This is from an address given at the Regional Leaders Meeting, NYC, 6/24/97.

Registration is coming soon. Heavenly Registration. So we need to learn what God and True Parents have to say about Registration from the Word in the New and Completed Testament Eras. We know that we need to bring our tribe in order to register for the Kingdom of Heaven.

We within our Family Church are all very much aware of what we must fulfill. Leaders must stand in the forefront, setting the best example, sacrificing the most, in order that others will be inspired to follow their example. We will speak with our actions. Everyone is aware of their personal responsibility. Let us remember one important thing: responsibility comes with privileges. If we want to be granted privileges in our life of faith then we must accept the responsibility that makes it possible. Just act!

Thirty-seven years ago, True Father began teaching and preparing us for this Era of Registration so it isn't as if we were hearing it for the first time. Father is now speaking often about registration because the time is now upon us. It will come very soon, not off in the far distance anymore.

Let us think for a moment in terms of nationality or citizenship in a nation. One either has citizenship in a nation, or one is a refugee, having no nation. When we have a nation, our nation guides and protects us. It gives us some authority. We may travel to other nations but if some trouble comes to us we have our nation's embassy representative to turn to for protection. If we are without a nation, having no citizenship, then we have no protection. We might also equate it to being orphans versus having parents.

Before Jesus was born, Joseph and Mary journeyed to Bethlehem. The Roman Empire required that all citizens be enrolled, so Joseph registered his family (Luke 2:2). This was registration for citizenship in the secular world. Two thousand years ago, Roman citizenship was very meaningful. St. Paul, for example, used his Roman citizenship effectively during his public ministry. When an enemy approached him, he would say "I am a Roman citizen." That brought him protection (Acts 22:22-29).

But St. Paul knew that we register for citizenship in Heaven as well, for he said in Philippians 3:20-21 "our citizenship is in Heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself."

What are the benefits of heavenly citizenship? "God is love" (1 John 4:8); "God is life" (Ps. 36:9). So if we become citizens of Heaven we then naturally receive life from God. And we become the loving children of God, living with Him in the eternal Kingdom of Heaven, having give and take love forever.

Jacob had 12 children; Moses had 12 tribes. On the foundation of these twelve tribes, the chosen people entered Canaan. On that foundation came the period of the United Kingdom. Jesus had 12 disciples. True Parents have to restore the number 12, both vertically and horizontally, equalling 144 or the symbolic number of 144,000 people in the First Resurrection (Rev. 14:1).

When Jesus' disciples returned one day from witnessing, the disciples were happy with the results of their witnessing but Jesus told them in Luke 10:20 "... do not rejoice in this... but rejoice that your names are written in Heaven." Already Jesus and True Parents have addressed this subject. Jesus said to the twelve in Matthew 19:28 "truly, truly I say to you, that you who have followed Me in the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." Already the registration, the ownership, and power of authority, is given to the first generation people. In Revelation 21:12 we read of the names of the twelve tribes of Israel which will be written on the high wall with twelve gates and twelve angels. This is the registration of the first generation which must be fulfilled in True Parents' lifetime. Our names must be registered in 'the book of life'. This is the reason for rejoicing; we rejoice because we are fulfilling the purpose of creation.

In the Exposition of the Divine Principle (pp. 143-44), regarding the First Resurrection, registration is connected with resurrection. In my point of view, registration is the final climax of the fulfillment of the first resurrection, that is, when God officially stamps His seal of approval upon our tribes' names in the Book of Life.

The third Adam, in his lifetime, has to completely restore everything, IN ONE GENERATION. The first Adam lost everything in one generation! As first generation people we are very important. We have to fulfill in our generation.

How do we become a part of the First Resurrection?

* By accepting the True Parents;

* By believing and coming to resemble the ideal of True Parents;

* By serving God completely;

* By following God in obedience to practice True Love;

We must restore ourselves from the fallen state to the original state, separating from Satan, How?

* By actually reversing the process and going back to the original state, moving out fallen nature, by the grace of God;

* By following True Parents' example and growing to divine spirits at the perfection level, fulfilling God's purpose of creation;

* By passing Heaven's qualifications (being separated as wheat from chaff);

* By registering in the twelve true tribes and heavenly citizenship (such as the symbolic 144,000 as written in the book of life).

The Book of Life

In the New Testament, "the book of life" is mentioned seven times:

1. He who overcomes shall thus be clothed in white garments, and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels (Rev. 3:5);

2. And all who dwell on the Earth will worship him, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain (Rev. 13:8);

3. The beast that you saw was and is not, and is about to come up out of the abyss and to go to destruction. And those who dwell on the Earth will wonder. whose name has not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they see the beast that he was and is not and will come (Rev. 17:8);

4. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne and books were opened, and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds (Rev. 20:12);

5. And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire (Rev. 20:15);

6. ...nothing unclean and no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into it, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life (Rev. 21:27);

7. Indeed, true comrade, I ask you also to help these women who have shared my struggle in the cause of the gospel, together with Clement also, and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life (Phil. 4:3).

Registration Requirements

We can clearly understand from the verse in Philippians that while St. Paul was registered as a Roman citizen in the secular world, he understood well that his name must also be registered in the book of life. That was his goal as an apostle in the faith, to be registered into citizenship in the Kingdom of Heaven. To understand 'registration' more clearly and the position of ourselves in relation to the Messiah, let us look at its meaning in more simple terms. When a man (the bridegroom) takes a wife (the bride), his wife then becomes his family, his tribe. She is registered as his wife, with his name. In the same way, the Brides (all of us) enter the family of the Bridegroom (Messiah, True Father). And there must be a ceremony and a banquet and then registration.

We must become "divine" sons and daughters before registering in the Kingdom. Actually, our goal is not only to be registered as citizens in the Kingdom of Heaven but also to become Sons and Daughters of God, Divine Sons and Daughters in the citizenship of the Kingdom of Heaven. That is our Family Pledge #2:

Our family pledges to represent and become central to Heaven and Earth by attending God and True Parents; we will perfect the dutiful way of filial piety in our family, patriotism in our nation, saints in the world, and divine sons and daughters in Heaven and Earth, by centering on True Love.

These are our four duties: to be filial sons and daughters in the family; to be patriots in the nation; to be saints in the world; and to be divine sons and daughters in the cosmos. We are registering in the book of life as divine sons and daughters. Someone once gave me the following viewpoint which I will share with you: 'holy sons and daughters' and 'divine sons and daughters' have two different meanings. 'Divine' is connected with God's blood lineage. 'Holy' is not connected with blood lineage. For instance, we say "Oh, he is a holy man." We refer to many people as being 'holy people' but they may not be connected to God's blood lineage. There are also many saints, but even a saint is not necessarily of God's blood lineage.

In the Gospel of Matthew, beginning from the first verse, we can read about the 42 generations of Jesus' family tree, his family tribe, his blood lineage (Matt. 1:1-17). His family was a special one. His family tree was very special. His top ancestor was Abraham, as mentioned in the first verse. Abraham was a chosen person, a person blessed by God.

People of the world have many concerns, physical health, survival, material possessions, but for us, our main concern is our Blessing and inheriting God's blood lineage. If we can say we are really connected with God's blood lineage, then we can say that we are divine sons and daughters. This is the primary qualification for registration in the heavenly kingdom.

Moses' twelve tribes did not obey and follow him so Satan attacked Moses and the people of Israel and they died in the wilderness. Jesus Christ's twelve disciples and the chosen people did not believe and trust Jesus but rejected him. Consequently, Satan attacked Jesus Christ and the chosen people. An internal point to make here is: Joseph's family and Zechariah's family should have surrounded Jesus with care and protection but did not. And now today, Tribal Messiahs have to restore their physical relatives and hometown people. In their mission areas Tribal Messiahs must work to gain 185 couples. This number represents the number of nations in the world. (160 was used previously because at the beginning of tribal messiah work, the number of nations in the UN was 160.)

God gives many warnings about those who will not enter His eternal world. In the Exposition of the Divine Principle (pp. 396-97), we can read clearly that when the Lord of the Second Advent returns, the people producing the fruit will receive the Kingdom; those who do not produce fruit will perish (from the Parable of the Vineyard, Matt. 21:33-43).

Again in Matthew 3:10 "And the axe is already laid at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown in the fire." And Matthew 7:17-19, "Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So then, you will know them by their fruits."

In Luke 13:7-9 "And he said to the vineyard keeper, 'Behold, for three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree without finding any. Cut it down! Why does it even use up the ground?' And he answered and said to him, 'Let it alone sir, for this year too, until I dig around it and put in fertilizer; and if it bears fruit next year, fine, but if not, cut it down.'"

Further warnings come from John 15:2-8 "Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it, that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me, and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch, and dries up, and they gather them, and cast them into the fire,and they are burned. By this is My Father glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples."

We can say that those who become true families and who are registered in the Twelve Tribes will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Those who are on the satanic side will not. We must take responsibility.

This is interesting to us. We lost the Garden of Eden so we wonder at times: what kind of place was it? We can only imagine. But in John's Revelation we get a better picture: Those who can live in that brightness, that fantastic world, that utopia, that blessed land, that land of dreams, that happy valley! will be those who enter the First Resurrection, those divine spirits and those who are written in the book of life and those who are a part of the Twelve Tribes.

We quote excerpts here on True Father's own words concerning registration from the The Tribal Messiah (pp.175-178),

1) Registration

When I say "You should return to your original hometown in order to register," do you know what I mean by register? When a bride marries a bridegroom, she has to enter her name in her husband's family roster. She must cross her name out of her original family roster and move it to some other place.

Everyone living on this Earth has a hometown. After one is born, one is immediately registered in one's nation. Regardless of which town, district or region within the nation in which one is born, one must register under that nation. This registration becomes the proof that one is a son of the parents in that house and a citizen of that nation. As long as that nation and those parents exist, the registered child cannot be taken off the roster.

...Therefore, we must have a nation that we have established or can register in. We have to seek such a nation and register in it. Why do we need religion on Earth today? It is because we could not register in our original homeland. From God's point of view, these people are not the citizens of God. They are not people who have a relationship with the original homeland and are registered there.

As God sees it, the homelands that men and women are born in today belong to the enemy. The homeland within that kind of nation is not a place where God can have dominion and be happy. This is the problem. For this reason, we have to return to a level higher than that of the religions today.

Today, we were all born in a period in history and registered in our homeland, but that registration has nothing to do with God. We have a nation that we have registered in, but that nation has nothing to do with God. We come to the conclusion that although there are many nations like this, they all have no relationship with God and the Earth itself has nothing to do with God.

2) The Advent of the Period for Registration

As the spring dawns upon the Earth and the fresh green leaves of tribal messiahs sprout everywhere, the spirit world of that nation will come to our side. The time of registration centering on Heaven will come. They say that twelve tribes and 144,000 will enter. Do you know what the number 144,000 signifies? The time of registration is approaching. Centering on the time of the unification of North and South Korea, we must head toward the Era of Registration. Your tribe must all stand in the same position in order to register as citizens of the heavenly kingdom.

I am not talking about individuals. Do you understand? The time of individual salvation will pass behind us. In the future, as long as the president of a nation joins the church and makes the pledge, the people will also become a part of the heavenly household, and as long as they perform the ceremonies that the church sets forth, they can all escape from the satanic world. (1991..8.25. Headquarters Church)

3) The Requirement for Registration

What position are the people in this world standing in? They are caught between good and evil. If they did not fall originally, they would have been good. They were supposed to be only good. They have to be born as good. However, although they received life and were born, they could not complete the principled process of growth because of the origin of their birth. You have to understand that they did not bring consummation to this matter. An imperfect work still has a long way left to go toward perfection.

Even though something is eighty percent completed, the remaining twenty percent might stand as the subject and thus negate the value of the eighty percent. As we look at it from the perspective that desires one hundred percent perfection, something that is only 95 percent perfect still cannot enter the position of perfection. Consequently, it will also fall under the desired standard.

A creation made by the absolute being, God, has to be absolutely perfect. If something has attained absolute perfection, no one can criticize or correct it. It must be absolute. For something to be treated by the absolute subject as its object, it must also possess absolute character. It makes sense theoretically only when it possesses such absolute content. This is the problem.

So, how are people born? Before registering, what must be done to be born as an absolute being? Without knowing this clearly, one cannot enter the position where one can represent absolute perfection, a position where, having won all victories, one can assert one's subjectivity before God. (1988.5.22. Headquarters Church)

...After persevering on to eliminate all the sorrowful results of the fall and become victorious children who can guide all nations with love, you should worship God and True Parents in your bedroom, then the registration process will automatically come to an end. From that moment on, the Kingdom of Heaven will continue on forever. (1988.5.22. Headquarters Church)

...Registration cannot be undertaken by the clan, but by the people. The reason that we are restoring tribes is that by forming the twelve tribes, we can create the sovereignty of a nation, a foundation of national sovereignty in the original homeland. Therefore, according to the amount of effort that you put in and the amount of contribution that you make in forming the tribes, you can contribute to establishing the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth.

In conclusion, we need to take all this information which we have from the Bible, from Divine Principle, and from Father's Words, and learn them well. Teach it to all people so we don't stand accused later. Then we all go forward to fulfill our great missions that God and True Parents have given us.

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