The New Family Pledge

Until now in the Unification Church, you have been making My Pledge every Sunday and the first of each month. For the forty years following 1951, Christianity, as the bride nation, had the mission to complete the preparation for the Kingdom of Heaven to come of a new bridegroom and a new God, connecting directly to the Kingdom of Heaven. However, since this failed the Unification Church has emerged and re-indemnified this foundation. This means that Christianity failed to establish the individual level, family, clan and national horizontal base. Vertically, however, it has been established. The establishment of the Kingdom of Heaven on earth had failed, but now, for the first time after three attempts since the founding of the Unification Church, it has been established. Not the family, clan or national base, but rather the world base has been established and hell has been chased out.

The Parent has established an individual, family, clan and national base on behalf of the fallen world. The Second Advent is different in that everything is on the basis of the worldwide level. The Lord of the Second Advent was to re-indemnify from the individual all the way up to the world base, receiving all the persecution because perfected Adam had not yet emerged. This course was inevitable, because True Parents were not perfected as True Parents. Therefore, this course of persecution and re-indemnification has been necessary. Do you follow? If you could understand True Father's words directly it would be much clearer for you than receiving his words through translation.

The restoration was to have been completed within the family, Adam's family. However, since this did not happen and humanity expanded horizontally to world level, re-indemnification was to be made at the world level. Therefore, persecution had to be tolerated through the individual, family, clan, national and world levels. The Lord of the Second Advent had to receive persecution at each of these levels before reaching perfection. Once this had been completed, even Satan had to return to his original position of archangel. Even hell has to be liberated. This has been the whole purpose of religion. Once this happens there is no need for religions to continue. Now we do not need any religion. Religion was necessary in order to restore fallen people. Once this has been completed then religion will no longer continue as institutions, rather it will become a way of daily life centering upon God.

This year's motto is The Settlement of True Parents and the Completed Testament Age. What does that mean? This means that so many nations and families in this world have been floating around with no central place of settlement. Without a center no settlement can begin. Now is the time for families around the world to find the center, become one with it and settle down with God. You do not just settle down by yourself and without Principle. That center is the center of the whole world. Instead of this having been established from the very beginning, the Lord of the Second Advent had to come back to that center in the reverse way, beginning at the individual level, family, clan, national and now up to the world level. Once it becomes established at that level, then at that center all families will settle down around. The satanic world would no longer have the place that it once had and would naturally decline. Now the family begins and exists around that center which is God.

America and Japan or other advanced nations are not the center by themselves. This world of chaos, misfortune, tragedy and sadness now is gradually coming to an end. From this point on human beings no longer have to go through this kind of misery. On the other hand, the Unification Church was the most difficult and dark place to dwell within, both physically and mentally. But that too is coming to an end, the sun is beginning to rise and the dawn is coming. The Unification Church will also begin to experience the end of all sorrow and the beginning of happiness.

We know very simply and clearly what was God's purpose of creation-the family; nothing other than the family that has established the four position foundation. The four position foundation consists of three generations which, when deployed, becomes four positions; God, father, mother and child. We know what the original four position foundation was, centering upon God and Adam's couple and family. We have recited the Pledge centered upon this family. We have recited this Pledge every morning because we are connected to God in building this new world, whereas the rest of the world is still not connected. Therefore, it is our responsibility to connect all families through us. The Unification Church has been achieving this through mass weddings, going beyond the boundary of religion, creed, race or whatever. We have established the new families through mass weddings.

The Kingdom of Heaven centered upon God cannot come under America, rather America must come under the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth. It is not one nation under God but rather one world under God. Do you follow so far? Therefore, we must make things upside down and rearrange them. The fall took place in Adam's family and the result of this fall is the separation of mind and body, parents and children, and husband and wife. These are the results of the fall which took place in Adam's family. Since this family was lost at the beginning of the human history we must regain it. The separation that occurred as a result of the fall have affected the clan and national levels because clans and nations all have their own boundaries. It is up to the Lord who is to come to break down all the walls that have come into being as a result of the fall. True Parents must accomplish this because Adam and Eve failed to do it in their family. Do you follow? When we recite the Family Pledge it means that we have gone over that boundary and are now on God's side, this is what we are pledging. When you are reciting the Pledge it means that mind and body now has come into unity and is no longer separated. That individual whose mind and body has come into unity now stands to be united with their spouse.

We need to have a clear understanding of True Love. True Love now brings back unity whereas false love separates at all different levels. True Love will cause unity to come into being. This is what True Love does. By bringing about unification for the first time we can come to have an ideal family. When you speak of True Love, immediately you have to think of the power of True Love that brings an individual into unity and the family into unity, all three generations being brought together by True Love. Whenever you are asked to define the meaning of True Love you should immediately be able to describe what the power of True Love can accomplish. Do we have any examples of such united families here on the face of the earth? Is there any one family? Even the strongest knit family does not come up to this qualification. Automatically, it means we have hell on earth. Hell is none other than being separated from God and from each other. Hell is the place where you are unable to recognize your own parents, spouse and children even if you are living together. We are witnessing this phenomena all over the world. People no longer have a sense of their own identity, cannot find their own family and wander around aimlessly. In the same way a country such as America has been drifting into individualism, but individualism cannot find its own identity and relations. This is hell. America is passing through Satan's ideal, instead of God's ideal.

The solution to this situation is that we have to turn around 180 degrees and go into a godly direction. Nobody has that idea in this country or any country in the world, for that matter. No one can come to this clear solution unless they understand Divine Principle. Everyone knows that something is wrong and that they are sick, but they do not know the cause and origin of their sickness. Therefore, they are unable to cure it. Do you follow? When we are asked to define True Love immediately we have to think that True Love is that power that will bring the entities back into unification.

Even though we fell we still have a mind and body, but they have been separated and at war with one another. Men and women marry, but still there is a big wall; they fight one another like enemies. Parents and children are in the same situation. Vertically, parents and children fight; horizontally, husband and wife fight; front and rear, brothers and sisters fight each other. All directions are in conflict with each other. Where conflict exists, God cannot dwell. God comes and lives with us whenever we have unity. Therefore, before we can expect God to dwell within us we have to achieve unity between mind and body, then God will be able to visit us. The same applies to the family. When the family is united, God can come and live with that family.

You have heard Father's teaching on the subject of True Love so many times now. If someone asks you to define True Love for them you cannot hesitate to answer. Immediately you have to respond that True Love is the power that brings my mind and body into unity, husband and wife into unity, parents and children into unity, that is True Love. That is the main spirit of God's restorational dispensation, bringing these separate entities into unity. That is the main core of God's work: unification. Even we, as fallen individuals, fallen families, are God's individuals and God's own family, but He could not live with us because unity was not there. When each is separated one from the other God cannot live with us. Do you understand? Again Father wants to emphasize, True Love is something that can bring my mind and body back into unity, the husband and wife, and parents and children back into unity. That is True Love.

When these three levels become united this will become a true family which is the building block of the Kingdom of Heaven on earth, centering upon God and True Parents. Centering upon God and True Parents we can accomplish the true family, true nation and the true world. Where does the Kingdom of Heaven on earth begin from? From myself, my spouse, and my children. There is no other way to accomplish this. The concept of what True Love is must be very clear for you. What is True Love? My mind and body will become united. How can you make this unity? By cutting off the satanic lineage and being grafted back into God's lineage, then the mind and body become one. There is the root of the fall and this has to be uprooted. This has been the work of the religious world, no matter what religion they go through. Always striking the body so that the mind and body can become one. Once the body is subdued then it has no problem in following the mind. This is what the religious life has been all about. Our conscience knows that when this is established we can go to heaven. Our mind and body knows this. Do you understand the concept of True Love now?

My Pledge consists of seven different pledges. You can only accomplish each of these pledges after your individual mind and body comes back into unity and the family comes back into unity, otherwise you cannot successfully recite that Pledge. You may pledge but you cannot accomplish that. When we first saw and recited the Pledge we did so without really understanding deeply. However, now we have come to understand deeply that the whole base is my family. Those who can say confidently to Father that my mind and body is united and no longer separated please raise your hands. We must first be able to say that and then recite this Pledge. When we begin to pray, do so on the basis of understanding the deep meaning of this pledge. Then pray whatever you wish to God. The person whose mind and body has not even come into unity yet cannot even begin praying to God. We are not qualified to do so because our conscience does not allow us to call our God, our Father. Now we are different from the rest of the world because we know where the fall began and therefore we are able to remedy it. Do you follow? (Yes.) Those who can confidently say that in your family the husband and wife are completely united raise your hands, please. That means that even though we are not qualified we are reciting the Pledge and we are praying to God. Is that not so? How can you complain that the world is bad and, therefore, you are having difficulties. It is not because the world is bad that you are having difficulty; you are having difficulty because of your family situation.

Unless we recite this Pledge we cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. Most of the Christian population believe that by believing in Jesus they will be able to get into Kingdom of Heaven. Getting into the Kingdom of Heaven is not so simple or easy. Today we clearly understand what happened to Christianity, they have been hoping to get into the Kingdom of Heaven on earth but instead they have ended up in hell on earth. We see the problems everywhere, don't we? Are people closer to heaven or hell? If there is a boundary line between these two worlds, are they on the other side of the boundary or on this side of the boundary of God. It becomes very obvious so each one can answer clearly. Believing in Jesus does not guarantee your entry into the Kingdom of Heaven. Each individual knows what is their position today.

The Family Pledge came to be necessary because of this situation. All seven pledges are centering upon True Love and now we understand why. Unless the individual and the family are united, we cannot speak about True Love. How about God? Does His mind and body fight like ours? (No.) No. How about us? (Yes.) Is no and yes the same? No, they are not the same. Not only not the same, but completely opposite of one another. Do you think that it is easy or difficult to change positions from the place where you answer yes to the place where you answer no to this question? It is difficult; if you don't know about it, you will never achieve. The world will in fact become upside down when we accomplish this Pledge. Therefore, it is difficult to accomplish because you are in fact changing the whole world and that content with this Pledge. Therefore, how can it be easy? Should we do this or not? (We should.) Father's entire lifetime work has been to build a good highway, not just a highway but a paved highway with bridges and tunnels, so all you have to do is run as fast as you can. Before Father established this highway, nobody could go so fast. Did we help Father build this highway or did we oppose him? We cannot claim that we helped. Father is creating this highway for the very person who is opposing Father. Even after Father explained clearly what was the past and what is happening today people still look at the sky and do not focus at all on what Father is talking about. Father is talking about me, you and everyone.

Father did not work all these years for his own sake. He has worked so hard in order to try to save all of us. What Father has been teaching us is the key of how to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. When the key does not fit the lock you cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. First, you must open the door and the key that you need is Father's explanation and teaching which has been bequeathed to us. If you try by other means it does not work. You may try keys made out of gold, silver and diamonds but they will not work. The key that you inherited from Father might seem insignificant, only made of metal, but you try it and in one turn click it opens. Nobody can understand that this is happening except ourselves. Only foolish people, namely Moonies, understand the value of this key. Isn't that true? (Yes.) That is why you came very early in the morning in the rain, because of the power of the understanding of the value of that key.

We must understand how blessed we are. This is the gospel of all gospels. The very fact that we are allowed and can recite My Pledge is truly the gospel of all gospels. It is the subject for our family. My family with True Love, centering on the naked land where I am born, pledge that I will build the Kingdom of Heaven on earth and in heaven. This is pledge number one. In order to establish the Kingdom of Heaven on earth and in heaven means we realize the ideal of God's creation. We have recited this from God's position. The second pledge states: Our family, centering on True Love... And when you say the words, "centering upon True Love" immediately you must think, by bringing my mind and body, my spouse, my children together into one. This concept must be automatically there in our minds when we say the words, "centering upon True Love." When we go to the spiritual world, whether we have carried this out or not will be the criteria of our judgment. If we do not establish this, we will be without excuse in the spiritual world. The Pledge is that important and that formidable. Once you have accomplished it, that is heaven. However, if you do not accomplish it, you are judged.

If Father fails to achieve this, then it is not only Father's responsibility but also Mother and children are then responsible together. By the same token, it was only Adam and Eve who fell, their children had nothing to do with it, but the children suffered. Dedicating, serving and living for the sake of others are all contained in the word moshinda .

God is our vertical parents and True Parents are our horizontal parents from which I am born. That means without serving and dedicating to God and True Parents we have no beginning. When we dedicate and serve True Parents then each family represents the whole cosmos before the fall. It means to become representative families before the entire cosmos, to become the central families-from the individual level throughout the eight steps and becoming the very center of the family. By achieving this then we pledge again to become filial sons and daughters within the family, a patriot at the national level, a saint at the world level and a holy son centering upon the whole cosmos. This is the content of pledge number two in which we pledge, centering upon True Love, serving and dedicating to God and True Parents I will make my family a representative family of the whole world and the center family of the whole world, thereby becoming filial sons and daughters. This means at the national level I will educate all the people of my nation who are patriots of that nation. That is pledge number two.

Pledge number three states that we, centering upon True Love, will accomplish the four heartistic realms and three kingships and the realm of royal family; we pledge to perfect that level. That royal family was the one Adam and Eve were supposed to have established. Now, after the fall we restore that position. The number three pledge means that we will be where Adam and Eve were supposed to be. Our Blessed couples are in the original position. Before a woman can expect to be loved by a man and before a man can expect to be loved by a woman we must first qualify. That qualification is to stand in this position. When we enter into the action of love we can only do that standing upon this foundation of the four heartistic realms and three kingships. Without True Love the four heartistic realms and three kingships cannot exist. In here you can really feel that women are absolutely necessary for all men, not just necessary, but absolutely necessary. Likewise men are absolutely necessary for women. Being absolutely necessary is equivalent to being very valuable.

This is one goal that all of our Blessed couples must strive towards every day by reciting this every minute of the day. Do you follow? Until now we have worked hard trying to understand the concept and making that concept connected to myself. But from this Pledge we can see that it is no longer just a concept, but rather a matter of living that concept every day. This is why Father has always stressed the importance of the family based upon True Love. This is an absolute must. We can begin everything centering upon True Love and my family. Unfortunately we can only say that we will try very hard to pledge rather than saying absolutely, I pledge. It is that difficult and that serious. When you say, "I pledge," it means literally that you pledge. Once you pledge you must accomplish that.

When we listen to Father reading out the content of this Pledge, each of us must compare ourselves to this standard and must understand where we are standing in relation to this. When we accomplish this, then we can enter into heaven. If we do not accomplish it, then we must wait. The Pledge goes on to say, my family will achieve the one entire cosmic family. Now you have pledged into unity, centering upon God. It means there are not two families anymore, but one family. There may be hundreds but they are still one family centering upon God. Is this not true? The Pledge goes on to say, to form an entire cosmic family. We are therefore all part of the cosmic family. This is a natural phenomena which is God Himself.

When there is a low pressure, there is a high pressure. Does the high pressure tell the low pressure to get away? High pressure will automatically feel the low pressure without asking or expecting. This is the natural law. In the same way, some water is high and some low but they never stay separate, do they? The same surface makes them even all the time. Does this occur in today's fallen world? One nation is very rich and one is very poor, does this disparity flow like water and air bringing equity? Who then is going against the law of nature? Advanced nations are. If they go against God's law, they will ultimately be destroyed. One way that God is punishing and warning these advanced nations is through AIDS and drug problems. Homosexuality and free sex are unlawful in God's sight. God hates these things and does not even want to think about it. But Satan loves such things. Father will encourage even American people to fast occasionally and with the excess food help the starving people in the poor nations. That kind of leveling off needs to be done. Just as the natural world the human world has to come into balance and harmony under the natural law.

The Pledge goes on by forming this cosmic family, I will work towards making a world of peace, happiness and freedom. It does not mean my happiness or my peace alone but rather the peace, happiness and freedom of everybody. Obviously it is very difficult for us to achieve this literally, physically, but the spiritual world has no boundaries and through our deep prayer of desire we can wish these things for all people of the world. When we see suffering we can shed tears for them in prayer. Through doing this we will be able to help the world and to escape judgment. This is what Father has been actually doing through the Unification Church. It has been twenty years since Father first began land and ocean transportation for the distribution of food. It is not because food does not exist within the world but rather it is the unfair distribution of food. Some have a lot and some do not have enough. The Unification Church will exist in every corner of the world and in each corner of the world, as the center of the universe, they will work towards this goal. That is Father's desire and plan to facilitate the distribution of food to all parts of the world. Do you follow the meaning of Pledge number three?

The whole world is my family. It is not the false reality that we see today where my family is this one unit and everybody else is separate. In the spiritual world we will not live according to national boundaries. If you belong to one society, that society will comprise all nationalities. This is a reality in the spiritual world. From this time on whoever can make a goal for every direction and achieve it, you are the center of that society. That means we must always think this way while we are living on earth and work towards that goal, then once we reach the spiritual world we become the center of that world. Once again Father emphasizes, all of this will only begin to become possible when our mind and body becomes one.

In the world you see people become relentless in the pursuit of making money. In the spiritual world such a person's conscience will really crush him. Here on earth the money itself will come against him. No matter how much knowledge and respect we gain here on the earth, unless we live for the sake of the whole that very knowledge will blame us in the spiritual world. That man with such precious knowledge is supposed to work for the sake of the entire world, instead of working just for himself. In this case the world will be his judge in the spiritual world. Each individual family must be able to achieve what Father is teaching us here before we will be able to fit in to the spiritual world. The whole is the key, not the individual family. No matter how precious an individual family might be, unless all families of the world become like this it has no meaning. The Pledge then goes on to say we pledge to establish a world of peace and happiness and freedom.

Pledge number five. Our family, centering upon True Love, acknowledge the heavenly world is the subject world. But the reality is that people living here on earth do not even think about the heavenly world being subject. Are there more people here on earth or in spiritual world? (Spiritual world.) We only think about this earthly world, but in fact there are far more people in the spiritual world. That means you are missing the body and holding onto the tail. As a result of the fall, human beings long ago forgot that the subject world in heaven exists. Beginning today, whenever we recite the Pledge we are aware of this subject world. Mind is plus and body is minus and not the other way around, even though the body is something we see. Our earthly world is only a small fragment of the complete picture. The mind is the representative of the spiritual world, it is in the plus position. Just as the body rebelled against the mind and treated it very badly, we have completely ignored our subject world in the same way. Therefore, we have reason enough to repent of that.

This world of subject and object must become one. We pledge to expedite the progressive development. Do you understand? We pledge to promote progressive development. If we move slowly we will stop, therefore we must have a thrust. Once we stop and no longer advance, we are automatically in hell. We are reaching towards this goal of heaven; once we slow down or stop, we go down. Having a comfortable and easy life has no place here. Life is short, and during this short span of life we must work towards progressive development. The cosmos goes around the center. It is easy for the center to go around one circle, but when you are on the edge it is necessary to travel a long distance to complete one cycle. Just as on an automobile wheel, the center of the wheel is the shaft and that revolves very easily but what about the surface of the wheel? It has to go very fast. In the same way we must synchronize the center and the surface. Father's life, in the past and today, is always on the move. He never wants to slow down but always wants to move faster and faster. This is the pledge that Father is explaining to us.

You can only connect to the world that you are thinking of. If you are not thinking of something, you are not connecting to it. If you pledge, My family, centering upon True Love, pledge to accelerate the progressive development of bringing the heavenly world, which is subject, and the world we are living in, which is object, into oneness. Not only are we conscious of the world that we are living in but we should be thinking all the time of the heavenly world which is the subject world, and how to bring them into harmony and unification. We pledge to become representatives of God's family and True Parents' family. The Pledge goes on, My family, centering upon True Love, will become a representative family of God and True Parents' family and become an influential family. That means, like Father's own family, exert influence of the heavenly fortune. This might seem very conceptual, but it is in fact very concrete and very realistic in Oriental concepts. Father's life and his family life is not Father's and his family's alone. Rather they have a visible influence over how the heavenly influence will move in the future. We are going to do that too. Through this we are connecting all the blessings to each family. This is the content of Pledge number six. By doing this we are not expecting blessing for my family alone, but rather as much as I expect the blessing to come to my family I will ensure that each family which I represent, all the families of the world, will connect to the same blessings of God and True Parents. We have millions of families on the earth and when we are reciting this Pledge it means we will become a representative family whose function is to connect the blessing to all the rest of the families to be restored on earth horizontally. Do you follow this Pledge number six? (Yes.)

Pledge number seven: my family, centering upon True Love, will maintain the original lineage. Now in the Unification Church this original lineage is of the utmost importance. Because of this change of lineage the fall took place. Unification Church Blessed families can never make any mistake and distort this lineage. No fall must occur anymore. Then the Pledge goes on, to accomplish the heartistic cultural world. This is a very basic explanation but you understand the meaning. God's mind in heaven and God's mind on earth is the same and Parents' heart is the same.

Father's brand new true civilization is beginning now, the civilization of love. Fallen civilization is existing now in the world, but heavenly civilization has nothing to do with that. We are creating a heartistic civilization. Unless we have this heartistic attitude, we will not be able to elevate ourselves from an individual to the higher levels of family, clan, nation, world and cosmos. Only this heartistic civilization can bring us into one consistent direction, starting from the individual all the way to the huge cosmos. On the other hand, we see the civilization that has existed until now has been full of trials and errors and has taken a very zigzag path. Father's new world civilization envisions a straightforward consistent direction. Only True Love can accomplish this. Therefore, to perfect a heartistic civilization means that True Love is on the move. Unless our mind and body becomes united, our family cannot come to exist. We talk about the heartistic civilization, but where does it begin? The family.

Father just recited the seventh pledge. It has everything from the restoration to the perfection of the ideal world. All the goals and steps are explained there. We recite this every day in order to achieve that goal. Imagine, Father values Korea most of all and yet he is announcing this most important Pledge not in Korea, but here in America. How much blessing and value we cannot yet understand because our spirits are not that high and bright now. When we come to think of our original value, all our ancestors in the spiritual world will shout out mansei because their offspring are all here receiving this gospel for the first time in history. You may be thinking that you have received enough, that today is Mother's Day and you have to go fundraising and make money and grumble in your hearts. But once you truly understand what Father is bringing to you then such people should feel so badly for even thinking that way. This is so precious.

We must truly regard it as our pride and our blessing to have attended this morning here and received Father's words which never have been spoken in the past nor will be in the future. This is only time in history and you were present. You must always realize that you are an individual representing the whole universe and your family is representing history. Therefore, our Pledge must be followed by our working towards this goal. Father commends all of us to become the individuals who are representing everyone. Even reciting the Pledge, you are not pledging alone, but rather you are representing everyone and representing history. Those who understand the meaning and blessing clearly and pledge to Father that you will become that kind of individual and that kind of family, please raise your hands.

Let us pray.