The Words of Sun Myung Moon from 1957
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The Words of Sun Myung Moon from 1957 |
5 Now, brothers and sisters, about
times and dates we do not need to write to you, 2 for you know very
well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 3
While people are saying, "Peace and safety," destruction
will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and
they will not escape. 4 But you, brothers and sisters, are not in
darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. 5 You are
all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong
to the night or to the darkness. 6 So then, let us not be like
others, who are asleep, but let us be awake and sober. 7 For those
who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at
night. 8 But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, putting on
faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a
helmet. 9 For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive
salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. 10 He died for us so that,
whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. 11
Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in
fact you are doing.
1 Thessalonians 5:1-11
You know very well that if human beings had not fallen, the garden of hope, the original homeland of glory, would be the world we would gladly welcome in our living sphere today. Because mankind fell, we have no relationship with this garden of hope today. In this moment, you have to think once again that the responsibility and duty to construct this glorious new homeland rests with us, even if we have to exert all the strength we have, pour out all of our hearts, and sacrifice all that we have.
If people had become perfect centering on God, then their joy would have become the joy of God. The glory they would have commanded would have been the glory of God. Because humankind failed to enjoy their happiness and glory at the standard God wanted, all turned into sadness for humankind. Because people committed a crime, they fell down to a position very far away from the garden of that ideology. You are probably well aware of the fact that the history of the dispensation of restoration is the toilsome history to reclaim fallen human beings.
What kind of place, then, is this garden of the dispensation? It is a place where all created things can lead their lives in the glory of unity within the sphere of the Creator's ideology, attending the Creator Lord. It was a garden with that purpose, but because of the fall of man, we have fallen into the position where we can no longer attain the ideology of unification and sing the glory of God.
Therefore, we have to understand that God has been fighting and toiling persistently throughout the long course of history in order to establish this one, united ideology of unification.
When we look at ourselves as people, after our minds and bodies become one and all humanity becomes one, it is our responsibility to unite with nature's laws and rules of operation. Furthermore, we have the grave responsibility to unite into one the laws and rules of operation upon which the heavenly principles move.
We must accomplish the new ideology of glory and consistency with the laws of the operation of nature while passing through the historical process of conflict. On the other hand, we have to adjust to the laws of Heaven. Moreover, you must not forget that our ancestors exerted themselves to accomplish this kind of responsibility.
In all developmental processes of history, when a family-oriented society develops into a tribal society, for instance, the forces of darkness and opposition are always blocking the path.
With what does God carry on the dispensation? The fall lost the quality of unity. The mind and body were divided, and all laws of the operation of nature and of the heavenly principles, as well as the whole ideology, have been divided. Millions of people have been divided. You have to understand that Heaven has been performing the work of establishing some united entity centering on tribes, people, and so forth, throughout every era in order to bring them all together.
Therefore, a family society becomes a tribal society. A people and a nation are formed when several tribal societies gather together. Alliances form when several nations came together. Next, they are to form a federation. A federation forms a united ideological sphere by joining together several doctrines or ideologies. In this manner, the order of the operation of the universe is supposed to be maintained.
You have to adjust to all the laws of the operation of the world of creation which are in action. At the same time, you must form a relationship with the ideology and laws the Creator hopes for. Otherwise, you cannot become the foremost victor. You cannot attain the qualifications to govern all created things by possessing the highest human nature and representing the glorious value of all things.
God has gathered countless families to form a tribe. He joined tribes together to form a nation. He joined nations together to unite them into one world. This dispensation is connected to the one man and woman who were created in the beginning. In other words, you have to understand that God has been leading the dispensation of restoration in order to construct the new homeland of glory that He wanted to give to humankind at the beginning of creation.
Then what is the cause of our lament? It is our failure to become someone who can unite the surrounding environment. What caused all this? The forces of darkness have caused this. Even though there were hearts that sought goodness in every corner, these hearts could not become connected to one other. After setting up the lofty light for the people, in other words, after setting up someone who is like the morning light and someone who is like the evening light, those persons seeking goodness traveled through the course of the history of conflict in which they passed through the period of the night.
Today many believers are saying that now is "the last days." There are the two camps of democracy and communism today. One of them represents the morning and the other represents the evening. There is something that blocks these two camps in the middle. You have to take on the mission to break this down.
It has become a confused world in the last days when everything in the world is stirred up in confusion. The center cannot be firmly secured and the direction cannot be determined. You have to realize that the responsibility to clear all this lies not with God, nor with nature. It lies with none other than us.
Because God gave people the responsibility to bring the comprehensive ideology of unification to pass, they have been developing the natural sciences, which research nature, into the form of one unified science. Through religion, they have been bringing together the world of the mind. The development of science today, in other words, the modern civilization centering on science, has been fulfilling the unified external ideology. This has reached the sphere of a unified ideology on the level of the world. After that, in the internal dimension, you must complete the mission of building the internal world in which humanity can become one through the religion which reveals, the mind or the original nature and character of human beings.
Although religion and science divided in the second half of the sixteenth century, in the last days today, we are crossing over to the state of union when we can again reach the one purpose. Hence, science has taken up the unified form first. The reason for this is that when Adam was created as a complete human being, his body was created first. After that the spirit of life was breathed into him. This is the principle of creation. Today religion and science are in a position of confrontation. However, this is not the basic principle. In the last days, in the same way that God created Adam, the phenomena of history will also come together in this way.
The external civilization today, the twentieth century civilization, has been expressed through words and written letters. In the united ideal world that God hopes for, the center which is reciprocal to the civilization of the heart must be determined after completing the form of the ideology of God through the words. Otherwise, there is no way to bring them together into the one world.
How will they be united? Even if there is some unified ideology that can unite the external and internal civilizations, they will not be brought together in an orderly manner. There will be forces of darkness which obstruct that task. Thus, we must first pass through a course of conflict to shatter them. This is the reason why today two Last Days doctrines are taking responsibility for one field. In other words, one is in charge of the internal aspect of God, and the other is symbolically responsible for the external aspect of God.
If the side that replaces the center of the mind is democracy, then this democratic territory must be able to cause the communist territory to automatically champion the one will and move toward the one purpose. If the time when this is done does not come, the heavenly principles will never move.
When we examine this, we can see that not only in the field of the natural sciences today, but also in the religious field, we have come to the point where we cannot move forward any more. At this time, when neither can interfere with the other, we find that
there must appear someone new who can remove obstructions and take responsibility for the people if they do not listen to the commands. You have to understand this.
What kind of person will come to possess the glory of the new homeland? We must be able to fulfill the leading and dominant role which can unite our body centering on the mind and bring the environment into oneness.
In order to construct the glorious new homeland, our minds and bodies must become one. Centering on us, all of humanity must become one. At the same time, we must become one with all the laws of the operations of Heaven and earth. Moreover, we must become one with the heavenly principles with which the Creator has been carrying on the will. Otherwise, there is no way that the glory of God can manifest itself on this earth or in the world of creation. You have to understand that if the glory of God is not manifested, we human beings cannot even dream about the new nation of glory.
When you think about what kind of historical course humanity has been traveling through in order to construct this new nation of glory, you will discover that they have passed through a ceaseless history of conflict for a long time.
Centering on ourselves, we have to become one with all the laws of the operation of nature below. Above, we have to adjust to the laws of Heaven. Thus, we fallen ones must bear the responsibility to bring the environment into oneness centering on our minds and bodies.
In other words, when you secure the victorious accomplishments that can represent the whole of the human principles, this will also represent the heavenly principles to stand as the center connected to the way. You must be able to step forward on behalf of all the things of humanistic society and be in motion in synchronization with all the laws of natural operations. This must be achieved.
God is trying to carry on the fight between the two camps. Therefore, you will not be able to escape from the coming of the period of conflict, the purpose of which is to eliminate the darkness.
At this moment, when the period of universal and worldwide conflict is nearing, you have to understand that because you are not exempt from the laws of the heavenly principles, you will be swept up in fear as these two camps fight one another.
Even in such times, you must set the center which can prevent all the forces of darkness from sweeping over it, and you must step over it. Because you must keep pace with the twentieth century scientific civilization that is making tremendous leaps and also nurture your internal character, you must set the new reformative standard in the internal aspects. Even if everything is swept away, you should be able to cling on to the center and circle around in stability. If you cannot attain this kind of center, you won't be able to become the last victor in the course of human history. In the end, you will have no choice but to be a failure.
The will of God is also moving through a progressive and revolutionary process. Before the Old Testament, God performed the works of building man's relationship with the heavenly principles through sacrificial offerings. In the Old Testament era, He carried on His history of the dispensation based upon the laws.
If those laws had emerged as a unified ideology, and if someone had emerged who deeply felt that this was the will of Heaven, then the dispensation of restoration could have been greatly shortened. However, because this was not done, you have to understand that after setting the external conditions through the laws, God sent Jesus to set the external conditions through his physical body and the internal conditions through his spirit.
Until today, Jesus appeared only as the subject of faith. If it all ended there, then the dispensation of God would never see its conclusion. Only when the ideology of unification is established on this earth and its tasks are brought to pass can Jesus complete his mission.
To become a person who can establish and manifest the external scientific progress and form, you have to become one with goodness that can connect itself to the heavenly principles. You must do this from the position of having won and overcome all the battles of the age.
In the near future, the dark sphere of death will emerge as a trap on the world level. We must dismantle this and step over it. This kind of work cannot be done by the conscience or by ethical principles. Only by seeking and establishing the heavenly principles can we become linked to the new glory of the new garden.
Therefore, if religion, science, philosophy, and all fields of thought cannot make the connection with these heavenly principles in the last days, Heaven will strike them down with a rod.
Although John the Baptist, who appeared before Jesus had a higher intellect than Jesus, Jesus told him to follow him. This was because John the Baptist was centered on himself. Jesus, however, possessed the ideology of the heavenly principles that he could be eternally proud of. If there was a person who could establish and manifest the external scientific progress and the internal conditions as the one united ideology, then the united homeland centered on God would have already been realized.
It is good to set Jesus up as the goal of your faith. However, you must first become the embodiment of that faith and belief, and in your daily life you must be with Jesus. When you act after achieving this, the whole of nature should move, and the whole world should be able to rejoice. Otherwise, you won't have any relationship with the glorious new homeland.
Even in the new homeland, there is one leader and his citizens. Therefore, you have to first become the citizens who attend that leader and construct the new homeland. You must be able to strike the forces of darkness which are preventing the construction of the new homeland.
What kind of fight lies ahead of us? Before Jesus lies the course of bloody conflict. In other words, in carrying out the mission at the growth stage, Jesus suffered through such a difficult course of conflict. Now for you who must complete the mission at the perfection stage, there will be a greater course of conflict. You have to think about this again.
In this kind of universal conflict, you must be victorious in using the external nature as your body and the will of God as the internal mind for the sake of unification. In this way, after taking the heavenly principles as your mind, you must bring into oneness the nature which has become your mind.
Each of you has a different fortune. Moreover, for each nation there is a fortune. Heaven has Heaven's fortune. Accordingly, in the same way that the ideology of the individual must be made a part of the homeland's ideology, the homeland's ideology must be made a part of the heavenly ideology. Today our individual fortune must be absorbed by a higher fortune. Furthermore, our fortune must be made one with the universal fortune.
For fallen human beings, there will be a history of conflict. God and Jesus do not just give us love today. The God of love, the Jesus of love will at one time become the God of judgment and the Jesus of judgment who give us suffering and ordeals.
For this reason, you are not to behold them only as the God of love and the Jesus of love. You should have the attitude to serve them as being capable also of putting us through ordeals and sufferings. Only then can the love of God and the love of Jesus return to you. Only then can all the laws of the heavenly and human principles on earth revolve around you.
What do you who are gathered here have that you can confidently present before Heaven? If you do not have anything, then you must search for some condition that you can set before the heavenly principles.
In the last days today, there is no one who can confidently stand with his own ideology. The only one who can do that is someone who has the ideology of the heavenly principles. Hence, people feel fear, unrest, lamentation, and worries. At such a time, if there is someone who has the heavenly ideology with which he can cling to both the human and heavenly principles and confidently stand up, that person will stand in a place higher than all the others.
Before this person, everything will automatically emerge in harmony with the way. Because humankind fell, when Heaven wants to give something great, it must first perform the contradictory works of giving great pain and tribulations first. Is there anyone among you who despairs in the face of all the tribulations that come your way? Such a person must not understand the sorrow of Heaven. He will fade away when sadness disappears from this earth.
Jesus, the loyal subject of Heaven, was the one who took charge of the battle with Satan on behalf of God and stepped forward confidently on this kind of course of conflict.
Therefore, the works of the Second Coming in the last days today will come in the same form. You have to become one with goodness that can connect itself to the heavenly principles from the position of having won all the battles of the age and having overcome them.
Please keep in mind that only this ideology of the heavenly principles can form a relationship with the new glory of the new garden in the last days.