The Elder Son Nation - America
Rev. Michael Jenkins
MWJenk@aol.com
Monday March 31, 2003
Dear Family,
True Parents are setting the foundation for the expansion of the
Kingdom of God on earth. (Cheon Il Guk). We must be confident in True
Parents' power and courage to fulfill the Will of God. Our central
goal is to secure the Fatherland as one nation for God and America is
precious and central to this path. Therefore, we must protect and seek
to bring this nation under God's blessing and guidance.
War is not the hope of mankind or the complete solution for a
lasting peace. Yet war has come upon us. Since that is the course that
America has taken, we must pray that God will guide her into successful
reconciliation after the war. Please pray that God will guide our
President and our nation. We must pray for the future reconciliation
of all.
What is the path to peace that we as Blessed Central Families are
called to pursue? Father's direction is that our first step toward peace
must be repentance. When we see family breakdown, hostility and suspicion
between religions and races, and rampant immorality, we realize that God's
blessing cannot flow freely to America unless we turn this country back
to God. The recent advertisement sponsored by IIFWP and FFWPU in the
Washington Times expressed Father's thought on the path we must follow.
(It is now posted on our familyfed.org website.) It reads, "To help
resolve the current emergency in the world, we wish to repent deeply
before the Lord - the King of love and peace - and be forgiving and
forbearing toward one another so that we may build a world of peace."
This proclamation has been affirmed by the Saints of heaven and Father
is asking us to affirm this on earth.
It is important that we understand America's central role
at this time. On the foundation of the Coronation Ceremony for
God's Kingship Father launched his life-risking 50-state tour.
On that tour Father proclaimed that Christianity as the central
religion and America as the elder son nation both carry the title
of the "Second Israel." With this understanding Christianity is
to be unified as one Body of Christ. Jesus prayed for such in John
17:21 "That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and
I in thee, that they also may be one in us." Therefore Christians,
when taught Jesus words, feel in their hearts that this is the desire
of God. This unity must be nurtured until it becomes a substantial
foundation for reconciling all peoples, and for guiding the external
leaders of the Second Israel - just as the prophets guided the kings in
the Old Testament. This is the work of the American Clergy Leadership
Conference working directly upon the inspiration of True Parents.
The current effort to educate 12,000 clergy is central to the
American providence at this time. It is not only bringing unity to the
body of Christ but is also the preparation for the Second Israel to move
beyond the old age into the new. Jesus said we can't put new wine into
"old" wineskins. With this "new" understanding of scripture the clergy
are streaming through the gates. (We had space for 150 clergy at the
Ocean City workshop and over 250 came!)
At the Washington Times 20th Anniversary Father proclaimed,
"You will remember that Jesus said to those who arrested him in the
Garden of Gethsemane, "... this is your hour-when darkness reigns." (Luke
22:53b NIV) You need to know that the cross was the place where the
nation that God had prepared for four thousand years was lost, the place
where the religious faith of Israel was lost, and the place where the
followers of John the Baptist, the twelve disciples, the thief on the
left, and everything else was lost.
You need to know that Christianity was not there on the cross. When did
Christianity begin? Jesus resurrected after three days and spent forty
days meeting the disciples he had lost, who had turned against him. The
Holy Spirit descended on the disciples, and you need to know that it was
only then that Christianity began. Christians for the past two thousand
years have believed in Christianity without knowing that it came into
existence not by the principle of the cross, but by the principle of
the resurrection. If you realize this fact, then you must repent."
We are building a movement to end the era of the cross and focus on the
resurrection. With this message the National ACLC team such as Archbishop
G. Augustus Stallings, Rev. Jesse Edwards and many others are cutting a
new path in history, a path not unlike that of Martin Luther. Under the
inspiration of God's words in the Bible as decoded by Father's words
and the Divine Principle, many of the clergy now have pledged that they
will take down their crosses on Good Friday. On Easter Sunday each will
trade his cross for a crown as citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth.
Then Father has asked that this "resurrected body" go to Jerusalem
and have a conference in which the second Israel, having repented and
removed the barriers between itself, and the first Israel will humbly
ask them to lift up Jesus as the Lord that Israel was to receive.
With this condition the failure of the chosen people 2000 years ago will
be restored. Upon that basis we must embrace and love the Islamic world
more than ever before.
Through this path the conditions will be set to neutralize the
seemingly endless strife between Islam, Christianity and the Jewish
people. This path does not only deal with those on earth but is rooted
in the path of those in heaven. We see that, without a doubt, Jesus is
with us - that's what the clergy feel. Also, the prophet Muhammad is
with us as well as all the saints.
Father is directing us now to reach out to Christianity and beyond
to the leaders of all faiths of the world to ensure that the current
conflict doesn't polarize into irreversible religious enmity. He is asking
the Family Federation and all related organizations to join with ACLC
Christian leaders and Ambassadors for Peace to aggressively embrace and
strengthen our bonds of love and heart between all religious people, races
and nations, and particularly between the Christian and Muslim worlds.
This is a crucial moment in history. The world's religions must come
under the love of our True Parents, therefore the work of IIFWP and the
ACLC is in a critical role to prevent total polarization and world strife.
In addition to these efforts in education, Father is asking us to
build bridges between religious youth through the upcoming Interreligious
Sports Peace Festival from May 21-25 in Korea. It will be a world
Olympics for all people of the Christian, Moslem and Jewish faiths
as well as all the world religions. Through friendly competition of
religious youth we will foster unity and understanding between the youth
of the world's religions. America has been asked to send 150 athletes.
We can work with our Christian clergy, Moslem leaders or Ambassadors for
Peace to identify and sponsor young people from their organizations to
participate in this special opportunity.
Father is also emphasizing that the blessing movement is the central
point through which world peace can be achieved. Last year the four
interreligious blessings that True Parents conducted in America
brought an unprecedented agreement and understanding that God's
clearest expression of love is to be found in marriage and family.
The blessings also fostered an acknowledgement from Christian, Moslem
and Jewish leaders that Father and Mother Moon were chosen to bring the
blessing of God to the family, and that a covenant of blessed marriage,
covered with the prayers of all religious leaders, secures not only the
family but binds all religions and nations together as one under God.
His direction is that the Blessing ultimately is the path to peace. We
must continue to expand the blessing to all religious leaders and through
them to their followers.
Father is asking that every Christian leader bless 12 couples from the
leaders of their congregation and community and then bless 12 pastors
from among their colleagues. To be stable Father would like to see
120 couples blessed in each church. This also applies to the Imams,
the Rabbis and all religious leaders - Father is asking them to bless
their followers so that the curse in the Garden of Eden will be broken.
To foster peace Father is calling for interreligious blessing between
people of different faiths. In the September 14th blessing in New York
last year one Moslem leader, who is the brother of an African President,
asked for and received True Parents' blessing on his marriage with his
Christian fiancé. Thus blessing revolution is occurring not only in
Christianity but is expanding throughout many major Moslem countries.
One major Moslem country is planning for the blessing of 100,000 leader
couples in conjunction with the upcoming May blessing in Korea at the
World Culture and Sports festival. This phenomenon is happening in all
185 countries. This is the day of the Lord.
Now many Christian leaders are joining us to boldly lift up True
Parents.
Upon the completion of our DP seminar for clergy in Ocean City, MD
over 1,000 clergy in the U.S. have received a four day intensive Divine
Principle lecture. The vast majority totally receive the Principle as the
"New Wine" that Jesus promised. Brothers and sisters, a holy revolution
is now occurring. Do not worry, but be absolute in your faith, for
this is the Day of The Lord. Now we will expand this through one day
convocations in all 50 states reaching 12,000 clergy.
The ACLC clergy are embracing Father's inspiration that the era of
the cross and the way of shedding blood must now be replaced with an era
of life and resurrection based on True Love, True Life and True Lineage
through the blessing of marriage. Just before he passed, Rev. Dr. E.V.
Hill, viewed by mainstream conservative Christian leaders as one of
their own, taped a show on Trinity Broadcasting Network. According to
one of Dr. Hill's key members who watched the show, when asked why he
was working with Rev. Moon, Dr. Hill said, "You might be surprised,
but Rev. Moon knows the Holy Ghost better than most Christian leaders!"
He went on to make it clear that Jesus is with the movement of Father
Moon and as he said at the December 7th Blessing in Washington, D.C. "God
is using Rev. Moon to save the family."
We never dreamed that the ministers currently attending the Divine
Principle seminars would agree to take down their church crosses, yet the
many have confirmed that they feel that it is right because the cross
was not the original symbol for Christianity. For many the cross is
an important symbol but not essential. Yet the value of the cross is
that Jesus turned it into victory. Many pastors have shared that the
real essence is that Jesus "gave" his life as a willing sacrifice while
forgiving and loving his enemies - the enemies of God.
The clergy in great part agree that the essential meaning of atonement
is tied to Jesus' sacrifice, love and most importantly his resurrection.
His blood was shed as a condition of sacrifice to save mankind.
The cross did not bring the victory, Jesus did. It was how he overcame
the cross that allows God's spirit to bring victory through the cross.
Therefore we should bear the cross instead of displaying it. The ultimate
victory was that Jesus was not stopped by his death. His resurrection
conquered death. It says that during his crucifixion that "And the sun
was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst." (Luke
23:45), meaning that the veil between the spirit world and the
physical world was opened and that Jesus would be able to go freely back
and forth.
The victory of Jesus was that unlike Moses and all Biblical figures
before him, he resurrected and has remained the "active" central figure
of Christianity from the heavenly realm. From the day of Pentecost on
through a simple prayer offered by a believer, Jesus could be called
upon for guidance and direction and thus a "Living Lord" led Christianity
until today. Jesus speaks to and guides the heart of the individual
believer directly. The resurrection brought victory of life over death,
so that Satan's attack only multiplied God's power while creating the
Second Israel. America is the inheritor of this spirit and victory.
Therefore, whether we bring forth the true spirit of Jesus' love is
crucial in determining whether God will bless or curse the Second Israel
of America.
Fortunately, the Christian leaders are accepting the Divine Principle
in substantial numbers. We are absolutely humbled by this change in
history. It is clear to all of us involved in the teaching and preaching
that the spirit world behind the Christian leaders has changed. There
is now a hunger to understand more about the Bible through the Divine
Principle. Therefore we must know our identity clearly. The direction
of America is firmly resting on the direction of its religious heritage.
We must foster that heritage and rekindle the "founding spirit" of this
nation. We realize that the Christian movement centering on Father is
not yet where it needs to be, but we see the promised land before us.
The day is coming very soon when those who lift up the Lord will also
gain the authority to guide the "Kings" of the second Israel.
Father is setting the conditions that will untangle world conflict,
but as always it is occurring in ways that most cannot see or understand.
Let us be reminded of how few if any thought that the crucifixion and
mysterious resurrection of Jesus would have any bearing whatsoever
on the "solid" 2000 year history of Israel. Yet 70 short years after
his death and resurrection, that very Israel was totally scattered to
the four winds. Let us remember how Communism seemed to have global
invincibility in Korea, Vietnam and in many other countries, and
yet Father set conditions through his own course and the worldwide
teaching of Godism that confronted and destroyed the ideological power
of Marxism-Leninism. Then the impossible came to pass as reality.
As Father predicted, after 70 years of unrestricted power and hegemony,
the Berlin Wall as well as the whole global Soviet communist empire
collapsed. Father is now setting the conditions, enormous conditions
with his own physical body to directly prevent the current conflict
from spreading to a world conflict. Ultimately this will cause the 38th
parallel to crumble. Father has been paying physical indemnity in the
last 14 days to protect America and the World. As sons and daughters
of filial piety we must also put our lives on the line at this time to
secure our path to final victory.
Father's central goal now is to unify the Fatherland and to give God
a sovereign nation so that, as in the time of Israel, He will have a
nation and a secure foundation from which to expand the Cheon Il Guk
(Kingdom of God on earth). America is essential for this unification.
Therefore the conflicts in the world must be addressed by America.
It is inevitable. How we address these crises will determine whether
or not God can continue to bless this nation.
Again, Father is setting the conditions for the Second Israel to
fulfill. For America to play the key role in the unification of North
and South, we went to Korea. Through our unity with True Parents we
could receive the Cheon Il Guk Blessing and participate in the Lord's
Coronation. Then we could go to every hamlet in Korea and proclaim True
Parents and the way of peaceful Unification of North and South. In a
climate of anti-Americanism in some sectors of the nation our Blessed
Central Families went out from Korea, Japan , America and many nations
of the world and showed unity and love. This internally reversed the
negative atmosphere toward America on the community level and laid the
foundation for a Family movement to rise that will lead the North and
the South through peaceful unification.
Father has asked all to plant into their hometowns into Korea and yet
in America he is asking the American blessed Central families to stay here
to focus on Christianity. Therefore our work with the Christian leaders
is now at a critical stage. The Second Israel is now called upon to make a
sacrifice of old tradition to usher in the Kingdom. Under God's guidance,
the Second Israel is being asked to shed the old traditions like Jesus
said we have to have get rid of the "old" wineskins to receive the "new"
wine that God has prepared. The new wine has to do with all churches
removing their denominational walls and then as a "body" of christ
removing the symbol of the failure of the chosen people, the cross.
By sacrificing itself, the Second Israel comes into to an "essential"
position of faith where it is holding on to the essence or spirit of
Jesus and not to a symbol. Therefore to fulfill, we as blessed central
families together with the blessed Christian leaders must take the cross
down as a symbol and instead walk the "way of the cross" in sacrifice
to heal the division of the sons of Abraham.
Father is preparing a renewed "Second Israel" in this way. We are
confident that this "resurrected" body of the Second Israel, having
sacrificed itself to remove the barriers to winning our elder brother,
the First Israel's heart, will travel to Jerusalem to humbly ask the first
Israel to embrace Jesus as the Lord that God sent to them. Only a small
number is needed to fulfill this condition, but it must be fulfilled.
This condition will allow for a transformation of the culture of war
that now exists in the Middle East. On this basis the Moslem family can
be liberated from their pain, and massive reconciliation will occur.
Then with this victory, Father is asking the Second Israel to go to
Korea to restore what Christianity in Korea failed to do 57 years ago
- to lift up the Lord of the Second Advent. Then we will see the 38th
parallel crumble before our eyes.
Therefore, beloved Blessed Central Families, this is the time to
sacrifice, to respond to and follow the call of the Lord. Let us fulfill
our destiny and bring reconciliation to all.
This is the Day of the Coming of The Lord.
Thanks America.
MWJ
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