The Words of Sun Myung Moon from 1957
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The Words of Sun Myung Moon from 1957 |
1 You then, my son, be strong in the
grace that is in Christ Jesus. 2 And the things you have heard me say
in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will
also be qualified to teach others. 3 Join with me in suffering, like
a good soldier of Christ Jesus. 4 No one serving as a soldier gets
entangled in civilian affairs, but rather tries to please his
commanding officer. 5 Similarly, anyone who competes as an athlete
does not receive the victor's crown except by competing according to
the rules. 6 The hardworking farmer should be the first to receive a
share of the crops. 7 Reflect on what I am saying, for the Lord will
give you insight into all this. 8 Remember Jesus Christ, raised from
the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel, 9 for which I am
suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But
God's word is not chained. 10 Therefore I endure everything for the
sake of the elect, that they too may obtain the salvation that is in
Christ Jesus, with eternal glory. 11 Here is a trustworthy saying: If
we died with him, we will also live with him; 12 if we endure, we
will also reign with him. If we disown him, he will also disown us;
13 if we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot disown
himself.
2 Timothy 2:1-13
Waves of death are sweeping over the eastern and western oceans. As we think about how the ultimate responsibility to block these waves of death rests on each of us, beloved Father, please allow us to recognize that we are dull-witted, unprepared and immature.
Father of compassion! We earnestly hope that You will forgive our not being able to think about Your situation, dignity and prestige. We are not able to think about You, whose heart is broken. Instead we must rely upon Your compassion for strength.
We who are dwelling in this dark land of death know that without the power and kindness of the life spirit there is no way for us to return the glory of victory to the Father. Therefore, Father, we plead from the depth of our hearts that in this hour You will grant the grace that You promised and manifest to this congregation the entire will that You are working to fulfill.
How can we claim to be worthy enough to go before the Father? How can we raise our heads before Heaven? We deserve to die many thousands of times. We deserve to be fastened to the interrogation chair of sin and suffer the pains of judgment. Therefore, we have prostrated ourselves before You, hoping for the merciful love and grace of the Father, with the heart of revealing our inner self. If, after putting before the Father all that we possess, there is something that is not proper, then beloved Father, we sincerely wish that You liquidate it and guide us to guard our nature in the state You have given us. We appeal to Heaven for great grace.
Father! Please look down with compassion upon these sons and daughters of Yours who have gathered here. While pursuing this path that teaches them they are not strangers, they have gained memories of times when they were overwhelmed by the sorrow that penetrated deep into their hearts. There were times when they were deeply immersed in worries and troubles. Therefore, Father, please be present in this place today and bestow the grace of Your recognition. Let them not be considered strangers here. Beloved Father, we hope from the bottom of our heart that You will allow this moment to be the time when only You will hold them, comfort them and counsel them. Father, please allow the many millions of people who are living on this earth to feel the grief of the Father and to experience the deep- set grudges and lamentations of the Father. Furthermore, Father, we earnestly entreat that You love the countless living beings who are in pitiful situations with compassion.
Father, although we have heard people asserting themselves to have the truth and that their actions are right many times in the past, we have never seen a kingdom built by them. Father, we hope that with sympathy You will look down upon us. We have only heard false words and seen false actions. We pray that in the meeting this evening Your works will be revealed. We pray that Your limitless grace will unfold before us, gathered here today, that we can resurrect our exhausted bodies and dash toward the will which You command and desire.
We know that if, among the ignorant and sleeping people, there is someone who is connected to the sorrow of Heaven, then even if he suffers distressing tribulations many thousand times over, he will certainly win the victory. Please let Your children who have gathered here experience the sorrow of the Father with their minds and bodies and experience the concerns that Father has toward the earth, so that You can raise them as the sons and daughters who can fulfill their obligations as children.
Father, we have come before You with the minds and bodies that have been wounded during the last week. Please erase the traces of sin Satan has caused in us. Our only friends are the members who have gathered here, and the only ones that we can depend upon are ourselves. Father, we hope with the most earnest heart that You will embrace us in Your bosom of love, we who are lonely and do not have any friends on the earth. We pray that You will comfort us, counsel us and amply distribute the grace of concealed love upon us.
Today is a holy day, so please bless the countless altars that are gathering on behalf of the people. Among the children of the many religious groups who have lost the Father's love, please let children quickly appear who can restore Your love.
Father, please do not let this people stagnate in the position of ignorance and self-destruction. Please bring upon this people the grace that will guide them to cause a self-explosion which can dismantle the base of evil. Let them yearn only for the Father's compassion and love.
We have prostrated ourselves before You in this hour, yet we do not have any gift to offer to You. Father, we earnestly wish that You forgive us and that You allow us only to possess the heart of repentance that will frankly reveal our immaturity, which seeks only to survive physically.
Requesting with the utmost sincerity that the minds and bodies of everyone who have gathered here will unite with the will and the grace of love which You command, we have prayed in the name of the Lord. Amen.
The title of the sermon I want to give is, "Let Us Become the Elite Troops of Heaven." I will speak briefly on this topic.
Because of human beings, God has been carrying on internal and external conflicts that surpass our imagination throughout the course of history. In other words, in the invisible world, He is battling against Satan. In the visible world, He is unfolding the fight through the people on the good side and the people on the evil side.
If we now have the responsibility to fathom the will of God and understand His internal situation, then we must take charge of the internal and external conflicts of God on His behalf. You must understand that, otherwise, this conflict that involves the whole cannot conclude in the victory God desires.
What must we do in order to become the elite troops of Heaven who fight on behalf of the will of God? First, we must become united around the ideology centered on the wishes of God.
What has been the purpose of God's fight during the 6,000 years of His dispensation? It is for the purpose of elevating us in the sinful world to the same position of glory as God. You must feel deep down to your bones that to fulfill this will, God has been sacrificing countless prophets and believers. He has been guiding the dispensation in deep concern. Otherwise, we would not be able to understand God's situation.
What is the center of hope that God wants? What is the center of the whole situation that God wants human beings to seek? The center is elevating all people to high positions in His place. God has been working strenuously, until now, for this.
God has forgotten His own difficulties and has been guiding the dispensation throughout history in order to save us, we unworthy human beings who fell into sin and are bewitched by the seduction. God's hope is that we human beings cultivate the sung sang of God as the substantial manifestations of God. His hope is that He can find and raise one true person who can inherit the will of God, who is trying to dominate over all things. We have to experience such a heart of God with our minds and bodies.
Likewise, finding and raising up the one person who can inherit the will of God is the center of the entire situation of the will that God desires. All human beings are ultimately walking forward for the sake of perfecting this one center. This kind of will of the whole remains with us. Therefore, we must be grateful toward that will of God for the rest of our lives and maintain unchanging hearts of loyalty toward the will. Even in the world, if there is someone who risks his life and, overcoming all difficulties, strains himself for the sake of his friend's success, then that friend will consider him as his benefactor for his lifetime and will never forget the grateful feelings until his death.
God has been carrying on the internal fight for our sake, for the sake of unworthy human beings. It is done in order to bring to us the glory of success, regardless of whether human beings are aware of it or not. In other words, you must be able to experience with your body and mind that, through the course of history, in order to pave your way to the glorious position where you can govern over all things in God's place, He has been persevering through all kinds of toils, worries and pain. You must be connected to the one center where the internal fight of God converts into your internal fight and the external fight of God converts into your external fight. You must keep that in mind, otherwise, you cannot become the elite troops of God.
Toward God, who has been carrying out this universal will, we have been repeatedly committing insolent acts. Today, if it was for your own sake, you would be able to endure any kind of sacrifice. However, when you reflect upon how much you have sacrificed for the sake of countless living things, human beings or for the numerous spirits in the spirit world, you will realize anew you are how lacking. Accordingly, we who have heavenly relationships must possess the heart that is willing to sacrifice ourselves internally and externally for the sake of all things and all people.
You must understand that the person God sent to the earth as the central person for the sake of such ignorant human beings is Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ stepped forward representing the internal situation of God. The center of his hope and his life was rooted only in God. To put it another way, Jesus hoped that he could follow the example of the patient heart of God who exerted Himself enormously and persevered for the sake of human beings. He hoped he could follow the example of the public life of God, who never works for the sake of His own glory. He wanted to follow the example of the principled content of God who does not desire conflict, so that he could represent God before all things and all peoples to give love. He wanted to cultivate God's authority and emerge.
Not only that, Jesus did not want personal joy, personal hope or personal glory. You must understand that he wished his hope and glory could be realized by and manifested to all fallen human beings. For the sake of the accomplishment of this will, he toiled for thirty years of his life.
Therefore, we must follow the example of Jesus Christ, who appeared with the responsibility to fight for the sake of the construction of the Kingdom of Heaven and who came as the center of Heaven and earth. We must accept as our own ideology all the ideology of Jesus. If we cannot learn to follow the example of Jesus' love and march toward eternity, then the hope that God has will not be connected to us. You have to keep this fact in your minds.
Our fateful path is to pass through the course of conflict to reach the conclusion of history as the elite troops. We must break through on the fateful path. In breaking through this, many unfavorable conditions will block our path. Moreover, there will be countless invisible interference by Satan. On earth you will encounter many people's opposition.
However, if we are the chosen people of God who must strengthen the autonomy that God permitted and accomplish the responsibility even on such battlegrounds, then while we develop ideological unity externally, we must at the same time be able to persevere and overcome any kind of crisis that we might encounter in our actual life, just as God and Jesus have persevered.
Based on the joy of one moment, we must cast away the insecurity that surrounds us and nurture hope that can fill our spirits with happiness. We must not end with the karma of one day, but must safeguard forever even the relationship of one hour.
We must develop the base for the relationship that is like the relationship forged between God and Jesus. We must be able to serve the unchanging center as the unchanging purpose. In order to do that, we must possess immutable patience. At present, the course of ordeals remains before us. This course has become inescapable. We must inherit the character of Jesus who came to the earth and personally offered thirty years of his life in order to break through this course. With no regard for death, he testified to the truth and establish the truth.
Furthermore, we must inherit the patience of God, who has endured through the 6,000 long years of history, who has encountered all kinds of hardships, and who has suffered through all kinds of grief for the sake of finding each of us. Even though He had to give away His beloved only-begotten son, He did not stop His fight with the enemy but continued on with His dispensation.
God has persevered internally and externally in this manner to attain the qualification to stand as the master of perseverance before infinite afflictions. Because Jesus upheld the will of God, he was able to pioneer this path of the will with the determination to face even the cross. You should understand that if, while hanging on the cross, Jesus had submitted to the affliction and exhibited servility and cowardice, then Jesus Christ's crucifixion could not appear before us as the path of life.
On his own, Jesus took responsibility for the entire dispensation of God. Realizing that he was the elite troop of Heaven who represented the previous 4,000-year history, he possessed the kind of character that can persevere and overcome all difficulties, even in the face of the hardships of crossing over the path of death.
The reason that Jesus suffered hardships is not because God intentionally drove them toward him. Because Jesus was sufficiently able to fathom the heart of God, who has been exerting Himself and persevering for 4,000 years for his sake, even at the cost of his life, even if he was to encounter the affliction of death, Jesus did not try to escape hardship.
We, who must take after the example of Jesus and become the elite troops of Heaven, must be able to persevere and overcome countless troubles rather than avoiding them, even if we encounter them countless times. In the future, there will be fights that we must fight in a group of one hundred and fights that we must fight as one people. Furthermore, there will be fights that represent heaven and earth. Yet the attitude we must have, as the heavenly elite troops who are at the doorsteps of these fights, is that no matter what kind of conflict or affliction comes before us, we must develop the perseverance that will allow us to experience the heart of God, who is relying on us. We must then imposingly make a breakthrough. Otherwise, we cannot stand as the coworker of God who is victorious in the course of history that passes through strenuous conflicts.
You who believe in Jesus today must examine yourselves and reflect upon whether you have become people who can share Jesus' responsibility of hardships that remain in the universe. Jesus Christ, who stood before the will of God, traveled the course of afflictions because of the countless people who opposed the will of God. However, in order to not pass down those ordeals to the believers of the following generations, Jesus himself took responsibility for the ordeals.
In this time of the last days, universal hardships and universal conflicts are blocking the course you are walking. Yet in the same way that Jesus took responsibility for history and the fate of the descendants, fought with great difficulty and crossed over the pass of universal afflictions of his own generation, you must take responsibility for the universal afflictions. Overcoming them all, you must destroy all the conditions that Satan can accuse and fight with the conviction that you will not leave behind this ordeal as an inheritance for the descendants. If you do not have the confidence to do so, then you must understand that you will not be able to stand before God as the elite troops of God and the glorious victor.
Moreover, while we persevere and step forward to battle on the universal level, at the same time we must be able to abandon ourselves. Now is the time we must become more patient than any other time. You cannot have any obstinacy or assertions centering on yourselves. If there is some assertion that we can have, it is the assertion whose purpose is to realize the one will that God desires. Therefore, we who have to become the elite troops of Heaven and prepare the eternal grounds of victory must learn to abandon ourselves.
Jesus came to the earth with the permission of God to enjoy all the glory. Moreover, he possessed all the emotions that human beings can feel and he came with the desire to indulge in glory. However, before the fulfillment of God's will, before God bestows the blessing and all human beings of the earth bless him, he cannot enjoy glory. Accordingly, Jesus and the Holy Spirit, who are in the spirit world without having fully accomplished the will, have been carrying on the dispensation of salvation until now in order to fulfill what they could not complete in the physical world. Jesus is someone who does not live for himself. As was the case for the thirty years of his life, even during the 2,000 years of his spiritual life, he did not live for the sake of himself or elevate himself. The hope of Jesus was ushering in the one day that, serving God and raising all humanity on the earth before God, all humanity can rejoice. For the sake of that task, he sacrificed himself and offered his life.
In order for us who live in the last days to become victorious in the last battle, in the same way that Jesus Christ sacrifices all of himself for 2,000 years and fights only for the sake of public cause, we must also forsake all our personal things and by finding and establishing the laws of the public cause be offered as the sacrifice that God can receive in joy. Otherwise, you must understand that you cannot stand on earth as the one who has become qualified as the victor by inheriting the hope of Jesus.
Until now, God has been fighting against Satan internally and against evil people externally, but this is not an insolent fight or a fight that violates the laws. In other words, God never fights in violation of the laws of the universe. Likewise, Jesus also never fought outside the principles of the universe.
Accordingly, when we wage the universal fight in the last days, we must understand the laws of the universal principles. By doing so, we must learn how to fight centering on that law.
Although you might not be aware of it, Satan also cannot establish insolent laws and wage a fight that deviates from the universal principles. For this reason, when you are fighting with Satan after setting the condition of restoration, if you deviate from the will of God, then Satan will make accusations; even Jesus cannot be an exception. When one violates the laws, Satan will invade without mercy.
Even for you who must pass through the fight of restoration, if you do not clearly understand the laws of Heaven, you will not be able to obtain the glory of victory as the elite troops who represent God and Jesus. The 2,000-year Christian history after the death of Jesus attests to this.
Jesus and the Holy Spirit are fighting against Satan spiritually while setting the conditions, in accordance with the laws of Heaven, from the position of being connected to the internal situations of God. However, among the human beings on earth, there is no courageous soldier whom God recognizes and who can represent the heavenly principles in this fight with Satan. In other words, Jesus is lamenting because there is not even one person who is fighting this battle based on God's principles on behalf of Jesus Christ.
The reason that Jesus was able to comfort the heart of the Father who is in heaven, and the reason that God could entrust to Jesus the 4,000-year conflict that He was fighting against Satan is because Jesus and the Holy Spirit are more aware of the internal situation and heart of God than anyone else. Since Jesus has taken charge of the spiritual fight, the believers on earth must take charge of the physical, external fights.
Therefore, we who must take responsibility for this fight must own one shield of victory with which we can fight according to the laws of Heaven, in the same way that God and Jesus were able to set the condition of victory based on the laws of Heaven in the battle against Satan. Otherwise, God and human beings cannot reap eternal victory in the fight with Satan. Not only that, you yourselves will also have no way to prevent the powers of Satan, who has been in conflict against God's laws in the invisible world for 6,000 years. You must understand that if you cannot block this Satan off, then even in the fight with Satan on earth, you will be defeated.
Thus, we must restore the laws based on which God was combating Satan and Jesus and the Holy Spirit were combating Satan, and lay the foundation to fight with Satan according to those laws. When this is accomplished, we can finally fathom the persevering heart of Jesus, and also experience the life course of Jesus who has become a public offering. However, in the fight with Satan we cannot fight according to the laws of Heaven, then first, God cannot recognize us, and further, we cannot win the recognition of Satan.
You must keep in mind that if we human beings cannot bring a conclusion to this fight by establishing on earth the day that Satan can recognize his own defeat, then we cannot bring resolution to the external and internal battles of the 6,000 years centering on us.
If we are the elite troops of God who can represent the Kingdom of Heaven and step forward, then we will definitely possess the weapons we need as the elite troops of God. This weapon is not some power or authority that can bring violence, but the words that God has given in order to raise human beings to the position of glory that He is in. Therefore, you must obtain this weapon of words and digest the words as your own. Next, with an unchanging heart you must cultivate a triumphant character that even Satan can recognize. If you cannot attain these things, then you will not be able to become the elite troops of God who are responsible for the universal fight.
Now, you who are about to encounter this kind of fight have something that you should think about while withdrawing; that is whether you have become someone who is qualified to easily overcome all the tribulations that represent the 6,000-year history. Moreover, you should think about whether you have abandoned your selfish desires and put forward God's laws for public interests, so that you can appear before Satan as someone who will not move into action unless it is for the public interest. With the conditions that enable you to fight on behalf of the heavenly laws and prevail, you must set the legal standard of the heavenly laws.
By doing so, you must become the sons and daughters of God to whose victory Satan can testify even before you yourself brag about it and make it public, and even if the opponents of your fights are evil people, they should be able to testify that you are sons and daughters of God. You must realize that only by becoming that kind of people, can you free yourself from the course of long fight and become qualified to receive the glory of God.
Even if we have received the calling of God, God did not call us for our own sake. He called upon us hoping that we can become people of universal character. In order to find people of such character, God has been working and guiding the dispensation for 6,000 years. If you have understood this situation of God, then you must nurture the character that will enable you to go forward as the leader spearheading this universal fight with Satan.
After nurturing this kind of character in your actual daily life, you must elevate the members of your family to the position of the heavenly tribe, establish the people before the will, and establish them as ones who can emerge as the representatives of the humanity and countless believers. Such responsibility to secure unchanging laws of Heaven and work for the construction of the Kingdom of Heaven rests on you.
Particularly, you who have gathered here unlike the normal people have the responsibility to represent God and Jesus Christ. Do you know what that responsibility is? In this world, numerous, living things are alive, and, among them, there are wretched people who are groaning under the yoke of Satan. Your responsibility is liberating the wretched people from the yoke of Satan and making it possible for them to become eternal sons and daughters of God, according to the desire of God. Thus, you must retain a firm conviction that you bear the responsibility to offer your body and mind to liberate these pitiful people and elevate them to the position of God's glory, and become sons and daughters who offer their each hour to Father.
On the one hand, until now even all things are longing for the conclusion of the history of the 6,000-year conflict, the emergence of the true son who brings the glory of God. You must feel the heart of all things. When you materialize the glory of God in this way, you are to invite even all things to participate in that position of glory.
Furthermore, you must feel that countless spirits of the spiritual world are dwelling midst lamentation and sorrow, and by setting the standard of victory, they should also receive the benefit of having set the standard of victory. Until you set that eternal standard of victory, you should be able to be responsible for them. You must become sons and daughters of God who bear this responsibility.
God is the one who bore this responsibility before you did, and Jesus is the one who is carrying on the battle. Therefore, we who have been called must follow their example and do our utmost to take charge of this task. As the sons and daughters of God, we must reawaken ourselves to the fact that we are the elite troops of Heaven who can bear the universal responsibility and fulfill it for the sake of victory in this fight. In order to fulfill this responsibility, you must endure infinitely. You must have the determination, "even if Jesus Christ cannot endure, even if God cannot endure, I will endure."
We are the ones who were raised by God for the sake of this mission. Therefore, in order to lift up before God the countless people who are suffering in the universal conflict because of Satan. Regardless of whether it is the path of endurance or death and regardless of what the conditions might be, when the direction from Heaven falls upon us, we must obey it and move forward. If we cannot become this kind of elite troops of Heaven, then we will not be able to fulfill our responsibility as the chosen ones, and we can never restore this land into the eternal garden of victory. You must keep in mind that only when we become the elite troops of Heaven and win the victory can we rejoice with God eternally and, at the same time, rejoice with Jesus and the Holy Spirit for eternity, and the time of peace when we can also rejoice can come to this earth.
Please allow us to understand that God is the commander of goodness and, at the same time, is our sole chief commander who is fighting against evil. Please allow us to become believers who resemble the hyung sang of the Father, who has been fighting on without rest or change for 6,000 years; moreover, allow us to become ones who follow the example of Jesus Christ's course of devotion to do justice to your dignity.
We know that we must emerge as the elite troops of Heaven who can be the representative in Heaven's battle and win over in that fight. We must not become elite troops who are centered on certain people or a certain world, so, Father, we wish from the depth of our hearts that you will permit us to become the elite troops of Heaven who retain fidelity for the sake of Heaven's eternal ideal, unchanging love and will of Heaven.
Please allow us to understand in this hour that when the Father, who has been enduring for 6,000 years, gives us commands, if we do not become the valuable men of character who can fathom your heart, then God cannot personally give us commands. Father, we hope with the utmost earnestly that you will allow us to understand that even Jesus Christ, who has been toiling for 2,000 years, also cannot personally direct us if we have not become qualified people of glory who are true, public, not violating laws, and representing Heaven with immutability.
Please let us understand that if there is some universal wish that remains in us, that wish is becoming the elite troops, who can take bear the whole responsibility of all forms in the universe, so that we can liberate all created things and bring joy to all people. Father, we pray sincerely that you will permit us to become intoxicated in that sense of mission that will empower us to uphold the direction of Heaven and completely fulfill the responsibility.
Father, we earnestly wish that, until the appearance of the eternal ideal of God and the glory of restoration before all created things, you will allow us to become sons and daughters who do not change or rest, but battle on, by understanding the laws of Heaven and the laws of conflicts of the universe and representing the unchanging center for the sake of establishing the will of Heaven on this earth.
Hoping that you will guide us to become the elite troops of Heaven who transcend everything and not hesitate to march even on the path of death for the sake of Father's joy and glory, we prayed in the name of the Lord. Amen.