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True Families and the Family Pledge|
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16.
True Families and the Family Pledge
Chapter One - The Family Pledge: Declaration and Preconditions
Section 1. The Background to the Family Pledge
1.1. This is the age centering on families, not on individuals
Until now, in the Unification Church, we recited My Pledge focused on the individual. The Christian cultural sphere should have served the Lord at his Second Advent as his bride on the worldwide level. The Kingdom of Heaven on earth and in heaven was to have started from 1952, but all ended up in failure. This is the reason why the providence was prolonged for forty years and the Unification Church had to go through a historical course of atonement. (260-181, 1994.5.8)
Have you ever heard the expression family pledge? It has appeared for the first time in history. The Family Pledge was established because a man and a woman lost their family. Unless we reestablish the original standard of the model family acceptable to God before the Fall, God cannot rejoice or establish the heavenly kingdom where He can dwell on the earth and in heaven. It was inevitable that this pledge would come about. (274-114, 1995.10.29)
The Family Pledge was created forty years after the founding of the Unification Church. The Family Pledge never existed before in history. Now that the Family Pledge has appeared, satanic families living in the physical world have no place where they can dwell in the future. The Family Pledge represents the fact that I indemnified four thousand years of history, and the victorious foundation made during World War II which had subsequently been lost. On this forty year foundation, the Kingdom of Heaven could now begin on earth.
What is the first element of the Family Pledge? It is "Our family... by centering on true love". Our families must live by centering on true love. What is true love? True love means we should be one with the unfallen love of God and True Parents. We should be connected to true life and true lineage based on true love. (266-143, 1994.12.22)
Forty years after the founding of the Unification Church, the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification was established representing completely restored families. Individuals in the restored families have united their minds and bodies centering on the original mind. Husbands and wives are united and parents and children are united. These families must learn the Family Pledge by heart.
You cannot recite the Family Pledge when your minds and bodies are in conflict or when husbands and wives are fighting. You cannot recite it without having any children. The unity of mind and body, husband and wife, and parents and children, should be centered on God's love. This is the place where true harmonious families can enter the heavenly kingdom. Only those who are united in true love can recite the Family Pledge, which has appeared for the first time in history. (264-339, 1994.11.20)
Forty years after the establishment of the Unification Church, we founded the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification. In order for the Family Federation to succeed, we must have an absolute regulation, something like a constitutional law. This is the Family Pledge. The expression Family Pledge never existed until now. It is the Family Pledge of going forward to, and establishing the Kingdom of Heaven.
If you carefully study the Family Pledge, you can see that its contents explain that total liberation will be granted based on restoration through indemnity. Those who memorize it do not belong in the family realm of the fallen world but in the family realm of completion. The family can be established based on true love. Mind and body that were separated because of false love can now be united. This is why, without uniting your mind and body, you cannot learn the Family Pledge by heart. (264-244, 1994.11.3)
Why do we need the Family Pledge? Unification Church members must show True Parents' family tradition to the world. It is our family motto. The time will come when it will be absolutely necessary. We are preparing for that coming time.
In the Pledge, you can see how families in God's ideal of creation should live. The whole world must follow the Family Pledge. The seven verses within the pledge represent the entire providential history and act as a protective shield for True Parents' victory. Even if one does not understand the providence of the Old and New Testament ages or the Divine Principle, it is possible to go to heaven if one passes through with absolute faith, absolute love, and absolute obedience centering on God. (272-181, 1995.10.5)
Until now, Christians have thought that only Adam and Eve fell. They did not know that Adam's family fell. Christians did not know that Adam and Eve's children also fell when Cain killed Abel.
How should the members of the Unification Church pledge? You should pledge centering on your families. You do not need anything else. Happiness, freedom, peace, and even the entire cosmos, all started from a family. We need the pledge centering on families. You must not lose the families. Once we create the unified family, we can unite the world as well as the Kingdom of Heaven. (260-152, 1994.5.2)
We must send out tribal messiahs or there will be great troubles. The paths along which those tribes will be born will be blocked. By being tribal messiahs, you will be horizontally connected to the foundation Adam could have reached had he not fallen, the foundation Jesus could have completed had he not been killed, and the national foundations. The eight stages from individual, family, tribe, people, nation, world, cosmos, and God, can be completed on earth.
They are the horizontal foundations. By indemnifying all of this, you can freely go to any home in the individual, tribal, and national level without interference from Satan. Families can begin to live with God, and the Kingdom of Heaven will begin on earth. Because such a time has arrived, the Family Pledge was created. You must live according to the Family Pledge. (264-191, 1994.10.9)
The family can be both amazing and frightening. You should never forget that the content of the Family Pledge is a cosmic grand declaration. Starting from last year, I have been declaring in my speeches that people should have families. This is an absolute principle. The time to hold the Blessing Ceremony for liberating the spirit world is coming. After the 3.6 Million Couples Blessing, we will begin holding the Blessing Ceremony for the spirit world. The time has come when you can call your departed spouse to be bound together with you. Even hell can be liberated. (283-90,1997. 4.13)
We have been unable to settle until now. We have been pushed away. We have been floating here and there like clouds. The Christian cultural sphere did not have both the spiritual and physical foundations and could not settle on earth. However, since the settlement of the Completed Testament Age and True Parents, people can now be given the right of inheritance. What can one inherit within the settlement? You inherit a family. You must understand this. That is why we have the Family Pledge. We must thoroughly teach the Family Pledge. (268-226, 1995.4.2)
Until now, we recited My Pledge, but now we are reciting the Family Pledge for the first time. There had not been any Family Pledge before in history. This is an amazing fact. The forty-year restoration course through indemnity has passed. Now the time has come when the world can move, led by me. That is why the Family Pledge could be born. After World War II, the worldwide unified Christian cultural sphere was destroyed, but now it has been conditionally restored on my victorious worldwide foundation. (263-110, 1994.8.21)
The seven year period should have been the seven years from 1945 to 1952. But it was extended into a forty year period between 1952 and 1992. Focused on the Unification Church, this took us forty years. We were then able to proclaim the family declaration in May of 1994. It was a historic event. We are restoring human history based on numbers. (265-293, 1994.11.27)
Centering on the settlement age of True Parents, you must establish the family completion age without shame before God. So, we needed the Family Pledge. We need it. We will need it. Which one is it? We need it! That's the way it is. It will be the motto for thousands or tens of thousands of years. It's amazing!
You must be grateful for the fact that you can recite the pledge due to your liberation by the removal of the mask of false religions. I have gone through such bitter sorrow and shed countless tears through the years to bring you to this point. I have offered my own blood to lead the Unification Church until now. If you cannot go beyond the sacrificial altar, you can never go to the heavenly kingdom. You must make this altar. (261-98, 1994.5.22)
1.2. The Settlement of the Completed Testament Age and the beginning of the family age
The Settlement of the Completed Testament Age and True Parents is a frightening expression. It indicates that I have fought and won victory on the family level in the satanic world. I established the Completed Testament Age on the victorious foundation that I made, having fought on the tribal, ethnic, national, world and cosmic levels. It was settled after having fulfilled the testaments. This is amazing!
What was the Fall? Adam was to have been the ruler of the archangel, but this relationship was reversed. Restoration of that situation is easy to talk about now, but actually doing it was nearly impossible. I had to bring satans in the spiritual and physical worlds to the point of surrender and take dominion over them. Without doing so, the settlement would not have been possible. Wherever you go, without the determination to unite with me completely, you cannot do what I am doing. (268-79, 1995.3.5)
In 1992, we announced the Messiah and True Parents to the world. Focusing on America, we announced the True Parents and the Completed Testament Age starting on May 13, 1993. I have made all the necessary conditions. As you know, America represents the entire world. It is the final settling place in terms of the Christian cultural sphere. This is the time of transition into the new age centering on True Parents.
We are entering the Completed Testament Age. Our proclamation was the first time in history for such an event. How long God must have been waiting for this time! How miserable God has been throughout history! Now the age of hope is approaching. We are entering into the age when we can proclaim the True Parents. It is a historical and universal event. Nothing like this has ever happened before in human history. (248-175, 1993.8.3)
After the creation, God's providence of restoration has continued for ten million years. However, the foundation was not established before I came. I revealed the providence of restoration and laid its foundation during the age of the Unification Church. On the foundation I made, I could announce the Completed Testament Age and True Parents. It is indeed a historical world event, although the word event is not the right word. In any case, this is the starting point from which the new world can be built.
The terms True Parents and the Completed Testament Age contain this kind of meaning. What kind of promise is to be fulfilled in the Completed Testament Age? It is the fulfillment of the promise God made with humankind at the time of creation. It does not mean that the age of the providence of restoration or the age of the providence of salvation is fulfilled. It means the fulfillment of God's ideal of creation. This is why God first conceived of the idea of True Parents before he thought of humankind. The appearance of the True Parents is the ideal of creation. (248-188, 1993.9.30)
How does one enter the Completed Testament Age after having gone through the New Testament Age? The Completed Testament represents the unified realm of God and humankind. It is where God and humankind have equal value through the complete unification of God and humankind based on true love. God does not always stand in the vertical position for human beings in the horizontal position. In love, the vertical and horizontal positions become one. (252-154, 1993.12.29)
Focusing on Korea, the twenty year period from 1972 to 1992 was the time when I restored the role of Christianity. On the national level, I walked the course of the Old Testament Age. After True Parents' wedding in 1960, I worked in America, representing the worldwide stage corresponding to the Old and the New Testament Ages.
The contents of this period correspond to the Old Testament and New Testament Ages. The worldwide settlement of True Parents was completed by the end of this period. That was why I announced the Completed Testament Age. Then, we live with God. Our Unification Church members can live with God. (246-301, 1993.4.20)
What does the Completed Testament Age mean? It is the age when True Parents' family wins total victory over the fallen world. It means there are no enemies trying to destroy my family. Those who tried have lost, and therefore, they should disappear. Even a shooting champion cannot say that he is the best if he went to the Olympics and lost. He must hand over the champion's trophy to the new winner. (234-295, 1992.8.27)
True Parents and the Completed Testament Age represent the perfection of Adam and Eve who have returned to the unfallen state. Adam is one person and so is Eve. All the women in the world are the second selves of True Mother. This is an important point. There should be one completed Adam and also one completed Eve. (266-64, 1994.12.11)
During the Completed Testament Age, the providence should be based on families. Unification starts with individuals. Without overcoming obstacles, you can never enter heaven even after thousands or tens of thousands of years pass. You can never restore the right of the eldest son. You must bring people to a natural surrender. You cannot force people to surrender to you. You must use persuasion. Which is proper, natural surrender or forceful surrender? Since you used persuasion, wasn't the result a natural surrender?
Going this way, I established the family of Eden in the heavenly kingdom on earth and in heaven. This is equivalent to all the victories won through several thousands of years of struggle. Then, all the spiritually prepared nations should copy this golden mold, or model, based on the True Family. This should be copied throughout the world. I have the blueprint. Once you have a blueprint, things can be produced instantly. The entire human family of five billion should be grafted onto this model family and return to the once lost heavenly kingdom, the liberated kingdom. This is the time of the Completed Testament Age, the age of fulfilling the promise. (245-157, 1993.2.28)
The most important thing in the course of history, today, is the fact that the realm of the chosen people has been created. Upon welcoming this age, I have tried to connect this on the worldwide level to the three stages of formation, growth and completion. The Israelites were in the formation stage, Christians were in the growth stage, and Unification Church members are in the completion stage. Isn't that right? The Israelites belong to the Old Testament Age, Christianity belongs to the New Testament Age, and the Unification Church belongs to the Completed Testament Age.
The Completed Testament Age represents fulfillment. What should we fulfill? We should fulfill the individual, family, tribe, people, nation, and world levels. Based on what? Based on God's love, God's life, and God's lineage. Once God established the tradition of one lineage, one love, and one life, Satan has had no choice but to leave. By engrafting onto the lineage of God, the tie with the satanic lineage is broken. (226-275, 1992.2.9)
What is the problem? We must perfect our families. Since we are at the time of the Completed Testament Age, the age of completion of the restoration of the family level Canaan, it is time for your families to settle following my words. Therefore, when you listen to my words, you should not treat them casually. I risked my life, urgently teaching you what I have to say and desiring to leave behind at least these words. You must understand this. (292-122, 1998.3.28)
If we had created one world right after World War II, based on the Christian cultural sphere and America, and if we had all united internally when these powers held sway over the world, God's providence could have developed quickly. From this perspective, the time right after World War II was the most hopeful time in history for God, and the most critical moment for Satan. If the free world, based on the Christian cultural sphere and America, had accepted the Unification Church, then from that moment on, the unified realm of the spirit world and the unified realm of the physical world would have been united together. This is the providential point of view. (161-220, 1987.2.15)
The satanic world continues to break down. You just wait and see what happens. Individuals, families, tribes, races and nations in the satanic world have lost their purpose and direction. However, our Unification Church has all the things necessary to move forward. Therefore, our direction is the opposite of Satan's and our paths will one day intersect. In the past, the Unification Church suffered under the rule of satanic dominion; however, things will reverse. This is what I mean by our settlement. (268-79, 1995.3.5)
What is the Completed Testament Age? It is the world that will be achieved once satanic dominion is ended. How can you fulfill the Completed Testament Age? Through families. You fulfill it through the Blessed Families. That is why Adam's, Noah's, and Jacob's families appeared in the providence.
After the age of the Lord at his Second Advent arrived, I established Jesus' family. Representing the restoration of Jesus' family, I blessed the 36, 72, and 124 Couples. The 430 Couples represent Korea and its 4,300 years of history; 43 couples of the world were connected to the 430 Couples. The 777 Couples represent all nations of the world. That Blessing was followed by the Blessing of 1800 couples. At the present, the providence has moved on to between 7,000 and 8,000 couples. This is how we made a foothold on the worldwide foundation.
The Completed Testament Age is being fulfilled through families. In addition to blessing Jesus, I had to organize the blessing of the twelve apostles and seventy disciples. Twelve apostles, 70 disciples and 120 disciples are being reorganized on the family level. (131-71, 1984.4.16)
This year's motto is, "Let Us Inherit True Parents' Victorious Realm." The scope of the victorious realm embraces the dominion of the individual, family, people, nation, world, cosmos, and heaven and hell dominion. I have unified and liberated them all. Satan has to retreat now. As time passes, all satans will decline.
In the Garden of Eden, the manifestation of good and evil was expressed in the relationship between two brothers. This is the reason people in the world nowadays are saying, "The world has now become a global village." My teaching says that the world has become a global family. The global family and the global village are related. The Cain side, as the eldest son, represents the satanic world. The global village represents the Cain side, and the Unification Church represents the Abel side. These two must become one. (267-254, 1995.1.8)
The Cain world has no choice but to follow the Unification Church. In order to realize a family as God intended, individuals must be perfected. You cannot find the idea of perfecting individuals, or the ideology of the family, true man and true woman outside of the Unification Church. Unification Church members have nothing to do with AIDS, free sex, homosexuals, lesbians, or drugs. Our goal is to liberate and perfect individuals, families, tribes, the world, and heaven and earth, based on true love. By liberating even God and the True Parents, and then fulfilling the duties of filial children, loyal servants, saints, and holy sons and daughters, you can be liberated to freely travel in the heavenly kingdom in heaven and on earth.
This is the path to follow in order to become people of character, and it is the purpose of my teaching. The conclusion is very simple. I have invested fifty years of my life -- my whole life -- a life interwoven with so many various experiences, persecution, ridicule, and suffering, in order to complete the worldwide realm of liberation. Now the time has come for me to bequeath the worldwide victorious foundation, which God has longed for, to all humanity. The time has come for True Parents, out of love, to freely hand over everything they have to their children. (267-254, 1995.1.8)
The heavenly kingdom on earth and in heaven must be united. The family living a heavenly lifestyle while on earth, based on God's true love, will pass on to the spirit world where this heavenly lifestyle will continue. The people who live good family lives based on God's true love while on earth will live exactly the same way in heaven. This is not the time for individual salvation. Christians talk about individual salvation, but this is not right. God's will is to save the family. Because the Fall took place in the family, restoration should take place in the family. The time for this is now!
For the first time in history, we have entered the settlement age centering on True Parents. This year's motto is "The Safe Settlement of True Parents and the Completed Testament Age." The family of True Parents has finally settled. We are organizing tribes, races and nations based on the True Family and the Blessed Families. Now we have the worldwide foundation and are entering into the age of settlement. We are not wanderers anymore. That is why it is time for us to build structures. When you consolidate families, you have a tribe; when you consolidate tribes, you have a people; and when you consolidate peoples, you form nations. We, ourselves, must build the foundation of the heavenly kingdom on earth based on those families. (260-304, 1994.5.19)
1.3. Establishing the Family Federation - moving towards the age of the worldwide family
The mission of the Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity is over, and so is the mission of religion. For the first time in history, we are entering into the new age, an age when humanity does not need salvation. The Family Federation is creating ideal families in order to complete the work of restoration, to establish God's ideal of creation and to build the heavenly ideal world. (April 8, 1997 in Korea)
Therefore, families must settle on earth. So far, religions have focused on individual salvation and not on family salvation. All the religions have taught people to leave and to abandon their families. Now is a different time. All the religions talk about saving individuals, but they have no idea about saving families, tribes, and nations. Our Unification Church teaches about saving nations and the world based on families. (283-106, 1997.4.8)
God's ideal of creation, which He has longed for since the Garden of Eden, will appear only when a family settles down, becomes recognized by the world, and bears fruit. Through sons and daughters, that family must expand horizontally to become a tribe that will automatically connect themselves to the people. (283-84, 1997.4.8)
That is why families are important. Everything will be completed within the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification. Now, please repeat after me, "The Family Federation for World Peace and Unification." Its center is the family. (283-93, 1997.4.8)
Without establishing the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, world peace will never be achieved. This is an important point. Families are this important. World peace starts at home. If there are ten family members, all ten must be united. They should harmonize with each other on the vertical and horizontal levels. Front and back, and left and right, like sides of a cube, should unite together. That way, ideal world peace will come true. Let us establish world peace by perfecting the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification! Establishing means to organize and expand the world of peace. (232-322, 1992.7.10)
Now is the time for the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification. Everything starts in the family. Focusing on the family, tribe and nation, you should attend God. Without realizing the family ideal, through which you can unite with God, the Kingdom of Heaven on earth will not come about. (300-229, 1999.3.23)
The Unification Church now means the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification. This means that the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification is being established in your homes. I have to put all families in order: satanic families, archangel type families on God's side, and Adam type families. Since the separation from God grew out of a bad marriage, the marriage has to be restored and perfected, creating a unified world. We have climbed very steep mountains like the Himalayas, but now, the plains start from here. We are entering such an age.
Forty years after the start of my public ministry, I founded the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification. In order to accomplish this goal, we need to have something like a constitution as an absolute regulation -- the Family Pledge. There had never been such a term as Family Pledge throughout history. It is the Family Pledge that points us in the right direction and enables us to complete the heavenly kingdom. (264-244, 1994.11.3)
There is no real substance at the moment. Then, what is the real substance? It is the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification that will come. It signifies the completion of the four position foundation. What is God's ideal of creation? It is the completion of God's will. What is God's will then? It is the completion of God's ideal of creation. What is the completion of the ideal of creation? It means completing the four position foundation. What does it mean by completing the four position foundation? In the completed four position foundation, fathers, mothers, sons, and daughters are all united. And then, keeping in time with God, they know how to sing and dance together with Him. That is the completion of God's will. (232-54, 1992.07.01)
Upon restoring the same level of unity that the Christian cultural sphere had established worldwide after World War II, we must set the direction the world needs to take in the next seven years. These seven years include this year. Because this time has finally arrived, the Family Federation can be founded after my forty years of public ministry, and we can stand and line up horizontally. In the same way that world unity was attempted after the war, if your families will only unite, you can indemnify all the past failures.
Therefore, before you can recite the Family Pledge, your mind and body should be one, husband and wife should be one, and parents and children should be one. Without achieving this oneness, you still belong to the satanic world. You recite the pledge on the foundation of having united your mind and body, husband and wife, and parents and children. That's why we have the Family Pledge. The Family Federation will govern the world based strongly on the Family Pledge. You must have pledge services in your families on the first and the middle of every month. We have two groups, Cain and Abel. (265-249, 1994.11.23)
The time has come for you to join the original family of Adam worldwide. All the people in the world must perfect themselves on the family level. What must be done to reach perfection? Your families must be the ones who restore the fallen families through atonement offerings. This has to be achieved by each and every family worldwide, making an effort through the Family Federation. Perfection has to be achieved by Adam and Eve. God cannot do it for them. True Parents cannot do it for them.
The reason that the Family Federation exists is to allow you to perfect yourselves through your own efforts. This has to be a worldwide organization. You are able to go beyond the fallen world and the lineage of fallen Adam through the Family Federation. In the same way as you climb up and go over mountains and slopes, if you make a mistake and slip down while climbing up the course of restoration, you must climb back up again and again. You must repeat it over and over again until you are successful, even if it takes millions or tens of millions of years. (275-9, 1995.10.30)
Human beings could not build the tradition of true conjugal love. In this world where we have no true parental tradition, the fact that two individuals have the name of True Parents, and have practiced the tradition of True Parents on this earth, is truly a national honor and the hope of history. It is a treasure more valuable than all of heaven and earth. I want you to solemnly inherit this internal relationship and transmit it to your families. This is how the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification can be firmly established. The focus is to set up such families. (231-89, 1992.5.31)
Your family must go the path of peace and unity in order to represent the world. You must understand that everything is connected to the standard of family unity. In the future, exemplary families will succeed in the world. (283-54, 1997.4.8)
From now, families are at the center. You cannot work alone as an individual. In the future, even personnel changes will be made for husbands and wives. If a man is the head of a department, his wife should be the second person in charge. If their children have special abilities, they should be put in important positions within that department. The entire clan should be organized to work together in this way. (283-51, 1997.4.8)
From now on, the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification should be viewed as important. But you must not forget the world. If you do not think about the world, there is no need to even talk about peace. Without peace, there is no need for unification. Without unification, there is no need of family. A family does not exist for itself. If there is no supervision from the Family Federation, there is no need for family. Everything is related.
When you think of the Family Federation, you must think of unification, family, peace, and the world. When you think of the world, you should think of peace and the Family Federation. They are all one. The Family Federation is the representative owner of the world, the owner of peace, the owner of unification, and the owner of families. At the center of all this is the place where God dwells. (283-51, 1997.4.8)
Recently, people have been using the expression "global village" very often, haven't they? We are actually entering the age of the global family. It is not just a global village but a global family! This correlates to today's Family Federation. Since the Family Federation came about based on God's will, the world community will have to form a reciprocal relationship with us. If we take the initiative, as the world comes to stand on an equal footing with the Family Federation, globalization will happen all at once. I am not daydreaming when I say this. (275-36, 1995.10.30)
Today's world is trying to become one based on the economy. The world is trying to become one through the balancing of political, cultural, economic, and intellectual power. But that is not going to work. The practice of true love is the primary way to unify the world. We must straighten out false love with true love, connecting it from top to bottom. There is only one true direction of history. Based on this true direction, the viewpoints of individuals, families, peoples, nations, and the world will widen. True love is the main current that passes through and connects individuals, families, and tribes. This is the direction of true love. (211-310,1991.1.1)
Why do we need the Lord at his Second Advent and the True Parents? All the families in history that progressed from individuals, to families, to tribes, to peoples, to nations, and to the world, have never been able to live together with True Parents. Even if England, America, and France had united at the time of the Second Advent right after World War II, humanity would have had to begin from the position of the family led by the True Parents. Families must unite around True Parents' leadership.
Once families are united, we will not need to be concerned about tribes, peoples and nations. Why is it so? True Parents come on the worldwide foundation. They are the parents coming on the victorious foundation of worldwide dominion. Why do they come? They come as the True Parents representing the age of the families. They have to connect to the past as the tribal level True Parents, people-level True Parents, and national level True Parents. (263-203, 1994.10.4)
Who does the Completed Testament Age refer to? If parents become True Parents, families become true families, and families expand to make a true world of peace, there will be no objections. There will be no obstacles. My victory has to be accomplished with the mobilization of heaven and earth. This means that he has settled not only in the family, but in the midst of the whole world. Isn't that wonderful? What do you think? (261-66)
The age of the global village is over and we are entering the age of the global family. In order to enter the age of the global family, we must quickly make a foundation in which all families have a similar internal understanding. Because we must make such a worldwide organization, I proclaimed that I would make the religious UN followed by the Women's Organization. Some people are working on these projects right now in New York, together with well known academics and top leaders of society. I am trying to guide society in the right direction through these leaders. I am working through scholars to right the wrong directions taken by the U.S. State Department and others. (260-293, 1994.5.19)
1.4. The reason for establishing the Family Pledge
All Blessed Families should defeat the archangelic world in order to attend the True Parents. Having completed this course, they must totally offer up everything, including their families, state, and nation. In May, 1994, I founded the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification. At that same time, the Family Pledge was created in order to clearly establish the boundaries between the satanic world, archangelic world, and Adamic world. The Family Pledge signifies the complete separation from the satanic world. (266-69, 1994.12.11)
You are living in the historically amazing age when you can recite the Family Pledge. It is now a totally different age from the past. Until now, people led individualistic lives, but they are now passing into family-centered lives. It is no longer you alone. When a husband moves, the wife is already on the move with him. Husbands and wives must live lives in which they act together. They should never be separated from each other. They should always live together day to day. Since we now have telephones, we do not even need to write letters. Such a time has come. We must create the conditions whereby everybody always has the same kind of standard in life. Without those kinds of conditions, the Family Pledge cannot be carried out. The pledge must be fulfilled and carried out. (260-309, 1994.5.19)
You can recite the Family Pledge only when you have reached perfected Adam's position. What does this mean? Fallen families were created by false parents of false love, false life, and false lineage. However, you are the children born out of the true love of True Parents who are in the position of the unfallen and fully mature Adam and Eve. Therefore, you are not fallen families. Then, what is the Family Pledge? Reciting the pledge signifies that you have been given the authority of an original family. Although you have come from the fallen lineage, you must go back to the original position before the Fall. Standing on the eternal foundation of the Principle, you must be connected to the tribes, peoples, nations, and the world. When this happens, the Kingdom of Heaven on earth will be established.
This is why people whose minds and bodies are not united cannot recite the Family Pledge. Unless husbands and wives are united, they cannot recite the Family Pledge either. Unless parents and children are united, the family cannot recite the pledge. Without understanding this, the whole Family Pledge loses its significance. (261-279, 1994.6.20)
The Family Pledge wipes things clean. The third verse of the Family Pledge teaches us that we ought to perfect the Four Great Realms of Heart, the Three Great Kingships, and the Realm of the Royal Family. So, what kind of people can recite the Family Pledge? Those who have inherited false love and false life from their false parents cannot recite the Family Pledge.
People must unite with God and True Parents, who have no relationship with the Fall, and return to the original world. They must also unite their minds and bodies. Husbands and wives must unite, and parents and children must unite, in true love. Only those who have achieved these qualities can recite the Family Pledge. What kind of people can enter the Kingdom of Heaven? Not just anyone can enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those people whose minds and bodies are united, who as husbands and wives are united, and who as parents and children are united as one, can enter. They should stand on the four position foundation of three generations. In order for you to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, you must achieve complete unification based on your families. This is the base from which to start. Those families who accomplish this can recite the Family Pledge. (264-212, 1994.11.3)
You must understand that people must perfect their families to be able to recite the Family Pledge. Therefore, their minds and bodies must become one. Unless their minds and bodies are united, they are not allowed to recite the Family Pledge. Have your minds and bodies united? You understand that the mind and body were separated because of the Fall, don't you? Because you are the resultant beings of false parents, false love, false life, and false lineage, you must rid yourself of all of those things. True love, true life, and true lineage have to be restored. (267-146, 1995.01.4)
When you establish your families based on the Family Pledge, you no longer live in hell on earth but begin to live in the new world of the heavenly kingdom in heaven. Therefore, those who recite the Family Pledge must have the sense of living in an entirely different world than the world of hell they used to live in. There should be no fighting in such a family. No tears or crying. There should only be true love; true love! When you recite the Family Pledge, your minds and bodies, husbands and wives, and sons and daughters must be united.
Due to false love, minds and bodies, husbands and wives, and brothers and sisters, became separated. In order for you to establish the united family, following the principle of restoration through indemnity, you must unite your minds and bodies. Husbands and wives, and brothers and sisters, must unite. This is how you can be connected to the Kingdom of Heaven on earth and in heaven. (260-317, 1994.5.19)
You must meticulously keep the Family Pledge. Those who carefully keep the Family Pledge should be blessed and form families. You must create families that you would not be ashamed of before heaven. Then based on those families, God's dominion will expand and the ideal of the Heavenly Kingdom will spread out. (260-231, 1994.5.19)
Is there anything called family pledge in any other country? Which country in the satanic world has the family pledge? The answer is none. Where else in the world do you pledge in this way? Pledges must be fulfilled. You cannot just say the words and not put them into practice. Not only say the words, but actualize them! (274-195, 1995.11.3)
You must recite the Family Pledge focusing on God. You must become an object partner to God. All parts of you stand as His objects. Have your minds and bodies become object partners to God? You have two eyes but one of them belongs to the satanic side which represents death. You always see things in two different ways. When you walk along the road, there are two different paths you can follow. That is why you always must watch what you do. There are two different kinds of food you can eat. You must eat food that is right and elicits God's protection, and not food that is wrong and makes you indebted to Satan. We must actively carry out the Family Pledge from now on. (260-156, 1994.5.2)
Today is May 1. You should place the pledge that we have been using on an altar, and offer three full bows and pray, "I have inherited True Parents' accomplishments, and I am moving to a new pledge." After inheriting it, you must ask forgiveness and sadly say, "I am moving to the new age with the new Family Pledge." And then you must repent for your past before the Pledge. From now on, you should stop reciting "My Pledge" or the "Family Oath" and start reciting the "Family Pledge". Even those who have not established Blessed Families must recite the Family Pledge together. All people, regardless of their blessing status, must be included. (260-156, 1994.5.2)
You must understand that the Family Pledge is the result of extracting from the Principle all the essential contents needed to establish families. You must recite the pledge before you pray, in order to check you and your family's internal situation, and you should try to correct things accordingly. You must actualize the Family Pledge. In the past, we had My Pledge. Now what do we have? We must have the national and the world pledges in the future. Of course, the Family Pledge includes all of these. (260-305, 1994.5.19)
The Family Pledge is entirely made up of the essence of the providence of restoration. So, you must base your lives on it wherever you go and whatever you do. The most important thing in all the verses of the Pledge is true love. True love! What is true love? If you offer your minds and bodies before God, God will return to you even more than you give. Without offering your minds and bodies, you cannot be one with God and you cannot receive things in return. If you offer yourselves with absolute faith, absolute love, and absolute obedience, you will be completely one with God and He will stand before you and instruct you. If all matters move according to God's instructions, everything in the Kingdom of Heaven on earth and in heaven will be completed. (285-297, 1997.6.29)
You must recite the Pledge five times a day: as soon as you wake up, after breakfast, lunch, dinner, and when you go to bed. You must judge yourselves and see whether your minds and bodies are united. Then, you must cast off all that is connected to mind and body disunity. If you are not united with the pledge, you must skip breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I say you should not eat or sleep! The Family Pledge is not an individual pledge. It is the pledge of your families.
At this providential time, we pledge not as individuals but as families. Families are the formula and foundation for everything. That is why we recite the pledge as representatives of the family. The father, mother, and children should each represent the entire family. The first thing you should remember is to unite your minds and bodies. Secondly, husbands and wives must unite. Thirdly, sons and daughters in the family must unite. Why is this so? We lost God in the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve lost themselves as individuals, lost their family, and eventually lost their children. We must restore all that. To be able to recite the pledge, you must achieve mind and body unity, the unity between husband and wife, and the unity between sons and daughters. (267-146, 1995.1.4)
What is first and foremost in the Family Pledge? "Our family... by centering on true love". The entire pledge is based on true love. The main theme of the eight verses is that your family should be based on true love. What is true love? True love means to be one with God's and True Parents' love, having nothing to do with the Fall. You must be connected to true life and true lineage based on true love.
Until now in the providence, because of the Fall, you were advised to live a celibate life, and then to leave your home. First live single, and then leave home. Why was that? Those living in a home, embracing the fallen family, were kicked out. Because you were going along the opposite path than that which God intended, you had to reverse your course. Since that was a result of a fallen marriage, you should not have married. This is all part of restoration through indemnity. Therefore, the fact that our Blessed Families live based on true love, means that their lineage has changed based on God's and True Parents' love. (266-143, 1994.12.22)
Families are the foundation of all social orders. So, the solution to the world's problem is quite simple. Unification of the world starts at the point where our mind and body unite, where a husband and wife unite, and where sons and daughters become united. The unification of the world will start from there. Your minds' worst enemies are your bodies. Your bodies belong to Satan. When your mind and body become one, the entire heaven and earth will change. No saints in history ever taught you this. Only after True Parents appeared are you being taught this.
Why do your bodies control your minds? This problem came about because false love was involved at the time of the Fall. At that time, the power of false love was stronger than the power of the conscience. That was the real problem. All of this has been analyzed theoretically. This is why we must pour God's love into our hearts. We have to instill within ourselves the thought that we love God. If our mind and body become one, God's love will be infused within us. (260-161, 1994.5.2)
Families are necessary. Do you want to live for yourself, for your children, or for your spouse? You must live for the sake of your children. Why? This is the principle of creation. It is because the principle for existence is like this. History is like this. When you live in this way, all existence remaining in history will be one with you. God created the principle of thinking for the benefit of one's partner. Everything wants its partner to be better than itself. By what percentage does everything want its partner to be better? 10 percent, 100 percent, 1000 percent, or an infinite percent? By an infinite percent, I mean an unlimited amount. That is why you must invest and forget what you have already invested. If you invest only 100%, you get only 100% back. Therefore, you must invest and forget, invest and forget, and invest and forget. (260-152, 1994.5.2)
Only when what was lost is recovered and put into place in the heavenly kingdom, will the empty kingdom in heaven be restored. The heavenly kingdom in heaven is empty. All this emptiness has to be filled with restored spirits. There are no two ways about it. No matter how much you try on your own, it will not work. The communists in North Korea have tried to build their paradise that way, have they not? When they talk of land reform, the people must be prepared to have all of their land taken away. You must know that the time will come when such a thing will happen on the heavenly side too. It will happen in the not too distant future.
I am trying to unite North and South America. If I unite North and South America, uniting North and South Korea will happen instantly. Once we recover and stand on the heavenly kingdom's foundation, the constitutional laws in the heavenly kingdom will be set up. The constitutional laws will be set up from the Family Pledge you are reciting. Once these laws are set up based on the Four Great Realms of Heart, the Three Great Kingships, and the Realm of the Royal Family, it will be the formula everyone acknowledges. No one can deceive those that know this formula. (273-46, 1995.10.21)
If all people live according to and conforming to the constitutional laws, then everything will be fine. Furthermore, churches will not be necessary. As long as all people live by the laws and render devoted service to the nation, things will turn out well. If you show great sincerity in your service, you become loyal servants, filial children, saints, and holy people. But since you have not become these, you need to be educated. Everyone needs to be educated. Education has to take place in school. You have not understood such concepts as these yet. In addition, if your old concepts remain intact, things will not work out during your lifetime. It might even take several generations of your descendants to rectify this. (260-161, 1994.5.2)
The Family Pledge has the phrase, "by centering on true love" in every single verse. Restoration starts with true love which is completely united with God. You must represent God and True Parents even in your own hometowns. (280-38, 1996.10.13)
Family Pledge represents my history. You should know that the words spoken in the pledge explain how I established my family. What is the first verse about? It is about the environment. It is the history of re-creation. You must find the land. You must save your relatives and then find the nation.
What is second? "Our Family Pledges to represent and become central to Heaven and Earth by attending God and True Parents... by centering on true love". Here the family represents heaven. Whose family is the pledge talking about? My family. My family is the central family. You should inherit my tradition.
You must be filial children in your families, patriots for your nations, and saints for the world. You should do more than past saints. You must restore Blessed Families who, by establishing God's family, the ideal of Jesus, are determined to connect this foundation to the world.
A heavenly nation has two kinds of laws. One is the king's law and the other is the national law. The heavenly kingdom on earth also has royal laws and earthly laws. God's family must observe all four laws. To do this, you must understand all of them. You must be respected when you go into the royal palace, respected when you go to the nation, respected when you go into the earthly palace, and respected when you go to the earthly nation. I have to walk such a course. The goal of my course is to gain victory by earning respect through the natural surrender of others. (280-35, 1996.10.13)
You must be dutiful children to your parents, loyal to your nation, saintly for the sake of the world, and holy for the cosmos. You must go through these four stages. Even if you do not achieve all four stages, if you complete just one stage, you will have accomplished national salvation. You must do at least one stage. That has been Rev. Moon's history. Your family must maintain itself as the foremost family among numerous families. You must be the most loyal king among numerous kings. You must also be the best among numerous saints and holy people. Only then will you be entitled to inherit the heavenly tradition. You begin to inherit it after you reach this position.
Being blessed does not automatically mean that you will inherit the tradition in your family. (280-35, 1996.10.13)
By fulfilling the duty of a holy person, and going forward so that I can govern all religions on earth in the place of God, I am to bless the world centering on families. You should know that I will not bless families and nations separately. Since I am in such a position, I can bring to fulfillment the Four Great Realms of Heart and the Three Great Kingships.
Everyone can achieve kingship by standing in the position where they can fulfill the purpose of the blessing, allowing them to move freely in any direction -- east, west, north, and south, and to the twelve pearly gates; everywhere within a 360 degree range. Now the Four Great Realms of Heart must be dealt with. If you do not go beyond the realm of the heart of a holy man, the realm of the heart of a saint, the realm of the heart of a loyal citizen, and the realm of the heart of a filial child in the Four Great Realms of Heart, you can not say that you have crossed over the boundary of the Four Great Realms of Heart. This is the meaning of the third verse of the Family Pledge. (280-35, 1996.10.13)
What is the fourth verse? "Our Family Pledges to build the universal family encompassing Heaven and Earth, which is God's ideal of creation... by centering on true love." All people are one big family in this universe. All people are brothers and sisters. You are one lineage. You must protect each other in the same way as God takes care of each one of us. Even if you are royalty in God's palace, you must still fulfill the fourth verse. You must create the universal family in order to achieve the world of freedom, peace, unification and happiness. This is my heart. I am the advocate for one big universal family. I must plant freedom, happiness, unification, and peace. What does the fourth verse mean? It reveals my history. My history is the theme of this verse. (230-35, 1992. 4.5)
Knowing it intellectually is not enough. Living in the world of peace and happiness is not enough. You must be able to go directly to the heavenly world. "Our Family Pledges to strive every day to advance the unification of the spirit world and the physical world as subject and object partners, by centering on true love." You must strive to advance this pledge. You must not sit around and watch the world go by. How could you sleep and rest when the world is as noisy and clamorous as it is now.
One second, you need one second! How to gain one more day is the question. You should not be concerned about rain and darkness. The entire heavenly world is out of order. That's why I am trying to restore it. That's my job. I have to restore the heavenly world by focusing on the physical world. (280-35, 1996.10.13)
What is the sixth verse? "Our Family Pledges to embody God and True Parents. We will perfect a family which moves heavenly fortune and conveys Heaven's blessing to our community, by centering on true love." You must not live for your own sakes. That should not be the case. God does not exist for Himself. Parents are not to live for themselves. They should live for the sake of their children. You must create ideal families who live for the sake of the whole world. (280-35, 1996.10.13)
The seventh verse says, "Our Family Pledges to perfect a world based on the culture of heart, which is rooted in the original lineage, through living for the sake of others, by centering on true love." You must be rooted in the original lineage. You must perfect a world based on the culture of heart rooted in the original lineage.
Nothing can stop you from doing anything once you have reached there. You are free even in hell as well as in heaven. The Family Pledge not only covers the general outline of the providence, but includes the preface, main contents, and conclusion. It is the encapsulation of the entire Principle. I am sure your thoughts will change after hearing such words from me. This will become the contents you tell your descendants after having established the heavenly kingdom. (280-35, 1996.10.13)
I recently added the eighth pledge: "...as we enter the Completed Testament Age, to achieve the ideal oneness of God and humankind in love through absolute faith, absolute love and absolute obedience, thereby perfecting the realm of liberation of the Kingdom of God on Earth and in Heaven..." It is simple. I am not talking about liberation but the realm of liberation. You must not only take responsibility for your own families, but also for your nation and the world. You must take full responsibility for the world. (293-252, 1998.6.1)
Forty years have passed since the founding of the Unification Church, and now I have founded "The Family Federation for World Peace and Unification". In order to achieve the goal of this federation, we must have an absolute covenant. That absolute covenant, or the constitutional law, is the Family Pledge. There are no words like Family Pledge in history. The Family Pledge is a vow and a promise to achieve the heavenly kingdom. (264-244, 1994.11.3)
If you look carefully at the Family Pledge, you will learn the way to completely liberate yourself through restoration through indemnity. Those who recite the Family Pledge belong to the realm of perfected families, not the realm of families in the fallen world. The realm of families is established based on true love. So the unity of minds and bodies, previously separated because of the Fall, can now take place. It also means that you cannot recite the Family Pledge unless your minds and bodies are united. (264-244, 1994.11.3)
The Unification Church proclaimed the Family Pledge. The Family Pledge was not intended to be recited by just anyone or by ordinary people. Each of the eight verses of the Family Pledge starts with the phrase "our Family Pledges ... by centering on true love." These words, when spoken, signify that the Pledge has nothing to do with the satanic world. Why do the words true love appear at the beginning of each verse? They convey that the person making the pledge is already in the midst of the original world, the Garden of Eden before the Fall. (263-194, 1994.10.4)
I have explained everything about the Family Pledge, have I not? Each of the eight verses begins with the phrase "our Family Pledges ... by centering on true love." What is true love? Unless you achieve unity centering on true love during your lifetime, you will not be able to live with God when you get to the spirit world. (268-98, 1995.3.12)
You must find your true self and true family. By "family" I mean the three generations of grandparents, parents and children. The world is the expansion of such a family. Then what do people need? They need their parents, spouses, brothers and sisters, and children, because achieving proper family relationships is the formula for entering heaven. Without experiencing the Four Great Realms of Heart, the Three Great Kingships and the Realm of the Royal Family mentioned in our Family Pledge, you won't be able to enter heaven. (272-212, 1995.8.30)
Our Family Pledge starts, "our family... by centering on true love." It emphasizes being centered on true love. Because of the Fall, those who do not have true love cannot establish families that can stand before God. You must understand that. Through the Fall, true love was spoiled. Don't you think so? (274-195, 1995.11.3)
Everything exists in relationships. You should not be dogmatic. You will only create bad feelings by forcing your own views. If you want to create the ideal world of love centering on the Principle, you need to have an internal foundation in your relationships. Without that, progress will not take place and love cannot grow. (287-303, 1997.10.6)
There is no concept of enemy in the Family Pledge. It relates only to the total commitment of the individual. That is what the Family Pledge is. Please investigate it for yourself. There is no concept of enemy in it. There is no content in the Family Pledge other than love. Love is the fundamental pillar supporting the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. It is the basic formula for creating the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. (295-245, 1998.8.28)
Based on the Family Pledge phrase "Our family... by centering on true love," we will prevail over everything. I mean we will overcome centered on true love. The pledge of parents, couples, children, families, clans and nations will all become reality as we live by true love. True love has no obstacles. True love means to invest and then forget. (270-289, 1995.7.16)
You cannot enter heaven unless you fulfill the Family Pledge. Christians believe that they can enter heaven simply by believing in Jesus. It is not that simple. The whole world now is within the Christian cultural sphere, but is it heaven? Is this world closer to heaven or hell? Has the world crossed over the line yet or not? This world is the worst hell. Everyone knows the position they are in. Knowing this, I created the Family Pledge. Each verse of the Family Pledge includes "Our family... by centering on true love." I have come as the parent after uniting the individual, family and sons and daughters, with true love as the focus. (260-186, 1994.5.8)
The Pledge has the words "true love" in every verse. True love comes about based on unity. It is impossible to realize the ideal of the Family Pledge without uniting your mind and body, and without creating unity between husband and wife and children. Unless you have actualized this, you should not recite the Pledge.
So far, you have recited My Pledge, but from now the providence is moving on to the family level. Every time you have a prayer meeting, first you should recite the Pledge and then pray. You cannot pray, in the truest sense, without having unified your mind and body. You cannot call God your Father. You can restore things because you know how the Fall happened. (260-186, 1994.5.8)
What is true love? Your mind and body must unite into one. To accomplish mind-body unity, you must cut out the satanic lineage within yourself. You must tear out the roots. That is what religious life is all about. That is how you cultivate your mind. You must unite your mind and body. You must strengthen your mind by striking your body, forcing the body to follow the mind. Your conscience knows that it is meant to go to the heavenly kingdom. By striking your body, you can naturally separate yourself from Satan. That is what happens when you practice true love. (260-186, 1994.5.8)
Do you think God's mind and body struggle or have they been united? Is it easy or difficult to create mind-body unity? It is more difficult than turning the whole world upside down. Perfecting yourself is even harder than that. The question is how to achieve mind and body unity? Even though it is difficult, should we do it or not? In spite of the difficulty, to make it easier for you, I have built the highway. I have made the highway by building bridges and excavating tunnels straight through mountains. If I had only thought of myself, I would not have had to suffer like that. I toiled to save the people of the world, you and the world. It was not to save myself that I toiled. (260-186, 1994.5.8)
Nothing is more awesome and precious than the fact that all these dreamlike stories will come true in the spirit world and on earth. Therefore, you should not complain; instead, you should obediently follow the way of Principle and God's will. You must inherit God's and True Parents' way of thinking. If I said to you that you should not inherit it, you should insist that you have to inherit it. In that case, even if I initially opposed you and became extremely obstinate, inevitably I would have no other choice than to liberate you. (283-92, 1997.4.8)
In the first three verses of the Family Pledge... everything is consistent with the Principle. You should memorize all of it. If you do not understand the Family Pledge, you will not understand the direction of the providence. If you do not know the direction, you will experience confusion along the way.
The Family Pledge, and the speech that Mother is now giving, must be published as a book because they contain the monumental principles of restoration of the new heaven and earth. We must establish the settlement of the family by restoring the right of the eldest son, and by going the opposite direction from the fallen world. That is why we are to move forward with the authority gained from having established this family. (283-92, 1997.4.8)
If you want to achieve true love, you must take full responsibility for it. Irresponsible people will never, ever reach perfection. How can they? By taking responsibility, you can realize perfection. People who do not take responsibility have nothing to do with achieving perfection. You must understand that point clearly in establishing your conjugal life. If you do not take responsibility, you can never reach perfection.
When you fulfill your responsibility, love can develop. As long as you are responsible, then all will be taken care of. You must take responsibility. When you make love, you love with all of your five senses concentrated on the act of love, don't you? Are your eyes, nose, ears and mouth focused elsewhere when you make love? When your sexual organ is actively involved in making love, you act with your mind and body united and your five senses are totally focused. Yes or no? Yes, you do! That is why it is so serious. (283-92, 1997.4.8)
I have turned eighty. Until now, I have never even spent Christmas at home with my family. Some time ago, I told people not to celebrate my birthday. Recently, however, I liberated the sixtieth birthday celebration. I have lived totally opposite to the satanic world. I do not owe you a debt of gratitude. As a child of God, as the true son, I think about all the advice that I have received, every hour of every day. I do not spend time thinking about my own self-interests and selfish desires.
You must speed up the process of unification in the heavenly world and on earth in your everyday life. You must be forceful in your efforts. You must mobilize the spirit world and your ancestors. You must work harder than your ancestors in the spirit world. You must never let your ancestors work harder than you do. You must lead them. You must give lectures even in your sleep. That is how I live my life. True Mother knows these secrets of mine. If I couldn't finish what I wanted to say, I would talk in my sleep. I would give the speech I was supposed to give the next morning in my sleep at night. True Mother knows all of my secrets. I do not go to sleep just because the night came. I am never silent, I am always speaking. (301-83, 1999.4.16)
What is your goal? You should enlarge your group of relatives, making family-level messiahs among your relatives. You should have twelve or more spiritual children, and, centering on your family, you should be able to raise all of your clan, including your grandchildren and their spouses, up to the third or fourth generations.
On the tribal level, you must organize seventy disciples or even 120 disciples. Jesus should have had 120 disciples, centering on and united together with the family of Zechariah. He should have formed and liberated a nation with all the court officials, but he could not. That is the tribal messiah's responsibility. What is a messiah? True Parents, True Parents' family, True Parents' love and True Parents' lineage. (301-85, 1999.4.16)
I sent out the national messiahs after I, alone, had made the victorious foundation and reaped the harvest. When God can travel freely within your family, then you will have established the realm of the object partner. Then the realms of liberation on the family level, tribal level, national level and world level will open up for you. You must find the nation, and then you must find the world, even if you have to sacrifice your nation. Then decades later, or 50 generations later, the nation that you sacrificed for will be the center of the world. What can be more serious than this? (301-85, 1999.4.16)
All the things I have taught you are like keys for you to use to enter heaven. Unless the key fits, you cannot open the gate to heaven. You cannot open the gate to heaven unless you hold the keys that I am giving you. No matter how important a person you are in America, you can't open the gate unless you have the keys from me. My keys are the essential ones. Other keys, whether gold or silver, will not open the gate, no matter how well made they are. But my keys can open it every time, even if they may look like nothing and are made of brass. No one else can make such keys. (260-186, 1999.5.8)
God cannot live with human beings on earth, because people have not realized unity in their families. Once family members unite, God will dwell with them When we say "true love," the concepts of unity between mind and body, husband and wife, and children should come to mind. When those three kinds of unity are achieved, the family of true love will be the starting point of the heavenly kingdom on earth and in heaven. When you achieve unity, with God and True Parents as your focus, the heavenly kingdom on earth and in heaven can be built. Where does the Heavenly Kingdom on earth start? It starts from your families, your sons and daughters. (260-185,1994.5.8)
The first verse of the Family Pledge talks about building God's ideal of creation by returning to your hometown. The second talks about becoming filial children, patriots, saints and holy people who can resolve the historical resentment of God. You should think that because Jesus' mission -- to become the holy son that he had originally intended to be -- went unfulfilled, you will make this possible in your own families. That is our tradition. (267-193, 1995.1.8)
In order for you to recite the Family Pledge, your mind and body must unite into one, husband and wife must achieve absolute unity, and sons and daughters must become one. Only in such a position can you recite the Pledge. You must recite it every day. You must think of it when you wake up, when you have breakfast, lunch and dinner. You must also think of it when you go to bed. You must put all of your heart into realizing unity between mind and body, husband and wife, and sons and daughters. You must reflect on this and make its achievement the standard for your daily life. If you fight with your spouse, you are not qualified to recite the Pledge. You must understand what a miserable and heartbreaking situation it is to be unable to recite the Family Pledge. The Family Pledge is your shield. (266-143, 1994.12.22)
You must recite the Family Pledge when you wake up and when you go to bed. You must focus on one particular verse each day and live according to it. Then you must check to see if you have fulfilled the content of that verse for that day. If you could not, you must determine to do it the next day.
The Pledge is the life element for nourishment and growth, and the basic element for life in the heavenly kingdom. Therefore, you should recite the Pledge and evaluate your life. If those who have families do not recite the Family Pledge, they are fakes. This is the standard your family must reach. Those that do not are failures. You must understand this point and become the standard. Those parents who can do this must memorize the Pledge completely, divide it into sections, and teach it to their children. They must also get people to follow them. (287-130, 1997.9.19)
You must honestly look again at True Parents. You must love your mother and father, your spouse, your nation and the world with that kind of true conscience. We are entering the age in which it is necessary to unite completely with True Parents as our absolute subject partner.
Since True Parents' family is now settled, you must completely unite with the True Family centered on that foundation. You shouldn't harbor your own conventional ideas. Your minds and bodies must be united. You must create unity with your spouse. Your children must create unity as well. Without achieving these things, you can't recite the Pledge or call me father.
You have been calling me your father to take advantage of me. I don't want to be called father in that way. For that reason, you must have the standard of totally upholding the Family Pledge. (263-244, 1994.10.4)
In the world where True Parents live with their children who have inherited true love, religions are not necessary. The world must be the world of conscience. That is why we must have the Family Pledge. You must unite with True Parents when you recite the Family Pledge. Your mind and body must be united, and you must create unity with your spouse and your children. Without that foundation, you can't recite the Pledge. (266-31, 1994.12.4)
You must always keep in mind that true love exists where there is unity between mind and body, husband and wife, and parents and children. If you have not achieved the standard of the Family Pledge, you will be prevented from passing through to the highest realms of the spirit world. That is how formidable the Pledge is. You should always live by it. If the father is not one with the Pledge, then the mother and the children will all be responsible. (260-189, 1994.5.8)
A child, whose mind and body are united, is born from a couple whose minds and bodies are united, and who are united centered on God. This is a natural conclusion. Otherwise, you cannot have true love in your family. God cannot stay where there is no true love. This is a logical conclusion. (270-324, 1995.7.23)
The Family Pledge is found at the core of settlement, a place where God and the whole universe are united into one. Neither America, nor Japan, nor other highly developed countries are the center. Their world will gradually end, full of tragedy, misery, suffering and resentment.
Until now, the Unification Church has been viewed as a place of pitch-black darkness, like hell, but it will usher in the new dawn and ascend. The fortune of the heavenly kingdom, the ideal of creation, is the family ideal. The family ideal is the completion of the four-position foundation. To realize such a family, you must create the four-position foundation over three generations: God, parents and children; God, Adam and Eve and their children. That is the original formula of the four-position foundation. Adam's family is the formula family. (260-183, 1994.5.8)
The words record the complete victory for which True Parents have fought. They are the record of the victorious tradition. Until you realize the liberation of heaven and earth, by applying this tradition and evaluating your daily lives, you must establish a situation in which you are the object partners. When you recite the Pledge, you must always evaluate yourselves centering on it. You must think of the Pledge as words from Heaven, and evaluate yourselves and see if there is anything unacceptable. That part must be cut out. You must tell yourselves, "You devil, you have come to destroy the Unification Church!" Have you thought in this way? (301-80, 1999.4.16)
Just like the Israelites who had to carry the Ark of the Covenant in their forty-year wilderness course, the Unification Church members are now entering the heavenly kingdom carrying the Family Pledge. The Israelites departed from Egypt for the sake of establishing a nation. In the same way, you must have a clear sense of establishing a nation. Like the Israelites, we have no nation of our own anywhere in the world. Where should that nation be? It should be Korea. (265-293, 1994.11.27)
God is not some being that exists in our fantasies or imagination. God is not abstract. God lives with us in our daily lives as the master of our lives. God does not exist just to be served. God lives in a reciprocal love relationship with people, together, as part of the community. It is an unbelievable reality. (168-111, 1987.9.13)
You must know that your conscience, intuition and senses are all God's. You should realize that everything you feel and are aware of belongs to God. Unless you believe this deeply, you will not be able to possess God, who operates by heart. You must know this clearly. (8-294, 1960.2.14)
We must serve God with our mind and unite our mind with our body. Unless we make a foundation of this unity, we will not be able to eradicate evil from the world. Accordingly, it is now the age of attendance, the age of salvation through serving others. People can be saved by serving others. God does not live up in the air somewhere distant from our lives. He lives in our lives, and God must be served as the master of our lives. (144-274, 1986.4.25)
How many times in a day do you experience that God exists? How many times during the twenty-four hours of a day do you feel God's presence? If you really want to be saved by serving God and others, then feeling God's presence for just one or two hours out of twenty- four hours a day can't be enough. You must feel the need for God more desperately than you feel the need for air. You need God more desperately than you need water. God is more precious than food. You need God more than you need water. Do you feel this? (33-230, 1970.8.16)
From now on, you must lead a life of attendance. People have believed that they could be saved by having faith. Now is the age of salvation through attendance. (161-218, 1987.2.15)
If our ancestors had not fallen, we would have lived our lives serving God. You must serve God with your heart, and in the course of your daily life. (50-213, 1961.4.15)
You must serve during your life. We have ushered in the heavenly kingdom of hope, but you have not yet experienced the life of attendance. That is, you have not known God, our subject being, in your daily life. (6-226, 1959.5.17)
Since God is the central being of heaven and earth, the more you are dominated by Him, the more you will want to be dominated by Him for thousands or even tens of thousands of years. Since the principles of attendance centering on God work in that way, no one can be happier than the one who is being dominated by God. Until now, we have never even thought about this fact. (77-328, 1975.3.30)
You must live lives of service. Why do you have to serve? It is the way to be loved by God. Therefore, you must serve God first. You must serve God. (78-30, 1975.5.1)
In your twenty-four hours of daily life, you must see, hear and feel for the sake of God. Although you live on earth, you must always connect your lives to the life in the heavenly world. (35-284, 1970.10.25)
Those who can feel God's joy and sorrow cannot possibly become evil or break the heavenly law. A man who is like this can never be seduced, even by the most beautiful woman in the world. There is no way that he can be pulled by that level of temptation. (40-297, 1971.2.7)
Why do so many young men and women break with their families these days? Because the love, that is one with heavenly law, is missing from their families. That is why the True Parents of heaven and earth, who can make God a living reality in those families, must come on earth. (21-155, 1968.11.17)
In the end, what will remain? The unified being of God and humankind (God-human), their life path, their view of daily life, and their worldview, will remain. I am not talking about the level where humankind can understand God vaguely, but the level where humankind is inseparable from God for eternity. Originally, humankind and God should not have been separated. We must reach a place that is higher than the original place. From such a place, we must seek the life stage and the world stage where God and humankind are united as one. (65-127, 1972.11.5)
You have to be focused in this age of service -- that is, living the life of attendance. There are laws in serving God. When people break the laws, God can be extremely furious. Just as a word from a child can either wound his loving parents' feelings or please them, God too, since He loves humankind, can feel deeply hurt. That is why I, too, try to make God happy in my own way. (17-287, 1967.2,15)
Just as people seek the ones who care about them, God is the same way. The way you can capture God's heart is to think about God, and serve Him more than others do. God will seek someone like that. (128-172, 1983.6.12)
The first commandment for humankind is to love God. Should you love God deeply until the end, or shallowly for a short time? Will you love God even at the risk of your life? You must love God even if you get hit by lightning. If you love God at the risk of your life, there will be nothing you cannot do. (37-25, 1970.12.22)
You have to be foolish to walk this course. Loyal citizens in history are seen as somewhat foolish people. They have some bear-like quality in their nature. Even after their arms are cut off, they will say, "Oh, this isn't cut enough; it needs to be cut a bit more." You must have such a foolish nature in you. When bears and wild boars are shot and have some part of their body dangling and getting in the way, they will bite off that part and run away. You should have that kind of foolishness in you. Loyal citizens and patriots must be that way. They should be a little foolhardy. (26-143, 1969.10.19)
What kind of person am I? I have only one thing I know how to do. I just walk straight ahead foolhardily. If I close my mouth and go around as I see fit, it will not bother anyone. Why do I keep working to the point of being disgraced? It is because I can only go over the hill, when I face opposition from many people. But you are thinking of going around, are you not? Why do you have to cut off from everything of the world? It is because you cannot follow this course if you are being pulled by your physical parents' love. Since God has been walking the straight path, you must go straight. (97-257, 1978.3.19)
I have gone forward, knowing that it was my mission to gather people who could serve God, even a little, in fulfilling His hopes and His will. Knowing that God is such a lonely and isolated being, I pledged my life to expand His foundation. The reason that I have endured with love, rather than wanting to take revenge after receiving insults and beatings, is because I was born as God's son and have the responsibility to establish His will. Staggering along, or with back bent, or crawling on my stomach, I have fought on with the determination that I will leave at least this tradition behind. (82-47,1975.12.30)
You must live together with True Parents now. True Parents are in the position of grandparents and your parents, and you are in the first son's position. This is the difference. Three generations are living together in your family. You must live feeling and experiencing that God, True Parents and your own parents, are together with you. You have entered the time in which you cannot even conceive of the idea that "God is dead" or "God doesn't exist." (131-97, 1984.4.16)
What should you do to receive parents' love? You should love everything your parents love. Only after that can you receive their love. In your physical family, if you want to be loved by your parents, you must love everything about them. You must know this. Those who want to be loved by their parents, without doing this, are thieves. If you irresponsibly try to take over everything your parents value, you cannot be loved. (133-26, 1984.7.1)
I sacrificed my life with blood and sweat to bring you to this level. I gave away my body as a ransom. Therefore, you must do as I do. I want to boast about our members. Let us make a public promise. (11-164, 1961.7.20)
You must cry, feeling an irresistible yearning for True Parents, who stand in the position of substantial God. You must want to see them over and over again. You must want to serve them after preparing a bowl of rice or a cup of water, however humble it might be. You must have that kind of sincere desire. You will be alright if your tears flow freely. In such a case, your heart and my heart will be united, and you and I will act in concert with one another. You will get to know my standard, the past that explains it, and the reasons and circumstances tied to it. Furthermore, you can inherit it and take it over. (38-75, 1971.1.1)
Because Adam and Eve fell in the Garden of Eden and lived in the fallen realm, they could never experience the life of serving God directly. Those who have never been able to serve God are not qualified to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. However, although you have inherited the false lineage, you are entitled to enter heaven due to the condition that you indemnified the course of restoration and attended God and the True Parents, whom Adam and Eve could not attend while on the earth. In that way, you have come to acquire citizenship in the heavenly kingdom. (150-233, 1961.4.15)
When you think of attending God, how should you think? You should live thinking of yourself as one with God, one with True Parents, and one with everything around you. Living like that, you should think, "All of these belong to God and to True Parents and to me too." What belongs to True Parents belongs to the nation of True Parents, and what belongs to the nation of True Parents belongs to me. This universe belongs to True Parents. This house belongs to True Parents. This nation and the world also belong to True Parents. Since I am the child of True Parents, everything belongs to me. You will come to that conclusion. (161-231, 1987.2.15)
In the Completed Testament Age, God Himself will appear before all people in the form of True Parents. Because of this, no matter how much political powers try to control the Unification Church, they will be unable to do so. Repeatedly seeing the living God directly with our own eyes, and being in the realm where we can experience Him with our senses, we will move forward. That is the path of our Unification Church. (God's Will - 286)
The wish of humankind is to meet True Parents. Even if people have to walk the path of death, they must meet True Parents. You could lose all history, entire time periods or all of your descendants, and then will regain all this if you meet True Parents. That is how valuable True Parents are. (35-237, 1970.10.19)
When you think of the words Cham Bu Mo, you must understand that history is governed by the True Parents. The starting point to return to the new world comes from the True Parents. The internal power to subjugate Satan is found within the True Parents. Satan, who controls the external world, is defeated by the True Parents. Therefore, for the first time, the central person has been established who can liberate God and accomplish this work. You must first be grateful for the amazing grace of being able to live together with True Parents, which allows you to receive their directions and act upon them. (43-144, 1971.4.29)
We must liberate God. God should have been attended by the original ancestors and should have enjoyed limitless praise and happiness. He should have had absolute authority in the ideal environment, but this wasn't possible. Knowing this miserable fact, my suggestion is that we should liberate God with our own hands.
What a wonderful concept this is. It is extremely happy news that such an idea has emerged from within the religious world. It is the good news of good news. From this perspective, God is the one who was behind the founding of Buddhism, Confucianism, Islam and Christianity. Therefore, all religions must welcome this message with both hands raised high. (176-242, 1988.5.11)
When you become completely one with True Parents, you truly have your nation, your people, your tribe and your family. True Parents are the substantial beings whose value is equal to all glory found in heaven and on earth. Would you exchange True Parents for all the money in the world? Could you exchange them for your life? No, therefore it's different from the past. Wherever you go, you must visit Korea to serve True Parents. Your sons and daughters and your descendants for thousands or tens of thousands of years must do so too. That is what makes the Unification Church unique. (30-237, 1970.3.23)
What I am concerned about is not whether the name of the Unification Church will remain in the future, but whether there will be people who have inherited my tradition. That is why I have been educating people to be serious about tradition. (35-115, 1970.10.4)
We have lived our lives thoughtlessly and have spoken carelessly. However, from now on, we must set up family rules. No matter how angry parents are, they should not beat their children with clubs, or say things like "You stupid failure!" From now on, everyone should be renewed, centered on God, in the way they speak, behave and live their lives. (28-252, 1970.1.22)
Individuals and families should have a clear standard of how to live their lives. If you have lived your life with a vague knowledge of how you should do so, then you should become distinct and clear from now on. (24-28, 1969.6.22)
Parents exist for their children. If parents existed for their own sake, there would not have been the word parents. In the future, a view of ethics should be formed centering on the Principle of the Unification Church. Parents should live for the sake of their children. This is the first and foremost rule of ethics. It is self-explanatory. The position in which parents sacrifice for the sake of their children is not the place of misery, but the place of happiness. (62-214, 1972.9.25)
To whom do you belong? You belong to your parents and to your children. Then, to whom do parents belong? Parents belong to their children and to God at the same time. So, you must first belong to God, then to your children, and after that to yourselves. When that happens, perfection will be realized for the first time. That is why the law of respecting parents remains on the earth and in our lives. That is why people say that we should respect our parents and love our children. A person without parents is an orphan. You receive your parents' love first, and then try to love your children. Only then will a person called "I" be able to discern the four directions of up and down, horizontal and vertical, as it relates to people. (18-209, 1967.6.8)
We must leave our tradition behind, as well as good and outstanding descendants. You must not leave behind descendants who have small minds, but rather descendants who are strong, daring and great. If you do that, even if your country is in decline, it will not perish. You must realize that in the place where you perished, a new benefactor will appear. And in the place where you have been driven out, a new flag of victory will be waved. The tradition that should be left behind should not only be for Korea, but for all peoples of the world to rejoice in, and you must leave behind descendants of goodness. If you can't do this, you have nothing to offer to Heaven. (99-329, 1978.10.1)
It is a serious problem of how three generations of Blessed Families' children can live together with me. If the three generations can become loyal subjects, they can be the loyal subjects that never existed until this time in the heavenly world. Have you thought about this? Therefore, from now on, you must embrace and educate your children and make a sincere effort to implant such a thought into their minds. (51-269, 1971.11.28)
What should you do in order to live a good life in the future? Living a good life as an individual is not the important point. You must educate your descendants. You must leave something behind for their sake. Not only have I, who have been leading the Unification Church, but also you, undergone a miserable course. Like refugees, we have not been able to settle down. We have undergone the wilderness course. From now, we must settle down. In order to do so, we must fight and win. Just like destroying the seven Canaanite tribes, we must fight and win; otherwise we cannot settle. We must win the battle with these people. (77-251, 1975.4.13)
Even if parents die, they should leave behind the heavenly law. Why does the family exist? Even if you live for the sake of your children, you should live first for the sake of God and the nation. That is ultimately the way to live for the sake of your children, because only in that way can your children benefit from the fortune of the nation, the world and God. Therefore, even if your precious children, who were born from the Blessing, suffer, you should not adjust to their situation but rather adjust to the destiny of the nation, the world and God. (21-87, 1968.10.27)
We should be seriously concerned about how to keep the pure lineage that we have inherited from God. Even in the uncontaminated Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve fell. It is very difficult to maintain purity in this sinful world. No matter how difficult it may be, parents must create for their children, who were born from the Blessing, an environment that is not contaminated by the sinful world. Even if parents have to be sacrificed, we must create such an environment for the second generation as soon as possible. We must hurry. (1978.9.22, Japan)
Your families must not be conventional and secular. You should not think simply that your families are the way they are, and that things will be better in the future. They should already be perfect. The problem is in the now. Only when the past and present are perfect, will your future be perfect too. The fact that Adam and Eve did not have even one day of perfection in the Garden of Eden is proof of the Fall. The ideal is if the past, the present and the future would all be consistent. You must be able to offer yourself in the present. God's hope for you is that you become the eternal foundation on earth. That will be the concluding point of history. (21-77, 1968.10.20)
The reason that the Israelites perished after fulfilling the restoration of Canaan, was that they were accustomed to and assimilated into their environment. They put all their effort into living well, eating well and acquiring luxuries that led to their downfall. They intermarried with wealthy non-Israelites. Also, they lusted after power and thirsted for knowledge. In the end, they were completely assimilated into the Canaanite culture and sold off their spirit as the chosen people. This was the cause of their destruction. (144-134, 1986.4.12)
Chronic habits can be the most difficult things to change. While raising your children, if you let them lead a conventional life, those habits will become hardened within them. In such an environment, you will not have time to make special prayer conditions. You will not be able to pray because your children will make a lot of commotion beside you. (30-125, 1970.3.21)
We do not put individuals first in importance, but rather families. However, we are not trying to solve everything based on the family, but rather on the whole. Past efforts made by people who individually sought the truth, will no longer do. You must invest several times more effort, determination and resolution compared to the past. When you are leading a life challenging evil, you might easily get worn out and retreat. You must invest several times more effort when you have a family, compared to the time when you were single. The family becomes your focus. You cannot ignore that reality. You must realize the relationships between front and back, left and right, and up and down within the family. You cannot do this with the faiths of the past. It will not work with the one-sided religious attitudes of the past. (27-85, 1969.11.15)
You must establish families that will live not only for their immediate generation but for the world and eternity. Your families must become families who are determined to live and die for the sake of gathering the hearts of all people, through the expansion of love. You have to light candles and burn incense and, praying together, create unity between them and heaven and earth. If you create such families, even if some trouble arises, God will protect them. God will save them as the seeds. (100-306, 1978.10.22)
The Blessed Families must set up the family tradition and establish the heavenly laws. In addition, you must establish a standard of education and family regulations for your children. Otherwise, if parents ever make mistakes, there would be no standard for accountability in front of their children. (21-87, 1968.11.3)
From now on, using a dagger, we have to cut out whatever has to be cut out and dissect whatever has to be dissected. You cannot do things as you please. Since the Unification Church is the church that will realize the heavenly kingdom, we must restore families, not individuals. Those who do not become good examples in their families will be accused by the world. They will be accused by heaven and earth. (30-230, 1970.3.23)