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I have not spoken at Belvedere these past several weeks. Is that why we have such a small group this morning? That is not good. Many religious groups meet four times a week. There is often a Sunday morning service, a Sunday evening service, a Wednesday evening service and a Friday fellowship meeting. Of course, any religious group that is active will have more frequent meetings. That is always better.
Today I will address you on the topic of the history of the struggle of good and evil and ourselves. There are two fundamental ways of life: the way of goodness and the way of evil. If the fall of man had not taken place, there would have been only one way of life, one road for man to go. Today we must clearly understand what that road was for man before the fall. and what the road has been after the fall.
Goodness or evil can always be determined centered upon the individual. Thus you are the one who determines whether certain things are good or certain things are evil. Goodness always originates from God and is connected to Him, while evil originates from the opposite being, Satan. The road of goodness is connected to heaven while the evil road is connected to hell.
This is apparent even in secular society. Those people who do good things and follow the path of goodness often accomplish good things and achieve happiness. Those people who do evil things often end up in jail and unhappy. Goodness leads upwards while evil leads downwards.
Who is at the center? The individual is always the one who determines good and evil. Good and evil are not foreign to you; they depend upon you. Many people talk about evil and social problems and so forth. Likewise they speak about good things and striving for ideals and a utopian world, but often these things are treated like something which is foreign or distant from individuals. This is not the case. These things are determined by the individual.
Even if there is such a place as the ideal world, a utopia, if you are not related to that ideal world, it has nothing to do with you. Likewise, if there is an excellent school with a fantastic reputation, you have no relation to it unless you are a student at that school.
You are the beginning point of good and evil; you are the beginning point of everything. There is a tendency for people to say that good and evil are separate from themselves, but that is not true. There is nothing of good or evil out there that is not related to you.
Everyone has a certain feeling about himself or herself, isn't that true? When you think about yourself, you must ask, "Where is my own goodness?" You can't find goodness out there someplace, like a commodity to acquire. Instead you have to look at goodness from within yourself, with yourself as the starting point, the origin.
By the same token, evil begins from the individual, from "me." Everything begins from the individual, so you can go up, down, left or right. Our daily life is the process of determining what is good within ourselves and what is evil. How can we cope with good and evil? We must determine the original source of that goodness or that evil.
Because of the fall of man, we brought down upon the earth two ways of life for human beings. One is the good way and the other is the evil way. One is centered on spiritual values and the other is centered on material values. There are two origins and there are two basic kinds of people.
If there had been no fall, the two characteristics of people, the spiritual and the material, would be dwelling in unity. But because of the fall, they became characteristics of two types of individuals. One type of individual is basically centered upon the material aspect of life; we call that an evil basis. The other type of individual is centered upon the spiritual aspect, which is the base of goodness.
In this respect, the body has been the basis of evil. In other words, it is the stage upon which evil can act, while the spirit has been the base or the stage for goodness. Thus the base for good and evil are not somewhere else; they are within you. You are the one to determine whether you end up in heaven or hell.
Thus we could say that even God and Satan are struggling to make gains upon you; you are their stage, the center of their struggle. St. Paul said that there were two members within him which were struggling constantly. One was trying to obey the laws of God and the other was trying to obey the laws of Satan. He recorded this agonizing battle within him when he wrote, "Wretched man that I am!"
Before we can talk about utopia or the ideal world, we have to determine what kind of self we are. That self must be disciplined to reach the goal of the heavenly ideal. It is only by your own discipline that you can achieve that goal.
There is hell and there is heaven. That is certainly a true statement, but no matter how wonderful heaven is, it will have nothing to do with you unless you are entitled to it. Each individual is composed of two stages: the stage for goodness to act upon and the stage for evil. Two powers are pulling you, trying to steer you towards goodness or towards evil. Can good and evil dwell in the same place? Have your mind and body been the dwelling place for goodness or the dwelling place for evil? What can we do about it? Good and evil cannot co-exist in harmony. As soon as they come into proximity, there is struggle.
This struggle is fundamentally within you, the individual. Unless you resolve it, the battle between good and evil will follow you into the spiritual world and it will not diminish there. If you went to heaven in the spirit world, you would immediately be recognized as having the source of evil within you, that you had not yet separated yourself from evil. Therefore it would be clear that you did not belong there. The good, heavenly realm cannot accept such a person.
I want you to recognize the necessity of religion: it is to exterminate the source of evil within oneself and thus to defeat the source of evil here on earth. That is the process and the purpose of religion. Today many people have the wrong idea about the purpose of religion. They believe that it consists of defeating social evils and doing good in an external sense, but they tend to disregard the very basic struggle within themselves. They try to achieve some goodness or defeat some evil "out there," but that is far from the original purpose of religion.
There are two distinct worlds out there, without any question. There is the free world, based on a theistic world view, and there is the communist world, based on an atheistic or materialistic world view. But everything originates from the self. Whichever of the two worlds is good or evil, they are nothing more than the extension of the individual appearing on the worldwide level.
The seed is always within the individual. The individual seed of good and evil is sown and appears ultimately as fruit on the worldwide level. Many people look at the United States, representing the free world, and the Soviet Union, representing the communist world, as the ones who will decide the destiny of the world. The conflict between these two superpowers are seen by many as the problem in our world today, but that is not the case. The problem is always the individual. We must realize this formidable fact: all the phenomena of good and evil begin from the individual.
Thus the problems of the world come down to one point: how to exterminate evil. The base of evil is always within the material realm. Satan dwells in and works through the material realm, so in order to stop the encroachment of evil, we have to completely control the material aspect of our own lives. We cannot allow it to operate without rules.
My topic is the history of the struggle between good and evil. Where does that history begin? It begins nowhere else but within each individual. Does the struggle between good and evil begin in your home or your family? No, that is too far away. It starts within you.
Can you say, "I am going to begin my battle against evil on the worldwide level."? No, that battle must begin within yourself and it must be won within yourself first.
Are you convinced of this truth? It is important that we be really sure about this. The Bible says, "Know the truth and the truth shall set you free." Do you really know that the battle between good and evil is within yourself?
We come to a simple criterion for this battle. Those who wish to pursue the road of goodness must deny their own physical bodies. It is true that when we have the choice between good-tasting food and bad-tasting food, we will naturally want to reach for the good food. However, the act of reaching for food becomes an act of either goodness or evil. In other words, the same food can be taken for the sake of goodness or for the sake of evil. It is not the food itself that determines good or evil.
Food is a part of the universe; thus it is a public asset, public property. Food desires to be taken in by some good man or woman and thus to become the nourishment for a good person s body. The energy of that food will thus be imparted for the sake of goodness. But if an evil person picks up the same food and eats it, it will become the energy for evil actions.
If clothing could speak, it would say, "I want to protect the bodies of good people, not evil ones." This distinction also applies to the words you speak. The same words can be spoken for a good purpose or for an evil one. Likewise, your thinking can be for goodness or for evil. Your actions are also for good or for evil.
Since everything is determined within the individual, each individual's question should be, "How can I become a better person?" You naturally want to defend yourself from the way of evil and pursue the way of goodness. Generally speaking, religion seeks to teach people that way of goodness and guide them away from evil. What is the basis for religious teaching? Most fundamentally, religion teaches man to deny his body and deny his own self-centered desires. This is why the religious way of life throughout history has involved suffering and self-chastisement.
Religion teaches people how to overcome the desires of the body. For example, some people will do anything to acquire food if they are very hungry, even going out and stealing it. But the way of religion requires that one say "no" to that impulse.
The body craves food and sleep. When your body gets really tired, nothing else matters and you try to find a way to rest somehow. Look at the three disciples with Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane. Jesus asked them specifically, "Stay awake and pray with me." But the bodies of the disciples said, "I don't care. Why should I worry about what Jesus said? I need sleep." Then they started dozing. But a true man of God will follow God's rule under such circumstances, not the body's rule. Another fundamental craving of human beings is the need for sexual love.
Again, how can we control and discipline this craving? The fundamental teachings of religion try to chastise all the instinctive cravings of man's body. That is why good religions have always begun with self-denial. Why is that? It is simply because of the tragedy of the fall of man that self-denial became necessary.
When we talk about the history of the struggle of good and evil, are we talking about something huge, such as the history of the world? No, not at all. We are talking about the history of the individual. We are talking about the struggle of the eyes, the nose, the mouth, the hand, the mind. Every moment of that struggle between good and evil is centered on the individual.
What is our goal in this struggle? The victory of goodness and the conquest of evil is our goal. There are many people who live their lives caring only about whatever the day brings them. Whatever their body needs, that is all they are interested in. But that way of life is destined to end up in total destruction, in hell.
What is the most formidable war? It is not World War II. The most formidable war is the ongoing struggle within oneself between good and evil. This is where each individual must gain victory. Without that victory, the individual will be a failure. World War II was a temporary war, but we are talking about the eternal struggle and are front line soldiers in that struggle. Every individual is actually a soldier.
People are continuously being drawn back and forth between the good world and the evil world. An amazing thing is that you can shift from the good side to the evil one in a second, but to go from the evil side to the good one is not that easy. It requires time and effort.
To fall means to go down. You can fall down easily but trying to climb up is difficult; it requires energy. To climb up you have to overcome the natural pulling power of gravity which brings you down. By the same token, you must overcome the temptation of evil. You must make a lot of effort to conquer that power; otherwise you cannot go up from the evil position to the good position. But to go from the good position to the evil one is very easy. What kind of power can guarantee that we will not fall down into the depths of evil from the good position? We must discipline ourselves so that we cannot be pulled back down.
A habit is an amazing thing. As Americans, you habitually eat hamburgers and cheese. When the foreign missionaries came back to America, the first place many of them dashed into was McDonald's. You can see that the habit of the American way of life doesn't die, even after serving ten years as a missionary in a foreign country. Since habits are so powerful, why not form the habit of living the good way of life? If goodness becomes your habit, you can always stay there.
What is the reward of living in goodness? When you achieve the realm of goodness, you enjoy love and unity in abundance. But when you fall down into the evil realm, jealousy and division are everywhere. Therefore the good world is based on unity and harmony and its essence is love. Utopia begins with God and people living together; the good God and good people. What is the evil world? It is Satan and evil people living together. Thus the difference is between God and man, and Satan and man. The first step towards heaven is to eliminate the Satan/man combination. That is the simplest formula. Whether that Satan/man relationship is controlling you or not will determine your destiny. This is a very important and decisive criterion
What kind of combination do you have within yourself? Do you have the good God and good person, or Satan and evil person combination? This is a very serious problem. Without making this fundamental decision on the individual level, talking about anything else such as the Unification Church or the worldwide dispensation is all in vain. The important thing is to stand on the side of God and to become a good individual, then you can talk about the church, the nation and the world.
Unification Church members are striving to be better than ordinary people. But when you examine yourself, how many hours do you dwell on the side of goodness during each day? How many hours of the day do you have self-centered thoughts going through your mind? Think about it. Even you spiritually elevated, enlightened people of the Unification Church cannot keep up with the side of goodness all day long, so how can you expect goodness in the larger society?
You are always moving, like a piston, trying to activate something. Are you a good piston or an evil piston? Before speaking about people such as Gorbachev, in the communist world, and wondering what they are going to do next, we've got to ask ourselves a more fundamental question: Where am I? Where am I dwelling, on the side of goodness or the side of evil?
It is quite popular to talk about the problems of the world and the evils in society, but people never want to talk about their own evils. They say, "Don't talk about me!" People want to protect themselves from any sort of criticism, but they must first realize that the fundamental base for evil is within themselves.
There is a simple formula by which you can always dwell on the side of goodness and avoid the side of evil. That formula is this: when you claim yourself first, you are the dwelling place of Satan. When you strive for the benefit of the whole, you are striving for goodness. If you are trying to deprive others of something, you are satanic. If you are trying to offer something to others, you are being good.
You should try to live your entire life without falling into debt to others. Instead, give to others and build up your credit. By this criterion you can divide good and evil within yourself and know immediately where you are. If someone gives to you on the scale of 10, you should give back 11. If he gives you 100, you should try to give 110. If you keep up with this standard, you will always be above the line. But if you receive 10 and you return only 9, you are in debt by 1. This is simply logical.
The basic way of life for Unification Church members is to live for the sake of others. When you go home, your parents freely show their love to you and since you don't want to be in debt, you should love them even more than they love you. There is a problem with American young people today. They often complain against their parents: "They never loved me. They didn't really care about me." Those young people are not thinking: "Could I love them more?" When you complain against your parents for not loving you but you don't love them either, then you are equally evil. By condemning your parents, you become even more evil.
If your parents really didn't love you, then you have an immediate surplus, not a deficit, from which to begin. If you give love to your parents, they will recognize that. They will see that even though they did not love their son or daughter properly, they are receiving a lot of love from you and they will automatically surrender. They will try to push you up high. They will say, "My child is number one." What does "number one" mean? It means a God/good man combination. God is the ultimate number one, so when you become number one, you are closer to that ultimate number one.
Jesus' teaching was universal: love your enemy and in that way you can conquer him. Love is the only power that can conquer your enemy. A person who owes a debt of love must be humble; he cannot be proud. Even when one is in debt just for money, he becomes a virtual slave to his creditors. What can he do? The creditors come around, banging on his door, and he just has to humble himself. What about when you are in debt for love? When you are in debt for love, you must think, "I must repay this love even unto my life."
Where does the love-surplus operation exist: when you claim yourself first or when you put the sake of others first? It exists in the unselfish way of life. This is the fundamental historical struggle between good and evil and it is going on within each person. When you speak, speak not for yourself but for the benefit of the whole. When you see something, look at it not for your own selfish benefit but for the benefit of the whole. Satan is always looking at things from a completely self-centered point of view: "How can it benefit me? How can I use that person and exploit him?"
When you are about to get engaged or married, for example, some people think, "Father, match me with the most wonderful person." But who are you centering on in that case? Yourself. Instead you should think, "Father, do your will. Give me the worst person; let me take care of that person and serve him. I will love the ugliest person more than I would love the most handsome or beautiful person." If anyone is thinking in that fashion, there is no room for Satan to come near him.
People with that kind of thinking have nothing to fear in this world. Satan governs in darkness. The person thinking in such an unselfish manner shines like the sun even in the midst of darkness, so Satan cannot invade him or her. When that person looks back, he will see many people following him because they see light in him.
Whatever you do, whether you are eating, sleeping, walking, working, writing, and so forth, you are engaged in the historical struggle between good and evil. Reverend Moon came to America and because of him America became divided into two conflicting camps. Did Reverend Moon come to America to make money for himself? Did Reverend Moon come to win honor, fame and recognition? Reverend Moon came to this country to awaken it, to serve it, to raise it up. But what did the American people do to him? They criticized him, persecuted him, and gave him a lot of suffering. Reverend Moon does not feel he is in debt to America, either in effort, in loving, or in giving money.
Even while this country has been persecuting me, I have been thinking how I can save this country. One good example is The Washington Times, the newspaper which was created in order to save this nation from communist influence. Whether I am recognized or not, I am working on the side of goodness, day in and day out. At this time the American people are starting to realize that they are in debt to Reverend Moon, so they are becoming more humble.
You have to sum up your debts on one side and your credits on the other side. The bottom line must be an asset. What has the Unification Church done? Is it in debt to society or has it served society? Add up that column, whether it is a debt or a credit, and this will determine the destiny of the Unification Church. If the Unification Church continues to serve and maintain a credit, it will continue to go up.
Perhaps you think you have not changed so much and that you are the same Moonie as two years ago. But you are not the same Moonie, even if during these past two years you have been doing the same thing. That is because in these two years the Unification Church has risen to a new plateau, a different phase of operation. Now the most thoughtful American leaders are voluntarily coming to meet with me, seeking my guidance and support.
God is interested in men and women who have already finished their own battles, those who have won the battle between good and evil on the individual level and are trying to serve the country and the world. God is waiting for the appearance of such persons.
There are some things that I find impossible to do; for instance I cannot take a nap during the day. Some people can relax, lie down and sleep like a log in the middle of the day, but I cannot. Why is that? I think to myself, "Since I am teaching the Unification Church members to overcome sleep, I must do that first. At this very hour, so many members are fighting the battle." If I sleep in East Garden or in the New Yorker, what happens? I will become a person in debt to the church members. I cannot allow that to happen. I must not be in debt to anyone in the Unification movement.
If some hardworking person is dying somewhere in the mission field and says to me, "Father, you pushed me down to this hard work and now I am dying!" I do not feel in debt towards that person because I did more than any missionary out there. I want to set the tradition. No matter how hard we must work, even if we have to give our lives as martyrs, we thank God for the opportunity to experience His suffering and that of the True Parents.
This is the attitude that has ruled my entire life. No matter how terrible my suffering was, I never complained to God, "You are almighty. What kind of God are you to let me suffer in this way? Am I not your son?" I never complained because I wanted to be in the position to serve God, not be in debt to Him. Under the worst circumstances, I always think of how to create a surplus operation, not a deficit operation.
There is no room for Satan to creep into my way of life. The world and Satan have been trying to say that Reverend Moon is bad, bad, bad. But in the meantime, Reverend Moon has been going up, up, up. Reverend Moon has that secret. I have received tremendous persecution and negativity, but I have always risen up further because of my secret: I never allowed myself to fall into debt to God. Instead I wanted God to feel indebted to me. Thus God always wants to pay back His indebtedness and I never want to let Him.
Reverend Moon's life is a pitiful one, from the worldly standpoint. Even if someone tries to give me a comfortable, pleasant experience. I cannot enjoy it because I see immediately that such comforts will put me in debt to somebody. There are a number of people who have been serving me for many years at East Garden but not one of them feels that I am in debt to him or her. They cannot compete with my endurance, perseverance and hard work.
I do not want to have even a tiny thought through which Satan can invade. At the same time, I leave the territory for God wide open. When you don't see me here at Belvedere on a Sunday morning, do you feel good or bad about it? Why do you miss me? Actually, when you come here and receive my messages you become a debtor to me. I become your creditor every Sunday morning. But you need that debt. How can you pay it back? You can pay it back by going out and distributing what you have received to others. Then you can also become a creditor, receiving interest. You will become a healthy branch on a growing tree. What I do here, you should do out there in the world. Thus people will want to be near you; they will want to listen to you and they will miss you. You will become a miniature Reverend Moon.
The struggle we are talking about is actually a battle. In a battle, there are only two outcomes: either you are defeated or you are victorious. Which do you want? You must make up your mind that this is your destiny and that you will live your entire life in this manner. When you give your life to serve others, you must treat everyone the same, whether they are important and famous or humble and weak. Such discrimination has no place when you embrace others; you must do it with one love, the same love.
When you look at another person, before thinking whether he is a good or an evil person, think, "What have I done to serve him?" That is the way I think. Water always flows downward so when you position yourself in the lower position, water will automatically flow into you. Likewise when there is a vacuum created, nature will cause air to flow into it. You must create a spiritual vacuum. I created an incredible "spiritual vacuum cleaner." Instead of sucking in dust, it sucks in good spirits. How would you like that?
No matter where I go or what I am doing, there is always something important happening around me. I may not do anything or even say anything, but often people start fighting among themselves, dividing good and evil between them. Since I stepped onto the soil of America, there has not been a single peaceful day here.
More and more people are now defending Reverend Moon and praising him. Are the Reverend Moon of 10 years ago and the Reverend Moon of today the same, or have I changed from evil to good? No, I am the same Reverend Moon with the same Principle, the same teaching. It is America that is changing. The people are coming to recognize Reverend Moon's value. Public opinion is changing more and more. People are saying, "We didn't understand Reverend Moon before but now we see that he is a good man and very valuable for America."
Once such public opinion is strong, what will happen to you Unification Church members? Everybody else will try to push you aside so that they can come closer to Reverend Moon. Belvedere, which is just a small place, will be booked up a year or two in advance. You might come to the gate and say, "But I am a member of the Unification Church!" and the response will be, `'Sorry, there are no more tickets."
You must not think, "Belvedere is not glamorous any more because Father is not speaking there, so I don't want to go." That is the attitude of a defeated person. You should think, "I hope Father will come to Belvedere, but it doesn't matter whether he does or not. I am going to Belvedere to meet with God. I even want to go there early to prepare myself spiritually." In that way you become the master or the host of the house, not the guest. I want to see all of you become good men and women and good leaders.
A world war is not our problem; even communism is not our problem. The problem is that you must recognize the eternal battle going on inside of you between good and evil. The most important question for your life is how you can conquer evil within you. When I began my work for the dispensation, I prayed, "Heavenly Father, before I ever desire to conquer the universe, let me conquer myself." "Conquer Myself' became my lifetime slogan. Anyone who cannot conquer himself can never conquer the universe.
I am a person who can go to one extreme and then turn around and go in the opposite direction. Usually when a person goes so far in a certain direction along a certain path he cannot hope to turn around and go in another direction. But what makes it easy for me to turn around and follow any path necessary is that I can always accept a new challenge. There are always more people to love; this is the challenge of love and as soon as I see where my mission is, I turn in that direction.
I have lived my entire life this way and all kinds of things have happened in this world, as well as in the spiritual world. Wherever I move, the struggle begins and the spiritual hurricane flares up. At this time, national leaders of both South and North America are recognizing the real value of Reverend Moon and are finding hope in him.
When you reach old age and are nearing death, you can look back and ask, "Am I in debt to anyone? Yes, I am in debt to my parents. I have a debt of love to them, but instead of paying them back directly, I chose to pay back their love to the nation and the world. Was that not their desire?" Your parents will say, "My great child!"
This is what I have done. To my own parents, I can say, "Yes, I am in debt to you but I paid it back for the sake of humanity." What about the Moon family as a whole? I can say, "Yes, I am in debt to you because so many members of my family suffered and even sacrificed their lives because of me. But instead of paying back my family members directly, I am living my life for the sake of the world. I have done this in your place and in your name. Thus, all the debt I had toward you was paid back and not only that, you have become major creditors to the world." The time will come when the world will recognize the contributions made by Reverend Moon and that honor will come to all the members of the Moon family, not just to Reverend Moon. That is the way I will pay them back.
I recognize that I am indebted to my country, the Republic of Korea. Some Koreans have complained, "Reverend Moon, why have you spent so much money on the United States? Why don't you spend that money on Korea?" But my debt to Korea will be paid many times over because all the work I have done has been for the sake of the world. Thus a great honor will come to Korea and it will all become a credit. At that time the Korean people will bow in gratitude to Reverend Moon.
I am also in debt to you, the members of the Unification Church. Why is that? You have dedicated your lives and set aside everything else because of Reverend Moon. But I am fighting on the front line of this battle; I am fighting for the sake of the honor of the Unification Church and heaven and earth. If any mistake is made by a Unification Church member anywhere, whether in America or Africa, the responsibility comes directly to me. Thus any bad things you do become the source of criticism against Reverend Moon. Reverend Moon represents each of you.
When Reverend Moon gains victory and triumphs over the situation, all the Unification Church members will be vindicated at the same time. In a certain respect, by coming to America Reverend Moon is in debt to America. But the work Reverend Moon is doing, fighting against communism and striving to build a new moral world- represents America as well. Thus any success of Reverend Moon's will also become America's honor. When the whole world recognizes Reverend Moon, they will be appreciative of the United States as well, since our world headquarters are here. Then American people will feel their debt towards Reverend Moon.
In a way, I am in debt to the spirit world because at this time an enormous spiritual army is assisting me in my work. My goal is the liberation of God's heart. When I achieve that goal, great credit will come to me and at the same time the people in spirit world who assisted my work will gain honor and appreciation, too.
On every level of these struggles, unless I won the victory within myself first in that showdown between good and evil, I could not have made progress. When I went to Korea in December of 1983 and held the national rallies, the Korean people really turned out for the first time and expressed their gratitude to me. They felt that finally the Korean people have a hero after their 5000 years of history. These are the kinds of things they are saying.
Soon the free world will also say, "Reverend Moon was given so much persecution and mistreatment but look at how he is winning, not just for himself, but for the sake of humanity. We have never seen a man like that in all of history. He must be the kind of man we call a living saint." Thus he becomes the Lord of the Second Advent, the second Messiah. All these ideas used to be very farfetched. Hearing such things made many people very uncomfortable. But now people are saying, "Yes, that is a possibility. That must be true." Do you see that progress?
What is the secret of Reverend Moon that has allowed him to progress so far? It is the very secret I have exposed this morning, that one principle: I never want to be in debt to anyone; I always want to serve and operate with a surplus. This country will one day be in tears because of gratitude and appreciation for what Reverend Moon has done for them. They do not know all these things now but they will in the future.
I have been battling to conquer the Satan/man combination, trying to bring the world to the God/man combination. When I look at my own hands, I ask, "When did you love the world?" I ask my eyes, my nose, ears and mouth, "How much did you love the world? Did you give every ounce of your energy for the sake of the world?" When the hand answers, it says, "My master, just give me my orders. I am ready to do anything good." My eyes, ears, nose and every other part are saying the same thing.
There is one word which is very final. That word is death. What will you do when death knocks at your door? My answer to death is this: "I am not going to be in debt to you. I am going to conquer you."
At this time, the season of the ascension of Heung Jin, the spirit world has become very close to us. The worldwide Unification Church movement has been lifted up to a new plateau. Do you feel that? In a way our whole movement ascended. There are many new kinds of spiritual phenomena and spiritual accomplishments. That is not happening randomly but according to law.
Heung Jin was a genuine and pure young man here on earth but he did not fully realize the impact of our dispensation until he got to spirit world. There he said, "I did not know that my Dad is so important for the world." Heung Jin has appeared to people in spirit, saying, "I have just come to realize how great a Dad I have." That was the first revelation from Heung Jin after going to spirit world.
Even God Himself is amazed and deeply touched. He is saying, "I know I have a good son in Reverend Moon but how did he manage to dig out all the secrets of my heart? He has even understood how to liberate the spirit world." God is amazed at the wisdom of Reverend Moon, but that wisdom has come simply because I have always lived only one way of life: serving for the sake of others.
It seems to be a difficult way of life; many times you feel you are confronting a stone wall. Everything may seem to be blocked, with no hope for a breakthrough but as long as you continue that way of life, you will always win; there will always be an opening for you.
People have looked back upon my ten years in America and said, "Reverend Moon is very smart but why did he make such blunders? For instance, why did he support Nixon and why did he oppose President Carter? That time was the beginning of all his troubles." But historians are recognizing now that Reverend Moon was correct. Because of this country's failure in Southeast Asia, millions of people have died. Communist forces have turned virtually the whole area into a dungeon. In Vietnam, America suffered its first defeat in its 200 year history. America still has not recovered from Vietnam.
If a man like Carter becomes president again, what can we expect? Such leadership could lose the entire world. At least President Reagan is sustaining the world. The professional political analyst, William Rusher, said to me, "I expected that conservatism would gain strength but I didn't think it would happen for many years." He never expected that the conservative power would become so great so quickly, just within the past four years. Something incredible turned everything around.
Sometimes Reverend Moon seems to be doing unreasonable or illogical things in the eyes of the American people. but those things are necessary for the sake of the world. Sometimes Reverend Moon is very harsh towards American people, particularly the white people. But he does that for the sake of the world, because they cannot continue their trends. I always speak for the sake of humanity. Sometimes it is painful to the American ego but you have to swallow it. You have to change now; then, not only you but all of humanity has hope.
In a way' I am in debt to America and thus by giving chastisement and new vision to America I have been paying back that debt. I am doing these things for the sake of the future, to make America proud again. Because of that I have been criticized and even hurt. This court case is a good example. But still I will do this for the sake of humanity.
Many Washington political analysts are amazed to see the media, which has always been critical and negative toward Reverend Moon, turning around 180 degrees. They are almost unanimously stepping forward in defense of my position in this court case, from the conservative National Review to the liberal Washington Post. From the conservative, fundamentalist churches to the far-left Spartacus League, from far right to far left, they are unanimously supporting Reverend Moon's position.
This is not happening because Reverend Moon as an individual is almighty and great. It is happening because the Principle that Reverend Moon lives by is almighty and great; it is eternally good. If you are hazy about the truth of this Principle, then you will fall into confusion and you will begin to have trouble. You must maintain an absolutely clear idea of what is evil and what is good in order to maintain yourself on the side of goodness.
Good and evil start from you, so whatever you do, there are either good or evil consequences. When you talk, walk, sleep or eat there are good or evil consequences. Do good, with your tears and sweat, giving every ounce of energy to remain good. You must be serious about this.
What is the most serious battle in history? Should we dread a World War III the most? No, the most significant battle is the one between good and evil within each individual. Unless you win that battle, even if I build the Kingdom of Heaven on earth, you will have nothing to do with it. You have learned today about the history of the struggle of good and evil in relationship with oneself. We know the boundaries between goodness and evil.
I am constantly testing Dr. Durst because he is a typical American. I test him on the individual level, and sometimes I test him on the family level, and sometimes on the American or national level. Dr. Durst is a fighter and sometimes he feels certain things are not right. He may feel he is mistreated and he will explode. Normally in a fight, when one explodes, the other person explodes next. But I retreat instead of exploding and watch to see what will happen. Then Dr. Durst starts to wonder, "Why didn't Father chastise me and tell me I am no good?" But I just smile at him and welcome him like before.
The center of the historical struggle is you. Do you want to be victorious or be defeated? Certainly you want to be victorious. For whom? You must say, "Because I am the center of the universe and the center of humanity, I will win the victory for the sake of the universe and humanity." That must be your struggle. That is the goal we are marching toward.
Everything you do has consequences for good or evil. Let us say that a man of goodness is put into a room with a gorgeous beauty queen who is stark naked. A man of goodness can face that kind of situation without anything happening. That is because his way of thinking is, "How can I contribute to her well-being?" It is not, "How can I take advantage of her or use her?" He always thinks of how to serve others. Such an attitude is what we call true nobility.
I received a great deal of temptation from women in my life. Some even said, "Oh, without you I will die! I will just kill myself if I can't have you!" But I just laughed and gave them a smile. If anybody thinks of me only in terms of herself or from his or her own personal point of view, that person is not worthy in the sight of God. I certainly do not want any such person. I only want the kind of people who work hard and are willing to die for the sake of God and humanity. I am only interested in love centered on God, the kind of love where God can dwell.
We must live nobly. The Unification Church way of life follows the path of nobility and divinity. Because of this, many people are overwhelmed and say that they cannot live this way, and they drop out. But you stay with it and you will be victorious. Can you do it? God bless you.