Good morning. Today is the eighth anniversary of the Day of the Victory of Heaven. Father proclaimed this day on October 4th, 1976. We could consider October as the month of the grace of Heaven because Father was twice released from prison in October. He was released from Hungnam on the 14th of October, 1950. Then, after coming to South Korea and continuing his mission, he was again persecuted by Christians which led to his arrest on the 4th of July 1955. He was released on the 4th of October. We also had a successful rally on September 18th, 1976. After the victory Father declared the 4th of October the Day of the Victory of Heaven. Since then we have observed this day as a memorial day. Father recently declared another day of victory, the Day of the Victory of Love and the Day of the Love of God. Without the Day of the Victory of Heaven, the Day of the Love of God and the Day of the Victory of Love could not have come. All other victories were gained on the foundation of the Day of the Victory of Heaven. Our Father laid the foundation for heavenly victory. We must make a condition to inherit his victory by becoming one with him.
The purpose of our life of faith is to become children of God thereby qualifying to enter the Kingdom of Heaven on earth and in the spirit world. Everyone, without exception, will enter the spirit world someday. When we do, we want to be citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven. We don't want to go to Satan's realm. So how can we qualify to be citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven? Father gained this qualification by subduing Satan; Satan surrendered to him. This is how Father qualified to be the true son of God: the Messiah. But if we had to fulfill the same conditions Father did, I think few of us would ever make it. Most of us wouldn't, that's for sure. God doesn't ask us to go the same course as Father. God led the Messiah, representing all of mankind, through this course. He led him through intense suffering and difficulty to victory. We may not be able to go the same course as Father, but we can inherit his victory by making a special condition. It's not as difficult for us as it was for Father. Our condition is to have faith. We must become one with Father in order to inherit what he has achieved. What does this mean? How can we do this? We can become one with God by having absolute faith in Him and inheriting His truth, heart, love and personality. Likewise to become one with our Father and inherit his achievements we must inherit his absolute faith in God. We must have absolute faith in God and our True Parents and become like our Father and Mother. Brothers must resemble Father and sisters must resemble Mother.
I imagine many of you have read books about life after death. I've always had a special interest in this topic. Anyway, we're all destined for the spirit world, so we should know about our destination, even though we may not go there for many years. Some people who went to spirit world and then for some reason came back to life again have written books about their experiences there. If you read these books you will find that they all have many points in common. The authors all explained that as they entered the spirit world they were greeted by a spirit of light who asked them something, and even though he didn't use words they could understand what he had asked. He asked what they had done while on earth and they had to answer truthfully. What would you answer if asked such a question? The best answer possible would be, "I worked for the world," or "I worked for God," or "I worked for humanity". That's not all though, we have to go through a similar process as when visiting another country. We must fill out many forms and obtain a visa. It's similar. We have to examine what we did in our life on earth. This screening period lasts for 21 days and the results determine where we go in the spirit world.
Angels will ask us what qualification we have to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, what conditions we have made to be able to go there. We must be able to give the right answer. Father can say, "I fought and subdued Satan; he surrendered to me, therefore I am qualified to enter the Kingdom of Heaven." Father can say this, but we didn't fight Satan. Of course we fight Satan in our daily life, but not as Father did. And we haven't subdued Satan as Father did either. Then what can we say? How can we claim to be eligible to enter the Kingdom of Heaven? The only possible answer is, "I am one with Father and Mother. And as their child I have inherited their victorious foundation. Thus I am eligible to enter the Kingdom of Heaven." We should be able to say this. If we really become sons and daughters of True Parents we can gain this qualification.
Then how do we become one with them as their children? By inheriting their absolute faith, their heart, their love and their personality. Just loving them isn't enough. We must inherit all that God wants to give us through them. This is what we are trying to accomplish in our life on earth; the purpose of all our activities is to inherit the faith, heart, love and personality of God and True Parents. Our goal is clear. If we do this we will be victors and be qualified to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. We will be God's children and enjoy life with Him in the Kingdom of Heaven for eternity.
We never know what will happen in the future. If there is a third World War and many people die, including blessed couples, what would God say? Would He say, "I lost True Parents and many good blessed couples; I cannot continue my providence."? Would God say that, or would He want to find someone among the remaining couples and members with whom to continue His providence? He would want to find a couple with whom He could continue His work. God expects each couple to become like True Parents so He can continue His providence centering on them. God expects this of all blessed couples. So you should never feel: "I am nothing." We were blessed by True Parents and God has special expectations of us.
Whatever happens we must be able to survive. Whatever difficulties arise, whatever persecution we receive we should be able to maintain our faith, our heart, our love and our personality. You shouldn't lose faith when experiencing difficulty. We cannot collapse and lose our internal standard nor can we forsake the heart of God. We must always keep this in mind. Can you maintain the same standard when difficulties arise as when everything is going well? We must ask ourselves this question. What would you do if something happened? Can you carry on with the same faith even if all others fall away? You must be able to answer affirmatively. Often members' faith is shaken when someone leaves the church. If this happens, we are still distant from God's expectation. So whatever happens we cannot change; we must go the way God desires. Whatever happens shouldn't affect us. We must maintain our faith and keep on the right track.
You shouldn't be easily influenced by others. When the wind blows you shouldn't blow away. You must determine that whatever storm strikes, you will keep your faith and persevere to the end. This is what God is asking of us today. Whenever we celebrate these victory days we should redetermine to inherit everything Father has accomplished for us. We must make them our foundation of victory. Then each of us can be victors on earth and in the spirit world. God will be happy when we make up our minds to be victors and celebrating today as the Day of the Victory of Heaven will mean that much more.
God has especially high expectations for young people, because they will inherit this world. Of course older people can also do something for God, but He has higher expectations of younger people. As young people we must resemble our Father. Father was only sixteen when he promised God that he would fulfill Jesus' mission. Isn't that incredible? We are much older than that. We are in our 20's and 30's, so when God asks us to do something we should also be able to say yes. We should always have a humble heart; we have nothing to be proud of before God. But when He asks us to do something we must have the courage to carry it out. In the 1930's God had only one man He could rely on; now He has many, especially young people, so He expects much from us. We must promise to achieve His will. We will do everything for Him, but we will also benefit from this.
On this Day of the Victory of Heaven we should try to inherit Father's victorious foundation, otherwise this celebration will have no connection to us. Father established God's Day and the other holy days, but we must make them our holy days. This means we should gain the qualification to declare these days. Once we possess this qualification they become our days. Likewise the Day of the Victory of Heaven should become our Day of the Victory of Heaven, not someone else's. When we commemorate this day we don't want to just sing songs and pray; that isn't enough. We must determine in our hearts to develop a strong and direct connection to God that no one can destroy and make this day our Day of Victory. On this significant day I would like to ask all of you, German CARP and the Dutch Family, to renew your determination and make a new start in your efforts to accomplish God's will. Thank you.
Let us pray together:
Our loving Heavenly Father, we are so grateful that we could celebrate this Day of the Victory of Heaven which our Father gave us. You have worked so hard with our Father and Mother. You worked through them and helped erect this victorious foundation. This foundation is not for our True Parents alone, you want to give all of us these victories. We must inherit the foundations of victory that you and our True Parents have laid.
Father, we studied your truth and learned many things during this workshop. We realize that you expect great things from us. We have to live in accordance with your expectation in order to do your work and fulfill your will on earth. We are no longer small children, but grown up men and women, we must be able to accomplish something for you. On this day of victory we want to renew our determination and do what we can for you, Father. You want to spread your truth and your love to all mankind, but you cannot do it by yourself. We must become your instruments and work as your body to give your words and love to all around us Father, we must restore your nation on earth. You are Almighty God, but because you don't have a nation you cannot exercise your power. We want to make you almighty so everyone recognizes you. We must restore your nation. Our members all around the world must work for this goal: to bring about your sovereignty. You have a definite time schedule and we don't want to prolong your providence again. We want to fulfill it in the time you expect. We must work hard, thinking of your will night and day and praying for it's fulfillment. When we are as our True Parents and work as our True Parents have, we will surely to succeed. Please make each of us like our Father and Mother. We want to inherit their absolute faith in you. We also want to inherit your heart, your love and your personality so we can manifest you in our daily lives.
Father, we are grateful. You gave us so much during this 7-day workshop. You have great expectations of German CARP. Germany is the Adam nation in Western Europe, so it must fulfill it's mission. We must make it a successful Adam nation, as you desire. Father, please give us your power and energy so that each of us can fulfill our mission successfully. We want to pray especially for our True Father and Mother in America. We pray for Father's safety in Danbury and ask you to grant him freedom soon, so we can work together with our True Parents as before.
We pray all this in the name of our True Parents. Amen.