ORDER NUMBER
77-04-03
REVEREND SUN MYUNG MOON
SPEAKS ON
THE REALM OF
RESURRECTION
April 3, 1977
Belvedere, New York
Translator - Bo Hi Pak
Due to the fall of man, we all need to be resurrected. The fall of
man was our departure or our separation from the original realm of life,
but we are destined to be restored into that original realm through
the resurrection process. If there had been no fall there should have
been God-centered parents, and you yourselves as God-centered children,
surrounded by all the things of creation. Due to the fall of man, however,
this sequence of existence has been reversed. When you fall from a tree
your head usually hits the ground first. Similarly the fall brought
man's spirit down.
When I say that the whole sequence is upside down I mean that from
the standpoint of God the highest point is not occupied by men but by
all the things of creation, or nature. Furthermore, through the fall a
new master came into being who is not God; Satan has become the master
instead. All the things of creation, all children, all parents, indeed all
of the universe has been under the dominion of Satan. God created only one
man and one woman, but He wanted them to hold the central position in the
universe. Who is Adam? Adam is the visible form of God, the body of God.
The minds of men are invisible, having no form, but you know that
they exist. You cannot see air either, but you definitely know that air
exists. The mind is the place where God comes to dwell. In contrast,
the body is visible like the earth. We cannot live without the elements
supplied by the earth and the air. In the spirit world also there
are elements of life, and without them our spiritual lives cannot be
sustained. You may think that we need only food to eat and air to breathe,
but we need one more clement like air, only spiritual in content.
The food we eat is the formation stage of sustenance, while the air
we breathe is the growth stage. The perfection stage element can be
called the eternal strength and vitality of life, which is supplied
at a higher level than are food and air. Everything is made in three
different levels. Look at your face. You have a mouth on one level, a
nose on another level, and eyes and forehead on another level. Even in
your little finger you can see three bones. Your eyeballs have a white
element and a brown or blue element, then the pupil in the center.
What will bring you to God's side?
The realm of the fallen world has been dominated not by God, but by
Satan. In order to restore the fallen element, we must go through the
reverse process of the fall. Who is going to undertake such a task?
Satan? God? Who caused the fall? Man did. Therefore man has to take up
the major responsibility of restoration. Man cooperated with Satan and
fell; therefore, in the reverse process man should take up the major
responsibility and cooperate with God.
When you move one step to the left side then you stand in the satanic
realm, but when you move one step to the right you are in God's realm.
In which direction would you like to move? If you want to move to God's
side then what should you do? If you mobilize your power and knock Satan
out, will that bring you to the right-hand side? Can prayer alone bring
you to the right-hand side, even pleading, "God, come to save me?" You can
continue such a prayer for 1,000 years and still it would bring nothing.
Only prayer plus action will bring about restoration. Prayer is
actually a pledge or covenant between God and men, and when you make a
promise then you must deliver it. God will say, "I heard your prayer.
Now is the time to act." Would God ever tell you to just sit still
and wait for Him to do everything? That is not God's way. When a man
brings a prayer to God then God will watch to see whether His child
is just a man of words or whether he is one who fulfills his promises.
God is awaiting your action.
Suppose you have offered a prayer and want to make a giant step toward
God's side. You know you will meet resistance because Satan is still
holding on to you. God is not yet connected to you and is awaiting the
completion of your first step. How can you disconnect yourself from Satan
and not be pulled from behind? There are only two ways: either you reject
Satan or he leaves on his own. Satan is clever. When he recognizes that
you are completely one with God and that nothing will change your mind,
then he will decide he does not want to waste any more energy on you
and he will leave.
There is one most principled way for God to test whether someone
is truly a man of God. God will tell Satan, "Go test my son and see
whether you can bring him down to your realm. If you fail, then he is
my son." You must know that this is the universal formula, and always
throughout history satanic attacks and tribulations have pursued the men
of God. There is no other way for a child of God to prove himself. It is
important to know for whom a man exists because in restoration he must go
opposite from the worldly way. Who did man think about in the process of
the fall? Man's selfish thinking about his own benefit brought the fall.
Is the American way of life today individualistic or public-minded?
Does it represent hell or heaven? What about you? Man brought the fall
upon himself, and as long as he continues in self-centeredness he has no
way to restore himself to the side of God. Restoration or resurrection
has no meaning as long as man persists in living on a selfish level. On
April 1, I declared that man had not only become centered upon himself,
but had also consummated love centered upon himself, wanting to reap
everything for his own benefit. Everyone is thinking about himself and
about how he can become the recipient of love.
We cannot go over the hill of resurrection until we ourselves excel
Adam and Eve. Do you want to go to heaven or hell? Adam and Eve brought
themselves into hell because they were self-centered. You must be
different unless you want to go to the same place.
Who should become your center? You must become God-centered instead
of self-centered, and love God more than you love yourself. Before you
ever existed God already existed and was your entire being; God is your
center and consequently you exist solely for God. You must want to become
one with that center again. That center is eternal and unchanging,
and once it is established it will not move. Once its axis is true,
then the environment can be moved.
The center is unchanging God and you are the surroundings; in oneness
with the center you can turn upon that unchanging axis. That God, that
center, is your origin and your subject. As God's object you must make
God the center, not yourself, and you must love God more than you love
anything else.
What was the fall of man? Simply speaking, "I" became the center and
"I" took everything, including all the different kinds of love. Since
self-centered love brought the fall of man, you must move in the
opposite direction. If you start by moving one step into the satanic
realm then the entire weight of your body will be on your left foot.
Satan has certainly become your master and center instead of God, and
your body has become a satanic body, tied in satanic love. Therefore,
you must separate yourself from the satanic world.
If you keep that Satan-centered body and way of life then you become
entangled by the satanic family, society, nation and world, caught by
many different ropes and chains and unable to separate yourself. If you
are determined to become the most important and influential leader of this
world, would we say that you are a heavenly leader or satanic leader? With
that way of life you are still within the boundary of Satan's realm. You
must really understand this. The most critical question concerns what
position you are in. Have you already crossed the boundary completely
and become situated 100% on God's side? Are you still in the process
of crossing the boundary, or is your weight still on the satanic side,
with your right foot just barely touching the ground of heaven?
Many of you are still in this process and not even touching the ground
of heaven yet. You are still mulling over whether you should even go.
I want you to know absolutely clearly what hell and heaven are, and
what is the true way of good and evil. You should know clearly the
definition of good and evil. If you can look at yourself and know that
you are absolutely God-centered and that you absolutely love God more
than anybody else then you are indeed in heaven, and are a good man in
the sight of God. If you are the other way around, you are in the satanic
world and destined to hell. Man is always fluid, constantly moving back
and forth, back and forth.
Without the fall, self-centeredness
would be God-centeredness
You must make up your mind firmly and not continue mulling over the
question. If you straddle the boundary line between the fallen realm and
the restored realm, then no matter how much you pray your prayer will
not be answered. But once you make up your mind to be on God's side then
nothing will be pulling behind you and you can go straight forward.
We all need food, but for whom? Do you eat your meals for God,
or for yourself? What is different about saying you are eating the
food for God? You must make your body a complete temple of God. If
God is dwelling inside then when you eat you are not feeding yourself,
but God. You must feel that way. Then you are doing a favor for God,
and your meal is holy because it is God's meal. Y,/hen you go to the
bathroom, are you still doing it for God? The same principle applies in
whatever you do, even in going to the bathroom. The temple of God needs
some give and take. Therefore you are obeying God's order and going to
the bathroom to relieve yourself.
You are not breathing air for yourself, you are breathing for God. Do
not ever think that you are listening for yourself. Instead you are
listening to music together with someone. Do not ever think you are
doing anything alone and that nobody sees you. That is impossible.
When you meet people in the everyday world, who is actually talking
to them? God is talking through you. Once you become completely one
with God and make yourself God's own body, then when you do something
for yourself it is not really for yourself. In that case, when you are
serving yourself you are automatically serving God.
After you are totally separated from Satan and you absolutely
become one with God, then thinking of yourself is not really thinking
of yourself. Because you are a temple of God then your becoming a
center means that God automatically becomes the center; if there had
been no fall this would automatically be the case. Which life would
be more meaningful? Would you want to be more God-centered or more
self-centered? Actually it is more fun and exciting to be God-centered
and it never becomes a burden.
Would you be most happy to have your money in your own pocket or
in my pocket? Don't tell a lie! Do you really think, "No, God, even
though you are important, my pocket is more important"? If Adam and Eve
had not fallen then being self-centered and God-centered would be the
same thing. God wanted to see Adam be greedy to become really perfect,
really rich. If Adam were greedy like that he would say, "God, You are
my Father, and I will never leave You, and don't You try to leave me for
one second!" That would be greediness for God. It is selfish in a way
if Adam wants to satisfy himself by loving God, but that makes God happy.
Without the fall or sin, Adam and Eve's way of life would be
self-centered, but since the self without sin is equivalent to God
it is automatically God-centered. Because of the fall of man God was
separated from Adam, allowing Satan to come in and become master. As
a result, the self-centered way of life has become alienated from God.
However, if there had been no fall and absolutely no sin such that God
and man were perfectly united, self-centeredness would not be sinful.
Then self-centeredness would automatically be God-centeredness.
Therefore, self-centeredness in the fallen world should not be blamed
100%. Once you become absolutely God-centered then a self-centered way of
life would automatically become God's way of life. It is because we are
departed from perfection that all the difficulty has come into being. If
we were in perfection with God, then the center of self-centeredness
would be God, and loving oneself would be loving God.
When love becomes your center, then loving your own children, your
own mate and your parents would be beautiful in the sight of God, having
nothing to do with envy or jealousy. Since we have become the prisoners
of Satan all of our loving relationships are still connected with Satan;
therefore, we need some revolutionary experience to separate ourselves
from Satan and move into perfection. No perfection can be found in this
realm of Satan. The process of separation is our job.
Re-creation of all things,
children, and parents
You can see how the sequence of creation has been turned upside
down by the fall. The things of creation are now closest to God, then
children and then parents. Where should we begin in restoration? The
work of re-creation is restoration, so let us think about the process
of God's own first creation, which God accomplished together with the
angels. Even though the archangel Lucifer became fallen, the other
two important archangels are still there at God's side, along with the
angelic world. In cooperation with the angelic world God made all the
things of creation first.
Next God created His own children. If those children of God had grown
into perfection, what would they have become? Parents. I want you to know
clearly that the work of salvation we are talking about is the work of
restoration; salvation, restoration, and re-creation are all one and the
same thing. Through the re-creation process the realm of resurrection
comes into being. When we advance with the work of salvation we are
actually proceeding with the work of resurrection and re-creation.
God will start from the re-creation of all things first, because
that is the order of His initial creation. Who should do that? Man
was the one who brought the fall and for that reason man has the first
responsibility. Nature holds a higher position than man since the fall,
and consequently we must make an effort to become one with all things
first. Based on this principle the practice of offering sacrifices
came into being, particularly in the Old Testament era. At that time
offerings were made of money, animals, and cereal grains, representing the
three major aspects of the physical world-the mineral, plant and animal
kingdoms. When Abraham made his offerings he brought a dove and a pigeon,
a ram and a she-goat, and a heifer, three different kinds of offerings.
What is an offering? The making of an offering is significant because
it is the process whereby men and the things of creation become one in
the sight of God. The time must come when man can make offerings on the
family, tribal, national and worldwide levels, in order to restore mankind
as the center of all things. In other words, man's original lordship is
restored when the offering is accepted by God. This has been the work
of the Old Testament era, when offerings were made on the individual,
family, tribal and national levels. That is the way Old Testament
history progressed.
After that era was consummated by the recreation of all things,
or the creation of the unity between all things and man, then man's
lordship over all creation was restored. Upon that foundation the new
era of children dawned with the coming of Jesus Christ. As a man who
was a child of God, Jesus came upon God's foundation of all things to
proclaim man's lordship. Ultimately Jesus became an offering himself,
so that fallen mankind could be elevated to the level of children of
God by uniting with Jesus. This became the New Testament era.
By shedding blood Jesus literally became a sacrifice on the altar of
God. Jesus' desire to see his role fulfilled became his desire to see
the day of the Lord of the Second Advent, which begins the era of the
parents. By restoring all things of creation during the Old Testament era
and re-creating fallen man as the sons of God during the New Testament
era, the new era of the parents could be brought forth.
America's mission as the center of Christianity
Christianity is the foundation upon which this final altar of the
parents can be created. America has become the center of Christianity
and God poured upon this land a material blessing to adequately prepare
it for the time of Kingdom-building. God blessed this Christian nation
with material things and it was able to embrace people from all over
the world, establishing America as the culminating point of the new
dispensation. All of this reached a peak after World War II.
God poured out both the material power and the power of influence that
would enable America to embrace the rest of the world. America contains
an assortment of the world's races, truly being a melting pot. Why did
God need to create America as a Christian nation? Solely to prepare
for that one momentous time of His history, the Second Advent of the
Lord. Through the Old Testament era God has restored all things and
through the New Testament era God has restored the children, and upon
that foundation God could give out the blessing for making a heavenly
home. That marks the consummation of God's dispensation.
America is supposed to be a God-centered nation; American people should
feel that the backbone of this nation is God, and all its wealth and
material blessing is for God's purpose. The age for the installation of
the heavenly parents is dawning; that is the meaning of the new age. If
Christianity accepts the new era and the new messiahship then there
will be no problem. However, if Christianity, in the position of the
children of God, opposes the parents, then the parents will receive untold
persecution. If Christianity opposes the installation of the new age,
then the entire rest of the world will join together with Christianity
in opposition.
In that case the parents installed by God shall go up to God's altar
as the sacrifice for mankind. In light of the Principle, the Unification
Church was born to lay the necessary foundation to prevent the damaging
of God's providence by the satanic world. The Unification Church is the
new breed of people who understand the truth about God and the original
purpose of His creation. They know that God's history was first centered
upon all the things of nature, then upon God-centered children and that
upon all of this the God-centered parents will finally come into being
as the center of God's ideal. Together their give and take of love will
create a living Kingdom of God here on earth. The Unification Church
knows that this is the ideal of God here on earth, and has brought a new
terminology: True Parents. The True Parents are an important center of
the Unification Church because they are the symbol of the New Age.
Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit are the center of Christianity. The
Holy Spirit is a mother spirit, or the spirit of re-birth; therefore,
Jesus and the Holy Spirit together have been in the role of the spiritual
parents of mankind. Since Christianity has only spiritual parents, the
salvation of Christianity is only spiritual, exercising no power over
the physical world. But the Unification Church is different.
We have power because we have a physical as well as spiritual
center, the True Parents. Therefore, for the first time in history, the
unification Church has the power to save mankind physically as well as
spiritually. Because of the fall everything has been upside down, but
we are now in the process of restoring the original sequence: parents,
children, and all things. In the Unification Church the True Parents,
you as the children, and all the property and material that God has given
to this church, together represent the three ages: Completed Testament,
New Testament, and Old Testament. This is also symbolic of the entire
universe. Who forms the center? At the center are the True Parents.
If there has been no fall then certainly the center of the universe
would have been Adam and Eve as the parents of mankind. When Adam and
Eve were perfected they were supposed to be the center not only of the
family, but also of Adam's race, Adam's nation, Adam's world and Adam's
universe. They were supposed to be the center of everything because they
were to be the body of God.
God's original intention for Christianity
I want you to understand that the entire work of God is the work
of re-creation. First God re-created all things, then God re-created
His children, and finally God is re-creating God-centered parents.
However, in this time of re-creation man plays the central role. This
work of re-creation is harder than the initial creation because Satan is
a blocking force. When God originally created man there was no Satan, but
under our present circumstances we must succeed in the doubly difficult
task of re-creation.
That is the road of salvation. When you are going uncompromisingly in
the direction of God, you are inevitably placing yourself in a position
to be attacked by Satan. Satan is not standing still either. This circle
I am drawing represents the entire universe taken by Satan. Since we
cannot restore the entire universe at one stroke we set up conditional
restoration in a small point, gathering and restoring all the elements
needed for the Kingdom. This is the beachhead or foothold of the Kingdom
of God on earth. This is far greater in value than the entire satanic
universe put together.
Next that beachhead must be expanded. In the Old Testament era that
expansion only included material things, but it expanded onto the
tribal and national levels. When the restoration of all things was
accomplished on the scale of the chosen nation then God promised to
send someone. Why? Establishing a chosen nation was merely groundwork
and upon that foundation God wanted to start the restoration of the
children, for which a God-centered son should come. Satan knew that the
Messiah was coming as God's champion in order to declare God's Kingdom,
and that once the Messiah could claim his own territory then the satanic
world would come to an end. Naturally Satan focused his entire attack
on the central figure of Jesus Christ.
Even though it was God's chosen nation, Israel was still under
the dominion of the Roman Empire at that time, both politically and
economically. Satan is clever. Even though the chosen nation might become
completely one with Jesus, Satan had yet another string to pull: the Roman
Empire. In other words, Satan still had the power to crush that kingdom.
If Jesus, the people of Israel, and all things of that nation
had become totally one, then a sample Kingdom of God would have been
formed. What kind of ideology should the chosen nation of Israel have
had? They should have deeply felt that their nation was God's nation,
and that their people were God's people, as well as all their material
belongings being God's. But on the contrary, they thought of Jesus as
a stranger trying to disrupt their own nation and their own religion.
Actually the people should have had even broader minds, thinking of
the Roman Empire and the Roman citizens as belonging to God. They should
have been praying for God to give them a central champion to rally around
in order to unite the Arab nations so that they could even subjugate
the Roman Empire for His purpose. Then upon recognizing Jesus as the
Messiah, the son of God, they could have achieved such a goal. If that
had been done at the time of Jesus then the different religious spheres
like Christianity as the extension of Judaism, and Islam should not have
been needed.
If Jesus and the nation of Israel had created a unified kingdom
and absorbed all the Arab nations, then India, China and other Eastern
nations would have been in the most suitable position to unite with Jesus'
kingdom. They were afraid of the power of the Roman Empire, and in order
to stand against Rome they would have needed such an alliance. At that
time the Roman Empire was very weakened by internal corruption, just like
America today, and could easily have been subjugated by God's force. If
China and India had taken a position to support a united kingdom in the
Middle East centered upon Jesus, then God's worldwide kingdom would have
been seen.
God had already prepared India and China through the religions of
Buddhism and Confucianism so that the people were trained, religiously
speaking. The noble concepts of Jesus' philosophy and way of life could
have been easily understood by the people of India and China at that
time. God's original intention was for Christianity to move first toward
the East-India and China-and to blossom there. Then Jesus Christ would
have been elevated into the position of king of kings, spiritually as well
as physically. Today Christianity is looked upon as a Western religion,
but it should have been an Eastern religion first.
God's olive trees
Jesus was the second Adam, but he was perfected. Therefore he could
have become the ancestor of sinless mankind. If that perfection had
prevailed back then, do you think Jesus would have married or not?
When we say that Jesus was supposed to have been the True Parent of
mankind we mean that he should have married, and together with his bride
become the true father and mother of mankind. Most Christians call us
blasphemers for making such statements, but this is true. After Jesus
was blessed by God and had begun the first family of God on the face of
the earth, then Jesus' own tribe and race would have been established,
forming one sphere. A second sphere of religious people and third sphere
of non-religious people would also exist.
Those in the religious realm, the second sphere, are described as
wild olive trees in the Bible, but God is at the center and accepts
these wild olive trees. Those in the third circle are also wild olive
trees yet with Satan at their center. Those in Jesus' realm are the true
olive trees. Why is God the center of some of the wild olive trees?
Simply because God can chop them down; in the religious world God can
freely undertake revolutionary work and chop down the wild olive trees
in order to graft them onto the true olive tree.
Through that grafting process the entire religious world would have
become one with Jesus' world, together becoming true olive trees. Even
those wild olive trees with Satan at the center should envy the beauty
and accomplishment of the realm of the true olive trees, and hope to
enter too. When that becomes their desire then God's kingdom can expand
to embrace the entire satanic world.
Thus this entire world will gradually become God-centered, instead
of Satan-centered. Do you understand now what the religious world meant
in God's dispensation? The people of religion are wild olive trees,
but they have God as their center. In order to graft onto the true olive
tree the wild olive trees must be struck, but if they belonged to Satan
he would say, "No, you can't do that. These are my olive trees."
If the chosen nation of Israel had truly followed God's will and
become one with Jesus, do you think that the process of expanding the
true olive tree throughout the entire religious sphere would have been
possible at that time or not? India belonged in that realm because it was
a religious nation, as well as China. The ultimate will of God is to form
one world. However, after the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, the wild olive
trees under God's control which were to be absorbed into the chosen nation
were instead subjugated by the wild olive trees under Satan's dominion.
The other day I went to a big clothing store owned by a Jewish
man. He knew who I was and he asked me, "I am supposed to be a member
of the chosen nation, but I work hard just to keep myself alive. Why
should the chosen people suffer this way? I truly don't understand." It
is most apparent that the chosen nation of Israel was given the most
glorious opportunity by God to have the parents of mankind become
fruitful and successful in their nation, and to help install the heavenly
sovereignty. But because of the rejection of Jesus by the chosen people
both those missions failed and the son of God was crucified.
As a result, the satanic world came against them and at the same time
God's foothold in the satanic world was eliminated. Through a great deal
of failure and sin a great chasm opened that had to be filled and made
whole again. A great deal of sacrifice has been paid by the chosen people
and a great deal of slaughter and bloodshed has occurred; for example,
six million Jews were murdered in Germany during World War 11. The
chosen nation is in a sacrificial position, just as Jesus himself was
a sacrifice for all mankind. Of all the peoples of the world, this one
people has been paying the debt of the sin of mankind, but once that
debt has been met they will be liberated.
Today's Moses
Because I say these things I have been condemned as being anti-Semitic,
but that is far from the truth. Israel has been fulfilling a glorious
mission and paying off the debt of the whole world, and even now they must
accept Jesus. That is the culmination of their course because Judaism
represents God's work on the formation level. The Jews must come to the
growth level and then further to perfection. Until the Jews can transcend
Judaism there is no way that the differences between the Arab nations
and Israel can be resolved. They must become one with Christianity,
and by doing so they can embrace the Arab nations and Islam.
Furthermore, there is no way that Christianity can survive without
uniting with the Unification Church. The Old Testament era was merely
the foundation for the New Testament era, which was the foundation for
the Completed Testament era. This means that Judaism is the foundation
of Christianity, and the Unification Church has been built upon the
foundation of Christianity. Those who have a Christian background,
directly or indirectly, raise your hands. Now you are moving out of the
growth stage realm of Christianity and into the perfection realm of the
Unification Church.
During the Exodus from Egypt the chosen nation suffered for forty
years in the wilderness before reaching Canaan. That has been the
pattern of history. By the same token, the Unification Church is now
moving toward the land of Canaan, while suffering in the wilderness of
modern day civilization for forty years since World War 11. The land of
Canaan on the universal scale is ahead of us; that is the Unification
Church culture. World War 11 began after the period from 1932-1939;
1981 will be the culmination of the forty-year period in the wilderness.
During the Exodus from Egypt the people separated themselves from Moses
by criticizing and opposing him, and for this they needlessly suffered a
great deal. All of the people who followed Moses out of Egypt faltered and
died in the wilderness; God could not permit them to enter Canaan because
they separated themselves from Moses, the leader whom God had chosen.
My role and that of the Unification Church is that of Moses, while
Christianity is in the position of the nation of Israel. Unless the
Christians become one with the Unification Church and unite with the
Moses of today, they will suffer the same fate as those Jews who came
out of Egypt. Only the second generation was able to enter Canaan 4,000
years ago, and in the same way the Unification Church today is reaping the
second generation. These young people are going to arrive in Canaan. The
entire first generation set out to go to Canaan, but instead they became
the prey of eagles in the wilderness after they died. Today history is
repeating itself, but on a different scale. God's providence for the
chosen nation 2,000 years ago has now expanded to the worldwide scale.
America is like a house on fire and certainly fire fighters should
come from outside because this nation does not have fire fighters within
itself. America is like a patient needing a doctor, who must come from
the outside. I have declared to America, "t came as a doctor to tend
this patient of America. I came to put out the fire." No religious leader
has ever made this declaration.
When arrogant people hear that they feel insulted, grumbling, "What
is this Oriental man talking about?" If they knew God's purpose and
God's will then they would realize that it is perfectly legitimate to
speak out in that fashion. We are witnessing an interesting phenomenon
in New York. Every morning when you go out to sell newspapers, more than
80% of the people you meet belong to an ethnic group, yet most of the
rejections you receive come from white people. This is one sign that the
ethnic groups are in a position to inherit the blessings God has given
to the white people, should their arrogance persist.
White brothers and sisters of the Unification Church, your role
and your mission is vitally important. You must bear the cross for the
sake of the entire white race around the world. America must fulfill
its position of embracing the rest of the world, which it had failed to
do. What I have said makes people feel uncomfortable, but once they go
to the spirit world they will see how true it is.
Christians today just do not understand God's truth, but even so they
are convinced that the Kingdom of Heaven is waiting for them in spirit
world. There is no question that the modem day churches are declining.
However, even though America may decline and the rest of the world
may crumble, as long as we adhere to God's Principle, the Unification
Church shall survive and prosper. Christianity, which was originally
intended to expand first toward the East, instead turned toward Rome
after the crucifixion of Jesus. Rome received the blessing instead of
Israel because Christianity ultimately dominated the Roman Empire after
400 years. We have to restore that blessing, meaning that we must go to
the Roman Empire. Today's America is like that Roman Empire, and this
new religious movement has been prospering and making a beachhead here.
Christianity must come full circle to Asia
Christianity's ultimate destination is Asia. It started in Israel,
went to Rome, and then to Europe, England, and finally across the
Atlantic Ocean to America. It is not going to stop here, but will
reach its destination in Asia. In fighting World War 11 the Western
powers overwhelmed the Asian nations. What is God going to do next?
The culmination of Jesus' mission centered upon Asia, but since that
was not fulfilled, the mission of Christianity will be culminated by
the blossoming of the Second Advent in Asia. Centering upon that part
of the world God will undertake the task of liberating the world.
The central nation of the new Christian movement is not going to be
in Southeast Asia or Japan, but Korea. Korea today is the sacrifice of
the modern day dispensation. Abraham's sacrifice was cut in half, and
for the same reason the nation of Korea, the universal sacrifice on the
altar of God, has been divided into two nations. A very symbolic court
is located in Panmunjom, in which the satanic side and God's side are
sitting together, bitterly accusing each other, saying, "Korea is our
land." A battle of words is being fought in Panmunjom.
When God's side is victorious and can bring North Korea under a
God-accepting ideology, then Korea will be united from that point on,
and the entire communist world will begin to crumble. As the Christian
nation, America's role is to successfully usher in this final dispensation
of absolute support for Korea. That will enable Korea to become God's
champion in order to re-capture the entire peninsula, so that the
communists can be liberated.
If America abandons Korea then it is abandoning all Christianity, not
only in Korea but throughout all of Asia, to destruction and death, and
God's foothold in Asia will be wiped out. This is exactly what American
foreign policy is heading toward. Should that happen then America will
quickly crumble, even before Korea fails, and no power will prevent God
from bringing down His wrath upon this nation. God can see the crucial
time approaching, and because God is desperate to prevent America from
failing its mission God sent His own messenger to this country, asking him
to create a foothold here to keep the link between America and Asia from
being severed. This is the scope of our work in the Unification Church.
America does not know that I am fulfilling a crucial mission to save
this nation from the wrath of God. The interest and attention of Western
young people is focused on Asia, isn't it? Through our being successful
we will set a condition to indemnity the failure of America and God will
have room to forgive this nation. Our success will cover up the failure
of America, and as long as the Unification Church is alive and strong
there will be a chance to recover Asia if it falls to communism.
Christian culture started in the Middle East, then moved to the Italian
peninsula under the Roman Empire, to the island of England, and then to
the continent of America. This has been the road of failure resulting
from the crucifixion of Jesus, and from this point of restoration it
has to go the reverse process. From the continent it must go to an
island equivalent to England. That position is taken by Japan. To bring
restoration through indemnity means to pay the debt and restore the
original position. England lost its position in the providence of God,
so in its place God is working through Japan as an island, and Korea as
a peninsula equivalent to Italy. Ultimately the providence will return
to the point of origin in the Middle East, completing the circle, and
restoring the failure of Christianity.
The spiritual side will become
subject over the physical side
World history is repeating itself except on different territory; in
addition, events have a significance on the worldwide level, instead
of only the national level. In a way the mission of God is to make a
round-the-world tour. In the long process of changing its central point
from Israel all the way to the United States, Christianity acquired the
flavor of a Western religion, and has received a great deal of material
blessing as the central religion; as the central nation, America has
also been receiving tremendous material wealth.
During this time the Orient, representing the spiritual side, has
always been subordinate to Western culture, representing the physical
side. However, in the original concept of creation, the physical world
should not have been subject over the world of spirit or mind. In the end
God will give the new spiritual perfection to Asia. Western materialism
has come to a deadlock and is longing for spiritual perfection; in
order to find new hope the West must look for some solution from Asia,
and ultimately the dominion of the physical over the spiritual will be
reversed in the final dispensation. The new spiritual power will become
the subject of Western culture. American interest is now focused upon
Asia. California, for example, is physically closer to Asia, and more
spiritually oriented young people are gravitating there. This is all
heavenly strategy.
Korea's position is equivalent to Italy, which became a center of
Christianity, having the papacy located in Rome. Because the papacy has
spiritually governed Roman Catholicism all over the world Rome has been
like a spiritual capital. Similarly, Korea is like New Age Rome and the
world's spiritual capital will be erected there. From there God's entire
spiritual kingdom on earth will be governed.
The Lord of the Second Advent is the only one who has the power to
liquidate the ideology of communism by bringing a better solution for
world problems. By winning over the communist ideology he can really
give new hope and unified ideology to the entire world. It could almost
be said that God is using communism as a tool to hasten the day of the
Lord's victory; since he is the only one with the solution, the Lord
can demonstrate his true authority by overcoming communism.
The communists have been saying that their ideology, not God, has
the power to save mankind. They have been very aggressive and conquered
many people but after coming this far they have reached a deadlock.
People are seeking new solutions since communism has not accomplished
its ideals. In that sense it is helping to hasten the fulfillment of the
role of the Lord of the Second Advent, because when he comes the people
will already be in despair. Having been disappointed with communism,
they will be able to see new hope in God's ideology.
When the communists realize they are wrong and repent then they
may receive God's blessing even before the Christian world. Christians
are asleep to the world's situation, and because many are stubborn and
arrogant they do not repent. The communists, however, may be in a better
position to be repentant, and then God will disregard their past and
give them His blessing. The Roman Empire was absolutely the enemy of
God during Jesus' time, yet by surrendering to Christianity the Roman
Empire received all God's blessing first. God will give His blessing to
whoever comes to repent first instead of America. Maybe the communists
will come to that point first.
The Unification Church has the power to melt even the hearts of the
communists and bring them to repentance. American people do not want to
be bothered with hearing the truth, but in spite of that I must speak
out. Have you read anything like this in a library book, or heard it from
a college professor? I began with explaining the most basic points about
God's own creation. In light of this logic and principle, world history
could be moving in no other way. This is really the core truth about God.
Do you feel fortunate to be in the Unification Church or not? Why
don't you go away? Because of you I am being given a hard time.
Perhaps I should advertise for all your parents to come and kidnap
you and take you away. I want to prove how good you are by having you
undergo the kidnappers' ordeal. God does not want the people who are
afraid of deprogramming; God wants people who cannot be deprogrammed.
They are the real sons and daughters of God.
I want to reach a conclusion. The work of God is the work of
re-creation; therefore, in His place we are re-creating all of God's
things of creation, God's children, and God-centered parents, so that
together we can bring down the Kingdom of God here on earth. That is the
road of restoration. This is very simple truth. If a product which leaves
the factory is out of order, then in order to be fixed it must go back
to the factory to be disassembled, fixed, and then reassembled. Do you
think that before the fall of man God had been thinking about building
His Kingdom somewhere in the air and having big banquets there? Do you
think He has been planning to abandon the earth all along? That is an
absolutely impossible fantasy, yet today many Christians believe it.
That kind of supernatural thing shall never come about. I have met
God and Jesus in heaven and have seen and heard God's plan. In that
respect I am a universal expert; I know all this is truth, not because
I figured these things out, but because I have seen and heard them.
Can the American people ignore this truth because they look down on me
as being Asian? Could they say that they are waiting for someone else?
It is arrogant to reject someone from another race because you never
know who God will raise up as His instrument. America has reached the
high pinnacle of a mountain, but is America humble enough to descend all
the way to the valley to meet God, and then come out again? That could
be a most beautiful sight. Don't just try to cling to the pinnacle of
the mountain.
I would like to bring the American young people who have been on
the peak of the mountain to true greatness. Your destination is not to
progress to another high mountain, but rather to go down to the valley,
the ditch of human misery, and experience suffering yourselves; if you
can still be humble and grateful then you are truly great Americans. All
those who can descend to the valley will have the added momentum and
power to rise all the way up to a new height. When you bend more you
can jump higher. That is the way I would like to re-create you, having
you go far down into the valley and then spring way up into heaven. Do
you welcome this method or not?
Why do people oppose us? They are fearful of us and feel threatened
by our formidable power and energy. Judaism, Roman Catholicism and
Protestantism used to be enemies, but some months ago three of their
representatives got together and made a joint declaration against me.
When that came out many people said, "That Reverend Moon must be something
because all the religions are frightened to death of him! Well I like
him." I received many responses like that.
Your re-creation of parents,
children and all things
Now you know that with your own hands you will re-create all things,
re-create the children of God, and bring forth the God-centered
parents. Can you do it? The Unification Church is actually doing it.
Fund raising is economic restoration, what we can call "restoration of
all things." With your own hands you earn money for God-white peoples'
money, black peoples' money, yellow peoples' money, even the money of
laborers, communists and millionaires.
Even though we cannot earn all that is necessary solely by fund
raising, that money becomes a condition, an offering representing all
the remaining materials of the world. The money that you earn with
your hands is not your money, but God's money. "Nothing belongs to me;
I bring a small amount of conditional money from the wealth of the
world and want to give it to God." In fund raising you accept this
money as a representative of God and spend it for God's purpose. Are
we doing this because we want to become rich millionaires, or because
we want to speed up the work of re-creation, the work of restoration?
The restoration of all things comes first, and for seven years we will
do this to restore the whole 7,000 year history of God.
Regardless of how people criticize our fund raising we must just
do it. The Unification Church members should be able to restore some
conditional wealth from the world, representing the re-creation of
all things. While we are doing this the representatives of Judaism in
the Old Testament era and representatives of the 2,000 year history of
Christianity have come against us. By having this universal opposition
we can accomplish the restoration in a shorter time. I would rather face
this opposition first.
By facing opposition we are realistically accomplishing this
re-creation under adverse conditions. Opposition is inevitable because
Satan is holding the world. Opposition against our fund raising and
our witnessing is worldwide, with people being very protective of
their children and their money, saying, "How in the world can you call
Reverend and Mrs. Moon your True Parents? Are you crazy?" Shall we go
on fund raising and running factories? Factory work actually has little
meaning compared to fund raising, which involves heavenly collision and
struggle with the satanic world. As you are trying to restore money for
God's providence you are experiencing the deep meaning of God's struggle;
God can feel that He is vindicating His entire history through you.
Even though people may give you money reluctantly, by their making
an offering blessing can come to them eventually. Who will receive the
benefit of their sacrifice? Ultimately the nation and the world itself
shall benefit. The money we earn should not be dry money, but should
be wet by tears and sweat. Only that kind of money can serve as a true
offering. When that money is used 100% for God then it becomes holy.
Usually when people see money it goes straight into their pockets,
but we must be different.
Witnessing involves the restoration of the home and family. Adam's
family had eight members, and representing Adam's family Noah's family
also had eight members. Jesus had to bring three major disciples before
he could marry; together with their wives they would have become six,
plus Jesus with his bride would have fulfilled the number eight. You
also must restore three spiritual sons. In that way you will elevate
yourself higher than Adam, who did not have God-centered sons; later
on you will be blessed and have your physical children, and then both
spiritually and physically you will be higher than Adam.
By your own hands you must restore heavenly wealth and heavenly
children, and offer them to God. Then God will receive them and return
His blessing to you, and as children of God you shall disseminate that
blessing to the world. That is the history of restoration. You shall
be blessed as husband and wife, and together with your three children
offer to God all the things you have. That represents the fulfilled
history of the Old Testament, New Testament, and Completed Testament.
Both vertically and horizontally you are making yourself the symbol,
or center of that offering and bringing the whole thing to the altar of
God; then the blessing and love of God will come down. In that love you
will live forever with your family and God-centered material things,
both here on earth and thereafter in heaven. We shall be entitled to
both kingdoms, on earth and in heaven.
Why should we get married? We must be in a position to experience
the love of parent, love of spouse, and love of children. In the spirit
world the atmosphere you will breathe is the love of God, which consists
of the love of parents, love of husband and wife, and love of children
all together. In order to breathe such air you need to experience such
love here on earth. That is why you need to get blessed; your earthly
life is merely a workshop, a training center in which you can experience
all three kinds of love. Unless you experience and practice such love
here on earth then when you are elevated to spirit world you will not
be able to breathe. You know what happens here on earth when you cannot
breathe. From that point of view, do you have a desire to get married?
The message this morning is "The Realm of Resurrection,"
meaning the resurrection of all things, not as "mine," but as God's. In
this meaning my children are not mine but the children of God and the
universe. As subject and object, my wife and I together are not living
our own lives, but we are living as representatives of God, as dwelling
places of God. I am supposed to make myself a visible form of God such
that whenever I move, my children and all the things of the universe
will also move; then God is certainly walking together with me. That
is resurrection.
You can declare to heaven and earth that you are a victorious person
when you are victorious over yourself. God will recognize it by saying,
"Indeed my son, you are victorious and I will give you the gift and
reward of my love." After you have completely restored yourself then
you are completely liberated and everywhere you go you can be absolutely
free here on earth, in heaven, in God's home, and at God's throne. The
heart of God and the vision of God can freely come to you.
This is the mission of the Unification Church. You are not only to
make yourself completely free but you are to bring the rest of the world
with you, letting everyone enjoy the same freedom. Ultimately, God needs
to be resurrected and together with God we will make that happen. God has
had no joyful moment because up to now God has been working only for His
children's restoration and salvation. By accomplishing total resurrection
we come to the level where no more liberation and resurrection are needed
and then God Himself will be absolutely free. Finally God will have
nothing more to do but rejoice over creation and receive His glory. This
is how we will liberate God.
We are the hand-picked champions of God who are called to the mission
of liberating not only ourselves and not only this world and mankind;
our mission includes the liberation of God Himself. Don't you feel good
when you hear this? Actually doing this is not easy. Truly it is even
harder than dying, because you have to go down to the bottom of human
misery to live. I have been walking that path for thirty years and I have
secured my own liberation, salvation and resurrection. I do not need any
more, but as I said, until I bring the world together and liberate God
I cannot stop. No matter what persecution may come to me I shall go on;
nobody can stop me.
Honestly speaking, this is not an easy path. The pain is so great
sometimes that you want to curse everybody, curse God, curse yourself,
and drop dead. Even when you sometimes suffer that kind of feeling you
must persevere, being patient and thrusting yourself toward that goal.
I want you to know that this life is not easy, but are you still willing
to tackle it? You may die a miserable death, but do you mind? Suppose I
dropped dead in the street. Would Americans mourn for me, or would they
feel, "Finally that troublemaker's gone." What is realistic? I am sure you
would weep, but everyone else would say, "That crazy guy finally died,
and all you Moonies should drop dead too." None but a handful of people
is on our side.
However, I want you to know that because your motivation in life is
so unselfish and God-centered that even if you drop dead on the street,
that is not the end of you; people may think it is the end of what we
are doing, but instead that is the beginning of your glory. If you died
giving your absolute best then you are entitled to a higher heaven than
anybody else. Without exception every man of God in history has walked
that path. It is our honor and privilege to participate in that way of
life for the sake of God. That is my philosophy.
America is a comfortable place where you can enjoy all kinds of carnal
pleasures and every kind of freedom awaits you. Why should you choose
to go this kind of difficult path? What do you gain by doing it? If a
bare-handed young man joins our movement, then in ten years he is still
bare-handed; nothing happens. The only experiences you get are hunger,
suffering and cold.
Some of you sisters are thinking, "I've already been here ten years and
I'm no longer young. Even if I get married, I wonder if I could really
have children. Father, please think about my age. We heard about ideal
families in the Divine Principle, but I'm not even married! " Maybe the
best thing for you to do is pack up and leave! I would drive you to death
yet you still accept that fate; that is why people say you are crazy. Why
should you do it? Only because we need the realm of resurrection. When
a mother is giving birth to her child she feels a great deal of pain,
and spiritually also it is a desperate struggle to give new life to
this world. We are going through that kind of pain together, and we
are bringing new life to this world together. That pain of birth is a
desperate one.
God and all of mankind are suffering in this birth pain. Then all
of a sudden when a child is born his mother forgets her pain, and
God forgets His pain. Mankind can forget its pain and rejoice over
the birth of the new child. That is our way of life. That is the day
we are looking forward to. Shall we go on? Shall we go a mediocre and
half-hearted way, or shall we go all the way? All right, do it then.
Go the dramatic way. Let us pray.
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