The prisoners may have even been given this food to make them die quicker. But Father thought: "If our ancestors had not broken the commandment, this would not have happened. This is a reward for the human Fall, but I must accept it with thanks."
When he thought how severe the punishment for the human Fall was, he determined strongly that he would walk the way of God, the way of restoration, seriously and reach a goal of victory.
What did Father think of those Christian ministers and government officials who opposed him? He didn't vindicate himself at all. Heavenly Father one day let Father hear the prayers of the Christian ministers. They were praying for God to take Reverend Moon to the spiritual world as early as possible. Father heard so many ministers praying in this way. Father didn't bear them any grudge. He had a strong determination and expectation that the children of these ministers would come to him, even though their fathers had not come to him when God's word had been conveyed to them with true love. That's why he didn't make any vindication.
At the time when the members couldn't afford a cup of boiled barley and even ate dog food instead, Father gathered all the money in the church and invited the Christian ministers to a wonderful hotel, providing them with nice rooms and meals and taught the Divine Principle there. Father's way is to love and welcome instead of to hate. Father said: "We should not vindicate ourselves. If they can come closer to God by opposing me, we must wish that they oppose us."
Father's determination was: "We will not vindicate ourselves, but fulfill what we should do and make a good result. Good does not vindicate itself." In the midst of persecution from the American government, Christianity and Judaism, Father thought that if he had come 30 years earlier, he would not have met the persecution and that, as he was late in coming there, he had to suffer it. The voices of opposition were taken by Father to be the expression of their grudge against him for having been late. He poured out many times more heart in order to make up for the time lost by his delay.
When we meet the people who persecute us, we must determine that we have to attend God with more zeal and heart and make better results.
When you hear the voice of opposition in your 360 area or on the street, you must take it as if the voice is asking us to work and serve for the sake of God and the people more than before. If you serve them with gratitude, it will create a lot of power to eventually restore them to God.
When people judge their enemy in this world, they do so with hatred and power. We judge them by serving them and God more and more. That's the difference. They kill with hatred and return the hatred by committing murder in society, which also becomes full of hatred. We must have more love for God and the people, and serve instead of hating.
Another thing I'd like you to think of is this: Father has seen that there is a great deal of suffering and unhappiness in this society. When Father sees this, he thinks that he is responsible for it all and he determines to solve the problems. When Father was on his fourth world tour, centered on Europe, he felt strongly that the world was one step away from falling. Father had to worry about how he could save the world at this serious stage. This became his big anxiety Then God told him that a person who felt this danger had to be responsible for it.
You worry about many things in the church and in society: "What if this situation continues?" "That member is a real problem member." "The leader is impossible," and so on. How should we take this kind of situation according to Father's way? If I am aware of it, I should take responsibility for the problem. Until now we have let many complaints pass our lips with no sense of responsibility, but from now on we cannot do this. If you notice a member's problem, you have to have a sense of responsibility and help him so that he can overcome it. With this heart you cannot speak ill of others so easily. You must teach after you fulfill your own portion of responsibility.
In the future we will have to teach many people so that they can correct their mistakes. We must have a standard that enables us to teach anybody. Father teaches us his way, which we should follow. On the way you will meet many difficulties, but when you overcome them, your experiences become a textbook by which you teach the people in the future. What you have done becomes a standard of judgment for others. If you have done less than them, you are judged by them. Now you can see why Father worked desperately hard for the results rather than vindicate himself.
When we ride on the underground, we see posters which say, 'Watch out for pickpockets!' Until now people have stolen from others secretly. Father told us that just the opposite would happen in the ideal world. Can anyone guess what? (Giving to others secretly.) Yes, that's right. Father did not say this kind of thing in front of many people, but at small gatherings.
Whoever you meet, I would like you to say something which works positively in them. At the same time we have to check to see whether what we are thinking now is a minus or a plus for God. What I spoke about today with a member was it positive or negative? This is what we have to think about all the time.
Father is very careful and sensitive to details. We can see that Father has a very big heart if we consider his way of thinking. For example, he said: "I'd prefer the ministers to oppose me, if it means they will come closer to God because of it." Father has a very strong desire to take revenge on his enemy. He has such a strong will. But his way of taking revenge is different from the ordinary way. You remember that Father gave the negative ministers the best treatment and conveyed God's word when he couldn't afford meals even for the members, who were serving him. We can take revenge on enemies only by getting victory. Let's recall the third part of the Pledge. It says that we overcome Satan with sacrifice as a servant and restore the universe and mankind lost to Satan with sweat, tears and blood. This is the difference between the ordinary way of revenge and ours.
Love is the source of everything -- ideals, peace, happiness and so on. Satan can't love his enemy. He absolutely can't do it. If he can love his enemy, he is no longer Satan. If we love Satan with a higher love, by loving our enemies, Satan is subjugated naturally, for Satan knows that he can't practice this love. Sooner or later all the people living in the satanic world will gather around this higher love. God made loving your enemy the highest love in the providence of restoration. That's the crossroad between God and Satan.
The next task is to find out how you can put what I have spoken about into practice in your daily lives. It seems difficult to put all the words into practice at once, but it is not so difficult if you start with the easiest one.
How do you find water? If you try digging in one place, but find no water, and then move to another place, dig and find no water there either, you will never find it. This is the same when we apply God's words. You try to put one into practice and find it difficult; you try another, but it is difficult too. This way you will never make any of the words your own. There are various kinds of words: for example, those about faith, love or hope. Each one of us has a different attitude towards them. Some people are attracted by the words about hope, others by the words about love. The root of every word is the same -- love. All the words are connected to the root. From wherever you start you'll arrive at love. The world of words is one organic body. Let's think of a tree. If you start from a leaf, you connect to a bough, then the trunk and end at the root. If you start from the root, then you connect to the trunk, the branch and end at the leaf or flower: If you master one of the words, you became equally more familiar with the other words.
Love and courage seem to have no connection. But we know that we can be courageous when we have love. With courage you can practice love. How can you be courageous without love? There are various forms of courage. One is to resist something stronger than yourself; another is to jump into a river to save a drowning person; another is to dash into a burning building to save the child who is crying for help; another is to withdraw your opinion at a meeting in order to save someone else's face, thinking from the point of view of the purpose of the whole, even though you believe that your opinion is much better than the other person's. This is called the courage to deny oneself. There is no courage where there is no love. The courage to save the child comes out of love for the child and its life. We can withdraw our opinion or deny ourselves because we love the higher and wider purpose. Courage and love are thus connected.
The modest mind is the same. You can have courage because you have a modest mind. You cannot be modest without courage, either. The courage is not possible without love. Everything is connected together in the root. You can start with any word but, if you keep it till the end, you can be a master of every word.
Let's think of religion and science. They are opposite extremes. They have opposite ways of developing each theory but, when they reach the other end, religion arrives at science and vice versa. The person who reaches the top of science meets God, because both science and religion start from the same source, God and God's love. If you start at the easiest one and overcome it, you who have a strong personality come to have a gentle personality and vice versa, I'm sure. I am a very quiet person and cannot speak well in front of many people. Some of you might wonder how I can be strong enough to become a leader who can govern and lead many people.
Let's think about a husband and wife. Generally speaking a man is thought to be strong and a woman the opposite. But the woman governs the man and vice versa. You may think that the strong person can easily govern the weaker person. It is not true. It is much easier for the gentler to govern the stronger. You may think it is difficult for a weak person to become strong. But when the child is crying in the burning building, the mother, a weaker person, often rushes into the fire more quickly than the father, who is stronger. Why? Here is the point. Because of love. No power is stronger than love. You cannot say that you will not become a leader because you are too gentle and cannot adequately express what you would like to say.
Where there is love, there is a strong heart which hates injustice, but which does not hate an unjust person. True love cannot love injustice.
What does a leader lead? People. Then where does a leader lead the people to?
With love, we can become leaders. Even though he might have a strong personality and good qualifications to become a leader, without love a person cannot become a good leader.
There are two kinds of leaders: the fatherly kind and the motherly kind. In the midst of a war or emergency, which kind is needed? One like a father or one like a mother? (Father. ) Yes, that's right. It's not right to think that you are not suitable to be a leader because you are a very gentle type of person. It is right to think that you are not suitable as a leader because you have no love. Everybody has a heart to love people and to love God and God's way. Therefore, everybody can become a leader. Man was created so, for God gave man the blessing to govern all things. Was the blessing given just for man? Really? Was the blessing only for a woman who has a stronger personality than men? Not for a man who is like a woman? It can be applied to anybody. Therefore, those who don't have self confidence must gain self confidence. I'd like to conclude today's speech here. Thank you very much.