Good morning, I hope you have found this seminar useful and thought provoking. I want to explain more deeply about Reverend Moon's life long work and guiding ideology through this final presentation.

As I mentioned yesterday, Reverend and Mrs. Moon have initiated so many projects for world peace. However I have no hesitation in stating that their most important project is The Marriage Blessing and the True Family Movement.

Since 1992 this Marriage Blessing has been given to millions of couples in global wedding ceremonies spanning six continents, creating True Families who are healing the world through true love. In January 2000 some 300 Albanians came to Korea to participate in a large Blessing Ceremony, which filled the Seoul Olympic Stadium. This January the Albanian Family Federation's Blessing ceremony was televised on Clan TV. Maybe some of you had an opportunity to watch that program, or even to participate in the event.

This morning I want to explain the meaning of these Blessings and why they are so significant in Reverend Moon's work for world peace.

First of all I will explain briefly the meaning of "Blessing". Everyone likes to receive blessing. For example, we have the greeting "God bless you!". Even though people do not know the real meaning of blessing, they nevertheless like to receive blessing from God. The Three Great Blessings in the Old Testament in Genesis 1:28, after God created Adam and Eve, humankind, God gave three Blessings - first to be fruitful, then to multiply and take dominion over the creation. These are known as the "Three Great Blessings" given by God to man.

Adam and Eve, the first human ancestors, should have fulfilled these blessings given by God, but because of the fall they could not. Therefore, the accomplishment of the Three Great Blessings remains as the purpose of our lives.

Reverend Moon said that, in order to fulfil the Three Great Blessings, we have to perfect the Four Great Realms of Heart.

Heart is the essence of God's nature; it is the impulse, which tries to feel joy through loving an object partner.

Heavenly Father is the perfect and almighty God, but cannot feel joy and happiness without an object partner. Therefore, He created Adam and Eve as the object partner of His love. Heavenly Father had the desire to feel joy through loving Adam and Eve.

We should also understand that God created Adam and Eve according to His own nature. This means that humankind was also created as a being of heart.

Therefore, we also cannot feel joy and happiness without our object partner. If someone can feel joy and happiness without some kind of object, we would say that person is crazy!

Heart, then, is the essence of human nature. Therefore, it is necessary to develop our heart in order to love and embrace others.

Since God created Adam and Eve as His children, they should first of all develop their heart as children by receiving love from God. This is known as the "children's realm of heart".

Through this heart they can be ready to love each other as brothers and sisters and progress to the "brothers and sisters realm of heart".

Eventually, they can love each other also as wife and husband. This is known as the "conjugal realm of heart".

Finally, Adam and Eve become parents and are now ready to love and embrace their children. They should become mature enough to take care of their children as parents. This is the "parents realm of heart".

If we cannot develop our heart in this way, we will have a problem to love and embrace others, and if we cannot do that, we cannot feel joy and happiness.

Therefore, it is important to perfect the Four Great Realms of Heart in order to fulfil God's Blessing.

In this way we have to grow by stages. First we have to become true man and woman, then true husband and wife and then true parents.

What is next? Adam and Eve should then have become true teacher.

There were no schools or universities in the Garden of Eden, therefore Adam and Eve should have educated their own children by themselves. Even though there are many famous universities in this world, educational institutions are inadequate to educate our children. The family is the school of love through which our children should be educated.

Finally Adam and Eve should have become true owner.

Therefore, God gave the Blessing to "take dominion over the creation".

These stages of development could be called the "five stages of growth". In this way, Adam and Eve should have realised a true family in the Garden of Eden.

First, the family consists of Three Generations.

People traditionally think that family means husband and wife with children. But according to Reverend Moon, the family consists of three generations: grandparents, parents and children.

God created Adam and Eve as His children, therefore God is Parent. However, the perfected family is realised when Adam and Eve produce children who resemble God. This is known as the "Four Position Foundation": God, Adam and Eve and children - three generations.

When Adam and Eve deliver their own children, God becomes the Heavenly Grandparent as well as the Heavenly Father. However, Adam and Eve never delivered true children of God, because of the fall. They produced a family without God - without the grandparent - so it is not a true family. If we do not include grandparents in our family we are excluding one third of the population.

There is now a special type of insurance in Germany. Those who join this insurance scheme do not receive any benefit during their lifetime, but only after they die. The insurance company pays the costs of their funeral and even organises the funeral service. Furthermore, it should make sure that the children cannot attend the funeral ceremony. This type of insurance contract is being arranged by more and more German people, which shows how bad is the relationship between parents and children.

Reverend Moon has said that if we do not have children, it is better to adopt some. Similarly, he said, if we do not have grandparents, we should adopt them, because we cannot grow properly without them.

We have a tendency to ignore old people, because they cannot do so much.

In a sense, old people can represent God. Humankind is a being of heart, so even though old people cannot do so much physically, we can learn from their heart and love.

Secondly, the family is the starting point of love, life and lineage.

These are three precious things for mankind. Therefore, if you do not have a family foundation, you cannot properly inherit love, life and lineage.

Nowadays, from their birth many people do not have a proper family. Therefore, they cannot receive true love, true life and true lineage.

In "Newsweek" magazine from 20.1.97, the cover article is entitled "The Death of Marriage". More and more European women are having children out of wedlock. In Sweden, more than 50% of all babies are born to unmarried women. In Europe as a whole, over 30% of all babies are born without a family.

Furthermore, because of the high rate of divorce, 70% - 80% of children do not live together with both parents.

The family is the starting point of true love, true life and true lineage, but because of the break-up of the family, children cannot receive this.

Thirdly, the family is the basic unit of the Heavenly Kingdom.

Christian churches do not have a clear concept about the salvation of the family. As individuals they accept Jesus Christ as the Messiah. However, supposing in a family one of the parents is a Christian, the other a Buddhist and the child a Confucianist. They could argue with each other until their deaths, each thinking he will go to heaven and the others to hell. If one of them really goes to heaven, do you think he will feel self-justified when the others go to hell? No, the whole family should be saved.

If you do not build the Heavenly Kingdom in your family whilst you are on earth, you cannot go to the Heavenly Kingdom in the spirit world. Therefore, the family is the basic unit for the Heavenly Kingdom.

Heavenly Father wanted to realise the Heavenly Kingdom through the family in the Garden of Eden. Therefore Adam and Eve should have realised God's blessing through the establishment of a true family.

Let me summarise what I have explained so far.

One absolute God created two beings: man and woman. He gave the Three Great Blessings. To accomplish this, man and woman have to fulfil the Four Great Realms of Heart by developing themselves through the "five stages of growth".

In this way, they would have realised a complete family consisting of grandparents, parents and children, represented by the number six. (Therefore, the Family Federation logo depicts six persons, representing three generations.)

To put it briefly, the meaning of blessing is to fulfil the true family on earth.

However, because of the fall, Adam and Eve could not realise this in the Garden of Eden.

Growth and Perfection

Next, I would like to explain about the fall and the false family.

When God created Adam and Eve, they were not perfected. Therefore, Adam and Eve should have gone through a period of growth in order to attain their perfection.

What is the way to grow and become perfect? It is very important to know this. Love The physical body requires food for its growth, but this food is not enough for the growth of our spirit. Our spirit needs to receive love. Love is the main nourishment for us to grow and become perfect. Someone who cannot receive love is likely to develop mental problems.

We need to receive "Three Great Loves".

The first love is from our Parents

Someone who cannot receive their parents' love will have great problems in life.

The second love is from our spouse

Someone who has never married and never received love from a husband or wife does not completely understand what is true love.

The third love is from our children

Finally, we have to feel love from our children.

However, in our society people have not received these Three Great Loves properly. This is our main problem.

You may have one question for me: If Adam and Eve received God's love, why did they not grow and become perfect? This is a very important question. The answer is that in order to grow we have to receive love, but at the same time we have a responsibility to fulfil.

First, we have to fulfil our responsibility toward God by following God's Word. Otherwise they could not grow and become perfect. Secondly, we have to fulfil our responsibility toward our spouse

What is the husband's responsibility? To make a lot of money? What is the wife's responsibility? To be a good cook? These are not their main responsibilities.

First they have to keep absolute love and purity toward each other. Finally, we have to fulfil our responsibility toward our children

If you love your children, you have to educate your children properly. This is an important responsibility as a parent. Also, parents have to take care of their children very well, both physically and spiritually.

Therefore, to become perfect we have to receive Three Great Loves and fulfil Three Great Responsibilities.

Adam and Eve could not fulfil their responsibility to follow God's Word and therefore they fell.

In the Bible it is written that God gave the commandment to humankind. This commandment was not to eat the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

What is this fruit? A banana? What do you think?

Adam and Eve were tempted by a serpent. What could that be? Because of the Serpent's temptation, Eve violated God's Word. Afterwards, Eve tempted Adam to eat the fruit.

I have no time now to go into details about this. According to Reverend Moon's teaching, the content of the fall is illicit love. Adam and Eve should have kept their purity of love until they received the Blessing from God.

The Serpent was therefore not a real snake, but something which symbolised the archangel Lucifer. The archangel tempted Adam and Eve to commit sin. This content is explained in detail in the "Divine Principle" book, so if you are interested more in this point, please study the chapter in "Divine Principle" on the fall of man. Adam and Eve did not follow God's commandment and committed the sin of illicit love. Therefore, after the fall they were chased out of the Garden of Eden.

Did they produce children before or after they were chased out of Eden? It was after.

Therefore, Heavenly Father had no reason to follow Adam and Eve to give them the blessing to start family life.

Adam and Eve married by themselves and delivered children not centring on God, but on Satan. Adam and Eve were to become True Parents, but because of the fall they became false parents and delivered false children. People were born as the descendants of the false parents Adam and Eve, centring on Satan. Therefore mankind has inherited the lineage of Satan.

In John 8:44 it is written: "You are of your father the Devil and your will is to do your father's desire".

In Matthew 12:34 Jesus called the people a brood of vipers (snakes).

Jesus showed us clearly that humankind is born as vipers and descendants of the Devil.

I am very sorry to tell you that you are descendants of Satan, but according to the Bible it is so.

Therefore, we have to remove our original sin. Also, we have to be born again as new children of God.

People and nations fight each other.

Throughout history there were so many different kinds of wars. So many people were killed because of conflicts and even now there are numerous wars going on. Even in Europe, in Yugoslavia, just recently 200,000 people have died through war.

Around 20 million people die every year due to starvation or malnutrition.

Many people are suffering and dying due to diseases such as cancer, AIDS, diabetes and innumerable other diseases.

People are ignorant of God, the spiritual world and fundamental matters such as the purpose and destination of human life.

You may think that if God exists He has to solve these problems immediately. But we have to understand that these are not our most fundamental problems. The fall of man is actually the root cause of human misery.

For example, if there were only people like Jesus Christ living in this world, they would not fight each other. The problem is that human beings have a tendency to fight each other, to hate and subjugate others.

We may be able to reach a cease-fire through talks, but this is only a temporary solution and not fundamental.

Or let us examine the problem of starvation more deeply.

Starvation is not merely a matter of food supply. Because of political or other reasons, food is not shared. We have highly developed science; technically, we have the ability to solve the problem of starvation.

Concerning diseases, according to scientists, wild animals generally have no diseases because they are in harmony with nature. However, domestic animals, such as cows and pigs and many others, suffer from all kinds of diseases, some very deadly such as "mad cow disease".

If wild animals generally have no diseases, why do human beings suffer so much from disease, even though they are supposed to be lords of creation? It is because we are not in harmony with the laws of the universe.

Science has recently discovered that our bodies are closely connected to our minds. For example, if you are scolded by someone, your emotions can affect your digestion.

Originally, humankind should have no diseases. This problem was caused by the fall of man. Therefore Heavenly Father has to solve the fundamental problem of the fall of man in order to be able to solve all other human problems.

Finally I would like to talk more about ignorance. Due to the Fall human beings lost their connection to God. They became ignorant of God, who is the origin of life and the universe.

Not knowing God's nature and His purpose for creating, we as created beings, cannot understand our own purpose of existence or our relationship to God, others and the universe in which we live. Even though we have made great advances in science and human learning, we remain ignorant of the most fundamental matters: the purpose of our lives and the principles by which to conduct our relationships. As a result our world is still full of pain and misery because external knowledge cannot solve the blindness that springs from human selfishness.

Reverend Moon and the Blessing providence

If your beloved son were in a life-and-death situation - for example drowning - would you ask him if he would like to eat some good food? No, you would throw a rope to rescue him. You would solve his most fundamental problem first.

We have to understand that the fall means that humankind fell into sin. Therefore, we need someone who can liberate humankind from sin. This is the fundamental solution.

It is obvious that God loves humankind. Therefore, as the ultimate solution to our problems, He has sent the Messiah to liberate humankind from sin.

God sent Jesus Christ 2,000 years ago to save humankind from sin.

Jesus Came to Establish a True Family In 1 Corinthians 15:45, it is written that the first man, Adam, became a living soul and the last Adam has become a life-giving being. I will explain this.

When God created Adam and Eve, He created first their physical bodies and then put in the soul. In this way man became a living soul.

An animal is a living being, but not a living soul. Because of the fall, Adam and Eve died, but not physically, rather spiritually. Therefore the Messiah, Jesus Christ, came to give a new spirit. That is why he is called a "life-giving spirit".

Jesus came to this world to give new life. How can Jesus Christ give new life? The Bible explains that Jesus came as the second Adam. This means that Jesus came to fulfil that which the first Adam failed to realise. Therefore, the second Adam, Jesus Christ, should have realised a family on earth instead of the first Adam, who failed to do it.

Adam and Eve were the first parents because they delivered the first children. Therefore, in order to gain new life we need true parents. For this reason Jesus should have become True Parents in order to give rebirth to all humankind. This was the main concern of Jesus Christ before the crucifixion.

If I say Jesus Christ should have married, if you are Christian, you will not be happy about this, but please allow me to continue to explain this point. Reverend Moon's Mission and Meeting Jesus Christ All the facts which I have explained so far were declared by Reverend Moon.

When he was 15 years old, Reverend Moon's family converted from Confucianism to Christianity.

According to Reverend Moon's testimony, on 17th April 1935, which was Easter morning, when he was 16 years old, he was offering a prayer to God in the mountains when suddenly Jesus Christ appeared to him. Jesus Christ asked Reverend Moon to take his place. Reverend Moon was very shocked: he had never thought about such a great mission. Therefore, he refused to take on this responsibility. Afterwards, Jesus Christ appeared several times to him in tears, asking Reverend Moon to work in his place. Reverend Moon had no confidence to fulfil this mission, but he could not refuse any more and said, "I have no confidence, but I will try to fulfil this responsibility". This was the starting point of Reverend Moon's 60 years of missionary work.

Reverend Moon has lived together in communion with Jesus Christ. He had to go the way of incredible suffering and indemnity. By the time he was 26 years old, he had come to know all the secrets of the Bible and started to teach about them. At the age of 32, he completed the writing of the famous book, "Divine Principle".

Also Reverend Moon came to know the secrets of Jesus Christ. For example, he learned that the birth of Jesus took place not on 25th December, but on 3rd January. Also the precise date on which Jesus Christ was resurrected was 17th April.

Jesus Christ shared his heart with Reverend Moon explaining that he had the desire to have a family before his crucifixion. It is logical that Jesus Christ would have wanted to establish a family in place of Adam and Eve.

Reverend Moon has had to explain so many important secrets about the Bible and Jesus Christ. This new method was very different than traditional Christian teaching. This is the reason why Reverend Moon was severely persecuted by the Christian churches. He was sent to prison six times even though he had committed no crime. He had to spread the truth.

Reverend Moon is working on behalf of Jesus Christ and therefore had to fulfil all kinds of conditions given to him by God and Jesus Christ. Finally, he fulfilled these responsibilities and he received the blessing from God to establish a true family.

Sharing the Blessing with all Humanity

Through this Holy Blessing ceremony Reverend Moon became True Parents. Now he has to share this blessing with all mankind.

In 1960 Reverend and Mrs Moon were themselves married in the first Holy Blessing Ceremony.

This was followed in 1961 by a Blessing of 36 Couples over which Reverend and Mrs. Moon officiated.

Then in 1962 came a blessing of 72 couples, in 1963 124 couples, in 1968 430 couples, in 1970 777 couples, in 1975 1,800 couples, in 1982 8,000 couples, in 1988 7,700 couples, in 1992 30,000 couples and in 1995 360,000 couples.

The Blessing is the sharing of salvation. Reverend Moon received the Blessing from God and Jesus Christ in order that all humankind can ultimately be saved. The Blessing is Forgiveness and Salvation All humankind has the desire to make a true family. In order to make a true family, our past has to be forgiven.

However, until now, no one has had the right to solve our past mistakes or to remove our sin and restore original love. But Reverend and Mrs. Moon have fulfilled all the requirements given by God and Jesus Christ and finally formed a true family.

As the True Parents, they have the qualification to remove our original sin through the Blessing. In this way, we can transform ourselves from a satanic family to God's family. So, through receiving the Blessing, we can be forgiven our past.

The Blessing is New Birth As you know, there are three important events for human beings: our birth, our marriage and our death.

What is the ideal of Blessing? The Blessing is the day of marriage, but at the same time the day of new birth.

We were born into a family belonging to a particular nation and have our own ancestors. Therefore, we have racial, national and religious problems.

This results in struggles among people.

But through the Blessing we can be reborn as children of God, transcending all these barriers.

Blessed people can overcome the problem of race, nationality and religion. This is the reason we hold mass wedding ceremonies.

Reverend Moon has said that after we receive the Blessing we can celebrate our Blessing day as our birthday. Africans, Asians, Europeans and Americans can be born on the same day as brothers and sisters through God and the True Parents. Therefore, blessed people have no problem with race, nationality or religion.

In 1992, more then 40 Moslem couples, including the Grand Mufti of Yemen were blessed by Reverend Moon. They are not Unification Church members, but Moslem leaders. They are very proud to be blessed couples.

Through the idea of the Blessing we can overcome even religious barriers. The Blessing is the new starting point of the true family.

Through receiving the Blessing, we can invite God to be the centre of our family. We can declare that we do not belong to Satan any more, but belong to God.

Through the Holy Blessing, we can declare that we love God and are ready to live according to His Will. Therefore, it is important for Heavenly Father to give the Blessing to our families.

When people marry each other, they promise to love each other until they die. However, when problems come along, they easily fight each other and easily divorce.

Even blessed couples can have difficulties after the Blessing.

But the Blessing is the starting point for building a true family. Blessed families have the power to overcome difficulties because they desire to live according to God's ideal.

The goal of the Blessing is the accomplishment of the true family, but at the same time the Blessing is the starting point for building a true family.

It is important to understand the heart of Reverend Moon. He has no desire to gain anything from you through the Blessing. Reverend Moon is concerned about our families. Therefore, in order to receive the Blessing, we make a commitment after the Blessing.

Keep absolute purity in love and absolute fidelity between husband and wife Through the Blessing, true couples should emerge. Centring on God, true couples can form true families. No divorce

Husband and wife should make a strong foundation as parents.

You may say that whether you keep absolute love between husband and wife is your personal problem. Why is Reverend Moon concerned about our families? Why is he concerned that we keep absolute purity in love and create true families? It is because he has a pure desire to save the family.

Finally, live for the sake of others

The husband promises that he will live for the sake of his wife, the wife for her husband and parents for their children. Then children would want to live for the sake of their parents. Furthermore, the family does not live just for its own sake, but for the sake of the society, nation and world. If we do not care about the problems of other families, our own family will be damaged by them. Therefore, Reverend Moon educates all blessed families to live for the sake of others.

After the end of the Cold War, one serious problem which remains is the north-south problem.

The Cold War was an ideological battle between east and west, but the north-south problem is a struggle between the rich and the poor. For example, North America is very rich, whereas South America is very poor. The European continent as a whole is rich, whereas Africa is very poor. Even Europe itself can be divided between the rich north and the poor south - for example, the Balkans.

If the poor countries of eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union can not improve their situation, including the economy, there will be new dangers in Europe with millions of refugees wanting to escape to the west. Perhaps a sort of new iron curtain will have to be erected by the west to stop the influx of people from those former communist states. New fascist or populist dictators could appear and take over power.

Therefore, if we do not live for the sake of others we will have many dangerous problems in the world.

At the end of the Cold War Reverend Moon moved from North America to South America, to support those nations. Therefore Reverend Moon is practising living for the sake of others.

Reverend Moon wants to support African people through the Blessing project. The Blessing is the only idea which succeeds in transcending skin colour, race and nationality.

Through the Blessing idea, we can save the family, nation and world.

Therefore, I appeal to all of you, who have not yet received the Blessing, to please attend the next Blessing ceremony. Those who have received the Blessing should introduce this Blessing idea to their friends and relatives. This is the way to overcome the problems of conflict and starvation.

So do not hesitate to decide to receive the Blessing. Join the true family movement and save the nation and the world!

We should make the Heavenly Kingdom on Earth through the Blessing idea.

I am very happy to be here with you and want to express my heartfelt gratitude to all of you for listening so attentively to my speech.

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