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 |
What is the relationship between filial sons and daughters of God and their ancestors? To what extent should filial sons and daughters attend, love and respect their ancestors? Are we to worship our ancestors? Should we make offerings to our ancestors? Should we appease them? Are we to revere them or fear them?
We are connected with our ancestors because of blood lineage. Lineage is vertical. Due to our kinship we have a vertical lineal connection with our ancestors. Our connection with our ancestors is inseparable. Intergenerational continuity extends into the spiritual world. Our kinship accounts for the continuation of lineal organization into the spiritual world. Lineage extends to children from parents, grandparents, ancestors, our first ancestors and God. There is a hierarchical order in attendance. One's degree of filial attendance increases as it ascends vertically from the children to parents, from parents to grandparents, from grandparents to ancestors, and ultimately to God. It is to God that we express the highest degree of filial attendance. The highest degree of attendance is worship.
In discussing the Three Great Kingships, Rev. Moon says that we should attend our grandparents more greatly than our own parents. Grandparents are in the position of God in the three vertical lineal generations, of grandparents, parents and children. Our grandparents as kings represent the past and our ancestors, our parents represent the present kingship, and our children as princes and princesses represent the future. In learning to attend our grandparents we also learn to attend our ancestors and to respect all the elderly people of society thus establishing a seniority system of attendance. We need to learn, to live and to establish the vertical tradition in our lineages, in society, in the nation, world, and in the cosmos.
We should attend our ancestors through loving, respecting, honoring, revering and even worshiping them. The intensity of our love for them determines the quality our attendance will have. Our ancestors are the foundation of our family. Their merits, their suffering, their faith, their indemnity to a large degree determine who we are, and it is likely that it is because of them that we have found True Parents. Our ancestors help and support us in our lives and our missions. They are in the archangel position to blessed central families who stand as restored Adam and Eve.
Our ancestors have much hope in us because we are attending True Parents. Apart from us, they cannot receive what has been promised to them and are not able to fulfill what was left unfulfilled in their lifetime in accordance with God's ideals. It is our responsibility to liberate and bless them.
We need to honor, love, respect, and revere the providential ancestors. Providential ancestors are those men and women who fulfilled the necessary conditions of restoration for a sinless man to be born in the true lineage of God. The Bible gives a clear account of many of those providential figures that fulfilled the necessary conditions for the Messiah to be born. Similarly, we have a personal lineage bible. Our personal lineal bible is the account of all our ancestors who fulfilled certain conditions of faith and substance as required by heavenly law in order that a sinless individual may be born in our lineage. For us to be the first fruits in attending True Parents, we must have had some very good ancestors who may have been very sacrificial and humble and lived their lives loving and attending God very sincerely. Their merits provide the necessary conditions that we may meet the Messiah at the Second Advent. By attending True Parents, we receive the grace that the returning messiah provides. By our attendance we are engrafted into the true lineage of God.
As the Messiah at the Second Advent restores the elder son's birthright and establishes the positions of True Parents and True Kingship, we also may receive such grace through the blessing of holy matrimony and restoring our tribes. As we attend and honor the central providential ancestors, we must likewise attend and honor our own ancestors. The course of our lives of faith -- as to whether or not we fulfill our portion of responsibility -- will determine what will be written about us in our "lineal bible."
Having received and attended True Parents, we inherit the blessings they have received from God and thus become blessed central families which are the original ancestors of our lineage. We are the first true ancestors of our lineage. We progress from the position of restored elder son, to the position of true parents and then kingship. We will be attended by all members of our tribe, past, present and future. The degree of attendance and honor we will receive from members of our tribe will be determined by how much we have fulfilled our portions of responsibility in our attendance to God and True Parents.
We should feel humbled and deeply grateful to the providential ancestors and our own ancestors for having found True Parents who have provided the blessing for us and have engrafted us into the realm of the royal lineage. How fortunate we are. We stand as blessed central families and representative families and have become the original ancestors of our lineages. We are most unworthy. We have hardly done anything to receive such an inheritance. How extremely fortunate we are!
We must virtually worship our ancestors by honoring and attending them. We need to develop an active living relationship with them. Our relationship with our ancestors must become part of our daily lives. We need to have a new awareness concerning our ancestors. We need to know how they lived and how they are living and what they are doing in the spiritual world. True Parents tell us that they have been helping and supporting us. However, many of them have been a hindrance to our life of faith. Those who have been liberated and blessed no longer hinder us in our life of faith. We must find it in our hearts to liberate and bless them because they are members of our lineal family, and so that they won't remain a hindrance to our life of faith. They are urging us and supporting us and helping God and True Parents fulfill restoration and the ideals of creation. We are their only hope. Our responsibility as representatives of God and True Parents and as the original ancestor and king and queen of our lineage is to love and respect our ancestors and to restore them with the heart of true parents, true teacher and true owner. By fulfilling the three subjects thought, then we can move forward and restore our tribes. As the true parents, true teachers, true owners and king and queens of our tribe, we may guide their entry through the Gates of Cheon Il Guk, the Kingdom of God, just as many of them have guided us in finding Divine Principle and True Parents and have helped us in fulfilling our responsibilities.
Strictly speaking, the tradition of true ancestor attendance cannot be established because our ancestors are fallen and many were not faithful to God. Thus far, the ancestors we have been attending have all been fallen and burdened with the results of their actions while they lived on earth due to their sinful nature. God's original ideal regarding ancestor attendance cannot be established until blessed central families are first established on earth. Blessed central families are the first to establish the tradition of ancestor attendance. As we attend God and True Parents and the True Children, we learn to live the way of attendance. Our blessed children will learn to attend us as we attend God and True Parents and True Parents' family and as we educate them regarding ancestor attendance. In the Three Great Kingships, our blessed grandchildren will learn the tradition of attendance and attend us, their grandparents, just as our blessed children will have learned to attend us. This will then establish the true tradition of attendance of ancestors. We will be those ancestors. We, the blessed central families, will be the true ancestors of our lineages whom our descendants will attend. It is for the first generation and subsequent generations of blessed central families to establish the true tradition of ancestor attendance.
You have to be able to say, "Through the True Parents we have become ancestors who can bequeath a new lineage, and become a blessed tribe that brings about liberation! Our tribe will be of God's eternal unchanging household and kin." Then, you will be eternally separated from Satan. That is why the Unification Church allows the honoring of ancestors.
Does Christianity allow you to perform ancestral rites? The Unification Church should carry on and establish this tradition. This is not a secular tradition. 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)
People will say, "I'll go to the Kingdom of Heaven." But if you want to go to the Kingdom of Heaven, then you have to establish the Kingdom of Heaven on the earth. If you just go to the Kingdom of Heaven, then who establishes the Kingdom of Heaven? Do you wish God to establish it? You must live historically valuable lives. You must live your life attending your ancestors and living for your descendants. You have to relieve the sorrow of your ancestors, and fulfill the dreams of your descendants. (18-213, 1967.6.8)
If your grandparents are deceased, you should visit their graves with the feeling that God is buried there. From now on, when they die, you are to mourn and wail bitterly. You should atone for the resentment you caused by not having served your grandparents well during your lifetime.
You should offer devotion until God hears your cry and recognizes you and until your grandfather sends a message that it is now okay. At harvest time, you should not forget your grandparents. You should visit and serve them earnestly in each of the four seasons. Then they will commend you and say that although they mistakenly thought that you had become a departed soul or baby goblin of the Unification Church, you had actually become a royal grandchild. (220-349, 1991.10.20)
Among the people's ancestors, if there were any beggars and they made some good condition in their lives, then we have the responsibility to take care of them. That is why you will be treated better than a beggar. If the people treat you badly more than three times, then they will give up and leave. (56-110)
In the Korean race, it has the ancestor's merits and God's blessing because it went through a miserable course. Because we can't pass this blessing over other nations, I would like to let you work harder, in the position that you respect and love your ancestors, than the other mobilization teams. Am I a bad teacher? Am I a bad teacher or a good teacher? I have worked in order for you to be in the center position. (61-224)
There is some element of truth in Christianity's ban on the performance of ancestral rites up until the present day. This rite should be offered to God and the True Parent of all humankind. The ancestors in the spirit world should originally have been served by us. However, due to the Fall, this has been prohibited until the present time. In the age of restoration, because you have received the Blessing, you should attend your ancestors from now on. (223-210, 1991.11.10)
The firstborn son of the eldest son must drive his roots deep. No one can uproot it. The grandfather cannot do so, nor can the uncle. That is why when you perform ancestral rites, you first have the eldest son stand at the head even before his uncle, cousin, third-cousin and even his great-uncle. Did you know that? The eldest son is set at the front, thus, we can see that the Korean race was one which attached great importance to the first son's position by virtue of its traditional cultural background that reveres its ancestors. Did the lowly people live with the nobility? Did they carelessly mingle with each other? No. It was said that the nobility would not even light a fire made with husks of rice, even if they were to freeze to death. That is amazing. (197-340, 1990.1.20)
Is it all right for the Unification Church to offer ancestral rites? It is liberating for us! From now on, you will be allowed to perform ancestral rites. Formerly, God did not want us to hold ancestral rites. Korean laws on honoring ancestors are the heavenly law. Koreans are a unique race in the world. Only Korea is practicing this way. (240-94, 1992.12.11)
You should love and serve your ancestors. It is not a sin to do so. Even in the satanic world, people serve their ancestors. But in the case of Christianity, don't they tell you not to serve your ancestors? In the future, though, you will have to serve the ancestors of the heavenly world continuously. That is why the Unification Church approves of ancestral rites. Christians make a fuss about it saying, "Oh, that's an idol," don't they? But Blessed families who live in the fallen world have the responsibility to keep this tradition and pass it on to their descendants. (241-127, 1992.12.20)
In regard to the firstborn son of the eldest son, even the grandfather comes under his command when that son performs the ancestral rites. The grandfather has to show his respect. The fact that Koreans place value in the lineage of the firstborn son, and also in their genealogy and lineage, holds record-breaking historical value in God's providence of restoration, which can never be forgotten from the deepest root of His mind. (290-9, 1998.2.2)
When the eldest grandson of the grandfather holds a memorial service, then the granduncles -- those who are the younger brothers of the grandfather -- must attend that son as the center when performing the ancestral rites. (301-189, 1999.4.26)
In the Korean tradition of the eldest son, even the granduncles had to uphold the position of the firstborn son of the eldest son during ancestral rites. That history is amazing. When this tradition of the first son relates to a higher standard of lineage, life, and love, then God can take it as the highest standard of His desire. Centering on heaven, this standard influences earthly circumstances, which are absorbed into that sphere of influence. Consequently, it is possible for the Kingdom of Heaven on earth to develop in this way. This is all logical. It is not a fanciful idea. (301-288, 1999.5.5)
What is the path of a divine son? 'Divine son' indicates something vertical. It is talking about the vertical concept of connection to God. 'Saint' is horizontal with regard to the four directions of north, south, east and west. Isn't that how it is in Confucianism? When we say, "Cheon" (heaven), doesn't it give us the impression that only the son of Heaven can relate to it? That is why it is vertical. What is amazing in Korean etiquette is that, even the uncle allows the eldest son of the head family to perform the ancestral rites. Why does he do that? It is vertical. The vertical comes first. (196-320, 1990.1.12)
A long time ago, when the families of loyal subjects received something good, they first offered it to the king of the nation. That was the rule of the life of loyalty in Korea. From that perspective, Korean courtesy reflects something central to heaven that cannot be found in any other nation. Confucians follow the teachings of Confucius, and there is quite a lot of traditional conduct prescribed in Confucian teachings that is close to heavenly law. You should ask your descendants to perform a sacrificial rite for you in the future. So far, the regulations of life and the procedure for holding a funeral have not been established centering upon the Principle, but once the standard is established in the future, you should follow it.
You should develop and protect the vitality of life in order to survive and grow, no matter what kind of storm comes, overcoming your environment and taking root deeply, centered upon the belief that God is always with you in every situation. If you become like that, it will not be a problem for God to set up His laws. But if you do not develop like that, it becomes problematic. (31-292, 1970.6.4)
What will you do in your hometown? First of all, you must devotedly take care of the graves of your ancestors. Because the Korean custom is to honor them, if you have not been able to fulfill your responsibility as the eldest son of the head family in your hometown, you should erect a headstone, plant trees in this desolate land that your grandfather loved, create an ideal environment on the hillside that your grandmother enjoyed, and clean up the village so that all the mountains and streams in your hometown can praise you. If you can do this, how would you feel? After doing this, would you become the head of your hometown or not? In the past, being the head of a group meant something bad, but now it means that you have to become a king and chief in doing good works. (219-148, 1991.8.29)
You are all historical reincarnations, wearing the faces of your ancestors. How long is this history? It is known to be hundreds of thousands of years old. The long course of history was intended to eventually create one person, yourself. In order to create one such person, for example, from the Kim family, countless ancestors came and went. Therefore, we are the fruits of human history. (46-154, 1971.8.13)
You have to live life in such a way that you are not ashamed in front of your ancestors. You must love the nation more than your ancestors did. Love is such that if you give one hundred percent, 120 percent returns. The more you practice true love, the more it accumulates. It has been moving history. (179-93, 1988.7.22)
Your ancestors come on the anniversary of the day that they passed away. Prepare an offering table and hold a memorial service for them then. If you do it in a room that has True Parents' picture, bowing to your ancestors would not be a sin. It is not a sin to prepare offering food and perform memorial services for your ancestors. (212-100, 1991.1.2)
Beloved citizens of Cheon Il Guk, today you are receiving amazing grace. You are participating in the coronation ceremony of the substantial King of Peace in Heaven and Earth, and you are being registered as citizens of Cheon Il Guk. Not only you, but also your ancestors by the tens of thousands will thank you throughout eternity for the grace they are receiving along with you today. (Messages of Peace 5 -- 2006.6.13)
You are created to spend nine months in the womb, perhaps one hundred years on earth breathing air, and then all eternity in the spirit world. You should understand that, just as proper preparation in the womb is required for a healthy life after birth, you must devote your earthly life to preparing yourself for the next stage of life in the spirit world. Never forget that all the time and everywhere, and no matter what you are doing, your ancestors in the spirit world are with you. Be ever mindful to live in harmony with the spirit world. Communicate in prayer with the heavenly world with sincerity and dedication, so that you may become perfected in your spirit self while you are living on the earth. (Messages of Peace 5 -- 2006.6.13)
Ladies and gentlemen, the providential time has now come when we have the mission to unite the two sons, Cain and Abel. It is by True Parents' love that they can become one. Then, having recovered their original positions, they should dedicate the restored, original, ideal family before the True Parents, the King and Queen of Peace in Heaven and on Earth. Please take this to heart and engrave it in your mind: 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. (Messages of Peace 7 -- 2006.8.31)
On the day of the memorial service, the firstborn son of the eldest son decides the time of the service. That is why you can hold the service at five o'clock in the morning, even if previously it was done at one o'clock. Depending on the circumstances, the time can be changed again from five to seven o'clock in the morning or even sometime during the day. The person who decides this is not your grandfather or ancestor who has passed away but the firstborn son. The offering table can be presented to the grandparents who passed away only when they come at the time designated by the firstborn son of the eldest son. If the grandparents do not like that time, they will not be served. The earth is the center. It is the same logic as Jesus said "What is unbound on earth is unbound in heaven." That is why the two must become one. (231-168, 1992.6.2)
When you perform ancestral rites, you have the firstborn son of the eldest son stand at the head even before his uncle, cousin, third-cousin, and even his great-uncle. In reverence to the ancestors in traditional Korean culture, the firstborn son is at the front. Thus, we can see that it is a race that attaches importance to the right of the eldest son. (197-340, 1990.1.20)
I also say to you, who have come to this meaningful occasion, please engrave this message on your hearts. The families of your good ancestors in heaven are blessed. Numbering in the billions, they have come to the earth today, and they are listening to this message with you. This is because they too must perfect themselves through you, their descendants, and advance to the positions of true parents, true teachers and true lords and owners. (Messages of Peace 13 -- 2007.10.14)
If you were pious toward your parents, you do not have to offer ceremonial rites for them after their death. You should just place their picture before you and commemorate that day as if your mother and father were alive. What boundary lines are there in the spirit world? Now instead of going to the burial ground, you can attend your parents in your house, as if they were alive, and you can feast and celebrate. Even though you do not go to their graves, it will still be a celebration. You should make your parents' gravesite on a hill near where you live. In the West, do you not bury your dead in a churchyard? You should not behave shamefully in front of your parents' graves; your deceased mother and father would admonish you. If you do anything that deviates from the right meaning of love, your ancestors will personally come after you and reprimand you. (206-294, 1990.10.14)
Beloved Heavenly Father! Today is October 5, 1998, which is also Chuseok* in Korea, a day of celebration on which the people honor their ancestors. You have worked endlessly to establish the realm of liberation for the Old, New and Completed Testament ages in history to ease Your grief over not having seen this world become a settlement of love, in which all forms of creation, all people in the spirit world, countless believers, and all things created with love and living on earth would have lived together with You. Today, before heaven and earth, Cheon Pyeong in Korea, and the people gathered here in São Paulo in the western world, please bring to an end the sorrowful history that You have had to endure, (296-9, 1998.10.5)
*Chuseok -- One of the most important holidays in Korea, celebrated on the fifteenth day of the eighth month by the lunar calendar. On this day the year's harvest of crops and fruits are offered to one's ancestors. (CSG, 2541)
Are your grandparents alive? [They are deceased.] Then, you should visit their graves and serve them as if God were buried in the grave. Korean people cry out loud in times of death. This is to repent for not having served the grandparents well when alive and to resolve the sorrow. When you follow me and realize the great principle of the heaven, you will understand these things. We should make the serving efforts until we are recognized by God, and our grandfather sends a message that it is now enough, OK?
At the time of harvest, you should not forget about your grandparents. You should visit and serve them earnestly in each of the four seasons. So try it. Then people will say that although you seemed to have become a monster after joining Unification Church, you have actually become a royal child. (220-350)
Make them bold and strong. Allow them to establish their true messianic authority with a bold and strong mind that never loses the subjectivity of Heaven, and to take care of their parents, ancestors and environment with your love. (185-105, 1989.1.3)
You should value the right of the chosen people and their lineage. The right of the chosen people is the right of the eldest son. Korea is the country of the eldest son. The purpose of Korea becoming a race that loves their genealogy was for the sake of carrying on the lineage. It is not wrong to worship your ancestors and perform services in their memory. In the future, there will be a time when we revere our parents more than those who belong to Confucianism. Do you understand what I am saying? (226-277, 1992.2.9)
Among our members all over the world, there are many that had already met me in their dreams before they came to know me. We must have some of them here as well. When they met me after entering the Unification Church, they realized that they had already been connected to me, and had met me and were taught by me. This was possible because of the merit of their good ancestors, and not because of their own merit. You must understand that it was because of their ancestral merit. This type of phenomena will take place. (50-315)
Give education in front of sons and daughters: "You. You can't do this in front of Reverend Moon " When you attend the picture of the True Parents with more respect than your parents, your ancestors come down and attend the True Parents as their ancestors. Do you understand? It becomes the altar to which ancestors can attend in the house. This is the way to receive the good fortune of the heavenly world. At three o'clock in the morning, you may be sleeping. But they chase out Satan and all evil spirits around the house. (219-90)
You are to be like a true original ancestor. Without having the heart of an original ancestor, you cannot spread God's truth in your hometown. This is the teaching of the Divine Principle. (178-133, 1988.6.1)
When a tribe unites, Reverend Moon can go there anytime. When I go there, you can lead all of the clan, your grandfather, grandmother and all of your relatives; 120 people can gather and they should be able to bow, saying, "Our ancestor has come." That should be your desire. (185-250, 1989.1.8)
Distinguished leaders, you are now living in the most blessed and exalted time in history. I now proclaim the launch of the era of a new heaven and earth, an era after the coming of heaven, long awaited and yearned for by billions of your ancestors in the spirit world who have come and gone throughout history: this is the era of the kingdom of the peaceful, ideal world. Not only the four great religious founders but also billions of good ancestors have come down to earth at this point to guide you on the heavenly path. The age in which the fallen and corrupted world plays havoc on people's lives, allowing those who are evil to live better than others, is passing away. (Messages of Peace 2 -- March 2006)
As the representative leaders of clans representing hundreds of thousands, or even millions, you each stand in the position of a clan messiah. Your ancestors going back tens and hundreds of generations have been mobilized to watch your every move. Hence, your mission has now been made as plain as ill need to make it known to every member of your clan that the revolutionary era after the coming of heaven, that is the era for the establishment of Cheon Il Guk, has now arrived. It means that you have the responsibility to educate them about the providence God is carrying out on a worldwide level in this era, centering on True Parents. (Messages of Peace 4 -- 2006.6.1)
You stand today in the venue of a tremendous event in the history of God's providence. This event is unprecedented and will never be repeated. It is the day when the King of Peace finally ascends in glory. Please recognize that, although they may not be visible to you, thousands and tens of thousands of good ancestors of blessed families have come here. They are above your head now, joining with you in celebration of this awesome moment. All nature is rejoicing, and heaven and earth resound with choruses of "Hallelujah!" (Messages of Peace 5 -- 2006.6.13)
To be united with the True Parents, each one of you has to cleanse your past sins on your own. If you have a lot of past sins, it will be difficult. Please cleanse all of your past sins very quickly. Those who have sins cannot be united with the True Parents. You have to cleanse the historical sins first. You have to cleanse the stains in your blood lineage which were inherited historically from your ancestors. You have to examine yourself in the course of your life of faith in the church and compare it with the course of God's providence. You have to repent for whatever wrongs you did, and cleanse yourself of them. Then you can become the ancestors of goodness for the future. In order to become the ancestors of goodness, you cannot leave any burden of your sins to your descendants. If you become an ancestor who leaves a burden of sins to your descendants, you won't be able to enter the realm where our True Parents can take dominion. (55-170, 1972.5.7)
Now you must straighten out your roots. Your father and mother took a wrong turn because they fell away from their original roots. The first son has gone wrong as well. Therefore, you must turn them back so that they make, as their central focus, the original right of the parents centered on True Parents and the right of the first son centered on true sons and daughters. A connection will not simply be made automatically. Only after turning yourself around 180 degrees and engrafting onto the true root can you begin anew. Therefore, you must return to your homeland and become the new ancestors for your lineage. You must understand that this is your final destiny. (178-99, 1998.6.1)
When you are sitting on the toilet, the spirit world tells you, "Hey, you should do these things today!" and teaches you the entire program. Such wonderful things are really occurring. Therefore, when you are on the streets, there are many cases where connected people are spiritually contacted in advance, and end up meeting you. That is why you should enlist support from the spirit world. You must have the support of the spirit world.
Now, your ancestors will co-operate with you. In the world of the unfallen realm, the perfection of Adam was to be achieved by having the angels protect him, raise him, and bring him to the occasion of the Blessing. By having the spirit world fulfill its original mission, the archangelic realm of the spirit world will be restored, and through this the earthly realm will be restored. The archangel caused the Fall, didn't he? Therefore, your ancestors will come and act as the good archangel. Through this, you stand in the original position of the unfallen Adam and can come within the realm of God's heart. Since you can follow that path within the enclosure of co-operation from your ancestors, this does not belong to the fallen realm. It is standing in the victorious realm of the original heart, and marching towards the realm of deliverance.
This way you can directly go to heaven. This all conforms to the principles of restoration through indemnity. There is nothing vague about this. (178-133, 1988.6.1)
We know that for thousands of years, countless people have been accusing Adam and Eve. Now you are becoming new ancestors. Will you be ancestors who will be accused by your descendants, or ancestors of blessing who will be glorified? You are standing at these crossroads. Adam and Eve are accused because they failed to stand in the public position. Surely they would be free from accusation today had they followed a sacrificial and more public path.
You must know that you are standing in such a similar situation. As such, you should always be thinking that you are representing three ages. For this reason, you have to realize that the spirit world is in your hands and that your ancestors are at your mercy. If we gather the past, present and future together, put physical and spiritual realms together, and lead them, they will come running to you. We must accomplish that mission.
The spirit world, your relatives, also your country, and even the task of setting the right tradition for your descendants are all in your hands. You should always keep this in mind. Whether you, as a single person, do well or not will determine whether your ancestors and relatives can be liberated and whether your descendants can be the chosen people of liberation. (66-75, 1973.3.17)
In the place of God in heaven, who is in the vertical position, I am dispatching tribal messiahs horizontally on the earth as my current undertaking. Even if I die now, tribal messiahs certainly will be engrafted into the solid worldwide domain and vertical world. I am sending out tribal messiahs to become the ancestors of Abel families.
These ancestors have the seed of life. Because these messiahs are parents, they come with the seeds of life; your parents and family have received the seed of the satanic world. However, you can use this seed of life to go anywhere you want. (198-267, 1990.2.4)
Those who register centering on the True Parents will become the ancestors of their lineage in the future. They will become the ancestors in the spirit world and their registration will be organized primarily focusing on the mainstream tribes and peoples, and on all people of the collateral line of the family. Therefore, you must be registered. Registration does not just happen.
You should complete the blessing of 160 or 180 families. Those who fail to do so will be left out. The time has passed when you can assert that you are a 36 couple, or whatever you may be. Since the age of equalization has come, the issue now is who will be the first to enter with the accomplishment of those numbers. In the Unification Church you benefit if you have many people in your clan. (286-247, 1997.8.11)
Just as I instructed at the time of the 1968 Blessing of 430 couples, you also should become tribal messiahs. You must fulfill this mission. For instance, the 36 couples from the Kim tribe should be organized centered on members of the Kim family who have already received the Blessing, just as the 36 Couples are organized in the church around me. If it is too difficult to establish 36 couples, you should at least become the ancestors of 12 couples. Then you should become the ancestors of your tribe and organize your tribe into twelve branch tribes. When you accomplish this, your entire tribe will be included in those twelve branch tribes, thus becoming a tribe of your direct lineage. (31-276, 1970.6.4)
From the spirit world, the founders of the world's religions, tens of thousands of saints and your own good ancestors are watching your every move. They will punish you if you tray from the heavenly path. (Messages of Peaces 1 -- 2005.9.12)
When seeking after the lost original family, you should set out from the position of the perfected Adam, the position of the perfected Jesus, and the position representing the perfected Second Coming of the Lord. God will dwell in such a family. That family would be one of three generations -- grandparents, parents and children -- living in harmony. Parents and children will serve and attend the grandparents, because they represent the family's ancestors, its historical root. (Messages of Peace 2 -- March 2006)
All of you, now living in the Last Days, have to become the ancestors of the Third Israel, and understand that the final words will be God's words of love, based on the love of God. Therefore, you must become the visible, substantial embodiments of God's words. God's internal heart must become your internal heart. In other words, you must become the substantial embodiments of the original heart. (3-331, 1958.2.2)
The world has attained its present form through the motivation of one heart; and history has continued up until the present day through the investment of the heart of God and through the flesh and blood of Jesus. You must know that you are the substantial beings who, today, can bring all this to fruition. You must understand that you can remain as the third Israel only when you have become the object partners who possess the agonized and desperate heart of Jesus Christ. By having such a heart, Jesus offered himself as a sacrifice to create the second Israel. Therefore, only when you are prepared to do the same, can you become the ancestors of the third Israel. Only then can you become the original children of the Kingdom of Heaven on earth, the Garden of Eden. (3-313, 1958.1.26)
Those who are registered centering on True Parents will become the ancestors of the future. They will become ancestors of the next world, and based on the mainstream tribe and everyone from the collateral family lines, tribes will be created. That is why you need to be registered. You cannot be registered without doing anything for it. You first need to restore 160 or 180 couples. Those who have failed to accomplish this will be eliminated. The era in which you could assert your position as one of the 36 Couples has already passed. We are now living in the era of equalization, and the only issue in this era is who will be the first to fulfill that responsibility. (286-247, 1997.8.11)
By giving your love to your hometown with your blood, sweat and tears, you can make it your place of origin, where you can settle down. You are becoming the ancestor. You are the founder, the originator. It is the original ancestors responsibility to help refugees from the fallen world. You are to be like a true original ancestor. Without having the heart of an original ancestor, you cannot spread God's truth in your hometown. This is the teaching of the Divine Principle. (Tribal Messiah -- 110, 1988.6.1)
Since that kind of environment awaits you, where will you go? Will you just stay here or will you go away to your hometown? [Go to hometown.] This is the only way to become their true ancestor. This is an incredibly tremendous truth. Unification Church members are entering that stage all over the world. (Tribal Messiah -- 122, 1988.6.15)
You have to shed sincere tears of love for your parents once you are there. You should say, "Father, Mother, I have failed to be a filial son. Older brother and sister, I am sorry to have caused your heart to suffer," and after bringing harmony through love, you should serve the family and rise up to become the ancestor.
You must become the ancestor. This is the beginning of the world. The grandfather is to become like the grandson and the father is to become the son. This is the phenomena that will unfold. (Tribal Messiah -- 158, 1989.1.8)
You are the same. By returning to the hometown that you have been away from for forty years, you have to play the role of owner. Together with me you have to take the role of owner, of a new ancestor for your lineage.
In order to take the role of that kind of owner, I had to endure being chased out, but you can take the role of owner in this age when you can be welcomed. You must think of the fact that heaven and earth are completely filled with the love of Mother and Father. (Tribal Messiah -- 109, 1988.10.3)
The people who belong to all the tribes on this earth are in the position of tribal level Adam and Eve. Their ancestors stand in the position of the unfallen archangel, and they should receive the support of Heaven to protect their tribes and descendants in the physical world. Thus they should become one body centering on the Messiah, and then the unity of Cain and Abel on earth will occur. The unity of the spiritual world and physical world centering on the vertical standard will also come about. Since the territory of the love of tribal messiahs centering on God is decided, Satan cannot reside where he wants. Therefore, according to the Principle, the time has come when Satan has to move out of his place and leave from here. (Tribal Messiah -- 101, 1989.1.3)
What are you to do when you go to your hometown? You should not fight. Instead, make effort to plant the root of heart so that it can blossom. In the land of your hometown, there must have been many loyal servants of the nation, many loyal wives, filial sons and filial daughters among the ancestors who lived there through thousands of years of history. You have to do more than them, so that your standard is greater than theirs. That is the condition you must set. If there is a patriot among those in the spiritual world who formerly lived in the area of your hometown, no matter what kind of patriot he was, your standard should be such that he must be able to bow down to you when you go to spiritual world and say, "You were exemplary." When these people were living in the physical world, they lived in the domain of Satan. So can they, who are in the position of the good archangel, surpass you, who centering on God, is sowing this heartistic seed of a new ancestry and planting the root of original heart in your hometown? You must make a foundation which moves them to naturally bow down to you.
Then the spiritual world will support you. To support you, they will pull the whole clan to you, gathering them closely around you. In that way, the spirits who are centering on God will come down and surround you in the position of Adam. Because your good ancestors will be surrounding you, they will create a realm where evil and Satan cannot invade. As you make a foundation centering on that standard of original heart, you inherit the position of the original true ancestor. Then through your heartistic connections with your clan -- your grandfather, grandmother and everybody else -- will be moved to bow down to you.
Thus you should live for their sake. Do many activities for their sake. Representing your clan, fulfill the mission of tribal messiah and thereby resurrect your clan.
In that way when your relatives support you, the village will support you. Then when many people join the Unification Church, their counties will automatically be connected to a province, and thus, from the bottom up, the family standard will be connected to the tribal standard. They will be connected through many layers. (Tribal Messiah -- 116-117, 1988.5.15)
If there is someone who has good ancestors here, those ancestors will actively cooperate with him. You are standing in such a position. The spirit world will be eternally happy if you, who are in such a position, fight with excitement and good technique, and win all the time wherever you go. Evil spirits will fall back with surprise even before they show up. It works out like that. So these ancestors will attend you as though attending a king. You should feel this kind of feeling. (14-21, 1964.4.19)
Your ancestors will all follow you. Your ancestors are in the position of the archangel, understand? The road of restoration is that of re-creation. According to the principle of creation, the angel was created first and then Adam and Eve. Hence, your ancestors, who went before you, are in the position of the archangel. You are in the position of Adam and Eve. Who protects them until they get old and married? The servants, not God, are supposed to take care of Adam and Eve. When the servants, namely, the angels, raise them and they get married, there opens a new area in which the servants are also blessed. Thus, the good spirits wait for the true Adam and Eve's appearance, upon which they return to the earth and welcome your steps toward returning home and saving the country. (Tribal Messiah -- 140-141, 1988.6.4)
Haven't I laid the worldwide foundation through my words? I have been doing this day and night 24 hours a day without sleeping and eating. When you can exert yourself like that for the sake of the restoration of your clan, then your family and relatives will serve you as their ancestor of ancestors. They will donate all their assets, asking you to connect all of their wealth with the benefit of the nation. (Tribal Messiah -- 181-182, 1989.2.5)
Upon your arrival in your hometown, if the patriots and heroes come and cry out that the ancestor of all patriots and heroes has come, then your ancestors, representing the angelic world and the spirit world who could not serve true ancestors of men, will also come and protect and assist you. As you indemnify all that the archangel could not fulfill, the dwelling place of God's love will be fixed upon the earth vertically and horizontally, and as a result, you will be able to inherit the position of a true ancestor and erect that firmly on this earth. The fact that this kind of time has come is unprecedented in history. You have to know that it is such a precious time; such things did not take place in the past nor will they in the future.
Why did I tell all of you to return to your hometown at this time? Since I gave you all the things that I have indemnified worldwide, you should take this foundation and seek out the original position of Adam and Eve; and after settling down you should inherit the position of an ancestor from which you can govern over all the lives which will be born for tens of thousands of years to come. You must understand that this is the time when you are bestowed with the special right to inherit such a position.
If you can shed more sweat and blood than that which the patriots and heroes have shed in your hometown, then in the spirit world, your ancestors will raise both of their hands high and praise you, saying "Our victorious ancestor has come." By making a foundation for this to take place, you are restoring through indemnity the situation in which the spirit world could not welcome Adam. This is the road that still remains before us. When this is achieved, in addition to the loud cry of acclaim from your people, God will also recognize that you have set the condition to stand in the position of parents by displaying such heart, and as a consequence your registration process will begin. (Tribal Messiah -- 186-187, 1988.5.22)
You go back to your hometown, and plant God's true Shim Jung of love and the original Shim Jung. Who then becomes the ancestor? You become an ancestor centering on God. Then the realm of ancestors centering on the heart begins to spread on earth at a level that transcends the nation. The time has come when a garden of Shim Jung can blossom in Korea. You must restore the fall centering on your family. So you must unite with God, and husband, wife and children must totally unite to form a four position foundation; then you can rule as an ancestor. Thus, centering on you, your ancestors are in the position of the archangel, and thus they are waiting for you to come to your hometown. (Tribal Messiah -- 140, 1988.5.15)
In your home and in your nation, you should follow my example. Then God, the angels, and all of spirit world will come to visit your tomb and pay respects to you. Cemeteries will become holy places. People generally don't enjoy spending time in cemeteries, but when you become an ancestor of love, that will change. (True Love -- 244, 1982.6.27)
Your spiritual children must love your own children. The spiritual children, the angels, must serve Adam and Eve as their ancestors of faith. (127-56)
You must liberate your tribe. For your ancestors, go to their graves and pledge that you will give your life. You must start with the following declaration: "Our ancestors, I will be responsible for your errors. If there are people in opposition, I will get hit instead. I came to liberate you so that when I stand in front of God, you can help me without Satan's accusation." Centering on this, your ancestors from different generations should support you, just as I am supported. This way our nation can participate in the realm of Israel. This way you can go into the Kingdom of Heaven, a land of liberation. This is your responsibility. (Tribal Messiah -- 139, 1988.1.23)
Now your ancestors will support you. In the past, evil ancestors used their descendants, but now is the time when good ancestors come out and act. There has to be someone who is willing to bear the cross of the tribe, pay indemnity for the nation, bear the cross of the country and world, and pay indemnity for the country and world. In the realm of the worldwide blessing, if you bear a cross and fight, everything can be quickly resurrected because of you. Then, in the horizontal position, a foundation is laid to save the ancestors across generations. That is the only way your tribe is liberated. Now you must pray like this: "Though I do not receive any reward, please forgive my ancestors' wrong doings. Please forgive that they did all kinds of things, hesitating on the path or going in the wrong way. Though they hesitated, please now open the road of resurrection for those ancestors who can stand for God's will."
First, you must liberate your ancestors. You must know this. Then you must liberate your tribe. For this everyone is assigned to their hometowns, right? Assigning everyone to hometown is the first event after 6000 years of biblical history. In the history of restoration, in which Cain must be saved first, there is no logic for saving the hometown. You are supposed to save it after you save Cain. You are being blessed because I paid indemnity for the worldwide Cain and came back. (Tribal Messiah -- 142, 1988.1.23)
If your grandparents are deceased, you should visit their graves with the feeling that God is buried there. From now on, when they die, you are to mourn and wail bitterly. You should atone for the resentment you caused by not having served your grandparents well during your lifetime.
You should offer devotion until God hears your cry and recognizes you and until your grandfather sends a message that it is now okay. At harvest time, you should not forget your grandparents. You should visit and serve them earnestly in each of the four seasons. Then they will commend you and say that although they mistakenly thought that you had become a departed soul or baby goblin of the Unification Church, you had actually become a royal grandchild.
You should serve your parents better than any king was served by his parents. Do you not wish that your parents were king and queen? Your heart's desire is for your parents to be higher than God and a king, and for you to be permitted to serve them as such. You should live with the qualifications of royal children who can make their mother and father happier than any kings of this world, even if you had to abide by palace protocol.
Then your parents cannot help but praise you whenever they open their mouths. Since your ancestors in heaven and your descendants will all praise you, the realm of unification will develop centered on attending all those parents and grandparents. The realms of unification for grandchildren, parents, children of filial piety will determine the one mainstream all generations in the future. The seed of unification can be sown on this foundation. Once you have this, you will go forward, dreaming. (220-349, 1991.10.20)
All you have to do now is trust in and follow the True Parents. With your conscience as your compass, attain the status of a true parent, true teacher and true owner. Manifest true love in your daily life, thus ensuring your eternal life in heaven. Heavenly fortune will speed you on your path, and your good ancestors who have received the Marriage Blessing will actively assist you in your activities. Have courage, and strive to go forward! (Messages of Peace 15 -- 2004.7.4)
Your ancestors, will all come and cheer. (Tribal Messiah -- 123, 1988.6.15)