Through Jesus we learned to see God in a new light. This was the God that Christianity has believed in until now. But the understanding of God that Jesus taught us has been distorted by ecclesiasticism and doctrines. True Parents are trying to teach us to look past these distortions of the truth and see the true nature of God.

Among the many truths that True Parents have uncovered by themselves, the primary one is that God and mankind have a parent-child relationship. Through this we can understand everything. When we look at God with the understanding that our relationship with God is a parent-child relationship by heavenly law, we arrive at the conclusion that God is unhappy and miserable.

If we tell the Christians of today about God's unhappiness and His limitations, they will condemn us as heretics. They have believed until now that God is a God of infinity, who is omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent, but when we describe God merely in such terms, many problems arise. If God is omniscient and omnipotent, and He knows everything and can do everything, why couldn't he intervene when Adam and Eve fell? Why can't He correct this fallen world? These and many other questions come up one after another. Christianity has no answers to these questions. This is Christianity's limitation.

True Parents defined the relationship between God and man as being that of a parent and child. When we consider the essential relationship between God and man, we see that God is indeed unhappy and miserable. Jesus talked about this. In the Bible, one parable that describe God's heart clearly is the parable of the prodigal son.

There was a man who had two sons. The second son asked his father for his share of the inheritance in advance, went out into the world and squandered it. In the end, he was reduced to tending pigs and had no place to stay but in the pigsty, so he decided to return to his parents.

Why do you think the son was depicted as living in a pigsty? In the Bible, there are many references to pigs. When Jesus chased out evil spirits from people, the animals he put them into were pigs. At that time, pigs symbolized everything bad and evil. Pigs appear as animals of the lowest type, good for nothing but to be driven to death by the evil spirits put in to them. In other words, the best way to convey the idea that the second son was in the lowest possible position was by saying that he lived in a pigsty with the pigs.

The father had worried about his son ever since he left. This is the heart of parents and the heart of God. When the son who was thought to be dead came back, although he had been a wasteful son, the father ran out in bare feet to welcome him.

The son told his father, " I have committed many sins, and I am not good enough to call you father. Please treat me not as your son but as a servant."Yet the father replied, "How could you be my servant?" and put a ring on his finger and shoes on his feet.

Slaves at that time were not allowed to wear shoes, and the ring symbolized inheritance. The father showed that although his son had come back after losing everything he possessed, the parents were ready to accept him as their son and that he was in a position to inherit from them. This is the heart of parents.

For God, who is unhappy, to become happy, he needs to live in eternal spring. We should know when this spring comes. This year is God's spring. Since God's spring has come, He has finally changed into a smiling and happy God.

True Parents have been responsible for God's providence throughout their lives. God's wish is to establish His nation and righteousness. His wish is to experience the heavenly nation originally planned at the Creation, a nation without troubles or prejudice. He wishes for the unified world originally planned at the Creation, a world without divisions or bias between races, tribes, nations, doctrines or generations. God's will is to establish such a world. True Parents have persevered through all of their lives to establish this world. The completion of the growth period to find this world was the year 2002. The ideal world began with the Coronation Ceremony of the Kingship of God.

On the 13th of January 2001, True Parents held the Coronation Ceremony. What was accomplished in 2001 was the acquiring of the name of God's ideal nation and fatherland [Cheon Il Guk]. That's why rallies for the "Settlement of God's Fatherland" were held. It also formed the basis for the celebratory Nation of Cosmic Peace and Unity tour in December 2001.

Which nation should be God's nation? It is not Korea. Neither is it the United States or Japan. It is a nation in which two become one. When there is discord, it means that there are at least two parties involved. The nation which has solved the conflict between the mind and the body, parents and children and between different tribes, religions and doctrines by centering on God is Cheon Il Guk. With the Coronation of God's Kingship as the root, the name of God's nation was established in 2001.

What has the most significant achievement of the providence in the year 2002 been? It is has been the finding of the owners of Cheon Il Guk. Through the Rally for the Unity and Completed Settlement of the Parents of Heaven and Earth in June, the declaration of the Realm of Life of the Unity and Completed Settlement of the Parents of Heaven and Earth in August, True Parents's speaking tour based on that declaration that continued through to September, the Rallies for the Harmony and Unity of Heaven and Earth and the Holy Burning Ceremonies in October, True Parents have burned away the past and have found the owners of Cheon Il Guk.

In 2001, True Parents established God's nation, and in 2002 they found the people who could be owners of God's nation. Considering all this, what can we expect in the providence of 2003? We need to establish sovereignty. 2003 will be the year to fulfill the complete settlement of Cheon Il Guk. Then, in April 2004, God's providence will be concluded. The hard work of True Parents involved in realizing the world as originally planned at the Creation will be finished in 2004. The rest will be up to us. It will no longer be True Parents' responsibility; it will be ours.

The history of God's providence of salvation, the history of the providence of restoration, began with the fall of Adam and Eve. It could also be described as the providence of re-creation. How can we describe the present era? In my opinion, the term "re-creation" does not adequately describe it. Re-creation was only possible during the providence of restoration. This is the era in which we have established Cheon Il Guk through the Coronation Ceremony in 2001, established the owners of Cheon Il Guk in 2002 and should go forward to establish the sovereignty of Cheon Il Guk in 2003. Now it is that time-a time of new creation rather than a time of re-creation. It is a time of creating something that did not exist before. The arrival of the year 2003 has that kind of significance.

Therefore we should look back on the previous year and ask ourselves whether we have become the owners of Cheon Il Guk or not. The fruit of True Parents' achievements in 2002 was the finding of the owners of Cheon Il Guk. We should critically analyze ourselves, questioning whether we have the right, and substance, to be owners of Cheon Il Guk. We should analyze ourselves.

Ladies and gentlemen, what do you think the owners of Cheon Il Guk should be like? First, they should embody the heart of God. In order to feel the heart of God, they should get rid of prejudice. If we feel hatred towards someone, we cannot be an owner of Cheon Il Guk. If we build walls in my heart to block out others, we cannot be owners of Cheon Il Guk.

When we say that we are the owners of Cheon Il Guk, we mean that we possess the heart of God. By that, we mean basically that we are not divisive by nature. In other words, it means that we are free. If you hate someone, whom do you think is limited by that? It is not the hated person but the person who hates who is restricted. Who do you think would suffer? The person who is hated? No. The hated person would be free. The person who has hatred in his heart will be the one restricted. Therefore, the owners of Cheon Il Guk have to be free people centered on God. No walls exist for a free person.

Second, the owners of Cheon Il Guk should have a sense of responsibility. The person in the Cain position does not have any responsibility. A servant does not have any responsibility, but the person in the Abel position should be responsible. Abel is the one who is responsible for Cain.

Ordinary people usually only want to be responsible for what is theirs, but we want to be responsible not only for ourselves, but also for other people. This is the heavenly law that we have to follow in order to become a true Abel, a true owner of Cheon Il Guk. Only the owners know God's law. According to God's law, nothing existing in the world exists alone; everything co-exists. I alone deal with the ordinary responsibilities of my life. But the responsibility for God's providence is given to all of us together, including Cain. Owners are thus people who take responsibility. So we must anguish deeply over the question of whether we are in the position of owners who live through taking responsibility for our tribes, our communities, our neighborhoods, our spiritual children and for Cain -- or whether we are just focusing on living in the position of Cain ourselves. In particular, if we can take responsibility for God's providence, we can surely be considered owners.

Third, the owners of Cheon Il Guk should have their own identity. The thing that leaves the clearest mark on one's character is God's truth. Why are True Parents the Messiah? They brought God's truth and love to us. For us to be owners of Cheon Il Guk, we should show ourselves worthy to be such, to be different from other people in the world. God's truth should come alive through us.

Beloved members, as we look back on the previous year, let us make a resolution to attain the position of the owners of Cheon Il Guk in the year 2003, in order to fulfill the providential responsibility of establishing the sovereignty of God nation. On the foundation of True Parents' achievements in establishing the name of Cheon Il Guk and its owners, let us establish the sovereignty of Cheon Il Guk. Then, in the year 2004 let us, without fail, hold the celebration for the liberation of God.

[Originally published in Today's World, January 2003]

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