I could think of no more fitting introduction to this third volume of Pres. Young Hwi Kim's speeches than these parting words of guidance which capture the heart of his 4½ year European ministry. They are from one of his farewell addresses given in July of 1986.
If you examine Father's speeches he often scolds blessed couples, especially the older couples; the 36 couples and 72 couples. He often says, "You could not fulfill your mission." When we hear this we tend to think he is angry because we couldn't find members. But this isn't true. What Father is saying is, "You could not become like me! " Our mission and basic responsibility is to become like Father. But we couldn't do this. This is why Father scolds us. Unless we become like Father, God's will cannot be done. Many members don't understand this.
There are many members in our church who are proud of having followed Father for ten, twenty or thirty years. But if those who have followed Father for many years are no different than ordinary people, what value does it have? Someone who has followed Father for ten years should differ from someone who hasn't. And if someone has followed Father for twenty years, he should differ from someone who has followed for ten years. When I was young Korea was under Japanese rule. Japan was famous for its Imperial Army. If you visited their military academy you could immediately tell how long the students had been there, whether they were 1st, 2nd, 3rd or 4th year cadets; they were changed completely through their education and training. We should also be like this. If we have followed Father for ten years, we should be completely different from other people. If this is not so, something is wrong with our life of faith.
We pray for the Kingdom of Heaven to come quickly, but no matter how fervently we pray to God for the heavenly kingdom, it won't come if we don't change. We had better pray for ourselves to change. Members often pray for big things: "We want to restore all mankind back to God, we want to restore this nation to God." But we all know that without individuals and families there cannot be a tribe, nation or world. Can we build a house without a foundation? No, it will collapse. Thus the most important thing is to have a strong individual and family foundation. Our members-must become people God wants to have, His sons and daughters, otherwise there will be no family, tribe or nation of God. We should pray to become God's true sons and daughters. We must pray for God's help for ourselves and our families to become perfected men and women and establish God's family. If we don't accomplish this, there won't be any will of God. So to pray for ourselves and our families is to pray for the heavenly kingdom.
We must establish God's tribe that He can trust. To do this we must fulfill our responsibilities as blessed couples. The basic things come first. When we become true children of God, like Father, everything will proceed smoothly. Otherwise, no matter how hard we try, we will suffer much but gain little. Until this day we suffered a lot, maybe too much. We want to end this suffering. To do this we must change ourselves. We should try to understand how Father could find the truth and how he walked with this truth. We must redetermine to become like Father, which we couldn't do up to now. God is not as pleased by our giving Him something or praising Him, as when we come closer to Him. He who inherits more of God's nature, makes God happy. So we want to learn God's truth and embody His love, thus making Heavenly Father a happy God. Then we can be happy together with Him.