Hak Ja Han
July 15, 2017
Madison Square Garden, New York City
Unofficial version the simultaneous translation
My topic today is "Heaven's Providence and the Responsibility of America."
Today, when you look at the world, you can see that it is afflicted by war, by religious conflict, conflict of ideology and furthermore many natural calamities. And because of human beings, unspeakable and unfathomable pollution, poor stewardship of creation. All of these problems are afflicting our world. We can see that more than seven billion people are dying because of all these causes.
Where can we find hope for our future? This is the same for the religious world. Whatever the cause, wherever it may have begun, we must have one common objective, one common destination. We must clearly understand God. God, the true Owner of the universe, is the Creator and created heaven and earth. God created a man and a woman to become the first human ancestors. God gave them a portion of responsibility that was to be fulfilled by going through a period of growth. He gave them a periodical responsibility. Heaven's hope was for Adam and Eve to have absolute love, absolute faith and obedience to Heaven, grow and reach the level where they would become the True Parents of humanity. Adam and Eve should have received that blessing.
Unfortunately, during their growth period, Adam and Eve allowed self-centered desire to take ownership of them. That created the fallen humanity that we know today. God is omnipotent and omniscient. Because God gave the principle of creation to human beings, human beings cannot stand in the position of victory and return to God by themselves. They should have done so, but could not. However, it was not easy for humanity that remains ignorant of God, to return to God
God raised the people of Israel and worked through the chosen people to realize His will. God toiled for 4000 Biblical years, so that, beginning with the individual and all the way to the nation, all through the history of the providence of restoration through indemnity, He could raise them. He sent the Savior and Messiah, the only begotten Son of God, Jesus Christ. However, what happened to him? Jesus came and was born as the only begotten son of God.
God created human beings as men and women. Therefore, because Jesus was male, he needed to meet a woman. Mary, the family of Zachariah, the Jewish leaders of the time, should have helped Jesus find his bride, but they failed to help him. By himself, Jesus could not fulfil God's ideal. Jesus could not avoid walking the miserable path of the cross. As Jesus bled on the cross, he prophesied that he would come again. He would come again to host the Holy Marriage of the Lamb.
When you look at the history of Christianity, it began through the work of the Holy Spirit, with the hope and expectation that the returning Messiah would come. However, the early days of Christianity were marked by intense persecution and misunderstanding. It took 300 years before Christianity was officially recognized by the Roman Empire. Christianity flourished in the Roman Empire, expanded to the European continent and went all the way to the British Isles. Centering on England, the surrounding nations worked and opened the new era of the Atlantic civilization. Through that civilization, Christianity expanded throughout the world. However, the Christians of the time did not fully understand the true essence or the true providence of God. Mistakes were made, and steps were taken backwards in the providence. However, more than focusing on a spiritual and internal civilization, the Atlantic civilization developed and flourished more centering on materialism. We can see that today's modern materialistic civilization is an offshoot of this.
During this process, in the 17th Century, through King James of England the Bible was translated into English. Through that translation, a new religious movement, a new movement of belief, emerged. The representative nation of this new belief is this nation, the USA. Heaven has worked to lay the foundation for the Returning Messiah. Heaven has blessed this nation to help to welcome the Returning Messiah. Within a short period, 200 years, the US became the superpower of the world. It is because God blessed America that this was possible. Isn't that so?
However, within the Christian cultural realm, the responsibility of Christianity was to prepare to welcome the Returning Messiah. Jesus had prophesied to come again. If he only returned spiritually, he cannot become the True Parent of humanity. Jesus had to return in the flesh. Therefore, Jesus would return and host the Holy Marriage of the Lamb. In the Christian realm, the only begotten daughter must be born. Heaven has worked to prepare to send the only begotten daughter. Heaven cannot work with central figures, people, even nations that have failed in their providential responsibility. The reason is that they need to pay the indemnity that comes from failing to fulfil their responsibility. Through history, we know very well the indemnity that befell those who did not fulfil their responsibility. That is why Heaven worked in Asia and chose the Korean people, the people of Han (Hanminjeok). Centering on the Christian foundation, in 1943, the only begotten daughter of God was born!
However, in 1945 Korea was liberated, but at the same time divided in two – the communist North and the democratic South. In North Korea, a communist dictatorship was established and prepared to invade South Korea. However, following its liberation, in South Korea the government was still trying to establish a structure. But in accordance with the principles of creation, just like God gave a period of growth to all human beings, the only begotten daughter also needed a period of growth. Therefore, Heaven could not allow the only begotten daughter to remain in a dangerous area. That is why Heaven worked to have me come to South Korea. After I came to the South, in 1950, the Korean War erupted. At that time, South Korea did not have the military might to defend itself from North Korea's invasion. And Heaven mobilized 16 nations through the United Nations. Miraculously, those nations sent their youth to shed truly precious blood to defend South Korea. That is how the South Korean democracy that we know today as the Republic of Korea could be preserved.
Nevertheless, in the midst of this providence, Heaven could no longer wait. In order to solve the problems of the world, Heaven needed the advent of True Parents to take place. That is why in 1960 True Parents appeared before humanity!
However, the Christian realm could not welcome and embrace the True Parents. In their entire life, with every single detail, every single step that had to be taken, True Parents began from the lowest position. They reached a level where they could represent a tribe, and True Parents completed the blessing of 430 families. At that moment, the USA, the blessed nation, was ailing. In the 1970s, True Parents left Korea and came to America. True Parents came to heal the problems that were ailing America. True Parents took the lead in solving America's problems. At that time, many righteous men and women, many righteous young leaders began to follow True Parents. Some who failed to understand True Parents, political leaders who could not see True Parents' mission, thought that Reverend Moon should be chased away from America. As a result, Reverend Moon went to Danbury penitentiary. If it were not for the mission that Reverend Moon had as True Parent, he would not need to come to America, but because he is the True Parent, he came to America to help to lead all humanity to God, and to help to restore the world to God. That is why the True Parent, Reverend Moon, went to Danbury penitentiary and invested 40 years of his life shedding blood, sweat and tears in this beautiful nation. America was truly blessed to play an important role in God's providence. The USA should have fulfilled her mission, but unfortunately family breakdown, extreme individualism, teenage delinquency and various other serious problems were crippling this nation.
Furthermore, the US was under the threat of communism. There had to be a way for America to revive. America had to be saved for the world to be saved. That is why Father Moon in 1985 asked a famous academic, Dr. [Morton] Kaplan, to proclaim the end of communism [through a PWPA convention in Geneva]. What happened? Five years later, communism greatly declined. However, this was not the end. Reverend Moon took young leaders from the USSR, brought them to the US and educated them. That is how they were willing to risk their lives to save their nation when it was under the threat of communism.
There are so many similar anecdotes that are not well known to people. At a time when the nations could not support True Parents, the time when the nations misunderstood True Parents, because Reverend Moon was the True Parent, these unspeakable, these unfathomable difficulties, were overcome.
Until I could stand before you today, it's taken me more than 52 years. During that time, the Family Federation for World Peace had worked throughout the world and had established mission foundations in more than 120 nations around the world, giving birth to blessed families worldwide.
Fallen humanity cannot return to God by themselves. Among victorious human beings, it is only through True Parents that fallen humanity can be born again. That process of salvation is the Blessing that we have in the Family Federation. Blessed families should fill not just this nation, but the entire world. When this world is filled with blessed families, the dream, the hope of our Heavenly Parent, True Parents and all mankind – one world under God – can be realized. That day is not far off.
Korea, the homeland of the providence, together with Japan and the USA, that through the True Parents was blessed as the elder son nation, these three nations together should unite as one and bring about a revolution centering on the culture of filial heart and open the new era of the Pacific Rim Civilization and expand blessed families to all the corners of the world. Young people, centering on Youth and Students for Peace, should become the light of the world, the lamps of the world so that all 7.4 billion people of the world can gather together and unite as one centering on this light. We must create that environment. A world of true freedom, peace, equality, unity and happiness is not far away. If all of you gathered here today, unite with True Parents and live for the sake of others with true love in your families, in your neighborhood, your tribes, your nations, your churches, we can realize a world of peace with our own hands.
All of you gathered here today, please unite with me. Let us become the light of the world! Please shine brightly in all dark places! And lead the people in darkness to the bosom of God! I hope that you can become the lights of the world!
I hope that you can remember that God has truly blessed America. God bless America! I hope that the USA will never forget her original mission and essence. I hope that you can become the courageous vanguard that will become the light of this world!