It is essential for us, as we tread the path of faith, to deeply know the heart of God, which is vertical, and God's providence, which is horizontal. God does not stay in one place, but constantly moves as He supervises the providence. It is very important to know where God is and what period of time the present is, in relation to the providence. It can even be said that this knowledge is the lifeline of our faith.

On the seventh Chil Pal Jeol ("Day of Eight Sevens"), held this year on August 4, and which commemorates the Declaration of the Cosmic Sabbath for the Parents of Heaven and Earth, Father told us about this time in the providence. What kind of time is the present in God's providence? We say this is the third year of Cheon Il Guk, but what are we supposed to do in the third year of Cheon Il Guk?

True Parents have set the date for the completion of the providence as April of next year, the year in which Father turns eighty-four. Establishing God's kingship, restoring Cheon Il Guk and its citizens, and holding the Coronation Ceremony of the King of the Blessed Families were successive events each marking a stage of the providence for accomplishing this. April 2004, reached after passing through all these processes in the providence, will be the time in which the will of True Parents will be completed in the universe.

True Parents have said that by April 2004 they will indeed complete the providence by making an organization and system in the United Nations under the direct dominion of God.

My fellow members, if we turn our faces away from True Parents' serious course even though we know the significance of the time we are living in, we would be committing the sin of violating the heart that is taught in the Principle. If someone falls after receiving the blessing, on top of the sin of the fall, the sin of violating the heart also accrues to that person. It would be the same in the case above, in that if you committed a sin without knowing it, there would be a way for you to be forgiven, but a sin committed in full knowledge of what you are doing cannot so easily be forgiven. The reason for this is that in addition to committing the sin, you have also violated the heart.

We are already firmly bound to God and the providence, not by our will alone, but also by the will of God and our ancestors before us. Through the Principle we have learned of God's will and the providence. If we did not know about it, we could live like non-members, but since we have come to know, we cannot sit still and do nothing. This is what True Parents have said to us.

Then, how should we live in this time of great importance? At this year's Chil Pal Jeol celebrations, True Father spoke emphatically about God's anguish and pain. Brothers and sisters, what is God's bitter pain?

Throughout history, God has revealed Himself to us gradually. The Old Testament, New Testament and Completed Testament all speak of God in different terms. In the Old Testament, God appears as the judge. In the New Testament, God not only judges, but he also bestows salvation. Afterwards, True Parents came to earth and the substantial reality of God was fully revealed. They have presented to us the God of the Completed Testament Age.

True Parents disclosed that the relationship between God and people is that of parent and children. The relationship between parent and child is the relationship established between God and man of the original Creation. Since that is the nature of the relationship, the reality is that God is a being who is in agony over the loss of His children and in bitter pain on the path of re-creation.

We can say that True Parents are both accomplishing the providence and fulfilling the prophecies that have appeared in history. Moreover, True Parents have equated God's having a heart filled with pain with His being the "God without a substantial form."

God is plainly the owner of the creation, but until now He has not been in a position to act as the owner. It is as if He does not have a substantial form because, although He is the owner of all creation and lord of humankind, it is Satan who has dominated all of this until now.

There wouldn't be a problem if the creation had not belonged to God from the beginning, but since everything was originally His, the fact that He has no substantial form is heartrending. For instance, let us say there is a married couple that could not have any children for a long time. If, finally, they were able to give birth to a child, but later lost him in an accident, their agony and grief would know no bounds. The absence of something that had not had substantial form would result in only a feeling of loss, but if something that had existed was suddenly gone, there would be endless grief and agony.

In other words, God's pain comes from the fact that his substantial form-humankind and the creation-was lost.

When Jesus came to earth two thousand years ago, the people of Israel did not believe him. That the Israelites mistrust of Jesus must have frustrated him beyond measure. The mistrust of John the Baptist would have been even more distressing, because John the Baptist's responsibility was to facilitate Jesus' mission.

However, what was really shocking was not the mistrust of John the Baptist, but the mistrust of Peter. Peter had served Jesus for three years as a disciple, never leaving his side, and so he knew Jesus better than any other person did. Nevertheless, when Jesus faced crucifixion, Peter denied him three times. The shock of his denial would have hurt Jesus more than the pain of the crucifixion itself.

Peter should have followed the Messiah and helped establish the traditions of heaven, but instead he denied Jesus three times and broke his heart. To Jesus, the bewilderment, disappointment and grief of seeing the inner resolve of his most trusted disciple crumble down before him must have been truly overwhelming. That is why Jesus made the resolution he did and kept to it.

What makes the Unification Church different from other religions is the belief that God's will is fulfilled in the course of history. In other words, the distinction lies in that God's will is not fulfilled in the spirit world or the mentality of human beings, but in the course of our physical lives.

This also displays our orthodoxy. What is the difference between the Unification Church and other religions? Christianity and Buddhism in Korea, however great, are not interested in bringing about the unification of South and North Korea. So, why are we taking an interest in it, and doing our utmost to make it happen? Is investing in North Korea part of our missionary work? Is it part of our relief work? Why are we investing in North Korea? With the money we are using for North Korea, we could be expanding our church just like the other religions, so why aren't we doing so? It is because our church clearly knows God's will to regain His true substance.

It is our position in the mainstream of history that distinguishes us. God's will must be realized through the course of history. That is why the issue of the unification of South and North Korea goes beyond missionary work or relief aid. It lies on the path of the realization of God's will.

In what he said on Chil Pal Jeol, Father told us that in the third year of Cheon Il Guk we must restore the realm of substance on the world level. He also emphasized that the restoration of three generations should come first. Perfection can only be achieved through the restoration of three generations.

With just one generation, it all ends horizontally, and a vertical history cannot be created. It takes at least three generations to continue the blood lineage of goodness, and for God's will to be fulfilled three-dimensionally. In terms of the Principle, the four-position foundation must be established. Only with the formation of the four-position foundation can individual perfection be achieved.

Dear members, what is the four-position foundation of a family? It involves the three great kingships and the four great realms of heart. Once we are born, we grow up nurtured by love. And once we have grown up, we share our love with others. We reach perfection after passing through the four great realms of heart of the children, brothers and sisters, husband and wife and parents. Therefore, the home is where the family is perfected, the family is where the three great kingships of children, parents and grandparents are established, and from this, substantial fruit comes forth. To put it more simply, the substantial fruit is realized by passing through the three generations.

True Parents next told us that in order to attain the realm of substance, all blessed families must lay a tribal foundation. By laying a tribal foundation, we must also make the realm of substance in our physical lives. We must become tribal messiahs and the true parents of our tribes. And now we must become not just the messiahs, but the ancestors of our tribes on earth.

The task of creating the realm of substance vertically involves maintaining three generations, and horizontally involves restoring our tribes and becoming their ancestors. If we do not arrange our tribes into blessing groups, we will not have any substantial result. We will only exist in name, not in substance. We must become the ancestors of our tribes not in name only but also in reality, by reorganizing our tribes centering on God.

On Chil Pal Jeol, Father told us that in order for us to walk the path of the true parents of our tribes we must have substantial accomplishments. He emphasized that from now on; we must embark on finding blessing groups of 36 couples, 72 couples, 124 couples and 430 couples within our tribes.

So what we must do is to take responsibility for our families and tribes. We must fulfill the four-position foundation in our families, and reorganize our tribes centering on God. This is the message given to us by True parents on the seventh Chil Pal Jeol.

Finally, how should we go about living significant lives? True Parents told us that wherever we are, whenever it is, and no matter what circumstances we are in, we must live our lives as if it is always noon, casting no shadows behind us, or in front of us¹. They emphasized that this is how our lives can become significant.

Beloved members, it is true that we are walking a path that is totally different from the rest of the world and for which no precedent exists in history; and with the True Parents standing in our midst!

I hope it will be a meaningful week for you, in which you will ponder in your hearts how we can bring about our eternal universal homeland, Cheon Il Guk, in our families and tribes, with True Parents at the center.

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