Book Seven - Etiquette And Ceremonies
Chapter One - Etiquette for Attending God
Section 3. True Father's Way of Attending God

3.1. Sincerity moves Heaven

What does it mean for you to serve with all your heart, with your entire mind, and with all your devotion? It means to offer your life. Is there anything greater than that? To devote yourself with all your heart means giving up your life. To serve with all your mind and devotion means giving up your life. Isn't there a saying, "Sincerity moves heaven?" Is there a limit to sincerity, an end to one's devotion? Put your life on the line and offer devotion. God will recognize the person who is ready to sacrifice his life and offer a life of devotion. (38-242, 1971.1.8)

I'm not saying that you should force yourself to lay down your life if you do not want to. I'm saying that you should joyfully be willing to do that. Would God want you to lay down your life if you are totally miserable doing so, or would He prefer it if, intoxicated with love and not knowing whether you would live or die, you danced with joy while laying down your life? Which would He prefer? (48-114, 1971.9.5)

When I would pray kneeling on the floor, my tears never dried. I even had calluses on my knees. In Korea there is a saying, "A tower that is made with lots of care will never collapse." We have to be devoted to God. We have to enter into the state of mind where we feel pain in our heart to such an extent that we crazily love and long for God. If God could dwell somewhere on earth, His heart would visit that place a thousand times a day. But because there is no such place, God had no choice but to send me. Since this is the situation, you cannot help but love me. Can you simply love me so easily? In my case, when I prayed shedding tears during the three months of winter, sometimes my entire clothing would be completely soaked. Think about how desperate I was. On many occasions I prayed to God so seriously to demand a response, as if burying the blade of a dagger in the table. (60-212, 1972.6.17)

Let us say that there was a diamond mine. What would you do if there were such a place that only you knew of? You might have to even sacrifice being with your family in order to acquire such a place. It would not be a sin to sacrifice being with your wife in order to save many families. It is also not a sin to sacrifice being with your children in order to save numerous children in the nation. However, you should not sacrifice them to satisfy your own self-interest. The path for saving the nation and a people is that diamond mine; it is the path of life for the people throughout the entire world. In that case, history would not view this as a sin -- the sacrifice of your wife and child. It may seem wrong to sacrifice your wife and child to save the nation and world; however, on the contrary, it is there that you will find a wealth of treasure which the whole world can praise. (21-314, 1968.12.6)

Whatever you may do, be it eating, drinking, sitting or standing or whomever you may relate with, you'll receive a perfect score if you show your loving heart before True Parents and God. It does not come about by having a lot of knowledge or scholarly attainment. Will you live in God's presence saying, "I have a Doctorate"? There is no need for that before God. Therefore, how can we entice God's love? There is only one path: "Sincerity moves heaven." There is no other way. (73-38, 1975.5.1)

The motto for my life has been "God's spokesman!' From today, I ask that all of you become heavenly spokespersons. Become God's representative and His substitute, and furthermore, I hope that you can become one who can die in place of God. (9-7, 1960.3.13)

In the face of the great, historic last Days, what more could we ask for than to become trustworthy object partners before a lonely God, whose position is one of being unable to trust. Even death will not worry us. Even if our flesh turns to water and flows away or becomes powder and disperses in the air, how can we be resentful? There have always been many lives with no value that end up like those of pigs and dogs. (62-140, 1972.9.17)

You should not complain. There is no room for complaint. You should not think of yourself. Think about God with the heart, "If I complain how much pain I will cause the True Parents! I understand their circumstances. If the moment comes when I can inherit their tradition, I will inherit it and while following them, I will comfort them." Then, if you shed tears with that kind of heart, God will share them with you. There is no doubt about that. You should shed tears for the sake of God and for the sake of the True Parents. You should know that this is the altar of the Unification Church. This is the life of attendance in the Unification Church. (114-281, 1981.10.20)

Since you said that you live with God's love, what should your life's goal be now? You must live a life of attendance with a heart of love. Even if you bow before a handkerchief with that kind of heart, it would not be considered idol worship. What can dominate the person who bows his head with a heart of love? If you offer a deep bow with a heart transcending your own glory, even Satan will not tell you to stop doing that. There is no need for idols while going forward with a heavenly heart. (91-74, 1960.5.3)

3.2. The path of a filial son

Even if I had to collapse in hunger and fatigue, I thought about how I was going to go forward on the path knowing how concerned God was, and how I was going to shoulder this cross, if needed, along the way. Yet, you are not preparing yourselves to go on this path. Even though you now know that you will be saved through attendance, you still look at me impudently. You should not continue with that kind of mind. (13-233, 1964.3.22)

You should live your life in such a way that if you do not know what I am doing, you would not be able to sleep and would run out to ask me, even in the middle of the night. That is why I said that salvation comes through attendance. I always live with this attitude towards God. This does not leave my mind for a second. (21-68, 1968.9.9)

In the age of justification by living the life of attendance, all of you must establish the correct center and go forward from there. In the place where you attend God there is law. When you break that law, God is very displeased.

With parents who love their children deeply, just one word from the child can be enough to drive a nail into the parents' heart. Likewise, since God loves humankind so much, He can also be deeply hurt by them. If you make even the slightest of mistakes, it will incur His anger. For that reason, I always have a strong desire to be a source of God's joy. (17-287, 1967.2.151

Don't you want to go to the person who thinks about you? It is the same for God. The way to capture God is to think about Him more than anyone else. God seeks out those who are thinking of dedicating themselves to Him. (128-172, 1983.6.12)

I do not know how many times I prayed to such an extent that all my clothing became wet. I don't know how many times I pledged before God with a knife in my hand, jabbing my stomach. I don't know how many thousands of times I made a firm resolution before God while crossing over the pinnacle of death. (19-19, 1967.11.5)

For humankind, loving God is the first commandment. So, should you love God your whole life or temporarily? Will you love God your entire life or not? You should love God even if a thunderbolt hits you and you die. You must love God with your life. If you love Him with your life, then, until your death, you can do anything. (37-25, 1970.12.22)

You have to long for God until your eyes feel like crumbling and your nose is full and stuffy. If a person cries excessively, his chest aches. That's how much you have to long for God. Even when crying out, "Father," you have to say it as if you were a son who is being dragged to the execution ground or as a son who is leaving for a far off country. In order to call out "Heavenly Father," we must have a higher standard than that. (50-288, 1971.11.8)

Where do you currently reside? Do you live in concert with me day and night, whenever or wherever you go? Until now, I have not managed just on my own. Can you go up to the summit of Mt. Baekdu, remove the stones, plow a field, plant potatoes, and serve God with those potatoes? You should do that.

Would you be hit by lightning if you made your wife plow that field because you did not have an ox? Would you stop if God said, "Hey, stop it!" when He saw you plowing the field, using your beloved wife as an ox? Will you still attend with all your heart, with your entire mind, and with all your devotion? You must. (37-25, 1970.12.22)

I have lived with God, and walked in the same direction with Him, and in step with Him, investing my life completely. (31-320, 1970.6.7)

I resolve the important issues in my daily life by praying to God. I do not do it casually. (43-33, 1971.4.11)

You have to be a bit stupid in order to follow this path. If you look at it in a certain way, loyal subjects were rather foolish people. They seemed to be somewhat stupid. They had the character of a bear. You have to have the kind of slow-wittedness that, if you had your arm cut off, you would simply say, "Oh, this is not cut enough. Please cut off some more." If bears or wild boars get shot and are slowed down by the wound, they will chew off the wounded limb and run away. The last thing they think of is death, and the first thing on their minds is the wound that is slowing them down. You have to have this kind of slow-wittedness. Patriots and heroes were a bit foolish. You have to be a little stupid. (26-143, 1969.10.19)

We should liberate God. With the authority of the true God, our first ancestors were to attend God in an ideal world where He could live with them while singing praises amid unlimited bliss. Yet, since we now know that God became miserable by our hands, so likewise, we should liberate Him with our own hands. This is an amazing proposal. It is extremely joyful news for God to hear such things coming from the religious realm. It is the greatest of all gospels. When we think of this, it was God who established Buddhism. He was the one who established Confucianism. He was the one who established the Islamic faith. And He was the one who established Christianity. All religions should raise both hands and welcome Him. (176-242, 1988.5.11)

I have experienced hardships to this day for the sake of God's will. Even now, I travel on this path day and night. Those who have not attended me closely do not know me well. The minute I open my eyes from sleep I kneel on the floor and pray. Why do I live in such a way? It is because, even in the middle of the night, my beloved children spread across the world depend on me as they pray to God. Even though I cannot offer devotion together with them, shouldn't I keep time with them just the same? Since I am unaware of this when I am asleep, even God forgives me. When a child falls asleep in fatigue at that hour, God prays on his behalf in the same way a father watches over his child. (26-138, 1969.10.19)

What kind of person am I? I am a person with only one talent. I am a person who just goes straight ahead no matter what. Some ask why I always do things which are spoken ill of, instead of quietly going around the other way with my mouth shut. It is because the pinnacle can only be overcome by receiving opposition from many people. But you are thinking of taking a detour, aren't you? Then, why do we have to cut off from everything in the secular world? It is because we cannot go straight if we are pulled by our love for our physical parents. Since God has been going straight towards us, we also have to go straight. (7-57, 1978.3.19)

Because I knew that God was such a lonely and isolated being, I have gone forth knowing that my mission until the day I die was to fulfill even a portion of God's will and desire; to expand a foundation in at least one field and gather together those who can live for the sake of God. It is because I was born as God's son and because I felt myself responsible for establishing His will that I have persevered until now with love. Even though I was persecuted, and even though I was beaten, I endured all this without taking revenge. Even as I fought my way forward, staggering or crawling on my belly, I always thought about how to set up this tradition and bequeath it to the world. (82-47, 1975.12.30)

People should not be proud that they stand out. If you raised yourself to such a position, you would fall down. However, even if people do not raise you to that position, if Heaven has raised you up, you will surely succeed. (155-42, 1965.10.31)

What do the True Parents do? By winning every battle, they enter the deepest place in God's heart to liberate His bitter pain and establish that realm of victory on the earth. You should all be grateful that such True Parents have appeared. (235-21, 1992.8.24)

How seriously have you been following the way of God's will? I have been following this path all throughout my life. Even my wife and children do not know this. Only God knew my situation.

It was a lonely path, which this solitary man had to follow, unknown by anyone. I accomplished such amazing achievements, thanks to God's help, and with this I have brought fundamental issues to society today. I have become a controversial person who presented a new wave of thought in this declining democratic world. I have become like this not because I did so well but because God was with me. (82-45, 1975.12.30)