The Words of Hyung Jin Moon From 2010
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The Words of Hyung Jin Moon From 2010 |
Brothers and Sisters from around the world, it is again a pleasure to see you all here at Chung Pyung. I am sure that a lot of you have actually heard rumors or whatever, surrounding certain issues in our church, which are causing confusion in different regions. [Hyun Jin Moon's visit Brazil] And you probably even saw stuff on the Internet. But I am sure you did not see this in so much detail.
The fact of the matter is though; True Parents have been suffering greatly over the past 15 plus months. On many occasions, as all of you who are with True Parents during Hoon Dok Hae know, Parents very strongly said, even many times, to take legal action. And I and Kook-jin nim, we went to Parents multiple times, and we begged them to please give a little more time, before we do such things.
So it may seem to our worldwide membership that this is very sudden, but actually for the past 15 plus months True Parents have been suffering through this ordeal. I am sure that you all know that the real reason that True Parents are going to Las Vegas is because they are, of course, trying to meet their son [Hyun Jin Nim]. So it is actually a very painful situation for all of us in the Unification Church. Anybody that has to be in leadership, and especially in the True Family, especially True Parents, this is absolutely heart-breaking.
So I think that we all have to remember where our faith is at the center. True Parents give us life, true love and true lineage; and then our responsibility is to give them absolute faith and love and obedience. We all fail at that to certain degrees during our life of faith. And if we look at our lives, we will notice that actually we are not perfect either; that we all have sinned. We may not have Original Sin, due to True Parents blessing, but we do have collective sin, we do have hereditary sin, and we do have individual sin, which we accumulate on a daily basis every day. So, one of the things that we must remember is that we are sinners.
I think our members in this church have forgotten this fact. We have forgotten that we are sinners. We have forgotten to teach our children that they are sinners as well; and that they accumulate all sorts of sin. And the reason why this is important is because, if you realize that you are a sinner, then you realize that you need a Savior. If you don't feel that you are a sinner, you will believe that you do not need a Savior, and that you do not need to meet the returning Christ. It is only when we have the humility to recognize that we also have sinned, do we truly desire, and truly understand that we need True Parents. We need the Savior. And I think this is very basic not only in Christianity or in Islam, but also in Buddhism; it is very basic that we all have tremendous amounts of sin.
Without understanding this point, one does not understand, or does not feel the impetus to pursue the Messiah; to pursue the life of faith with all their heart. And this is really important. It is only when we understand that we have sin that every day we make sin; every day. We do sinful actions every day, every single one of us here are sinners, including myself.
You know, when I was in high school I did not date, and I did not have a girlfriend, I did not smoke or drink, I did not do drugs, so I followed True Parents rules; and so thus I believed I was worthy of respect; members had to respect me, even though I was quite a terrible person. I was quite an arrogant little high schooler, a bully. I learned martial arts, so the kids were scared of me. So even though I followed True Parents mandates; still I was sinning, because I was so arrogant. I was filled with hubris. I believed that because I did not commit those sins, I did not have girlfriends, I did not drink or smoke, or I did not have drug problems that members automatically had to respect me and that they should greet me by bowing when I came in the room, just because I followed those precepts.
But that in and of itself was completely arrogant and in and of itself was sin. I never realized that until I really started training, pursuing a spiritual path. I realized how much I had sinned even though I had fulfilled the basic precepts of our church, which we tell our blessed kids.
This is very important to realize because a lot of us, as blessed children, we've never heard that we are sinners. First generation never told us we were sinners, that we are sinners, that we need a Messiah. First generation never educated us that we were sinners. So this was a very big thing for me to realize. So I asked True Father when he was here doing the Seunghwa Ascension Ceremony Tour in Korea. We were having lunch at one of the cities and I asked him, "Father, just because I am a blessed child and do not have original sin does that mean I can go to Heaven?" And he said, "Absolutely not."
We, as blessed children, have been told that we are without original sin, that we are God's greatest creation; that His whole providential history has been waiting for pure children like us. But the problem with that type of education is that it makes us very arrogant. It makes us very spiritually arrogant and we don't have the ability then to see that we are filled with flaws, filled with sin. If you believe that you do not have sin, then you also believe that you do not need True Parents. This is the reason why many blessed children turn their backs on True Parents saying, "I don't need them, I'm going to Heaven anyway."
So this is something that we must fundamentally understand again. Whether you're a blessed child or a Jacob child, it doesn't matter. We have to realize that we commit all sorts of offenses against Heaven every day, from our thoughts to our words to our actions. It is because we have so much. If you actually watch your life and you see how many trespasses you make against God's commands in one single day and you take note, you would be quite shocked. But this is very important for us because it's only when we recognize in humility the fact that we are not perfect, where we lean and we yearn for the one who is perfect; and that is God and His embodiment which is True Parents.
So this is very important; once we understand we have sin, once we understand we are sinners before Heaven, and once we understand that True Parents, through their life course, through enduring the seven deaths that they had to go through, spiritually descended into hell so that they could save our souls. When we understand the price that had to be paid, then we too wish to give back to True Parents. Not just in monetary or physical things but we wish to give our life. Once we realize what the savior has done for us, then we wish to offer our life in return because that is exactly what the True Parents have done for us.
The only reason we can stand before God, is not because we're born as blessed children or we're born without original sin. That is not the reason. It is because of True Parents paying the price, the indemnity course that they had to walk as the Second Coming that we are able to go before God. This is so important for us to realize and remember. Because if we don't realize this, we will be filled with hubris and we will believe that we do not need True Parents or that we do not need their commands, or that we do not need to follow their will. That will lead to tremendous suffering everywhere.
So one of the things that I feel our church has been completely lacking is that we have shied away, we have been scared to talk about sin: When, actually, sin is so prevalent in the Divine Principle. When you look at the Principle, sin is everywhere; The rhetoric about sin, the rhetoric about needing the True Parents, the rhetoric about the types of sin that have accumulated over the past providential history; The rhetoric of personal sin that we commit against Heaven. This is so basic. But brothers and sisters, we have shied away from this because we think that it's very negative or we think that it's not going to raise positive children.
Brothers and sisters, it has the opposite result because we took out the rhetoric of sin. We have a situation which can occur which is young people that believe they are more perfect than they are, and that is very dangerous before Heaven. Because before Heaven we have to have humility, we have to have repentance. We have to have confessing of our sin, realizing my weakness. Because it is only the weak that God chooses to become strong, to turn into the strong. It's not the strong that God uses. It's not those who believe that they are so powerful that God uses. God always uses those who are inadequate in some way.
You know through providential history that Moses was a murderer; that he could not even speak, that he had a terrible stutter. Joseph was a criminal placed in jail. All the providential figures you look at. Jesus was a beggar or weak. You look at all the providential figures. But they have one thing. That is not arrogance before God. Because it's through our disposition of surrender that God makes us strong that makes us able to do more than we are actually physically able to do on our own ability.
Dear brothers and sisters, this is so very important at this time because we really deeply need the Messiah; we need the True Parents. We cannot walk this path all alone. We absolutely need the True Parents.
If we think we could do this alone, that is the hubris of the first Archangel that betrayed God, Lucifer, whose name actually has the good meaning of being the bearer of light. Lucifer was filled with talent. He was the best among the archangels. He had the greatest name which God had bestowed upon him. But he did not have humility. He had hubris and that led him to disobedience. And it is hubris which leads us to belief that we do not need God. Therefore, for us it is very important to realize that we do need True Parents -- we do need God!
It is not an option. We cannot walk this path alone on the ability of the first generation, or the second generation -- even all the way up to the one-thousand-millionth generation. It does not matter. We cannot walk this path alone. The only rock we have and which will change the world is the rock that is True Parents! Aju! This is what we have to realize. I often tell blessed children, "You may often hear that now is the age of the second generation, that then there will be the age of the third, then fourth generation," but I tell them, "I am sorry, my friend, that is wrong. There is no age of the second or third generation. There is only the eternal age of the True Parents. Aju!
This is very important for us to realize. No generation can replace the True Parents. That has to be very clear. No one, and I do not care how great they are, has walked the course of the Lord of the Second Advent. No one has paid the indemnity through the stages of the individual, the family, the tribe, the society, the nation and the cosmos, from the servant of the servant, then to the servant, to the adopted stepson, to the real son, to mother and father and then to God.
Nobody has walked that course, nobody has paid that indemnity and nobody has died seven times to pay the indemnity for the sin that has been accumulated over history. Even Jesus died once and was resurrected. But True Parents had to go through the course to fulfill all of the eight stages. Therefore, we have to realize that no generation in the future can pretend to be in the position of True Parents. It has to be very clear because of the absolute center of this Unification Movement: True Parents.
The Unification Church, in this very short period of time, has become the most successful religion at the time of its founder. And it will spread more and more and become the most successful religion in the world. Watch it. But it will never succeed and flourish if we forget this point. It is all about True Parents. It is not about us. It is not about the next generation, or the thirties generation -- it is not about them. It is about each generation inheriting the true love, the sacrificial love that True Parents have lived.
Each generation has to keep going back and trying to inherit that love from the True Parents, a love which will die, and die, and die, and die, and die, and die and die again for the children. Do you see what I mean? It's not about pretending that we are the next generation which will inherit it all. This is wrong thinking. So we must be very clear. Our eternal center is True Parents. Our eternal King of Kings is True Parents. There is no one like True Parents. They walked the course of history to fulfill the mission of Jesus. They actually became the ones who have liberated God Himself so that God can dwell in the physical world, in the body of True Parents.
It is very important for us to realize that we can never be like True Parents. We are ontologically different. It is a very fancy theological world. We are different beings. And this goes for all people, including True Children. I think True Children are making mistakes at times and we as well are ontologically different to True Parents. We cannot be True Parents! We cannot! Father may bestow all the titles on me. But I am not True Parents and I will never be True Parents. I am not the Lord of the Second Advent. I am not the Second Coming of Christ. There is only one who is the Second Coming of Christ. There is only one who is the Messiah and there is only one who has paid indemnity for the sins of all of human kind and history. There is only one who has paid the price for us, our families, our grandchildren, our tribes and our nations to be worthy to go before the throne of God.
Father may call us tribal messiahs or national messiahs, but we must not confuse this. This does not mean we are The Messiah! Yes? We know this, right? We are not The Messiah! This is very important for us to realize, because when we walk a life of faith, we have to come into the path of humility, otherwise we become obscured and obstructions arise. All sorts of confusions will arise. All sorts of temptations will arise; temptations, weaknesses that we have. Whether it is lust or craving or greed or jealousy; these things will become greater if we don't have the discipline of humbling ourselves, the discipline of training ourselves continuously. Once you believe in True Parents you realize that they are your Lord and Savior. They are your True Parents who have died and died so an unworthy sinner like me can go before God. When you realize that you have that kind of parent, then you don't take them for granted. You wish to offer yourself to them as they have offered themselves to you.
So one of the things that results is this -- just because we claim to believe True Parents this does not mean we actually do believe True Parents. We always have to be careful of this. If we claim to believe in True Parents, if we claim to see them, serve them, offer them glory and happiness as the returning Christ, the perfected man and woman, Adam and Eve, the True Parents of Heaven and Earth and the King of Kings; if we say we do this then it must arise in our life. You must be able to see it in your life.
So when I train my Hoonsa nims, I always tell them, you check yourself. There's four ways you can check yourself. Always watch yourself. There's four ways. There are four basic ways you can watch yourself.
Number one: You can watch yourself, asking, "Am I repenting every day? Am I repenting every day? Do I carry out a life of repentance? Do I understand my unworthiness before the perfection of God? Do I repent at all? Do I repent every day? Not in suffering, not repenting in pain and suffering, and in torture, but do I repent with joy? Do I have the ability to see that I am flawed and come honestly before True Parents and repent? Am I living a life of repentance?" You know this is so important. This is the basic training we do; devotion of training every morning from meditation training to bows. The center of this is repentance.
Second: The sins that I thought so casually about. I used to think, "Oh, True Parents saved me; I have no original sin, they'll forgive this little sin. They'll forgive me here; they'll forgive this little sin." I thought so casually about it. Now when I see those things, I hate them. I hate them with all my heart. You see, because God is love, He must hate [sin]. People really are mixed up about this. God is love so He cannot hate me. I am sorry because God is love, sin cannot go near Him. Evil cannot go near Him; because there is no evil in love. There is no sin in love, there is no falsehood in love, there is no infidelity in love, and there is no adultery in love.
So because God is love, He hates sin, He hates adultery, He hates infidelity. And so in our life, the sins that we thought so casually about, now do we hate. Now do we feel the chastising of the Holy Spirit of the spirit world upon us when we commit those sins which we usually thought so casually about? Now do we feel the weight of the spirit world watching and judging us? Do you live like that? As leaders of the Unification Church, do we live like that?
A third would be the friends that I choose to associate with. Maybe we associated just with people who made us feel good. We want to really be with them, people who just give us a good time. We want to be with those kinds of people, more secular people, but when you change, when you realize that True Parents have saved you, you don't want to spend time with those kind of people. You don't want to spend time with them. You want to spend time with people who love True Parents wholeheartedly, who would die for True Parents, who sacrifice every day for True Parents. You want to be with people who are fighting for True Parents, witnessing for True Parents. You start loving those people of faith, because you look up to them, you feel the realness of their life.
You know, it's very sad because I see a lot of Japanese missionaries who go to different countries, and they are many times ridiculed because they have such a powerful faith. And it's a very sad thing. They're ridiculed because they're too intense. Too intense. But that's what I'm talking about; these Japanese members who have absolute faith in True Parents, who would sacrifice and sacrifice -- when we see them in our nations, do we ridicule them? Do we, in our hearts say, "They are too much," or do we want to be with them at all times because we can learn and grow? You see? That's the difference.
And the fourth point is: when I was a young boy we used to go to Gloucester with True Parents -- that's on the beach, ocean side -- and True Father, when we were very small, five years old, four years old, and for us, we are very tiny and True Father was so big, like a giant, he was so large, like a giant. And when he walked on the sand we could see his footprints in the sand. We could see his powerful and True-Father-like footprints in the sand. And then we, as young children, we tried to always walk in those footsteps, tried to copy him, and stepped in those footprints; but because of course we are too small and our legs are not that long, we can't do it. So as we reached we would fall down and we stumbled, etc.
But this is the last point: do we strive even though we will never be like True Parents? Do we strive like the pure, innocent little child that tries to follow the footsteps? Do we strive even though we stumble and even though we're not perfect and we fall and stumble? Do we endlessly try to inherit their heart? And remember, what is their heart? Their heart is of a True Parent. What is the heart of a True Parent? The heart of a True Parent is a heart that will die, and die, and die, and die, and die, so that their children may be saved. Do we realize this? Do we live our life of faith checking ourselves on these training points, or do we just go about our work?
You see, this is so important, because we will realize that even though we are leaders, and we have people following us, we are still sinners. Do we realize this? If you realize you are a sinner -- I want you to raise your hand if you realize you are a sinner -- raise your hand; if you have sin, raise your hand. I raise my hand with you. You see? This is why we need True Parents. This is why we have to understand that, even though we don't have original sin, we still have so many infidelities before heaven. And as leaders this is so important because we must always reflect on ourselves. We must always look at ourselves. Because the real cause of the fall, before it was the fall of Adam and Eve, and the lineage fall, it was an infidelity of Lucifer, arrogance, hubris, which led to disobedience. And this is something that we must always keep in our life of faith; this is so central to our life of faith in True Parents.
Just because we are leaders in the Unification Church there is no guarantee; just because you are a blessed family or a blessed child there is no guarantee that you will be able to go to heaven, to the place near God. No guarantee; in fact, amongst the leaders in this room, who can go before the perfection of God? None of us. We will be immediately repelled. God doesn't have to judge us; see, True Parents say that God does not have to judge us. That is so striking, if in the spirit world God does not have to judge us. What does that mean? Does that mean, because He doesn't have to judge us, He doesn't judge us, and we can live as we want? Quite the contrary. God does not have to judge us; I'll tell you why He does not have to judge us, because He is love. He is goodness. So if we are evil or even if we have a little bit of sin we will be repelled like a magnet that is plus to plus -- it repels.
God does not have to judge us, we naturally are pushed away and we must remember that in the spirit world, if we read Father's words -- and I said this in front of True Parents -- there was an interviewer from the media that asked me, "Do you believe in hell in the Unification Church? Do you believe in a fiery hell?" And I said -- "No, we don't! We don't believe in a fiery hell." Then he asked me, "What is the incentive for me to behave well, then? Shouldn't you have something that is a little scary?" I told him, "You must remember that in the Spirit World God's love is like the air that we breathe."
If you are pushed away from God because of your sin and because of evil, you will be repelled out of God's realm of love without His judgment. And if you are out of His realm of love -- what is love? It is air. Without His love, you have no air. Then I told him the world record for holding your breath is, I believe 18 + minutes and the person that did that stated that when he was at about 14 minutes of holding his breath -- he was in the most agonizing pain that he had ever felt in his life. Remember, it doesn't finish after 20 minutes. If you are out of the realm of God's love, you are suffocating for eternity. Not only is it a place that we cannot breathe God's love, but there we will also receive the judgment of the ancestors. Because, although God may not judge us, our ancestors will, other spirit beings will. Because they can see our life, as Father says, on a video camera, completely transparent -- you can see your life completely. You can't hide anything.
So brothers and sisters, when we truly realize that True Parents have done what they have done -- that they have saved us like the song "Amazing Grace" says "saved Saved wretch like me" -- a wretch like you and me -- when we realize that our True Parents have saved us -- they have saved our eternal soul. They have become our parents. They have allowed us -- if we stay obedient -- if we offer them absolute faith and obedience -- that is the thing that we must offer them. They offer / give us True Love, True Life, and True Lineage. We are called to return absolute faith, love and obedience.
When we realize that they have done such a thing, then we cannot be the same way. I know certainly that my life has completely changed ever since I experienced the Seven Deaths and Resurrections of our True Parents -- ever since I realized what they had done to save a sinner like me. You see, brothers and sisters, in this time of confusion and challenge, we must remember that we have one rock and as leaders of the Unification Church, we have one purpose -- ONE PURPOSE -- that is to bring glory to True Parents.
That is the one purpose we have. We bring glory to True Parents. The second purpose we have -- is to bring glory to True Parents (smile). The third purpose we have is to bring glory to our True Parents! That is our purpose. You know we try in our most effort to do so. We are like the little children who are imperfect trying to follow the footsteps. But that continual effort -- that continual perseverance -- is what is important. Not only the effort, but also to actualize what our True Parents have set the foundation for. So we must also create the result that our True Parents have set the 95% foundation for.
Brothers and sisters, I pray that you may realize these things -- that we all may -- but we can always reflect in humility before God and True Parents (and) we can realize that we are sinners. But not just say "OK, I admit I am a sinner, OK -- then I will sin more -- I'm a sinner anyway!" No, not that kind of arrogance. We realize that we are a sinner, and we hate the sin. We hate it! We want to do everything to get rid of it. This is very important but many people forget. I can admit, "OK, fine, I'm a sinner. OK I'll just sin -- I'm a sinner anyways." This is arrogance. This is a convenient way to fool oneself -- to believe that one is righteous. No, when you realize that you are a sinner, you end up hating the sin. And you do all that you can to try to walk in more accordance with our True Parents so you do not accumulate that kind of sin. You repent so that you can be forgiven of that sin.
Brothers and sisters, we all must do this. We all have to do this. This is something for everyone in the Unification Church. We must all realize this and practice it. Because if we do that, when we do that, then God can be pleased. When we enter into Him, when we come into His presence with thanksgiving and gratitude and humility, then He can be pleased. Then He can bless us with greater ability than we have, with greater strength than we have. And I believe that if we do this in our nations, we center ourselves on True Parents, center ourselves on the teaching of our True Parents, continuously hold on to True Parents, this is the saving grace for your countries and for the world. Aju! (Applause)
So, I hope that we can reflect on such things and that we can go back with a true heart to our nation / state and really make a difference for our True Parents. They have really done the impossible. Now it is our turn … to completely become one centered on our True Parents forever and continue to do what is impossible because we have God and because we have True Parents.
Thank you brothers and sisters. Let us bow our heads in prayer.
Dearest most beloved Heavenly Father, Father we thank you so much for calling us today. Father, we thank you for giving us a new resurrection because, Father, without Your incredible history that You have walked through the True Parents of Heaven and Earth, the returning Christ, the path of continual sacrifice and death, torture descending into hell so that all of us may enter into Your grace with our families and with our children.
Father, we pray that we can truly imbibe that sacrificial heart. That, Father, we may know the difference between what is right and wrong; that we may not, Father, water down sin in our lives or in the lives of others, but that we can make a clear stance when something is wrong. Father, let us have strength and unity. Father, let us always be centered on True Parents whom are our eternal rock -- whom are our King of Kings. Father, we pray that we may rely on Your wisdom -- we may rely on Your grace.
For Father, we wish to live our lives in training ourselves -- training to repent, Father, to truly not just commit sins casually, but to really begin to hate our sin. Father, to move closer towards goodness, towards Your presence. Father, we pray that we may continue to walk, albeit imperfectly, in the direction and in the footsteps of our True Parents. Not that we emulate their physical actions or we emulate their style of speaking, not these superficial things, but we inherit their parental heart which is the center of their being. The heart that will die and die and die and die and die again for the salvation of humanity -- to return the people that have fallen away from You -- the souls that are full of death -- to bring them into everlasting life in Your presence. And Father, we pray that we can inherit THAT kind of heart -- THAT essence of True Parents.
Father, please bless these leaders that are here today. Father, we all know that we are sinners before you -- we know we need True Parents. We know that we commit sin every day and, Father, we want to stop committing those sins. We do not want to believe that Grace that True Parents give us is a license to sin for that is the greatest insult to True Parent's sacrifice. Father, let us be those who are more perfect -- more good -- more saintly before heaven. Let us walk in the way of goodness. Let us strive for perfection even though we may never reach it.
Father, we Thank You so much, because we know that it is our effort, our 5% responsibility that allows the Providence to move forward as well. But let us not be arrogant in thinking that we have done it all. For You have done 95% in everything, Father, for us to walk this path. We Thank You so much. We want to offer True Parents our love. We want to offer them our life. We want to offer them everything that we have so that we can truly bring the true love which they have embodied to the rest of this world.
Thank You so much, Father. Be with these leaders as they return back. Father, let them truly stand for righteousness, Father, and let them be exemplars in their regions. God bless all the regions. Father, we pray all these things in the names of all our blessed families -- in the name of our beloved True Parents, Aju. (Applause)