Distinguished and honorable guests, ladies and gentlemen:

I want to express my heartfelt gratitude to all of you, as leaders in many walks of life, for gathering here and allowing me to share the Word of God.

In particular, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to God, who has been my constant companion throughout my life. To Him let us offer the glory and honor.

Throughout his life, my husband, the Reverend Sun Myung Moon, has committed himself totally to the salvation of humankind centered on God’s Will.

He came to realize that God is not sitting on a throne of glory and honor. He is in fact a God of suffering, grief and lamentation, a God who is endeavoring to save His children who are suffering in hell as a result of the fall.

Ever since my husband first understood the Will of God and His suffering heart, he has worked single-mindedly to accomplish God’s Will, forgetting everything else. When I reflect upon his life, filled with misunderstandings, persecution and great hardship, I am grateful to God that I can be here to represent him today. I believe that it is entirely thanks to God.

On this significant occasion I would like to speak on the topic, "The Path for America and Humanity in the Last Days."

This will help us better understand human history and current world affairs from the viewpoint of God’s providence.

What are the "last days?" Ever since the fall of the first human ancestors, God has been working to save His lost children. This great work of salvation is to be concluded in the last days.

They are the turning point when the evil history of Satan ends and God’s good sovereignty begins. Accordingly, the last days are a time of hope when God’s work reaches fulfillment.

In the last days, individuals will be freed from the bondage of sin and will be able to reach the ideal of perfection.

Families will be healed, communities reconciled and the nations of the world will live together as brothers. Even the barriers between Heaven and Earth will come down as the fear of death disappears.

In the course of human history, God has tried on several occasions to usher in the last days by opening our minds to a deeper understanding of His Will and Truth. Time and again we failed to fulfill our responsibility to respond to the divine call of goodness and reject evil history.

However, God is eternal, unchanging, absolute and unique. His Will is also eternal, unchanging, absolute and unique. Therefore He will never abandon His ideal to build His Kingdom, through the true individual, true family, true society, true nation and true world. God will surely build the world in which He can live, freely traveling and acting both in Heaven and on Earth.

In God’s original plan, this world of peace would have emerged naturally. It would have started with the family of the sinless Adam and Eve, who would have been the first True Parents of humanity. However, due to the fall, the True Parents and the true world were lost from the very beginning.

Therefore, nothing in this present world, not the land where we are living, nor any human ideology or anything else, can connect us back to God and True Parents. We ourselves must first be redeemed and restored to true spiritual health.

When reborn individuals become true husband and wife and true parents, giving birth to true children, then the world under God’s sovereignty can emerge. When people once again can freely communicate with God in heart, the evil world inevitably will come to an end.

The last days are the time when such an ideal will be realized. It is the time of the Second Advent. Accordingly, the last days are a time of hope, not fear.

The biblical prophecies such as judgment by fire, the destruction of the Earth or people being caught up into the air have a spiritual rather than a literal meaning.

The last days are the time when the history of evil and tragedy will at last be untangled and resolved.

How does this happen? The Lord at his Second Advent will offer conditions of love and sacrifice on every level, starting with the individual and moving through the family, society, people, nation, world and even into the spiritual realms.

He will restore humanity’s vertical connection with God. We have been longing for such a day, and the final destination at which we all should arrive is now at hand!

However, the real situation of our world today seems to be far different. On every level, individuals, families and nations are still estranged.

Environmental problems such as air and water pollution and food shortages plague our societies. More seriously, religious struggles and racial disputes are constantly arising throughout the world, causing conflicts and even wars.

Who can take responsibility for this world? This is a serious question. There was a time when the Communist countries believed they could create a new world, but they could not transcend their own nationalism. Similarly, America, the only remaining super-power, cannot transcend the idea of Americanizing the world in its own image.

When a nation places its self-interest first, it will not be able to lead the world. We need a people or a nation who are willing to sacrifice for the higher purpose of building or becoming an ideal nation that embraces the entire world.

America is faced with a moral crisis, and the influence of the church is declining because of confusion and disunity.

This is why my husband and I came to this country, in response to the call of God. We have been making the utmost effort to revive this nation by educating her young people.

You might be curious about what we are teaching. It is actually simple. First, it is "to live for the sake of others."

More specifically, the individual should live for the sake of the family, the family for the society, the society for the people, the people for the nation, the nation for the world and the world for God. Finally, God will come and live with us.

The same principle applies in the family. The parents are to live for their children and the children are to live for their parents. The true husband lives for his wife and the true wife lives for her husband. Anyone who lives for others more than his or herself is living on the side of goodness.

Second, we are teaching people to "love your enemy." God Himself sacrificed Jesus, His only begotten and beloved son, for the salvation of humankind.

Since God did this in order to save the children of His enemy, Satan could no longer exercise his evil authority and power before God. Even Satan cannot help but surrender voluntarily before the God who loves Satan’s children more than His own.

Satan’s pattern is always to strike first, but he loses in the end. God’s strategy is to win in the end by taking the first blow and initial loss.

My husband’s faith in this simple heavenly law sustained him through torture and imprisonment.

We could send missionaries out to 185 nations throughout the world despite knowing that first they would face terrible persecution and misunderstanding, because we knew that in the end they would prevail.

This heavenly law can also be seen in Christian history. Christian missionaries and saints have walked a path of persecution and martyrdom, hindered by many enemies.

For two thousand years, their tears and blood have been the fertilizer for the growth of freedom and democracy.

But today Christianity, which once was the source of strength for freedom and democracy, is facing a crisis. Christian nations have lost direction and are drowning in moral confusion.

They deny or ignore God, Jesus, and God’s providence in a way that formerly would have been unthinkable. We even hear voices asserting that, "God is dead" or "God does not exist."

How does God feel about this? God’s heart must be broken, for He has been searching for His children, sacrificing everything that He has, with the hope that He could see liberation in the last days.

Ladies and Gentlemen: For whom has God been sacrificing Himself? It is not just for America or any particular country.

Nor is it only for Christianity. Rather it is for each of us, for you and for me as individuals. Likewise, the reason Jesus was crucified was not to save the Messiah himself, but was to save you and me, each and every one of us.

Since the fall began with two individuals, salvation should also begin on the individual level. The Messiah comes as a representative of humankind, proclaiming, "I will take full responsibility to pay all the debt that man has incurred during the entire course of history.

I will become a person who will even make God indebted to me instead." Without such a steadfast determination, restoration is impossible.

We should not be only conceptual or theoretical. Without willing to endure misery and suffering in the world, we cannot reach God’s heart.

Have you ever prayed in desperation for the six billion people in the world, with the feeling that your own children are dying?

How much heart have you invested to save a family, a tribe, a people, a nation and the world, with a willingness to sacrifice yourself for them?

I believe that very few people are confident to answer that question positively. Nonetheless, the Lord of the Second Advent comes to the world with just such an absolute standard.

God works in history by finding champions who can represent Him and who are willing to suffer on His behalf. When God found Abraham 2,000 years after the fall, He first tested him through trial and suffering.

God then made Abraham’s descendants the chosen people by multiplying them as a new family, a new tribe and a new nation, Israel.

God called the Israelites as the chosen people, based on Abraham’s victorious faith. Thus they became the central people to receive the Messiah who was to come in the future.

If you go to the core of the matter, you can understand that the first human ancestors, Adam and Eve, lost the standard of faith and love.

The Messiah comes to restore that lost standard. The Messiah comes in the position of a new Adam and the believers stand as the "bride."

Despite its significance, the Israelites could not carry out their mission because of the crucifixion of Jesus. Although called by God as the chosen nation, Israel lost the position of God’s elect. Christianity was called as the second Israel to carry out the mission instead. God continued to lead His providence centered on one purpose: to restore the bride.

Thus the ultimate goal of all Christians, who today are awaiting the Second Advent, is not merely to develop their religion. Our most important mission is to become a bride qualified to receive the Messiah as our bridegroom. We are now in the final stage of that providence.

What is the essence of the Messiah’s teaching? It is to save the world. He brings a teaching that can unify the world and build an ideal family.

Its main purpose is to restore the position of the True Parents that was lost by the fall of the human ancestors.

The Old and New Testaments tell us that the Messiah comes with the authority of the Father, meets a substantial bride, who represents the power of the Holy Spirit, and restores the position of the True Parents. This is why Christianity is in the position of bride to the coming Messiah.

The appearance of the bride and bridegroom at the "marriage supper of the lamb" prophesied in the Book of Revelation refers to the coming of the True Parents as the first true husband and wife.

Jesus came with this same mission. However, when he lost his people and nation due to their disbelief, he offered his life for the sake of the world and the Kingdom that God wanted to build.

The path of Jesus’ suffering on the cross was the same path of tribulation that God Himself walked.

In the face of death, Jesus desperately prayed, "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do." He forgave Rome and all the groups of people who opposed him.

This sacrificial spirit is why Jesus’ life did not end on the cross at the age of 33. With God’s help, Christianity inherited his spirit and became the leading religion in human history.

Ladies and gentlemen, what is America’s responsibility as the foremost Christian nation in the world? America is currently recognized as the one remaining super-power, but unless she stands straight on the providential line of God, she will not continue to prosper.

We may think that America will always enjoy the position of privilege it has today, but history shows us that civilizations rise and fall as their fortunes shift. Will America be any different?

Let us examine the history of civilization. Had our ancestors not fallen, civilization would have begun in the warm zone, the climate corresponding to spring.

As it matured it would have moved to the cool zone, corresponding to autumn. Instead the ancient civilizations were born mainly in the hot parts of the world, the tropics and subtropics. Examples include the civilizations of the Mayas, Incas, Egypt and Mesopotamia.

Yet the center of civilization moves from place to place and those once-proud societies declined. Today, the leading cultures of the world are part of the cool zone represented by western civilization.

This is the reason why the leading nations of the world, such as America, England, Germany and so forth, are in the cool zone of the Northern Hemisphere.

With the end of the cool zone civilization of autumn, the cold zone civilization of winter comes for a short time. This is the significance of Communism.

Many intellectuals may think that the Cold War system disappeared after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, but the forces of materialism and atheism linger throughout the world. Nonetheless, both democracy and communist ideologies are gradually losing power.

Now, the civilization of the true spring that we have been seeking from time immemorial will appear. It will overcome the crises and threats of modern civilization.

Who will be able to melt the block of ice frozen in the heart of God? Power, money, science and knowledge cannot melt that ice. It can only melt with the coming of the spring-like culture of true love.

The movement of civilization along rivers and coastlines also demonstrates that the center of civilization is not fixed. For example, early human civilization began around the Tigris, Euphrates and Nile rivers, and then shifted to the Mediterranean, focusing upon Greece, Rome, Spain and Portugal.

Later, the center of civilization moved to the Atlantic, through Great Britain and the United States. This movement is now bearing fruit in the Pacific Ocean civilization of the United States, Japan, and Korea.

Viewed from the perspective of the history of civilizations, the Korean peninsula, though small, occupies a very important position. To the north of Korea lies the boundary of the cold region civilization that links Russia and China. To the south lies the cool region civilization that links the United States and Japan.

In this providential view of history, it is natural that Korea would give rise to a warm zone civilization representing the new spring season of human history. This new culture should have the capability to digest both the cold and cool region civilizations.

The fact that Reverend Moon, who has dedicated his life to solving the North-South problem and the East-West problem, comes from Korea is no coincidence. It is directly in line with God’s providence.

Throughout our lives, my husband and I have challenged racial, ideological and national boundaries to pursue a movement for "One World under God." We have traveled this path because of God’s providence.

The principle of providential history you have just heard this evening is a revealed truth.

It is not a theory that Reverend Moon invented. He was enlightened regarding the Will of Heaven. Rather than letting these heavenly secrets remain only as a theory between my husband and me, we have been working together to bring God’s plans into reality.

God has guided us to work actively everywhere in the world. We have been able to inspire evangelical and business activities from Alaska to Antarctica, from the countries of the former Soviet Union to the 33 nations of South and Central America, and throughout Asia and Africa.

In recent years, we have worked in the Pantanal and Amazon regions of Brazil to protect our planet’s environment. The movement we have founded is preparing to solve the external and internal problems humanity will face over the coming millennium, such as environmental pollution, hunger and disease.

To solve internal spiritual and social challenges, we have worked through the International Holy Blessing and the Pure Love movement to break down the barriers between people, races and nations. Some 430 million couples around the world have already received the Holy Blessing from God. This adds greater impetus to building the long-awaited Kingdom of God on Earth.

The world is changing faster than we realize. Until now, countries possessing superior political, military and economic power have controlled the world. However, no nation can exist eternally unless it is in line with God’s providence. The fall of the once glorious Greek and Roman civilizations are good examples of this.

In more recent history, political factions favoring dialectical materialism and the materialistic view of history gained control of more than one-third of the world’s population and two-thirds of its land area, including the former Soviet Union and China.

Their expansion, however, could not continue forever because it was not in line with God’s Will.

The United States, which today stands tall as a super power, holds the same preeminent position Rome once held. The fall of Rome resulted from internal corruption more than from external invasions.

Moral corruption caused Rome to lose the support of heavenly fortune. America is in danger of suffering the same fate.

The time will come when religious leaders who speak for the Will of God will rise to prominence. Religious leaders are prophets. They must stand up fearlessly, declare God’s will, and point the way for humanity to go. However, the splintering of denominations and the struggles among religious groups we see today seriously hinder God’s providence.

To overcome religious disunity, my husband and I have for years devoted 90 percent of our church’s budget to help other denominations and other religions resolve inter-religious conflict.

We founded the Inter-Religious Federation for World Peace to bring harmony and unity among religious groups, to contribute to resolving conflicts in many areas of the world, and to help bring about world peace.

Most recently, we founded the Inter-religious and International Federation for World Peace. This body has already brought political and religious leaders together to study the Word of God through seven international Hoon Dok Hae conferences.

We are in the time when all people can go beyond racial and religious differences and understand God’s providence to bring His ideal of creation into reality.

We can understand and ultimately unite with God’s heart. That heart of true love will bring about the world of faith, hope, and love for which all of us have been longing.

We can recover the heartfelt relationship with God that we lost as a result of the human fall. This means to recover the positions of parent and child as God originally envisioned them to be.

This is why God has promised us that the time when True Parents come is indeed the last days.

It is the day of hope, when the multitudes of people in the world, who lost their Parents as a result of the fall, again will be able to meet their original Parents. Thus, the True Parents are the fulfillment of the desires and hopes of all humankind. They are the final fruit of the victories and sacrifices of good people throughout human history.

The Unification Church has spread this new message and tradition throughout the world through the International Holy Blessing Ceremony.

The fact of black, white and yellow people coming together as brothers and sisters -- beyond differences of ethnicity, race, or skin color -- to form loving married couples is among the most significant signs of the accomplishment of God’s Will.

Today, by realizing the blessed family tradition, we can recover the relationships of brother and sister, husband and wife, and parent and child as God originally envisioned them.

We must go so far as to liberate God, who has been in the depths of sorrow ever since He lost His children. It is only then that God and us together can open the path to true happiness.

Until now, democracy has called for "human freedom" and "human liberation," but this is not enough. Now is the time to call for "God’s freedom" and "the liberation of God."

When we end God's sorrow, human liberation and the recovery of human freedom will follow automatically. Each of us should realize that we were born to liberate God and to liberate the world.

Ladies and Gentlemen: It is profoundly significant that we are gathered here to discuss God’s providence. The United States is a country prepared by God’s blessing. The forefathers who built this country were the Pilgrim Fathers, who risked their lives for the sake of the freedom of religion. They came to America seeking a land of freedom.

For the sake of their search, they left behind their parents, brothers and sisters, and homelands. They were prepared to cut their ties to their home country as they crossed the Atlantic Ocean at the risk of their lives.

As you know, the Mayflower arrived in New England in the late autumn, November of 1620. While they endured their first winter, more than half of the 102 people who first arrived died of the cold and hunger. What was particularly remarkable was that they died refusing to eat the precious seeds reserved for planting the next spring.

The Pilgrim Fathers strongly believed in serving the Will of God in every aspect of their lives. After taking in their first harvest, they offered thanks to God. They first built a church and a school, and it was only then that they built their personal homes.

The early Americans began every activity with prayer. This was true whether it was plowing a field or fighting a war.

When George Washington was at Valley Forge during the War of Independence, he must have prayed with great desperation. In a battle fought for the sake of God’s Will, God sided with America.

Why? In England, the people were united with their king in fighting that war. Yet in America, God supported His beloved sons and daughters who earnestly sought the freedom to worship Him. Isn’t this how the United States was born as a country advocating freedom of faith?

Even now, the United States Congress opens with a prayer. When the President is sworn into office, he places his hand on the Bible as he takes the oath of office, and a member of the clergy blesses him. America even prints the words "In God we trust" on its currency.

America is unique in the level of importance it attaches to God. This is how the United States came to occupy a unique position as a mainly Christian country with worldwide influence.

But what about America today? Prayer is banned in public schools, even as shocking acts of violence in schools are shaking the foundations of our nation.

The theory of evolution is given preference over the theory of creation. God is virtually excluded from education. A divorce rate of 50 percent is destroying the sanctity of the family.

In 1971, my husband and I left our family and homeland to come to America. He heard the voice of God sharing His concern about the current state of affairs. Upon arriving, he cried out that he had come as a fireman to a house that was on fire and as a physician to cure America of disease.

Even then, my husband realized that God was leaving America. It should have been possible to find God everywhere in America, but God was departing from the hearts of people, from the families and from the schools.

It seems like only yesterday that we stood on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, where my husband openly wept for this nation. He was desperately holding onto God, to keep Him from leaving America. Unfortunately, as we predicted and feared, America has persisted on the way of moral decay.

Ladies and Gentlemen:

I would like to ask you this. In spite of all the opposition and suffering my husband has endured, why do you suppose Reverend Moon continues to cry out to America?

It is because he knows, better than anyone, the blood, sweat and tears that God shed in the course of establishing this country. During the past thirty years in America, my husband has not spent so much as a single day in comfort or ease.

Who is the true master or owner of America? It is neither white Americans nor black Americans. The true master of America is the person who loves America as God does.

We continue to plead with you because God has chosen America to be the elder son, His leading nation in building the Kingdom of God on Earth.

Even now, Jesus is spiritually present mainly in America, and he is offering earnest prayers that his purpose will be accomplished in America.

In 1982, in accordance with the Will of God, we founded The Washington Times in our nation’s capital. Ever since then, this newspaper has led American public opinion with a conservative voice showing the path for America to follow.

We have pursued national and world salvation through the True Family Values movement and the Pure Love movement for young people. We have invested in America with the fervent expectation that this country would stand upright before God’s providence.

When my husband first visited America in 1965, he blessed an area near the White House as a Holy Ground. To this day, many people gather there and pray for America through the night.

I hope each of you here will also open your hearts in prayer. You will be able to feel the earnest desires of the Pilgrim Fathers and the many patriots who have gone before us in America’s history.

The new millennium is the time God’s six thousand-year salvation providence is coming to an end. God’s ideal of creation is being realized throughout Heaven and Earth.

This also marks the time that the lamentations and suffering of the creation, which lost its true master as a result of the fall, are finally over.

This is the time when the Parents and children who have been long-separated meet again. It is an age when there is free communication between the spirit world and the physical world, and when God’s Kingdom will be established in Heaven and on Earth.

The transition into the new millennium marks the completion of the New Testament Age.

It is the point at which the promises of both the Old Testament and New Testament are fulfilled.

From now, the direct dominion of God’s love will become apparent throughout the world. His power and authority will be recognized and respected. In this age, the East and West, and even the spiritual and physical worlds, will come together centering on the Parents of Heaven and Earth.

This will create one world and one cosmos under God. The great family of humankind will be formed on Earth. This is the hope of the Completed Testament age. The promises of God will be fulfilled in glory.

The time has come. It is time for America to awaken once again. It is time for this country to create a new movement to build God-centered true parents, true families, a true country and a true world. In this way, America will keep God here at home.

America will once again be a society that attends God. God worked a thousand years to establish America. If He leaves America, where can He go? If America attends God properly, all our problems -- family problems, moral problems, youth problems and racial problems -- will disappear.

As a place where people of all races and nations can live together in harmony, America will be a model for the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth.

It is time for us to unite and open the path for humankind. It is time for America, as the elder son nation attending God, to lead the way.

America can complete its mission as the pilot that guides the other nations to God. I ask you to stand with us to accomplish this historic task.

I would like to conclude by expressing my hope for the beginning of a new millennial Kingdom overflowing with peace, freedom and justice on Earth and in Heaven.

Again, I would like to express my sincere gratitude for your presence here.

May God’s blessing be with you and your families. Thank you very much!