The Words of the Baughman Family
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The Words of the Baughman Family |
President
James Baughman delivers the sermon on the Day of All Things.
Today I would like to talk about the creation. I would like to read a passage from the Gospel of St. Paul to the Romans.
In it, St. Paul shows how the creation is definitely linked to human beings and how it suffers because human beings are not perfected yet. Romans 8:18-28:
I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God; for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the glorious liberty of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning in travail together until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words. And He who searches the hearts of men knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. We know that in everything God works for good with those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose.
All creation works together for the good of those who do the will of God. God has never seen the fulfillment of His purpose of love. Paul is saying that everything is in turmoil due to the lack of harmony and unity between the creation, man and God. We wait for the revealing of the sons of God within us. Our True Parents have brought that realization to us.
Today I would like to talk about our recreation process. Creation Day, or Day of All Things, was founded on May 1, 1963 (lunar calendar), after Father founded Parents' Day and then Children's Day. God's Day was the fourth holy day to be founded, in 1967. What is the purpose of the Day of All Things? In a speech he gave on June 11, 1983, entitled "True Ownership," Father said, "In order to restore all things from the false to true ownership, we have been doing fundraising, in which we invest all our heart and love. By Principle we help all things to be restored into the realm of true love."
All things are in lamentation, sighing that they are in the hands of wrong ownership. All things long to be dominated by true love. In order for them to return to the true love dominion, they must first be returned to God's ownership.
On May 1, 1963, our True Parents proclaimed the establishment of the seed of that new ownership. It was the beginning of God's responsible son and daughter -- Father and Mother -- taking ownership of creation. It was the beginning of the end of the groaning of creation. From that point on, Father has systematically claimed ownership through fundraising and witnessing: little by little, property after property, person after person. Ultimately God is seeking the substantial ownership of His nation, Korea. Father's Moscow Rally, Father's work in Eastern Europe and in China, all that Father is preparing in the next few months in America and throughout the world, is in an effort to establish substantial ownership of God's nation.
Father established holy grounds in 1965-66, in 120 nations altogether. The purpose of this was to literally start taking ownership of one little place in every nation that could be substantially called God's land, with rock, soil, and usually a tree symbolizing the plant kingdom. Here we could pray and feel that our prayer was more substantially connecting to God because Father had claimed that land.
If you study theology, you realize this course of restoration has taken many, many years. You can also realize that Father and Mother fought very hard for the establishment of this day. We have to understand the value of our True Parents and how long it took for God to finally see His son and daughter achieve this.
What are we talking about when we say creation? In theology, God is distinguished as the Being which is uncreated.
Everything else is created. Human beings are made in the image of God, and the rest of creation is made as a symbol of God. This statement also indicates that creation is in the image of man.
Father said you can get a sense of who God is by looking at creation. And to understand yourself, study the creation. Everything about the creation has dual characteristics, complementary opposites: positive and negative, proton and electron, male and female. And all of it is centered on true love. Father is always talking about the vertical and horizontal coming together. So if you study the creation, you will know more about yourself than by any other kind of study.
Many times Father said that we don't need sex education in schools. In some sense, the parents don't even need to teach the children. If you just look at the creation, you can learn all you need to know about the mechanics of the sexual relationship between a male and female.
Father explains how the creation is permeated with the characteristic of true love. If you want to understand true love, watch how the creation promotes harmony and even sacrifices itself for something greater through the food chain.
At Barrytown's 120-day workshop in 1975 under Rev. Sudo, I will never forget the example he gave in the story of a leaf. He said a leaf actually serves the purpose of the whole even more than the purpose of itself. From the very time the bud opens, when the very small, tender, iridescent green leaf begins to open up, it is already making food for the rest of the tree. It absorbs the sunlight and through photosynthesis creates food that feeds the tree, not itself. All through the summer it grows as big as it can so it can make much food for the tree; it weathers wind, rain, storms, hurricanes, but clings to that tree so that the purpose of the whole tree will prosper.
In the autumn, it turns color so that men and women can enjoy the beauty. We all love autumn. There is nothing so beautiful as when the trees begin to turn colors. Why do the trees turn colors? For themselves? No, for our joy. In the wintertime when the leaf finally drops on the ground, even its death serves the purpose of the whole by providing fertilizer for the tree's roots.
There is so much to learn from the creation about the giving principle, about the principle of true love, about dual characteristics.
Creation was made in the image of the human being. We notice ourselves reflected in everything we can see. We receive joy when we see the flowers and the animals.
We often forget that there is more to creation than just the physical world. God also created the spiritual world. When we are talking about the Day of All Things, all creation, we are talking about the spiritual world as well. God began creation by forming the spirit world first, including angels. I've heard that there are many beautiful creations in the spiritual world so that once we go there, we never want to come back. It is so beautiful and enticing.
God put the archangel in charge of everything in the spiritual world. Lucifer was God's right-hand man and had the mission to be custodian over all things. But who was the real owner of the world? God was the real owner. Why? Because He created it with true love. Many times Father has said that real ownership is based on true love. God had intended for all things to ultimately be permeated with that true love so that they could all be part of the essence of the Creator, especially human beings.
Father has said that true love came first. Not only that, but God created all things centered on the principle of life which originated out of that true love. Life would be centered on true love. The entire lineage of God's creation was to emanate and multiply itself from that kind of life.
One unique characteristic of the spirit world is that whatever exists there is eternal. If you want to give such an entity a term, you might say they are an "eternal individual truth body."
What is unique about the physical world? Do things exist eternally in the physical world? No, there is a period of growth, maturity, death, and then birth again. Then what is it that the physical world can do and the spirit world cannot do? In "The Flower of Absolute Value," April 1st, Father said, "Reproduction only takes place in the physical world, not the spirit world." In other words, the physical world alone has the ability to reproduce the species and begin a lineage. Although individual truth bodies do not eternally exist in the physical world, the species does. Thus, God intended for there to be eternity in the physical world as well as the spiritual world. A different kind, but eternity none the less.
Now what does the Principle say about the unique position of the human being in creation? Mediator, microcosm, and ruler. What do these mean? First of all, microcosm. Each man and woman is made up of every element of the physical and spiritual worlds. You can find almost every mineral in our human body and our spirit never dies. So the human being works with the principles of both worlds. Thus, we are the microcosm of the entire creation.
Next, we are the ruler. As sons and daughters of God we were meant to inherit ownership of the creation -- not only of the physical world but the spiritual world as well. In brief, we were meant to be in the central position of ownership with God as our Parent.
And third, human beings were meant to be mediators. I will read what the Principle says on page 40 in the brown Divine Principle book:
God created man to be the medium of interaction and the center of harmony of the entire creation. The spirit world and the physical world cannot communicate directly with each other. When man's physical self and spiritual self become one through give and take action, the physical world and the spirit world will communicate with one another through man.
The spiritual world cannot communicate with the physical world and vice versa. Unification Thought says you can only have a give and take relationship when there is a common base. Man is the only created being that has both physical and spiritual elements.
If our destiny is to ultimately live eternally with God in the spirit world, why didn't He just make the spirit world? It would make it a lot easier, wouldn't it? We wouldn't have to go through the process of being born or giving birth, having relationships with other people on this earth, eating three times a day, breathing all the time, walking around! Wouldn't it be nice if we just existed in the spiritual world? There is pain, bleeding, grief, and a need to sleep in the physical world. You don't do those things in the spirit world. God created the physical world so that human beings could become like Him by becoming parents. Father has said that God has no physical body; thus God belongs to the spiritual world and cannot reproduce. Even though dogs and trees reproduce, they have no spirit. Man is the only one that can create another physical being with an eternal spirit. That's amazing!
Actually, had God made it possible for human beings to recreate in the spiritual world, the entire spirit world would be able to follow that same principle. Then there would have been no unique characteristic for man; he would exist as just a higher ordered animal in the spiritual world. But we are definitely unique in our ability to reproduce another eternal spiritual being. By doing this, we can actually create just as God creates. In this sense, we can experience what it is like to even be God.
Now if established Christians and other religious people were to hear this, they would call us blasphemers: "Oh, you want to be like God." In fact, many people think the fall of man was because Adam and Eve wanted to be like God. But we are saying they were supposed to be like God, and the fall happened because they failed to become like God.
Even God cannot experience the physical creation unless it is through perfected human beings. God is imprisoned in His own world and needs to be liberated. The creation cannot communicate and cannot experience the joy of its own Creator, God, for there is no vehicle or mediator. That is the tragedy of the fall.
James
Baughman on the Day of All Things.
Let's try to understand the intention of creation. Man and woman were to be the only created beings to have responsibility in the creation. So these three positions as children of God were not just given to man by nature -- he was to acquire these positions through fulfillment of his responsibility. To become the mediator, ruler and inheritor of ownership, we must fulfill a certain responsibility -- the three blessings. Human beings are the only part of the entire created order who also have a responsibility to help create their own 'self'.
First of all, we have to create a perfect personality. We live with each other and have not seen perfect personalities too often. We have to work at it, and it is hard work, isn't it? Father says the essence of our problem is mind and body unity centered on true love and God. Our mind and body should be centered on the vertical True Parents and the horizontal True Parents to create a perfect personality.
On that foundation we next have to become perfect parents. And thirdly, we have to become perfect creators or owners. We have the ability when centered on true love to ultimately create true life and true lineage. This is our goal. Using this as our standard, we become a true person, true parent, and a true creator centered on true love, true life, and true lineage. Isn't it interesting that by doing this, we actually reflect God's image. God is a true and perfect person. God is a true parent and a true creator centered on true love, true life, and true lineage.
God has been waiting for us to fulfill our responsibility to reflect His image, as a true person, true parent, and true creator centering on true life and true love. Only then can God experience His creation.
Some years ago when Heung Jin Nim was giving some talks, he said the archangel was already getting off track in his thinking from the very beginning of creation. Can you imagine what it must have been like to be in charge of everything as second in command? Then God created the mineral kingdom. It was physical and the archangel, as a spiritual being, had no common base with it. He couldn't have give and take with it and began to realize there was something else being created that he could not touch. Then he could not touch the plant and animal kingdoms with all their beauty and complexity, nor any of the amazing harmony and intricacies of the physical world. He wonders, "God put me in charge of everything. Why can't I be in charge of everything?" He understood that human beings were a unique creation, and the only way to become owner of the physical world was to take ownership of the mediator, Adam. Before God could relate to perfected human beings centered on God's love, life and lineage, Lucifer came in prematurely. He set up his love, his life and an entire lineage centered on himself. He used the Principle to beat God to the ownership of the world, becoming the ruler of this world, as the Bible says.
Centered on Satan's three blessings -- Satan's love, Satan's life, Satan's lineage -- we became a self-centered person, self-centered parents, self-centered creators and greedy in all three aspects.
Not only did we not take God's point of view, we took Lucifer's point of view and became children of Satan. Everything we touched was tainted by Satan's lineage and Satan's love. It's amazing, isn't it, how Lucifer used the core of the Principle for his own benefit. Instead of reflecting God's image, we reflected the image of our false parent, Lucifer. Now we are in that midway position reflecting the image of God and also the image of Satan. This is the problem.
God lost his mediator, became a prisoner in His own world and needs to be liberated. The creation became a prisoner in its own world, for there was no give and take. God has been seeking throughout history to find someone who could fulfill this position as the microcosm of the universe, the ruler, the inheritor of ownership in God's name, and ultimately the mediator between the two worlds enabling God to take ownership of the creation.
There is something very curious about real ownership. Did you ever see two little children play with one toy? Let's say the toy belongs to the three-year-old. But the six-year-old says it is his. What do you think is going to happen? The person who thinks it is his is going to fight really hard; but the real owner is going to fight even harder. That little three-year-old, no matter how badly he is beaten or kicked around, hangs onto that toy. If you know that you are really the owner, you will never let go.
Now that Lucifer has tasted this world, does he want to let it go? No way. Do we want to let go of the fallen nature we have inherited through that life and lineage? No, it is not that easy. But can you imagine if God should ever taste His own creation and realize what it means to be owner of His creation? Who so you think will win? God. That's why Lucifer will do everything he can to stop anyone who approaches the fulfillment of this position. He is always after anyone who comes close to fulfilling the three blessings. That's why saints and prophets and Jesus suffered -- the satanic world came against them in full force. If God should ever touch base on this physical creation, it's over for Satan.
The Blessing of our True Parents in 1960 was ultimately Father and Mother proclaiming, "We now stand in a position of true person, true parents, true creator, and are now the microcosm of the universe, the ruler, the inheritor of ownership, and the mediator." Through our True Parents, God touched base on this earth. The proclamation of the Day of All Things was literally the moment when True Parents could confidently say the creation could now be liberated.
The Day of All Things was first proclaimed 28 years ago by our True Parents. But what does it mean to me as a Unification Church member to be in the process of recreation?
I would like to read again from Father's speech, "The Flower of Absolute Value":
Have our spirit and body come together completely? No, we have to repair that condition through a religious life. The purpose of a religious life is to repair the purpose of our mind and body, spirit and physical, coming together to get on track. Through concentrating on love, we eventually bring our minds and bodies into unity. We have bad, strong habits in our bodies. Every religion has realized that men are not in the right order. We need to be recreated.
So every religion has a path. How many of you come from a Buddhist tradition? The eight-fold path is a Buddhist spiritual path. How about the Tao, the Way? It is a path. I remember being in a Catholic monastery that stressed vows of chastity, poverty, and obedience. Father says that the purpose of religion is to bring all people back to a connection with God's love, life, and lineage, and produces a spiritual path.
It seems in some religions, the path is very systematic. They say, "Here is the spiritual path. You follow this and you will get so far." It is a merit badge mentality. What is the spiritual path of the Unification Church? The formula course. Some of us think: The spiritual path of the Unification Church is indemnity, right? Father says that as long as you are just paying indemnity every day, it doesn't matter. That's our course.
Some of us ask the question: "If I witness to someone, what are they coming to when they join this church?" Haven't you asked yourself that? Hasn't that been an excuse for you not to witness? We don't know what our path is. But it is very clear. Some months ago, Father told me that one of my missions is to educate the members in America about the formula course. The formula course is the path of recreation of self so that I can liberate God, liberate myself, and liberate the creation. It is the recreation process of all things.
Father explains the formula course in this way. The creation was meant to take place in this order: man and woman were to fulfill the first blessing based on the word of God. We would embody the word, true love, true life, and true lineage, and through the subsequent unity of our mind and body centered on God's love, become perfect persons. We become true parents based on the first blessing. Then we fulfill the second blessing next and the third blessing after that. The fall took place in this very same order -- that is the sinister nature of the fall. First, Lucifer got Adam and Eve to deviate from the word of God. They then embodied the word of Lucifer and created the first blessing centered on him. On that foundation, the fall took place using that distorted word and distorted love as a base. Instead of life, we say Adam and Eve died. Then they were thrown out of the Garden with the third blessing fulfilled centered on Lucifer.
Restoration occurs through indemnity -- a famous word in our church. What is the Principle definition of indemnity? Reversal of the fall. The reason it is painful is because of the tremendous effort required to stop the direction you are headed and to go in the opposite direction. Father said we have many strong, bad habits. So to stop and turn around is painful, but that's not the essence of indemnity. The essence of indemnity is reversing the fall. The formula course is simply the path within our church of the recreation process, restoration through indemnity, or reversing the fall.
Since the fall took place in the order of one, two, three, Father says we must restore it in the reverse order: three, two, one. First we have to restore the third blessing substantially. Can you fulfill the third blessing without fulfilling the first blessing? No. We first need the Messiah to liberate us and show us the path of reversal so that we can fulfill the three blessings in order. The Messiah liberates us through the Blessing: we rid ourselves of the root of original sin and ultimately fulfill the first blessing. In the meantime, we must symbolically fulfill the three blessings in reverse order. We can't take ownership yet, but we can work on behalf of God. In other words, we can make certain conditions to fulfill these three blessings.
Father describes the first two aspects of the formula course in terms of fundraising and witnessing. First of all, we must have seventy days of training and education: two-day, seven-day, 21-day and 40-day workshop. Father said that everyone who goes this course of education can never really leave the church. Anyone who has been through these workshops in depth, hearing not only the Principle but also VOC, Unification Thought, testimonies and internal guidance are inextricably tied to God's Will and God's thinking. They will never forget it and even if such a person leaves the church, they will come back. People have left the church and not returned because we have not really trained and taught them. This is why Father emphasized that every member of the Unification Church must attend a 40-day workshop with Rev. Aim. Father is very concerned that we fulfill this condition which will tie us to the heart of God. This is also the first condition of the formula course.
Next is MFT and witnessing. Let me explain them. Did you know that money actually represents all things? Money is made from minerals: nickel, silver, copper. Thus, it represents the mineral kingdom. But, it also represents all material things. You can buy food with money, clothes to keep you warm, houses to keep you sheltered, cars to transport you. In a way, all things come to a point or focus with money. That's why money is such a powerful tool in this world and why governments regulate it. The misuse of public funds is one of the most grievous sins in our church. Public money represents the restoration of the third blessing.
MFT is important as a spiritual condition, not just to raise money that you claim for God. Father said the length of this part of the formula course is three and one-half years and that we must all go this course. The purpose is to claim back all things for God. We stand in a position of adopted son or daughter to claim ownership of all things and offer them completely to God. We have no right to inherit or own anything at that point.
Next, we must restore all people, who represent the rest of creation. The witnessing course is for three and one-half years. We are not qualified yet to be parents, even though some of us may get blessed during this seven-year period. We are not qualified to have our own children. We must first symbolically fulfill the second blessing b becoming spiritual parents. Through this we claim people and offer them completely to God. Witnessing is the same process as fundraising: collect, restore and offer everything completely to God. In that sense, we are becoming a mediator already by giving all things to God so He can own them. We become the channel through which God can claim ownership. We cannot own anything until God owns. It is on this foundation that we can then seek to fulfill the first blessing symbolically.
President
Baughman, New York Regional Director Rev. Joong Hyun Pak, and Mr.
Toshimi Terada, representing America, Korea and Japan, cut the
celebration cake.
Let me read a couple of passages from this talk entitled "Parents, Children and the World Centered Upon Oneself" [God's Will and the World]:
You must spend three and one-half years restoring all things and then three and one-half years restoring spiritual children. That is your seven year course. Unless we fulfill the original formula of loving all things and loving the archangel, we cannot love God. We first must restore all things and all people. If you resist fundraising, you are resisting the foundation upon which your body can be recreated. Unless you find your spiritual children you are not in a position to say you have loved the archangel. Because you are trying to restore yourself to the original state of the man before the fall, you must do all these things. You must set a condition to restore all things which were lost to Satan. Fundraising fulfills that condition. Unless we bring the creation from the satanic dominion to God's side, we cannot restore ourselves.
"If we can't do this first, we can never really restore our self since God made the creation before He made Adam and Eve. So first we must restore all things and then we can restore our self. That's because God created all things first, and then created man and woman, so the recreation process is similar. Because Satan is reluctant to release what he has, it is only by fighting him, by confronting persecution and rejection that we can bring all things to their true owner. Ownership is determined by love. Satan enslaved all things instead of loving them. So when we love all things, we have a right to claim them. Our love must be more intense than Satan's." Father then explains how home church fits into all of this: "My personal central headquarters rests upon the foundation of the 360 family home church providence. Once you overcome the fallen state, you must return to the fallen world. You must become master of the world through the home church system. You must become symbolically the messiah to 360 homes, which represent the world." The home church book explains very clearly how we symbolically fulfill the purpose and mission of messiah. We go on the foundation of restoring all things and all people to symbolically become the messiah to a Cain-type home town or home church.
This now gets us to the position of having symbolically fulfilled the three blessings in reverse order. What do we do after we've reversed the process of the fall? We have to substantially fulfill the three blessings in order.
Throughout Father's life on earth, he would do and proclaim certain things. It doesn't always mean that we are there yet. Last year Father proclaimed tribal messiahship and talked about the home town providence. Ultimately the concept of tribal messiah is for us to go back to our home towns in the messianic position to our clan. We are now to become the messiah, a person of the three blessings, a person who represents God's love, life, and lineage, and to be like an extension of our True Parents in our home town community. Tribal messiahship was set up mainly in the regions where we live, not necessarily in our home towns, because we have not yet fulfilled home church. And yet, Father is proclaiming tribal messiahship as well. Why? Before Father goes to spirit world he has to set and proclaim the entire course that we must follow. Although, Father says we can do it in seven years, how fast we go and how well we accomplish will depend on our responsibility in fulfilling the three blessings.
After restoring our clan, we can then say, "These are my children, my family, my things." Father said last year that, in a way, we can never own anything until God first owns His own nation.
Let me make a confession on behalf of America, because in a sense, America has failed in many ways. If we are confused about what we are doing in this church, America will never fulfill its role in God's providence. We have to be clear, united and lead the way spiritually so America can follow. We have failed because we have not clearly understood this path. We haven't fulfilled it, nor sought after it, because we haven't recognized it as the spiritual path of our Unification Church religion. When we invite people to join our church, we invite them to go this course, to restore the three blessings in reverse order so that they themselves can be recreated, and so they can then restore their clan. This is the formula course, the path of the Unification Church. On the foundation of their 70 days of training, we can prepare people to go the formula course.
The day Father left for Korea he clearly explained all members should go to national MFT for three and one-half years, graduate, return to their region and witness for three and one-half years. After that, they should go pioneering and then do home church. On that foundation, they should go back and restore their home town. We all have to go this course. There is no way around it. At that point Father said if there is anyone who has not been on national MFT, it doesn't matter how many kids you have or how long you have been in the church, go. If you haven't done the formula course, it is to your benefit to do so because it is through this process that we are recreated.
Most of us have spent many years in the church and haven't progressed far along this way. I think America has failed because we as members haven't recognized this course, and consequently have not fulfilled it. I've done a lot of fundraising in my life, but have never spent three and one-half years on MFT. When I have finished this mission, I expect to be out there some place. Father is serious. I have never really spent a solid three and one-half years witnessing, although I have done a lot of witnessing in my other missions. I have done a lot of lecturing but have never been to a 40-day workshop. I am not proud of it. Father said everybody has to go, so Rev. Ahn is waiting for me. We have to go this course. I have done some home church, but have I fulfilled 360 homes? Now Father is asking for us to be tribal messiahs. I think we are all in the same boat here, aren't we? Don't you think we have a lot to repent for before True Parents? It is for our own benefit that we go this way. Father says, "I put you through the training of this course so that you can be restored." You can be recreated, you can liberate God and you can liberate all things.
Many of us are not qualified to be in the positions we hold. We need to reflect on this point, not get depressed over it, but ask ourselves how we can go back and fill in the gaps? "How can I fulfill the formula course in my own life, so we as a people in America can make a strong foundation for America to follow and successfully fulfill its mission?" It is a very serious question.
Let me mention that Father said this is not just a spiritual path, it is very practical too. The Unification Church religion is something very real and practical. There are three problems that every human being faces in the world, regardless of what country you live in, how rich or poor you are, your religion or race, or what time in history you've lived. First of all, economic: "How am I going to feed myself, dress myself? Where shall
I live? What job should I acquire? How do I gain money?" Every human being is thinking about this problem and there are many who can't solve it.
Second, every human being is plagued with the problem of how to relate to other people. We will call it 'human relations'. We all realize that I cannot exist by myself, that I've got to relate to people. How to relate properly to human beings so that you can influence them and get what you need is not just utilitarian. We all need love, so how do you relate to people to gain love? The question of how to converse and communicate is problems that every human being faces. And, again, many of them don't do it very well.
Third, Father said that the problem every human being in the world faces is the right view, the right thought or perception of things. If you have a system of thought that helps you understand the world, isn't it a lot easier for you to live in it? If you have a system of thought which explains this very well, you can feel more comfortable with your life and actually use your life to your advantage. You can use those principles to advance in life. But if you have a confused understanding and perception of the world, your life will be chaotic, meaningless and depressing.
All of our life we seek to solve these three problems. Father says, "Unification formula course" is the right thought. The formula course teaches us the right view of the world so that we can make sense of it and use it to our advantage. After 70 days of Unification teachings and testimonies, people have confidence in their view of the world.
If you spend three and one-half years on MFT with the right training, you may not become an economic genius, but you definitely will know how to handle money: how to make it, how to keep track of it, and how to manage it. We are developing an elaborate manual for MFT which specifies day by day, week by week, year by year, lessons that MFTers can learn -- not just how to earn money, but confidence to relate to people and manage money. Some of the most economically successful members of our church were long-term MFT people. Why? Because of the practical training that comes with that experience.
When you witness to people, you have to convince them that the Principle is what they need for their life. You have to relate and communicate diplomatically. You must understand human relations to convince people to come to the center or to be your friend, or to convince them that God exists, that they need True Parents, and to go the formula course. Father said after these seven years, members could go anywhere and never leave the church. They will be economically successful and able to not only relate to people, but be able to gain friends to the point where they could even run for office or become leaders in their community. What Father seems to be saying is that if everybody in the world would go the formula course, it would solve all the basic problems everyone is facing. By going the formula course, they not only fulfill a spiritual path, but also solve the three fundamental problems of existence for every human being!
When I heard that, I thought, "Father is amazing, isn't he?" He is talking about the three blessings: number one, number two, and number three. Every human being faces this because we are innately created to fulfill these things, to seek after them, to hunger for them, to want to fulfill them in our life.
What do we bring people to when they come to join the church? We bring them the spiritual and practical success as a human being. If we go the formula course, we will not only become successful in our communities and society, successful economically for our families, but we also become successful sons and daughters of God. We reverse the fall and change the lineage. We can then inherit all things from God. It is the most amazing part of the recreation process. Despite the fall, God has been able to give us a way to recreate ourselves to become fully human, to become the center of all creation, and to become sons and daughters of God. It is up to?? us to fulfill this now.
First we must recognize that this is the way of our church. Second, we must repent for not going that way yet. Before True Parents we must repent as a church. Third, we must find a way to make up for that loss, to fill in the gaps. What does that mean? Should everyone volunteer for MFT? No, I don't think that would solve all of our responsibilities; but we must seek for the opportunity to fulfill this at some point in our life.
Father is now saying to the American church, but ultimately to America: "I need financial and human resources to save the rest of the world." America is in the position of being very rich in these things. Father says, "We need 30,000 people. You haven't raised up 30,000." Yet to fulfill the need in Eastern Europe and in Russia, we need people.
We need a tithing system whereby members tithe to their local and regional churches. On that foundation, the regional churches tithe to the national, and the national tithe to the international not just for our own self-survival, but N supply the resources needed to save the rest of the world. If we can't go the formula course right now, we can participate in the witnessing programs of our region. Some of you know how to teach. I am asking you, begging you, challenging you to be a teacher. If you know how to teach Principle, volunteer to teach, even one weekend every two or three months.
You can witness, teach, tithe, and support on many different levels. Even if you cannot do MFT right now, tithe. If you cannot witness full-time right now, participate in your tribal messiah work.
Soon Father may speak again to the American people. That speech may be the last for a while or maybe forever. How can we best prepare? Certainly through our prayer, but also through the formula course. By going the way that Father has gone, in order to restore and recreate ourselves. Our challenge is to follow the spiritual and practical path of our Unification Church religion.
Please genuinely pledge to find a way of filling in the gaps of the formula course so that we can unite as the American church and lead this nation to victory in the providence.
Brothers and sisters, I want to thank you very much. I respect you for all that you are doing. Together we can succeed in inspiring our True Parents by helping them fulfill, claiming God's nation for God in their lifetime, and ultimately restoring the whole world. May God bless you and may you have a happy Day of All Things. Thank you.