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Each day of life accumulates to make up a lifetime. Through the days of our lives we progress from childhood to young adulthood to old age, and at the same time a pattern of happiness or sadness is created. In the course of life there is love and laughter, sorrow and tragedy, birth and death. We all experience how there cannot be only joy in the course of life. Our mouths have the ability to speak, but can they only speak about joyful, happy things twenty-four hours a day, every day of our lives? Your ears also hear a wide range of things, both joyful and sorrowful.
Let's illustrate one life by drawing a straight line; along this line the course of a person's life and thoughts are always going up and down. If we can see this much complexity even in one life how much more complex will the lives of many people be? You cannot live alone; you need to associate and communicate with others, and when you take all this into consideration, how complex can your life be? The Unification Church contains a wide variety of elements from the cultures of the East and West, which we are trying to blend to create one way of life. You can imagine how complex a job it is. Life in our Church alone has many convolutions and ups and downs, and our question is how we are to harmonize them into one integrated pattern.
If even the course of one man's life presents so much complexity, how much more intricate God's way of life must be. God's pattern of life threads along one vertical line. His pattern of life must be different from man's, with the basic difference being that man is on the side of evil and God is on the side of good. Then what is good and evil? One simple definition says that evil tends to go down while good tends to go up. Also, the tendency of good is to travel in a straight line while evil tends to travel in a crooked line. Furthermore, goodness produces occurrences which people can rejoice over.
Rejoicing does not burst forth of its own accord; it cannot be present without some motivation or cause. Do you make yourself joyful or does joy come from somewhere else? People often wish something would happen that would make them happy, but the important thing is that joy cannot be generated solely by events or by yourself alone; it is a reciprocal thing. No matter how many happy events occur, unless you are ready to receive that joy you will not be happy. The law of thermodynamics says that for every action there must be an equal and opposite reaction. In the same way, joy is also created by action and reaction.
Even when there is a subject which can constantly supply you with joy, you must be able to be a recipient in order for joy to materialize. You must also be capable of returning that joy to the sender. Both aspects should be present for we cannot be only in the position of recipients; we each must be generators of joy for others as well. Have you ever thought about having one eye instead of two, or only one ear? One eye could stick up in the air like a periscope and see everywhere, but God had a reason for not making you that way; a pair is always necessary for there to be a reciprocal relationship.
If your left arm tells the right arm to be its object, but the right arm refuses, what will happen to you? Do both arms normally move when you want to clasp your hands together, or does one travel all the way over to the other? You can also see a mutual relationship between the eyes and ears and other organs. Your hands not only travel to meet in the center, they both harmonize with the central point of the universe. Even though your body might harmonize with the universe when your arms are askew, your whole self does not fit in.
You can see some people walking who lean to one side, and it doesn't look right or natural. We always seek balance, so that even lifting one arm up high and holding the other down low is in balance. If you see someone walking along with just one finger moving, then even though the other arm is swinging normally, you think, "Why is only his little finger twitching like that?" These illustrations show us that there is an invisible yet definite principle and standard that we are always trying to harmonize with.
Now we come to the final question-where does goodness start? Is goodness automatic, or did someone create it? Imagine a husband and wife who think of themselves as good people; if they are just sitting still however, they don't create an atmosphere of goodness. Even worse, nowadays American women have the tendency to boss their husbands around as though they were employees. Be honest; are American women generally trying to exploit and use their husbands, or genuinely trying to serve them? And what do you men think when you get married? That you have a servant who will lift and carry for you, or that now you have someone to serve?
Even though you are traveling in one direction, you still go up and down in a balanced, symmetrical way. You can understand that sometimes you should serve and sometimes be served, but a problem comes when an imbalance sets in, when one side of the curve is stretched way up but the other is almost flat. Listening to me on Sunday morning is just the same; you are proceeding to a certain goal when you have balance both up and down, but when you start to sleep you are derailed because you have become lopsided.
This is a principle we can see in action daily in every part of our lives. The give and take of a reciprocal relationship is the basic form in the universe. When you laugh, I want to laugh back. Furthermore, when you ask a question I feel obliged to answer it. Do you remain serious when someone else is laughing? If you do then immediately the relationship is disrupted. If someone is crying and very sad but you laugh, then total disruption sets in again. Beauty is always created by the harmony of a reciprocal relationship. When looking at black and white and color pictures, we all feel more joy from the color photos because they have more variety of color and a mysterious harmony. A vibrant beauty is created by the harmony of color.
In some of the national parks you can see beautiful mountains and the most attractive of them always have odd shapes, with promontories here and there, with woods in one place and rocks in another. Looking at just one portion of the mountain, it might seem ugly, but seeing the beauty of the whole creates an incredibly ecstatic feeling. When seen from a, distance, the average mountain doesn't have any contours to overcome, but the rugged mountains which are difficult to climb are the most beautiful. I Have you ever thought about whether men and women could be balanced in a different way? Imagine all women being tall while men were short; what kind of balance would that create? If God created them that way then He would take men's beards away because a short man with a full beard looks funny. A tall, rugged-looking man fits well with a beard, but a small man with a small face covered by a beard doesn't look too good. The fact that in most cases a beard hides the mouth seems to mean that God's mandate for men was to conceal their mouths and be silent. On the other hand, women always expose their mouths and even emphasize them with lipstick. Again, this is universal balance. God gave different characteristics to each which harmonize together.
Whenever I have observed men and women coming in to sit down in a room, the women's palms are usually turned up while the men's are down. Even though this typical behavior is unconscious on your part, it all harmonizes. Men laugh heartily, shaking up and down, while women laugh with little giggles. When seen from the point of view of the Principle, all these little things create the balance and harmony and reciprocal beauty which the universe seeks.
The personal qualities of a husband and wife may seem to be imbalanced, but together they create a harmonized beauty which is far better than their independent beauty. This is why man's attention tends toward harmony rather than independence. A husband and wife may not be so beautiful individually, but if together they create a happy family then they will attract people's attention. Even ugliness creates beauty when it is harmonized
By bringing the black and white races together in America, God gave this nation a beautiful chance to create harmonized beauty. instead of fighting with each other, black and white have to find mutual accord. The top of a mountain is usually covered with snow, while the valley below is covered with green foliage and elements that come down from the mountainside. The valley usually has more of an odor because the decaying leaves of plants create fertilizer for the living plants. Would it be possible for those leaves to serve as fertilizer if they did not rot?
That dirty fertilizer is precious and important because it contains life-giving elements which can give power and energy to the plants. The top of the mountain is covered with very pure and beautiful snow, but it has no fertile soil, only bare rock. Fertile soil is found only in the valley. White people can be compared to the snow covering the top of the mountain and black people to the rich soil in the valley.
Boulders and gravel are the prominent features of the mountain top, but the lush foliage and rich soil where all kinds of things can grow are the outstanding features of the valley. The white race in general displays a sharpness of character, just like the bare rock, but black people have more of a nature to embrace everything, like the rich black soil where anything can germinate. Compared to white people, black people commonly impart greater passion, and they also have a deep sense of justice which white people sometimes lack.
When I examine the ways of doing things of the two races, these characteristics are readily apparent. Again, my purpose is not to blame any one particular people. God made white people with their unique characteristics and black people with their unique characteristics, and meant for both peoples to create a greater beauty through" their harmonious relationship.
The history of the white culture began with the cave men who would dig holes and analyze the different minerals. The tendency to break something down into its parts and analyze it belongs to the white people. Oriental culture, on the other hand, tends to favor abstraction, not distinguishing so much between parts or segments of the whole. It is like a conglomerate of sand, gravel, rocks and mud where you can't distinguish one from the other. However, to build something you always need more than one kind of material, so again there must be give and take between the two cultures.
Another point of contrast lies in how Western women try to attract attention to themselves, often even walking like men, while Oriental women are traditionally more retiring and shy. Who invented the high heel and what woman began to wear it? Probably it began with a woman who wanted to be as tall as her husband so that she could be his equal.
The beauty of nature results from God's creations interacting in such a way that both extremes unite around a center in a reciprocal relationship. Some women use makeup to create an artificial kind of beauty, but the women who don't use makeup often have greater beauty in their smiles. Which of the two is more beautiful?
Have you ever seen an ugly baby? A baby is beautiful because he is genuine and pure, not artificial. Can you imagine a baby wearing lipstick and eye shadow? You wouldn't be drawn to look at such a baby because he would look so unnatural. Look at your situation from God's point of view, though. From the vantage point of His great age you are even younger than a new baby, and looking at you covered with makeup would be like seeing a made-up baby lying in a crib. God would much rather see your natural beauty. When you look at it from God's point of view, you will have a different concept of makeup.
Let's examine ourselves as Unification Church members. What is our main characteristic and what are we doing here? An electric current flows in a straight line in a certain direction, but it moves in pulses. It can't be observed with the human eye, but electricity actually flows in bursts and an electric light is actually flicking on and off all the time at great speed. Electricity travels in waves along the surface of its conductor, forming a shape like a tube along the wire. This is similar to how man stands on the surface of the earth with a certain space between himself and the incredible energy surrounding the universe. Between man and that source of energy is great space, and all man's interaction with it is across that distance.
The eyes of Westerners, particularly blue eyes, are very stark in the contrast between the white area around the blue eye. The beauty of blue eyes comes from having the black dot right in the center, which makes the whole thing come alive. The white and blue surfaces only create an impression of flatness, but the black dot adds a new dimension of depth. When I look at Bo Hi Pak, I don't see the black dot so clearly because his eyes are dark brown. Luckily he has a complexion that harmonizes with those dark eyes.
Can you imagine Bo Hi Pak having blond hair? It wouldn't suit him at all, but a fair complexion and black hair and black eyes all harmonize together and fit a certain pattern. The key word is harmony. Even when you look at a printed page where there is only black and white, a job of printing well-done produces a balance of black and white which will create beauty. Even when I look at an everyday newspaper I can see a certain beauty in a paper that is well done. When you men want to buy a tie, the first thing you think about is what tie will go with a particular suit. You are automatically looking at the selection from the point of view of harmony.
I am giving all these illustrations this morning to show you how our lives are like giant pictures. We can view our lives as paintings with harmony of color and shape. There are many walks of life in our world- laborer, merchant, businessman, clerk, politician -and whether you can harmonize with all of them depends on your character. Would you like to fit into only one set area, or would you like to be flexible and fit in all different ways of life?
You and your lives are like beautiful mountains with many different features that make up the beauty of the whole. What kind of personality should we develop in the Unification Church? You know why our ways of life should have depth and flexibility and variety. Running out to sell the new paper right after breakfast lends variety to your life, and after you come back you are evangelists on the streets or in the neighborhoods. Later you might go out fund raising. Such variety of life! Next thing you know, I ask you to drop everything and come to Belvedere. All that variety doesn't give you time to eat or sleep or do anything else.
Sleeping and playing are only one facet of your life, the way one single color is only part of a large painting. I have a peculiar way of enjoying things; when everyone else drops away and I am the only one left to go on, I am happy that I defeated everyone else. I want to sleep only after everyone else is asleep, then get up before anyone else, even before the birds and the sun. I get joy from this.
I have the pride to tell the sun that I am its best friend because no one else on earth has looked at it more than me. I get up before the sun does and watch it go down at night. Looking at the stars and moon, I think I am their best friend because I stay with them more than anyone else. At night I have conversations with the stars and moon, climbing up a hill to feel closer to them. When I was younger I had many experiences of walking at night in the valleys and climbing the hills. The way I memorialize a special day is by staying up all night to remember it. On the other hand, there are people who take joy in sleeping and think that it is the best part of life. People like me must be needed to balance them!
Usually I am up all the time, but a few times I have gone to bed for long periods. Once I slept three days and nights and I told people not to wake me up. Everyone thinks that they would like to sleep a long, long time, but in my experience sleeping three days and nights was hell! People like to play and fool around, but unless you also have a job to do, playing day in and day out will become tedious instead of joyful. Why should the course of our lives be varied, not just simple and monotonous? We can only talk about harmony when there are many elements present; then there is more beauty. Many senior citizens want to use their life savings to travel around the world because they want to see a variety of things.
We Unification Church members are peculiar people because we are concerned with restoration by indemnity. Indemnity is like climbing all the way up to the top of a mountain to hang from a pole. That is a vivid picture of indemnity. If you want to pay greater indemnity, you can not only hang from the pole, but hang upside down and swing back and forth! When the mountain is a certain height you cannot consider indemnity as being anything equal or even lower than that height, and just going to the top of the mountain will not be paying indemnity; instead, you must do something unusual once you get there.
If you are in the valley instead of on the mountaintop and you want to pay indemnity, you must do something really crazy, like submerging yourself in water or pushing yourself into the earth like a stake. What I am saying is that indemnity means doing abnormal things. We have been talking about the course of life and the beauty of reciprocal relationships and the beauty of coming together in harmony. That is the normal course of events, but when we talk about indemnity and restoration, we are talking about something abnormal.
Why do we have to go the reverse way? Knowing we were committed to doing abnormal things all throughout life would absolutely be hell and no good for God or man. Instead, we do it for a certain period for the purpose of re-creation. Have you ever mixed flour and water to make dough? Bread dough must be kneaded and shaped before it can become manageable. Initially there is flour all over the kitchen, but with work the dough will become good bread. Re-creation is almost like making dough because it come in all kinds of shapes; one time it looks like hell, another time like heaven. One time it looks long, another time short, but by going through this process it becomes manageable.
When you are the dough, you suffer through the up-and-down process, but in the meantime you are developing a capacity to appreciate both extremes of happiness and sadness. When the world thinks of something as normal, we do the opposite on purpose. They think we are crazy, but that is precisely what we are waiting for. The Unification Church is like a bakery where we make the dough into all kinds of shapes. Individually, each one of us has certain characteristics, but as a lump of dough we all look alike.
As we go through all kinds of pressure and acquire certain shapes, all the good elements of men and women are concentrated in the dough and the ungodly elements are kneaded out. If there is some small foreign element present then it will be detected as the dough is rolled out, but ultimately God has planned a certain shape for this dough and will mold it into that form after it has become pure. You cannot retain foreign elements in the Unification Church. There are many ex-Moonies who couldn't harmonize ; with the dough or stand the rolling out process.
If there is one lump of dough which has been an entire e lifetime in the making, it must be superior to dough h which was hastily made. Using religion as the flow r, God has been trying to make the finest possible dough for the ultimate re-creation of man. Would you want to be part of that dough which was seasoned through time or some part of batter thrown together like pancake mix in the morning?
God's goal is re-creation, and certainly He wants the finest basic materials. Among religions, the one which is most seasoned by suffering and pain, but which becomes victorious and pure, is the kind of dough God is looking forward to having. Have you been molded into the Unification Church pattern, or molded the Unification Church into your pattern? In the final re-creation, God will use the Unification Church I pattern, and when this pattern expands into a nation, He will have more material to work with. Eventually God wants to see a re-created world.
God has a big notebook with a record of all your names and He is planning how to mold each one of you into the best shape; He has a plan for each one of you. In order to make yourself completely pure, you must deal with the most self-centered element- -greed. The person with more greed will have to overcome overcome more pain, and the general pattern in the Unification Church is that the greedy, stubborn, arrogant character is the one who suffers most because it is hardest for him to give himself up.
When God wants to re-create you, He does not consider Only what you think you should become; what God thinks is more important. The person who will be most successful in the Unification Church is the one who will give himself up and leave himself open for God to take over. The person who wants to be humble and obedient and serving is flexible. Would you rather be oil or water? Oil always adheres to itself, but water can go anywhere. Water has the power of resurrection, and wherever it goes it is always in the central role of giver of life. When water soaks into dry land, all the plants and trees come alive. You can become a person who can not only go anywhere, but who can go as a source of life and stand in the central position.
When we possess that kind of personality, we can bring new life and resurrection anywhere. Can a white person have the power to melt a black person? When we become the dough ready to be molded into any shape God wants, all He has to do is roll the dough around the world; everything will stick to it and the water will dissolve it all.
We always hear about restoration by indemnification and what we gain is re-creation. Restored elements don't need indemnity paid anymore, and we must become elements of God that no longer require indemnification. You must become so totally flexible that God can use you any way He wants, like bubble gum which God can blow up as big as He likes. One kind of gum might blow up into a big bubble but then cry out, "God, stop! I'm about to burst!" Another kind will say, "God, go ahead and blow as much as You like, even if I pop." That kind of person has no opinion and whatever God wants is OK with him.
What would you do if you popped? Just gather everything together and be chewed up again. Blowing bubbles in gum is analogous to pushing you; if you pop, then God simply chews you over again and gives you the acclaim of having met His standard. Interestingly enough, after it sees your experience, the other kind of bubble gum will want to be popped too, so it can receive the same reward.
Can the dough tell God what shape it wants to be? Can a muscle complain about being in the bottom of your foot and petition to be in your head instead? There is no room for complaint, even if a millennium passes. People admire such a person, but how much more would God appreciate him? Many people grumble about coming to Belvedere at 6 o'clock, but what if I insisted that you come at 5 a.m., or even midnight? Would you respond, "If that is your desire then I'll definitely be there"? Or, "Why does he have to do this to us?"
Are you a person who owes no debt to God, who has no more indemnity to pay? The best gold is what we call 24 karat gold, which has had all foreign elements removed. Once the gold is completely purified, there is no more purpose for putting it into the fire again. Our goal is to be 24 karat gold, right?
Can you say, "For the rest of my life I will not complain. I will sit there like the dough, ready to be used in any manner God desires"?
This morning I am emphasizing indemnification throughout the course of an entire lifetime, not just one day or a few years. Can any of you say you don't need to pay any indemnity? Indemnity is miserable, and restoration by indemnification is not easy. You have to be victorious over it. When we understand how difficult it is, we can readily see why even God all mighty needed so many thousands of years for restoration.
How could there be so many failures by God's chosen central figures? Often they had plenty of room for complaint if they could not totally give themselves up for the sake of God. After traveling over a long a and difficult course they still failed. You are full of foreign material to begin with, but God picked you up from the fallen world and is trying to make you into genuine gold. How long do you think it will take? Just by looking at yourself you know how changeable and deceitful the human heart is. One day you are joyful and inspired by being a Moonie, but the next day you think differently and wonder why you should do such crazy things. If you are not changeable already, isn't there always a possibility that you will be the next day or next year?
God's work with this changeable man has put Him in a pitiful, miserable position. God gives all His effort an d heart to working with the dough, but He always wonders how He can guarantee the outcome. That is the sad part of God's situation. Because of his deceitfulness, no man can proudly walk in the sight of God. You must understand what a traitor each person h, as been and how impossible it is for God to trust you completely.
When I see someone who expects to be blessed just because he has been in the Unification Church for a number of years, I am totally amazed and can't even look at that person's face. Many couples have been blessed but some of them decided that they needed a nice home and that for them the dispensation would be secondary. Sometimes I send them far apart from each other to separate missions but even though they go they may grumble; that complaint is what God sees, not the external obedience. Suppose the world one day accepts me and sees the possibility of making the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. If at that time God sends couples off separately to the deserts of Africa, but they feel that they should finally be able to enjoy being married and they say, "How could You ask me to do that," then they are utter failures.
I am always waiting and ready for that kind of extraordinary order from God. No matter how sweet the victory I have won, I am always ready to pack up and go. My luggage is always ready. Once God gives me a mandate, I will go anywhere regardless of whether Mother or our children follow me. That is the way I have always lived and I have frequently received such mandates.
Many times I have just taken off at the spur of the moment-for example, when I went to North Korea and faced prison. In that prison with its incredible torture I really bit my tongue to not speak even one word of complaint to God. All my energy was concentrated on not speaking one such word. It seemed to me that God liked it because He had never found such a person before. God is looking for a genuine, unchangeable man from each race.
Sometimes I criticize a leader publicly without much reason, in such a way that I know he will later hear about it. Then I look to see how he reacts. I myself was tested many times in this fashion. God is really a strategist and this is one of His techniques. One moment I felt like I was on top of the mountain, but the next day I found myself way down in the valley, even upside down!
God is putting you through such trials because He wants you to be superior to any other individual in history. The entire world is trying to chase me away but I don't even think of taking cover. I might go to jail but that thought never bothers me either. Actually, American prisons are so good that going there is more like rest and relaxation than suffering. In prison I wouldn't have to work as hard as I do now, and I might get more sleep!
I recently asked the Japanese brothers and sisters to undertake a special forty-day fund raising campaign and they gave every ounce of their energy during this period. Sometimes members would be so tired that after they knocked on someone's door they would lean up against the wall and be asleep when the person came to the door. How would you react to see such a person at your front door? The police were called several times, and they brought one young man to I he station. When the officer asked him for informal ion, he was already asleep before they finished interrogating him. Only the Unification Church creates such events.
Even though he couldn't stay awake in front of the police of officers this brother never said an unkind thing about my being cruel or unreasonable. He never allowed an unkind word to be spoken by anyone else there either When the police finally put him in jail, he felt like he had arrived in heaven and his conscience never bothered him when he went to sleep. He had a real vacation! Meals were sent in to the prisoners and everything tasted good to him; he ate and then slept again and his conscience never hurt. His cell mates asked him how many times he had been in I prison, and when he said it was his first experience e they were astounded! They said he acted like an old-timer, being so nonchalant about the whole thing. Most newcomers can't eat anything and are so Up! ,et that they can't ever sleep at night. When this one b brother just ate well and slept well, the other prisoners assumed he was a professional jailbird!
The police realized that his intentions were pure, even though he had acted strangely, and just let him go after he had rested. There was genuine communication I between them, even in the prison. Even when our members are arrested by the police, the police e can perceive our members' unselfish motivation n and they become more and more friendly toward us ,. They tell us, "We wish you could have millions of members here in Japan because that would eliminate the youth problem and the problem of communism
Unification Church members are increasingly respected in Japan. The heads of big corporations have been asking our Church leaders if they could have some of our members as personal secretaries with whom n they could entrust money and confidential document s. They see that we are trustworthy and also that there is no place our members can't eventually make themselves welcome. They make friends everywhere. Do you recognize that only Reverend Moon can mold young people like this? Many other people are trying to promote their own selfish interests, but I am transforming you into totally unselfish people.
More and more people are realizing that only this movement offers hope for the world. The time will come when the outside world will be so chaotic that you will be able to move everywhere without resistance. If you practice this way of life, you cannot be in the wrong; even though since joining you seem to have been separated from everything you cherished, eventually it will all come back. None of your work will be wasted.
Have you ever thought that you were the yeast which would make things happen in the dough, and that you could willingly continue for your entire life without one word of complaint? Whoever lives his entire life like that will have God with him for eternity; God will permeate every part of his body and will take responsibility to restore him into His own. If someone knocks him flat, then God will gather him together and stand him up again.
If you become godly men and women in that fashion, then anyone who comes against you is not persecuting you, but persecuting God. Therefore, they will eventually be punished. Of course, you will not encourage their persecution in order to see them be crushed by God. You must pray for them with tears; it is our heart as godly men and women that no one be punished for doing evil toward us and we will pray for them, but it is a universal law that anyone who comes against the power of God will be punished.
When I get to the spirit world I will meet the many people who criticized me here on earth and tried to destroy me. They have ended up in hell, but when they see me will they say, "Because of you I ended up in hell!"? No, they will be totally ashamed and say, "Reverend Moon, I was totally dumb. I didn't understand your heart." I will never ask God to cast my opponents down into hell. I have always had compassion for my own enemies and prayed for their well-being because I know that they are the ones who will be ashamed, even when they are in hell. No one can claim that I am responsible for their situation and that I should have worked harder to bring them up to heaven. I don't want that kind of blame in spirit world, and by working hard my entire life I h have left no stone unturned to save the people, including my own enemies.
Last night I heard the sad news that one of our members was beaten to death. I regard her as a martyr. I immediately saw two things first that God and the Unification Church will not be hurt by it, and furthermore, that the very person who became a martyr for her faith and was sacrificed while doing her duty will not be harmed either. She had a very high standard for herself in our Church and she was always, sacrificing for God. She shall be treated well in the spirit world. Furthermore, when I go to the spirit world I will call all people like her first of all and give them a special feast. They are the glorious martyr s of God's providence.
The Unification Church is not doing anything wrong and Satan is working such evil against us without any basis. Our sister was not trying to harm anyone or take anything from them; she was just doing her duty with compassion when Satan attacked and killed her. If events like this accumulate, God has more power and reason to bring down chastisement against the satanic world. Events like this will stimulate the consciences of good people and ultimately there will be an outburst of indignation and people will speak out. No water comes out of a well dug in the desert, and digging deeper and deeper looks like a foolish project. However, eventually rain will come even to the desert, and that well will be filled and the desert can be changed. We have no fear . Be bold and strong and go forward without hesitating.
When our sister was ruthlessly attacked, she was praying at the moment of her death, "God, I cannot fulfill everything here, but I know You will take over and that the Unification Church will go beyond me to be successful and win the victory." Instead of discouraging you, her death should spur you on to heightened determination and commitment. We have a power that other people do not; we have an inner fire that people do not even realize exists. I feel happy that I can cry out for such a martyr, no matter whether she was white, black or yellow. Any such person would strike my heart the same way and I can shed tears for him. Perhaps her parents have resentment toward the Church, thinking, "I told her she should have come home to live with us. Now she has gotten what she never counted on and it's too late." I don't think like that; I am grieved over this event more than her own family.
This kind of event can be like an atomic bomb to explode each one of us into a greater height of spiritual power. We will all see this wonderful sister in heaven one day, and when we meet again we must have many stories to tell of how her martyrdom inspired us to greater efforts. She is our martyr and is the Unification Church's unique pride and inspiration. In order to pay indemnity as a Church, sacrifices have to be made; it is necessary to the process of growth.
Why do we need indemnity? It is needed for more than restoration; it is for re-creation. Our key thought for every day is how can we invest our entire lives more valuable to pay greater indemnity for mankind. Some pragmatic thinker, particularly here in America, would have another solution for enjoying not only heaven but also enjoying life here on earth: "I'll do all kinds of sensual things, but after I get old I will start going to church and praying in Jesus' name and then I will have insurance for heaven." That is totally wrong. An old, decayed tree cannot be recreated; it can only rot and become fertilizer. Genuine re-creation must start in one's youth, but it would be best for you to be born into the Unification Church and grow up in re-creation.
If you are lighter than air then you can float or fly, but when you are heavier, you sink to the earth. The person who has totally purified himself is bouyant, and the only reason that he is still on earth is because his physical body is holding him down.
Just like a balloon that floats away when you let it go, this most purified person will float all the way up to the highest place where God is. God will grab him and hold him close, saying, "Come to me. You and I are one; let's be joyful together." If you are that close to God. then no matter what you do, there is no limitation to your movement because it will perfectly accentuate your joy. When you burst into laughter, the entire universe will laugh too. When God moves in one direction, you do also, for whatever God does, you do.
When you see the Hudson River after a flood or big storm , you see all kinds of debris floating past, but perhaps internally you are even dirtier than that water. You know how pure you are. Each person in the fallen world was born impure, no matter how elevated I his lineage, and a purification process is needed. V water must be put through a very fine filter if it is to I be purified. You will have to pass through a very narrow passage to become pure, and if your "self" is still there, you will not fit. If you are rotten and corrupted than you will never give yourself the chance to become pure water.
If a giant camera photographed your entire life, what would you see? No one dictates whether you must go to hell or heaven; you yourself will determine your destination because you will be able to tell just by looking at yourself. This is the absolute truth. Is there room for any questionable element in God's heaven? God wants everyone to be purified and clear enough to enter heaven.
Is the Unification Church an easy-going church? We just ruthlessly push ourselves through the purification process. Do you realize how much you have changed since joining the Unification Church? Once your new self creates a big enough container, your old self will automatically be swallowed up. Even if someone kidnapped you and took you a to a big palace with every imaginable luxury, your spiritual compass ~ would automatically direct you toward the door. You eat simple meals and work hard all day, but this new self says that this is where you belong. No one can' take your new self away from you.
I'm sure that among you there are some who are already packed and ready to take off once the signal comes. Now I am giving you the signal to go; find out how you feel out there. If an easy way were available, I wouldn't need you to tell me because I would have gone long ago. I am smart and I would have found refuge before this. Walking the way of indemnification is the destiny of each person's entire life course. No one born on earth can avoid this destiny. Realizing this, I would rather stay here and work.
All men have to look at me and realize that to be successful a man should adopt my way of life and yours. It is a clever person who will demolish his "self." Do you like me because I give interesting talks on Sunday? How do you know God likes me? Your mind is somehow drawn to me and here you feel comfortable, but if you try to disregard me you feel ill at ease. You are like the plants which automatically grow toward the sun, whose leaves and branches go in one direction without anyone teaching them. All living things know the source of life and understand that by going in that direction they can receive life. Would the same situation occur if I went to Africa? I can't speak English, but if I could then you would all be so uplifted you would be flying. Sometimes you think you deliberately want to ignore me, but your heart is drawn to me anyway, just like due north pulls a compass needle. A motor generates a certain magnetic force with energy from a gigantic power source and I am the same; the more I turn, the more I pull. I have caused uproar in America because no one can see the power plant which is sending me the electric current.
Famous religious leaders here in America- Norman Vincent Peale, Oral Roberts, Billy Graham -thought there was already enough leadership here, but all of a sudden some heretic has come from Korea and they cannot figure him out. They will soon see that our way of life is much more free and meaningful and productive, and eventually they will follow our way. When a little stream of crystal-pure water flows down the dirty Hudson River people cannot see it, even when if floats right on top. We are like that stream which begins as drops of water but later becomes a river, and even though all kinds of resistance confront it, this water will continue to pour down in greater and greater volume and will eventually be seen by the world.
Fish are like men; if they live in dirty water they almost die from drinking it, but when they swim into pure water they feel new life and want to stay. Wherever the pure water goes, the fish want to go with it. Unification Church members just don't want to go anywhere else except where I go, and the rest of the world will soon want to follow you. Time is on our side, but it is ticking by for the fallen world. This pure water will eventually cleanse the entire world.
In the course of your life, restoration can be acquired on a worldwide scale. The work we do will eventual! y compel the satanic world to yield and let the pure water come in. Are you members who live in the World Mission Center restoring your rooms? You might feel resentment and think, "Father, how can I do all this at once? You know there just isn't time," but at I know that you just made up your mind that you couldn't do it; you are blocking your own mind i.
You know how you should live your life. Right now most of you are single, but the time will come when you will marry and have your own children. Should you continue to live under the same principle as when you were single? Is your responsibility first to your family and then to God? You must make up your mine I now about the entire course of your life. Someday you will be a Church leader and have responsibility for your family as well. Will you complain when you are overburdened, or will you accept it as a are at honor and do your absolute best?
Whenever the Japanese or American Churches have a big problem, they come to me. They take care of the good things themselves, but when a problem arises they come to me. Naturally it means more anxiety and mental torture for me, but I don't complain to them and tell them to take care of it themselves. If I did that then I would not be worthy to be leader. I must have the capacity to accept the problem, and in the meantime I accept the equivalent indemnity, giving them a boost. That's why the Church needs me. I want to take up America's worst problems, and when Americans realize this they will see that they need me. I want to take the worst problems of the world upon my shoulders and I feel the same way about God, who has many problems He cannot solve by Himself. I have always told Him I would take His worst problems.
Are you the kind of person who is needed by me, or do you need me? Right now you mostly need me. I must struggle to mold you and take out all kinds of foreign elements, but if I were to get tired of the work and refuse to do it, I would not be worthy to be here Then there would be no real connection between you and me, or between me and God. Will you make a decision about committing your entire life to living a public life of service to God, with enthusiasm and no complaint? Or will you do it for only a few years?
God does not want the kind of man who can be only half-heatedly committed. God is determined that you commit not only your entire life, but those of your children and grandchildren as well. He would want you to pledge that He will not be betrayed by your people because God wants to stay with that kind of family. If someone really wants to serve and love you then your heart is automatically committed to that person. God's heart moves in the same way
You recently ended a forty-day condition, but how many of you really participated in it and did your utmost? What did the rest of you do? Did you think that only the real fanatics would do it, but not you? If you felt that way, then you had nothing to do with the law of indemnity or with restoration or re-creation.
Do you want to just start a building and leave it unfinished, or do you want to finish it and enjoy living in it? You each know yourselves better than anyone else. Are you below or above the level of failure? You never know precisely at what moment you will die, and not making preparation for your final moment will have serious consequences. From the first day of my journey into this dispensation I thought of the day of my death, and even now it concerns me because I want to prepare myself.
Many of my antagonists back in Korea and Japan wished that I would die, but now ten years later, I find that those who prayed for my death are dying while I am still going strong. When I look at the children of those people I see all kinds of disasters in their lives and I pity them. The Church they prayed to see d destroyed is prospering all over the world. God has bee n with us and He is the determining factor.
I am the kind of person who feels great pain when I break an appointment or commitment. If a person cannot keep human appointments, how can he keep vertical appointments? Sometimes I would like to just lie down and forget all my cares, but thinking that way makes me feel guilty. At that moment I think about the many Unification Church members around the world who are making a showdown prayer to God. It I, as the leader, am going to sleep idle my conscience really hurts. Even when our members far away from America are praying for extraordinary events, I can feel it to my bones.
Many times conferences last very late at East Garden and as the people leave they ask me to rest. I may g o upstairs and sit on a chair, but I cannot go to bed. Sometimes I sit there all night dozing just a little bit, and if Mother wakes up in the night and finds me sitting there she is alarmed and says, "Is something wrong? Why do you sit there?" I think sometimes that I may not be a very "tasty" husband because there have been many times like that. There is no such thing as total relaxation in my life, however; I always feel the burden on my shoulders.
I am destined to go a certain distance and reach the goal with this burden. That's the kind of man I am. If there were no God in the universe then I would be the m lost tragic figure and you would be the most miserable people under the sun. But God is there and He is working harder than I am. If any of you were working harder than me then you might be entitled to comp lain to me, but none of you can ever complain to God. You must never do that.
Can you pledge that for your entire life you will not utter one word of complaint, but just bear the burden every day? I cannot be arrogant or boastful, no matte r where I am. Instead, I always think about what I c, an do for the people and what they need. Foremost t in my mind is how I can help them, wherever I go. I can speak to the members all night long and comfort them or give out all the money I have or give away my clothes. It has become the habit of my life to hold nothing back.
When all the Korean leaders come, I have no concept of time in my mind; I never feel pressure to go to bed even if it is late. I just go on as long as there is a response from the people. God sometimes wants to discuss things with me and have close, intimate fellowship. Each one of those leaders also has that feeling and I simply cannot disappoint them, but it is not easy to satisfy each one. My life can be described as that of the person who carries a burden or debt
In January I told you to do a forty-day condition here in America, and starting February 1, I asked the Japanese to do a special witnessing condition. I am now waiting to see what they will do compared to what you have done. Before you are aware of it, God is always mapping out a certain plan of action. America has an opulent way of life, and because you have much food and wealth you have no genuine desire to struggle or suffer in order to gather things. If you don't use your wealth in the right way, it will ultimately be an unfortunate thing instead of a blessing.
It is apparent that God would never send the Messiah to the white race first because white people are not willing to tackle indemnity head on. Instead they avoid it and try to find another way. Asian people, however, have a deep capacity to absorb pain and suffering. No one likes indemnity, but Asians are ready to accept it again and again without words. The Divine Principle explains that the solutions to world problems will come from the Orient. Seeing the current situation here in the Western world as compared to the Orient, it is clear that God's ultimate religious doctrine and new truth will not come from the Western hemisphere, but from Oriental soil.
I wanted to have our movement around the world sacrifice for the sake of America. That has been my policy so far, but no more. I have come to the conclusion that it is not a wise policy. You must be repentful about this, but also be able to analyze yourself. When I think in that fashion then God thinks in that way. I am looking at the whole situation analytically now instead of just accepting it. There is only one way to correct the situation, which is by giving you the revolutionary concept of committing your entire life for the way of restoration through indemnity. Have you been thinking in that fashion?
When analyzed historically, Asians have suffered an d paid indemnity while the Western world has been reaping the result. You have prospered greatly. Basically, religion teaches self-denial and rejection of material possessions, but in the meantime Western civilization has reaped material prosperity; instead of self-denial, it has lived a life of self-glorification. The end result of such a life is emptiness of spirit.
History is now completing one full cycle. Asians have been paying indemnity for spiritual benefit, and once it is all paid it will be their turn to reap material well-being. The Western world is at the peak of its materialistic culture, and now a trend toward g going back to nature is emerging. The hippie movement is an expression of the desire to get rid of the burden of civilization and go back to the simple life. The New Age is dawning now in Asia, but the people there ere should not accept material benefit from a self-centered point of view. They must use it instead for the well-being of the entire world. Their spiritual maturity should direct them to use material from the heavenly standpoint.
A country like Korea, which suffered so much in history: y, is booming economically right now. After World war II Germany and Japan became prosperous by exporting many goods, reaching the $10 billion level. Korea reached that level in seven years. Because of Korea's thrust into the export market, Japan is now suffering somewhat; the industrial market is increasingly being influenced by Korean merchants.
Hope will come next to India, and when that nation booms like Korea, the whole world picture will change India has been poverty stricken primarily because of the religious teachings there, which emphasized rejection of material goods in favor of isolation and meditation. I want to give India a new concept of religion and bring the right kind of physical revival there.
The age of materialism centered upon the individual is over. The new age of material well being coupled with the concept of the whole is now dawning and the Unification Church is going to be the bridge between the two. After 200 years of prosperity, America is at a standstill and doesn't know where to turn. Someone must bridge the Pacific so that America's future can unite with the Oriental aspect. I came for that purpose.
I would like to bridge the gap between all five races, and therefore, the Unification Church is bringing its members from all the races. When you have a contract to build a bridge, would you like to make it strong or weak? You might think you are Japanese or American-made gravel and you can only be mixed with cement from your nation, but no-everyone will be mixed together. We are mixing gravel and cement from all over the world, and once we finish the bridge it must be the strongest of all.
My contribution cannot be ignored by the history books. It is already done. America is still opposing me, even trying to find ways to get rid of me and our international members, but in the meantime the rest of the world will be looking to me for hope. Some Westerners say that they can accept me, but they wish I could be a white man. That's the wrong concept. If I were a Westerner, there would be no one to take care of Asia. The bridge can only be built by my coming from Asia and having the Westerners unite with me. I am one individual, but I want you to know that you are not united just with me but with Asia as well. Even the way you are sitting on the floor listening to me here reflects Asian influence. Already you are adopting some Oriental ways.
The longest sermon a Western minister might give would be thirty minutes, but I have already spoken 3 1/2 hours. The Asian concept is that when you are doing something good, forget about time. When Asian people see something good coming, they don't care about anything else; they just want to be there and do that one thing. The Western mind is very analytical and stresses organization; for example, even if something good is happening, they feel compelled to be at their office at a certain time.
The East and West are like twins and now they are fighting like Cain and Abel, Esau and Jacob and Perez and Zerah did. Who is going to blend them together'? Some movement must come in between and harmonize them both with an ideology that is totally acceptable to Asia, but which the Western world is also eager to have. Christianity is basically a Western religion, but I have harmonized it with all the Oriental philosophies. In it you can find both an Asian aspect and Western aspect. Asians will see it as being the religion and philosophy they have lived for many years, but the West will say it belongs to them!
The glue that will hold the East and West together has to be very strong. There have been many ideologies in both worlds, such as communism and democracy, but the ideology which will bring the two worlds together should be the strongest of all. Many people say that Reverend Moon's ideology is excellent, having both spirituality and logic, but they find it too hard to live up to. I like to hear comment s like that. If everyone could accept this ideology but still wanted to go the easy way, then the Unification Church would be diluted into nothing and would disappear.
A diamond is precious because of its hardness, because nothing can force it apart. The value of the Unification Church is such that nothing can be found wrong with it, but its standard is also hard to live up to. Good things don't come easily; you have to survive hard ship. Asian philosophy describes how there are five colors of skin in the human race. They should stick together to make a new race which can be victorious , over any difficulties, and then the two cultures a f East and West will be able to blend. I am thinking of having a great international marriage.
We come to the conclusion that it is worthwhile for anyone to commit his life to this cause. Many people have given up their lives for the sake of just one nation' For instance, in the Arlington National Cemetery near Washington D.C. there are the graves of many dead heroes who gave their lives for America. How ~ much greater is our cause? It is not just the cause of one nation, but a matter of the universal cause in v which East and West will join together and create God's world here on earth. The nation for which we are becoming the heroes is the ultimate nation which God has been longing for. Is it worthwhile investing your life for it?
This life is particularly exciting for men because they are more adventurous and here we have an adventurous cause. I have been doing research on billiards, but everything is dispensational. I like to see the balls flying around the pool table, with the white ball bumping into all the others and finally knocking one into the hole. When that happens, I just have to shout out with joy.
I have discovered great beauty in this life of ours. Why is the law of indemnity so difficult to live? It is because God really wants to find the genuine heroes and ordinary people cannot pass His test; only the really good ones can go beyond it. When you study do you just sit down and relax, or do you wrap your head up with a towel like the Japanese do and really commit yourself? When you study to pass an exam you cannot afford to sleep, so maybe you hold yourself upright with a rope connected to the ceiling. Would you like to pass the test even if you had to do that, or would you rather sleep and fail the test? If you do abnormal things but pass the test, all other people will bow down and commend your courage.
This is why I really like restoration by indemnity. I love it. How about you? Your yes has a hollow ring! If you really hang onto that law for five, ten, twenty years, when you look around you will find no one else with you. All of a sudden you will see God in front of you and He will declare you the winner. If no one else is there, He will give the entire world to you and no one else will complain. Those people who flunked the course won't deserve any blessing and God will give all of theirs to you.
I am the champion at living the life of indemnity, and for fifty years I have been running, running, running, without even looking left or right. I have found myself all alone and God is saying to me, "Yes, my son, you are the first." I accidentally found myself in that position! All I did was ruthlessly live the Principle and I turned out to be number one. In the meantime, however, my entire life has gone by-I don't have my youth now and I didn't have any romance. I was just a crazy, single-minded person. Many people think I am greedy, but absolutely not. I only held on to that one principle of restoration by indemnity. Do you think I will be more well-known in the future? Today-and even more so in the future-I am a mystery and a puzzle. People won't be able to figure me out, so they will organize research centers and fund them to find who I am! They will investigate in all areas, like sociology, theology, politics, everywhere.
I have spoken four hours now. That is enough time to take a transcontinental flight; we could have been in San Francisco by now. Are you bored? Once I spoke for fourteen hours, but amazingly enough, those listening forgot how time was passing. When you feel joy and happiness, time is insignificant. Heaven is wonderful because it is the place where only joyful hearts can go. There is no sense of time there; it is a timeless world.
If you commit your life to restoration by indemnity, can you expect that you will accomplish ten and a hundred times what you have done in the past? In January I simply told you to do your best in the forty-day condition, but still many of you didn't even participate. Now what you are saying to me this morning is, "Father, you don't even have to speak to us. Just point out the direction and we will run." You aren't lying to me? I have been deceived many times, but is this different? Indemnity comes in handy; if you lie to me again I will take it as indemnity. However, I will trust you this time. You said yes, and I will take it at face value. When you go back, write your resolution down on paper and put it up in your room. Write down whether you will commit the entire course of your life, not just part, for restoration and re-creation by paying indemnity.
You married couples should commit yourselves together holding each other's hands, to the task of re-creation through paying indemnity. Sometimes I think about taking one blessed couple as an example and giving them an extraordinary task in order to show the world how they can fulfill. The word indemnity comes in handy in marriage too. When you look at your wife she might be the ugliest possible creature, but then you say, "Yes Father, I want to pay indemnity!" The person who can really make up his mind like that when he faces pain will have a free pass to heaven for the rest of his life.
All kinds of things will happen when you have children, but they all have meaning in the sight of God. Any sacrifice you pay has meaning and gives joy to God, and the word indemnity will make you invincible. Suppose you bear the national burden upon your shoulders and feel that you simply can't continue with the incredible pain. You might die for the nation, but then you will say, "Yes, it's indemnity; I am becoming a sacrifice for the sake of the country. I can do it." In the Unification Church the word indemnity is a chunk of gold. When you look at the situation of indemnity there is no hardship you cannot bear.
The Unification Church uses indemnity to endure bad things, but actually it is a glorious word. It corresponds to sacrifice because you have a purpose for paying indemnity, but you are willing to do it because it is a most honorable, heroic thing. You must welcome the word indemnity; your eyes must want to see it, your ears hear it, your heart want to accept indemnity and your whole body want to do it willingly instead of avoiding it. How can you complain if you welcome indemnity?
Can anyone say he has never spoken one word of complaint in the Unification Church? The people outside our Church criticize me, and if you criticize me inside the Church, what's the difference between you and them? You are then a worse enemy because you know the Principle. Since you are not yet perfect inside, how can you even say to God, "If You are on our side, why don't You demolish all the evil people outside?"
From this year on you must be different. Do you pledge that? The forty-day condition is over, and that's why I am honestly asking such a question now. Since you pledged something you did not fulfill, I want you to make a new start. Restoration by indemnity is welcome. We must pay the price. True happiness only comes through indemnity, and if that is not true then the Unification Church has no more room to exist and God has no power.
When you get married, determine yourselves to be ready to go any road of indemnity, no matter what is laid opt for you. Then your family will be given abundant blessing, not only for yourselves but for posterity. I have watched how blessed couples live, with what concept and what goodness they ultimately bring. All these have been test cases, and what I told you is true in their lives. God is there and His law is always working.
Is Mother beautiful or not? If I had been expecting a beautiful bride when the time came for my marriage, then God never would have given Mother to me. Instead I told God, "I don't care about beauty. Even if my wife is a cripple, that's OK. I want to do Your will, whatever it is. Whatever woman will do Your will is the one I want." Then God picked a most beautiful woman for me. If that had not happened, I would still have no regret because the blessing would be given to the generations to come. Don't try to harvest all the goodness of your actions in one generation. You have eternity to live and the fruits will go to many generations.
So far we have looked at indemnity as ugly or tragic, but we must look at it in the light of happiness, as happy indemnity. Am I unfortunate or happy? God's blessings to me are so abundant that I don't have to worry about a place to stay anywhere in the world. There are always people who want to give me food or clothes or a car, and all these things come because I sought to live without them. I am always thinking that I can sacrifice my clothes, my food and my car, and that there is nothing I cannot give up; that's why God gives all those things to me. It's an amazing law of heaven.
This law of indemnity will revive the person who is in hell and give him opportunity for resurrection. Whoever wants to go the most difficult way and be given the heaviest task and pay more indemnity than anyone else will ultimately be the winner. I' your family continues living the law of indemnity for three generations and still God does not seem to recognize it, then you have proven that God doesn't exist! But it does work. Live it yourself and find out.
God dwells wherever indemnity is being paid because that is the only way He can be present. You can do things passively because you have to, or willingly because you want to. If you do them voluntarily then of course you cannot complain.
If your suit complains, then take it off. If your arm complains, chop it off. When you complain you are actually chasing God away, and the Unification Church will go away and I will also go away from complaint. Perhaps you might lose all your fingers one by one because of complaint, but even so, if you uphold the law of indemnity you are still the winner. This is a serious matter. We can't emphasize indemnity enough. You will pay all kinds as we progress through the worldwide dispensation, but one way or another we are going to go that road. Who wants to bear the biggest load?
From this time on there is nothing to worry about and nothing that is impossible. God has heard your pledge and this earth has heard your testimony, along with the air, your mind and your limbs. Do you want to live up to that testimony'? Then you won't even mind being pushed?
Anyone who is here listening to me for the first time might think I am a dictator who is torturing you with mental pressure, but I have a word for that man: Go ahead and die and you will see whether I am right and what the consequences are. The strictest person for living up to that law of indemnity is me. When you fail the law of indemnity, your whole being will become your judge. Even though you have heard the word indemnity before, you must really know its true meaning. Look at Jesus Christ, who put himself through the most incredible ordeal his whole life long. He knew he could lose nothing by going through indemnity; he fasted for forty days because he knew he would gain tremendous victory.
Christianity paid much indemnity when many were martyred during its first 400 years under the Roman Empire. Millions of Jews have been killed in history, but that was historical indemnity. Many lives were sacrificed all over the world, but that also is part of historical indemnity. Unless we fulfill it now, indemnity will go on and on for thousands of years more becoming an even more severe burden. We have to stop it somehow by paying it off. Indemnity can be condensed in my lifetime, allowing us to pay the historical debt all at once and leaving none for future generations. That is the meaning of the three seven-year courses.
These 21 years are the most horrendous part of human history, with social upheavals and the worst kind of conditions. The gigantic democratic world will be shaken from the bottom up, even America, which his prospered for so many decades. The communists thought they could take over the world, but their world too will be shattered. Even Christianity, which has prospered for 2,000 years, has been weakened from the ground up in the last twenty years. Conflicts between the races and all conceivable human problems have occurred in these 21 years.
During this period, therefore, we have to pay indemnity and I know precisely how much we must pay. This is the reason I sent missionaries out to 120 nations to have them suffer. As far as these nations are concerned, sending these missionaries out is equivalent to the advent of the Messiah. They were opposed in one nation after another, which means that God has a condition already laid to withdraw the blessing from that nation and give it to the people who deserve it. God has prepared much blessing for the world and He wants to disseminate it through the missionaries. By opposing them, however, those countries have lost the privilege of receiving it and God will put it in storage until someone is entitled to receive it. The only group of people which is ready is the Unification Church, because we are being opposed by the world.
Receiving rejection is not necessarily a losing game because it will give God the opportunity to withdraw His blessing and give it to the people who deserve it. Opposition will never daunt us or deter our advance. The Washington Monument Rally was held in order to receive worldwide rejection so that the providence would proceed faster. Unless I had let the entire world know about me, everyone in spirit world would have protested to me that I didn't let them know about what I was doing on earth, and would have held me responsible. But now I have done my best. Since they did not listen it becomes their responsibility, not mine.
Is there any American, even in the most remote backwoods, who can say that he hasn't heard of me? Any Koreans? Any Japanese? All the world has heard. We have done the initial job at least. The scale of government harassment has been incredible; the Koreagate scandal in particular has ballooned, and I am sure the government investigators will probe and poke to see whether I am involved in any way. The deeper they go, the less they will find because there is absolutely no evidence. This is God's heavenly strategy.
Our adversaries have tried hundreds of things against us, but we not only survived, we turned out to be innocent. This is really a testimony to history. I laugh at how they tried to brand me as a CIA agent. Look at the budget figures. The Korean embassy budget can be no more than $200,000, but in our world movement I spent many times that in 1976. Their entire embassy could not provide one month's budget for the Unification Church. How could the Korean government control me then? Could anyone be so crazy as to believe that? Even common sense could not tie me to the KCIA. Now the allegation is changing to speculation that maybe I am a rich American CIA agent instead.
The American CIA knows very well what the truth is and they are smiling to themselves about these ridiculous allegations. They know how I have been attacked in the United States by people trying to destroy the Unification Church. This is all heavenly strategy. God is using every possible tactic to make me known, and because I am a controversial figure I am more and more susceptible to opposition. I enjoy the taste of indemnity.
Our opponents, like the deprogrammers, thought they were winning, that I was at the end of my rope, but now they are being attacked! We take all this as indemnity; we are paying the price so we can claim the merchandise. This is a secret heavenly strategy for you to use; when people spit at you for being Moonies, say to yourself, "I like the taste of indemnity." Then nothing under the sun can stop you. On that day you can feel that you have done more for God than ever before, and then even spirit world will open up and comfort you. What a good bargain! Avoiding the law of indemnity is no advantage. When you go into a quiet village, you can approach the people with the idea of stirring up controversy and paying indemnity that way. There are enough bad problems in the world, so you can raise good problems instead.
Sometimes I wonder why the Western culture allows people to keep their shoes on indoors after wearing them all day long. I figured that the white race came from the colder regions where hunting was the way of life. People had to keep their shoes on because they never knew when an animal would appear and they always had to be ready at every moment. I assume that was the case, but why do you continue that habit even now? Probably you do that because you want to be ready to jump up whenever any good news comes, whether is comes from Asia, Africa, North or South America. You want to be the first. That's how America became rich.
The "shoe civilization" accumulated a great deal of material wealth, for sure, but now in the age of the Unification Church we will change all that. You are learning to take your shoes off. In the Old Testament when Moses saw the burning bush and heard the voice of God, he was told to take off his shoes far he was standing on sacred ground. Moses obeyed and talked with God. This room here in Belvedere was originally a garage, but is it a holy place now or not? The first thing you do in a holy place is take off your shoes and meditate, thinking about the past and repenting and getting rid of all evil thoughts. Renew your energy, and then go out as a new creature when you put shoes on again.
You are not running now out of greediness, but for the sake of others. Now for the first time the Western culture is seeing the beauty of taking off shoes; once you put them on for the sake of others, don't take them off again but run until there are holes in the soles. So far you have been hunting and gathering material wealth all around the world with shoes on, but now you should do more than before since you are doing things for God. That will bring a new type of prosperity to the West.
Can you become the person who is inspired, re-created and committed to bringing the new prosperity for God and humanity? Can you be totally different from the rest of Western culture ? Even wearing high heels will make sense in that case. Women have misused them so far, but with your heels high you can run faster for the heavenly purpose. 1 speculated why Western women have long legs and Orientals have short legs, and I thought that God must have had a specific purpose; God wanted to use Western women for all kinds of running. American women are more subjective and take more the role of the initiator, and I thought that God must have some purpose for that. I would like to mobilize American women to go around the world to bring the men into line. They are the best for the mission. One thing you American women need to develop is total conviction about the truth so that you have the heart of God and True Parents. Once that is planted in you, you will be invincible champions for God all over the world.
Can each of you commit your entire life to restoration by indemnity? Since most of you did not participate in the forty-day condition, a new 43-day period will begin on March 1, continuing until April 12. The Japanese members are doing a forty-day condition which started on February 1. Do you want to be behind them? We will see. Can you determine, "I will commit my entire life to it. I have been disciplining myself until now and this is the period for me to prove it." Go ahead and receive harsh treatment; let the people hit you. Go to the worst suffering.
If someone hits your left cheek, turn your right cheek to them. When you know the value of indemnity you can certainly do that. This is also what the Bible teaches, but you must do it willingly, not with complaint. When you can tell God that you have lived His credo, He in turn will tell you amazing things. The Bible teaches that you must give your life for your neighbor as the highest form of love. With the law of indemnity there is nothing you cannot do. Can you volunteer for service in any manner possible? What would the end result be? You will win friends and people will respect you, not condemn you.
You have an open forum out there. Boldly live what the Bible has described. Once you understand indemnity, have the boldness and courage to live it. In this particular period, I especially want the Japanese who have come to America to demonstrate the highest form of sacrifice. Right now the entire Japanese movement is doing it, so the Japanese champions here in America should be ahead instead of behind them. You might feel you could fast the whole 43 days and still go on. Some fast is good during this period. Would you prefer fasting or gaining the result?
This is the last Sunday in February. I did not want to spend it meeting with a group of failures.
I cannot just accept you when you say that you have not fulfilled. February 23 ended the first 43 days and on that day I wanted to go to the World Mission Center to see you, but I didn't because I didn't feel too good about it. You really didn't respond to the call during the 43 days. There was no heroic action for me to praise. I am particularly looking to people at Headquarters who are doing desk jobs; I will really check this time and see how seriously you are taking this condition. Otherwise, you will start over again at the very beginning with MFT training and then work your way back.
This is not a vindictive statement. It is made for the sake of America, the life or death of this nation. In order to lift this nation up, you have to become more sacrificial and bear the burden more than I have done. How can you hold up your faces without doing that? I came from Asia to suffer for this country, and you as Americans should do more.
I gave the Japanese the responsibility of winning three spiritual children in these 43 days. I did not set that here in America for the first condition. I just told you to go out and that's why the results were poor. But now you have a definite goal and purpose; three spiritual children is your individual goal.
Let us pray.
(Following the sermon, Col. Pak spoke briefly)
In his sermon Father mentioned the heroic death of our sister, Christiane Coste, two days ago. She was from France and was in our movement for six years. She worked at many, many tasks in our Church, most recently with the public relations team, and she demonstrated beautiful faith and determination to serve our True Parents.
I knew her personally. She was slim and wore glasses and spoke very charmingly. Her parents once tried to kidnap her and bring her back to France. Her father, a high government official, approached the French Embassy to try to get government assistance in separating their daughter from the Unification Church. Christiane went to the French Embassy and testified, from the Ambassador down to the lowest of official about how happy and committed she was to the Unification Church, how the Church saved her and how she found purpose and meaning in following Reverend Moon. She not only asked them to not do anything about sending her back to France, but asked them to discover for themselves who Reverend Moon is. "It is your salvation. Not only I must serve this way, but all of you need new life," she told them. After listening to her, the Embassy people truly admired her courage.
She had been an exemplary member during her entire time in America, through all the rallies and campaigns, being especially dynamic and eloquent in her duties for the Fast for the Repatriation of the Japanese Wives. She worked hard in many missions recently, including newspaper-selling. Every morning she had a rule to sell the paper first, deliver her subscriptions, then go to work and return to the center in the evening. Two days ago she went out as usual to deliver the paper. Her area was Harlem but she always went there without fear. When she didn't return two mornings ago, her brothers and sisters from her center became worried and went to Harlem to find her. They discovered that she had been to three apartments, but the people in the fourth had not seen her that day.
When a neighbor called our brothers and sisters later that day and they found her body behind an apartment building, she had been badly beaten and a police autopsy is being conducted today. The most striking fact was the peaceful smile on her face, even though, there were many cuts and bruises on her face.
Knowing her testimony through her deed at the French Embassy and also knowing what she did in her public relations mission, we can see that she is like Stephen of the Christian church in the first century. Stephen was the first Christian martyr, who fearlessly sly preached about Christ to the mob and prayed for the forgiveness of those who were stoning him. When our sister was attacked she could have been a coward, but she stood up, just like she did at the French Embassy. When Stephen spoke to the mob they could not hear the truth, so they closed their ears and picked up stones to cast at him. Very likely our sister faced a similar situation.
She is a glorious martyr. Last night when Father heard about her death the first thing he said was that she was our glorious martyr. We must honor her in that way. Each of you may not have a chance to participate in a memorial service for her, but each one of you can offer your own memorial prayer. It can become a spirit of inspiration for all of us, so that in the next43 days we will work just like Christiane did. Even in her final struggle her final words were for our True Parents. If we go out in this spirit then we can open up all of heaven and bring a miracle to New York.
That is the reason Father spoke about indemnity this morning It is a most fitting, beautiful eulogy to Christiane. He gave this sermon not only to you, but to this wonderful sister who is now in heaven. I know that more than anyone else Christiane heard Father's sermon, in a way it was directly spoken to her. We all heard it, but she was the most appreciative of all this morning. We must share the same feeling as our sister.
He, death will never weaken us. I feel, "Christiane, you have done a great job. We will all do the same." Don't you feel the same? We will go out and wage the same battle and win the same victory, and if necessary we will become the next martyrs without fear. That should be our way of thinking.
On the way out I want you each to say a word of prayer. This morning is like a memorial service because Father has honored her death and showed her spirit to be like a spiritual atomic bomb. She would want to be used like that so that each one of us will be inspired an explode like another atomic bomb in the city of New York and all over the country. Let that young lady truly be our heroine and let all of us truly be inspired by her so we can fulfill Father's goal.
I want you to deeply share this inspiration and fire yourselves like a bullet out to the world. Christiane heard Father's sermon about indemnity, and she does not regret her death. She gave her life in a heroic and magnificent manner, and we should also be able to do that. Then this group of people will turn the United States upside down and rightside up again.
Father is not just giving a sermon; he is deeply anxious that each one of you truly understand him so that you can become like him. With this commitment we can win a great victory.
Let us have a moment together in silent prayer to make this pledge internally, really committing ourselves to) what Father said this morning.