The Words Of Hyung Jin Moon

Keep The Center

Hyung Jin Moon
February 26, 2007
Chungshim Youth Center
Chung Pyung, Korea

I used to be bald, but now I am a non-bald man. I actually got in trouble this morning. Before coming here, Mother told me to wear a suit. I told her, "Mom I will wear a suit in my mind," and I ran like crazy down here. I'll probably be scolded when I go back up there. "Mom, use the small stick please; the large one hurts." [Laughter]

I would like begin by sharing with you the key points I talked about last year. I'm sure many of you came last year, but this is what I said. I spoke about theologically elevating and glorifying True Parents as the leaders of the tradition, providing resources to help prevent historical schisms and preserving the cosmic value of True Parents.

We discussed these points last year: Homoousios, homoousios, and that in early Christianity them were many discussions about different doctrines related to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit in relation to Jesus. I also spoke about preventing historical theological failures, and keeping the center. We should keep the center -- there can he no new True Parents, no new king, no new center. These were the points I talked about.

Case one

Let's study the history of religions. The Roman Catholic Church, for example (Chrmujugyo in Korean) is the oldest and largest Christian church. It is the oldest and largest centralized religious organization in the world. Of course, Bishop Milingo knows. At the end of 2004, the Catholic Church had approximately 1.09 billion members. We can say that one sixth of the world's population is a member of the Catholic Church.

So, in 381 during the Nicene-Constantinople conference, this phrase came up, [he reads in Greek] This is what the Roman Catholic Church uses to identify itself. It means "the one, holy; catholic [meaning 'universal.] and apostolic church." "Apostolic" means that it is connected to those who personally followed Jesus Christ. The Roman Catholic Church is a tradition descending from Peter. We can find those four descriptive terms in the Bible, I Cor 12:27. It was inspired by that particular biblical verse.

The pope is the bishop of Rome and Peter's successor; that's the formal definition of the pope. The pope is at the center of this tradition, which comes from Peter, and he is the perpetual and visible source and foundation of the unity both of the bishops and of the entire church, the company of the faithful. He is the Vicar of Christ and the supreme pontiff of the church and has papal infallibility; essentially; he is the definitive interpreter of the doctrine.

Under the pope are bishops, who are constituted pastors of the Church to be teachers of doctrine, priests of sacred worship and ministers of governance. That's their formal description. The pope, cardinals, patriarchs, primates, archbishops and metropolitans are all bishops and members of the Catholic episcopate or College of Bishops.

Then there is the College of Cardinals. I'm sure you remember seeing many cardinals when Pope John Paul passed away. Cardinals are selected by the pope. The College of Cardinals generally selects bishops to head episcopal sees. This refers to the Roman curia. The Vatican is actually a separate stale, as I understand it, from Italy. Cardinals advise the pope in matters of church and faith. Cardinals under the age of eighty select the pope during a papal vacancy. As of January 7, 2007, there were 185 cardinals; 111 were under eighty. That's some background information about the Roman Catholic Church.

That is the Roman Catholic Church now, but when we look at early Christianity, it is a very different story. As you all know, the first Christian emperor was Constantine. His was the first Christian royal family. Later, the Athanasius and Arius debate arose.

The homoousios doctrine states that Jesus is the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit, while the homoiousios doctrine states that they were similar. That's what (Athanasius vs. Arius] was all about. We have the Roman Catholic Church, the Greek Orthodox Church and the Russian Orthodox Church -- all because of this. Some people supported Athanasius, who believed in homoousios. Arius believed in homoiousios. They debated among themselves. In the end, the sons of Constantine took sides. You need to study many things about history if you wish to understand the Trinitarian disputes. When I was in Harvard, there was a very famous person whose focus was the Trinitarian Theology.

Trinitarian disputes and relations

This deals with economic and political issues. Trinitarian theology' was connected to the political issues of early Christianity. The early theological disputes become legitimizing factors for schisms in early Christianity.

Let's look at Constantine and his succession legacy. We have some information about Constantine. He is known as the first Roman emperor to "embrace" Christianity; although he also supported other non-Christian "pagan" religions. He was of tremendous help to Christianity, granting it legal status as a religion (rep igia licita) in the 313 Edict of Milan. He died in 337, leaving his empire to three sons -- Constantine II, Constantius II and Constans -- who were from his second wife, Fausta.

The first son, Constantine II, supported Athanasius and the homoousios doctrine, which claims that Jesus the Son was also the Father and the Holy Spirit, in other words, that Jesus was God -- not similar to God, but God Himself.

The second son, Constantius II, believed that Jesus was not God and that God created Jesus. He led a massacre of those of his relatives who descended from the second marriage of his grandfather Constantius Chlorus and Theodora. The family split over competing theological doctrines in a feud for political and religious power. In 340, the first son, Constantine II, died while trying to usurp the position held by his brother Constans, who eventually became the ruler of the west. In 350, Constans, the third son, died in a battle with forces allied with the "usurper Magnentius." Christians regarded Magnentius as a heathen. Then, Constantius, the second son, defeated Magnentius in the battle of Mursa Major.

We can find numerous historical examples of schisms from the Christian tradition, such as the "Incident at Antioch," a schism between Pauline Christianity and Jewish Christianity, circa AD 50, the Donatist schism, beginning in 311; and the Great Schism of 1054, which was one of the largest schisms in Christianity. A number of denominations resulted from schisms, such as the Scottish Reformation in 1560, the Jansen-ism schism of 16-13 and the one between Anglican Communion and the Continuing Anglican Movement in 1977.

What we can learn

What we can learn from this is that although the brothers were intended to rule together, they ended up at war with one another, with the people of the empire divided and mobilized under their respective leaders. There is no unified empire in this model; Christianity was completely divided. It split into Eastern and Western Catholic Christianity; which still exist today. It all began then, in the early years.

Case two

We will now look at Islam and I will explain a little about Muhammad. In the Islamic tradition, Muhammad is the final prophet of God. He is the restorer of the "original" monotheistic faith of Adam, Abraham and the other prophets whose messages were "corrupted" or "misinterpreted" over time. In 632, Muhammad passed away; and there was no apparent successor. This is when the Sunni and Shia factions split. The Sunni tradition began from Abu Bakr, who was Mohammed's father-in-law; while the Shia tradition comes from Mohammed's cousin, Ali ibn Abi Talib. The Sunni faction is currently the dominant tradition in present-day Islam.

Let's go back in history and look at Mohammed's life. On September 9, 622, he emigrated or fled from Mecca to Medina. In Mecca, there was the Kaaba, to which the Muslims go to worship. Back then, non-Muslims did not worship God but various Arabian deities within the Kaaba. The people in Mecca did not like Muhammad because he was a proponent of a radical monotheism and spoke of a day of judgment. So Mohammed's own tribe drove him out of Mecca. An assassination attempt forced him to flee to Medina in 622.

In Medina, Muhammad's followers became a political and military force. Eight years later, in 630, they returned to Mecca as conquerors and purged the Kaaba of its idolatrous worship and restored it as a holy place of God.

There were two groups in Medina -- the Muhajinm and the Ansar. The Muhajinm, meaning "emigrants," were those who followed Muhammad from Mecca to Medina in 622. The Ansar, or "helpers," were citizens of Medina who helped Muhammad and the Muhajirun upon their arrival. Simply put, there were two groups. After Muhammad's death, the Muhajirun and the Ansar disagreed and threatened to split the unnma, the community of Muslim faithful.

The Meeting of Sagifah was held to select a successor to Prophet Mohammed. "Sagifab" is Arabic for "small house." Most scholars agree the process took several months. Abu Bakr was named, but some disagreed and refused to swear allegiance to him. They chose to follow Mohammed's cousin, Ali, as the true leader and successor. This is how the Islam tradition split into Sunni and Shia.

The Sunnis and Shias have different narratives of what happened. The Sunnis tell the Shias their version, and the Shias tell their version to the Sunnis. It is very complicated. The Sunni say that Ali eventually willingly submitted to Abu Bakr after Ali's wife Fatima, who was the daughter of Muhammad, passed away six months after Muhammad did.

But the Shia disagree. They believe that Ali was pressured and threatened to submit and that Umar, who was Muhammad's lieutenant during his lifetime and a leader of the followers, killed Fatima and their unborn son. Umar became one of the leaders of the Abu Bakr group. This is the Sunni tradition.

What the Shia say is so different from what the Sunnis say; each denomination contradicts the other. With the way they narrate the story of the passing of Prophet Muhammad, the Shia blame the Sunnis for murdering Muhammad's daughter and grandchild.

What we can learn

There can be great conflict and confusion in the time directly after a central figure's absence when dormant disagreements between followers might emerge, possibly resulting in violence and schism. We do not want this. Followers formed groups under different members of Mohammed's family and used the family members' authority to claim to be the "true" tradition. It happened in this particular case. Some people grouped under the father-in-law, while another group formed under the son-in-law and the daughter of Muhammad.

The Sunni-Shia schism began in the early years of Islam. The different groups employ different narratives in accordance with their own objectives and to legitimize their leader. This happens both in the case of Abu Bakr and in the case of Ali. It is a regrettable chapter in the history of religions. When I was studying for my master's degree, I focused on the early years of each religion, especially early Christianity. I also studied various doctrines and ideologies. I wrote one paper comparing the ideology of Jonathon Moschus with that of Buddhism and Taoism. I found the early years of any religion to be the most crucial time.

Case three

That was a medieval period example. Let's go into a Confucian one. We will deal with Confucianism in Korea during the Joseon (or Yi) Dynasty. This dynasty ran from 1392 to 1910. Since there are many leaders here from outside of Korea, I will give a brief overview of the Joseon Dynasty. It was founded by General Yi Seong-gye, who was enthroned with the name King Iaejo. It was one of the world's longest running monarchies and was the world's longest ruling Confucian dynasties. It was founded in Kaesong but the capital was later moved to Seoul, which is why Seoul is a major city now. The Joseon Dynasty encouraged the entrenchment of Confucian learning and ideals and heavily imported Chinese culture into Korea.

When we look at the Joseon Dynasty's early years, we see they enforced a strict caste system. There was a king at the top of the pyramid. The Tangban formed the government-official class or upper class. There was a very small middle class of merchants and government employees, the Jourgir; the majority of the population were Saagnrin -- peasants, laborers and fishermen. The Sangmin were forced to pay heavy taxes, up to 50 percent of their produce. They were coerced into military conscription whenever it was mandated and experienced forced labor and brutal punishments. Scholars estimate that 30 percent of the Korean population was made up of Chronnrin. They were slaves, an even a lower class than Sangmin. Slave prices were set by the government, which owned 45,000 slaves. We can confirm this according to a I467 slave count, which is available in the historical record. The government also set the age when the slave's children should begin working. Slave children were sold as well.

In the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, Hideoshi Toyotomi of Japan and Qing China invaded Korea. Because of this, the Joseon Dynasty was severely weakened and developed an isolationist policy leading Korea to be known by surrounding nations as the "Hermit Kingdom."

In 1895, Korea was made independent from the Qing tributary system by the Treaty of Shimonoseki, which came about as a result of Japan's victory in the Sino-Japanese War. In 1910, the Joseon Dynasty came to a formal end in the Treaty of Annexation with Korea's annexation by Japan.

Let's move on to an early conflict during King Taejo's time, "The First Strife of Princes." King Taejo viewed his fifth son (Yi Bang-won) by his first wife (Queen Sineui) as having contributed most to his victory over Komi and thought of him as a worthy candidate for successor. Jong Do-jeun was a minister, one of the key allies in overthrowing the Koryo Dynasty and also a consultant. Jong Do-jeun did not like this fifth son. They hated each other.

In an attempt to change the king's mind, Jong Do-jeun convinced the king to choose the son he loved most. So in 1392, Taejo's eighth son, Yi Bang-seok, was named Prince Royal Successor. Jong Do-jeun, meanwhile, planned to assassinate Yi Bang-won, who, remember, is the fifth son, in order to consolidate his position in the court and take out a political enemy. But in 1395, Yi Bang-won raided the palace, killed long Do-jeun, and the two sons of Taejo's second wife, including the Prince Royal Successor, Vi Bang-wok. It's a complicated story.

Appalled by the fact that his sons were murdering each other for the crown, King Taejo crowned Vi Bang-gwa, his second son, king. Yi Bang-won, the fifth son, opposed that and attempted to become the "Royal Prince Successor Brother," but Yi Bang-gan, the fourth son, who also desired power, opposed this move. In 1400, these tensions rose and the factions collided. Yi Bang-gan, the fourth son and Yi Bang-won, the fifth son collided. Yi Bang-won was victorious. He exiled his brother, Bang-gan, and executed all Bang-gan's supporters. Yi Bang-gwa, the second son, who had already been crowned king, was intimidated and abdicated. He surrendered the throne to Bang-won, who was so intimidating. Bang-won thus became King Taejong. He committed many shameful deeds to become King Taejong.

In 1405, King Taejong investigated aristocratic landowners who had avoided land tax by hiding land they had acquired. He took the aristocrats' lands from them as well as their right to muster or create private armies. He severed their ability to create large-scale revolutions. At the same time King Taejong increased the size of his own army.

What we can learn

We can see that this particular monarchy was an ineffective system of government. It had to employ a rigid caste system and to be constantly wary of revolt or revolution by competing factions or powerful individuals. What impact did this have on the nation? We see this inherent stability stifled prosperity; creativity, freedom and innovation. In this historical case, we see that government became a facilitator of slavery and of class distinction. It became a facilitator of oppression. The majority of the population -- estimated by scholars at over 50 percent -- experienced extreme poverty and forced labor. Caste systems are employed in an attempt to create stability but result in an oppressive governmental structure.

We see that successors to King Taejong created an extremely bad history; there were murders, competition, and jealousy between common successors. This monarchy entrusted all power to one individual, which created a volatile and unstable form of government, because it could violently shift. It could change so quickly. It prevented checks and balances, and it increased the risk of violent and oppressive rule and tyranny. You can see from the conflicts and internal struggles that the king's legacy was stained. As with the biblical legacy of Adam and Eve and with their children, it was stained.

Case four

Let's go to the next case study, which is from sixteenth and seventeenth century Japan. This is a story of Tokugawa Ieyasu and Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Western members may not be familiar with this particular story. Tokugawa Ieyasu was the founder and first shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate, which ruled from 1600 to 1868 until the Meiji Restoration, when Japan modernized. After Hidevoshi's passing, Ieyasu became the de facto ruler. He became the ruler of Japan with his victory in the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600.

If we look at Tokugawa's history, we find he was taken hostage at the age of nine by the Imagawa clan, enemies of the Oda clan. In 1560, Imagawa Yoshimoto, the head of Imagawa clan, was killed in battle by Oda Nobunaga. These are very famous figures in Japanese history.

Ieyasu made a secret alliance with the Oda clan and in 1561. He officially broke his allegiance to the Imagawa clan. He had to capture Kaminojo fortress, which he did, because his wife and child were still in the hands of the Imagawa clan. He told the king at Kaminojo fortress, "I'll give you your wife if you give me my wife back." They had an exchange.

In 1583, Toyotomi Hideyoshi battled Shibata Katsuie for rule of Japan in the battle of Shizugatake and was victorious. At that point, Toyotomi Hideyoshi became the most powerful daimyo in Japan. But Tokugawa supported Oda against Hideyoshi. In the Battle of Nagakute, Ieyasu was victorious and Hideyoshi negotiated with the Oda clan and offered a truce to Ieyasu. In 1590, Hideyoshi offered to exchange the five provinces under Ieyasu's rule for the eight provinces in the Kanto region.

He made this deal with leyasu. So Ieyasu took a great risk and agreed. He left his home province and trusted the uncertain loyalty of the Kanto samurai. He pacified the Kanto samurai, improved the economic infrastructure of Kanto and slowly built his authority there. In a few years, he was right under Hideyoshi. He was the second most influential daimyo in Japan in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries.

In 1598, Hideyoshi, with failing health, created a Council of Five Elders, who would be responsible for ruling on behalf of Hideyoshi's son, Hideyori, after Hideyoshi passed away. Ieyasu became one of the five regents, one of the five elders -- the most powerful amongst them. Over the next two years, which was after Hideyoshi's passing, he made alliances with daimyo that had opposed Hideyoshi. This angered the four other elders in the group, so they waged war (Again in this example, too). It was in 1601, at the Battle of Sekigahara; 160,000 men faced off in battle and Tokugawa was victorious.

What we can learn

In this example, after Hideyoshi had passed away, we see that the intentions of even a powerful person can change after a leader passes away. In this case, Ieyasu abandoned the leader's last wish.

 Hideyoshi created the Council of Five to rule until his son came of age, but the regents waged war. There was war between them. Hideyoshi's son's "birthright" was usurped. He became a common citizen and Ieyasu became the king of Japan. The lineage of Hideyoshi switched, and Hideyoshi's lineage was replaced in Japan with Ieyasu's lineage. Ieyasu became that de facto ruler.

Case five

This is about a modern-day religion, the Church of Latter Day Saints, also known as the Mormons. As you know, the Mormons go back nearly two hundred years. Yet, they have become a large organization in modern times.

The Church of Latter Day Saints was organized by the founder, Joseph Smith Jr., on April 5, 1830. Within their traditions, Smith was the "Prophet, the Seer and the Revelator," even prior to the organization of the church. Originally, the highest leadership position of the church was that of an "elder," what they called an apostle. Smith initially held the position of "First Elder." A friend and advisor, Oliver Cowdery, became the "Second Elder," initially. This was before the real organization of the movement.

The Mormons used a different system from other religions. They were exceptional. In 1832, the First Presidency was created. There were three individuals, three presidents, within this presidency. In 1832, they were Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon and Jesse Gouse. The governing body of the Church was the Council, which had a president and two counselors. Basically it was Joseph Smith working with Sidney Rigdon and Jesse Gouse. It gets complicated: simply put, there were three people in the first presidency -- Joseph Smith, at the center, Sidney Rigdon and Jesse Gouse.

On February 17, 1834, Smith organized what they called the High Council. Their role was of a judicial and legislative body. Twelve men were organized under the first three, who are at the top. This particular High Council handled issues within the church like excommunication trials or approval of church spending, for example. However, in 1844, when Smith died in prison in Carthage, Illinois, they got rid of the High Council.

In 1835, the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles was organized. The members, or the apostles, had a special calling. They called them "evangelical ambassadors" and "witnesses" to Jesus Christ. Basically it is the second leadership role within the Mormon Church as of today. The major role of this quorum is to appoint a successor when the president of the Mormon Church passes away. They meet in the Salt Lake temple and lay hands on his head in ordaining a new president. Of course, this is usually the most senior member of this quorum. The Mormon Church acknowledges their elders.

In the 1830s, the Quorum of the Seventy was organized. These were seventy ministers under the twelve. The seventy in this group were "traveling ministers"; inspired by Luke 10:1-2, they were charged with preaching to the world. These seventy operated under the direction of the twelve apostles. As of 2005, there are eight quorums of seventy, because the church is so large. With over 12 million people, they've had to multiply the groups of seventy ministers. This group of seventy has become a very important layer between local and general church administration.

They provide consistency in doctrine. They provide alignment with the Church's traditions and ideals. They meet face to face with the Mormon followers. They are the face of the general church administration. There are now 12 million members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. They are only about a hundred years older than we are. I'm sure we will he greater in number a hundred years from now.

Why has "non-bald man" given these examples?

Because we are no longer a wandering tribe, we are a world family tinder God and True Parents. We need to be clear that for all eternity; True Parents are the eternal king and queen of peace; they are the central and absolute authority of the nation; they are the revelators, victors and manifestations of God's providence and will. They are eternal. We have to start thinking for when they are not with us physically. Once they are not with us physically; the children and constituents need rules of behavior to create lasting harmony and unity, and the ideal peace kingdom...

Let's look. This is what Father talked about a couple of days ago. Let's look at some of the guidance that Father gives us. This is the address that Father gave just a few days ago and one of the peace messages as well.

"The heavenly kingdom is a world overflowing with God's true love. True love is its axis."
"The kingdom of heaven is a natural world where all people live for the sake of one another. Consequently, antagonism and jealousy cannot he found anywhere in that world. It is a world that is not governed by money; position or power. Then, the success of every person represents the success of the whole, the likes of every person represents the likes of the whole, and the joy of every person represents the joy of the whole."
"The family links in all directions -- up and down, front and back, right and left. They revolve around each other in everlasting spherical motion. This is the eternal God's model ideal family which expands to ideal model nations and a peaceful, ideal kingdom. This means we need a movement to realize a society of interdependence, mutual prosperity and universally shared values. We need to make humanity one great family."

There are three main categories among the people who follow True Parents.

The first, of course, is the True Family. This is the direct blood lineage of True Parents' victorious foundation. Father announced the twelve tribes on the January 3, this year. Father acknowledged all the True Sons and Daughters of True Parents.

The second category is the ministers. Ministers are different from the general members. In our church, there may be a slight difference in the status of the ministers and that of the blessed family members. Ministers guide the members. Father has raised and guided such these religious leaders, who have served and sacrificed. These are our ministers.

Then there are the blessed central families. We have many of them now, millions around the world. They have been converted to the true lineage through the blessing.

This is our model of the ideal family.

The sustainability of God and True Parents' legacy

We are focusing here on the children (True Family members, ministers and blessed central families). True Parents and God are absolute. They do not change. Wherever you go in the Unification tradition, in the future, in every nation, they are the center. But how do we create eternal, long-lasting, continuous unity among the children? The children are from the True Family, from the ministers and their families and from the blessed, central Families. How do we create continuous unity?

Let's look at some models. We have models in the world today and in the past that we can look at to compare with or just look at. I have studied religion at school but I'm not an expert, so I would simply like to talk about the strengths and weaknesses of each category.

Communism -- the strength, we can say was their striving for egalitarianism and equality which can inspire vast popular support. The biggest weakness is, of course, that they do not believe in God. Communism denies that God exists and completely rejects religion. Not one Communist Party in history has ever succeeded. They have repeatedly failed. They failed to actualize their ideology.

The second model we can look at is pure democracy. This is a democracy not like in America or in Korea, which are called democratic republics. Pure democracy is the will of the people. That's it. The strength here is that, theoretically, every individual is heard from and you may get "buy in," from the citizens. However, there are weaknesses. The weaknesses are there are chaotic shifts as the opinions of the masses shift quickly. It has a very chaotic potential. And minorities are not protected. In America, for example, minorities are protected whether they be Asian-American minorities or Spanish-American minorities or Native American minorities, etc. Protection for them is explicitly sought.

If we move to a democratic republic model, we have some strengths -- checks and balances, accountability and leaders that the nation chooses through the election process. We also have weaknesses, such as bureaucracy and time-consuming processes.

Another model is a constitutional monarchy United Kingdom is an example. Great Britain is formally known as a constitutional monarchy, which has the strength that it acknowledges lineage. There is the House of Commons, the House of Lords, and of course, Queen Elizabeth and the monarchy. There are checks and balances, because the prime minister is elected. Their weaknesses are similar to democratic republics -- bureaucracy and time-consuming processes.

The next model is an absolute monarchy. An example of that in the present day would be the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. We can say their strengths are acknowledgement of lineage and perhaps quick implementations of mandates, but their weaknesses include a high risk of tyranny and the lack of a just legal structure.

Another model even up to the modern age is dictatorship. I guess you can say a strength is a quick implementation of mandates. I couldn't think of another strength. I thought about it for a long time but I only came up with one. The weaknesses are of course, total oppression and lack of freedom, innovation and prosperity.

This next slide has reminders that we are no longer a wandering tribe. We are a world; we are a movement that touches across nations. We have African brothers and sisters. We have Latvian brothers and sisters. We have Russian brothers and sisters. The unification community has grown tremendously.

These are other points that I made earlier: True Parents are the center. That does not change. Once they are not with us physically, we need rules for the children because -- as you all know -- children don't always listen. We want to be able to create the rules of behaviors for the children and the constituents, so that we can do what Father wants us to do, which is to create this kingdom.

You all have children, don't you? I have a seven-year-old boy. Whenever I ask him to do something he will just touch me and run. Children, I'm sure, sometimes behave like that. We have to teach them not to do certain things. (Men are strong so they shouldn't hit young boys, even if they are fighting amongst themselves.)

We are an ideal family and nation, one family tinder God. This is a constant message that Father is giving us -- one family under God. It's amazing. Even just this morning Father talked about democracy and communism. He emphasized that we were not "family-ism" but Unificationism. During Hoon Dok Hae, Father said that we must create Unificationism.

God, True Father and True Mother do not change. The children -- True Children, ministers and blessed central families are all children of True Parents. How do we continue to create lasting peace? I think Father hints at it. On January 3, 2007, Father proclaimed the twelve tribes. If the True Family can have a council where all the family members are recognized...

Honestly speaking, Ye-jin nuna. Hyo-jin hyung. Heung-jin hyung, In-jin nuna, Un-jin nuna, Hvun-jin hyung, Kook-jin hyung, Kwon-jin hyung, Sun-jin nuna, Young-jin hyung -- he passed away, so did Heung-jin hyung -- Yeon-jin and Jeong-jin are all my family. I love them all. I thought about how we can all work together.

The children should work together in the presence of the True Parents to honor their legacy and leave it for history to see. How can all of us -- the True Family, ministers, from the thirty-six couples to all those ministers who were blessed, ministers who attended True Parents for a long time, their families and all blessed families -- work as a team? How can we go forth hand in hand? This is very important.

My conclusion

Let's not shame the True Parents' legacy with schism, feuds or ecclesiastic politics. Let's work together to create a Cheon II Guk that will provide an eternal model and legacy of freedom, unification, harmony and happiness that will include all our brothers and sisters. We are all family. Let's make True Parents shine before our descendants, before history; before our world and before our Heavenly God! God is watching.

I have studied many things until now, from history and religion, and thought long and hard about these things. Father told us that the True Family must do it, so I have also discussed this with the other True Children. As we go forward from now, the question is how can we bring the church to become an organization that can truly practice Unificationism and present Unificationism before Father. This is very important.

You are all here at this Cheon II Guk leaders meeting. Many of our leaders, beloved blessed families and ministers are here with us today. How can all of our blessed families, ministers and the members of the True Family preserve the twelve tribes, work together to allow our church to prosper for a hundred, a thousand and tens of thousands of years so that True Parents and God can shine in history? I think this is very important.

I'm sure that many of the members and ministers have already thought about the things I have said today. Many of our members are thinking about this. When I was studying at the theological seminary; many outside people kept asking me these questions. Not only the world but even our children and grandchildren are closely watching us to see if we are really doing what we believe in, in this age.

If you study the world's religions, you find that the new religions must successfully pass through various phases in order to prosper continuously. I can tell you clearly that if you look in textbooks on the world's religions at the religious leaders from the past two hundred years or the past five thousand years, no one can compare to Father. There has not been a single person in history that was able to build a church this big in his lifetime.

From an objective point of view, the Mormons, Bahia or Soka Gakkai have all been around about a hundred years more than we have. There is no church in history that can compare to what our ministers, their families and members who attended Father have created to this day. I truly hope that our children, our grandchildren and their grandchildren can continue to flourish from now so that we can create an ideal nation and a world of harmony; peace, unity and happiness. Father, too, expects great things. I hope that we can show our children a new world. Thank you very much.

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