extremely good person, and extreme goodness cannot relate with extreme evil. This society cannot hold onto God. There will come a time when no religious figure, no one gifted by Heaven, can bridge the gap.

When that time comes, those who live in an extremely evil world, those who have not built any relationship with Heaven, will certainly face the judgment. There will come a time when such a situation will unfold in your minds. Your minds want to pursue a certain direction, yet your body pursues another. Those who are struggling because they do not have the conditions for connecting their minds and bodies will surely head toward hell.

Where Do the Paths toward Heaven and Hell Divide?

Where do the paths toward Heaven and hell divide? It is determined by each one of us. Those who feel guilt in their conscience as they live in an environment which stimulates their five physical senses are living in hell. Those who live a life of joy in their hearts and live by the direction of their minds are living in Heaven. For this reason people should abandon material desires and the evil mind, pursue the heavenly principles and live by their conscience. You understand this very well.

The beginning of history was not a day of joy. It was a day of sorrow. The time will come when history will end in sorrow because it began in sorrow. It will end in pain because it began in pain. It will end in despair because it began in despair. You can expect to harvest what you have sown. Our ancestors betrayed the heart of Heaven. We have mourned infinitely because we have violated the laws of conscience and the heavenly heart and have fallen. Since this is how it has been, this world does not have what would bring people joy in their hearts.

For this reason you must strike all of these to lead a religious life. You have to understand clearly that this conflict is taking place within you. Any act will be judged to be either good or evil. In our lives today we evaluate our every gesture, what we see, hear, smell and so forth, whether they were for the sake of goodness or evil. People who lead lives of devotion cannot judge these clearly unless they have a firm grasp of this concept and a clear standard of good and evil.

This world is engaged in such a conflict. Although evil rises and strikes goodness first, it cannot persist for long. Evil will not persist. Goodness will prevail. In the long course of history, this will gradually expand from the individual to families, a people, a nation, the world and the universe. Now we are entering the era of a world ideology. Even when the era of a world ideology comes, individuals are still individuals. However, the trends of thought have been expanding their scope.

Although people who have lived by their consciences in the past are the same as those who live by their consciences today, the scope of their relationship has broadened. In the past people were content to live for their own individual sake. This does not have to be the case. It is also not the case that people have to live for the sake of families, societies, nations, or the world. People should live for the sake of Heaven and earth.

Even though the shape and scope of the flow of history have widened, the standard of the mind remains unchanged. Because heavenly principles govern everything in history, when people abide by this standard of the mind and are in line with the direction of the heavenly principles, they will not lose the purpose and direction their minds must pursue. This is the reason it is said, "Live a conscientious life. If you live by your conscience, you will be blessed." When we realize that the day of judgment blocks the path before us, we won't be able to receive the blessings. Even though it may seem that you are receiving blessings at the moment, you will be struck when the time comes, so you cannot consider it a blessing. Blessings are not to be received on earth. Blessings will be given when the one day comes. Because blessings will be given to those who stand fast until that time, it is said that you will be blessed if you live by your conscience. This is how we should see it.

The Last Days Are the Time of the Cosmic Ideology Centering on Heaven and Earth

These are the Last Days. This era which we refer to as the Last Days is entering the era of a world ideology. We are not parting with the world. If there is a heavenly heart, we will enter the era of a cosmic ideology centering on the heavenly heart.

Then which direction should our minds pursue? The time of living for one's own sake is behind us. The time for living for one's own family is also behind us. The time when we live for the society and people is also behind us. The time of living for a nation is also behind us. Now the time for the world ideology will come. We have entered an era when we have to live for the sake of the world under the guidance of an ideal.

Human beings have two paths before them, the internal path and the external path. Each of us faces these two paths. If there is a path which can bring the internal and external paths together, the time that this one path emerges will be the era of the ideals we seek.

Now we should seek individuals, families, a people, a nation, the world and the universe with whom the heavenly heart desires to relate. Otherwise, you will do no more than follow the paths of the great people or religious leaders of the past.

They have been turning the orientation of the human mind in the direction of the heavenly mind, turning the direction of bodies toward the heavenly mind. They have also been turning the stimulating, material world toward the heavenly mind. As they near it, they will cause upheavals internally and externally. They will collide. Based on what will they collide? They will collide based on the earth. Then what? They will collide based on people. Then what? They will collide based on the heart.

In the course of the struggle to destroy the external world ideology and establish an internal world ideology, history has been moving forward. The phenomena taking place today are dividing left and right centering on that heart. Such phenomena certainly take place in yourselves as well as on the world level.

If God exists and He has been working His providence for the sake of human beings, you should fathom how much He has suffered to guide this world toward the era of a world ideology. Think about it. Both in us and in our ancestors, our bodies have not submitted before our minds in their struggle. Our minds were conquered by our bodies. You should think about how laborious God's work has been to use the hearts of these ancestors as the foundation to transcend individuals, families, a people, a nation, and pull them up to a world ideology.

When we study historical documents, we should observe how laborious the history of struggle has been that Heaven has gone through. Have you ever felt that? Those who pray, "Please take away my pains and remove them," will never enter the nation of glory. Those who pray for blessings from God centering on their families, their people, and their nation will survive only until a certain moment. When a world ideology emerges, the national ideology will be shattered. When a cosmic ideology based on the heavenly heart emerges, the world ideology will be shattered.

The Situation of the Last Days and the Ultimate Goal of Satan's Attack

Because Heaven has been working the providence to fulfill His great purpose, His ultimate goal, we should also long for and prepare for the one day when the greatest goal is accomplished. For this reason it is said that the Last Days are coming. What kind of time is the Last Days? It is the time when Heaven and earth meet as mind and body, when the world ideology and all thought come together and when our minds and bodies unite. When they come together, what will they sing of? They will sing of the life of the mind and a world which can connect through the heart. You are to sing with the universe. However, such a day and such a world have not emerged on the earth.

Heaven has been working toward that world. That world is the ultimate goal of Heaven. It is the ultimate goal of humanity. To become someone who will prevail until that day, you have to engage in unspeakable conflict with your body. You should keep to your pledges without a change of heart and never waver from your determination.

If there is someone who goes forth with such a determination, his body will protest, his family will oppose him, his society, nation, and the world will protest in order to break his determination. You have to understand that the whole world is attacking such a person. This demonstrates that the greater the truth you come to understand, the greater the opposition you will face.

Christians say that they are heading toward Heaven. They claim that they are walking toward the Kingdom of Heaven. Yet they forgot that great enemies are waiting for them on the path toward the great ideology. You have to keep in mind that there are great enemies.

What is the ultimate goal of these enemies? It is the body. The target of our enemies is our body. Threats to life, threats on the levels of society and the nation and of Heaven and earth are posed against our bodies. St. Paul experienced this in his life. When he appeared before his people, he was considered an enemy. When he went to foreign lands, he was the foreign enemy. When he stood before the church, he was the enemy of the church.

No matter what religions there may be in this world, Christianity and so forth, they will certainly be judged. They will not overcome it so easily. To do so, they need to explain themselves completely. Because there is this providential relationship on the world level, in the course of seeking our true selves centering on our minds, we are confronted with suffering on the world level.

The closer we come to the Last Days, world level fear comes from all directions. Hence, the closer we come to the Last Days, the more conscientious people are overwhelmed with fear. You have witnessed this around you already. Thus, there will come a time when conscientious and artistic people, particularly those who are in academia, will be swayed by waves of fear which will restrict them from living freely. This is how it is right now. This has been manifested through panic and widespread fear.

We who are living in the Last Days today are different from people in the past. Because this is the era of a world ideology, someone should appear who can put everything on the line, strike the external spheres into harmony with the heavenly heart and say, "Father! I have won the victory." Isn't this so? Heaven hopes to create such a person, and Satan has opposed this attempt on the part of Heaven.

This world is not a heavenly world; it is under the sovereignty of evil. If such a person appears in this world of evil sovereignty, then the entire world will oppose him and protest. Those who strike him, however, will perish. Individuals who strike will submit; families who oppose will submit; and the society which opposes him will submit. Moreover, when nations and the world submit after putting up opposition, the final decision will be made. From this we should learn that the flow of history is the external manifestation of a small individual on the world level.

The Way Providential History Unfolds

People today have never tasted true happiness, from the beginning of their being. They have never been able to sing for joy on earth. From ancient times until today, through the long six thousand years of history, there has never been a person of conscience who stood proudly before Heaven and earth.

The more conscientious a person is, the more he is persecuted, beaten, killed and trampled upon. People have longed for the one day that they can rejoice eternally centering on their consciences. Our conscientious ancestors built an altar of blood. They rose up again after being struck down. When individuals fell down, Heaven brought individuals together as a family. When families fell. Heaven brought them together and formed a people. When a people fell, Heaven brought the people together to build a world. This is the providential history of God.

When Adam fell, the providence progressed centering on Cain and Abel. When Cain and Abel failed, the providence moved on centering on Noah's family, and then on through the three generations of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Then it centered upon Jacob's family. Based on the family as a unit, it moved forward toward a people on the world level, and the first step toward it was the Israelites' slavery in Egypt. Moses, the leader of the Israelites, united the people and guided them out of the enemy's land, Egypt, and left for Canaan in order to restore a nation.

Individuals had to fight to restore a family. When a family was restored, that family had to fight to restore a people. When a people was restored, they fought to restore a nation. When a nation was restored, that nation fought for the sake of restoring a world. In such a way the scope has been gradually widening.

It is not simple for an individual to establish a standard of victory. In order to become an historic person, you have to become victorious while enduring historical persecution and suffering. Look at Noah. For 120 years he suffered persecution more intense than anything we have experienced today. Noah of old endured for 120 years to restore himself as an individual.

The same was true for Jacob. For twenty-one years until he materialized the blessing, he fought through all difficulties. In his fight he did not have even one friend. He did not have brothers or parents. He built a family all by himself. On the foundation of that family, the first step he took was the course to enter Egypt. The four hundred years in Egypt was the period that the people came together in unity. Moses came as the leader of the people. He had to lay the foundation of a nation based on the foundation of a people.

The Purpose of the Providence Centering on Jesus and the Mission of the Lord of the Second Advent

What kind of person was Jesus? He was someone who was to use the nation to found a world. Although he came with such a mission, when the nation and the people opposed him, he had to die. Therefore, the providence must begin from the individual and pass through the family, people, nation, and rise to the level of the world.

Israel became an enemy of Jesus. The Jewish people whom God chose through four thousand years of toil became the enemy. Although they had the responsibility to restore the world on the foundation of the nation and to restore the land of Canaan on the world level, when the foundation of the nation was shattered, the four-thousand-year history was completely destroyed. You have to understand that for two thousand years Jesus was laying that foundation.

However, no matter how many Christians there may be in the world today, there has not been even one family centered on Jesus. Has there been? Jesus himself could not fulfill the ideal of the bride and bridegroom and form a family. Do you know what the bride and bridegroom are? They are the second standard on the family level which enables one to stand before Heaven. They were the second family standard to restore the one that Adam and Eve could not establish because of their Fall. On that foundation Jesus should have become the head of the family of Heaven. Did he become the head of the family? The most important purpose on earth is to become the head of a family. Only after you become the head of a family can you have children. Only when you have children can you have a people. Only when you have a people can you have a nation. Isn't this true?

The time has come for Christians of the entire world to repent. Christians of the world have not become citizens of any nation. They do not belong to any tribe or clan. For Jesus to become the head of a family, the twelve apostles should have united and laid the foundation upon which Jesus could form a family. Yet they failed to do so. For this reason, the providence of salvation on the world level could not be consummated.

Thus, Jesus and the Holy Spirit had to endure through hardships of blood and tears for two thousand years. What was the purpose of that? It was to found the first family foundation. They were to found a new Israel, a new family of Jacob, and raise them from the level of a family to the level of a people, from the level of a people to the level of a nation, and from the level of a nation to the level of the world. Then they were to bring the revolution of the Kingdom of Heaven based on this world as the foundation, to liberate hell in the spirit world. This is the ideal of the second providence. The Lord of the Second Advent does not come to be glorified. He comes with the mission to use the world as the foundation to destroy even hell in the spirit world and to build the Kingdom of Heaven on the cosmic level. Only when this is done can God rest in peace.

The World of the Mind and the World of the Heart

Although we have minds, we are unclear about their direction. We are surrounded by the confusing ideas of our environment and have been lost, not knowing where we should go. Our minds have been degraded to the point where they move based on whim. Therefore, we do not know what is true and right. Although the direction of our minds sets out from a single point, it divides in the end. This is how it is. Although the beginning is normal, it divides in the end. To divide is to be destroyed. We have been living our lives in this way.

Although democracy and communism are in conflict today, these ideologies cannot solve the problems of our world. Just as we cannot confirm the direction of our minds, the same is true for the physical world of today. This is the trend of thought. Isn't this true?

When do you decide the direction of your mind? It is the moment you form a relationship with which your mind can rejoice eternally through the heavenly heart. Why did God give people minds? It is for God and people to become one in heart and rejoice. God created human beings for this purpose. On the foundation of our minds, which are unclear in their direction, we now need the joy which undeniably enters our minds. Only when undeniable joy is fulfilled in our minds will the world experience joy.

The body has an end. However, there is no limit or end to the mind. For this reason in the world of the mind there are no concepts. There is no such thing as a worldview. Greater than the mind is the world of the heart. The world of heart is not restrained in any way. The world of the mind does have some restraints. Based on the conditions of reciprocity, the mind is restrained. Yet nothing can restrain the world of the heart. What can ever restrain parents' love toward their children? Even a barrier as daunting as a huge mountain cannot block the way. The world of the mind is like the object partner while the world of the heart is the subject partner. Because the mind has four directions, it can be restrained. However, this is not true for the world of the heart.

What might the hope of Heaven be? When Jesus comes in the Last Days, he will say, "The Kingdom of Heaven is in your mind, and the Kingdom of Heaven begins from your heart." Is this statement adequate? The conclusion which must be arrived at is, "It is realized in your heart."

Why do you experience misfortune? It is because you cannot harmonize with the center of the mind. No matter how great the external difficulties, if one can rejoice in harmony with the mind, one is a happy person. Why does one feel misfortune, then? It is because one does not have an unchanging center of heart which can move one's mind. That is the reason.

The Standard by which the Garden of Joy Can Be Realized

See if you can be happy being attached to the things of this world. That will come to an end one day. No matter how good one's mind and heart may be, the things of this world will surely come to an end. As long as there is no clear center in your mind, you will find both sorrow and joy. As long as you do not have a clear center for your body, you will feel both joy and sorrow. They are in this reciprocal relationship. Although we have lived through times when our minds were sad, we have not lived through times when our minds were happy. Fallen people, who have not been able to enjoy such experiences in life, are miserable people who should be cursed and judged.

The time has come when we should seek such a path. Since the purpose of Heaven is not to judge and eradicate people in the Last Days, we are to possess the master of our homeland, the families of our homeland, the society of our homeland, the world of our homeland, and the universe of our homeland. When we do not possess them, God judges us.

As we look at the world, we find that although there are individuals, families, societies, nations and a world centered on the body, our minds do not feel satisfaction here. Shouldn't there be families, nations and a world where our minds can rejoice eternally? If there aren't, why would our minds feel that way?

Your minds do not pursue goodness because of their own creative powers. Force is not generated alone. It does not function without a partner. We find that this is true in chemical reactions and physical reactions.

Observing the undeniable reality that the conscience is clearly in operation, we can be sure that it is helping us alleviate an aspect of sorrow and bring an aspect of joy. The moment that we can rejoice is the moment of hope and joy for humanity. The problem hinges on this.

Today democracy and communism are competing to conquer the world, but this is wrong. Where should we find the solution? We should go back to the state before the Fall of Adam and Eve, when they could be happy centering on God and rejoice at hearing God's voice. A garden of happiness will come to this earth if we can establish the standard that God is our eternal Lord, the head of our families, the Lord of our people, nations and world. He is also "my God" whom we wouldn't exchange for any treasure of the world.

The Person God Has Been Seeking for Six Thousand Years

Although the world of our minds can rejoice, be in harmony and move together, they cannot be intoxicated. Original love is not human love; it is the love of the eternal and unchanging God. The moment we are embraced by God's love and serve God as our Lord, we become one with Him. When we enter the state of joy where we can interact with Him, we can conquer the world. The moment of rejoicing with God is the moment when we can be more happy than if we possessed everything else in the universe. If a person has experienced this, the stimulation he feels through his body is insignificant.

What work has God been carrying on centering on our bodies? He has been working to develop the universe. You forget that He has been guiding us to do the work of pioneering the universe. For what purpose does God command our minds? It is for us become universal beings. God commands us to grow to become someone who can embrace the universe and grow on the foundation of everything of the universe. God guides us so that we can become such a person.

For this reason He commands us to love both good and evil people, love all things and all of Heaven and earth. Isn't this so? How satisfying is this? We human beings lost the core of these original concepts. Our minds should be joyful. At the same time that our minds rejoice, the cells in our bodies should also be happy. At the same time that our minds are intoxicated, the cells in our bodies should also be intoxicated. Then we should be able to convey this feeling of intoxication to the environment around us. You have to understand clearly that God has been seeking someone who can make this happen.

If there is a mind, what kind of person does it envision? What kind of person do the world, the nations, and the universe desire? The type of person that I just talked about is the person. Even if one were to be conquered by such a person, one would be happy. Isn't this what you should do? You would feel happy even after sacrificing yourself infinitely. The Kingdom of Heaven will dawn upon us when there are many such people. God's sons and daughters are such people. They want to keep giving, even after having given so much. They want to keep sacrificing even after having sacrificed so much.

Isn't that what parental love is like? God's love is ten times, a hundred times greater than parental love. The world that your minds long for has not come. There must come a day when the world of the heart and the minds of people join together. The day that absolute standard of judgment is established on the earth is the end. Based on that heart, the judgment will take place.

Christianity is the religion of the heart which has gone beyond the religion of mind. God is not the Lord of the mind; He is the Lord of the heart. No matter what kind of evil people may be around you, you cannot prevent the love of God that comes forth through the heart. When that love comes in waves, everyone is happy. Even Satan and demons like that love. You have to understand this. Although they love God's love, they are in a state of darkness where they cannot receive it. The human fate is to pioneer this with their minds. Yet how will they do this?

Your path has been determined. You will find that there are relationships which come through your minds. There will also be relationships which come through material things. You will find relationships built upon people or words of truth. Then you will find relationships which come through the heart. The mind desperately yearns to escape from this world in search of that. You must never forget that God, who has been building relationships in history, will seek those who long for and look for those relationships of heart to appear at a certain place and time.

To Cultivate Our Heart

Those who live a life of devotion are moving toward the heavenly heart. They should not take anything lightly. They cannot ignore the sight of an enemy trying to strike them with a sword. They have to think that there is some relationship behind it. In this distorted world, God does not appear in an attractive manner. God comes in an unattractive way in this distorted world. Only when you can have an open heart even to such an instance and search for the value of the relationship can you make the first step toward the cultivation of the heart.

Then you can discern through your mind whether what you hear, see and feel in your interactions with people are good or evil. When you hear some words, when you come into a relationship, your mind will be drawn to them. If there is some truth, some church and some religion, you will be drawn to them without your conscious awareness. Isn't this so? The mind follows principles similar to those of the natural world.

Just as the magnetic needle of a compass points north and south, our minds behave similarly. When the plus mind appears, the minus mind will always be drawn to it.

If you have never felt your body being drawn to the religion that you believe in, your faith is not true. If you have never felt your body, mind and heart being drawn into the faith, you cannot claim that you really believe. Such people will one day stop believing in that faith.

What is humanity seeking today? They are searching for an ideology. What explains an ideology? The truth explains it. What is the truth? It is the word. It is the truth in which our minds can be eternally happy, the truth in which our minds can be eternally intoxicated. It will give us something new and fresh even after hearing it hundreds or thousands of times. The greatest truth of all is like rice. No matter how often we eat it, today, tomorrow and for seventy or eighty years, we find it delicious. The same is true for the truth. You should be grateful. Through the words you know that there are two worlds for human beings. Jesus said that people should not live by bread alone but by the words which come from the mouth of God. Our bodies and hearts should be intoxicated in the truth. If you have such a truth, isn't that all you need?

Therefore, you are not to sit idle at this time. The time has come when directions will reverse. We are to proceed in one direction toward the one subject partner. Because we will find obstacles when we look to the side and take the divergent path, we should cut off from all of them. Everyone considers that heretical.

Now Is the Time to Search for the Standard with which We Can Become Lords of the Universe

Now the direction is being reversed. Heaven will become the earth, and earth will become Heaven. Human beings have to become the center. This is a time for change. Since it is a transition time, we should become central beings of Heaven and earth and the lords of the universe. Heaven is not the center of the universe. God created human beings for the purpose of raising them up as the lords of the universe who represent His authority.

To reach that standard, you have to lay the foundation to solve problems ourselves with experience from our hearts. To pursue the path which can resolve problems from our minds and hearts, we need to search for the one direction. What are we to do after we find the direction? We are to look in the four directions around that direction. After looking around in four directions, we should find out what they are like and then look at the heavenly nature. Only then can you understand the state you are in.

The religion and ideas that you have now cannot serve as a perfect standard for your minds, heart and ideology. Why not? Because it is written that as a new era comes, all of them will fade away. Since our religions and thoughts have not become the perfect standard for our minds, hearts and ideology, the time has come when something new must become our center. This is such a time. You and I are in the same position. Jesus said that his disciples were not his servants but his friends. We are in the same position. The universe is not lofty. We must stand shoulder to shoulder with the universe.

No denomination has the quality of all directions. They are all one-sided. For this reason those who decide upon the heavenly heart as the center must be critical of their one-directionality and be open to the four directions. Should the mind and body always be in conflict? The mind should conquer the body. Then the standard by which the mind can guide the body to all four directions should be established. That is how it should be. Otherwise, there won't be a perfect solution.

For this reason you are not to sit still. Wait idle and see what will happen. You are not to boast, "I am great," or "I am some great scholar." People talk about this scholar and that scholar, but scientists are better than most of them. Other scholars will find that things may turn upside down. They should not be so proud. They should realize that they have greater responsibility. Those who mislead other minds with their hypothetical theories and malign the ways of Heaven will face eternal accusation once they go to the next world.

You all want to become heroes, right? If you try to become a hero that you were not born to become, you will be struck by lightning. You want to become great and successful, but if you attain success that God does not permit, you will perish. Your descendants will perish. This is why there are such cruel events as sudden assassinations or murders by knife. They say, in effect, "You are not qualified to be in that position." This is also something that Heaven directs them to do. This is the law of Heaven.

The time has come when we should throw away our ambitions and find ourselves. God longs for those who can rejoice in mind and body together. Have you ever experienced God saying, "Let me touch your hand," and then had Him hold your hands in joy? Is that how your minds are?

God created the physical world in order that our minds could be active and stimulate the actions of our bodies. You should become someone who sings for all things, all people, for the future world, the spirit world and the earthly world. You should be able to rejoice in your minds. You should become someone to whom God will come and whom God will receive with joy. This is not fancy or imagination. This is reality. It is a reality that this young man who is speaking to you has experienced and knows is true. Hence, even if Heaven and earth were to oppose me and even if Heaven and earth were to turn upside down, I am determined to walk this path. What kind of age is this? It is the Last Days. However, without a person who has established such a standard, the last judgment cannot be cast. The day of judgment will not come.

Myself and the Truth That I Need

What kind of truth should the truth of a religion be? We do not need a truth which explains only contents. A truth must appear which our bodies, minds and hearts can all endorse. We need that kind of ideology and thought. When such a truth is spoken around us or we somehow encounter it, our minds will be drawn to it. Even if you have to go do something that your body desires, and the circumstances are pressuring you to do so, you should deny them all; abandon them and go to the truth. If there are words of truth which pull you to be transcendent of time and space, you should pack up your things and follow it, carrying humble baggage on your back like Kim Sat-Kat did. You will not be ruined. Your name will live on in history.

To become that kind of person, you cannot continue to be as you have been in the past. You should take off the inappropriate mask. You should take off all masks of the conscience. This and that position in a religion, you should abandon them all. Although you are attending the Unification Church, I am longing for the day I can do away with the name. The reason that we have this name and organization is for certain conditions which require it. It is because we have opponents to fight against that we need it, but one day we must do away with it. What title do you need in the world of the mind? What title do you need in the world of the heart? Even if you don't do anything, you will know. Even if you don't do anything, you will naturally do things. The first standard is resolving this.

What kind of life have you led so far? What kind of position are you in today? You have to remember that you are struggling in two worlds. What you can rejoice in is not the direction that your body is dragging you toward, but the direction your mind is pulling you in.

When you look at the world today, you will find that the direction of the body and the external conditions are perfect. They have all been prepared. They have been prepared at several hundred points. They have gone beyond the individuals and families and have formed a world. In comparison, the direction of the mind is only a small percentage of that. When we think about that, we find that God wants to judge this world. What will we do about the sorrow of God? We have to find the course through which we can come to know sorrow and rejoice in our minds. For this reason, religious people of the past endured even as they were being beheaded. I do not want you to come to the Unification Church. However, if your bodies and minds and hearts submit to the words of truth that are spoken here, you should know that this place belongs to the end times.

What kind of person is God? He is the eternal Lord of our bodies. He is the eternal Lord of our hearts. In the original world, no matter how much a couple may love each other, the wife will not mind that the husband loves God more than he loves her. That is how it is. Moreover, even if the wife loves God more than she loves her husband, the husband will not object and ask her why. Heaven is a place where they can both be happy about the situation. God, who is in a position transcendent of any love of this world or of any content thereof, is the eternal Lord of our bodies. When we are in the garden of the bosom of God, who is the eternal Lord of our bodies, we are happy even if we die. All He needs to be is the eternal Lord of our minds and the eternal Lord of our hearts. What more would we want?

What kind of world is the world that you long for in your hearts? It is not the world which comes to us through the external senses or the five senses. Nor is it a world created by concepts. We long for the world of God's love, a world of love. In this world we can feel the love of God even from the smallest subatomic particle. You have to understand this. You must understand it. Jesus said, "Those who have ears to hear will hear." (Matt. 11:15) With everyday feelings you cannot feel the ideal world, which is circular and is in the position of subject partner.

The Joy You Cannot Trade

We should sing with our bodies and with our minds. We should praise with our hearts. What? Our Lord. Who is that? It is God. God is my father. He is my father. We are God's children. We should say, "What in the world can we exchange for God? What in the world can sever our relationship with Him?" The kind of love that people like, the ambitions that people cherish, and the glamor and luxuries that people desire are insignificant. If we can serve God, whom all things of nature and all beings want to honor as their eternal Lord, our Father, what greater happiness would there be? When a woman becomes the wife of some person of a high position, she brags and makes a big fuss about it. Yet God is our father. You cannot exchange this joy with anything under Heaven or on earth. God is looking for sons and daughters who can comfort Him and say, "God, You have searched for me through the suffering path of six thousand years. How many difficulties have You endured?" You have to understand this.

You Have to Learn to Judge Yourselves

To raise up such a son, God has been influencing our ancestors thousands of times during the many centuries of history. How many times have people betrayed Him? We have to understand that we have betrayed human hearts and the heavenly heart. We have betrayed the heavenly principles and the Father's heart. We have to repent for these sins.

What has trampled upon the heavenly principles? Since our bodies trampled upon them, our bodies are our worst enemies. Your enemies are not in front of you. Your bodies are your enemies. You have to suppress your body. You have to learn to judge yourself. For this reason people who walk the path of devotion go against conventional wisdom. They advocate laws which go in the opposite direction and walk against the trend.

To what extent have you put your lives on the line in your struggles? Among the people who attend the Unification Church, there are many who fight centering on the name of the Unification Church. However, you have to fight by your own virtue. When Jesus was carrying the cross, women wept bitterly and followed him. Jesus looked at them and said, "Daughters of Jerusalem, do not cry for me; cry for your own sake and the sake of your children." (Luke 23:28) You have to solve your own problems. You are the problem. You should not curse other people or hold grudges against other people. You should curse yourself. You should rectify your false self and receive Jesus, who is your friend of the original mind and heart. You should receive the Father of the mind, the Father of the heart, the Father of the body and the Father of all things. Only when you walk this path can you avert the judgment of the Last Days.

Prayer

Father! How much have You suffered? It took six thousand years to raise up one life. To establish one family, You have made all the preparations necessary to build a home. All the external environment of the world has become a garden in which the Father can rejoice. Thoughts and views are to be divided into two paths.

Likewise, in our world of the mind we should bring the conflict to an end. Please allow us to conquer the enemies, raise the banner of victory, and march forward toward the world. In doing so, on the day that we judge the enemies of Heaven, please allow us to be proud of the fact that we are the Father's sons and daughters. Let the Father's grace penetrate deeply into the hearts of the sons and daughters who have gathered here. Father, that is what we wish and desire.

We have been used by our enemies until now. Please allow us to do away with the past, when we could not fight for the original ideals which would bring us joy in our hearts; when we could not go toward the original world and the original Lord. Please allow us to become sons and daughters who can dash toward the heavenly heart.

We know that the world will end up being a world of one ideal. Please let us understand that the place where our hearts can become one with the Father's heart and sing is the Kingdom of Heaven on earth and the ideal garden. Please let a family who can sing of the heart of the Father appear before Heaven and earth.

Please let us be intoxicated in the love of the Father more intensely than we are intoxicated in the love of our own parents. Let us be intoxicated more intensely in the love of the Father than we are in the love of our children, so that we can sing of the love and rejoice in the love. We know that to create this environment is the will of Father and our wish. Please let that will and wish be materialized. Before our life comes to an end, we have to create the environment in which the Father can be happy and we can be happy. Please allow us to realize that world from this moment on.

Through all our relationships and words, through all people and through all material things, please guide us to keep to the place where our minds and hearts are moved. Allow us to become Your sons and daughters who can follow our hearts and minds and run toward those places of the heart and mind. Father, we are grateful that You have been with us. We prayed all these things in the name of the Lord. Amen. 

We Who Are Walking a Life Course

Sun Myung Moon
September 6, 1959
Former Church Headquarters
Seoul, Korea

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1 Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God. 22 Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart. 23 For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. 24 For, "All people are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, 25 but the word of the Lord endures forever." And this is the word that was preached to you.
I Peter 1:21-25

Prayer

Father, You guided our ancestors without any hesitation, doing the most arduous work for six thousand years. Yet our ancestors often betrayed You. They failed to bring You joy, not standing on Your side in victory and glory. When we think about this, we cannot help but admit that we are shameful descendants of the Father.

Father! Please consider us with sympathy. Although we may be unworthy, You must hold us and restore us. Since You are well aware of this, when we think of how You have come in search of these unworthy ones, we are deeply ashamed before You. However, we have gathered with a heart of repentance before the Father who longs for us with a heart of love and is seeking us even today.

How many words of admonition do You want to give us? Yet You cannot speak as You want, and we have become incapable of communicating with You. Please guide us to understand that this is a source of infinite grief to Heaven. Let us mourn over our inadequacies.

The Last Days, when the power of death must be destroyed by the power of life, are nearing. Yet even as we thirst for life, we lack a heart of yearning for life. Please encourage and inspire us so that we can become sons and daughters who can step forward before our enemies bravely, with power and forceful heart, by depending upon the Father, the sovereign of life.

It is our wish that our hands be held by You and that we may take after You. Please, even for this hour, allow us to resemble the Father's internal sung-sang by removing all traces of defilement. Let us manifest the original beauty by resembling the external hyung-sang and glorify the Father. Father of love, we pray sincerely that in this hour You can rejoice with those of us who have cultivated the Father's original heart and have become the embodiments of the ideals of creation.

Please allow us to understand that the waves of death are hovering over us. Satan is trying his best to wipe away the power of life. Please let us first lay a solid foundation of the heart and rectify our bodies so that we can stand securely before the Father. Please guide us to feel that unless our minds and bodies are set on one goal and bow with a sincere heart, countless devils will trample us. Let us humbly and sincerely offer: "Please receive this, since this belongs to You."

Please eliminate all subjective concepts and thoughts of the past. Let us be filled with an ardent desire to call Heaven with a voice springing forth from the deepest part of our hearts. In this way, please let this be an hour when we can build a new relationship with Heaven. Give rise to a new heart, and bring about a new work of resurrection.

Now the wall of battle blocks our path. Please let us understand that we have arrived at the final stage of battle when we have to become the elite corps of Heaven and break through the wall. Please allow us to become brave soldiers of Heaven who can step forward and confront the power of death. Let us become sons and daughters of the Father who can march forward toward the enemy camp. Father, we pray that You will guide us to become the elite corps of Heaven who do not fear death and who can run silently toward victory.

Although those who are bowing their heads here may be different from one another, please let them have the same goal and the same heart. Even if our situations and states of heart may be different, let our heart toward God be the same. Please receive our sincere desire to do our very best for You.

Your sons and daughters who have gathered here have fought lonely battles. Struck by arrows shot by their families and society, they have been following the light of life and calling upon Heaven. Since You initiated everything, until the moment we can return victory and glory to the Father, please let there not be even one person who collapses out of fatigue. We have set out for the sake of the Father. Please allow us to bear the fruits of joy and broaden the foundation of the Father's glory.

This is a glorious day, so please bless all people. Bless the entire church, and bless the pitiful thirty million people of this nation.

We know that the light of life is in Heaven, and that the fate of walking the path of restoration depends upon Heaven. Father, You understand the situation of this people well. Father, You understand the state of the churches in Korea. We know that there must appear many living sons and daughters of the Father who can connect people's hearts and praise Heaven from the heart. If there are sons and daughters who are clinging to hidden altars and are desperately appealing to Heaven, please gather them together and fulfill Your words that You will use a small group of people to shame the larger multitudes.

Father! Just as the seven thousand people who did not submit to Baal were able to ward off the forces of evil, let there be a group of seven thousand people of goodness who can ward off Satan's malice. Please gather together into the Father's family all the hidden sons and daughters who can mourn with You, who can discuss and think with You. By connecting them together as members of Your family, please quickly restore the garden of glory and achieve liberation.

We entrust everything in this hour to You. Please preside over this hour from the beginning to the end. Please do not let our evil minds influence us. We pray that You will let the bows we offer You enable the whole of Heaven and earth to meet the standard of longing for the Father's glory and be in harmony. We prayed in the name of the Lord. Amen.

Prayer

We sense that we have come into Your presence, and we lie prostrated after wandering in many places.

How can we ever pay back the grace You have given us by allowing us to call You "Our Father"? How can we ever pay back the grace of Your not hesitating to suffer any hardship to protect and purify us and for Your having guided us thus far? We do not have anything with which to pay it back. We cannot pay back the blessing even if we offer You our bodies; even if we offer all of our minds. We are still unworthy to even raise our heads before the Father's toils and accomplishments.

We know that the Father who guided us this far has the responsibility to save us, and that Father's strongest desire is to usher in the day of glory through us. When we reflect upon how the Father wants to be comforted by us, we are ashamed before the Father who put so much hope in us and who has persevered through the numerous difficulties of history.

If our flesh and blood can empathize with the Father's heart, and our bones have laid the framework of our character building, please let them become a basic unit which can testify to the Father's unchanging nature.

How much have You longed for the glorious and sacred incarnation whose every cell belongs to the Father and who returns glory to You? In history our ancestors could not honor You in this way. When they were following Heaven's way, they sometimes held grudges against You and abandoned You. We also know the historical fact that the chosen people had to give up their rights.

Father! Because we have inherited a sorrowful lineage, even if we may say we believe in Heaven today, we are so close to the evil world that we may betray You tomorrow. Please have compassion upon us. Please take hold of us. Please engraft our thirsty hearts onto the Father's heart of life, and give rise to the work of resurrection which can stir new life.

Many people have lived on the earth. Many people have been born and have died. Yet no one is concerned with the Father's situation and is mourning over the Father's sad heart. Please let us become those who can lament over the Father's situation and heart. Father, we sincerely wish that You will fill the earth with many sons and daughters who are burning with the desire to refute Heaven and earth, humanity, history and their fallen ancestors and to attend the Father.

For whose sake have we come here? It was not to see well-dressed or beautiful people. We who have ugly scars and wounds came to try to resemble the Father's holy sung-sang. Please do not reject us. Embrace us. You know that we are lonely because we do not have a place to rest our hearts and minds. Please comfort us during this hour.

Please appear before us with this heart and guide us as our subject partner of eternal life. Give us words of life which can penetrate our minds and bodies. Please let this be an hour when we can thank Your grace and bow to You.

We want to receive the words this hour. Father, please be with us. Please help us understand that if there is an internal gap between the speaker and the listeners, Satan will come in through that path. That is the realm Satan is seeking. Please let the heart of the speaker and the hearts of listeners be united so that we can be connected to the Father's heart and move in harmony with Him.

Your sons and daughters are on their knees and offering lonely and ardent prayers everywhere in South Korea. Please advise them, as they are suffering through all difficulties. You said that those who persevere till the end will receive salvation. Please guide us to glorify the Father by being patient and testify to the Father before the people as Your incarnations. Please bless the many churches and people who are gathering together. We prayed in the name of the Lord. Amen.

We Do Not Know the Origin and Purpose of Our Life

The title of the sermon I am about to give you now is "We Who Are Walking a Life Course." I will speak upon this subject.

It is commonly said that people are born and will pass away. From ancient times, even the greatest personalities have passed away. We have to think about how this pattern in history and Heaven relates to us. We will one day pass away. Although it is not clear what the relationship is, we know clearly that we came to the earth and will pass away from it after interacting in a complicated manner with many things and under the influence of some ideals.

For what purpose did we come and for what purpose are we going? Although many philosophers and religious people have tried to answer this question with all their hearts and souls, human history has progressed in sorrow. This continues to this day.

We are in an intense moment. We cannot deny that we are walking a life course that we cannot avoid. We were born through the lineage of our parents and found ourselves in a world that we never even thought about before. It is our fate that at some point in our life, we will grow old and die. No matter how great a person may be, he cannot stop the passing of his golden youth. We know the sad reality that there is no way to prevent one's aging, no matter how hard one may try.

Several times in the course of your life you probably felt deep remorse and regret during a moment of reflection, as well as a strong urge to stir things up around you. Why were we born, why should we live, and where should we go? You should not think that you were the cause of your birth. We do not know the origin and purpose of our birth. Although we were born, we were not born because that's what we wanted to do. Although we are living, it is not because we want to live that we are alive. When we die, it will not be because we want to die.

Then what do you have that is still worth being proud of? We are not born out of our own desire; we cannot live the way we want to; and we cannot avoid death. We should not be proud. If we are proud, we will only be miserable. Since we were born and are leading our life, we are to pass away after living such a life.

What is the purpose of this life? You should reflect on this question once more. Since you are not the cause, your purpose must not lie with you. Who does not want to be happy in his life? Who does not want to lead a rich and glorious life? Yet we cannot live as we want to. Still, we want to be proud of ourselves, live as we wish, and be remembered the way we want to be. In each of our hearts, we find this clash of contradictions.

Why do we, who did not cause our own birth, desire something great, wish to live well, and seek a more valuable and greater purpose? Is it because of ourselves, or is it due to some reciprocal purpose? We have to understand this clearly. There is probably no one who would raise his hand and claim that it is because of he himself. Were you born through your parents' lineage because that was what you wanted? Although your parents gave birth to you, they cannot determine the course of your life. They cannot set its outcome the way they want to. They can neither kill you nor save your life.

Who possesses this power? The day we can clarify the possessor of this power, we can rejoice centering on ourselves. People of the present era, however, are struggling and have failed to surpass this standard. We have to understand that we are these people.

For this reason, we are pursuing something greater in our hearts. Moreover, we want to push away the realm of death in our lives and become connected to a greater life and world. Moreover, since we have a heart of emotion and love, we want to transcend the world of human emotions and connect with the world of eternal and unchanging emotions. Although it is hard to explain or demonstrate, we are often pulled by these feelings. The purer your conscience is, the more you will feel that some force is prodding you to forsake this world full of contradictions.

Our Course of Life in which We Shun Evil and Seek Goodness

For this reason no one alive on the earth can claim to be a good person. Upon our birth we find that we are not from a good lineage but an evil lineage. After our birth we find that we are not qualified to stand before the ideal of re-creation or to sing of our value. We cannot deny that we are unworthy, immature and imperfect. In Christianity such people are called fallen.

People's original minds were not born to live happily in a fallen world. Although human beings have been trying to turn away from the fallen path for six thousand years, they could not set the standard upon which they can claim they have avoided it completely.

Our flight from evil and our pursuit of goodness as we seek to reach a purpose is called the course of life. The path of destroying evil and adhering to goodness every day, even in the face of death, is the course of life.

For this reason your minds are shivering in fear. This is not true when you are heading towards the original homeland of the heart. When you are under the control of evil, you will feel fear that something has grabbed you. We have to remember clearly that this is because our original minds shun the sinful history, the powers of death, and the forces of darkness. We are in the course of fleeing. If there is a God, what will He do with all these refugees? How will God instruct the humanity of the world who must flee evil? If there is a Heaven, He will surely have to come up with a set of teachings.

What kind of course is the path of flight? There is no leader on earth. No one is in position to deal with other people's situations or to share his situation with other people. Although many people have lived, the fate of humanity has always been to flee. They are busy pursuing their own paths. This is the fate of a refugee. Ladies and gentlemen, when a criminal is escaping from the prison he was locked in, what will he see before him? He will surely see the path of survival, the free world, which is certainly a world he yearns for. The stronger his desire for the free world and the world of his ideal, the more he will struggle to escape from the situation he is in.

However, although humanity has to flee, they do not know the whereabouts of the garden they crave and hope for. Under these circumstances, human history continues to circle around. We have to understand clearly that people have not understood their purpose, direction and situation. We know that human beings committed sin before Heaven when they fell. We are escaping from the unjust bondage of Satan, so we are deserters and refugees from the viewpoint of this world. Where is salvation? Where is the Kingdom of Heaven? This world is a city from which we must flee.

When we are running away, there is a way to flee successfully on the personal level. Since we cannot run away by ourselves, there are ways to flee with the family, as a people, and on the world and cosmic levels. If God does not instruct us in these ways, there is no way that we can refer to Him as the Creator, a being of love, or an absolute author of ideals.

Then where is the standard based upon which Heaven can teach us about the ways of running away? This is not some academic theory. These ways are not in Heaven. They are inside your minds. You have to understand this clearly: they are found in your minds.

The Foundation upon which Heaven Can Teach People How to Escape

The mind acts according to the principles of the universe. It wants to move without limits toward goodness. This is like a magnetic needle pointing to north and south. The principle of nature would never lose the direction and circumvent goodness. There is no such phenomenon. The human mind also seeks to move toward a certain purpose. We have to understand clearly that the mind which is orientated toward life moves through the heart, desires to distill out the truth, desires to unite with the whole, and desires to live in harmony with the doctrine of the whole. This mind is the foundation upon which Heaven can reveal the escape route.

We who are fleeing must fight if we are to maintain a heart which is orientated toward the heavenly nature. We have to fight. We have to understand clearly that depending on whether or not we reach the goals of escape, we may or may not attain salvation. This is the process we are walking through. How should we run?

Ladies and gentlemen, think about this carefully. When we are in a fight, we have to fight in a way that God desires, use the strategies that God desires, and reach the point which God desires. It is inevitable that we have to establish values which comply with the program of the sponsor.

Ladies and gentlemen, please reflect once more upon what state you are in. Since we cannot deny that we acting in a world of purpose and we are chained to that world, the crucial question we must address is what our situation is in the escape route of our life. There are those who are not awake, even when layers of the enemies' ranks are blocking the path before them. They are only dreaming about their situation, or they do not know that they are in a deep sleep. There are those who have fallen from fatigue in the middle of the path they should run on. There are all kinds of cases.

You should find yourself again. You who are participating here today should set the standard of heart, and, based upon that, discern your position and state of being and analyze yourself. Your mind yearns for something, yet without clearly understanding, you feel uneasy and fearful. For this reason, not only would you feel through natural phenomena that you should not be in the situation you are in; you will also sense it through all the things you see around you. Hence, even through these things you will have to understand the situation and state that you are in.

If you can become spiritually open, you will see that countless religious people of the distant past are crying out before the people. Many spirits are running by your side today. They are trying to awaken you by saying, "Let's go; enemies are coming." Yet your ears do not hear these voices; your eyes do not see; your bodies do not sense this. This is how tragic the situation is. There is nothing more mournful than this. This is not something that only you will lament over. This will become an unforgivable sin before Heaven, who is trying to connect the value of existence to the world of the ideals of the whole.

It Is Our Fate to Run toward Our Original Homeland

When a person is walking the religious path, it is not enough for him just to run. He first has to make preparations to reach the goals and lay the necessary internal foundation. Then he must run toward the purpose.

Human beings lost the truth, lost the original homeland of their heart, and lost the source of their life because they fell. They also lost the embodiment of love. They lost all four.

What lies deep inside the heart of someone who is fleeing? It is the desire to return to their original homeland. What qualifications do they need to register as citizens of that land? You must master the truth. You have to understand all secrets of the evil world of Satan and possess the truth which can explain all problems of the fallen world. After that you need to run forward. To reach the goal of connecting the satanic realm to Heaven's realm, human beings have to long for the homeland of truth, conscience, life and love. Then they must run toward it.

For this reason the six-thousand-year history has been the course of discovering the truth. If we do not find the truth, which is absolutely necessary for our running, and obtain the answer, then all the running will be to no avail. When we appear with a clear sense of purpose rooted in the truth, we will deny all values. If the truth cannot be explained, nothing will have value. For this reason, humanity is now in a state where they are groping for the direction of their minds and the direction of the truth.

In history up until now, there is no agreement as to whom we may call the king of truth and the root of truth. Therefore, humanity has been swept away by ideologies and doctrines. There cannot be two truths. There is only one, eternal and unchanging. Yet we do not find one truth around which all of humanity can unite.

What has been established by codes of ethics or an orderly society? You may think that people have sought the standard of truth which can respond to the level of conscience and that these can resolve all problems, but that is not true. Even if people have resolved them, the greater task is how to deal with the life and death problem which is approaching. How are they going to deal with this life-threatening problem? The human mind wants to connect to the infinite world. We cannot ignore this function of the mind. There is nothing in the universe which moves without a sense of purpose. Moreover, there is nothing which functions outside of the relationship of value centered on purpose.

The mind has the absolute conviction that there is some undeniable, absolute standard and it forcefully proclaims that we must ward off all evil conditions which are infiltrating the mind internally and externally. That mind must have a destination. In that destination, it will be able to manifest some relationship of value before Heaven. All we have to do is live according to the desire and commands of our minds. Even if we may not be aware of the entire purpose for it, we should live like that in order to establish valuable relationships in our life.

The Mind Cannot Be More Effective Than the Level the Person Has Reached

Have you ever asked your minds where their original homeland is? Try and see. History has progressed and cultures have advanced. External environments have evolved and advanced to a certain degree according to culture or human intelligence. However, the world of the heart has remained unchanged. This world of the heart does not experience revolutions or progress; it is inherently eternal and unchanging. When you have a certain sense of purpose and set a clear goal, you will run limitlessly. When the needle of a compass is lined up to the north and south poles, there is no way to turn it unless you apply a force stronger than the force pulling the needle to the poles. Likewise, the world of the conscience cannot be moved. The function of the mind which cannot be moved lies in the realm of ideology. When a clear sense of purpose is set for the mind, you can certainly cause an action that can pull every cell and every emotion.

Then the problem is simple. No matter how great the function of the mind may be, it cannot be more effective than the level the person has reached. Do you understand? It cannot make a greater impact than the state the person has attained. Even though it stands in the position of a subject partner, it cannot be much more effective. Because the mind stands in the reciprocal position to control the body, it cannot function outside of the reciprocal relationship.

For this reason there are gaps among consciences. Although they have many kinds of differences, each conscience is somehow oriented towards the original nature. A system of thought and beliefs emerges to secure the direction of the conscience. A view of life or the universe, some doctrine, assertion or truth appears. It is a perfected entity which has a reciprocal nature. When there is a perfect minus, we can have some understanding of a perfect plus. When there is a perfect plus, we can establish a perfect minus. This is a natural phenomenon. Since there is an eternal, unchanging and perfect subject partner in Heaven, we must strive through our hearts to resemble Him and establish a common base with Him.

God cannot shift the standard of the heart at whim. It can be moved only in harmony with the body. We have to control our body, put it in a certain situation, and align the orientation of the heart with the laws of the universe. God wants such laws of truth to be established. If a truth appears which can link the world together and join it with the principles of Heaven, the conscience can expand outward without limits and be active.

This is the reason human beings have sought truth. However, in the civilized world, which prides itself on twentieth-century culture, we have not seen the emergence of a truth which encourages us to establish a natural common base with the infinite absolute being whom we want to seek from the depth of our hearts. For this reason human beings have not been able to transcend the grief of the Fall.

Thus, you have to understand that God has suffered many sorrows which He encountered in His work as He tried to instruct human beings in various ways and to connect them to the one purpose. How laborious must God's path have been as He was walking our path of escape through which we can find the direction of the truth in our lives? When we discuss all the sad hearts and miserable situations in human history, you many think that human history has been a fearsome experience. However, you have to understand that for the guide of that history, a more fearsome battle is taking place even at this moment. Without such struggles, incredibly miserable events will unfold which will prevent you from sleeping peacefully at night.

Since the mind is the beginning and end and can connect to the spirit and the original self, until the moment all sorrows are erased and we are liberated from them eternally, the mind will stimulate the same feeling of sadness. This is what you have to feel. Since human beings caused this sorrow, human beings connected us to that sorrow and prolonged it, it is only natural that judgment is given to human beings.

The Path We Must Walk

Human beings should find the truth and dash toward the original homeland. Next, they have to find life. Where is the subject partner of my life? Where is the subject partner of the eternal and unchanging life? It is said that God is love and Jesus is love, so where is the subject partner of love? Spirit world is the place one goes after one is evaluated for one's statement, "This is the value of the truth that I have. This is the standard of conscience I possess. This is my standard of love." In the spirit world, there is an extremely good world in Heaven and there is the world of Satan, an evil world which opposes it.

What do you possess? You have to find it. We have come to realize that this is the relationship of our heart, based on our observation of the phenomena of the heart. We should pioneer a relationship of naturally standing in the position of a minus before the origin of my infinite heart, the position of object partner before the subject partner. To do this we need an elucidating truth of the past, present and future which can liberate our body, which is bound. Do you understand? This is why we seek the truth. This is why we seek a doctrine.

Moreover, a great and brave soldier should appear who can surpass the ancestors who were searching for the truth. I await the appearance of a brave one who can challenge the accomplishments of the sages and prophets of the past and the countless religious leaders who led lives of devotion. Shouldn't this come about?

This is an indispensable quality that a person leading a life of flight must possess and cultivate. People of today have lost control over their destiny. They did not choose to be born in this kind of environment, and they do not possess the causal qualities with which to solve their own problems. Therefore, even if they always want to have valuable mutual relationships, they cannot forget them.

Observe the people who boast of their own value in their life. See if they are destroyed or not. If you are a braggart when you have nothing to be proud of, even the things in your environment will condemn you. This is the original impulse of the conscience. How do you feel when someone who has nothing to be proud of is bragging? Do you want to praise him? No. You probably want to hit him. This is not an evil impulse. This is a natural, original reaction. You who are in this situation, please keep this in mind and look at those who brag about their own value.

What teachings are there? What concepts? The world of conscience does not have teachings and views. You have to understand this clearly. The world of conscience does not have doctrines and concepts. It is a world that cannot be analyzed.

How much can we be proud of our value today? It is foolish to brag about your doctrine and identity. Please examine critically whether or not you feel ashamed before the truth which is centered on some doctrine, before the heart or life which possesses heavenly qualities, before the heart of love. Your search for yourself will begin from there.

The Greatest Desire in Human Life

Since this is our fate, we have to walk the path. This is inescapable and absolute. The greatest desire in human life is the heart which can rejoice in the homeland of the truth; the life by which the truth and heart can act in union; and the love which can join truth, heart and life and evoke heavenly love. What situation are you in today? If you have a healthy body and emotions, what are you gazing at? What are you thinking about and in what direction is your body moving? These are the things you will be judged on.

My hand, how much have you longed for the truth and how hard have you worked to find the truth? My body, how much have you cooperated with the mind which is racing toward the truth and the original self? These are the questions you should ask yourself. If you have the attitude, "Let things unfold as they will; I have eaten a meal and have slept well, so I am content," and lead a relaxed life, then your life will pass by you and you will crash into the cliff of death. Ladies and gentlemen! Human beings are not valueless. The master of the universe did not put us on earth so we could lead such disorderly and purposeless lives.

We cannot ignore the fact that there is some relationship which seeks to reach a goal through the phenomenal world based on the relationship of cause and purpose. Then how can human beings, who should be concerned with synthesizing the relationship and discussing its value, be so petty? You are not that kind of people. There may be smart people, but those who want to say, "I am educated," and try to escape should knock on this door. This is what I want to say.

We should elevate the direction of our minds. We should elevate the world of the heart. We are not to look down upon the earth alone but up to higher grounds. We should not just look at the world; we should look up to Heaven.

Our world of heart is not satisfied with our life on the earth. The purpose of the earth and the function of the conscience in this world do not want to stay where they are. You probably cannot deny your desire to possess some power in your life, to seek some satisfaction, and to build an eternal relationship based upon which your heart can expand infinitely. Then where is the truth, mind, life and love which can overcome the Last Days of history? You should look for them.

The Way to Become a Perfect Bride before the Messiah

If the Messiah, the Savior, were to appear on this earth, he should have a purpose and the ability to put it into practice. He should connect people to God. He should be able to demonstrate this through his life. Otherwise, he cannot be a Messiah or Savior.

From the beginning of human history until now, religions have provided us some paths either directly or indirectly, from new angles and directions. Among the religions, Christianity has made great contributions to the formation of the world culture.

What is at the core of Christianity? It is Jesus. Those who believe say that Jesus is the Savior. What kind of person should a Savior be? He should be the origin of truth, mind, life and love. If he cannot be the origin of mind, he must at least have a reciprocal relationship with the absolute being.

When we reflect on the divine providence from this perspective, we find that there is no one in history who spoke words as great as those of Jesus. We can see how great and admirable the words he spoke were just from his saying, "I am the only begotten son of God." He is admirable even if we do not consider him the Savior. Has history ever seen a person who gave such great and satisfying expressions? Even if it were all his imagination and empty of content, has history ever heard such great words?

Jesus also said, "Love me more than you love anyone else." No matter how passionate a person may be, has he ever heard such fine words? Jesus was the most passionate man. Isn't this so? He also said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one can go to the Father except by me." Based on this logic, Jesus' words can be explained and come into agreement with all conditions. Hence, I want to call him the Messiah. What do you think?

Become a Perfect Bride

Jesus was the prince who came to liberate humanity from the bridle of sin. He was the vanguard who came to pioneer our course of life. Do you understand what this means? He alone was the prince of flight in Heaven and earth. All of humanity for generations must escape from the bridle of sin, and Jesus came to the earth as their prince. If you feel this is who Jesus is, you should have the truth explained to you. When you cling to this Jesus, the original standard of conscience should be set clearly. When you see Jesus you should develop the eternal quality of life within. When you see this Jesus you should feel the emotion of absolute love. Otherwise, you cannot become a perfect bride.

Ladies and gentlemen; Jesus is the only begotten son of the God who created all things. The only begotten son is the royal prince of God. He is the royal prince who will live eternally in the heavenly kingdom. Because God raised him for this purpose, the day we await is the day of the Second Advent when we can meet him.

Because of this situation, human beings could not build a relationship of absolute and eternal life. No matter how faithful you may be to Jesus, you may one day fall away. Even if you honor him as the bridegroom, you may betray him. There are Christian churches which advocate truths, but they cannot set the direction of our mind correctly. For this reason Jesus must return.

What must we pioneer today? More than having faith in Jesus we should find the truth that lies hidden in the Bible. In order to understand how the historical facts which caused misfortune in human life are connected to the world of the present and future, we have to penetrate through the dark walls. In order to penetrate through them, we should fight and win. Only when people of this capacity appear will we be able to pioneer the world of truth.

Where did the vanguards in the past who stood close to goodness and truth search? They did not search for the new morning of glory. Although they felt the glory in their hearts, in their lives they were searching the dark alleys of hell.

Where the Roots of Truth Are Implanted

That is where the truth is connected. That is where the foundation of truth implants its roots. Truth does not implant its roots in glamorous high society. The roots of truth have to be implanted first in the humble alleys of a culture. The roots of truth are not to be implanted in Heaven, but on this fallen earth. The roots of truth are not to be found in the Kingdom of Heaven but at the bottom of hell. Heaven's new standard of life will be established the day the roots of truth are implanted there, the day that the one who can communicate with Heaven appears.

Therefore, although we establish the truth in an ideal way and as our hope, the course to pursue it requires us to search in the back alleys. We search the back alley of life, mind and love as we look upon the symbol of life. We have to understand that this is the basis for seeking the highest spiritual attainment. A person who is living a life of devotion may be happy from the original standpoint, but he struggles in the back alleys of faith and sings this song in his life. This is the misery of religious life.

What is the origin and motivation of its reform and the creation of a new culture in a nation? When the mind explodes within you which can cling to a miserable person and cry for him, the flames of new hope burn. The historical flames will burn. For this country to be prosperous, for this country to have hope, we must create an environment in which we can shed tears on behalf of miserable people with a pure and sincere heart. Then this country will conquer the world.

What was Jesus' situation on the earth? He did not praise the value of Jehovah from the absurd position of seeking the beauty of some fantastic ideal world. Although his internal contents were like that, his life was that of a prince in hell. This is what you have to understand. In his life, he was a royal prince in hell. He exerted himself more than anyone else to advocate and pioneer the truth. When he learned one thing, he was concerned about ten things. Although the people of this earth feel one type of pain, that of solving their problems and those of their own generation, Jesus felt countless types of pain. You have to understand that he led the life of a prince in hell.

Even when he entered hell, he had the authority to conquer it. He did not attain it freely. If he judged, punished and sentenced sinners without having had the same experience himself, God could not be a true God. If the leader of Korea punishes a violator of the law from a position of serious empathy, this country may survive. He should never say, "What you do has nothing to do with me."

Jesus came to this earth with such a feeling in his heart. He came with this power and told people to love him. Why did he tell them to love him? What he meant to say is, "You who love only temporarily! No matter how precious you may be, you should abandon all that you have and love me. Then God will love you on a higher level." Although he appeared in a humble manner, the words he spoke were completely the opposite. He could not have spoken those words if he did not have some inner quality of confidence and pride. Because of this Jesus was able to be the Messiah.

Truth Is the Weapon with which to Defeat Satan

We may not know how our relationships with one another have been formed. We do not know what kind of past ties exist between us and the people we see around us, but if we could discuss the substantial Jesus rather than pursue the Jesus who passed away, how great would it be? Many people have believed in the historical Jesus and honored him as the historical savior. Yet there has been no one who related to him with the perfect standard based upon which one can discuss the value of the substantial Messiah in the providence of God. One who is born as a man, born as a person who has an historical body on this earth, will become the prince of truth.

Jesus said, "I have many things to tell you, but you cannot understand them now." (John 16:12) He also said, "You do not believe me even when I talk to you of things of the earth; how can you believe me if I tell you about the things of Heaven?" (John 3:12) Jesus was not just the incarnation of truth; he was also the origin of conscience, life and love. If there is some great person who can suggest to Jesus, "Isn't this like this? Shouldn't this be like that?" Jesus would not chastise us if we were to welcome that person with both hands and honor him more than we do Jesus.

Since we have learned the standard of the Messiah, what should we do? Since we have come to understand Jesus, what must we do? Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth and the life; no one can go to Father without going through me." He also said, "The Kingdom of Heaven is in your mind," and "Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand." All these words were about himself.

Bringing Jesus to life out of the Bible is the greatest duty of Christians. He said, "I am in you and you are in me," so we should let Jesus come alive in our hearts. Otherwise, if we do not meet the standard that the mind pursues, everything will be shattered. Only those who can let him come alive in their hearts, in the place where their life thrives and their heart moves, can receive the Lord. I do not have any desire for a fabricated Lord. We have no need for such a Lord.

For the human beings who are escaping, there will be attacks by enemies and defensive preparations by the enemies. What is the one standard that can defeat them? It is the truth. Truth can clarify everything of the satanic world and condemn Satan, who betrayed God, as a sinner and prevail over him.

What is Satan like? He is like a judge. Jesus is a defense lawyer. God is also the judge. We are the criminals. This is how it is. However, while we are fleeing, we have to pose as the attorneys and serve Jesus as the defense lawyer and God as the judge and punish Satan as the criminal. When we reveal everything about Satan, beginning from his origin, and charge, "These are Satan's crimes, so we hope that Heaven will punish him," then Jesus will agree and the Father will give the sentence. If we can attend such a Jesus and Father, what can we be afraid of? We have to possess this standard of triumph.

If we have such a relationship with Jesus, we will not face any obstacle in the world of the heart. There cannot be any fear in that heart. Because the phenomenon of fear becomes active based on evil, if someone can reveal it clearly and stand in the position to drive out its source, then even that which has the power to dismantle Heaven and earth cannot conquer the person's life.

An Honorable Guest Who Can Be Invited by Heaven

Ladies and gentlemen, in the society in which we live, the tide of truth is infiltrating even though we are unaware of it. The flow of the world of conscience is seeping in. It is connecting to the feeling of life. The relationship of the heart is coming around. Yet have you ever shed tears and welcomed them, saying, "Please come"? If you have never done so, you will remain a sinner before Heaven and earth.

If there is someone who sheds tears and says, "Tide of truth, please strike my mind. Movement of God's heart, please dwell in my heart. Feelings of God's life, please dwell in my mind. The relationship of God's love, please govern my heart," he is greater than a Ph.D. You have to understand that such a person is an honorable guest whom Heaven can invite and welcome.

Jesus was such a person. Jesus looked at the sins and evils of the people and said, "People! You do not know that the heart of God is springing forth within your minds. You do not know that the eternal and unchanging life is vibrating in your life. You do not know that God's love dwells within your minds, that there is a God who is shedding tears with a mournful heart in this hour."

Jesus passed away. Although Jesus came, he passed away without being able to fulfill all he was supposed to accomplish. Who will be responsible for what he left unfinished? Who will inherit the truth that we must learn and teach it to us? Who will pioneer the mind that we should have? Who will establish the standard of life? Who will build the connection with the love with which we should forge an eternal relationship? You have to understand that Jesus is forced to lament and pray even on the right hand of God.

This person, Jesus, is our bridegroom. Ladies and gentlemen! No matter how wooden a person may be, when he looks at the world with such a heart, he will find there the tears, flesh and blood of Jesus. When he looks at Heaven and earth he will sense that the love of God is penetrating into their hearts. When he then runs on the path that others do not travel, without a rest during the day and night, he is a helper of God. God needs such a person. Humanity awaits the appearance of such a person.

Korea also awaits the emergence of such young men and women. If there are young men and women who can pray, "Heaven! Earth! Please let me take on the burden of this fateful sorrow," when others are basking under glamorous neon lights, this country will never perish.

Honor Those Who Are In Sorrow

If we forget that there is an ideology of life which has implanted its roots in the back alleys of all things, then we will perish. Before we rise to high places, we should become a sacrificial offering in a lowly place and shed blood and fall, crying out for the people and the future of this country with concern. If there are statesmen who can listen to those voices of concern and seek them, then their country will prosper. Such has been the history of Heaven.

Among the sages who came to this earth or great persons who were chosen by Heaven, was there anyone who did not shed tears, blood and sweat? Those who remain on their path, even when they are struggling in the back alleys of life and are trampled upon, pushed out and fallen down, are walking the religious path.

Ladies and gentlemen! Let us honor those who are in sorrow. They struggled and were persecuted in order to implant the roots of life in the back alleys of death. This people broadened the foundation by connecting with the flow of history, life, truth, heart and love even without being totally aware of it. Heaven cannot ignore such people.

Jesus who said that he will be responsible for all humanity from the back alley of the world was not a Messiah of glory. He was not a Messiah who could enjoy love, joy and happiness. He was a Messiah of agony and sorrow. He was a Messiah of death. You have to understand that Jesus took responsibility in the most unjust back alleys and was sold at a wholesale price. To believe Jesus is not to rush to him and cling to him. Rather, it is shedding tears and holding onto him, saying "Now we are about to die with You." Do you deny this?

Jesus said, "Whoever wants to follow me should deny himself and bear the cross each day and follow me." (Luke 9:23) What is the self to deny here? It is the authority of the satanic world. The powers of self-centered individuals, the self-centered standard of criticism, and the self-centered world come from Satan, the king of this world. Those who sever these and shed lonesome tears are fertilizers who are absorbed as an element and lay the foundation to implant the roots of life. Struggling in the dark and troubling alleyways of life, these are the people who are living a religious life.

The Lord Who Emerges Again with New Words of Truth

Christians today should lead this kind of life. Those who praise the dreams of the new age and are content to be at the cutting edge of a splendid culture will be denounced by history and forced to stand for judgment at the bottom of this world. Conversely, if there is a group of people who say, "All of you go back; I will guard this place," and fill up the ditch of death with their own blood, sweat and tears and make a level ground, then God will work through that group.

History is created with new ideologies and in new forms, yet it does not begin from a good situation but from a bad situation. You've learned all this. For this reason, where there is sin, there will be much divine grace.

We who must go now should open our hearts and protest, "God! Although Jesus came, I could not establish a standard in my heart which would enable me to go confidently before the absolute being as His object partner. What am I to do?" We should cling to Jesus and protest. We should cling to the Bible and protest. If we were only to listen to the words of other people, we would perish. The Korean people have suffered the misfortune of becoming a colony of another country because they listened to someone else's words.

Now, as we stand before God who has been seeking humanity speechlessly, we should not unconditionally believe other people's words. There are fundamentally different forms of words. You cannot believe others.

Therefore, although it is said that the foundations of heart and truth in our hearts should be like this and that, when these words do not come true, we should protest. If you want to protest, you should be able to defend yourself as such and such a person. If you say, "Father, this should have become such and such because of this and that. Why was that not realized?" then God will immediately say, "That is true." Have you thought about this?

The Lord Will Return

Christianity today says that the Lord will return. Buddhism claims that the Maitreya will return, while Confucianism says that the true man will appear. Each religion is talking about the return of the Lord. They do not mean that he will simply relive the words in the Bible. He is not someone who will relive the words of the Bible or repeat the words of an already established faith. These religions are talking about the return of a Lord who will come with a new truth of higher content. For this reason, if Heaven exists, we should protest until we can obtain an answer concerning him from Heaven. Have you ever tried that? The time has come when we should protest, "Is that really true about Jesus? Is God really like that?" Only then will history make progress.

Although many faithful people worshipped the founders of their religions and took a direction in history, that did not manifest itself in their lives. For this reason we should rise above the founders of religions and grab hold of God. Shouldn't we do so? Since not everything can be explained by what is written in the Scriptures, we should rise above their pinnacle and protest to God. We are to protest about the founders of religions.

What is the purpose of believing in Jesus? What are we to accomplish by believing in him? To become his bride? What are we to do once we become brides? To live a good life? What are we going to do once we live a good life? We are to reciprocate. Hence, if this has not come true, then shouldn't we protest? Our goal is to meet Jesus, our bridegroom. Yet have we ever received the love of Jesus? That is not what I believe. Regardless of whether Jesus loves us or not, I want to reach beyond Jesus and receive the love of God. Jesus is a condition. He is the condition through which we can receive the love of God.

Thus, Paul said, "Who will ever cut me off from the love of God which dwells within our lord Jesus Christ?" God's love within Jesus is not the love related to a bride. If Jesus cannot take a bride and receive God's blessing, he cannot inherit the great work of Heaven. You have to understand this. You should build a relationship of God-centered love.

Have you ever opened the gates to your heart to obtain this quality and felt the waves of truth? Have you ever prodded an extremely clear conscience? Have you ever grabbed onto the traces of life coming through the voice of your conscience and praised it? Have you ever felt something in your heart which is connected to the infinite world and emerged with an explosive power of life? Have you ever felt it?

God Desires to Express Himself through Human Beings

God created people in such a way that they can feel a corresponding amount of the truth that they cultivate in themselves, the emotions of the heart, the emotions of life, and the emotions of love that they generate in themselves. Isn't that necessary for them to receive love? If they have the appearance of being dead, who will love them?

Only those who have felt the stimulation which would empower them to generate some aspects of truth, heart, mind, life and love will hear God say to them, "You are truly my son." Only then will you be alive. Do you deny that?

If they are not careful, they are sure to misunderstand. Only those who stand upon the foundation of their original nature and who possess certain motivating qualities can establish a common base with the absolute one. This will never happen to those who merely consume what they are given and fall after they are raised up.

What is the state you are in as you flee to the city of refuge? What does Heaven desire? We have to understand that God has been struggling for six thousand years as He has longed for human beings to become the sources of truth. You will understand through your own experience that when you can enter that state, you can confidently say, as Jesus did, "I am in God and God is in me."

No one can hold back a prince of escape who feels this motivation and is willing to walk the path of death. Ladies and gentlemen, he moves in unison with the truth, is in harmony with the world of the heart and is connected to the principles of life. He manifests the world of the heart and the beauty of the infinite creation. For this reason Heaven will protect that person.

If we can talk about our value in this realm and talk about the relationship between God and ourselves, how happy will God be as He looks upon it. If I wrote a book and said, "So and so is like this," do you think that the person will say, "You! Why do you offend me?" What do you think? How do you think he will feel if you sing him a pleasant song and say, "Although you do not say it out loud, isn't this how you feel?" How would you feel?

God's ideal of creation is to bring out in people of the present age all the stimulating emotions which lie within Him, and rejoice as He appreciates their value. Those who live centering on themselves will lose themselves and perish. Those who praised their own value will fade away in death. Sons of filial piety, women of chastity, patriots in a country composed of tribes will disappear when the country is swept away by the worldwide trend of thought and is destroyed.

When we are running toward the city of escape we have to cut away everything that is individual and all self-centered emotions. If in the six-thousand-year history such a person appeared, wouldn't God bless him? God laments because such a person does not appear. If such a young man appears in Korea, we can invite God to Korea. This is not nonsense. When a receiver has the capability to pull in electronic waves forcefully, it can receive the energy to shoot them back out. It can possess such generating power.

Human beings lamented over their own situation and mourned their own limited value. This is miserable. The Messiah is the brave one who comes with the authority to shout to those who are struggling over the ideals of their family, nation and world: "All of you, step aside!"

The World of Relationships for the Accomplishment of Goals

Conceptual views of history will not last. If we cannot elucidate this universe, history will continue. History could not lay all our standards and foundations and could not solve them, so we have to begin answering such fundamental problems. If we can be in tune externally with the flow of history and internally with the direction of the mind, and if at the point of transition where we can transcend we stand before Heaven, God will say, "You are a victorious prince." This is what I believe.

Now the time has passed when we should listen to someone's words. More than any truth and more than the words of the greatest teacher, we should listen to the voices of our mind and pursue the mind which we yearn to listen to over and over. Then something infinite which we do not even understand will come out. This is creation.

When a distinguished scientist solves an atomic formula, there are times when he struggles because he cannot find a common base to relate it with. When he then secures a common base, he can derive all the answers. To secure this base, he has to forget sleeping and eating and forget all feelings associated with his life and all the things of the senses. He must concentrate. When he struggles so desperately, he can manifest an internal reality as an external, demonstrable formula.

Human beings at most can play this intermediary role. What is the state we are in today? We are not in the causal world or in the world of destination. We are struggling in the world of relationships. Yet this world of relationships is passing us. When we solve a mathematical formula, once we plug in several numbers to a formula and obtain an answer, the answer is all that we need.

Since the world of relationships has become miserable, if there is someone who can explain the misery of this world and connect it with the will and heart of God, he will live for eternity. He will never be judged with history. You have to understand that he will never perish with the last chapter of history.

In conclusion, the problem lies in each of us. What is the reason that the Jesus we believe in was praying so desperately, not eating well, not putting on good clothes, not sleeping at night? It is because he was busy walking his path of life. He had to resolve his own path, resolve the path of the people, and resolve the path of the world. That is why he had to exert himself many hundreds of times over. You should think about how much you should exert yourselves to pioneer the path of your life.

I hope that you will not be deserters and not crash during the takeoff on the path of life but will exhibit the qualities of a brave soldier who can fly into the vast sky like a jet.

Prayer

Father! Although many people have been born and passed away, no one has built a relationship of life which is transcendent of time and space. People in history longed for such a person. Even today they are bitterly appealing to You.

Your sons and daughters who lie prostrated here find after hearing the words that the problem is not someone else's problem; it is their own. Reciprocal views on existence were not the problem; the actual content which can make the determination centering on ourselves has been the problem. We know that You long for those who cultivate these qualities and call you Father. Please guide us to become such sons and daughters. This is our sincere prayer.

Now we have heard the truth that we have to become unchanging people whose minds and bodies are united with the infinite Father. We should stand so close to the life and love of the eternal Father that we do not know if we exist or not, if we are inside or outside of the body. Please allow us to feel this.

Each of us knows what situation we are in, whether we are dozing off, struggling on a deviant path, resting, sleeping, or in what environment we are in. We know that to pioneer our own environment we have to carry on a battle of truth, a battle of the mind, a battle of life, and a battle of the heart. Without passing through such a course, we know that we cannot build a relationship with the world of purpose.

Please encourage our minds and bodies as we head toward this purpose. Please let the words of life remain eternally deep inside our bones and flesh so that we can approach the homeland. Hoping that You will hear our wishes, we prayed in the name of the Lord. Amen. 

What Belongs to the Father Belongs to Me

Sun Myung Moon
August 30, 1959
Former Church Headquarters
Seoul, Korea

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11 Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves.
John 14:11

1 If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. 4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. 13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
I Corinthians 13:1-13

Prayer

We do not want to believe in a Father of words. We want to believe in the Father who has been building a relationship with humankind throughout history. We seek the Father who can have a direct relationship with us now; the Father who can give us the words of truth directly.

Humanity today believes in God as an object. Yet today we do not seek God as a mere object of faith. We want a God who is our living and substantial subject partner, who can connect to our situations and lives, a Father who can never be separated from us and with whom we can spend time. Both God and humanity desire the moment that such a relationship is realized on the earth.

Although we may think that the garden of hope of the Father's desires is a concept and an ideal, that is not true. We know that the time has come when we should have a concept of the Kingdom of Heaven as a realm we can enter, which we can feel through our actions and through our concrete senses, a realm which we can sing of with real emotion.

We know that the purpose of the providence of salvation, the history of restoration and salvation through the cross all were to build such a relationship. Please let today be a moment when we can call You our true Father and recognize without shame that we are Your true sons and daughters. In that state, let us sing, rejoice and listen to the words. Father, this is our sincere wish.

Although we have learned a considerable amount about the Father of history and the Father of words, we long for the Father whom we can testify to through our hearts; the Father we can experience through our bodies; the Father who can work the miracle of elevating our own words to be the very words of the Father. We long for the Father who can be together with us. Please let this be an hour when You arouse concrete feelings in us.

Father, please grant Your grace so that the sons and daughters who are gathered here can be in control of their minds and bodies. They are neither the masters of their minds nor of their bodies. They believe, unconsciously looking to some faraway place with a hopeful glance. We want to have faith in and rely upon some absolute being, yet we have not come to a point where we can be recognized by an absolute being.

We know that this is because we, who are in the position of object partners, are unworthy to receive the grace of the absolute being and absolute subject partner. Therefore, Father, please be our Lord, and put us in the position of Your object partners. Please allow Your truth to become our own beliefs. Please elevate us so that our hearts can be intoxicated in that truth, and we can sing of the all- encompassing love of the Father. In this hour, let there be a miracle which moves our minds, which we experience and is conveyed through our hearts and which unites us.

I am about speak the words, so please be with me. We do not want the words of a human being. We hear enough words from human beings. We have heard the words of many preachers who intone from the pulpit. This is not what we want to hear. We want to hear new words of truth which can bestir a dead life, revive a dead heart, and purify our clouded minds. We want the words of re-creation through which we can understand that our Father is the center of our hearts, our wills and our beliefs. We want to sense that we are eternally one with the Father. Please manifest this to us. Let this be a moment when You pour down upon us the sweet rain of grace.

We know that it is the work of Satan to form a gap between the heart of the speaker and the hearts of the listeners. Please guide us to remove any pride of our own accomplishments and recognize that all our accomplishments were done by the Father. Allow us to entrust everything to the Father. Praying that this will be a precious moment when we can receive the compassion of the Father, we prayed all these words in the name of the Lord. Amen.

Human Beings Should Live in Relationship with an Absolute Being

The title of the sermon I am about to give today is "What Belongs to the Father Belongs to Me." To expand the scope of this, it becomes "What Belongs to the Father Belongs to Us." I will speak briefly on this topic.

Until now we have thought that we have infinite value. We do not know the nature of our value; we only know that we are valuable. However we feel, that cannot establish our complete value and remain till the end. We cannot confidently and with dignity take pride in ourselves before the great universal reality with the mere feeling that we are valuable.

We cannot deny that because this is the state we find ourselves in, we long for the precious being, the precious one, the relationship of value and the valuable world. We are to seek for these. When we recognize what needs to be done and we look at the great universe, we cannot help but have an intense feeling of emptiness.

Hence, we seek something we can depend upon. We sense deeply through our consciences and in our lives that it is our fate to pursue this. From this standpoint, even if there were no God, we would have to create a fictional absolute being. If we understand that we live in such a situation and that there should be some order in our actions, including our feelings, our rejoicing and singing, and if we reflect upon ourselves as to whether or not we can forge a valuable relationship with that and be happy, we can probably conclude on our own that the answer is negative.

Because this is the miserable situation of human beings, if there were a God, He would have some responsibility to establish a relationship with us. If God is the subject partner of absolute value and the origin of value itself, then we cannot logically deny that if God does nothing to establish that valuable relationship, there is no way to attribute love and other such characteristics to God.

We know that human beings fell. We know that they lost their original position. Human beings lost their original value. We should look at the whole world. If there is a God, then we should call out "Heaven." If there is an absolute being, we should call out "Absolute Being," and if there is something which has the form of goodness, we should appeal to it to manifest itself in concrete form. We should ardently long for such an absolute being, a God, or being of goodness.

Because Heaven understands the situation human beings are in, He has not hesitated to exert Himself to the utmost and sacrifice Himself to recover us. He did not hesitate to exhaust Himself in clinging to humanity. He has been searching for the value of the whole and of the ideal. If we accept this, we should have a humble heart. Pressing our hands together, we should bow before Him.

When we fathom this movement of the whole, the flow of history and the sway of our hearts, we find that even if we are not aware of it, some force has been pulling us and prodding us in the background of history and in the depth of our hearts. We have to understand that some force deep inside our hearts prods us to pursue some value. We should not ignore this as a coincidence or phenomenon, because it stems from an inseparable relationship inside each one of us. When we decipher this relationship and examine its value, we find that therein lies something which is connected to God, the epitome of goodness. This relationship has to be built.

Human Beings Are Destined to Become Princes of Faith, Hope and Love

Heaven has been toiling until today and persevering through all sufferings behind the scenes in order to give human beings absolute value. God has no choice but to continue this work, even beyond today. When we come to understand this, our heads bow in humility and awe every time we think about Heavenly Father.

For this reason, God has proclaimed words of truth which humanity does not even understand. God told us just to believe in Him, even though His will was to establish religions and build profound relationships with us. The contents of His proclamations were not clearly defined. God commanded us to look to Him. He also told us to love Him. Although we do not know the nature of the relationship and its specific content, through our experience we come to reaffirm that we are inseparably connected to something in the world of the heart. Human beings have depended on and believed in these vague words of truth; they have longed for them and loved them. People of faith were felled as they held true to their beliefs, adhering to their hope and love. Countless people were felled in their life of devotion. Those who died as they adhered to their belief in God surpass the patriots and heroes of a country many thousands of times over. Many have died keeping their hope or love. Among them, however, no one has been hailed as a prince of faith, a prince of hope, a prince of love.

When we reflect upon the six-thousand-year history, we find that there were many who fell while they were aspiring to become victorious in their faith, yet there was no one who was revered by humanity as a great prince of faith. Similarly, we find that although there were many who searched for the foundation of hope, no one was ever praised by Heaven on a foundation of hope or was revered by humanity. Although there have been many people who professed to love, the same thing was true for them. Should we then hold grudges against God for this? Do the notions of faith, hope and love not exist?

Jesus was the incarnation of faith whom God had sought for four thousand years. He was someone who deeply experienced the Father's heart as a concrete reality. The people did not know that Jesus was such a person. No one in all of humanity knew that. If there was a person who did know, it was God.

What Kind of Person Was Jesus?

Hence, Jesus had nowhere to go. Although he came to create the history of faith, because no one recognized him, he had to put the world behind him and go in search of someone who understood him. This was the path of the cross. In this way Jesus inherited the faith and hope of God, who is the hope of humanity. He became the subject partner of faith and hope, representing God in substance. Because Jesus came not as God's relative subject partner of faith but as the absolute subject partner of God, representing the invisible God, even if you do not believe in God, you should believe in Jesus.

The Bible says that you should believe in Jesus, long for him and love him. This is because the incarnation is closer to corporeal human beings than is the invisible God. For this reason, we should tearfully bow before the laborious accomplishments of God who sent and raised up Jesus as an earthly man. Jesus tried to establish the foundation of faith; he tried to pioneer an environment of hope; he tried to build a fence of love. However, his ideals were not realized on the earth.

The purpose of the four-thousand-year history was to establish an incarnation of faith. The purpose of the two-thousand-year history since Jesus and the Holy Spirit has been to establish an incarnation of hope. This is the true standard of thought and ideas. Today the worldview which longs for Jesus and an opposing worldview have manifested themselves as democracy and communism. Because hope has come near the end, we call this time the Last Days. We do not call it the Last Days without good reason.

What kind of ancestor was Jesus? He was an ancestor more of hope than of faith. He was the ancestor who could uphold hope as an earthly man. What would you hope for? We believe that the mind inside our body is precious. We believe that the heart inside the mind is precious. There is no greater hope than to hope for the one who is the substantial subject partner of the mind and heart. Jesus said, "You are my bride and I am your bridegroom." You should understand this clearly. Hence, the world cannot surpass the limit of this hope, no matter how hard it may try.

What kind of hope is it? Christians today yearn for the world of hope based on the word. However, the time for the word is behind us; now we should yearn for the incarnation. More than many thousands of words of discussion on faith and more than the history of faith, we need one substantial person. If such an incarnation does not appear, then the worldview of hope based on the words of truth will come to a dead- end. Unless we are connected to the incarnation, this world will fade away with the flow of history. You wait and see.

The Purpose of Faith, Hope and Love

Today Christianity literally has become a worldwide religion. The democratic world is rooted in Christian teachings. Now even that is coming to an end. What do we need here? Our purpose is not to merely rejoice in the word. We must be able to enjoy a life of eternal significance on the earth.

History is turning like a tornado. We who are gathered under today's trends of thought are caught in a maelstrom. We venerate our ancestor of faith, Abraham, and all the prophets after him. We look up to Jesus, the prince of hope, who came two thousand years later. We reflect back upon the history of fierce conflicts.

However, what these ancestors of faith accomplished was the hope of a promise. They could not bring the hope which can be manifested in daily life. For this reason, the day their hope becomes materialized as a reality is the Last Days. The work to accomplish this is the ideal of the Second Advent. The one who comes to accomplish this is the Lord of the Second Advent.

What remains now? The age based upon faith came to an end with Jesus. Because Jesus is the embodiment of faith, when you believe in him, you can develop stronger faith than anyone who lived in the four thousand years before Jesus. Jesus had to rectify faith before the people who disbelieved. He had to establish hope before the people who did not have hope. Wasn't that true?

Please read the Bible. Look at the prophecies after Abraham. The one hope in faith is to cling to the Messiah. However, this has remained as the hope of the bride and bridegroom in the realm of symbolic promises because Jesus died on the cross. In your life of devotion, you are not aware of this. Even if you do not understand what I am saying now, there will be a time when you can understand it. Isn't that how it should be if it is the work of a real God? Only then would it be logical.

What does the incarnation of hope and faith want to accomplish? In other words, what is the purpose of hope and faith? It is that the people will find him and sing songs of love. There is nothing else. Why do we want to meet the Lord? We want the Lord to recognize our value, and we want to live in the bosom of the Lord's love. This is the highest purpose of humanity.

The reason that God established faith, hope and love was not just for the sake of Jesus, Abraham or anyone among our ancestors. It was for each one of us. Who looked for me faithfully for six thousand years? It was God. Who is God? He is our father. This is where the great drama of Heaven and earth unfolds.

Rebirth through the Love of Jesus and the Holy Spirit

When you cling to the Father you believe in, hope in and love, Jesus should say, "I have struggled hard to meet you. I have toiled arduously to meet you." God should also be able to say that. At that moment, if you were to offer, "God! Let us live together. Jesus! Let us live together," they will respond, "All right. Let's live together for eternity." This is the Kingdom of Heaven. We have no need for some imaginary and fabricated Kingdom of Heaven. We have to fight to build the substantial Kingdom of Heaven.

Jesus told us that he was leaving without accomplishing everything, so he instructed us to believe in the Holy Spirit. Do you think that you will be saved only by believing in Jesus? You can be saved if you believe in the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit tries to lead people to believe in the son of God, so you should also believe in the Holy Spirit.

What kind of spirit is the Holy Spirit? She is a mother spirit. Christians today do not understand this. If you think that I am lying, ask God about it. I do not speak from assumption. I am sure.

The Holy Spirit is the mother divinity, and Jesus is the true father of humanity. The true father is the perfected Adam. Because Adam fell and could not become the true ancestor of humanity, we are descendants of false ancestors rather than true ones. The Messiah is the one who comes as the true ancestor. He is the true father. Christianity talks about the Trinity. Since Jesus is the true father and the Holy Spirit is the true mother, we can be reborn only when we receive the love of this father and mother. How can a child be born without the love of parents?

For this reason it is written in Revelation, "The Holy Spirit and the bride call us. They will call upon those who hear, those who are thirsty will come, and they will give the water of life for free to those who desire it." (Rev. 22:17) Such a day is the day the Holy Spirit takes on an earthly form. That is the day of the Second Advent. It is the day the bride finishes the preparations for the wedding. What is the Marriage of the Lamb? It is attending the True Parents who have been lost. When this is accomplished, the conceptual God, the God as the object of faith, will no longer be needed. We will no longer have any need for a conceptual God, or a devotional life in which our faith is only external. What we will have is a substantial, living God.

Who was the substantial subject partner of faith? It was Jesus. Who was the substantial subject partner of hope? It was Jesus. Who was the incarnation of love and the subject partner of love? It was Jesus. Although God sent Jesus, human beings could not recognize him. They did not believe, and he had to die. When will he return? Since no one could recognize him as the bridegroom, he cannot come again. If he were to come again, he would be mistreated; hence, he cannot come again. You have to understand this grief. Those who think, "When the Lord comes he will come looking for me," ruin Christianity and undermine God's will.

God will come looking for us. However, unless an incarnation of faith, hope and love emerges in this world, the purpose for which God established faith, hope and love will not be realized. Therefore, you should understand that God cannot properly play His true role without you. Without you, God cannot move this world. Jesus lived by this conviction. He knew that God's love could not be introduced without him.

The Faith and Responsibilities of the Believers in the Last Days

Now is a time when people want evidence. This is a scientific era, they say. Science is logical. What is logical must connect cause and result systematically. When we can prove and practice logical truth in our daily life, we call that scientific. This is the original human nature. There cannot be happiness apart from our life and concrete reality. There cannot be satisfaction or other such things apart from these. For this reason, God also wants to work through a substantial embodiment.

What kind of time is the Last Days? It is the time that the two-thousand-year history since Jesus, the purpose of which was to fulfill the history and hope of the previous four thousand years of establishing the faith, comes to an end. It is the time of the appearance of the prince of faith, hope and love. People believe that when he appears he will come on the clouds, in the sky, but that is a misunderstanding. It is literally impossible.

I used to have that type of faith. I felt so frustrated and distressed that I banged on the ground and protested against Heaven many times. When I penetrated deep into it, I found that it was not true. When I spoke words of truth, I was most heavily persecuted. I now wear the badge of a heretic. In the past St. Paul was condemned as a heretic. The Messiah who came with the truth was cursed and laughed at as one possessed by Beelzebub. This is the source of historical sorrow. Since history began in sorrow, it has to end in sorrow.

If there are faithful believers, let them esteem the members who lie prostrated upon and pray upon the wooden floors of churches. When your church leaders chase you out, follow the sheep as you shed tears and look behind you. You will find that you have come near a new garden of flowers. Have you ever thought when chilly winds blow that the spring season will come after the passage of time? The Lord, in my opinion, will come looking for those who can bravely greet the coming of the spring season with their minds, even though their bodies may be suffering winter.

Although there are many princes of words who can speak articulately and powerfully before a large crowd, there is no hero of substance. There is no embodiment of faith, hope and love among the church leaders. Where will this church and its members head toward? Where will the believers of the Last Days go? This Mr. Moon in Korea will walk the path, if doing so will bring blessing to the people. I will do this even if I am condemned as a monstrous heretic and a traitor to the people.

The Incarnation Is More Important than the Words

Since there is no longer an altar of substance and evidence, where is the heavenly prince of faith who can build a substantial altar? Such a person is needed. There is no need for large multitudes. What we need is not a general who can command many soldiers majestically, but a general who cannot sleep at night because he is concerned about his soldiers. In history God worried about people who were cold, too hot, or hungry.

Although the Pharisees stood on the front-line and boasted about themselves, Jesus turned around and shed tears. This was the true side of Jesus. The one who shouts loudly in the front is not the one who will save humanity. History has been able to at least reach this point because of the people who, even when they were falling down, clung to Heaven and said in tears, "Please sympathize with them. What can we do about them?" There will come a time when those who are ignorant of this will be struck.

No matter how great the teachings of the Unification Church may be, there will come a time when attention will focus on not the contents of its teaching but on its actual state of being. What do you possess? We have to understand that we need to become the embodiments of faith, hope and love. If we can achieve that, even if the Lord comes a thousand years later, he will not abandon us. There is no worry as long as you can become someone who can say, "I am where faith, hope and love are."

The time is nearing when we must explain history in substantial terms. Our one day of hope is the day we can meet the embodiment. This is the truth. It is not fancy or fabrication.

Is there anyone among you who is qualified to become the bride of the Lord? Who makes that claim? Have you ever seen someone make this claim? Although there are many people who say that they will achieve it, no one has actually achieved it. Then what kind of contents should we develop? We should develop the contents of historical faith, historical hope and the heart of the historical God. We have to become qualified to alleviate the grief of God, who has led the six-thousand-year history concentrating on a substantial person who possesses all these contents. Only then can we attend the Lord.

This world is unbearable even to think about. The six-thousand-year history to find the embodiment is a distressing history fraught with countless human betrayals. It is a history God does not want to repeat ever again, even in His dreams. However, it is the job of the incarnated one to hold onto it, to reflect upon it, to mourn over it, and to repeat it. That is the sole issue.

Then what must you do? You should have the confidence that faith, hope and love belong to you. You should be qualified to believe in yourself for many thousands of years. Do you understand what I am saying? You should believe in yourself more than you believe in God, who carried on the providence for six thousand years. You should be able to say, "I am the incarnation of faith, hope and love."

Do you believe in your bodies? Do you believe in your minds? Do you believe in your hearts? You should believe in them. God gave you everything that He believes in as a gift in order to find you. Therefore, we should fight against evil on behalf of God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit and all people. We should believe in ourselves, that we are qualified to act as the judge and destroy all that is wrong. That is the level we must attain.

We Must Liberate God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit

Ladies and gentlemen, the time to attempt to enter the Kingdom of Heaven has now passed. You should not try to go to the Kingdom of Heaven by believing in God; you should try to help God enter the Kingdom of Heaven. You should not have the desire to enter the Kingdom of Heaven and meet Jesus; you should build the Kingdom of Heaven on earth and attend Jesus.

Do you want to receive the love of Jesus? Are you worthy to demand the love of Jesus when you are soaked in sinfulness? Jesus is the royal prince of God. You cannot make such demands upon the royal prince of God. You should not have such an attitude of faith. If you want to receive his love, you should be filled with a desire to love him that is more intense than his death. Yet all of you have the attitude of a robber. Those who are faithful today do as they wish, but that is not how it should be. That is not how it is in the spirit world. It is fundamentally different.

Thus, it is our fate now to liberate God. God has been seeking those who crave faith and hope and who are burning with love. He wants those who say, "God is constrained because of humanity. God is constrained because of me. God is receiving Satan's accusation because of me. Jesus died because of me. The Holy Spirit has been carrying on a bloody battle because of me. God, please give me strength. I will take the Father to a place of peace and liberation. I will also take Jesus and the Holy Spirit to a place of liberation." We should understand this truth.

Is there a contradiction in these words? Only when we receive such great love can God be our father. In that state, your eyes will overflow with tears just looking at a mountain. Those of us who have failed in our responsibilities will strike our chests in frustration and will not be able to escape the fate of becoming princes of grief, even if we try our best to take steps forward.

You should understand that God is not someone comfortably sitting on the throne of the Kingdom of Heaven. God sees that hell has been created and He feels pain which surpasses that which is felt in hell. Yet humanity does not know this. If God does not feel pain which surpasses that which is felt in hell and allows hell to remain, He cannot be called the God of love. In the six-thousand-year history, there is no pain in hell God did not experience. God experienced all its agonies. In truth, God is suffering the pains of hell. You may accuse me of speaking nonsense, but we should believe in and attend God knowing these things. Only then can God be the true God of humanity. God suffered the anguishes of hell in order to find each one of us.

After Jesus died on the cross, there was a three-day period of darkness. How can this be? He should have been a physical and spiritual savior. He was to witness to people even when he entered hell. For this reason, the people who believe in Jesus should have touched the bottom of hell on earth. This is why they were trampled upon in history and persecuted. Since God walked such a path, we have to accompany Him and work by His side. The providence of restoration and the providence of salvation is the promise to give the garden of glory to such people. You should understand this clearly.

Those who pray with a sincere heart, "God, please let me go to hell and experience the Father's sufferings" will not go to hell. Those who say, "Oh God, I do not want to go to hell; please send me to the Kingdom of Heaven," will end up in hell. Jesus prayed on the cross, "Father, please do not do as I will, but as You will. Please do not let them bear the penalty for their sins." This was because when he contemplated the internal heart and situation of God, who had suffered the pains of hell in order to save the people for four thousand years, he felt that he could not avoid the path of the cross. You should understand clearly that these were Jesus' feelings.

One Who Can Inherit the Ideals and Spirit of Jesus

Christianity, which should lay this foundation of love, has been destroyed. We have stood up to rebuild the foundation with our own hands. We should fight and march without words. This path is not one of glory or wealth. If you desire those things, the time of hope will not come. We do not have time to spend our energy on that. No matter what the world does, we are determined to walk our own path.

Is there anyone who came to the Unification Church to listen to these words without knowing anything? To put it simply, the path of the Unification Church is very difficult to walk. We are to experience the pain of banging our heads on the walls of agony and colliding into it with our bodies and having our flesh torn. The path we walk is not a smooth path. Neither the Lord nor the prophets walked a smooth path. Those who were responsible for history were brave soldiers who possessed the vibrant spirit and blood of history. Those who will inherit the ideals and spirit of Jesus, who clung to the love of Heaven in the same way that the prophets led history, must have the same qualities. You have to understand this clearly. I want to tell you that the time of having aimless faith has passed. The empty and fabricated foundation of logic is based on ignorance and there can be no perfection based on that foundation. Therefore, what we should present today is how to believe in ourselves.

Just as God believed in Jesus and Jesus believed in God, just as Jesus believed in the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit believed in Jesus, we have to believe in ourselves. We should reach the level where we can say, "Even if the principles of Heaven were to change, I would not change. Even if Heaven and earth were to disappear, the words of Jesus cannot change. Even if Heaven and earth disappear, I will not change."

The problem lies in each one of you. Do you believe in yourselves? You who are trying so hard to go to the Kingdom of Heaven, do you believe in yourselves? We have no need for belief in words, belief that is empty at the core. We have no need for the empty shell, for the empty husk of grain. This is the meaning of the biblical parable of a grain and its empty ear. If we become the incarnations of solid core faith, solid core hope, and solid core love, no matter how vast this world may be, no matter how wide the American continent is and how advanced it may be, it will not pose any problem for us. We will not encounter any difficulty. If there is a group of people who are confident they will conquer the others through love one day, they will surely rule the world. Since eternal hope is in the Father, those who represent the Father are embodiments of eternal hope. Since God is eternal love, you should struggle to embrace that love and give it to others. You should struggle to the point of death to give that love. If you did so, would this country perish?

You should have eternal faith in yourself, hope in yourself, and love yourself before you say, "God, please receive my love and hope and rejoice in my faith." Then God will receive you. This is the purpose for which you have established faith, sought hope, and longed for love. When this is achieved, you will be able to honor the Lord on that foundation. You will be able to live together with the Lord. What is the purpose of hope and faith? It is to live your daily life centering on God's love. The Kingdom of Heaven on earth is the new ideal world where we can discard the entire notion of religion and sing songs of love. That world is not a fabricated world. It must appear as an inescapable reality based on logic.

Who are the people who will remain in this world? They are the people who are burning with faith, hope and passion. We should examine every page of history and investigate the rise and fall of nations and look for the people who held fast to faith and fidelity. The people who are burning with hope and zeal and do not hesitate to risk their lives for the sake of God are the ones who are close to God.

The Position of the Korean People from the Viewpoint of the History of the Providence

The same is true of a society. Who are the successful people? One can become successful in one's nation when one has faith in one's nation. When one honors the state doctrine as one's own, and appears with the spirit of governing the nation, one can become successful. Isn't that true? The same principle is at work in a family. Those who have faith, hope and love in the family will inherit the family. Isn't that true? Do you deny that?

When we examine history, what people are burning with faith in God? The Korean people have never heard about God and have not had clear revelations from prophets during their five-thousand-year history. Yet Koreans somehow have strong faith in Heaven. Whatever you may say, that is what I found.

It is a miracle that this people, this tiny nation in the eastern hemisphere, has survived for five thousand years and many waves of thought and beliefs. Probe into Korean history. Their history was marked by many dangerous invasions. Invaders devoured Korea before throwing the Koreans back out, over and over again. When they were thrown out, they were stripped to the bone. Nonetheless, the Korean people preserved some unknown source of strength flowing through their national spirit and awaited the one day of hope. Because of the hopeful national spirit which has moved this peninsula in the Far East, the people were able to continue their fight until now. Wouldn't the Messiah come to a people who have demonstrated such a remarkable national spirit? That is what I think. You have to understand this.

Moreover, no people are more passionate than the Korean people. Korea has been called a nation of strong ethics. Both Confucianism and Buddhism have flourished in this nation. The same has been true for Christianity. However, Buddhism, Confucianism and Christianity, which claim to be religions of faith and hope, have completed their missions. What remains? There is a zeal exploding from deep within people's hearts which can burn brilliantly for the worldwide ideal centering on the national spirit. Although young people may not understand this, older people know what I am talking about.

What made the people like this? Let us investigate their philosophical and religious history. No value can establish itself unless it first lays a foundation of reciprocity or comparison. Those who know will understand this. Without the positions of subject partner and object partner, there is no way to secure a system of values. If a nation were to emerge with a doctrine which can lead the world, only when a nation follows the leader and works in tandem with him to translate the ideals into reality can that nation become predominant in the world.

The Flow of Human Civilization and Its Direction

What is the original civilization without the Fall? Western civilization is external. Members of the Unification Church do not want to go to places like America. Everything there will be dismantled. If you examine the history of the past, there were matriarchal societies and patriarchal societies based on love. Until now patriarchal societies have survived, but now they are about to be destroyed. We are about to enter an era centered on couples.

Nations like America today only care about their own partners. This also will be destroyed. What will happen after that? There will unfold a world of love based on the governance of brothers, the people, the world and Heaven. Do you understand what this means?

Any imperialist ideology will come to an end. Why? God will not leave evil alone. He will destroy it. It will be shattered. In this way the period of monarchy and imperialism will come to a tragic end. Due to the human Fall, the ideal of heavenly monarchy was shattered. Archangels have acted as monarchs. We have lived through an era of archangelic sovereignty.

When we examine the trends in world thought, we find that anything imperialistic is being destroyed. We will soon experience destruction of anything that has the form of monarchy and enter an era of democracy and equality. What will follow after that? From this point, we are to consolidate a world in which we can call God our king, call those who live for the will of God and goodness members of our family, and call those who are fighting for God and goodness our people.

For this reason, if you carefully examine the trends of thought in the world, you will find many hideous things. You will find some who borrow other people's names and act as kings. People will follow them as kings and queens. Wait until that period passes and see. There will come a time when a handsome man will be made the prince of a city. The trends of thought are going the reverse way. Older women will live with young men, and young women will live with old men. It will be very strange. People do not know the internal causes of these weird phenomena.

This is why democracy was born. Democracy holds to the principle of equality. Why did such a philosophy appear? Christianity was persecuted and mistreated by imperialists. Although they were massacred by the Roman Empire, Christians were able to survive. Those who were thus strongly armed in Christian ideals created the basis of authority rooted in equality, which ushered in the world of democracy. In other words, people on Heaven's side are trying to change the world so that they can control the sovereignty. Another worldwide movement, a universal movement, must come into being which can move the world from this era of equality into the era of God's sovereignty. Yet the path of democracy has been halted today. What will be the direction from here? We are unable to find an answer to this.

What will happen to the world after this age? The people in the West, whose culture was built on external progress, will come to the East, which is more internal. Although Korean women are dying their hair blond, perming their hair and putting make-up on their faces, there will come a time when people will long for the simple and innocent appearance of Koreans, the dignified look of Asians. Wait and see if such a time comes or not.

Their philosophies and teachings have all been uprooted. Eastern philosophy, which was integrated into our philosophy of life, has prospered for four to five thousand years. Today it is to make a grand appearance. Civilizations are coming together in a comprehensive realm of ideas. Christian ideas alone are not enough in this age. The problem is how to bring the religions together.

Where Will the Center of Cultures Be?

There must unfold a movement which can bridge the Eastern and Western cultures. This must contain the Christian spirit and have the form of Eastern philosophy and religion. At the same time, it must be in tune with all schools of thought which have guided human spiritual growth. It must reflect the new age but also inherit and embrace the good aspects of the past ages. The world will be united only when a religion or group emerges with a teaching that has met these conditions.

The sun does not rise from the West; it rises from the East. Ladies and gentlemen, where have more wars erupted? We know that there were more wars in the West than in the East.

Knowledge means to understand, and understanding is to gain something. Yet what have you gained? Your gains are not spiritual but physical. Westerners have been building an externally prosperous world through science and material culture. They are sound asleep in their external Kingdom of Heaven. Now the time has come when they should wake up from their sleep.

Easterners worship the way of truth. The way of truth requires that you must give up ten things to know ten things. To understand a thousand things, you must give up a thousand things. The people of the East have become beggars externally because they were worshipping the way of the truth. They became miserable and vulnerable to attack. Eventually, they surrendered to the material world. However, you should foresee that there will soon come an age in the East when we can shake off all of this in disdain.

In this sense, you should feel pride that others don't feel. Koreans of the East are not inferior to any other people with respect to their faith, hope, and passion.

It is the law of the universe that a person's life is completed only with water, soil, air and sunlight. Where will the world's ultimate center of culture be in the future? It will be a place where the water is clean, the land is fertile, and the air is fresh. That is Korea. Water is so clean that you can drink water out of the mountains or plains and not become sick. Korea is a land with good water and good mountains. It is a good, natural place. Korea has pure air. The air is clean in the morning and in the evening all four seasons of the year. When you examine a day in Korea, it is very interesting. Morning is comparable to the spring season, afternoon to summer, evening to autumn, and night to winter. Within a day's cycle, the shapes of all four seasons of the ideal world can be found. As for its climate, Korea has all the varieties of the four climate types. The people who are living in such a place do not do so by coincidence. If you were to probe into Korea's religious life, you would find that Korean Christianity has been around for seventy or eighty years at most. Yet within such a short period of ministry, Korea occupies the number one position in the religious world. I am proud of the fact that Korea is second to none when it comes to religion and devotion.

The Responsibilities of the Sons and Daughters of the Father

With respect to belief, hope and love, what kind of person would you like to make friends with? You probably want to be friends with someone trustworthy, someone full of hope and good taste. Isn't that so? The same is true for God. Since we resemble God, God also likes that kind of person. God likes someone who is reliable, hopeful and interesting.

The Bible teaches us to become someone who can take joy in our daily life today and live in the Kingdom of Heaven on earth no matter what our circumstances may be. Hence, we come to the conclusion that the Kingdom of Heaven is inside our hearts. If there is someone who can laugh off the external world and transcend all its pains even while living in a sinful world, he is truly a citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven.

The crucial question is where to bring all this together. Where is the beginning point for solving the problems of today? The starting point for solving problems is each one of us.

You should not just worship God but stand in a relationship with Him and establish a reciprocal value. You should say, "Father, I have come. You have waited so long, for six thousand years." Don't you want to do this? God wants to hear the words, "How much have You cried? I have come. How much have You waited? I have come. How much did You long for me? I have come."

God wants to meet such sons and daughters and forget all the grief of the six thousand years since the time He blessed Adam and Eve with the governance of everything in the universe. He wants to say, "Today is My birthday, the day of My joy." God does not want to remember the sorrows of the six thousand years. He wants to sing songs of love with His new sons and daughters in the new universe. We have to understand clearly that the sons and daughters the Father desires are none other than us.

Prayer

In the course of my speech, I felt how fatiguing it is. Yet how much have You suffered for six thousand years? We are miserable beyond belief, yet how much more have You suffered?

We have learned how much You believe in us and long for us to become true sons and daughters who can comfort You. Please guide us to struggle desperately to heal Your wounded heart by silently making an offering every day.

We have learned that although faith, hope and love are all valuable, those who have lost their bodies cannot stand before the Father eternally; each one of us is the source of the difficulties.

Please guide those who believe in me to declare with confidence, "Father, please believe in me. Please have hope in me. Please love me." Please guide them to take responsibility. We entrust everything to You. Please let everything be fulfilled as You will. We prayed in the name of the Lord. Amen.

Inside God's Stadium

Sun Myung Moon
August 9, 1959
Former Church Headquarters
Seoul, Korea

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14 In the same way, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel. 15 But I have not used any of these rights. And I am not writing this in the hope that you will do such things for me, for I would rather die than allow anyone to deprive me of this boast. 16 For when I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, since I am compelled to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! 17 If I preach voluntarily, I have a reward; if not voluntarily, I am simply discharging the trust committed to me. 18 What then is my reward? Just this: that in preaching the gospel I may offer it free of charge, and so not make full use of my rights as a preacher of the gospel. 19 Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. 20 To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. 21 To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God's law but am under Christ's law), so as to win those not having the law. 22 To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. 23 I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings. 24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. 25 Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. 26 Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. 27 No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.
I Corinthians 9:14-27

Prayer

Father, Your sons and daughters have gathered here today. Many flocks of sheep have come to uphold the unfinished providential will and receive Your words of command. We have come before You as some of these people. Father, please have compassion on us as we stand or sit here.

If we have some individual concepts or ideas centered on our own selves, please remove them all. Our fate is to be created again and we have not yet alleviated the grief of the Fall. Hence, even if we possess something which we can proudly present to Heaven, it has no value as an ideal before the Father.

No matter how much we try to come up with excuses before Heaven and assert our own difficulties, we know that none of that can compare with the infinite goodness and toil of the Father.

We have learned that we did not become what we are based on our own efforts alone. We are not just ourselves. Please allow this to be an hour when we can long for our original selves and fathom our original hearts; an hour when we can bow our heads before our original Lord.

We know deep in our hearts that there is an absolute master of the entire universe. When we understand that this master is constraining our every action, please let us feel that this relationship has a clear purpose and that our fate is to live through an environment of being constrained by this purpose.

We yearn for the glorious presence of the Father and have come before the Father's knees. Yet those who gathered here do not know where their heart is directed or where their heart is guiding them. Please guide them to the direction where their original selves can rejoice with Heaven. Even though we may be shameful and unworthy, please allow us to look upon You in this hour with a longing heart and to bow our heads before You. If we still feel embarrassed and extend our shameful hands out toward You and call out to You, please promise us that You will hold those hands.

We want to bow while clinging to the Father's heart. We want to enter into a relationship with You. There is nothing else we want. No matter how glittering the treasures of Heaven may be, no matter what kind of glory may be found there, we do not want it. All we want is the promise that we can remain connected to the Father's heart and live together with You. Hoping that such things can be the signs of glory which we can take pride in for eternity, we have prostrated ourselves before You. Even if we are unworthy in some ways, please forgive us. Father, we sincerely wish that You will cultivate our hearts as You desire and secure an inseparable parent-child relationship with us.

Although many people are calling for You, they do not understand the Father's situation or heart. We do not want to become like them. Among us there are those who are like Your sons, those who are like Your adopted sons, and those who are Your true sons. We have no desire to be Your sons or adopted sons. We want to be Your direct children, the children who have inherited Your flesh and blood, who can live with the Father for eternity and never fade away from Your heart. We want to possess an undeniable eternal relationship of flesh and blood with You.

We know that to become these kinds of sons and daughters we must feel that the anguish the Father has suffered is our own anguish; the sorrow the Father feels is our own sorrow; the grief the Father feels is our own grief; the responsibilities that the Father has to fulfill are our own responsibilities. Please guide us to become this kind of children.

Father, I stand here, yet what words should I convey? Even though we may want to become the Father's sons and daughters, if we cannot sense that You are now trying to help us experience Your heart as our own reality and that You desire to build a relationship with us, no matter how profound the words I convey, our relationship with You can never be completed. Hence, please let this be an hour when we can become connected to the Father's heart; otherwise, we can never penetrate through the Father's heart or have the experience of clinging to the Father's body.

Please let the speaker's heart be in harmony with the Father's heart. Let the hearts of the listeners reflect the heart of the Father so that our moments of give and take may be an hour of glory. We know that You are driving us down this path for a certain purpose. This path is our ultimate fate, which we cannot avoid. Please let our determinations and actions become conditions of glory. Please allow us to be offered to the Father as sacrifices. Please raise us up as sacrifices who can be offered to the Father. Please do not let Satan find room to invade during this hour. We prayed in the name of the Lord. Amen.

Human Beings Are Racers in the Stadium of the Providence of Restoration

It is written in I Corinthians 9:24: "Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain." Centering on these words, I would like to speak to you briefly upon the topic "Inside God's Stadium."

As it was for the many saints in history, the people in the present era are dashing toward some unknown purpose in their lives. Although that purpose may not be clearly defined, their way of life has unfolded in various ways based upon it. The experience and form of the people and history have unfolded in various forms. All of these outcomes are not unrelated. We have to understand that there is some relationship which underpins their experience in this world, and that they are moving toward a certain purpose. If their actions and experiences are not rooted in such a relationship and purpose, then there is no way to establish the existence of God or any such being.

If God exists, He would surely try to forge a relationship with fallen humanity. For this reason, it cannot be denied that we who are moving toward a certain purpose are living inside the sphere of this relationship.

We know that we could not forge a relationship of goodness with God due to the Fall. Rather, we entered into a relationship of evil with Satan. Still, God does not want to abandon us, but is trying to restore us. We know that God and humanity have been walking an incredibly difficult course in order to restore humanity.

History is headed toward the one time when this purpose can be fulfilled. For this reason, you should understand that you are racers who are sprinting toward the purpose based on the standard of your conscience and your daily lives. All those who ever lived have stood on the race tracks of God's providence of restoration.

God has been leading His providence concerning fallen people in various ways. God has been influencing them in various ways according to the differences between the people, differences between their prevailing ideologies and cultures. In the process, God has been fighting on humanity's side to destroy evil until the moment His purpose is accomplished, the moment the race comes to an end.

If we accept that every person stands in the position of a racer, we are faced with the question of what we must do. If we understand how much God has suffered to raise up each one of us, and that we are obliged to stand inside the stadium and run with all our strength, how will Heaven train us and guide us in our race? How will each of us persevere through the tribulations of the race until we reach the destination? This is an important question that every one of us must resolve.

Among the saints and sages of the past, there must have been people who were in charge of one aspect of the whole and who set a certain standard before they died. In other words, these saints and sages did not complete the entire providence of Heaven or the entire race up to the end. Rather, they must have been in charge of various parts of the race and brought them to a conclusion. We should understand that this is how the race is being carried on even now. God made this stadium of restoration. We should understand that we have the inescapable responsibility to risk our lives in the race throughout our entire lifetimes.

Today there are many thoughts and teachings. In the religious world, there are many denominations and sects. Thoughts, philosophies and religions have taken various forms depending upon the uniqueness of the people they were established for. Such thoughts and religions should have developed into an ideology and religion which contains the entire content of God's providence. Yet they failed to achieve that. All merely remained as thoughts and religions which were narrowly applicable to one nation or one era. We have to understand clearly that they were no more than parts of God's race; the religions and ideologies were responsible for only partial missions.

The Structure of the Race and the Day the Awards Are Given

In a stadium, they may hold a one-hundred-meter race, a five-thousand-meter race, a ten-thousand-meter race, or a marathon. What kind of race would you be responsible for as racers who have entered the race tracks of God, who is guiding the providence of restoration? How can you find a place in the history of the universe? This is a crucial question. Even if there are differences in your values and character, God certainly wishes ardently that you will fulfill your responsibility in the event that you are responsible for in the race, and that you will establish the standard God wants. Since you have entered the race tracks, you should give all your heart and soul to the race. We should understand which event of the race we are to accomplish through our life and finally stand before Heaven.

Although God has guided the providence for six thousand years, when you look at the entire course, there are still some events in God's overall race that have not been completed yet. The competition is still going on. The race will go on today and tomorrow. When the entire race comes to an end, God will give awards in each event to all humanity, all the people who ran in the race in the past and all those who will have raced by the day of the conclusion. When is the day the awards are given out? If we use Christian terminology, it is the judgment day. The judgment day is the day the awards will be given out. If we use the terminology used frequently in our era, it may also be referred to as the Last Days.

The important question is whether or not you will have established the victorious standard so that you can receive an award in an event. This is an issue that you will have to deeply reflect upon. There are many ways of racing. Although you are supposed to enter the stadium and race on the marked course, there will be many who disregard the race course. There may be those who run on the marked course but who collapse in the middle of the race. There will be those who run until the finish line but will not be able to receive awards. The number of people who will receive awards is limited. We have to understand this.

Although God guided the providence for six thousand years. He could not give an award even to one racer. For this reason, spirits in Heaven and people on the earth all wish for the day God can appear before humanity and give awards to the many racers who ran in each event of the race. This is the Last Days. You should understand this.

The Attitude a Racer Should Have

We are to run this race. Since we have to go, how should we run? We need to make certain preparations before we enter the stadium. What kind of preparations? We need to make internal preparations and external preparations. Internally, we should have some conviction that we are running toward a certain purpose. We are to run the course according to the commands we receive. If we run into a hurdle in our race course, we should have the conviction to jump over it. We need to make internal preparations so that we can run toward the right purpose based on our conviction.

In other words, by training our minds and bodies, we need to cultivate the determination that we will not fall down before we reach the final destination and that we will not lose to anyone but will stand as the final victors. We need to have such a strong conviction that even if our bodies were to run into some obstacles as we are racing toward our destination, we should be able to push that aside and continue on our race.

Many people are living on the earth today. Yet how many of them are ready to stand firm as a racer and start running toward the certain destination? If we cannot deny that we are under the control of this trend in history, based on both our words and the reality we face, we should then ask ourselves whether or not we have prepared ourselves properly as racers who can run towards the destination with aspirations to victory. You have not made the preparations yet.

Human beings are born to belong in a certain field or sphere. Those who do not have a position and circumstance where they can dwell are pitiful. Those who do not have the clear idea that they are on a certain course running toward a certain purpose are pitiful. Most of us are like that.

What we need here is the time to make the internal and external preparations to train our minds and bodies with determination and purposefulness that we may triumph in the battle against many enemies. If there is anyone here who has not had such a moment, he should examine himself closely.

What kind of internal preparation do we need to make? It must not be preparation for your own individual sake. Isn't this so? Suppose there is a marathon athlete who represents a nation. When he runs the race, if he has the conviction that he should glorify his people and his nation before the world rather than to obtain glory for himself, he will be able to overcome all difficulties. However, if he is running only for the sake of his own glory and personal ends, he will easily give up the moment he runs into tribulations.

Our conviction must not be centered on ourselves. We should have conviction for the sake of the people, for the sake of the world, and for the sake of Heaven and earth. If the runner is certain that he will determine the final victory of the universe, even if he were to collapse, he would have the strength to get up and continue running. If he runs for his own sake, the moment he encounters a difficulty that exceeds any difficulty he has otherwise experienced, he will collapse. When the difficulty exceeds the self- centered desire he has, he will be defeated.

This is the reason we need to train our minds and bodies to the conviction that we are running for the purpose and mission of Heaven and earth. People live for the sake of God and goodness, but thoughtlessly. Goodness is transcending the restricted environment. Goodness is not limited. Goodness exists beyond the boundaries of limits and constraints. Therefore, people live for such purposes without clear understanding or deep thought.

To Become a Winner in the Stadium

We cannot be haphazard. We should have a clear notion of being a winner in a certain event in the race. You have to approach the starting point with such a firm conviction and begin the race. The sages of the past did not teach people about specific fields of work. They did not teach us what we must do to become successful in a certain field. They instructed us on the path we should walk in our life, the path for our minds, our spirits, and for our life.

The path for our thoughts and life does not belong to any one of us alone. It is the common path in any era and is designed according to a certain formula. On it hangs the fate of many generations and human history. We should long for the citizens of Heaven who can fight on this path and bring victory.

If you do it unselfishly, the day you fulfill the purpose is the day that Heaven and earth can rejoice. When a racer representing his people wins in his event, it is tantamount to the victory of all his people. Even if that event is a small one, its value and glory will have an impact on everyone. For this reason, now you need the one day when you can develop this kind of internal conviction, when you can strengthen your conviction and value in order to attain a certain purpose under a certain standard. However, until today you did not have these kinds of thoughts or feelings.

Since we are already racing, we will either end up as winners or losers. To become winners, we need to have a strategy. Internally, we need to have the conviction that we will win, and an unswerving heart fixed on a purpose. Externally, we need to make preparations to facilitate the race. Those who are entering a race should be simple and innocent. We have to prepare our bodies so that they will respond quickly to the direction our minds give. This is why we need training.

The stadium, however, is not built to make it easy for us to run freely toward our purpose. There are many obstacles on the race tracks. Each of these obstacles represents the failures of our ancestors. No matter how proud and determined a racer may be, he may fall down before those obstacles. On our path lie the obstacles which our ancestors could not overcome and fell over. Therefore, as much as possible, we should maintain a simple attitude, so that when our hearts guide us, our bodies can respond quickly and in full harmony. We should train our bodies in this way.

Training cannot be done in a comfortable position. It is achieved when you are being treated harshly. To continue this kind of internal training, you need to harden your bodies so that even if you are attacked internally, you can make a breakthrough and move beyond it. Your internal determination must not change. Even if you run into tribulations which afflict your body, you must not be defeated. Hence, Heaven instructed those who seek the religious way to abandon everything they possess and follow. When Jesus called upon Peter, who was mending his fishing nets, he told him to abandon all and follow him.

There is a rationale behind meditating in the mountains in order to seek enlightenment. We are to cultivate external determination based on our internal determination, and the confidence that we will not deviate from our course, no matter what kind of obstacles we run into. Even if we fall to the bottom, we will support our minds and bodies. Without these convictions, there is no way we can run the race or even enter the stadium. Since each one of us is a racer who should be responsible for an event in the race, we should train ourselves with unchanging conviction in order to accomplish our purpose. Therefore, you must have the attitude of a devout believer, the attitude of a racer who is running the race, and the attitude of a person walking the path of enlightenment. Whether you are awake or asleep, you should have a burning desire to accomplish your purpose.

Among the people who have gathered here there must be those who thoughtlessly believe that they can enter the Kingdom of Heaven just by believing in Jesus. What is the Kingdom of Heaven like? It is composed of various groups of people who have successfully qualified in some event in the race. You should not blindly think that you can enter the Kingdom of Heaven just by believing in Jesus. Of course, there are areas that God will help you in, but there are also areas which require you to fulfill your responsibilities. To prepare for the race, you should make both internal and external preparations. Next, as a racer, you should understand thoroughly about the course that you will be competing on. You should know clearly where you will find what kind of obstacles, and so on. What you then must understand is that although many people have run on the course in the past, all of them failed. They did not win in their races. They quit in the middle of the course.

What a Racer Should Understand

The same principles apply to the path of religion. Since the birth of history, no one among all those who walked the path of religion and those who went before God in the name of religion were able to receive the award of God, proclaiming Him the ultimate victor. The race is still going on. The purpose of our race is to connect to the universe, which is the ultimate purpose of the race over which God presides. For this reason, no matter how small our own race may be, we should persist until the moment we can become connected to the universe. If there is someone who won the hundred-meter event at one particular time, that alone will not qualify him as a winner. He must maintain the value and glory of his victory until the Last Days.

We who stand in the stadium should know the stories of the many people who fell down on each obstacle of the course. We should know under what circumstances they fell and how they fell and how they were defeated in their fight.

Until now, people have been racing toward an unclear destination, but we in the present age should not run such an aimless race. Since we are running the race, we should understand every detail of the race course clearly.

We know that to run on the course of God's providence we must pass through the course of restoration. What must we do? We have come forward as racers seeking to find God. Where should we begin? We should begin from Adam's family. Where is the starting point for human beings? It is Adam's family. We have been running the race from that point. From that point, God and humanity have run the race together for six thousand years until today. Yet the race is not over. It is still going on.

What must you do? You should inherit the tradition and spirit of our ancestors. We should understand where we belong. Isn't this true? You should understand which race you are running, to which group you belong, and what role you are to play. Only then can you be the winner of the award. You should understand that all racers belong to certain spheres based on the historical spiritual tradition they associate with. You should understand which event you are participating in. You should understand who in the past set the record and who in the past failed. After knowing all these good and bad conditions, you should be prepared to deal with all the bad effects of the conditions.

In the course of our life, many enemies have placed obstacles in our path and are blocking our way. The obstacles they placed are not visible; they are invisible. They are the very obstacles that many saints of history could not overcome. You should have an understanding of the past and knowledge of where the hurdles lie. We should understand history for this reason. We must understand the past, the present and the future. This is the essential knowledge that racers should have. In the middle of your race, you cannot be sure that the sponsors of the race will not change the courses designed under a certain purpose. Hence, you should understand the historical course of the saints of the past, the stories of their battles on the course, the present situation of our battle, and the plans by which the future battles will be fought. Only when you understand all this can you become the ultimate victor.

However, if we examine closely the lives of religious people today, they do not know how God has been working in history. They do not know God's program and plans, based upon which He is carrying out His work in the present. How can we call these people racers? You should understand clearly. In the six- thousand-year history, God guided the events of the race toward a certain direction. There is a central thrust. This is what we must understand. God has been working with a uniform program and purpose from the time of the first human ancestors to the last days of humanity.

Religions Which Can Act on Behalf of God's Providence

If you sense that you are a racer running throughout the rest of your life and desire to be a winner, you will have to find a historical religion. You will have to find a religion of this period and a religion of the future. These are the only religions which people can believe in and never despair.

Although there have been many religious people in the past, their life span could not surpass a century. Based on this, it is clear that God has been working in the background without people's being aware of it. God began His providence from the day human beings fell and will continue even in the future. If there is a religion which can represent God's providential work, what kind of religion would it be? It is a religion which has made a contribution in history and which has a relationship with the beginnings of human history. It must be a religion which discusses the origins of good and evil and which can embrace all aspects of history found in human life. It must have the ability to decide the outcome of the battle in the final destination of the future. From this perspective, Christianity today is problematic.

If we are to receive God's award, it cannot be just because we have been recognized in this age. Many racers of the past dwell in the next world. Countless people who raced on the race track of God's providence now reside there. Some of them died on the race track, and they have a myriad of stories to tell. If you are qualified to receive an award on behalf of all those people of the past, then you have to have won a victory that no ancestor of the past was able to achieve. You must also have established some condition of victory which can be recognized by the people of this age. The people of the future must also be able to recognize your accomplishments. Only such a person can be awarded by God. Isn't this true? This is the reason we believe in God. We are racing on the course of our life. We are racing toward the ultimate destination of the Last Days.

What kind of being is God whom we believe in? He is an historical God. He is the God of this age as well as the God of the future. The purpose that God set is also the historical purpose, the purpose of the present, and the purpose of the future.

If this is the nature of the God we believe in and the hope that we cherish in our hearts, we should understand and believe in God as the God of the past, the present and the future. Only then would God be happy when He gives us an award. You have to reach the point where you understand the heart of God who is giving you the award.

Many religions survived for several hundred or several thousand years, during which time they were slowly pushed aside by the trends of thought of each age. Although Christianity has been around for several thousand years, now they have to make another breakthrough for the one time in the future. If there is some race course of God which originates from the deepest part of God, that course must be of the past, the present and the future. For this reason, we should have knowledge of it. If there is a new truth emerging in this age, that truth cannot be limited to this age. You young people should understand this clearly. The truth cannot be limited to an age. Any teaching or idea will fade away if it is limited to an era. What we need is a new truth, a new ideology which is rooted in the entire range of history and which can transcend the philosophical trends of this age.

A Racer Who Can Win the Victory and Rejoice with God

This is because God desires that we rejoice with Him and win the victory with Him. Since God is the God of the past, the present and the future, we should also have the qualities of the past, present and the future and be knowledgeable about them. Otherwise, we will be swept away by trends of thought in the future.

We should understand them more deeply and even understand the heart of the historical God. Members of a family are tied together in complex relationships. Given God's heart of the past, present and future, we should understand everything about the race that the Father is directing based on this heart and be in tune with the realm of His heart. God's desire is that we win the race after having done all this, so that we can become those with whom He can be fully satisfied; so that we can worship God and share eternal joy with Him.

Therefore, religion is not built on truth alone. A religious way of life is more than just the truth itself. Teachings and ideologies are built on truth, but religion contains both the truth and the heart. This is the difference. Thoughts and ideologies do not contain the heart. However, religion has a rich inner content similar to the silent love that we find between a parent and a child. There is some content which transcends logic and theories. That is how religion is. But this is not true for doctrines. A doctrine is the fruit of an organization or group. It is not a fruit of the heart.

We today must have knowledge about the course and the situation of this age in order to be prepared properly as racers who are running toward a certain purpose. In order to race forward, we should also understand the future and have a plan. This is the basic knowledge that we racers should have. If there is someone who goes this heavenly course at the risk of his life, with God's heart of the past, present and future, who understands how much God has suffered to establish and pave this course, he will surely overcome any difficulty he will confront.

Next, we should not lose our fighting spirit as we are racing toward our purpose. No matter how well prepared and knowledgeable our enemy may be, we must have the determination to prevail. We must not lose. The sphere of our actions is the battle field. You should be a brave soldier who is determined to prevail over anything on earth and never submit, even if God were to strike you. This is how I see it.

The Religious Path Is Fraught with Tests

When you walk the religious path, you will meet with many tests. When you are running on the race track, besides the physical fatigue that you suffer, you will confront many unexpected tests. Many evil spirits, invisible to the naked eye, will test us. When that phase is over, the angels will test us. After that phase, the religious people and the founders of religions will test you. If you believe in Jesus, Jesus will test you. At first he will try to guide you, but at the end he will test you. God will also guide you in the beginning, but will test you at the end when He is about to give you an award. This is how it is. This is because human beings betrayed God. Although God created the universe as an award to be given to human beings, because they betrayed Him, we must pass through a test in order to restore the universe. God wants to give it to us without a test, but because there is a condition which requires that we be tested, we have to pass through it. God will abandon you like He abandoned Jesus, which led Jesus to say on the cross, "My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?" (Matt. 27:46)

While you are running the race as a brave soldier, you will experience a battle between your mind and body. It is not enough to deal with this merely with determination. When you are racing, the battle between your mind and body will be manifested in a complex manner. You will experience deep in your heart the internal anguish that God suffered in his fight with Satan during the many difficult moments in the six-thousand-year course. Such internal and external pains will be manifested in your life.

You are not just to run forward; you are to be engaged in the internal and external battles and at the same time overcome God's tests. To be victorious in your life, you must win this fight. That is what you have to do for sure. Why? Although six thousand years of history have gone by, no one has scored the goal. Although many were determined to reach the end, no one reached the finish line.

The Reason Christ Returns

You may believe that Jesus resides in the Kingdom of Heaven, but he actually resides in Paradise. Jesus said that he was going to Paradise. Paradise is the waiting room before one enters the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus is returning to go past the gates of Paradise and open up the gates to the Kingdom of Heaven. Since he could not complete this work on the earth, he will run the race again and score the goal at the finish line.

Therefore, the race we are running is the final course. It has the name of faith. It may be compared to a marathon. It is the most glorious of all races. Religion is the event that deserves the throne of the king of all races. How must we who have entered this race run? It is not enough to run the race relying on our determination alone. You have to understand that there are many battles which have piled up here. The world is pulling our bodies. Isn't this so? In our religious life, we sense that the world is pulling our bodies, while the teachings are pulling our minds. Where is the goal? It is not clear. On the path that we walk, many enemies are shooting arrows at us from all kinds of hidden places. Moreover, Jesus and God in whom we believe will not recognize you in the Last Days. This will take place one day.

As brave soldiers, what determination should we make? The moment we decide that the goal of the path we are racing on is the right one, we should make the determination to pursue it at the risk of our lives. Only then can we win the course. If we are to fail, we should be determined to fail most tragically. If we are to die, we should be determined to die most miserably. If we are to suffer, we should be determined to suffer most severely. We should be determined to suffer more than God has suffered.

To Become Sons and Daughters of Whom God Can Be Proud

Ladies and gentlemen, let us examine the reality we face today. We the members of the Unification Church are running toward a certain goal which has been described to us. Life in the race is a battle, and in a battle we push and pull our bodies. The concept of faith that we have held up until now is pulling us forward. This is where the enemies are coming in. When this is over, God will break in. He will ask you, "Are you My children? Are you confident?" Wouldn't this be true? If He were to ask you, "What victory did you bring?" you should be able to say, "I won in this and that field." If God then asks you, "Is that true?" you should be able to present Him with some accomplishments. Teachers test their students before they entrust them with a responsibility.

We should understand that we are the brave soldiers and racers who are running throughout the course of our lives and who will remain until the end. We should understand that we are the elite troop of Heaven and make a determination as such. If someone strikes your body, you should be able to say, "Strike me if you like. Strike me with any ideology or thought. I welcome any persecution. I welcome it, even if the nation, world and Heaven join forces and strike me." Even if God were to oppose you, you should be able to say, "Oppose me if You want."

If someone wins the victory in spite of the opposition of the entire universe, he will become a child of God whom God will be proud of eternally. If there is someone about whom God can say, "I submit to you. I have never met anyone like you since the beginning of the course of the providence of restoration, when I began to search for people." Everyone will surrender to that person. This is true for any fight, even a life and death struggle. I say this based upon my own experience.

If there is a racer who is running on the ultimate path of religion in the last days, a racer who is running with the hope of attaining the ultimate victory, he will have to make a determination. The founder of the religion he believes in is not the savior. He should understand that eventually he needs to fight the battle based on his own ability. Why? It is because the providence of restoration has not come to an end. As long as there still remains an event in God's stadium which has not been concluded, the battle will continue on until all the races have come to an end and God has given His awards.

The Providential Representative God Desires to Raise Up

Although Jesus worked to fulfill the mission of the Messiah who was to win in this stadium and represent the four-thousand-year history, Christians did not fulfill their responsibility. They were to receive the Messiah's baton of victory and glorify the two-thousand-year history from Jesus' time until now. Although Christianity established its form after the death of Jesus, it failed to complete its victorious foundation in the realm of the heart and in other areas. The standard of victory has never emerged.

You should endure Jesus' and God's opposition and gain their recognition so that they can raise their hands and bless you. To do so, you should overcome any obstacle. Isn't that true? If it is, what kind of providential representative does God want to raise up in His providence of restoration? God will want to find victorious sons and daughters to whom God and Satan will surrender. He will want to praise them before the satanic world and in Heaven. If that is what human beings desire, God's desire must also be similar.

We the members of the Unification Church who are walking the path of truth today will face God's test in the end. He will say, "Do not walk this path." Even then, there must be someone among you who says, "I will go. I will die running the race." If there is no such person, words of truth which surpass the Bible will not emerge. Words which surpass what Jesus left behind when he died will not emerge. Words of truth which surpass what God wanted to speak after the coming of Jesus will not appear.

When we are running this course, we should have the conviction, "Let there be a cross heavier than the one that Jesus bore; let there be suffering, sorrow and pain like God suffered during the six-thousand-year course of the providence. Let the 2.7 billion people of this world be mobilized and shoot arrows at me all at once. Let the humanity of the entire world be mobilized, since both God's providence and Satan's opposition are carried out through human beings. I will go to the end of hell and the highest place of the Kingdom of Heaven." If, after opposing and affirming in your mind you decide that this is the right path, you should begin to run. Once you run, no one should be able to stop you. No matter what comes your way, you are to break through and go forward. Only then can you safely cross over the hill which has been blocked for six thousand years.

Members of the Unification Church, God is longing for brave people who can come and say, "Let us give it a try." Only then can the will be accomplished. If there are sons and daughters of God who are knowledgeable, have firm determination and are determined to fight, God will not ignore them. What will Heaven do? If you bring hope for the future and say, "Father, isn't this so? Isn't this how Your heart is? Isn't this how the Father's hope of the past, the present, and hope of the future is? Since this should not be done at present, shouldn't you ignore this and do this and that?" Then no matter who opposes you, God will say in recognition, "Yes, you are right."

The Awards the Winners Are to Receive

Many sages of the past and the Savior we believe in were sent by God to pioneer the world of that time and the world of the future. For this reason, if anyone were to come before Jesus and protest about the things that Jesus wanted to share about the future, Jesus would be grateful. If someone were to highlight the providence of the future and ignore the things of the present, saying, "God! Shouldn't you do this quickly? Shouldn't you do this rather than doing that?" God would not be able to strike him. In fact, he would commend him instead.

All that we have to do is to go forward with this determined fighting spirit. If God were then to recognize you, what kind of award would you receive? When you become a winner of some competition even in this world, the sponsor will give you an appropriate award. What will God give as an award to those who win the final victory in the six-thousand-year long race? Ladies and gentlemen, when you win an award in a competition, don't you feel good? But isn't that joy only temporary? After some time passes, another person will win in the same race and win an award, separate from your own competition. However, in God's races, there will not be a second person who scores the goal at the final finish line. There will be no one before and no one after. If it comes to an end, it comes to an end for eternity.

The joy of receiving an award in the final race will last beyond just today. It will be eternal. You may in fact see better things unfolding before you, but you will never fall lower. What glory will Heaven give to those winners? God will give them the glory of being God's sons and daughters. He will bestow upon them all the authority of Heaven and earth. If there is a palace in Heaven, He will allow them to live in it as Heaven's royal family. He will give them eternal and unlimited awards.

If there are such victorious sons and daughters, God will mobilize all of Heaven, which He has prepared for six thousand years, and hold a welcoming celebration. This celebration will not come to an end in one day. It will continue for eternity. That world is the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. For this reason, you must become one of the racers, racing with this idea in mind.

The Group Who Can Win

There are many religions today. There are many religious sects today: Confucianism, Buddhism, Islam, etc. There are many tracks in the stadium. However, Heaven decides the specific track. It has been determined which event will be held on which track. It is an unfortunate reality that human beings are directed by a certain religious sect or denomination or some person. This is because human beings fell.

You must participate in God's race one way or another. You will have to run in one event. Yet you belong to different nations. The races that God wants are not to be divided among nations. They are international. In other words, they are like the Olympic games. Into that stadium, all the representatives of each nation will come. They all enter the stadium and run. The same thing can be said of God's providence of restoration. For this reason, Heaven has been working to find the winners of the marathon race on the world level. Religion may be compared to marathons, which occupy the most prestigious position among all the races.

Not all religions are good. Only when the tradition is properly set will a good religion emerge. Then there must arise common knowledge based upon that. If one lacks knowledge about that, no matter how much one may have prepared, there is no way he can become the winner. It cannot be taught. He will never win, because he does not have a clear sense of purpose.

Therefore, you should prepare your minds and bodies and develop knowledge, so that even if all of Heaven and earth were to be mobilized in opposition against you on the battle field, you would not surrender but overcome it. You should fight on with this kind of conviction. Only then can you participate in the group who will win in the final course.

Prayer

Our ancestors ran the race. Adam was responsible for one event in God's race, but while he was running it, he collapsed because he upheld himself. Ham, who should have attended Noah with the heart of attending Heaven, failed. Because of this, Noah also fell down mid-course. Abraham should have revered both small and large with an equally sincerely heart and established their relative value, but because he could not accomplish it, he also was broken.

When we examine the course of Moses, we find that the Israelites and Moses both fell. Moses should not have shown anger before God was angry. The Israelites should not have despaired before Heaven despaired. Yet Moses struck the rock twice in rage before God showed any anger, and the Israelites lost their faith in God. For these reasons they all fell down in the wilderness.

When we examine Jesus' time, what about the betrayal of the three disciples? Although they should have risked their lives and walked the course, they did not want to go. They disappeared out of fear for their lives. The miserable failure of the three disciples has become the tower of humanity's grief.

We have learned today through the principle of restoration that the path the saints of the past walked is none other than the path we should walk. We know that what was begun in Adam's family passed through many obstacles in history. Only in Jesus' time, when Jesus said, "Father, do not as I will, but as Thou will," did a winner emerge who fought at the risk of his life. Now we have come to understand that if we do not follow his example, we cannot run the race in the stadium.

Father, we have come to understand the content of the restoration. We have come to understand what our determination should be as we set out to engage ourselves in restoration and how fierce the battle is. Please protect us on these race tracks, that we will not fall as losers. We have pledged before Heaven and earth. Even if we are to face death, no matter what kind of difficulties and pain are to rush against us, even if all of humanity were to oppose us like a thunderstorm, and even if Heaven and earth were to change, please let our center remain unchanged and let us overcome all difficulties. Let us cast away the dark clouds and become victorious and glorious sons and daughters who can look up to the joyful grace of Heaven in a bright Heaven and earth.

Please have compassion on those of us who have gathered here today. Since we have already entered the race, even though some are running and some are unable to run, please govern them so that they will not escape from this fateful course they must run after repentance. Please guide us to welcome the tribulations and afflictions that come our way and to digest them so that we can establish conditions of pride and glory before the Father. Let us become worthy people who can use them as conditions of sacrifice.

We understand the great work which has been hidden deep inside the heart of the Father, who has desired to give awards for six thousand years. Based on this, Jesus said that he was the bridegroom and that we are the brides; that he is our true father and we are his true children, true family, true nation, and true world. However, today we do not have a family, a people or a country. We do not have anything adequately prepared. What hesitation and reluctance can we have before our parent, who is trying to restore everything? What hesitation and reluctance can we have before the heavenly family and the heavenly nation? We should pour out all of our determination and unswerving zeal to run the race without stopping and conquer the enemy camp. We should raise the flag of God's victory and say, "Father, please be liberated from all Your grief."

We have learned that to accomplish this we have to overcome any difficulty and win in the fight. Please protect us so that we will not fail as racers in our life. Please guide us not to lose the original ideal that the Father established and not to cause anguish to the Father's heart.

Please allow us to become children of Heaven who can risk our lives each day and run the race bravely. Please do not let us lose the race. Praying that You will allow us to become final victors in God's races and become precious sons and daughters who can glorify the Father before the entire universe and all things of creation, we prayed in the name of the Lord. Amen.

The True Sons and Daughters of Heavenly Father Who Will Remain in the Last Days

Sun Myung Moon
July 26, 1959
Former Church Headquarters
Seoul, Korea

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12 Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation -- but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. 13 For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live. 14 For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. 15 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father." 16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. 17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs -- heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. 18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. 19 For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. 22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? 25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently. 26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God's people in accordance with the will of God.
Romans 8:12-27

Prayer

Father, we know that You need not speak many words to those of us You have gathered here today. All we need is the heartfelt desire to be embraced in the Father's bosom. We know that when You call us, "My beloved sons and daughters" with a heart of longing which springs forth from the depth of Your being, we can be filled completely. This is the moment when liberation is completed.

Father, when we hear Your heavenly voice, let us be fully intoxicated in Your loving heart. You know that we long for the moment when we can be overwhelmed by a heart of longing and can transcend our conscious thoughts to be embraced in Your bosom. Please grant us such a blessing.

We pray sincerely that You will guide us not to understand Heaven through the words we will receive, but rather to understand Heaven through the deepest part of our hearts. Please lead us not to seek salvation through the words. Rather, guide us to sing songs of life before the Father with our hearts. In this way, please allow us to understand how arduous and painful the Father's path has been. Let us humbly bow our heads and offer You consolation.

If we possess anything valuable, please lead us not to keep it as our own. If we possess anything worthy of pride, please lead us not to consider that the source of our pride.

If we have a goal in our life, guide us to seek it with our hearts. If there is to be some substance to our life, please let our one heart be that substance.

Many people have come before the Father. Please guide them to find on their own who they live for, what purpose they live for, and in what direction they are heading. These pitiful ones have no master to claim them. We know that if someone can be recognized as one whom others want to share their hearts with eternally, there can be no greater joy.

Father. We have come to realize that the Father who calls us with the heart of eternal life, the eternal ideology, and eternal love dwells within our hearts. What belongs to the Father belongs to us and what belongs to us belongs to the Father. The Father longs for sons and daughters who can sing and rejoice based on one ideology. We yearn for the time when, after serving the Father and offering all glorious elements to the Father, we can rejoice and be proud before all of Heaven and earth.

Father, You understand all this. Please connect our hearts and move everything of the past, both in Heaven and on earth, and bring them into harmony in the world of heart. Please allow this to be a moment when we can make a firm determination in a state of surpassing joy. May that determination bring glory.

I am about to give the words of truth. I do not want to convey just the contents of the words. Please work through me to convey Your words and let us fathom the heart of the Father and discover our true selves.

We know that Satan works to put a gap between the heart of the speaker and the hearts of the listeners. Therefore, please let this be an hour when we can unite in one heart and serve the Father together. I prayed in the name of the Lord. Amen.

To Become True Sons and Daughters of God

The title of the speech I am about to give is "The True Sons and Daughters of Heavenly Father Who Will Remain in the Last Days."

No matter how great one's power, how lofty one's character, or how much glory one may possess, there is not even one person who can confidently claim he or she is the true son or daughter of God. This is true of all humanity. To become a true son or daughter, one has to have true parents. One has to go through the relationship of a true family and possess some quality of being connected to true brothers and sisters. Otherwise, one cannot create the environment of a son or daughter and cannot stand in that position.

If God exists and has been carrying on a providence, what is the ultimate purpose He has been seeking? It is none other than to find someone He can call "My true son" and "My true daughter." God's ultimate purpose is to usher in the day when He can stand connected to this true son and true daughter through the eternal heart, linked to all relationships of the world. He wants to share the words "Father" and "sons and daughters." We must understand that God is longing for that day.

If there is a Creator, the origin of the universe and the center of the entire existing world, the ideal world that this center desires is not some phenomenal world on this earth. The world that God desires is not some conceptual world in Heaven or some external world. The world He desires is a place where everything is in the flow of love, which moves the relationships of the heart, where people can be called sons and daughters of God. Therefore, no matter how great God is, even if He is the Creator and an absolute being, He hopes for people with such qualities.

History seeks what is true. It pursues true people, a true nation, and a true world. We all have the desire to become true people.

Then what relationship among relationships sets the standard? It is the parent-child relationship between God and human beings. The heart which originates from this relationship will not be conquered by any power; it is eternal, unchanging and unique. The power of this heart is absolute. Therefore, when one emerges with this authority, all existing beings will have to bow before him in humility. When one acts with this authority of the heart, all of Heaven and earth will follow. This is the iron-clad rule of the universe. If this is not true, the purpose that we deeply cherish cannot be realized, and the one absolute relationship cannot be achieved.

For this reason, no matter how lofty and great God may be, His greatest sorrow is not having seen the day when He can call people His own sons and daughters. If people are created through these heavenly relationships, the failure to raise up such sons and daughters is the source of greatest sorrow. This is also the greatest sorrow of humanity.

If God has true sons and daughters whom He can call His own, that by calling them He can forget the toils of the past six thousand years and all the grief of the past, then this will be the beginning of the liberation of Heaven. Humanity will finally then be able to sing the song of joy. We should predict the coming of such a time.

If there is a last day for humanity and the heavenly principles, what kind of day should it be? That should be a day when God can pronounce to human beings, "You are my true sons and daughters whom I cannot deny for eternity. My sons and daughters, now all my grief has been alleviated." It should be a day when God can comfort you and rejoice with you with an open and free heart. Only when such a day comes, only when such sons and daughters appear on earth, will the new ideal world begin.

However, until now there has not been such a son or daughter. We have not been able to establish a day when the relationship of true sons and daughters can be secured. Those in whom God can take pride as His true sons and daughters have not yet appeared. Unless such people appear, God's will and the hope of humanity cannot be fulfilled.

The Toil of God and the Mission of Religion in Finding True Sons and Daughters

We know that we are fallen descendants. No matter how great a person of this world may be, no matter how much one may boast of one's tradition and one's contributions to history, these are no more than the pride of fallen descendants. Even if one is full of confidence and commands the power to penetrate the sky from the earth, that is still no more than the power of a fallen descendant. Because people are so bound and dwell within an environment which is unacceptable to God, the human world is a sinful world which stands opposed to Heaven. People are sinful, and this is a sinful world. You all understand this very well.

The true sons and daughters of God are of the highest goodness and loftiness. We who live on the earth are infinitely evil and lowly. How can this gap be bridged? The purpose of God's work of salvation is to eliminate this gap. In order to bridge this gap and bring these two together, God has been working hard for six thousand years. Even though human beings were unaware of it, God has continued on a bloody struggle on the hidden side of history.

No one reflects upon how one can pay back this toil of Heaven. No one is looking up to Heaven with deep bitterness for Heaven's struggles.

What is prophesied by those who use the name of religion, or a leader who claims to be religious? They teach us to understand the content of God's work in history through the course of our lives and to build a relationship with God in heart through our own feelings.

However, religious people have ignored or forgotten the relationships which connect hearts to hearts and are attached to the phenomena which are manifested outwardly. The great task of religion has been to become free from the fallen relationships and get in touch with the world of the heart. This is to possess the heart upon which God has been holding onto humanity and has persevered through all sorrows and pain and has fought against all the suffering in history. However, religions have failed to reach this state and carry on the work to complete human history and connect the hearts of all people.

So sincere is Heaven's desire to find true sons and daughters, He longs for true sons more and more as He passes through each generation with an aching heart. This is how He has been toiling for the sake of humanity.

In order to fulfill this one purpose, God has raised up an individual, a family, a people, a nation, and a central worldwide teaching. He has carried on His providence centering on them. God has labored so arduously for the sake of accomplishing this one purpose. In spite of this, the Israelites, who should have been responsible to accomplish this purpose, all disappeared. The 600,000 Israelites God led out of the Pharaoh's palace disappeared into nowhere. This was also the case with Noah's family, in whom God invested 120 years of sweat and tears. The same was true with the altar of Abel. All disappeared into nowhere.

As we understand history and the providential will of God more deeply, we can fathom how deep God's sorrow is. God's ideology should begin with an individual and expand out through a family, a people, a nation, a world, and the universe centered on true sons and daughters. Even though this is the ideal deep inside of God's heart, no one on earth can say, "I am a true son who can fathom God's eternal heart." No one can say, "I am an eternal daughter who can comfort God's heart and liberate Him from His sorrows." There is no family, people, nation, or world which can serve God centering on such sons and daughters.

The Last Days and the Returning Christ

What is the purpose God is seeking? The mission of restoration that we know today is to connect children of goodness to a family, a people, a nation, a world and a universe. Accomplishing this mission is the work of salvation, the will of the providence, and the purpose of Heaven's principles. We should understand this.

We often say that these are the Last Days. What kind of time is the Last Days? It is a time when true sons and daughters appear and govern all the Heavens and earth according to the laws of Heaven. The Last Days is the time when these sons and daughters appear and alleviate all the historical bitterness. They bring an end to the history of sorrow and pain and realize the one day when people can sing of joy and happiness. It is such a watershed time.

Who do people say will come in the Last Days? The Bible states it clearly. It says that the Lord will come. Who is the Lord? He is the returning Christ. Who will the returning Christ be? He is someone whom God has sought by mobilizing all the forces in Heaven and earth. He is someone to whom God can say, "You are my son who can live in my heart, my body, and in the world I created for eternity."

Before he passed away, Jesus taught us that he was the bridegroom and we are his brides. These words foretell that with the appearance of the Lord who can become God's son, there must also emerge on the earth brides who can become God's daughters. In this way, sons and daughters will live together, and they will live together with God who has been seeking them. In that moment, the position of true sons and daughters is not limited. It is a day when the world which comes into relationship with these sons and daughters will be mobilized at once and praise Heaven.

What should humanity pray for before God, who has been persevering together with humanity, mourning with humanity, and who fought alongside humanity? It is, "God, please let there appear the true son for whom You have been longing." What kind of person is that true son? He is someone who is worthy of being the true son and a true bridegroom. He will seek for a true bride to become the True Parents of humanity.

God has been working in history to bring the people to the true son and daughter and connect them together. This is God's work of salvation.

In the Bible verse that we read today, it is written, "Since you have received the spirit of adopted sons, you call God Father," and "we who received the first fruits of the Holy Spirit wait to become adopted children." From this we can deduce that no matter how devout a person on earth may be, at most he can only become an adopted son before Heaven. In what form will the son of Heaven appear? There are those who are not sons, and there are adopted sons and true sons. Isn't this true in this world? There are sons who are not our own sons. When we don't have our own sons, we may have adopted sons who will carry on the lineage. Then there are the true sons. The same principle is at work in Heaven and earth.

In this land today, confusion arises from the intersection and collision of good and evil. This makes what is true appear false and what is false appear true. This is the reality. Heaven has been passing through history with the determination and heartfelt desire of finding true sons and daughters. Yet who are the true sons and daughters on the earth? People do not know. Probably no one knows. God has to raise up those who are not His sons in this world as His adopted sons and then bring them up further as children of His direct lineage. This is the work of God's providence of restoration.

The relationship of a son has to be built through the lineage. Only when one's own lineage is directly connected or when the lineages of one's father or ancestors is connected may one use the words "sons and daughters." This is how it is in this world. The same is true for Heaven's principles.

From the moment Adam and Eve were created as the first ancestors of humanity, God's heart should have flown through their bone marrow and come together in one point of unity. All of God's ideals should have been manifested in them. If this had been accomplished, we would have become children of God's direct lineage. However, due to the Fall, we have become related to another, undesirable lineage. Therefore, no matter how great we may think we are, we can only become adopted children who have a different lineage. No matter how many efforts one may have made for the sake of the providential will, and even if one were to bring another person's son and carry on the lineage, the most one can do is to fulfill it through an adopted son. This has been the core of the providence of restoration in the New Testament, which Jesus has been guiding until today, based upon the Gospel.

Can God call these adopted sons His own true children? That is not possible. The same is true in the outside world. When someone who has suffered through some pain and grievances shares his feelings with another person, that second person can only imagine how he feels, unless he is fully connected to the heart of the first person. Another person may say, "That is probably how it feels." Yet another person may question, "Is that how it feels?" But someone who has experienced the same thing and is connected in heart will feel the same pain in his heart as he listens to the other person share his sufferings. Only then can you say they are in the same position. Don't you think this is true?

The Hope of Humanity and the Purpose for Which Jesus Returns

What does humanity hope for? It is to do away with this notion of being an adopted son before God and become the true children of His direct lineage. This is the ultimate purpose which humanity wants and history pursues; this is the central purpose of God, who has been fulfilling the providential will. Only then can we say that the purpose of salvation has been achieved and the providence of salvation brought to a conclusion.

If the almighty God, the origin and center of love, loves us as adopted sons, we do not want that kind of love. We seek to become sons and daughters who can penetrate deep into the core of His heart.

No matter how religious one's life may be, and even if one calls God his father, there are many different kinds of fathers. Some will call Him "Father" from a position of not being His son. Some may call Him "Father" from the position of an adopted son. However, what is the ultimate purpose which Heaven demands, which will not disappear until the end? It is not to have an adopted son but to have true sons and daughters of the direct lineage. This stands above and beyond the position of an adopted son.

In the Bible, it is written that Jesus restores the relationship of an adopted son. Even if the world is satisfied with achieving only that, this salvation cannot be complete. Many Christians have passed away to the next world, but the Paradise they went to is only a waiting room before entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven. Therefore, the reason Jesus said that he would return was not to make us adopted sons but to forge direct relationships.

God longs for sons and daughters who are one with Him in heart, who do not act based on lessons or commands but who act and build relationships based on the manifestation.

For this reason, even the saints and sages of the past did not attain their ideal if they were not worthy of calling God their father and if God could not call them His own son or daughter. You have to understand this clearly.

This is what is unique about Christianity. Jesus called God his own father and proclaimed himself God's only son. Jesus was the incarnation. He established the one standard to pierce through the core of Heaven and the foundation of the universe, and to conquer the world of the heart. From this we can understand that Jesus was the Messiah for all people.

What is the Messiah or savior? He is someone who can be the standard to save people who dwell in the realm of death. Therefore, if there is something unique and worthy of pride that Christianity possesses it is this. When the relationship of parent-child is forged with God, no matter how lofty God is, even if He is the absolute subject partner of goodness, He is our Father. Then what belongs to God belongs to us, and we will belong to God. This is the highest hope of humanity. Even if God has been relating to people with the highest standard of love, if He cannot guide humanity to the destination of that love, He must be false. If He cannot do this, then we can only conclude that God has guided the providence only to satisfy His own desires and greed, not for the sake of establishing the ideal of human beings and for everyone's sake. For this reason, God seeks true sons and daughters.

The Reason God Seeks True Sons and Daughters

When we examine the sixty-six books of the Bible, we find that St. Paul spoke about this issue. By believing in Jesus, who passed away with no relationship with sin, we can receive the benefit of being adopted sons. However, this was not the ultimate purpose for which Jesus came.

God's intention in sending Jesus was that humanity be connected to God's true son, Jesus, and that they be engrafted onto him. Jesus said in the Bible, "I am the vine and you are the branches." In this way, God intended to have the people living in the satanic world (who are not His children) pass through the stage of being His adopted sons and eventually become His direct children. Yet, because the people of his time did not believe, Jesus could not teach them how to become God's direct children. He was able to explain only how to become His adopted children.

Why do we await the coming Lord? Why does humanity in Heaven and on earth await the day of Jesus' return? No matter how great one may be, everyone is at most an adopted son of God. Christ is to return with the mission of establishing the relationship of the heart with which people can become God's direct children. Hence, it is only natural that all people in Heaven and earth would await that day. We should understand Jesus, who came with this mission.

What kind of day is the day of the Second Advent to those of us who are awaiting the day of the returning Lord? We cherish the idea of the bride and struggle to realize that purpose. That day is a day when God can reveal all the tribulations He has gone through during the past six thousand years; a day when He forgets all the sorrows and sufferings of the six thousand years. When God beholds His son whom He has been seeking so ardently, all His sorrows, suffering and grief will disappear. He will be able to say, "My son, welcome." That is the day Heaven has waited for and humanity on the earth has yearned for throughout the long course of history.

We can emerge as the masters of creation, the masters of the true garden that God blessed Adam and Eve with before their Fall, when we step beyond the limit of being adopted children and come forward with the authority to claim the position of God's direct children. Then we can claim that the Father's Kingdom of Heaven is our own Kingdom of Heaven and that we can govern the world that the Father governs.

Even if we were to govern all things in creation, if we lack some quality through which we can connect with them, they will be unwilling to be ruled by us. True sons and daughters should be able to alleviate all the historical bitterness. For this reason it is written in the Bible, "The creation awaits the day when God's sons will appear." The creation does not want those who are not recognized as true sons and daughters. Thus, today we must persevere through the course to remove all of Heaven's sorrows and bitter grief.

What Position Do You Stand In?

What should we do in this time which everyone says is the Last Days? This is the crucial question. Ladies and gentlemen. Please examine yourselves. What position do you stand in? Do you truly have a relationship of heart with Heaven, such that when the Father acts, you act together with Him? When the Father stops, do you stop? When the Father mourns, do you mourn with Him? When the Father rejoices, do you rejoice together? Even if you do not share the same body, do you have the inner content through which you can connect with the world of the heart? Do you have such a relationship?

No matter how grandiose your external environment may be, if you do not have the right heart, they are all ephemeral things which will one day disappear. This is true in this world. No matter how priceless the possessions of your beloved sons and daughters may be, if they die, their belongings have no value.

We have learned that becoming true sons and daughters through the relationship of the heart is the highest purpose that Heaven and humanity can pursue. Given this, please examine yourselves critically as to which stage you have progressed to. Our lives revolve around the work of liberation, through which we must become true sons and daughters. It is undeniable that our heavenly fate compels us to walk this path.

How can we explain our course on this path? There is only one way to go around it. We are to center on God's heart. For this reason, you should objectively criticize the state of your heart. This is a time when you should do this.

Given that this is the direction Heaven is heading in and that such is the day the Father desires, what state have you reached? If you have reached the state of true sons and daughters where your hearts are connected, you have no need for prayers. You just have to call out "Father," and you will be overwhelmed with such a shock that will shake your flesh and blood. The heart of the Father will pierce through your heart. Had we attained this state, we would have been able to resolve all grief stemming from the Fall, and we would not be able to commit any of the wrong doings of the sinful world.

When I think about how, after understanding history and the sorrowful heart of God, I have struggled so hard to sever all ties of sin which have brought God so much pain, I feel dreadful. What kind of feeling have you felt? Please criticize yourselves. How close have you come to qualifying as the ideal son before God, who has been searching for children with this relationship of heart? If you do not know whether or not you have a relationship of heart, you certainly are not worthy of being a son. Someone who is qualified to be an adopted son should at least understand the suffering of his father superficially, even if he does not understand the whole story. Even if he cannot feel it as his own experience, even if he cannot assert it in his heart, he should at least be able to empathize. Have you reached that state at least?

Jesus came as the true father of humanity and the true son of God, yet he died on the cross. He probably came with the one determination which God had toward human beings for four thousand years. Every limb and organ of Jesus' body represented the ideal which Heaven had tried to realize through human beings for four thousand years. He was the true son God searched for with yearning. Therefore, Jesus' eyes represented the eyes of God for four thousand years. His ears represented the ears of God for four thousand years. His mouth represented the mouth of God for four thousand years. The same must have been true of Jesus' feelings and body. He was the culmination of history and an historical incarnation. Hence, Jesus said, "I came to complete the law." The law's purpose was the same as his.

What Kind of Man Was Jesus?

When Jesus looked at Israel, the Jews and Judaism, he grieved. Although they had been under the realm of God's love for four thousand years, now they had become a nation, a people and a religion which God could no longer embrace or love. Although they had walked a four-thousand-year history of close relationship with God, they failed to recognize Jesus, who came as the master of the four-thousand-year history.

How could this be? The people of that time did not know. They were ignorant. The Israelites who were living in the last chapter of the four-thousand- year history should have felt that they were in the part of the realm of God's love where Adam and Eve were just before their Fall. If God's providence is one of restoration, and restoration means to recover something that has been lost, what is God trying to recover? God is trying to restore His lost sons and daughters. He is looking for His lost Adam and Eve.

Though you are gathered here today, you who are living in the Last Days need ancestors who will fight with Satan for six thousand years without being killed. In other words, you need ancestors who can overcome the connections of the Fall and attain the authority of victory and go before the Father with pride. Although Adam should have become the good ancestor, he died due to the Fall, and God has been exerting Himself for the six thousand years since Adam in order to find a person on the earth who is not fallen.

Christianity describes Jesus in various ways. However, when you understand the truth, you will find that many of them are not true. We have rejected them and have made a firm determination. There are true and false, and there are what appears to be true and what appears to be false.

The True Son God Is Trying to Raise Up

What do we mean when we say that we have not understood Jesus accurately nor served him properly? Ever since Adam and Eve fell in the Garden of Eden and could not grow up inside God's bosom, Jesus was able to appear before Israel only after four thousand years of fierce battle with Satan. Yet the Jews did not understand this. If the Jews of that time had submitted themselves to Jesus, the failures of Moses during the Exodus, the failures of Noah's family, the failures of Abraham's family, and the murder of Abel could have been all corrected as victories. Jesus embodies such tremendous value. He was the living incarnation of history. He was the living incarnation whom God had been seeking throughout the four thousand years of His providence. Although Adam died, since the heart of the Father who had been raising him up did not die, that was the living incarnation.

In the last days, many people will come forward with the teaching that they are the center of the universe. However, what is the purpose of the providence of God who has been working through the six thousand years? It is recovering what was lost. What kind of man is Jesus, who was sent due to Adam's mistake? He is the second Adam. Christians claim that Jesus is God Himself, but they are mistaken. It is written in the Bible that Jesus is the last Adam.

The true son whom God is seeking now is the third Adam. Before the third Adam can stand in the position of the true son, it does no good to claim to be a bride or an adopted son. Although Jesus came with the glory of a son, he could not play the role of a son. In order to act as one, all the necessary preparations must be completed in Heaven. Then it is not enough to have just a son. The preparations can be complete only when there is a bride.

What was lost in the Garden of Eden? Adam and Eve were lost. Adam and Eve were to become the true ancestors of humanity. However, because the true ancestors of humanity were lost, the true ancestors must be restored.

Jesus is in the position of a father. He is like the father of humanity. The Holy Spirit is a mother spirit, the mother of humanity. The purpose of the Second Advent is to manifest substantially on the earth the true mother and true father.

The Last Days are when true sons and daughters appear before humanity. What kind of time is that? Since we have become the descendants of the Fall and have lost the linear relationship with true parents when we lost the true ancestors, the Last Days are the time when the reverse path is taken and the sons and daughters lost in the Garden of Eden are to be recovered. God's work is to forge relationships with a reversal process, the work of restoration, to elevate people to the position of adopted children. If you think that what I am saying is wrong, then go to the spirit world and protest. If you were to ask, "So and so said this, but is this true?" then they would reassure you that it is true.

The time of fantastic and illusory notions of faith has passed. The time of believing in a conceptual God and living under such concepts is also behind us. You should attain a certain standard where your flesh, bones and heart come together in oneness so that you can call God your father and be able to boast of the father-son relationship after connecting your heart to the heart of the Father, who has been exerting Himself for six thousand years.

Humanity, which is seeking Heaven and the world of purpose, should walk this path. For this reason in the East they have advocated Confucian ethics: give all of your heart and soul for Heaven, exert yourself for the sake of your parents, become a patriot, and uphold chastity in order to build heavenly relationships in your immediate environment. In the East, people upheld internal trends of thought, while the West is more external. It will come around to the external sphere. You wait and see.

The time of the success of the adopted children is the twentieth century up till now. The ideal world which will come is the time that the true sons and daughters will become successful. Wouldn't that be natural if God existed? The past was a time when the children of others prospered; now is the time when adopted children based in the democratic sphere centering on Christianity prosper. The time after this period is when true sons and daughters live in prosperity. That is the time of the Second Coming and the time of the ideal that Christians are waiting for.

What should we do to become true sons and daughters who can rise to such positions, whom God will seek? You should not boast about how you have been a devout believer for so many years. All those who seek happiness based on the name of Jesus, saying, "I am a minister of this church; I am a leader of that church; through my efforts so many people have come to know Jesus and follow him," are not worthy. Why? It is because during the six thousand years of the providence, God has never had one day or one moment when He was truly happy. How can a father who is so desperately seeking for true sons and daughters be happy when He has not yet found them?

In the course of history there have been a lot of people who enjoyed themselves. There have been people with power and authority who have received glory in place of God. Yet God, who has been struggling for four thousand and six thousand years, searching for His sons and daughters, never had such moments of happiness. God, who should enjoy glory and happiness, has never had such a time.

The Situation of God and the Life of Jesus

God is the lord of sorrow and pain. Although God desires to be happy and glorified, He has never had a source of joy and glory. What does He have instead? You have to understand that God is a God of sorrow and agony, burdened with the grief of the Fall and stories of pain and sadness. Isn't this true?

We think that the Kingdom of Heaven is a garden of joy, but that is not true. You go and see for yourselves. No matter how hard you look for a cause of joy, you will not find any. God, who should command all the authority to rule the world and possess only glory and joy, has lost all joy and glory, all the fruits of goodness, and the elements of the ideal. Only sorrow and anguish remain. This is truly mournful. There is nothing more grievous and sad than this in the entire universe. Those who are genuinely overcome with grief over this and call out "Father" in desperation and humility are sons and daughters close to the heart of Heaven.

Jesus came to this earth as the King of Kings. He came with the recognition from Heaven as the one with the authority of the leader. However, from the moment of his birth, he did not have even one moment of happiness. Although he appeared as the Savior for the sake of humanity on the earth and to save all people, he could not receive glory. Before he could receive glory, he had to pass through a world of agony and a path of sorrow.

Why was it so? It was because Jesus was responsible to pay indemnity for the four thousand years. To become the King of Kings, first he had to pass the qualification as the prince of sorrow and pain. Otherwise, there was no way to comfort the many spirits who had endured sorrow for Heaven while they were on earth.

For this reason, Jesus, who lived some thirty odd years with three years of public ministry, walked a sorrowful path. When he shed tears, he wandered through the valley of tears which his ancestors had shed in the past. Jesus labored arduously as he inherited the path of the people who had cried out in tears as they crossed over the hill of death, stained with the blood of the four-thousand-year history. Eventually, Jesus walked the path of the cross. Today many of us think that Jesus was a prince of love, joy and glory; he was actually a prince of agony and sorrow.

The Judgment in the Last Days

There will come a day of judgment in the last days. When the day of judgment comes, how will Heaven appear? Heaven does not say, "I have this and that element of joy and glory. Why haven't you attained similar elements?" The basis of the judgment is whether or not you understand the sorrowful and painful history of humanity and God, during which God fought fiercely for six thousand years. You have to understand that the traces of God's work can be found in this history. Those who are trying to stand before God with the glory of a son and the hopes of a daughter will be asked by Heaven how much they have mourned over this history and how much suffering they have borne. At that time, those who say "Not at all" will not receive the glory of a son.

Look. On the hands and feet of Jesus are the nail marks. On his head is the crown of thorns, and in his heart there is the wound inflicted by a spear. Although Jesus passed away, Christians today do not understand that he had to cross over the hill of death in order to alleviate God's bitter grief after becoming the prince of sorrow and anguish. Since Jesus passed the test of qualification of the heart, he appeared as the leader in the realm of the heart and spirit. What kind of savior was he? A savior of the body? No. he was the savior of the heart and spirit whom we long for from the depth of our beings, with whom we want to live for the rest of eternity. Jesus was able to become the Savior with the deepest and unchanging heart and standard of heart, based upon which he could wash away the heartaches of God and erase God's historical anguishes from human history.

Let us consider this issue once more. The Last Days are near. The Last Days will certainly come, and in those Last Days, how will Heaven conduct the judgment? You have to understand this clearly. It will surely come true. You who are devout, you who want to believe, should understand this clearly. In the last days, God will not appear smiling and filled with joy. The same will be true with the Lord. When Mary Magdalene tried to cling onto the resurrected Jesus and called out, "My Lord!" Jesus told her not to hold onto him. Why? We have to understand clearly that only after we are connected to the sorrowful heart of Jesus and pass through a course of experiencing the pains and sorrow of Heaven can we hold onto Jesus.

When you call out to the Father after having experienced sorrow and agony yourself, look upon the Father's appearance. His eyes have never stopped crying for six thousand years. His ears have never ceased hearing the mockery and criticisms of His enemies for six thousand years. His mouth could not speak the words He wanted to share for six thousand years. He was starving together with the people who were starving. The Father's hands are stained with blood and sweat. His footsteps are the same. They have crossed the steep and rough path of Golgotha many hundreds and thousands of times. The Father's body is wounded, and on Him are the marks of many beatings unjustly suffered.

Who caused all this suffering to the Father? He suffered because of pitiful humanity. Whenever we think about this, we should feel deeply sorry and repentful. When we call Him, we should have the mind-set, "A sinner like me can never erase the sufferings of the Father, even if I die many thousands of times. A sinner like me can never wipe the tears of the Father, no matter how many thousands of times I were to die." Have you ever called out to Him with such a heart? If you have not, then you should repent deeply.

The Meaning of the Verse "Bear Your Cross and Follow Me."

We fear the day of judgment and want to avoid it. Jesus proclaimed, "Love me more than you love anyone else in the world. Bear the cross and follow me." This is the first iron-clad rule. This is the most central message in the Bible and the Gospel. Only when you can say that you have substantially lived through history, experiencing the sorrow and pain of history as your own, can you stand before the judgment of God and Jesus who have been working throughout history.

Many believers today believe that on the judgment day the Lord will come and host an elaborate celebration of marriage in Heaven, in the world of glory. They are sure they will be invited. That is ridiculous. What if that does not happen? Those people will hold a grudge against God and oppose Christ when he returns.

We who are standing before the Father are the descendants of the lineage which was ruined by sinfulness in history. For this reason, even if we were trampled upon thousands of times, we should still feel humble before the toils and sorrow of God, who mourns together with history. However, because the Father's will is to push forward the providence of salvation, we have no choice but to depend on God's desire to seek us and say, "If it is possible, please have compassion toward us." If one can enter the Kingdom of Heaven without this kind of mind-set, then anyone can enter it. Nevertheless, that is not how the Kingdom is.

We who should stand before the judgment today should proclaim that God lives amidst infinite sorrow, and we should reveal the course that God has passed through in history. What is the grief of God and Jesus? It is the fact that although they are true and right, they are framed to be false and pretentious. There cannot be greater sorrow than this. What is the anguish of Jesus? It is the fact that he was blocked from walking the path to find his own children and his beloved bride. There can be no greater anguish than this. Finding one's own sons and daughters requires a path which climbs over Calvary; hence, on this earth there remain both the Golgotha of Jesus' day and the untrodden path to Golgotha on the world level.

People today understand the Second Advent as waiting for the glory of the Lord who comes to represent the glory of Heaven. However, do not expect to meet the resurrected Christ without the proper preparation. Before the resurrected Christ appears, you should remain alive and be able to climb over the hill of Golgotha on the world level, the crossroads where you have to put your mind and body as well as your life at stake. Then you should pray, "Father, do not do as I will, but as Thou will." This is why it is written that in the Last Days there will be seven years of great chaos. Those who persevere to the end will be saved.

The person who can participate in the joyful garden of the Lord as his bride is the victorious prince who overcame the pain of the six-thousand-year history. He is the prince of sorrow who can represent humanity in embracing the heart of sorrow. The Lord desires to receive such people as his brides.

In our path to grace, we must deny the elements of joy. Why? God has never had a happy moment. He was never a master over all the things that He created, and He was robbed by Satan of Adam and Eve, to whom He wanted to give His blessing and build a happy family. This is why Heaven and earth are filled with grief. How piercing God's sorrow must have been when He saw that everything He should rule over was lost to Satan's dominion, and His children and all of His creation were violated. Nevertheless, because there is no one to whom God can express His grief, He has been burning inside throughout the long history and has continually suffered pain. Ladies and gentlemen, have you ever deeply reflected upon this?

The Path that the Members of the Unification Church Should Walk

You members of the Unification Church are pitiful people. However, if you can hear the voices which Jesus or God heard during the two thousand and the six thousand years, you should be grateful. If you shed tears before the people, and if your heart aches when you behold humanity, you should be grateful. If your eyes overflow with tears in looking at humanity and you are lost in thought as to how to solve humanity's problems, you should be grateful. If you do not have enough to eat, and even when you do your throat is blocked by grief, you are truly blessed. Even when you have a difficult personal situation yet choose to remain quiet, you are truly blessed. Do you feel indignant that you cannot engage in a fierce battle with Satan even if you have hands that can take him on in a fight? Be grateful. Do you have a sorrowful heart which is patiently waiting for the one day, even if you can make brave steps forward before the expanding forces of Satan? Be grateful.

God is not found in a faraway place. When you think that God is far away, He is near you. When you feel that He is close to you, He is far away. For those who boasted that Heaven stood close to them, God was actually far away. Those who were sorry that they were far away from God did not know that God was standing next to them.

Do not grieve that your suffering is intensifying; do not mourn that you are faced with persecution. You should be able to say, "Please allow me to shoulder the sorrow that afflicts the Father's heart. Please let me shoulder the anguish that pierces the Father's heart. If I were ever to be falsely accused by Satan or be wronged by him, please allow me to take this by myself and pay indemnity for all the sorrows and pains of history." If there are sons and daughters who can call out to the Father like this and struggle with all their strength and with tearful hearts, the Father will grab them. He will do so without fail.

We do not seek glory. If there is any glory, it belongs to the Father. Sorrow and pain are all that belong to us. We should prepare our minds to digest these sorrows and pains as sources of life. You should feel embarrassed and unworthy when God says, "My child" and embraces you. Then, on the day of judgment, the day that a proclamation will be made before the sad and painful history, God's hands will seek you out even as you kneel down, unable to raise your head.

We should long for the Kingdom of Heaven while we are in a sad situation and living a painful life. We should comfort the sorrowful Lord in mournful history, comfort the Lord of suffering in painful history. If there is someone who praises God and comforts Him even as he himself suffers sorrow and pain, no one can defeat that person. This is our standard. This is the path that the members of the Unification movement should walk.

We do not need many people. We do not need great multitudes. We need people who can say, "Father, I am not the only one suffering. Humanity is suffering all over the world. How many countless people are more miserable than I," even in grief and pain. We need people who can then strive to shoulder humanity's grief as their own responsibility. This was the path Jesus walked.

Heaven has sought true sons and daughters. When you call out "Father" while you are holding the Father's hands and say, "His hands are similar to mine," or while you are looking at the Father you say, "His situation is similar to mine; His heartaches and worries are similar to what I suffered in the past," your words will eliminate all the misfortunes of history and become the decisive condition for happiness. We the members of the Unification movement, Christians, and all faithful people in the world and in Heaven should understand this.

I do not know your circumstances or your states of mind, but if you feel something deep in your heart right now, that feeling is not false. If you feel, "That is true; that is how it should be," then you should make a determination for your life based on that. You should fight based on that and fall down clinging to it. Those who do so will be qualified to become true sons and daughters of the Father who wants to embrace you in the day of judgment. 

Please Let Us Go Forth Clinging To the Sorrowful Heart of Jesus

Sun Myung Moon
July 19, 1959
Prayers: A Lifetime Of Conversation With Our Heavenly Father -- Sun Myung Moon

Sun Myung Moon, July 16, 2011

Sun Myung Moon, July 16, 2011

Today we know of and believe in Jesus who was born and died in history, but there is no one who knows of and believes in Jesus and his heart when he was rejected and driven out, and wandered to that town when he was driven out of this one and to that village when he was driven out of this one. We have not been able to find in history a person who knew Jesus, who appeared representing the heart of heaven.

The people of Israel, who were awaiting the Messiah, had the hope of meeting the Messiah in their hearts, and they struggled and endured through several thousand years, and they anticipated wondering in which age the Messiah would appear. But we cannot help but recall that when that goal appeared in reality, they were fast asleep, without knowing the heart of heaven because they leaned towards the environment they were in and their own situations.

If today we have the responsibility of resolving the enmity that has penetrated your heart, as we recall that there was that kind of lamentable history, please allow us to be able to cope with and resolve, in their stead, the sins of Israel which did not recognize Jesus who came. Please allow us to be able to take responsibility for the mistake of Israel which caused Jesus such sorrow and to repent in its stead. Jesus had a life of more than 30 years of sorrow.

Furthermore, there were the three years of his public life, but who knew his heart and who knew his situation? There was not even one person. And more than that, the disciples who attended him as their master, who shared his joys and sorrows, who were sad together when he was sad, and were lonely together when he was lonely, they did not know, either.

The disciples, who should have clung to heaven and appealed with earnest hearts, concerned that their master might go the path of death, were instead in such a state that they were asking who Jesus was. Therefore, if it is the case that there was sorrow in the heart of Jesus who felt that his three years of devoted work were in vain, where could there be sorrow greater than his, and if he felt pain, where could there be pain greater than his?

There are Christians who know how to adore and attend the Jesus who wielded power, but there are no Christians who seek to hold onto and live the footsteps of Jesus who was stepped upon and driven out. Father, we cannot help but appeal with bitter tears that among the people of the world many sons and daughters who are able to come forward will do so, holding on to the heart of Jesus who was so miserable.

Oh Father who lives controlling the background of history! We know that you quietly teach us the way to go. Oh Father, please do not allow us to become people who long for the Jesus of the past; we earnestly hope and pray that you will allow us to become able to struggle in order to testify to the Jesus of this age.

Now please let us be able to sympathize with the heart of Jesus, who should have gone before you, and bow our heads before that heart, and if there is something that Jesus wanted and which would make him happy, please allow us to become able to realize it for him. We earnestly hope and desire that you will guide us to become sons and daughters who are able to be filled with and form a relationship with the heart of Jesus who should have resolved the problems of life of humankind two thousand years ago.

We have humbly prayed in the name of the Lord. Amen.

Man Is an Explorer in Search of Truth

Sun Myung Moon
July 19, 1959
Former Church Headquarters
Seoul, Korea

SunMyungMoon-590719a.jpg

1 "Very truly I tell you Pharisees, anyone who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. 2 The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5 But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger's voice." 6 Jesus used this figure of speech, but the Pharisees did not understand what he was telling them. 7 Therefore Jesus said again, "Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. 9 I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. 11 "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. 13 The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. 14 "I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me -- 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father -- and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. 17 The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life -- only to take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father."
John 10:1-18

Prayer

We have listened to the words You have granted. Although many people in this world stand in the face of death, in reality they are preoccupied with praising themselves and boasting to the universe.

Can anyone show himself off and elevate his own value in this kind of a world? As we silently search our hearts, we cannot deny that one who does stands in a false position.

Father, what do our minds long for today? Toward what should we direct them in order to be elevated? This is the moment to realize that our minds and bodies cannot be our own. This is the moment to understand that we are in a miserable situation where we cannot be proud of ourselves.

Please allow us to realize at this moment that we are not the final arbiters of the value of our minds and bodies, that we did not make ourselves and that we are pitiable beings who cannot reach our destination. We did not cause our own lives, nor did the ideology that leads our minds in the direction of goodness originate with us either. Please allow this hour to be the moment when we realize that they originated from something other than ourselves.

Father, today is the moment when we should feel that we must disdain ourselves, we who were so busy making excuses to save face. Please allow us to realize at this hour that the true self whom Heaven and earth, the world and humanity, the society, the family, and myself are looking for is a victor who can conquer himself and who can ignore and stamp out the arrogance that makes him want to elevate himself and stand out.

Jesus said, "Forget everything and follow me." He also said, "Those who are willing to die will live; those wanting to live will die," and "Those who want to rise up will go lower and those willing to go lower will rise."

When we understand the content of these words, we realize that we have to throw ourselves away. We have fallen ancestors and we cannot break away from the bondage of fallen history.

Therefore, our course of life is a pitiable one. The living environment is so chaotic that we live in a confused state, unable to distinguish good from evil. Heavenly Father has labored to pioneer the path of life in such a land. Numerous saints have come and gone in this land in order to bring the ideal of the true person, the true ideology, and the true cosmos to humanity.

Most of all, the time has come for us to long for the holy embodiment of Jesus Christ, the heart which flows out of him, and his desperate ideal. He wished blessing upon all people even as he perished as a criminal on the cross, he who had come into this world as the Messiah of all people.

I sincerely pray that You will forgive us. We have praised ourselves and disdained the creation and all things and have elevated ourselves to disdain Heavenly Father, although we should be disdaining ourselves.

If we want to move toward a truthful heart and true goodness, please allow us to realize that we are debtors in front of Heaven and earth, and that we are a sinful race which has been violently scarred throughout the course of human history. Father, the only things we need are the hearts that can seek for You and the loyalty that can seek out our true selves. Please allow us those things.

We cannot deny that the life course that Jesus led was a sorrowful path of tears. We also realize that every page of history is bound together by bloody battles. Therefore, I sincerely pray, Father, that You will allow us to realize that we cannot clarify anything in history when we uplift ourselves, and that we are like a failure who does not have anything to show throughout the ages.

We therefore believe that we need a true leader who possesses true life and a true heart. He is the savior and Messiah God sends for humankind. Please allow us to reflect upon ourselves in this hour: to reflect upon whether we possess the faith and loyalty to stand in front of the Messiah. In receiving the Messiah, we know that Heavenly Father desires for humankind to possess the greatest of enthusiasm, the greatest of loyalty, and the greatest whole-heartedness. It requires the greatest sincerity and a desperate heart which has nothing to do with Satan. Although we may not stand in such a position, Father, I sincerely pray that You may guide us to become humble sons and daughters who can kneel down and long for the blessing of redemption with the heart that longs for such a position.

Father, how can we respond to the words given to us? Father, please be with us. Although we have listened to many words, walked many paths, and lived through many situations, we stand in front of You empty-handed, having nothing to return to You. Father, do not drive us away but have pity. I sincerely pray that in this hour we may empty all of our minds and bodies so that only the Father will have dominion over us and only the Father's blessing can fill us.

Please allow the heart of the giver and the hearts of the receivers to be one. I sincerely pray that this may be the hour when those hearts can harmonize into one so that the Father's heart can be felt and the Father's blessing can be directly received. I pray all these things in the name of the Lord. Amen.

Mankind Has Sought Truth

As you know, this is an age of civilization. This is the final age when a certain ideological concept or ideology has to prevail. You know well that we are part of such an age.

Then how are we to live in this reality? We do not have anything special to show for ourselves, and we also do not have anything to advise people with through our accomplishments. You should realize that the past must have been the same since the present is such. You should be concerned that the future might also be the same.

Having left behind a legacy called the Fall, mankind has gone through a course of untold stories. Mankind has been dragged on until now, unable to escape the course of the history of complicated stories that take different forms from age to age. Going through the course of history, people have lived on until now, unable to find the essential point that they really sought regarding the mind and body, ideology and heart. So many predecessors have gone through that. And while numerous people in this world today are also searching for that certain truth, they are wandering without a clear understanding of what truth is.

In order to find that source or answer, our ancestors struggled until now, welcoming a path of blood and tears, welcoming the valley of death, and welcoming the miserable situation of being driven out. Yet one cannot but acknowledge that the destination they were searching for and the resting place they sought with all of their hearts has not yet been found, either in this world where humanity dwells, or in Heaven, which works for the world providence.

The topic of today's speech is "Mankind Is an Explorer in Search of Truth." I will speak on this subject.

As we all have heart, the fact that we desire our heart to be entrenched by something, as we did in the past, as we do in the present and as we will in the future, signifies that there is a substantial being who is the source of truth. Using religious phraseology, this is saying, "There is God." When such a conviction is within you, you can clarify everything centered on God, including your being, your daily life, your whole life, and everything connected to your heart. This is what mankind, especially the people of religion, would seek as their highest goal.

That is why we always have to think about what is true, no matter what. We cannot deny that we have to find out what is true if we want eternal life. That is why the people of the past have moved toward this goal, people of today are moving towards this goal, and people of the future will surely move to fulfill this goal.

As God exists, He would want mankind to sing about a true person. He would want mankind to live happily with the true person. He would want to live together joyously with that true person Himself. When such a day comes, when people live with a common mind, a common heart, and a common life, no one will desire otherwise or stand in denial.

When there is a person who transcends race, ideology, and worldly thoughts for a truth he will live with, act with, and have the confidence to overcome death with, then no one of any nation or era will deny that this person is the substantiation of the truth human history has sought. This person is the evidential substantiation of the truth this age is seeking, and the original substantiation of the truth the future seeks. Humanity has been searching for that true person.

Although there are billions of people in this world today, no one can answer definitively that they have found such a substantiation of truth to live with, to fight side by side with, and to rejoice with. There is no clear answer, although you may look through the principles of philosophy or the holy books of religions. Whether you search your body, your mind, your heart, or in all ideologies, you cannot be absolutely confident that you have found the truth which can awaken you anew and have become one with it.

Then is this all an empty theory or fancy? How is this problem to be solved? This is the final question that today's humanity must find an answer to. The relationship between the truth and myself, both of which are in need of clarification, should be a relationship of inseparability and indistinguishability. If the truth we seek is Heavenly Father, then we should harmonize with Him as if He were us and we were Him. If Jesus is the truth, then we should be harmonized into oneness with him.

At this point, all our emotions and awareness should move together as one. We will see the image of redeemed mankind, the image of the true sons and daughters Heavenly Father is looking for when that touch or trace of the truth is felt from within and is transmitted to all of the created world and to all people. Then all can move and feel in unison and sing together with the cosmos.

Fallen Men and Jesus

When we look at humanity bathed in the sorrow of the Fall, when we look at ourselves, unable to cut away from the fallen lineage, and when we acknowledge that we are all descendants of fallen ancestors, we may ask what the Fall is. It is to be fallen away. The Fall is a state of being in conflict with the ideal that our mind desires.

Because people are fallen, they want to avoid things they do not like, things that make them sad, and things that are difficult to do. Yet they cannot escape from sadness, pain and difficulty because they are fallen. Everything is intertwined and tangled up with history.

We surely have second selves that move according to the true heart, in contrast to our own selves which are in a miserable situation. The time will come when we have to call forth those selves to criticize ourselves harshly.

Many saints and sages who have come and gone in history have pled with history and its reality and looked to the future. They advised us to open our hearts wide, to seek for goodness, the rightful purpose of heart, and to possess a body that can respond to the original mind and act according to it.

Jesus said, "The Kingdom of Heaven is in your heart." He also said, "With that heart, connect to God's heart. Possess the character that can connect to that heart, and the bridegroom who represents the center of Heaven will come." But today we have to understand that this is where the problem lies.

We realize that there was no champion who could hold onto the clear standard of conscience and control his own body while facing these problems. There was no one who could unite with the laws of Heaven and the heavenly heart to have dominion over not only his own heart but the hearts of all men.

That is why Jesus said that the Kingdom of Heaven is in your heart. He has said to love him in order to go to Heaven. Afterwards, he said to follow him, bearing your cross, and to throw away all the things you own. He said the ones trying to live will perish and the ones wanting to die will live. He also said that those desiring to possess will lose everything and those wanting to lose will gain. Those wanting to rise will go down and those wanting to go down will rise. The question is, then, what is the purpose behind these seemingly paradoxical sayings of the Savior?

You all have a mind and a body. Yet it is truly regrettable that the mind, the body, and the heart are not as they should be.

Our ancestors established the standard of conscience when they came to this land and taught us to conquer the physical body. Yet no one was able to establish the standard of victory of dominating the physical body centering on the mind, even after six thousand years of human history. Who will be responsible for this sorrow? What are we to do when no one has the certain center where the body is dominated by a mind that is one with the deep heart of Heaven? Heavenly Father possesses the deep, heavenly heart. How is the mind of mankind to be conquered so that it can stand forever in front of Heavenly Father's heart? This is the important problem that must be solved.

Jesus said, "I am the bridegroom and you are the bride." The standard of heart that qualifies us to be the bride is not the standard of conscience entrenched in human affairs; nor does the standard of conscience change as the times change. The standard of conscience does not compromise with human morality in this world. This world's people do not know the bride. Who is the bride who can stand in front of the man who is the bridegroom? It should be someone who can yearn for the heart of the bridegroom. After having deeply felt it, the individual should head in the proper direction of establishing the eternal standard of conscience and body. Jesus is not able to stand as our true bridegroom if we do not meet such standards.

The Purpose of God's Providence and the Phase of Mankind

Human civilization has developed, following the flow of history. That civilization has now become this world of the twentieth century. Yet it has no contents whatsoever that can solve the problems of our bodies, minds and hearts. Although many complex structural appearances and complex environments have come about internally and externally, we know all too well that they have not touched our minds and hearts. People could not unite centering upon them. They were not the standard of heart Heaven and earth could rejoice eternally with or which could bring Heaven and earth together.

This age today is heading against the direction the mind and heart seek. Where can we find the center that can hold us up when we have nowhere to go and feel utter emptiness inside? Today's humanity cannot help but struggle to find it. People are seeking for the heart that the mind and belief can be in touch with. Therefore, humanity cannot avoid struggling toward this if a certain standard is not established where the heart can dominate the body and the body and lifestyle can dominate external life.

If God exists, what world does He seek? It is not this world of civilization and culture that we see today. We should realize that the central will God desires is the standard of mind and heart that can lead civilization in the right direction. It is the world of the standard our ancestors sought to establish for all their descendants. Knowing this, Jesus avoided the worldly environment. We know that he lived a life of going deep into the woods or valleys in the darkness.

Jesus Was an Explorer Who Sought the New World

No one knew at the time that Jesus came to this world and fought to transfer good things of the invisible world into this visible world.

No one in this world wanted to be in Jesus' position. Jesus prayed and pled at unexpected times. You have to realize that the course Jesus patiently walked was the course all of humanity has to traverse. It was the course that went into the borderland where God and Satan, good and evil, collided.

Jesus was not in a comfortable situation as he tearfully prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane. It was the borderline area where God and Satan met. That prayer was the moment he was about to cross the borderline in order to overcome the realm of sorrow, tribulation, pain and death. Jesus was connected to the one heart, even in that situation. Therefore, he had a standard within him that said, "This heart will never be violated," in spite of anything on this earth and in Heaven that might sway him away.

It was not Jesus' greatness as a person that allowed him to win over Satan in the process of the battle over providential conditions. It was because of his entrenched heart toward Heavenly Father. Even Satan has to throw up his hands in the presence of such a heart in fighting the battle of Heaven. Because Jesus was such a person, he became qualified to become the master of heart and the bridegroom all people admire. I know that Jesus did not come to this world to find anything. This world is a fallen world. This world still has to go over a certain hill, and it has much to resolve. The world and the age, which both have to be resolved, are the problem. Because Jesus knew the problem, he came to pioneer the path. Jesus came as the lone explorer representing humanity in the new world that has to be realized.

Although Jesus did not mention it in the words recorded in the Bible, he could not have established a center of victory in Satan's world. God could not have established the will of victory in this satanic world at that time. You have to understand that Jesus was an adventurer and an explorer who sought the new world. He threw everything away to seek for the world of God's love and humanity's love, which is greater than any reality or concept of this world.

Jesus Set the Highest Standard as the Mark of Adventure

Although there are many adventurers who seek to explore the famous unknown spots, anyone can do that. But what is the highest standard that Jesus set as the mark of adventure? It is the problem of the heart.

What allows modern Christianity to contribute to the movements of the world? It is the historic background of martyrdom, which transcended death. There are people who are willing to seek truth with a desperate heart, even putting their lives at stake. God wants to take those people to establish the world of the purpose of the heart. Because of this, He sent Jesus. Yet when Jesus was dying pitifully on the mountain of Calvary, did people anticipate that someday he would be leading the world? Not even in their dreams.

We are people who have to seek. We have before us the path that we must take today and tomorrow, with all our lives and even our bodies at stake, in spite of any difficulty or danger.

Through the Principle, you know that the battles waged between God and Satan are propelling history. Where is the original son who can call on God after winning these battles? Mankind has not yet seen or found the world in which Heavenly Father responds when the son calls on Him as Father with a desperate heart.

Jesus came to this world and said that he was the only begotten son of God. The Bible records Jesus' presence as the glory of the begotten son. Jesus called God "Father." He said to attend him like the bridegroom, that the people were his bride and his brethren. This is something to be grateful for.

What God Wants To Establish

There is a God who guides the providence for mankind in this world from up in Heaven. God leads the history of goodness. Then what is His purpose? It is not the Bible. At the end, when the providence of restoration is completed, the Bible will disappear along with the fallen world.

Believing in the Bible is not the question here. What is more precious is a son who can go beyond just believing, one who knows the Father who has striven for six thousand years, who strives now, and who will strive in the future. With a burning heart toward Heavenly Father, he can call on Him. Such a daughter is this precious. Heavenly Father cannot be joyous in looking at humanity. The only one He feels joyous over is Jesus. Isn't that so?

We are searching for truth. The individual, the family, the society, the world is searching for truth. Then who is the ultimate owner of the truth the universe is searching for? It is God.

What is the content of the truth God wants to establish? What He is searching for is the content of true parents, true couples, true children, true Heaven and earth, and the true cosmos that mankind has yet to possess. Isn't that so?

What does God want while carrying on the providence with this world? He would want things to be true creations. He would want for all of humanity to become true citizens. Furthermore, He would want those citizens to become true loyal subjects, true couples, and true parents.

Only after the true creation, true citizens, true filial sons and daughters, true couples, and true parents appear would God want to appear substantially in this world.

As God is the substantiation of truth, He definitely wants to create a bond with those who are in search of truth. He wants all beings to bow their heads and say, "You are right. Be my owner forever." God has sought that substantiation with His body, mind, and heart. The day God meets that substantiation will be the day human history in search of goodness and truth will end. It will be the day when God, who led the providence in order to seek the truth and establish it, will have His dream fulfilled.

God is looking for such a day, such a place, and such a moment. And such a day is what this sinful land, the people living in this sinful world, the family, the society, and the nation are looking for.

If Jesus came with the mission to fulfill the heart's desires of God and humanity, it is a sorrowful thing that no disciple ever asked him to introduce the cosmic ideology of goodness that was deep inside his heart. Jesus lamented, "If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things?" (John 3:12)

Although Jesus came with words of truth and as the embodiment of truth and came to do the deeds of truth, he was not recognized at that time and was unable to speak all the words of truth or perform all that he would wish. Therefore, what we need today is not just the biblical perception of Jesus. We need the embodiment who can clarify what a true individual is, a true family, a true society, a true nation, and a world that God can come to, the blessed land. We need the embodiment to lead us in that direction. It was the mission of the Savior to explain the truth that he cherished deep in his heart.

Who ever really knew Jesus? Jesus could not really reveal the contents of his mission to anybody and had to go over the hill of the cross. No one understood him. That is why no one has gone to Heaven. Everyone who believes in Jesus is in paradise. Paradise is the waiting room to Heaven.

From this perspective, although the course of searching for truth lasted for six thousand years until today, it is still not resolved. When it has not even been completed after six thousand years, will it be completed tomorrow, even if I start anew the course of life with the newly felt and realized heart of today? If there is no possibility that it will happen, then you should at least have a heart of indignation, a heart that can plead to Heaven, bearing the Father's will.

How can you be citizens of Heaven when you don't even desire to do such a thing? How can you ever be loyal, exemplary men and women and filial sons and daughters of Heavenly Father?

The Method for the Providence of Restoration

We know the providence of God to be a providence of restoration. What is the providence of restoration? It is a movement to recover something that was lost. It is the strategy of gaining back something that was lost. It is a strategy of re-creating through words.

Mankind is to be re-created. Because mankind fell and lost the words that the body and mind can relate with and rejoice eternally with in heart, we have to find the words or truth. It is said that the truth is the word. While truth is the principle that guides a system, it is also a basis for heavenly law. Therefore, the world has sought truth until now.

Yet there are no words of truth even now. Because there are no words of truth, there is no substantiation of true life. Since there is no substantiation of true life, there is no substantiation of true love. There is no true cosmos, no true Heaven and no true earth because there is no substantiation of true love. That is why God is pounding us. He has no use for any of us.

God is conquering the world. God endeavors to conquer an individual. God also endeavors to conquer a family. He has been fighting until now to conquer a race, a nation, and a world. Our forefather Noah fought for 120 years to conquer himself and his family. It was probably not an easy task. Isn't that so? From the time he received God's word that He would judge the land, Noah fought every day for 120 years. God only promises those whom He has great hopes for once. Once you have received God's direction, you have to have an unchanging heart of loyalty to that and be the victor who can conquer persecution from the family, the society, or bodily desires for food and sleep. If not, God will say He does not know you. Throughout the course of history, God has been conquering an individual, a family, a society, a nation, and a world. What is conquering? It is to strike. That is why history has been a history of war.

Today is the consummation period of six thousand years of history. At this point, God is looking for a victor with the authority to conquer everything from himself to the whole, after returning everything back to Heavenly Father.

Our ancestors in the past risked everything to conquer themselves, and they did not shun the path of difficulty or the path of pioneering.

But the world of the twentieth century today is different from the environment of the past. The age back then was a providential period for the individual, the family, the race, the nation. But this age of the providence deals with the cosmos, beyond the world. As there is an adventure for us today, we have to have the determination to say that no one will take greater risks than I will, as I represent the six thousand years of history. That is how it is.

At such a time, those crying for the self will not establish the heavenly family. Those crying for the family will not establish the heavenly society. Those crying for the society will not establish the heavenly nation. Those crying for the nation will not establish the heavenly world, and those crying for the world will not establish the heavenly cosmos. So although we are individuals, we have to have the heart that can pull the world in.

To affirm that you will become the victorious embodiment and to carry it out with conviction is an adventure. When you move up into a more mysterious realm, that world is full of adventures. To go from the level of the individual up to a higher level definitely requires an adventure. You have to wage a decisive battle of life and death with your neck on the line.

God's Providence Centering on Noah, Abraham, Moses, and Jesus

Noah punished himself in order to establish the standard of the family. He punished his body for 120 years to conquer it. He was in a harsh environment of criticism, sneering, and all sorts of unimaginable difficulty. Can't we imagine that?

In spite of it all, he said, "Let's persevere. God has promised me and is leading me, so would I ever turn away from the heartistic standard that God has established?" He conquered all difficulty by punishing himself.

Had Noah's family given up all worldly conditions and hoped to found a race, then God's will would have been accomplished during that time. God's will would have been fulfilled if Noah's family had denied all personal family matters in search of a race, holding onto the standard of Noah's heart.

But Noah's family broke away, unable to fulfill the will centering on the family. But the providence to fulfill the will still continued. Heavenly law was at work. You cannot just keep holding onto an individual when the individual fails. Just because the family failed and the family cannot be established does not mean that heavenly law stops going forward. Although an individual may fail, heavenly law still moves on.

Although an individual failed, God still had to work the providence to establish the family since the moment of the family was coming. He had to work to establish both the individual and the family. Even though that family failed, the providential time table did not slow down. The providence has been widening from restoring the society to the level of restoring a race.

Having lost the individual Noah and his family, God established Abraham after four hundred years. Abraham had to set more severe conditions than those through which Noah went. But having lost even Abraham, God established Moses after four hundred years. Now it was the age of the nation, so He drove the Israelites into Egypt and trained them hard. To train them hard is to strike them. It is a strategy to bring unity. It was the plan to make them into one.

God told the Israelites, "The land in which you are living is the land of the enemy. The palace of the Pharaoh is the palace of the enemy. The people of Egypt are all your enemies." Because the homeland for the Israelites would be possible only when they could all unite, God drove the Israelites forth, looking only at the moment when they would enter the blessed land. God raised Moses as the leader of the adventure. He represented the nation since the providential time entailed a nation. Moses, the leader of the adventure, was the greatest explorer and the greatest of spies going into the uncharted land of Canaan.

For Moses to kick away the interference of the Pharaoh's palace and lead the Israelites into the land of Canaan was not an easy path. It was the course of the unknown. Yet despite any difficulty that lay in front of him, Moses was determined. His heart was unchanged. He said, "Get in my way if you want to, but my heart of trying to find the land of Canaan that God has promised since the time of my ancestors will never change."

Although he was living in the land of the Pharaoh, Moses' heart was ready to sing a song of happiness in the land of Canaan. Moses had pioneered a solitary path of going forward with an indomitable heart.

He headed out to Canaan with the mass of 600,000 people. But during the forty years of the wilderness period, all was lost. If the Israelites knew how to take adventure like Moses did, they would not have failed. Had their desperate heart to seek the promised land been greater than the feelings and thoughts arising in their daily lives, the Israelites would have never fallen in the wilderness. Yet they cried out in panic, complaining how hungry they were and complaining of their hardships. So they died out in the wilderness, unable to enter the land of Canaan.

Any historic figure or pioneer has the natural tendencies of an explorer. He can overcome everything to reach a higher ideal or promised destination, not seeking worldly pleasures or satisfactions.

Moses was like that. What is the meaning behind the Red Sea incident and the attack of the tribesmen of Amalek in the wilderness in front of the Israelites? Men who had escaped the shackles of the Pharaoh all collapsed on the way as they wandered aimlessly for forty years.

Moses had sent twelve people, representing the twelve tribes, to spy out the land of Canaan. When they came back to report what they had seen, ten of them said they would not be able to defeat the Canaanites, but Joshua and Caleb said otherwise. Joshua and Caleb were not particularly intelligent. You are more intelligent than they were. They were dull and stubborn. But they had a wildly adventurous nature.

Joshua and Caleb stood firmly against the opposing people, saying, "God, who has been leading us until now, is alive. God, who has defeated the magic of the Pharaoh, is alive. God, who divided the Red Sea and helped us cross it, is alive. God, who sent us quail and manna while we were starving and struggling, is alive." You have to know that such was the key that opened the road for the Israelites, who were struggling to follow the course of restoration.

That is not all. All of history is such a course. After the age of the race came the age of the nation. Although they had entered Canaan, the Israelites had to fight to establish a nation. How heavy-hearted must God have been at this. They needed to acquire the form of a nation, the form of a family, and the form of an individual. Although they had acquired the form of a nation, they could not become the foundation of complete victory that God wanted. We have to realize God's heart as He worked through history with such situations.

God has been struggling. He struggled to find an individual, but He lost that individual. He struggled to find a family, but He also lost that family. He lost everything, including the blessed nation and the people of Israel.

Jesus seems to have come as the prince of the defeated. He inherited all this. He was a representative who came to take on the pain of world restoration. He came to the land of Israel. He only went to a few places, a few temples near the wall of Jerusalem and the beaches of Galilee. Yet his words and actions represented the will of God and history.

Two thousand years of history have passed since Jesus died after struggling on such a path. Today a certain victorious base to restore the nation of Israel must be established. The history of the two thousand years after Jesus (which we may call the two thousand years of the history of the Holy Spirit) were the process of keeping the world in line with the standard of God's will.

Today is the era of the last days. The last days are to perfect an individual, perfect a family, perfect a race, perfect a nation, a world, and furthermore, a cosmos. Humanity is not aware of the heart of God, who has been leading such a grand mission.

What God Wants to Find in the Last Days

After the six thousand years of struggle that God has gone through, there is a framework that can usher mankind in toward the realm of one ideology in this age of the last days of history. Yet what are we to do now? Mankind is not in a position to invite God to intervene in our affairs. We have neither the substance nor the content.

This is what I want to shout out to this present age. Where is the historic individual God seeks? Where is the family God is seeking to replace Noah's family? Where is the race to replace the race which suffered in Egypt, the race God embraced and loved? Where are the people who want to be loved in the bosom of the begotten son, who came as the king of all kings? The standard where all can walk hand in hand and share heart to heart and sing together is lost. There is probably no greater sadness than this.

God will still search. What is it that God will search for? God is a God of truth and He possesses the contents of truth. Therefore, He will search for the embodiment of truth, the true family, the true society, the true nation, and the true world. He will search for the world where Heaven and earth move in unity of heart though true authority. Isn't that so?

His work is already initiated. He will cut away everything false from an individual, a family, a race, a world. In other words, He will break down the lineage of any race, any national tradition or any ideology of humanity in order to establish the one world of the heart. Looking at things from this perspective, what kind of world is God looking for? He is looking for a world of truth, where there are true parents.

Due to the Fall, mankind has the parents of a fallen lineage. We do not possess the original parents whom God can love eternally. Therefore, no matter how great you might say you are, you are descendants of fallen parents. There is nothing to be proud of. Then where are parents whom God can bless, whom all the created world can sing for? They have disappeared. They disappeared at the beginning of history, not during its course. Who will liberate such sorrow?

What kind of people are the original parents? They can communicate back and forth with the eternal, everlasting God in a relationship of parent and child. Yet such true parents, who can live as the children, attending God as their parent, have disappeared. Therefore, humanity has to search for true parents.

This land in which we live is not the land we have dreamed about. This environment in which we live has nothing to do with God's ideal. It is the same thing for the Unification Church. Having the name of the Unification Church is not important. We have to possess the heart of unification. The door sign is not important. The contents are important. As you all have a conscience that searches for truth, you have to establish a motto that seeks for truth. You have to think about what contents God wants.

The day when God can be present within true parents, true couples, true children, true loyal subjects, true people, the true creation, the true sovereignty, and the true cosmos and can agree that everything is true will be the final day for the fallen world. As you wait for the coming of the Lord of the Second Coming, do you think there will be a destruction of the world with great changes and that we will rise up into the air at that time? Do not even think of such nonsense and fantasy. I used to think like that in the past. We have to fight against people who think like that.

What is such a moment like when it arrives? It is the moment when a complex web of inexplicable situations gets untangled; when the history of misfortune is indemnified; and everything from the individual, the family, the society, the race, the nation, and the world unites. It is the moment when the individual is established so that things that were carried down vertically get carried out horizontally. Thus, it is the moment when the original embodiment will establish the original family, the original society, the nation, and the world. It is the goal of humanity, who has sought truth, to find the self who can live in the original world.

What Kind of Time Is the Time of the Second Coming and What Kind of Time Is Now?

What kind of person is that self? It is someone who is one with God and true parents all the time. It is someone who is also one with the true children, the true people, and the true loyal subjects. In front of that self, true Heaven and earth, a whole new world, will open up. To bring everything to fruition centered upon such an occasion is God's way of governing.

Today many thoughts and ideals seem plausible, but they do have any valuable contents. Although mankind has been searching and searching for truth for six thousand long years of history, people who have fought as true individuals all faded away. The true family, the true people, the true nation, and the true ideal also faded away. It is up to us, living in the last days, to receive those things again.

What kind of time is it now, when we face the destiny to receive those things again? When we truly look with clear eyes, we see this is a time when the individual can unite with the family, the family can unite with the society, the society can unite with the nation, the nation can unite with the world, and Heaven can unite with the earth. The final destination that goodness longs for is in the state of being able to call God our father, and not just in name only. Please raise your hand if you think you are confident that you have reached this standard. If you look at the reality, things are serious. The age of the last days of the six thousand years are here, but we are six thousand years behind. We are six thousand years away from such a time. The external form of the providence has been structured, yet as far as content is concerned, it is empty. As time passes, you will feel more and more suffocated. There will come a day when you will lament how lonely and empty you are. Although you may possess wealth and much more, there will be a certain emptiness inside. There will also be a battle within you. That is because your mind strives to run back to six thousand years ago, whereas your body still remains here, entangled in the present.

Because such a reality exists, the Bible says, "Seek and ye shall find, knock and the door shall be opened." In this time, when the new environment is about to emerge, you should at least have the conviction to push away the suffering arising from this battle buried deep in the human heart, although you may not know how to solve it. If not, then you cannot stand in the new world that will come. We have to realize this.

What kind of time is it now? This is a time to revolutionize the individual, revolutionize the family, revolutionize the society, revolutionize the nation, and revolutionize the world.

What will allow you to stand firmly against the flying arrows and the cross of death? It is the heart with a father and a son relationship with Heavenly Father. When we call out to Heavenly Father as our father with a desperate, deep heart, God and Satan will both bow their heads. If Jesus did not possess such a heart, he would not have been qualified to be the Messiah. You have to possess such a heart if you want to be the bride. To enter into such a state, you have to embark on an adventure.

Now is a busy time. It is time to go on an adventure. Jesus said that those who are willing to die will live, and those who want to live will die. Those who want to rise will go down and those willing to go down will rise. These words will be fulfilled in the last days.

The Attitude of Faith Believers Must Have in the Last Days

When you only feel happiness and satisfaction on the level of your own family, that family, the nation, and its system will all break down. Isn't that so? We have experienced it during the Japanese occupation. Humanity in today's age of the providence of restoration has to be an explorer.

Prayers from your heart and lawful prayers will be fulfilled. You have to look carefully at how your prayers are fulfilled. People who pray in this age have said the same prayers over and over for years, but their prayers are not answered. You have to pray with a true heart of love and promise. Pray and wait with a desperate heart, not forgetting your prayer even after thirty or forty years. It will be fulfilled. You don't need many prayers.

In this age, you have to seek out and do the things that others cannot do. If you try, you will be able to do them. It is not like science books where everything is in the books. In Revelation, John pioneered the spiritual world which others could not. He looked at a world at the height of his exploration which no one else could feel. Yet there is no guidance for the course. This is the problem.

You have to once again calm yourself and aim for the truth. As there is life, and there is someone who will cry with the heart in which life dwells, you have to deny all that you have believed. What you believed in up to now is insufficient. You need something which will allow you to deny the heart you have been feeling, and deny the ideal you have been longing for.

While there certainly is a weapon, you cannot find it with an everyday attitude. Even if you are a well-to- do person who is proud of yourself, you have to give up such a position to go back to the very end of the line, in the lowest place, so as to attain the victory. Such was the path that God has pursued.

Although Jesus appeared in this world with the authority of life and resurrection to take over all the sovereignty of Heaven and earth, he had to walk the opposite path in order to fulfill this in the fallen world. When Jesus saw that his life was soon to fade away, he was not concerned for his body. He was concerned for his spirit. When he was looking at the people, he was not concerned about their physical misery. He felt pity for their souls. It is the opposite way. Do you want to be God's sons and daughters? Do you want to go to Heaven? Try to go to Heaven. Those who think they can go to Heaven by believing in Jesus will not go. It cannot be done without a cost.

Why is it that we believe in Jesus? It is in order to create Heaven. What did Jesus tell us? He said our body is a temple. Is it a temple? Jesus desired for the individual to be a temple, the environment to be a temple, and the whole creation to be a temple. God wants to dwell within us, in our family, in our society, and even in all of creation.

What was Jesus like when he was in this world? Although he was supposed to sit on the throne of Heaven, he became a friend of sinners. It is said that he ate and drank with sinners. Jesus said he came to save the sinners, not the faithful. How frustrated he must have been to do that.

The assignment of Christianity is to take care of many things that are painful to deal with. The question is how people will have the heart that says, "Father, please allow us to have the dignified heart that Jesus had when he died on the cross that we may overcome the pain of death and wish blessings upon the miserable people." Jesus came to this world and became a pioneer of the heart. We need people who will go forward with a desperate heart, who can dominate the fear of death.

What is the reason that the churches are separating? The problem is that preachers seek the authority of their position while the people seek their own authority for the sake of personal glorification. Jesus left behind the virtue of service. This path is the closest path to us, yet it is the most difficult path of adventure for humankind. People who conquer a mountain may be secular explorers, but they are not the explorers of the world of spirit. God wants an adventurer who can win over pain in the heart. Isn't that so?

Jesus' Representative

Is there any greater adventure than appearing as the prince of Heaven in this land of sin? Although the cosmos tried to prevent Jesus from treading that path, still he walked that path. Everyone shunned that path, but he went on it.

Now that there is a certain genuine truth, we have to seek for it. If this physical body, which ideally should be centered on our united mind and heart, is still fixed to the things of worldly history, then we should cut away from it and search for the word that can pull both the mind and the body with its truth.

We have to possess the desperate heart that is derived from the eternal world, which transcends time and limitations. We must become people who can dominate and win over any hardship, pain, and fear of death in this world. For you to be victorious on your individual path, you should deny all desires and all pain to walk forward proudly. If a victorious individual can take the same course with the family, the race, the nation, and the world, then this person is victorious over the world.

God could raise and bless Jesus because of this. His path was a pioneering path. To pioneer is to begin with a difficult path. It does not begin with a pleasant and happy path. It is to work backwards.

God has been searching for the ideal form of an individual, a family, a society, a nation, and a world throughout the course of history. He has been searching for us, the seekers of truth.

In order to restore all this in these last days, we have to bear God's heart and become the warriors who will fight against sin as God's begotten son Jesus, the prince of Heaven, became a friend to the sinners. In such a position, we have to throw away all personal pride and prestige and stand bravely in front of Heavenly Father. Only such a person will become Jesus' representative who will not only find himself, but find all the other lost selves. Jesus' representative is one who will hold onto such a heart and fight for the family, the society, the race, the nation, and the world.

No matter how high one may be, he should yield his high position and have the heart to sincerely attend others, saying, "The reason I am here is to help people lower than me be raised to the position I am in." When such an inclination for adventure is present, it may be used as a condition to maintain oneself and win out in this time of turmoil.

When I look at you, I see that you all have the petty ambition of wanting to possess everything in Heaven and earth, yet you are not trying to find your own lost self. I will acknowledge you if you have certain conditions that can coincide with the contents and purposes of God's wish to find the family, the race, and the nation. But you only have the purposes and the ideal; you are lacking in substantial content. You have to have the standards to which Abraham, Noah, Moses, Jesus, and Heavenly Father can say, "You are right!"

As you live today, it is not enough just to continue the life pattern of searching for values. You have to eliminate yourself. You have to hunt yourself down. You have to get rid of yourself. If not, you cannot go to Heavenly Father. God has never thought about His own pride throughout the six thousand years of the providence in this world. Because His path was to find His loving true sons and daughters, He was determined never to think of His own pride until He met such sons and daughters.

Although Jesus has striven for a long time, he also had to be humble in front of sinners before he could find his bride. One example of this is when he told the thief on the right that he would go to paradise along with him.

Now we have to embark on the final, historic adventure.

For us to be acknowledged as victors among all the explorers who have sought for truth, we have to first welcome the sorrow and suffering of history and the sadness and pain of the ages. We must be able to stand in front of God, the true parents, the true couples, the true children, the true siblings, the true people, the true nation, and the true Heaven and earth. Only when such a deep, desperate heart stands within you can you then take your places as the people of that nation, the loyal subjects of that nation, and the filial sons and daughters of that nation.

The Adventure of Adventures

Then what is the adventure of adventures? It is to cry for the miserable people in Heavenly Father's stead, with a deep, desperate heart. Although you may have received a complicated and difficult mission, and even if your heart desires peace, you have to be determined to fulfill the responsibility and go forth toward the standard God desires, in spite of death or universal opposition.

The world's affairs were pioneered through adventures. But no one took on the adventure of the world of God's heart. Thus, if God says to live a certain way, then live that way. If Jesus said to do this, then just do that. To find out if it is true or a lie, you have to charge through with it until the end.

There is no greater adventure than the adventure regarding the issues of your own heart. Please become the explorers of the world of the heart, and understand that there is nothing more joyous or renewing than to make a relationship with Heavenly Father through those adventures.

Prayer

How much did Jesus sympathize with the miserable fishermen when he walked the beaches of Galilee for thirty years? How much did he sympathize with the pitiful villages? How concerned was he when he saw the state of the Jewish churches and the religious bodies? We realize how miserable Jesus was as he was chased out of the temple in Jerusalem, wandering around from village to village, and later on searching the seaside to find just one disciple who was true in heart.

As we tried to see what was the adventure of adventures, we realized that the greatest adventure is not to an object or something in front of you. It is to conquer yourself and completely dominate yourself and bring yourself into submission.

Jesus knew that the day you go into the world of the heart and conquer yourself is the day all of the cosmos will find you. Because he knew that, he gratefully trod the path of isolation and of being nailed to the cross. Jesus was grateful even as he was sneered at. He even comforted the people. Although his body, dripping with blood, was in pain and his heart was indignant, he saw that the Father's heart was vested in those people as He worked through the providence. Therefore, he was filled with the heart to elevate the Father and deny himself. We now see the heart of Jesus. He prayed that Heavenly Father might bless the people, that he might somehow accidentally obviate the four thousand years of the building of a relationship with mankind and ruin that foundation.

Although humanity has been struggling to explore and conquer the things of this visible world in spite of numerous risks, humanity is not undertaking the adventure of conquering the self, with the internal heart at stake. Please allow us to realize that the course of this adventure is more rough, dangerous, great and fearful than any precipitous mountain of this world; it is greater than traversing any great ocean, and going any place where wild beasts dwell.

Many people who were walking the path of the Way failed when the element of the self came in. We realize that Jesus was able to possess the glory of resurrection when he gave himself up. He became the historic master who was victorious over himself.

We have to lose this world, lose the self, and lose the history of sorrowful regret. Please allow us to fight with our bodies and minds. Please allow us to fight on while holding on to God's heart of the six thousand years. Allow us to realize that it is the historic desire of mankind, the desire of the age, and the request of the future that we be the victors who can rightfully wish blessing upon all creation, representing Heavenly Father. Please help us to realize that it is not God or Jesus, but I, myself, who must become such a being. I, myself, am the true center of God and Jesus, this land, and all the existing world. Let us realize that to find this truth has to start from oneself.

Jesus lived thirty years in this world. He lost himself, and once again lived to experience the joy of the resurrection. Please allow us to feel the joy of finding ourselves again after being lost. If we cannot experience the joy of being reborn after death, the coming garden of blessing does not have anything to do with us. Please allow us to bury and throw away the self that goes along with this world and to live again with Heavenly Father.

We have to carry on a revolution today. We have to find the new world. We need an adventurous and investigative character. Father, we realize that those who think about themselves cannot be included in this number. Those who are clinging to the conditions of the environment will not be able to pioneer that environment. Those who are caught up in the thoughts and ideals of this life cannot partake in the ideology of this new world to fulfill their role as world leaders God can be pleased with.

Please allow us to have the heart that is in tune with the heart of the ideal, from the individual, to the family, up to the cosmos. Let us be grateful wherever we are sent, grateful no matter what kind of offering we may become. Let us be heavenly princes of adventure who can go forth ready to face any risk.

I sincerely pray that we can be the sons and daughters whom God can trust and that we can be responsible for everything. I pray all these things in the loving name of the Lord. Amen.

Father and I

Sun Myung Moon
July 12, 1959
1971 translation

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1: "Let not your hearts be troubled; believe in God, believe also in me. 2: In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3: And when I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. 4: And you know the way where I am going." 5: Thomas said to him, "Lord, we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way?" 6: Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by me. 7: If you had known me, you would have known my Father also; henceforth you know him and have seen him." 8: Philip said to him, "Lord, show us the Father, and we shall be satisfied." 9: Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and yet you do not know me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father; how can you say, `Show us the Father'? 10: Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. 11: Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father in me; or else believe me for the sake of the works themselves. 12: "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I go to the Father. 13: Whatever you ask in my name, I will do it, that the Father may be glorified in the Son; 14: if you ask anything in my name, I will do it. 15: "If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16: And I will pray the Father, and he will give you another Counselor, to be with you for ever, 17: even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him; you know him, for he dwells with you, and will be in you. 18: "I will not leave you desolate; I will come to you. 19: Yet a little while, and the world will see me no more, but you will see me; because I live, you will live also. 20: In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.
John 14:1-20

In terms of Christianity, the human history originated from the Fall of man from its dawn. There no one's conscience can possibly deny the fact and none of us connected with the degeneration of the first parents of mankind can be thoroughly free of the existence of the relative relation of thinking. That is to say, man by himself cannot remove himself from his contradictive environment.

We feel ourselves far from being good; there appears goodness; and the higher our hope and desires, the higher our desire to fulfill goodness.

This is what has made human history spotted with variety of tragic elements.

What the saddest is that we are forced to feel the results of the Fall of man; the loss of parents, children through whom all the human beings could expect to be happy and joyful. Therefore nothing is more urgently required to every one of us than recovering the lost connections of parents and children and happiness and joy

Then what can make us catch them?

Is it possible for us to find the solution to the Fall of man by means of any philosophical interpretation or ideal for living or any ideal faith? No, none of them can save us; then how can we solve the problem of the Fall of man? Nothing but heart can hold the key for the solution, for every tragedy comes from our heart, just as the Fall of man did. There is neither rise nor fall, nor beginning nor end in heart.

As I mentioned, we lost parents and children from the beginning of our earthly history and we even lost God.

Who is God, our creator?

He is subject of all our flesh, spirit. ideas and even hearts and in other words, He is the father of man who calls us His beloved children, namely the center of our living and idea.

But due to the Fall of man, we, offspring of fallen men can call God father. But Hi is only nominally our Father, not substantially. So we have been seeking for the greatest leader in the history capable of filling in a moat between God and the current leader of our flesh and spirit, idea, living and heart.

Now, it's not the purpose of human history to overthrow fallen men. There can and should come to appear the person at the center, making the connection between father and son that God and man have been longing for. Meeting such a historical need, Jesus Christ, God's beloved son came to this world. He said, "I'm son of God and you're my brothers, I go not as I will but God wills, the country, the man and the family I want is not mine but God's. Heaven is bridegroom whereas Earth is bride. I am bridegroom and you are my bride."

Based on this saying, most Christians regard themselves as Jesus' bride, but it's not so easy to fulfil.

Nobody is entitled to be his bride but the man who goes through history, finding reality and the futurity of heart.

As a matter of fact, most of the believers in Christ hold his sayings in esteem but keep him who puts it in practice at distance, as the Jewish people waited for Messiah but did not think much of the incarnated logos, which was the most tragic event in the history.

So as to recover the connection of father and son between God and man, Jesus tried to make the people believe in God only with their heart, for God exists in our heart.

All that Jesus had was his heart to call God his father.

One may trample Jesus sayings and his life but not his heart, for his heart is an inviolable by Satan. This is the reason why it was possible for God to revive Jesus from death, and create the historical course after Jesus, which led us into the ideological sphere of Christ.

Then in the ideal world ahead, there may remain one qualified to call God father, and Jesus bridegroom or brother. The greatest gift at the end of the world for to mankind are hearts capable of making people perceive Father's character and heart toward God. Jesus said that the entire universe is within our heart, and it means that everything is connected with heart.

If the relationship between God and man is that of father and son, there should be a relation tied closely by blood between them. For Jesus, it was possible to call himself God's beloved son based on his sharing his fortunes with God centering on heart. His heart was not delivered from any logical condition.

None of the offspring of the fallen parents is qualified for the position of God's adopted son as apostle Paul said. Now that our conscience can't deny the fact, it is urgently required for us to go through God's heart, passing out of the position of adopted sons. This is more important than thorough knowledge of the Bible or any interpretation of Fall of man, so that Jesus advised us only to have incessant prayer instead of bearing in mind what he said. Sinking into the deepest heart, we can be sure to be God's other self, namely his temple.

Since heart stands above time and space and there may be no revolution, it is possible for everyone to serve Jesus as Jesus in the present, not by means of customary faith in the crucifixion, of his sayings but only through heart.

Jesus in in place of Heaven suffered for mankind but there has been none sympathetic to him.

When Jesus came to know that God's heart was more grieved and that God suffered more than Jesus himself on the threshold of crucifixion, he left all that he was to God.

Nobody can be proud of himself for his belonging to the traditional, customary faith during our long period of time. According to my spiritual experience, in the Kingdom of Heaven, there stand people lower than he who is ignorant of the Bible but devoted and grateful to everything from the bottom of his own heart.

You can and should be those regarded as God's sons and daughters; loving and yearning for Him, even after fighting for God, even though there is no praise given to you.

The heart and feeling of love is the essence and the core of the spirit world. When you pray, you will surely come to stand aloof from the physical and epistemological environment. That is why Jesus could pray for the blessing of those the hostility crucifying him. Such a heart should come to appear at the end of the world. Coming into this world with such a content, and failing to make clear its heart, Jesus is to come again to make it possible to call God "father." Frist, your flesh and spirit should be completely united with God, and once it is accomplished, you can be God's temple that enables you to share your fortune with God. Secondly, you should make God's will your own.

What does His Will mean, then? It is the Providence for Restoration of the world to as it was created prior to the Fall. Having been in the position of the adopted sons, we have been trying to become real sons. Meanwhile God has been suffering universal and historical pain, sorrow and indignation. Putting on the thorny crown and having nails driven into his hands and feet, Jesus came to realize that God's head had been covered with the thorny crown and had driven nails into his hands and feet hundreds of thousands of times.

Jesus wanted to indemnify and restore the lost life, resentment, indignation and sufferings of mankind; but Jesus was forced keep from restoring that historical grudge and indignation. Jesus could not restore the historic Fall of man and he lost his physical life, with which it was possible to get rid of Satan's claim on mankind.

Every one of us is a debtor of debtors. Korean people were the most miserable of all people during the past 6,000 years. We have neither friend nor anything to be proud of, and are the scapegoat of the ideological warfare of the American and Russian blocks. However, putting our flesh, spirit and soul into God's heart, rising above earthly life and saying, "God, our father, we are your sons and daughters and grateful to you for your making us go through your historical resentment, regret, sorrow and indignation through a variety of persecutions and hardships surrounding us" we become the race sure to be the nearest to God.