Before and After the Blessing [Part 1]

Would anyone like to volunteer to translate the title of today's speech? It is "Before and After the Blessing." The Blessing is before us now.

People generally keep wanting something more. God is like that, too. He created Adam, and when Adam looked lonely God wanted to create something additional for him. Therefore God created Eve. Some people might think that women are just a fringe benefit, but I don't mean that.

If you have one piece of fruit and decide you want another, you will probably choose something different the second time. If your first fruit was yellow, then you will want a red one, or perhaps a dark blue one.

When you walk down the street you want to carry something in your hand or have something in your pocket. You want to decorate yourself with rings, necklaces, earrings and such. It is a fundamental human desire to look beautiful and ornament oneself. You want shoes that are not just functional but decorative. Women wear makeup for the same basic reason. All of this is good.

A tree has many branches; if you ask why it needs so many branches and why it cannot be content with just one trunk, it would reply that you don't know anything about trees! If you ask the tree why it can't be satisfied with just one leaf, it would tell you that if a bug came and ate its single leaf, it would have none left.

Everyone wants some sense of security. In order to be on the safe side, you need more than one of something. If one item is damaged you want to be able to turn to others. The same applies to children. Do you want only one child or more than one? Somebody here has 13! Actually, human nature is such that you don't even want to stop at 13. What about 40 or 120? You might have a problem taking care of them and feeding all those mouths, but I have confidence that I can take care of 13.

When somebody has many possessions, it means he has more to worry about, doesn't it? What kind of houses do beggars like to call on: rich ones or poor? Are there lots of beggars? What is the next step up from being a beggar? (Fundraising!) So I must be the king of beggars! Fine; there is nothing wrong with being a beggar. What matters is your purpose: Are you doing it just to save yourself, or to save your country, or to save the world and its people? Fundraising activity may appear to be the same as begging, but because of the purpose behind it, it can be your source of pride.

Some people have big ambitions. They may resort to violence, even killing other people, saying that this is the way to save the nation. However, instead of using violence to save our country, we fundraise.

The Unification Church tradition of fundraising is a proud tradition. Actually, I did not initiate the practice of fundraising and I gain nothing from it except perhaps criticism. But as you confront hardship and tribulation, if you can focus every moment on the noble cause-your mission of saving your nation-you become great. The value of an activity is determined by its motivation. The same action may have temporary and trivial value or attain eternal noble value, according to its motivation.

Furthermore, we receive criticism, accusation, and curses but that is not necessarily bad. It depends on what we are criticized for. I am extremely controversial; I have been criticized in every way. But everything I do is for the salvation of the nation and world and for the liberation of God Himself. This is the most sacred and noble purpose.

There are two motivations for seeking freedom: one type of person wants liberation just for himself, while the other wants to liberate God from His grief. Which type do you belong to? When you think about it, to liberate even your spouse and children is already quite a challenge and a burden, so how extraordinarily difficult it must be to liberate God!

Whoever is devoted to liberating God from His grief and bondage should be able to reach out to all God's children. Such a person must not focus on helping only white people and disregard black and yellow people.

No matter how many times I may have said that I want to liberate God, God says, "All right. Before you consider liberating Me, please take care of the problems of the world first. Then come and tell Me that you want to liberate Me." This is why I have sought out the most difficult problems of the world and taken them upon my shoulders.

The first and biggest problem is the loss of the order and discipline of love and the lack of a guiding philosophy of life. Love has become thoroughly degraded in America today. People have no guiding principle of how to express their love. To enable everyone to experience true, lawful love, we need to restore its discipline and order. Also, since people lack a superior philosophy of life, they live from day to day, with no central, guiding principle.

The second worst problem in the world today is communism. Behind communism are the forces of Satan which must be driven out. So we have to reestablish the order of love and restore the eternal, unchanging ideology, the central theme of human life. These are difficult tasks. Can the Unification Church and Reverend Moon solve these problems? Yes, indeed! We are going to do it.

The first task facing Reverend Moon and the Unification Church is restoring the central ideology that will reestablish the order and discipline of love. That will enable people to return to the true, lawful love. Our second task is to chase out Satan. God is saying, "All right, Reverend Moon, do it!" And I reply, "Yes, Sir, I'm doing it."

What about you? Are you restoring the order and discipline of love? You need the Blessing in order to do that. The Blessing is the pinnacle in your course of restoring love.

The concepts and ideals that I have been teaching explain what the world should be like, what the nation should be like, how society should function, and how individuals should live. My central, organizing theme is the ideal pattern for individuals, societies, nations, the world, and even the Kingdom of Heaven. Each has a clear-cut formula to follow.

We are presently trying to banish Satan from this world. Day in and day out, we are waging a "knock out Satan" campaign by restoring the order of love and ideology. Satan is always trying to promote illicit and abnormal love. Things are abnormal when they just float around, following no principle, confusing front and back, right and left. What is abnormal love? It is evident when a man goes with one woman one night and another woman the next night; or when people have sexual relations with their own relatives; or homosexuality. These are examples of abnormal, illicit love.

Do you women desire an abnormal type of love or a normal one? Is the kind of life you are living abnormal or normal? Your thinking may be focused on normal love, but Satan will keep following you until you are fully practicing the normal way of love. Only then will he lose hope and give up.

Satan is always right behind anyone who lives for a selfish purpose, but as soon as we start living for the sake of others, Satan will retreat. That is the dividing line. Do you understand? Satan cannot claim anyone who is living for the sake of others or for the benefit of the whole. I am living for the sake of all the people of the world. Therefore, eventually the entire world will welcome me and Satan will have to go away.

I have been talking about the two principal needs of mankind: liberation from illicit love and liberation from the bondage of false ideology. When mankind is liberated, Satan will leave. Satan's presence has kept even God in bondage because He has been unable to end Satan's power over man. As soon as Satan leaves, God will stand up and slowly walk out to greet us. "Finally I'm free!" He will say. "I have no more worries in the world! Who did it? Reverend Moon did. He liberated me!"

Until now, you didn't fully comprehend what I meant by the liberation of God and mankind. You didn't know the definition of liberation. By establishing the central ideology that restores the discipline of love and expels Satan, you are liberating mankind and liberating God. Now that I have explained it so simply and clearly, you understand, don't you? Is the task easy or difficult?

When every person receives this ideology and puts it into practice, there will be no room for Satan. God will be welcomed everywhere. That is how liberation will take place. So to liberate mankind means to liberate God. The two liberations are simultaneous; they are not separate events. One solution will suffice.

Therefore, why do you go out to witness? It is to accomplish this very task. You witness for the liberation of mankind and the liberation of God. Who in history has taken up this incredible task? Only we-Reverend Moon and the Unification Church are bringing both the liberation of mankind and the liberation of God. What an important and illustrious position you have!

The world is embroiled in an ideological war. There is a conflict between the God-accepting ideology and the God-denying ideology, between democracy and communism. What is the ideology of Reverend Moon and the Unification Church? It is Unificationism. We are bringing everything into harmony and unity. The role of our ideology is to digest everything; it is a "melting pot" ideology.

I have a healthy stomach: I can take in everything and digest it. I can eat hot pepper sauce and Korean kimchee, and at the same time I can eat cheese and bread. It makes no difference; everything can be digested into one stomach. Such a stomach is ideal, isn't it? You must be able to digest everything to be an ideal person. What kind of person are you?

At the matching, many Westerners asked for Oriental spouses. This sort of thing flabbergasts the outside world. They cannot imagine what is going on. But from the heavenly point of view, such a phenomenon is wonderful. The newspapers labeled it "Matrimoonie. "

Regardless of what others may say, we are happy people, aren't we? Aren't you proud to live this way of life? The term "Moonie" refers only to the formation stage. "Sunnie" is the growth stage. Perfection stage people will be called "Kingies." In the perfection stage, you will become a messiah. The world has no way of understanding the full implication of being a messiah. But you know exactly what the word means as well as the process involved. Through fulfilling the responsibility of a messiah in your Home Church area, you become a tribal messiah.

At the beginning of my speech, I said that all people want to enhance themselves; we all want to add something of value to ourselves. My topic today is "Before and After the Blessing," but I digressed and spoke about God's liberation, so I already added something, didn't I? Would you protest and tell me to stick to the subject? Would you rather have me stay within the conventional 15-minute sermon length? Actually, I can give 15 minute sermons. Yesterday I spoke at the Unification Theological Seminary graduation and delivered a sermon in English-and it was only eight minutes long. Would you prefer an eight minute sermon this morning?

Have you ever thought about why I give such long sermons? I have a dramatic answer: because I hate to leave you. I enjoy every minute of my time with you. I study each of you, looking at your features, observing your reactions, inspecting your eyes, nose and mouth. I think about what kind of person would be your ideal mate. That is why the matchings go so fast: I have already done my homework!

I'm not talking this way just to be charming. I mean it. A godly person should be fond of other people. Godly people should love and enjoy their fellow men. Whether you go east or west, north or south, whether it is day or night, it makes no difference. You must enjoy people. That is why people feel so drawn to me. If Africans were told not to come here, they would feel very sorrowful. They would try the front door, back door and side door and find some way of entering. Why? Because they would be attracted to the person who loves and cares most deeply for Africa. That is the result of my ideology. I want to meet everybody and establish bonds with them. I want to love all Americans; I love America more than the Americans do.

Young people are most sensitive to the magnetic power of love. Even before I came to the United States, I knew that young people would be attracted to me, and my prediction was absolutely correct. You are young people, aren't you? Actually, what I am saying is simply that young people have purer minds than older people. Young people are more attracted to true love.

Where else could you go on Sunday to hear a minister preaching on a topic like "Before and After the Blessing"?

Have you also been longing for other people? Have you been missing others, yearning to care for them? Throughout my entire life, my job has been to love people and pray for them. I find that my prayers are answered; my prayers become reality. Whenever I meet someone, I enjoy being with him or her; I can entertain, care for and love that person. When people are in love, there are no strange feelings between them. It makes no difference what habits they may have. It makes no difference whether they eat kimchee and kochee chang, or cheese and butter. There are no barriers between lovers. Their union is the beautiful culmination of love. Nothing else is more important.

A perfect plus is like a dynamo; it always creates a perfect minus. It happens automatically, without effort. Wherever a perfect plus is found, a perfect minus appears. If you are a perfect plus, you can sit in the middle of a village doing nothing, and the villagers will come to you automatically.

People are always drawn to me. Do you feel the same way about me? If I touch your hand, do you feel bad or good? How do you men feel? How do you women feel? Many members think that if they could only shake hands with me once, their heaven would be guaranteed. But they haven't had the chance yet. My handshake is very expensive! I seldom shake anybody's hand, but still people follow me.

Imagine someone who has just met a woman for whom he feels a tremendous attraction. Perhaps the two have just recently fallen in love. But then that man meets the Unification Church and he completely forsakes his lover. Then he begins to yearn day and night, even weeping with longing to meet Reverend Moon. Only love can explain this.

Only God's love can work this kind of magic. Love opens every door, including the door to the Kingdom of Heaven.

Such a person may come to where I am staying and I may yell at him, "Get out of here! Why are you sticking around?" But actually, if he loves me so much, I am already living with him in spirit. I will always remain with him. At night, such a person doesn't have to worry about walking down a dark road, because I will take his hand and lead him. He could even close his eyes while walking down an alley, and I could tell him to step down and he would automatically do it. If I told him to step up, turn left or turn right, he would do so without even opening his eyes. That is how love works.

Physically, I have only one body; I am physically limited. Spiritually, however, I can be a million persons; such a thing is possible spiritually. I am known as a mysterious person, someone with mystical qualities, but actually, it is not unusual. Many, many times throughout the years and decades of my life, I have shed tears out of longing for God. When I cried out for God, missing Him, aching for Him, the entire spirit world would open up to me.

You should long for me just as much as I long for God. Actually, people in the Unification Church who don't long for me, who don't miss me, who have no tearful desire for me are not really members of the Unification Church. When you do reach that level of longing, you can immediately achieve unity, and the entire spirit world will open up to you.

Bo Hi Pak comes to East Garden almost every morning at 7:00 to have breakfast with me. Sometimes he doesn't show up because he has another commitment out of town. Then I long for him. You might think that if I saw someone day in and day out I would become sick and tired of looking at his face again. But I don't feel that way. When his usual time of arrival comes around, I miss him and long for him.

You may imagine that the elder leaders who visit East Garden have a wonderful time there. But actually, they don't, and I will tell you why. When I call the leaders to East Garden for "special workshops" it is not at 0 easy for them. I keep talking on and on, for hours and hours, sometimes until midnight and beyond. This may continue day in and day out. In their minds they ask me, "Father, why can't you let us go?" But of course, they won't say it. And they think, "Father, you are not a young person either. You need some rest, and so do we. Please let us go." All of them think like this inside. But I just hold them there and keep talking to them and pounding on them. Of course, all the elder leaders want to go to East Garden. But once they arrive, there is no time for sleep, and they don't want to just walk out. After two days like that, they are completely exhausted. -

My concept is that we should be people of deep longings; we should enjoy every minute we spend with someone. When we care about others, we have no dull moments. Meeting others is the proper job for people of God. That is what my life is all about. I am an expert at meeting others.

Someone who comes to meet me at East Garden for the first time may plan to stay only half an hour, but he discovers it isn't so easy to leave. I never tell anyone not to go, but people just don't want to get up and leave. This is a result of the power of love that draws people to me.

People are supposed to long for and miss one another. If love depended on appearances, an ugly person would have a burdensome life. Therefore, God, who is the king of wisdom and justice, designed us to be lovers. When you are in love, nothing matters; ugliness is no concern; you can accept everything.

However, there is one important principle in matters of love. It should be a lawful, public love; that means unselfish love. True love is definitely public love. Through true love you can gain everything, even the spirit world. Since you cannot go alone to the spirit world, you need to go with your beloved. Therefore, a truly loving person can open up the spirit world.

Those of you who are engaged, raise your hands. Your engagement is unique. Many of you were engaged to a stranger. But even so, when you first looked at that stranger, you didn't hate him or her, did you? After looking at the stranger, you didn't want to go anywhere else. That is the spirit I live by at East Garden. I cherish everyone who comes to sit with me, considering each as my beloved.

When you meet people in your Home Church work, cherish them, too. Then no one will have to tell you to go and do Home Church. In the morning you will jump out of bed like a bullet and run to your Home Church because your beloved awaits you. Perhaps you are supposed to go to the dining room in the morning, but your feet take you to your Home Church instead. When your beloved is waiting, you forget eating, sleeping, and everything else. Don't you like it when your feet head in the direction of your beloved? That is the way your original mind directs you.

This morning I am giving you another secret: how to do Home Church. When you consider the people in your Home Church as your beloved, cherishing them above your own fiancée, spouse, or children, you cannot help going there. And while you are with them, the spirit world will open up and communicate with you. This is the secret of doing Home Church.

You women, when you are married and your husband rises in the morning and says he must go to Home Church, will you complain and say, "You don't love me anymore! Why do you go away so early in the morning?"

This morning Mother couldn't join us because she is recuperating [from the birth of Jeung Jin Nim]. I know that she definitely needs a time of rest and some special care. But in my true heart, I still wanted her to be here. So I told her that even though she was not capable of being here physically this morning, she would be here in heart, spiritually. The husband should try to charm his wife and win her heart, so that she will go everywhere with him and not want to be separated even momentarily. This is such a great feeling. There is nothing more valuable.

Dr. Durst is here today. As the national leader, he should long for and miss all the state leaders. He should meet with them, help them, and truly love them even if he collapses in the process. If such a love relationship is created between any national leader and the state leaders, the church in that land will boom and all of spirit world will open up.

When I came to pioneer the work in the United States in 1973, I knew no day or night. Every moment of the day was so precious to me. I always wanted to see one more person, visit one more center. I drove from one place to another, one meeting to the next. If you follow the same principle, your results will be greatly multiplied.

Everything is deeply interesting to me. I am a lover of the ocean because it is another of God's creations. That is why I go out to sea. When various national leaders, world leaders, Korean elders and itinerant workers come to East Garden, I keep waiting for them to ask me to take them out to sea. But so far none of them have done so!

Here is a photo of me standing beside a giant tuna I caught recently. This tuna weighs over 1,000 pounds. How could I become a champion tuna fisherman so quickly? I know how to attract tuna: I do it by love. Every minute of the day when I am on the ocean I stay alert; I never nap. When people go fishing they usually become tired. Even the pilot of the boat sometimes sleeps, but I never lie down even for a minute on a boat. My eyes stay wide open because my interest is so intense. Even if a hundred boats are fishing for tuna, I know that no one loves the tuna more intensely than I do. Therefore, I know that the tuna will come. In Gloucester people say that I even brainwash tuna! Actually, it is not brainwashing, but love washing-or maybe Moon washing.

During the matching the other night, 250 Japanese sisters came to the United States after a long plane ride. When they arrived at the World Mission Center, they set their bags down and came to see me with tears streaming down their faces. When I matched them, they accepted without question. All 250 were matched very quickly. The amazing thing is that, although 90 percent of them had never met me before, as soon as they saw me, tears of longing and joy burst from them. You saw it, didn't you?

Does that mean I am some kind of a magician or hypnotist? No. Something else was behind it; there is a definite reason why I affect so many people and move their hearts. It is the very thing I always talk about. The secret is to become a dynamo of love, become a lover. I look at people and even the whole world as my beloved. From the material point of view there is nothing special about me; but I am the richest person under the sun because I have that power to attract people. The secret is nothing other than love.

You lay a cumulative foundation when you love people. When enough has been built up, the blossom opens up. Love is not destructive; it only builds and blossoms. When each of you creates your own love foundation, bearing such a blossom of love, then God will become one with you. Flowers attract butterflies, and the butterflies drawn to your flower of love are none other than God and His angels. It may sound like something incredible and miraculous, but it can happen.

To make a long story short, you won't enter the Kingdom of Heaven unless you love people, … them and yearn for them. Before I came to America, my major study was how to love American people. I had many plans, I did much homework, and I have precisely fulfilled all MY pledges. There are many things you do not know, but one thing is for sure: After you met me, you became new men and women. You have changed. What power made that happen? The power of love.

When you go out and work hard, you do it out of love for me. When you fundraise, for example, you think, "I really want to do my utmost for Father." That is your motivation. Then whoever gives you a donation receives the benefit of that love.

I have met some Koreans here in the United States who are well known in their community. One of them said, "Many Unification Church members have stopped me on the street or knocked at my door asking me to donate for some fundraising item, and I always do. I never refuse them." I wondered how much they were contributing, but I didn't ask. They reported their donation to me as though they had done something very important and were some kind of hero. Love is at work when people feel such an urge to help your fundraising.

I want you to understand that you are in a position to disseminate this pure love. This love will affect other people and benefit them. When you get donations, every penny is spent for the sake of mankind, for the sake of the world, and for the sake of God. How wonderful that is! Both you and the people who give will benefit. When your position is one of true love, you want to keep giving until the very end.

I would like to borrow as much money as possible in order to be able to give. For the sake of love, I want to be the most indebted person under the sun. When I live by such a philosophy, even the seemingly insurmountable obstacles can somehow be completely overcome. As I meet each large obstacle, I can jump over it. When I make plans, the difficulties ahead seem to be overwhelming but solutions come from totally unexpected places. Spirit world moves in entirely new ways. If money is needed, money comes; if people are needed, people come; the more money we commit to a certain project, the more resources come our way. When I act, spirit world mobilizes masses of people.

Therefore, fundraising is a sacred responsibility. When you fundraise, you are giving love both ways: love for True Parents and love for people. You knock on people's doors not to gain money from them but because you love each person.

In a way, God, too, is a fundraiser. When you knock on doors, you are rejected 90 percent of the time. Likewise when God tries to pour out His love to you, you reject Him 99 percent of the time. So when you experience rejection while fundraising, you can be in a position to comfort God. When you have tearful experiences, you move. God's heart and comfort Him. Then universal love begins to blossom in your heart. The blossom of love is the most sacred and noble kind of flower.

Without question, I am a superb fundraiser. I never do things just for myself-, when I see a need and set the goal for meeting that need, I fundraise very boldly. You must be bold for the sake of the nation and the world. I can tell people, "You don't have to give me anything. Just loan me the money. You can trust me because you know my motivation is correct. Therefore, I ask that you please lend me a large amount of money, not just a small amount."

I had one experience when I was studying in Tokyo during my younger days that illustrates this. I needed to return to Seoul, Korea, which involved a long trip by train and boat and was rather expensive. I didn't have a wallet or any money that day, but at the Tokyo train station I met a very noble-looking woman, a total stranger, and began telling her who I was, where I was going, and how much money I needed, which was quite a bit. Then I asked if she would have enough faith in me to lend me the money. I was so sincere that the noble woman trusted me enough to lend me the money without asking for a receipt. After I completed the trip, I sent her back twice the amount of money she lent me. She was flabbergasted. She paid me a visit to return the money, saying, "You are such a good, honest man. I do not want this much money from you. Please take it back."

People can sense a person of genuine character; purity and genuineness are always communicated. That is the beauty of life. Fundraising is the best way to understand this kind of realm.