Filial Attendance: The Way of Filial Piety of Holy Sons and Daughters of God - Elio Roman
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Filial Attendance: The Way of Filial Piety of Holy Sons and Daughters of God - Elio Roman |
Due to the Fall of Adam and Eve, subsequent generations failed to become centered on God and true love. They became centered on satanic elements and forces. Satan became the god, ruler, and owner of the world. The Garden of Eden, the original homeland, was lost and Satan settled on the earth through fallen families. The earth became a place of extreme barbarism and sexual depravedness. Restoration through God's laws of restoration began and has continued towards the establishment of the Kingdom of God. Development through atonement (indemnity) and restitution has continued progressively throughout the history of God's providence.
In the Old Testament Age, God was able to send to earth, through His representatives, laws and virtues by which humanity was to live. In that Age God gave the Laws of the Old Testament. It consisted of 613 commandments. By believing in, and practicing these commandments, the Israelites were justified before God. In Exposition of the Divine Principle we read:
During the two thousand years from Abraham to Jesus, God worked to raise people to the formation stage of resurrection. Hence, this era may be called the age of the providence of formation-stage resurrection. All people who lived on earth during this age could receive the merit of the age based on God's work of formation-stage resurrection. In this era, God gave the Law of the Old Testament. By believing in and practicing it, the people could fulfill their responsibility and be justified before God. Therefore, this era has been called the age of justification by works. The people of this era who practiced the Law in their daily life were resurrected in spirit to the formation stage and became form spirits. Upon their death, those who achieved the level of form spirits while on earth entered and abided in the form-spirit level of the spirit world. (Exposition -- 139)
We are in the process of history. The process of history is the historical process of restoration, which is restitution and atonement (indemnification) towards the establishment of God's ideal world. We have progressed from the Old Testament Age, to the New Testament Age, to the Completed Testament Age, and to the Age after the Coming of Heaven in which Cheon Il Guk is established.
In the Old Testament Age human beings were justified by their works. The New Testament Age is the Age of Justification by Faith. Human beings are justified by their faith in Jesus Christ. Through our faith in Jesus we inherit life elements from him. Jesus' offering on the cross replaces the offerings that the Israelites had to make in accordance with the component of offerings of the works of the Law. Our faith in Jesus Christ, and becoming one with his offering, removes our penalty of death. The New Testament teaches that we must also live a virtuous life according to Jesus words and example. The Completed Testament Age is the Age of Justification through Attendance. It is by attending the Lord at the Second Advent and by living a virtuous way of life according to his words and example, that we are justified. In attending the True Parents we can receive the inheritance of the elements of both spiritual salvation and physical salvation. St Paul brings to the forefront the concept of Justification by Faith. Now in the Completed Testament Age it must be clearly understood that the way to complete salvation is by Justification through Attendance.
In the Old Testament Age things of creation were sacrificed. In the New Testament Age Jesus and the martyrs were sacrificed. In the Completed Testament Age True Parents and their children are sacrificed. We have not yet fully recognized how many people in the history of God's providence have been a living sacrifice or have sacrificed their lives for our salvation, and towards collectively establishing the original ideal of creation. It is truly significant that we are in the Completed Testament Age of Justification through Attendance.
True Parents have also opened up the Age After the Coming of Heaven which is the Age of Cheon Il Guk (God's Ideal Peaceful Kingdom.) In order to establish Cheon Il Guk we must fulfill the requirements of the Completed Testament Age of Attendance. In the Old Testament Age people had to fulfill its requirements in order to usher in the New Testament Age. In the New Testament Age people had to fulfill its requirements in order to usher in the Completed Testament Age. We are now in the Completed Testament Age. It is by fulfilling the requirements of the Completed Testament Age of Justification through Attendance that we inherit complete salvation and the right of owners of Cheon Il Guk in the Age After the Coming of Heaven. Knowing clearly the requirements of attendance will elevate mankind towards establishing the Kingdom of God on earth and in heaven.
Through our attendance of True Parents in the Completed Testament Age we are engrafted onto God's original lineage and establish an ideal family. In the Age After the Coming of Heaven we are entitled to live in Cheon Il Guk. We must now attend God as a family, not only as a condition for our salvation and justification through attendance, but as a way of life. This way of life is given to us through the Family Pledge. As citizens of Cheon Il Guk we can now attend God and True Parents directly. It is our responsibility to live a life of attendance in our families by perfecting the Four Great Realms of Heart and putting into practice attendance in the three generational family (the Three Great Kingships.)
Our mind and body should be united through our absolute sexual morality as a precondition to attend God directly. Through living a life of attendance we can perfect our spirit selves, for our preparation to live in the heavenly eternal world. In our course of attending God and True Parents we must exchange ownership by offering all our belongings to God and having God give them back to us. As the Lords of Creation we must love and protect nature. We must become representatives of God and True Parents and use our talents and abilities to expand God's providence and build Cheon Il Guk. It is our responsibility as Tribal Messiah's to connect all families to the Realm of the Royal Family. As the representatives of God and True Parents we need to multiply the blessing by which we have been engrafted onto true love, true live and true lineage through the grace of exchange marriages. These are our responsibilities as the citizens of Cheon Il Guk in the Age after the Coming of Heaven.
It is of utmost importance that we clearly know what attendance is, what the principles of attendance are, what is restored in this Age of Justification through Attendance, and what role the development of the virtue and heart of attendance plays the development of one's character, the significance of attendance in the family, and in establishing the Ideal Peaceful Kingdom of God in the Age After the Coming of Heaven. This book seeks to bring the virtue of attendance to the forefront of our minds and hearts and to provide further details and clarification about the principles and lifestyle of attendance.
The age of justification by attendance means the time of attending God in our lives. Wasn't the first of the Ten Commandments revealed in the Bible about loving God? In the era after the coming of heaven, God is revealing Himself in front of all people as the True Parent. That is why the movement that attends the True Parents represents Heaven's authority and power, and is incomparable to any force of this fallen world. What can prevent you from living a life of attendance that enables you to observe the living God with your own eyes and to experience Him with all your senses? (Messages of Peace 14 -- 207, 2007.6.13)
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)
Justification by attendance; that is, you need to perfect the family life of attendance. In other words, once you are standing on a victorious foundation centered on the Kingdom of Heaven on earth and in spirit world, kingship, and the realm of the royal family, you need to practice a family life that serves and attends True Parents and God. By forming a vertical relationship with God, all of you must be registered; that is, all of you must occupy the position of ancestors. (274-183, 1995.10.29)
The reason why we now talk specifically about "justification by attendance" is because it refers to the age in which one lives life as if in the Kingdom of Heaven. That is why we are talking about justification by attendance. (161-218, 1987.2.15)
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, 1967.2.15)
The age of the Unification Church is the age of the parents. We are paving the way whereby God can come and be present on earth. This is why it makes sense to say that by God's coming, we are saved through attending Him. This is how history progresses. (177-157, 1988.5.17)
The Unification Church states that salvation comes through attendance. It is justification through attendance; in other words, salvation through attendance. When men buy suits for each season, they should be doing that for Father as well. However, since He does not have a body, they should combine a monetary offering with their devotion instead. During these seasons, they should make an offering in the donation box for the sake of the church, with a tearful heart of attending God, regardless of whether anyone is watching. If they can do so, that devotion will accumulate in the Ark of the Covenant. This way of living should be real and expressed; not remain only as a concept. (48-328, 1971.9.26)
God is the absolute Father, absolute True Parent, and the unique, unchanging and eternal True Father. Such a Father should bring about unique, unchanging, and eternal couples for the absolute sons. For such daughters, too, He should bring about absolute, unique, unchanging and eternal couples. So, the families in which they will settle peace-fully are absolute, unique, unchanging, and eternal families. Such families can live together with God, and constitute the eternal base of the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. Justification through attendance signifies the age of realizing the Kingdom of Heaven in daily life. This is why we are talking about justification through attendance. The history of restoration is re-creating God's ideal of creation. (161-218, 1987.2.15)
Without making a beginning point where God enters our mind, and where we human beings become completely one body with God, there is no way of liquidating the devil's world. From this point of view, we can understand that this time is the age of attendance and the age of salvation by justification through attendance. We are saved through attendance. God is not a God who is way up in the sky far removed from us. We should attend God as the master in our daily life. (144-274, 1986.4.25)
Up until the present time, a life of faith brought salvation through faith, but, from now on, you attain salvation through attendance. Originally, if humankind had not fallen, we would be following our normally intended path by attending God. What is the use of faith alone? You can fulfill everything by leading a life of attendance. When you attend God, you should attend Him in your daily activities and with your whole heart. (150-213, 1961.4.15)
The problem we face now is how to create a new tradition from the standard of attendance that God wants from the individual, family, church, this nation and this people. (38-12, 1971.1.1)
How many times during the day are you aware of God's existence? How many times during twenty four hours do you feel God's presence? How can people who are determined to be saved through attendance, attend God just one or two hours in a day? God is something you need more desperately than even the air. God is something you need more desperately than even water. God is more precious than your meals. Yet, do you really feel this? (33-230, 1970.8.16)
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)
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)
When you look at human history, it can be viewed as having three ages: the Old Testament Age, New Testament Age and Completed Testament Age. What does the Old Testament Age refer to? It refers to the age when sacrificial offerings were made to save children. It was a preparation for the coming of the Son of God. The New Testament Age is the age in which Jesus served as a sacrifice to receive the Parents. That is why, in the age of the Second Coming, the bridegroom and bride were established to receive the Parents. In the Completed Testament Age, Rev. Moon, with the title of the True Parent, has suffered for forty years so that God could be received on earth. Through this, the oneness of God and human beings is achieved. (227-94, 1992.2.10)
What does the Completed Testament Age represent? The Completed Testament Age represents the fulfillment of God's covenant; that is, He is giving the Blessing to humankind. In the Old Testament Age, the Blessing did not occur; in the New Testament Age, the Blessing was desired; and in the Completed Testament Age, the Blessing is attained. Is it not God's ideal of creation that Adam and Eve marry centering on God, thereby connecting the life force centered on His love to the life of Adam and Eve and leaving His lineage behind? Had this happened, they would have become the True Parents. True love is indeed great. (291-178, 1998.3.11)
What was lost during the Old Testament Age should be recovered. In the Old Testament Age, all things were sacrificed; in the New Testament Age, the son was sacrificed; and in the Completed Testament Age, the Parent was sacrificed. With respect to all these, we should, therefore, deny everything -- including the parents and children of our own family. In order to return everything that Satan had taken from heaven, we should offer heaven everything that we have, denying them and even adding greater love than the love of Satan's world. In such a way, by putting ourselves in the position of denying everything, there will come a time when we will have paid the indemnity needed to restore the Old Testament Age, the New Testament Age, and the Completed Testament Age. The time of elimination is coming. I am saying these things so that, by following the principle of resurrection, the Blessed families will avoid being caught by Satan and can be liberated. Going through "things" in the Old Testament Age, the Second Adam in the New Testament Age, and our own substantial self in the Completed Testament Age indicates that the direction has to be changed 180 degrees centered upon God. All that used to be yours should be returned to the Parent who brings them to God. Love should be resurrected. (216-204, 1991.3.31)
Things were offered in the Old Testament Age, sons and daughters in the New Testament Age, couples in the Completed Testament Age. And then you attend God. As a result of the Fall, we human beings failed to attend God on earth, serving Satan instead and being separated from God. We should now attend God and reconnect everything to Him. Thus, the things in your possession are not really yours. They correspond to the Old Testament Age, and sons and daughters to the New Testament Age. In the Old Testament Age, things were sacrificed to pave the way for the children, and in the New Testament Age, sons and daughters were sacrificed for the coming of the parents. It is ultimately to attend God on this earth that the Lord at his Second Advent, the True Parent, comes and suffers on this earth. Now we are in hell because we have been in service to Satan on earth. Thus we should attend God through the application of true love. (211-352, 1991.1.1)
In order to attend God, in the Old Testament Age things were sacrificed, in the New Testament Age the son was sacrificed, and in the Completed Testament Age the parent was sacrificed. What should you do now? You should stand in the position of the mother and father on their behalf. Sons and daughters represent the New Testament Age and all things represent the Old Testament Age. As these Old Testament, New Testament and Completed Testament Ages all come within the range of God's true love, you should pay indemnity for having deviated from God's love and come back to the original owner and return to Him all that Satan controlled. (208-345, 1990.11.21)
It was to make this one road that the providence has been going through six thousand years of biblical history until now. Jesus tried to connect the New Testament Age to the Completed Testament Age and bring heaven and earth into oneness. This, however, failed, and God's providence was prolonged for another two thousand years. Jesus brought the New Testament Age and worked to expand his scope to the world. The expansion movement produced many martyrs. Especially during the four hundred years of Roman persecution, many of his followers shed much blood. However, through that indemnity condition, the movement was expanded to the global level. Through this prolongation, God extended His providence of salvation to the world, hoping that the failures at the time of Jesus would be indemnified again on the world level.
Then, how could God's providence go beyond the New Testament Age and enter the Completed Testament Age? The Completed Testament Age refers to the realm of oneness of God and human beings. It refers to establishing, through true love, the realm of oneness, and standing on an equal basis by connecting together. God is not always vertical and human beings are not always horizontal. The vertical and horizontal are to become one. (211-352, 1991.1.1)
What is the most important thing in the course of history? It is the emergence of the realm of the chosen people. In this age, I am trying to connect this realm on the world level to the foundation of three stages of development: the formation, growth, and completion stages. The Israelites correspond to the formation level, Christianity to the growth level, and the Unification Church to the completion level. If the realm of Israel was the center of the Old Testament Age, Christianity was the center of the New Testament Age, and the Unification Church is that for the Completed Testament Age. The Completed Testament Age is the age of achievement. What should be achieved? Individuals, families, tribes, peoples, nations, and the world should be completed. Centering on what? Centering on God's love, God's life, and God's lineage. Through this, all should be connected. This is the tradition of a single lineage, a single love, and a single life. If this happens, Satan will have to leave. Through this engraftment, Satan's connection to the lineage disappears. (226-275, 1992.2.9)
The fallen age is the age of Satan's dominion. It is not conceptual but a real matter and you can understand it if you look spiritually at the environmental realities. Why did Adam fall? It was because he did not attain faith, deeds, and attendance. These were the three major conditions for Adam. Thus Adam could not go through the Old Testament Age of deeds, the New Testament Age of faith, and the Completed Testament Age of attendance. Because of Adam's fall, humans have come under Satan's dominion. Therefore, it has become necessary for humans to search for the original Adam's position throughout history. We have to restore Adam's original position through setting up the victorious condition; that is, through setting up conditions of indemnity. Why do we have to seek the righteousness of faith, the righteousness of deeds, and the righteousness of attendance? It is because we cannot separate good from evil without righteousness. What is the standard of righteousness? It is always God, so we have to believe, behave and attend as God does. Why should we do so? It is because Satan cannot accuse those who are righteous like God. When you deal with your environment in the same way that God believes, behaves, and attends, Satan cannot accuse you. When such an environment where God can dwell expands, and the righteousness standard point is raised, Satan will retreat.
This does not mean, however, that the Old Testament Age of deeds and the New Testament Age of faith have passed away and that we are now only in the Completed Testament Age of attendance. In the Old Testament Age of deeds, faith was also necessary, and in the New Testament age of faith, deeds were also necessary. In the Completed Testament Age of attendance, deeds and faith are also necessary. It is because the growth stage is established based on the formation stage, and the perfection stage is established based on the growth stage. They cannot be separated.
The age of attendance refers to the age of the Kingdom of Heaven in everyday life. The history of restoration is aimed at the realization of God's ideal of creation. (161-218)
Right now I am thinking about Adam's age, Jesus' age, and the True Parents' age. Why three stages? Adam's age represents the formation stage, Jesus' age the growth stage, and the True Parents' age the completion stage. It is through these three stages or generations that the restoration of Eden in the Old Testament Age, the restoration of Eden in the New Testament Age, and the restoration of Eden in the Completed Testament Age, unfolds. Now, I am the only one who remains in the Completed Testament Age. (229-69, 1992.4.9)
Attendance in the Completed Testament Age is not the only thing that remains after the Old Testament Age of works and the New Testament Age of faith have passed. Even in the Completed Testament Age, we need to do works, we need to have faith, and we also need to lead a life of attendance. There are the stages of formation, growth and completion which remain; these cannot be separated. (161-218, 1987.2.15)
The Completed Testament Age of justification through attendance is the age of directly attending God in our life. Since that is the time when God's tabernacle remains with us and the new Jerusalem in heaven comes down to earth, the form of the true God will finally appear to us then. This will happen for the first time since the creation of the world. Until now, God has not been able to appear in history, which has remained at an uncompleted stage since the Fall. (CSG -- 131)
The era when people are to be resurrected both spiritually and physically through the returning Christ and complete the providence of resurrection is called the age of the providence of completion-stage resurrection. All those who live during this era are to receive the merit of the age based on God's work of completion-stage resurrection. Christ at the Second Advent brings the new truth with which to fulfill the promises of the Old and New Testaments; it may be called the Completed Testament. Believing in this truth, people are to serve and attend the Lord on the earth, that they may fulfill their responsibility for the providence and be justified before God. Therefore, this era is called the age of justification by attendance. By believing in and serving the Lord and devoting themselves to his work, people of this era are to be fully resurrected both spiritually and physically, become divine spirits, and live in the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. When they shed their physical bodies, as spirits they will enter and abide in the Kingdom of Heaven in heaven, which is the divine-spirit level of the spirit world. (Exposition -- 140)
In 1992, I proclaimed the coming of the Messiah and the True Parents to the world. Thereafter, I drove providential fortune, and in this year, 1993, I announced "The True Parents and the Completed Testament Age" in America from May 13th. I created the environment in which all this can be accomplished. As you know, America is the nation that represents the whole world. It is the nation that serves as the final home for the Christian cultural sphere. Now, with the True Parents as the center, we entering a new age; that is, we are entering the Completed Testament Age. This declaration was made for the first time ever on earth. How eagerly God must have waited for this time! What a miserable situation God has been in throughout the ages of history! Now the age of hope has come near; we have entered the age when we can proclaim the True Parents. This is a historical event that carries all the significance of universal history. Up until now, there has never been such an event throughout human history. (248-175, 1993.8.3)
There can be only one set of True Parents. They are the only Parents of humankind. The Completed Testament Age is the age in which the True Parents appear for the first time ever in human history. (248-226, 1993.10.1)
The words "The Completed Testament Age and the True Parents" have nothing to do with Satan. Once the words "The Completed Testament Age and the True Parents" appear, Satan will have to retreat. This is a privileged time. Thus, everyone should reach perfection at the time of the Second Advent. (252-130, 1993.11.14)
The twenty years from 1972 to 1992 is the period when we went beyond the mission of Christianity, centering on Korea. On the national level, I fulfilled the indemnity condition that corresponds to the Old Testament Age. The Holy Marriage of the True Parents in 1960 and our activities in America on the global stage corresponds to the relationship between the Old Testament Age and the New Testament Age. They have the same contents. Through this, the worldwide settlement of the True Parents was concluded in this period. That is why I announced the Completed Testament Age, which is the time when we can live with God. We Unification Church members have now come to the age of living with God. (248-175, 1993.8.3)
The words "Completed Testament Age" refer to our having advanced into a new age. It is the time when the world will be united, creating a peaceful world that begins with the family and progresses to the tribe, people, nation, world and even to all of heaven and earth. It represents the whole; it is not confined to the family unit. We were able to enter the Completed Testament Age only after going beyond the level of the world and that of the whole. Through the new family that perfects the Four Great Realms of Heart and the Three Great Kingships, we can go beyond the realm of the world and achieve the required model for the Completed Testament Age. When this happens the world will become one unified world -- the ideal heavenly kingdom of peace. (Messages of Peace 14 -- 220, 2007.6.13)
Since the false parent came into existence through the Fall, it is a historical fact that the True Parents must come. As long as the Fall is known, there is no way for this to be denied. Because of the Fall, the promise of God could not be fulfilled. The Old Testament is the promise made in the past, and the New Testament is the promise renewed; the Completed Testament Age continues to fulfill the promise. This is logical.
What kind of age is the Completed Testament Age? In this age we do not live with Satan but with God. Hence, the fallen realm must be eliminated. The elimination of Satan's world is possible because now is the time when all nations and the world can return to God.
By clearly knowing about the details of the Kingdom of Heaven, we can eliminate the false world which goes against the principles of God. It is impossible to prescribe medicine, or to present an alternative to the fallen world, unless we clearly know the right path for the individual, the family, the tribe, the peoples, the nation, the world, and even the path for the Kingdom of Heaven. (249-159, 1993.10.10)
You are now advancing into the era of liberation and complete inner freedom, which is the providential era of the realm of the heart of the fourth Adam. In other words, it is the era after the coming of heaven. This is the time when, metaphorically speaking, the sun is directly overhead, such that no shadow is cast. This signifies that we have passed through the era before the coming of heaven, which included the Old, New and Completed Testament ages. These eras have required immeasurable restitution and atonement in order to re-create the ideal.
The present time, however, corresponds to the era, prior to Adam's Fall, of building the original ideal world. It refers to the era of true love that is all-encompassing, all-powerful and has overall authority. It is the realm of heart in which the spirit world and the physical world are bound together as a unified realm centering on the True Parents, the King and Queen of Peace. In other words it is the era of the kingdom of peace and unity in heaven and on earth.
Please become true princes and princesses who live in attendance to God as your True Parent, for He is the Peace King of the multitudes. Let us build the everlasting peace kingdom by attending True Parents, who have been enthroned as the King and Queen of Peace in Heaven and on Earth in the realm of eternal liberation and inner freedom -- where there is no need for the Savior, Messiah nor the Lord at his second coming -- and fulfill the dutiful way of a true, devoted child, a patriot, a saint, and a member of the family of God's sons and daughters!
In so doing, let us inherit True Parents' victory of completing restoration through indemnity of the realm of three generations and perfect the original world that would have existed but for the Fall! (Messages of Peace 9 -- 138, 2006.10.22)
When tribal messiahs are dispatched, the Completed Testament Age arrives. If all families are engrafted to these tribal messiahs who are dispatched, without going through a course of indemnity, the walls in the worlds on earth and in heaven will crumble. In other words, we can return to the position of being the people of the Kingdom of Heaven. This means that we can enter the realm of the royal family of the Kingdom of Heaven. So, once the tribal messiahs establish their own physical mothers and fathers in the position of true parents, their hometowns will be directly connected to the Kingdom of Heaven. Then, their birth mothers and fathers can stand in the position of being restored to the lineage of the parents who have reached perfection, without having fallen. Through this, amazing events, in which your entire hometowns turn into the Kingdom of Heaven, can occur.
The most important thing is that, in the Completed Testament Age, we live together with God. Thus, we should expedite these three requirements, namely, the change of lineage, the change of ownership, and the change of heart. So you should practice in your families the four realms of heart, the three kingships, and the realm of royal family. Once this is successfully done, everything is over. This is the last mission to be undertaken by the Blessed families. This is your last mission; your destiny. (226-275, 1992.2.9)
In the Completed Testament Age, the Blessing was given at the completion level. Therefore, all people can stand on the same level, and their descendants can receive the Blessing. Five billion human beings, the descendants of the three great ancestors, are now living on earth. By giving them the Blessing with those from the liberation realm of the three great ancestors, all of them can receive the same grace in equal proportion. This is because they are now connected to the parent-child relationship. Such a time has arrived. An urgent time has come. (252-139, 1993.11.14)
Do you know the significance of January 13, 2001? It was the Day of the Coronation of God's Kingship. For countless years Heaven had been waiting for that event in eager anticipation. It was the greatest and most exalted celebration humanity had ever witnessed. On that day Reverend Moon, who had received the anointing as the True Parent of all humanity and traveled a path of indescribable suffering and pain until he had gained the final victory, offered his entire foundation to Heaven.
For tens of thousands of years, God had endured an existence full of lamentation and grief, even as He conducted His Providence with a parental heart. When that coronation ceremony was offered to Him, it marked the moment of His long-awaited liberation and release. On that providential day, we declared to all heaven and earth that we would attend God as the vertical True Parent and great King of the Cosmos, that we would unfurl and raise the banner of Cheon Il Guk, and that the new sovereignty of Heaven had begun.
For the next three years, the True Parents held firmly to the helm while the winds of heavenly fortune surged around us like a typhoon. We dashed forward as though each day were a thousand years. Then on the foundation of True Parents' victory, we declared May 5, 2004 the Day of Ssang-hap Ship-seung. On that day, the True Parents brought to a close the Age Before the Coming of Heaven with its long years of grief, and opened the Age After the Coming of Heaven, the new era when we can build a new heaven and a new earth. This marked the beginning of a great and historic revolution to return the earth to God as a substantial reality. (Messages of Peace 5 -- 72, 2006.6.13)
You are now advancing into the era of liberation and complete inner freedom, which is the providential era of the realm of the heart of the fourth Adam. In other words, it is the era after the coming of heaven. This is the time when, metaphorically speaking, the sun is directly overhead, so that no shadow is cast. This signifies that we have passed through the era before the coming of heaven, which included the Old, New and Completed Testament ages. These eras have required immeasurable restitution and atonement in order to re-create the ideal. (Messages of Peace 8 -- 116, 2006.10.14)
You are living at a time when God gives you the mission -- through restoring the true, ideal family -- to offer before Heaven the realm of the siblings' love and the right of ownership that were given over to Satan through the Fall of our human ancestors. You are now advancing into the era of liberation and complete inner freedom, which is the providential era of the realm of the heart of the fourth Adam. In other words, it is the era after the coming of heaven. This is the time when, metaphorically speaking, the sun is directly overhead, such that no shadow is cast. This signifies that we have passed through the era before the coming of heaven, which included the Old, New and Completed Testament ages. These eras have required immeasurable restitution and atonement in order to re-create the ideal.
The present time, however, corresponds to the era, prior to Adam's Fall, of building the original ideal world. It refers to the era of true love that is all-encompassing, all-powerful and has overall authority. It is the realm of heart in which the spirit world and the physical world are bound together as a unified realm centering on the True Parents, the King and Queen of Peace. In other words it is the era of the kingdom of peace and unity in heaven and on earth.
Please become true princes and princesses who live in attendance to God as your True Parent, for He is the Peace King of the multitudes…and fulfill the dutiful way of a true, devoted child, a patriot, a saint, and a member of the family of God's sons and daughters!
In so doing, let us inherit True Parents' victory of completing restoration through indemnity of the realm of three generations and perfect the original world that would have existed but for the Fall! (Messages of Peace 9 -- 138-139, 2006.10.22)
The fact that we now have the Family Pledge is truly the greatest of all blessings. It came from Heaven as a gift to all humanity on May 1, 1994, the day when the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (FFWPU) was inaugurated. The Family Pledge was given when the Completed Testament Age, which brings to fulfillment the Old Testament Age and the New Testament Age, was proclaimed. It is to serve as a milestone and guiding principle, piercing through the darkness of the age before the coming of heaven, and opening a new heaven and earth in the era after the coming of heaven. It is also the blueprint for the building of God's kingdom of peace and unity in heaven and on earth in the era of the creation of a new heaven and earth…It is something that people should recite forever, long after they discard the mask of religion in the fallen world and attain liberation. (Messages of Peace 14 -- 204, 2007.6.13)
Beloved blessed families, the Family Pledge is the greatest of all prayers. It is the record of True Parents' complete victory. It is the code of law that reveals the teachings of the Completed Testament Age, the age of "justification through attendance."
At the heart of the Family Pledge is the true family within the framework of true love. The Family Pledge serves as a bridge, connecting our lives to God. It is like an explosion of true love that completely captivates God. The Family Pledge is the energy and wisdom that brings true love to the center of the connections between the vertical and horizontal, north and south, and front and back, initiating eternal spherical motion. The Family Pledge is the key to the gates of the kingdom of heaven. The gates to the kingdom cannot be opened by a key made of gold or silver; they can be opened only by the key of a true family perfected through true love. That is why all eight parts of the Family Pledge have as a primary clause, "Our family….centering on true love."
Ladies and gentlemen, the age of justification by attendance means the time of attending God in our lives. Wasn't the first of the Ten Commandments revealed in the Bible about loving God? In the era after the coming of heaven, God is revealing Himself in front of all people as the True Parent. That is why the movement that attends the True Parents represents Heaven's authority and power, and is incomparable to any force of this fallen world. What can prevent you from living a life of attendance that enables you to observe the living God with your own eyes and to experience Him with all your senses? (Messages of Peace 14 -- 206-207, 2007.6.13)
The Family Pledge serves as the absolute standard and constitution in the creation of the kingdom of peace and unity in heaven and earth, beyond the Completed Testament Age. (Messages of Peace 14 -- 206, 2007.6.13)
The age of attendance refers to the age of the Kingdom of Heaven in everyday life. The history of restoration is aimed at the realization of God's ideal of creation. (161-218)
Had they reached perfection without falling, Adam and Eve would have perfected themselves not only individually, but also universally, and a new family centered on God's love would have begun. In this way, if the clan, tribe, people, nation, and world had been created from the family, the world would have become one great extended family attending God. (91-240, 1977.2.23)
Oriental thinking, rather than Western, holds a possibility for God. Within Oriental thinking, there is the principle of absolute attendance to the parents, and at the same time the idea of following one's elder brothers and sisters. When this idea of attendance is expanded, it can reach to the clan leader, the society leader, or the representative of the nation. Thus we can gain the foundation based on the perfect system of attendance. Otherwise, we can never have a family, clan, society, nation, or world that God desires. You must understand this clearly. (God's Will -- 594, 1994.4.3)
We must live a life of attendance. Although we have welcomed the Kingdom of Heaven of hope, we have not welcomed a Kingdom of Heaven of attendance and practice. In other words, we have not been aware in our daily lives that God is our subject partner. (6-226, 1959.5.17)
In our past daily life we celebrated in the presence of God and the True Parents only on Sundays. With the declaration of Chil Il Jeol (Seven-One Day), the era of God's all-immanence and supreme authority, and the Blessing of 3.6 Million Couples, we can free ourselves from the realm of lamentation, in which all the things of creation have been lamenting. We will now be entering the world of the ideal and the age of justification by attendance, where we will be in constant attendance of God and the True Parents every day of the week, from Monday to Sunday, from morning till night, eating, sleeping, and leading our daily lives together with them. We are now in the process of preparing for such a time. (285-297, 1997.6.29)
By attending the heavenly Parent, the heavenly kingdom and the heavenly ancestors, a royal domain will emerge, one where we can eternally attend the realm of tribal messiahship as part of the mainstream lineage and bequeath the way of attendance to succeeding generations. It will be a nation where we can attend the King, and sing praises for the eternal reign of peace and prosperity. You, your mother, father, family and tribe can go directly to heaven only after having lived in such a nation. (220-221, 1991.10.19)
Before desiring heaven, we must desire to know God's heart; and before desiring to know God's heart, we must think about how we should conduct our lives. First, have a heart of attendance. Our original nature reveres and yearns for that which is sublime and precious. In spite of the Fall, our original heart wants to attend the sublime and precious heart of God. Therefore, those who have never been able to lead a heart-centered life of attendance have nothing to do with heaven.
To live a life of attendance we need preparation. After passing through a process of preparation, we need to then practice the life of attendance. Our destination, after preparing and practicing a life of attendance, is heaven. The destination of people who have attended with their hearts is heaven. Heaven is the world where we can be proud of our preparation for attendance and the life of attendance, and where we can actually demonstrate our accomplishments. It is our destiny to follow the course that advances toward the world of heavenly purpose.
From the day we were born with fallen lineage until the present day, there has not been even one day when all humankind attended God with a full heart. Before Adam and Eve fell, they grew according to the ideal of creation, but they never attended God based on a relationship of heart.
What is God's regret? It is that we, who were created to attend Him with our heart, fell into a position where we could not do so, and that God, who should have received heart-centered attendance, was left unattended. God was not anguished because there was nobody who believed in or knew Him. The grief of heaven and earth is that there was nobody who could attend or relate to God in heart. (8-290, 1960.2.14)
If you have something you consider most precious, you will want to carry it with you at all times. You will not want to be separated from it even for a moment. Then if God, the greatest treasure of them all, was in your possession, where would you like to attend Him? Is there a store room where you can store Him securely, where you can attend Him? That place is none other than your heart and mind. The human heart and mind form the store room where God can be safely attended. (41-285, 1971.2.17)
Offer your first words to Heaven after rising from your bed in the morning. When you step outside your home, you should step with your right foot first, dedicating your first step to Heaven. If you develop such habits, your life will become a life of attendance. From this viewpoint, you should maintain the standard of a principled attitude in daily life. (17-296, 1967.2.15)
God, the absolute being, created human beings as His children in order to instill in them absolute values on the basis of an absolute standard. Thus, human beings must follow the way of that absolute standard in keeping with the demands of the heavenly path. This means we must follow our destined life course in order to attend God, the absolute being, as our Parent. In other words, for people to perfect themselves in resemblance of God and obtain the stature of people of character who can be called sons and daughters of the absolute being, they must follow the path based on the absolute standard God has determined. (Messages of Peace 10 -- 143, 2006.11.21)
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. (77-328, 1975.3.30)
God is not a fantasy or a conceptual God, nor is He an abstract God. With His leadership in our daily life, He is always with us as the master of our daily circumstances. He does not just receive attendance but is living together with us by sharing love. (168-111, 1987.9.13)
You can only go to Heaven when you walk the path of filial piety for God. You have to leave the tradition of filial piety behind you. (27-307)
Originally, if humankind had not fallen, we would be following our normally intended path by attending God. What is the use of faith alone? You can fulfill everything by leading a life of attendance. When you attend God, you should attend Him in your daily activities and with your whole heart. (150-213, 1961.4.15)
Heaven does not come under the banner of a certain religion. Heaven is the place where people who have regained the parent-child relationship of true love with God -- who transcends religion -- attend God and are intoxicated in His true love. The person who receives the blessing, creates a family of true love and lives in attendance to God can enter heaven along with his clan and nation. (Public Venue, 2004.4.30)
You should live a life of attendance. So then, why should we live a life of attendance? To receive God's love. For this reason you should serve God first. You should attend Him. (78-30, 1975.5.1)
The time when we can be filial sons and daughters to God does not always exist. It doesn't exist in the spiritual world after we die. From the point of view of eternity, the time when we can practice filial piety is extremely short. We can only do it during our life, which is just like an instant when compared to eternity. During this time we have to establish the condition of having loved God, and establish the condition that we fulfilled our filial duty to God. And we have to confirm that we are absolutely necessary sons and daughters to God while we are still alive. We have to do this while we are alive. (26-114)
Is there a place where perfect people, that is, a perfect man and woman, come to be? It is a place where they can receive God's love centered on the public will of heaven and attend God as the subject partner after completely uniting their mind and body. When they come to such a place, they will stand in the position of perfected Adam and Eve. When such people form a family and make a start, this is a historic start. This is the beginning of a historic life course. (26-160, 1969.10.25)
Families who attend God, the Subject of love, must form the base for the beginning of God's Kingdom on earth centered on His true love. (270-238, 1995.6.7)
The starting point to unravel the problems humanity faces today is the certain knowledge of God, the Father of all creation and, on that foundation, the building of true families that live in attendance to God. This calls us to establish and attend God in our families, not as a concept but as the substantial Parent of us all. To do this, we first must clarify the relationship between God and humanity. God is the original entity of true love, true life and true lineage, and He is the True Parent of all people.
If human beings had not fallen, we would have reached perfection in God's true love as His true children and lived in attendance to Him as our Parent. God's plan was for perfected human beings to bond as true husbands and wives, bear and raise true children so that they would live in a Kingdom of Heaven on Earth, and then live together eternally in the heavenly world as families in the Kingdom of Heaven…Children experience and learn the heart of true love as they attend their parents in daily life, placing their parents in a position higher than themselves. Through a natural process, they come to understand that the love, life and lineage that they inherit from their parents originate in God. Children who watch and learn from their parents in this way will grow up to become husbands and wives who have no fallen nature, and ultimately they will obtain the position of true parents themselves. The spherical motion of the family unit that continually repeats the three-generational pattern in this way is the basic model for building the Kingdom of Heaven.
Lastly, the realm of the heart of siblings arises through brothers and sisters who live as a family in attendance to the same true parents. I said earlier that the heart between brothers and sisters establishes the relationship between front and back. True parents are a husband and wife living in truth, and children who attend such parents will naturally learn the discipline of heavenly morality and ethics among siblings.
It will be a beautiful sight, where a younger brother attends and reveres his older brother as he would his father, and the older brother looks after his younger brother with a loving heart. The older brother represents "front" and the younger brother represents "back." The older brother represents the father, while the younger brother represents the mother. The perfection of the realm of heart between siblings is the foundation for all people to live for the sake of others through love and service.
Respected guests, as the number of "true peace family kingdoms" perfecting the four great realms of heart increases, "true peace tribe kingdoms," "true peace nation kingdoms," and ultimately the "true peace world kingdom" will appear. In this way this will become the original world of God's ideal, the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth, the eternal Kingdom of Peace on Earth. I am declaring this here today. Humanity has lived without the certain knowledge that establishing true families is the most serious, foundational commandment of Heaven. (Public Venue, 2004.3.23)
Man and woman should come together in harmony, find the lost family of the Kingdom of Heaven, and attend God as the King. This is why the grandparents are God's representatives. You have to attend your grandparents as God's representatives. Your father and mother are the king and queen representing the families of all the five billion people of humanity. Their sons and daughters should be attended like future kings. You should inherit the way of the parents by attending the parents, who are like God, the parents who are like monarchs who represent the families of today. The world to which you bequeathed this parental way that will prevail for all future ages will become the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. Amen! (239-76, 1992.11.23)
What kind of place is heaven? It is where we can take pride in what we prepared during our life on earth, and in our life of attendance. Then what kind of people enters heaven? Is heaven a place for those who simply believe in the Lord and expect to receive blessings or who act only for the sake of receiving blessing? No. Heaven is the destination for those who live preparing their hearts to attend God, as well as those who can leave behind a life of attendance and joyfully move on, even if they were to die while preparing. There is resurrection there. The details of life do not appear there. How we should live from now on is the important question we should reflect upon in our life of attendance. (8-303, 1960.2.14)
Through your life on earth in which you welcome and attend God and live together with True Parents centering eternally on the family, you can go beyond being a family on earth and become a family of God's Kingdom on earth and in heaven, and everyone can enter the unified world. Therefore, God must be able to live in your families. You must create the family of Eden where God wants to live. Because God could not dwell in Adam and Eve's family, you must attend God and live together with Him in your families.
Your clans must attend God as tribal messiahs. Your nations must live in attendance of God. Your world must live in attendance of God, and heaven and earth must attend God. So the family is the starting base that can attend and live together with God. You have to know that the family is the starting base of the Kingdom of God on earth and in heaven. (270-103, 1995.5.7)
The sphere of families centered upon God expands through the Blessing By attending our True Parents, these families inherit the internal heart of heaven. As these families expand horizontally, they form tribes and nations. People can enter the Kingdom of Heaven only by attending the parents, who represent the new heavenly foundation. Those who attend their parents enter the Kingdom of Heaven together with them. In the Unification Church, the True Parents are already in the dominion of God and have blessed many families in the course of worldwide indemnity restoration. And yet, blessed families are still not all they are supposed to be. (God's Will -- 472, 1978.10.22)
Adam and Eve fell in the Garden of Eden. Since they lived within the fallen realm they were unable to live a life of direct attendance. People who have no experience of attending God are not qualified to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Although you have lived your life within the fallen lineage, you have paid indemnity in the course of restoration and you have attended True Parents on earth, in the flesh. Even Adam and Eve could not attend them. This condition of having attended God in your lifetime gives you the qualification to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Thus, citizenship of the Kingdom of Heaven is given to you. (150-233, 1961.4.15)
When you die, all of you will enter the spirit world as Americans. The gatekeeper there will ask you, "Where did you come from?" You would answer, "I came from America." He will also ask, "Do you want to enter heaven?" When asked, "Where did you come from?" there will be no problem whatsoever in entering heaven if you can answer, "I came from the Kingdom of Heaven on earth where I was attending True Parents." This is a fact, not just a theory. (278-36, 1996.4.28)
If God's will had been carried out on this earth, a single cultural realm would have been created with Adam at the center. Instead of countless races, each forming its own different culture and civilization, as we see today, we would have a world with a single culture, single philosophy and single civilization centered on Adam. Then everything, including culture, history, customs, language and tradition, would be unified. In God's love, we would have established ideal families, tribes, peoples and nations, and these would have expanded to realize an ideal world of Adam's ideal. Just as a tree's root, trunk and leaves are all connected with one life, viewing the world from God's will means centering on love. Looking upward, we would attend God as the Father and, looking downward, we would change all people into one living body. This would be a living body of love, like brothers and sisters building an eternal, God-centered, ideal world. People living in such a world would not need salvation or a Messiah, for they would be God's good sons and daughters. (110-213, 1980.11.18)
Now the problem is how you create a new tradition from the life of attendance to God as an individual, as a family and as a church or from the standard of attendance that God demands from this nation and race. (38-12, 1971.1.1)