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When you analyze the basic principles of God's method for restoration, you can see that the Unification Church is absolutely necessary for God's dispensation. If there were no philosophy of unification we would have to conclude that there is no God. The Unification Church emerged to fulfill that goal of unification and we are proof that God exists. God wants to manifest His love through our movement. How can we manifest the love of God? What is the central point where that love can be manifested? Is it the world or a nation like America or Korea? True parents are a fulfillment on one level, but where should the most fundamental center of God's love be?
Certainly God would dwell with an individual who has no contradiction between his mind and body, but what is the possibility that the mind and body can become one, and when and where will that happen? If man had not fallen then no contradiction would exist; man must return to that state of sinlessness before the fall and liquidate all the contradictions within himself.
If the mind and body can welcome each other and try to move toward each other then they can be in harmony, but if they move in opposite directions then they cannot have unity. Imagine the body trying to go in the same direction as the mind and even overtake it. That would be the most desirable situation.
lf God is all powerful, why doesn't He make the body go ahead of the mind? I have experienced the harshest life in a prison labor camp and I found that actually the greatest suffering is not found in prison but in the conflict between mind and body. Sinful man always regrets the consequences of his body struggling against his mind.
I ultimately came to the conclusion that my enemy is not the world or even the communists but my own body. Your worst enemy is your body. Do you believe it? I established one very firm principle for myself, that I must conquer myself before having dominion over anything else. Each of you is also committed to a ruthless battle of subjugating your own body. Your job is to have your body surrender to your mind and then bring it in the same direction. That is why a religious life is the pursuit of conquering your body.
If you have not conquered your own body then you haven't reached the standard yet. Religion teaches the importance of a life of penance; when your body wants to rest then you should wake up and pray. Your body wants to eat delicious meals but religion teaches the value of fasting. What the body wants the mind rejects.
What is gained by living that way? By giving up your body you can receive the entire universe, so it's a very good deal in a way. By giving up a little bit of your flesh you can gain the entire universe. This is absolutely true.
Why is it that you cannot feel the love of God all the time? Your body is the barrier preventing the love of God from reaching you. God's love is shining forth but your body is blocking it, so by sacrificing your body and liquidating the barrier the shining love of God can freely reach you. Once this happens nothing will be in your way and the total unity between God and man and mind and body can become a living reality. Once you can receive God's love, God will certainly dwell with you. God needs true love and cannot leave it once He has found it. Do you really understand this now?
What you ultimately need the most is the love of God. Do you know how beautiful and how powerful the love of God is? In this world men and women have romances and say they could die for love of each other, but suppose they were to fall in love with God first. That's the key. I searched and found how that love of God can be reached. I not only found the answer but have experienced how the love of God can reach man. With the love of God the mind and body can unite in total oneness.
The love of God needs an object in order to be manifest and man is that object. When will this become reality? Religions have been teaching that the end of the world will occur when one central figure comes, or in Christian terms the Lord of the Second Advent. The love of God will be seen where the Messiah and his bride meet for the heavenly wedding ceremony. Is that place a horrible scene of judgment or a scene of cosmic spring and the fulfillment of love? God works logically and through your own mind you know that the first heavenly family will bring the cosmic spring.
Who is the Messiah? In what capacity is he coming? It is incredibly difficult to conquer the barrier and bring your separated mind and body into oneness so the Messiah comes as a model or example of how to go directly to God. He is not only a prototype of a true individual, but also of how to form a heavenly family. Eventually the Messiah will establish a tribe, nation and world which can be approved by heaven.
The Messiah sets the standard of perfection from the individual all the way up to the cosmic levels. In addition, the Messiah lifts himself above satanic accusation. As he starts his journey from the very bottom of hell straight up to God, Satan cannot accuse or destroy him.
The Messiah lays the highway from the highest possible heaven all the way down to the bottom of hell so that anyone who finds the highway can go directly to that goal. It is impossible for anyone else to lay that highway from the bottom of hell all the way up to the love of God. It could take you millions of years and still you would not get there.
The Messiah comes with shoulders so broad that the entire world can hang onto him and go the entire journey. If a trivial little fly hangs onto the tail of a galloping white horse, when the horse reaches the kingdom that little fly reaches the kingdom at the same time. God devised that method because He knows that everyone needs some help. No one is capable of coming to God all by themselves so throughout history God promised to send the ultimate one who will come to lead mankind into salvation. This is all within logic and reason. Is it convincing to you? Do you need a Messiah? What about everyone else in the world?
How much do you need a Messiah? As much as you need your own wife or husband? As much as your family, parents or country? This world is waiting for the ultimate one who can boldly announce, ''You must love me most of all.,, Only one man has ever done that and his name is Jesus Christ. Without having the authority to proclaim those words Jesus could not have been the Messiah.
Jesus also claimed to be the only begotten son of God, meaning that he was the recipient of the first love of God and the only one who could disseminate it to the world. Did Jesus have the qualification to be the Messiah if he were the only begotten son of God? In addition to all this Jesus called himself the bridegroom and mankind his bride. As the true son of God, Jesus intended to meet his bride and create the first heavenly family on earth.
The kingdom is seen first in the family' not in the nation or the world. The family is the building block and it starts with a husband and wife. Our strong point is that we teach the ideal of the heavenly four positions: God, man and woman and heavenly children. This is the completion of God's ideal' the completion of the circuit for the expression of His love. By organizing this heavenly four units we create our relationship with the love of God. The heavenly four positions are the completion of the ideal of creation, meaning that there the perfection of love can be consummated. Once that is formed the expansion of the heavenly kingdom is only a matter of time. All that has to be done is to duplicate and expand these four positions.
When the Lord of the Second Advent comes what will he do? What is the mission and responsibility of the second Messiah? Jesus Christ came to realize that ideal but it was not physically consume mated in his own time. Will that mission be left undone a second time? Is it the Messiah's mission to give food to the hungry? No, it is to reconcile your body and mind and ignite you with the fire of God's love. That's the job of the Messiah. If he can ignite the love of God in your heart so that your body and mind can become one then he has done his job. If he cannot do that then building the Kingdom of Heaven is impossible. The Messiah will reconcile the body and mind and liquidate all the contradictory elements by subjugating the body. After the mind and body are united you can follow his pattern and create a family' tribe' nation and world and ultimately the Kingdom of God on earth and in heaven. If that is indeed possible' the world will see salvation. If God is really God and if His love is really burning then that must all take place here on earth.
What else does God really need from man? God has lots of love within Himself so why should He need more? Is He greedy? I am a man so I have love in my heart and in my body, but can I say that I don't need any more love, that I have enough love to be happy? It is a profound truth that love will never become real love until it finds an object.
If we are like that then what about God? Does that principle work the same with God as with us? No matter how almighty God might be' His prodigious love will never be activated until He finds an object for give and take. An object ignites love. Who can be the object of God's love? A monkey? Is anything else besides man qualified or entitled to be an object of God? Since God is universal should He love just a trivial chunk of flesh, or is He longing to deal with the universal kind of mind? Is the mind or body God's real object?
Your mind is so big that you can even trap God inside. Your mind always feels that it can swallow the entire world, right? We each have the qualification to be an object of God because we each have a mind so big that God can certainly deal with it. When God loves you will He exclaim at how dirty you are after living in the satanic world and then push you aside? Or will God fervently embrace you and burn away your iniquities in trying to give you total love? Is God's love conditional and partial or total and unreserved?
When the total love of God reaches you, your every cell will be filled and you won't want anything further. You will feel totally intoxicated in that state and want its goodness to never end. That is the real world in which we are to live and all of you are supposed to become hosts of that love. Don't you want to sample that world now? I came to lead you into that world, but how do you know that I am not a swindler? Perhaps I am deluding you with this beautiful idea, trying to enslave you for my own purposes.
How do you know this is not so? Your answer could be simply that it doesn't really matter whether I am a swindler because no better solution has been offered. I am like the plus pole and I am trying to ignite this cold and sleepy world as a minus. Plus and
minus should instantly spark when they are connected, but this world has become so numb that all conductivity has been lost. It is taking a lot of effort on my part to wake you up so that the spark will jump between us.
If what I am saying is the truth then there is no other way you can be. What we are demonstrating here is a tremendous power that has never been seen in history. In being here you are really denying your body and in a way denying your family. You don't care what your family says or what society says; you have just given yourself up but without this great energy and power flowing between us you would not do it. You would not do it unless there was a great hope burning in your hearts. Isn't that true?
A peculiar situation is emerging, with parents trying to kidnap their own children. Never in history has this happened. Sometimes parents feel that they were successful because they brought their children home, but those children are not really with their parents because their minds are not there. As soon as they can they come right back here. Think of the spiritual power and energy which could inspire that.
Once you experience the spring, you cannot long for the winter. Because the cosmic spring is dawning and the central point of it is the Unification Church, you cannot help but want to be part of it. The greatest event of all is happening right here in this place. Do you want to commit yourself to be part of it? Why? The love of God is our ultimate goal, the love which is powerful enough to encompass the past, present and future. Everything you can think of comes within the love of God. When you can possess God's love you can possess the entire universe.
We can partake of the world with our five senses, and this is true in the spirit world as well. We are pursuing the world of goodness, trying to see good things, hear good things, and say good things. We are trying to leave the world of evil behind and completely live in the world of goodness. It is very true that the external world is divided into two worlds and we can witness one world of goodness and one world of evil side by side. That same phenomenon exists internally in the division between mind and body.
If man was originally created in this state of conflict then God must be an imperfect and evil God. People who are only looking at the reality of the world can easily come to the conclusion that no such thing as God exists, but if there is no God of goodness then the beautiful things we have been talking about are all meaningless.
Considering man's imperfect and sinful state today, it is only academic to discuss how he can advance to the state of perfection and absolute goodness because it is virtually impossible. No such thing could come about. If there is no God then talking about the ideal world of love and unification is meaningless. There is no substance to it if there is no God. Even knowing this, however, our minds are ceaselessly pursuing the higher state of perfection, beauty and the ideal.
We cannot deny that our minds are searching after eternal value or eternal and permanent existence. The discussions of philosophers and religious people throughout history have focused upon the best method of fulfilling man's innate desire for perfection.
Many philosophers started out studying perfection, trying to anticipate what the ideal world would be like. As a result, philosophers like Hegel came up with the dialectical theory. Basically this theory outlines how everything advances to a higher state through conflict and struggle with something else. That is fiction. It is impossible for two opposing sides to unite together and create the ideal. It is logically impossible to achieve the ideal state by the method of struggle and confrontation.
Even if we must create a substitute, man-made God, we definitely cannot find any kind of solution for this world without a God of goodness. Again, for expediency, let's say we come up with a man-made God. If the God that we create is not a true one then certainly it will be impossible to reach the ultimate destination of perfection. We can finally conclude that there must be God because without Him nothing makes sense. If there is a real, true God then we can devise the right solution.
Now you know why philosophers have desperately searched to understand this one God. Religious people have also been searching after God, making all kinds of sacrifices for the purpose of finding Him, but they too have come to a point where they cannot be sure. Everything is hazy at the moment.
Let us think in another direction. Is it only man who needs God or does God need man also? If God does not need man then we should give up our search because we will never meet that God. Only through the mutual efforts of God and man can we hope to meet God. If God couldn't care less about man then there is no hope, but in reality God also needs man. This is another important truth.
What kind of God is He, and why does He approach man? We definitely need God and God definitely needs man so there must be a common goal or purpose where we can meet; otherwise there would be no union. The question of God's existence is one thing, but more important is knowing the purpose of the relationship between God and man. We use money and knowledge and experience to survive and improve our situation, but do you think God needs those things from man? No. There must be some common purpose for which God needs man and man needs God, but somehow this common purpose has not been fulfilled. That is why mankind's situation and God's situation are both tragic.
We cannot deny that there is a conflict between man's body and mind which reveals that there must be something wrong in men's hearts. Where can a remedy be found? What is that common goal between God and man through which we can solve this question? Originally there must have been a common dwelling place for man and God but somehow man has separated himself from it and lost his connection with God in the process.
Concluding that there is a perfect God and realizing the imperfect state of man today we must come to one logical conclusion: Man is the one who is out of order, not God. Man deviated from his original state and is thus prevented from reaching perfection.
This is how we can reconcile the perfection of God with the imperfection of man. This knowledge of the fall of man is very precious because not only can we realize the existence and perfection of God, but at the same time we can explain the imperfection and contradiction of man. The struggles you experience because of contradictions within yourselves are a result of the fall , yet at the same time God lives in a different state, the perfected state. We can logically justify the existence of perfected God and sinful man by knowing about the fall of man. It was from that point that two worlds came into being instead of one.
With this concept of the fall we can readily understand how there could be both a world of goodness and a world of evil struggling with each other. The world of goodness is governed by God and the world of evil is the result of the fall. We cannot accept the premise of atheists that there is no God due to the imperfection of man. We know the Principle. After knowing this we can recognize how the God of perfection has been making efforts throughout history to restore the corrupted world into goodness. Religion is one evidence of the effort of God.
What is the purpose of religion? Simply speaking, religion strives to bring this world closer to God; it is God's tool to communicate with this imperfect world and raise up good men. What is goodness? Anything that attempts to bring God and man into unity is good. Is hard work goodness or is eloquent speech, fasting or sleeping on nails goodness? People are very much in the dark about the definition of goodness.
Good springs from love. At the bottom line of every religion love can be seen as the source because it is the common purpose shared by God and man. Love is the ultimate goal of God's search for men of goodness. Man is searching after God for the same reason. Religion has been striving for unity between God and man by stressing the common purpose of love.
Christianity has been preaching the love of God for many years and the other prominent religions in
history also have their foundations in love. For example, Buddhism preaches a life of mercy and benevolence, which is actually love. Any legitimate religion has to be based on love.
All religions emphasize self-denial and sacrifice in order to achieve that love. Without exception sacrifice is necessary for you to form an intimate relationship with God. Why should sacrifice be the highest form of love's fulfillment? There are many, many answers but let us analyze this ourselves.
You have a mind and body, and of the two which one is less evil? The body is a real rascal and doesn't have any sense of self-giving or humility. We have to ruthlessly subjugate our bodies because in weakening the body there is a greater opportunity for the mind and body to become one. Then the body can listen to the mind.
Meekness, humility and sacrifice are the virtues emphasized by religion and by applying them the body will be forced to unite with the mind. Who is actually pursuing such a goal through religion, man or God? God has been leading mankind toward that way of life, but God's effort will be in vain unless man responds to it. A mutual effort is necessary if we are to reach the ultimate goal.
Why do we all need religion in our lives? Without going through the path of religion there is no way to reconcile the mind and body, no hope that some day you will even get close to God. The contradictions in man cannot be resolved without the process of religion. We can say that religion is an absolute necessity for man, not an ornament to pick up on a whim. Religion will be needed until the contradiction within man is completely liquidated and he is united with God in their original common purpose. Then the purpose of religion will be consummated and it will no longer be needed.
All of this brings us to the logical conclusion that religion will not be needed by man for eternity, but will be consummated by the emergence of man in perfection. It is logical that on our journey we start out from the very bottom of the fallen state. The journey will lead us into the ultimate goal of total and perfected union with God.
Do you think man's best thinking and best efforts could devise the way to finally build the ideal world? That is absolutely impossible. Man's only alternative today is atheistic communism, which claims the ideal world can be built without God. Because communism has only material things as its objective it has no foundation and will be blown around like a leaf in a storm. That ideology places value only in the material world, but do you think that our bodies are more perfected than our minds? The body is limited by circumstances but the mind does not have limitations. We conclude that this world can find hope only through a search after God in religion, in the faith that some day the union of men and God can be accomplished. As one man I have probably given the most of myself in the search for the answer to this question, the one who suffered most in order to win a probable solution. This is a total concept.
Actually what you and I need most is not God Himself but God's love. If there is a God then it is inevitable that a new religious movement will come forth which will transcend national and racial barriers, uniting all people together to pursue one common goal: unity with God's love. Clearly such a religious movement is necessary. The love of God embraces all races equally. God doesn't express love according to whether you are white, black or yellow. If God's ideal and love were limited to only one or two races then He would truly be an imperfect God. The ultimate religion must transcend national and racial barriers so from this standpoint let's analyze existing religions.
True salvation springs from union with the love of God, which manifests everywhere in a fair and justified manner. Which race you belong to makes no difference at all. It cannot be said that the love of God works only in the Western hemisphere; it shines throughout the earth. Any religion which proclaims the segregation of the races is a false religion. A new religion is needed which embraces all men equally. For instance, Jews and Christians should not feel that they are the only people who deserve the love of God. They must feel instead that they are merely servants who must bring the love of God to all humanity.
Do you think God wants the whole world to be Jewish, or should Judaism be simply a tool of God? Do you think that God could limit Himself to the stuffy world of today's Christianity, or should Christianity become a tool of God? The love of God is supreme and encompasses the highest possible level. Everything is part of it and everything is surrounded by it. The love of God can encompass all human existence.
Religions are only meant to be tools of God and therefore they should be universal and intermingling. Any religion which rejects such principles cannot be called a true religion. Measured by this standard, are all today, s conventional Christians perfected? In their interpretation of the Bible only Christians will be lifted up in the air to meet the Lord when he comes on the day of judgment. Basically they are unconcerned about the rest of the world and believe that everyone else will go to hell. Is that attitude right? If what they believe is the case then God is really a cruel God with an imperfect ideal.
A religion which can clarify God's intentions is absolutely necessary. A revolutionary concept must come to Christianity and enable it to meet the criteria of perfection that God originally intended. That religion is the Unification Church.
What is the Unification Church supposed to do? First of all, make one world and elevate it into a world of God. Encouraging self-centered individualism is Satan's final strategy to demolish this world and this nation and we must destroy this satanic concept. What am I trying to contribute to you? You have never really tasted the true love of parents or of husband and wife and brothers and sisters. I am trying to ignite in you spiritually the ecstatic joy of God's love so that it will not be just a concept to you but be a presence in your daily life.
One phenomenon sets the Unification Church apart. Our members often meet me in dreams or visions and in all kinds of spiritual circumstances. The power of spiritual experience already exists and embraces each one of you every day. Those of you who have such experiences, raise your hands. In the mundane world those things may seem abnormal and certainly they have never been seen in any other religion in the past. Physically I am very far from our missionaries all over the world but I am just as close to them as I am to you. This is a most vivid testimony to the significance of our movement.
I want you to know that tremendous sacrifice has been paid in order to come to this level today. Many nations have collapsed and many millions of people have died for this. Since it comes to you without too much effort you don't realize its value and you think that this is common everywhere. It certainly is not.
We are a religion of experience and feeling because God is not a conceptual God to us. He is the master of our daily lives. As soon as you come into this atmosphere you immediately become a recipient of new spiritual power and presence, but for people outside our Church it is an unfamiliar and perplexing thing to grasp.
We must be thankful to God every day. Even if the world came against you and your life was abruptly ended, would you still be grateful to God? You can think of Satan as God's tool in a way, a means of finding out whether your gratitude is real or not. I will never tell you to just be thankful to God and let me take care of Satan for you. Instead I will push you out into the corrupt and evil world. If you are really thankful then my mandate to you is to go liberate the world and come back. You will pass the test by remaining loyal, steadfast and thankful under any circumstances or experience. If you can do that then Satan has no power over you and eventually he must issue you a certificate saying that indeed you are a child of God. As an archangel, Satan must be the one to testify to God whether or not you are God's child. You have to be superior to Satan to receive that testimony.
It is inevitable that all good religions in history receive persecution. Persecution is almost an indispensable ingredient in growing spiritually. Would you say I have received persecution or not? All of America has gotten up in arms over me. All that opposition is like a wave washing over me, with all kinds of beautiful titles being given to me, like ''brainwasher', or '`demagogue,, and even ''Hitler.,, My response is just to smile at all of this because after
everything is settled, who will be the winner? I am the winner because the truth is our powerful ally. In the San Francisco legal case the lower courts issued conservatorships and the papers all wrote about the brainwashing charges. Then after the higher court examined the entire situation they said that the Unification Church hadn't done anything wrong and that we had rights which were protected by the United States Constitution. The press did not report this decision too widely but the people who oppose us really received a setback. They will not be foolish enough to try this tactic against us again.
This is the right time for us to really show America who I am and what the Unification Church is all about; we are sending the one-hour ''Reverend Moon in America,, program to television stations in all fifty states and even throughout South America. Now the book written by Dr. Sontag has come out which will tell the world what we are honestly trying to do. When the truth comes out America should have the courage to apologize to me.
Our antagonists will know in their hearts that they were wrong and eventually they will have to respect me for the way in which I dealt with the negativity; I never sought revenge but simply smiled and let God take care of it. That's how we will win because we are not fighting on their level. Since you too have that knowledge and commitment I willingly push ahead without any hesitation. Having this dignity and strength, there is nothing under the sun we cannot do.
In order to reach the love of God in your daily life the most essential thing is knowing how to conquer your body. This was my foremost task in searching for the truth. The body has three fundamental desires. First, the body gets hungry and looks for food. How could I conquer that desire of my body? I had to establish that I love God more than my body loves food when it gets hungry. By doing that yourself you can set a superior standard and demonstrate how your love of God is stronger than your body's love of food. Jesus also conquered that particular desire and went through a forty-day fast. Many prophets and saints in history emphasized fasting in their life of faith.
Hunger is the worst kind of suffering and if you can forget your desperate hunger in your search after God you have made a very precious statement. Who among you has done a seven-day fast? There are quite a few of you. Think back on your own experience; when the seventh day arrived were you watching the clock for the moment you could eat again, or did you think, ''God, I have tasted hunger now, but I love You more than I love food. I want to go after You instead of going after food.,, Have you prayed in such a way at that moment? Have you been longing for God more than for food? That is the real test and that is the way you should think when you fast. Until I was thirty there was no day that I was not hungry because I deliberately went without food in order to test myself. At that time I was so hungry that if someone was eating nearby my mouth hung open and saliva drooled out even without my being aware of it. When it gets hungry enough, the body just automatically reacts that way. You can't say you have overcome your body until you have conquered desperate hunger by the power of your love of God.
The second fundamental urge is for sleep. Can you demonstrate that your love of God is stronger than your body's desire for sleep? The second test is passed when in thinking of God He is so real and relevant that your intense love of God conquers your urgent desire to sleep. Throughout history all the people who seriously searched for God led ascetic lives and always had to fight their desire to sleep. They would do all kinds of things' even stabbing themselves and cutting their own flesh just to keep awake. Have you ever heard about this? For seven years I never slept more than two hours a day. This morning I arrived at 5 a.m. after traveling all night. My whole life has been training for living like that.
You need the love of God don't you? You have to win His love and show that your love is more intense than anything else. When you are sleepy, your passionate love of God should be stronger than your craving for sleep. You have experienced feeling ready to collapse from exhaustion, but your love of God must enable you to conquer such moments. It is
most difficult to go beyond the level of hunger and sleepiness for the love of God. Jesus had to conquer all those bodily desires. The Bible said that he fasted for forty days and furthermore, we can well imagine that his life was a struggle both day and night. Jesus asked his closest disciples to stay awake and watch with him while he prayed desperately in the garden of Gethsemane, but what happened to the disciples? They fell asleep. They could not win over sleep and Jesus told them that though their minds were willing their flesh was weak.
This is not some hazy spiritual concept. You must overcome precisely these things in your life. I would not speak this way to you unless I had tested out everything in my own life.
The third desire you must conquer is the urge for physical love. The worst kind of temptation for religious people always comes in the form of sex. When men pray, Satan creeps into their minds in the form of a beautiful woman. Men and women have instinctive sexual desire, but your intense love for God should be stronger than that desire for carnal love. In this respect American young people have a great deal to overcome. The permissiveness in America has left the moral life of Americans looking like a dirty rag.
Now you understand why the major religions throughout history have always emphasized the value of celibacy. Your body is your worst enemy and it has three formidable weapons: the desire for food, the desire for sleep and the desire for physical love. I have fought the same battle that you are engaged in but you have no idea how many tears I have shed to win over these temptations.
You know we all need the love of God, but how will you pay back your own debts in these three areas? If you spent dozens of years being tortured in prison you still could not repay God. When you were hearing about the beauty and sweetness of God's love all of you were happy and gay' but in hearing these things you have hit a stone wall. How will you break through? No one else can pay your debts. For many years I searched tor some alternative way for mankind to reach the ultimate goal without having to go through the ordeals I have endured. No one is capable of passing such impossible tests.
Without a doubt the lives you lived before joining the Unification Church were self-centered. Before you knew about God you were the central point of your lives, right? The quickest way to become qualified citizens of the Kingdom of God is to revolutionize yourselves totally, changing your concept of your purpose of life from selfish happiness to the happiness of God and humanity.
We can turn humanity's concept of existing here on earth completely upside down. Do you deeply feel that you were not born for yourself but for the sake of God and humanity? If you do not eat food for your own contentment but for the sake of God and humanity then it can be justified. You should think of sleeping as preparation for you to do even more for God's work the next day. Taking rest with that attitude cannot be called a sin because it is for the sake of God and humanity. Can you say that your desire to love God and humanity is as great as your desire to have love personally? This is the way your life can be turned totally upside down. Previously you did things to have fun and to become someone of distinction.
When you revolutionize your purpose of life then nothing is for yourself any more. If you have enough food for a good meal then you can think that you will do twice as much as you can when you are hungry. When you have new vitality after resting for a few hours at night then you can say, ''God, let me go out and work.,, Instead of pursuing the old physical gratifications you can use your energy for the sake of God and humanity. That's the way we live.
That is the only alternative I could find. Otherwise you have no qualification to eat and sleep and love. When you are very hungry and find a good meal but your concept still focuses on God and humanity, your eating is not a sin. That's the way man was to have lived if there had been no fall. Eating is not a sin in that case, right? Now you know the heavenly alternative and you know how you can be justified in eating, sleeping and loving.
In the world as it is now each person stands in the center as an individual, surrounded by his family,
nation, world and the cosmos. Each person has to break through every barrier which limits himself. This world is the realm of the fall and you must come out of it in order to make another world, not with yourself in the center but with God in the center, surrounded by His own children.
What actually happens in this process? After you conquer yourself you meet another barrier and must form a God-centered family in order to break through. Then you will meet another barrier on the national level and after breaking through on that level you must build another world. As much as you are able to break through in the satanic world is what you are actually building of your own new world. This world is the consequence of the fall so we have to separate ourselves from the ways of this world and create a new world, becoming new people in a new way of life.
You must have been thinking about these things but have you ever solemnly decided that you were going to break through and liberate yourself from this world and its ways? This is exactly what I had to do. My situation is no different. I decided to conquer myself and my surroundings. I had to win on the family level and also in my society and nation of Korea. Now I have reached the barrier of the world and cosmos. The Washington Monument Rally was the spectacular culmination of what I have done spiritually on the worldwide level. That is the way I have progressed through this way of life.
Our movement has emerged on the worldwide stage. There is always resistance each time we try to break through to a new level because Satan absolutely does not want to see the heavenly world come into being. Of course he wants to prevent that from happening because it means the destruction of his influence and personal dominion. Satan's world has to come against you so naturally there will be persecution. Even though you are only an individual working on the individual level of restoration, the entire nation and the world will come against you. Nevertheless we must overcome this situation. When the entire world comes against us it gives us a better opportunity to win over the world at one stroke. The harsher the rejection and persecution on the worldwide level the faster our day will come.
Even as a member of the Unification Church you will not actually have to go through exactly what I went through. You don't have to start from the very bottom. By joining my crusade in its final stage, by overcoming the final barrier together with me you have already won the entire world. You don't have to go through the whole process. That is your advantage.
Your 5% is to go the road of persecution and you must welcome it. You will be persecuted by all kinds of people on all kinds of levels. You must face and conquer all of peoples, scornful attitudes, but your struggle with persecution is never in vain. We are citizens of a different world. Until you are given the blessing you should have no concept of personal ownership, thinking that you own this or that. Until you reach this state you are even wearing your clothes for the sake of mankind, clothes which belong to mankind and which you have borrowed. After the blessing God will bestow upon you the right of stewardship. You have the wrong idea if you think of having some special savings account for your own enjoyment. Your fund raising is not for the purpose of paying bills for the Church, but for the purpose of restoring your own dominion over creation. You can't think that you personally deserve some of the money you earn. Compared to the rest of the people you are going to eat less, sleep less and work harder. If you want to give yourself totally then you understand the right attitude.
Are you losing by doing this? No, what you are actually doing is investing yourself to the utmost so that you can receive the love of God to an equal degree. You are gaining something far greater than anyone else can ever imagine and because of that you can be grateful and persevere, no matter what degree of suffering you encounter. Every member must take part in fund raising and witnessing. Unless you walk up the first and second floors you simply cannot go to the third floor. Without going this course you are not entitled to the blessing.
We know this through the Divine Principle.
Because of the fall of man we lost the love of God, love of man and all the things of creation. Man himself became the tool of Satan. That is all the result of the fall of man. We will restore all these one by one. First all things of creation must be restored to God. Then fallen man must become godly man. Finally the love of God can be consummated and man can receive the love of God in blessing. Unless you willingly go this route you can only be seen as a thief who is trying to sneak into the kingdom. You have to submit your ID card as you come into the palace. You cannot sneak over the fence. The road of restoration is the real indemnity. You must go this route and then the love of God will meet you at the stage of perfection.
Do you have confidence that you can be blessed? Have your mind and body become one, totally free from satanic accusation? Are you entitled to have a godly woman as your wife? Whether you are a man or a woman, no one is entitled to say he has done everything and paid everything back. No one is able to say they are perfect and worthy of the blessing. I want you to be humble. God will have mercy upon you when you realize your true situation and then in His love put you together in heavenly matrimony. Only then do you have the right to accept the blessing.
All throughout history people were in darkness with no one to guide the way, but now everything has been made clear. This is a magnificent blessing in itself. Now we not only see clearly the broad daylight, we can live it every day and make our way step by step to this goal. I want you to realize how precious it is that you are sitting right here. Do you feel that?
Do you ever get frustrated and wonder how long you may be selling newspapers, every morning, rain or shine? You may think you have been reduced to being a paper boy in the Unification Church. Many boys make a living delivering papers. You are not doing it for your own survival, however, but for the sake of God and humanity. We should be working harder with the newspapers than anyone who is selling for themselves. Are you working on that level? Have you become desperate for the fulfillment of the mission? You may have a hole in your shoe and wear ragged clothes and you may be drenched with sweat, but even under those circumstances you should be thanking God. Both Satan and God can respect that kind of man.
No word of complaint can be spoken. To come plain is the fastest way to bring yourself down into hell; Satan's most effective tool is seen in complaints. I have many reasons to complain if I choose to do so. This morning I could have complained to God that He was unreasonable to ask me to speak to you after I traveled all night without resting, but God would insist' ''You go and speak to them. They would love to see you.'' Under those circumstances should I feel justified in speaking only thirty minutes, and only come under those conditions? Complaint has never even entered my mind because I am too busy fulfilling my mission. No matter how long you live this is a short life. I have so much to finish in my short life and every second counts. No one else can do my job and I cannot waste any time.
You are committed to a formidable responsibility. Do you think this all sounds like a big lie, or is it really the truth? Then shall we live it or not? I chose the same route as you say you want to follow and I have come to that goal. Was I destroyed or am I succeeding? Now I have come to the point where I don't have to worry about my own needs because I know God is concerned about me. God provides food and looks after me. I have seen such things happen.
I know precisely how the love of God feels and I want you to experience it too. Don't fear death; it is nothing. I gave up my life a long time ago and for the sake of this mission I am ready to go anywhere at any time. I have no attachment to this world. The only reason I want to live a long time is because of my mission. Sometimes I think of what would happen to the work of God and to our movement if I suddenly disappeared, but that is my only real worry.
I want to leave just one tradition when everything is over, that I pursued the love of God and was
a man of the love of God. When you go to spins world that love is the only asset you will have. That's the only thing you can take with you to the spins world. When you possess the love of God you can do all things, and on behalf of God you can be given ownership of all things. Only in the love of God could it be justified.
I have laid the highway and even created the automobile to drive to the goal, but it is up to you to get the fuel and drive there. You must fulfill your own responsibility because I can't do everything. Once you get started can you drive just anywhere? You have to follow the highway I have set up, but you do have the freedom to go as fast as you like.
Do you need my supervision or will you do it on your own? If I have to supervise and inspect you then Satan will accuse you of not getting to the goal by yourself. When I was going through my mission I told God to not even supervise me but let me go on my own. You are witnessing and selling the paper without my supervision but can you really do it? I won't supervise but I will wait and see the results.
If you really know the truth then I'm really not needed here in America. I want to get a walking stick and a big trunk and go all over the world. Do you think I need a little vacation and a chance to enjoy nature? Would you permit me to do that? Now I have done my job and you know precisely what you need to do.
The love of God is yours, not mine, but you must win that love from God. You must mature on your own. Once you receive the blessing and become husband and wife would you want me to supervise you? You don't need me to help you do your mission either. Until you find that ultimate love you do need me, however, and once you have found that love you are on your own. Then you will pull yourself.
Until you come to that level the secret for you to meet me very intimately is to pursue your mission with a fervent longing for God and the True Parents. When you shed tears for your mission the entire spirit world will surround you and I will appear to you spiritually. You can take advantage of that principle of the universe. If you are longing for me so much that you forget to eat or sleep then our encounter will go beyond any kind of physical sensation. The spirit world will be opened up and you will find yourself there with me.
Adam and Eve were supposed to be the parents of all mankind but that position was lost; once the position of True Parents is restored it should embrace everybody. Therefore, in spirit world everyone logically should become one family under that one title. True Parents should become very intimate to everyone of you yet it doesn't make any difference how many miles apart we are. You have the secret way to be close to me and I can be with you all the time once our hearts are united.
There can be real unity between you and me when my heart can become your heart. If you want to find out if this is true, just try it out. How can you find such heart? When you are suffering and given persecution and when you are treated most miserably. When your heart is really suffering then you will know the very heart of my own suffering. That's the way our hearts can be linked and that's the way you can instantly elevate yourself to a higher level spiritually.
. Do you think someone can be close to me if they go everywhere with me every day? No, the person who is closest to the True Parents is the one who sheds tears for his mission, passionately involving himself every day, regardless of how scornfully he is treated by the world. That person is closest to me in the real sense. You have to go to the bottom of the world to set the condition of victory there and then come back with the record of victory. You youth of America should not violate the heavenly law. Your precious youth should remain pure and clean and always be one of dedication.
Today's message is Core of Unification. Where is the core of unification? It is found in the love of God. You must be proven victorious in the satanic world by setting the condition of uniting mind and body. Then you will go up to the other stages of family, tribe, nation and world. When you are victorious on all levels you can come to the final and complete union with God and you will find your ultimate home of peace, joy, satisfaction and tranquillity.
It is not easy to be victorious in love but shall we do it? Even though you may not have achieved that goal you know that the possibility of achieving it exists. You each may think of me in different ways but your heart toward the True Parents is the same. Go ahead and rub against each other; your friction will generate the heat which will melt all of you into oneness.
Suffering is a privilege when you are searching after the love of God. You must never think you suffer for my sake; it is all for yourself. How can you complain if you are working for yourself? If you want to complain you must complain about yourself. If you do more than the Unification Church and more than me then you might have the right to complain about a few things. I found out a long time ago that nothing can be gained by complaining so I have never complained, even when God was very cruel to me. I have always been thankful because if God was cruel it was actually a manifestation of His love. God tested me in an extraordinary way, wanting me to pass the test so He could give a special, extraordinary love.
This is the same reason that I push you out to hard work and suffering. You must win over hardship in order to become a recipient of the ultimate love of God. No one can complain about you because you will be entitled to that love.
Sometimes you may feel that your situation ten years ago and ten years from now won't be any different, but I want you to know that even though physically speaking you may remain on the same level, spiritually speaking you will be living in an entirely new world. That's our pride and heritage. Whether it is raining or storming outside doesn't make any difference. You just cannot let yourself relax. You never know when you will die and before you die you must know the love of God. No one can guarantee that you will live a long life. Therefore, you must even live as though today were your final day. When you take a final examination in school what would you do the night before? You would concentrate all night long. You should be even more desperate than that for the heavenly purpose.
You cannot misuse this opportunity. This is an Can you commit yourselves to doing it? Thank you. unmistakable truth and we must take it seriously. Let us pray.