Leaders Building a World of Peace

This address was given on August 24, 1992, to the assembled leaders attending the World Culture and Sports Festival, Seoul, Korea.

Distinguished chairpersons of the First World Culture and Sports Festival, distinguished guests and participants from Korea and around the world:

As founder of the World Culture and Sports Festival, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to you for having gathered here in such a large number to pray for the success of this festival.

I would like to speak to you this evening on the topic, "Becoming the Leaders in Building a World of Peace." During the mid-1930s, when I was sixteen years old and the Korean peninsula was under the forced occupation of Japan, I received a special mission from Heaven through Jesus. I am seventy-two now, and in the intervening years there has not been even a single second when I did not think of God's will and His commands.

I lived my boyhood and youth under the colonial rule of imperial Japan, so I know only too well the excruciating pain and tragic circumstances suffered by the weaker and smaller nations of the world. Because I possess a certain degree of discernment into God's heart, it was with unspeakable pain and sorrow that I witnessed, first, the cruelty of the more powerful nation as it plundered the weaker nation of Korea and, later, the terrible carnage of the Second World War.

Then immediately following World War II, in a development that compounded our already difficult situation, the Korean peninsula was divided between north and south. In 1950, the Korean War broke out and Koreans found themselves in a fratricidal conflict. Various countries of the world on the left and right chose to support one or the other of the opposing sides. I witnessed this tragic history directly, and I know from my heart of hearts how much pain and sorrow has been brought to God and humanity by the loss of a world of peace.

How do you imagine God has felt since the time of creation as He had to watch while time and time again brothers set themselves against each other, with Cain, the older brother, taking the life of Abel, the younger? All wars since the beginning of human history have been, in their essence, struggles among brothers. The Bible teaches us this through its record of the murder of Abel by Cain in the family of Adam. Why do such conflicts among brothers occur over and over on the levels of family, tribe, society, nation and world?

The reason lies in the sin committed by Adam and Eve, the parents of Cain and Abel. Adam and Eve were the original ancestors of humankind, placed in a position to represent all the men and women who would come after them. As such, they should have brought God's ideal of creation into reality By breaking God's commandment, however, they forfeited their position as the true parents of goodness for all of humanity who would be born after them. Instead, they became fallen parents of evil. It is this evil that is the original sin, the fundamental root of all crime and unhappiness in human society.

The original sin of the first human ancestors was that Adam and Eve broke God's commandment and engaged in an illicit sexual relationship. In this way, they formed a blood relationship with the devil, and became fallen false parents, passing on false love, false life and a false lineage to the entire human race. There is only one way for humanity to escape this world of evil and struggle, and that is to be reunited with their true parents and be reborn through them. Only when this is accomplished can the true way to cast off original sin be revealed.

After I received my calling at the age of sixteen, I spent the years searching for the answer to precisely this problem of how to bring salvation to humankind. The result of that lonely search for truth is the new expression of God's truth that we refer to today as the Unification Principle, Godism and Headwing philosophy On August 15, 1945, the day Korea was liberated from imperial Japan, I began proclaiming this truth on the earth. Because I have proclaimed these teachings, I have had to undergo tremendous persecution and attack.

Think for a moment about the fact that I have been imprisoned as many as six times in my life. This alone is enough to tell you how harsh the attacks against me have been. The First World Culture and Sports Festival, being held during this forty-seventh year since I began proclaiming the Divine Principle, is a holy celebration. It is an occasion to let the entire world see, and to offer to God, the harvest reaped from the seeds I have sown and nurtured for the liberation of God and humanity and for the realization of a world of peace. Everything I have striven to achieve during my life has been for the purpose of confirming the fact that all people in the world are brothers and sisters before God, our common Parent. Our common ties as members of the global family centered on God transcend our differences based on race, nationality and international boundaries.

The primary institution in which my teachings are being practiced is the Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity, that is, the Unification Church. There is now no country in the world where the Unification Church does not exist. The Unification Church has put its roots down in all races, nationalities and countries. The International Marriage Blessing of 30,000 couples that will be held tomorrow in Seoul's Olympic Main Stadium is certain to be a testimony to the fact that humanity is one great family centered on God.

With the Unification Church as the root organization, I have founded many other organizations for projects in a wide variety of fields. These organizations are for the purpose of building a world of peace in which we, the human family, centered on God, can rejoice in our freedom, ideals and happiness. For the World Culture and Sports Festival, I have gathered the most prominent of these organizations here in Seoul. During the festival, a new unified structure will be founded to facilitate stronger mutual ties and closer cooperation among these organizations.

The International Conference on the Unity of the Sciences, the Professors World Peace Academy the World Media Conference, the Summit Council for World Peace, the Assembly of the World's Religions, the Inter-Religious Federation for World Peace, the Women's Federation for World Peace, the international performing arts groups and International CARP will meet during this time of the International Marriage Blessing and provide forums for us to enlighten our intellects and reaffirm our determination in devoting ourselves to the cause of building a world of peace.

The International Marriage Blessing of the Unification Church, which I will be conferring during this time, is the blessing of resurrection. Through this ceremony, humanity is able to cut itself clear from original sin and recover true love, true life and true lineage of God. It is within the context of this ceremony that we can give birth to peace that enables us to realize the ideal of the great brotherhood of humanity which transcends race, nationality and international boundaries.

As the founder of these organizations and groups, I wish to reaffirm here this evening that their purpose is to bring about world peace, according to the ideal of God and humanity They are not created for the benefit of any particular group or political faction. They do not serve the narrow interests of any particular nation or state. Rather, they exist to bring happiness, peace and freedom to God, the Creator of the universe, and to all humanity

Our movement, thus, must bring salvation to all families, all nations, all states and, finally, to the entire world. It must be a family-saving, nation-saving, world-saving movement.

Our families are being destroyed by the debasement of sexual ethics through illicit relationships and decadent lifestyles. Every nation is suffering the agony of the destruction of its moral standards and the accompanying increase in crime. There is no solution in sight to the conflicts between political factions. Poverty and ignorance continue to plague us. There is no sign that we may be nearing solutions to the world's international border disputes, to the attitudes of prejudice between religious groups, or to the conflicts between the various races and ethnic groups. World peace is under constant threat from the selfish actions of the world's countries and peoples.

Environmental pollution also is destroying our planet to the degree that we are approaching a serious crisis for the future of humankind. We may all find ourselves on a common path of destruction, unless we are able to resolve the crisis we face through a love which transcends all national boundaries and ethnic differences and encompasses all the world's people. Let me emphasize again: any successful resolution of this crisis must be based on an effort to build a unified world through a movement of true love rooted in the Divine Principle, or Godism.

In early July I spoke in five cities around Korea at rallies held by the Women's Federation for World Peace. There, I declared that my wife, WFWP President Hak Ja Han Moon, and I are the True Parents of all humanity I declared that we are the Savior, the Lord of the Second Advent, the Messiah.

Why would I stand before women leaders of Korea and make such an astonishing and fearful announcement? The reason is that God has been carrying out His providence to send the Messiah as the second perfected Adam who has subjugated Satan, in order to establish a perfected Eve who will represent all women. God has done this because it was when Satan caused Eve to fall that human history came to be permeated with sin.

Also, women are the central point for the love, peace and spirit of service that protect our families, and it is the healthy family that must be the starting point in our work to build world peace. The establishment of God-centered family ethics and the education of our children lie at the innermost core of my teachings as the person who has declared for himself the responsibilities of the Messiah. The family is the holy sanctuary that must cleanse this defiled world.

That is the reason it was necessary that I, as the Messiah, make my declaration to women leaders gathered around President Hak Ja Han Moon, my wife, who stands in the position of perfected Eve. This declaration is an exhortation and notice to all who follow my teachings to join Mrs. Moon and me in our attendance to God on the path of sacrifice and service for the salvation of this world.

As I conclude my remarks this evening, I would like to propose, so that all of our activities for world salvation can be carried out more effectively, that we establish "The House of Unification for World Peace" as a structure for the peaceful unification of the world.

To avoid any possible misunderstanding, particularly regarding the title of this structure as rendered in the Korean language, let me state clearly that I am not proposing to create a political party. The House of Unification for World Peace that I propose is not a political party it will not have the function commonly associated with political parties, that is, to seek the executive powers of government in a given country. It is, rather, a "house" to reinforce the concerted actions of the world's countries, and foster a unified foundation and common effort for world peace.

If we say that heaven is a symbol of man, then earth is a symbol of woman. The house is the stage on which a woman's life is played out. The mother is the center of a nest filled with love for all the members of the family. The family, with the mother at its center, is the basic unit making up the nation and the world. I use the word "House" in the title of the structure I am proposing, because this word contains the meaning of "exalting the earth, centering on the mother." It also signifies "to teach." The word "House" in this title, therefore, signifies a center for the education of women.

Through this structure, we can provide new impetus to the work of giving opportunities for meaningful exchanges and education on a God- centered vision for world peace to people of all countries and all walks of life, including political leaders, scholars, religious leaders, journalists and educators, as well as leaders of women and youth. This vision of world peace will be centered on families in which mothers, representing all women of the world, accomplish mind-body unity through love.

If you will embrace my proposal and join me in this task, then our efforts are certain to bring the world of peace which is the object of God's desire to all of humanity within the remaining eight years of the twentieth century. We who are gathered here this evening will be the leaders in opening the gates to a world of peace in the coming twenty-first century.

I pray you may have a pleasant visit during the time of the festival and that God will bestow His boundless blessings and protection upon your work.