The Temple and Japan

Kook Jin Moon
December 10, 2008

An excerpt from Kook-jin nim's speech to members in northern Japan (Region 16) on December 10

As we build this temple, brothers and sisters, our goal and our mission become very clear. In order to build the Cheon Il Guk nation, we need to witness to only 50 percent of the country. That's all we have to do, however long it takes. We just need to pursue that one direction, and when we do witness to 50 percent of the country, that county will become God's country, will become Cheon Il Guk, will become our fatherland, in reality, in substance. [Applause]

You may think that will take a very long time. But this is why we're building the Cheon Bok Gung, the World Peace and Unity Temple. If we did it another way, it would really take a long time, but when we build the Cheon Bok Gung, where we concentrate all this spiritual power, where we concentrate all this political power and where we concentrate all this economic power -- this temple will be a public, national platform. We would not be able to establish a public national platform even if we had two hundred and ten thousand members that were all separated in five hundred churches; but if we concentrate two hundred and ten thousand members in one church, that becomes a national institution. That becomes an institution the nation will be interested in hearing the opinion of. The nation would be interested to learn what this institution thinks, what its values are. They would be interested to learn what Father's theology and teaching and philosophy is; the national media, because they are interested, would broadcast that to all the people, and because we have such a substantial foundation, the people would seriously consider what we say. By creating the World Peace and Unity Temple, we create the platform to talk directly to the people of Korea. And that will speed up the process of witnessing to 50 percent of the nation.

My brothers and sisters, we for so many years have had a great vision of where our church will be, and we have built a great foundation, but we have struggled with the concept of building Cheon Il Guk, though we talk about it, about how it will substantially happen. But now our True Parents have shown us practically, realistically, how we can build this nation, how we can create Cheon Il Guk. This is truly liberating, because this is a plan we can actualize. We can build a temple. We've done it before; we've built buildings before. We've built factories; we've raised money. We can do this, and we can witness. We have successfully been witnessing here in Japan. Despite tremendous persecution, we've succeeded. In Korea, there is no persecution now. We have built a good environment. If we build a good witnessing system in Korea, we will be able to continuously witness and gather more and more brothers and sisters. That is what we are working on doing. We have been studying the witnessing system here in Japan, and we will bring that system to Korea. These are things we know how to do. These are things we've succeeded in doing. And in order to succeed in our vision and our dream of building the nation of Cheon Il Guk, we need to just continue doing what we are doing just a little bit longer.

I know, brothers and sisters, you have sacrificed and given so much because of this dream, and you have sacrificed and given so much even when you could not see hope of success. But now, consider what I say: Success, the possibility of victory, fulfilling our dreams, justifying our sacrifices, is real. We can accomplish this. That is what I'm proposing to you brothers and sisters.

You know, we have truly been given a sacred mission. That sacred mission comes from what we have been taught and what we have been given, because what True Parents have revealed to us is truly revolutionary and is truly the core message that every person in the world must hear and needs to hear and needs to receive. Jesus Christ was sent by God as his son, and he gave a very important message to man. Even though he was not able to fulfill his full mission as the messiah, the message he gave brought humanity up to a new level, a new understanding. With one small sentence, Christianity has changed the culture of the world, has changed politics, has changed economics, has changed society and culture. It's just the golden rule: to do unto others as you would have them do unto you. This changed everything.

The world before this simple message was barbaric and cruel. Life was cheap. But through that one sentence, we learned about love, compassion and empathy; we learned how to forgive, and this has developed society, a culture of democracy, of acceptance and forgiveness. But the inspiration of Christianity because Jesus Christ went to the cross, has reached its full extent. It cannot bring us any closer to God than we are today. This is why Jesus Christ said he must come again. If he had fulfilled his mission, there would be no need for his Second Coming.

Right now in the world, you can clearly see the limit of Christianity. That limit begins from the very fundamental teaching and theology of Christianity. The basic tenet of Christianity, when it comes to God, is that God's divinity cannot be known. Man cannot fathom and understand the divinity of God, because God is omniscient and omnipotent and so far beyond the comprehension of man. This may sound great and glorious, as if we are honoring a great and powerful God, but if you look at it from another point of view, you are actually condemning God to eternal loneliness and separation from humanity, and you're condemning all of us to being eternally separated and divided from our creator. This is why Christianity lacks the vision and understanding to bring us closer to God than we are today. It cannot take us further.

This is why, this century, this time, is the time for the Second Advent. And the ultimate truth and evidence of the Second Advent and the True Parents is that simple message, the simple message that can bring us closer to God and restore humanity to its original position. This is the exact message that our True Parents have given. This is why we know our True Parents are the True Parents of all humanity. Our True Parents have clearly defined the divinity of God. They define that divinity as true love, and they define true love as a love that can bring even Satan to voluntary surrender.

You are all educated people, and you have studied science. As you well know, if you are able to define something, you can achieve it. By defining the divinity of God, our True Parents are empowering us to inherit the true love of God, and by inheriting it and living a life of true love, they are empowering us to become one with God, thereby removing the distance and separation between God and man that was brought about by the Fall and restoring humanity to its proper position, as sons and daughters of God. This is the theological reason, the proof of our True Parents.

It is that simple, but it is that powerful-those words, which define God's essence, carry ultimate power. And those are the words which our True Parents speak. And that is why we know for certain that what they say, the truth that they give us, is the truth all humanity is to receive. And we know that truth is the truth all of the religions are to receive. That is why we have the mission to take this message to all the people of the world. That is why we must build the Cheon Bok Gung, the World Peace and Unity Temple, so that we may have a stage to bring this message to the nation of Korea and the entire world. Please, brothers and sisters, take some time to consider what I have said. Thank you very much.