Good morning. Today is the last Sunday of 1984. Before the year ends we should reflect upon our past and prepare to receive the new year. We should think about God's providence of salvation. God has been working hard to restore all fallen people to their original position as His true children. This is why He sent the Messiah. Fallen men have never seen an example of an original, perfected man. Even if God spoke to fallen people, this wouldn't help us return to our original state. We need an example of a perfect man to follow, otherwise we cannot regain our position as God's children. This is why God worked so hard to send us a good example of a true man, Jesus. But Jesus could only set the example of a perfect individual, not that of a family. God's desire is to establish His ideal family. So He must send us someone to show us an example of heavenly family life. This is why He sent our True Parents. Without them we cannot become good sons and daughters of God, who can achieve perfection of the family and society, not just individual perfection. We know that without a perfect family we cannot establish an ideal society, and without an ideal society there cannot be an ideal nation or world.

Many of us have received the Blessing from True Parents, but don't really understand its meaning. What is the Blessing? I'd like to explain. When a man and woman marry they have a ceremony with witnesses and register the marriage with the legal authorities. They aren't considered legally married until they do so. Some couples fulfill the purpose of marriage even without being legally married while others who are legally married often don't. Sometimes couples live separately because they don't love each other. The Blessing is similar to a legal registration of marriage. We know that fallen people must be cut off from Satan. There are two stages to this: one is to separate ourselves from Satan legally, the other is to separate from Satan internally. The Blessing separates us legally, but fulfilling the internal purpose of the Blessing is up to each couple. If husband and wife love each other and live according to God's way of life, they can fulfill the purpose of the Blessing. Otherwise they are like a separated couple. The internal purpose of the Blessing must be realized by those receiving the Blessing, not the ones giving it. We often misunderstand this, thinking that through the Blessing we are cut off from Satan completely, i.e. internally as well as legally. This isn't true. We must lead a life that actually separates us from Satan. Even though we are blessed, we cannot advance in the spirit world without fulfilling the purpose of the Blessing. The gates of Heaven stand open before us, but we cannot enter unless we have fulfilled the contents of the Blessing. Thus we can see that the Blessing is only the beginning, the legal ceremony. The couple must still fulfill the internal contents of the Blessing.

Our True Parents are on earth as a living example for us. God gave them to us so we could learn from them. Otherwise, their presence here has no meaning. Those who don't learn from True Parents don't have any good example to follow. Father is in Danbury now. Mr. Kamiyama, who was recently released, explained something about Father's life there. He said that Father completely accepts his situation. He doesn't complain about anything, but accepts it as his destiny, starting his course from the lowest position. This is a good example for us. We often complain when put in difficult situations, e.g. when transferred to a new mission or blessed with someone we don't like. Father never does this. Once something is decided, he adjusts himself to the situation completely. He behaves as if he were born for that place and does his best. He serves other people and does the jobs no one wants to do. He searches for such things and does them. People don't recognize his value at first. They speak and treat him as they want, but once they see his lifestyle they begin to respect him. This is the way to make Cain surrender.

We like to be Abel. We know that we are Abel to people who don't believe in God, but we are also Cain before our Abel and our True Parents. Thus we are Abel to some people and Cain to others; we are both Abel and Cain. Mr. Kamiyama had the chance to live closely with Father the past few months and discovered many things about him. After being released from prison, he reported that Father strongly emphasizes the exemplary life of Abel. He explained that Father stresses four points to be a good Abel. The first is to separate oneself from Satan. This doesn't mean the legal separation from Satan we receive through the Blessing, but to attain the qualities of character that allow us to separate from Satan internally. That is the first thing Abel must do.

The second thing Father emphasizes is to liberate Cain; Abel must liberate Cain. What does this mean? We liberate Cain from Satan by giving him God's truth and bringing him to True Parents. This is one kind of liberation. But also within our church we have Cains. We must help them fulfill their four position foundation. There are many things our members must accomplish, so if we are older or more developed in some way, we must help them overcome their problems and fulfill their portion of responsibility. Abel must help Cain liberate himself.

The third point is to receive the birthright from Cain. Cain is in the position of the firstborn son and the birthright belongs to him. Abel, as the second son, must receive the birthright from Cain. What does this mean? Receiving the birthright means gaining Cain's respect. Abel must lead such an exemplary life that Cain respects him as a child of God. When Cain sees that you are truly a son or daughter of God and says, "I respect you," that is the restoration of the birthright. We cannot restore the birthright without winning the heart and respect of Cain.

The fourth point is to love our enemy. This means being equipped with a such a deep heart we can even embrace our enemies. There are many kinds of enemies, but the most difficult to embrace is the enemy of love. Satan was Adam's enemy of love. Satan was an archangel and should have been under Adam's dominion. Through the fall the archangel became Adam's enemy of love. Adam must restore the fallen archangel by forgiving and loving him. As Abels we must be able to love our enemies. This means being able to love the most difficult person we can associate with. It doesn't mean loving his sin or something evil. No. We must love the person and help him repent for his sin and become a person we can love. We don't love someone who is evil; we offer our love and help him change into a good person. Give love first; without love he cannot become a good person. We cannot fulfill the mission of Abel without being men of true love. Only a man of true love can love his enemy. There are some people we naturally dislike, but we should be able to love even them. Abel's ultimate goal is to become such a man of true love.

These are the four things Abel must accomplish. Father also mentioned eight stages we must pass through. As we know, we must establish individual, family and tribal life. Then we need to establish a race and expand to the nation, the world and finally the cosmos. Our final aim is to become a man of true love. If we can associate on the individual, family, tribal, national, world and cosmic levels, we can become men of true love. We must learn to associate with all kinds of people. They in turn should be able to like us. Even Satan must respect such a man, for such is a man of true love. This is our goal.

How far have we come as Abels? At which point are we now? We must consider this. If we are far from fulfilling these four points, then we must make more effort. Happiness doesn't come from having a high position. The question is: how to develop ourselves so we can enter the Kingdom of Heaven. The problem lies in ourselves; what kind of person can we become? Some people work hard to gain knowledge, power, wealth or honor. But such things don't count for much in the Kingdom of Heaven. What is important is to develop the internal qualities of Abel, to develop a personality that reflects God's nature. So we must try to become better people. This should be the focus of our work.

Father has explained that Korea is the Adam nation, Japan the Eve nation, America the Abel-type archangel nation and Germany the Cain- type archangel nation. Father says that Germany is the center of Europe. Europe as a whole must cooperate with Abel, America; Cain and Abel must be united. Then the Adam and Eve nations can also be united and God's will can be realized. We must help this nation become the restored Cain nation. We can serve God most effectively by restoring ourselves first, then we will be able to restore the nation. We must regain the status of God's children; then Germany can become God's nation. We should concentrate on solving the problems around us, not those that are far away. We must succeed in our immediate task, restoring ourselves.

Father often emphasizes the importance of having three spiritual children. We know that each member needs spiritual children, we often forget the significance of restoring three spiritual children. We all know that in order to start family life, husband and wife must have six spiritual children. Actually each member should have at least three, but if a couple has six spiritual children between them, we consider them qualified to start family life. Nevertheless, we mustn't forget that three spiritual children are an absolute requirement for everyone. Father explains that our three spiritual children represent the three archangels. Adam lost the three archangels God created to serve him. By restoring them, we restore Adam's position. The angelic world represents the world of creation. Thus by restoring three spiritual children we restore ownership over all of creation. Otherwise, we can't reclaim anything nor can we restore Adam's family. This is why we need three spiritual children. This is why Father emphasizes this point.

We are approaching the end of 1984; in two days we will welcome the new year. We must reflect upon two points: becoming Abels and gaining spiritual children. We have many things to do; through all our activities we should round out our personality and develop a good character. Good character doesn't come through inaction. The best way to develop our character is to work together with members and meet many people. When we overcome all difficulties and persevere we can develop a true Abel character. We also have the opportunity to find spiritual children through our mission. But if we don't go out and meet people, we cannot find spiritual children. Of course it's difficult to find spiritual children; even when you do find someone, you must constantly take care of him.

Tomorrow is the last day of 1984. Then we will have a new year, 1985. We will bid 1984 farewell and greet 1985. In the meantime we should say farewell to all bad memories. Say goodbye to any resentments you may have and to all the difficulties and problems of the past. Cut off from the bad things and receive the new year and the things it brings with hope. We should never lose hope; as long as we have time and use it to improve ourselves, there's hope. I hope the new year will be fruitful for every member of our church. I cannot celebrate God's Day together with you; I hope you have a good celebration and that Heavenly Father can bless Germany and Europe, so we can achieve our goal in the coming year.

Let us pray together:

Our loving Heavenly Father, we are so grateful that you gave us our True Parents. They are our example. We cannot find the right direction without them. Without their example we cannot understand what kind of person we should be. We must become like our Father and Mother. They are here to show us the way. We have received much from them. We must learn to practice what they have taught us in order to become your true children of love. Father, we still have much fallen nature to remove. We must inherit your nature. Because of the fall man lost your original nature and came to have fallen nature. We want to remove all our fallen nature and restore your original nature. We want to become your true sons and daughters, your physical body and your true representatives.

Father, we need your heart and your love, then we can be men of your heart and love. We need your wisdom so we can find the true way and solve the problems we encounter. We also need your words. You created us through your word, but through the fall we lost it and the world became a world of chaos. People don't know the right way to go, and thus go their own way, contrary to the original way. By restoring your word we can restore mans' original relationship with you. We can also discover man's original position and value and our purpose in life. We can learn the principles of life on earth and in the spirit world. With this knowledge we can restore ourselves as your true children. Father, we ask you help us better understand you and your words. We sincerely want to become your true children and work to establish your ideal on earth. We don't want to live in a fallen world. We want to live with you in your ideal world. But in order to establish your ideal we must first become your true children.

We want to reflect upon our experiences of the past year and remove all negative elements from ourselves so we can make a new start with new determination and have a new spirit in the coming year. Father, bless this coming year and help us become good sons and daughters that can return joy to you. We pray that this new year will be a joyful year for our True Parents as well, Father. May they be free to work with us and lead us and receive glory and victory in the coming year.

We pray all this in the name of our True Parents. Amen.

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