Good morning, brothers and sisters. I would like to tell you this morning about True Parents' most recent providential work. True Father's eighty years of life signify total restoration through indemnity for the sake of humanity. This is the year marking the number eighty. So this year has very significant providential meaning. True Parents celebrated their fortieth wedding anniversary this year, too. True Parents' Holy Wedding signifies the completion of the purpose of creation for eternity.

When we look back at the twentieth century, we can see it was a century of conflict and war. This was not just another century, but it was the time of change from satanic dominion to God's dominion from the viewpoint of God's providence. From Satan's viewpoint, it was his last moment. From God's point of view, it is a new beginning. The Principle teaches us that the Last Days means the phenomena in progress due to the changes of the world from satanic dominion to God's dominion.

You can witness this as we pass from the twentieth to the twenty-first century. You can witness the end of satanic dominion. The twentieth century was a century of conflict and war. We should begin the twenty-first century by surmounting this reality.

Who started these conflicts and wars? Sociologists of the twentieth century say that there were about a hundred and fifty conflicts and wars of varying sizes after World War II. As we speak there are conflicts happening in about thirty locations. What is the cause of all these conflicts? The major cause has been religion. The most conflict-ridden area has been the Middle East. All the conflicts in the Middle East have a lot to do with religion. People have suffered for about thirty years in Ireland because of this latest round of religious conflict. It is the same in Turkey and in East Timor. The conflicts in all these countries can be characterized as religious.

The other causes are extreme nationalism and racial discrimination. These three are the major causes of twentieth century conflicts. Religions went off the track of the essence of religion. And chauvinistic nationalism and religious discrimination play important roles as Satan's tools. These have to change in order for the world to come under God's dominion. That is why Father teaches us the importance, for the sake of world peace, of going beyond religion and beyond nationalism.

What this means is not that we should leave religion behind but that we should go beyond religious denominations. This means we should go beyond what is false in religions, beyond religious authority and dogmatism. To be transnational means that we should denounce extreme nationalism. That is why Father is trying to expand the movement for world peace through the Inter-religious and International Federation for World Peace (IIFWP).

The spirit of the twenty-first century is one of building world peace. From the providential point of view, it is the time for God's Kingdom to begin. What True Father claimed in the UN was that we should build God's Kingdom on Earth and the eternal world of peace through a movement, based on universal brotherhood, that transcends religion and nationalism. Father put a lot of emphasis on the role of the UN in achieving this goal. In other words, the UN has to change. Originally, the UN was created to solve conflicts worldwide, but it has not fully accomplished its aims.

What kind of changes does Father mean? Firstly, Father suggested that the UN should have an upper house and a lower house. The lower house should be made up of representatives from all nations. The upper house should be made up of spiritual leaders that transcend religion and nationality. The UN should send its own ambassadors, who are able to go beyond their own national interests, to other nations to contribute to world peace. At present, the representatives from each nation are only concerned about their own national interests. That is why it is so hard for world peace to come. Father suggested that the UN should create an upper ho se made up of spiritual leaders whose sole interest is world peace. That way, the UN could play the central role in the realization of world peace.

Spiritual leaders, religious, cultural and educational leaders who are totally nonpolitical should become members of the upper house as the watchmen for world peace. Secondly, Father said that we should build peace zones under UN administration. What does it mean to build a peace zone? There are so many national border areas in the world. Father suggested that the UN create peace zones where there is conflict between countries and play the central role in solving international conflicts.

For example, Father recommended building a peace park in the demilitarized zone on the Korean peninsula. There we should build an ecological sanctuary and an education center where people can learn how to establish peace. The UN has two major streams. One is GOs, representing each nation's government and the other is NGOs-nongovernmental organizations. Presently, about 3,500 NGOs are working actively. But GOs are comparatively less active. An NGO Federation presented Father with the Universal Peace Award. What does this award mean to Father? For Father, it signifies testimony from the Cain side. It also means a completion of one level of restoration. True Mother received a significant award on June 14th last year at the "Declaration and Celebration of True Parents' Cosmic Victory." [See June 1999 issue] Father gave Mother this award after she finished her eighty-nation world tour. Father then told us that we should also give Mother an award.

How could we dare to give Mother an award?! Yet Father said that we should because it had providential meaning. Why, providentially, should Mother have received an award after establishing this victorious foundation? Why should Father have given Mother an award and why should we have honored Mother in this way?

From 1993, Mother started to walk the way of True Mother centered on mother and son cooperation, in the truest sense. Although Mother had already become the True Mother of humankind in 1960, from the providential point of view, she was more like a prophet or a John the Baptist until 1992. The proof of this is True Mother's proclamation of True Father being the Messiah. John the Baptist's mission was to proclaim who the Messiah is. Christian spiritual groups in the position of John the Baptist should have testified to Father. But they failed to do so. So who took over the mission at last? From July 6th to 9th in 1992, Mother testified to Father through the Women's Federation.

The mission of the bride of the Second Coming passed from Christianity to the Unification Church and finally to the Women's Federation. Last year, Mother received an award from her children. That signifies that mother and her children were united during the age of mother and son cooperation.

In the providence to restore mother and son cooperation, Cain, Abel and the mother unite and bring the father to their unity. The father represents Adam of the original ideal of creation. After completing this providence, the original Adam presented an award to Mother in recognition of this accomplishment.

Giving an award has significant providential meaning for True Parents' providence. True Parents' receiving an award, on a victorious foundation, from an organization connected with the UN has providential significance. True Parents are building God's Kingdom substantially. Externally, they create the environment, and, internally, they educate people to inherit His will.

Let us take a look at the meaning of the registration workshops and mobilization. What are the registration workshops? They signify the fruition of the providence in the completion stage. It is inevitable that each one of us go through the process of registration in building God's Kingdom. There are two things we should look at in God's providence. One is His promises, the other is the fulfillment of His promises. The main theme of the entire Bible is God's promises and their fulfillment.

True Father started to speak about registration in 1959. True Parents, Heung-Jin Nim's family and the True Family are registered. Since 1959, Father has been saying that when the time of registration comes, we will gain citizenship. This year, we are witnessing his promise being fulfilled. Can you imagine how important a providential fruit this is? Brothers and sisters, the main thing is not mobilization. The focus should be on the registration. Not on mobilizing but on registering. Registration signifies the fulfillment of a providential promise.

Second, Father told us that there are three stages of the blessing. There is the church-level blessing, the national-level blessing and the world-level blessing. Registration is the process we have to pass completely through, so that we can enter the national level blessing era. Once we have done that, the world-level blessing era can naturally come about.

Third, what is registration? It means that we earn citizenship in God's Kingdom. All of us here are blessed. But the blessing does not guarantee our perfection. For example, when we were born we were given life. But having life did not give us any rights. In order to have rights as citizens we have to grow up and become adults. We can vote only after we have come of age.

By the same token, being blessed is just like the time before we come of age. We are still underage. We have no right to vote. The registration process makes it possible for us to receive citizenship as adults. This is the relationship between our blessing and registration.

Fourth, registration is the process of realizing God's Kingdom. There are three things necessary for the realization of God's Kingdom; people, land and sovereignty. We have the sovereignty. We are establishing our land in Korea. Father is also preparing another place just in case Korea cannot provide the land for God. Registration means populating the heavenly kingdom. Therefore, this registration providence is an inevitable process in the building of God's Kingdom. For each one of us it signifies earning citizenship. From the viewpoint of the providence as a whole, it is the inevitable process of realizing God's Kingdom by creating God's people.

Registration workshops are in process in Chung Pyung. The workshop for the 36 couples to the 777 couples has already finished and now the 1800 couples are receiving training. They are being educated to become citizens of God's Kingdom. They are also setting the conditions to be reborn.

What does it mean to be reborn? It means that we should restore our satanic blood lineage to the lineage of goodness. That is the main reason we were blessed. Then have we all kept the tradition of God's blood lineage after we were blessed? We have not done so. So True Parents are working on the rebirth providence again. They will hold the Holy Wine Ceremony again to give us the opportunity to repent, and the Blessing Ceremony to revive our spirits.

All the families whose wives or mothers have completed the registration workshop will be educated in the final week of September. What is education? It provides the opportunity for us to recreate ourselves. We receive the necessary shots to be cured. We can be reborn as God's people. From God's providential viewpoint, the registration workshop means receiving spiritual education to give us a clear sense of our identity, and the earning of citizenship. It is also a condition for us to be reborn. We can be forgiven totally and receive the blessing of rebirth.

Therefore, all blessed families should participate. So far only fifty percent of the 1800 couple families participated in the workshop. Those who did not come were afraid of being mobilized. That is a serious problem. You should tell the ones you know who did not participate that they should, no matter what. Mobilization is not the main point. Most important is our participation in the grace God gives us freely.

What is important here is that we should be reborn again by True Parents and be registered as God's citizens. Some citizens are more qualified than others. In any event, you all should be registered. No matter how righteous and good you are, you cannot wear the ceremonial robes unless you are blessed. No matter how wrong is the road you have taken, once you are blessed, you can still wear the ceremonial robes. There is a difference in quality. Registration is the same. So all the blessed families should participate in the registration workshop.

What is our path? We are going the way of eternity. Let's look back at the time of Jesus. Jesus had perhaps five thousand followers when his movement was at its peak. But later on, his disciples' fire of passion burned out and they started doubting whether or not Jesus was the Messiah. It was such pitiful situation. They all left before Jesus' crucifixion. They began to see Jesus through humanistic eyes. They saw Jesus with spiritual eyes in the beginning but became blinded by their own humanistic perceptions. They could not see Jesus as he really was. They all left him. They all failed. What does this teach us?

This is God's revelation-the revelation teaching us that we should not make the same mistake. When we first encountered the Principle, we could see Father while full of spirit. He was holy. We made conditions of overnight prayer when Father came to the Headquarters Church. But as time passed, our eyes started becoming cloudy, and we have started to look at Father with human eyes. We can no longer see Father as he really is. We may end up dying like Peter. The registration workshop has such an important meaning for all of us, therefore.

Having the attitude that we cannot go because we cannot be mobilized after the workshop is so foolish. As we walk the providential path with True Parents, the least we can do is participate in providential events. Then we move to the next level systematically.

Now, let us talk about mobilization. What do mobilizations mean? These are official courses for us to be God's people. They are not a matter of choice. They are mobilizations. There have always been official providential courses that we were pulled into by God's will, rather than our own. Mobilization at this time has the same kind of connotation. True Father predicted this mobilization long ago. When True Father mobilized our elder members in the beginning of the 1970s, he told them that he would mobilize them once again in the Last Days. This is the very time he was referring to. Mobilization signals the start of God's Kingdom in the providential sense. The meaning of this mobilization is the beginning of God's Kingdom.

God's Kingdom begins when there is sovereignty and people who are registered as God's people. Mobilizing is the way to settle the tradition and spirit of God's Kingdom and for us to have the identity of citizens. Through mobilizing, we can make a substantial foundation for sovereignty. We have been following God's providence as blessed families so far. If we miss this important providential event of starting a new country, we may lose the meaning of all the effort we have made to come this far.

Even if you cannot follow the directions one hundred percent, you should be mobilized. You may have health reasons, financial reasons and all kinds of reasons that you feel you cannot participate in a mobilization. Yet, even if you have all possible reasons preventing you from actively participating in this mobilization, you at least should go to your mission area. Father would not give us this kind of direction if he were only concerned with our personal situations. This is absolute. Even if you can work only for a day or two in your assigned area, you should at least go.

This is a providential event, the fruit of all the past effort made. This is the starting point for the future. Two thousand years ago, Jesus was killed because he called God his Father. When people asked Jesus why he did not follow the Mosaic law concerning the Sabbath, he answered that he worked because his Father in Heaven worked. The Jews were determined to kill him. Why? Because he called God his Father and broke the law of the Sabbath.

At the time of Jesus, they could not even call God their Father. Children could not call their own father "Father." We also had a time that we could not call True Parents the Messiah. How about now? Do True Parents proclaim themselves as True Parents or not? Do you think that they did not want to proclaim themselves as True Parents? They could not in the past because there would have been too much rejection. Now they can do so at anytime. Why? Because the situation has changed.

The fact that the time has come that we can build God's Kingdom and that we can be mobilized for that purpose is truly a liberating event. It is a joyful event worthy of celebration. At this providential time, if we complain, "Why can't Father leave us alone?" without trying to look at the larger providential picture, we will end up devastating our own hearts.

At this time of liberation, the least we can do is not go against the providential flow. Even if we cannot go forward, well, we should at least try to stay on the same track. Since this mobilization has the providentially historical meaning of eternal liberation and freedom, we should meet it full of joy in our hearts. We should also be grateful for having heavenly citizenship bestowed upon us.

For those blessed families who participate in the special registration ceremony, Father will hold the holy wine ceremony. How much have we sinned so far? Have you sinned a great deal or not? We have done many things that were not clean in front of God. We have made a lot of mistakes as blessed families. True Parents want to forgive all that and restore us through giving us the holy wine ceremony. How great a blessing this is! The reason the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah collapsed is not because they were full of evil people, but because they simply did not have five good people. The cities could not be forgiven because there was no one there that was righteous.

In contrast, the city of Nineveh was an evil city. It was a city in which people could not repent. Had it not been for Jonah, the city would have been doomed to judgment. It survived thanks to this one man. In the same way, it is not we who are doing what we are doing. God is doing all the work. What we do is make conditions so that God can work with us. When you see the big picture of the entire providence, the conditions we make are very small. In comparison to the number of the people in the city of Nineveh, how insignificant Jonah was! Five righteous people was a very small number compared to all the people in the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. But those five were crucial for those big cities. Because there were not even five, the two cities had to be destroyed. The position we stand in is similar. The mobilized blessed families must be there taking responsibility so that our cities and our nation can turn into God's Kingdom. We can finally earn our country's liberation.

We should all move forward in front of True Parents' providence. With strong determination, we should try to understand God's providence through True Parents and to be loyal to them. Please keep this in your deepest hearts.

[Originally published in Today's World, 2000 August]

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