Chapter 3 - Unification Church Members

Speaking of this issue, there is no excuse for not taking the road of virtues in friendship, of being positively recognized by one's superior, or of being trusted by one's subordinates whenever there is a choice in one's decision between good and evil. Do you understand this? I want you to examine and compare the choices. Those who excuse themselves are generally losers. I don't want you to use excuses whenever something happens. Reverend Moon never uses excuses even if it means his death. If confronted with facts of the matter, he might wince with his answers, but never excuses. It's Reverend Moon's way of life. Only the straightforward people will survive and inherit their environment.

We need "honest believers" more than anything else in view of this conclusion on honesty. How do we get honest believers? From our present decision making. Therefore, we must react decisively when good cannot stop evil's invasion. Thus Reverend Moon does not dilly-dally when something happens. Never. You cannot afford to. Whenever you feet negative, you must shed the feeling immediately. It's wrong to go before the public while you are still affected by bad feelings. It's a serious matter. When we consider our whole lives, we realize only those who stick to a firm philosophy-not just in religious matters-but in ordinary life, will survive. I want you to know that only people like that achieve anything worthwhile in history. (45-269)

You must believe as a child does. (46-177)

What is the reason we must endure and be patient today? Because, unless we are patient, we cannot repay our indemnity and cannot resolve the grief that heaven bears. Because heaven and earth follow the ways of God, if you get angry when God gets angry and grieve with God when he grieves, you will be judged in Satan's world. In our journey toward heaven we are constantly taught to be mild and meek, to endure without rancor. (1-113)

God answers our prayer by saying, "You must kill yourself, and you will receive blessings." It means that blessings come only after endurance. It matters not whether the endurance is in private affairs or in the public domain. "Endure, endure" we are told, and endure continually.

In the Orient, the word for patience implies that one should endure even under the threat of a knife. We all know how painful it is to stick a knife in our heart. But do you understand that one who is struck with a knife one thousand times is one who triumphs one thousand times? You must know it now. Think and think before you act, and then think and endure. All actions must be preceded by thoughtful consideration. Do you understand? Reverend Moon likes to play the game of patience. "Great Fatherland" are not my favorite words, but it is a precious phrase. But every time you hear that phrase think about one thing: What should I do first whenever there is a problem? Think that you can inherit all of God's blessings. (93-320)

The Bible says, blessed are those who endure to the end. It's not easy to endure to the end. But it doesn't mean an end only because I die. It doesn't mean an end only because the whole family dies. It could mean the end of the spirit of a people, the end of a nation, or the end of the world. Thus the end means not just the end of your family, your people, your life in this world, but beyond this world where we no longer exist.

Can you imagine the hardships of following God, forsaking yourself, your family, your people, your nation, to the very end of the world? The journey is fraught with difficulties that dog the traveler all the way to the end. One cannot take to the road for the peace, comfort, hope, wish, or glory of one person. (51-25)

For this reason, anyone who wants God's blessings must endure. When you give alms to a poor person, you should not say, "Hey, you are a young fellow, what's the matter with you?" Instead, say, "I hope this small token will bring you many times more today." You can say this many, many times. But if you say, "You rotten son of a gun, get one thousand blessings today," he would say, "How wonderful that you say it. But I wish you didn't call me you rotten son of a gun." Be patient and endure.

It is spring time now. Nowadays, there are machines doing the tilling instead of an ox. In the old days one would drive an ox to till the soil and whip the animal's butt once in a while, hollering, "You rotten animal, why are you behaving like this? I raised you for this time of the year but you are behaving so poorly!" But instead, one should tell the beast, "Hi, I am very sorry that you have to be used like this after a long winter of inactivity and poor feeding." One should be more patient than an ox so that heaven recognizes one's virtues. Do you understand this? (127-89)

Instead of clever patchwork to smooth over a situation in the moment, one should be patient in all sweetness. One should live a blessed life with a blessed mind, to await true blessings. Do you understand what I am saying? (127-89)

Our endurance should not end midway, it should go all the way. For this, God has endured for six thousand years. You must understand that. Who is he? He is our father. Because we inherited his flesh and blood and his virtues, we must be like him. Because of this we must endure like our world philosophy. For whom, you say? For God. Children's duty begins here. Children's loyalty begins here. The liberation of nations and of the world begins here. Here we welcome the good world and the bad world as hell is no more. Isn't that so? We must endure under this philosophy.

There is an old story. There was an old woman who used to be married to the last grandson of a 5 generation family. Someone asked her how she had endured it all. The woman told him to open some large jars in a storage room. Inside the three or four of the jars, filling them to the top, were the words "patience." Not just being patient. But enduring patience.

There must a purpose in endurance. Endurance is impossible without a purpose. We must risk our lives to capture all the foes of God, all the foes of mankind. We must find our Lord once again as representatives of this world. For this we must endure. Our purposefulness must be strong. There is no point in just enduring. What's the point in crying out, "This is killing me!" Even as we endure and bear up under difficulty, we must be thankful and sing hymns. Do you understand? God will simply forsake us if he finds out that we are not enduring thankfully but with bitterness. What do we need to endure? What do we need? "A thankful spirit!" A thankful spirit. We cannot endure without a thankful spirit. Without a thankful spirit, we cannot unite with God just simply by enduring. (44-28)

Once you decide on a grand purpose, the biggest problem is how to overcome the hardship of holding to the time and process to achieve the purpose. The most important point is how to maintain the momentum around the purpose in our daily existence. It is possible for us to individually overcome some of the hardships, but when the energy runs out we face corruption, disappointments, defeatism which cause failure. Therefore we must have a certain stimulus in our daily life that brings us gladness and idealism. In our multi-directional life, a positive stimulus is imperative. (66-38)

Some of you are agreeing with me but actually shaking your heads inside. This is why your character is important. In your journey as a believer, to conquer oneself is more difficult than to conquer the world. Viewed this way, our first cross to bear is conquering ourselves. (46-95)

A believer must overcome great calamities. Believing is overcoming. It is like dying in the process of overcoming difficulties. We say, sacrifice, serve, and don't even raise your head about it. So that those who want to live will die and those who want to die shall live, and in the process of overcoming difficulties if one is ready to die, one finds that the great calamities are overcome. This is the important lesson in solution-finding for all ignorant people. Religions have been teaching this secret for ages. (47-119)

People tend to think that when the Messiah comes their own nation will be in glory and they will be in hog heaven. The sad bitter history of Israel shows that people vanish if they don't think about the whole of humanity. That's why in our journey we cannot triumph without overcoming hardships. Then with what do we overcome? We cannot overcome anything with tricks or talents. Only with a sincere heart. Therefore, the final weapon is always how much you love God, how much you long for him, how much you feel his grace and love, and how much you have been upholding the father, son bloodlines. (42-228)

We must thank God for everything he has done for us and also for the 95 percent of the mission that is yet to be accomplished for the world. What is the basic purpose of religious life? To give thanks to God. This is the basis upon which the fall of man can be overcome so that our unity with God can be re-established. Am I going to give thanks only for the favors that I've received? Of course not. God's work for us does not always show itself in favors. He is with us through thick and thin. We must thank God not only for the favors but also for the hardships in our fight for restoration. Thus, we must understand that the weight of the cross must be viewed as part of his favors for which we give thanks. (29-338)

Then, how should we give thanks? Aren't there many others less fortunate than myself? We must look at those people, not those better off than we are. We must be thankful, saying, "I am a member of the Unification Church in a death struggle for our belief in and knowledge of God, but how many people don't know about God or the Church? I am so fortunate!" We must sing praise to Him at all times. God will shed his tears in response to our hymns of thanks in the midst of our struggles. When we cannot really go one step farther, God comes along and blesses us by saying, "You, my son, you don't need to endure any longer." As we endure our journey in hymns of thanksgiving, God tearfully says, "Where else can I find a son like you? I will now let somebody else carry on for you." Then he gives us a place of rest and heavenly rewards from his heavenly father's heart. Do you understand? That's why we must give praise and thanks.

You know the fable about old woman Jung? She said thanks for everything, even for the whipping she took, for all the bad luck of her life, for the hardship she received from her mother-in-law, even when she lost her daughter and her husband. She just kept saying thanks for everything (laughter).

All truthful thanksgiving. That's the only correct way. All truthful thanksgiving. You must give thanks and praise. Even when your wife snarls at you in the morning and you and your wife have a screaming match, you should say, "Thank you, God, for my family member's anger." (laughter) Try it that way. Try it three times. Wait for ten minutes and say to the other person, "Do it your way, I don't understand it at all," then it gives a new positive stimulus to the relationship.

So everyone in town called the old woman Jung "the thanks-giver." She became quite famous as a great educational institution in Korea. Don't you think? We must be thankful that we have such an institution amid all the hardships we endured after liberation. It means we are getting closer to God's blessings. That shows that Koreans are destined to survive. For this we should give thanks and praise. Then, should we just keep thanking and praising? No, that's not it. What should we do next? Mutual aid is what we do next, giving aid to others and receiving help from others. Together we live and work. This is when unification will occur. Do you understand? Unification comes when we depend on one another and help one another. The kingdom of God comes this way. (44-29)

Like old woman Jung, thanksgiving is the right thing to do. One who gives thanks cannot be destroyed. Satan has to run away from that person. Even if Satan tries to invade, we must thank God, saying, "This is the indemnity that he wants me to remit." Satan will have to give up with this type of thanks-giver. But if we don't give thanks, Satan will never leave us alone. (34-138)

If you sacrifice yourself for the world, there is no shame in your lowly state of being, even looking like a beggar. We Unificationists must appreciate even a bread and water diet as if it were a five-course meal, and give thanks. The more you give thanks, the higher your esteem in the eyes of all that is wonderful in heaven. Do you understand this? "Yes." (61-210)